PNS n NEW DELHI

Nationalism and the slogan of'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' are beingmisused to construct a "mili-tant and purely emotional"idea of India that excludesmillions of residents and citi-

zens, former prime ministerManmohan Singh said onSaturday, in an apparent attackon the BJP.

Addressing a gathering atthe launch of a book onJawaharlal Nehru's works andspeeches, Singh said that if

India is recognised in thecomity of nations as a vibrantdemocracy and, if it is consid-ered as one of the importantworld powers, it was the firstprime minister, who should berecognised as its main archi-tect.

Nehru had led this countryin its volatile and formativedays when it adopted ademocratic way of l i fe,accommodating divergentsocial and political views,Singh said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Justice N V Ramana, theseniormost judge in theSupreme Court, on Saturdayexhorted courts to help preventpopulist decisions from affect-ing constitutional rights andpitting the rights of one groupagainst those of other groups.

Justice Ramana was speak-ing at the inaugural function ofthe International JudicialConference here on the theme'Judiciary and the ChangingWorld'.

Mentioning that the confer-ence would deliberate upon theimportant topic of 'Role of theJudiciary against Populism',Justice Ramana observed: "Thistopic assumes fundamentalimportance because populist

decisions affect the constitu-tional rights, and more oftenthan not, rights of one groupare pitted against the rights orinterest of other groups. Hence,courts will have to rise to theoccasion and guard constitu-tional values, at the same timebalance all constitutional con-siderations."

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Centre has pickedHyderabad to make it a beg-gar-free city under a pilot pro-ject aimed at comprehensiverescue and rehabilitation ofpersons involved in begging.

R Subramanyam, Secretary,Government of India,Department of Social Justiceand Empowerment, said onSaturday that the Centre wouldprovide Rs 10 crore for thisproject to help provide beggarswith full-fledged rehabilita-tion and economic self-reliance. He, along with

Radhika Chakravarthy, JointSecretary, Government ofIndia, and TS PrincipalSecretary Arvind Kumar,attended a workshop on

'National Campaign forComprehensive Rehabilitationof People involved in Begging'conducted here on Saturday.

‘1.3 bn Indianswholeheartedlywelcomedcritical verdicts’

CEA: India needs pro-biz,not pro-cronypolicies

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Owaisi sittingpretty after anti-CAA protests

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any important work)Rahukalam: 04:50 pm – 06:16 pmYamagandam: 12:29 pm – 01:56 pmVarjyam: 09:42 pm – 11:29 pmGulika: 03:23 pm - 04:50 pmGood Time: (to start any important

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JUDICIARY AND THE CHANGING WORLD

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Although citizens have beenrequesting the authorities inright earnest to speed upgrounding of works relating tothe Old City stretch ofHyderabad Metro Rail, there isan air of uncertainty overwhether L&T will go aheadwith it in the first place.Apparently there is some ambi-guity over L&T doing the OldCity Metro stretch due to fundcrunch, though it is part ofPhase1.

When contacted, HMRL

MD said, "We are looking atalternative funding options.For Old City Metro, we areseeing different options toensure that it happens. Wehave open mind on that. Nodecision is taken yet. Mostprobably L&T only will be

doing it, nothing is certain asof now."

Except for the 5.5-kmstretch in the Old City, fallingunder Corridor II, L &THMRL has completed works inall the three corridors.

Central officials R Subramanyam and Radhika Chakravarthy with TS PrincipalSecretary Arvind Kumar and Deputy Mayor Fasiuddin at the workshop on Saturday

KCR to attend Prez dinner hosted for TrumpPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao hasreceived an invitation fromPresident Ramnath Kovind toattend the dinner being host-ed for the United StatesPresident Donald Trump.Certainly it is a rare honour asonly eight CMs have beenpicked from those of 28 statesin the country. The othersinvited are the Chief Ministersof Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil

Nadu, Karnataka, Assam,Haryana and Bihar. KCR islikely to attend the dinner.

KCR may leave for Delhi onFebruary 24 evening orFebruary 25 afternoon. Thedinner is scheduled at 8-00 pm on February25 atRashtrapati Bhavan.This will be attended byPrime Minister, centralministers, and selectChief Ministers.

Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is

scheduled to host a sumptuouslunch for Trump earlier in theday.

It may be mentioned herethat in 2017, Ivanka Trump,

daughter of the US PresidentDonald Trump had vis-ited Hyderabad for theG l o b a lE nt r e p r e n e u r s h i pSummit. KCR has

already interactedwith Ivanka dur-

ing her pre-vious visit.

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

The state government is like-ly to earmark money forMLAs and MLCs under theConstituency DevelopmentFund (CDF) Scheme in theupcoming budget.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao hasapparently decided to allocatefunds for the CDF Scheme inthe budget. He has reported-ly directed officials of theFinance Department to factorin the allocation of funds toevery MLA and MLC duringpreparation of budget pro-posals.

The state government didnot allocate funds for the CDFScheme in Budget-2019 due torecession and other factors.This time, there could someallocation, though the amountmay not be as high as Rs 3crore for each legislator.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Commissioner of HyderabadPolice Anjani Kumar assertedon Saturday that nothing likeShaheen Bagh protest wouldbe allowed in Hyderabad.

The Commissioner said,"There is no Shaheen Bagh-like incident in Hyderabad.Nowhere. Hyderabad is thebest city in India and don'tcompare it with places whereall these negative things arehappening. Nothing likeShaheen Bagh will be allowedin Hyderabad. Impossible!"

Police officials said thatright to protest was differentfrom the right to continuedprotest. Anjani said, "It is anappeal to women … in publicplace, sitting and causing traf-

fic problem is not nice. Anti-social elements will try totake advantage. Our objectiveis not to deny permission, butfollow due procedures. Wewill take legal action if com-mon public is put to inconve-nience."

Justice N V Ramana

Nationalism misused to constructmilitant idea of India: Manmohan

AIMIM leaderwithdraws‘hate-comments’PNS n MUMBAI

Following a nationwidefurore over his "communalhate-speech", All IndiaMajlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) ex-legislator ofMaharashtra Waris Pathanwithdrew his controversialremarks here on Saturday.

"I had no intentions to hurtthe sentiments of any com-munity...My remarks werenot 'anti-Hindu', I herebywithdraw my statement,"Pathan told mediapersonshere this evening.

Ram templewill be readywithin 3.5 yrsPNS n JAIPUR

The proposed Ram temple inAyodhya will be ready withinthree or three-and-a-half yearsafter the construction starts,Govind Dev Giriji Maharaj,the treasurer of Shri RamJanmabhoomi Teerth Kshetratrust, said on Saturday.

Giriji Maharaj said finan-cial cooperation from alldevotees for constructing thetemple would be accepted.

"The Akshardham Templewas built in three years, theStatue of Unity was con-structed within three years,then we are also thinking thatin three to three-and-a-halfyears, the grand temple ofLord Ram will be realisedthere," Giriji Maharaj said ata press conference here.

NEW DELHI: The right toprivacy, recognised as a funda-mental right by the SupremeCourt, has evolved to protectnot only telephonic conversa-tions but also online data, anapex court judge said onSaturday.

Justice L Nageswara Raosaid the evolution of the lawassumes importance because itrepresents the progress of anation and its social condi-tions, and that failure to evolvethe law in accordance with thechanging circumstances oftenleads to injustice.

"The right to privacy, which

is a topic for panel discussionand which has been recognisedas a fundamental right by theSupreme Court, has trulytransformed in shape and formin the last 60 years of its exis-tence in Indian law.

Justice LN Rao

Anjani Kumar

Centre offers Rs 10 crore tomake Hyderabad beggar-free

Except for the 5.5-kmstretch in the Old City,falling under CorridorII, L &T HMRL hascompleted works inall the three corridors

CM has reportedlydirected officials of theFinance Department tofactor in the allocationof funds to every MLAand MLC duringpreparation of budget proposals

Legislators likelyto get funds underCDF Scheme

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The Geological Survey of India (GSI) on Saturday said there has beenno discovery of gold deposits estimated to be around 3,000 tonnes

in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, as claimed by a district miningofficial. "Such data was not given by anybody from GSI.... GSI has notestimated such kind of vast resource of gold deposits in Sonbhadradistrict," GSI Director General (DG) M Sridhar told PTI inKolkata. "We share our findings regarding any resou-rces of ore after conducting survey with the stateunits.... We (GSI, Northern Region) carried outwork in that region in 1998-99 and 1999-2000.”

GSI: NO DISCOVERY OF AROUND3000-TONNE GOLD DEPOSITS IN UP

NEW VIRUS HAS INFECTED MORETHAN 77,000 PEOPLE GLOBALLYAviral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 77,000

people globally. The World Health Organization has named the illnessCOVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus thatcauses it. The latest figures reported by each government's healthauthority as of Saturday in Beijing:Mainland China: 2,345 deaths among76,288 cases, mostly in the centralprovince of Hubei Hong Kong: 69 cases,2 deaths Macao: 10 Japan: 739 cases,including 634 from a cruise ship.

AYUSHMANN KHURRANA'S GAYROM-COM: TRUMP SAYS ‘GREAT’ US President Donald Trump got into the mood on Friday ahead of his

upcoming India trip by issuing a surprising thumbs-up for Bollywood'snewly released gay rom-com movie. "Great!" the US president wrote as heretweeted gay rights activist Peter Tatchell's own expression of support forthe movie "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan". Released onFriday, "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan" stars actorAyushmann Khurrana as a young man bucking socialdisapproval to be with his beloved -- another man.Trump isnot a regular advocate of gay rights, while some of hismore right-wing supporters actively oppose them.

Telangana education department has said that conjoined twins Veenaand Vani will be treated as two individuals and both will take separate

exams.Initially, district education authorities were unsure whether toconsider the girls as one or two individuals when it came to giving themhall tickets for the examination. The twins, who recieved special tuition,were coached by teachers deputed by theEducation Department at the state home inHyderabad where they currently live. Veena andVani are children of M Murali and Nagalakshmifrom Beerishettygudem of Mahabubabad.

CONJOINED TWINS VEENA-VANI TOHAVE SEPARATE ANSWER SHEETS

PNS n NEW DELHI

As India is gearing up to wel-come US President DonaldTrump who will arrive on hismaiden visit on February 24, ahigh level security apparatushas been put in place.

Trump's security is in thehands of the American SecretService which is tasked withprotecting the US President. InIndia, the SPG and the NSGwill help the secret serviceagents maintain the securitymachinery of Trump.

According to reports, secretservice agents came to India amonth ago, as is the routine.The American agents laid theirown communication systemthrough which they will keeptrack of every developmentminute by minute. According

to media reports, permissionwas taken from the Indianauthorities to bring the tech-nology and equipment fromthe US to India. As it landed inIndia the bar code was scannedat the airport to see that thereturn from India is as smooth.

In the entire security appa-

ratus, the most important com-ponents are a 'football' and a'biscuit'.

The football is a black colourleather briefcase which comesinto service when the Presidentleaves America. It is the ulti-mate power accessory, adoomsday machine that could

destroy the entire world. It is infact a nuclear device with asecret code and alarm. Acco-rding to reports, the 'nuclearfootball' has an antenna pro-truding from it. The antenna islinked to a satellite phone.

According to Dailymail, theUS has been using this nuclearfootball since 1962.

There are four things in thefootball and the most impor-tant thing is the 'biscuit', a debitcard sized piece of plastic con-taining the codes the USPresident needs to order thelaunch of nuclear weapons.

Trump will arrive inAhmedabad around noon onFebruary 24 for a little less thana 36-hour-long trip to India.

Ajay Tomar, Special policecommissioner (crime) ofAhmedabad, said, "Arrangem-ents have been made for traf-fic management apart from thesecurity. On the 22-km longroute of the roadshow, morethan 1000 officers and jawanshave been deployed. Rehearsalsare being held to see thateverything goes off smoothly.I don't want to share moredetails."

‘Football’ and ‘Biscuit’ in Trump’s security armourFootball is the ultimate power accessory, a nuclear device with a secret code and alarm

The AmericanPresident’s securityagents laid their owncommunicationsystem throughwhich they will keeptrack of everydevelopment minuteby minute

Shaheen Bagh-likestir not in Hyd: CP

‘ALL ANDSUNDRY’ Right to privacy include

online data: Justice LN Rao

Uncertainty over L&T executing5.5-km Old City Metro stretch

‘India has contributed to the evolution of jurisprudence in many areas’

Insulate constitutional valuesfrom populism: Justice Ramana

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

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HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2020 hyderabad 02

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(IN HYDERABAD)

The agitation against theCitizenship Amendment

Act (CAA) and other contro-versies surrounding it havegone so much in favour ofAsaduddin Owaisi, presidentof the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM), that he could belaughing all the way to hisvote bank. If he is sittingpretty today, he must thankthe ruling dispensation inDelhi as much as his allies.

His all-weather friend, ChiefMinister K. ChandrashekharRao has opened the floodgatesfor opposition to the new leg-islation while the UniqueIdentification Authority ofIndia (UIDAI) has added fuelto the fire by issuing notices toseveral people in the Old Cityto produce documents toauthenticate their Aadhaarcards.

An articulate leader, Owaisi

remains way ahead of othermainstream Muslim politi-cians in leading the cause torepeal CAA. The ruling partyin Telangana, in a bid to keepthe State's 12.7 per centMuslim population on itsside, is on the same page. Ithas decided to introduce aresolution in the Assemblyseeking abrogation of the Actas it runs counter to India'ssecular spirit.

This has added muscle to thecampaign by Owaisi who led amassive 'Tiranga' rally inJanuary under the UnitedMuslim Action Committee(UMAC) banner soon afterMIM's arch enemy MajlisBachao Tehreek took out animpressive 'Million march' withthe support of Congress, CPI,CPI (M) and the controversy-mired Popular Front of India.

The TRS had ruffled MIM'sfeathers earlier when it backedscrapping of Article 370 andabstained from voting on the

triple talaq bill. However,when it came to citizenshipbill, the party vehementlyopposed it in both Houses,though less dramatically thanOwaisi who tore the bill witha flourish in the Lok Sabha.

Despite his toxic speechesdecrying the injustices doneto minorities in India, Owasihas rarely crossed the Rubiconof his party's professed secu-larism in contrast to hisyounger sibling Akbaruddinwhose infamous, rabble-rous-ing 15-minute threat speechagainst Hindus in 2013 land-ed him in legal trouble and

revived dark memories ofMIM's pre-independenceavataar.

However, a party's ex-MLA,Waris Pathan remarked inthe senior Owaisi's presenceat a rally in Karnataka on how15 crore people belonging toa section could dominate 100crore people, an unsaid refer-ence to Muslims and Hindusrespectively, while a girlshouted pro-Pakistan slogansfrom the same dais. Suchembarrassments, if indeedthey are, remain a small blipon MIM's political radar. Theparty's footprint is rapidly

expanding beyond the OldCity. It has now two MPs,seven MLAs, and significantstrength in Aurangabad andHyderabad municipal corpo-rations and will find fresh pas-tures after CAA.

UIDAI's notices to 87 OldCity residents are clearly ill-timed and have given anti-CAA protestors and parties like

MIM a handle. Worse still, theyhave bolstered fears amonglarge sections of Muslims thatCAA was aimed at deprivingthem of citizenship, in spite ofinnumerable claims to the con-trary by the Prime Ministerand the Home Minister.

If the alleged discrepanciesin a 13-year-old Aadhaar cardcould become a tool forUIDAI to seek proof of citi-zenship from Mohd. SattarKhan, a resident of BhavaniNagar Talab Katta, whatwould a 'mysterious' entitylike the CAA do. AsaduddinOwaisi was not off the markwhile accusing the UIDAI ofabusing power by turning itinto a case of citizen verifica-tion.

The flip side of the argu-ment is expressed by BJPleaders who say that thou-sands of Rohingyas andBangladeshis are illegally stay-ing in Hyderabad, while thenumber of Pakistanis who

have merged into the OldCity's population by over-staying their visas isunknown. Is the UIDAI,therefore, unjustified in weed-ing out Aadhaar cards of per-sons whose addresses do notexist and of those who provid-ed false information?

If the opposition parties,including MIM, get tractionin Shaheen Bagh, Lucknow'sClock Tower or elsewhere, itcan be attributed to the gov-ernment's failure to anticipatesuch widespread oppositionto the Bill. Giving piecemealclarifications after severalparts of the country wererocked by protests is differentfrom gauging the likely reper-cussions and holding talkswith the Opposition. Defiantstatements that there will beno going back on CAA orclaims that there are no link-ages between CAA, NationalPopulation Register (NPR)and National Register of

Citizens (NRC) are unhelpfuland lack credibility.

Section 14 (a) of CAA, forexample, enjoins upon theCentre to issue a national IDcard to every citizen and tomaintain a National Register ofIndian Citizens. HomeMinister Amit Shah evenannounced in Parliament thata nationwide registry of citi-zens was on the agenda.Besides, the Home Ministry inNovember 2014 categoricallystated that "the NPR is the firststep towards creation of NRICby verifying the citizenship sta-tus of every usual resident".

It is nobody's case to scrapCAA, NPR, or NRC on whichit backed down later for thesimple reason that they exist-ed earlier. What is needed isaccommodation byGovernment on contentiousaspects of CAA to allay peo-ple's fears and see that fissi-parous forces don't get polit-ical legitimacy.

An articulate leader, Asaduddin Owaisiremains way ahead of other mainstreamMuslim politicians in leading the cause to repeal CAA. The ruling party in Telangana, in a bid to keep the State's 12.7 per centMuslim population on its side, is on the same page

S NAGESH KUMARFormer Resident Editor,

The Hindu

‘ALL ANDSUNDRY’

Owaisi sitting pretty after anti-CAA protests

‘CROP DIVERSIFICATIONNEED OF THE HOUR'PNS n HYDERABAD

Farmers need to diversify toothers allied sectors like dairyand poultry to make agricul-ture more sustainable, saidVice President M VenkaiahNaidu. He was speaking at thesecond edition of AgritechSouth, jointly organised bythe Confederation of IndianIndustry and Prof JayashankarTelangana State AgriculturalUniversity here on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion,Venkaiah Naidu said,"Agriculture as a profession isbecoming non sustainable andthere is a need to make it moreattractive and sustainable.There is a need for crop diver-sification and adding value byfood processing. Farmersshould diversify to others alliedsectors like dairy and poultryto make agriculture more sus-tainable. Sericulture, horticul-ture and fish/ prawn culture isin great demand and farmersshould venture into them alongwith agriculture."

