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HYDERABAD, TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

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HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

Bad roads no excusefor avoiding trafficpenalty: KTRPNS n HYDERABAD

Bad state of city roads cannotbe the excuse for not levyingheavy penalties on traffic ruleviolators, newly-inductedMA&UD Minister KT RamaRao said on Monday.

Spelling out his position onthe amended Motor VehiclesAct, KTR said there is nothingwrong in imposing fine on anyoffender when it comes to traf-fic rules. "For our country todevelop, there is need for dis-cipline among our people. It hasto start somewhere. Whyshould people ride vehicles onthe footpath? The discussionabout whether the road is goodor bad, if set aside-- what is theproblem in stopping at thezebra crossing signal? Shouldn'tpeople and pedestrians get tocross the road? If people arefined for lack of common sense,it is 100 percent not wrong."

The MA&UD Minister wasreacting to a question on howthe government could increasechallan penalty amounts whilecitizens were asking what

about the bad condition ofroads. To this, he said that itwould be wrong if anybodyfinds fault in imposing heavypenalities, adding, however,that increased fines on chal-lans are not being collected inthe state at the moment.

Continued on Page 3

There is need fordiscipline amongpeople for country todevelop, says MA&UDMinister

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Dissent is rearing its head in theTRS a day after the Cabinetexpansion on Sunday. Formerhome minister Naini NarsimhaReddy and former deputy CMT Rajaiah on Monday expressedtheir dissent openly at alleged-ly being 'ignored' in theCabinet expansionexercise. Nainialleged that ChiefMinister KChandrasekhar Raohad assured him aministerial post butdidn't keep his wordwhen the time came."KCR stopped mefrom contestingAssembly elections.More so, he assuredthat he would makeme an MLC and latera minister. The CMhad also assured me that hewould nominate my son-in-lawas MLC. But KCR did nothing,"he claimed unabashedly.

Ex-minister Naini also saidhe was not interested in theRTC chairman's position asthere is no 'rasam' (juice) in it."KCR is head of our house. Weall are owners of the party. I

don't know how longtenants will stay in theTRS house," he said.

For his part, TRajaiah said that there is

an 11-12 percent Madigapopulation inTelangana state butthe community didnot get any represen-tation in the Cabinet

even after the expan-sion. He said Madigas

account for a large part ofTelangana population, whilethe Mala community is quitenumerous in Andhra Pradesh.

Claiming that Madigas werebeing neglected, Rajaiah saidthat someone from ruling partyalso needs to speak up about theMadiga people like leadersfrom some other parties.

Naini, Rajaiah raise opendissent over new Cabinet

Terror threat in South India;Army steps up securityPNS n NEW DELHI

The Army said on Mondaythat security measures havebeen enhanced in light of per-ceived terrorist infiltrationinto the country through theSir Creek estuary in Gujaratbordering Pakistan for possi-ble attacks in southern India.

According to the Army, anumber of abandoned boatshad been discovered in the SirCreek area, raising suspicionabout the possibility of armedmilitants having been usedthem to enter Indian territo-ry. Lieutenant GeneralSatinder Kumar Saini, GoC-in-C of the Army's SouthernCommand, told media on thesidelines of an event in Puneon Monday that adequatemeasures are being taken inSir Creek to avert securitythreats.

"We have got many inputsthat there might be a terroristattack in the southern part ofIndia and peninsular India.Some boats have been recov-ered in the area of Sir Creek.We have undertaken capacitybuilding and capability devel-opment in the area of SirCreek keeping in mind the

enhanced threat perception.We are taking precautions toensure that any of the designsof the inimical elements or ter-rorists are stalled," said Saini.

The Navy, too, had issued asecurity alert along the west-ern coast in August followingintelligence inputs about thepossibility of militants enter-ing the country using the SirCreek route. Chief of Naval

Staff Admiral Karambir Singhhad said in Pune, citing intel-ligence sources, that Pakistan-based terrorist organisationJaish-e-Mohammed is trainingmilitants to carry out under-water attacks on India.

"We have received intelli-gence that the underwaterwing of Jaish-e-Mohammad isbeing trained for attacks. Weare keeping track of it and cangive an assurance that we arefully alert to foil any suchdesign," Admiral Singh hadsaid.

Following the Indian Navy'ssecurity alert, Adani Portshad issued an advisory uponits shipping agents and stake-holders to inform their vesselsand also to report any suspi-cious activity in the sea tomarine control station andport operation centre imme-diately.

l Naini Narsimhaclaims he waspromised ministerialberth, but not givenanythingl T Rajaiah saysMadiga community

representationignored again

A number of abandoned boats had been discovered in the Sir Creek area, raisingsuspicion about the possibility of armedmilitants having been used them to enterIndian territory

Woman beggar's orphan daughteradopted by French coupleSUMIT ONKA n VISAKHAPATNAM

Eight-year-old girl MadariPushpa, born to woman whobegged for alms who laterdied, didn't have much of achance in life till Lady Luckcame smiling to her door - inthe form of a French womanand her husband, who adopt-ed her in the presence of thedistrict administration offi-cials in Visakhapatnam onMonday.

After her mother passedaway some years ago, Pushpawas given shelter by Vizag-based NGO Generation Yuvaa,which campaigns against childbegging. The NGO, foundedby B Naresh Kumar, took careof the girl's accommodation,

food and education.Generation Yuvaa currentlygives care to about 200 chil-dren, most of them orphans.

The French couple, both

teachers, had filed an adoptionrequest with the NGO. Incourse of time, the couple wassent photographs of Pushpa,the child selected by the NGO

to offer for adoption. Onelook at the little girl is all it tookfor the couple to decide that itis Pushpa that they wanted tohave as their child. They sharedwith the NGO details of theenvironment in France theiradopted daughter would livein.

