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PNS n NEW YORK

Prime Minister Narendra Modiaddressed the 76th session of theUnited Nations General Assembly,wherein he said "India is a shiningexample of a vibrant democracy".He flew to New York fromWashington after his first bilater-al meeting with Joe Biden.

Calling India the "Mother ofDemocracy", Prime MinisterNarendra Modi Saturday show-cased the country's credentials onthis front before the UnitedNations General Assembly.Speaking at the 76th such gather-ing in New York, he held forth theexample of India's political systemempowering people and ensuring"equitable development".

"When India grows, the worldgrows, when India transforms, theworld transforms", he announced.

"Yes, democracy can deliver.Yes, democracy has delivered,"Prime Minister Modi said emphat-

ically, citing his own 20 years ashead of a government -- both asGujarat Chief Minister and theIndian Premier.

He noted that last month, Indiahad entered the 75th year of itsIndependence, and further bur-nished the country's democratictraditions saying its diversity wasthe "identity" of that tradition.

India has developed the world'sfirst DNA vaccine that can be givento everyone above 12 years of age,Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid today while addressing theUnited Nations as he gave an openinvite to manufactures across theworld: "Come, make vaccine inIndia."

Alittle boy who at one time usedto help his father at his tea stall

is today addressing the UnitedNations General Assembly for thefourth time, said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, highlighting thestrength of the Indian democracy.“The strength of our democracy isdemonstrated by the fact that alittle boy who at one time used tohelp his father at his tea stall at arailway station is todayaddressing the United NationsGeneral Assembly for the fourthtime as prime minister of India,”he said. PM Modi, speaking at the76th session UNGA, said that herepresents a country that isknown as the 'mother ofdemocracy.' "We have a greattradition of democracy that goesback thousands of years."

4th UN speech of littleboy who helpedfather at tea stall: PM

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Saturday said it hasfrozen shares worth Rs 700 croreafter raids against Karvy StockBroking Limited (KSBL) CMD CParthasarathy and others as partof a money laundering investiga-tion against them.

He is currently lodged in theChanchalguda jail of Hyderabad

after being arrested by theTelangana Police last month.

The ED searches were carriedout on September 22 at six loca-tions in Hyderabad and on vari-ous premises of Karvy group ofcompanies, connected entitiesand the residential premises of CParthasarathy, the agency said ina statement.

"Several incriminating evi-dences in the form of property

documents, personal diaries, elec-tronic devices, email dumps, etchave been seized and are beinganalysed," it said.

"It is reliably learnt that CParthasarathy is trying to off-loadhis shares in the group companiesthrough private deals and thus, inorder to preserve the proceeds ofcrime till further investigation,

ED freezes Rs 700 cr shares and assets ofKarvy stock broking CMD C Parthasarathy

‘Kanyadaan’ outdated ritual? Alia’s ad sparks debatePNS n NEW DELHI

The bride, pretty, radiant and inred, sits in front of the sacred fire,her family, the groom and his par-ents around her, the love flowinglike a balmy breeze. And in thatarguably most precious moment,she looks into the camera and asks-- why must a woman be commod-ified through the custom of‘kanyadaan', literally ‘donating adaughter'.

The ad for a lehenga brand fea-turing Bollywood star Alia Bhattas the much indulged daughterand granddaughter has fireddebate on social media platformsand elsewhere on the age-oldtradition of giving away thedaughter.

Many term it Hindu phobic for

casting aspersions on a ritual thatis part of the warp and weft ofsociety, others appreciate it forcalling out the patriarchy thatunderscores the custom and thereare those that feel it should havegone even further in its rejection.

"There is a growing number ofyoung women who are beginningto think about the issue, especial-ly as increasing number joins thework force, has access to ideas (viasocial media etc) that are critical of'women as property' concept. Thisad reflects that," sociologist SanjaySrivastava told PTI.

In the 1.41 minute ad, Bhatt, theself assured woman of today whoalso does a selfie pout with herfather while at the ‘mandap', recallsher lifetime of ‘othering' in a mono-logue -- her fond grandmother say-

ing she would one day go to herown home, her father not reactingwhen people called her "paraya

dhan" (alien property) and hermother calling her a 'chidiya' whichwould fly away one day.

The Manyawar ad ends with thegrooms's parent also joining in inthe ritual (though it is unclearwhether they too are giving awaytheir son) and Bhatt's bride sayingit should be 'kanyamaan' (respectfor the girl child) and not'kanyadaan', and asking, "Am I athing to be given away?"

Her angst finds wide echo. Actor Dia Mirza, who decided to

do away with the rituals of both"bidaai" and "kanyadaan" whenshe got married to businessmanVaibhav Rekhi, said they wantedthe wedding to reflect their "beliefsand not outmoded ideas".

RTC mulls monetisationof assets, ticket fare hike

GOVT NOT FOR PRIVATISATION

ML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

Notwithstanding the speculationabout privatisation of TelanganaState Road Transport Corporationgiven the financial crisis it has beengoing through, reliable sources inthe government categorically ruledout any such move.

It may be mentioned here thatas part of their election campaignin the Huzurabad Assembly con-stituency, TRS leaders have beentrying to corner the BJP over itspolicy of privatising PSUs andhanding them over to corporate.

Government sources said effortswould be explore ways and meansto improve the revenues of RTCthrough increasing ticket fare andmonetising some of the valuableassets of the Corporation by giv-

ing them on lease.In a recent high-level review

meeting chaired by Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao with RTCofficials and its Chairman about themeasures to bring the Corporationout of its financial crisis due to thepandemic and worsened by the hikein petrol, diesel rates and prices ofspare parts, officials stronglyfavoured hike in RTC fare.

Cyclone Gulab todrench TelanganaPNS n HYDERABAD

Impending Cyclone ‘Gulab’ isexpected to bring rains acrossTelangana on Sunday and Mondaywhile the northern parts of theState would receive heavy rainfall.

The depression over northeastand adjoining east-central Bay ofBengal has now intensified into adeep depression, with the IMD onSaturday. The weathermen saidthat the system may further con-centrate into a cyclonic stormand move towards Odisha andAndhra Pradesh.

Cyclone ‘Gulab’ is likely to crossthe Odisha and Andhra Pradeshcoast with wind speeds of 70 to 80kmph and gusting up to 90kmphspeed on Sunday evening.

The deep depression lay centred510 km east-southeast of Gopalpurand 590 km east of Kalingapatnamin Andhra Pradesh early onSaturday.

As TSDPS weather forecastsaid: “Under the influence of thisdepression,

‘HMDA jurisdiction to be increased’PNS n HYDERABAD

Animal Husbandry MinisterTalasani Srinivas Yadav onSaturday said that the jurisdictionof Hyderabad MetropolitanDevelopment Authority (HMDA)is likely to be increased soon.

Speaking at the HMWSSBoffice here on Saturday, Talasanisaid, “Greater Hyderabad is theheart of Telangana and India.HMDA jurisdiction is also likelyto increase. Hyderabad is devel-oping and expanding faster than

any other city in the country andthe world.”

HMDA was formed in 2008,with an area of 7,257 sq km

under its purview. HMDA juris-diction covers seven districts,

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, who reachedDelhi on Saturday met Union JalShakti Minister Gajendra SinghShekhawat to discuss the concernsof the State related to sharing ofriver waters with Andhra Pradeshand about certain provisions in thegazette notification on jurisdictionof Krishna and Godavari River

Management Boards.He is also believed to have

requested postponement of imple-mentation of notification fromOctober 14.

According to those in the know,KCR reiterated the request that onlyprojects common to both theTelugu States should be broughtunder the ambit of the jurisdictionof the Boards.

TS gets Rs 174 cr fromCentre to boost CapexNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The Union government hasapproved capital projects worthRs 174 crore for Telangana underthe scheme ‘Special Assistance toStates for Capital Expenditure forFY22’ and has released Rs 40.20crore to the State.

The scheme was launched inApril, in view of a higher multi-plier effect of capital expenditureand to provide the much-neededresources to the State in the wakeof Covid-19 second wave.

An official release said thatscheme gives timely stimulus toeconomic recovery.

The Department ofExpenditure, Ministry of Finance,has approved capital projects ofRs 2,903.80 crore in eight statesincluding Telangana under the

scheme and released an amountof Rs 1,393.83 crore.

State Amount AmountApproved Released

Bihar 831.00 415.50

Chhattisgarh 282.00 141.00

Himachal

Pradesh 200.00 100.00

Madhya

Pradesh 649.00 324.50

Maharashtra 522.00 249.73

Punjab 45.80 22.90

Sikkim 200.00 100.00

Telangana 174.00 40.20

Total 2903.80 1393.83

Center approves 174 crfor TS under scheme

to boost capex

V-P Naidu calls foraddressing shortageof healthcare staffPNS n NEW DELHI

Vice President M Venkaiah Naiduon Saturday called for addressingthe shortage of trained humanresources in the health sector ona war footing.

Naidu made the remarks whileaddressing the convocation of theUniversity College of MedicalSciences (UCMS).

Noting the low doctor to pop-ulation ratio at 1:1,511 in Indiaagainst the WHO norm of1:1,000, he stressed the need forcreating more medical colleges inline with the government's inten-tion of setting up one medical col-lege and hospital in every districtof the country.

Referring to the paucity ofparamedical staff in the country,

EC clears confusion;symbols resemblingTRS’s ‘car’ not to be usedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) has imposed restric-tions on the use of auto-rickshaw,cap, iron box and truck as pollsymbols in Telangana and AndhraPradesh.

Apart from AP and Telangana,other States and Union Territoriesacross the country have beengiven the opportunity to usethese poll symbols.

It may be mentioned here thatTRS had earlier written to EC onhow voters in Telangana Statewere getting confused with partysymbols,

Modi govt guided byDeendayal Upadhyay’sprinciples: NaddaPNS n NEW DELHI

BJP president J P Nadda onSaturday said the Modi govern-ment's policies and programmesare guided by the principlesespoused by the party's ideo-logue Deendayal Upadhyay as hepaid tributes to him on his 105thbirth anniversary.

Be it economy or social sector,Upadhyay's mantras of "integralhumanism" and "antyodaya" havebeen the driving force of the gov-ernment's programmes, Naddasaid in a statement, adding thatModi's emphasis on "sabka saath,sabka vikas" is guided by this.

On the occasion, Nadda alsofelicitated veteran workers of theBharatiya Jana Sangh, the precur-sor to the BJP, at the party head-quarters here.

He cited a number of govern-ment's programmes like Jan DhanYojana, Pradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi,

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao presents a bouquet of flowers to Union Jal ShaktiMinister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in New Delhi on Saturday.

TS CM seeks postponement of gazette notificationimplementation; nod for Palamuru-Ranga Reddy

Only common projects under Boards: KCR

Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav speaks at the HMWSSB office on Saturday.

"When India grows, theworld grows, when Indiatransforms, the worldtransforms", heannounced. "Yes,democracy can deliver. Yes,democracy has delivered,"Prime Minister Modi saidemphatically, citing his own20 years as head of agovernment -- both asGujarat Chief Minister andthe Indian Premier.

Dalit made to spendRs 11K on feast for

entering temple

Close on the heels of a Dalit family

being penalised Rs 25,000 overtheir two-year-old son entering a

temple in Kustagi, a Dalit man wasforced to arrange a feast spending Rs

11,000 for entering a Lakshmi Devitemple in a village at Karatagi about 11days ago, a police officer said. “Yes, itis true that the man spent Rs 11,000

to arrange feast for entering thetemple. Our officers are investigatingthe matter," SP T Sreedhara said on

Saturday. According to him, theincident came to light only on Fridayand since then the temple manage-

ment led by the priest raised an alarmand forced the man to organise thefeast. Sreedhara said a few months

ago, a theft had taken place in thevillage and it was decided that no one

except the priest enters the temple.

Cong backs BharatBandh called by

agitating farmers

The Congress on Saturday

extended support to theBharat Bandh call given

by farmer unions against the Centre'sthree agri laws and demanded that

discussions be initiated with theprotesters. Congress spokesperson

Gourav Vallabh said the Congressparty and all its workers will support

the "peaceful Bharat Bandh onSeptember 27, called by farmer unions

and farmers". "We demand that thedue process of discussion with thefarmers should be initiated because

they are sitting on the borders of Delhifor last more than nine months. We

demand that these three black laws betaken back," Gourav Vallabh said.

CBIC makes Aadhaarmandatory

for GST refund

The government has made Aadhaar

authentication of taxpayersmandatory for claiming GST

refund. The Central Board of IndirectTaxes and Customs (CBIC) has

amended GST rules bringing in variousanti-evasion measures, including

disbursal of GST refunds only in thebank account, which is linked with

same PAN on which Goods andServices Tax (GST) registration hasbeen obtained. The notification also

states that from January 1, 2022,businesses who have defaulted in filing

summary return and paying monthlyGST will not be able to file GSTR-1

sales return of the succeeding month.

Continued on page 2

In brief

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When India reforms, worldtransforms, PM tells UNGA

Denmark teamvisits NTPC’sRamagundam unit

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 26, 2021

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PNS n PEDDAPALLY

A high-level delegation fromthe Danish Energy Agencyvisited NTPC's Ramagundamunit here on Saturday. SunilKumar, CGM (Ramagundam& Telangana) and other seniorofficials welcomed the dele-gates and guided them during

their visit to prominent loca-tions in the plant. Of the nine-member delegation, five arefrom the Danish EnergyAgency, two from COWI andtwo others from the Embassyof Denmark.

The delegation visited theplant as part of the India-Denmark Energy Partnership

(INDEP) study program on'Flexibilization and Waste HeatRecovery in Thermal PowerPlant'. The delegates wentround Unit no.7 ControlRoom, Boiler and Turbine areaand discussed technicalaspects.

The team also went roundthe FGD area in Telangana

Project, Miyawaki Forest andsaw the 100-MW FloatingSolar Project. They werebriefed on its uniqueness andthe progress of works. The del-egates as well as NTPC seniorofficials planted saplings inthe township. NTPC seniorofficials and others were pre-sent on the occasion.

CM pays tributesto AilammaPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao onSaturday recalled the demo-cratic fighting spirit ofChityala (Chakali) Ailammaand the Telangana ArmedStruggle Icon on the occasionof her 126th Jayanti falling onSeptember 26.

He said that Ailammabecame the symbol of women’sawareness and the self-respectof the Telangana artisan com-munities. In a statement, KCRsaid that Ailamma, who wasborn in the Most BackwardClasses community, gave inspi-ration to the TelanganaBahujan communities. Shewas a great democrat whofought for her rights during theArmed Struggle days, withinthe framework of law and inthe courts for justice, the ChiefMinister said. He said thatAilamma’s democratic fightingspirit was very much part in theTelangana statehood move-ment. Chityala Ailamma’s birthand death anniversaries werebeing organised officially by thegovernment and more pro-grammes would be taken up incoming days to make futuregenerations remember thegreat leader, he said.

Denmark team visitsNTPC's Ramagundam unit

SECOND WAVE, ALONE IN DELHI, COVID

M'rashtra youth triumphs odds to crack civil servicesPNS n NEW DELHI

Covid almost shattered hisdream, making him so weak hethought he wouldn't survive. OnSaturday, a day after he crackedthe civil services, Aditya Jiwanesaid thank you – to his parentsfor making him think big and tobureaucrats from his home stateMaharashtra who handheldhim through multiple crises ina new city. Jiwane, 25, wasranked 399 in the civil servicesresults announced on Friday. Heis confident he will find a placein the elite IndianAdministrative Service, and alsotriumphant that he had over-come many odds.

“Civil services is the dreamsmy parents saw for me,” Jiwane,a mechanical engineer fromYashwantrao College ofEngineering, Nagpur, told PTI.

“As I grew, their dreamsbecame mine,” added the son ofteacher parents. While his fatherlectures in a local college inWarora in Chandrapur, hismother teaches in a zillaparishad school there.

That dream almost didn'thappen, he said.

It was April, the second wavewas raging through the nation-al capital and Jiwane, who haddecided to to move to Delhi inJanuary for his Mains exam inJanuary after appearing for hisPrelims in Nagpur, was alone.

Jiwane, who had made twounsuccessful attempts at theexams, was preparing for theinterview — the last step in thegruelling three-stage examina-tion process of one of the most-sought after exams in the coun-try — when he too was struckby Covid. Hospitals were over-

whelmed and Jiwane was one ofthe many struggling to find abed in a city where the healthinfrastructure had been crippledby the high number of cases. Hishigh resolution CT (HRCT)score of the chest was 18, indi-cating that the situation wasindeed perilous.

He was alone with high feverin his room in Mukherjee Nagar— the civil services hub innorthwest Delhi — and thoughthe wouldn't make it for theinterview, then scheduled inMay. Jiwane said he somehowmanaged an oxygen cylinder forhimself. That started emptyingrapidly and he knew he neededhospitalisation. But that waseasier said than done.

He then sent an SOS messageon different WhatsApp groups.Civil servants from his state,posted in different parts of the

country, spotted the messageand chipped in.

“His condition was reallycritical. We got in touch withhis parents and other officersposted in Delhi so that he canget immediate help. His parentsalso had to be comforted asthey were really worried,” saidDeputy Commissioner(Customs), Nitish Pathode, anIndian Revenue Service officercurrently posted at theMumbai airport.

“We could manage a bed,but then it was without an oxy-gen,” Pathode told PTI.

Swagat Patil, a DANIPS(Delhi, Andaman and NicobarIslands, Lakshadweep, Dadraand Nagar Haveli and Damanand Diu Police Service) officerand an assistant commissionerwith Delhi Police helped him geta bed in Burari.

