PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Digging deep into the allegedirregularities in the 'ManaSand' applications, the sleuthsof CID raided Bluefrog Mobiletechnologies, a mobile softwareapplication developing compa-ny, located in the heart of thecity, Siripuram. The teamseized a number of items fromthe premises of the office.

In a swift response to thecomplaints that the IT firmhad hacked the State govern-ment's official site relating todisbursement and transactionof sand www.sand.ap.gov.in

and tampered with the data,the Visakhapatnam wing of theCID led by DSP I Chittibabuhad searched the premises ofthe company on Wednesday.

According to the CIDreport, data related to the thenmines and their source code,log files of various programmeapplications done by companyand also data available in sys-

tems within premises ofBluefrog Solutions in connec-tion with the sand relatedtransactions were verified.Some e-mails were also relat-ed to the sand transactions andsecured the screenshots of thesame and also mentioned thatcloud data related to the appli-cations were yet to be verified.

Continued on Page 3

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MONEY 8‘RURAL CONSUMER SPENDINGSLUMPS TO 4-DECADE LOW’

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SPORTS 12DOUBLE DONE

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 15*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

In a swift response to the complaints that theIT firm had hacked the State government'sofficial site relating to disbursement andtransaction of sand www.sand.ap.gov.in andtampered with the data

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated November 15, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Kartik& Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Chaturthi: 07.14 pmNakshatram: Ardra: 11:16 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 09:12 am – 10:36 amYamagandam: 01:24 pm – 02:48 pm

Varjyam: 07-38 am - 09:14 am

Gulika: 06:24 am - 07:48 amGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 01:15 pm - 02:51 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:38 am - 12:23 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Partly ClearTemp: 32/22Humidity: 75%Sunrise: 06.21Sunset: 05.40

PNS n MUMBAI

The chief minister's post inMaharashtra will go to the ShivSena in the government beingplanned by the saffron partywith the NCP and theCongress, NCP chiefspokesman Nawab Malik hassaid.

The Shiv Sena contestedthe October 21 Assembly pollsin alliance with the BJP as partof the 'Mahayuti' (megaalliance), which was in a com-fortable position to form gov-ernment in the state, winning161 seats in the 288-memberhouse. The two parties, how-ever, fell out after the UddhavThackeray-led party persistedwith its demand of sharing thechief minister's post on a rota-tional basis. The Sena is at pre-sent working with the NCPand the Congress on a com-mon minimum programme(CMP) that will guide theactions of the government thethree parties plan to form.

"The chief minister will befrom the Shiv Sena. It walkedaway from the 'Mahayuti' onthe issue of the chief minister'spost.

"It is our responsibility torespect its sentiment," Maliksaid.

The three parties are likelyto be part of the governmentand negotiations on sharingportfolios among them areon, sources said.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB)sleuths raided the residence ofSuresh Reddy, who is the for-mer Personal Assistant of TDPleader JC Diwakar Reddy onFriday, and unearthed assetsworth Rs 4.17 crore in dispro-portionate assets case. Suresh

Reddy was arrested and he willbe produced in ACB Court inKurnool.

Suresh Reddy is working asthe Assistant ExecutiveEngineer in the Panchayat RajDepartment. ACB officials arealso conducting raids at theresidences of his relatives inAnantapur, Puttaparthi and

Betamcharla. Suresh Reddyjoined the Panchayat RajDepartment on compassionategrounds in 1993 and was post-ed in Anantapur district.

Subsequently, he was pro-moted as Draftsman, AssistantEngineer and AssistantExecutive Engineer.

Continued on Page 2 Suresh Reddy

GHMC official, twoscribes in ACB net PNS n HYDERABAD

Officials of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)caught a GHMC official andtwo local journalists fordemanding and taking Rs 2lakh as bribe on Friday. Thearrested persons were identi-fied as Siddhantam MadhanRaj, Akula Kiran Goud andSopally Srinivas. Madhan Rajworks with the GHMC TownPlanning wing as a sectionofficer for Circle - 18; Kiranis a reporter with AndhraPrabha, a Telugu daily; andSrinivas is a reporter withMana Telangana, anotherTelugu daily.

According to ACB officials,the trio had demanded andaccepted Rs 2 lakh as bribefrom the complainant. Thecomplainant, identified asKeshav Reddy from JubileeHills, had approached ACBafter they had asked for abribe for not taking actionagainst him in connectionwith a shed he had erected onhis building.

Trump proposes83% hike incost to becomeUS citizenWASHINGTON: USPresident Donald Trump'sadministration has officiallyproposed an 83 per centincrease in cost to become anAmerican citizen, claimingthat "current fees do notrecover the full costs of pro-viding adjudication and nat-uralization services".

"The Department ofHomeland Security (DHS)proposes to adjust certainimmigration and naturaliza-tion benefit request feescharged by US Citizenshipand Immigration Services(USCIS)," Xinhua newsagency quoted a DHS state-ment as saying.

Delhi: Mostpolluted cityin the world NEW DELHI: Delhi hasearned the dubious distinc-tion of becoming the mostpolluted major city in theworld with an air qualityindex (AQI) of 527 on Friday,as per data by Air Visual onthe World AQI rankings.

The Air Visual data isupdated frequently, so thecaveat is that rankings andAQI counts change accord-ingly during the day itself.

Delhi air quality broke allrecords on November 5,when it was in the hazardousrange for nine consecutivedays, making this the longestspell of hazardous air quali-ty since public records began,according to Air Visual.

Rs 1,672 for 3 eggs!Ahmedabad:Music compos-er Shekhar Ravjiani of thefamous Vishal-Shekhar duoon Friday took to Twitter,claiming that a luxury hotelin the city charged him an"eggxorbitant" Rs 1,672 forthree boiled eggs.

It reminded many Twitterusers of a similar protest byactor Rahul Bose who had topay Rs 442 for two bananasat a hotel in Chandigarhsome months ago.

The management of HyattRegency, Ahmedabad, whereRavjiani claimed to have hadhis three eggs, however, didnot comment.

"Rs 1672 for 3 eggwhites??? That was anEggxorbitant meal," tweetedRavjiani.

Sena-NCP-Cong govtto last 5 years: PawarPNS n NAGPUR

NCP chief Sharad Pawar onFriday said a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government will beformed and it will completefive-year term as he ruled outthe possibility of mid-termpolls in Maharashtra which iscurrently under Presidentsrule.

He said the three partieswant to form a stable govern-ment which will be develop-ment-oriented.

There is no possibility ofmid-term polls. This govern-ment will be formed and it willcomplete five years. We all willensure this government runsfor five years, Pawar toldreporters here.

Asked whether the BJP washolding discussion with the

NCP over government for-mation in the state, the formerUnion minister said his partywas holding talks with only theSena, the Congress and itsallies and nobody beyondthese.

He said the three parties areat present working out a com-mon minimum programme(CMP) that will guide theactions of the governmentbeing planned in the state.

Representatives of the threeparties met in Mumbai onThursday and prepared a draftCMP.

Pawar took a dig at formerChief Minister DevendraFadnavis remark that the ShivSena-NCP-Congress govern-ment will not survive for morethan six months.

Continued on Page 3

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Telangana ranks sixth inrespect of registration of pro-jects under RERA (Real EstateRegulatory Authority) whileAndhra Pradesh occupies 13thposition across the country.Telangana has 1,374 registeredprojects and 967 real estateagents under RERA, whileAndhra Pradesh has 569 reg-istered projects and 79 realestate agents.

Nationwide, as of 8thNovember, 2019, around46,480 projects and 36,671real estate agents have beenregistered under RERA. At22,885, Maharashtra has themaximum number of regis-tered projects in the country

and the state accounts for21,869 agents. Gujarat,Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh andMadhya Pradesh are amongthe list of top five states head-ed by Maharashtra.

As per the data shared byAnarock Research, the deploy-ment of RERA, alongside anincrease in the number of

states and Union Territories,adds another level of certain-ty to the gradual revival ofhousing market.

Even though about 5,000projects have been approved inTelangana since January 2017,the registrations still add up to1,374.

On this, G Ram Reddy,

Credai TS unit president said,"Telangana is doing well whenit comes to implementation ofRERA and everybody is fallingin line now. Big projects haveregistered and there are smallprojects which are primarilynot registered. Additionally,many projects since 1 January2017 go to occupancy certifi-cate, while RERA started onlysince August 2018.

Continued on Page 3

TS ranks 6th and AP 13th in RERA compliance

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Gannavaram MLAVallabhaneni Vamsi on Fridaycame down heavily on formerminister Nara Lokesh warninghim to mend his ways/

He said there is no compar-ison between him and Lokeshas the latter is taking shelterunder his father's popularity.

Stating that he had won theelections on his own, Vamsipointed out that Lokesh hadfailed to win the elections any-where in the State. "Lokesh hasno moral right to criticiseme," he added.

Reacting to his suspensionby the TDP, he said if he hasthe guts, Chandrababu Naidushould axe the Rajya Sabhamembers, who had defected tothe BJP. "In my 15-year polit-ical life I had spent 10 years inthe Opposition. What didNaidu do for me during hisfive-year rule?" he questioned.

Vamsi observed that Lokeshhas realised that if Tollywoodactor Jr NTR is admitted intothe party, he would not have

political future. Hence, Jr NTRwas sidelined. "A sense ofinsecurity has crept into hismind after the drubbing ofTDP in the last elections," headded.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n WASHINGTON

A US-based Indian profession-al, whose name was listed inthe Green Card backlog, diedsuddenly and as a result hisnewly-wedded wife has beenrendered out of status result-ing in her inevitable return toIndia, a media report said.

Based in Tampa, PrashanthPadal, a native of Telangana,died after a heart attack onNovember 9, The AmericanBazaar said in its report onThursday. He had married hiswife, Sindhu, only four monthsago in India. She had justrecently moved to the USwith Padal.

Padal's death comes afterShiva Chalapathi Raju fromNorth Carolina, whose namewas also in the Green Cardbacklog, passed away sudden-

ly in October, leaving his preg-nant wife in limbo.

The North America TeluguSociety has started a fundrais-er to help Padal's family.Through the Go Fund Mecampaign, the organization isactively working with familymembers and friends to makeall funeral arrangements andextend fund-raising support.

The fundraiser with a goalof $100,000 has alreadyreceived contributions of$58,409 in two days since itwas started.

Another Telugutechie in US GreenCard backlog dies

Vizag IT firm raided for ManaSand application ‘irregularities’

‘MODINOMICS’ STINKS SO BAD, GOVT HASTO HIDE ITS OWN REPORTSNEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhiattacked PM Narendra Modi on Friday over anofficial survey which reportedly points to a fall inconsumer spending and said "Modinomics stinksso bad", the government has to hide its ownreports. A media report cited the latestconsumption expenditure survey by the NationalStatistical Office (NSO) to claim that consumerspending fell for the first time in more than fourdecades in 2017-18, primarilydriven by slackening ruraldemand.The report also claimed the NSOreport was approved to bereleased on June 19, 2019, butwas withheld by thegovernment agency owingto its "adverse" findings.

'SCARED' OPPOSITION NOT UNITED :SHARAD YADAVGHAZIABAD: Former union minister Sharad Yadavon Friday claimed that opposition leaders are notunited as they are "scared" that the centralgovernment might lodge cases against them."Some leaders like Chidambaram are in jail whileothers are on bail," Yadav told reporters here.Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram is lodgedin Tihar Jail under judicial custody in the ED'smoney-laundering case. "Opposition leaders arescared of central government thatcases can be lodged againstthem ... that is why oppositionparties are not united and theruling BJP is takingadvantage of it," he said atthe residenceof a RashtriyaLok Dalleader here.

BJP for countrywidestir seeking Rahul'sapologyPNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP will hold a nation-wide workers' programmeon Saturday to seek Congressleader Rahul Gandhi's apol-ogy over his "lies" on theRafale issue, after theSupreme Court gave a cleanchit to the Modi governmentin the matter and rejected thepetitions for a review of itsearlier order.

BJP general secretaryBhupender Yadav toldreporters here that theCongress and Gandhi were"exposed" by the apex court'sverdict and they should nowtender an apology.

He also mocked theCongress's demand for aprobe in the issue, noting thatthe court, in a unanimousverdict, rejected the petitionsseeking a probe in the pur-chase of Rafale fighter aircraftand also quashed the pleas fora review of its order.

Even though about5,000 projects havebeen approved inTelangana sinceJanuary 2017, theregistrations still addup to 1,374

A sense of insecurityhas crept into Lokeshmind after thedrubbing to TDP in thelast elections," Vamsiremarked

Gannavaram MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsi addressing the media in Vijayawada on Friday

Lokesh fearful of Jr NTR, has nomoral right to criticise me: Vamsi

TDP SUSPENDS VAMSIVIJAYAWADA: The TDP on Fridaysuspended Gannavaram MLAVallabhaneni Vamsi from theparty. TDP General Secretary VarlaRamaiah said the decision wastaken against Vamsi for criticisingparty chief N ChandrababuNaidu's hunger strike, which waslaunched by the latter, demandinga solution to the sand crisis. "Theparty has taken a serious view ofhis criticism of other party leadersas well his unconditional supportto YSRCP and asked him to offeran explanation within 15 days,"Ramaiah said.

HC GIVES NOD FORLOCAL BODY POLLSPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh HighCourt has given the green sig-nal for local body elections inthe State. While the YSRCPgovernment was preparing tohold the elections, some peo-ple approached the court seek-ing a stay order.

When the petition came upfor hearing on Friday, theHigh Court ruled that theState government can go aheadwith the elections. The govern-ment has decided to provide 60per cent reservation for SC, STand BC communities in thelocal body elections. However,a petition was filed by somepeople opposing 60 per centreservations. The court, how-ever, rejected the plea andasked the State government togo ahead with the elections.

Earlier, the High Courtadjourned the hearing in thecase for four weeks. The localbody elections were long over-due since August 2018. Withthe High court delivering the

judgment in favour of the gov-ernment, elections for theposts of Sarpanch, MPTC,ZPTC look imminent. Theline has also been cleared formunicipal elections.

Shiva Sena to get CM postin three-party Maha govt

Assets worth Rs 4.17 cr unearthed in raids

Former PA of JC arrested in DA case

{

PNS n HYDERABAD

A Captain with the IndianArmy has reportedly beenpicked up from Hyderabad bythe Anti-Terrorist Squad of theUttar Pradesh police in con-nection with Monday's blast atthe Kushinagar mosque inUP. The police suspect thatCaptain Mohammed Ashfaq,who works at the MilitaryHospital in Trimulgherry, waspresent at the spot when theblast occurred.

It is yet to be confirmed ifhe was picked up suspectinghis role in the blast or toextract information from himregarding the blast.

Investigating agencies sus-pect Ashfaq had escaped fromthe spot soon after the blastand reached Hyderabad,where he was taking shelter.The Hyderabad Police saidthey had no informationregarding the development.

The Uttar Pradesh policehave already nabbed four per-sons including a Muslim cler-ic in connection with theblast. Officials suspect that oneHaji Kutubuddin had report-edly told the youth who hadstored the explosives, weigh-ing around eight to 10 kg, thatsomething big was beingplanned.

KUSHINAGARMOSQUE BLAST

Army Captaintaken into custodyfrom Hyd

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CAPSULE

KarthikaBrahmotsavams atTiruchanoor VIJAYAWADA: The TTD is allset to conduct the NavahnikaKarthika Brahmotsavams of SriPadmavathi Devi Ammavaru atTiruchanoor from November 23to December 1. As a part of thisnine-day mega religious fete,the devotional culturalprogrammes have also beenplanned on five differentplatforms, including AsthanaMandapam at Tiruchanoor,Mahati Auditorium,Annamacharya Kalamandiram,Ramachandra Pushkarini andShilparamam. Every day thedevotional culturalprogrammes, includingNadaswaram, Vedapathanam,instrumental, vocal andclassical dance by renownedartistes hailing from differentparts of the country are set toenthral the devotees anddenizens during the festivedays. The TTD has also invitedartistes to send theirperformance CDs so that theselection committee will decideand provide them to perform infront of various Vahana Sevasduring AmmavariBrahmotsavams. Alreadytraditional artforms likeGaragalu, Pillanagrovi andKolatam teams will attractdevotees. Apart from this thestages of Tyagayya, Ramadasu,Annamacharya,Purandharadasa will also be setup in the four corners of madastreets during Vahana Sevawhere the artistes presentsankeertans of the respectivesaint musicians.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2019 vijayawada 02

EGGRATES

` 38,460 (10 gm)

` 240

GOLD

` 44,200(1kg)

` 3300

HYDERABAD 412VIJAYAWADA 422VISAKHAPATNAM 415RETAIL PPRICE `4.22

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `154

Without Skin `175

Broiler at Farm `106

`/KG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

PTI n KUNAL DUTT/AYODHYA

Eighty-three-year-old RamKishore Goswami says he stillrecalls the sound of `azaan'from the Babri Masjid neigh-bouring his nearly 200-year-oldhouse and how as a child heplayed around the historicmosque with no security forcesaround.

His sons Neeraj and Nikhil,both born in the 80s, vividlyrecount the day the Mughal-eramosque was demolished by afrenzied army of Kar Sevaks in1992, an unsettling sight the duosaw straight from the rooftop oftheir grand home `ShringarBhawan', about 300 metres fromthe disputed site.

The Kar Sevaks were so mad,they appeared possessed andwith iron rods and other objectsknocked down the three domesof the 16th century Babri Masjidone by one, engulfing the sky-line in a cloud of smoke, whoserepercussions were felt across thecountry, said Neeraj Goswami,who was just 10 years old then.

Successive generations of the

Goswamis have lived throughthe multiple phases of theR amjanmabhoomi-Babr iMasjid dispute, and the historicSupreme Court verdict in thecase has come as a relief for thefamily. On November 9, it feltlike a weight had come off ourchest. In over 80 years of my life,I have heard stories from myfather, grandfather about theRamjanmabhoomi, the BabriMasjid that stood there till 1992and so many legends associatedwith both. I am glad the disputehas been resolved, Goswamitold PTI.

Ramjanmabhoomi is a holysite for us and I am happy aboutthe verdict. But Ayodhya's peo-ple are peace-loving and socommunal harmony should bemaintained, he said.

Enfeebled by age, Goswaminow spends most of his timeindoors as his wife and sons takecare of him. The stories of RamLalla and the festivals celebrat-ed near the mosque in the 60sand the 70s, often figure in theirconversation.

Despite having lived in such

close proximity to the disputedsite, I as a child was neveraware of any dispute. The areawas more like a playground forus kids, he said.

Shringar Bhawan has beenwith the Goswamis for genera-tions. Ram Kishore Goswami'sgreat-grandfather DayalalGoswami moved to Ayodhyafrom Vrindavan, according to

the patriarch younger son NikhilGoswami.

Dayalal Goswami bought this'kothi' which also has a templeinside and a huge courtyard.Since then our family has beenperforming 'puja' here. And Ihave grown up here seeing ahuge security force around us allthe time, Nikhil Goswami, 33,said. The young Goswami too

recalls the fateful day ofDecember 6, 1992 when KarSevaks from different parts ofthe country overran Ayodhya,flooding the street in front ofShringar Bhawan and theRamjanmabhoomi Marg thatled to the disputed site.

He said Dayalal Goswamimust have been alive in 1885,when Mahant Raghubir Das

filed a plea in Faizabad districtcourt seeking permission tobuild a canopy outside the dis-puted structure. The plea wasrejected.

"My father witnessed the 1949episode. We saw the 1992 demo-lition of the mosque and the nextgeneration in the Goswami fam-ily will see the Ram Temple, allliving next to the

Ramjanmabhoomi site," he said.In a landmark verdict, the

Supreme Court on November 9granted the entire 2.77 acre ofthe disputed land in Ayodhya tothe Ram Lalla deity for the con-struction of a temple. It alsoruled that an alternative five-acreplot must be found at a "promi-nent" place for a mosque in theholy town.

BABRI MASJID NEIGHBOURS

Generations of this family saw Ayodhya conflict unfoldn The young Goswami too

recalls the fateful day ofDecember 6, 1992 when KarSevaks from different partsof the country overranAyodhya, flooding the streetin front of Shringar Bhawanand the RamjanmabhoomiMarg that led to thedisputed site

n In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on November 9granted the entire 2.77 acre of the disputed land in Ayodhyato the Ram Lalla deity for the construction of a temple. Italso ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found ata "prominent" place for a mosque in the holy town

n "My father witnessed the1949 episode. We sawthe 1992 demolition ofthe mosque and thenext generation in theGoswami family will seethe Ram Temple, allliving next to theRamjanmabhoomi site,"he said

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The training programme on'Chemical, Biological,Radiological and Nuclear'(CBRN) EmergencyManagement for seaport emer-gency handlers organised bythe Visakhapatnam Port Trustconcluded here on Friday.