The Vice President alsourged the students andresearch community to spendhalf of their time on the fieldwith the farmers to gain prac-tical exposure and knowledge.Farmer is the best teacher on

agriculture, he said.Applauding the Government ofTelangana for the major irriga-tion projects in the State,Venkaiah Naidu stressed on theneed to preserve and conservetraditional water bodies.

Telangana AgricultureMinister Niranjan Reddy, in hisaddress termed agriculture and

allied sectors as the backboneof the country. "Telangana hasa farmer friendly government.The TRS government hasbrought several farmer-friend-ly schemes such as RythuBandhu, Rythu Bhima, 24X7power supply and others forthe welfare of farming commu-nity," he said.

Stating that despite the dou-bling of per hector yield in therecent years, several factorshave contributed to the deplet-ing farmers' income. Dr VPraveen Rao, Vice Chancellorof Prof Jayashankar TelanganaState Agricultural Universitymentioned that the varsity hasbeen able to do some impact-ful research. "The research pri-orities of the university havebeen realigned to meet thechanging needs of the state.The University has alsomapped 133 varieties of cropswith a target to double farm-ers' income," he said.

Earlier, CII Telangana chair-man D Raju mentioned thatthe conference and exhibitionwould help in bridging the gapbetween the agriculturalresearch & farmers through thedissemination of the research& latest agri technology &methods to the farmers.

Several farmers, universityofficers, large number of stu-dents, agriculture faculty andscientists attended the three-day event aimed to create busi-ness opportunities to the tech-nology holders and also intro-duce practical learning to thetechnology users and farmers,with special focus on farmer-expert interface.

Farmers should diversify to others allied sectors like dairyand poultry to make agriculture more sustainable.Sericulture, horticulture and fish/ prawn culture is in great

demand and farmers should venture into them along withagriculture

—VENKAIAH NAIDU, Vice President

CMS-COP13

Nehru Zoo’s mouse deerbreeding draws praisePNS n AHMEDABAD

The conservation breedingprogramme of Mouse Deer atNehru Zoological Park won lotof appreciation and accoladesfrom delegates across the worldat the Thirteenth Meeting ofthe Conference of the Partiesto the Convention on theConservation of MigratorySpecies of Wild Animals(CMS-COP13), which came toa close on Saturday.

As an environmental treatyof the United Nations, CMSprovides a global platform forthe conservation and sustain-able use of migratory animalsand their habitats. CMS bringstogether the States throughwhich migratory animals pass,the Range States, and lays thelegal foundation for interna-tionally coordinated conserva-tion measures throughout amigratory range.

The Telangana ForestDepartment participated inthe CMS-COP13 exhibition,wherein the success story ofMouse Deer conservationbreeding and reintroduction

programme at NehruZoological Park, Long-BilledVulture conservation inKumaram Bheem Asifabaddistrict, conservation atManjeera Wildlife Sanctuaryand Biodiversity of Telanganaby Telangana State BiodiversityBoard were displayed.

Union Minister forEnvironment PrakashJavadekar, Chief Minister ofGujarat Vijay Rupani heads ofdifferent national and interna-tional organisations visited theTelangana stall.

Additionally, the success

story of Mouse Deer conserva-tion breeding and reintroduc-tion in wild was presented byDr Sidhanand Kukrety,Director, Nehru ZoologicalPark in a side event organisedby Central Zoo Authority. Oneof the most successful breed-ing programmes among 73others, the conservation breed-ing programme of Mouse Deerat Nehru Zoological Park wonaccolades from delegates. RShobha, Principal ChiefConservator of Forests andothers participated in theCMS-COP13.

DCCB notifieselectionschedulePNS n WARANGAL

The district election officer onSaturday issued election noti-fication for DCCB elections inWarangal. According to thenotification, a total of 20 direc-tors would be elected for theD C C BWarangal unitfrom thePACS chair-persons spreadacross the erst-w h i l eWarangal district.

The chairpersons ofWarangal Urban, WarangalRural, Mahbubabad, Jangaon,Jayashankar Bhupalpally,Mulugu and part of Siddipetdistricts would be the eligiblevoters in the district electionfor which a secret ballot sys-tem would be adopted.

Sixteen directors of thePACS, FSCS and LSCS soci-eties would be elected for theeligible director posts. Amongthose sixteen director posts,three have been reserved forSCs, one for ST and 2 for BCs.Apart from these four directorsrepresenting employees coop-erative societies, Fishermencooperative societies, LCCSand PWCS would be elected inthe B class category societies.Nominations for the directorposts would be filed on orbefore February 25 in the dis-trict bank, officials said.

Vic e President M Venkaiah Naidu at Prof Jayashankar Telangana State AgriculturalUniversity here on Saturday

Insulate constitutional values...Continued from Page 1

Justice Ramana identifiedterrorism, cyber crime, envi-ronmental degradation andhealth problems as majorissues plaguing the world,including the Indian subcon-tinent. The judiciary needs toappropriately respond to themby evolving innovative princi-ples while keeping in mind therule of law, he said.

Justice Ramana remarkedthat terrorism is one of themain issues which has affect-ed every part of the world andhas no end in sight. "Presentlyour globalised world is closerthan it seems. Issues are com-mon and solutions need to beunanimous," he suggested.

Justice Ramana said thejudiciary needs to appropriate-ly respond to this problem by

"evolving innovative principlesand jurisprudence so that ter-rorism is kept at bay, while, at

the same time upholding therule of law". He said globali-sation demands the rule of lawand with increase in cross-border dealings, movement ofcitizens, goods and invest-ment, there is a requirementof stronger trust betweennations. "This trust can bebuilt by creating institutionswith strong emphasis on therule of law, which creates asecure environment," JusticeRamana said.

The SC judge said India hascontributed to the evolution ofjurisprudence in many areas."Our judgments have beencited with acceptance over-whelmingly by other jurisdic-tions such as the UnitedKingdom, Australia,Singapore, Bangladesh andother countries in the Asiancontinent."

Legislators likely toget funds...Continued from Page 1

Many MLAs and MLCs hadgiven up hopes on fund alloca-tion under CDF Scheme, con-sidering that the state has beenreeling under financial crunchoccasioned largely by recession.However, sources suggested thatthe CM would "surprise" theMLAs and MLCs by allocatingfunds in Budget-2020 for theCDF Scheme. The Telanganagovernment is going to presentthe Budget-2020 in the first weekof March. As part of it, theFinance Department has beenpreparing proposals in line withprevious instructions from theChief Minister.

It may be mentioned here thatthe Telangana state government

continued the CDF Schemepost bifurcation. At one point oftime, the Chief Minister doubledthe MLA's/MLC's CDF fundfrom Rs 1.5 crore to Rs.3 crore.

Legislators have been asked tosubmit proposals directly tothe Planning Department.Similarly, MLCs, elected byMLAs and nominated by theGovernor, can submit theirproposals to the PlanningDepartment. In case of MLCs,they could utilise their fundswith clearance from the FinanceMinister since they do not haveany specific constituency. MLCselected by local authority repre-sentatives and graduate con-stituency members have to givetheir proposals to the districtcollectors.

Centre offers Rs 10crore to make...Continued from Page 1

Radhika said that a strategyhad been formulated at thenational level following discus-sions with social activists, aca-demicians, NGOs and otherstakeholders involved in therehabilitation of beggars. As aresult, 10 cities across the coun-try, including Hyderabad, hadbeen identified for piloting theproject. Subramanyam said:"The success of Hyderabad cityin implementing 2BHK,Annapurna canteens schemeshas resulted in the Governmentof India choosing this city forthe pilot project towards com-prehensive rescue and rehabil-itation of the persons involvedin begging."

He urged officials and stake-holders to prepare a city actionplan, which should be imple-mented from April 2020. Hesaid, "Moving away from crimeand pity, involving communi-ty into the forefront, providingshelter to the homeless, accessto medical services and provid-ing sustainable livelihoods tothe beggars should be dis-cussed and deliberated in theworkshop." Meanwhile, somespeakers at the workshopexpressed their views that theproblem of beggary was amajor concern warrantingurgent attention and interven-

tion in view of the increasingnumbers, especially of childrenand women. It was felt thatregular convergence and coor-dination committee meetingsshould be conducted and beg-gary regulations enforcedstrictly. Radhika said, "The cityaction plan should include sur-vey and identification of beg-gars, mobilization, setting up ofshelter homes and compre-hensive resettlement, whichshould also include providinghealth care, education to thechildren and skill developmenttraining to take up economicactivity." Deputy MayorFasiuddin, while expressingconcern over the problem ofbegging in the cities, pointedout that 150 Annapurna centresacross the city had been provid-ing meals at Rs 5 daily. In hisinaugural remarks, ArvindKumar assured that the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation would cooperatewith the Government of Indiaand whole-heartedly supportthe programme. He said,"The problem of begging is acrucial problem, but very oftenneglected. Thinking it as aneyesore is not the solution."

He urged various stakehold-ers to suggest viable economicoptions to be taken up foruplifting the persons involvedin begging.

Nationalismmisused to...Continued from Page 1

India's first prime minister,who was very proud ofIndian heritage, assimilatedit, and harmonised theminto the needs of a newmodern India, he said

"With an inimitable style,and a multi-linguist, Nehrulaid the foundation of theuniversities, academies andcultural institutions ofModern India. But forNehru's leadership, inde-pendent India would nothave become what it istoday," Singh said.

The book 'Who is BharatMata' by PurushottamAgrawal and RadhaKrishna, contains selec-tions from Nehru's classicbooks.

AIMIM leaderwithdraws...Continued from Page 1

He added that attempts werebeing made to portray him as"anti-national" , but he clar-ified that his remarks werenot intended to create anykind of discord among peo-ple or communities.

A huge political stormerupted af ter Pathanaddressed an anti-CAAprotest in Kalburgi(Gulbarga) in Karnataka onFebruary 15 and said that"15-crore (Muslims) willprove stronger than the100-crore major ity(Hindus)."

Shaheen Bagh-like stir notin Hyderabad, says CPContinued from Page 1

During such protests at otherplaces in the country, there havebeen burning of vehicles, firing,people sitting for a month ondharna, but in Hyderabad suchthings are not happening, hesaid. It is only becauseHyderabad Police are con-cerned about safety, securityand comfort of common pub-lic, he said. "...At every place ifyou want to sit on dharna thenit will cause inconvenience tocommon public and hence wehave taken legal action and

booked cases pertaining tosome places where the protestswere held," he said. Meanwhile,reacting on the news articlepublished in Eenadu on TSpolice, Hyderabad CP AnjaniKumar said that the allegationsof politicians' involvement inthe recruitment of police offi-cers are untrue. “The PoliceDepartment is working in mosttransparent manner in the state.The police system is constant-ly working to protect the peacein the state," he said, adding thatsuch news is damaging thepolice morale.

Uncertainty overL&T executing...Continued from Page 1

This financial issue wasreportedly taken to the noticeof Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao, whoinstructed Hyderabad MetroRail Limited to find ways ofcompleting the Old CityMetro.

According to sources, therehas been time overrun andcost overrun for the conces-sionaire as they have investedheavily in stations and notfocused on real estate through

property development.Apparently, there was anincrease in the interest com-ponent running to a couple ofhundred crores yearly andL&T apparently needs assis-tance to pump in additionalmoney.

For the time being, citizensshould feel happy with thefeeder services provided fromMGBS Metro station to otherparts of Old City.

Officials hope that this initself will initially take care ofpublic transport needs.

R Shobha, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and others at the Convention onthe Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals in Gujarat on Saturday

Right to privacy...Continued from Page 1

While it was initially limitedto dealing with issues of sur-veillance and protection ofepistolary communications, ithas now evolved to protect notonly telephonic conversationsbut also protection of onlinedata. "It is this challenge ofinterpreting unchanged lawsin light of vastly changedsocial and political contextswhich courts constantly grap-ple with. Judges across coun-tries would presumably dealwith such issues differently,”he said.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2020 hyderabad 03

CMother kills sonafter he threatensto reveal her affairHYDERABAD: A woman allegedlystrangled her 9-year-old son todeath after he threatened toreveal her illicit relationship withanother man to his father, policesaid here on Saturday. Theincident happened last evening inNalgonda district when the 30-year-old woman strangulated theboy using a towel at home.The woman's husband workswith a borewell drilling firm andused to regularly go out on work,police said. Based on hiscomplaint, a case of murder wasregistered and the woman waspicked up for questioning andshe confessed to killing her son,they added.

2 held with faketiger skin, teethHYDERABAD: The South ZoneTask Force police caught twopersons who were attempting tocon people into buying a goatskin which was painted to looklike a tiger skin. The officialsrecovered one skin, fake teethand nails of tiger and two mobilephones. Acting on a tip off, thepolice caught MohammedMushtaq, 25, and MohammedAbdul Khadeer, 37 at MidhaniDepot in Kanchanbagh. "Mustaqbought a goat skin and painted itusing yellow and black colour tolook like tiger skin. Later with thehelp of Abdul Khadeer, he triedto sell the skin to gullible perso-ns," said Chakravarthy Gummi,Additional DCP Task Force.

Gold paste worthRs 15 lakh seizedHYDERABAD: Custom officialsnabbed a passenger for smugg-ling gold disguised as a paste atRGIA on Friday. "A passengerfrom Doha was smuggling goldpaste weighing 366.630 gramsvalued at Rs 15.56 lakh," saidofficials. In another incident, theofficials found two gold banglesworth Rs 9.40 lakh weighing233.200 grams being smuggledfrom Riyadh. They were decor-ated with ribbon to make themlook like simple bangles. Officialsseized the paste and bangles.

KTR: New GHMC Act to beintroduced in next BudgetPNS n HYDERABAD

A new Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation Actwill be introduced shortly, saidMunicipal Administration andUrban Development MinisterKT Rama Rao on Saturday. While incorporating all themajor provisions of TelanganaMunicipalities Act 2019, thenew GHMC Act will focus oneasing the building planapproval mechanism and putmore focus on sanitation andgreenery, KTR said.The newGHMC Act will be introducedin the next Budget session forapproval.

All the rules and regulationsincorporated in the TelanganaMunicipal Act will be includ-ed in the new GHMC Act, hesaid. With the Telangana StateBuilding Permission Approvaland Self-Certification System(TS-BPASS) to be introducedshortly, the Minister directedthe MA&UD principle secre-tary Arvind Kumar, GHMCcommissioner Lokesh Kumarand other senior officials toensure all the provisions of the

new system are in place in theGHMC Act. Required stepswill be taken to ensure the newprovisions of building planapproval are also implement-ed in HMDA to expedite theapplication approval.

The Minister reviewed theongoing works in the cityincluding development of foot-paths, public toilets, bus shel-ters, development of slip andlink roads, modernisation ofgraveyards, HRDCL, sanita-tion, desilting of nalas, beauti-fication of lakes and others.

Further, addressing theGHMC officials, the Ministersaid the zonal commissionersshould come up with innova-tive programmes, which ensuremore convenience for citizens.He said that all link and sliproads should be completed byApril 15, 2020. KCT instruct-ed the officials to expedite theconstruction of MahaPrasthanam in each zone andasked them to provide moreBasthi Dawakhanas.

He advised the GHMC offi-cials to prepare action plan to

combat seasonal diseases. Onland acquisition issues, theMinister instructed the officialsto issue all notices in a singleday of a particular project sothat it will be easy to takeaction in time.

Further, KTR directed theGHMC zonal commissionersto be well acquitted with theongoing works and their statusin their jurisdiction. He askedthe officials to share the activ-ities being taken up withinGHMC and other stakeholdersdepartments.

Minister KT Rama Rao presides over the meeting with MA&UD principal secretaryArvind Kumar, GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar and other officials on Saturday

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

While Metro trains in othercities across the country arefocusing on non-fare box ini-tiatives including birthday cel-ebrations and pre-weddingceremonies, the HyderabadMetro which seems to enjoydecent patronage is laggingbehind in launching such facil-ities.

Except for HyderabadMetro, individuals in othercities can book Metro coach-es for birthday celebrations orpre-wedding ceremonies.

Recently, Noida Metro RailCorporation launched a facil-ity to book coaches, followingthe footsteps of Rapid MetroGurgaon, Gujarat Metro Rail

Corporation and Jaipur MetroRail Corporation Gujarat.

The applicants would haveto submit the license fee whichwill vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs10,000 per hour excluding

taxes depending on the cate-gory such as decorated coachor undecorated coach, runningmetro or static metro.Housekeeping, decoration, fur-niture, supervisory staff will be

provided by Metro. This movehas been apparently taken toincrease Metro's viability andto provide better facilities tocommuters.

With the overwhelmingacceptance by the residents ofHyderabad to Metro,Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited(HMRL) cites that it is difficultto implement such initiativesin Hyderabad.

A senior official in HMRLsaid that such facilities can beimplemented on holidays atthe most but on other days, thetrains are steadfast inHyderabad unlike otherMetros. Hyderabad Metrowhich is second largest in thecountry enjoys a patronage offour lakh passengers per dayand is already operationally

breakeven in a very short peri-od of time. L&T HMRL earnsRs 30 crore from passengerfares per month and anotherRs 10 crore from propertydevelopment, advertisementsand miscellaneous. So the needfor such initiatives forHyderabad Metro is apparentlynot seen.

However, like others, Metrotrains in the city are being usedfor non-fare box initiativeslike film shooting. Metro railhas been winning hearts in theHyderabad, especially thedirectors of Tollywood. Everynew Tollywood film is beingfilmed in metro stations. Onan average L&T receives aboutfive requests per month forshooting and about 15 filmshave been shot so far.

Hyd Metro's non-fare box initiative hangs in balance

MA&UD Ministerstated that the newGreater HyderabadMunicipal CorporationAct would focus oneasing the buildingplan approvalmechanism and putmore focus onsanitation andgreenery

ASI gets suspended formisbehaving with womanPNS n HYDERABAD

In the wake of alleged misbe-haviour with awoman, policecommissionerR a c h a k o n d aMahesh MBhagwat passedorders suspend-ing Narender,an assistant sub-inspector of theSpecial Branchon Saturday.Following acomplaint fromthe woman, theRachakonda Police had con-ducted an independentinquiry through the She

Team. Based on the report,Narender, who is currentlyposted at Meerpet was sus-

pended."He had

allegedly mades u g g e s t i v eremarks andcalled the vic-tim at oddhours by harass-ing her. Aninquiry backedup the victim'sclaims," sourcessaid.

"There will bezero tolerance for

anybody whoever misbehaveswith women folk" saidMahesh Bhagwat.

‘Unsafe’ colleges toface fire wing wrath PNS n HYDERABAD

Several corporate junior col-leges and degree collegescould be tinderboxes with amajor catastrophe in themaking.