Clash over payment offine claims student’s life

BITS imposed fine for broken windowpanePNS n WARANGAL

A clash among three studentssharing a hostel room overwho should pay the fineimposed on them by the col-lege hostel authorities for abroken windowpane resultedin the death of one of them onFriday night.

The incident took place inthe Balaji Institute of Scienceand Technology (BITS). Thedeceased, a polytechnic diplo-ma student, was identified asN Sanjay Kumar, 18, residentof Vangapally village inKamalapur mandal ofHanumakonda district.

During the scuffle amongthe three, one of them fellthrough the window, whichhad no pane and receivedsevere injuries. He was rushedto a private hospital inWarangal town for treatment,

but he died on Friday night.According to sources, the

three students viz. N SanjayKumar, Shiva Raj andManohar, pursuing polytech-nic diploma course in theBITS, share room in the collegehostel. A few days ago, theybroke the window pane.During an inspection, whenthe college management foundthat there was no windowpanein the room, a fine wasimposed on them.

On Friday night, the threestudents came to the room andstarted arguing with oneanother about who should paythe fine. Soon they startedmanhandling and pushing oneanother, in the course of whichSanjay Kumar fell through thewindow.

College security alertedBITS chairman Dr RajenderaPrasad Reddy, who rushed to

the spot. The injured studentSanjay Kumar was shifted tothe Narsampet hospital, wherethe doctors stated that hiscondition was critical.Immediately he was shifted toa private hospital in Warangal.However, he succumbed toinjuries while undergoingtreatment there.

The parents of the deceasedstudent, N Bhaskar andKavitha, held the college man-agement responsible for theirson's death. They wanted themanagement to take immedi-ate action against the culpritsand demanded compensation.

The body of the student wasshifted to MGM Hospital forautopsy. A case has been reg-istered with the NarsampetPolice Station. Circle InspectorK Karuasagar Reddy and Sub-Inspector V Ramcharan areinvestigating the case.

With pledge to combat threats,Quad begins new cooperationPNS n WASHINGTON DC

The leaders of Australia, India,Japan and the US on Fridaysaid that they are beginningnew cooperation in cyber-space and pledged to worktogether to combat cyberthreats, promote resilience andsecure the critical infrastruc-ture of the member nations.

"In space, we will identifynew collaboration opportuni-ties and share satellite data forpeaceful purposes such as mon-itoring climate change, disasterresponse and preparedness,sustainable uses of oceans andmarine resources, and onresponding to challenges inshared domains," Quad leaderssaid in a statement.

The Quadrilateral SecurityDialogue (Quad) Summit washeld on Friday where a range

of issues, includingAfghanistan, cooperation ininfrastructure, COVID-19 vac-cines, and the Indo-Pacific,were discussed.

Leader-level experts vowedto meet regularly to advancework between government andindustry on driving continuousimprovements in areas, includ-ing adoption and implementa-tion of shared cyber stan-dards; development of securesoftware; building workforceand talent; and promoting thescalability and cybersecurity ofsecure and trustworthy digitalinfrastructure.

The statement said the Quadwill begin space cooperationfor the first time with a newworking group. "In particular,our partnership will exchangesatellite data, focused on mon-itoring and adapting to climate

change, disaster preparedness,and responding to challengesin shared domains."

It said the Quad nations willshare Satellite Data to protectthe earth and help membercountries to better adapt to cli-mate change.

"Our four countries will startdiscussions to exchange Earthobservation satellite data andanalysis on climate-changerisks and the sustainable use ofoceans and marine resources.Sharing this data will helpQuad countries to better adaptto climate change and to buildcapacity in other Indo-Pacificstates that are at grave climaterisk, in coordination with theQuad Climate Working group."

Quad leaders also renewedtheir commitment to promotefree, open, rules-based order inthe Indo-Pacific.

When India reforms...Continued from page 1

"Despite limited resources,India - which believes in thephilosophy of "Seva ParamDharam" (service is the high-est religion) - is completelyinvested in the developmentand manufacture of the vac-cines," PM Modi stressed as hegave details about ZydusCadila's three-dose COVID-19 DNA vaccine that wascleared by the drug regulatorDCGA last month.

ZyCoV-D is the world's firstplasmid DNA vaccine againstthe coronavirus. It uses a sec-tion of genetic material fromthe virus that gives instruc-tions as either DNA or RNA tomake the specific protein thatthe immune system recog-nises and responds to.

"There is another m-RNAvaccine, which is in the finalstages of development. Ourcountry's scientists are alsoinvolved in the development ofa nasal vaccine for coron-avirus."

"While understanding theresponsibility towards human-ity, India has yet again startedgiving vaccines to those whoneed it," the Prime Ministersaid. Prime Minister NarendraModi took a swipe at Pakistanover "using terrorism as apolitical tool" at his address tothe UN General Assemblytoday. "The danger of regres-sive thinking and extremism isrising in the world," PM Modisaid at the 76th session of theUnited Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA), which

was held online last year dueto the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Those who use terrorism asa political tool should knowthat terrorism is dangerous forthem too," PM Modi said, aday after India gave a strongresponse to Pakistani PrimeMinister Imran Khan bringingup the Kashmir issue at theUNGA.

Pakistan has long beenknown to shelter terror groupslike Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed on its soil andIndia has brought this upumpteen times in the interna-tional fora. The 9/11 attacksmastermind Osama Bin Ladenwas found hiding in Pakistan,and the country has severalterror camps near the Line ofControl with India. One ofthem in Balakot was hit byIndian airstrikes in February2019.

PM Modi called for abroader global responseagainst terrorism, and alsoasked nations to work towardskeeping the world's shippinglanes free from "expansion-ism".

"In Afghanistan, minoritiesneed help. We should fulfil ourresponsibility... We must keepin mind that we can use oceanresources, but not abuse them.The world must protect theoceans from expansionismand keep maritime trade free,"PM Modi said.

Earlier, the Pakistani PrimeMinister raised the Kashmirissue by mentioning India'smove to make Jammu andKashmir a Union Territory.

4th UN speech of little...Continued from page 1

India's diversity is the iden-tity of the country's strongdemocracy, he added. "It isa country that has dozens oflanguages and hundreds ofdialects, different lifestylesand cuisine. This is the bestexample of a vibrant democ-racy."

Modi govt guided...Continued from page 1

Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana,direct benefit transfer,Ujjwala scheme and electri-fication exercise to say thatUpadhyay's idea of empower-ing the most deprived is attheir root. He asked BJPworkers to seek inspirationfrom his life. The party isobserving his birth anniver-sary at over 10.40 lakh boothsacross the country, he noted.

Nadda called Upadhyay amultifaceted personality whodedicated himself to servingthe society. His political jour-ney was very short but in sucha short span, he played animportant role in increasingthe strength of Jana Sangh andestablishing it as a nationalparty, Nadda said.

ED freezes Rs 700 cr shares...Continued from page 1

ED has issued a freezingorder on September 24 andthe estimated value of theseshares has been arrived at Rs700 crore as per the valua-tion for the year 2019-20," itsaid.

These shares of the Karvygroup are being held "direct-ly and indirectly" by CMDComandur Parthasarathy,his sons Rajat Parthasarathyand Adhiraj Parthasarathy,and their entities.

The ED case, filed underthe criminal provisions ofthe Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), isbased on a Telangana PoliceFIR alleging KSBL had "ille-gally pledged the securitiesof its clients and taken a loanof Rs 329 crore and divert-ed the same."

"Another FIR has beenregistered by central crimestation of Hyderabad Policefor defrauding IndusIndBank to the tune of Rs 137crore and one more FIR hasbeen reg is tered byCyberabad Police authoritiesfor defrauding ICICI Bank

to the tune of Rs 562.5crore," it said.

The ED has clubbed allthese FIRs as part of itsprobe and has also recordedthe s tatement of CParthasarathy in jail.

KSBL under the leader-ship of C Parthasarathy hadcommitted "gross irregular-ities" and all the illegallytaken loans have becomeNPA, the agency said.

It is learnt that more FIRsare being registered by otherbanks and also individualshareholders/ investors, theED said.

The total loan proceedstaken from multiple banksusing the same modusoperandi is around Rs 2,873crore, it said, adding that theNSE and SEBI are also inves-tigating the affairs of KSBL.

The agency said its probefound that KSBL "did notreport" the depository par-ticipatory or DP accountno. 11458979, namedKARVY STOCK BROKINGLTD (BSE), in the filingsmade from January-August,2019 withregulators/exchanges.

V-P Naidu calls...Continued from page 1

Naidu called for improvingthe nurse to population ratio(1:670 in India, compared tothe WHO norm of 1:300) ona mission mode. On the short-age of trained manpower inrural areas, he suggested creat-ing better incentives and infra-structure to attract healthcareworkers to serve in villages.While noting the improve-ment in different health indi-cators since independence, hesaid that there were manychallenges that require a coor-dinated and concertedapproach by both the govern-ment and the private sector.

He stressed that the first stepto achieving the goal of 'Healthfor All' is to increase publicspending on health.

He referred to the 15th FinanceCommission recommendations,which said that states shouldincrease spending on health tomore than eight per cent of theirrespective budgets by 2022 andthe public health expenditure ofthe Centre and States togethershould be increased in a progres-sive manner to reach 2.5 per centof GDP by 2025.

RTC mulls monetisation...Continued from page 1

The meeting also discussedthe ways and means beexplored to increase the revenueof RTC apart from increasingthe fare to ensure that itbecomes self-reliant. At present,the Corporation is struggling topay salaries of its employees andis not in a position to add to itsfleet despite the need to step upthe number of bus services andincrease the frequency of tripsto meet the demand from pas-sengers.

The privatisation proposalcame to the fore when RTCChairman BajireddyGovardhan disclosed that theChief Minister gave fourmonths to the Corporation toimprove its finances or therewould be no option but to pri-vatise it.

Though there was no indica-tion to that effect from theCMO, the Chairman’s remarksadded fuel to the speculation

that government, which is look-ing at monetisation of lands forresource mobilisation, mightalso dispose of RTC’s assets cit-ing its poor financial status.

A report believed to havebeen submitted by the RTCauthorities to the governmentabout the assets and liabilitiesof RTC gave credence to thetalk.

The report said that RTC hasabout 1,400 acres in 10 erst-while districts, 11 regions, 97depots, 364 bus stands and sev-eral assets in the form of build-ings and facilities. The openmarket value of land would beover Rs 70,000 crore as perRTC’s report while the govern-ment registration value wouldbe Rs 12,000 crore.

The liabilities of RTC are esti-mated at Rs 5,600 crore –including Rs 1,395 crore inbank loans raised by mortgag-ing land in five places, Rs 2,279crore loan under governmentguarantee.

TS gets Rs 174 cr from Centre...Continued from page 1

The eight states include Bihar,Chhattisgarh, HimachalPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Punjab, Sikkimand Telangana.

Under the scheme, specialassistance is being providedto the State Governments inthe form of 50-year interest-free loan up to an overall sumnot exceeding Rs 15,000 croreduring Financial Year 2021-22.

The scheme has three parts– the first for the eightNortheast States and the hillStates of Uttarakhand andHimachal Pradesh.Accordingly, Rs 200 crorehas been allocated to each ofthe seven North-East Statesand Rs 400 crore each toAssam, Himachal Pradeshand Uttarakhand.

In the second part, Rs7,400 crore is allocated toStates in proportion to their

share of Central taxes as perthe award of the 15th FinanceCommission for the year2021-22.

In the third part, Part-IIIincentives will be given StateGovernments for privatisa-tion/disinvestment of theState Public SectorEnterprises (SPSEs) andmonetisation/recycling ofassets. Under this part, Stateswill be provided additionalfunds under the scheme overand above their allocationunder Part-I or Part-II.

An amount of Rs 5,000crore is allocated for thethird part of the scheme. Forthis part, there is no Statespecific allocation and fundswill be provided on a “first-come first-served basis”.

A similar scheme entitled‘Special Assistance to Statesfor Capital Expenditure for2020-21' was also launchedby the Ministry of Finance inthe last Financial Year.

‘HMDA jurisdiction...Continued from page 1

70 mandals, 1,032 villagesincluding GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation consisting of175 villages and 40 munic-ipalities / nagar panchayatsconsisting of 138 villagesand remaining 719 villagesunder its jurisdiction.

Ministers Mahmood Aliand Talsani said that theTelangana government wasworking for urban develop-ment and infrastructure, inline with current needs aswell as future needs after ameeting at HMWSSB.

Talasani said, “In additionto the existing 25 STPs, wewill build another 31 STPs intwo years. We are ready toresolve the drinking waterand sewage problems thatmay arise in the future. Wehave set up four airtechmachines for each con-stituency.

‘Kanyadaan’ outdated ritual? Alia’s...Continued from page 1

"Neither of us believes thatwomen are commodities to begiven away or 'donated'.Women have agency, selfhoodand can make decisions abouttheir lives on their own so mywedding reflected exactly thatby not including a ritual like'kanyadaan'," the actor toldPTI.

She even engaged a femalepriest for her wedding toemphasise gender equality.

"It is time for young couplesto define how they want to getmarried and if their ceremonyis truly representative of theirpersonalities and love for eachother," said the actor, who isalso the United Nation'sNational GoodwillAmbassador from India.

The ritual of giving away thebride is, of course, not justabout Hindu weddings. It isalso a vital part of a Christian

wedding service where thefather walks down the aislewith his daughter and "handsher over" to the waiting groom.

Brought up on traditionand a diet of popular culture,including movies, both Indianand western, many womenhave now begun to questionthe patriarchal traditions ofwedding ceremonies acrosssocieties.

Mumbai-based IT analystMeghna Trivedi, who got mar-ried in February last year, saidthe ritual of "kanyadaan" doesnot make sense in today's dayand age but had to undergo theritual anyway.

Trivedi, a Gujarati who mar-ried a Punjabi, said she askedthe priest to find another waybut he maintained 'kanyadaan'is a "must".

"What you mean by‘kanyadaan' is that you're giv-ing away your daughter tosomebody else and that is

something you have to do inyour life and it's related to yourduties as a parent that nowyour daughter belongs toanother family," she told PTI.

"But I'm still my parents'daughter after I got married...'Kanyadaan' is like you're giv-ing me away and you havenothing to do with me any-more... You're severing tieslike I'm some object basicallythat you're giving away. Myparents did understand it butthe issue was 'this is how it is,has been and will be'."

Actor Kangana Ranaut wasamong those who disagreed.

Criticising the ad in anInstagram post, she said,"Humble request to all brands...don't use religion, minority,majority politics to sell things...Stop manipulating naive con-sumer with shrewd divisiveconcepts and advertising...Please stop mocking Hindusand their rituals..."

CBIC makesAadhaar...Continued from page 1

The notification follows thedecisions taken at the meet-ing of the GST Council inLucknow on September 17.

AMRG & AssociatesSenior Partner Rajat Mohansaid, "To arrest tax evasion,the government has madeAadhaar authentication forproprietor, partner, karta,Managing Director, wholetime Director, and autho-rised signatory compulsorybefore filing an applicationfor revocation of cancellationregistration and refund appli-cation."

EY Tax Partner AbhishekJain said with the objective ofpreventing revenue leakage,the government has madeAadhaar authenticationmandatory for a taxpayer tobe able to claim refunds.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 hyderabad 03

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

National Students Union ofIndia (NSUI) state unit presi-dent Venkat Balamoor, alongwith a delegation, on Saturdayhanded over a petition to theTelangana State Board ofIntermediate EducationSecretary Omar Jaleel seekingimmediate withdrawal of theIntermediate examinationschedule released on Friday.While speaking to media per-sons, Venkat Balamoor said"releasing the schedule again isnot an excuse to say that wewill promote without tests inthe past ignoring the promiseyou made to yourself and re-testing can lead to unforeseenevents for students to worryabout". He pointed out thatstudents taking the first yearexaminations would bestressed while preparing for

competitive exams. He saidthat the Board should promoteall students with at least 60%marks. "Will the governmentaccept responsibility if there isany danger to the students dueto the exams", he asked.

NSUI State vice presidentSaddam, State GeneralSecretaries Riteish Rao and

Jeevan, State SecretariesShreekar, Moheed, Pawan,Hyderabad District NSUI pres-ident Abhijeet Yadav,Hyderabad District generalsecretaries Narsa Goud andManikanta Goud, DistrictSecretaries Bilal and Siva RamaKrishna were among the del-egation.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Indian chapters of non-profitorganisation The IndUSEntrepreneurs expect to facil-itate long-term funding of upto USD 100 million for socialentrepreneurs during theupcoming sustainability sum-mit to be hosted by itsHyderabad Chapter.

TiE expects to facilitate fund-ing of USD 20 million in socialenterprises in the short term.

The non-profit body saidthat it is confident of fundingat least 50 to 100 social enter-prises during the summit,where the social entrepreneurswill be making a pitch to about200 global investors.

"Through its technology plat-form TiE is confident of facili-tating funding to a tune of USD

20 million in the short-termand about USD 100 million inthe long term (8-10 years to

promising social enterpriseswith ability to create a deepimpact on human society, ani-mals and nature," ManoharReddy, TSS Global Chair andPresident TiE Hyderabad saidin a statement.

TiE Sustainability Summit(TSS) is scheduled to be heldduring October 4 to 6, 2021,through a virtual platform.

"At TSS, we have designed aMatch Making' TechnologyPlatform for potential socialimpact investors to meet theirprospective investees (socialenterprises) who have the capa-bility and promise to not onlyprovide high return on invest-ment, but also create a deepsocial impact," Reddy said.

Mahavir Sharma, formerglobal chairman of the Board,TiE Global and Co-Founder,Rajasthan Angel said socialenterprises are the future uni-corns of the world.

