Nadda arrives to a warm welcome in

Lucknow

Lucknow, Jan 21 (UNI) BJP president J.P. Nadda was given a warm welcome at Lucknow airport when he arrived here on a two-day visit. Nadda's visit was re-scheduled and he arrived about six hours late on Thursday evening. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy chief ministers, Ke-shav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, along with over a dozen ministers greeted the party president at the airport. Hundreds of party workers lined up along the route to accord a welcome to their party pres-ident. The BJP president drove straight to the party headquarters where he will interact with ministers and discuss the road map for the upcoming panchayat and then the 2022 assembly elections. Later in the night, he will hold a meeting with the party's core commit-tee. Despite a huge media presence at the airport, the BJP president did not speak to the media though he stopped his convoy to ac-knowledge the greetings of party workers. The BJP na-tional president will, on Fri-day, address a conference of social medial volunteers and intellectuals and also attend a meeting of Chinhat rural area and booth and district presidents. He will address meetings of office bearers from Kanpur and Avadh regions.

CRPF inducting women warriors in CoBRA to fight Maoists

New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) The Central Reserve Po-lice Force (CRPF) is in the process to induct women warriors of the force into its elite CoBRA Battalion to en-gage in the fight against the Maoists -- the first of such kinds of initiatives taken in the Maoist warfare duties.Outgoing CRPF Director General A.P. Maheshwari, who is to retire on February 28, made the announcemet while addressing the media in his first interaction dur-ing the Covid crisis. "We are inducting women warriors in the CoBRA force, the an-ti-Naxal wing," Maheshwari said. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had accorded approval for setting up of sanction of 10 unattached battalions of the Comman-do Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) for guer-rilla and jungle warfare type operations for dealing with extremists and insurgents. Two Battalions of CoBRA force were raised in 2008-09. In 2009-10, the number of the Battalion was in-creased to four. Later, four more Battalions of the force were raised in 2010-11.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESENGLISH DAILYENGLISH DAILY

VOL NO. XII ISSUE NO. 144 PAGES. 8+8 VOL NO. XII ISSUE NO. 144 PAGES. 8+8 4/-4/-`

PUBLISHED FROM: HYDERABAD, CHENNAI & BANGALORE EDITOR IN CHIEF: BUCHI BABU VUPPALA22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021www.thesouthindiatimes.com /facebook/thesouthindiatimes.yahoo.in / thesouthindiatimes.yahoo.in /@thesouthindiatimesw

SHORT TAKES

K'TAKA CABINET RESHUFFLED, PORTFOLIOS GIVEN TO 7 INDUCTEES

YOGI ADITYANATH INAUGURATES ROAD SAFETY

PAG

E-3 PA

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PM greets people of Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya on their Statehood Day

New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thurs-day greeted the people of three states--Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya on their Statehood Day. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, “State-hood Day greetings to the people of Manipur. India is proud of Ma-nipur’s contribution to national development. Manipur is a power-house of innovation and sporting talent. I wish the state the very best in its journey towards progress.”

In another tweet, the Prime Minister said, ‘Best wishes to the people of Tripura on the special occasion of their Statehood Day. The culture and warm-hearted nature of the people of Tripura is

admired across India. The state has achieved outstanding progress in various fields. May the same spirit continue.” In another tweet, Mr Modi said, ‘On their Statehood Day, greetings to my sisters and brothers of Meghalaya. This state is known for its remarkable kindness and spirit of brotherhood. Young-sters from Meghalaya are creative and enterprising. May the state keep scaling new heights of prog-ress in the times to come.”

Pune, Jan 21 (UNI) Five charred bodies were recovered after a massive fire broke out at the Serum Institute of India (SII) plant in Manjari near Hadapsar here on Thursday. “We have just received some distressing updates; upon further investi-gation we have learnt that there has unfortunately been some loss of life at the incident. We are deeply saddened and offer

our deepest condolences to the family members of the depart-ed”, CEO and owner of SII Adar Poonawalla said in his tweet. The fire which broke out at about 1445 hrs at the fourth and fifth floor of the building was brought under control after fire brigades rushed to the spot im-mediately. An officer from Pune Fire brigade said,’ after getting information, we have rushed 10

fire tenders to control the fire.”Initially, six employees were

rescued by the fire personnel. The SII is engaged in large scale production of Corona vaccine Covishield and Manjri campus is one among their facilities. However, the production of Co-vishield vaccine was not being affected, source.

Five bodies recovered after fire breaks out at Serum Institute

of India’s plant in Pune

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTDR SRINIVAS VOORADI

Hyderabad, January 21: Chief Minister K Chan-drashekhar Rao has an-nounced that the State government has decided to implement 10 percent reservation to the Eco-nomically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the State. The CM said a high-level review meeting would be held in the next two to three days on the matter and appro-priate orders would be is-sued. “There is a need to implement 10 percent res-ervation in jobs and educa-tion to those economically weaker classes. We have decided to implement 10 percent reservations to the EWS while continuing the

reservations to those who are already enjoying the benefit as it is. As on date in the State 50 per cent reservations are being im-plemented to the weaker sections. With 10 percent reservations to the EWS, the reservation percentage will be 60 percent,” the CM clarified.

New Delhi, January 21 : Re-jecting the Centre's proposal regarding suspending the three contentious laws, BKU Ekta-Ugrahan on Thursday said the struggle will continue till the to-tal repeal. A meeting of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha is still under way.

Meanwhile, the meeting be-tween Delhi Police and farmer unions ended with farmers not yielding over holding trac-tor rally on Republic Day. Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range) SS Yadav co-ordinated the meeting held at Mantram Resort near the Sin-ghu border. Samyukta Kisan Morcha leaders said the farm-ers across the country arriving in Delhi would hold the tractor

parade inside Delhi on Janu-ary 26. Emerging from meet-ing with officials, Balbir Singh Rajewal said the government was firm that farmers should not march on Outer Ring Road. However, unions are also firm that there is no other alterna-tive, he said. Farmers are be-lieved to be considering adding some new demands, like loan waiver and 'martyr' status for farmers who have died during the agitation.

CM KCR gives nod to implement EWS quota

BKU Ekta-Ugrahan rejects govt's proposal to suspend agri laws, says want repeal Gandhinagar, Jan 21 (UNI)

Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said he had full faith that the BJP government at the Centre led by PM Narendra Modi will provide a home to every citi-zen of the country by August 15, 2022. He was speaking at the virtual public dedication of one-km-long overbridge at Shilaj in Ahmedabad. Shah said, "The way in which our BJP Government is undertak-ing housing projects in the country in rural as well as urban areas, I have full assur-ance that by August 15, 2022 everyone in the country will be facilitated with a house to live in. The Narendra Modi government has provided

more than 10 crore [units of]affordable housing."

"More than 13 crore poor families were provided with gas cylinders under the Ujj-wala scheme by our PM Narendra Modi...Our gov-ernment has provided elec-tricity to all the villages in the country and now we are working towards providing water connectivity to every household in the country by 2022. I have full faith that by the time the BJP will contest

the next Lok Sabha elections, there won't be a single house in the country devoid of water connectivity," Shah added. Shah, on Thursday carried out the virtual dedication of overbridge on the railway track at Thaltej- Shilaj area in Ahmedabad. Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel was present at the site.

"Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi took a decision to free around one lakh railway crossings in the country and under that we have taken up the works to have over-bridges or under Bridges at these places with fifty fifty cost sharing with the state governments. The railways has also decided to do away.

Modi govt to provide a home to everyone by Aug 15, 2022: Shah

New Delhi, Jan 21(UNI) A total of 15,223 fresh infections were registered in the past 24 hours taking the country’s tally to 1,06,10,883, as per the Union Health Ministry update on Thursday. For the past 14 days, the country has been re-cording less than 20,000 daily new infections even as the toll remained below 300-mark for the past 24 days.

There are 1,92,308 active cases of which 72 per cent is concentrated in Kerala, Ma-harashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal. As per ministry data, with 151 people succumbing in the past 24 hours, the death toll from the contagion has increased

to 1,52,869, while 1,02,65,706 have recovered from the in-fection. The national recovery rate has risen to 96.70 per cent while the fatality rate stands at 1.44 per cent, according to health ministry. Meanwhile, India’s vaccination drive gath-ered momentum with 1,31,649

people being vaccinated yes-terday taking the total number of vaccinations to 8,06,484. Ac-cording to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 7,80,835 samples were tested on Wednesday, taking the total samples tested upto January 20, 2021 to 18,93,47,782 crores.

New Delhi Jan21 (UNI): The Supreme Court-appointed committee will continue to seek suggestions from farm-er associations, irrespective of whether their unions take up the Narendra Modi gov-ernment offer to suspend the three contentious farm laws for one or one-and-a-half years, said Pramod Kumar Joshi, a member of the panel and agricultural economist.

“It is not for us to comment on whether the farmers will take up the proposal or what will happen to the commit-tee in such a scenario. We will continue to do the work

that the Supreme Court has tasked us with until further orders,” Joshi told ThePrint.

Despite the controversy around the pro-reform per-sonal views of the panellists, Joshi said, the mandate of the panel is only to compile

farmers’ suggestions and ap-prehensions and present it to the apex court.

On 12 January, the Su-preme Court had stayed the implementation of the three laws and ap-pointed a four-member

committee to break the logjam in negotia-tions. It is expected to submit its report within two months.The court named Ashok Gulati, agricultural economist and professor, Anil Ghanwat, president of Shetkari Sanghatana, a Maharashtra-based farmer organisation, and Bhupinder Singh Mann, national presi-dent of a splinter unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), as the oth-er members.

India’s Covid cases cross 1.06 crSC panel will continue work, whether farmers take up govt offer or not, says member

Third phase of polling ended with 85 pc polling in Hamirpur

Hamirpur (HP), Jan 21(UNI) The third and final phase of the Panchayati raj institutions elections ended with about eighty-five per cent voters exercised their right of franchise in the district on Thursday. Vot-ers were scanned for tem-perature and their hands sanitized as per the instruc-tions of the State Election commission.Women vot-ers once again maintained their supremacy and voted in large number to out-

smart men in the electoral battle also. Incidentally, as per the decision of the state government about fifty per-cent of the PRI seats had to

go to the females as they had been given fifty percent reservations in the PRI/CIVIC bodies for contesting the elections. They had also

outclassed the men in the first two phases in the dis-trict thereby proving that they have much knowledge of their legal and demo-cratic rights as compared to their counterparts.

The polling that started with a positive note in the early morning due to bright sunshine continued with the same tempo till its end-ing at 1600 hrs. The count-ing of the votes for the posts of pradhans, up-pradhans and ward panches will end

tonight, where as the count-ing for the Zila parishad and panchayat samiti seats would take place tomorrow (Friday). Deputy Commis-sioner, Debashweta Banik congratulated the people of the district for taking part in the elections in such a large numbers and said that it proved how much faith they had in the democratic institutions of the country.She claimed that the polling was calm and peaceful and no unwanted.

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Bangalore : 3rd Main Road- 4, L.N. Pura,bangalore- 560 021, karnataka.Rni no. Kareng/2012/43253

22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

The taxation of digital companies has been a key concern for G20 countries. The agenda to reform international tax law so that digital companies are taxed where economic activities are carried out was formally framed within the OECD’s base erosion and profi t shifting programme. Seven years since its inception, it is still work in progress. Worried they might cede their right to tax incomes, many countries have either proposed or implemented a digital services tax. India is amongst the fi rst to have implemented an equalisation levy in 2016, which sought to tax payments made for online advertising services to a non-resident business by residents. In March 2020, it expanded the scope of the existing equalisation levy to a range of digital services that includes e-commerce platforms. Any payment made by non-residents in connection with an Indian user will now attract a 2 per ceSuranjali Tandon nt levy. Such an approach is often viewed as contrary to the ethos of international agreements. However, the proliferation of digital service taxes (DSTs) is a symptom of the changing international economic order. Countries such as India which provide large markets for digital corporations seek a greater right to tax incomes. Apprehensive that DSTs could become the norm, in June 2020, the US initiated USTR investigations under section 301 of the Trade Act 1974 against 10 jurisdictions, including India. This inquiry intends to fi nd out if DSTs discriminate against US corporations. The report released in January 2021 confi rmed that India’s equalisation levy is unreasonable for its sudden implementation and retrospective application, and is discriminatory since of the 119 companies to which it is likely applicable, 72 per cent are US-based. It cannot be dismissed that the tax can result in over-taxation since the company will not be able to claim any credit for tax paid on Indian sales. Further, the clarifi cations have not been made available. However, it is predominantly applicable to US companies since the market for digital services is dominated by US-based fi rms. The law itself in no way discriminates based on size of operations or nationality, and has no retrospective element. Any company that has a permanent residence in India is excluded since it is already subject to tax in India. For example, if company A that has a local subsidiary or is a registered entity, no levy is payable. If fi rm B operates services in India, but its billing address is registered in Ireland, then the levy will be charged on payments to this entity from India. Experts suggest that such taxes can be passed on to consumers. While the Indian customer may not pay this as a tax, this could mean higher prices, contrary to the claim that it taxes the company. The USTR investigations pose a threat of retaliatory tariffs. In a similar investigation for France’s DST, the US responded with the threat to levy tariffs on select French exports, implemented in January 2021. However, these were suspended in light of other ongoing investigations. It seems trade is a new collateral of tax negotiations. The core problem that the international tax reform seeks to address is that digital corporations, unlike their brick-and-mortar counterparts, can operate in a market without a physical presence. The current basis for taxing in a particular jurisdiction is a notion of fi xed place of business. To overcome this challenge, countries suggested that a new basis to tax, say, the number of users in a country, could address the challenge to some extent. The EU and India were among the advocates of this approach. In 2018, India introduced the test for signifi cant economic presence in the Income Tax Act. However, the proposal of a revised nexus was not supported widely. Moreover, to give effect to a new nexus would require bilateral renegotiation of tax treaties that supersede domestic tax laws. Meanwhile, the OECD continued to work to fi nd commonalities among a range of solutions. In October 2020, it released a blueprint of the solution that it seeks to fi nalise by June 2021. But consultations held with stakeholders this month do not inspire confi dence. In its current form, the solution is too complex to administer and proposes to allocate residual profi t — a term that has no economic defi nition — thus calling into question the gains. It would also require political consensus on multiple issues, including sensitive matters such as setting up of an alternative dispute resolution process comparable to arbitration. This can increase the compliance burden. The US has expressed its preference to apply this measure on a safe harbour basis, which can limit the companies to which it may be applicable.

Digital Service Tax could offer an interim solution

2EDIT22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES UNDER BIDEN, AMERICA WILL BE

A FORCE FOR GOOD AGAINWith the inauguration of Joe

Biden as the 46th President of the United States, America is closing one of the darkest and saddest chapters in its history and open-ing a new one fi lled with hope and optimism. The swearing-in of the former Vice President and Senator heralds a new dawn not just in the United States but the world as well. The destructive nature of Trump's presidency has been well-documented by the US and international media. To name just a few of his transgres-sions during the four years he has been at the White House: * Trump reversed many of the ma-jor gains the country had made in race relations;

* actively discouraged immi-gration, upon which the country was built, especially from the non-European countries; * rolled back more than a hundred envi-ronmental regulations; * waged a nonstop war against the coun-try's institutions, including the press; and * pulled the United States out of landmark global treaties and organizations, such as Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization, and largely abandoned America's global leadership, allowing coun-tries such as Russia and China to fi ll that vacuum. Finally, on his way out of the Oval Offi ce, Trump refused to acknowledge the re-sults of a free and fair election

that he lost decisively. Unlike his predecessors, he did not facilitate a peaceful transfer of power, even encouraging his followers to stage an insurrection. In a nutshell, he is leaving offi ce with the country deeply divided. While Trump was remarkably effective in disman-tling American institutions and sowing chaos both at home and abroad, when it comes to tackling issues and solving problems, he has been one of the most incom-petent presidents in US history.

A case in point is his handling of the Covid-19 crisis. The United States, which has the largest and most expensive healthcare in-frastructure, should have tack-

led the virus better than most other countries. But the nation today accounts for more than a quarter of the global coronavirus cases and more than a fi fth of the worldwide fatalities, even though it has only fi ve per cent of the world population.

Despite receiving early warn-ings about Covid-19, Trump ignored the pandemic at the be-ginning and then underplayed it even after it began killing hun-dreds of thousands of Americans. The President worried that stock markets would tank if he took ag-gressive measures to tackle the virus. Fortunately for America, the nation will have a leader who

is capable of leading it out of the morass. Throughout the cam-paign, Biden promised voters to act as a President for the whole country, not just for his base. After his victory, the President-elect has reached out to Trump voters, saying that he will heal the divisions. After four years of Trump's relentless war against the government and the institu-tions - which he dubbed as 'Deep State' - it is refreshing to have as President someone who has faith in American institutions, whether it is judiciary, the legislature or the press. Unlike the so-called conservative President, Biden has great respect for traditions

as well. For the past four years, the White House has acted as an 'accountability-free zone'. Biden has clearly told Americans that his administration would be ac-countable to them in every which way. Another refreshing thing about the incoming administra-tion is the manner in which it has gone about fi lling the top positions of various departments and agencies. Diversity, subject-matter expertise and competence have been the key to the nomina-tion at every level.

