RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 4 ISSUE 197

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Month & Paksham:

Tithi: Trayodashi: Apr 28 12:24 AM

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Nakshatram:

Uttara Bhadrapada: Apr 27 05:05 PM

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TTOODDAAYY

HYDERABAD WEATHER

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao became emo-tional and broke down at the party'sFoundation Day on Wednesdaywhile speaking about the deteriora-tion in the institution of Governor.

KCR called the present governor'ssystem as "vicious institution".However, KCR did not mentionTelangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan's name.

Referring to incidents in

Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Naduand West Bengal, KCR said every-where Governors were creatingcontroversies.

KCR breaks down on Guv’s system

Lives snuffed outin minutes in TNchariot mishap

P2

Has TRS shed‘equidistance’ fromBJP and Congress?PNS n HYDERABAD

It appears that the TelanganaRashtra Samiti (TRS) has budgedfrom its stance of maintainingequidistance from the BharatiyaJanata Party and the Congress. Ifwe go through the political resolu-tion adopted by the TRS during theparty's Foundation Daymeeting on Wednesday,

Chief Minister and TRS supremo KCR speaking at the party plenary held at Hitex on Wednesday.

Modi hai toh mushkil hai: KTR

PNS n HYDERABAD

IT Minister K T Rama Rao,speaking after moving the

party's political resolution, saidthat the TRS party should playa key role in national politics inthe broader interests of thecountry.

KTR said: "In the historyof the Telugu states, twogreat men turned politicsaround - I f t he l ateNandamuri Taraka RamaRao created history, our KCRalong with history, createdgeography with Telangana."

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K ChandrashekarRao has warned Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to "be careful" andsaid that his games would not work.

At the conclusion of the plena-ry, KCR observed: "That party(BJP) runs on a foundation of liesand polarisation, especially target-

ing youth. If it is not stopped col-lectively, the consequences will bedire. Tasmat jagratha NarendraModi (Be careful), your gameswon't work."

Stating that he would play abright role in national politics,KCR said: "President is Hindu, PM,Supreme PM, except one or twoCMs, everyone is Hindu. How isHindutva in Khatra? Some people

may be influenced." KCR remarked:"In Islamic coun-

tries, they are building Hindu tem-ples. In our country, what are wedoing? America is a Christiancountry. For everything, they sayOh Jesus! But in every importantcity, there is a Hindu temple.

They don't think like here oncommunal lines. When the worldhas become a village, it is not good

to create communal tensions. Thereis a need for civilised society, notroaming around with swords andrifles. It's like cancer. What did youdo for the country Narendra Modi?"

Nation needs people’s agendaSNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD

Telangana Rashtra Samiti supremoand Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has said:"What the country needs is not tooust the Bharatiya Janata Partyfrom power or its political agenda;the country needs alternative agen-da and the political force to imple-

ment this". He said discussions bytwo or three Chief Ministers sittingtogether or alliance of two orthree political parties or formingfronts would not yield any solution.

These remarks of KCR, in thecourse of his inaugural address atthe TRS Foundation Day celebra-tions on Wednesday, have surprisedpolitical circles.

Are you not ashamed

Reacting sharply to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's

request to reduce VAT on petroland diesel, Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao said: "Oneshould feel ashamed. Why areyou increasing prices Modi garu,and asking us to reduce". TheChief Minister, who did notattend the conference due to theparty plenary, said,

IF ELECTED TO POWER

Will adopt Bhagyalakshmi temple

PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP State unit president BandiSanjay Kumar on Wednesday saidhe would adopt Bhagyalakshmitemple in the Old City ofHyderabad, Bhainsa and Utkur, ifhis party is voted to power.

Speaking at Yadavalli village in

Mahabubnagar district, duringhis Praja Sangrama Yatra, hepromised to give jobs to the partyactivists who were subjected topolice torture. He vowed to takevengeance on the police who tor-mented Hindus in Bhainsa.

Bandi promises jobs to BJP party activists tortured by cops

No more wicketsdown in TRS: KCRPNS n HYDERABAD

Even as opposition parties areseeking the ouster of TransportMinister Puvvada Ajay, ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao hasindicated that it may not happen.

On Wednesday, KCR said,"When a minister in the initial dayslost office due to corruption, paperswrote, first wicket out.

KCR mentioned about theRamlal episode during theNTR regime and said afterthis incident also theGovernors did not learntheir lesson

Need a torch-bearer like KCR

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Lives snuffed out in minutes in TNPNS n CHENNAI

It was all over in a matter ofminutes and before peoplecould realise what was hap-pening, 11 persons were elec-trocuted to death and othersran helter-skelter in disbeliefwhile the temple chariot wasablaze.

The Appar temple car pro-cession in Thanjavur onWednesday ended in a tragedythat led to an outpouring ofgrief and anguish from variousquarters.

"People were thrown away,they just fell down. I could seea man lying here and anotherone there and the unfoldingscene was freghtening as wecould not understand whatwas happening," a womaneyewitness said.

Villagers say that the wood-en temple chariot, with partsbeing iron based fitment, wasdecorated with colourful lights

especially on the top, and itcame into contact with theoverhead electricity line. Thechariot's lighting was poweredby a mobile generator. Thiswas tied to the rear end of thetemple car.

Local men said the lights onthe top of the chariot and the

foldable structure that sup-ported it came in contact withthe High Tension overheadpowerline, leading to electro-cution.

"Organisers could not gonear the generator, leave aloneturning it off. Obviously noone was sure from where the

electricity was originating andhow it was passing on and itwas mayhem," a villager whowitnessed the procession moveon said.

Also, in keeping with thecustom, water was poured onthe ground on which the char-iot was set to arrive on anystreet and the wet surface toocontributed in conducting theelectricity.

"When some people pouredwater to douse fire in a partic-ular spot, it conducted electric-ity further and added to thechaos injuring people," anoth-er man said. The chariot thatwas by then ablaze was even-tually gutted.

At the same time, theinjured people, which includesboth severely injured and oth-ers with relatively less severi-ty, screamed in pain drawinglocal people in hordes. Theycould however do nothingmuch as power conductivity

was still live.It soon became apparent

that the persons lying motion-less here and there could bedead. When they were rushedto the hospital, the fears of thefamilies of participants in thetemple event and local peoplebecame true.

"It was all over in a matterof minutes. It took a while forus to understand that peoplewere dead and many wereinjured," a local man said.

Electricity Minister VSenthilbalaji, explaining aboutthe accident in the Tamil NaduAssembly, said that the powertransmission automaticallysnapped in the HT overheadline (33 KV) since the top por-tion of the chariot 'came with-in the electricity conductionrange.' The power transmis-sion on the line stopped with-in 0.19 seconds through the'Relay Indication' mechanism,he said.

Govt approves Rs 60,939 cr subsidy

for P&K fertilisers for Apr-SepPNS n NEW DELHI

The government onWednesday approved a subsidyof Rs 60,939.23 crore for phos-phatic and potassic (P&K) fer-tilisers, including DAP, for thefirst six months of this fiscal,as part of its efforts to providesoil nutrients to farmers at anaffordable price.

The Union Cabinet hasapproved nutrient-based sub-sidy (NBS) rates for Phosphaticand Potassic fertilisers for theKharif season (from April 1,2022, to September 30, 2022).

Briefing media about theCabinet decision, Informationand Broadcasting MinisterAnurag Thakur said theCabinet has approved a sub-sidy of Rs 60,939 crore on P&Kfertilisers for the Kharif season

against the subsidy of aroundRs 57,150 crore on these nutri-ents for the entire last fiscal.

He said the subsidy on DAP(di-ammonium phosphate)has been increased to Rs 2,501per bag and the farmers willcontinue to get the DAP at Rs1,350 per bag.

Thakur said the subsidy onDAP has been increased to2,501 per bag from 512 per bagin 2020-21.

The minister highlightedthat even as the prices of fer-tilisers have increased sharplyin the global markets, the gov-ernment has ensured that theburden has not increased forthe farmers.

The Nutrient Based Subsidy(NBS) Scheme is being imple-mented since April 2010.

Under the NBS Policy, a

fixed rate of subsidy (in Rs perKg basis) is announced onnutrients namely Nitrogen (N),Phosphate (P), Potash (K) andSulphur (S) by the governmenton annual basis.

The per Kg subsidy rates onthe nutrients N, P, K, and S areconverted into per tonne sub-sidy on the various P&K fer-tilisers covered under the NBSPolicy.

The government is makingavailable fertilisers, namelyurea and 24 grades of P&K fer-tilisers to farmers at subsidisedprices throughmanufacturers/importers.

In the case of urea, theCentre fixes the maximumretail prices and reimburses thedifference between the MRPand production cost in form ofa subsidy.

SC: Why can't Rajiv Gandhi case convict be released after serving 36 yrs?PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Wednesdayasked the Centre why it cannotrelease A G Perarivalan who hasserved 36 years of his life termin the Rajiv Gandhi assassina-tion case, noting that the govern-ment took a bizarre stand thatthe Tamil Nadu Governor hadforwarded the decision of thestate cabinet of releasing the con-vict to the President, who is thecompetent authority to take acall on the mercy plea.

The apex court said whenpeople who have served lesser

periods are being released, thenwhy can't the Centre agree onreleasing him.

The Tamil Nadu governmentsaid the Centre is only trying tounsettle the settled position inlaw.

The top court said that primafacie it finds the governor'sdecision to be wrong and againstthe constitution as he is boundby the aid and advice of the statecabinet and it strikes a blow onthe federal structure of the con-stitution.

A bench of Justices LN Raoand B R Gavai told Additional

Solicitor General KM Nataraj,appearing for the Centre, to seekproper instruction in a week orit will accept the submission ofPerarivalan and release him fol-lowing the earlier decision of thiscourt.

Nataraj said that in certain sit-uations, the President is thecompetent authority and not thegovernor especially when a sen-tence of death has to be com-muted to life.

The bench told the law offi-cer that the convict has served36 years in prison and whenpeople who have served lesser

periods are being released, thenwhy can't the Centre agree onreleasing him.

We are offering you an escaperoute. This is a bizarre argument.Your argument that the gover-nor does not have the jurisdic-tion to take a decision on themercy plea under Article 161 ofthe Constitution actually strikesa blow on the federal structureof the constitution. Under whatsource or provision can thegovernor refer the decision ofthe state cabinet to the President, the bench observed.

Justice Rao said that if at all

the governor disagrees with thestate cabinet's decision to releasehim, he can at most send it backto the cabinet but cannot for-ward it to the President.

We are of the prima facie viewthat the governor's action iswrong and you are arguingcontrary to the Constitution.Governor is bound by the aidand advice of the state cabinet ,the bench said.

Justice Gavai said, If the sub-mission of the Centre is to beaccepted then it will be anattack on the federal structure ofthe Constitution.

The constitution will have tobe rewritten that in certain sit-uations matters under Article161 can be referred to thePresident .

Justice Gavai said that for thepast three and half years the gov-ernor has taken this stand whichis bizarre .

Under what provision in theConstitution has the governorreferred the case to thePresident? What is the source ofsuch a power which allows himto refer the matter to thePresident? Governor has to acton the aid and advice of the state

cabinet, If you read Article 161carefully, you will find that thegovernor has to exercise hispowers independently , thebench said.

Justice Rao said that whyshould a convict be caught in themiddle of this controversy andwhy should not he be releasedafter having served 36 years.

Can the governor refer thematter to the President? Doesthe governor have the power torefer the decision of the execu-tive to the President? That is thequestion. What you are arguinghas wider ramifications.

Nation needs people’s...Continued from page 1

All these days, KCR has beentalking about the formation ofa front to prevent the BJPfrom returning to power atCentre in the forthcomingGeneral Election. Towards thisend, KCR met West Bengal,Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra andJharkhand Chief Ministers andsome national political leaders.But suddenly KCR has changedhis stance and surprised partyleaders and others.

KCR further said:"Friendsof some political parties toldme that we all can unite andbring down the BJP. I toldthem that this is the worstagenda and I could not comealong with them". KCR said:"We have to bring the peopleinto power, but not the polit-ical parties. The change should

be in the living standards ofpeople". KCR said that thealternative agenda wouldcome from the venue ofHyderabad; in this, TRS wouldplay a key role and this was amatter of pride for the peopleof Telangana.

KCR said that nothingwould happen with therealignment of political partiesand political fronts. KCRexpressed his hope that alter-native political force wouldcome to bring qualitativechange in the country. Hesaid some people were askinghim to convert the TRS intoBRS (Bharatiya RashtraSamiti) to play a key role innational politics. "We do notknow what will happen. Didanyone expect that TRS willcome and achieve separatestatehood?"

No more wickets...Continued from page 1

Since then, there are no suchwickets in the Telangana cab-inet. In the state of Karnataka,we have recently seen aMinister losing his post dueto corruption. There are nosuch conditions inTelangana."

It may be mentioned herethat Puvvada Ajay had beenput in spot by the Congressover PG medical seat scam.The BJP has been critical ofthe Minister's alleged role inthe death of Sai Ganesh,BJP Karyakarta who com-mitted suicide after 16 casesand rowdy-sheet were filed.

The Chief Minister said:"We have achieved wondersby working with people asthe focal point, people'sproblems as the theme, andtheir solution as the goal."

Will adoptBhagyalakshmi...Continued from page 1

He also declared that his aimis to establish 'Hindu Raj.'

Sajay Kumar said the saffronparty would not leave the'guilty police personnel'unpunished. The police, healleged, had subjected theparty activists to torture. Theparty activists took out amotorcycle procession andfarmers came to the venue ofhis yatra on bullock carts.

He claimed that the TRSleaders wished that he was nomore. But he survived heartattack. 'Death is afraid of me,"

he claimed. The Hindu dhra-ma would not wish 'death' onanyone, he said.

He said that the partyactivists were waging a fightagainst 'goons' in Utkur. Anumber of activists had lostlegs and even eyes. But theywere continuing their fight, hesaid. He denied that he wasinstigating communalism. Thepeople were aware of 'atroci-ties' committed by Rajakars.He alleged the people, includ-ing women, in Utkur weresubjected to torture under therule of Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao.

Modi hai toh mushkil hai: KTRContinued from page 1

KTR said that the Centre hadcopied many programmes likeRythu Bandhu, MissionBhagiratha, TS iPASS. He said,"Now India needs a Telanganamodel. Golden Telanganamodel should be introduced toIndia. The taxes levied on thepeople of Telangana are beingsent to the BJP-led Bimarustates. If you want to see asmile on the face of a poor manwho has no religious madnessand no caste madness anduniversal brotherhood - it isthe Telangana model."

While Telangana has a his-tory of incredible success, theBJP and the Centre had a his-tory of endless failures, headded. He said that NarendraModi was anti-farmer. "Modiwants to give a house to all thepoor by 2022 ... but with hisbankrupt financial policies,now people have to sell theirhouse with the tax increases."

Modi called for 'Har gharjal', but is filling zeher in everyhouse, KTR said. He remarked:"What is needed now is not anemotional India, but anemployed India. It's not Modihai tho mumkin hai; but Modihai mushkil hai."

He said, "Maybe Telanganawould provide that leadershipto the country who can makeMera Bharat Mahan. Thecountry needs a visionary, nota televisionary. India needs aleader like KCR. The countryneeds a torch-bearer like KCR".

KTR said, "We don't needbulldozer models, buildupmodel, Golmal Gujarat model.India needs Telangana model.For this, the country needs theleadership of KCR who suc-cessfully led Telangana for-ward."

TRS is prosperous party

Rs 1,000 crore assets, 2 Innovas and 1 Ford carC

hief Minister K ChandrashekarRao has declared that the

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS)is a prosperous party withRs1,000 crore assets. The rulingTRS party's 21st Foundation Daycelebrations were held on a grandscale at HICC centre onWednesday. Speaking on theoccasion, KCR observed: "We area very prosperous party. Rs 451crore as fixed deposits, includingelectoral bonds, as per the rules.TRS' assets are Rs 861crore inSBI and Bank of Baroda. On that, we get interest of Rs3.84 crore every month. Thisaccumulated in current accountto Rs 24.75crore . It is a matter ofpride for us to say we have Rs865 crore in cash. We aretransparent. Including all value ofoffices, we have Rs1,000 crore.We have 2 Innovas and one Fordvehicles. We are planning to addmore vehicles." Stating that TRS'advent in national politics wouldrequire money, KCR said:"Ourparty has 60 lakh members whocan give money ranging from 1crore to 1 lakh and Rs 1,000. Ifwe give a call, like Telanganaagitation, to develop country, onan average even if a person sendsRs 1000, it would be Rs600crores." He said that there would betraining sessions for leaders. "Wewill send party leaders to foreigncountries to study the situationthere", he said. TRS senior leader Keshav Raodelivered the welcome address.The TRS Chief's inauguraladdress lasted 90 minutes. He

touched upon political anddevelopmental issues. In all, 13 resolutions werepassed. TRS Resolution -1 on paddyprocurement- The party criticisedthe Union Government for itsfailure in resolving the paddyprocurement issue amicably.TheCentre adopted anti-farmerpolicies, which includes reducingsubsidy in fertilizers and puttingheavy burden on farmers. Theincrease in petrol and dieselprices also mounted the inputscost of farming. The partyresolved it will not compromiseon farmers' issues.The ruling TRS adoptedresolution2 that the party will playa key role in national politics inthe coming days. The party felt that the AtmaNirbhar Bharat programmelaunched by the BJP-led UnionGovernment did not bring anychange in the lives of people.Instead, the government hasturned India into "Durbhar (Worse) Bharat".The TRS has demanded theUnion Government to reduce thespiralling prices of essentialcommodities and took strongexception to the Centre'sindifference towards solving pricehike issue, as part of resolution3. TRS Plenary Resolution4asserted 33 per cent womenreservation in the legislativebodies. The party has resolved tofight against religious intoleranceand protect the national integrityand the country's unique cultureas part of resolution 5.

Has TRS shed ‘equidistance’...Continued from page 1

one cannot help forming thisopinion.

The political resolution hasseriously criticised the BJP,which is in power at theCentre, but has not men-tioned the Congress.Moreover, indirectly the TRShas suggested that the previ-ous UPA government led byCongress at the Centre wasbetter than the present NDAgovernment led by BJP.

In the political resolution,the TRS has compared theNDA government with theUPA government on severalissues and said that the BJP-led NDA government hadfailed miserably on all fronts.

For example, in the politi-

cal resolution, the TRS saidthat in the UPA regime, thegrowth rate of GrossDomestic Product (GDP) was8%, but in the eight years ofrule of the BJP-led NDAregime the GDP growth ratehas come down to 6%. Beforethe BJP came to power (UPAregime) the unemploymentrate was at 4.7 %. After theBJP came to power, the unem-ployment rate has increased to7.11%. More than five lakhindustries and various institu-tions were closed down.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao had saidseveral times that the TRSwould maintain equidistancefrom the BJP and theCongress. When KCR spokeabout the formation of the

Federal Front, he said that theFederal Front would beformed with non-BJP andnon-Congress parties. Butafter declaring war againstBJP, KCR has been criticisingthe BJP. KCR also supportedAICC former president RahulGandhi on the issue of surgi-cal strike.

In his inaugural speech atthe TRS Foundation Day cel-ebrations, KCR criticised theBJP and the policies of theBJP-led NDA government atCentre.

In the political resolution,TRS said that there is a histor-ical necessity for the TRS toplay a key role in national pol-itics and that the party mustbe prepared for this.

Criticising the BJP, TRS

said that the Centre had notmade slightest improvementin the living standards ofpeople, except for trumpeting"Atma Nirbhar Bharat" -- theprogramme launched byNDA government. Instead,the government has turnedIndia into "Durbhar (worse)Bharat".

The TRS said that thecountry must get rid of thismisery and the TRS muststep in to put an end to the'evil rule of bulldozers' whoare abusing and dividing peo-ple of the country and com-mitting corruption. Toachieve qualitative change inthe country, the TRS mustplay a key role in national pol-itics, the TRS political resolu-tion said.

KCR breaks down on Guv’s...Continued from page 1

The Governors were keepingcabinet-approved files pending formonths together. He said that theMaharashtra state cabinet hadapproved names for 12 MLCs butthe Governor kept the file pend-ing for more than a year. Samething was happening in TamilNadu, Kerala and West Bengal, headded. It may be recalled thatTelangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan recently said hadshe kept the file relating toAssembly budget session for 15days, the TRS government wouldhave collapsed.

