VIJAYAWADA, TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2021; PAGES 12 `3 RNI No.APENG/2018/764698

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State government on Mondayissued a GO announcing ex gratiato the dependents of the deceasedemployees of various categories ofthe Health and Family WelfareDepartment who were exposed toCovid-19.

Principal Health Secretary AnilKumar Singhal issued a GO to thiseffect on Monday.

Accordingly, the ber-eaved fam-

ilies of Medical and HealthDepartment staff will get relief.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy launched the state AnnualCredit Plan of 2021-22 with a totaloutlay of Rs 2,83,380 crore at the215th State Level Bankers’Committee (SLBC) meeting heldat the camp office here onMonday.

Speaking on the occasion, theChief Minister said unf-oreseensituations arise around the world,and restrictions like curfew wereimposed to contain Covid.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy will release financial assis-tance of Rs 10,000 under the thirdphase of YSR Vahana Mitrascheme on Tuesday for eligibleauto rickshaw and taxi drivers onemonth in advance. He will be cred-iting a total of Rs 248.47 crore intothe accounts of 2,48,468 benefici-aries.

With the ongoing pandemic

crisis, the state government decid-ed to extend a helping hand to theauto and taxi drivers by providingYSR Vahana Mitra scheme onemonth in advance. As many as42,932 beneficiaries have newlyapplied for the scheme this year,where a total of 2,48,468 will bereceiving the aid and over two lakhpersons have benefitted in theprevious year.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a major setback to the state gov-ernment, the Andhra Pradesh HighCourt on Monday junked ordersissued by the YSRCP Governmentin March 2020, replacing AshokGajapathi Raju with his nieceSanchaita Gajapathi Raju for thepost of chairperson of MaharajaAlak Narayan Society of Arts andScience (MANSAS) Trust in Vizi-anagaram district and Simha-cha-lam Devasthanams Trust Board.

The ruling brings AshokGajapathi Raju back in the post aschairman of MANSAS Trust andSimhachalam Devasthanams TrustBoard after more than a year.

Acting on a writ petition filed byAshok Gajapathi Raju, the HighCourt ruled that as per the Trustnorms, the appointment of Sanchaita

Gajapathi Raju as chairperson ofMANSAS Trust and SimhachalamTrust Board was illegal.

It said Ashok Gajapathi Rajuwould continue to be the chairmanof both the Trusts and relatedinstitutions.

Sanchaita Gajapathi Raju, daugh-

ter of Ashok Gajapathi Raju’s elderbrother Ananda Gajapathi Raju,who had not been active in the past,suddenly came to the limelightwhen she was appointed chairper-son of the Trusts established by hergrandfather PVG Raju.

SNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWAD

In a controversial decision, the YSJaganmohan Reddy governmenthas extended the mining leaseheld by India Cements Ltd tomine limestone in an extent of1,611.37 acre spread in Gurajalaand Dachepalli mandals in Gunturdistrict till the year 2037.

Accordingly, the limestonemined from the quarries in Gunturdistrict will be used for IndiaCements’ manufacturing plantlocated in Telangana.

India Cements managing direc-tor N Srinivasan is one of theaccused in Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy’s quid pro quocases probed by both the CBI andEnforcement Directorate (ED).

The said mining lease was firstgranted in 1987 for a period of 20years till 2007. Though India

Cements filed an application forfirst renewal of mining lease onMarch 31, 2006, it could not beprocessed within the stipulatedtime due to various reasons, includ-ing an ongoing case in the HighCourt.

Meanwhile, India Cementsobtained dispatch permits from the

then government for a quantity of59,64,370 metric tonnes (MT) oflimestone for the period from2014-15 to 2020-2021 which wasup to June 26, 2020. Now, the exist-ing lease period has been extend-ed till 2037.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Soon after the AP High Courtorder replacing the chairperson ofMANSAS Trust andSimhachalam DevasthanamsTrust, former Union ministerand TDP senior leader AshokGajapathi Raju said that the Stategovernment should respect theLaw of the land and the

Constitution “at least from nowon”. Addressing media persons inVizianagaram on Monday in thewake of the AP High Courtorder, Ashok Gajapathi Raju saidthat it had been many days sincethe dispute was in the court.

“It’s necessary to take stock ofthe damage that has taken placeduring this time,” he said.

HC reinstates Ashok’s MANSAS postPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Governor BiswabhusanHarichandan on Monday approvedthe recommendation of the ChiefMinister and nominated formerMLA Thota Trimurtulu, YSRCstate general secretary Lella AppiReddy and leaders Ramesh Yadavand Moshen Raju to the Council.

The decision was conveyed toChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy when cal led on theGovernor at the Raj Bhavan inVijayawada on Monday.

The Governor 's of f icedescribed it as a courtesy visit as

the Chief Minister was accompa-nied by his wife Bharati. Jaganand Bharati interacted with theFirst Couple for about 40 min-utes.

The Chief Minister’s visit to the

Raj Bhavan came in the backdropof the nomination of four YSRCongress Party leaders as mem-bers of the Legislative Council.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Endowments MinisterVelampalli Srinivas Rao onMonday said that he was confi-dent that justice would be donein the MANSAS Trust case.

Reacting to the AP HighCourt dismissing the GO per-taining to replacement of chair-man of MANSAS Trust andSimhachalam DevasthanamsTrust, the Minister made itclear that the Governmentwould file an appeal against theorder.

Will appeal againstHC order: Velampalli

Govt should respect the law, says Ashok

AP extends India Cements lease

Guv’s nod to CM’s picks for Council

Kin of Covid-victimhealth workers getcompensation

CM unveils AnnualCredit Plan

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Vaccines don't preventCovid but help in keepingsymptoms mild: SangitaPNS n HYDERABAD

Vaccines don't prevent coronavirusinfections but will help in keepingthe symptoms mild, ApolloHospitals Joint MD Sangita Reddysaid on Monday.

In a series of tweets, Reddy alsosaid she was going home today afterbeing hospitalised for coronavirusinfection.

"After 500 days of dodging#COVID19 I tested +VE onJune10th My initial reaction was ofshock & dismay - Why me? I wascareful & #vaccinated. Hospitalizedwith high fever I took the cocktail#Regeneron therapy within theearly window period & it has made

a dramatic difference," she said.Highlighting the role of vaccines

and timely diagnosis and treat-ment, she said, "The imp point 2remember- vaccine dont prevent#COVID BUT help keep symptomsMild.Timely diagnosis & treatmentr key 2 quick recovery". "As I gohome 2day & continue #self isola-tion under Med sup via #telemed-icine My heartfelt gratitude 2 R#Nursing, Doc & #scientific com,"she noted. Reddy has been empha-sising that the government shouldmove quickly to ramp up the avail-ability of the COVID vaccine in thecountry by enhancing domesticproduction as well as increasing pro-curement from abroad.

Only hallmark Goldfrom todayPNS n NEW DELHI

The Union government willenforce mandatory hallmarking ofgold jewellery and artefacts fromtoday. As per the new guidelines,jewellers across India will now beallowed to sell gold items of only14, 18 and 22 carats from June 15,2021 onwards.

Hallmark is a purity certificationfor gold. Currently, only 40 percentof gold jewellery sold in India isbeing hallmarked. Furthermore,only 35,879 of India’s approximate-ly 4 lakh jewellers are currently BIS(Bureau of Indian Standards) cer-tified, according to the WorldGold Council.

As per the government, hall-marking centres have grown by 25percent in the last five years. Withthe existing capabilities at certifi-

cation centres, India has the capac-ity to hallmark around 14 crorearticles per year.

Under Hallmarking scheme ofBureau of Indian Standards,Jewellers are registered for sellinghallmarked jewellery and recog-nised testing and Hallmarkingcentres.

BIS Hallmark will be for threecategories – 14 carat (14K585),18(18K750) carat and 22 (22K916)carat with A&H centre’s identifica-tion mark/number and jewellersidentification mark/number.

Monsoon covers two-third of India, a fortnight earlyPNS n NEW DELHI

India's annual monsoon rains havecovered two-third of the country,nearly a fortnight ahead of the nor-mal schedule, a weather departmentofficial said on Monday, addingthat conditions are favourable for fur-ther advancement into the north-western parts this week.

The early arrival of monsoonrains in central and northern Indiawill help farmers accelerate sowingof summer-sown crops such aspaddy rice, cotton, soybean and puls-es, and may boost crop yields too.

"Monsoon has already coveredsome parts of Punjab. Usually, itenters Punjab in the last week ofJune," said an official at the India

Meteorological Department (IMD),who declined to be named.

Monsoon arrived in the southernstate of Kerala on June 3 against theusual June 1, but has advancedquickly since.

Since the start of the season, themonsoon has delivered 25% more-than-normal rainfall, boosted byhigher rainfall in the central Indiaregion, data compiled by IMDshowed.

Monsoon is crucial for India's$2.7-trillion economy, as it deliversnearly 70% of the rain needed byfarms, besides replenishing reservoirsand aquifers.

Sowing of summer-sown cropssuch as cotton, rice, soybean, cornand pulses has already started in

southern and western states, andcould start in central and northernIndia this week, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global tradingfirm.

"Farmers are interested in rice andoilseeds due to higher prices. Wemight see higher area under soybeanand paddy," the dealer said.

India is the world's biggestexporter of rice and top importer ofedible oils such as palm oil, soyoiland sunflower oil.

Nearly half of India's farmland getsno irrigation and is dependent on theannual rains from June to September.Farming accounts for nearly 15% ofthe economy but sustains morethan half of a population of 1.3 bil-lion.

File photo

Jagan to release sopfor auto, taxi drivers

Kin of a deceaseddoctor will get exgratia of Rs 25 lakh,kin of a staff nurse willbe given Rs 20 lakh

WPI inflation hits record high of12.94 pc in May on costlier fuelPNS n NEW DELHI

The wholesale price-based inflationaccelerated to a record high of12.94 per cent in May, on risingprices of crude oil and manufac-tured goods.

Low base effect also contributedto the spike in WPI inflation in May2021. In May 2020, WPI inflationwas at (-) 3.37 per cent.

This is the fifth straight month ofuptick seen in the wholesale priceindex (WPI)-based inflation. InApril, 2021, WPI inflation hit dou-ble digit at 10.49 per cent.

"The annual rate of inflation,based on monthly WPI, was 12.94per cent for the month of May, 2021(over May, 2020) as compared to (-) 3.37 per cent in May 2020.

"The high rate of inflation in

May 2021 is primarily due to lowbase effect and rise in prices ofcrude petroleum, mineral oils viz.petrol, diesel, naphtha, furnace oiletc. and manufactured products ascompared to the correspondingmonth of the previous year," theCommerce and Industry Ministrysaid.

Inflation in fuel and power bas-ket spiked to 37.61 per cent duringMay, against 20.94 per cent inApril. In manufactured products,inflation stood at 10.83 per cent in

May, against 9.01 per cent in the pre-vious month.

However, inflation in food arti-cles eased marginally to 4.31 percent in May, even as onion pricesspiked. Inflation in onion stood at23.24 per cent in May, against (-)19.72 per cent in April.

The RBI in its monetary policyearlier this month kept interestrates unchanged at record lowsand committed to maintain anaccommodative policy stance tosupport growth.

Inflation in fuel and power basket spiked to 37.61 per centduring May, against 20.94 per cent in April. Inmanufactured products, inflation stood at 10.83 per centin May, against 9.01 per cent in the previous month

PNS n NEW DELHI

Former Telangana health ministerEatala Rajender joined the BJP onMonday in the presence of Unionminister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Rajender has already tenderedhis resignation as the HuzurabadMLA and has also relinquished hismembership of the TelanganaRashtra Samithi (TRS).

Welcoming him into the party,Pradhan said the BJP would form

the government in Telangana afterthe next assembly elections.

Rajender was a senior leader ofthe TRS and has held top portfo-lios such as finance and health inthe K Chandrashekar Rao-led suc-cessive TRS governments in thestate.

He was shunted out of theCabinet over accusations related toland-grabbing.

Former TS minister Eatala joins BJPRs 100/litre petrol in HyderabadPNS n NEW DELHI

Hyderabad on Monday becamethe second metro city in thecountry to see petrol price cross-ing Rs 100 per litre mark after fuelprices were raised yet again.

Petrol price was hiked by 29paise per litre and diesel by 30paise, according to a price noti-fication of state-owned fuel

retailers.The hike -- 24th in six weeks -

- pushed fuel prices across thecountry to new historic highs.

In Delhi, petrol hit an all-timehigh of Rs 96.41 a litre, whilediesel is now priced at Rs 87.28per litre. Fuel prices differ fromstate to state depending on theincidence of local taxes such asVAT and freight charges.

The Governor's officedescribed it as a courtesyvisit as the Chief Ministerwas accompanied by hiswife Bharati.

TTOODDAAYYSignificant drop in

positivity rate in thestate, confirm officials

P3

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, D.No. New 3-88, Old 3-22, Chandra Theatre, Gosala, Penamaluru Mandal, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh - 521 151, Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JUNE 15, 2021

` 76, 500 (1kg)

` 6600

EGG

RATES

GOLD

VIJAYAWADA 524

HYDERABAD 519

VISAKHAPATNAM 557

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀55..2244

SILVER

VIJAYAWADA

BULLION RATES

`̀//110000

CHICKEN

RATES

Dressed/With Skin `168

Without Skin `191

Broiler at Farm `116

`̀//KKGG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

` 49, 640 (10 gm)

`̀ -666600

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The number of mucormyco-sis (Black fungus) cases inAndhra Pradesh increased to2,357 on Monday, PrincipalSecretary (Health) AnilKumar Singhal said.

A total of 162 persons suc-cumbed to black fungus,

including five in the last 24hours, he said. Of the totalinfected, 1,000 had recoveredso far, leaving 1,357 activecases. “We have so far per-formed 700 surgeries to treatthe black fungus patients.Another 538 patients are onAmphotericin treatment and577 on Posaconazole," the

Principal Secretary added.Guntur district topped the

list with 439 mucormycosiscases while Vizianagaram andWest Godavari were at thebottom with 19 each.

East Godavari reported thehighest of 24 whileVizianagaram reported zeroblack fungus deaths .

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh recorded4,549 fresh Covid-19 cases,10,114 recoveries and 59deaths in the 24 hours ending9 am on Monday, the latestbulletin said.

The number of active casesfell to 80,013. The cumulativepositives in the state nowstood at 18,14,393, recoveries17,22,381 and toll 11,999.

The overall infection posi-tivity rate came to 8.8 percentafter 2.05 crore tests, accord-ing to the bulletin.

The recovery rate climbed

back to 94.61 percent, whilethe mortality rate increasedmarginally to 0.66 percent.

In 24 hours, all 13 districtsreported less than 900 freshCovid cases each, withChittoor logging the highest860 and SPS Nellore the low-est 182.

Chittoor, however, report-ed 12 more fatalities in a day.Prakasam had eight, WestGodavari six, Anantapur, EastGodavari and Srikakulamfour each, Guntur, Kurnool,Visakhapatnam andVizianagaram three each,Kadapa and SPS Nellore two

deaths each.Government data revealed

that while the pandemicspread slowed down in urbanareas, it has been on a steadyrise in the rural areas.

From about 56 percent dur-ing the first couple of weeksin May, the percentage ofCovid-19 cases in rural areasshot up to 63 by the last weekwhile that in the urban cen-tres fell from 44 to 37.

It has now shot further upto 69 percent in rural areas.

Even the fatalities showeda sharp rise from 50.4 to 57.5in rural areas while declining

to that extent in the urbancentres during May.

In June, the Covid-19 mor-tality percentages were 39.1and 60.9 percent in urban andrural areas, respectively.

Principal Secretary(Health) Anil Kumar Singhalsaid as many as 3,540'Secretariat' areas (in villagesand urban wards) now hadzero cases of the infectionwhile another 2,637 had justone case (each).

"Of the 15,000 Secretariatsin the state, only 15 areasunder them have more than50 Covid-19 cases, 18 have

between 40 and 49 and anoth-er 40 have cases between 30and 39. Under 1,147Secretariats, there are 10-19cases now," the official said.

The Principal Secretarysaid about 2,440 ICU beds,12,417 oxygen beds and11,031 general beds werevacant in 449 notified Covid-19 hospitals in the state.

In 134 Covid Care Centres,73,286 of the total 81,084patients got cured and dis-charged.

"With only 7,798 inmates,we have 45,383 beds vacant inthe CCCs," the official added.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu on Mondaywelcomed the Andhra PradeshHigh Court order scrapping theGOs issued by the YSRCPGovernment with regard to theMANSAS Trust and theSimhachalam Devasthanams inthe past two years.

In a statement here, theTDP supremo asserted thatonce again, it was proven thatjustice would eventually tri-umph over the unjust forces“even though they would issueany number of arbitrary GOs”.

“It’s clear that chaotic policieswould have no place in avibrant democracy like ours.The High Court order would bea new lease of life for thousandsof students and employees whowere benefitting from the gen-erosity of the Pusapadu clan formany generations,” Naidu said.He said that the MANSASemployees would get a bigrelief from the hard days as “thevested interests have alsostopped their salaries”.

“Jaganmohan Reddy's ulte-rior plans to smear the royalfamily of the Gajapathi Rajuswere eventually nullified. Itshould be an eye-opener foreach and everyone that the lawand justice machinery wouldnot remain silent if anybodyissues reckless GOs in grossmisuse of their authority,” theformer chief minister said.

Meanwhile, TDP national

general secretary Nara Lokeshasserted that final victorywould go to justice, dharmaand the laws of the land. “TheHC order dealt a severe blowto the Jaganmohan ReddyGovernment that issued mid-night GOs with total disrespectfor the Constitution and thecountry's robust democracy.The High Court order hasfurther brought grace andglory to the large hearted phil-anthropic efforts made by thePusapati family,” Lokesh said.

TDP AP president K Atchannaidu recalled how AshokGajapati was unjustly removedas chairman of MANSAS witha pre-planned conspiracy toloot the 13,000 acres of primelands lying under the control ofthe Trust. The reappointment ofAshok Ganapathi Raju wouldmark the triumph of good overevil, Atchannaidu said.

AP reports 4,549 new Covid cases, 59 deaths

Number of Black funguscases rises to 2,357 in AP

Justice will always triumph: NaiduHC reinstatesAshok’s...Continued from Page 1

Earlier, she was runningan NGO and later joinedthe Bharatiya Janata Party.However, her appoint-ment as the chairpersonof the Trusts was strong-ly opposed by the stateBJP leaders. MANSASTrust is a charitable trustunder the Endowmentsdepartment. It runs 12educational institutions,including a medical col-lege. The Raju family hasdonated more than 13,000acres, spread over fourdistricts, to the Trust.

Govt should respect the law,says AshokContinued from Page 1

He said that there is aneed to examine the con-dition of the templesunder Simhachalam Trustthoroughly. He furtheradded that one has to waitand see how far the gov-ernment would cooperatein this matter. AshokGajapati Raju recalledthat the donations sent toRamatheertham templewere returned. He saidthat allegations werelevied that irregularitieshad taken place during

his chairmanship, howev-er could not prove whatkind of damage had beendone.

Ashok Gajapati Rajuappealed to the officials toadhere to their job withethics. “MANSAS? wasan organisation born forthe people and all that hashappened was due tosheer revenge,” he said.

The former Unionminister alleged that toharass him, commonpeople, employees andstaff were put to trouble.

Continued from Page 1

Soon after the High Courtverdict, Srinivas Rao metChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy and thentold the media that there wasno doubt that theGovernment would take thelegal option of appealing.

The Minister said that

there was no developmentdone by the Trust during theTDP rule.

Rubbishing the commentsof Nara Lokesh, Srinivas Raosaid that the TDP MLC wasneither a grownup nor a kidto understand these issues.

He said that if a courtgives an order, it is not theend of the case; there are

many higher courts to fightlegal battles. He said thatthey found a few irregularitiesin the Trust that took placeand these are being lookedinto. “Everything will be donelegally as per law,” said theMinister.

Speaking about theVeerabrahmendra Peethamin Kadapa district, Srinivas

Rao said that the issue wasbrought to the notice of theCM, and the CM hadinstructed them to proceed asper the rules in this regard.

He said that a committeehas been formed to appointthe chairman ofVeerabrahmendra Peethamwhich would be done as perthe rules and traditions.

Will appeal against HC order: Velampalli

AP extends India Cements leaseContinued from Page 1

India Cements Limited hastwo more mining leases inTelangana besides the lease inGuntur which are captive tothe cement plant located atVishnupuram in Wadapaly vil-lage of Nalgonda District.

“Setting up of captive unitswithin the state is not applic-able to the lessee company asthe mining lease is granted forcaptive requirement of theexisting cement plant locatedat Wadapally,” said mines sec-retary Gopala KrishnaDwivedi in the order issuedby the government.

India Cements has beenaccused of investing about Rs140 crore in BharathiCements and JagathiPublications, owned by Jagan’sfamily, allegedly for gettingadditional water allocations,

limestone mining leases for itsunits in Andhra Pradeshbetween 2008 and 2009.

The cement major was allo-cated 13 million cubic feet ofwater from Kagna River inRanga Reddy district. Besides,permission was given to draw100,000 gallons of water a dayfrom the Krishna river inNalgonda district.

The company has alsoreceived limestone mininglease for 25 years in Kadapadistrict. A CBI charge sheetsaid that the then governmentheaded by Jagan’s father YSRajasekhar Reddy issuedthree GOs between 2008 and2009, that had benefited IndiaCements.

