PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad police on Mondayimposed a ban on meetings andrallies after the Union HomeMinistry issued an advisory toall the states as well as UnionTerritories to put security forcesand law enforcement agencieson maximum alert followingthe governmernt's decision toscrap Article 370 of theConstitution. The ban wasimposed under the limits ofHyderabad, Cyberabad andRachakonda police commis-sionerates in and around theTelangana capital. CyberabadPolice Commissioner V.C.Sajjanar said prohibitory ordershave been issued on assemblyof five or more persons in sen-sitive areas.

Telangana Director General

of Police, M Mahender Reddyinformed all police commis-sioners and superintendents ofpolice about the advisory overa video conference.

The commissioner said thesecurity had been beefed upand all preventive measureswere being taken to prevent anyuntoward incident.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Mondayrevoked Article 370 whichgave special status to Jammuand Kashmir and proposed

that the state be bifurcated intotwo union territories, Jammuand Kashmir and Ladakh,provoking outrage from theNC and PDP and triumphfrom leaders of India's rul-ing BJP. Meeting a long-heldpromise of the BJP, UnionHome Minister Amit Shahmoved a resolution in theRajya Sabha that Article

370, which allowed Jammuand Kashmir to have its ownConstitution, will no longer beapplicable.

"The president on the rec-ommendation of Parliament ispleased to declare as from 5thof August 2019, all clauses ofthe said Article 370 shall ceaseto be operative... ," stated theresolution moved by the Homeminister. Shah also moved abill proposing bifurcation ofthe state of Jammu andKashmir into two union terri-tories — Jammu and Kashmirdivision and Ladakh.

Shah, who introduced theJammu and KashmirReorganisation bill, said the

union territory in Ladakh

will have no legislature likeChandigarh. The other unionterritory of Jammu andKashmir will have a legislaturelike Delhi and Puducherry.

The announcement, cap-ping days of uncertainty inJammu and Kashmir, led to anuproar, in the House and out-side it too. India had failedKashmir in keeping its promis-es, PDP chief and formerJammu and Kashmir chiefminister Mehbooba Mufi said.

She said the government's

unilateral decision "to scrapArticle 370" is illegal andunconstitutional. It will makeIndia an occupational force inJammu and Kashmir,Mehbooba said on Twitter. "Itwill have catastrophic conse-quences for the subcontinent.GOIs intentions are clear. Theywant the territory of J&K byterrorising its people. India hasfailed Kashmir in keeping itspromises," Mehbooba, who isunder house arrest in Srinagar,said on Twitter. "Not sure how

long I'll be able to communi-cate. Is this the India we acced-ed to?" she asked.

National Conference leaderOmar Abdullah echoed heroutrage, also labelling the gov-ernment's move "unilateral".

"Government of India(GOI)'s unilateral and shock-ing decisions today are a totalbetrayal of the trust that thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirhad reposed in India when thestate acceded to it in 1947.

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

RANCHI BHUBANESWARDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 1 ISSUE 303*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Telangana DirectorGeneral of Police,M Mahender Reddyinformed all policecommissioners andsuperintendents ofpolice about theadvisory over avideo conference

The president on the recommendationof Parliament is pleased to declare as

of 5th of August 2019, all clauses of thesaid Article 370 shall cease to beoperative...

— Amit Shah, Union Home minister

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated August 5, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Shravana & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Shashthi 01:30 pmNakshatram: Chitra 10:23 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 03:32 pm – 05:08 pmYamagandam: 09:11 am – 10:46 amVarjyam: 07:20 am - 08:50 am07:00 pm - 05:21 amGulika: 12:21 pm - 01:57 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 04:22 pm - 05:52 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:56 am - 12:47 pm

Forecast: Scattered ShowersTemp: 27/23Humidity: 92%Sunrise: 05.56Sunset: 06.47

BEFORE NOWSpecial powers No special exercised by J&K powers now

Dual citizenship Single citizenship

Separate flag for Tricolour will be theJammu & Kashmir only flag

Article 360 (Financial Emergency) Article 360not applicable applicable

No reservation for minorities Minorites will be eligiblesuch as Hindus and Sikhs for 16% reservation

Indian citizens from other People from other StatesStates cannot buy land or will now be able to purchaseproperty in J&K land or property in J&K

RTI not applicable RTI will be applicable

Duration of Legislative Assembly duration in UnionAssembly for 6 years Territory of J&K will be for

5 years

If a woman from J&K marries If a woman from J&K out of State, she would lose marries out of State, shethe citizenship of J&K will still retain all her rights

and Indian citizenship

Centre bifurcates J&K into 2 UTs

UN appeals toIndia, Pak toexercise restraintUNITED NATIONS: UNSecretary General AntonioGuterres has appealed to Indiaand Pakistan to "exercise max-imum restraint" to ensure thatthe situation does not furtherdeteriorate, his spokespersonStephane Dujarric said, amidstsudden spike in tensionsbetween the two neighbours.

"The UNMOGIP observedand reported an increase inmilitary activity at the Line ofControl in recent days.

Rajya Sabha clears bifurcation BillNEW DELHI: In a big triumph for the government, the Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Jammuand Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019 and adopted the resolution to abrogate the Constitution'sArticle 370.The bill would now be tabled in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. Once it getsthe Parliamentary approval and becomes an Act, the state would be bifurcated into two Unionterritories — Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature, and Ladakh Union Territory without a legislature.The Rajya Sabha also passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019having provisions of 10 per cent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections of upper caste in thestate. Replying to the debate on Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill, 2019 in the Rajya Sabha,Home Minister Amit Shah said that it was time for Article 370 to go as the constitutional provisionwas "the root of all the evils". He said that Article 370 never allowed the democracy to percolate down,and noted that over 41,000 people of the state were killed in the last two decades.

NARENDRA MODI FULFILS HIS PROMISE TO THE NATION

NEW DELHI : An officerfrom Telugu States has playeda crucial role in drafting fourcrucial bills, including annul-ment of Art 370, pertainingto J and K. He was identifiedas Legislative AffairsSecretary Dr G NarayanaRaju, who played a part informulation of the gazette.

The Bills were draftedmaintaining the utmostsecrecy adhering to a defineplan. Senior legal officerNarayana Raju becameLegislative Affairs Secretaryin 2015. Since then, he isdrafting various bills.

Telugu manbehind J&K Bills

Ban on meetings,rallies in Hyderabad

TRS supports J&K divisionbut maintains ‘stoic silence'

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The ruling TRS in Telanganahas strangely maintained a stoicsilence on the sudden develop-ments in Kashmir that unfold-ed on Monday raising many aneyebrow.

There was no official state-ment or announcement fromthe TRS party or TRS chief andTelangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao over sup-porting the Centre's moves onKashmir, unlike several otherregional parties which went onrecord either supporting oropposing the moves of BJP-ledNDA government.

Though the TRS supportedthe Bill in Rajya Sabha duringvoting, no member from theparty participated in the debatein support of the Bill.

Among the regional partiesfrom Andhra Pradesh, the rul-ing YSRCP and mainOpposition TDP, came out inopen support of the Centre andalso supported the Bills intro-duced in Parliament onKashmir. TDP chief and formerAP CM N Chandrababu Naidutweeted in support of theCentre, though both TDP and

BJP are engaged in bitter polit-ical battle for the last fewmonths.

YSRCP Rajya Sabha MPVijayasai Reddy participated inthe debate on the Bill repealingArticle 370.

For his part, TRS workingpresident KT Rama Rao, whousually remains active on socialmedia and tweets on all issues,too remained silent on Kashmirdevelopments and also on thepassage of the Bill in RajyaSabha.

However, KCR's daughterand former Nizamabad MP, KKavitha, responded on the

Kashmir development onTwitter a little 'diplomatically',without clarifying whether sheor TRS were supporting theCentre or praising the Centrefor the move.

Kavitha tweeted: "In thismoment of monumental changebeing made with respect toreorganisation of#JammuAndKashmir &#Article370 , my prayers arewith the people of J&k. Hopethey will be safe & soon peacewill prevail over Kashmir."

Incidentally, AIMIM chiefand Hyderabad MP AsaduddinOwaisi, who also remains veryactive on social media byresponding on all issues, keptmum on the Kashmir issue oron passage of the Bill in RajyaSabha. This gave fodder forspeculations that TRS main-tained silence only to please itsfriendly party, the AIMIM.

Incidentally, AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who also remains veryactive on social media by responding on allissues, kept mum on the Kashmir issue or onpassage of the Bill in Rajya Sabha

Pak rejectsIndia's move,says willcounter itPNS n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan on Monday strong-ly rejected the IndianGovernment's announce-ments on Jammu andKashmir, saying it will exerciseall possible options to counterthe "illegal" and "unilateral"steps. The Indian govern-ment on Monday abolishedArticle 370 that gives specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmirand moved a separate bill tobifurcate the state into twoseparate union territories ofJammu and Kashmir, andLadakh.

Reacting to the announce-ment, Pakistan Foreign Officesaid "Jammu and Kashmir isan internationally recogniseddisputed territory".

"No unilateral step by theGovernment of India canchange this disputed status, asenshrined in the UnitedNations Security Council(UNSC) resolutions. Nor willthis ever be acceptable to thepeople of Jammu andKashmir and Pakistan," itsaid. Pakistan strongly con-demns and rejects theannouncements made by theIndian Government regardingJammu and Kashmir, it said.

Telangana hailsscrapping of Art 370PNS n HYDERABAD

Optimism of long term gainsto cultural re-integration andhopes of secessionist forceslosing ground are some of thereactions from several promi-nent people of Telangana tothe Centre scrapping Article370 that granted special statusto Kashmir.

A priest of the famous LordBalaji temple at Chilkur inneighbouring Ranga Reddydistrict recalled the links ofsaint Ramanuja and AdiSankaracharya with Kashmirand said the state, now pro-posed to be bifurcated into twounion territories, had laterremained culturally isolated.

Kashmir is the seat of ourcivilisation for our Sanatana

Dharma... Kashmir was cul-turally isolated... Now, we havea chance to re-integrateKashmir, culturally with theIndian way of culture, priest CS Rangarajan said.

Sharada Peeth in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is a seat ofknowledge for us. Lot ofagama shastras were born inKashmir. This is the righttime to get back all those cul-tural connections, he said.

The name Kashmir itselfcame from KashyapaMaharshi, the priest saidadding he was 'proud' of thegovernments decision.

We are 100 per cent with thegovernment in all theseactions it is taking. We want tofully support whatever actionsthey are taking, he said.

Mehbooba Mufti, Omar arrestedPNS n SRINAGAR

Former Jammu and Kashmirchief ministers MehboobaMufti and Omar Abdullah,who were under house arrestsince Sunday night, have beenarrested, officials said onMonday.

Jammu and KashmirPeople's Conferenceleaders Sajjad Loneand Imran Ansarihave also been arrest-ed, they said.

Some more arrestshave been made, the offi-cials said, without sharing

details. The arrestscome hours after theCentre announcedthe scrapping ofArticle 370, whichgranted special status

to Jammu andKashmir, and also pro-

posed bifurcation of the state.

l Chief Minister, KTR stay clear of taking a stand

Black day inconstitutionalhistory: Cong PNS n NEW DELHI

Describing the revoking ofArticle 370 as a "black day" inthe country's constitutionalhistory, the Congress onMonday alleged that the gov-ernment "dismembered"Jammu and Kashmir by "mis-chievously misinterpreting"articles in the Constitution,and cautioned that the idea ofIndia as a union of states is in"grave danger". The government on Mondayrevoked Article 370 whichgave special status to Jammuand Kashmir and proposedthat the state be bifurcated intotwo union territories —Jammu and Kashmir, andLadakh.

"Today is a black day in theconstitutional history of India,"Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Independent regional partieslike BSP, BJD, AIADMK andYSR-CP on Monday supporteda resolution in Rajya Sabha toscrap Article 370 in Jammu andKashmir and a bill to reorgan-ise the state in two separateunion territories of Jammu andKashmir, and Ladakh.

NDA constituent Janata Dal(United), however, walked outof the House in protest, while allother allies of the BJP like ShivSena, Shiromani Akali Dal,AGP and BPF strongly sup-ported the move. Various oppo-sition parties like the Congress,TMC, DMK, NCP, RJD, CPI,CPI-M and RJD raised vocifer-ous protests in the upper housewhile opposing the resolutionand the bill. They also squatted

in the well of the House andcontinued to raise slogans inprotest. Some members of theSP were also sitting in the well.

Soon after Home MinisterAmit Shah spoke, BSP memberSatish Chandra Misra rose to saythat his party supported the Bill.

"Our party gives complete

support. We want that the Billbe passed. Our party is notexpressing any opposition toArticle 370 and the other Bill,"Misra said amid applause fromtreasury benches.

Rising to support the resolu-tion, Bhupender Yadav (BJP)targeted the opposition, espe-

cially the Congress for not doinganything to ensure progress ofthe state and bring its people tothe mainstream for the last 70years. He also targeted the PDPfor "ruining" democracy, after itsmembers tore the bill.

"This is a historic moment ofglory that will ensure social jus-tice in the country after aboli-tion of Article 370 ...It is innational interest," he said sup-porting the bill.

Yadav alleged that theCongress has done nothing for

the improvement of people inthe state. He claims Article 370was "provisional" and recalledhow Sikkim was integrated as astate of India within a day, as alsodeclaration of Goa, Daman andDiu and Puducherry.

"They are only indulging inpolitical opportunism andprotesting. They have nothing todo with the state and its people.The Congress has never takensteps required to take the stateand its people forward on thepath of progress.

TRS, YSRCP, TDP, BSP, BJD, SHIV SENA, AIADMK, AKALI DAL, AGP, BPF SUPPORT GOVT IN PARLIAMENT

BJP ‘unites’ all regional satraps on ‘historic’ dayNDA constituent Janata Dal (United),however, walked out of the House in protest,while all other allies of the BJP like ShivSena, Shiromani Akali Dal, AGP and BPFstrongly supported the move

ARTICLE 370 REVOKED

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HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019 hyderabad 02

Article 370 hasbeen a part of

the BJP's coreideology since the daysof Jan Sangh. Icongratulate PrimeMinister Shri NarendraModi and Home Minister Shri Amit Shah forthis historic initiative and pray for peace,prosperity and progress in Jammu, Kashmirand Ladakh

— L K ADVANI, BJP VeteranIt is a dark dayfor Indian

democracy. Sucha historic decision shouldnot have been taken andpushed through in thisarbitrary manner. This willset a bad precedent as it would mean thatthe Centre could reorganise any state inthe country by simply imposing President'srule. None of the stakeholders were takeninto confidence, and there was nodiscussion with other political partiespreceding the unilateral decision of theCentral government."

—AMARINDER SINGH, Punjab Chief Minister

What the government hasdone is regressive and willfurther alienate the people

of Jammu andKashmir. This isthe murder of

democracy.Instead of discussing the economic policies,they are diverting the attention of the peopleand creating panic in the country in the nameof nationalism. The present government isRSS controlled and they are following theagenda of dismantling J&K piece by piece

—D RAJA, CPI general secretary

The Centre hadgone ahead with

its proposalwithout getting theconcurrence of the peopleof Jammu and Kashmirand called it a "murder ofdemocracy. This move is seen as an attemptto divert (the) people's attention from basicissues and is a cause for concern andshocking. When a voice for more powers toStates strongly echoed across the country,dividing an existing state into union territoriesshowed that the Prime Minister NarendraModi-led government was raring to goagainst the path of democracy

—M K STALIN, DMK president

Today, thedream of crores

of Indians,cherished since the timeof Jan Sangh, has cometrue. It is a dream cometrue, a pledge fulfilled.Two sets of laws in one nation cannot runtogether. It is a tribute to Syama PrasadMukherjee who fought for one nation, onelaw

— SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN, Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister

Congrats forthe fantastic

decision toabrogate 370 fromJ&K&make Ladakhseparate from J&K as 2separate UnionTerritories. Long pending dream&demand of HinduSthan fulfilled.Bravo!Sure,now Kashmiri Hindus wouldget their homes,land back&stay theresafely. I congratulate PM Modiji & HMAmitbhai Shah for this great milestone

—PRAVIN TOGADIA, Hindutva leader

We heartilywelcome the

government's bravedecision. This was verynecessary for the interestof the country, includingJammu and Kashmir

—MOHAN BHAGWAT, RSS chief

Telugu DesamParty supports

the Union Govtas it seeks to repealArticle 370. I pray for thepeace and prosperity ofthe people of J&K

—N CHANDRABABU NAIDU,Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister

The interest ofthe country, I

appeal Kumar toreconsider the JD-U'sstand on Article 370 andsupport its scrapping.The party should take a

decision keeping in view emotions of peopleof Bihar, and Jammu, Kashmir and Laddakh

—AJAY ALOK, JD-U leader

"Thegovernment's

move on Article370 in Jammu andKashmir is amonumental decisiontowards national

integration. A historical wrong has beenundone today. Article 35A came throughthe back door without following theprocedure under Article 368 of theConstitution of India. It had to go. Thedecision of the government will helppeople of Jammu and Kashmir the most.More investment, more industry, moreprivate educational institutions, more jobsand more revenue will come," he said,adding that Kashmir's regional leadersnow feel they would not be able to whipup the fake issue of 'sentiment versesbenefit'."

—ARUN JAITLEY, BJP Leader

Revoking ofArticle 370 is a

"catastrophicstep". We anticipated amisadventure, but did notthink in our wildestdreams that they will take

such a catastrophic step. Today is a blackday in the constitutional history of India.

—P CHIDAMBARAM, Former Union Minister

The NDAgovernment was

playing with fireby scrapping Article 370just to fulfil its politicalagenda without takingthe consensus of the

country and holding appropriateconsultations with stakeholders. Thenotification issued by President Ram NathKovind to scrap Article 370 conferringspecial status to Jammu and Kashmir is"unethical, illegal and also unconstitutional"and "intends to rewrite the history ofKashmir nay - India". The status conferredunder the statesmanship of former PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru has been welltested by "Constitutional history"

— M VEERAPPA MOILY, Former Union Minister

President Kovinddoes a

Fakhruddin AliAhmed. This is notdemocracy, this isauthoritarianism, thehandiwork of paranoid,

insecure rulers who daren't even have aproper debate inside or outside Parliament.A straight question: what do you think ofshutting down an entire state and detainingformer Chief Ministers before taking afateful decision that affects that state and itspeoples? What if it was our Karnataka nextand not their Kashmir now?"

—RAMACHANDRA GUHA, Historian

The governmenthas committed

"proceduralharakiri" by scrapping theprovision which gavespecial status to Jammuand Kashmir. Trinamool

is against the Constitutional immorality andprocedural harakiri committed today

—DEREK O'BRIEN, TMC RS member and national spokesperson

Hailing Artcile370 is a

courageous anddaring step by AmitShahMy party andleader Jagan MohanReddy wholeheartedly

support the move of the Home Ministerand the Prime Minister. This countryhave been fighting since 1947 to realkisetheir dream of looking India as oneentity, one nation and today it isachieved by our Home Minister AmitShah

—V. VIJAYASAI REDDY, YSRCP parliamentary party leader

Promise fulfilled. What a glorious day. Finally dmartyrdom of thousands starting with Dr Shyam

Prasad Mukharjee for compete integration of J&K intoIndian Union is being honoured and d seven decade olddemand of d entire nation being realised in front of our eyes; inour life time.Ever imagined? As far as 370 is concerned, ourideological commitment is well known. Article 370 has to golock stock and barrel as the Home Minister (Amit Shah) clearlymentioned yesterday (in Parliament

—RAM MADHAV, BJP National General Secretary

How J&K, Ladakh will functionPNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Mondayrevoked Article 370 of theConstitution which gives spe-cial status to Jammu andKashmir and brought in theJ&K Reorganisation Bill 2019which splits the state into twoUnion Territories: Jammu andKashmir with an Assemblyand Ladakh without one.

After the Union Cabinet'sdecision, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah onMonday proposed to scrapArticle 370 and moved tworesolutions and two Bills in theRajya Sabha.1. Constitution(Application to Jammu andKashmir) order, 2019:

This is as per provisions ofArticle 370 (1). Exercisingpowers, President revokedArticle 370. It shall come into

force at once, and shall there-upon supersede theConstitution (Application toJammu and Kashmir) Order,1954 as amended from time totime.2. Resolution for Article 370:

It ceases to exist, as per

Article 370(3). In the presentsituation, simple majority ofboth the houses needed topass the resolution. Theexpression "ConstituentAssembly of the State referredto in clause (2)" shall read"Legislative Assembly of the

State".3. Bill for reorganisation ofJ&K:

It is to reorganise the stateinto two separate UnionTerritories -- Jammu andKashmir, which will have alegislature, and Ladakh, whichwill be without a legislature.The new J&K Union Territorywill comprise the territories ofcurrent Jammu and Kashmirregions. The Governor of cur-rent J&K will be the LtGovernor of the J&K andLadakh UTs.The J&KAssembly will have a term offive years and will have 107MLAs strength. Out of 107MLAs, 24 seats will be leftvacant of PoK region. The out-going Assembly had 111members, in which 87 wereelected members, 2 were nom-inated, while 24 seats in PoKwere left vacant. Rajya Sabha

to continue to host four sittingmembers from current J&K.Five Lok Sabha seats havebeen allocated to J&K UnionTerritory and one for LadakhUT. All the bills passed by theAssembly will be sent to LGfor his consent. LG can givehis assent, withhold it or sendthe bill for consideration of thePresident.4. Bill for reservation of 10%for EWS in J&K:

The Jammu and KashmirReservation (SecondAmendment) Bill, 2019 forimplementation of the 10 per-cent Economically WeakerSection (EWS) quota in thestate. After the bill is passed bythe Parliament, all residents ofthe state with income below Rs8 lakh per annum would ben-efit from 10 per cent quota. Itwas approved by the UnionCabinet on July 31.

Maharaja’s letter toMountbatten

Dated: 26 October 1947

My dear Lord Mountbatten,

I have to inform your Excellency that a grave emergency has arisenin my State and request immediate assistance of your Government.

As your Excellency is aware the State of Jammu and Kashmirhas not acceded to the Dominion of India or to Pakistan.Geographically my State is contiguous to both the Dominions. Ithas vital economical and cultural links with both of them. Besidesmy State has a common boundary with the Soviet Republic andChina. In their external relations the Dominions of India and Pakistan cannot ignore this fact.

I wanted to take time to decide to which Dominion I should accede, or whether it isnot in the best interests of both the Dominions and my State to stand independent, ofcourse with friendly and cordial relations with both.

I accordingly approached the Dominions of India and Pakistan to enter into StandstillAgreement with my State. The Pakistan Government accepted this Agreement. TheDominion of India desired further discussions with representatives of my Government. Icould not arrange this in view of the developments indicated below. In fact the PakistanGovernment are operating Post and Telegraph system inside the State.

Though we have got a Standstill Agreement with the Pakistan Government thatGovernment permitted steady and increasing strangulation of supplies like food, saltand petrol to my State.......

With the conditions obtaining at present in my State and the great emergency of thesituation as it exists, I have no option but to ask for help from the Indian Dominion.Naturally they cannot send the help asked for by me without my State acceding to theDominion of India. I have accordingly decided to do so and I attach the Instrument ofAccession for acceptance by your Government. The other alternative is to leave myState and my people to free-booters. On this basis no civilized Government can exist orbe maintained. This alternative I will never allow to happen as long as I am Ruler of theState and I have life to defend my country.

I am also to inform your Excellency's Government that it is my intention at once toset up an interim Government and ask Sheikh Abdullah to carry the responsibilities inthis emergency with my Prime Minister.

If my State has to be saved immediate assistance must be available at Srinagar. Mr.Menon is fully aware of the situation and he will explain to you, if further explanation isneeded.

In haste and with kind regards,

The Palace, Jammu 26th October, 1947 Your sincerely,

Hari Singh

J&K's head chopped off;identity lost: Azad on KashmirPNS n NEW DELHI

Some opposition partiestermed the scrapping ofArticle 370 in Jammuand Kashmir andits bifurcationinto two unionterritories as a"black blot", withCongress leaderGhulam Nabi AzadMonday charging thestate's head, considered asIndia's crown, has been"chopped off " and its identi-

ty removed.Various parties like the

Congress, TMC, DMK, NCP,AAP, RJD and left parties

opposed the said reso-lution as well as a billto bifurcate the stateinto two union ter-ritories. Opposingthe move, Leader of

Opposition in theRajya Sabha Ghulam

Nabi Azad said: "I hadnever imagined that the headof the state which is India'scrown will be chopped off ".

Text of letter dated October 26, 1947 from Hari Singh, the Maharaja ofJammu & Kashmir to Lord Mountbatten, Governor General of India

THE PRO GROUP THE ANTI VOICES

Kashmir badly needed ashock treatment andthe Narendra Modi

government gave it one byrevoking Articles 370 and35A of the Constitution inone fell swoop that left theOpposition traumatised andthe Kashmiris wonderingwhat hit them. Countlessopinions have been tossedaround about the legitimacyand advantage of scrappingthese two provisions but nonecan question BJP's capacity toturn things its way in the faceof adversity.

The NDA does not enjoy amajority in Rajya Sabha andyet the Bill on Reorganisationof Jammu & Kashmir waspassed by a margin of 125-61.The government kept every-one, particularly the Lutyen'smedia, guessing about itsintentions when it despatchedthousands of troops toKashmir, sent Amarnathyatris, tourists, NIT studentsand foreigners packing,snapped mobile networksand placed political leadersunder house arrest.

All its plans were in placewhen Home Minister AmitShah read out his historicstatement abolishing J & K as

a State, creating two UnionTerritories with Jammu &Kashmir having a legislature(like Delhi and Pondicherry)and Ladakh without it. Suchan announcement, whichwould forever changeKashmir's exclusive status,should have rocked the RajyaSabha but there were only rip-ples as Shiv Sena, BJD, BSP,YSR Congress, AIADMK andTDP backed the BJP whileNCP and JD (U) abstained.The sailing will be smootherwhen the matter comes up inLok Sabha on Tuesday.

The broad sense insideand outside Parliament wasclear -- status quo was not anoption. Articles 370 and 35Ahad outlived their utility andneeded to go. What it couldnot achieve since 1954 couldnot be achieved in the next 65years because Kashmiri youthwere getting more restlessand taking up weapons.There was inbuilt unjustnesstoo. As Amit Shah pointedout, two Pakistan-bornIndians, I K Gujral andManmohan Singh hadbecome Prime Ministers, butrefugees from the neigh-bouring country settled inKashmir cannot contest as

municipal councillors.Shah was aggressive in his

defence of the government'sdecision. Art 370 was respon-sible for Kashmir missing outon elected sarpanchs andward members, numbering40,000, for decades until theNDA government orderedelections. Funds given by theCentre were being siphonedaway. Three political familiesin Kashmir called the shotsbefore anyone could do busi-ness. Thousands of youthwere missing out on employ-ment opportunities in thetourism sector as no bighotelier or travel agency was

willing to venture becauseArt 35A barred non-Kashmiris from possessingland.

The opposition to scrap-ping these two Articles wasjust vote bank politics.Equally so was the fear-mon-gering that Kashmir wouldlose its cultural identity if out-siders were allowed to acquireproperty. The culture ofMaharashtra, Gujarat orTamil Nadu had not beendiluted. Art 370 was an obsta-cle for providing reserva-tions to SCs, STs and OBCs.