Details available with theTelangana State Board ofIntermediate Education con-firm this, with 79 collegesjunior colleges found to benot complying with fire safe-ty norms of the fire servicesdepartment.

Special chief secretary ofeducation department ChitraRamachandran conducted ameeting with all the man-agements of private juniorcolleges and degree collegesand discussed about collegebuildings functioning with-out producing fire NOC.

The representative of fireservices department, com-missioner of collegiate edu-cation, BIE secretary andother officials attended themeeting at GodavariConference Hall in the cityon Saturday.

According to the Board'saffiliation norms, junior col-leges with building height of15 meters or more shouldobtain a No Objection

Certificate (NoC) from theFire Services Department.

As many as 79 collegeshave failed to produce theNOC and instead submittedthe affidavit that they willshift to other buildings nextyear. But this has not hap-pened and situation contin-ued for the past few yearswithout shifting to a properbuilding. The High Courtissued orders to take actionagainst the 79 defaulting col-leges to submit a report byFebruary 25.

Chitra Ramachandranadvised college managementsto cooperate in implementingthe court orders. She alsomade it clear that from thenext academic year, no col-lege will be allowed to func-tion in any building withoutNOC.

ACB sleuthsnab twoin SC office PNS n HYDERABAD

The officials of Anti-Corruption Bureau arrestedtwo officials working in SCDevelopment Office fordemanding and accepting abribe of Rs 5,000 from aretired attender from thesame office in Jangaon onSaturday.

According to sources, thecomplainant Ilaiah retiredfrom service on January 31,2019 and urged officer GattuMallu and SuperintendentMd Khadeeruddin to com-plete his pension formali-ties. However, they keptharassing him and did notoblige despite repeatedappeals. They both demand-ed Ilaiah to pay Rs 10,000 toprocess his work and stream-line his monthly pension.Ilaiah complained to the ACBofficials, who advised him totell the officials that he wouldgive half of the amount onSaturday.

When he was asked him tocome to Gattu Mallu's officewith the amount, the ACBofficials laid a trap and arrest-ed the officials by catchingthem red-handed whilereceiving the amount.

As per the directionsof the High Court, TSBIE served noticesto 79 colleges togive an explanationabout fire safetybefore February 25

RIMEORNER

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2020 hyderabad 04

Centre gives nod for oilpalm cultivation in StatePNS n HYDERABAD

The Central government hasgiven its nod for oil palm cul-tivation in the state, saidAgriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy. The govern-ment has targeted to cultivateoil palm in 45,000 acres in thestate in the next two years. TheHorticulture Department hasstarted oil palm cultivation onan experimental basis in 2,500acres for the year 2019-20.

Addressing the media, theMinister said, “Currently, Indiais importing palm oil worth Rs40,000 crore every year.Keeping this in view, theTelangana government hasencouraged oil palm cultiva-tion in the state to save foreignexchange. According to theCentral government survey,246 mandals in the state aresuitable for cultivation of oilpalm.” “The state governmentis encouraging farmers to takeup cultivation of oil palm. Lastyear, more than 1,000 farmersfrom Wanaparthy, Gadwal,Narayanpet, Nagarkurnool,Mahbubnagar, Nizamabad and

Mahbubabad districts weretaken to the palm oil factory inKothagudem district to exposethem to oil palm cultivation,”Niranjan Reddy said.

It may be recalled that thestate government had writtento the Central government toallow cultivation of oil palm inthe State, after it was found thatat least 2.878 lakh hectares ofland is conducive for oil palmcultivation.

Taking potshots at

Telangana BJP leaders for crit-icising the state government,Niranjan Reddy said, “We don’thave to answer on the allega-tions leveled by the BJP lead-ers. They don’t have any workother than leveling baselessallegations against the stategovernment. People are keen-ly watching the developmentbeing done under the leader-ship of Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao.”

Clearing the air on Rythu

Bandhu, the Minister said thatall the beneficiaries in the statehave received the dole for Rabiseason and added that at someplaces some farmers didn’treceive the amount due totechnical snag.

Finding fault with BJP lead-ers for demanding the stategovernment to increase croploans, the Minister asked themto know that the issue comesunder the purview of theCentre.

Last year, thestate govt hadwritten to theCentre to allowcultivation of oilpalm in the State,after it was foundthat at least 2.878lakh hectares ofland is conducivefor cultivation

Announce new PRC: Uttam to KCR PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) presidentN Uttam Kumar Reddy onSaturday demanded that Stategovernment immediatelyannounce the new PayRevision Commission (PRC)for employees, teachers andpensioners.

In an open letter to ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao, Uttam said that nearlyfour lakh teachers and employ-ees and about three lakh pen-sioners have been desperatelywaiting for the announcementof new PRC scales.

He said that teacher andemployees had played a majorrole during the statehoodmovement and risked theirjobs and careers by participat-ing in 42-day long SakalaJanula Samme. They expecteda better future and financialgrowth after formation ofTelangana, he said.

“Neither employees norteachers benefited in anyway during the last sixyears although theChief Ministerclaims that hisgovernment ise m p l o y e e -f r i e n d l y .

Employees, teachers and pen-sioners have been deprived ofdeserved benefits,” he alleged.

Uttam said that the newPRC should have

been appliedfrom July 1,

2 0 1 8 .However, hesaid that theannounce-

ment of1 1 t h

PRC has been delayed byalmost 20 months causing hugefinancial losses to the employ-ees and teachers. With theState Government extendingthe term of PRC by another sixmonths, the employees faceextended period of agony, hesaid. He asked as to why thereasons for extension of PRC’sterm were not placed on pub-lic domain. He said the PRC’sterm is limited to five years, butno Fitment has beenannounced for the last threeyears.

He said thousands ofemployees have retired in thelast six years and the total num-

ber of employees has comedown. He also asked whetheror not the delay has causedfinancial losses to employeesfor three years.

Uttam reminded that theprevious Congress regime haddeclared 39 per cent fitmentand other benefits in the 9thPRC. Again in 2013, theCongress announced 10th PRCfive months in advance andwhen the report was delayed,27 per cent interim relief wasannounced in order to reducethe burden on the employees.He said steps were also takento announce 43 per centFitment under 10th PRC.

‘ReinstallAmbedkar statue' PNS n HYDERABAD

Leaders from across the polit-ical spectrum have demandedthe state government reinstallthe statue of Dr BR Ambedkarat Punjagutta before April 14. They warned that they wouldlaunch an agitation if the gov-ernment fails to reinstall thestatue.

It may be recalled that thestatue was removed by theGHMC while it was beingerected as no permission wassought. It is alleged that later,the statue was found brokenthough GHMC officials said itwas shifted to the LB Stadium.

Addressing the all-partyround table meeting held atSomajiguda Press Club onSaturday, T-TDP chief LRamana slammed the TRSgovernment for allegedlyneglecting SCs, STs and BCs.“Development has come to astandstill under Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Rao’s rule.Cases of sexual assaults ongirls in the hostels across thestate have also increased underTRS rule,” he claimed.

“It is not correct on part ofpolice to remove theAmbedkar statue fromPunjagutta Crossroads. The

state government is beingundemocratic,” said TJS pres-ident Prof M Kodandaram,urging the people to launch anagitation if the governmentfails to re-install the statue.

Prof Kodandaram made itclear that they will launch‘Maha Dharna’ in Hyderabadwith around 10,000 people.

Congress senior leader VHanumantha Rao also askedthe government to reinstall thestatue at PunjaguttaCrossroads. He threatened tostage a protest if his demandwas not met. “I, along with for-mer MP Harsha Kumar erect-ed the statue by spending Rs5 lakh. The TRS governmenthas no respect for Ambedkar.They removed the statue andshifted it to a police station,”the Congress leader said.

It is not correct onpart of police toremove the Ambedkar

statue from PunjaguttaCrossroads. The stategovernment is beingundemocratic

—PROF M KODANDARAMTJS president

Officials gearup for PattanaPragathiAVINASH DEEPAK PULIn MAHABUBNAGAR

State government's PattanaPragathi review and aware-ness meetings inMahabubnagar district aregrabbing the attention ofnewly-elected municipalbodies and the representa-tives are expressing theirinclination to achieve thetargets in their respectivezones.

In Mahabubnagar munic-ipal corporation limits inparticular, the programmeenvisaged by the administra-tion is likely to prove a majorsuccess as the cleanlinessdrive was taken up withutmost interest. The districtadministration has boughtnew machinery, which helpsin cleaning Gurrapu Dekkaleaves in the waters ofMahabubnagar main tank.

On the other hand, ExciseMinister Srinivas Goud hasaddressed the PattanaPragathi meeting inMahabubnagar district andcalled upon the representa-tives of municipal bodies toadopt the development pro-grammes chalked out by theadministration.

UoH’s StartupLauncherProgrammefrom Apr 25PNS n HYDERABAD

The Technology Incubatorsin University of Hyderabad inassociation with TheEntrepreneur Zone (TEZ - aStartup Accelerator) - is invit-ing applications for its StartupLauncher Programme (SLP)2020.

The weekend programme,which runs over 3-months, isdesigned as a combination ofmentorship sessions and caseto case consultancy /incuba-tion /support services to helpthe entrepreneurs to launchand scale up.

The programme covers -idea assessment and marketvalidation, customer discov-ery, business modelling, pro-totyping & MVP, technologyintegration, regulatory com-pliances, go-to-market strat-egy, finance and funding,business plan and pitch deck,communication and net-working, etc. The last date forapplying is 15th March 2020and the programme com-mences on 25 April, 2020.Interested can apply onlineon www.tez.co.in or write totez.co.in@gmail.com .

Cop shoots selfwhile cleaning gunPNS n HYDERABAD

A police constable working inTiryani Police Station inKumram Bheem Asifabaddistrict accidentally shot him-self after the gun he wascleaning discharged.According to Tiryani SubInspector of Police PushpalaRama Rao, the constable, NKiran, was assumed to havebeen cleaning his self loadingrifle (SLR) while on sentryduty when it accidentallywent off and the bulletinjured him as a result. Hiscondition is stated to be crit-ical.

TMREIS invitesonline applications PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana MinoritiesResidential EducationalInstitutions Society (TMREIS)has invited online applica-tions from eligible candidatesfrom minorities (Muslim,Christian, Parsi, Jain, Sikh &Buddhist) and non-minorities(SC,ST,BC & OCs) communi-ties for fresh admissions inClass V in the 204 TMRSchools for 14,640 seats, inIntermediate 1st year in 83TMR Junior Colleges includ-

ing Centres of Excellence for6,640 seats and against back-log vacancies in minorities cat-egory in classes VI,VII andVIII, across the State for theacademic year 2020-21.

The online applicationshave to be made throughTMREIS official websitewww.tmreis.telangana.gov.inand admissions will bethrough entrance test.Entrance tests will be heldbetween April 12 and 20. Theresults will be published onMay 2.

PNS n AHMEDABAD

A committee formed to overseevarious programmes that arepart of US President DonaldTrump's visit to Gujarat onFebruary 24, held its first meet-ing at the Circuit House inAhmedabad on Saturday.

The 'Swagat Samiti' is a 10-member committee thatincludes Ahmedabad MayorBijal Patel, who is its chairper-son, BJP MPs from AhmedabadEast and West Lok Sabha seatsHasmukh Patel and KiritSolanki respectively, architectand Padma Bhushan awardeeBV Doshi, Gujarat UniversityVice Chancellor HimanshuPandya, and Durgesh Buch ofthe Gujarat Chamber ofCommerce and Industry.

"It has been our culture thatwe welcome our guests withenthusiasm, and we are com-mitted to that," MayorPatel told reporters.

MP KiritSolanki said,"Heads of twoof the world'slargest democra-cies are visitingAhmedabad. Towelcome them is ahistoric event,not just for

Ahmedabad but for the coun-try and the world...I feel proudto be part of the committee.There are ten members in thecommittee." Solanki informedthat the committee memberswill visit the newly-built SardarPatel Stadium in Motera, wherethe 'Namaste Trump' event willbe held.

The formation of the com-mittee, first announced asDonald Trump NagarikAbhivadan Samiti by Ministryof External Affairs spokesperson

Raveesh Kumar, had drawnflak from the Congress.

In a tweet on Thursday,Congress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala asked, "DearP.M, Intriguing news from@MEAIndia ! Pl state- 1. Whois the President of DonaldTrump Abhinandan Samiti? 2.When was the invitationextended to U.S President &accepted? 3. Why is PresidentTrump then saying you havepromised him a grand eventwith 7 million people?"

Heads of two of the world's largest democracies arevisiting Ahmedabad. To welcome them is a historicevent, not just for Ahmedabad but for the country and

the world...I feel proud to be part of the committee.There are ten members in the committee

— KIRIT SOLANKI, Ahmedabad West MP

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2020 nation 05

SHORT READS

NCP factions comeface to face duringSupriya Sule's speechAURANGABAD: Supporters oftwo rival NCP leaders raisedslogans against each otherwhen party MP Supriya Sulewas addressing workers atPaithan city in Maharashtra'sAurangabad district. Theincident took place on Friday.When the Baramati MP wasaddressing NCP workers, thesupporters of party leader DattaGorde, who had contested the2019 Maharashtra Assemblypolls, and those of former MLABhausaheb Wagchoure cameface to face. The rival factionsstarted raising slogans againsteach other, which disruptedSule's speech. Sule had tointervene and pacify themembers of both the groups.After the sloganeering ended,Sule continued her speech andreprimanded the members fortheir misbehaviour. "NCP chiefSharad Pawar has put intremendous efforts to build theparty...If the party workersbehave in this manner again,they will have to face me," shewarned.

Jaipur airport to bealternative landing forTrump's aircraft

An example of strugglebetween rights andduties of people: Naqvi

SHAHEEN BAGH PROTEST

NEW DELHI: Minority AffairsMinister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvion Saturday termed theShaheen Bagh protest againstCAA an an example of thestruggle between rights andduties of the people. "They(protesters) understand theirrights but not their duties. I donot think one can achieve theirrights by abducting (blocking) aroad," Naqvi said at IndianStudent Parliament event heldat Vigyan Bhawan here. "Wewill always be caught up inconfusion if we do notunderstand our rights andduties," he said. The protestagainst Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA), primarily by localwomen, started in ShaheenBagh in mid December, has ledto blocking of a roadconnecting southeast Delhiareas to Noida causing dailyhardships to commuters.

JAIPUR: A special aircraft ofthe US Army carrying topofficials arrived on Saturday atJaipur International Airport totake stock of securityarrangements ahead of USPresident Donald Trump's visitto India, an airport official said."The aircraft landed at theairport at 9 am and flew out at11 am. US Embassy officialstook stock of the securitymeasures at the airport. Thereis no scheduled programme atthe airport but precautionarymeasures are being taken,"Jaipur International AirportDirector J S Balhara said. Trump will be on a two-dayvisit to India from February 24to 25 and Jaipur airport will bethe first alternative for landinghis aircraft in case of badweather, the official said.

‘1.3 bn Indians wholeheartedlywelcomed critical verdicts’PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi Saturday said "1.3 billionIndians" have disregardedapprehensions and "whole-heartedly" accepted recent crit-ical judicial verdicts whichwere subjects of global dis-cussion.

Speaking at the inauguralfunction of the InternationalJudicial Conference 2020 –'Judiciary and the ChangingWorld' at the Supreme Court,Modi spoke about recent cru-cial judgements, in an appar-ent reference to path-breakingverdicts including in the polit-ically-sensitive Ayodhya case.

The Prime Minister said nocountry or society in the worldcan claim to achieve holisticdevelopment without genderjustice and referred to laws ontransgenders, 'triple talaq' andon the rights of 'Divyang' (per-sons with disabilities).

He said the government hasalso taken steps to give rightsto women in military serviceand in providing paid mater-nity leave for 26 weeks. He alsohailed the Indian judiciary forredefining environmentaljurisprudence to strike a bal-ance between developmentand ecological protection.

Modi, while emphasising

on the use of technology andthe internet, said it wouldhelp in procedural manage-ment of courts and wouldbenefit the justice deliverysystem to a large extent. Healso referred to synchronisa-tion of artificial intelligencewith human wisdom and saidit would bring "speed to deliv-ery of justice".

"In addition, in the chang-ing times, issues like data pro-tection, cyber crimes posenew challenges for the judi-ciary," he said in his inaugur-al address.

"In recent times, there havebeen some critical judicialjudgements and decisionswhich have been the subject ofglobal discussion. Before these

judgements were delivered,several apprehensions werebeing expressed about theconsequences. But look whathappened! 1.3 billion Indianswholeheartedly accepted thejudicial verdicts," Modi said.

He said it is going to be adecade of remarkable changesacross the world which willimpact all frontiers, be it soci-ety, economy, or technology,and these changes need to berational as well as just and fair.

Talking about the contribu-tion of Mahatma Gandhi, thePrime Minister said,"Gandhiji's life was dedicatedto the cause of truth and ser-vice, which are the founda-tional tenets for any system ofjustice and as you all know, hewas himself a barrister andbelonged to the fraternity oflawyers".

Hailing a vibrant judiciary,legislature and executive, thePM said, "Respecting eachother's jurisdiction and digni-ty, these three pillars of theConstitution have resolvedvarious challenges faced by thecountry on several occasions.

"We are proud of havingdeveloped such a rich traditionin India. In the last five years,various institutions of Indiahave further strengthened thistradition".

The Prime Minister said no country or society in theworld can claim to achieve holistic developmentwithout gender justice and referred to laws ontransgenders, ‘triple talaq' and on the rights of‘Divyang' (persons with disabilities)

PNS n NEW DELHI

The rule of law is probably the"most fundamental feature" ofmodern constitutions and itssuccess depends on how judi-ciaries across the world respondto emerging challenges, ChiefJustice SA Bobde said onSaturday. The CJI, while speak-ing at the International Judges'Conference on the subject of'Judiciary and the ChangingWorld' at the Supreme Courthere, also stressed on the needfor citizens to perform theirlegal duties.

"Probably the most funda-mental feature of most modernconstitutions is the idea of therule of law," he said, adding,

"Undoubtedly, the success of therule of law in our countries

depends on how the judiciariesrespond to such challenges and

how they emerge." Referring toConstitutional provisions,Justice Bobde said it was oftenimplicit in law that "legal rightshave correlatives of legal duties.""A feature often neglected is achapter on fundamental dutiesimposing on every citizen theduties to abide by the constitu-tion, the whole of it and respectits ideals and institution," hesaid. The CJI said more than 50countries have specific provi-sions on fundamental duties in

their constitutions. QuotingMahatma Gandhi, JusticeBobde said the exercise of rightsdepends on one's sense of dutyand "real rights are a result ofperformance of duty".