Most recently, the ED, in anaffidavit filed countering thequash plea filed by Srinivasanin the Telangana High Court

last February, said that theinvestments, which weremade into Bharati Cements,Jagathi Publications andCaramel Company Ltd in2007-2008, by India Cementswere a bribe for the benefitsthat the company allegedlyunduly received from thegovernment of erstwhileAndhra Pradesh, of which YSRajasekhara Reddy was theChief Minister.

The original mining leasein Survey Nos. 132,133 and840, 841 in Dachepalli andGurajala mandals respective-ly of Guntur district wasaccorded to Raasi CementsLtd in 1987.

Subsequent acquisition ofRaasi Cements, the mininglease was also transferred toIndia Cements in the year2000.

Jagan to releasesop for auto...Continued from Page 1

As part of this scheme, finan-cial assistance will be provid-ed to drivers who have theirown auto, taxi and maxi cabs.Out of the total 2,48,468beneficiaries selected underthe scheme, 59,692 are SCs,1,38,372 are BCs, 9,910 areSTs and 40,494 are OCs. Amajority of the beneficiariesare from backward classesand weaker sections.

Guv’s nod to CM’s picks for Council

Kin of Covid-victim healthworkers get compensation Continued from Page 1

While the kin of a deceaseddoctor will get ex gratia of Rs25 lakh, kin of a staff nursewill be given Rs 20 lakh, kinof MNO/FNO will get Rs 15lakh and all other staff Rs 10lakh.

The ex gratia shall be sanc-tioned to the dependents ofthe deceased regular employ-ee who died due to Covid-19,which is in addition to thebenefit under PMGKPInsurance Scheme (PradhanMantri Garib KalyanPackage). “Dependants inreceipt of any other benefitunder any other scheme arealso eligible for the ex gratia,”the GO said.

“Ex gratia will be given tothe kin of health depart-ment employee he/she diesdue to Covid 19 while

exposed to Covid environ-ment, due to their posting forCovid management inside aCovid hospital or a CovidCare Centre or house visits toa Covid positive patient. TheCovid-19 positive certificateand death certificate statingthat death is due to Covid-19are mandatory,” the ordersaid.

Documents such as validemployee identity cardsissued by the competentauthority, Aadhar and otherrelevant documents are to beverified. The dependents ofdeceased employees who arewaiting for declaration oftheir probation are also eli-gible for ex gratia.

District Collectors shallverify all the relevant docu-ments before sanctioning theex gratia to the dependents ofthe deceased employees.

CM unveils AnnualCredit Plan Continued from Page 1

He said though curfew wasextended, stipulated targetswere crossed in loan disburse-ment. Jagan said that 105 per-cent of targets were achievedin priority sectors and 114.16percent in agriculture sector.

He emphasised that the roleof banks in achieving thisgrowth rate was commend-able. The Chief Minister saidthat banks have exceeded thestipulated targets in loan dis-bursements and that their effi-ciency needed to be increasedin certain areas like agri infra,other agriculture allied sectors,housing and education.

The Chief Minister saidschools and hospitals are beingrevamped under Nadu Neduscheme and focus is laid ondeveloping infrastructure facil-ities in the agriculture sector.

He said English is intro-duced as a medium of instruc-tion in government schoolsand also CBSE affiliation iscompleted and added thatchildren are coming back togovernment schools.

Jagan said schools are beingrevamped under the secondphase of Nadu Nedu scheme.He said there are no tier -1cities in Andhra Pradesh andpeople are going to Bangalore,Hyderabad and Chennai fortreatment for tertiary care.

He said medical infrastruc-ture is being developed fromvillage clinics to teaching hos-pitals across the state andadded that 16 new medicalcolleges are being set up in thestate and the government wasmoving forward to ensure ateaching hospital in every par-

liamentary constituency.The Chief Minister said

that revolutionary changeswere made in the agriculturesector and RBKs were intro-duced with one RBK for every2,000 population.

“These RBKs will supportfarmers in all aspects fromproviding certified qualityseeds to selling the crop,”Jagan said. He said agricultureinfrastructure is being devel-oped at RBK level andgodowns, cold storages and allother facilities are being pro-vided to farmers and addedthat secondary food process-ing units are being set up atParliamentary constituencylevel.

Participating in the meetingvirtually, Union Bank MD,CEO Raj Kiran Roy said thatthe Chief Minister has takenmany measures to supportpeople during the Covid pan-demic.

Roy added that AndhraPradesh has emerged as one ofthe top five performing statesin achieving the UnitedNations SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs)for the year 2020 as per therankings released by NitiAayog and congratulated theChief Minister for it.

He said banks should focuson supporting tenant farmers,and providing services inRBKs. Roy said while the loandisbursements target for pri-mary sector is Rs 1,87,550crore, Rs 1,96,9820 crore loanswere disbursed and the targetin Agriculture sector was Rs1,28,660 crore while loansworth Rs 1,46,879 crore weregiven.

Continued from Page 1

Four sitting MLCs, nominat-ed during the previousTelugu Desam Party regime,retired on June 11.

The TDP objected to thenomination of Trimurtuluand Appi Reddy alleging that

they were facing criminalcharges.

It said Ramesh Yadav toohad faced criminal charges inthe past.

“Candidates recommend-ed (for the Council) underGovernors quota should have

a clean and unblemishedrecord and good reputationin society," TDP general sec-retary V Ramaiah said in aletter to the Governor.

Trimurtulu was a legislatorof the TDP till 2019 andjoined the YSRC last year.

PNS n HYDERABAD

With the latest fuel pricehike, the price of petrol inHyderabad crossed Rs 100per litre mark on Monday.

The oil companies onMonday hiked the prices ofpetrol and diesel by 29 and30 paise per litre, respec-tively.

With the latest hike, theprice of petrol in Hyderabadhas jumped to Rs 100.20while petrol of diesel alsocrossed Rs 95. The new retailprice of diesel in Telanganacapital is Rs 95.14 per litre

The price of premiumpetrol, had crossed Rs 100last week.

If proof was needed, lastweek’s three-day G-7summit was proof that

the charisma of NarendraModi, respect for him and hisimpact on the world stageremain intact.

Modi got the opportunityto address the leaders of theG-7 nations thrice during thevirtual summit and his mes-sage to the leaders of partic-ipant nations to work demo-cratically, transparently andunitedly left them mes-merised. Modi called uponthem to show solidarity andwork together so that nopandemic would ever recur.

British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson said that hewould have personally invit-ed Modi to visit the UK, butbecause of the pandemicsituation, he felt as thoughhe had lost an opportunity toextend an invitation toModi.

Modi had attended the2019 summit held in France

at the invitation of the FrenchPresident.

He would have attendedlast year’s summit to be heldin the USA responding to aninvitation by Donald Trump,the then President, but theconclave was cancelled onaccount of the pandemic.

At the recent summit,India’s ministerial workinggroup took active part in thediscussions.

Why was Modi’s address tothe global leaders so attrac-tive?

Covid-19 has exposed thedisparities between the richand poor nations as far asmedical infrastructure is con-cerned. While top nations areable to wriggle themselvesfrom the pandemic situa-tion, the poorer ones areruined. The wealthy nationshave state-of-the-art med-ical facilities and infrastruc-tural amenities, which thepoorer nations don’t, leadingto more deaths in such coun-

tries. Modi’s desire is to elimi-

nate these differences as faras medical amenities are con-cerned.

That was why, addressingthe summit on Saturday,Modi laid emphasis on build-ing strong medical and healthsystems with the idea of ‘oneworld, one health’. He calledfor joint efforts to achievethis.

Modi led governments,industries and civil society towork together as he felt thatthis would encourage theentire world to fight against

Covid-19. That was whyIndia was able to mitigate theimpact of the second wave inless time than it could gaincontrol over the first wave.

Besides the G-7 nations,many other countries havebeen supporting India. Modithanked them for their sup-port and called for improvinghealth administration. Heexpressed his preparedness toshare India’s Covid experi-ence with other nations.

Australian Prime MinisterScott Morrison, GermanChancellor Angela Morkel,South African President Cyril

Ramaphosa supportedModi’s contention thatrestrictions on IntellectualProperty Rights should belifted on Covid related tech-nologies. The USA alsoextended its support to Modi,which is an important devel-opment.

The World TradeOrganisation and the UNOSecretary-General also iden-tified the issue as impor-

tant. As one of the

biggest democ-racies in theworld, Indiais a naturalal ly to G-7nations.

Modi announcedat the summit that the partic-ipants share more or less thesame views on issues like dic-tatorship, terrorism, violentextremism and spread ofwrong information.

Referring to technologicalcompanies, he called for asafe cyber atmosphere toevolve an open and transpar-ent society.

If a pandemic-like crisissurfaces, is it possible toresolve it without the contri-bution of India, Modi ques-tioned, reflecting his boldleadership style.

Modi need not drawlessons from anyone on howto enhance the image of thecountry on the global fora.

Whatever is the forum, hisnovel ideas lend great-

ness to him and theG-7 summit was nodifferent.

In fact, whenCovid-19 second wave

was sweeping across thecountry, Modi used his tieswith global leaders and triedto bring the country out ofthe difficult situation.

Unmindful of the criti-cism of the Opposition, Moditook measures to solve prob-lems of the people.

The PMO benefited thou-sands of people, includingjournalist Rubika Liyaquat,information commissionerUday Mahurkar, a Sanghactivist in Jamshedpur, dur-ing the turbulent times ofCovid.

The PM called up manypeople to enquire about theirhealth. Modi helped the edi-tor of a magazine, who wascritical of the PM, andensured that he received

proper treatment. Modi yearns to speak with

those who are in suffering, toensure that all receive thevaccine, to ensure that thereshould be proper medicare inhospitals. If anyone criticis-es Modi, there is no biggeratrocity than this.

Ask anyone in the PMOhow Modi spent sleeplessnights when Covid was at itspeak.

Those who spreadrumours about differencesbetween Modi and Yogi,should be construed as thatthey do not know how theBJP functions. Modireviewed the developmentprogrammes in UP for over1.5 hours.

Because of such a con-structive approach, there isno doubt that the BJP willromp home in the electionsto be held next year underthe leadership of Modi andYogi to the bewilderment oftheir critics.

Y SATYA KUMAR

BJP National Secretary

TRULY

SPEAKING

Covid-19 has exposed the disparitiesbetween the rich and poor nations as far asmedical infrastructure is concerned. Whiletop nations are able to wriggle themselvesfrom the pandemic situation, the poorer onesare ruined. Modi’s desire is to eliminatethese differences.

G-7 summit was perfect platform for Modi to make India shine

Diesel price goespast Rs 100 in Hyderabad

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JUNE 15, 2021

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Promising str ic t act ionagainst those involved,Tour ism MinisterMuttamsetti Srinivas onMonday said that all partiesmust come together in sup-port of the state govern-ment in reclaiming theencroached lands that are inthe hands of TDP leaders.

Speaking to the media inVizag, the Minister said thatTDP leaders, with the sup-port of former chief minis-ter N Chandrababu Naidu,have grabbed huge chunks ofland in Visakhapatnam dur-ing the TDP rule.

“It is the responsibility ofthe government to keepVisakhapatnam safe. Otherparties should come in sup-port of the government inreclaiming the encroachedlands,” Muttamsetti said.

He alleged that TDP lead-ers encroached valuable gov-ernment lands using theloopholes of abolished Estateand Inam Acts. “Whoever isinvolved will be strictly pun-ished as Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy does notdiscriminate between him,us, the party and caste. Soon,

the SIT report on Vizag landscam will be made publicand action will be initiatedagainst all those involved inthe land scam and the YSRC{government will not spareany encroachers ,” theMinister said.

He said that Naidu does-n’t have any hold over hisown party, hence TDP lead-ers have been involved in theland scams with the tacitsupport of the former chiefminister. “All that Naidu isbothered about is to conspireand intrigue against the gov-ernment to destabilise it.While the government was

reclaiming encroached lands,the TDP chief and his sonLokesh have been levellingfalse allegations that theYSRCP leaders were grab-bing lands,” Muttamsettisaid.

The Minister said thatVisakhapatnam's brandimage has been tarnishedwith the corruption of TDPleaders and the ChiefMinister was t r ying torebuild it by making it anExecutive Capital. He saidthat the Chief Minister isdetermined to develop allthree regions equally with hisconcept of decentralisation.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former minister and TDPPolitburo member YanamalaRamakrishnudu on Mondaydemanded the YSRCPGovernment to explain whyother States fared better thanAndhra Pradesh in reducingpoverty levels and in achiev-ing their develop-ment goals in spiteof the severeCovid-19 pan-demic crisis.

Ya n a m a l asaid it was onlydue to the mis-management ofresources anddiversions of fundsby the JaganmohanReddy regime that the poorbecame poorer in AP and themiddle classes also sank intopoverty. “Whereas a selectfew henchmen of the rulingYSRCP became the neo-rich.The socio-economic inequal-ities rose sharply in just twoyears. Apparently, the Covid

contribution to this crisis wasvery little as far as AP was con-cerned,” the former financeminister said.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, the TDP leaderdeplored that price rise andreduced expenditures in edu-cation and health infrastruc-ture had greatly hurt the State

economy. “The incomesof over 97 percent of

households camedown drastically.Poverty rose to 24percent in ruralareas and to 29 per-cent in urban areas.

AP came to stand infifth place in poverty

and as far as hunger isconcerned, it is at the 14th

place in the country,”Yanamala alleged.

He said that the Jaganregime spent 46.10 percent oftotal budget during 2019-20 asagainst 46.80 percent during2018-19, a nearly 0.7 percentless when compared to theTDP rule.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Reminding that after they wereabsorbed by the state govern-ment the responsibility of theAPSRTC employees was todischarge their duties withcommitment, APSRTC vice-chairman and managing direc-tor Ch D Tirumala Rao onMonday assured that allemployees' problems will beaddressed.

Tirumala Rao visited thebus depot at Vidyadharapuramin Vijayawada and the zonalworkshop, tyre treading divi-sion, training academy andzonal training college as part ofhis extensive tour on Monday.He also visited the RTC hospi-tal in the depot.

The APSRTC MD was wel-comed by Vidyadharapuramdepot manager Rupasri and

other officials. He plantedsaplings on the depot premis-es and later visited depart-ments such as the depot garage,office, traffic, cargo transportand advance reservation wings.

Addressing the depot staffon the occasion, the RTC MDsaid that after they wereabsorbed by the state govern-ment. more responsibility lieson the employees to dischargeduties with commitment.

He said that it was the dutyof the employees to provide allfacilities to passengers as the

future of the Corporationdepends on the passengers.

Tirumala Rao said that hewould visit all the depots in thedays to come and would takemeasures to address the prob-lems faced by the employees.

He said that all the depart-ment staff should dischargetheir duties with commitmentfor the development of theorganisation. Tirumala Raosaid that all the employeesunder him would be taken careof. Most importantly, the healthissues of the employees will beaddressed to achieve betterresults, he said.

Later, Tirumala Rao appre-ciated the bus drivers whocould secure good mileage andconductors with good IPK andappreciation letters were hand-ed over to them on the occa-sion.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Asserting that the governmentis determined to protect thelands in Visakhapatnam,Anakapalli MLA GudivadaAmarnath slammed Leader ofthe Opposition NChandrababu Naidu onMonday, terming him as syn-onymous with corruption.

About 430 acres of govern-ment lands worth almost overRs 4,000 crore have beenreclaimed in the last two years,the MLA said.

Speaking to the media inVisakhapatnam on Monday,the MLA said that the govern-ment would take possession ofall those reclaimed lands fromencroachers and shall use it forpublic welfare.

He said a majority of landgrabbing cases took place dur-ing the previous governmentby the TDP leaders with thetacit support of Naidu. TheYSRCP MLA accused Naidu ofencouraging his party leaders

to grab more lands and ledthem towards corruption. Heasserted that no one is abovelaw and strict action will be ini-tiated against those foundguilty.

The MLA said that ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy promised the people ofVisakhapatnam that every sin-gle inch of encroached landwill be reclaimed and shall bebrought to public use. “In fact,people have repeatedlyappealed to the government totake over the occupied lands inthe city and welcomed the gov-ernment move of constitutingSIT to probe on land encroach-

ments. The previous TDP gov-ernment had not made publicthe report submitted by the SITit constituted, fearing publicoutburst. But the current gov-ernment shall make the reportpublic and spare no oneincluding YSRCP leaders,”Amarnath said.

The MLA stated thatGITAM University run by theclose kin of Naidu encroachedover 40 acres of governmentlands, and the governmentimmediately took action andreclaimed all those valuableassets. He said Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy wasaccording priority to people’sinterests rather than politicalinterests to developVisakhapatnam as anExecutive Capital, as the cityhas all the required facilities tocompete with other Tier-1cities in the country.

He clarified that the stategovernment is not being vin-dictive towards any party, butwas just being responsible.

Significant drop in positivity ratein the state, confirm officials PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Referring to data from June 6to 12, officials of the healthdepartment told ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy on Monday that thenumber of cases in the statehas dropped significantly.

They said the positive casesrate had decreased to 6.58 per-cent while it was 25.56 percenton May 16 and added that thepositivity rate in all districts isless than 17.5 percent.

They said the positivity ratein seven districts was lessthan nine percent and it'sbetween 10-19 percent in sixdistricts. They said activecases were reduced to 85,637and the recovery rate wasincreased to 94.61 percent.They said five lakh calls weremade to ‘104’ call centre fromApril 15 and 6,41,094 outgo-ing calls were made and addedthat 2,700 calls were beingmade at present.

They also said 2,303 blackfungus cases were registeredtill June 14 of which 157 were

dead. The officials furthersaid they have released a GOas per the directions of theChief Minister to support thefamilies of health departmentstaff who succumbed toCovid.

The Chief Minister direct-

ed the officials to ensure theyreceive financial assistancesoon and said to plan to pro-vide financial assistance tohealth staff of private hospitalswho were treating Covidpatients and succumbed to thevirus.

Focus on health hubs, protectingchildren: Jagan directs officialsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh had startedpreparations to face the pos-sible third wave that is expect-ed to show impact on children.Medical and health officialsare making arrangements toincrease ICU and oxygen bedsto treat children.

The medical and healthofficials who participated in ahigh level review meeting heldon Covid on Monday,informed Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy abouttreatment facilities to chil-dren in government hospitals.

They explained the actionplan on increasing ICU bedsand providing oxygen toinfants and children andadded that they have pre-pared a plan to increase ICUbeds to 1,600 and oxygenbeds to 3,777 for children.

They said plans are on torecruit paediatricians, staffnurses and other support staff.

Reacting to this, the ChiefMinister instructed them tocomplete the recruitmentprocess within a month. Hedirected the officials to be pre-pared for all eventualities andto provide training to nursesand staff in paediatrics issues.

The officials said childrenare facing post Covid healthproblems related to lungs andkidneys. The Chief Ministerasked officials to provide treat-ment to these problems underArogyasri.

The Chief Minister direct-ed officials to fix rates underArogyasri considering therealistic situations so that hos-pitals won't suffer and addedthat Arogyasri bills are beingpaid to network hospitalswithin three weeks.

Naidu is synonymous withcorruption: Gudivada Amar

Yanamala blamesJagan for poverty

PNS n HYDERABAD

Vaccines don't prevent coron-avirus infections but will helpin keeping the symptoms mild,Apollo Hospitals Joint MDSangita Reddy said on Monday.

In a series of tweets, Reddyalso said she was going hometoday after being hospitalisedfor coronavirus infection.

"After 500 days of dodging#COVID19 I tested +VE onJune10th My initial reactionwas of shock & dismay - Whyme? I was careful & #vaccinat-ed. Hospitalized with highfever I took the cocktail#Regeneron therapy within theearly window period & it hasmade a dramatic difference,"she said.

Highlighting therole of vaccinesand timelydiagnosis andt re at ment ,she said, "Theimp point 2remember-vaccine dontp r e v e n t#COVID BUThelp keep symptomsMild.Timely diagnosis &treatment r key 2 quick recov-ery". "As I go home 2day &continue #self isolation underMed sup via #telemedicine Myheartfelt gratitude 2 R#Nursing, Doc & #scientificcom," she noted. Reddy hasbeen emphasising that the gov-ernment should move quickly

to ramp up the avail-ability of the

COVID vaccinein the countryby enhancingdomestic pro-duction as wellas increasing

pro c urementfrom abroad.In a tweet on May

17, Reddy said, "Thechallenge of India#vaccina-

tionstrategy is not admin asmuch as supply. I urge R #govtto move quickly on ramping updomestic prod, enhance intlprocure, seek Intl aid in theform of vaccine & establish adist network of all Pub & Pvthospitals 2 accelerate the paceof inoculation."

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union government willenforce mandatory hallmark-ing of gold jewellery andartefacts from today. As perthe new guidelines, jewellersacross India will now beallowed to sell gold items ofonly 14, 18 and 22 carats fromJune 15, 2021 onwards.

Hallmark is a purity certi-fication for gold. Currently,only 40 percent of gold jew-ellery sold in India is beinghallmarked. Furthermore,only 35,879 of India’s approx-imately 4 lakh jewellers arecurrently BIS (Bureau ofIndian Standards) certified,according to the World GoldCouncil.

As per the government,hallmarking centres havegrown by 25 percent in thelast five years. With the exist-ing capabilities at certificationcentres, India has the capac-

ity to hallmark around 14crore articles per year.

Under Hallmarkingscheme of Bureau of IndianStandards, Jewellers are regis-tered for selling hallmarkedjewellery and recognised test-ing and Hallmarking centres.

