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MONEY 8‘STAND UP INDIA': RS 16,712 CRLOANS SANCTIONED TO WOMEN

OPINION 6A SORRY

SPECTACLE

SPORTS 12BENGAL STORM INTO RANJI

FINAL AFTER 13 YEARS

HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY MARCH 4, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

DEFEAT CORONAVIRUS

FEVER

COUGHCOLD

DEFEAT CORONAVIRUSDEFEAT CORONAVIRUSIf

you have anyof these health

conditions call fordiagnostic

help

040-24651119BREATHING

PROBLEM

Nohandshake

please

Namasteis

better

Avoidcrowds, if notpossible, take

precautions

TS ALLOTS RS 100 CRORETO CHECK CORONAVIRUS To set up an exclusive hospital to treat those infected by coronavirus

NUMBER 104 STATE COVID-19 HELPLINE

PNS n HYDERABAD

TS Minister for Health EtalaRajender said on Tuesday that45 of the total 88 persons whohad met the techie who onMonday tested positive forcoronavirus are being tested atGandhi Hospital to determinewhether they were infected.

Addressing media persons,the Minister announced thatChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao had placedRs 100 crore funds at the dis-posal of the HealthDepartment and appointed aministerial sub-committee.

Earlier, Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao wentthrough a report on the statusof coronavirus in the state.

The condition of the youthwho had tested positive wasstable. The patient is receivingtreatment as per protocol sinceMonday.

Drawing a parallel betweencoronavirus with ebola, theHealth Minister said that thefatality rate was relatively lowin the case of the former. Heassured people that the govern-ment would tackle the out-break.

The Minister announcedthe setting up of an exclusivehospital to treat those infectedby coronavirus. The hospitalwould work in coordinationwith nine government depart-ments, each under the control

of a nodal officer.Pulmonologists and suffi-

cient number of nurses wouldbe appointed in the hospital.Private hospitals had beenadvised to refer patients sus-pected to be carrying coron-avirus to the government hos-pitals, he said.

Appealing to people not toworry about the virus, theMinister said that the virus wasnot air-borne. It could spreadto other persons through res-piratory droplets producedwhen an infected personcoughed or sneezed. If theperson was clean, there was nochance for the person to con-tract the virus, he said.

Twitter asksstaff to workfrom home

MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao at a cabinet sub-committee meeting on Covid-19 in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Ministers EtalaRajender, Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar are seen

CONDITION OF TECHIE STABLE 7 TEST NEGATIVE, 36 REPORTS AWAITED

HYDERABAD: Followingthe confirmation of firstpositive case of Covid-19 inHyderabad, the samples ofseven of those suspected tobe carrying cononavirustested negative and reportspertaining to 36 other isolat-ed suspects are awaited.

As per a bulletin issued bythe Telangana HealthDepartment, the health con-dition of patients suspectedto be carrying coronovirus,

presently under observationat home and in hospitals, isstable.

One positive patient, 36other suspects got admittedto Gandhi Hospital. Theremaining 408 are underhome quarantine for 28days. As the positive patienthad come in contact with 86others, they all had beentraced and kept under sur-veillance.

Pfizer stockup over viruscure reports PNS n WASHINGTON

Drug maker Pfizer saw itsstock jumping nearly 13 percent after media reportsclaimed that the company hasidentified some antiviralcompounds that may treatthe new coronavirus(COVID-19).

The revelation came afterUS President Donald Trumpmet executives from GileadSciences, Johnson & Johnson,GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi,Pfizer and other manufactur-ers to discuss progress onvaccines and antivirals tocombat the coronaviruswhich has killed more than3,000 people globally.

3 injured in wildboar attacknear airportPNS n HYDERABAD

Three persons were injured inan attack by wild boars atShamshabad on Tuesdaymorning.

According to police, a packof wild boars from the RGIAirport compound movedinto Bahadur Ali Maqta local-ity and attacked three personswho were in a house.

The injured persons wererushed to OGH for treat-ment.

Strict actionagainst fakenews oncoronavirus PNS n HYDERABAD

A day after the detection ofthe first COVID-19 case inTelangana, the State govern-ment on Tuesday preparedthe ground to come up witha massive exercise to containfurther spread of the 2019-nCoV, and renewed its focuson preparedness across allthe urban centres in theState.

The State government hasalso decided to act toughagainst those who spreadfake news related toCOVID-19 in Telangana onsocial media platforms.

Covid-19: Maskwon’t necessarilyprotect youNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Although a surgical mask willnot necessarily protect onefrom contracting coronavirus,these masks are selling likehotcakes at five times theiroriginal price.

According to doctors, wear-ing a face mask is not an iron-clad guarantee that you won'tget sick as the virus can stillpenetrate through masks.

A city-based pulmonolo-gist said, "The diameter ofcoronavirus is apparentlyaround 0.12 microns. Surgicalmask filters particles of 2-10microns capacity. The N 95respirators filter out most air-

borne particles apparently upto 0.3 micron.

KCR’s ‘Maha Sammalen’ to shake up TS administrationMega meeting of all elected representatives, from gram panchayat to Parliament, under one roof L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

In a first-of-its-kind exercisein administration across thenation, Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is all set tohold a 'Maha Sammelan'of allelected representatives in TS,right from a sarpanch to anMP, in Telangana soon.

This congregation of electedrepresentatives, numberingover 20,000, will hold deliber-

ations for two-three days at theHyderabad InternationalConvention Centre(HICC) here.

Sarpanches of allgram panchayats, chiefsof MPTCs and ZPTCs,mandal presidents,chairmen of allmandal and zillapraja parishads,MLAs of all con-s t i t u e n c i e s ,MLCs, chairmen

of District Cooperative CentralBanks as well as Lok Sabha and

Rajya Sabha members willbe invited for this meeting.

There are over 20,000elected representatives inTelangana from gram pan-

chayat level toParliament level.

Interestingly,there have beenno previousinstances ofsuch gatherings

under one roof involving pub-lic representatives at all levelsbeing addressed by the head ofthe government in any part of

the country.So, KCR, not unlike his yag-

nas, will be creating a record ofsorts by convening andaddressing a Maha Sammelanof elected representatives.

The event is likely to be heldafter the Budget session of theState Legislative Assembly.

The Budget session willbegin on March 6 and isexpected to continue till thethird week of March.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Rajendranagar RDOChandrakala on Tuesday sub-mitted a report to the DistrictCollector confirming landencroachment in Gopanpalliunder Survey number 127 byTPCC working presidentYenumula Revanth Reddy andhis brother Kondal Reddy,who had resorted to illegalmutation for achieving theirpurpose.

The revenue officials deter-mined the 10.20 acres pos-sessed by Revanth Reddy asencroached land. Further, 5.5acres of land under the samesurvey number did not haveany clear title, the RDO said inher report. It said the mutationof 1.36 acres was illegal.

The RDO has recommend-ed to the government to initi-ate criminal prosecutionagainst Revanth Reddy forviolating Supreme Courtguidelines and WALTA Act(Water, Land and Trees Act2002).

She ordered officials to razethe walls built in the saidparcels of land in violation ofrules.

LAND ENCROACHMENT CASE

SPECIAL CLASS

RDO recommends criminalprosecution of MP

Noose tightensaround Revanth

Nampally court acquits AbdulKarim Tunda in terror casePNS n HYDERABAD

A court in Nampally onTuesday acquitted AbdulKarim Tunda in the terrorconspiracy case, which hasbeen pending against himsince 1998. Tunda, an alleged

bomb-maker of the terroroutfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, is fac-ing charges that he conspiredto carry out bomb blasts atGanesh pandals in the city.The court pronounced thejudgment on Tuesday.

Two more test positive forcoronavirus in India

PNS n NEW DELHI

With at least two more persons- an Italian tourist and an AirIndia passenger testing posi-tive, the total number of con-firmed cases of the dreadednovel coronavirus (Covid19)in India has gone up to seven.

According to Union HealthMinistry sources, an Italiantourist in Jaipur has tested pos-itive for Covid19, though thesample initially collected fromthe tourist on Saturday hadtested negative. As his condi-tion deteriorated, a secondsample was collected, whichtested positive on Monday."Since there was a variation inthe reports, samples were sentto the National Institute ofVirology (NIV), Pune

for testing,"o f f i -

cials said, adding that it had

tested positive.The Air India on Tuesday

confirmed that a passengerwho flew on a Vienna-Delhiflight on February 25 hadtested positive for coronavirus.Hence, people who flew on-board the Air India Vienna-Delhi flight on February 25have been asked to followgovernment protocols.

The advisory comes after theairline informed crew ofthe flight on Monday to

stay in isolation at theirhomes for 14 days and

watch for symptoms. TheBoeing 787 aircraft, whichserviced the flight, had 120people on board, includingcrew.

"This is for the attention ofpassengers who flew onAI154 Vienna-Delhi of 25th

Feb 20.

The Boeing 787aircraft, whichserviced the flight,had 120 people onboard, includingcrew

Air India passenger, Italian tourist among fresh casesnThe Air India on Tuesday

confirmed that a passengerwho flew on a Vienna-Delhiflight on February 25 hadtested positive for coronavirus.

nAn Italian tourist in Jaipurtested positive for Covid-19,though his sample collected onSaturday had tested negative

PNS n SAN FRANCISCO

Twitter staff across the worldwere asked to work fromhome starting Monday in aneffort to stop the spread of thedeadly new coronavirus epi-demic. The outbreak hasspread across the world sinceemerging in central Chinalate last year, killing morethan 3,100 people, infectingover 90,000, and promptinga wave of travel restrictions.

The social media plat-form's decision to ask itsstaff to avoid the office fol-lows similar requests by gov-ernments in virus hotspots.

"We are strongly encourag-ing all employees globally towork from home if they'reable," Twitter humanresources chiefJennifer Christiesaid in a Mondayblog post.

"Our goal is tolower the proba-bility of the spreadof the COVID-19coronavirus for us --and the world aroundus." Working from homewill be mandatory for employ-ees at the company's SouthKorea, Hong Kong, and Japanoffices, Christie said.

Interactive andtraining sessions onduties andresponsibilities ofabout 20,000electedrepresentatives

22

2

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HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated March 03, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC TODAY

Month & Paksham:Phalguna & Shukla PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Navami: 01:59 pmNakshatram: Mrigashirsha: 11:23 amTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:27 pm – 01:55 pmYamagandam: 08:03 am – 09:31 amVarjyam: 07:48 pm – 09:24 pmGulika: 10:59 am - 12:27 pmGood Time: (to start any important

work)Amritakalam: 01:25 am – 03:01 amAbhijit Muhurtham: NIL

FFoorreeccaasstt:: Partly CloudyTemp: 33/21Humidity: 42%Sunrise: 06.32Sunset: 06.23

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

MILAN-2020, the multilater-al naval exercise scheduled tohave been conducted by theIndian Navy from March 18 to28 at Visakhapatnam has beenpostponed taking into consid-eration the safety of all partic-ipants and travel restrictionsimposed by the spread ofCOVID-19.

It may be noted that dele-gates from 15 friendly foreignNavies had attended the FinalPlanning Conference held inthe city. In a press release, theIndian Navy said that theannouncement to conductMILAN-2020 had generated avery enthusiastic response,with Navies around the world

having expressed their desire toparticipate; and in deference tothis interest, the Indian Navywas looking forward towardscheduling MILAN at a laterconvenient date.

The Indian Navy thankedthe numerous navies fromnear and far for having accept-ed their invitation to partici-pate in MILAN 2020, as also

for the unstinted support pro-vided in the run-up to thisevent.

Multilateral Navy Exercise,MILAN is a congregation oflittoral navies conducted bien-nially by the Indian Navyunder the aegis of theAndaman and NicobarCommand since 1995.

Delegates from15 friendlyforeign Navieshad attendedthe Final Pla-nning Confere-nce in Vizag

2

Coronavirus forces Indian Navy to postpone MILAN-2020

PV KONDAL RAOn WARANGAL

Minister for Women, Childand Tribal welfare SatyavathiRathod is on a programmespree for the past five days inconnection with the ongoingPalle and Pattana Pragathi inerstwhile Warangal district.

Satyavathi took part in var-ious programmes and inaugu-rated development works inWarangal on Tuesday.

The Minister inaugurated'Sakhi One Stop Centre' inBhupalpalli district headquar-ters on Tuesday. Speaking onthe occasion, Satyavathi said,"The Sakhi scheme instills con-fidence among women. As thename of the scheme itselfdepicts friendliness, it wouldcertainly help women to over-come problems."

The Minister said, despiteconstant vigil by police to con-tain the atrocities and attackson women, the rise in suchincidents is causing a seriousconcern. Under these circum-stances the need to expandSakhi network has becomeimminent, the Minister added.

Satyavathi said that shewould request the ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoto deploy female police officersto lead the Sakhi Centres in thestate. Making a scathing attackon the derogatory commentsmade against friendly policing,the Minister said the friendlypolicing would not includehaving friendly relations withpersons indulged in crime.

Satyavathi said, "ThroughSakhi Centres are spread acrossthe country. They are lessequipped when compared tothe centres in Telangana state."

The Minister said thatKalyanalakshmi scheme wasyielding desired results. Shealso detailed various conceptsimplemented by the state gov-ernment for the welfare ofwomen. The whirlwind tour of

Ministers is seen as a majorsupportive element for thepropagation of the develop-ment and welfare programmes

that are undertaken by the gov-ernment in the region and isattracting the attention of thelocals and officials.

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

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HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 4, 2020 hyderabad 02

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(IN HYDERABAD)

Th ew e l l -known

saying, “Be cor-dial with the per-

sons youmeet on your wayup since you will

have to meet themagain on your way down” willbe ideal for YSRCP presidentYS Jaganmohan Reddy, con-sidering the favourable polit-ical scenario he has been expe-riencing.

When the opportunity aris-es to bestow a favour upon oneof the richest men in theworld, no one would hesitateto cement friendship with abusiness magnate like MukeshAmbani.

After keenly considering thepros and cons of such a move,Jagan is believed to have decid-ed to offer a Rajya Sabha seatto Parimal Natwangi, a closeassociate of Ambani, whosetenure as member of the UpperHouse of Parliament will endthis April.

Generally, national partiesbestow such opportunities totheir leaders for the largerinterests of the party and thepolitical scenario.

Leaders of undivided APlike P. Shiva Sankar(Congress), BangaruLakshman, GVL NarasimhaRao (both BJP) and SitaramYechuri (CPI-M) had got suchan opportunity from the statesof Gujarat, UP and WestBengal respectively.

Similarly, leaders likeRashid Alvi and JairamRamesh of the Congress hadmade their way to the RajyaSabha from AP, while manyworthy aspirants from thestate were overlooked by theparty for reasons purely polit-ical in nature.

However, Jagan’s decisionregarding Parimal appears tobe purely personal and not

political. To nominate an“outsider”, national partiesfirst take a very close look atthe situation, the strength ofthe local aspirants and also hisor her position in the partybefore finalising the ticket.They also tend to take theopinions of party cadres. Forexample, Rashid Alvi wasbrought to AP in 2004. Heaccepted the offer made bythen AICC President SoniaGandhi and accordingly, cameand filled the nominationpapers for the RS seat that fell

vacant following the death ofsitting member KM Khan.The tenure of this seat wasjust two years by then.

Interestingly, at that time,the then Congress MLA fromVijayawada (West) Jalil Khanhad to sacrifice his seat toaccommodate the CPI candi-date following a seat sharingagreement between the twoparties. The then AICC gen-eral secretary in-charge ofAP affairs Gulam Nabi Azadassured Jalil Khan that hewould be nominated to the RS

for his ‘sacrifice’. However, JalilKhan rejected that offer forthis particular seat at it hadonly two years of the actualtenure of six years left.

Azad tried his best to con-vince Jalil Khan, but when herefused, the seat was given toRashid Alvi, a Bahujan Samaj

Party leader as his reward fordumping Mayawati.

However, the state-levelCongress leaders, includingYS Rajasekhara Reddy, initial-ly opposed the proposal butfinally agreed to the party'sdecision. For Jagan, there areno such restrictions.

From a business point ofview too, Jagan stands to ben-efit by obliging MukeshAmbani. Moreover it is pru-dent for Jagan to be in thegood books of Ambani, whoenjoys “most favoured status”from Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

While Jagan may have suc-cessfully managed to create adistance between his politicalbête noire ChandrababuNaidu and Modi, he realisesthat the TDP chief is still inthe good books of Ambani.This may be detrimental to

Jagan’s interests in the futurein view of the DA cases hefaces.

Interestingly, Jagan cosyingup to Ambani is a markeddeparture from the standadopted by his father YSR.

When YSR was the ChiefMinister, RIL tried its best toconvince him to allow it to laya pipeline for transporting gasfrom the KG Basin to itsrefinery in Gujarat. YSRinsisted that the gas availablein the KG Basin must beallotted to cater to the needsof AP first, to which RIL wasin disagreement.

Even before an outcomeover this stand-off came, YSRdied in a helicopter crash inNallamala forests in Kurnooldistrict. Soon after, rumoursspread across the state that theprivate sector giant had ahand in that tragic incident.

Properties of RIL were van-dalised and those who werearrested then found a place forthemselves in the APAssembly.

Unlike his father, Jaganwishes to have cordial rela-tions with Ambani. This willbe possible with only one RSseat.

As per rumours doingrounds, a leader had to paynearly Rs 50 crore for a RSticket from YSRCP. Whilethis may seem like an expen-sive proposition, the fact isthat it is far cheaper thanpumping in Rs 100 crore onthe Lok Sabha election andstill being unsure of makingit to Parliament.

Ignoring party leaders byoffering RS seats to “out-siders” may lead to disquietamong the YSRCP leaders,especially since there is noprecedence of a region partydoing this. The TDP has a his-tory of allotting RS seats onlyto its cadre, but unlike Jagan,it does not face DA cases.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

To nominate an “outsider”, nationalparties first take a very close look at thesituation, the strength of the localaspirants and also his or her position inthe party before finalising the ticket

For Jagan, a friend’s friend is a friendPIN

POINT

Satyavathi: Need to set upmore Sakhi Centres in TS

Minister for Women, Child and Tribal welfare Satyavathi Rathod addresses thegathering at Pattana Pragathi programme in Warangal district

Ministers, MLAscompete for topspot in Pattana,Palle Pragathi RAMAKRISHNA PERALAn KARIMNAGAR

There seemed a heavy compe-tition between the legislatorsand Ministers over the execu-tion and implementation ofPalle and Pattana Pragathi pro-grammes carried out in theirrespective constituency areas.

The legislators of erstwhileKarimnagar district are takingit as a major challenge to securethe top spot in the next fifteendays over the implementationof the programme.

Constituencies in the vicin-ity of Warangal and Siddipethave been more successful inthe execution process and thegram panchayaths in this parthave taken up the PallePragathi concept with arenewed verve.

Similarly, the constituenciesincluding Huzurabad andHusnabad have taken up thePattana Pragathi programmewith a competitive spirit.

BC Welfare MinisterGangula Kamalakar is leavingno stone unturned in theimplementation process ofPattana Pragathi in theKarimnagar MunicipalCorporation limits.

Similarly, MLA KorukantiChander is also participatingactively in the programmes inRamagundam MunicipalCorporation limits.

IT Minister and TRS work-ing president KT Rama Raoand the legislators RasamyiBalakishan are also taking partin the programmes with arenewed verve and in all thesegments to make the pro-gramme a major success.

Minister tells representatives to work with positive attitudeAVINASH DEEPAK PULI n MAHABUBNAGAR

Minister of Prohibition &Excise, Sports & Youthservices V Srinivas Goudissued appointmentletters to the unemployedyouth at Mahabubnagaron Tuesday followed bythe directions of theUrban Development andMunicipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Rao.Srinivas Goud reviewedthe Palle and Pattana Pragathi programmes in Mahabubnagar onTuesday. The Minister participated in an awareness programme in thedistrict headquarters and advised the sarpanches and urban local bodyrepresentatives to take up the programmes with a positive motto.Srinivas Goud issued appointment letters to Sateesh Kumar andLakshmi Chaitanya as electrician and helper respectively in theGovernment Hospital in Mahabubnagar. KTR during his visit toMahabubnagar assured jobs to the two youths when the mother ofSateesh Kumar has requested the Minister to give job to her son,detailing her pathetic tale. Sateesh Kumar's mother Renamma metKTR and told that her three sons were jobless and she does not evenhave a house to reside. Responding to their appeal KTR advisedSrinivas Goud to take necessary steps to accommodate one of thesons in any of the jobs. The Excise Minister after thorough inspectionhas issued orders of employment to Sateesh Kumar and appointedhim as the electrician in the Government hospital. Another personLakshmi Chaitanya was also given appointment letter.