The new administration's fi rst day initiatives are likely to in-clude an ambitious Coronavirus recovery package and a fl urry of executive orders that will reverse many of Trump's controversial executive orders. Three such executive orders are reentering the Paris climate agreement and joining the World Health Orga-nization and the repeal of the so-called Muslim ban.

We are also likely to see a num-ber of Coronavirus-related poli-cies, such as a mask mandate, ex-pansion of COVID testing and a stay on evictions and foreclosures of people that have fallen behind in paying rent and mortgage.

The Biden administration will be tackling Covid on a war footing and the President-elect has already surrounded him-self with prominent experts and scientists.

When Indian cricket history is discussed it will be said of them that they took all the body blows but did not let the country down! The 11 in the fi rst Test at Adelaide, Australia were vastly different from the eleven who handcrafted history on Tuesday at the Gabba. They faced body blows, tolerated sledging and endured racist slurs from the spectator’s gallery. But not for a moment did they allow their single-minded dedication to slacken. The team was so heav-ily injury ridden that they had to fall back upon “net bowlers” and rookie batsmen, who had never imagined that they would be called upon, not only to make a playing XI in a Test match, but be the frontline warriors for the same. It speaks volumes of their aspiration, of their commitment to the cause, of their focus (which was their team’s honour) that they single-mindedly addressed the task at hand. They fought bravely to ensure that the team romped home with one of the most magnifi cent victories in In-dian cricketing history.

Reams will be written on this match, gigabytes expended in electronic media coverage and tonnes of hot air will be blown on the valour of the team. All that will never be able to portray what may have been passing through the mind of Mohammad Siraj, who wept at his dad’s memory while singing the national an-them, or the youngest member of the team who was the proud holder of the Border-Gavaskar trophy that his captain handed to him for the all important photo-op. Yes, this match will go down in the annals of Indian history like the 1983 World Cup or the 2007 ICC T20 trophy or the 2011 World Cup win. What we need to recognise today is how did this group of “rookies” took on the mighty Austral , especially after the humiliating 36 all out at Adelaide. We need to recognise

that champions are not made in a day. In the making of such cham-pions the sweat, the hard work, the mentoring, the dedication and most importantly the mental conditioning, have such a critical role to perform. I would believe that the initial moulding of these warriors has been sculpted by Ra-hul Dravid, himself a cricketing legend. These youngsters have all been part of the under-19 group of cricketers handpicked and trained by Dravid. Shubhman Gill had spearheaded the Indian U-19 team’s batting prowess in the 2018 world championship. He turned in a splendid 91 in Bris-bane. Rishabh Pant, a member of the U-19 squad of 2016, who started his Test career only in 2018, broke the great M S Dhoni’s record of the fastest 1,000 runs by an Indian wicket-keeper. Pant played a sedate innings, the likes of which would have the hallmark of Dravid or Dhoni. He played the anchor at one end and speeded up at will, with no tension or pressure from the sledging of

the Aussies, who were fi nding it diffi cult to digest the treatment that this rookie team was giving it. Washington Sundar, another 2016 U-19 squad member, whose commitment with the ball was well known but his 22 off 29 balls, brought forth a comment from his dad that he is 70 per cent a batsman. The Palghar boy Shar-dul Thakur, who travelled 100 ki-lometres to Mumbai for practice, is the diamond that ultimately shines when put to test. And he and Sundar possibly were con-sidered to be seeing action only in the nets!

We need to marvel the remark-able commitment of Siraj, son of an auto rickshaw driver who used up his savings to let the son play cricket, who was given the sad news of his father’s demise the moment he landed in Australia and who chose not to return for the funeral. T Natarajan is an-other wonder. Son of a power-loom worker, he was included in the squad to Australia as one of the four additional bowlers —

and how he delivered! Ajinkya Rahane, the stand-in captain, led from the front.Much was spo-ken and more written when Ravi Shastri was chosen to be the head coach of the team. “Superstar culture” and “captain choosing the coach” were the common refrain of those days. Shastri has moulded the team to ensure that it is a well-knit pack. He brooks no idiots. Cerebral and strate-gic, he is his own man. A morale booster and mentor for the squad and ensuring camaraderie in the dressing room, there could not be a better testimonial for him than The Indian Express proclaiming: “Shastri’s journey: From Cham-pion of Champions to coach of a Champion team.” There is the stamp of Kohli on the team. Ag-gressive, confi dent, physically fi t and mentally focused on the job at hand. In partnership with the coach, Kohli has built a team that can be world-beaters.

Many have derided the IPL. Many do not even call it “cricket”. They need to realise that these

are the “fi nds” of the IPL. How many selectors get to see Ranji or Mushtaq Ali tournament match-es? How much of TV coverage is provided to them? The young-sters have reminded the BCCI of its responsibility towards them. We need to provide them an alma mater — a world-class Cricket Academy to train in, undergo re-hab in and be mentored by the best that the “rich” BCCI can fetch. We need to provide them motivational speakers and mind-conditioning professionals.

IPL franchisees or state as-sociations cannot provide them world-class facilities. These are woefully lacking. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Harbha-jan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Yu-vraj Singh should constitute the resource to provide the motiva-tion. The youngsters need to be incubated. It is the crucible that is urgently required. Indian cricket needs to forge ahead with the in-credible story which has just been scripted.

The triumph in Gabba is a win to cherish. Indian cricket needs to build on it

Mumbai, Jan 21 (UNI) In a mega action against the drug cartels in Mumbai, the Narcot-ics Control Bureau has found the links of fugitive under-world don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar after the agency busted a drugs factory in Mumbai's Dongri, which was being op-erated by Karim Lala's grand-son Parwez Khan aka Chinku Pathan. The NCB sleuths also recovered cash to the tune of Rs 2.18 crore from the prem-ises of his associate Arif Bu-jhwala, another kingpin. An NCB official connected to the probe, requesting anonym-ity told , "Chinku Pathan, who was nabbed by the NCB yesterday is the grandson of

Lala, who was the mentor of Dawood Ibrahim." The official said that Lala was the original underworld don of Mumbai.

"This cartel was basically being run by the Pathani gang and they were also having rela-tions with the Dawood gang," he said. The official said that Chinku Pathan's partner Bhu-jwala is the biggest supplier of drugs in Maharashtra.

It began on Wednesday morning, when the agency sleuths arrested Chinku Pa-than along with his associ-ate Zakir Hussain Fazal Huk Shaikh and seized 2.9 grams of heroin and 52.2 grams of mephedrone or 'MD' from his residence at 7th Floor, 'B'

Wing, Progressive Signature CHS, Ghansoli. The NCB team also recovered one 9 mm pis-tol from Chinku Pathan's resi-dence. The official said that in a parallel raid, Rahul Kumar Verma, a DJ and rapper by profession, was intercepted in Mumbai's Bhiwandi area.

The official said that the DJ is suspected to be one of the suppliers of mephedrone of Chinku Pathan. The official added that after the arrest of Lala's grandson, the NCB achieved a major breakthrough as the drug law enforcement team carried out raids at the residence of Bhujwala in Don-gri area on Wednesday eve-ning which continued till early

morning on Thursday. During the raids, the NCB team recov-ered one revolver and unac-counted cash amounting to Rs 2.18 crore, which is believed to be the sale proceeds from drug trafficking. The official said that a clandestine drug labo-ratory operated by Bhujwala in the same building was also busted. During the operation, the following drugs were seized from Bhujwala's clandestine lab - 5.69 kg of mephedrone or MD, one kg methamphet-amine and 6.126 kg of ephed-rine and a huge stash of pack-ing material, various utensils, weighing machines and other apparatus used to manufac-ture illegal drugs. The official

said that the NCB is conduct-ing searches to arrest Bhujwa-la. The official said, "Chinku Pathan and Bhujwala are said to be kingpins in drug traf-ficking networks operated by the underworld and ran their illegal trade across Mumbai and surrounding areas." The official said that mephedrone or MD is also known as M-cat, Meow Meow, white magic. It is a synthetic stimulant drug of amphetamine class with psy-choactive characteristics and is usually used in parties.

3NATION22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES2 lawyers among three held in land fraud case in Gurugram

Chandigarh, Jan 21 (UNI) Three persons, including two advocates, have been arrested on the charge of involvement in the sale of two acres of land 'acquired' through fraudulent means in Gurugram district to a private company, causing loss of crores of rupees to the state exchequer. Director General of Police Manoj Yadava told the media that the land in Islampur village, acquired by Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) in 1993, was sold to a private company for Rs 2 crore on the basis of "fake and forged documents and witnesses". He said that to make a quick buck, accused Ro-hit Thakran of Jharsa village and Ajay Chaudhary of Islampur vil-lage hatched a plan and got the land transferred in the name of Ajay by producing fake witnesses, who impersonated Murti Devi, Lakshmi Devi and Bala Devi, the original owners of two acres of the ancestral property. Lawyers Chaman Lal Arora and Subhash Chand Arora, who 'identified' the 'owners' were also arrested. The fraud came to light when Murti Devi of Gupta Colony in Gurugram filed a police complaint. State Crime Branch (Gurugram Unit) later arrested Thakran and the Aroras. The probe revealed that master-mind Thakran had learnt the work of 'patwari' and was aware of the acquired land. Chaudhary allegedly transferred Rs 29 lakh out of the Rs 2 crore sale proceeds to the bank account of Thakran. The accounts used to receive sale proceeds were opened by Chaudhary on the basis of different PAN numbers. Investigation found that Thakran was involved in other crimes also, including liquor smug-gling. Chaudhary was involved in the killing of a Rajasthan Police Constable in 2006, police said.

Woman kills minor son, commits suicide in UP

Hamirpur (UP), Jan 21 (UNI) A 30-year-old woman allegedly killed her five-year-old son by giving him milk laced with pow-dered glass to drink and then committed suicide by consum-ing the same at her parental house in Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday. Soni Nishad along with her son Shani was living with her parents in Sahurapur village in Lalpura police area for the past six-seven months after differ-ences with her in-laws. Her husband Bhola, 40, of Brahma Ka Dera village in Kotwali police area, is a labourer based at present in Surat. The incident was reported on Wednesday when Soni's mother Marri, a cook at a basic school, returned home and saw Soni and Shani lying unconscious and raised an alarm. Police reached the spot and got the two admitted to a district hospital, where Soni died during treatment.

Gang held for robbing unsuspecting passengers

New Delhi, Jan 20 (UNI) Delhi police have arrested two robbers and apprehended three juveniles who were part of a gang which robbed unsuspecting passengers stranded at bus stops and lonely stretches in the national capital. The police team from Ja-hangirpuri also recovered a stolen Eco car from their possession. The main accused, Ankit and Mahabir, both in their early twen-ties, along with three children in conflict with law (CCL) were nabbed on Wednesday morning from near the Mukarba Chowk on Karnal Bypass. "The gang members first stole an Eco car and then moved around places like the bypass and bus stops. Some members of the gang used to sit inside the cab posing as pas-sengers. They then lured other passengers to their cabs and later robbed them of their belongings," said Usha Rangnani, DCP, North West. Five mobile phones have been recovered from the possession of the accused persons, who disclosed that they had robbed them from victims using the same modus operandi from different places like ISBT Kashmere Gate, Anand Vihar and Kar-nal Bypass. The Eco car stolen from Wazirabad and later used in the crime has also been recovered.

'Shocking': Guj HC orders immediate release of

inter-faith coupleGandhinagar, Jan 21 (UNI) Taking up a Habeas Corpus plea, the Gu-jarat High Court has ordered the immediate release of an inter-faith married couple, arrested by Palanpur police in Banaskantha district on a complaint from the woman's family. A 30-year-old Muslim man from Palanpur married a 29-year-old Hindu woman of the town in December last year. On January 9, following the complaint by the woman's father that his daughter stole Rs 82,000 and fled with an already-married Muslim man, the Palanpur police had detained the couple, who were residing in Surat. A local court subsequently sent them to four day police custody, as sought by the police. Fol-lowing the arrest, the man's brother approached the high court on January 18 with a Habeas Corpus petition, seeking production of his recently-married brother and claiming the arrest illegal. Taking up the petition, the high court quashed the remand order issued by the local magistrate and asked the Palanpur police to release the couple immediately. A division bench of Justices Sonia Gokani and Sangeeta Vishen expressed its displeasure over the events, with its order on Tuesday saying "the facts are quite glaring and also shocking". It also observed that Palanpur police had shown "undue fervour" while dealing with this case of "inter-religion marriage". In its order, the high court directed the Inspector General of Police, Banaskantha, to inquire into the conduct of police inspectors of Palanpur East and Palanpur West police stations, "in whose custody the couple has been detained for all these days". As the couple have settled in Su-rat where the husband works, the public prosecutor has assured the court that the Surat Police Commissioner will be intimated to pro-vide them protection, initially for a period of four weeks.

Red-tapism made acquisition process a vicious cycle: Indian Army Chief

Yogi Adityanath inaugurates road safety campaign

Nripendra Mishra in Ayodhya to discuss final stages of Ram temple

New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) Self-reliance is a strategic necessity but to achieve it a revolution is needed in bureau-cratic affairs, Indian Army Chief Gen-eral Manoj Mukund Naravane has said while pointing out that defence mod-ernisation is often held hostage to the processes and procedures involved. Gen Naravane said red-tapism has made the defence acquisition process a "vicious cycle".

"We need a revolution in bureau-cratic affairs to realise the vision of self-reliance," he said while speaking on the occasion of 25 years of Army-industry partnership at a virtual conference. Talking about the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020, he said it has been aligned to empower domestic industry. He appreciated the govern-ment's initiative to increase the FDI in defence production to 74 per cent from the existing 49 per cent. But he made a point that more needs to be done.

"While all these initiatives are quite appreciable, there is a lot of work that still needs to be done," said Gen Nara-vane. He also quoted late Defence

Minister Manohar Parrikar as saying that the "entire procurement process is based on distrust". "There are cer-tain inherent procedural lacunae that have crept into the acquisition pro-cess which primarily arises due to the overbearing nature of our rules, regula-tions and guidelines in trying to ensure zero error," said Gen Naravane adding, "This is also aggravated by our own in-terpretation of rules." He said DAP 2016 which is about 450 pages and DAP 2020 has about 681 pages but it has not been

able to fast track the process of acqui-sition. "It is because we try to cater for every contingency and plug every loop-hole. This results in every acquisition process being tied up in knots," he said. In the end what happens is that the processes and procedures rather than product become paramount and these impede defence modernisation, Gen Naravane said. He further pointed out that a qualitative requirement, for ex-ample, is formatted in a very stringent manner.

Ayodhya, Jan 21 (UNI) Ram Jan-mabhoomi Construction Commit-tee head Nripendra Mishra arrived in Ayodhya on Thursday to attend a two-day meeting called to discuss the final stages of the temple develop-ment scheme. After reaching Ayod-hya, Mishra did a spot inspection of the Janmabhoomi campus and held a meeting with the engineers of Larsen and Toubro, which is executing the project, at the Vishwamitra Ashram. The second meeting between the of-fice-bearers of the Trust and the en-gineers of L&T and Tata Consultancy will be held at the Circuit House.

Architect Sompura has also reached Ayodhya to attend the meeting. In the meeting, engineers will present the foundation design for temple construction. At the same time, soil is being removed from the surround-ings of the sanctum sanctorum for

the construction of the Ram temple. The meeting will be held in four phases with Ram Trust officials and others associated with the construc-tion work involved in the first phase.

During the two-day meeting -- Janu-ary 21 and 22 -- all the attendees will discuss the material and foundation design to be used during the temple construction. In the first phase, of-ficials associated with the Trust and engineers of the executive body -- con-struction companies Larsen & Toubro and Tata Consultancy, besides experts from IIT Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and the National Building Research.

Lucknow, Jan 21 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thurs-day launched a public awareness cam-paign for road safety, besides inaugu-rating several projects of the transport department worth more than Rs 55 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, "Nearly 65 people lose their lives in road accidents daily, which can be reduced by creating public awareness. We have started a road safety public aware-ness campaign today. People must avoid driving without licence. Drunk-driving is also a big cause of accidents."

The departments of transport and health will play an active role in the month-long campaign devoted to road safety awareness. Emphasising on spreading awareness among school chil-dren during the road safety month, Adity-anath said that the sense of traffic aware-ness and road safety should be instilled in school children from the very beginning and special programmes should be held in schools regarding road safety and traf-fic rules. The Chief Minister also said that nodal officers should be deployed in ev-ery district during the month to oversee the awareness campaign.

NCB busts drugs factory in Mumbai, finds Dawood link and Rs 2.18 cr

Amid factionalism, BJP begins campaigning for 4 by-poll seats in Rajasthan

Fire engulfs Serum's under-construction

building in Pune Jaipur, Jan 21 (UNI) Amid factionism, feuds and tussle over leadership status, the opposition BJP in Rajasthan has started campaigning for the As-sembly by-elections to be held in four constituen-cies, however, the dates for the same are awaited.

Assembly by-polls shall be held in Sujangarh, Ra-jsamand, Sahara (Bhil-wara) and Vallabhnagar (Udaipur) after the deaths of the members of legisla-tive assembly following illness in last four months.

The by-polls shall be held during interesting times when fractions within BJP have come

out open recently. For-mer Chief Minister Va-sundhara Raje's follow-ers recently announced the formation of an outfit supporting her and de-manded that she be de-clared as the chief min-isterial candidate for the 2023 Assembly election.

