HYDERABAD, FRIDAY OCTOBER 30, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), scheduled to be held inNovember, has been deferred to January next year due to the COVID-

19 pandemic, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said onThursday. Initially the 26th edition of the KIFF, with limited number ofvisitors, was scheduled to be held from November 5 to12. It will now be organised from January 8 to 15,2021. Banerjee posted on her twitter handle, "Afterreceiving global film fraternity's consent, I herebyinform all stakeholders of Kolkata International FilmFestival & cine lovers that our festival has beenrescheduled, given the current circumstances. "Itwill now be held from Jan 8-15, 2021. Let thepreparations begin!"

KOLKATA INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVAL DEFERRED TO JANUARY

SOME RECOVERED CORONAVIRUSPATIENTS MAY STILL CARRY VIRUS

Awoman in Pakistan's Punjab province was allegedly sold for rupees5,000 by her husband to four persons who gang-raped her for 21

days. The incident took place in North Sargodha, some 200 kilometresfrom Lahore. The suspects took her to their place and gang-raped herfor 21 days before she managed to flee and reachedthe local police station. The woman onWednesday submitted an application in thesessions court Sargodha after police refusedto file a case against her husband and fourrapists. Additional sessions judge MuhammadIjaz issued a notice to district police officerSargodha and sought a report on the matter onNovember 2.

The Trump administration has proposed to scrap the computerised lotterysystem to grant H-1B work visas to foreign technology professionals and

replace it with a wage-level-based selection process, a move that is expectedto counter the downward pressure on the wages of US workers. Anotification on the new system is being published in the Federal Register onThursday. Stakeholders have 30 days to respond to the notification, theDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday, less than aweek before the US presidential election. Replacing thecomputerised draw of lots to decide on the successful H-1B applicants, the DHS said it is expected to help counterthe downward pressure on the wages of Americanworkers that is created by an annual influx ofrelatively lower-paid, new cap-subject H-1B workers.

Some recovered COVID-19 patients may still carry the novelcoronavirus, according to a new study which recommends that

people leaving quarantine avoid close contact with others, wear a facemask, and possibly undergo an additional test to confirm ifthey are free of the virus. The study, assessed 131COVID-19 patients who met the World HealthOrganization (WHO) criteria for discontinuation ofquarantine, and found that close to 17 per cent of them,who were considered fully recovered, tested positive forthe virus in follow-up screening. "Our findings indicate thata noteworthy rate of recovered patients with COVID-19 couldstill be asymptomatic carriers of the virus," said study co-authorFrancesco Landi from Fondazione Policlinico Universitario in Italy.

PAKISTAN WOMAN GANG-RAPED AFTER BEING SOLD BY HUSBAND

US TO SCRAP COMPUTERISEDLOTTERY SYSTEM FOR H-1B VISAS

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated October 29, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Ashwin & Shukla Paksha

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Tithi : Chaturdashi: 05:44 pm

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Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

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Varjyam: NIL

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Sensex sheds 173pts amid F&Oexpiry; Nifty slipsbelow 11,700

5

Left govt on thebackfoot afterSivasankar'sarrest

2

Alcohol sales hit festive high in TS

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The unemployment rate sincethe unlock process in the statehas gone down to 3.3% inSeptember from nearly 5.8% inAugust, as per the Centre forMonitoring Indian Economy.During the lockdown months -- April, May and June,Telangana reported 6.2%, 14.7%and 10.6% unemployment rate.Post re-opening, the numbers inthe state went down, as theunemployment rate in July andAugust were around 5.4% and5.8% respectively.

Telangana has overtakenGujarat in unemploymentnumbers. Gujarat, which hadan unemployment rate of 1.9%in the past, registered 3.4% inOctober. Only Assam (1.2%),Chhattisgarh (2.0), Odisha(2.1%) and Karnataka (2.4)are ahead of Telangana as perCMIE. The unemploymentrate in the state is much below

the all-India estimate of 6.7%at the same time.

The unemployment rate isslowly coming down also inAndhra Pradesh, which was at6.4% in September, though itwas 7.0 in August and 8.3 inJuly. During April and May i.e.during the Covid-19 inducedlockdown period, the unem-ployment rate in AndhraPradesh was at 20.5% and

17.4% respectively.Krishank Manne, TRS

leader said, “These figuresfrom CMIE itself explainTelangana standing low at theunemployment rate faringexceptionally well than promi-nent states. It was achievedonly because of theGovernment's focus on creat-ing job opportunities and skilltraining”.

TS among top 5 states withlowest unemployment rate

Demand forcontract jobs highin Hyderabad HYDERABAD: Hyderabad isamong the top three cities whichrecorded the highest postingsfor contract jobs betweenJanuary and July this year. Thecity is preceded by Bengaluruand Mumbai in top threepositions, according to a newreport by job search portalIndeed.com. However, whencompared to previous years, allthree cities witnessed overall de-growth from last year. While thedemand for contract workershas risen steadily since January2020, month on monthcomparisons between 2019 and2020 showed that hiring forcontract jobs more than doubledin June and July this year, at110% and 143% respectively.

‘Dharani’, a trendsetter: KCR Telangana to assign geographical coordinates to landsPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao said onThursday that the path-break-ing Dharani, one-stop portalfor all matters concerning landtransactions across the State,would emerge as a trend-set-ter for the nation.

Addressing a gathering afterinaugurating the portal atMoodu Chintalapally inMedchal-Malkajgiri district,the Chief Minister said: “Goneare the days when people, par-ticularly farmers, had to makethe rounds of various officesfor land transactions, includ-ing registration and mutation,often greasing the palms ofcorrupt officials."

Telangana had achievedtremendous progress in allsectors of the economy, includ-ing power, agriculture, indus-try and irrigation, KCR said.Dharani portal was an impor-tant step towards resolvingissues pertaining to landsacross the State.

TS hasachieved

tremendousprogress in allsectors of theeconomy,includingpower,agriculture,industry andirrigation

AP slashes liquor prices, cites smugglingPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In an interesting U-turn afterexponentially increasing theprices of liquor, the AndhraPradesh government has cutthe prices of medium andhigher category of IndianMade Foreign Liquor onThursday in view of increasedcases of inter-state smug-gling.

The reduction in prices ofthese liquor brands ranged

from Rs 50 per 180 ml to Rs1,350 per bottle. The newrates will come into force with

effect from Friday, a govern-ment order said.

The government defendedits decision stating that it wasaimed at smuggling of high-value brands from other statesas pointed out by the SpecialEnforcement Bureau in itsreport.

Initially, the governmentdrastically reduced the numberof liquor shops and bars. Thegovernment also took overliquor business stating that

this would eliminate the busi-ness of belt shops in rural areas.

Subsequently, the govern-ment abnormally increasedthe liquor prices up to 75 percent, hoping that it wouldbring down the liquor con-sumption in the state. It alsoimposed restrictions on peoplestating that one cannot possessmore than three bottles.However, the measures led tomassive inter-state smuggling.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The National Green Tribunalon Thursday ordered a stay onconstruction work of theRayalaseema Lift IrrigationProject (RLIP) proposed bythe Andhra Pradesh govern-ment across the River Krishnain the backwaters of Srisailamreservoir to draw three tmc ftof water per day to irrigateparched lands of Rayalaseema.

Acting on a petition filed bya Telangana activist GavinollaSrinivas, the green tribunalmade it clear to the AP gov-ernment that it should not goahead with the construction of

Rayalaseema lift scheme,unless it obtained all clear-ances from the Centre, includ-ing environmental clearance.

It also directed that the APgovernment submits a detailedproject report (DPR) to theMinistry of Jal Shakti andunless the project report isapproved, it cannot take upconstruction work.

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Kalvakuntla Kavitha, formerNizamabad MP and daughterof Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, took oathas MLC on Thursday morningin the TS Legislative CouncilSpeaker's chambers in thepresence of Ministers, MLAsof TRS party and members ofthe Legislative Council. Shewas elected as the MLC fromthe Nizamabad local bodies'constituency, where she

secured 89% of the total votespolled. The elections, neces-sitated by the disqualificationof sitting MLC R BhoopathiReddy and initially scheduledfor April 7, 2020, was post-poned indefinitely amid theCOVID-19 pandemic andnationwide lockdown. A freshdate was announced onSeptember 25. Accordingly,the election was held onOctober 9, 2020. The resultswere announced on October12, with Kavitha making aclean sweep.

Kavitha takes oathas MLC

Kalvakuntla Kavitha, former Nizamabad MP who was elected from the localbodies' constituency, taking oath as MLC on Thursday morning in the TSLegislative Council Speaker's chambers.

Dharani faces technicalglitches on Day-1, rectified HYDERABAD: At times, modelssashaying on catwalk facewardrobe malfunction. No wonder,Dharani portal, touted as a would-be 'model' for the country, facedglitches on Day 1, because of theonrush of heavy traffic soon after itwas launched on Thursday byChief Minister K ChandrasekharRao amid much fanfare. With

face-saving alacrity, official rectifiedthe shortcomings by Thursdaynight. Post-launch, propertyowners across the state and evenNRIs hit the website in largenumbers to check their propertydetails online only to find that theportal had crashed, unable tohandle the digital deluge.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Winter is fast approaching; sowould be the prospects ofa 'second wave' of coro-navirus, if people letdown their guard.

The HealthDepartment hascautioned the pub-lic not to neglectCovid-19 norms. Withthe US and Europe alreadywitnessing the 'second wave'and reporting a large numberof cases, as people in thosecountries virtually ignored

Covid-19 norms, the TSHealth Department isfocussing on prevention of

the second wave.Health Departmentofficials emphasizedthe need to strictly

follow Covid-19norms to prevent

another wave. Theyurged people not

to roam in crowds. It isimportant to create

awareness among people bytaking the help of womenorganisations.

‘Chilling’ news of CovidNext 3 months crucial, warnsTelangana health department

PNS n NEW DELHI

A parliamentary panelon Thursday questioned"neutrality" of Googlewhen it is engaged inboth advertising andcontent, and asked was itnot violating fundamentalrights of users by "controlling"their choices.

Top executives of the searchengine appeared before theJoint Committee of Parliamenton the Personal DataProtection Bill and respondedto queries related to data secu-rity.

Gitanjali Duggal, Google's

director and head of legal inIndia; Aman Jain, head ofgovernment affairs and publicpolicy; and Rahul Jain, manag-er of public policy and govern-ment relations, deposed beforethe panel, headed by BJP MPMeenakshi Lekhi.

"They themselves are theplatforms, sellers and newsagencies. And Google itself has

the control button towhich informationwill come first, whichwill come later orwhich news will flashand which will besuppressed. So howit can be a neutral

platform?" Lekhi told PTI afterthe meeting.

Members of the panel,including Congress MP VivekTankha, BJP MP RajeevChandrasekhar and BJD MPsBhartruhari Mahtab and AmarPatnaik, posed a number ofqueries to Google representa-tives.

TN govt takesexecutive routeto 7.5% quotaPNS n CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu governmenton Thursday issued an ordernotifying 7.5 per cent quotafor students of state-runschools in admission toundergraduate medicalcourses from the current2020-21 academic year.

Since the NationalEligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) results have nowbeen declared and the admis-sion process has started, thereis an 'urgency' to decide onthis issue, the GovernmentOrder (G.O) said.

The move came as a billpassed by the state assemblylast month envisaging thehorizontal reservation isawaiting assent fromGovernor Banwarilal Purohit.

As per the G.O, 7.5 percent of seats shall be setapart on a preferential basisto government school stu-dents qualifying in NEET, inadmissions to MBBS, BDS,BSMS, BAMS, BUMS, andBHMS from the academicyear 2020-21.

EAMCET eligibility criteriarelaxed for this yearNAMRATA SRIVASTAVAn HYDERABAD

The eligibility criteria for stu-dents who qualified in theTelangana State Engineering,Agriculture and MedicalCommon Entrance Test (TSEAMCET 2020) have beenrelaxed only for this year.

This is in response toWednesday's orders from theTelangana High Court, whichrecorded the statement of State

Advocate General BS Prasadon relaxing the qualifyingmarks for Intermediate stu-dents so that they can attend

EAMCET-2020 counselling.The court had directed theauthorities concerned and theJawaharlal NehruTechnological University,Hyderabad (JNTU-H) to post-pone the second phase ofcounselling, scheduled to beheld between October 29 andNovember 5, to enable stu-dents (presently rendered inel-igible) to appear for coun-selling.

Hyderabad: The authoritieshave also revised the scheduleof admission in EAMCET col-leges, keeping in mind therelaxations given to the stu-dents. As per the new schedule,the date for online filing of basicinformation, payment of pro-cessing fee and slot booking forselection of helpline centre,date and time to attend for cer-tificate verification for candi-dates who did not attend, andeligible candidates according tothe relaxation, has been extend-ed till October 31.

Admissionschedule revised

NGT halts AP’sRLIP project

Isn’t Google violating users’rights by ‘controlling’ choices?

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao addressing a gathering after inaugurating theDharani portal at Moodu Chintalapally in Medchal-Malkajgiri district on Thursday

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2020

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PNS n HYDERABAD

Exuding supreme confidencethat the Telangana RashtraSamiti would continue itswinning streak, ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao said on Thursday thatwinning the Dubbak bye-election was not a big thing forthe pink party. Victory forTRS in Dubbak was a fore-

gone conclusion, he suggest-ed, while talking to media per-sons after launching Dharaniportal. KCR said that the TRScandidate would win with agood majority.

The Chief Minister saidthat registration of non-agri-culture assets would start with-in 15 days. He asked people toregister their plot as non-agri-culture asset. People had the

option to hide details of theirplot in Dharani portal, hesaid. The government wouldhandle even complicatedissues such as owners losingtheir conclusive titles, heassured. The government wassetting up Dharani portal'sback-up servers in variousstates. Dharani portal's back-up would be kept secretly atmany places, KCR added.

Dubbak victory no big deal for us: KCR

Continued from Page 1

By resorting to the exec-utive route for implement-ing the quota, the AIADMKgovernment has sought totake the wind out of the sailsof opposition DMK whichhas been upping the ante onthe issue and had stagedprotests demanding imme-diate implementation of thereservation.

Days ago, DMK chief MK Stalin, leading a demon-stration seeking the gover-nor's nod for the bill, hadsaid his party's protestswould continue till the stu-dents got the reservation.Attacking Chief Minister KPalaniswami, he had alsoasked if there was justifica-tion for him to occupy theposition without gettingthe quota bill cleared.Hitting back, Palaniswamihad accused the DMKleader of taking up theissue in an attempt to cre-ate an "illusion" that he(Stalin) was responsible fora possible approval byPurohit on the matterbesides seeking politicalmileage.

Continued from Page 1

An analysis of the inflow ofillegal liquor into State ofAndhra Pradesh during theperiod of one month — fromSeptember 15 to October 15— revealed that 1,211 cases ofsmuggling have been regis-tered, out of which 630 caseswere in respect of smugglingfrom Telangana, 546 cases inrespect of Karnataka, 24 casesin respect of Odisha and 11cases in respect of TN. Themost smuggled liquor brandsare in the category of medi-um and premium segments.The report points to the largedifference between the MRPsof medium and premiumliquor brands, observing thatthe prices of some brands ofliquor in AP are more thandouble the MRPs prevailingin Telangana and Karnataka.

“The report therefore sug-gests reduction in the MRPsof medium and premiumbrands of liquor so as to pre-vent smuggling of liquor inthese segments and conse-quent drain of the revenues ofthe State,” the order said.

The government alsoreviewed the matter andnoticed that apart from anincrease in the smuggling ofliquor into the State, therehave been unfortunate deathsdue to consumption of sani-tisers and methyl alcoholicpreparations.

Continued from Page 1

She tweeted, “Took oath asKamareddy and Nizamabaddistricts' local bodies' MLC.I humbly thank my party forthe opportunity and the localbodies' representatives whohave elected me for this posi-tion".

Ministers Vemula PrashantReddy, Mahmood Ali,Koppula Eshwar, SatyavatiRathod, MLAs fromNizamabad and Kamareddydistrict, MLCs and corpora-tions' chairmen and chairper-sons, local bodies' represen-tatives from Nizamabad andKamareddy district wereamong those who attendedthe swearing-in ceremony.

Alcohol sales hit festive high in TSLIQUOR SALES DURING DASARA FETCHES RS 812 CROREPNS n HYDERABAD

Bringing much relief to cash-starved state government, theExcise Department's revenuecrossed Rs 2,218.65 crore markup to October 27 and is all setto cross Rs 2,500-crore mark byend of the month. Everymonth, the sale of liquor, beerand other alcoholic beveragesis put at Rs 2,200-2,300 crore.The excise revenue that wouldhave been earned by the stategovernment in a month wasearned up to October 27.

On account of Dasara, own-ers of liquor shops, bars, clubs,restaurants, tourism hotelshave made heavy purchasesfrom Telangana State Beverages

Development Corporation net-ting the state government rev-enue of at least Rs 812.24 crorein just four days. These estab-lishments started lifting theirstocks from the corporation

from October 22 for Dasara,which fell on October 25.There are over 2,216 liquorshops, over 1,000 bars, clubsand tourism hotels in the state.The daily sale of liquor would

be of the order of Rs 80-90crore. However, on October 22,the corporation sold liquorand beer worth Rs 305.96crore. As per the statisticsavailable with the ExciseDepartment, Telangana has atotal of 2,211 wine shops acrossthe State and had faced a lossof Rs 4,000 crore during thelockdown period from March22 to May 5. However, afterUnlock 1 phase, the Statereceived an income of Rs 1,864crore in May and Rs 1,955crore in June in spite a 20 percent hike in the liquor price.People of the State had earlierpreferred consumption of beercompared to IML (Indianmade foreign liquor) but after

Unlock 1, the sales of beer hadrapidly declined.

A total of 29.7 lakh beercases were sold in August lastyear whereas only 16.8 lakhbeer cases were sold this year.Telangana has a total of 19liquor depots across the Statefrom which liquor is distrib-uted to all the wine shops in theState. The Nalgonda andKhammam districts locatednear Andhra border witnessedthe highest liquor sales asliquor in Andhra had limitedsale due to the pandemic.Wanaparthy district saw a 119per cent rise in liquor sale whilethe Warangal urban saw 96 percent growth in liquor salecompared to last year.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Witnessing a steady increase inthe number of passengers andair traffic, Hyderabad's RajivGandhi International Airport(RGIA) is leading the revivalof the aviation sector in Indiapost the Covid-induced lock-down. The daily passengerfootfall at RGIA has gone upby over six times and the Airtraffic Movement (ATM) byover five times since therecommencement of domesticoperations from May 15.

With the central and stategovernments relaxing thequarantine norms underUnlock 4.0 and Unlock 5.0,there has been a significantjump in the passenger footfall,sources at the airport said. TheRGIA has handled over 1.2million domestic passengers

from the day of recommence-ment till September 30. Over13,500 domestic flights werehandled during the same peri-od. Sources say the growth rateof Hyderabad Airport postrecommencement has beenimpressive compared to otherairports in the country.

Billed as the world's thirdfastest-growing airport in thecategory of 15 million passen-gers in the world, it is one ofthe busiest airports in the

country and the best-con-nected in south and centralIndia. In the first few weekspost recommencement ofdomestic operations after agap of two months, the dailypassenger footfall was 3,000but the same surged to over20,000 in September.

Hyderabad Airport has alsoseen an uptick in the ATMsfrom about 40 daily ATMs inthe first few weeks of therestart, to over 230 domestic

flights daily. The RGIAregained its 52 destinations outof 55 destinations beforeCovid, thus restoring about 95per cent domestic connectiv-ity till August. The airport washandling 550 air traffic move-ments and about 60,000 pas-sengers daily before the Covid-induced lockdown came intoeffect in March.

With a new domestic desti-nation - Jagdalpur inChhatisgarh from September21, RGIA is now connected to53 destinations in the domes-tic sector. Nagpur, Mangalore,Kozhidode/Calicut andJabalpur are the latest destina-tions which recommenced inthe last four weeks. Metrocities like Delhi, Kolkata,Chennai, Bengaluru andMumbai remain the top fivedestinations. The top three air-

lines who are serving thedomestic traffic fromHyderabad InternationalAirport are IndiGo, SpiceJetand Air India.