"It is really the best part ofour service, to see a child go toa happy family. The girl wasstudying in class III. Three kidsfrom our orphanage have beenadopted earlier, but this is thefirst time a couple from abroadis becoming foster parents. Alllegal procedures under theCentral Adoption ResourcesAgency (CARA) were dulyfollowed in the adoptionprocess," said Naresh Kumar.

Continued on Page 4

MUMBAI: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's concernsover "population explosion"have not deterred aMaharashtra woman fromgoing ahead with her 20thdelivery, doctors said onMonday. The 38-year-oldwoman from Beed districthas had 19 deliveries so farand is now seven months'pregnant, doctors said.

Hailing from the nomadicGopal community, LankabaiKharat was spotted by localhealth officials who werestunned to learn about her20th delivery.

"At present, she has 11children and at the age of38, is bracing for her 20thdelivery," Beed district civilsurgeon Dr Ashok Thoratsaid.

When we learned abouther pregnancy and it beingher 20th, she was taken tothe civil hospital and allrequired tests were con-ducted. So far the baby andmother are safe. She hasbeen given a medicationcourse and instructed onhygiene and other practicesto avoid an infection,"another doctor said.

Maha womanset to deliverfor 20th time

Madari Pushpa (in pink) with her foster parents and district officials inVisakhapatnam on Monday

Gutha ischairman ofCouncilPNS n HYDERABAD

TRS MLC Gutha SukenderReddy is all set to assumeoffice as Chairman ofTelangana State LegislativeCouncil on September 11.

Gutha was the only candi-date to file nomination for theposition.

Continued on Page 4

PNS n CHENNAI

The 'Vikram' lander lies on thelunar surface as a single piece,unbroken and it is in a tiltedposition following a hard land-ing while efforts to re-establishlink with the probe were on, anISRO official said on Monday.

Vikram, which encases rover'Pragyan' went out of contactduring its final descent, whenit was just 2.1 km above thelunar surface, in the early hoursof Sept 7.

"The lander is there (onlunar surface) as a single piece,not broken into pieces. It's in atilted position," an ISRO officialassociated with the missionclaimed.

Though the lander hit thesurface hard while landing, itwas still very close to the sched-

uled touchdown site as per theimages sent by the orbiter'sonboard camera, he said. "Weare making all-out efforts to seewhether communication can bere-established with the lander,"the official said.

"An ISRO team is the on thejob at ISRO Telemetry, Trackingand Command Network(ISTRAC)," he added.

‘Vikram lander had ahard hit, but unbroken’

PNS n HYDERABAD

Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan lavished prais-es on Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao and theTelangana government forimplementing various novelinitiatives and schemes forthe overall development ofthe state and all sections ofpeople.

The governor released amessage addressing the peopleof Telangana on Monday. Inher message, DrSoundararajan said, "I amhappy to share the joy of myrole as a partner in the task ofpromoting all-round devel-opment of Telangana Statewith the able guidance andleadership of Chief MinisterSri KalvakuntlaChandrasekhar Rao."

She added, "Today,Telangana State stands beforethe country as a proud andmodel state where the foun-dations for the construction ofa 'Bangaru Telangana' havebeen laid strong. In thisendeavor, I exhort everyone toset aside all political and socialdifferences and become part-ners with my government inbuilding a strong state to pro-mote a strong nation."

The message by Governorreads as follows:

I am glad to note that theTelangana state has set theground for steady, healthy andsound economic and financialgrowth and usher in prosper-

ity for all sections of the soci-ety.

The government has givenan equal status to all festivalsof all the communities givingrespect to everyone's senti-ments. The Government isprotecting the Ganga JamunaTehjeeb with all commitment.

I am told that Telangana hasachieved an impressive 14.84% GSDP in 2018-19 and theState's wealth

Continued on Page 4

Total expenditure Scheme expenditure

Rs 1,46,492 cr Rs 75,263.24 crEstablishment expenditure

Rs 71,229 cr

NEW GUV HEAPS PRAISE ON TS GOVT

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao painted agloomy picture of Telangana'sfinancial condition due to 'eco-nomic recession' , when he pre-sented the full-fledged Budgetfor 2019-20 in LegislativeAssembly on Monday.

The CM said the economicslowdown and the resultantslump in revenues across all thesectors have hit Telanganaadversely, due to which the gov-ernment was forced to slashBudget size to Rs 1,46,492 crorefrom

Continued on Page 4

SLOWDOWN HITS TS BUDGET,OUTLAY SLASHED BY 20%

Jagan decisionon PPAsaffected foreigninvestmentsPNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister for Powerand Renewable EnergyMinister, RK Singh, said thatit was not within AndhraPradesh Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy's discre-tion to review the PowerPurchase Agreements(PPAs) in irrigationsschemes and it was unfortu-nate that he had decided todo so.

Speaking on renewablepower tariffs in AndhraPradesh, Singh said, "Whathappened was unfortunate. Ispoke and wrote to CMReddy. Our sector, especial-ly in renewables, is mostlydriven by foreign invest-ments. Our stand is veryclear that if you come acrossany illegality, and if there isany concrete evidence ofany illegality, then you takeaction as per law. But youcannot (do it) across theboard without any material(to) re-open all con-tracts...you can't do that."