The BJP has however officially maintained si-lence on the issue and downplayed any further attempts to project any individual as the CM.

However, the party has promoted anti-Raje cad-res on many significant positions.

Meanwhile, BJP state president Satish Poonia,

starting the by-poll cam-paigning after offering prayers at Salasar Balaji temple, said, "We shall make a strong win in by-polls due to the people-friendly policies launched by PM Narendra Modi and with the hard work of party workers." He further said that the party shall break the trend of Rajast-han under which BJP and Congress passes power to alternate hands after tenure of five years. "We shall break this trend and ensure that BJP emerges as an undefeated and unconquered party for-ever in the state in coming electins," he added.

Pune, Jan 21 (UNI) A major fire broke out in an under-construc-tion building of the Serum Insti-tute of India (SII)'s Manjari plant here on Thursday afternoon, of-ficials said. There are no immedi-ate reports of casualties. Around 2 p.m., thick clouds of smoke could be seen billowing out of the struc-ture in the SII complex at Manjari, said company sources.

At least 12 fire-tenders from Pune Fire Brigade rushed to the site and were battling the blaze, the cause of which is not clear. The SII is currently un-der a global scanner as it has become one of the handful of pharmaceutical companies worldwide engaged in the manufacture of the Covid-19 vaccine,

branded as Covishield, currently be-ing administered to lakhs of people in India. SII officials said that Covishield vaccine is produced and stocked at its Hinjewadi manufacturing facility.

Panaji, Jan 21 (UNI) Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thurs-day urged engineering students to counter the negative commentary against the government's devel-opment projects on social and mass media platforms, saying it was important to counter nega-tive propaganda with facts. Citing a case in point, Sawant said that the Sterlite-promoted Goa Tamnar Transmission Project Limited was crucial to the coastal state's power needs in the coming years and yet it was facing opposition from sev-eral quarters.

"People are opposing projects ev-erywhere. The Tamnar project has seen opposition too. As you know

it is a 400 KV line which is coming from Karnataka to Goa. If the Tam-

nar (power) line is not drawn over the next two years, then we will not

be able to use ACs and fans," Sawa-nt said, while addressing a gather-ing of students at the Goa College of Engineering in South Goa.

"Despite knowing this fact, how many of us are talking about it positively? We are only listening to negativity. It is our duty to write and talk on social media and elec-tronic media. I am not even urging you to speak in favour of the gov-ernment. Just state facts. You know the facts. The layman in a village does not know facts. He opposes (such projects) just because some-one has planted it in his head," Sawant said."Being engineers you know the realistic situation of pow-er (availability) in Goa. We expect that facts should be placed before the people who do not have any real information about the project. We expect these comments from you on issues related.

4SOUTH22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

Counter negative propaganda against govt projects: Goa CM

K'taka Cabinet reshuffled, portfolios given to 7 inductees

Bengaluru, Jan 21 (UNI) Over a week after expanding his 17-month-old Cabinet, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday effected a minor reshuf-fle and also allocated portfolios to seven new Ministers. Yediyurappa divested JC Madhuswamy of Law, Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Minor Irrigation and allocated him Medical Education, Kannada, and Culture Departments.Health Minister K Sudhakar was relieved of Medical Education in just three months, who was given Health portfolio by taking it away from incumbent Social Welfare Minis-ter B Sreeramulu. Madhuswamy is a key member of the Yediyurappa camp, who put up strong defence of the state government in the state legislature.

Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation Department has been given to Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai as additional charge. The Forest Department has been taken back from S Anand Singh, who has been given Tourism De-

partment in addition to Environ-ment and Ecology. CC Patil, earlier incharge of Mines and Geology, has now been given Small Scale Industries and Information and Public Relations Departments. Leader of the House in Legislative Council, Kota Srinivas Poojari, has been relieved of Fisheries, Ports and Inland Transport Department and given Muzrai and Backward Classes Welfare Department. Haj and Wakf Department has been taken back from Animal Hus-bandry Minister Prabhu Chauhan, while Labour Minister A Shivaram Hebbar has been divested of the Sugar Department. K Gopalaiah has been divested of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs Department and made incharge of Horticulture and Sugar Depart-ments. KC Narayana Gowda has been given Youth Empowerment, Sports, Haj and Wakf Depart-ments, but divested of Municipal Administration, Horticulture and Sericulture Departments.

The Chief Minister has kept the

Departments of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Cabinet Affairs, Finance, Bangalore De-velopment, Energy, Intelligence, Planning, Programme Monitoring Statistics, Infrastructure Develop-ment and all unallocated portfo-lios with himself. Among the new Ministers, Umesh Katti gets Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Af-fairs and S Angara Fisheries, Ports and Inland Transport. R Muru-gesh Nirani will be Mines and Ge-ology Minister and Arvind Limba-vali Forest Minister, said a gazette notification issued with the con-sent of Governor Vajubhai Rudab-

hai Vala. R Shankar gets Municipal Administration and Sericulture, MTB Nagaraj Excise, and CP Yo-geshwar Minor Irrigation Depart-ment. Yediyurappa has thus sent out a loud and clear message to all MLAs. airing serious reserva-tions about his decision to ex-pand his Cabinet that he is firmly in control. Earlier, his close aide MP Rennukacharya spearheaded the campaign against ministerial berths to MLCs. Besides, several disgruntled legislators had also alleged they were not considered despite the fact that most Minis-ters.

6,334 new corona cases in Kerala, 6,229 recoveries

92 countries post request for Made-in-India vaccines

Cong's KV Thomas may contest Kerala polls as Left candidate

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 21 (UNI) Kerala on Thursday re-ported 6,334 new coronavirus cases and 6,229 recoveries, even as 21 more fatalities took the state's COVID-19 death toll to 3,545, Health Minister KK Shai-laja's office said.

As many as 61,279 samples were tested on Thursday, with the test positivity rate pegged at 10.34 per cent.

Ernakulam district reported highest 771 new cases and

Kasargod the least 87 cases.As many as 93 positive pa-

tients have come from outside the state while 5,658 others con-tracted the disease through con-tacts. The contact details of 517 patients is not known.

A total of 66 health workers tested positive on Thursday -- Kannur 15, Ernakulam 12, Pathanamthitta 11, Malap-puram 6, Kozhikode 5, Thiru-vananthapuram and Palakkad 4 each, Wayanad 3, Kollam, Alap-

puzha, Idukki, Kottayam, Thris-sur and Kasargod one each.

As many as 2,09,828 persons are under observation, includ-ing 1,98,107 in home or insti-tutional quarantine and 11,721 others in various hospitals. The addition of three new hotspots of Koyipram, Chennerkara and Mezhuveli in Pathanamthitta district and removal of two places from the list increased the total coronavirus hotspots in Kerala to 406.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 21 (UNI) The Kerala Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Thursday as the no-confi-dence motion moved by In-dian Union Muslim League MLA, M Ummer against Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan was rejected by the House. In his no-confidence motion, Ummer said that there were clear reports that Sreeramak-rishnan was involved in the dollar smuggling case and so he has no right to sit in the Speakers' chair of the Legisla-tive Assembly. He also alleged that the Speaker had tried to

shield his Assistant Private Secretary, who has been in-terrogated for over nine hours by the Customs department. The House witnessed unruly scenes when the ruling front countered the Opposition MLA while the legislators from the treasury benches were all praise for Sreeramakrishnan.

Jumping to the Speaker's defence, MLA James Mathew said that Sreeramakrishnan had an unblemished track re-cord for the past 40 years right from his days as a student leader. Mathew lashed out at the Opposition saying that

they have no right to speak against Sreeramakrishnan.Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala in his speech said that the Speaker had indulged in extravagance in the House and had refurbished the cen-tral hall of the Assembly for no reason. He alleged that a huge amount was squandered by the Speaker in the renovation. He called upon the Speaker to quit as his name had surfaced in the dollar smuggling case.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijay-an in his speech said there was no reason for the Opposition to bring such a no-confidence

motion against the Speaker. He said that Sreeramakrish-nan was doing a good job and the Opposition was provided ample time in the House dur-ing every discussion. Sreera-makrishnan in his remarks said that Opposition leader Chen-nithala is still behaving like a student leader and that he has to rise as a senior leader. The Speaker said that the discus-sion on this matter and its pro-ceedings have given him more confidence in the Assembly. He added that he has done no wrong and asked the Opposi-tion not to play to the gallery.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 21 (UNI) The Special Eco-nomic Offences court in Kerala has given sanction to the Customs department to arrest M. Sivasankar in the dollar smuggling case. Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is now in judicial custody in the gold smuggling case and other cases filed by the Enforce-ment Directorate.

Sivasankar is the fourth accused in the dollar smug-gling case to be charged

by the Customs. The Cus-toms has decided to arraign Sivasankar after detailed investigation on the state-ments given by the first and second accused in the case, Swapna Prabha Suresh and P.S. Sarith. Customs had also interrogated Kiran who is under suspicion for hav-ing smuggled dollars to UAE through hawala route. Kiran is managing educational institutions in Dubai and there have been allegations that the Speaker of the Ker-ala Assembly P. Sreeramak-

rishnan supported Kiran in investing in the franchisees of an international educa-tional institution. Swapna and Sarith had deposed be-fore the Customs that two persons Kiran and Lafeer Mohammed had accepted the dollars smuggled to UAE by certain people who are in higher positions in the state. The other accused in the dollar smuggling case is the former finance head of the UAE consulate in Thiru-vananthapuram, Khalid Ali Shoukri.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 21 (UNI) K.V. Thomas, former union minister and senior Con-gress leader is likely to contest the 2021 Kerala Assembly elec-tions as an LDF candidate from the Ernakulam seat, his tradi-tional bastion.

Thomas was a former union minister of state (Independent charge) for Food and Civil sup-plies in the Manmohan Singh government. He has been a member of the Lok Sabha for six terms and was an MLA for two terms. He was also Minister for Tourism in the A.K. Antony gov-ernment in Kerala.

The senior Congress leader who is a big force among the Lat-in Catholic community has been

sulking since he was denied a seat in the last general elections.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President Mullap-pally Ramachandran, former Chief Minister Oomen Chandy and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala have tried to con-sole Thomas and promised him an apt post during the state unit's rejig. However, it was not fulfilled.Instead was given the responsibilities of the party pub-lications "Veekshanam News Paper " and Jaihind TV". Both the entities are in deep debts and Thomas did not accept the posting. A senior leader close to Thomas, speaking to on conditions of anonymity said: "Thomas has already met Chief

Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and worked out the intricacies.

"He will contest from the Er-nakulam seat which he had won earlier as a Congress candidate. Not just that the seat was not giv-en to him by Congress but he was also insulted by several leaders in the party and he had to take this extreme step."

CPI-M has already welcomed KV Thomas into its fold and par-ty's Ernakulam District Secretary C.N. Mohanan told the media: "Let things turn out and once he announces his decision publicly we will discuss the matter in the party and support him. Let him first announce his decision." Thomas has excellent rapport with the CPI-M national leader-

ship and party general secretary Sitaram Yechury and politburo member M.A. Baby had stayed at his place last year during a programme in Ernakulam. If Thomas switches sides, then the Ernakulam assembly seat -- a Congress bastion -- may see go.

Ernakulam is the stronghold of the Latin Catholic community and there is no leader of the stat-ure of KV Thomas in the party in Ernakulam and hence this will be a major shocker for the Congress.

Congress leader Chennithala told the media: "I don't think that KV Thomas will leave the party, he will continue". Thomas will address the media on Janu-ary 23 and is likely announce his decision.

New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) Ninety-two countries have approached In-dia for Covid-19 vaccines, bolster-ing New Delhis credentials as the vaccine hub of the world. Highly placed sources said that scores of countries are approaching India, as the word spreads that Indian vac-cines are showing negligible side-effects, since the immunization drive in the country began on Sat-urday. India is sending its domesti-cally developed vaccines to several neighbouring countries including Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar.

In a letter to PM Modi on Tues-day, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of the Dominican Republic, has also requested for inoculation, signally that the demand for Indian jabs has acquired a transcontinen-tal appeal. "As we enter 2021 and persevere in our fight against Co-vid-19, Dominica's population of 72,100 is in urgent need of enough doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. I, therefore, request, with great humility and respect, that you assist us by donating the doses we need to make our population safe (optimally 70,000 first and sec-ond doses)," wrote Skerrit.

In other parts of Latin America, Brazil, which has the second high-est number of coronavirus cases in the world next only to the United States, has sent a special plane to pick up Indian vaccines from Pune.

A Brazilian plane is expected to fly the first 2 million doses of a Co-vid-19 vaccine purchased by the government's Fiocruz biomedical institute.According to a Reuters

report from Sao Paulo, Health Min-ister Eduardo Pazuello said the documentation is ready for bring-ing the AstraZeneca-Oxford Uni-versity vaccine being produced at the Serum Institute of India. Bra-zil's Anvisa has scheduled a meet-ing for next Sunday to decide on the emergency use of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Ox-ford as well as one by developed by China's Sinovac Biotec. Mean-while the Bolivian government had also signed a contract with India's Serum Institute for the supply of 5 million doses of AstraZeneca's Co-vid-19 vaccine. President Luis Arce said that combined with a recent deal to buy 5.2 million Sputnik V vaccine doses from Russia, Bolivia now expected to be able to inocu-late all of its vaccinable population.

The sources said that in tune with Prime Minister Modi's mes-sage that India's vaccine approach are intended to heal humanity, In-dia would not be averse to provide vaccines to Pakistan, as part of a drive to eliminate the virus glob-ally. And in the course of time if the Chinese vaccine does not work, India would not hesitate to supply jabs to Beijing as well. The sources pointed out that India's vaccine ex-ports to China may go a long way in addressing India's adverse trade balance with the Middle Kingdom.

So far, China's vaccine has shown patchy results. For instance, after Thailand has discovered that the efficacy of the two million dos-es of the Chinese Sinovac Biotech Covid-19 vaccine.

Kerala: Court clears arrest of Sivasankar in dollar smuggling case

Kerala House rejects no-confidence motion against Speaker

5OP-ED22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

By Dr. Abdel Aziz AluwaishegThirty years ago this week, the US’

power was at its zenith, militarily and diplomatically. On Jan. 17, 1991, it launched the war to dislodge Sad-dam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait, and with it drove away doubts about America’s commitment to world peace. In the lead-up to that date, the US was able to build an international coalition of 35 countries and make a convincing case for military action. US diplomats secured support for the war from the UN Security Coun-cil, where even China and the Soviet Union went along.

In his memoir “The Back Channel: American Diplomacy in a Disordered World,” veteran US diplomat Wil-liam J. Burns recalled how President George H.W. Bush and his Secretary of State James Baker presided over a new world order with very little com-petition from other powers. The US was winning the Cold War, as the So-viet Union was in its last days, while Germany and Europe were reunited. According to Burns, “history seemed to flow inexorably in America’s direc-tion.”

President-elect Joe Biden has now tapped Burns to become his CIA di-rector, where he will be dealing with a much less friendly world order. Watching events unfold in Wash-

ington these days, it is difficult not to see the contrast between America then and now. The US capital looks to be under siege by right-wing ex-tremists and the security forces are scrambling to secure the inaugura-tion of the new president.

For the rest of the world, the Jan. 6 attack on the US Congress repre-sented the nadir of American pow-er, when a constitutionally ordered process to ratify the results of No-vember’s presidential election was disrupted and delayed by an armed gang apparently intent on harming lawmakers.

The chain of events in Washing-ton since the election has damaged America’s standing in the world. US rivals and adversaries are already testing the resolve of the new ad-ministration. Iran, for example, has resumed its harassment of shipping in the Gulf by hijacking a South Ko-rean ship, and Tehran’s proxies have also intensified their malign activi-ties in the region. The Houthis of Ye-men have escalated their attacks on Saudi civilian targets and, on Dec. 30, launched an attack on Aden air-port targeting the newly formed gov-ernment of Yemen upon its arrival to the country. The ministers barely escaped, but scores of innocent by-standers were killed or wounded.

Iran has also doubled down on its breaches of the Joint Comprehen-sive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It last week announced that it would be taking steps toward producing ura-nium metal, in direct violation of the nuclear deal. The revelation came just days after it resumed enriching uranium to 20 percent purity at the underground Fordow facility — an-other stark violation of the JCPOA, which limits uranium enrichment to no more than 3.67 percent until 2030. The foreign ministers of France, Ger-many and the UK on Saturday con-demned Iran’s JCPOA breaches, saying: “The production of uranium metal has potentially grave military implications.” French Foreign Min-ister Jean-Yves Le Drian added: “Iran — and I say this clearly — is in the process of acquiring nuclear military capacity.”

In Iraq, where thousands of US and allied troops died and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent on sta-bilization efforts, Iran-allied militias have increased their attempts to de-stabilize the country and strengthen Iran’s hold in the months leading up to the parliamentary elections later this year. To make matters worse, the rehabilitation of areas liberated from Daesh has been extremely slow, al-lowing the terrorist outfit to regroup

and resurge. The funds committed to Iraqi reconstruction at the inter-national conference held in Kuwait in February 2018 remain largely un-spent, in part because US leadership of that effort has receded.