Minister V Srinivas Goud at Pattana Pragathiprogramme in Mahabubnagar on Tuesday

Strict actionagainst fake...Continued from Page 1

In a sub-committee meet-ing with various governmentwings, which was attended byMA&UD Minister KT RamaRao, Health Minister EtelaRajender, Minister for RuralDevelopment ErrabelliDayakar Rao and othersenior officials from thehealth wing, the Ministersmade it clear that strict actionwould be taken against thosespreading fake news relatedto COVID-19.

A decision was taken to setup a 24-hour call centre,besides strengthening theexisting one, they said. Tofight the threat of COVID-19with information and aware-ness, the State governmentwill roll out awareness cam-paigns in all the districts. Aspart of these efforts, bill-boards, flexies and adver-tisements in televisions arebeing readied and will berolled out in the coming day.

Continued from Page 1

The Maha Sammelan islikely to be held either inMarch-end or in the first weekof April. The main aim of themeeting is to educate andtrain elected representatives ontheir duties and responsibili-ties. Several interactive andtraining sessions will be heldas part of the Maha Sammelan.Through this meeting, KCRwants to lay bare his govern-ment's priorities and goals forthe remaining four-year tenureof his second innings.

In particular, elected repre-sentatives will be coached onthe nitty-gritty of the newMunicipal Act, new PanchayatRaj Act, and the new RevenueAct, among other things.

With all the key elections inTelangana, from gram pan-chayat level to Parliamentlevel, completed by Februarylast, KCR wants to focus onoffering 'good governance'

and bringing revolutionarypolicies and measures.

After becoming the ChiefMinister for a second term inDecember 2018, KCRannounced that he would fin-ish all the elections in a yearand ensure that no ModelCode of Conduct would comein the way of bringing reformsand implementing newschemes in the state.

KCR wants to unveil hisvision and plans for Telanganafor the next four years at theMaha Sammelan and wants allelected representatives to getinvolved in helping the gov-ernment achieve its goals.

KCR’s ‘MahaSammalen’ to shake...

Continued from Page 1

Generally, 80 per cent of thepeople get common cold.About 14 per cent of the coro-na-affected patients could becured through treatment. Only3% of the cases were chronic.The Health Minister advisedpeople to see a doctor shouldthey be suspicious about car-rying the virus.

Besides Gandhi Hospital,the Military Hospital and thegovernment hospital inVikarabad had been roped intreat patients. At least 3,000beds had been kept ready inprivate medical colleges, hesaid.

The Minister said that hisdepartment was in regularcontact with the Centre andsharing information with it.The Centre had been urged to

supply more masks as therewas a shortage of masks in thestate.

The Minister wanted thecommuting public to take all

precautions. A toll-freehelpline - number 104 — willbe set up and it will be func-tional from Wednesdayonwards, he said.

Nampallycourt acquitsAbdul Karim..Continued from Page 1

He is currently lodged inGhaziabad prison.

The 80-year-old accusedwas presented before thecourt through a video confer-ence during the trial process.

The Nampally criminalcourt acquitted him after theprosecution failed to submitproofs in support of theircharges against Tunda.

Syed Abdul Karim isallegedly involved in as manyas 40 bomb blasts that havetaken place in various parts ofthe country.

It was alleged that Tundaand his associates conspiredto carry out blasts during theGanesh festival in Hyderabad,though police foiled theirdesigns. He is facing similarcharges in cases booked inGhaziabad, Mumbai, Aligarhand Dehradun. Tunda'sadvocates had requested thecourt to transfer the case toGhaziabad as he was facingdifficulties in travellingbecause of health problems.However, the court rejected it.

Continued from Page 1

Masks are not as effective asthey are being propagated.Washing hands or using hand-rub in combination of maskcould be helpful. (The US)CDC (Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention) doesnot recommend that peoplewear a facemask to protectthemselves from respiratorydiseases, including COVID-19".

As per CDC, even thepatient does not need to weara face mask while isolated.Patients with confirmed orsuspected Covid-19 shouldwear a face mask until they areisolated in a hospital or athome. The role of face masksis for patient source control, toprevent contamination of thesurrounding area when a per-son coughs or sneezes.

According to WHO, if youare healthy you only need towear a mask if you are taking

care of a person with suspect-ed 2019-nCoV infection.WHO also advises people towear a mask only if they arecoughing or sneezing. Masksare effective only when used incombination with frequenthand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap andwater.

The pulmonologist pointedout that if one is likely to be inclose contact with an infectedperson, a mask cuts thechances of the disease beingpassed on.

A surgical mask that wasbeing sold for about Rs 5 isnow costing Rs25, thanks tothe demand created due todearth of information. Whenasked about citizens facing dif-ficulty in purchasing masks,Minister Etela Rajender saidon Tuesday, "Not everyoneneeds to wear a mask, onlythose people who are in thedirect contact with patientsneed masks".

Covid-19: Mask won’tnecessarily protect you

Telangana allots Rs 100crore to check coronavirus

Condition of techie stableContinued from Page 1

In addition to three designated hospitals, Military Hospital, TBSanatorium at Vikarabad and all teaching hospitals aroundHyderabad have been identified for isolation and treatment forCovid-19 suspects. Number 104 is being set up as state COVID-19Helpline. Extensive awareness activities will be carried throughhoardings, ads in print & electronic media, cinema halls, railwaystations, bus stations and through audio-visual aids. Universal screening will expand to passengers coming in flightsdirectly from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia,Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, Iran and Italy, besides flights from Chinaand Hong Kong. State Helpline 040-24651119 is functional, 721calls have been received as on date.

Noose tightensaround...Continued from Page 1

On Monday, RevanthReddy was arrested when he,along with his aides, tried tolay seige to KTR's farm house,which Revanth claimed wasbuilt illegally. A case was reg-istered against him. In thisbackdrop, the question of 'ille-gal' ownership of lands byKTR and Revanth Reddykicked off a debate in the state.

According to residents ofGopanapalli, Revanth Reddyencroached on a portion ofthe land under Survey num-ber 127 in the village, creatingfake documents that the saidland was purchased from aperson. However, the thenRanga Reddy DistrictCollector submitted a reportto the Chief Secretary statingthat mutation of the land didtake place with the help of fakedocuments and that wrongdetails were entered in landrecords. The mutation carriedout was not fair, they said.

Coronavirus forces Indian...Continued from Page 1

MILAN provides an excellentopportunity for the participat-ing navies to come together tonurture stronger ties besides fos-tering co-operation throughnaval exercises and profession-al interactions.

This year, the Indian Navyhad announced that the eventwould have been conductedVisakhapatnam, AndhraPradesh in March 2020 with anenhanced scope of the exerciseand increased number of partic-ipating countries in the exercise.

KCR wants tounveil his visionand plans for TS forthe next four yearsat the MahaSammelan

Two more test positive for COVID-19 in IndiaContinued from Page 1

One of the passengers hastested positive for #coron-avirus. Please follow the pro-tocol notified by the Ministryof Health regarding coron-avirus," Air India tweeted.

India on Monday reportedtwo new cases of the deadlycoronavirus, one from Delhiand another one fromHyderabad. Earlier, three pos-itive cases were reported fromKerala but all of them were dis-charged later from hospitals onrecovery.

With the threat of COVID-19 looming large, the author-ities have tightened the entryconditions for the nationals ofItaly, Iran, South Korea andJapan with immediate effect.As per the revised travel advi-sory issued on Tuesday by theUnion Health Ministry, newtravellers from these coun-tries will have to apply for freshvisas.

Meanwhile, the healthauthorities in Telangana arekeeping a close watch on therelatives of a software engineerwho had tested positive forCOVID-19 and also on thestaff of a private hospital whoearlier attended on him.

Telangana Health Minister ERajender said the man was sus-pected to have picked up thevirus in Dubai, where he camein contact with some compa-ny representatives from HongKong. After returning fromDubai, he spent two days inBengaluru, meeting companyemployees and others.

After reaching Hyderabadby bus, he approached a privatehospital with fever and flu-likesymptoms. He continued histreatment as an outpatient forfive days and was subsequent-ly admitted there. As there wasno improvement in his condi-tion, he came to Gandhi Hosp-ital on March 1. The Ministersaid the patient's samples were

sent to National Institute ofVirology, Pune and they test-ed positive for COVID-19.

About 80 people arebelieved to have come intocontact with the techie sincehis return. These include hiseight family members, 42staffers at the private hospital,including doctors, paramedicalstaffers, and front office per-sonnel and 27 bus passengers.

The family members of thetechie were brought to GandhiHospital and kept in isolationward. The staffers at the privatehospitals were also advised toundergo all tests. The Ministersaid it was for authorities inKarnataka to identify the peo-ple the techie came in contactduring his travel from Dubai toBengaluru and also during hisstay in Bengaluru.

Rajender said there was noneed for any panic as thehealth department was takingall steps to deal with any situ-ation.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 4, 2020 hyderabad 03

Ryan opens 2ndtax servicesfacility in HydHYDERABAD: Ryan, a leadingglobal tax services and softwareprovider headquartered in Dallas,Texas, announced today theopening of its second facility inHyderabad, India. Ryan hasinvested around $3 million USDover the last few years to expandits operation in Hyderabad. Thesecond facility of 19,000 squarefeet, located in Salarpuria SattvaKnowledge City, will support itsaccelerated growth plans inIndia. "This expansion reflectsthe outstanding contributionsthat our India team has onRyan's strong financial perfo-rmance," said Ryan Chairmanand CEO G. Brint Ryan.

TSRTC to runspecial buses forInter exams HYDERABAD: For IntermediatePublic Examinations to be heldfrom March 4 to March 23,Telangana State Road TransportCorporation (TSRTC) has madeelaborate arrangements foroperating special buses duringexamination hours from variousparts of the city to exam centres.TSRTC officials will be deployedto monitor and ensure hassle-free boarding and alighting ofbuses. Supervisory staff willensure proper stoppage of busesat bus stops besides guidingstudents on bus routes.Students appearing for InterPublic Exams can travel free inthe special buses by producinghall ticket along with bus pass.

GHMC supervisor mowed down by civic body truck HYDERABAD: A 35-year-oldwoman working with the GHMCwas mowed down by thecorporation's vehicle atKushaiguda on Tuesdaymorning. The woman was on herway to work on a two wheelerwhen the incident occurred. Thevictim was identified asSoundarya, a supervisor with theGHMC. Soundarya is survived byher husband and two children,both below 12 years of age, saidthe police. According to thepolice, the mishap took placenear Radhika cross roadsbetween 6:30 and 7 AM, whenthe woman was heading forwork. "The woman, along withher husband was heading for heroffice on their scooty, when aspeeding truck hit them frombehind. Due to the impact of thecrash, the woman fell onto theroad and the truck's rear tyreswent over her," said cops addingthat Soundarya died on the spot.

Habitual burglarheld, gold worthRs 17L recoveredHYDERABAD: The South ZoneTeam of the Commissioner'sTask Force along with NallakuntaPolice apprehended a habitualhouse burglar and recoveredgold ornaments worth Rs 17lakhs from his possession onTuesday. The accused has beenidentified as 24-year-old MdSaddam Ali, alias Imran Ali, awelder by profession residing atRTC Colony of Moulali. "Ali, ahabitual house burglar, is invol-ved in more than 51 cases ofhouse burglaries. In the year2015, along with his associatePothu Raju, Ali started commi-tting offences in the limits ofMalkajgiri Police station and wasarrested. In the year 2017, theyboth were arrested in 15 burgl-ary cases in Warangal Commis-sionerate and in the year 2018,they were arrested in 33 burglarycases. In 2018, the GopalapuramPolice detained Ali under the PDAct" said Hyderabad Commiss-ioner of Police Anjani Kumar.

l Home Minister inspects construction works of ICCC PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Home MinisterMohammed Mahmood Aliinspected the construction siteof Integrated Command andControl Center at Banjara Hillsin Hyderabad along withDirector General of PoliceMahender Reddy andHyderabad Commissioner ofPolice Anjani Kumar onTuesday.

After the visit, the HomeMinister said, "Ever since theemergence of new state,Telangana Government underthe dynamic leadership ofChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao have takenmany innovative and refor-mative measures for peoplefriendly policing, modernisa-tion of Police Department,effective maintenance of theLaw & Order and makeTelangana a safe and securedstate in all dimensions foroverall development andspeedy progress.

One of such prestigious pro-jects taken up by the PoliceDepartment as per the idea andconcept of the Chief Ministeris construction of IntegratedPolice Command and Control

Center at Hyderabad with costof over 350 crores.

It is a iconic building with 19and 14 storied twin towersand will deliver policing ser-vices of global standards withvarious technology applica-tions including video analyticsconnected to over 1 lakhCCTV cameras, giant videohall, traffic management tech-nologies, crime control process,control sensors, networkdevices, geographical informa-tion system, integrated withdial 100, fire, ambulance, ter-restrial trunked radio amongothers.

It will have video and audioconferencing center with stateand national level departmentsand agencies.

This center will cater to the

needs of crime analysis andmonitoring, housing anti-terrorcommando teams, quick reac-tion teams, disaster responseunit, crowd control teams withhelipad at the roof top of thebuilding.

The building will have amodern and state-of-the-artfacilities and work as one-stopcenter for incident manage-ment system including disas-ter response & crisis manage-ment greatly useful in emer-gencies & crisis for otherdepartments like revenue,GHMC, roads and buildings,health and transport, RajivGandhi International Airport,GOC Armed Forces,Cantonment, South CentralRailway and many more. Thus,it will work as world class multiagency operations center anda technology fusion center.

The Home Minister saidthat the construction work ofthe Center has almost beencompleted and various internaland external works are beingdone. Mahmood Ali instruct-ed for speedy completion of theremaining works and keep thecenter ready for inauguration atthe earliest. The work is goingon in full swing, he said.

‘Govt has taken innovativesteps to make state safer’

Telangana Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali inspects the construction site of ICCC at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad alongwith DGP Mahender Reddy and Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar on Tuesday.

Safe greeting: Ditch thehandshake, say Namaste

CORONAVIRUS IN HYDERABAD

PNS n HYDERABAD

Amid Covid-19 scare in thecity, 'ditch handshake andsay namaste' is what everyonein the city is being advised.

With physical contact beinga leading cause of the spread,it comes as no surprise thatpeople are refusing to greeteach other with regular hand-shakes. In these times of coro-na, go back to basics and greetthe other person with SimpleNamaste. Join your hands,flash a smile, bow down a bitand say namaste, and you arejust about safe from con-tracting the coronavirus.

Minister Etela Rajendersaid, "Corona is not airbornedisease, it comes from humancontact. 'Avoid handshake,just say namaste'. You neverknow whether the person hasused his hand for digging hisnose or cleaning his mouth.These are spontaneous activ-ities, so it's better to sayNamaste".

There is no potential risk ofcausing transfer of germs orgetting infected. Namaste issafe, clean and undeniably thebest way to exchange greet-ings. Earlier Mahindra GroupChairman Anand Mahindrasaid, "Would have preferredthat the 'namaste' be adoptedglobally in happier circum-stances (not as the result of apandemic!) but oh well...Thisclearly proves that our ancientIndian ancestors had realcommon sense when creatingour customs!"

Anand also shared a graphthat read, that 124 millionbacterial colony (CFU) wastransferred in a handshake, 55million and 7 million CFUwere spread in a high 5 andfist pump respectively. At thesame time, the analysisclaimed that 'zero' germs weretransferred while greetingsomeone with 'namaste.'

The Department of Ayush by Telangana government isdistributing free prophylactic medicine for coronavirus

illness. As per the prescription, infants from 0-1 yearsneed to take three pills with milk, while anyone above 1year, needs to take six pills for three days. The pillsshould be taken half an hour before and after eatingfood. The pills are being distributed at Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport (RGIA) Shamshabad and DKGovernment Homeopathy Hospital in Ramanthapur.While WHO has not yet revealed guidelines on usage ofthe medicine, the government is going ahead withdistribution of prophylactic medicine. A Hyderabad-based pulmonologist on condition of anonymity pointedthat government is promoting prophylactic claiming thatit is protective but exact evidence is not clear.

People in Telugu states areliving in the grip of fear

psychosis as a 24-year-oldsoftware engineer fromMahendra Hills inSecunderabad tested positivefor the virus.

Residents of MahendraHills here are undergoingsevere mental agony as somefacts about how the softwareengineer contracted the viruscame to light. People of theregion are dreading to settheir foot out. As a result, theregion wore a deserted look.

Meanwhile, the GHMCofficials, alerted by the virusentering the city, took sanita-tion improvement measuresin the city in general inMahendra Hills in particular.

The government so faridentified 45 persons whomoved closely with the soft-ware engineer out of 80 thathe had interacted soon afterhis return to the city onFebruary 22 from Bangaluru.

The person who tested pos-itive for the virus has been

lodged in Gandhi Hospital'sisolation ward. His conditionis stated to be stable.

His close interaction withpersons from Hong Kongwhile on his official trip toDubai led to the youth con-tracting the virus.

Earlier, he received treat-ment at Apollo Hospital uponreturn to the city and his feverdid not subside. He wasturned in to Gandhi hospitalwhere doctors collected hisblood samples and sent tovirology lab in Pune, whichconfirmed him to be coron-avirus positive case.

The state government onMonday declared the coron-avirus entering the state andtook remedial measures.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad office market issetting new benchmarks in anotherwise gloomy economicclimate.

According to a JLL researchon "Office pre-commitment"released on Tuesday, "Hyder-abad witnessed the highestpre-commitment levels amon-gst the seven key office mar-kets in India, with more thanhalf of the expected supply in2020 already pre-committed."

Hyderabad's pre-commit-ment activity in 2019 stood at78 per cent high of the Grade'A' office supply. This strongpre-commitment activity alsoresonates with the consider-

able growth in office leasing inthe city, recording over 10 mil-lion square feet in 2019.

Submarkets like Hitec Cityand Gachibowli in Hyderabad

witnessed maximum pre-com-mitment activity. Nearly 52-mn sq ft of Grade A officespace was completed and morethan 46 million square feet

absorbed in 2019 in the sevenmajor office markets of India.This leasing activity wasbacked by strong pre-commit-ment at more than 50 per centof the Grade A supply.

The net absorption for theyear 2020 will be much high-er than the annual average forthe last five years which stoodat 35 million square feet.

As per the press commu-niqué Ramesh Nair, CEO andCountry Head, JLL India said,"The strong pre-commitmentactivity is an indication of theintrinsic strength of the Indianoffice market. It bears testimo-ny to the increasing importa-nce of real in the business planof corporate occupiers. In

markets that have a shortage ofquality office supply and inc-reasing pressure on rents, theneed to plan for future spacerequirements becomes critical.Hence, single digit vacancymarkets drive pre-commit-ment levels with large compa-nies finding it viable to com-mit to office spaces in theunder construction phase".

Most pre-commitmentdeals are witnessed in projectsby reputed developers with aproven track record of timelydelivery. Dr Samantak Das,ED, JLL India. "IT-ITeS occu-piers account for a majority ofthe pre-commitment leasesacross most of the top officemarkets in India.”

GHMC, Metrotakes steps tocheck virusThe Mayor of GHMC Bonthu

Rammohan has suggested thecitizens of the city not to panicabout coronavirus. Rammohansaid that the government is onhigh alert on the issue and istaking precautions to prevent thespread of the disease. He saidhoardings will be setup in Teluguand Urdu languages, to promoteawareness among the people oncoronavirus. The Mayor said,"Coronavirus is known to bemore in cold countries. However,as the temperature is high in theTelangana, there is little chanceof spreading". Meanwhile, theHyderabad metro has initiatedsteps as part of coronaviruspreventive measures. HMR MDNVS Reddy said that Metroemployees have all beencounselled about preventivemeasures to be taken. L&THMRLwill take up cleaning of metrostations, trains, escalators afteroperational hours. Shortlyanouncements and display wouldbe started for passengers tospread awareness aboutcoronavirus.

Mahendra Hills in Hydwears a deserted look

Rachakonda Police organise ‘She for Her'PNS n HYDERABAD

As part of the events leading upto the International Women'sDay celebrations, theRachakonda Police conducteda 'She for Her' programme forthe girl students at Guru NanakInstitution in Ibrahimpatnamon Tuesday. The programmewith more than 500 'She forHer' volunteers, had SmithaSabharwal, Special Secretary tothe Chief Minister, as the chief

guest. Emphasising the needfor students to have highergoals and reach them with hardwork, Smitha Sabharwal said,"Women should always be cau-tious about their surroundingsand if any problem arises, theyshould immediately call theDial 100 facility".