Though all commercialoperations were suspended inMarch with the imposition oflockdown, RGIA continued tohandle evacuation flightsoperated by various countriesfor their citizens. It subse-quently handled evacuationflights under the Vande BharatMission and the Air TransportBubble agreements initiatedamong various countries.Under the Air TransportBubble arrangement,Hyderabad InternationalAirport is now connected withthe United Kingdom, UnitedArab Emirates (Dubai, AbuDhabi and Sharjah), Qatarand Bahrain.

Hyd airport leads post-lockdown revival

‘Dharani’, a trendsetter: KCR Continued from Page 1

“With this exercise, about1.45 lakh crore acres of land inthe State now have clear titles.This was not an easy task, butone which we had to take up,”he said.

Developed by the TelanganaState Technical Services (TSTS)Department, Dharani com-prises two separate parts foragricultural lands and non-agricultural lands.

Going forward, the revenueportal was bound to have animpact across the country sinceboth the Union and otherState governments would beunder pressure to introducesimilar measures to ensuretransparency in land dealingsand simplify procedures, theChief Minister surmised.“Even before the formal launchof the portal, during the trialrun in the past three to fourdays, officials reported heavytraffic since thousands of peo-ple not just from the State butalso from other countries wereaccessing Dharani as they werekeen on knowing the function-ing of the portal and itsuniqueness,” KCR said.

The portal would facilitatehassle-free transactions, be itregistration or mutation, andeverything could be done withminimum human interface.The entire process should nottake more than 20 minutes, hepointed out. The ChiefMinister claimed that there wasno scope for fraud in registra-tion and other matters as the

new revenue system had takenaway discretionary powers ofthe officials.

A state-level control roomwould be set up to addresstechnical issues. Similarly, adistrict level technical supportteam would resolve issues aris-ing at the district level. Theportal is a part of the revampedrevenue system, incluidng thenew Revenue Act that cameinto force on September 22.The state Legislature during itssession last month had passed

four revenue Bills.The legislation paved the

way for landmark reforms inthe Revenue Department in thestate, mainly by reducinghuman interface for land trans-actions. As part of the reforms,the government scrapped theposts of village

revenue officers (VROs) andvillage revenue assistants(VRAs). The registrationprocess, which was suspendedon September 8 to facilitate thetransition, will resume onNovember 2 when the officesre-open after Milad-un-Nabiand weekend holiday.

Dharani faces technicalglitches on Day-1, rectified Continued from Page 1

Property buyers and sellers hadalso rushed for slot booking toeventually go ahead with propertyregistrations.

There was huge traffic for slotbookings for property registrationson Day-1 across the state, sinceproperty registrations had beensuspended in Telangana for nearlytwo months from September 8 toenable the launch of Dharaniportal, which is designed to makeall property transactionscompletely online.

KCR launched the Dharani portalat around 12.45 noon. Anxiousproperty owners, buyers andsellers rushed to log on to theportal in no time. The portal failedto open till 7 pm. With muchdifficulty, some users could accessthe portal at around 7.30 pm. Eventhen there was no relief as initiallynone of the links could open as theportal had crashed.

Internet users were also anxiousas they could see only 'Agriculturelands' link on the website and

there were no details about 'non-agriculture properties'. However,officials clarified that it may take 10to 15 days more to upload detailsof non-agriculture properties onthe portal.

Upon clicking the agriculturelink, the portal redirected users tothe home page again, causinganxiety among users. Somethought they now have to goround the landing page and drop-down menus in circles, instead ofgoing round revenue offices.

However, by 8.30 pm the portalstarted functioning effectively.

Upon clicking the agriculture linkon the main page, users foundfour sub links: slot booking forcitizens, land details search,prohibited lands, encumbrancedetails, view market value of landsfor stamp duty. All these linksopened faster and delivered detailsby 8.30 pm bringing respite tousers. Chief Secretary SomeshKumar said that the propertyregistrations would resume fromNovember 2 across the statethrough Dharani portal.

TS can leadnationContinued from Page 1

Pointing out that the Stategovernment had taken upvarious innovative measures toaddress problems and issuesfaced by Telanganaimmediately after achievingstatehood in 2004, CM said healways disagreed with peoplewho described Telangana as abackward region. “No, it is nota backward region. It has allthe potential to lead thecountry on all fronts and wehave proved this post Stateformation,” he said, addingthat the per capita income inthe State had more thandoubled from Rs 63,000 in2011-12 to Rs 2.28 lakh now,indicating progress andprosperity.

Continued from Page 1

The HC order concernedstudents of Telangana OpenSchool Society (TOSS) andthose who were to write theIntermediate Public AdvancedSupplementary Examinations,but were instead promotedwith 35%. Apart from thosewho secured 45% marks, theorders relaxing criteria willapply to students who havepassed Intermediate examina-tion and those who could nottake the examination, but wereawarded 35% marks.

This year, the state govern-ment promoted several stu-dents without conducting theexams and they were awardedminimum marks. Thus, manystudents who qualified in theEAMCET could not get theranks as they failed to meet theeligibility criteria of 45 per centmarks in Intermediate.

As per rules, TS EAMCETcandidates should obtain atleast 45 per cent marks (40 percent in case of candidatesbelonging to reserved catego-ry) in the subjects specifiedtaken together at 10+2 pattern,except for B Pharmacy course.

This is a one-time measurein the wake of the ongoingpandemic situation.

“The government, aftercareful examination of thematter and in view of theextraordinary circumstances

prevailing due to the Covid-19pandemic in the State, hasdecided that sub-clause (ii) ofClause-2 as contemplatedunder the TS EAMCET-2020Exams notification shall notapply in respect of those stu-dents who passed 10+2 exam-ination and who qualified forTS EAMCET 2020 and alsodecided that to direct the TSEAMCET 2020 authorities topermit such students to appearfor the counselling in respectof TS EAMCET (Admissions)-2020, without insisting theeligibility criteria for qualify-ing examination marks. Thisorder applies only for thisyear i.e. 2020-2021 as a specialcase and shall not be made asprecedent in future, and shallnot be applied from 2021-2022,” the order read.

EAMCETeligibility criteria...

Admissionschedule revisedContinued from Page 1

The certificate verification forstudents will be done onNovember 1. The students willbe provided provisional seatsby November 4. Thecandidates can pay the tuitionfees and self report throughwebsite to alloted collegebetween November 4 and 7.

Continued from Page 1

According to an official,“Even though cases havereduced, don’t live in an illu-sion that virus has gone away.If Covid-19 norms areneglected, the disease willspread again. The next 2-3months are crucial. Peopleneed to continue to co-oper-ate to stop the spread of notonly Covid-19 but also sea-sonal diseases”.

If people have any symp-toms like cold, cough andfever, people should getCovid-19 test done immedi-ately, officials advised. Anofficial said, “Due to festivalsand holidays, tests werereduced. But moving for-

ward, the number of testshave to be increased everyday. Apart from Covid-19person, the primary and sec-ondary contacts have to beidentified and tests conduct-ed. If needed, the testing cen-ters will have to be increased”.

Every year, this season ispeak for dengue, malaria,swine flu and other diseases.But this year these seasonaldiseases have reduced by 40-50 per cent, officials added.“Even Covid-19 has beenreduced over the last 30 days.We could control coronaviruswith stringent measures bygovernment and people’s sup-port. Coronavirus has notgone away completely”, offi-cials said.

Continued from Page 1

The NGT gave its orderbased on the report submit-ted by the Union Ministrythat the scheme does not haveany approval from the Centreand that the state had notsubmitted its DPR to theministry till now.

The NGT bench compris-ing Justice Ramakrishnanand irrigation expert SibalDas Gupta brushed aside theargument of the state govern-ment that the scheme was nota new project but only part ofthe Telugu Ganga projectand there is no additionalayacut involved.

TS reports1,504 newcases, 5 deathsPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana has reported 1,504fresh Covid-19 cases, as theHealth Department cau-tioned people against thesecond wave of the pandem-ic. The state's Covid tally onThursday mounted to2,35,656 while five moredeaths during the last 24hours have pushed the toll to1,324, health officials said.The fatality rate remainsunchanged at 0.56 per centagainst the national averageof 1.5 per cent. According toofficials 44.96 per cent of thedeaths were due to Covidwhile 55.04 per cent of deathswere due to comorbidities.

During the last 24 hoursthat ended at 8 pm onWednesday, 1,436 peoplehave recovered from thevirus, taking the total num-ber of recoveries to 2,16,353.The recovery rate jumped to91.80 per cent against thenational average of 90.9 percent. The state now has17,979 active cases, of which14,938 are in home or insti-tutional isolation. After adrop for last few days, thenumber of cases surged againin Greater Hyderabad andother districts. GreaterHyderabad reported 288cases. Meanwhile, officialshave warned the peopleagainst second wave ofCovid-19 in the state.

AP slashesliquor prices,cites...

Kavitha takesoath as MLC

Isn’t Google violating users’rights by ‘controlling’...Continued from Page 1

According to sources, somepanel members asked them thesearch engine is "controllingthe choices of your users, isn'tit violation of fundamentalrights?"

During the meeting, MPscutting across party lines askedhow can Google be a "neutralplatform" when it is engaged inboth advertising and content,and how is it possible that itdoes not give "preferentialtreatment" to some advertisersin search results, sources said.

Some members also posedquestions whether data being

processed and stored in thecountry of origin or some-where outside, sources said.

Noting that Google has awider presence and availableon different forms on the web,some members said it "has thepower to affect the choices ofits users" and that needs to bechecked.

The members stressed thatregulations are required forthe safety and processing ofdata, according to sources.

A few MPs also posedqueries about Google's link-ages with public relations andimage makeover agencies forpositive public profiling of

individuals on the web bysuppressing critical contentagainst them, sources said.

Besides Google, represen-tatives of Facebook, Twitter,Amazon and Paytm havedeposed before the panel.

Representatives of telecomoperators Reliance Jio andAirtel and cab aggregators Olaand Uber have been asked toappear before it.

The Personal DataProtection Bill was intro-duced in Lok Sabha byMinister of Electronics andInformation Technology RaviShankar Prasad on December11, 2019.

‘Chilling’ news of CovidTN govt takesexecutive...

NGT haltsAP’s RLIPproject

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2020 hyderabad 03

Telangana Governor DrTamilisai Soundararajanand Chief Minister K

Chandrashekar Rao onThursday extended greetingsto the people of state on theauspicious occasion of EidMilad-un-Nabi, the birthday ofProphet Muhammad, onFriday. Dr Tamilisai said teachings of compassion, tolerance, unity anduniversal brotherhood may continue to inspire us all in working and forthe well-being of all. May there be peace and prosperity all around, Shesaid. The Governor said the most venerable Prophet's mission isfulfilled when we serve our fellowmen with faith, trust, care, kindnessand compassion. On this occasion, let us all resolve to promote unity,harmony, peace, universal brotherhood and prosperity in the society. Iwish all to celebrate the Milad-un-Nabi in true spirit, in a safe mannerby adhering to the Covid-19 preventive norms, Dr Tamilisai added.

Synchrony, apremier consumerfinancial services

company, has signed aMemorandum ofAgreement (MoA) withthe UoH to help fundIndia's first blockchainproject for providingfinancial services tofarmers in need throughout the country. Farmers in India can facechallenges in accessing funds due to factors such as incomeuncertainty and problems with monitoring asset utilisation in remotevillages. This blockchain project can bring all the parties together –from farmers to financing experts in the supply chain together tosimplify the exchange of information and payments, Synchrony said.This public-private partnership is a three-year partnership including agrant from Synchrony to the university for the project which will focuson leveraging the blockchain technology to help lenders providefinancial assistance to farmers with no collateral and fixed assets. Theproject aims to make changes in the Agri financing sector in India byintroducing disruptive technology to help with financial resiliency.

Guv, KCR extends greetings on the eve of Milad-un-Nabi

Synchrony signs MoA with UoH for blockchain project

Teaching doctors areagitated over delay inrolling out PRC

changes and arrears despiteapproval from Telanganacabinet. The doctors allegethat there is a difference inunderstanding between thehealth department andfinance department about the pay matrix. Doctors alleged that eventhough the PRC GO was issued in September, Finance departmentdidn’t understand the pay matrix of doctors and sent back the file.Doctors asked “When Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and cabinetapproved the pay matrix of doctors sent by our department, what isstopping the government from going ahead with PRC and releasingarrears?” Doctors point that PRC GO without arrears and pay matrix iseyewash to the teaching doctors Senior doctors in Telangana held ameeting about the inordinate delay in implementation of UGC revisedpay scales of 2016 on Thursday at Osmania University.

Teaching doctors agitate over delay in PRC changes, arrears

CITY LIGHTS

Vigilance Awareness Week isbeing observed across theNation every year during the

week in which the birthday ofSardar Vallabhbhai Patel (31stOctober) falls. Accordingly,“Vigilance Awareness Week -2020”is being observed from27th October to 2nd November,2020 with a theme of Vigilant India, Prosperous India (Satark Bharat,Samriddh Bharat). As a part of it, South Central Railway VigilanceDepartment is organising several awareness campaigns andprogrammes. Due to the current pandemic situation prevailing over thecountry to avoid mass gathering and to comply the ICMR protocolguidelines, for the first time an innovative Virtual Meet has beenorganised by the Vigilance Department of South Central Railway for twodays i.e., on October 28 and 29.

SCR holds meetings as a part of Vigilance Awareness Week

NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

.Many students are suffering astheir notes and books havebeen spoilt in the floods. Withexams final exams of lastsemester coming closer and nonotes or text books, studentsfear if they will be able to clearthe exams this year.

S Chandu, a III yearmechanical engineering stu-dent if JNTU Hyderabad,whose house was affected inthe floods, shares that hisfather won't be able to buy himanother set of books now. "Thepandemic took a financial tollon my family, so asking for newbooks from them would be aburden. During the floods allthe notes I had prepared forthis and last academic yearhave been spoilt. I have no textbooks left either. When I calledmy faculty, they said they can'thelp me.

The final exams of lastsemester exams are coming inNovember. We have mid-termexams for this semester in

December as well. I am notsure what to do. I have askedmy friend s for help, but I amnot sure how many marks I canscore now."

Not just in Hyderabad, stu-dents across state are worriedtaking the same issue.

G Prudhvi, a IV year student

from Khammam has the samestory. "I lost all my books, notesand even the revision notes. Icalled up my college, but theysaid I can't access the library atthe moment. When I request-ed teachers agreed to help mewith certain topics. Most of myfriends are also facing the

same issue." Balmoori Venkat,State President of NSUI, shares,"We have been asking the gov-ernment to postpone exams.Even if one student is affecteddue to the rains it's unfair toconduct the exams. I hopethey would listen to us at leastonce."

PNS n HYDERABAD

In order to ensure that all thewaterlogged colonies return tonormalcy due to recent floodsin view of heavy rains in thecity, a special sanitation drivewas started in the highly affect-ed 235 colonies under GHMClimits, on a mission modeapproach, by hiring addition-al vehicles and manpower.

While 242 vehicles werealready existing in the GHMC,an additional 495 vehicles wereengaged and a total of 737vehicles, with 177 JCBs, 26bobcats, 258 tippers, 96 sixtonners, 126 ten tonners and44 tractors are working roundthe clock along with 334pumps for de-watering and de-sledging operations at a recordpace, GHMC officials said onThursday.

Around 1008 men of mon-soon emergency teams and anadditional 1522 men werehired solely for the purpose ofspecial sanitation.

The existing 23,000 sanita-tion and entomology workers,engaged additional teams of

2530 workers and are carryingout special sanitation activities.

Additionally around Rs 5.51crore was spent on specialsanitation drive so far, andanother 5 to 6 crore would bespent in the next 10 days forfocused intensive sanitationdrive at all the highly effectedlocalities. The quantity of wastereceived at Jawaharnagar

MSW plant, Jeedimetla andFathullaguda C&D plants haveincreased considerably andthe total waste collected dur-ing the drive was in between8000 to 10,000 metric tonsdaily. Around 18,000 metrictons of waste was additional-ly collected during special san-itation drive apart from regu-lar waste.

Special sanitation drive to ensureflood-hit areas return to normalcy

HMWSSB draws plans to protectpipelines from calamities in futurePNS n HYDERABAD

The flash floods in Octoberhave damaged drinking waterand sewerage pipelines to thetune of Rs 2 crore. HMWSSBbegins redesigning thepipelines damaged due tofloods. The height of pipelinesof Machirevula, Kismatpurand Golden Heights runningparallel to Musi River is beingraised to the bridge level.Gopannapalli, NanakramgudaSTP inlet sewage mains weresubmerged in water. HMWSSBis taking up special measuresto prevent them from sinkingin the future. They also takeprecautionary measures to pre-vent flood water from enteringthe pump houses in the hinter-land.

HMWSSB MD DanaKishore said that in case ofsimilar disasters in the future,the water board will take var-ious preventive measures toprevent any problems to thefresh water pipelines.

The drinking water pipelineon Warangal Highway atPeerzadiguda was damageddue to the floods and repairswere taken up. The mainpipeline of the Krishna ring

main at Chandrayangutta nearGurram Cheruvu wasdestroyed and immediate stepswere taken to restore the freshwater supply.

Trunk distribution mainsat Kismat Pura, pipelines atGolden Heights were washedaway. Winding was damageddue to infiltration of water intopump houses at 12 placesincluding Jagadgirigutta, VaniChemical, Sainikpuri,Chilakalguda. These wererepaired and pumpingrestored. Damaged transform-

ers at pump houses wererepaired and power supplyrestored.

Water board took up repairsof water supply valve chambersand sewage manholes in vari-ous areas.

Waterboard has taken spe-cial measures to restore nor-malcy in the flood-hit areasunder the direction ofMunicipal Minister KTR forthose who are facing difficul-ties in getting good water sup-ply in many areas due to heavyrains in Hyderabad city.

‘Need efficient waterchannels in GHMC’PNS n HYDERABAD

The water which has settled invarious places in the city does-n't have an escape route.Several houses are partiallysubmerged due to that. Notonly are city-dwellers facingdamage to their properties, butalso they are exposed to sev-eral diseases due to the stag-nant water.

The city planners and envi-ronmental experts suggest thatit's high the government paidattention towards re-designingcertain parts of the city andgiving more importance towater infrastructure.

Subba Rao, a senior envi-ronmental expert from thecity, shares that the state gov-ernment can't call the infra-structural growth as develop-ment if the drainage of the cityis not working properly. Hesays, "To understandHyderabad, we first need toknow that all the lakes of thecity are more or less connect-ed. The over-flowing water has

to reach Krishna river andeverything between that willget damaged or destroyed. Assomeone who has extensivelyworked on this city, I have tosay that the system is alreadyin place. We need to make useof it."

One of the former chief cityplanners of Hyderabad, whowishes to stay anonymous,shares that the city needs bet-ter storm water managementas well as the residential areasshould be allocated wisely."Part of the problem is thatpeople make their huts nearthe water spaces, and then thatbecomes a slum area, coveringthe escape route. Several peo-ple buy houses that are builtnear lakes because they haveto pay lesser. And these are thehouses that are most affected.The government has to bestrict with these people andnot let the land from where thewater flows be obstructed. Orelse we will witness manysuch cases in the future aswell," he shares.

People resort to odd jobs to support familyPNS n HYDERABAD

Since the lockdown was anno-unced several people in organisedand unorganised sectors lost theirsource of income in the city.

Many people had to do odd jobsto feed their families. An IT pro-fessional from the city, who wishto remain anonymous shares, "Iwas informed one day at work thatI have been laid off. My companydidn't even give me proper notice.I have several financial commit-ments and a family to take care off.Hence, finding no other jobs, Istarted to deliver groceries at peo-ple's home. Initially, it was difficultfor me to do such jobs because I amnot used to it, but later I was alrightwith it."

Several teachers too were askedto leave the jobs since the schoolsweren't open. The story of Md

Shafi, is of a highly qualifiedteacher, who is forced to work at asmall shop.

"I am a MA, B.Ed in Urdu. I livein Shamshabad and started mycareer as a temporary Urdu teacher

in a government school. Then Ishift to a private school in the local-ity and even did some social ser-vice by teaching under privilegedkids. However, soon after lock-down I lost my job. I thought it was

just for a while, but the lockdownextended and we survived off mysavings. I have two kids, so I hadto work. I tried finding jobs butcouldn't. I didn't have enoughsaving to start some business too.So I joined a small, road-sidevehicle battery store as help. I knowI can do better, but where are theopportunities," the teacher asks.