In Syria, the Assad regime is cel-ebrating its victory over its own people, thanks in part to Iranian and Russian support, as the US and its al-lies are squeezed into a small pocket in the northeast of the country. Iran’s dream of building a corridor from Iran to Lebanon appears to be closer to fulfillment than ever.

Lebanon, a long-time close US partner, is being abandoned to eco-nomic ruin and political paralysis, led by Hezbollah, the Islamic Revolu-tionary Guard Corps’ main regional proxy, and its partners.

The eastern Mediterranean region has also descended into chaos, with a standoff between NATO allies Greece and Turkey — a logjam that has drawn in other regional US partners. In the old days, US allies and part-ners would have heeded its advice to sit at the negotiation table to resolve their disputes.

The chain of events in Washing-ton since the election has damaged America’s standing in the world.

The conflict between Palestinians and Israelis — the mother of all re-

gional problems — is nowhere near resolution, thanks in part to unilat-eral steps, condoned if not encour-aged by the US, which have made a difficult situation worse and in-creased the potential for prolonging the conflict. As Burns pointed out in his memoirs, in the old days of 1991, Israelis and Palestinians “sat down together, against their instincts, be-cause we asked, at a moment when well-framed US requests were not ignored. It marked a time of uncon-tested American primacy.”

In the 30 years since those days, a lot has happened to weaken that pri-macy — some of it America’s own do-ing — until it reached the abyss epit-omized by this month’s violation of the US’ seat of power in Washington. To undo the damage, the new admin-istration will need to urgently engage the rest of the world to reassure al-lies and partners and deter adver-saries. In 1991, muscular diplomacy was how the US worked to safeguard peace and security. Thirty years later, there is no alternative to that tool to restore faith in a rules-based inter-national system in war and peace, as well as in guiding the global recovery from the twin evils of the coronavi-rus disease and its related economic recession.

Arab News

US’ 30 YEARS FROM DIPLOMATIC PRIMACY TO PARALYSIS

By Nadim ShehadiA multipolar world is one of com-

peting visions, strategies and actions. During inauguration week in the US, there is much speculation about the new administration’s worldview and the position of the Middle East in that context.

How seriously one can take US elec-tion campaign promises? In the heat of the moment, candidates trash their opponent’s policies and promise to dismantle or reverse them. But is there a vision behind all this? The US’ allies in the region have existential stakes in the matter and are on the edge of their seats in anticipation.

Since 9/11, the Arab region has been at the center of these debates. The war on terror, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Turkey, the Arab Spring, and Libya have all raised questions about the role of the US and its limits.

Former Secretary of State Condo-leezza Rice summed up the Bush era’s vision in her Cairo speech of 2005: “For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East — and we achieved nei-ther. Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the demo-cratic aspirations of all people.”

The “neocons” blamed the 9/11 at-tacks on the “dual containment” poli-cies of the 1980s and 1990s, which brought us the Iran-Iraq War and sanctions, with dictators like Saddam Hussein consolidating their power as a result and becoming more tyran-nical. Saddam even invaded Kuwait and massacred his own people. The

consequences were catastrophic and regime change was the answer. This was the rationale behind the Iraq inva-sion of 2003, which took inspiration, as George W. Bush himself said, from the Second World War’s transformation of the Axis Powers into democracies. “Ev-ery nation has learned, or should have learned, an important lesson: Free-dom is worth fighting for, dying for, and standing for — and the advance of freedom leads to peace,” he said soon after Saddam’s regime fell.

However, the Iraq invasion result-ed in a tragedy. Apart from whatever mistakes were made in its aftermath, it was correctly seen as a threat by other regimes in the region, which feared they would be next. Syria and Iran contributed to its failure through the creation of chaos aimed at driving the Americans out of the region. They succeeded, as the US ultimately chose withdrawal and capitulation.

President Barack Obama reversed Bush’s approach. Instead of confron-tation, he chose engagement; and in-stead of regime change, he made deals with both Iran and Syria. Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry both visited Bashar Assad in Damascus while he was send-ing extremists across the border to de-feat the US in Iraq. Obama, in his 2009 Cairo speech, reassured all the dicta-tors of the region that the US would not pursue regime change and that he understood that they have special circumstances. “So let me be clear: No system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other,” he said. “Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way,

grounded in the traditions of its own people. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone.” The result was the US abandoning Iraq, ne-gotiations with Iran over the nuclear deal, and half-hearted support to the revolts in Syria, leading to Obama’s re-traction from his “red lines” — all with catastrophic consequences. Obama also had tense relations with Israel and with traditional Arab allies, who per-ceived the nuclear deal as giving Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a free hand to create havoc in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Ye-men.

Donald Trump was more of a disrup-tor, but he also followed that pattern of reversing most of his predecessor’s policies, including in the Middle East. He challenged the Iran deal and asked for it to be renegotiated, confronted Tehran in Syria and Iraq, and declared the IRGC a terrorist organization and targeted its leadership, culminating in the January 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani. He also pursued a policy of extreme pressure by impos-ing crippling economic sanctions on Iran, the Syrian regime, and the IRGC and its allies. While Obama and Kerry tried to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump addressed it as an Ar-ab-Israeli problem. US-led rapproche-ment between some Gulf states and Israel led to successful “normalization deals” with four Arab countries.

All the indications are that Biden will continue the pendulum swing pattern and reverse Trump’s policies.

All the indications are that Joe Biden will continue the pendulum swing

pattern and reverse Trump’s poli-cies. During his election campaign, he promised to restore the Iran deal and was critical of Trump’s engagement with the Gulf states. He will refocus on the Palestinian-Israeli dimension of that conflict but his policy toward the Assad regime in Syria is, at best, am-biguous.

Is that all there is to it? There is a common thread in the lack of appe-tite for war and the need to pivot out of the region. A pattern of consecutive administrations undoing the work of their predecessor without a clear goal is worrying.

This is a legitimate concern. Domes-

tic politics are certainly important, but the pattern of tit for tat without any ra-tionale or strategy is indeed worrying. This is not the case for other powers competing in the region: China has a worldview based on its Belt and Road Initiative, Russia and Turkey aim to restore past influence, and Iran has a clear strategy of perpetual war against the US and, through its IRGC proxies, collapsing states, building alterna-tive institutions and gaining control. Whether they will succeed or not is be-side the point; in the US, partisan poli-tics will never amount to a national strategy.

Arab News

By Frank KaneWhich should business executives

prioritize when making a strategic de-cision about office location: Potential for doing business or quality of life-

style?It’s a tricky question, because as we

all know a happy and contented ex-ecutive, with a lifestyle that goes with the high-flying status, is going to be

motivated and focused on his or her main task — doing business.

But, especially in the era of coro-navirus disease when lifestyles ev-erywhere have been fundamentally transformed and livelihood has been prioritized over lifestyle, now more than ever it will become essential for executives to make office location a hard-nosed business proposition.

Saudi Arabia knows this very well, which is why it is launching a drive to attract the big-name multinationals to set up their regional headquarters in Riyadh rather than other hubs in the Gulf that project a “lifestyle desti-nation” image.

One effect of the pandemic has been to shorten supply lines and value chains of their businesses, allowing them to get closer to where their end-users are, whether they happen to be direct consumers or value-adders in the manufacturing process.

For the Gulf region, that necessarily involves being closer to Saudi Arabia. The economic and demographic data makes it a no-brainer. The Kingdom’s economy is as big as all the other GCC states combined, while its population is 50 percent larger than the total for the rest of the Gulf countries.

In the world of finance, the rationale is just as compelling. The Tadawul is by far the biggest and most liquid of the region’s stock markets, with the

most advanced products and regula-tory regime in the Middle East, and with the track record of staging the biggest IPO in history under its belt.

The sheer size and scale of Saudi Arabia in comparison to its neighbors is, on its own, a persuasive argument to be closer to the Kingdom.

The transformation underway through the Vision 2030 strategy to re-duce oil dependency amply reinforces the argument. Saudi consumers are spending more, on a wider variety of goods and services, than at any time in their history as a wave of pent-up demand is unleashed.

Riyadh has a solid business case to lure the big global organizations. It ranks number 40 worldwide in terms of population, and 18 in terms of size of metropolitan economy.

This will not be news to anybody who has been to Riyadh, Jeddah or Al-Khobar recently. The retailing, hotel and restaurant facilities are at least as good as anywhere else in the Gulf, as the increasing spend and number of consumers makes clear.

Riyadh, in particular, has a solid busi-ness case to lure the big global organi-zations. It ranks number 40 worldwide in terms of population, and 18 in terms of size of metropolitan economy. The Saudi capital accounts for nearly half of all Saudi non-oil economic activity. It also has a range of new and planned

facilities that will only enhance the case for business efficiency. The city-wide Metro system is on the verge of formal opening, and the King Abdullah Financial District — a financial hub to rival any established center in the re-gion — is open and signing up tenants at an increasing rate.

The Saudi capital already ranks high in global surveys for ease of digital ac-cess, and the needs of business dur-ing the pandemic lockdowns gave this sector a shot in the arm, accelerating the online transformation in a range of government and private-sector ac-tivities.

Meanwhile, for those for whom life-style is a big priority, the Saudi capi-tal is in the midst of a renaissance, as part of the grand project to double its population by the end of the decade. There are green urban projects that will add to the livability of the city as well as music, entertainment, sports activities and festivals to fill the non-working hours.

The attractions of the Kingdom, and the capital in particular, will be show-cased at next week’s Future Invest-ment Initiative gathering, where it is likely several new initiatives will be unveiled to add to the allure.

The business case for Riyadh is al-ready compelling. The lifestyle ratio-nale is catching up fast.

Arab News

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR RIYADH IS A NO-BRAINER

6INTERNATIONAL22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

OWNER PUBLISHER PRINTED BY BUCHI BABU, VUPPALA, PRINTED BY. THANMAYEE PRINTERS #17-1-469/A/42/23, ADARSH NAGAR, SAIDABAD, HYDERABAD-59, PUBLISHED FROM:#17-1-469/OWNER PUBLISHER PRINTED BY BUCHI BABU, VUPPALA, PRINTED BY. THANMAYEE PRINTERS #17-1-469/A/42/23, ADARSH NAGAR, SAIDABAD, HYDERABAD-59, PUBLISHED FROM:#17-1-469/A/42/23,ADARSH NAGAR, NEAR UNIQUE GRAMMER SCHOOL, SAIDABAD, HYDERABAD-59, T.S.EDITOR. BUCHI BABU VUPPALA. RNI.NO.APENG/29225/2009. E-MAIL: THESOUTHINDIATIMES@YAHOO.INA/42/23,ADARSH NAGAR, NEAR UNIQUE GRAMMER SCHOOL, SAIDABAD, HYDERABAD-59, T.S.EDITOR. BUCHI BABU VUPPALA. RNI.NO.APENG/29225/2009. E-MAIL: THESOUTHINDIATIMES@YAHOO.IN

21 killed in Baghdad twin suicide bombings

4 Pakistani soldiers killed in blast

Baghdad, Jan 21 (UNI) At least 21 people were killed and 53 others injured on Thursday in twin suicide bombings at a crowded mar-ket area in Baghdad, accord-ing to Iraqi officials.

A suicide bomber blew up his explosive belt in a crowded market in Bab al-Sharji area, and a second one detonated his a few minutes later in the same market, an

Interior Ministry source told Xinhua news agency.Mean-while, the source added that ambulances and civilian cars have evacuated the wounded to nearby hospitals and med-ical centres.

Islamabad, Jan 21 (UNI) Four Pakistani soldiers were killed and fi ve others injured in an IED blast in Balochistan province, intelligence sources said on Thursday.The inci-dent took place in Sibi district

on Wednesday afternoon.After the explosion, Fron-tier Corps personnel cleared a road for setting up a new checkpost to nab terrorists and monitor vehicles in the blast site, the sources told Xi-nhua news agency.

The injured soldiers were airlifted to the provincial capi-tal of Quetta.

The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the attack, the sources added.

Indonesia earthquake death toll climbs to 91

New York National Guard helicopter crash kills 3

Palestine’s Abbas congratulates Biden

Libyan parties agree to hold constitutional referendum

Daughters to testify in Indian couple’s murder in Dubai

GLOBAL COVID 19 CASES TOP 96.8 MN

Tehran slams ‘hostage-taking’ of Iranian national by US

Syria demands immediate withdrawal of US forces

Pak values relations with EU: FM Qureshi

China sanctions Trump officials after Biden takes office

Jakarta, Jan 21 (UNI) The number of casualties due to the 6.2-magnitude earthquake which struck Indonesia’s West Sulawesi province has in-creased to to 91, the national disaster management agency said on Thursday.

At least 1,172 people suf-fered wounds caused by the natural disaster on January 14, the agency’s spokesman, Rad-itya Jati said, adding that 9,910 people were forced to fl ee their homes due to the earthquake.A disaster emergency response status for 14 days has been de-clared in West Sulawesi since

January 15, reports Xinhua news agency.President Joko Widodo recently visited the affected region to observe the conditions of evacuees and the evacuation process.

The president said that the government buildings col-lapsed by the earthquake will be rebuilt so that public servic-es could resume immediately.

New York, Jan 21 (UNI) A New York Army National Guard helicopter crashed while on a routine training mission, state Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement on Thursday.

“Tonight we are devastated by the crash of a New York Army National Guard heli-copter in the town of Mendon that killed three of New York’s bravest during a training mis-sion,” Xinhua news agency quoted Cuomo as saying in the statement.“I’m directing that fl ags on all State build-ings be lowered to half-staff

tomorrow.“National Guard members are our citizen sol-diers who voluntarily serve and protect both here and aboard, and I extend prayers and condolences from all New Yorkers to the family, loved ones and fellow soldiers of these honourable heroes who we will never forget,” the Mayor added.

Dubai, Jan 21 (UNI) Two daughters of an Indian couple who were murdered inside their home in Dubai, will testify at a court next month, the media reported.The two sisters, aged 18 and 13, will testify before the Dubai Courts on February 10, along with a friend of the slain couple, Gulf News said in a re-port on Wednesday.Hiren Ad-

hiya, 48 and his wife Vidhi, 40, were murdered inside their villa at the Arabian Ranches on June 17, 2020, by a 26-year-old Paki-stani worker.According to offi -cial records, the defendant, who had carried out some mainte-nance jobs at the villa a year be-fore the murder, had been stalk-ing the family for some time after he saw a lot of loose cash in the house.

The worker stabbed the hus-band 10 times and the wife 14 times. Both died of their in-juries. The accused admitted during the interrogation that he planned to rob the couple and bought a knife from a su-permarket in Sharjah.He also stabbed the 18-year-old elder daughter as he tried to escape.

Islamabad, Jan 21 (UNI) Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Islamabad greatly valued its relations with the European Union (EU), which are based on shared values and com-mon objectives of peace, pros-perity and development.The Pakistan-EU relationship has strengthened steadily over the

years and is pursued through sound institutional mecha-nisms and dialogue processes, Qureshi said on Wednesday while hosting a working lun-cheon for the bloc’s ambassa-dors to the country.In a state-ment, the Foreign Ministry said that Qureshi highlighted the importance of economic and cultural diplomacy and

called for deeper engagement between the two sides in these

spheres, the statement added.Talking about the anti-Covid measures adopted by the Pak-istani government, Qureshi said that the smart lockdown strategy to save lives and se-cure livelihoods has turned out to be successful and also led to an increase in economic activity in the country includ-ing exports.The global com-

munity must come together to combat the virus and should realize that nobody is safe till everyone is safe, the state-ment quoted Qureshi as say-ing. During the meeting, the ambassadors underscored the importance of closer engage-ment on EU-Pakistan rela-tions and regional and inter-national issues.

Tehran, Jan 21 (UNI) The Tehran government has slammed the “blatant hostage-taking of Ira-nian national” by the US government for allegedly acting as an unregistered “foreign agent”.

The remark was made by Foreign Min-istry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh to a media outlet on Wednesday when asked about the arrest of Iranian uni-

versity professor Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi in the US, reports Xinhua news agency.“Unfortunately, the US is addicted to this

kind of actions and they take hostages under any pretext,” the spokesman said.Iran’s government, he further noted, hopes the new US administration will move away from such an approach, that Khatibza-deh linked to former Presi-dent Donald Trump.Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, he went on to say, is a well-known university professor who has been arrested on “un-realistic charges”.

Damascus, Jan 21 (UNI) The Syrian government has demanded the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of US forces from the war-torn country due to their “hostile practices”.In a statement issued on Wednesday the For-eign Ministry condemned what it called the “hostile practices” of the US forces in northeastern Syria, reports Xinhua news agency.It accused the US forces of “sys-tematic theft” of oil and agricul-ture resources in northern Syrian in addition to bringing in military

reinforcement to that part of the country.The former administra-tion of President Donald Trump has destabilised the region and supported separatist movements in a bid to divide Syria and pre-vent reaching a political solution through supporting the “terror-ist groups”, the Ministry claimed.The Ministry, meanwhile, called on the international community to condemn the US moves and occu-pation of Syrian territories and de-nounce the “coercive and unilat-eral” sanctions imposed on Syria.