"They will be building atrillion dollar economy. AtTiE we stay committed to ful-filling the needs of socialentrepreneurs who are facedwith the challenges of funding,attracting talent we will besolving both these by partner-ing with social impact fundsand large business to fundthem to a tune of USD 100million in the long term spreadacross a few phases based onbusiness viability and ability,"Sharma said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana on Saturday reported248 new Covid-19 cases, pushingthe tally to 6,64,898, while thedeath toll rose to 3,912 with onemore fatality.

The Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation (GHMC)accounted for the most numberof cases with 66, followed byKarimnagar (21) and RangaReddy (18) districts, a state gov-ernment bulletin said, providingdetails as of 5.30 PM on Saturday.

The number of recoveries out-numbered fresh cases on

Saturday with 324 people recu-perating from the infectious dis-ease. The cumulative number ofrecoveries till date was 6,56,285.Active cases stood at 4,701.

The bulletin said 52,702 sam-ples were tested today and thetotal number tested till date was2,61,57,678. The samples test-ed per million population were7,02,785.

The case fatality and recov-ery rates were at 0.58 per centand 98.70 per cent compared to1.3 per cent and 97.75 per cent,respectively at the nationallevel.

#HyderabadEarly Evening shots at

Sanjeevaiah Park(#HussainSaagar) maintained

by@HMDA_Gov

Did you know that a ??? ??????( maze) exists there ! Cyclone

Thanks@Govind_Nrn

PNS n HYDERABAD

JC Brothers managing direc-tors--Marri Janardhan Reddyand Marri Venkat Reddy onSaturday have said that theyare developing day by daydoing cloth business aimingto provide quality cloths tothe people of Hyderabad forthe last 20years with theircomplements. They said thatthey shifted thier showroomto a big building only to pro-vide comfortable services tothe Kukatpally customers.The chief guest for the open-ing program cine actorKruthi Shetty said that theowners transformed theshowroom as a wonderful

one. The cloth collection isalso so trendy, she said.Definitely it will become atrendy shopping destinycloth showroom to the com-

ing festival season, she stat-ed.

Earlier, Krithi Shetty inau-gurated the show room ingrand gala program.

Krithi Shetty inaugurates new JC Brothers’s showroom at Kukatpally

Telangana logs 248 newCovid cases, one death

TiE expects about $100 mn startupsfunding in sustainability summit

Promote Inter first yearstudents without exam: NSUI

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Economic AdviserKrishnamurthy Subramanianon Saturday expressed confi-dence that the listing of LICwould happen by the fourthquarter of this year.

"...this year's budget has Rs1.75 lakh crores as the pro-ceeds from privatisation. AirIndia is proceeding well. Youmust have read that there aretwo bids that have come.Bharat Petroleum and LIC'slisting is also, we are confidentit should happen by the fourthquarter of this year," he said.

"I am quite confident thatthis year, history will look at asa very, very important year forprivatisation," he said at aninteractive session as part of'PGPMAX LeadershipSummit 2021' of Indian Schoolof Business (ISB) here.

The government has recent-

ly appointed 10 merchantbankers including GoldmanSachs (India) Securities,Citigroup Global MarketsIndia, and Nomura FinancialAdvisory and Securities Indiato manage the mega initialpublic offering of country'slargest insurer LIC.

Subramanian, replying to aquery on privatisation, talkedabout the 'Atma NirbharBharat' policy and the keyreform of promoting privati-sation vis-a-vis public sectorentities except for some strate-gic sectors.

M L MELLY MAITREYI

n HYDERABAD

In wake of mounting criticismthat the personal funds spentby Sarpanches on works exe-cuted under the Palle Pragathiprogramme have not beenreimbursed, the State FinanceDepartment on Saturdayreleased details of the moneyreleased so far during the cur-rent financial year.

Denying reports that thegovernment put a hold onrelease of Finance Commissionfunds or funds to the PallePragathi and Pattana Pragathiprogrammes, it said Rs 2,487crore was released tillSeptember 23 in Financial Year2021-22 to villages and towns.

Ramakrishna Rao, SpecialChief Secretary, Finance madeit clear that no freeze of anykind was imposed either onFinance Commission funds oron payment of bills for the

works executed under the Palleand Pattana Pragathi pro-grammes. “The release of fundsis regular without any inter-ruption,” he said.

Though the State had beenfacing financial problemsunder the impact of the pan-demic since last financial year,the Finance Department hasbeen releasing funds in tunewith the government's priori-ty for both development andwelfare programmes and itwould continue in future,Ramakrishna Rao said.

He said that the State gov-ernment has given standinginstructions for release of Rs381.17 crore every month – Rs267 crore for villages and Rs112 crore for towns – to take updevelopment works and main-tenance of amenities underthe twin Palle and PattanaPragathi programmes. In factRs 200 crore was released addi-tionally over and above the

mandated monthly funds, itwas pointed out.

The department issued clar-ification on various chargesranging from pending dues tothe tune of Rs 1,000 crore todiversion of NREGA fundsand freeze on release of FinanceCommission funds.

At present Rs 431 crore werewith e-Kuber for payments tobe made – Rs 279 crore underPalle Pragathi and Rs 152 croreunder Pattana Pragathi.

The department also refut-ed reports saying alleging thatNREGS funds were divertedfor other purposes. While theCentre released Rs 1,487 crorein 2020-21, the State releasedRs 1,929 crore. In the currentfiscal, Rs 1,432 crore wasreleased and Rs 1,002 crore wasdisbursed, Ramakrishna Raosaid.

Telangana is the only State inthe country to have released Rs500 crore in addition to the 100

percent matching grant to theFinance Commission funds, hesaid. The Finance Commissionso far during this year releasedonly Rs.733 crore while theState government disbursedRs 2,487 crore, an additional Rs1,754 crore to the local bodies.

He dismissed reports ofsome sarpanches committingsuicide due to non-sanction ofpending bills as totally baseless.The administration soughtreports over the suicide of thesarpanch of Somavarampeta inSiricilla district and it came tolight that he was sufferingfrom a kidney ailment.

Somavarampeta panchayatwas released Rs 8.66 lakh dur-ing this financial year and onlytwo bills worth Rs 53,000 sub-mitted during this month wereto be paid. In the last five years,this panchayat was sanctionedand paid bills worth Rs 61.56lakh, Ramakrishna Rao said.

He also gave detailed

account of funds released forvarious works —Vaikunthadanams - Rs 527crore in 2020-21 and Rs 514crore this year and no bills werepending; CC Roads – Rs 315crore last year and Rs 146crore this year, Rs 41 crore billsto be cleared; Sheds for solidwaste—Rs 268 crore paid fortwo years and no bills pending;Palle Prakruthi Vanams – Rs 13crore last year and Rs 144crore this year and no billspending.

Ramakrishna Rao said thatunder Pattana Pragathi, barringGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation , Rs 1,241.72 crorewas released for 141 munici-palities and corporations thisyear and Rs 1,152 crore werealready paid and bills worth Rs89.69 crore were under process.

For GHMC, Rs.377.42 crorewas transferred last year underPattana Pragathi and Rs 185.87crore this year so far.

No freeze of Palle and Pattana Pragathi funds, clarifies govtRs 381 crore released every month for villages, towns, points out Finance Department

CEA confident ofLIC listing this yr

PNS n HYDERABAD

About 1,000 Jain business-men and professionals aregoing to experience a monk'slife for a day on Sunday. Theywill do so at Jayagardens,Somajiguda from morning toevening.

The programme is beingorganised under the aegis ofSri Vardhman Stanakvasi JainShravak Sangh, Ameerpet.

It is being organized underthe name 'Samuhik BhikshuDaya' -- a novel spiritualawakening programme inwhich around 1,000 business-men, professionals, CEOs, etc.will lead a life of a Jain monkfor a day!

Giving details, Chairmanand Sangh presidentRikabchand Tipada; GauthamChand Bafna; president AshokKumar Nahar; vice presidentAshok Kumar Tated, Secretary

Anil Tated, and Treasurer AnilKavadia said the programmehad been taken up by them toinvoke spiritual awakening aswell as to end the global pan-demic.

Sriman AnandramChellani, president of All IndiaJain Conference (ShramanSangh), will be the chief guest.

The 1000 Jains will take aretreat from their usual activ-ities to live the life of a Jainmonk for a day.

Away from the comforts oftheir modern lives, the par-ticipants will dress up in therobes of a monk, wearing acloth over the mouth/mask,and spend the day in prayersand even going for 'Bhiksha'door-to-door! All the 1,000people will only drink boiledwater, wear no footwear, willnot take any food after sunsetand follow 'Bharmacharya' forthe day.

1K Jains to experiencea monk's life for a day

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Task Force team of NorthZone, Hyderabad unearthedand apprehended one secu-rity guard Rajaram Singh ofBihar State who is illegallyprocuring and possession ofFireArm (DBBL Gun, withlive cartridges) allegedlypossession of Fake GunLicense on Saturday. ThePolice have seized a DBBLGun, fifteen live cartridges,fake gun license and mobile.The accused has done jobsuccessfully with a fake gunlicense and came toHyderabad for the same pur-pose, but his fake licensewas exposed here.

Rajaram Singh (38) isnative of Mirzapur of Biharstate. He is working as asecurity guard in Bihar forlivelihood. He came to knowthat Ex-Service men are get-ting high amounts with gunlicenses and Firearms. Thereis demand for armed securi-ty personnel, as most of theprivate companies, ATM Sec-urity Services are preferringarmed security personnel.

PNS n HYDERABAD

As part of the State government'sefforts to make Sundays fundaysfor the families on the TankBund by introducing them to aslew of immersive and enjoyableexperiences, the Women SafetyWing of the Telangana StatePolice will be organising its eventon 26th September. The WomenSafety Wing, in partnership withLead Life Foundation, 92.7 BigFM and Aerock Dance Fitness,will create awareness about thefunctioning of SHE-TEAMS inthe State.

The Women Safety Wing isa state level vertical of theTelangana Police looking afterthe safety and security ofwomen and children from a360- degree perspective. As anodal agency for SHE-TEAMS, which are now func-tioning in all police units, thewing plans to conduct suchawareness sessions in the lake-side stretch of the HussainSagar on Sundays to enthrallthe crowd the with fun andeducate them alongsidetowards the vision of 'genderequal' state ensuring the safe-

ty, dignity and empowermentof women & children.

The first kick-off sessionwill be conducted on theupcoming Sunday and isexpected to include many funactivities like Zumba, selfplays, self-defence techniquesetc.

Members of the public arewelcome to participate and joinwith the Telangana Police intheir efforts to provide a safeenvironment for women andchildren within the carnivalatmosphere this Sunday atHyderabad's Tank Bund Road.

SHE Teams promise a ‘real’show at this Sunday’s Funday

Man withfake gunlicense held

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In an innovative initiative, theCongress student wing NSUIis conducting a video com-petition on “Who KilledGandhi? Why” topic on theoccasion of 75 years ofIndependence for students.

NSUI AP vice-presidentMoola Reddy Dhruva KumarReddy released a video posteron the competition whichwould be held for studentsand said that prizes would begiven to winners.

He said that the NSUInational committee decidedto bring about an awarenesson Gandhi and conspiracy tokill him in view of the falsepropaganda by the saffronorganisations.

Dhruv Kumar Reddy stat-ed that Rs 11,000 would befirst prize, Rs 5,500 will besecond prize and Rs 3,300 isthe third prize for the bestshort videos.

Video contestby NSUI

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | SUNDAY| SEPTEMBER 26,2021

PNS n SIDDIPET

Finance Minister T HarishRao has ordered a specialdrive to check communicablediseases in towns here onSunday in view of the increas-ing number of viral fever casesin certain municipal areas ofthe district.

The drive, with a highlyfocused approach, includesfogging operations, droppingof oil balls in water bodies, andensuring that there is no waterstagnation in and aroundhouses.

During a teleconferencewith elected people's represen-tatives, municipal chairmen,councillors, commissioners aswell as medical and health offi-cials on Saturday, the Ministerenquired from the authoritiesthe situation with regard toseasonal diseases and the treat-ment being provided topatients in the district.

District Medical and Healthofficial Dr Manohar told theMinister that so far 14 denguecases had been registered inthe district. There were nocases of chickengunya andmalaria. However, more andmore viral fever cases werebeing reported, he told theMinister.

Expressing concern over theincreasing number of viralfevers in the district, HarishRao directed the Medical andHealth Dept officials to mon-itor the seasonal fever casesand asked people having fever

symptoms to get themselvestested immediately as suitablearrangements had been madein government hospitals fordiagnosis and treatment.

Mentioning that feverpatients had been approachinghospitals - both private andgovernment, he observed thatfever cases were very high inurban areas. Therefore, heasked the municipalities tolaunch a full-scale drive intowns on Sunday in all wardswith people's participation. Hesuggested that municipal chair-men, councillors, commission-ers, officials and sanitationworkers should take part in thedrive without fail. Further, heasked the MP, MLC, MLAs anddistrict officials to take part inthe drive and sensitise peopleon viral fevers.

Harish insisted that afocused dr ive should belaunched by constituting spe-cial teams under the leadership

of the District Collector fromMonday onwards till the situ-ation was brought under con-trol. The teams should focuson areas where cases had beenreported and ensure that therewas no water stagnation in andaround houses in the affectedlocalities.

Medical and Health,Panchayat Raj and Municipalofficials should remain alerttill the monsoon season wasover, he suggested.

Distr ic t Col lector PVenkatrami Reddy said thatthe special drive would belaunched in towns f romSunday onwards to ensurehygienic surroundings, besidessensitizing people.

Local MP Kotha PrabhakarReddy, MLC Farooq Hussain,MLAs Voditala Satish Kumarand Raghunandan Rao, addi-tional collector MuzammeelKhan and others took part inthe video conference.

PNS n KOTHAGUDEM

In a major milestone, theSingareni Collieries CompanyLimited (SCCL) has crossed200 megawatt (MW) solarenergy capacity with the com-missioning of the latest 37MW solar plant inKothagudem. This 37 MWplant was inaugurated onWednesday by company direc-tors N.Balaram andD.Satyanarayana Rao.

Singareni has been erectingsolar plants as part of its envi-ronment protection and con-servation measures. It hasdecided to initially erect 13plants totaling 300 MW ineight areas of the company.Erection of these plants is to becompleted in three phases.

In the first phase, BHEL wasgiven the contract to completesolar plants in four areas for 129MW power generation. Out ofthis, 40 MW in Ramagundam-3, 30 MW in Manuguru, 39MW in Yellandu, and 10 MWplant in power plant area havebeen completed and generationhas begun. The balance 10MW plant erection in thisphase at RG-3 will be complet-ed in another month.

Adani ConstructionCompany was given the con-tract to complete 4 plants in

three areas with a capacity of90 MW. Of this, 37 MW atKothagudem, 28 MW atMandamarri-A block, 15 MWat Mandamarri-B block and 10MW at Bhupalapalli have beencompleted. With this, SCCLhas reached solar power gen-eration of 209 MW.

Singareni Collieries is thefirst coal company to enter thesolar power sector along withthermal power. SCCLChairman and ManagingDirector N.Sridhar showedspecial interest in solar power.In Singareni already 122.3 mil-lion units of solar power hasbeen generated and connectedto the grid. This solar power isbeing used in different areas ofSingareni, thereby reducingthe purchase of power fromdistribution companies. The

company has thus savedaround Rs 75 crore until now.

When the 300 MW solarpower generation is complet-ed, Singareni would be savingaround Rs 120 crore per year.

15 MW floating solar plant

In the third phase, Singareniis going to erect 81 MW capac-ity solar plants and it hashanded over to the Adani andNovas group. Novas grouphas already started erection of15 MW floating power planton the reservoir on the premis-es of the Singareni thermalpower plant. The Adani grouphas taken up erection of 22MW plant on RG-3 open castdump, 10 MW on Dorli opencast dump, and 34 MW atKothagudem, Chennuru.

PNS n RAJANNA SIRICILLA

Bharatiya Janata PartyTelangana unit president andMP Bandi Sanjay Kumar hasdeclared that his party wouldorganize a 'Million March' insupport of unemployed youthshould the TRS governmentfail to issue employment noti-fication by Deepavali festival.

He was addressing a publicmeeting on the 29th day of hisPraja Sangram Yatra atAnkireddypalli in the SircillaAssembly constituency. TheMP pointed out that about1.91 lakh government jobswere lying vacant in the stateand more than 25 lakh youthwere unemployed as per offi-cial data.

Youth had supported theTelangana Rashtra Samiti dur-ing the statehood movementwith a hope that they wouldget jobs in the new Telangana

State. But Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao haddeceived them by not fillingeven the vacant governmentposts, he said.

The BJP state unit presidenturged jobless youth to refrainfrom taking any extreme steps

and assured them that the BJPwould organize Million Marchto protect their rights if thestate government failed torelease job notification byDeepavali.

Recalling the sacrifices ofSrikanth Chari, constable

Krishna, Yadagiri, Sunil Nayakand others who had commit-ted suicide for Telangana,Sanjay said it was unfortunatethat KCR was not concernedthough youth and farmerswere committing suicide inTelangana State.

Addressing the gathering,ex-MP and actressVijayashanti recalled the con-tribution of people, particular-ly youth, during the move-ment for achieving a separateTelanana state. "Now youthshould show the same spirit tooust this corrupt government,"she observed.

Party ex-MLA NVSSPrabhakar, Rajanna districtparty president P Rama krish-nam, BJYM state presidentBhanu Prakash, Yatra PramilaDr Manohar Reddy , spokesperson Rakesh Reddy anddistrict leaders also attendedthe meeting.