Rachakonda Police Comm-issioner, Mahesh Bhagwatexplained about women centriclaws and requested the volun-teers to alert the police imme-

diately on knowing about anywomen harassment incidents.He said there were about 1.1lakh surveillance camerasacross Rachakonda PoliceCommissionerate setup espe-cially for women safety.

She for Her, a brainchild ofMahesh Bhagwat, was launc-hed with an aim to create asafer environment for girl stu-dents inside the college premis-es, as public places are alreadytaken care by the She Teams.

The fundamental of thisconcept is two senior girl stu-dents are selected from eachcollege who will undergo ori-entation training and empow-ered with awareness on womenrelated laws and acts. They willbe nominated as volunteers forthe college. Whenever any girlis subjected to harassment,these volunteers will act as abridge between the police andvictims and also help other stu-dents on ways to reach police.

Crane collapsekills two incement factory PNS n SANGAREDDY

Two persons were killedand two others sustainedinjuries as a crane collaps-ed at Mahalakshmi Cem-ent Industries at KallakalIndustrial Area ofManoharabad Mandal inMedak district on Tuesday.

Lorry driver ChirragonaSuman, native of Velimi-nedu of Chityal in Nalgo-nda district and MaheshGoud of Maharastra Statewere killed on the spot asthe crane collapsed on thelorry. Two others have sus-tained serious injuries.

The death toll is expect-ed to increase. DSP Toop-ran inspected the Mahala-kshmi Industries.

CAPSULE

NIT dropout held with 150 kg weed PNS n HYDERABAD

A Special Operations Team(SOT) of the LB Nagar Zonealong with Saroornagar Policenabbed a NIT dropout whowas peddling marijuana andseized 150 kilograms of thesubstance from him.

The accused has been iden-tified as Jatavath Venkanna, 35,a car driver from Boduppal. Acar, mobile and cash, 150 kilo-grams of ganja, all worth Rs 20lakh have been confiscatedfrom Venkanna's possession.

Three persons from Visakh-apatnam who sold the sub-stance, identified as PillaNaidu, Madula Babu Rao andGanta Ganesh, are absconding.Two receivers from Mahara-shtra, Abdul Razak Kasbahand Sathar are also abscond-ing, said the police.

Venkanna, a B tech gradu-ate from VIF College ofEngineering and Technologyin Moinabad, also qualified forthe GATE examination in theyear 2008 and 2009.

"Venkanna acquired a carand began eking out a liveli-hood as a car driver. In 2015,he became addicted to bettingon horse racing and used tovisit the Race club at Malakpetand spend money on betting.In 2016, Venkanna gave Rs 1lakh as a hand loan to hiscousin, Balaji. He noticed thathis cousin used to invest themoney in peddling ganja.Intrigued by this trade, heaccompanied Balaji to Tuni,Anakapalli, Vaddadi and Ma-

dgula areas of Visakhapatnamdistrict and got acquainted toPilla Naidu, Madula Babu Raoand Ganta Ganesh" said police.

Since 2017, Venkanna alsobegan smuggling the contraba-nd. Officials said that so far, hemade more than 10 trips in hiscar to transport the substanceand sold it to Abdul Razak andSathar. The drug was purcha-sed at Rs 3,000 per kg and soldfor Rs 8,000 per Kg.

In a similar run, Venkannawent to Visakhapatnam andprocured 150 kgs of ganjapacked in 75 packets weighingtwo kgs each from his sellers.He concealed them under-neath the rear seats of hisToyota Etios car bearing was totransport it to Karnataka viaHyderabad to sell it to AbdulRazak and Sathar. Based oncredible information, he wasarrested on Tuesday.

300 kilos of ganja seized, 3 heldHYDERABAD: A Special Operations Team (SOT) of the LB NagarZone along with the Abdullapurmet Police, nabbed three drugpeddlers and seized 300 kilograms of ganja along with otherevidence worth Rs 34,49,000 from their possession on Tuesday. The accused have been identified as Ramavath Pandu, 22,Varthyavath Bhaskar, 23 and Kethavath Prakash, 37. Two sellersfrom Visakhapatnam, Korra Vasu and Suresh along with a receiverfrom Maharashtra, Karan Parkale, are absconding. Police officialsseized 300 kilograms of weed, Rs 1,49,000 cash, a Mahindra XUV-500 car and three mobile phones from them. The value of theseized property is worth Rs 34,49,000, said the Police. On Tuesday,the trio went to Visakhapatnam, procured 300 kgs of ganja fromVasu and Suresh at Rs 3,000 per Kg, packed it in 30 packets of 10kgs each and concealed it underneath the seats and boot space ofthe car. They were on their way to deliver it in Mumbai viaHyderabad, when they were arrested.

Office leasing, pre-commitment activity up

AYUSH DISTRIBUTES FREE PROPHYLACTIC

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 4, 2020 hyderabad 04

Singireddy: Telangana to promote alternative cropsPNS n HYDERABAD

The state government is plan-ning to promote alternative ornon-traditional crops such astapioca, castor and oil palm forbetter yield and income,Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy said onTuesday. The Minister, who ison a tour of Tamil Nadu, saidTelangana was suitable for thecultivation of tapioca due to itsclimatic and soil conditions.

During his visit to Tapiocaand Castor Research and SeedProduction Centres inYethapur in Salem district,Niranjan Reddy examinedtapioca cultivation and pro-duction which was turninginto a profitable crop. He feltthat given the increased irriga-tion facilities, farmers inTelangana would be able to getbetter income if they take tothe cultivation of tapioca,which is a major source for 18different products, includingtapioca sago, starch powder,

chips, and textile dyes."Traditional crops and cultiva-tion methods are not yieldingdesirable results forcing farm-ers into debt traps. Instead, cul-tivation of non-traditionalcrops such as oil palm, tapio-ca and castor have been provento increase their income.Hence, the State government iskeen on promoting such crops.A field-level awareness pro-gramme will be held for farm-

ers on tapioca cultivation in theState soon," he said.

The Minister said castorwas being cultivated largely inRangareddy and Nalgonda dis-tricts, while Palamuru regionwas suitable for productionand development of castorseeds. Niranjan Reddy pointed outthat castor was used in variousoils, soaps and ointmentsamong others.

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Congress MLA from Sanga-reddy T Jagga Reddy on Tue-sday gave a new twist to thebusinessman Jupally Rames-hwar Rao's land issue, by sup-porting the TRS government.

Jagga Reddy's shock supportcame at a time his party col-league and TPCC workingpresident A Revanth Reddy hasbeen trying to corner the gov-ernment over the issue.

Speaking to the media here,the MLA said "JupallyRameshwar Rao is a business-man. I will see him only as abusinessman. I don't knowabout his land issue.Governments have to encour-age businessmen if they seekcooperation. There is no needto find fault with the govern-ment stand".

It may be recalled thatRevanth Reddy filed a PublicInterest Litigation (PIL) in theHigh Court in 2018 againstallotment of prime lands to

Rameshwar Rao in and aroundHyderabad. Revanth Reddyalso filed another PIL againstthe TRS government allegingthat it allotted the land in theprime locality of Hyderabadnear IT Hub to Swiss giantconglomerate IKEA on nom-ination basis without calling fortenders. This, Revanth Reddy'sPIL says, has caused a loss ofnearly Rs 400 crore to the pub-lic exchequer.

The Malkajgiri MP also filedanother petition seeking CBIinquiry into garnering of huge

funds by TRS leaders in thename of Bangaru Coolie.

Revanth Reddy filed yetanother petition in the HighCourt seeking increased secu-rity with central forces, sayingthat he apprehends a threat tohis life from Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao andRameshwar Rao, the managingdirector of My HomeConstruction Pvt. Ltd.

The MP also made it clearthat he will continue his legalfight against the government.

Revanth Reddy was alsoarrested on Monday for tryingto reach a farmhouse that healleges belongs to TRS workingpresident and IT Minister KTRama Rao. In this backdrop,Jagga Reddy's comments insupport of Rameshwar Rao

have created ripples not only inthe Congress party but also inpolitical circles. The MLA'scomments have also confusedthe Congress cadre, already indisarray over the sequence ofelectoral setbacks

Jagga Reddy also claimedthat farmers were vexed withthe TRS government. Heclaimed that as things were,farmers were in danger ofbecoming slaves instead ofremaining farmers. "A major-ity of farmers didn't get RythuBandhu funds yet. The TRSgovernment has failed to cometo the aid of farmers who losttheir crop. The Congress partywould continue its fight forfarmer welfare in the upcom-ing Assembly Budget session,"Jagga Reddy said.

Jagga Reddy's shock support in RameshwarRao's land issue comes at a time when hisparty colleague and TPCC working presidentA Revanth Reddy has been trying to cornerthe government over the issue

Jagga Reddy’s support to TRS create ripples in Cong

Centre to procure 51,625 tonnes red gram from statePNS n HYDERABAD

Notwithstanding repeatedrequests from the state govern-ment, the Union governmenthas declared that it wouldprocure only 51,625 tonnes ofred gram from Telanganabased on the Second AdvanceEstimate of 2019-20.

The state is estimated to pro-duce a massive 2.07 lakhtonnes of red gram duringkharif this year, against thenational production of 36.9lakh tonnes.

Replying to a question posedby Telangana MPsKomatireddy Venkat Reddyof the Congress and BandiSanjay of the BJP duringQuestion Hour in Lok Sabhaon Tuesday, Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar said during kharif 2019-20, the Centre had approvedthe procurement of 47,500tonnes under Price SupportScheme (PSS) at minimumsupport price (MSP) of whichit had already procured about45,500 tonnes as on February22. "Based on the SecondAdvance Estimate (2019-20) of

red gram production inTelangana, the approved quan-tity has been increased to51,625 tonnes," Tomar said.

Further, the Centreincreased the MSP of red gramto Rs 5,800 per quintal for2019-20 season from Rs 5,675per quintal for 2018-19 season.

Farmers in the state took upred gram cultivation in aboutfive lakh acres during kharifthis year which resulted in anestimated yield of 2.07 lakh

tonnes. Subsequently, the Stategovernment wrote to theCentre seeking its support forthe purchase of an additional54,000 tonnes.

However, the Centre didnot respond to the State'srequest till date.

The Union government'sresponse is likely to cause anadditional burden of Rs 200crore on the State if the latterhas to take up the procurementof the additional 54,000 tonnes.

Telangana State BC Welfare Minister Koppula Eshwar calls on Central Minister forPanchayat Raj Narender Singh Tomar in Delhi on Tuesday. Eshwat submits arepresentation to grant funds for development of roads in Telangana

Minister for Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Errabelli Dayakar Raoaddresses the gathering at 20th Edition of IndiaSoft at HICC on Tuesday

Revanth Reddy: Will approachHC over ‘Janwada farm house'PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working president andMalkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy said that he wouldapproach High Court on giv-ing permissions to the con-struction of TRS working pres-ident and IT Minister KTRama Rao's farm house nearJanwada violating GO No. 111.

Addressing the media per-sons on Tuesday at CLP office,Revanth Reddy said that hewould file a petition against theofficials concerned in givingpermissions to the farm houseat Janwada.

Quoting Government WhipBalka Suman's comments thatKTR took the farm house onlease, Revanth Reddy said thatthose comments prove thatthere is a farm house and it isbeing used by KTR. CongressMLC T Jeevan Reddy asked"How can a Minister encour-age illegal constructions?Government Whip BalkaSuman said that KTR tookJanwada farm house for lease.”

TS argumentsagainstdemolition ofSecretariat PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana government onTuesday told the HC that thecourts should not interveneinto the policy decisionsbeing taken by it in the dis-charge of its executive pow-ers conferred by the constitu-tion. The government madethese remarks while present-ing its arguments in batch ofPILs filed against the demo-lition of the existing state sec-retariat building complex.The petitions were filed bydifferent concerned citizensof the state including con-gress party MP A Revanthand Telangana Jana SamithiVice President Prof. PLVisweswar Rao.

Arguing the case before theHC the counsel for the statefurther said that the state cab-inet had taken the decision ofthe demolition of the secre-tariat complex on the basis ofthe report submitted by anengineers committee. Inter-vening at this juncture, thecounsel for the petitionerstold the HC that the commit-tee had given its report fol-lowing the orders of the state.

Khuntia: Willfight against atrocities ofKTR, CMPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Congress Affairsin-charge RC Khuntia onTuesday demanded the TRSworking president KT RamaRao to prove his sincerity inregard to farm house.

The rulers in Telangana areconstructing royal palacesneglecting the people,Khuntia criticised.

He called upon the people,who fought for the sake ofseparate Telangana state, toresort to fighting against thecorruption and atrocities ofthe Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao andKTR. He lashed out at theTRS government saying thatit was not correct on the partof the government to assaultMalkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy and former MP KondaVishweshwar Reddy.

Condemning the arrest ofA Revanth Reddy andVishweshwar Reddy, Khuntiaquestioned KCR to tellwhether it is democracy ormonarchic rule.

TS making big stridesin IT sector: Errabelli PNS n HYDERABAD

The 20th Edition of IndiaSoft,an International ICTExhibition and Conferencewas inaugurated at HICC inthe city on Tuesday.

Minister for Panchayati Rajand Rural DevelopmentErrabelli Dayakar Rao repre-sented state government andinaugurated the IndiaSoftshow.

Speaking on the occasion,Dayakar Rao said, It industryin Telangana with supportfrom government, made faststrides in the past five years. Ithas been in the forefront ofdevelopment in the country.The annual IT exports fromthe Telangana last year grew 17per cent as against nationalaverage growth of 8 per cent.

Hyderabad holds a uniquedistinction of hosting campus-es of five IT majors such asApple, Amazon, Google,Microsoft and Facebook. Allthese have located their secondlargest campuses inHyderabad after their head

quarters, the Ministerappraised the foreign dele-gates.

The IT Industry inHyderabad has consumed14million soft of commercialoffice space last year, which isthe highest in India. T Hub,the India's largest incubationcentre which when opens itssecond centre will accommo-date 1000 start-ups and it willbe the world's second largestIncubation Centre, theMinister stated.

Setting up more incuba-tion centres for innovation anddisruption, creation of moreinfrastructure for research anddevelopment etc. are some ofthe plans being contemplatedby the government.

India is sweeping digitaltechnology revolution, be it inArtificial Intelligence,Blockchain, MachineLearning, Robotics,, which ishelping India maintain it'sGlobal ICT Leadership, saidJoint Secretary at CentralMinistry of Commerce andIndustry Arun Goel.

REVANTH'S SECURITY

HC asks Centre to take decision in 6 weeks

Dealing with the petition filed by Congress MP A Revanth Reddyseeking to provide 4+4 security cover to him of central forces

along with escort facility, the Telangana High Court directed the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs to take a decision in six weeks from the dateof submission of fresh representation on the issue by the MP. A singlejudge bench headed by Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili passed theorders while dealing with the petition filed by Revanth Reddy. Thecourt has asked Revanth to submit his representation during the nexttwo weeks seeking the security. In his petition field before the court,Revanth told the HC that he had written a letter to the Union HomeMinistry to provide him with security with central forces and addedthat he approached the HC of the state as he did not get any responsefrom the central government.

PNS n JAGTIAL

In a case related to leaking ofclassified defence informa-tion, the Jammu and Kashmirpolice on Tuesday tookSarikela Linganna of Mallapurmandal into custody to ques-tion him in a case registeredagainst army man Rakesh inJ and K.

Tense situation witnessed inKustapur, a tiny village inMallapur mandal of the dis-trict on Tuesday when news ofa resident transferring moneyto a person allegedly havinglinks with terrorists in Jammu

and Kashmir spread like wild-fire.

The residents of the village

were shocked when they cameto know that a police teamfrom Jammu and Kashmircame to their village to ques-tion Sarikela Linganna, whoreportedly transferred moneyto one Rakesh, who allegedlyhas links with terrorists.

According to police,

Linganna has transferredmoney to the bank account ofRakesh - Rs 5,000 on February13, 2020 and Rs 4,000 onFebruary 25. Rakesh, whoworks in an army campus inArniya in Jammu districtallegedly shared informationabout the army with one

Anitha, who has links withterrorists and stays inPakistan.

On coming to know abouthis links with terrorists,Arniya police arrested Rakeshon January 5, 2020, and reg-istered a case against him.When they checked the bankstatement of Rakesh, policefound the name of Lingannain the transactions list.

Subsequently, a police teamfrom Arniya comprising sub-inspector, head constable anda constable landed inMallapur on Tuesday to ques-tion Lsinganna about the

transfer of money to Rakesh.Linganna was taken toMallapur police station forquestioning, Mallapur SI Ravisaid.

Police sources saidLinganna has denied the alle-gation of transferring moneyto Rakesh. He is said to haveinformed the police that hehad transferred the money tothe bank account of one of hisrelatives, Srinivas, who staysin Dubai. He maintained thathe was not aware of how themoney was transferred to thebank account of Rakesh inJammu, the source said.

‘High command has to make loyalist TPCC chief’PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MLA fromSangareddy T Jagga Reddysaid that the party will beaffected if the high commandpicks those who are lobbyingfor the post of TPCC chiefposition.

"The high commandwill not give TPCCchief post to theleader recom-mended by incum-bent N UttamKumar Reddy. Thehigh command hasto give TPCC chiefposition to a party loyal-ist if it wants real change,"Jagga Reddy said.

Speaking to the media onTuesday on the Assemblypremises, the MLA opinedthat it was better to continuewith Uttam Kumar Reddy asTPCC chief till the nextAssembly elections.

He said that there wereabout 25 people in the race forthe TPCC chief post. He iden-

tified some of the frontrunnersas Jana Reddy, Chinna Reddy,Mohammed Ali Shabbir andDamodara Rajanarsimha.

"Before naming the TPCCchief, Rahul Gandhi has totake responsibility of the partyagain as Sonia Gandhi is un-able to crisscross the nation to

strengthen the Congre-ss," Jagga Reddy said.

Responding to aquestion, he said"It is wrong on thepart of the Cong-ress even if it spea-

ks about defections.Even I have no right

to speak on defectionsbecause I too defected at pointof time. Party hopping is aleader's personal choice," hesaid. It may be recalled thatAICC secretary SA SampathKumar, while addressing ameeting to welcome NPreetham as TPCC SC Cellchairman in Gandhi Bhavanpremises on Tuesday, termed12 Congress MLAs whodefected to TRS as 'donkeys'.

Tense situation witnessed in Kustapur, a tinyvillage in Mallapur mandal of the district whennews of a resident transferring money to aperson allegedly having links with terrorists inJammu and Kashmir spread like wildfire

TASLPA hosts testing camps to commemorate Hearing DayPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Audiologists andSpeech - LanguagePathologists Association(TASLPA), a professional asso-ciation of Audiologist &Speech Pathologist working inTelangana and a branch ofIndian Speech and HearingAssociation (ISHA), is hostingFree Hearing Testing Campsfrom March 4 to 6, 2020throughout Telangana, tocommemorate the WorldHearing Day on March 3.

Hearing is important tospeech and language develop-ment and to learning. When

a child has difficulty hearing,early diagnosis and interven-tion is the key to success inchildren with hearing loss.

According to WHO (2018)data, the prevalence of hear-ing impairment (HI) in Indiais around 6.3% (63 millionpeople suffering from signif-icant auditory loss). The esti-

mated prevalence of adult-onset deafness in India is7.6% and childhood-onsetdeafness is 2%. A person issaid to have hearing loss ifthey are not able to hear aswell as someone with normalhearing - hearing thresholds of20 dB or better in both ears.It can be mild, moderate,moderately severe, severe, orprofound, and can affect oneor both ears. Hearing loss hasmultiple potential causes:genetic factors, complicationsat birth, infectious disease,chronic ear infections, usageof certain drugs, exposure toexcessive noise, and aging.

Man questioned for ‘transferring’ money to sympathizer of terrorists

The estimatedprevalence ofadult-onsetdeafness in Indiais 7.6% andchildhood-onsetdeafness is 2%

Think out ofthe box,trainees told PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

PK Rath, CMD, RINL-VSP,formally inaugurated theinduction programme for theManagement Trainees (MTs)here onTuesday.

W h i l econgratulat-ing the man-a g e m e n ttrainees forc h o o s i n gRINL, Rathsaid that steel industry is aback bone of the economyand playing a vital role in thenation's development.