Many drivers, who were the solobread winners of their families, alsohad start small road side shops toearn. K Satish Kumar, who used todrive a school van, shares,

"The vehicle tax I paid quarter-ly is only Rs 350 - that is my fam-ily's two time meal today. I havestarted selling sanitisers on road-side. Initially the business faredwell, but now even that isn't gettingme anything. I am not sure whatto do next. I have two kids at home,so I have to somehow earn."

PNS n HYDERABAD

As many as seven LPG-runcrematoria are all set tobecome functional within aweek at Serilingampalli,Kukatpally, LB Nagar andSecunderabad zones of theGHMC as their trial run wassuccessful.

To test the performance ofthe crematoria, a trial runwas conducted by GHMCengineers on October 24 byplacing wood in the shape ofcorpses. The wood wasreduced to ashes within onehour and twenty five minutes.

The machine consumesmore time to burn bodies ini-tially. Later, it would requireonly 45 to 60 minutes to burna body completely. These

would become functional offi-cially within a week, whileanother three crematoria arein an experimental stage, theGHMC engineers said.

When the GHMC faceddifficulty in disposing of bod-ies at the height of Covidpandemic, the GHMCplanned acquisition of 12 cre-matoria but succeeded in get-ting only 10.

DEE arrestedfor acceptingbribe of Rs 4KPNS n HYDERABAD

The ACB officials caught BRamu, Deputy ExecutiveEngineer (DEE) of the RuralWater Supply (RWS) depart-ment, Narsampet, red-hand-ed while accepting a bribe ofRs 4,000 from a contractor athis office in Narsampet in thedistrict on Thursday.

Ramu had demanded Rs24,000 bribe for the clearanceof bills worth Rs 20 lakhsfrom the contractor, Rajako-muraiah in Khanapurammandal. Following this, thecontractor approached theACB officials and they laid atrap and caught him. He willbe produced before an ACBcourt in Hyderabad.

32-yr-old womansurrenders tocops after killingher son-in-lawPNS n HYDERABAD

A 32-year-old man was killedat his house here on Thursdayby his mother-in-law, withwhom he was having an ille-gal relationship, police said.

The 38-year-old womanallegedly attacked her son-in-law with a knife while he wassleeping following which hedied on the spot.

She later surrendered at theUppal police station and vol-untarily admitted to thekilling, they said.

According to police, thewoman had three childrenfrom her husband, who sub-sequently left her.

Police said she developedan illegal relationship withthe man and with an inten-tion to continue it, she solem-nised her elder daughtersmarriage with him inNovember 2019.

However, on knowingabout their affair, the woman’s19- year-old daughter askedher to move out, but she wasthreatened by both of them.

This upset her and sheallegedly took her own life,police said.In that case, thewoman and her son-in-lawwere arrested on charges ofabetment to suicide and sentto jail. They later secured bail.

The man again met thewoman and brought her tohis house but started beatingand blaming her for his situ-ation and unable to bear theharassment, she killed him,police added.

LPG crematoria to becomefunctional from next week

6 arrested fortrying to sellleopard skinPNS n MANCHERIAL

In a joint operation, sleuths ofTask Force, Special Branchand Devapur police arrestedsix persons for allegedly try-ing to sell leopard skin atGunduguda village in Kasipetmandal on Thursday. Theaccused were identified asGopathi Vamshi, SikramGangu, Jupaka Durga Prasad,Shaik Jameel, Wajid Khanand Avula Sai Krishna.

Gangu admitted that hecontacted his friends GopatiVamashi who in turnapproached his cousin Muralifor disposing the skin of thecarnivore which was report-edly poached by Shankar inthe forests of Mangi, a fort-night back. He confessed thatShankar then handed over itto him and Gangu.

The six revealed thatMurali deployed his friendsfor checking the quality of theskin and whether it was withGangu. Accordingly, Gangu,Vamshi, Prasad, Wajid, Jamiland Sai Krishna weredetained when they were ontheir way to see the skin hid-den in the forests.

Online human traffickingracket busted, 4 rescuedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Rachakonda Police busted an onlinehuman trafficking racket and arrested threepersons, including two women organisers, andrescued four victims. Acting on information,the police team laid a trap and caught SanaKhan alias Susheela (35) of Chandrayangutta,Qamarunnisa (45) alias Maya of MustafaNagar in Falaknuma and Mohd Parvez aliasParwez (32) of Achireddy Nagar, Jahanuma.

Rachakonda Police Commissioner MaheshM Bhagwat said Sana Khan created a Facebookaccount and enticed customers.

Students tense with soddenbooks before exams

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2020 hyderabad 04

MARK OOF RRESPECT

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao garlanding the statue of Veera Reddyat Moodu Chintalapalli Village in Medchel-Malkajgiri district on Thursday

PNS n HYDERABAD

The fast-track courts set up instate to try cases of atrocities onwomen and children have beenrendering justice to the victimsdelivering verdict speedily withofficials submitting pucca evi-dence to the courts.

On Wednesday, a court inWarangal district sentenced aman to death for killing ninemigrant workers by throwingthem into a well after mixingsedatives in their food. Thecourt verdict came five monthsafter the shocking incident asFirst Additional District Courtmagistrate found 24-year-oldSanjay Kumar Yadav guilty ofthe gruesome killings and sen-tenced him to death.

The police investigationshad revealed that to hide themurder of a woman withwhom the Bihar man, had alive-in relationship, SanjayYadav committed nine moremurders by throwing the vic-tims into a well at Gorrekuntavillage near Warangal townon May 20.

In the sensational rape of

Abhaya in IT corridor in 2013by cab drivers, a fast-trackcourt was constituted to try thecase. Since then constitution of

the fast-track courts had begunin the state. The verdict in therape case was delivered in 209days. Two youth were sen-

tenced to undergo 20 years ofjail term each. Of late, the fast-track courts have been deliver-ing verdicts one after the other.

On the night of June 19,2019, a nine-month-old babysleeping by the side of hermother was kidnapped, sexu-ally assaulted and killed bystrangulation. The WarangalPolice Commissionerate tookinvestigation of the case seri-ously and investigated the caseand filed charge sheet in courtin 20 days. Thirty witnesses tes-

tified before the fast-trackcourt. The accused, Pravin,28, was handed down punish-ment in 48 days. He was award-ed capital punishment. Uponappealing to the High Courtagainst the judgment, the HCconverted the capital punish-ment to life term.

On November 24 last year, awoman who goes from villageto village to sell balloons wasgang raped by three persons -Shaik Babu, Sahik Shabuddin,Shaik Maqdoom - and latermurdered her by slitting herthroat. The police arrested theculprits within 19 days andcharge-sheeted the case in acourt facilitating fast trial in thecase. The trio was sentenced todeath in a 66-day trial. A lift-mechanic turned psychopathkiller Srinivasa Reddy rapedthree students of Hajipur vil-lage and disposed of their bod-ies in a roadside and disusedwell. The fast-track court triedthe case in 42 days. SrinivasaReddy was handed down deathsentence on January 27 thisyear.

Fast-track ‘justice' in hour of grief

On Wednesday, a court in Warangal district sentenced a man to death for killing nine migrantworkers by throwing them into a well after mixing sedatives in theirfood

PNS n HYDERABAD

After throwing open zoo parkand urban natural forests inand around the city four weeksago, the Forest Departmentnow has decided to allow jun-gle safari in Amrabad tigersanctuary in Nallamala forestarea and Kawal tiger sanctuaryin Adilabad district fromNovember 1.

With the retreat of mon-soons, relaxation of Covid-19restrictions, the ForestDepartment is providing an

opportunity to tourists to expe-rience nature. Because of thepandemonium, the officials

prohibited tourists visitingNallamala forest area sinceseven months. As part of the

Centre's unlock procedure ofthe lockdown, several touristplaces have been thrown openfor tourists. The Centre opened

zoo parks and urban naturalforests for tourists four weeksago. Similarly, the ForestDepartment is allowing touristsvisit the reserve forests.Therefore, the tiger safari willresume in Amrabad andKawwal from Sunday onwards.

The Forest Department hasdecided to collect Rs 50 fromeach vehicle travelling toUmamaheswaram andMaddimadugu temples inNagarkurnool district and sentproposals to the state govern-ment in this regard.

Tiger safari for tourists from November 1

PNS n WARANGAL

Minister for Panchayat RajErrabelli Dayakar Rao onThursday formally launchedthe cotton purchasing at theEnumamula agriculture mar-ket yard.

Speaking on the occasion,the Minister said, "Cotton pro-curement centers were set upat 22 notified ginning mills inthe combined Warangal andthe CCI has begun the pro-curement today," and addedthat the cotton was grown inan area of 7,58,560 acres in thecombined Warangal districtand they were expecting6,25,285 tonnes of cottonarrivals. Stating that cotton isgrown in an area of 82,842acres in Warangal Urban dis-trict with a yield of 79,114 met-ric tons of cotton, the Ministersaid that the CCI had raisedprocurement centres in theUrban district from 18 to 28

this year. He said that there area total of 30 ginning mills inWarangal. "Besides cotton,grain, turmeric, chilli andgreen gram will also be pur-chased at the Enumamulamarket that has a storagecapacity of 19 lakh metrictonnes," he said and added thatthere were 24 cold storageswith a storage capacity of24,45,000 bags under Warangalmarket limits. He further saidthat the farmers had already

stocked 22,37,765 bags of farmproduce in the cold storagesthis year. He also urged thefarmers to bring cotton adher-ing to the norms of the CCIstandards, and added that themoisture content of the cottonshould be below 12 percent.

Reiterating that the govern-ment is committed to buy thelast bag from the farmers, theMinister directed the author-ities to work in coordination tomake the process hassle free.

Cotton procurement begins

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will inaugurateRythu Vedika at KodakandlaMandal head quarters inJangaon district on October31. The Chief Minister willvisit Village Natural Forest inthe vicinity of the RythuVedika. He will address thefarmers and general public.The Chief Minister willexplain the reasons behindsetting up of the RythuVedika, their importance,programmes and utilities.

Rythu Bandhu district,Mandal and VillageCommittees in the erstwhileWarangal district are invitedfor the programme.Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy, Ministersfrom the erstwhile Warangaldistrict Dayakar Rao,Satyavathi Rathod, RythuBandhu state President PallaRajeshwar Reddy, MPs,MLAs, and MLCs from thecombined Warangal districtwill participate.

KCR toinaugurate RythuVedika tomorrow

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telanganga BJP leaders NalluIndrasena Reddy, former MPAP Jithender Reddy onThursday met Dubbak centralobserver (law and order) SarojKumar Thakur at MissionBhagiratha Guest House. TheBJP leaders submitted a mem-orandum to the special officerregarding the recent incidentsin Dubbak.

Speaking to the media,Indrasena Reddy alleged thatthe police are arresting BJPactivists in the name ofbind over cases. Theyurged the specialofficer to beef upsecurity on thepolling day as thereis a scope that theruling party mayindulge in malprac-tices. “The ruling partywantedly attacked TelanganaBJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumarand conducted raids in thehouses of BJP candidate MRaghunandan Rao's relatives

house, he alleged. Taking pot-shots at KTR, he said that the

Chief Minister is criti-cizing PM as he

wished. JithenderReddy alleged thatthe Telanganapolice are harass-ing BJP activists

for the last oneweek. The police

turned as sycophants ofthe ruling TRS. On the otherhand, special officer Takururged all political parties toextend their cooperation toconduct elections peacefully.

BJP decries ‘political vendetta’

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MP from BongirKomatireddy Venkat Reddyon Thursday addressed a let-ter to Central ElectionCommissionerrequesting tosend centralforces toc o n d u c telections inDubbak.

The MP, inhis letter, alleged that TRSand BJP are trying to winelection on wrong path."Finance Minister T HarishRao is misusing his powersand threatening local oppo-sition party leaders.Thepolice found cash in BJPcandidate M RaghunandanRao's relatives house," heallege in the letter.

The Congress MPdemanded the ElectionCommission to initiate actionagainst the leaders violatingelection code of conduct. Heasked the EC to appoint cen-tral observer to each mandalof Dubbak constituency.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for Civil SuppliesGangula Kamalakar hassought cooperation of theCivil Supplies Corporationchairman Mareddy SrinivasReddy, rice millers associationpresident and secretary anddistrict level rice millers' asso-ciation leaders to ensure thatthe paddy procurement duringthe current Vanakalam wouldbe smooth and without anyhiccups.

He held a review meetingwith Civil Supplies Corporation Chairman MareddySrinivas Reddy and RiceMillers' association presidentand secretary and district levelrice millers' association leadersover the paddy procurement.

In a release here on Thursday,the Minster said that it wasdecided to procure 75 lakhtonnes of paddy through 6,467paddy procurement centers.

So far, 16,702 tonnes ofpady worth Rs 3.15 crore wasprocured through 1,071 pro-curement centers. He said thatdistrict level officials havebeen given directions to openprocurement centers in dis-tricts depending on the needs.He appealed to farmers tobring paddy as per the speci-fication standards prescribedby the center for procure-ment. He told the rice millersthat the state government isready to solve the problems ofthe millers and offered to taketheir problems to the notice ofthe CM for resolution.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP Chief BandiSanjay Kumar on Thursdaylaunched a scathing attack onChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao andtermed the latter as 'passportbroker'. "KCR earned crores ofrupees by deceiving the unem-ployed youth. KCR is deceiv-ing BCs," he alleged. "TheChief Minister didn't evenutter a word on Kondagattu

bus accident. KCR slept infarmhouse when theHyderabad city was battlingfloods," he alleged. While par-ticipating in election cam-paign, Bandi Sanjay exudedconfidence that BJP will hoistits flag in Dubbak. DubbakBJP candidate MRaghunandan Rao calledupon the people to give a befit-ting reply to the TRS andFinance Minister T HarishRao.

BJP will win big inDubbak: Bandi

Send centralforces toDubbak: Cong

Govt to procure 75Ltonnes of paddy

PNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister VMuraleedharan on Thursdaysaid passport application processhas become much more userfriendly due to efforts made bythe ministry, and expressedhope that work would resume infull swing and reach pre-Covid-19 level in due course as theeconomy reopens. The Ministerof State for External Affairs wasspeaking after virtually inaugu-rating the renovated premises ofRegional Passport Office,Hyderabad, which will houseMEA's second integrated com-plex, after Mumbai.

The renovated RPOHyderabad premises will be anintegrated facility. He said evenduring the lockdown period, the

passport offices were working tobring down the passport pen-dency. "Now international trav-el is gradually picking up despitethe ongoing restrictions.MEAhas taken a decision to resumepassport operations throughoutthe country. We are closelyworking with the Department ofPosts to reopen all post officepassport sevakendras,"Muraleedharan said.

On the integrated complex,he said MEA offices located inHyderabad including the MEA'sBranch Secretariat, the Protectorof Emigrants office and theIndian Council for CulturalRelations Regional Office will beshifted to this facility. As aresult all MEA related services,whether it is passport or immi-gration services, will be availableunder a single roof within thepremises of RPO Hyderabad, hesaid. “This makes Hyderabadthe only second cityin Indiaafter Mumbai to have an inte-grated MEA complex. Today'sinauguration of the renovatedpremises of the RegionalPassport Office Hyderabad isa milestone in the operation ofRPO Hyderabad,”Muraleedharan said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onThursday asked the BombayHigh Court to expeditiouslyconsider hearing the plea filedby the wife of Telugu poet andwriter Varavara Rao, arrestedin connection with theKoregaon Bhima case, seekingbail for him. Taking note of thefact that the bail applicationhas not been heard by theHigh Court since September17, the top court said Rao'smedical condition demandsattention of a particular char-acter and time.

A bench of Justices U ULalit, Vineet Saran and SRavindra Bhat said the matterraises questions regarding theprisoner's human rights.During the hearing, senior

advocate Indira Jaising,appearing for Rao's wifePendyala Hemalatha, said hehas been suffering from vari-ous health problems whichhave affected his capacity tomake decisions and mentalcomprehension.

The bench told Jaising themedical report filed in thematter was of the month ofJuly, and asked when the bailapplication was last heard bythe Bombay High Court.

Forest Dept has

decided to collect

Rs 50 from each

vehicle travelling to

Umamaheswaram

and Maddimadugu

temples

PNS n NIRMAL

Forest and EnvironmentMinister Allola IndrakaranReddy said the launch ofDharani was a new chapter inthe management of lands inthe State. He opined that theportal would play a vital rolein protecting assets and thatit heralded a new phase forthe government to rendertransparent services to thepublic and prevent themfrom being fleeced by mid-dlemen. He further said theTRS-led governmentembarked on a revolutionarysystem to simplify land trans-actions and to put an end tothe saga of challenges of theagrarian community in reg-istering their assets, carryingout mutations and receivingpassbooks.

Expeditiously considerVaravara Rao's bail plea: SC

PNS n BHUPALPALLY

With a view to protect thetigers, mainly in the forests ofJayashankar Bhupalpally,Mulugu and Peddapalli dis-tricts, the authorities of theMaharashtra, Chattisgarh andTelangana States have resolvedto work in tandem to protectthe forests by preventing tim-ber smuggling and poaching inthe forests of Godavari basin.

An 'Interstate coordinationmeeting on forest and forestand wildlife protection' wasconducted at Chelpur GencoOffice in the district onThursday. Addressing the meet-ing, Principal ChiefConservator of Forests (PCCF)

R Shobha said that the contin-uous surveillance would bepossible to protect forest habi-tats through mutual coordina-tion, regular meetings and shar-ing views between borderingstates and bringing awarenessamong forest officials.

Inspector General (IG) of theNational Tiger ConservationOrganization (NTCA), NS

Murali lauded Telangana State'sinitiatives for forest conserva-tion, and assured to see thatmore funds would be allocatedfor the conservation of tigers inTelangana. He said that therewas a very much possibility ofdevelopment of forests as thetiger movement was spotted inMulugu, Bhupalpally andPeddapalli districts recently.

More funds for conservationof tigers in Telangana

MEA-related services undersingle roof: Union Minister

PNS n HYDERABAD

Central Water Commission(CWC) officials on Thursdayclosed the 14 Babli projectgates in the presence of irriga-tion officials from Telangana,Andhra Pradesh andMaharashtra. The SupremeCourt had ordered that everyyear the Babli project gatesshould be lifted on July 1 andclosed on October 29 to facil-itate flow of Godavari waterinto Sri Ram Sagar Project.

This monsoon, a total of356.23 TMC of Godavari

water flowed into SRSP in thelast five months. The projectreleased 225.76 TMC's ofexcess water downstream intothe river Godavari. The SRSPnow has 90.313 TMC of waterand was receiving inflows of9,984 cusecs.

PNS n KHAMMAM

The launch of Dharani portalunveiled a new era in landadministration in the State,Transport Minister P AjayKumar said on Thursday.

He along with elected mem-bers and officials watched thelaunch of Dharani portal byChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao andaddressed a public meeting atRaghunathapalem in the dis-trict on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion,

the Minister said that Dharaniportal, the brainchild of theChief Minister, was aimed ateliminating corruption andensuring transparency in thetransactions related to landpurchases, mutations andother processes.

Very soon the registrationof non-agriculture assetswould also be made availableon Dharani portal, whichcoupled with the newRevenue Act could simplifythe entire system of revenueand land administration, AjayKumar noted. The minister

later visitedRaghunathapalem tahsildaroffice and checked the func-tioning Dharani portal. TheDistrict Collector RV Karnaninformed that the tahsildarsoffices would be consideredjoint sub-registrar offices andall arrangements were in placefor offering the services.

Zilla Parishad ChairmanLingala Kamalraj speaking tothe presspersons at Madhirafelt that Dharani portal wouldbring about revolutionarychange in land administra-tion.

Babli gates closed

‘New chapterin landmanagement’

Dharani will end graft: Minister

Telangana policeare harassingBJP activists forthe last oneweek, allegedformer MP APJithender Reddy

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

AMumbai court on Thursday grantedbail to Fakt Marathi channel ownerShirish Pattanshetty, who was

arrested in the alleged fake TRP scam.Additional sessions judge P R Sitregranted bail to Pattanshetty on a surety ofRs 50,000, his lawyer Aniket Nikam said.Nikam earlier argued in the court that hisclient had not done any rigging of theTelevision Rating Points nor therewas a rise in the TRP of the Fakth Marathichannel.The revenue of the channel had also not increased during therelevant period, he said, alleging that this was a "witch-hunt". Hefurther submitted that during the custodial interrogation ofPattanshetty, who was arrested earlier this month, nothing wasrecovered and his further detention was unwarranted. The allegedfake TRP scam came to light after ratings agency Broadcast AudienceResearch Council (BARC) filed a complaint with Mumbai policethrough Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain channels wererigging TRP numbers to lure advertisers.