Continued on Page 4

Telangana a modelState in the country

I am happy to sharethe joy of my role as a

partner in the task ofpromoting all-rounddevelopment of TelanganaState with the ableguidance and leadership ofChief Minister SriKalvakuntla ChandrasekharRao

— TAMILISAISOUNDARARAJAN

Governor

FLAGSHIPPROGRAMMES

Total Revenue receipts Rs 1,13,099.92 crn State share in centraltaxes Rs 19,718.57 crn State's own taxrevenue Rs69,328.57 cr Of whichn Sales tax Rs 47,789 crn State excise Rs 10,901 crn Stamps and registrationRs 6,146 cr

Taxes on motor vehicles Rs 3,714 cr

n Non taxrevenue Rs15,875.03 crn Grants from

Centre Rs8,177.75 cr

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao reads out details of his Budget in theLegislative Assembly on Monday

Aasara pensions Rs 9,402 crFarmers debtwaiver Rs 6,000 crRythu Bima Rs 1,137crPower subsidy Rs 8,000 crRice subsidy Rs 2,287 crRythu Bandhu Rs 12,000 cr

Kalyana Laxmi Rs 1,540 cr

Special DevelopmentFund Rs 10,000 cr

ScholarshipsRs 3,257 crArogyasri & EHS Rs1,336 cr

n Revenue surplus Rs 2,044.08 crn Fiscal deficit Rs 24,081.74 cr

PNS n HYDERABAD

The full-fledged Budget pre-sented in the Assembly onMonday clearly shows howover-spending on welfareschemes and subsidies in thename of fulfilling poll promis-es has left meager funds forproductive and developmentprogrammes in the state.

While the Budget size wasRs 1.46 lakh crore, the expen-diture on welfare schemesalone has been pegged at Rs75,263 crore. The establish-ment expenditure towardssalaries, pensions for govern-ment staff and day-to-dayexpenditure to run the gov-ernment has been estimated atRs 71,229 crore.

An amount of just Rs 17,274crore has been sanctionedunder capital expenditure outof total Budget outlay of Rs1.46 lakh crore, meant fortaking up development worksor to create assets for state gov-ernment.

TRS government's cash doleout schemes of Aasara pen-sions was allocated Rs 9,402crore, crop loan waiver schemeRs 6,000 crore, Rythu Bima Rs1,137 crore, Rythu Bandhu Rs12,000 crore, Kalyana Laxmi/Shadi Mubarak Rs 1,540 crorebesides welfare schemes andsubsidies which includeArogyasri Rs 1,336 crore,scholarships, fee reimburse-ment Rs 3,257 crore, powersubsidy Rs 8,000 crore and ricesubsidy Rs 2,287 crore.

The Chief Minister in hisBudget speech said, "The State

government is committed tocontinue the welfare pro-grammes for the poor peopleand farmers despite the exist-ing financial crisis. The com-mitment of this government tofarmers' welfare can be provedfrom the fact that it hadincreased the financial assis-tance under Rythu BandhuScheme from Rs. 8,000 peracre to Rs. 10,000 per acre perannum. I assure the farmingcommunity in the State thatRythu Bandhu Scheme wouldcontinue without any changes.Similarly, RythuBeemaScheme will also be continued.

The State Government hasdecided to waive crop loansas promised during the lastelections. Free power givento the farm sector will alsocontinue. The electricity billsfor supplying water fromirrigation projects to agri-culture lands will also be paidby the government withoutpassing the burden on tofarmers. This has resulted inincrease in electricity subsi-dies of the agriculture," hesaid.

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HYDERABAD 315VIJAYAWADA 352VISAKHAPATNAM 370RETAIL PPRICE `3.15

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(IN HYDERABAD)

‘Schemes' get priority over ‘development'n Over-spending on welfare schemes and subsidies left meager amount for development programmes

KEY TAKEAWAYSn Of the an annual budget ofRs 1,46,492.30 crore, Rs1,11,055.85 crore wasallotted for revenueexpenditure whileRs 17,274 crorewas allotted forcapitalexpenditure

n In February, KCR presentedthe vote on account showing arevenue expenditure of Rs 1,31,629 crore and a capitalexpenditure ofRs 32,815 crore

n The fiscal deficit of the state has beenprojected to be Rs 24,081.74 crore andrevenue surplus to be Rs 2,044.08 crore

n Free power given to the farmsector will also continue. Theelectricity billsforsupplyingwater fromirrigationprojects toagriculture landswill also be paidby the govt

n Government's welfareprogrammes wouldcontinue; from the RythuBandhu, which wasallocated Rs12,000 crore, tothe AasaraPensions, whichsaw anallocation ofRs 9,402 crore

WHO SAID WHAT

Telangana has turnedinto a state of debt

and pending billsunder KCR's rule.Decreasing the Budgetoutlay to Rs 1.46L cr from Rs1.82L cr outlay proposed inVote On Account Budgetshows that the state 'sfinancial position hasdeteriorated severelyK LAXMAN, BJPpresident

There is no linkbetween the two

Budgets - Vote onAccount and today's budget.The CM reduced the Budgetfrom Rs 1.82 lakh crore to Rs1.46 lakh crore. It clearlyshows the inefficiency of theK Chandrashekhar Rao, whokept FinanceMinistry with himtill now. CHADA VENKATREDDY,CPI state secretary

The Budget reflectsthe realistic conditions

of the state.Demonetisation hadimpacted severely onfinancial system leading torecession. The Chief Ministerdecided priorities to see thatthere won't be any trouble to

the welfare,agriculture andirrigation bybalancing all

—SINGIREDDYNIRANJAN REDDY,

AgricultureMinister

The government hasdecreased the Budget

by Rs 35,000 crorewhen compared with Vote-OnAccount Budget. KCR madethe state as deficit state,which was surplus state

when it was created.Budget book lookslike a book printedwith KCR's failures.

