PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu onWednesday described thefarmers who called on ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy on Tuesday under theleadership of YSRCP MLAsAlla Ramakrishna Reddy andSridevi as "paid artistes".

Alleging that the YSRCPwas a party devoid of idealsand goals and dubbing it as the"worst political outfit ever",Naidu alleged that Jagan didnot know how to run theadministration.

Describing Jagan as "cruel",the former Chief Minister

warned that the TDP wouldnot keep silent if Jagan goesabout taking administrativedecisions he liked. He daredthe CM to a debate on

Amaravati and call for referen-dum on three state capitals.

"A group of 10 paid artisteswere taken to the CM to givethe impression that farmershad met him," Naidu said.

He demanded Jagan to visitthe Amaravati capital region ifhe was sincere about the wel-fare of the farmers. "Three cap-ital cities is a strange conceptand people are laughing at the

CM," he claimed. He predict-ed that retreat of Jagan with thesame pace that he arrived onthe political scene. "If Jaganproposes three state capitals,someone else will propose 30state capitals," he remarked.

The TD chief vowed to "payback" the police and YSRCPleaders along with interest ashe remembered who abusedhim.

PNS n AMARAVATI

Declaring that village secretari-ats have become fully function-al in AP, Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy onWednesday said village volun-teers must make at least onephone call to the beneficiaryfrom the village secretariat toinform them about the statusof their complaint or requests.

Addressing a review meet-ing on village/ward secretari-at and volunteers system atAmaravati, the Chief Ministersaid the village secretariatsshould function efficiently sothat all the programmes andwelfare schemes initiated bythe State government areimplemented smoothly.

He said there should be astandard operating procedurein the important services beingprovided to people at the vil-lage and ward secretariats bythe volunteers as part of thegovernment's welfare pro-

grammes. Jagan said the volun-teers and the staff at the secre-tariats have been trained forabout a month regarding thedirectives for the new welfareprogramme that is going to beimplemented by the govern-ment so selection of beneficia-ries becomes easier. He said aprocess has to be maintainedby the secretarial staff and thevolunteers in implementationof the new welfare pro-grammes and in selection ofbeneficiaries.

Officials of the departments

concerned have to directlysend information to the villagesecretariats regarding thedirectives to be followed andthe eligibility criteria of thebeneficiaries and also pasteposters at the secretariats, theChief Minister said. Assertingthe importance of appointingofficials of all departmentsconcerned at the village andward secretariats, Jagan saidthey need to be present theretill the Rythu Bharosa centresare established.

Continued on Page 3

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Claiming support of over five crore farmers for the‘Save Amaravati’ agitation, Naidu said those whocalled on Jagan were relatives of Alla RamakrishnaReddy and said they were "definitely not farmers"

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA is no threat to Muslims andif they face trouble, "I will be the first person to raise voice for them",

superstar Rajinikanth today, making his stand clear on the law that hastriggered protests across the country. He also termedthe National Population Register "essential". "The CAAis no threat to Muslims. If they face trouble, I will bethe first person to raise voice for them," Rajinikanthsaid."How will Muslims who chose to stay back inIndia following Partition be sent out of thecountry?" he added.

CAA ‘NO THREAT TO MUSLIMS’,NPR IS ESSENTIAL: RAJINIKANTH

KERALA'S AMMA PASSES LEVEL 4 EXAMS, SHE IS 105 YRS OLD

Bhageerathi Amma may not have any teethleft, but the 105-year-old has enough

gumption to write and pass a school-levelexam. A native of Kollam in Kerala,Bhageerathi has just passed her Level 4equivalency exams conducted by the StateLiteracy Mission, scoring 205 out of the total

275 marks. She is, no surprise, the oldest student in India to have takenthe exam and create history. She's scored 74.5 per cent, Bhageerathiwill probably tell that herself. She scored full marks for Math, 75 on 75.

PM ANNOUNCES RAM TEMPLE TRUST,ECI SAYS ‘POLL CODE NOT VIOLATED’Two days to the Delhi election, the government today green-lighted

the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya, with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announcing a trust to oversee the construction. As heannounced what he called "important decisions" on theAyodhya temple plan in the middle of the Delhi pollcampaign, the Election Commission said the code ofconduct had not been violated as the government wasbound to follow a Supreme Court order. The Uttar Pr-adesh government has identified land for a mosqueabout 25 km from the Ayodhya temple complex.

Tamil actor Vijay is being questioned by officers of the Income TaxDepartment in connection with an alleged tax evasion case linked to a

cinema firm. The Income Tax officers are also searchingthe properties of AGS Cinemas and film financier AnbuCheliyan in Madurai. AGS Cinemas had produced theVijay starrer Bigil last year. The BJP in Tamil Nadu hadopposed the populart actor’s film Mersal, released inOctober 2017, for containing dialogues seen as critical against the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation.

ACTOR VIJAY QUESTIONED BY I-TDEPARTMENT OVER TAX EVASION

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated February 05, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Magha & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Dwadashi: 08:23 pmNakshatram: Ardra: 01:21 am (NextDay)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 01:55 pm- 03:20 pmYamagandam: 06:50 am – 08:15 am

Varjyam: 10:09 am - 11:43 am

Gulika: 09:40 am - 11:05 amGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 03:36 pm - 05:10 pm Abhijit Muhurtham: 12:07 pm - 12:52 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Clear with periodic cloudsTemp: 33/19Humidity: 73%Sunrise: 06.46Sunset: 06.13

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Wednesday said thatthe decision on decentralisa-tion of administration, if nottaken now, would badly affectthe future generations.

"If we do not take this deci-sion now, and continue withthe old order, great injusticewould be done to future gen-erations as the cost of provid-ing basic infrastructure inAmaravati was pegged at Rs1.09 lakh-crore while thespending capacity of any gov-ernment is just Rs 5,000 crore.In such a situation, if we pre-fer to move to Visakhapatnam,which already has basic infra-structure in place, with only 10per cent of the Rs 1.09 lakh-cr-ore, I am sure in 10 years' timeVizag will compete with Hyd-erabad, Bengaluru or Chenn-

ai," Jagan said during a con-clave on education here.

"Children of my state neednot go looking for a job out-side, but would have one des-tination that is in our ownstate, our own capital and ourown Visakhapatnam," headded.

"The amount required ismore than Rs 1 lakh-crore andthe government's ability toput in would be like a drop ofwater in an ocean. It would noteven be visible," he added.

The Chief Minister saidAmaravati was neither close toVijayawada nor to Guntur andwas about 30 km from bothcities and was a virgin landwith no proper infrastructureor double road. He recalled theprevious TDP governmentestimating that to providebasic infrastructure like roads,drains, water and the like itwould cost over Rs 2 lakh-crore per acre for the 52,000acres acquired in Amaravati.

The amount the previousgovernment spent was just Rs5,677 crore, the Chief Ministersaid, adding that this was thecapacity of any government.

Continued on Page 3

Call beneficiaries on status ofcomplaints, CM tells volunteers

Our own capital, ourVisakhapatnam: Jagan

GVL advises YSRCP to notpress for special status PNS n NEW DELHI

BJP Member of ParliamentGVL Narasimha Raoon Wednesdaycautioned ChiefMinister YSJaganmohanReddy againstpressurisingthe Centreover SpecialCategory Statusand asked him toavoid seeking "trou-ble".

Narasimha Rao, respondingto Jagan's letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSCS, hinted before the media

at the YSRCP facing problemssimilar to that of the previousregime if it ever tried to politi-

cise the special status issue. He clarified that theCentre released "an

unprecedentedamount offunds" toAndhra Pradeshand grantedprojects and wel-

fare schemes wo-rth Rs 22000 crore

in lieu of the SCS. Narasimha Rao made it

clear that the Centre has nointention to revive the SCSissue.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

After enacting the 'Disha Act,'the state government has la-unched "Disha Police Stations''across the state to especiallydeal with rape and POCSO(Protection of Children fromSexual Offence) cases on prior-ity. On February 7, the first`Disha Police Station' will cometo operate in Rajamahendrav-aram, also known as Rajahm-undry, in East Godavari district.

Chief Minister YS Jaganmo-han Reddy will inaugurate thePolice Station and a video con-ference will be held connectingthe 1,097 police stations acrossthe state. As many as 18 Disha

Police Stations will be estab-lished across 13 districts of thestate, in a phased manner.

The Police Station at Rajah-mundry is built on 4000 sq ft

and is spread across two floors.The police station has a bigwaiting hall, counselling hall,feeding room for mothers andevery such police station will be

under the supervision of twoDSP-rank officials, apart fromfive inspectors, 18 constables,two data entry operators, onecyber expert. On average, everyyear, nearly 600 rape casesand nearly 1,000 POCSO casesare reported in the state. Onlyabout 12 cases will be handledby each Investigating Officerper year to lessen the burden.

"We have already given ads

to fill up 118 vacancies in For-ensics Science Lab who will beposted as Scientific Officers ap-art from filling up the vacan-cies of gynaecologists who willstart their work right in the am-bulances itself which will havea partition for privacy whenany victim is brought to the ne-arest hospital,'' said DGPGowtham Sawang.

Continued on Page 3

AP sets up Disha police station for rape and POCSO cases

PNS n NEW DELHI

The case of the death of a four-month-old infant in Delhi'sShaheen Bagh has been termedas a violation of the "Right toLife" under the Constitution bytwelve-year-old Zen GunratanSadavarte, who was recentlyawarded the National BraveryAward by President Ram NathKovind.

Zen, a resident of Mumbaiand student of Class VII ofDon Bosco InternationalSchool, Matunga, has writtento the Chief Justice of IndiaS.A. Bobde to issue directionsto stop children and infantsfrom participating in thedemonstration. Shaheen Bagh

has been the epicentre of theanti-Citizenship AmendmentAct protests.

Moved by the death of thefour-month-old, Jahaan Moha-mmed who was brought by hisparents to the Shaheen Baghprotests, Zen has urged the CJI

to direct the Delhi Police toconduct a proper investigationinto the cause of his death.

Zen, who received theIndian Council for ChildWelfare (ICCW) braveryaward for 2019, has written afive-page letter to the CJI stat-ing the incident has shaken heras a citizen.

"Right to Life under Article21, was violated of the four-month-old child, who accom-panied his mother every day tothe Shaheen Bagh demonstra-tion," said Zen speaking toIANS. The mother has report-edly cited severe cold andcough as a probable reasonleading to the demise of herbaby.

Bravery award winner writes to CJIon death of infant at Shaheen Bagh

FIR againstchoreographerGanesh AcharyaPNS n MUMBAI

A First Information Report(FIR) was registered onWednesday againstBollywood choreographerGanesh Acharya for alleged-ly sexually harassing awoman, the city police said.

The FIR, registered atAmboli police station, alsonamed two women, JayashreeKelkar and Preeti Lad, whoare accused of beating up thewoman on January 26.

No arrest has been made inthe case yet. Acharya haddenied the allegations lastweek. The complainant, whois an assistant choreograph-er, had approached the statewomen's commission a fewdays ago, alleging sexualharassment by Acharya. Thecommission had asked theAmboli Police to submit areport.

She had also alleged thatAcharya, Kelkar and Ladassaulted her during a func-tion of the Indian Film andTelevision ChoreographersAssociation in Andheri onJanuary 26.

DGCI approves‘restricted use'of HIV drugs onnCoV patientsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Drug Controller Generalof India has approved the"restricted use" of a combina-tion of drugs used widely forcontrolling HIV infection inpublic health emergency fortreating those affected bynovel coronavirus (nCoV),sources said on Wednesday.

According to sources, theICMR had sought an emer-gency approval from theDCGI for the "restricted use"of a cocktail of lopinavir andritonavir — for treatment ofthis respiratory ailment.

Continued on Page 3

Unemployment rate at 6.1 % in 2017-18, govt cites new surveyPNS n NEW DELHI

Unemployment rate in thecountry as per a new surveywas 6.1 per cent in 2017-18,the government informedRajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Minister of State for LabourSantosh Gangwar said thegovernment is conducting anew Periodic Labour ForceSurvey with new parametersand bigger sample size, and itsresults cannot be comparedwith previous surveys in thisregard.

"As per the new PeriodicLabour Force Survey being

conducted by the govern-ment, the labour force partic-ipation is 36.9 per cent and therate of unemployment for2017-18 is 6.1 per cent," hesaid. Replying to supplemen-taries during Question Hour,the minister said the report ofthis survey is very differentthan surveys conducted inprevious years. This survey isnot comparable to previoussurveys, he said, adding itwas an attempt to provideauthentic data with the newsurvey conducted through theMinistry of Statistics.

Continued on Page 3

MP Cabinet passesresolution against CAAPNS n Bhopal

The Madhya Pradesh Cabineton Wednesday passed a reso-lution against the CitizenshipAmendment Act and soughtits abrogation, contending thenew law was against theConstitution's secular charac-ter. The resolution was passedduring the state Cabinet meet-ing chaired by Chief MinisterKamal Nath, public relationsdepartment minister P CSharma told reporters.

Madhya Pradesh is cur-rently ruled by the Congress.

Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthanand West Bengal have alreadypassed resolutions demandingscrapping of the CAA.

Sharma said the MadhyaPradesh Cabinet passed theresolution describing CAA as"against the secular characterof the Indian Constitutionand differentiating people onreligious lines".

The CitizenshipAmendment Act passed byParliament in December lastyear endangers the "country'ssecular fabric and tolerantnature," the minister said.

MLAs paraded paid artistes before CM: Naidu

Amaravatifarmers meetFM NirmalaPNS n NEW DELHI

A group of farmers from theAmaravati capital region onWednesday met UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman and brought toher notice the proposals torelocate the state capital, judi-ciary and legislature.

They said that the FinanceMinister promised to bringthe issue to the notice ofPrime Minister NarendraModi and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah.

Later, the farmers metCongress MP KVPRamachandra Rao. They saidthat Ramachandra Raoassured them that he wouldmake public the Congressstand on the issue after tak-ing the party high commandinto confidence.

They said that they wouldbe meeting the President ofIndia on Friday to bring theirproblem to his notice.

Every police station will be under the supervisionof two DSP rank officials, apart from fiveinspectors, 18 constables, two data entry operatorsand a cyber expert.

PM: Targeting$ 5 bn defenceexportsin 5 yrs

People can pickright I-T option,says Niti Aayog VC

4

8

Kejriwal invitesShah for public debate

5

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AP seeks Defence cluster at Donakonda PNS n AMARAVATI

The State government has putup a proposal to establish adefense cluster at Donakondaand has prioritised its efforts torope in French companies.

Disclosing this at the DEFEX-PO India-2020 which took off atLucknow on Wednesday,Minister for Industries,Commerce and IT, MekapatiGowtham Reddy said the APgovernment was always open topartnerships with the France.

"AP Industries Departmenthas already sent a proposal to theUnion Government for theestablishment of a DefenceCluster in Donakonda. We havevast lands available atDonakonda for establishment ofthe cluster and also the nearbyports of Krishnapatnam andChennai would benefit inimport-export operations.

Under the 'Make in India' initia-tive, Donakona is an ideal placefor developing defence manufac-turing units, which also suits theinterests of aerospace indus-tries" he said.

The Minister further said

that students in AP were beingtrained in skill initiatives likeshipbuilding, marine systems,etc under Dassault Systems andthey had also secured place-ments in topnotch companies.

"We are investing heavily in

the development of enablinginfrastructure, which alreadyincludes six operational sea-ports, seven airports, over123,000 km of road network and2,600 km of rail network.Andhra Pradesh is currently on

the cusp of a major economicand social transformation. By2030, Andhra Pradesh's work-ing-age population will accountfor over 60 per cent and urban-isation is expected to increasefrom 35 per cent to over 50 per

cent by 2035. The state aspiresto continue to be the best in easeof doing business. We also planto reduce the cost of doingbusiness by simplifying regula-tions and processes," GowthamReddy said.

ALC holdscolloquium onplant sciencesPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The botany department ofAndhra Loyola College onWednesday organised a one-day colloquium on 'Recenttrends in plant Sciences' on thecollege premises.

The speakers at the pro-gramme were Professor,Department of Micro Biologyand Botany, AcharyaNagarjuna University DrAmani and AssociateProfessor, VenkateswaraUniversity of Pharmacy,Hyderabad Dr PrasunaSundari PJ. Dr Amani spokeon extraordinary and endan-gered trees. She also spoke onimportance of trees in medi-cinal field.

Dr Sundari enlightened theparticipants about the use ofIndian herbs to cure variousdiseases. She also expressedher concern about the threatto the very existence of Redsandalwood in India and of theimportance of Tulasi in day-to-day life. The organisers con-ducted essay writing competi-tions on conservation of bio-diversity, drawing competi-tion on conversation of waterresources, poster presenta-tion, slogan writing and quiz.

AISMOC conference atSteel Plant AuditoriumPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

RINL-VSP will be hosting theAll-India Steel MedicalOfficers Conference (AIS-MOC-2020) from February 7to 9 at the TTI Auditorium atUkkuanagaram.

Medical professionals fromall major steel making indus-tries in India are expected toparticipate in the 41st editionof the national-levelconference.

RINL CMDPK Rath willinaugurate theconference onFebruary 7that is intend-ed to providea nationalforum for med-ical officers andspecialists from var-ious disciplines to presenttheir updated progresses,developments and researchresults in their respectivefields.

The three-day event fea-tures keynote speeches, ora-tions, state-of-the-art work-shop on bedside ultrasonog-raphy, scientific papers relat-ed to industrial health liketotal quality management in

health care and occupation-al health services, techniquesin medical sciences andadvanced medical technolo-gies, posters and regularpaper presentations as wellas guest lectures delivered byleading experts in therespective fields.

Excellent Paper Awards willbe announced at the confer-

ence. Exhibition on modernmedical equipment,

pharmaceuticals,allied facilities,

and novelproducts willbe held.

The con-ference willp r o v i d e

opportunity toVizag to take up

the bright mantleof enriching health-

care services throughsuch eminent gathering withinsight for sharing continuousimprovement in medical sci-ences again.

The Conference is beingorganised by Visakha SteelGeneral Hospital (VSGH) -Medical Department. Dr.Uma, GM (Medical) is theorganizing Chairperson forAISMOC 2020.

ICGS Samudra Paheredarsets sail for homePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Indian Coast Guard shipSamudra Paheredar set sailfor home from Dubai aftercompleting her overseasdeployment to West Asiancountries from January 16.

During her stay at Dubai,the ship's team had cross deckvisit and professional exchangebetween UAE Coast Guardand Coast ProtectionAuthority. The ship's teamcarried out pollution responsetraining for the personnel andalso shared their experiences inthe fields of maritime securi-ty, search and rescue and anti-piracy.

Commanding Officer DIGAnwar Khan had earlier calledon Commander Coast PortRashid (UAE) Col. Rashid L AlMahesani.

Samudra Paheredar, duringher stay at Dubai also celebrat-ed the 44th Raising Day ofIndian Coast Guard onFebruary 1, which was gracedby the Ambassador of India tothe UAE, Pavan Kumar.

ICGS Samudra Paheredar isindigenously built pollution-control vessel (PCV) by ABGShipyard, Surat and is the only

PCV based under the CoastGuard Eastern Seaboard.

The ship is equipped withstate-of-the-art pollutionresponse and control equip-ment consisting of Hi sprintbooms and river booms forcontainment, various types ofskimmers for recovery of alltypes of oil and has a 500tonne storage tank for stor-age of recovered oil whichcan be burned in situ toenable continuous recoveryprocess.

The special features fittedonboard include integratedplatform management system,a power management system,and a high-powered external

fire-fighting system. Thisenables the ship to indepen-dently carry out pollutionresponse and firefighting evo-lution.

This visit of ICGS SamudraPaheredar to four west Asiancountries i.e. Oman, Qatar,Saudi Arabia and UAE result-ed in fostering relationshipbetween the maritime lawenforcement agencies ofrespective countries in terms oftechnical expertise/informa-tion at working level, in addi-tion to showcasing capabilitiesof Indian Coast Guard andIndia's ship building capabili-ties, especially PollutionControl Vessel.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh Tourism hasbagged two excellence awardsat the Overseas Travel Mart(OTM) held from February 3to 5 in Mumbai.

The f irst award wasreceived for 'Best State inOTM for Stall Decoration'and the second was for BestState in 'Most Promising NewDestination - Araku'

The award was presented byYogendra Tripathi, Secretary,Tourism, Government of Indiaand received by AnwarHussain, Tourism Officer,Andhra Pradesh Tourism.

Pravin Kumar, CEO APTAand MD APTDC said it was acollective effort from Andhra

Pradesh Tourism in receivingexcellence awards for tourism.He said that the award for themost promising new destina-tion for Araku, is an accoladeof true sense, the pristinenature of Araku, aroma of cof-fee fields and deliciousBamboo Chicken (a dish madeby Araku tribals) attractstourists from across the globe.

He said that a few days ear-lier, Andhra Pradesh Tourismreceived two other awards —for Best State for Religious(Tirumala, Tirupati) andBuddhism at Business andLuxury Travel Mart (BTLM)New Delhi, and for MostPromising New DestinationsState, at Travel and TourismFair (TTF) in Chennai.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Family disputes have result-ed in two persons being killedon Wednesday by their fami-ly members in separate inci-dents in North AndhraPradesh.