TRP scam: Court grants bail toFakt Marathi channel owner

In a bid to check the spread ofCOVID-19, the Maharashtragovernment has directed the

Government Railway Police (GRP)to impose fine on commutersfound without masks in local trainsand on stations here, an officialsaid on Thursday.In a letter to GRPCommissioner RavindraSengaonkar, state disaster management department director AbhayYawalkar has said the fine will be in line with the circular issued bythe Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) on September9, or any further circular issued by the civic body. The MCGMcurrently imposes a fine of Rs 200 on people found without masks inpublic places. "The state bequeaths powers to the GovernmentRailway Police to impose fines on commuters found to be travellingwithout masks in the local trains or inside the stationpremises," Yawalkar said in the letter.In order to avoid resurgence ofCOVID-19 cases, it is imperative that all related protocols are followedby commuters, the letter said.

Maha govt directs GRP to finecommuters travelling sans masks

The Election CommissionThursday orderedimmediate removal of the

District Magistrate and theSuperintendent of Police ofMunger over violence duringgoddess Durga idol immersionthat had left one dead andscores injured, officials said.The poll panel has also orderedan inquiry into the entireincident by Magadh Divisional Commissioner Asangba Chuba Ao, anelection commission statement said.The probe has to be completedwithin a week. Rajesh Meena is District Magistrate and Lipi Singh isSP of Munger. The EC statement said Munger will get a new DM anda Superintendent of Police Thursday itself.One person was killed andover two dozen others, including security personnel, were injured infiring and stone-pelting during goddess Durga idol immersion lateMonday night.

EC orders removal of MungerSP, DM over violence

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Thursdaycondoled the death of

former Gujarat chief ministerKeshubhai Patel and said hislong public life was devoted tothe service of the people of thestate. Patel died in Ahmedabadafter prolonged illness.“I havereceived the sad news of the death of former Chief Minister of GujaratKeshubhai Patel. His long public life was devoted to the service of thepeople of Gujarat. With the death of Keshubhai, a void has beencreated in the politics of Gujarat which is not going to be filled easily.My condolences to his family,” Shah tweeted in Hindi.The homeminister said Patel, while in the BJP, played an important role instrengthening the party in Gujarat and as a trustee of the SomnathTemple, he always supported the development of the temple.

PNS n NEW DELHI

In a bid to tackle the persistentproblem of air pollution inDelhi-NCR, the Centre hasintroduced a new law throughan ordinance which comesinto force with immediateeffect.

Violation of the provisionsentails a punishment of a jailterm up to five years or withfine up to Rs one crore or withboth, the ordinance released bythe Ministry of Law and Justiceon Thursday said.

"The ordinance may becalled the Commission forAir Quality Management InNational Capital Region andAdjoining Areas Ordinance2020. It shall apply to nation-al capital region and alsoadjoining areas in so far as itrelates to matters concerningair pollution in the NCR. Itshall come into force at once,"it said. The ordinance wassigned by the president onWednesday. As per the ordi-nance, the adjoining areaswhere it shall be in forceinclude Punjab, Haryana,Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh,adjoining areas of the NCRand Delhi where any source of

pollution is located which iscausing an adverse impact onair quality in the national cap-ital region. The commissionwill consist of over 20 mem-bers who will ensure strictcompliance."Any non-com-pliance or contravention ofany provisions/rules ororder/direction of the

Commission will be an offencepunishable with a jail term upto five years or with fine up toRs one crore or with both," itsaid. The members willinclude a chairperson, who isor has been a secretary ofGovernment of India or chiefsecretary of a state, a represen-tative of Environment secre-tary and five ex-officio mem-bers who are either chief sec-retaries or secretaries in chargeof the environment depart-ments of Delhi, Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan and UttarPradesh, it added.

The commission will alsoinclude two full- time mem-bers who have been joint sec-retaries to the central govern-ment, three full-time indepen-dent technical members whohave specific scientific knowl-edge regarding air pollutionand others.

HM Amit Shah condoles deathof Keshubhai Patel

PNS n MUMBAI

Mumbai, Oct 29 (PTI)TheBombay High Court onThursdayasked the Union government

to clarify whether "excessive"reportage by the press on anongoing investigation amount-ed to interference in theadministration of justice underthe Contempt of Courts Act.

A bench of Chief JusticeDipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni asked the govern-ment to state by November 6if such reportage adverselyaffects the probe and subse-quent trial, and if the courtshould lay guidelines on mediareporting.

"If there is excessive report-ing, that can put an accused onguard, and he may resort todestroying evidence orabsconding. Or if that personis actually innocent, the

excessive media reportingcan damage his reputation," itsaid.

"We would not like themedia to cross it boundaries

and we would also like to bewithin our boundaries," thecourt said and asked the stateif such reportage wouldamount to interference and ifthe government thought theHC had the jurisdiction toframe guidelines.

"Whetherexcessive report-ing by media in an ongoinginvestigation amounts to inter-ference in administration ofjustice under Section 2(c) ofthe Contempt of Courts Actand should we lay guidelines?This is the issue before us,"

HCsaid.It also asked the govern-

ment's counsel, AdditionalSolicitor General (ASG) AnilSingh, to consider scenarioswhere such reportage on anongoing probe, where a chargesheet was yet to be filed, influ-enced the investigating officer,or resulted in a witness beingthreatened.

It asked if the court muststep in and formulate guide-lines to regulate the press toavoid such scenarios.

"If media identifies that aperson is a very vital witness,he could be won over, threat-ened, or he could be evenphysically harmed so that hedoes not give evidence," it said.

On the possibility of thepress influencing an investigat-ing officer, the HC said, "Thinkof a police officer. Can anyoneguarantee that he will not beinfluenced?"

"He may be following a par-ticular track. Media says no nothis must be the track. He losestrack and rounds up an inno-cent person," it said.

PNS n BHOPAL

The Union Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA) has upheldthe suspension of seniorMadhya Pradesh IPS officerPurushottam Sharma, whowas seen purportedly thrash-ing his wife in a video thatwent viral last month.

In a letter issued to theMadhya Pradesh chief secre-tary on Wednesday, the MHAalso directed the state govern-ment to chargesheet Sharmaby November 27. The stategovernment had suspendedSharma from the post of spe-cial director general onSeptember 29 following hisviral video, in which he wasseen beating his wife after sheconfronted him at the house ofa news anchor with a region-al channel. After the incidentcame to light, Sharma had saidthat it was a family disputewhich would be sorted out.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Nearly 11 lakh CovidD-19tests have been conducteddaily on an average in the pastsix weeks as the cumulativetests have crossed 10.65 crore-mark, the Health Ministry saidon Thursday.

In a statement, the HealthMinistry said 15 lakh testscan be done everyday now.

"The declining trend ofcumulative positivity rate in thepast three weeks is a testimo-ny of the wide expansion of thecountry's testing facilities," itsaid. "With 10,75,760 testsconducted in the last 24 hours,the cumulative tests havecrossed 10.65 crore

(10,65,63,440). Nearly 11 lakhtests have been conducteddaily on an average during thepast six weeks," it added.Giving break-up from the

states, the ministry said 79 percent of the new cases are from10 states and union territories.

"Kerala continues to be thestate reporting a very high

number of new cases withmore than 8,000 cases, fol-lowed by Maharashtra withmore than 6,000 cases," it said.

The ministry said the declin-ing trend of the active cases issupported by the rising num-ber of recovered cases. "Thetotal recovered cases havecrossed 73 lakh (73,15,989).The gap between recoveredcases and active cases hascrossed 67 lakh (67,12,302).With an increasing number ofrecoveries, this gap is contin-uously widening," it said.

A total of 56,480 peoplehave recovered and dischargedin the last 24 hours whereas thenew confirmed cases stand at49,881, the ministry said.

Covid positivity rate declining: Govt

MHA confirmssuspension ofMP IPS officer

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court has grant-ed an interim stay on sum-mons issued to a Delhi resi-dent, accused of allegedlymaking an 'objectionable'Facebook post against the WestBengal Government, by aninvestigating officer in thestate.

A bench of Justices D YChandrachud and IndiraBanerjee said the court shouldrestrain the exercise of judicialreview in the matter of policeinvestigation. However, it mustsafeguard the fundamentalright to the freedom of expres-sion under Article 19(1)(a) ofthe Constitution.

There is a need to ensurethat the power under section41A CrPC is not used to intim-idate, threaten and harass, thebench said. Section 41A of

CrPC deals with notice ofappearance before a policeofficer. “We are, however, ofthe considered view that torequire the petitioner at thisstage to comply with the sum-mons under Section 41A dur-ing the pendency of the pro-ceedings before the HighCourt would not be justified inthe facts as they have emergedin this case. “Hence we grant

an ad-interim stay against theimplementation of the direc-tion of the high court requir-ing the petitioner to appearbefore the Investigating Officerat Ballygunge Police Station,”the bench said. This is subjectto the condition that the peti-tioner undertakes to respondto any queries that may beaddressed to her by theInvestigating Officer and, if sorequired, attend to thosequeries on the video confer-encing platform with suffi-cient notice of twenty-fourhours, the apex court said.

Senior advocate MaheshJethmalani, appearing onbehalf of the petitioner, statedthat the petitioner would coop-erate in all respects thoughafter the order of 5 June 2020,no query was addressed to thepetitioner, despite five monthshaving elapsed since then.

SC stays summons to Delhiresident over objectionable post

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Thursdaysought the Centre's reply ona plea alleging that two med-icines Remdesivir andFavipiravir, are being used fortreatment of COVID-19 with-out approval.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde issuednotice to the Centre on theplea and sought its responsein four weeks.

Advocate M L Sharma peti-tioner in-person referred tothe bench, also comprisingJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian, the WorldHealth Organization (WHO)report of October 15 andsaid that nowhere these med-icines are designated official-ly as medicines for coron-avirus. The bench said it is

only going to make the cen-tral government aware of itand therefore issuing notice.

On September 16, the topcourt had said that there wasan approval by the centralgovernment on use ofRemdesivir and Favipiravir, asmedicines to treat COVID-19.

The top court was hearinga plea seeking registration ofan FIR by the CBI against tenIndian pharmaceutical firmsfor manufacturing and sellingthese two medicines for treat-ing COVID-19 patientsallegedly without validlicences.

Remdesivir and Favipiravirare antiviral drugs and theirefficacy in treating COVID-19 patients has been a matterof debate among medicalexperts.

Remdesivir: SCseeks Centre's reply

‘Can excessive mediareporting hinder justice?’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Thursday said devel-opment and environment con-servation should go hand inhand as "we not only need astronger India but also agreener India".

He also urged finance com-missions and local bodies toencourage green buildingsthrough tax incentives.

The vice president said it istime to consider making allnew buildings to mandatorilygo green and environmentfriendly.

Inaugurating CII's GreenBuilding Congress, he saidexisting buildings too shouldbe retrofitted to make themenvironment friendly byadopting green practices thatpromote energy efficiency andwater conservation.

He termed sustainablebuildings as an importantcomponent in buildingresilient communities andcalled for extensive use andpromotion of low carbon tech-nologies. “We not only need a

stronger India but also agreener India,” he said accord-ing to an official statement.

Drawing attention to theincreasing number of extremeclimate events such asdroughts, floods, and wildfires,Naidu said climate change is asreal as daylight and countriesall over the world must adoptdrastic and revolutionary mea-sures to mitigate the problemof global warming.

Calling for the sustainableapproach to development, thevice president said the chal-lenge is to marry developmentand environment.

“If we take care of nature,the nature in turn will takecare of the mankind,” he said.

PNS n CHENNAI

Breaking his silence, actorRajinikanth on Thursdaysaid he has been adviseda-gainst entering politics bydoctors as he had under-gone a kidney transplantand due to the coronaviruspandemic.

Rajinikanth said on histwitter handle that though astatement -that hints that hemay reconsider his politicalentry given his health condi-tion- doing rounds in socialmediawas not from him, thecontent related to his healthstatusand doctors advise tohim "is all true."

PNS n Thiruvananthapuram,

The arrest of suspended IASofficer M Sivasankar by theEnforcement Directorate hasput the Left Democratic Frontgovernment and the CPI(M) inKerala in a spot at a time whenthe state is getting ready for thecrucial local body and assem-bly polls.

The Left party and its lead-ers cannot simply wash theirhands off the development bysaying Sivasankar, said to be aclose confidant of ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan and

once the most influentialofficial in the CMO, was justone among the several civil ser-

vice officers in the state cadre,according to political observers.Sivasankar, the former princi-pal secretary to Vijayan, was onWednesday arrested by theEnforcement Directorate inconnection with the controver-sial gold smuggling case, after

over six hours of interrogationby the ED, probing the moneytrail in the case. The arrest hasgiven the opposition- Congressand BJP- an unexpected polit-ical weapon to attack Vijayan,heading the lone Communistgovernment in the country.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court has closed acriminal defamation caseagainst BJP leader KapilMishra after he tendered anunconditional apology toAAP leader and Delhi HealthMinister Satyendar Jain.

The complaint was filed byJain against Mishra in 2017for his defamatory statementsagainst him and ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal.

The case was closed onWednesday after Mishraagreed to tender an uncondi-tional apology beforeAdditional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate,Vishal Pahuja.

"It is submitted by theaccused (Mishra) that he isready to make a statementbefore the court tenderingunconditional apology.Complainant (Jain) also sub-mitted that in case theaccused gives his statementbefore the court, he shallwithdraw the present com-plaint,” the Court recorded.

After recording the state-ment of Mishra, as well asJain, the Court disposed ofthe defamation complaint aswithdrawn.

In a press conference heldin 2017, Mishra had accusedJain of handing over a bribeof Rs 2 crore to ArvindKejriwal.

Rajini says heunderwent renaltransplant in ‘16

Left govt on the backfoot after Sivasankar's arrest

PNS n SRINAGAR

Several PDP leaders were onThursday detained by police asthey tried to stage a protestagainst the new land laws noti-fied by the Centre for Jammuand Kashmir. PDP leader

Khursheed Alam, partyspokesman Suhail Bukhari andyouth president Waheed Parrawere among those detained bypolice as they came out of theparty's Srinagar office at Sher-e-Kashmir Municipal Park, offi-cials said. The party leaders

wanted to hold a protest rallyagainst the amendments madeto the land laws of the Unionterritory by the Centre onTuesday which allow peoplefrom other parts of the countryto buy land in the region. Themainstream parties of Kashmir

have decried the amendmentsand termed the move akin toputting Jammu and Kashmir upfor sale.

PDP president MehboobaMufti tried to reach the PDPoffice, but was asked by thepolice to return to her residence.

PDP leaders stage protest; arrested

Venkaiah bats forstronger, greener India

Delhi court closes defamationcomplaint against Kapil Mishra

As per theordinance, theadjoining areaswhere it shall be inforce includePunjab, Haryana,Rajasthan andUttar Pradesh,adjoining areas ofthe NCR and Delhi

“We would not like the media to crossit boundaries and we would also like tobe within our boundaries," the courtsaid and asked the state if suchreportage would amount tointerference

Centre introduces new lawto tackle pollution in Delhi

PNS n NEW DELHI

BSP leader Mayawati sus-pended seven of her party'srebel MLAs who hadopposed the nomination ofits official candidate RamjiGautam for the elections tothe Rajya Sabha.Amid spec-ulation that the MLAs couldswitch sides in Uttar Pradesh,Mayawati also said that toensure defeat of SamajwadiParty candidates in futureMLC elections, her partywill vote for BJP or anyother party's candidate.

She said as soon as therebel MLAs join any party,the BSP would take actionagainst them under the anti-defection law. She said theparty organisation has beeninformed that the suspendedlegislators should not beinvited to any party function.

Mayawatisuspends sevenrebel MLAs

In mid-October, a 17-year-oldgirl, Neema (name changed)was found by the UttarPradesh (UP) Police in adazed state, hungry and deliri-

ous. Sold to traffickers by herpoverty-stricken parents on theadvice of “well-meaning” neigh-bours in her village in MadhyaPradesh, the teenager had escapedfrom her tormentors in Delhi.Neema walked and hitch-hiked forthree days to cover a distance of 200km before she was spotted by con-cerned passersby and the police inHathras. Unaware of her where-abouts and determined to reachhome, she was still 794 km short ofher home in Mandla district whenshe was rescued. The girl told thepolice that there were 12 otherminors like her, confined to oneroom in Delhi. Fortunately, they allmanaged to escape.

Neema is not the only childfrom her village to have been traf-ficked. Several others like her havebeen sold by needy parents. Thisstory is repeated over and over againin India, particularly in rural areas.India is starving and its children arebearing the brunt of this hunger.They are being sacrificed at the altarof the crippling poverty that hasworsened because of the suckerpunch delivered to the already tot-tering economy by the Coronavirus.As feared by the experts in the fieldof rescue and rehabilitation of traf-ficked children, the number ofminors, particularly girls, sold totraffickers for as little as `10,000-`50,000, has grown alongside thenumber of people rendered joblessby the pandemic. As a result, des-perate parents, having to choosebetween survival of the family fora little while longer and their love,chose the former. So many girls andboys were sold to traffickers acrossthe country.

This is despite the fact thatArticles 23, 39, 14 and 21 of theConstitution guarantee every childfreedom from exploitation in anyform. The Immoral Traffic(Prevention) Act, 1956 was enact-ed in pursuance of the InternationalConvention signed at New York onMay 9, 1950 and it was amended in1986 to widen its scope to cover allcitizens. However, according torights advocates, the Act has glar-ing lacunae as it fails to define theterm “traffic” or “trafficking” andaims to penalise those who aid andabet commercial sexual exploita-tion. Therefore, its focus on the def-

inition of the term brothel leadsto the inference that commercialsexual exploitation takes placeonly in a brothel and not in otherplaces, such as in a house. TheAct is clearly not victim-centricas women and children, who areforced into prostitution, are alsotreated as criminals and arrest-ed when raids are conducted.

Similarly there are severalother laws to protect the rightsof children, such as theCommissions for Protection ofChild Rights Act, 2005, theRight of Children to Free andCompulsory Education Act,2009, the Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences Act, 2000.The rights of child labourers canbe adequately secured only if themonitoring and controlling pro-visions contained in the saidstatutes are fully implemented.However, they are not despite theSupreme Court insisting upontheir applicability.

In 2013, the top court lament-ed that despite its directions, lit-tle or no progress was made bythe States in protecting the rightsof children. Thus, we have hor-ror stories emerging from acrossthe country. Desperate children,sold to traffickers by impover-ished parents, making hopelessbids to return home to the sameparents who pushed them intothe hell in the first place.

Though Neema and severalothers like her have escaped fornow, not everyone is so lucky.Thousands of children are beingtrafficked globally for initiationinto the sex trade, to be recruit-ed as bonded labour, drug run-ners, child terrorists or humanshields. The InternationalLabour Organisation has pre-dicted that with the pandemicravaging economies globally,

the world may witness anincrease in child labour for thefirst time in 20 years and thereis a huge risk of years of progressin this arena being reversed.First, it was hunger induced bythe lockdown that fuelled thetrafficking. And now that theeconomy has opened up, it is thedemand for cheaper labour andbigger margins by businesses.Closer home, ever since thelockdown was imposed andthen eased a few months later inphases, Delhi-NCR has becomea hub of trafficking as more andmore children are being rescuedfrom factories and brothels.

The Delhi Commission forProtection of Child Rights res-cued 93 children from gold andjewellery factories in Karol Baghin May. Of them, 57 were belowthe age of 14 and some were even10-year-olds. The rest of the chil-dren were between 14 and 18.Then in July, nine child labour-ers were found working at sev-eral scrap shops in North EastDelhi’s Mustafabad. But theserescues are like a drop in theocean as the lockdown sloweddown such initiatives as well.There was a time when only 27per cent of the Anti-HumanTrafficking Units were func-tional. Thankfully, in September,36 children under 14 years wererescued from bangle-makingunits in West Delhi’sJahangirpuri area where theywere made to work for 15 hoursa day and sleep in the same dingyroom. All lured or sold on thepromise of food and a roof overtheir heads.