Million March if there is no jobnotification by Diwali: Bandi

Ex-MP and actress Vijayashanti urged youth to oust TRS govt

CONCERN OVER INCREASING VIRAL FEVERS IN SIDDIPET DISTRICT

Harish orders special drive to check communicable diseases

Continued from Page 1

especially truck, iron, capand camera, which closelyresemble the TRS poll sym-bol.

TRS believed that theparty candidates lost theelection by a slim margin insome constituencies onlydue to confusion with sym-bols that appear more or lesssimilar to the TRS poll sym-bol, the ‘car’. Meanwhile,the ECI placed the ‘glass’poll symbol, previouslyassigned to Janasena, in the‘free symbols’ category.

This move ahead ofHuzurabad bypoll, raiseseyebrows.

The ECI had on Fridayissued a gazette notificationamending the election sym-bols.The poll panel assignspermanent election sym-bols to national and stateparties.

The ElectionCommission has imposedsome restrictions on theallocation of free symbolsfor unrecognised parties. Ithas issued fresh orders tak-ing steps to prevent the useof multiple markers in therespective States in accor-dance with the conditionsprevailing.

Singareni crosses 200 MWsolar capacity with new plant

PNS n JAMMIKUNTA

Over 20,000 people belongingto the Reddy community,including women and youth,turned up at the 'ReddyGarjana' held at the marketyardin Jammikunta here onSaturday to garner support forTRS' Huzurabad candidateGelupu Srinivasa Yadav. Thecrowd spilled onto the streetsnear the venue of the event.

Assembly SpeakerPocharam Srinivas Reddy,Finance Minister T HarishRao, Education Minister SabitaIndra Reddy, AgricultureMinister S Niranjan Reddy,Civil Supplies MinisterGangula Kamalakar, WelfareMinister Koppula Eswar, RytuBandhu president PallaRajeshwar Reddy and otherstook part in the event.

The entire premises rever-berated with "Jai Reddy-Jai JaiReddy" slogans.

Pocharam Srinivasa Reddyaddressed the gathering firstand left the venue early becauseof his preoccupation with otherworks. TRS Huzurabad candi-

date Srinivasa Yadav was themain draw at the event. Hegreeted the audience from thedais. Former minister InugalaPeddireddy presided over themeeting.

Several people were heardremarking that the Garjanawas the biggest gathering of theReddy community to take placein the Huzurabad constituency.The Ministers appealed to theReddy community to ensurethe victory of Srinivasa Yadavwith the highest majority. TRSyouth leader Padi KaushikReddy, in his characteristicstyle, criticised former minister

Eatala Rajender, drawing loudcheers from the gathering.

Former minister Peddireddyand Reddy association leadersworked hard to make the eventa grand success. TRS circles arejubilant over the success of theReddy Garjana, held on thelines of the Gouda Garjana inHuzurabad under the leader-ship of Harish Rao.

The meeting would have itsimpact in Jammikunta sur-rounding villages.

MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddyhighlighted the importancebeing given to the Reddy com-munity by Chief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao. Several speakers appealed to

the gathering to ensure the vic-tory of Gelupu Srinivas in theHuzurabad by-elections andgive their support to KCR whohad been striving to securequota for EBCs.

Several speakers highlightedthe pro-farmer approach of thegovernment.

Harish Rao appreciatedPeddy Reddy and other lead-ers for making the event agrand success. He urged themto work with the same spirit toensure the victory of Srinivasin Huzurabad.

PLEASANT SURPRISE

Secretary to Chief MinisterSmita Sabharwal,endearingly known as'people's officer', on Saturdaypaid a surprise visit toWEHUB to meet thebubbling entrepreneursthere. She was accompaniedby Addl CP Crimes HydShikha and others.

Over 20,000 turn out at ‘Reddy Garjana’

SNCN ACHARYULU

n HYDERABAD

There is no better example of thesaying “politics makes strangebedfellows” than the two TeluguStates where allies and friends,rivals and enemies acquire anentirely new definition.

Those new to the politicalscene in Telangana and AndhraPradesh may be surprised by thefact that while two political par-ties are friends in one State, theyare bitter rivals, at least for pub-lic consumption, in the other.

For example, Telugu DesamParty politics revolves around theJana Sena and Congress in oneState, Jana Sena politics revolvesaround BJP and TDP andCongress politics revolvesaround anti-BJP parties inTelangana.

The TDP and Congress arefriends in Telangana but inAndhra Pradesh these two par-ties are rivals. BJP and JanaSena are friends in Telangana butin Andhra Pradesh, there is noclarity over which party JanaSena is sailing with. Officiallythough, BJP and Jana Sena haveformed an alliance in AP, andBJP and TDP are enemies.

But the Jana Sena struck analliance with the TDP at someplaces in the recent ZPP andMPP elections. While TDP andCongress have joined handswith each other in Telangana, inAndhra Pradesh, the Congress isa big ‘no’ for the TDP.

TDP leaders fear if they joinhands with Congress in AndhraPradesh, the ‘sin’ of State bifur-cation will stick to their party,

and their standing among thepeople will go from bad toworse.

The people of AndhraPradesh still see the Congress asthe villain of State bifurcation. Inthe two Assembly elections afterbifurcation, the party has notbeen to win even a single seat inresiduary AP. Keeping this inview, the TDP will not have analliance with the Congress in APat any cost.

In Telangana, a contrary situ-ation prevails – here, StateCongress leaders vehementlyoppose any alliance with TDP.However, under pressure fromthe party high command, theTelangana Congress leadersgrudgingly accepted a tie-upwith the TDP in the lastAssembly elections. Perhaps as aresult of this alliance, theCongress failed to win a sizablenumber of seats in the previousassembly elections in Telanganain spite of support by TDP andother opposition parties.

However, in the changedpolitical scenario in Telangana,the State Congress now wants tocontinue the relations with TDP

and the latter seems to be posi-tively inclined.

In Andhra Pradesh, the TDPis ready to have an alliance withthe Jana Sena, which officially isan ally of the BJP.

After the rout in the lastAssembly elections in AndhraPradesh, the TDP has tried itsbest to woo the BJP and revivetheir past relationship. However,the BJP is not ready for analliance with TDP as it remem-bers the bitter experience of thepast.

Rebuffed, the TDP is now try-ing to woo Jana Sena. Politicalobservers say that a TDP-JanaSena combination would be farmore potent than a BJP-JanaSena alliance, in AP.

On its part, the Jana Sena isgradually distancing itself fromthe BJP and veering towards theTDP. Its backing of the agitationagainst the Union government’sdecision to privatise the VizagSteel Plant and supporting theTDP in the MPP elections indi-cates this.

There is every chance of theTDP, Jana Sena and Left partiescoming together in AndhraPradesh to take on the rulingYSR Congress Party.

At the same time inTelangana, the Congress, TDP,TJS and Left parties appear to beheaded towards an allianceagainst the ruling TRS.

These alliances may be theresult of the TDP in AndhraPradesh and the Congress inTelangana having realised thatthey cannot defeat the rulingparties in their respective stateson their own.

Allies and rivals keep politicalcauldron boiling in Telugu States

Continued from Page 1

Water allocation for variousprojects should be decidedbefore the Boards start exercis-ing their authority, KCR isbelieved to have toldShekhawat.

KCR reached Delhi toattend the conference of ChiefMinisters of States affected byLeft Wing Extremism con-vened by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah onSunday.

In his 40-minute long one-on-one meeting withShekhawat, KCR reportedlydiscussed the dispute withsharing of Krishna water andsome of the controversial pro-jects taken up by AndhraPradesh without allocation ofwater in Krishna basin likeRayalaseema Lift Irrigationscheme and the adverseimpact of the project onMahbubnagar district.

During his last visit to Delhiin the first week of September,KCR had given Shekhawat adetailed representation onthese issues which he fol-lowed up again to give moreclarity about the concerns ofthe State. He also requestedapproval to Palamuru-RangaReddy lift irrigation schemeand also allocation of water.

The Chief Minister wasaccompanied by TRS MLAsfrom Mahbubnagar districtLakshma Reddy, RajenderReddy and Ala VenkateswarReddy whom he introduced tothe Union Minister.

Continued from Page 1

light to moderate rain / thundershow-ers are expected at many places withheavy rain at isolated places up toSunday. Thereafter, light to moderaterain / thundershowers at many placeswith heavy to very heavy falls at isolat-ed places for next two days.”

The deep depression is expected tobring heavy to very heavy rainfall alertto 14 districts in Telangana on Sunday

– Adilabad, Kumaram-Bheem Asifabad,Mancherial, Peddapalli, Jayashankar-Bhupalapal ly, Khammam,Mahabubabad, Warangal(Rural),Warangal (Urban), Siddipet,Yadadri-Bhuvangiri, Sangareddy, Medakand Kamareddy, the weather forecastsaid.

The TSDPS weather forecast saidthat heavy to very heavy rain would lash11 districts on Monday – Mulugu,Khammam, Warangal (Rural), Warangal

(Urban), Janagaon, Yadadri-Bhuvangiri,Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Sangareddy,Medak and Kamareddy.

Thunderstorms accompanied withlightning with wind speed of 30-40kmph are very likely to occur at isolat-ed places in all districts of Telangana, theforecast said.As per Skymet weather, rainwill also lash north Telangana, southChhattisgarh, Vidarbha and SoutheastMadhya Pradesh on September 26 andmay intensify on September 27.

EC clears confusion;symbols resemblingTRS’s ‘car’ not to beused

CYCLONE GULAB TODRENCH TELANGANA

Only commonprojects underBoards: KCR

Minister inspectsprogress of2BHK houses in Khammam PNS n KHAMMAM

Transport Minister PuvvadaAjay Kumar on Saturdayinspected 1,000 2BHK hous-es being built in Tekulapalliin the city and expressed hishappiness over the progressof works.

The Minister inspected theunits which are scheduled tobe allotted to beneficiaries byDasara.

The Minister was happy atthe rapid progress of 2 BHKhouses for the homeless poor,with the block being titled'KCR Towers'.

He thanked Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao forkeeping the promise he hadmade during his lastAssembly election campaignto people on building 2,0002BHK houses and releasingfunds for the same.

The Minister also inspect-ed the Gollapadu Channelmodernisation works.

District collector VPGautam, City Mayor Neeraja,Municipal CommissionerAdarsh Surabhi, R and B EEShyam Prasad and otherswere also present.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 nation 05

An Indian Army officer is cyclingfrom Leh to Manali in an attempt

to set a Guinness record for the"fastest solo cycling (men)", adefence spokesman said. Lt ColSripada Sriram of the strategicStrikers Division started cycling forhis mission after being flagged off

by Brig R K Thakur from Leh at 4 am on Saturday, the spokesman said.He said the officer would attempt to cover the distance of 472 km witha total elevation gain of approximately 8,000 metres. The route involvescrossing of five major passes in tough weather conditions, thespokesman said, adding the officer is expected to reach Manali inHimachal Pradesh by September 26 afternoon. "This event becomesmore special as it is part of 'Swarnim Vijay Varsh' celebrations andmarks the occasion of 195th Gunners' Day,” the spokesman said. Indiais celebrating 'Swarnim Vijay Varsh' to mark the 50th anniversary of itsvictory against Pakistan in the 1971 war.

Army officer cycling from Leh to Manali for Guinness record

The NCPCR has written to theRajasthan chief minister's office

expressing apprehensions over theRegistration of Marriages(Amendment) Bill, 2021, saying it"legitimises" child marriages. TheNational Commission for Protectionof Child Rights, in its letter, said theSection 8 of the amendment bill

provides for registration of child marriages through marriageregistration officers of the place where they have been residing for morethan 30 days. The commission feared the enactment of the bill mayhave a serious impact on the physical, psychological, and social state ofthe minors, and their education. It asked the government to reconsiderthe bill and review it in accordance with the law and welfare of thechildren in the state. "The bill … states that the marriage between thebridegroom who has not completed 21 years and the bride who hasnot completed 18 years of age could be registered by the parents orguardians within the 30 days of the marriage," the NCPCR said in theletter on Friday.

NCPCR writes to Raj CM overbill on marriage registration

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Saturday

said cinema halls and drama the-atres in the state will be permitted tooperate from October 22 on thecondition that they follow all theprotocols required to prevent thespread of coronavirus. The stategovernment will soon issue the

standard operating procedure (SOPs) in this regard, he said.Thackeray was speaking at a meeting of the COVID-19 task force,which was also attended by Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member SanjayRaut, state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte, filmmakers Rohit Shettyand Kunal Kapoor, theatre personality Makarand Deshpande, Marathiactors Subodh Bhave, Aadesh Bandekar, among others. In the meet-ing, it was announced that cinema halls and drama theatres will beallowed to function from October 22, provided they follow all COVID-19- related health protocols.

Cinema halls, drama theatres in Maha to reopen from Oct 22

Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavison Saturday said ups and downs arepart of democracy and hoped the BJPwould get another opportunity to formits government in Maharashtra again.Addressing a gathering of Mathadiworkers in Navi Mumbai tocommemorate the 88th birth

anniversary of labour leader late Annasaheb Patil, the former chiefminister called for a speedy resolution of issues concerning head-loaders. "We will again get an opportunity to come to power. Upsand downs are part of democracy, " he said. Fadanvis said theissues of Mathadi workers would have been resolved had hisgovernment got more time. The Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadigovernment came to power after the Assembly polls in October2019. "Now, this government has the opportunity to resolve theproblems of Mathadi workers. I am confident that the issues will beresolved. Even if the issues are not resolved..we will get anotheropportunity (to solve them).

‘BJP will get another opportunity to come to power in Maharashtra’

INDIA CORNER

PNS n NEW DELHI

An application has been filed inthe Supreme Court seeking direc-tions to the Centre and the statesto take immediate steps for secu-rity in subordinate courts in wakeof the shootout inside a districtcourt in Delhi on Friday that leftthree gangsters dead and a lawintern injured.

It said that gangsters and hard-core criminals may be producedfrom jails through video-confer-encing before the trial courtinstead of producing them phys-ically.

The application was filed byadvocate Vishal Tiwari even asanother lawyer, Deepa Joseph,

moved the Delhi High Courturging it to direct authorities totake requisite measures for thesafety and security of districtcourts in the national capital.

Jailed gangster Jitender Maanalias Gogi and two assailants of arival gang who were posing aslawyers were killed in a shootoutin Rohini district court here thatalso saw police fire bullets in retal-iation.

Chief Justice of India N VRamana had on Friday expresseddeep concern over the shootoutinside the crowded courtroomhere and spoken to the Delhi HighCourt Chief Justice D N Patel inthis regard, an apex court officialhad said.

The application by Tiwari hasbeen filed in the apex court in apending plea which raised theissue of safety and security of judi-cial officers and advocates whilereferring to the alleged mowingdown of District and SessionsJudge-8 of Dhanbad court, Uttam

Anand, by a vehicle on July 28 inJharkhand.

While referring to the Delhishootout, the application saidsuch incidents are not only athreat to the judicial officers,lawyers and others present in thecourt premises but also to the jus-

tice delivery system.It has sought the apex court's

direction to the Centre and thestates to take immediate steps andmeasures to ensure security insubordinate courts.

"Such incidents are not onlythreat to our judicial officers,lawyers and people present in thecourt premises but it is also athreat to our justice system," itsaid.

It said apart from securing thejudges against any threat, it is alsoimportant that court premises aresecured against any attack bymilitants or other criminals.

It said a huge crowd is seen incourt complexes and securitybecomes vulnerable if adequate

measures are not in place.The application has sought

directions for the installation ofCCTV cameras and the setting upof armed police posts in districtcourt premises across the country.Referring to several past incidentswhich had happened in districtcourt premises, it said unwantedpersons should not be permittedinside the court complex.

The plea by Deepa Joseph inthe high court sought a directionto the Delhi Police and the BarCouncil of Delhi to considerinstructing all police personnel atcourt entrances to ensure thatthey check the ID cards of everylawyer who enters the courtpremises.

Pleas in SC, HC for immediate security in courts

PNS n CUTTACK

The Chief Justice of India, JusticeN V Ramana Saturday said theLegislature needs to revisit lawsand reform them to suit theneeds of time and people so thatthey match "practical realities".

The CJI while inaugurating thenew building of the Odisha StateLegal Service Authority here,also said there is need for theexecutive and the legislature towork hand in hand in realising"constitutional aspirations."

“I emphasize, our laws mustmatch with our practical realities.The executive has to match theseefforts by way of simplifying thecorresponding rules," JusticeRamana said. He also emphasisedthat it was important for theExecutive and Legislature to"function in unison in realisingConstitutional aspirations." TheCJI noted that it is only then, theJudiciary would not be compelledto step in as a law-maker andwould only be left with the dutyof applying and interpreting laws.

At the end of the day, it is theharmonious functioning of the

three organs of the State that canremove procedural barriers to jus-tice, he pointed out.

Stating that the Indian Judicialsystem is faced with twin chal-lenges, the CJI pointed out thatthe first one is that of“Indianisation of Justice deliverysystem”. Even after 74 years ofIndependence, traditional andagrarian societies which havebeen following customary ways oflife, "feel hesitant to approach thecourts,” he noted.

"The practices, procedures,language of our Courts feel aliento them", he said adding thatbetween the complex language ofthe acts and the process of justice

delivery, the common man seemsto lose control over the fate of hisgrievance.

Often in this trajectory, the jus-tice-seeker feels like an outsiderto the system, he pointed out.

He, however, said that althoughit is a harsh reality, often theIndian legal system fails to takeinto consideration the social real-ities and implications.