BIS Hallmark will be forthree categories – 14 carat(14K585), 18(18K750) caratand 22 (22K916) carat withA&H centre’s identificationmark/number and jewellersidentification mark/number.

WPI inflation hits record

high of 12.94% in May PNS n NEW DELHI

The wholesale price-basedinflation accelerated to arecord high of 12.94 per centin May, on rising prices ofcrude oil and manufacturedgoods.

Low base effect also con-tributed to the spike in WPIinflation in May 2021. InMay 2020, WPI inflation wasat (-) 3.37 per cent.

This is the fifth straightmonth of uptick seen in thewholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation. In April,2021, WPI inflation hit dou-ble digit at 10.49 per cent.

"The annual rate of infla-tion, based on monthly WPI,was 12.94 per cent for themonth of May, 2021 (overMay, 2020) as compared to (-) 3.37 per cent in May 2020.

"The high rate of inflationin May 2021 is primarilydue to low base effect andrise in prices of crude petro-leum, mineral oils viz. petrol,diesel, naphtha, furnace oiletc. and manufactured prod-ucts as compared to the cor-responding month of theprevious year," the

Commerce and IndustryMinistry said.

Inflation in fuel and powerbasket spiked to 37.61 percent during May, against20.94 per cent in April. Inmanufactured products,inflation stood at 10.83 percent in May, against 9.01 percent in the previous month.

However, inflation in foodarticles eased marginally to4.31 per cent in May, even asonion prices spiked. Inflationin onion stood at 23.24 percent in May, against (-) 19.72per cent in April.

The RBI in its monetarypolicy earlier this monthkept interest rates unchangedat record lows and commit-ted to maintain an accom-modative policy stance tosupport growth.

RBI pegged retail inflationat 5.1 per cent in this fiscalending March 2022, withupside risks from highercommodity prices and re-emergence of higher supplyconstraints amidst the cur-rent phase of lockdowns.

Retail inflation data forMay is scheduled to bereleased later in the day.

No Modi, no Amit Shah, onlyPradhan at Eatela BJP joiningPNS n HYDERABAD

In all fairness, EatalaRajender may be forgivenfor being a tad bit disappoint-ed on Monday, after thebrouhaha that had been thenorm ever since he partedways with the TRS.

Much had been made ofhis entry into the BJP, witheveryone inclined towardssaffron saying that he was aprize catch for the BJP, andwould lead the party to itsdestiny — capturing power inTelangana.

Such was the buzz thatEatala may be forgiven forbelieving that he would beaccorded the grandest of wel-comes when he landed inDelhi.

It was perhaps this beliefthat he took a chartered flightto the national capital, andaccompanied by 220 of his

supporters flew to Delhiwhere he was welcomed byUnion Minister DharmendraPradhan and BJP Telanganastate affairs in-charge TarunChugh. No Modi, no Shah,no other bigwig was presentat the ceremony to welcomeEatala into the BJP fold.

In fact, the hype around hisjoining the BJP fizzled out to

such an extent that BJPnational president JP Naddawasn’t the one to induct himinto the party fold by hand-ing over the saffron shawl.Perhaps Eatala’s disappoint-ment came to be known,since Nadda did drape himwith the shawl later when theformer minister called uponhim at his residence.

Monsoon covers two-third of India, a fortnight earlyPNS n NEW DELHI

India's annual monsoon rainshave covered two-third of thecountry, nearly a fortnight aheadof the normal schedule, a weath-er department official said onMonday, adding that condi-tions are favourable for furtheradvancement into the north-western parts this week.

The early arrival of monsoonrains in central and northernIndia will help farmers acceler-ate sowing of summer-sowncrops such as paddy rice, cotton,soybean and pulses, and mayboost crop yields too.

"Monsoon has already cov-ered some parts of Punjab.Usually, it enters Punjab in thelast week of June," said an offi-cial at the India Meteorological

Department (IMD), whodeclined to be named.

Monsoon arrived in thesouthern state of Kerala onJune 3 against the usual June 1,but has advanced quickly since.

Since the start of the season,

the monsoon has delivered 25%more-than-normal rainfall,boosted by higher rainfall in thecentral India region, data com-piled by IMD showed.

Monsoon is crucial for India's$2.7-trillion economy, as it

delivers nearly 70% of the rainneeded by farms, besides replen-ishing reservoirs and aquifers.

Sowing of summer-sowncrops such as cotton, rice, soy-bean, corn and pulses hasalready started in southern and

western states, and could startin central and northern Indiathis week, said a Mumbai-baseddealer with a global tradingfirm.

"Farmers are interested in riceand oilseeds due to higherprices. We might see higher areaunder soybean and paddy," thedealer said.

India is the world's biggestexporter of rice and topimporter of edible oils such aspalm oil, soyoil and sunfloweroil.

Nearly half of India's farm-land gets no irrigation and isdependent on the annual rainsfrom June to September.Farming accounts for nearly15% of the economy but sus-tains more than half of a pop-ulation of 1.3 billion.

Only hallmarkGold from today

All employees issues will beaddressed, promises RTC MD

Vaccines don't prevent Covid but help inkeeping symptoms mild: Sangita Reddy

Need toimplement YSRCrop Insurancescheme: CollectorPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Krishna district collectorJ Nivas has instructedofficials to completework on Rythu Bharosacentres, YSR HealthClinics and village andward secretariat build-ings within the stipulat-ed time in the district.

Nivas on Monday revi-ewed the progress of theworks with the officialsof Panchayat Raj, Ruraldevelopment, DWMAand other departments atthe Collector’s campoffice. He made it clearthat the constructionworks of RBCs, healthclinics and ward and vil-lage secretariats must becompleted within thestipulated time. Nivasadvised officers of thevarious departments toensure regular supply ofcement, iron and otherconstruction materials.

Parties must support govt reclaimencroached lands: Minister

vijayawada 04VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JUNE 15, 2021

PNS n KAKINADA/ONGOLE

Red Cross president and alsoEast Godavari District CollectorD Muralidhar Reddy has calledupon the youth to come for-ward to donate blood to helpthose suffering from tha-lassemia who are struggling tofind blood during the Coronacrisis.

On the occasion of "WorldBlood Donor Day" on Monday,a blood donation camp orga-nized by the Red Cross MobileBlood Donation Vehicle wasinaugurated at the MunicipalCorporation premises.

Earlier in the day, MunicipalCommissioner Swapnil DinkarPundkar, Municipal HealthOfficer Prithvi Charan andManager K Satya Narayanadonated blood at the blooddonation camp.

On the occasion, theMunicipal Commissionerannounced that as part of theBlood Donation Week celebra-tions, a blood donation drivewould be held at all the wardsecretariats and collector awardswould be presented to the first

three secretariats in donatingmaximum amount of blood.Red Cross representatives stat-ed that through the Red Cross,143 children with thalassemiawere given free blood transfu-sions every Tuesday and Friday.

Additional Municipal

Commissioner Naga NarasimhaRao, Dr P Durga Raju and oth-ers were present on the occa-sion. District SP Adnan NaeemAzmi said that of all donations,blood donation was great as itcan save many lives.

He inaugurated a blood

donation camp at Yuva SenaBlood Bank at Kakinada GlassHouse Centre on the occasionof the 'World Blood DonationDay' on Monday .

As many as 40 persons,including police personnel andauto workers, from Kakinadadonated blood. Frist Urban CI,T Ramamohana Reddy, theirstation HCs and PCs also donat-ed blood.

Additional SP KaranamKumar, Kakinada DSP V BhimaRao and Kakinada Traffic DSPMurali Krishna Reddy werepresent.

On this occasion the SP saidthat the blood reserves in all theblood banks were reduced dur-ing this corona and asked thedonors to donate blood and givelife to those who were ill

At a similar programme inPrakasam district, Collector

Praveen Kumar has called uponthe people to donate blood.Inaugurating the NationalBlood Donation Day pro-gramme at the new Indian RedCross building in Ongole onMonday, the Collector saidthere was a need for blood foremergency surgeries and forthose injured in the accident inthe district. The World HealthOrganization (WHO) has takensteps to organize the WorldBlood Donation Day to pro-mote blood collection from thepublic, he said. People should beencouraged to come forwardvoluntarily and donate blood, headded.

He said steps would be takento set up blood donation campsat Ongole, Markapur, Kandukurand other places in the district.About 20 youths donated bloodon the occasion.

DHV SAMBASIVA RAO

n KAKINADA

The State government hasannounced a two-month banon fishing in the sea this yearas it does every year. The banexpires at midnight on Monday.The ban is enforced annually asit is the season for the fish tospawn.

The government has provid-ed assistance with the aim of

providing employment to fish-ing families who go huntingdue to the ban on fishing.About Rs 10,000 was deposit-ed in the personal bank accountof fishermen registered with theFisheries Department lastmonth. In East Godavari dis-trict, 5,200 boats were confinedto the shore due to hunting banin U Kottapalli , KakinadaUrban, Kakinada Rural,I Polavaram, Tallarevu,

Katrenikona, Uppalaguptam,Allavaram, Sakhinetipalli andother mandals. With theresumption of fishing fromTuesday, fishermen would payhomage to their deity Gangamaand set out into the sea.Everything is ready for fishingand thousands of fishermen areall set to go hunting.

Fishermen are happy to enterthe sea as they have been leftwithout taking up any other

work during the fishing holidayon account of the Corona pan-demic. While vehicles fromother States have arrived atAminabad port, fishermen willbe seen heading towards har-bour from Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the authoritieshave warned Covid protocolslike wearing mask and main-taining physical distance mustbe observed during purchase offish at the port.

Fishermen all set to entersea as two-month ban ends

PNS n ONGOLE

An interstate red sanderssmuggler Magunta ViswanathReddy and his two followers -Uttam Kumar and Mattaiah –have been arrested by thePrakasam police. VishwanathReddy is the accused in 32cases related to red sanderssmuggling and has been evad-ing the police for the past sixyears.

Ongole DSP KVVN Prasaddisclosed the case history andtold the media on Monday thata total of 52 red sanders logsworth Rs 85 lakh and a carwere seized from the accusedso far. He also said thatMagunta Viswanath Reddywas earlier involved in redsanders smuggling case inTangutur area. In that case, theTangutur police arrested oneaccused Kandakunta SivaKumar who disclosed theinvolvement of ViswanathReddy.

He also said that the triowere taken into custody in a

tin shed at Kurnool IndustrialPark.

According to DSP Prasad,Magunta Viswanath Reddywas selling red sanders in cap-ital Delhi and other countriesthrough a middleman named

Nazir from Kurnool.Singarayakonda C.I U

Srinivasa Rao, Tanguturu SINaib Rasool and station staff,who cracked the case, wereappreciated by SP SiddharthaKaushal , he said.

East Godavari District Collector D Muralidhar donating blood on the occasion of the World Blood Donation Day in Kakinadaon Monday

Collector flags off blood donation vehicle

PNS n GUDIVADA

Kodali Srivenkateswara Rao(Nani), Minister of State forCivil Supplies and ConsumerAffairs, has said that Covid-19pediatric ward is being set upat Gudivada Area GovernmentHospital.

Speaking to mediapersonshere on Monday, Kodali Nanisaid that the government wasfully prepared for the thirdwave of Coronavirus. He saidCM Jagan Mohan Reddy washolding review meetings withthe authorities on vaccinationas well as control and preven-tion of Covid-19 in the State.

Govt Hospital SuperintendentDr S Indira Devi said that a 20-bed pediatric ward is being setup at Gudivada GovernmentHospital. Ten 10 beds would beallotted to the ICU and anoth-er 10 for Covid and generaltreatment.

Covid-19paediatric wardat govt hospitalopened

PNS n ELURU

Paddy growers hit the road onMonday for arrears. A dharnawas held in front of the localEluru Collectorate under theauspices of the district com-mittees of the Andhra PradeshFarmers Association andAndhra Pradesh TenantFarmers Association demand-ing immediate payment of Rs1,450 crore of Rabi paddyarrears. They raised slogansthreatening to commit sui-cide if the payment is notdone immediately. Farmersand tenant farmers, who camefrom different parts of thedistrict, took part in the protestfollowing Covid rules.AndhraPradesh Farmers' Union dis-trict secretary K Srinivas saidthat the payment of amountsfor Rabi paddy procured fromfarmers and tenant farmers inthe district were pending forthe past two months.

He said that there weremany problems in the onlineprocess and the cash would notbe credited to the bankaccounts of farmers and tenantfarmers even after two monthsand 21 days.

The government shouldrelease the arrears of Rs 1,450crore to thousands of farmersin the district. He also said thatthe farmers and tenant farm-ers were unable to obtain loansfor Kharif crops as they werenot in a position to repay theloans taken for the Rabi crops.

He warned that the agita-tion would be intensified if thegovernment failed to paypaddy arrears.

KVPS district president KRavindra expressed solidaritywith the farmers' agitation.

Rythu Sangham districtassistant secretary KattaBhaskara Rao, Tenant FarmerUnion District Co-convenerKorni Appa Rao, DistrictCommittee members VejjuSriramachandramurthy andfarmers from different man-dals participated..

Farmers protest for paddy arrears

Lella Appi Reddy, who was elected as a member of the AP Legislative Council in Governor quota, formally met Advisor tothe Government, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Monday night. Among those who met Ramakrishna Reddy along withhim were Skill Development Corporation Chairman Challa Madhusudana Reddy, Guntur City Mayor Kavati ManoharNaidu and GDCC Bank Chairman Lalupuram Ramu.

COURTESY VISIT

PNS n GUNTUR

Guntur Rural SP Vishal Gunnihas said that about Rs 1 croreworth of banned khaini andgutka have been seized in raidsacross the rural district area.Disclosing this to the media hereon Monday, he said that thelargest operation in AP was car-ried out in the last 48 hours.During a thorough search atChilakaluripet, Tenali,Narasaraopet, Vinukonda andSavalyapuram stations, a largequantity of khaini, gutka andcounterfeit cigarettes were found,he added. He further said that sixpersons were arrested in connec-

tion with the case. Sidhu ofSubrahmanyeswara Traders, aresident of Bangalore, was foundto be supplying the products toeight districts in the State.Kopparapu Manikantha ofOngole and Nakala Anjaneyuluof Darshi were arrested forallegedly supplying the bannedproducts to the area. A man, iden-tified as Sidhu, was involved inmoney laundering and smugglingof illicit goods from Bangaloreand Rajasthan to Palnadu andDachepalli via parcel service, hesaid. The SP appreciated thepolice teams for their efforts inarresting the accused and bustingthe illicit racket.

Khaini, gutka worth Rs 1 cr seized, 6 held

PNS n NELLORE

Leaders of theSeemandhra MadigaReservation Porata Samiti(MRPS) on Mondaylodged a complaint withthe District Collectoralleging that HealthOfficer of the NelloreMunicipal Corporation,Venkataramana washarassing sanitationworkers, maistries andward sanitary secretariesbelonging to Madiga andST communities.

State executive presi-dent of MRPS PodintiSubbaiah told the mediaon Monday that NMCHealth OfficerVenkataramana had beenharassing the sanitationworkers for the past fewdays. Subbaiah allegedthat the Health Officerwas not leaving even thewoman sanitary secre-taries. He demanded thataction be taken againstVenkataramana.

MRPS lodgesplaint againsthealth official

PNS n GUDIVADA

Outsourced sanitation workersserving in GudivadaMunicipality have distancedthemselves from the strike fol-lowing an assurance by CivilSupplies and Consumer AffairsMinister KodaliSrivenkateswara Rao (Nani).

The workers on Mondaycalled off a dharnas proposedto be staged on June 14 and 15in response to the call given bythe AP Municipal Workers andEmployees Federation (CITU)seeking a solution to the prob-lems of municipal sanitationcontract workers.

Gudivada Municipal

Contract Workers UnionHonorary president AddepalliPurushottam said that all the175 members of the Unionwere not participating in thestrike. He also said that theunion has full confidence inMinister Kodali Nani.

Kodali Nani said that hewould respond immediatelyand work to find a solution forany problem brought to hisnotice in the Gudivada con-stituency.Gudivada MunicipalContract Workers Union lead-ers Gullapalli Sreenu, DhanalaBujji, Kagga Durga Rao, Anand,R Keshava, M Rajesh, ChRajesh, Anjaneyulu, Narayanaand others were present.

Outsourced sanitation staffto stay away from strike

PNS n KURNOOL

Old rivalry over a disputedland claimed the life of a manat Koyilakonda in Sirivellamandal of Kurnool district onMonday.According to police,a dispute arose between twobrothers – Pedda NageswaraRao and Chinna NageswaraoRao after their fatherGurrappa divided 14 acres ofland between them.

The two brothers oftenquarreled over a 1.5 acre fer-tile farm which was not dis-tributed to anyone one ofthem. While one of the broth-ers harvested the crop, theother used to destroy it. In thisbackdrop, younger brotherChinna Nageswara allegedlymurdered Pedda Nageswara

on April 5, 2020. A murdercase was registered againstChinna Nageswara Rao atSirivella police station.

Meanwhile on Sunday,Chinna Nageswa Rao, whowas on the farm on Sunday,was allegedly attacked andkilled with an iron rod byChinna Gurrappa and PeddaGurrappa, the sons of PeddaNageswara Rao.

he murder of ChinnaNageswara Rao created a sen-sation in the village.

PNS n GUNTUR

Home Minister MekathotiSucharita has said that devel-opment and welfare in villagesare the two eyes of ChiefMinister Y S Jagan MohanReddy. She said the CM hastaken the initiative to deliverthe fruits of welfare pro-grammes directly to everyhousehold in the State.

The Home Minister tookpart in a slew of development

programmes in Guntur Ruralmandal on Monday. She saidthat the services provided bythe village secretariats wereyielding good results. The wel-fare schemes introduced byCM Jagan Mohan Reddy arebeing followed by other statesin the country.

The Home Minister clarifiedthat more than 39 lakh peoplehad benefited from variouswelfare programmes in thePrathipadu constituency in

the past two years. Sucharithalaid the foundation stone forthe new Secretariat and MilkUnit Centres at Mallavaramvillage.

Former MP ModugulaVenugopal Reddy, Mallavaramsarpanch Padmavati,Turakapalem sarpanchSuryaprakasa Rao, MPTC can-didate Anji Reddy, TahsildarMohan Rao, MPDO Sujathaand other officials and leaderswere present on the occasion

Development, welfare twoeyes of CM, says Sucharita

PNS n NELLORE

Nellore district unit presidentof the Andhra PradeshRationalist Association,Srinivasa Rao, in a statementon Monday condemned thegovernment's decision toallow Anandaiah’s herbalmedicine to be distributed topeople. He said that the effi-cacy of herbal medicine madeby Anandaiah has not beenscientifically proven.

Vice-president RajapalemRaghu said thatAnandaiah's disciple hadtested positive to Coronaand claimed that more than70 people were admitted tothe Nellore government hos-pital after taking the herbalconcoction. But Anandaiahwas in denial mode, headded.

The Andhra PradeshRationalist Association,however, demanded that theGovernment immediatelyannounce to the people thatthe herbal medicine wouldnot work on Corona patients

Rationalist bodyflays govt overAnandaiah drug

PNS n TIRUMALA

The annual Special SahasraKalasabhishekam will be per-formed on June 20 com-memorating the consecra-tion of Bhoga Srinivasamurtyin Tirumala.

About 14 centuries ago,Pallava Queen SamavaiPerundevi has presented afoot tall Silver idol of BhogaSrinivasamurty which is con-sidered as the replica of themain deity of VenkateswaraSwamy.

The TTD has been observ-ing this fete since 2006 cele-brating the historical occa-sion. On June 20 SpecialSahasra Kalasabhishekamwill be observed inEkantam(privacy) in VendiVakili between 6 and 8.30 am.

Special Sahasra

Kalasabhishekam

on June 20

Red sanders smuggler,two followers arrested

2 men kill uncle dispute over land

nation 05VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JUNE 15, 2021

PNS n BALLIA (UP)

Backing the demand for a cen-tral agency probe into thealleged corruption in the pur-chase of land for the proposedRam temple in Ayodhya, SBSPchief Om Prakash Rajbhar onMonday said the BJP and theRSS have made the shrine a"medium of business".

He also asked PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andUttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath when actionwill be taken against theaccused.

Rajbhar's remarks came aday after the Samajwadi Party(SP) and the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) alleged that ShriramJanmabhoomi Teerth KshetraTrust general secretaryChampat Rai bought 1.208hectares of land in Ayodhya'sBag Bjaisi village worth Rs 2crore at an inflated price of Rs18.5 crore for the Ram templewith the help of trust memberAnil Mishra.

Terming it a case of moneylaundering, SP leader PawanPandey and AAP leader SanjaySingh sought a probe by the

Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) and the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) into the mat-ter. Rai strongly refuted theallegations.

Speaking to reporters here inRasra, Rajbhar said, "The tem-ple is a symbol of faith for com-mon people but the BJP andthe RSS have made it a medi-um of business."

The Suheldev BharatiyaSamaj Party chief claimed thesaid piece of land was pur-chased for Rs 2 crore on March18 for the construction of Ramtemple and five minutes later,

it was bought by the RamMandir Trust for Rs 18.50crore.

The SBSP leader also soughta probe by the CBI and the EDinto the "scandal".

Targeting Modi andAdityanath, Rajbhar, a formerBJP ally, said, "Both the lead-ers claim zero tolerance (forcorruption). Modi ji and Yogiji should make it clear as towhen a case will be registeredagainst the trustee of the RamMandir Trust and when theaccused persons will be sent tojail."