Ports are the national exche-quer in handling imports andexports in the country havingvaluable assets, valuable humanresources. Therefore, it is theprime duty to protect theseassets from any unforeseenincidents like CBRN hazards.These CBRN hazards may beaccidental due to human ormachine errors or may beintentional due to terroristattacks or wars. To safeguardthe assets and face eventualities

specialised training designedby experts, scientists wouldvery much help the ports.

The training programme isdesigned by a team of seniorscientists, experts fromNDMA, INMAS (Institute ofNuclear Medicine & AlliedSciences under DRDO), NDRF(National Disaster Response

Force) and IPA to specificallysuit the seaports. This seaportsmodule is scheduled to con-duct in all major ports in aphased manner. To that extent,a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) wasalso signed among NDMA,INMAS and Indian PortsAssociation (IPA).

With the able support ofapex agencies like NationalDisaster ManagementAuthority (NDMA), DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganidation, BARC underDepartment of AtomicEnergy, senior most scientists,experts visiting our port tosensitise VPT officers, doc-tors, CISF, PPP/BOT opera-tors, police department aboutCBRN emergencies a five-day programme coveringavoiding of CBRN hazards,detecting hazard alreadyoccurred through chemicalspillage, gas leakages, pro-tecting human resources,assets and environment,decontamination of naturalresources like air, water, soil,etc., and managing conse-quences of these hazards.

PNSn VISAKHAPATNAM

Vizag is better positioned thanother coastal cities to tackle ter-ror threats. Efforts are on tostrengthen the marine police sta-tion with special manpower andother resources. The state gov-ernment had apprised theMinistry of Home Affairs aboutthe requirements, DGP DGoutam Sawang said

Along the East Coast,Visakhapatnam is surrounded byvarious security establishmentssuch as the headquarters ofEastern Naval Command andCoast Guard. Hence, the coastalsecurity of Vizag assumes signif-icance, especially when tensionescalates with the neighbouringcountry Pakistan.

Responding to a query on thelack of facilities at Marine PoliceStation, he conceded that lack offunds and manpower had pre-vented them from sorting outsome issues.

"I will say we are better posi-tioned than other cities to han-dle threats from sea. We havegood strategy on place. Our talkswith the Home Ministry aregoing on to equip the MarinePolice Station with enough boats,vessels and other resourcesrequired," said the DGP said.

Tourist Police station, VirtualPolice station soon The top copalso assured the media that thestate police would soon intro-duce tourist police station andfirst-of-its kind Virtual PoliceStation inside Andhra University.

"Andhra University is ready toprovide all required infrastruc-ture for the Virtual Police Station.It was a proposal from AndhraUniversity and we liked theconcept. We are trying our bestto open the station on the varsi-ty campus soon," he added.

The Tourist Police Stationhas remained only on a propos-al stage, as there was not any ini-tiation taken from the State gov-ernment in this connection.Vizag being one of the toptourist destinations, setting up ofa Tourist Police Station is neces-sary.

Seaport emergency handlerstrained on CBRN hazards

Training programme on 'Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear' (CBRN) Emergency Management for seaport emer-gency handlers being organised in Visakhapatnam on Friday

n Ports are vital for thenational exchequer inhandling imports andexports in the countryhaving valuable assets,valuable humanresources. Therefore, it isthe prime duty to protectthese assets from anyunforeseen incidents likeCBRN hazards

n These CBRN hazards maybe accidental due tohuman or machine errorsor may be intentional dueto terrorist attacks orwars. To safeguard theassets and faceeventualities specialisedtraining designed byexperts, scientists wouldvery much help the ports

Tourist Police Stationto be introduced inVisakhapatnam soon

n Along the East Coast,Visakhapatnam issurrounded by varioussecurity establishmentssuch as theheadquarters of EasternNaval Command andCoast Guard. Hence, thecoastal security of Vizagassumes significance,especially when tensionescalates with theneighbouring countryPakistan

n Responding to a queryon the lack of facilities atMarine Police Station, heconceded that lack offunds and manpowerhad prevented themfrom sorting out someissues

YSRCP activistmurdered

Former PA of JCarrested in DA case

Continued from Page1

At present, he is working asAEE PIU Sub-Division atAnantapur since February2019, according to ACB offi-cials. They further stated theaccused purchased a G+1 RCCbuilding in 2002 situated atRam Nagar in Anantapur townand subsequently renovatedthe same. In 2016, he construct-ed a G+5 commercial complexat Jesus Nagar in the town. Hebought a vacant site of one acrein Puttaparthy in 2018. KPushpalatha, wife of SureshReddy, acquired 1.63 acresland at Yemalapalli inPuttaparthi mandal in 2018.The accused owns two cars.The total worth of dispropor-tionate assets found duringthe searches is Rs 4.17 crore.

PNS n NEW DELHI

About three in five journalists inthe country receive threats, orpressure at some point of time,mostly through social mediaplatforms like Facebook, Twitteras well as WhatsApp, said a sur-vey on Friday.

Of those who facedthreats/harassment, 35 per centbelieve that they were targetedbecause of the angle, or the waya story was reported by them.

While 29 per cent of the over-all respondents disclosed thatthey received threats once in ayear, 19 per cent of the respon-dents received threats severaltimes a month, showed theresults of the survey conducted

by Vision Foundation in associ-ation with the National Unionof Journalists (India).

Out of those who were threat-ened, around 46 per centrespondents claimed that socialmedia platforms like Twitter orFacebook were the medium fol-

lowed by 17 per cent respon-dents who were threatened viaprivate messaging apps likeWhatsApp.

On the other hand, 76 percent journalists said that eitherno safety protocol existed intheir organizations, or that they

were not trained for safetyissues. At least four journalistswere killed in the country in2019 due to work-related issues.The "Threats to Safety ofJournalists in India" surveyinvolved 823 media profession-als, out of which approximate-ly 21 per cent were female.

The results suggest that jour-nalists face physical, psycholog-ical and emotional risks becauseof many factors like sharp divi-sion of ideology among citizens,high voltage political situations,impunity for crime against jour-nalists and ethical dimensions ofjournalism, among others.

Ensuring accuracy of newspublished (74 per cent), followedby reporting exclusive news(13%) and being the first one topublish news (11 per cent)seems to be the top three prior-ities of the media organisationsin which the respondents work,the study revealed.

When asked about the biggestchallenge faced by the journal-ism sector in the 21st century, 33per cent pointed to increasingattacks on freedom of press, fol-lowed by 21 per cent respon-dents, who felt that fake/paidnews was the biggest challenge.Social networking sites andinfluencers bypassing tradition-al media were cited as a challengeby 18 per cent respondents.

Survey says many scribes face work-related threats in country

Students at a two day-workshop on 'Role of transducers programmable devicesin IoT applications' in Vijayawada on Friday

n Of those who faced threats/harassment, 35 per centbelieve that they were targeted because of the angle, orthe way a story was reported by them

n While 29 per cent of the overall respondents disclosedthat they received threats once in a year, 19 per cent ofthe respondents received threats several times a month,showed the results of the survey conducted by VisionFoundation in association with the National Union ofJournalists (India)

Two-dayworkshop on IoTapplications endsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

A two day-workshop on 'Roleof transducers programmabledevices in IoT applications'was organised by theDepartment of Electronics inassociation with ECE depart-ment of Andhra LoyolaInstitute of Engineering andTechnology (ALIET) inVijayawada on November 14and 15.

A total number of 39 III BSc Electronics students attend-ed the programme and theygained insights into interfac-ing and application of Arduinoand Rasberry Pi.

The programme was start-ed by Rev. Father. Dr. A.Francis Xavier, S.J., Director,ALIET who spoke about theimportance of IoT.

M Ramakrishna, Head,Dept. of ECE, ALIETand otherfaculty members of ECE Dept.guided the students during theworkshop. B. Balaji Bhanu,Head, Department ofElectronics, Andhra LoyolaCollege, and other facultymembers of the Electronicsdepartment oversaw the pro-gramme. Rev. Fr. G.M. VictorEmmanuel S.J., congratulatedthe faculty for making the pro-gramme available to students.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The South Central Railway-Vijayawada Division hasappealed to its rail customers tomake use of current trendingUTS on mobile app for cashlessand paperless transactions andsolicit passengers support andcooperation in helping the gov-ernment and nation in creatinga cashless digital economy anderadicating black money. Thisfacility will reduce rush at book-

ing counters and a significant ini-tiative towards green environ-ment since it is paperless.

According to an SCR pressrelease, the Vijayawada Divisionis making continuous efforts forpromotion of UTS on mobileapp through distribution ofpamphlets, canvassing in trains,organising workshops, conduct-ing seminars in colleges and pro-viding helpdesk counters atmajor stations. Officer and com-mercial staff conducted extensive

campaigns in various education-al institutions to sensitise gener-al public and students periodi-cally every month. The SCRroped in celebrities and TVartistes to popularise the app

through video messages on var-ious social media platforms

The UTS on mobile applica-tion is developed in-house by theCentre for Railway InformationSystems (CRIS). It is an addedfacility to the passengers to availboth paperless and paper tickets.It is initially introduced in thesuburban sector (MMTS juris-diction) of SCR in 2016 as a pilotproject. Due to positive responsefrom the rail users, it was extend-ed to the entire zone in July 2018

and later on, this facility wasextended across the countryfrom November 2018 for bothsuburban and non-suburbanservices. This ticketing App isuser friendly. The main benefitsof this app are that passengerscan purchase unreserved, plat-form and season tickets throughtheir mobile (cashless) as pertheir convenience. The users cancreate Railway Wallet (R-Wallet)also and avail 5% bonus on everyrecharge to the Wallet.

SCR asks commuters to go for cashless transactions

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP activist was brutallymurdered at Amberpet vil-lage in Bhimadole mandal inWest Godavari district onFriday. According to police,some unidentified personsattacked YSRCP activistKishore with iron rods overa land dispute. He wasseverely injured and diedon the spot. Kishore's fami-ly members alleged that theTDP leaders with the sup-port of former TDP MLAGanni Veeranjaneyulu'sbrother Goplam wereresponsible for the murder.

New CS paysvisit to Durga temple PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Secretary NeelamSawhney visitedKanakadurga temple atop theIndrakeeladri here on Fridayand had darshan of Goddess.She was received as per thetraditions of the temple byExecutive Officer MV SureshBabu and chief priestVishubhatla Siva PrasadaSarma amid chanting ofVedic hymns.

The Chief Secretary per-formed special prayers on theoccasion. While templepriests blessed the EO andpresented her with the'prasadam' and a portrait ofGoddess.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2019 vijayawada 03

Lokesh fearfulof Jr NTR, hasno moral rightto criticiseme: Vamsi

Continued from Page1

Alleging that Lokesh iscarrying out a mudslingingcampaign against him in thesocial media, Vamsi said hehad lodged a complaint withthe Police Commissioneragainst the TDP leader. Hehad urged the CP to takesevere action against the peo-ple responsible for negativecampaign against him in thesocial media.

A false propaganda is beingcarried out by morphing thephotos, he said and com-mented that everybodyknows the stature of hisdetractors. "My image won'tget dented just by burning myeffigy," he observed.

He warned that he wouldexpose the people who carrymoney at the time of electionsif they continue to level base-less charges against him.

‘Junior Literary Fest' in city from today PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Ranked as one of the top sevenchildren's literary festivals ofIndia in its very first edition,Navayuga Vizag Junior LiteraryFestival is all set to commencefrom November 16 at HawaMahal overlooking sea on theBeach Road.

At a time when the childrenare getting addicted to the

mobile phones, the literaryfestival may encourage them toinculcate good habits like read-ing books, writing and story-telling.

Best minds from the worldof literature, including authors,storytellers would be speakingat a two-day literary festivalexclusively for kids in its sec-ond edition, which hasreceived registrations from

over 4,000 school students. The literary festival to be

conducted by Lit LanternCulture and Literature WelfareSociety, not for profit society,will run from 11 am to 7 pmfor two days.

The fest is meant to encour-age children to discover the joyin literature and books. Asfuture leaders of the country,the children of today need to

learn not just from history, butfrom current prevalentthoughts and ideas too. Theyneed to develop a love for read-ing and listening, so they canabsorb and learn from manyexperiences around them, saidVizag Junior Literary Festivaldirectors Priya Uppalapati,Sonal Sarda, Sandhya Godey,Sunil Nevatia (MD of PagesBook Store).

Continued from Page1

Consequently, projects withOCs have not gone for registra-tions." Experts attribute the lowregistrations in AndhraPradesh to the small number ofprojects that came up. Headded, "In Andhra Pradesh, theregistrations are definitely lowas not many projects came updue to Government change,political scenario. The rules arealso different; so, not many areregistering". Even in the com-bined Andhra Pradesh, theshare of Hyderabad was signif-

icant, so RERA registrationsare higher.

C Shekar Reddy, Chairman,Indian Green Building Council- Hyderabad, said, "Even incombined Andhra Pradesh,the number of apartmentsdelivered in Hyderabad wasway higher than inVishakapatnam andVijawayada. Apartment cul-ture is less in Andhra Pradeshand builders are focused inVisakhapatnam, Vijaywada,Guntur, Rajahmundry,Kakinada and that too in verysmall numbers."

Experts opine that statescannot be compared with oneanother as the number ofdevelopers varies. He said,"Most of the professional devel-opers are registered inTelangana as housing andfinancial institutions ask forRERA number and they can-not advertise and participate inproperty shows. By registering,they comply with all normsand are good for marketing."

It may be mentioned herethat projects such as apartmentcomplexes of more than eightunits or layouts and agents

have to register themselvesunder the Real Estate(Regulation and Development)Act 2016.

About a fortnight ago, SomeshKumar, Chairman of TS-RERA,said that the TelanganaGovernment would shortly doan overhaul of the TelanganaState Real Estate RegulatoryAuthority (TS-RERA) so as tomake it more effective. Amongother things, TSRERA plans tostreamline processes and facili-tate digital payments in registra-tion of projects by builders andreal estate developers.

Continued from Page1

Earlier, the Congress wasexpected to support the gov-ernment from outside.

"The Congress must be partof the government to ensure itsstability," sources in the NCPsaid.

The BJP emerged as thesingle largest party, winning105 seats in the election, fol-lowed by the Shiv Sena with 56seats.

The NCP and the Congress,also pre-poll allies, won 54 and44 seats, respectively.

Any party or alliance seek-ing to form government in thestate needs to secure supportof at least 145 MLAs on thefloor of the House.

The state is currently underPresident's rule.

At a meeting here onThursday, representatives ofthe NCP, the Congress and theSena prepared a draft CMP,which will be forwarded forapproval to top leaders of thethree parties.

CM post for Shiva Sena inthree-party Maharashtra govt

Continued from Page1

I know Devendra ji forsome years. But I did notknow he is a student of astrol-ogy too, Pawar quipped.

Pawar took a jibe atFadnavis over his mi punhayein (I will come again)remark.

It is alright he said it. I wasthinking something else allthe while: I will come again,I will come again, I will comeagain. Now, you (the reporter)is giving some other informa-tion, he added.

Asked whether his partywill support the Hindutvaissue if the Shiv Sena raises itwhile forming the govern-ment, Pawar said theCongress and NCP held a

meeting with leaders of theUddhav Thackeray-led partyon Thursday to discuss theCMP.

The 78-year-old Marathastrongman said the Congressand the NCP aways talk aboutsecularism.

I was not there (in theThursday meeting), my col-leagues were there. I willknow about what discussiontook place. But it is true, theCongress or NCP always talkabout secularism.

We are not against Islam,Hinduism or Buddhism. Butwe are the people who insiston secularism when it comesto running a government. Idont know yet what was thediscussion among our allieson this issue, he said.

Sena-NCP-Cong govtto last 5 years: Pawar India 46,480 36,671

Maharashtra 22885 21869Gujarat 6291 1054Karnataka 2995 1673Uttar Pradesh 2739 3335Madhya Pradesh 2430 623Telangana 1374 967Tamil Nadu 1206 1029Rajasthan 1115 1105Chhattisgarh 1078 416Punjab 777 1813Bihar 774 233Haryana 730 1680Andhra Pradesh 569 79

States/UTs Registered Projects Registered as on 8th Nov. 2019 Agents

States/UTs Registered Projects Registered as on 8th Nov. 2019 Agents

Goa 469 180Odisha 319 54Uttarakhand 262 278Jharkhand 165 4Assam 101 13Dadar & 84 2Nagar HaveliHimachal Pradesh 36 32Puducherry 34 2Daman & Diu 22 0NCT of Delhi 21 196Chandigarh 3 14Andaman & 1 20Nicobar Islands

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

"Top priority will be given toissues related to welfare andrights of children in theAssembly making it an examplefor others, said SpeakerTammineni Sitaram here atVMRDA Children ArenaTheatre on Friday.

He was attending a sympo-sium on 'Child Rights and Acts'wherein students from differentschools, teachers and parentsparticipated.

"It is very painful to learn thatin some incidents the care tak-ers and people familiar to chil-dren are indulging in heinouscrime such as exploitation,molestation and rape. Theaccused in child cases and whoviolated child rights should begiven stringent punishment andpolicies and laws should betightened to protect our futuregeneration," Sitaram remarked.

MLC Pakalapat RaghuramaVarma,VMRDA chairmanDronamraju Sriniaas, MLC D

Rama Rao, MLA Golla BabuRao, former Union MinisterKilli Kruparani, retired Judge DDharma Rao, CRPF state pres-ident Gondu Sitharam, BRamesh Babu were present.

Fast Track Courts and discus-sions regarding child rights andabuse in the Assembly should betaken up to protect the rights ofchildren especially girl child, heexplained.

Need to discuss child rights,abuse in Assembly: Speaker

n "It is very painful to learn that in some incidents the caretakers and people familiar to children are indulging inheinous crime such as exploitation, molestation andrape. The accused in child cases and who violated childrights should be given stringent punishment and policiesand laws should be tightened to protect our futuregeneration," Sitaram remarked

PNS n AMARAVATI

Specia l Categor y Status(SCS), funds for Polavaramand other assurances given byCentre are among the issuesYSRCP would raise in theensuing Parliament session.

Chief Minister and YSRCPsupremo YS Jagan MohanReddy, who chaired theParliamentary Party meet-ing here on Friday, askedthe MPs to seek funds fromthe Centre and tell about thewelfare schemes.

MPs Mithun Reddy,Margani Bharat , and KSatyavathi told media afterthe YSRCPP meeting thatChief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy has firmly saidto raise SCS, release of fundsfor Polavaram project worksand backward distr ic tsbesides others issues, likeRamayapatnam port, al lguarantees in accordancewith state bifurcation Act inaddition to establishment ofmedical colleges in the state,and compensating revenue

deficit of the state. "Even CAG has certified the

amount that our state shouldget and now it has strength-ened us to ask in theParliament. The ChiefMinister has detailed every-thing and instructed us to getall the demands fulfilled fromthe Central government. TheChief Minister instructed usto get all the funds assured bythe central government andgive priority to SCS and set-ting up of medical colleges,"they said.

YSRCP to focus on Polavaram, SCS & grants

YSRCP MPs call on Chief Minister YS Jagannmohan Reddy in Vijayawada on Friday ahead of Parliament session

TDP to focus on bifurcation promisesduring winter session of ParlPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Telugu DesamParliamentary Party (TDPP)meeting held at the residenceof party chief N ChandrababuNaidu in Vijayawada onFriday chalked out the strat-egy to be followed during thewinter session ofParliament scheduledto begin onNovember 18.

D i s c u s s i o n swere held on theBills proposed tobe tabled duringthe session. Theconsequences of abro-gation of Article 370 inJ&K, the Supreme Court'sjudgment on Ayodhya issue,Uniform Civil Code and otherwould be focused on.

The TDP is planning toraise the issue of fulfilment ofbifurcation promises and the

special category status and askfor the Centre's stand on theseissues. The party's MPs wouldalso raise the issue of develop-ment of the ancient languageof Telugu and establishment offor Excellence.

Speaking on the occasionTDP Chief N Chandrababu

Naidu said his party is notagainst English

Medium in govern-ment schools but isconcerned aboutthe survival ofTelugu language."We shall not toler-

ate if the State gov-ernment neglects the

promotion of Teluguwhich is our mother tongue.We should make efforts toprotect our language, cultureand tradition," he added. Hesaid the 'Tughlaq rule' inAndhra Pradesh should beexposed at the national level.

Ambati refutes Naidu's charges on govtPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Stating that TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu is a greateractor than Jana Sena presidentPawan Kalyan, YSRCP officialspokesperson Ambati Rambabuhas said that the former ChiefMinister's Deeksha on sand cri-sis was a big farce.