“Sadly, our system is designedin such a way that by the time allthe facts and law are churned inthe court of law, much gets lost.People might be bringing theirproblems to the courts, but whatremains at the end of a day is yetanother “case”, the CJI said.

CJI says Legislatureneeds to revisit laws

At the end of the day, it is the harmoniousfunctioning of the threeorgans of the State that can removeprocedural barriers tojustice, he pointed out.

PNS n PUNE

The country needs at least 600medical colleges, 50 AIIMS-like institutions and 200 super-specialty hospitals, Union min-ister Nitin Gadkari said onSaturday as he called for theneed to replicate the infrastruc-ture development sector's pub-lic-private partnership modelin the health care and educa-tion sectors.

The Road Transport andHighways Minister was speak-ing at the felicitation ofCOVID-19 warriors in Karadcity of Maharashtra's Sataradistrict.

He said the cooperative sec-tor should also come forwardto set up medical facilities.

"Once during a discussionwith Prime Minister NarendraModi, I told him about thescarcity of ventilators. He askedme how many ventilators werethere in the country, to whichI replied there must be around2.5 lakh. But he told me thatthere were only 13,000 venti-lators when the coronaviruspandemic broke out in thecountry," Gadkari said.

There was lack of oxygen,

beds, and other medical facil-ities at that time. But doctors,paramedical, nurses helped alot in those times, he said,adding, "I appreciate theirwork."

Apart from the government-run hospitals, the contributionof medical facilities set up bythe cooperative and privatesectors was commendable, theminister said.

"The public-private invest-

ment model in the road andinfrastructure developmentsector can be replicated inhealth care and education sec-tors. The country needs aminimum of 600 medical col-leges, 50 AIIMS-like institu-tions and 200 super-specialtyhospitals. The government isalso thinking of providing helpto those social organisationsthat work in medical and edu-cation sectors," Gadkari said.

‘Country needs at least 600medical colleges, 50 AIIMS’

The public-private investment modelin the road and infrastructuredevelopment sector can be replicatedin health care and education sectors.

MP: Womanconstablegang-raped;five bookedPNS n NEEMUCH (MP)

A 30-year-old woman policeconstable was allegedly gang-raped by three men, who shota video of the act and threat-ened her in MadhyaPradesh's Neemuch district,an official said on Saturday.

While the incident tookplace earlier this month, theconstable lodged a complainton September 13, followingwhich a probe was conduct-ed and a case was registeredthis week against five persons,including the mother of themain accused, the officialsaid.

The police have arrestedthe main accused and hismother in connection withthe crime, said AnuradhaGirwal, in-charge of thewomen police station.

“The accused hadbefriended the victim onFacebook and had been inter-acting with her on WhatsAppsince April. He invited thevictim to his younger broth-er's birthday party, whereshe was raped by three men,”Girwal said.

India playingleading roleglobally underPM Modi: BJPPNS n NEW DELHI

Noting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's meetings witha number of world leaders andcorporate bigwigs during hisUS trip, the BJP said onSaturday that India under hisleadership has been playing aleading role in internationaldiplomacy.

Party spokesperson andRajya Sabha MP SudhanshuTrivedi also referred to the dis-cussion on COVID-19 besidesother issues in the Quad meet-ing, and said India will be play-ing a very important role in theproduction and distribution ofover one billion vaccines to bemade available for the membersof the grouping.

Modi has met five CEOs andUS Vice President KamalaHarris, has held bilateral meet-ings with President Joe Bidenand the leaders of two otherQuad members, Japan andAustralia, besides attendingthe meeting of the four-mem-ber group, Trivedi said, high-lighting the "multi-dimension-al" aspect of the prime minis-ter's visit.

PNS n ALIGARH (UP)

Azad Samaj Party national pres-ident Chandrashekhar Azad hasthreatened to begin an indefiniteprotest if the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment fails to fulfil its promis-es to the family of a 19-year-oldwoman from Hathras who wasgang-raped and assaulted lastyear leading to her death.

Azad, who had visited thefamily of the woman in Hathrasearlier this week, said, "ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath'spromises made a year back ofproviding financial support to thefamily, including job and hous-ing, have become a cruel joke forthe family."

Azad met Aligarh DivisionalCommissioner Gaurav Dayalwho, he said, "assured that thepromised assistance to the fam-

ily would be given within oneweek."

"We will begin an indefinitedharna at the Aligarh divisionalcommissioner's office after 10days if these assurances are notfulfilled and justice is not givento the family," he told reportershere on Friday.

The woman died at a hospitalin Delhi in September last year,days after being assaulted andraped by four men.

Azad claimed that Aligarh"has become such a difficultplace for Dalits that they wouldbe forced to migrate from here."

Asked whether his party willform any alliance for the 2022assembly elections in UttarPradesh, he said, "So far no deci-sion has been taken, but we willnot spare any effort to ensure thedefeat of the BJP."

Azad plans dharna tosecure promises madeto Hathras victim's kin

Partition was not just separation ofterritories, but division of minds: RamPNS n NEW DELHI

The Partition was not just a sep-aration of territories but also adivision of minds, RSS func-tionary Ram Madhav saidSaturday, asserting there is a needto find ways to "build bridges" anddiscourage the elements thatbelieve in separatism.

He also said the whole idea of'Akhand Bharat' should be seen asnot about mitigating physicalborders, but erasing the mentalbarriers that were created due to"this horrendous saga of Partition".

In his address during an inter-national webinar hosted by theJNU and themed on PartitionHorrors Remembrance Day, healleged Pakistan's founderMohammad Ali Jinnah was aleader who was allowed to "growinto a monster" during the free-dom struggle and was "hell-benton partition of India".

Jinnah, one of the most contro-

versial figures of the subcontinent,served as a leader of the All-IndiaMuslim League from early 20thcentury until Pakistan's creation onAugust 14, 1947, when BritishIndia was divided into two sepa-rate dominions, with India born asa free nation on August 15, 1947.

Madhav, also a member ofRashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghnational executive, described thepartition as a "cataclysmic event"which, he said, resulted from"errors of judgment".

"Partition of India unlike manyother partitions seen in othercountries in that period, was notjust a simple redrawing of bound-aries... and it also took place on afalse premise that Hindus andMuslims were separate nations,even though they had been livingtogether despite their differentpractices," he said.

The RSS functionary said thePartition also holds importantlessons and "we must learn from

the mistakes" of the past, andattempt to "build bridges" withthose who have separated, as away forward.

"The Partition of India was notjust a partition of territories butalso a partition of minds. And, thepartition of minds also need to beseen with utmost seriousness andutmost care. We need to build aunited Indian society. And, thatcan happen only if the leadershipand elements which believe inseparatism and communal sepa-

ration are discouraged, and thesense of one nationhood need toencouraged," he said.

The webinar, titled, 'India,Partition and its Aftermath:Remembering the Horrors ofHistory', comes a month afterPrime Minister Narendra Modihad announced that August 14will be observed as the PartitionHorrors Remembrance Day in thememory of the struggles andsacrifices of people, saying thepain of partition can never be for-gotten.

Madhav said there was a needto "build bridges" and "not be ene-mies" with people who have"become part of separate entities".

"We need to pull down thewalls of mental separation andcreate, one united Indian society,so that we ensure that India shallnot have to bear another traumaof partition anytime in future.And, the next step will be buildbridges," he added.

VP Naidu on five-day visitof Rajasthan from todayPNS n JAIPUR

Vice-President M VenkaiahNaidu will be on a five-day visitof Rajasthan from Sunday.

In the first leg of the five-dayvisit, Naidu will be in Jaisalmer,where he will go to the borderareas to boost the morale of theIndian Army and BSF personnel.

He will also address a SainikSammelan in Jaisalmer.

Naidu will visit thefamous temple of TanotMata on Sunday and payhomage to martyrs at theVijay Stambh locatedthere, according to anofficial statement.

The Tanot Mata tem-ple is located 120 kmfrom Jaisalmer, near theIndo-Pak border.

The temple suffered no dam-age during the 1971 War evenafter many shells were fired on itby Pakistan forces. BSF person-nel look after the arrangementand worship of this temple.

After the temple, Naidu willvisit the Longewala WarMemorial.

The memorial is situated onthe site where the Longewala bat-

tle of the Indo-Pak War in 1971was fought.

Senior Army officers will briefthe Vice-President about the bat-tle.

The Indian Army is celebrat-ing this year as the GoldenVictory Year of the 1971 War.

He will also attend a culturalprogramme in the evening.

On September 27, Naidu willaddress a Sainik Sammelan at the

Jaisalmer WarMuseum and will leavefor Jodhpur, where hewill visit Mehrangarhfort the same day.

On September 28,Naidu will inauguratethe Jodhpur CityKnowledge andInnovation Cluster at

the IIT there.He will also lay the foundation

of an "artificial intelligence ofthings" (AIOT) laboratory.Thereafter, Naidu will interactwith students and faculty mem-bers of the IIT, Jodhpur.

During his stay in Jodhpur, theVice-President will also release abook, "Samvidhan, Sanskriti AurRashtra", written by GovernorKalraj Mishra.

10 additionaljudges swornin as judges ofKarnataka HCPNS n BENGALURU

Ten additional judges, who wereelevated as permanent judges ofthe Karnataka High Court, tookthe oath of office here onSaturday.

Karnataka GovernorThaawarchand Gehlot onSaturday administered oath to10 judges of the KarnatakaHigh Court.

The new appointees are JusticeMaralur Indrakumar Arun,Justice EngalaguppeSeetharamaiah Indiresh, JusticeRavi Venkappa Hosmani, JusticeSavanur Vishwajith Shetty, JusticeShivashankar Amarannavar,Justice Makkimane GaneshaiahUma, Justice VedavyasacharSrishananda, Justice HanchateSanjeevkumar, Justice PadmarajNemachandra Desai, and JusticePanjigadde Krishna Bhat.

A notification on their eleva-tion from additional judges tojudges was issued by theMinistry of Law and Justice,Government of India onSeptember 23.

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

The Odisha government onSaturday put seven districts onhigh alert as the IMD predictedthe formation of a cyclonic stormover Bay of Bengal, which maythen move towards the southernpart of the state and neighbour-ing Andhra Pradesh, a top offi-cial said.

The government has rushedrescue teams to the vulnerableareas and asked officials to evac-uate people from low-lying areas,Special Relief Commissioner(SRC) P K Jena stated.

As many as 42 teams of OdishaDisaster Rapid Action Force(ODRAF) and 24 squads ofNational Disaster Response Force(NDRF), along with fire brigadepersonnel, have been dispatchedto the seven districts -- Gajapati,Ganjam, Rayagada, Koraput,Malkangiri, Nabarangpur,Kandhamal.

Ganjam is expected to getseverely affected by the cyclonicstorm, and 15 rescue teams havebeen deployed in that area alone,

Jena said.Besides, 11 fire service units,

six teams of the ODRAF andeight of the NDRF are in reservefor emergency purposes, hemaintained.

The district administrations of

Gajapati and Koraput have can-celled holidays and leaves onSeptember 25 and 26. Collectorshave directed government offi-cials and employees to be on theirtoes at respective headquarters tomeet any exigency.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), a deep depression that layover north and adjoining central

Bay of Bengal has moved west-wards at a speed of 14 kmph.

At 8.30 am on Saturday, it wascentred around 470 km east-southeast of Gopalpur in Odishaand 540 km east-northeast ofKalingapatnam in AndhraPradesh.

"It (the weather system) islikely to intensify into a cyclonicstorm and move nearly westwardsand cross north Andhra Pradeshand south Odisha coasts betweenVishakhapatnam and Gopalpur,around Kalingapatnam, byevening of September 26," theagency noted.

IMD Director General (DG)Dr Mrutunjay Mohapatra said thewind speed of the weather systemwill vary between 75 kmph to 85kmph, gusting up to 95 kmph.

"Many low-lying areas will beinundated in the identified dis-tricts. Flash flood is feared in thehilly areas of Odisha's southernregion. Urban pockets in Ganjamand Puri could experience water-logging due to heavy to veryheavy and extremely heavy rain-fall in parts," Mohapatra warned.

Odisha rushes rescue teams to7 districts, orders evacuation

ROHINI SHOOTOUT

CYCLONE ALERT

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 money 06

MONEY MATTERS

Off-highway tyres majorBalkrishna Industries onSaturday said it will raise up to

Rs 1,000 crore through long-termborrowings.In a regulatory filing, thecompany said its board at a meetingheld on Saturday decided to raise"funds up to Rs 1,000 crore through broader means of long-termfinance". The long-term finance "can be in the form of foreigncurrency bonds, non-convertible debentures (NCD), externalcommercial borrowings and term loans in various currencies", itadded."These long-term borrowings may be secured or unsecured,rated or unrated, in one or more tranches/drawdowns, and in case ofbonds or NCDs — it may be listed or unlisted in one or more stockexchanges in India," the filing added.The company, which sells itstyres under the BKT brand, said its board has further delegated thepower to its Finance Committee to do the needful for the fundraise.Known for its off-highway tyres, BKT has focused on specialistsegments such as agricultural, construction and industrial as well asearthmoving, port and mining, ATV, and gardening applications.Thecompany has undertaken a Rs 1,000-crore capacity expansionprogramme and earlier this month commenced trial production at itsnew manufacturing unit at Waluj in Maharashtra. The new plant hasan installed capacity of 30,000 MT per annum along withwarehousing facility for raw materials and finished goods.

Balkrishna Industries to raise up toRs 1,000 cr via long-term finance

Housing Development Finance CorporationLtd (HDFC) on Saturday said it has sold apart of the shares, invoked by it of Ansal

Housing, to recover its dues. In August, HDFChad invoked 46,20,000 shares of Ansal Housing Limited (Ansal)aggregating 7.78 per cent of the paid-up share capital, for recoveryof part outstanding dues against loans availed bypledgers/borrowers. "In this connection, we wish to inform you thatout of this, the Corporation has in aggregate sold 12,67,504 shares,representing 2.13 per cent of the paid-up share capital of Ansal,including 1,57,939 shares representing 0.27 per cent of the paid-upshare capital of Ansal which were sold on September 24, 2021,"HDFC said in a regulatory filing.

HDFC sells part of invokedshares of Ansal Housing

PNS n NEW DELHI

The tax department has noti-fied the 'safe harbour' rates for2020-21 for calculation oftransfer pricing by foreigncompanies in India.

Generally, safe harbour isdefined as circumstances inwhich the tax authority shallaccept the transfer pricedeclared by the taxpayer to beat arm's length.

The Central Board of DirectTaxes, through a notificationhas extended the applicabilityof Safe Harbour Rules (SHR) to2020-21.

As per the notification, therates under SHR applicablefrom 2016-17 to 2018-19, andlater extended to 2019-20, willcontinue to apply for 2020-21as well.

Transfer pricing implies theprices at which various over-seas divisions of a companytransact with each other.

Nangia & Co LLP,Partner-Transfer Pricing, NitinNarang said like last year, thisyear again, the rates have beenprescribed for one year only,

instead of 3-year and 5-yearperiod earlier.

SHR should be mutuallybeneficial for both taxpayersand tax authorities. For taxpay-ers, in terms of reduced com-pliance burden, cost saving,administrative convenienceand resources channelised inother business area, and for taxauthorities, in terms of reducedtime for review and litigation,agreed margins with computa-tion mechanism and taxesthereon.

“Given that businesses areamid an unprecedented eco-nomic situation and the pastyear has been severely impact-ed due to the pandemic, anylowering of the rates in linewith the current economic cir-cumstances would have gone along way to make SHR moreattractive and lowering ofthreshold, or adding moretransactions, may add morewilling taxpayers,” Narangadded.

Being an alternate dispute

resolution mechanism, SHRshould have been made moreattractive and exhaustive ratherthan just been extended, to givemore impetus, Narang added.

Following international bestpractice, India introduced theconcept of SHR in Finance Act2009. Post that, the first roundof SHR provisions were intro-duced in August 2013 for aperiod of three years, followedby a revision in 2017 in theSHR which was applicable till2019-20.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Cooperation MinisterAmit Shah on Saturday saidthe Centre will soon come outwith a new cooperative policyand work in tandem withstates to strengthen the coop-erative movement.

Shah, who is also the UnionHome Minister, alsoannounced that the number ofprimary agriculture coopera-tives (PACs) will be increasedto 3 lakh in the next fiveyears. At present, there areabout 65,000 PACs.

He was speaking at the firstSehkarita Sammelan orNational CooperativeConference here. The Ministryof Cooperation was formed inJuly this year.

Addressing the gatheringcomprising over 2,100 repre-sentatives of different cooper-atives and nearly 6 crore onlineparticipants, Shah said somepeople wonder why the Centrecreated this new ministry asthe cooperatives are a statesubject.

Shah said there could be alegal response to it, but he doesnot want to "get into this argu-ment".

The Centre, he stressed, willcooperate with states and"there will be no friction".

"We will work with all statesto take forward the cooperativemovement," he said, and addedthe Ministry of Cooperationhas been formed to strength-en and modernise the sector.

On the proposed new coop-erative policy, Shah said a pol-icy was brought in 2002 by thethen Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee, and now theModi government will startworking on a new policy.

Stressing that the coopera-tive movement was more rel-

evant today than ever, Shahsaid cooperatives can con-tribute a lot in the developmentof the country.

According to him, the coop-eratives will play a crucial partin making India a USD 5 tril-lion economy.

Referring to the problemsbeing faced by cooperatives ontaxation front and other issues,Shah said he was aware of theconcerns and assured thatthere would be no injusticetowards them.