Beijing, Jan 21 (UNI) A Chi-nese Foreign Ministry spokes-person announced on Thurs-day that the government has decided to impose sanctions against former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other high-ranking offi cials of the Trump administration, ac-

cusing them of “prejudice and hatred” against Beijing.The announcement came a day after Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the US on Wednesday. Former Presi-dent Donald Trump did not attend the ceremony.Besides Pompeo, the other individu-

als include Peter Navarro (in-cumbent Director of the Offi ce of Trade and Manufacturing Policy), Robert O’Brien (former National Security Adviser), Da-vid R. Stilwell (former Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacifi c Affairs), Mat-thew Pottinger (former Deputy

National Security Advisor), Alex Azar (former Secretary of Health and Human Services), Keith J. Krach (incumbent Un-der Secretary of State for Eco-nomic Growth, Energy, and the Environment), and Kelly Craft (former Ambassador to the UN), John Bolton (former

National Security Advisor) and Stephen K. Bannon (former White House Chief Strategist), Xinhua news agency reported. The spokesperson said that these individuals “have been mainly responsible for a series of crazy US moves on China-related issues”.

EU officials express readiness to work with Biden admin

Biden’s 1st foreign leader call to be with Trudeau

Brussels, Jan 21 (UNI) Top officials of the Eu-ropean Union (EU) wel-comes the inaugura-tion of Joe Biden as the new US President and expressing their readi-ness to mend the broken partnership and lay-

ing out expectations for renewed transatlantic cooperation."Today is a very special day. I am ready to present to Presi-dent Joe Biden our pro-posals for a new transat-lantic agenda," European Commission President

Ursula von der Leyen on Twitter on Wednesday.

She posted a video, in which she addressed the European Parliament early on Wednesday, saying that "there is no greater need for global cooperation in the short term than in tackling the pandemic, which has been so devastating on both sides of the Atlan-tic", Xinhua news agency reported.Von der Leyen said she was delighted to know that "on day one, as they announced, the new American administration, the United States, will re-join the Paris Agreement" on climate change.

Washington, Jan 21 (UNI) In a fi rst phone call with a foreign leader since his inauguration as the 46th President of the US, Joe Biden will speak to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, ac-cording to the White House.

Addressing reporters on Wednesday shortly after Biden and Vice President Kamala Har-ris’ inauguration, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters:“I expect they will certainly discuss the im-portant relationship with Canada

as well as (Biden’s) decision on the Keystone pipeline that he an-nounced today.”

The call will take place two days after Biden signed an executive order to revoke the existing presi-dential permit for the controver-sial Keystone XL pipeline project, which would carry oil from Cana-da to the American Gulf Coast.

In response, Prime Minister Trudeau said that “we are dis-appointed but acknowledge the President’s decision to fulfi l his election campaign promise on Keystone XL”, but “I look forward to working with President Biden to reduce pollution, combat climate change, fi ght Covid-19, create middle class jobs, and build back better by supporting a sustainable economic recovery for everyone”.

Ramallah, Jan 21 (UNI) Pal-estinian President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Joe Biden for his inauguration as the new President of the US and Kamala Harris as the Vice President.On

Wednesday, Abbas expressed his "deep wishes for President Biden and Vice President Harris to succeed in confronting the big challenges", Xinhua news agency quoted state media re-ports as saying.

"We look forward to work-ing together for peace and stability in the region and the world," the President said, add-ing that he expressed his readi-ness for launching a just and comprehensive peace process.Meanwhile, the Islamic Hamas movement said that Biden must correct the historical path of the wrong and unfair policies to-wards the Palestinian people.

Washington, Jan 21 (UNI) The total number of glob-al coronavirus cases has topped 96.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 2.07 million, ac-cording to the Johns Hop-kins University.

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University’s Center for Sys-tems Science and Engineer-ing (CSSE) revealed that the current global casel-oad and death toll stood at 96,823,968 and 2,073,866, respectively.

The US is the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 24,432,807 and

406,001, respectively, ac-cording to the CSSE.India comes in second place in terms of cases at 10,595,660, while the country’s death toll soared to 152,718.

The other countries with more than a mil-lion confirmed cases are Brazil (8,638,249), Russia (3,595,136), the UK (3,515,796), France (3,023,661), Italy (2,414,166), Spain (2,412,318), Turkey (2,406,216), Germany (2,090,195), Colombia (1,956,979), Argen-tina (1,831,681), Mexico (1,688,944), Poland (1,450,747), South Africa

(1,369,426), Iran (1,348,316), Ukraine (1,210,854) and Peru (1,073,214), the CSSE figures showed.Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 212,831.The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (144,371), the UK (93,469), Italy (83,681), France (71,792), Russia (66,214), Iran (57,057), Spain (54,637), Colombia (49,792), Germany (49,499), Argen-tina (46,216), Peru (39,044), South Africa (38,854), Poland (34,141), Indonesia (26,857), Turkey (24,487), Ukraine (22,264) and Bel-gium (20,554).

Tripoli, Jan 21 (UNI) The Constitutional Committee comprising Libya's eastern-based House of Representa-tives and the Tripoli-based High Council of State have agreed to hold a constitutional referendum ahead of the elec-

tions later this year, according to the UN.On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Constitution-al Committee held a meeting in the Egyptian city of Hurgha-da, and "agreed on holding a constitutional referendum be-fore the general elections on

December 24", Xinhua news agency quoted the UN Sup-port Mission in Libya (UN-SMIL) as saying on Wednes-day.The UN body said that the members of the two councils have agreed to resume their discussions in Hurghada from

February 9-11, and to invite the High National Elections Commission to participate in the discussion on the imple-mentation of the referendum.

During the Libyan Politi-cal Dialogue Forum held in November 2020 in Tunisia, 75

Libyans representing the social and political spectrum of Libya discussed a political road-map to achieve lasting peace in the war-torn country and agreed to hold general elec-tions on December 24, 2021.Libya plunged into chaos after

7SPORTS22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

London, Jan 21 (UNI) England on Thursday announced its squad for the first and second Tests of their upcoming five-match series in India. Fast bowler Jofra Archer and all-rounder Ben Stokes, who were rested for England's tour of Sri Lanka, have both been included in the squad.

Opener Rory Burns, who had missed the Sri Lanka series for the birth of his first child, also returns to the squad. Batsman Ollie Pope is recovering from a shoulder injury sustained in September during a Test series against Pakistan, will travel to India and will be added to the squad when passed fit. Wicketkeeper batsman Jonny Bairstow, all-rounder Sam Curran and fast bowler Mark Wood have been rested for the first two Tests.

"This is consistent with the

selection policy of finding a block of rest for all multi-format players at some point during post-Christmas winter schedule," said the England and Wales Cricket Board.

James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson and Amar Virdi have been announced as reserves. The first Test will be played from February 5 to 9 while the second is scheduled to be held from February 13 to 17. Both matches will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. England squad for first two Tests: Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

Archer, Stokes return to England squad for first 2 Tests vs India

ArrayVasco (Goa), Jan 21 (UNI) East Bengal being in contention for a playoff spot in the 2020/21 Indian Super League (ISL) seemed improbable in the first half of the season but they are now just one win away from getting into the top four. However, they face an uphill struggle in getting that win as they face table-toppers Mumbai City on Friday at the Tilak Maidan Stadium. East Bengal have turned around their fortunes in remarkable fashion and are currently on a seven-game unbeaten run. However, MCFC will

present a much tougher challenge than the ones they encountered in the last match. While the arrival of Bright Enobakhare has given them a trump

card in attack, SCEB do have defensive issues. No team has conceded as many goals as them in the second half (13) and only one has conceded more in

the last fifteen minutes of the match (5). They will, however, be buoyed by the form that goalkeeper Debjit Majumder has been displaying. "Mumbai are a good side and they have been doing really well," said East Bengal assistant coach Renedy Singh. "But I feel we have to consider our own style, how we've played in the last seven matches. I think the boys have worked really hard. It is a process that we have to continue. We will work on our own side while giving respect to them."If East Bengal is prone to

conceding in the second half, Sergio Lobera's Mumbai specialise in scoring in the first. No team has netted more in the first half than the ten that Mumbai have managed. They are also now unbeaten in ten games. Three more and Mumbai will set a league record for the longest unbeaten streak in ISL history. "The most important thing is to win a trophy," said Lobera. "Obviously, it is a consequence to do a lot of things well. If during the way, we have very good numbers.

New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) Ravi Shastri's tours of Australia have been eventful. Over the last 35 years, the former India captain and current India head coach has earned accolades like Champion of Champions for being man of the series in the World Series Cup in 1985, got brickbats for his slow batting in the 1992 World Cup and then returned in 2018-19 and 2020-21 as coach to guide India to unprecedented Test series wins in the country.

His appointment in 2017 after an acrimonious fallout between India skipper Virat Kohli and the then coach Anil Kumble after the 2017 Champions Trophy attracted criticism. There were talks that he got the job because of his proximity to Kohli.

Shastri's stint as team director between 2014 and 2016 had been deemed poor. He had presided over an India team that lost Test and ODI series in Australia. Even

though India had won home Tests against South Africa in 2015, the victories came on poor, unsporting wickets that saw the ball turn square right from the start. No wonder Kumble was picked as coach in 2016. But the fallout with Kohli saw the former leg-spinner get no extension.

Shastri began his two-year stint as coach in 2017 with losses in South Africa and England but just as the axe was about to fall on him and it appeared that his tenure

won't extend beyond mid-2019, he guided India to their first ever Test series win in Australia. A semi-final finish at the World Cup in the 2019 English summer, even though India were favourites to make the final, ensured him another two-year tenure.

There wasn't much he achieved in the first one-and-a-half years of his second stint, as part of it was hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic. But prior to the pandemic, he saw India get crushed 2-0 in a Test

series in New Zealand.Once again the tour of

Australia came to the rescue. The 2-1 series win without the top stars, including regular skipper Virat Kohli, proved that winning in Australia wasn't about the top players as much as the fighting spirit and the experience in Australia the coach was inculcating. Those early tours of Australia were coming in handy as much as his skills of motivating the players, giving them freedom to enjoy. Players consider him less of a headmaster, more of a friend. India stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who led India to wins in two of the three Tests acknowledged Shastri's contribution. "His contribution has been of utmost importance. Especially the way he handled and supported everyone not only in this series but in 2018-19, when we won the series here. The way he backed the players, I personally learned a lot from him. He himself was

an India captain... the way he backed the team, my job became easier," said Rahane after the fourth and final Test.

Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar, who has played a lot with Shastri, believes the India coach's biggest quality is that he knows how to motivate the players.

"The biggest quality of Shastri is that he is always motivating the players. At this level, every cricketer has skills. It is how you prepare players mentally and make them feel positive is what makes the difference. He motivates players, keeps them mentally positive," Vengsarkar told . Asked if his experience in Australia would have come handy, Vengsarkar said, "Obviously. Goes without saying. He has been to Australia many times. It obviously helps." Shastri agrees. He says the job of a coach is to prepare the players mentally and build the mindset.

Resurgent East Bengal face flying Mumbai City

Mumbai, Jan 21 (UNI) Ajinkya Rahane, who cap-tained India to a memo-rable Test series win in Australia, received a red carpet welcome when he arrived at his Matunga residence here on Thurs-day while pace bowler T Natarajan was taken on a chariot on arrival in his village in Salem district of Tamil Nadu. Rahane held his little daughter Aarya and walked slowly on the long carpet laid out by the members of the society

where he lives while a life-size poster of the batsman was pasted on one of the pillars, along with words

"Congrats to Our Persis-tent Pillar" written on top of it. A large number of his society members gath-

ered near Rahane's home as people showered rose petals on him while dhol and trumpets played con-stantly. Chants of 'aala re aala Ajinkya aala' (here comes our Ajinkya) could be heard.

Rahane's wife Radhika Dhopavkar also walked on the red carpet. Besides Rah-ane, head coach Ravi Shas-tri, batsman Rohit Sharma, pacer Shardul Thakur, and opener Prithvi Shaw reached Mumbai while fourth Test hero Rishabh

Pant landed in New Delhi early n Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, speedster Mohammed Siraj, who bagged a five-wicket haul in the second innings of the fourth Test that India won by three wickets, reached his home town Hyderabad, and visited the graveyard where his father is buried. His father passed away while Siraj was in Austra-lia, and declined the team offer to visit Hyderabad to be with his family after his father's death.

Rahane receives red-carpet welcome, Natarajan taken on a chariot

Coach Shastri's success mantra: Perform in Australia, get rewarded

, Jan 21 (UNI) Reigning badminton world champi-on PV Sindhu on Thursday entered the quarter-finals of the Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 tourna-ment with a straight-game win over Malaysia's Kisona Selvaduray.

Sindhu beat Selvaduray 21-10, 21-12 in a match that lasted 35 minutes. The Olympic silver medal-list now faces either Thai fourth-seed Ratchanok Intanon, who beat former world no.1 Saina Nehwal in the first round, or South

Korea's Hyung Ji Sung.Earlier, men's doubles

pair Satwiksairaj Rankired-dy and Chirag Shetty pro-gressed to the quarter-finals with a 21-18, 23-21 win over South Korean sev-enth seeded pair Sol Gyu Choi and Seung Jae Seo.

Sameer Verma on Thurs-day continued his stellar run as he eased past Den-mark's Rasmus Gemke in straight games to enter the quarter-finals of the men's singles event. However, there was disappointment for HS Prannoy who fell to

Malaysia's Liew Daren.Verma defeated Gemke

21-12, 21-9 in the second-round contest that lasted for almost 40 minutes. He led the match from the start and took the opening game in less than 20 minutes. Having beaten the eighth seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the opening round, the world number 31 took his game a notch higher as he won the second game 21-9 to march into the last eight. Verma will now face world three Anders Antonsen for a place in the semi-finals.

Prannoy, on the other hand, suffered a 17-21, 18-21 defeat against Daren in his second-round match which stretched to 40 min-utes. In mixed doubles event, the Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa secured their berth into the quarter-finals after beating Germany's Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Hert-trich in their second round contest. Satwiksairaj and Ashwini defeated their German opponents 22-20, 14-21, 21-16 in a match that lasted for 56 minutes.

Thailand Open: Sindhu through to quarter-finals KSLTA announces 'Tattvam Junior Tour'Bengaluru, Jan 21 (UNI) The Karnataka

State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) has signed up with real estate entity - 'Tattvam Sustainable Life Spaces' for a monthly event for junior players across the age groups of 12, 14 and 16. Aimed at talent identification, the players will now have a chance to compete in the AITA ranking tournaments every month this year in the 'Tattvam Junior Tour'. Around 100 participants are expected to play in each of these events, especially designed for the players from the south zone. The first event on the Tattvam Junior Tour begins with the AITA U-12 Talent series at the KSLTA from January 25. As many as 75 players from Kar-nataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have registered for the event.

8ENTERTAINMENRT22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESActress Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday tweeted that her Twit-ter account has been restricted temporarily. This comes after she made controversial remarks about "Tandav" creators through a post. In the now-deleted tweet, Kangana had said that it was "time to take

their heads off", for allegedly insult-ing Hindu gods in the web series. Now, the actress has slammed the "liberal community" who reported her account to Twitter, going on to call Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey "cha-cha". "Librus cried to their chacha @jack and got my account tempo-

rarily restricted," she wrote. She continued: "They are threatening me mera account/virtual identity kabhi bhi desh keliye shaheed ho sakti hai,magar my reloaded desh bhakt version will reappear through my movies.Tumhara jeena dush-war karke rahungi.(They are threat-

ening me that my account and my virtual identity might get martyred for the country anytime. But my re-loaded patriotic spirit will reappear through my movies. I will make your life miserable." "Tandav" has come under fi re with several people alleging that it provokes communal

disharmony and hurts the senti-ments of the Hindus. According to the complaints, a scene featuring Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub performing a college play insults the Hindu deity Shiv. Show creator Ali Abbas Zafar has apologised on behalf of the en-tire cast and crew.

Kangana Ranaut's Twitter account restricted temporarily

SARA ALI KHAN SHARES PIC OF 'SANDY TOES,

SUNKISSED NOSE' FROM MALDIVES

After the pandemic crisis of COVID-19, Bollywood and other entertain-

ment industries are returning to normalcy as the theatres have geared up for the release of some biggies in the upcom-ing days.While fi lms like Soory-avanshi, '83, Radhe and others

are in the pipeline for the the-atrical releases, reputed YRF banner is reportedly working in a swift way to prepare spe-cial showreel, where they will announce Shah Rukh Khan's Pathan, Salman Khan's Tiger 3 and their 50-year slate.As per the PinkVilla report, a source

said, “A special show reel is be-ing prepared for the big screen to celebrate the YRF fi lms till date, and in the same show reel, announce their slate of upcom-ing fi lms, which includes fi lms with Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepi-ka Padukone, John Abraham, Ajay Devgn, and Vicky Kaushal among others.

It will be a grand video cel-ebrating cinema, and some visu-als from these forthcoming fi lms are also expected.”

The source added, “Apart from announcement of fresh fi lms, one can expect an update on the existing fi lms like Prithviraj, Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Sham-shera in the same show reel.”

While Pathan and Vijay Krish-na Acharya's next are already on the fl oors, Salman Khan's Tiger 3 is soon expect to start its fi lm-ing. As per the Mid-day report, a source earlier said, "If everything goes as planned, Maneesh Shar-ma and his team will conduct a recce across the UAE, Istanbul and the US in December.

HRITHIK ROSHAN SINGS 'SENORITA' ALONG WITH FANS; CHECK OUT THIS TWITTER BANTER!