Addressing a press conferencehere on Friday, he said Naidu,who is frustrated for being outof power for the past six months,is revealing his true colours.Being a Chief Minister for 14years and Opposition Leader for10 years, he is doing certainthings, which are unbecomingof his stature. "During hisDeekha, he ensured that he wasphotographed with constructionlabourers holding crowbars andspades. He was seen directingthe workers how to pose for thevideos. It's not just the workers,he is also directing PawanKalyan very well," Rambabu

said. The YSRCP's SattenapalliMLA pointed out that in thepast six months of YSJaganmohan Reddy assumingcharge as the Chief Ministerafter a landslide victory, he hastaken many measure to curbcorruption.

Rambabu alleged that TDPMLAs had looted money at willduring the previous govern-ment. While JaganmohanReddy is trying to cleanse thesystem by rooting out graft,Naidu was making a baselesscharge that the YSRCP govern-ment is collecting J Tax. "People

understood the corrupt deals ofNaidu and rejected the TDP bylimiting it to just 23 MLAs in thelast Assembly elections," headded.

Referring to Naidu's observa-tion that liquor prices havebeen increased by Rs 70,Rambabu recalled that theYSRCP had made it clear dur-ing the election campaign thatliquor would be made costlierand gradually prohibition wouldbe imposed in the State. "We donot understand why Naidu isopposing gradual imposition

of prohibition in the State,"Rambabu said.

Naidu and his son NaraLokesh are doing politics overdeath of innocent people. "Theirclaim that 50 constructionlabourers had committed sui-cide is baseless," he said.

Countering the TDP's chief 'sremarks that JaganmohanReddy is taking revenge onBackward Class people bydepriving them of their liveli-hood, Rambabu said BCs hadleft TDP because it had cheat-ed them.

Pawan launches food campfor construction workersPNS n MANGALAGIRI

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyanon Friday launched a two-day'Dokka Seetamma food camp'for construction labourers atMangalagiri. He served food tothe workers.

Speaking on the occasion,Pawan Kalyan said the YSRCPgovernment had failed to pro-vide employment to people.About 50 people had commit-ted suicide in a span of fivemonths after JaganmohanReddy came to power.

Pawan Kalyan demandedthat the State government payan ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to eachof the families of the workerswho had committed suicidedue to lack of work. Similarly,compensation should be paid toworkers who had lost theirlivelihood due to sand crisis forfive months at the rate of Rs10,000 per month.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy should clar-ify where the Capital would be

built - at Amaravati orPulivendula. Only then, theJanasena would cooperate in thedevelopment of the State, PawanKalyan said.

Stating that Janasena wouldalways support the people'scauses, Pawan Kalyan said "Thatis the reason why the party hasorganised food camps for con-struction labourers in 150 MLAconstituencies in the State.

Pawan Kalyan refuted the

charge that he had never madepersonal charges against any-body. "But, one must rememberthat I will always voice myconcern forcefully wheneverinjustice is done to the commonman," he added.

Later, the Janasena Chiefdrove straight to the VijayawadaAirport from where he flew toNew Delhi. He is scheduled tomeet a host of political leadersin the National Capital.

Vizag IT firmraided for ManaSand application‘irregularities’

Continued from Page1

The IT solutions firmwas established in 2008 andabout 100 professionals areemployed.

The IT firm develops tai-lor-made applications onthe request of clients and atpresent the State/Centralgovernments are theirmajor clients. So far, theyhave developed close to 70applications in differentmodules for governmentschemes.

As per a CID brief, in2017, they got manpowersupply contract from theMines Department of AP,and supplied 80 heads formonitoring the vehiclemovement at various sandreaches and was also paidan amount of Rs 80 lakhby the then State govern-ment. "This aspect is alsobeing investigated," theofficials said.

n Rambabu alleged that TDP MLAs had looted money atwill during the previous government. While JaganmohanReddy is trying to cleanse the system by rooting outgraft, Naidu was making a baseless charge that theYSRCP government is collecting J Tax

n "People understood the corrupt deals of Naidu andrejected the TDP by limiting it to just 23 MLAs in the lastAssembly elections," he reminded

NGO's hold signature campaignto end child sexual abusePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Putting up an united fight toend child sexual abuse, sever-al NGOs working for the wel-fare and protection of the chil-dren, led by Swanthana SevaSamithi came together to holda signature campaign atGandhi Statue in front ofGVMC office here Friday. Thetheme of the campaign was: ToEnd Child Sexual Abuse".

All the NGOs includingMagic Bus, Bala VikasFoundation, CEFEE, FXBIndia, Child Line and ICPSactively participated in thecampaign. Former Secretarywith Ministry of Finance, EASSarma (IAS, Retd), who gracedthe occasion as chief guest,appreciated the efforts of thevoluntary organizations. " Allthe programme outcomesshould be amplifying the voiceof children and young people

at different level to safeguardtheir rights and protection," hesaid suggesting that everyschool should have a childcounselling centre.

NGO members, includingDr Pramila Peter fromSwanthana Seva Samithi, ASatyanarayana (ACPO), Abdul

Raqueeb (Power NGO),Pragnan Kumar, Sri Krishna,Narava Prakash were also pre-sent. They presented theiropinions and pledged that "Westand for child safety and willplay an active role in keepingchild safe. We are part of solu-tion."

Aarogya Sri:Familiesearning Rs 5Lincome eligiblePNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State government onFriday issued guidelinesexpanding the scope ofAarogyasri Scheme for certaincategories of people. Thescheme is now applicable forpeople whose family incomedoes not exceed Rs 5 lakh. Allcard-holders, who are eligiblefor rice ration, are eligible toapply for the scheme. Besides,families in possession of YSRPension Cards and JaganannaVidya Vasati Cards are also eli-gible. People who own up to 12acres of wetland or 35 acres ofdry lands and the familieswhich have a total 35 acres ofwet and dry lands combinedare eligible for the scheme.Families which are filing I-Treturns for amounts up to Rs 5vlakh can avail themselves ofthe benefits of the scheme.

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan serving food to construction workers at Mangalagirion at ‘Dokka Seetamma food camp'

TS ranks 6th and AP 13th in RERA compliance

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2019 nation 04SHORT READS

Air pollution in Delhi-NCR: SC summonschief secretaries NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt Friday summoned chiefsecretaries of Punjab, Haryana,Uttar Pradesh and Delhi toknow about steps taken bythem to reduce air pollution inDelhi-NCR. A bench of justicesArun Mishra and Deepak Guptasaid effective steps must betaken and 13 pollution hotspotsin Delhi should be cleared ofpollutants. The apex courtquestioned the Delhigovernment over grantingexemptions, including to 2-and-3 wheelers, during its odd-evenscheme and said that pollutionlevel in Delhi is increasing inspite of the vehicle rotationscheme being in force. It alsoexpressed concern that despitereduction in stubble burning,pollution levels in Delhi areworse. The Delhi governmenttold the top court that its odd-even scheme has helped inreducing pollution and the "realculprit" behind the region'spollution is stubble burning.The Centre also told the benchthat it is examining feasibility ofputting up smog towers toreduce pollution in Delhi.

J-K highway closeddue to landslide inRamban

Rail board to hikemeal prices onRajdhani, ShatabdiNEW DELHI: The RailwayBoard has decided to hike priceof meals on board Rajdhani,Shatabdi, Duronto trains,resulting in slight hike in theirfares, according to agovernment order. Accordingto the new order, in first classAC and executive class, tea willcost Rs 35, up by Rs 6,breakfast Rs 140, up by Rs 7,lunch and dinner Rs 245, up byRs 15. In second class AC,third class AC and chair car, teato cost Rs 20, up by Rs 5,breakfast Rs 105, up by Rs 8,lunch and dinner Rs 185, up byRs 10. It has also been decidedthat snacks of regional flavourwill be introduced, the orderstated. The 'Snack Meal' shallbe of 350 grams portion andshall be made available at Rs50, inclusive of GST. "IRCTCshall be accountable forproviding the newly introducedmenu options in a way that thequantity and quality arecommensurate with the tariffand no undue benefit is passedon to the service provider," theorder read.

JAMMU: The Jammu-Srinagarnational highway was closedfor vehicular traffic on Fridaydue to a landslide in Rambandistrict that left over 3,000vehicles stranded, officials said.The 270-km-long highway,which is the only all-weatherroad link between Kashmir andthe rest of the country, wasblocked by the landslide at theDigdol area in the district onThursday night, they said. Over3,000 heavy motor vehicles(HMVs) and 300 light motorvehicles (LMVs) are stranded atdifferent locations along thehighway, the officials said. Themen and machinery have beendeployed to clear the area, theyadded. The highway remainedclosed for three days last weekdue to snowfall and landslidestriggered by heavy rains.

Detained J-K leaders being released gradually: MHA to MPsPNS n NEW DELHI

Top Union Home Ministry offi-cials told MPs of both theHouses of Parliament on Fridaythat the situation in the UnionTerritory of Jammu andKashmir is getting normal andthe detained political leaders arebeing released gradually, but notimeline can be given for the restof the leaders, sources said.

At a meeting of theParliamentary StandingCommittee on Home Affairs,headed by Congress leaderAnand Sharma, the MPsquizzed Union Home SecretaryAjay Kumar Bhalla and his

team of officials on the pre-vailing situation in UnionTerritory of Jammu andKashmir, and the steps taken to

bring back normalcy there.This was for the first time

that the meeting of the com-mittee was held since August 5,when the central governmentabrogated the special statusgiven to the erstwhile state ofJammu and Kashmir underArticle 370 and divided it intotwo Union Territories.

The home secretary con-veyed to the MPs that situationin the UT of Jammu andKashmir is getting normal,schools have been opened,while apple trading is going on,sources said.

Asked specifically about therelease of detained political

leaders, Bhalla and his team ofofficers said they are beingreleased gradually but no time-frame about when the rest willbe freed could be given, sourcessaid.

The home ministry officialsalso told the parliamentariansthat those who were detainedunder the Public Safety Act(PSA) can challenge theirdetention in a designated tri-bunal and if not satisfied withits order, they can move thehigh court.

Those detained under thePSA include former chief min-ister Farooq Abdullah. EX-chief ministers Omar Abdullah

and Mehbooba Mufti are alsounder detention since August 5.

The MPs also raised ques-tioned on the curb on Internetservices in the Kashmir Valleyto the officials told them thatthe restriction has beenimposed as Internet has beenused to carry out subversiveactivities by terrorists andspreading rumours by anti-social elements.

The parliamentarians weretold that since 1990, a total of71,254 terror violence tookplace in Jammu and Kashmir inwhich 14,049 civilians, 5,293security personnel and 22,552terrorists were killed.

Those detainedunder the PSAinclude former chiefminister FarooqAbdullah. EX- chiefministers OmarAbdullah andMehbooba Mufti arealso under detentionsince August 5

2017 North Korean nuke test equalto ‘17 Hiroshimas': ISRO studyPNS n NEW DELHI

The 2017 nuclear test by NorthKorea shifted the ground by afew metres, and was 17 timesmore powerful than the bombdropped on the Japanese city ofHiroshima in 1945, according toscientists from the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO).

Researchers led by K. M.Sreejith of the SpaceApplications Centre, ISRO inAhmedabad, Gujarat noted thatNorth Korea withdrew from theTreaty on the Non-Proliferationof Nuclear Weapons in 2003.

It subsequently developednuclear weapons, with fiveunderground nuclear tests cul-minating in a suspected ther-monuclear explosion -- ahydrogen bomb -- onSeptember 3, 2017.

The scientists, includingRitesh Agrawal and A SRajawat from GeosciencesDivision, Space ApplicationsCentre, ISRO, used satellitedata to augment measurementsof tests on the ground.

In the study, published in thejournal Geophysical JournalInternational, the researchersnoted that conventional detec-tion of nuclear tests relies onseismic measurements usingthe networks deployed to mon-itor earthquakes.

However, there are no open-ly available seismic data fromstations near this particular testsite, meaning that there are biguncertainties in pinpointingthe location and size of nuclearexplosions taking place there.

In the latest study, Sreejithand his team turned to spacefor a solution.

Using data from the JapaneseALOS-2 satellite and a tech-nique called InSAR, the scien-tists measured the changes onthe surface above the testchamber resulting from theSeptember 2017 explosion,sited at Mount Mantap in thenortheast of North Korea.

InSAR uses multiple radarimages to create maps of defor-mation over time, and allows

direct study of the sub-surfaceprocesses from space.

The new data suggests thatthe explosion was powerfulenough to shift the surface ofthe mountain above the deto-nation point by a few metres,and the flank of the peakmoved by up to half a metre,the researchers said.

Analysing the InSAR read-ings in detail reveals that theexplosion took place about540 metres below the summit,about 2.5 kilometres north ofthe entrance of the tunnelused to access the test chamber,they said.

Based on the deformation ofthe ground, the ISRO team pre-dicts that the explosion creat-

ed a cavity with a radius of 66metres.

It had a yield of between 245and 271 kilotonnes, comparedwith the 15 kilotonnes of the'Little Boy' bomb used in theattack on Hiroshima in 1945,according to the study.

"Satellite based radars arevery powerful tools to gaugechanges in Earth surface, andallow us to estimate the loca-tion and yield of undergroundnuclear tests," Sreejith, leadauthor of the study, said in astatement.

"In conventional seismologyby contrast, the estimations areindirect and depend on theavailability of seismic moni-toring stations," he said.

In the study, published in the journalGeophysical Journal International, theresearchers noted that conventionaldetection of nuclear tests relies on seismicmeasurements using the networksdeployed to monitor earthquakes

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court Fridaydenied bail to former financeminister P Chidambaram inthe INX Media money laun-dering case filed by the ED, say-ing prima facie allegationsagainst him are serious innature and he played active andkey role in the offence.

Justice Suresh Kait said thatwrong message will be sent tothe society if bail is granted toChidambaram in this case.

"I am not inclined to grantbail," Justice Kait said.

While pronouncing the ver-dict, he said the material col-lected by the ED in the moneylaundering case is distinct, dif-ferent and independent withthat collected by the CBI in thecorruption case.

Even the investigation donein this case is different from theCBI's case, the court said,adding that in cases of eco-nomic offences, the entire com-munity gets affected.

"I am conscious that bail isrule and jail is exception but awrong message would be sentto the society, if bail is grant-ed in this case," the judge said.

The high court had reservedthe order on November 8 onthe bail petition after hearingthe arguments of counsel forChidambaram and theEnforcement Directorate (ED).

The ED had arrested him in

the money laundering case onOctober 16 and presently he injudicial custody till November27 under the order of a trialcourt.

Chidambaram was arrestedby the CBI on August 21 in theINX Media corruption caseand was granted bail by theSupreme Court on October 22.

The case was registered bythe CBI on May 15, 2017,

alleging irregularities in aForeign Investment PromotionBoard (FIPB) clearance grant-ed to the INX Media group forreceiving overseas funds of Rs305 crore in 2007, duringChidambaram's tenure asfinance minister.

Thereafter, the ED hadlodged a money-launderingcase in this regard in 2017.

The 74-year-old seniorCongress leader had soughtbail saying as the evidence isdocumentary and in the cus-tody of probe agencies, he can-not tamper them and the EDhad opposed his plea on theground that he has tried toinfluence and threaten wit-nesses.

Solicitor General Tushar

Mehta, representing the ED,had contended that the set ofevidence in the money laun-dering case and the CBI cor-ruption case is different and thePMLA case is more heinousand "much, much, much moreserious than it meets the eyes".

"It is the gravest of graveoffence as it is an economicoffence which is a standaloneoffence," he had argued.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal,appearing for Chidambaram,had said since the beginning,the probe agency's case wasnever that the Congress leadertried to influence witnesses, butsuddenly in October, when hewas in custody, it was allegedthat he had tried to put pressureand influence key witnesses.

Chidambaram had deniedthe ED's claim that he used theoffice of finance minister forpersonal gains and launderedthe proceeds of crime, sayingno material directly or indi-rectly linking him with thealleged offence has been put tohim so far or placed before thecourt.

The purpose of ED's oppo-sition to grant of bail is not toadvance the cause of justice butto harm his health which hasalready suffered severe damageafter 75 days of custody sinceAugust 21, he had said.

Chidambaram had referredto the Supreme Court'sOctober 22 order grantinghim bail in the CBI case andsaid it has stated there was noevidence of tampering, flightrisk and influencing witness-es against him in the corrup-tion case.

The senior Congress leaderis lodged in Tihar Jail underjudicial custody in the ED'smoney-laundering case.

HC denies bail to PC in INX Media money laundering case

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday visited theCRPF headquarters here andreviewed the operational pre-paredness of the force alongwith senior officials.

Shah posted some pho-tographs of the visit on his offi-cial Twitter handle and said thecountry is proud of the "exem-plary valour" of the paramili-tary force's personnel.

The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) has a strength ofover 3-lakh personnel and isdesignated as the lead force forinternal security duties andanti-naxal operations.

"CRPF personnel havealways lived up to their mottoof 'sewa' and 'nishtha' (serviceand dedication) by protectingour nation (while posted) atdifferent terrains. I salute thecourage and bravery of CRPFpersonnel and their families,"Shah said in a tweet.

During his visit to the CRPFheadquarters at the CGOComplex on Lodhi Road, Shahpaid tributes to the force'spersonnel killed in the line ofduty and put a garland aroundan urn containing the soilfrom the 'Sardar Post' inGujarat's Rann of Kutch. The

urn is kept at the headquarter'sentrance

In 1965, the force was taskedto secure the post in the wakeof aggressive posturing byPakistan.

On the intervening night ofApril 8 and 9 that year, 3,500men of Pakistan's 51st InfantryBrigade, comprising the 18Punjab Battalion, the 8Frontier Rifles and the 6

Baluch Battalion, stealthilylaunched simultaneous assaultson the Sardar and Tak postsunder an operation code-named "Desert Hawk".

The retaliation by the CRPFsaw the numerically andarmament superior Pakistanarmy retreating and leavingbehind 34 bodies of their sol-diers, including those of twoofficers.

Panel for division of assets,liabilities between J-K, LadakhPNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has constituted athree-member committee fordivision of assets and liabilitiesof Jammu and Kashmirbetween two successor Unionterritories, which came intoexistence on October 31.

This was conveyed to mem-bers of the ParliamentaryStanding Committee on HomeAffairs by senior officials ledby Union Home SecretaryAjay Kumar Bhalla.

An advisory committee hasbeen constituted underSection 84 of the J-KReorganisation Act for appor-tionments of assets, rights andliabilities between UT of J-Kand Ladakh, Bhall and histeam of officers told the com-mittee headed by Congressleader Anand Sharma.

The 14th FinanceCommission award has beenapportioned between the UTsof J-K and Ladakh in theratio of 70 per cent and 30 per

cent for the remaining fivemonths of the 2019-20 fiscal.

All the seventh central payc o m m i s s i o n - m a n d a t e dallowances have beenapproved for governmentemployees of the UTs of J-Kand Ladakh.

Earlier, the Home Ministryhad announced that formerdefence secretary Sanjay Mitrawould be the chairman of thecommittee, retired IAS officerArun Goyal and retired IndianCivil Accounts Service (ICAS)officer Giriraj Prasad Guptawould be its members.

As per Section 84 of the Act,the assets and liabilities of theexisting state of Jammu andKashmir have to be appor-tioned between the Unionterritories of Jammu andKashmir, and Ladakh.

On August 5, the Centreannounced the abrogation ofthe special status given toJammu and Kashmir underArticle 370 and division of thestate into the two UTs.

Justice Suresh Kait said that wrongmessage will be sent to the society ifbail is granted to Chidambaram in this case

PNS n MUMBAI

A Congress-NCP delegationhas sought an appointmentwith Maharashtra GovernorBhagat Singh Koshyari onSaturday to discuss the plightof farmers who have sufferedcrop losses due to recentunseasonal rains.

Former ChiefMinister andCongress leaderPrithviraj Chavantold PTI on Fridaythat a delegation ofthe two parties hassought the governor'sappointment to discussthe problems being faced byfarmers in the wake of untime-ly rains that hit several parts ofthe state recently.

"We will meet the governortomorrow if we are given anappointment," Chavan said.

The Congress leader main-

tained appointment withKoshyari has been sought onlyto take up farmer issues andnot to discuss the currentpolitical situation in the statewhich is under President'srule.

On Friday morning, formerchief minister and BJP

leader DevendraFadnavis called onthe governor andurged him torelease funds forfarmers affectedby unseasonal

rains.Crops spread

across 54.22 lakhhectare in 325 talukas weredamaged due to unseasonalrains and earlier this monththe Fadnavis government hadsanctioned a sum of Rs10,000 crore to provideimmediate relief to the affect-ed farmers.