In the first incident, a 40-year-old P Srinu was mur-dered by his brother and fatherfollowing a fight betweenSrinu and his family membersat Mushalipalem area underMakavarapalem police sta-tion limits of Vizag district.

According to sources, Srinuwas an alcoholic and was job-less for the past one year. Heused to often quarrel with hisfamily members and othersafter consuming liquor.

On Tuesday night, Srinuconsumed liquor and quar-reled with his parents and alsotried to attack them. ThoughSrinu's brother tried to pacifyhim, his efforts proved futile.

When Srinu attacked hismother, his father Sunny Babuand brother Sunil Kumar hithim with sticks. Srinu sufferedhead injuries and died on thespot.

The police registered a caseand began investigation.

In another incident, a 60-year-old-woman was mur-dered by her son atRamadasupeta village underTekkali police station limits inSrikakulam district. The vic-tim was identified as KAnasuyamma. The police saidthat K RamakrishnaRamakrishna had a disputewith his mother over proper-ty.

Since Anasuyamma wasnot in favour of transferringthe family property toRamakrishna, he stabbed her.

A case has been registeredand the investigation is on, thepolice added.

AP Tourism bagstwo more awards

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Broiler at Farm `92

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

IIM-V gets tech incubation centrePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a boost to the startupecosystem, Indian Institute ofManagement-Visakhapatnamhas been declared theTechnological Incubation andDevelopment of Entrepreneurs(TIDE) Centre, becoming thefifth IIM to get the tag.

The TIDE Centre will get agrant-in-aid of Rs 1.7 crorefrom the Central governmentto facilitate it to play the roleof an angel investor for thetechnology startups. IIM-Voperates the TIDE Centre as aSection 8 company with amandate to nurture and sup-port technology start-up com-panies. The five key thrustareas of the application oftechnology of the startupsshould be in agriculture andwater resources, health andnutrition, education and skilldevelopment, financial inclu-

sion and smart cities and smarttransportation.

IIM-V Director Prof MChandrasekhar said that thegrant of Rs 1.7 crore can beinvested in five technologystart-up companies.

"Each company selected forincubation would get thefinancial support in the forma soft loan for a maximumthree years period. The com-

pany will have to return at leasthalf of the funds pumped intothe respective start-up by theTIDE Centre at the end ofthree years. The remaining 50per cent funds can be convert-ed into equity to the Centre.The Section 8 Company float-ed by the IIM-V for the setupof the Centre already got theapproval of the IIM-V Board,"said Prof Chandrasekhar.

HSL completes INS Sindhuvirrefit project ahead of deadlinePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Hindustan Shipyard Limitedhas achieved a milestone in sub-marine Repair capability bycompleting extensive repairs,upgrade, system integrationand trials of INS Sindhuvirahead of the contractual deliv-ery period of February 9, 2020.

This is a second such feat bythe Shipyard, which had earli-er completed refit of INSAstradharni 14 days ahead ofschedule.

Rear Admiral LV SaratBabu(Retd) , Chairman andManaging Director, HSL addedthat the timely completion ofrefit was possible due to activeinvolvement of Naval Dockyard,Visakhapatnam and support ofEastern Naval Command.

Apart from this strong ven-

dor base of about 70 MSMEsdeveloped during the refit hascumulatively generated size-able local revenue, employmentand enhancement of skill.

The chairman also said thatthis puts HSL on a strong

pedestal for undertaking futuresubmarine projects like P75Iconstruction, MRLC ofSindhugosh and other subma-rine refits by harnessing poten-tial of Indian companies thusfostering "Make in India" intent.

Rs 1,198 cr allocated to AP in Railway BudgetPNS n VIJAYAWADA

An amount of Rs 1,198 crorewas allocated in the UnionBudget for the Nadikudi -Srikalahasti railway line projectin Andhra Pradesh. The projectwas sanctioned in 2011-12 fora distance of 309 km with anestimated cost of Rs 2,289 crore.

According to a press releaseon Wednesday, the allocationswere made for important ongo-ing railway projects in AndhraPradesh in the Union Budgetannounced on February 1.

The press release said Rs 294crore was allotted for Guntur -Guntakal doubling project thatwas sanctioned in 2016-17 fora distance of 401 km.

Similarly, Rs 1,158 crore wasallotted for Vijayawada-Gudivada / Machilipatnam-Bhimavaram/ Narsapur-

Nidadavolu doubling and elec-trification. The doubling pro-ject was sanctioned in the year2011-12 for a distance of 221km with an estimated cost of Rs1,429 crore.

Rs 551 crore allotted forKotipalli-Narsapur new lineproject. The project was sanc-tioned in the year 2000-01 fora distance of 57 km with anestimated cost of Rs 2,120crore. The press release saidthat 25 per cent of the projectcost would be shared by thestate government. The newline works in this sectioninvolves the construction ofimportant major bridges onGowthami, Vynatheya andVashista rivers, which are pro-gressing at a brisk pace.

The Gooty - Dharmavaramdoubling project was allottedRs 135 crore. The project was

sanctioned in 2015-16 for a dis-tance of 91 km at an estimat-ed cost of Rs 636 crore. Theworks in the sections betweenKalluru- Garladinne for a dis-tance of 11 km completed and

commissioned. The Kazipet - Vijayawada

3rd line project was allotted Rs404 crore. The 3rd line projectwas sanctioned in the year2012-13 for a distance of 219

km at an estimated cost of Rs1,857 crore. The section bet-ween Vijayawada - Kondapallifor a distance of 17.5 km isnearing completion, the pressrelease said. The works in theKondapalli- Errupalem areprogressing well.

The press release said that Rs664 crore was allotted forVijayawada - Gudur 3rd lineproject. The 3rd Line projectwas sanctioned in 2015-16 fora distance of 288 km with anestimated cost of Rs 3,246crore. Execution of works hasbeen commenced in three ph-ases between Gudur- Bitra-gunta, Kovvuru Bitragunta andKrishna Canal - Kovvurusimultaneously.

An allocation of Rs 50 crorewas made for electrification ofManmad - Mudkhed - Dhonesection, for a distance of 783

km sanctioned in the year2015-16 at an estimated cost ofRs 865 crore. An amount of Rs25 crore was allotted for elec-trification of Dharmavaram-Pakala section for a distance of228 km sanctioned in the year2017-18 at an estimated cost ofRs 253 crore.

Likewise, Rs 18 crore allot-ted for electrification ofNandyal -Yerraguntla sectionfor a distance of 123 km sanc-tioned in the year 2017-18 at anestimated cost of Rs 135 crore.

The press release said Rs 10crore was allotted for electrifi-cation of Gadwal - Raichur sec-tion for a distance of 57 km.

Allocations for other projectsinclude Rs 30 crore allotted forMidlife Rehabilitation factoryat Kurnool and Rs 6 crore wasallotted for second entry at theTirupati Railway Station.

2 murdered bykin in separateincidents

Nominationsinvited forUgadi awardsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

AP State Creativity and CultureCommission will celebrateUgadi (Sarvari NamaSamvatsara) festival on March25. On the occasion, eminentartists and poets will be award-ed the Kala Ratna (Hamsa)awards, according to the infor-mation given by CEO, AndhraPradesh State Creativity andCulture Commission RMallikarjuna Rao in a release.

Hamsa awards will be givento eminent personalities in thefields of literature, music, dance,painting, sculpture, drama, folk,mimicry etc. Ugadi awards willbe given for literature, music,dance, painting, sculpture,drama, folk, mimicry, healing,magic, mime, harikatha andburrakatha, journalism etc.

Posters on display at the 11th biennial edition of DefExpo India- 2020, under way in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. AP Minister for Industries, Commerce and IT, Mekapati Gowtham Reddy is leading a delegation fromthe state to the DefExpo India- 2020.

Girl questions 3capitals, heckledPNS n GUNTUR

Tension prevailed for sometime in Nagarjuna Universitycampus on Wednesday after agirl student questioned thefeasibility three capitals' propos-al during a YSRCP-backedseminar on the state govern-ment's decision.

Vice-Chancellor Rajasekharpresided over the seminar. Ira-te YSRCP activists surroundedthe girl and heaped abuses onher, it is learnt. Later, with thehelp of the police the girl wassent out. Several students' asso-ciations expressed their ire atconducting the seminar todrum up support for govern-ment by what they called theJagan's media group. It may berecalled that four students havebeen initially suspended fromVersity for having aired theiropinion in favour of Amaravati.

WB agrees toextend APRIGPby five years PNS n VIJAYAWADA

World Bank representativesRaj Ganguly and Samik Sundaron Wednesday called on RuralDevelopment MinisterPeddireddy RamachandraReddy at this camp office andappreciated the AP RuralInclusive Growth Project(APRIGP) being implementedby the Society for Eliminationof the Rural Poverty.

They expressed satisfactionover the report submitted byCEO of the SERP Rajababu onthe implementation of theAPRIGP. They respondedfavourably to request to contin-ue the scheme for five moreyears in the state.

In this backdrop, they helddiscussions with the minister toworkout modalities to extendthe scheme by five years.

Our own capital, ourVisakhapatnam: Jagan

Continued from Page 1

"The Centre has given Rs1,500 crore and we cannotexpect more. At this rate, howmany years would it take topool Rs 1.09 lakh-crore to pro-vide the basic infrastructure?Being the head of the govern-ment and thinking like a father,the most prudent thing to do isto take the decision of threecapitals," he said. The CM saidthat Amaravati was not beingshifted as was being propagat-ed. "It would continue to be theLegislative Capital and theAssembly would function fromthere and legislators wouldcome and stay during the 60-odd days when the House is insession," Jagan said.

He said that Visakhapatnam,which already had basic infra-structure in place, would be the

Executive Capital housing theSecretariat and the CM's Officewhile Kurnool, which was thecapital of AP from 1953 to 1956,would be the Judicial Capital.The Chief Minister added thatit was a conscious decision andif he had not taken such a deci-sion, the indecisiveness wouldaffect future generations.Decentralised developmentwould ensure jobs and oppor-tunities in a big way in the daysto come, Jagan said.

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 6, 2020 vijayawada 03

English not luxury but necessity: JaganPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Stating that introduction ofEnglish medium from the pri-mary level was a revolutionarystep in shaping students ascompetitive workforce, ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy said that English wasimperative in the age ofArtificial Intelligence (AI).

In his keynote address dur-ing a conclave on educationhere on Wednesday, the ChiefMinister said, "As a father,anyone would prefer to sendhis children to English mediumschools and as head of govern-ment, I have done the same byintroducing English mediumfrom Class 1 to 6 from the nextacademic year. We will havefour years to prepare ourselvestill the first batch of students inEnglish medium reach SSC.This is how we improve the liv-ing standards of the aspiringsections of the society. Unlesswe take the decision now, thejourney towards shaping thefuture citizens fully equipped towalk into the competitive worldwill not begin."

With the literacy rate of theState being much lower thannational average, it had becomenecessary to bring in radicalchanges in education systemwhich would stand the test oftime for the next two decades,Jagan said.

He pointed out that over 98per cent of private schoolshave English as medium ofinstruction.

"We have to introduceEnglish medium in govern-

ment schools to give the aspi-rational sections a level-playingfield. This is why I tell you thatEnglish is not a luxury but anecessity. It is the language ofcomputer and internet. Weknow that we will have tocross hurdles and face chal-lenges. We are prepared for itand are reworking on the cur-riculum. On the preparatorypart, we are conducting bridgecourses for children and skillupgrading training for teach-ers," he said.

The detractors could sayanything, he said and asked"Why are they sending theirchildren to English mediumschools? Telugu will be a com-pulsory subject in governmentand private schools," he said.

The Chief Minister said theNadu-Nedu (Then and Now)programme would revamp the

45,000 schools in three phasesproviding basic amenities liketoilets, running water, furni-ture, fan, compound wall,painting and English lab.

"This apart, we have intro-duced Amma Vodi where themother is incentivised with anannual allowance of Rs 15,000for sending her children toschool. About 42,000 womenhave already received this year'sallowance" he said.

The CM said the menu ofmidday meal scheme has beenchanged and the food madetastier, bringing in variety andquality. In graduation, therewould be full fee reimburse-ment besides providing hosteland mess allowances. "In addi-tion to this, there will be anadditional year of internship forskill development and job-ori-entation courses," he disclosed.

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy lights the lamp to inaguaurate the conclaveon education in Vijayawada on Wednesday.

CM writes to PM on SCS,cites Finance panel reportPNS n AMARAVATI

With the Centre tabling thereport of the FifteenthFinance Commission, the APgovernment is making arenewed attempt to seekSpecial Category Status (SCS)for the state. A long-pendingdemand, SCS is one of thecommitments made by thenPrime Minister ManmohanSingh before the state's bifur-cation in 2014.

In a letter to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Chief Mini-ster YS Jaganmohan Reddycongratulated the Centre onthe Union Budget 2020-21.

"In these difficult timeswhen the economy is sluggishand the sentiment is weak, theBudget has been most reas-suring and has provided nec-essary enthusiasm. There is,however, a sense of dissatis-faction in the people of thestate of Andhra Pradesh,owing to the fact that there isno specific mention in theBudget regarding the stepsintended to be taken by theCentre to support the state,"Jagan wrote.

Stating that he had highlig-hted the 'widespread distress'in his state multiple times,

Jagan said that he was writingto Modi in the light of a state-ment contained in the reportof the Fifteenth FinanceCommission tabled in theParliament.

Stating that bifurcation hadbenefitted Telangana but sub-jected Andhra Pradesh to"immense economic hard-ships," Jagan pointed that sev-eral announcements weremade on the floor of theHouse at the time of passageof the AP Reorganisation Bill,2014, the most important oneof these, being SCS for thestate. "The people of the statehave been subjected to grossinjustice owing to the non-grant of SCS. The Centre hasput forth the argument that,in accordance with the recom-mendations of the FourteenthFinance Commission, SCSceased to exist," Jagan wrote.

He quoted a press releaseby the Ministry of Finance da-ted September 8, 2016, whereit contended that the Fourte-enth Finance CommissionReport had not taken intoaccount any distinctionbetween special and generalcategory states in determiningtheir norms and recommen-dations, and therefore this has

the effect of making the con-cept of SCS invalid.

"As a consequence, the statehas undergone immense suf-fering putting a heavy burdenon state finances," Jaganwrote. He said that given this,the state government had req-uested the Fifteenth FinanceCommission to consider theirrequest.

In their response to thestate government, theCommission said that theissue was beyond theirpurview and came under thejurisdiction of the Centre.

In his letter, Jagan quotedthe Chairman of the Comm-ission NK Singh's response toreporters in October 2018,where he said, "It would be atransgression of the Presiden-tial Notification by the Co-mmission if it considers theissue of SCS as it does not fig-ure in its Terms of Reference."

Jagan also pointed out thatthe report tabled in theParliament said, "Some stateshave requested the grant ofSCS. This does not constitutepart of the mandate of the FC-XV and remains entirely in thedomain of Centre, which cantake an appropriate decisionafter due consideration."

PNS n AMARAVATI

TDP president NChandrababu Naidu onWednesday said that that hisparty will "fully cooperate" inthe probe into the allegedinsider trading in the purchaseof lands in the core capital areaof Amaravati.

Addressing farmers on the50th day of their agitation atTulluru, Naidu thanked themfor sustaining their tempo.

Likening governance to amad dog, he said that ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy was spreading lies byproducing false witnesses ininsider trading issue.

"The President of India hadissued an order stating thatAmaravati is the Capital ofAndhra Pradesh," Naidu saidand recalled that it was onlydue to the efforts of GunturMP Galla Jayadev that theState Capital was added in thepolitical map of the country.

Naidu called upon farmersand women to intensify theirfight for Amaravati and chal-lenged the Chief Minister totake action against thoseinvolved in insider trading hehad evidence.

Stating that the YSRCP gov-ernment lacked credibility, theTDP chief said the farmerswere only demanding that the

government respect the dealsit had entered into variousagencies.

"Jagan does not know aboutgovernance. We shall not leavehim until he learns a lesson,"Naidu said.

YSRCP had neither an ide-ology nor ideals, Naidu said,adding that Amaravati farm-ers were not alone as fivecrore people of the state werebehind them.

Naidu said, "If JaganmohanReddy has the guts he shouldcome to Mandadam andTullur. There is no publicendorsement for the threeCapitals proposal put forth bythe government. The govern-ment should seek re-electionif it wants to go ahead with itsdecision on the Capital issue."

The Chief Minister was acoward who dared not comeout without police protection,the TDP chief said.

Stating that development,welfare and investments hadcome taken a backseat eversince the YSRCP governmenthad come to power, Naidusaid, "The YSRCP, which cometo power so speedily, willmake its exit in a similar fash-ion."

He said Capital had becomea joke for them and that wasthe reason why they were toy-ing with it like children.

Sustained protestsaffecting farmers PNS n GUNTUR

A mass pulse survey conduct-ed by Guntur-based neurolo-gist Ganta Srinivas and seniorphysician Yerra NageswaraRao for about three days on940 farmers of capital develop-ment region who have beenagitating for the past 49 daysrevealed that they have beensuffering from vagal tone phe-nomenon characterized byexcessive release of adrenalin.They also measured depres-sion score and happiness indexof farmers.

Release of more than

required quantities of adren-alin spikes BP, sugar levels,leads to formation of stones inkidneys, causes headache, irri-table bowel syndrome andgastric problems. The farm-ers are being deprived of sleepbecause of uncertainty overtheir future and fear about thefamily's prospects. Doctorshave been warning farmersthat this could lead to heart ail-ments and to paralysis. Thesample survey reports wouldbe forwarded to the WHOwith a request to its represen-tatives to undertake a study inthe capital region.

PNS n NELLORE

Lambasting TDP leaderDevineni Uma MaheswaraRao for his derogatory com-ments, Minister for WaterResources Anil Kumar Yadavon Wednesday said that nodevelopment work had beendone in the five years ofTDP rule.

Speaking to the mediahere, the Minister said theprevious TDP governmenthas looted money allotted forirrigation projects and didnot complete at least 30 percent of Polavaram Projectworks.

"Uma is afraid that theirregularities that took placeunder his watch would beexposed, hence his absurdcomments," Anil Kumar said.

Don't pool land,take back fromgrabbers: CPIPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Land pooling would not be required forhousing schemes if the land encroachedby realtors and political leaders isreclaimed by the administration, saidCPI national general secretary KNarayana on Wednesday.

During his inspection onWednesday of government lands thathave allegedly been encroached uponby politicians and realtors, Narayanasaid lands from the poor farmers whohave been eking out their living werebeing taken away by the governmentin the name of land pooling.

Around 2,000 acres have beengrabbed during the past few yearsaround the city that could be retrievedand used for housing scheme, he said.Narayana said a CPI team visitedMadhuravada in 2012 and found 7.4acres was under the process of grab-bing. “No action was taken,” he said.

AP sets up Dishapolice stations...

Continued from Page 1

Another unique aspectwill be a special `DishaControl Room' which willbe manned by 144 peopleround-the-clock to handledistress calls by women.

Also, a special `DishaApp' can be used by vic-tim in distress which willhave automatic SoS, emer-gency button, and if anyvictim can't talk, she canshake the handset for 10seconds wherein thephone camera will auto-matically turn on and a10-second audio-videowill reach ̀ Disha ControlRoom' apart from storednumbers of family mem-bers or close relativeswhich will give the exact

location of the victim indistress.

After the filing ofcharge sheet under ̀ DishaAct,' the trial should becompleted within 14working days. ThirteenSpecial Courts havealready been sanctionedwhich will have dedicated13 Public Prosecutors.The Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment has already ear-marked Rs 87 crore foradditional staff, police sta-tion buildings and court-rooms. For the imple-mentation of Disha Actwithout hassles, the stategovernment has appoint-ed two top-rankingwomen officials - DrKritika Shukla, IAS and MDeepika, IPS.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Veena Ish, newly-appointedVigilance Commissioner, aretired IAS officer of AP cadre,met Governor Biswa BhusanHarichandan on a courtesyvisit at the Raj Bhavan here onWednesday.

She appraised the Governorthat she recently assumedcharge as AP VigilanceCommissioner. The state gov-ernment issued orders appoint-ing Veena Ish as the VigilanceCommissioner for a period of

two years, after her retirementas Special Secretary in theDepartment of Land Resources,Government of India.

The Governor advised theVigilance Commissioner tostrengthen the functioning ofthe Commission and to takesteps keeping the overall ben-efit of the people in view andto protect the interests of thecommon man.

Mukesh Kumar Meena,Secretary to Governor andother officials were also pre-sent during the meeting.

Prioritise people'sinterests: Governor

Naidu promises‘full cooperation’

INSIDER TRADING PROBE

TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu addresses farmers on the 50thday of their agitation against the government’s proposal to set up three capitals,at Tulluru in Amaravati capital region on Wednesday.

Naidu taking up meaninglessprotests: C Ramachandraiah PNS n AMARAVATI

YSRCP General Secretary CRamachandraiah on Wednes-day accused TDP supremo NChandrababu Naidu of takingup "meaningless protests".