Keeping this in mind, KCRmentioned about the Ramlalepisode during the NTR regimeand said after this incident also the

Governors did not learn their les-son. KCR said, with the aim ofdoing good for the people, NTRama Rao had launched TeluguDesam Party and people voted forthe party in more than 200assembly seats. But the thenCongress government removedthe NTR government by usingthe vicious Governor's system.KCR said that the Telugu peoplefought till NTR was reinstated inthe CM's chair. Later, GovernorRamlal was removed. But itappears that Governors did notlearn a lesson from this episode.

Without mentioningTamilisai, KCR indirectlywarned if any one touched theTRS government, people of thestate would not leave them andwould teach them a lesson.

Be careful ModiContinued from page 1

The Chief Minister said thatknowledge and scientificthinking was not owned by oneperson. KCR said: "To decidethe role of leaders in nationalpolitics and to set direction forcountry, we will call econo-mists, national and interna-tional. We will invite experts,even from Harvard Universitysome people are coming for-ward. Retired AIS officers'meet will be held in Hyderabad… Let's not act like we knoweverything. There is a need foralternative agenda. It is notimportant for people tobecome PM or parties chang-ing powers. Results of 75 years

of Independence have not suc-ceeded. We need to come outof routine political systemfrom the clutches of front andtent. We need to move forward,think of structural changes".

Comparing India to China,KCR said, "There are loopholesin thinking, decision-making,policy-making and policyimplementation. China is at 16trillion dollars and we are at 3trillion. Our approach is laid-back and monotonous. We candream and realise them. If wework wholeheartedly in India,we will be better than America.I will work like a soldier to seta new agenda for this country.Our work will be in that direc-tion."

He said not front or tent, butalternative agenda is needed.He said that TRS would winwith a big majority in the nextelections. "There is no doubt in

it. To think we are intelligentand bigger is wrong, so we putconsultants. Even going bytheir surveys, 90 seats we willwin easily".

Are you not ashamedContinued from page 1

"It is not Chief Minister's conference but Drama Conference where3-4 hours CMs should sit. It is on corona and what measures totake, but PM speaks on taxes. One should feel ashamed, as to howyou are asking states to reduce prices. Is this how a PM speaks?Why are you increasing cess? We never increased prices of dieseland petrol. We only rounded off once. It's you BJP who haveincreased. How can you ask Telangana to reduce taxes". KCR said that the PM was resorting to make it "Strong Center andweak states. This is undesirable, unwanted and uncalled-for. Theyare shameless". He questioned if RTC should die or survive withsuch prices. We are giving Rs 2000-Rs 3,000crore for RTC". Hesaid that the PM Modi wants RTC to be put on sale. KCR said, "Ifwe sell RTC, we will get money, that is the rule of Modi,disinvestment for Rs1,000 crore".

GST compensationfor 8 months releasedto states, Rs 78,704 crpending: FinMinPNS n NEW DELHI

The Finance Ministry onWednesday said the Centrehas already released eightmonths of GST compensa-tion dues to the states for thefiscal ended March 2022 andRs 78,704 crore is pendingdue to inadequate balance inthe cess fund.

In a statement, the min-istry said normally, GSTcompensation for 10 months(April-January) of any finan-cial year is released duringthat year and the compensa-tion of February-March isreleased only in the nextfinancial year.

MHA cancels FCRA licenceof 2 Odisha-based NGOsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Home Ministry onWednesday cancelled theFCRA registration of twoOdisha-based NGOs forallegedly violating various pro-visions of the law, officials said.

The Heavenly GraceMinistries and the PeoplesOrganisation ForEmpowerment Of Tribals(POET) have been barred fromreceiving funds from abroad.

The two NGOs allegedlyviolated the provisions of theForeign ContributionRegulation Act (FCRA) 2010leading to cancellation of their

licence granted under the law,a home ministry official said.

The Heavenly GraceMinistries was established in2001 and works primarily in thedomain of employment, hous-ing, education and child andyouth development.

The POET works in areas ofchild care, education, literacy,health, vocational training, ruraldevelopment and poverty alle-viation. Two days ago, thehome ministry cancelled theFCRA licence of two otherNGOs CommonwealthHuman Rights Initiative(CHRI) and Apne Aap WomenWorldwide (AAWW).

hyderabad 03HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 28, 2022

PNS n HYDERABAD

Doctors warn people not to selfmedicate themselves withAyurvedic medicines as it canlead to adverse effects in theirbody.

In one such instance, awoman on twitter had shareda photo of `AvipattikarChurna', an ayurvedic formu-lation and claimed that usingthis medicine will cure men-strual pain. She also said,``Trust me, periods won't bepainful anymore."

Reacting to this, doctorshave expressed their concernon people spreading suchinformation about non-evi-dence based products. Manyayurvedic materials have notbeen thoroughly studied ineither western or Indianresearch. Some ayurvedic

products contain herbs, metalsand minerals which may beharmful if used improperly orwithout the direction of atrained practitioner.

Speaking to the Pioneer, DrSrinivas, Advisor to TelanganaJUDA said, ̀ `Any medicine, beit allopathic or ayurvedic, peo-

ple cannot advertise like this.We need to check whetherclinical trials have been per-formed or not, consider thesafety data of the drug.Moreover, we cannot be sureabout the intake and the dosageof such drugs as excessive con-sumption can lead to kidney or

liver failure in the long run.Most importantly, these typesof drugs cannot be taken byanybody unless prescribed bya doctor. Medicines with just aname sticker and without thedosage label should not betrusted by the public." The doc-tor also explained that whenpeople consume these types ofayurvedic medicines, a druginteraction happens inside thebody which can lead to adverseside effects and has the possi-

bility of causing heart strokesas well.

Another doctor based inHyderabad said, ``In thisinstance, menstrual pain is asingle condition, but there canbe many causes for it. Themedicines are taken for thecause and not for the condition.Many a times, menstrual painis only physiological whichare natural to occur; they donot need medicines all thetime."

A study published in the`World Journal of Hepatology'had revealed that ayurvedicand homeopathic medicineshave often been linked to liverfailures in the patients. Thestudy also says that certainayurvedic medications arecommonly used by peoplewithout full knowledge of theirside effects.

Non-evidence based self medication dangerousAYURVEDIC MEDICINES

Medicines with just aname sticker andwithout the dosagelabel should not betrusted by the public."

Teen with chicken pox ends life

A13-year-old boy, who was down with chicken pox, died,allegedly by suicide in Kanchanbagh on Tuesday. He wasreportedly upset after his parents asked him not to go out as

he had chicken pox. The boy Abdul Rehman, lived with his parentsat Hafeez Baba Nagar under the Kanchanbagh police station limits.A few days ago, Rehman contracted chicken pox and his parentsadvised him not to mingle with other children. However, heinsisted on going out and meeting his friends as they were playingon the street. As he was asked by his parents not to go out, hewas upset and took the extreme step, it is learnt.

Cricket betting: 6 held in raids

City Police on Tuesday busted two online cricket betting racketsoperated from Chilkalguda and Trimulgherry. In the first case,the Hyderabad Commissioner's Task Force (North) raided a

house at Chilkalguda and nabbed four persons and seized Rs.1.21lakh. The arrested persons were S Vijay Kumar, D Ramesh, MohdAteeq, and N Santosh Kumar. "Vijay Kumar was organising onlinecricket betting after obtaining access to a cricket betting app fromDelhi. He was collecting bets from punters through Google Pay,PhonePe or in cash," DCP (Task Force) P Radha Kishan Rao said.In the other case, at Trimulgherry, the team raided a flat at SuryaEnclave and arrested two persons, from whom Rs.54,000 wasseized. The arrested persons were Pilli Sai Kumar (39) and PawanKumar Jeswani (51).

Gambling: Seven arrested

Man found murdered

3 nabbed from brothel house

Banjara Hills Police arrested seven persons who werefound gambling at a house in Yousufguda on Tuesdaynight. The police seized Rs. 61,780 cash, seven mobile

phones and playing card pack from the arrested persons.Those arrested are V Yedukondalu (40), Mohd Saleem (45),Shaik Siraj (30), D Uday (29), A Suresh (30), M Varma (27)and Chandra Mouli (44). Acting on a tip off, a police team, ledby Banjara Hills Inspector K Nageshwar Rao, raided a house atKrishna Nagar in Yousufguda and nabbed the persons whowere playing three card game. "Yedukondalu was organisingthe gambling, invited the participants and collectedcommission from them," said Banjara Hills police.

A35-year-old man was found murdered at Dhobhi Ghat inPuranapul in the city on Wednesday. Local people foundthe man Abrar Alam lying on the Musi River bed near

Dhobhi Ghat and informed to the police Goshamahal ACP RSatish Kumar said that some miscreants might have broughtthe victim to the spot and attacked him with a sharp edgeweapon resulting in his death last night. "A tracker dog andCLUES team were summoned to help the investigation. Wesuspect personal enmity led to the murder," he said. Policewere verifying footage from CCTV cameras in the area and calldetails record of the victim's mobile phone is also beinganalysed, he added.

Amberpet Police raided a brothel house in Shanti Nagar onTuesday evening and apprehended one female organiserand 2 customers. Y Mounika, SI at Amberpet Police

station had filed a complaint after receiving informationabout the brothel. After she had informed SHO, Mounika wasdeputed to verify the information. In their raid, they found thatthe organiser along with 2 customers was inside the flat. Thepolice seized cash of Rs 10,000 from the flat. The policefound that the organiser Subbalakshmi, aged 45 years, wasearning easy money by luring women into this business. Thecustomers were charged between Rs 1,000-1,500. Revenueofficials from the Amberpet Tehsil seized the brothel house.The raid was conducted by Y Mounika, K Krishna Kumari, TSindhura, B Sudheer and G Balakrishna under the supervisionof P Sudhakar, Inspector of Amberpet Police.

CRIME CORNER

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Hyderabad housing mar-ket is unstoppable, with consis-tent rising launches and salesmomentum post-Covid-19,according to ANAROCK'srecent report Riding theRebound: Hyderabad RealEstate.

As per the report, housingsales in Hyderabad increasedalmost three-fold in 2021 overthe preceding year. While thecity remains the most afford-able residential market amongthe top 7 cities at approxRs.4,450 per sq. ft., it hasample scope for future growth.In fact, affordable residentialand commercial property ratesare a prime factor driving realestate activity in the city.Robust sales in the last one yeartrimmed housing inventoryoverhang from 53 months inQ1 2021 to approx. 27 monthsin Q1 2022 - a massive 26-months decline.

Prashant Thakur, Sr.

Director & Head - ANAROCKResearch, says, "Thanks to itsproperty market's multi-faceted accelerators,Hyderabad now draws interestfrom all stakeholders includinginvestors, homebuyers, anddevelopers. Its high-perform-ing socio-economic dynamics,well-developed infrastructure,relatively affordable prices -and, not least of all, the slow-down on Amaravati's realestate market - all work in itsfavour. Amaravati's loss hasbeen Hyderabad's gain over the

past 4-5 quarters."A per the ANAROCK

report, Hyderabad saw approx.25,400 housing units sold in2021 - a 197% Y-o-Y growthover 2020. Lower home loanrates, discounts by developers,and the growing post-pan-demic inclination for home-ownership helped boost sales.

In Q1 2022, the city sawapprox. 13,140 units sold, reg-istering the highest salesgrowth of 199% among all top7 cities over the correspondingperiod in 2021. Hyderabadhousing prices saw the biggestannual rise of 5% in averageproperty prices among the top7 cities - from Rs4,240 per sq.ft. in Q1 2021 to approx.Rs4,450 per sq. ft. in Q1 2022.

In terms of new residentialsupply, Hyderabad saw an all-time high of new launches in2021 - 234% higher than theaverage historical yearly supply.In Q1 2022, Hyderabad wassecond only to MMR in newlaunches, accounting for a 24%

share among the top 7 cities.Q1 2022 saw 21,500 new unitslaunched - a 41% growth overQ4 2021, and 71% rise over Q12021.

West Hyderabad was themajor new launches contribu-tor in Q1 2022, accounting for60% of the city's new supply.North Hyderabad came sec-ond, contributing approx. 32%of the city's new launches.East and South Hyderabadtogether accounted for a mere5% of new residential unitslaunched.

More than half of the newlaunches (approx. 51%) were inthe high-end segment pricedb/w Rs80 lakh to Rs1.5 Cr, fol-lowed by 29% in the mid-seg-ment (Rs40 lakh - Rs80 lakh),and 11% in the luxury housingsegment (Rs1.5 Cr - Rs2.5 Cr).The affordable housing (<Rs40lakh) and ultra-luxury seg-ment (>Rs2.5 Cr) togetheraccounted for less than 10% ofHyderabad's new launches inQ1 2022.

Growth of Hyd housing mkt unstoppable : ANAROCKAmaravati's loss has been Hyderabad's gain over the past 4-5 quarters

PNS n HYDERABAD

Institute of Public Enterprise(IPE), one of the threeManagement Institutionsfrom the State of Telangana,will be organisingSanskriti'22 Tathastu (annu-al flagship event), for stu-dents of Management,Engineering & DegreeColleges during 28-29 April,2022 at Shamirpet Campus,Hyderabad. The eventwould provide an unmatched experience and anopportunity for excellence,by bringing together theundergraduate, engineeringand management students.To encourage students inunleashing their potentialand motivate talent acrossIndia, cash prizes are announced for the winners.

IPE’s Sanskriti' 22at Shamirpettoday, tomorrow

PNS n HYDERABAD

Kaloji Narayana RaoUniversity of Health Sciences(KNRUHS), Telangana onWednesday released notifica-tion for eligible candidates toexercise their web-optionsfor final mop-up phase ofcounselling for vacant seatsfor Post Graduate diplomaand degree courses in affili-ated Government and privatemedical colleges for the aca-demic year 2021-22.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Maulana Azad National UrduUniversity (MANUU)Instructional Media Centre(IMC), has entered into anMoU with the prestigiousObservatory for Cultural andAudiovisual Communicationin the Mediterranean(OCCAM), Italy. The observa-tory is associated withUNDGC and has SpecialConsultative status atECOSOC. The objective ofMoU is to explore the benefitsof digital communication andaudio-visual technology atglobal level. OCCAM is anObservatory for DigitalCommunication.

Prof Syed Ainul Hasan,Vice-Chancellor while appre-ciating the efforts of the cen-tre said that we are committedto human development andthis initiative shows our com-mitment for SustainableDevelopment. Emphasisingon the importance of lan-

guage, he hints to start lan-guage courses in the MANUUvery soon.

The MoU was signed onlinethrough video conferencing byProf Sk Ishtiaque Ahmed,Registrar, MANUU andOCCAM, Italy, PresidentPierpaolo Saporito. Prof SyedAinul Hasan presided over thesigning ceremony. Prof S MRahmatullah Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof SyedMohammad HaseebuddinQuadri, Chairman MoU com-mittee and Prof. SaneemFatima Dean Academics werealso present. PresidentOCCAM Pierpaolo Saporito,said on the occasion that thisMoU marks a new beginning.

MANUU signs MoU withItalian Observatory

PNS n HYDERABAD

As part of National InfertilityWeek which is being observedfrom April 24 to April 30, OasisFertility Center on Tuesdayreleased a report on risinginfertility in India.

The report revealed thatabout 27.5 million couples inIndia are victims of infertilityand the number is rising witha declining fertility rate at 2.1births per couple. Infertility isa hush topic even today amidstthe advancement in scienceand technology. About 15% of

the Indian population facesinfertility problems but only3% seek assistance from a fer-tility specialist. SudhakarJadhav, CEO, Oasis Fertility

said, ̀ `Today in India, it's timeto be vocal about infertility.The problem is no more anurban phenomenon; there is asteady rise in infertility rates inrural areas as well. It's extreme-ly important for all of us toknow that the Total FertilityRate in India has been steadi-ly declining for the past last 30years. This is fundamentallydue to lifestyle issues, late mar-riages and postponing of par-enthood. If this trend contin-ues, 40 years down the line. wewill be staring at only the oldpopulation without the addi-

tion of the young populationwhich is quite detrimental forthe society and economy of ourcountry."

The center is organising a`wear orange campaign' byoffering orange gear like wrist-bands, keychains, etc. toencourage couples to haveconversations about infertility.

Dr Parinaaz Parihar, Clinicalhead and fertility specialist atOasis Fertility said, ̀ `For somereason, we are seeing a steadydecline in Total Fertility Ratein southern states compared toothers."

‘27.5 million couples in India are victims of infertility’

PNS n HYDERABAD

Techfynder, a service to postjobs and hire talent locally andacross the world for jobseekersto find job opportunities,expands into Hyderabad. Tocope with the unprecedenteddemand for the right talent, thecompany has announcedaggressive expansion plansacross India includingHyderabad, Bangalore,Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.It aims to bridge the demandand supply of over 1,000 newjobs in the technology, sales,marketing and recruitment

areas within the global busi-ness.

The Techfynder solution isan AI-based technology plat-form that allows businesses to

directly contact candidatesmatching the applicable skill,location and salary require-ments by subscribing to it andlike most subscriptions, onecan cancel at any point of time.

Paul Guy, Global MarketingDirector, TechFynder, said,``we are bullish about enor-mous growth potential in Indiaand are confident of Indiancompanies using the platformand availing the immediateresults. We see huge opportu-nities across all of India, notjust in Tech cities. Hyderabadwill be the India headquartersand for Asia in future.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Embassy Group, one of India'sleading commercial real estatedevelopers, has announced apartnership with SAS Infra todevelop three Grade-A officeassets encompassing 14 millionsq. ft., located in Hyderabad'sfinancial district. Embassy'sdecision to re-enter Hyderabadmarks growing confidence inits real estate landscape, buoyedby record hiring, major expan-sion plans by global IT, ITeS

and BFSI firms. The first of theprojects, the 36-floor EmbassySAS I Tower, comprising 5.2million sq. ft. is currentlyunder construction, while thesecond project, the 3 millionsq. ft. Embassy DiamondTower has begun its excavation.The third project, Crown, willhave a potential of 3 million sq.ft. of commercial space, withEmbassy and SAS Infra part-nering to develop it. EmbassyGroup will act as the develop-ment manager for the first

two projects, overseeing theconstruction, vendors, andleasing. Situated in the choic-est investment hotbeds ofNanakramguda andKhajaguda, these office spaceswill add to the burgeoningworld-class office stock in theregion.

The construction of thethree projects is likely to becompleted in different phases,starting from the last quarter of2023. Speaking on theannouncement, Aditya

Virwani, COO (ChiefOperating Officer), EmbassyGroup, said, "Hyderabad hasemerged as one of India's mostdynamic and resilient com-mercial markets with its stronggrowth and hiring outlook.

Rajkumar Kurra, ManagingDirector, SAS INFRA Group,added, "We are pleased to joinhands with Embassy Group,one of India's largest real estatedevelopers, to develop threeworld-class commercial spacesin the heart of the city.

Embassy Group partners with SAS InfraThe companies plan to develop three world-class commercial spaces in the Financial District

Techfynder expands into Hyderabad

PNS n HYDERABAD

Over 27 colleges from districtsof Telangana have beendeclared District GreenChampions 2021-2022 andreceived awards from theMinistry of Education throughits Nodal Agency, MahatmaGandhi National Council ofRural Education (MGNCRE),Department of HigherEducation on Wednesday.

Navin Mittal, Commissionerof Technical and CollegiateEducation, Government ofTelangana has given the awardsin recognition of exemplaryperformance in sustainablecampus development and effi-cient campus management.MGNCRE had earlier awarded

400 District Green Championsin 2020-2021 working withmore than 22,000 HigherEducation Institutions involvedin community engagement,greenery, water conservation,waste management, energymanagement, sanitation andhygiene, and Covid-19 aware-ness and preparedness, acrossthe country. The District GreenChampions were presented theawards by District Collectors,Commissioners, Magistrates,and Administrative Heads intheir respective districts. TheCouncil has now announced

Dr. W G Prasanna Kumar,Chairman MGNCRE calls thisan opportune moment forColleges in Telangana to gainnational recognition.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB) officials here onWednesday have arrestedTelangana State Southern PowerDistribution Company (TSSPD-CL) line inspector for allegedlyaccepting a bribe of Rs. 8,000from the complainantMohammed Fazal-ur-Rahmanin connection with the meter bill.Patti Narasimhulu, LineInspector in Chanchalguda sub-station, demanded a bribe of Rs10,000 from Rahman who runsa water plant, regarding themeter bill. But, Rahman gaveRs.2,000 to the lineman four daysago. When Rahman was unableto pay the remaining amount, heapproached the ACB officialsand informed about the lineinspector's demand. The ACBpersonnel laid a trap. Later, ACBofficials caught Narasimhulured-handed while he was receiv-ing Rs. 8,000.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Apollo Hospitals in collab-oration with Kings CollegeHospital, London onWednesday launched aunique MultidisciplinaryCenter of Excellence forDiabetic Foot Management(CoEDFM) for diabeticpatients at its premises inJubilee Hills. The centerwill follow a multidiscipli-nary treatment protocol forfestering foot related ail-ments, which can often betraumatic and life threaten-ing for diabetic patients.Speaking on the occasion,Dr Venu Kavarthapu said,``What happens in dia-betes is because of damageto the nerves, vessels andbones; the foot gets twistedor deformed.

