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VIJAYAWADA, FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

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*Late City Vol. 3 Issue 98*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

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FIVE PIOS, INDIAN ACTIVIST FEATURE INTIME LIST OF 100 EMERGING LEADERS

Five Indian-origin personalities, includingTwitter's top lawyer Vijaya Gadde and UK'sfinance minister Rishi Sunak, and an

Indian activist feature in TIME magazine'sannual list of 100 emerging leaders who areshaping the future". The 2021 TIME100 Next,released on Wednesday, is an expansion ofTIME's flagship TIME100 franchise of themost influential people in the world andhighlights 100 emerging leaders who areshaping the future. Everyone on this list ispoised to make history. And in fact, manyalready have, Dan Macsai, the editorialdirector of the TIME100, said.

NASA ROVER STREAKS TOWARD ALANDING ON MARS

ANASA rover streaked toward a landing onMars on Thursday in the riskiest step yetin an epic quest to bring back rocks that

could answer whether life ever existed on thered planet. Ground controllers at the spaceagency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory inPasadena, California, settled in nervously forthe descent of Perseverance to the surface ofMars, long a deathtrap for incomingspacecraft. It takes a nail-biting 11 1/2minutes for a signal that would confirmsuccess to reach Earth. The landing of the six-wheeled vehicle would mark the third visit toMars in just over a week.

‘METRO MAN' E SREEDHARAN TO JOINBJP, SAYS PARTY'S KERALA UNIT CHIEF

‘Metro man' E Sreedharan, a much-admiredtechnocrat who is credited with changing theface of the public transport system in the

country, will join the BJP giving a boost to thesaffron party ahead of the Assembly polls inKerala. The entry of Sreedharan into politicsthrough the BJP was announced by state partychief K Surendran at a press conference hereon Thursday. Sreedharan said he was joiningthe BJP to ensure justice for the people ofKerala who were being deprived of the fruits ofdevelopment due to the self-centric attitude ofthe present CPI(M)-led LDF government in theState.

SEC: MPTC, ZPTC ASPIRANTS CAN FILEPAPERS AGAIN IF FORCIBLY STOPPED

In a significant development, StateElection Commissioner NimmagaddaRamesh Kumar has asked those aspiring

to contest the MPTC and ZPTC to lodgecomplaints if they were prevented fromfiling nominations. The SEC on Thursdayissued an order stating that candidates willbe given an opportunity to file nominationsin ZPTC and MPTC elections if they wereforcibly prevented from doing so in Marchlast year. However, they have to submitevidence to the collectors and districtpolling authorities in support of theirallegations.

5

Steel plant issueexposed CM’s truecolours: Ayyanna

3

Sensex skids forthird day as global

rally stalls

8

PM for integration

among S Asian

nations

AP coastline saw 27% erosion, 40% accretion

SNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

Over a period of 26 years,the Andhra Pradesh coastline,that stretches along nine of the13 districts in the state, gainedaround 53.84 sq. km of landand lost 44.83 sq km to shore-line changes.

Notably, as per the nationalassessment of shorelinechanges along Indian Coast -A Status Report for 1990 -2016, by Chennai-basedNational Centre for CoastalResearch (NCCR), AndhraPradesh is one of the only twostates that had witnessed morethan 40 percent accretionamong all the nine coastalstates and two union territorieson the east and west coast ofIndia.

Notably, Vizag coastline was

found to be the most stable inthe State as it is protected withKailasa and Yarada ranges.Accretion was seen alongPattapupalem, Pallepalem,Kesavapalem and Gundamala.

In the northern part of thecoast, from Ichchapuram to

Bheemunipatanam, no signif-icant change was observed.These areas are covered withsand dunes and sandy beach.

Shoreline is subject tochange due to natural andmanmade activities.

n AP has lost 44.83 sq. km to erosion in last 26 years; Vizag coastline is most stable

Satellite data used for the analysisVIJAYAWADA: The shorelineanalysis done by a team ofNCCR experts suggests that33 percent of Indian coast iseroding, 29 percent is accr-eting and 38 percent is instable state. Over all, during1990 to 2016, about 231.50sq km of land was gained byaccretion and 234.25 sq kmlost to erosion along theIndian mainland.

Shoreline length used inthe analysis by the NCCRexpert team is the shore-facelength excluding the interiorparts of river /creeks obtainedfrom Resourcesat-2, LISS-IVsatellite data by zooming in 1:15000 scales.

Coastal states of Gujarat,Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and

West Bengal have undergonedrastic change in the past 26years. Land gain of greater than60 sq km is observed along thestates of Gujarat and Odisha.

In Andhra Pradesh, Keralaand Tamil Nadu both landgain as well as loss is seen tohave occurred simultaneous-ly in significant amounts.

Land gain is slightly high-er than land loss in AndhraPradesh and Kerala; howev-er in case of Tamil Nadu it'sreverse land loss is more thangain. States in the Konkansector along the west coast ofIndia - Maharashtra, Goaand Karnataka are seen toexhibit very little change.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The gram panchayat resultsfrom Kuppam, home con-stituency of TDP supremo NChandrababu Naidu inChittoor district came as agodsend for the YSRCP andits leaders went to town allday on Thursday, attackingthe former chief minister.

While TDP leaders triedtheir best to rebuff theattacks, the fact remainedthat the poll result was toopotent a weapon in the handsof the YSRCP leaders.

While the ruling partyleaders ‘advised’ Naidu to ‘realise the writing on the walland walk away in the sunset’for the defeat of TDP-backedcandidates in Kuppam, theTDP supremo refused tobudge and countered theYSRCP attack by saying thatthe ruling party used moneyand muscle power, and mis-used the police to win in hisconstituency.

The results are being seenas a huge embarrassment toNaidu, who considersKuppam as his bastion, hav-ing represented it in the APAssembly since 1989. He hasbeen nurturing the segmentfor more than three decadesand never witnessed defeat,and had been elected fromthere whenever he contested.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy on Fridaywill visit Antarvedi in EastGodavari and launch thenewly built chariot at SriLakshmi Narasimha Swamytemple.

Burning of chariot on thenight of September 5, 2020had led to a political slugfestbetween the ruling YSRCPand the opposition TDP andBJP.

The two parties had organ-ised protests across the state,and vowed to topple the gov-ernment over the incident.Later, the Chief Minister had

handed over the case to CBI toprobe. However, CBI is yet toregister a case and launch theprobe.

Subsequently, the Jagan gov-ernment had sanctioned Rs 90lakh to build a new chariotwhich was made ready inDecember last year.

Two days ago, the seer ofVisakha Sri Sarada Peetham,Swami Swaroopnandendra,visited Antarvedi and con-ducted special rituals to thenew chariot. While the initialbudget approved was Rs 90lakh, the cost shot upto Rs 1.1crore.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In some relief to Kodali Nani,the Andhra Pradesh HighCourt on Thursday struckdown the orders issued byState Election CommissionerNimmagadda Ramesh Kumarrevstraining the Civil SuppliesMinister from talking to themedia.

However, Justice DVSSSomayajula in his interimorder said the Minister shouldnot talk about the SEC andalso not interfere in the pollprocess.

The SEC last Friday barredKodali Nani from speaking tothe media till February 21 aftergoing through a reply submit-ted by him for the poll panel'sshow-cause notice.

The High Court gave per-

mission to Nani to address themedia but directed him not tomake comments against theSEC. The court also instruct-ed the Minister not to interferein the ongoing election processto gram panchayats in thestate.

After Nani filed a HouseMotion petition and subse-quent hearing commenced,the High Court appointedsenior counsel P Sri Raghuramas amicus curiae to advise it onthe petition filed by theMinister.

While hearing the petition,the court pointed out thatthree similar petitions werefiled challenging the SECorders within a week by min-isters PeddireddyRamachandra Reddy, KodaliNani and MLA Jogi Ramesh.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Polling for six MLCs to beelected under MLAs quota inAP will be held on March 15.

The Election Commissionof India on Thursday issuedthe poll schedule for fivemembers of the LegislativeCouncil whose term willexpire on March 20 and alsoto fill a vacancy caused due tothe death of sitting memberChalla Ramakrishna Reddy.

AFTER KUPPAM VICTORY, YSRCPGOES FOR TDP CHIEF’S JUGULAR n Loss in his bastion seen as a huge embarrassment for ‘undefeated’ TDP supremo

Vijayawada: TDP nationalpresident and former ChiefMinister N ChandrababuNaidu on Thursday assertedthat his party was continuingits relentless fight against themind games, atrocities andunchecked violations of theruling YSRCP in the ongoingpanchayat elections.

Naidu said that in this law-less election, it was democra-cy that was being defeated inthe state and not the TeluguDesam Party. "Despite theYSRCP threats, the TDP andits allies have posted goodresults and won 41.41 percentof the seats in the third phasepanchayat polls," he said.

"We have won over 1,093panchayats as the final resultspoured in. TDP has alreadywon 38.74 percent seats in firstphase and 39.52 percent seatsin second phase," he said.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Thursday, theTDP supremo slammed theruling party, accusing it ofusing huge corruption moneyamassed from sand and liquormafia to buy votes at Rs 10,000to Rs. 20,000 per head.

"However, the TDP wouldstep up its fight and it wouldnot allow the Jagan regime todo 'Pulivendula panchayati'all over the State," he vowed.

Vijayawada: GovernmentAdvisor (Public Affairs) SajjalaRamakrishna Reddy onThursday said that defeat inKuppam has resulted in TDPsupremo N ChandrababuNaidu losing his senses, result-ing in desperate outbursts ashis political innings was com-ing to an end.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Sajjala said that thesun was setting on Naidu'spolitical career, since filing ofnominations itself has becomea Herculean task for TDPleaders. He said that the peo-ple of Kuppam have finallycome out of the evil clutchesof Naidu seeking respite fromhis irresponsible leadership.

Brushing aside the allega-tions levelled by Naidu thatYSRCP leaders threatened vot-ers through village volunteers,Sajjala said that there is noneed to do so, as the YSRCPgovernment is delivering wel-fare schemes to the doorstepon a saturation basis, unlike inthe TDP regime.

He dared Naidu to accepthow he had threatened thevoters during the Nandyal by-election. Sajjala slammedNaidu for alleging that democ-racy failed with the victory ofYSRCP and said that only hecould have made such irre-sponsible comments.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

TDP former MLA Chintam-aneni Prabhakar was onThursday arrested on chargesof attacking the husband of asarpanch candidate.

The TDP leader was arrest-ed by Eluru rural police andtaken to the station when hecame to Madepalli as part ofthe election campaign.

Naidu’s defense: Democracydefeated in AP, not the TDP

Sajjala’s potshots: Kuppam polldebacle affected Naidu's mind

Chintamaneniattacks hubbyof candidate,arrested

AP HC junks SECorder gagging Nani

Poll for 6 Councilseats under MLAsquota on March 15

Jagan to launch newchariot at AntarvediNTR a committed secularist,

says Venkaiah at book launchPNS n HYDERABAD

Unlike other civilizations,India's civilization has thrivedthrough the centuries becausesecularism is its main thread,said Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu, while releasing'Maverick Messiah', a politicalbiography on undivided AP'sformer chief minister, actorand TDP founder NT RamaRao, authored by senior jour-nalist Ramesh Kandula.

Hailing NTR as a committed

secularist, Naidu said 'thoughoutwardly religious, he wasstaunchly secular; he wore sec-ularism on his saffron sleeves'.The Vice President paid glow-ing tributes to NTR, saying hestrode the political stage like acolossus. "Power, in NTR's case,was truly drawn from the peo-ple", he commented.

Naidu said that NTRemerged as an effective defend-er of federalism and regionalaspirations, given the dent theyhad suffered under single-party

(Congress) dominance in thecountry for a long period. 'Hewas making a point and a casefor a proper balance betweenthe powers of the States and theCentre", the Vice Presidentsaid.

The Vice President said thatNTR's contribution to opposi-tion unity at the national levelwas a pioneering effort. Ahealthy, sound and constructiveopposition in a democracywould be relevant at all times.

2 22

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aid onlevanton the

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vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021

EGG

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Dressed/With Skin `157

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(IN HYDERABAD)

SUMIT ONKA

n VISAKHAPATNAM

Former Araku MP GeethaKothapalli, who joined theBJP in 2019, came under thespotlight on Thursday follow-ing her tweets on religions.

After expressing doubt overthe religion of climate activistDisha Ravi, she triggeredanother row by posting offen-sive remarks against a Muslimuser on Twitter.

The virtual fight beganwhen Mohammad Zubair, co-founder of the Alt Newsknown for its fact-checkreports, shared a news reportthat claimed Disha Ravi wasnot a Christian. Responding tothe Twitter post, the formerMP argued that the full name

of Dish Ravi is 'Disha RaviJoseph', implying that she is aChristian.

After this, Zubair sharedthe election affidavit of the for-mer MP, highlighting her hus-band's name 'Kothapalli Jacob'.

Kothapalli Geetha flew offthe handle at this, targetingZubair's faith. "Madrasa edu-cated chap, what is an awkwardmoment? Did I hide? It's legaland official. Am I the one whocreated the toolkit? Am I theone who is facing Charges?Awkward is your madrasabrain which fails to understandthe basics (sic)" she tweeted.

"Several trolls who refer toChristians as 'rice bag converts'are RTing this tweet by @Geethak_MP Jacob. By theway, I am happy that the

venom inside you is comingout in the open for the worldto see," responded Zubair.

Some netizens tweeted thatthe CBI has filed a chargesheetagainst Geetha and others fortheir alleged involvement in acriminal conspiracy to cheatPunjab National Bank (PNB)to the tune of Rs 42.79 crore.

The CBI filed a chargesheetin the court of PrincipalSpecial Judge for CBI cases,Hyderabad U/s 120-B (crimi-nal conspiracy) read with 420(Cheating), 468 (forgery), and471 of IPC and U/s 13(2) r/w13(1)(d) of the PC Act, 1988.Babblloo, a netizen, tweetedthat Geetha is from a ChristianDalit family who got a fake STCertificate as her brother hasa BC Certificate.

Araku ex-MP indulges inMuslim bashing on Twitter

Plans to make ancient Motupallitown a heritage tourist hub afootPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Motupalli Heritage Society isdrawing plans for the integrat-ed tourism development atMotupalli, an ancient porttown in ChinnaganjamMandal, Prakasam district,according to Society secretaryDasaradha Rami Reddy.

Way back in 1972, the statedepartment of Archaeologyand Museums conducted exca-vations at Motupalli leading torecovery of 12th centurybronzes of Nataraja, Parvati,Ganesha and Alwars.

It is interesting to note thatcoins and pottery of the ninthcentury AD Chinese Ming

dynasty were also exposed. Dr E Sivanagi Reddy, archae-

ologist and CEO, The Cultural

Centre of Vijayawada andAmaravati, said that Motupalliserved as an International Port

during the early and medievalperiods as attested by theinscriptions of KakatiyaGanapathi Deva, AnapothaReddy of the Kondaveedudynasty and Deva Raya II ofthe Vijayanagara dynasty giv-ing incentives to the seabornetraders.

These inscriptions are nowlocated in the VeerabadhraSwamy temple. On the initia-tive taken by the MotupalliHeritage Society, officials fromAP Tourism visited Motupalliand surveyed in and aroundthe port town and collecteddata pertaining to the potentialresources for development oftourism. Dr Reddy briefed the

officials on the historical signif-icance of Motupalli port,Veerabadhra, Kodandaramatemples, sculptures andinscriptions. He also informedthe team about the visit ofMarco Polo, a Venetian trav-eller to Motupalli Port in 1287AD and his account of theflourishing trade activities atthe port as reported to KakatiyaRudrama Devi.

The local community iseagerly waiting for their longcherished dream coming trueat Motupalli. Dr JyothiChandramouli, a historian pre-sent on the occasion, has liter-ary references to the port dur-ing the Reddy period.

APSCHE chairman’s tips to crack civils PNS n VIJAYAWADA

AP State Higher EducationCouncil (APSCHE) ChairmanProf K Hemachandra Reddyhas said that those who have astrong desire to serve the soci-ety especially downtroddenand weaker sections will havea bright chance to crack theprestigious civil service exam.

Speaking at the sixth annu-al day celebrations of theTakshashila IAS Academy atMana gardens in Kanuru inVijayawada on Thursday, ProfReddy said proper planningwith systematic hard work willpave the way for success.

"Civil service exam is notthat difficult if one has will andvigour," he said. He explainedin detail how to overcomepreliminary and main exams

with examples of his formerstudents who succeeded inthis exam. He also stressed on

the need to have a firm gripover current affairs and gener-al knowledge.

Takshasila AcademicDirector Dr N Nageswara RaoIAS (Retd) also said thatTakshasila students are beingtrained on par with Delhiinstitutions in all ways includ-ing personality development.

Reiterating the academy'scommitment for quality coach-ing, Retired IAS officer said itwas the first time in the histo-ry of civil service coaching inAndhra Pradesh.

Earlier, the team answeredquestions posed by the aspi-rants and clarified their doubts.Later, dance and song perfor-mances by the aspirantsenthralled the audience.

Prof Hemachandra Reddyand Dr Nageswara Rao distrib-uted prizes to the winners ofthe games, sports and variouscultural programmes.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Sankar Foundation EyeHospital and Institute, arenowned community eye carehospital, is now extending itsquality eye care services to thetribal, Naxal-affected andunderdeveloped areas.

The Foundation which hasperformed over 3.15 lakh eyesurgery in north coastalAndhra Pradesh has beenserving in Nabarangpur,Malkangiri and Koraput dis-tricts for the past five years.

In association with theRotary Eye and Health CareHospital, Jeypore, it has beenproviding services in Koraputdistrict of Odisha.

Conducting 26 outreachcampaigns, SankarFoundation has performed3000 eye surgeries which

include Cataract, Glaucoma,Cornea and Paediatriccataracts.

Towards extending qualityeye care services to more peo-ple in need, the Foundationhas associated with RotaryClub, Jeypore and took overoperations and managementof Rotary Eye and HealthCare hospital.

To reach the unreached peo-ple, MD of Hello Jeypore,Anjani Agarwal donated a 7-seater Maruti van to the eyecare hospital on Thursday.

The van will be used for fer-rying patients from the campsconducted in the rural vil-lages.

Alok Agarwal, Mr Guptaand Ashish Agarwal fromRotary Club and Bangararajuand SKL Rao from SankarFoundation were present.

Bringing quality eyecare to tribal areas

After Kuppamvictory, YSRCP goesContinued from Page 1

As per the final tally, of thetotal 89 panchayats that comeunder four mandals inKuppam that went to pollsduring the third phase, 75 havebeen bagged by candidatesbacked by YSRCP. TDP sup-porters bagged only 14 pan-chayats. Out of the total 93panchayats that come underKuppam, polls could not beheld in four due to various rea-sons.

Significantly, in thePanchayat polls last held in2013, YSRCP backed candi-dates had won only 12 pan-chayats in Kuppam. Notably,Kuppam is part of Chittoordistrict which will witnessanother high stakes politicalbattle in the form of TirupatiLok Sabha by-poll.

On Thursday, PanchayatRaj Minister PeddireddyRamachandra Reddy, who alsobelongs to the Chittoor dis-trict, asked if Naidu was readyto resign for losing his bastion.

Naidu, who went intodefensive overdrive, said thatit was democracy that wasdefeated in Kuppam and it wasnot YSRCP victory. He allegedlarge scale malpractices and

coercion by YSRCP leaders inKuppam, which has beenknown for peaceful and tran-quil atmosphere all these years.

Ramachandra Reddy per-sonally oversaw the strategyand effectively implemented itgiving a body blow to Naidu.

The Minister said that peo-ple have their trust in YSRCPgovernance and thus answeredrightfully by casting their voteto his party supporters, with-out taking any notice ofNaidu’s allegations. He saidthat Naidu was defeated in hisown constituency, as peoplewere fed up with his leadershipand dared him to resignaccepting the defeat.

“Crores of rupees weredumped in the Kuppam seg-ment to get immoral victoriesthere. The ruling party mani-acs brought outsiders to defeatdemocracy. Kuppam isknown for its credibility,peace-loving people and eth-ical values but now the YSRCPgoondas have polluted theatmosphere. Why should Iresign when the YSRCP lead-ers misused the police andthreatened the candidatesbesides committing many vio-lations to snatch unethicalvictories,” said Naidu.

Continued from Page 1

"The people have already start-ed revolting against the imple-mentation of the oppressive,faction-ridden Raja Reddyconstitution by Jagan Reddy.The TDP cadres would rallytogether to protect the benev-olent, people-friendlyAmbedkar's Constitution inAndhra Pradesh," he said.