Congress leaders did notseem to have cogent or at leastpowerful responses. GhulamNabi Azad accused BJP ofbeing power drunk and PChidambaram hinted that hewould challenge the govern-ment's action as being uncon-stitutional. Sonia Gandhi andRahul were largely missingfrom action in the main-stream or in the social media.Perhaps they had not recov-ered from their earlier defeatsduring voting in Rajya Sabhaon the Triple Talaq Bill andother legislations.

The government needed tobe questioned hard about thepurpose of creating Union

Territories, one borderingChina and the other Pakistan.The obvious reason is to keeplaw and order under theCentre's control. But, thiscannot be a strong reasongiven the frequent spells ofPresident's Rule in J&K andthe continuous presence ofalong the border and inside.Yet, terrorist violence con-tinues and Kashmiri Panditsare nowhere near returninghome.

What Amit Shah perhapschose not to highlight wasthat it was part of India's geo-strategic policy. It was a fittingresponse to Pakistan carvingout a fifth province, Gilgit-Baltistan, in POK that bor-ders China. Its timing, thoughunwittingly, came as a replyto US President DonaldTrump's offer to mediate inthe Kashmir dispute withoutsolicitation from India.

Clearance from Parliamentto scrap the controversialArticles is a job half done.The burden has increasedon Prime Minister Modi andhis government to live up tothe huge aspirations theyhave created among Kashmiriyouth living in the main-stream.

S NAGESH KUMARFormer Resident Editor,

The Hindu

A job well done in Parliament, but reality check begins

PNS n HYDERABAD

Bodies of 13 daily wage labour-ers, who were killed in an acci-dent near Kothapally in Midgilmandal of Mahabubnagar dis-trict, arrived here on Mondayamid tight police security.

Jadcherla MLA LakshmaReddy visited the village andannounced an ex gratia of Rs6 lakh.

He also promised to provide

double bedroom houses tothe kin of the deceased.

TDP Telangana state com-mittee president L Ramana,Politiburo Member RavulaChandrasekhar Reddy and for-

mer legislator Erra Shekharconsoled the families of thedeceased.

Meanwhile, the condition offive daily wage labourers, whowere injured in the mishap, isstated to be stable. All thelabourers, most of themwomen, were from Gogyathanda in Kothapally villageand were returning home inthe auto-rickshaw after work-ing in Midgil.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Rains have been plentiful thisweek and so GHMCCommissioner M DanaKishore on Monday called forplanting of saplings on a largescale in the city.

"Free distribution of saplingswill begin from Tuesday," saidthe Commissioner, andrequested Hyderabad residentsto plant as many trees as theycan to increase the greencanopy.

"Three crore plants will bedistributed during the fifthphase of Haritha Haram, indifferent phases. Of these, 5lakh plants will be planted ingovernment and GHMC's ownspace," he said.

Dana Kishore also calledupon MLAs and MLCs andarea corporators to promotethe event on a wider scale.

Planting of trees on 616identified vacant plots in thecity will be held this week.City Mayor BonthuRammohan and GHMCCommissioner will partici-pate in a event at Delhi PublicSchool in Nacharam onTuesday.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019 hyderabad 03

Dana Kishoreurged residentsto make use ofrainwater toincrease city'sgreen canopy

RIMEORNERC

Two killed in road accident

In a tragic incident, twopersons, including an eight-

year-old boy died in a roadaccident when the motorcycleon which they were riding onwas hit by a school bus atBadangpet on Monday. Thedeceased were identified asBalakrishna and Shreyan, aClass 3 student. Shreyan'ssister Lakshya, 6, escaped withminor injuries. According to thepolice, Balakrishna wasShreyan's distant relative.Balakrishna was on his way todrop Shreyan and Lakshya attheir school when a privateschool bus hit their motorbike."Balakrishna, who was notwearing helmet, died on thespot. Death was instantaneousfor Shreyan who came underthe rear wheel of the bus, hissister, Lakshya escaped with afractured hand" said N Yadaiah,Inspector of Police, Meerpet.The police reached the spotand shifted the bodies toOsmania General Hospitalmortuary. Based on acomplaint, the Meerpet Policeregistered a case and havestarted investigation. Efforts areon to nab the bus driver.

Man clubs wife,children to death

In a case of suspecting fidelity ofwife, a person clubbed his wife

and two children, including a girl,to death at his residence inSivaramanagar in the wee hoursof Monday. Later, he surrenderedto the police. CI Srinivasa Raoinspected the crime spot. A casewas registered against thehusband - Praveen Kumar.Praveen Kumar of Narayanapurof Tanduru mandal lives inSivaramanagar colony for quitesome time along with wifeChandini, 30, and children Ayan(7) and Angel (5). He used toquarrel with wife quite often ashe was suspicious of her fidelity.When his wife and children wereasleep, Praveen Kumar clubbedher and children with an ironroad to death. Later, hesurrendered to the police.

Ex-employee of NTPCheld for fraud

The Cyber Crimes police onMonday arrested a former

Asst. Engineer of NTPC forcheating people on the pretextof providing loans underPMEGP (Pradhan MantriEmployment GenerationProgramme) scheme. Accordingto the police, the accused, ThotaBalaji Naidu, 40, posing asDeputy Secretary, FinanceDepartment official of TelanganaSecretariat cheated people andpoliticians. According to thepolice, the accused used toidentify himself as Malla Reddy.Later he collects an initialdeposit of 5 per cent of thedesired loan amount throughonline transfers and identifieshimself as Malla Reddy, thepolice said.

Class IX studentdrowns

AClass IX student of agovernment residential

school drowned in a water bodyat Keesara on Sundayafternoon. According to thepolice, the deceased,Shyamsundar, 15, a resident ofManorabad was studying inKeesaragutta GovernmentalResidential School. The incidenthappened when he, along withthree of his friends, went for aswimming at the AranyaRamalingeshwara Swamytemple near their residentialschool. The police rushed to thespot, fished out the body, andlater shifted it to GandhiHospital for autopsy.

Plenty of rain, let'splant trees: GHMC

PNS n HYDERABAD

The 5th phase of the annualoperation to rescue childrenfrom bonded labour and beg-ging has brought dividendswith the Cyberabad police res-cuing 541 children in July, thehighest number in the state.

The Cyberabad commis-sioner said that investigatingofficials also noticed thatAadhar cards of most of therescued children mentionedbirth dates as 01-01-2000 or 01-01-2001. The police hadformed teams for the ninedivisions under its jurisdictionto conduct the search and res-cue operations. Officials alsoregistered 247 FIR's underSection 374 of IPC; 75 and 79of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015and under Section 14 of Child

Labour Prohibition andRegulation (Amendment) Act2016.

Operation Muskaan wasstarted by the Telangana policewith the aim to trace missingchildren, children involved inchild labour, bonded labour,children working in microindustries, those begging onstreets and trafficked children,rescue them and re-untie themwith their parents or relatives.In this year's operation, officialsused facial recognition softwareof Telangana Police to identi-fy children involved in beggingand labour.

Speaking to the media,Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner VC Sajjanardescribed said how Muskaanteam rescued 15 children froma spinning mill in Medchal on

July 15. "The rescued children,aged between 14 and 17 years,hailed from Maharashtra,Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam.The children were made towork in hazardous conditionsat Sri Rama Spinning Mill inMedchal," he said, adding that

10 other minors were rescuedfrom a metals factory inMailardevpally on July 16.These children were made todo metal moulding work andoperate heavy machinery inhigh temperatures.

Also, three HIV-positive chil-dren were rescued while begging

at BHEL crossroads. The kidsrevealed that their parents diedof HIV/AIDS and they werebeing taken care of by their rel-atives who forced them to beg.They said that they were notgiven food if they failed to bringhome less Rs 1,500 every day.

The common trait among all

the rescued children was thatthey were made to work fromdawn to dusk without a breakand made to live in unhygien-ic condition in small rooms.They were poorly fed; some-times only a bowl of rice andwatery dal twice a day. Officialsalso stumbled upon middlemenwho paid about Rs 10,000 toparents of children and broughtthem from the states of Bihar,Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam andother states. Most of the kidswere malnourished, had stunt-ed growth and other healthissues. The children working inmetal welding works hadinjuries on their hands andimpaired eyesight. Childrenrescued from cotton spinningmills suffered from bronchitisand were covered with finedust from head to toe.

The rescuedchildren, agedbetween 14 and17 years, hailedfrom Maharash-tra, Bihar, UP,Jharkhand, Orissaand Assam

Condition of otherlabourers injuredin the mishap issaid to be stable

Cruelty cases fall, 10 snakesrescued on Nag PanchamiMAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

The Telangana forest departmentand several NGOs have beenconducting campaigns to sensi-tise people about how snakes areexploited during Nag Panchami.The efforts seem to be payingdividends. Forest departmentofficials on Monday said "10snakes were rescued in theHyderabad", which shows theresult of dedicated work.

Among the NGOs, one such,Friends of Snakes Society-Hyderabad too is doing a com-mendable job. "Fangs of a spec-tacled cobra (commonly usedduring Nag Panchami) areremoved by snake charmers.Some of these men even sew upthe snake's mouth, damaging itsjaw and oral cavity. They thenprick the venom glands of thehapless serpents," said Avinash,a member of the Society.

"The rescued snakes areimmediately sent to the forestdepartment and zoo enclosures,where veterinary doctors givethem medical treatment. Oncethey are out of danger, thecobras are released into the for-est," Avinash said. "In most of thecases, the jaw is damaged, themouth is infected, the glands getperforated," he said.

The forest department said itrescued five cobras in the city,while another NGO, GreaterHyderabad Society for thePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals (GHSPCA), along withPeople for Animals (PFA), res-cued four cobras.

Earlier in 2018, 14 cobraswere rescued on Nag Panchamiin the city. According to the for-est department officials, the inci-dence of cruelty has decreaseddrastically over the years, and sohas the consequent snake rescueoperations. In 2008, as many as200 snakes were rescued duringthe festival in the city.

Feeding milk to snakes can kill them NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Feeding snakes with milk onNaga Panchami or NagulaChavati can lead to deterio-ration of their health.Animal activists asked peo-ple to be cautious.

That apart, the snakeslying in snake charmers'baskets that people feed havegone through a very cruelprocess of defanging.According to Shaik Hussain,Project Scientist, "Snakes,mostly cobras, are caught bysnake chambers one or twomonths before the festivaland defanged. This is doneby brutally sewing themouth with needles to keepit closed, a cut or slit is madeat the cheeks to extract thepoison glands, and then theyare kept in closed baskets inclosed dark rooms. About 90per cent of the snakes dieduring this process".

Snake charmers bring thesnakes to cities a day or twobefore Naga Panchami. Onthe festival day, the animals

are fed milk and substancelike Kum Kum and turmer-ic are sprayed on them. Asthe snakes have been kepthungry for many days priorto that, they drink milk

offered to them. But this isnot their diet. After drinkingit they start vomitingbecause of indigestion andultimately die, Hussain said.

Snakes are reptiles andtheir diet consists of rat,frogs, rodents, etc. Activistsask people not to encouragedisplay of live snakes bysnake charmers. SoudharmBhandari from GreaterHyderabad Society forPrevention of Cruelty toAnimals said, "Snakes don'tremember who has doneharm to them, so it's amyth that they extractrevenge. They need to beconserved as they are a vitalpart of the food-chain andkeep rat and rodent popu-lation under control. It is amyth that keeping snakes athome brings charm, health,wealth or prosperity. In factit is crime according toWildlife Protection Act1972."

To prevent crime and cru-elty against snakes, contactForest Dept Toll Free No18004255364.

If hungry, snakesmay drink milk —which is not theirregular diet — butlater vomit anddie of indigestion

Awarenesseffortswork,drasticreductioninincidenceof crueltycomparedto previousyears

5-member gang heldfor property offencesPNS n HYDERABAD

Sleuths of CCS from LB Nagaralong with VanasthalipuramPolice apprehended a gang offive men, including a securi-ty guard at Ramoji film city,who were involved in a seriesof property offences. The offi-cials recovered 55 bikes worthRs 28.70 lakh along withknives and toy pistols fromtheir possession.

The accused were identi-fied as Marri Nagaraju, 27, asecurity guard at RamojiFilm city, Alluri Vijay aliasBachi, 26, Madam Raju aliasBabi, 33, Kommagal laMahesh, 28, ChittaranjanReddy alias K.C Reddy, 61,and Shiva Krishan, 26.

The habitual bike liftershave hot-wired and stole 55two wheelers in the past threeyears and were selling them tofarmers residing in andaround Atmakur, Mothkur,Marriguda and Ramannapetareas for lesser price, saidMahesh Bhagwat, Rachakondapolice commissioner, addingthat as the money they gainedthrough that was not suffi-cient, they started committingburglaries and robberies.

"Nagaraju and Vijay con-fessed that they stole 55 two

wheelers and upon verifica-tion, only 29 cases were regis-tered and addresses of 21vehicle owners were pulled asper records, but owners couldnot be traced as they shiftedfrom the address. Five of themwere not found due to tam-pering of engine and chassisnumbers" said the official.

The offenders also revealedabout their involvement in a2016 case, wherein a real estateoffice at Ramanthapur wasburned down. "They said thatthe owner of BhagyasriDevelopers, ChittaranjanReddy himself hatched a planand contacted Mahesh throughhis driver Shiva Krishna andpaid Rs 40,000 and executedthe plan by closely monitoringit. Reddy then lodged a falsecomplaint by mentioningnames of Dasaratha andShanker Naik as suspects withUppal police" added the offi-cial. The arrested were sent tojudicial remand.

Rs 6L ex gratia for kin of accident victims

PNS n HYDERABAD

The GHMC MonsoonEmergency Teams have beenconducting repairs over 4,000potholes and damaged roads inthe city. The works were takenup from Saturday midnightonwards when rain receded.

The works are being doneunder the supervision of seniorGHMC officers, engineeringexperts from road repairsdepartment and vigilancedepartment. According to thecorporation, road repair worksare being done using 1,000tonnes of Bitumin Tar (BT).

Hyderabad Mayor BonthuRammohan and GHMCCommissioner Dana Kishoreinstructed the authorities toremain vigilant as there is apossibility of widespread rainswhich can ruin the road sur-face.

Town Planning officers weredirected by the commissionerto pay special attention to theold, dilapidated buildings as

the walls could be weak afterrecent incessant rains.Commissioner Kishore said,"Special inspections should becarried out on school build-ings, especially old buildings."

He said a special surveil-lance will be undertaken tomonitor the water level in

Hussain Sagar, which is heav-ily flooded with water after arainy week.

Dana Kishore inspectedroad repair works atKutbullapur and Kukatpally,Suchitra Junction, Chintal,Balanagar and Miyapur onSunday.

GHMC road-repair drive on

Vegetable cropsbeing grown atCoE inspectedPNS n HYDERABAD

Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy on Mondayvisited the HorticultureDepartment's Center ofExcellence at Jeedimetla andinspected the seedlings ofvarious vegetable crops.

He said, the seedlingswere free from any diseasesand have a strong stem andhave well-developed rootsystem. He predicted thatthe yield from the seedlingswould be at least 30-40 percent more compared toother seedlings.

Nagulapalli Devender, afarmer from Bodapalli villageof Nizamabad district pur-chased chilli seedlings at 90per cent subsidy.

The officials at the Centerof Excellence explained himhow to transplant theseedlings. Each chilli seedlingwas sold at Rs 10 paise. Theyappealed to farmers to booktheir required seedlings inadvance.

The minister was apprisedof cultivation of orchids,management practices, yieldand profits. He was alsoappraised of rose cut flowerscultivation and Jarbera culti-vation.

He also learnt about verti-cal cultivation of vegetablesand green and leafy vegeta-bles. Later, the minister alsovisited the nutriclinic soiltesting lab being run in theCOE with the support fromCoromandel Internationaland cold storages, includingthe solar cold storage.

He appealed to farmers toget soil tests done on subsidyand acquainted himself onthe methods of irrigationbeing practiced at the COEand controlling of tempera-ture through sensors at theCenter.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary Dr SK Joshihas called upon governmentofficials to make foolproofarrangements for conductingIndependence Day celebra-tions at Golkonda Fort like lastyear. He told them to makearrangements keeping in mindthe current monsoon season.

Reviewing the arrange-ments for the celebrationswith government officials in ameeting held at Secretariathere on Monday, he said ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao would offer tributes tomartyrs at the martyrs' memo-rial and hoist the national tri-color in the Golkonda Fort.

He asked them to decorateRaj Bhavan, Secretariat,Assembly building, TelanganaHigh Court, Charminar, GunPark and Clock Tower andother important places in thecity with electric lamps.

Calling for uninterruptedpower supply on the day, hetold the officials to make ade-quate arrangements for park-ing, security, barricading,installing insignia en route tothe venue, keeping readymobile toilets, pressing intoservice mini-buses by theTSRTC, floral decoration of

the dais and so on. He said that many artistes

would present cultural eventsthat would reflect theTelangana culture.

He asked the Informationand Public Relations officialsto ensure live coverage of theevent, provide huge LEDscreens for benefit of specta-tors, install public addressingsystem and make necessaryother arrangements.

GAD Special ChiefSecretary Adhar Sinha spoke.Officials of police, R and B,GHMC, Metro Water Works,Medical, horticulture, fire,archaeology, culture, RTC,printing, I and PR and TSSouthern Power DistributionCompany limited and otherdepartments' officials tookpart.

Junior doctorsintensify stirPNS n KARIMNAGAR

Junior doctors attached tomedical colleges located innorth Telangana intensifiedtheir stir on Monday andtook out rallies to press fortheir demands.

The agitating studentsdemand that the proposals ofNational Medical Commissionbe implemented soon andquacks practicing as doctors bekept out meticulously. Thejunior doctors said that theywould continue their stir tillthe government resolves all thepending issues.

Junior doctors of RajivGandhi Institute of MedicalSciences in Adilabad,Prathima Institute of MedicalSciences and ChalimedaAnanda Rao Medical Collegeof Karimnagar, MamathaInstitute of Medical Sciencesin Khammam and KakatiyaMedical College of Warangaltook part in the protests intheir respective cities.

Tanks, ponds full to brimPNS n WARANGAL

Minor irrigation tanks andponds in the erstwhileWarangal district are brim-ming with water, thanks tothe incessant rains over thepast four days. The irrigationtanks, which had dried out,have started receiving goodinflows from its catchmentareas following the rain,rekindling hope among the

farmers.The Laknavaram Lake

f i l led to the brim andreached 31 ft as against itstotal capacity of 34.4 ft.Ramappa tank received goodinflows and the water levelsreached 26-feet mark asagainst the full tank capaci-ty of 35-feet. In Gundla Vaguproject, the water levelsreached 34.44 feet as againstits full capacity of 36.9 feet.

City roads in bad shape

CS reviews I-Dayarrangements in Hyd

The accused in police custody on Monday

Chief Secretary Dr SK Joshi 541 children rescued from labour, begging

The weapons seized

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019 hyderabad 04

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi's actual countdown forrevoking Article 370 and bifur-cation of the state of Jammuand Kashmir began during thethird week of June, when hechose 1987 batch IAS officer ofChattisgarh cadre, B.V.R.Subramanyam as new ChiefSecretary of Jammu andKashmir.

Subrahmanyam, who hadworked as Joint Secretary(PMO) with the Prime Ministerearlier, was one of the key offi-cials in Modi's MissionKashmir. The entire task ofMission Kashmir was handedover to Union Home MinisterAmit Shah, who along with LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadwas reviewing legal implicationswith a core team, which includ-ed Law & Justice SecretaryAlok Srivastav, AdditionalSecretary Law (Home) R.S.Verma, Attorney General K.K.Venugopal, Union HomeSecretary Rajiv Gauba and hisselect team of Kashmir Division.

Before the beginning of theBudget Session, Shah hadbriefed Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) chief MohanBhagwat and his aide (GeneralSecretary) Bhaiyaji Joshi aboutthe Centre's determination to

revoke Article 370 and subse-quent bifurcation of Jammuand Kashmir into two separateUnion Territories.

After legal consultations,Shah focussed on the implica-tions of the revocation of Article370 on the valley's law and ordersituation. Sources close to Shahrevealed that on the PrimeMinister's suggestion Shah thenhad a couple of meetings withNational Security Advisor(NSA) Ajit Doval. The sourcessaid that once Shah had reviewedthe situation in Kashmir himself,Doval was sent to Srinagar toassess the situation from a secu-rity point of view.

The NSA camped there forthree days. Then on July 26, thedecision to curtail the

Amarnath Yatra was taken.Later recall of all tourists fromthe valley was also suggested bythe NSA. Apart from this, anadditional 100 companies of thecentral paramilitary were alsorushed as back-up to the pre-vailing security apparatus.

Jammu and Kashmir ChiefSecretary Subramanyam, whowas in the loop with the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO) andthe Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) was given the blueprintof several security measures tobe taken on ground zero -- useof satellite phones by key police,paramilitary and administra-tion officials; deployment ofQRTs in sensitive urban andrural pockets across SouthKasmir; and a high vigil at LoC

by Army, apprehending mis-chief from across the border.The Army chief, heads of intel-ligence agencies and CentralPara Military Forces were alsocoordinating with the UnionHome Secretary and ChiefSecretary 24x7.

On the crucial night ofAugust 4, Chief Secretaryinstructed Director General ofPolice (Jammu and Kashmir)Dilbagh Singh to take severalpreventive measures whichincluded house arrest of keypolitical leaders, snappingmobile and landline services,declaring Section 144 andpreparing drill for clampingcurfew in the valley.

Earlier, on the Delhi front,Shah had another key team seton the job, which includedRajya Sabha members like AnilBaluni and Bhupendra Yadav.The team was tasked to musterthe support of fellow members

of the august House, where BJPfell short of a majority.

The team which had engi-neered a major defection inTDP's Rajya Sabha membershad managed Samajwadi PartyMPs, Neeraj Shekhar, SurendraNagar, Sanjay Seth, andCongress MP Sanjay Singh toquit the Rajya Sabha. Thusgiving a big boost to the BJP inthe upper House.

At the eleventh hour, theteam also managed BSP leaderSatish Mishra to support themove related to Article 370 andbifurcation of the state.

In the meantime, Amit Shahalso had close door meetingswith key journalists (havingaccess in the MHA) to be bal-anced in reporting while touch-ing highly sensitive issues,which have international impli-cations. Shah's objective was tomaintain top secrecy, till heintroduces the Bill, and breaks

the historical news on August5, on the floor of Parliamentitself.

Sources said that by August2, Shah was confident that hisparty had enough support inthe Rajya Sabha and wouldintroduce the historical bill(ofbifurcation of Jammu andKashmir) in the Upper Houseby Monday.

Subsequently, a whip wasissued by the BJP instructing allmembers to remain in theirrespective House hinting themthat important bills wereexpected to be passed.

Highly placed sourcesrevealed that finally on theweekend, it was decided byModi and Shah to convene ameeting of the Cabinet at thePM's residence on Monday, todisclose Mission Kashmir'sobjective to Ministers and passa resolution thereof, prior to theproceedings of the House.

Similarly, the Ministry ofLaw and Justice was tasked forprompt issuance of notificationby the President of India on therevocation of Article 370.

After Shah introduced theBill amid chaos in the RajyaSabha on Monday, a BJP MPreacted: "Shah's mission hasnever been defeated. He is thenew Sardar (VallabhbhaiPatel)."

MODI'S MISSION KASHMIR

How Shah & Co executed the ‘top secret' task

In October 1947, then RSSchief Guru Golwalkartravelled to Srinagar to

meet Maharaja Hari Singh ofKashmir. Golwalkar wasprompted by Sardar Patel tomake the arduous journey.Hari Singh, who was stilldilly dallying in acceding toIndia (although the Britishhad left India two monthsago), told the RSS chief thathis state was hemmed in byPakistan- the nearest airportwas in Lahore, and the roadsout of Kashmir led out ofRawalpindi and Sialkot.

"In these circumstanceshow do I accede to India?'Hari Singh asked his visitor.The RSS chief said: "Think ofyour Hindu subjects. Theywill be left to the mercy ofPakistan. Rail road and airlinks can be established andthings can be set right."

Hari Singh acceded to Indiaa few days later, may be notbecause Golwalkar requestedhim but since he wantedIndian help because the irreg-ular forces of Pakistan invad-ed Kashmir. Finding it diffi-

cult to hold on, Hari Singhacceded to India, thus allow-ing the Indian army to step in.But his accession was late asby that time the Pakistanishad gobbled up one third ofKashmir. That is now calledPakistan occupied Kashmir(POK) but for symbolic rea-sons included in the Indianmap.

Pandit Nehru, India'sPrime Minister, negotiatedwith Sheikh Abdullah, apopular peasant leader fromKashmir, who had been chal-lenging the autocratic andthe perceived anti- peopleregime of Hari Singh.

Soon a new regime cameup in Kashmir. To keep thepeople of Kashmir happy, anew dispensation was estab-lished: Kashmir would bepart of India but would be dif-ferent. No Indian laws wouldoperate there unless passed bythe Kashmir Legislativehouse. This is Article 370.Under it there would beArticle 35 A, which says thatno outsider could own land inKashmir and people from

outside can't settle there. But there were sections in

India who were unhappy. Thechief of Bharatiya Jana Sangh(the predecessor of BJP)Syama Prasad Mookerjee wasupset and he reached Srinagarto protest. He was arrestedand sent to an irregular jail.He died there in June 1953and reportedly because hewas poisoned to death.

Soon thereafter SheikhAbdullah started secessionistmoves and was suspected tobe in cahoots with elements inPakistan. He was packed offand dispatched to Ooty wherehe was in custody till the mid-1970s. But he was neverprosecuted - the feeling wasthat violence would ensue.New governments came inbut the special dispensationcontinued. Taking advantageof the special dispensation, an

elite group of Kashmiris tookfull advantage of the fact thatIndian laws did not automat-ically extend to India andenriched themselves even asthe poor remained wherethey were. Soon anti- Indianfeelings began to be fosteredin Kashmir.

A former IB officer told thiswriter: "I was posted toKashmir in the early 1970sand when I landed in Srinagarairport I told the taxi driverthe name of the road where

the IB office was located. Buthe took me bang to the IBoffice. I asked the taxi driverhow he knew my destination,he merely smiled." The ex IBoperative said : " We were allmarked and by the time I wasposted there again in the late1988 things had becomeworse and for all practicalpurposes Kashmiris identifiedthemselves as Kashmiris andus as Indians."

In the 1970s, SheikhAbdullah was released from

jail and put in power but thedecline in Kashmir continued.On his death, his son FarooqAbdullah became a promi-nent leader and ChiefMinister of the state. In the1989 Kashmiri Hindus weresubject to violence by non-state actors and a large major-ity began to exit the state.Thus they became refugees intheir own land. As a part ofPakistan president GeneralZia-ul-Haq's policies,Pakistan began violence andterrorism in Kashmir. Thiswas part of Pakistan to bleedIndia 'by thousand cuts' andwas born out of the Pakistanirealisation that they couldnever defeat India in conven-tional war.

Over the years, Pakistanhas increased terrorism inKashmir sending fully armedultras across. A soft Indian

state has been unable to stopthis as precious lives havebeen lost. But Indians havebeen very upset about the lossof lives, including that of sol-diers. Furthering the old RSSagenda on Kashmir that findsresonance across the country,the Modi government hasdecidedly changed the statusquo in Kashmir.

By making Jammu &Kashmir as union territory,the Union Government willdirectly rule over the region.The local political familieswho had ruled the state forlong - and enriched them-selves- have been rendereduseless. This includes thefamily of Abdullah (Farooqand Omar and Muftis(Mehbooba).

But Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad's pointsmade in Rajya Sabha are alsovalid. He pointed out thatKashmir started with aMaharaja, then had a PrimeMinister (as part of newarrangement after its acces-sion), then the post wasdowngraded to chief minister.