T JEEVAN REDDY,

Congress MLCChief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao presents the Budget in the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Monday

How ‘recession' impacted TS?

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao in hisbudget speech in Assembly onMonday has elaboratelyexplained how the currenteconomic slowdown hasadversely affected revenueearnings of Telangana stategovernment

He said, "The severe finan-cial crisis that the country hasbeen witnessing impactedTelangana State's economy too.In the first year of GST imple-mentation, in the absence ofany proper calculations,Telangana got compensation aswas done in the case of allother states. After this, therewas no necessity for Telanganato take this compensationagain. But, due to economicslowdown, during April andMay months this year, Rs 175crore and during June and Julymonths Rs 700 crore was givenas GST compensation. Thecompensation taken duringJune and July was 4 times morethan the compensation givenin April, May and this alonereflects the steep decline in the

financial situation."There is a lot of difference

between the estimates pre-sented in the Vote-on-Accountbudgets of the Centre and theState, and the proposals beingpresented now. Based on theprovisional figures publishedby the Controller General ofAccounts (CAG), it was esti-mated that there would be22.69 growth in the tax rev-enue of the Centre during2019-20, but in the first quar-ter, only 1.36 per cent growthwas realised. In TelanganaState too, we anticipated 15 percent growth rate but only 5.46

per cent could be realised. In the last five financial

years, in commercial taxes,the State recorded an averageof 13.6 per cent growth ratewhile it is 6.61 per cent in thefirst four months of thisfinancial year. In excise, only2.59 per cent growth wasregistered in the first fourmonths. In stamps and regis-tration, till last financial year,19.8 growth rate was record-ed, but, in the first fourmonths of this financial year17.5 per cent growth wasrecorded.

In 17 the motorvehicle taxes, thereis a steep fall. Inthe last fivefinancialy e a r s ,there was19 percent growth ratein motor vehicletax and it has nowdeclined to minus2.06 per cent in thefirst four months in thisfinancial year. There is a steepdecline in the non-tax revenuetoo.

n Chief Minister KCR explains how the currenteconomic slowdown affected revenue inflows

n The financial crisisthat the country hasbeen witnessingimpacted TS’ economytoo, the CM said

n In last five financialyears, the Staterecorded an average of13.6% growth rate incommercial taxes

In 5 years, Centrecollected Rs 2.7 lakh crtaxes from TelanganaHYDERABAD :Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao told theLegislative Assembly in his Budget speech that the Centre had col-lected Rs 2,72,926 crore in the form of various taxes fromTelangana State during the past five years, but it gave only Rs31,802 crore to TS in return to implement CSS (centrally spon-sored schemes). The State Reorganisation Act 2014 stipulatedthat the Centre shall provide grants for the development of back-ward areas in the State. But in the last five years, in one year theCentre had not given the grant of Rs 450 crore. According to CAGReport, for welfare and development during the past five years, Rs5,37,373 crore was spent by the State government. Out of this, theCentre's contribution for implementing its 24 schemes was a mereRs 31,802crore.While implementing the Central Schemes, theState government is taking decisions with total understanding, theCM said. "The Central schemes which are really helpful to peopleare being implemented in the State. Let me declare here that the

State government is not interested in wasting public moneyon those programmes, which are not beneficial to the peo-

ple. For instance, the State government is imple-menting Aarogya Sri to extend medical and

health services to the poor. ThroughArogya Sri, the government is spending

Rs 1,336 crore per year benefitting85.34 lakh families in the State. Fromthe Centre's Ayushman Bharatscheme, it is possible for the State toprovide medical benefits only to the

extent of Rs 250 crore per year bene-fiting only 26 Lakh families. Through

Arogya Sri, the government is extendingservices related to the 25 organ transplants

free of cost. Since Arogya Sri is far more bene-ficial than Ayushman Bharat in several ways, we have

decided not to implement Ayushman Bharat,” the CM said.

AIMIM ‘occupies'opposition seats PNS n HYDERABAD

The change of seats in theAssembly has taken place on thefirst day of Budget session onMonday. The Assembly author-ities have allotted main oppo-sition seats to the second largestparty, AIMIM, as it has 7 MLAs.

The authorities have allotteda seat to CLP leader MalluBhatti Vikramarka in secondrow from opposition side. The

Congress emerged as the sec-ond largest party by winning 19seats in 2018 elections.However, 12 Congress MLAsmerged with TRS party leavingthe Congress MLAs number to7. But the number fell to 6 asHuzurnagar MLA N UttamKumar Reddy tendered his res-ignation to MLA position as hewon Nalgonda MP seat result-ing MIM as second largestparty in the Assembly.

Oppn protests,Govt defendsn Govt describes Budgetas ‘realistic', while oppn calls it a ‘failure'

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Describing the Budgetintroduced for the year2019-20 by the ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao on Monday as an 'unre-alistic' one, the Congressdemanded the state gov-ernment not to sell the gov-ernment lands for the sakeof revenue.

The party said that thegovernment has to handover the Hyderabad lands tofuture generations by pro-tecting them instead of sell-ing them. On Monday,after the introduction ofBudget, CLP leader MalluBhatti Vikramarka alongwith Congress MLAs DSridhar Babu, Seethakkaand Podem Veeraiah pooh-poohed the Budget. Bhatti

alleged that the proposedbudget is 20 % less with Rs35,000 crore difference.