BJP, RSS have made Ram templea ‘medium of business': Rajbhar

PNS n MUMBAI

Amid charges of corruption inthe land purchased by the RamJanmabhoomi Trust in Ayodhya,Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut onMonday demanded "clarification"from the Trust and other leaders,saying the construction of thetemple is a matter of faith for thesaffron party and the commonpeople. Talking to reporters here,Raut said Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) MP Sanjay Singh spoke tohim on the issue this morningand the "evidence provided byhim is shocking". "Lord Ram andthe fight for the Ram mandir is amatter of faith for us. For some,it is a political matter. The Trustformed for the construction ofthe temple should clarify if theallegations are true or false. Thetemple's 'bhoomipujan'ceremony was also attended byUttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and RSS chief MohanBhagwat. They should also speakout. Ram temple is a matter of

faith. People have madedonations out of faith. Even ShivSena had contributed Rs onecrore to the Trust," Raut said. Ifthe money collected out of faithis misused then what is the useof having faith? he asked. "Weneed to know what is happening.We need to know whether theallegations are true or false," theSena leader said.The allegation that the land worthRs 2 crore was bought at aninflated price of Rs 18.5 crore byShriram Janmabhoomi TeerthKshetra Trust general secretaryChampat Rai for the Ram templepremises was made by AAP'sRajya Sabha member SanjaySingh and a former minister inthe Samajwadi Partygovernment, Pawan Pandey. Theallegation was strongly refutedby Rai. Terming it a case ofmoney laundering, Singh andPandey had sought a probe bythe Central Bureau ofInvestigation and theEnforcement Directorate.

Trust must clarify if money collectedin name of faith misused: Raut

PNS n NEW DELHI

Five of the six Lok JanshaktiParty MPs in the Lok Sabhahave joined hands againsttheir leader Chirag Paswanand elected Pashupati KumarParas in his place, causing abig churn in Bihar politics.

Paras on Monday laudedBihar Chief Minister NitishKumar as a good leader and"vikas purush" (development-oriented man), highlightingthe deep fault lines within theparty as his nephew ChiragPaswan has been a strongcritic of the JD(U) president.

" I have not broken theparty but saved it," Paras, MPfrom Hajipur, said, assertingthat 99 per cent of LJP work-ers were unhappy with theturn of events in Bihar asPaswan led his party againstthe JD(U) and fared poorly inthe 2020 assembly polls.Paras said his group will con-tinue to be part of the BJP-ledNDA and said Paswan canremain part of the organisa-tion. The group of five MPshas conveyed their decision ofelecting Paras as the LJPleader in Lok Sabha to theSpeaker.

LJP MPs join handsagainst Chirag Paswan

PNS n PATNA

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar's JD(U), which bore thebrunt of Chirag Paswan'sbrinkmanship in the assemblypolls last year, on Monday saidthe LJP president was reapingwhat he had sown. JD(U)national president RCP Singhreacted with a sense ofvindication to thedevelopments in the partyfounded by late Ram VilasPaswan, whose son has been

left cornered in a revolt led bythe former's younger brotherPashupati KumarParas and supported by fourother MPs, including nephewPrince Raj."It is a well knownadage that as you sow, so youreap. Chirag Paswan washeading a party which waswith the NDA. Yet, he adopteda stance that damaged it in theassembly polls. This led to asense of unease within hisown party," Singh toldreporters here.

Chirag Paswan has reaped whathe had sown: JD(U)

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid charges of corruption inthe land purchased by theRam Janmabhoomi Trust inAyodhya, Congress generalsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra on Monday said misuseof donations by devotees is asin and an insult to their faith.

"Crores of people made theirofferings at the feet of God out

of their faith and devotion.Misuse of those donations isunrighteous and is a sin andan insult to their faith," she saidin a tweet in Hindi.

The Congress on Sundayalleged that scams are happen-ing by taking donations in thename of Lord Ram after twoopposition leaders accusedShriram Janmabhoomi TeerthKshetra Trust general secretary

Champat Rai of buying a pieceof land at an inflated price forthe Ram temple premises.

The allegation that the landworth Rs 2 crore was broughtat an inflated price of Rs 18.5crore was made by AAP's RajyaSabha member Sanjay Singhand a former minister in theSamajwadi Party government,Pawan Pandey. The allegationwas strongly refuted by Rai.

Tagging a tweet on Rai refut-ing the allegation, Congress'chief spokesperson RandeepSurjewala had said on Sunday,"Lord Ram, what kind of daysare these? Scams are happeningby taking donations in yourname. Shameless robbers areintoxicated with arrogance likeRavana and are selling faith."

"The question is how theland bought for Rs 2 crore was

sold after 10 minutes to 'RamJanmabhoomi' for Rs 18.50crores?" he asked.

"Now it seems… Kans areruling, Ravana is everywhere!"Surjewala had said in a tweetin Hindi. Terming it a case ofmoney laundering, Singh andPandey had sought a probe bythe Central Bureau ofInvestigation and theEnforcement Directorate.

Misuse of donations is insult to faith: Priyanka Gandhi

A59-year-old woman and aman were killed and afour-year-old girl was

injured in separate incidents ofattacks by elephants inChhattisgarh's Jashpur districton Monday, officials said.Prakash Ekka (55) andDayamani Tirki were trampledto death by a pachyderm whenthey were visiting their fields located in the forest and collectingforest produce in Jamuna village under the Tapkara police stationarea, a forest official said. Forest personnel have been trying to chaseaway the elephant from the spot to retrieve the bodies, he said. Inanother incident that occurred in the Kunkuri area near Junglekonavillage, a four-year-old girl was attacked by an elephant when shewas collecting Mahua fruits with her parents. The girl was admittedat a hospital in Kunkuri, he added. “With the latest incident inJashpur, a total of 19 people have been killed in separate incidents ofelephants' attacks in the district over the last one year”, the officialsaid.On June 7, a woman was trampled to death by an elephant inBagicha forest range.

INDIA CORNER

PNS nTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The BJP in Kerala on Mondaycame out against stateEducation Minister V Sivankutty for promising support tofilmmaker Ayesha Sulthana,against whom the Lakshadweep police had recentlyslapped sedition charges overher alleged comment againstthe spread of COVID- 19 in thearchipelago. Senior BJP leaderand former Mizoram Governor,Kummanam Rajasekharantermed the minister's act as"highly condemnable" and"unconstitutional".

He said legal measures hadbeen initiated against thewoman filmmaker for herremark that allegedly amount-ed to disrupting the communal

harmony and unity of thecountry. Sivankutty had toldher over phone that she couldsave herself from Lakshadweeppolice if she met him andChief Minister Pinarayi

Vijayan, the BJP leader alleged."It is unconstitutional for a

minister, holding the constitu-tionalposition, to intervene ina case registered in anotherstate," Rajasekharan said.

Accusing Sivankutty of beingsilent over the alleged corrup-tion and violence in his homeconstituency Nemom, the BJPleader said the minister'smotive behind supporting suchpersons was understandable.

Senior CPI(M) leader andeducation-labour ministerSivankutty last week had calledSulthana over phone to expresshis solidarity with her in herfight against alleged dictatori-al and fascist policies of theLakshadweep administrator.

In a statement issued later,the minister had said Sulthanawas not alone in her fight andthe entire democratic commu-nity of the country was with her.

Meanwhile, criticising theLakshadweep police for slappingsedition charge against the

woman filmmaker, stateAssembly Speaker M B Rajeshhas said the apex court hadalready ruled that only acts thatcause public violence or disorderfall within the ambit of 124-A."International law and civilisedsociety regard freedom ofexpression as paramount. Atthis time Ayesha Sulthana wascharged with treason for makinga remark against the Lakshadweep administrator during atelevision discussion,"he said ina Facebook post.

Stating that it is high-time toredefine 'patriotism' and 'sedi-tion', Rajesh said true patriotscannot accept that 124-A, aninstrument of colonial oppres-sion, is still being imposed on thepeople of a country, years afterit had become independent.

Chhattisgarh: Two trampled todeath by elephant

Amarried couple and theirtwo sons were founddead at their home in

Dhanbad town inJharkhand on Mondaymorning, police said.Munna Yadav (45), his wifeMeena Devi (35), and sonsRahul (20) and Rohit (14)were found dead at theirrented accommodation in Gandhi Road in the Dhansar police stationarea, they said. It is suspected that Rahul, who is Meena's son fromher previous marriage, stabbed the others to death and then slit histhroat with a sharp weapon, police said after the initial investigation.The neighbours first spotted the bodies after seeing blood comingout from the house. All the four were found lying in a pool of bloodafter police broke in as the door was locked from inside, an officersaid. Two sharp weapons were recovered from the room, policesaid. Additional Superintendent of Police Manoj Swargyarisaid the incident appears to be the result of a family dispute. "Thebodies were sent for post-mortem. An investigation is underway," hetold reporters.

Stepson kills all of family, thendies by suicide: Police

The Noida Police hasarrested 61 people,including 15 women, for

allegedly partying at afarmhouse here in violation ofrestrictions imposed tocombat COVID-19, officialssaid on Monday. The arrests were made following a raid on theproperty in Sector 135, under the Expressway police station limits,on Sunday night, they said. “A pool party was being held at theGreen Beauty farmhouse in the Yamuna floodplains area in Sector135 in violation of the COVID-19 protocols. A total of 46 men and 15women were arrested,” a police spokesperson said. “All accusedwere bathing in the swimming pool in violation of the pandemicprotocols. They were without face masks and some of them wereeven spitting at various places in the open premises of thefarmhouse,” the spokesperson said.

61 people arrested from Noidapool party for Covid norm violation

BJP slams Kerala Minister for supporting Ayesha

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday demanded a high-levelinquiry into the death of a journalist, who had recently reportedon the liquor mafia, apparently in a road accident here. The 42-

year-old news channel reporter, Sulabh Srivastava, died as hismotorcycle rammed a pole near a brick kiln in Sukhpal Nagar underthe Kotwali police station area on Sunday, police said. "Themysterious death of a TV reporter in an alleged accident is extremelysad. The BJP government in this case should constitute a high-levelprobe, and tell the family members and the public that despite theapprehension of murder by the liquor mafia expressed by thereporter, why he was not provided security," SP chief Akhilesh Yadavsaid in a tweet in Hindi. Srivastava had recently run a news storyagainst the liquor mafia in the region. Then on June 12, he wrote tothe Prayagraj additional director general of police to seek protection.Additional Superintendent of Police Surendra Dwivedi said Srivastavadied in a crash while returning from Asrahi village under the Lalganjpolice station area after reporting on an illegal arms manufacturingunit uncovered there.

Akhilesh demands probe intojournalist's death in crash

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Sunday said India is a nat-ural ally for the G7 and its part-ners in defending democracy,freedom of thought and liber-ty from a host of threats stem-ming from authoritarianism,terrorism, violent extremismand economic coercion.

The prime minister madethe remarks in a virtual addressat an outreach session of asummit of the Group of Seven(G7) richest democracieswhich was held in the Britishseaside resort of Cornwall.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) said that Modi,as the lead speaker at the ses-sion titled 'open societies andeconomies', highlighted India'scivilisational commitment todemocracy, freedom ofthought and liberty.

"As the world's largest

democracy, India is a naturalally for the G7 and guest coun-tries to defend these sharedvalues from a host of threatsstemming from authoritari-anism, terrorism and violentextremism, disinformation andinfodemics and economiccoercion," he said.

The prime minister alsohighlighted the revolutionaryimpact of digital technologieson social inclusion andempowerment in India

through applications such asAadhaar, Direct BenefitTransfer (DBT) and JAM (JanDhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trini-ty. While underscoring thevulnerabilities inherent in opensocieties, the prime ministercalled on tech companies andsocial media platforms toensure a safe cyber environ-ment for their users, addition-al secretary (economic rela-tions) in the MEA P Harishsaid at a press conference.

India natural ally of G7 indefending democracy : PM

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Taj Mahal and all othercentrally protected monu-ments, museums and sites,closed for around twomonths due to the Covidpandemic, will be reopenedon June 16, an ArchaeologicalSurvey of India order issuedon Monday said.

These include 3,693 mon-uments and 50 museumsacross India.

An ASI official said visitorswill be able to book entrytickets online.

However, no offline book-ing facility will be available,the official added.

According to the ASIorder, the opening of themonuments will be in strictcompliance with the execu-tive orders, if any, issued bythe state, district or the dis-aster management authority.

"Today @MinOfCultureGoI has given @ASIGoIapproval to duly open all themonuments of India from 16June 2021. Tourists can visitthe monuments followingthe Corona rules. Good luckto all," tweeted Union Cultureand Tourism ministerPrahlad Patel.

Appropriate guidelines andSOPs issued by Union andstates governments, min-istries and departments willbe scrupulously followedwhile regulating the flow ofvisitors, the order said.

In an order on April 15, theASI had shut these monu-ments till May 31.

All centrally protectedASI monuments toreopen from June 16

PNS n NEW DELHI

Vaccines don't prevent coron-avirus infections but will helpin keeping the symptoms mild,Apollo Hospitals Joint MDSangita Reddy said on Monday.

In a series of tweets, Reddyalso said she was going hometoday after being hospitalisedfor coronavirus infection.

"After 500 days of dodging#COVID19 I tested +VE onJune10th My initial reactionwas of shock & dismay - Why

me? I was careful & #vaccinat-ed. Hospitalized with highfever I took the cocktail#Regeneron therapy withinthe early window period & ithas made a dramatic differ-ence," she said.

Highlighting the role of vac-cines and timely diagnosis andtreatment, she said, "The imppoint 2 remember- vaccinedont prevent #COVID BUThelp keep symptomsMild.Timely diagnosis & treat-ment r key 2 quick recovery".

"As I go home 2day & con-tinue #self isolation under Medsup via #telemedicine My

heartfelt gratitude 2 R#Nursing, Doc & #scientificcom," she noted.

‘Vaccines help in keeping symptoms mild’

PNS n NEW DELHI

A 22-year-old man onboarda Delhi-Patna flight wasapprehended on Mondayfor allegedly making a hoaxcall to Delhi's Police ControlRoom saying that there wasa bomb on the plane, offi-cials said.

The man has been iden-tified as Akash Deep. He is"mentally disturbed", thepolice said.

After boarding the flightwith his father, Deep madethe call to the PCR sayingthat there was a bomb onthe plane, a senior policeofficer said.

Delhi: 1 held forhoax call aboutbomb on plane

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High CourtMonday refused to stay anorder of a trial court directingIMA president J A Jayalal notto use the organisation's plat-form to propagate any religionand cautioning him that loosecomments cannot be expect-ed from a person chairing theresponsible post.

Justice Asha Menon said thecourt will not pass any ex-parte order as nobodyappeared on behalf of the per-son on whose complaint thetrial court had passed theorder on June 4.

The high court issued noticeon the appeal filed by theIndian Medical Association(IMA) chief challenging thetrial court's order and listedthe matter for further hearingon June 16.

It said the high court willhave to look into the orderpassed by the trial court andcannot take a superficial view.

The trial court had passedthe order on a plea filed

against Jayalal for allegedlystarting a defamatory cam-paign against the Hindu reli-gion “by way of promotingChristianity, in the garb ofproving superiority ofAllopathic medicines overAyurveda in treatment ofCOVID-19 patients”.

Complainant Rohit Jha hadalleged before the trial courtthat Jayalal was misusing hisposition and misleading thenation and its citizens in orderto convert Hindus toChristianity.

The trial court had said noinjunction is required basedon the assurance given byJayalal that he will not indulgein such kind of activity andhad noted that the pleaseemed to be an offshoot of averbal duel with respect toAllopathy vs Ayurveda.

Challenging the trial court's,advocate Tanmaya Mehta, rep-resenting Jayalal, claimed thatthe IMA chief never gave suchan assurance to the trial courtsince he has not done anythingwrong.

HC asks IMA chiefnot to use platformto propagate religion

requires approval by Parliamentwithin 60 days. Since Parliamenthas been dissolved on May 21,the apex court has stayed itsimplementation as it could leadto long-term implications. Afive-member ConstitutionalBench has also issued show-cause notices to the offices of thePM and President to clarify onHouse dissolution on May 21and shuffling of the Cabinet.

Feuds Within: To suppressthe rising opposition within theUML, Oli has appointed partyleader Raghubir Mahaseth asthe Deputy Prime Minister.Mahaseth is also appointed asthe Minister of Foreign Affairsdespite having no experience inthe field. Another UML heavy-weight, Bishnu Poudel, hasbeen appointed Deputy PrimeMinister and continues as theMinister of Finance. At thesame time, Oli has removedDeputy Prime Minister IshwarPokhrel and a total of 13Ministers, including HealthMinister Hridayesh Tripathiand Foreign Minister PradeepGyawali, who carried out ill-intended foreign policy deci-sions towards New Delhi dur-ing the border row. In the past,Oli had suspended party lead-ers for speaking against him.However, in the present cir-cumstances, more suspensions

may lead to a credible opposi-tion to Oli within the UML.

M i s u n d e r s t a n d i n gresolved: Within a year ofissuing a controversial map ofNepal showing India’s territo-ry as its own in the Kalapaniregion, accusing India forCOVID-19 spread in Nepal,claiming that lord Ram wasborn in Nepal’s Birgunj. In aninterview to the BBC, Oli said:“Yes, there were misunder-standings at one time, but nowthose misunderstandings aregone. We should not be stuckin past misunderstandings butmove forward looking at thefuture.” He also requested Indiato supply COVID-19 vaccinesas a good neighbour. AlthoughOli did not clarify on what hemeant by “misunderstanding”.With such remarks, Oli is againtrying to reach out to NewDelhi with his Madhesh card.

At present, almost 50 percent of the Oli Cabinet consistsof Madhesi leaders, which is acomplete U-turn from his long-standing prejudice against theidea of Madhesh and Madhesipeople. Knowing that the Khas-Arya may come after Oli forcompromising with theMadhesis, Oli has no alterna-tive to keep the premiership safeuntil new elections inNovember.

While Oli’s rapproche-ment towards India is short-term and politically motivated,in the hindsight it showcasesthe strong cultural and people-to-people links between Nepaland India. It is also a stronganswer to China’s deep-pock-et diplomacy in Nepal. Fordecades, China has been try-ing to create artificial people-to-people ties with Nepal.However, Beijing often forgetsthat it was Tibet with whomNepal had cultural ties andTibet’s forced annexation in1950 did not transfer culturalclaims to China. Therefore,Beijing needs to learn thatpolitical relations with Nepalare a result of a short-termcompromise in Kathmandu.India has always supported thedemocratic aspirations of thepeople of Nepal and standsalone as the top developmentpartner. China’s expansionistoutlook will sustain neither inNepal nor in South Asia.Nevertheless, it will be difficultfor India to fully trust Oli.

(The author is an ICSSRDoctoral Fellow at the JNUand Visiting Fellow at the AsianInstitute of Diplomacy andInternational Affairs,Kathmandu. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

The three-day parleys at the G7 Summit in Carbis Bay ended at a positive noteeven as the world grapples with the Corona pandemic which has far-reaching eco-nomic consequences. COVID-19 indeed figured prominently at the G7 meet but

the fervour was perhaps missing. The G7 looked desperate to show how united theywere. The G7 is an informal grouping of strong economic powers. It unveiled the US-led plans to counter China in infrastructure funding for poorer nations. It also came upwith an accord to prevent future pandemics. The G7 leaders said they would offer a“values-driven, high-standard and transparent” partnership. Their “Build Back Better

World” (B3W) project is aimed to counter China’s tril-lion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. The world realitiesare changing fast and throwing up new challenges tothis elite club which is mostly European and Americangrouping, after the departure of Russia. The member-ship of Russia was suspended in 2014 after it annexedUkraine’s Crimea region. Due to internal divisions, therelevance of G7 is under the scanner.

Moreover, the share of the G7 nations’ GDP is con-stantly falling. The aggregate GDP of the G7 membershas slid to 45 per cent of the global economy from near-ly 70 per cent three decades ago. This naturally reducesits hold on the world economy as well as politics.

Besides, China has emerged as a big challenger, if not a threat, to the supremacy of theG7. G20 is more potent than the G7 today. For its shrinking clout, the G7 is itself to blame.G7 meets annually to discuss issues of global economic governance, international secu-rity and energy policy. Its follow-up on its declarations has been rather lacklustre. Its mem-bership often completely ignores the emerging trends. For instance, it did not take China’semerging power into consideration and is oblivious to India. It has deep-rooted differ-ences over trade and climate policies. President Joe Biden has pledged to restore theUS’ historical commitment to multilateralism. But G7 did not show unity or firmness inRussia’s role in Syria, and Russian interference in the US and European elections. In 2017,divisions emerged within the G7 over a proposal to impose fresh sanctions on Russia.If G7 is to survive as a dominant force, it will have to renew its commitment to democ-racy and building a world order based on equitable and just world order.

India is opening up gradually. The States have set their schedules and pace forlifting the lockdown. There is a general sigh of relief that the second wave ofCOVID-19 has nearly abated. Most States are bound to lift the lockdown com-

pletely by the third week of June. Call it a coincidence, but that is around the sametime the UK Government originally proposed to remove all legal limits of social con-tact. However, it has since decided to delay the process by a few weeks in viewof infections from the Delta variant of Coronavirus, the B1.617.2 Variant of Concern(VoC) first identified in India, again rising in the country. The VoC designation —assigned by the WHO — means the variant may be more transmissible or causesevere disease, not succumb to medical treatment or evade immune response.The British Health Secretary has said that over 90 per cent of the new cases com-

prise this variant which is 40 per cent more trans-missible. The United States says Delta has a “wildtype” transmission and is beginning to get worriedabout its presence in the country. The Delta vari-ant is also the one that kick-started the second wavein India, which was at its worst in April and Maywhen life became an agony for millions of infect-ed people. India entered May reporting nearly400,000 cases, coupled with scarcity of medicine,oxygen and beds and even spaces in crematoria.