PATHAN AND TIGER UPDATES : YRF to soon announce the release dates

of the Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan starrers?

They say behind every successful man, there is a strong woman, and

we write this in the most gen-der-equal way conceivable.

Lovestruck Rahul Vaidya certainly agrees with the sen-timent as he gushes about his upcoming wedding plans with Disha Parmar.Audienc-es were left teary eyed when he won her over with a heart-warming proposal that aired

on national television! In this Bigg Boss14 Extra Masala clip on Voot, we see him discuss-ing his plans for the wedding and expressing his gratitude to have found his perfect match.In a candid conversa-tion with Sonali Phogat and Eijaz Khan, Rahul reveals, “Mera confi rmed hai! jitna waqt lagega preparation ke liye, shaadi ek baar hoti hai.

Waise logon ki kai baar hoti

hai, par umeed hoti hai ki ek baar ho. Choti choti baat, card design se, woh lehenga joh pehnegi, kisko bulana hai, ek ek detail. Shaadi mein chahta hoon ki jinse dil ka rishta ho, vahi log aaye. Baki ek reception kar lenge phuri duniya ke liye, par shaadi mein joh kareeb log hai na, 50-100, bas vahi. Mum-my bol ke gayi, ki tayariyaan chal rahi hai,ab woh kya chal rahi hai boli nahi.”Adding further,

he states how blessed he feels, saying, “Main bohot kismat vala samjhta hoon apne aap ko, ki mujhe woh mili. Shaadi ya toh aapko banati hai, yah bigad deti hai. Mujhe umeed hai, vishvas hai ki yeh banayegi mujhe. Ek ladki ka aana ek mard ki liye bohot shubh ho jaata hai. Kehte hai na, barkat aa jati hai.”We’re beyond excited to see how this holy union comes together in matrimony.Meanwhile, earlier,

in the show, the singer confessed his feelings for her but also pro-posed her for marriage on na-tional television.

Although she has been tight-lipped, Disha still keeps sharing some cute posts on her social media account that indicates otherwise.Bigg Boss 14 contes-tant Rahul Vaidya’s ladylove Dis-ha Parmar shared some pictures and said that her friends think she looks like Katrina Kaif.

BIGG BOSS : RAHUL VAIDYA GUSHES ABOUT HIS WOULD BE BRIDE, DISHA PARMAR; SAYS, 'MAIN BOHOT KISMAT VALA HOON KI MUJHE WOH MILI'

Sara Ali Khan is cur-rently holiday-

ing in Maldives, and she has shared a picture on Instagram from the trip with fans."Sandy Toes and Sunkissed Nose," she wrote as caption with the image, where she is seen sitting on a pavement with her feat on the sand. The ocean can be seen in the backdrop.

One of India's most loved and successful superstar, Hrithik

Roshan has given out a lot of memorable performances throughout the span of his career.One of his perfor-mances that can be counted as evergreen, will be his character of 'Kabir' in the movie, 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'.

Recently, the actor responded to an ongoing twitter thread, and with his fans, sang along the most loved song, 'Senorita' of the movie. Replying to his fans, and continuing the song, Hrithik writes, " Jo bhi pal beeta Hey senorita Har pal tumne hai dil jeeta Bas itni si toh baat hai "Jo bhi pal beetaHey senorita

Har pal tumne hai dil jeetaBas itni si toh baat hai

— Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) January 19, 2021

This fun banter be-tween Hrithik and his fans, certainly broke the internet and made us all back to the

times of ZNMD.On the work front, Hrithik

recently aannounced his next fi lm 'Fighter', alongside Deepika Padukone, which will be helmed by Siddharth Anand.

While Shah Rukh Khan's Pathan is directed by War helmer Siddharth Anand, Salman Khan's Tiger will be directed by Fan helmer Maneesh Sharma.

Lovestruck Rahul Vaidya has gushed about his upcoming marriage plans with Disha Parmar in this Bigg Boss Extra Masala clip, where we see him discussing his plans for the wedding and expressing his gratitude to have found his perfect match

POOJA HEGDE ON THE SUCCESS OF ALA VAIKUNTHAPURRAMULOO: ITS CROSSED

BARRIERS, BOUNDARIES!

VARUN DHAWAN'S WARDROBE FOR JAN WEDDING DESIGNED BY KUNAL RAWAL?

RAGHAV JUYAL TO HOST 'DANCE DEEWANE '

KANGANA RANAUT'S TWITTER ACCOUNT RESTRICTED TEMPORARILY

Pooja Hegde and Allu Arjun

starrer Ala Vaikunthapur-ramuloo completed one year since its release recent-ly and the team of the fi lm reunited to celebrate the success of the blockbuster.

Pooja Hegde had something special to say about her fi lm being a hit across the coun-try as she said at the reunion, “This fi lm has just been such a success not only in Telugu but I think across states, its crossed barriers, boundar-ies and proved that subtitles is just like nothing, you can enjoy a fi lm even by reading subtitles.”Ala Vaikunthapur-ramuloo also came on an OTT platform with subtitles for the world to watch this super loved fi lm and the talented actress pointed that out rightly. Its

songs like Butta Bomma went viral too as the world was seen grooving to it and recreating the steps including the famous Australian cricketer, David Warner.Pooja Hegde has lots lined up on the work front

with fi lms like Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali with Salman Khan, Ro-hit Shetty’s Cirkus opposite Ranveer Singh, Pan-India fi lm Radheshyam with Prabhas as well as Most Eligible Bachelor alongside Akhil Akkineni.

Raghav Juyal is all set to host the third season of Dance Deewane. He says to be a

part of a show, where Madhuri Dixit will be presiding as judge, is a remarkable moment for him.The third season is judged by Madhuri Dixit Nene, Dharmesh Yelande and Tushar Kalia."I am quite thrilled and excited to be a part of Dance Deewane. Mad-

huri Dixit is a legend, and to host a show where she will be presiding as a judge is a remark-able moment for me!However, I am fortunate to have a friend in Dharmesh, who is one of the judges in the show.We are both like Jai and Veeru, in a way!" said Raghav.Raghav says being a dancer, he understands the passion of the conttestants on

the show."I know the thirst that contestants have to prove them-selves.It's a beautiful thing when you see dancers lose themself in the moment and come up with a spectacular performance. I will make sure that I encourage new talent and be more like a friend to them rather than a ‘host!' This is the start of a wonderful journey and I can't wait for it to begin.

Speculations have been fl ying left, right and centre about GenNow Bollywood

star Varun Dhawan's rumoured upcoming wedding with child-hood sweetheart Natasha Dalal.

Amid whispers that the wed-ding could take place on January 24 in Alibagh, it has now come to light that designer Kunal Rawal might style the actor's wedding wardrobe.

While Rawal designs the groom's attire, designer Manish Malhotra is apparently the man behind the Dhawan family's look for the function.

A source said: "The guests will start leaving for Alibaugh in a

day or two. The accommoda-tion for guests has being done in villas. Kunal Rawal is doing Varun's clothes while Manish Malhotra is designing Dhawan family's look."

According to sources around 200 to 250 guests have been invited at the wedding, although the number would seem dubi-ous in the time of Covid restric-tions.

Unconfi rmed reports doing the rounds of media have said that the wedding will be a three-day affair, from January 22 to 24, and will be conducted as per Hindi rituals.

Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday tweeted that her Twitter ac-

count has been restricted temporarily.

This comes after she made controversial re-marks about "Tandav" cre-ators through a post. In the now-deleted tweet, Kanga-na had said that it was "time to take their heads off", for alleg-edly insulting Hin-du gods in the web

series.Now, the actress has slammed the "lib-

eral community" who reported her account

to Twitter, going on to call Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey "chacha"."Librus cried to their cha-cha @jack and

got my account temporarily re-

stricted," she wrote. She continued:

"They are threat-

ening me mera account/virtual identity kabhi bhi desh keliye shaheed ho sakti hai,magar my re-loaded desh bhakt version will reappear through my movies.Tumhara jeena dushwar karke rahungi.(They are threatening me that my account and my virtual identity might get martyred for the country anytime.But my reloaded patriotic spirit will reap-pear through my movies.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESGreater HyderabadGreater Hyderabad

22 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021 PAGES-8

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

DR SRINIVAS VOORADI

Hyderabad, January 21: “The government has sanctioned Sri Sitarama Lift Irrigation Scheme for Khammam dis-trict, which lies between the Godavari and Krishna Riv-ers, to make it fertile. Water is available adequately through-out the year at Dummugudem

point on Godavari River. Water can be supplied to the entire Khammam district from this point. Supply water by lifting it from Dummugudem by lifts and canals to Satthupalli, Yel-landu and Palair Reservoirs. Complete the survey for the remaining works on Canals go-ing to Sathupalli and Yellendu and invite Tenders. Construct

Aqueducts on Munneru and Akeru streams. Complete the canal works until the Palair Reservoir by June. We have no idea when water will be avail-able in the Krishna River. There is uncertainty on this. If we don’t get any water from the Krishna, make arrange-ments to supply water from the Godavari River,” the CM said.

CM KCR directs irrigation authorities to expedite Sitarama lift irrigation project works

Holding a review meeting at Pra-gati Bhavan on progress of works on the Sitarama Project here on Thursday, Chief Minister K Chan-drashekhar has instructed the officials concerned to expedite works on Sitarama Project, which would turn the combined Kham-mam district fertile. The project should be treated and viewed as an important project as it would create a new Ayacut and with Nagarjuna Sagar Ayacut included, it provides water to 10 Lakh acres. Ministers Puvvada Ajay Kumar, Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Water Resources Principal Secretary Rajat Kumar, Principal Secretary (Finance) Ramakrishna Rao, CM Secretary Smita Sabharwal, En-gineers-in-Chief Muralidhar Rao, Hareram, CEs Venkata Krishna, Sankar Naik, Madhusudhan Rao, SE Srinivas Reddy, MLAs Kandala Upender Reddy, Hari Priya, San-dra Venkata Veeraiah and others participated.

Protests by farmers mar public hearing for NIMZ project in

TelanganaHyderabad, Jan 21 (UNI) Protests during the public hearing on land acquisition for the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) near Zaheerabad in Telangana's Sangareddy district on Wednesday brought focus on the controversy surrounding the upcoming project. Tension pre-vailed at Bardipur village when farmers and other villagers were arrested by the police when they staged protests during the pub-lic hearing. District authorities had organised the meeting with farmers and other residents of 17 villages in Nyalkal and Jha-rasangham mandals where the NIMZ is proposed to be set up. However, farmers opposing the project alleged that they were not allowed to participate in the meeting. Police had set up five check posts on the roads lead-ing to the venue. Protestors were stopped when tried to march to-wards the venue. Farmers alleged only those who are in support of the NIMZ were allowed to attend the public hearing. When District Collector Hanumantha Rao was addressing the meeting, some of the participants interrupted him and started raising slogans against the government. Police took the protestors into custody. The Collector told the partici-pants that the project will ensure speedy development of the dis-trict and assured them that only non-polluting industrial units will be allowed in the NIMZ. However, there were chaos out-side the venue as police used mild force to stop the protestors and arrest them. "They are call-ing it public hearing but not al-lowing public to attend it," said a protestor. Another farmer squat-ting on the ground was seen wailing over losing his land.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mulugu Jan 21: “State gov-ernment has made all the ar-rangements to conduct classes of the Central Tribal Universi-ty at Youth Training Centre in Jakaram near Mulugu. But the Modi government is treating the State in a step motherly attitude with regard to set-ting up of the Central Tribal University,” said Minister for Tribal Welfare Satyavathi Rathod. Minister Satyavathi Rathod visited the proposed land at Jakaram along with District Collector S Krishna Aditya and other officials and discussed the issues related to allotment of the forest land and payment of the compen-

sation to the landowners. Later speaking to the media persons, Minister Satyavathi said that classes in Central Tribal University in Andhra Pradesh were underway since 2019 though the AP govern-ment had neither allotted the land nor provided a complete

building for the varsity. Recalling the promise by

the Central government, she said that Speaking to the media men after Centre had promised to establish a central tribal university in the state as per the AP Reorganisation Act and added that despite the

allotment of 115 acres of as-signed land, 50 acres of forest land and 169 acres of govern-ment land for setting up the varsity besides a deposit of Rs 15 crore in the account of the ITDA PO to address the is-sues of people of the assigned lands, Central government

was yet to sanction the univer-sity. Demanding the Centre to start the university at the earli-est, the Minister said that they would raise the issue on the floor of the House of the Par-liament. She assured that the owners whoever gave land to the university would be taken care of. Later the Min-ister performed puja at Ghat-tamma temple. MLA Dhana-sari Anasuya, ZP Chairman Kusuma Jagadeesh, ZPTC Bhavani, MPP Sridevi, ITDA PO Hanmant K.Zendage, Addl. Collector (LB) Adarsh Surabhi, ZP CEO Prasoona Rani, RDO Rama Devi, DRDO Parijatham and other officials were present.

Minister Satyavathi flays Centre for not starting classes of Central Tribal University in Mulugu

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 2222 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

DR SRINIVAS VOORADI

Peddapalli, January 21: Se-nior officials from the Fac-tories Department, Govt of Telangana visited NTPC-Ramagundam on Thursday as part of statutory inspec-tion. Joint Chief Inspector of Factories of Hyderabad Y. Mohan Babu along with Dy Inspector of Factories of Karimnagar Y Gangadhar Reddy visited prominent locations like Coal Han-dling Plant including Coal Stock Yard, Stage-II CW Chlorination Plant, Unit 7 Control Room, Industrial Canteen and Hospital and inspected the safety pre-paredness. During the visit, Mohan Babu inaugurated Workers’ Rest Room at Stage-II Ash Slurry Pump

House in the presence of Y Gangadhar Reddy and Chief General Manager Sunil Kumar. Later, they joined the Safety Com-mittee Meeting at O&M Conference Hall besides interaction with the Chief General Manager (Rama-gundam & Telangana) as well as HoDs at Admin-istrative Building. Office

Bearers of Unions and As-sociations also participated in the meeting. Speaking on the occasion, Mohan Babu appreciated NTPC-Ramagundam for imple-menting best safety prac-tices, following systems at the workplace and con-ducting regular training and pep talks for employ-ees and agency workers.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES CRIME REPORTER

Serilingampalli Crime Reporter Jan 21 Cyber Crime Police officials of Cyberabad arrested interstate “5 members of Gang of Mira Road” for committing SIM SWAP fraud. Since 2011, cybercrime fraudsters have adopted this technique of SIM swap to get access to the net banking of their targets and siphon off the funds from the accounts. The main fraudster operating from abroad is a Nigerian. Brief Facts of the case On 29-06-2020 received a specific complaint in which he stated that on 21st June he has taken a new SIM card with the same number and observed that the newly activated SIM is just working for outgoing calls and he is not receiving any incoming calls. He contacted JIO customer care and complained about the same issue. They resolved his issue. Later, he tried to login into his Internet banking account of Kotak Mahindra Bank on his mobile and got to know that some unknown persons changed his Internet Banking Login and Password. By using Debit card credentials, he changed the password of internet banking and tried to make a transaction. But the complainant observed that the balance amount in his account is zero. The next day he visited the bank and found that some unknown persons made (3) Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)

transactions from his account Rs.4,25,000/- and siphoned off Rs.4,25,000/- from his account by Swapping his SIM Card without his knowledge. Basing on the complaint a case is registered with Cr.no:584/2020 in Cyber Crime PS and investigated into. On 29-10-2020 received a specific complaint In which he stated that he is a user of the complainant has Jio SIM Card No. 98XXXXXXX8. On 25-10-2020 he received a message

from JA-JIOSVC and the content of the message is received SIM card /e sim replacement request from JIO number 984 XXXXXXX reference Number CO00008M0TXT your new JIO Sim/E sim will be ready for use within 4 working hours. To manage your account with the My JIO app, click www.jio.com/getmyjio. On 28-10-2020 he received another message on the same day that the Alternate contact number for Jio

number 98XXXXXXX8 changed to 720 XXXXXXX and as per request new Jio SIM/E sim will be ready for use within 4 working hours. To manage your account with the My JIO app, click www.jio.com/GetMyjio. After that complainant, JIO SIM card 98XXXXXXX8 was blocked. He went to Jio Store and asked about Sim blockage and for a new SIM card but due to the non-availability of SIM cards he could not take a new SIM card on that day. After that on 28-10-2020 received messages for a debit of Rs.6,75,000/-in (02) transactions from his Bank of India Account No. 86403011XXXXXXX and realized that it is fraud and requested for taking legal action. Basing on the complaint a case is registered with Cr.no:1021/2020 in Cyber Crime PS and investigated into. Modus Operandi the accused James(A-1) is the mastermind behind this crime. He is operating from Nigeria and targets the company/firm e-mail ids in India and hacks them by sending phishing emails in the name of Income Tax. Through phishing emails, he is collecting the credentials of internet banking and registered mobile number. He is sharing the credentials of bank accounts i.e., details of company name/account holder, address, and registered mobile number with Chandrakant Siddhant Kamble (A-2). According to

the instructions given by James(A-1) from Nigeria, Chandrakant Siddhant Kamble (A-2) is collecting the registered mobile number details linked to the bank account through his sources at mobile telecom stores. After obtaining the mobile subscriber details, he prepares fake documents and facsimile rubber stamps in the name of the company. After which he handovers the fake documents/facsimile rubber stamps to Zamir Ahmed Munir Ahmed Saiyad (A-3) & Adil Hassan Ali Sayyed (A-4) for obtaining a new SIM card (registered mobile number of the company with the bank, whose e-mail has been hacked by James(A-1). According to the instructions of Zamir Ahmed Munir Ahmed Saiyad (A-3), Junaid Ahmed Shaik (A-6) visits the concerned store. By submitting fake documents, the A-6 is used to collect a new SIM card. After procuring a new SIM card by the accused A-6 on Saturday evenings, the same is handed over to the accused Zamir Ahmed Munir Ahmed Saiyad (A-3) immediately for carrying out fraudulent transactions from the bank account of the company. On receiving the new SIM card (registered mobile number to the bank account) by Chandrakant Siddhant Kamble (A-2) the same is informed to James(A-1) for carrying out fraud transactions.