And now in the new dispen-sation, Kashmir will haveCentral Rule under aLieutenant Governor whocould be a mere joint secre-tary of GOI. What a great fallthat would upset the peopleof Kashmir, he lamented.Many others in Lok Sabhasaid that Kashmir wouldbecome like Palestine, SouthSudan or Bosnia. It's tooearly to pass a judgment butthe international ramifica-tions have to be studieddeeply to figure out whetherit would become more than afestering sore.

KINGSHUK NAG

PNS n NEW DELHI

After scrapping of Article 370,the government's next agendashould be to get back thePakistan occupied Kashmir(PoK), Rajya Sabha nominatedmember Subramanian Swamysaid on Monday.

Supporting the resolutionon removal of Article 370 —that gives special status toJammu and Kashmir — movedin the Upper House, Swamyalso said that now there isnothing to mediate in theKashmir issue for the USPresident Donald Trumpexcept for him to tell PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan toreturn the land taken illegallyfrom India.

"Return of the territory in thepossession of Pakistan is thenext agenda item for us. I hopethe decisiveness with whichPrime Minister and HomeMinister have taken this step,will take the next step also whenwe are ready to recover the landas per the resolution of thisParliament," he said.

Swamy said during the timeof Narasimha Rao government,Parliament had unanimouslypassed a resolution to takeback the Pakistan occupied

Kashmir (PoK).Asserting that other ele-

ments were taking advantage aslong as Article 370 was inplace, he said, "in fact certainelements were encouragedrecently by the fact that ImranKhan met the US President andthe US president mistakenlysaid he is willing to mediate."

"There is nothing to mediate.A370 is gone, there is nothingto mediate except for MrTrump to tell Mr Imran Khanto return the land which theytook illegally from India whichis part of Azad Kashmir," headded.

Attacking the Congress partyfor being "ignorant" of the law,Swamy said A370 can beremoved with President's orderand does not require anyamendment to the Constitutionof India.

Govt's next agendashould be getting backPoK: Swamy in RS

Subramanian Swamy

After legal consultations, Shah focussedon the implications of the revocation ofArticle 370 on the Valley's law and ordersituation. Sources close to Shah revealedthat on the Prime Minister's suggestionShah then had a couple of meetings withNational Security Advisor Ajit Doval

PNS n NEW DELHI

Former Solicitor General HarishSalve said the government hasnot scrapped Article 370of the Constitution butits provisionswhich includesArticle 35A.Speaking tomedia in theSupreme Court,Salve said:"Article 370 statesthe provisions underit will be introducedthrough Presidential order.Article 35A was insertedthrough the Presidential orderin 1954. Today, the same orderhas been superseded."Speaking on the government'sBill on redrawing stateboundaries or statereorganization, Salve said: "TheBill concerning the statebifurcation will be introduced inParliament twice. The Bill willonly gain significance when it ispassed by Parliament...this is a

political decision."According to Article 35A, thestate legislature is authorised todefine the status of Jammu and

Kashmir's permanentresidents.

It was inserted inthe Constitutionthrough aPresidentialorder in 1954.According to it,no outsider can

own a propertyin Jammu And

Kashmir and get astate job.

This Article also deprivedfemale citizens of the stateclaiming any property right ifthey marry an outsider. Thisprovision was also extended tochildren born of any suchfemale citizen.

This contention has alsobeen challenged in theSupreme Court through apetition. A total of six petitionschallenging Article 35A werefiled in the top court.

Article 370 is not scrapped,only its provisions: Salve

PNS n AMARAVATI

Seer of Sarada Peeth atVisakhapatnamSwarupananda and UttaraPeetadhipati of the Peethwelcomed the annulment ofArticle 370 that granted specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmirand described the decision ashistoric.He appreciated the efforts ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiand Home Minister Amit Shah.They called it as a right stepfor the unity and integrity ofthe country and for thecomprehensive developmentof the people of Jammu andKashmir. He opined that the decisionwould help them revive theSaraswati Sakthi Peeth inKashmir. If the Government iskeen to revive it, the SaradaPeeth here will lend necessarysupport, Swarupanandaoffered.He wanted the Center to takeurgent steps on

Ramajanmabhoomi and cowprotection issues and urgedthe government to declare cowas the spiritual symbol of thecountry. The people willeulogise Narenda Modi as t h emodern day Vivekananda ifthese steps are implemented,they felt.

Sarada Peeth seer welcomesannulment of Art 370

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress senior leader andMLC T Jeevan Reddyexpressed displeasureover the Centralgovernment'sdecision toabolishArticle370. Hesaidthat theBJP-ledNDAgovernmenthas neglected theconcerns ofopposition parties. "Onecan't predict the futuredevelopments with thedecision of the Centre onKashmir issue. Nations acrossthe world may come to aconclusion that India isviolating the democraticvalues," Jeevan Reddy opined.

He said that Article 370 wasincluded in the Constitution toprotect the special rights ofJammu and Kashmir. It is sad

on the part of BJP to takeunilateral decisions, he

lamented.Meanwhile, TPCC

officialspokesperson

AddankiDayakaropined

that theabolition of

Article 370 wouldhave taken place

much before and statedthat the abolition of Article

was the need of the hour. Hesaid that Article 35(A) isagainst the Constitution ofIndia. "It's not correct on thepart of BJP to brand people,who didn't support the move,as anti-nationals," he furthersaid.

Mixed response from TPCC

PNS n HYDERABAD

Alleging that theabolishing ofArticle 370 asdemocratic,former CPInational generalsecretarySuravaram

Sudhakar Reddy saidthat this a

dangerous act bythe Union HomeMinistry. Insteadof finding asolution to theproblem, it has

been furthertoughened, he said.

Art 370 abolition isundemocratic: CPI

PNS n HYDERABAD

TJS Chief Prof M Kodandaramquestioned the Centre on how theproblems of Jammu and Kashmir willbe solved by abolishing Article 370.He also slammed the centralgovernment for placing two formerChief Ministers under house arrest.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The architect of the controver-sial Article 370 was a civil ser-vant-turned-politician and theminister without portfolio inJawaharlal Nehru's Cabinet whowas in-charge of affairs of theJammu and Kashmir.

He was identified asGopalaswamy Iyengar of TamilNadu who was the PrimeMinister for Jammu andKashmir during 1937-43.

He began his career as a civilservant from Tanjavur in the

then Madras Presidency. Eversince he joined duty as a MadrasCivil Service officer in 1905, he

served as Deputy Collector till1919. He worked in variouscapacities and at various placesas demanded by his profession.

He was a minister during1943-47 in the then BritishIndia. He was a minister withCabinet rank in JawaharlalNehru Cabinet during 1947-48.

He was one of the membersof the constitution draftingcommittee. He was instrumen-tal in formulating Article 370that gave autonomous status tothe state of Jammu andKashmir.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Post annulment of special statusto the state of Jammu andKashmir enjoyed by it underArticle 370 of the IndianConstitution, the state nowstands reduced to the status of aunion territory having legisla-ture, while Ladakh is standsreduced to the status of a unionterritory without legislature.

Following the development,the number of states in thecountry is reduced to 28 and thenumber of union territoriesincreased to nine. Following ahistoric decision taken by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi gov-

ernment on Monday to resolveKashmir issue, the Article 35Aautomatically stands annulledalong with Article 370.

The Article 35A prohibitedthose not permanently residingin the state of J and K from pur-chasing fixed assets in the state.The Article also gave powers tothe state legislature to decide on

who should be given the right topermanently reside in J and Kand otherwise. Close on the heelsof annulment of the Article35A, outsiders can acquire prop-erty in J and K. When the statewas in turmoil, several KashmiriPandits abandoned the statedisposing of their property andmigrated to elsewhere.

They have been planning toreturn to J and K following thelatest decision of the Modi gov-ernment. Women and childrenare jubilant over the annulmentof Article 35A because womencan marry any person outside Jand K and yet enjoy their rightto property. As the controversialArticle robbed children of suchwomen to own property in J andK, they are also happy that thedraconian law was repealed.Therefore, J and K women arefree to marry anyone across thecountry and people from anypart of the country are free toown property in the Kashmirvalley. Political analysts are of the

view that the annulment of thecontroversial Article will pavethe way for the economic devel-opment of the troubled region.

Prohibiting outsiders fromowning property, several infra-structural development institu-tions and multi-national com-panies kept their operations outof J and K, depriving Kashmirisof their livelihood.

Repealing Article 35A clearedhurdles in the path of free flowof investments to the regionimproving its economy.

The analysts are of t he firmview that repealing the Articlesgo a long way in putting J&K onhigh road to development.

Kodandaram slams Centrefor placing 2 former CMsunder house arrest

n Jeevan Reddy expresses anger over abolition ofArticle 370

n Addanki Dayakar says that it would have done thismuch earlier

Repealing the controversial Article widens thescope for J&K women to choose a life partner,opens flood gates of development and cantransform the economy of the region

Civil servant-turned-politicianwho drafted Article 370

By making J&K as union territory, the Centre will directly rule over theregion. The local political familieswho had ruled the state for long- and enriched themselves- have been rendered useless

Women, children to benefit most

J&K comes a full circle

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Vellore LS seat sees 63% turnoutCHENNAI: Polling in the TamilNadu's Vellore Lok Sabhaconstitutency came to an end onMonday with about 63 per centturnout, the EC said. The votingbegan at 7 a.m. and endedpeacefully without any untowardincidents at 6 p.m. While 28candidates are in the fray, themain contest is between A.C.Shanmugam of the AIADMKand D.M. Kathir Anand of theDMK. The votes will be countedon August 9 when the votes willbe counted. The constituencywas to go to polls on April 18,but the voting was put off afterRs 10 crore was seized fromDMK leaders in the Velloredistrict. Rescinding the poll, theElection Commission had said itwas "fully satisfied" that theelectoral process in Vellore hadbeen vitiated on account ofunlawful activities on behalf ofDMK candidate Kathir Anandand some of its workers. TheVellore seat comprises sixAssembly segments -- Vellore,Anaikattu, Kilvaithinankuppam,Gudiyattam, Vaniyambadi andAmbur. There are over 1,400polling booths. The DMK-ledfront won 37 of the 38 LokSabha seats in Tamil Nadu,polling for which was held onApril 18.

Guj rains: 2 IAFchoppers rescue 13 people in Surat

Goa schools asked todiscourage Tik Tok,PUBG among studentsPANAJI: Goa Chief MinisterPramod Sawant on Mondaysaid schools in the state havebeen directed to discouragestudents from downloadingvideo-sharing app Tik Tok andmultiplayer combat game PUBGon their mobile phones. The appand the game create a "safetyand security" issue for childrenin the state, he said. Replying toa question tabled by Congressmember Ravi Naik in the stateAssembly, Sawant said acircular has been issued toschools by the educationdirector in the matter. Accordingto the circular, awareness needsto be created among parents,guardians and children aboutthe ill- effects of the use of TikTok app and playing PUBGgame. "The app and the gamecreate an issue of safety andsecurity of children in the stateof Goa," says the circular.

AHMEDABAD: Two Indian AirForce helicopters on Mondayrescued thirteen villagersstranded due to heavy rains inMangarol taluka of Surat district,officials said. The villagers werestuck in Lahura and Kosadivillages, following which theGujarat government sent out anSOS to the IAF, they said."Thirteen marooned villagers atLahura and Kosadi of Mangaroltaluka in Surat district wererescued by two IAF helicopterswhich took off from Vadodaraand Surat," a defence officialsaid. Mangarol, Umerpada andMandvi talukas of Surat havegot heavy rains in the 24-hourperiod ending 8am on Monday,officials said. While Mangarolgot 451 millimetres rainfall,Umerpada received 587 mm,they said. Several low-lyingvillages have been flooded andNational Disaster ResponseForce and Air Force teams are inthe region, mainly south Gujaratdistricts of Surat, Valsad,Narmada and Bharuch, forrescue and relief operations.

Delhi court directs Unnao rape case accusedKuldeep Sengar to be shifted to Tihar jailPNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court directed onMonday that expelled BJP MLAKuldeep Singh Sengar, accusedof raping a minor girl at his res-idence in Unnao in 2017, beshifted to Tihar jail here fromSitapur prison in Uttar Pradesh.

Sessions Judge DharmeshSharma put up the matter forargument on charges in thegang rape -- one of the four relat-ed cases transferred to Delhi --for August 7.

Both Sengar and his accom-plice Shashi Singh, who had

allegedly lured the victim intogoing to the legislator's residence,were produced in the court incompliance with an order byDistrict judge Dinesh Sharmahere. The court has also direct-ed to shift Singh to Tihar jail.

Sengar and nine others were

also booked recently for murderby the CBI after the rape survivorand her advocate were injuredwhen a truck hit their car in RaeBareli. Her two aunts were killedin the accident. The rape sur-vivor's family has alleged foul play.

The Supreme Court had lastweek directed to hold trial on dailybasis and completing it within 45-days. Besides the main case, thethree other matters transferred tothe national capital are -- the FIRwhich was lodged against victim'sfather under Arms Act, his cus-todial death and the gang rape ofthe victim.

J&K effect: Noida admin warns ofstrict action against rumour mongersPNS n NOIDA (UP)

Amid major political develop-ments in Jammu and Kashmir,the administration in UttarPradesh's Noida on Mondayasked the people to verify anyrelated content they post onsocial media and warned oflegal action against rumourmongers.

The Gautam Buddh Nagaradministration has appealed tothe public as well as the media"to not spread any kinds ofrumours" and share contentonline only after verifying itfrom official sources, accord-

ing to a statement."If anybody is found spread-

ing rumour or disseminatingunverified information onsocial media which impactsharmony and public orderthen legal action would be ini-tiated against them by the dis-trict administration and the

police," District Magistrate B NSingh was quoted as saying inthe statement.

"Swift action would beensured against the offendersin the district," he added.

Separately, police in the dis-trict adjoining the nationalcapital also asked the public toavoid "rumours, fact-less andmisleading posts being circu-lated through social media".

"Posts on social media shouldbe made only after verifying theinformation. Necessary legalaction will be taken againstthose spreading rumour," thepolice said in a statement.

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala's all-women self-helpgroup, Kudumbashree, whichempowered over 42 lakhhouseholds through variousentrepreneurial initiatives, isnow part ofdisaster responseinitiative, a year after the south-ern state witnessed a devastat-ing deluge.

Setting an innovative modelfor ensuring transparency andpeople's participation in disas-ter response and recovery,members of Kudumbashreehave initiated collection offeedback and views of the floodaffected people in the state.

Using a mobile app, the sec-ond round of the survey isbeing conducted byKudumbashree women inselected gram panchayats andmunicipalities, out of 489 vil-lages in the 7 worst flood-affected districts-Alappuzha,Kottayam, Pathanamthitta,Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissurand Wayanad in the state.

The first round of the surveywas conducted in November-December 2018, an official

statement said.This unique exercise of

Kudumbashree, titled "JanakiyaPankalithavum andPunarnirmanavum" (JPP), issupported by UNICEF, KILA,Local self governments andgovernment departments.

"Janakiya Pankalithavumand Punarnirmanavum" can beroughly translated as 'people'sparticipation and rebuilding'.As part of the drive,Kudumbashree members willmeet flood affected people andrecord their needs, percep-tions and views on assistance

p r o v i d e dunder differentg o v e r n m e n tschemes, status ofcomplaints registered on thescheme and the most impor-tant priority needs of the peo-ple now, the release said.

Feedback of people is alsosought on whether childrenhave recovered from trauma offloods, whether people havebeen consulted on governmentschemes and recovery effortsand whether their income fromlivelihoods have been restoredto pre-floods period.

There are also questions inthe feedback survey to assess

the disaster preparedness ofpeople and government agen-cies, knowledge of people onmitigation measures to pre-vent and reduce disasters athome and community andawareness on hazards and risksin their area. Feedback and per-ceptions collected from peoplewould be shared with RebuildKerala Initiative (RKI), StatePlanning Board, state govern-ment departments, districtadministration and local gov-ernments, it said.

These departments andagencies could use the infor-mation for designing, moni-toring and implementing pro-grammes for flood-affectedpeople and take measures toprevent and reduce disasters.

Besides, the feedback wouldinform the annual plans oflocal governments and gov-ernment departments.

According to the statement,JPP is designed on the lines ofthe global approach ofAccountability to AffectedPopulation (AAP).

Kudumbashree model of JPPon social accountability is guid-ed by an advisory council,chaired by the former stateChief Secretary S MVijayanand. The Council alsohas representatives of the StatePlanning Board, RebuildKerala Initiative, Local selfgovernment department,KILA, KSDMA, UNICEF andtechnical agencies like TISS,Sphere India and RiddhiFoundation, it said.

Job Zachariah, UnitedNations Coordinator forKerala, said JPP programme of

Kudumbashree is unique, asthis is the first time in the worldsuch an exercise is conductedby a government agency, as inKerala. "Besides, the scale of theKerala exercise is large cover-ing people in 489 local gov-ernments. Kerala sets a modelon transparency and people'sparticipation in disasterresponse, which other statesand countries could emulate",he added.

The survey will cover eightmost marginalised groups ofpeople in the flood-affected vil-lages. They include migrantworkers, fishing community,SC/ST, people with disability,women who head family, elder-ly people, daily wage earnersand farmers.

Besides, Kudumbashreewomen, volunteers will holdseparate focus group discus-sion with these marginalisedgroups in all seven worst-floodhit districts, the release added.Over 300 people had died andlakhs of people had becomehomeless as the worst floods ofthe century hit Kerala inAugust, 2018.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian MedicalAssociation has given a call fora strike on August 8 to protestagainst certain provisions ofthe National MedicalCommission (NMC) Bill.

It said the medical studentswill continue their strike acrossthe country under IMAMedical Students Network.

"The call is for all the mod-ern medicine doctors to leavetheir work place across the sec-tors at all levels," according toa statement by the IMA.

The doctors' body has alsocalled for demonstrations andhunger strikes at its localbranches and urged medicalstudents to boycott classes and

proclaim solidarity with theIMA.

On Sunday, resident doctorsof AIIMS and SafdarjungHospital had called off theirstrike and resumed duties afterUnion Health Minister HarshVardhan assured them that

their concerns over the NMCBill will be duly addressed.

The doctors had beendemonstrating against certainprovisions of the bill since itspassage in Rajya Sabha lastweek.

"The NMC Bill 2019 is unac-ceptable to the medical frater-nity in the current format.The community healthproviders envisaged in the billis a direct threat to thousandsand thousands of poor vul-nerable marginalised ruralpatients. The health of thenation is at stake. We demandthat the government of Indiaengage the modern medicalfraternity on meaningful dia-logue and address the issueurgently," the IMA said.

The NMC Bill provides forsetting up of a NationalMedical Commission in placeof the MCI for developmentand regulation of all aspects ofmedical education, professionand institutions.

Doctors are demanding cer-tain amendments in the bill.According to them, if notamended, the bill will lead todeterioration of medical edu-cation and degradation ofhealthcare services.

The fraternity was opposingsection 32(1), (2) and (3) of thebill, saying it will encouragequackery by providing licenceto practice modern medicineas community health providersfor persons other than thosepossessing MBBS degrees.

IMA calls strike on Aug 8 to protest against NMC Bill

PNS n CHANDIGARH

In another setback for theIndian National Lok Dal aheadof the Haryana Assembly polls,two more party MLAs besidesone Independent legislatorjoined the ruling BJP inHaryana on Monday. INLD'sRam Chander Kamboj, MLAfrom Rania assembly segmentin Sirsa district, who hadrecently resigned from the partyand Naseem Ahmed, legislatorfrom Firozpur Jhirka, joined theBJP fold.

Independent MLA from

Saffidon, Jasbir Deswal, whohas been supporting the BJP,too joined the ruling outfit inthe presence of Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar and Stateunit chief Subhash Barala.

Notably, Naseem Ahmedhad switched over to theCongress, days before generalelections were held for the 10Lok Sabha seats in Haryana inthe sixth phase on May 12.

However, he had notresigned from his parent partyINLD then. All the three legis-lators have joined the BJP"unconditionally", Barala said.

Two more INLD MLAs,one Independent join BJP

PNS n THANE

The Maharashtra AntiCorruption Bureau has regis-tered disproportionate assets(DA) cases against a formersenior police inspector, a ZillaParishad executive engineerand a deputy tax collector forhaving excess income cumula-tively valued at Rs 1.78 crore, anofficial said on Monday.

Former senior inspectorShahaji Jadhav, who had servedwith Thane police, is accused ofhaving excess assets of Rs 41.65lakh, which is 47 per cent morethan his known sources ofincome, Thane Unit ACBSuperintendent of PoliceMahesh Patil said. Patil saidJadhav collected this amountbetween 1985 and 2015 and acase was filed against him fol-lowing an inquiry at the WagleEstate police station.

Sanjay Baviskar, thenExecutive Engineer of the RuralWater Supply Scheme of theThane Zilla Parishad, and fourothers including his wife, werebooked for having extra assetsworth Rs 1.03 crore, accumu-lated between 1989 and 2015,which was 45.46 per cent morethan his known sources ofincome, the ACB SP informed.

In the third case, Sunil Bane,then deputy tax collector of theVigilance Cell of theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation, and his wife werebooked for excess income of Rs33.02 lakh, he said.

Maha ACB bookscop, 2 civic officials inseparate DA cases

PNS n NEW DELHI

Against the backdrop of near-ly 60,000 pending cases in theSupreme Court, a bill toincrease the number of judgesin the top court from 30 to 33was introduced in Lok Sabhaon Monday.

As of now, the SupremeCourt has a sanctionedstrength of 30 judges, plus thechief justice of India -- 31judges.

Once the bill gets parlia-mentary approval, its sanc-tioned strength will go up to 33,plus the CJI, according to theSupreme Court (Number ofJudges) Amendment Bill intro-duced by Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad.

The apex court is function-ing with its full strength.

The bill comes days afterChief Justice of India RanjanGogoi requested PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toincrease the number ofSupreme Court judges.

Due to paucity of judges, therequired number of constitu-tion benches to decide impor-tant cases involving questionsof law were not being formed,the CJI said.

"You would recall that wayback in 1988, about threedecades ago, the judge strengthof the SC was increased from18 to 26, and then again aftertwo decades in 2009, it wasincreased to 31, including theCJI, to expedite disposal ofcases to keep pace with the rateof institution," he wrote.

"I request you to kindly con-sider, on top priority, to aug-ment the judge strength in theSC appropriately so that it canfunction more efficiently andeffectively as it will go a long

way to attain the ultimate goalof rendering timely justice tothe litigant public," Gogoiwrote.

The Supreme Court(Number of Judges) Act, 1956was last amended in 2009 toincrease the judges strength

from 25 to 30 (excluding theCJI).

The Supreme Court(Number of Judges) Act, 1956originally provided for a max-imum of 10 judges (excludingthe CJI).

This number was increasedto 13 by the Supreme Court(Number of Judges)Amendment Act, 1960, and to17 in 1977. The workingstrength of the Supreme Courtwas, however, restricted to 15judges by the cabinet (exclud-ing the chief Justice of India) tillthe end of 1979.

But the restriction was with-drawn at the request of thechief justice of India. In 1986,the strength of the top courtwas increased to 25, excludingthe CJI. Subsequently, theSupreme Court (Number ofJudges) Amendment Act, 2009further augmented the strengthof the court from 25 to 30.

According to the statementof objects and reasons of thebill, the pendency of cases in

the Supreme Court has con-stantly been on the rise due tocomparatively higher rate ofinstitution of cases.

As on the June 1, there were58,669 cases pending in theSupreme Court.

"...It is not possible for theChief Justice of India to con-stitute five Judges Bench on aregular basis to hear casesinvolving substantial questionof law as to the interpretationof the Constitution as it wouldresult in constitution of lessnumber of Division Bencheswhich would lead to delay inhearing of other civil and crim-inal matters," the bill read.

The feeder cadre of chief jus-tices and judges of the highcourts have increased from906 to 1,079 and new HCs havealso been established in theprevious years.

"This has led to increase inthe disposal of cases at the highcourt level leading to largernumber of appeals to theSupreme Court," the bill said.

PNS n COIMBATORE

Over 11 tonnes of redsanders worth Rs five crorewas seized from a truck anda godown in nearby Tirupur,and six people were arrestedin this connection, policesaid on Monday.

Acting on a tip-off,Directorate of RevenueIntelligence (DRI) officialshere, carried out a raid at aprivate godown near Tirupuron the intervening night ofAugust 1 and 2 and seized11.4 tonnes of red sanders, an

official release said.The documents seized dur-

ing the raid suggested the redsander logs were kept ready tobe smuggled out of India, itsaid. The officials first inter-cepted a truck carrying thered sanders, weighing twotonnes under vegetable loadand took the driver into cus-tody.

Based on his confession,officials raided the godownand seized 9.4 tonnes of redsanders, concealed along withsome articles meant forexports, it said.

Red sanders worth Rs 5 crseized in Tirupur, six held

Bill to increase strength of SC judges in LS

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Lok Sabha on Mondaypassed a bill which provides amechanism for social, eco-nomic and educationalempowerment of transgen-ders. The TransgenderPersons (Protection of Rights)Bill 2019 was passed by avoice vote amid noisy protestsby some opposition partiesover Congress leader AdhirRanjan Chowdhury not beingallowed to speak on hisadjournment notice.

The bill was introduced onJuly 19.

Replying on the bill,Minister of State for SocialJustice Rattan Lal Katariasaid it makes provision forestablishing a nationalauthority for safeguardingrights of transgenders.

The minister said accord-ing to the 2011 census thereare more than 4.80 lakh trans-genders in the country.

He said in the bill there areprovisions for penalty andpunishment in cases of

offences and sexual harass-ment against transgender per-sons. A contentious provisionthat criminalised begging bytransgender people has beenremoved from the bill. Theprovision was part of the billwhen it was introduced by theprevious government. Thebill had lapsed.

According to the bill, atransgender is a person whosegender does not match withthe gender assigned to thatperson at birth and includestrans-man or trans-woman(whether or not such personhas undergone sex reassign-ment surgery or hormonetherapy or laser therapy orsuch other therapy), personwith inter-sex variations, gen-der-queer and person havingsuch socio-cultural identitiesas 'kinner', 'hijra', 'aravani' and'jogta'.

Going by the bill, a personwould have the right to chooseto be identified as a man,woman or transgender, irre-spective of sex reassignmentsurgery and hormonal therapy.

LS passes Transgender Persons

Protection of Rights Bill

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Mondayintroduced a bill in Lok Sabhato amend the Chit Funds Actthat seeks to revise the pre-scribed ceiling of chit amountto Rs 3 lakh for individuals aswell as to bring in variousother changes.

Minister of State forFinance Anurag Thakur intro-duced the Chit Funds(Amendment) Bill, 2019 amidprotests by Opposition partiesover the Kashmir situation.

The amendments havebeen proposed to facilitate

orderly growth of the chitfund sector, to remove bot-tlenecks and enable greaterfinancial access to people, asper the bill.

With the amendments, theprescribed ceiling of aggregatechit fund amount for indi-viduals would be raised to Rs3 lakh from Rs 1 lakh and to

Rs 18 lakh from Rs 6 lakh forfirms.

Besides, words 'gross chitamount', 'share of discount'and 'net chit amount' wouldbe substituted with 'chitamount', 'dividend' and 'prizeamount', respectively, in theAct.