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Ramachandraiahalleged that Naidu has taken upa "fake movement" for politi-cal gains and the people werenot going to support him.

He said that Naidu was nota people's man and never wentto elections without the sup-port of other parties. "There isno rule that the governmenthas to do as per the wishes ofthe Leader of the Opposition.The government works for

public welfare. No one suitsbest example of Tughlaq rulethan Chandrababu Naidu, whoshifted from Hyderabad with"zero preparedness". Insidertrading will be proven and hewill be behind bars for sure,"

Ramachandraiah claimed.He said that the YSRCP

government was committed tothe welfare of the public anddevelopment of all regionsequally. "Decentralisation wastaken up as per the variousreports submitted by experts.Our Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy hasalready spoken to farmers ofAmaravati region and assuredthem that development wasguaranteed. ChandrababuNaidu is misleading the farm-ers for his political gains. Onthe other hand, Pawan Kalyanis seeking clarity even after theUnion Government clearlymentioned it in Parliament,"Ramachandraiah said.

Clear house sites applications, officials toldPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Krishna district collector A.Md. Imtiaz on Wednesdayinstructed revenue officials toexpedite checking the applica-tions received for free housesites and complete the processbefore February 15.

The collector held a reviewmeeting at the collector campoffice with the revenue officialsand Harinarayanan, the specialcommissioner appointed tomonitor house sites scheme.

Imtiaz said that they have

received a number of applica-tions for free house sitesthrough village volunteers, vil-lage secretariats and Spandanaprogrammes. He said all theapplications should be pursuedbefore February 15 and a list of

eligible beneficiaries preparedand ineligible applicationsrejected. He also told the rev-enue officials to mention thereason for rejection of theapplications.

The collector told officials to

take measures on par with thegovernment's aim to distributehouse sites to all beneficiariesby Ugadi festival. He said that300 layouts and 8,000 plotshave been identified and therevenue department informedthat steps should be taken toprocure land according to rev-enue divisions.

Joint collector Dr K MadhaviLatha, sub-collectors HMDhyanchand and SwapnilDinakar, RDO D Srinivas Rao,DWAMA PD Suryanarayanaand others were present.

Imtiaz said that they have received anumber of applications for freehouse sites through villagevolunteers, village secretariats andSpandana programmes

Devineni Umascared of beingexposed: Anil

Continued from Page 1

"Off icials shouldimmediately respond tothe requests that aremade in the portal to the541 services offered at thevillage secretariats such asthat of a pensioner. Theportal is not only linkedto the department con-cerned but also to theCMO. Even the secre-taries of the departmentconcerned should beinvolved in the process,"Jagan said.

"If there is a lapse any-where it will be the poorbeneficiary who would beat loss and it amounts tothe failure of the officialconcerned," said the ChiefMinister, adding that vol-unteers should personally

go to the houses of thebeneficiaries of pensionand ration cards to enlisttheir particulars andensure that nobody is leftout.

He said a phone call tothe beneficiary was a mustfrom the village secretari-at by the volunteers toinform about the status ofthe request made. Despiteall the efforts being madeby the village secretariatsto maintain transparencyin their functioning somenews channels and a sec-tion of the media werepromoting negativeresults, Jagan said.

He said that this can beavoided by maintainingperiodical indicators anddirected officials to main-tain an attendance register

for the volunteers. "Since each volunteer

has been entrusted withthe responsibility of 50households, there shouldnot be any scope for delaysin implementation of anyscheme. "As the systemwas introduced to takeadministration to thedoor-steps of the people,there should be no scopefor corruption and thirdparty verification wouldsolve the problem," theChief Minister said,adding that monthlyreview of the functioningof the secretariats was amust.

Chief Secretary NilamSawhney and officials ofthe departments con-cerned were among thosepresent.

Call beneficiaries on statusof complaints, orders CM

‘Restricted use' of HIVdrugs cleared for nCoV

Continued from Page 1

"We did our own dockingstudies and found that thiscould be a potentially usefuldrug against nCoV," an ICMRofficial said.

This combination alongwith other drugs has beenused in clinical trials in China,where the coronavirus firstemerged, and Thailand fortreating nCoV-affectedpatients.

"The DCGI has given a noobjection for restricted use ofthis drug combination — lo-pinavir and ritonavir — in caseof a public health emergencyon patients affected by nCoVas per the treatment protocoldesigned by the ICMR," agovernment source said.

"Before using this combo ofdrugs on any patient, the doc-

tor has to take an informedconsent from the patient," thesource said.

India has reported threeconfirmed cases of nCoV sofar from Kerala, where nearly2,000 people are under obser-vation in hospitals and homes.

Three medical students ofWuhan University, all nativesof Kerala, who recentlyreturned to India have testedpositive.

"As of now, patients arebeing treated with supportivetherapies," another source said.

On the directions of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, aGroup of Ministers (GoM) hasbeen formed to review, mon-itor and evaluate the pre-paredness to contain the dead-ly nCoV infection in the coun-try. The GoM had held its firstmeeting on Monday.

GVL advisesYSRCP to notpress forspecial status

Continued from Page 1

Further, he went on recordstating that Special CategoryStatus issue was a closedchapter and the ChiefMinister was well aware of it.

"The GO issued by the pre-vious regime on locating thestate capital at Amaravati wasnot final and if the new regimebrings out a new GO, theCentre would notify the same,"the MP clarified. However, hepointed out that the BJP ear-lier had adopted a resolutionto the effect that it was notproper to relocate the statecapital from Amaravati.

Unemployment rateat 6.1 % in 2017-18,govt cites new survey

Continued from Page 1

"We are focusing on infrastructuredevelopment and ease of doing businessand India's position in the world hasimproved. India has improved its positionto 63rd rank now in 2019 against 196 inprevious years," he said.

"Our government is very conscious ofcreating employment opportunities and isrunning such programme which generateemployment.

"The way our government is function-ing, employment opportunities are beingcreated and the youths are getting jobsalso," the minister said.

Gangwar said the government hasstopped the previous survey as the sam-ple size was low and an attempt is beingmade to improve the data by adding var-ious parameters and provide more authen-tic data. The minister said it will take timefor collection of data as households haveto be visited on the ground for authenticdata collection in rural areas also.

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 6, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

49 recommendationsshortlisted for policereformsNEW DELHI: The governmenthas shortlisted 49recommendations made byvarious panels for bringingpolice reforms and a meeting ofhome ministers of states wouldsoon be held to evolve ways toimplement them, Rajya Sabhawas informed on Wednesday.Replying to supplementariesduring Question Hour, UnionMinister of State for Home GKishan Reddy said fourcommittees have been set upfrom time to time for makingpolicing effective andtransparent, out of which thegovernment has identified 49 ofthem and is working on waysto implement them. "Thegovernment has set up fourcommittees from time to timewhich have made severalrecommendations. Thegovernment has shortlisted 49such recommendations and aremaking efforts to implementthese recommendations. Thegovernment is evolving ways toimplement them," the ministertold Rajya Sabha."The government is planning tohold a meeting of homeministers of states shortly on49 recommendations for policereforms made by variouscommittees. Changes in theCriminal Penal Code and IndianPenal Code are also beingenvisaged by the government inthis regard," he said.

Several shops gutted in Siliguri SILIGURI: A major fire guttedseveral shops in Siliguri'sRabindranagar Mor area in theearly hours of Wednesday,officials said. The blaze wasnoticed around 3 am and fivefire tenders were sent to douseit, they said. It took four hoursto contain the flames, an officialsaid, adding that eight shopswere gutted. Congress MLAShankar Malakar, TMC districtpresident Ranjan Sarkar, BJPdistrict chief Prabin Agarwaland several Left councillorsvisited the area and met theaffected traders.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High CourtWednesday said all the fourconvicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case have tobe executed together, not sep-arately, and dismissed theCentre's plea against the trialcourt's order staying the exe-cution of their death sentence.

The high court also faultedthe authorities concerned fornot taking steps for issuance ofdeath warrant after the rejec-tion of appeals of the accusedby the Supreme Court in 2017.

The Delhi government hadsought warrants for executionof death sentence to the fourconvicts on December 18, 2019.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kaitdirected the convicts toexhaust within seven days allthe remedies available to themafter which the authoritiesshould act as per law. The highcourt however said: "It cannotbe disputed that the convictshave frustrated the process byusing delaying tactics."

The Centre and the Delhigovernment had challengedthe trial court's January 31order staying "till furtherorders" the execution of all thefour convicts in the case --Mukesh Kumar Singh (32),Pawan Gupta (25), VinayKumar Sharma (26) andAkshay Kumar (31), who arelodged in Tihar Jail.

The parents of the victimhad urged the court to expedi-tiously decide the Centre's

plea and were assured by thejudge that the order would bepassed at the earliest.

The trial court had onJanuary 7 issued black war-rants for the execution of allthe four convicts in Tihar jailat 7 AM on January 22.However, they could not behanged due to pendency ofmercy petition of one of them.

On January 17, the trialcourt fixed February 1, 6 AMas the hanging date and time.

On January 31, the trialcourt again stayed the execu-tion as the counsel for threeconvicts — Pawan, Vinay andAkshay — urged it to adjournthe matter "sine die" sayingtheir legal remedies were yet tobe exhausted.

While the mercy pleas ofMukesh and Vinay have beenrejected by the President,Pawan has not yet filed it.Akshay's mercy plea was filedon February 1 and is pending.

The Centre and Delhi gov-ernment approached the highcourt on February 1, challeng-ing the trial court's order stay-ing the execution.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, representing them, hadcontended that it was a delib-erate and calculated design ofthe convicts to "frustrate man-date of law" by getting their exe-cution delayed and they werenot entitled to any more time.

The counsel for the convictsopposed the plea saying it wasnot maintainable and that theCentre was never a party in thecase proceedings before thetrial court and while the gov-ernment was accusing the con-vict of delay, it has woken uponly now.

Nirbhaya, 23-year-old para-medic student, was raped andbrutally assaulted on the inter-vening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving busin south Delhi by six persons,before being thrown out on theroad. She died on December29, 2012 in Singapore's MountElizabeth Hospital.

Execute convicts in Nirbhayacase together: Delhi HC

PNS n NEW DELHI

Rajya Sabha witnessed a briefexchange of words betweenmembers of treasury benchesand Congress on Wednesday astwo members from the rulingBJP raised the issue of allegedinvolvement of an AAP work-er in the Shaheen Bagh firingincident.

Soon after ministers tabledlisted papers, Vijay Goel (BJP)tried to raise the issue and wasstrongly opposed by someCongress members.

However, Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu did not allowGoel to proceed with his argu-ments and asked members toraise permitted issues for ZeroHour.

Later, BJP MP BhupenderYadav, as part of his ZeroHour mention, referred to the

upcoming Delhi Assemblyelections and without namingany party or place referred tothe firing incident.

He said the Delhi Police hasreleased certain pictures fol-lowing its investigation in thefiring incident.

Some Congress membersagain objected. To this, Yadav

said the gunman does notbelong to the Congress party.

Yadav also wondered how apolitical party (in an apparentreference to AAP) can think ofsending a legal notice to thepolice officer who is conductinginquiry into the firing incident.

The Delhi Police has saidthat Kapil Baisala, who opened

fired at the Shaheen Baghprotest site last week is a mem-ber of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP).

Yadav said registration of thepolitical party, which is "crim-inalising politics" in Delhishould be cancelled.

Meanwhile, senior CongressMP Jairam Ramesh said stateswere not getting share of taxesas per the devolution formula.He said states should get 42 percent share but they are expect-ed to get only 30 per cent dur-ing the current fiscal.

According to him, the devo-lution was only 35 per cent inthe previous two years. "It is abreach of promise" that wasmade in the Budget. His partycolleague Digivjaya Singh saidthe Centre was not giving duesof states' shares in taxes becauseof lower revenue collections.

BJP, Cong raise Shaheen Bagh firing matter in RS

PNS n NEW DELHI

A Parliamentary panel hasrecommended that not onlyclose relatives but any womanwho is "willing" should beallowed to act as a surrogate.

The 15 major changes sug-gested by the 23-member selectcommittee of Rajya Sabha to theSurrogacy (Regulation) Bill,2019, also include deleting thedefinition of 'infertility' as theinability to conceive after fiveyears of unprotected inter-course on the ground that it wastoo long a period for a coupleto wait for a child.

The committee has alsoadvocated that 'single Indianwoman' like a widow or adivorcee in the age group of 35to 45 years may also be allowedto avail surrogacy.

Noting that restricting thesurrogate mother to be a 'closerelative' potentially limits theavailability of surrogate moth-ers, affecting the genuinelyneedy persons, the panel hasrecommended removal of thisrequirement from the Bill.

The Committee recom-mended that "a willing womanshall act as surrogate motherand be permitted to undergosurrogacy procedures as per theprovisions of this Act."

It also suggested increasingthe insurance cover for the

surrogate mother from pro-posed 16 months to 36 months.

The Surrogacy (Regulation)Bill, 2019 is yet to be passed bythe Rajya Sabha.

The committee held 10 meet-ings since the Bill was referredto it by the Rajya Sabha onNovember 21, 2019.

Chairman of the committeeBhupender Yadav presentedthe report on Wednesday.

Regarding the eligibility cri-teria for availing surrogacy pro-cedure, the committee recom-mended removing the provisionof requirement of five years asthe period of inability to con-ceive before opting for the pro-cedure.

It noted that there may becertain proven medical condi-tions like absence of uterus by

birth, non-functional uterus,removal of uterus due to can-cer, fibroids etc or patients withchronic medical conditionwhere normal pregnancy isruled out and it is medicallyproven beyond any doubt thatsurrogacy is the only option.

The panel further observedthat the requirement of obtain-ing certificate of proven infer-tility is not at all justified in suchcases. With the proposed dele-tion of the definition of 'infer-tility', needy persons can availsurrogacy any time on the basisof a certificate of medical indi-cation requiring gestational sur-rogacy, it said.

"There are conditions underwhich a single person gen-uinely needs to avail surrogacyoption to have child. One such

situation is a young aged widow,who is otherwise capable butcannot carry child because offear of social stigma attached topregnancy of widow in oursociety," the panel noted.

The panel also proposed thata provision be included in theBill allowing persons of Indianorigin (PIOs) to avail surroga-cy in the country after obtain-ing a certificate of recommen-dation from the SurrogacyBoards. Noting that the proce-dure of surrogacy poses risks ofmedical complications andhealth hazards, post-partum(after delivery) and to secure themother financially and health-wise, the committee sought anincrease in the insurance cov-erage from 16 months to 36months.

The Committee also recom-mended a modification in thedefinition of altruistic surroga-cy so as to cover 'other pre-scribed expenses' on nutrition-al food required and materni-ty-wear etc, vital for the wellbe-ing and upkeep of the surrogatemother.

In order to protect the inter-est of the child born throughsurrogacy, the committee rec-ommended that the orderregarding parentage and cus-tody of child to be issued by aMagistrate shall be the birthaffidavit of surrogate child.

DELHI POLLS

PNS n NEW DELHI

AAP supremo and Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal invit-ed Union Home Minister AmitShah for a public debate on anyissue on Wednesday, saying thepeople of the national capitalwanted to know why shouldthey vote for the BJP in theFebruary 8 Assembly polls.

He also wondered why theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) didnot clear the roads near ShaheenBagh, where a public protestagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Act (CAA) isgoing on for nearly two months,and said the saffron party wasdoing "dirty politics" over theissue to grab power in Delhi.

The people of the nationalcapital wanted to know whathad the BJP done for Delhi inthe last five years, Kejriwal said,seeking to know why the saffronparty was opposing freeschemes for Delhiites.

He said Shah was seeking

people's votes saying he willdecide who will be the next chiefminister of Delhi.

"How can the people of Delhigive you (Shah) a blank cheque?They are not fools," the AamAadmi Party (AAP) nationalconvenor said.

"I want to invite Amit Shahjiwith an open mind and honestyfor a debate on any issue beforethe people of Delhi to makedemocracy strong.... He candecide the time and place for thedebate," he said.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal had

challenged the BJP to declare itschief ministerial face for Delhiby 1 pm on Wednesday and saidhe was ready for a public debate.

"I ask Amit Shah that if hisparty does not want to declarethe name its chief ministerialcandidate, he should at least tellthe names of the likely candi-dates. Whether Smriti Irani,Manoj Tiwari, Vijay Goel,Hardeep Singh Puri are the like-ly chief ministerial candidates,"he told reporters on Wednesday.

"You (Shah) are telling peo-ple that the Centre has abrogat-ed Article 370 of theConstitution and paved theway for the construction of aRam temple. People havealready voted you (BJP) topower for this (in the 2019 LokSabha polls)," he said.

Kejriwal added that the BJPhad fielded 10 chief ministers ofstates ruled by the party and 70Union ministers for campaign-ing for the upcoming polls todefeat a small person like him.

PNS n JAMMU

A group of activists at a confer-ence of the Jammu and KashmirUnity Foundation (JKUF) onWednesday expressed hope thatthe reorganisation of the erst-while state into two union terri-tories would lead to a balanceddevelopment and peace in theregion. The seminar on the top-ic "unheard voices of Jammu,Kashmir and Ladakh" here bro-ught together the unrepresentedcommunities including Dogras,Gujjars, West Pakistan refugees,Kashmiri Pandits and Ladakhis,a release issued by the JKUF said.It said the prominent speakers inthe seminar were president J &K Ex-Servicemen League MajGen G S Jamwal, prominentMuslim intellectual and peace

activist Capt (retd) SikandarRizvi, chairman Panun KashmirAjay Chrungoo, president WestPakistani Refugees Labha RamGandhi and senior Ladakhileader Lobzang Angchuk.

"The panelists in unanimousvoice said the abrogation ofArticle 370 is a historicalmoment and it has dismantleda hegemonic order controlled byKashmiri Muslims. They saidJammu and Kashmir was nevergoverned on a principle of par-ticipation and equality," thestatement said.

It said the panelists alsoalleged that the patriotic seg-ments of the population ofJammu and Kashmir belongingto all communities had alwaysbeen "discriminated and mar-ginalised which led to the

growth of separatism and pan-Islamic fundamentalism".

"It is an imperative necessitythat the new order created by

reorganisation of Jammu andKashmir state into two unionterritories will usher in an era ofequality, participative democra-cy, balanced development andpeace," the panelists said.

Referring to the abrogation ofArticle 370 provisions and bifur-cation of Jammu and Kashmirinto union territories in August

last year, president JKUF AjaatJamwal said it is time to takestock of things so that the "rev-olutionary changes" percolatedown to the grassroots andgovernments in the UTs and theCentre are made aware of thecurrents, cross currents andundercurrents at people's level.

"We are all aware that lot

needs to be done to clear themess of the previous hegemon-ic political order during thepast 72 years in the erstwhilestate. It is critical government lis-tens to the unheard marginalisedpeople of the UTs. If it is doneproperly, that will be a sure wayof moving into a period ofprogress, development andpeace," he said.

Rizvi said the partition ofIndia in 1947 and its impact onJammu and Kashmir and the"genocide" of Hindus and Sikhsin Pakistan were "monumentaltragedies" which were ignoredand denied. "This denial andcriminal inability to respond onthe part of the political class andthe governments of the day ledto the growth of separatismand communalism in Jammu

and Kashmir. It is high time wecorrect this approach so that asecular, egalitarian political orderemerges in which all people reapthe fruits of progress on the prin-ciple of equality," he said.

Angchuk alleged that theLadakh region has faced "utmostneglect" during the past 72 yearsand whatever tourism potentialhas been exploited is not just aniota of what the region can offer.

"Kashmiri leadership exploit-ed the people of Jammu andLadakh and no opportunities ofjobs, employment, develop-ment, tourism were provided tous," he alleged, adding UnionTerritory for Ladakh was thepersistent demand of the peo-ple of the area and now "wehope to proceed on a path ofunprecedented development".

Hope reorganisation of J-K will lead to peace, development in region: Activists

‘Surrogate mother neednot be close relative’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Asia can play a leadership rolein mega astronomy projectslike the one that captured thefirst-ever image of a blackhole, according to Paul Ho,Director General of East AsianObservatory (EAO).

The breakthrough image ofthe black hole captured lastyear by the Event HorizonTelescope (EHT) was based ona technique for imaging far-away cosmic objects, known asVery Long BaselineInterferometry (VLBI).

A study, published in thejournal Nature Astronomy in2018, said the VLBI techniqueoffers resolution superior toany other astronomical instru-ment at other wavelengths.

This enables high-precisionimaging of cosmic sources ofradio waves such as black holes,stars, gas and dust clouds.

In this technique, the obser-vations made by individualtelescopes separated by verylarge distances are combined,

mimicking a single large tele-scope with a size equal to themaximum separation betweeneach of them, the studyexplained.

"Years ago, we thought wewould have to build a verylarge space telescope to imagea black hole," Paul Hertz, direc-tor of the astrophysics divisionat NASA Headquarters in theUS, had said post the break-through announcement. "Bygetting radio telescopes aroundthe world to work in concert

like one instrument, the EHTteam achieved this, decadesahead of time," Hertz said.