Nobel laureate KailashSatyarthi, Chairperson of NGOBachpan Bachao Andolan, esti-mates that in Delhi, “at least fivelakh children are in full-time

jobs. That means every sixthchild is out of school and work-ing somewhere.”

Every time we hear such sta-tistics, we are shocked and angry.Even more disturbing is the factthat these children are there inour midst, suffering abuse, hard-ship, deprivation and long hoursof work in dingy, dark and pol-luted places where they have nobusiness to be. We are blissfullyignorant of this invisible, silentand hapless workforce. The tinyfactory workers, who are wellhidden from our sight, toil topander to our penchant for buy-ing things at discounted prices,the cheaper the better. But we arecontent sweeping our collectiveguilt under the carpet, simplybecause they do not torment usvisibly.

We do know that certainindustries traditionally employchildren. Like bidi factories, thecarpet industry, the garmentsweatshops, incense and fire-work factories, brick kilns, thefarm sector and so on. Butwhen buying these products, dowe ever take the pain to ensurethat the brand that we are pur-chasing has nothing to do withchild labour? It is our demandfor cheaper products that in turncreates the demand for childlabour as businesses then cankeep the cost of productiondown and their margins up. Wedon’t bother to boycott goodsover unethical trade practices. Ifwe did so, the factory ownerswould have revised their norms.So, by extension, we are as guiltyas the perpetrators of the crimeof trafficking and hiring childlabour.

And what about child labour-ers, who are staring us right inour faces? What of the minor

hired to “baby-sit” children? Orthe ubiquitous chotus (appren-tices/assistants) all over India,selling chai at the local tea shopand even delivering it to ouroffices and at the railway station?What of the little boy cleaningthe car in the neighbourhood,his little hands and musclesstraining to carry a heavy buck-et full of water? Or the shoeshineboy, the child manning a road-side dhaba, serving food to cus-tomers? Have we ever botheredto question the people who hirethem or even inform the lawenforcement authorities abouttheir presence? Clearly we do notwant to get out of our comfortzone and easily attribute it to asocietal crime, without realisingwe form the society that con-dones it. We could have pickedup the phone and called theNGOs and rights activists whocan help the child in distress. Butwe don’t do that either.

And what about childrencaught in the sex trade? If peo-ple stop watching child pornog-raphy, there will be no marketfor it. If men stop violatingminor girls for a price, there willbe no market for it again. So, onall counts, society is as guilty asthe criminals who traffic chil-dren.

Apart from a mindset change,there has to be communityalertness and personal account-ability by each citizen. Theremust be non-Governmental andGovernment intervention toensure that hapless parents donot take the extreme step of trad-ing their children for a dole.There is no time to be lost, elsea nation will forget the meaningof bachpan.

(The writer is Senior Editor,The Pioneer)

Delhi University (DU) is not only India’s largestand most prestigious Central university, hometo several top colleges of the country, it is also

the most politically active. However, what is happen-ing in DU right now is unprecedented in its 98-yearhistory as President Ram Nath Kovind has ordered anenquiry against Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi on thegrounds of “misconduct” and “dereliction of duty.”Tyagi has been suspended till the probe is complet-ed since he can influence the investigation while inoffice. Much of this has been precipitated by the healthof the Vice-Chancellor, who had to be admitted to AIIMS

on emergency grounds back in July and a Pro-VC, Professor PC Joshi, had to be appoint-ed. However, after Tyagi returned to work, he tried to invalidate several appointmentsmade by the Pro-VC, even those that had been cleared by DU’s Executive Council. Therow escalated when Tyagi appointed Professor PC Jha as the interim Registrar despitethe Union Ministry of Education’s claims that the new order was not effective as theVC was still on leave while issuing it. However, the Executive Council resolved thatProfessor Suman Kundu would continue as Director, South Campus and acting Registrartill a permanent Registrar was appointed. This was followed by Tyagi removing ProfessorJoshi as Pro-VC and appointing Geeta Bhatt in his place. Meanwhile Joshi had noti-fied the appointment of a new Registrar, Vikas Gupta, whose interview had been com-pleted and appointment cleared by the Executive Council. This is a truly bizarre andridiculous situation, particularly when the 2020-2021 academic year is about to start.By initiating an enquiry against Tyagi and completely clipping his wings, his term is asgood as over. However, the Ministry should take its fair share of the blame here. Whenthe V-C was admitted to hospital in an emergency condition, it should have steppedin to put a system in place. At the same time, it has consistently overlooked past laps-es flagged against Tyagi, including not filling vacant positions, delay in redressal ofsexual harassment cases and vigilance complaints in university, mishandling of theissue of ad-hoc teachers, which led to a massive agitation, and non-submission ofdetailed plans for implementation of the Institution of Eminence (IoE). The last strawcame in the form of certain appointments he made while being on medical leave.

This mess needs to be immediately rectified by the Ministry and if Tyagi is to beremoved, a new V-C must be found post-haste. This is a situation that is unprecedent-ed and if elections and a pandemic were not ongoing, this would be the top headlineof the day. This development is not surprising after decades of Ministers and bureau-crats striking at the autonomy of Central universities. Institutions of higher learning thrivewhen they are allowed to function independent of the Government and where the V-Cis prided for his integrity and not seen as a political appointee.

The byelection in Madhya Pradesh may have gotswamped by the Assembly polls in Bihar and itsresults may not threaten the ruling BJP

Government in the State. But it is significant in decid-ing the political future of stalwarts both within the BJPand the Congress. The number game is fairly settled.The BJP currently has 107 seats in the 230-memberAssembly, with the support of Independents,Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)MLAs. So, given its ambition to do without props ofany kind and consolidate its position as the singlelargest party, it would just about need to win nine of

the 28 seats going to the polls and cross the half-way mark. The Congress has 88MLAs after Jyotiraditya Scindia revolted and took 22 loyalists with him to the BJP, top-pling the Kamal Nath Government. It would need to win all 28 seats to cross the halfwaymark, a tall order, though party hopefuls are arguing that even 20-plus seats could keepit in the running as it could manage the deficit by co-opting smaller parties. This pre-sumptive logic isn’t much to bet on. The desperation of the Congress is understand-able considering it wants to prove a point to Jyotiraditya that his exit hasn’t really affect-ed the party’s grassroots matrix. In one word, therefore, the bypolls are his test. Hemay have defected with his loyalists but can he ensure vote transference with suchease? Particularly when the Congress is relentlessly calling him a traitor, even draw-ing on his family history to show how the Scindias betrayed Rani Laxmibai. Besideswith most of the seats going to the bypolls being located in the Gwalior-Chambal region,which has the highest number of caste atrocities and violence and where the Dalit voteswing matters politically, Jyotiraditya has to have an umbrella appeal to win and notjust depend on his legacy. His being in the BJP could actually be a liability as this is aBSP bastion and its people were at the forefront of protests against the dilution of theScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 2018. Besides,the BSP is contesting all seats here this time and unless, as a kingmaker, its chief Mayawatidecides whom to side with in the event of a mixed verdict, the going could be toughfor Jyotiraditya. Of course, his staunch follower and Dalit candidate, Imarti Devi, whomKamal Nath insulted, could mop up some of the sympathy votes from the communi-ty at the expense of the Congress. The BJP has obliged Jyotiraditya for catapulting itback to power by giving tickets to the rebel MLAs loyal to him. This has not been tothe liking of its Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who wouldn’t want Jyotiradityato challenge his stature. So the latter has to prove his mettle in his adopted party byensuring the maximum wins. If he does, his stakes will rise but if he fails, then he couldbe badly marginalised. As it is, the State BJP campaign is still pivoted around Chouhanand has hardly taken note of the new entrant. This is Jyotiraditya’s big chance to provehis political currency and if he fails, he will be of no use to any party. Not even Congress.In fact, if Jyotiraditya succeeds, it would be the most effective message of getting evenwith Kamal Nath and convincing the grand old party of the need for a generational change.If he does really well, he could even get a Central Ministry, something he has beenwanting since he crossed over.

Though the BJP needs single digits to coast home, Chouhan wants to win at leasthalf of the seats to show that he is not dependent on Jyotiraditya’s clout. Having con-ceded tickets and ministerial berths to the young leader’s group following Central pres-sure, the Chief Minister wants to show he is in command. But Chouhan is caught betweenthe criticism of his handling of COVID-19 and the challenge from Union Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar, who has the blessings of the Central party leadership to under-cut him. As far as Kamal Nath is considered, the bypolls are his last chance to takeanother shot at chief ministership. But with below the belt attacks and scorning a womanlegislator, he may have just scripted his own downfall. Kamal Nath has an axe to grindwith Imarti Devi, who is a Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist and defected with him to theBJP. In fact, the sexist remark against her came days after and probably as a hitbackto her accusation that Nath bribed MLAs when he was Chief Minister, that he gave cashdoles of `5 lakh to Congress MLAs who could not be granted ministerial posts. In ret-rospect, her needless victimisation only drew attention to his greed for power by man-aging numbers. Of course, the seasoned politician he is, he knows how to work thearithmetic in case of an adverse scenario. But the old-style politics may not work at atime when the BJP won’t be sparing any resources either to ensure that one party-ruleflows from the Centre to other States.

Jyotiraditya’s test

Poor footfall Sir — As per the Centre’s guide-lines, many cinema halls are re-opening. However, the footfallremains in single digits.Currently, the halls are permit-ted to operate with 50 per centcapacity; one seat between twopersons is to be kept empty toensure social distancing. Othermandatory norms include wear-ing of masks, applying sanitis-ers, compulsory thermal scan-ning, adequate ventilation andfreezing temperature settingsof all air conditioning at 23degree Celsius or above. Evenwith strict guidelines in place,people are extremely hesitant tovisit the theatres. Also, no big-time releases are slated for nowas it is preposterous to imaginea producer or an actor riskinghis/her fortune during suchcrucial times. Over the monthssince the lockdown, the loyalfilm audience has adapted toonline streaming apps.Adjusting to big screens againmight take some time. Alsomany are cutting on expenditureowing to their financial stress.

The cinema hall owners, too,are in a quandary because of thefinancial losses they have beenbearing due to the complete clo-

sure of the theatres for the pastseveral months. In addition toelectricity and ancillary costs,the huge challenge of sanitisingthe halls after every show can betaxing. Many are hoping that thefestive season might make somedifference but given the currentscenario, the future of moviehalls seems rather bleak.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Defence agreementSir — On October 27, India andthe US signed the BasicExchange and CooperationAgreement (BECA) to furthermilitary ties between the twocountries. India will now be ableto keep an eye on the move-ments of Chinese warships inthe Indian Ocean Region (IOR).BECA will help us get real-time

access to American geospatialintelligence that will enhance theaccuracy of automated systemsand weapons like missiles andarmed drones. Sharing informa-tion on maps and satelliteimages will help us gain accessto topographical and aeronau-tical data. The signing of thelong-negotiated defence pactcomes against the backdrop ofa tense border standoff with

China in eastern Ladakh. Theincreasing defence and securi-ty partnership between the twonations will help monitor the sit-uation in the Indo-Pacific at atime when China is attemptingto expand its economic and mil-itary clout in the region. In June,India and Australia had signeda pact allowing their militariesto access each other’s bases. Asimilar agreement with Japanalso came to fruition last monthafter years of negotiations. It isalso hoped that the sharing oftechnology will contribute sig-nificantly towards bringingIndia closer to the lofty goal ofatmanirbharta in the defencesector.

Yash Pal RalhanJalandhar

Ban firecrackers Sir — The air quality has furtherworsened as hundreds of Ravanaeffigies and firecrackers wereburnt in the Capital on Dussehra.The Government needs to wakeup and put a blanket ban on fire-crackers this Diwali.

Yugal Kishore SharmaFaridabad

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 | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2020

06

Nobody’s childFuelled by a pandemic-hit economy and the lack of personal accountability,

India’s child trafficking problems have further worsened

Some experts told us informally thatair pollution is not only caused dueto stubble burning, but there aremany other causes too. You lawyerswill also have to get down from yourbig, beautiful cars and ride cycles.

Chief Justice of India —SA Bobde

Punjab makes a point for its farmers

The Punjab Assembly has passed three farm Billsas the farmers’ protests against the recently passedfarm Acts intensify. The Central laws are silent about

the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for agricultural pro-duce. Sale of produce to the private traders, compa-nies, corporates and other agencies cannot take placein the Agricultural Produce Market Committees(APMC) mandis anymore, and levy of fee for tradeshas been prohibited. Thus, farmers have no option butto approach the courts for dispute resolution. Thethought of a takeover of the agriculture sector by tradersusing their financial power is haunting the farmers.

According to the State Bills, “no sale or purchaseof wheat or paddy shall be valid unless the price paidfor such agricultural produce is equal to or greater thanthe MSP” announced for the two crops. And if an indi-vidual or a company or any other agency compels orexerts pressure on a farmer to sell the agro-produceat a price below the MSP, then such person shall bedeemed to have committed a punishable offence. The

Bills also have a provision to levy a fee on trade plat-forms outside the markets established under the PunjabAgricultural Produce Markets Act 1961 to fund welfareactivities. These proposed amendment Bills are not justmeant to counter the Centre's laws but to save the peas-antry of Punjab.

Haridasan Rajan Kozhikode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

DU imbroglio

The MP bypolls would prove if he can indeed get even with formerCM Kamal Nath and earn his stripes in the BJP

The power tussle between the Vice-Chancellor and thePro-VC only harms the most prestigious university

REENA AMOS DYES

There is total lawlessness.Jammu and Kashmir has been converted into a jail. We are not Twitter politicians,we won't stay inside, we will come out.

Former Chief Minister—Mehbooba Mufti

We have 2,25,000 deaths, themodeling tells us we're goingto get one hundred or morethousand as we get into thewinter, that is just somethingthat's unacceptable.

US disease expert—Anthony Fauci

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

If we talk about my cricket career, then theonly and biggest regret isthat we failed to win thesemi-final of the 2011World Cup in Mohali.

Cricketer—Umar Gul

S O U N D B I T E

Graft-free governance

THIS DUSSEHRA THE EFFIGIES OF THE PRIME

MINISTER AND INDUSTRIALISTS WERE BURNT. IT IS

SAD, BUT IT IS HAPPENING AS FARMERS ARE UPSET.

—CONGRESS LEADER

RAHUL GANDHI

THIS SHOWS HOW DESPERATE THE CONGRESS IS.

SHOULD THE FORMER CONGRESS CHIEF TALK LIKE

THIS? HE HAS NO POLITICAL STANDING LEFT.

—UNION MINISTER

RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Among the issues in public discourse that havecaught the attention of the country is the prob-lem of corruption, which elicits strident crit-

icism. The issue has triggered a slew of reforms aimedat strengthening the fabric of integrity, like the enact-ment of the Public Procurement Bill, the Lokpal Actincorporating, inter alia, the public disclosure of assetsby public servants, reforms in higher judicialappointments and so on. While anti-graft activistsdiffer in terms of strategies and focus areas, there isa unanimous acceptance of the fact that technolo-gy and e-governance promote greater transparency.The rationale is very simple. Deny the opportunityfor manual manipulation and replace it with tech-nology, crafted around well-defined protocols andlegal safeguards with minimal human intervention.

It has been five years since India adopted theUN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Corruption in general and venality in public life inparticular adversely affect the fulfilment of theseSDGs. Therefore, a proactive and preventive vigilanceregime forms the backbone of good governance andis critical to their realisation. How then do we makegovernance more effective without inhibiting itsobjectives? Today, administrative affairs grapple withleakages in public delivery of welfare and develop-ment goals on account of manual processes that canbe manipulated. But by leveraging technology,these leakages can be plugged. Incremental improve-ments to technology should continue to be the main-stay of advancements in administration.

In the recent discourse on procurement meth-ods, transparency of policy, procedure and practicesis increasingly being seen as an imperative of usingpublic monies to remove any allegations of opacityand inconsistencies in decision-making. Achievingtransparency ensures that procurement is open topublic scrutiny, which results in best value for pub-lic monies. For example, the transparency of proce-dure as achieved in online applications is one of thesimpler yet effective features of digitisation, as it shiftsthe onus of submitting correct information and datato the applicant. This, once verified by the public ser-vant, retains the maker-checker wedge in a direct way.

In an effort to plug leakages in procurement sys-tems, the Government launched the Government E-Marketplace (GeM) in 2016 as an end-to-end mar-ketplace for goods and services required by Centraland State Governments as well as Public SectorUndertakings. As per an assessment by the Centrefor Public Impact, the savings impact of GeM hasbeen substantial, wherein a maximum price reduc-tion of approximately 56 per cent of goods and ser-vices, coupled with demand aggregation, has alreadyled to savings to the tune of `40,000 crore annual-ly. Given the fact that the public procurement econ-omy constitutes about 20 per cent of India’s GDP, itis imperative to build on this initiative through ampli-fied efforts and bring as many goods and serviceson board as possible. And in order to make the plat-form more robust, addressing the issue of quality con-trol should be the next level of sophistication thatGeM should aspire for.

In the next 10 years, the business of Governmentwill experience massive disruption. This comes onthe back of technological enhancements that reducethe need for intermediaries and ensure that the sanc-tity of process remains unimpeachable. One suchtechnology which has been discussed widely in recenttimes is blockchain. A NITI Aayog discussion paperhas identified use-cases where the technology canpotentially improve governance, ranging from trac-ing of drugs in the pharmaceutical supply chain toverification of education certificates. The three keyprinciples of the blockchain technology are:Transparency, decentralisation and accountability.

One of the most interesting areas ofintervention for this technology would bein the space of land records. Ever since thePermanent Settlement of Bengal in 1793,the issue of land records has occupied theadministration and citizenry with itscomplexities, misgivings and fraud. Thesystem is riddled with inefficiencies thatreduce trust in the Government. Currentlythe UNDP is involved in certain Proof ofConcept (POC) pilots across India. Theunderlying theory intends to create animmutable history of transactional recordsthat helps in checking authenticity; a tam-per-proof system to avoid forgery; a dis-tributed ledger so that all stakeholders seethe same information; and a secureencrypted environment, where updates areavailable in near real time. The NITI Aayogpaper also identifies this value proposition.For example, the paper notes that, in orderto ensure that transactions are not fraud-ulent, the physical presence of witnessesis mandated at the time of sales deed reg-istry. Deployment of blockchain wouldpotentially eliminate the need of theseprocesses while maintaining the sanctityof the transaction.

This helps create a tamper-proofaudit trail that allows for tracking decision-making and ensures that they are in accor-dance with anti-corruption principles. Itaddresses concerns around cyber securi-ty. Currently there are interesting pilotsbeing conducted across the world, wheredeployment of blockchain is being testedfor public procurement, wherein systemsare being built in to identify graft with aview to disincentivise corrupt actors fromaccessing the system at the outset.

From the perspective of InternalControls and Governance (Vigilance), itis strongly recommended to employ a five-part test while assessing such deviationsfrom process: Whether the issue being pur-sued has corrupt connotations; the gener-al reputation of the employee involved;whether better options were available andignored without valid reasoning; whetherthe situation inhibited the selection of any

other option but the one finally chosen andfinally, whether the larger interest of theorganisation was safeguarded or not.

Deployment of technological solutionslike blockchain can potentially remove theneed or significantly reduce the time takenfor making such assessments. In a recentpaper released by Denmark’s Ministry ofForeign Affairs, titled Code to Integrity, theauthors have highlighted how blockchaincan be a powerful tool in the fight againstGovernment corruption. The report citescase studies of countries like Kenya,Rwanda and Ghana where Governmentrecords pertaining to court systems, edu-cation and land rights are migrating to dis-tributed ledgers.

However, a significant factor inblockchain’s success will be a country’s abil-ity to develop/reform laws and buildrobust data protection and maintenanceregimes. Till such time we address theseissues, blockchain is not likely to have amonumental impact in creating an integri-ty-first governance ecosystem.

The general environment now is infavour of a regime which ensures that com-panies not only do profitable business butdo so in a manner which is ethical. TheUnited Nations Convention againstCorruption, ratified by India in 2011, aswell as the anti-corruption principlesexpounded by the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation and Development(OECD) cover a wide gamut of vulnera-ble areas and aspects of business opera-tions, including anti-bribery, public pro-curement and conflict of interest. More andmore countries in the coming years willbe obliged to establish laws and mecha-nisms in place to ensure clean businessoperations as well as seize and confiscateassets derived from corrupt practices.