He called up on them toexhibit leadership qualities byworking in shop floors withteam work and dedication.He said that safety aspectsshould be given top priority,while working in the plantand advised them to inculcatesafe work culture. He men-tioned that RINL has adopt-ed several technologicaladvancements in its opera-tions and exhorted them tolearn the processes of a steelplant and keep abreast withknowledge.

Cases beingfoisted onwomenprotesters: TDP PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Amaravati ParirakshanaSamithi women's wing lead-ers met Governor BiswaBushan Harichandan at theRaj Bhavan here on Tuesdayand complained that falsecases were registered againstthe agitating women inAmaravati. They appealed tothe Governor to provide pro-tection to them. Womenwing leaders S Padmasri,Gadde Anuradha, AkineniVanaja and others met theGovernor.

Speaking to the media,Gadde Anuradha said thatthere is a good response to theprotest being staged bywomen of Amaravati, howev-er, the government was filingfalse SC, ST atrocity casesagainst the innocent womento scare them.

She said that the rulingparty leaders were attackingthem and filing false cases,which were brought to thenotice of the Governor.

She said that women werefighting against the govern-ment for the future of theirchildren and the YSRCP lead-ers are repeatedly attacking tocreate panic among women.

Padma said that the protestled by women in Amaravatiis intensifying and women areplaying a key role in the pre-sent protest against the gov-ernment. To dilute and createpanic among women, policeand the ruling party leadersare resorting to false casesand attacks, she added.

PNS n AMARAVATI

Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu onTuesday paid glowing tributes toformer Lok Sabha Speaker GMCBalayogi in connection with thelatter's death anniversary. At aprogramme held at the TDPoffice here on Tuesday, NChandrababu Naidu paid floraltributes GMC Balayogi by gar-landing his portrait.

Speaking in this connection,he praised Balayogi for setting an

example for others to emulateduring his life time as the edu-cation minister. He called himas an embodiment of moral val-ues. When he was the ministerfor education, he resigned own-ing moral responsibility forquestion paper leak.

In a short span of time, heearned praise across the nationby efficiently discharging hisduties as the Lok Sabha Speaker.Though, he departed us 18years ago, his memories are stillafresh, he said.

Rich tributes paidto GMC Balayogi

PNS n KALIAGANJ (WB)

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said onTuesday all who came fromBangladesh and have beencasting votes in elections wereIndian citizens and did notrequire to apply for citizenshipafresh. Banerjee also slammedthe Modi government for itshandling of the communalriots in Delhi which hasclaimed 42 lives so far, andasserted she will not allowWest Bengal turn into anoth-er Delhi.

"Those who have come fromBangladesh are citizens ofIndia...they have got citizen-ship. You don't need to applyfor citizenship again. You havebeen casting your votes inelections, electing PM andCM...now they are saying thatyou are not citizens...don'tbelieve them," she told a pub-

lic meeting here. She alsoasserted she will not let "evena single person" to be drivenout of Bengal. The West Bengalchief minister said no refugeeliving in the state will bedeprived of citizenship.

Hitting out at the centralgovernment over the Delhiviolence, the TMC bosssaid,"Don't forget this isBengal. What happened in

Delhi will never be allowed tohappen here. We do not wantBengal to turn into anotherDelhi or another UttarPradesh."

The BJP has often accusedBanerjee of "Muslim appease-ment" and pandering to theinterests of the minority com-munity for "vote bank politics".

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 4, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Plan to bring medicaleducation under ESA:Maha ministerMUMBAI: MaharashtraMinister Amit Deshmukh onTuesday said a policy would beformed to bring medicaleducation under the EssentialServices Act. The Maharashtraminister for medical educationwas replying to a callingattention motion raised byMLC Jogendra Kawade. Hesaid the state was also keen tostart a cancer unit in JJHospital.

Pak Army shells areas along LoC inJ&K's Poonch

Two Noida privateschools shut aftercoronavirus scareNOIDA (UP): Two privateschools in Noida cancelledclasses on Tuesday for thenext few days as aprecautionary measure overthe father of a student testingpositive for coronavirus,officials said. The two schoolsannounced their closure inmessages sent to the parents.One of the schools, where astudent's father testedpositive, said it will remainshut from March 4 to March6. Earlier in the day, theschool said it was postponinginternal examinationsscheduled for Tuesday due tosome "unavoidablecircumstances". The boardexams are not affected, themessages sent to the parentsmade clear. The secondschool said it is suspendingclasses immediately tillMarch 9 and sanitising itscampus. Fumigation wasunderway at both schools. AHealth Department team ledby Noida's chief medicalofficer had visited one of theschools in the morning, anofficial said.

JAMMU: The Pakistan Armyopened fire and shelled areasalong the Line of Control inJammu and Kashmir's Poonchdistrict in the early hours ofTuesday, drawing retaliationfrom the Indian Army, anofficial said. "At about 0330hours today, Pak initiatedunprovoked ceasefire violationby firing with small arms andshelling with mortars along theLoC in Mankot and Mendharsectors", a defencespokesperson said. The Armyretaliated befittingly, and thefiring and shelling have stoppedaround 5 am, the spokespersonadded.

Coronavirus: Kejriwalcalls urgent meetingwith health ministerNEW DELHI: Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onTuesday called an urgentmeeting with Health MinisterSatyendar Jain and other topofficials at 3 pm on thegovernment's preparations todeal with coronavirus, anofficial said. The move comes aday after a case of the novelcoronavirus was reported in thenational capital. Chief SecretaryVijay Kumar Dev and topofficials of the HealthDepartment will be present atthe meeting and will brief thechief minister about the Delhigovernment's preparations, theofficial said.

Those who havecome fromBangladesh are

citizens of India...they have gotcitizenship. You don't need toapply for citizenship again.You have been casting yourvotes in elections, electing PMand CM...now they are sayingthat you are not citizens...don'tbelieve them

— MAMATA BANERJEEWest Bengal Chief Minister

All B'deshis living in Bengalare Indian citizens: Mamata

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Government on Tuesdayintroduced a bill in Lok Sabhawhich seeks to protect the inter-est of small depositors by bring-ing cooperative banks under theRBI regulations.

Introducing the BankingRegulation (Amendment) Bill,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said the bill is the"need of the hour" to avoid aPMC Bank-like crisis in thefuture. Noting that the happen-ings at the PMC Bank had"unfortunately" put a lot ofsmall depositors in difficulty,Sitharaman said there weredemands that the governmentshould do something about it.

The proposed law seeks toenforce banking regulationguidelines of the RBI in coop-erative banks while administra-tive issues will still be guided bythe Registrar of Cooperative.

The Bill proposes to bringcooperative banks on par with

developments in the bankingsector through better manage-ment and proper regulation ofcooperative banks with a viewto ensure that affairs of cooper-ative banks are conducted in amanner that protects the inter-est of depositors, it said.

It further proposes tostrengthen cooperative banks byincreasing professionalism,enabling access to capital,improving governance and

ensuring sound bankingthrough the RBI.

"Keeping in view develop-ments in the banking sector andregulation thereof overtime, ithas become necessary tostrengthen provisions of thesaid Act as applicable to coop-erative banks," said theStatement of Objects andReasons of the Bill.

The Bill was introduced in theLok Sabha amid din with

Sitharaman saying that if theopposition wants to deny thesmall depositors their rightsthen "it is a shame".

In her Budget speech,Sitharaman had said that tostrengthen cooperative banks,amendments would be broughtin the Banking Regulation Actfor increasing professionalism,enabling access to capital andimproving governance andoversight for sound bankingthrough the RBI.

The decision assumes signif-icance in the wake of a scam inthe Punjab and MaharashtraCooperative (PMC) Bankaffecting lakhs of customerswho are facing difficulty inwithdrawing their money due torestrictions imposed by theRBI. The PMC Bank was foundto have given over Rs 6,700 croreloan to a single realty companyHDIL through alleged fraudu-lent means and also hid thestress from the RBI by creatingseparate books of accounts.

GOVT INTRODUCES BILL IN LSTO AMEND BANKING LAWS

PROTECTING SMALL DEPOSITORS

PNS n BHOPAL

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath onTuesday asserted that therewas no threat to his govern-ment. Nath's comments camewhen he was asked aboutreports of alleged 'poaching'attempts being made by theopposition BJP in the state.

"The legislators are tellingme that they are being offeredso much money. I am tellingthe MLAs to take it, if they aregetting this free money," Nathtold reporters here on thesidelines of a programme.

Congress veteran DigvijayaSingh on Monday alleged thathis party MLAs were beingoffered "huge money by BJPleaders" as part of the saffronparty's "poaching" attempt todestablise the Kamal Nathgovernment.

When Nath was askedabout any threat to the stabil-

ity of his government inMadhya Pradesh, he said,"There is nothing to worryabout."

Reacting to Nath's state-ment, state BJP spokesmanRajneesh Agrawal said thathis party has nothing to dowith the allegations.

"In fact, these speculationsand allegations are part of theinternal bickering of amongCongress leaders to get nom-inated for the Rajya Sabha

polls," he said.After Digvijaya Singh's

remarks on Monday, seniorBJP leader and former chiefminister Shivraj SinghChouhan accused theCongress veteran of makingfalse statements to create sen-sationalism.

"Speaking lies to createsensationalism is Digvijaya'shabit. Probably some of his(Digivijaya's) works were notdone and he wants to createpressure on the CM to getthem done," Chouhanalleged.

Nothing to worry: Nath onallegations of ‘poaching’ by BJP

The legislators aretelling me that theyare being offered so

much money. I am telling theMLAs to take it, if they aregetting this free money

— KAMAL NATHMadhya Pradesh Chief Minister

Couple stripped,hit to get themto withdraw rape complaintPNS n MUMBAI

A 29-year-old woman andher husband were allegedlyabducted, stripped andthrashed by eight people toforce them to withdraw anold rape complain inMaharashtra's Ahmednagardistrict, police said onTuesday.

The incident took placeon February 24 near the civilhospital in Aurangabad,some 370 kilometres fromhere, but came to light aftera video of the torment wentviral on social media onMonday, said an official.

"When the couple wasgoing home in an autorick-shaw at around 8:20pm onthat day, a person seatednext to them subjected thecouple to inhalation sedation.

PNS nMATHURA (UP)

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath paid obeisanceto the principal deity of Ladli Jitemple in Barsana here onTuesday. Temple receiverKrishna Murari Goshwami saidAdityanath was offered a 'dupat-ta', a Radha-Krishna idol and'prasadam'. District MagistrateSarvagya Ram Mishra and SSPGaurav Grover supervised thesecurity of the chief ministerinside the temple. As a securi-ty measure, the entry of pilgrimsremained suspended for a brief

period when Adityanath wasinside the temple, an officialsaid. The chief minister received

a warm welcome by theGoshwami Community(priests).

PNS n DHAR

A Class 12 Sikh student wasallegedly forced to remove histurban during a security checkbefore appearing for an examat a school in MadhyaPradesh's Dhar district.

The state government haslaunched a probe into thematter and the woman teacher,who asked the student toremove his turban, has beenremoved from the examina-tion duty, an official said onTuesday.

The incident took place onMonday when the studentwas appearing for an examina-tion at a centre set up at theGovernment Girls School inDhamnod, about 55 km fromthe district headquarters.

The student, while talkingto reporters after the incident,alleged that during the check-ing, a teacher asked him toremove his turban.

He, however, refused to doand contacted the centre in-charge, who also asked him tofollow the rules.

Later, his turban wasremoved and checked and hewas then allowed to appear inthe examination, the studentsaid.

When asked about it, stateTribal Welfare Development'sdeputy commissioner BrajeshPandey said the matter wasbeing inquired.

"After getting information,the teacher in question hasbeen removed from the exam-ination duty. We are furtherinvestigating the matter,"Pandey said.

Sikh student asked to remove turban forsecurity check at exam

No Muslim quota proposal before Maha govt: UddhavPNS nMUMBAI

There is no proposalon Muslimreservation before Maharashtragovernment, Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray said here onTuesday.

Thackeray's remarks camedays after Minority AffairsMinister Nawab Malikinformed theLegislative Council thatthe state governmentwill provide five percent quota toMuslims in edu-cation.

The NCPminister hadalso said thestate govern-ment will

ensure that a legislation to thiseffect is passed soon.

"No proposal has come to meregarding Muslim reservation.We will check its validity onceit comes to us.

We have not taken any deci-sion yet on it," Thackeray told

reporters at VidhanBhawan in southMumbai, where the bud-get session of the state leg-islature is underway.

He also asked theBJP-led

oppo-

sition to stop making a hue andcry over the issue.

"I also urge those who are cre-ating ruckus on the issue to saveyour energy to use it when theissue comes up for discussion.The issue has not come up yet.The Shiv Sena has not clarifiedits position yet. Let us see whenthe proposal comes up,"Thackeray said.

"When the issue comes upbe-fore the government, we willcheck the legal validity and takea decision.My stand as well asthat of Shiv Sena will be decid-

ed when the issue comes beforeus," Thackeray said.

On his wife RashmiThackeray's appointment as edi-tor of party mouthpieceSaamana, Thackeray said hehad to quit the editor's post afterthe chief ministership "unex-pectedly" came to him.

"Saamana, Shiv Sena andThackeray can't be separated.We are one family. With Rashmibecoming editor, there werespeculations if the language ofthe paper will change. I want totell that the language will remain

the same. Editorial responsibil-ity will continue to be handledby Sanjay Raut. "Saamana is ShivSena's mouthpiece. The paperwill continue to reflect theparty's stand and my views.There will beeditorial freedomtoo," he said. "The sort of language used in Saamana is ourpaternal language and it willremain the same. Dont say laterthat Rashmi Thackeray criti-cised Uddhav Thackeray. Itcould be the subject of somepeoples interest. But most of theviews expressed are mine, thatof the Shiv Sena and beyondthat, there is also this freedomof the press. Hence, Sanjay Rauthas been discharging the edito-rial duty very well and he will-continue to do that," he said.

When the issue comes upbefore the government, we will checkthe legal validity and take a decision.My stand as well as that of

Shiv Sena will be decided when the issue comes before us — UDDHAV THACKERAY, MMaahhaarraasshhttrraa CCMM

PNS n NEW DELHI

The TMC is setting up afund to aid victims of "geno-cide" across the country,TMC MP Derek O'Briensaid on Tuesday, noting thatRs 10 lakh has already beencommitted to its corpus.

Addressing a press brief-ing, O'Brien termed theDelhi violence "genocide"and said that the partywanted the issue to be dis-cussed in Parliament andalso demanded a Supreme Court-monitoredprobe into it.

"West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeis setting up a benevolentfund for genocide victims.The AITC benevolent fundwill be used outside Bengaland it already has a commit-ment of Rs 10 lakh," said the MP.

He said that Rs 5 lakh hasbeen committed from theroyalty of the books writtenby the chief minister and theremaining Rs 5 lakh will becontributed by the partyMPs, with a minimum contribution of Rs 10,000from each.

TMC createsfund for victimsof violence

Yogi pays obeisance at Mathura temple

Centre discussingNPR with states

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Tuesday said itwas discussing with state gov-ernments the preparations forthe update of the NationalPopulation Register (NPR)from April 1 to September 30.

Union Minister of State forHome Nityanand Rai said inLok Sabha that no documentwill be collected during theexercise, which will be carriedout along with the house-listingphase of Census 2021.

"The government is in discus-sion with the states having con-cerns in regard to the prepara-tion of NPR. The demograph-ic and other particulars of eachfamily and individual are to beupdated/collected during theexercise of updation of NPR. Nodocument is to be collected dur-ing this exercise," he said reply-ing to a written question.

Home Ministry sources saidthe central government hasalready started the outreach toallay the apprehensions of statesby meeting chief ministers crit-ical of the exercise.

Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh are some of thenon-BJP ruled states whichhave apprehensions about theNPR and critical towards theexercise. The NPR data will becollected along with the house-listing phase of the census to beconducted from April 1 toSeptember 30.

As part of this outreach,Registrar General and Census

Commissioner Vivek Joshirecently met Punjab ChiefMinister Amarinder Singhand apprised him about thepreparations for the censusand the NPR.

Punjab Assembly has adopt-ed a resolution expressingopposition to the CitizenshipAmendment Act.

Joshi, who will supervise thecensus and the NPR exercisecountry-wide, is expected tomeet chief ministers of all statescritical of the NPR, sources said.

Several states, includingKerala, has said they will coop-erate with the census exercisebut not NPR.

Recently, after attending ameeting convened by the reg-istrar general, Rajasthan ChiefSecretary D B Gupta said heand the representatives of a fewother states raised objections toa few questions to be asked byenumerators to people duringthe NPR exercise.

"We said certain questions inNPR are impractical, like ques-tions related to the birth place ofparents. There are many peoplein the country who even don'tknow what was their birth place.I don't know what is the purposeof such questions and we havetold the meeting to removesuch questions," Gupta said.

The objective of updating theNPR is to create a comprehen-sive identity database of everyusual resident in the country.The database would containdemographic and biometricparticulars.

Punjab, Kerala,West Bengal,Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattis-garh are some ofthe non-BJP ruledstates which haveapprehensionsabout the NPR andcritical towardsthe exercise

‘Awaiting surgery in Singaporehospital, will be back soon’PNS n NEW DELHI

Scotching rumours ofhis death, formerSamajwadi Partyleader Amar Singhhas posted a videotitled "Tiger ZindaHai!!" on Twitter,saying he is await-ing surgery in aSingapore hospitaland would be back soon.

He said though many of his"well wishers" want him dead,

he is alive, awaiting surgery. Ascompared to past medical

issues, the present prob-lem is nothing, he

said in the videoshot from his hos-pital bed.

He said oncethe procedure isover, he hopes to

return to India at theearliest. There were

rumours on some socialmedia platforms on Mondaythat Singh was dead.

DELHI VIOLENCE:

Man who pointed gun at unarmed policeman arrestedPNS n NEW DELHI

A gun-wielding man,Mohammed Shahrukh, whowas seen confronting anunarmed policeman duringviolence at Maujpur in north-east Delhi last week was arrest-ed from Uttar Pradesh's Shamlidistrict, police said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press confer-ence, Additional Commissio-ner of Police (Crime Branch)

AK Singhla said, "He(Shahrukh) was planning toflee from Shamli but wasnabbed and later brought toDelhi."

"We are trying to recover thepistol used by him during theviolence. The pistol used was ofgood quality. He fired threerounds. He had gone alone inthe protest," Singhla said.

"He will be produced incourt and taken into police

remand," Singhla added.In a video that went viral last

week, Shahrukh (33) could beseen pointing his country-made pistol at the policemanon the Jaffrabad-Maujpur roadon February 24.

Police are also trying totrace Shahrukh's family mem-bers, who are absconding. Acollege dropout, Shahrukh wasinterested in modelling andused to make Tik Tok videos.

Curfew relaxed for 3hours in some areas of Meghalaya capitalSHILLONG: Curfew has beenrelaxed for three hours in someareas of the Meghalaya capital onTuesday following improvementin law and order, an order issuedby the district administration said.The curfew has been relaxedfrom 12 noon to 3 pm in PoliceBazar area, and those underLumdiengjri police station andCantonment Beat House in thestate capital, an order issued byEast Khasi Hills district magistrateMatsiewdor W Nongbri said.

Ostensibly the best equipped,staffed and trained police forcein the country, the Delhi Policehas had an unimaginably poorrun and diminished perception

in recent times. If the Police Adequacy Index,derived from national data, part of the Statusof Policing in India Report 2019, ranks it asthe best-performing force, then its fate in theunseen and under-reported hinterland of thenation is worrisome, to say the least. Evenbefore the gut-wrenching violence in Delhi’snortheast flared up, the police force was inthe news for displaying selective bias in man-aging social unrest in universities across thecapital.

However, the cancerous “inner health”of the organisation was in full display a fewmonths ago when police personnel protest-ed against their own senior leaders for theirfailure to defend the rank and file of the force.The top brass had a tough time pacifying thepolice personnel, who wore black bands andsloganeered against them. An unprecedent-ed and frightening portent emerged as thelaw enforcers exposed their own vulnerabil-ity to society when they were expected to safe-guard the people from societal regression. Anembarrassing “acknowledgement” and“acceptance” of the demands of the person-nel ensued, though the rot within the systemwas obvious and was temporarily brushedunder the carpet, only to stare in the facesoon.