The CJI also referred to"incredible technologicaladvancement" and said nowthe entire world was intercon-nected and a small change inone corner of the world canresult in changes in differentparts of the world. "Judiciaries all

over the world are dealing withthis kind of change, what mightbe called a rights revolution, atechnological revolution and ademographic revolution. Ourdecisions no longer impact onlythose who live in our jurisdic-tion but also those who live inother jurisdictions, some faraway," he said. Wishing successto the first such conferenceorganised by the IndianSupreme Court in which judgesfrom over 20 countries are tak-ing part, he said this would offeropportunities to judges "toexchange ideas and gain knowl-edge from each other on manyaspects of gender justice, right toprivacy, populism, environmentand sustainable development."

Rule of law essential feature of modern Constitutions

TRUMP'S GUJARAT VISIT

Committee reviewssteps for grand welcome

‘Why is Congunhappy whencountry's statureis growing?’PNS n NEW DELHI

Hitting out at the Congressover its scepticism about USPresident Donald Trump's visitto India, the BJP on Saturdayasked the opposition partywhy it is unhappy when thecountry's stature is being raisedglobally.

Addressing a press confer-ence at the BJP headquartershere, party spokespersonSambit Patra said Trump'svisit will be alandmarkmomentin theI n d o -US rela-tionshipa n dadvised theCongress to "start taking pridein the nation's achievements"."This is a meeting of theworld's largest and oldestdemocracies and it should becelebrated," he said.Underlining that Trump him-self has said multiple timesthat India is a hard bargainer,Patra said the Congress shouldnot be worried about India'sinterests. With PM NarendraModi's hardwork, India's rela-tions with other countrieshave further strengthenedfrom Sochi to Mallapuram, hesaid.

Undoubtedly, the success of the rule of law in ourcountries depends on how the judiciaries respond tosuch challenges and how they emerge

— SA BOBDE, Chief Justice of India

PraharJanshaktiParty leadershot deadPNS n AKOLA

A local leader of the PraharJanshakti Party (PJP) wasallegedly shot dead by twounidentified assailants atAkot town in Maharashtra'sAkola district, police said onSaturday.

TusharPundkar,who wasf o r m e rA k o l ad i s t r i c tchief of thePJP, was shot ataround 10 pm on Friday,and died in the wee hours ofSaturday while undergoingtreatment at a hospital inAkola, police said.

Giving information aboutthe incident, a police officialsaid, "Pundkar was walkingin Police Colony area of Akotaround 10 pm on Fridaywhen two motorcycle-bornepersons fired two bullets athim from behind. Pundkarcollapsed on the ground.Some local residents alertedthe police and rushed him tothe Rural Hospital in the town."

PNS n KOZHIKODE

Kerala Labour and SkillsMinister T P Ramakrishnanon Saturday said there is aneed to promote a culturewhere students earn whilestudying and to this end willsoon bring out a state SkillsPolicy. "Kerala will soon bringout a state Skills Policy andalso a Career Policy consid-ering the recent surge in theimportance of technology inthe new age," he said here atthe inaugural of India SkillsKerala 2020, an endeavour toshowcase the technical profi-ciency of the youth.

"We must promote a culturewhere students earn whilestudying. The state needs itsyouth in educational institu-tions to do part-time jobs," theMinister added.

He said the governmenthad initiated several skilldevelopment programmesand added, "India Skills Keralais part of that mission."

The three-day state-levelround of India Skills Keralawhich began here today, offerstotal prize money of aroundRs 78 lakh.

The event features 253 par-

ticipants who will be show-casing their skills in 39 disci-plines with several prizes anda ticket for an international-level competition in China atstake. India Skills Kerala givesthe winner of each skill Rs onelakh, while the runner-up willreceive Rs 50,000. Those fin-ishing in the subsequent fourranks get Rs 10,000 each.

"Kozhikode has a history ofpopularising peoples festival,"Ramakrishnan said.

"Let genuine and extraor-

dinary skills lead the youth togreater heights," he added.

Kozhikode North MLA APradeepkumar, who is chair-man of the events organisingcommittee, in his presidentialaddress, said events focusedon the skill development ofyouth are a welcome sign.

India Skills Kerala comes asa result of its district-levelcompetitions held last month,with 4,298 contestants.

The 1,278 winners amongthem subsequently qualifiedfor the zonal rounds heldseparately for the north, cen-tral and south regions of thestate. While the state-levelwinners qualify for the nation-al competitions, the prize-winning performers in thatround will represent the coun-try at World Skills 2021 inShanghai. That global roundnext year will have youngstersfrom 83 countries vying forhonours and prizes in 54skills.

“We must promote a culture where students earnwhile studying. The state needs its youth ineducational institutions to do part-time jobs”

GOA CARNIVAL

Thousands line up to watch float paradePNS n PANAJI

The world-renowned Carnivalbegan in Goa's Panaji onSaturday and thousands ofpeople lined the streets towatch the float parade led bythe mythological King Momo.

The parade, flagged off bystate tourism ministerManohar Ajgaonkar, traveledthree kilometres on the pic-turesque DB Bandodkar Roadalong the Mandovi river andculminated four hours laternear the Kala Academy here.

Lawyer Shalom Saldanhawas chosen as King Momo bythe state tourism departmentfor this year's festivities, whichwill culminate on February25. Among the highlights ofthe float parade were martialarts performers and decoratedcars.

Before the start of theparade, 'King Momo' Saldanhasaid festivities this year werededicated to a drug-free Goa.

"Say no to drugs. When youdrink, drink responsibly," hesaid.

‘Unnao DM suspended over irregularitiesin expenditure of school education funds’PNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh governmenton Saturday suspended UnnaoDistrict Magistrate DevendraKumar Pandey over allegedirregularities in expenditure ofComposite School Grant fundof the Basic ShikshaDepartment.

Kannauj DM RavindraKumar will be the new districtmagistrate of Unnao, an officialspokesperson said.

In an inquiry conducted bythe Lucknow commissioner,Unnao DM Pandey hasbeen found prima facieresponsible for tak-ing wrong deci-sions in spendingthe CompositeSchool Grant fundin the district andin implementationof various pro-grammes linked to it,the spokesperson added.

The inquiry has found thatmost of the material which had

to be purchased under itwas procured from

one firm in Jaunpurat rates higher thanthe market rates,the spokesmansaid, adding thequality of the pur-

chased goods toowas below the pre-

scribed standards, thespokesperson said.

Traditional mediashould introspect on its role in society: PrezPNS n BENGALURU

President Ram Nath Kovindon Saturday asked the tradi-tional media to introspect onits role in society in the face ofthe new media,driven by theinternet and social media, toearn the reader's full trustagain. "The new media is fastand popular and people canchoose what they want towatch, hear or read.

But only the traditionalmedia has, over the years,developed skills to authenti-cate a news report, and that isa costly operation," he said inhis inaugural speech at thefourth edition of 'The Huddle'by English daily The Hindu.

The President said the tra-ditional media would have tointrospect on its role in soci-ety and find ways to earn thereader's full trust again.

"The project of democ-racy is incomplete withoutinformed citizens whichmeans, without unbiasedjournalism," he said.

Speaking about the newmedia, the Presidentsaid rapidlye v o l v i n gInformationTechnologyhas impact-

ed journalism in all its aspects,from news gathering to deliv-ering news to readers andfinally making money to sus-tain the activity.

The internet and socialmedia have democratisedjournalism and revitalizeddemocracy, said Kovind,adding that it has also led tomany anxieties.

In this context, only the tra-ditional media remainsauthentic.

"The new media is fast andpopular and people canchoose what they want towatch, hear or read.

But only the traditionalmedia has, over the years,developed skills to authenti-cate a news report, and that isa costly operation.

I hope that we will arrive atthe ideal trade-off

soon," the Presidentsaid. Insisting ontruth in journal-

ism, Kovindreminded the

audience ofMahatma Gandhi,

who had a uniqueunderstand-

ing oftruth.

MAN KILLS MOTHER-IN-LAW ASWIFE TERMINATES PREGNANCYPNS n NEW DELHI

A man allegedly shot hismother-in-law dead suspect-ing that she was behind hiswife's decision to terminateher pregnancy twice,police said onSaturday.

The woman waskilled in Mundkaon February 14while she wasreturning homefrom a private hospi-tal in Paschim Viharwhere she worked as a nurse,they said.

Her son-in-law, Pankaj, andhis two accomplices Ujjawal

Dabas and Ajit allegedlysprayed bullets at the womanwhile she was in an e-rickshaw.She suffered five bullet injuriesand died on the spot, policesaid. Dabas was arrested in

Ladpur village onWednesday, while Ajit

and Pankaj areabsconding, theysaid.

D e p u t yCommissioner of

Police (Special Cell)PS Kushwah said Dabas

was arrested on the basis ofa tip-off. One pistol and ninecartridges were recoveredfrom his possession, the DCPsaid.

l Modi on judgement’s that became subjects of global discussion

‘Promote culture wherestudents earn and learn’

PNS n MUMBAI

India has some distance to goin fully shifting from pro-crony to pro-business poli-cies, Chief Economic AdviserKrishnamurthy Subramaniansaid on Saturday.

It will be the pro-businesspolicies that will enable the"invisible hands of the market"and also take the country to thegoal of USD 5 trillion GDP, headded.

"Pro-business policies arethose that enable fair compe-tition in the country. We havesome distance to go in termsof enabling that fully. Pro-crony policies on the otherhand just help incumbentsand that is something that wehave to stay away from inenabling the invisible hands ofthe market," he said at analumni conference of his almamater IIT-Kanpur here.

Indian policymaking hasbeen criticised for favouringcrony capitalists in the initialdecades after Independence,till the country shifted gears byadopting liberalisation in 1991.

Subramanian said after theCAG's report on telecom spec-trum allocations came out in2011, investor returns from"connected companies", aeuphemism for crony firms,have been very low as com-pared to the broader indices.

The problem with cronyismis that it is not better businessmodels and processes whichdrive the growth, he said,adding that we should alwaysaim for "creative destruction"where the incumbents are chal-lenged.

In a critique of the dominantpolicy choices in the initialdecades after Independence,Subramanian said "the trystwith socialism did not deliverthe tryst with destiny", refer-ring to first prime ministerJawaharlal Nehru's famousspeech when India attainedfreedom.

He also made a strong casefor not depending only onrecent work in economics to

make policy choices andneglecting age-old texts like theArthashastra.

"Scholarly work isn't some-thing that was written in thelast 100 years but dates backmillennia," he said.

The Arthashastra stresseson ethical ways of creatingwealth, he said, adding that weneed to focus on creating trustin the markets as well.

If governance standards haveto be increased in the country,there has to be a greater focuson disclosing related-partytransactions, the CEA said.The comments come in thewake of frauds like the one atnon-bank lender DHFL.

The Union Budget's thrust

on 'Assemble in India' shouldnot be seen as substitute to thegovernment's flagship 'Make inIndia' programme, but as acomplementary aspect whichwill act as a precursor to othergoals, he said.

On the focus on 'Assemblein India', Subramanian citedthe case of Suzuki's entry intothe country in 1980s and thedevelopments in the auto sec-tor since then to illustrate thatsimple assembly of parts tomake a car is a precursor tomanufacturing and also intel-lectual property creation.

Pointing out to the recentlyreleased Economic Survey, hesaid over four crore well-pay-ing jobs can be created in thecountry by 2025 by focusing onassembling for the world, andthe same can go up to eightcrore by 2030.

Asked about the Budget'sthrust on imposing tariffs oncertain sectors and how it hasbeen criticised as being protec-tionist by some, Subramaniansaid we need to make a distinc-tion between duties that areimposed on finished productsagainst those on raw materialsor intermediate goods whichhurt exports.

"We need to move towardsfar more open trade policies onintermediate goods and rawmaterials to enable exports," hetold reporters.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2020 money 06

SHORT READS

Dilip Buildconexecutes EPCagreement with AAINEW DELHI: Dilip Buildcon onSaturday said it has executedan EPC (engineering,procurement and construction)agreement for construction of anew greenfield airport at Rajkotin Gujarat. "...the company hasexecuted an EPC agreementwith the Airport Authority ofIndia for an EPC project in thestate of Gujarat," Dilip Buildconsaid in a BSE filing. The projectcost is Rs 570.06 crore andcompletion period is 30months, it added.

Migsun to invest Rs 55 cr to buildhospital in GhaziabadNEW DELHI: Realty firmMigsun Group on Saturday saidit is entering the healthsegment by building a hospitalin Ghaziabad at an investmentof Rs 55 crore. The multi-specialty hospital is underconstruction at Raj NagarExtension in Ghaziabad, UttarPradesh. The structure work ofthe proposed hospital is almostcomplete and the project will beoperational this year, thecompany said in a statement.Migsun Group MD YashMiglani said, "Ghaziabad has adearth of quality hospitals thatoffer quality treatment at areasonable cost." "Spreadacross 1.75 acres, theupcoming hospital will have250 beds and have multiplespecialties. It is likely to entailan investment of Rs 55 crore,which includes land cost aswell," the statement said.Migsun is currently developingmore than 10 projects. Thecompany, earlier namedMahaluxmi Group, has builtseveral residential andcommercial projects inGhaziabad.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Bharti Infratel on Saturdaysaid its board will meet onFebruary 24 to chart out thefuture course of action follow-ing the telecom department'sapproval for merger with IndusTowers.

The combination of BhartiInfratel and Indus Towers willcreate a pan-India tower com-pany with over 163,000 towers,operating across all 22 telecomservice areas. The combinedentity will be the largest towercompany in the world outsideChina.

"...FDI approval for mergerof Indus Towers with BhartiInfratel has been received lateevening yesterday," BhartiInfratel said in a regulatory fil-

ing. It added that the board ofdirectors of the company willmeet on February 24, 2020 to"take stock and decide thefuture course of action".

Bharti Infratel and Vodafonehold 42 per cent stake each inIndus. Vodafone Idea holds11.15 per cent stake in themobile tower firm.

As per the plans, the com-bined company, which wouldfully own the respective busi-nesses of Bharti Infratel and

Indus Towers, would change itsname to Indus Towers Ltdand will continue to be listedon Indian stock exchanges.

The timely completion ofthe tower deal was critical forthe companies, since it wouldallow Bharti and VodafoneIdea in offloading stake andraising funds.

The development comes ata time when Vodafone Idea isconfronted with total AGRdues of over Rs 53,000 crore.Of this, it has paid only Rs3,500 crore in two tranchesearlier this week.

In all, as many as 15 entitiesowe the government Rs 1.47lakh crore -- Rs 92,642 crore inunpaid licence fee and anoth-er Rs 55,054 crore in outstand-ing spectrum usage charges.

PNS n HOUSTON

The maiden visit of USPresident Donald Trump toIndia next week will provide anopportunity to improve thebilateral relationship, strength-en the strategic ties and deep-en commitment to an openIndo-Pacific, according to theteam behind the historic"Howdy, Modi!" event herelast September.

President Trump will pay astate visit to India on February24 and 25 at the invitation ofPrime Minister NarendraModi.

The US President will beaccompanied by a high-leveldelegation including First LadyMelania Trump, the President'sdaughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and agalaxy of top American offi-

cials.In Ahmedabad on Monday,

Trump will address the'Namaste Trump' event joint-ly with Prime Minister Modi atthe newly built Motera crick-et stadium, the world's largest.

In September, Trump andModi shared a stage inHouston at a massive rally of

Indian-Americans called"Howdy, Modi!". In India, theywill share a stage for "NamasteTrump," which roughly trans-lates as “Hello Trump."

Hundreds of thousands ofpeople are expected to greetTrump in Ahmedabad for aroad show leading to the rallyat the huge stadium with a

capacity to accommodate110,000 spectators.

The "Howdy, Modi!" teamwould like to extend its bestwishes to the organisers of the"Namaste Trump" event inAhmedabad.

“We know the level of hardwork that the Namaste Trumpevent organisers must beputting in for their summit onFebruary 24th, and we lookforward to seeing the results oftheir labour in a few days,”Jugal Malani, convener of the"Howdy, Modi" communitysummit in Houston, Texas,said in a statement.

It was at the "Howdy, Modi!"summit on September 22, 2019with a packed crowd in atten-dance that Prime MinisterModi invited President Trumpto visit India, the statementnoted.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Biocon on Saturday said it hasreceived three observationsfrom the US health regulatorfollowing inspection of itsinsulin manufacturing facil-ity in Malaysia. The US Foodand Drug Administration(USFDA) had conducted apre-approval inspection ofBiocon's subsidiary BioconSdn BHd's manufacturingfacility in Malaysia for InsulinGlargine between February10 and 21.

"At the conclusion of theinspection, the agency issueda Form 483 with three obser-vations which we believe areprocedural in nature," aBiocon spokesperson said ina regulatory filing. As per theUSFDA, Form 483 is issuedto firm management at theconclusion of an inspectionwhen investigators haveobserved any conditions thatin their judgment may con-stitute violations of the FoodDrug and Cosmetic Act andrelated Acts.

"We will respond to theFDA with an appropriateCorrective and PreventiveAction Plan (CAPA) and weare confident of addressingthese observations expedi-tiously," the company added.

The FDA has set a targetaction date for its InsulinGlargine application in June2020, it said. "We believe theoutcome of this inspectiondoes not in any way impactthe commercialisation plansof Insulin Glargine in the US.Biocon Biologics is commit-ted to global standards ofquality and compliance," thespokesperson said.

PNS n WASHINGTON

Presidential hopeful MichaelBloomberg, the multi-billion-aire former mayor of NewYork, has shattered the recordfor campaign advertising,spending a staggering $364.3million and counting, an adtracker said Friday.

The unprecedented amountrecently surpassed the previousrecord spending by BarackObama's campaign during hisentire 2012 re-election effort,Advertising Analytics report-ed.

"Bloomberg surpassedObama's 2012 spending recordof $338.3M, making him thehighest spending candidate ofall time," the non-partisangroup said in a newsletter.

The figures include onlythose for traditional broadcastadvertising on television andradio.

Bloomberg, seeking theDemocratic Party nomination,is also far ahead in digitaladvertising, and spent $14.5million on Facebook andGoogle ads alone last week-- more than 10 times allhis Democratic com-petitors combined.

The overall amountdoes not includespending by outsidegroups not formallyconnected to politicalparties, but whichspend heavi-ly duringe l e c t i o nseason in

support of -- or opposition to-- specific candidates.