India, too, needs to review its existinglegal framework to address issues arounddata security, corrupt practices and corpo-rate governance with a view to address ouranti-corruption objectives and provide thenecessary guidance to well-intentionedofficials in the Government.

The Centre made a significant changeto the Prevention of Corruption Act in2018. The element of intention has beenadded under definition of criminal mis-conduct. Similarly, broadening the defin-ition of “unfair advantage” and introduc-tion of corporate criminal liability will goa long way in apprehending or deterringbad actors on both sides from indulgingin bribery. The amendments also haveensured that our obligations under the UNConvention against Corruption are ade-quately addressed and bring us closer toleading anti-bribery legislations in theworld such as the UK Bribery Act.

While these amendments will go along way in guiding the work of internalcontrol agencies, it would be important toinstitutionalise a system, wherein compli-ance against said legislation and establishedprocesses can be checked and quantified.A metrics-based system for oversightover governmental processes will bringtransparency, build trust and spur furtherdigital innovation to make any adminis-tration more robust without inhibitingpublic interest-oriented decision-mak-ing.

It would be incorrect to end this dis-cussion without addressing the well-intentioned public servant who finds theprocesses leading to greater transparencyand ensuring value for taxpayers’ moneycumbersome and time-consuming andwho is, therefore, tempted to short-circuitit. Well-intentioned though it may be, butany attempt to overwrite the processes,despite even demonstrable honesty of pur-pose, carries the major risk of opening upthe system to misuse by corrupt playersand would lead to eventual loss of publictrust and decimation of the structure ofpublic procurement. Thus, the intent ofprocesses involved is to keep the prover-bial Caesar’s wife above suspicion. Throughrobust yet streamlined procedures, abureaucrat can achieve the intended out-come and avoid unintended consequences.

(The writer is an IPS officer. The viewsexpressed are personal)

A metrics-based system for oversight over governmental processes will bring transparency andspur digital innovation to make any administration robust without inhibiting public interest

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

Make the rightpolicy choices

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

A continued prosperity for nations will only beachieved by allowing and championing a global

open market for trade, goods and digital services

RAJESH RANJAN

HOWEVER, ASIGNIFICANT

FACTOR INBLOCKCHAIN’S

SUCCESS WILL BEA COUNTRY’S

ABILITY TODEVELOP/REFORMLAWS AND BUILD

ROBUST DATAPROTECTION AND

MAINTENANCEREGIMES. TILLSUCH TIME WE

ADDRESS THESEISSUES,

BLOCKCHAIN ISNOT LIKELY TO

HAVE AMONUMENTAL

IMPACT INCREATING AN

INTEGRITY-FIRSTGOVERNANCE

ECOSYSTEM

It is festival time globally, and not just the religious and fun varietybut also the vital festival of democracy or elections. It is for thefirst time in our lifetimes that festivities, mostly associated with huge

crowds jostling to reach the ballot box or bedi (the pedestal on whichthe idols of deities are kept), are taking place in the shadow of a rag-ing global pandemic. Forced departures from well-known rituals asso-ciated with festivals make these times a case study for future gen-erations. Many would have seen a video on social media of an idolbeing immersed using mechanised trolleys, with least human inter-vention, in the recently-concluded Durga puja festivities. Now switchto the theatre of democracy in Bihar, where Assembly elections arebeing held. The common thread between the two festivals is, tech-nology. Bihar, would perhaps be the first State in the country wheretechnological interventions played a key role in the elections.

First, the Election Commission (EC) allowed online filing of nom-inations for candidates and many political parties chose to reach outto their constituents through virtual rallies and put up huge LED wallsfor public viewing. Given the absence of many veterans active in Biharelections for at least three decades, most of the young scions of thecolourful, vociferous and politically-influential families were sudden-ly catapulted to the centrestage of a new narrative. This young brigadeof Biharis, technologically more versatile than their parents, soughtvotes on issues. Something hitherto unheard of in a State, knownfor its divisive caste and religious biases. It was surprising to seerival candidates promise lakhs of jobs to young voters in a State grap-pling with the problem of the jobless migrant labourers.

The most welcome aspect of this election has been the relianceon technology in a State which could well be a case study on thedigital divide between India and Bharat. Many statisticians will pointto a survey which revealed that more than half of Bihar’s womenand around 40 per cent men have no access to mass media. This,when extrapolated over digital media, means a significant part of thepopulation can either be completely insulated from the impact of tech-nology or could be the next addressable unconnected millions, whoneed to be put on the information technology expressway of pros-perity.

Now let’s jump across the Pacific to the US, which, too, is aboutto witness one of the fiercest and cacophonic elections on November3 amid the COVID threat, deaths and economic destruction. The com-mon binary binding Bihar elections, Durga Puja festivities and USelections is again, technology. After all, the new dominance gameand the race to be a global superpower is now increasingly gettingdefined by your first tap on a smartphone, first digital payment/elec-tronic transaction, first contact-free shopping for world-classbrands from the comfort of your home and perhaps the first digitaldate after months of trying to understand each other’s typos and abbre-viated texts.

Therefore, restrictions on digital applications, depending on thecountry of origin, to applying the same principles to hardware solu-tions in technical infrastructure, to forming an alliance of like-mind-ed technology fraternity of nations were some of the key highlightsin the election campaign of the two presidential candidates of theworld’s richest democracy. What it also highlighted was the fact thatincreasingly, the physical restrictions (read policies) of trade and com-merce dominating economic relations between a bunch of nationswill now be enthusiastically copy-pasted in the digital arena to pre-vent loss of sovereign powers and dominance at the global high tables.

COVID has put the spotlight on public policy issues, which, tillFebruary, were still in advanced stages of intellectual discourses. Ithas challenged our ability to adapt and eventually recover from thedisease. And the only sector which has truly helped this advance-ment is technology. It reacted quickly and ensured teachers, parentsand children were handed online course materials for seamless aca-demic learning and doctors were given online tools for initial digitalhealth interventions for patients. It gave the Government effective plat-forms for interaction and empowered it to push critical policy goals.Technology enabled digital live darshans of beautiful but desertedpandals and online delivery of prasad for the religious, too. If the humanrace has been pushed ahead by three decades in one stroke by thelockdown and technology has taken centrestage, it is also time tothink and refresh many global policy challenges and perhaps releasean update. Policymakers have to realise that imposing strict restric-tions, based purely on case-by-case models, and having a physicalworldview of digital policy issues can be self-defeating in the longrun. A continued prosperity for nations will only be achieved by allow-ing and championing a global open market for trade, goods and dig-ital services. It must be kept in mind that the new normal for poli-cy-making at sovereign-level negotiations must be dictated by a setof principles. This must be compulsory in all digital agreementsbetween consumers and technology providers, governments and theircounterparts across borders. A multi-lateral approach must be cham-pioned. It is time to click on the right button.

(The writer is a policy analyst)

Most nations imposed someform of shutdown to limit thespread of the Coronavirus.

India’s lockdown, which involved anear cessation of all movement andeconomic activity, has been rated asone of the most stringent across theworld. Not surprisingly, it had a severeimpact on our economy.

A sector that was hit particularlyhard is retail. This is due to several rea-sons. First, shops and warehouseswere closed during the initial phasesof the lockdown. This brought the

operation of both physical and digitalretailers to a standstill. Second, restric-tions on inter-State movement ofgoods and the opening of only specif-ic industries disrupted supply chains.For instance, the Centre recognisedboth medicines and processed foodsas essential goods and allowed theirsale. However, similar status was notgranted to units which manufacturethe packaging for medicines andprocessed foods. Hence, sellers ofthese goods found it difficult to oper-ate. Third, the system of issuing pass-es and permits to personnel workingfor physical and digital retail was notwell-implemented. It was unclearwhich authority would issue the pass-es and for how long they wouldremain valid. Further, personnel hav-ing to travel across districts wererequired to obtain separate passes fromthe authorities for each district. Fourth,the Ministry of Home Affairs issued anorder directing all employers to ensurefull payment of wages to all employ-ees even if they were unable to work.

As a result of the order, several migrantlabourers returned to their towns andvillages once restrictions on movementof persons were lifted. A survey ofretailers selling their products online,conducted as part of the Esya Centre’sreport on e-commerce, shows thatnearly 60 per cent of such entities willbe unable to recover losses sufferedbecause of the lockdown. Given thatpeople are likely to be wary of enter-ing shops and stores even after lock-downs are eased, it is important toexplore different avenues throughwhich retail outlets can avoid furtherlosses.

One such avenue is e-retail. Areport by Global Trade and RegionalIntegration Unit of the World Bankhighlights the utility of e-commerce inthe post COVID normal. Not only cane-commerce help reduce the risk ofnew infections and preserve jobs, it canalso increase the acceptance of pro-longed social distancing measuresamong the population. Further, previ-ous research has shown that there are

numerous benefits for MSMEs thatadopt e-commerce, in the form of bet-ter price discovery, access to new con-sumers, support with logistics andinventory management. It is in recog-nition of the above that several nations,such as the United Kingdom and NewZealand, have given preference todigital forms of retail both during andafter the lockdown. However, India isone of the few countries that has notleveraged the numerous benefits thate-commerce brings, particularly dur-ing a lockdown.

Policy-making towards e-com-merce, both before and during thelockdown, may have hindered theoperation of e-commerce entities.Prior to the lockdown, legacy govern-ment rule-making on e-commerce pre-sented several barriers to the growthof the sector. These included ever-changing FDI rules, unresolved issuesof data localisation and source codedisclosure as well as the over-regula-tion of platforms. During the lock-down, the Government failed to adopt

a clear and consistent approach to pol-icy formulation vis-a-vis retail. As anexample, both physical and digitalretailers were only allowed to sell essen-tial goods in the initial phase of thelockdown. This continued till aboutmid-April, when the Governmentissued a notification which allowed e-retailers to deliver non-essential itemsfrom April 20. In conformity with thisorder, e-commerce firms began tomake predations to resume their fullscale of operations. However, on April19, the Government withdrew itsnotification, seemingly under pressurefrom industry organisations that rep-resented small and medium traders.Subsequently, relaxations regardingdelivery of non-essential items werefirst given to physical outlets while e-retail continued to be limited to essen-tial items for 8-10 days thereafter. Thezonation framework introduced by theGovernment additionally preferredphysical outlets in Red zones, as theycould sell a wide range of merchandisewhile e-retail tasks were limited to

essential goods.As pointed out, e-commerce

enjoys numerous advantages overphysical retail, particularly in a situa-tion where social distancing continuesto be important. Hence, there is a needto provide a policy environment thatfosters the uptake and adoption of e-commerce by both consumers and sell-ers. To achieve this, we recommend afive-step recovery process. The firststeps are geared towards fostering anatmosphere of trust and credibilitybetween the Government and marketentities.

This can be achieved by holdingregular consultations, opening avenuesfor feedback and providing sufficientnotice before major changes. Further,policy actions should not skew com-petition between physical and digitalbusiness models. Instead, both mod-els should be allowed to leverage theirrespective strengths. Finally, theGovernment must reassess what itseeks to achieve through its proposede-commerce policy. In the current sce-

nario, a policy framework governinge-retail or e-commerce in general,should look to assist small enterpris-es in capacity-building for a digitallyenabled future through the provisionof finance, skill development andunderlying infrastructure. There is,therefore, a need to move away fromlegacy regulatory institutions, based onlicensing and control, to an entity thatactively participates in capacity-build-ing and development of small andmedium retailers in India. In this con-text, it is worthwhile to explore the rolebeing played by digital economy devel-opment authorities in countries suchas Malaysia and Vietnam, whichactively promote the adoption of dig-ital solutions and e-commerce forSMEs as well as consumers. Thisapproach would be in keeping with theGovernment’s focus on a Digital Indiawhere citizens are able to leverage theirconnectivity into better opportunitiesand prospects.

(The writer is a research assistantat the Esya Centre)

Nurture e-retail in a post-pandemic worldThis approach would be in keeping with the Centre’s focus on a Digital India where citizens are able to leverage their connectivity into better opportunities

MOHIT CHAWDHRY

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2020

www.dailypioneer.comanalysis

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2020 money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Textile major Arvind Ltd onThursday reported aconsolidated net loss of

Rs 5.86 crore for the quarterended on September 30,2020, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The companyhad posted a net profit of Rs49.68 crore in the July-September quarter a year ago, the company said in a BSE filing.Total income during the quarter stood at Rs 1,318.95 crore againstRs 1,973.90 crore in the corresponding quarter a year-ago.Arvind Ltd said as a result of lockdown to contain the outbreak ofCOVID-19, the volumes for the current quarter and half year areimpacted.Revenue from operations and profitability have decreaseddue to COVID-19-related market volatility. Therefore, financialresults for quarter and half year ended September 30, 2020, are notcomparable to previous corresponding period results, it added.Shares of Arvind Ltd were trading 0.29 per cent lower at Rs 34apiece on the BSE.

Arvind reports Q2 net loss of Rs 5.86 crore

Toyota Kirloskar Motor(TKM) on Thursdayannounced the launch of

its first regional stockyard inGuwahati, which aims atreducing delivery time fromthe current 13 days to amaximum of two days for thedealers in the northeasternstates. The new stockyard willsignificantly enhance distribution efficiency, reduce inventory costsand turnaround time for dealer working capital besides facilitatingTKM dealers to meet customer requirements faster, the automakersaid in a release. It will also allow the dealers to focus on the corearea of sales and after-sales to meet customer requirements, it said."We are happy to announce the launch of our first regionalstockyard in Guwahati during this auspicious festive season," saidTKM Senior Vice-President (Sales and Service) Naveen Soni. Headded that there has been a rise in demand from this region overthe years .

Toyota launches first regionalstockyard at Guwahati

Nokia profit up, new CEO pledgesto boost 5G investments

Telecom equipment makerNokia has reportedimproved third-quarter

earnings largely in line withexpectations, butacknowledged it facedchallenges in the race for newgeneration 5G networks.It pledged to invest more in those networks and said it wouldrevamp business strategy under its new CEO.The Espoo, Finland-based maker of new-generation 5G mobile and other networks saidThursday that net profit for the July-September period was up 14%at 305 million euros ($358 million). Sales were down 7% at 5.3billion euros.Nokia's quarterly report is the first one under new CEOPekka Lundmark, who took over the company's top spot on Aug. 1.He said “more change is needed” within Nokia, which has playedcatch-up to China's Huawei and Sweden's Ericsson in the lucrative5G market.“Our financial performance in 2021 is expected to bechallenging,” Lundmark said.

Gold declines Rs 121, silverplunges Rs 1,277

Gold prices fell Rs 121 to Rs50,630 per 10 gram in thenational capital on Thursday,

according to HDFC Securities.The precious metal had closed atRs 50,751 per 10 gram in theprevious trade. Silver prices alsodeclined Rs 1,277 to Rs 60,098 perkilogram from Rs 61,375 perkilogram in the previous trade. Inthe international market, gold rose marginally to USD 1,878 perounce, while silver was trading flat at USD 23.30 per ounce. "Goldprices traded under pressure with strong dollar recovery whichdampened safe-haven demand for gold," HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Contracting for the seventhconsecutive month, the outputof eight core infrastructuresectors dropped by 0.8 percent in September, mainly dueto decline in production ofcrude oil, natural gas, refineryproducts and cement.

The production of eight coresectors had contracted 5.1 percent in September 2019, datareleased by the Commerce andIndustry Ministry showed onThursday.

The decline in output duringthe month under review waslowest since March.

Barring coal, electricity andsteel, all sectors -- crude oil,natural gas, refinery products,

fertiliser and cement -- record-ed negative growth inSeptember 2020.

During April-September, thesectors' output dropped by14.9 per cent as compared to agrowth of 1.3 per cent in thesame period of the previous

year. The output of crude oil,natural gas, refinery products,fertiliser, and cement declinedby 6 per cent, 10.6 per cent, 9.5per cent, 0.3 per cent, and 3.5per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, the coal,steel and electricity sector out-

put grew by 21.2 per cent, 0.9per cent and 3.7 per cent,respectively, during the monthunder review.

Commenting on the num-bers, Icra Ltd PrincipalEconomist Aditi Nayar said,

the substantial improvement inthe core sector performance inSeptember 2020 was driven bythe base effect-led uptick incoal production, related toheavy rainfall and labour issuesin some mines in September2019. With improved mobili-ty of people and goods, thecontraction in refinery prod-ucts halved in September 2020,an encouraging trend that maycontinue in the immediateterm, she said.

"While many lead indicatorshave displayed signals of astrengthening economic recov-ery in September 2020, wecaution that the sustainabilityof the upturn may not be uni-versal, and await signs of itsdurability," she added.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Plastic export promotion coun-cil PLEXCONCIL said itexpects positive growth in thesector's outbound shipments inthe coming months on theback of global demand andgovernment support to boostlocal production and looks toachieve exports of USD 25 bil-lion by 2025.

Plastics Exports PromotionCouncil of India (PLEXCON-CIL) Chairman Ravish Kamathsaid that exports are growing ascustomers in Europe and theUS are looking at India as areliable supplier.

He said that exports record-ed positive growth inSeptember, "so we expect thistrend to continue and plasticsexports will post much betterresults. The council intends to

target plastics' exports of USD25 billion by calendar year2025, while posting 20 percent growth in the exportsduring this fiscal and next".

He added that the govern-ment is supporting to increasedomestic production by settingup of 18 plastic parks.

Talking about challengesfaced by the sector, he told PTI

that finished goods are waitingin factories and cannot beexported due to shortage ofcontainers, which is leading toexpiry of LC's (letter of credit)and breaching of deliveryschedules.

"This will greatly affectcredibility of Indian exportersif not corrected very quickly.Similarly, as India is importdependent on polymers,import shipments are not get-ting loaded at ports in Europe,

and the US for India due towhich a panic situation hasarisen doubting the availabil-ity of raw materials on time,"he said.

This has led to an unprece-dented hike in polymer prices,specially for PVC Resinwherein India produces only45 per cent of its mammothconsumption, he added.

Kamath suggested the gov-ernment to continue with theexport incentive scheme -

MEIS (merchandise exportfrom India scheme) and fix-ation of liberal refund rates forthe sector under RoDTEP(Remission of Duties or Taxeson Export Product(RoDTEP).

He also stated that availabil-ity of polymers at competitiveprices in India is a challengefor the sector boosting itsdomestic production wouldhelp adequate availability ofpolymers in the country atcompetitive rates.

"India does not have anytrade agreements with any ofthese regions / countries dueto which our exporters areunable to compete. If the gov-ernment can forge a tradeagreement with these regions/ countries, our exporterswould be able to increaseexports," he said.

PLEXCONCIL targets $25 bn shipments

PNSn NEW DELHI

Equity benchmark Sensextumbled 173 points onThursday, tracking losses inindex majors HDFC twins,L&T and HUL as volatility per-sisted amid expiry of monthderivatives contracts.

Lacklustre cues from glob-al markets also kept domesticinvestors on the edge, traderssaid.

The 30-share BSE Sensexended 172.61 points or 0.43per cent lower at 39,749.85.The broader NSE Nifty fell58.80 points or 0.50 per cent to11,670.80. L&T was the toplaggard in the Sensex pack,dropping around 5 per cent,followed by Titan, ONGC,Axis Bank, HUL, M&M andHDFC. On the other hand,Asian Paints, UltraTech

Cement, HCL Tech, KotakBank and Reliance Industrieswere among the gainers.According to traders, marketvolatility was heightened asOctober futures and optionscontracts expired. The Indianmarket opened on a subduednote following mixed globalcues as coronavirus cases in theEurope surged and several

countries considered re-imposing strict lockdown mea-sures, said Narendra Solanki,Head- Equity Research(Fundamental), Anand RathiShares & Stock Brokers.

During the afternoon ses-sion, the markets continued totrade weak with selloff in met-als, auto, realty and financialstocks, he added.

Sensex sheds 173 pts amid F&Oexpiry; Nifty slips below 11,700

Eight core industries' outputcontracts 0.8 pc in September

PNSn NEW DELHI

In order to help the juteindustry, the government onThursday decided that 100per cent food grains and 20per cent sugar wi l l bemandatorily packaged in jutebags.