The CM created illusionson Budget but introduced'unrealistic' Budget, Bhattisaid. Bhatti said that thegovernment has to con-struct double bed roomhouses in 850 acre Miyapurlands and expressed doubtwhether the state govern-ment is trying to sell the

Miyapur lands. CongressMLC T Jeevan Reddyalleged that the Budget booklooks like a book printedwith KCR's failures. TPCCCampaign Committeechairperson Vijayashanthidemanded the state gov-ernment to give an expla-nation on the Budget allo-cated to key sectors earlierand spent on them. On theother hand, the Agriculture

Minister S Niranjan Reddysaid that the Budget is in amanner that it reveals therealistic conditions of thestate. He said that demone-tization impacted severelyon financial system leadingto recession in the state. TheChief Minister decided pri-orities to see that therewon't be any trouble to thewelfare, agriculture and irri-gation by balancing all.

Power subsidy takes a toll onTelangana financial healthPNS n HYDERABAD

The power subsidy burdenhas finally started showingdown on Telangana'sfinancial health. Besidespopulist schemes like sup-plying free power to farm-ers, government's decisionto back 'power guzzling'Kaleshwaram project, isincreasing the burden onthe state's financial health.

In the Budget, for thefirst time, Rs 8,000 crorehas been proposed forpower subsidies, which isa record by itself.Allocations to power sub-sidies have been increased,as the government wants to

bear the burden of theelectricity bills incurredfor supplying water fromirrigation projects to agri-culture lands by itself,without passing the burdenon to farmers.

According to theBudget, under financialassistance to power utili-ties, Government has so farpaid Rs 20,925 crore to thepower sector for the sup-ply of free power to farm-ers for 24 hours. Besidesthe government had takenthe burden and cleared Rs9,695 crore loan of theDISCOMS under UDAYScheme. The Governmentalso paid Singareni

Collieries Rs 5,772 crore, asthe dues to be paid by theelectricity agencies. “TheGovernment also, from

time to time, has beenpaying for the expenditureincurred for buying addi-tional power when thedemand is at its peak. Inall, in the last five years, theState government has paidRs 42,632 crore as financialassistance to the electrici-ty organisations. Sincethere is uninterrupted andquality power supply for 24hours, there is an increasein agriculture and indus-trial output. In per capitapower consumption,which is a very importantindicator for growth, ourstate stood first in thecountry,” claimed the CMin the Budget speech.

Finance Minister T Harish Rao presenting Budget in Legislative Council

‘Budget ineffective’PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP president K Laxman said Chief MinisterK Chandrashekar Rao has behaved cheaplyand tried to hide his failure by showing eco-nomic slowdown in the country as the rea-son for decreasing Budget of the state.

"Telangana has turned into a state of debtand pending bills in KCR'srule. Decreasing the Budgetoutlay to Rs 1.46 lakhcrore from Rs 1.82 lakhcrore outlay proposed inVote On Account Budgetin February shows thatthe state 's financial positionhas deteriorated severely.Government is not even in a position to paysalaries of employees. Telangana has cometo this pathetic situation due to financialindiscipline, lack of foresight and planningand massive corruption. But instead offocusing on strengthening state's financialhealth, KCR has behaved cheaply by crti-cising opposition during the Budget pre-sentation,” he said.

n An amount of just Rs17,274 crore has beensanctioned undercapital expenditure outof total Budget outlay of Rs 1.46 lakh crore,meant for taking updevelopment works orto create assets forstate government

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 hyderabad 03

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Get to work by 5 am, KTR tell GHMC officialsn MA&UD MINISTER SAYS DENGUE TO BE BEATEN IN 15 DAYS,

MULLS TWO ‘BASTI DAWAKHANAS' FOR EVERY DIVISIONPNS n HYDERABAD

Minister of MA&UD KT RamaRao, on his first day in office onMonday, directed all GHMCofficials to be on the field for thesake of sanitation of the city."Mayor, Commissioner, ZonalCommissioners and DeputyCommissioners will be on thefield from morning 5 am toensure good sanitation in thecity. Daily, three awarenesscamps will be held in collegesor schools, slums and apart-ments." He said even corpora-tors will help out in the sanita-tion exercise.

Minister KTR held a six-hour-long review meeting at theGHMC, after which he said, "Itis a fact that dengue incidenceis slowly reducing and in 15days it is likely to reduce com-pletely. Municipal andPanchayati departments willput in full efforts for the pur-pose." Refering to Delhi's cam-paign against dengue'#10Hafte10Baje10Minute'about inspecting and cleaningup houses of standing water,KTR said that a similar cam-paign will be launched onTuesday.

The GHMC will remove

1,000 tonnes of garbage fromvulnerable points in city with-in 15 days. A 12-month GHMCseason calendar will bedesigned, and the campaign willbe taken up on a war-footingagainst diseases. For seasonaldiseases, large scale campaignswill be taken up in the April-June period. He said thatsources of dengue lie in homeswhere there is stagnant water,and not at public places, andcalled upon people to own upthe issues. He said that thenumber of entomologists in theGHMC will be increased to 15from the current strength.

Commending 'BastiDawakhanas' for their health-related work, KTR said, "Wehave 106 Basti Dawakhanas,including urban health centres.The idea is to have two BastiDawakhanas per division, whichmeans there will be about 300in all. We will put forth a pro-posal in the Cabinet and moveforward based on the approval."

He asked the Opposition toavoid spreading false informa-tion about disease spread andemphasised that there are sev-eral cases of viral fevers in thecity, but not all of them aredengue.

MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao holds a meeting with GHMC officials on his first day in office on Monday

MAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

Researchers at IIT-Hyderabad havedeveloped a method by which theinner workings of artificial intelli-gence (AI) models can be under-stood in terms of causal attributes.

'Artificial Neural Networks'(ANN) are AI models and pro-grams that mimic the working ofthe human brain so that machinescan learn to make decisions in amore human-like manner.