The promise of shanti, sewa and nyaya(peace, service and justice) collapsed and ranhollow as the death toll in the communal riotsthat broke out in the northeastern parts ofthe city rose to well over 40. Beyond the starkstatistics of the dead and the wounded, it isthe failure of the Delhi Police in maintain-ing a strict law and order situation over a spe-cific area, for about three to four days in thenational capital, that is unfathomable.Something, somewhere was terribly amiss asviolence of this kind could not have been onaccount of the fact that the police force waseither out-gunned (metaphorically), out-numbered or out-trained by a disorderlymob, however violent. This at a time whensecurity preparedness was at an all-time highin the capital city, given the parallel visit ofUS President Donald Trump.

It would be incorrect to assume that secu-rity imperatives for the presidential visitsucked up or dried the Delhi Police’sresources from the violence-affected north-east area to be concentrated in centralDelhi. For the resident resources are both ade-quate and subject to additional requisition-ing if required, especially when violence inthe periphery of an all-important event isunacceptable to all. Supreme Court judge KMJoseph succinctly summed up the situationwhen he said, “If you act the way the lawrequires you to act, you will see the differ-ence.” Implicitly, the police force had not actedenough, or in time.

However, it is equally important to

recognise the constraints underwhich the Delhi Police functions.It is susceptible to political pres-sures of all hues, with conflict-ing interests. It is part of the turfwar between the State and theCentral Government as the con-stitutional wiring ensures that itfalls under the Home Ministry,through the LieutenantGovernor. It is delinked from theadministrative services of thelocally-elected Government. Thismakes the Delhi Police waverbetween owning and disowningits actions to suit the politicalnarrative of political parties.

Dangers of the larger, loom-ing crisis, of “institutional inde-pendence” and its ramifications,are personified by the fate of theforce. The top echelons of thepolice have “proximity” and“vested interests” with the career-impacting politicos, whereas themain body of constabulary suf-fers from the lack of “voice”, “con-cern” and “operational indepen-dence.” A contrast of the policesoldier with that of the armedforces is self-explanatory. The lat-ter is still relatively and struc-turally more independent, less-interfered with and allowed tooperate kinetically. It is not afunction of individual superior-ity as much it is of institutionalethos, circumstances andcocooning — the same family ina village in Haryana sends oneson to the Delhi Police and the

other to the Indian Army. The awe-inspiring height of

the colourfully-plumed DelhiPolice marching contingent withexaggerated hand swings, thatwould consistently walk awaywith the trophy for the bestmarching contingent in theRepublic Day parade, is a far cryfrom the reality and perceptionon the street. In an embarrass-ing ode to the prevailing publicperception, a political partyopenly asked Delhiites to makevideos of police personnel ask-ing for bribes and harassingpeople — the accusation resonat-ed and the public empathisedwith the taint.

On the recent Delhi vio-lence, videos of senior police offi-cials standing pliantly behindpoliticians making hate speech-es complete the picture of polit-ical control and subservience. Inperhaps a disturbing but hope-fully unrelated coincidence, aDelhi High Court judge, whohad rightfully slammed thepolice force for inaction and inef-ficacy against hate-mongers andalluded to the 1984 riots, wastransferred.

For far too long, systemicinefficiencies in the police ser-vices have been allowed to fes-ter, perpetuate and worsen. Thecomplete capitulation and melt-down of the Haryana policeposse in Panchkula in 2017could hardly inspire confidence

and respect. Requisitioning theArmy (as also suggested now)should always be the absolute“last call” as it is bad for theforces, for the Army and for thenation, too. It suggests anunmanageable breakdown.

Beyond all policing reformsand restructuring that are longoverdue, if there is one changethat can unleash incalculabledoses of policing professional-ism, it would be to structurallyand meaningfully detach itsoperational functioning frompolitical intrusion and allow it tobe “independent” like the judi-ciary or the armed forces.

Equally, the current situationis a forewarning to these still rel-atively “independent” institu-tions of the fate that awaitsthem if they were to surrendertheir functional “independence.”The political blame-game amongcompeting political parties inDelhi will only worsen with thestoking of even more polarising,distractive and untamed pas-sions. The onus is on the peopleof Delhi to see through thedesigns of these politicos andpressurise them to empower thepolice to operate without fear orfavour. Else, the Delhi Police willcontinue to carry the can ofblame, both conveniently and abit unfairly.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

General Electric (GE), the firm that neverforgot to remind us that it was found-ed by American inventor Thomas Alva

Edison, came to be known as The House thatJack Built in the last decades of the 20th cen-tury. Jack Welch was the man who took thecompany to new heights during his stint asthe Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GE for twodecades. The market value of its stock rosefrom $14 billion to more than $400 billion, aneye-popping increase of 2,700 per cent. Hismanagement mantras became staple reading

at business schools across the world. Yet, after he retired, his high-handedness,which included some obnoxious views on executive compensation and unem-ployment as well as revelations about some of his decisions while he was atthe helm of GE, would have tainted his reputation. His ruthless leadership styleand penchant for slashing jobs had earned him the nickname of Neutron Jack.While there were 24,000 GE employees back in 1980, by 1995, that numberhad fallen to 6,720. His successor, Jeff Immelt, whom he hand-picked, eventu-ally spun off some of Welch’s more extravagant operations, including much ofGE Capital, the company’s financial services arm.

However, no matter how his legacy is remembered in the business world,India will remember him as the man who took a punt on the Business ProcessOutsourcing (BPO) sector with GE Capital. While this business was grown byvery capable Indian lieutenants such as Raman Roy and Pramod Bhasin, it wasWelch’s decision to establish the call centre business in the country and takeadvantage of our huge untapped source of human capital that must be fondlyremembered. Welch set into motion a series of events that allowed the countryto dominate the burgeoning Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sec-tor. Much of the BPO operation is today run by the spin-off company, Genpact,but one could argue that the tremendous growth of this industry in Gurugramand Noida, seen at the turn of the century, is in no small part due to Welch. Whileit is true that Indian companies such as Wipro and Infosys would have emergednonetheless, GE’s confidence in India gave countless American corporations theconfidence to use Indian firms to deliver back-end services. For this one factalone, Welch should be remembered in New Delhi and Bengaluru as the Americanwho had an outsized impact, much more than any other.

As the rapidly spreading Covid-19 has hithome with returning travellers pickingup the virus in transit or from the coun-

tries they visit, India, like China, has a hugechallenge in arresting the contagion in dense-ly knitted communities. Except, unlike China,this is an uncharted territory administrative-ly and preventive behaviour requires humanconditioning without setting off a panic econ-omy. The first hurdle is the nature of the virusitself, which can be asymptomatic in somecases, lying dormant in the host for up to a

fortnight and yet infecting others before s/he can manifest full-blown symptoms.Such carriers could easily make it past the airport thermal screens. Sometimesthe carrier may have a relatively mild infection with generic symptoms — mostIndians are known to tackle the flu virus comparatively better. This means thatmany cases have not been counted and estimates could be flawed. Many hostsmay be unaware and be in normal circulation. Yet others may be using medi-cines to lower fever to avoid a 14-18 day quarantine. Which is why the WorldHealth Organisation’s (WHO’s) updated travel advisory said temperature screen-ing alone at ports of exit or entry is not an effective way to stop the internation-al spread of the virus. This is precisely what happened with the parent of a Noidaschool student, who, on returning, hosted his child’s birthday party, resulting inthat school now being sanitised and students in direct contact quarantined. Orthe man in Delhi who went to visit his family in Agra or the tourist dining at Delhi’sHyatt Regency. The second toughest barrier thus happens to be contact trac-ing through an integrated disease surveillance programme. This involves iden-tifying people that the infected person has come in touch with or within breath-ing distance, screening, monitoring and isolating them and mitigating the domi-no effect. China has been pretty aggressive about mitigation procedures but inIndia, the normal behavioural tendency is denial rather than willful submission.That hiding and blending in can be India’s toughest obstacle in containing thespread. For fear of quarantine may stop many people from voluntary health dec-larations on arrival or listing details. There needs to be an immediate awarenessdrive to demystify health status checks as a preventive cure and eliminate fearpsychosis. The third weakest link in the chain is our stretched surveillance sys-tem and a poor public health infrastructure, which may not allow for aggressivedetection and compromise accuracy of data collection. While the Kerala tem-plate in tackling the deadly Nipah virus has been cited and adopted, the Coronavirusspread is multifarious and needs a unified protocol. With 15 laboratories underthe Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) capable of identifying the virus,the Health Ministry is planning to scale that number up to 50.

India must ensure operational readiness and a healthy obedience of proto-cols. Every basic healthcare unit staff needs to be trained in quarantine drills.There must be enough stock of protective gear, supporting drugs like lopinavirand ritonavir, and space for isolation wards, especially in areas underserved bythe health network. The Government has already stopped exports of paraceta-mol and vitamins. We also need a military-like discipline on public hygiene pro-tocols for the virus can stay on metal, glass and plastic surfaces from two hoursto nine days. Spreading trained medical personnel in the event of a massive out-break could affect critical care in hospitals. As of now, the average Governmentallopathic doctor to population ratio is 1:10,926. Which is why community sur-veillance and a first crisis responder system need to be developed. That’s whyinformation dissemination has to keep pace with its absorption at the neighbour-hood level. Over and above everything else, we need to keep calm and stop spread-ing untruths. Yes we have a sizeable older population, who are at the greatestrisk and, therefore, we have to be especially vigilant about the chronically ill amongthem. Also, there must be a mechanism to sort coronavirus from ordinary flupatients as the symptoms are mostly similar. Unnecessary overcrowding canoverwhelm the healthcare delivery capacity of both the private and public sec-tors. Unless we have a targetted approach, those in need of real care might justget left out and more carriers could roam free. The virus is not as fatal as sayan ebola but the difference between crisis and containment is a reasoned approachand a reorientation of personal healthcare as we know it.

Ace tennis player

Sir — Many will agree, tennisplayer Maria Sharapova is retir-ing too early after having spent animpressive career that spanned foralmost 16 years. Talent, skill,focus, determination and beauty,these were the rare attributesthat propelled fans to single outSharapova as a player to watch outfor. She won five Grand Slamtitles — two at the French Openand one each at the AustralianOpen, Wimbledon and the USOpen. Indeed she has had asuperlative career.

As is the case with manysports women and men when theyretire, they are not remembered fortheir achievements but for theflaws and the circumstances underwhich they left their careers. It isn’tsurprising, therefore, that peopleare talking much about Sharapovatesting positive for meldoniumthan her five Grand Slam titles.

Her doping ban had cast ashadow over her career. Yet, whenshe was dogged by a shoulderinjury, she overcame all hurdleswith a smile. She recorded a gruntof 101 decibel in a tournament, thehighest sound intensity achievedby any woman player.

The Russian ace silencedpurists with her typical “look at mygame, not my grunt” rebuff. A bril-liant baseline player, Sharapovahad a superb touch with herangles. The tricky reverse fore-hand, generally used by men play-

ers, has gotten her where she istoday. Speed and agility were herforte and she added another potentweapon, the drop shot, to her arse-nal later.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Where are we headed?

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Scarred childhood” (March 2). Therecent communal violence in Delhihas left a trail of destruction, death

and despair. It will be very difficultfor those, who have lost their lovedones, to pick up the pieces and moveon. The scars inflicted by commu-nal violence will take a long time toheal. But the Government is still notin a mood to negotiate on theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA). One does not know wherethings are headed for. TheParliament session is likely to beheated and Opposition parties aresure to put the Government in atight spot.

Devendra Khurana Bhopal

Delaying tactic

Sir — It’s disappointing that theDelhi High Court has sought todefer the execution of convicts inthe Nirbhaya case for the nth time.The accused, who evidently have nodefence, have been allowed to useall possible tactics to prolong theirhanging. Guidelines need to bestrengthened on the number ofpleas a convict can file in a particular case.

Shivanshu K SrivastavaLucknow

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 4, 2020

06

A sorry spectacle

BHOPINDER SINGH

The onus is on the people of Delhi to see through the designs of politicos andpressurise them to empower the police to operate without fear or favour

Modiji gave hints aboutgiving up the social media.The country will turnpeaceful if his bhaktsfollow him in quitting the social media.

NCP chief spokesperson—Nawab Malik

I had such a great time inIndia. People were beyondwelcoming. I’ve never hadthis kind of a response. I wasblown away. I thought I wasBeatles or something.

Australian actor—Chris Hemsworth

Iran condemns the wave oforganised violence againstIndian Muslims. Authoritiesmust ensure the well-being of the citizens and not letsenseless thuggery prevail.

Iran’s Foreign Minister—Javad Zarif

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

Hate speeches amount to sedition

Assurances apart, the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) was enacted either to incapacitate the poorand the Muslims or to keep them in constant fear

and under check. However, gritty women assembled totake part in peaceful anti-CAA sit-ins at Shaheen Bagh.Over time, many Shaheen Baghs led by women sprungacross the country. And it made the saffron outfits fume.From the incendiary rhetoric of ‘Hindu jago varna katneke liye taiyar ho jao’ (Hindus must wake up before it'stoo late), to the incitement of ‘Desh ke gaddaron ko,goli maaron saalon ko’ (shoot the traitors), to the igni-tion of rage among the masses for unlawful actions, reg-ular doses of incendiary rhetoric prepared partisan mindsfor fratricide and arson. Violence in Delhi cannot be seenas a sudden or transient occurrence. The United Nations’Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech hadexpressed worry on poisoning the thoughts: “Aroundthe world, we are seeing a disturbing groundswell ofxenophobia, racism and intolerance, including rising anti-semitism, anti-Muslim hatred and persecution ofChristians. Social media and other forms of communi-cation are being exploited as platforms for bigotry. Neo-Nazi and White supremacy movements are on the march.Public discourse is being weaponised for political gain

with incendiary rhetoric that stigmatises and dehuman-ises minorities, migrants, refugees, women and any so-called other.” Sadly, India is now an example to anno-tate this situation.

The law considers as sedition all those practices,which have the object to incite discontent or dissatisfac-tion, to create public disturbance, or to lead to civil war;to bring into hatred or contempt the sovereign or theGovernment and generally, all endeavours to promote pub-lic disorder. It is surprising that hate speeches that trig-gered communal riots in Delhi are not treated as sedition.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

FOR FAR TOOLONG, SYSTEMIC

INEFFICIENCIES INTHE POLICE

SERVICES HAVEBEEN ALLOWED

TO FESTER,PERPETUATE AND

WORSEN.REQUISITIONING

THE ARMY SHOULDALWAYS BE THEABSOLUTE LAST

CALL AS IT IS BADFOR THE FORCES,

FOR THE ARMYAND FOR THE

NATION, TOO. ITSUGGESTS AN

UNMANAGEABLEBREAKDOWN

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

A friend of IndiaThe Prime Minister'sannouncement to leave socialmedia accounts is meant todivert the public’s attentionfrom the shortcomings of theparty and the Government.

BSP chief—Mayawati

The Govt must ensure operational readiness and a healthyobedience of protocols if we are to beat the Coronavirus

Jack Welch’s legacy will be debated for decades to comebut the iconic American businessman was good for us

The contagion

An unmitigated disaster

THINKING OF GIVING UP MY SOCIAL MEDIAACCOUNTS ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM &

YOUTUBE. WILL KEEP YOU ALL POSTED.—PRIME MINISTER

NARENDRA MODI

EARNESTLY WISH YOU WOULD GIVE THIS ADVICETO THE TROLLS, WHO ABUSE, INTIMIDATE, BADGERAND THREATEN OTHERS IN YOUR NAME.—CONGRESS’ CHIEF SPOKESPERSON RANDEEP SURJEWALA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

History tells us that the myth of Romanemperor Nero fiddling while Rome wasburning was just that, a myth. For one,

the fire that burned Rome to the groundoccurred in 64 AD and the violin was inventedin the 12th century, more than a thousand yearsafter Nero’s reign. So, whatever Nero may haveplayed, if he really did play something, it certain-ly wasn’t the fiddle. There is, however, no suchdoubt about what Prime Minister Narendra Modiwas doing while Delhi burnt recently. His obse-quious fawning over US President DonaldTrump and his family was there for all to see onprime television and along with Delhi’s reputa-tion as a progressive Capital, Narendra Modi’sown standing as a statesman on the global stageturned to mud and ashes.

Funnily enough, his fall from grace was bestreflected on American late night talk shows, suchas John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, where Modibecame a butt of low humour. Moreover express-ing anger over the issue at this late stage, as somepapers suggest he has done, only adds to his cred-ibility problem, as trust is no longer a tradablecommodity available to him.

However, the seriousness of this tragedy canbest be understood once we look at the issue inits larger perspective. Forty-seven dead andcounting is the official death toll with over 250injured. And, as in most such cases, the likeli-hood of gross underestimation cannot be ruledout. Even using official figures, the seriousnessof the incident can be gauged from the fact thatwhile over the last 70 years 90-odd souls have per-ished in all the previous Hindu-Muslim confla-grations in Delhi, more than half that numberperished in just the 72 hours of rioting that werecently witnessed. Crucial 72 hours, in whichthe Delhi Police added to its glorious traditionof utter ineptness, shame and unprofessionalismas men in uniform waited for the murderous rageof the unhinged to spend itself. If allegations areto be believed, some of them even joined in themayhem. Certainly, they are undeserving of theuniform they don, especially of the former PoliceCommissioner, whose inaction just days prior tohis retirement showed him up as wholly unwor-thy of respect or that rank. Sadly, 40 years of awasted legacy to leave behind.

As is often the case, violence, especially mobviolence, tends to be motivated by fear of theunknown and a dread of the other. True to form,here, too, fear has been the key that has been usedto divide communities, consolidate hate and final-ly to destroy lives and livelihoods.

Among politicians and even civil society,there are no innocents here. Many among theOpposition parties, supported by the anti-BJPset, went about stoking terror among minorities,suggesting that the Citizen Amendment Act(CAA) was just the first step towards their exclu-sion from citizenship, without a shred of evidenceto support their accusations. They are as muchto blame for the targeting of the Muslim com-munity as those non-entities from the BJP, whoencouraged goons to resort to violence and whoseonly claim to fame is being second generationpoliticians. Thus, their only hope of impressing

Modi was through a display of zealousfealty. Of course, for some of them,revenge was certainly a motive after thedrubbing the BJP got in the DelhiAssembly Elections, despite the saffronparty’s best efforts.

It was patently obvious to most,except the politically-illiterate, that theCAA was an ill-conceived attempt bythe BJP to win brownie points inAssam, after it had committed hara-kiriin the manner that it went aboutorganising the National Register ofCitizens exercise there. The fact that theHome Minister continues to vociferous-ly support the CAA suggests that theobvious fact that the issue in Assam isnot about religious identity but ethnic-ity, has been beyond his comprehen-sion.

It is only a matter of time beforetheir wishful thinking that CAA willhelp them in the Bengal electionsturns out to be a mirage, despite thepathetic performance of the TrinamoolCongress till date. As that old proverbgoes, “for want of a nail a kingdom waslost.”

Just as following the money trailhelps catch fraudsters, the body countclearly points to those who wereresponsible for this conflagration. It isbound to haunt them for times to come,despite all denials. What it does alsoreveal is that the leadership that permit-ted such violence was utterly bereft ofcommon sense. To initiate such attackswhen President Trump was visiting,with the Western media being focussedon the country, shows a spectacular lack

of foresight with regard to timing. Moreso, when the economy that is in the dol-drums stares at a unique opportunityto turn things around because ofChinese manufacturing having beenstymied by the effects of COVID19. Butnow the nation finds itself held hostageby the very violence that was permit-ted to be unleashed. Unfortunately, theimpact of these riots is not restricted tolost economic opportunities only, as itsreverberations have also been felt in themanner in which the internationalcommunity has responded with out-rage, especially our friends in West Asia.

Given the fact that over the last fewyears Modi had expended a fair amountof energy on improving and expandingties with both Saudi Arabia and itsallies, as well as with Iran and its friends,the violence has meant taking two stepsbackwards.

This attention to the region paidhandsome dividends when Modi decid-ed to act in Jammu and Kashmir toabrogate Article 370, in all but name.While Pakistan attempted to exertpressure in the international fora on theissue with the help of Malaysia andTurkey, its actions were largely unsuc-cessful because of the position taken byboth Saudi Arabia and Iran.

However, the ongoing detentions inJammu and Kashmir and the anti-CAAprotests across the country finallyforced Saudi Arabia to accede to call-ing a meeting of Foreign Ministers ofthe Organisation of IslamicCooperation (OIC) in April 2019, todiscuss Kashmir and the CAA, much

to the Modi Government’s discomfi-ture.