Senior Officials from Factories Dept inspect NTPC Ramagundam

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES BUREAU

Peddapalli, January 21: As per the Government guide-lines on COVID vaccina-tion for frontline warriors, the hospital staff of NTPC-Ramagundam received

vaccination on Thursday. Chief General Manager Sunil Kumar inaugurated the vaccination programme and lauded the frontline warriors for their fight against COVID-19. Regis-

tered hospital staff including p e r m a n e n t doctors and nurses, ad-hoc doctors and nurses, hospital driv-ers, hospital housekeeping staff, first aid staff and staff from COVID isolated wards took the vac-cination. CMO Dr Emani

Rama Murthy; GM (Mainte-nance) Soumender Das, Dy DM&HO Dr Krupabai, Head of HR Vijaya Lakshmi M and office bearers of Unions and Associations and Hospital staff were present.

Dhanwanthari Hospital staff receive COVID Vaccination

"5 Members of Gang of Mira Road ArrestedSIM SWAP fraud-Cyberabad Cybercrime Officials

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 3322 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

AIC-CCMB gets NIDHI-Seed support system from DST for its startups

SCSC in collaboration with Cyberabad Police announced a unique mission “DiLSeY-Digital Literacy toSecure Youth”

Hyderabad, Jan.21 (NSS): Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) and Cyberabad Police in support with END NOW Foundation embarked on yet another very promising and need of the hour initiative called “DiLseY short form of Digital Literacy to Secure Youth.

This ambitious initiative is launched here in the city today at Cyberabad Police Commissionerate office by VC Sajjanar, Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad in the presence of Vijay Kumar, DCP Traffic-Cyberabad; Krishna Yedula, General Secretary of SCSC; Bharani Kumar Aroll President of HYSEA (Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association); Anil Rachamalla, Founder of END NOW Foundation; Abhishek Kumar, Jt Secretary of Cyber Security Forum of SCSC, Venkat Tankasala of SCSC, K. Srinivas, Inspector Cyber Crimes, Cyberabad and 100 DiLSeY volunteers and others.

The objective behind this program according to Sajjanar is to build an Army of Cyber Warriors from among the society in a crusade against Cyber Crimes. World over the

traditional crimes are coming down. On the other side, Cyber Crime and Economic Offences are on the rise. Cyber Crimes have gone up by 250 per cent in the recent past. Ever since the outbreak of the covid, the crimes have doubled.

The best way to counter and arrest these crimes is to educate masses, create awareness, he said. An initiative like this is being introduced in the country for the first time. It is the youth for the youth movement for a secured digital world, he added.

We originally planned to launch this initiative last year which was put up because of the pandemic. Now that the more and more people are on a digital model, this is the need of the hour. We have been coming out with a lot of initiatives. Through the Traffic Volunteer program 2000 people volunteered to offer their service. Similarly, Margadarshak has a base of 800 volunteers; Sanghamithra 300 volunteers; Balamithra trainer 6000 teachers. The ultimate goal is to build an army of volunteers and through them build a mass movement. These trained volunteers, in turn, will go back

to the society and train youth, students and others at schools and colleges, he said.

Sajjanar also urged people to share with police whenever they sport or come to new crimes. So that Cyberabad Police will work on them on a proactive approach basis instead of acting after they happen. This will help us to prevent new crimes and also to alert people not to fall prey to such things in future.

Vijay Kumar, DCP said the people have gone so deep into internet space, they got entangled and are unable to come out of it. Literates to illiterates everybody is victims of cybercrimes. There is a dire need to reach out not only to the urban populace but also the rural people to educate them about the possible crimes they might become victims to. The change must come in the society, he said

The mission of DiLSeY, Krishna Yedula added, is “Awareness on Digital Safety” with the four major pillars of Awareness being Cyber Bullying, Digital Addiction, Online Safety, Online Etiquette. What we look for in volunteers is three Ps---Passion, Perseverance and Patience. It

is the war of all of us. We have to fight it out collectively said, Krishna

Bharani Aroll said by the year 2022, nearly 850 million smartphones will be used. 65 percent of our population is below 35 years old. We are a young nation. It is both a strength and a weakness for us. It will be a strength if we can create good opportunities and channelize their energies and skills. If not, it will lead to civil unrest. DiLSeY is the need of the hour program. We must create it as a mass movement, he gave a clarion call.

This is noble work, what you have volunteered for is the most sought after service you can give back to the society, Bharani told the volunteers assembled. You are torchbearers, he added. The response to the call is overwhelming. More than 100 volunteers registered for the first batch of 8-hour training which will begin on 6th February in the city. It will have two such sessions which will be held on the weekends. He said. The initial training will be a physical one, then volunteers will have an online session

followed by an offline session. Mostly we are looking at people from the IT world so that they will have an IT background and grasp cyber security easily. Those with strong desire but without IT background can also get registered as volunteers. Followed by the training program they will be presented a certificate. After that, they are expected to go back to society, communities, schools and colleges. Those who complete 30-hour sessions in the first 3 months will be given an appreciation certificate.

Anil Rachamalla of END NOW Foundation said the objective of the program is to channelize the energy of students towards spreading awareness about Digital Safety and hence, transforming them into powerful and responsible agents of change in the society. The volunteers will be trained on Cyberbullying, Fake News, Effective Social Media Usage, Basic Cyber Laws, Social Engineering Crimes. They will also get support from Law and Enforcement Agencies such as She Teams, Cyber Crime Police etc.

Hyderabad, Jan.21 (NSS): The Atal Incubation Centre –Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (AIC-CCMB), Hyderabad has been awarded the NIDHI-Seed Support System (NIDHI-SSS) grant of INR 5.25 crores by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), GoI. The scheme aims to ensure timely availability of seed fund to deserving start-ups.Start-ups canget upto Rs. 25 lacs, and in exceptional cases, can be awarded Rs. 1 crore as seed support under this scheme. Seed fund is critical for start-ups in the early stages of their journey especially for market

access and scale-up. AIC-CCMB has successfully supported 40+ life science startups in the last three years, all working in the areas of human and animal health as well as industrial biotechnology. Start-ups at AIC-CCMB played a pivotal role in developing COVID-19 solutions for diagnostic, therapeutics and food supplements. “Life-sciences is a very capital intensive field, especially because the development time is longer than any other sector. The time and money required for various validation and regulatory clearances for even bringing a product to the market puts a huge pressure of the entrepreneur. In the past 3 years of our operation, we have

seen many life-sciences startups struggling to raise funds just to stay afloat.Dr. Anita Gupta, Head NSTEDB, DST added, “Funding has always been a stumbling block for startups during the initial phases. DST through NIDHI seed support initiative is attempting to bridge the gap by providing hassle free financial support. Emerging incubators like AIC-CCMB are now empowered with DST’s NIDHI SSS to further harness the true potential of Science, Technology and Innovation driven by new age innovators, entrepreneurs and startups.” The NIDHI-SSS grant will support the productization efforts of the startups and ensure that their leads reach the market. A robust

selection committee would assess the projects for their relevance, marketability and deep science before they are deemed eligible for the seed support. We hope that this grant will also promote interest among the ecosystem to take leads generated by CCMB scientists for translation. ”, says Dr N. Madhusudhana Rao, Chief Executive Officer, AIC-CCMB.

“It is very important that we set structures for funding the deep tech startups such as in life sciences. Their requirements are very different from those in IT. It is a very welcome step that NSTEDB sees the importance of this, and has launched the NIDHI-SSS. At CCMB, we are very hopeful that this will

motivate many companies to work with us at AIC-CCMB. This will also help bridge the much lacking communication between academic researchers and industries”, says Dr Rakesh Mishra, Director, CCMB.

Dr. Anita Gupta, Head NSTEDB, DST added, “Funding has always been a stumbling block for startups during the initial phases. DST through NIDHI seed support initiative is attempting to bridge the gap by providing hassle free financial support. Emerging incubators like AIC-CCMB are now empowered with DST’s NIDHI SSS to further harness the true potential of Science, Technology and Innovation driven by new age innovators, entrepreneurs and startups.”

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 4422 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Hyderabad, Jan 21 (UNI) Telangana has still not rolled out Covaxin, developed by Hy-derabad-based Bharat Biotech, apparently due to fact that the Centre has allowed its use in clinical trial mode as its phase 3 trials were still continuing.

During the three days of vac-cination so far, the state au-thorities administered only Covishield. Nearly 70,000 pub-lic health workers in the state have taken the jab. While state health officials maintain they will start giving Covaxin once they receive sufficient number of doses, it is the current format prescribed by the Indian Coun-cil of Medical Research (ICMR) which is delaying the rollout of the local product.

Health minister Eatala Rajen-der during a video conference with union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on January 16 admitted that it was difficult to administer Covaxin in the format prescribed by ICMR. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCG) has authorised

the restricted use of Covaxin under clinical trial mode. Those receiving Covaxin will have to sign consent forms that assured compensation if any adverse effect was found linked to the vaccine. Rajender also urged the central minister to provide more doses of Covishield. “We request you to send more doses of Covishield. The vaccine de-veloped by Bharat Biotech may be used later,” he had said.

Earlier, the state govern-ment had sought additional doses from the Centre, citing the manufacturing of vaccine in Hyderabad. However, the health authorities anticipated higher reluctance if Covaxin was also rolled out along with Covishield. During three days, more than 25,000 targetted beneficiaries refused to take the vaccine, though only Covishield was administered.

A section of health care work-ers including doctors serving in leading government hospitals in Hyderabad have declined to take the vaccine. While some of

them questioned the efficacy of the vaccine, others cited reports of side-effects. They informed the higher-ups that they will wait for few days for taking the jab. The top health officials said while taking vaccine is an indi-vidual’s choice, they are trying to convince all health workers that they should take the jab for their protection. They have re-assured the staff that both the vaccines are totally safe.

The officials pointed out that no case of serious/severe AEFI (adverse effect following im-munisation) were reported.

On the third day on Tuesday, 51 AEFI cases were reported. Out of these three required hos-pitalisation and they are stable.

A 42-year-old health work-er, who had taken the jab on Tuesday, died early Wednes-day in Nirmal district. The of-ficials, however, said the death seems unrelated to vaccina-tion. Telangana has received 3.64 lakh doses of Covishield and 20,000 doses of Covaxin. Director of public health and

family welfare G. Srinivasa Rao had stated before the launch of vaccine programme that as per Government of India guide-lines consent will be taken from those who will be receiving Co-vaxin shot. Their health status will examined and scrutinised before giving the vaccine and after vaccination they will be monitored for seven days for any adverse events. Similar pro-cess will be followed after the second dose which will be given after four weeks. “We should be proud that Covaxin has been developed indigenously and that too on the soil of Telan-gana. Nobody should have any worries. If necessary I will take Covaxin in coming days,” he had said.

However, the department is still undecided on rolling out Covaxin. It is likely to wait for a few days. Meanwhile, the health experts feel that people should have no apprehensions about both the vaccines as they were cleared by the drug regulator after it found them totally safe.

THREE DAYS ON, TELANGANA YET TO ROLL OUT ‘LOCAL’ VAX COVAXIN

Hyderabad, Jan 21 (UNI) Telangana record-ed 226 new Covid cases and reported one death during the last 24 hours, health officials said on Thursday. The state’s cumulative tally rose to 2,92,621. One person succumbed to the virus, pushing the death toll to 1,584. According to the director of public health and family welfare, the fatality rate remained 0.54 per cent against the national average of 1.4 per cent.

While 44.96 per cent of the total deaths occurred due to Covid, the rest 55.04 per cent had comor-bidities, said health of-ficials. During the last 24 hours, 224 people recov-

ered from the virus taking the cumulative recoveries to 2,87,117. The recovery rate stands at 98.11 per cent against the national average of 96.7 per cent. The state now has 3,920 active cases, including 2,322 who are in home or institutional isolation. Majority of the beds in hospitals treating Covid

cases remained vacant. As many as 8,001 beds out of 8,577 beds in 62 gov-ernment hospitals were vacant. Similarly, in 219 private hospitals 6,757 out of 7,779 beds were vacant. The daily count in Greater Hyderabad dropped fur-ther to 39. Karimnagar and Medchal Malkajgiri districts recorded the sec-

With 226 new cases, T’gana Covid tally reaches over 2.92L

HC asks Govt to hold panchayat elections without any problem

Vijayawada, Jan.21 (NSS): The High Court of the State today asked the state govern-ment and state election commission (SEC) to hold the Panchayat elections without any problem. The HC which heard the ar-guments on the appeal filed by the SEC two days back, delivered its verdict today. In its verdict, the HC made it clear that panchayat elections and public health were both im-portant. It said that there was no logical and pragmatic reasons to stay the conduct of the elections. “ The conduct of elections are important as per section 9 and 9A of sched-ule of the Indian constitution. The people have the right to elect their public represen-tatives. The final decision to hold the elec-tions lies with the state election commis-sion. The SEC has the same powers as the central election commission. The verdict of the single judge of this court is against the fundamental principles. It is not good attri-bute Ill intentions to the commission. If the local body elections are held, the elected representatives would take the ongoing Co-vid 19 vaccination process forward. There is no logic behind the contention of the state government to postpone the elections in the name of the vaccination. ,” the HC said. The division bench also said that the organization of the elections would be the right thing to do as the vaccination process would have to be held in a massive way in the their phase.

ond highest number at 16 each followed by Rangared-dy (15) and Warangal Ur-ban (10). The daily count in the remaining districts was in single digit. The authori-ties conducted 31,647 tests. While 27,662 samples were tested in the government labs, 3,985 tests were con-ducted in the private labs. With this the cumulative number of tests conducted in the state rose to 75,74,184. Tests per million population reached 2,03,497.Accord-ing to officials, 70 per cent of 2,92,621 cases reported in the state so far were asymp-tomatic. The data shows that 63.90 per cent of those tested positive so far were aged be-tween 21-50 years. As many as 22.91 per cent were aged above 51 years.

Hyderabad, Jan.21 (NSS): The Cyber Crime Police of-ficials of Cyberabad today ar-rested five members of inter-state Gang of Mira Road” for committing SIM SWAP fraud .

In a statement, the Cyber-abad CP said that had the Cybercrime fraudsters have adopted the technique of SIM swap to get access to the net banking of their targets and siphon off the funds from the accounts since the year 2011. The main fraudster operating from abroad is a Nigerian, he said. The CP said that they received a specific complaint from a person on June 29. The complainant in his com-plaint stated that on June 21st of the same month he had taken a new SIM card with same number and observed that newly activated SIM was working for to just make out-going calls while noting that he did not receive any incom-ing calls. He said that he con-

tacted JIO customer care and complained about the same issue and added that the com-pany resolved his issue. Later, he tried to login to his Inter-net banking account of Kotak Mahindra Bank in his mobile and got to know that some un-known persons changed his Internet Banking Login and Password. By using Debit card credentials, he changed pass-word of internet banking and tried to make a transaction. But the complainant observed that the balance amount in his account was zero. Next day he visited the bank and found that some unknown persons made (3) Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions from his account Rs.4,25,000 and siphoned it off from his account by Swapping his SIM Card without his knowledge. Basing on the complaint, the police registered a case in Cyber Crime PS launched the investigation.

5 Members Gang of Mira Road” arrested by Cyberabad cops

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 5522 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Hyderabad, Jan.21 (NSS): Deputy Speaker, T Padma Rao Goud today sprang a surprise by extending ad-vanced “Congratulations to would be Chief Minister K T Rama Rao”. Padma Rao Goud said that KTR will be the next chief minister who will address railway work-ers issues. He attended a program of SCRES Railway Mazdoor Association meet-ing of railway workers divi-sion office inaugural here with KTR and others.

On the occasion Goud said that KTR will be the next Chief Minister of the state. His remarks came in sup-port of KTR to be anointing as the Chief Minister. Thus Padma Rao Goud extending greetings to would be CM reflects what the TRS boss is seriously considering

about change of guard. He said that KTR on becoming should protect the interests of the railway workers.

Already the ministers, MLAs, MPs of the ruling party have already doing the similar statements in this regard and Goud saying the same will add strength to it. Srinivas Yadav, Ka-malakar, Eshwar and other top leaders have revealed same that KTR is to be el-

evated to the top post. This reflects the mood and in-tent of the TRS boss and chief Minister K Chan-drasekhar Rao. Padma Rao Goud said that future chief minister KTR will ad-dress the problems of rail-way workers. Goud further strengthened the ongoing campaign in this regard as he extended thanks to KTR who is to be the elevated as the next Chief Minister .