This would remove confu-sion with respect to illegalprize chits, according to thegovernment. Another changeproposed would confer pow-ers upon the state governmentconcerned to specify theamount up to which any chitfund shall be exempted under

the Act.The Chit Funds Act, 1982

was enacted to provide forregulation of chit funds. A billin this regard was introducedin March 2018 in Lok Sabhaand was referred toDepartment RelatedParl iamentar y StandingCommittee on Finance. Thepanel submitted its report inAugust 2018 but the billlapsed as the term of theLower House ended. Afterincluding some of the recom-mendations made by thepanel, the government hasagain introduced the bill.

Govt introduces bill to amend Chit Funds Act in Lok Sabha

Once the bill gets parliamentaryapproval, its sanctioned strength willgo up to 33, plus the CJI, according tothe Supreme Court (Number ofJudges) Amendment Bill introduced byLaw Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Setting an innovative modelfor ensuring transparencyand people's participation indisaster response andrecovery, members ofKudumbashree haveinitiated collection offeedback and views of the

flood affected people inthe state

Kerala's SHG Kudumbashree part of disaster response drive

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019 world 06

TROTTINGTROTTINGGLOBE

AIR STRIKE KILLS 42 INSOUTH LIBYA: OFFICIALSTripoli: At least 42 people havebeen killed and dozens woundedin an air strike on a town insouthern Libya, a local officialand the UN-recognisedGovernment said on Monday.

FIERY CAIRO CAR CRASHBLAST CLAIMS 20 LIVESCairo: At least 20 people havebeen killed when a speeding cardriving against traffic crashedinto three others causing a huge explosion in Cairo, theEgyptian health ministry said onMonday.

AF COP OPENS FIRE ONCOLLEAGUES, KILLS 7Kabul: An Afghan policeman inthe southern province ofKandahar opened fire on hiscolleagues, killing seven otherpolicemen before fleeing thescene, a provincial official said.

JULY 2019 HOTTESTMONTH GLOBALLY: EUParis: July 2019 was the hottestmonth across the globe everrecorded, according to datareleased Monday by theEuropean Union’s satellite-basedEarth observation network.

AFP n HONG KONG

Hong Kong riot policeclashed on Monday with

pro-democracy protesters for athird straight day, as the city’sleader warned the global finan-cial hub was nearing a “verydangerous situation” and a rarestrike caused transport chaos.

Clouds of tear gas billowedacross multiple locations onMonday afternoon as the citybuckled under a general strike,which protesters pushed toemphasise they still had broadpublic support following twomonths of increasingly violentunrest.

In a rare public appearancesince the crisis began, chiefexecutive Carrie Lam warnedprotesters she would not caveto their demands.

“(They) have seriouslyundermined Hong Kong’s lawand order and are pushing ourcity, the city that we all love andmany of us helped to build, tothe verge of a very dangeroussituation,” Lam said.

She later referenced chantsby protesters for a “revolution”,describing this as a challenge tothe “one country, two systems”framework under which Hong

Kong has been ruled since itreturned from British toChinese rule in 1997.

“I dare say they are tryingto destroy Hong Kong,” saidLam, who was appointed by apro-Beijing committee.

China’s cabinet-level StateCouncil said it planned to hold

a press conference on Tuesday.Lam spoke on a day that

saw widespread civil disobedi-ence across the city. Activistsdescended on subway stationsduring morning rush hour,deliberately keeping opendoors to stop trains departingand paralysing large parts of a

network that millions of peo-ple use daily.

In the afternoon they heldsimultaneous rallies at sevenlocations and besieged multiplepolice stations, stretching theresources of a force that hasbecome a lightning rod forpublic anger.

Clashes, travel chaos in Hong Kong AFP n NEW YORK

Despite two deadly shoot-ings at its stores in less than

a week, American retail giantWalmart has no plans to stopselling guns and ammunition, aspokesman said on Sunday. Aman opened fire with an assaultrifle at a Walmart in Texas onSaturday, killing 20 people, justfour days after a disgruntledemployee shot dead two cowork-ers and wounded a respondingpolice officer at one of the mas-sive chain’s stores in Mississippi.

“We are focused on sup-porting our associates, ourcustomers and the entire ElPaso community,” spokesmanRandy Hargrove said.

Following the El Pasoshooting, Walmart CEO DougMcMillon posted a note onInstagram saying he “can’tbelieve” it was the second suchin a week.

“My heart aches for thecommunity in El Paso, espe-cially the associates and cus-tomers at store 2201 and thefamilies of the victims,” hewrote.

Trump says he wants strongergun checks but gives no details

Walmart to keepselling gunsdespite recentshootings

A protester throws back a tear gas canister in Hong Kong on Monday AP

AP n WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump onMonday condemned week-

end shootings in Texas andOhio as “barbaric” attacks andcrimes “against all humanity”as he called for bipartisancooperation to strengthen thenation’s gun laws.

Trump said he wants leg-islation providing “strong back-ground checks” for gun users,but he provided scant details and has reneged onprevious promises after massshootings.

“We vow to act with urgentresolve,” Trump said Monday.

Trump spoke Mondayfrom the White House aboutshootings that left 29 deadand dozens wounded. He sug-gested early on Twitter that abackground check bill could bepaired with his long-soughteffort to toughen the nation’simmigration system.

But he didn’t say how orwhy he was connecting theissues. Both shooting suspectswere US citizens, and fderalofficials are investigating anti-

immigrant bias as a potentialmotive for the El Paso, Texas,massacre.

“In one voice, our nationmust condemn racism, bigotryand white supremacy,” Trumpsaid, adding that he had direct-ed the FBI to examine steps toidentify and address domesticterrorism.

“These sinister ideologiesmust be defeated. Hate has noplace in America,” hesaid.Trump has frequentlysought to tie his immigrationpriorities — a border wall andtransforming the legal immi-gration system to one that pri-oritises merit over familial ties— to legislation around whichhe perceives momentum to bebuilding.

Over the weekend, Trumptried to assure Americans hewas dealing with the problemand defended his administra-tion in light of criticism fol-lowing the latest in a string ofmass shootings.

“We have done much morethan most administrations,” hesaid, without elaboration. “Wehave done actually a lot. But

perhaps more has to be done.” Congress has proven

unable to pass substantial gunviolence legislation this session,despite the frequency of massshootings, in large part becauseof resistance from Republicans,particularly in the GOP-con-trolled Senate. That politicaldynamic seems difficult tochange.

AFP n TEHRAN

The US is acting aloneagainst Tehran and its allies

are too “ashamed” to join itsforces in the Gulf, Iran’s topdiplomat said Monday, dis-missing Washington’s calls fortalks as a sham. ForeignMinister Mohammad JavadZarif also confirmed he hadturned down an offer to meetPresident Donald Trump lastmonth despite the threat of USsanctions against him.

“Today the United States isalone in the world and cannotcreate a coalition. Countriesthat are its friends are tooashamed of being in a coalitionwith them,” Zarif told a newsconference.

“They brought this situa-tion upon themselves, withlawbreaking, by creating ten-sions and crises.” Tehran andWashington have been lockedin a battle of nerves since lastyear when Trump withdrew theUS from a landmark 2015 dealplacing curbs on Iran’s nuclear

programme and began reim-posing sanctions. Tensionshave soared since the Trumpadministration began steppingup a campaign of “maximumpressure” against Iran. Droneshave been downed and tankersseized by Iranian authorities ormysteriously attacked in Gulfwaters, while Britain hasdetained an Iranian tanker offGibraltar.

At the height of the crisis,Trump called off air strikesagainst Iran at the last minutein June after the Islamic repub-lic’s forces shot down a USdrone. Iran said on Sunday itsforces had seized a “foreign”tanker carrying smuggled fuelin what would be the third suchseizure in less than a month inGulf waters — a conduit formuch of the world’s crude oil.

Last month the Guardssaid they had impounded thePanama-flagged MT Riah foralleged fuel smuggling as wellas the British-flagged StenaImpero for breaking “interna-tional maritime rules”.

AFP n PARIS

Chinese officials are threat-ening to stop all police

cooperation with France afterit gave political asylum to thewife of the former Interpolchief, a Chinese national nowlanguishing in prison oncharges of bribery, a Frenchsource close to the matter saidMonday.

“There hasn’t been anyofficial request to suspend thecooperation but an informalexpression of intent,” the sourcetold AFP.

French daily Le Mondereported over the weekendthat the security attache atFrance’s embassy in Beijinghad been told of the impend-ing move.

AFP n DOHA

Talks between the US and the Talibanstretched into a third day on Monday, with

no immediate indication that a historic dealbetween the longtime foes had been reached.

The two sides are meeting in Doha for aneighth round of talks to thrash out a deal thatwould slash the presence of American troopsin Afghanistan. In return, the US is demand-ing that the Taliban prevent the country frombeing used as a safe haven for jihadist groupsincluding Al-Qaeda.

AFP n WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trumpcalled on Monday for all

Americans to condemn whitesupremacy after two shootingsleft 29 people dead and sparkedaccusations that his rhetoricwas part of the problem.

“The shooter in El Pasoposted a manifesto online, con-sumed by racist hate,” the pres-ident said in a televised addressto the nation from the WhiteHouse.

US ‘must condemn’white supremacy,says Trump

‘China may haltFrench policecooperation overInterpol case’

Iran: US acting aloneas allies ‘ashamed’

US-Taliban talks stretchinto third day in Doha

Nigerian Shia leader granted

bail for medical care in IndiaAFP n LAGOS

ANigerian court on Mondaygranted bail to a detained

Shia leader and his wife to flyto India for medical care, in amove that could defuse ten-sions after his group wasbanned following a spate ofbloody protests.

Ibrahim Zakzaky, thefounder of the pro-IranianIslamic Movement in Nigeria(IMN), has been in custodyalong with his wife ZeenahIbrahim since their arrest in

December 2015.The judge in the northern

city of Kaduna “ordered thatZakzaky be flown to India forproper medical attention”,lawyer Femi Falana told AFP.

Another member of thedefence team said his wife wasalso allowed abroad for treat-ment.

The Government late lastmonth outlawed the IMN on“terrorism” grounds afterprotests demanding Zakzaky’srelease descended into blood-shed.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019 usp 07

Public Relation Society of India,Delhi Chapter organised a

workshop on ‘Optimisation andEffectiveness of MediaInvestments’ at Himachal Sadanfor media and corporate commu-nication professionals as a part ofPRSI Delhi Chapter knowledgesharing initiative named ‘Underthe Shadow of Banyan Tree’ series.The event witnessed a footfall ofabout 60 participants from publicrelations departments of PSUs,government and other mediaagencies.

The workshop was moderatedby Vineet Sodhani, CEO, SpatialAccess Pvt Ltd, who talked aboutemerging media trends and saidthat it is a misconception to believethat greater spending on advertis-ing will always lead to the productbeing good or consumer worthy.

Naresh Kumar, Chairman,PRSI Delhi Chapter and GM (CC),Powergrid welcomed the mentorsand said, “The core of the work-shop was to highlight how even the

most expert and experiencedclients, at times become naive torealise the effective output of theirmedia spends.”

The welcome address wasdelivered by SS Rao, secretary,PRSI DC and AGM, CorporateCommunication (PFC). He said,“This new series will bring togeth-er professionals on a platform toenhance and polish their skills.”Rajat Gupta, EC member, PRSIwas the coordinator of the work-shop while GS Bawa, programmedirector, delivered the vote ofthanks.

On Guru Purnima andfoundation day of

Kalakosh division of IndiraGandhi National Centrefor the Arts (IGNCA), thecentre unveiled a statue ofsage of theatrologist BharatMuni, who composed theNatya Shastra, an ancientSanskrit text on perform-ing arts.

The statue wasunveiled by SonalMansingh (Rajya SabhaMP and classical dancer),Ram Bahadur Rai (IGNCApresident and senior jour-nalist), and AdwaitaGadanayak (National

Gallery of Modern Art,director general and sculp-tor), Bharat Gupta (trustee,IGNCA) and dancerPadma Subrahmanyam.

While speaking aboutthe statue, she said that shehad a sight of Bharat Muniin Dhyan Mudra.

The black sculpture,conceptualised bySubrahmanyam andsculpted by Bengaluru-based artists TN Rathnaand S Venkataramana, rep-

resents divine forces andthe classical art tradition ofIndia. Archeologist RJaganathan had guided thesculpture.

The Natya Shastra isconsidered to be the oldestliterature in the field ofdramatic arts. Legends saythat when god askedBrahma to create a Vedathat could be understoodby commoners, he createdPanchamaveda (fifth Veda)called the Natyaveda. After

creating the Natyaveda,Brahma asked BharatMuni to popularise thisVeda on earth. For this,sage Bharat introducedNatya Shastra.

Among others, DrSachchidanand Joshi,(member secretary ofIGNCA), Mallapuram GVinkatesh (ex-vice chan-cellor of KaranatakaUniversity), and Sanskritscholar Satyvrat Shastriwas also present there.

After closure of theDonimalai iron ore mine for

more than eight months,NMDC is set to resume opera-tions in accordance with thedecision of the Karnataka HighCourt.

NMDC has approachedKarnataka’s government to facil-itate execution of lease deed andresumption of operations atDonimalai mine. The resump-tion of mining at Donimalaiwould avoid further loss tonational and state exchequer

apart from providing the much-needed iron ore to the steelindustry for the development ofthe state.

Though it had been a longwait for NMDC, the news hasbrought in lot of cheers, especial-ly to steel makers, investors, themining fraternity, customersand employees who have beeneagerly waiting for it, said NBaijendra Kumar, IAS, CMD.

He also expressed his grat-itude for the co-operationextended by the Ministry ofSteel, government of Karnataka,legal bodies and particularly, allstakeholders for having faith onNMDC at all times.

RETURN TO JURASSIC AGEThe Dinosaur Museum in Gujarat offers an interactive and informative experiencefor both children and adults, providing them an insight into how the state has had arich treasure of fossilised remains

Skill India celebratesfourth anniversary

On the World Youth Skills Day, theMinistry of Skill Development and

Entrepreneurship (MSDE) celebrated thefourth anniversary of the Skill IndiaMission on Tuesday.

A clutch of big-ticket announce-ments and signing of MoU’s to empow-er the youth with appropriate skill-train-ing marked the celebrations. The eventsaw several ministers and governmentofficials who came together to showtheir commitment to the avowed mission.

Dr KP Krishnan, secretary, Ministryof Skill Development andEntrepreneurship, opened the ceremonyby welcoming all delegates and guest. Hesaid, “The Ministry would focus itsefforts on the informal and unorganisedsector especially the small and mediumenterprises.”

The event was graced by NirmalaSitharaman, Minister of Finance andCorporate Affairs as the chief guest.Sitharaman pointed towards how the SkillIndia Mission has offered new avenues oflivelihood to the youth of the country byurging young people to follow their heartin pursuing their ambitions. She said, “Ifyou want to acquire a particular skill andyou are comfortable with it, you shouldutilise it to the fullest. Do not settle forsomething just because it is easy. Strive forwhat you want and put in your heart toachieve it. Earlier, it was not easy to lookfor opportunities but today, through thehelp of the Ministry, the government hascreated an ecosystem for training. Iwould urge each one of you to utilisewhatever is given to you by the govern-ment.

Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Ministerfor Skill Development andEntrepreneurship, said, “I want to congrat-ulate all those who have been associatedwith Skill India in its four-year journey.An idea that germinated with our PrimeMinister’s vision of a Skilled India has nowreached its next phase. The foundation hasalready been laid. It is essential that thereis seamless convergence across skill devel-opment programs, for which we seek sup-port of all ministries, states and indus-tries.”

He added that a number of initiativeshave also been announced, “which willengage the youth in various skills designedto cater to new avenues of employment.We have placed emphasis on promotingapprenticeship and have rationalised thestipends to increase participation in thisprogram.”

The highlight of the event wasKaushal Yuva Samwaad, an open dialoguewith the youth to discuss potential issuesand solutions from the candidates’ per-spective. The two-week consulting pro-gramme was organised on a nation-widescale to engage young job-seekers andunderstand their views and ideas, iden-tify opportunities to help the Ministry inbuilding on existing programmes andimproving overall efficiency of its projects.The future recommendations would becompiled and referred for further programimplementations.

The MSDE also announced thelaunch of Kaushal Pakhwada, a 15-daycampaign, which began from July 16,where sessions and workshops will be con-ducted across the country to aspire youngtrainees under the Skill India Mission andpromote the initiative among them.

The event also witnessed an introduc-tion of the 48-member contingent, whichwill be representing India at World SkillsInternational Competition, which will beheld from August 22 to 28 in Kazan,Russia. These young skill trainees, below23 years, will be competing in 44-skillsagainst their peers from 66 other coun-tries.

MoUs SIGNED- Between Retailers Association’s Skill

Council of India, Ness Wadia College ofCommerce and McDonald’s for degreeapprenticeship in the retail sector.

-Between the Media andEntertainment Skills Council, ShriShankarlal Sundarbai Shasun Jain Collegefor Women, Bot VFX Limited and VikatanGroup for degree apprenticeship in themedia sector.

-Between the National SkillDevelopment Corporation (NSDC) andthe State Bank of India (SBI) and anoth-

er with HDFC bank to promote appren-ticeship training in the financial sector.

- In another MoU, Urban Clap collab-orates with NSDC to ensure that it has aworkforce, which is 100 per cent SkillIndia-certified through recognition ofprior learning’s (RPL) programme underPradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana(PMKVY).

-Between RDSDE (RegionalDirectorate of Skill Development andEntrepreneurship) Punjab and Tridentgroup for women empowerment.

- Between the Directorate General ofTraining (DGT) and Dassault Aviation forthe launch of Aerostructure Fitter andWelder program at ITI, Nagpur

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS- Designed by the MSDE and the

Ministry of Human Resource andDevelopment (MHRD), a degree appren-ticeship programme in collaboration withindustry and academia has been launched.The dual vocational education programshall have apprenticeship or on-the-jobtraining embedded in a three or four yearuniversity degree programme.

-The SBI shall be engaging 5,000apprentices as banking front office exec-utive and tele-caller in FY19-20.

-The HDFC bank will be hiring10,000 trained professionals under the ‘jobready’ programme, designed and createdin association with NSDC, over the nextthree years.

-In collaboration between NSDCC,BFSI Sector Skill Council and India PostPayments Bank, 170,000 grameen daksewaks will be certified as banking corre-spondents under RPL program ofPMKVY.

Additionally, the directorate generalof training also announced the establish-ment of a new Japan India Institute forManufacturing (JIIM) in Haryana andnew courses in ITIs around training onElectric Vehicles (EVs), in line with anavowed intention of the government towork for greener energy sources.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Lawand Justice, Communications, Electronicsand Information Technology, said skillinghas been the backbone for all initiativesand the driving force behind this are theyouth of India.

“The concept of Skill India has aunique interplay with other visionaryschemes, including Make in India, Start-Up India, Stand-Up India, and DigitalIndia. All of these will have to work in tan-dem for them to succeed. The Indianeconomy has grown manifold to becomethe third largest in the world now. Today,our country’s youth aspire to be job-giversand not job-seekers and this has given riseto the number of start-ups in the coun-try. India has a unique demographic div-idend and I urge the Minister of SkillDevelopment, Dr Pandey, to match theaspiration of the youth with the globaldemand.”

Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister ofAgriculture and Farmers’ Welfare andMinister of Rural Development, added,“Skill training has always been an integralpart of the country’s culture and tradition-al education system. Our ITI ecosystemhas been one of the most credible andlong-standing network but it is onlynow, that these institutes are being mod-ernised through improvised curriculum,state of the art infrastructure andenhanced pedagogy to the meet the aspi-rations of youth, turning into preferredchoices for skill training.”

Ramesh Pokhriyal, Minister of HRD,said that India is set to become the hubof skill development in the world in thenext few years. “In the coming 25 years,India will be the only country that willremain young, allowing us more oppor-tunities for economic development.Apprenticeship is one of the most sustain-able modules through which our youthcan learn and earn at the same time. Therecent reforms towards initiating appren-ticeships are commendable.”

RK Singh, MoS, Ministry of Powerand Ministry of New and RenewableEnergy, Ministry of Skill Developmentand Entrepreneurship, said that the daymarked an important occasion to pauseand reflect on the efforts towards promot-ing skill training in the country. He said,“It is important to celebrate milestones.This is an opportunity for us to pause andreflect on the need gaps and the roadmapahead for Skill India. In a fast-movingeconomy riddled with disruptions, manyhave questioned whether India will be ableto address the needs of a vast populationby providing them skills that will makethem employable in the future. Theanswer is definitely yes and can be seenin the eyes of our youth who aspire to livea better life.”

With vistas of colourful cultureand a wide variety of traditions,spirituality, cuisine and enter-

tainment as well as the world’s tallest stat-ue, now explore the latest addition toGujarat’s attractions — India’s firstDinosaur Museum and world’s thirdlargest fossil park at Raioli village, nearBalasinor town.

A PRE-HISTORIC LOCATIONThe state has always carried an ele-

ment of surprise that has caught the eyesof one and many across the globe. AsGujarat was also home to dinosaurs inthe pre-historic times, it is one of the veryfew states in the country that has a richtreasure of fossilised remains ofdinosaurs.

One hundred and fifteen kilometresaway from the capital city ofGandhinagar, the museum is spreadacross an area of over 25,000 sq feet with10 galleries spread across two floors,depicting various forms of visuals includ-ing static and dynamic installations.Raioli is the world’s second largesthatchery and boasts of being fertilebreeding ground for many species ofdinosaurs, which existed 65 millionyears ago. Fossil remains, bones and eggshave been excavated here since the early1980s.

FASCINATING FEATURESThe new museum creates a Jurassic

era, when dinosaurs would roam aroundfreely in Raioli. Nearly 50 sculptures ofdinosaurs are showcased, including a life-sized one — Rajasaurus Narmadensis —the indigenous breed that can be calledthe ‘king of dinosaurs.’ Along with dis-

plays that elucidate evolution of earth,world, and dinosaurs of India andGujarat and the KT extinction theory, themuseum installations include 3D projec-tion mapping, 360-degree virtual reali-ty models, 3D stereoscopic projections,interactive kiosks, and a vivid display oftriassic, jurassic and cretaceous timesbesides gaming consoles and muchmore. The museum offers an informa-tive, interactive and amusing experiencefor children and people of all ages.

Arrive to witness the era of the gigan-tic reptiles. The museum is open totourists from 10 am to 6 pm. Tickets canbe purchased between 10 am and 5 pm,outside the museum. The museumremains closed on Monday.

Besides the Dinosaur Museum, thestate is well-known for its rich culture.The folk arts of Gujarat form a majorpart of the culture of the state. It pre-serves the rich tradition of song, dance,drama as well. Handicrafts includebandhani, patolas of atan, kutchhi work,khadi, bamboo craft, block printing,embroidery, woodcraft, pottery, namda,rogan painting and many more handi-crafts. Undoubtedly, the Arabs,Portuguese, Dutch, Mughals and Britishas well as Parsis have left their mark onits culture.

Ahmedabad, leading city of thestate is the most preferred place for med-ical tour or medical treatments in India.With world class health amenities andan affordable, reasonable pricing, the cityis becoming one of the most sought-aftermedical tourism centre in the country.More than 1,500 foreigners visit the stateevery year for various medical treat-ments.

IGNCA unveils statue of Bharat Muni

CD foundation organised anInternational World Cup Cricketfestival in The Eros Hotel with supportof multiple embassies in New Delhi.Charu Das, founder and director of thefoundation, said, “we are bringing inInternational flavours and colours offood, fashion and festivity with cricketas a platform in both cricket playingand non-playing countries.” ManyInternational tours were finalised duringthis festival.

NMDC’s Donimalai iron oremine to resume operations

PRSI DELHI KICKS OFFBANYAN TREE SERIES

Former Mumbai PoliceCommissioner and Director-General of Police, Gujarat andPunjab, Julio Ribeiro, recentlyexpressed unhappiness with the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for inducing 10Congress MLAs to its side in Goa, deviatingfrom its political philosophy and ethics.Recalling his friendship with Laxmi KantaChawla and Hit Abhilashi in terrorism-afflict-ed Punjab, Ribeiro says he felt the BJP woulduphold “a different type of politics.”

He himself “never voted for the BJPbecause the general run of minority think-ing is that it is an exclusively Hindu party.”What a strange political orthodoxy to espouse.However, he explains, “My Hindu ancestorsin Goa were converted by the Portuguesemore than four centuries ago. Since then, wehave become a minority in our own countryand our vote goes to those who will protectour culture and identity.”

The officer misses the deep introspectionthis should have triggered. He does not sayif his ancestors converted out of attractiontowards the faith of the new conquerors orout of fear to escape the cruel Inquisition.Historical evidence suggests it was the latter.Did the new converts in Goa feel inferior tothe White invaders, and does the sense ofbeing “a minority in our own country” orig-inate with those tyrants? Or was it vis-à-visthe British, who dominated India until 1947,though Portugal retained its Goan colony tillIndia expelled it in 1961?

Obviously, this refined sense of minor-ityhood began with independence in Hindu-majority India, possibly due to subtle men-toring by the outgoing colonial masters.Unlike Jinnah and the Muslim League,Christians did not demand a separatehomeland but the church did eye and con-tinues to eye large tracts of India as aChristian lebensraum. The church has anacute political sense and has instilled deeppsychological separatism in the minds of itsflock. Priests openly suggest which party tosupport during elections, a diktat followedscrupulously. Hence, though Hindus cele-brate diversity and pose no threat to any-one’s culture or identity, a minority vote bankhas been created for political bargaining.

Simultaneously, 49 self-styled consciencekeepers of the nation (film-maker ManiRatnam later backed out) wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi (July 23) demand-ing an end to the “lynching of Muslims, Dalitsand other minorities.” Projecting the allegedlynching as a routine affair, they demandedthat the offence be made non-bailable, whichmeans that anyone accused of a crime can bejailed without bail until the courts take up thematter. This is too clever by half.

In recent times, allegations of Muslimsbeing forced to say Jai Shri Ram have provedfalse on police investigation. Yet, the authorsof this inchoate letter plead they should notbe branded as anti-Government when theyexercise free speech. The wide dissemination

of their letter proves that freemedia and free speech areblooming in India. Interestingly,one of the signatories was con-victed of sedition in 2010 and ison bail during pendency of hisappeal.

The senior police officerand 49 eminences (minus one)are part of an ecosystem uniqueto India. The Hindu majority isdubbed as communal anddemonised; vicious propagandais spread against it within thecountry and in the West (main-ly London, Washington and UNbodies), even as the “consciencekeepers” are embedded inGovernment structures in Indiaor receive other forms of Statepatronage, if not both (foreignawards are separate). However, inrecent years, the narrative isbringing diminishing returns asHindus shun political formationsthat demean them. Its demiseabroad is a matter of time, thanksto Western economic decline.

The open letter is an attemptto extend the shelf-life of theirfalse narratives. So selective istheir truth that they kept a deaf-ening silence when separatistleaders in the Kashmir Valley qui-etly sent their offspring abroad tostudy, work and settle down,while exhorting poor families tosend their wards to pelt stones atsecurity forces. Being part of thesame ecosystem, this “Lutyensextended family” was aware ofthe truth, but kept quiet asteenagers bunked school to nee-

dle security forces that werecompelled to retaliate — allaimed at showing the world thatthe Indian state is keepingKashmir by force.

Despite ignoring the truth inJammu & Kashmir, these emi-nences cringe from accepting theanti-national tag. They professcompassion for the sufferingmultitudes but have never said aword in support of the KashmiriPandit community which wasdriven out of the Valley in thewinter of 1989-1990. Later, theyshamelessly blamed the thenGovernor Jagmohan, whoarrived in Srinagar on the morn-ing of the exodus and was pow-erless to prevent it.