We really need not hold our breathover how the Saudis will react to theseriots. In any case, we now have theIranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif,an extremely good friend of India, outrightly denouncing the violence bytweeting, “Iran condemns the wave oforganised violence against IndianMuslims. For centuries, Iran has beena friend of India. We urge Indianauthorities to ensure the well-being ofall Indians and not let senseless thug-gery prevail. The path forward lies inpeaceful dialogue and rule of law.”

Strong words indeed and while theGovernment summoned the IranianAmbassador Ali Chegeni and protest-ed his Foreign Minister’s condemnationof the incident maintaining that it wasan “internal matter”, the truth is that theGovernment finds itself on the backfoot with the Foreign Minister becom-ing a laughing stock as he attempts todefend the indefensible.

Finally, leave alone our interests inWest Asia, we seem to have made amess of things closer home as theBangladesh Government attempts tocome to terms with the fallout of ourintemperate actions. All that we nowneed is a Democrat in the WhiteHouse and Modi’s cup of joy willoverflow.

(The writer is a military veteran andconsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)

The impact of the riots is not restricted to lost lives and economic opportunities. Itsreverberations have also been felt in the way in which the global community has responded

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

The personaldata time bomb

SURAVI SHARMA

The need of the hour is to create an atmosphereof trust and enable legal provisions ensuring

protection of citizens’ data

DEEPAK SINHA

LEAVE ALONE OUR

INTERESTS INWEST ASIA,

WE SEEM TOHAVE MADE A MESS OF

THINGS CLOSERHOME AS THEBANGLADESHGOVERNMENT

ATTEMPTS TO COME TOTERMS WITHTHE FALLOUT

OF OURINTEMPERATE

ACTIONS. ALL THAT

WE NOW NEEDIS A DEMOCRAT

IN THE WHITE HOUSE

AND MODI'S CUP OF

JOY WILL OVERFLOW

As the citizen database created from the National PopulationRegister (NPR) and the Aadhaar card is being updated andwork on a Personal Data Protection Bill is on, it is time that

citizens and social activists question the acceptability of the right ofGovernment bodies to eavesdrop on citizens and conduct mass sur-veillance. Awareness about the potential technical vulnerabilities ofthese databases and carefully-drafted clauses in the proposed dataprotection law is a great place to start. The citizen database gener-ation has met with opposition and resistance in many countries aroundthe world for fear of breach of privacy, data misuse, Governmentagencies controlling personal data and overwhelming powers to theauthorities. In India a database — the largest in the world at 1.3 bil-lion — has already been created and interlinked with other datasources for the purpose of good governance and e-services. As seenall around the world, data empower authorities to track, control andhelp/harass people out of social and political motivation. In the eventof lack of legal provisions for protection, citizens may land up in sit-uations of privacy breaches and bureaucratic tangles. Without a dataprivacy Bill conforming to global gold standards in place, the coun-try may see many more uprisings and seething groups of peoplewith complains against the ruling party.

Beside the continued analysis of prudence of the exceptionscreated in the Bill, the general apprehension is of data security. Massivedatabases always invite security breaches and a biometrics data-base interlinked with more than one data sources is a gold mine ofsensitive data, vulnerable to exploitation. Such a data breach is notjust costly, it may be irreversible as you cannot change your finger-prints or irises like you do your passwords.

Incidents of leaks from various Government databanks,including the Aadhaar card database and from public sector banks,are on the rise. Hence, linking these databases to social media sitesand other data sources for various Government programmes andschemes is alarming, even when implemented with the motive ofa greater community good.

The Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) and the StateResident Data Hub (SRDH) store acutely sensitive personal infor-mation of citizens, including their biometrics. Any individual or a bodyhaving illegal access to this database can jeopardise the citizensand national security. Citizenship database systems can also cre-ate incentives for identity theft and be used for nefarious purposesby criminals/terrorists. Identity theft in India has been one of the fastest-growing White Collar crimes and each one of us, using the internetand being a part of the massive Government databases, is vulner-able. Identity theft and cloning are two sides of the same coin andcan be used to steal financial assets as well as frame an innocentcitizen for a crime he/she did not commit.

Misconfigured databases and lack of end-to-end encryption arecommon causes leading to breaches in massive databases whichhave been seen in India and in countries like Turkey, Ecuador anda few others. All leaks were precipitated by erroneous technical main-tenance.

At the worst, such leaks may put children in danger of kidnap-ping/extortion/abuse as addresses and other vital personal informa-tion and details are disclosed.

The possibility of generating national IDs and using them toenforce immigration laws has been another existing concern as minori-ties in countries like China, Germany and the European Union amongothers have been targetted. The principal source of data — its num-ber and quality — depends on the country’s census. And in thelight of availability of fraudulent documents, right from Aadhaar card,driving licence to ration cards, we are not sure the available data inthe last census and surveys are all genuine or belong to lawful cit-izens. False data and lack of right documentary proof from the peo-ple applying to be incorporated in the legacy citizen database (digi-tised database) in Assam were some of the major causes of fail-ure of the NRC (National Register of Citizens) or the clause aroundthe foreigners issue of the Assam Accord of 1985.

Subsequent to the Assam experience, the general populationis now beset with the apprehension that the NPR will pave the wayfor a nationwide NRC. The amended questionnaire of the updatedNPR is somewhat in alignment with such thinking, as this is tiltedtowards the ethno survey design as done in the US to identify ille-gal immigrants. An ethno survey is designed to yield high qualitymulti-faceted data on the process of international/illegal migration.It helps in sorting the immigrants living in a country to determinewho are most likely to be unauthorised by looking at where theywere born, when they came to India, how old they are, how theyare related to other people in their households and so on.

Besides big data sources — social media content, internet activ-ity and mobile phone-based sources — the country’s health sys-tems have been used as a source of data on undocumented migrantsin various nations. Until 2010, the British Government introduced aseries of measures to make access to public services difficult formigrants and the National Health Service was directed to enforceimmigration controls, which included a requirement to inform immi-gration authorities of people suspected of being in the country ille-gally. This measure is now being withdrawn in the wake of humanrights violation issues. Lastly and most importantly, the private sec-tor’s possession of the amount of personal data is alarming as itholds no accountability. We need to be worried about the fact thatwe have given away more personal data to multinational private cor-porations than to the Government and there’s no reason for us tobelieve that private organisations will practice self-regulation and notmisuse the personal data that they possess.

Apart from technical giants like Google and Facebook that arecollecting our data, we give away private information every time weswipe a credit card. This information is being used by commercialorganisations to categorically target users for advertisements. Theworst we saw was the Cambridge Analytica scandal that revealedthat social media data is being used by political campaigners acrossthe world to influence voters, polarise people of different commu-nities and different political affiliations. I believe that the Governmentshould definitely have the right to collect some personal data butlaws should be put in place to ensure that the data is used only forpattern recognition and not for individual profiling. Every companythat deals with high volumes of personal data should be mandat-ed to have a data governing body that ensures the firm’s compli-ance with the law. They must ensure that the employees are ade-quately trained on sensitive data and a risk-managementstrategy/contingency plan are put in place to deal with a potentialloss/misuse of personal data. The need of the hour, during this timeof fear and apprehension around the CAA, NPR and a possible NRC,is creating an atmosphere of trust through communication chan-nels and enabling legal provisions to ensure protection of citizensto avoid any bureaucratic mess while dealing with the massive data-bases of the masses.

(The writer is an author and a doctor)

The anti-Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) protests have entereda critical phase, with the courts

taking cognisance of them. However,as is the case in India, the judicialprocess is taking time and most likelywe have a long wait ahead of usbefore a verdict is delivered.

So far, the protesters have remainedleaderless and without any organisa-tional strength. But the brutal policecrackdowns on the demonstrators inDelhi and elsewhere have earned themthe sympathy of the masses and helpedthe agitation to expand to other partsof the country. Though in some placesthey are becoming violent, by and largethe demonstrations are peaceful butgoing nowhere.

The JP movement threw up manysocialist leaders like Lalu Prasad,Mulayam Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar

and so on, who became regionalsatraps later. Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal emerged from theAnna Hazare anti-corruption move-ment. Though the issue is emotive, sofar no leader of significance hasemerged from the anti-CAA move-ment. In the absence of effective lead-ership and dedicated workers, it risksfizzling out.

While Prime Minister NarendraModi has accused the Opposition, par-ticularly the Congress, of instigatingthese protests, the grand old party hasnot come to the forefront in a moreaggressive manner, like the TrinamoolCongress (TMC) and the Left partieshave. The Opposition parties now havethe opportunity to use these proteststo take on the Modi Government. Butthey would have to play a more activerole instead of giving the anti-CAAprotesters tacit support, the way theyhave been till now. It is clear that themovement calls for a mature leadershipto handle the issue in a pragmatic andpeaceful way.

Already Delhi has recorded 47deaths in the clashes between pro andanti-CAA protesters, which also leftnearly 250 people injured. This mind-less violence is not going to take us any-where as the Government is deter-mined not to back down on the CAA

issue. And, even if the Governmentdecides to negotiate, with whom willit confer? No clear leaders haveemerged so far. This is where theCongress Party is missing a goldenopportunity. Despite being the oldestnational party in the country, it has notbeen able to seize the moment and leadthe protests. This is largely because ofthe leadership crisis within the party.

Second, it is unable to build a cred-ible secular narrative stressing thepoint that it was the Congress, whichmade a major contribution to the fram-ing of the Indian Constitution. It hasbeen unable to cash in on the freshnessgiven to the idea of secularism by lakhsof protesters reciting the preamble ofthe Constitution.

Third, the Congress is not clearabout its ideological narrative while theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has beenable to project its Hindutva ideologysuccessfully.

Currently, the Congress is in powerin seven States, including Maharashtra,Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,Puducherry and Rajasthan. It can eas-ily make an impact at least in theseStates. Several non-BJP ChiefMinisters, too, have declared that theywill not implement the CAA and theNational Register of Citizens (NRC) intheir States.

However, the Congress is unableto build on this and get support fromOpposition leaders. Its president SoniaGandhi convened a meeting of 19Opposition parties before the BudgetSession last month but major partieslike the TMC, the Samajwadi Party(SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)and even its ally, the Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (DMK), stayed away.

Earlier, Sonia declared, “TheCongress Working Committee mustcategorically declare that millions ofCongress workers will stand shoulderto shoulder with the people of India intheir struggle for equality, justice anddignity.”

The party also held flag marcheson its 135th Foundation Day onDecember 28. Congress MPs in bothHouses wore black badges whileattending the President’s address to thejoint session. Sonia led a protest in theParliament complex to express solidar-ity with the anti-CAA protesters.

A high-level Congress delegationcalled on the President and urged himto intervene and withdraw the CAA.But, the question is, whether theseefforts are enough and if they havemade any impact at all apart from theBJP accusing the Congress of instigat-ing the stir.

The problem is that the Opposition

remains divided and it will have tocounter the forceful campaign of theBJP and the Modi Government, whichcould generate a Hindu backlash. TheBJP has mobilised the Sangh Parivar torun counter campaigns to convincepeople about the need for the CAA.The Modi Government is also tryingto counter the negative and unflatter-ing publicity in the foreign media onthe riots and other human rightsissues.

It was not flattering that on the dayof US President Trump’s impeachmentvote, the three most influential news-papers — The New York Times, TheWashington Post and the Wall StreetJournal — had India on their frontpages with critical and unflattering sto-ries.

With the second part of the BudgetSession beginning on Monday, there isstill no evidence of Opposition unity.Leaders like Mamata Banerjee andMayawati are not willing to workunder the Congress’ leadership. Eventhe Left parties are unhappy with theCongress for going to the Presidentalone. It appears to be a missed oppor-tunity for the Opposition, including theCongress, as the issue is emotive, sen-sitive, political and social and needs tobe sorted out at the earliest.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Congress must seize the dayNo clear leaders have emerged from the anti-CAA movement. However, the grand old party has not been

able to take advantage of this opportunity and fill the leadership vacuum

KALYANI SHANKAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 4, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 4, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Storage crunch:Punjab to shift rice to UPNEW DELHI: Food MinisterRam Vilas Paswan on Tuesdaysaid the government hasallowed Punjab, which isfacing storage problem aheadof wheat procurement nextmonth, to shift 12 lakh tonnesof surplus rice to UttarPradesh. Punjab's FoodMinister Bharat BhushanAshu, who met Paswan in thenational capital here, soughtcentral government'sintervention to addressstorage problem in the state."There is a storage issue inPunjab. The state still has arice stock of 38 lakh tonnesfrom the 2018-19 crop year.We have given direction forevacuating about 12 lakhtonnes of stock to UttarPradesh," Paswan told PTIafter the meeting.

Vodafone Idea paysRs 3,043 cr to govttowards duesNEW DELHI: TroubledVodafone Idea on Tuesdaypaid about Rs 3,043 crore tothe telecom departmenttowards deferred spectrumdues, sources said. Deferredspectrum dues are essentiallyinstalment payments that aremade by telcos for airwavesbought in past auctions. Themove assumes significance asVIL has been under financialpressure and is confrontedwith AGR (Adjusted GrossRevenue) liabilities of over Rs53,000 crore. VIL has so farpaid Rs 3,500 crore in twotranches towards its AGRliabilities. The sources inDepartment ofTelecommunicationsconfirmed that the companyhas made the payment ofaround Rs 3,043 croretowards deferred spectrumliability.

Tatas pay additionalRs 2,000 crore toGovt towards AGRNEW DELHI: Tatas have madean additional payment ofabout Rs 2,000 crore to thetelecom department on ad hocbasis towards their AGRliabilities, a source said. Theadditional payment of overand above Rs 2,197 crore ithas already submitted to thegovernment, is aimed atcovering any reconciliationdifferences, the source added.The government estimatedTata's dues at about Rs14,000 crore.

Gold risesmarginally by Rs 6,silver falls Rs 58NEW DELHI: Gold prices onTuesday rose marginally by Rs6 to Rs 42,958 per 10 gram,according to HDFC Securities.In the previous trade, theyellow metal had closed at Rs42,952 per 10 gram. Silverprices, however, fell by Rs 58to Rs 46,213 per kg from Rs46,271 per kg on Monday."Spot gold for 24 karat in Delhitraded up by Rs 6 withcontinuous rupee deprecation.The spot rupee was tradingaround 24 paise weakeragainst the dollar during theday," HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities) TapanPatel said. In the internationalmarket, gold was tradinghigher at USD 1,595 perounce and silver at USD 16.76per ounce. "Gold prices tradedup on growing expectations ofrate cut from US Fed andmonetary policy easing frommajor central banks," Pateladded.

PNS n MUMBAI

Snapping its seven-day fallingstreak, equity benchmarkSensex rallied 480 points onTuesday after gains in indexheavyweights RelianceIndustries, ICICI Bank andKotak Bank amid positive cuesfrom global markets.

After a highly volatile ses-sion, the 30-share index surged479.68 points or 1.26 per centto end at 38,623.70 with 28 ofits constituents ending ingreen.

The broader NSE Niftyjumped 170.55 points or 1.53per cent to close at 11,303.30.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack included Sun Pharma,Tata Steel, ONGC, UltraTechCement, NTPC andPowerGrid.

On the other hand, ITCand HDFC Bank ended in thered. Domestic market senti-ment got a was boost after theReserve Bank of India (RBI)said it was closely monitoring

global as well as domestic sit-uation regarding the impact ofdeadly coronavirus and readyto take necessary action toensure orderly functioning offinancial markets.

Global stocks also rallied onhopes of stimulus from policymakers to lessen the impact ofcoronavirus on theireconomies ahead of the talksbetween G7 finance ministersand central bank heads.

"Globally, financial markets

have been experiencing con-siderable volatility, with thespread of the coronavirus trig-gering risk-off sentiments andflights to safe haven," the RBIsaid in a statement.

Spillovers to financial mar-kets in India have largely beencontained. Growing hopes ofcoordinated policy action tomitigate a broader fallout toeconomic activity has boostedmarket sentiment today, itsaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Drug firm GlaxoSmithKlinePharmaceuticals on Tuesdaysaid it has appointed SridharVenkatesh as managingdirector & vice president ofGSK India, effective April 1,2020.

He will succeedAnnaswamy Vaidheesh, whois set to retire from the com-pany effective March 31,2020, GlaxoSmithKlinePharmaceuticals said in astatement.

Venkatesh has more than24 years of diverse experiencein pharmaceuticals andhealthcare, and has a strongtrack record of success inmultiple roles within GSK, itadded.

He is a registered pharma-cist with a master's in phar-macy, the statement said.

"I warmly welcome Sridharto lead GSK in our nextphase of growth to serve thepatients of India. I would alsolike to take this opportunityto thank Vaidheesh for hisleadership during the last 5years," GlaxoSmithKlinePharmaceuticals ChairpersonRenu Karnad said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Tuesdayput export restrictions on 26pharma ingredients and med-icines, including paracetamol,vitamin B1 and B12, amid thecoronavirus outbreak in China.

With this, export of theseactive pharmaceutical ingredi-ents (APIs) and formulationsrequires licence from theDirectorate General of ForeignTrade (DGFT), an arm of thecommerce ministry.

Earlier, there were norestrictions on outbound ship-ments of these products.

The country's API importsstood at around USD 3.5 bil-lion per year, and around 70per cent, or USD 2.5 billion,come from China.

"Export of specified APIsand formulations made fromthese APIs... is hereby restrict-ed with immediate effect andtill further orders," the DGFTsaid in a notification.

API is raw material for phar-maceuticals.

Although India is heavilyimport dependent for APIsfrom China, it exports a lim-ited quantity of pharma ingre-

dients.India has exported APIs

worth about USD 225 millionlast year.

Restrictions on the exportsare important as there wouldbe an increase in demand forthese products in the country.

The latest announcementassumes significance onaccount of concerns over coro-navirus spreading to many

countries.Apart from paracetamol,

vitamin B1, B6 and B12, otherAPIs and formulations overwhich the export restrictionshave been imposed includetinidazole, metronidazole, acy-clovir, progesterone, chloram-phenicol, ornidazole, formula-tions made of chlorampheni-col, clindamycin salts,neomycin, and paracetamol.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Markets regulator Sebi hasrevised its investment manag-er eligibility norms forInfrastructure InvestmentTrusts (InvITs) and also per-mitted fast-track rights issueby REITs and InvITs withoutfiling draft offer documentwith the regulator.

The investment managerneeds to have an experience ofat least five years in fundmanagement or advisory ser-vices or development in theinfrastructure sector, Sebi said.

Alternatively, Sebi has alsoallowed a combined relevantexperience of at least 30 yearsof directors, partners andemployees of the investmentmanager, even if it is a newlycreated entity.

"For computing the com-bined experience, only theexperience of thedirectors/partners/employeeswith more than 5 years ofexperience in fund manage-ment or advisory services ordevelopment in the infrastruc-ture sector shall be consid-

ered," the regulator added.Currently, InvIT regulations

require the investment manag-er to have at least 5 years ofexperience in fund manage-ment or advisory services ordevelopment in the infrastruc-ture sector. Besides, the invest-ment manager needs to haveat least two employees, eachwith five years of experience inthe infrastructure sector.

Amending the regulationson Monday, the regulator alsosaid that REIT and InvIT willnot be required to file draftoffer document with the reg-ulator in case of a fast-trackrights issue, "subject to the ful-filment of the conditions asspecified by the Board fromtime to time."

PNS n CHENNAI

Consumer durables majorUsha International onTuesday said it is very bullishon business in Tier II and IIIcities and rural markets, whichhave 70 per cent of its cus-tomers, as the potential wasimmense.

Usha InternationalPresident, Electric Fans andPumps Business, Rohit Mathur,said the company was wit-nessing a huge demand for itsproducts in these markets.

"We are very bullish onour expansion in these cities-the main reason being thegrowth consumption patterns,where customers go deeperwithin the categories", he toldPTI.

He said 70 per cent of cus-tomers in Tier II, III and ruralmarkets have always featuredhigh on Usha's priority list forbusiness expansion.

"We feel that every cus-

tomer, irrespective of whetherhe is working in a metro or inTier II or tier III or at distantrural village are potential cus-tomers...

The potential of Tier II and

III markets to contribute tosales of a brand is immense," hesaid.

Noting that the company hasbeen witnessing huge demandfor its products nationwide, hesaid they were looking at dou-bling revenues from rural mar-kets in two-three years.

"Currently the rural marketscontribute about 25 per cent ofthe revenue and we aim to dou-

ble this in two to three years,"he said.