Shah: Centre will announcenew cooperative policy soon

PNS n NEW DELHI

Biotechnology major Bioconon Saturday said the UShealth regulator has issuedsix observations after theinspection of the manufac-turing facility of its Malaysiansubsidiary Biocon Sdn Bhd.

The US Food and DrugAdministration (USFDA)conducted an on-site pre-approval inspection of thecompany's Malaysian sub-sidiary Biocon Sdn Bhd'smanufacturing facility forInsulin Aspart betweenSeptember 13 and September24, Biocon said in a state-ment.

"At the conclusion of theinspection, the agency hasissued a Form 483 with atotal of 6 observations acrossDrug Substance, DrugProduct and DevicesFacilities," it added.

A Biocon spokespersonsaid the company is confi-dent of addressing theseobservations through proce-dural enhancements and anappropriate Corrective andPreventive Action Plan(CAPA), which will be sub-mitted to the USFDA in thestipulated time.

PNS n NEW DELHI

With the new normal after theCovid-19 completely changingthe work culture across theworld, a report has revealedthat one-third of employeesinterviewed across the world feeldisconnected from their leadersas interactions between employ-ees and employers plunged amidthe pandemic.

One in every three employ-ees feels disconnected from theleader, furthering feelings ofisolation and loneliness, accord-ing to a report by O C Tanner'sthe '2022 Global Culture Report'.

The report further found that61 per cent of employees said theworkplace is where they formmost of their new friendships

and that their social group atwork inspires them to do theirbest work.

Around 45 per cent ofemployees said the number ofindividuals they regularly inter-act with at work has decreasedsignificantly over the past year,and 57 per cent said they engagein fewer social activities, it stat-ed.

When employees feel lessconnected to their workplace,culture and purpose, the likeli-hood of great work falls about 90per cent, the probability ofburnout increases drasticallyand the odds that employees willleave within three years surges,the report noted.

Therefore, organisations needto maintain strong connections

among team members to ensurethe best possible employee expe-rience, which will result in lesslikelihood of fragmentation andwill help minimise the risk to thecompany, the report noted.

"The former concept of work-place 'normalcy' left the buildingin March 2020, and it's not

coming back. A new landscapeof work and business hasemerged from the pandemic,and helping employees feel con-nected to purpose, accomplish-ment, and one another—nomatter where or when theywork—is more important thanever," O C Tanner Institute Vice-

President Gary Beckstrand said.'2022 Global Culture Report'

by O C Tanner, the global leaderin employee recognition andworkplace culture, is based ondata gathered from over 38,000employees, leaders, HR practi-tioners, and executives from 21countries worldwide, includingfrom over 5,500 respondents inIndia.

Meanwhile, the report foundthat one in every three employ-ees do not feel connected to theirleaders which leads to diminish-ing cultural and business out-comes.

Currently, 62 per cent of lead-ers communicate what successlooks like and 52 per cent makeothers aware of their employees'success, said the report adding

that only 57 per cent of employ-ees feel appreciated by theirleaders.

"Whether intentional or not,when leaders don't make aneffort to connect to employees,employees perceive the leaderdoesn't care about them anddoesn't want to help them feelincluded in the organisation," itsaid.

In organisations where diver-sity is high, recognition is animportant way to showcase howeveryone can work and succeedtogether and it allows everyemployee to develop leadershipskills, and the company benefitsfrom improved cultural andbusiness outcomes and a strongpipeline of leaders as a result, itadded.

One-third of employees feel disconnected with leadership: Report

USFDA issues6 observationsafter inspectionof Biocon's unit

PNS n NEW DELHI

With the help of large-scalevaccination programmes andnew norms rolling out, thetourism sector is inching itsway back to recovery, andrestart of tourism will helpkick-start recovery and growth,the Confederation ofHospitality, Technology andTourism Industry said onSaturday.

It is also essential that the ben-efits this will bring are enjoyedwidely and fairly, the industrybody said in a statement.

"The travel sector, especial-ly domestic travel, appears to beheading for a comeback. Indiantravellers are looking for quickgetaways through road trips,weekend breaks and stayca-tions that offer local stay expe-riences," Airbnb India,Southeast Asia, Hong Kongand Taiwan General Manager,Amanpreet Bajaj said.

Travellers are also becomingincreasingly aware of sustain-able travel and are makingenvironment-friendly choices

when travelling, he added."The pandemic has helped

promote environmental aware-ness amongst travellers andtoday, it's encouraging to seepeople actively seeking sustain-able travel choices,"MakeMyTrip Co-Founder &Group CEO Rajesh Magowsaid.

In a similar vein,EaseMyTrip CEO and Co-Founder Nishant Pitti said,"We have noticed that Indiantravellers have started makingmore sustainable travel deci-sions as the pandemic has

made everyone think about thekind of impact they are creat-ing while travelling."

They are now more aware oftheir choices as they reevaluatetheir plans keeping sustainabil-ity in mind, he added.

"The industry travel bookingtrends suggest that in a yearfrom now we will be witness-ing the best phase for the trav-el sector. The demand we arewitnessing is fairly distributedand holiday patterns havechanged tremendously," OYOIndia & South-East Asia CEORohit Kapoor said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned power giantNTPC has bagged 1.9 GWsolar projects in CPSUScheme-II tender.

With this, NTPC now hasover 6.3 GW capacity wonthrough competitive bid-dings. This shall pave theway for NTPC's plan of 60GW RE (renewable energy)capacity by 2032, a companystatement said.

The company has won theprojects in tranche 3 of 5 GWtender. Central Public SectorUndertaking (CPSU) SchemePhase-II envisages setting up12,000 MW grid-connectedsolar photovoltaic powerprojects by the governmentproducers with Viability GapFunding (VGF) support.

NTPC wins 1.9GW solarprojects underCPSU scheme

PNS n NEW DELHI

Godavari Biorefineries hasfiled preliminary papers withcapital markets regulator Sebito raise funds through an ini-tial public offering (IPO).

The IPO comprises freshissuance of equity sharesworth Rs 370 crore and anoffer of sale (OFS) of65,58,278 equity shares bypromoters and investors, thedraft red herring prospectus(DRHP) showed.

The OFS consists of sale of5 lakh equity shares each bySamir Shantilal Somaiya andSomaiya Agencies, up to 49.27lakh by Mandala Capital, up to3 lakh equity shares byFilmedia CommunicationSystems, up to 1.31 lakh equi-ty shares by SomaiyaProperties and Investmentsand up to 2 lakh equity sharesby Lakshmiwadi Mines andMinerals.

The company may consid-er a pre-IPO placement of upto Rs 100 crore. If such place-ment is completed, the freshissue size will be reduced.

Proceeds from the fresh

issue will be used for paymentof debt, to fund capital expen-diture for sugarcane crushingexpansion, support capitalexpenditure for the potashunit and for general corporatepurposes.

Godavari Biorefineries isone of the leading producersof ethanol and a pioneer inmanufacturing ethanol-basedchemicals in India. The diver-sified product portfolio com-prises bio-based chemicals,sugar,

rectified spirits, ethanol,other grades of alcohol andpower.

Equirus Capital and JMFinancial are the book runninglead managers to the issue.

Godavari Biorefineries

files IPO papers with SEBI

PNS n NEW DELHI

Advertising sector regulatorASCI has rejected a complaintagainst innerwear brand LuxCozi's TV Commercial featur-ing Bollywood star VarunDhawan, filed by its rival AmulMacho claiming plagiarism ofits campaign.

The Consumer ComplaintsCouncil (CCC) of the ASCIobserved that both the adver-tisements "barely had any sim-ilarities" between them interms of concept and executionelements, and was not in con-travention of its Code.

“The CCC concluded thatthe advertiser's advertisementwas not similar to the com-plainant's earlier run advertise-ment in general layout, copy,slogans, visual presentations,music or sound effects, so as tosuggest plagiarism. The TVCwas not in contravention of theASCI Code,” the order said.

“This complaint was notupheld,” said the AdvertisingStandards Council of India(ASCI).

Earlier, this month, J GHosiery, which owns the AmulMacho innerwear brand, hadalleged its TOING Ad hasbeen copied by Lux Industriesfor its LUX Cozi televisioncommercial and had

approached ASCI.Kolkata-based Lux

Industries has launched a newadvertising campaign for itsLux Cozi innerwear brand fea-turing Varun Dhawan.

Lux industries had contend-ed before ASCI, its advertise-ment is unique on individualpoints as well as in totality, andany semblance is fleeting and

only in respect of elementscommonly used in the trade,such as shape and colour of thegarment.

Moreover, Amul's Toingadvertisement was last aired in2007, and thereafter, banned.

“No reputation, goodwill orbrand equity can be vested inpublicity/marketing materialthat has been banned to thepublic for the last 14 years,” ithad said.

Commenting on the devel-opment, Lux industriesExecutive Director Udit Todisaid: "We welcome the verdictpassed by ASCI."

"This advertisement is some-thing of a first, and the verdictdoes add some necessary clar-ity and sends out the right mes-sage about a responsible brandlike Lux Cozi. We are alreadywitnessing a growth trajectoryin our sales and are very con-fident about our product's suc-cess," he added.

ASCI rejects complaint against Lux Cozi TV ad by rival

PNS n LONDON

In a U-turn, the British govern-ment is expected to ease visarules for truck drivers to help fixsupply-chain problems that havetriggered long lines at gas stationsand some shuttered pumps.

The government said lateFriday it was “looking at tempo-rary measures to avoid anyimmediate problems.” It saidany action it took would be “verystrictly time-limited.”

The haulage industry saysthe UK is short tens of thousandsof truckers, due to a perfectstorm of factors including thecoronavirus pandemic, an agingworkforce and an exodus of for-eign workers following Britain'sdeparture from the EuropeanUnion.

Post-Brexit immigration rulesmean EU citizens can no longerlive and work visa-free in Britain,as they could when the UK wasa member of the trade bloc.

Trucking companies havebeen urging the Conservativegovernment to ease immigrationrules so drivers can more easi-ly be recruited from acrossEurope.

Britain's farming and foodprocessing industries, which areshort of fruit-pickers and meat-packers, have made similarrequests.

The government has resisted,saying British workers should betrained up to take the jobs. It hasstressed that Britain is not shortof fuel, but that has not stoppedmotorists forming lines at gasstations to fill up just in case.

UK eyes visa change toease trucker shortage

TRANSFER PRICING BY FOREIGN FIRMS

I-T dept notifies FY21‘safe harbour' rates

Tourism sector headingfor a comeback

sundaymagazine

98Attached to none

HYDERABAD, September 26, 2021

The pandemic has delivered a triple-whammy to parents. First and fore-most, the pandemic itself is anunprecedented, once-in-a-lifetimeevent. Even the best of scientists

cannot predict where it is headed; who are safe,who are vulnerable; or what precautions —including vaccines — afford what level of pro-tection. Secondly, children have been uprootedfrom their routines, confined inside the house,kept away from socialising and have even beenforced by circumstances to become screenaddicts. Parenting, which is a discoveryprocess, even in normal circumstances, hasbecome far tougher due to these added stress-es. Thirdly, parents themselves have beenuprooted from their routines and forced toreduce social interactions. Many have lost theirjobs and many have work hours that haveeaten up into personal time in an unprecedent-ed blending of work and personal life.

And now, their world is going to be shakenup yet again, with schools reopening. Routinesbeing practiced over the last 18 months willneed to be unlearned and new routines re-established, with the sword of Damocles of apossible new wave always hanging on theirheads. This is when the principles of ActiveParenting can come to the rescue of parents.

WHAT IS ACTIVE PARENTING? While every child is unique and every fam-

ily and circumstances unique, the underlyingprinciples, framework and strategies of ActiveParenting can substantially help in every situa-tion, for every child and every parent. ActiveParenting can help parents significantly inreducing stress — both for their children andfor themselves. In fact, it can even help in con-verting these uncertainties into learningopportunities for children and bonding oppor-tunities for the family. The three key principlesof Active Parenting are as below. l Inculcate the right attributes and qualitiessystematically and proactively instead of fire-fighting when issues pop upl Be mindful that every opportunity can beutilised to build these attributes and qualitiesand proactively use every opportunity to dothatl Provide high support, while empoweringchildren to take ownership and responsibilityfor their own lives

Based on the above principles, there areseveral strategies and age-appropriate tech-niques that a practitioner of Active Parentingcan use to tackle each of the challenges thatschool reopening presents.

CHALLENGES POSED BY REOPENING OFSCHOOLS

First let us list out the challenges to betackled. l Both parents and children may have fear of

Covid. Even though most schools are takingutmost care in putting in place strict guidelinesfor ensuring there is no Covid outbreak, in aschool with many children, implementation isunlikely to be perfect. This could lead to anxi-ety and stress for both parents and children.l For both children and parents, reopeningmeans changing routines drastically. For chil-dren, it means having to get up earlier bysometimes as much as 60 to 90 minutes, get-ting ready, giving up on snacking any time theywant, coming back from school feeling tiredetc. For parents, it again means having to getup earlier to get children ready, ensuringbreakfast/snack is ready on time, sometimeshaving to drop and pick up children from theschool or bus stop etc. These can induce stressand also create conflict between parents andchildren. l For children, school reopening will createacademic stress. After perhaps 18 months, theyare going back into a formal classroom. Whilemost schools had organised for online classes,in is a less-than-perfect mode of learning andit is likely that the topics covered in the lasteighteen months haven’t been absorbed wellenough. Even worse, surveys have shown thatthere is even some slippage of concepts learnedbefore the pandemic. Many children will feeloverwhelmed by the workload in the first fewmonths as schools try to cover lost ground. l Social stress is another problem that somechildren will need to deal with, especially themore introverted children. Children who havebeen subjected to bullying in the past and whohave had a safe cocoon at home in these eigh-teen months will be suddenly confronted withthe prospect of facing their tormentors again.There could also be children who are appre-hensive of certain teachers who would dreadthe prospect of facing them face to face again.

In children, these signs of stress couldmanifest in many ways. Reluctance to go toschool, tantrums, unusual levels of obstinacy,subdued look, emotional meltdowns,headache, upset stomach etc. are few of thesigns that parents can watch out for. On theother hand, stress can cause irritation, short-temper, frustration, and even anger in parents.

APPLYING ACTIVE PARENTING PRINCIPLESWith so much stress on themselves and on

the children on various counts, the principlesof Active Parenting can come to the rescue.First and foremost, parents need to extendunconditional support to their children bydemonstrating deep love, compassion andtrust. While it is understandable that parents,who are themselves under stress, might feelirritated, impatient and short-tempered whenchildren show reluctance to go to school orotherwise act difficult, parents need to beunderstanding and empathetic.

In fact, they need to be proactive in bring-

ing up the possibility of the above stress pointsand assure the children that they understandthat there may be stress on them and that theparents are there to help them. What the childneeds in a parent in a situation like this is afriend who they can share their apprehensionsor worries with and not a pushy and aggressivemaster. To quote the famous model of the clin-ical psychologist, Diana Baumrind, parentsneed to be high on warmth and responsivenessduring this turmoil.

BEFRIENDINGBut the question remains — how can par-

ents ensure that children share their apprehen-sions openly? This would depend a lot on thenature of the child. But one of the key strate-gies of Active Parenting — befriending — canhelp in unlocking some of the reluctance ofchildren to share deeply personal stuff. Theunderlying principle is that children, likeadults, feel more comfortable in sharing innerfeelings when there is empathy and trustinstead of judgment. For this, parents need tospend quality time with children. It will help ifparents can share instances from their ownchildhood, when they faced stressful situations.This may give the confidence for children toopen up their own fears.

Another technique would be to have afamily team discussion: with each membersharing their own challenges and fears relatingto the current situation. Then each membercan share an action plan on what they intent todo to overcome the challenges. Finally, eachmember can request specific support fromother members of the team. It can start witheach of the parents sharing how the new rou-tines could affect them and asking specific sup-port from each other to help them cope withthis. Then they could also ask for specific sup-port from the children, such as ‘taking respon-sibility for manging their own routine’ or‘being patient when they come back homehungry, if their favourite food isn’t available’.This could prompt the children to also sharetheir challenges and expected support.

One of the aspects that can get addressedthrough the above ‘team approach’ is Covidappropriate behaviour. As someone who hasbeen deeply involved with the pandemicresponse of a large philanthropic organisation,I would like to reassure the parents that thereis very little chance of children catching asevere attack of Covid.

However, it is important to take all precau-tion and ensuring both children and parentsfollow Covid appropriate behaviour is critical.Parents need to impress upon children theimportance of following the protocols such asmasking, regular handwashing, and physicaldistancing. They need to spell these out andensure children understand the reason behindthese guidelines.

The children should know that their devia-tion from the protocols could affect the parentsand other elders at home — if any — far worsethan it would affect themselves. This is a greatway to build a sense of responsibility. Let thechildren know that you trust them to adhere tothe guidelines. Parents also need to role modelCovid-appropriate behaviour when they them-selves venture out.

RESPECT, TRUST AND EMPATHYDuring this challenging transition period,

the two traits that parents need to role-modelare patience and empathy. With each other, aswell as with kids. If the parents are biting eachother’s heads off at the drop of a hat, it wouldbe unreasonable and impractical for them toexpect a patient behaviour from their children.When children observe their parents facingstressful situations in a candid and humorousfashion, they are also likely to adopt the samebehaviour. This includes unabashed apologyfrom parents to each other and to the childrenwhen they lose their cool and making fun oftheir own such ‘ridiculous’ behaviour.