The signatories have neverspoken up for tribal victims ofNaxal terror but lionise “urbannaxals” as human rights cru-saders. They maintained silencewhen calls to dismember Indiarang out in the heart of the cap-ital and showed more compas-sion for Ajmal Kasab, who per-petrated unspeakable horror inMumbai in 2008 and for AfzalGuru, mastermind of the attackon Parliament in 2001.

In West Bengal, the last bas-tion of secular-minority irre-dentism, the Chief Ministerordered imprisonment of thosechanting Jai Shri Ram; violencewas unleashed during thePanchayat elections in 2018 andthe Lok Sabha elections in 2019;students were fired upon inDaribhit High School for

demanding a teacher of Englishand computers; temples werevandalised in Kaliachak,Deganga, Baduria and Raniganj.There have been many episodesof violence against BJP workers,but not one eminence called theChief Minister or TrinamoolCongress (TMC) workers toaccount.

In July 2019, a temple wasvandalised in Chandni Chowkin the heart of the capital; pub-lic anger ensured that the inci-dent could not be hushed up.But the “Lutyens united fami-ly” remained unfazed. Its great-est moment came in September2018, when the Supreme Courtruled that women of all agescould enter the SabarimalaTemple, breaking a centuries-old restriction on women of acertain age group. Despite aspontaneous #Ready-to-waitmovement, non-believers eggedon by Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan tried to gate-crash the temple precincts tohumiliate the devotees.

We thus see a narrative of“majority oppression” coupledwith strong advocacy of every-thing Hindus consider unfairand unjust. For these stalwartsto complain of threats to theirfreedom of speech is just anoth-er perversion of the public dis-course in India.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressed arepersonal)

It seems discussions and contraventionsaround “special status” have even throwncivilian life completely out of gear in Hong

Kong, as pro-democracy activists continue tomake their point despite crackdowns and tear-gas fury. Things have come to such a pass thataround 100 flights have been stopped in andout of the semi-autonomous southern Chinesecity. Triggered by opposition to an extraditionlaw to mainland China — that was subsequent-ly put on hold — the stir has snowballed intoa wider movement for democratic reforms and

autonomy as mandated by its historical special status. And given the size of HongKong’s economy and global vibe, even China cannot overlook the opposition inits stressed times. A British colony for more than 150 years, China also leasedthe rest of Hong Kong to the British for 99 years. It became a busy trading port,and post-1950s became quite the economic powerhouse. Over time, it becamean island of opportunity, attracting migrants and dissidents who fled persecutionin the mainland. And though China ensured a return of Hong Kong to itself in 1997,it was under the conditional principle of “one country, two systems.” So, apartfrom foreign and defence affairs, Hong Kong is empowered to develop its ownlegal system, borders and rights, including the ones on free speech and peace-ful protests. But with the heaving approach of Premier Xi Jinping’s “China first”mantra, there have been insidious ways of meddling in Hong Kong and muzzlingpro-democracy legislators. Its Legislative Council has been defanged as mostmembers aren’t chosen directly by Hong Kong voters and are pro-mainland.

These frictions have been building up over time and the extradition order wasjust the last straw on the camel’s back. The restlessness is now a galloping civilmovement, spearheaded by the young, who want an identity and a life indepen-dent of the oppressive idea of being a “global Chinese.” China cannot steamrollthis movement any longer and risk further negativity or renewed demand for fullindependence. And though it is wondering how far should it endure before kick-ing in with familiar ways, it knows that bottling gaps may lead to a bigger pipebursts of anger. Besides, could it risk its business interests in the world’s mostexpensive piece of real estate and trading volumes? Technically, Hong Kong’sspecial status ends in 2047. But can China hold out with its belligerence till thenwithout addressing political demands of its people to have a say about their lives?

Righting historical wrongs may sometimesbe a desirable political objective but maynot necessarily be prudent. In many

cases, if settled issues are meddled with or, toput it colloquially, sleeping dogs are disturbedfrom slumber, consequences can be serious.Jammu and Kashmir seems headed in thatunfortunate direction following Monday’s dra-matic announcements revoking Article 370 and35A along with the bifurcation of the erstwhileState, now reconstituted as two Union Territories,one with and the other without an elected

Assembly. The insertion of Article 370 in the Constitution, granting Special Statusto Jammu and Kashmir following its merger with India in the aftermath of thePartition in 1947, was in itself a flawed decision prompted by Jawaharlal Nehru’ssoft corner for his ancestral homeland. For many years J&K stayed cut off com-pletely from the rest of India, so much so that Indian nationals required a permitto cross the Tawi river. This resulted in Jana Sangh founder Syama PrasadMukherjee’s forced entry, arrest by Sheikh Abdullah’s police and controversialdeath in custody. Other draconian provisions of the Article included the ban onnon-State subjects from acquiring property and even daughters inheriting parentalproperty if they married non-subjects of the State. In fact, many other progres-sive Central legislations, too, were not operational as every Indian law had to beratified by the State Assembly. The existence of a separate State flag, a separateConstitution and the executive head of the State being designated Wazir-e-Azam(Prime Minister), were sore points with a vast majority of Indians resenting the“special favours” doled out by the Centre, including subsidised rations to the State’sresidents. But the Centre, too, did little to bridge the alienation in India’s only Muslim-majority State. Most elections in the decades after the merger were widely per-ceived as rigged, in which electoral participation was abysmally low and ChiefMinisters without a popular support base were regularly imposed and toppled atwill. Gradually, New Delhi whittled down the State’s pre-1953 autonomy, givingfillip to separatist sentiment long before full-fledged Pakistan-sponsored terror-ism erupted in 1989 following the abduction of Rubaiya, daughter of then UnionHome Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Matters reached a point of no returnafter the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, who had to live inabject misery elsewhere — refugees in their own land. With Pakistan routinelyupping the ante by promoting both cross-border terrorism and supporting home-grown religious militancy, India’s patience was running thin.

Having said that, it must be emphasised that not all Kashmiris had turned hos-tile to India. The democratic political process was running effectively despite peri-odic hiccups and even voters’ participation in the three-tier electoral system wasrising at every passing polls. The mainstream leaders of all parts of the State averredtheir faith in the Indian system, including its secular, democratic Constitution whosevalues are in sharp contrast to those extolled by pro-Pakistani separatists. Theabrogation of Article 370 may have been a long-standing commitment of the rul-ing BJP but the effect it will have on Kashmiris’ perceived cultural identity couldbe devastating. Separatists are certain to hype up their slogan of the Indian Armybeing an “army of occupation” which has “colonised” the State. Few voices fromthe Valley are likely to back New Delhi’s move although residents of Ladakh seek-ing separation from the Valley for a long time are likely to welcome the bifurca-tion move. Apart from hard-core ultra-nationalists, many others in the rest of Indiamay view the timing of the measure as political muscle-flexing in the face of severereverses facing the economy. It will be alleged that the knee-jerk moves were pro-pelled by the Union Government’s attempt to induce public amnesia to counterits pathetic failure to handle the economic downturn and the drastic loss of employ-ment opportunities. The country is anticipated to face a bout of international crit-icism too for curbing democratic freedoms in the erstwhile State. The likely neg-ative fallout of these measures on communal harmony in the country cannot beoverlooked. Kashmir may have been Nehru’s blunder as the BJP claims. But undo-ing it 70 years later is not a sign of maturity, especially as it may spark wide-spread discontent and even greater alienation in the picturesque Kashmir Valley.No poet hereafter may write poignant lines such as:

Agar bar-ruyi zamin ast, u hamin ast, hamin ast, u hamin ast(If there be a heaven on Earth, it is this, it is this, it is this)

Toying with fire

Paperless nation

Sir — It is welcome that the LokSabha Speaker has provided theoption of delivering papers onlineto the members in lieu of physi-cal copies from the next sessiononwards. The decision to gopaper-free, while optional fornow, must be made mandatorymeasure. As most of the membershave access to emails and technol-ogy, it is high time that both theLok Sabha and the Rajya Sabhawent paper-free and ensure seam-less communication.

The Lok Sabha Secretariatmay also adopt the best practicesof the other bodies like theEuropean Union, the UnitedNations Secretariat and the UNGeneral Assembly, which followa robust paper-free documenta-tion system. Further, effortsshould be made by the Ministryof Parliamentary Affairs to pro-vide the details of private mem-ber Bills and Bills amended/tabledthrough a news website regular-ly. Extensive effort is necessary todisseminate regular updates ofparliamentary proceedingsthrough news portals.

Varun DambalBengaluru

Religious appeasement

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Food democracy” (August 2).It has become fashionable forpeople to misuse the social mediaforum to create needless contro-versy so as to create divisions onreligious lines. This was aptlyproved by the Zomato episodewhere a customer cancelled an

order as the person, who wasassigned to deliver his order, wasa “non-Hindu”. Later, he eventook pride in the fact that he hadcancelled his order and, thus, for-gone the refund.

This episode reflects on thehighly polarised times that we areliving in. However, this is not forthe first time that such bigotry hasbeen reported. Earlier, one cus-tomer had refused to ride a cab

since the driver happened to befrom a particular community.

Imagine what would happenif people from other communitiesstarted following the same lines?The Madhya Pradesh police hasfiled a case against the customerbut the Central Governmentmust take harsh measures to pre-vent such religious appeasement.

N NagarajanVia email

Stand up to bigotry

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Food democracy” (August 2).While Zomato’s response to acustomer, who refused to acceptfood from a delivery executivewho happened to belong to theMuslim community is laudable,the fact of the matter is that thedream of an egalitarian societystill remains elusive.

Kudos to Zomato for notyielding to such a ranciddemand and emphatically refus-ing to do so by saying, “Food hasno religion.” This bravo act ofZomato is more praiseworthy insuch polarised atmosphere.Again, this unpleasant shockreeks of deeply imbedded big-otry in our psyche and the onuslies on each and every individ-ual to shun any kind of bigotryto make this world a more tol-erant place to live. Any form ofreligious appeasement andexcessive recourse to religiousdogma in the public space mustbe avoided.

Rohit KaushikVia email

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019

08

Who defines intolerance?

SANDHYA JAIN

The narrative built by the conscience keepers of the nation, who complain about thethreat to freedom of speech, is just another attempt to shape public discourse in India

Article 370 move will havecatastrophic consequencesfor the subcontinent. They(BJP) want the territory ofJ&K by terrorising its people.

PDP chief—Mehbooba Mufti

S O U N D B I T E

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

Kashmir’s problem is far from being solved

In a historic move, the Government has revokedArticle 370 of the Constitution that granted specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmir. There were several por-

tents that the status quo was about to shift big inJammu & Kashmir when there was the unprecedent-ed curtailment of the Amarnath yatra, massive mobil-isation of extra security for the State, house-arrest offormer Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and OmarAbdullah as well as Jammu and Kashmir People'sConference chairperson Sajjad Gani Lone. It looks theGovernment did not rely on police and the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF) this time. Instead, itmoved heavy contingents of Army personnel into theValley to ensure that law and order is not disturbed.

Questions have been raised as to why theGovernment did not wait for the Amarnath Yatra to getover before making the announcement. The answer issimple — by then, the Parliament session would havecome to an end and it is in the House that the

announcement was to be made. These radical movesby the Modi Government are probably aimed to healthe long-festering wounds of Jammu & Kashmir. Butthen, for them to be successful, the true challenge isto take the people of Kashmir along.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

THE HINDUMAJORITY IS

DUBBED ASCOMMUNAL AND

DEMONISED;VICIOUS

PROPAGANDA ISSPREAD AGAINST

IT WITHIN THECOUNTRY AND IN THE WEST,EVEN AS THECONSCIENCE

KEEPERS AREEMBEDDED INGOVERNMENTSTRUCTURES

IN INDIA ORRECEIVE OTHER

FORMS OF STATEPATRONAGE, IF

NOT BOTH

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Hong Kong conundrumThe Government’s shockingdecisions are a total betray-al of the trust that people ofJ&K had reposed when theyacceded to India in 1947.

NC leader —Omar Abdullah

Politically expedient, may be, but the effect Article 370 repealwill have on Kashmiris’ cultural identity could be devastating

China’s restrictive ways are only magnifying the pro-democracy movement and costing the economy We heartily welcome the

Government’s brave deci-sion. This was necessary forthe interest of the country,including Jammu & Kashmir

RSS chief—Mohan Bhagwat

Article 35A came through theback door without followingthe procedure under Article368 of the Constitution ofIndia. It had to go.

Senior BJP leader—Arun Jaitley

Don’t kill the golden goose

THE PEOPLE OF J&K WANT DEMOCRACY AND IF YOU SEE CLEARLY, YOU WILL KNOW HOW MUCH

ARTICLE 370 HAS HARMED THE STATE.—UNION HOME MINISTER

AMIT SHAH

I STRONGLY CONDEMN THE GOVERNMENT’S MOVE.BJP HAS NOT ONLY MURDERED THE CONSTITUTIONBUT ALSO MURDERED DEMOCRACY.—CONGRESS LEADERGHULAM NABI AZAD

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

In this article, I have divided my view into twoparts. In the first, I have asked why the super-rich must pay their fair share in nation-build-

ing and other avenues to raise future revenues.The second half is a plea to facilitate and enthusethe industry instead of throttling India Inc, thegolden goose that pays taxes and creates jobs.

“Gandhiji’s trusteeship principle stated thatlegitimate profit earnings cannot be devoid ofsocial responsibility.” This means individuals,who are recipients of windfall gains unprecedent-ed in the economic history thus far, must paytheir fair share of progressive taxation onincome — whether it’s the highest high net worthindividuals (HHNI), the affluent farmers or CSRnon-compliant companies. The Indian economyis in a “negative uncharted territory” with feweravenues left to collect revenue. Perhaps it’s timefor the Government to even think of taxing big-tech internet companies, unafraid of US PresidentDonald Trump’s tantrums, by taking a leaf fromthe French Government. France became the firstcountry to approve a three per cent tax on localrevenues (instead of taxing only profits) from UStech giants. Japan and Singapore are expected tofollow suit.

While super-rich individuals are obliged topay higher taxes relative to their income, the con-verse is also true that India needs to enthuseentrepreneurial spirit to realise its distant dreamof becoming a $5 trillion economy. It mustremove the impediments to its growth. This canstart with the lowering of corporate taxes on the6,000 largest firms, who continue to be taxed at30 per cent, as compared to 17-21 per cent in thedeveloped countries in next year’s budget; firm-ly admonishing overzealous tax officials to stoptax terrorism; addressing liquidity crunch thathas bought credit supply to a standstill; andfuelling a virtuous cycle of consumption. Till eco-nomic activity does not revive on all cylinders,neither will jobs, savings or Government’s rev-enue improve from the current six per cent.

With dismal economic data on sectoral loss-es due to contraction in investments, consump-tion and external demand coming to light on adaily basis, there is a prevailing sense of déjà vuthat presages a 2008-like economic crisis. Eachday, post the budget, the Sensex has chipped awaya few hundred points. This has been attributedto the 9,400 Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI)pulling out a net of `11,000 crore in July fromthe Indian markets in a tantrum response to thesurcharge on the super-rich. Policy interventionsare desperately needed to ring-fence specific FPI’strust entities through the directive under Section119 of the IT act as their exodus has weakenedmarket sentiments, affecting retail investors andnot only HNI’s. Once resolved, considering theearning opportunities in India, this is a tempo-rary phase as FPIs will ultimately return andincrease their holdings as valuations turn moreattractive once the markets bottom out.

As the Budget did not increase the tax burdenon the middle classes, the surcharge specific to indi-viduals was one avenue for the Government tomobilise revenue for its welfare schemes. Acrossdeveloped nations, the ultra-rich, 0.01 per cent ofthe likes of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and big-techcompanies, are volunteering to pay higher taxa-tion, proportionate to their windfall gains.

Second, there is a moral quotient involved

herein where philanthrophic instincts inIndia are so minimal that theGovernment had to make CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) mandatoryunder Section 135 of the Companies Actin 2013. Despite making two per cent ofprofits earned over an average of threeyears compulsory, many profitableindustries remain non-compliant asper the latest findings by the Comptrollerand Auditor General of India (CAG).The rich are now getting richer withsharper increases in the value of theirpersonal wealth, relative to national percapita income and savings. India todaystruggles with a Gross National Income(GNI) of around $2,000 per capita ascompared to China, with a GNI per capi-ta of $9,800.

To widen the tax net, theGovernment must find ways to tax therich farmer. The CAG found that agri-cultural income of nearly `500 crorewas allowed as exemption in 2017-18by the income-tax authorities withoutadequate verification. The TARC hadrecommended that farmers with agri-cultural income of ̀ 50 lakh plus shouldpay income tax. As the decision to levya tax on agriculture income lies with theState Governments, this can be imposedonly if they pass a resolution underArticle 252 of the Constitution, autho-rising the Centre to do so.

One grants that Governments can-not have a “rob from Peter to pay Paulattitude” towards the rich, nor resort tooppressive tax terrorism — a pre-existing malady of the IT departmentfrom the UPA era. In the case of thetragic suicide of Cafe Coffee Dayfounder VG Siddhartha, what warrant-

ed the attachment of assets premature-ly when the assessments were incom-plete and his business needed to mon-etise assets to repay debt? Businesses failbut failure cannot be criminalised.This has made India Inc unite in vent-ing suppressed anger at using coercivemeasures to raise arbitrary demands byassessing officers, forced to meet unre-alistic targets upon which theirappraisals are based.

Consider this factoid that the ITdepartment is the biggest litigant witha petition rate of above 80 per cent andsuccess rates of under 30 per cent. Inits haste to cleanse the system, is theGovernment failing to distinguishbetween genuine business failures andwilful defaulters and tax evaders, whopreviously gamed the system?

These are challenging times andwhat the business community needs arepredictability, stability of policies andsustained dialogue with theGovernment to recalibrate policy. TheIndian economy was driven by the twinengines of growth: Domestic con-sumption and Government-fundedpublic investments — both of whichneed expansionary monetary and fis-cal stimulus. Further, newer incentivesare needed for the dwindling exportsector as de-globalisation has hurtexports due to protectionist policies ofthe West. Besides, while Phase I of theglobalisation relied on outsourcingfrom low-wage countries, in Phase II,that wage-arbitrage has narrowed withonly 18 per cent of the global goods cur-rently traded involving exports tohigher-wage countries. Key enablers forglobal competitiveness are rationalising

power tariffs, labour and land laws.Lastly, the build up of toxic assets in

the banks has hampered their ability tolend further. The much-needed liquid-ity infusion of `10,000 crore must findits way into priority sector lending byproviding credit for MSME’s, automo-bile, retail and housing finance compa-nies to lend for affordable housing — allof which will raise the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP). Because India’s $2.7 tril-lion economy needs real growth ratesclose to nine per cent if we have to reachthe $5 trillion-mark by 2024-25.

The other great worry is the rise ofleverage in sovereign, personal and cor-porate debt globally with the nationalaverage debt of advanced economiessurpassing 100 per cent of the GDP.Easy credit in the past fuelled asset bub-bles in stocks markets and the housingsector, presaging recession, which last-ed longer and made deeper cuts.Government borrowings through sov-ereign loans at low interest rates couldbecome a dangerous practice of relyingon cheap loans to continually fund pop-ulist schemes. Though sovereign bor-rowings bring money into the econo-my at lower interest rates, it is impor-tant “monetary policies support growth,without the risky build-up of leverage”.

Modi 2.0 will hopefully get moreproactive instead of a reactive stanceto economic challenges as even reme-dial policies take a minimum of sixmonths to kick in. The first step is toenthuse India Inc, the golden geesethat lay the golden eggs.

(The writer is an author, columnist andchairperson for the National Committee forFinancial Inclusion at Niti Aayog)

Instead of adopting a reactive stance to economic challenges, Modi 2.0 should get moreproactive to attain the dream of a $5 trillion economy. The first step is to enthuse India Inc

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Hong Kong: It'spurely symbolic

GWYNNE DYER

So far the people have done well to send theright message to Beijing by playing the balancing

act. But it’s now time for them to stop

BINDU DALMIA

THESE ARECHALLENGING

TIMES AND WHATTHE BUSINESS

COMMUNITYNEEDS ARE

PREDICTABILITY,STABILITY OF

POLICIES ANDSUSTAINED

DIALOGUE WITHTHE

GOVERNMENT TORECALIBRATE

POLICY. FURTHER,NEWER

INCENTIVES ARENEEDED FOR THE

DWINDLINGEXPORT SECTOR

AS DE-GLOBALISATION

HAS HURTEXPORTS DUE TO

PROTECTIONISTPOLICIES OF

THE WEST

The anti-Government demonstrations in Hong Kong are noweight weeks old and still going strong but the level of vio-lence is rising. A lot of the violence is down to the police

and to triad gangs, who were hired to attack the demonstrators,of course, but now the People’s Daily, the official mouthpieceof the Chinese Communist Party, is demanding that the HongKong Government “punish lawbreakers regardless of whether theyhold up the banner of ‘freedom and democracy’.”

Nobody expects a replay of the 1989 Tiananmen Square mas-sacre, but weekend after weekend, the confrontation is growingmore tense. China’s Defence Ministry even warned that it mightuse troops to quell the unrest, saying the protests were “intol-erable” and that the Army would mobilise the troops to restorepublic order if requested by the Hong Kong Government.

Yang Guang, spokesman for Beijing’s Hong Kong and MacauAffairs Office, followed the paranoid official line, blaming “irre-sponsible people” in the West for stirring up trouble in a bid to“contain China’s development.” But when asked if Beijing wouldsend troops in to stop the protests, he only repeated that the HongKong Government could ask for help if it needed it.

This is a major crisis in the only part of mainland China thatis not ruled directly by the Communist Party, but Beijing clearlydoes not want to go nuclear if it can avoid it. Which it probablycan, because at this point, the whole confrontation has becomepurely symbolic. It started out in early June as a real struggleover an important issue. The Hong Kong Government introduceda Bill that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to Chinaand face trial in Communist Party-controlled mainland courts(which have a 99 per cent conviction rate). Everybody assumedthat it was acting on orders from Beijing.

The protesters were out in the streets at once. The rule oflaw still exists in Hong Kong but nobody would be safe if theycould be extradited to the People’s Republic at Beijing’s whim.Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam backed down very quick-ly. She “suspended” the draft extradition Bill and various peopleclose to her reminded the media that it would automatically diewhen the current session of the legislature ends next July. Butshe did not formally withdraw the Bill, presumably because thatwould involve too grave a loss of face for the regime in Beijing.

Since then, the demos have been purely symbolic. The extra-dition Bill is not going to happen but the protesters want Lam tokill it officially and publicly. Even if she complied, she could alwaysbring it back in the next session of the legislature (whose mem-bers have to be approved by Beijing). So even if they win, theyhave no guarantees for the future. Why bother? Hong Kong wasnot a democracy under the British rule before 1997 and it is notone now. But it was and still is a place where the rule of law pre-vails, the media are free and individual rights are respected.However, this special status within China, which was supposedto last for 50 years after the hand-over, has been under grow-ing pressure from Beijing since the rise of President Xi Jinping.

Xi, who has abolished term limits on the presidency, is relent-lessly centralising power in China, presumably in the belief thatthis is the only way to preserve Communist rule in the long run.He has turned the heavily Muslim province of Xinjiang into anenormous open-air prison and is building an online system of‘social credit’ that will score citizens on their degree of com-pliance with the regime’s goals and norms. People with lowscores will have a hard time in life. And he is nibbling away atHong Kong’s civil rights because they set a bad example forother Chinese.

The demonstrators in Hong Kong have carried on becausethey are trying to make a point: That interfering with Hong Kong’sfreedoms is more trouble than it’s worth. So long as Hong Kongremains economically important to the People’s Republic, theyhave a chance of succeeding but they can never expect a deci-sive victory. Seven and a half million people in Hong Kong arenever going to force the Beijing regime to do anything. With theright tactics, however, they can probably preserve their own free-doms and continue to serve as living proof that an ethnic Chinesesociety does not have to be a tyranny.

It’s a balancing act. They must never challenge theCommunist regime’s ultimate control but from time to time theyhave to demonstrate to Beijing that tolerating a local aberrationlike civil rights in Hong Kong is less costly politically than end-ing it by force. They have done enough to achieve that for now,and it’s probably time to stop.

(The writer’s new book is Growing Pains, the Future ofDemocracy and Work)

On July 23, a two-judge Benchof the Supreme Court ofIndia, consisting of Justice

Arun Mishra and Justice UdayLalit, delivered a historic judgementin the case of writ petition (civil) No940/2017, Bikram Chatterji andothers vs Union of India and others,to bring governance back on therails. The move has, thus, ensuredjustice to more than 42,000 hassledhome buyers of Noida and GreaterNoida. The Executive miserablyfailed on this count.

The verdict will long be remem-bered as one of the finest judicialdecision taken in recent times. Thecourt’s decision came after a deepstudy of facts and chasing the

wrongdoers to their graves. At thesame time, the court also unearthedone of the biggest real estate scamconducted under the very nose andconnivance of officials and politi-cal leaders. The court was ablyassisted by senior lawyer MLLahoty, the National Company LawTribunal, forensic auditors and flatbuyer crusader, Amit Gupta, whotook a lot of personal risk in pur-suing the case to its logical end.

While quoting the forensicauditors appointed by it, the apexcourt stated that a “serious fraud”has been played by the Amrapaligroup. It was done in connivancewith authorities in Noida andGreater Noida. Money was divert-ed to personal accounts of thecompany’s directors and otherdummy firms. Bogus bills in viola-tion of the Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA) werecreated as they obtained invest-ments and over valued them tosiphon off the home buyers’ money.The court has ordered theEnforcement Directorate to nab theculprits. The criminals left no stone

unturned to launder the money.They obtained loan from banks inthe name of home buyers andswindled it. The bank officialsworked in tandem with theAmrapali group, ignored regula-tions and turned a blind eye to thefraud committed by the directors ofAmrapali. On top of all this, thesethugs did not prepare accountsfrom 2015 to 2018, knowing it wellthat it was all going to be over.

To set things right, the courtordered the cancellation of the reg-istration of the Amrapali groupunder the Real Estate (Regulationand Development) Act, 2016, can-celled the lease deeds signed betweenthe builder and the authorities andvested the rights of these deeds to thereceiver, senior advocate VenkatRamani, appointed by the court.

It is of equal importance thatbesides pulling up the Amrapaligroup, the court castigated the Noidaand Greater Noida authorities as wellas the banks for their connivance andpalpable negligence. In order toensure that the buyers get possessionof their dream homes soon, the court

appointed the National BuildingConstruction Corporation (NBCC),which has been assisting it in assess-ing the cost and time, for the com-pletion of the housing projects thathave been lying in limbo. The NBCChas pegged its fee at eight per centof the construction cost. The courtalso rightfully debarred the Noidaand Greater Noida authorities fromstaking claim to the ̀ 3,600 crore bal-ance with the Amrapali group.

This writer had always beenhighlighting the fact that the author-ities had no business to make moneyout of an acquired land from thefarmers by invoking extraordinaryclauses and then auction them forhousing to mint money. In fact, thisis a very lethal concept of befoolingthe political leadership to createthese agencies to get away withGovernment rules and then dowhatever they like to do. The Centraland State Government must reviewthis culture of constitution of suchpompous bodies and put properchecks and balances.

However, the best part of theSupreme Court’s judgement was

that the buyers have been asked todeposit the balance money as perthe builder-buyer agreement underthe supervision of the court receiv-er. It further directed the authori-ties to smoothly register the prop-erties and that the dues to the tuneof `3,600 crore should be recoveredby selling off the attached proper-ties of the Amrapali group.