According to Ho, if scientistshave to study, for instance, thesupermassive black hole at thecentre of the Milky Way galaxy,which is 1000 times bigger, and1000 times farther than the onewhose image was developedlast year, more telescopes areneeded to be a part of the VLBIapproach. Ho was speaking atthe Vigyan Samagam, a 'MegaScience Exhibition' held here

last month.He added that eight tele-

scopes participated in theexperiment to form the first-ever image of a black hole, andthese telescopes were distrib-uted all over the Earth.

Ho noted Asia is working onfour more radio-telescopes,with the continent's participa-tion in astronomy already sig-nificant.

"The way Asia can dominatethe field is to contribute to build-ing a very large network of tele-scopes which act together tomakeup a single large telescopethe size of the Earth," he said.

He said building a radio-telescope in the Tibetianmountains to be part of aVLBI network with those inGreenland, Japan, Korea, andHawaii can be a strategicupgrade in the approach.

"In the Tibet highlands,there is very high elevations.For astronomy, it is veryimportant to get up abovewater as much as possible," Hotold.

Asia can lead world astronomy projects: EAO chief

LPG coverage 96.9 per centas on Jan 1, 2020: PradhanPNS n NEW DELHI

There are about 27.5 crore LPGor cooking gas connections inthe country and the coverage hasreached 96.9 per cent as onJanuary 1 this year, Rajya Sabhawas informed on Wednesday.

"We have 27.5 crore LPGconnections in the country. Ofwhich, 8 crore connections havebeen done under PradhanMantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY)," Petroleum andNatural Gas MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said dur-ing Question Hour in RajyaSabha. Responding to a query onlower LPG connections in Bihar,the minister said the state hadachieved 22-23 per cent cover-

age when the scheme waslaunched. Now, the penetrationhas increased to 75 per cent inthe last five years.

"LPG business began in thelast 65 years. In 60 years, we wereable to achieve 22-23 per centcoverage. But in last five years,the coverage has increased to 75per cent. Bihar is one of the

major beneficiary states of thePMUY," he said.

The initiative to provide moreLPG connections in Bihar in thefuture will continue, he added.

Responding to another queryif the government will take spe-cial measures to provide LGPconnections in Naxal areas ofChhattishgarh and Jharkhand,Pradhan said the objective ofPMUY is to provide cooking gasfacility in most remote andbackward areas of the country.

The average penetration ofLPG connections in these twostates was 20-25 per cent.However in the last five years, ithas increased to 75 per cent inChhattisgarh and 77 per cent inJharkhand, he added.

Burqa-clad woman,identified asYouTuber GunjaKapoor, detainedNEW DELHI: A woman YouTuberdonning a burqa was detainedon Wednesday at Delhi'sShaheen Bagh after anti-CAAprotesters caught her asking "toomany questions", police said. Thewoman was identified as GunjaKapoor, they said. She describesherself as the curator of YouTubechannel 'Right Narrative' on herofficial Twitter handle. Accordingto police, the protesters turnedsuspicious after the womanasked "too many questions" tothem. She was caught by someof the women protesters afterthey identified her as YouTuberKapoor.

"The panelists in unanimous voice saidthe abrogation of Article 370 is ahistorical moment and it hasdismantled a hegemonic ordercontrolled by Kashmiri Muslims. Theysaid Jammu and Kashmir was nevergoverned on a principle of participationand equality," the statement said

Kejriwal invites Shah for public debate

The high courthowever said: "Itcannot bedisputed that theconvicts havefrustrated theprocess by usingdelaying tactics."

PARLIAMENTARY PANEL’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Single woman can avail surrogacy

PNS n LUCKNOW

India is eyeing defence exportof USD 5 billion in the nextfive years, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said onWednesday, highlighting themeasures taken by his govern-ment to boost manufacturingand woo investors to set up abase in the country.

Inaugurating the 11th edi-tion of DefExpo here, Modisaid a country of the size ofIndia cannot entirely dependon imports and added thenumber of defence licensesissued in the last five years hasrisen to 460 from 210 in 2014,the year he first came to power.

India is building severaldefence equipment likeartillery guns, aircraft carriers,submarines, light-combat air-craft, and combat helicopters,he said.

"Our mantra is Make inIndia, for India, for world. In2014 the export of defenceequipment from India wasabout Rs 2,000 crore. In the last2 years it has gone up to Rs17,000 crore. In the next fiveyears our target is export ofUSD 5 billion, which is aboutRs 35,000 crore," the primeminister said. India is not onlya major market globally but avast opportunity for the worldas well, he said, asserting thatUttar Pradesh is going to beone of the biggest defencemanufacturing hubs in India.

Lack of proper policy initia-

tive in last several decadesmade India the biggestimporter of defence platforms,he added.

Modi cited misuse of tech-nology, terrorism and cyberthreat as challenges facing theworld and said defence forcesare eyeing new technologyconsidering new threats. Indiais not behind others, he added.

He said a roadmap hadbeen finalised to use applica-tion of artificial intelligence indefence sector.

The prime minister said thecreation of the post of Chief ofDefence Staff and theDepartment of Military Affairs

will boost the overall defenceproduction.

"We are going to enhanceour presence in the outer spacein coming years," he said,adding that the DRDO isputting up effective protectionfor India's assets in outer spacecreated by ISRO.

"Our defence preparednessis not aimed at any country asIndia is a reliable contributorto world peace. It's our respon-sibility to ensure security of notonly India but countries in theneighbourhood as well," hesaid. He invited foreigndefence manufacturers to"come and invest in India.

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 6, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

MP: Leopard run overon national highwaySHIVPURI (MP): A leopard wasallegedly run over by anunidentified vehicle on anational highway in MadhyaPradesh's Shivpuri district, aforest official said onWednesday. The two-year-oldleopard was found dead on theNational Highway no. 3 onTuesday evening, conservatorforest Y P Satyam said.The animal had been run overby an unidentified vehicle andhad died on the spot, he said,adding that forest officials wereprobing the incident.

BJP party of ‘fekus’ : Mamata

2 militants, 1 CRPFjawan killed ingunbattle near SrinagarSRINAGAR: Two militants anda CRPF jawan were killed in agunbattle in Shalteng inParampora area outsideSrinagar in Jammu andKashmir on Wednesday, policesaid. The encounter began afterthree bike-borne militantsopened fire on the CRPFpersonnel who were posted ata mobile checking unit in thearea, officials said. One CRPFjawan was killed after beinginjured in the attack. He hasbeen identified as RajeevRanjan, a CRPF spokespersonsaid. The security forcesretaliated, killing two militants,he said, adding that the thirdmilitant was captured in aninjured condition when he wastrying to flee from the spot. The spokesperson said therewere intelligence inputs thatmilitants would try to carry outstrikes at security installationsin Kashmir ahead of the 7thdeath anniversary of Parliamentattack convict Afzal Guru. The security personnel hadbeen asked to remain on highalert from February 8-14,February 9 being the day Guruwas hanged in 2013, February11 when JKLF founderMaqbool Bhat was hanged in1984, and February 14 beingthe anniversary of last year'sPulwama attack, thespokesperson said.

KRISHNANAGAR(WB): WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Wednesdaydescribed BJP as a partyof "fekus" (those who bluff)who threaten people with gunsand bullets to divide thecountry on the basis of religion.Without naming Union ministerAnurag Thakur or his ‘gaddaronko goli maro saalo ko" remark,Banerjee, who was speaking ata convention of TMC workersat Krishnagar in Nadia district,questioned how a centralminister continues ina constitutional post despitespeaking unconstitutionally.The TMC supremo alsoslammed Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath for his"goli vs boli" comment. Shesaid, "BJP is a feku party. It isonly interested in giving outfake news. It is trying to dividethe country on the basis ofreligion and are threateningpeople with guns and bullets"."I was born in Hindustan, not ina nation governed by BJP whoattack people with guns andbullets," she added.

Our mantra is Make in India, for India, for world. In2014 the export of defence equipment from Indiawas about Rs 2,000 crore. In the last 2 years it has

gone up to Rs 17,000 crore. In the next five years our targetis export of USD 5 billion, which is about Rs 35,000 crore

— NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister

PM: Targeting $ 5 bndefence exports in 5 yrs

FIRING AT MEDICAL SHOP

PNS n MUMBAI

Five people associated withthe Uday Pathak gang havebeen arrested in connectionwith the firing outside a med-ical shop in Kurar area of sub-urban Malad, a police officialsaid on Wednesday.

The main accused, whoopened fire outside AnandMedical Store in Bheem mar-ket area of Kurar village onSaturday, was yet to benabbed, he said, without iden-tifying the attacker.

"We have arrested five peo-ple late Tuesday night in con-nection with the firing,"senior police inspectorBabasaheb Salunkhe said. Theaccused have been identifiedas Nikhil ChandrakantRokade (30), Sooraj BapuSagre (28), Vikas JaiprakashPandey alias Pillu (23), JeetuPrakash Garosia alias Chitlya(30) and Pravin PrakashBawiskar alias Perry (22).During the probe, the policecame to know that the mainaccused practised firing at aforest and also did a recce ofthe place before the incident,the official said. After the fir-ing, the accused left a note atthe spot in which he demand-ed Rs five crore from theowner of Anand MedicalStore and Rs one crore fromRokadiya Traders locatednearby, he said.

The accused used a coun-

try-made pistol for firing. Heand those arrested are associ-ated with the gang of UdayPathak, who is currentlylodged at the Arthur Road jailhere in the case of killing offour youths at Kurar in 2011,the official said.

"After the firing incident onSaturday, we enquired withsome youths in vicinity whorecently met Pathak in jail.We came to know someonepractised firing in a forest

area nearby," he said. Actingon a tip-off, the police firstnabbed Rokade and on thebasis of information provid-ed by him, four others werearrested, he said.

The accused have beenbooked under Indian PenalCode Sections 307 (attempt tomurder), 387 (extortion),120-B (criminal conspiracy)and provisions of the ArmsAct and the Bombay PoliceAct, the official added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Cabinet onWednesday gave its approvalto confer the status ofInstitution of NationalImportance (INI) to fiveIndian Institutes ofInformation Technology(IIITs).

The Five IIITs in PPP modeat Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur,Agartala and Raichur willnow be able to use the nomen-clature of Bachelor ofTechnology (BTech) or Masterof Technology (MTech) orPhD degree.

The cabinet chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi approved the IndianInstitutes of InformationTechnology (IIITs) Laws(Amendment) Bill, 2020.

"The bill will declare theremaining 5 IIITs-PPP alongwith the existing 15 IIITs inPPP mode as 'Institutions ofNational Importance' withpowers to award degrees. Thiswill entitle them to use thenomenclature of Bachelor ofTechnology (BTech) or Masterof Technology (MTech) orPhD degree as issued by a uni-versity or institution ofNational Importance," an offi-cial statement said.

It will also enable the insti-tutes to attract enough stu-dents required to develop astrong research base in thecountry in the field of infor-mation technology," it added.

The cabinet also approvedex-post facto to 21 posts of

directors, one each in 20 IIITs(PPP) and one in IIITDMKurnool (IIIT-CFTI) besidesex-post facto to 21 posts ofregistrars, one each in 20 IITs(PPP) and one in IIITDMKurnool (IIT-CFTI).

"The objective of theapproval is for formalisationof IIITs at Surat, Bhopal,Bhagalpur, Agartala andRaichur. These IIITs arealready functioning as soci-eties registered under theSocieties Registration Act of1860. They will now be cov-ered under the IIIT (PPP) Act,

2017, similar to the other 15IIITs established under thescheme in PPP mode," thestatement said.

"IIITDM Kurnool has beenestablished as per the IIIT Act,2014 and is functioning withthe other 4 IIITs namely IIITAllahabad, IIITM Gwalior,IIITDM Jabalpur, IIITDMKancheepuram. The post ofDirector and Registrar inthese IIITs are already existingand the present proposalmerely formalises them with-out any additional financialoutgo," it said.

Cabinet approves conferringINI status to five IIITs

The cabinet also approved ex-post factoto 21 posts of directors, one each in 20IIITs (PPP) and one in IIITDM Kurnool(IIIT-CFTI) besides ex-post facto to 21posts of registrars, one each in 20 IITs(PPP) and one in IIITDM Kurnool (IIT-CFTI)

Uddhav Thackerayhails formation of trustfor Ram temple PNS n MUMBAI

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray onWednesday congratulatedPrime Minister NarendraModi over the UnionCabinet's approval of forma-tion of a trust to construct aRam temple in Ayodhya.

Modi announced in theLok Sabha the formation of atrust to construct the temple,as directed by the SupremeCourt in its landmark verdictin the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case inNovember last year.

Thackeray said the apexcourt had given a historicdecision on the constructionof Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"It was mandatory for thegovernment to implementthe decision. I congratulatePrime Minister NarendraModi for taking steps toimplement the court's deci-sion," Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabhamember Sanjay Raut tweetedThackeray as saying.

Leader of Opposition inthe state Assembly DevendraFadnavis also hailed theCentre's announcement as"historic".

"The wait for a grand tem-ple of Lord Ram will be oversoon," he tweeted.

A permanent provisionthat one of the 15 trustees willbe from the SC (scheduledcaste) community shows theinclusive approach of the BJPled government, he said.

Hailing the decision, MNSchief Raj Thackeray hopedthe process to construct thetemple would be expedited.

"The central Cabinet hasgiven a go-ahead to form'Shri Ram JanambhoomiTirtha Kshetra' assigned inthe task building of the RamMandir. We thus, expect theprocess of building the RamMandir to be expedited and

we wholeheartedly applaudthe decision of the entireCabinet," he tweeted.

The Supreme Court haddirected the government toform the trust within threemonths and the deadline wasending on February 9.

Making a statement in theLok Sabha soon after meetingof the Union Cabinet onWednesday, Modi said, "Wehave readied a scheme for thedevelopment of Ram templein Ayodhya. A trust has beenformed, it is called 'Shri RamJanambhoomi TeerthaKshetra."

It has also been decided totransfer 67.703 acre land tothe trust, he said, addingthat the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment has agreed to givefive acre of land to the UPSunni Wakf Board, as direct-ed by the Supreme Court inthe Ayodhya matter.

It was mandatory forthe government toimplement the

decision. I congratulate PrimeMinister Narendra Modi fortaking steps to implement thecourt's decision

— UDDHAV THACKERAYMaharashtra Chief Minister

PNS n INDORE

On a day the Union Cabinetapproved formation of a trust toconstruct a Ram temple inAyodhya, VHP internationalpresident Vishnu SadashivKokje on Wednesday hopedthat it would be built on themodel proposed by the Hindubody earlier. The announce-ment on setting up autonomous"Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha

Kshetra", as directed by theSupreme Court in its land-mark verdict in the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidcase in November last year, wasmade in the Lok Sabha byPrime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We expect that the newly-formed trust will build a grandtemple on Ram Janmabhoomias per the model prepared ear-lier by the Ram JanmabhoomiNyas," Kokje said over phone.

He said many pillars for theproposed temple had been pre-pared as per the VHP modeland stones being carved sincethe last three decades.

"Sentiments of thousands ofsaints and lakhs of Hindus areassociated with this popularmodel of Ram temple whichwas displayed on several occa-sions," Kokje added.

Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas wasestablished on December 18,

1985 with the objective to con-struct a grand temple of LordRam at the site in Ayodhya. TheVHP started carving stones forthe temple in the year 1990 inits workshop.

While making announce-ment about the trust, the primeminister also said the govern-ment has decided to transfer67.70 acres of land acquiredunder the Ayodhya Act to the trust.

‘Hope new trust will build Ram temple on VHP model’

Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje

5 arrested, main accused at large

The accused used a country-made pistol for firing. He and those arrestedare associated with the gang of UdayPathak, who is currently lodged at theArthur Road jail here in the case of killing of four youths at Kurar in 2011, the official said

PNS n KOTTAYAM(KER)

A day after the Union HomeMinistry told Parliament thatno case of "Love Jihad" hasbeen reported by any of thecentral agencies, the BJP onWednesday claimed that itwas a reality, which is happen-ing in Kerala.

Throwing its weight behindthe Bishops of Syro-MalabarCatholic Church, who kickedup a debate in the state recent-ly over the incidents of "LoveJihad" in the state, BJP nation-al executive member P KKrishnadas urged the HomeMinistry to carry out a "com-prehensive probe" into suchcases to bring out real facts.

"The term 'Love jihad' is notdefined under the extant lawsbut it is a fact that Love Jihadis happening (in Kerala),"Krishnadas told reporters here.

He accused the presentCPI(M)-led LDF governmentand previous Congress-ledUDF government of not givinga proper report to the Centre

over the issue of "Love Jihad"."The state governments con-

trolled by the UDF and LDFgive reports to the Centre say-ing that such incidents are notat all happening in Kerala,"Krishnadas alleged.

He said the BJP shared theviews of the Syro-MalabarChurch on the issue of "LoveJihad".

"The complaint and allega-tions raised by the Syro-Malabar Church on the issueof "Love Jihad" is based on factsand truth. We share theirviews," he said.

The Syro-Malabar Churchalso reacted to the Central gov-ernment's clarification on"Love Jihad", saying the cir-

cumstances under which theSynod of the Church made the statement on the issue stillexists.

Seeking an investigation intothe issue, the Church, in astatement, made it clear thatthe statement of the Synod wasnot meant to disturb the com-munal harmony prevail in theKerala society.

It said the synod had onlyexpressed its opinion thatinter-religious love affairs cre-ate troubles in family and soci-ety at large and that such casesshould be probed.

Krishnadas said the BJPalso does not see the "LoveJihad" as an issue betweentwo religions.

"Don't mistake it as an issuebetween two religions. There isno religion for terrorists. Wedon't see it as a Hindu-Muslimissue or a Christian-Muslimissue," he said. In a writtenreply to a question, UnionMinister of State for Home GKishan Reddy on Tuesdayinformed the Parliament thatthe term "Love Jihad" is notdefined under the extant lawsand no case of "Love Jihad" hasbeen reported by any of thecentral agencies.

The Minister had said theArticle 25 of the Constitutionprovides for the freedom toprofess, practice and propagatereligion subject to public order,morality and health.

‘Love jihad’ is a reality in Kerala, claims BJP leader

‘233 peopleslapped withsedition chargein 2014-18’PNS n NEW DELHI

As many as 233 people wereslapped with the charge ofsedition for their alleged anti-national activities — thehighest 37 each were regis-tered in Assam andJharkhand — in the last fiveyears, the Rajya Sabha wasinformed on Wednesday.

Union Minister of State forHome G Kishan Reddy saidas per the National CrimeRecords Bureau (NCRB), thecharge of sedition under sec-tion 124A of the IPC wasslapped against 70 people in2018, 51 people in 2017, 35 in 2016, 30 in 2015 and 47 in 2014. Reddy said, whilereplying to a written question,that 37 people in Assam andJharkhand each were slappedwith sedition charge between2014 and 2018.

A total of 29 people wereslapped with sedition chargein Haryana during the saidperiod, he said.

‘All five polling stationsin Shaheen Bagh putunder critical category’PNS n NEW DELHI

In view of the ongoing anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh,the Delhi poll body has put allfive polling stations in the areaunder critical category, anofficial said on Wednesday.

Talking to reporters, DelhiChief Electoral Officer RanbirSingh said five polling stationshave about 40 booths.

He said security personnelwill carry out marches andpatrolling in the area to boostconfidence of voters.

Hundreds of people,including women and chil-dren, have been protestingsince December 15 atShaheen Bagh against theCitizenship (AmendmentAct) and the NationalRegister of Citizens.

UP Cabinet okays proposalto set up 16 cybercrimepolice stations in statePNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet onWednesday approved a pro-posal to set up 16 cybercrimepolice stations in the state.A total of 18 proposalswere approved in aCabinet meetingheaded by ChiefMinister YogiAdityanath, gov-e r n m e n ts p o k e s p e r s o nSidharth Nath Singhtold reporters here.

"The cabinet has approveda proposal to establish cyber-crime police stations in UPPolice's 16 zonal headquartersin Bareilly, Moradabad,Saharanpur, Agra, Aligarh,Kanpur, Jhansi, Prayagraj,Chitrakoot, Gorakhpur,

Devipatan, Basti, Varanasi,Azamgarh, Mirzapur andAyodhya," he said.

The cabinet also approved aproposal of nominating teach-

ers of the ProvisionalMedical Service (PMS)

cadre based on theirabilities as profes-sors and associateprofessors on dep-utation inAyodhya, Basti,

B a h r a i c h ,Shahjahanpur and

Firozabad medical col-leges. These colleges wereestablished with the help of thecentral Government. The cab-inet also approved an amend-ment to the web media poli-cy, under which websites with50,000 hits will now get adver-tisements under the DAVP.

It is speculative how the militaryparade became the centerpiece inRepublic Day celebrations at Rajpath.The Republic Day commemoratesJanuary 26, 1950, the day the bulk of

the Constitution of India came into force.The armed forces had no role in its mak-ing and the text nowhere refers to them.However, given the robust traditions of anapolitical army, institutionalised by theBritish, there was never a conflict betweenthe civilian government and the military inIndia. No doubt General K.M. Cariappa(Retd), India’s first Chief of Army Staff, hadblurted out in 1971 that the Constitutionshould be scrapped, and India should beplaced under military rule, at least temporar-ily, “to put things right in the country.” Buthe never lost his credentials or post-retire-ment benefits on account of such sacrilege.He was still invested with the Five StarGeneral Rank or Field Marshal by thePresident. That is the beauty of democra-cy.