STORY-TELLINGAnother key Active Parenting strategy that

can come in handy in such situations is story-telling. There is no better way to inculcate thedesired qualities (values and traits) in childrenthan by telling them stories — of real lifeheroes and fictitious heroes who manifestedthe same qualities and succeeded because ofthem. Similarly, parents telling the children oftimes when they themselves demonstratedthese qualities to their own advantage will alsohelp in driving home the benefit of these quali-ties. Of course, it is important that these story-telling sessions do not appear to be sessions forthe sake of building these qualities.

The primary purpose of stories should beentertainment as far as the child is concerned.The secondary and invisible purpose is incul-cating the traits and values. The child shouldsubconsciously absorb these deeper messages.In a stressful situation like this, the most desir-able qualities to instil are self-discipline, senseof responsibility, ownership, sense of humour,respect, gratitude etc. remember that storiesplant seeds in the mind and at the appropriatetime, these seeds sprout.

Every crisis is an opportunity. If the abovesuggestions are embraced by parents whole-heartedly, they might find that this stressful sit-uation was the best learning period for them-selves and their children and that it offered atruly life-altering situation with family bondsbecoming stronger than ever.

The writer is an IITian, a tech company co-founder, a motivational speaker & the author of

Active Parenting: How to raise children withboundless potential, published by HarperCollins

India

Renunciation is a critical part of thejourney towards enlightenment. The way to

look at it is what makes it different for all

I think everybodyhas the right to a

private life—Keira Knightley

F R O M T H E I N S I D E

Today young children are just notinterested in excelling in academics.Pursuing their passion and dream gets

A TRIPLE-WHAMMYFOR PARENTS

PANDEMIC:

IN CHILDREN, THESE SIGNSOF STRESS COULD

MANIFEST IN MANY WAYS.RELUCTANCE TO GO TO

SCHOOL, TANTRUMS,UNUSUAL LEVELS OF

OBSTINACY, SUBDUEDLOOK, EMOTIONAL

MELTDOWNS, HEADACHE,UPSET STOMACH ETC. ARE

FEW OF THE SIGNS THATPARENTS CAN WATCH OUTFOR. ON THE OTHER HAND,

STRESS CAN CAUSEIRRITATION, SHORT-

TEMPER, FRUSTRATION,AND EVEN ANGER IN

PARENTS

Active Parentingcan help parents

significantly inreducing stress, bothfor their children and

for themselves, writesRAMG VALLATH, as

he suggests strategies& age-appropriate

techniques to tacklethe challenges being

faced by most

young writers

sundaymagazine

spirituality 8HYDERABAD, September 26, 2021

WORRY NEVER ROBSTOMORROW OF ITS

SORROW, IT ONLY SAPSTODAY OF ITS JOY

— LEO BUSCAGLIAO

HIDDENSOULSPRAMOD PATHAK

Writing about Gandhi is a passion for some. It is afashion for some. But there is another class that hasemerged on the scene, the Gandhi baiters. Though

still insignificant in numbers, the group is aggressive, vocaland kind of social media activist who believe that a stormcan be created in a tea cup. For such activists attempts todemean Gandhi is a pastime they enjoy. Whether it is a per-ception or a propaganda, misinformation or disinformation,the campaign is more impulsive than objective. But there isneed to let the right knowledge reach the vast young pop-ulation who get carried away by social media. Maybe, therecent research publication by an authentic source like theSage throw some light on the nature of social media misin-formation and serve as an eye opener. The study has right-ly found that India is one of the most misinformation affect-ed country and also produces the largest amount of misin-formation. Obviously, because social media is a full time pas-time for a large number of people. Against this backdrop,and even at risk of coming in the firing range of the trollbrigade let’s talk about Gandhi on his yet another birthday.More so, because we are celebrating 75 years of Indian inde-pendence in a big way. Though it must be acknowledged thatthere were many who fought for and contributed towardsIndia’s freedom, yet it was Gandhi who played the stellar role.Many before his advent on the scene tried to make the BritishGovernment listen, but it was Gandhi who succeeded. It wasGandhi who proved that the British were not invincible. Itwas Gandhi who converted the Congress into an organ ofmass movement from a motley group of passionate peopledominated by lawyers. And it was Gandhi who influencedthe world’s opinion against the British that ultimately pavedway for their retreat. From Champaran to Dandi it wasGandhi who involved the common Indian in the fight againstthe British. The greatest misstatement on Gandhi is abouthis Hindu credentials. The fact is that he was a more devoutHindu than the many who are championing the cause today.Gandhi not only understood Hinduism in its real sense, buthe also practiced it religiously. He followed the principles ofGeeta and believed in the philosophy of the religion so lucid-ly advocated by Swami Vivekananda. His understanding ofRam was much better than many of the claimants of Ram’slegacy today. A perfect blend of tradition and modernity,Gandhi was an example of ethical leadership, so popular inManagement classrooms today. In fact, no course on ethicscan be complete without a mention of Gandhi. He not onlypreached ethical conduct, but he epitomised it. Ethics for himwas not about right behaviour when you are in temple, butalso when you are alone and no one is watching. He believedin truth and nonviolence, he believed in upliftment of thepoorest, he believed in cleanliness as Godliness. For him sim-ple living and high thinking was the credo and he practicedwhat he preached. For him means and ends were interchange-able. His economic ideas were endorsed by the World Banktime and again. Little wonder, he still is one of our most pop-ular global brands. Rightly was he adjudged man of the mil-lennium in the year 2000. For those who still not understandhim: forgive them O’lord, for they know not what they do.

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com

God is always on a lookout forways to help us, reward us. Thatis why He is always watching us,

listening to us and He even knows whatwe are thinking. The purpose is torespond to us as necessary. Such is thecosmic design. He pleased when some-one is dutiful, i.e. one performs one’sduties. Of course, God is much morepleased if someone acts according to‘dharma’ for which reason He incar-nates. He appreciates those engaged inwelfare activities to an extent that Hehas assured no ‘durgati’ (bad end) forsuch persons. Lord Krishna has specif-ically commended Janakaji for hisselfless working with public welfare.(3.20)

God has commended even thosewho approach Him due to distress;Lord Krishna has called such personsnoble. (7.18) Same view He holds aboutseekers of wealth. There is nothingwrong in seeking wealth; God’s onlyrequirement is that it should be accord-ing to ‘dharma’. If seeking wealth wasnot desirable, the entire world will bedisqualified. Can you expect God tohave such a mindset? Then, where isour problem in pleasing God? What wewant must be bona fide and God willbe pleased if we approach Him. Andspiritual acts, even a little, are highlypleasing to God; He promises protec-tion from great fear. (3.40) It is impos-sible to imagine if anyone of us ispleased so easily and readily.

But we have plenty of excuses bothnot to approach God and also not totry to please Him by our acts. The mostcommon excuse is that others are notdoing it. Yes, they are not, because theywon’t as Lord Krishna has pointed outwhen he stated, “Due to the illusion

caused by hate and duality of wish, allliving entities get illusioned.” (7.27) Ifwe wish to be one of the masses and gothrough the cycle of birth and deathand spend an ordinary life and returnfor another ordinary life, that is ourdecision. But if we wish to lead a qual-ity life in this one and the next, we mustbe prepared to listen to God’s instruc-tions and try to please Him. Is he notthe one who holds all the cards?

Another excuse is that we will dowhat God says in old age. Noble idea,but it does not work. By that time ourhabits become rigid and bodies weak.The reality is that any effort requiredto approach God and please Himbecomes increasingly difficult withage. The third excuse is that mind doesnot agree. Of course it won’t because wehave embraced a child’s mindset, whorefuses to eat a fruit because he does notlike it. Has he tasted the fruit? No, he

hasn’t. This explains the fourth excuse,which is: who has seen God? Surely, youhaven’t because you didn’t make therequisite effort. But how can you be surethat others have also not seen God?Have you checked with everyone beforemaking such a statement? The list ofexcuses is endless. So where does it getus? The Lord has answered: in illusion.I am sure some of us are smart enoughto admit that the present life is not thatgreat and something should be doneabout it. God is very merciful. As thesaying goes, you take one step, He takes99 towards you. This one baby step willalso please God and He will rewardadequately much more that our expec-tations. It is no wonder that devoteesof God write such praise for God,because they are overwhelmed bywhat God does for them.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reachedat spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com

Vairagya, in Sanskrit, roughlytranslates as dispassion,detachment, or renunciation.The big question on renunci-ation is ‘what is it that we are

renouncing’?Is tyaag (sacrifice) of all our

worldly possessions the same as renun-ciation? To understand this, I wouldlike to draw from Yog Vashistha.There is a wonderful story of a kingand queen who eventually realised thetruth. While the queen realised it veryearly, the king decided that the way toenlightenment was austerity andpenance. He left his kingdom in thecare of his wife, gave up all his world-ly possessions and moved to the for-est where he performed severepenance for many years — so was thisthe right path to enlightenment? Notreally, it just resulted in him beingextremely frustrated and unhappy.This is a common confusion with ini-tiates on the path to spiritual growth.

True renunciation does not lie inbecoming a swami, going to themountains, living in a ‘dharamshala’and sleeping on the floor. Further, itcan be attained by anyone — whethera multi-millionaire, yogi, student,farmer, doctor, prisoner or anyone else.It’s not what you have or don’t have;it’s your state of consciousness. This,of course, sounds very profound butlet’s discuss what it really means. The

renunciate is someone who rests in thejoy of the spirit rather than that pro-vided by the senses. A true renunci-ate enjoys what comes to themunsought, and does not chase desiresin this illusionary world. In fact seek-ing enlightenment and forciblyrenouncing worldly pleasures as theking also translates into intense desireas does the setting of milestones tomeasure spiritual progress.

If I were to put it in a single state-ment — someone who has overcomethe attraction of the senses and isdetached in terms of possessions,relationships and desires is a truerenunciate.

Renunciation is a critical part ofthe journey towards enlightenment,however the way to look at it is not thatyou don’t ‘own anything’ rather it is tonot let anything ‘own you’. Not yoursenses, not your mind, not your pos-sessions, not your relationships andmost of all not your ‘identity’. Remainestablished in the ‘self ’. So how doesone renounce all these ‘thinks’ and‘things’?

A simple way to look at it is equa-nimity. When we remain unaffected byjoy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, likesand dislikes, we achieve equanimity.How then do we reach this stage. Inthis article we will examine one of theways to get there, and that is the wayof ‘acceptance’. When we see things just

‘as they are’ and not as they ‘should orshould not be’ we develop acceptance.Apart from situations and scenariosthat may occur externally, this also per-tains to accepting ourselves. Thisdoes not mean inaction or making noeffort towards correction and change.But once acceptance has permeatedwithin, it lacks the emotion and youlearn to accept yourself on an ‘as-is-where-is’ basis. I am not recommend-ing a sense of futility or fatalism, whichare both negative in connotation.Rather, saints often talk about ‘content-ment’, the root of which lies in ‘accep-tance’ which stems from a positivemindset.

Rabia of Basra, was a well-knownSufi mystic. Her approach to spiritu-al life won respect from many contem-poraries. When people asked her,“When are servants of god content?”She replied, “They are content whenthey are as grateful for pain, as they arefor pleasure.”

It’s a long journey, a journeywhich we have traversed across manylifetimes, and as we continue thepath. Let me share a great tool to buildacceptance of oneself and others. It isknown as pratipaksh bhavana. This isone of the yogic mind practices thatteaches you to cultivate a positivethought every time a negative oneenters the mind. In other words, it isa device to create an opposite attitude

towards thoughts or feelings thatcause a disturbance in your mind.

In simpler words, it reflects anopposite viewpoint. When you receivethoughts about something your intel-lect does not like, you select an oppo-site thought to superimpose the dis-liked original one. For example, ifsomeone is rude to you, instead of nat-urally developing animosity towardsthem, pratipaksh bhavana teaches youto look at them in the opposite man-ner. You can convince yourself thatmaybe the person was going throughstress and did not realise how theywere speaking, or that perhaps it wasyour destiny to face a crude reactionfrom someone, or you can ask your-self if something you said initiated thisreaction. These are just a few illustra-tions of how you can stop the otherperson’s behaviour from hurting you.

As a golden rule instead of look-ing at the rate of success, look at therate of decreasing failure.

Maharishi Patanjali remarked,“Expose the mind to constant thoughtsof anger and resentment, and you willfind these anger-waves build up anger-samskars, which will predispose youto find occasions for anger permeat-ing your daily life. A man with well-developed anger-samskars is said tohave a bad temper.”

Once a guru was questioned ,“What should I do if I get sensualthoughts while treating women?” Hesmiled as if he had been asked thatquestion a hundred times before. Hesaid, “While treating women visualiseher as an infant and then an old lady.”This was a unique example of a kindof pratipaksh bhavana, where yousuperimpose not an opposite emotionbut a variation of visualisations toavoid a negative one.

I urge you to think about a gameof cricket. Technically, it is almostimpossible to see a ball at 100 miles anhour and then decide how to play it.Few batsmen can do that. So how dothey hit a ball that moves faster thanone can think? It is called practice. Italso leads to muscle memory.

You have to go to the nets andkeep practicing till you know what todo. You need to understand that youwill improve, but only a little at a time.And so it is with spiritual practices.

Even when struggling to acceptyourself, you can look at the flip sideand say, “These days, I dislike myselfless” and then say, “I hardly dislikemyself ”, which will eventually lead toa feeling wherein you will not dislikeyourself at all. From here on, I pray thatyou can start accepting yourselfunquestioningly.

The writer is the author of Hingori Sutrasseries of spiritual books

Gandhi as I see him

God is easily pleased

THE RENUNCIATE ISSOMEONE WHO

RESTS IN THE JOYOF THE SPIRIT

RATHER THAN THATPROVIDED BY THESENSES. A TRUE

RENUNCIATE ENJOYSWHAT COMES TOTHEM UNSOUGHT

Anyone can be an artist,regardless of their talent.Using art, creativity, and

imagination in your daily lifemay lead to bravery, break-throughs, and uniqueness, all ofwhich can pave the path forgenuine success. Understandinghow art makes you more cre-ative and capable of thinkingoutside the box will push youout of your comfort zone andmake you willing to face anychallenges that come your way.Here are ways that incorporat-ing art and imagination intoyour regular work will result inproductivity and accomplish-

ment in the long run. It’s simpleto assume that looking at artmakes us happy. Whether oneprefers modern subjects, classicstyles, sculptures, still life, orceramics, the love for art is uni-versal, even among people whodo not consider themselvesartists. This reciprocal emotion,though, isn’t just for show.Exposure to art influences ourhealth, success, and our life.Let’s take a deeper look at someof the ways art may improveyour life.

ART AFFECTS OUR LIFEDid you realise that gazing

at art has a direct impact on thebrain? The University ofLondon reported in 2011 thatwhen individuals saw attractiveartwork, blood flow to the brainincreased by up to 10%. Perhapsthe word ‘art’ is hidden withinthe term ‘smart’ for a reason!Art can heal both the mind andthe physical. This fact has gar-nered attention, as physicianshave discovered that looking atand producing art has manyhealth advantages. It relievesstress, enhances mental health,and strengthens the immunesystem. Art reduces patientrecovery time and increases

hospital staff productivity. Thereis so much proof that artimproves health that we nowhave trained art therapists.

ART FACILITATES COMMUNICA-TION

When words fail to expresssomething, the visual arts are amethod to communicate it. It’s amethod for us to express our-selves and think about thehuman predicament. We makean image with a message basedon what we think or feel andshare it with others to see howthey perceive it. In this sense,art might be the ticket thatallows us to build a more peace-ful environment in which tolive.

ART IS A FUEL THAT IMPROVESONE’S QUALITY OF LIFE

Art not only improves ourphysical and mental wellbeing,but it also gives us a feeling ofdirection. The creativity thatcomes with creating and view-ing art may transform our per-spective on life and assure usthat there are brighter daysahead. Do you get a sense ofimpending doom? Take a lookat some art, or pick up a brushor pen and try your hand at it.Art provides a respite from thedaily grind and an opportunityto tackle difficulties in a healthyway. Do you want to see moreart in your life? Take advantageof those little perks by stoppingby an art gallery on your wayhome or while doing errands.

The writer is visual artist

Creativity in any form helps to relieves stress, enhances mentalhealth, and strengthens the immune system, says AARRTI ZAVERI

Turn to art for progressIf we wish to lead a quality life, we must be prepared to listento God and try to please Him, writes AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

Renunciation is a critical part of the journey towards enlightenment.The way to look at it is what makes it different, writes HINGORI

ATTACHED TO NONE

special 09HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 26, 2021

Parvathy Ramnarayan11 years oldAuthor of: The GreatEscapade of Vegla ThePolar Bear

This student of Class VI is not youraverage school-goer. From horseriding to playing basketball to drawingto even writing a novel is what keepsher occupied. Though her day calendar

is filled with extracurricular activities andcompetitions, she does manage to take timeout for her pet — a mongrel, Brownie, thatshe has adopted. If this was not enough onher plate, this 11-year-old has also joined

writing classes at Camp K-12 and lovesparticipating in the spelling bee and othercompetitions organised by them.

This student of Kendriya Vidyalaya fromKanhangad, Kerala tells you that she loves toread and write. She tells you that takingonline classes has been a tad difficult becauseshe is unable to meet her friends. “I missmeeting them and seeing them online andtalking with them is not the same. Also,where I stay, sometimes there are Internetproblems. There are many interruptions,” shelaments.

Looking at her interest in reading andwriting, her mother told her about a workshopwhere she could enroll. “The best part of thisclass is that they teach us something new

every time. This keeps me interested. Also theteacher ensures that the one-hour session isnever boring. I have been taking these classesfor the last four months and I plan to keeptaking them. Even though my day is full sinceI enjoy these classes it is never a chore toattend them,” Ramnarayan says.