However, a few niggling issuesremain. First, once the buyersdeposit 100 per cent of the dueamount in the Supreme Court, acommittee of buyers should beformed for each project so as toassist the court receiver. This com-mittee should also help the receiv-er in auditing the work of theNBCC so that payments are linkedto the progress of construction.

Second, the court invoked theviolation of the Public Trust Doctrineby the Noida and Greater Noidaauthorities and held them equallyaccountable for the fraud. The homebuyers’ funds were utilised by theAmrapali group’s directors/promot-er vis-à-vis payments to the landauthorities, which amount to more

than `500 crore as stated by bothauthorities. As per the court order,the lease has been terminated andRERA registrations of all projectshave been cancelled. The authorityhad no claim on this as they failedto check the fraud. This amountshould immediately be depositedwith the NBCC so that it can start thework as per its project report submit-ted before the court. This fund canbe used as “seed capital” to kick offconstruction, may be as an alterna-tive to the demand of “stress funds”by Amrapali home buyers.

The Government of India needsto use this judgement to reform thereal estate sector. At the same time,the Uttar Pradesh Governmentneeds to take strict action againstofficials and authorities, who madea mockery of governance. Thisjudgement may bring a new era inthe real estate sector and preventfrauds. But the Centre as well asState Governments will have to fol-low the court orders in the truespirit to end it for all.

(The writer is a former civil servant)

Justice delayed, not deniedWhile the Supreme Court has cracked the whip on builders and officials who defrauded homebuyers, a few niggling issues

remain. To ensure transparency in the real estate sector, strict compliance of the court order is the need of the hour

VK BAHUGUNAThe jubilation of women inSaudi Arabia was real —and understandable. Thekingdom announced that itis allowing women to applyfor passports, to travelwithout permission and tohave more control overfamily matters. Thesechanges to theguardianship systemshould be genuinelytransformative. Butcelebration can only bepartial when women’s rightsremain so tightlyconstricted.(The Guardian editorial)

REFORMS FOR GOOD

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019

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HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

BHEL commissions1 more unit ofKaleshwaramirrigation proj in TSNEW DELHI: State run BHELon Monday said it hascommissioned one morepumping unit of Kaleshwaramlift irrigation project inTelangana. The PSUcommissioned unit 5 of 116megawatt (MW), Bharat HeavyElectricals Ltd (BHEL) said in aBSE filing. Developed byTelangana government, thegreenfield lift irrigation projectis located in Peddapalli districtof Telangana. BHEL had earliercommissioned four units ofthe same project in April andMay, 2019. BHEL said itsscope in the project comprisescomplete electrical andmechanical (E&M) worksincluding design, manufacture,supply and supervision oferection and commissioningof 7 sets of Vertical Pump-Motor sets along withassociated auxiliaries.

Natco Pharmareceives FDA reportfor plant in TSNEW DELHI: Natco PharmaLimited on Monday said theUS Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) hasissued an establishmentinspection report for itsformulations facility in KothurVillage, Telangana. The drug-maker said the report wasissued for the facility whichwas inspected between May30 and June 5 by the FDAauthorities. The company hadearlier said the US drugregulator had issued nineobservations for the facility.

Okinawa Scooterscuts prices by up toRs 8,600 to passGST benefitsNEW DELHI: Electric two-wheeler maker OkinawaScooters on Monday said it hasreduced prices of its products byup to Rs 8,600 following GSTreduction on electric vehicles(EVs). Price of Okinawa rangeunder lead acid has now reducedby Rs 2,500–Rs 4,700 and in Li-ion range the cost has reducedby Rs 3,400–Rs 8,600, followingthe government's move to slashthe GST rate on EVs to 5 percent from 12 per cent earlier, thecompany said in a statement."The drop in prices clubbed withthe second phase of FasterAdoption and Manufacturing ofElectric vehicle (FAME II) subsidyhas made the on-road price ofMade-in-India electric scootersmuch lower than its currentpricing," it added. At presentOkinawa Scooters sells a rangeof electric scooters pricedbetween Rs 37,000 and Rs 1.08lakh. Commenting on the move,Okinawa Autotech Founder &Managing Director JeetenderSharma said, "the Union budgetgave a much-needed push to theEV industry and the GST rate cutis even more welcoming."

Sensex tanks over 418 points amid Kashmir uncertaintyPNS n MUMBAI

Mumbai, Aug 5 (PTI)Equity benchmark BSESensex tanked over 418points to close at 36,699.84on Monday due to intenseselling in banking, financeand metal stocks amid weakglobal cues and politicaluncertainty over theKashmir issue.

After cracking over 700points in day trade, the 30-share index pared losses toclose at 36,699.84, still downby 418.38 points, or 1.13 percent. It hit a low of 36,416.79

and a high of 36,844.05.The 50-share Nifty

plunged by 134.75 points or1.23 per cent to close at10,862.60 points as 38 of itsconstituents declined.

The government onMonday abolished Article370 that gave special statusto Jammu and Kashmir andmoved a separate bill tobifurcate the state into twoseparate union territories ofJammu and Kashmir, andLadakh, amid massiveopposition uproar in RajyaSabha.

The rupee declinedsharply by 90 paise to 70.50in afternoon trade followingjitters in the global curren-cy markets. The Chineseyuan slipped to 7.03 level

against the US dollar, whichinvestors consider as a keythreshold, amid reports thatBeijing was devaluing itscurrency to supportexporters, and neutralise

US President DonaldTrump's decision to imposefresh 10 per cent tariffs onUSD 300 billion in Chinesegoods.

Elsewhere in Asia,Shanghai Composite Index,Hang Seng, Nikkei andKospi declined on Monday,following intensifying tradewar between the US andChina and a sharp fall inyuan.

The global oil benchmarkBrent crude futures weretrading 0.74 per cent lowerat 61.43 per barrel.

After cracking over 700 points inday trade, the 30-share index paredlosses to close at 36,699.84, stilldown by 418.38 points, or 1.13 percent. It hit a low of 36,416.79 and ahigh of 36,844.05

PTI n NEW DELHI

The country's services sectoractivity in July returned togrowth territory driven by newbusiness orders that rose atfastest pace since October2016, following which job cre-ation picked up, a monthlysurvey showed on Monday.

The IHS Markit IndiaServices Business ActivityIndex rose to 53.8 in July from49.6 in June, pointed to thequickest increase in output inone year.

In PMI parlance, a printabove 50 means expansion,while a score below thatdenotes contraction.

"PMI data indicated thatthe strongest upturn in newwork for nearly three years ledto a rebound in business activ-ity," said Pollyanna de Lima,Principal Economist at IHSMarkit.

Survey respondents linkedthe upturn in business activi-ty to a promising governmentbudget, strengthening demandand new client wins.

New businesses have beensecured from the public andprivate sectors, as well asdomestic and internationalmarkets, they said, adding

that new export work rose forthe fifth straight month inJuly.

"These favourable resultsfrom the service sector wereaccompanied by improvedmomentum among goods pro-ducers, which combinedshowed the sharpest rise inoutput for eight months," Limasaid.

Meanwhile, the IHS MarkitIndia Composite PMI OutputIndex, that maps both themanufacturing and servicesindustry, touched an eight-month high of 53.9 in Julyfrom 50.8 in June, as aggregatenew orders rose to the greatest

extent since last November.Moreover, job creation

picked up to the strongestsince early-2011 in response tostrengthening demand condi-tions and upbeat predictionsfor the economic outlook.

"India's labour market con-tinues to go from strength-to-strength, with the pace of ser-vice sector job creation, thehighest in over eight years.Ongoing expansions in theemployment base should sup-port household spending andconsumer confidence in thenear-term," Lima said.

The survey further notedthat the July data indicated an

improvement in business opti-mism across the service econ-omy and companies expectadvertising efforts andstrengthening market condi-tions to support growth in thecoming 12-month period.

Experts believe that theReserve Bank of India (RBI)will continue with its dovishstance in the policy reviewmeet that kicked off onMonday to boost slowing eco-nomic growth.

In the June review, RBI hadcut key lending rates by 0.25per cent for the third time this year to spur economicgrowth.

Surveyrespondentslinked theupturn inbusinessactivity to apromisinggovernmentbudget,strengtheningdemand andnew client wins

PTI n NEW DELHI

Gold prices on Monday surgedRs 800 to hit an all-time highof Rs 36,970 per 10 gram at thebullion market here amidstrong trend overseas asinvestors preferred the yellowmetal due to escalation oftrade tensions between theUnited States and China.

Tracking the movement ofgold, silver also soared Rs 1,000to 43,100 per kg on the back ofrobust demand from industri-al units and coin makers.

Experts said gold reachingits highest level since May2013 due to the US-Chinatensions and increaseddemand by local jewellers werethe factors that propelled theyellow metal to record highlevel in the domestic market.

The US last weekannounced that it wouldimpose a 10 per cent tariff onChinese imports worth USD300 billion starting September1 and said it could raise dutiesfurther if China's President XiJinping failed to move morequickly towards a trade deal.

Besides, a weaker rupee alsocontributed to the rise in theyellow prices as the domesticcurrency fell by 99 paise to Rs70.59 vis-a-vis dollar, makingimports costlier. The rupeeclosed at 69.60 on Friday.

"Gold price of Rs 36,970 per10 gram is the highest in thedomestic market till date," saidSurendra Jain, vice-president ofAll India Sarafa Association.

Globally, gold was tradingup 1.13 per cent at USD1,457.30 an ounce, while silver

traded 1.51 per cent higher atUSD 16.53 an ounce.

"Spot gold jumped to USD1,459.46 an ounce in the inter-national market, its highestlevel since May 2013. Weakglobal economic outlook amidescalating trade war tensions,feeble US dollar and downbeatAsian equities lifted the metal'ssafe haven appeal forinvestors," Hareesh V, head(commodity research), GeojitFinancial Services.

In the national capital, goldof 99.9 per cent and 99.5 percent purity surged Rs 800 to Rs36,970 and Rs 36,800 per 10gram, respectively.

Gold prices had risen by Rs540 to Rs 36,170 per 10 gm onSaturday.

Sovereign gold alsoincreased by Rs 100 to Rs27,600 per eight gram onMonday.

Sovereign goldalso increased byRs 100 to Rs27,600 per eightgram on Monday.Silver ready roseRs 1,000 to 43,100per kg, whileweekly-baseddelivery jumpedRs 1,039 to Rs42,403 per kg

PTI n MUMBAI

Full service carrier Vistara onMonday announced signingof a codeshare partnershipwith Singapore Airlines (SIA)and its regional arm SilkAir forinternational flights ahead ofthe launch of services on theoverseas routes.

The domestic private carri-er, which is 51 per cent ownedby Tata Sons along with 49 percent stake of SIA, already hasa similar arrangement withthe two carriers for domesticflights.

Vistara, which commencedits air services on domesticroutes in January 2015, is all setto launch its international oper-ations with the maiden flight toSingapore from New Delhi onAugust 6.

"Singapore Airlines (SIA)and regional subsidiary SilkAirhave signed an agreement withVistara to expand codesharingto international routes, Vistara

said in a release.The codeshare agreement,

which is subject to regulatoryapprovals, will be implement-ed over a period of time, the

airline said.This is the first time Vistara

will be codesharing with part-ner airlines on internationalflights.

Under the expansion of anexisting codeshare agreementwhich covers domestic flights,SIA will add its 'SQ' flightcode to Vistara's new interna-tional flights.

In addition, SIA and SilkAirwill add nine new codeshare

destinations within India onVistara-operated flights, saidthe release.

With this expansion, SIAwill codeshare on Vistara flightsto more than 20domestic des-tinations.

Similarly, Vistara will addits 'UK' designator code toSIA and SilkAir-operatedflights between Singapore andeightdomestic destinations,it said.

It will codeshare on ser-vices to more than 40 destina-tions in the SIA and SilkAirnetwork, the release said.

"We are further expandingthe codeshare agreement withSIA and SilkAir to internationalflights. We're happy to deepenthis strategic partnership whichmeans a more seamless servicesfrom India to destinationsacross Asia, Oceania and theUnited States," Vistaras chiefstrategy officer Vinod Kannansaid.

"Vistara is an important part-ner for SIA and SilkAir. Thisexpansion of our codeshareagreement provides our cus-tomers with more traveloptions to and from India,SIA's senior vice president,marketing planning, Tan KaiPing, said.

After cracking over 700 points in daytrade, the 30-share index paredlosses to close at 36,699.84, stilldown by 418.38 points, or 1.13 percent. It hit a low of 36,416.79 and ahigh of 36,844.05

PNS n HYDERABAD

Motorcycle-maker Benelli onMonday announced thelaunch of its popular globalbrand Leoncino 500 in theIndian market with a price tagof Rs 4.79 lakh (ex-show-room).

Benelli India managingdirector Vikas Jhabakh,addressing a press conferencehere, said the Italian bike-maker which became part ofQjian Jiang Group, China, iscoming out witha bike specif-ically designed for the Indianmarket in sub-300 cc catego-ry in a few months.

The bike would also beexported to other countries, hesaid.

We thought Hyderabad isapt as a location for the nation-al launch of our latest bikeLeoncino 500. The bike will beavailable in India in twocolours - red and the steel grey.

Leoncino 500 would beimported in the CKD formatand assembled in theHyderabad facility.

The bike would come withfive-year unlimited kilometrewarranty, Jhabakh toldreporters.

He said the company isplaning to come out with twoor three models including theone specifically for Indianbike riders in the next few

months.Benelli has six models,

including Leoncina, in India."By 2020-end, Benelli will

have 12 or 13 different mod-els of all categories in terms ofcc, in the Indian market," hesaid.

Last year, the companyBenelli had signed a memo-randum of understanding(MoU) with the Telanganagovernment and AdishwarAuto Ride International(AARI), a subsidiary ofMahavir Group, for setting upa manufacturing facility here.

The Mahavir group com-pany initially started assem-bling CKD (completely knock-down) kits of the bike here forBenelli and the partnershipalso entitles AARI to assemble,manufacture and importexclusive range of the bikesfrom Italy and South-EastAsian regions.

PNS n MUMBAI

Advertising sector watchdogon Monday said it upheld com-plaints against 132 advertise-ments in May this year, includ-ing those of Tetley Green Tea,Tang, iPhone XS, among others.

The Advertising StandardsCouncil of India (ASCI)examined complaints against231 advertisements, of which67 were promptly withdrawn,a statement said.

ASCI's independentConsumer ComplaintsCouncil (CCC) upheld com-plaints against 132 advertise-

ments, out of 164 advertise-ments evaluated by them. Ofthese 132 advertisements, 69belonged to the education sec-tor, 41 to the healthcare sector,two from personal care, fourfrom food and beverage, while16 were from other category.

It pulled up MondelezIndia's Tang ad claim of chil-

dren should drink eight glass-es of water...difficult but thereis Tang, as it insinuated thateight glasses of Tang should beconsumed.The CCC alsoexpressed concern on the empha-sis placed on using the advertis-er's product in place of water.

"The claim was misleading byimplication and in contraven-

tion of the ASCI guidelines foradvertising of foods and bever-ages," it said while adding thatthe tagline 'goodness of fruitsand vitamins' implied that thebenefits offered by the productwere much more than fruit tastealone, which was misleading byambiguity and implication.

Similarly, it noted that Tata

Global Beverages' Tetley GreenTea's print advertisementclaimed '9/10 users preferTetley Green Tea for an activelife' while the video advertise-ment used the word 'recom-mend' which was contrary tothe print advertisement.

"The users were not provid-ed with samples of other brandproducts to enable them to havea preference; the words 'prefer'and 'recommend' are mislead-ing by implication. The use ofthe word 'Active Life' misleadsone to think that use of theproduct alone would be suffi-cient to achieve an 'Active Life'.

The Advertising Standards Council ofIndia (ASCI) examined complaintsagainst 231 advertisements, of which67 were promptly withdrawn, astatement said

PNS n NEW DELHI

As many as 77 per cent ofIndian consumers in a recentsurvey believe that organisa-tions collect too much dataabout them and 74 per centwere against the use of tech-nology tools to assess theirbuying patterns.

A survey conducted byVerint Systems across 18 coun-tries and 34,000 consumershighlighted how an 'always on'era has led to explosion ofunstructured data from digi-tal channels of customerengagement.

In India, more than 2000consumers who have access toa digital platform took part inthe research to reveal theirassessment on issues like howcustomers perceive data pri-vacy, their readiness to acceptdata breach, and use of tech-nology to analyse customers'buying patterns, a Verint state-ment said.

As per the findings, nearly77 per cent of the Indianrespondents agreed thatorganisations collect too muchdata about them and 74 per

cent of the Indian respondentssaid it is "creepy" to use tech-nology to analyse their buyingpatterns and preferences, thestatement noted.

"Out of the 18 surveyedcountries, Indian customerstake lead as 73 per cent of therespondents voted in favour ofactively avoiding brands thatuse technology to analyse andtrack their buying/engage-ment patterns," it added.

About 75 per cent of theIndian customers who weresurveyed agreed that serviceproviders cannot do much toprevent data breach, butmajority did not wish toengage with a brand that hasexperienced a data hack.

Lupin gets EIR from USFDA for Aurangabad plantPNS n NEW DELHI

Drug firm Lupin on Mondaysaid it has received anEstablishment InspectionReport (EIR) from the UShealth regulator for itsAurangabad facility inMaharashtra.

The facility was inspected bythe US Food and DrugAdministration (USFDA)between May 6-15, 2019,Lupin said in a BSE filing.

Lupin said its Aurangabad

facility is involved in the man-ufacturing of oral solid dosage,oral liquid and powder for oralsuspension products for the USMarket, WHO/GlobalInstitution markets and Indianmarket.

"Lupin is committed toadherence and full compli-ance with current good man-ufacturing practice (cGMP)regulations and all otherapplicable regulatory require-ments at our manufacturingsites. We are very happy to

receive the EIR for ourAurangabad facility markingthe satisfactory closure of theUSFDA inspection," LupinManaging Director NileshGupta said.

The USFDA issues an EIR toan establishment that is thesubject of an FDA or FDA-contracted inspection whenthe agency decides to close theinspection.

Lupin's shares were trading1.05 per cent lower at Rs757.75 apiece on the BSE.

Leoncino 500 ridesout of Benelli stables

Indian customers againstuse of technology to trackbuying patterns: Verint

India's services sectoractivity registers growth

Gold surges to recordhigh, nears Rs 37,000

ASCI acts against 132 misleading advertisements

Vistara signs pact with SIA, SilkAir for Intl flights

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dailypioneer

TuesdayAugust 6, 2019

ntrepreneurship can berefreshing, invigorating,exhilarating and act as ashift from the usualmundane 9 to 5 officetimings.

True, one does have to give inmore hours than usual to set thecash registers ringing. But the feel-ing of having a wad of cash in yourpocket, at any given time, acts as anencouragement to many. But whenthings do not go as planned, it canbe as rocky as a mountain road aftera landslide.

Take for instance V Siddhartha,coffee baron and founder of CaféCoffee Day, a leading coffee shop inIndia. He recently committed sui-cide and his body was found alongthe banks of the Nethravathi riverin Mangaluru.

I didn’t say entrepreneurship is for

everyone, did I? So what wentwrong that forced him to take thisstep you ask? Well debts of over`5,200 crore, alleged harassment byIncome Tax (I-T) officials and a feel-ing of not doing well enough despitebeing a leader in the industry. Onething is sure then. Running a busi-ness ain’t for the faint hearted.

In a recent interview with TheQuint, former Infosys directorMohandas Pai said that the high-handed behaviour of IT officials hasbeen going on for over 20 years. Hesays that there have been timeswhen the department has askedInfosys to pay huge sums of moneyas tax. But after contending the casein the Supreme Court, the tax menfell silent.

He adds, “The I-T cannot decideif one is a criminal, that power sole-ly resides on the court and theyshould also not be given powers toarrest someone without a warrant.”

Speaking about the coffee baron’scase, Pai says that I-T officials dis-closed details of the case, discrep-ancies in the record books of CCDand other confidential informationpublicly. This was wrong and onecannot humiliate a person like that,he feels.

Uday, founder and CEO ofPayism said, “IT issues are definite-ly a burden if the business does nothave a strong revenue model. As anentrepreneur, one should be awareof all the changes every year andalign their business accordingly.

The I-T department is doing theirjob efficiently, as per norms and thefinancial slab announced by the gov-ernment. We should definitely be inthe good books of the I-T depart-ment and ensure we comply withthe rules.”

However, Raj N Phani, anothercity-based entrepreneur contradictsUday by saying that I-T guys trou-ble businessmen. “When you visittheir offices, they do not even offera seat and look down upon you likeyou are a criminal. They also don’tlisten to what the businessman hasto say and keep rumbling that youhave done something wrong.”

“All I-T guys are psychologistswho know how to break down aperson and get him to reveal things.I feel it would be helpful if the gov-ernment themselves offer a three-month training programme thatteaches businessmen how to handleI-T officials. That would also helpthem understand why the taxmenare asking those questions,” he adds.

Speaking of tax terrorism Phanisays that it is prevalent not just inHyderabad, but all over thecountry, as Income Taxis a Central govern-ment department andthese officials get trans-ferred all over thecountry.

Trouble and harass-ment from taxmen arejust one side of thecoin. Many a times it isother hurdles that forceentrepreneurs to takeextreme steps.

Charan Lakkaraju ofStumagz says,

“Entrepreneurs face a lot of hurdlesthat they downplay as challenges. It’sall about how one prioritises. Takingan extreme step like ending one’s lifeis a personal decision and theremight be different reasons behind it.It’s more a psychological problemthan just being business related.”

One has to have his own innercircle who can sort things out,Charan added. “When it comes toentrepreneurship, everything is aproblem and nothing is easy,” saysPraveen Dorna, the co-founder ofStart-up Byte.

One has to encounter manybumpy stretches, says Praveenadding, “From funding to finding astrong idea to implement, every-thing is a roadblock as the country

lacks professional-ism.”

About busi-nessmen taking

extreme stepslike takingtheir lives,

Praveen said,“People don’taccept they arestressed. They

should facethe circum-

stances come what may. Some takethe stress to heart and it affectsthem. When they don't see any wayout, they end up taking their lives.”

He adds that one must knowwhen to stop and should open upwith their co-founders and if pos-sible other entrepreneurs, so theycan feel better that all entrepreneursare on the same page. After facinga few hurdles, one might even quitthe business.

Uday says that support fromfamily and near and dear ones go along way in boosting the entrepre-neurs’ confidence.

As Uday concludes,“Entrepreneurs face many chal-lenges in today’s competitive world.The most common hurdles aremonetary issues like investments,finances and managing cash flows.Proper budgeting and planning arecritical when it comes to managingfinances. Also your employeesshould be on the same page as youwhen it comes to the vision of yourproduct/company.” “But, it is defi-nitely not the right decision to endyour life. Instead, having a strongfinance and legal team will help nipthe problem in the bud, before iteven arises,” he adds.

Are trouble and harassment from taxmen just one side of the coin? Many a time it is otherhurdles that force entrepreneurs to take extreme steps, writes K Ramya Sree

ENTREPRENEURSTERROR FORTax a deadlier

e IN A RECENT INTERVIEW WITH THE QUINT, FORMER INFOSYS DIRECTORMOHANDAS PAI SAID THAT THE HIGH-HANDED BEHAVIOUR OF I-T OFFICIALSHAS BEEN GOING ON FOR OVER 20 YEARS. HE SAYS THAT THERE HAVE BEENTIMES WHEN THE DEPARTMENT HAS ASKED INFOSYS TO PAY HUGE SUMS OFMONEY AS TAX. BUT AFTER CONTESTING THE CASE IN THE SUPREMECOURT, THE TAXMEN FELL SILENT

Entrepreneurs face a lot ofhurdles that they downplay aschallenges. It's all about how oneprioritises. One has to have hisown inner circle who can sortthings out

— CCHARAN LLAKKARAJUFOUNDER, CEO OF STUMAGZ

All I-T guys are psychologists whoknow how to break down a personand get him to reveal things. I feelit would be helpful if thegovernment themselves offer a 3-month training programme thatteaches businessmen how tohandle I-T officials. That wouldalso help them understand whythe taxmen are asking thosequestions. When you visit IToffices, the officials do not evenoffer a seat and look down uponyou like you are a criminal. Taxterrorism is prevalent all over thecountry, as Income Tax is aCentral government departmentand these officials get transferredall over the country

— RRAJ NN PPHANIHYD-BASED ENTREPRENEUR

IT issues are definitely a burden if thebusiness does not have a strong

revenue model. The I-T department isdoing their job efficiently, as per

norms and the financial slabannounced by the government. We

should definitely be in the good booksof the I-T department and ensure we

comply with the rules. As anentrepreneur, one should be aware ofall the changes every year and align

their business accordingly

— UUDAYFOUNDER AND CEO OF PAYISM

TECHNOLOGIES PVT LIMITED

People don't accept they are stressed. They should face the circumstances come what may. Some take the stress to heart and it affects them. When they don't see any way out, they end taking their lives. One must know when to stop and should open

up with their co-founders and if possible other entrepreneurs— PPRAVEEN DDORNA

CO-FOUNDER OF START-UP BYTE

t is not every day that chil-dren in their teens take aninitiative and help theunderprivileged. But PranavSai Jasti, a Class XI studentof Hyderabad, recently

exhibited his art work at State ArtGallery to raise funds for healthcareof the underprivileged in the state. Hemanaged to raise over `2.5 lakh.

When asked what spurred himinto doing this, the 15-year-old says,“During my 2018 summer holi-days, I did my internship in varioushospitals. That is when I saw somany underprivileged people whobarely had money to fund theirmedical expenses. This is when Idecided to do something for thepoor.”

Along with displaying his artwork, Pranav kept the audienceenthralled with his musical ren-ditions along with his friendsunder his band The Outlaws.

Pranav, who started paintingin his first grade, says “In my

childhood, I used to enjoy watchingAnimal Planet. Later, I started drawingportraits of animals and birds. My par-ents encouraged me to pursue Arts.This is my first art show and I’m veryhappy because I’m helping the underpriv-ileged.”

More than 50 art works of his were dis-played during the two-day art show. Heexperimented with various productsincluding oil pastels, soft pastels, charcoal,pencils, watercolour paints, acrylic paint,etc. His paintings showcase things heenjoys and loves. He used different tech-

niques and different methods to depictvarious pictures, steadily increasing thequality and using vibrant colours.

Speaking about his first art showexperience, the Class XI boy says, “It wasa great experience interacting with artlovers. Many appreciated my efforts andpurchased my work. Most of my work hasalready been sold. The funds will be trans-ferred to Chief Minister’s relief fund.”

“Although, I don’t like selling my art,doing this for poor people gives meutmost satisfaction. I will continue towork to help the poor as much as I can,”he added.

Speaking to The Pioneer, Pranav’sfather Ramesh Jasti said, “Pranav is a veryactive child. He showed keen interest inarts since he was in Class I. He used topaint everything like nature, sports,birds, animals and more. When he toldme that he wanted to do a charity showfor the underprivileged, I was very happy.For this show, he sold all his paintings hemade since his childhood. I hope he willdo more art shows in the future to helppeople.”

Brush strokes that HELP THE POORI ALONG WITH DISPLAYING HIS

ART WORK, PRANAV KEPTTHE AUDIENCE ENTHRALLEDWITH HIS MUSICALRENDITIONS ALONG WITHHIS FRIENDS UNDER HISBAND THE OUTLAWS

Phot

os:S

V C

hary

Mohandas Pai

Fifteen-year-old Pranav Sai Jasti exhibited his art works recently in Hyderabadto raise funds for healthcare of poor, finds V SATEESH REDDY

12

Hyderabad Tuesday August 6, 2019

We spotted fashion enthusiasts,socialites, and top models at atwo-day fashion and lifestyle

exhibition — Jhalak — organised at astar hotel in the city. The launch of theevent, which featured collections by 80

designers from all over the country,was graced by actresses Isha

Sharma and HarshidaPatil

PARTY

what’s brewing?