Modern ANNs, often alsoknown as Deep Learning (DL), hasincreased tremendously in com-plexity, such that machines cantrain themselves to process andlearn from data that has been sup-plied to them as input, and almostmatch human performance inmany tasks.

However, how they arrive atdecisions is unknown, makingthem less useful when the reasonfor decisions is necessary.

"The simplest applications thatwe know of Deep Learning is inmachine translation, speech recog-nition or face detection. It enablesvoice-based control in consumerdevices such as phones, tablets, TVsets and hands-free speakers. Newalgorithms are being used in a vari-ety of disciplines, including engi-neering, finance, artificial per-ception and control and simula-tion. Much as the achievementshave wowed everyone, there arechallenges to be met," said DrVineeth Balasubramanian, asso-ciate professor of Department of

Computer Science andEngineering in IIT-Hyderabad.

A key bottleneck in acceptingsuch DL models in real-life appli-cations, especially risk-sensitiveones, is the 'interpretability prob-lem.' The DL models, because oftheir complexity and multiple lay-ers, become virtual black boxesthat cannot be deciphered easily.Thus, when a problem arises in therunning of the DL algorithm,troubleshooting becomes diffi-cult, if not impossible, said DrBalasubramanian.

The DL algorithms are trained

on a limited amount of data thatare most often different from real-world data. Furthermore, humanerror during training and unnec-essary correlations in data canresult in errors that must be cor-rected, which becomes hard. "Iftreated as black boxes, there is noway of knowing whether themodel actually learned a conceptor a high accuracy was just fortu-itous," he said. The IIT Hyderabadteam approached this problemwith ANN architectures usingcausal inference with what isknown in the field as a 'Structural

Causal Model.'Explaining this area of work, Dr

Balasubramanian said, "We haveproposed a new method to com-pute the 'average causal effect' of aninput neuron on an output neuron.It is important to understandwhich input parameter is 'causal-ly' responsible for a given output;for example in the field of medi-cine, how does one know whichpatient attribute was causallyresponsible for the heart attack?Our IIT Hyderabad researchers'method provides a tool to analyzesuch causal effects."

The research -- conducted by DrBalasubramanian and his studentsAditya Chattopadhyay, PiyushiManupriya and Anirban Sarkar -- was published at the 36thInternational Conference onMachine Learning, consideredworldwide to be one of the high-est-rated conferences in the area ofAI and machine learning.

Talking about the importance ofhis team's work on 'explainablemachine learning, DrBalasubramanian said transparen-cy and understandability of theworkings of DL models are gainingimportance as discussions aroundthe ethics of artificial intelligencegrows. This makes sense given thatthe European Union General DataProtection Regulation (GDPR)regulation requires that an expla-nation must be provided if amachine learning model is used forany decisions made on its citizensor on any domain, be it banking,security or health.

Depths of AI decoded by researchers at IIT-Hydn RESEARCHERS FIND NEW METHOD TO COMPUTE ‘AVERAGE CAUSAL EFFECT' OF INPUT NEURON ON OUTPUT NEURON IN AI MODEL

We have proposed a new method to compute the 'AverageCausal Effect' of an input neuron on an output neuron. It isimportant to understand which input parameter is 'causally'

responsible for a given output; in the field of medicine, how does oneknow which patient attribute was causally responsible for the heartattack? This method provides a tool to analyze such causal effects

— DR BALASUBRAMANIANAssociate Professor, IIT-Hyderabad

Osmania med collegegets aesthetic propsPNS n HYDERABAD

State Health Minister EtelaRajender on Mondayunveiled two aesthetic land-marks -- a 'Doctor's sculp-ture' and 'OSMECOS '77Square' -- at OsmaniaMedical College (OMC)campus in Koti.

"I agree the college build-ing is in a dilapidated state,"Minister Etela said, address-ing the young doctors atOMC. "The state govern-ment will look into all thedeficiencies and problemsof the college and addressthem shortly, and try andbring back its earlier glory.Despite medical advances,newer viral fevers and dis-eases are constantly plaguingthe common man, and so asstudents of this renownedcollege you should commityourself and excel as doctorsand provide succor to these

patients." President of OMC

Alumnus Association DrVijay Anand Reddy pointedout to the minister that theyurgently some basic infra-structure like furniture forthe academic building, whichis lying unused for the lastfour years, and permissionfor laying roads on the cam-pus.

"The goal is to make thisinstitute stand among thetop-five in the country,which needs a total com-mitment by the faculty and

students and encouragementand support of the govern-ment and the Directorate ofMedical Education," saidOMC principal Dr PShashikala Reddy.

The OMC managementhas so far created severalparking spaces on the cam-pus for orderly parkingwhich freed up space on thewalkways significantly. Thesecurity of the women's hos-tel has been increased withthe construction of a com-pound wall and a new gatefor the hostel complex.

The state government will look intoall the deficiencies and problems ofthe college and address themshortly and try and try to bring back its earlier glory, said Health Minister Etela Rajender

State Health Minister Etela Rajender unveiled a sculpture at OMC on Monday

Fraudster promisesMBBS seats, arrestedn EX-LECTURER RAN NEET COACHING INSTITUTE

TO CONVINCE STUDENTSPNS n HYDERABAD

The Special Operations Team (SOT)of LB Nagar arrested a man whoclaimed to provide MBBS seats under'management quota' and collectedmoney from the students parents.Officials seized Rs 9.45 lakh and a carfrom his possession.