KTR would be CM: Padma Rao Goud congrats

Vijayawada, Jan.21 (NSS): The High Court of the State today asked the state government and state election commission (SEC) to hold the Panchayat elec-tions without any problem. The HC which heard the arguments on the appeal filed by the SEC two days back, delivered its ver-dict today. In its verdict, the HC made it clear that panchayat elections and public health were both important.

It said that there was no logical and pragmatic reasons to stay the con-duct of the elections. “ The conduct of elections are important as per sec-tion 9 and 9A of schedule of the Indian constitution. The people have the right to elect their public repre-

sentatives. The final deci-sion to hold the elections lies with the state election commission. The SEC has the same powers as the central election commis-sion. The verdict of the single judge of this court is against the fundamental principles. It is not good attribute Ill intentions to the commission. If the lo-cal body elections are held, the elected representatives would take the ongoing

Covid 19 vaccination pro-cess forward.

There is no logic behind the contention of the state government to postpone the elections in the name of the vaccination. ,” the HC said. The division bench also said that the or-ganization of the elections would be the right thing to do as the vaccination pro-cess would have to be held in a massive way in the their phase.

HC asks Govt to hold panchayat elections without any problem

Changes of judges would not change

justice: TDP Chief Naidu

Amaravati, Jan.21 (NSS): The National President of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) today expressed his happiness over the verdict of the high court of the state directing the state government to hold Panchayat elections in the state. He made it clear that the changes of the judges would not change the justice .

He alleged that the Chief Minister of the state YS Jaganmohan Reddy had acted as if he did not even require the State Election Commission (SEC). He criticized that the Chief Minister would not even want the as-sembly and parliament elections in the days to come. He alleged that Jagan didn’t have any respect for any kind of institution in the country. He alleged that the CM, who wanted to hold the elections during the extreme Co-vid-19 conditions, was now trying to post-pone the elections when the Covid-19 inten-sity dropped drastically in the state. He said that the ruling party leaders had encouraged unprecedented number of unanimous elec-tions in the local body elections. Referring to the allegations of the CM about insider trad-ing in the purchase of lands in the state Capi-tal, he asked the CM as to what happened to his allegations . Referring to the suicide of Gudiwada SI, who had taken part in raids on playing cards clubs, he expressed doubts over the death of the victim.

Hyderabad, Jan.21 (NSS): TRS working president and munici-pal minister report-edly expressed displea-sure at party leaders in Khammam for poor coordination. The party has to strengthen in Khammam segment and district at any cost, he reportedly felt with the leaders of that area. He reportedly pulled up transport minister P Ajay Kumar for not go-ing with seniors, and ju-niors to strengthen the TRS party in Khammam segment.

The minister is un-derstood to have pulled up the leaders including

Ajay Kumar, P Srini-vas Reddy, Tummala Nageshwar Rao and others for poor coordi-nation. All should go together and cannot remain detached as the party will suffer loss due to lack of coordination KTR reportedly said. Ir-

respective of the MLAs, and other leaders may come, change and go and the TRS to strength-en gradually he said. At a meeting held in Telan-gana Bhavan he clos-eted with the party lead-ers of Khammam who are not going together

reportedly. The centre talks of combined and single time elections for all states in the country. Though that happens or not the TRS has to strengthen its base in all segments, KTR said.

Since we won a few seats of MLAs in Kham-mam segment the TRS leaders have to coor-dinate with old, and new he said. KTR is not happy with the way of the leaders who are not able to mingle with each other in Khammam seg-ment. The ruling party working president has asked them to take the welfare and develop-ment programs to peo-

ple doorsteps. He in-structed them further to make combined efforts to ensure that the TRS wins more MLA seats in future. Our tally in 2014 and 2018 is less and we have to improve in this segment KTR said. Se-rious efforts needed for coordination to be made and take all the old, and new leaders together to strengthen the party, KTR said. He is under-stand to have warned of action if they failed to follow suit accord-ing to sources. Tumnala Nageshwar Rao has met with KTR separately and discussed on the TRS party affairs, it is said.

KTR unhappy at Khammam TRS leaders

ROYAL THAI CONSULATE GENERAL OF THAILAND IN CHENNAI NITIROOGE

PHONEPRASERT AND OTHERS HAVE

CALLED ON GOVERNOR DR. TAMILISAI

SOUNDARARAJAN AT RAJ BHAVAN ON

THURSDAY.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 6622 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

A team of interdisciplinary re-searchers from Scotland in col-laboration with Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed an efficient decentralised wastewater treatment and recycling system at Berambadi primary school situ-ated in a remote village in Karna-taka’s Chamarajnagar district.

About 200km southwest of Ben-galuru is Berambadi, a village nes-tled between mountains, swathes of agricultural fields, the Hirikere lake, and the Bandipur National Park.

This verdant countryside with tidy roads that borders Karnataka’s neighbours Kerala and Tamil Nadu is spellbinding. However, Beram-badi, located in the rain shadow side of the Western Ghats, has been hit by drought several times in the last few years. A study, pub-lished in the Journal of Water Pro-cess Engineering and carried out

in collaboration with researchers in Scotland, shows how the system has, over the past year, enabled the reuse of wastewater and re-duced dependence on freshwater resources, IISc said in a statement. The project, funded by the Scot-land government, is a collabora-tion between IISc, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the En-vironment, Bengaluru, the James Hutton Institute, Scotland, and the University of Glasgow. “We have demonstrated for the first time that decentralised wastewater treat-ment systems can be economically put into practice in a rural setting,” the Centre for Sustainable Tech-nologies, IISc, Assistant Professor and a senior author of the paper Lakshminarayana Rao said, add-ing that decentralised wastewater treatment system is the way to go. According to IISc, the research team operated the greywater treat-

ment system for a year and moni-tored the different physicochemi-cal and biological characteristics of the greywater at the entry and exit points. Rao added that the goal was to direct the treated grey water for reuse in toilet flushes and gar-dening. “To do this, they designed

a system where grey water is sub-jected to a series of steps: first is getting rid of the remnant fat and grease in the wastewater using a grease trapper. Water free of grease is passed through a trickling bed filter (a bed made of gravels of dif-ferent sizes) and an aerator, where

microorganisms help remove pol-lutants in the wastewater. This wa-ter, after undergoing the final step of disinfection, can be reused,” Rao explained. The performance of ev-ery treatment stage was quantified in terms of removal efficiencies (REs) of turbidity.

Scottish-IISc researchers develop wastewater treatment

Amp up your WFH corner in 7 simple steps

In the era of social distancing where work from home has become the new norm, establish-ing a work-life balance can be tricky especially when you are looking for a home office area that can ensure you thrive. Moreover, having that special work station that is not only fun but also with the right kind of decor to help your days and evenings, will be fruitful in getting through the week. Try out these seven simple updates to your work space, shared by Vishal Kaul - Vice Presi-dent - Lighting, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd, to turn your corner into some-thing you actually enjoy working in.

Make way for brightness:Lighting has become an essential part of our

lives where it can augment the space we are liv-ing in and completely transform the mood and ambience. Lighting is more than just filling a dark room as it will affect your productivity, work performance and depending on how tired your eyes are, they can get tired faster in weak light. While natural lighting is great, it does not survive the long hours especially when work moves into the night and can cause eye strain. Moreover, adding the right kind of lights can also, in turn, enhance your space d�cor add-ing more value to your room. Hence a bright workspace can make a significant difference to your health, budget and mood. Thus, one should

go for LED light panels that ensure maximum brightness. Some panels have ultra slim rims that are quite stylish and seamlessly fit into your ceilings turning your WFH corner into one of the brightest spots in the room!

Bring your walls to lifeOne can go for wallpapers, paintings or pho-

tos with some motivational quotes that can be attached on the walls to keep you going and focused. You can also accentuate certain ob-jects, cabinets, pictures or points on your wall

for that dramatic effect through lights. By light-ing up these areas with bright LED panels, it an enhance your work space and prevent any dark shadows that can cause a hindrance, enhancing more luminous and stylish walls.

Lamp up your focusFor a brighter and focused illumination, invest

in some task lighting by opting for desk lamps. Consider a good table lamp with a functionality of changing colours and light intensity or porta-ble table lamps that not only prevent disturbing

other family members during extended work-ing hours but also reduces eye strain. And if one experiences a power cut, always have a back-up lamp to let you work / study uninterruptedly.

Get a pop of colours goingEnvironment impacts creativity. Embrace

colours in your WFH corner for an instant burst of creativity and fun. From grabbing a favorite pillow, attaching some pastel-coloured lamps, bringing some funky coffee/tea mugs to even adding some life by lighting a fragrant candle, keep the space lively to make you feel livelier.

Break the monotony of your seatingWorking at one place for long hours can be ex-

hausting. Even if you sit at one corner for long, your mind and body will crave for a change and a break from the mundane. Hence, try accent chairs, bean bags, floor cushions etc. Shift your body to a comfortable seating for just about 20 minutes or so and get back to your desk to avoid postural issues.

Add a touch of green with some good ol’ plantsThe green hues of a plant always tend to add

a positive vibe. Bring some mini plants or suc-culents etc. that immediately brighten up the corner. If your desk isn’t big, you can hang some plants on the window curtain rods/window sills or go for a large plant on the side to give you the zest to work better.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 7722 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

New York, Nov 30 (UNI) Researchers have developed a deep learning model that identifies imaging biomarkers on screening mammograms to predict a patient’s risk for developing breast cancer with greater accuracy than tradi-tional risk assessment tools.

Traditional risk assessment models do not leverage the level of detail that is contained within a mammogram,” said study author Leslie Lamb from the Massachusetts Gen-eral Hospital (MGH) in the US. “Even the best existing tradi-tional risk models may separate sub-groups of patients but are not as precise on the individual level,” Lamb added.

Currently available risk as-sessment models incorporate only a small fraction of patient data such as family history, prior breast biopsies, and hor-monal and reproductive his-tory. Only one feature from the screening mammogram itself,

breast density, is incorporated into traditional models. The re-search team has developed the new deep learning algorithm to predict breast cancer risk using data from five MGH breast can-

cer screening sites. The model was developed on a population that included women with a personal history of breast can-cer, implants or prior biopsies.

The study included 245,753

consecutive 2D digital bilateral screening mammograms per-formed in 80,818 patients be-tween 2009 and 2016. From the total mammograms, 210,819 exams in 56,831 patients were

used for training, 25,644 exams from 7,021 patients for testing, and 9,290 exams from 3,961 pa-tients for validation.

Using statistical analysis, the researchers compared the ac-curacy of the deep learning im-age-only model to a commer-cially available risk assessment model (Tyrer-Cuzick version 8) in predicting future breast cancer within five years of the index mammogram. The deep learning model achieved a pre-dictive rate of 0.71, significantly outperforming the traditional risk model, which achieved a rate of 0.61. “Our deep learn-ing model is able to translate the full diversity of subtle im-aging biomarkers in the mam-mogram that can predict a woman’s future risk for breast cancer,” Lamb said. The study is scheduled to be presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) from Novem-ber 29 to December 5.

Deep learning can predict breast cancer risk

Hackers can dupe DNA scientists into creating deadly viruses

In what may put the future potential Co-vid vaccine development at risk, research-ers have spotted a new form of biohacking that can dupe DNA scientists into unknow-ingly creating deadly viruses. Researchers from the Israel-based Ben-Gurion Universi-ty of the Negev, in a paper published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, said that as DNA synthesis becomes more widespread, “concern is mounting that a cyberattack in-tervening with synthetic DNA orders could lead to the synthesis of nucleic acids encod-ing parts of pathogenic organisms or harm-ful proteins and toxins”. The research team said that it is no longer the case that a threat actor needs physical access to a “danger-ous” substance to produce or deliver it and scientists could be duped into producing toxins or synthetic viruses on their behalf through targeted cyberattacks.

“As cybersecurity becomes an increas-ing concern across all business sectors, the possible procurement of DNA for ma-licious purposes by hackers highlights the need for greater cyber-biosecurity, espe-cially as cyber-bio attacks have been over-looked by the synthesis community and many academic laboratories lack the fire-walls and cybersecurity infrastructure to

ensure integrity of communication,” they elaborated. Most DNA synthesis provid-ers check each requested sequence across databases of problematic sequences be-fore order fulfillment. “Unfortunately, however, there are no comprehensive da-

tabases of pathogenic sequences, and the guidelines -- unenforced outside of US Na-tional Institutes of Health (NIH) grantees -- are outdated,” the researchers lament-ed. Commercial DNA synthesisers sell billions of nucleotides to customers each

year, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Suspicious sequences require human inspection to verify safety and legitimacy. “Human follow-ups are, however, costly and time consuming. And, without a comprehensive penetration test-ing of the screening frameworks, some pathogenic sequences will fall through the oversight cracks,” the study noted.

The researchers conducted a proof of concept -- an obfuscated DNA encoding a toxic peptide was not detected by soft-ware implementing the screening guide-lines. “The respective order was moved to production. Details are withheld, but IGSC (International Gene Synthesis Con-sortium) was notified about the threat and potential mitigation methods,” said the team from Ben-Gurion University. “The order was canceled for biosecurity reasons following our disclosure.” Cyber dangers are spilling over to the physical space, blurring the separation between the digital world and the real world, especially with increasing levels of automation in the bio-logical lab. “Best practices and standards must be woven into operational biological protocols to combat these threats,” the re-searchers cautioned.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 8822 FRIDAY, JANUARY, 2021

Hyderabad, Jan.21 (NSS): IT and Municipal Minister KT Rama Rao to-day criticized the Modi Government in the centre for step motherly at-titude towards Telangana state and its development. The minister hit out that the BJP government failed to implement bifurcation promises. Citing that despite land allocation the Modi government yet to take a call in this regard, he expressed dis-pleasure.

KTR inaugurated a South Central Railway Employees Sangh Division office at Secunderabad along with deputy speaker Padma Rao Goud and others. On the occasion KTR said that we have allotted about 300 acres for the purpose as the coach factory. It needs only 135 acres to start a rail coach factory in Kazipet and the Modi government is still showing same negligence he deplored. The Minister extended

thanks to railway workers for their support to statehood. We have been friendly to the railway work-ers and will try to address their issues. The minister has offered support the railway workers and address their issues.

The minister accused the BJP gov-ernment of failing to keep the prom-ises during bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. We have not got good funds in Central budget, rail budget, no speed rail or bullet rail and no sup-

port, he said. Since bullet and speed rails will push development of the states and economy there is a need for their expansion KTR said. KTR attributed it to deliberate attempt to ignore our state by the centre.

KTR said that the state govern-ment already given about 300 acres for Kazipet rail coach factory which needs 135 acres. He said that Nar-endra Modi, who says Sabka Sath - Sabka Vikas, is not keeping that in deeds. He attributed continuing negligence by the centre in this re-gard to partiality towards us. KTR expressed wonder as to why the centre did not give coach factory to Telangana which is entitled to get. He said that the Central government has not offered anything for state development post bifurcation. The TRS government and chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is for workers welfare he added.

Hyderabad, Jan.21 (NSS): Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav today criticized the Centre failed to give funds to Telangana state develop-ment and BJP leaders making false charges on Telangana gov-ernment. He sought the Modi government to release a white paper on central funds to Telan-gana state. He attended a pro-gram to distribute Sheep units among Yadav Community with Minister G Kamalakar.

On the occasion Srinivas Ya-dav assured of a building for Gangaputra community in Up-pal Bhagayat area. My words were misunderstood by Ganga-putra community who staged protests he said. The state gov-ernment is aimed at welfare of the Golla and Kuruma and fish-ermen and all others. He com-pared that KCR is like a God for these communities for welfare programs being implemented

As per our plan the govern-ment will lay foundation for a Gangaputra Community Bha-van in Uppal Bhagayat area. The KCR government allotted

Rs 3 crore and 3 acres in this re-gard the Minister stated. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is for welfare of the communi-ties by offering about Rs 1000 crore he said. The KCR govern-ment has been implementing a plan for all these communities, the minister claimed. No other states are spending such huge funds and implementing simi-lar schemed of Telangana.

Taking a dig at the BJP lead-ers Srinivas Yadav accused them of mud slinging on the KCR government. We can

make comments against the BJP leaders for doing so, he said. The Centre failed to give national status to Kalesh-waram project despite re-peated appeals he said. KCR government has written let-ters, Minister KTR and others urged for the same to no avail, he deplored. Srinivas Yadav spammed the BJP leaders for their misinformation cam-paign. The BJP leaders should stop mud slinging he suggest-ed. Else the people will teach them a lesson, he warned.

Modi partial to TS, denied rail coach factory : KTR

Cyberabad Police Commissioner Vishwanath Channappa Sajjanar launching 'The South India Times (TSIT)' calendar in his

chambers on Thursday. Seen are TSIT reporters Kasoju Krishna, Vadla Rajashekar and N.Shankar.

Centre should release white paper

on funds: Talasani assures building

for Gangaputra community

VICE CHANCELLOR OF SRI KONDA LAXMAN TELANGANA STATE HORTICULTURAL UNIVERSITY DR.B.NEERAJA PRABHAKAR AND OTHERS CALLED ON GOVERNOR DR. TAMILISAI

SOUNDARARAJAN AT RAJ BHAVAN ON THURSDAY .