In the 2016 cycle, spendingby super PACs (political actioncommittees) and other groupsthat can spend unlimitedfunds but are barred fromcoordinating with campaignstopped $1.4 billion, accordingto the Center for Responsive

Politics.Bloomberg's spending

may be in its early stages,given that just two of the50 US states have voted in

the race to determine whofaces President Donald

Trump in November -- and he didn'tf o r m a l l ycompete ineither ofthem.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Income tax cases being arbi-trated abroad will be eligible tobe taken up under the pro-posed 'Vivad se Vishwas'scheme to settle disputesbetween the taxman and thetaxpayer, the department saidon Saturday.

The I-T department issuedadvertisements in leadingdailies saying the scheme wasa "golden opportunity... to set-tle income tax disputes", bridgethe trust deficit in cases of dis-putes and minimise tax-relat-ed litigation.

The public message spellsout the main features of thescheme proposed by Unionfinance minister NirmalaSitharaman in her Budgetspeech on February 1, like the

eligibility, disputes covered andpayment terms.

Under the eligibility head,the department said appealsand writs filed on or beforeJanuary 31 this year will be

allowed to be taken up underthe scheme.

Other eligibilities are: Ordersfor which time for filing appealhas not expired on January 31;cases pending before disputeresolution panel (DRP) orwhere the DRP issued direc-tion on or before January 31,2020 but no order has beenpassed; cases where assesseefiled revision and in raid caseswhere disputed tax is less thanRs 5 crore in a year.

It added that disputes wherethe payment has already beenmade shall also be eligible;appeals or writs filed by tax-payers or the department andcases in arbitration in India orabroad.

The scheme, it said in theadvertisement, will cover alldisputes related to tax, penal-ty, interest, fee, tax deducted atsource (TDS) or tax collectedat source (TCS).

Talking about the paymentof taxes under the scheme, itsaid for remittances made onor before March 31, 100 percent of the disputed tax is to bepaid (125 per cent in searchcases) and if appeal relatesonly to disputed penalty orinterest or fee then 25 per centof the disputed penalty orinterest or fee is to be paid.

Cases in arbitration abroad eligible: I-T Dept‘VIVAD SE VISHWAS' SCHEME

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Saturday said ithas disbursed Rs 50,850 croreto farmers so far under itslandmark scheme PM-KISAN,enabling them to meet farminput cost and householdexpenses.

The agriculture ministryshared the progress madeunder the scheme, ahead of itsfirst anniversary on February24.

The PM-KISAN was for-mally launched on February 24last year by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi at Gorakhpur,Uttar Pradesh.

Under the scheme, theCentre transfers an amount ofRs 6,000 per year, in threeequal instalments, directly intothe bank accounts of the farm-ers, subject to certain exclusioncriteria relating to higherincome status.

"February 24, 2020 is the 1stanniversary of starting of anew Central Sector Scheme,namely, the Pradhan MantriKisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)," an official statementsaid.

The scheme was launched toprovide income support to alllandholding farmers' familiesacross the country and enablethem to meet expenses relatedto agriculture as well as domes-tic needs, it added.

"The Central Governmenthas already released more than

Rs 50,850 crores till now," theministry said.

Total number of beneficia-ries covered under the schemeis about 14 crore, based on esti-mates of the AgricultureCensus 2015-16.

As on February 20 this year,8.46 crores farmer familieshave been given the benefits.

The scheme is effective fromDecember 2018. The cut-offdate for identification of ben-eficiaries with regard to theireligibility was February 1,

2019. The entire responsibili-ty of identification of benefi-ciaries rests with the state /UTgovernments.

The scheme initially provid-ed income support to all smalland marginal farmers' familiesacross the country, holdingcultivable land up to 2hectares.

However, its ambit waslater expanded to cover allfarmer families in the countryirrespective of the size of theirland holdings.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Media groups Fox Corp andNBC Universal are looking tobuy ad-supported streamingplatforms meant to lure cus-tomers who don't want tospend money on subscrip-tions, the Wall Street Journalreported Friday.

Fox, the Murdoch-familycontrolled media group whichowns the Fox News Channel,has said it would be willing toshell out some USD 500 mil-lion for Tubi, a streaming plat-form which airs mostly oldermovies and TV shows, thereport said.

A tie-up could help expandthe footprint of Fox, which lastyear sold much of its film andtelevision assets to Disney butretained its broadcast televisionnetwork in the deal.

Tubi, sometimes called the"free Netflix," claims to have

some 25 million users andrecently announced an expan-sion into Europe.

It already operates in theUnited States, Canada andAustralia.

NBCUniversal, a subsidiaryof Comcast, is meanwhileengaged in what the WSJ calledadvanced talks with Vudu, aWalmart-owned, ad-support-ed service that allows users torent and buy movies or watchthem online via a free stream-ing platform.

NBCUniversal already hasplans to launch a new stream-ing television service calledPeacock in April, which can beaccessed both ad-free or withads at different payment tiers.

The potential Fox andNBCUniversal acquisitionscome as internet platformsand entertainment groups arelaunching streaming and on-demand services as part of alarger trend to attract viewerswho are veering away from tra-ditional television.

Yet to finalise trade deal with India: USPNS n WASHINGTON

The United States on Fridaysaid it was unlikely that a tradedeal would be inked with Indiaduring President DonaldTrump's upcoming visit to thecountry, saying that concernsthat led to India's removalfrom the Generalized System ofPreferences persisted.

"The concerns that led to therevocation, suspension ofIndia's Generalized System ofPreferences (GSP) accessremains a concern for us. Andto remind, it was really the fail-ure of the Indian governmentto provide equitable and rea-sonable access to its markets innumerous sectors," a senioradministration official toldreporters during a conferencecall.

Trump and First LadyMelania Trump are scheduledto travel to Ahmedabad, Agraand New Delhi on February 24and 25. There have been talksabout India and the UnitedStates agreeing on a tradepackage as a precursor to amajor trade deal.

US Trade RepresentativeRobert Lighthizer, who has

been negotiating a trade dealwith India, is not travellingwith Trump on the India trip.In fact, he had cancelled hisearlier trip to India as well.

"We continue to talk to ourIndian colleagues aboutaddressing these market accessbarriers. Our trade teams, ledby the USTR, have been intouch with their counterparts

over the past several weeks.That engagement will contin-ue," the official said.

"The trade and economicrelationship with India is crit-ically important to the UnitedStates, and I think also accessto the United States market iscritical to the Indian govern-ment. We do want to makesure that we get this balanceright. We want to address abunch -- a lot of concerns, andwe're not quite there yet," theofficial said in response to aquestion. The high-poweredAmerican delegation led byTrump will likely have discus-sion with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi about theseconcerns and continue the dis-cussion beyond this visit, saidthe senior administration offi-cial.

Fox and NBC Universal in talksto acquire streaming platforms

Biocon gets 3 USFDAobservations

A tie-up could helpexpand thefootprint of Fox,which last yearsold much of itsfilm and televisionassets to Disneybut retained itsbroadcasttelevision networkin the deal.

Bloomberg smashescampaign spending record

There have beentalks about Indiaand the UnitedStates agreeingon a tradepackage as aprecursor to amajor trade deal.

The I-T department issuedadvertisements in leading dailies sayingthe scheme was a "golden opportunity...to settle income tax disputes", bridgethe trust deficit in cases of disputesand minimise tax-related litigation.

Bharti Infratel board to meet on Feb 24 post DoT's nod for merger

The problem withcronyism is that it isnot better businessmodels and processeswhich drive the

growth, he said,adding that weshould alwaysaim for "creativedestruction"

where theincumbentsarechallenged.

CEA: INDIA NEEDS PRO-BIZ,NOT PRO-CRONY POLICIES

‘Howdy, Modi!’ team hopes ‘NamasteTrump’ will help improve US-India ties

PM-KISAN: Centre paysRs 50,850 crore to farmers

The scheme is effective from December2018. The cut-off date for identificationof beneficiaries with regard to theireligibility was February 1, 2019. Theentire responsibility of identification ofbeneficiaries rests with the state /UTgovernments

special 07HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2020

Oded Shoseyov (63) Nano biotechnologist

He was born to a family in thevineyard business for morethan 130 years. Twenty years

back, he established the EstateBoutique winery near Jerusalem inone of the oldest grape growingregions in the world from the timeof King Solomon. In High School,he was a terrible student.Nevertheless, his parents alwaystold him that he had potential andso he never gave up.

“After three-and-a-half years ofservice in the Israel Defence Force,I decided that I would like to go touniversity and study Agriculture sothat I could go back to the vineyardand help my father. I had to strug-gle a lot to get accepted to the uni-versity because I had very lowgrades from High School. My appli-

cation to the Faculty of Agricultureof Hebrew University was rejected.Thanks to the intuition of the Deanof Chemistry Professor Lena Ben-Dor, I was accepted on condition todo an undergraduate course inChemistry at The HebrewUniversity where I really shined. Imet Professor Ben Ami Bravdowho invited me to join his labora-tory. The day I entered his lab, Iknew that this is my destiny,” OdedShoseyov tells you.

His research in plant molecularbiology, protein engineering andnano biotechnology is creatingsuper-performing materials thatcould change the way we build ourfuture products.

Over the years, Oded has estab-lished 14 companies and asking himto talk about a particular one does-n’t come easy. “You are asking me topick my favourite child. But I will do

my best. CollPlant is a company thatproduces human collagen fromtobacco plants. Collagen is a specialprotein that builds up tissues andorgans in our body. Medicalimplants like bone substitutes andheart valve leaflets are made of col-lagen extracted from pigs, cows andhuman cadavers which are not safebecause they harbour viruses. At theHebrew University, my laboratorycloned all the five genes fromhumans that are responsible formaking collagen in our body, and bygenetic engineering introduced allthe five human genes into a tobac-co plant,” Oded explains.

He says that tobacco plantsproduce human collagen throughtheir leaves. “We grow the tobaccoplants in greenhouses, harvest theleaves, extract and purify the humancollagen. This collagen is saferbecause plants do not harbour

human pathogens. From this, wemake different medical implants forwound healing and tendon repairthat are already used in clinics inEurope and Israel.

“Our latest achievement andsource of pride is the new versionof collagen that can be 3D-printed.We are now engaged with UnitedTherapeutics, a US Pharma com-pany and 3D Systems, a US 3Dprinting company in an ambitiousproject to print for the first time afully functional living human lung.This is only the first in printing offuture organs,” Oded tells you.

Another company is BiobetterLtd whose mission is to make bio-logic drugs affordable. He tells youthat antibodies are large and com-plex proteins which are central inour immune system.

“They help our body to over-come infection and cancer. In the

last decade, biologic drugs andspecifically humanised antibodiesbecame extremely effective drugs forRheumatoid Arthritis, cancer andmore. One major problem remain.Biologic drugs are produced bymammalian cell culture which isvery expensive.

“We cloned the genes ofAdalimumab (drug for rheumatoidArthritis) and by genetic engineer-ing introduced it into tobacco plant.We introduced several more genesinto the plant to modify the sugarcontent of the Adalimumab to makeit more human. We can produce thebiologic drug in a greenhouse at acost of lettuce. Our goal is to makeit affordable — bring down the costto less than $1 a day as opposed to$100 a day at present,” he adds.

His breakthrough was findinggenes that are at the heart of a mech-anism in plants that accelerates its

growth. This discovery was latertranslated to transgenic eucalyptustrees that grow faster in the forestand enable production of timberand pulp for paper in a significant-ly shorter period of time.

According to him, over bil-lions of years of evolution, Naturemade amazing materials and sys-tems. “I will mention only a few:Resilin which enables cat flees tojump 100-200 times their height andthe amazing computational powersof our brain. Overabundance ofthese super performers around usare encoded by their DNA,” saysOded who is in India as aTEDxGateway speaker.

When he is not busy in his lab-oratory, he and his children are busyskiing and looking for new resortsto explore all over the world. He alsoenjoys mountain biking, runningand music.

Back to Nature innovations by a reluctant Master of science

In its 11thedition,TEDxGatewayhas hostedexceptionalspeakers whoare slowly butsurelychanging thehealthcaresector.SHALINISAKSENAcatches upwithresearcherswho talkabout howthey havecarved aniche forthemselves

CAD gets a brand new voiceRishab Jain (15)Scientist and Inventor

He is a freshman in school atPortland, Oregon, US. He does a lotof science related activities and

research on pancreatic cancer in the med-ical field and the application of applyingartificial intelligence (AI) to medical treat-ment of pancreatic cancer. When he is notdoing research, he is busy participating inscience bowl — a buzzer-based competi-tion for those who want to increase theirknowledge, especially in Biology. A big partof his free time is spent in track and fieldrunning cross-country. Meet 15-year-oldRishab Jain, a scientist and an innovatorwho has invented the Pancreatic CancerDeep Learning System (PCDLS), an AItool that improves radiation treatment incancer. He aspires to become a surgeon andhopes to cure pancreatic cancer one day.

He tells you that despite his busyschool schedule and the time spent onresearch for pancreatic cancer, he doesmanage to find time for himself to pursuewhat he loves — running. “I was 13 whenI found out about this cancer, after pass-ing of a family friend from pancreatic can-cer. I was intrigued and found out the sur-vival rate and got to know that this can-cer is extremely deadly and survival rateis very low. This is because it takes timeto pinpoint the area of the cancer,” Jainsays.

His system of AI that uses deep learn-ing is a technique that offers an abstractway of looking inside and identifying pat-terns in the data. But he used another tech-nique withing deep learning — convolu-tional neural network. This network, hetells you has the ability to look at imagesand identify patterns inside. “What I didwas the data that I had of MRI and CT scanof abdominal area. Within the thousandsof different pictures of the abdomen, I haddifferent images of the organs includingpancreas. I used my tool to predict wherethe pancreas is positioned which isextremely hard to find for the untrainedeye. My goal was to improve the accura-cy for radio therapy by segmenting the

pancreas which can sometimes take a longtime for a radiologist to do,” Jain explains.

Another benefit of his deep learningsystem is its real-time application. Ratherthan pinpointing the pancreas from theimages and then moving on for treatment,if there is a AI tool — PCDLS — can locatepancreas within a couple of seconds. “It isall about the execution of the programmerunning the command. When we take theCT and MRI images, it becomes fast tolocate the pancreas,” Jain says. He tells youthat his tool is about early detection of thistype of cancer.

“At present, pancreatic cancer treat-ment involves generic cancer treatment.Radiation therapy is a treatment that useshigh doses of targeted energy to kill can-cer cells and shrink the tumours. The prob-lem in treating pancreatic cancer lies in itslate detection – last stage. At this point, allone can do is shrink the tumour and if thepatient is lucky, they can successfullyremove the tumour,” Jain says.

Not only this, Jain is also named as

America’s Top Young Scientist for his pathbreaking innovation to improve radio-therapy. A competition he entered whenhe was 13. “After I came up with the solu-tion using AI for pancreatic cancer thatbegan after a lot of reading and doing a lotof research I realised that it was somethingthat can be used in the future and have abig impact after I got some success, Ientered a competition — 3M YoungScientists Challenge. The great thingabout this that they pick out the top ideasfrom the US that are presented and pro-vide support like mentorship. The prima-ry reason to enter the competition was ifI was selected it would allow me to bettermy tool and I could look for a biggerexpansion. After I was selected, I spent thatsummer improving on the accuracy of thetool. I got more data, I fined tuned it. Itwas then that my idea became a reality,”Jain says.

When he speaks at platforms likeTedxGateway, the reaction of the peopleis centered more on his age. “When peo-ple see a young person talking while it canbe a source of big inspiration, people maydoubt it at first. I believe no matter whatthe age, anybody can make a difference.It just needs one idea that a person has tobe passionate about and have the goal tocomplete it. With the right mindset andopportunity, it is possible to achieve thatgoal,” Jain says.

According to him the best overallinvention has been the Internet that pro-vided the biggest platform for every-thing. Just the creation of connecting mul-tiple computers has made so many thingspossible today.

“In the medical world, I would say theCT technology that has had ginormousimpact. When it was invented by SirGodfrey Hounsfield invented back in1967, it opened a lot of doors and possi-bilities for all kinds of treatments not justcancer,” Jain says.

His future is set. He would like to con-tinue to work on his research. His latestproject today involves working on whetherthey can improve on the treatment of thecancer — to solve the gap that exits today.

Yuval Mor (54)AI Technologist andDisruptor

What if someone were totell you that your voiceis enough to detect

several diseases including coro-nary artery diseases (CAD)?Most people would not believeit or would term it as fake news.However, the truth is thatBeyond Verbal is doing justthis.

Yuval Mor, CEO of BeyondVerbal, tells you that what hiscompany uses the tone of voiceof the people in order to be ableto identify different health con-ditions. “It comes under what wecall vocal biomarket – the areaof voice to detect various dis-eases,” Mor says.

The journey began withthe analysis of emotions fromthe voice. “We all know that wecan understand what peopleare feeling just by listening tothem. As part of this analysis,our scientists did an experiment.He found that group of peoplehe was evaluating had readingdyslexia. Because of this, theiranalysis of their emotions wasincorrect. The scientist came upwith an idea that maybe there issomething in the voice of thepeople that gives their healthcondition. This led to ourresearch in many different areaslike mental health, heart condi-tions, lung and breathing con-ditions and many more,” Morexplains.

The good part is that orderto get the voice, there is no needfor any complicated device torecord the voice. All one needsto do is record the voice on yoursmartphone. Yes, you read thatright. One can record the voiceon any regular mobile that

allows voice recording and oneis good to go. All one has to dois record your voice; there arenot set words needed, nor doesone have to speak in a particu-lar tone or pitch. All one has todo is record the voice – like thetone one uses while talking toanother person over the phone.

“After the call is recorded,one can send it is a central con-trol analysis where experts usemachine learning and AI inorder to find specific indicationsin the voice that could indicatehealth conditions,” Mor explains.

“Since we are speaking overthe mobile all the time, we cansee a pattern when there aredeviations. We use regular voicerecorded over a regular mobile.The success rate when it comesto detection of coronary arterydisease using a single voiceanalysis stands at 86-87 per

cent level of accuracy. The ideais not to scare people to rush tothe hospital, it is a tool to letthem know that there is some-thing wrong and that needs tobe addressed in the near future.And to also increase the person’sawareness level when the infor-mation is sent to their doctorwho can then decide to go forfurther testing; the tool is not foremergency care; it is a moni-toring device,” Mor tells you.