In contrast, the United States ofAmerica, the world’s oldest modern democ-racy, took long to reconcile itself with thenecessity of a large standing Army. TheArmy, unlike the Navy, was perceived as apotential threat to the civilian government.This is despite the fact that the first USPresident, George Washington, had been areputed general himself. When the US gotaccidentally drawn into the World War I onApril 6, 1917, its standing Army was a con-stabulary force of 127,151 in addition to anational guard of 181,620. Though itexpanded to 3.68 million troops within 18months of WWI, it again shrunk to a sizeof 125,000 personnel between 1919 and1939, the smallest for any great power.

The World War II inflated the size of theArmy to 8.3 million troops, about five mil-lion of whom were posted overseas. It is esti-mated that 12 per cent of the US popula-tion served in some branch of the militaryduring the WWII. As the Cold War followedthe World War II, the US came to rely onits military superiority as a means of pro-tecting the “free world.” The military pactslike NATO, ANZUS, CENTO and SEATObecame the order of the day.

In the post-WWII phase, both India andthe US demonstrated a divergent approachtowards democracy and militarisation.India became the world’s largest democra-cy based on a universal adult suffrage. Butthis status found little reflection in thenation’s foreign policy. The significance ofIndia becoming a democracy was never fullyrealised. By the end of WWII, there wereonly 12 democracies left in the world, downfrom all 29 in 1926, courtesy the rise ofauthoritarian regimes based on fascism andNazism. The defeat of the Axis Powers sig-nalled a process of re-democratisation. Butthe Russian victory also meant expansionof Communism, which sealed the fate of re-democratisation in a number of countries

in WWII. Writing in 1950,John Foster Dulles, later to beUS Secretary of State, says,“Already Soviet Communismhas extended its control overmore than 700,00,000 people, orabout, one third of the humanrace. This has happened inthirty three years. Never beforehave so few gained so much, sofast (War or Peace, P.2).” Dulles,when he became Secretary ofState (1953-59), favoured thepolicy of “liberation” of EastEurope and other communist-dominated regions, as againstthe “containment” theory ofhis predecessor Dean Acheson.

At a time when one-third ofhumanity was somehow underthe sway of Communism, it wasno mean achievement to bringone sixth of humanity to thelight of democracy. This polit-ical “miracle” happened inIndia. As a result of the first gen-eral elections in 1951-52, India’s36.5 crore population (as perCensus, 1951) came alive undera parliamentary democracy.India rewrote history by upset-ting the conventional wisdomthat democracies could existonly in industrially developed,affluent and educationally for-ward nations.

India and the US shouldhave enjoyed the best of rela-tions based on the common fac-tor of democracy. But if the rela-tionship had failed to take off in

the first place during Nehru’svisit to the USA (1949) duringHarry S. Truman’s presidency,the relationship actually plum-meted during the first threeyears of Eisenhower administra-tion (1953-56). The reason wasdespite Eisenhower’s sympathyfor the third world, his Secretaryof State Dulles was inflexibleand dogmatic about democra-cy. India was no doubt theworld’s largest democracy. Butit refused to be its standard bear-er on the world stage. Nehru’spronounced Marxist leaningswere traceable at least since 1927when he had participated in theInternational Congress againstColonial Oppression andImperialism in Brussels,Belgium. At this conference,Nehru had “come around to theMarxist viewpoint in broadessentials. He agreed that impe-rialism and capitalism wenthand in hand, and neitherwould disappear until bothwere put down (S. Gopal,Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography,Vol-1, P.101).” Nehru had beento Moscow in 1927 to partici-pate in the decennial celebra-tions of the October Revolution,1917.

Dulles felt India was run-ning with the hares and hunt-ing with the hounds. During theKorean War (1950-53), the UShad militarily intervened tosave a democratic South Korea

from being overrun by a com-munist North Korea. India’sforeign policy during theKorean War was perceived asscattered and confused. Nehruas the External Affairs Minister,B.N. Rau in the UNO, HighCommissioner V K KrishnaMenon, Ambassador VijayLaxmi Pandit and AmbassadorK.M. Pannikar in Beijing werepulling in different directions.China entered the Korean Waron the side of North Korea inOctober, 1950. But Nehru wasseen lobbying for the Republicof China’s seat in UN SecurityCouncil, when it was not evena member of the UN till 1971.Ironically, Mao’s China at thatmoment was also busy annex-ing Tibet, with grave securityrepercussions for India itself.

India never allowed itsarmed forces to be used for thedefence of a “free world” that theUS might have liked. In 1955,India fashioned its greatest for-eign policy statement, much tothe chagrin of the US. It alongwith 28 other nations formedthe Non-Aligned Movement(NAM) at the BandungConference (April 18-24, 1955)in Indonesia. The NAM wasmostly an assortment of newlyde-colonised nations of Africaand Asia, which did not want tobe part of any bloc (East orWest) or sign military pacts. Notall founding members of the

NAM were democratic.Countries like Yugoslavia andCuba were communist, thoughnot part of the Eastern Bloc.Democracy was not part of the10-point NAM Charter (anexpansion of Nehru’s five prin-ciples of Panchashila).Democracy was first adopted bythe NAM as a guiding principlein 2006, at the HavanaConference, ironically in acountry (Cuba) that itself has nodemocracy till date.

In 1955 itself, India beganits lasting relationship with theUSSR, occasioned by the visit ofNikita Khrushchev and NikolaiBulganin to India, and Nehru’sreturn visit to Moscow. The rela-tionship between the world’stwo largest democracies becameall the more complex. India’s sta-tus as the world’s largest democ-racy and its foreign policy wereout of sync. But so it was for theUSA, which in pursuit of savingthe “free world,” can support themilitary dictatorship of ParkChung-hee in South Korea butoverthrow a democraticallyelected Mohammed Mosaddeggin Iran or President SalvadorAllende in Chile. Those werethe crude realities of the ColdWar.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based researcher and author ofthe book The Microphone Men:How Orators Created a ModernIndia. Views are personal)

Following the green signal by the SupremeCourt, India will soon be reintroducingcheetahs into the wild by flying in the car-

nivore from Africa, over 50 years after the ani-mal was declared extinct in the country in 1952.That it was a tragedy and a big loss to our bio-diversity that we hunted and caged the beau-tiful animal into extinction, is undisputed. Butthe fact remains that the cheetah is the onlybig cat to have gone extinct in India. What islost is lost. Now we need to focus on the otherlarge carnivores that we still have and try and

save them the best we can. And given our meagre resources, can we really affordto take on this project? We have 20 species that are on the brink, with the Asiaticlion, tigers, Indian wolf, the great Indian bustard, the Asian wild buffalo, Jerdon’scourser and the red panda being among them. Except for 50 reserves that comeunder Project Tiger, the allocation for all wildlife habitats and 21 endangered specieswas a mere `497 crore between 2017-20. Over 10 years ago, the cost of thecheetah project was estimated at `300 crore. So, where will we get the fundsto conserve the cheetahs from? Will we rob the snow leopard of its chance ofsurvival to pay for the cheetah’s reintroduction? Also, what is the guarantee thatthe exotic, yet very vulnerable cat, will be able to survive in India?

As it is, the number of cheetahs is on the decline globally with just 7,100 leftin the wild, having been driven out of 91 per cent of their habitats. Asia has beenthe worst offender where its decimation is concerned. India’s last spotted chee-tah died in 1947. There are less than 50 of them left in Iran and now the major-ity of this shy and secretive feline lives in six southern African countries. Haveall the proponents of the idea of bringing the cheetah back thought why the ani-mal is on the verge of becoming extinct elsewhere? It’s because this cat is hardto protect. Being the fastest animal in the world, cheetahs need a very wide rangefor hunting prey. So according to researchers, an estimated 77 per cent of a chee-tah’s habitat would be outside protected zones, making it difficult to keep themsafe from poachers, vehicular traffic and rural populations. This is also a verybig impediment to monitoring its progress and well-being. This problem is fur-ther compounded by the man-animal conflict. India certainly doesn’t have theprey base or the ranges required for the survival of a translocated species. Unlesswe want the cheetah to die here, this idea doesn’t seem good enough.

For long, the ruling establishment hasdemonised the countrywide protestsover the citizenship law as anti-national

betrayal, an elitist-liberal conspiracy and anattack on the Hindu way of life. The party witha difference at the Centre has been trying toconvince the nation that existing templates ofgovernance needed to be overturned to effectsuch a change and years of minority appease-ment had to be replaced with majoritarianresentment. But if it was so sanguine about thesporadic nature of dissent, then what could

explain a temporary reversal of its stand on the National Register of Citizens (NRC)?Clearly the sound and fury signify something for the Government to at least haltits missionary zeal to go for a profiling-based census or justifying it as a way ofrooting out illegal immigrants. Clearly, a civil society movement has generatedsuch a swell among common citizens across India, from students to grannies,from working class to labourers, and affected the nation’s productivity cycle tosuch an extent that the BJP feels its ramrod aggression is costing it politically.Combined with the venom of the hate speeches flying thick and fast and the moral-ly reprehensible sedition and inquiry brought against students and teachers of aschool play, the strong agenda push has even left its apologists and defendantssomewhat red-faced. The civil unrest across the country has given us a prima-ry lesson in democracy, that people may make ideological choices but are large-ly against societal deconstruction driven by political imperatives. And the coun-try cannot be in a perpetual state of a war with itself. For long, the Right has playedthe victim card as a recipient of the Leftist-socialist and Congress oppression.Now that it has a brute electoral majority, that narrative is well past its expiry date.And it must realise that the people’s verdict needs to be respected, that it needsto be trusted as a deliverer and not just be an avenger. It must realise that itsmanifesto cannot become the nation’s own. That’s why the latest Home Ministryclarification in Parliament that there was no plan for the NRC shows the Governmenthas been stung, temporarily at least. For it comes at a time when senior BJPMinisters, including Home Minister Amit Shah, and even Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath — who has been consolidating the Hindu votebank in mathe-matical terms in his State and raising the ghostly invasion by “others” — havemade no bones about the need to isolate illegal settlers, namely Muslims. It alsoproves that the Government’s effort to treat the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)in isolation isn’t quite working. If the longevity of the protests, particularly ShaheenBagh, has proven anything, it is that people are not against rehabilitating Hindureturnees, they are against the legacy hunt process, which may disqualify Muslimsfrom the NRC list, who may not have redressal under CAA in the way an exclud-ed Hindu would have. It is the otherisation and genocidal instincts implicit in theCAA that has riled up people. Which is why the pressure on the Government hasbeen immense, such that Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to publicly over-rule his deputy and Home Minister Amit Shah. Now the PM’s reassurance on“no NRC now” has been given official credibility.

But does this mean that the BJP is still pursuing its forked tongue approach?Is it rescuing Modi as a thinking patriarch and, therefore, he has to appear morestatesmanlike while Shah and motormouths continue to be aggressors and some-what recalcitrant members of the Sangh? Modi’s clarification that the NRC hadnot been discussed in the Government made light of Amit Shah’s statement inParliament. Many loyalists argued that the PM was not present in the House whenthe legislation was placed, but can any legislative or policy matter be placed inthe House without it having been discussed in the Government at all? This orches-trated rift between Modi and others has frankly been overplayed. Fact is, the ces-sation of NRC is but temporary to offset general fury over the country’s eco-nomic slowdown. The CAA-NRC project was part of the BJP manifesto for the2019 Lok Sabha election. Shah as BJP president then had promised to bring theCAA first and then implement the NRC. Frankly, with the abrogation of Article370 and the Ram temple a reality, the BJP is left with very few promises to dan-gle and nurture the Hindu dream of a promised land. The NRC, therefore, is inabeyance. If the BJP blasts the citadel in the Delhi elections, it will be back. Evenif it doesn’t, there will be some subtle State-level experiments for sure.

NRC on hold?

PGV a leader in making

Sir — This refers to the analysis“Priyanka must rebuild the partyin UP,” (February 5). The writer’sobservation is spot on thatCongress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra’s charis-matic personality, lineage andclose resemblance to her grand-mother Indira Gandhi have notcontributed to her becoming apolitical personality to be reckonedwith as yet. This is despite the factthat she plunged headlong intoinstrumental politics last year byholding a roadshow with herbrother Rahul Gandhi and pre-empted her political adversaries bypaying visits to the victims of thePulwama attack, Sonbhadra clashand Unnao rape, besides visitingthe hospitalised Bhim Army chiefChandra Shekhar Azad and CAAprotesters. The writer has also sug-gested that Priyanka lost manyopportunities coming her wayand could not draw politicalmileage out of them for the bene-fit of the Congress party. However,Rome was not built in a day.Priyanka was brought into politicsa decade too late and even in thisshort span, she has matured polit-ically. If media reports are to be

believed, she is on her way tobecoming a street fighter as well.A major campaign is on the cardsand she is slated to meet farmersin a bid to take their grievances to

the Government. The Congresswill hold nukkad sabhas (street cor-ner meetings) and padyatras(marches) on the block, tehsil anddistrict level with a view to forcing

the Centre and State Governmentsto redress the problems of thegrowers. I subscribe to the writer’splea that if this Gandhi scionlongs to make her presence felt in

the most politically significantState, Uttar Pradesh (UP), shemust leave no stone unturned tokeep her flock together. Priyankamust also induct some youngfaces in UP to give the Grand OldParty a modern look and a fight-ing chance in the 2022 Assemblyelections in the State.

Azhar A KhanRampur

Shame on us

Sir — This refers to the editorial“Soldiers without boots”, (February5). Nothing could be more unfor-tunate than this. A party in powerwhich takes pride in its “national-ist” leanings cannot treat its Armyin such a shabby manner. The leastyou can do for your soldiers is togive them respect and treat themwell, because they are the ones whoput their lives on the line for thenation daily. If Government afterGovernment is not looking afterour soldiers, then there is some-thing very wrong with us as anation.

Bal GovindNoida

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 6, 2020

06

Democracy’s true grit

PRIYADARSHI DUTTA

India rewrote history by upsetting the conventional wisdom that democracies couldexist only in developed nations. Yet our foreign policy undermined our chances

I am seriously worried thatthe spread of the infectiousdisease could throw coldwater on the momentumtoward the Games.

Tokyo Olympics CEO—Toshiro Muto

CAA is no threat to Muslims.If they face trouble I will be the first person to raise my voice for them.

Actor—Rajinikanth

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

Abuse of child rights in Bidar a blot on BJP

The police interrogation of children as young as ninein a school in Karnataka’s Bidar district, in connectionwith a play enacted in denunciation of the Citizenship

Amendment Act (CAA), constitutes a flagrant abuse of childrights. It is also an act of inhumanity a civilised societycannot countenance under any circumstances. The policeobviously ignored the fact that children need to be han-dled in a humane and understanding manner. Interrogatingthe young ones in the way the police have done intimi-dates them and causes irreversible psychological damage.If the police grilled the kids to strike fear in their heartsand ensure that they never raise their voices against anyinjustice in the future, then the police personnel are devoidof any human feelings and unworthy of the uniform theywear. In their cavalier style, the police tried to justify theirquizzing of the kids on the grounds that they needed tocollect evidence against the parents and teachers.

The BJP Government is so intolerant of criticism thatit does not spare even children the nightmarish experienceof being interrogated and intimidated by the police. TheBidar incident meant that the Government would go to anylengths to stifle dissent. It is particularly worrying that theKarnataka High Court and the Supreme Court have turneda blind eye to the gross violation of child rights. If courtsdo not intervene and protect children from police high-handedness, who will? It is some consolation that the StateChild Rights Commission has asked the police to explain

their appalling behaviour. By slapping sedition charges ona parent and a teacher, the Karnataka police showed utterignorance of the sedition law. The play in question has pro-voked no “breach of peace”, made no “incitement to vio-lence” and promoted no “enmity” to attract the provisionsof the sedition law. The remark that anyone seeking infor-mation on the National Register of Citizens will be hit withslippers is hardly seditious. The courts have ruled time andagain that a speech or action intended to influence theGovernment to change a policy or law does not amountto sedition. But the police have misconstrued criticism ofa discriminatory law as sedition. A country that cherish-es democracy cannot let the ruling dispensation scare chil-dren and slap sedition charges on adults on flimsy grounds.

G D MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Return of the cheetahPakistan players need to learnfrom Jaiswal’s history. He isrunning behind excellence and money is running behindhim now.

Former Pakistan pacer—Shoaib Akhtar

This may just be a placatory gesture and will be back giventhe BJP’s performance in State polls

With shrinking habitats and a reduced prey base,translocating this cat species isn’t a good idea Our aim is to develop 25

defence products based onartificial intelligencein the next fiveyears in India.

Prime Minister—Narendra Modi

Hear out the States

THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE BJP TO DECLARE A CMFACE. JUST LET KEJRIWAL TELL US THE TIME AND

PLACE AND WE WILL PARTICIPATE IN A DEBATE.—HOME MINISTER

AMIT SHAH

I INVITE AMIT SHAH FOR THE DEBATE. I AM READY FOR A DEBATE ANYWHERE ONANYTHING WITH HIM.—DELHI CHIEF MINISTERARVIND KEJRIWAL

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

India, as defined in Article 1 of the Constitution,is a “union of States.” These States, therefore, areconstitutive of the Indian Union and no execu-

tive power can be exercised in a manner that under-mines their quasi-autonomous status. Even underArticle 368, where the Parliament enacts a law, thepower of the House is only a “constituent power”,which, though without limitation, only implicitly per-mits amendments in part-II (citizenship provisions)of the Constitution. The critical question is, can theconstituent power of the Parliament in enacting alaw override the constituent power of the State inimplementing such a law? Given the quasi-autonomous status of the States, are they obliged toblindly comply with a Central law, which creates aconflict with part-III (basic structure) of theConstitution? Many such questions assume great sig-nificance in understanding the constitutional pro-visions and scope of its operation in relation to States,especially with regard to the recent CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA). Apart from embeddedquandaries of the CAA, prima facie, in conflict withArticle 14 of the Constitution, the CAA puts the onusof reparation indirectly on States, as the target classof immigrant citizens would have to reside or set-tle in a State of the Union. Therefore, the constituentpower of the Parliament cannot bypass the State ina manner that creates conflict of interest with State(s).The Parliament needs to ensure that existing bal-ance of power and interest is not grossly disturbedby a piece of law.

In Centre-State relations, the Parliament’scapacity to recommend an appropriate course ofaction in a matter that consequentially affects theState shall run the risk of getting limited by otherobligations and interests of the State. A law such asthe CAA cannot overwhelm both lex fori and lex lociconditions in relation to States. Obviously, the Statesremain as both the jurisdictional forum and locusof CAA in terms of its operation, which has to oper-ate through Rules framed under the Citizenship Actof 1955, that necessarily involves officials under theState Government, who are delegated with “proce-dural” powers to determine who is a citizen.

To put it differently, the responsibility of Statesto attend to displaced people, who could be legal orillegal immigrants cannot be taken away by theCentre assuming for itself a bigger role by a law suchas the CAA. Mere grant of citizenship by the Centreis a form of personal right, which requires the sup-port of a State in entirety to secure all other rightsof the citizen, including the right to life, as enshrinedunder Article 21. Indeed, the CAA in the firstinstance of its passage in Parliament did recogniselex fori and lex loci conditions by exempting Statesand areas under the Sixth Schedule from its oper-ation. There remains much scope to fulfil these con-ditions in framing of rules under the CAA, as Assamand Tripura have State-specific accords to decide onmatters of citizenship. The Supreme Court (SC), onits part, distinguishably recognised the case of Assamand Tripura as different from concerns of other partsof the country in relation to the CAA, which is recog-nition of lex fori and lex loci conditions under whichthe CAA must operate.

It must also be noted that under Article 13 ofthe Constitution, laws prior to the commencementof the Constitution such as Foreigners’ Act of 1946under which the Foreigners’ Tribunals (FT) areordered in violation of Article 323(b) are inconsis-tent with part-III of the Constitution and hence itcan operate even with CAA framed under Article368 of the Constitution. This establishes the limit-ed application of the CAA that still requires a muchwider framework, apart from its “religious” bias.

Indeed in the case of Assam, operation of theFTs in violation of basic principle of law, namely,“innocent until proven guilty” and its broad sweep

of executive discretion in sending some-one to a detention camp along with pur-ported operation of the CAA hardly makesa case of consistent application of law.Indeed such inconsistency in operation ofthe citizenship law is exploited to theextent that a suspected foreigner or an ille-gal border crosser is often denied right tofair trial, as nothing in law explicitly putsa check and balance on a FT judge fromplacing a one-sided “onus of proof”,under Section 9 of the FT Act, 1946 on aperson claiming to be an Indian citizen indispute of what the Executive has attrib-uted upon her as a foreigner.