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

CITY GUIDE

LIKE THE AIR I BREATHElArtist Bakula Nayak exhibits her paintingsinspired by the beautiful epic love poemRitusamharam and vintage ephemeras.Ongoing, until September 2, 6.30 pm, KalakritiArt Gallery, Banjara Hills.

EXHIBITION

SAFARNAMAlRenowned singer LuckyAli will take you on a ridethrough his soulfulmelodies along with hisother popular numbers.August 10, 7.30 pm,Shilpakala Vedika,Madhapur.

MUSIC

OXFORD DRAWINGSl This exhibitionshowcases exquisiteworks by renownedand eminent artist KGSubramanyan done inthe year 1987-88 whilehe was at Oxford.Ongoing, until August13, 5 to 7 pm, TajFalaknuma Palace,Falaknuma.

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events listed, please send your detailsalong with a poster and contact number to pioneer.features@gmail.com

FUN TIME

l Niharika

l Prachi

l Nihar Gupta

Phot

os:S

V C

hary

lHa

rshi

da P

atil

l Amiksha

l Isha Sharma

SIZZLINGFASHION

COMEDY

DON’T JUDGElStage Adda brings Sumit Sourav, RaunakRajani, and Shreeja Chaturvedi together for thevery first time to your city Hyderabad with alaughter dose.August 10, 7 pm, IQ Lounge, Somajigudda.

FRIDAY COMEDYlJoin Funny Side Upfor an evening ofstandup comedywhere 4 phenomenalcomics will make youROFL. The show isheadlined by thehilarious bachelor witha unique style, Toby Thomas, Hyderabad’s bestkept and funniest secret. August 9, 7.45 pm, The Coffee Cup, Sainikpuri.

ANDE KE CHILKEl Set in the 1960s, about a household thatprimarily indulged in vegetarian meals; eggs werea taboo. Interestingly, the house’s daughter-in-lawwould brave the troubles and resort to eatingsome of the yellow and white goodness. Shewould also secretly cooking this forbidden delightand serving it to her husband and brother-in-law.August 10, 8.15 pm, Phoenix Arena, HITEC City.

THEATRE

MAIDANAMl Based on one of the most famous and mostcontroversial of Chalam’s novels, it is aboutRajeswari, a young, frustrated housewife. It allstarts with her thorough disillusionment withher tradition-bound, unfeeling, emotionallysterile lawyer-husband who treats her as apiece of property, as one who fulfils his sexualand social needs.August 10, 7.30 pm, Lamakaan, Banjara Hills.

JAMBU DWEEPAMlThis 1988 political satire starts with twocharacters — a king, Prajapati, and his Sevak,Nandi — finds that they are shipwrecked on anisland called Jambu Dweeepam. The island isruled by Bruhaspathi, a revolutionary leaderwho believes in inequality and social justice.What ensues is a battle between the conflictingideals of the two leaders.August 10, 7 pm, Phoenix Arena, HITEC City.

KAIFI AUR MEINlA theatrical andmusical journeywhich will beShabana Azmi'stribute to herfather Kaifi Azmi.Javed Akhtar willenact Kaifi in this venture.August 11, 7 pm, Shilpakala Vedika, Madhapur.

roducer Bellamkonda Suresh,who is basking in the success ofhis son, Bellamkonda Sreenivas’Rakshasudu, which released lastFriday, mentions that the latter

got a Hindi offer on Monday. The actorholds great clout in the Hindi dubbing

satellite market and most of his recent films— despite tanking at the box-office —helped the producers to be in a profit zone.

“A major Hollywood production house, whichof late is producing Hindi films as well, sent us

a mail on Monday, claiming that they willlaunch Sreenivas in Hindi. I had to double-check

it with a Reliance representative to confirm thatit’s true,” he said in Hyderabad on Monday.

Irrespective of it, senior Bellamkonda hasplans to launch his son in Hindi next year.“I have acquired the remake rights of a superhit Telugu movie for Sreenivas’ Hindi launch.I’m planning to make it next year,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Rakshasudu had a decent firstweekend run at the box-office, minting `6 crore from Telugu states. While theopening was ordinary, the weekend,courtesy of good word-of-mouth, sawa jump in the footfalls.

Hyderabad Tuesday August 6, 2019

13

tollywood

espite being greatadmirers of eachother’s works for along time, the combi-nation of Jr NTR andTrivikram Srinivas

materialised only last year. Now,it seems they want to furthercement the bond they strucktogether while making the suc-cessful Aravinda Sametha VeeraRaghava. Yes, sources point outthat the actor-director duo will bejoining forces again for a new fea-ture, which in all likelihood willbe Tarak’s next after SSRajamouli’s costume drama RRR.

The actor is committed todo a film for KGF

helmer Prashanth Neil but withproduction house Mythri MovieMakers recently hinting that itwill start towards the end of2020 or early 2021, it’s a clearpointer that Trivikram's film willbegin first.

“After Aravinda Sametha VeeraRaghava, Trivikram shared anidea he had with NTR. The lat-ter endorsed it, but it needs to befleshed out. Tarak will be occu-pied with RRR till February ormid-March next year, whileTrivikram will be through withthe release of his untitled nextwith Allu Arjun by then, givinghim at least 50 days to work andenhance the story. As things

stand now, the project willbe a joint production ven-ture between Radha Krishnaaka Chinababu’s Haarika &Hassine Creations andKalyanram’s NTR Arts,”informed a well-placed sourceclose to the unit, who added thatDussehra sentiment would mostlikely be repeated for this releaseas well. The actor’s last two releas-es — Jai Lava Kusa and AravindaSametha Veera Raghava —opened a week before Dussehra.

A text to producer S NagaVamsi, who is the nephew ofRadha Krishna, didn’t elicit anyresponse till the time of going topress.

The actor is alsocommitted to do a film

for KGF helmerPrashanth Neil but

Mythri Movie Makershints that it will start

towards the end of2020 or early 2021,

finds NAGARAJ GOUD

NTR and TRIVIKRAMset for an encored

His speech at Manmadhudu 2'spromotional event overlooksTrivikram's contribution to themovie as he penned the storyand dialogues

n a speech that raised eyebrows, AkkineniNagarjuna credited K Vijaya Bhaskar as thecreator of his memorable film, Manmadhudu(2002). “He is the creator of Manmadhudu. Istill didn’t know how he conceived the pro-

posal scene on Eiffel Tower, Paris. He is the reason behindthe cheeky one-liners in the film,” Nag declared. He was

speaking at a promotional event of his Friday releaseManmadhudu 2 in Hyderabad on Sunday evening. The

speech didn’t go well with a certain section of Trivikramfans. The wizard of words penned the story and dia-

logues of Manmadhudu and fans believe that hisfresh writing did the trick for the film. So, whydid Nag failed to acknowledge the most admired

writer of Tollywood? Grapevine has it that he is hold-ing a grudge against Trivikram for not accepting todirect Akhil’s second film. Naga Chaitanya’s name was

also attached to star in A..Aa, but the director finallywent ahead with Nithiin.

Talking about Manmadhudu 2, co-staring Rakul PreetSingh, the superstar promised the film will be a laughriot from the first scene to last. “Like Manmadhudu,

it will leave the audience in splits all through its run-ning time. It’s my guarantee,” he assured.

ilmmaker HarishShankar and hiscinematographerAyananka Bosewere in for a pleas-

ant surprise when legendaryHollywood cinematograph-er Robert Richardson visitedthe sets of Valmiki, starringVarun Tej, in Hyderabadover the weekend. TheHollywood heavyweight,with one of the most eclec-tic resumes of cinematogra-phers working in the West, isknown for his frequent tie-ups with celebrated film-makers Martin Scorsese andQuentin Tarantino. “It’s beena dream come true for me ashe has been my cinematog-raphy God. One of my bestfriends Phani introduced meto films by Scorsese (whichsince ‘95 are mostly shot byRichardson) when I was ateenager. Since then I’ve beenf o l l o w i n gMr Richardson’s work veryclosely and has been admir-ing it. During my interac-tions with Ayananka on the

sets of DuvvadaJagannadham, I told him hiswork was akin to that ofRichardson. To that Bosesaid he is a big fan of the mas-ter cinematographer as well.”

Harish goes on to men-tion that as they were scout-ing locations for Valmiki, anotification popped onBose’s Facebook page, say-ing that Robert Richardson,a multiple Oscar winner, isin Hyderabad to shoot acommercial for Microsoft.“Bose was chuffed to bits

and was equally panicked.I pulled out my contactsand somehow traced Mr Richardson to GrandKakatiya hotel. We methim and I spoke to himabout some specific shots inKill Bill and Casino, the lat-ter of which is my all-timefavourite film. Bose spokeabout lighting pattern andon how to deal with adirector. He also got toknow how Scorsese andTarantino go about their jobon sets. Mr Richardson

was impressed with ourconversation and takingadvantage of it, we invitedhim to visit our sets. He saidhe may or may not come,but we were prepared towelcome him any way. Wegot to know that he was onhis way 30 minutes beforehe dropped by the sets. Wejumped out of sheer joy. Hewas with us for one hourand even filmed a couple ofour film’s shots as I mus-tered courage to say ‘action’.He was impressed with thefootage we shot till now,” herhapsodises.

For Bose, the meet ismore than special, reckonsHarish. “Mr Richardsontold him, ‘I wish I would’vecarried my lighting metre togive you’. Bose replied say-ing that statement was big-ger than winning anAcademy Award. We tookan autograph and it willadorn our walls soon. It wasa surreal moment for bothof us,” Harish ends.

— NG

ani who is good friends withAdivi Sesh unveiled the the-atrical trailer of the latter’sIndependence Day releaseEvaru at Annapurna Studios

preview theatre, Hyderabad, onMonday. The Jersey actor did the samehonours for Sesh’s Goodachari at thesame venue last year. Lauding the trail-er of the murder mystery, co-starringRegina Cassandra and Naveen

Chandra, he said he couldn’t differen-tiate whether it’s an English film or aTelugu film.

“It managed to transport you intothe characters’ world within seconds;it’s that gripping. When Sesh rang meto launch the trailer again, I felt a senseof sentiment as well as responsibility,”he stressed.

Smiling, he added, “I also sensed thedanger that if this film triumphs at the

box-office like Goodachari, I would becalled again for future trailer launch ofhis next film. Regardless, I still agreed toattend the event. I want the film to suc-ceed.”

Stating that Nani is a good luckcharm for him, Sesh noted, “I’m calmahead of the release as I believe we havea great product in our hand. Everycharacter in the film is two-faced,which makes the film more intriguing.”

Producer PVP noted that Sesh is anext-generation star who has made iton his own with his passion, determi-nation and perseverance. “Evaru wasfirst discussed a couple of years agoand I’m glad that it’s a reality now. It’sa good film and we are proud of it,” PVP said.

i

f

Bellamkonda Suresh TO LAUNCH HISSON IN B’WOOD

A major Hollywood production house, which oflate is making Hindi films, claimed that they will

launch Bellamkonda Sreenivas in Hindi

p

Harish on cloud 9 after meetinghis ‘cinematography God'Cinematographer Ayananka Bose and the director had a pleasant experience interactingwith Hollywood cinematographer Robert Richardson at a prominent hotel in Hyderabad.The Oscar winner even paid a visit to the sets of Harish’s Valmiki

n

Sesh repeats Goodacharisentiment for Evaru

Trivikram Srinivas(left) with Jr NTR

Rakul Preet Singh

Director Harish Shankar (left) saying ‘action’ while Robert Richardson observes

Nani with Adivi Sesh at the trailer launch of Evaru

BellamkondaSreenivas

Bellamkonda Suresh

AkkineniNagarjuna

NAG creditsVijaya Bhaskarfor Manmadhudu

dvertising is dead,long live advertising’.If one were tobelieve the chatteraround the adver-tising business overthe last few years,

one would assume it’s all gloomand doom. The traditionaladvertising business has beenunder siege, its control over the‘brand creative’ has gone froma monopoly to a constant tug ofwar of ‘who’s winning the cam-paign pitch’. The advent of thedigital economy has changedeverything, from how brandscreate, communicate and sell.The bells of the ad-pocalypsehave been ringing loud.

Or have they? This is how Isee it, the business is growing.I’d say it’s booming! Everyonefrom Facebook to Google andAmazon are in the advertisingbusiness. What the influx ofdigital has done is break downall norms and barriers that hadbeen created over decades in theindustry. The clear-cut demar-cations between creative, mediaand beyond have been shakenup and what we have now is anindustry where it is not just thetraditional advertising agen-cies that are the players buteveryone from new-age digitalfirst creative shops, creators,publishers, platforms and evenbrands themselves have turnedaround and said, “Why can’t wedo things the way we believethis world allows us to, ratherthan how it’s always been?”

E-commerce has allowed newage brands to start, create and dis-tribute their products withouthaving to build out large-scaledistribution models over years.The availability of digital tools hasenabled anyone to have the abil-ity to become a creator and indoing so make content that is notjust relevant to today’s audience

but rather more than relevant forbrands to want to engage withtheir customers through them. It’salso enabled people like me (andmy co-founder Rohit Raj), withno prior knowledge of the adver-tising industry, its history, rulesand systems to start and grow anadvertising agency without everhaving worked in one. I’m aproduct and student of the prosof the digital disruption of theadvertising industrial complex.I’ve been on the sidelines watch-ing and participating in thischange in the dynamics.

So when IVM Podcastsbrought upon the opportunityto host a podcast on the adver-tising industry itself, it was anincredible opportunity for meto have conversations with peo-ple from all sides of the spec-trum. Over the last 36 weeks,I’ve had conversations with

everyone from agency heads oflegacy agencies like Ogilvy andLeo Burnett, founders of new-age content companies likePocket Aces and Kommune,marketers and communicatorsfrom platforms like LinkedIn

and Twitter along withfocussing on areas like talent,legal and many other aspectsthat play such a crucial part inshaping the industry today.The insights I’ve gotten overwhat I like to call “casual chatsover coffee that just seem tohave a recording devicearound” have been both eye-opening and jargon-breaking.Because what a podcast allowsone to do is to have a muchmore open conversation than ifyou have a camera on some-one’s face, which in so manyways puts a person on guard.What it also allows is for peo-

ple to be more casual and stayaway from jargon that many atime creates a barrier for peo-ple from outside the pond toreally gather what’s going on.

And while everyone agreesthat things have changed a lotand the old ways are dying,what I have heard has beenextreme optimism on both thecraft as well as the scope ofadvertising. Because the powerof an idea is so much strongerif it has more tools in its arse-nal. What it has also opened upis the questions and responseswe get from so many listeners,most of whom are in their earlydays in the industry or even try-

ing to figure a way to get intoit, de-cluttering their mindsabout the many non-existentbarriers and opening it up to thepossibilities and journeysbrought forth but the guests onthe show is what I like to call thebrightest part of the narrative.

So while the world orderhas been broken down, it’s awhole new and happy day.Because advertising as weknow it might be dead butwhat’s in its place is a muchbigger and exciting than ever.Long live advertising.

(The author is the content chiefand co-founder of The Glitch.)

melangeHyderabad Tuesday August 6, 2019

E-COMMERCE HASALLOWED NEW AGEBRANDS TO START,CREATE ANDDISTRIBUTE THEIRPRODUCTS WITHOUTHAVING TO BUILDOUT LARGE-SCALEDISTRIBUTIONMODELS OVER YEARS

14

Savethe

elixir

very third year, thetemperature in theThar Desert rises to50 degrees due tofamine or drought.The rural population

is disturbed but locals do not getdistracted. This is the reason whyThar is the only desert in theworld where there is density oflife in abundance. The biodiver-sity has never depleted even incomplex geographical and mete-orological conditions and in fact,has found the possibilities of lifeby always adjusting itself to theconditions. There will be short-age of water in a desert but thisis nature’s way of dealing with it.This is a region where saltywater is extracted from beneaththe earth and sweet water poursfrom the sky. But dense rainfallcan make the desert a swampwith the entire area becoming asaline lake. Every living organismhas adapted its life according tothe available resources, whilemaintaining the possibility of lifeby mutually cooperating withother species. Mankind createdunique treasures of water storagefor themselves, their animals(especially cattle) and for futuregenerations, l i fe has beenarranged to move ahead smooth-ly. In some areas of India, wherethere is more rainfall than theThar Desert, there is scarcity ofdrinking water, while the peopleof the desert avoid the situationby utilising water as if it was thetreasure of their ancestors.

Time changed,d e v e l o p -

ments

took place, humans tried to con-trol nature through technology.To make life more convenientand prosperous, we have devel-oped ways that by a simple ges-ture, our needs are made avail-able at our disposal; whether it isby storing underground water orby building dams to block rivers.

The exercise of pulling under-ground water from heavy capac-ity-powered pumps and throughpipelines from the place of ori-gin developed the culture of tapwater, which made humans for-get the value of it. Still there arepeople, who walk miles just tofetch a jar of water. A person whohas been saving wealth andresources for the last seven gen-erations is least concerned aboutthe availability of water neededfor existence.

Will the next seven genera-tions have water and air to sur-vive? By seeing tap water, thepeople were so fascinated thatthey forgot the precious treasuresof water harvesting passed down

to them by their ances-tors. Even after see-

ing that they

were looted in front of their eyes,they remained silent. Imagine thethousands of years of indefati-gable hard work that went intomaking these precious treasures.To provide water, our govern-ment spends money at a fasterpace than a flowing river, mak-ing directionless policies andschemes, which give less waterand more troubles.

There isn’t a single village orregion in the desert, where thereis no traditional source of water.Did you know that the names ofvillages are based on the sourcesof water. They have — Bera, Beri,Nadi, Sagar, Hala — prefixed tothem. A village’s name is keptwithout it meaning ‘water stag-nation’. In the last five to sixdecades, the government’s plansfor providing water to the peo-ple are making them forget thetraditional water sources as wellas making them eyewitnesses totheir own methods of wastingwater. From Barmer to Jaisalmer,Bikaner, Churu, Nagaur, Jodhpur,Pali, Jalore to the foothills ofAravali, Sikar in Jhunjhunu, oldJohad —

community owned traditionalharvested rain water storage —ponds, rivers, streams, kunds(small ponds), baavdis (step well)— all have turned into ruins. Thevillagers have filled them withsoil and garbage. They havebecome places of illegal mining.The courtyard of the house, wellknown for its cleanliness, is nowused to get rid of dead animalsand trash. A generation thatdrank water only from thesetraditional water sources, todayonly talks about how waste thesebecome.

A fol lower of MahatmaGandhi, late Anupam Mishra,wrote some of his experiencesseen in the construction processof ponds and the wastage causeddue to it in his book — Aaj BhiKhare Hai Talaab (The Ponds areSt i l l Relevant) . He wrote,“Hundreds and thousands ofponds did not appear from obliv-ion. There were some who wascommissioned to work for theseponds and there were many whoactually constructed hundredsand thousands of them. But inthe last few decades, they havebeen treated as a complete wasteespecially by technologicallyadvance people.” Perhaps this isa time shift. The new generationthat measures the world with asnap of a finger has seen thesewater sources being turned intogarbage dumps in the villages.They aren’t aware of the tradi-tional water sources that was soprevalent in the olden times. Thisgeneration is least concernedabout the sources. Due to lack ofcommunication between thetwo generations in regardto knowledge and

culture, the gap has widened. As things are evolving now,

nature is changing and weatherpatterns are changing too. Thewater crisis in the desert hasstarted knocking. The method ofharvesting rainwater is in dol-drums. There could be a crisis ofwater when there is disruption insupply of through canals andpipelines. There is no reason whythe old water sources can’t berestored; it is only a lack of will.Lately, the government, civilsociety organisations and mediaestablishments have started tak-ing care of the traditionalsources, harvesting rain water,organising the society to spreadawareness on water crisis and aredriving a campaign to buildhundreds and thousands of unitsof these water sources. By com-bining manpower andhydropower, the society has theopportunity to revive the tradi-tional water sources. To rejuve-nate these, to hand over thesepriceless treasures into the handsof the future generation, thereis a need to raise thousands ofhands again so that the com-ing seven generations couldlive with four mill ionspecies of living beings.

— C h a r k h aFeatures

To rejuvenate the traditional sources ofwater — ponds, rivers, streams, kunds

(small ponds), baavdis (stepwell) — andto hand over these priceless treasures tothe future generations, there is a need toraise awareness among the people, says

DILIP BIDAWAT

e MANKIND CREATED UNIQUE TREASURES OF WATERSTORAGE FOR THEMSELVES, THEIR ANIMALS ANDFOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, LIFE HAS BEENARRANGED TO MOVE AHEAD SMOOTHLY. THEEXERCISE OF PULLING UNDERGROUND WATERFROM HEAVY CAPACITY-POWERED PUMPSDEVELOPED THE CULTURE OF TAP WATER, WHICHMADE HUMANS FORGET THE VALUE OF IT

Is advertising dead?

A

The availability of digital tools has enabled anyone to become a creator and in doingso make content that is not just relevant to today’s audience but rather for brandswanting to engage with their customers through them, says VARUN DUGGIRALA

he topic of ‘man-agement withoutstress’ in the cor-porate world hasquite popular andis nowadays being

discussed in most seminarsand plenaries held across theglobe. It’s a known fact thatcorporates spend millions andin some cases even billions tofind that magical technique ofmanagement without any kindof tension. But still no com-pany has found that tech-nique. Why?

After lot of brainstormingand following a pragmaticapproach, it can be said thatthe art of stress-free manage-ment is mainly about usingeight Ms, seven Ps, six Ss andfive Ts in an organised, useful,profitable and peaceful man-ner so as to ensure the maxi-mum possible satisfaction ofall concerned. The eight Msare — men, money, material,machine, marketing, mutualconnection, mutual relationand means. The seven Ps —productivity and performance,price and profitability, plan-ning ahead of time, pecu-niary discipline, publicity,public relations and politeness,punctuality and personal com-mitments. The six Ss — skill,standard, strategy and speed,salesmanship, system andstructure and social good.And finally the five Ts — timeand sense, technology or tech-niques, teamwork, treatmentof each other and the habit ofgiving thanks. Now, in orderto be a good manager, one hasto have a good judgement ofall these factors and the abil-ities of innovation, intuition,

entrepreneur-ship and enthu-siasm. Oneshould have thequalities of far-sightedness, glob-al thinking, humil-ity, integrity andhumour. Since competitionhas been ever-increasing andthere are rapid changes intechnology and emergence ofinnovative trends, one musthave resilience through suchpressures. A lack of this wouldaffect one’s health and happi-ness and a tranquil state ofmind.

If one plans, organises andmanages the above factorsproperly, one can sustain anatmosphere of growth andcan achieve success for him-self and for all the members ofthe team. If not, one is boundto fail in life, business, admin-istration and organisationalwork. Now, in order to attainsuccess in achieving the goalof life, we must add two Ms,Ps, Ss and Ts to the above listas well. These are — moralvalues, meditation, purity,peaceful and calm personali-ty, spiritual study, soul-con-

sciousness, truth-fulness andtrusteeship.

If we practisemeditation, there

would be no men-tal tension and that

is why it is usuallyexplained to managers andadministrators that one mustgive some time to meditationeveryday in order to manageand multi-task without lettingthe stress overpower you.

It should, therefore, beremembered that meditationand management have an inti-mate connection. They verymuch go hand in hand. Onewho can manage well canalso meditate well and the viceversa of it is also applicable. Sothere is tension at many placesbecause there is managementwithout meditation. And indisturbed atmospheres, manymight find it difficult to med-itate as well. There is thus theneed to follow good principlesof management in order to beable to facilitate easy medita-tion at workplaces. This wouldautomatically bring in a stress-free environment and lifestylefor everyone.

MEDITATION AT WORKPLACE IMPORTANTIt is crucial for office-goers to realise theimportance of spirituality and not let the stress ofmanagement overpower them while working, saysRAJYOGI BRAHMAKUMAR NIKUNJ JI

T

AFP n LONDON

Harry Maguire became theworld's most expensive

defender on Monday whenManchester United signedhim for a reported fee of 80million pound.

"Manchester United isdelighted to confirm the sign-ing of Harry Maguire fromLeicester City," the club said ina statement on its website.

"Harry signs on a six-year contract, with the optionto extend for a further year."The England international,26, was strongly linked withboth Manchester clubs overthe summer but Leicester heldout for their valuation and thefee surpasses the 75 millionpound Liverpool paidSouthampton for Virgil VanDijk in January 2018.

"I am delighted to havesigned for this great club,"Maguire told United's offi-cial website.

"I have thoroughlyenjoyed my time atLeicester and would like to

thank everyone at the club,and the fans, for their fantas-tic support over the past twoseasons.

"However, whenManchester United comeknocking on your door, it is anincredible opportunity.

"From my conver-sations with themanager, I amexcited about thevision and plans hehas for the team. It's clear tosee that Ole (GunnarSolskjaer) is building a teamto win trophies. I am nowlooking forward to meetingmy new teammates and get-ting the season started."

AFP n LOS ANGELES

Zheng Saisai knocked offher fourth seeded oppo-

nent of the week to capture herfirst career WTA title with astraight sets win over ArynaSabalenka in the final of theSan Jose WTA tournament onSunday.

The unseeded Zheng, whoalso beat Sabalenka in theironly other career meeting,used a solid serving perfor-mance to beat the second seedfrom Belarus 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).

"I don't have so muchexperience because it is thefirst time for me," a nervousZheng said on the court dur-ing her trophy presentationspeech. "I am very excitedabout how I played the wholeweek.

Zheng said the San Josetournament had special mean-

ing for her even before shewon on Sunday.

"Five years ago I got myfirst WTA singles win here andnow I win my first WTA titlehere," she said.

Zheng clinched the victo-ry in the second set tiebreak-er when Sabalenka doubledfaulted on the first champi-onship point.

Sabalenka also doublefaulted to get to championshippoint as she finished witheight double faults comparedto just five for Zheng.

After the 25-year-oldZheng downed eighth-seededAmerican Danielle Collins,she beat fourth-seeded USteen Amanda Anisimova in a

three-set quarter-f inalmarathon. In the semis, Zhengousted No.7 seed MariaSakkari in straight sets.

Zheng, who was not bro-ken in the one hour, 45 minutematch, won 72 percent of herfirst serve points compared to52 percent for Sabalenka.

"She played great tennis,"Sabalenka said of Zheng.Sabalenka, 21, was playing inher first final since winningthe Shenzhen Open in Chinain January.

She lost in the first roundof qualifying at this event lastyear but then went on a runthat saw her shoot from 36thin the world to her current No10 ranking.

sport 15HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019

AFP n WASHINGTON

Shaking off back spasms toblast 18 aces, Australia'sNick Kyrgios kept his com-

posure and captured the ATPWashington Open title Sunday,defeating Russia's 10th-rankedDaniil Medvedev 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4).

The 24-year-old Aussie,who struggled through theopening set, claimed the$365,390 top prize and his sixthcareer ATP crown at the USOpen tuneup event.

"This is probably my bestmemory of a final," Kyrgios said.

"I left it all on the court."Kyrgios, 5-1 this year againsttop-10 rivals, won his secondtitle of the season after Acapulcoin March and will jump 25 posi-tions to 27th in Monday's newrankings, his first top-30appearance in 43 weeks.