However, now that the wave has nearly dissi-pated, India is beginning to open up. Is it the right

decision to have a goal of eventually lifting all restrictions when faced with fourquestionable situations? One is the re-think within the UK Government itself on lift-ing the lockdown because of the same Delta variant. Two, everybody in India, includ-ing scientists and doctors, have predicted a third wave three or four months fromnow. Three, the Delta variant the UK and US talk about originated in India and thereis no evidence that it has died out. In fact, reports from the UK suggest that it hasmutated into a more virulent version called AY.1 or Delta+. Four, while India fol-lowed the UK when it came to increasing the gap between vaccine jabs to threemonths, it is deciding not to when it comes to moving towards lifting the lock-down. Considering India’s terrible experience with the second wave, would it notbe prudent to slow down the lockdown lifting process? The States have the optionof reducing the pace of opening up to ensure in the meantime that the vaccina-tion process finally gets streamlined, that vaccine unavailability and hesitancy bothstand resolved and that virologists and the National Task Force obtain proof thatthe vaccines are effective in reducing hospitalisation and deaths. Importantly, itneeds to be ascertained that the current rate of infection does not suffer a spikeafter the easing of restrictions because of sudden, inevitable laxity in following COVID-19 protocols in public places.

Caution ahead

SLOW SPEED OF VACCINATION A WORRYSir — The speed of vaccination in India isvery slow. Seeing the large number of pop-ulation, it becomes hard to run universalinoculation drive for the vast diversity ofIndian nationals. The Government’s datareveals that only 3.5 per cent of the popu-lation is fully vaccinated so far. The inocu-lation drive has enrolled more persons thanwho reach the centres for taking the jab.Many are technologically challenged andthus they cannot register themselves for reg-istration at the CoWin app.

Can anyone imagine how fast the slotsget booked in the evening for the followingday’s jab registration? People are strugglingto get at least one dose of either of the vac-cines. The elderly and the poor are the mostvulnerable. It is good to hear that scientistspredict that the third wave of COVID-19 inIndia is likely to be less severe than com-pared to the second wave. Thankfully, wecan use this as an opportunity for improv-ing the data and ensuring more and morepeople to get vaccinated. We have success-fully suppressed the second wave, and thethird wave is expected to peak soon. The gapperiod is not to waste but to plan the dura-tion’s usage to the maximum so that moreand more people can benefit with the vac-cination at the end of the day.

Kirti Wadhawan | Kanpur

ZOONOTIC DISEASES AND PREVENTIONSir — As the human cases of COVID-19show a declining trend in India, zoonoticdiseases are on the rise with several incidentsof animals falling prey to it. Recently, nineAsiatic lions in the Chennai Vandalur Zoogot infected and one of them succumbed;besides, many elephants, tigers and leopardshave died in Tamil Nadu and in other States.

Since India has a huge population, thereare greater chances of transmission fromanimals to humans. According to a paperpublished in the Indian Journal ofCommunity Medicine in March 2020, of the1407 human pathogens detected, 816 werefound to be zoonotic, which means thesewere capable of being transmitted natural-ly between animals and humans, which

points to the increase in zoonotic diseasesglobally. These zoonotic infections’ surgelike H1N1, SARS, Ebola, Nipah, Zika canbe attributed to the human-animal conflictthrough wildlife trade and increasing prac-tice of injecting the livestock with antibioticsand steroids to enhance their production,narrowing the scope of natural livestockbreeding.

The animal to human transmission ofdiseases is a threat to both the economy andthe human species. A comprehensive strat-egy with a renewed focus on genomesequencing and carrying out testing, besidestracking on a large scale the animals, willbe of immense benefit to humanity to tack-le the crisis.

Vijay Singh Adhikari | Nainital

GOVT HAS HONOURED PEOPLE’S RIGHTSSir — This refers to ‘Opening Up’ (June 14).The historic decision by the Government todeclassify the history of the wars and oper-

ations of national importance, so as to pro-vide a transparent viewpoint to the citizens,is welcoming. After all, people have full rightto know this declassified, compiled and pub-lished history of these historic moments.

Until the new policy for declassifica-tion came into picture, the war historyremains a secret for everyone. But with thenew policy’s introduction, one can expectmore clarity over war secrets and tacticalapproach adopted by the armed forces dur-ing the tough times of war and secret oper-ations. The new policy brings more clari-ty over certain issues of wartime. The sec-tion of history lovers would now getexcited to decode more information, as wellas the facts that are still unknown to themabout historic events of the previous warsand operations.

Dimple | Kanpur

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

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VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JUNE 15, 2021

06

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The G7 worldHow equipped is the grouping to tackle the

changing world realities and the new challenges?

Though he is likened to a ‘Prime Minister of no substance’, Oli is trying

every trick in the book to remain in the saddle

PICTALK

Life-size elephant sculptures at Green Park as part of the CoExistence Campaign, in London PTI

AT PRESENT,ALMOST

50 PER CENT OF THE OLI

CABINETCONSISTS

OF MADHESILEADERS,

WHICH IS ACOMPLETE

U-TURN FROM HIS

LONGSTANDINGPREJUDICE

AGAINST THE IDEAOF MADHESH ANDMADHESI PEOPLE

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

RISHI GUPTAConsidering the third wave, would it be more

prudent to slow down the lockdown lifting process?

It has been 18 months since the outbreak ofCOVID-19. But the truth about the origin of theSARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent of the

disease, still eludes the world. Even though howto end the pandemic has now become moreimportant than knowing how it began, the inter-est in knowing the origin of the Novel Coronavirushas not waned. The accusation against China ofa massive cover-up and the call for new inves-tigation into the origin of the virus made by G7leaders, including US President Joe Biden, havefuelled the debate over whether the virusoccurred naturally or it was bioengineered in alab in Wuhan. Some scientific leads support thetheory that the virus may have jumped from ani-

mals to humans, probably in a wet market inWuhan that sold seafood and exotic animals forhuman consumption. There is also the theory thatsomeone in the Wuhan lab boasting a large col-lection of bats for culture of virus may have beenaccidentally infected with the Novel Coronavirus.

There is a general consensus among scien-tists that COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease. TheWHO still sticks to its stated position that theescape or leak of the virus from the WuhanInstitute of Virology was “highly unlikely”. It maybe pointed out here that genetically designing andcreating a virus in a lab and unleashing it as abio-weapon on the world is a futuristic idea todiscredit China with conspiracy theories, no mat-ter what one’s perception of that country is.

The issue has been politicised so much thatto counter the US’ lab incident hypothesis, Beijinghas said that the US military hatched the virusand released it in China. We can all agree that sci-ence, scientific inquiries and investigations andscientific findings should prevail over geopoliticsand geopolitical considerations.

G David Milton | Kanyakumari

The origin of Coronavirus

The fall and rise ofOli as Nepal PM

Adesperate PrimeMinister KP Oli is leav-ing no stone unturnedin consolidating his

position. In doing so, he is mak-ing compromises that were oncethe exact opposite of his ultra-nationalistic outlook. After fail-ing the confidence vote inParliament on May 10, 2021, dueto withdrawal of support byarchrival Pushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda’-led Maoist party, Olihad to resign. However, benefit-ting from the nexus withPresident Bidya Devi Bhandari,Oli was once again appointed asthe Prime Minister consideringhis Communist Party of Nepal(UML) was still the largest partyin Parliament. While theOpposition had requested thePresident to allow them to formthe Government, Bhandari wasin a hurry to appoint Oli.

Oli, on the other hand,appointed senior leader RajendraMahto as the Deputy PrimeMinister, who is leading a factionof JSP and extended support toOli. Mahto’s appointment comesas a surprise as he had opposedOli’s anti-Madhesh ideology andcriticised him for stopping the firstamendment of the CitizenshipAct. As a proud Khas-Arya (highcaste hill people), Oli had vehe-mently opposed any amendmentto the Citizenship laws which pre-vented Nepali citizenship to thechildren of a Nepali mother mar-ried to a foreigner. After Mahtosupported the Government, Olihad recommended CitizenshipOrdinance on May 23, which waspromulgated within minutes. Theordinance will allow the issuanceof citizenship by descent to allthose children born to Nepalimothers whose fathers’ where-abouts are unknown beforeSeptember 20, 2015.

The ordinance is seen as partof the horse-trading pact betweenOli and Rajendra Mahto toappease the Madhesis. Oli’s long-term critic CK Lal claims thataccommodating Mahto must nothave been easy for a “populistdemagogue to ignore xenophobia,swallow his jingoistic pride andaccept Rajendra Mahto as theDeputy Prime Minister”.Meanwhile, the legality of the ordi-nance remains in question as it

SOUNDBITEAs you completeyour successfultenure as the PrimeMinister of the Stateof Israel, I conveymy profound grati-tude for your leadership.

Prime Minister

— Narendra Modi

The PML-N are the ones who mishandled theKulbhushan Jadhavcase. We are implementing the

recommendations of the ICJ.

Pakistan Foreign Minister

— Shah Mahmood Qureshi

Took my first doseof vaccine …It’sthe need of thehour in our fightagainst #corona.

Actor

— Kirti Kulhari

Chirag Paswan hascommitted somany blunders.Now, its results arecoming in the formof a split in theparty.

JD(U) national president

— RCP Singh

I could have easilycried, but I see noreason for me cry-ing because I triedeverything. I couldnot come up with

anything better.

Greece tennis player

— Stefanos Tsitsipas

Some answers nationwants to know

MUKUL (ROY) IS OUR OLD MEMBER. HE WAS NOTIN A GOOD CONDITION IN THE BJP BECAUSE THEY

CREATED PRESSURE ON HIM THROUGH AGENCIES.—TRINAMOOL CHIEF

MAMATA BANERJEE

HE BEHAVED LIKE MIR JAFAR, BUT I AM NOT ATALL SURPRISED. HE IS A BETRAYER. HE HASNOT MADE ANY CONTRIBUTION TO THE PARTY.—BARRACKPORE BJP MPARJUN SINGH

After much persuasion and the SupremeCourt along with more than 10 HighCourts taking the Central governmentto the task, Prime Minister Narendra

Modi allowed the nation a peep into his idea onthe question of vaccination. This latest addressleft me perplexed with several unaddressed ques-tions. Let me list out some of them.

The address began with Prime Minister con-fessing the fact that the country is still comingto terms with COVID-19 second wave. But toour surprise, Home Minister Amith Shah toldthe media few days ago, “India managed to con-trol the second wave of COVID-19 in a veryshort time” and attributed this success to thevisionary (?) leadership of Modi. This double-speak once again confirms that even after suchcastigation, the Central government made itsbest attempt to live in its make-believe world.The Prime Minister continued with untruths forthe next few minutes with regard to augment-ing medical infrastructure facilities for the anti-virus fight-back. The Supreme Court had cas-tigated the Centre on this very issue. The fun-niest part of the speech is his stress on the obser-vance of COVID-19 protocols.

The Prime Minister also referred to MissionIndradhanush, the immunization program forchildren below six years and lactating mothersto bolster his government's capacities of massimmunisation campaigns. According to the 2011census, population falling under the age groupof 0-6 years stands at 13.59 per cent (16.45 crore).Even after launching Mission Indradhanush,according to the Prime Minister, it took five yearsto vaccinate additional 40 per cent of child pop-ulation, that is, roughly seven crore. If the gov-ernment took five to six years to inoculate theadditional numbers, we can imagine the timerequired to inoculate the total adult populationin the first place.

The Prime Minister claimed that India devel-oped two Made-in-India vaccines within a spanof one year which is not true and does notrequire any proof. India rolled out the vaccina-tion drive on January 16, 2021. Surprisingly, theFinance Minister in her 2021-22 budget speech,which was presented barely a fortnight later, toldthe nation that India exported vaccine to about100 countries. If we were to believe what PrimeMinister told the nation, it is a deemed fact thatthe finance minister committed a breach of trustand violated parliamentary protocols by present-ing untruths on the floor of the House for which,in normal times, she would have been served aprivilege notice.

The Prime Minister himself launched thefirst phase vaccination drive on January 16, 2021for three crore frontline health workers. As onApril 19, only 37 per cent got full vaccinationand an additional 91 lakh their first dose. In hisaddress to the nation, Modi once again said thatby the time he speaks to his fellow countrymenagain, about 23 crore of doses have already beenadministered. The government wants us tobelieve that while it took about three months toadminister 1.91 crore vaccine doses, it willadminister 20 times higher doses in less than halfthe time? That means the government admin-istered dosage at the rate of 46 lakh doses perday!

Doubts arose over the Prime Minister's asser-tions about funding research and developmentof vaccine by the Central government. Thethings are not matching between what the Prime

Minister said and what was sub-mitted by the government's lawofficers to the Supreme Court. Theaffidavits filed by the governmentin response to its May 2 order saidthat no governmental aid, assis-tance or grant was given forresearch and development ofCOVID vaccine. The affidavit alsostates that the Indian Council ofMedical Researcj spent about ` 44crore for clinical trials and govern-ment paid about `2520 crore byway advance to purchase vaccineon May 10, 2021. Discarding gov-ernment's own affidavits the PrimeMinister told the nation that theyfunded thousands of crores fordevelopment of vaccine. We dohope that in the next submissions,the trusted Attorney General willcorrect his statements and let thecountry know about the thousandsof crores the Prime Minister spentfor development of vaccine pro-gram.

The Prime Minister in anattempt to defend the un-defend-able, said his government's newpath for the future was criticisedby several forces including somestate governments. This is totallybaseless and an out of context con-tention.

Not only economic and healthexperts in India but those acrossthe globe also criticised the Centralgovernment's unitary decisions

during first phase of COVID-19spread. As we all know, the lock-down was declared in hours with-out even visualising what would bethe impact on lives and livelihoods.The lockdown was extended formonths leaving the state govern-ments without any option but toimplement the same grudgingly.

Towards the end of this speech,Modi made it clear that the stategovernments need not spend a sin-gle pie to vaccinate the population.But the question that slippedthrough his master oratory skillsis about the allocation for healthin the 2021-22 budget. Accordingto the ministry of finance, theamount required for fully vaccinat-ing the country would be to thetune of `91,000 crore whereas thetotal budget earmarked forMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare for the year 2021-22 is`71,268.77 crore only. The secre-tary, Department of Expenditurein his post-budget press conferencestated that "the budget allocationis just part of what will be spent asstate governments and corporateswill also allocate sums for vaccina-tion drive". However, only ̀ 35,000crores are announced and that toofailed to get a listing in expendi-ture under Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare. Covering up thisfact, the finance minister said thatthe amount earmarked towards

transfers to state governments willbe counted as part of the `35000-crore vaccine funding. The expen-diture department assesses that theallocations are enough to vaccinate50 crore of the population.

This presents us with few dan-gerous possibilities. If the Centralgovernment mobilises `35,000crore from its own resources, andwishes to honour the PrimeMinister's assurance to the world,it will fall short by `56,000 crore.As the finance minister stated, ifthis `35,000 crore too is to bechipped in by diverting fundsfrom amounts earmarked underTransfers to States, in addition towhat is budgeted orally by FinanceMinister, even then there will beshort fall of nearly `20,000 crore,assuming that the cost estimatedby secretary, Department ofExpenditure is not breached. Or ifthe Central government playssmart and succeeds in transferringthe cost of vaccination overtly orcovertly on to the state govern-ments, then there will be a hole instates' resources to the tune of aminimum of `55,000 crore. Thus,the Central government' vaccina-tion policy is leaving the nationwith two sets of options., either tocut down other social expenditureand divert money for vaccinationor watch the increase in numberof deaths due to COVID-19.

The Government wants us to believe that while it took about three months to administer1.91 crore vaccine doses, it will administer 20 times higher doses in less than half the time

AMRITANJ INDIWAR

IF THE CENTREPLAYS SMART

AND SUCCEEDS INTRANSFERRING

THE COST OFVACCINATIONOVERTLY OR

COVERTLY ON TOTHE STATE

GOVERNMENTS,THERE WILL BE AHOLE IN STATES’RESOURCES TOTHE TUNE OF A

MINIMUM OF`55,000 CRORE.

THUS, THECENTRAL

GOVERNMENT'SVACCINATION

POLICY ISLEAVING THE

NATION WITH TWOSETS OF OPTIONS,

EITHER TO CUTDOWN OTHER

SOCIALEXPENDITURE AND

DIVERT MONEYFOR VACCINATION

OR WATCH THEINCREASE INNUMBER OF

DEATHS DUE TOCOVID-19

Last week World Health Organization reported a 13 per centdecrease in new COVID-19 cases in India. However, thenumber of new infections in the country remains the high-

est in the world. Rural areas with no proper health infrastructureare bearing the brunt, forcing the villagers to turn to quacks fortreatment. Lack of information about government hospitals, PHCs,medicine and vaccinations has affected regulation of the virusin rural areas. Worse, there are hardly a few or no doctors ingovernment hospitals. Thus, quacks have ironically assumed alarger role in several villages across States. The situation in Bihar'sMuzaffarpur districtis no better. It had the highest number of report-ed cases in the country. Nearly 208 Covid-19 deaths were report-ed in 50 days since April 1. Around 315 people were crematedat one crematorium alone in this period. The rural areas ofSikanderpur, Mothijheel, Town Thana, Khabda, Ramdayalu, Patahi,Bhagwanpur,Bhikhanpura and Mushahariblocks were most affect-ed. Ragini, a resident of Alkapuri colony in Muzaffarpur, said:"Those who test positive are isolated in rooms. However, becausethe virus is highly stigmatized, the infected person is not treat-ed well by the public." Ankush Singh, resident of Manika villagein Mushahariblock, said that even after he recovered from thevirus, no one was concerned about his well-being. He also com-plained about unprofessional behaviourand indifference of theblock hospital doctor. Chemists and quacks showed better con-cern than the doctors, he said in a bitter voice.

In the Paru block, dispensary employees and quacks weretreating people. Accepting that quacks were the first line of defenceagainst COVID-19, District Councilor Devesh Chandra said theywere a lifeline for more than 50,000 people in the block. Thesequacks have no medical degrees, but practice medicine basedon their practical experience. Quacks Balram Shah, Umesh Prasad,Ganesh Pandit, Asharfi Bhagat, Parmeshwar Prasad, and oth-ers in Paru Block had decided to come forward and assist thevillagers. “Whatever medical experience we have gained over theyears, the villagers are benefiting from it. The situation was suchthat people were scared and unwilling to get vaccinated and, there-fore, we decided not to leave them under such circumstances.We are likely to get infected in the process, but helping peopleis the need of the hour,” said thesequacks. The Block MedicalOfficer, on the other hand, stated that trained healthcare work-ers are going to villages for inspection, vaccination, and medi-cine on a regular basis. The situation in Bihar's Vaishali districtis similar. Basant Kumar, a homoeopathic practitioner said: "I wentto the block health centre to getthe rapid antigen test done. Thecentre was crowded with no guidelines being followed.Although I had registered myself, due to the huge crowd I hadto return without getting tested. Two days later, I received a mes-sage on my mobile number informing that I had testednegative.I was shocked to receive that message." Others got such reportstoo and people are hesitant to visit government hospitals andare relying on quacks. The purpose of this article is not to glo-rify quacks, but it is equally important to note that if properly trainedin pandemic protocols, these quacks can play a critical role inreaching out to villagers. They already share a relationship withthem and can create awareness about preventive measures andvaccination in these hard-to-reach areas. The West Bengal gov-ernment has already ordered training and taggingquacks withhealth workers to help survey rural areas and identify patientsso that the treatment can start early. If successful, other statesshould also follow suit.

(The author represents Charkha — The DevelopmentCommunication Network. The views expressed are personal)

The middle class, the back-bone of the economy, isshrinking and the govern-

ment announces sale of twomajor public sector banks,Central Bank of India (CBI) andIndian Overseas Bank (IOB).Should India privatise criticalassets when it needs the financesmost? The sales instead wouldbe used for one-time financingof budgetary deficits.

Both the banks like manyother public sector banks (PSB)have shown improvement intheir balance sheets. On June 8,shares of CBI and IOB soaredseven and 14 percent, respective-ly after Niti Aayog announcedtheir privatisation. Both lendersare currently under the promptcorrective action (PCA)imposed by the Reserve Bank ofIndia and have shown marked

improvements. This shows thatthe market is ready to lap upassets worth `9.7 lakh crore -CBI `3.56 lakh crore and IOB`2.44 lakh crore. Another assetof United Insurance is ̀ 3.7 lakhcrore - a good sum for a race toa multi-trillion dollar economy.

The bank health is mysteri-ously linked to the growth of themiddle class. Since 1969 nation-alisation of banks for develop-ment purposes has helped bothbanks and depositors, largelyfrom the middle class. But as themiddle class got a jolt after the2008 Lehman Brothers melt-down, it started taking the hit.

Moreover, a low-interest,high prices and high-tax-on-deposit regimemarginally buffedup revenue figures, but causedimpoverisation of the middleclass. They are paying income

tax on a skewed higher incomeas interest andwas not consid-ered as hedging against inflationbut unwisely as "income". Thiserodes savings.