PNS n MUMBAI

Amid the current politicalstalemate in Maharashtra,Union minister and BJP leaderNitin Gadkari has likenedpolitics with cricket, saying"anything" could happen inboth these fields as those whoappear to be losing the matchmight actually win the game.

Gadkari's statement came ata time when the BJP'sestranged ally Shiv Sena ismaking efforts to form thegovernment with the help ofthe Congress and the NCP, itspolitical rivals till recently.

The three parties havealready prepared a draft com-mon minimum programme(CMP) that will guide theirprospective government.

"Anything can happen incricket and politics.Somewhere you feel you arelosing the match, but the resultis exactly the opposite,"Gadkari said when askedabout the current political sit-uation in Maharashtra.

He was speaking at the'Outlook Business LeadingEdge 2019' event in Mumbaion Thursday.

The Minister of Road

Transport, however, declinedto discuss in detail the politi-cal crisis in Maharashtra, say-ing he spends more time inDelhi and doesn't know muchabout politics in his homestate.

Meanwhile, state Congresspresident Balasaheb Thorattold reporters on Friday, "Incricket, you can see the ball,but in politics you can't."

He was responding to aquery on Gadkari's remark.

President's rule wasimposed in the state onTuesday after GovernorBhagat Singh Koshyari sent areport to the Centre, statingthat formation of a stablegovernment was impossiblein the current situationdespite all his efforts.

Cong-NCP to approachMaha Guv on farm issues

GADKARI'S GOOGLY

Anything can happenin cricket & politics

Nitin Gadkari

Shah visits CRPF headquartersreviews its operational preparedness

CRPF personnel have always lived up to their motto of'sewa' and 'nishtha' (service and dedication) by protectingour nation (while posted) at different terrains. I salute the

courage and bravery of CRPF personnel and their familiesAMIT SHAH, Union Home Minister

‘Sabarimala not a place foractivism, Ker govt will notback publicity mongers’PNS nTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Sabarimala is not a place foractivism and the LDF gov-ernment would not sup-port those who makeannouncements aboutentering the hill shrine forthe sake of publicity, KeralaDevaswom MinisterMinister KadakampallySurendran said on Friday.

Dismissing reports thatpolice would provide secu-rity to women activists whoattempt to enter the LordAyyappa shrine, he said therewere "some confusion" overthe latest Supreme Courtorder and women desirous ofvisiting Sabarimala shouldget a "court order".

Surendran was replying toquestions from reporters

here in the backdrop ofThursday's apex court deci-sion to set up a larger benchto re-examine religious issuesincluding those arising out ofits earlier verdict that lifteda centuries-old ban onwomen in menstrual agevisiting the Sabarimalashrine. "Sabarimala is nota place for activists to showtheir activism. There aresome people who call pressmeet and declare they willenter the shrine.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Truck driver, helperkilled in accident inUP's BareillyBAREILLY (UP): A truck driverand his helper were killed whentheir rice-laden truck caughtfire after ramming into astationary vehicle in UttarPradesh's Bareilly district,police said on Friday. Thedriver Rajiv (45) and his helperRam Charan (32) were on theirway to Delhi in their truck whenit hit another stationary truckand caught fire, SP CityRavindra Kumar said. Rajiv wasalso the owner of the truck, theSP said, adding that the bodieshave been sent for postmortem examination.

AAP report: Partyfunds rise from Rs 6cr to Rs 10 cr

CBI sets upspecialised unit totackle child porn

After Supriyo, Unionminister Debashreefaces slogans

NEW DELHI: The CentralBureau of Investigation has aset up an online Child SexualAbuse and Exploitation(OCSAE) Prevention/Investigation Unit at itsheadquarter to counter thegrowing menace of child pornon the Internet, officials said onFriday. The new "specialisedunit" under the special crimeinvestigation wing of theagency will collect intelligencenot only on those who areallegedly creating andtransmitting such material onthe Internet but also those whoare browsing and downloadingsuch material, they said. Itseems to be a proactive step ofthe agency to counter childporn, officials said.

GOSABA (WB): Union ministerDebashree Chowdhuri was onFriday greeted with "go back"slogans by a group of TMCactivists when she visitedSouth 24 Paraganas to assessthe extent of damage caused byCyclone 'Bulbul'. Chowdhurisaid she was in the district toenquire about the groundsituation post the cyclone,which claimed at least ninelives and left behind a trail ofdestruction. Shortly after shereached Gosaba, a group ofTMC activists stopped herconvoy and raised "go back"slogans. According to sources,the aitators dispersed followingpolice intervention.On Wednesday, Union ministerBabul Supriyo had faced asimilar protest during his visitto the district.

NEW DELHI: The AAP's totalfunds rose from Rs 6.06 crorein 2017-18 to Rs 10.11 crore in2018-19 with donations to theparty nearly doubling in thesame period, according to itsannual audited accountssubmitted to the ElectionCommission. Under the'donation and contribution'section, the report showed thatthe party's income went upfrom Rs 10.61 crore to Rs19.31 crore. The AAP's electionexpenditure also rose from Rs33.21 lakh in 2017-18 to Rs4.30 crore in 2018-19, thereport said. Under the 'cashand cash' equivalent thatincludes details of savings bankaccounts, fixed depositaccounts, cash in hand andcheques in hand, the amountincreased from Rs 3.85 croreto Rs 7.94 crore. The AAP'stotal funds rose from Rs 6.06crore in 2017-18 to Rs 10.11crore in 2018-19, the reportsaid.

PNS n KALAMB

India (Reuters) - Heavy rains inOctober and November havebrought more misery to India'sfarmers, after summer-sowncrops such as soybean, cotton,rice and vegetables sufferedrain and flood damage duringthe wettest June-Septembermonsoon season in 25 years.

"We couldn't harvest soy-beans last month due to con-tinuous rainfall," said ShantabaiChikhale, 65, while harvestingwith her son on a one acre plotin Maharashtra, India's secondlargest soybean production state.

Chikhale had been expectinga bumper crop, but now esti-mates that two-thirds of thesoybean pods on her farm inKalamb village were knockedoff by the rains, while much ofthe remaining crop has beendamaged.

The recent wet spell is alsoforcing farmers, like Chikhale,to delay sowing winter crops,placing a further drag on therural economy at a time whenIndia's economic growth hasslumped to a six-year low.

After the ample monsoonrains, The Solvent Extractors'Association (SEA) had expect-ed India soybean harvest to bemore than 10 million tonnes,just a little down on 2018's 10.3million tonnes.

But heavy recent rains dam-aged the crop in Maharashtra andMadhya Pradesh, which accountfor more than 85% of India's out-put, and forced the trade body tocut that estimate to below 9 mil-lion tonnes, said B.V. Mehta,

executive director of the SEA.As a result local soybean

prices have risen to their high-est in 3-1/2 years, makingexports of soymeal uncompet-itive, traders said.

Lower soybean productioncould force India, the world'sbiggest importer of edible oils,to import more in 2019/20 mar-keting year that started on Oct.1,said a Mumbai-based dealerwith a global trading firm.

The deluge also hit cotton inthe world's biggest producer.

Cotton bolls were damagedby late rains in Maharashtraand Gujarat, which account forover half of the country's out-put, said Arun Sekhsaria, man-aging director of exporter D.D.Cotton.0

Until a few weeks ago, indus-try officials such as PradeepJain, president of KhandeshGinning and Pressing FactoryOwners and TradersAssociation, were expecting a20% jump in cotton productionin 2019 from a year ago.

Untimely rains hit summer crops, delay rural economy recovery

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government must readthe "extremely important dis-sent" verdict in the 3:2 major-ity judgement pronounced bythe Supreme Court in theSabarimala case, Justice R FNariman said on Friday.

Justice Nariman had pennedthe dissent order on behalf ofhimself and Justice D YChandrachud in Thursday'sjudgement.

"Please tell your govern-ment to read the dissent judg-ment delivered in theSabaimala case yesterday,which is extremely impor-tant.... Inform your authorityand the government to read it,"he told Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta.

Justices Nariman andChandrachud, who were a partof the five-judge Constitutionbench in the Sabarimala case,on Thursday dissented fromthe majority verdict and dis-missed the plea seeking reviewof the apex court's earlier judg-

ment allowing entry of womenof all ages to the Sabairmalatemple.

He made these comments toMehta when the court washearing an appeal filed by theEnforcement Directorate chal-lenging the Delhi High Courtverdict granting bail toKarnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar in a moneylaundering case. The SC dis-missed the ED plea.

Terming the denial of entry

to "unarmedwomen" intothe Sabarimalatemple as a "sadspectacle", theminority verdictby the SupremeCourt on Thursdayhad held that enforce-ment of its 2018 order is"non-negotiable" and no per-son or authority can flout it.

It had said the Constitutionplaces a "non-negotiable oblig-

ation" on authorities to enforcethe judgements as it was nec-essary to preserve rule of law

and directed strict com-pliance with its

September 2018decision allowinggirls and womenof all ages toenter the hill-topshrine in Kerala.

"If those whoseduty it is to comply

were to have a dis-cretion on whether ornot to abide by a deci-sion of the court, the

rule of law would be set atnaught. Compliance is not amatter of option. If it were tobe so, the authority of the

court could be diluted at theoption of those who are boundto comply with its verdicts," ithad said.

"Today, it is no longer opento any person or authority toopenly flout a Supreme Courtjudgement or order, given theconstitutional scheme," theverdict had said.

However, the majority ver-dict, written by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi for himself andjustices A M Khanwilkar andIndu Malhotra, decided torefer to a larger 7-judge benchthe pleas seeking review of the2018 judgement allowingwomen and girls of all ages toenter the temple which is all setto open on November 17.

PNS n VARANASI (UP)

The Banaras Hindu Universityon Friday backed the appoint-ment of a Muslim professor inthe Sanskrit faculty, saying itis committed to provide equalopportunities to everyone irre-spective of religion, caste,community or gender.

The clarification comesafter the RSS students' wingAkhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad (ABVP) opposedthe appointment of FirozKhan as an assistant profes-sor in the Sanskrit literaturedepartment.

In a statement, the BHUsaid the administration hadalready made it clear that theselection committee unani-mously recommended theselection of the said candidateon the basis of prescribedguidelines of the UniversityGrants Commission and thecentral government.

The selection committee,chaired by Vice ChancellorRakesh Bhatnagar, had meton November 5 and recom-mended the most suitablecandidate for the said posi-tion on the basis of the appli-cants' performance in the

interview, it said.Some students have been

staging a sit-in outside thevice chancellor's officeagainst the selection of Khanin the Sahitya department ofthe Sanskrit Vidya DharmaVijnan (SVDV).

The vice chancellor andother senior officials had onThursday held discussionswith representatives of theprotesters for over twohours.

The vice chancellorassured the students that theadministration is committedto achieve the objectives ofthe university in providingequal educational and teach-ing opportunities to every-one irrespective of religion,caste, community or gender.

As the majority verdict kept the reviewpleas pending for a 7-judge bench anddid not stay its September 28, 2018majority judgement, girls and women ofall age groups will be entitled toundertake the pilgrimage to the shrine

Government must read ‘extremelyimportant' dissent order: Nariman

SABARIMALA VERDICT

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

A government booklet describ-ing Mahatma Gandhi's deathas an "accident" has triggereda row in Odisha, with politicalleaders and activists demand-ing an apology from ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik andimmediate measures to correctthe "blunder".

The two-page booklet"Aama Bapuji: Eka Jhalaka"(Our Bapuji: A Glimpse) --published on the occasion of150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi -- presents abrief account of his teachings,works and links with Odisha,while also stating that he "dieddue to accidental reasons in asudden sequence of events onJanuary 30, 1948 at Delhi'sBirla House".

The Patnaik-led govern-ment, in the wake of the furoreover the pamphlet, has ordereda probe to ascertain the cir-cumstances that led to its pub-lication by the School andMass Education department

for distribution in state-runand state-aided schools.

Calling the error an "inex-cusable act", senior Congressleader and former ministerNarasingha Mishra said thechief minister, being the head ofthe government, must tender anapology for the misinformationprovided in the booklet.

"Patnaik must take respon-sibility for the blunder, seekapology and issue a directive toimmediately withdraw thebooklet," the Congress

Legislature Party leader said.Accusing the Biju Janata

Dal (BJD) government offavouring Gandhi haters,Mishra said children haveevery right to know who killedMahatma Gandhi and the cir-cumstances in which he wasassassinated.

"The death of the Father ofthe Nation has been put in away that it pleases his haters,"he added. Echoing similar sen-timents, CPI state secretaryAsish Kanungo alleged that the

move was part of a conspiracyhatched by the state to twisthistory and hide the truth.

"Everyone knows thatNathuram Godse killedGandhiji, following which hewas apprehended, tried andsentenced to death. The chil-dren should be told the truthand the booklet immediatelywithdrawn," Kanungo stated.

Contending that the gov-ernment has made a "deliber-ate attempt" to mislead chil-dren, senior CPI (M) leaderJanardan Pati said, "Untruthhas been presented in a cun-ning manner.

Justice Nariman

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said a final call onextending the odd-evenscheme would be taken onMonday as the air quality isexpected to improve in thenext two-three days.

"We do not want people toundergo unnecessary incon-venience," Kejriwal said at apress conference here onFriday.

"Air quality is predicted toimprove over the next two-three days. A final call onextending the odd evenscheme will be taken onMonday," he said.

The road-rationing scheme,rolled out on November 4,ends on Friday.

"The residents cooperatedvery much in implementationof the scheme. There were

250-300 challans every day,which are very less consider-ing the population," he said.

On Friday, the air qualityindex remained in the 'severe'category at 466 at 11.30 am asa thick layer of toxic smogenveloped Delhi for the fourthconsecutive day, leaving scoresof people with a soar throat,itchy eyes, breathing prob-lems and dry cough.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Top officials of theEnvironment Ministry, DDAand municipal commissionersstayed away from a key meet-ing of a parliamentary panelheld here today on the issue ofsevere pollution in the nation-al capital, sources said.

According to sources, mem-bers present at the meeting ofthe Parliamentary StandingCommittee on UrbanDevelopment were upset withthose absent and plan to raisethe issue with the Speaker.

They asked junior officialsto convey to their seniors thatthey should have attended themeeting, sources said.

The officials who skippedthe meeting included top offi-cials of the Environment

Ministry, Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) and munic-ipal commissioners, they said.

The questions that the mem-bers were planning to raiseincluded: As there are about 50lakh cars on the roads in Delhi,is the government coming upwith any sort of car pool poli-cy or regulation? Another ques-tion was that as per the UnionGovernment, Rs 1,150 croreswere given by the Centre to thestates in the last one year to

combat air pollution alongwith 14,000 machines. Doesthe government have a quan-titative and qualitative utilisa-tion report of the money dis-bursed?

The third question to beraised pertained to theSupreme Court's recent obser-vation that everybody rangingfrom the secretary to the grampradhan will be held respon-sible for losses due to air pol-lution. Does the government,in this regard, intend to defineand fix responsibility throughan internal mechanism?

The national capital is bat-tling alarming levels of airpollution for the past fewweeks. The air quality furtherdeteriorated in the last fourdays, forcing authorities toshut schools for two days.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Health Ministrywill push for a key legislation,that seeks to punish peoplewho assault on-duty doctorsand other healthcare profes-sionals by imposing a jailterm of up to 10 years, in theupcoming winter session ofParliament, officials said.

The Health Ministry hasasked all other ministriesinvolved in the inter-ministe-rial consultations over TheHealth Services Personnel andClinical Establishments(Prohibition of Violence andDamage to Property) Bill,2019 to send their commentsat the earliest so that the draftlaw can be finalised and placedbefore the Cabinet next week.

The draft legislation hasproposed imprisonmentbetween three and ten yearsand imposition of finesbetween Rs 2 to Rs 10 lakhfor those "grievously hurting"doctors and other health-care professionals in clinicalestablishments.

‘Economy fine,people gettingmarried, airports full’PNS n NEW DELHI

Union minister Suresh Angadion Friday dismissed the oppo-sition's criticism over the stateof economy, asserting that"airports and trains are full andpeople are getting married"and this indicates that thecountry's economy is "doingfine".

Noting that the economyslows down every three yearsbut it will pick up soon, theMinister of State for Railwayssaid "some people" are tryingto malign the image of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

"Airports are full, trains arefull, people are getting mar-ried. Some people are doingthis for nothing else but tomalign the image of NarendraModi," Angadi told reportersduring an inspection of thesoon to be commissionedTunda Khurja eastern dedi-cated freight corridor.

"Every three years there isfall in demand in economy. Itis a cycle. Then the economypicks up also," he added.

Opposition parties includ-

ing the Congress have beencriticising the governmentover the state of the economyand plans to raise the issue inthe upcoming Winter Sessionof the Parliament.

The two-pagebooklet "AamaBapuji: Eka Jhalaka"(Our Bapuji: AGlimpse) -- publishedon the occasion of150th birthanniversary ofMahatma Gandhi

School booklet in Odisha claimsGandhi died due to ‘accidental reasons'

Centre mulls 10yr jail for assaulton doctors

The VC and othersenior officialshad on Thursdayheld discussionswithrepresentatives ofthe protesters forover two hours

BHU backs Muslimprofessor's appointmentin Sanskrit department

Top officials skip key Parl panelmeeting on pollution: sources

Arvind Kejriwal

Decision on odd-even extensionto be taken on Monday: Kejriwal

SC dismisses ED pleachallenging bail to Shivakumarin money laundering case

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Fridaydismissed the EnforcementDirectorate's plea challengingthe Delhi High Court ordergranting bail to KarnatakaCong leader Shiva-kumar in a moneylaundering case.

A bench compris-ing Justices R FNariman and SRavindra Bhat rejectedthe request of the SolicitorGeneral, appearing for the

Enforcement Directorate (ED),to issue a notice to the other sideon the appeal. The Delhi HighCourt had on October 23granted bail to Shivakumar.

Shivakumar was arrested bythe ED on September 3. He

was in judicial custody asthe trial court haddenied him bail in thecase. The high courthad granted him bail

saying he "cannot tamperwith the evidence as the

documents are with the inves-tigating agencies".

“Airports arefull, trains arefull, people aregetting married.Some peopleare doing thisfor nothing elsebut to malignthe image ofModi” saysunion minister

The recent wet spell is also forcingfarmers, like Chikhale, to delaysowing winter crops, placing a furtherdrag on the rural economy at a timewhen India's economic growth hasslumped to a six-year low

Progress and development are thekey pursuits of an aspirational gen-eration in a globalised world.India, too, is on the move, strivingto accelerate transition from the

status of being a developing to a developednation. In this march ahead, there is littletime to seriously monitor regular onslaughtson the democratic principles and norms,imbued with moral and ethical values asenshrined in the Constitution. Is “politicswithout principles” no more a sin — asMahatma Gandhi had termed it in 1925 —but more of a routine practice?

On November 8, 2019, a couple of well-informed individuals — achievers —expressed disappointment on the machina-tions indulged in Maharashtra after theAssembly elections. This was not for the firsttime. Even before, there was a severe senseof disappointment in this group, where noneis bound by political or ideological con-straint. But they appeared seriously involved,concerned and worried. Yes, they all loveIndia; they value its democracy, ethical,moral and spiritual heritage for which thecountry is eulogised globally even today.They were just not able to comprehend howa political party with just 56 seats out of a288-member Assembly could stake claim tothe top post with unimaginable arrogance.One more blazing instance of the decline ofdemocratic values came with Haryana’s cul-ture of “Aaya Ram Gaya Ram”, whichbecame a practice and has resulted in sev-eral anomalous situations.

We have had Prime Ministers andChief Ministers, who should have never beenthere. In the current context, while lengthyreports on the herding of MLAs to hotels ashostages were highlighted in both electron-ic and print media, hardly was there anymention of the trampling of democratic val-ues, neglect of the wishes of the people, whoelect their leaders and expect some swiftaction from them on a plethora of pendingissues that impact daily life. Do the electedrepresentatives in Maharashtra, irrespectiveof their party affiliation, owe no debt of grat-itude to the freedom fighters of India, theirsacrifices, their indomitable spirit, whichalone is responsible for their newly-acquiredperks and privileges and the exalted posi-tions? Did the people elect them to indulgein such unsavoury public conduct forpower, position and creamy Ministries?

It is indeed shocking that not even oneMLA could protest against his/her herdinginto the hotels, which was apparently done“to save them from poachers of the otherside.” Are our leaders so weak and vulner-able? Maharashtra is only a repeat of whathas been happening in several States in thepast few decades. Why should herding notattract the attention of Parliament? Shouldsome provision like making it mandatory toinstall a new Government — in full strength— within seven days of the declarationresults not be put in the statutes? There wasno justification — moral, ethical orConstitutional — for the non-formation ofa full strength Government in Haryana even

after three weeks. All that hap-pens in the intervening periodis that the credibility of democ-racy and of the elected represen-tatives is lowered. It is shamefulto term certain Ministries as“creamy.” People interpret it intheir own way and they arerarely incorrect.