The advantage, he tells youare amazing. Just imagine, we areusing the voice all the time andmobiles. This way one’s mobileor smart home device can be apersonal bodyguard when itcomes to health. The device thathas been collecting voice record-ing over time gives informationif there is signification deviationin the voice. All this is becom-ing part of tele-medicine or

remote healthcare. The idea isthat one doesn’t really have to gophysically to a hospital but a lotinteraction can happen remote-ly using sensory, in this casevoice sensory,

Mor tells you that the futurewill be about using all kind ofdevices that people will have intheir homes or at their dispos-al. Some of these will be con-nected to the smartphones likewe are already seeing in terms ofwearables that are available inthe market today to check ourBO and even heart rate. “Somedevices would be more dedicat-ed and connect to a software thatwould e running of the mobileto collect the vitals but using thevoice to say monitor oxygen sat-urations. It is no longer thefuture, the future is here, we areliving it and using it when webuy a smart watch,” Mor says.

The success rateof detecting

coronary arterydisease using a

single voiceanalysis stands at

86-87%. All onewould have to do is

send a recordedvoice to centralcontrol analysis

where experts usemachine learning

and AI to findspecific indications

in the voice thatcould indicate

health conditions

Creating a buzz at age 13

WHEN INTELLIGENCEIS ARTIFICIAL

WHEN INTELLIGENCEIS ARTIFICIAL

Bring positive changes in your lifestyle, and makeefforts to improve your health situation. You need toexercise under an expert or go for nutritional educationto make sure that you are eating better. Outdooractivities will draw you attention. At work, you willreceive admiration from superiors and colleagues. Theworking environment will be friendly, cohesive and thatwould increase your efficiency. Promotion/hike in salaryis indicated. Work on improving your knowledge andskills. On the personal front, you are strong,courageous and confident. At home, your domineeringattitude could irritate others, and you may find yourselfalone. This is the time to tame your tongue and bringcompassion and concern for the loved one.

Lucky number 6Lucky colour PurpleLucky day Friday

ARIES March 21-April 19

Your health will be very good. You will feel exceptionallywell and upbeat about your future. You need to considerways to maintain your good health. You will enjoy peace,joy, and prosperity this week and would be filled withpositive energy. Those who have recovered from aserious ailment must follow their routine consultation. Onthe career front, you need to watch out for any cheating.Make sure you are doing things the right way, and thenyou will have nothing to worry about, even if someone isout to get you. In the matters of heart, you are not veryvocal about your feelings. If you love someone, expressit. Your introvert and individual personality is definitelynot helping you get closer to someone you love. Trustyour instincts.

Lucky number 19Lucky colour WhiteLucky day Tuesday

TAURUS April 20-May 20

You will enjoy happiness, good health and worldlypleasures. You tend to be enthusiastic. Carefully weighand consider what others ask of you. You mightconsider taking a long holiday. Some of you may travelabroad. Some may even choose to stay at home inorder to rejuvenate yourself. Practicing yoga,meditation, cosmic healing or learning new interests ison the cards. Professionally, things are good. Don’ttake your initial success for granted. Enjoy what youhave for the moment. Business is lucrative. On therelationship front, you need to analyse whether you arebeing realistic in love. Don’t spend too much time inself-pity or wishing your life away. Put your anger incheck.

Lucky number 15Lucky colour Sky BlueLucky day Thursday

GEMINI May 21-June 20

This is the time for self-improvement. Be creative inyour work and avoid stress. Follow a good diet andtake adequate rest. Tensions of the past would easeoff. Listen to your body and work accordingly. Thespiritual journey proves to heal this week. Career-wise,this is a very good time to start planning long term,even if you are very young. Plan to work methodically.An intriguing business opportunity will come alongthis week. The investments you made in the past willfetch you good returns, and with interest. In love,confusion will prevail. Think calmly and carefully aboutwhat your deal-breakers are in a relationship. Behonest with yourself first, and then be honest withyour beloved.

Lucky number 8Lucky colour MagentaLucky day Friday

CANCER June 21-July 22

You need time and quiet to connect with your soul andenergies around. Health, vitality and inner vibrancy willfill you with energy and inspiration. Creative ideas willoccupy your mind. Career-wise, there could be a momentwhich begs you to bring about some desirable changes.Those of you who are not satisfied with the current job,switching to a new job is likely. Good news: the job youfind will be better than the previous one. Transfer to adesired place or changing locations are a possibility. Onthe personal front, you may come across an analyticalmind. Make sure not to get pulled into silly debates. Donot ignore your loved ones. Take time out for them andshow your concern. Let the heart speaks louder than themind.

Lucky number 11Lucky colour BeigeLucky day Sunday

VIRGO Aug 23-Sep 22

Work towards good health and vitality. Plan your routine.Those of you who like to dwell in solitude, it would be agood idea to reach out to others. At work, good news isindicated. You will get the benefits from the choices thatyou make. An ‘out-of-the-blue’ opportunity may arise. Yourcompany may send you on a foreign assignment. This is agood time for those in the export and import business.You have the potential to crack the most difficultcompetitive exam and face the interview with confidence, ifyou have applied for a job. On the love front, those whoare committed, you may find your workload or that of yourpartner interfering with the relationship. Make time andspace for the relationship, regardless of your jobs,otherwise, things will suffer.

Lucky number 20Lucky colour MauveLucky day Monday

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 22

With your experience and maturity, you will be able totake charge of your life. Instead of being innovative, youneed to adapt to the existing set of beliefs and systemsthat are already in place. Any new theory or fashionabletrends will not work for you this week. On the careerfront, a foreign assignment may come up. There’s a goodchance that you are working far too hard for recognitionand money. This is the time to remind yourself of yourreal value. In relationship, messages of love and affectionwill come your way. You will feel pampered and wish torejuvenate yourself this week. Those who are single, anew suitor with whom you have a lot in common, andwho is also very adventuresome, may enter your life.Exciting times ahead.

Lucky number 18Lucky colour SilverLucky day Wednesday

SCORPIO Oct 23-Nov 21

You are a quiet and keen observer this week. Yourperception about life will change sensing the positivityaround. You will feel healthier than ever. Things willmove along well, and hope will emanate – with goodcause. Avoid obsession/passion this week. On thecareer front, you want your time and space. Take restto emerge from those difficult times, perhaps thetrauma of losing your job or financial and healthworries. Stress and conflict with your colleagues willoverpower you. This is not the time to make decisions,particularly when you are at your vulnerable most. Inlove, happiness and compassion is on the cards. Thestart of a new relationship, be it a friendship or aromance will bring a smile to your face.

Lucky number 2Lucky colour PinkLucky day Sunday

AQUARIUS Jan 20-Feb 18

Do not run away from reality. It does not suit yourpersonality. If dealing with a health issue, you need tolook for another healthcare practitioner. Look fortreatment outside your purview. Plan a vacation to naturalsurroundings to rejuvenate yourself. Avoid stress. On thecareer front, share your responsibilities as you may feeloverstressed. Share your thoughts with your friends.Reflecting upon the past will help you prepare for the nextphase. Review your past experiences and mark yourlearnings. All the pieces of the puzzle of your life arefinally coming together. On the personal front, true love,balanced partnership, commitment, and all good thingsthat most of us hope for in love and relationship, areyours to savour!

Lucky number 14Lucky colour GreenLucky day Thursday

PISCES Feb 19-March 20

Let go of the past and any wrongs that you perceive weredone to you, mainly if you are dealing with chronicmedical issues. Letting go of your need to be right willgo a long way towards helping you to feel better. Thinkpositively. You may find yourself exploring ideas andspiritual directions that you never thought would appealto you. Career-wise, you may be inspired to start a newcreative project, take up an art class, or even dance. Yousee new potential in allowing your creativity to flow. Tothose looking for a job, a suitable job offer matching withyour profile may surprise you. For those in a committedrelationship, it is best to handle situations in a traditionalway. Those feeling suspicious about their partner, make apoint to talk about it even if it is difficult.

Lucky number 12Lucky colour PeachLucky day Tuesday

CAPRICORN Dec 22-Jan 19

Your physical strength is beyond comparison this weekand you must be aware of it. Some of you may embarkon an overseas trip or may get an opportunity to work,study, or live overseas for an extended period of time. Youwill encounter new experiences and welcoming hosts whowill support you unconditionally. Overall, this is a goodweek. On the career front, an enhanced status, promotionor designation is on the cards. You can take importantdecisions related to your career as you are in a verysound and grounded position. The abundance of energyand self-confidence will give you a boost to move ahead.On the personal front, you may meet a romantic person.A good news is expected to come your way. Be open toexploring your feelings.

Lucky number 13Lucky colour BrownLucky day Saturday

LEO July 23-Aug 22

You will enjoy good health and vitality this week. Thosewho are dealing with a serious illness, a new healthmodality or a healer will prove helpful. Stay positive andexpect the best. It is important to share your spiritualunderstandings with others. Your life will improveimmensely if you reach out. Career-wise, learn todelegate responsibilities, especially if you are overloadedwith work. A dilemma at the workplace will demandaction or decision. Analyse all available informationbefore you arrive at a conclusion. In love, you are likelyto question whether you and your long-term partnershould stay together. You may choose to go yourseparate ways. Singles, this may be the time when youfinally commit to settling down.

Lucky number 17Lucky colour GreyLucky day Saturday

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22-Dec 21

YOURWEEK

AHEADMADHU KOTIYA

sundaymagazine

tarot 08MEDITATION IS PAINFUL IN THEBEGINNING BUT IT BESTOWS

IMMORTAL BLISS ANDSUPREME JOY IN THE END

— SWAMI SIVANANDA Hyderabad, February 23, 2020

This friday, Hindus celebratedShivaratri dedicated to Lord Shiva,popularly seen as one amongst the

God-trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, andMahesh (another contextual naming ofShiva). Hindus apart, who revere Him inhighest esteem, Shiva now seems to beextending His charm even in the scientif-ic world. He, now in his dance form(Nataraja), is prominently displayed atPerth laboratory, known for its particleaccelerators engaged in exploring whatthey term as “God Particle.” For, in theirperception, Shiva’s dance symbolises theplay and interplay of cosmic energystreams, which progressively evolved intothe manifest plural world. The conceptsunderlying Lord Shiva can be seen in dif-ferent perspectives. For meditators, Heremains the Adi Guru. In Nataraja form,he remains the guiding spirit of the clas-sical dancers. Kashmir Shaivism carrieson its metaphysical perception aroundShiva. To me, He comes out as ‘Existencepersonified’.

A look at two imageries associatedwith Shiva in togetherness, presents aunified picture of the world process,encompassing the whole gamut of cre-ation, sustenance and recycling. In the

first picture Lord Shiva is seated in medi-tative posture on Mount Kailash. He isshown having lunar crescent over hishead, almost bare bodied with just theprivate part covered with tiger skin. Hispoison fed blue neck is encircled by ven-omous snake. River Ganges flows downhis matted hair locks. He is seen holdinga trident in one arm, Damru (doubleheaded hand drum) in another, rosary inthe third, and the 4th palm in blessingmode. Being in meditative posture sym-bolises reflecting on the churning within,on the prospects of creation. As therosary keeps circling, the life cycle keepsmoving in succession. The blessing modeimplies that all existences draw succourout of his inexhaustible potential.

In the second imagery, Lord Shiva,mounted on a bull, has in his entouragemultitude forms of existences, some ofthem even weird and invisible. To namea few, divine beings, humans, devilishexistences, animals, birds, goblins, andeven invisible existences such as ghostetc. Symbolically, his entourage is indica-tive of the multipolar manifest worldwith all its enormity and diversity. Thisparticular symbol stands for the dynamicworld ever on the move at its own pace,

as would a bull moving at a constantpace mean. While pulling a cart, the bullmoves unprovoked at a constant paceand would not stop in the way till itreaches a place designated for being fedand taking rest. After a while, the bullagain takes the journey forward, andthen finally reverts back to its normalplace of abode after completing the voy-age. The manifest world too, after beingon the run for a specified time, revertsback to the primal source to acquire arestful state, when it gets recharged onceagain. Following which, out of the seedsof life withdrawn into primal-source,fresh creation cycle takes off.

Mount Kailasa, is one of the highpeaks in the Himalayan range to whichlot of perennial rivers are sourced, includ-ing the Ganges. It, thus, is closest to thecosmic world, simultaneously having allround view of life down below. LordShiva, with lunar crescent over the head,read together with his place of abode, theHimalayan range having in store perenni-al rivers, is symbolic of eternity, infinity.

The presence of lunar crescent sym-bolises the convergence of all nature dri-ven forces. For, Moon’s luminosity isdrawn out of the light extended by theSun, as well as all the planets and stars upabove in the cosmos. But before all light

drawn thus, flows down the line, Moondoes its own stamping by turning theminto an amiable form. Moon, thus, sym-bolises convergence of all nature drivenenergy streams.

With the play of Damru, the equili-brated state of the primal source getsshaken, when the primal sound note O?comes into play. Now going by the scien-tific perception, once there is entropy(disorder), it multiplies in geometric pro-gression. So, it happened following exci-tation of O? sound. In the process, firstcame into play Energy-trinity — Sata,Rajasa, and Tamasa. Trident, it maykindly be noted is symbolic of LordShiva’s creative power — the three pha-langes of the trident branching out of thebase rod imply three dimensions of ener-gies emanating from a singularity. Therandom mutation of the three that fol-lowed, led to multitude of differentiatedenergy streams. The harmony and sym-phony of these differentiated energystreams that followed, led to all creations,first up above in the cosmos.

The wwriter iis aan aastrologer, vvastu cconsultantand sspiritual ccounsellor. WWrite tto hhim aat

G-1102, BBharat NNagar, NNew FFriends CColony,New DDelhi-1110 0025

Tel: 991-111-449848475/9818037273Email: bbharatbhushanpadmadeo@gmail.com

ASTROTURFBHARAT BHUSHAN PADMADEO

Madhu Kotiya is a tarot card reader, spiritual healer, and Founder, MShezaim Institute of Tarot and Divination. Contact details: madhu@indiatarot.com, www.indiatarot.com, M: 9873283331

Lord Shiva: Existence personified

TEAM AGENDA DESK > NAVNEET MENDIRATTA, CONSULTING EDITOR | H LAYOUT AND DESIGN > SATISH CHANDRA JAKHMOLA, SENIOR EDITOR (CREATIVE)

Now yyou ccan wwrite tto uus aat agendapioneer@gmail.com

Energy security has been sig-nificant to the economictransformation, global pros-perity and well-being of thehuman kind. Energy security

will continue to be detrimental to theexisting life and much more crucial tothe developing countries than thedeveloped world. The world’s demandfor energy grew by 95% in the last 40years and the future demand, estimatedto be more than 90%, to be because ofhuge growth in demand from India andChina. These resources are finite, andthe direct links between energy supplyand economic growth have pushed theissue of energy security at the core ofthe policy debate with a considerableimpact on the geopolitics.

India, one of the fastest growingmajor economies, is also the fastestgrowing energy consumer in the world.And set to become the most populousnation, it is not well endowed withenergy reserves. India has mammothtask of meeting its economic and socialdevelopmental goals, and lift its mil-lions of people out of poverty. Thecountry has no option but to strive forsustained growth rate of 8-10% toachieve this. India’s economy in all like-ly will continue to supersede thegrowth rate of all other majoreconomies in the world in the foresee-able future. The demand for energy inthe coming years will accelerate furtheras India embarks on manufacturingthrough Modi Government’s muchvaulted ‘Make in India’ programme,developmental projects and access toelectricity to all. Consequently, energysecurity has emerged as one of thesalient policy issues over the pastdecade and a half, and the successiveIndian governments have emphasisedon addressing the impending energycrisis challenges.

In the past, India’s energy securityhas been narrow in its approach, main-ly aimed at managing supply. But overthe past two decades, India’s energysecurity policy has evolved andapproach is much more inclusive whichtakes into account the political, eco-nomic, social and environmental issuesand concerns under which the energysecurity policy is being pursued todayinternationally. India’s quest for energysecurity could be seen under the frame-work of four ‘A’s: availability, accessibili-ty, affordability and acceptability, whichis to make energy accessible to all thesections and sectors at an affordableprice in a socially and politically accept-able carbon-controlled environment.

India’s more than 50% of energyneeds is derived from domestic stocksof coal, mainly for the electricity. Coalshall remain India’s most importantenergy source and critical to its growthfor the decades ahead. However, thepercentage of coal in India’s energy mix

will decline in the future. India, with17% of the world’s population, has just0.8% of the world’s known oil and nat-ural gas resources. Today, oil accountsfor 36% of the country’s primary ener-gy use. This figure is set to rise both inabsolute and in percentage terms.India’s domestic production is not suffi-cient to meet its demand. As a result,India already imports 80% of its crudeoil needs. Without new and substantialdomestic discoveries, imports will con-tinue to increase. By contrast, naturalgas currently provides only 8% ofIndia’s primary energy supply, and mostof that gas comes from domesticsources, onshore and offshore. But theposition is likely to change drastically asIndia plans towards the world averagefor the use of natural gas.

To promote oil and gas productionat domestic level, the IndianGovernment has been taking severalsteps which range from encouragingthe Indian companies to increase theirdomestic activities and widening itsengagement with multinational compa-nies, broadening opportunities forthem to participate in oil and gas explo-ration in India. Also, to stimulate theinvestments and development in theexploration of hydrocarbon sources ofenergy, some of the steps have focussedon regulatory changes, a transparentgas pricing policy and redevelopmentof uneconomical assets. The domesticefforts have also seen a concerted focuson exploring various alternative sourcesof energy which are infinite, renewableand environment-friendly. The govern-ment has given a massive push in thisregard in the energy productionthrough solar energy, wind power,hydroelectricity power, and biomass,and nuclear energy.

At the domestic level, the chal-lenges are puzzling and often at oddssuch as increasing energy access, build-ing a smart system for drawing invest-ment in energy infrastructure and pric-ing of energy to facilitate the economicand environmental competence. Unlikethe past policy of self-reliance, India’senergy policy has shifted to positionitself to address its new dependence oninternational markets, diversify itssources of energy abroad, look for alter-native sources of energy, and increaseits domestic production which contin-ues to be in line with its earlier com-mitment to self-sufficiency. India’sdomestic exploration and productionpush is not very promising. As a result,India continues to rely on the foreignsources for its energy needs especiallyfor petroleum.

Since increased domestic produc-tion alone will not be sufficient to meetthe projected needs for either oil, gas orcoal, India is also expanding its effortsabroad. Eventually, this has made ener-gy security one of the top foreign policy

priorities. Despite the Indian govern-ment’s emphasis on domestic produc-tion of coal and efforts to diversify thesources of energy, the demand forimported coal is likely to continue.India’s energy demand, both for con-sumer and industry, cannot be done inthe near future without the help ofimported coal. There is no substantialproof that India can address its energydemand without the use of importedcoal to supplement its domestic supply.For example, the energy security hasbeen an important aspect of India-Australia relationship in which importof Australian high calorific value coalremains crucial.