PNS n HYDERABAD

In a tragic incident on Tuesdayin Golconda, a two-year-oldwas attacked by street dogs andhe suffered injuries on the neckand other parts of the bodyaround 9:45 pm. The toddlerAhmed, a resident of BadaBazaar, was playing near hishouse. Locals who have lis-tened to his screams, shooedaway the dogs away. The babywas immediately rushed to theNiloufer hospital where thedoctors declared him dead.Locals said that the street dogshave been creating panic among

the residents of Golconda.Responding to the issue,Chakrapani Reddy, GHMCDeputy Director (Veterinary)Khairatabad Zone says that theyhave been sterilizing and antirabies vaccination to the dogsregularly. " There are above 40dogs in Golconda areas and wehave been sterilizing 90 percent of them and also vaccinat-ing with anti rabies vaccines.Due to laws we cannot relocatedogs. After the incident, ourteams have met the victim's par-ents and we caught 19 dogs onWednesday and only two ofthem are not vaccinated. "

Two-year-old boy killed in stray dogs’ attack

Apollo launchesfoot rebuildtreatment fordiabetics

27 colleges in TSdeclared DistrictGreen Champions

Notice for finalmop-up of PGmedical seats

Line inspectorin ACB netGRMB rejects AP's objections

on three Telangana projectsAP asks for a tribunal to study the water availability in Godavari PNS n HYDERABAD

Godavari River ManagementBoard meeting was held underthe chairmanship of BoardChairman MP Singh onWednesday. The officials atthe board meeting discussed,Chanaka, Korata andChautupally HanmanthureddyDPRs (detailed project reports).

Addressing at the meeting,Irrigation Secretary RajatKumar said that AndhraPradesh state had divertedGodavari water to KrishnaBasin through Pattiseema pro-ject, and Telangana has to get45TMC of water from it. DPRon Chinna Kaleswaram uplift

schemes was discussed andthe DPR on VenkatanagaramPump House DPR andUttarandhra Sujala Sravantiproject of AP was also dis-cussed. Rajat Kumar furthersaid that all the details (DPRs)were available for Telanganaprojects. However, at the meet-

ing, officials from AndhraPradesh raised objections forthe projects of Telangana.

AP raised objections onthree projects of Telanganaand that there are no water allo-cations in the three projects.The AP objections were reject-ed by the GRMB Chairman

and the Gazette notificationwill be checked and updated.AP asked for appointing a tri-bunal to study the water avail-ability in Godavari.

Even in Sileru project,Telangana's share was also dis-cussed.

Telangana Special ChiefSecretary Rajat Kumar, ENCMuralidhar Rao, OSDDeshpande, AP Special ChiefSecretary Jawahar Reddy, ENCNarayana Reddy and manyother officials were present.During the meeting, the imple-mentation of Gazette notifica-tion, Board management,DPRs of projects etc. were dis-cussed.

04HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 28, 2022

PNS n GUNTUR

Narasaraopet MP Lavu SriKrishnadevarayalu made itclear that the construction of Kondamodu-PerecharlaNational Highway would becompleted and 350 acres ofland yet to be acquired for theproject.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Wednesday, hesaid that Rs 1480 crore wasallocated for the construc-tion of roads to theNarasaraopet constituency forthe year 2022-23 and noParliamentary constituencywas allocated such a hugeamount. He said that Rs 600crore was allocated for theconstruction of Kondamodu-Perecharla national highway,Rs 430 crore was allocated forthe construction of Vodarevu-Chilakaluripet highway, Rs450 crore was granted for the

construction of Chilakaluripet-Nekarikallu high-way. He underlined the needof highways to achieve rapiddevelopment in the Palnaduregion.

The MP said that he is verymuch committed to the devel-opment of Kondamodu-Peracherla highway. He saidthe national highways wouldnot be completed in two tothree years. Though the landacquisition process was com-pleted in 2009, theChilakaluripet bypass roadworks are being carried outnow.

The MP explained that theland acquisition process forthe Guntur-Vijayawada bypassroad was completed in 2010but the works were being car-ried out now, adding that thenational highway expansionworks should be completed ina phased manner.

Kondamodu-Perecharla NH willbe completed expeditiously: MP

PNS n SURYAPET

Bahujan Samaj Party chiefcoordinator R S PravinKumar has alleged that ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao plunged the revenue sur-plus State into debt-riddenState. The State was pushedinto Rs 4 lakh crore debtsduring the past seven years

Talking to media inKodada on Tuesday, hedemanded that KCR respondas to what happened to themoney looted fromTelangana and name therecipients of the ill-gottenwealth. The State is borrow-ing funds over and above the

limit prescribed in FRBMAct. He charged the TRSgovernment with misusingthe public wealth in the nameof irrigation projects anddevelopment. The credit of

plunging the State into debtsshould go to KCR, he said.

He called 2 BHK houses forthe homeless poor as a bigscam and charged the govern-ment with showing negli-

gence in allotting the housesto the poor. The assignedlands given to BC, SCs andSTs were snatched from them.He demanded that the Stategovernment release WhitePaper in this regard. A polit-ical drama is unveiled inwhich the Congress is goingto be merged with the TRS,he said charging KCR andPrashant Kishor holdingsecret parleys to hoodwinkthe people to serve its polit-ical goals. He demanded thatthe CID probe into the TRSrole in extorting lakhs ofrupees from unemployedpromising to show them con-tractual and outsourced jobs

in Kodada Municipality. Hewanted the CID to see to itthat the cheated get backtheir money.

The government is tardy inchoosing beneficiaries evenafter taking up constructionof 2BHKs in the native placeof MLA, he alleged.

The government has total-ly failed to rein in pub, cluband drug mafia in the State.The ganja peddling is goingon uninterrupted with theinvolvement of TRS leaders,he alleged. He alleged thatillegal sand quarrying is goingon unchecked in the con-stituency besides the sale ofganja.

PNS n JAYASHANKARBHUPALAPALLY

District Collector BhaveshMisra has called for launchingof units sanctioned under DalitBandhu in the district speed-ily. Addessing Dalit Bandhuofficials here on Wednesday, hesaid that a total of 151 benefi-ciaries in three constituencies,90 in Bhupalapally, 60 inManthani and one in Mulugu,were sanctioned units underDalit Bandhu. Each beneficia-ry is sanctioned Rs 10 lakh.Out of 90 beneficiaries inBhupalapally, as many as 57opted for transport units, while34 opted for non-transportunits. In Manthani constituen-cy, as many as 36 beneficiaries'

choice was transport units,while 24 others opted for non-transport units.

A district level officer hasbeen appointed as monitoringofficer to each departmentand division. The mentorsshould gather informationabout the beneficiaries' phonenumbers and cooperate withthem till the units arelaunched. The monitoring offi-cers should always be accessi-ble. He said that two awarenessprogrammes were held onhow to choose the units, hesaid.

The officers should collectbiodata of all Dalits and iden-tify the area of experience ofthe prospective applicant. If thecost of unit exceeds Rs 10 lakh,two or three beneficiaries

should come together to set uptheir unit. The officials shouldinteract with officials of otherdistricts where similar unitswere already launched to gath-er information about the units,he said adding that DalitBandhu is the prestigious pro-gramme of the State govern-ment and wanted the officialsto implement it with enthusi-asm. He wanted at least somenew units are launched byMay first week. ScheduledCastes Cor poration ExecutiveDirector M Venkateswarlu,Agriculture Officer M VijayaBhaskar, District HorticultureOfficer MA Akbar, DistrictAnimal Husbandry Officer AKumaraswamy, DistrictIndustries Manager G Srinivasand others were present.

Jayashnakar Bhupalapally District Collector Bhavesh Mishra at a review meeting with the officials in Bhupalapally in Wednesday

PNS n SURYAPET

District Collector TVinayKrishna Reddy has askedthe officials of Board ofIntermediate Education andofficials of the departmentsconcerned to take steps toconduct the intermediateexams in a foolproof manner.

Taking part in a meetingwith the officials on conduct-ing Intermediate examinationsheld at his chambers here onTuesday, in all 17,476 stu-dents, including Intermediatefirst year and Intermediatevocational students, have reg-istered for the Intermediateexaminations. He asked theofficials to put in place suitablemeasures.

Basic amenities should beprovided at all 32 examinationcentres from 9 am to 12 noon

from May 6 to 24. The follow-ing is the number of examina-tion centres in each town:Suryapet-10, Tirumalagiri-2,Nadigudem-2, Tungaturti -3,Kodada-7, Nereducherla-2centres, Huzurnagar-3,Mattampalli-1 and Atmakuru-2.

The Collector asked thepolice officials to beef up secu-

rity near the examination cen-tres. The District PanchayatOfficer and MunicipalCommissioners should takesteps to sanitise the examina-tion centres and provide drink-ing water at the examinationcentres daily.

The Medical and Healthstaff should remain accessiblefor students with medical kitsand ORS sachets. The postaldepartment supervisor shouldaccept the answer script bun-dles up to 3 pm. The TransportDepartment should run busesup to examination centres, hesaid asking the ElectricityDepartment officials to ensurethat there are no power inter-ruption during the examina-tion period. In view of sum-mer, the authorities shouldtake all precautions at exami-nation centres.

PNS n NAGARKURNOOL

The integrated DistrictCollectorate complex shouldbe completed by Septemberthis year and the buildingshould be handed over to theauthorities, District CollectorUday Kumar on Wednesdaydirected the contractor execut-ing the building and otherengineering officials.

He inspected the buildingunder construction atKollapur crossroads and askedthe contractor to ready thebuilding for inauguration inSeptember. Later, he inspect-ed helipad, Collector's cham-ber and conference hall andother amenities providedthere.

He asked the contractor toensure that there is not echo-ing effect of the sound in theconference hall by providingfalse ceiling facility. He asked

the contractor to work incoordination with radio engi-neer and SuperintendingEngineer to provide suitablesound system. He asked thecontractor to see to it thatthere is no defect in quality.

Roads and BuildingExecutive Engineer Bhaskar,Divisional Engineer RamaDevi, Municipal Commissioner Nagesh, contractorand engineers accompaniedthe District Collector.

PNS n WARANGAL

Asmathunisa Begum, AssistantProfessor of English,Department of Mathematicsand Humanities at KakatiyaInstitute of Technology andScience Warangal (KITSW),has been awarded a PhDdegree by the KakatiyaUniversity, Warangal, accord-ing to Principal, Prof K AshokaReddy, on Wednesday.

In a press statement, AshokaReddy said that AsmathunisaBegum had submitted herPhD thesis entitled, 'TeachingWriting Skills-A Case Study of

Autonomous EngineeringColleges in Warangal' underthe supervision of Prof MRajeshwar, Department ofEnglish, Kakatiya University,Warangal. He said that

Asmathunisa Begum's researchon writing skills would helpstudents gain mastery overwriting skills for a successfulcareer.

On the occasion RajyaSabha MP, KITSW Secretary,Correspondent Capt VLakshmikantha Rao, TreasurerP Narayana Reddy andKITSW management memberV Satish Kumar congratulatedher Head Department KShivashankar, all the Deans,Department Heads, faculty,staff, Associate professor andPRO D Prabakara Chary con-gratulated her.

Officials asked to launchDalit Bandhu units speedly

KCR plunges Telangana into debts: Pravin The assigned lands

given to BC, SCs

and STs were

snatched from

them. He demanded

that the State

government release

White Paper in this

regard.

PhD awarded to KITSW assistantprofessor Asmathunisa Begum

Ensure foolproof arrangementsfor Inter exams: Collector

Contractor asked to completeCollectorate complex by Sept

PNS n NIZAMABAD

Tension built up in Amrad vil-lage following suicide by atribal woman on Wednesday.The tribal woman, identifiedas Bujji Bai, committed sui-cide by hanging herself froma tree. She resorted to theextreme step as the authoritieslaunched the work relating toKaleshwaram project package22, fearing that she may loseher land for the project.

With the governmentdeciding to increase thecapacity of Kodem tank from1.5 tmcft to 3.5 tmcft, over14,000 acres in eight tribaltandas, including Amrad vil-

lage, are coming under sub-mersion. It is feared that theproject may render 2,000 peo-

ple homeless. The tribal peo-ple launched agitationdemanding that the govern-

ment order redesigning ofthe project. When the engi-neers launched the work onthe project at Amrad villageamid police cover. Fearingthat she may lose her land forthe project, the tribal womanhanged herself from a tree.

The villagers carrying thebody of the tribal womanlaunched agitation andobstructed the works.

Revenue Divisional OfficerRavi, Tahsildar Veer Sin ghand Assistant PolliceCommissioner Venkateswarluvisited the village and pacifiedthe villagers. The villagerswarned of agitation if theproject was not redesigned.

Tribal woman ends life fearing loss of land

Revenue and police official pacifying agitating people in Amrad village inNizamabad district

She resorts to extreme step after authorities launch the work on Kodemtank at Amrad village in Nizamabad district

PNS n WARANGAL

TRS party leaders andactivists on Wednesday cele-brated the party 21stFormation Day with enthusi-asm. A 21-feet party flag wasunfurled on a platform.

Warangal Urban Co-Operative Bank Chairman,Errabelli Pradeep Rao, whileaddressing a meeting on theoccasion, expressed confi-dence that the TRS wouldretain the power in the nextgeneral elections. He said thatparty founder and ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao was striving for all-rounddevelopment of the State.The TRS would remain tri-umphant for its commitment

for the welfare and develop-ment of the people of theState.

Former Mayor GundaPrakash Rao said that KCRhad succeeded in securingstatehood for Telangana byrisking his life. The Stategovernment was committedto develop Warangal.

In Khammam, the TRSparty Formation Day celebra-tion were organised withenthusiasm. The party lead-ers hoisted the party flag.

The leaders recalled thatthe party was founded onApril 27,2001. The partycame into being to achievestatehood for Telangana andliberated it from the clutchesof the vested interests.

TRS Foundation Daycelebrated with enthusiam

TRS leaders hoisting party flag on theoccasion of party Foundation Day inWarangal on Wednesday

‘TRS alone can take country on growth trajectory'Party leaders and activists want to play pivotal role as 'pink soldiers'PNS n HYDERABAD

The ruling Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS) should emergeas a national party and take thecountry on a growth trajecto-ry as done in the State, assert-ed a section of party workersand local leaders onWednesday.

TRS workers and local lead-ers -- described as 'pink sol-diers' by the top party leader-- from 33 districts wereamong the 3,000 delegateswho participated in TRS' day-long 21st Foundation Day cel-ebrations here in the city.

TRS President and ChiefMinister K ChandrashekarRao, his son and party work-ing president K T Rama Raoand other leaders were presentat the meeting and moved 13resolutions including one onnational and state issues.Mulugu Mandal Praja Paris

had President Sridevi said,'We have got a clear roadmapfor the future. We will goback and share the resolutionswith each member in ourarea.' She also welcomed theparty's resolution to play a keyrole in the national politics andsaid, 'We want our party to

emerge as a national one asthis will benefit not onlyTelangana but the entire coun-try.'

The current central policiesincluding paddy procurementare against the interest offarmers and such policies needto be countered at national

level, she added. Echoing sim-ilar views, WarangalMarketing Committee chair-person Bhagyalakshmi saidTRS has grown over the yearsin the state and is implement-ing several schemes for thewelfare of all communities.'The time has come for TRS to

play a national role just likeany other national party. Themodel schemes implementedin the state should be rolledout across the country. Avisionary CM has potential tobring that change,' she added.

A 25 year-old party workerRamesh from Ranga Reddydistrict, who has been attend-ing the TRS foundation daycelebrations for the last sevenyears, said the party brass iscapable of taking on others atthe centre and the same wasspelled out in the resolutionsmoved today. Earlier in hiswelcome address, the TRSsupremo said the countryneeds a national agenda, not apolitical front or realignment.Later, the TRS working pres-ident Rama Rao also moved aresolution that the partyshould play a key role in thenational politics in the inter-est of the country.

PNS n MANCHERIAL

A hunter was electrocutedwhen he accidentally came incontact with a live wire atEdagattu village underKotapalle mandal onWednesday. The deceasedwas identified as ChiinamKishtaiah (50).

Hunterelectrocuted

Record details of 'out of school' girlsPNS n MEDAK

Local Bodies AdditionalCollector Pratima Singh onWednesday directed the offi-cials of the Women and ChildWelfare Department to recordin Prabandh portal the detailsof the girls in the age group of11-14 who have never beenattending any school.

While holding a review

meeting with the officials, theAdditional Collector pointedout that the Centre had rolled

out a scheme to girls' educa-tion. The Beti Bachao, BetiPadhao scheme was rolled in2015 to address the concernsof gender discrimination andwomen empowerment.

The 'save the girl child,educate the girl child' schemeis aimed at educating the cit-izens against gender bias andimproving efficacy of welfareservices for girls, she said. It

is mandatory to record thedetails of the girls aged 11-14who are not attending anyschool in the portal.

Pratima Singh said all thedetails of the girls who are outof school should be uploadedinto portal. She suggested tothe Anganwadi volunteers tocoordinate the activities withthe District Child Development Project Officer.

JSP objectsto collectionof water cessPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Janasena party political affairscommittee chairman NadendlaManohar strongly objected tothe collecting of water cessfrom the farmers.

In a statement here onWednesday, he said that whenthe farmers were in lurch asthey were not getting remuner-ative price for their produce,and at the same time, there isno guarantee whether theywould get their produce with-out damage, the governmentforceibly collecting water cessfrom the farmers.

Ignoring the difficulties ofthe farmers, the government iscollecting water cess from 2018at the rate of 6 percent interest.The officials threatened thefarmers of not extending RythuBharosa money if they did notpay the water cess, he alleged.

PD Act invokedagainst twoillicit brewersPNS n ONGOLE

Superintendent of policeMalika Garg said here onWednesday that the PreventiveDetention (PD) Act wasinvoked against two notoriousillicit brewers in the district. Shetold the media that Prakasamdistrict police are taking aseries of stringent measures tocurb ID liquor from its grassroots across the district. As apart of this, the PD Act wasinvoked against the illegalliquor manufacturers, trans-porters and vendors. The PDAct is also being invoked withthe permission of the DistrictCollector against those whohave been involved in ID liquorrelated cases, she informed.

nation 05HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 28, 2022

IND

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R WB post-poll violence: Lawyers' group tomeet Prez, take out protest march on Apr 29

Adelegation of 10 advocates, who are part of an association named 'Lawyers for Justice',said on Wednesday they will meet President Ram Nath Kovind on April 29 to demandjustice for the victims of post-poll violence in West Bengal last year. Addressing a press

conference, the association's convener Kabir Shankar Bose said a candle light tribute marchhas also been organised for families of the victims, from Patiala House Court to Tilak Margon Friday. "We will meet the President onApril 29 to demand justice for the victims ofpost-poll violence in West Bengal," Bose said.The march will be taken out in Delhi asjournalists in West Bengal have been "barred"from interacting with the victims, he alleged,adding it wants the media in the nationalcapital to "hear their plight". "Post May 2,2021, a reign of unprecedented terror,lawlessness and violence was unleashed bygoons and anti-socials actively supported bythe ruling dispensation and the political partyin power in the state," he alleged.