Stating that higher voterturnouts indicated people'senthusiasm in the election,Naidu said that there was uni-formity in polling with 81.66percent recorded in first phase,81.67 percent in second phaseand now 80.71 percent inthird phase. "All this was pos-sible only with the awarenessand confidence created by the

TDP," he claimed.This was the first moral

victory for the Oppositionagainst the YSRCP leaders'vicious designs to nominatetheir persons in the panchay-ats by ensuring'forcible unani-mous elections'.The goodresponse tothe TDP andits alliesmarked thebeginning ofthe downfall ofthe ruling YSRCP.

Naidu deploredthat even in the thirdphase of counting, delays werecaused in counting and mas-sive irregularities were com-mitted after 7.30 pm yesterday.

"By midnight, the results start-ed coming out totally in favourof the YSRCP though theywere in favour of the TDP andallies at the beginning," he said.

Naidu alleged that the policecolluded with the YSRCP

and used threats dur-ing night hours to

play mind gameswith the TDP can-didates in order tomanipulate thefinal results. "Asper the Supreme

Court orders, theState Election

Commission (SEC) hastotal powers to conduct the

election in a free and fairmanner but it failed to usethose powers in the currentpanchayat election," he said.

Naidu’s defense: Democracy...

Sajjala’spotshots:Kuppam poll...Continued from Page 1

Sajjala stated that while ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy has fulfilled everypromise made to the public ina most responsible manner,irrespective of the beneficiary'scaste, religion, or the party theyhave voted, Naidu has donenothing for Kuppam con-stituency, which is why the peo-ple have taught him a lesson.

Hitting hard at the TDPleader, he said that Naidu hascrossed a level of telling lies,where his own party peopleare unable to trust him. Sajjalasaid people trust the rulingparty and its administrationhelmed by JaganmohanReddy.

He added that YSRCP sup-porters have won in 2,424panchayats and TDP has wonin only 527 panchayats andchallenged Naidu to disprovethis.

"Naidu conspired withSEC since March 2020 andcreated hurdles for the gov-ernment, but now he is goingagainst SEC Ramesh Kumar,as the poll results are not sat-isfactory," Sajjala said, thank-ing people who have votedfor YSRCP supporters inspite of the evil propagandaled by TDP leaders.

Poll for 6 Councilseats under MLAsquota on March 15Continued from Page 1

Members whose term willend are Gundumala ThippeSwamy, Gummidi SandhyaRani, Vattikuti VeeraVenkanna Chowdary, ShaikMohammed Iqbal and PilliSubhaschandra Bose (Pilli'sseat fell vacant from July2020 following his resigna-tion).

The notification will beissued on February 25 andthe last date to file nomina-tions is March 4.Withdrawal of candidaturecan be done till March 8.

While polling will be heldon March 15 between 9 amand 4 pm, counting of voteswill be held after 5 pm andresults will be declaredthereafter.

NTR a committed secularist...Continued from Page 1

Recalling his long and closeassociation with the late leader,the Vice President said that heused to share a special bondwith NTR after the successful'save Democracy' movementfollowing the unjustifiable dis-missal of the NTR govern-ment. "S Jaipal Reddy fromJanata Party and myself fromBJP had taken active role. Hewas beholden to us and went tothe extent of offering us cabi-net berths which we politelydeclined", the Vice Presidentrecounted.

NTR's sub-nationalism wasconstructive and his brand ofregionalism celebrated the plu-ralistic idea of India. His fightfor strengthening the federalcharacter of the Constitutionand the emphasis he laid on thewelfare role of the government

remains relevant in today'sIndia when regional aspira-tions are on the rise, the VicePresident observed.

The Vice President praisedthe author Ramesh Kandulafor charting the course ofsome of the biggest upheavalsin Andhra Pradesh politicsobjectively and with the

insight of a seasoned observ-er. He stressed the need forbringing out additionalbooks on different facets ofNTR.

Senior journalist SanjayaBaru praised the compre-hensive study made by theauthor to throw light on var-ious aspects of NTR's life.

AP coastline saw...Continued from Page 1

Shoreline change is one of thethree identified environmentalconcerns considered for thedevelopmental activities such asports, harbour, fishing jetties andembankment facilities.

Cumulative shoreline changeanalysis from 1990 to 2016 indi-cates that in Andhra Pradesh, 27percent of the coast is eroding,31 percent is stable and 42 per-cent is accreting. Nellore districtshows an accretion trend with afew pockets of erosion and sta-ble condition.

In the districts of Prakasam,Guntur and West Godavari,accretion is observed to bedominating the coast. Deltaregions of Krishna and EastGodavari show alternating bandof accretion and erosion.

V i s a k h a p a t n a m ,Vizianagaram and Srikakulam

districts are observed to exhib-it stable conditions. Regionslike Korakupalaiyam,Pallikuppam, Toppalap-pala-iyam, Virrasettitannipp-andal,Vatturi Pallipalem that are abovethe Upputeru River, RavulapatiSangam, Binginip-alle,Rayaduruvu, Pedda Boyapalem,Ullapalem and Uppada are iden-tified as erosion prone areas.

The 6,632 km shoreline distrib-uted among nine coastal statesand two union territories wasanalysed by an expert team ofNCCR for the period 1990-2016to estimate the shoreline changei.e., erosion, accretion and stabil-ity. Coastal erosion has becomeone of the most alarming threatsin varying pockets along theIndian coast.

As per the satellite data usedfor the analysis, 33% Indiancoast is eroding, 234.25 sq kmwas lost to erosion in 26 years.

Satellite data usedfor the analysisContinued from Page 1

Land gain and loss in thesestates are of the order of0.55 and 5.84 sq km respec-

tively.Of all the states maxi-

mum land loss is in WestBengal, 99.05 sq km is seento have lost by erosion.

POINTS TTO PPONDER

n Of the 1,027.58 km of AP'scoastline, 272.34 km faceserosion, 320.98 km is stable and434.26 km faces accretionn 1:25,000 scale maps used toanalyse AP shorelinen Odisha (51%) is the onlycoastal state with more than50% accretion, followed by APwith 42%n Total 526 maps weregenerated for entire Indian coastfor identifying the vulnerable

coastal areas in 1:25000 scalesalong with 66 district maps, 10state /UT mapsn Indian mainland coastincludes 9 coastal states and 2union territories having 66coastal districtsn Morphology of the Indiancoast consists of 43% sandybeach, 11% rocky coast, 36% ofmuddy flats 10% of marshycoast, 97 major estuaries and 34lagoons

Chintamaneniattacks hubby...Continued from Page 1

According to reports,Prabhakar was in B.Singavaram village in Pedavegimandal on Wednesday night,campaigning for the panchay-at elections.

Fol lowing a brawlbetween YSRCP and TDPleaders, it was alleged thatSamuel, the husband of aYSRCP supported sarpanchcandidate, was seriouslyinjured after being attackedby the former MLA.

The couple filed a com-plaint with the pol ice.Acting to the complaint, thepolice arrested Prabhakaron Thursday afternoon.

He was taken to EluruRural Police Station and will

be produced before a judgelater in the evening.

A case has been registeredagainst him and his follow-ers under IPC Sections341,324,143, 323, 354, 354a,171C, 506 (2), 455 R / w 149.

Continued from Page 1

The wooden chariot of theAntarvedi temple is used duringspecial processions and festivalsand is 40-feet tall. It is made ofteakwood. The new chariot hasseven stairs and is 42 feet tall andwill have a brake system for its six

wheels.The burnt chariot was parked

in a shed on the temple premiseswhen the incident took place onSeptember 5.

Following a departmentalinquiry into the incident, twostaffers, including the temple’sExecutive Officer, were suspend-

ed on charges of negligence andinefficiency.

Jagan is expected to reachAntarvedi temple on Friday ataround 11:30 am. After participat-ing in the special rituals organisedat the temple, the Chief Ministeris expected to leave at around 12.30pm for his Tadepalli residence.

Jagan to launch new chariot at...

AP reports 67Covid casesPNS n VIJAYAWADA

AP reported 67 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the overalltally to over 8.89 lakh, the gov-ernment said on Thursday.One death was reported push-ing the toll to 7,166.

The state also reported 54more recoveries in 24 hoursending 9 AM on Thursday, aHealth department bulletinsaid.

With 28,239 clinical exam-inations, the total number oftests conducted so far in thestate stood at over 1.36 crore.The total confirmed positiveCovid-19 cases were 8,89,077while the recoveries stood at8,81,292, it said.

The active cases are at 619.Chittoor topped the chartwith 17 fresh cases followedby Guntur with 12.

APSCHE chairman Prof K Hemachandra Reddy lights a lamp during the annualday celebrations of the Takshashila IAS Academy in Vijayawada on Thursday.

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Thursday made itclear that the YSR Jaganannacolonies should be modelcolonies and they should not beturned into slums under anycircumstances.

Stating that the focus shouldbe on beautification, Jagandirected officials to revisitevery layout and ensure theyare beautiful and pleasant.

Chairing a review meetingon construction of houses andinfrastructure facilities to beprovided in YSR Jaganannacolonies, the Chief Ministersuggested changes in the pro-posals laid for providing infra-structure facilities.

During the review meetingheld at his camp office here, theChief Minister instructed offi-cials to prepare an action planfor timely release of funds forconstruction of houses at a

brisk pace.He directed the officials to

complete the constructionworks as soon as possible and

said the residents of thecolonies should have high liv-ing standards. He said under-ground drainage should be set

up and the construction ofroads should be commensuratewith the population.

He said Anganwadi shouldbe available for every 2,000population in the newly-con-structed colonies and also alibrary to serve every 1500 to5,000 households. The ChiefMinister also instructed theofficials give priority to parks.

The officials said over 15lakh houses will be construct-ed in the first phase and 83 per-cent of the beneficiaries have sofar opted from the three givenoptions.

The Chief Minister directedthe officials to complete receiv-ing options from the remain-ing beneficiaries and said steeland cement should be suppliedto them as stocks are availableat a lower price than in theopen market.

He said construction mate-rial should be made available toall, so that whoever chooses the

option of building their ownhouses would also be benefit-ted. He added that it is theresponsibility of the officials toensure that the material isavailable at affordable prices.The officials said they havebeen geotagging all the hous-es.

He also reviewed the infra-structure facilities in thecolonies that would be formedby giving plots to the middleclass at affordable prices intowns and cities and gave sug-gestions on construction ofroads, underground drainage,parks, other infrastructure etc.

He said to follow best prac-tices in maintaining sanitationand hygiene. He also said to becautious in planting saplings inthe colonies and ensure that thetrees planted would be good forpeople’s health. He said thatmarking should be done forplanting trees while thecolonies are being constructed.

Jagananna colonies should notturn into slums, orders CM

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former Minister and TDPsenior leader Ch AyyannaPatrudu on Thursdaydemanded Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy to explainto the people of the State whyhe did not visit the protestcamps of the agitators at theVisakha Steel Plant during hisvisit to the port city.

Ayyanna Patrudu assertedthat once again, the ChiefMinister displayed his mas-sive ego and arrogance by notuttering a single word onprivatisation of the steel plantwhen the workers' unionsand the political parties werecontinuing their agitationthere.

“The general public werenot able to understand whatsort of administration Jaganwas running as he summonedand spoke to the VSP agita-tors at the Vizag airport,”Ayyanna Patrudu said.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Thursday, theTDP leader said that the truecolours of the Chief Ministerwere exposed in front of theAP people as he showed totaldisregard and utter indiffer-ence to the sentiments of theemployees and the people ofthe port city.

“The people of the Stateshould also think and intro-

spect what kind of a leaderthey were having now. On hispart, former chief minister NChandrababu Naidu duly vis-ited the VSP agitators aftercalling on TDP leader Palla

Srinivasa Rao at his hospitalbed from where he was con-tinuing his fast-unto-death,”Ayyanna Patrudu said.

He deplored that it waswith the active participationof Jagan in his capacity as theChief Minister that the MoUwas signed with the SouthKorean company POSCO forthe sale of the steel plant.“The entire privatisation planwas only aimed at helping theYSRCP leaders to get hugepersonal benefits in it,”Ayyanna Patrudu said.

The Chief Minister flew toVizag on Wednesday by a spe-cial flight at the expense of thepublic funds but he preferredgoing to the Peetham andmeeting with the VizagSwamiji there rather thanextending solidarity to theagitators, he alleged.

Steel plant issue exposedCM’s true colours: Ayyanna

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Forum for Developmentof North Andhra (FDNA)has urged Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy, as a mat-ter of urgency, sort out thePanchagrama (Simhachalamlands) land disputes, in tanglefor the last two decades. In aletter to the Chief Minister onThursday, Forum general sec-retary A Aja Sharma remind-ed that during his padayatra,Jagan had promised to solvethe problem soon after com-ing to power.

“Accordingly in 2019, a GOwas issued announcing for-mation of a three-membercommittee to resolve the issue.The following year anotherGO was issued adding addi-tional three members to thecommittee,” Sharma said. Hewrote that two GOs wereissued and a committee wasformed but the problemremained unresolved, as it hasbeen since the past 20 years.“The three members added tothe committee in the secondGO have no knowledge aboutthe temple lands. None ofthem have spoken to the peo-ple whose lands were at stake,”Sharma told the ChiefMinister in his letter. The pre-

vious TDP governmentdragged the issue out for anentire term and the peoplefeared this government wouldalso do the same.

He said the problem arosewhen the government issuedpattas for the Simhachalamtemple in 1996 and 1997.The Visakhapatnam RDOcourt and subsequently theAP High Court declared themas invalid and this wasinformed to the committeemembers.

Earlier, the previous gov-ernment ignored the HighCourt order and brought thelands under Section 22A pre-venting land transactions.People in emergency needscould not raise money fromthese lands, Sharma said in hisletter.

While the issue remainedunsolved, on the eve of theChief Minister's visit onWednesday, the policedescended on the homes ofrepresentatives of farmers andlandowners and confinedthem to house arrest. Sharmademanded that the land pat-tas given to the SimchalamDevasthanam in 1996 and1997 should be cancelled andthe government should revokethe Section 22A.

FDNA urges CM toresolve Simhachalamland dispute soon

The people of theState should alsothink and introspectwhat kind of a leaderthey were havingnow. On his part,former CM dulyvisited the VSPagitators after callingon TDP leader PallaSrinivasa Rao at hishospital bed fromwhere he wascontinuing his fast

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

The Budget session of theOdisha assembly started on astormy note on Thursday withopposition Congress and BJPmembers staging a walkout assoon as Governor Ganesh Lalstarted addressing the House.

The Congress members ledby its whip TaraprasadBahinipati raised slogans andurged the governor to stopreading out his speech in praiseof the BJD government. TheBJP members also followedsuit and walked out of theHouse.

While the Congress was crit-ical over the Andhra Pradeshgovernment conducting rural

polls in a cluster of villages atKotia in Odisha's Koraput dis-trict, rising fuel prices and lawand order situation, the BJPmembers raised issues relatingto Kotia polls, irregularities inpaddy procurement and risingincidents of political violence.

After staging the walkoutfrom the House, theOpposition members sat on adharna near MahatmaGandhi's statue on theAssembly premises.

The governor in his speechsaid that the overall law andorder situation in the state hadremained peaceful during 2020.

No major law and orderincident had taken place due tothe proactive role of the police,

he said.The police successfully han-

dled the Covid-19 situation andas many as 49 police personnelsacrificed their lives in the lineof duty during the pandemic,and 940 police personneldonated plasma to save the livesof critical coronavirus patients.

"The Left Wing Extremismscenario has remarkablyreduced during the past fiveyears due to proactive securi-ty and administrativeresponse," Lal said.

On the economic front, thegovernor said, the state govern-ment was able to plough backabout Rs 2,800 crore by mop-ping up government moneyparked in bank accounts.

One Time Settlement (OTS)schemes have been introducedfor the realisation of revenuearrears, he said.

The state government hasbeen able to collect revenue

amounting to Rs 38,760 croreby the end of January, 2021which is about 7.3 per centmore than the collection dur-ing the corresponding period ofthe previous year, the governor

said.Noting that the Covid-19

pandemic posed a uniquechallenge to Odisha’s publicfinances, the Governor said,the crisis resulted in shrinkage

in fiscal space which com-pelled the government toreprioritise its public spendingto meet the higher demand forspending on Covid manage-ment, creating livelihoodopportunities, promotingagriculture as well as theIndustries and MSME sectorfor employment generation.

As a temporary measure,the corpus of the ContingencyFund was enhanced from Rs400 crore to Rs 2,000 crore toprovide the required fiscalspace for aggressive response tothe pandemic, he said.

The government also adopt-ed an innovative way to availcheaper sources of financingfrom surplus cash balance in

dedicated funds, likeCompensatory AfforestationFund Management andPlanning Authority (CAMPA)and Odisha Mineral BearingAreas DevelopmentCorporation (OMBADC), tomaintain the required liquidi-ty during the crisis.

The Budget session startedwith strict adherence to Covid-19 guidelines and all membershad to produce corona- nega-tive reports for entering theHouse.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik, who had attended theprevious two sessions of theAssembly on virtual mode,was physically present in theHouse on Thursday.

Bedlam, Opposition walkout as GP polls in AP rock Odisha AssemblyThe Left WingExtremismscenario hasremarkablyreduced duringthe past five yearsdue to proactivesecurity andadministrativeresponse

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Non-genuine and spurious pes-ticides account for 40 percentof the pesticides sold in India,said IICT Fluoro-Agrochemicals DivisionScientist Dr Srinivas Kantevarihere on Thursday.

To avoid usage of non-gen-uine and sub-standard pesti-cides in the country, CSIR-IICTis taking initiatives to build astrong and effective data baseon crop protection chemicals,he explained.

He pointed that the illegalimports of technical gradechemicals having no CIB andRC registration has also led tothe formulation of non-genuinepesticides locally.

Participating in a nationalwebinar on “Recent Advancesin Health and Agro Science”organised by GITAM Deemed

to be University Chemistrydepartment, he further saidthat use of non-genuine prod-ucts leads to loss of revenue tofarmers, agro-chemical compa-nies and government.

He informed that during2016-20 IICT has developedoff-patent agrochemicals worth4.1 billion US dollars. In view

of growing demand for bio pes-ticides, IICT is now concentrat-ing more on creating hybridproducts which are a mixtureof conventional agrochemicalswith botanical based biopesti-cides to reduce the syntheticchemical load, he added.

National Institute ofNutrition (NIN) Biochemistry

wing scientist Dr GBhanuprakash Reddy said thatnatural sources such as spices,dietary agents and functionalfoods could have the potentialto control diabetic complica-tions.

CSIR-IICT Centre for LipidScience and Technology seniorprincipal scientist Dr BLA

Prabhavathi Devi informedthat polyunsaturated fatty acids(PUFA) are essential part ofhuman diet without whichsome vital functions would becompromised.

She informed that some ofthe minor constituents pre-sent in the oils and fats also playa significant role as immunityregulators in synergy with otherknown immunity boosters dueto their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties.

Lee Pharma Ltd FormulationDevelopment Vice-PresidentDr Meka Lingam informedthat natural polymers are moreadvantageous than syntheticpolymers as they are econom-ical, non-toxic and abundant-ly available in nature andpresently usage of natural poly-mers is increasing in pharma-ceutical and biomedical indus-tries at a fast pace.

40% of pesticides sold in India spurious: IICT scientist

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Thursday receivedthe Swarnim Vijay Mashaal,Flame of Victory, in Tirupati tocommemorate the GoldenJubilee Celebrations ofSwarnim Vijay Varsh markingthe Indo-Pak War of 1971.

On the occasion, the ChiefMinister felicitated the WarHeroes, besides announcing aten-fold hike in cash awardfrom the State Government forthose winning gallantrymedals in Armed Forces.

The Victory Flame, whichwas lit by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to mark theyear-long Golden Jubilee cel-ebrations on December 16,reached Tirupati to begin itsSouthern journey. The Flamewill be taken across the coun-try and to places where WarHeroes hail from to relive thespirit of the Victory.

Earlier in the day, the ChiefMinister visited the residenceof Major General (Retd) CVenugopal, and felicitated himas he is the living legend of the1971 War. He also met thefamily members of the WarHero who was decorated witha bar of medals. Earth from thehouse of Maj. Gen. will betaken to Delhi for its place ofpride.

Later at the Police ParadeGrounds, the Chief Ministerfelicitated J Chinatalli, widowof Naik J Sanyasi for his exem-plary role in the 1971 War. TheChief Minister has said that theState Government will increasethe cash award by ten times forthe Armed Forces personnelfrom the State who win gal-lantry medals.