Pew research, looking intothe pandemic lockdown, says 33millionpeople in the last one yearhave slid into poverty from thesupposed 99-million strongmiddle class. Poverty rate rose by9.7 percent in 2020, up fromJanuary, 2020 forecast of 4.3 per-cent and are projected to havereached 134 million. If the fooddole is a standard the pandem-ic has hit 80 crore people. Lowerincomes and lesser consumptioncapacity define this class now. Ifinstead of corrective stepsnationalised banks are sold, itwould mean social assets woulddecline. It is often said that PSBsare unable to cope up with pri-

vate banks. This is a misnomer.India's private banks Axis, ICICI,HDFC and others have a record

of being eroded by their ownbosses. Axis has asset qualityproblems, ICICI was moth-eatenby its chief executive ChandaKochar and HDFC was fined ̀ 10crore for wrongfully selling third-party non-financial products toits auto loan customers. By pri-vatizing big financial institutionswould they be forced to go theunethical, chaotic way?

The CBI has 33,481 employ-ees in 4,685 branches and IOB26,334 in 3,400 branches. Onceprivatized, one-third or moreemployees would lose jobs.

Despite the PCA curbs,both lenders have managed togrow their loan books. CentralBank's gross advances rose near-ly three percent between March31, 2020 and March 31, 2021 to`1.77 lakh crore. IOB's advancesstood at `1.37 lakh crore as on

December 31, 2020, up two per-cent year-on-year. CentralBank's deposits grew over fivepercent in a year to `3.3 lakhcrore as on March 31, 2021 andIOB's deposits also increased to`2.34 lakh crore as on December31, 2020.

Since nationalisation, theIndian banking sector expand-ed at an unmatched level but itmade banks prone to politicalinterference for many purposesincluding the 2008 incentivisa-tion of the rich corporate or JanDhan accounts that raised oper-ational costs. Largely the finan-cial woes of the PSBs are not dueto corruption and nepotismalone.

Many loans of banks likeBank of India, Punjab NationalBank, Bank of Baorda, Axisbank and IDBI Bank were writ-

ten off to shore up balancesheets. The quantum of PSB loanstood at `32,853 crore higherthan recoveries of ̀ 23,894 crore.Such figures are gradually com-ing down.

This also does not justify theprocess of privatization. Even theUnited Insurance is preferred tomost private insurers as its claimsettlement process is more real-istic and ethical.

It is not easy to create `10billion assets. It might now go toa defaulter? Retaining the assetwould help government boosteconomic activities and jobs. Anempowered middle class withlower taxes and TDS exemptionson deposits can do wonders.Mere change in approach couldstrengthen the economy andopen up many avenues for thegovernment.

If nationalised banks are sold instead of taking corrective steps, it would mean social assets would decline leading to further economic chaos

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JUNE 15, 2021

07

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FIRSTCOLUMN

WHEN VILLAGERS TURN TO QUACKSNot to glorify them, but a handful of quacks in Bihar’s countryside are helping out the villagers

VEERAIAH KONDURI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The author is formerCWC member, All India

Agricultural WorkersUnion. The views

expressed are personal.

Stop bank sales, empower the middle class instead

SHIVAJI SARKAR

The author is a seniorjournalist. The views

expressed are personal.

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JUNE 15, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Tata Motors on Monday said itsboard has approved a proposalto raise up to Rs 500 crore

through the issue of securities on aprivate placement basis. A meetingof the duly authorised committeehas approved subscription, on aprivate placement basis, up to 5,000rated, listed, unsecured, redeemable,non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of face value Rs 10 lakh each,aggregating up to Rs 500 crore, the auto major said in a regulatoryfiling. The Mumbai-based company, however, did not share detailsas to how it plans to use the capital.\ Shares of the company weretrading 1.03 per cent down at Rs 347.15 apiece on the BSE. TataMotors, a USD 35 billion organisation, is a leading global automobilemanufacturer of cars, utility vehicles, pick-ups, trucks and buses.Part of the USD 113 billion Tata group, the company is India'slargest automaker with operations in India, the UK, South Korea,Thailand, South Africa, and Indonesia through a strong globalnetwork of 103 subsidiaries, 10 associate companies, 3 jointventures and 2 joint operations as on March 31, 2020.

To enhance transparency andefficiency of the delistingprocess, Sebi has said

independent directors will have togive reasoned recommendation onsuch proposal, while thepromoters need to disclose theirintention to delist the firm throughan initial public announcement.To give effect to this, the Securitiesand Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has amended delisting rules,according to a notification dated June 10. This comes after theboard of Sebi approved several amendments to delisting norms inMarch to make the process more transparent and efficient. Underthe new rules, timelines for completion of various activities formingpart of the delisting process have been introduced or revised tomake it more efficient. Sebi said the committee of independentdirectors will be required to provide their reasonedrecommendations on the delisting proposal. Promoter or acquirerwill be required to disclose their intention to delist the company bymaking an initial public announcement.

Sebi tweaks delisting rulesto make process efficient

Fintech major Paytm on Mondaysaid its users will now be able tobook vaccination appointment on

the app apart from finding availableslots."Paytm users can now search,discover & also book theirvaccination slots for both Covaxinand Covishield at the nearest centrethrough the Paytm app. The service would help Indians seamlesslybook vaccination slots and gain immunity, helping in fighting theongoing pandemic," Paytm said in a statement. CoWIN head R SSharma had recently said over a dozen entities, including largedigital companies like Paytm, MakeMyTrip and Infosys, are lookingat approval for offering vaccine bookings. The government had, lastmonth, released new guidelines for the integration of CoWIN withthird-party applications, easing the way for such apps to offervaccine bookings. Previously, giants like Facebook and Google tostartups such as HealthifyMe have introduced a slew of tools tohelp people find slots for vaccination appointments.

Paytm launches vaccinationslot booking feature on app

State-owned Indian OverseasBank (IOB) on Mondayreported a jump of over two

times in its net profit at Rs349.77 crore in the last quarterof the fiscal ended March 2021.The bank had posted a net profitof Rs 143.79 crore in the same period a year ago. Total incomeduring Q4FY21 rose to Rs 6,073.80 crore as against Rs 5,484.06crore in Q4FY20, IOB said in a regulatory filing. Provisions for badloans and contingencies for the reported quarter increased to Rs1,380.46 crore as against Rs 1,060.38 crore parked aside in thecorresponding period a year earlier. For the full year 2020-21, thebank reported a net profit of Rs 831.47 crore. There was a net lossof Rs 8,527.40 crore in 2019-20. Total income during the yearincreased to Rs 22,524.55 crore from Rs 20,712.48 crore in theprevious fiscal year. Bank's asset quality showed improvementwith the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) falling to 11.69 percent of the gross advances as of March 31, 2021 from 14.78 percent by year ago same period.

IOB Quarter 4 profit rises over 2-folds to Rs 350 cr

Tata Motors to raise up to Rs 500 cr via securities

PNS nMUMBAI

Non-banking finance companyShriram Transport Finance(STFC) on Monday said it hasraised Rs 1,998.98 crorethrough its qualified institution-al placement (QIP) issue.

The issue, which waslaunched on June 7, 2021,received 6.3 times oversub-scription, a company releasesaid. Several foreign institution-al investors (FIIs) and domes-tic institutional investors (DIIs)participated in the QIP issue.

It was priced at Rs 1,430 pershare, representing a discountof 0.23 per cent to the SEBIfloor price of Rs 1,433.32.

The company said its boardalso approved on June 7, 2021a preferential issue of Rs 500

crore, equally split betweenequity shares and convertiblewarrants to the promoter,Shriram Capital Limited, atthe issue price of Rs 1,440 persecurity.

"The QIP proceeds will aug-ment the company's long-termresources for funding require-ments of business activities,financing future growth oppor-tunities and general corporatepurposes," the company's ViceChairman and ManagingDirector Umesh Revankar saidin the release.

The book running lead man-agers (BRLMs) to the QIPincluded Axis Capital Ltd,Citigroup Global Markets IndiaLtd and HSBC Securities andCapital Markets (India) PrivateLtd.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Consumer anxiety is at thehighest levels since the out-break of coronavirus pandem-ic in India with the less afflu-ent most skeptical about eco-nomic outlook while a major-ity of consumers think theirincome in the next six monthswill be lower than the pre-COVID levels, says a lateststudy.

As per the COVID-19 con-sumer sentiment research byglobal management consultingfirm Boston Consulting group(BCG) conducted betweenMay 23 and May 28, 2021, cov-ering around 4,000 respon-dents across metros, tier I, II,III, IV and rural India, 51 percent of consumers expectedtheir spends over the next six

months to be lower.In the last round of survey

conducted from July 20 toAugust 2, 2020, the figurestood at 40 per cent.

As many as 83 per cent ofthe respondents agreed thatcoronavirus posed a high levelof threat to their jobs or busi-

nesses, while another 86 percent felt that there would be aneconomic recession due to thepandemic.

In terms of income out-look, 58 per cent of the respon-dents expected a decline inincome in the next six months,the study said adding thedecline in income sentiment isthe steepest among less afflu-ent/small towns.

It found that 76 per cent ofrespondents in the'struggler/next billion' catego-ry expected income lower thanthe pre-COVID level, while thesame was also true for 60 percent in the 'aspirer' segment.However, only 49 per cent'affluent/elite' expected declinein income in the next sixmonths.

The less affluent were also

the most skeptical about eco-nomic outlook, althoughhealth concerns were prevalentacross consumer profiles. Theimpact of the pandemic ondaily lifestyles were felt more inurban/affluent India, the studysaid.

Consumer spending senti-ment for essentials, health, at-home entertainment hasremained stable or showedminor decline. On the otherhand, the expected cutbacks ontravel, out of home entertain-ment and vehicle purchases arehigh, it added.

Commenting on the find-ings, BCG India ManagingDirector and Partner NimishaJain said, "There is an impend-ing sense of uncertainty, how-ever, we have observed certainpositive messages too."

Consumer anxiety at highest levels

PNS n NEW DELHI

A week after the Income TaxDepartment's much publicisednew e-filing portal went live,users continued to face techni-cal glitches ranging from longerthan usual logging time, inabil-ity to respond to notices andnot all features functioningyet, chartered accountants saidon Monday.

The new portal,"http://www.incometax.gov.in/"www.incometax.gov.in, waslaunched last Monday (June 7),which the tax department aswell as the government saidwas aimed at making compli-ance more taxpayer-friendly.

But users complained oftechnical issues facing the sitefrom the very first day and noteverything has been fixed evenafter a week, chartered accoun-tants (CAs) said, adding thattaxpayers are unable to viewpast e-filed returns and manyfeatures/ facilities continue tobe marked 'coming soon'.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman herself had askedInfosys - the vendor which cre-

ated the portal - and itsChairman Nandan Nilekanito fix the technical glitches.

A day after the launch of theIncome Tax Department's newtax filing portal, social mediausers had flagged glitches in thenew e-filing portal to thefinance minister.

Following that, Sitharamantook to Twitter and askedInfosys and its chairman to fixthe problem.

Replying to the tweet,Nilekani had said Infosys isworking to fix the glitches.

Infosys was in 2019 award-ed a contract to develop thenext-generation income taxfiling system to reduce process-ing time for returns from 63days to one day and expedite

refunds.Nangia & Co LLP Partner

Shailesh Kumar said startingfrom the struggle to login to theportal to important featuressuch 'e-proceedings' tabs beingunavailable with a messagedisplayed 'coming soon' is cre-ating anxiousness among thetaxpayers and tax professionalswith respect to orders beingpassed and non-complianceof notices without getting a suf-ficient opportunity to presenta case.

"The taxpayers could facepenalty consequences for rea-sons beyond their control.Also, taxpayers are facing amajor challenge for remittingfunds abroad as they are unableto issue Form 15CA/ CB.

New Income Tax e-filing portalcontinues to face tech glitches

PNS n NEW DELHI

Shares of engineering firmBHEL tumbled 19 per centon Monday after the compa-ny's consolidated net losswidened to Rs 2,699.70 crorein the financial year 2020-21.The stock declined 17.91per cent to Rs 62.55 on theBSE.

At the NSE, it tanked 19per cent to Rs 61.65.

The earnings wereannounced post markethours on Friday.

For the quarter endedMarch, state-owned BHEL'sconsolidated net loss nar-rowed to Rs 1,036.32 crore,mainly on the back of high-er revenues.

The company's consoli-dated net loss had stood atRs 1,532.18 crore in thequarter ended on March 31,2020, according to a regula-tory filing.

Tota l income duringJanuary-March 2021, roseto Rs 7,245.16 crore, from Rs

5,166.64 crore in the year-ago period.

However, in the full finan-cial year 2020-21, the com-pany's consolidated net losswidened to Rs 2,699.70 croreas compared with Rs1,468.35 crore in 2019-20.

Its total income during2020-21 dropped to Rs17,657.11 crore, from Rs22,027.44 crore in 2019-20.

The nationwide lockdown,consequent to the spread ofthe COVID-19 pandemicglobally, caused disturbanceand slowdown in the eco-nomic activities. It impactedthe group operations during2020-21, which recoupedprogressively, the companyexplained.

Based on internal andexternal information up tothe date of approval of thesefinancial statements, thecompany expects to recoverthe carrying amount of itsassets, investments, tradereceivables, contract assetsand inventories, it added.

BHEL shares tumbleafter quarterly earnings

Shriram Transport raisesnearly Rs 2,000 cr via QIP

PNS n NEW DELHI

Zydus Cadila on Mondaysaid it has received tenta-tive approval from the UShealth regulator to mar-ket epilepsy treatmentdrug Brivaracetamtablets.

Zydus Cadila hasreceived tentative approvalfrom the USFDA to mar-ket Brivaracetam tablets,in the strengths of 10 mg,25 mg, 50 mg, 75 mg, and100 mg, Cadila Healthcaresaid in a regulatory filing.Zydus Cadila is a part ofthe Cadila group.Brivaracetam is used totreat partial-onset seizures.

Zydus Cadila said thedrug will be manufac-tured at the group's for-mulation manufacturingfacility at Ahmedabad.

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee declined by 22paise to end at 73.29 (pro-visional) against the UScurrency on Monday,marking its fifth straightsession of fall as risingcrude oil prices weighedon investor sentiment.

At the interbank for-eign exchange market, therupee opened on a nega-tive note at 73.21 per dol-lar as against its previousclose of 73.07.

"The Indian rupee start-ed the week on the backfoot following a strongerdollar and higher crude oilprices. The greenback ear-marked the short coveringand the expiry of largepositions ahead of thisweek's FOMC meeting,"said Dilip Parmar, ResearchAnalyst, HDFC Securities.

Zydus Cadilagets USFDAtentative nod forBrivaracetam

Rupee falls for5th straightsession, settles22 paise down

PNS n BENGALURU

JSW Cement said on Mondayit has entered the constructionchemical sector with thelaunch of a green productrange in the category.The range comprises 'EnduroPlast' readymix plaster, 'KrystaLeakproof ' integral crystallinewaterproofing compoundand'Duraflor' floorhardner, itsaid in a statement.

JSW Cement has estab-lished a 0.3-million-ton man-ufacturing facility in Ballari inKarnataka to produce its con-struction chemical productrange. It has begun the roll-outof these products and will

cover key markets acrossKarnataka. "With the exponen-tial growth seen over the yearsin the construction chemicalscategory, JSWs focus on dry-mix mortar market is expect-ed to reach a contributionoften per cent for JSWCement's consolidated rev-enues within the next 4 -5years," the statement said.

JSW Cement Business Head- Construction Chemicals,Mubin Hussain said the con-struction chemicals anddrymix industry sector isroughly Rs 12,000 crore withan expected compound annu-al growth rate of ten per centover the next few years.

JSW enters constructionchemicals business

Sensex, Nifty scale fresh peaks

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amara Raja Batteries onMonday said it has decided toinvest in green technologies,including in lithium-ion bat-teries, to capitalise on fast-evolving trends in the energyand mobility sectors.

The company's board hasdecided to expand its lead-acidbatteries business and set up anew 'Energy SBU' encompass-ing lithium cell and batterypack, EV chargers, energystorage systems, advancedhome energy solutions andrelated products and services,the company said in a state-ment.

The vital role played bylead-acid technology across avariety of applications pro-vide significant growth oppor-tunities in both domestic andinternational markets, it added.

On the other hand, theemergence of lithium as analternative energy storage tech-

nology opens up new andexciting growth opportunities,the company noted.

"After a careful review of theglobal business opportunities,the company board has decid-ed to future-proof our businessby repositioning the firm as anenergy and mobility player.The board believes that thecompany has to invest in aportfolio of businesses tomaintain its technological andbusiness leadership," AmaraRaja Batteries Vice ChairmanJayadev Galla said.

Meanwhile, the companysaid that its Founder ChairmanRamachandra Galla, whosteered the company for 36

years, has expressed his deci-sion not to seek reappoint-ment.

He will continue as Directorand Chairman till the conclu-sion of the Annual GeneralMeeting (AGM) in Augustand thereafter Vice ChairmanJayadev Galla would assumethe role of Chairman, thecompany said.

The company's board hasalso appointed S Vijayanand asPresident – New Energy (busi-ness vertical).

Amara Raja is one of thelargest manufacturers of leadacid batteries for both indus-trial and automotive applica-tions in the country.

It produces automotive bat-teries under the brandsAmaron and Powerzone andsupplies to various originalequipment manufacturers(OEMs) like Ashok Leyland,Ford India, Honda, Hyundai,Mahindra & Mahindra, MarutiSuzuki, and Tata Motors.

Amara Raja to invest in lithium-ionbatteries, expand current biz verticals

PNS n NEW DELHI

The enhanced demand incen-tives for electric two-wheelersunder the FAME-II scheme bythe government will signifi-cantly reduce the upfront pricegap with the internal combus-tion engine (ICE)-based coun-terparts and thus drive updemand, according to ratingsagency ICRA.In the latest modifications to

the Faster Adoption andManufacturing of ElectricVehicles in India scheme(FAME II), the governmenthas increased demand incen-tive for electric two-wheelers(e2W) by 50 per cent to Rs15,000 per kwh, from 10,000per kwh earlier.

The maximum cap onincentive for e2Ws was alsoincreased to 40 per cent ofvehicle cost from 20 per centearlier, as per the modifica-tions.

"A 50 per cent increase in

demand incentive (in the formof higher subsidy) will signif-icantly reduce the upfrontprice gap between an e2W andinternal combustion engine(ICE)-based 2Ws and therebyincrease the demand fore2Ws," ICRA said in a state-ment.

ICRA Vice-President andGroup Head Shamsher Dewansaid, "As per ICRA's estimates,the initial cost of ownership forhigh-speed e2Ws will incre-mentally reduce by a mini-mum 10-12 per cent, (when

comparing currently availablepopular models) and result ina lower payback period."

Prior to this, he said, "Thepayback period was estimatedto be four years (in terms oftotal cost of ownership), whichnow stands reduced to threeyears." ICRA, which recentlyestimated that e2Ws are like-ly to achieve 8-10 per cent pen-etration in terms of new vehi-cle registrations by 2024-25,further said, "The recentchanges will help in achievingthose targets."

‘Higher incentives on EVs toreduce price gap with CVs’

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmarkSensex rose 77 pointsto close at its all-timehigh on Monday,tracking gains in indexmajors Reliance,Infosys and TCS amidpositive cues fromglobal markets.

The 30-share BSEindex ended 76.77points or 0.15 per centhigher at 52,551.53.

Similarly, the broad-er NSE Nifty advanced12.50 points or 0.08per cent to its freshrecord of 15,811.85.

Reliance Industrieswas the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, risingaround 1.5 per cent,followed by BajajFinance, ONGC,Infosys, PowerGrid,L&T and IndusIndBank.

On the other hand,Kotak Bank, NTPC,HDFC, Sun Pharma,Bajaj Auto and Marutiwere among the lag-

gards.Elsewhere in Asia,

bourses in Tokyo andSeoul ended on a pos-itive note. Markets inChina and Hong Kongwere closed on accountof a local holiday.

Equities in Europewere trading withgains in mid-sessiondeals.

International oilbenchmark Brentcrude was trading 0.94per cent higher at USD73.37 per barrel.

Meanwhile, therupee declined 22paise to close at 73.29against the US dollar.

India recorded a sin-gle-day rise of 70,421new COVID-19 cases,the lowest in 74 days,taking the country'sinfection tally to2,95,10,410, while thecount of active casesfell below 10 lakhsafter over two months,according to the UnionHealth Ministry dataupdated on Monday.

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

9

Vijayawada Tuesday June 15, 2021health

FUN

m I doing It right?This is a questionthat many parentsare asking them-selves in the newenvironment of

lockdowns and quarantines. Long before the pandem-

ic, words like 'stress, worry,guilt, fear' have been part ofthe emotional lexicon as aworking parent. Withremote working, social dis-tancing, health and wellnessissues, and all the uncertain-ty of the pandemic, every-thing feels like it’s ten timesharder than before.

Most parents I knowwould agree that whileworking from home has itspros and cons, a year into it,we all are still strugglingwith the dilemma of howbest to juggle a full-time job,be present as a parent, andfind some time for our-selves.

One of the much-toutedbenefits of remote workingis the flexibility it offers inone’s work schedule. Work-From-Home (WFH) is per-haps the biggest disruptionto the concept of the formalworkspace since its adventin the 1800s. The rigours ofa 9 to 5 job have beenreplaced with a work ‘whereyou are, when you can’approach. Most of us save alot of time and energy in aday, now that we don't haveto battle the great urbancommute.