The arrested person was identifiedas 40-year-old Arige Venkataramaiah,who earlier worked as a BiPC lectur-er at a private Intermediate college inthe city. Venkataramaiah later set uphis own institution that offered NEETcoaching for students and MBBSseats under 'management quota'.Officials also arrested the institute'sreceptionist, Yaga Sravani (27).

According to the police, after hisstint as lecturer, Venkataramaiah set up'AVR Institutions' at LB Nagar. Apartfrom providing NEET coaching, hepromised that all his students wouldget MBBS seats through NEET. He alsowent on to promise that he wouldarrange either B or C category seats inmedical colleges of Andhra Pradeshand Telangana. He then collected the'fee' for the entire first year and dona-tions from the students' parents. After

taking the amount, when the parentsasked him regarding the admissions,he would give evasive answers.

Based on a complainant, fromwhom Venkataramaiah took Rs 17lakh, officials arrested him from hisresidence in Shiva Ganga Colony inLB Nagar and recovered Rs 9.45 lakhand a car from his possession.

The complainant stated thatVenkataramaiah also took as much asRs 1.4 crore from other parents.

130 kg marijuana seized, 6 arrestedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Special Operations Team(SOT) of LB Nagar Zone andthe police unearthed a mari-juana smuggling racket andarrested six persons who werepeddling the banned drug.Officials seized 130 kg of thecontraband from them.

The accused were identifiedas Banoth Sudhakar (23),Jarpula Hussain (23),Dharavath Chiranjeevi (29),Kambampati Nageshwar Rao(28), Banoth Venkanna (26)and Banoth Suresh Naik (25).Barring Venkanna, who is amarble worker, the others arecar and auto drivers fromSuryapet district. The gang'scounterpart fromVisakhapatnam, Suresh, is

absconding, police said. Banoth Sudhakar and

Jarpula Hussain had connec-tions with ganja sellers ofVisakhapatnam and procuredthe drug from the Agencyarea of Dharakonda inVisakhapatnam. They werelater joined by Chiranjeevi,Nageshwara Rao, Venkannaand Suresh Naik in the illegaltrade, said police.

Gang leaders Sudhakar andHussain bought the drug and

sold it in Hyderabad andMaharashtra. All six accusedhad gone to Dharakonda vil-lage in two cars and bought130 kg of ganja from Suresh.The drug was packed in 89packets and concealed in theboot of the cars, beneath seatsand in the doors. They evenmade a special cavity beneaththe cars to conceal the contra-band before coming toHyderabad to sell the drug,said officials.

Police display the marijuana haul

The six accused in police custody

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Gopalapuram Policeseized 28 kilograms of Silverornaments from a lodge inSecunderabad on Monday.

According to the police,they seized the ornamentsfrom two persons identifiedas Sanjay Kumar and Satish.The duo from West Bengaldid not give any proper dis-closure about the silver nordid they have any documen-tation with them about thesilver. They had checked-into the lodge on Sunday.

28 kg silverseized

GHMC workerdrowns in pit

Linesman heldfor taking bribePNS n HYDERABAD

A linesman working in theAE office at Peddashapur inShamshabad was caught red-handed by Anti-CorruptionBureau (ACB) while accept-ing a bribe of Rs 28,000 onMonday. According to ACBofficials, S Kashi Ramulu haddemanded Rs 50,000 fromthe complainant ThirupathiReddy for regular work.Kashi Ramulu demanded abribe of Rs 50,000 fromThirupathi for fitting an elec-tric meter in his house.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A 65-year-old worker died ofdrowning after he fell into anopen pit near Gopi Cheruvuin Doyens' Colony atSerilingampally on Monday.

The deceased man wasidentified as Gangaiah, a res-ident of Papireddy colony.Gachibowli police saidGangaiah, a daily-wagelabourer for GHMC, had leftfor work early at 4.30 am. Heslipped and fell into a pit nearGopi Cheruvu.

Continued from Page 1

Speaking about thedeplorable condition ofroads, he said, "City roadsare affected by rains. We arethinking of permanent solu-tions like taking up 1,000km road length as part ofannual maintenance. Wewill discuss this with theengineering department andlook for a permanent solu-tion."

About his new role in thegovernment, KTR said, "Wewelcome positive criticismwhere roads are indeed bat-tered, but please tell us whatneeds to be done and giveinputs on how to do thingsbetter.

The MAUD is thanklessjob. You don't appreciate uswhen sanitation is good,but when it is bad you scoldus first. Municipal adminis-tration is day-to-day joband cannot afford lapses orlacunae.

"There are lot of issuesand a lot of things that needto be sorted. I know the job,I have done it before. Withmy past experience asMunicipal Minister, I hope-fully will come out withsome solution. Once in awhile, please pat our GHMCofficials and give boosterdose," he said exuding opti-mism.

Bad roads noexcuse foravoiding trafficpenalty: KTR

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Water levels continued to riseat the Polavaram andDowleswaram barrages inAndhra Pradesh's EastGodavari district on Mondaymorning, due to heavy rainsupstream in the catchmentarea of the Godavari basin.According to a press release bythe Andhra Pradesh StateDisaster ManagementAuthority (APSDMA), as of 7am on Monday, the second-level warning continued atBhadrachalam in Telangana,though the water level wasfalling.

At Kunavaram, the waterlevel was steady, while atPolavaram and Dowleswaram,the water levels continued torise, resulting in the second-level warning continuing to bein place. The APSDMA saidthat the State DisasterResponse Force (SDRF) had

deployed 167 personnel in EastGodavari. While two teams arelocated in Veeravaram, oneteam is in place in Chinturu,while another was deployed toRajahmahendravaram. Theyare equipped with life jackets,boats and other rescue mater-ial to avoid any untoward inci-dents.