The cash award for winnersof Param Vir Chakra andAshoka Chakra are now get-ting Rs 10 lakh and it will beincreased to Rs 1 crore. ForMaha Vir Chakra and KeertiChakra the amount of Stateincentives will be increasedfrom Rs 8 lakh to Rs 80 lakh.

For the Armed personnelfrom the State winning VeerChakra and Sowrya Chakra,the cash award will beincreased from Rs 6 lakh to Rs

60 lakh. The kin of all armedpersonnel from the State wholay down their lives in line ofduty will be given Rs 50 lakh,he said.

The Chief Minister recalledthe events that led to the 1971War and how the new nationBangladesh was born and therole played by the ArmedForces in liberating what wasthen called East Pakistan. TheWar lasted for just 13 days onDecember 16 and a new nationwas born and democracy wasupheld putting an end to thehegemony of West Pakistanover East.

He saluted the ArmedForces for guarding our bor-ders and sovereignty even inadverse weather conditions toensure peace in the rest of thecountry. The brave hearts willlive forever. It is not a job buta service to the nation safe-guarding the country of 135crore people, Jagan said.

An audio visual presentationof the 1971 War was playedalong with a medley of patri-otic songs by the Army band.Officers and Men from theServices besides State Cabinetministers and officials werepresent at the event.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Nagalakshmi Selvarajan (IAS)assumed charge as the newMunicipal Commissioner ofVizag on Thursday.

The 2012-batch IAS officerreplaces Gummalla Srijana(IAS), who was transferred onthe direction of the StateElection Commissioner.

Soon after taking charge,the new GVMCCommissioner addressed the

Additional Commissioners,Head of Departments, andZonal Commissioners of theCorporation.

Nagalakshmi served as theChairman and ManagingDirector of Andhra PradeshEastern Power DistributionCompany Limited (APEPD-CL), headquartered in Vizag,until being posted in her newjob. She was appointed theCMD of APEPDCL in June2019.

Deputy CM’sfather-in-lawresigns fromYSRCP

CM announces 10-fold hikein cash awards for gallantry

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Ahead of the civic body elec-tions, SatrucharlaChandrasekhar Raju, YSRCPleader and father-in-law ofDeputy Chief MinisterPamula Pushpa Sreevani, ten-dered his resignation fromthe primary membership ofthe party on Thursday.

Citing several reasonsbehind his resignation,Chandrasekhara Raju told themedia that YSRCP policieswere against the welfare of thepeople belonging to the poor-er sections. The recent elec-tions also exhibited the violentattitude of the party, he alleged.

However, the insiders inthe YSRCP’s Vizianagaramunit say there was a familydiscord and jealousy as theelders in the family did notlike the power wielded bytheir daughter-in-law in theparty affairs. This was evidentfrom the comments made byChandrasekhara Raju earlier,the insiders said.

As he was sidelined by theparty, Chandrasekhara Rajuwas extending silent supportto the TDP backed candidatesin the gram panchayat elec-tions, the sources said.

S Nagalakshmi takescommand of GVMC

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021 telangana 04

Sravan seeks Governor’s interventionPNS n HYDERABAD

AICC National SpokespersonDasoju Sravan on Thursdayappealed to Governor TamilisaiSoundarrajan to immediatelyscrap the illegal faculty recruit-ment being done by theEnglish and Foreign LanguagesUniversity (EFLU) inHyderabad.

Sravan, along with seniorCongress leader G ChinnaReddy, spoke to the media atGandhi Bhavan regarding thegross injustice is being done tothe OBCs in implementation ofBC reservation across the Stateand Central Universities,including the EFLU, which aredeliberately violating the con-stitutional rights and destroy-ing career opportunities ofOBC students and applicants.

“The UGC sanctionedstrength of teachers to EFLU is238. As per the Constitutionalprovisions, out of the 238 sanc-tioned posts, the OBCs mustget 63 posts constituting 27%of the OBC reservation. Out of

the 63 OBC sanctioned postsat EFLU, there should be eightprofessors, 16 associate profes-sors, and 39 assistant profes-sors. But till now, the numberof OBC professors recruited iszero; associate professors zeroand only 23 assistant professorsout of 39 allotted posts,” Sravanexplained in the letter sent tothe Governor.

He further stated that theNCBC gave directions in itsorders dated 27 January 2021that “the EFL University tokeep-on-hold the present inter-views with immediate effectuntil further orders. If thevacancies are filled by thisnotification, the OBC candi-dates will be deprived of theirright of reservation and theirOBC vacancies will be filledwith non-reserved candidatescausing irreparable loss to theOBC candidates”.

Defying NCBC orders, theEFLU authorities, includingthe Vice-Chancellor (VC),played dramas without provid-ing sufficient data, skipping

public hearings, bringing unso-licited claimed to be advocatesto the public hearing and alsoapproaching the High Courtseeking a stay on NCBCorders, which clearly stated that“There shall be a stay on theinterviews with immediateeffect until further orders”.However, the High Courtdeclined to provide any reliefobserving that the wholeprocess seemed “100% ille-gal” and termed as “futile exer-cise”. Since there was no respitefrom the High Court and fear-ing the consequences, the

EFLU authorities have with-drawn their petition beforethe High Court. But, they wenton conducting interviews untilFebruary 2, 2021, which is asheer violation of the stayorder issued by the NCBC.

While expressing hope thatthe NCBC will certainly, takethese dubious activities ofEFLU into cognizance, Sravanalleged that it was given tounderstand that EFLU author-ities are likely to hold an emer-gency Executive CouncilMeeting on Thursday to rati-fy the list of selected candidatesand immediately issue themthe appointment letters illegal-ly. Therefore, he appealed tothe Governor, who is the cus-todian of the Constitution andthe Executive Head of theState and also as the ChiefRector of the EFL University,to intervene and initiate actionfor cancellation of the currentnotification and uphold theConstitutional rights of theOBCs and render justice to theOBCs.

PNS n NIZAMABAD

Intra-party squabbles in theTRS come to the fore in the pres-ence of party MLC Kavitha andMinister for Roads & Buildings,Legislative Affairs and HousingVemula Prashanth Reddy recent-ly. The fight for supremacybetween the two TRS leaderssurfaced at a private eventattended by the MLC and theminister.

In fact, in many constituen-cies, similar circumstances pre-vailed in the district. ZillaParishad chairman Vithal Raoand Armoor MLA Jeevan Reddyentered into a wordy duel in thepresence of Kavitha and VemulaPrashanth Reddy at the inaugur-al function of a private bio-plas-

tic plant inauguration inLakkampalli SEZ in Nandipetmandal on Monday. The minis-ter had to intervene and pacifythe clashing leaders.

The incident, which tookplace in the presence of two min-isters and the MLC, is soon onthe lips of everyone in the party.The Zilla Parishad chairman,Vithal Rao, breathed fire on theMLA, Jeevan Reddy, forobstructing him with the help ofthe police to prevent him fromtaking part in the event.Prashanth Reddy had to inter-vene and calm the clashing TRSleaders.

In the Armoor constituency,the fight for supremacy betweenVithal Rao and Jeevan Reddyreached a crescendo. The two

leaders are charting their inde-pendent course of actionwhether it is taking part in theinauguration of developmentworks, or implementing thePalle Pragathi programme.

Earlier, such an incident wasreported in a programme held atMakloor. The dispute came tothe notice of TRS supremo K

Chandrasekhar Rao for resolu-tion.

Monday’s incident once againexposed the differences amongthe TRS leaders. In Nizamabad'surban constituency, too, thesame situation prevailed. At thetime of the last elections, TRSpolitburo member and seniorleader AS Posetty launched a

scathing attack on MLA BigalaGanesh convening a media con-ference. The issue created a lotof sensation at that time.

Before the 2018 Assemblyelections, MLA Baji reddyGoverdhan and former MLCBhupathi Reddy did not see eyeto eye in Nizamabad ruralAssembly constituency. The fightfor supremacy has come to anend with finally Bhupathi Reddyquitting the TRS.

In Vemula Prashanth Reddy’sBalkonda Assembly constituen-cy, the internecine clashes amongTRS leaders did not come to thefore so far. At the time of the lastAssembly elections, formerSpeaker of the Assembly KRSuresh Reddy joined the TRSgiving rise to speculation that

there would be a fight forsupremacy between PrashanthReddy and Suresh Reddy. But, sofar such incidents did not cometo the fore.

These quarrels did not limitthemselves to the Armoor con-stituency alone. In other con-stituencies, too, more or less sucha situation prevailed. In Bodhan,local MLA Shakeel Amair, localmunicipal chairperson’s spouseSharat Reddy also engaged insuch a clash. The differencesbetween the two did not surface,but Sarath Reddy is seething withdiscontent with the unnecessaryintervention of the MLA in theaffairs of Bodhan municipality.The TRS leaders are under-stood to have plans to take theirissue to the notice of Kavitha.

Internal bickerings come to fore among TRS leaders

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

The gruesome murder of theadvocate couple in full publicglare has sent shivers down thespine of people. However, cir-cumstances that led to the mur-der of the High Court advocatecouple --Vaman Rao andNagamani --are coming to thefore. According to locals, advo-cate Vaman Rao has been han-dling several sensational cases.

Moreover, the RamaswamyGopalaswamy TempleCommittee dispute atGunjapadugu village createdbad blood between the twogroups, one of which is beingrepresented in the court byVaman Rao, leading to the dou-ble murder.

The temple committee hasbeen divided into two groupswhile Vaman Rao is represent-ing one of the groups, retired DEVelli Vasanta Rao has been rep-resenting the rival group.

Vasanta Rao constitutedanother committee, setting asidethe committee being headed byVaman Rao’s brother IndraSekhar. The committee washeaded by the sarpanch’s broth-er Kunta Srinivas, who figuredas the A-2 in the double mur-der case. The committee was setup without the knowledge of hisbrother and sarpanch KuntaRaju.

In fact, sarpanch and hisbrother are not on good termsfor long. In fact, Kunta Raju con-tested as sarpanch in the last

elections against his brotherKunta Srinivas and was electedas sarpanch.

Srinivas, who was an MPTCthen, could not digest the suc-cess of his brother in the polls.This has fuelled the politicalrivalry between the two. Soon,the differences became wider.

In this backdrop, a ChandiYagam is scheduled to be per-formed at the village templefrom February 22 to 25 underthe aegis of the old committee.Arrangements have been madefor the same by the Vaman Raogroup. On the other hand, theVasantha Rao group also madearrangements to perform theyagam under its auspices.

As it fuelled controversy andsoon it snowballed, Vaman Rao,acting on directions fromsarpanch Raju, was preparing tolodge a PIL in the High Court. He,along with his spouse Nagamani,after obtaining signatures fromlocals and committee members,set out for Hyderabad to lodge acomplaint. Unfortunately, en routeto Hyderabad the couple wasmurdered.

Vaman Rao family membersalleged conspiracy by VasanthaRao in conducting the templeaffairs. The murder plan wasexecuted by Kunta Srinivas andAkkapaka Kumar, they alleged.

Based on a complaint lodgedwith the police by Vaman Rao’s

father, the police registered acase naming Kunta Srinivas asthe A-1, Akkapaka Kumar as theA-2 and Vasanta Rao as the A-3. The police stepped up theinvestigation of the case.

On the basis of informationprovided by Vaman Rao’s driver,the police obtained an audiotape of Kunta Srinivas. On theanalysis of call data of KuntaSrinivas, the police managed tolay hands on an audio clip,which read that Vaman Raowould collapse if the templewere to collapse.

There are many cases regis-tered against Srinivas ofGunjapadugu village on landencroachment and threateningothers and so on. Ramagundamcommissioner of PoliceSatyanarayana exuded confi-dence that the police wouldsoon take Kunta Srinivas intotheir custody. The double mur-der case sparked angry reactionsfrom people all over the state.

The Vaman Rao's familydemanded a probe into theincident by a sitting judge firstand later hand over the case tothe CBI. Meanwhile, advocateshave decided to continue theirstir till Advocates Protection Actis passed.

Manthani MLA D SridharBabu paid tributes to the cou-ple garlanding their mortalremains. Several Congressactivists took part in the funer-al procession. Vaman Rao’sbrother Indrasekhar lit thefuneral pyre.

Temple panel dispute led tomurder of advocate couple PNS n HYDERABAD

Member of Parliament fromNizamabad and BJP leaderDharmapuri Arvind hasalleged that the district policeare framing Hindus in fabricat-ed cases on the advice ofNizamabad PoliceCommissioner Karthikeya,whom he described as a ‘TRS-MIM agent’.

Demanding the resignationof Karthikeya, Arvind toldmedia persons here that thePolice Commissioner shouldaccept moral responsibility forthe issue of passports toRohingyas “with the intentionof troubling Hindus”.Describing the issue of pass-ports to Rohingyas in anunderhand manner as ‘shame-ful’, the BJP Member ofParliament said that TRS gov-ernment in the state was not ina position to issue even rationcards and pensions to eligiblecitizens in the state.

Arvind demanded ChiefSecretary Somesh Kumar tolaunch an inquiry into theAadhaar cards issued afterTRS came to power. He main-

tained that Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao’s familywas ‘suppressing’ Hindus. Hesaid that the party would lodgea complaint with Union HomeMinister Amit Shah against theattitude of Karthikeya, whowas “not leaving the district”despite being offered a promo-tion for going to another place

Arvind also alleged thatNizamabad Urban MLA andNizamabad City Mayor wereindulging in ‘land dandas’.Referring to Wednesday’s dou-ble murder, Arvind questionedthe TRS government as towhy it was not responding to

the incident. He alleged thatthe Vaman Rao couple wereeliminated as they had beenwaging a fight against the gov-ernment. He termed the inci-dent as ‘government’s murder’.

n The RamaswamyGopalaswamy Temple Committeedispute at Gunjapaduguvillage created bad blood between the two groups

n The committee has beendivided into two groups--Vaman Rao is representingone of the groups--whileRtd DE Velli Vasanta Raohas been representing the rival group

PNS n HYDERABAD

Demanding a CBI probe intothe murder of lawyer couple,Gattu Vaman Rao and GattuNagamani, Telangana PradeshCongress Committee (TPCC)President and MP N UttamKumar Reddy alleged that topTRS leadership was behind themurder.

Addressing a press confer-ence at Gandhi Bhavan onThursday, Uttam Kumar Reddysaid that the Congress partywould meet Chief Justice ofTelangana High Court HimaKohli and also write a letter toChief Justice of Supreme CourtSA Bobde. He said thatCongress would also raise the

issue in Parliament.Stating that the TRS govern-

ment was looting the resourcesof Telangana State, UttamKumar Reddy suspected theinvolvement of the TRS-backedsand mafia behind the murder.He said that the sand mafia hasnow started resorting to masskillings.

He said that the then ChiefJustice Raghvendra SinghChauhan and Justice B VijaysenReddy, in their order, datedSeptember 11,2020, mentionedthat Nagamani had complainedthat she and her husband wasbeing constantly harassed bythe police, both at Manthani,which is their native place, andin Hyderabad.

According to her, her hus-band (Vaman Rao) was falselyimplicated in two FIRs.Furthermore, she told the courtthat she was being threatenedover the phone by the PoliceDepartment. Some police

warned that not only her, butthe lives of her husband andchildren would be in danger iffiles a counter to the report oncustodial death. She was beingthreatened by police to with-draw the case, therefore, she hadsought protection and stringentaction be taken by the HighCourt against the PoliceDepartment. Since these factswere verbally narrated by her,the High Court had asked herto file an affidavit.

The last hearing, in this case,was held on February 7 whenNagamani stated that false caseswere being filed against her andher husband. She also pointedout consistent death threatsher family is receiving for hav-

ing handled earlier cases,including on atrocities onScheduled Castes and Tribes.

The TPCC Chief informedthat the lawyer couple had alsofiled several cases against theTRS party's Peddapalli ZillaParishad chairman PuttaMadhukar. They also filed acase against the ineligibility ofManthani municipal chairper-son Putta Shailaja, wife ofMadhukar. He said these factsclearly show that the murderswere politically motivated tosilence the whistleblowers.

The TPCC Chief warnedthat the Congress would launcha mass agitation if thoseinvolved in the murders werenot punished.

Arvind claims NZB policechief ‘framing’ Hindus

n Demanding theresignation ofKarthikeya, Arvind toldmedia persons here thatthe Police Commissionershould accept moralresponsibility for theissue of passports toRohingyas “with theintention of troublingHindus”

n Describing the issue ofpassports to Rohingyasin an underhandmanner as ‘shameful’,the BJP Member ofParliament said that TRSgovernment in the statewas not in a position toissue even ration cardsand pensions to eligiblecitizens in the state

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

Minister for Health EatalaRajender has said that theTRS government links thedevelopment of the State withthe development of farmers.

Speaking after inaugurat-ing the Rytu Vedika Bhavansin Chigurumamidi and MudiManikyam mandals of thedistrict on Thursday, he saidthat the development ofother sectors is dependent onthe development of the farmsector.

The land is fertile, but therewas no assured irrigation facil-ity in the region, he said.Many areas did not get drink-ing water in spite of the regionhas Lower Maneru Dam, hepointed out.

The dryland areas witnesseda suicide trend among thefarmers, he said promisingassured irrigation facility to thefarmers of the region to raisetwo crops by completingGouravelli and Gandipalli pro-

jects.The suicide trend among the

farmers has come down onaccount of the series of pro-farmer measures initiated bythe government.

The FCI procures 62 lakhtonnes of paddy out of the 1.05

crore tonnes of paddy pro-cured by it across the country,he said.

Zilla Parishad chairpersonKanumalla Vijaya, MPP VinitaSrinivas Reddy, ZPTC GRavinder and others took partin the programme.

‘Prosperity of farmers key to development of State’

Minister for Health Eatala Rajender waters a sapling after planting it afterinaugurating Rythu Vedika Bhavans in Karimnagar district on Thursday

‘Sand mafia behind lawyer couple's murder’

‘MISDEEDS’ IN EFLU RECRUITMENT

n In Armoor constituency, the fightfor supremacy between Vithal Raoand Jeevan Reddy reached acrescendo. The two leaders arecharting their independent courseof action whether it is taking part inthe inauguration of developmentworks, or implementing the PallePragathi programme

Expedite land acquisitionfor PRLIS, says CollectorPNS n NAGAR KURNOOL

Collector L Sharman directedthe revenue authorities toexpedite the land acquisitionwithout any hindrance to theongoing PalamuruRangareddy Lift IrrigationScheme in Nagar Kurnool dis-trict.

On Wednesday, DistrictCollector Sharman, along withP a l a m u r u - R a n g a r e d d yIrrigation officials, inspectedthe land acquisition sitesrequired for the first and sec-ond packages at Eluru andNarlapur in the Kolhapurzone.

Speaking on the occasion,the Collector, along with pro-ject chief engineer Ramesh,irrigation and revenue offi-cials, inspected the land acqui-sition sites required for thePalamuru Rangareddy LiftIrrigation Scheme in Eluru,Narlapur Kudikilla,Thirumalapur and Kalvakol

villages.On the occasion, the

District Collector said thatthe revenue departmentshould take measures to com-plete the final land acquisitionrequired for the project.

In all, 11,867.67 acres isrequired for 12 packages forthe Palamuru Rangareddy LiftIrrigation Scheme. So far,

11,847.66 acres have beenhanded over to the govern-ment for the project works andthe remaining 2,000 acres willbe handed over by the end ofMarch, the Collector said.

The Collector directed therevenue authorities to expeditethe handing over of 83 acres inPackage-I and 220 acres inPackage-III for speedy com-pletion of project works.

The Collector appealed tothe patta farmers to hand overtheir lands and contribute tothe progress of the project.Collector, along with irrigationdepartment officials, plantedsaplings at the Eluru projectguest house on the occasion.

Palamuru-Rangareddy LiftIrrigation Scheme superin-tending engineerVijayabhaskar Reddy, execu-tive engineer Srinivas Reddy,Sanjeeva Rao, Kolhapur RDOHanuma Naik, tahsildar, rev-enue and others accompaniedthe Collector.

PNS n RAJANNA SIRICILLA

D i s t r i c t C o l l e c t o r DKrishna Bhaskar said peo-ple should be vigilant toavoi d b e i ng s t r u ck bylightning during the sum-mer.

The Collector released aposter jointly printed byt h e S t a t e D i s a s t e rManagement Departmenta n d t h e D e v e l o p m e ntPlanning Commission atthe conference hall of theCollectorate on Thursday.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the Collector said

that when there is thunderand lightning during thesummer, there is a chanceof sudden lightning andloss of life. People areadvised to be aware of theweather in advance andtake proper precautions.

Signs of lightning andprecautions to be takenare explained in the poster.