On October 2 this year,India celebrated the 150th birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi. It was a time to recallhis life, values and that immor-tal one-line statement: “My lifeis my message.” If political lead-ers of today — baring exceptions— reflect on this one-liner, theywill realise what they have doneto Swaraj of Gandhi: “RealSwaraj will come not by acqui-sition of authority by a few butby acquisition of the capacity byall to resist authority when it isabused. In other words, Swarajis to be obtained by educatingthe masses to a sense of theircapacity to regulate and controlauthority.”

On March 19, 1931, Gandhiwrote in Young India: “Theword ‘Swaraj’ is sacred, it is aVedic word, meaning self-ruleand self-restraint and not free-dom from all restraint, whichindependence often means.”Gandhiji wanted Swaraj “tokeep intact the genius of ourcivilisation.” This hardly needsany elaboration: Think of the lastman in the line, his welfare andyour role and responsibility tobetter his life. The Mahatma’s

writings are universallyacclaimed for their simplicity,sensitivity, originating from theheart and are based on hardexperiences and realities of life.To comprehend and to putthem into practice, one requiresinner strength, perseveranceand empathy for others. Swaraj— Independence — is a dynam-ic living entity and it has to bemaintained and sustained withpersistent individual and nation-al effort. It can be sustained onlyif certain basic values and prin-ciples of democracy are adheredto by the people and more seri-ously by their democratically-elected representatives.

Gandhiji tells us how thiscould be achieved: “Swaraj canbe maintained only where thereis majority of loyal and patriot-ic people to whom the good ofthe nation is paramount aboveall other considerations, includ-ing their personal profit. Swarajmeans Government by themany. Where the many areimmoral or selfish, theirGovernment can spell anarchyand nothing else.”

Expectations of Gandhi —and all other stalwarts of thefreedom struggle — and thepeople were that, “If Swaraj wasnot meant to civilise us and topurify and stabilise our civilisa-tion, it would be nothing worth.The very essence of our civilisa-tion is that we give paramountplace to morality in all ouraffairs — public or private.” It

was a warning articulated withunimpeachable logic even beforeSwaraj was anywhere on thehorizon.

In fact, in 1922, Gandhijihad mentioned in a letter thatSwaraj would not bring happi-ness to our people as four thingswould weigh heavily on them.Defects of elections was promi-nent among these four. Theother three were injustice, bur-den of administration andtreachery of the rich. Was he notprophetic indeed?

Post-Assembly electiondevelopments in Haryana andMaharashtra must be viewed asa serious warning sign, whichcreate distress and erode people’strust and confidence in theelectoral process that is so crit-ical to sustain democracy in itstrue spirit. A brighter side couldopen even in a clumsy politicalarena if everyone in the positionof power realises how the worldvalues our contributions andachievements in creative andfields — right from the ancienttimes to the launch ofChandrayaan.

Let Our MPs and MLAsrealise their responsibility inthe light of India’s achievementsin space sciences, ICT andalso that of young Indians,who have brought us fameand global attention throughtheir presence in the SiliconValley, NASA, particularly intop slots in big corporate andglobal institutions. This thread

of India’s greatness becomesvisible in practically every seri-ous analysis of the current sit-uation. It is indeed necessaryfor inspiration and motivationto move ahead with renewedvigour on the path of progressand inclusive growth.

One evening, an interac-tion closed at a point whensomeone mentioned that theAyodhya judgment would bedelivered tomorrow, that allnecessary steps are being takento beef up security, maintainlaw and order and ensure thatno breach of law and ordertakes place. And what a great9/11 this was in India in theyear 2019. It must have causedacute anxiety and anguish tothe perpetual detractors of thecountry, who were expecting acountry-wide unrest, whatev-er the judgment be.

But on this day, the worldsaw a glimpse of a united India,one which was proud of itsancient culture of acceptance ofall, every conceivable diversityand that India has learnt to “livetogether” over a couple of mil-lennia, a skill that some of theWestern nations have no escapebut need to learn now. Our polit-ical representatives should notpresent a disheartening sce-nario before the people. Onceelected, they owe a debt to thecountry, its people andGandhiji. It was a proud achieve-ment for the country, its democ-racy and the Constitution.

People have very high hopesfrom the elected, young repre-sentatives, who must chalk outtheir own path. They can learnso much from the likes of ourgreat leaders like SwamiVivekananda, Sri Aurobindo,Rabindranath Tagore, MahatmaGandhi and other luminaries,who continued to grow in lifeand were at peace with them-selves. JRD Tata had once said,“Always aim at perfection foronly then will you achieve excel-lence.” Gandhiji did just that allalong the journey of his life. Thiscan be the aim of life for anyone.Look around but never be slackin looking within.

To comprehend it, one mustrecall the words of John Dewey:“Not perfection as a final goal,but the ever-enduring process ofperfecting, maturing, refining, isthe aim in living. The bad manis the man who, no matter howgood he has been, is beginningto deteriorate, to grow less good.The good man is the man who,no matter how morally unwor-thy he has been, is moving tobecome better. Such a concep-tion makes one severe in judg-ing himself and humane injudging others.” This canenlighten the path of those inpublic life.

(The writer works in educa-tion and social cohesion)

British telecommunications giant Vodafone hashad a troubled time in India. Its entry, led byIndian-origin Chief Executive Arun Sarin, was

made to tap the billion-plus Indian consumer mar-ket. But the acquisition of the operations of HutchisonTelecommunications Hong Kong by Vodafone ledto a huge tax tussle as the Indian Government feltshort-changed on matters related to tax and formerFinance Minister Pranab Mukherjee changed the lawto retroactively charge tax with that one transaction

in mind. This change brought in by Mukherjee is cited by several foreign investorsas the beginning of the end of the India growth story. Foreign investors havebeen wary ever since.

The latest development — where the Government demanded that tax on Indiantelecoms be calculated on total revenues instead of just revenues and with theSupreme Court deciding in the Government’s favour — seemed to be the prover-bial last straw. The British telecom company, which merged its operations withthe Aditya Birla Group’s Idea in mid-2018 so as to better compete with the entryof Reliance Industries, was blindsided by this latest demand. The ̀ 50,000 crorequarterly loss declared by Vodafone Idea this past quarter is the largest ever inthe annals of Indian corporate history. Usually, one would argue that in free mar-kets, companies should be allowed to grow and fail as per market conditions.However, there can be little doubt that the Government is skewing the playingfield. For one, some of the tax demands have been plainly ridiculous and com-panies like Vodafone-Idea and Airtel strongly believe that policies have beendesigned to favour Reliance Industries’ Jio operations. And while the retroactivetax demand scared all, for the most determined foreign investors, this latest deci-sion by Vodafone, coupled with vindictive policies being followed in some States,particularly in Andhra Pradesh where Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy’s pol-itics of vengeance has had diplomatic repercussions, mean they will run. TheGovernment is failing in its endeavour to raise enough money to fund its ambi-tious social sector schemes, which has led to unmitigated tax terrorism. However,it would behove the Government to learn that only a huge amount of investmentcan save the economy from going into a dangerous tailspin. While voters havereposed faith in the Modi Government, thanks in no small part to an incompe-tent opposition, it is failing dramatically in its ambitious “minimum Government,maximum governance” mantra. The Income Tax department in particular is nowthe greatest fear-monger. The situation can still be salvaged but make no mis-take, time to save the economy and investor confidence is running out. And fast.

For nearly three weeks now, Delhi has beenat its toxic worst, happy to make peacewith “very poor” to “very severe” air qual-

ity after a “hazardous” spell. So much so thatwe have forgotten what a sparkling winterweather is and have developed a kind of fatal-ism about choking ourselves. So as the airkeeps thickening, saddled as it is with all sortsof poisonous gases that are harmful to humanhealth — smoke, dust, carbon dioxide andacidic fumes — our ennui and lethargy set-tle just as stubbornly between its layers. We

have slept through many wake-up calls and must realise that air pollution is nota seasonal or a State-specific issue, it affects our breathability round the yearand should be treated as a national emergency. We may have the laws, grad-ed action plans and preventive measures but we need a national, not a region-al, will to implement them uniformly across the country and throughout the year.What else explains the blame-games between State Governments of Delhi, Haryanaand Punjab or the fact that key officials from the Environment Ministry, the DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA) and the municipality did not deem it fit to attenda meeting organised by a parliamentary panel on pollution? MP Gautam Gambhir,who has been consistent in his social media sabre-rattling over pollution, failedto contribute in real terms when needed. Even the Supreme Court, which suc-cessively threatened to penalise bureaucracy in North Indian States for failingto control crop burning and pulled up the Delhi Government for just relying onthe odd-even vehicle rationing scheme, has not been able to scale up the fearof a public health hazard. Officials have already said that managing stubble firesis impossible as farmers defy the ban in the absence of an affordable alterna-tive model or a graded changeover to crops that don’t generate waste. Fact check:For all our claims of awareness and course-correction, the levels of PM 2.5 andPM 10 continue to spiral. The total volume of crop residue this year equals thecombined output of the last two years. Burning crop residue makes up about40 per cent of our brown haze, yet little effort has been made to either under-stand the reason behind it or the way it can be tackled. First, shredders are tooexpensive and varied for different crops. They leave stubs on surface soil thatcannot be pulled out fast enough for preparing the farm beds for the next roundof sowing, thus reducing the window before harvest. The cheapest and the fastestsolution for farmers, therefore, is to set their fields on fire. Besides, farmers oftenuse a combined harvester, which comes with its own demerits. Most crucially,it leaves up to 80 per cent of the residue on the field, which can only be elimi-nated through burning. Along with better solutions to junk their crop residue, farm-ers need solutions which can encourage them to use stubble for manure andenhance soil quality. At least the Centre, which professedly prioritises the farmeconomy, should incentivise stubble use, collect and buy residue up till mech-anised shredders become viable in numbers and prices. Farm policies must betweaked to reorient cropping patterns. We must discourage water-guzzling andstubble-prone crops like rice in Punjab and Haryana, the rice bowls in the plainsenough to sustain volumes. But then there should be a subsidy offered for theswitchover varieties, at least for the first few cropping seasons.

Per se, the Delhi Government’s odd-even scheme to control vehicular pol-lution is constructive but disproportionately ranged against four-wheelers. Wehave to now ration the most polluting two-wheelers. With even the top courtruling that the odd-even scheme is not a permanent solution and that cars con-stitute only three per cent to pollution levels, it is time to strengthen public modesof transport. As part of urban planning measures, green walls must be construct-ed to capture, reduce and trap dust. Beijing beat pollution by sticking to specif-ic targets such as restricting the total number of vehicles to six million by theend of 2017, reducing coal consumption by 80 per cent by 2020 and meetingannual average PM 2.5 concentration of micrograms per cubic metre by 2017.For instance, in 2017, the quota for new vehicles was 150,000 cars there, with60,000 allotted only to fuel-efficient ones. In 2018, it was reduced to 100,000.No action plan can work without targets and one hopes a national pollution pol-icy is at least considered in this session of Parliament.

Learn from history

Sir — The nation today is in a fluxover reviewing the role of thepantheon of leaders, who helpedshape a post-Independent India.Together, Mahatma Gandhi,Jawaharlal Nehru and SardarPatel represented our nationalethos, which stands incompletewithout any one of them. Nehruis under debate not because theCongress is not in power but ourhistory’s palimpsest is overwrit-ten by aspirations of the day.Because the Nehruvian era wasahead of its times, it helped ussustain both democracy and eco-nomic progress at fair levels.

The first of the famed IITs wasestablished ahead of our first gen-eral election of independent India.In foresight, the Right to Educationwent hand-in-hand with the rightto vote and technological andresearch institutes formed the bul-wark of macro economics. Thereare lessons for a progressive nationlike India. History is not for selec-tive reading. It matters less as towhere we started but more on howwe intend to progress quickly andinclusively.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

Injustice to women

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Sabarimala takeaways” (November15). The Supreme Court hasreferred the Sabarimala issue to alarger bench of seven judges. Thecourt expressed its opinion that“courts should tread cautiously” on“issues pertaining to religion,including religious practices.”Ideally, this view should have been

taken by the top court when it wasdisposing of the case in 2018 itself.By allowing the entry of women inthe age group of 10-50 in 2018, reli-gious sentiments have been hurt. Soit would be better had the courtinterpreted its decision back then aspart of a process to restore demo-cratic rights of women. In this sense,rescinding the 2018 judgment isonly a damage-control exercise.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

Laudable step

Sir — It is indeed welcome thatthe Supreme Court’s verdict putthe office of the Chief Justice ofIndia (CJI) under the arc of theRight to Information (RTI) Act.The verdict will usher in an eraof transparency in the way thehigher judiciary functions. Whilethe judiciary is the mostrespectable institution, it has

often been subject to publicscrutiny, too. In a similar way, allpublic institutions must comeunder the RTI purview.

The top court’s order mayallow the citizens to seek informa-tion regarding theappointment/transfer of thejudges but constraints will remainas most of the collegium’s deci-sions are largely based onIntelligence Bureau reports, whichare not covered under RTI.

Kavya ShahUjjain

Defuse tensions

Sir — This refers to the article,“Pay heed to warning signs”(November 15) by Ajoy Kumar.The clash between the police andthe lawyers was uncalled for andshows the country in poor light.This is a delicate issue and needsto be handled prudently. With thelawyers still continuing their strike,the Bar Council of India mustcounsel the lawyers and ensurethat tensions do not escalate.

AkanshaVia email

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

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VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2019

06

Democratic onslaught

JS RAJPUT

Post-Assembly election developments in Haryana and Maharashtra can create distress anderode people’s trust and confidence in the electoral process. Leaders must review their acts

Be it playing a fat or an agedperson. I don’t think it has any-thing to do with the way youlook on screen but how hon-estly you are telling the story.

Actor—Bhumi Pednekar

If Islamabad is serious tocooperate with New Delhi, itshould hand over the Indianswanted for terrorist activitiesliving in Pakistan.

External Affairs Minister—S Jaishankar

S O U N D B I T E

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

JNU’s fee hike policy is flawed

This refers to the editorial, “Fee hike unjust” (November1). The clash over fee hike between students of theJawaharlal Nehru University over a university man-

ual that proposed to hike hostel fee, set a dress code forhostellers and install water and electricity meters on hos-tel premises is symptomatic of the change confrontingthis venerated institution of learning. But the politics ofpopulism seldom demands such answers. Even since thestory of JNU protests hit headlines, there has been a flur-ry of stories of the underprivileged, who would have todrop out of JNU, if the administration enforces the feehike. There is, however, no talk about those who avail sub-sidised education in this varsity after paying for exorbi-tant private schools and those who would be paying ̀ 50-`60 lakh to study in overseas universities after paying `20and `10 for JNU hostels.

From healthcare to public transport, from water toelectricity, what is it that we wouldn't want for free? But

free comes with its own cost. The Banaras Hindu Universityand the University of Delhi supported the JNU's cause ofhiking. They, too, should take note that only those whodeserve fee concessions should get it. Even the econo-mists, who swear by capitalism, would tell us subsidiesshould be given only to those who need it.

KS JayatheerthaBengaluru

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Telecom troubles

Opposition leaders are scaredof the Central Government.That is why they are not united and the ruling BJP istaking advantage of it.

Former Union Minister—Sharad Yadav

The Parliament should wake up to formulate a nationalpollution policy this season to seriously fight a health hazard

With Vodafone threatening to quit, should the Governmentintervene and sort the crisis faced by the industry?

Anything can happen incricket and politics.Somewhere you feel you arelosing the match, but theresult is exactly the opposite.

Union Minister—Nitin Gadkari

Reason trapped in haze

op nion

An invisible pandemic

THE SC’S DECISION TO DISMISS THE REVIEW PETITIONON RAFALE IS A BEFITTING REPLY TO THOSE PARTIES

WHO RELY ON MALICIOUS AND BASELESS CAMPAIGNS.—UNION HOME MINISTER

AMIT SHAH

THE SC HAS OPENED A HUGE DOOR FOR A RAFALESCAM PROBE. A JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEEMUST BE SET UP TO INVESTIGATE THIS SCAM—CONGRESS LEADERRAHUL GANDHI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Air pollution is all around us, killing usslowly but surely. Because it is an invis-ible killer, (till it doesn’t form a toxic smog

that hangs low in the air during the wintermonths) it often goes unnoticed. However, inignoring the problem, we are letting ourselvesbecome victims of it. Today, air pollution killsmore people than poor diet, smoking, lack ofphysical fitness and high blood pressure do, puttogether. It is an ongoing public health emer-gency in India, claiming one in every eight lives.Larger portions of India’s economy are being lostto health issues, reduced agricultural yields anddamage to biodiversity and ecosystems causedby air pollution. Delhi’s air pollution has beenmaking international headlines and while Indiaendeavours to become a global super power, thestate of air pollution in the national Capital isticking all the wrong boxes for global tourists,investors and the international perceptiontowards India.

When one looks at the various causes ofdeaths, a worrisome fact emerges. According toa health commission report (2017) published byLancet, diseases caused by air pollution wereresponsible for an estimated nine million pre-mature deaths in India in 2015. This was almost16 per cent of all mortalities worldwide; threetimes as many deaths as by AIDS, tuberculosisand malaria combined; and 15 times more fatal-ities than caused by wars and other forms of vio-lence. It is estimated that there could be a 30 percent increase in air pollution-related deaths inIndia by 2021 if particulate matter levels in theair do not come down from the present haz-ardous levels. Continued exposure to pollutedair is causing diminished lung function and acuteand chronic respiratory symptoms like cough,wheezing and asthma in children.

The occurrence of these symptoms is morein areas with higher levels of pollution.Furthermore, air pollution caused by seasonaloccurrences such as stubble burning by farm-ers soon after harvest of the rice crops inOctober-November and fireworks used duringDiwali, triggers diseases during those periods.

The national Capital, for instance, observesepisodic pollution events during the post-monsoon season (roughly from October 26 toNovember 15), due to open burning of paddyresidue in the three neighboring States ofPunjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The problem is exacerbated by the burningof firecrackers during the festivals of Dussehraand Diwali. This year the very next day ofDussehra, PM10 concentration went up to 191ug/m3, which was a 50 per cent increase fromthe previous day’s concentration. In fact, Delhihas earned the dubious distinction of becom-ing the most polluted major city in the worldwith an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 527 onNovember 15, as per data by Air Visual on theWorld AQI rankings. Delhi’s air quality brokeall records on November 5, when it was in thehazardous range for nine consecutive days, mak-ing this the longest spell of hazardous air qual-ity since public records began.

Six of the top 10 cities fall in the Indian sub-continent, Delhi, Lahore, Karachi, Kolkata,

Mumbai and Kathmandu. So within Asia, airpollution is concentrated in South Asia. ThreeIndian cities are on the list, Delhi, Kolkata andMumbai. So air pollution is not necessarily aproblem specific to northern India althoughDelhi’s pollution is double that of Kolkata.

According to a study conducted by TERI in2016, about 36 per cent of the PM2.5 pollutionin Delhi during winter was contributed by localsources, while the rest was owing to trans-boundary pollutants. Even though theGovernment is making efforts to reduce emis-sions within Delhi, it won’t change pollution lev-els by much, because the air quality deteriora-tion during this time has less to do with Delhi’slocal pollution and it is more about meteorolog-ical conditions. Stable wind conditions preventthe pollutants from dissipating, while the shal-low planetary boundary layer (PBL) traps theemissions, increasing its concentration. The lowPBL height is owing to the prevailing low tem-perature, which results in temperature inversionat a lower height. These meteorological condi-tions remain largely unchanged from Octoberto January.

A research report published by theInternational Journal of Epidemiology estimatesthat the economic and health cost of air dete-rioration caused by stubble burning in India isaround $30 billion per year. It further suggest-ed that people, who live in areas where residueburning is intense, are associated with threetimes higher risk of acute respiratory infection.Children are most susceptible to health effectsof crop burning. Many proposals have been for-mulated by environmentalists and Governmentofficials to curb the practice and to promote theusage of alternative sustainable managementmethods for paddy straw. These include the useof Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code(CrPC) to ban burning of paddy; The AirPrevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1981;The Environment Protection Act, 1986; TheNational Tribunal Act, 1995 and The NationalEnvironment Appellate Authority Act, 1997.Stringent directions have been given by theNational Green Tribunal (NGT) to limit crop-residue burning in the States of Rajasthan, UP,

Haryana and Punjab.Despite all researches pointing to stubble

burning as the major contributor to Delhi’s ris-ing pollution levels, not much has been doneabout it on-ground, because biomass burningis an issue of public concern. The NGT bannedresidue-burning in 2015 but it is still widely prac-tised due to weak enforcement of the order, polit-ical economy issues and lack of viable alterna-tives among poor farmers. The best alternativewould be to use the crop residue on-site, with-out any need of transportation, logistics and stor-age, such that there is sustainable use for the end-product in the agricultural field itself. Accordingto a research on stubble burning in India, pub-lished in 2018 in the International Journal ofEnvironmental Research and Public Health,there are two practices that farmers can adopt— composting and biochar production.