Indeed, the affidavit filed by some ofthe parties disputing the CAA in the SCrefers to this “onus of proof” to be placedupon an immigrant covered under theCAA to make it consistent with the FTAct. In effect, the Code of Civil Procedurethat provides right to fair trial andassumes someone not to be guilty untilproven guilty is ostensibly a matter of dis-pute in the case against the CAA that islying before the SC now, which substan-tially involves the role of the State in decid-ing the fate of a suspected foreigner.

So, the SC has to decide on the basisof the principle of “better law” or “morerational law” in the cases filed against theCAA. Additionally, when a State disputesthe CAA as a violation of the basic struc-ture of the Constitution, especially theprinciple of secularism and right toequality before law, the SC has to decideon its jurisdiction as granted by Article 131of the Constitution.

Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab areraising the same dispute under Article 131.Article 131 clearly stipulated originaljurisdiction in any dispute between theCentre and States pertaining to validity ofa Central legislation. Independent of theoutcome of the case on the CAA, it is tobe noted that the right to disputation bya State is a recognised constitutional posi-tion that cannot be questioned by raisingthe issue of prior permission by the con-

stitutional authority of the Governor. The quasi-autonomous status of the

State and full power of the legislature inframing laws under the Seventh Scheduleallow for a room of manoeuvering by theStates in creative ways without directlycontravening a Central law. In a quasi-fed-eral structure like India, there is no“supremacy clause” attached to the Centrallaw, as the Indian Constitution followeda principle of separation of powers guid-ed by a thumb rule of avoiding inequali-ty and imbalance.

This makes it amply clear that thereis only an abiding responsibility of the Stateto follow a Central law without a bindingobligation or liability in case the State isnot convinced of its correctness. Thewhole set of issues of federal cooperationand consensus comes into play in enforc-ing a Central law in case the State con-cerned sees it as violative of part-III of theConstitution.

What causes the hiatus here is the fil-tering out of Muslims under the CAA andtreating them differently from the rest, incase they have entered India from neigh-bouring countries covered by the law.Further, exclusion of Tamil immigrantsfrom the purview of the CAA is a potentcause of heartburn in Southern States. Thepraxis of federalism, being a constantly-developing subject in the world’s largedemocracies, tells us that distinctionsdrawn among people on the basis of race,religion, colour, sex, culture and so on areto be disbanded by the State. Hence, in thecase of India, no State can be made to prac-tise such distinction and discriminationbetween people by a Central law, if theState sees it as an incorrect practice. It iscorrect that in no way can the constituentState of the Union remain non-complianteven if it sees a law giving rise to an incor-rect practice, except for approaching theSC to resolve the dispute. However, it isalso true that compliance by the Stateshould not violate legal principles of non-discrimination, while denying certain

rights to a segment by an established pro-cedure of law. No constitutional lawcould be bereft of constitutional morali-ty and ethical principle of “no harm” andhence no State could be forced by an exec-utive decree to implement a law that theState sees causing discrimination andharm to a segment in a certain local sit-uation.

The Bommai judgment makes itvery clear that the Centre cannot apply“arbitrary powers.” Arbitrary powers herewould mean decrees and pronouncementsthat explicitly subvert a State’s autonomyand jurisdiction of its executives in its ownterritory. Citizenship Rules, 2003, recog-nise this executive power of the State bydelegating certain crucial powers to theState executive like the District Magistrate.Further, the Bommai Judgment, read withthe Sarkaria Commission report, alsomakes it clear that one of the major sourcesof arbitrary power lies in “partisan”affairs. When there is no consensus in abipartisan or multi-partisan sense on theCAA, it does not become non-partisan,as per the language of the SarkariaCommission, which is the only majorcommission to examine and understandCentre-State relations in post-independentIndia. Further, the Inter-State Council,another constitutional body created toresolve any dispute between federal con-stituents, could discuss the points of con-tention related to the CAA, which, ofcourse depends on how the respectiveplayers raise the matter.

In sum, there is a clear need for checkand balance in the operation of executivepowers under a Central law, which theCAA certainly warrants. All contentiousissues related to the CAA also need a clearresolution in the good federal spirit, giv-ing due importance to the States’ perspec-tives in the interest of social and politicalharmony across India.

(The writer is an author, political ana-lyst, philosopher of law and teachesPhilosophy at North Eastern Hill University)

The responsibility of States to attend to displaced people or illegal immigrants cannot be takenaway by the Centre assuming for itself a bigger role by a law such as the CAA

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

Erdogan has lost the plot

GWYNNE DYER

One small and successful war might benefit theTurkish President by mobilising nationalism but

three at once? This is megalomania

PRASENJIT BISWAS

THERE IS A CLEARNEED FOR CHECKAND BALANCE INTHE OPERATION

OF EXECUTIVEPOWERS UNDERA CENTRAL LAW,WHICH THE CAA

CERTAINLYWARRANTS.

ALL THECONTENTIOUS

ISSUES RELATEDTO THE CAA ALSO

NEED A CLEARRESOLUTION IN

THE GOODFEDERAL SPIRIT,

GIVING DUEIMPORTANCE TO

THE STATES’PERSPECTIVES INTHE INTEREST OF

SOCIAL ANDPOLITICALHARMONY

ACROSS INDIA

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not an “Islamist”,in the extreme sense of the word. He doesn’t wear a suicidevest, he doesn’t behead people, he doesn’t get his citizens

flogged or stoned, he doesn’t get their hands cut off for theft, hedoesn’t even go around holding one finger up in the air to signifyhis hatred of those who fail to acknowledge the one true God.However, he certainly does like the Islamists a lot. In the heyday ofthe Islamic State (ISIS) in northern Syria and Iraq, it was Erdoganwho kept the Turkish border open so that thousands of foreign fight-ers and their families could go to join that terrorist proto-state, whichwas a descendant of Osama bin Laden’s original Al-Qaeda organ-isation. More recently, Erdogan has stationed Turkish troops in Syria’sIdlib province, the one remaining rebel-held part of the country, whereHayat Tahrir al-Sham, another offshoot of the Al-Qaeda, subjugat-ed all the other rebel organisations last year and now rules unchal-lenged.

Unchallenged, that is, except by Syrian army troops backedby Russian airpower who are gradually winning back control onthe province in a slow, grinding offensive that last week capturedIdlib’s second-biggest city, Maarat an-Numan. So it’s no surprisethat the Turkish army in Idlib is now firing directly on Syrian forces.

The story is a bit muddy, with Turkey claiming that four of itssoldiers in Idlib were killed by Syrian shellfire on Sunday. But theTurkish Government said it had killed 35 Syrian troops in retaliato-ry fire and Erdogan added: “Those who question our determina-tion will soon understand they made a mistake.”

And, upping the ante further he said that the Assad regime mustfall back from Turkey’s observation posts in northwestern Syria thismonth. “If the Syrian regime will not retreat from Turkish observa-tion posts in Idlib in February, Turkey itself will be obliged to makethis happen,” Erdogan told his party’s lawmakers in Parliament onWednesday.

Erdogan also warned Russia, Syria’s ally, “not to stand in ourway.” The Russians will take this seriously since Erdogan deliber-ately set up an ambush in 2015 and shot down a Russian planethat strayed into Turkish airspace for only 17 seconds.

However, the fact remains that Moscow won’t back down. So,Erdogan is now playing with the dangerous prospect of a shoot-ing war with Syria and Russia. That would be enough on his plate,you might think, but he is also intervening in the civil war in Libya.Erdogan backs the Islamist-dominated Government in the capital,Tripoli, against the rebel army led by General Khalifa Haftar that con-trols most of the country and he has just sent troops to support it.

The troops are Syrian Arabs, part of the same Islamist puppetarmy that Erdogan used recently to invade the Kurdish part of Syria.His intervention in Libya puts Turkey into a potential confrontationwith France, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, all of which backHaftar. So does Russia.

Not one to be daunted, Erdogan is spouting the same tough-guy rhetoric over Libya: “We will not hesitate to teach a deservedlesson to the putschist Haftar if he continues the attacks on the coun-try’s legitimate administration and our brothers in Libya.” So there’sa few more potential enemies for Turkey. His plate is getting ratherfull. But Erdogan’s not finished yet. He has also militarised a dis-pute with Greece and Cyprus over seabed oil and gas reserves, tothe extent that Turkish fighter planes are now violating Greek air-space almost daily. And he has demanded that Athens demilitaris-es 16 Greek islands that are close to the Turkish west coast (mak-ing them permanent hostages, totally vulnerable to Turkish invasion).

France has now sent warships to the eastern Mediterranean,and President Emmanuel Macron has explained that “Greece andFrance are pursuing a new framework of strategic defence.” “Defence”against whom? Turkey, obviously. Who else could it be?

Turkey is still formally a member of NATO, so technically Franceand Greece are its allies but Erdogan doesn’t seem bothered by that.Neither was he bothered by the fact that the United States (US) isalso a NATO member when he invaded northeastern Syria lastOctober to drive the Kurds, America’s key allies in the war againstISIS, from their homes in the border region. He got away with that:The Kurds had served their purpose and Trump just abandoned themto their fate. But is he really wise to take on almost everybody elseat once? Like Vladimir Putin in Russia, Erdogan is a strongman rulerwho has to win an election every four years. Putin is perenniallypopular in Russia and wins easily — but Erdogan usually scrapesthrough with just over half the vote. The country is divided downthe middle and the other half loathes him and his Islamist policies.

One reasonably small and successful war might actually ben-efit Erdogan by mobilising Turkish nationalism but three at once?Against Russian and Syria on one front, France and Egypt on anoth-er and Greece plus France and perhaps other NATO and EuropeanUnion members on a third. He used to be a fairly competent strate-gist but he has been in power too long (17 years) and he has final-ly lost the plot. This is megalomania.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’)

The Coronavirus, with its epi-centre in Wuhan, China, iswreaking havoc and creating an

immense fear psychosis around theworld. In China alone, the virus hasinfected over 24,391 people and hasreportedly caused over 492 deathsaccording to official estimates.

However, the actual number isbelieved to be much higher. Thealarming speed at which the virus isspreading caused Chinese President

Xi Jinping to remark that the nationwas fighting a demon. The virus hasled many nations to evacuate their cit-izens from China. The Chineseauthorities have deployed emergencymeasures to contain the spread of thevirus by imposing strict travel restric-tions and putting certain geograph-ical locations under lockdown, withover 50 million people quarantined.

The spread of lethal viruses hasbecome the new face of climatechange and is taking an unimaginabletoll on human life even as the inter-national medical community, scien-tists and disease experts scramble tofind a vaccine and contain the coro-navirus. Climate change-enabled risein temperatures has caused the spikein humidity levels that in turn havecreated a favourable environment forthe viruses of the most virulent kindto breed and multiply. The relation-

ship between rising temperatures andincreasing spread of viruses has beenmuch researched. The AmericanSociety of Microbiology released areport way back in 2010 regarding therelation between the two and howhigh temperatures play a perfecthost to pandemics.

In the background of this virusoutbreak, the lack of progress at therecent COP 25 looks like a lost oppor-tunity, as the international environ-mental community with a greatopportunity at hand could not comeup with any major developmentagenda to fight climate change.

Had the world leaders and theenvironmental community cobbledtogether an actionable plan thatincluded containment of those pre-cipitating factors that trigger epi-demics such as these, the worldwould have already had a plan in

hand to deal with the present crisis. Be it the SARS virus that impact-

ed China 17 years ago and infectednearly 8,000 people or the Zika virusoutbreak in 2016, the role of climatechange has always been centric as theenabler of fast-spreading viruses.However, there are other aspects also.For instance, there is an urgent needto manage the triangular relationshipbetween humans, the environmentand animals. The inept handling ofany one aspect of this can cause a cas-cading impact on the well-being of allthree.

The United States (US) took arisk of sorts when the TrumpAdministration closed down thePredict Programme that had theresearch mandate to test animals fordangerous pathogens that could crossover to human beings. The currentcoronavirus could be an example

where the virus strain is in factbelieved to have evolved from batspecies.

The political leadership, there-fore, plays a very important role ineither limiting the evolution and sub-sequent spread of the virus or expos-ing the human community to therisks of virus by shutting downongoing research facilities engaged instudying them, as done by the TrumpAdministration.

The human community has forages been engaged in a never-endingstruggle with diseases and maladieswhich have challenged and inspiredthe scientific community to come outwith superior medication and vac-cines. But the intensity and speed ofthe virus is now approaching danger-ous levels giving lesser and lesser timeto the scientific and medical commu-nity to respond with an antidote.

As a result of this time lag, pre-cious lives are being lost at an alarm-ing speed. China needs to up itsresearch and development powersand ensure that clear lines are drawnbetween animal and human interac-tions so that a virus highway of sortsis not opened between the two.

India, thankfully has remainedlargely out of the clutches of this pre-sent pandemic but the reporting ofdisease-infected victims is gettinguncomfortably closer to home. Indiamust set up a research protocol anda prevention programme and insu-late itself against the disease. But moreimportantly, the global communitymust unite and ensure that climatechange is controlled drastically anddoes not play host to the virulentviruses of the future.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

How climate change births a virusThe relationship between rising temperatures and increasing spread of viruses has been much researched. The

American Society of Microbiology released a report on this in 2010 citing conditions for pandemics

KOTA SRIRAJ

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 6, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Boris Johnson would be wiseto take up the offer from MichelBarnier, the EU’s chief Brexitnegotiator, of a roadmap to aworkable free trade deal, whichwould be the central pillar ofthe UK’s partnership with thecontinent. Since trade talksdon’t begin until March, a lot ofwhat Barnier said ought tocarry a health warning thatpolitics coloured its delivery.

(The Guardian editorial)

TAKE BARNIER’SADVICE MR PM

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 6, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Apollo Tyres Q3 netprofit declines 12pc to Rs 174 crNEW DELHI: Apollo Tyres onWednesday reported a 12.09per cent decline in onsolidatednet profit to Rs 173.85 crore forthe quarter ended on December31, 2019, mainly due tosluggish demand from originalequipment manufacturers. Thecompany had posted a netprofit of Rs 197.95 crore for thecorresponding period of 2018-19, Apollo Tyres said in a BSEfiling. Consolidated net salesdeclined to Rs 4,347.16 crorefor the quarter underconsideration as against Rs4,655.36 crore for the sameperiod year ago. "The last fewquarters have really beenchallenging, in terms ofdemand, especially from theoriginal equipment (OE)segment.

MG Motor plans toset up second plantin IndiaNEW DELHI: MG Motor Indiaon Wednesday said it islooking to set up a newmanufacturing plant in thecountry as it expects itsexisting plant in Gujarat to runout of capacity by the end ofnext year, a top companyofficial said on Wednesday.The company's currentmanufacturing facility in Halol(Gujarat), which it boughtfrom General Motors, can rollout a maximum of one lakhunits per annum. "End of nextyear hopefully, we shouldtouch one lakh volume and weare looking at two lakh volumein 2022," MG Motor IndiaPresident and MD RajeevChaba told PTI on thesidelines of the Auto Expohere. He further said: "Halolcurrently can do one lakh carsper year.

PNS n MUMBAI

Extending its gains for thethird consecutive session,market benchmark Sensexrallied 353 points onWednesday as reports of abreakthrough in coron-avirus treatment enthusedglobal investors.

Domestic participantsalso cheered improvingbusiness sentiment after asurvey said India's servicessector activity surged to aseven-year high in January.

The 30-share BSE Sensexsettled 353.28 points, or0.87 per cent, higher at41,142.66. It hit an intra-dayhigh of 41,154.66.

Similarly, the broaderNSE Nifty rose 109.50points, or 0.91 per cent, to

12,089.15.Tata Steel was the top

gainer in the Sensex pack,rallying 5.14 per cent, fol-lowed by Bharti Airtel,HDFC, TCS, L&T, SBI andReliance Industries.

On the other hand, Hero

MotoCorp was the top lag-gard, shedding 3.83 per cent.PowerGrid, Maruti, AsianPaints and Nestle India tooended with losses.

According to experts,reports of a significantbreakthrough in coron-avirus treatment researchhas boosted global stocks.

Bourses in Shanghai,Hong Kong, Tokyo andSeoul settled up to 1.25 percent higher.

Stock exchanges inEurope too opened on a

strong note.Back home, the release

of stellar business datapoints for January toobuoyed market mood, theysaid.

India's services sectoractivity surged to a seven-year high in January drivenby sharp increase in newbusiness orders, leading tojob creation and businessoptimism amid favourablemarket conditions, amonthly IHS Markit surveysaid.

The 30-share BSE Sensex settled353.28 points, or 0.87 per cent,higher at 41,142.66. It hit an intra-day high of 41,154.66

BSE SENSEX

41,142.66+353.28

NSE NIFTY

12,089.15+109.50

n Tata Steel was the topgainer in the Sensex

pack, rallying 5.14 %

PNS n NEW DELHI

The commerce and industryministry has received repre-sentations regarding allega-tions about some e-commercecompanies engaging in preda-tory pricing and excessive dis-counts, Parliament wasinformed on Wednesday.

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal saidthese representations are under"examination".

The current foreign directinvestment (FDI) policy on e-commerce sector, specifies thatcompanies operating market-place model business in thesector will not directly or indi-rectly influence the sale priceof goods or services and shallmaintain a level playing field,he noted.

"Representations have beenreceived in this department(DPIIT) alleging that some e-commerce platforms areengaged in predatory pricingand are providing excessivediscounts....These representa-tions are under examination,"the minister said while reply-ing to a question in the LokSabha. It is reported that theCompetition Commission of

India has recently orderedinvestigation against FlipKartInternet Pvt Ltd and AmazonSeller Services Pvt Ltd in orderto determine whether thealleged exclusive arrangements,deep-discounting and prefer-

ential listing are being used asan exclusionary tactic to fore-close competition.

Goyal said that e-commercecompanies having foreigninvestment can operate only amarketplace model and there

are restrictions on the inven-tory based model of e-com-merce.

Replying to a separate ques-tion, the minister said data isnot centrally maintained forassessing the impact of FDI(foreign direct investment) onthe employment generation.

"FDI inflows serve to aug-ment domestic capital andhelp to promote industrialdevelopment and employmentgeneration across sectors," hesaid.

Replying to another ques-tion on industrial corridors, hesaid Asian Development Bankhad prepared conceptual devel-opment plan for Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor(VCIC) and four nodes --V i s a k h a p a t n a m ,Machilipatnam, Donakondaand Chittoor were identifiedfor development. I n i t i a lmaster planning of these twonodes (Visakhapatnam andChittoor ) were also complet-ed by ADB.

"ADB has approved USD631 million (in loans andgrants) for VCIC, comprisinga multi-tranche financing facil-ity," the minister said.

Representations have been received in this department(DPIIT) alleging that some e-commerce platforms areengaged in predatory pricing and are providing excessive

discounts....These representations are under examination—PIYUSH GOYAL, Commerce and Industry Minister

Asian markets build on global rally as virus fears easeAFP n HONG KONG

Asian markets on Wednesdayextended this week's globalrally following a fresh record inNew York, while safe havensretreated as concerns about theimpact of the deadly Chinavirus eased.

Despite Beijing announcingthat almost 500 people haddied from the outbreak andmore than 24,000 were infect-ed, analysts said traders weretaking heart from the fact thatthe spread outside China hadnot spiralled.

Moves by Chinese authori-ties to support mainland stockswere also providing cheer, withthe central bank pumpingmore than $200 billion intofinancial markets and the gov-ernment easing restrictions onequities trading.

There had been a worrythat the virus could hammerthe global and Chineseeconomies, which had beenshowing signs of stabilising inrecent months following a pro-tracted growth slowdown.

World Bank head DavidMalpass said the group plans tolower its global growth forecast

owing to an expected hit toChina and the likely impact onglobal supply chains.

But Lisa Shalett at MorganStanley told Bloomberg TV:"These... dislocations tend to beshort-lived, and do tend to pro-duce very good entry pointsand buying opportunities."Shanghai rose 1.3 percent,

matching the previous day'sadvance and digging furtherinto the losses of almost eightpercent on Monday. HongKong edged up 0.4 percent andTokyo finished one percenthigher.

Sydney and Seoul eachgained 0.4 percent, whileSingapore was up one percent.Mumbai, Manila, Taipei,Jakarta and Wellington werealso well into positive territo-ry.

The gains tracked a strong

lead from Wall Street, wherethe Nasdaq surged more thantwo percent to a new record.

"After a very cold end to lastweek and a negative post-hol-iday catch up move by China'sequity market on Monday,markets have now embarkedon a new rebound," saidRodrigo Catril of NationalAustralia Bank.

He said the gains had been"spurred by China's efforts tosupport its economy alongsidean apparent decline in concerns

over the coronavirus impact onthe global economy".

AxiCorp strategist StephenInnes also pointed out that cen-tral bankers were showing lim-ited worry about the long-term impact of the outbreak,adding that "markets look to beshrugging off coronavirus con-cerns. At least for now".

The rally in riskier assets sawinvestors shift out of saferinvestments, with gold shed-ding nearly one percentWednesday, while the Japaneseyen was sitting at its weakestsince January 24, having hit afour-week high on Monday.