The Collector instructedthe off icials to put upposters in places wherepeople are overcrowded.

District planning officerRajaram, mining officerand others were present.

People cautioned onlightning in summer

PNS n HYDERABAD

Cyberabad Commissioner ofPolice VC Sajjanar onThursday requested that alldepartments should cooper-ate and coordinate in pre-venting human trafficking.

Addressing the Anti-Human Trafficking first con-vergence meeting held underthe supervision of Cyberabadwith all the stake holders dis-trict officials fromRangareddy and Medchal andNGOs here, Sajjanar said thatto prevent human traffickinga special unit has been set upin Cyberabad in Septemberlast year and arrested 54 cul-prits and rescued 23 womenand children who are thevictims of such cases in 11cases registered so far.

Special anti-human traffick-ing unit will coordinate withdepartments concerned to pro-vide immediate assistance tothe victims, he also said that adedicated officer would mon-itor the pending trial cases ofhuman trafficking.

Plea to containhuman trafficking

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao was onThursday shown a chader(Gilaf) to be presented at theAjmer Dargah Urs celebra-tions. The chader speciallydesigned to be presented inthe dargah was displayed bythe Muslim communityelders to the Chief Minister.

The religious leaders, whooffered special prayers onthe occasion, prayed that thestate of Telangana would beprosperous in all spheres,the agricultural sector wouldprosper and the KCR familywould live a long life withgood health. On the occasionof Ajmer Dargah celebra-tions, the CM has conveyedbest wishes to the Muslimfraternity. Home MinisterMahmood Ali, Wakf BoardChairman MohammedSaleem, MLCs MohdFareeduddin, FarooqHussain, MLA MohdShakeel, TRS Minority CellChairman KhajaMujeebuddin, Mufti SayyedYousuf, corporator BabaFasiuddin were present onthe occasion.

Chadar to bepresented atAjmer Dargah

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021 nation 05

Hitting out at Union HomeMinister Amit Shah's 'Didi-Bhaipo' jibes, West Bengal

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeon Thursday challenged him tocontest an election against hernephew Abhishek Banerjee andthen think of fighting her.Addressing a party rally inPailan in the South 24 Parganasdistrict, Banerjee said thatAbhishek could have taken the easy route of being an MP by choosingto be a Rajya Sabha member but he fought the Lok Sabha election andgot the people's mandate. "Day and night they are talking about Didi-Bhatija. I challenge Amit Shah, contest against Abhishek Banerjee firstand then me," she said, amid a loud cheer from supporters. BJP leaders,including Shah, have often accused Banerjee of dynasty politics, allegingthat her 'Bhaipo' or nephew has received preferential treatment and willeventually be made the chief minister of the state. "How come your sonbecame a part of the cricket administration and made hundreds ofcrores of rupees?" Banerjee said, in a direct attack at Shah. She alsochallenged the home minister to get her into politics and toil to holdpublic offices.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Australiancounterpart Scott Morrison on Thursday with the two leadersreiterating their commitment to consolidating their

comprehensive strategic partnership.In a tweet, Modi said they also discussed regional

issues of common interest."Spoke with my good friend PM @ScottMorrisonMP

today. Reiterated our commitment to consolidating ourComprehensive Strategic Partnership. Also discussed regionalissues of common interest. Look forward to working together forpeace, prosperity and security in the Indo-Pacific," he said.

INDIA CORNER

Two more bodieswere recoveredon Thursday

from a tunnel of theNTPC's flood-ravaged Tapovan-Vishnugad hydelproject and one fromRaini as rescueoperations continuedfor the 12th day toreach workers fearedtrapped inside after aflash flood in Uttarkhand's Chamoli district. The confirmed death toll in theChamoli disaster that took place on February 7 has now mounted to 61while 143 are still missing, police said. Thirteen workers have so far beenpulled out of the sludge-choked tunnel at Tapovan where a large number ofpeople were at work when the tragedy occurred following a flash flood inRishiganga. One human limb was also recovered from the tunnel onThursday, taking the total number of human body parts recovered fromdifferent parts of the affected areas to 27. The glacial burst had triggered aflash flood which had demolished a 13.2 MW hydel project along the riverbesides causing extensive damage to the NTPC's Tapovan-Vishnugad hydelproject along Dhauliganga.

First fight Abhishek, then me:Mamata challenges Amit Shah

Two more bodies recoveredfrom Tapovan tunnel

Naxals have killed a villagerin Chhattisgarh'sRajnandgaon district on

suspicion of being a policeinformer, an official said onThursday. The incident took placeon Wednesday night in KhursiparKhurd village which falls underBortalav police station'sjurisdiction, they said. Around 10armed Naxals, clad in uniform, stormed into the house of Munna Verma,who was in his late 30s, and took him to nearby forest, Rajnandgaon'sAdditional Superintendent of Police Jaiprakash Barhai said. Theyattacked him with sharp-edged weapons before shooting him dead, hesaid. After being alerted, a police team reached the spot on Thursdaymorning and sent the body for postmortem, he said. Maoists' leafletsand pamphlets were recovered from the spot in which the rebelsclaimed Verma was acting as a police informer, Barhai said. The official,however, denied the victim's association with police. With this incident,five villagers have so far been killed by ultras in the last two months atseparate places in Rajnandgaon district after being accused of workingas police informers, the police said.

Chhattisgarh: Naxals kill manon suspicion of being informer

Prime Minister speaks to his Australian counterpart

PNS n NEW DELHI

Citing the region's collabora-tive effort to deal with theCOVID-19 pandemic, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday called for greaterintegration among South Asiaand the Indian Ocean islandcountries to deal with theirchallenges.

"If the 21st century is to bethe Asian century, it can notbe so without greater integra-tion among the countries ofSouth Asia and the IndianOcean islands.

The spirit of regional soli-darity shown during the pan-demic has proven that suchintegration is possible," hesaid at a workshop on"COVID-19 Management:Experience, Good Practicesand Way Forward" with 10neighbouring countries ,including those in the extend-ed neighbourhood.

In his virtual address, Modisaid the spirit of collaborationamong these countries is avaluable takeaway from thispandemic and pitched for a

similar cooperation in theongoing deployment of vac-cine. "Through our opennessand determination, we havemanaged to achieve one of thelowest fatality rates in theworld. Today, the hopes of ourregion and the world arefocused on rapid deploymentof vaccines. In this too, wemust maintain the samecooperative and collabora-tive spirit," he said.

Addressing representativesof these countries, he saidtheir cooperation in healthhas already achieved so muchsince the pandemic's out-break and asked if they canraise their ambition further.

The Prime Minister thenoffered some suggestions,including creating a specialvisa scheme for the region'sdoctors and nurses so thatthey can travel quickly with-in it during health emergen-cies on the request of thereceiving country.

He also wondered if civilaviation ministries of thesecountries coordinate a region-al air ambulance agreement

for medical contingencies. "Can we create a regional

platform for collating, com-piling and studying dataabout the effectiveness ofCOVID-19 vaccines amongour populations?

Can we similarly create aregional network for promot-ing technology-assisted epi-demiology, for preventingfuture pandemics?" Modisaid. Modi asked if these

countries can share their suc-cessful public health policiesand schemes beyond COVID-19 and offered AyushmanBharat, a health insurancecover for the poor, and JanArogya scheme, under whichmedicines are sold at afford-able rates, as case studiesfrom India for its friends inthe region.

"Such collaboration canbecome the pathway for

greater regional cooperationamong us in other areas too.After all, we share so manycommon challenges –-cli-mate change, natural disas-ters, poverty, illiteracy, andsocial and gender imbal-ances. But we also share thepower of centuries' old cul-tural and people-to-peoplelinkages," he said. Modiasserted that if the countries

focus on all that unite them,then the region can over-come not only the presentpandemic but its other chal-lenges too.

Noting that experts hadvoiced concerns about thedangers the densely-populat-ed region faced followingthe COVID-19 outbreak, hesaid it met this challengefrom the very beginning witha coordinated response.

In March last year, theregion's countries were thefirst to come together forrecognising the threat andcommitting to fight it togeth-er, and many other regionsand groups followed ourearly example, he said.

"We created the COVID-19Emergency Response Fund tomeet the immediate costs offighting the pandemic. Weshared our resources, medi-cines, PPE, and testing equip-ment. And, above all, weshared the most valuablecommodity : knowledge,through collaborative trainingof our health workers," hesaid.

PM for integration among S Asian nations

Protest not limited to Punjab, Haryana:Farmers on ‘rail roko’PNS n NEW DELHI

With farmers on Thursdayblocking railway tracksacross the country, at stationsbig and small, protesters atSinghu said it proves that theagitation is not just limitedto Punjab and Haryana.

"The government hasconstantly been saying thatthe protest against the threefarm laws is being staged bythe farmers of just twostates, Punjab and Haryana,but the rail roko andolanshows that the governmentis wrong. "Farmers from so

many states have participat-ed. That is why it wasimportant for us to proteston the railway tracks. Likethe railways that has anationwide network, ourprotest is also happeningacross the country,"Krantikari Kisan Union'sGurdaspur district presi-dent Bhajan Singh said.

Besides multiple railwaystations across Punjab andHaryana, the "rail roko"protest was also staged atdifferent places in UttarPradesh, Maharashtra andKarnataka, among others.

PNS n DHARAMSHALA

Almost all political parties inthe country are family-basedwith none of them matchingthe BJP's strength having over18 crore countrymen, includ-ing the world's most acceptedleader Narendra Modi, as itsmembers, party's president J PNadda said here on Thursday.

“It is not easy to create amembership of over 18 crorepeople. No other politicalparty has the power to reacheven near this number,” saidNadda, addressing his partyworking committee meetinghere.

“We are a mass, cadre-basedorganisation with the world'smost accepted personalityNarender Modi belonging to

the BJP and this is ourstrength,” said Nadda.

“So there is no exaggerationwhen we say there is no matchto the BJP,” he added.”

“We are lucky that we arethe members of a right party,pursuing cultural nationalismwith collective efforts andundergoing scientific growth,”he added.

Nadda told the workingcommittee members that the

BJP's strength is “our unity andwe should regularly make self-assessment for our owngrowth in the party”.

Talking of the BJP's eco-nomic model “antoday”,Nadda said “it is based on theparty's philosophy of “sabkasaath, sabka vikas, sabka vish-vas (the company of all,growth of all and trust of all)”and these three elements areingrained in all schemes of thegovernment.”

Talking of HimachalPradesh's contribution to theorganisational structure of theBJP, Nadda said the partyowes its booth-based structur-al model of “Panna Pramukh”to the state and, accordingly,Himachal should go in for thePanna committees model by2022.

No other political party is amatch to BJP, says Nadda

PNS nNEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Thursdaystayed an order of Jim CorbettNational Park allowing buses of aprivate operator to ply within thecore area of the Tiger reserve inUttarakhand.

A bench of Chief Justice SABobde and Justices AS Bopannaand V Ramasubramanian issuednotice to the Centre, Uttarakhand,National Tiger ConservationAuthority, National Board ofWildlife and officials of Jim CorbettNational Park and sought theirresponses.

Advocate Gaurav KumarBansal, who filed the petition, told

the bench that the decision of theJim Corbett National Park was inviolation of Wildlife Protection Act.

He alleged that forest officialsof the State in order to providewrongful gain to a private sectorcompany has allowed them to plytheir private buses within the corearea of the Tiger reserve. Bansal

contended that as per provisionsof Wildlife Protection Act isrequired to be kept as inviolate areafor the purpose of tiger conserva-tion.

“It is respectfully submitted thatDirector, Corbett Tiger Reservevide its Office Order datedDecember 23, 2020 has allowedbuses of a private sector companyto ply within the core area ofCorbett Tiger Reserve,Uttarakhand”, his plea said.

He said that director of JimCorbett National Park, whileallowing private buses to ply with-in the core area of the tigerreserve, respondent number-7(director of Jim Corbett National

Park) has not only violated thelaw of land but has also compro-mised with the safety, protectionand conservation of the nation-al animal “Tiger”.

“It is respectfully submittedthat Section 38 (O) of the WildlifeProtection Act, 1972 provides thatTiger Reserves shall not be divert-ed for ecologically unsustainableuses, and in case it is required,than it is mandatory for State ofUttarakhand and its ForestDepartment officials to do thesame only after taking approvalfrom National Board for Wildlifeand on the advice of NationalTiger Conservation Authority,”the plea said.

SC stays Jim Corbett National Park’s decision

PNS n BHANDARA

Maharashtra Congresschief Nana Patole onThursday said if actorsAmitabh Bachchan andAkshay Kumar do not take astandon the issue of fuelprice hike, then screening oftheir films and shootingswould not be allowed in thestate.

Talking to reporters here,Patole said Bachchan andKumar had tweeted aboutfuel price rise during thepreviousUPA government,but are now silent on theissue.

The prices of branded oradditive-laced petrol, which

attracts higher taxes, havecrossed the Rs 100-mark insome places, includingMaharashtra. In Mumbai,petrol is now costing Rs 96.32a litre and diesel Rs 87.32.

Patole said the commonman has been affected a lot bythe increase in prices ofpetrol and diesel.

Filmstars like AmitabhBachchan and AkshayKumar,through their tweets,had earlier criticised the fuelprice r ise during theManmohan Singh-led gov-ernment, he said.

Why are they silent now onthe rising petrol and dieselprices? he asked.

"If they do not take a standnow on the injustice metedout by the Modi government,we will not let any films(screening) or shootings ofAmitabh Bachchan orAkshay KumarinMaharashtra," the Congressleader said.

They should now play thesame role and protest again-stthe central government's"anti-national policy", as theydidduring ManmohanSingh's tenure, Patole said.

He also criticised the BJP-led central government onthe FASTag system for vehi-cles.

The Centre had madeFASTags mandatory fromFebruary 15 midnight andsaid any vehicle not fittedwith it will be charged dou-ble the toll at electronic tollplazas across the country.

The Ministry of RoadTransport & Highways clar-ified that this has been doneto further promote fee pay-ment through digital mode,reduce waiting time and fuelconsumption, and providefor a seamless passagethrough the fee plazas.

PNS nMUMBAI

A woman from SouthAfrica was apprehended atthe Mumbai internationalairport early on Thursdayand nearly three kilogramsof heroin was recovered-from her by the NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB), anofficial said. Besides thebanned drug, 10,000 SouthAfrican rands incash werealso recovered from her, hesaid.

"Based on specific intel-ligence inputs, the NCB laida trap at the passengerarrival area of theChhatrapati Shivaji MaharajInternational Airportin theearly hours ofThursday.During the oper-ation, a woman who trav-elled from Johannesburg toMumbai via Doha by QatarAirways flight, was caught,"the official said. She wasidentified as KhanyisilePromise Khalishwayo, hesaid.

"After intercepting thewoman on her arrival, theNCBteam, led by zonaldirector Sameer Wankhede,searched her trolley-bag andfound that a cavity has beencreated inside it," he said.

African woman

caught with

three kg heroin

Fuel issue: Patolethreatens to stall films of Big B, Akshay

PNS n MUMBAI

The Budget session of theOdisha assembly started on astormy note on Thursday with-opposition Congress and BJPmembers staging a walkout assoon as Governor Ganesh Lalstarted addressing the House.

The Congress members ledby its whip TaraprasadBahinipati raised slogans andurged the governor to stopreading out his speech in praiseof the BJD government.

The BJP members also fol-lowed suit and walked outofthe House.

While the Congress was crit-ical over the Andhra Pradeshgovernment conducting ruralpolls in a cluster ofvillages atKotia in Odisha's Koraput dis-

trict, rising fuelprices and lawand order situation, the BJPmembers raisedissues relatingto Kotia polls, irregularities inpaddy procurement and risingincidents of political violence.

After staging the walkoutfrom the House, theOpposition members sat on adharna near MahatmaGandhi's statue on theAssembly premises.

The governor in his speechsaid that the overall law andorder situation in the statehad remained peaceful during2020. No major law and orderincident had teken place due tothe proactive role of the police,he said.

The police successfully han-dled the COVID-19 situationand as many as 49 police per-sonnel sacrificed their lives inthe line of duty during the pan-demic, and 940 police person-nel donated plasma to save thelives of critical coronaviruspatients.

"The Left Wing Extremismscenario has remarkablyreduced during the past fiveyears due to proactive securi-ty and administrativeresponse," Lal said.

Oppn stages walkoutfrom Odisha Assembly

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National GreenTribunal has formed acommittee headed by aformer high court judgeand directed it to submita report in relation to afirecracker factory blastin Tamil Nadu'sVirudhunagar district inwhich 19 workers werekilled.

The explosionoccurred on February 12when some chemicalswere being mixed to pro-duce fireworks at theunit in Acchankulam vil-lage.

A bench headed byNGT ChairpersonJustice A K Goel issuednotices to the TamilNadu government,Central Pol lut ionControl Board (CPCB),State Pollution ControlBoard (SPCB),Virudhunagar DistrictMagistrate and SreeMariyammal Fireworksfactory. The green panelsaid that to secure cred-ible facts, it is constitut-ing an eight-membercommittee.

Panel to probefirecrackerblast in TN

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Police Thursday told theDelhi High Court that it hasnot leaked any material to themedia in relation to its probein the FIR against climateactivist Disha Ravi for heralleged involvement in shar-ing a toolkit backing the ongo-ing farmers' protest.

The court was hearingRavi's plea to restrain policefrom leaking to the media anyprobe material in relation tothe FIR lodged against her.

The submission wasmade before Justice PrathibaM Singh by Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta, appearing forthe police.

The court asked thepolice to file an affidavit con-taining its submission that ithas not leaked any material

relating to the investigation tothe media.

Since there were no coun-sels representing the NewsBroadcasting StandardsAuthority (NBSA) and someof the media houses named inRavi's petition, the courtissued notice to them and saidit will hear the matter onFriday.

The petition has also soughtto restrain the media frompublishing the content orextract of any private chats,including those on WhatsApp,between her and third parties.

Ravi said she is "severelyaggrieved and prejudiced bythe media trial surroundingher arrest and the ongoinginvestigation, where she isbeing viscerally attacked bythe respondent 1 (police) andseveral media houses".

Not leaked anything tomedia: Police to Delhi HC

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra onThursday alleged that the UttarPradesh government is not onlysuppressing the Dalit society butis also crushing the honour andhuman rights of women in thestate.

Her comments came after thebodies of two minor Dalit girlswere found in a field in Unnaoon Wednesday. Another girl isundergoing treatment at a hos-pital. The three girls were foundin the filed in the evening by thevillagers when they did notreturn after they left their house

to bring fodder for the cattle, thepolice said. "The UP governmentis not only crushing Dalit soci-ety, but also the honour andhuman rights of women. But theyshould remember that I and theentire Congress party will standas the voice of victims and willendeavour to get them justice,"she said in a tweet in Hindi.

‘UP govt crushinghuman rights of women’

DEALING WITH COVID PANDEMIC

In his virtualaddress, Modisaid the spirit ofcollaborationamong thesecountries is avaluabletakeaway fromthis pandemicand pitched for a similarcooperation inthe ongoingdeployment of vaccine

TOOLKIT CASE

Allowing buses within core area of tiger reserve

subsequent occupation ofdominating heights on bothbanks of the Pangong Tso,including along the KailashRange, was a brilliant strategiccounter and made the Chineseeven more uncomfortable.

From these heights, ourforces were in a position tointerdict and destroy the PLA’stroop and armour concentra-tions in the Spanggur Gap,their defensive positions alongboth banks of the PangongTso. It also gave our forces theoption to capture their admin-istrative and communicationhub at Moldo and cut off theirmajor lines of communicationfurther in depth, if the neces-sity was felt. Most important-ly, it stalled any hope that thePLA may have had of offen-sive action along this flank asany attempt to clear theseheights would impose exces-sive cost in terms of manpow-er, casualties and time.Incidentally, one cannot helpbut wonder as to why theseheights have not been held allthese years? Especially sincethey are well within our terri-tory and our hold on them hasnever been disputed.

Therefore, given theirstrategic import, one is at anutter loss to understand as towhy our withdrawal has beenlinked to the PLA’s with-

drawals only from thePangong Tso sub-sector andnot the other sub-sectors.Suggestions in the media fromofficial sources that by doingso the PLA has been forced toremove structures that it hadconstructed along the northbank of the Pangong Tso, cutno ice. It is a no-brainer thatthe north bank is of only lim-ited tactical value and whollyunsuitable for progressingmajor operations, especially aslong as the dominating heightson the Kailash Range are held.