Subsequently, energy security hasemerged as one of the top foreign poli-cy priorities of the Modi Government.This becomes significant as ModiGovernment embarks to make India amanufacturing hub through its muchvaulted ‘Make in India’ initiatives.Energy security’s primacy in Modi gov-ernment’s foreign policy is reflected inhis record number of high-profile for-eign visits during which he has beencutting energy deals with energy richcountries.

India’s energy security pursuitbecomes more challenging with thegrowing concerns of global climatechange and political instability in theenergy rich regions of the world. Indiahas been relying mainly on coal andpetroleum for its energy sources. India’smove towards renewable energysources will not be sufficient for itsmounting energy demand. India has tolook towards an energy sources withless carbon emission and provide baseload power. In this context, gas andnuclear energy figure significant. Gas isless carbon emitting source of energy.India’s gas utilisation is far below theworld average. Modi government hasalso given priority to enhance the gasutilisation and move towards gas basedeconomy. India is planning to set upgas pipelines for import of gas from itsneighbouring nations. A number of gaspipelines are proposed and are in theconstruction phase. Majority of theminvolve intense geopolitics as some ofthe proposed gas pipelines will passthrough Pakistan and China.

Since the two-thirds of India’s oilimports come from one single region,that is, the Gulf Co-operation Council(GCC) countries, India is following inthe footsteps of other major oil-import-ing economies and making significantefforts to obtain supplies from sourcesoutside the Gulf. In addition, the possi-bility of disruption from unseen politi-cal instability, religious extremism, ter-rorism, and threats to supply lines havepushed India to look for new hydrocar-bon destinations abroad.

India has taken steps to diversify itshydrocarbon exploration in the regions

of Latin America, Africa, CaspianBasin, Russia and in the waters of Indo-Pacific region.

Problems of diversification of ener-gy sources for India arises from thepolitical volatility, geopolitics of theseregions and above all it puts India inthe direct competition with China par-ticularly in the Non-Middle Easternand Non-Gulf region as the new desti-nation of energy source which furthersparks a geopolitical competition andadds more complexities to an existingcompetitive and often conflicting India-China relationship.

Nuclear energy has the potential tobecome an important source of India’senergy mix given its economic afford-ability in the long run and environmentfriendly. Currently, nuclear energymakes up around 3% of India’s energymix and has the potential to become 20to 25% of India’s energy mix by 2050.The lack of enriched uranium, lightwater reactors, and advanced technolo-gy hampered India’s nuclear energycapability. But after the conclusion ofIndia-US nuclear agreement, India’snuclear apartheid ended and unchainedIndia from the technology denialregimes of the Nuclear Non-prolifera-tion Act of 1978 which came in thewake of India’s first atomic test in 1974.The nuclear deal was aimed to helpIndia to meet its looming energy crisisby enabling it to access to safeguardednuclear fuel, advanced light water reac-tors and civilian nuclear technology.

The India-US nuclear deal pushedthe energy security to the core of India’sforeign policy. After the India-US civil-ian nuclear deal, India has sealed thecivilian nuclear agreements with a num-ber of countries including France,Russia, Canada, Australia, Japan and theUK. Given India’s non-signatory statusof Nuclear-Non-Proliferation Treaty, forany country dealing with India innuclear energy and technology tradebecomes an issue of a mutual trust andconfidence which required delicatediplomacy from India. Though aimedto address India’s energy security, theUS-India nuclear deal was viewed byChina as part of the United States’grand strategy to contain the growingpower and influence of China in Asia.As a result, the Chinese and Pakistanilobbying along with ‘Nuclear Ayatollahs’put a concerted lobbying effort to blockthe nuclear deal at Capitol Hill, thoughfailed. The India-China energy geopoli-tics resurfaced during India’s bid tomembership in the Nuclear SuppliersGroup (NSG) recently. China used itsclout and prerogatives to block India’scase for the inclusion in the NSG. Thenuclear energy is significant for India’sefforts to shift to an environmentallyfriendly energy sources and alternatesources of energy sources.

India’s push towards renewable

energy has been remarkable which isreflected in Modi Government’sschemes to give a boost to renewableenergy sources. But even the renewableenergy sources are not free from thecompetitive geopolitical environment.India-Chian energy geo-politics is alsoreflected in renewable energy space.Renewable energy’s geographic andtechnical characteristics are fundamen-tally different from those of coal, oiland natural gas. Though still in the for-mative stage, international norms arebeing built towards the renewable ener-gy, and India-China energy geopoliticswill enter this new energy space as bothare striving to influence the renewableenergy space. The inevitability ofrenewable energy is undeniable andcountries are gearing up for anincreased share in their energy mix.Those that dominate the markets inthese new technologies will likely havethe most influence over the develop-ment patterns of the future. As othermajor powers find themselves in cli-mate denial, China and India both aremoving to use and exploit the globalrenewable energy space, though Chinais ahead.

India is emerging as a new norma-tive player in the renewable energyregime. Prime Minister Modi has pur-sued unwavering commitment to ener-gy security by constructing 175 GW ofrenewable capacity by 2022 and India iscommitted to its unflinching commit-ment to combat global warming irre-spective of what happens in the rest ofthe world. Prime Minister Modi beingawarded the “Champion of Earth” bythe UN Secretary General in 2018 isadditional power to India’s growingnormative leadership in this new ener-gy source regime that translates intogeopolitics as it helps India to enhanceits image internationally.

India’s energy policy is being pur-sued in a much more inclusive mannerin its domestic and international set-tings to address its fast-growing energydemand in a competitive geo-politicalenvironment. India energy explorationabroad in the new regions is putting indirect competition with with China.Unlike the US-Soviet Union energygeopolitics, the India-China energycompetition has been mostly confinedto the commercial and diplomatic leveltussles, though both remain vulnerableto conflicts which may get aggravateddue to their competitive and conflictingrelations and the emerging strategicgeometry in the Indo-Pacific region.

— Dr Ashok Sharma is a VisitingFellow at the University of New SouthWales at the Australian Defence Force

Academy and the author of the book‘India’s Pursuit of Energy Security:

Domestic Measures, Foreign Policy andGeopolitics’ (Sage Publications, 2019)

sundaymagazine

1109Mughal prince with a heartAvik Chanda’s book offers a view on

the life and times of Dara Shukoh,the designated heir of Shah Jahan

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

Hyderabad, February 23, 2020

Snacking kids the right way

The most importantlesson I’ve learned in

this business is how tosay no. I have said no toa lot of temptations, and

I am glad I did— Penelope Cruz

ENERGYSECURITY

INDIA’S QUEST FOR

ENERGYSECURITY

INDIA’S QUEST FOR

Over the past two decades, India’s approach takes intoaccount the political, economic, social and environmentalissues and concerns under which the energy securitypolicy is being pursued today, writes DR ASHOK SHARMA

ENERGY SECURITY HASEMERGED AS ONE OF

THE TOP FOREIGNPOLICY PRIORITIES OF

THE MODI GOVERNMENT.THIS BECOMES

SIGNIFICANT AS MODIGOVERNMENT EMBARKS

TO MAKE INDIA AMANUFACTURING HUB

THROUGH ITS MUCHVAULTED ‘MAKE IN INDIA’

INITIATIVES. ENERGYSECURITY’S PRIMACY IN

MODI GOVERNMENT’SFOREIGN POLICY ISREFLECTED IN HIS

RECORD NUMBER OFHIGH-PROFILE FOREIGNVISITS DURING WHICHHE HAS BEEN CUTTING

ENERGY DEALS WITHENERGY RICH

COUNTRIES

There’s a recipe for every kid. While somecan be prepared in minutes, some can bepart of your Sunday meal-prep

sundaymagazine

books 10THE CHIEF REASON FOR GOING TO

SCHOOL IS TO GET THE IMPRESSIONFIXED FOR LIFE THAT THERE IS A

BOOK SIDE FOR EVERYTHING— ROBERT FROST Hyderabad, February 23, 2020

NEWARRIVALS

The story of India’s soldiersmissing in action is one that

remains unfinished, a spillover of the warswith Pakistan. These are men who wentmissing in enemy territory while on daringmissions during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars. The nation has forgotten them,though successive governments continueto make token acknowledgements abouttheir missing status. Over the last fivedecades, there have been scattered reportsoffering information piecemeal, but this isthe first time the saga has been fully told.The result of years of research, the bookunearths startling revelations that shednew light on the subject.

MISSING IN ACTION:THE PRISONERS WHONEVER CAME BACKChander Suta DograHarperCollins India, `699

An easy handbook on bird-watching forchildren and the uninitiated - take thejourney with Binee into the magical world ofbirds Colourful illustrations and information,Interesting nuggets of information, practicalthings you should know and much more!

BIRDS IN YOURBACKYARD &

BEYONDArthy Muthanna Singh,

Mamta Nainy, andKaustubh SrikanthRed Panda, `299

Afrequently heard complaintfrom a section of Indian his-torians is that vested interestshave played havoc with thesub-continent’s history, tradi-

tions and culture. If one goes throughthe history books taught in the Indianschools and universities, it will be foundthat those lamenting over the tamperingof India’s history are not exaggerating.Some sections of the country’s valuablehistory have been suppressed from thenew generation, especially from thosewho were born after 1950.

How many among those who wereborn after 1950 are familiar with thegreat Maratha ruler Shivaji, the valiantfighter Tantia Tope, the great socialreformer Mahatma Phule, the all timegreat of the 19th century South India byname Chattampi Swamikal and his col-league Sree Narayana Guru?

We cannot put the entire blame fordistorting history upon previous regimesalone. It is a strategy deployed since timeimmemorial to misinterpret historicalfacts by groups with vested interests.“History is written by victors,” SirWinston Churchill, former British PrimeMinister who is known for his eruditionand knowledge had said. In moderntimes, it was proved by the British colo-nialists. The best example is LouisMountbatten’s decision to destroy eventhe last vestiges of victory symbols of theJapanese army from Singapore andMalaysia.

“After re-taking Singapore,Mountbatten’s (who was the SupremeCommander, South East Asia duringSecond World War) first act was to orderthe demolition of the war memorialhonouring slain heroes of the IndianNational Army. The INA War Memorialat Singapore to commemorate the“Unknown Warrior” was started on July8, 1945 at Esplanade Park. It was razedto the ground by Mountbatten’s alliedtroops when they reoccupied the city.Demolishing memorials, war memorialsand other revered symbols of defeatedpeople is habitual Christian triumphal-ism as is desecrating the tombs of therulers of conquered people,” writesRadha Rajan, one of the highly respectedthinkers of our times.

Most Indians are not really seriousabout learning history. They are noteven bothered about recent history ascan be seen by the attitude of the newgeneration towards the dark days of

emergency declared by the former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi in 1975.

I was shocked to see the larger thanlife flex boards with pictures of FidelCastro and Che Guevera greeting thedelegates of Indian Science Congressduring the 2009 Indian Science Congressheld at Thiruvananthapuram. Therewere no pictures of Sir C V Raman, ProfJ C Bose, S N Bose and the likes whotook Indian science to new heights. Butfor ISRO, which co-sponsored the event,there would not have been a single pic-ture of that prince of Indian SpaceScience, Vikram Sarabhai.

This is not the case with sciencealone. How many among our new histo-rians are familiar with the works of thegreat Acharya Ramesh ChandraMajumdar, whose seminal work the

eleven-volume History and Culture ofIndian People preserve and protect thegreat history of this great nation fromgetting tampered by the evil designs ofpeople following imported and outdatedideologies?

Dara Shukoh, son of Shah Jahan,was the unsung hero of the MughalDynasty. Dara, the eldest son of ShahJahan lived only up to the age of 44 yearsbut left indelible marks in the history ofthe sub continent.

What makes him dear to the peoplein Mughal empire was his tolerancetowards other religions and humanenature, unlike his younger brotherAurangzeb, who went on to become theMughal ruler presiding over the king-dom till the ripe age of 89!

Aurangzeb was known for his hatred

towards Hindus and went on demolish-ing and destroying the Sanatana Dharmaand its symbols like temples, ashramsand monasteries. Though the seculariststried to portray him as a philanthropistby hiring the services of AudreyTruschke to come out with a volume byname Aurangzeb: The Man and Myth, itfell all flat as she could not counter theeye witness accounts of Francois Bernier(a European physician and traveller inShah Jahan’s court) and NiccolaoManucci (a military strategist for Dara,who continued to work with Aurangzebafter the fall of the former).

Dara in his brief tenure as princehad got the Vedas and Upanishads trans-lated into Persian and French and thisitself speak volumes about his compas-sion for anything that originated in the

sub continent. Who in India would haveheard about Bernier and Manucci if ithad not been for S L Bhyrappa who inhis famous work Aavaran told the read-ers about the official eye witnessaccounts of these two Europeans?

Avik Chanda, a business advisorwith degrees from Delhi School ofEconomics, has taken from whereBhyrappa left.

Chanda’s book “Dara Shukoh :TheMan Who Would Be King” is a refreshingexperience. Chanda gives the readers abird’s eye view on the life and time ofShukoh, the designated heir of ShahJahan. Even as a young prince, Shukohwanted the common man to know moreabout the Islamic saints and for that heopted words instead of swords unlikeAurangzeb and Tipu Sultan. “What Dara

was striving for was not linguistic andliterary brilliance but a tone of simplici-ty, an idiom that would induce faith inthe reader who was a common man,”writes Chanda (Page 51). Thus was bornSafinat-ul-Aulia, an account of the livesof over 400 saints!

The account of Dara Shukoh onceagain underlines the fact that theMuslim invaders who occupied thethrones in New Delhi and elsewhere inthe subcontinent chose this land only toloot and proselytise. The Sufi saints wereIslamic evangelists who went ahead withtheir mission by singing about love andpreaching the message of anarchy.Despite the fact that he belonged to theMughal dynasty, Dara had some civilityin his heart unlike his forefather Babaror sibling Aurangzeb. Those who are outto paint Aurangzeb with divinity mayneed more self styled historians likeAudrey Truschke because we have writ-ers like Avik Chanda for digging out thetruth.

Dara Shukoh: The Man Who wouldbe King is an ideal work not only foraspiring historians but for general read-ers interested in Indian history.

Avik Chanda’s book, Dara Shukoh: The Man Who would be King, is an ideal read, not only foraspiring historians but also for those interested in Indian history, writes KUMAR CHELLAPPAN

DARA SHUKOH: THEMAN WHO WOULD

BE KINGAvik Chanda

HarperCollins, `699

Mughal prince with a heart

They all sang along.

With Pete Seeger it is dif-ficult not to.Embellishing his selec-

tion with high-note harmoniesby grandson Tao Rodriguez,Pete strummed his banjo andguitar to strike up the ever-pop-ular If I had a hammer question,reminisce Jose Marti’sGuantanamera, count 1,2,3 onthe Vietnam Song and runthrough the Midnight Special. Inbetween there were stories, lotsof laughter, more stories and aknee-slapping, foot-stompingjingle that had the 77-year-oldbringing the house down withthunderous applause.

And they all sang along.The money tune came next.

It was zesty, what with Tao’sfreewheeling harmonies aidedby the snappy guitar rhythm:…Money can still be handy too(but) let’s not allow ‘king money’to rule.

The audience, essentially30-plus, was loving it.

‘How does he do it?’‘What energy, it’s amaz-

ing…’ were all that the chatter-ing classes could manage.

But it was truly magical.How could one man, 77 yearsold, and helped only by a guitarand a grandson, captivate hislisteners thus? And that toowhen there are none of thenow-generation psychedelicpyrotechnics, no multi-colouredlights and no fancy bass-boost-ing sound system.

The truth is Pete doesn’tneed all that. He never did. Forhaving spent over five decades

directing music towards socialchange for peace, equality anddecency, his philosophy wasalways about heart-and-soul,and about the power of simplic-ity. No wonder they always singalong.

During the early ‘60s, afterhe was able to reorganise theNewport Folk Festival to useprofits to help folk performers,he privately published How toPlay the Five-String Banjo butrefused to copyright the bookbecause the ‘banjo belongs toeveryone’. Pete’s humanity wasso unusual it seemed threaten-ing. Always a popular target ofthe US witch-hunt-he was sen-tenced to prison and blacklistedduring the McCarthy era-partic-ularly suspicious was his customof learning songs from everycountry where he gave concerts.

Back at Siri Fort, Tao heldon to this tradition as he ren-dered an Argentinian songabout god, war and the future.Pete was on harmony this timeas the grandson’s soul-stirringhigh-pitched singing had theaudience fall head over heels. Astanding ovation was the youngman’s reward.

A slow and soft tune onPete’s recorder helped the ever-cooperating audience hum onenote for effect, which was thenfollowed by what the Guru hadpicked up from an Indian stu-dent, Ram Dhun. Tao dwelledon the high notes once again asPete celebrated his comeback.

Raghupati Raghav RajaRam/Patita Pavan Sita Ram.…

And they all sang along.

Over two hours had slippedby rather quickly. By then therewere more songs with tablaplayer Ashim Chakraborty join-

ing the duo. But the audiencewas getting restless. Some of thefavourites were yet to come.‘Turn, Turn’, someone screamed

from the far corner of the bal-cony. ‘Last Train to Nuremberg,Garbage’, it went on. Amidst allthe shouts for encores, chiefguest Ustad Amjad Ali Khanpresented the customary floraltributes on behalf of hosts,Indian Council for CulturalRelations. And as Pete thankedthe ‘wonderful singing audi-ence,’ he obliged with TheAnthem.

We shall overcome,We shall overcome, somedayOh deep in my heart I do

believeWe shall overcome some-

day…

And they all sang along.I learnt that song in Bangla

in the ‘70s as a ten-year-oldwhile living on a college cam-pus on Beltola Road inBhawanipore, hearing studentssing it with zest, welcoming agroup of families fromBangladesh who had fled thewar of 1971 and had been shel-tered there, courtesy my aunt,the principal of Beltola BasicTraining College. Not sure if Igrasped its true import then,but as the years passed Irealised how my mother and Icould well have been amongthem. Not fleeing war, butfinding ourselves without aroof over our heads after life inAgartala took an unexpectedturn.

That song, anthem really,would be heard on variousoccasions in Calcutta; at stu-dent marches protesting toofew teachers in governmentcolleges, at Left Front political

rallies against the bourgeoisPress or funnily enough, at resi-dents’ meetings to demand, noteight-hourly, but four-hourly,water supply from CalcuttaCorporation and at aDharamtala sit-in defence of theBengali’s inalienable right not towork and enforce a state-wideshutdown (bandh). Calcutta stillloves a good protest. We had totake it in our stride. Still do.