A decision to extend thenorms for mandatory pack-aging in jute materials wastaken by the Union Cabinet,Information andBroadcast ing MinisterPrakash Javadekar said whilebriefing reporters about themeeting.

Govt makes packaging of foodgrains in jute bags mandatory

PNSn MATHURA

Mutual funds offer one of themost transparent and costeffective investment options toall categories of investors, irre-spective of gender or financialconstraints and other consid-erations, Surya Kant Sharma,Senior Consultant - NorthIndia, Association of MutualFunds in India (Amfi) said onThursday.

"To counter COVID-19type challenges in life, finan-cial planning has to be an inte-gral part of wealth creation,"Sharma said while deliveringthe keynote address for awebinar on 'Strategy for man-aging personal finance includ-ing mutual funds during andafter COVID-19'.

He said each family should

maintain an emergency fundfor catering to basic needs forat least 9-12 months to safe-guard against unforeseendevelopments like theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Mutual funds provide notonly short-term investmentoptions but also medium-term and long-term invest-ment solutions for sustainedwealth creation for allinvestors, he said.

"Even during distress situa-tion like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, investors havethe option to continue, defer,suspend or discontinue theirinvestments in mutual fundschemes," Sharma said.

Investment in mutual fundspaves the way for better returnthan a savings bank account,he added.

Mutual funds offertransparent options

PNSn NEW DELHI

Australia-based REA GroupLtd will hike its stake to takecontrolling interest in ElaraTechnologies, which ownsthree leading realty portals inIndia including Housing.com,in a cash and equity deal esti-mated up to USD 70 million.

US-based News Corp,which has a majority stake inonline realty firm REA group,will also increase its stake inElara Technologies to 38.9 percent from 22.1 per cent byacquiring preference sharesworth USD 34.5 million.

REA Group said in a state-ment that it has "entered intoa binding agreement toincrease its ownership interestin Elara Technologies Pte Ltd."

On completion of the deal,REA will hold five out of nineboard seats and is expected tohave a shareholding between47.2 per cent and 61.1 per cent,it added. "The total consider-ation for the transaction isexpected to be in the range ofUSD 50 million-USD 70 mil-

lion with USD 34.5 millionpayable out of existing cashreserves and the balance innewly issued REA shares,"REA said.According to marketsources, the deal has beenentered at an enterprise valueof over USD 160 million(around Rs 1,200 crore).

REA to buy controlling stake in Elara for up toUSD 70 mn; News Corp to hike stake

PNSn NEW DELHI

The Union Cabinet onThursday raised the price ofethanol for doping in petrolby 5-8 per cent, I&B MinisterPrakash Javadekar said.

The move will help farm-ers get remunerative pricewhile also cutting down oilimports, he said.

As much as 10 per centethanol is doped in petrol.

The move also checkspollution as ethanol is envi-ronment-friendly, the minis-ter added.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Markets regulator Sebi hasimposed a fine on an employ-ee of Biocon Ltd for violatinginsider trading norms whiledealing in the company'sshares.

The employee, P Ravishankar (noticee), general manag-er of the project department ofBiocon at the time of investi-gation and also a designatedperson, has been penalised Rs

3 lakh by the regulator for vio-lating provisions of theProhibition of Insider Trading(PIT) norms.

The watchdog conducted

an investigation with respectto his transactions betweenAugust 31, 2018, and October1, 2018.

The investigation carriedout by the regulator foundthat Ravishankar, who held19,500 shares of the compa-ny, acquired through exerciseof employee stock optionplan (ESOP), sold 5,000shares in September 2018without seeking pre-clear-ance from the compliance

officer. He had also indulgedin contra trades of buyingand selling shares, Sebinoted. In terms of PITRegulations, every promoter,employee and director ofevery company shall discloseto the company the numberof securities acquired or dis-posed of within two tradingdays of the transaction if thevalue of the securities trad-ed crosses a certain thresh-old.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Teachmint, an online teachingplatform, on Thursday said ithas raised USD 3.5 million(about Rs 25.9 crore) in seedfunding, led by LightspeedIndia and existing investors,Better Capital and TitanCapital.

This is the second round offunding for Teachmint after itraised its first round in Augustthis year, a statement said.

Teachmint will leverage thisfunding for building out itsproduct suite, introducingadditional offerings andincreasing geographic reach tomore tutors, it added.

Launched in May this yearby Mihir Gupta, Payoj Jain,Divyansh Bordia andAnshuman Kumar, Teachmintenables offline tutors to digi-tise their classrooms, engageonline with existing studentsas well as reach out to a widerstudent base. Teachmint has

developed a mobile-first,video-first product thatenables ease of content deliv-ery, engagement and evalua-tion and business workflowtools. Within five months oflaunch, Teachmint has addedmore than 1.2 lakh tutorsacross over 1,000 cities andtowns to its platform.

Harsha Kumar, Partner atLightspeed India, said India'stutoring and coaching marketis estimated to be over USD 25billion, and is fragmented intomillions of tutors and coach-ing centres.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Ahead of starting the nextwave of gas production fromthe KG basin, UK-based super-major BP Plc has pitched foroil and gas producers sharingtheir infrastructure to helpcut costs and monetise smalland marginal discoveries.

BP, which in partnershipwith Reliance Industries Ltd isinvesting USD 5 billion indeveloping three sets of discov-eries in the Krishna Godavaribasin block KG-D6, also want-ed sanctity of contracts to be

honoured and policy stability.Speaking at the India Energy

Forum of CERAWeek, BP'sIndia head Sashi Mukundansaid policy and decision mak-ing must support raising

domestic oil and gas produc-tion by adopting best interna-tional practices. He also madea case for offering incentivesfor doing better than targetedproduction rather than impos-ing penalties.

"One of the things that sur-prised me when I came toIndia was that you don't seeupstream companies workingtogether and sharing infra-structure," he said, giving anexample of a hub called Nikarathat BP and Royal Dutch Shellhave created in the Gulf ofMexico.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Debt-ridden telecom firmVodafone Idea on Thursdayreported narrowing of itsconsolidated loss to Rs7,218.2 crore for the quarterended September 2020.

The company had posted aloss of Rs 50,897.9 crore inthe same quarter of the pre-vious fiscal on account ofmaking provisions for statu-tory due payments. Totalincome declined by about 3per cent to Rs 10,830.5 croreduring the reported quarter,from Rs 11,146.4 crore in thecorresponding period of2019-20. Vodafone Idea MDand CEO Ravinder Takkarsaid while challenges relatedto COVID-19 continue, thesecond quarter has shownsigns of recovery with a grad-ual improvement in econom-ic activities.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Drug firm Laurus Labs onThursday reported an overfour-fold jump in its consoli-dated net profit to Rs 242.27crore for the quarter ended inSeptember on account ofrobust sales.

The company had posted anet profit of Rs 56.55 crore forthe corresponding period of

the previous fiscal, LaurusLabs said in a filing to BSE.

Consolidated revenue fromoperations of the companystood at Rs 1,138.84 crore for thequarter under consideration. Itwas Rs 712.42 crore for the sameperiod a year ago, it added. Theboard of directors has approvedan interim dividend of 80 paiseper equity share of Rs 2 each, thefiling said.

PNSn NEW DELHI

The government onThursday banned exports ofonion seeds with immediateeffect amidst rising prices ofthe bulb in the domesticmarkets.

Earlier, the export of onionseeds was in the restrictedcategory, which means anexporter was required toobtain a licence or permissionfrom the government forshipments.

"The export of onion seedsis prohibited, with immediateeffect," the DirectorateGeneral of Foreign Trade(DGFT) said in a notification.

It added that the provisionsunder transitional arrange-ment shall not be applicable.

Teachmint raises $3.5mn fromLightspeed India, others

Sebi fines Biocon staff for violating norms

BP pitches for infra sharing with cos like ONGC

Govt hikesethanol price by 5-8pc

Vodafone IdeaQ2 lossnarrows

Laurus Labs Q2 net profit jumpsover four-fold to Rs 242.27 cr

Govt bansexport ofonion seeds

The production of

eight core sectors

had contracted 5.1

per cent in

September 2019,

data released by

the Commerce and

Industry Ministry

showed

Plastics Exports Promotion Council

of India (PLEXCONCIL) Chairman

Ravish Kamath said that exports are

growing as customers in Europe and

the US are looking at India as a

reliable supplier

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FridayOctober 30, 2020

Few actors in theentertainment industry

have always mesmerisedthe audiences with their

outstandingperformances! Fewer ofthem have successfullycreated a huge impact.

One such actor, who hasproved his dedication

towards the craft bydelivering a flawless

performance is GaganAnand. Tinsel town’srising star Gagan has

been enthralling viewersall over the country with

his charming looks andversatility ever since he

released the teaser of hisupcoming web series

Bicchoo Ka Khel. Thismulti-talented actor,through his differentqualities, has left theaudience wanting for

more. He talks to The Pioneer’s

SHIKHA DUGGAL onhis journey, his latest

projects, dream role and more

hat made youtake up thisproject?

Dark rolesalways fascinat-

ed me. This is a very com-plex character with unlitundertones of revenge, sex-uality and politics. Apartfrom my character, theoverall story and dialoguesare so cool that I couldn’tsay no to it. Ashish Shuklais the director of the seriesand he’s as humble as canbe. I saw Undekhi earlier, itreally made me want towork with him. His mainfocus has always been toextract incredible perfor-mances from his actors.

How was the shootingexperience post anextensive lockdown?

With proper precautionsand norms laid by the gov-ernment, we started shoot-ing. I was extremely happyto resume shooting. We’vecome back with even morepositive energy for theshoot. Everybody is takingprecautions and wearingprotective gears, sometimesfunnily leading to confu-sions about who’s who. Weare very positive and Ihope everything will go

smoothly. We are comingto meet our audiences!

Tell us somethingabout your characterand how you preppedfor it?

I am playing an assassinwho is hired to kill people.In real life, I am a man offew words but reel life dif-fers, I was asked to adorn aBanarasi accent. I did acouple of readings with thedialogue writer andworked religiously on myphysique. Due to the lock-down, the gyms were shut,so I had to work extra formy body and maintain abalanced diet. There willbe disputes and moneyetc., with some startlingaction sequences.Hopefully, this series willstand out! Will I succeed?To know more about it,wait for me to nail it inBicchoo Ka Khel.

How was it workingwith Mirzapur-fameDivyendu Sharma?

Amazing fun — he is agreat actor and we all knowit. Outdoor shoots wereeven more fun with him.Though we were runningon a busy schedule inBanaras, he always man-

aged to find time to chillafter pack-up. We were bal-ancing work with fun!

What’s your dreamrole?

Referred to as the tale oflust and valour, my dreamrole has always been toplay Allauddin Khilji fromPadmavat because I look toraise the bar. The charactercomes across as very royal,opulent, grand and breath-taking. I would love toexperiment with an eye-catchy look like that, simi-lar to one of the charactersfrom Game of Thrones.

How do you think OTTplatforms are chang-ing the dynamics?

Thanks to OTT, I didn’tsit at home for even a sec-ond in these last two yearsapart from the lockdown.It has changed our livesdrastically! We all havebecome so busybecause of it. Talkingabout creativity, OTThas given us the liber-ty to express ourthoughts and present itin our own uncensoredmanner. OTT is absolutelythe new flavour of the sea-son and has already beenaccepted by the audiences.

TALE OF THEBANARASI BABUW

arlier this week,Hyderabad’supscale restau-rant Olive Bistrohosted a diningexperience of a

different kind. With socialdistancing being the newand accepted norm for in-house dining, as well as fiftypercent occupancy, whatbetter way to ensure it thangetting mannequins tooccupy a couple of tables?

“While mannequins arebeing used globally at thefinest restaurants in Paris,London and New York toensure social distancing, weat Olive took the trend astep ahead by dressing themannequins in haute cou-ture,” shares ShaazMehmood, partner OliveBistro Hyderabad.

So, couturier GauravGupta, who opened theIndia Couture Week 2020conducted digitally thisSeptember, (India’s first-evervirtual fashion show of thisscale) gets to showcase hisethereal wedding gowns inall their drapy silouhettesfor a fortnight from now.“We are planning#TheBistroRunway as a bi-monthly affair, so in twoweeks from now, it will bedesigner duo Shantanu &Nikhil who will get to show-case their collections andgoing forward, we will beperhaps continuing withother designers,” addsShaaz.

Perceived as a win-winsituation for both thedesigner and the restaurant,it is the closest one can getto a physical fashion show,minus the models and theramp walk, of course, in thisCovid era.

“It is a brand collabora-tion of the best kind, thedesigner gets brand visibility

which might get convertedto orders and for the restau-rant, it adds to both visualquotient and the footfalls,hopefully,” opines RajveerKaur, marketing and PRprofessional.

For diners who wereinvited to this select pre-view, sipping on their G&T’sand chomping Prawn Fritti,fashion zoomed into focus,with the city’s best fashionbloggers getting a preview ofthe season’s collections.

For fashionpreneurs likeKamini Saraf, online cus-tomisation and fittings arethe way forward, althoughAngasutra, the high-enddesigner store, which shepartners, recently launchedphysically, the hugely popu-lar online designer shoppingportal Pernia’s Pop-Up

Studio and is now currentlyhosting a high-end jewelleryshowcase by Raj Mahtani.“In the US and Europedesigner brands are heldliable for size misfits etc. InIndia, perfection in brandsis yet to be realised, there-fore I would always preferphysical shopping and cus-tomised fittings, whereverpossible. Having said that, Idon’t think I have shoppedas much online in all theseyears as I have done duringthe pandemic,” addsKamini, who had to foregohosting the triannualFashion Yatra, for the firsttime in fifteen years.

“We had a sale of ManishMalhotra’s collections atAngasutra, which did fabu-lously well, but I thought weshould also practise some

business ethics by not host-ing physical exhibitions,especially in cases likeFashion Yatra, which hasdesigners participating fromacross the country, and inthis situation I could noteven think of hosting it atall this year,” adds Kamini.

But what about recessionand the loss of jobs andbusiness revenues, isn’t thatimpacting high-end design-er brand sales? “I think thebiggest takeaway fromCorona is that we are per-haps learning the morehumane values of life, likecompassion and patience.We have seen bigger strug-gles this year, people strug-gling to hold onto their jobsand lives, migrants to theirhomes etc. And workingfrom home has meant that

we are prioritising comfortand our ego of how I shoulddress up and look my best,has taken a backseat,” sharesShivani Mohan, brand host-ess of dining app DineoutPassport, and a spiffy dress-

er. “One doesn’t know whenthe cycle will rebound andour vanities will return, buttill that time haute couturewill be only endorsed dur-ing weddings and by theaffluent. Also, the resulting

bar on socialising and big-ticket events has meant thatshoppers like me who feeltempted to buy for everyoccasion have learnt to reinin temptation and make dowith one’s wardrobes, recy-cling and revamping,” addsShivani.

“Online shopping is cer-tainly the way forward andis here to stay,” agrees mar-keting consultant ShailyaMehta Bhandari, who hel-ped design and curate ThePink Flamingo, an onlineluxury shopping extrava-ganza, which was hosted bythe Ladies Circle of theRound Table, Rotary Clubof India recently this month.

The portal offered a greatplatform for displaying skillsets of locked-down, cre-ative women who had stuffranging from clothes (bothfor men, women and chil-dren), lifestyle accessories toedibles for showcasing.“Interestingly, we had par-ticipants from outsideHyderabad too and while itwas initially slated for 3days, we eventually had sellers exhorting us toextend it for two more days,as they were doing verywell. The sale proceeds,which came from theexhibitor’s fees went towardsa NGO in Domakunda,which offers vocational

training to women,” addsShailya.

With Diwali and the mar-riage season round the cor-ner, can fashion designersstill afford to be high-end?“My friend in Hyderabadshopped for an AnamikaKhanna outfit from herstore in Mumbai and got awhopping 50 percent dis-count after the designer'steam did extensive videocalling and back and forth,”shares Shailya.

“For any wedding, be itTelugu or Marwari orPunjabi, there is a givenbudget for brideswear. But Iguess the pre-weddingevents this year like sangeet,mehendi will see recycledwardrobes not just for thefamilies, but also for thebride and groom. Also,fashion industry is hugelylabour-intensive and thisyear, there are fewer collec-tions, and even in pret wear,like Zara and H&M, you seethe same old stuff beingrecycled,” adds Kamini.

Clearly this year is not thebest place to ve for design-ers, as prudence will rule fora while, till the vaccinecomes along and the econo-my bounds back. Till then,happy window-shopping fornot-so-urgent shoppers andprudent negotiations for theserious buyers!

ESWATI SUCHARITA, Senior journalist

Fashion Forward 2020

Olive took the globaltrend of maintainingsocial distancingusing mannequins astep ahead bydressing them up inhaute couture

REFERRED TO ASTHE TALE OF LUSTAND VALOUR,GAGAN'S DREAMROLE ISALLAUDDINKHILJI FROMPADMAVAT,BECAUSEHE LOOKSTO RAISETHEBAR.

Olive BBistrolaunches iits#TheBistroRunwayinitiative wwithGaurav GGupta

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Hyderabad Friday October 30 2020

‘AAHWANAM’TO WELCOME ALL

Event management firm Vajra Group, forayed into thehospitality industry with its first venture Aahwanam —The Convention Centre, that was formally inaugurated

by Chief Guest Sampoornesh Babu, Satish Jai, Sanjosh,Bishnu Adhikari, SumanPrasad, and Karteek.

FUN

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

Yesterday’s solution

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Hyderabad Friday October 30 2020tollywood

CHANDINI TO HEADLINE A THRILLER ON LINGUISTIC FORENSICS

The Vizag girl, who is basking in the glory of Colour

Photo, will be seen in a challenging and interesting rolein the untitled film written by lyricist-filmmaker Krishna

Chaitanya, reports NAGARAJ GOUDesides being a promi-nent lyricist who haspenned some block-buster songs, KrishnaChaitanya has provedhis range and depth as

a script writer with his directorialefforts, Rowdy Fellow and ChalMohan Ranga. Before he embarkson the ambitious journey ofdirecting his two-part high-volt-age political drama, Power Peta,with Nithiin from early next year,the director, The Pioneer hasexclusively learnt, has penned astory, which has been picked upby a new production house head-ed by Charan.

A source close to the develop-ment tells us, “It’s a female-cen-tric thriller on linguistic foren-sics. The subject matter is some-

thing new to the Telugu audienceand Charan is upbeat about it. Hehas roped in Chandini Chowdaryto spearhead it, while debutantKalyan, a mass communicationsstudent who has been an assistantdirector on multiple films in therecent past, has been signed on tohelm it. Chandini has got a chal-lenging and interesting role. Sheneeds to prep extensively for itbefore filming.”

The source adds that filmingwill commence next month inHyderabad and the makers are inthe process of finalising the tech-nical crew and other cast mem-bers. “The official announcementis around the corner. KrishnaChaitanya has also written thefilm’s dialogues,” the source con-cludes.

B

Sam thanksuncle Nag forhelping her‘overcomehosting fears'

amanthaAkkineni, whohosted anepisode ofpopular realityshow Bigg Boss

4 last week due to theunavailability of hersuperstar uncleNagarjuna, dubbed theexperience as somethingshe will remember.Taking to her Instagramspace on Thursday, theactress, who hasn'twatched a single episodeof the show before takingover the hosting duties,extended thanks toNagarjuna for helpingher overcome her jitters.“An experience toremember… Neverthought I'd be on the BigBoss stage as host ! Only

because I was given thisresponsibility by myMamagaru.. I could findthe strength to overcomemy fears… the fear that Ihad no experience host-ing , the fear of Telugu ..I had never even watchedan episode before..Thankyou mama forhelping me overcome myfears and trusting mewith this (sic),” she wrote.

Although the critics mayhave been divided on herhosting skills, she is happyfor all the love she receivedafter the episode. “I wasjumping with joy And GKMohan garu for handhold-ing me through a verydemanding Maha episodeof #bigbossseason4,” shewrote further.