Bengal govt spent Rs 1,500 cr in last3 yrs to provide fuel subsidy: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that her governmenthas spent Rs 1,500 crore in the last three years to subsidise petrol and diesel pricesin the state. Her retort came a few hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a vir-

tual interaction with chief ministers, flagged higher fuel prices in opposition-ruled states suchas Maharashtra, Kerala and West Bengal and asked the state governments to reduce VAT forthe benefit of the common man."Today's interaction with PM NarendraModi was completely one-sided andmisleading. Facts shared by him werewrong. We have been providing a sub-sidy of Re 1 on every litre of petrol anddiesel for the last three years. We'vespent Rs 1,500 crore on this," Banerjeetold reporters at the state secretariat.She claimed there was no scope for thechief ministers to speak at the meetingand hence, they could not counter theprime minister's statement.

PM Modi to visit Germany, Denmark, France from May 2-4

In his first trip abroad this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-dayvisit to Germany, Denmark and France from May 2 amid the crisis in Ukraine and Europe'sfirm approach to dealing with it. Announcing the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs

(MEA) on Wednesday said the prime minister will first travel to Germany, then visit Denmarkand will have a brief stop over in Paris on his return journey on May 4. In Paris, Modi willhold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, who was re-elected to the top post onMonday after he defeated rivalMarine Le Pen in the fiercely-fought presidential election."In Berlin, the prime ministerwill hold bilateral talks withOlaf Scholz, FederalChancellor of Germany, andthe two leaders will co-chairthe sixth edition of the India-Germany Inter-GovernmentalConsultations (IGC)," the MEAsaid in a statement.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Safety and hygiene are ofutmost importance for peopletravelling from one city toanother amid the COVID-19pandemic, as per a surveyconducted by leading mobili-ty platform IntrCity.

The platform conducted thestudy to understand Indiantravellers' behaviour and pref-erences while travelling inter-city.

The results illustrate thatwith long due vacations,Indians are enthusiastic totravel and yet cautious abouthygiene and sanitisation.

IntrCity performed anationwide online survey of3,100 persons aged 18 to 60years old who travel betweenIndia's metros, tier-1, and tier-2 cities. It was conductedbetween March 15 and April10, 2022.

As per the survey findings,

65 per cent of travellers priori-tised onboard washroom facil-ity, while 60 per cent preferGPS tracking enabled bus.

"The importance of hygieneand safety among travellers hasskyrocketed. 65 per cent of thetravellers prioritise travellingwith an on-board washroomfacility, while 60 per cent pre-fer GPS tracking enabledbuses," the survey pointed out.

Female travellers prefer safe-ty and hygiene, while men

prefer punctuality when choos-ing the mode of travel, it stat-ed.

Nearly two-thirds of allrespondents in the survey stat-ed a clear preference for a busthat has comfort and conve-nience features over a regularbus, even if it costs more.

"We are glad to bring thefindings of our survey, whichhighlight the priority areasof inter-city travellers. Thenew normal necessitates a

continued focus on safety,hygiene, punctualityand provid-ing a differ-e n t i a t e dexperienceto t rav-e l l e r s , "IntrCity co-f o u n d e rK a p i lR a i z a d anoted.

Safety, hygiene top priority for inter-city bus travellers: Survey

Oppn accuses Modi of playingpolitics on fuel pricesPNS n NEW DELHI

The Opposition on Wednesdayaccused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of playing pol-itics during his meeting withchief ministers on the Covid sit-uation by raising the issue of fuelprices and "passing the buck" onto states to reduce VAT onpetrol and diesel.

Hitting out at the Opposition,the BJP said its stance reeks ofhypocrisy and alleged that forevery litre of petrol, opposition-ruled states were earning twiceas much as the BJP-ruled states.

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray said theCentre owed Rs 26,500 crore tothe state, after Prime MinisterModi said some states did notreduce VAT on petrol and dieseldespite the excise duty cut by theUnion government inNovember last year.

Thackeray also accused theCentre of a step-motherly treat-ment to Maharashtra and that

the state government was notresponsible for the rise in pricesof petrol and diesel.

Congress chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala attackedModi, demanding that he givean account of the Rs 27 lakhcrore "collected" by the BJPgovernment from tax on petroland diesel.

"Modi ji, No criticism, No dis-

tractions, No Jumlas! Please givean account of?27,00,00,00,00,00,00 (?27 LakhCrore) collected by BJP Govtfrom Tax on Petrol & Diesel,"Surjewala said. He said that onMay 26, 2014, when PM Modiassumed charge, crude oil wasUSD 108 per barrel, but petroland diesel were priced at Rs 71.41and Rs 55.49 per litre, while

today, crude oil is USD 100.20per barrel, but the petrol anddiesel prices have been increasedto Rs 105.41/litre and Rs96.67/litre respectively in Delhi.

"We will urge all states todecrease VAT on Petrol/Dieselto pre-May 2014 level. Pleaseadmit BJP Govt earned Rs 27Lakh Crore from Petrol/Dieselwhile all states collectivelyreceived about 16.5 Lakh Crore.Central Govt revenue fromPetrol/Diesel has doubled in 8years," he said in a series oftweets. Shiv Sena leaderPriyanka Chaturvedi alsoslammed the prime minister,alleging that he made the"COVID meeting about poli-tics". "The central governmenthas earned 26 lakh Crore out ofcentral excise on fuel, increased18 times even when oil prices hitrock bottom. The GST share tostates still owed, compensationcomponent to state done awaywith and now pointing fin-gers," she tweeted.

PNS n MUMBAI

Amid rising coronaviruscases in the country, wearingof masks in crowded placescould be made mandatoryagain in Maharashtra, stateHealth Minister Rajesh Topesaid on Wednesday.

Chief Minister UddhavThackeray is expected to holda meeting with the district col-lectors in the state to discussthe issue with them, he said."I feel this decision (aboutmaking wearing of maskscompulsory in public places)could be taken after the meet-ing," Tope told reporters.

He said Delhi has mademasks mandatory and is evenimposing a fine of Rs 500. Evenmasks restrictions are back indistrict of Uttar Pradeshadjoining Delhi, he said.

Maharashtra had doneaway all the COVID-19 relat-ed restrictions on April 2 onthe occasion of Gudhi Padwa,the Marathi New Year.

However, Tope had thenurged people to wear masksvoluntarily to prevent thespread of COVID-19.

Labour codes implementationimminent: Bhupender YadavPNS n NEW DELHI

Union Labour MinisterBhupender Yadav has exudedconfidence that four labourcodes, which would bringanother wave of reforms, willsoon be implemented asaround 90 per cent of stateshave already come out withdraft rules.

In 2019 and 2020, 29 centrallabour laws were amalgamat-ed, rationalised and simplifiedinto four labour codes, viz, theCode on Wages, 2019; theIndustrial Relations Code,2020; the Code on SocialSecurity, 2020; and theOccupational Safety, Health& Working Conditions Code,2020, noted the Survey.

During an interaction,Yadav told reporters thataround 90 per cent of thestates have already publisheddraft rules on four labourcodes and he expects the fourlegislations would becomeoperational soon.

The new laws are in tunewith the changing labour mar-ket trends and at the same time

accommodate the minimumwage requirement and welfareneeds of the unorganised sec-tor workers, including the self-employed and migrant work-ers, within the framework oflegislation.

The central government hasalso pre-published the draftrules for all four codes. Nowstates are required to frameregulations on their part aslabour is a concurrent subject.

Labour is in the ConcurrentList of the Constitution andunder the Labour Codes, rulesare required to be framed bythe central government as wellas by the state governments.

The central government hasnotified four labour codes,namely, the Code on Wages,2019, on August 8, 2019; theIndustrial Relations Code,2020, the Code on SocialSecurity, 2020, and theOccupational Safety, Healthand Working ConditionsCode, 2020 on September 29,2020.

However, the Centre as wellas states are required to noti-fy rules under the four codesto enforce these laws in respec-tive jurisdictions. Under theCodes, the power to makerules has been entrusted to thecentral government, state gov-ernment and appropriate gov-ernment and there is a require-ment for publication of rules intheir official gazette for a peri-od of 30 or 45 days for publicconsultation.

The minister also said thatthe government is working toprovide social security to theentire workforce in the coun-try and that is why e-Shramportal or national database ofinformal workers is being cre-ated.

Maha to mandatewearing of masksin crowded places

PNS n NEW DELHI

Nearly 20 million women havebeen certified to be digitally lit-erate in India under thePMGDISHA programme ded-icated to digital literacy, Unionminister Smriti Irani said onWednesday.

Pradhan Mantri GraminDigital Saksharta Abhiyan(PMGDISHA) aims toempower the people in ruralareas by training them to oper-ate computer or digital accessdevices (like tablets, smartphones, etc.), send and receivee-mails, browse internet, accessgovernment services, andundertake digital payment,among others.

Responding to a question atan interactive session at theRaisina Dialogue, India's pre-mier foreign policy and geo-economics conference, Iranisaid there is much that isbeing done in India digitally

and otherwise.She said PM's DISHA pro-

gramme has close to 20 millioncertified digitally literatewomen in India.

"When India went intolockdown, we did not have asingle PPE suit in the coun-try and the workforce thatmade those PPE suit, about75 per cent of it were Indian

women and in just threemonths we became the sec-ond largest exporters in theworld and that is an indica-tor of female potential inIndian manufacturing," shesaid.

"We have 6.6 million womenwho are first responders in theCOVID-19 pandemic, be itdoctors, nurses, ASHA work-ers, and Anganwadi workers,"the women and child develop-ment minister added.

She said under AyushmanBharat, the footfall of womenin hospitals and healthcareestablishments in last two yearshas been 450 million andwomen who are getting them-selves checked for cancer orcancer of cervix, the number is70 million.

"When you have a govern-ment which ensures that theirneeds are financially support-ed, they do not withdraw fromthese services," he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar will begin a three-day visit to Bangladesh andBhutan on Thursday focusingon enhancing bilateral cooper-ation and exchanging views onkey issues. In Dhaka, Jaishankarwill call on Bangladeshi PMSheikh Hasina and hold discus-sions with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, the Ministryof External Affairs (MEA) saidon Wednesday, announcingthe visit.

PNS n NEW DELHI

As part of the railways' bid toremove illegal encroachmentsfrom its land, its North Centralzone has issued notices to amazar of Bhure Shah Baba anda Chamunda Devi temple inAgra in Uttar Pradesh.

In the notice issued onApril 25 to Sajjada Nashim, thecaretaker of the mazar, the rail-ways has said the structure wasconstructed on land owned bythe Agra Cantonment rail-way board and 182.57 squaremetres of the land have been"illegally occupied".

It has asked for documentsdefending the construction ofthe mazar to be presentedbefore the board by May 13.The notice has instructedNashim to prove the owner-ship of the land and appear fora hearing on May 13. It hasfurther added that if the mazarcaretaker is not available onthat date, officials as well as thecourt will issue orders afterhearing only one side.

Similarly, in a notice issuedon April 12 to the priest in-charge of the Chamunda Devitemple, the railways has said apart of the structure is

encroaching on platformnumber one of the Raja KiMandi railway station andcausing inconvenience to pas-sengers as well as affectingtrain movement. The noticehas given 10 days' time for theremoval of the temple from theplatform as well as from rail-way land.

Railway land measuring

around 814.5 hectares, whichis at least nine times the totalarea of the New Delhi railwaystation, is encroached acrossthe country and almost one-fifth of it is in the NorthernRailway zone, according todata provided by the railwayministry in Parliament inDecember 2021.

According to the ministry,railway land measuring near-ly 176 hectares is underencroachment in the Northernzone, followed by 141 hectaresin the South Eastern zone.Around 94 hectares areencroached upon in the

Northeast Frontier zone.The Supreme Court had

blamed the railways inDecember last year for theencroachment on its proper-ties and said it must initiateaction against the unautho-rised occupants immediately.

Not only the railways, mostpublic departments are waryof taking action against reli-gious structures, officials said.

However, senior officialssaid the railways, after thelashing from the apex court,has decided to take actionagainst all such encroach-ments.

PNS n NEW DELHI / CHANDIGARH

The Congress on Wednesdayrevamped its Haryana unit,appointing former legislatorUdai Bhan as president of itsstate unit, replacing KumariSelja, and naming four work-ing presidents.

As part of the reorganisationthat had been on the cards forthe past few weeks, theCongress appointed ShrutiChoudhary, Ram KishanGujjar, Jitender KumarBhardwaj and Suresh Gupta asworking presidents in a bid tostrike a power balance in theparty's state unit.

"Hon'ble Congress Presidenthas accepted the resignation ofKumari Selja from the post ofthe President, HaryanaPradesh Congress Committee

with immediate effect," seniorleader K C Venugopal said ina statement. Selja told PTIthat she had submitted her res-ignation to the party highcommand a few days ago.

"I am a true soldier of theCongress party. I have fullfaith in my high command andwe will all work together. Mycongratulations to the newstate unit president and theworking presidents," she said.

Like Selja, Bhan (66) is fromthe Scheduled Caste commu-nity. He has been an MLAfrom Hodal and Hasanpurand is considered a close con-fidant of former Haryana chiefminister Bhupinder SinghHooda.

Hooda, Leader of theOpposition in Haryana,termed Bhan a hardworkingleader who has worked at thegrassroots. "His appointmentwill further strengthen theCongress," Hooda told PTI.

Referring to the appoint-ment of the four working pres-idents, Hooda said, "All willwork together and strengthenthe Congress."

The new state unit chiefthanked Congress presidentSonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi for reposing faith inhim.

PM SVANidhischeme tocontinue tillDec 2024PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Wednesdayapproved the continuationof the Prime Minister StreetVendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi(PM SVANidhi) scheme tillDecember 2024, according toan official statement.

The approval was given bythe Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi, the statement said,adding that through PMSVANidhi, affordable collater-al-free loans are given to streetvendors. "Today's approvalhas increased the loan amountto Rs 8,100 crore, therebyproviding the street vendorsworking capital to furtherexpand their business andmaking them AtmaNirbhar,"the statement said.

Two held inMumbai withdrugs worthRs 76 lakhPNS n MUMBAI

The Mumbai police arrestedtwo persons and seizedmephedrone (MD) drugsworth over Rs 76 lakh fromtheir possession onWednesday, an official of theAnti-Narcotics Cell (ANC)said.

The duo, identified as AbidAshraf Sheikh (28) and RohitSuresh Soni (21), both cityresidents, was apprehendedby an ANC team, he said.

Acting on a tip-off, theANC team laid a trap at abuilding in south Mumbaiand nabbed Sheikh, who wasselling the drugs. After hisinterrogation, the policearrested Soni from the Sewriarea, the official said.

In all, MD drugs worth Rs76.20 lakh were seized fromthem, he said.

Nearly 20 million women digitallyliterate in India under PMGDISHA

Railway issues notices to mazar, temple in Agra Uttar Pradesh: Drive toremove unauthorisedloudspeakers from shrinesPNS n LUCKNOW

Over 6,000 unauthorised loud-speakers were removed fromreligious places and volume ofother 30,000 was set to per-missible limits across UttarPradesh following a govern-ment order, asenior police offi-cial said onWednesday.

A statewide driveis being undertakento remove unau-thorised loud-speakers from reli-gious places and setthe volume of oth-ers within permis-sible limits,Additional Director General ofPolice (Law and Order)Prashant Kumar said.

He added that loudspeakersare being removed from allreligious places without anydiscrimination.

Under this exercise, a totalof 6,031 loudspeakers wereremoved and volume of 29,674loudspeakers was set within

permissible limits tillWednesday afternoon, Kumarsaid.

Explaining further aboutthe action, he said, "The loud-speakers which are beingremoved are unauthorised.

Those loudspeakers whichhave been placedwithout taking duepermission from thedistrict administra-tion or the oneswhich are placed inexcess of the per-mitted numbers arecategorised as unau-thorised, he added.

He said, Ordersof the high courtregarding loud-

speakers are also being consid-ered during the exercise."

The action followed afterChief Minister YogiAdityanath, during a reviewmeeting on law and orderwith senior officials here lastweek, said people have thefreedom to perform their reli-gious practices according totheir faith.

Jaishankar to visitBangladesh, Bhutanfrom April 28-30

Hooda loyalist Udai Bhanreplaces Selja as president

CONGRESS REVAMPS HARYANA UNIT

ly enforced by the government sothat private sector individuals,employees will have certain relief.At any level, if we look, majorityof them will be working in privatesector. Only a few get opportuni-ty to work in the public/govern-ment sector; the rest all aredependent on private jobs. So, forany government employee bydefault he/she gets certain bene-fits like pension, medical servicesand other means of financialassistance even during the timesof most challenging and disasters.But private sector employeeshardly have any job security. Themost evident situation was dur-ing the pandemic. Most of themwere not able to cope with the sit-uation and have forcefully shut-down the institutions, organisa-tions and industries, which leftlakhs of them unemployed. It isaccepted that when natural dis-asters or calamities occur one willhave no control over it. But com-ing to job security, it is possibleto exercise control when both thegovernments and the private sec-tor work together. The govern-ment should make a thorough

policy of employment insurancein case an employer fires, lays off,or sacks employees under any cir-cumstances. Like organisationsask for a tenure-based bondsthey should also sign-up a agree-ment stating that all sorts ofassistance financially and moral-ly to be taken care when anemployee is unfairly sacked. Mostof the foreign countries have alegitimate policy of providingsix months of extended pay evenwhen an employee is removedfrom the organisation under anycircumstances, except for excep-tional behaviour issues/employ-ees personal reasons. Theemployment policy must alsosuggest the employers to take upthe moral responsibility of theiremployees in terms of education-al and healthcare benefits. Thisway it also reduces the overallburden on the government, espe-cially in countries like India.

It is definitely possible whenthe employers come up andthink on humanitarian grounds.In this regard, the governmentshould make sure these are notonly effectively implemented but

by collaborating with them, bymaking an collective partnershipto deliver some of their welfareschemes in this way. Thus, it alsoreduces the larger burden on thegovernment to deliver them inindividual capacity.

The government can collabo-rate, communicate and utilise theservices of various private sectorfirms, organisations in deliveringthe welfare schemes like guaran-teed healthcare to employees bygiving a minor contribution.However, the major part shouldbe taken care by the employers.This way we can make suremost of them will be gettingproper facilities in educationand health care and decrease thefinancial burden on individualsand ultimately providing socialsecurity by giving all these assis-tance during employment andinsurance when removed.

The pandemic has made us allrealise that for every problemthere can be a solution and in thecase of private sector employeesthe onus is on both the govern-ment and the private sectoremployers.

Job insurance scheme vitalfor pvt sector employees

“FACTS SHARED BY HIM WERE WRONG. WE HAVE BEEN

PROVIDING A SUBSIDY OF RE 1 ON EVERY LITRE OF

PETROL AND DIESEL FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS.

WE'VE SPENT RS 1,500 CRORE ON THIS.”

— WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER MAMATA BANERJEE

“SOME STATES DID NOT REDUCE VAT ON PETROL AND

DIESEL DESPITE THE EXCISE DUTY CUT BY THE UNION

GOVERNMENT IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR”

— PRIME MINISTER

NARENDRA MODI

The venue of the TRS Foundation Day celebrations reverberatedwith rounds of applause when the party president andTelangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao announced

that the State had made a clean sweep in the list of 10 "BestVillages" announced by the Union Government. "Telangana is a rolemodel for the country. We are progressing with a wonderful admin-istration. The rewards and awards speak volumes. The UnionGovernment announced the list of top 10 villages in the country. Allthe 10 villages are from Telangana. In the list of 20 best villages, 19are from Telangana. This is a sample for our performance (manapani teeruku machhutunaka)," KCR said. KCR was referring toPrime Minister Narendra Modi's pet scheme, Sansad Adarsh GramYojana (SAGY), a village development project launched by theGovernment of India in October 2014. Under SAGY, MPs can adoptvillages for development. Earlier, party working president andMinister K.T.Rama Rao congratulated his father on his 'proud'

achievement on Twitter. "Proud to share that all 10 out of top 10 vil-lages in Sansad Adarsh Garmina Yojana are from Telangana and 19out of top 20 villages from TS. Heartiest congratulations to Hon'bleCM KCR Garu for his vision, especially Palle Pragathi. Complimentsto PR Minister Dayakar Rao and team," read KTR's tweet. KTRapparently cooked up a table to share along with the tweet. Wedon't know whether it was a deliberate attempt, but he excludedGummadavelli village of Ranga Reddy district adopted by UnionMinister G.Kishan Reddy from the list he tweeted. KTR tried to mis-lead on two fronts. Firstly, he gleefully claimed that these villageswere developed under Palle Pragathi. Secondly, he excludedGummadavelli developed by Union Minister Kishan Reddy. Thefather-son duo was in a hurry to pat their backs for this achieve-ment, but the fact remains that these villages were developed byBJP MPs using central government funds. While three villages are from Karimnagar -- the constituency ofBJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar -- four are located inthe Nizamabad parliamentary constituency represented byDharmapuri Arvind. As mentioned earlier, Gummadavelli wasadopted by Union Minister G.Kishan Reddy. The remaining twovillages are located in the Bhongir constituency, represented byK.Venkat Reddy of Congress. It has to be noted that none ofthese villages is located in constituencies represented by TRSMPs. Though the central scheme is open for all MPs, irrespec-tive of political affiliations, none of the TRS MPs took it seriouslylike BJP MPs who put their heart and soul to develop them.The BJP MPs proved that development can be ensured if electedrepresentatives are capable and committed. It is pertinent tomention here that KCR's daughter and present MLC KalvakuntlaKavitha had once dubbed this scheme as 'useless' when shewas an MP. Talking to reporters at Tungur in Jagitial on August20, 2015, Kavitha, who was among the first MPs to adopt a vil-lage under SAGY, said that the adoption was turning into a bur-den. "Without even a single rupee funding, how can we developthe adopted villages?'' she questioned. Obviously, Madam wasunwilling to take up anything that did not involve funds.Even the Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar unabashedly supportedthe false claim, assuming the people of Telangana will not know thedifference between top 10 highly developed villages in India versusthe top 10 best performing villages under the SAGY scheme.