However, oil prices are wal-lowing around one-year lowson concerns that demand inChina will be hammered by thevirus, with millions of peoplein the country in lockdown andprevented from travelling.

There had been a worry that the viruscould hammer the global and Chineseeconomies, which had been showingsigns of stabilising in recent monthsfollowing a protracted growth slowdown

People can pick right I-Toption, says NITI Aayog VCPNS n NEW DELHI

NITI Aayog Vice ChairmanRajiv Kumar on Wednesdaysaid the middle class is "trainedenough" to decide which per-sonal income tax option isgood for them and exuded con-fidence that their propensity tosave will not come down.

Kumar was commenting onthe Budget proposal of financeminister Nirmala Sitharaman togive option to personal incometax payers to remain in existingtax scheme with exemptionsand deductions or opt for newsimplified tax regime withlower tax rates but withoutexemptions and deductions.

"This is a recognition thatthe middle class especially thetaxpayers are now trainedenough to know what is goodfor them.

"You give her additionalincome in her pocket and lether decide, how much theywant to save rather than linksavings and make it in some

sense compulsory," he told PTI.Industry experts, however,

said that two tax regimes withoptionality for personal tax, asin the case of corporate taxes,only make the structure morecomplicated.

"Let them decide accordingto their situation... My view isthat middle class' savingpropensity won't come down,"Kumar asserted.

As an economist, Kumarsaid he was thrilled about thissimplification of the process.

However, eminent econo-mist and National Institute ofPublic Finance and Policy(NIPFP) professor Ila Patnaikbelieves that households aregenerally short sighted and donot save adequately for old age.

"This is one reason for gov-ernments to be paternalisticand nudge people towardssaving for pension and old age.This was one rationale for taxexemption like 80C. The newsystem reduces these incen-tives," she opined.

This is arecognition thatthe middle classespecially thetaxpayers arenow trainedenough to knowwhat is good for them

PNS n GREATER NOIDA

Homegrown auto majorMahindra & Mahindra onWednesday introduced elec-tric variant of its compactSUV KUV100 at starting priceof Rs 8.25 lakh (ex showroonDelhi post FAME benefits) atAuto Expo here.

The company claims thatelectric KUV 100 (eKUV 100) isIndia's most affordable passen-ger electric vehicle in the segmen.

eKUV100 offers peak poweroutput of 40kW, torque of 120Nm and a range of 147 km, idealfor city commuters. It comeswith automatic transmissionand could be fast charged to 80per cent within 60 minutes.

Besides, the company show-

cased e-XUV300, which isexpected to hit the market in thesecond half of 2021 to strength-en its position in the EV segment.

The company, part of USD20.7 billion Mahindra grouphas also showcased Aton, a newage urban mobility solutionand Funster, a roadster electricconcept with convertiblerooftop. "It is our firm beliefthat shared mobility woulddrive large scale adoption ofelectric vehicles and hence ourproduct offerings would con-tinue to redefine shared mobil-ity space. We intend to offerwidest range of vehicles tomeet the needs of sharedmobility, " said Mahindra &Mahindra Managing DirectorPawan Goenka here.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The CBDT has set the ballrolling to implement a recent-ly announced scheme to set-tle direct tax cases by asking itsoffices across the country toprovide it with data on pend-ing appeals in highcourts.

The 'Vivad seVishwas' scheme wasannounced in theFebruary 1 UnionBudget.

The Central Boardof Direct Taxes(CBDT), whichframes the policy for theIncome Tax Department, onTuesday wrote to all principal

chief commissioners askingthem to collate the data andsend it to it by next week.

"In order to implement thescheme, the CBDT needs data-base on such litigations pend-ing at high court level," thecommunication to the com-

missioners read."It is therefore,

requested thatthe data onpending appealsat high courtlevel as onJanuary 31, 2020,be obtained withthe help of court

registry and the same may besupplemented with the recordsof the field office," it stated.

CBDT to collect dataon direct tax cases

Indonesia’s economicgrowth slips 5.02%PNS n JAKARTH

Indonesia's economy grewmore slowly than expected lastyear, official data showedWednesday, and officialswarned the country's lucrativetourism sector faced a negativeimpact from a drop in Chinesetourists owing to the deadlycoronavirus.

Southeast Asia's biggesteconomy expanded 5.02 percent, down from the 5.17 percent the previous year, owingto weakness in exports andsofter manufacturing output.

The figures also missedforecasts for a 5.3 per centexpansion.

In December, the WorldBank warned that forest fireswhich raged across Indonesialast year hit the economy tothe tune of some USD 5.2 bil-lion.

The country was also grap-pling with slumping pricesfor key commodities such ascoal and palm oil, as well asthe effects of a China-UStrade war which has roiledeconomies around the world.

"Sustaining growth in a 5.0per cent range in the currentenvironment isn't easy," sta-tistics agency headSuhariyanto, who goes by one

name, told reporters in Jakarta."So I think achieving 5.02 per

cent during a global economicslowdown is quite good."

Tourism officials havewarned of a drop-off this yearas Indonesia throws up barri-ers to Chinese visitors overfears of a coronavirus outbreakin the country.

Some two million Chinesetourists visit Indonesian annu-ally.

"The number of Chinesevisitors has dropped signifi-cantly since the imposition oftravel restrictions," NgurahWijaya, an adviser to BaliTourism Board and BaliPromotion Board, earlier toldBloomberg News.

"And we have no clarity aswell on how soon they can orwill return."

Research house OxfordEconomics also said the drop-off would take the steam offgrowth in the first half of 2020.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Average spot power price inJanuary dipped 14 per cent toRs 2.86 per unit as comparedto the year-ago month on theIndian Energy Exchange (IEX),according to official data.

"The day-ahead market(DAM) traded 4,791 MU (mil-lion units) with an averagemarket clearing price at Rs2.86 per unit (in January 2020)against Rs 3.33 per unit inJanuary 2019, a 14 per centdecline in price," an IEX state-ment said.

The electricity market onthe IEX recorded a total tradeof 5,062 MU in January. Themarket witnessed a significant50 per cent year-on-year jumpin traded volumes and con-tinued to be favourable for thebuyers.

This also validates increasedpreference by distribution util-

ities and open access con-sumers alike for the Exchangethat offers power procure-ment at the most-competitiveprices, it added.

The increase in traded vol-umes on the Exchange waslargely due to a surge indemand by the distributionutilities as well as the openaccess consumers from almostall parts of the country, pri-marily southern, western andnorthern states.

Transparency promised in land disinvestmentPNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Wednesdaysaid the disinvestment processof Central Public Sector Enter-prises (CPSEs) will be done ina transparent manner and sur-plus land of such units wouldbe sold at commercial rates tostates or any private party.

Petroleum and Natural GasMinister DharmendraPradhan told Rajya Sabha dur-ing Question Hour that thesurplus land issue of CPSEs willbe "dealt with separately" dur-ing the disinvestment process.The government has given in-principle approval for strategicdisinvestment of 28 CPSEs

including Rural ElectrificationCorporation Limited (REC)and Hindustan PetroleumCorporation Limited (HPCL).

Responding to a query ifhuge land given by state gov-ernments on lease to CPSEs,that will be divested, will bereturned to them or not, theminister said, "The land was

not given to respective PSUs asa charity." The land was givenas part of the deal and finan-cial compensation for the samewas also given to the respec-tive state or individual, hesaid. Pradhan said the gov-ernment has two principles fordealing with land related issuesin the disinvestment process.

Volkswagenopensbookings fortwo new SUVsPNS n GREATER NOIDA

German automakerVolkswagen on Wednesdaycommenced pre-booking fortwo up coming SUVs whichit plans to launch in the firsthalf of the year.

The company, which islooking to launch four sportsutility vehicles (SUVs) in thecountry over the next twoyears, started pre-bookings forTiguan Allspace and T-Roc.

Tiguan Allspace is a seven-seater SUV powered by apetrol engine mated to aseven-speed gear box.

The model comes with alarge boot space that fitsevery kind of luggage.

Five seater, T-Roc comeswith Coupe style and seven-speed petrol powertrain. Itcomes with standard equip-ment that is part of thebrand's global SUV portfolio– sun roof, six-airbags, ABS,among others.

GWM commits$1 bn investmentPNS n GREATER NOIDA

China's largest SUV manufac-turer Great Wall Motors(GWM) on Wednesday said itwill invest USD 1 billion inIndia, which is set to be amongthe top three auto marketsglobally. The $ 1 billion (aboutRs 7,100 crore) investment willbe made in a phased manner inareas including research anddevelopment, manufacturing,and sales and marketing.{ "Wefirmly belie-ve that India willbecome one of the top threeauto markets in the world inthe next 3-5 years...Our aim isto establish a comprehensiveecological chain coveringresearch, production, sales andmarketing...," Hardeep Brar,Director, Marketing and Salesof the Indian subsidiary ofGWM, said.

Mahindra’s eKUV100launched at Rs 8.25 lakh

Sensex rallies 353 pts; Nifty reclaims 12K

GOYAL GETS PLAINTSON E-COMM FIRMS

Average powerprice falls 14 % toRs 2.86 per unit

ThursdayFebruary 6, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

he beginnings ofyoga in India canbe traced back5,000 years ago.Since then yogahas been the

means to seek control ofone’s mind and bodythrough physical and mentaldisciplines to achieve apeaceful body and mind.Vijayawada-based PaidamNaidu who studied MAPsychology from AndhraUniversity and has aDiploma in Yoga Therapyfrom Swami VivekanandaYoga Centre, Bengaluru,gives free yoga lessons. Tilldate, he has helped morethan 50,000 people learnyoga in areas likeVishakapatnam, Kakinada,Vijayanagaram, Srikakulamand Rajahmundry.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Naidu says, “Usually, peoplelearn yoga to getrelief fromstress. Butmost of theyoga cen-tres takethousandsof rupeesas fee totrain people.So I startedYoga BharathiTrust in 2011to give

free yoga classes to people.Till date, I helped more than50,000 people learn yoga.”

Naidu said that yogicasanas not only helps relievestress and anxiety but alsohelps cure chronic diseaseslike gastric problems, cervical spondylosis andmore. He shared, “For cervical spondylosis, whichis common among peoplethese days, Trikonasana isbest to get relief when practised for three months.The other asanas includeArtha Chakrasanam forasthma, Navasanam for gastric problems, PavanaMukta Asanam for backpain, Vustarasanam for

thyroid, Gomukhasanamfor heart problems.”

He said the response fromthe participants of his yogaclasses has been positive.“Many people thanked mefor helping them in curingtheir chronic ailments. One

has to practise a strict rou-tine for at least threemonths for positiveresults,” he shared.

Naidu also compiled abook calledSulabhamaina PaddatulloYoga Chikitsa (Easy Ways

for Yoga Therapy)and pre-sented it to Vice-President

Venkaiah Naidu. He added,“He appreciated my

work and even shared it onTwitter. He said he wasinspired to learn yoga afterreading my book. It was agreat compliment for me.”The book helps people learnyoga by themselves. Thebook includes some simplesteps to follow and lists thedo’s and dont’s while per-

forming asanas. He said that 20 minutes

of yoga every day helps people find peace and gives confidence to face any problem.

Naidu said that he hasbeen conducting regularyoga camps and champi-onships to inspire people.

“Till date, we conductedmore than 70 free yogacamps for people in ruralareas. We are also conduct-ing yoga championshipsevery year to inspire people. We are planning to expand our servicesacross Telugu states soon,” he said.

t

Stressed out? Anxious? PRACTISE YOGA

PaidamNaidu, whohas beenteachingyoga topeople forfree since2011,speaksto VSATEESHREDDY onhow hehelpspeople dealwith stressand anxiety,benefits ofdoing yogaand more

Usually, peoplelearn yoga to get

relief from stress.But most of the

yoga centres takethousands of

rupees as fee. So Istarted Yoga

Bharathi Trust in2011 to give free

yoga classes topeople. Till date, Ihelped more than

50,000 peoplelearn yoga

‘When womenraise voicegovts listen'

lectronic media isgoing through itsdarkest phase asthe space forreporting hasshrunk, said the

acclaimed broadcast jour-nalist, author, columnistBarkha Dutt, who was inthe city to discuss ‘Cha-nging Nature of IndianMedia’ at an event organ-ised by the FICCI LadiesOrganisation (FLO).

Barkha spoke about var-ious topics including herprediction on the electionsin Delhi, CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA),National Register ofCitizens (NRC) and more.“One thing I learnt withover 20 years of experi-ence in journalism is tonever predict elections.But it looks like Kejriwalhas an advantage. Peoplevote differently in stateand central elections. Bas-ed on this, Kejriwal seemsto have an advantage.”

According to Barkhathere is a changing trendamong people in consum-ing news. “Media houses,presently, are having trou-ble monetising their workefficiently. Nobody is will-ing to pay to watch news.People are increasinglygoing towards the internetfor news. The WashingtonPost and the New YorkTimes have alreadybecome paper-free,” shesaid adding that she hasalso shifted her sights tothe online space alongwith veteran journalistslike Karan Thapar andVikram Chandra.

“Today’s millennials, inother words ‘screenagers’,have a lot of options. Theywant to consume news onthe go on phones or tab-lets. YouTube is challeng-ing TV,” she said. “TheIndian television industryis undergoing a seismicshift. They have opera-tional and technologicalchallenges which have tobe solved keeping in pacewith the speed of newsdissemination,” she added.

Barkha elaborated onher journey of becoming aTV journalist and cover-ing the Kargil War in1999. She informed thather mother, Prabha Dutt,is a pioneer among wom-en journalists in India andthe first woman war jour-nalist who has influenced

her to become a journalist.She told the members thatit is important to find athing that keeps youawake at night and followit relentlessly.

“That is how I went onto cover the war and nomatter how good you are,as a woman, you will bejudged differently fromyour male counterparts. Itis important to develop athick skin,” she said.

Speaking of media liter-acy, she said children needto be taught about media.“Media literacy must bemade a part of curricu-lum. A special classshould be designed wherestudents are asked theiropinion on a news pro-gramme,” she explained.

Giving an insight abouther future plans she said,“My first book, TheUnquiet Land, is doingwell. I am coming outwith another book on thefailures of the Oppositionparties in India. This bookwill be out this year.”

Speaking about theprotests in Shaheen Bagh,she said when womenraise their voice govern-ments listen. At the sametime when men protest,governments use force.More women must comeout to raise their voiceagainst anything that theyfeel strongly about.

E AcclaimedbroadcastjournalistBarkha Dutt wasin Hyderabadwhere shespoke aboutchanging trendamong peoplein consumingnews, herjourney as a warjournalist andmore. By PNS

A walk for lifeCure Foundation and Apollo Cancer Institutes

hosted ‘Cancer Crusaders Invitation Cup,2020' where over 300 golfers participated at

the Novotel Gardens, Hitech City. The Golftournament called ‘Walk of Life', a fundraiser,

witnessed child cancer survivors, celebs,models and ace golfers walking the ramp to

celebrate conquering cancer. Pullela Gopichand, Chief National Coach,

Indian Badminton team, Jayesh Ranjan, IAS,Principal Secretary, I&C & IT; Tollywood

heartthrobs Rashi Khanna and MalvikaSharma were amongst those who took part inthe fashion show. Jayesh Ranjan said, “India

carries a large burden of cancer cases and thegovernment’s interventions are targeted at the

preventive and curative aspects. Thegovernment always supports such awarenessprogrammes, campaigns and organisations.”

10

Vijayawada Thursday February 6, 2020 what’s brewing?

Madonna offers her NYapartment to PrinceHarry, Meghan Markle

ingerMadonnahas offeredto sublet herNew YorkCity apart-

ment to Prince Harryand Meghan Markle,the Duchess of Sussex,in a video.

Following the newsthat the pair are step-ping down from theirpositions as seniormembers of the Britishroyal family, and willsplit their time betweenNorth America andBritain, Madonnashared a hilarious video

on her Instagram pagein which she offeredher own Manhattanproperty as a boltholefor the pair and theirbaby son Archie,reports aceshowbiz.com.

“Harry don’t run offto Canada, it’s so bor-ing there,” Madonnabegan her video, whichsaw her sitting in frontof a mirror as shespoke to the camera.

She added, “I’ll letthem sublet my apart-ment in Central parkwest. It’s two bedroom,it’s got the best view ofManhattan — incredi-

ble balcony. I thinkthat’s gonna be it — awinner. That’s going tobe the dealbreaker.Nope, BuckinghamPalace has got nothingon CPW”.

Madonna captionedthe video: “Do Megan(sic) and Prince Harrywant to sublet myapartment on CentralPark West?? ..................#madamextheatre#thelondonpalladium."

Markle and Archiehave been living on theVancouver Island,Canada since January2020.

S

ctress-singer JanelleMonae is bouncingback to full healthafter suffering frommercury poisoningafter adopting a

pescatarian diet.The We Are Young singer

said in an interview with TheCut that she suffered a run-inwith the illness after shestopped eating meat andadopted a pescatarian diet,reports aceshowbiz.com.

Reflecting on the healthscare, she said: “I started feel-ing my mortality.”

Despite the illness, Monaehas been hard at work, turningher focus to acting, ahead ofher role in “mind-bending

social thriller” Antebellum,which debuts in April 2020worldwide.

Talking about her role asVeronica, a writer with astrong sense of social justice,she said, “I want that spirit toalways stay on-camera so Idon’t break. I don’t talk on thephone a lot... I don’t want thatto take me out of my space.”

Stressing that she takes herwork home with her and findsinspiration in her personal lifewhen crafting characters,Monae added: “I use mypain... I use it.”

Antebellum, also starringJena Malone, MarqueRichardson, and Eric Lange,hits theatres April 24.

JANELLE MONAEsuffering frommercury poisoning

A

ritain’s PrinceCharles announcedon Tuesday that USpop singer KatyPerry will become anambassador for the

British Asian Trust to help itsfight against child-trafficking,the charity said.

Perry, 35, who is already agoodwill ambassador forUnited Nations children’sorganisation UNICEF, met theBritish heir-to-throne at ameeting of the Trust’s support-ers and advisers in Mumbai lastNovember while he was on avisit to India.

“I was impressed by theirstrong plan — from on-groundinitiatives to fundraising — thatwill aim to cut child traffickingin half,” Perry said in a state-ment.

“That is why I am especiallyhonoured to be named anambassador for the BritishAsian Trust's Children’sProtection Fund, and to helpshine my light on the work thatthe British Asian Trust will bedoing in South Asia, and to be apart of finding solutions tochild-trafficking.”

Perry’s appointment will beannounced at the Trust’s annualroyal dinner at London’sBanqueting House which willfocus on anti-trafficking mea-sures and plans to combatchild labour. The eventwill also be attended byBritish ministers andphilanthropists.

The chari-ty, found-ed

by the prince and British Asianbusiness leaders in 2007 to fightpoverty, inequality and injusticein South Asia, said there arebelieved to be 5.8 million chil-dren working in forced labourin India, with many having towork 15 hours a day.

BKaty Perry named ambassadorfor Prince Charles' trust for kids

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

AFP n LIVERPOOL

Liverpool’s youngest everteam proved coach Jurgen

Klopp was right to rest his starsas they reached the FA Cup fifthround with a 1-0 win againstthird-tier Shrewsbury onTuesday.

Klopp and his entire firstteam were all absent for thefourth round replay at Anfieldas part of the club’s winterbreak.

The Liverpool managerwas criticised for disrespectingthe FA Cup, but his youngstersproved up to the task and theirmature display was rewardedwhen Ro-Shaun Williams head-ed the decisive own goal in theclosing stages.

Liverpool will face Chelseain the last 16 at Stamford Bridgein March as they remain oncourse for a potential treble ofthe Premier League,Champions League and FACup.

Klopp had turned over the

responsibility of leadingLiverpool to the club’s under-23coach Neil Critchley.

With an average age of 19years and 102 days, it wasLiverpool’s youngest ever start-ing line-up in all competitions.

There were seventeenagers, including 16-year-old Harvey Elliott,while Pedro Chirivella wasthe oldest player in theteam at 22.

Liverpool-born teenag-er Curtis Jones became theclub’s youngest captain at 19years and five days.

“The manager sent a mes-sage prior to the game with somewords of advice and support,which was fantastic,” Critchleysaid of his contact with Klopp.

“He is delighted with the

performance. There was a mes-sage at half-time and at full-time.

“He said Chelsea awaycould be an opportunity forone or two of them and theyput in a performance tonight.”

Newcastle reached the fifthround for the first time since2006 after a dramatic 3-2 winat third tier Oxford.

Also, Wayne Rooneybooked an emotional clashwith his former clubManchester United as second

tier Derby cruised to a 4-2 win over Northamptonat Pride Park.

The former Englandstar, who recently joinedDerby after a spell withDC United, spent 13

years with the Old Traffordclub and won a host of majortrophies before returning toEverton in 2017.

“He’s going to face theclub where he had a wonder-ful career so of course it is spe-cial,” Derby boss Phillip Cocusaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Adetermined Indian women’shockey Team beat hosts

New Zealand 3-0 to end theirNew Zealand tour on a high.Playing their last match in thefive-match Tour, India stuck toa disciplined structure,remained assertive in theirattack and ensured a good fin-ish without letting the pressuredaunt their efforts to win.