But Delhi is way different.

Calling Elvis: Conversations with Someof Music’s Greatest: A Personal History,

written by Shantanu Datta is published bySpeaking Tiger

Raghupati Raghav on the Banjo‘There is no such thing as a wrong note as long as you can sing it,’ Pete Seeger said, his gentle toneimmediately endearing him to an audience that had spilled, recalls SHANTANU DATTA in his book. Excerpt:

CALLING ELVIS:CONVERSATIONS WITH

SOME OF MUSIC’SGREATEST

Shantanu DattaSpeaking Tiger, `399

A richly atmospheric, deeplyclaustrophobic story with astunning denouement, of twowomen confronting theeveryday realities of their city and country,So all is Peace provides an unflinchinginsight into love, lust, fear, grief, and thedecisions we make, through a cast ofsharply drawn characters brought togetherby an unspoken wrong.

SO ALL IS PEACE Vandana Singh-Lal

Penguin, `499

WE SHALL OVERCOME: Pete Seeger by E.P. Unny (author’s personal collection)

K RAMYA SREEn HYDERABAD

t may look likeyour averageneighborhoodrestaurant and barfrom the outside,but a stroll

through the entrance of thisnewly-opened bar in the citywill give a completely differ-ent experience altogether.The wooden seats, the shackson the side, the drums hang-ing from the ceiling are all atreat to your eyes!

Located in Kothaguda, afew metres fromShilparamam in Hitec City,this place is sure to turn intoa weekend haunt for all thetechies working in the vicin-ity, at least that’s what theManaging Director of Proxy,Aman Chainani hopes for.

When you wander in, onewill immediately be greetedby the friendly staff andincredible aroma of home-made cocktails and apleasant atmospherewith an open roofseating area. Mindyou, it’s not just forthose who want toenjoy nature whiledrinking, but alsofor those whowant to party hardand dance to thehigh-octane beatsbelted out by theDJ.

The theme ofthe restaurant isdefinitely not run-of-the-mill. Amansays, “Our idea wasto play around thecrockery, combina-tions in cocktails andthe food, thereby giv-ing a modern touch totraditional food.”

The presentation of thefood is true to his words.The onion rings presentedon the table looked like theycame straight from the farm.The Gongura cream servedalongside just enhances thetaste. Even the chicken

kebab is presented on hang-ing seek, as if they are beingcooked in a matka.

The presentation of thecocktails was no less. Themanagement has chosen toplay around with the crock-ery and serves liquor inclassy glasses that you getlost just admiring its shape.

The food goes with anydrink and my personalfavourite was the chickenpakora and chicken gheeroast. The chicken pakorawere like mini bombs burst-ing in one’s mouth with theHyderabadi spices adding tothe flavour. The gheeroast had justenough gheewhichensuresone

doesn’t have to work outtwice as much to burn thosecalories. One bite makes itmelt in your mouth, leavingyou wanting for more.

The highlight of the menu

however was the making ofUrban Bhel Puri. It is maderight in front of you on yourtable. Yes, you read it right.The Tandoori Paneer momos,however, were a slight disap-

pointment as they seemed outof place with the rest of themenu. The cocktails are amust try as this include avariety of craft liquor, or asthey call them, Craftails.

According to a cocktailexpert there, they use freshblended juice for all theircocktails. Be it beetroot orpineapple, fresh fruits areused to give an essence offreshness to the drink.Beefeater, made of beetrootjuice and in house nutliqueur, rosemary blaster,Kaffir lime infused vodkawith lemongrass extract andfresh pineapple juice withtropical bitter and galangalfizz remain top favourites.

Dessertsare no less.When oneorders thechocolate

garden,

don’t be surprised when youget a garden for yourself.The dish had chocolatesyrup with chocolate brown-ie crumbles, some fruits andan overload of chocolates.

This place is not just per-fect for post-work hangouts,but is ideal even for spend-ing a cozy night with yourloved one. If peace is whatyou seek, sit in the openlounge. If you want musicand want to de-stress bydancing, then get to the barinside where you have livebands and DJs performing.

Price for two: Approx Rs 1500

WHAT YOU NEED:Black Chickpea (Kala channa): 1 1/2 cups (soak, pressurecook with 1 cup water for 20 min after the whistle)Potatoes: 2 small sized (boiled and grated)Grated carrot: 1 1/2 cups; Chopped mint: 2 tbspBread: 2 slices; Tomato ketchup: 1 tbspRed chilli powder: 1 1/2 tsp; Salt: 1 tsp

Chat masala: 1 tsp; Channa masala: 2 tspCorn flour: 2-3 tbsp

HOW TO MAKE:n Break bread into pieces and put in a mixer.

Grind to get fresh bread crumbs.n Grind the channas to a paste adding little

water.n Mix channa paste, boiled potatoes, grated

carrot, mint, bread crumbs, ketchup, salt, chatmasala, red chilli powder and channa masala.

n Make balls and insert a stick in each.n Flatten the ball on the stick. Coat lightly with corn

flour. Refrigerate for 30 min.n Shallow-fry in a pan, till golden along with the stick.

Serve with ketchup

hat snack to makefor a kid comingback from schoolis a stressfulthought for everymother as every

kid has their own like anddislike towards food. Makingsnacks especially when kidsare coming back home with abunch of friends can get hec-tic for you. But worry not,there’s a recipe for every kid.While some can be preparedin minutes, some can be partof your Sunday meal-prep.

So, here are some after-school snacks that even thepickiest of eaters will love.

Chef: Tata Sky Cookingexpert Chef Nita Mehta.

—IANS

I

sundaymagazine

food 11Hyderabad, February 23, 2020

PRO TIP: SATISFY YOUR CHILD'S SWEET TOOTH WITHLOW-FAT PUDDINGS, FROZEN YOGURT OR FROZEN FRUIT

BARS. SERVE SMOOTHIES MADE WITH MILK, PLAINYOGURT, AND FRESH OR FROZEN FRUIT.

MINI CORN BUNS

KALA CHANNALOLLIPOPS

OATCUTLETS

WHAT YOU NEED:Potatoes boiled and grated: 2; Oats: 1 1/2 cupsGrated cauliflower: 1 1/2 cupsGrated carrot: 1 1/2 cups; Boiled peas: 1 1/2 cupsChopped coriander leaves: 1/2 cupRaisins: 1 tbsp; Salt: 1 tsp or to tastePepper, garam masala, chaat masala: 1 1/12 tsp eachFOR TOPPINGSesame seeds: 1 1/2 tbsp; Suji: 1 1/2 tbsp

HOW TO MAKE:n Mix all ingredients with boiled grated potatoes.

Mash well to bind.n Make 6 balls of the above mixture. Flatten each

ball and give it a heart shape.n Spread the topping mix on a plate. Press both

sides of each cutlet in it.n Pan fry cutlets in 1-2 tbsp oil in a pan.

Mini buns: 12; Oil: 2 tbsp mixed with 1 1/2 tsp salt, red chilli flakesOnion finely chopped: 1; Chopped celery: 2 tbspRed capsicum cubed: 1; Chopped zucchini: 1 1/2 cupsFrozen corn: 1 1/2 cups; Chopped coriander: 1 tbspMayonnaise: 3 tbsp, Mustard sauce: 1 tbsp, Chiligarlic paste:1 tsp, Grated cheese: 4 tbsp, Oregano: 1tsp, Red chili flakes: 1 tsp.

n Hollow buns. Mix 2 tbsp oil with a pinch of salt andred chili flakes. Brush the outside and inside of eachbun with this oil. Keep aside.

n Heat 2 tbsp oil. Add onion and celery cook till soft.Add red capsicum. Zucchini and corn. Mix well. Addcoriander, salt, pepper and keep aside.

n Mix mayonnaise with mustard, chili garlic paste,grated cheese. Oregano and chili flakes.n Add vegetables to mayonnaise mix and

check salt. Stuff in the buns.n To serve, heat a flat pan andplace the stuffed buns on it.Reduce heat and coverand cook for 4-5 min.Serve hot.

Wha

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Snacking kidsthe right way

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You wouldn't want tomiss VISITING this bar!P

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THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE MENU HOWEVERWAS THE MAKING OF URBAN BHEL PURI.IT IS MADE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU ON

YOUR TABLE. THE COCKTAILS ARE A MUSTTRY AS THIS INCLUDE A VARIETY OF

CRAFT LIQUOR, OR AS THEY CALL THEM,CRAFTAILS

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HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2020 hyderabad 12

Pakka Hyderabadi...was born and brought up

in Marredpally and stud-

ied in St Ann’s High

School. We later shifted to

Sindhi Colony, most of

my childhood years were spent in

Secunderabad. I have a lot of fond

memories of Marredpally. Since

my parents — Bharath. V. Reddy

and Roopa Reddy — got divorced

when I was very young, I grew up

at my maternal grandparents’ hou-

se and I am a pakka Hyderabadi.

Love for Amar ChitraKathas...

As a child I would love read-

ing books and was a huge fan of

Amar Chitra Katha. I love read-

ing any printed material. My

mom would buy me Amar

Chitra Kathas on my birthday

and I would wait for my birthday

only to read those books. I

still have them. My

mamayya used to read

a lot and is a very well

educated man. He

was also a foodie, so

food and books

were my favourite

as a child and he

influenced me a

lot. Although I was

very mischievous, I

would study well. I

was quite active and

outgoing and used to

take part in sports, dra-

mas, theatre and whatnot.

Ice creams were distributed on my b’day

Like any other kid, I

never liked milk and used to

pour it in the washbasin when

no one was looking. My mom

used to run an ice cream par-

lour. When I was in Class 2 my

mother asked me to invite some

of my friends to the parlour. I

was my class representative and

was very protective about my

class. So I told my teacher that

my mother invited my friends

and I have to take all 55 students

to the parlour. She panicked and

called up my principal who then

called my mother. My mother

then said that wasn’t my inten-

tion and sent 55 cups of ice

cream to the school. On my

birthdays, I would bring ice

cream instead of chocolates to

school and my entire class used

to wait for it.

Sitting in the fridge...When I was around 4 years

old, I was feeling very hot in the

afternoon. So when my grand-

parents were asleep I sat in the

fridge with my legs sticking out.

When they saw me there, I got

the scolding of my life (laughs).

Getting ready was nevermy fancy...

There are a few reasons for

me being the way I am. I have

curly hair and it takes a lot of

time to comb and tie it. I feel

one should not spend so much

time on their hair. I always used

to want to go and play outside

and was always impatient. So I

would cut off my hair and my

mother would thrash me when-

ever I got a haircut. It was the

same for years. Later on, I start-

ed wearing jeans, track pants

and t-shirts often because I used

to play a lot and those were very

comfortable. For me, the effort

needed to dress up was point-

less. It never caught my fancy.

Dressing up for me was to look

neat and comfortable. For me

that came from my dad. I

remember my mom telling me

that my dad wore old shoes on

their wedding as he felt new

shoes will bite his feet and he

would be uncomfortable.

Not made for abureaucratic job...

When I joined JNU, I went

with the intention of cracking

my IPS exams. But during my

time there I understood that I

was not made for a bureaucratic

life. I gave it a lot of thought and

decided not to give the exam. I

returned to Hyderabad and

wanted to get into advertising as

I write well. At that point some-

one introduced me to Gangaraju

Gunnam garu and I worked with

him on a children’s film. I didn’t

know what I was doing or what I

have to do. Somewhere I gelled

with him and a lot of things

clicked for us. I think that was

the best thing that could’ve hap-

pened to me as at that point. I

didn’t know that there were very

few women technicians in the

industry. It was a great set of

people I worked with then. I

gradually fit in. By the end of

that film I realised that this was

what I wanted to do.

It was Gangaraju garu whoconvinced my mom...

When I told my mom that I

want to get into industry, she

was worried. Our family is full

of academicians, so there was a

lot of criticism within the family

itself. She met Gangaraju garu

and he told her that I can do it.

He gave her the confidence and

she extended her support and

has been supporting me ever

since. From there on it was a

lengthy journey till I made my

first film.

Never expectedblockbuster status...

After Ala Modalaindi was

completed, first persons to tell

me the film would work were

our music directors Kalyan

Koduri and Sagar. Gradually, I

started getting positive vibes.

Until then I had no hopes. Later,

Rana saw the film and loved it

and I showed it to my school

and college friends, who liked it.

I never expected the film to

become a blockbuster. My life

changed completely in 24 hours.

All theatres ran full and I

remember watching it in the

theatre and saw hundreds of

people laughing like crazy. It was

an overwhelming and emotional

moment.

Jabardast is my biggestguru...

I made Jabardast not lis-

tening to my gut. I knew

something was wrong. I

just didn’t want a contro-

versy for my second

film. After Ala.. I pitched

Kalyanavaibhogame to

Sam and Shaurya but

somehow I was pushed to

do Jabardast, letting go of

my own story. I feel I

should’ve backed out then and

told directors that I didn’t want

to do it. But the fear of success

stopped me. Now I don’t make

decisions out of fear. I don’t want

to give in to fear. Jabarbast is my

greatest guru. It taught me a lot.

With Ala Modaliandi, overnight

you were on a pedestal, and after

the next film, on the ground. I

didn’t understand people’s anger

then until I saw Shaandaar, the

next film of Vikas Bahl who had

directed Queen. I was very dis-

appointed with him. I then

realised this is what people and

my fans would have felt after

watching Jabardast.

Learnt to chill from Puri,Raghavendra garu...

I learnt a lot from Puri

Jagannadh garu and

Raghavendra garu. They

both are very cool and

easygoing. Whenever I see

them work I always tell I’m

going to be like you. When a

director is happy on the set,

everyone else is in a good mood.

I want my shoots to be mem-

orable. I found a way of coping

with work stress, so

I don’t shout or get

angry on sets.

I’m verychilledout.

Breaking almost every stereotype,Nandini Reddy has emerged as one of

the most sought-after directorsfollowing the success of Oh Baby

released last year. She is known for her‘feel good’ films that one wouldn't

mind watching over and over.From Ala Modalaindi to

Oh Baby!, Nandini has alwaysdelivered one-of-its-kind

movies. From being put downbefore the release of

Ala Modalaindi to becoming ‘abrand’, Nandini’s journey has not

always been a bed of roses, she tellsTHE PIONEER, in a no-holds-barred

conversation withK RAMYA SREE.

Describe yourself in 3 words:Foodie, Traveller and StorytellerWhat are you most inspired by: LifeFavourite beverage: I love waterand I’m one of those bizarre peoplewho loves water3 am friend from industry: RohiniWhat does creativity mean to you:Putting a spin on something nobodycould’ve thought of

Celebrity Crush: Prabhas, FarhanAktharWhat do you do to relax: Read,music and hang out with friendsGuilty pleasure: Food, especiallySushiIf not direction what would you bedoing: I would either be a deep seadiver or a wild life photographer/travel blogger

Weirdest thing a fan has ever done to you: My fans are mostlykids (laughs). But my directorfriends sent me pictures of their kidswatching Oh Baby! non-stop andthey are going nuts.How do you deal with anger: IsleepWhat do you hate the most inanother person: Being lied to

How do you start your day: Big mugof water and a newspaper. I needthe newspaperCity you wish to visit: Japan,PragueWorst subject in school: MathFavourite film: Maya BazaarFavourite holiday destination:Bhutan, where I went for my recentvacation.

Studying in JNU changed my life...As a kid I always wanted to be a doctor. I studied BiPC in Inter,but the prospect of studying for years to become a doctor was toomuch for me. I also started playing cricket at the same time. Aftermy Inter I was looking for colleges that had a good ground andzeroed in on Women’s College, Koti. I took economics, politicalscience and public administration. I thought it would beinteresting. After that I wanted to explore myself and joined JNUand did my masters in International Politics. JNU changed my lifeentirely. Everything was new to me and places like JNU changeyour thinking, your perspective of things and your approachtowards life. That’s where I actually grew in life.

Mother’s attitude helped me...There was six-year period during which I

was pitching scripts for AlaModalaindi. I felt like quitting

every day. I wouldn’t havemoney when I went

out with friendswho were already

settled. But mymom’s

positiveattitude and

supportkept me

going.

Whenfood coma hit me...

One day, my uncle took my brother,

Uttam Reddy and me for buffet lunch

when his friend was visiting from the US. The

10-year-old foodie I was, did not know when to

stop and I possibly overate. We went to Salar

Jung Museum after lunch and food coma hit

me as I was falling on all statues. My uncle

called my mom and asked her to come

pick me up as it was very

embarrassing for him.(laughs)

AnOscar moment...

After Ala..., Singeetam Srinivasa Rao

garu, Kaikala Satyanarayana garu and

Bhagyaraju garu, who are my idols called me. I

couldn’t believe it. They are people whom I saw

growing up. They giving me a call was an Oscar

moment for me. I saw a 75-year-old woman

watching Ala Modalaindi in a theatre and it

was very gratifying. I relived that moment

with Oh Baby. An elderly man from

Vijayawada called me to thank

me for making the film.

Wish dad was alive...Between the age of 18 and 22, I lost five people in my family who were my pillars ofstrength — my dad, my mamayya and my grandparents. It was one of the mostemotional periods of my life. I wish my grandparents and dad were alive today to seewhat I have achieved. My dad was the one person who said I should do what I wished inlife. He always said “Do what you love”. He said if you want to be a cobbler, do it becauseyou love shoes. If you love making shoes, you will make one of the best pairs in the worldand money will automatically come to you. I think he would’ve been quite proud to seewhat I’m doing now. I miss the fact that they were not there to see my first film.RA

PID

FIRE

:

With brother Uttam

On the sets of Oh Baby!

With

mot

her R

oopa

With father Bharath

With

frien

ds fr

om JN

U

On Ala Modalaindi sets

Will soon do an action

film...I don’t want to do

only rom-coms. I willbe switching genres

shortly and willexplore action films

soon. I don’t want todo what everyone is

doing. Will I do amass film? Well, if I

find something quirkyin it, I will.

Making Ala Modalaindiwas traumatic...Ala Modalaindi was a struggle. It was

traumatic and every day was a battle. The

film would be held up sometimes. I don’t

remember the number of people who have

watched the film and called it crap. Every

single person would say that the film was

crap except my actors, music director and

my writer. Rohini garu was a big support

then and it was a traumatic phase for me.

The film was almost shelved. But my

executive producer explained the math to the

producer and cajoled him not to shelve it.

I