SFlaunting bridal glow

The wedding festivities of Kajal Aggarwal, who will tie the knot withentrepreneur Gautam Kitchlu today in Mumbai, are at full-swing at herhouse. On Thursday, she posted a picture from the mehendi

ceremony, flaunting the deep colour of henna on her hands. She wasdressed in a mint green salwar suit with golden chandbalis, while being allsmiles for the camera. She captioned the picture stating,“#kajgautkitched”.

treaming on aha since lastweek, Colour Photo, frontedby Suhas, ChandiniChowdary and Sunil, con-tinues to be a beneficiary ofpositive feedback from the

industry. After the likes of Ravi Teja,Nani and Sai Tej, the latest to haveraved about the film is actor JagapathiBabu. Taking to Twitter, the senioractor said that the film’s success is a tes-timony to the fact it is heart and soulthat makes a film to succeed but notstardom and money. “I am glad thisfilm once again proves that it is not justthe currency and stardom that makesmovie a hit..it is more heart andsoul...most of the times I wonder aboutwhat am I doing here when the young-sters are pacing far more ahead in cre-

ativity and naturality (sic),” the actorposted on Thursday.

Lauding the efforts of the principalteam, he added, “Seeing what I believedin. I am totally impressed by watching#ColourPhoto. super kid@SandeepRaaajdid a great job for hisage. @ActorSuhas a good actor provedto be a hero, @kaalabhairava7 whom Iam really fond of as a person and hissensibilities of music always impressesme (sic),” Jagapathi wrote.

Actor Satyadev too posted an appre-ciation message on Thursday. “Beensome time since I’ve watched a touch-ing love story. Edipinchesaru ! Love youmy darlings for making a beautiful film.Every department excelled and thus wehave a smile,” he wrote on Twitter tag-ging the film’s key team.C

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SandamuriBalakrishna’suntitled nextwith BoyapatiSreenu hasresumed in

Hyderabad on Thursday-nearly eight months afterits shoot was put onpause mode due to thepandemic. While themakers confirmed thesame, they refused toreveal information about

whether Balayya hadjoined the sets onThursday or not.

The film’s team, how-ever, is following safetyprotocols. The presentschedule will go uninter-rupted until December 3,with majority of thefilming set to take placeat Ramoji Film City,Hyderabad.

In the action-enter-tainer with an underly-

ing social message,Balayya will be seen indual roles — of whichone role is that of anaghora. Expectations arehigh on this untitled filmas it marks the reteamingup of the actor andBoyapati after successfulventures like Simha andLegend in the past.Produced by M RavinderReddy, the film hasmusic by Thaman.

Balayya-Boyapatifilm back on sets

N

Allari Nareshcompletes Naandhi

he filming of AllariNaresh’s next,Naandhi, withdebutant directorVijayKanakamedala has

been wrapped up, film’s pro-ducer Satish Vegesna said onThursday. Before the pan-demic forced the unit to takean extensive break of sixmonths, the film was 90 per-cent wrapped up.

Inspired by a true story, thefilm follows an undertrial(played by Naresh) brought to

Chanchalguda prison,Hyderabad, for a crime thathe didn’t commit. A hard-hit-ting social drama, it will drawattention to the torture hefaces at the hands of cops andhow he finally comes out ofthe prison.

The film, which is Naresh’s57, co-stars VaralakshmiSarathkumar, Priyadarshi,Praveen, Harish Uttaman,and Devi Prasad in support-ing roles. A Sri Charan Pakalamusica, it has dialogues bypopular writer Abburi Ravi.

T

MELBOURNE: Australia on Thursdayincluded young all-rounder CameronGreen in their T20 and ODI squadfor the limited-overs series againstIndia while Moises Henriquesreturned to national fold after threeyears following his exploits in the BigBash League.

India will play three ODIs(November 27, 29,December 2) and as manyT20Is (December 4, 6, 8)against Australia.

“Cameron’s domesticform has been outstandingand he has carried itthrough for WesternAustralia this summer.As a potential player ofthe future this is anopportunity for him tobe part of the squad andbuild on his experience,”national selector TrevorHohns was quoted assaying by Cricket Australia.

Australia have focussed on bat-ting all-rounders while picking their

limited overs squad.Henriques had led Sydney Sixers

to KFC Big Bash title last summerwith a strike rate close to 150.

“Moises is a tremendous cricketerwith loads of experience and is a greatperson to have around the group. Hisform was extremely impressive inleading the Sixers to the BBL title lastsummer and he has played well at thestart of this season,” Hohns said.

Mitchell Marsh, who injured hisankle during the ongoing IPL, wasnot considered but he may make acomeback to the side for the A side

before the Test series.ODI & T20 squad: AaronFinch (C), Sean Abbott,

Ashton Agar, Alex Carey ,Pat Cummins (vc),Cameron Green, JoshHazlewood, Moises

Henriques, MarnusLabuschagne, Glenn Maxwell,Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson,

Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, MarcusStoinis, Matthew Wade, DavidWarner and Adam Zampa. PTI

PTI n ABU DHABI

Arampaging Kings XI Punjabwould look to extend their

exceptional run and inch clos-er to a Play-offs berth whileRajasthan Royals would be des-perate to stay alive in the tour-nament when the two sidesclash, here on Friday.

It has been a dramatic turn-around for the KL Rahul-ledside after a string a losses earli-er in the tournament.

They have managed toweave together five consecutivewins against the top four sidesin the tournament, infusing lifeinto their campaign. They are infourth position with 12 pointsfrom as many games, while theRoyals have slumped to thepenultimate spot with 10 pointshaving suffered seven defeatsfrom 12 outings.

It’s a mad scramble for theplay-offs. With Mumbai Indians

all but through, six teams are inthe hunt for the remainingthree spots.

The Royals can’t afford toslip up, if they lose on Fridaythey will be out of the reckon-ing while a defeat for Punjab willdent their chances for a top-fourfinish.

They wouldexpect their skipperRahul, the leadingrun-scorer of thetournament, to firein the crucial gameafter three under-whelming per-f o r m a n c e swith the bat.

T h eaddition ofChris Gaylehas donewonders forthe team’sconfidence.

It is to be seen if Mayank

Agarwal, who missed twogames with a bruised knee,returns to the side. In hisabsence, Mandeep Singh rev-elled in the role of an openerwith a match-winningunbeaten 66 in the winagainst Kolkata KnightRiders.

Punjab’s bowl-ing, which has been theirweakest link throughoutthe tournament, has been

exceptional in their recentwins, choking the oppo-

sition for runs.The Royals will

also be high on con-fidence after theirmorale boostingwin over tabletoppers Mumbaiand would bedesperate tokeep the win-ning momen-tum going.

The biggest positive for theRoyals is Ben Stokes roaringback to form after rusty displaysin previous five outings. TheEnglish all-rounder, who has

been elevated to therole of opener,smashed an unbeaten107 to help seal aseven-wicket win

over Mumbai.Sanju Samson is also back

among runs, while Jos Buttlerhas looked erratic. That skipperSteve Smith is in the middle ofa lean patch will augur well forKXIP.

The Jofra Archer-led bowl-ing attack has looked ordinary.The Barbados-born Englishpacer, who is having a stellarindividual season with 17 wick-ets from 12 matches with aneconomy of 6.71, has done mostof the heavy lifting with the ballwithout adequate support fromthe rest of the bowlers.

KL Rahul 595 runs

Kagiso Rabada 23 wickets

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2020

12

MOTION PICTURE

DUGOUTHe (Suryakumar) has had a goodtournament and today he was thedifference, getting that score andscoring as quickly as he did. (He)put Chahal under pressure, withsome good boundaries and sixes

We always spoke about one ofthe top three batters, or top fourbatters, bat all the way throughif you are chasing and win thegame for us. He (Surya) hasdone that more often than not

It is (opening innings) somethingthat I have sort of always wantedto slowly and gradually get into.So yeah, really enjoying theopportunity and responsibility I'vebeen given here at the Royals

The team management andRohit told me before the startof the tournament that youhave played enough to takethe game deep. I am glad Ihave been able to do it

TODAY

Live from 7:30pmSTAR SSPORTS 11

VVSS

Old tweets of Suryakumar Yadav praising RCB skipper Virat Kohlihave resurfaced after Surya's match-winning knock for Mumbai

POINTS TABLEP W L NRR PTS

1 MI 12 8 4 +1.186 16

2 RCB 12 7 5 +0.048 14

3 DC 12 7 5 +0.030 14

4 KXIP 12 6 6 -0.049 12

5 KKR 13 6 7 -0.467 12

6 SRH 12 5 7 +0.396 10

7 RR 12 5 7 -0.505 10

8 CSK 13 5 8 -0.532 10

MATCHES 20

KINGS XI PUNJAB 09

RAJASTHAN ROYALS 11

AFP n TURIN

Marcus Rashford was again the starfor Manchester United in the

Champions League with a hat-trick in a5-0 thumping of RB Leipzig onWednesday as Barcelona put their off-field troubles to one side to win 2-0 awayto a Juventus side deprived of CristianoRonaldo.

Rashford’s late goal earnedUnited a 2-1 victory away to ParisSaint-Germain last week and at OldTrafford, the England striker cameon as a second-half substitute andscored three times from the 74thminute on in what was a fine winagainst last season’s semi-final-ists.

Paul Pogba releasedMason Greenwood to openthe scoring in the first half,before the youngster madeway for Rashford after thebreak and Ole GunnarSolskjaer’s side ran awaywith the game to make it twowins from two in Group H.

Anthony Martial alsonetted from the penaltyspot as United ruthlesslyexposed the side whocurrently top theG e r m a nBundesliga andwent clear at the topof the section.

“We looked dangerousthroughout and that wecould score every time we

went forward,” said Rashford. “It was areal team performance.”

Meanwhile PSG got theircampaign up and running bybeating Istanbul Basaksehir 2-0

in Turkey, although they lostNeymar to an adductor injuryin the first half.

Both PSG’s goals werescored in the second half by

Moise Kean, the on-loan Evertonstriker heading in Kylian Mbappe’scorner in the 64th minute andthen turning to fire in the sec-ond late on.

B A R C ABOUNCE BBACK

In Turin,B a r c e l o n a

bounced backfrom their week-

end defeat in theClasico against Real

Madrid and shut out theboardroom crisis which led to

president Josep MariaBartomeu resigning onTuesday.

Ronald Koeman’sside had luck on theirside as they took the

lead through a

deflected Ousmane Dembele strike andthen saw Alvaro Morata have three goalsdisallowed for offside for the hosts.

The absence of Ronaldo because ofa positive coronavirus test meant nochance to see him renew his on-fieldrivalry with Lionel Messi, but theArgentine got his name on the scoresheetlate on, netting a stoppage-time penaltyto seal Barca’s second victory in as manyGroup G outings.

“This was our best game all season,”said Koeman.

Juve had Turkish defender MerihDemirel sent off late on as their under-whelming start to the season under

novice coach Andrea Pirlo contin-ued.

Their next game is away atFerencvaros, who came from behindto draw 2-2 with 10-man DynamoKiev in Budapest.

ZIYECH IIMPRESSESIn Group E Chelsea were compre-

hensive 4-0 winners away to Krasnodarin Russia, with Jorginho missing apenalty before Callum Hudson-Odoiopened the scoring.

Timo Werner smashed in a spot-kickon 76 minutes to double Chelsea’s lead,with Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisicadding late goals.

Sevilla beat Rennes 1-0 in the samesection with Luuk de Jong scoring theonly goal.

Borussia Dortmund claimed theirfirst points in Group F with JadonSancho’s 78th-minute penalty and ErlingBraut Haaland’s stoppage-time strikesecuring a 2-0 win over Zenit Saint-Petersburg.

The Germans are a point behindLazio and Club Brugge, who drew 1-1 inBelgium with a Hans Vanaken penaltysecuring a draw for the hosts.

Lionel Messi hugs Leonardo Bonucci after Barcabeat Juventus in Turin on Wednesday AP

Rohit Sharma knew it way before that Suryakumar has the potentialto be a big player. In his tweet that he posted way back in 2011,Rohit Sharma had stated that his IPL and state teammateSuryakumar would be a player to watch out for in future.

Former cricketer Manoj Tiwary praised Team India head coach RaviShastri's tweet on Suryakumar Yadav after his match-winningknock against Royal Challengers Bangalore

MORRIS, HARDIK REPRIMANDED RCB all-rounder Chris Morris and his Mumbai Indians'counterpart Hardik Pandya have been reprimanded for averbal altercation during their teams' IPL clash. Theincident took place in the 19th over of MI's chase whenPandya struck Morris for a massive six and gesturedtowards the South African. Morris got his revenge whenhe dismissed Pandya in the fifth ball of the over and gavehim a send off. A press release from the IPL said that bothof them admitted to breaching the Code of Conduct.

FEELING VERY GOOD, SAYS KAPIL DEVA week after undergoing angioplasty, the legendary KapilDev on Thursday greeted his former India teammates fromthe 1983 World Cup, saying he is “feeling very good” andeager to meet everyone soon. The 61-year-old underwentthe procedure after suffering a heart attack. “My family 83.The weather is very pleasant and I am very eager to meetyou all. I am feeling very good. Thanks to all for yourwishes and concern,” an enthusiastic Kapil, dressed in apurple T-shirt, said in a video which he shared with his1983 teammates. “I am hoping that we all will meet prettysoon. I will try to meet you all as early as possible. Wehave approached the end of the year and I am confidentthat we will have a great start to next year. Love you all,”he added.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Chennai Super Kings’ unflinchingreliance on experience over youth has

been their undoing this IPL season, saidWest Indies batting icon Brian Lara, urg-ing the franchise to give its younger lota chance in the remaining games. One ofthe most successful sides in the historyof the tournament, CSK are languishingat the bottom of the points table. Whilemost sides nurture youngsters, that hasnot been the case with the MahendraSingh Dhoni led side, often referred toas Dads Army.

“I think they (CSK) have got a lot ofolder players. There are not any youngplayers coming through the line-up.You look at it. Even their overseas play-ers, they have been around for a longtime,” Lara said on Star Sports’ SelectDugout.

“So, they have backed experienceover youth, and this has really turnedupside down for them,” he added.

It is the first time Dhoni and his menhave failed to clear the league stage, hav-ing managed only eight points so far afterfour wins.

The three-time champions’ poor runthis season has put a question-mark ontheir approach, leading to heavy criticismof Dhoni, who has been accused of notshowing enough faith in the youngsters.

“It’s just an unbelievable season so far.You know, every time they turn up, we’revery hopeful that CSK is going to turnit around,” Lara said.

“We all came here thinking this wasgoing to be the time when Dhoni turnsthings around with his team. And gameafter game, it just went, and they just kepthoping.”

“But it’s a situation where they canjust to try to build from next year. In thefew coming games that they have, seewhat they can do with the younger play-ers they’ve got,” Lara said.

PTI n DUBAI

Opener Nitish Rana's 87and a late burst helpedKolkata Knight Riders

get to 172 for five againstChennai Super Kings in an IPLmatch here onThursday.Following Rana's 61-ball effort, cameos from skip-per Eoin Morgan (15 off 12)and Dinesh Karthik (21 notout off 10) allowed KKR to putup a competitive total. CSK, who pulled things backin the middle overs after a finestart from KKR openers Rana

and Shubman Gill (26 off 17),leaked 66 runs in the last fiveovers.Lungi Ngidi (2/34) wasthe best bowler for CSK whileSam Curran also bowled wellearly on.

The KKR innings was builtlargely on Rana's knock whichcomprised 10 fours, foursixes.The southpaw mixed cau-tion with aggression and over-came a sluggish period in themiddle overs with some love-ly shots.Rana hit three consec-utive sixes off Karn Sharma inthe 16th over to up the ante asKKR looked for quick

runs.Sent in to bat, KKR got offto a solid start with Gill andRana putting on 53 runs for thefirst wicket.Gill looked in goodtouch and hit four boundariesbefore falling to leggieSharma.Sunil Narine (7), sentin at number three, smashedthe second ball for a six and fellfour balls later, unable to cleara Mitchell Santner deliverywith Ravindra Jadeja taking thecatch.KKR decided to sendRinku Singh, who was pickedfor the first time this season,ahead of Morgan at numberfour.

SAARBRUCKEN: Indian shuttlersAjay Jayaram and ShubhankarDey were on Thursday forcedout of the SaarLorLux Openafter being put in isolationowing to contact with Covid-19positive father-cum-coach ofdefending champion LakshyaSen, who has already with-drawn.

The 19-year-old Lakshyawithdrew on Wednesday afterhis father D K Sen returned apositive test for the virus.

“BWF can confirm threeplayers have been withdrawnfrom the SaarLorLux Open 2020as a precautionary measure forall participants after they were incontact with a member of theirteam entourage who tested pos-itive for COVID-19,” the BWFsaid in a statement. “The threeplayers: Lakshya Sen, AjayJayaram and Subhankar Dey willnot compete further in the tour-nament, which began onTuesday,” it added.

Later, Jayaram, in a Twitterpost tagging sports ministerKiren Rijiju, the national bad-minton federation and BWF,said that he and Dey would liketo return to India as the organ-isers have not given them anyinformation or assistance apart

from asking them to isolate.The Sports Authority of

India assured that it will pay forthe expenses to be incurred bythe two players “for the lengthof their quarantine in Germanyfrom October 30 to November10, on humanitarian grounds.”

“SAI will be paying a totalof ̀ 1.46 lakh for their hotel stayand food expenses and willrelease 90 percent of the amountimmediately,” SAI said in astatement. PTI

Rawalpindi: The Pakistanteam management has left outthe promising duo of batsmanHaider Ali and uncappedAbdullah Shafique in its 15-member squad for Friday’sfirst ODI against Zimbabwe inRawalpindi.

Vice-captain Shadab Khanwas not considered after beingruled out of the first match dueto stiffness in his left upper-leg.

Senior batsmanMohammad Hafeez and youngfast bowler MohammadHasnain were also not pickedeven though they were namedin a preliminary squad, likeHaider and Shafique, last weekfor the white-ball series againstthe visitors.

Pakistan’s top batsman,Babar Azam, will be leading theteam for the first time in anODI series and said he want-ed to start his tenure on a win-ning note.

“I’m keen on winning theODIs as this is my first seriesas captain,” said Azam.

“No team is easy in inter-national cricket so we won’ttake Zimbabwe lightly.” PTI

PTI n NEW DELHI

Mahendra Singh Dhoniand Chennai Super

Kings owners share suchmutual trust and fabulousrelationship that he could beretained as captain of the sidein 2021 despite enduring anabysmal IPL season in theUAE, says former India open-er Gautam Gambhir.

“I keep saying that whyCSK is CSK is because of therelationship between the own-ers and the captain. Theyhave given all the freedom toMS, and MS has received allthe mutual respect from theowners as well,” Gambhir wasquoted as saying byESPNcricinfo.

“So I would not be sur-prised if they continue withMS and MS plays till the time

he wants to play. And thennext year he still continues tobe the captain and have amuch different squad thanwhat he has this time around.”

“He deserves that much ofappreciation from the owners.”

The 39-year-old Dhoni’sfuture has come under scruti-ny in the wake of CSK’smediocre performances in theongoing IPL.

Gambhir, who flourishedunder Dhoni’s captaincy ininternational cricket, pointedout his overall record as CSKskipper.

“What he has done for thefranchise and how the fran-chise actually deals with MSand treats MS is a fabulousrelationship.

“And that is how everyfranchise should deal withtheir captain, who has deliv-

ered for them.”Gambhir said, “MS has

won them three (IPL) tro-phies, couple of ChampionsLeagues, he has made themone of the top successful sidesin the IPL after MumbaiIndians.

“So CSK saying they aregoing to continue with MS —it is just the relationship, it isjust the mutual respect.

“That’s why MS has beenso loyal (to the Super Kings).That’s why MS has giveneverything: heart and soul, hissweat, sleepless nights — I’msure he must have had sleep-less nights while he has con-tinued captaining CSK.”

Earlier, the CSK manage-ment has said that Dhoniwould be retained at the nextmega auction, which is likelyto be held in 2022.

Backing experienceover youth backfiredfor Chennai: Lara

KXIP meet Royals in must-win game

Jayaram, Subhankar seek to return

after withdrawal over Covid-19 contactPakistan leave out Haider Alifor 1st ODI

Oz include Green for India series

Hat-trick hero RashfordSubstitute Marcus nets thrice in Utd’s 5-0 win; Barca beat Cristiano-less Juve

CSK SPOIL KKR’S PARTY

Won't be surprised if MS leadsCSK in 2021: Gambhir

Nitish Rana reacts after scoring his fifty against Chennai Super Kings IPLT20