(The author is a spokesperson of the Telangana BJP)

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 28, 2022

06

FIRSTCOLUMN

IGNORANCE OF KCR ANDKTR IS TRS' BLISS!

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

SHASHIDHAR VUPPALA

ALTHOUGH THEGROWTH OF

OPPORTUNITIESHAS RAPIDLY

INCREASED, THEMOST

CONCERNINGPART IS NOT

ADDRESSED YET.THE EXISTINGEMPLOYMENTPOLICY DOES

NOT SUGGESTEMPLOYMENT

INSURANCE TOTHE PRIVATE

SECTOREMPLOYEES,

THOUGH THEREARE CERTAIN

PRIVILEGES FORTHE

GOVERNMENTSECTOR

EMPLOYEES

Agroup of eminent Indian-Americans expressed disap-pointment over the latest

annual report of the USCommission on InternationalReligious Freedom and allegedthat it is biased against India.

The report recommended tothe Biden Administration to des-ignate India, China, Pakistan,Afghanistan and 11 other nationsas "country of particular concern"in the context of status of religiousfreedom.

The recommendations are notbinding on the US government.

"The USCIRF's report on Indiais biased through selection andomissions fuelled by anti-Indiacampaigns in the United States,"alleged Khanderao Kand from theFoundation for India and IndianDiaspora Studies(FIIDS), a US-based policy research and aware-

ness institution.Instead of recognising that

India's Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) is an act that gives cit-izenship to refugees who werereligiously persecuted fromPakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh, it's wrongly projectedas an act to take away citizenship,he said.

Similarly, the report failed tomention that the National Registerof Citizenship (NRC), which iscommon in the most democraticcountries, is being implemented asper the ruling of India's court,Kand said.

"It is disappointing that thereport only quoted Muslims fromKashmir but ignored KashmiriPandit Hindus who are victims oftheir terrorism being forced outand murdered. It failed to mentionthat the situation normalised after

the abolition of 370," said JeevanZutshi, founder member of theGlobal Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora(GKPD).

"The report is contradiction toIndia's humanitarian credentialsas 90 per cent of my extendedfami ly and most of theIndigenous p eople f romBangladesh are going to India tosave their lives from Jihadis," saidPriya Saha, US-based editor ofDalit Kantha and BangladeshJournal of Minority.

President of the Council forStrategic Affairs, Dr Adityan,observed a pattern of bias and said,"USCIRF in its annual ritual ofreport shows its compulsive anti-India bias! USCIRF report hasbecome a political tool of US pol-itics devoid of any objectivity!The report displays callous igno-rance about Indian laws , consti-

tution and ground realities!"Ignorance about reality and

vested interests are the basis forthis report. USCRIF should do anunbiased report and be abovevested interests," said Professor

Yash Pathak, a Fulbright scholar.Sukhi Chahal, a California-

based Sikh and chief editor ofKhalsa Today criticised reportedlabelling of Sikh farmers.

"Some anti-India forces and

Khalistani elements from abroadhad openly declared rewards in USdollars to create disruptions inIndia via the farmers' protests.Instead of acknowledging thatKhalistani terrorists had infiltrat-ed in the farmers protest, thereport wrongly projected that thegovernment discredited all Sikhfarmer protesters as terrorist,"Chahal said.

Chandru Acharya, president,South Asian American Voices ForImpact said the report provides aone-sided and biased narrativeabout religious freedom in Indiawith exaggerated claims that aredesigned to fuel an eco-system offear and hate.

"The report lacks authenticityand attempts to brand the vastmajority of peace loving andpluralistic Hindus as extremists,"he said.

KISHORE POREDDY The pandemic has become aneye-opener to almost all thesectors, sections of society. Ithas hit hard some of them,

including private sector employees.Many lost opportunities, jobs, lives andsome even gave up lives in this fightagainst Covid. The landscape ofemployment opportunities has changedsignificantly since the pandemic start-ed. It is always said that opportunitiesare always there in the industry/mar-ket, but in most of the cases, there islack of resources or basic skills to getthrough the process or lack of therequired competency. Now the situa-tion before pandemic and after pan-demic has brought several changes,challenges to the industries, be it toemployers or employees in several sec-tors like Information Technology,Pharma, Healthcare, Life Sciences,Automobile, etc. It has given new hori-zons to both employees and employers,and equally benefited both of them.Earlier one had to struggle a lot for jobsnow. With the pandemic, the scenariohas changed. Every individual hasalmost 3-4 opportunities if he/she hasthe required skill set and with this sit-uation industry is unsure to handle.

Several industries failed to regulateor curtail the dual employment engage-ment and low productivity issues andfor this employers alone cannot beblamed, but the regulators and law-making bodies. They never made a fairassessment for benefiting employees,but always they took the stand ofemployer's side and thus it has led tothese problems. It should be sorted outby the government by proactively mak-ing changes in the PF window. It helpsto certain extent. However, once theoffices start operating, dual employ-ment will drastically go down.

Although the growth of opportuni-ties has rapidly increased, the most con-cerning part is not addressed yet. Theexisting employment policy does notsuggest Employment Insurance to theprivate sector employees, though thereare certain privileges for the govern-ment sector employees.

In the foreign countries, they haveeffective policies for the most impor-tant port fol ios l ike Educat ion,Healthcare & Social Security. But inIndia we still struggle for the basicneeds of education and healthcare andsocial security is at stake. Everything iscostly and not accessible and most ofthem are not in a situation to afford.The government has brought severalchanges and is still trying to work forthe welfare of people. Blaming the gov-ernment alone does not make sense andwill be unfair.

The government should start infusingownership to the organizations, be it pri-vate, public sector and bring in certainregulations for the safety of private sec-tor employees. These should be strict-

‘USCIRF report on religious freedom biased against India'SIMILARLY, THE REPORT

FAILED TO MENTION THATTHE NATIONAL REGISTER

OF CITIZENSHIP (NRC),WHICH IS COMMON IN

THE MOST DEMOCRATICCOUNTRIES, IS BEING

IMPLEMENTED AS PERTHE RULING OF INDIA'S

COURT, KAND SAID.

It is always said that opportunities are always there in the industry/market, but in most of the

cases, there is lack of resources or basic skills to get through the process or lack of competency.

world 07HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 28, 2022

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Sweden trial starts in stem-cellwindpipe transplants case

An Italian surgeon who made headlines in 2011 for carrying out the world's first stem-cellwindpipe transplants at Sweden's leading hospital went on trial Wednesday accused ofaggravated assault against three of his patients. Stem-cell scientist Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, who

was once considered a leading figure in regenerative medicine, is credited with creating the world'sfirst windpipe partially made from a patient's own stem cells. In December 2018, Sweden decidedto reopen a previously discontinuedinvestigation into three cases. Additionalwritten evidence was obtained, and moreinterviews were held with individuals inSweden, Belgium, Britain, the United Statesand Spain. The former surgeon appearedat the Solna District Court Wednesday butis first expected to be a witness Friday. Hisdefense lawyer, Bj rn Hurtig, believesMacchiarini's former employer, Sweden'sprestigious Karolinska Institute, should beheld responsible, Swedish broadcasterSVT said.

Minimum age for marriage raisedfrom 16 to 18 in England, Wales

The minimum age for marriage in England and Wales has been raised from 16 to 18 years,making it illegal for anyone facilitating underage marriages. Under a new law that cleared theUK Parliament on Tuesday and will become law after Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Assent later

this week, religious or cultural marriages not registered with a couples' local council will also fallwithin the legal age remit. Until now, girls and boys aged 16 and 17 could get married as long asthey had parental consent. The Marriageand Civil Partnership Bill, tabled in Junelast year, was introduced as part of effortsto combat cases of child marriages andalso forced marriages. So, thrilled that myMarriage Bill has been approved by theHouse of Commons, and is on its way tobecoming law. Thank you to all those whohave supported the campaign to end childmarriage once and for all in this country,said Conservative Party MP PaulineLatham, who had sponsored the Bill withHouse of Lords peer Liz Sugg.

Australian Minister accuses China ofelection interference

Asenior Australian minister on Wednesday suggested that China had deliberatelyannounced its security pact with the Solomon Islands during an election campaignto undermine her government's chances of reelection Home Affairs Minister Karen

Andrews' accusation is consistent with her conservative Liberal Party's argument thatBeijing wants the centre-left LabourParty to win the May 21 electionbecause Labour lawmakers were lesslikely to stand up to Chinese economiccoercion Labour has described thegovernment's inability to prevent thedeal announced by the Chinese andSolomons governments last week asAustralia's biggest foreign policyfailure in the Pacific since World WarII. Andrews who is responsible for theAustralian Security IntelligenceOrganisation, the nation's maindomestic spy agency.

PNS n LONDON

Elon Musk's Twitter acquisitionand his plans for a more hands-off approach to moderatingcontent could clash with ambi-tious new laws in Europemeant to protect users fromdisinformation, hate speechand other harmful material.

Musk, who describes himselfas a free speech absolutist,"pledged to buy Twitter for 44billion this week, withEuropean Union officials anddigital campaigners quick tosay that any focus on freespeech to the detriment ofonline safety would not fly afterthe 27-nation bloc solidified itsstatus as a global leader in theeffort to rein in the power oftech giants.

If his approach will be juststop moderating it, he willlikely find himself in a lot oflegal trouble in the EU," saidJan Penfrat, senior policy advis-

er at digital rights group EDRi.Musk will soon be confront-

ed with Europe's DigitalServices Act, which will requirebig tech companies like Twitter,Google and Facebook parentMeta to police their platformsmore strictly or face billions infines.

Officials agreed just days agoon the landmark legislation,expected to take effect by 2024.It's unclear how soon it couldspark a similar crackdownelsewhere, with US lawmakers

divided on efforts to addresscompetition, online privacy,disinformation and more.

That means the job of rein-ing in a Musk-led Twittercould fall to Europe somethingofficials signalled they're readyfor.

Be it cars or social media,any company operating inEurope needs to comply withour rules regardless of theirshareholding, Thierry Breton,the EU's internal market com-missioner, tweeted Tuesday.

Mr Musk knows this well. Heis familiar with European ruleson automotive, and will quick-ly adapt to the Digital ServicesAct.

Musk's plans for Twitterhaven't been fleshed outbeyond a few ideas for newfeatures, opening its algorithmto public inspection anddefeating bots posing as realusers.

France's digital minister,Cedric O, said Musk hasinteresting things that hewants to push for Twitter, butlet 's remember that#DigitalSer vicesAct andtherefore the obligation tofight misinformation, onlinehate, etc will apply regardlessof the ideology of its owner."

EU Green Party lawmakerAlexandra Geese, who wasinvolved in negotiating thelaw, said, Elon Musk's idea offree speech without contentmoderation would exclude

large parts of the populationfrom public discourse, such aswomen and people of colour.

Twitter declined to com-ment. Musk tweeted that theextreme antibody reactionfrom those who fear freespeech says it all.

He added that by freespeech, he means that whichmatches the law and that he'sagainst censorship going farbeyond the law .

The United Kingdom alsohas an online safety law in theworks that threatens seniormanagers at tech companieswith prison if they don't com-ply. Users would get morepower to block anonymoustrolls, and tech companieswould be forced to proactive-ly take down illegal content.

Prime Minister BorisJohnson's office stressed theneed for Twitter to remainresponsible" and protectusers.

PNS n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan cannot afford to have"enmity with the US at all,"Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifhas said, as he vowed to mendfences with all allies and friendsof the country who have beenestranged from Islamabad dueto the faulty foreign policies ofthe previous government ofImran Khan.

Sharif, who assumed officeon April 11, regretted that theprevious government led bythe Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) party led by Khan hadannoyed all those countriesthat had always helped Pakistanin difficult times, especiallyChina, Saudi Arabia, Qatar andthe United States.

He said there was a need toend the mistrust betweenPakistan and the United States,and both countries needed tosee if they had committed anymistakes in the past, the Dawnnewspaper reported onWednesday.

"Pakistan cannot afford tohave enmity with the US at all,"Sharif, also the President of

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) said while respondingto a volley of questions fromsenior journalists during anIftar reception at the PrimeMinister House on Tuesday.

Khan was ousted from powerafter losing a no-confi-dence vote in his leader-ship, which he allegedwas part of a US-led con-spiracy targeting himbecause of hisindependent for-eign policy deci-sions on Russia,China andAfghanistan.

The crick-eter-turned-politician has repeatedly allegedthat his political opponents col-luded with the US to bringabout regime in Pakistan. But heprovided no credible evidenceof this and Washington hasstrongly denied any foreigninterference.

Though Sharif touched on allthe issues during his nearlyhour-long conversation withjournalists, his main emphasisremained on the country's for-

eign policy, the report said.He spoke about his forth-

coming visit to Saudi Arabiaand also expressed his concernsover the suicide attack on theChinese nationals in Karachiearlier on Tuesday.

The prime minister saidhe was expected to have adiscussion on bilateralissues and cooperation

with the Saudi leader-ship during hisupcoming visitto Riyadh fromThursday.

Hitting outat the previ-ous govern-ment over its

flawed foreign policy, Sharifsaid first the PTI governmentannoyed Qatar royal family byraising fingers at the contractsigned by Pakistan for thepurchase of gas in 2016, andthen they did the same thingwith China when they criedfoul and corruption inChinese projects launched inPakistan under the ambitiousChina-Pakistan EconomicCorridor.

Pakistan cannot afford ‘enmitywith US at all’: PM Sharif

SpaceX launches 4 astronautsfor NASA after private flightPNS n CAPE CANAVERAL

SpaceX launched four astro-nauts to the International SpaceStation for NASA onWednesday, less than two daysafter completing a flight char-tered by millionaires.

It's the first NASA crew com-prised equally of men andwomen, including the first Blackwoman making a long-termspaceflight, Jessica Watkins.

This is one of the most diver-sified, I think, crews that we'vehad in a really, really long time,"said NASA's space operationsmission chief Kathy Lueders.

The astronauts were due toarrive at the space stationWednesday night, 16 hoursafter a predawn liftoff fromKennedy Space Center that

thrilled spectators.Anyone who saw it realized

what a beautiful launch it was,Lueders told reporters. After anexpress flight comparable to trav-eling from New York toSingapore, the crew will move infor a five-month stay.

SpaceX has now launched fivecrews for NASA and two privatetrips in just under two years. ElonMusk's company is having anespecially busy few weeks: It justfinished taking three businessmento and from the space station asNASA's first private guests.

PNS n POKROVSK

Russia opened a new front inits war in Ukraine onWednesday, cutting NATOmembers Poland and Bulgariaoff from its gas, a dramaticescalation in the conflict that isincreasingly becoming a widerbattle with the West.

One day after the UnitedStates and other Western alliesvowed to speed more and bet-ter military supplies toUkraine, the Kremlin uppedthe ante, using its most essen-tial export as leverage.

It then went even further, say-ing Russia could halt gas sup-plies to other European cus-tomers.

European gas prices shot upon the news that Poland andBulgaria were cut off, a movethat European leadersdenounced as blackmail.

In a memo, state-controlledRussian giant Gazprom said itwas cutting Poland and Bulgariaoff from its natural gas becausethey refused to pay in Russianrubles, as President VladimirPutin had demanded. The com-pany said it had not receivedany such payment since the

beginning of the month.The gas cuts do not immedi-

ately put the countries intodire trouble since they haveworked on getting alternativesources for several years nowand the continent is headinginto summer, making gas not asessential for households.

Still, it sent shivers of worrythrough the 27-nationEuropean Union, which imme-diately convened a special coor-dination group to limit theimpact of the move. AndKremlin spokesman DmitryPeskov's ensuing warning wassure to worry them even more.He told reporters that otherEuropean customers may be cut

off if they also refuse to pay inrubles.

On the ground too, thegeopolitical fight intensified,with the Russian military claim-ing Wednesday that its missileshit a batch of weapons that theU.S. and European nationsdelivered to Ukraine.

A day earlier, explosionsrocked the separatist region ofTrans-Dniester in neighboringMoldova, knocking out twopowerful radio antennas andraising fears the war could spillover Ukraine's borders. No oneclaimed responsibility for theattacks the second in as manydays but Ukraine all but blamedRussia.

PNS n WARSAW

Polish and Bulgarian leadersaccused Moscow of usingnatural gas to blackmailtheir countries after Russia'sstate-controlled energycompany said it would stopsupplying the two Europeannations Wednesday.

The gas cutoff came afterRussian President VladimirPutin said last month thatunfriendly countries wouldneed to start paying for gasin rubles, Russia's currency,which Bulgaria and Polandrefused to do. Russian ener-gy giant Gazprom said in astatement that it hadn'treceived any payments fromPoland and Bulgaria sinceApril 1 and was suspendingtheir deliveries startingWednesday.

If the countries siphon offgas intended for otherEuropean customers, deliv-eries to Europe will bereduced by that amount,

the company said. PolishPrime Minister MateuszMorawiecki told Poland'sparliament that he thinksthe suspension was revengefor new sanctions againstRussia that Warsaw imposedover the war in Ukraine.

Morawiecki vowed thatPoland would not be cowedby the cutoff. He said thecountry was safe from anenergy crisis thanks to yearsof efforts to secure gas fromother countries.

Lawmakers stood andapplauded when he said thatRussia's gas blackmail wouldhave no effect on Poland.

The new sanctions,announced Tuesday, target-ed 50 Russian oligarchs andcompanies, includingGazprom. Hours later,Poland said it had receivednotice that Gazprom wascutting off its gas suppliesfor failing to adhere to thedemand to pay in Russianrubles.

Russia cuts off 2 EU nations from its gas in war escalation

European nations accuse Russiaof natural gas ‘blackmail'

PNS n COLOMBO

Sri Lanka's embattledPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksaon Wednesday convened ameeting of political parties onApril 29 to discuss the possi-ble formation of an all-partygovernment to end the pro-tracted political impasse inthe country, amidst mountingpressure on Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa to resignto and make way for an inter-im government.

A letter to all party leadersin the ruling coalition said thegovernment was in agreementto form an all-party govern-ment comprising parties rep-resented in Parliament,according to a statement.

The meeting has been fixedfor April 29 to discuss the newarrangement after the resigna-tion of prime minister MahidaRajapaksa, it said.

This comes in the back-ground of pressure mountedwithin the ruling coalition onthe prime minister to resign tomake way for an interim gov-ernment.

However, the statementfrom the president is in con-trast to the position taken byhis elder brother and the coun-try's Prime Minister MahindaRajapaksa, who hassaid he will notresign and anyinterim gov-e r n m e n tcan bef o r m e donly underhis leader-ship.

Both thePresident andthe PrimeMinister are undermounting pressure from fiercepublic protests demanding hisresignation for mishandlingthe country's worst economiccrisis.