Ideally, it is supposed toenable people to live a morestress-free life. For example,take a virtual meeting in themorning, help the kids setup for their online classes,do some more work, take abreak to do chores aroundthe house, spend time withthe kids, do some morework, have family mealstogether, etc.

While this sounds quiteutopian, the reality is farfrom it. If you appreciatedark humour, you'll see whatI mean when I say that oneis always ‘dashing’ these days— dashing off because yourkids need you in the middleof work and dashing offbecause your work needsyou when you’re with yourkids. It feels like one is doingmore work than ever before— both as a professional andas a parent. There's a senseof guilt that one is not doingjustice to either.

The lines between work

and home have become soblurred that we're all used toseeing the insides of our col-leagues’ houses, and it’salmost normal when some-one must take a break todeal with a domestic crisisin the middle of work. Theroutines that you spent mostof your adult life setting up,have been thrown out of thewindow. The new normaldoesn’t feel normal at all. So,how does one regain one’sbalance again?

The bad news is that thereis no one-size-fits-all solu-tion to this dilemma. Thegood news also is that there’sno one-size-fits-all solution!If there's no right answer,

then at least, you’re notgoing to be wrong.

I feel that it comes downto finding a ‘rhythm’ morethan a balance. Instead oftrying to replace routinesand schedules, I think ithelps to think of it as find-ing a fluid rhythm to one'sday. Instead of making strictplans, I find that it helps tofactor in all the major prior-ities of the week, and then tomove things around that.This would create enoughwiggle room to do thingswhen they’re needed. Forexample, it’s one of thosedays where your kids are ina happy place, and they wantto spend more time with

you. Instead of sticking toyour routine and then feel-ing guilty or sad all day thatyou couldn’t be with them,try moving things around soyou have a couple of hoursto spend with the kids andthen catch up to your sched-ule later on.

Similarly, suppose youhave some work that needsyou to be absolutely focused,or its one of those dayswhen you feel inspired andwould like some alone timeto work distraction-free, it'sa good idea to trade 'do notdisturb' time with your part-ner or a family member sothat they can be in chargewhile you work. You coulddo the same for them aswell. Instead of a strict rou-tine that you feel you mustlive and die by, allow your-self to try a softer, morefluid rhythm where you canmake the best of eachmoment. I find that the bestpart about this approach isthat it allows you to addressyour needs and wants in thepresent, taking away thatfeeling of missing out, or not

doing enough. The act ofmoving things around tosuit what best needs to bedone in each moment willalso give you a sense of con-trol and help you feel lessoverwhelmed in the longrun.

One of the things that hashelped me find my dailyrhythm is to think of thingsin terms of the things I‘must’ do, and the things I‘can’ do, instead of worryingover all the things I ‘should’do. Another strategy that I’despouse is to do multipletasks, but not multi-task. Forexample, you could have avariety of different thingsyou need to do in a day, butyou do them one at a time.Trying to being mindful andpresent in every momentreally helps to keep thestress away. Be your ownbest friend. Be compassion-ate to yourself and above all,be kind to yourself. You aredoing the best you can, andthat really is enough.

(The writer, Neerja Birla,is the Founder andChairperson, Mpower)

The dilemma of parentingin a work-from-home world

Aiet plays a majorrole in a goodnight sleep.Shivani Sikri listsfoods that oneshould avoid eat-

ing at nightThe pandemic and work

from home for more thana year for most of us hasalready deeply hamperedor rather knocked downthe sleeping patterns. Mostof the people are not ableto follow the right ortho-dox sleep timings therebyshattering physical andmental health. Here aresome foods that should besimply avoided for qualitysleep at night.

Alcohol:

Alcohol is a false friendof sleep. Certainly, as itcauses relaxation of muscletone, it helps to fall asleepbut this same muscle relax-ation promotes snoringand the occurrence of res-piratory disorders duringsleep (apnea) thus makingsleep unstable and causingarousals during the night.

Dark chocolate:

Why should you avoidconsuming dark chocolateat night? Because it con-tains stimulants (tyrosine,theobromine, anandamide)which activate the heartand increase the heart rate.Not ideal before bed if youwant to fall asleep easily.

Cold cut meats:

Cold meats likesausages, ham, salami andalso sauces or even chipsshould be strictly avoidedat night. This cold/frozen

meat options and otherfatty foods require a lot ofenergy and time to bedigested during sleep.Prolonged digestion canlead to restless sleep. Theyare therefore to be avoidedin the evening.

Japanese andChinese dishes:

Chinese and Japanesefoods should be avoided inthe evening because theyare rich in sodium gluta-mate, an amino acid whichaccelerates the metabolismand provides a boost ofenergy. Sodium glutamateis also found in industrialready meals, sauces etc.

Spicy dishes:

Spicy foods are con-traindicated in the dinnerbecause they can causeheartburn and bloating,and lead to poor qualitysleep. Spice also increases-body heat, another factorleading to poor sleep.

Ice cream:

Ice creams are superhigh in sugars which stim-ulates the brain and cankeep the body awake forhours. For the same rea-son, we also avoid cakes,pastries and mithais inexcess.

Cheeses:

Cheese have high fat

content. They are hencehard to digest after dinner.It is always recommendedto eat cheese during theday. With this rationality, itis also prudent to shy offconsuming hard legumeslike chickpeas, lentils, splitpeas, etc in the dinnertime as they ferment in theintestines and take time tobe digested.

Tomato:

Certain vegetablesshould be avoided in theevening like tomatoes forexample. It releases tyra-mine, an amino acid thatcauses the production ofnorepinephrine. This hasan impact on digestion,increases brain activity andprevents easy and rapidfalling asleep. The same isalso the case with brinjalbecause it is the vegetablethat is richest in nicotineresulting in increased heartrate and BP.

Red meat:

The strong proteins ofred meat take a long timeto digest. Eating red meatin the evening or at dinnermay interfere with fallingasleep and cause night-time awakenings. In gener-al, at dinner, it is better toprefer light proteins likechicken, turkey, yogurt etc.

(The writer is ChiefNutritionist and Co-Founder, Nutri4Verve)

Keep away from these foods

D

ctor MukulChadda gave upon his lucrativejob as a banker inthe United Statesof America to pur-

sue his dream of becomingan actor. Ever since movingback to India, his careergraph in showbiz has beenspiralling upward journey.After starring in the Indianversion of the Americanshow, The Office, he will beseen in the forthcoming webseries, Sunflower.Additionally, he is shootingwith Vidya Balan for Sherni.We caught him in between abreak for a quick telephonicinterview. Excerpt:

What drew you to be apart of Sunflower?

Right from the word go, Iwas intrigued by the charac-ter of Dr Ahuja, the role Ihad to portray in the show, asit was very different from thecharacters I have played inthe past. Some of the scenes Iwas instructed to enact dur-ing the audition had mehooked and by the time I gotto read the entire script, Ithink I was completelyinvested in the project. Ifound myself chuckling andlaughing while I flippedthrough the pages. As far asscripts go, there are goodparts and bad parts but thisone was very good and itkept getting better. So, once Iread the script, it was a no-brainer. I was very keen to dothis project for the script aswell as the role of Dr Ahuja.

What was your experi-ence of working withVikas Bahl?

Vikas is an extremely expe-rienced director who is verycalm on set. During trickymoments and difficultscenes, his expertise was evi-dent. The way he handles sit-uations on the set and actors,he puts his experience togood use. Both directors, he

and Rahul Sengupta, neverseemed to be flustered orstressed and I think that isvery helpful in an environ-ment where you are trying tobe creative and create. I amsure there was some pressureor the other, but it didn’ttrickle down to affect us, theactors. We had a good timeputting this show together inthat fun atmosphere.

How did you prepare forthe character?

Actors have their ways togo about preparing for char-acters, and it might differfrom one role to the other.One of the things that comesto mind for, Dr Ahuja’s por-trayal, was how I was in con-stant touch with the writersto develop a particular aspectthat caught my eye during areading with the entire castbefore we started shooting. Iwondered whether we shouldtake that trait a little furtherand put immense emphasison it. I am afraid I cannotshare any spoilers right now(chuckles, before continuing)but they were very receptiveand welcomed my input byincorporating those sugges-tions. Apart from that, thereare some details you add asan actor that you feel willwork for this character. Somework on the back storyalways helps, as does sometime and effort on the bodylanguage et al. Again, thesemight be very subtle andnobody may catch on, but asan actor, it gives you the con-fidence to believe that whatyou are doing sounds andlooks as authentic as possible.

There’s a surge of greyroles now. People don’tlike to put the charac-ters in a box. Do youthink yours inSunflower is one suchtoo?

Absolutely, Dr Ahuja’scharacter is definitely grey byany definition of grey and

that certainly is one of theexciting parts about playingthis character. Your questionis very well-phrased. As yourquestion itself mentions, peo-ple don’t like characters to beput into a box since, in reali-ty, none of us are people whocan be put into a box.Nobody’s character is mono-chromatic. It’s not like youare either good or bad. We allhave shades to ourselves. Imean real life is grey. We allhave different sides to our-

selves and different sides getactivated at different junc-tures. So, that is reality andit’s wonderful that more andmore shows and films arenow bringing out the multi-dimensional aspect of char-acters. There is so muchmore to it than what meetsthe eye. It should go withoutsaying that you cannot definea character with just a coupleof sentences.

Also, as an actor, I think

it’s wonderful to try andsometimes understand whenyou talk about grey or darkcharacters. Why does thisperson do what they do? Orwhat makes them do whatthey do? Is that somethingthat can happen to any of us?And that is what fascinatesme. When you see a charac-ter who is seemingly on thedarker side of grey, you can’thelp but wonder what makesa normal person become like

that? And in case somethinglike that happened to me,would I turn out to be justlike this character? It is a verythought-provoking processfor viewers, ruminating oversuch characters and the cir-cumstances surroundingthem. I think that is part ofthe attraction of playing suchroles. Recently, fellow actorPankaj Tripathi said in aninterview, “We would like ourcharacters to be very simplein real life but very compli-cated on-screen because itgives you so much meat andso much to play with. Thecontradictions of such acharacter make it exciting forviewers as well as the onewho is performing as such acharacter.” That was a verywell articulated thought, onemust say.

Amid this flood of goodand realistic content,what do thrillers haveto offer? Do you thinkthey still appeal to theaudience?

I think there is space for allkinds of genres. There are somany kinds of stories outthere. The medium of story-telling has changed over thecenturies but its essence has-n’t. There are people wholove thrillers and let’s face it,who would not love a goodstory where you are guessing

what happens next right upto the end? I think a well-made show or a story welltold is always going to workwith the audience, irrespec-tive of the genre. If this ques-tion is in context toSunflower being a thriller, Idon’t think it can be pinneddown to any one particulargenre. Sure, there is a lot ofsuspense but there is a goodamount of comedy as wellthat is mixed in with otherelements in the background.

We heard you wouldalso be starring along-side Vidya Balan inSherni. Can you providesome inside scoops onyour character in theeponymous drama?

Okay, now this is some-thing I can help you with.(laughs unabashedly) I play acharacter called Pawan whoseems like an ordinary guywith the standard corporatejob on the surface. However,Amit Masurkar (the director)had certain ideas about howhe wanted the character to beplayed. The character isn’tentirely as he would seem.There are layers to him, hispersonality and his relation-ship with Vidya.

Have the charactersyou essayed helped youevolve as an actor anda person in real life?

Yes, of course! There’s somuch one could learn aboutacting through the experi-ence one attains in thisindustry. The more you pushyourself as an actor and enactroles that are different fromthe parts you’ve played in thepast, you expand your range.With such experiences, onegrows not just in terms ofskill but also with the confi-dence gained with each newproject. It also helps sharpenprocesses because each roleyou prepare for, you end updoing slightly different thingseach time. While some of the

processes that work for youcan be used more often thannot, there are others whichyou are supposed to unlearn.I often make notes for myselfwhile I am preparing for arole and at times I revisit thenotes I had prepared for aprevious role for some freshperspective.

But has it helped me as aperson in real life? Hmm...(we hear him thoughtfullyscratching his stubble) This isa much harder question, onethat I haven’t heard often butwhenever I have, it alwaysbeats me because I think it isvery difficult to analyse one’sown self as I don’t think weare very good judges of our-selves. We might be reallyaccomplished at judging oth-ers but to possess a certainlevel of self-awareness andexamine yourself is some-what, if not extremely, diffi-cult. However, what I can tellyou is that being an actor,playing different parts doeshelp one to develop a senseof empathy towards differentkinds of people. When youportray a certain role you arethat person for a certain peri-od. So, the way they think,the situations they are in, youhave to deal with them,because that is the essence ofan actor — to slip into theshoes of that character. I can’thelp but be empathetic afterdoing that for a long time.

You left the corporatelife to embrace the joysof performing arts.Have you ever experi-enced any lows whichmade you wish youwould not havechanged paths?

I definitely have had manylow phases during this jour-ney as an actor, but I have tosay that I have never regret-ted my decision, and thisreinforces the belief that itwas the right one. So, I amactually living my dreamright now.

t’s important totalk about mentalhealth all yearround! In largepart, this is con-nected to the soci-

etal stigma that has plaguedmental illnesses even in thesports fraternity.

But this topic is aboutmore than just disorders,amidst the pandemic, mentalhealth has increasingly beenin the spotlight, especiallywhen it comes to ssport.Several sports stars haveshared their mental healthstruggle. Not very long ago, abudding wrestler like RitikaPhogat committed suicide.Times have not been greatmentally for sports stars.Mental health is a crucialpart of overall health, yet it isoften a hushed topic of dis-cussion even on-field. In fact,even Abhinav Bindrarevealed earlier this year thathe was depressed and lostafter winning India’s firstonly individual gold medal atthe Beijing Olympics. Talkingmore about mental health insports, we have AnandChulani — India’s numberone success coach and a lead-ing mental-cum-emotionalfitness expert who hasworked closely with champi-ons like Nikhil Nanda, JosButtler, Ben Stokes, etc. He

says, “There is an urgentneed to normalise mentalhealth conversations insports too. When we utterthe phrase ‘mental health’,instinctively people tend toacclaim that there is some-thing wrong with the individ-ual which is unpleasant. Acommunity of sportspersonsin good mental health willcreate a more productive andcollaborative environmentfor the nation. We musttake athletes off the so-called pedestals — theyaren’t Gods. Some ofthem have still notfigured out their livesdespite being so suc-cessful, they are promi-nent athletes with emi-nent skills but are still in alearning phase, so letthem be. When I support,say, Ben Stokes, I ain’t sup-porting the popular cricketerbut the human life that’sapproached me for evolving.Their mind, heart, and spiritneed to be uplifted too! Eventhe best of the best sports-men face mentalhealth issues,it’s a fact. It'’smy job tolook at themholisticallyand I do that.”

More andmore countriesare implementing arest and rotating policyfor mental health as well asphysical, especially in thearena of sports. There is asudden pause in most sports-related activities, and there’salso social isolation and bio-bubbles. Cricketer MitchellMarsh recently pulled out ofthe IPL citing an inability tospend long times inside thebio-secure bubble! “Theproblems that I usually wit-

ness in athletes are failures,insecurities, the feeling of ‘amI good enough’, sense of dis-placement, self-doubt andracism while performing inanother country. I always askthem to filter the opinionsscreaming from outsidebecause every belief isn’tgospel truth! A critical aspect

could be forthem to

build

aninner-cer-tainty, not fromthe playground

they play

onbut themselves.Self-worth alwaysbrings fruitful successes!An amazing set of skills willallow them to be a part of arecognised team but a better-mental side to themselveswill help them enhance thoseset of skills for a long run —the mental muscle is thestrongest muscle,” adds

Anand who more recentlysupported Ajinkya Rahanawhile he was captaining forthe Indian Test Team andhelped him score a centurythat led to India having itsgreatest comeback in the his-tory and winning the Border-Gavaskar trophy(2020-21)!

The Australian cricketteam travels with a full-time

sports psychologist, it isessential that

other teamsand sports

toohave

an

on-the-gopsy-

chologist who can conductteam-building activities, keepthe athletes motivated andfocused for their matches.

The silver lining of thepandemic is that athletes

and coaches have finallystarted to openly talk

about mental healthand discuss theimportance of asports psycholo-gist! Anand iscurrently writ-ing his book,AbsoluteChampion,shares toolsand guid-ance onhow to beanabsolutechampionthrough afive-step

process. Healso sheds

light on howsports psychol-

ogy is progressingin our country.

Sports psychology is arelatively young fieldwith the first-eversports psychology labset up in 1920 in

Berlin. It grew in popularitythrough the 1970s and 1980sand acquired a more scientif-ic approach to understandingthe relationship between psy-chology and sports perfor-mance.

Today, the subject drawsfrom multiple disciplinessuch as biomechanics, kinesi-ology, physiology, and psy-chology to assist athletes andtheir coaches and supporterswith the strategies requiredfor optimal sports perfor-mance.

“Earlier mental health ofan athlete was taken forgranted. Athletes are used topressure, some even thrive onit, but sometimes successbecomes a hindrance to deli-cate minds. Don’t look atthem as medal-winningmachines,” he shares, addingthat it’s very important thatthey have hobbies and sociallife. “It’s time for us to letthem get away from the pre-dictated achiever’s model andfocus on an absolute champi-on model — the very notionof my upcoming book too.Echoed by my dear friendAbhinav Bindra who felt lostafter winning the gold medalas he didn’t know what’s next.

He later realised happiness ishis gold medal! This proveswe need to review the verydefinition of success,” he tellsus.

There were also reports offour-time Grand Slam cham-pion Naomi Osaka not takingquestions from the press atthe French Open, saying thenature of news conferencesputs an undue burden onplayers’ mental health. Indianmen’s cricket team captainVirat Kohli too revealed hisbattle with depression backin 2014!

Experts reveal that theremay not be enough mentalhealth professionals in Indiawho can provide therapy andtreatment to sportspersonsbut Anand Chulani is on amission to inspire and acti-vate the unlimited potentialto be absolute champions, tobe happy with themselves,unstoppable, and have theinner strength to achieve sus-tainable success and triumphin all areas of their lives —personal, relationships, fami-ly, education, career, andbusiness, he is on a missionto create global champions oftomorrow!

I

A

Danishfootball starChristianEriksen'scollapse atthe Euro2020 matchand SouthAfricancricketer Fafdu Plessis'‘slightmemory loss'after a nastycollision withteammate,sure affectedtheirteammatesbadly. AnandChulani,India'sleadingsuccess coachand mentalfitness experttalks to ThePioneer'sSHIKHADUGGALon theimportanceof sportsstars' mentalhealth.

MIND IN SPORTS!THE INFAMOUS SCIENCE OF

Actor MukulChadda tellsThe Pioneerthat peoplehave movedbeyond themasala offeredby Bollywoodto appreciatemoreauthentic real-life roles

Perks of beingin the sunflower

TuesdayJune 15, 2021

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JUNE 15, 2021

shortpassesHASAN ALI TO REMAIN IN PSLABU DHABI: Islamabad United fast bowlerHasan Ali has decided to stay for the rest ofthe Pakistan Super League after resolving afamily matter. Hasan was due to fly backhome on Sunday, but will now remain in AbuDhabi and complete Pakistan's premierTwenty20 league.

RAHIM WINS ICC AWARD DUBAI: Former Bangladesh captainMushfiqur Rahim and Scottish all-rounderKathryn Bryce were on Monday adjudged theICC Players of the Month for May in themen's and women's categories respectively.Mushfiqur played one Test and three ODIsagainst Sri Lanka, where he helpedBangladesh win their first ODI series againstSri Lanka by scoring 125 in the second gamein Dhaka last month.

TITMUS NARROWLY MISSES WR ADELAIDE: A sizzling Ariarne Titmus clockedthe second fastest 200m freestyle in historyon Monday, narrowly missing the 12-year-oldworld record, while Kaylee McKeown swamthe year's quickest 200m medley as theyramped up Olympic preparations.

MALVIKA WINS CROWN KAUNAS: India's Malvika Bansod defeatedRachael Darragh of Ireland 21-14, 21-11 toclinch the women's singles crown at the RSLLithuanian International badmintontournament here.

FARAH TO TRY FOR OLYMPICS LONDON: Two-time Olympic 10,000mchampion Mo Farah will make a last-gaspattempt to qualify for the Tokyo Games at theBritish Athletics Championships inManchester on June 25.

1.6M $ FOR WTC FINAL WINNERS DUBAI: The winner of the upcoming WorldTest Championship final between India andNew Zealand will walk away with a prizemoney of $1.6 million along with the TestChampionship Mace, the International CricketCouncil said on Monday.

INDIA SEEM MORE FEARLESS BRISTOL: The Indian women's team hasbecome more ‘fearless’ than ever, feelsEngland's newly-appointed vice-captain NatSciver, who is hoping that the conditions willfavour her team against the opponents'heady mix of experience and youth in theupcoming Test here. Agencies

AFP n PARIS

Novak Djokovic has set hissights on the Golden Grand

Slam of all four majors and theOlympic title, insisting:“Everything is possible”.

The world number one cap-tured a second French Open and19th Slam with a 6-7 (6/8), 2-6,6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over StefanosTsitsipas on Sunday.

It allowed him to becomethe first man in the Open era,and only third in history, toclaim all four Grand Slam titleson multiple occasions.

Now he has targeted beingthe third man to complete a cal-endar Grand Slam after DonBudge in 1937 and Rod Laver in1962 and 1969.

On top of that, he alsowants the Olympic Gold medalto complete the Golden GrandSlam. “Everything is possible.Definitely in my case I can saythat what I’ve been through inmy career, in my life, thisjourney has been terrific sofar,” said Djokovic.