In these circumstances,one cannot help but concludethat our military commandershave acquiesced to militarilyunsound directions from ourpolitical leadership. We haveseen this before, be it our with-drawal from the strategicallyimportant Hajipir Pass afterthe Indo-Pak war of 1965 orthe refusal to allow our forcesto cross the LoC during theKargil conflict that resulted inavoidable casualties.

Unfortunately, thisGovernment set a precedent inthe manner it dealt with theconfrontation with theChinese at Doklam in 2017,where it forced the PLA to stoproad construction and backdown after a 73-day standoff.However, following PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s

meeting with President XiJinping at Wuhan, the PLA cir-cumvented the standoff areaand continued with its roadconstruction on the Doklamplateau, unhindered by ourforces. This road now allowsthe PLA access to the foothillsof the Jampheri Ridge, over-looking the strategic SiliguriCorridor linking Assam andthe North-eastern States to therest of the country, giving thePLA an option to interdict ourlines of communication.

What is worse, theGovernment then ensuredthat these facts were kept outof public discourse. With thegeneral elections due in afew months, it raised suspi-cions that this was done toensure the BJP’s chances ofvictory were not compro-mised by these embarrassingrevelations. One is now struckby a feeling of déjà vu asimportant State elections aredue in a few months and whatappears to be a repeat of themodus operandi. Let us hope,for all our sakes, that this isnot so! Only time will tell.

(The writer is a militaryveteran, who is a consultantwith the Observer ResearchFoundation and Senior VisitingFellow with The PeninsulaFoundation, Chennai. Theviews expressed are personal.)

Adeath sentence is something that is distasteful to society at large and it is onlyin the rarest of rare cases that it is awarded in a country like India, which believesin ahimsa. Hanging and shooting are the two methods of carrying out the death

penalty in India and, according to the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), hanging is themethod of execution in the civilian court system whereas the Army Act, 1950, listsboth hanging and shooting as official modes of execution in the military court-martialsystem. Just how abhorrent a death sentence is and how reluctant the law of the land

is to hand it out can be seen by the fact that it tookover seven years for the four accused in the heinousNirbhaya gangrape-cum-murder case to be hanged,as the law puts many safeguards in place to ensurethat no innocent life is snuffed out. In fact, accord-ing to a study by the National Law University in Delhi,just 755 people have been hanged in independentIndia so far. All of them were men. Now, Shabnamfrom Amroha in Uttar Pradesh will have the dubiousdistinction of being the first woman convict in inde-pendent India to face the gallows.

Even though Shabnam’s minor son hasappealed to the President to pardon his mother, theMathura jail administration is making preparations

to hang the woman who had axed to death seven of her family members with helpfrom her lover Salim in April 2008. The family’s crime, if it can be called that, wasthat they did not want their highly educated daughter to marry an illiterate labourer.What made the crime so chilling was that the lovelorn couple did not spare even a10-month-old child who could in no way have prevented their union. So deep wasthe impact of their horrific crime on the psyche of the locals that girls named Shabnamwere given different names by their families after news of the crime broke out andspread like wildfire in the village and adjoining areas. Even her family has refusedto claim her body if and when the hanging takes place. Shabnam is currently lodgedin Bareilly jail while Salim is in Agra jail and, after years of appeals and mercy pleas,their day of reckoning is closing in. However, one would not be surprised if, givenIndia’s complicated criminal justice system, Shabnam’s lawyer pulls a trick out ofhis sleeve at the last minute and saves her from the gallows. But other than that, itseems her time is up.

Most judgments are just that, another verdict, but a few of these are consideredlandmark. A Delhi court’s ruling acquitting journalist Priya Ramani in a defama-tion case filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar falls in the latter category. With

the verdict becoming the talk of the town, Ramani’s exoneration is nothing less than aconviction for Akbar. True, oftentimes a defamation suit proves out to be more damag-ing to the plaintiff’s own image. However, what make the present case a “milestone” arethe court’s observations that “the right to protect one’s reputation cannot be at the costof a woman’s right to dignity” and “a woman has the right to put her grievance at anyplatform of her choice, even after decades”. We can only hope that this verdict achieves

its true purpose of empowering women who are objec-tified and treated only as a means to satiate the male’slust. Ironically, despite several Acts, the national andState commissions for women, women’s courts andhelpline numbers, the fair gender is treated rather unfair-ly and is still a vulnerable lot. Forget about the com-monplace incidents of eve-teasing, stalking and inap-propriate touching that young girls and women haveto endure on a daily basis, even heinous crimes likerape and physical assault no longer shake our col-lective conscience. Ironically, most of these incidentsare never reported as not every woman can afford abattery of lawyers, nor shore up public sympathy and

support to the extent Ramani did through the #MeToo movement.Further, the impact of any such verdict shouldn’t be viewed from the narrow prism

of it being case-specific but rather whether it would likely bring about any significant changein the overall scenario. If it fails to inspire tens of thousands of women to speak up againstthe sexual predators who they tolerate in their everyday life, it won’t serve the real pur-pose. The state of affairs is worse than grim and even women at the top echelons in theirrespective fields experience harassment in one form or the other. We hear and read a lotabout female doctors, bureaucrats and politicians being subjected to gender bias andharassment by their male colleagues. Surprisingly, even the judiciary, which rightly cham-pions the cause of women in most cases, hasn’t been left untouched by this stain. Recently,the Supreme Court pulled up a judge for allegedly sending inappropriate messages to ajunior female officer and flirting with her. In its 91-page Ramani case verdict, the courtnoted that it is shameful that violence against women is being perpetrated in a countrywhere epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana were written around the theme ofrespect for women. True, we seem to have buried our ethos and morality deep; else thecountry where people once felt proud to prefix their mother’s name unto theirs — likeRadhye Karna, Kaunteya Arjun, Gangaputra Bhishma and Kausalya Nandan Ram — wouldnot hurl abuses in the name of mothers and sisters.

Landmark verdict

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

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VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021

06

Ignominious recordFor the first time in India, a woman is facing the

gallows after the President rejected her mercy plea

It defies logic that our withdrawal has been linked to the PLA's pulloutonly from the Pangong Tso sub-sector

PICTALK

A protest against the military’s rule in Mandalay, Myanmar AP

THE STATEMENTSEMANATING FROM

OFFICIAL SOURCESSUGGEST THAT

EITHER BOTHSIDES ARE KEEN TO

DE-ESCALATEMATTERS, OR

THAT WE HAVECONCEDED

GROUND TO THECHINESE. EITHER

WAY, THE CHANCESOF AN ARMED

CONFLICT HAVERECEDED

SUBSTANTIALLY

DEEPAK SINHA

The Priya Ramani case ruling should encouragemore women to call out the wrongdoers

Ladakh conundrum:A sense of déjà vu

Defence MinisterRajnath Singh’s recentstatement inParliament on the dis-

engagement of forces in EasternLadakh, on the heels of a state-ment on similar lines by theChinese Defence Ministry,caught most media observersand analysts by surprise. Theway events were otherwise mov-ing had suggested that we werein for what could only be a longhot summer, which still remainsa remote possibility given pastChinese duplicity. There can stillbe many a slip between the cupand the lip as the contentiousissue of the People’s LiberationArmy’s (PLA’s) transgressions inthe Depsang sector and otherfriction points is yet to be dis-cussed, let alone resolved tomutual satisfaction.

The statements emanatingfrom official sources suggestthat either both sides are keento de-escalate matters, or thatwe have conceded ground to theChinese. Either way, the chancesof an armed conflict have reced-ed substantially, which isundoubtedly a good thing. Aconflict at this time would causeimmense damage to our econ-omy, already reeling under theimpact of the pandemic and theearlier ill-considered and poor-ly implemented demonetisa-tion. More importantly, we can-not brush aside the simple truththat our Armed Forces havebeen deliberately neglected overthe past two decades, a situationthat remains unchanged if onelooks at the new Budget. As aconsequence, their capabilitieshave been greatly impaired.

In the event of a conflict,while they may still be able toforce a stalemate, it is unfortu-nately not a certainty given theunpalatable fact that China is thedominant power in the regionwith a larger and better-equippedmilitary. The possibility ofPakistan’s involvement, eitherdirectly or indirectly, in such a sit-uation would only add to ourwoes. Undoubtedly, the responseand resolve displayed by ourGovernment and the militaryafter the initial setback was com-mendable and caught the Chineseunawares and unprepared. The

SOUNDBITEINDIA IS NOW WORLD’S PRIDE Sir—It is really a matter of pride that Indiahas committed to gift as many as 200,000COVID-19 vaccine doses to the UN peace-keepers. India has been at the forefront ofthe fight against the deadly virus that hasruined the world’s economy and broughtuntold miseries upon mankind. Rightfrom the beginning, India is helping othernations in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. India was supplying medicalessentials to the world and it is now sup-plying indigenous vaccines to 25 nationswhile 49 more countries would also be get-ting it soon.

Apart from the two vaccines whichhave been approved for emergency use, 30more vaccines are at various stages of trialin the country. India is standing true to itsancient philosophy of ‘VasudhaivKutumbakam’ (the world is one family).Further, India’s progress in the pharmaceu-tical sector witnessed an unprecedentedgrowth during the pandemic. This hasenhanced its reputation as a health tourismhub and, in the coming days when the sit-uation returns to normal, it will definitelypay dividends to our nation.

Further, in one of the largest vaccina-tion drives ever, India will vaccinate about300 million frontline and healthcare work-ers, besides the elderly and vulnerable overthe next six months. India’s vaccination pro-gramme, which began a month ago, hasalready seen nearly 7 million people receiv-ing the shots. Our future is bright and ourefforts are engraved in stone. We all mustbe proud of our nation.

M Pradyu | Kannur

TIME TO STAND AGAINST SEXUAL PREDATORSSir —The recent judgment by a Delhi courtabsolving journalist Priya Ramani in acriminal defamation case filed by formerUnion Minister MJ Akbar is really wel-come. It will give more strength to womenwho are afraid of raising their voiceagainst those who sexually harass ormolest them.

The victims often keep quiet fearingstigmatisation by society which still looks

down upon women and hold them respon-sible for such crimes, instead of targetingthe wrong-doers. Many people who are oforthodox and patriarchal mindset questionthe victim over her choice of dress andwhat-not. There are many villages wherepeople don’t allow girls to go to school assoon as they reach puberty. They also lookat girls as some sort of liability and try tomarry them off at an early age.

Thus girls fail to make the career oftheir choice and are forced to do house-hold chores and produce children. Eveneducated and working women are subject-ed to harassment by their male colleagues.Some of them stare, while some try tomake improper advances, some evenwink their eyes and blow whistles. All theseare sexual advances which women have toface on a daily basis.

Nischai Vats | Sultanpur

WE MUST FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES Sir —The Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC), which has issued

strict guidelines owing to the rising num-ber of COVID cases in Mumbai, has takena much-needed step. In view of the bla-tant violation of COVID-19 protocols byMumbaikars, the civic body has made itmandatory for people to wear masks at allpublic places while those not found wear-ing it will be fined `200. Masks have alsobeen made mandatory on streets, offices,markets and so on.

The increase in the cases was observedafter Mumbai locals were opened for all.People were lax in their approach andopenly defied the guidelines. Leave apartthe question of regularly sanitising hands,many people were not even wearingmasks. We must keep it in mind thatCOVID-19 pandemic is not yet over andwe still don’t have a vaccine against the dif-ferent mutants of the virus that other coun-tries are grappling with.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

It is a matter of great concern that despite wide-

spread public outrage and protests against the

junta in Myanmar, the military generals are

plain indifferent and are not ready to abdicate

the power corridors. That said, concerns are

growing over the potential for violence in the

country as anti-coup protesters urge support-

ers to take to the streets in defiance of the mil-

itary generals who have deployed troops in major

cities. Soldiers from the Myanmar military’s light

infantry division, which is infamous for human

rights abuses, have been seen in Yangon in the

past week.These elite counter-insurgency forces

come under direct orders of the Myanmar mil-

itary’s commander-in-chief and are known for

carrying out violent campaigns against ethnic

minority and civilians.

The Myanmar's military is all set to brutal-

ly crush the protests. The democratic countries

like India, the UK, the US, Germany and oth-

ers should pressure the military regime to abdi-

cate power. It is in the best interest of the peo-

ple of Myanmar if the process of democracy

resumes there at the earliest. China must also

remember that the world is watching carefully

and if it supports the junta, that will only prove

counterproductive to its image. China’s image

has already taken a beating because of its alleged

role in the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

P Senthil | Mumbai

The Junta will crush the civiliansProjects alreadyimplemented orunder implemen-tation would rein-force the physicaland culturalintegrity of Assamand other Northeastern States.

Prime Minister—Narendra Modi

The variant that

was first detected

in the UK is con-

cerning us. We

must expect that

variant to soon

become the dominant one in our

country. Germany Health Minister

—Jens Spahn

As an actress,being a part ofshow business, wehave to look in acertain way andthat also changeswith every film thatwe do, every character I play.

Actor—Shraddha Kapoor

If we come to powerin West Bengal, wewill provide 33 percent reservation towomen inGovernment jobs as well as imple-ment the Seventh Pay Commission.

Union Home Minister

—Amit Shah

It is difficult to askplayers to not play inthe IPL due to thetournament being amarquee event inthe T20 cricket.

England head coach—Chris Silverwood

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

What made the dragonstop spitting fire?

I’M NOT CONCERNED ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTION OF

MONEY BUT SEVERAL PEOPLE ARE COLLECTING

MONEY BY THREATENING OTHERS.

—KARNATAKA EX-CM

HD KUMARASWAMY

WE ARE NOT FORCING ANYONE TO DONATE FOR THE

RAM TEMPLE. SOME PEOPLE ARE MAKING NASTY

COMMENTS, WHICH DOESN’T SUIT THEIR STATURE.

—KARNATAKA CM

BS YEDIYURAPPA

The agreement reached between the twoAsian giants to ease tensions on the Line ofActual Control (LAC) took many by surprise.

The implementation began on February 10 withphased withdrawal from the north and south banksof the Pangong Tso Lake, a major area under dis-pute being referred to as the “friction point” by bothsides. The entire process, including the removal ofinfrastructure created after April 2020 and vacat-ing of heights occupied by infantry units is likelyto take 10-15 days as the exercise is being under-taken in an atmosphere of utter trust deficit betweenthe two sides. A strict and foolproof verificationmechanism has been put in place to avoid the inci-dents of the past which led to a deadly clash betweenthe two sides at Galwan in June 2020. After the dis-engagement process is successfully completed in thissector, the commanders are scheduled to meet with-in 48 hours to discuss the modalities for disengage-ment in other sectors.

While a majority at home and abroad are happywith the possibility of normalcy returning along theLAC, there are many who are blaming theGovernment for ceding Indian territory in EasternLadakh to the Chinese. Some veteran officers havesaid that the Government has virtually accepted the1959 Chinese claim line and questioned the logicof having a buffer zone and our troops vacating theheights occupied on the Kailash Range. Many ofthe doubts have arisen because of China’s duplic-itous and treacherous behaviour.

Nonetheless, credit needs to be given to theIndian negotiators, both military and diplomatic,for their perseverance, patience and persuasion asthey refused to be fatigued by the prolonged nego-tiations, a tactic used by the Chinese to tire and weardown the adversary.

Credit also goes to the valiant Indian Army andits field commander who turned the tables on theChinese through a brilliant tactical manoeuvre tooutflank the People’s Liberation Army (PLA’s) troopson the north bank by occupying tactical heights onKailash Range on the south bank on the Indian sideof the LAC. It enabled the negotiators at all levelsto undertake tough talks without conceding to thesolutions offered by the Chinese.

Xi Jinping is an astute politician who is anexpert in the art of survival. Xi would prefer to relentto India than to bow down or surrender to hisadversaries at home. The internal situation in Chinais not good and Xi’s adversaries are breathing downhis neck. The growing resentment among the mass-es is also affecting the popularity of the ChineseCommunist Party (CCP). Xi has centralised allpowers and this works well as long as the going isgood. But the worsening internal situation has givenrise to many dissenters within the party and otherpolitical opponents. This and the dashing ofhopes of improved relations with America postDonald Trump have played a major role in reach-ing the agreement after a standoff extending near-ly for a year. Xi has enough problems at home andthe continued impasse with India was harming thecountry’s national interests, including the econo-my, which probably made the Dragon relent.

The first and the most compelling reason wasthe realisation by Xi that the Chinese have bittenoff more than they could chew. The Chinese bel-ligerence and expansionism was for the first timeopposed strongly everywhere after the Indians had

shown the way by refusing to get bul-lied and giving in to Chinese hege-mony. The determined response byIndia acted as an elixir for other vic-tims of Beijing’s expansionism in theSouth and East China seas, across theTaiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacificregion. The Chinese calculation oftaking advantage of the ongoing pan-demic (which is alleged to be ofChinese origin) misfired very badly.Chinese resources were not onlyoverstretched but fatigued, thusexposing the fragility of its armedforces in a combat situation.

The Chinese troops werefound wanting as far as fighting insuper high altitudes is concerned.They were unable to bear thevagaries of the hostile weather andthe extreme wind chill factor whichmakes survival at these heightsextremely difficult. The emphasis inthe PLA has been to fight in a digi-tal environment, avoiding contactbattles, least realising the logistics andphysical problems of a super highaltitude warfare. Thus, the morale ofthe PLA soldiers was in their bootsdespite claims of providing themwith centrally-heated habitat.

Indian soldiers on the otherhand beat their adversaries handsdown and were seen to be by theircounterparts as a very agile, alert andaggressive force. Conscription in theChinese Army and their young sol-diers being the product of the one-child norm, was another contribu-tory factor. There was tremendouspressure back home from their par-ents and PLA veterans to pull back

from the area. The other major prob-lem faced by China was the failureof the domestic consumption mar-ket to pick up momentum. Thoughthe Chinese Gross Domestic Product(GDP) has remained positive itsattempts to shift from a manufactur-ing-driven economy to a consump-tion-driven one has not yielded thedesired results. China’s consumption,a key driver of growth, has damp-ened the hopes of revival amid fearsof resurgence of the Wuhan pan-demic. Retail sales are still slow, dis-playing a lack of confidence amongthe masses.

The disengagement has beentimed to revive the spirits before theChinese New Year celebrationsbegin. That China can ill-afford ten-sions it has acquired globally throughits revisionist policies, seems tohave been realised by Xi.

The external factors that mayhave contributed to Chinese disen-gagement are the Indian revivalstory and certain pronouncementsof the new US President Joe Biden.

India’s bounce back from thepandemic has taken Beijing by sur-prise as it was among the fewnations to develop four vaccines.This dashed the hopes of the Chineseleadership, which had envisioned thecollapse of the Indian economy andits consequent weakening as aregional power. Instead, India’s eco-nomic revival and growing softpower through “Vaccine Maitri” hasruffled many feathers in China.

Another reason attributed to theprolonged negotiations was the

Chinese desire to wait and watch theway things unfolded globally afterthe presidential elections in the USwere completed. Contrary toChinese expectations, despite thechange in presidency the newPOTUS is as aggressive againstChina as his predecessor. The newUS administration has not onlyopenly supported India and cau-tioned China against its growingexpansionism, it has also promisedto strengthen the security alliancewith Japan to counter the increasingChinese threat in the region.

The US has accused China ofbullying and attempting to build a“maritime empire” in the SouthChina Sea. It announced severalrounds of sanctions on ChineseState companies involved in build-ing artificial islands there. To theDragon’s dismay France, EU, GreatBritain and Australia have alsojoined hands with the US to curbChina’s expansion.

All in all, a process has begunwith a ray of hope that normalcywould return soon along the trou-bled LAC, the de facto borderbetween the two Asian giants. It’s justthe beginning and the successfulcompletion of this phase wouldpave the way for subsequent disen-gagements in other disputed sectors.That would lead to ultimate de-esca-lation without which peace cannotprevail. India can ill-afford to let itsguard down and hence there shouldbe no let-up in its 24x7 surveillanceand preparation for an inevitable warwith China.

The external factors that may have contributed to Chinese disengagement are the Indianrevival story and certain pronouncements of the new US President Joe Biden

GWYNNE DYER

ALL IN ALL, A PROCESS HAS BEGUN

WITH A RAY OFHOPE THATNORMALCY

WOULD RETURNSOON ALONG THE

TROUBLED LAC,THE DE FACTO

BORDER BETWEENTHE TWO ASIAN

GIANTS. IT’S JUSTTHE BEGINNING

AND THESUCCESSFUL

COMPLETION OFTHIS PHASE

WOULD PAVE THE WAY FORSUBSEQUENT

DISENGAGEMENTSIN OTHERDISPUTED SECTORS

Dubai can be amusing, in a voyeuristic way, for a week or two. Thetallest building in the world and the mall with the shark tank, but it’sthe people, really. There are a quarter-million expats, mostly British

or American, living much higher on the hog than they ever could at home— but bored out of their minds, like refugees from a Somerset Maughamnovel. Drunken buffet lunches on Fridays at one of the big hotels are asgood as it gets. Offstage, there are also a couple of million servants, menialsand labourers from different countries. They are probably bored too, butnobody bothers to ask. And there are a quarter-million native-born Arabcitizens, most of them quite prosperous but also bored, though the richerones console themselves with stables of race-horses and the like. The rich-est of them all is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the absoluteruler of Dubai. The Sheikh has 25 children by his six wives, so he obvi-ously loves kids, but unaccountably his daughters keep trying to escape.He recaptures them and locks them up, of course, but it’s starting to drawunwelcome attention.