Her novel, The Great Escapades ofVegla The Polar Bear, is about a female polarbear who decides to explore the world. “Sheis bored of her pristine white world and wantsto add colour to her life and to roam theworld that see what it has to offer. She is notaware of the dangers that the outside worldposes. All her friends try to dissuade her fromembarking on this journey but Vegla isdetermined. She doesn’t listen to them and

goes on this journey,” Ramnarayan says. Hernovel is available on Amazon and Kindle.

She decided to write a story on polarbears after extensive research on thesewonderful animals that live in the ice coldregions of the world. “I read so much aboutpolar bears. There was so much informationon them. When I looked at their pictures, Ifound that they were cute looking, especiallythe cubs. Also, not many people know abouttheir world. Not many people have exploredtheir world. These animals shun humanpresence. This was another reason why Ichose to make Vegla the hero of my novel,”Ramnarayan tells you.

Interestingly, nobody told her to choosethis subject. She decided on her own.

“My teacher taught me about speechesand how to improve my vocabulary. I wastaught so many things that I didn’t knowabout,” Ramnarayan says.

This also includes horse riding. At thattime the family lived near a horse ridingacademy. Her father encouraged her to takethe classes. “It was fun,” she tells you.

For now, she is in the process of decidingwhat to write next. One thing she is sure of isthat it will be related to animals only. Sheplans to continue with the classes since herdream is to be a writer. Not only this, shewants to pursue archaeology. “I love historyand to know all about our past. There are somany things about it that we don’t know and Iwould love to explore it,” Ramnarayan says.

‘I want to base all my stories on animals’

Ishanvi Jain11 years oldAuthor of:Throne of theSea

You expect 11-year-olds enjoying withfriends and doingkid stuff. What youdon’t expect is that

they will have a day crampedwith school classes and then Artof Communication course thatteaches with how to perfecttheir English grammar. Notonly this, the classes at Camp K-12 also teach the kids how towrite — write novels.

One such student is IshanviJain, an 11-year-old studying inDelhi Public School, Durgapur.She is in Class VI and lovesreading books, listening tomusic, doodling and travel-ling.

Her novel, The Throne ofthe Sea that is available onAmazon and Kindle is aboutunderwater creatures and thestory is how true love finds itsway and true friends help eachother in every phase of lifethrough thick and thin.

“When I was planning onwhat to write my six-year-oldsister told me that I should writeon her favourite topic, the mer-maids and the underwaterworld. She is so fascinated byboth. So I gave this theme a shotand the novel was born, Jainsays.

It was during one of thedaily booster sessions, her men-

tor talked about English. “Theway she explained things andthe way she taught was very fas-cinating. She explained how towrite as well. All this was veryinspiring. So I decided to takethe class full-time. Once we hadtaken a certain number of class-es, we were invited to write astory. I was one of the luckyones to be chosen. And here Iam today, an author,” Jain tellsyou.

Her friends who have readher book are inspired and wantto join the class and becomewriters. Her favourite subjects

are English and history. “I loveto read and know about facts.History is all about facts, aboutpeople and how they lived backthen. It is fascinating to readthat despite not being veryeducated they were able toachieve so much,” Jain says.

She tells you that she lovesto read novels that have fanta-sy as a theme. She loves SudhaMurthy novels. She was intro-duced to these by her mentor.How I taught my Grandmotherto Read is her favourite.

“I love the way she writes.Also, her life inspires me. She

had lived a very humble life. Iam told that she is a very downto earth person. Of course,there are other authors I read aswell; Ruskin Bond is one ofthem. My tutor also tells mewhat books I should read toincrease my vocabulary. Shetells me that these will help meimprove my language skills.She also tells me that readingmore and more books will giveme an insight about howauthors take a subject andweave their stories. This helpsme to have a perspective aswell,” Jain says.

It has been over a year sinceshe joined these classes andplans to continue to take themsince she loves the classes. Alsothe personal attention that sheand other kids get, keeps hergoing. There are many changesthat she has seen in her writingsince she started.

“To begin with I didn’tknow how to be descriptive.Now, I can. I have learnt how tobe a better writer. I have a bet-ter grasp of the language. Thishelps me to weave the stories,”Jain explains who also loves lis-tening to music.

“I love all kinds of music. Ialso listen to Tamil and Telugusongs as well. I do have a fewfavourite English songs likeYummy by Justin Bieber andJalebi Baby by Tesher,” Jainsays.

She also does a lot of mind-less doodling. Once again shetook a class for this and evenmade a Unicorn using mandalaart. “It was my mother whointroduced me to this art formand I love it,” Jain says.

Nevaeha Palkar10 years oldAuthor of: Adventureon the Other Side

She was born in the US. Whenshe was three years old, her par-ents decided to come back toIndia and settle in Pune. AClass V student of PICT Model

School, Pune, this 10-year-old decidedto join the Art of Communicationcourse with Camp K-12 because sheloves English. Meet Nevaeha Palkar.

She tells you that a few months back,her mother came across an ad in thenewspaper. There was an announcementfor a competition in English. Palkarenrolled and she ranked No 3. It was acompetition that tested us on grammarand vocabulary. It was after I participat-ed in this competitive exam that we cameto know about Camp K-12. It was mymother’s decision to enroll me for theseclasses since she knows that I loveEnglish,” Palkar says.

While she loves reading books andnovels, she doesn’t have a single bookthat is her favourite. However, she tellsyou that she does have a favouriteauthor, Sudha Murthy who has writtenmany kids novels.

“I absolutely love her novels; they aretruly amazing. I love the way she writes.I read her first book when I was muchyounger. I don’t really remember how oldI was. But my mother gave it to me andI instantly fell in love with them. I alsolove to read Enid Blyton and Roald Dahlbooks as well,” Palkar says.

She tells you that her debut novel,Adventures of the Other Side, is aboutthree friends who embark on a journeythat takes them on the other side of theworld and now they have to figure a wayout to get back home.

“I love to read adventure, fantasy andmythological stories. My passion towrite has also encouraged me to writepoems as well. These however have notbeen published but my mother sharesthese on her Facebook page. So when Ihad to submit a story for the Art ofCommunication course, I decided towrite it on this topic. Once I submittedit, the mentors really loved it and that’swhen I developed it into a novel,” Palkarsays.

It was the workshop that helped hershape her novel. “In the workshop we aretaught how to write and how to devel-op a story. I loved the course anddecided to continue to take the classes.For now, I have not written anything else.But I plan to write another novel or writea sequel to my debut novel,” Palkar sayswhose novel is available on Amazon andKIndle.

But this is not all. Palkar is a girl ofmany talents. When she was six, shefound that a kids clothing company waslooking for kid models around her age.I decided to participate. I had so muchfun doing it,” Palkar tells you. She is alsointo singing, and is learning westernvocals.

She is also an animal lover, especial-ly cats. While her parents have notallowed her to keep one as a pet, shehopes that she will be allowed to keepone in the near future. She tells you thatwhile she is an author at heart, she wantsto pursue medicine when she grows up.However, she will not give up her pas-sion for writing and will continue towrite. “I don’t know what I will writeabout in the future. Maybe it will be abook about medicine or it can be onmythology. It is difficult to say what I willdo in the future,” Palkar says. Herfriends have loved her novel which has84 pages.

“My parents have encouraged me allthrough my journey,” Palkar says.

Artistically inclined Fantasy world beckons her

My debut novel,Adventures of the

Other Side, isabout threefriends whoembark on a

journey that takesthem on the otherside of the world

and now theyhave to figure away out to get

back home

Today young children are just not interested in excelling in academics. Pursuing their passionand dream gets them going — be it to become entrepreneurs or authors. SHALINI SAKSENAchats up a few such children who talk about their novels

M E E T I N D I A ’ S

YOUNG WRITERS

scopekaleidHYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 26, 2021

backpage

Ocean Photography Awards 2021

3rd place in Exploration Photographer of the Year, Matty Smith:A portrait of a squid, taken in Bushrangers Bay, Australia

Third place in Collective Portfolio Award, Alex Kydd:A rare encounter with a fever of cownose rays on theNingaloo Reef, Western Australia

2nd place in Collective Portfolio Award, Matty Smith: A southernbobtail squid performs a spectacular display on the seabed at night

Third place in Ocean AdventurePhotographer of the Year, SebastienPontoizeau: A freediver duck dives tocapture a photograph of a humpbackwhale off the coast of Reunion Island

Winner of ConservationPhotographer of the Year,Kerim Sabuncuoglu: A deadmoray eel on an abandonedfishing line in Bodrum, Turkey

Winners of the Ocean Photography Awards 2021 have been announced, as the outdoorexhibition, showcasing some of the most striking submissions, opens to the public in

London. Waves, whales, penguins and turtles are recurring themes, with Aimee Jan namedOcean Photographer of the Year for her hypnotic image of a sea turtle crowded by a school ofglass fish, taken on Ningaloo Reef in Australia. “I was out snorkelling when one of mycolleagues told me there was a turtle under a ledge in a school of glass fish, about 10 metresdown,” Jan says of her image. “When I dived down to look, the fish separated around the turtleperfectly. I said to her: ‘I think I just took the best photo I have ever taken’.” Second place wasawarded to Henley Spiers for her image of gannets diving for mackerel in the Shetland Islands,UK, and third place went to Matty Smith, for his shot of a turtle hatchling's first moments of life.Including Ocean Photographer of the Year, there are eight awards in the competition.

Winners of the Ocean Photography Awards 2021 have been announced, as the outdoorexhibition, showcasing some of the most striking submissions, opens to the public in

London. Waves, whales, penguins and turtles are recurring themes, with Aimee Jan namedOcean Photographer of the Year for her hypnotic image of a sea turtle crowded by a school ofglass fish, taken on Ningaloo Reef in Australia. “I was out snorkelling when one of mycolleagues told me there was a turtle under a ledge in a school of glass fish, about 10 metresdown,” Jan says of her image. “When I dived down to look, the fish separated around the turtleperfectly. I said to her: ‘I think I just took the best photo I have ever taken’.” Second place wasawarded to Henley Spiers for her image of gannets diving for mackerel in the Shetland Islands,UK, and third place went to Matty Smith, for his shot of a turtle hatchling's first moments of life.Including Ocean Photographer of the Year, there are eight awards in the competition.

Winners of the Ocean Photography Awards 2021 have been announced, as the outdoorexhibition, showcasing some of the most striking submissions, opens to the public in

London. Waves, whales, penguins and turtles are recurring themes, with Aimee Jan namedOcean Photographer of the Year for her hypnotic image of a sea turtle crowded by a school ofglass fish, taken on Ningaloo Reef in Australia. “I was out snorkelling when one of mycolleagues told me there was a turtle under a ledge in a school of glass fish, about 10 metresdown,” Jan says of her image. “When I dived down to look, the fish separated around the turtleperfectly. I said to her: ‘I think I just took the best photo I have ever taken’.” Second place wasawarded to Henley Spiers for her image of gannets diving for mackerel in the Shetland Islands,UK, and third place went to Matty Smith, for his shot of a turtle hatchling's first moments of life.Including Ocean Photographer of the Year, there are eight awards in the competition.

Winners of the Ocean Photography Awards 2021 have been announced, as the outdoorexhibition, showcasing some of the most striking submissions, opens to the public in

London. Waves, whales, penguins and turtles are recurring themes, with Aimee Jan namedOcean Photographer of the Year for her hypnotic image of a sea turtle crowded by a school ofglass fish, taken on Ningaloo Reef in Australia. “I was out snorkelling when one of mycolleagues told me there was a turtle under a ledge in a school of glass fish, about 10 metresdown,” Jan says of her image. “When I dived down to look, the fish separated around the turtleperfectly. I said to her: ‘I think I just took the best photo I have ever taken’.” Second place wasawarded to Henley Spiers for her image of gannets diving for mackerel in the Shetland Islands,UK, and third place went to Matty Smith, for his shot of a turtle hatchling's first moments of life.Including Ocean Photographer of the Year, there are eight awards in the competition.

US President Joe Biden has reiterated America's support forIndia's permanent membership on a reformed UnitedNations Security Council and its entry into the Nuclear

Suppliers Group during his first in-person bilateral meeting withPrime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House.

President Biden, in his talks with Prime Minister Modi,applauded India's "strong leadership" during its UN Security

Council Presidency in August 2021,according to the US-India Joint

Leaders' Statement issued aftertheir meeting in the WhiteHouse on Friday.

"In this context, PresidentBiden also reiterated US supportfor India's permanent member-ship on a reformed UN SecurityCouncil and for other countries

who are important champions ofmultilateral cooperation and aspire

to permanent seats on the UNSecurity Council," it said.

President Biden's support pro-vides a big boost to New Delhi'spush for the reform of the power-ful UN organ as India has been atthe forefront of efforts at theUnited Nations to push for anurgent long-pending reform ofthe Security Council, emphasis-ing that it rightly deserves aplace at the UN high table as apermanent member.

India in June asserted that theInter-GovernmentalNegotiations (IGN) on UNSecurity Council reforms canno longer be used as a smoke-screen, as the GeneralAssembly decided to rollover the IGN work to thenext UN General Assemblysession and agreed toinclude an amendment

proposed by the G4nations of Brazil,

Germany, India and Japan.At present, the UN Security

Council comprises five per-manent members and 10

non-permanent member countries whichare elected for a two-year term by theGeneral Assembly of the United Nations.

Joe Biden reiterates

US support for India's

entry in top UN body

Jaya Bachchan completed 50 glorious years inBollywood on Saturday and on the special occasion,

her son Abhishek Bachchan shared a post on hisInstagram profile. The actor shared some film stillsfrom Jaya Bahchan's movies over the years and hewrote a caption along with it, which read, "I'm so grate-ful to be her son, and to see her complete 50 years inthe film industry is a moment of pride. Happy 50 yearsof cinema Ma, I love you." In the comments section,Jaya Bachchan's granddaughter Navya Naveli Nandawrote: "She is love." Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor,Chitrangda Singh and other actors dropped heart emo-jis in the comments section of the post.

Abhishek wishes mom Jaya Bachchan on completing 50 years in cinema

The United Kingdom has anew science minister — its

ninth since 2010, following areshuffle of Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s cabinet. George Freeman,a former investor in life-sciencescompanies, takes the role at a timewhen the coronavirus pandemichas renewed focus on research. Butthere are concerns that theConservative government’s ambi-tious target for research spendingwill not be met; the UnitedKingdom’s relationship with Europe

is also likely to influence the minis-ter’s agenda.

Freeman has been a ConservativeMember of Parliament since 2010and has previously served as a gov-ernment life-sciences adviser andtransport minister. He takes overhis latest role — a junior ministerialjob — from Amanda Solloway, whowas appointed in early 2020.

His background, as a ministerand a biotechnology venture capi-talist, makes Freeman a relativelypopular choice for some

researchers. “I think it’s a goodappointment,” says James Wilsdon,who studies research policy at theUniversity of Sheffield, UK. “It’sgreat to have someone in the rolewho understands the research andinnovation system.” KieronFlanagan, who studies science andpolicy at the University ofManchester, UK, agrees. “I thinkmost scientists will be happy tohave an enthusiast who values sci-ence for its commercial and eco-nomic potential,” he says.

UK minister takes on ambitious research agenda

George Freeman

Resistance to frontline malariadrugs confirmed in Africa

Scientists have confirmed that malaria parasites in Africa havedeveloped resistance to a key family of drugs used to protect

against them. “We’ve all been expecting and dreading this forquite some time,” says Leann Tilley, a biochemist at theUniversity of Melbourne in Australia, who researches themolecular basis of antimalarial resistance. Signs of drugresistance have long been present in Africa: for instance, inRwanda between 2012 and 2015, scientists detected1 theexistence of gene mutations associated with resistance in malariaparasites. A new study, published in the New England Journal ofMedicine today2, bolsters these findings by showing that suchmutations are causing an observable drop in antimalarials’ abilityto quickly treat people with the disease. The ‘gold standard’treatments for malaria — the drug family including artemisininand its derivatives — are often administered alongside ‘partner’drugs in what are called artemisinin-combination therapies(ACTs), because multiple drugs are more difficult for parasites todevelop resistance against.

Brother of Arjun Rampal’s partner, 3others arrested after Goa drug raidsT

he brother of Arjun Rampal'spartner Gabriella

Demetriades is among fourpeople arrested from Goa for

alleged possession ofdrugs. The NCB had

arrested AgisilaosDemetriades last year too

in connection with itsinvestigation into the

alleged Bollywood drugsnexus and he was later

released on bail TheNarcotics Control Bureau

(NCB) made the arrestsduring a series of raids in

Goa over the week, an officialsaid, according to a report by

news agency PTI. The NCB's Goasub zone unit arrested Nouman

Savery (22), originally fromChhattisgarh, at Siolim beach

village in North Goa onWednesday. Thereafter, they

arrested his partner SiddiqAhmed (25) of Hyderabad, the

official said.

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Scientists have found three viruses in batsin Laos that are more similar to SARS-

CoV-2 than any known viruses.Researchers say that parts of their geneticcode bolster claims that the virus behindCovid-19 has a natural origin — but theirdiscovery also raises fears that there arenumerous coronaviruses with the potentialto infect people. David Robertson, a virolo-gist at the University of Glasgow, UK, callsthe find “fascinating, and quite terrifying”.The results, which are not peer reviewed,have been posted on the preprint serverResearch Square1. Particularly concerningis that the new viruses contain receptorbinding domains that are almost identicalto that of SARS-CoV-2, and can thereforeinfect human cells. The receptor bindingdomain allows SARS-CoV-2 to attach to areceptor called ACE2 on the surface ofhuman cells to enter them.