Debt-ridden Sri Lanka isgrappling with an unprece-dented economic turmoilsince its independence fromBritain in 1948. The crisis iscaused in part by a lack of for-eign currency, which hasmeant that the country cannotafford to pay for imports of

staple foods and fuel, leadingto acute shortages and veryhigh prices.

Sri Lankan election com-mission on Tuesday urged allpolitical parties to come

together to form an all-party government or a

similar body to endthe politicalimpasse prevailingin the country.

P r e s i d e n tRajapaksa is com-

ing under pressureto set up an interim

administration as animmediate step to resolve

the economic and politicalturmoil in the country.

Mass anti-governmentprotests demanding the resig-nation of the entire Rajapaksafamily have been going on formore than two weeks.

The public is being made towait in long lines for fuel andcooking gas amid power cuts.

In recent weeks, prominentbusinesses and other profes-sional organisations haverepeated the call for an inter-im government.

Lankan Prez ready to discussformation of all-party govt

Myanmar court sentences SuuKyi to 5 years’ jail for graftPNS n BANGKOK

A court in military-ruledMyanmar convicted the coun-try's former leader Aung SanSuu Kyi of corruption and sen-tenced her to five years inprison Wednesday in the firstof several corruption casesagainst her.

Suu Kyi, who was ousted byan army takeover last year, haddenied the allegation that shehad accepted gold and hun-dreds of thousands of dollarsgiven her as a bribe by a toppolitical colleague.

Her supporters and inde-pendent legal experts consid-er her prosecution an unjustmove to discredit Suu Kyiand legitimise the military's

seizure of power while keep-ing the 76-year-old electedleader from returning to anactive role in politics.

She has already been sen-tenced to six years imprisonmentin other cases and faces 10 morecorruption charges. The maxi-mum punishment under theAnti-Corruption Act is 15 yearsin prison and a fine. Convictionsin the other cases could bringsentences of more than 100years in prison in total for aNobel Peace Prize laureate whoalready spent years in detentionfor defying military rule.

News of Wednesday's verdictcame from a legal official whoasked not to be identifiedbecause he is not authorised torelease such information.

PNS n BRUSSELS

The European Union's execu-tive arm said Wednesday thatit wants to see the EU adopt alaw to protect journalists andcivil rights activists from law-suits aimed at censoring them.

The European Commissionproposed safeguards to curbSLAPPS, or strategic lawsuitsagainst public participation. Itdescribed such litigation as aserious threat to democracyand fundamental rights, suchas freedom of expression andinformation.

Daphne Caruana Galizia, aMaltese investigative journal-ist who was killed in a 2017 carbombing, faced more than 40lawsuits when she was killed,the commission said.

The proposed law wouldallow courts to dismiss casesearly in the proceedings and

puts the burden of proof onthe parties bringing lawsuits"to prove that the case is notmanifestly unfounded," thecommission said.

The suing parties wouldbear all procedural costs,including the fees of defenselawyers, if a case is dismissedas abusive. Individuals target-ed by SLAPPs would also beeligible for compensatorydamages. The anti-SLAPPdirective proposed by theEuropean Commission todayis a major step forward in thefight against the use of 'gagsuits' to intimidate and silencejournalists, media freedomorganization ReportersWithout Borders said.

To take effect, the proposalneeds approval from EUmember countries and fromlawmakers in the EuropeanParliament.

EU to stop abusivelawsuits against journalists

PNS n CANBERRA

Iranian President EbrahimRaisi expressed Wednesday hisgovernment's desire for closercooperation with China inremarks made during a visit bythe Chinese defence minister,state media reported.According to the report, Raisitold China's Minister ofNational Defence Wei Fenghethat Tehran see its ties withBeijing as strategic. Closercooperation would serve toconfront what the Iranian pres-ident described as US unilater-alism as talks to revive Tehran'snuclear deal with world pow-ers have stalled. Confrontingunilateralism and creating sta-bility and order is possiblethrough cooperation of inde-pendent and like-minded pow-ers, Raisi was quoted as saying.

Nepal imposes ban on imports of luxurious items to save foreign currencyPNS n KATHMANDU

Nepal has formally banned theimport of cars and other luxuri-ous goods, including whisky andtobacco and have introduced twopublic holidays, citing a liquiditycrunch and declining foreign

exchange reserves, despite govern-ment assurances that the econo-my will not go into a tailspin likeSri Lanka.

Since July 2021, Nepal hasseen a decline in forex reservesdue to the surging imports, declin-ing inflows of remittance and

meagre earnings from tourismand exports.

By February 2022, theHimalayan country's gross forexreserves had decreased 17 per centto USD 9.75 billion from USD11.75 billion in mid-July 2021,according to central bank figures.

The ban has come into effectstarting Tuesday and will lastuntil mid-July 2022, the end ofthe current fiscal year. A noticeto this effect had been publishedin the Nepal Gazette, DeputyGovernor of Nepal Rastra Bank,the central bank of the country,

Bam Bahadur Mishra, said."Import of luxury goods such

as cars, motorbikes above 250CC, Colour TV above 32 inch-es, tobacco and whisky havebeen halted for the time beingto save foreign currency deple-tion," he said.

Iran to expandits military ties with China

Musk's Twitter ambitions to collide with Europe's tech rules

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 28, 2022 Money 08

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India exported 13.5 million tonne (MT) of finished steel valuing Rs 1 lakh crore in the lastfinancial year, Minister of Steel Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste has said. According to officialdata, India's finished steel exports were at 10.78 million tonne in 2020-21. "India exported

13.5 MT finished steel amounting to Rs 1 lakh crore and imported steel of around Rs 46,000crore during FY22," Kulaste said at Steel and Engineering Exports organised by Metalogic PMSon Tuesday. The value of merchandiseexports from India was at USD 420 billion,he said. In FY22, India's steel consumptionwas at an all-time high of around 106 MT,while the country produced a record 120MT crude steel, Kulaste said. The sector isgrowing at a compound annual growthrate (CAGR) of around 5 to 6 per cent on ayear-on-year basis. "Notwithstanding thechallenges arising out of COVID-19, thesteel sector in terms of external trade,production and consumption registered arecord performance.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Wednesday said it has signed a pactwith Norwegian energy giant Equinor ASA for collaboration in oil and gas exploration andproduction as well as clean energy projects. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was

inked on April 26, the company said in a statement. The agreement is "for collaboration andpartnership in areas of upstream exploration and production, midstream, downstream and cleanenergy options, including carbon captureutilisation and sequestration (CCUS)," itsaid. Equinor is the leading operator on theNorwegian continental shelf, present inaround 30 countries worldwide. The MoUwas signed during the visit of a high-leveldelegation of Norway to India. UnionMinister of Petroleum and Natural GasHardeep Singh Puri, Norwegian ForeignMinister Anniken Huitfeldt, ONGC Chairmanand Managing Director Alka Mittal andExecutive Vice President of Equinor IreneRummelhoff were present on the occasion.

Engineering systems and solutions provider Uniparts India Ltd has filed preliminarypapers with the capital markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through an IPO.According to the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP), the initial share sale is

entirely an Offer for Sale (OFS) of 15,731,942 equity shares by promoter group entitiesand existing investors. Those offeringshares in the OFS are promoter groupentities -- The Karan Soni 2018 CG-NG Nevada Trust, The Meher Soni2018 CG-NG Nevada Trust, PamelaSoni -- and investors -- AshokaInvestment Holdings Ltd andAmbadevi Mauritius Holding Ltd.Since the IPO (Initial Public Offering)would be entirely an OFS, thecompany will not receive anyproceeds from the public issue. Thiswould be the company's third attemptto go public.

India exports 13.5 MT finished steelworth Rs 1 lakh cr in FY22: Kulaste

ONGC inks MoU with Norway's Equinorfor E&P, clean energy projects

Uniparts India files draft IPO paperswith Sebi to raise funds

Timeline to roll out 1st indigenouscommercial chipsets by 2023-24PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has set atimeline to commercially rollout the first indigenouschipsets by 2023-24 under theDigital India RISC -V pro-gramme launched onWednesday, Union ministerRajeev Chandrasekhar said onWednesday.

The Minister of State forElectronics and IT said that theDigital India RISC-V (DIR-V)programme aims to createfuture generations of micro-processors that will serve theneed of India's strategic focuson mobility, computing anddigitisation.

"One big milestone that I amvery focused on is to have thefirst set of commercial silicon

of Shakti and Vega processorsavailable by December 2023 orearly 2024.

"We want at least a few com-panies to adopt their product

designs to DIR-V productsShakti and Vega before 2023-24 and when the silicon isready, they start manufacturingand incorporating chips in the

products," Chandrasekhar toldreporters. IIT Madras and theCentre for Development ofAdvance Computing (CDAC)have developed two micro-processors named Shakti (32bit) and Vega (64 bit) respec-tively using Open SourceArchitecture under the aegis ofthe MicroprocessorDevelopment Programme ofthe Ministry of Electronicsand IT. The government hasappointed IIT Madras directorProfessor V Kamakoti as chiefarchitect and CDAC Trivandrum Scientist KrishnakumarRao as programme manager ofthe DIR-V programme.

The DIR-V programme willconsolidate and leverage theongoing efforts in the countrywith an integrated multi-insti-

tutional and multi-locationteam, finalise the formal archi-tecture and target performanceof chipsets, support originalequipment makers and designwins in India and abroad. TheDIR-V initiative is part of thegovernment's Rs 76,000 croreeffort to build a semiconduc-tor ecosystem in the country.

"We also believe over thenext one-and-a-half-years, thepartnership between the Shakriand Vega teams and overallDIR-V programme with plat-form companies like HP,VVDN and Apple and largenumber of companies in theelectronic ecosystem will helpcreate design wins aroundDIR-V family of productsShakti and Vega,"Chandrasekhar said.

Ports asked to build infra forzero waiting time for cargoesPNS n NEW DELHI

The Shipping Ministry hasasked all major ports to ensureadequate infrastructure by 2025for achieving zero waiting timefor inward as well as outboundcargoes.

In an office memorandum,the Ministry of Ports, Shippingand Waterways (MoPSW)noted that port capacityrequired in 2047 will be aroundsix-times of the present portcapacity.

"Major Ports should carry outdetailed planning. If these areconstraints on waterfronts and/or land availability, the majorports shall explore possibility ofsetting up satellite ports," it said.

The memorandum also saidthe major port authorities shallprepare a comprehensive mas-ter plan 2047 for the entire portarea including cargo projec-

tions, warehousing etc withultimate aim to achieve efficientlogistics for enhancing eco-nomic development.

"Also, all major ports mustensure that there is adequateinfrastructure in place by 2025to achieve zero waiting time forinward as well as outboundcargo ie ship, rail, truck carry-ing cargo to and from port

should not be required to wait,"it said. According to the mem-orandum, further in order toensure the broad structure is inline with Maritime Vision 2030and 2047 along with other ini-tiatives of MoPSW, Indian PortsAssociation (IPA) is directed tocoordinate with all the portauthorities putting in place asuitable mechanism.

PNS n MUMBAI

As the country recovers fromthe pandemic, the retail indus-try has resumed its growth tra-jectory and is likely to witness10 per cent annual growth toreach approximately USD 2trillion by 2032, according toa report.

According to a BCG-RAIreport titled "Racing towardsthe next wave of Retail inIndia", while certain industrysegments like food and gro-cery, restaurants and Quickservice restaurant (QSR), andconsumer durables have recov-ered to pre-COVID levels,others like jewellery and acces-sory, apparel, and footwearremain on track to a full recov-ery. "The Indian economy con-tinues to be driven by con-sumption and we are observ-ing that consumption growthis back in the positive territo-ry after the two-year COVID

pause," BCG ManagingDirector and Senior PartnerAbheek Singhi said.

Noting that India's retailindustry will grow to approxUSD 2 trillion in the next 10years, Singhi said "the next

decade will see organisedretailers focus on footprintexpansion, across all formats -offline and online - to fuelfuture growth". As per thereport India's consumption,which was growing at approx-

imately 12 per cent pre-pan-demic, went into negative ter-ritory during the pandemic buthas now recovered to surpasspre-pandemic growth levels at17 per cent.

E-commerce in the country

is expected to reach USD 130billion by 2026, as compared toUSD 45 billion in 2021,according to the report.

"The rising competition andthe need for constantlyimproving the customer valueproposition is driving the riseof ecosystems and the cus-tomers are approached byplayers across retail and non-retail. We are seeing examplesof this trend already in Indiaand is expected to significant-ly transform the entire land-scape in the future," addedRachit Mathur, ManagingDirector and Partner,Consumer & Retail Practice,BCG.

The report is an in-depthstudy of retail players in thecountry, identifying challengesin the prevailing environmentand highlighting emergingtrends and models that canpotentially shape the future ofretail.

India's retail industry to reach US$ 2 trn by 2032

PNS n MUMBAI

Benchmark stock indicesSensex and Nifty tumblednearly 1 per cent onWednesday on profit bookingin financial and IT stocks aftera recent rally.

The 30-share BSE Sensextumbled 537.22 points or 0.94per cent to end at 56,819.39.During the day, it tanked772.57 points or 1.34 per centto 56,584.04.

The NSE Nifty declined by162.40 points or 0.94 per centto 17,038.40.

From the 30-share Sensexpack, Bajaj Finance, BajajFinserv, ICICI Bank, Titan,Dr Reddy's, Wipro, State Bankof India, Infosys, Maruti and

UltraTech Cement emergedas the major laggards.

In contrast, Tata Steel, AsianPaints, HCL Technologies,TCS, Kotak Mahindra Bank,

Reliance Industries and HDFCBank were the gainers.

Asian markets were mixed,with Tokyo and Seoul settlingover 1 per cent lower, while

Hong Kong and Shanghaiended higher.

Markets in Europe weretraing in the green in the after-noon session.

Stocks in the US had endedsignificantly lower on Tuesday.

The Sensex jumped 776.72points or 1.37 per cent to endat 57,356.61 on Tuesday. TheNifty rallied 246.85 points or1.46 per cent to 17,200.80.

Meanwhile, international oilbenchmark Brent crude gained0.89 per cent to USD 105.81per barrel.

Foreign institutionalinvestors continued their sell-ing spree, offloading sharesworth Rs 1,174.05 crore onTuesday, according to stockexchange data.

Sensex tumbles over 537 pts onprofit booking in IT, financial shares

Chemicalsexports touch US$ 29.3 bnin 2021-22PNS n NEW DELHI

Chemicals exports have touchedUSD 29.3 billion in 2021-22 onaccount of healthy performancein areas like agrochemicals, dyesand speciality chemicals, thecommerce ministry said onWednesday. India is the sixth-largest producer of chemicals inthe world, third in Asia and 14thin exports. "Today, India leads indyes production and contributes16-18 per cent to the world'sdyestuff exports. Indian dye isexported to over 90 countries,"the ministry said in a statement.The major export destinationsare the US, China, Turkey,Russia and North-East AsianCountries (China, Hongkong,Japan, Korea RP, Taiwan, Macao,Mongolia), it added.

PNS n MUMBAI

Electric scooter makerDisptach on Wednesday said itis looking to launch its maid-en purpose-built e-scooter inthe first quarter of 2023.

The Dispatch e-scooter,which the company claims willbe the world's first purpose-built scooter, will enable newbusiness models with flexibil-ity to pivot when businessdemands, all without replacingthe fleet, a release said.

The company said it haspartnered with one of the

largest contract manufacturersglobally for its e-scooter, whichhas manufacturing plantsspread across 35 locations inthe country with a totalinstalled capacity of up to 6

million scooters per annum.Dispatch said it has secured

a tier-1 supply chain for all crit-ical components, includingmechanical parts, electronicsand powertrain components, toensure high standards of qual-ity. The company added that ithas been testing the vehicle forreliability and validation for thelast one year.

"Fleets are currently stuckwith vehicles designed for per-sonal ownership, without theright infrastructure or rele-vant services under one unifiedecosystem.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Online furniture and homedecor platform WoodenStreeton Wednesday announcedthat it raised around USD 30million (Rs 230 crore) in thelatest funding round led byWestBridge Capital. Theinvestment was done at a val-uation of Rs 1,200 crore and itwas a mix of primary and sec-ondary investment, WoodenStreet said in a statement. "Sofar, it is the largest funding

raised by any vertical furnitureplayer for the year 2022 inIndia," the Jaipur-based start-up said.

The fresh fund will be usedfor new market expansion,further development of thetechnology platform, expan-sion of supply chain and cre-ation of new category offer-ings, it added.

With this fundraise,WoodenStreet plans to achievea turnover of Rs 600 crore inthe next two years.

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee recouped earlylosses and settled almost flatat 76.55 (provisional) againstthe US dollar on Wednesdayon expectations of higherdollar inflows.

However, a lacklustretrend in domestic equitiesand the strength of thegreenback in the overseasmarket weighed on the localunit, forex traders said.

At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened at 76.69 against the

US dollar and touched anintra-day high of 76.50. Itfinally closed at 76.55, regis-tering a rise of just 1 paisaover its previous close of76.56. According to HDFCSecurities Research AnalystDilip Parmar, the rupeemanaged to recoup earlymorning losses and settledwith a slight gain on theexpectation of dollar inflowsfrom initial public offerings(IPOs) and corporate dollarselling. "Most of the Asiancurrencies were downagainst the US dollar, while

strength in the Chinese Yuansupported the local unit,"Parmar said.

The US Federal Reserve'sshift to a more aggressiverate tightening concern ismounting in capital out-flows from emerging mar-kets and India as one ofthem, this has added pres-sure on the rupee against theUS dollar. Foreign institu-tional investors have with-drawn more than USD 17.5billion from domestic equi-ties and debt in the past fourmonths.

PNS n NEW DELHI

HDFC Asset ManagementCompany (AMC) on Wednesday reported an 8.7 per centgrowth in profit after tax (PAT)to Rs 343.55 crore in the quar-ter that ended in March 2022.

In comparison, the compa-ny had posted a PAT of Rs316.08 crore in the same quar-ter of the preceding fiscal, theasset management firm said ina regulatory filing to the stock

exchanges. The company'stotal income rose to Rs 580.93crore in the period underreview from Rs 545.57 crore inthe fourth quarter ended onMarch 31, 2021.

For the entire financial year2021-22, HDFC AMC clockeda PAT of Rs 1,393.13 crore asagainst Rs 1,325.76 crore in thepreceding fiscal and totalincome grew to Rs 2,433.20crore in FY22 from Rs 2,201.74crore in the past fiscal.

Furniture startup WoodenStreetraises US$ 30 million

HDFC AMC Q4 PATrises 8.7% to Rs 343.55 cr

Disptach to launch novel e-scooter NTPC to raise Rs

1,500 cr via NCDsPNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned power giantNTPC will on Friday raise Rs1,500 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures (NCDs)on a private placement basis."NTPC has decided to issueunsecured non-convertibledebentures of Rs 1,500 crore on29 April 2022, through a pri-vate placement at a coupon of5.78 per cent per annum witha door to door maturity of 2years on 29 April 2024," a BSEfiling said.

Rupee settles almost flat against US dollar

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facebook.com/dailypioneer

ThursdayApril 28, 2022

K. RAMYA SREE

our childhood and thewarmth of your parents’home are unforgettable.When we think of our child-hood, we can recall countlessmemories of love, care, and

protection. Living far away from yourparents due to unavoidable circum-stances is not easy. The physical distancebetween you and your parents createsworry, stress, and fear. You often wonderhow you can provide for your parents’needs despite being far away from them.

That’s when Anvayaa comes into play,a one-stop shop for all elderly care. AtAnvayaa, they wish to recreate the expe-rience of warmth, safety, and love foryour parents.

The variety of services they offer issomething that everyone should beaware of. Further in this article, we willfind out all about this organisation as wespeak to Prashanth Reddy, founder andmanaging director of Anvayaa Kin-Care Pvt Ltd.

Beginning with how Anvayaatook its birth, Prashanthshares, “I started my careerin IT. I was never inIndia after I startedworking. I was theonly child, and Iwas always liv-ing awayfrom mypar-ents,andI was-n’t likingit. So Idecided tocome back andreturned to Indiain 2006. Fortunately,my wife and kids sup-ported my decision. WhenI was here, everyone startedto tell me to “Do something”. In2006, I started working on thisidea, and finally, in 2015, I hired afew interns and sent them into themarket to do my research. I realised 30%is a health care requirement. The rest isall logistics. I felt there was a market forAnvayaa, a one-stop shop for all elderlycare. Hence it took its birth in 2016.”