To a query, he claimed thatUsha International has 21 percent market share in the fanscategory and had also doubledits marketing spend to Rs 10crore.

They were investing in var-ious retail initiatives, includingin-shop presence and brand-ing, he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

GE Steam Power India onTuesday said it has bagged aUSD 32 million (about Rs230 crore) order for supply-ing two short circuit genera-tor systems of 2,500 MVA toCentral Power ResearchInstitute (CPRI), Bengaluru.

CPRI is an autonomoussociety under Ministry ofPower.

The contract was awardedto GE Power Systems IndiaPrivate Ltd (GEPSIPL) byCPRI, a company statementsaid.

The scope of the projectincludes supply, installation,commissioning and testing oftwo sets of 2,500 MVA shortcircuit generators with superexcitation, driving and auxil-iary systems, ready for paral-lel operation in synchronisa-tion with the existing 2,500MVA generator to yield shortcircuit powers of 2,500 MVA,5,000 MVA and 7,500 MVA,respectively, the statementsaid.

‘Stand Up India': Rs 16,712 crloans sanctioned to womenPNS n NEW DELHI

Women account for over 81per cent of the total beneficia-ries under the 'Stand Up India'scheme with loans worth Rs16,712 crore sanctioned forthem in nearly 4 years time, thefinance ministry said onTuesday.

In the past six years, theministry has launched variousschemes which have specialprovisions for empowermentof women.

"These schemes have finan-cially empowered women tolead a better life and chase theirdreams of being an entrepre-neur," the ministry said, aheadof the International Women'sDay on March 8.

The Stand Up India schemewas launched on April 5, 2016,to facilitate bank loans betweenRs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to atleast one Scheduled Caste (SC)or Scheduled Tribe (ST) bor-rower and at least one womanborrower per bank branch ofScheduled Commercial Banks

for setting up a greenfieldenterprise.

"As on February 17, 2020,more than 81 per cent accountholders under Stand Up IndiaScheme are women. 73,155accounts have been opened forwomen. Rs 16,712.72 crorehas been sanctioned forwomen account holders and Rs9,106.13 crore has been dis-bursed for women accountholders," the ministry said in astatement.

Besides, under the PradhanMantri Mudra Yojana

(PMMY), 70 per cent of thetotal loan borrowers arewomen. PMMY was launchedon April 8, 2015 for providingloans up to Rs 10 lakh to thenon-corporate, non-farmsmall/micro enterprises. TheseMudra loans are given by com-mercial Banks, RRBs, smallfinance banks, MFIs andNBFCs.

"As on January 31, 2020,more than 22.53 crore loanshave been sanctioned sincelaunch of the scheme. Out ofthis, more than 15.75 crore

loans extended to women,thereby 70 per cent of the totalloan borrowers are women,"the ministry added.

Moreover, Pradhan MantriJan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)was launched on August 28,2014. The scheme envisagesuniversal access to bankingfacilities with at least one basicbanking account for everyadult. It has 38.13 crore bene-ficiaries.

Sebi revises investmentmanager eligibilitynorms for InvITs

PNS n NEW DELHI

The DoT will write fresh let-ters to telecom companiesquestioning them about thevariation in AGR dues assessedby firms themselves and itsown calculations, accordingto a source.

The move assumes signifi-cance as the amounts paid bytelcos so far, even those whohave announced full and finalsettlement, is significantly lessthan DoT's AGR estimates.

Bharti Airtel recently sub-mitted over Rs 18,000 crore toDoT declaring it has made fulland final settlement towards itsAGR liabilities but the amountis far less than over Rs 35,000crore that DoT estimates thecompany owes it.

Similarly, Tata Teleserviceshas paid Rs 2,197 crore in AGRdues whereas DoT estimatedthe liabilities to be about Rs

14,000 crore.Vodafone Idea has so far

deposited Rs 3,500 crore in twotranches to DoT but is stillassessing its full dues.

According to the govern-ment's calculation, VodafoneIdea Ltd owes Rs 53,000 crorein AGR dues.

A source privy to the devel-opment said DoT will issue

fresh letters to telcos seeking anexplanation on variation or dis-crepency between DoT's calcu-lations and dues received fromcompanies as final settlement.

The Department of Telecom(DoT) has also asked all tele-com companies to furnishnames of their MDs and theiraddresses, sources said addingthis had been a requirement of

the court which wanted thosedetails.

On Saturday, telecom oper-ator Bharti Airtel said it hasmade payment of Rs 8,004crore towards adjusted grossrevenue (AGR) dues to thegovernment, an amount overand above Rs 10,000 crore ithas already paid.

PNS n BENGALURU

Mercedes-Benz plans to launchmore than 10 products in thecurrent calendar year in Indiawith a strong push towardsSUVs substantially renewingits portfolio, a senior compa-ny official said on Tuesday.

They would cater to all seg-ments -- from electric car tosuper sports car, to SUVs, tolimousine, said Mercedes-BenzIndia Managing Director andCEO, Martin Schwenk.

"It will definitely be a yearwhich has a strong pushtowards SUVs."

"We will have more than 10product launches (in 2020).There is something for every-one in the complete portfoliorefresh which we have plannedthis year.

It's a very broad range andquite substantial renewal of ourportfolio," Schwenk told PTI.

The german luxury car-maker has introduced the

electric 'EQ' brand in Indiaand plans to launch the EQC,a luxury full electric SUV,

next month, company officialssaid.

Schwenk said the companywould adopt step-by-stepapproach thereafter for subse-quent EV launches and seehow customer demand, regu-lations, infrastructure andcommercial environmentdevelop for electric vehicles inIndia.

"We are clearly ambitiousand we would assume electricwill be a major topic that willhappen in India in future andwe will play a major part inthat," he added.

PNS n BHILAI (CHHATTISGARH)

State-owned SAIL has sup-plied special grade steel platesproduced at its Bhilai unit forthe country's first humanspace mission programme --Gaganyaan, a company officialhas said.

In addition, SAIL's RourkelaSteel Plant has also suppliedMDN 250 (maraging steel)grade special steel for theambitious project.

Steel Authority of India Ltd(SAIL) has contributed to theGaganyaan space mission andhas successfully producedplates to be used in the satel-lite launch vehicle (SLV) thatwould launch the mission,SAIL's Bhilai Steel Plant

(SAIL-BSP) CEO AnirbanDasgupta told PTI.

A consignment of 40 tonneof MDN 250 grade slabs rolledinto plates at BSP's plate millwas flagged off by Dasgupta infirst week of February.

The ambitious Gaganyaanmission was announced byPrime Minister NarendraModi during hisIndependence Day speech in2018. "Stringent technologicalnorms were formulated andfollowed by entire collective ofplate mill and other concerneddepartments of SAIL alongwith several other associateddepartments. The slabs (were)supplied by Misra DhatuNigam Ltd (MIDHANI)," hesaid.

"These schemeshave financiallyempowered womento lead a better lifeand chase theirdreams of being anentrepreneur," theministry said,ahead of theInternationalWomen's Day onMarch 8

Sridhar Venkateshappointed as GSKIndia MD, VP

GE SteamPower bags $ 32 mn orderfrom CPRI

Mercedes-Benz plans over 10product launches in India

"We will have morethan 10 productlaunches (in 2020).There is somethingfor everyone in thecomplete portfoliorefresh which wehave planned thisyear.

"Export of specified APIs andformulations made from these APIs... ishereby restricted with immediate effectand till further orders," the DGFT said ina notification.

The moveassumessignificance as theamounts paid bytelcos so far, eventhose who haveannounced full andfinal settlement, issignificantly lessthan DoT's AGRestimates.

Gaganyaan: SAIL suppliesspecial grade steel

"We feel that every customer,irrespective of whether he is working ina metro or in Tier II or tier III or atdistant rural village are potentialcustomers... The potential of Tier II andIII markets to contribute to sales of abrand is immense," he said.

Usha Intl bullish on biz in Tier II, III cities

TACKLING COVID-19

Stocks snap 7-day losingstreak as RBI assures steps

Export curbs on 26 pharmaingredients, medicines

DoT to write fresh letters to telcoson discrepancy in AGR dues math

Poetry, chantsoffer healing touch

udi Sambaraalu, pre-sented ‘Sunaad’, anevening of ‘MandukyaSant Vani’, by TaraKini. It was a conflu-ence of the Mandukya

Upanishad and SantVani — thepoetry of saints across India —as a combination of Dhrupadmusic, theatre and movementin the city on Sunday evening.

The Mandukya one of theprincipal Upanishads thatexplains the significance of thesyllable, A-U-M or Omkara,and how it connects to thethree states of wakefulness,dream and dreamless sleep andthe fourth state called Turiya, the

supreme bliss, which underlies allthe three as the witness.

For the packed audience at theamphitheatre, it was an amazingopportunity to get insight into theancient scriptures.

Sunaad encompassed the rhymeof some of the important saintsfrom the varied religious milieu.The 27 singers and four dancersprovided the audience with the

mystic, divine taste of ‘Sant Vani’,voices of saints that offered say-ings, words that were rooted withspiritual and boundless wisdom.

Sunaad’s presentation was soul-fully elevating and truly absorbing.It was enriched by a beautiful vocalpresentation of melody combinedwith skillful narration that leaves alasting impact.

The Dhrupad music presentedin confluence with theatre andmovement was a pure delight andsoothing to the ear and broughtcalmness to the mind. It was thera-peutic as most of the audiencemembers put it.

Sunaad was started in 2002, withthe intention of demystifyingHindustani Classical music andmake it accessible to the public.

Directed by Tara Kini, the musicfor Sunaad had been composed bythe renowned Gundecha Brothers.Sant Vani was presented in ten dif-ferent languages along with 12verses in Sanskrit from MandukyaUpanishad sung in the Dhrupadstyle, in 16 ragas and 10 taals.

— PNS

athak isa dynamicand thrilling danceform where one wearsanklets and createsrhythm. When mas-

ters perform, hands become anextention of the face that showlove, joy, fear and sorrow.

Anju Babu, popularly knownas Kathak Kalakshethra AnjuBabu for founding theKalakshethra organisation, is notonly a Kathak dancer but also aguru, an innovative choreogra-pher and the sole torch bearerfor Deccani style of Kathak fromHyderabad. He has received aplethora of awards in his careerand had also written a book onKathak called Kathak NrutyaVikaasam.

He has won over 100 awardsfor his performances, includingthe Nritya Bhushan award andthe Silver crown award. He wasalso felicitated by then chiefminister of undivided AndhraPradesh N T Rama Rao and thenVice-President Krishnakanth.

Born in Guntur district ofAndhra Pradesh, Anju Babu wasdrawn to dance since childhood.His mother, who is also his men-tor, encouraged him to take updance on a more serious noteand enrolled him in governmentmusic college. He discontinuedhis undergraduation and learnedKathak under the guidance ofGuru Pandit Rama KrishnaShukla in Hyderabad. He thenwent on to give over 2,000 per-formances across the world andhas choreographed for over 40dance dramas including TV pro-grammes and ballets.

While everyone focussed onacademics, he focused on learn-ing Kathak. He startedKalakshethra to enhance the sig-nificance of Kathak in the Southand invented a Deccani style ofthe dance form. Kalakshethrastarted 25 years ago and has cen-tres at Ashok Nagar, Jubileehills and Madhapur.

“Kathak is promi-nent in the

Northand as aSouthIndian, Iwanted to inventa new style. Hencethe Deccani formcame into being,” saidAnju Babu.

“Kathak is all aboutpresentation and one hasto be conscious about bal-ancing the movements. AKathak dancer should focuson chakkars, which meansrounds, and hand gestures sothat it mesmerises the audi-ence,” he adds.

“Classical dances likeBharatanatyam and Kuchipudihave certain degree of move-ment that has to be followed asper rules. The hand gestures orfoot movements should notexceed a particular point inthese two forms. But the uniquething about Kathak is that it hasno such restrictions,” he said,speaking of the movementsneeded in the dance.

“Many regret not havingdone something with theirlives. That is the reason Iensure to teach every stu-dent to learn something sothat they perform for atleast 10 minutes onstage. I teach at leastone complete courseso that they don’tfeel incompletewhen they dis-continue,” heconcludes.

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

G

K

WednesdayMarch 4, 2020

DANCING HISWAY TO GLORY

Speaking to M SHREYARAJ, Kathak KalakshethraAnju Babu explains theimportance of Kathak andfinishing something of value in life

‘In the mood for negative roles’annada-based actorKarthik Maheshentered the televi-sion industry in 2014with his Kannadaserial Khushi. He is

known for his acting stint insome of Kannada serials likeKhushi, Devi, Akka, among oth-ers. He made his debut inTelugu with Maate Mantramuserial in Zee Telugu and he hasbeen receiving positive reviewsfor his stint in the serial.

Childhood aspirationsKarthik said that he was

interested in acting since hischildhood and used to partici-pate in various cultural anddance activities during hisschooling. He says, “During myschooling, I participated inmany cultural and danceactivities. Many peopleappreciated my skillsin dance and actingand encouraged me togo further in the field. Inmy fourth standard, I tookpart in a comic role. I loved tobe a part of the theatre and didmany roles to improve my act-ing skills.”

Techie-turned-actor After his graduation in BSc

Physics, Mathematics andComputer Science, Karthik gota job as a techie. He says, “I gota chance to work as a techie inMysore after my graduation.But I left that to fulfil my actingdream. After many auditions, Igot my first opportunity inKhushi serial in Kannada in

2014 in a lead role. Later, I didvarious serials like Mahakali,Akka and more. Mahakali is amythological serial and I actedas God Vishnu in it.”

Learning Telugu Karthik could speak fluent

Telugu by the time he pro-gressed in his first serial. Whenasked about it, he says, “I don’tknow a single word inTelugu when I camehere initially. Ilearned thelanguage inthree

months with the

help of myco-stars. Now, Ican speak Teluguvery well. Teluguaudience loved my act-ing and they approach mewhenever I go out. Theyenquire about my role andfuture projects.”

TV equal to cinema Karthik said that

there is no differ-ence between theKannada andTelugu tele-visionindus-tries

interms of

reception,production

and othersbut added that

Kannada televisionactors get more name

and fame because theaudience in Kannada treat

television actors equal tocinema actors. Karthikalso did two movies inKannada.

Love for negativeroles

Karthik said that he

would love toact in nega-

tive roles.He

adds,

“Ifeel

there is alot of scope

for acting innegative ones.

I believe that positiveroles have certain bound-

aries. I did one negative role inmy Kannada serial Devi andI’m looking forward to do

more.”

Only entertainment Women roles usually carry

negative shades and theymostly play the villains too.Speaking about its impact onsociety, Karthik says,“Cinemas and serials are onlymade for entertainment. We

believe that audience won’ttake it for serious and they

don’t imitate us in reallife. I request theaudience to watchserials and films butnot take them per-

sonally.”

Love for biryani When asked about his

Hyderabad connect, he saysthat he loves the biryani here.He says, “Hyderabadis are verysweet and they receive everyone with equal love. I loveHyderabadi biryani. I love thevarious cultures and traditionsof this Pearl City. I’m honouredto be a part of Hyderabad and Iwill definitely act in many seri-als and cinemas to continue mybond with the people here.”

Birthdays in orphanages Karthik and his friends cele-

brate their birthdays at orphan-age. He says, “I, along with myfriends, celebrate our birthdayswith orphans and spend time

with them. When we gothere, the children treat uswell and they are like ourfriends. It gives us utmostsatisfaction to celebrate ourbirthdays with them. We alsodonate money for their wellbeing.”

K

Speakingto V SATEESH

REDDY, television actorKarthik Mahesh speaks

about his entry into industry,his love for negative roles,learning Telugu, celebrating

birthdays in orphanagesand more

TELUGUENTRY

Karthik got the opportunityto work in a Telugu serial in Star

Maa last year, but it didn’t take off due tosome reasons. He adds, “After bad luck in my

first Telugu offer, I got a lead role in Zee Telugu’sMaate Mantramu serial. It is my first one in Telugu. In

this serial, I replaced actor Ali Reza for the role ofVamshi. Before my entry as Ali, he was a bad

boy who doesn’t care about anything.After my entry, the role completely

changed and he becomes agood guy. The role has

two shades and Iloved doing it.”

Hyderabadis are very sweet and they receiveevery one with equal love. I love Hyderabadi biryani.

I love the various cultures and traditions of this Pearl City.I’m honoured to be a part of Hyderabad and I will definitely

act in many serials and cinemas to continue mybond with the people here. Telugu audience

loved my acting and they approach mewhenever I go out. Theyenquire about my role

and futureprojects.

out of the

BOX

TELEVISIONMANIA

YesTV — India's first economysmart LED rimless TV — was

launched in Hyderabadrecently. Socialites and models

attended the event in largenumbers and enquired about the

features of the new entrant withorganisers.

PART

Y

10

CITY GUIDEEVENTS

lSutradhar Theatre Group is staging a play KisiAur Ka Sapna directed by Shahrukh Suranitomorrow at Lamakaan from 8 pm.

KISI AUR KA SAPNA

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your eventslisted, send your details along with a poster andcontact number to pioneer.features@gmail.com

PUPPETRY DAYl Nori Art and Puppetry Centre is conducting WorldPuppetry Day Celebrations on March 21 at Lamakaanfrom 6.30 pm.

MADHUBANI PAINTING

Hyderabad Wednesday March 4, 2020

l Madhubani painting exhibition will be held on March 14 at Phoenix Arena from 2 pmonwards.

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

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RAISINGFUNDS

Choice Foundation, which isworking for the

betterment of theunderprivileged, organised its

second edition of Golf Fundraiserevent recently at Golf Club near

Golconda. Former Indian cricketersKapil Dev and Murali Karthik, actors

Nani, Ramya Krishna and othersattended the event and enjoyed the

evening over music and food.

l Kapil Dev

l Nani

l Murali Karthik l Madhavi l Rajesh Sharma

l Raghavendra

what’s brewing?

l Prasanthi and Anayana

l R

amya

Kris

hna

l D

eept

hi

l Jayesh Ranjan

l Neelima Arya

l D

r. Ne

elim

a

l L

ahar

i

ith Parasuram still in deliberations withMythri Movie Makers and 14 Reels,looks like Naga Chaitanya has moved on.The actor was initially attached to star inParasuram’s next Nageswara Rao (tenta-tive title) but with Mahesh Babu showing

interest to work with the director, there seems tobe a lot of confusion on who is the director’s nexthero. However, Chay seems keen on not wastingany time further. He has recently heard a story

from Nandini Reddy. Close to 70 per cent of thescript is in place, while the actor is waiting for asecond narration to steer the project to pre-pro-duction.

And now, fresh buzz suggests that he is alsoin talks with Vikram Kumar for a new project.They’ve earlier teamed up for the super success-

ful Manam and were on thebrink of doing another film

a couple of years ago.Apparently, the story

for this new film isbeing penned bywriter-turned-director BVS Ravi,with Dil Rajuattached to pro-duce it. It remainsto be seen whenthis project will be

a reality soon, asChay is likely to start

Bangarraju with dadNagarjuna later this

summer.

ebah Patel is the latest surprise additionto Ram-starrer Red, whose femalesupporting roster already includesNivetha Pethuraj, Malvika Sharmaand Amrithya Aiyer. However,we’ve learnt that the Kumari 21 F

girl will be seen shaking a leg with Ram,one of the best dancers around, for anitem song. “The filming of the song-under the supervision of Jaani master-has commenced on Tuesday night inRFC, Hyderabad and it will continuefor another three nights. A specialset has been erected for the pur-pose. The number is being shot ona grand scale with 100 dancers inthe background. It’s a mass num-ber that will see Ram at hisdancing best,” said a sourceclose to the unit. The song is abig opportunity for Hebah whois slowly climbing back to thetop again in Telugu cinema.

Red’s filming is over exceptfor the ongoing song. Themakers have commencedpost-production works simul-taneously as the film is gear-ing up to a release on April9. An investigative thriller,the film, directed by KishoreTirumala, narrates the con-fusion that arises among afew cops when they findout that the one accused inthe murder of a youngsterhas a look-alike. It hasbeen predominantly shotin Hyderabad and Goa tillnow. Its recentlyreleased teaser hasgarnered morethan 5 millionviews.— NG

t was a call from hismentor ChandrasekharYeleti that led ViswantDuddumpudi to signromantic thriller OPitta Katha, which

releases this Friday. “He told methat he found the story to be goodand that director Chandu is look-ing at me for the lead. I trustYeleti garu blindly and acceptedthe film. I listened to the storylater. It’s one of a kind film told ina perspective vision screenplayformat. It’s purely a director’sfilm. There are different shades tomy character. It’s a role which iscompletely different from whatI’ve done until now,” he assures.