It was Indian strikerNavneet Kaur who starred forthe team when she set up India’sfirst goal in the 45th minute toput the team ahead 1-0. Soonafter, youngster Sharmila dou-bled the lead when she struck apowerful shot past New Zealandgoalkeeper in the 54th minute.

Navneet rallied back in the58th minute with a beautifulgoal that ensured India won 3-0. While the Indian forwardshad stitched together a success-ful attack that saw them make

space in the striking circle,India’s defence remained defiantto ensure New Zealand had lit-tle chance to score.

“The team ensured a goodending to the tour and I amhappy we produced three goalsagainst New Zealand in the last

match. This tour gave us agood insight about where weneed to improve and one of thethings is to create faster play

than we do now,” expressedChief Coach Sjoerd Marijnereflecting on the team’s perfor-mance in the five-match Tour.

Expressing his observationsabout the team’s performanceduring the tour, Marijne said,“Sometimes we tend to keep theball too long on the stick andthen we create pressure to ourown self. We need to avoid thatby passing faster. On the defenceside, we need to be a bit morecalmer and need to improvehow we tackle. We will have afour week camp after a shortbreak now when we returnhome. We will be working onthese points during the forth-coming camp apart from a fewother aspects,” stated Marijne.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Middle-order batsmen ManpreetJuneja and Dhruv Raval in acounter-attacking fifth wicket

stand added 181 runs as Gujarat are wellon course for a first innings lead on thesecond day of their Ranji Trophy groupA game against Delhi.

The hosts starting the day at 270 for6 could add only 23 runs to theirovernight score finishing on a below-parfirst innings total of 293. Rush Kalaria(5/78) had the best figures for the visi-tors.

Gujarat were in trouble at 88 for 4 butJuneja, who had played in IPL for erst-while Delhi Daredevils and also scoredhundred for India A in afour-day Test few yearsback, struck an unbeaten88 off 135 balls to steadythe ship.

Left-handed Raval (83 batting off 139balls) was lucky to get a reprieve afterbeing adjudged leg-before off KulwantKhejroliya after bowler was found to haveover-stepped.

While Delhi were looking good till anhour after lunch, things changed whenDhruv Shorey introduced rookie leg-spinner Tejas Baroka into the attack.

Baroka leaked runs giving away 52 inhis wicketless 11 overs but more impor-tantly eased the pressure on the twoGujarat batsmen, who scored nearly fiveruns per over off him.

The lanky wrist spinner never foundhis spot and mostly bowled half-volleyswhich made it difficult for the bowlerswho operated from the other end.

SAURASHTRA IIN CCOMMANDRAJKOT: Sheldon Jackson hit astroke-filled 85 to put Saurashtraon the verge of securing a vital firstinnings lead against Mumbai onthe second day of their Elite GroupB match.

Saurashtra bundled out Mumbai for262 and then rode on Jackson’s gritty 85

to end the second day at 257/6, as theytrail by just five runs.

Saurshtra skipper Arpit Vasavada(46) and Chirag Jani (45 not out) alsomade valuable contributions to take thegame away from the 41-time Ranjichampion.

Earlier, Mumbai added 13 runs totheir overnight tally to be dismissed for262. It took Saurashtra only 17 minutesto wrap up Mumbai’s innings with

Kushang Patel dismissing ShamsMulani (60) and TusharDeshpande (6).

Meanwhile in other GroupB matches, Railways took thef irst innings lead against

Himachal Pradesh with seasonedpro Arindam Ghosh hitting unbeat-

en century (111).At Baroda, experienced Tamil Nadu

opener Abhinav Mukund hit a doublehundred (206) as the visitors took a mas-sive 316-run first innings lead.

Tamil Nadu racked up 490 for 7declared after bowling out the home teamfor 174, built on Mukund’s splendidknock and his big opening partnershipwith L Suryapprakash (75).

At Shimoga, Madhya Pradesh aretrailing Karnataka by 366 runs after thelatter posted a mammoth 426 in their firstessay.

HARYANA WWINROHTAK: Skipper Harshal Patel starredwith four wickets in each innings asHaryana posted a seven-wicket win overAssam on the second day of Group Cencounter.

Trailing by 101 runs, Assam made197 in 56.5 overs in their second innings,leaving the hosts with 97 runs for victo-ry.

Patel (4/49) snapped four wickets toadd to his first innings haul of four for32.

Haryana then reached the target in20 overs with Ankit Kumar scoring 30and Shivam Chauhan (26 not out) andChaitanya Bishnoi (21 not out) produc-ing unbeaten knocks.

The win took Haryana’s tally to 30points and they are now placed fourth inthe group.

In another match, Services crushedUttarakhand by 10 wickets to pick upseven points.

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 6, 2020 sport 11

AFP n PARIS

Paris Saint-Germain furtherstrengthened their dominance

of Ligue 1 on Tuesday with a 2-1 winat Nantes that moved the champions15 points clear of the domesticrivals.

Goals in either half from MauroIcardi and Thilo Kehrer were justabout enough for Thomas Tuchel’sside to stretch their lead over second-placed Marseille ahead of their tripto Saint-Etienne.

PSG extended their unbeatenrun in all competitions to 20 match-es despite a Presnel Kimpembehowler allowing Moses Simon torace through and pull one back inthe 68th minute, setting up a nervyfinish.

The capital club were dominantfor long periods despite the absence

of Neymar with a rib complaint,and it was Kylian Mbappe whocreated the opener.

World Cup winnerMbappe burst down the leftflank before pulling back per-fectly for Angel Di Maria,

whose shot brushed fellowArgentine Icardi before nestling inthe back of the net.

The three points looked to besealed 11 minutes after the breakwhen Kehrer headed home DiMaria’s corner.

However, Kimpembe let Nantesback into the game 11 minutes laterwhen his fluffed attempt at a flickedpass to centre-back partner Kehrergave Simon his chance.

AFP n BREMEN

An astonishing eighth goalin four appearances

for teenage striking sen-sation Erling BrautHaaland couldn’t helpBorussia Dortmund intothe German Cup quar-ter-finals after they wereknocked out 3-2 atWerder Bremen on Tuesday.

Haaland continued hisincredible run of form sincesigning for the Bundesliga titlechasers when he tapped homein the 67th minute to pull oneback for the away side afterDavie Selk and LeonardoBittencourt had put Werdertwo ahead in the first half-an-hour.

The strike means the 19-year-old has scored in each ofhis appearances for Dortmunddespite only making one startand playing barely two match-es’ worth of football in the fewweeks since his arrival inGermany.

On this occasion heentered the field as a half-timesubstitute, but three minutesafter his goal Milot Rashica putthe hosts 3-1 up and put hisside through to the next round,despite Giovanni Reyna pullingone back with 12 minutesremaining.

Werder will be joined inthe next round by FortunaDuesseldorf and Eintracht

Frankfurt after their wins overKaiserslautern and RB Leipzig,and Schalke, who squeezedpast Hertha Berlin 3-2 thanksto Benito Raman’s extra-timewinner.

AFP n MANCHESTER

Lifelong Manchester Unitedfan Odion Ighalo said he

had no hesitation in taking a paycut to complete his dream dead-line-day switch to Old Trafford,enduring asleepless nightas the deal wash a m m e r e dout.

U n i t e dwere alreadyshort in attackfollowing thes u m m e rdepartures ofAlexis Sanchezand RomeluLukaku and aback injurysustained byM a r c u sR a s h f o r d ,making a rein-forcement during the Januarytransfer window of crucialimportance to the Old Traffordclub.

United manager Ole GunnarSolskjaer looked at a variety ofoptions and eventually complet-ed a late loan deal for ex-Watfordstriker Ighalo, who has joineduntil the end of the season fromShanghai Shenhua.

"I'm very happy," the Nigeriaforward told United's website."First, I want say thank God formaking this happen and it's justlike a dream come true for me.

"People that know me, evenback in Nigeria, and even whenI was playing at Watford, myteam-mates knew that I lovedMan United, I support them.When I played against Man U,that emotion is there, because itis my dream.

"It is a nice reality, so I'm veryhappy and I'm looking forwardto start."

Ighalo, 30, followed SportingLisbon midfielder BrunoFernandes into Old Trafford,with the forward calling his last-minute move "very dramatic",having been informed by hisagent the day before of United'sinterest.

"From 11:00 pm (2300GMT) there was paperwork,negotiating and all that, for theloan deal and all that, so we aretalking and other teams are call-ing them, wanting me," he said.

"But I told my agent that thisis what I want. I want to comehere.

"He said 'you're going to geta pay cut to go to United'. I saidI don't care. Make this deal hap-pen. I want to go to United. Idon't care how much is the paycut, I know that, make it hap-pen."

Ighalo, who will be the firstNigerian to play for ManchesterUnited, said there had beenhuge excitement among his fam-ily and friends.

"It was crazy because, all overthe news for the last few days, isabout my deal to Man United,"he said. "Even the street I grewup on, they are doing parties, cel-ebrating Ighalo signing forUnited."

Solskjaer's side are current-ly seventh in the Premier Leaguetable, with United a huge 38points behind runaway leadersand arch-rivals Liverpool.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian pair of RamkumarRamanathan and Purav

Raja made their way into thedoubles quarter-final of thethird edition of Tata OpenMaharashtra with hard-fought yet convincing 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 victory against com-patriot Sumit Nagal and hisPartner Egor Gerasimov ofBelarus at MhalungeBalewadi Stadium in Puneon Wednesday.

The Indian rising starNagal, who was includedinto doubles main draw fol-lowing withdrawal ofGerman pair PeterGojowczyk- Cedrik-MarcelStebe, could not capitalise onthe opportunity. After win-ning the first in the tie-breaker Ramanathan-Rajacame strongly into the nextset which saw them domi-nating and wrapping it up 6-3 easily as well as the matchin straight sets. The duo willnow face stiff challenge ofIndia’s Leander Paes today.

Earlier in the singlesround-of-32, Sasikumar

Mukund dished out a grittyperformance before goingdown against the JapaneseTaro Daniel. The 23-year-oldIndian youngster, who washanded a wild-card entryduring his third appearanceat the tournament, madestrong comeback into thesecond set before losing thefirst 6-2. However, despiteputting a solid performancein the second set that sawDaniel struggling, Mukundwent onto lose 6-2, 7-6 (9-7)it in the thrilling tie-break-

er. Meanwhile, in the dou-

bles round-of-16 match,Robin Haase of Netherlandsand Sweden’s RobertLindstedt played to theirhad to work hard in theiropening round matchagainst Dutch pair of SanderArends and David Pel whichwent into tie-breaker.However, top-seeded pair ofHaase-Lindstedt somehowmanaged to comeback in thedecider and completed 6-7(5-7), 6-3, 10-8 win.

PNS n NEW DELHI

PV Sindhu ended her cam-paign at Star Sports Premier

Badminton League 2020 on ahigh with a strong 15-7, 15-8win against Rituparna Das asthe former championsHyderabad Hunters clashedwith the Pune 7 Aces at theGMC Balayogi Sats IndoorStadium in Hyderabad onWednesday.

While Pune has confirmedits berth in the semi-finals, thejourney ends for the Hunters asthey failed to make it to theknock-out stages.

Having upset World No 14Beiwen Zhang in her previousmatch, World No 100Rituparna Das came into thismatch with a lot of confidence.

But the world champion Sindhuposed a very different challenge.The Rio Olympic Silver medal-list was in no mood to relent asshe built a big lead of 8-3, bank-ing on her aggression andspeed. Das struggled to counterthe pace at which Sindhu washitting and conceded the firstgame 7-15.

The lower-ranked shuttlergave a better account of herselfin the second game as she keptSindhu moving to every part ofthe court. Her strokeplay helpedher remain on par with herhighly accomplished opponenttill 6-6.

Sindhu did just enough tolift her game from thereon andcompleted a strong 15-7, 15-8win to end her PBL5 campaignon a high.

Raval, Juneja put Delhi on mat

Akshay Wakhare celebrates with Vidarbha teammates after taking wicket of Kerala’s Jalaj Saxena PTI

Krishnappa Gowtham plays shot PTI

Ranji TrophyLive from 9:30pm IST

HOTSTAR

GUJARAT WERE IN TROUBLE AT88 FOR 4 BUT JUNEJA STRUCK

AN UNBEATEN88 OFF 135 BALLS TO STEADYTHE SHIP. ALSO LEFT-HANDEDRAVAL (83 BATTING OFF 139

BALLS) WAS LUCKY TO GET AREPRIEVE AFTER

BEING ADJUDGED LEG-BEFOREOFF KULWANT

KHEJROLIYA AFTER BOWLERWAS FOUND TO HAVE

OVER-STEPPED

India end Tour on highNavneet’s brace sees women’s team through in last match of tour

Indian women's hockey team pose for a group picture after the end of New Zealand tour

PV Sindhu in action for Hyderabad Hunters in PBL

Sindhu signs off with winMukund loses in singles despite gritty showTuchel’s side move 15 points clear with tight Nantes win

PSG extend unbeaten run

Angel di Maria celebrates after PSG first goal PSG/Twitter

Ram-Raja storms into doubles quarters

Ramkumar Ramanathan & Purav Raja celebrates after winning

Liverpool youngsters beat Shrewsbury to reach FA Cup fifth round

Are you kidding me!

Liverpool players celebrate after FA Cup win against Shrewsbury Town at Anfield AP

Haaland goal not enough for win

Haaland celebrates after scoring BVB/ instagram

Reus out of PSG clashDORTMUND: BorussiaDortmund were dealt a blowon Wednesday afterannouncing that captainMarco Reus has picked up amuscle injury that shouldkeep him out of the first legof their Champions Leaguelast 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain.

In a statementDortmund said the 30-year-old should be out “for aroundfour weeks” after picking upthe injury, ruling him out ofthe home leg of the PSG clashon February 18. PTI

Ighalo took paycut to sign for‘dream club’ Utd

IGHALOFOLLOWED

BRUNOFERNANDESINTO OLD

TRAFFORD,WITH THEFORWARD

CALLING HISLAST-MINUTEMOVE "VERYDRAMATIC"

oted Tamil actress SaiDhanshika, who essayedthe role of superstarRajinikanth’s daughter inKabali, is making herTelugu debut with a yet-

to-be titled film. First-timer HariKolagani, who worked withAnnapurna Studios and MallemaalaEntertainments earlier, is the director.The film is a production venture ofP.S.R. Kumar who is known as VizagBabji in industry circles. The firstshot was launched in Hyderabad onWednesday, with V.V. Vinayaksounding the clapperboard whileproducer B.V.S.N. Prasad switchedon the camera. Dil Raju directed thehonorary first shot.

Talking to The Pioneer, Hariexplained why he wanted Dhanshikato play a key role in the film. “I want-ed an artiste who would be remem-bered for the part more than her star-dom. She fitted my vision aptly. Inarrated the story to her lastNovember and she was in splitsthroughout the narration. In fact atplaces, she asked me to stop the nar-ration to catch a breath. She hasbeen following up the project close-ly ever since,” he said.

Insisting that the film is not awomen-centric drama, he clarifiedthat it’s a comedy thriller. “It’s a storyof four boys and how their pathcrosses with Dhanshika’s. The filmingwill begin at RFC on Thursday andwill go on continuously for 25 days.We are planning to conduct the sec-

ond schedule in Kakinada, withwhich the filming will come to anend,” he stated.

Hari is elated with the fact thathis desired casting fell in place.“When I mentioned about thestoryline to Bekkem Venugopal,who was instrumental in set-ting up the project with VizagBabji, he wanted to know whowould play the female face. Ipronto told him SaiDhanshika. Similarly I waskeen on Tej Kurrapati andAbhinav from Hushaarufor other roles. In theend, I got everyone Iasked for. It’s quite arare occurrence in theindustry,” he conclud-ed. — NG

Narration had Sai Dhanshika in

splits: Director Hari

Vijayawada Thursday February 6, 2020

My interactions with him (Kalyaan Dhev) aboutthe film have been productive and I could see hishunger to succeed. He has all the qualities of astar. He works hard and believes in beingrespectful to everyone around him. Thescript has all the elements like love andhumour to make it a family entertainer.

SREEDHAR SEEPANAWRITER/DIRECTOR

N

12

tollywood

opular productionhouses, GA2Pictures and PeopleMedia Factory, willbe partnering withAbhishek Agarwal

Arts to produce actor KalyaanDhev’s third project. Popularwriter Sreedhar Seepana, whoworked on scripts for PoolaRangadu, Dookudu and Louk-yam among a host of other co-mic entertainers, will be dir-ecting the film which is a lovestory set in a family backdrop.

When contacted, Seepanatold us that, “The script has allthe elements like love andhumour to make it a familyentertainer. We will go tofloors in March. Major por-tions of the film will be shot inHyderabad and Visakha-patnam. The likes of Annap-urnamma, Pridhvi Raj andVennela Kishore are playingpivotal supporting roles andwill raise the roof with theircomic timing.”

It is a norm for Mega heroesto send their scripts to head ofthe family, MegastarChiranjeevi, for his opinion.

Seepana too narrated thescript to Chiru. “He (Chiru)loved it and suggested changes.I gave him another narrationafter I made those modifica-tions. He was extremely happywith it,” the writer said.

He believes Kalyaan, whois presently filming fordebutant director Puli Vasu’sSuper Machi, will become astar soon. “My interactionswith him about the film havebeen extremely productive andI could see his hunger to suc-ceed. He has all the qualitiesthat a star needs to possess. Heworks hard and believes inbeing respectful to everyonearound him,” Seepana said.

Writer SreedharSeepana is

ready with afamily

entertainer.NAGARAJ

GOUD writesabout the

writer's viewson Kalyaan

Dhev from theMega familyand how he

managed to bagDhev for the

lead role

aving gone on floors inJuly last year, the film-ing of ManchuVishnu-starrerMosagallu is in its finalleg. Inspired by a Rs

2,800 crore heist in Mumbaiseven years ago, that shook theentire IT world, the film’s shoot-ing is progressing in the enter-tainment capital of the world, LosAngeles, USA right now.According to the makers, the cityof LA, litup

with neon signs, served as a per-fect metaphor for the film, whichis why they chose it. The schedulewill go on for ten more days.

The film, which is a Telugu,Tamil and Hindi trilingual, boastsof a stellar supporting cast com-prising Kajal Aggarwal, NaveenChandra, Navdeep and SunielShetty. Naveen, especially, we’velearnt has a role that will standout as a supporting actor. He willbe seen as a spoilt brat who isinto smuggling and also battlesdrug addiction.

A joint production venturebetween Via MarEntertainment, AVAEntertainment and 24 FramesFactory, the film, directed byJeffrey Gee Chin, is scheduledfor a summer release.

Vishnu in LA fordream projectH

he filming ofSekhar Kammula’sLove Story, star-ring Naga Cha-itanya and SaiPallavi, has been

shifted to Armoor. The film-maker has silently begunArmoor schedule earlier thisweek, keen on being leftalone by prying eyes to shootin peace. “The unit will bethere till February 10 shoot-ing key emotional sequencesand a fight. Besides the leadpair, the likes of RajeevKanakala and Devayani arealso a part of the ongoingschedule. The shoot will shiftto Hyderabad after February10, followed by a schedule inDubai where a song and

some sequences involvingChay will be shot. Kammulais planning to wrap up theshoot by March first week,”said a source close to theunit.

The unit also celebratedthe filmmaker’s birthday onTuesday. The filmmaker, whousually keep himself awayfrom celebrations couldn’thelp but oblige the requestsof the team, including theproducers. Sunil Narang, thefilm’s producer, and distribu-tor Abhishek Nama travelledto Armoor from Hyderabadto extend their wishes to thefilmmaker. The film is beingplanned for a release laterthis summer.

— NG

T

Writer SreedharSeepana to direct

Kalyaan DhevP

LOVE STORYmoves to Armoor

FILM'SDIRECTOR HARIKOLAGANI SAID

THAT THE FILM IS A STORY OF FOUR

BOYS AND HOW THEIRPATH CROSSES WITH

DHANSHIKA’S

Kajal unveils her MadameTussauds wax statue

ressed in a pur-ple colourpantsuit andflashing asmile, whichnever faded all

throughout the launch,actress Kajal Aggarwalunveiled her wax statue atMadame TussaudsMuseum in Singapore onThursday.

Striking a similar pos-ture, she posed right nextto her splendid wax figureas her family members

cheered. The actor is thethird Telugu star afterMahesh Babu andPrabhas, and the first fe-male actor from the Southto be immortalised in awax statue.

Thanking Tussauds, shelater tweeted, “Deeplyhumbled and ecstatic tobe honoured, standingamongst global icons.Feels like I’m seeingmyself through the eyes ofan artist. The resemblanceis uncanny and the atten-

tion to detail is spectacu-lar (sic).”

Kajal’s wax figure inSingapore will standbesides statues of celebri-ties like late actressSridevi, Anushka Sharma,Prabhas, Mahesh Babuand Karan Johar.

On the work front, theactress will be next seenin Manchu Vishnu-starrerMosagallu, Shankar’sIndian 2 and SanjayGupta’s Mumbai Sagaalongside John Abraham.

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