“I’ve achieved somethings that a lot of peoplethought it would be notpossible for me to achieve.

“So everything ispossible, and I didput myself in agood positionto go for theG o l d e nSlam.”

T h eG o l d e nSlam hasn e v e r

been achieved by a man while,in the women’s game, only SteffiGraf in 1988 has swept all fourmajors and Olympic Gold in thesame year.

In Graf ’s case, OlympicGold came in Seoul. ForDjokovic, the opportunity willcome in Tokyo later this sum-mer.

“Obviously his goal and ourgoal is to win the Olympics andthen win the Grand Slam. Thatwould be the absolutely top ofthis year,” said Djokovic’s long-time coach Marian Vajda.

“But it’s still far away fromus. We have to still focus on thenext one. But overall he’s set upfor this year.

“His priority is Wimbledon,Olympics and US Open. I thinkthat says all.”

Djokovic is already halfwayto a calendar Slam havingsecured a record ninthAustralian Open in February.

Next up is Wimbledon,where he is the defending

champion, Olympics andthen a bid to win the USOpen for a fourth time.

However, Djokovichas been at this juncture

before, winning in Australiaand Paris in 2016 but

coming up short atthe RioO l y m p i c s ,Wi mb l e d onand the USOpen later inthe year.

Djokovic eyesGolden Grand SlamPTI n NEW DELHI

Playing close to the body, workingon mindset and setting small tar-

gets are some of tips that Indianmen’s Test team vice-captain AjinkyaRahane gave to Mithali Raj & Coahead of their first red-ball game inseven years, against England.

According to sources in theknow of developments, Rahane, aTest specialist with 73 games andover 4500 runs under his belt, wasrequested by women’s team headcoach Ramesh Powar for a session,primarily with the batters beforethey left for England.

“Ramesh and Ajinkya have beenteammates. Since our girls are play-ing Test match after seven years, thecoach thought that it would be agood idea to have a session whereone of the best in the business willtalk about Test match batting.

“It was a 50-minute zoom ses-sion that was arranged when bothteams were in quarantine inMumbai,” a senior official privy tothe development said.

The match is starting onWednesday.

It is learnt that skipper Mithali,her deputy Harmanpreet Kaur,Smriti Mandhana and all the batters,along with senior pacer ShikhaPandey, spoke to Rahane about thelong-form batting.

In India also, there has only been50 and T20 national competitions forthe past few years.

“Apparently, Ajinkya told themnot to play the drive too much dur-ing the initial part of the innings asthe ball moves around a lot in theUK. He told the batters to concen-trate on playing as close to the bodyas possible.

“He believes that with late swing,there would always be the lure toplay the cover drive but its best toavoid the stroke initially with Dukesball beingused,” the source said.

Rahane believes that the founda-tion of a Test innings should bebased on short targets and not onthe ultimate goal.

“He told the batters that it

should be like first 15 runs and thenanother 25 and another 30 runs.

Sources said that Powar, sincehis reinstatement as head coach, hasbeen pro-active in building bridgesas well as devising strategies, andgetting Rahane to speak to the bat-ters was part of that strategy.

‘PACE, BOUNCE AND CARRY’IN WTC FINAL PITCHSouthampton: Head groundsman atSouthampton Simon Lee is aimingto produce a pacy and bouncy pitchfor the World Test Championshipfinal with some assistance for spin-ners later on in the game.

“Pitch preparation for this Testis a little simpler as we are a neutralvenue, we are guided by the ICC, butwe all want is a good pitch that offersan even contest between the teams,”Lee told ESPNcricinfo.

“For me personally I just wantto get something out that has somepace, bounce and carry in the pitch.

“It can be a hard thing to do inEngland as the weather doesn’thelp us most of the time, but theforecast in the build-up is good witha lot of sun, so we are hopeful thatwe’ll get some pace and a hard pitchwithout over-rolling it and killingit.”

Both the teams have high qual-ity pace bowlers and Lee wantsthem to be in the game at all times.

“Pace just makes red-ball crick-et exciting, I’m a cricket fan and Iwant to produce a pitch where thecricket lovers have to watch everyball in case they miss something, bethat some class batting or an amaz-ing spell of bowling.

“A maiden over can be quiteexciting if it’s a battle of skill betweenboth bowler and batter. So, yeah, ifwe can get some pace and bounce inthe pitch, but not too one-sidedtowards seam movement, we’ll behappy,” he said.

PTI n BRISTOL

Indian women’s teamv i c e - c a p t a i n

Harmanpreet Kuar onMonday said the squad ismentally prepared to takeon mighty hosts Englandin its first Test in sevenyears, especially after ‘pick-ing the brains’ of red-ballspecialist Ajinkya Rahane.

India and England willplay a one-off Test herefrom Wednesday, whichwill start the visitors’ full-fledged tour of the UK,where they will also fea-ture in ODI and T20series.

“I have not playedmuch of red-ball cricket, Ihave played just two Tests.This time we got a chanceto speak to AjinkyaRahane, we picked hisbrains on how to bat in thelonger format, mentallywe are prepared,”Harmanpreet said duringa virtual press conference.

The swashbuckler hasmade a name for herself inwhite-ball cricket and is

now looking to stamp herclass in the traditional for-mat. She added, “Even inthe nets, we try to be in theright frame of mind.When you are happy, youplay good cricket. We tryto play to our strengths.

“We had an easy and

friendly talk with Rahane,he is very experienced, wehad a chance to talk to himand we did exactly that.”

Elaborating on theinteraction with ViratKohli’s deputy in the men’sTest team, she said,“Rahane has so much

experience, he sharedthem with us, offered ustips on how to bat, whatkind approach should wehave to batting because it’slong format, how to breakyour inning in parts...”

Asked about teen bat-ting sensation ShafaliVerma’s chance of makingher Test debut,Harmanpreet said theteam management doesn’tprefer tinkering with hergame.

“Shafali is someonewe always want to play, sheis someone who can dom-inate the opposition.

“We never tried to tin-ker with Shafali’s game asshe is a natural player, it’snot a great idea to talk toomuch about technique andgame planning with her.

“All of us are trying tocreate a very nice situationfor her so that she doesn’tfeel the pressure andenjoys her cricket. She waslooking great in the nets,and I hope, if she gets achance to play, she will dobetter.”

We’re mentally prepared for England: Harman

AFP n BRASILIA

Star forward Neymar netted a penaltyand created a second as hosts Brazil

eased to a 3-0 victory over a coronavirus-depleted Venezuela on Sunday in theopening match of the 2021 CopaAmerica.

Centre-back Marquinhos opened the scored midwaythrough the first half and Gabriel Barbosa sealed the GroupB win a minute from time.

In a tournament already delayed a year and moved fromits original hosts Argentina and Colombia due to the pan-demic, it was fitting that the coronavirus should take cen-tre-stage right up to the tournament kick-off.

Played in front of an empty Mane Garrincha stadiumdue to Covid-19 restrictions, Brazil made light of the con-tinent’s minnows, who arrived with a makeshift side miss-ing eight players ruled out after testing positive for coro-navirus the day before.

Venezuela called up 15 emergency replacements butcould still only name seven out of a possible 12 substitutesdue to a lack of available players.

Brazil took the lead on 23 minutes when Richarlisonflicked on a Neymar corner that deflected into Marquinhos’spath inside the six-yard box, allowing the centre-back tobundle home.

Richarlison had a goal ruled out for offside whileNeymar incredibly fired wide from 12 yards out as Brazilthreatened to put the game to bed before half-time.

It was more of the same after the break as substituteAlex Sandro from distance and Richarlison with a head-er both shot over the bar.

Neymar somehow failed to turn home a cross-cum-shot from Gabriel Jesus from three yards out but on 64 min-utes he doubled the lead from the penalty spot.

Yohan Cumana clumsily brought down Danilo in thebox and Neymar sent Graterol the wrong way from 12 yards.

The hosts took their foot off the gas but Neymar keptprobing and was denied a second by Graterol following amazy run and shot from inside the box.

Neymar then created the third, rounding Graterolbefore crossing for Gabriel Barbosa to chest home frombarely a yard out.

“He’s developed the ability to create. Right foot, left foot,he’s become an unpredictable player,” Brazil coach Titeenthused about Neymar.

In the second match, Edwin Cardona scored the onlygoal of the game as Colombia held on under second halfpressure to begin their Group B campaign with a 1-0 winover Ecuador — who thrashed them 6-1 the last time thesides met in a World Cup qualifier in November.

Colombia’s goal was a thing of beauty with Cardonataking a short free-kick to Juan Cuadrado, who chippedthe ball into the box for Miguel Borja to head down intothe path of Cardona to volley home.

It was initially disallowed for offside but a VAR reviewshowed that while three Colombian players were beyondthe defensive line, Cardona and Borja were onside.

Brazil start Copadefence with win

PTI n DOHA

Goal-machine Sunil Chhetriwill look to add to his tally

and enter the all-time top 10scorers’ list as a buoyant Indiameet Afghanistan in the joint2022 World Cup and 2023 AsianCup qualifiers here on Tuesday.

While the Indian team needsjust a draw from their finalgame against Afghanistan tosecure a place in the third roundof AFC Asian Cup qualifiersafter Oman defeatedAfghanistan 2-1 on Friday, a hat-trick for Chhetri will see himequal the iconic Pele in terms ofnumbers of goals scored in theInternational arena.

Chhetri is also just one goaloff entering the all-time top-10list of goal-scorers, something hecan easily achieve against

Afghanistan, if not a hat-trick.A Chhetri-inspired India

ended their winless run inInternational football when thecaptain struck a brace againstBangladesh in their previousouting.

The talk since then mostlycentred around the Indian strik-er surpassing the legendaryLionel Messi as Internationalfootball’s second highest scoreramong active players.

A veteran in top-flight at 36,Chhetri played down the com-parisons with the Argentineglobal superstar, but he will cer-tainly look to put his best footforward come the next matchand add to his tally of 74 goals.

If the Blue Tigers can avoiddefeat in the upcoming match,they will finish third in theirgroup, an improvement over

the fifth-place result during thelast campaign.

India are already out of con-

tention to progress further in theWorld Cup qualifying campaign,and is now looking to secure a

berth in 2023 Asian Cup, sched-uled to be held in China.

India will enter the game asclear favourites despiteAfghanistan’s ability to fight itout.

Igor Stimac’s men will behigh on confidence after thor-oughly dominating Bangladesh,against whom they enjoyednearly 75% possession whilecompleting more than 600 pass-es.

If they are to repeat that kindof impressive stats, India willneed the duo of Chhetri andManvir Singh to fire upfront,with Brandon Fernandes mar-shalling the midfield and keep-

ing the supply chain flowing.India are currently placed on

six points after seven matches incomparison to Afghanistan’s fivepoints from seven games.

Form and past record bothfavour India and anything lessthan a victory for the BlueTigers will be seen as an upset.

As far as Afghanistan areconcerned, they will take heartfrom their spirited performancein their previous outing againstIndia, who were held to a stale-mate at home by their lower-ranked opponents in 2019.

But the recent defeat againstOman means Afghanistan arenot among the top fourth-placedteams in the World Cup quali-fiers and a failure to win againstIndia would send them to theplayoffs just to get into the thirdround of Asian Cup qualifiers.

Chhetri targets record feat against Afghanistan

AFP n GLASGOW

Scotland’s long-awaited returnto a major International tour-nament was ruined by Patrik

Schick’s slick finishing as theCzech Republic won 2-0 atHampden on Monday to movetop of Euro 2020 Group D.

Schick’s header just beforehalf-time opened the scoring,but it was his stunning strike from

just inside the Scotland half afterthe break that will live in thememory as one of the all-timegreat European Championshipgoals.

After a 23-year wait toqualify for a major tourna-ment, Scotland’s hopes ofmaking more history bygetting out of the group forthe first time now look slim.

Steve Clarke’s men face

England next on Friday atWembley before hosting WorldCup finalists Croatia at Hampdenon June 22.

Playing in front of fansat Hampden for the firsttime since November 2019with 12,000 in attendance,Scotland made a nervousstart.

The hosts were desperatelymissing the driving runs and

poise on the ball normally provid-ed by Kieran Tierney on the leftside of a back three.

Without the Arsenal defend-er, Liverpool’s Andy Robertsonwas his side’s biggest threat witha series of rampaging runs.

A cagey game of few chancesburst into life after Schick’s tow-ering leap put the visitors infront three minutes before half-time.

Scotland were slow to reactafter initially clearing a corner andthe Bayer Leverkusen forwardrose highest to flick homeVladimir Coufal’s cross.

Marshall was called intoaction to make two quicksaves from Schick andVladimir Darida in anexplosive start to the sec-ond-half.

But twice Scotlandwere inches away fromlevelling when JackHendry’s dipping effort cameback off the crossbar before Vaclikclawed away a mishit clearancefrom Tomas Kalas.

However, the home sidewere stunned by a moment ofbrilliance from Schick on 52minutes as he spotted Marshalloff his line from halfway and bentin an incredible shot from justinside the Scotland half.

AFP n AMSTERDAM

Denzel Dumfries scored a dramatic late winner as theNetherlands marked their long-awaited return to a major tour-

nament with a 3-2 victory over Ukraine in a remarkable Euro 2020game in Amsterdam on Sunday.

Dumfries, the PSV Eindhoven full-back, headed in a cross fromsubstitute Nathan Ake to complete a madcap second half after thehome side eased into a two-goal lead and then threw it away.

Captain Georginio Wijnaldum and Wout Weghorst both scoredbefore the hour mark in front a raucous crowd at the Johan CruyffArena, only for Ukraine to silence the home supporters as AndriyYarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk netted to briefly restore par-

ity. Frank de Boer’s side got there in the end and the vic-tory will provide a major lift to the Netherlands after

what was their first game at a major competition inseven years.

They will now hope to build on it on Thursdayagainst Austria, who beat North Macedonia earlierin Bucharest in the same Group C.

It was a brilliant game, and a crowd ofaround 16,000 created an atmosphere

fit for the occasion at the home ofAjax, where supporters held upbanners with messages of supportfor Christian Eriksen following theDenmark star’s cardiac arrest onSaturday.

Eriksen made his name atAjax before moving toTottenham Hotspur in 2013.

After failing to qualify forEuro 2016 or the 2018 World

Cup in Russia, the Netherlands wereplaying their first game at a major com-petition since beating hosts Brazil 3-0 toclaim third place at the 2014 World Cup.

They had not won a game at a Euroin almost exactly 13 years, since Klaas-JanHuntelaar and Robin van Persie netted ina 2-0 win over Romania at Euro 2008.

Dramatic win for DutchDumfries late header helps Oranjereturn to big time with 3-2 success

Rahane offers Test batting tips to Mithali & Co

India vs AfghanistanLive from 7:30 pm ISTSTAR SPORTS NETWORK

WHAT A SCHICK SHOWPatrik scores brace including one from the halfwayline in Czech’s 2-0 win over Scotland

ational award-winning actressPriyamani is currently baskingin the glory of her recentlyreleased web drama The FamilyMan 2, co-starring SamanthaAkkineni and Manoj

Bajpayee.The actress recently opened up

about trolls who called her names andwould attack her for her colour andweight. The actress mentioned that thewicked abuse on the social media rangedfrom people calling her ‘black’, ‘fat’, ‘aunty’.She added that some netizens even went tothe extent of calling the actress a ‘pig’!

The Yamadonga actress shared, “Myweight increased to 65 kilos and I did lookbigger than what I am right now. So a lotof people have said, “You look fat, and big.”Now they are saying, ‘Why you lookingthin, we liked you when you were fat.’

Whenthey said

'She’s ‘lookingblack.’ I said, ‘Look,

what is wrong, even if Iam a dark-skinned per-

son. Don’t call anybody black,because black is beautiful.”

Priyamani who made her debut inTollywood with Evare Atagaadu wonmany hearts with her performance inthe south. She later entered the Hindifilm industry with the movie Raavan,helmed by Mani Ratnam. The actressalso appeared in a special song inChennai Express and Ateet.

12

Vijayawada Tuesday June 15, 2021 tollywood

ctor PriyadarshiPriyadarshi ofPelli Choopulufame says thathe wants to getout of the so-

called image of a comedianand be known as an actorwho can do whatever he isoffered.

“As an actor, you want tocome out of that comfortzone. I want to discover theendless possibilitiesthrough these characters,entering into worlds thatare more challenging andscarier. The so-called imageI have of a comedian, I alsowanted to get out of that.The image is for the peopleto give me but I wouldrather not have an imageassociated with me andbecome an actor who cando whatever is asked ofhim,” he shares.

Priyadarshi is known forhis roles in films like ArjunReddy, Mallesham, and,more recently, Jathi

Ratnalu. He will soon beseen in a crime thrillerseries titled In The NameOf God, where he portraysa complex and dark charac-ter.

“To discover these darkareas as a human being, mycharacter Adi was theanchor that helped me togo into myself and discoverthose grey areas. That wasa good exercise for me asan actor and somethingnew to work for. I haven’tdone anything of this sortso far. This has been themost excruciating andrewarding journey for me,”shares the actor.

“He has high aspirationand little of everything —of greed, love, lust — andputs himself in an inconve-nient position. Somehow,he tries to seek redemptionfrom all of this,” the actoradds about his character.The series is scheduled todrop on the streaming plat-form Aha from June 18.

Prabhas to resume Radhe Shyam this month

rabhas and Pooja Hegde-starrer Radhe Shyam, aromantic drama, has beenmaking headlines since itslaunch. Being helmed byRadha Krishna Kumar of Jil

fame, the film has been in the makingfor the last two years. Prabhas plays therole of Vikramaditya in this film.Owing to the pandemic, the film’sshoot was brought to a halt. Accordingto the latest update, Prabhas has decid-ed to join the sets of Radhe Shyamfrom the last week of June month. Andwith this brief shoot schedule, theentire shoot of Radhe Krishna Kumar’sdirectorial venture will be wrapped up.

The upcoming schedule will take

place at a specially-assembled set inHyderabad, in which both Prabhas andPooja Hegde will participate.

Radhe Shyam also has Bhagyashree,Priyadarshi Pulikonda, SachinKhedekar, Murli Sharma, Kunaal RoyKapur, Riddhi Kumar, Sasha Chettriand Sathyan in crucial roles.

After wrapping up the shoot ofRadhe Shyam, Prabhas will resumeSalaar with KGF fame Prashant Neelimmediately. Prabhas is also expectedto commence shooting for Adipurushin the next two months. After thesemovies, Prabhas will also be seen inNag Ashwin’s magnum opus whichis touted to be a science fictiondrama.

egastar Chiranjeevi on theoccasion of Blood DonationDay on June 14, along withhis wife Surekha Konidela,donated blood at theChiranjeevi Eye and Blood

Bank, Jubilee Hills in the city.The actor and philanthropist urged

his fans and the public to save livesthrough simple actions like donatingblood.

Sharing a picture on his Twitter,the actor wrote, “On this#WorldBloodDonorsDay congratulat-ing all Blood Donors & particularly

my #BloodBrothers & Sisters who helpsave lives. It’s a great fortune that wecan save precious lives thru such sim-ple actions & form a bond for life widfellow humans,through blood#DonateBloodSaveLives.”(sic)

Recently, the Megastar set up anoxygen bank to reach out to thosewho are in need of critical medicalcare amid the pandemic.

On the work front, the actor is cur-rently working on his upcoming filmAcharya, that also has his son RamCharan Tej playing a crucial role init.

Chirudonatesblood,

urges fansto help

save lives

Anantapur accent in Narappa?

enkatesh is star-ring in theremake ofDhanush’s super-hit film Asuran.The film titled

Narappa is progressing at abrisk pace under the direc-tion of Srikanth Addala.

Srikanth Addala accord-ing to sources has made alot of changes in the origi-nal script keeping in viewthe Telugu sensitivities.Reports have it that theTelugu remake has anAnantapur backdrop andthe entire cast will speak inan Anantapur accent.

Srikanth Addala for therealistic feel roped in lan-

guage experts and trainedthe entire cast in Anantapuraccent. He is also takingdue care while the artistsare dubbing for their char-acters in the studio.

Priyamani is playing therole of Venkatesh’s wife inthe film for which music isscored by Manisharma.D.Suresh Babu andKalaipuli Thanu are pro-ducing the film in a presti-gious manner on SureshProductions and VCreations banner.

The film also starsKarthik Ratnam, PrakashRaj, Murali Sharma,Sampath Raj in importantroles.

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Priyamani on being

trolled for her skin

colour, weight

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irector PuriJagannath hasplanned to launchVijay Devarakonda ina sensational mannerin Bollywood with

his high-octane action enter-tainer Liger. However, coron-avirus put paid to all hisdreams. But Puri is not back-ing off though all the plans ofshooting the film lavishly inthe exotic foreign locations arenot happening.

According to the sources,the makers are planning towrap the shoot of Liger inHyderabad. The makers erect-ed a beautiful set inHyderabad and will soon

resume shooting once permis-sions are granted. VijayDevarakonda is playing therole of a boxer in the sports-based entertainer and is shar-ing a screen presence withAnanya Pandey.

The film which comes withthe tagline ‘Saala Crossbreed’is releasing in the month ofSeptember. The film is madein Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam,and Kannada and is producedby Puri Connects, DharmaProductions. The film starsRamya Krishna, Ronit Roy,Ali, Makarand Deshpande, inimportant roles, and music isscored by Manisharma andTanishk Bagchi.

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PRIYADARSHI: WANT TOMOVE OVER THE ‘COMEDIAN’ TAG