In the good old days, potentates from the oil-rich parts of the MiddleEast could get away with anything. When Maktoum’s daughter Shamsaran away from the family’s compound in Surrey while on holiday in 2000,the Sheikh didn’t contact the English police. He just sent his own agentsout to find her. They tracked her down a month later in Cambridge, wherefour Arab men grabbed her on the street, bundled her into a car and inject-ed her with a sedative. She was flown back to Dubai on a private jet, andhas not been seen in public since. Two years later, her younger half-sis-ter, Latifa, made her first escape attempt at the age of 16. She was caughtcrossing the border into Oman and brought back to Dubai, where she wasjailed for three years. She says she was kept in solitary confinement andtortured. Princess Latifa didn’t try to escape again until 2018, when shemade it to the coast of Oman with the help of her Finnish fitness instruc-tor, thence out to a yacht in international waters by dinghy and jet-ski, andoff to India, from where she planned to fly to the US and seek asylum.Unfortunately, eight days later and only 30 km off Goa, they were board-ed by Emirati commandos from an Indian Navy ship and Latifa was tran-quilised again and flown back to Dubai.

For the last two years she has been held in solitary confinement in aseaside “villa.” (“Safe with her family,” as the Dubai Government put it.)But at some point a mobile phone was smuggled in to her, and she beganlocking herself in the bathroom and sending out secret videos to her Finnishfriend, Tiina Jauhiainen. That phone went dead five months ago, so nowthe “family” knows. Fortunately, there is now some support from the British,because Latifa’s stepmother, Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, took her twochildren and fled to London in 2019. Last year the British High Court issueda fact-finding judgment confirming that both Shamsa and Latifa had beenkidnapped and were being illegally held. It denied Maktoum’s demand thathis children with Princess Haya be returned to his custody, and said thatthe Sheikh’s campaign of intimidation against her included having a pis-tol left on her pillow. That’s where it stands at the moment, but now theUN is getting involved: the Office of the UN High Commissioner for HumanRights has said it will soon question the United Arab Emirates about PrincessLatifa, and a spokesman said the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentioncould launch an investigation once Princess Latifa’s videos have beenanalysed. But that may not be enough, because now it has become a ques-tion of face for Sheikh Mohammed. He knows what all the other kings andsheikhs of the Gulf are saying about him. They’re saying “Why can’tMohammed control his women?”

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy

and Work.’ The views expressed are personal.)

Afew days ago the high-est court in the coun-try gave two weeks’

notice to a Governmentdepartment for no show onan exact regulatory intentand action point in a certaincase relating to a policy issue.The Government departmenthad in its response to theSupreme Court mentionedthat it was contemplatingsome regulation.

Meanwhile, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasrepeated in various forums,including the floor of theParliament, as to how thebureaucracy can’t be entrust-ed to fly planes and run fac-tories. Citizens should respectwealth and job creators, as ina dynamic world order it isnot the business of theGovernment to be in busi-ness. This promise of a com-pletely meritocracy-fed econ-omy, was one of the key

planks which got the voters’attention seven years ago,until an ill-thought, self-defeating sharp criticism hadset the ball rolling to back aharder form of a State-con-trolled socialist order.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman set the ball rollingwhen she mentioned that“the intent of theGovernment is maximumgovernance, minimumGovernment,” during herBudget speech (the secondtime this phrase was heard) inthe two-term regime.

What has shifted in theseven years of the NationalDemocratic Alliance’s two-term regime is the nature andpredictability of the economyand its determinants, andalmost an end to the multilat-eral high table of trade nego-tiations.

Therefore, it is time forthe Government to get out of

business. Consider, for exam-ple, a poorly-explainedSecurities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI) circu-lar issued in November 2020,advising intermediaries toensure compliance with theIndian Computer EmergencyResponse Team (CERT-in)Advisory for Financial SectorOrganisations regardingSoftware as a Service (SaaS)-based solution and to ensurecomplete protection andseamless control over vitalsystems while keeping criticaldata within the legal bound-aries of India.

SaaS is a relatively newconcept where InformationTechnology (IT) solutionsare almost streamed over theinternet to the customer’spremises, however the soft-ware can be owned, operatedor hosted by a third partyvendor.

As it always happens with

global companies, includingbanks or their intermediarieshaving multi-geography pres-ence, the IT processes are uni-form across the chain and,therefore, purchase of soft-ware solutions is done at acentralised office. This kindof cloud storage and deliveryof solutions has many poten-tial advantages which

includes cost savings fromtrying to find multiple andcomplex processes for eachgeography if not the cus-tomer; uniform and globallyaccepted interoperable safeand secure security measures;besides the obvious benefitsof being nimble with scalingup and down and running anamost clutter-free IT depart-ment.

It is here that the SEBI cir-cular which states that, “theGovernment of India hasinformed SEBI that the finan-cial sector institutions areavailing or thinking of avail-ing SaaS-based solutions formanaging their Governance,Risk and Compliance (GRC)functions so as to improvetheir cyber security posture.As observed by the ITMinistry, though SaaS mayprovide ease of doing busi-ness and quick turnaround,but it may bring significant

risk to the health of the finan-cial sector as many a time riskand compliance data of theinstitution moves beyond thelegal and jurisdictionalboundary of India due to thenature of shared cloud SaaS,thereby posing risk to thedata safety and security,” cre-ates significant confusion.

Naturally, some industryassociations tried to reach outto the SEBI to seek clarifica-tions on the nature and scopeof the circular. After repeat-ed attempts when they wereable to get the regulator’sattention, the officials seemedto have no significant solu-tions to offer, except for pass-ing the buck to the nextdepartment. It may be notedthat the circular itself men-tions the criticality of SaaS forimproving the ease of doingbusiness but fails to give thereason why, and how thesame solution can be a prob-

lem from a cybersecuritystandpoint. This shows howthe bureaucracy andGovernment departments aregrappling with a new-agedigital economy, which theyare trying to regulate with anold-world licence regime.

Another aspect of thehydra-headed regulatoryregime is duplication of reg-ulations by intra-governmen-tal departments trying to reg-ulate the same bunch of mar-ket players.

However, bringing invest-ments, creating jobs, remov-ing the Government fromtight lease governance andhaving a significant say inbilateral/plurilateral formsare sometimes complex andslow drawn negotiations tosay the least. If theGovernment wants to seefaster pace of development,regulatory hurdles must becleared.

If the Government wants to see a faster pace of development in the country, regulatory hurdles must be cleared at the earliest

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021

07

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

FIRSTCOLUMN

WHAT IS WRONGWITH THE ROYALS?

Dubai’s sheikh has 25 children, so he obviously loveskids, but his daughters keep trying to escape!

ANIL GUPTA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The author is a Jammu-based political

commentator, columnist,security and strategic

analyst. The views expressed

are personal.

The Centre must clear the regulatory labyrinth

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

The writer is a policyanalyst. The views

expressed are personal.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

New Delhi, Feb 18(PTI) Gold prices in

the national capitaldeclined by Rs 320 to Rs45,867 per 10 grams onThursday, according toHDFC Securities.

In the previous trade,the precious metal had

closed at Rs 46,187 per10 grams.

Silver, however, gainedmarginally by Rs 28

to Rs 68,283 per kg, from Rs 68,255 per kg in the previous trade.In the international market, gold was quoting with gains at USD1,780 per ounce and silver was flat at USD 27.16 per ounce

Gold declines Rs 320; silvergains marginally

India's leading pri-vate sector dairy

company, HatsunA-gro Product Ltd.today became India'slargest retail networkwith 3600 outletspresent across TN,AP, Telangana,Puducherry, Kerala,Gujarat, Goa,Maharashtra,

Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. HAP inaugurated its 2500thHAP Daily outlet for milk and curd distribution in Sattenapalle Town,Guntur District, AP and 151st Ibaco outlet in Bhimavaram, AndhraPradesh. This together with 949 outlets of HAP Daily (Icecream retailand distribution) and Oyalo makes HatsunAgro Product the owner ofthe largest retail brand network in India with more than 3600 fran-chisee run outlets. HAP strongly believes in customer experience andlays great emphasis in achieving them through their retail stores.HAP's leading retail brands include HAP Daily, Ibaco and Oyalo.

HAP becomes India's largestexclusive brand retail network

Expanding access of citizen-centric services across all

62 Cantonment Boards,eChhawani program waslaunched on February 16,2021 by Honorable RakshaMantri Shri Rajnath Singh inDelhi. The initiative is under-taken by Directorate Generalof Defense Estates (DGDE)

and is developed using eGov Foundation's open platform - DIGITwith Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) playing the role of implementationpartner. Providing a unified approach where citizens can ac cess asingle platform to avail all civic services, eChhawani seeks toimprove citizen interaction with Cantonment Boards while makingCantonment Board employees better equipped, informed andresponsive to public needs. Along these lines, a MoU was signedbetween DGDE and eGov Foundation on May 2020 for conceptualis-ing eChhawani.

‘eChhawani' opened pan-Indiain 62 Cantonment Boards

Trident Limited, a leadingplayer in Home Textiles

globally, has been awarded theJoint First Prize at FICCI WaterAwards 2020 in the category of

‘Industrial Water Use Efficiency.' The FICCI Water Awards werelaunched to promote awareness, policy advocacy, sharing of bestpractices and thought leadership in the area of water use efficiency.Mr. Deepak Nanda, Managing Director, Trident Limited said, “We areelated to accept this award. The award not only recognizes ourefforts towards sustainable manufacturing practices especially waterconservation but also motivates us to do more and better every day.There is no doubt that this is the need of the hour, and we hope thatthis recognition encourages more organisations to deploy responsi-ble manufacturing processes like Water Balance and Zero LiquidDischarge System.”

Trident Ltd. bags first prize atFICCI Water Awards 2020

PNS nMUMBAI

Domestic stock indicesnursed losses for the thirdconsecutive session onThursday as a lacklus-tre trend in globalequities and concernsover stretched valua-tions sparked aretreat from riskyassets.

Banking andf i n a n c es t o c k sbore theb r u n t

o fh e a v yselling,

w i t hH D F C

twins being the topdrags on the Sensexfor the second day.

The 30-share BSEbenchmark ended

379.14 points or 0.73per cent lower at

51,324.69. Similarly, thebroader NSE Nifty dropped89.95 points or 0.59 per cent tofinish at 15,118.95.

Bajaj Finance was the top

lag-g a r d

a m o n gthe Sensex

const i tuents ,declining 2.43 per

cent, followed by KotakBank, M&M, Nestle

India, HDFC, HDFCBank and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand,ONGC was the biggest gainer,rallying 8.32 per cent. NTPC,Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra,PowerGrid and IndusInd Bankwere among the other winners.

Global markets struggledamid rising crude oil prices,with inflation concerns weigh-ing on risk sentiment.

"Market remained in themood for consolidation forthe third day, impacted bynegative cues from Asian mar-kets. Globally, markets areshowing weakness due to spikein US bond yield whileimproving corporate earningsand continued inflow of for-

eign funds is providing supportto the domestic market.

"Bearish rally in the marketwas led by private banks and

auto stocks while PSU Bankscontinued its outperfor-

mance on hopes of pri-vatisation," said

Vinod Nair,Head of

Researcha t

GeojitFinancialServices.

Sector-wise, BSE auto,bankex, finance, healthcareand telecom indices fell up to1.35 per cent, while oil and gas,utilities, power and metalended with gains.

Broader BSE midcap and

smallcap indices outperformedbenchmarks, rising as much as0.69 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghaiended on a positive note, whilebourses in Hong Kong, Tokyoand Seoul were in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europewere largely trading in thenegative terrain in mid-ses-sion deals.

Meanwhile, the globaloil benchmark Brent

crude rose 0.48 percent to USD 64.65

per barrel. The rupee pared

its initial losses tosettle higher by 9paise at 72.65

against the USdollar.

Foreigninstitu-t i o n a l

i n v e s t o r sremained net buyers in thedomestic capital markets, pur-chasing shares worth Rs1,008.20 crore on Wednesday,according to exchange data.

Sensex skids for third dayas global rally stalls

PNS nBANGKOK

World shares were mostlylower Thursday after amixed session on WallStreet, where losses by tech-nology and industrial com-panies offset other gains.

Benchmarks fell in Tokyoand Hong Kong but wereflat in Paris and London.Shanghai advanced afterreopening following theLunar New Year holiday.

Optimism that rollouts ofcoronavirus vaccines willset the stage for strongereconomic growth in thesecond half of this year hasbeen pushing shares higher.But expectations of a post-pandemic recovery alsohave resurrected concernsover inflation that could

prompt governments andcentral banks to pull backon stimulus.

Germany's DAX rose0.2% to 13,934.02 and theCAC40 in Paris was virtual-ly unchanged at 5,765.36.Britain's FTSE was alsoalmost unchanged, at6,712.47. US futures fell,with the contract for theS&P 500 down 0.3% andthat for the Dow industrials0.1% lower.

In Asian trading, theShanghai Composite indexgained 0.6% to 3,675.36 andthe S&P/ASX 200 was flat, at6,885.90. Japan's Nikkei 225lost 0.2% to 30,236.09, whilethe Hang Seng in HongKong shed 1.6% to 30,595.27.In South Korea, the Kospigave up 1.5% to 3,086.66.

World shares mostlylower on Wall Street

PNS nMOSCOW

India and Russia should diver-sify their trade basket andeconomic exchanges bygoing beyond the tradition-al sectors and cooperating innew areas like railways,transport and logistics, phar-maceuticals, minerals andsteel that will add momen-tum to the bilateral ties,Foreign Secretary HarshVardhan Shringla has said.

Addressing a meeting host-ed by the Diplomatic Academyof Russian Ministry of ForeignAffairs on Wednesday, Shringlasaid India-Russia trade,amounting to USD 10.11 bil-lion in FY 2019-2020, is farbelow the potential.

"Last year there was a slumpbut we are finding ways of

reviving it. Both countries haveset the bilateral trade target atUSD 30 billion by 2025," he said.

One of the steps taken to

enhancetrade is thecommencementof negotiations inAugust 2020 for the India-Eurasian Economic Union FreeTrade Agreement, he said.

The operationalisation of a"Green Corridor” and aBilateral Investment ProtectionArrangement are likely to

encourage bilateral trade andinvestment, respectively,Shringla underlined.

Use of national currencies inbilateral trade settlements willa l s o

reduce cost and time as well asrisk of held-up payments, hesaid.

Pointing that the oil and gassector has been a flagship sec-tor of commercial coopera-tion, he said the two countries

have been looking out for waysto diversify economic exchangesgoing beyond the traditionalareas. He said India is looking

at investment innew areas such

as cokingcoal, timber,LNG as there

is a hugepotential there.

"We have alreadystarted a shipping line

between Vladivostok andChennai. We are looking at asignificant trade route whichwas never there, a new routebetween our two countries."

Stressing that Indian compa-nies have significantly investedin Russia, he said India's invest-ment in the Sakhalin-1 projectwas one of India's earliest pub-lic sector investments abroad.

‘India, Russia must diversify trade basket’

PNS nJAMMU

The departments of skill devel-opment and higher educationin Jammu and Kashmir havereceived six proposals ofalmost Rs 700 crore from bothdomestic and internationalinvestors, an official spokesper-son said on Wednesday.

The information was givenat a meeting chaired byPrincipal Secretary, SkillDevelopment Department(SDD), Asgar Hassan Samoonto discuss and review the J-KEducation Investment Policy(EIP), 2020 here, he said.

The meeting decided thatthe six proposals received bythe SDD and the HigherEducation Department (HED)should be publicised throughprint medium and newprospective investors should beencouraged to come forwardand invest in the union terri-tory.

It was also decided in themeeting that investments inthe field of education should bethe top priority of educationr e l a t e dd e p a r t -ments andno stoneshould bel e f tunturnedi na ch i e v -ing thisgoal, thespokesper-son said.

The principal secre-tary directed the officers of theIndustries and CommerceDepartment that they shouldfacilitate the prospectiveinvestors for land allotment.

The officers of the SmallIndustries DevelopmentCorporations (SIDCO) andthe Small Scale IndustriesDevelopment Corporation

Limited (SICOP) were direct-ed to give able assistance in thisexercise and top priorityshould be given to underdevel-

oped andremote areasfor thesei n v e s t -ments inthe field

of edu-cation asit wouldgive aflip to ther u r a l

economy of J-K,the spokesperson

said.He said the meeting also

suggested that prospectiveinvestors should come for-ward and give presentationsregarding their proposals,besides a ceiling of 200 kanalsshould be fixed incase of estab-lishing universities and 21kanals in case of colleges.

J&K: Skill, edn depts receive6 proposals from investors

PNS nMUMBAI

The rupee pared its initial loss-es to settle higher by 9 paise at72.65 against the US dollar onThursday following consis-tent forex inflows and losses inthe American currency in theglobal markets.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the domes-tic unit opened lower at 72.76tracking selloff in domesticequities. The rupee touched alow of 72.78 and a high of72.65 during the day.

The domestic unit finallyended 9 paise higher at 72.65against the US dollar. OnWednesday, the rupee hadsettled at 72.74 against theAmerican currency.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the green-back's strength against a bas-ket of six currencies, fell 0.26per cent to 90.71.

"The rising yields areputting positive pressure ondollar index and in turn onUSDINR spot, but the uptrendwill be limited as traders needmore proof that the US econ-omy is getting in better condi-tions," said Rahul Gupta, HeadOf Research-Currency, EmkayGlobal Financial Services.

Gupta added that the opti-mism over additional stimuluswill keep the spot below thepsychological level of 73 zone."However, RBI interventionwill be eyed. We expect thetrading range to be in between72.40-73."

On the domestic equitymarket front, the BSE Sensextumbled 379.14 points or 0.73per cent to end at 51,324.69while the NSE Nifty fell 89.95points or 0.59 per cent to15,118.95.

Foreign institutionalinvestors were net buyers inthe capital market as theypurchased shares worth Rs1,008.20 crore on Wednesday,according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark,advanced 0.28 per cent toUSD 64.52 per barrel.

On a weekly basis, the rupeehas gained 10 paise against theUS dollar.

Rupee settles at 72.65against weak dollar

PNS nCANBERRA

In a shocking act of retaliationThursday, Facebook blockedAustralians from sharing news,a milestone in the increasing-ly frantic jockeying betweengovernments, media and pow-erful tech companies that oneAustralian minister called “anassault on a sovereign nation”and abuse of power.

Australia's government con-demned the decision, whichalso prevented some govern-ment communications,including messages aboutemergency services, as well assome commercial pages. Thedigital platforms fear thatwhat's happening in Australiawill become an expensiveprecedent that larger countrieswill follow.

Facebook took the drasticaction because the House ofRepresentatives passed legis-lation that would make

Facebook and Google payfor Australian journalism,said Treasurer JoshFrydenberg, who added thathe was given no warningbefore Facebook acted. Thelegislation needs to be passedby the Senate before itbecomes law.

“Facebook's actions wereunnecessary, they were heavy-handed and they will damageits reputation here inAustralia,” Frydenberg said.

“Facebook said the pro-posed Australian law “funda-mentally misunderstands therelationship between our plat-form and publishers who useit. This is an assault on a sov-ereign nation,” Health MinsterGreg Hunt told Parliament.

FB blocks newsaccess in Australia

PNS nWASHINGTON

The US has received enoughpetitions needed to reach theCongressionally-mandated65,000 H-1B visa cap for thefiscal year 2021 and successfulcandidates for the mostsought-after work visa amongforeign professionals, includingIndians, would be decided bya computerised draw of lots.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allowsthe US companies to employforeign workers in specialityoccupations that require the-oretical or technical expertise.The technology companiesdepend on it to hire tens ofthousands of employees eachyear from countries like Indiaand China. US Citizenshipand Immigration Services(USCIS) has said it hasreceived a sufficient number ofpetitions needed to reach thecongressionally mandated

65,000 H-1B visa regular capand the 20,000 H-1B visa USadvanced degree exemption,known as the master's cap, forfiscal year (FY) 2021.