Despite featuring in a battery offilms, the Kakinada native hasn’ttasted commercial success yet.His last film too —Tholubommalata — after openingto good reviews failed to click atthe ticket outlets. Was he disap-pointed? “All the films I’ve doneare labeled as good films and theygot me good reviews as an actor.If I do a good film and if itdoesn’t do well, the box-office doesn’t botherme much. I’m lookingat longevity as anactor in the industry.My brush with com-mercial cinema canwait. I want to associ-ate with concept-dri-ven films for now,” saysthe actorwhose nextfilmsincludeKadhal,an

intense love story,and Boyfriend forHire, a new-ageromantic comedy.

Viswant is happythat over the yearshe forged a deepbond with Yeleti,who directed him inManamantha. “Heconsiders me as hisfamily member. Lastyear I’ve been to hishouse for Diwali party.I was surprised to seeKeeravani garu,Rajamouli garu hang-ing out there. I waswelcomed with greatlove. Rama Rajamouligaru served dinner tome,” the mechanicalengineer points out.

The actor, who learntscreen writing in the US,informs that Yeleti is hisbouncing board. “When Iget free time, I write stuff.He goes through them

and says its ‘utter trash’,”he smiles, signing

off. — NG

Hyderabad Wednesday March 4, 2020

I

11

tollywoodSharwa, Kishore

Tirumala unite for a

family entertainerSharwa committed to this

project more than three months

ago and the film will go to

floors later this summer, finds

NAGARAJ GOUD

romoting Jaanulast month,Sharwanand hadtold us that he isfollowing theAkshay Kumar

template of allotting 50 days

and doing multiple films in a

year. Staying true to his

words, the actor, who is

presently a part of two pro-

jects — Sreekaram and Shree

Karthik’s untitled Telugu-

Tamil bilingual — has green-

lit another film. It will be

directed by Kishore Tirumala,

and will go to floors later this

summer. The project will be

produced by Sudhakar

Cherukuri, who produced the

actor’s Padi Padi Leche

Manasu (PPLM) in 2018. The

actor promised to do another

film for Sudhakar after the

debacle of PPLM and he is

honouring his word.

According to a source,

Sharwa committed to this

project more than three

months ago. “Besides

Sudhakar factor, Sharwa felt

Kishore’s story is right up his

alley, which is why he decid-

ed to do it later this year-even

if it means that he will not

take a break,” adds the source.

Sudhakar confirmed the

development when The

Pioneer contacted him. “The

film is a family drama and

will mostly roll in May. A

major part will be shot

around Rajahmundry,” the

soft-spoken producer

informed.When asked whether buzz

about Sai Pallavi being the

female lead is true, he clari-

fied, “No actress has been

locked inyet. Wewill

decide after Sharwa returns

(from the US).”Before starting this new

film, Sharwa, however, has to

complete Sreekaram, which is

20 days away from a wrap-up,

and Shree Karthik’s film,

which is halfway through.

The actor is also in delibera-

tions with Ajay Bhupathi to

do Mahasamudram but there

has been no significant

development on the pro-

ject for the last onemonth.

P

Concept-driven filmsover commercialcinema for me:

VISWANT

CHAY andVikram teamup again

A spookyfirst look of

Reginaegina Cassandra’s next, aTelugu-Tamil bilingual, withCaarthick Raju, has been titledas Nene Naa? Actor Varun Tejon Tuesday unveiled her look

and the title by taking to his Twitteraccount. The film, a mystery dramalaced with action, adventure, comedyand thrills, has gone to floors atCoutrallam, Tamil Nadu in January anda major chunk has been shot at livelocations.

Raj Shekar Varma, who is producingthe film under Apple Tree Studios,said that the director has presentedRegina in a complete new way, addingthat audience will discover a new sideof her. She will be seen as an archeolo-gist in the film, which also featuresAkshara Gowda.

HEBAH'Sitem numberin Red

W

R

H

PTI n SYDNEY

India will take on England inthe Women’s T20 World Cup

semifinals, it was decided onTuesday following the rained-out game between South Africaand the West Indies here.

The abandoned gamemeant South Africa and WestIndies shared a point each whichwas enough to push the formerto the top spot with sevenpoints, leaving England second.

England, who finished withthree wins and a loss in thegroup stage, face India onThursday in a repeat semifinalof the 2018 edition.

Back then, England hadbeaten India before losing thefinal to Australia.

India, who are aiming tomake their maiden final, toppedthe group stage with four winsin as many games.

SA TTO FFACE AAUSIn the other semifinal South

Africa will face defending cham-pions Australia. The Proteasneeded to avoid defeat againstthe already-eliminated WestIndies to top Group B and withthe match in Sydney abandonedwithout a ball being bowled,they earned a point to ensurethat happened.

“I couldn’t have asked forbetter, our first goal coming here

was to get to the semi-finals,”said skipper Dane van Niekerk.

“Generally in these tourna-ments, we’ve lost at crucialtimes, whereas in this tourna-ment, whenever we’ve beendown we’ve got up again. It’s nicethat everything is slowly butsurely coming together.”

South Africa have neverbeaten four-time championsAustralia.

“What better way to do it(beat Australia) than in a WorldCup semi-final. We’re not usedto the bigger-stage games, buthopefully everything comestogether for us,” she added

ahead of the match in Sydney onThursday.

Earlier, qualifiersThailand ended their inau-gural World Cup on a high,posting their biggest everT20I score before the heav-ens opened and their clash withPakistan was also called off.

They had lost all three oftheir previous games, with ahighest total of 82.

But, after winning the tossat Sydney Showground, theystunned Pakistan with theiraggressive batting approach,racing to 150 for three off 20overs.

Pakistan, who upset 2016champions West Indies in theiropening game before losing thenext two, would have neededtheir record run chase to win butdidn’t face a ball.

“We had an opportunity to

come here and play against thebig teams. I think it is good forus. We want to keep doing well.People at home will be happy,same as us. They will be cheer-ing, said Thai captain SornnarinTippoch.”

sport 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 4, 2020

PTI n CHRISTCHURCH

Aware that his star-studdedpace attack isn’t getting

any younger, India captainVirat Kohli says the team’sthink-tank will need to havethe next crop of speed mer-chants ready soon enough asone can’t “squeeze the lifeout” of established names.

While Jasprit Bumrah, 26,is expected to lead the pacepack for many more years,Ishant Sharma, who will be 32this year, and MohammedShami (29) have alreadyreached the peak of theirprowess.

Not to forget UmeshYadav, who will turn 33 thisyear.

“These guys are not get-ting any younger so we needto be very careful and veryaware and accept that these aresituations that can potentiallycome up and have guys who

can replace them and ready upand running as soon as possi-ble,” Kohli said. Ishant’s poor-ly handled rehabilitation,which saw a recurrence ofankle tear, and the kind ofworkload that Shami has taken

in the past two years, are indi-cators that this team has to beready for transition in thepace department in the per-haps the next couple of years.

“...We do need to recognisewho are the next three-four

guys that can keep the stan-dard up because you don’twant to feel a void suddenly ifa couple of guys miss out,”Kohli gave enough indica-tions that the management iszeroing in new talents with aneye on future.

With Indian team’s packedschedule across formats, Kohlisaid that it’s inhuman to“squeeze the life out of individ-uals”.

“That’s what happens incricket. Mini transitions hap-pen every now and then, andyou need to be aware of them,”Kohli said. “You can’t squeezethe life out of individuals, andwhen they are done, you haveno back-up. I think we as aside are pretty aware that thesethings are quite possible,” headded.

Navdeep Saini is already apart of the set-up and there aretwo or three more names inthe pipeline, the skipper said.

“Saini is one who hascome into the system. Wehave two-three more that wehave an eye on,” he said.

“We need to be very care-ful and we need to understandthat this is one factor that hasgot us a lot of success and weneed to make sure that stan-dards are kept high,” he added.

Kohli wants the next ropto replicate the kind of successthat the trio of Yadav, Ishantand Shami (Bumrah excluded)has got over years.

“We recognise and under-stand guys who can do a sim-ilar job potentially as well asthese, Umesh included.”

While Kohli didn’t nameany other fast bowlers but theones in the pecking order forred ball cricket includeMohammed Siraj ofHyderabad, Sandeep Warrierof Kerala, Avesh Khan ofMadhya Pradesh and IshantPorel of Bengal.

NEW DELHI: Former India captain Kapil Dev saidthat India regulars can give IPL a miss if theythink that the international calendar is toocramped. Skipper Virat Kohli had mentionedearlier that they are getting closer to landingat the stadium and playing straight.

“If you think there is burnout then don’tplay IPL,” Kapil said on the sidelines of he fifthedition of HCL Grant’s felicitation ceremony.

“There you are not representing your coun-try. So if you think you are burned out, you canalways take a break during the IPL. When youare representing your country, the feelingshould be different,” he said.

Kapil also said that when playing for theircountry, players need to be giving their best andthis should not get compromised because theyput a lot of energy in playing fran-chise cricket.

When asked about MSDhoni, the former Indian skip-per said as a fan he would loveto see MS Dhoni play theT20 World Cup in Octoberbut it was completely theteam management’s call.

“As his fan (I wouldlove to see him play theT20 World Cup). Butas a cricketer, it is dependenton the management. If hehasn’t played for one yearwhat do you expect. I think hehas to play more matches.

“He should play morematches to be in the team.Otherwise you are beingunfair to other players,” saidKapil. PNS

PTI n KOLKATA

Mukesh Kumar ran throughKarnataka’s second inningswith a career-best six-wicket

haul as Bengal hammered their star-studded opponents by 174 runs toenter their first Ranji Trophy final in13 years here at Eden Gardens onTuesday.

The low-profile pacer, who haddismissed India regular K L Rahul inKarnataka’s first innings, became thehero in the second essay with his 6/61as Bengal took less than two hours todismiss Karnataka on day four.

Resuming their monumental chaseof 352 at 98 for three, Karnataka losttheir remaining seven wickets for 79runs in 16.3 overs. The penultimateday’s proceedings lasted just 115 min-utes after which the hero-of-the-dayMukesh Kumar was seen carried onhis shoulders by Akash Deep.

Bengal, who won their previousRanji title during Sourav Ganguly’sdebut season way back in 1989-90, hadlost to Mumbai by 132 runs in theirlast final appearance in 2007.

Bengal will face the winners ofGujarat and Saurashtra clash, under-way in Rajkot, in the final fromMarch 9 and it will be an away matchfor them.

Bengal also halted a third treblebid by Karnataka who recently werecrowned the domestic one-day (VijayHazare Trophy) and T20 (SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy) champions.Karnataka’s last treble had come in2014-15 when they had achieved thefeat twice on the trot.

Mukesh Kumar, who had previousbest figures of 6/62, looked at his omi-nous best taking five wickets in just 60balls with an imperious spell that read9-4-28-5.

He opened his account in the thirdover of the day with India batsmanManish Pandey (12) edging it toShreevats Goswami behind thestumps.

Then in his next over he dismissedK V Siddharth (0) and S Sharath (0)off successive deliveries to snuff outany revival hopes by heavyweightsKarnataka.

First the inform Siddharth fell toan away going delivery and was caughtby skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran at theslip, and on the next ball Mukesh bol-

wed an inswinger to trap the wicket-keeper-batsman.

Talented 19-year-old Karnatakabatsman Devdutt Padikkal, who wasseason’s leading run-getter in whiteball cricket, was the lone crusader asKarnataka battled to avoid a thirdsemifinal defeat in a row.

Padikkal, who came in atNo 3 to accommodate Rahul atthe top, hit seven elegantboundaries but Mukesh had hissay to dismiss the batsman enroute to his fourth five-wicket haulfrom 21 first-class matches.

Krishnappa Gowtham (22) andAbhimanyu Mithun counter attackedBengal with a quick 24-run stand forthe eighth wicket but it only delayedthe inevitable with first innings heroIshan Porel breaking the partnership.

Gowtham tried to smash Porel’s

widish delivery over the off-sideregion, only to be caught by substituteShreyan Chakraborty.

Known for his unique celebrations,the 21-year-old Porel, who is theyoungest member of the side, was

given a shoe-shine polish by 35-year-old Majumdar, the senior-most member showing thecamaraderie in the side.

Thereafter it was just amatter of time before Akash

Deep (2/6) cleaned up the big-hitting Abhimanyu Mithun (38) to

complete the victory.Ishan Porel, who grabbed a five-

wicket haul in the first innings, took2/58 that included the prized-scalp ofRahul with peach of an inswinger onMonday.

Playing without the suspendedpacer Ashok Dinda, their leading

wicket taker for last eight seasons, thethree-pronged Bengal pace attack

once again was up for task, tak-ing all the 20 wickets on offer.

PTI n RAJKOT

Arpit Vasavada’s gritty139 propelled

Saurashtra to set a challeng-ing 327-run target forGujarat on the fourth dayof their semi-final here onTuesday.

Chintan Gaja’ fieryspell had brought Gujaratback into contention on thethird day, but Vasavada’sseventh first-class hundred,and the third this season,swung the momentum infavour of the hosts.

Courtesy his ton andhandy contributions fromChetan Sakariya (45),Chirag Jani (51) andDharmendrasinh Jadeja(21), Saurashtra recoveredfrom a dismal 15 for five topost 274 in their secondinnings.

They had a 52-runlead and hence the tar-get set was 327.

When stumps weredrawn, Gujaratwere seven forone with open-er PriyankPanchal (0)

back in thehut.

Earlier, resuming theday at 66 for five, Sakariyaand Vasavada were goingstrong before their 90-runsixth wicket stand was bro-ken by a horrible mix-upbetween the two, whichresulted in the former’sdismissal.

The hosts lost theirsixth wicket on 105. Janithen joined Vasavada andplayed the perfect second-fiddle as the hosts tooklunch at 155 for six.

Post lunch, Vasavadaand Jani kept frustrating theGujarat bowlers.

It was Gaja again, whoprovided the crucial break-through for the visitors bydismissing Jani in the 84thover.

The new ball did thetrick for Gaja, as he bowled

in theg o o dl e n g t harea and

Jani’s outsideedge flew toSamit Gohel inthe second slip.Vasavasa andJani added 109

runs for thes e v e n t hwicket.

G a j atook his seventhwicket when heremoved Prerak

Mankad (1) atthe stroke of tea, whichSaurashtra took at 222-8.

After Jadeja fell,Vasavada upped the antebut perished in the process.In his 139-run innings, heblasted 16 fours and a six.

Considering that it’s aworn-out pitch, it would bea tough ask for ParthivPatel-led side to chase thetarget on the final day.Brief Scores: Saurashtra304 and 274 (ArpitVasavada 139, Chirag Jani51; Chintan Gaja 7/71)v/s Gujarat 252 and 7/1.Gujarat need 320 runs towin.

PTI n DUBAI

India on Tuesday retainedtheir number one spot and

captain Virat Kohli remainedstatic at second in the ICCrankings despite a dismal Testseries against New Zealand.

India have 116 rating points,six more than New Zealand withthird-placed Australia accumu-lating 108 points.

Kohli remains in secondposition in the batting rankingsdespite a forgettable Test seriesin which he made 38 runs infour innings.

New Zealand opener TomBlundell and his Indian counter-part Prithvi Shaw and debutantpaceman Kyle Jamieson wereamong the biggest movers in therankings.

Blundell had a successfulseries against India, scoring 117runs in four innings, with onehalf-century, which put himamong the top two run-scorersin the series.

The performance meant hewas rewarded with a jump of 27places to No 46. Shaw, whoreturned for his first series sincehis Test debut against WestIndies in 2018, and made apunchy 54 in the first innings ofthe Christchurch Test, rose 17places to No 76.

Australia’s Steve Smith

retained his top spot, holding a25-point advantage over Kohli.Smith’s apprentice MarnusLabuschagne jumped one spotto round off the top three, tak-ing the place of New Zealandcaptain Kane Williamson.

England all-rounder BenStokes and India openerMayank Agarwal moved a spoteach and swapped places tobreak into and fall out of the top10 respectively.

Among bowlers, TimSouthee’s Player of the Serieswinning performance againstIndia took him into the top five,with a jump of two places to No4, while Jasprit Bumrah andTrent Boult returned to the top10, gaining four places each tooccupy the seventh and ninthpositions respectively.

But the biggest gainer wasJamieson, who rose from No 80to 43. There was only onechange in the top ten among all-rounders, with Southee drop-ping a spot to No 10.

PTI n SYDNEY

Former Australiapacer Brett Lee fore-

sees a “different” lookingIndia making theirmaiden T20 Women’sWorld Cup final andattributed their rise tothe emergence of starplayers like 16-year-oldShafali Verma.

Besides openerShafali, experienced leg-spinner Poonam Yadavhas been the othermatch-winner for Indiain the competition.

“They’ve neverreached the final but thisis a different India teamfrom the one they’ve

seen before. They’vecombined match-

winners in ShafaliVerma andPoonam Yadav

with consistent playerswith both bat and ball,”Lee was quoted as sayingby ICC.

“We’ve alwaysknown they have someof the best players in theworld but nowHarmanpreet Kaur has ateam around her thatcan support the big play-ers, and fill in the gaps

when they have an offday.”

Only a special effortfrom their opponentscan stop India fromreaching their maidenfinal, feels Lee.

“They’ll go into thesemi-finals full of confi-dence and it will take anexcellent team to stopthem from reaching theFinal.”

Talking more aboutShafali, who has got 47,46, 39, and 29 so far, Leebacked the teen sensa-tion to make a biggerscore in the semifinal.

“Shafali Verma hasbeen excellent at the topof the order, she’sbrought a fearless ener-gy to India’s batting andbeen brilliant to watch.

“You feel she can goeven bigger as well —she hasn’t reached 50 yet,which is both excitingfor those watching andworrying for thebowlers.

“We saw from theopener against Australiajust how good India canbe, and it’s no surprisethey’ve continued thatform to top Group A,” headded.

Bengal storm into Ranji final after 13 years

Bengal pace trioka of Mukesh Kumar, Ishan Porel and Akash Deep celebrate after Bengal win over Karnataka in Ranji Trophy semifinal PTI

PTI n KOLKATA

India Test wicketkeeperWriddhiman Saha was on Tuesday

included in Bengal’s squad for theirRanji Trophy final starting on March9.

Saha is likely to be included inthe lineup in place of openerAbhishek Raman who is strugglingfor runs.

India’s number one wicketkeep-er Saha has recovered from a surgeryon his right ring finger which he hadsustained during the historic

Day/Night Eden Test againstBangladesh.

However, he was not includedthe playing XI in India’s recent 0-2 debacle in New Zealand.

Saha last played for Bengal inthe 2017-18 Ranji season where heaveraged 38.33 from four matches.

The selectors also nameduncapped batsman Sudip Gharamiwith injured Koushik Ghosh andyoungster Golam Mustafa beingthe only two omissions from the16-member squad, which beatKarnataka in the semifinal.

Vasavada’s ton putsSaurashtra in command

Kohli indicates ‘mini transition’ of pace unit

Jasprit Bumrah & Umesh Yadav bowl during India nets session BCCI/Twitter

India retain top spot despite defeat

Skip IPL if you feelburnt out: Kapil

Binga backs India tomake maiden final

Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur with Meg Lanning (Aus) and Heather Knight (Eng)

Harman & Co face England in Women’s T20 semisPERRY OUT

SYDNEY: Defending champi-ons Australia were dealt aheavy blow on Tuesday as starplayer Ellyse Perry was ruledout of the rest of tournamentwith a hamstring injury.

The world’s top-rankedwomen’s allrounder limped offin pain after attempting arun out during Australia’snarrow win over New Zealandon Monday.

Cricket Australia said shewould miss the four-timechampion’s semi-final inSydney on Thursday and thefinal on Sunday if they get thatfar.

So severe is the injury thatshe will also be unavail-able for Australia’s tourof South Africa laterthis month.

“Ellyse sustained ahigh-grade right ham-

string injury that is expectedto keep her out of the game for

a significant period of time,”team doctor Pip Ing said in astatement.

Australia’s head coachMatt Mott said that he isconfident they had enoughdepth in the squad to coverher batting and bowling.

“Ellyse is a key member ofour squad and has been for along period of time and on apersonal level we're disap-pointed that she won’t havethe opportunity to finish thetournament,” he said. AFP

Saha boost for Bengal

Ranji Trophy SemifinalLive from 9:30am ISTSTAR SPORTS 3 NETWORK