Composting is not a new concept in India,but doing it with residue has its advantages.Composting with organic waste doesn’t have asecure market but compost made with cropresidue can be fed into one’s own field to increasesoil productivity and agricultural yield. InIndia, the practice of biochar production is notwidely prevalent but if crop residue is used tomake biochar, it can secure a market that willhelp farmers economically as well as the watertreatment and construction sectors and the foodand cosmetics industry.

The issue of residue burning is at present farfrom reaching a successful resolution. The inter-ventions undertaken so far, while significant,have been limited in their impact despite theefforts and time that have been invested in them.It is time to think out of the box and tackle theproblem head-on.

The stakeholders — implementing author-ities, citizen groups, industry representatives, sci-entists, researchers, non-government organisa-tions and others — must come together andchalk out a better plan to address the issue, inthe short-term and the long-term, and providethe citizens of India the pollution free air thatthey are entitled to.

(Suresh R is Fellow and Shivang Agarwal isProject Associate at TERI)

Diseases caused by air pollution were responsible for an estimated nine millionpremature deaths in India in 2015, almost 16 per cent of all mortalities worldwide

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

A spur in thefight against TB

POONAM KHETRAPAL SINGH

Efforts to expand treatment are yielding results.Yet there are miles to go before the WHO’s targetof ending the disease by 2030 can be achieved

Areport on the global battle against TB, the world’s most dead-ly infectious disease, by the World Health Organisation (WHO)says several positive trends are being witnessed worldwide

in this fight against the killer. First, efforts to expand TB treatment are yielding results as in

2018, globally 600,000 more people received treatment than theprevious year and deaths due to the disease dropped by more thansix per cent.

Second, TB prevention is picking up pace. Substantially morechildren below the age of five, who are contacts of TB patients,are accessing preventive treatment, with a four per cent rise in 2017levels. The coverage of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) rose by animpressive 19 per cent.

Third, there have been inroads in the fight against drug resis-tance, as in 2018, more than 156,000 patients globally withRifampicin-resistant or multi-drug resistant TB initiated treatment,an increase of almost 12 per cent over the previous year. Treatmentsuccess rates for both new and drug-resistant cases continue toimprove.

However, challenges persist and drug-resistant TB remains aserious global threat as just one in three people afflicted are get-ting treatment and major gaps in case notifications remain. An esti-mated three million patients globally are unaccounted for. Accessto preventive treatment is insufficient and just below half the peo-ple, newly-enrolled in HIV-care, are receiving preventive therapy.Funding shortfalls continue and in 2019 alone, committed globalfunds for TB diagnosis and care fell short by $3.3 billion.

The world will struggle to reach the 2020 milestones of WHO’sEnd TB Strategy. This is of concern given that by 2030 WHO andits member countries and partners aim to end TB, as reflected inthe Sustainable Development Goals and the UN’s High-Level PoliticalDeclaration on the Fight against TB.

As the world’s most TB-affected region, South-East Asia’sprogress is significant, as between 2017-2018 estimated case inci-dence fell from 226 per 100,000 people to 220 per 100,000. Thenotification of TB cases increased substantially, from 2.96 millionto 3.36 million, with most cases coming from India and Indonesia— a credit to their resolve. Notably, the number of children underfive who required preventive TB treatment and accessed it increasedby12 per cent. Myanmar was identified as one of a clutch of coun-tries on track to reach the global End TB 2020 milestones.

Though the region’s progress has been strong, more is need-ed to end TB by 2030. To do that, active case-finding should beintensified. Efforts to engage communities should be stepped upand the private sector encouraged to act.

In particular, community groups should be further empowered,including by engaging them in policy development. Information cam-paigns should be targeted at high-risk communities and access toTB testing guaranteed. Enhancing the coverage of preventive treat-ment is crucial. By fully implementing the region’s recently adopt-ed action plan on latent TB, member states can reduce the annu-al burden of TB patients by an additional 12-15 per cent annually.That equates to around 270,000 fewer patients each year. All house-hold contacts of TB patients should be screened, in addition to PLHIVand those at high risk of developing the disease. Preventive treat-ment should be provided where needed.

Social protection and support mechanisms for TB patientsshould be augmented. Undergoing treatment for TB often involvestime off work, which can impede treatment adherence. Food sup-plements and vouchers, transport subsidies and financial incen-tives are all important in ensuring the best patient outcomes areachieved and catastrophic costs are avoided. This is especially impor-tant as the region strives to achieve universal health coverage.

Finally, all national action plans should be aligned with the PoliticalDeclaration’s targets. As the region works to attain the investmenttarget of at least $2 billion annually, all countries must stay on tar-get. Of the 40 million people globally that require diagnosis and treat-ment by 2030, at least 18 million will come from South-East Asia.Of the 30 million that require preventive treatment, the region willcover at least 10.5 million.

Though the region’s work is cut out, the foundations for progressare strong. There’s commitment; technical capacity; communitybuy-in and partner support. In other words, the area has all theassets needed to ensure the End TB strategy’s milestones are metand the Political Declaration’s targets are reached. WHO is com-mitted to supporting member states achieve each of these outcomesand to securing the region’s continued progress. Ending TB by 2030is possible. We must dare to be bold.

(The writer is the Regional Director of WHO-South East Asia)

Did Harper Lee know in 1960when she wrote her seminalnovel To Kill A Mockingbird

that her character’s model of persis-tent and peaceful resistance wouldstrike a strong chord with activists ofthe civil rights movement?

Could she have possibly imaginedthat America would continue to feelthe influence of her novel well into the21st century — in the national con-versation on criminal justice, the“Black Lives matter movement” andthe more recent prison reforms.

The powerful work of fiction is atestament to the ways in which sto-ries can reflect society’s mores andattitudes, penetrate public conscious-

ness and set the stage for socialchange. It is not just To Kill AMockingbird that has had considerableimpact on a cultural movement.Almost all of the world’s major reli-gions are built on the bedrock of pow-erful stories that have the power toshape human behaviour and history.In recent years, there have been anumber of initiatives that have recog-nised the power of purposeful storiesto educate and influence the behav-iour of people for the better.

A great example is Amar ChitraKatha, the comic series started by edu-cationist Anant Pai. It used storiesfrom mythology, epics, oral folk-tales, literature and history to impartvalues to a generation of Indian chil-dren.

Underneath the engrossinglywritten stories were subtle hints onpeople’s behaviour, motives and dri-ves. They were designed to preparechildren for the real world that theywould soon enter. A scientist byeducation and an entertainer byvocation, Pai later launched the fort-nightly magazine Tinkle featuringunforgettable characters and stories

that entertained, edu-cated and informedkids simultaneously.Their success rests ona very simple formu-la, one that packageseducation in enter-tainment by harness-ing the power of sto-rytelling. If you areable to weave lessonsinto a story, both chil-dren and adults aremore likely to learnfrom it.

Brands and the power of story-telling: In 2013, an advertisement byGoogle India proved to be so impact-ful that its vibrations were also feltacross the border in Pakistan. The“Reunion advertisement” that narrat-ed the story of two friends separatedby the Partition and reunited with thehelp of Google, became bigger thanits brand as it touched a chord withpeople on both sides of the RadcliffLine. This powerful example of sto-rytelling tells us how this art can behighly useful for brands.

Even in the world of business and

technology, compa-nies are beginning tounderstand thepower a story has toshape markets andw o r k p l a c e s .Maximising humaninterest helps peopleset and attain goalsthat are worth pursu-ing. People genuine-ly crave real values sothat they can becomea better version of

who they are. They look for trust andto be worthy of their trust, brandsmust have the power to change theway they think and act. If you wantto inspire people to change theirbehaviour, storytelling is the best toolat your disposal. There is a growingtrend of brands using strong narra-tives to make profound comments onour social and behavioural traits. Anumber of brands have propagatedideals through stories of equality,comments against patriarchy and onsocial harmony.

The power of narratives: Thereis a neurological basis to the power of

narratives. Researchers from Spainfound that when people are present-ed with vivid and captivating stories,a lot of different centres in the brainlight up. For example, if a battle sceneis described graphically in a novel, thebrain’s movement and sight centreslight up (even if you cannot fight).When a scent is described in evoca-tive detail, the smell centre lights up.In other words, you have a more emo-tional and immersive experiencecompared to a tiny blip in the brainwhen it is presented with a bare fact.Sociologically speaking, stories havethe power to establish and reinforcebehavioural norms that are in align-ment with what you are trying to pro-mote. If a relatable character in a storymakes a healthy diet choice or exer-cises regularly, it conveys the idea thatthis is what people do and the listen-er or viewer should do it too. It worksbecause you are not just promoting aproduct but a better quality of life, onethat resonates with the viewer. Forinstance, the South African series,Soul Buddyz, an award-winning mul-timedia edutainment experience,closely chronicles the lives, hardships

and joys of children. It captured thepublic imagination so fiercely thatthousands of young ones from acrossthe country wrote to the non-govern-mental organisation (NGO) behindthe show, Soul City Institute, askingto participate. Pretty soon, the NGOwas able to establish over 8,500Buddyz Clubs, with nearly 1.5 lakhchildren, dedicated to the education,physical and mental well-being of theyoungsters.

There is a wide body of evidenceto support the power of story-basedadvertising and media to create a sig-nificant shift in societal norms, beliefsand values much more effectively thantraditional advertising and messaging.

Digital technology and socialmedia have made it possible forbrands to maximise the reach of thesestories at negligible costs. Just as ToKill A Mockingbird catalysed thenationwide conversation on civilrights, strong narratives hold thepower to change our world and livesfor the better.

(The writer is director and creativestrategist at an advertising and consult-ing agency.)

Storytelling an influential tool for brandsJust as the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, catalysed the nationwide conversation on civil rights in America,

strong narratives hold the power to change our world and lives for the better

KEWAL KAPOOR

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Whoever wins the elections,Sri Lanka’s friends shouldbolster the cause ofdemocracy. The MaithripalaSirisena Government’s mainachievement is itsconstitutional changes, whichcannot be altered without atwo-thirds majority inParliament. Legislators andthe judiciary have learned thatthey have real power. Civilsociety has carved out greaterspace. Can these gains beprotected? No one hasespecially high hopes shouldSajith Premadasa win.

(The Guardian editorial)

LANKA’S TRYSTWITH DESTINY

COMPOSTING WITHORGANIC WASTEDOESN’T HAVE ASECURE MARKETBUT COMPOST

MADE WITH CROPRESIDUE CAN BEFED INTO ONE’SOWN FIELD TOINCREASE SOIL

PRODUCTIVITY ANDYIELD.

IN INDIABIOCHAR

PRODUCTION ISNOT WIDELY

PREVALENT BUT IFBIOMASS IS USED

TO MAKE BIOCHAR,IT CAN SECURE A

MARKET THAT WILL HELPFARMERS

ECONOMICALLY ASWELL AS THE FOOD

AND COSMETICSINDUSTRY

SURESHR

SHIVANGAGARWAL

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2019 money 08

CAPSULE

UCO Bank elevatesdeputy GM ShashiKant Kumar as CFONEW DELHI: State-ownedUCO Bank on Friday said it haselevated deputy generalmanager Shashi Kant Kumaras new chief financial officer."We inform that Shashi KantKumar, Deputy GeneralManager of our Bank, hasbeen designated as new ChiefFinancial Officer (CFO) of theBank with immediate effect,"the bank said in a regulatoryfiling. Kumar has beenappointed in place of RamKumar, General Manager ofthe Bank, it said. Stock of UCOBank traded at Rs 13.31, up0.91 per cent from previousclose.

No reference fromDoT on floor priceissue: Trai chiefNEW DELHI: The telecomdepartment has notapproached the regulator forany views on floor price fortariffs, Trai Chairman R SSharma said on Friday. "Wehave not received anything,"Sharma said when asked if theDoT has approached TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(TRAI) for its views on floorprice or minimum tarifffixation for mobile services.Last month, the governmenthad constituted a committeeof secretaries to explore afinancial bailout package forthe telecom sector. At thattime, official sources had saidthat in parallel, sectorregulator TRAI is expected toexamine prescribing minimumcharge for voice and dataservices, which will ensurelong-term viability and robustfinancial health of the sector.

Vodafone Idea sharesjump over 10 pc despitehuge loss in Sep qtrNEW DELHI: Shares ofVodafone Idea on Fridaysurged over 10 per centdespite the company posted atremendous loss of Rs 50,921crore - highest ever loss postedby any Indian corporate - forSeptember quarter. On theBSE, the stock witnessed ajump of 10.16 per cent to Rs3.25 in morning session. Lateron, the scrip shed some of itsgains and was trading 4.41 percent up at Rs 3.08. The stockmoved up by similar marginson the NSE in early trade. Itwas trading at Rs 3.05, up 3.39per cent. Telecom operatorVodafone Idea on Thursdayreported consolidated loss ofRs 50,921 crore - highest everloss posted by any Indiancorporate - for the secondquarter ended September 30.

REUTERS n MUMBAI/KOLKATA

India's tax officials are facing ataxing issue. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's governmentwants them to collect 17% morein direct taxes this year as NewDelhi seeks to shore up revenuesamid a sharp economic slow-down. The target has been main-tained even though Modi recent-ly approved a massive cut in cor-porate taxes, which are part ofdirect taxes, and warned officersnot to harass businesses in theirdrive to collect revenue.

Over a dozen tax officialsinterviewed by Reuters said theyare stuck between a push to meetunrealistic collection targets,which influence their appraisalsand transfers, and the fear ofbeing accused of over-zealous-ness if they crack down on eva-sion.

Critics say Modi's demands ofhis tax officials are symptomaticof the confusion surrounding hisgovernment's economic policies,and that the bungling has con-tributed to a slowdown in

growth.Twenty-two top-level tax

department officers have optedfor voluntary retirement so farthis year and around 34 did so in2018, according to data provid-ed by Bhaskar Bhattacharya, vicepresident of the Income TaxGazetted Officers' Association.

Bhattacharya was unable toprovide comparative data but saidbureaucrats ditching jobs usual-ly considered prestigious andpowerful was rare.

"Even seasoned officers afterworking for 25-30 years cannottake this pressure anymore," hesaid. "There are applications forvoluntary retirement coming inone after the other despite the factthat there is no voluntary retire-ment or golden handshakescheme in the department."

The Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) did not respondto requests for data and commenton the resignations.

The CBDT, the FinanceMinistry and the PrimeMinister's Office did not respondto questions about tax targets and

alleged harassment by tax offi-cials.

While only a small fraction ofthe tax department's few thou-sand senior officers have quit,several officials in the taxdepartment said the departuresprovided a snapshot of broaderdiscontent that has also led tointernal transfers as well as res-ignations among lower-level

employees. "The level of impa-tience in the government hasgone up ... Anyone who has anyalternate option says: 'Whyshould we stay in the depart-ment?'" said one officer who hasquit the job and plans to go tendthe family farm. He said the stresshad "become unbearable."

"The pressure is getting greater.To achieve our targets we are

u n d e rpressure,so we dosome thingsthat we don't want to do," saidanother tax official in northernIndia.

The two men asked to remainunnamed for fear of reprisalsfrom the government.

Unorthodox tactics being used

by the department includedasking companies for advance

tax payments, as well as delayingrefunds, other tax officials said.

India's economy grew 5%year-on-year between April andJune, its weakest pace since 2013,and the slowdown could deepen,economists say. They blame themess partly on the centralisationof power in Modi's office and lack

of debate, leading to ill-con-ceived policy.

"Even well-meaning peoplefind it very difficult to tell him,'This is wrong, let's do it anoth-er way,'" said Sebastian Morris, asenior faculty member at theIndian Institute of Management,Ahmedabad, India's premierbusiness school.

Conflicting signals on issuesranging from tax policy to theauto sector were confusing,Morris said. "It's a madhouse."

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman has been touringtax offices saying that the revenuetarget is realistic and thereforecollectors "need not overstretch."

But there is no clear definitionof over-reach, so confused offi-cers are hesitant about how tohandle truant taxpayers, saidBhattacharya of the tax officers'association.

"In an effort to erase the fearpsychosis in the public, tax offi-cers are now going through a fearpsychosis themselves," he said.

Indian businesses were com-plaining about sometimes high-

handed tactics used by tax offi-cers to crack down on evasionlong before Modi came to power.

But it became a hot-buttonissue after a prominent coffeemagnate committed suicideearlier this year, purportedlyleaving behind a letter blam-ing persecution by tax officers.Tax authorities said at thetime their probe was based oncredible evidence of concealedtransactions.

The government compulsori-ly retired 64 senior tax officersover alleged wrongdoing thisyear, a government source said.

"Some black sheep in the taxadministration may have mis-used their powers and harassedtaxpayers," Modi told theEconomic Times in August. "Wewill not tolerate this type ofbehaviour."

Modi's administration needsfunds for flagship programmesincluding free cooking gas con-nections and toilets for poorrural Indians, popular policiesthat helped win him a secondterm in May.

Tax officials find Modi's targets too taxing, some quitCritics say Modi'sdemands of histax officials aresymptomatic ofthe confusionsurrounding hisgovernment'seconomic policies,and that thebungling hascontributed to aslowdown ingrowth

HARINDER MISHRAn TEL AVIV

India is seeking Israel's help toensure functional tap-water toevery Indian household by 2024with a senior minister visiting thecountry next week to fulfill thegovernment's mission, India'senvoy here has said.

During his Independence Dayspeech, Prime Minister NarendraModi said that more than Rs 3.5lakh crore will be spent in thecoming years under the 'JalJeevan Mission' to bring pipedwater to households by 2024.

"During the historic visit ofour Prime Minister (Modi) toIsrael in July 2017, India andIsrael agreed to establish a'Strategic Partnership in Waterand Agriculture' in view of thecentrality of these areas to devel-opment. Under Prime Minister

Modi's leadership, theGovernment of India is accord-ing top priority to conservation,development and managementof water resources", India's newlyappointed Ambassador to Israel,Sanjeev Singla, told PTI.

"The visit by Jal ShaktiMinister, Gajendra SinghShekhawat is significant as both

sides will explore possible areasfor further collaboration andtangible outcomes. It is also inline with the Prime Minister'svision to ensure functional tap-water to every household inIndia by 2024 under the JalJeevan Mission," Singla, whoserved as Private Secretary toPrime Minister Modi, empha-

sised. Israel has made waterrecycling an integral part ofdaily life. More than 80 per centof household waste water isrecycled, amounting to 400 mil-lion cubic meters a year, theEnvironment Ministry says. Thatratio is four times higher than inany other country, according toIsrael's water authority.

‘India seeks Israel's help to ensure tapwater to every Indian household by 2024'

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Fridaynotified rules under the insol-vency law to deal with resolu-tion of financial serviceproviders, excluding banks.

The corporate affairs min-istry has notified theInsolvency and Bankruptcy(Insolvency and LiquidationProceedings of FinancialService Providers andApplication to AdjudicatingAuthority) Rules, 2019 (Rules).

It will provide a genericframework for insolvency andliquidation proceedings of sys-temically important FinancialService Providers (FSPs) otherthan banks, an official state-ment said.

"The special framework

provided under Section 227 ofthe Code for financial serviceproviders is essentially aimedat serving as an interim mech-anism to deal with any exi-gency pending introduction ofa full-fledged enactment todeal with financial resolutionof banks and other systemi-cally important financial ser-vice providers," it said.

The move also comesagainst the backdrop ofinstances of various FSPs fac-ing problems.

Govt notifies rules underinsolvency law for resolutionof fin service providers

PNS n NEW DELHI

Leading global investment firmBlackstone has invested Rs 1,750crore in Kishore Biyani ledFuture group firm FutureLifestyle Fashions Ltd (FLFL).

"Funds managed byBlackstone have invested Rs1,750 crore (including by way ofdebentures) in RykaCommercial Ventures, the hold-ing company of FLFL," thecompany said.

It further added that: "Withthis transaction, Blackstone willbe the only financial partner inRyka. As a part of the transac-tion, Blackstone has alsoacquired a 6 per cent stake inFLFL through a block deal withRyka."

"FLFL and the Future Groupare expected to benefit fromBlackstone's portfolio opera-tions team to create value in itsbusiness," the statement said.