Successful applicants wouldbe decided by a computeriseddraw of lots. “We have com-pleted sending non-selectionnotifications to registrants'online accounts,” a mediarelease said.

“We will continue to acceptand process petitions that areotherwise exempt from thecap,” it said.

Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have beencounted previously against thecap, and who still retain theircap number, are exempt fromthe FY 2021 H-1B cap.

US reaches H-1Bvisa cap for 2021

PNS nJAMMU

Jammu and Kashmir-based FIL industries hasbeen conferred a nationalaward by the CII in thecategory of backward inte-gration at the 5th CII ColdChain Awards, the compa-ny said on Thursday.

FIL group is a diversifiedbusiness organisation withinterests in agriculture, foodand beverages, tourism,hospitality and mountaininfrastructure development.The 5th edition of CIICold Chain Award washeld on a virtual platformon Wednesday.

FIL Industries DirectorOwais Altaf Syed saidthat the CII's consistentadvisory and consultativeprocesses have helped FILIndustries to improviseand emerge as one of themajor players in this cat-egory in the region.

FIL Industriesbags CII ColdChain Award

PNS nGURGAON

Daffodil Software, a leadingcustom software engineeringcompany, om Thursdayannounced that it has beenappraised at level 3 of theCMMI Institute's CapabilityMaturity Model Integration(CMMI)®.

CMMI is a model thatenables organizations to mea-sure, build and improve theircapabilities, resulting in animprovement in the overallperformance. It is tailored fororganizations to help themimprove their processes andbring them at par with global-ly accepted standards andnomenclatures. This frame-work is adopted by the leadingInformation Technology orga-nizations, as a benchmark forquality standards.

An appraisal at maturitylevel 3 indicates that the orga-

nization is performing at a"Defined" level. At this level,processes are well characterizedand understood and aredescribed in standards, proce-dures, tools, and methods. Theorganization's set of standardsprocesses, which is the basis formaturity level 3, is establishedand improved over time.

"Daffodil always had a strongsoftware delivery process as cus-tomer satisfaction is our prima-ry goal. This certification is astamp of validation to ourprocesses and commitment toour clients," said Yogesh Agarwal,CEO of Daffodil Software. Healso added, "This certificationwill help Daffodil compete at aglobal level with larger and high

fidelity projects, coupled withexisting certification such asISO/IEC 27001 for InformationSecurity Manage-ment, ISO9001 for a quality managementsystem and ISO 20000 for ITService Management."

Daffodil Software joins anelite list of software develop-ment companies who haveachieved a Level 3 rating of theCMMI in India. On an aggres-sive growth path, Daffodil is setto ramp up its technical capa-bilities and workforce to serveits growing customer base.

About CMMI Institute CMMI Institute is the glob-

al leader in the advancement ofbest practices in peopleprocess, and technology.CMMI Institute's promise is toinspire cultures of continuousimprovement that elevate per-formance and creates a sustain-able competitive advantage.

Daffodil Software appraised at CMMI Level 3

PNS nGURGAON

SOLV, India's trusted B2Be-commerce platform formicro, small and mediumenterprises (MSME), todayannounced the launch of itsoperations in Hyderabad,the capital of Telanganaand a hub of industrialactivity in South India. Itspresence in Hyderabad willenable SOLV to work moreclosely with the MSMEs ofthe state, bringing to themthe benefits of digitalisationand accelerating theirgrowth through a host offinancial and business solu-tions tailor-made for thesector.

This launch also marksthe start of SOLV's expan-sion plan wherein it aims toscale and establish its oper-ations in 200+ towns acrossIndia.

PNS nBANGLORE

Eka Software Solutions, theleading cloud platform forcommodities and direct mate-rials today announced stellargrowth as customers selectedits cloud platform to enhancesupply chain resiliency. Witha strategic focus on customers,Eka recently revamped itstechnology platform to alignto their priorities, resulting innew solutions and significantgrowth of over US$ 70 millionin TCV.

Throughout 2020, enter-prises sought to digitalize theirsupply chain and end theirreliance on legacy systems.Business leaders now under-stand that the ability to con-

nect the dots between systems,data and people is key tomaintaining continuity,remain competitive andensure sustained growth.

Eka is leading this shiftwith the only Cloud Platformbuilt to accelerate digital trans-formation for enterprises indirect materials and commod-ity supply chains. The cloudcompany recently introducedan integrated suite of solutionsto help customers mitigaterisk and respond quickly involatile markets. With real-time visibility and automationof critical processes, customerscan dynamically adjust oper-ations and better manage dis-ruptions.

Eka announcesstellar growth

SOLV startsoperations inHyderabad

source close to the couple has exclu-sively apprised BollywoodLife,“Taimur is very small now and atthis stage kids are very possessiveabout their parents and want alltheir love for themselves. So,

Kareena has been making every effortnecessary to ensure Taimur is aware of thearrival of his new sibling and is havingconversations with him about the babyeveryday, explaining to him that a littlefriend is on the way to give him companyfor life. Furthermore, she has planned sev-eral playdates with Taimur and his cousin,Inaaya Kemmu (Kunal Kemmu and SohaAli Khan’s baby girl), as after the arrival ofthe newborn, Kareena will be dedicatingherself full time to the infant’s care just asshe had done for Taimur. In the interim, Saif,maasi Karisma Kapoor and papa Saif will bearound Taimur to smoothen the transitionphase.”

9

Hyderabad Friday February 19 2021what’s brewing?

Karan’s disagreement with KartikAaryan; both not on talking terms?

aran Johar andKartik Aaryanannouncedtheir first everassociation withDostana 2. The

actor was finalised to playthe lead, after several topheroes including ShahidKapoor, SidharthMalhotra, Tiger Shroff,Diljit Dosanjh and othersdeclined the role. Nobodywanted to play brother toJanhvi Kapoor in the filmbut Kartik, who desperate-ly wanted to do a filmwith Dharma Productionshad instantly agreed to bepart of the project. Thefilm completed its firstschedule but the pandem-ic and the lockdown puteverything on pause.

Now, after months ofKartik dilly dallying withthe dates owing to hissafety, he decided to firstwrap up Ram Madhvani’sfilm Dhamaka and thatannoyed Karan. A sourcetells us, “For the longesttime, Kartik gave a gen-uine reason for the Covid

19 pandemic to not startshooting. He wanted toensure safety so Karandidn’t push him much.But when he shot forDhamaka, Karan wasupset. They had an indoormeeting where Karanexpressed his disappoint-ment.”

Kartik later did theunthinkable and that ledto major fallout withKaran Johar. “Kartik gotupset with the bannerwhen they gave ShashankKhaitan’s Yoddha to

Shahid Kapoor. AlthoughShahid soon quit, theynever approached Kartikfor the role anyway. AlsoKartik’s dates were notavailable for Dostana 2,Karan decided to go aheadand start Mr. Lele withVicky Kaushal and JanhviKapoor from April. Themoment Kartik got toknow about this develop-ment; he informed theproduction house that theonly dates available forDostana 2 this year will beApril onwards. Karan

understood what Kartikwas doing and quicklyreprimanded him for thesame. He was genuinelyupset with Kartik asJanhvi had to pickbetween Dostana 2 andMr. Lele. The last weheard, Karan and Kartikare not speaking a word toeach other.

However a source closeto Kartik tells a differentstory saying, “Kartik wasto start work on BhoolBhulaiya 2, but the projectwas delayed since Tabudid not want to take a riskwith the shoot. SinceBhool Bhulaiya 2 wasrescheduled, he allocatedhis available dates to shootDhamaka. Dostana 2shoot was to be an over-seas schedule that wouldbe shot in the UK. Thisshoot got pushed due tothe Covid-19 pandemic,and the new lockdownrules prohibited its execu-tion. In fact, even nowthere is no clarity when itcomes to the overseasshoot, since the pandemic

has continued to wreakhavoc. But despite thisuncertainty of the over-seas shoot for Dostana 2and the fact that Kartik isjuggling multiple projects,he has ensured that he hasdates available in Aprilthat he has allocated toDostana 2.”

Further reasoning thatsuch date issues are cur-rently commonplace withmost from the industrythe source close to KartikAaryan continues, “Theproblem on dates is notonly confined to Kartik;this is happening withmost celebrities workingon multiple projects. Theyhave to juggle multipleprojects simultaneously.So it is not entirelyKartik’s fault. In fact, hewill beshooting3-4 daysfor BhoolBhulaiya 2over the next3-4 weeks withKiara.”

k

year after SouthKorean satireParasite tookHollywood bystorm, anotherKorean-language

movie, Minari, is making wavesduring awards season.

Yet the two films could not be moredifferent. Parasite, which made history

in 2020 by becoming the first film in aforeign language to win a best pictureOscar, is a dark satire about class and

contemporary society in South Korea.Minari, now in U.S. movie theatersand arriving in South Korea inMarch, is a tender, quintessentiallyAmerican story about an immigrantfamily in the 1980s trying to betterthemselves by starting a farm inArkansas. Unlike Parasite, it wasconceived, produced and filmed in

the United States. “They speakKorean and it’s about a family

and there’s some Koreanculture involved, but I

think this film speaks alot to what America

is. It contains a lotof people doingmany differentthings, many dif-ferent walks of

life, and in thatway, it’s quite dif-

ferent from Parasite,” said director LeeIsaac Chung. An intensely personal story,the film is based partly on Chung’s ownlife as a boy growing up in Arkansas, butthere is no satire and barely any mentionof racism. Instead the film, which hasalready won multiple awards nominations,including the Golden Globes, has beenwidely embraced for its universal humani-ty. Nominations for the Oscars have notyet been announced. Korean-Americanactor Steven Yeun, who plays the father,said he was terrified at taking on the role.“It was scary to approach my father’s gen-eration on a level that isn’t just caricaturebut really just trying to get into theirhumanity. It opened my own eyes into theways in which I might misunderstand myown father and that generation aswell,”Yeun said.

Yeun, best known for his TV role inThe Walking Dead, is joined by Koreanactors Yeri Han as his stressed wife andYuh-Jung Youn as his idiosyncratic moth-er in-law, who all live together in a swel-tering trailer in a remote and unforgivingfield. Chung said the warm response tothe film so far has been more than hehoped for. “I do feel hopeful and glad thatit seems like audiences are willing to readsubtitles, and to watch films that don’treflect their own experiences,” he said. “Itseems like they identify with what they’reseeing, and they’re looking more to thisshared humanity.”

he trailer for ZackSnyder’s JusticeLeague, the four-hour director’s cutthat will release onHBO Max on March

18, has just dropped online. Thenew version differs drasticallyfrom the 2017 theatrical version,which was released to poor criti-cal and commercial reception.Apart from presenting Snyder’soriginal vision, the new versionfeatures additions, most notablyJared Leto as Joker, the supervil-lain role he reprises from SuicideSquad.

The trailer gives a glimpse ofhim talking to Ben Affleck’sBatman, teasing the intense face-off to come. It also revealedfootage of Black Suit Supermanand new supervillain Darkseid.The trailer drew praise from fanson Twitter, with one calling it,“The best valentines gift a boycould ask for #SnyderCut.”Another wrote, “This looksgreat, Zack. I’m very glad thatwe get to see the movie, but I’m

even more happy for you, thecast and crew. People finally getto see the true vision that somany people worked hard on,and that’s brilliant.Congratulations.”

Justice League first released inNovember 2017. Snyder, theoriginal director, walked out ofthe project before its completionand was replaced by JossWhedon. While it was reportedthat he quit the project due topersonal reasons, there was alsospeculation of creative differ-ences with Warner Bros. Thetheatrical cut of Justice League

was described by many as aFrankenstein’s movie, cobbledtogether with footage shot bySnyder and Whedon. It madeless than $700 million world-wide, against a budget of $300million. It reportedly lostWarner Bros around $60 mil-lion.

In 2019, Snyder was broughtback to complete his vision forthe film, after sustained fan pres-sure. He shot additional footage(some of it remotely), completedextensive visual effects work onthe film, and brought backJunkie XL’s score.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League trailer teases faceoff between Batman and Joker

T

A

A

Kareena Kapoor and SaifAli Khan preparingTaimur for the arrival ofhis little sibling!

Korean movie Minariis the talk of Hollywood!

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

FUN

he safest workenvironment iswhere employeesat all levels worktogether to com-municate well and

adhere to one’s security stan-dards. In a historic momentin the Indian #MeToo move-ment, a Delhi Court acquit-ted journalist Priya Ramaniin the MJ Akbar defamationcase, some key accomplishingjudgments were pronouncedby the judge at the sametime, which makes one feeljustified enough to have truthaccepted while instilling theirfaith in the court of law. Inthe year 2018, Ramaniaccused Rajya Sabha MP andformer MoS for ExternalAffairs, MJ Akbar of sexualharassment, during the#MeToo movement. Ramanialleged that in December1993, Akbar sexually

harassed her when she calledhim to a Mumbai hotel for aninterview.

The city of Hyderabad iswell known for its tech-hubsin the country with plenty ofmen and women employed atmultinational spaces, buthow protected does one feelat the workplace and how wemake a safe working atmos-phere for one another arequestions we all need to askourselves. With the metropo-lis town having separate are-nas for office-goers having anabundance of administrativecentres for work likeMindspace and more, bully-ing and discrimination are abig no-no.

“Power-abuse is incorrectat all means and levels of anorganisation. Only rightfuljustice can pave the way forsuch a tragic incident.However, one must re-con-

sider while attempting a fouloffence. And, this win forPriya Ramani has given anoutright clear message toanyone in the authoritativeposition to think beforeattempting a heinous crimeas such. Rightly pronouncedby the judge in his 90-pagejudgement in the case, theright of reputation could notbe protected at the cost of theright of life and dignity of awoman. Talking about what Ipractise in my organisation, Ihave an open-door policywhich has created trans-parency amongst my col-leagues and subordinates. Bythe very design, the chancesof sexual harassment godown as one already knows

the fearful implications dueto the policy. On the whole,safety should be our priorityregardless of gender. #MeToomovement creating a furorein the country doesn’t meanwe shouldn’t hire womenemployees, I am of the opin-ion that we must.Encapsulate a strong corecommittee with empaths atthe workplace who can han-dle such issues with sensitivi-ty. When it particularlycomes to Hyderabad city, mypeers and family memberswho are working women, feelsafe and sound here and infact, according to the statis-tics, we are currently one ofthe safest cities for women,”shares Rahul Reddy, the CEO

of Octopus Group inHyderabad, who is also anactivist.

Priya Ramani, who’s in thenews, did not get intimidatedby the defamation suit at all!But there have been and willbe times, when others willfind it awfully painful to facesuch dire circumstances,especially women. With mul-tiple doubts on soaring acliffhanger, they too, at times,resort to making peace withthe condition they are goingthrough.

Advocate ManasiChaudhari who has alsoassisted Justice DYChandrachud in the land-mark decision of Section 377(decriminalising homosexu-

ality) tells us how sexualharassment at workplaces aremore prevalent than weknow, as it becomes a sup-pressed subject and so it’svital for a woman to knowabout her rights at her work-place.

Emphasising the need tobe well-versed with laws thatprotect a woman, Manasi,who also runs a website dedi-cated to women rights andlaws, says, “Because of thelack of appropriate optionsand a conducive setting, thesurvivor doesn’t speak aboutit. I feel, with more aware-ness, women will feel evenmore empowered to speak upagainst abuse! With moreand more women comingout, the harasser will thinktwice before he does any-thing, thanks to the #MeToomovement. Knowledge of thelaw is the basic step towardsa safe working environment.You must file a complaintagainst it! Also, keep in mindverbal abuse is mistreatmenttoo, because that also comesunder legalities. Don’t let itgo! Additionally, there shouldbe a very attentive milieu atthe workplace regardless ofgender. Office spaces mustconduct wellbeing workshopsfor everyone, create extensivelegal consciousness and lastly,set up a proper internal com-mittee because they functionas mini-court rooms and

must be thoroughly trainedto identify a harasser whilebeing impartial. If we have anempowered inner board atthe agency, one can maketheir employees feel much atease.”

Last of all, with all thematters of workplace harass-ment coming to light andgaining exposure, well-known activist from the citySunitha Krishnan believesthat Priya Ramani’s acquittalwas a major break-throughfor all the women who spokeup during me too campaign!“Two things happened — thevictim’s claim was validatedand secondly, a message tothe perpetrators was madeclear: that you can’t intimi-date a person to silence withyour power position! Butwhat does not come out ofthe judgment is the account-ability of the perpetrator for

his misconduct. That willonly happen when victimssubjected to any crime notjust speak up, but also reportit. That’s the spirit of our leg-islation as well right, enablingan environment for victimsso they can come forwardand report. Back then, thingswere different and tough.Thankfully, now, we areblessed with several laws inplace. Every employee,regardless of gender, shouldemphasise establishing aninternal committee but alsorealise that laws are never tobe misused, like we saw in arecent case in the city, espe-cially in regards to any sexcrime, because it leads to far-reaching implications for thewhole community. Although,long way to go for theimpunity to break but I guesswe are in the right direction,”she adds.

rishyam isn’t just any run-of-the-mill crime thriller.It had the marvellousMohanlal, to begin with.And if that wasn’t enough,the sleek editing and fre-

netic pace of the 2013 film had every-one at the edge of their seats. Cut tothe present day and we’ve seen notjust the Malayalam original, but aremake of the film across a host ofregional languages that have seen thelikes of Kamal Haasan, Venkatesh,and Ajay Devgn in the lead. With thefilm making a name for itself in thegenre of crime thrillers, fans of thefranchise are in for a treat asDrishyam 2 starring the legendarysuperstar Mohanlal and directed byJeethu Joseph is releasing on 19thFebruary.

Recollecting the funny momentsduring the set where he spent ampletime pulling the leg of his fellow crewmembers, the legendary Mohanlalsays, “Except for a couple of people,like Jeethu and myself, no one else

knows about the climax and what isgoing to happen. Each and everyscene is new for them, so everyonehas their own version of the ending. Iused to have fun with the assistantdirectors and ask one of them, ‘Pleasetell me what is going to happen?’ Andthey’d say ‘No sir, I am not supposedto say!’ It was very interesting as Iwould call them up and ask them allthe time about their idea ofGeorgekutty and what they thought isgoing on, in their mind. It’s interest-ing because no one actually knew thewhole story. It will be a surprise forthem when the movie comes out.They’ll be like ‘Oh My God, I neverthought of this!’”

While Drishyam 1 was a huge suc-cess when it released in 2013, directorJeethu Joseph believes that the audi-ence will love and appreciate thesequel as much as they loved the firstpart of the film. Sharing his experi-ence of directing Mohanlal, JeethuJoseph says that even after fourdecades in the film industry,

Mohanlal is very much a director’sactor. “Mohanlal is one of the finestactors in India. He is highly profes-sional, and above all, he is a director’sactor. He exceeds the director’s expec-tations. He is very interesting to workwith and there’s a lot to learn fromhim as well.”

Add to the critical acclaim gar-nered from all across the world, themovie turned out to be a box-officeblockbuster. So much so, thatDrishyam was the first Malayalamfilm to collect 500 million from itstheatrical box office collections goingon to collect more than 750 millionworldwide, a record that it held till2016. There aren’t too many films inrecent times that have made the audi-ence think about what they’ve seenlong after the movie is over.Drishyam, a very intelligent film withan abundance of suspense and twiststhat you never saw coming made surethat it left a lasting impression on theviewer. Its climax will be fondlyremembered for making us wonderabout the things going insideGeorgekutty’s head and how he man-aged to save his family from trouble!Getting right into the skin of thecharacter was no mean feat for theMohanlal and gives us all the morereason to be super excited to see whathe has in store in the upcomingsequel. Speaking about his characterand the movie, Mohanlal said, “It isvery difficult to understandGeorgekutty. He is a very interestingcharacter in the sense that if youcommit a crime and manage to pro-tect yourself from getting caught, youwould have that kind of intelligence.”Further talking about his inclinationtowards crime thrillers, he adds, “Ihave an affinity towards crimethrillers. Films like Drishyam allowan actor to push the envelope andchallenge their own acting skills.Having done so many crime thrillers,Drishyam 1 and 2 are still myfavourites! It is very difficult to makea film like this and to write a scriptlike this. I would say Drishyam 1 and2 are very intelligent crime thrillers.”

Sharing his experiences and thehurdles he faced in keeping the cli-max a secret from the most of theteam and trying out differentmethodologies, Jeethu Joseph said,“We were shooting in Kochi andthere — where some dialogues in asuspense build up scene. So what we’ddo is shoot the scene and remove theaudio before saving the film becauseif they heard it they would knowwhat’s going to happen.”