"This has been one of thegreatest weeks of my life. I'vemade massive strides," Kyrgiossaid.

"This whole week has beenamazing. It's a week I won't for-get."

Known for his fiery tem-perament and inconsistency,Kyrgios was resilient all week,breaking racquets but holdinghis emotions together — "superproud" of his composure.

"In the past six months, it'scrazy to think how much I'vebeen able to turn it around,"Kyrgios said.

"I lost faith that I could stillhave weeks like this and behappy. I've got to thank (myfamily) for not losing faith.

"I just wanted to cleanmyself up and have a healthyattitude. I showed what I can dothis week."

While saying his bestmemory of the week was "howprofessional I was off thecourt," Kyrgios also noted, "I'vegot a long way to go." AmericanJessica Pegula captured herfirst WTA singles title by rip-ping Italy's Camila Giorgi 6-2,6-2 in the Washington women'sfinal.

The 25-year-old daughterof NFL Buffalo Bills owner andnatural gas magnate TerryPegula took a $43,000 topprize.

Kyrgios won a match thatfeatured no break points or

deuces after 94 minutes withback-to-back aces, the last histournament-best 110th of theweek.

Medvedev, 23, was brokenonly twice this week but lost hislone sets to Kyrgios. He'll equalhis career-best ranking of ninthon Monday.

Kyrgios denied Medvedevon set point with a 124-mphace, then hit a passing winnerand won it when Medvedevsent a forehand wide. In the lastbreaker, two Kyrgios aces madehis Washington's first unseed-ed ATP champion since 2011.

AFP n BARCELONA

Barcelona captain LeoMessi is out of action

less than two weeksahead of the opening ofLa Liga season afterinjuring his right calf intraining on Monday.

The Argentina starhas already been ruledout of the team's trip toFlorida for a one-offfriendly against Napoliin Miami onWednesday.

"Tests carried outhave diagnosed a grade1 calf strain," theSpanish champions saidin a statement, an injurythat can require aroundtwo weeks of recupera-tion.

"Messi will remainin Barcelona and willnow not travel to theUSA for the club's tour.His availability to comeback to action will bedictated by his recoveryfrom the injury."

The club open thenew La Liga campaignat Athletic Bilbao onAugust 16.

Marin tomissworldsAFP n MADRID

Defending world bad-minton champion

Carolina Marin is to sit out thismonth's world championshipsto properly recuperate from anoperation to repair a rupturedanterior cruciate ligament inher right knee.

The 25-year-old Spaniard,a winner of three of the pastfour world titles and alsoOlympic gold medallist, hurtherself in the IndonesiaMasters final in January andwas forced to retire while lead-ing Saina Nehwal of India.

"My team and I havedecided that we are not goingto the World Cup because itcomes too soon," Marin said.

"The rehabilitation is goingvery well, the knee is stillresponding very well so we willwait for the tournaments thatI have in September."

The world championshipswill be held in the Swiss city ofBasel between August 19-25.

PTI n JOHANNESBURG

South African cricket isembracing a football-style

setup as part of a radical over-haul in the wake of their WorldCup debacle with chief coachOttis Gibson making way for ateam manager who will enjoysweeping powers in selectionmatters.

This means Gibson willnot be the coach for the team'stour of India starting inSeptember, when his contractalso expires with the Proteas.

The plan is to adopt a foot-ball-style management struc-ture, where there will be a teammanager, who will select his owncoaching staff and captains inthe three formats of the game.

The medical staff andadministrative staff will alsoreport to the manager, who inturn will report to the directorof cricket, working under thechief executive.

PTI n NEW DELHI

All the top players, led byPrajnesh Gunneswaran,

were on Monday named in theIndian Davis Cup squad thatwill travel to Pakistan but theAITA selection committeechairman Rohit Rajpal saidthey will look into the 'unavail-ability' of Sumit Nagal.

There was no scope forsurprises with top singles anddoubles players being automat-ic selection.

Gunneswaran andRamkumar Ramanathan willlead the singles challenge whileRohan Bopanna and DivijSharan will make the doublespair for the grass court tie,scheduled to be held inIslamabad on September 14-15.

Since Nagal has made him-self unavailable, citing aninjury, the five-member com-mittee chose to retain Myneni,who can play both singles anddoubles, as the next best play-er on ranking charts.

Young and talented SasiKumar Mukund was selectedas a reserve member.

While Rajpal and BalramSingh sat in the meeting,Zeeshan Ali, Nandan Bal andAnkita Bhambri attended it viatele conference.

Myneni was named inIndia's last tie, when the coun-try hosted Italy on grass courtsof Calcutta South Club last yearin September but he did not get

a match in team's 1-3 defeat.Myneni last played in

September 2018 when Indiatravelled to Serbia for theWorld Group Play-offs, losingin straight sets with Bopannato Nikola Milojevic and DaniloPetrovic.

Myneni, 31, won the dou-bles title at the ChengduChallenger last week with com-patriot Arjun Kadhe but hasnot got the best of singlesresults this season with just onesemifinal appearance(Jerusalem) in 14 tournamentson the Challenger Tour.

"It was straight forwardselection this time. We need-ed an all-rounder, so Myneniwas picked. He has a big serveand he plays well on grass,"Rajpal told PTI.

When asked about Nagal'sunavailability, Rajpal said theyoung player had written tothem that he has twisted hisankle in Germany.

"He sent an e-mail, sayinghe is injured. Carrying aninjured player to a tie is worsescenario but we are not goingto accept just the letters. Goneare the days. We will ask for amedical certificate. If playersare making themselvesunavailable for national duty,it's a serious issue.

"We have to see that it's agenuine case. If he is genuine-ly injured that's fine but if youare faking an injury then I willput it on record and take thematter to AITA Executive

Committee. We will be watch-ing. This is not acceptable,"asserted Rajpal.

India have never lost toPakistan in six Davis Cupcontests so far and the cleanrecord is likely to remain,considering that Pakistan doesnot even have one singlesplayer, who is ranked on theATP chart.

India's Prajnesh is ranked90 in the world whileRamkumar is placed 184.Myneni is 271.

Aisam ul haq Qureshi isworld number 55 in doubles.

Bopanna and Aisam onceformed a formidable team,dubbed Indo-Pak Express bymedia. They made the USOpen final in 2010, losing tolegendary Bryan brothers —Mike and Bob.

"We are surely a strongteam but we will not takePakistan lightly," added Rajpal.

Asked if Myneni will get toplay on the first day of the tiesince he is good on grass,Zeeshan said," We will see theconditions and players' formnear the tie. It's too early to sayanything now."

For the first time theIndian Davis Cup team will beaccompanied by a TeamManager.

Maharashtra State LawnTennis Association (MSLTA)secretary General Sunder Iyerhas been named as the man-ager by the AITA in a pressrelease.

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan's veteran singles playerAqeel Khan has admitted that

growth of tennis in India is much bet-ter than his country but remained opti-mistic of upsetting the fancied neigh-bours in the upcoming Davis Cup tiein Islamabad.

Pakistan and India will be playingagainst each other in a Davis Cup tieafter 13 years. The last tie between thetwo nations was played in Mumbai in2006, which India won 3-2.

An Indian tennis team will travelto Pakistan after 55 years. The last timethey sparred on Pakistan soil was wayback in March 1964 in Lahore, whereIndia won 4-0.

"It is not going to be an easy pas-sage for us to the World GroupQualifiers as India is way ahead of usin tennis with better facilities, more

money and professionalism, and goodtalent," Aqeel said.

"India has progressed a lot in ten-nis and it is not the same for us but Ithink with the experience Aisam andI have of playing together in theDavis Cup and our understanding as

a doubles pair and plus the advantageof playing at home, we can cause anupset as a team," Aqeel said.

The Pakistan Tennis Federation(PTF) has announced that Aisam willsoon return to Islamabad and join thetraining camp for the tie.

Aisam, 39, is Pakistan's best-known player on the Pro circuit with17 ATP doubles titles to his credit.

Aqeel who earlier this month wonanother national ranking event inKarachi said it was unfortunate youngtalent was not coming up.

"But I think when India comeshere and we play the Davis Cup tie itwill lift the profile of the sport in ourcountry."

Aqeel said that India's decision tosend its team to Pakistan for the DavisCup didn't surprise him as theInternational Tennis Federation (ITF)had given clearance to to host the tie.

"If they had refused to come toIslamabad, the ITF would have dockedthem (impose penalty) and also finedthem heavily. It would have hurt themin the Davis Cup World Group so theyhad to come for the Davis Cup tie," hesaid.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Indian football team coachIgor Stimac on Monday

named his list of 35 probablesfor the preparatory camp forthe forthcoming 2022 FIFAWorld Cup Qualifiers againstOman and Qatar.

The players will be assem-bling at the camp on August 19in Goa, with practice kickingoff from the next day.

India begin their campaignagainst Oman on September 5in Guwahati followed by anaway game against Asianchampions Qatar in Doha onSeptember 10.

Afghanistan andBangladesh are the other twoteams in the group.

Winger HalicharanNarzary, who featured in everymatch of India's 2019 AFCAsian Cup campaign, got acall-up for the camp, his firstunder Stimac.

Besides, three players fromIndian Arrows' batch of 2018-19 -- Narender Gahlot, Anwar

Ali (Jr) and Amarjit Singh alsoearned call-ups.

The list of 35 probablesstay as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: GurpreetSingh Sandhu, AmrinderSingh, Kamaljit Singh, VishalKaith.

DEFENDERS: RahulBheke, Nishu Kumar, PritamKotal, Anas Edathodika,Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali(Jr.), Narender Gahlot, SarthakGolui, Adil Khan, SalamRanjan Singh, Subhasish Bose,Jerry Lalrinzuala, Mandar RaoDessai.

MIDFIELDERS: NikhilPoojary, Udanta Singh,Anirudh Thapa, RaynierFernandes, Vinit Rai, SahalAbdul Samad, Amarjit Singh,Pronay Halder, Rowllin Borges,Brandon Fernandes,Lallianzuala Chhangte,Halicharan Narzary, AshiqueKuruniyan.

FORWARDS: BalwantSingh, Sunil Chhetri, JobbyJustin, Farukh Choudhary,Manvir Singh.

PTI n KOLKATA

Bengaluru FC's new sign-ing Suresh Wangjam convertedfrom the spot in the 81st minuteto help his side salvage a 1-1draw against Army Red in the129th Durand Cup here onMonday.

Playing with their reserveside, the Indian Super Leaguechampions struggled to copewith the energy-sapping humidconditions, failing to convert aflurry of chances as Army Redforward Liton Shil gave themthe lead at the stroke of halftime.

Bengaluru FC earned apenalty when defenderNamgyal Bhutia was broughtdown in the rival box by substi-tute Alwin E.

Suresh stepped up andcalmly slotted the spot kickhome to level scores in what washis first appearance in a Blueshirt.

The point meant BengaluruFC moved up to second on thetable behind leaders East Bengal(3 points) and ahead of Army

Red (1 point) in Group A. Naushad Moosa opted to

start all of his seven first-teamplayers with Aditya Patra ingoal, Gursimrat Singh Gill,Sairuat Kima and Parag Shrivasin defence, Ajay Chhetri andSuresh Wangjam in the midfieldand Edmund Lalrindika leadingthe attack.

With the Blue Colts control-ling possession for longer peri-ods, the Army Red side bankedon frequent counter attacks.

Patra pulled off a wonder-ful save when he denied rivalskipper Suresh Meitei frompoint blank range in the 38thminute when the Army manwas left unmarked in the BFCbox.

A goal down, Moosa decid-ed to make his first change send-ing on midfielder Emanuel L inplace of Chhetri as he looked toadd more attacking threat.

Four minutes after theirequaliser from penalty,Bengaluru had a great chance tokill the game in the 85th minutewhen Suresh set on a counterdown the right.

Kyrgios wins ATPWashington Open titleNick defeats Medvedev to winseason’s second title

Nick Kyrgios poses for photos with a trophy after defeating Medvedev AP

Zheng Saisai holds up the trophy AP

Zheng shocks SabalenkaZHENG

CLINCHED THEVICTORY IN THE

SECOND SETTIEBREAKER

WHENSABALENKADOUBLED

FAULTED ON THEFIRST C’SHIP

POINT

Lionel Messi sustains an injury Barcelona/Twitter

Maguire becomes world’smost expensive defender

Players Cost TransferHarry Maguire 80 million euros Leicester City to Man U, 2019

Virgil Van Djik 75 million euros Southampton to Liverpool, 2018Lucas Hernandez 68 million euros Atletico to Bayern,2019Matthijs De Ligt 67.5 million euros Ajaz to Juventus, 2019Aymeric Laporte 57 million euros Athletic Club to Man City, 2018

MOST EXPENSIVE DEFENDERS

Narzary gets call-up

for WC qualifiers

Bengaluru FC drop pointsagainst Army Red

Top players named in Davis Cup squad for Pak tie

We can upset India in Davis Cup: Aqeel KhanINDIA HAS

PROGRESSED A LOT INTENNIS AND IT IS NOTTHE SAME FOR US BUT

I THINK WITH THEEXPERIENCE ANDADVANTAGE OF

PLAYING AT HOME, WECAN CAUSE AN UPSET

Messi out with injury

SA cricketembracesfootball-stylesetup

sport 16HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | AUGUST 6, 2019

PTI n GUYANA

The series pocketed, India arelikely to experiment withtheir line-up in pursuit of a

whitewash when they take on anembattled West Indies in thethird and final T20 Internationalhere today.

India concluded the two-match US leg of the series by tak-ing an unassailable 2-0 lead afternotching up a 22-run win in thesecond game on Sunday.

Their performance wasn't themost fluent in the first match butVirat Kohli and his men were backto being a dominant force in thesecond match, though, the out-come was decided by theDuckworth-Lewis method afterthunderstorm and consequentrain did not allow the game tocontinue.

While the batting line-up maynot change much, India may trya new combination in bowling.

"...Sealing the series gives thechance to bring few guys in. Ideais always going to be to win first.But winning the first two gamesgives the cushion," Kohli saidafter Sunday's win.

It will not be a surprise if KLRahul is drafted into the playingXI, replacing the strugglingRishabh Pant. The young Delhibatsman managed scores of 4and 0 in the first two matches.

Skipper Kohli has backedPant to the hilt and it will be inter-esting to see if the 21-year-old ris-ing star gets another chance.

Neither Rohit Sharma norShikhar Dhawan are likely to berested.

For Dhawan, it's his firstseries after missing the World Cupdue to a thumb fracture and sincehe has not scored many runs inthe first two matches, he will beeager to get some before theODIs and Tests.

There is a strong possibilitythat leg-break bowler RahulChahar may make the cut inplace of young paceman Navdeep

Saini.Deepak Chahar, cousin of

Rahul, may also find a place in theplaying XI and Ravindra Jadejacould be the one who is rested.

For hosts, putting up a coher-ent performance remains a chal-lenge. Considered a force in theshortest format, they have notlived up to their reputation.

The likes of Kieron Pollardand skipper Carlos Brathwaite

are due a big knock.If they can manage to walk

away with a win on Tuesday, it willbe a confidence-booster for theside ahead of the ODIs and Tests.

SQUADSIndia: Virat Kohli (captain),

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan,KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, ManishPandey, Rishabh Pant, KrunalPandya, Ravindra Jadeja,

Washington Sundar, RahulChahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar,Navdeep Saini.

West Indies: John Campbell,Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer,Nicolas Pooran, Kieron Pollard,Rovman Powell, Carlos Brathwaite(c), Keemo Paul, Sunil Narine,Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas,Anthony Bramble, JasonMohammed, Khary Pierre.

AFP n BIRMINGHAM

Nathan Lyon took six wickets asAustralia thrashed England by

251 runs at their Edgbaston 'fortress'to win the first Ashes Test on Monday.

England, set a daunting 398 forvictory, lost four wickets for 12 runseither side of lunch on the last day asthey collapsed to 97-7.

They were eventually dismissedfor 146 in their second innings, withoff-spinner Lyon taking 6-49 — a haulthat included his 350th Test wicket —and fast bowler Pat Cummins 4-32.

Victory gave Australia their firstwin at Edgbaston in any format since2001 — the last time they won anAshes series in England — and endedEngland's run off 11 successive winsat the Birmingham ground.

England resumed on 13 withoutloss after Australia star Steve Smith'ssecond hundred of his comebackTest following a ban for his role in aball-tampering scandal had allowedthe tourists to declare late on Sunday'sfourth day.

Rory Burns, whose first-innings133 was his first century at this level,became just the 10th cricketer to havebatted on all five days of a Test.

But he had added just four runsto his overnight seven when he wasundone by an excellent seaming andrising Cummins delivery that lobbedoff his gloves to Lyon in the gully.

Number three Root, on four, wasgiven out leg before to James Pattinsonby umpire Joel Wilson.

But in a match full of overturneddecisions, Root successfully chal-lenged the verdict.

Root had made eight when henearly played on to Cummins beforeJason Roy, who made a superb 85 ineventual champions England's WorldCup semi-final win over Australia atEdgbaston last month, drove himthrough extra-cover for four.

Root had moved on to nine whenhe was again given out leg before byWilson, this time off the bowling ofpaceman Peter Siddle. But the bats-man's immediate review revealed aninside edge.

That meant umpire Wilson hadequalled an unwanted record with aneighth overturned decision in a Testmatch.

Roy swept Lyon for four butthen, in a shot more appropriate fora one-day match than a side trying tosave a Test, charged down the pitchand was clean bowled for 28 Lyonremained a threat on a wearing pitch

offering turn and bounce and he hadJoe Denly (11) caught off bat and padby Cameron Bancroft at short leg toleave England 80-3.

And the Australia pair combinedagain to dismiss Root for 28.

England's 85-4 at lunch soonbecame 85-5 when Jos Buttler (one)was bowled by a Cummins deliverythat kept low.

Cummins then had his 100th Testwicket when Jonny Bairstow (six)gloved a rising ball to Bancroft in theslips.

England's collapse continuedapace when Ben Stokes was also outfor six, well caught by wicketkeeperTim Paine off a sharply spun Lyondelivery.

Moeen Ali, who in the firstinnings had succumbed to Lyon whenhe was bowled for a duck playing noshot, fell to the bowler for the ninthtime in 11 Ashes knocks when caughtin the slips for four to leave England136-8.

It marked the end of a miserablematch for England off-spinner Moeen,comprehensively outbowled by Lyon.

Lyon had Stuart Broad caught inthe slips next ball before JamesAnderson survived the hat-trick afternot bowling at all in Australia's secondinnings because of a calf injury.

Chris Woakes, who played sever-al fine shots, was dropped in the slipsby Smith. But former Australia captainSmith had the last word, catchingWoakes (37) in the slips off Cummins,with England all out inside 53 overs.

PTI n LAUDERHILL

Series in their bag, India may exper-iment with their line-up in the final

match against the West Indies, skip-per Virat Kohli has hinted.

Kohli lauded his players for "clin-ical" performance and dropped hintsthat he may try out players, who didnot get chance to play in the first twomatches.

"Winning is always going to be apriority. But sealing the series gives thechance to bring few guys in. Idea isalways going to be to win first. Butwinning the first two games gives thecushion," Kohli said during the postmatch presentation ceremony.

The teams will now travel toGuyana for the final match, to playedat Providence stadium on Tuesday.

Shreyas Iyer and leg-break bowlerRahul Chahar stand a good chance tocompete in the third Twenty20. It willnot be a surprise if Deepak Chahar,cousin of Rahul, too finds a place inthe playing XI.

It remains to be seen if Kohli per-sists with wicket-keeper RishabhPant, who scored 4 and 0 in the twomatches or gives him another chance.KL Rahul can replace him if the teammanagement decides to drop Pant.

Talking about the second match,

Kohli said the pitch was good to baton early on. "The new ball was com-ing on nicely. We set up a good foun-dation. Good finish from Jadeja andKrunal to get us past 160. The way wewere going, could have got to 180, butpitch slowed down considerably in thelatter half," he said.

The Indian skipper had words ofpraise for spinner Washington Sundar,who was asked to open the bowlingin both the matches. The Chennaibowler succeeded in providing thebreakthrough in both the games.

"Starting with the new ball, theway Sundar has bowled against guyswho come hard at the ball, he's donea tremendous job. The composurehe's shown has been outstanding. He'sbecome fitter, leaner and is veryhandy with the bat as well. He is def-initely going to be a factor for us," hesaid.

West Indies captain CarlosBrathwaite said his side could havewon if the match could be complet-ed.

“I really don't think it wentwrong. We didn't have the start withthe ball we wanted but we pulled itback. Had a solid base with the bat.We backed ourselves to get 70 off 26even though it's a difficult task," hesaid.

PTI n LAUDERHILL (FLORIDA)

All-rounder Krunal Pandya,who starred in India's win in

the second T20 against the WestIndies, said support from pacecolleagues makes the jobeasy for spinners in targetingthe middle-order line up.

The 28-year-oldsmashed a quick-fire 20 off13 balls before dismissingNicholas Pooran (19)and danger-manRovman Powell(54) with his left-arm spin in theweather hitgame onSunday.

"Whenyour fastb o w l e r spick upearly wick-ets, it makesour job quiteeasy. If they are 2-

3 down then we (spinners) cancome and focus on the middleorder," Krunal said at the post-match conference.

Rohit Sharma's half-centurypowered India to 167 for five

after electing to bat. India's new-ball bowlersBhuvneshwar Kumar andspinner Washington Sundarthen provided early break-

throughs to reduceWest Indies to eightfor two in the firstthree overs.

"In both thegames we got thebreaks up front,Washington alsobowled well andBhuvi is worldclass. It's a good

that everyone is con-tributing in the teamwith the bat and theball."

The 28-year-old,who was also adjudged

man-of-the-match, said the wick-et aided spinners and perfor-mances like these help boost theconfidence.

He returned with the figuresof 1/20 and 2/23 in the first andsecond game respectively.

"I'm happy with how I'vebowled in the series. I bowledfour overs in the first game andtoday also I bowled three. Thewicket was slightly helpful for spinwhich helped me as well. It's agood confidence booster whenyou represent your country, con-tribute to wins and get these kindsof wickets."

Nisarg Chokshi, one ofKrunal's childhood friend hadcome to watch and support hisGujarat mate play.

"It's a proud feeling for me (tobowl in front of friends and fam-ily) and I'm sure they are proudalso. He is my childhood friendand we used to play together inthe under-12 and under-14. Goodto see him come and support me."

India vs West IndiesLive from 8:00pm IST

SONY TEN 1 & 3

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan head coachMickey Arthur has

recommended to thePCB's Cricket Committeethat Sarfaraz Ahmed besacked from captaincy ashe himself sought twomore years to deliver"remarkable results".

The Committeereviewed team's perfor-mances in the last threeyears, including the WorldCup, where Pakistan couldnot qualify for the semifi-nals.

According to a source,Arthur suggested to themembers that ShahdabKhan should replaceSarfaraz as captain in thelimited-over formats whileBabar Azam should be

given the reins of the Testside.

"Arthur did have somenegative things to say aboutSarfaraz's captaincy skills tothe members," the sourcesaid.

"I need two more yearswith the Pakistan teamand then I can deliverremarkable results," Arthuris believed to have told the

Committee, headed byPCB Managing DirectorWasim Khan.

Khan will have onemore session with themembers on Wednesdaybefore forwarding recom-mendations on theappointment of the newteam management to theboard Chairman EhsanMani.

India aim for series whitewashAfter sealing series 2-0, Men In Blue aim to finish off things in style

Indian players celebrate after winning second T20 against West Indies BCCI/Twitter

Confidence booster for Krunal

Kohli hints change incombination for final match

Arthur recommendssacking of Sarfaraz

AFP n BIRMINGHAM

Australia captain Tim Paine on Mondayhailed Steve Smith as "probably the best

Test batsman we've ever seen" after his man-of-the-match performance in the first AshesTest at Edgbaston.

The tourists beat England by 251 runs towin the first game of the five-match series.

England, set an imposing target of 398 towin, collapsed to 97-7 in the post-lunch ses-sion on the fifth and final day before beingbowled out for 146.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon took 6-49 andfast bowler Pat Cummins 4-32 as Australiaenjoyed their first win in all formats atEdgbaston since 2001 — the last time theywon an Ashes series in England.

The match was a personal triumph forAustralia's Steve Smith, who in his first Testsince a 12-month ban for his role in a ball-tampering scandal, scored 144 and 142.

Smith was the hero for Australia as theybattled back from 122-8 in the first innings.

"I thought we were certainly up against itat that stage but we had the best player in theworld at the crease," said Paine.

"Steve showed his class in both innings.We're running out of things to say aboutSmithy. He's probably the best Test batsmanwe've ever seen. We're lucky to witness it.

"Nathan bowled superbly but our threequicks took a lot of pressure off him at theother end as well. The seamers were sensation-al.

"We thought we could improve on ourfirst-innings performance with the ball. Allthose guys are world-class performers. This

morning all four of them were sensational."We know every Test we play in England,

the crowd will be against us. I thought the guyshandled themselves really well and we've comeout on top."

Australia players celebrate after beating England by 251 runs during day five of the first Ashes Test match AP

Aussies overpower Eng in Ashes openerAUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST WINSBY RUNS IN ENGLAND:Margin Venue Season562 runs The Oval 1934409 runs Lord’s 1948405 runs Lord’s 2015268 runs Manchester 1997264 runs Nottingham 1997251 runs Birmingham 2019

Faisel Features

AFP n JOHANNESBURG

South African Dale Steyn, one ofthe great fast bowlers of the

modern era, on Mondayannounced his retirement fromTest cricket in a bid to extend hislongevity in the shorter forms ofthe game.

Steyn, who made his interna-tional debut against England in2004 and last played a Test inFebruary against Sri Lanka, isstill contracted in the white-ballform of the game for the 2019/20season and therefore remainsavailable for South Africa in one-day internationals and T20s.

"Today I walk away from a for-mat of the game I love so much,"said the 36-year-old Steyn, hiscountry's leading Test wicket-taker of all time and one of the top10 in the history of the game.

"In my opinion Test cricket isthe best version of this game. It

tests you mentally, physically,emotionally. It's terrible to consid-er never playing another Testagain but what's more terrifying isthe thought of never playing againat all.

"So I will be focusing on ODIsand T20s for the rest of my careerto maximise my full potentialand ensure my longevity in thissport... I look forward to contin-uing to play for the Proteas in theshorter formats."

AFP n BIRMINGHAM

Joe Root described England's comprehensive 251-run defeat by Australia in the first Ashes Test at

Edgbaston on Monday as "bitterly disappointing".World Cup winners England, set an imposing

target of 398 to win, collapsed to 97-7 in the post-lunch session on the fifth and final day before beingbowled out for 146.

The matchwas a personaltriumph forAustralia's SteveSmith, who inhis first Testsince a 12-month ban forhis role in a ball-tampering scan-dal, scored 144and 142.

"It does hurt.It is bitterly dis-appointing," saidcaptain Root.

"We played really good cricket in the majorityof the Test match. Credit to Australia. They foughthard to get back in it.

"Smith two brilliant innings. We have to keepworking hard to get him out. Obviously it was hardthat we lost Jimmy early on. These things happen.We have to take it on the chin and come back hardat Lords." Aus capitalised on the absence throughinjury of Anderson, who only sent down four first-innings overs before breaking down with a calf prob-lem that meant he did not bowl again in the match.Virat Kohli plays a shot BCCI/Twitter

Steve Smith raises his bat after scoring century ICC/Twiter

Paine all praise for SmithAshes defeat bitterlydisappointing for Root

Steyn retiresfrom Test cricket