Interestingly, they even celebrate thebirthdays of people here, as there arepeople whose kids are living abroad butwant their parents’ special days to be cel-ebrated.

What started off with just 15 to 20customers in the first year now offers itsservices to over 6,000 people acrossIndia.

Firsts are always special. So is the casewith Anvayaa, too. According toPrashanth, the day when they got theirfirst customer is the most memorablemoment for them as a team, and it is

associated with a story worth cherishing.Not just this, there are a lot of memo-

ries that the people working here willcherish. Their caregivers are so caringthat they are treated as their real sons bytheir customers.

What attracted us to Anvayaa is that itis India’s first and only IoT and AI tech-based personalised elderly care platform.Very soon, they plan to launch asmartwatch that will improveelderly care, which is againgoing to be the first in thecountry.

“More details aboutthe upcomingexpansion will beannouncedsoon,” sharesPrashanth.

Butwhy

onlyelderlycare?Prashanthanswers, “Oldage can be a chal-lenging time formany. Your parentsneed someone by theirside to manage everyday,mundane tasks such as payingbills, taking medication on time,visiting the doctor, or even house-hold chores. Imagine if someone wasthere to fill your shoes and take care ofall your parents’ needs. We designed the

solu-tions at

Anvayaakeeping in

mind the practi-cal problems that

the elderly face everyday, and we are deter-

mined to create a loving,wholesome, and caring envi-

ronment for them.”Recently, the organisation also

launched a personalised dementia careplan that is gaining a lot of prominencein the country. They developed a cus-tomisable module to provide person-alised care for dementia patients andhelp them live with dignity.

The disruptive use of the innovativetechnology platform built using ArtificialIntelligence (AI) called the CarePlatform constantly guides the caregiverby giving them the ability to ensure thePWD is meaningfully engaged. The plat-form suggests dementia stage-appropri-ate activities and provides directions inorder to increase their physical, emo-tional, and cognitive well-being. Theprocess enables efficient care and pre-dictable services for senior citizens withdementia, supported by a network oftrained clinicians and care managers.

Giving more insights about thelaunch, Prashanth explained, “This isaimed at helping families by reducing theburn rate of caregivers in the family tothe PWD. Anvayaa’s Dementia Care planis a first-of-its-kind programmedesigned by experts exclusively forPWDs (Patients with Dementia). It isspecifically targeted at improving the

quality of life and has personalisedpackages (person-centric care)

based on the type and stage ofdementia. We have special tie-

ups with dementia psychol-ogists, neurologists, and

psychiatrists for timelyand regular inter-

ventions. We havealso appointed

a team ofspecially

trainedcare

man-

agers andcaregivers

who systemati-cally and periodi-

cally link back withthe family to re-align

the care programmebased on the progress of

dementia. We offer social, cog-nitive, physical, and personal

engagements designed by experts toimprove and arrest deterioration. A

specialised diet plan is included inAnvayaa’s dementia care plan to improvecognitive functions and health.”

Besides this, the complete integrationwith Anvayaa’s 360-degree technologyplatform network provides visibility, pre-dictability, and reliability of care to thepatients.

Presently, its services are available inHyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai,Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore,Pune, and Kakinada. You can reach themat +91 7288818181/+91 939 2682922 forany elderly plan.

he COVID-19pandemicacted as a cat-alyst to thislong-brewingrevolutionary

change of the industry,making it highly responsiveand adaptive. Right fromthe entire supply chain toproducing drugs and con-ducting clinical trials, phar-ma companies are relyingon technology to create adigitally driven medicalworld. Many well-estab-lished pharma players haveredefined their supplychain management, man-aging safety at work andfollowing governmentorders while producingvaccines and drugs.

As a result, pharmacompanies have created amore patient-centricecosystem due to theincreased use of automa-tion, digital and analyticaltools. They are now focus-ing on reorganising theirassets and supply chainwith more agility andtransparency. As the sectormoved towards the path ofcrisis management andrecovery, companies havere-evaluated their businessmodels and changed theiroutlook towards technolo-gy.

Digital engagementwith doctors

The COVID-19 pan-demic has proved to be atipping point and changedthe way doctors engagewith patients. This hasprompted pharma compa-nies to redefine theirapproach to marketing todoctors.Before the onset ofthe pandemic, pharma rep-resentatives spent most oftheir time traveling andwaiting outside of doctors'offices, which also affectedtheir work efficiency andled to infrequent visits.According to a researchreport, doctors on averagespare only about 40-45 sec-onds for a pharma repre-sentative that results inlesser interaction with thedoctor. In the wake ofCOVID-19, healthcarepractitioners have restrict-ed physical meetings andmoved to teleconsultationfor remote patients’ screen-ing. With doctor visitsmoving online as well asin-person consultation,pharma companies focuson both physical and digi-tal interaction throughcalls, video, text, email, andWhatsApp messages.

As per a recent report,doctors in India prefercommunication viaWhatsApp which has morethan 3.5 times higher clickrate than email and 24times higher rate thanSMS. Considering theopportunities in digitalcommunication tools,pharma marketers alsofocus on sharing engagingcontent with doctorsthrough digital mediums.With this, the averageengagement has reached20+ doctors from 8 to 10doctors a day.

On the other hand, thechanges in the pharmaindustry due to technologyadoption are revolutionis-ing patient engagement.Pharma companies empha-sise crafting digital market-ing strategies to empowerpatients with more infor-mation that increases theirrole in decision makingand enables them to man-age their well-being.Furthermore, the compa-nies adopt the right patientengagement strategies to

gather data and gain usefulinsights, which in turnimproves patient experi-ence and R&D.

Leveraging the use ofdata generatedthrough medicaldevices

With a multitude ofwearables, trackers, andsensors available in themarket, it has become easi-er for pharma companiesto gain insights into patientbehaviour. The pharmaplayers can take advantageof robust data sets to opti-mise clinical trials. Apartfrom this, the integrationof AI in real-time medicaldevices and digitization ofmedical records (EMRs)have become critical com-ponents of clinical trials forpharma companies.

The availability of datasets creates significantReal-World Evidence(RWE) studies that reducethe clinical product devel-opment cycle. Based onpatient’s characteristics anddata gathered, pharmacompanies identify unmetneeds of the medical world.Furthermore, data gatheredfrom wearables help indecision-making at an earlystage of product develop-ment that further helps inunderstanding howpatients respond to a par-ticular drug. As a result,the manufacturer gainsspeed and accuracy inproduct development whileeliminating unnecessarycosts.

Integration of AI indrug development

The Pharma industryexperiences a high attritionrate in drug development.According to the NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH),almost 50% of all experi-mental drugs fail in PhaseIII trials. To overcomethese challenges, the pan-demic has induced oppor-tunities for pharma compa-nies to integrate AI in theirdrug development process.AI uses personified knowl-edge and presents solutionsto complex problems. Dueto increased R&D costs,there is reduced efficiencyand speed in drug develop-ment, causing a high attri-tion rate in new drugapprovals. Thus, pharmacompanies are findingways to collaborate withAI-powered drug discoveryfirms to improve the effi-ciency of drug develop-ment and bring revolution-ary changes in the tradi-tional developmentprocess.

Bottomline

Though the pharmaindustry was realising thepotential of advanced tech-nologies, COVID-19 is thefirst humanitarian crisisthat accelerated the adop-tion of digital practices inthe industry. DigitalPractices are not only help-ing pharma companiesengage with physicians dig-itally, but it also helps inproviding an improved andpersonalised customerexperience. By opting foroffline and digital market-ing mix, pharma compa-nies can realise the benefitof cost-saving and opera-tional efficiencies evenafter the pandemic sub-dues. Consequently, it willempower pharma compa-nies to ensure an efficientpharma marketing strategy.

(The writer, Gaurav Gupta, is the co-founder of Navia Life Care, a health

tech startup)

A true one-stop for

ELDERLY CARE

We live in a world of chaos anddisparity. These realities aredifficult to understand, espe-

cially for children. Conversationsaround social, political, and culturaldifferences, however hard and com-plex, are important to be had withthem. They are perceptive of the worldaround us and will use their five sensesto join the puzzle pieces.

Children’s books serve as phenome-nal educational tools to gently intro-duce kids to sensitive topics of social,political, and economic issues preva-lent in our society. Through thenuanced world of children’s literature,children can inculcate within them-selves, values that will help them betterthemselves and the world.

Here are some good reads, featuredas part of the Parag Honours List 2022,an initiative of Tata Trusts, to intro-duce your children to important socialand political issues.

” Bena’s Summer

Author: Shibal Bhartiya |Published by: HarperCollinsPublishers

An enchanting, true-to-life saga of alarge, extended Muslim family inmodern-day North India. 8-year-oldBena, the apple of everybody’s eye isa most endearing, generous, andcourageous character. Bena experi-ences riots, death, family feuds, andabuse during her visit to the oldfamily home one summer and dealswith it all most uniquely, which onlychildren can.

” My Name is Gulab

Author & Illustrator: SagarKolwankar| Published by:Tulika Publishers

This power-ful storytells is of amanualscavenger’sdaughter.YoungGulab takesthe first steptowardchange byensuringthat her

father does not have to use his barehands for his work. Addressing casteissues sensitively and sensibly, thebook presents a world that mostchildren are insulated from.Oppression and people living in themargins are portrayed through thenarration.

” Home

Author: Fausto Aarya De Santis,Illustrator: OginNayam |Published by: Pratham Books

This storyaboutrefugeeshighlightstheirpainfuljourney oflosinghome andhope, of liv-ing withseveraluncertain-ties without family, familiar neigh-bourhoods, and known cultures. erefugees are often left questioningwhere they belong. The story raisesquestions about the meaning ofhome and hope, of belonging andbeing.

” Jamlo Walks

Author: Samina Mishra,Illustrator: Tarique Aziz |Published by: Pun Books,Penguin Random House India

A heart-wrenching story of 13-year-oldJamlo who was compelled to walkhome during the COVID-19 pan-demic lockdown from the chili fieldsof Telangana to Chhattisgarh. LittleJamlo worked as a labourer for chili

picking.The storyexposesstarkinequali-ties thatrunthrough society and enables thereader to see the disparity. One canhope that through this book readersacross age groups and geographiescan be exposed to the different andintense struggles faced by humansdaily.

” Kashmir! Kashmir!

Author: Deepa Agarwal |Published by: Scholastic India

A refreshing anthology of short storiesset in Kashmir. The stories are variedand multi-layered, that talk aboutpeople living there, people who werecompelled to leave, and visitors whocome and go. A book set on a chordwhere beauty and pain run in thesame vein. Thestories bring in thereader to the dailyexperiences ofstruggle, dissent,helplessness, love,compassion, andcourage of peopleliving in Kashmir,and the uncertain-ty that constantlylooms.

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Tech re-inventingpharma space in India

10

Hyderabad Thursday April 28, 2022

Numerology has its share ofskeptics, but Bollywoodswears by it. The film worldis big on numerology. Fromtitles to names to filmreleases, numerology islooked into, said ShradhaSalla, healer, numerologist,and tarot reader. She was oneof the guest speakers at thesession “Make the CosmosWork for You” organised bythe FICCI Ladies Organisation(FLO) Hyderabad at the HotelPark on Tuesday evening.

NUMBER GAME

what’s brewing?

PAR

TY

Ph

oto

s b

y S

V C

ha

ry

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

l Shradha A Salla l Shilpa Raju l Shubhraa

l Gunjan Sindhi

l Rashmi Suriset

l Sundeep Kochar

l Namita Kanodia

To commemorate World Intellectual Property Day, Resolute4IP of Resolute Group of Companies inassociation with Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) launched an IPR booklet for MSME andStudents with an objective to sensitize them on various aspects of IPR and its importance to

business and academia. The booklet was released by Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Dept ofIndustries & Commerce (I&C) & IT, GoTS, Dr Shanta Thoutam, Chief Innovation Officer, TSIC GoTS,and Raminder Singh Soin, Managing Director, Resolute Group of Companies.

ThisSummer,

enroll your childrenin our skill-buildingcamp as they exploretheir artistic talent!We know, your kid istalented. We onlyfind their passionsand nurture them tofollow their passion.

During this camp,students will engagewith their peers andenjoy several creativeactivities. They will

explore their creativi-ty and learn newskills. The activitiesthat are plannedincludes Arts &Crafts, Music, Dramaand Theater,Personality develop-ment,Entrepreneurship,and more. Each daywill bring a newactivity that studentscan immerse in andwill result in Mentalstimulation,Enhanced confi-

dence, and resilience.Camp Name:

Picasso’sBackpack andTAKE a BOW

Location: ThePremia Academy

Date: 4th May to24th May 2022

Time: 10 AM to 1PM.

For: Childrenbetween the age of7 to 18.

Register your inter-est:+919003156899

A fine summer artscamp for children

List

ings

With 2nd sea-son on theanvil,

Sarkaar, a show thatcommands unparal-leled success and pop-ularity is all set toregale the audiencestarting April 29,every Friday at 6 pmon Aha. With thethunderous responsereceived during sea-son 1, the audiencesare just a few daysaway from the digitalpremiere of season 2.Produced by AgastyaArts, and hosted byexuberant PradeepMachiraju, this seasonof Sarkaar makes away for an array ofstellar surprises forthe viewers.

Taking the realityshow genre to a wholenew level with 2x

thrill, 2x excitement,and 2x entertainment,Sarkar 2 boasts of thebidding game wherethe special guestsshould be able toguess the questions.Spanning four roundsevery episode, theseries will take viewerson a rife with edge-of-the-seat entertainmentjourney.

The first episodepromises an addition-al dose of fun withSidhu Jonnalagadda -DJ Tillu fame,Praneeth Reddy -Marcus fame,Muralidhar, and thegorgeous DeepikaPilli. Aha has releasedthe launch promo ofthe Sarkaar’s season 2,which has alreadywon the netizens'hearts.

Sarkaar returnswith season 2

Samsungannounced thelaunch of its lat-

est external storagedevice, the T7 ShieldPortable Solid StateDrive (PSSD), bring-ing exceptional per-formance and relia-bility in a durable,credit card sizedesign. The T7Shield is the newestaddition to theSamsung T7 PortableSSD family thatincludes the T7, adaily driver that pro-vides incredibly fastspeeds in a sleek

design, and the T7Touch, a CES award-winning PSSD with abuilt-in fingerprintsensor for enhanceddata protection.

Price, variants,and where to buy

Available in beige,black and blue to sat-isfy user preferences,the T7 Shield isoffered in 1TB and2TB sizes, making it

suitable for a widerange of use cases.Priced at Rs 22,999for 2TB and Rs12,999 for 1TB, theT7 Shield will beavailable at allSamsung retailstores, leading con-sumer electronicsstores, and acrossonline platforms,including Samsung’sofficial online storeSamsung Shop.

Samsung brings its rugged T7shield portable SSD to India

Yuvarajkumar, grandson ofKannada film legend, lateRajkumar, and nephew of late

star Puneeth Rajkumar, is making agrand debut in the Kannada film

industry. KGF: Chapter 2 produc-tion house Hombale Filmshas made an announce-ment on Wednesday andreleased the first look ofthe actor which is loved byaudiences.

Yuvarajkumar is the sonof Kannada veteran actorRaghavendra Rajkumar.Yuvarajkumar has pre-pared well for his launchand he had caught theattention after the releaseof the teaser of Yuva

RanadheeraKanteerava in

November, 2020.The project is yet to

take off.The director of super

hit movies Rajakumara andYuvaratna Santhosh Anand

Ram is directing the movie. Yuvarajkumar’s aunt Ashwini

Puneeth Rajkumar stated, “Wishingyou all the success that you richlydeserve. The legacy continues”.

as-O-Fast, anayurvedic antacidbrand from thehouse of MankindPharma, has con-

tinued its association withBrahmanandam as itsregional brand ambassadorfor Southern India. Thebrand will be launching aTVC featuringBrahmanandam, which willbe rolled out soon on main-stream media platforms to markthe launch of Gas-O-Fast’s newrange of flavors.

Brahmanandam as an actor isknown for his comic timing andversatile roles. The associationwill help the brand to bolster thebrand visibility in the southernmarket and establish a connect

with the support of the regionalbrand ambassadors to drivethe importance ofGas-O-Fastas acom-

panion to enjoy acidityfree occasions.

Speaking about the asso-ciation, Brahmanandamsaid, “I am elated that ourassociation has been con-tinuing for years. Intoday's lifestyle, stomachrelated problems such asgas, acidity and indigestionhave become quite com-mon. To all such problems,

Gas-O-Fast gives a quick relief.We are confident that our associ-

ation will help thebrand touching

newer heightsin the

southernmar-

ket."

fter sur-prisingeveryonewith a fire-cracker of adebut film

Rocky, filmmakerArun Matheswaranis back with yetanother cracker,Saani Kaayidhamthat is all set for aglobal premiere on 6May on Prime Video.The revenge action-drama brings togeth-er star actressKeerthy Suresh andacclaimed directorSelvaraghavan.Through the edge-of-the-seat narrative,the film takes usthrough a genera-

tional curse thatcomes true when anunnerving injusticeis inflicted upon theprotagonist and herfamily.

Speaking aboutcasting the versatileKeerthy Suresh inthe lead role, Arunsays, “I watchedMahanati and lovedher performance inthe film, so I had herin my mind forSaani Kaayidham.Moreover, the roleshe plays is one suchcharacter that shehadn’t done before.So, I thought shewould be the rightchoice, who bringsin a breath of fresh

air with some wild-ness. She was thefirst choice and I amglad she cameonboard.”

Not only did thedirector take a leapof faith with hisleading lady, he alsowas quite confidenton who he wanted tocast as her brother.He adds, “Selva Sir isa big name in theindustry and a well-known director. Ithought it would bea wild option to casthim.”

Revealing histhoughts whileapproaching thedirector to act inSaani Kaayidham,Arun says,“Siddharth (creativeproducer) is closefriends with SelvaSir, so it was easy toapproach him.Everyone had theirapprehensions sincehe hasn’t acted inany film before norwas he interested.But I just wanted togive it a shot, so Imet him and narrat-ed the story and heloved it.”

Continuing fur-ther about his expe-rience of directing adirector in front ofthe camera, Arunadds, “I saw him as adirector and wassceptical if he wouldgive suggestions or ifwe would go into anawkward zone wherewe wouldn’t under-stand each other, buthe refuted all thesethoughts. He trusted

me completely.”Produced under

the banner of ScreenScene MediaEntertainment, SaaniKaayidham will pre-miere worldwideexclusively on PrimeVideo on 6 May. Thefilm will also beavailable as Chinniin Telugu and asSaani Kaayidhamin Malayalam.

11

Hyderabad | Thursday April 28, 2022 tollywood

K. RAMYA SREE

JayammaPanchayatistarring pop-

ular anchor,television pre-senter, and hostSuma Kanakala

in the leadrole, is allset to be

releasedin the-atres inMay.

Thefilm, pro-

duced byBalaga Prakashunder the ban-ner of Wennela

Creations, hasmusic by MMKeeravani.

Ahead of thefilm’s release, thefilm’s director Vijay

Kumar Kalivarapuspoke to the

media aboutthe film, his

journey,and oth-ers.

“Icomefrom avillage

near Srikakulam. After herpost-grad, I made short filmswith an interest in cinema. Ihave been thinking for yearsabout working with starheroes. It took me a while torealise that filming with astar hero is not that easy.Then I worked with somefriends to make a film with abudget of Rs 60–70 lakh,”shared the director.

Vijay Kumar says he neverexpected JayammaPanchayati to come up as apotential script. “We did aworkshop with the cast for amonth before taking the filmto the floors. I cannot imag-ine people like PawanKalyan, Rajamouli, andTrivikram promoting thisfilm for the last few weeks,”said the actor.

Vijay Kumar initiallythought of roping in RamyaKrishnan in the role ofJayamma, but approachedSuma as someone suggestedto go for a fresh face. Evenafter Suma showed interest,he was sceptical about herperformance. Hence, theydid a test shoot, and onlyafter that, did the directorrope in Suma.

Heaping praises on Suma,he said, “Suma is very talent-ed. She takes care of everysmall aspect of acting. After

reading the script, she sawmy short films.”