Drishyam was also adapted andremade in foreign countries as well.This film was the first Indian filmthat was adapted in Chinese andcalled Sheep Without a Shepherdreleasing across packed theatres! Themovie was also made in the Sinhaleselanguage by the name ofDharmayuddhaya. So, hang in thereas Drishyam 2 is coming soon!

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FANDOM

tylist and make-up artist NehaAdhvik Mahajanhas been glam-ming up thedesigning scene

to a rage. With a forte indesigning complete bridallooks, she has been nail-ing it and how! Herrecent shoot with MadhurBhandarkar’s new findAahana Kumra for amovie has been a greatexhibition of make upand styling an entire lookwith glitz and glamour.

“Having to shoot with

actress Aahana Kumrawas immensely fun! Wehad a ball of a time. Ihave taken inspirationfrom various sources andtimelines to design thelook. She was reallyhappy and the resultswere actually breathtak-ingly so good. I have beendesigning for quite sometime now. My designshave a lot of inspirationfrom my childhood andearly life. It’s got an old-world charm mixing in itwith the contemporarytimes," shared the stylist.

WHY DRISHYAM

EVER-INCREASING

ENJOYS

Quashing defamation,hailing the right to call out

Former Union Minister MJAkbar's defamation case againstjournalist Priya Ramani wasdismissed by a Delhi courtstating that “even a man ofsocial status” can be a sexualharasser. The Pioneer'sSHIKHA DUGGAL talks toemployers, workingprofessionals, and activists inthe city about women's right totake their grievances to anyplatform of their choice evenafter decades.

Two thingshappened — the

victim’s claim wasvalidated and secondly, amessage to theperpetrators was madeclear: that you can’tintimidate a person tosilence with your powerposition!

Two thingshappened — the

victim’s claim wasvalidated and secondly, amessage to theperpetrators was madeclear: that you can’tintimidate a person tosilence with your powerposition!

S

‘My designs aredrawn from my

childhood, early life'

FridayFebruary 19, 2021

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021

AFP n SEVILLE

Erling Braut Haaland pro-duced another deadly dis-

play of finishing with a first-halfbrace as Borussia Dortmundcame from behind to beatSevilla 3-2 in Spain in the firstleg of their Champions Leaguelast-16 tie on Wednesday.

Suso’s deflected strike gavelast season’s Europa Leaguewinners an early lead behindclosed doors at the RamonSanchez Pizjuan stadium, butMahmoud Dahoud soonequalised before Haaland tookover.

The Norway phenomenonput Dortmund in front in the27th minute and then scoredagain two minutes before half-time, the goals taking him to 25in 24 appearances this season inall competitions.

Still aged just 20, he hasscored 18 times in just 13Champions League appearancessince the start of last season.

Substitute Luuk de Jong’slate reply gave Sevilla cause forhope heading into the return leg

on March 9, but Dortmundremain favourites to progress tothe quarter-finals.

“We didn’t deserve to lose,but in the end they had one ofthe best players in the world upfront and he made the differ-ence in three situations whichcould have been avoided,” saidSevilla coach Julen Lopetegui.

Haaland, who also set upDahoud’s equaliser, produced aperformance, in the first half atleast, which showcased hisremarkable strength, hold-upplay and pace as well as his bril-

liant finishing.It was too much for a Sevilla

side who had come into this tiewith high hopes, having onlybeen beaten by La Liga leadersAtletico Madrid, away, in theirprevious 19 outings.

“This was one of our bestperformances of the season,”Dortmund coach Edin Terzic,who replaced the sacked LucienFavre after the group phase, toldSky.

“We are pleased with theresult and proud to have beat-en such a team.”

Porto: Porto scored at thestart of each half to beatJuventus 2-1 in the first leg ofthe round of 16 of theChampions League.

Mehdi Taremi gave Portothe lead after just 63 secondsafter a defensive mixup byJuventus gifted him an easyfinish, and Moussa Mareganetted 19 seconds into the sec-ond half. Federico Chiesascored what could prove to bea vital away goal for Juventusin the 82nd minute.

“Our approach changedafter a minute, because whenyou concede like that after aminute you lose confidence,”Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo

said.“Luckily we managed to

get back on track for thereturn match with Chiesa’sgoal. We shouldn’t haveplayed this type of matchand it’s a pity, we could havedone better. We had pre-pared a different game.”

Juventus forwardCristiano Ronaldo was keptquiet on his return to hishomeland as the visitorsstruggled to make an impact,although the Portugal interna-tional did have a penaltyappeal waved away in the finalseconds of stoppage time.

The second leg will be onMarch 9 in Turin. AP

AFP n MELBOURNE

Naomi Osaka said she wasmentally stronger than

ever after emphatically endingSerena Williams’s latest bidfor a record-equalling 24thGrand Slam crown onThursday.

The Japanese third seedswept past the American vet-eran 6-3, 6-4 to reach theAustralian Open final for a sec-ond time after winning in2019.

She will face Jennifer Bradyon Saturday for a fourth Slamtitle after the American beatCzech Karolina Muchova 6-4,3-6, 6-4.

“I think for me, matchexperience definitely helpedme out,” said Osaka, whoreeled off five games in a rowin the opening set after going2-0 down.

“There was a point when Igot broken today... in my headI had all these thoughts abouthow she’s the best server, I’m

probably not going to be ableto break her. Then I told myselfto erase those thoughts and Iwas telling myself I don’t carebecause I can only play onepoint at a time and I’m goingto try my best to play everypoint as well as I can.”

“For me, I think the thingthat I’m most proud of is nowmentally strong I’ve become,”added Osaka, whose previousGrand Slam successes came atFlushing Meadows in 2018and last year, and Melbournein 2019.

The victory left Williams,who won her last major inMelbourne in 2017, strandedon 23 Grand Slam titles as shestrives to match MargaretCourt’s all-time record.

Since winning while preg-nant in Australia four yearsago, Williams has lost fourSlam finals, including the con-troversial and heated 2018 USOpen decider against Osaka.

“The difference today waserrors. I made so many errors,”

said the American veteran,who broke down in tears andwalked out of a post-matchpress conference.

Haaland continues CL love affairErling’s first half brace help BVB beat Sevilla 3-2 away in 1st leg

Porto stun Juve

AFP nMELBOURNE

World No 1 Novak Djokovicended the dream run of

Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsevin the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday to maintainhis bid for a record-extendingninth title.

The 33-year-old Serb, show-ing no ill-effects from anabdomen injury sustained in thethird round, overwhelmed the114th-ranked Karatsev 6-3, 6-4,6-2 to reach his 28th Slam final.

“This is the best I’ve felt inthe entire tournament,” saidDjokovic, who hit 30 winnersand 17 aces. “I could swingthrough the ball. No pain. Thebest match so far.”

Djokovic, 34, remains oncourse for his 18th Grand Slamtrophy, nipping at the heels ofrivals Roger Federer and RafaelNadal, who are on 20.

In his way will be eitherfourth seed Daniil Medvedev or

Nadal’s conqueror StefanosTsitispas, the fifth seed, a clashDjokovic said he was eagerlyanticipating.

“I’m going to take the pop-corn and enjoy it,” he said. “Iabsolutely have zero preference.

“I thought Stefanos didincredibly well to hang in therebecause Rafa was playing amaz-ing,” added Djokovic. Medvedevis the guy. He is playing at thehighest level the last threemonths.”

Djoker ends qualifierKaratsev’s dream runWorld No 1 will face either Medvedevor Tsitsipas for 9th Aus title on Sunday

Osaka downs SerenaNaomi sweeps past Williams to secure final date vs Brady

PTI nMUMBAI

The iconic Sachin Tendulkar’sson Arjun Tendulkar’s

nascent cricketing career got amajor fillip on Thursday when

he was picked by MumbaiIndians at the IPL players’auction, the last name to gounder the hammer inChennai.

The franchise forwhich his father didn’t justplay but also took up men-

torship of youngsters, boughtArjun for ̀ 20 lakh, which was hisbase price.

It was hardly a surprise giventhat he has been a net bowler forthe franchise for the past two-

three seasons.The 21-year-old recently

made his senior Mumbai teamdebut when he played in the SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy againstHaryana.

Mumbai Indians head coachMahela Jayawardane stressedthat the franchise picked Arjunpurely on skills.

“We have looked at it pure-ly on a skills-basis, I mean, thereis going to be a big tag on hishead, because of Sachin, butluckily he is a bowler, not a bats-man, so I think, Sachin will bevery proud, if he could bowl likeArjun,” Jayawardane said at a vir-tual press conference held afterthe auction.

PNS n NEW DELHI

All-rounders and foreign fast bowlersfetched the big bucks at this year’s IndianPremier Leaguge players’ auction where

South Africa’s Chris Morris clinched a record-breaking `16.25 crore deal with RajasthanRoyals while Aussie pacer Jhye Richardson wentto Punjab Kings for `14 crore.

A total of 57 players were signed up by teams,with 22 of those overseas.

Among Indians, uncapped Karnataka play-er Krishnappa Gowtham (`9.25 crore) alsoinvited a bank-breaking bid from ChennaiSuper Kings.

South Africa all-rounder Morris became themost expensive player signed in IPL auctionswhen Rajasthan Royals paid `16.25 crore for him.

Taking centre stage in a high-spending auc-tion for this year’s tournament, the fee eclipsedthe record bid paid for Yuvraj Singh by Delhi in2015 (`16 crore).

Australian bowler Pat Cummins (`15.5crore) had previously been the most expensiveforeign player.

Spin bowling all-rounder Gowtham wasbought for a record `9.25 crore by the CSK, themost paid for an uncapped Indian player. The

32-year-old is currently with the Indian team asa net bowler for the ongoing Test series againstEngland.

Tamil Nadu’s Shahrukh Khan expectedly gota handsome `5.25 crore deal from PunjabKings, more than 51 times his base price of `20lakh. Shahrukh has been in the limelight withhis exploits in the recent Syed Mushtaq AliTrophy.

P L A Y E R S L I S TPLAYER TEAM MONEY ((INR CR)

Chris Morris Rajasthan Royals 16.25

Kyle Jamieson Royal Challengers Bangalore 15

Glenn Maxwell Royal Challengers Bangalore 14.25

Jhye Richardson Punjab Kings 14

Krishnappa Gowtham Chennai Super Kings 9.25

Riley Meredith Punjab Kings 8

Moeen Ali Chennai Super Kings 7

Shahrukh Khan Punjab Kings 5.25

Tom Curran Delhi Capitals 5.25

Nathan Coulter-Nile Mumbai Indians 5

Daniel Christian Royal Challengers Bangalore 4.80

Shivam Dube Rajasthan Royals 4.40

Moises Henriques Punjab Kings 4.20

Adam Milne Mumbai Indians 3.20

Shakib Al Hasan Kolkata Knight Riders 3.20

Piyush Chawla Mumbai Indians 2.40

Steve Smith Delhi Capitals 2.20

Harbhajan Singh Kolkata Knight Riders 2

Kedar Jadhav Sunrisers Hyderabad 2

Sam Billings Delhi Capitals 2

Dawid Malan Punjab Kings 1

Mujeeb-ur-Rahman Sunrisers Hyderabad 1.5

Chetan Sakariya Rajasthan Royals 1.20

Mustafizur Rahman Rajasthan Royals 1

Umesh Yadav Delhi Capitals 1

(LAKH) MONEY INR

Ben Cutting Kolkata Knight Riders 75

Fabian Allen Punjab Kings 75

Liam Livingstone Rajasthan Royals 75

Cheteshwar Pujara Chennai Super Kings 50

James Neesham Mumbai Indians 50

Karun Nair Kolkata Knight Riders 50

Pawan Negi Kolkata Knight Riders 50

Jagadeesha Suchith Sunrisers Hyderabad 30

Jalaj Saxena Punjab Kings 30

Saurabh Kumar Punjab Kings 30

Utkarsh Singh Punjab Kings 30

Akash Singh Rajasthan Royals 20

Arjun Tendulkar Mumbai Indians 20

C Hari Nishanth Chennai Super Kings 20

K Bhagath Varma Chennai Super Kings 20

K C Cariappa Rajasthan Royals 20

K S Bharat Royal Challengers Bangalore 20

Kuldip Yadav Rajasthan Royals 20

Lukman Meriwala Delhi Capitals 20

M Harisankar Reddy Chennai Super Kings 20

M Siddarth Delhi Capitals 20

Marco Jansen Mumbai Indians 20

Mohammed Azharuddeen Royal Challengers Bangalore 20

Rajat Patidar Royal Challengers Bangalore 20

Ripal Patel Delhi Capitals 20

Sachin Baby Royal Challengers Bangalore 20

Sheldon Jackson Kolkata Knight Riders 20

Suyash Prabhudessai Royal Challengers Bangalore 20

Vaibhav Arora Kolkata Knight Riders 20

Venkatesh Iyer Kolkata Knight Riders 20

Vishnu Vinod Delhi Capitals 20

Yudhvir Charak Mumbai Indians 20

M=Millions=Morris & Maxi

Arjun Tendulkar will play for MI

Chennai: Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujaraon Thursday returned to Indian PremierLeague after six years when Chennai SuperKings bought him at his base price of `50lakh at the IPL players’ auction.

The last time Pujara featured in thelucrative T20 league was for Kings XIPunjab, now re-christened Punjab Kings, in2014.

The 33-year-old Pujara, who wentunsold in the last few editions, tweeted:“Thank you for showing the faith. Look for-ward!”

He had last month expressed confidencethat if given an opportunity, he would def-initely do well for his franchise.

No sooner CSK bought Pujara in a one-sided bidding affair, the entire hall applaud-ed the three-time IPL champions for theirgesture.

“We welcome the legend, Che #Bujjiwith a super cute applause from the auctionhall! #WhistlePodu #SuperAuction,” CSKwrote on its official Twitter page.

He has so far featured in 30 IPL match-es, scoring 390 runs at an average of 20.53with a strike rate of 99.74. He has played forRoyal Challengers Bangalore and KolkataKnight Riders in the past.

Pujara back in fold

South African all-rounders becomes most expensive

IPL player ever as he joins Rajasthan Royals for

`16.25 crore; Maxi finds new home in RCB

ore than fouryears after shestaged a come-back to Telugucinema withChandra

Sekhar Yeleti’sManamantha, GautamiTadimalla has now signedanother Telugu project.

This time aroundthough, the actress, whohas Telugu roots, is explor-ing the long-format story-telling.

According to a source,she is playing a pivotal rolein Swapna Dutt’s untitledproduction venture starringNithya Menen in the lead.The series marks the direc-torial debut of cinematog-rapher/short filmmakerGomtesh Upadhye, whileAvasarala Srinivas is actingas the showrunner.Gomtesh is directing froma story of well-knownwriter BalabhadrapatruniRamani.

A source close to thedevelopment tells us exclu-

sively, “Gautami will beseen as Nithya’s mother inthe film, while TalluriRameshwari will be seen asGautami’s mother. It is fam-ily drama interspersed withhumour, highlighting theintricacies of relationshipsand middle-class values.Gautami has a full-lengthpart and Swapna wasinstrumental in her cast-ing. The team had a won-derful experience workingwith the senior actress.”

The source adds thatthe series is spread overeight episodes, with eachepisode running into 25minutes. “So far, the direc-tor has shot a couple ofepisodes and the nextepisode will resume nextmonth. The areas sur-rounding Rajahmundryare hosting the shoot. Themakers are planning towrap it up May/June.Chances are that it willdrop on a streaming giantthis July or August,” thesource concludes.

12

M

tollywoodVijayawada Friday February 19 2021

The Teluguactress will be

seen as NithyaMenen’s mother

in the series,which is spread

over eightepisodes, with

each episoderunning into 25

minutes. She hasalready joined the

sets

GAUTAMI'S digitaldebut with SwapnaDutt's web series

s Shiva Kandukuricelebrated his birth-day on Thursday, themakers of his next,Manu Charitra,unveiled his look

from the film. Driving a two-wheeler with injuries over hisface and body while simulta-neously carrying a rose andsmoking a cigarette, the lookpiqued the interest ofcinephiles. The look is instark contrast to the soft rolehe played in his maiden filmChoosi Choodangaane.Basking in the look’s apprecia-tion, he tells us, “I wanted tobreak myself free from stick-ing to one genre. There was aplan; at least in the first fewfilms, I wanted to experimentin different genres and seewhere I fit in. The moment Iheard the story of ManuCharitra, I felt like giving it ashot. It was raw, organic andintense.”

The actor plays a role withtwo shades in the action-lovestory, also featuring MeghaAkash, Priya Vadlamani,Pragathi Shrivatsav, Suhas,Daali Dhananjay, SrikanthIyengar, Madhunandan,

Raghu and Devi Prasad. Therole transforms from a softguy to a bad one and he addsthat it’s also his first filmwhere he got to try his handat action. Plus, he informs, “Ittouches all emotions and thatwas actually a challenge tostart off with. As I startedplaying the role, I could sinkmy teeth into it,” he pointsout.

A joint production venturebetween N SreenivasaReddy and P RonnsonJoseph, the film, set inthe backdrop ofWarangal mafia, hasbeen shot predomi-nantly in Warangal.“My director BharathPedagani comes fromWarangal and wasparticular aboutshowing a side ofWarangal that hasn’tbeen tapped before. Itis the reason why 70-80percent of the film wasshot there. We are look-ing to wrap up the shootby March-end and slotthe film for a Junerelease," he concludes.— NG

Manu Charitra is a rawand intense love story,

says SHIVA KANDUKURI

hile the status of Romantic,his film under father Puri’sproduction, hangs in bal-ance despite beingwrapped up long back,Akash Puri has moved on.

The young actor has green-lit GeorgeReddy director Jeevan Reddy’s next,Chor Bazaar, and the film waslaunched in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Akash Puri’s sister Pavitra soundedthe clap-board for the first shot,while his mother Lavanya switchedon the camera.

Sai Ram Shankar and SandeepMadhav aka Sandy also graced themuhurat as guests.

VS Raju is producing Chor Bazaar,which will roll from February 26. Tobe shot completely in Hyderabad, thefilm, an action-entertainer with agenerous dose of humour, will bewrapped up in a couple of schedules.

A Suresh Bobbili musical, the film’ssupporting cast is stacked up with thelikes of Subbaraju, Posani KrishnaMurali and Archana of Ladies Tailorfame.

Akash Puri teams up withGeorge Reddy director

eteran lensman KabirLal, who has shot morethan 100 films cuttingacross industries such asKannada, Tamil, Teluguand Hindi films, has

chosen Isha Chawla and KamalKamaraju to spearhead his unti-tled directorial debut, a thriller.Being made in Telugu (Agochara),Tamil (Un Paarvaiyil), Marathi(Adrishya) and Bengali(Antardristi), the film is the offi-cial remake of Spanish film, Julia’s

Eyes.The shooting is progressing

right now in the beautiful localesof Uttarakhand where the director,who has shot films like Pardes,Apne, Yuvaraaj and Welcome Back,is filming scenes on the lead pair.Isha will be seen in dual roles inthe film. Rounding off the maincast are Sunil Verma,Bramahananadam, and AjayKumar Singh. Bankrolled byLovely World Production, the filmwill grace the cinema halls in June.

ctor Nithiin, who hasplayed the lead rolein Chandra SekharYeleti’s Check,assures the audiencethat the film will

give them a different experience.“When I was waiting to do a differ-ent film two years ago, Anne Raviapproached me, saying thatChandoo garu has a story. I’ve beenwaiting to do a film with Chandoogaru since long and I said yes to

hear it. I agreed to do the project 15-20 minutes into the narration as Ifound the concept to be unique andthe treatment fresh. Plus, the charac-terisation was new. The film willtransport the audience to the world ofmy role Aditya. It will stand out as adifferent film this year,” the actor said.He was speaking at a promotional

event of the film in Hyderabad onThursday.

He added that the film took a tollon him mentally. “I was emotionallyexhausted doing it. The film openswith a scene where I’m sentenced tocapital punishment. The entire storyunfolds in a jail and Chandoo garuensured that he gives a realistic touchto it. I used to get depressed occasion-ally playing the role. In fact, I used tohave mood swings at home after theday’s shoot,” the actor recalled.

He lauded producer V AnandaPrasad for backing it. “It’s not a joke toinvest Rs 30- 35 crore on a film devoidof songs. He trusted the story, me andthe director. It’s a gutsy move fromhim. I’m certain that on February 26his banner will be rewarded withmoney and more fame,” the actor con-cluded.

Check drained meemotionally: Nithiin

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w

a

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ISHA CHAWLA in KabirLal’s directorial debut