The fund would be utilised to

"retire/pre-retire" all existingfinancial obligations of Ryka.

"We have been impressedwith the business that KishoreBiyani has built at Future Groupand are delighted to supportFuture Group in this journey,"Kishore Moorjani, Head ofBlackstone TacticalOpportunities, Asia said.

FLFL is an integrated brand-ed fashion company and oper-ates in-house retail chains likeCentral, Brand Factory andPlanet Sports along with a port-folio of 20 domestic and globalfashion brands.

Blackstone invests Rs 1,750 crin Future Lifestyle Fashions

PNS n NEW DELHI

Consumer spending in the coun-try's rural areas has plummetedto a four-decade low, a leadingbusiness daily reported on Friday,bringing more bad news forPrime Minister Narendra Modi'sgovernment that is struggling torevive a stuttering economy.

Consumer demand in vil-lages fell 8.8 per cent between July2017 and June 2018 - thesharpest 12-month drop since1972-73, a daily reported, usingunpublished data recorded by theNational Statistical Office (NSO).

Two-thirds of the 130 crorepopulation live in rural areas,making it a key economic driver.But spending on food, educationand clothing declined, withdemand for essential items suchas cereals plunging 20 per cent,the newspaper said.

The report should have beenreleased in June, but was pushedback because of its "adverse" find-ings, the daily said citing sourcesfamiliar with the matter. A gov-

ernment official told AFP thereport was not finished.

"The NSO report is stillunder processing and not val-idated, and many officials arenot privy to the data," said AKMishra of the ministry ofstatistics. The data "can onlybe confirmed once the min-istry publishes the report", MrMishra added. If the findingsare confirmed, it would ringyet another alarm bell overAsia's third-largest economy,

which has endured five con-secutive quarters of slowinggrowth.

In January, the daily reportedthat unemployment had surgedto a four-decade high during PMModi's first term in power, citingunpublished data from the min-istry.

The delay in releasing thejobs report prompted a topgovernment statistician to quitin protest. The report con-firming the joblessness data

was finally released in May,after PM Modi was re-electedwith a thumping majority.

Congress leader RahulGandhi attacked the govern-ment over the new report,accusing it of trying to buryunflattering data. "Modinomicsstinks so bad, the governmenthas to hide its own reports," hetweeted.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) has directedthe lenders of Kwality Ltd toreconsider the revised Rs 145-crore offer by Haldiram Snacksto acquire the debt-riddendairy firm.

The Delhi-based bench ofthe tribunal has also extendedthe Corporate InsolvencyResolution period by anotherthree weeks and directed theCommittee of Creditor (CoC)to reconsider the enhancedoffer.

Earlier, the lenders ofKwality Ltd had rejected the Rs142 crore bid of Delhi-basedHaldiram Snacks, whichemerged as the sole bidder toacquire the debt-ridden dairyfirm.

Following which, HaldiramSnacks had revised its offermarginally and approachedthe NCLT with a plea that itslatest resolution plan should beconsidered by the lenders asthe offer is higher than the liq-uidation value.

In 2018, the NCLT orderedinsolvency proceedings inKwality on a petition filed byglobal private equity firmKKR. Shailendra Ajmera, whois part of multinational con-sultancy firm EY, has beenappointed as the resolutionprofessional to conduct theinsolvency proceedings.

On November 2, the CoChad rejected Haldiram Snacks'Rs 142 crore resolution plan, asonly about 40 per cent of thelenders voted in favour of theresolution plan as against therequirement of 66 per cent.

Kwality has a total debt ofaround Rs 1,900 crore.

Haldiram Snacks had ear-marked Rs 135.64 crore for thefinancial creditors out of itstotal offer of Rs 141.59 crore toacquire Kwality Ltd.

Post rejection of its offer,Haldiram had written a letteron November 4 to IRP, revis-ing its offer to Rs 139 crore forfinancial creditors, taking thetotal value of the bid to Rs144.95 crore.

Haldiram has filed a petitionbefore the NCLT, requestingthat RP should be directed toplace the revised bid before theCOC for consideration.

It had requested the NCLTto direct the resolution pro-fessional to place the latestoffer before the CoC for con-sideration.

"The said letter (November4, 2019) offers an increase inthe offer value to financialcreditors by Rs 3.3 crore to Rs139 crore from Rs 135.64 croreand consequently, the totaloffer value to Rs 144.95 crore,"

Veg oil importsup 3.5% at 155.5L tonnesPNS n NEW DELHI

India's vegetable oil importsincreased by 3.5 per cent to155.5 lakh tonnes in 2018-19marketing year ended October,due to increase in inward ship-ments in refined oils, accordingto industry data. Imports of veg-etable oils stood at 150.26 lakhtonnes in the previous year.While shipments of edible oilincreased to 149.13 lakh tonnesin the 2018-19 marketing year(Nov-Oct) from 145.16 lakhtonnes in the previous year, theimports of non-edible oil grewto 6,36,159 tonnes from 5,09,748tonnes during the period underreview, Solvent Extractors'Association said in a statement.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Fridaypaved the way for ArcelorMittaltakeover of debt-ridden EssarSteel for Rs 42,000 crore and setaside the July 4 NCLAT ordergiving equal status to financialcreditors and operational cred-itors. A bench headed by JusticeR F Nariman clarified that finan-cial creditors enjoy primacy overoperational creditors and theadjudicating authority cannotinterfere with the decisionapproved by the committee ofcreditors.

The top court said that theadjudicating authority can sendback the resolution plan to thecommittee of creditors (COC)for implementation in accor-dance with the guidelines butcannot change the commercialdecision taken by the COC.

The bench also relaxed thetimeline of 330 days to find a res-

olution plan as prescribed underthe Insolvency and BankruptcyCode. The bench said it wouldbe open for the the adjudicatingauthority to maintain the time-line in exceptional cases.

The bench said that the COCresolution plan must balance theinterest of all stakeholders.

The apex court had on July 22ordered status quo in the Essarinsolvency case.

The verdict came on a plea ofthe committee of creditors chal-lenging NCLAT's order of July 4in which it had approved steeltycoon Lakshmi Mittal-ledArcelorMittal's Rs 42,000-crore

bid for the acquisition of EssarSteel after it rejected a plea by thelead shareholder of the debt-laden firm challenging the eligi-bility of the bidder.

The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT)had, however, given operationalcreditors equal status as lendersin the distribution of theArcelorMittal's bid amountamong the creditors of EssarSteel. Essar Steel was auctionedunder the new Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) torecover Rs 54,547 crore ofunpaid dues of financial lendersand operational creditors.

SC paves way for ArcelorMittal totake over Essar Steel for Rs 42K cr

‘Rural consumer spendingslumps to 4-decade low’

KWALITY INSOLVENCY

NCLT directs lenders to considerHaldiram's revised offer

Consumer demandin villages fell 8.8per cent betweenJuly 2017 and June2018 - the sharpest12-month dropsince 1972-73, adaily reported,using unpublisheddata recorded bythe NationalStatistical Office

Kishore Biyani

DGCA gives moretime to IndiGo,GoAir for modifyingP&W enginesPNS n NEW DELHI

Aviation regulator DGCA hasextended the deadline for mod-ification of Pratt & Whitneyengines, powering A320 neoplanes of IndiGo and GoAir.

In the wake of multiple inci-dents involving P&W enginesin recent times, DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) had given certaindeadlines to the two airlines forcarrying out changes to theirP&W engines.

"...as the task is onerous andavailability of such engines is anissue, we have now asked themto complete the task in a slight-ly modified time line i.e.November 24, 2019," the reg-ulator said in a statement onFriday.

Directives were issued bythe watchdog on October 28, 29and November 11, with regardto change of engines with mod-ified Low Pressure Turbine(LPT). Initially, engines of 16A320 neo planes of IndiGo wereto be modified by November 12,while 13 such aircraft of GoAirby November 13.

Besides, IndiGo was to mod-ify engines of 23 A320 neoplanes by November 19. "Theposition has been reviewed andwe are happy to note that the air-lines have made substantialprogress with regard to thedirectives issued dated October28 and 29," DGCA said.

Out of 23 planes, IndiGo hasplaced modified engines in 15of them while GoAir has donefor 9 aircraft out of the total of13. The regulator noted theprogress made is "below expec-tation".

Further, DGCA said itsdirective to IndiGo on com-plete change of all P&Wengines with modified LPT byJanuary 31 remains in force.

During his IndependenceDay speech, PrimeMinister Narendra Modisaid that more than Rs 3.5lakh crore will be spent inthe coming years underthe 'Jal Jeevan Mission'to bring piped water tohouseholds by 2024

t is easy to saythat ‘age is just anumber’ andthen lie back togo wherever lifetakes you. But

there are others who puttheir words to work andcreate history. SyamalaGoli, at 47, became the firstwoman from Telangana toswim across the Ganga, adistance of 13 km.

This feat was accom-plished at the 12th NationalTakshila Open Water LongDistance Ganga SwimmingCompetition in Patna,Bihar, organised by theBihar SwimmingAssociation under the aegisof Swimming Federation ofIndia. Syamala finishedsixth among the 40 swim-mers from across the coun-try who attended the event.

Syamala had underwenttraining at the swimmingpool at the GachibowliStadium under the supervi-sion of Coach Ayush Yadav.

Syamala recently partici-pated in the National OpenWater SwimmingCompetition (AQUAMAN)and came second in the 10km category. She also wonthe bronze medal in 400 mfreestyle at the 16thMasters National AquaticChampionship held inLucknow this year.

Her biggest achievementso far was when she repre-sented India at the FinaWorld Master’sChampionship held atGwangju in South Koreawhere she swam 3 km inopen waters and securedthe 22nd position in theevent. — PNS

SYAMALAREPRESENTEDINDIA AT THEFINA WORLDMASTER’SCHAMPIONSHIPHELD ATGWANGJU INSOUTH KOREA

Humanemancipationis incomplete

without gettingrid of

trafficking. VSATEESH

REDDYspeaks to a

Hyderabad-based social

activist who isall set to beginRed Ride that

will bringawareness on

humantrafficking

ccording to theGlobal SlaveryIndex, 2017, inIndia, a child goesmissing everyeight minutes. It is

horrifying to see that traf-ficking of minor girls for sex-ual exploitation and/or forbonded labour rose by 416per cent between 2009-13. Asper a report by the NationalHuman Rights Commissionof India, only 10 per cent ofhuman trafficking in India isinternational and the remain-ing 90 per cent operatesbetween states which meansit can be tackled throughlocal participation. All thesestatistics show how humantrafficking is increasing withevery passing year,” saidChrysolyte Sanamanda, aHyderabad-based socialactivist, who is all set tobegin the Red Ride 2019 inthe city on December 7 tocreate awareness among peo-ple about human trafficking.

She says, “Red Ride is acycling expedition acrossmost trafficked prone areasin Telangana and AndhraPradesh to create awarenesson modern day slavery andhuman trafficking. We planto run this campaign annual-ly, and by 2020, we wouldlike to reach out to every dis-trict of the Telugu states andcome up with a solution totrafficking.”

The objective of the initia-

tive is to raise awareness onissues surrounding traffick-ing in rural areas and alsopromote physical fitnesssimultaneously.

She said that she has beeninterested in social activitiessince her childhood and soonshe began participating invarious social welfare activi-ties. Having understood howprevalent is human traffick-ing she wanted to do some-thing about it. So she cameup with the Red Ride initia-tive under her NGO, RedRope Movement.

“The ride will be flaggedoff on December 7 atSuchitra at 6.30 am. Ridersfrom the Hyderabad CyclistsGroup and other cyclinggroups and corporates willparticipate. The ride will startfrom Suchitra via Bowenpallyand end at LB Nagar fromwhere our core team of 10volunteer cyclists will contin-ue the journey to Suryapet ina separate van. The Red Rideteam would then travel fromdistrict to district organising

the cycling event with localparticipants of various com-munities and age groups,”said Sanamanda.

The Red Ride memberswill ride through Suryapet,Nalgonda, Guntur, Vijaya-wada, Machilipatnam, Elluru,Bhimavaram, Rajahmundry,Kakinada, Visakhapatnam,Narsipatnam, Badrachalamand Warangal and interactwith the people there.

She added, “At everyprominent place the teamwill facilitate an awarenessprogramme that will startwith an icebreaker. This willbe followed by brief sessionson statistics and ways toreport and eradicate traffick-ing and types of modern dayslavery. We teach people howto handle strangers on socialmedia, especially when con-fronted with fake profiles andstrange friend requests. Wewill also talk to young girlstudents about how to reportoffline and online abuse tothe police, have safe tripswhile travelling alone in cabsand so forth. The event willend with a song aboutempowerment. The ride willclose on December 15 at theTankbund with the distribu-tion of certificates to all theparticipants and supporters.”

Sanamanda said that theteam will also explain thevarious laws on the safety ofwomen and children such asThe Protection of Children

from Sexual Offences(Amendment) Bill, 2019(POCSO) — which seeks toprotect children from crimessuch as sexual assault, sexualharassment, and pornogra-phy — and the SexualHarassment of Women atWorkplace (Prevention,Prohibition and Redressal)Act, 2013, that seeks to pro-tect women from sexualharassment at their place ofwork.

She shared, “I am talkingwith NGOs and police offi-cials about various projects tocollaborate with and so farmany have responded well. Ihope all of us will cometogether to combat this socialexploitation.”

CYCLINGAGAINSTEXPLOITATIONA

At every prominentplace the team willfacilitate an awarenessprogramme that willstart with an icebreaker.This will be followed bybrief sessions onstatistics and ways toreport and eradicatetrafficking and types ofmodern day slavery. Wealso teach people howto handle strangers onsocial mediaCHRYSOLYTE SANAMANDA

SOCIAL ACTIVIST

THE RED RIDE TEAMWILL CYCLE THROUGHSURYAPET,NALGONDA, GUNTUR,VIJAYAWADA, ELLURUAND OTHER DISTRICTS

Art for a cause

one are the dayswhen childrenwere just passiveparticipants inevents organisedby schools to

accommodate the regularprogrammes of dance, musicand drama.

Now schools are lookingbeyond these traditionaltroupes to interact with chil-dren in a more meaningfulway; help them understandthe larger role that they willplay in the society tomor-row.

Students of the ElateInternational School helpedorganise a charity — Art fora Cause — for the children

recently as an alternative tothe usual competitions andtalent shows.

At the event, everythingmade by the children willused to help others in need.

The students invited theirparents, grandparents andsiblings as guests to attendthe workshops that wereorganised at the school andhelped raise money.

Workshops on canvas andvase painting and clay mod-elling were held where stu-dents made and sold thepaintings and art decor theymade.

“We raised Rs 34,585through the exhibition andworkshops which will bedonated to an orphanage.The students are going tobuy supplies that these kidsmight need and conduct anart workshop in the orphan-age for 50 children. In linewith our motto ‘children forchildren’, our students aremaking giving their best forunderprivileged children,”says Kareem Basha,Chairman of Elate. — PNS

One of thefunctions of art

is to makepeople work for

a cause.Schools are

tapping into thecreative outletsof students tocrowd sourcefunds for the

needy

G

Overcoming the test of time

I

SaturdayNovember 16, 2019

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dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Saturday November 16, 2019 what’s brewing?

ndian rapper Badshah hascollaborated with Mi gentehitmaker J Balvin andAmerican electronic dancemusic group Major Lazerfor official remix of Que

calor.Que calor, which was released in

September, also features Dominicanrapper El Alfa.

“It is a huge pleasure for me to beon the Que calor India Remix. I lovedthe track the moment I heard it.Major Lazer are dance music legends,I have worked with them in the pastand I truly believe they have a majorrole in shaping the current globalsound. J Balvin is a rockstar whom Ireally look up to and I think El Alfahas done an extraordinary job. It gives

me honour and pleasure to be collab-orating with these stars and bring Quecalor to India. Prepare to be blownaway,” Badshah said.

Talking about the collaboration,Major Lazer said, “We just dropped anofficial remix of a Que calor withBadshah, who brings serious heat.India holds a special place in ourhearts and our Indian fans have givenso much love back to us to our songs,so it was time for us to give somethingspecial to them. India, enjoy thisBadshah Remix!”

Directed by Colin Tilley and chore-ographed by Calvit Hodge, the origi-nal video stars Major Lazer’s Diploand Ape Drums as well as Balvin andEl Alfa alongside Lazer Gyals, SaraBivens and Helen Gedlu.

Badshah collaborates withJ Balvin, Major Lazer

iRanveer, Deepika visit Golden

Temple on wedding anniversarys they completed ayear of marriage, starcouple Ranveer Singhand Deepika Padukonevisited the GoldenTemple to seek bless-

ings.Ranveer took to Twitter on

Friday to share a photograph ofhimself along with Deepika at theGolden Temple.

“Overcome with sheer grati-tude. @deepikapadukone,”Ranveer captioned the image.

Deepika shared the same pho-tograph and wrote, “As we cele-brate our first wedding anniver-sary, we seek blessings atHarmandir Sahib. Thank You allfor your love,prayers and goodwishes! @ranveersingh.”

The pair completed their oneyear of marital bliss on Thursday.

Deepika and Ranveer startedcelebrations of their first weddinganniversary on November 14 byvisiting Tirumala Tirupati Temple

in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, toseek the blessings of LordVenkateswara.

Earlier on Wednesday, Deepikahad shared a photo of her hus-band on Instagram story, whereRanveer is seen sitting with amask on his face and his hair in asteamer, getting ready for theirfirst anniversary.

The star couple had tied theknot on November 14 last year atLake Como in Italy.

On the work front, Deepika willnext be seen in Meghna Gulzar’sChhapaak, a film-based on the lifeof acid attack survivor LaxmiAgarwal, which is also produced by her.

She will also be seen sharingscreen space with Ranveer, whostars as former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan’s83, which narrates the tale ofIndia’s first World Cup victory in1983. In the film, Deepika playsKapil’s wife Romi.

A

anoj Bajpayee-starrerand critically acclaimedmovie Bhonsle has wonprestigious awards atthe Asian Film FestivalBarcelona.

Directed by Devashish Makhija,the film has bagged two awards inthe ‘Best Screenplay’ and ‘BestDirector’ categories at the festival.

Bhonsle revolves around a policeconstable played by Manoj, whotries to help in the struggles ofmigrants and their battles with thelocal politicians. It also addressesthe concerns of various ethnicgroups and highlights the issuesthat they face in order to survive ina city like Mumbai, away fromtheir home.

On being felicitated, Devashishsaid, “To not only be recognised as

an Asian film but to be awarded asone is an honour. The migrantissue explored in Bhonsle is onethat is relevant to all of Asia if notthe world. And it is a matter ofhope and joy that this story of out-siders resonated this way. Anyaward a film like this wins is anaward to the courageous team thatcollectively made the film.”

Bhonsle was premiered in the ‘AWindow on Asian Cinema’ sectionof the 2018 Busan InternationalFilm Festival. It was also screenedat renowned film festivals includ-ing the MAMI Film Festival, 2018Dharamshala Film Festival, the2019 International Film FestivalRotterdam, the BengaluruInternational Film Festival and theSingapore South AsianInternational film festival.

Manoj Bajpayee'sBhonsle wins big atBarcelona festival

m

FUN TIME

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

opular comedyshow Jabardasth,which runs on ETV,has lost some of itsstar performers suchas Chammak

Chandra, Rakesh, Ram Prasadand directors Nitin and Bharat

to competition. Chandra, thehighest paid among all, whodrew close to Rs 1.5-1.6 lakhper skit, has been snatchedaway by competitors for Rs 2lakh per skit. According to asource in the know, the chan-nel, which has taken in newmembers, first initiated talkswith Sudigali Sudheer, promis-ing him bulk of the shows ontheir channel. He was initiallywilling to shift loyalties but hada change of heart after speakingto other members ofJabardasth. Naga Babu, who is ajudge on the show, has madethe switch though, while Rojawill continue to be withJabardasth show runnersMallemala Entertainments,we’ve learnt. Apparently, NagaBabu didn’t like the way he wastreated when he was busy cam-paigning for his NarasapuramLok Sabha constituency earlierthis summer. In his place, someother actors had judged theshow. The participants on theshow had to fight with theMallemala management tobring him back, it is widely

believed. “Some other partici-pants on the show tooexpressed their desire to leavefor the other channelbut producerShyamPrasad’s hecticparleys over thelast week meant thatthey’ve decided to stick withMallelmala. Sattipandu-Anandteam is likely to replaceChandra. The competitivechannel is planning to run ashow similar to that ofJabardasth,” added the source.

hile his ambitious Actionwith C. Sundar opened torelatively positive reportson Friday, action heroVishal treated his fanswith the title and first look

of his next with director M.S.Anandan on social media. An actionthriller, the film has been titledChakra. It is rumoured to be thesequel to his hit Abhimanyudu butthere’s no official word yet. The film,which sees the actor in the role of anArmy officer, has gone to floors earli-er this April, and is presently in thelast leg of filming. Regina Cassandraand Shraddha Srinath are playing the

female leads. It is scheduled to hit thescreens for Pongal.