Speaking about the story,he said, “JayammaPanchayati is inspired by realpeople. I have dramaticallyshown the people I have metin my life. Although it is afictional story, some of thescenes are inspired by realevents. The title is based onthe story. In fact, we all knowthe myth surrounding SatiSavitri and Yamudi. Jayammais also the story of a womanwho fought over her prob-lems. Jayamma once camefrom a wealthy family. She isin serious trouble in the vil-lage. Her fight turned into abig controversy. Jayamma isinnocent. One of thestrongest points in her strug-gle is hidden. That’s what itis.”

Suma learnt theSrikakulam dialect veryquickly for the film.

On the other hand, thedirector made short films for6 years. Some of them havewon awards. One of themwas Ice of Hunger.

“The difference between ashort film and a feature filmis that emotional content isalmost normal. The screen isthe only change,” concludedthe director, who is superexcited for this release.

‘JayammaPanchayati isinspired byreal-life events’

Director Arun Matheswaran talksabout casting Keerthy Suresh,

Selvaraghavan for Saani Kaayidham

a

he release ofactor AdiviSesh’s multi-lingual fea-ture film

Majo will now hit thetheatres on June 3, themakers saidWednesday.

Based on the life of2008 Mumbai terrorattack martyr MajorSandeepUnnikrishnan, thefilm was previouslyscheduled to open incinema halls on May27. The release ofMajor has been post-poned multiple timesin the past due to the

coronavirus pandemic.Sesh, who plays the

titular role in the film,shared its new release date poster onTwitter.

“Slight change indate. Summer heatwave hits theatres oneweek later. June 3 it is,”he wrote.

Major will bereleased in Telugu,Hindi and Malayalam.The film will clash atthe box office withAkshay Kumar-starrerperiod dramaPrithviraj, also sched-uled to be released onJune 3.

The Sashi Kiran-helmed action dramatraces the journey ofMajor SandeepUnnikrishnan, whoselflessly fought tosave the lives of peopleduring the 26/11Mumbai attacks.

Major is producedby Sony Pictures FilmsIndia in associationwith Mahesh Babu’sGMB Entertainmentand A+S Movies.

The film also starsSobhita Dhulipala,Saiee Manjrekar,Prakash Raj, Revathiand Murali Sharma inpivotal roles.

Major pushed by a week, to now release in June

t

The police in Kerala havebooked Malayalam actor-producer Vijay Babu for

alleged sexual assault of a femaleactor.

Soon after the news surfaced,Vijay Babu appeared live on hissocial media handle onWednesday, claiming that he wasthe ‘real victim’ in this case,adding that he would take appro-priate legal steps against thecomplainant, whom he alsonamed.

The police are now planningto register a second case againstVijay Babu for disclosing thename of the complainant.

The case against the actor-pro-ducer was registered on April 22by the Ernakulam South policestation. The complinant hailsfrom Kozhikode.

The complinant accused VijayBabu of raping her multipletimes at a flat in Kochi, and evenrecording an obscene video ofher. She accused the actor ofintoxicating her before the sexualabuse.

Even though the police are yetto record Vijay Babu’s statement,late on Tuesday the actor took tosocial media and said, “Since Ihave done nothing wrong, I amleast afraid as to what’s in storefor me. I also know the laws ofthe country with regard to ‘MeToo’ allegations. I am disclosingthe name of the lady. I havedecided to take legal stepsagainst this lady and it includesfiling a hefty defamation suit. Ihave all the records with me to

provemyinno-cence,” saidBabu.

“I am the victimin this case as I know howpained are my mother, my fami-ly, friends and well-wishersbecause of this baseless com-plaint. But I am not going to sitidle, I will fight it out and let it

be anew

beginningin such cases,”

he said.According to reports, the

police tried to trace Vijay Babuafter hearing that he was in Goa,but he is now understood to bein Dubai.

VijayBabu charged

with sexual assault,says ‘I am the

victim'

Brahmanandam returns to TV screens

g

Hombale Films to launch

Puneeth Rajkumar's

nephew Yuvarajkumar

honePe, announced that ithas on-boarded the popularduo of Dulquer Salmaanand SamanthaPrabhu asbrand ambas-

sadors for the southernmarkets. The companyalso launched an inte-grated multimediacampaign for 2-wheel-er insurance. The pan-India campaigncomprising six adfilms aims todrive catego-ry creationand con-siderationfor bikeinsur-ance

renewals on the PhonePe platform.The campaign uses creatives special-

ly crafted for Hindi speaking audiencesstarring Aamir Khan and Alia Bhatt,

while for the south markets of TamilNadu, Karnataka, Kerala, AndhraPradesh and Telangana, the cam-paign features Dulquer andSamantha. In addition to beingassociate sponsors of the Tata IPLbroadcast on TV, the campaignwill run across TV, OTT, digital,print and social media plat-forms till July 2022. Usinghumour to get the keymessage across, thecampaign exploresthe relationshipbetween bikersand trafficcops

across India with thebackdrop of popularsongs acting ascommentary onthe interac-tionsbetweenthem.

Samantha bags another endorsement

p

PTI n MUMBAI

Delhi Capitals will look toput the 'no-ball' controver-

sy behind and gain much need-ed momentum against anoth-er side seeking course correc-tion, the Kolkata Knight Riders,in the Indian Premier Leaguehere on Thursday.

Delhi suffered a 15-runloss against Rajasthan Royals,a game marred by a no ballcontroversy over a high full tossthat resulted in a one matchban for assistant coach PravinAmre.

Head coach Ricky Pontingwatched the tight finish inquarantine and felt helpless.Now he is back with the teamand is confident of findingmomentum which will allowhis players to play to theirpotential.

Delhi Capitals are current-ly seventh on the points tablewith three wins in seven out-ings. KKR are placed eighthhaving lost their last fourgames.

With the Delhi battingline-up comprising DavidWarner, Prithvi Shaw, RishabhPant and Powell, KKR's variedattack has to be on guard tostop the rampage.

Warner, after striking threeback to back fifties, falteredagainst the Royals and wouldneed itching to play anotherimpactful knock. Ditto forShaw, who needs to convert hisstarts into big scores.

Delhi's latest option atnumber three, Sarfaraz Khan,also failed and it remains to beseen whether he is benched ornot. Pant will need to takegreater responsibility alongwith the likes of all-roundersLalit Yadav, Shardul Thakurand Axar Patel.

Pant can single-handedlyturn any game, but he hasn'tplayed to his potential and

come Thursday at theWankhede, where the trackshave helped batters, the skipperwould look to come good.

Add to it, Powell's six-hit-ting prowess, Delhi have all thenecessary firepower.

Delhi's bowling has faredwell, but will need to forget thehammering at the hands of JosButtler. Khaleel Ahmed hasbeen taking wickets upfront

and has been complemented byMustafizur Rahman, who canalso be effective at the death.

While Kuldeep Yadav hasredeemed himself, the otherspinners Axar and Lalit havealso played their parts to per-fection. The trio has combined20 wickets and their 12 overswould be vital.

Meanwhile, KKR need toget their combination rightand the batters, including skip-per Iyer, will have to put up animproved show.

Shreyas failed in the lastgame and so did the openingpair of Sam Billings and SunilNarine. If they continue withthe same openers, the twowould need to give an aggres-sive start.

For the likes of Shreyas,Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh andVenkatesh Iyer, it won't be aneasy task, especially againstinform Delhi spinners. PushingVenkatesh down in the middleorder has also not worked yet.

Shreyas has said it was justa matter of time and onceKKR get going, they will beunstoppable as a team.

KKR pacers Umesh Yadavand Tim Southee have beenright on the money. The onlyweak link seems to be VarunChakravarthy who is having anunderwhelming season.

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 28, 2022

THE RROYALS HHAVE BBACKED MME FFOR TTHE LLAST TTHREE YYEARS AAND II AAM PPAYING OOFF BBIT BBY BBIT. II LLOVE PPRESSURE AAND TTRY TTO SSHOWCASE MMY AABILITIES AAND DDO MMY BBEST — RIYAN PPARAG

4s 1097

6s 579

boundarymeter

Po. TEAM M W L NR Pts NRR

1. RR 8 6 2 0 12 0.561

2. GT 7 6 1 0 12 0.396

3. SRH 7 5 2 0 10 0.691

4. LSG 8 5 3 0 10 0.334

5. RCB 9 5 4 0 10 -0.572

6. PBKS 8 4 4 0 8 -0.419

7. DC 7 3 4 0 6 0.715

8. KKR 8 3 5 0 6 0.080

9. CSK 8 2 6 0 4 -0.538

10. MI 8 0 8 0 0 -1.000

pointstablePTI nWANKHEDE STADIUM (MUMBAI)

Opener Abhishek Sharma andAiden Markram strucksparkling half-centuries as

Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 195 forsix against Gujarat Titans in theirIndian Premier League match here onWednesday.

Abhishek blazed away to 65 off 42deliveries, while Markram made a 40-ball 56 during a third-wicket stand of96 runs.

Then, Shashank Singh (25 off 6balls) smashed Lockie Ferguson (0/52in 4 overs) for three successive sixesto score 25 runs in the innings' finalover.

To start with, SRH were helped byMohammed Shami's (3/39 in 4 overs)11-run opening over in which a first-ball beauty was followed by five leg-side wides, not once but twice.

Yash Dayal too conceded 11 runs,thanks to two boundaries by AbhishekSharma on the off side, as SRH racedto 22 for no loss in two overs.

Kane Williamson clipped Shamiover square leg for his first boundarybut that's all the SRH skipper could dowith the bat as, three balls later, the sea-soned India pacer went through thegate with a lovely seaming delivery todismiss the Kiwi and give his team thematch's first breakthrough.

Having got a life at point evenbefore he could open his account,Rahul Tripathi smashed Shami for 6,4, 4 before a review found that the bat-ter was trapped in front of the wick-et in an eventful fifth over, which went

for 14 runs.Unperturbed by the fall of two

wickets, Abhishek collected two suc-cessive fours off Alzarri Joseph -- firsthe lofted over the infield and thenfound the gap through a packed off-side -- to help SRH score 53 runs inthe six power play overs at theWankhede Stadium.

SRH needed a partnership atthat stage and the duo of Abhishek andMarkram not just provided themthat but also kept the scoreboard mov-ing at a very good rate by regularlyfinding the boundaries.

While Markram dealt with thelikes of pacers such as Alzarri,Abhishek went after Rashid Khan, hit-ting the Afghanistan spin ace for histhird six to reach his half-century instyle.

Against Rashid, Abhishek wasparticularly strong on the on-side, get-ting his three sixes over long-on anddeep mid-wicket.

However, the 21-year-old's fineinnings came to an end when heinside-edged a slower delivery fromAlzarri in the first ball of the 16th over.

Shami came back to dismiss thebig-hitting Nicholas Pooran (3) cheap-ly before Markram got to his fifty bypulling the bowler for a six over deepmid-wicket. Stationed in the deep,Rashid's day in the field got worse ashe misjudged it.

MARSH, SEIFERT JOIN DCTRAINING

In good news for Delhi Capitals,all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and wick-

Batters take SRH to 195-6

etkeeper-batter Tim Seifert have returned totraining after recovering from COVID-19, theIPL franchise said on Wednesday.

The two cricketers, who had contractedCOVID-19 last week, have joined the train-ing after completing the mandatory quaran-tine.

Marsh and Seifert were seen training withtheir Delhi Capitals team-mates on the eveof their match against Kolkata Knight Ridersat the Wankhede Stadium here.

Delhi Capitals took to social media toshare photos of the two cricketers from thetraining session.

Delhi vs KolkataLive from 7:30 pm IST

STAR SPORTS 1

Abhishek (65), Markram (56) & Shashank (25* off 6 balls) shine for Sunrisers

PTI n MUMBAI

Young left-arm pacerArshdeep Singh

could soon be walkinginto the national T20side after consistent per-formances in the IPLover the last three sea-sons, feels former Indiacoach Ravi Shastri.

Arshdeep, who madehis IPL debut in 2019, isinto his fourth seasonwith Punjab Kings. Hewas among the two play-ers retained by the fran-chise ahead of the megaauction.

The 23-year-old hasimproved his game withthe new ball and isamong the best deathbowlers this IPL season.

"For someone soyoung and then to deliv-er time and time againwhen the chips are downand the pressure is onhim (it's brilliant to see).Arshdeep is holding on

PTI nMUMBAI

Rajasthan Royals will celebratethe extraordinary life of leg-

endary Australian spinner ShaneWarne, who died recently, dur-ing their Indian Premier Leaguematch against Mumbai Indianshere on Saturday.

Warne had lifted the inau-gural IPL trophy after the Royalsbeat Chennai Super Kings bythree wickets in the final in 2008,and his former franchise said itwill pay tribute to its first cap-tain to coincide with the team'striumph exactly 14 years back.

The franchise said Warne'sbrother, Jason will also be partof the celebration as he hasaccepted an invitation from theJaipur-based side.

Considered one of the great-est cricketers of all time, Warnedied of suspected heart attack atthe Thai resort of Koh Samui lastmonth. He was 52. He took 708wickets from 145 Tests, besides293 ODI wickets from 194matches between 1992 and 2007.

"It is befitting that the same

stadium where Warne lifted theIPL trophy will see the cricket-ing world come together to paytheir respects and celebrate hislife," the franchise said in arelease.

"The franchise would like toiterate that it will not be an occa-sion to mourn, but to commem-orate the great man, and salutehim for his never-ending contri-bution to the game of cricket aswell as impacting thousands oflives around the world throughhis words, energy, and actionsboth on and off the field."

It said the celebrations willbe led by the franchise and sup-ported by the BCCI.

The Rajasthan Royals play-ing squad will sport special ini-tials 'SW23' on leading collars oftheir official playing kits to paytribute to the legendaryAustralian.

A special area at the DYPatil Stadium has also beenturned into a Shane WarneTribute Gallery, which all theticket-holding fans will be ableto visit and experience.

PTI n PUNE

RCB head coach SanjayBangar reiterated that star

batter Virat Kohli will soon"emerge" out of the lean phasehe is experiencing at themoment and help his team wingames going forward in theIPL.

Kohli's scores in his last fiveinnings read 9, 0, 0, 12 and 1.The manner of his dismissalsalso show that he is not in thebest of form.

"Regarding Kohli's form,he's a great cricketer. He'sexperienced these highs andlows many times before. I'veobserved him from close quar-ters.

"He has the spirit and he'llemerge from these run of lowscores. In the coming crucialgames, he'll help us win,"Bangar said at the post matchpress conference after RCB's29-run loss to RajasthanRoyals.

"We aren't talking aboutanything different (in prac-tice), to be honest. The way heprepares, he always puts him-self out of comfort zone andprepares and that's his special-ty.

"This is why he can emergefrom tough situations and hisattitude his commendable. Yes,he's had a low run of scores buthe is so mentally strong, he'll be

able to put in a better perfor-mance," he added.

Bangar has also workedclosely with Kohli in thenational team when he was thebatting coach.

The former India interna-tional also acknowledged thetop-order's form is a concern.

"We've all seen that nego-tiating the new ball is a chal-lenge for most of the teams.Whenever we lose early wick-ets, we sort of lose them in clus-ters and that's what is pullingthe team back and [we are]rightly [losing] games that weshould have won. That's whywe are not able to finish thejob."

PTI n MUMBAI

All Delhi Capitals need is a little bitof momentum to get their IPL

campaign back on track as they are "toogood a team for the results not tochange", feels head coach Ricky Ponting.

With three wins and four losses inthe first seven matches of the season,Delhi Capitals are currently seventh inthe points table.

Reflecting on the first half of the sea-son, Ponting said, "I've said it a few timesthis year where there's 36 or 37 overs ofreally good stuff, and we just let it slipfor two or three overs.

"And, that's the difference in thesegames. We sort of gear ourselves to notovertrain in the first part of the season,try and build up along the way. But ourperformances have been win one, loseone, win one. So, we need to start get-ting that little bit of momentum."

Ponting warned his players againsttrying "too hard" in the second half ofIPL.

"I know we're so close to turning itall around. We've all got to trust, we'vegot to believe, we've got to stay upbeatand positive. And if we are, things will

definitely change for us."The harder we try from here, the

harder it's going to get. We're just goingto stay nice and relax and keep repeat-ing things we've been doing. And thenresults will definitely come our way. Weare too good a team for the results notto change," he said ahead of Thursday'sgame against Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Australian re-joined the squadat training after completing his precau-tionary five-day room isolation after afamily member had tested positive forCOVID-19.

"I feel pretty relieved to be back out-side again, actually after another fivedays locked in, and obviously missingthe game," he said.

PTI n MUMBAI

Former West Indies speedster Ian Bishop reck-ons Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson

is wasting good form and opportunity to pressfor a recall in the Indian T20 set up by not play-ing impactful innings in the IPL.

The wicketkeeper-batter is still on thefringes of the Indian T20 team and a stellar showin the IPL could be help him stake a claim inthe T20 World Cup squad.

"That Sanju is wasting good form and goodopportunity to score runs to press for an inter-national recall, to lead his team when Jos Buttlerdoesn't score," Bishop said on ESPNcricinfo's 'T20Time Out'.

Although, Samson is a delight to watch whenhe gets going, the free flowing right hander isyet to consistently play the kind of impactfulinnings one expects from him.

He last featured for India in the T20 homeseries against Sri Lanka in February.

With the flamboyant Jos Buttler failingagainst RCB on Tuesday, it was the perfectopportunity for the RR skipper to rise to theoccasion. Samson even looked in good touch,smashing three sixes and a four but could onlymanage 27 off 21.

He was dismissed by Sri Lanka spinnerWanindu Hasaranga after missing an attempt-ed reverse-sweep.

"It's not that Sanju's out of form. But that'sa match-up with Wanindu Hasaranga and him,and he should have known better. He got out ofthe blocks quite nicely," Bishop said.

"I'm a Sanju Samson fan, been that way foryears now, (but) he's wasting good form by shotselection," Bishop added.

Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettorifeels the game comes too "easy" to Samson and

he thus tries to do too many things."It feels like the game is too easy for him,

so 'I'm going to try something different, I'mgoing to try and make sure I can play every shotin the book'. He is at his best when he's strik-ing down the ground," Vettori said.

"He's a joy to watch when he's playing thatwell. But everything looks a little bit easy andsometimes it feels like he isn't in the moment,and then he's out."

Apart from a 55 and an unbeaten 48against Sunriers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitalsrespectively, Samson has endured an under-whelming season.

AP n SYDNEY

Former Australian Test batterMichael Slater had charges of

domestic violence dismissed onmental health grounds in aSydney local court onWednesday.

Magistrate Ross Hudsonordered Slater to undergo a 12-month treatment plan under thecare of a doctor.

The 52-year-old Slater, whoworked as a television commen-tator after retiring from interna-tional cricket, was charged byNew South Wales state policelast October with stalking andintimidation of his ex-partner.

He later breached a restrain-ing order by using a mobilephone to call and send dozensof text messages to his ex-part-ner and, in December, wasordered to check into a mentalhealth facility as a condition ofbail.

The AustralianBroadcasting Corp. Quoted themagistrate as saying there hadbeen "significant changes" inSlater's circumstances sinceDecember and the former crick-et star "has recognized his needto stay medicated and to stay ontop of his mental health."

Slater played 74 Tests forAustralia from 1993-2001, scor-ing 5,312 runs at an average ofalmost 43.

Kohli will emergefrom this run of lowscores: Bangar

Slater avoidsjail in domesticviolence case

Samson wasting good form & opportunityto press for international recall: Bishop

KKR eye revenge against DC

We're too good a team for ourresults to not change: Ponting

Arshdeep could soon play for India: Shastri RR to celebrate Warne's lifein IPL match against Mumbai

to his nerves brilliantly, he's doing well in deathovers. "This shows he's moving up the ranks veryquickly and he could be walking into the Indian

team," Shastri told 'StarSports'.

Other impressive per-formances in the IPL havecome from pacer UmranMalik, who plays forSunrisers Hyderabad, andMumbai Indians batter TilakVarma.

The great Brian Laracompared Malik to WestIndies pacer Fidel Edwards.

"Umran Malik remindsme a lot about Fidel Edwardswhen he first started, a lot ofpace and I hope that heunderstands it as he goesinto international cricket,which I think he'll eventual-ly play.

"In the IPL, a lot of bats-men get accustomed to play-ing sheer pace, so I hope thathe adds a little bit more tohis armoury later on.

He's a quick learner inthe nets, he's willing to learnand it's just awesome to seeIndia has a pacer of that cal-ibre, it's just tremendous,"said Lara.