Meanwhile, Vishal will shift atten-tion to Mysskin’s Detective 2 nextmonth in London. Close to 45 days ofshoot has been planned in theQueen’s City. Also featuringPrasanna, Rahman, and Gauthami inpivotal characters, it is likely to have aHindi dubbed release as well. Vishalhas also given his nod to headlineNOTA director Anand Shankar’s nextin the summer of 2020. He will beginshooting for it after he wraps upDetective 2. Overall, the possibility ofhim having three releases next year isnot ruled out at this juncture.

he cast of Raj Tarun’snext with VijayKumar Konda,

Orey… Bujjigaa, hasgot a new addition.

The film’s makers onFriday announced the signing of

Hebah Patel for a crucial role.While the nature of her role hasn’t

been revealed, producer K.Radhamohan said that her role is as

important as film’s leading ladyMalavika Nair. He added that she

has joined the sets on Friday itself.“Pure commercial equations led to

Hebah coming on board even thoughshe wasn’t in the initial plan. ProducerK.K. Radhamohan proposed her name

because she and Raj Tarun are a hit pair— having done films like Kumari 21F,

Andhhagadu. She has also done films suchas Eedo Rakam Aado Rakam. Vijay Konda

too nodded to the idea as it would help thefilm on the business front,” said a source.The film is a drama set in Hyderabad on

lines of Konda’s GundejaariGallanthayyinde but with an interesting

love story thrown into the mix. More than50 per cent of the film’s shooting has beenwrapped up. The supporting cast includes

Vani Viswanath, Naresh, Posani KrishnaMurali, Sapthagiri, Raja Raveendra, Ajay

Ghosh, Annapurna, Sathya andMadhunandan, while Anup Rubens is the

music composer. Radhamohan is planning torelease the film early next year.

Chemistry of a hit pair liveson and helps the next movie

they are cast in. Makers ofOrey… Bujjigaa are banking

on the same formulato draw crowds into

theatres, findsNAGARAJ

GOUD

Vijayawada Saturday November 16, 2019

11

tollywoodHEBAHand RAJTARUNagain T

he buzz surrounding Ala Vaikunthapuramlo star-ring Allu Arjun has made a solid deal on theHindi dubbing, satellite and digital rights front.The fact that Bunny’s films are popular in theNorth Indian market, and that the film boastspopular Hindi faces like Tabu and Pooja Hegde

in key roles, has worked in favour of producer S. RadhaKrishna despite the Hindi market going through a lull offlate. Sources say the film has made Rs 19.5 crore from theaforementioned avenues. On the other hand, superstarMahesh Babu-starrer Sarileru Neekevvaru, which will battle

it out with AlaVaikunthapuramlo forSankranti, has made Rs 15crore from Hindi dubbingand satellite rights. As report-ed by The Pioneer earlier, thisamount will go to Mahesh asa part of his remunerationfor the film.

Meanwhile, the team of theAllu Arjun-starrer returnedto Hyderabad following theEuropean leg of filming.Director Trivikram is plan-ning to shoot a song fromnext week in Hyderabad.Pending portions toowill be shot throughthe rest of the month,with which the film-ing will come to anend.

T

W

P

VISHAL has a jam-packed 2020

WAIT FORMISMATCH ENDS

aiting for anappropriate releasedate for past fourmonths, Mismatch— featuringAishwarya Rajesh

and Aatagadharaa Siva fame,Uday Shankar in lead roles —will finally be opening in the-atres on December 6.

Directed by Tamil film-maker Nirmal Kumar, thefilm is a joint productionventure between G. SriramRaju and Bharat Ram.

The film, according toUday, is a love story betweena rural girl (AishwaryaRajesh) and an IT guy. “I playSiddhu, a smart neatly dressedgentleman, who attempts towork on something onlywhen he is confident that hewill pull it off. He believes insmart work more than hardwork. Aishwarya will be seenas a mass girl with a roughand tough look. She has nofilters, speaks her mind and isbold. They are a kind of amismatch and how they fall inlove and the events that followmake the film,” he had told usearlier.

Bhupati Raja, who haspenned films likeMutamestri, Annaya, Daddyand Nenunnanu, has writtenthe film’s story, while GiftonElias is the music composer.Pawan Kalyan’s revered mon-tage number Ee Manase Se Sefrom his 1998 blockbusterTholi Prema has beenremixed for the film. PradeepRawat and Sanjay Swaroopwill be seen in supportingroles.

Jabardasth loses NagaBabu, star performers

BUNNY'Sstar powerto the fore

W

PTI n NEW DELHI

Chris Lynn, David Miller, Jaydev Unadkatand Chris Morris were among the 71

players released by their respective fran-chisees on Friday ahead of next month’s IPLauction.

Friday was the deadline for releasing,trading and retaining players. A total of 127players have been retained including 35 for-eigners.

Lynn, the big-hitting Australian open-er, was released by Kolkata Knight Ridersafter five fruitful seasons when he got theteam off to a flying start on umpteen occa-sions.

The other 10 released KKR playersinclude West Indian Carlos Brathwaite,South African Anrich Nortje, former Indiaplayers Piyush Chawla and Robin Uthappa,who struggled to get going last season.

Kings XI Punjab go into the auction onDecember 19 with a purse of ̀ 42.70 crore,the biggest among the eight teams after theyreleased eight players including SouthAfrica’s Miller, Englishman Sam Curran andmystery Tamil Nadu spinner VarunChakravarthy, who was bought for a whop-ping `8.4 crore last year.

Miller went on to become one of the bat-ting mainstays for Kings XI Punjab over the

past eight seasons, scoring 1850 runs in 79games at a strike rate of 138.78.

“Kings XI Punjab now have the high-est salary cap available going into the auc-tion while Royal Challengers Bangalore havethe most number of player slots (12) avail-able (including 6 overseas slots). After today’sdeadline, Chennai Super Kings have thelargest squad size (20),” read a BCCI state-ment.

“Of the eight franchises, RoyalChallengers Bangalore (12) have released themost players while Sunrisers Hyderabad (5)have released the least players from theirsquad,” it added.

Defending champions Mumbai Indians

have retained 18 players including veteranSri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga despite hisfitness issues while releasing 12.

Among the released players are

Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorffand Alzarri Joseph of West Indies, NewZealand’s Adam Milne, Beuran Hendricksand Ben Cutting.

Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh,who quit all forms of cricket including IPLearlier this year, has also been released.

Kiwi seamer Trent Boult, WestIndian Sherfane Rutherford andMumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarniare the three trade-ins for thefranchise.

Three-time IPL championsChennai Super Kings havereleased England cricketers SamBillings and David Willey besidesthree Indian players including2015 World CupperMohit Sharma. With 20players already in theirsquad, CSK go into theauction with a meagrepurse of `14.60 crore.

Virat Kohli-ledRoyal ChallengersBangalore have let go oftheir 12 players includ-ing seven foreigners.The big namesreleased are SouthAfrican pacer DaleSteyn, New Zealandall-rounder Colin deG r a n d h o m m e ,Australian Marcus

Stoinis and West Indies batsman ShimronHetmyer. They roughly have `28 crore towork with at the auction.

Delhi Capitals, who had traded inRavichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahanefrom KXIP and Rajasthan Royals respective-ly, have retained young Prithvi Shaw whosedoping ban ends on Friday. There was spec-ulation over Shaw being traded to the Royals.

The Delhi franchise has released nineplayers including two South Africans, all-rounder Morris and power-hitter ColinIngram. New Zealand top-order batsman

Colin Munro has also been released andso has been India’s Test specialistHanuma Vihari.

Rajasthan Royals have released 11players including pacer JaydevUnadkat, whom they had boughtback for `8.4 crore last year after pay-ing ̀ 11.5 crore for him in the previous

season.The franchise also

announced that starAustralian batsman

Steve Smith will con-tinue to lead the team.

S u n r i s e r sHyderabad havereleased the least

number of play-ers — five —and theyinclude ShakibAl Hasan, who

has been bannedby the ICC, New

Zealand opener MartinGuptill, Deepak Hooda

and Yusuf Pathan.

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2019

PTI n PROVIDENCE

The fast-rising JemimahRodrigues starred with

the bat after India’s spinnerswreaked havoc to set up aseries-clinching seven-wick-et win over the West Indies ina low-scoring third women’sT20 International in Guyana.

The spinners restrictedWest Indies to a paltry 59 for9 in the stipulated 20 oversbefore Rodrigues played anunbeaten innings of 40 (51balls) to take India home with20 balls to spare and for theloss of just three wickets.

The triumph sealedIndia’s second consecutive

T20 series win. They hadbeaten South Africa at homelast month.

Spinners Radha Yadav(2/6), Deepti Sharma (2/12),Poonam Yadav (1/8) and

Anuja Patil (1/13) were thearchitect of the win that reaf-firmed India’s supremacyover West Indies, who havenow lost six T20Internationals on the trot.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has hitthe nets in his hometown

Ranchi but it is unlikely that thetalismanic former captain willmake himself available for theupcoming limited-overs homeseries against the West Indiesnext month.

Dhoni, who has not played acompetitive game since the WorldCup semifinal against NewZealand in July, had a net sessionat the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi onThursday, raising hopes of a come-back.

However, he remains unavail-able for the three T20s and asmany ODIs against the WestIndies starting December 6 in

Mumbai.“He is not available for the

West Indies series,” a BCCI officialsaid on Friday.

Ever since that World Cupsemifinal loss to New Zealand,Dhoni's future has been a subjectof intense speculation but theplayer himself has not spoken aword on it.

Host broadcaster Star Sportswanted Dhoni to commentate inIndia’s first-ever day-night Test,against Bangladesh, fromNovember 22-26, but he will notbe doing that as he remains a con-tracted player of the BCCI

As per the existing constitu-tion, Dhoni commentating wouldhave also amounted to conflict ofinterest.

PTI n INDORE

Opener Mayank Agarwal grind-ed a below-par Bangladeshbowling unit with a career-best

second double hundred as Indiaburied the visitors under a deluge ofruns on the second day of the open-ing Test here on Friday.

Agarwal’s third Test hundred,

243 off 330 balls, formed the corner-stone of India’s 493 for 6, which gavethe home side a sizeable lead of 343runs.

Friday solely belonged to Agarwal,who in this particular innings, man-aged to overshadow a batting line-upthat has Rohit Sharma (6), CheteshwarPujara (54 off 72 balls), skipper ViratKohli (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (86 off

172 balls) in its ranks.Agarwal’s partnership of 91 for the

second wicket with Pujara and 190 forthe fourth wicket with Rahane werehowever important in the context ofthe Indian innings.

A whirlwind partnership of 123 in23.5 overs with Ravindra Jadeja (60batting) for the fifth wicket onlyadded insult to injury for Bangladesh.

The match might be over insidethree days if India declare overnight.

Bangladesh’s brittle batting line-up may not have the mental capacityto withstand India’s pace barrage iffirst innings was any indicator.

For Agarwal, his voraciousappetite for runs, carefully cultivatedthrough solid performances at thedomestic and India ‘A’ level, is payingdividends.

Exactly one year ago, Agarwalwas in the fringe, scoring those“Daddy Hundreds” but lost out to theprodigious talent of Prithvi Shaw, whowas given preference and a headstartat the international arena.

Destiny, however, had other plansas Shaw got injured and also lost a bitof focus. That was the openingAgarwal was looking for and he isshowing with each innings that he isnot going anywhere too soon.

The Shubman Gills and theShaws may have to wait a wee bitlonger.

Having scored those tough runsDown Under, Agarwal has nowearned the right to consolidate hisplace with some heavy duty scoring.And he is doing that exactly.

It did help that Bangladesh gottheir bowling combination awfullywrong.

On a pitch, where someone withexpress pace and variation was need-ed, the visitors fielded two specialistspinners in left-arm orthodox TaijulIslam (0/120 in 28 overs) and off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraj (1/115in 27 overs).

The spin duo was like lambs forslaughter as Agarwal went after them

with all his might.All the eight sixes that he hit came

off the two spinners. This apart, healso hit 28 boundaries during hiscareer-best international score.

The coveted double hundredcame by lofting Miraj over long-onwhile the stand-out six was an insideout over extra cover off Taijul. Thenthere was one down the ground anda couple over long-off.

The spinners were either bowlingtoo short or too full outside the off-stump. At one stage, Miraj, a formerBangladesh U-19 captain, complete-ly lost confidence as he started com-ing round the wicket.

The negative field placement foran off-spinner — a deep point for sav-ing a cut shot and deep square leg forsaving a pull-shot — was a reflectionof Bangladesh’s approach.

Abu Jayed (4/108 in 25 overs) wasthe only bowler, who showed someheart getting the wickets of Pujara,Kohli and Rahane but his new ballEbadot Hossain (1/115 in 31 overs)neither had pace nor the variation totrouble the Indian batsmen.

They attacked him at will anddefended when they found it neces-sary.

The lack of pace also became afactor and the pitch on which Indianpacers looked menacing, Bangladesh’smedium pacers merely went throughthe motions.

Each boundary left their shoul-ders dropping further and by the timeAgarwal was out trying to hit hisninth six, the visitors had resigned tothe fate that the remainder of this Testmatch will now be a mere formality.

PTI n INDORE

The slump in form that heendured early in his career

has taught Mayank Agarwalto make hay while the sunshines and he did exactly thatagainst Bangladesh, smashinga career-best 243 on the sec-ond day.

For someone whose con-sistency was an issue someyears ago, Agarwal has nowscored two double hundredsin his last four Test appear-ances. And he wants to makeevery opportunity count tillthis kind of dream form lasts.

“I think it goes down tounderstanding that there hadbeen times when I have notgot runs. So I must respect thegame that I am batting well.When I am doing that I haveto make sure that I make it bigand put the team in driver’sseat or put it in such a posi-tion that they cannot losefrom there,” Agarwal saidafter the second day’s play.

There are players onwhom selectors would puntpurely on talent and there aresome like Agarwal, who hadto break the door open witha mountain of runs.

Asked if it makes himmore aware that he mightalways have to score morethan say a Prithvi Shaw to bein the mix, Agarwal spokeabout how “his journey is dif-ferent from others.”

“I don’t look at it that way.My journey is not going to besame as someone else’s and Idon’t like comparing two peo-ple’s journey because some-body might get chance quick-ly and somebody might getchance late,” he said.

“But that (chance) is notunder our control and it is

important to understand thethings that are in my controland think I’m glad to play forthe country and from therebuild on.”

The opener gave a peekinto his mindset as he wentonto build a marathon knockwith 28 fours and eight sixes.

“I think it goes down togameplan. Who you are feel-ing comfortable against andwho you want to attack andthen pick the right balls. Youcan’t just say that okay I amgoing to hit each and everyball. You can’t do that. It’s notgoing to happen that way,” hesaid.

“It’s a case of understand-ing, okay, this is the bowler Iam playing well today and thisis the ball that I can go after.Pick those balls and thenhave mental discipline tobuild your innings on that.”

He, however, agreed thatsecond day was better forbatting compared to the firstday.

“The wicket has settleddown compared to what itwas yesterday. It got better tobat on as there is good bounceand good value for yourshots.”

He said that his skipperwanted him to continue andget a triple hundred but he gotout going for a ninth maxi-mum.

“I could have playedlonger. But the ball was in theslot. The captain was backingyou and he wanted the bestfor me more than what hewants from himself. That is abig thing,” said Agarwal.

So how does Mayankunwind after a hard day?“Mayank Plays Pub G,” hereplied and broke into laugh-ter.

PTI n INDORE

Senior India cricketers RohitSharma, Cheteshwar Pujara

and Ravichandran Ashwin gota first feel of playing with thepink ball under lights during aday-end net session at theHolkar Stadium on Friday.

With only two training ses-sions are possible under lightsbefore the day/night Test at theEden Gardens startingNovember 22, the Indian teamis trying to make most of thetime at their disposal.

Couple of days before thefirst Test, skipper Virat Kohli andother top-order batsmen had athrowdown session in the after-noon but Friday was the firsttime when they had a nearly 35-minute session under lights.

It was opener Rohit and pre-mier spinner Ashwin, whospend considerable time in oneof the nets with head coach RaviShastri keeping a close watch onthe proceedings.

Skipper Virat Kohli spokeabout adjusting to the newcolour under lights and that pre-cisely was the exercise as the two

senior players faced each other.Ashwin bowled with the

semi-new ball as Rohit andlater Pujara also had a go. In theother nets, reserve batsmenHanuma Vihari and ShubmanGill faced throwdown expertsRaghavendra and NuwanSeneviratne.

But it was the first net onwhich all eyes were trained onas Rohit was seen trying to giveAshwin the charge. Rohit andPujara took turns to face Ashwinand Kuldeep Yadav.

Kuldeep incidentally wasvery effective during the firstDuleep Trophy that was playedwith pink Kookaburra balls asthe batsmen were unable to pickthe seam when the left-armwrist spinner would flight thedeliveries.

INDIA'S HHIGHEST IINDIVIDUAL SSCORES AAGAINST BB’DESHScore Batsman Venue Season Result248* Sachin Tendulkar Dhaka 2004-05 Won243 Mayank Agarwal Indore 2019-20 Awaited204 Virat Kohli Hyderabad 2016-17 Won173 Shikhar Dhawan Fatullah 2015 Drawn160 Rahul Dravid Chattogram 2004-05 Won

MOST SSIXES IIN AAN IINNINGS FFOR IINDIASixes(Score) Batsman Opp Venue Season8 (243) Mayank Agarwal B’desh Indore 2019-208 (124) Navjot Singh Sidhu SL Lucknow 1993-947 (293) Virender Sehwag SL Mumbai 2009-107 (111*) Harbhajan Singh NZ Hyderabad 2010-117 (108) Hardik Pandya SL Pallekele 20177 (127) Rohit Sharma SA Vizag 2019-20

FAISEL FFEATURES

Agarwal scores second double hundred in his fourth Test at home to punch B’desh out of 1st Test

DOUBLE DONE & DUSTEDNeed to respectgame when I ambatting well: Mayank

Rohit,Pujara face Ashwin under lights Dhoni not availablefor WI series

Indian women win 3rdT20I, seal series

71 players released ahead of IPL auctionLynn, Miller, Unadkat among biggies to go under the hammer

CHENNAI SSUPER KKINGS: ChaitanyaBishnoi, David Willey, Dhruv Shorey,Mohit Sharma, Sam Billings, ScottKuggeleijn. (Purse remaining: `14.60crores)DELHI CCAPITALS: Ankush Bains, BandaruAyyappa, Chris Morris, Colin Ingram,Colin Munro, Hanuma Vihari, JalajSaxena, Manjot Kalra, Nathu Singh.(Purse remaining: ` 27.85 crores)KINGS XXI PPUNJAB: Agnivesh Ayachi,Andrew Tye, David Miller, MoisesHenriques, Prabhsimran Singh, SamCurran, Varun Chakaravarthy. (Purseremaining: ` 42.70 crores)KOLKATA KKNIGHT RRIDERS: Anrich Nortje,Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Lynn, Joe Denly,KC Cariappa, Matt Kelly, Nikhil Naik,Piyush Chawla, Prithvi Raj Yarra, RobinUthappa, Shrikant Mundhe. (Purseremaining: ` 35.65 crores)MUMBAI IINDIANS: Adam Milne, AlzarriJoseph, Barinder Sran, Ben Cutting,

Beuran Hendricks, Evin Lewis, JasonBehrendorff, Pankaj Jaswal, Rasikh Dar,Yuvraj Singh. (Purse remaining: ̀ 13.05crores)RAJASTHAN RROYALS: Aryaman Birla,Ashton Turner, Ish Sodhi, JaydevUnadkat, Liam Livingstone, OshaneThomas, Prashant Chopra, RahulTripathi, Shubham Ranjane, Stuart Binny,Sudhesan Midhun. (Purse remaining: `28.90 crores)ROYAL CCHALLENGERS BBANGALORE:Akshdeep Nath, Colin de Grandhomme,Dale Steyn, Heinrich Klassen, HimmatSingh, Kulwant Khejroliya, MarcusStoinis, Milind Kumar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prayas Ray Barman, ShimronHetmyer, Tim Southee. (Purse remain-ing: ` 27.90 crores)SUNRISERS HHYDERABAD: Deepak Hooda,Martin Guptill, Ricky Bhui, Shakib AlHasan, Yusuf Pathan. (Purse remaining:` 17 crores)

LIST OF PLAYERS RELEASED