30 personnel of theNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) have also beendeployed, with one team sta-tioned in Rampachodavaram,besides 90 personnel of theFire department, stationedat their respective location onstand by.

Earlier in August, heavyrains in the catchment area ofthe Godavari basin had led toflash floods in East and WestGodavari districts, resultingin water r is ing in theDowleswaram barrage. Thefloods had reportedly affect-ed nearly one lakh people in

the East and West Godavaridistricts and officials hadstated that 19,000 were evac-uated from low-lying areasand shifted to relief camps at

the time.The YSRCP government

had claimed that it was theprevious Telugu DesamParty's (TDP) government's

move to construct a coffer-dam and increase its height,without completing work onthe spillway, which led to theflooding.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 hyderabad 04

Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan inspects the Raj Bhavan library on Monday

Minister for Power G Jagadish Reddy with TS Transco & Genco CMD D PrabhakarRao and others in Hyderabad on Monday

CONGRESS LOST ITS SHEEN:KOMATIREDDY RAJAGOPALK VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Congress MLA fromMunugode constituencyKomatireddy Rajagopal Reddymade it clear that even hisbrother and Bhongir MPKomatireddy Venkat Reddy willnot bring back the lost sheen ofCongress party in the state. Hesaid "It's too late. Nobody willrescue the Congress party. RahulGandhi himself made his handsoff. The party will not survivewhen the national leadership isweak", he said adding that theparty will not be revived until NUttam Kumar Reddy and RCKhuntia continued in their posi-tions as TPCC Chief andTelangana Congress Affairs in-charge respectively.

When asked that will he stayback in the Congress, he said,"I will not go back after takinga decision whatever it may be,whether it is right or wrong." Hesaid that he would not partici-pate in the proposed Padayatraby his brother Venkat Reddy.

"Why should I participate inhis Padayatra. My brother willdo what he wants. I will do

what I want", he respondedwhen questioned scribes whenhe had a chit-chat with himafter the adjournment of theHouse on first day Monday. Hesaid that the Chief Minister willnot care Padayatras and move-ments. "KCR will not careeven opposition leaders walkedon their knees", he remarked.

He said that he was stayingin Congress party not for thesake of MLA position but forthe sake of his constituencypeople. "My people voted me towin the elections even in the

tsunami of TRS. I must have toserve the people who trustedme and hence I am not chang-ing my party. I am not stayingin the Congress thinking thatmy MLA position will be lost.I am continuing in the party forthe sake of Munugodu people",he said.

He reiterated that BJP is onlyan alternative party to TRS inthe state at any time. The BJPis also been growing strong inthe state. He rejected therumors that Malkajgiri MP ARevanth Reddy will become a

next PCC Chief. "The socialmedia is only spreading thenews that Revanth Reddy willbecome the next PCC Cheif.The media is spreading therumors as they wished", heresponded.

Interestingly, KomatireddyRajagopal Reddy had a lunchalong with CLP leader MalluBhatti Vikramarka,Bhadrachalam MLA PodemVeeraiah and Mulugu MLASeethakka, who had theirlunch along with scribes atCLP office.

Congress MLA from Munugode, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, and CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka at the CLP office on Monday

n SAYS THE PARTY WILL NOT SURVIVE IF THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IS WEAK

Protest against uranium miningPNS n ATCHAMPET

Tension prevailed on Mondayas people protesting againsturanium exploration inNallamala forest region stageda rasta roko on SrisailamHighway affecting the move-ment of vehicular traffic on theS r i s a i l a m - H y d e r a b a dHighway.

The police had to arrestCongress leader and formerMLA Dr Vamsikrishna andseveral others and regulatingthe traffic dispersing the pro-testors. Residents ofAtchampet in Nagarkurnooldistrict on Monday gave a callto observe bandh in the townto lodge their protest againsturanium exploration in theforests.

Educational institutions,traders and people from sur-rounding villages voluntari-ly observed the bandh. Theprotesters took out a proces-

sion and staged a sit-in onS r i s a i l a m - H y d e r a b a dHighway.

The protesters allege thatexploration of uranium willupset ecological balance inthe Nallamala forest region

and would be detrimental tobiodiversity. The uraniummining would polluteKrishna river waters and canlead to people suffering fromcancer and kidney problems.They said that the urani-

mum exploration will beharmful to Telugu states andexpressing apprehension overupsett ing ecological balance in the Nallamala for-est region and cause death ofwild life.

ENERGY INNINGS

Governor confident oflearning Telugu in 15 daysPNS n HYDERABAD

Governor Dr TamilisaiSoundararajan on Mondayexuded confidence that shewill pick up speaking Telugu ina fortnight and expressed herdesire to speak with people intheir own tongue.

The Governor, who tookcharge on Sunday, went aroundvarious wings of the RajBhavan on Monday and inter-

acted with officers and staffmembers. In the wake of herappointment as Governor ofTelangana, she said that sheacquainted herself with thesocio-economic issues of theState.

Being a physician, theGovernor wanted staff mem-bers to be fit and explained tothem that she does yoga everyday and undertake extensivewalking. She expects the Raj

Bhavan employees too to fol-low and maintain good health.

She is cordial in her rela-tions with Raj Bhavanemployees and at the sametime she expects them to beperfect in discharging of theirduties. She went round the RajBhavan library and appreci-ated the books collection. Sheclaims to have a collection ofover 5,000 books in her per-sonal library.

Woman beggar's...Continued from Page 1

The Generation Yuvaa foundersaid that CARA rules havestreamlined the adoption pro-cedure very well, which helpsNGOs like his. The administra-tion and communicationprocess, however, still needssome improvement so that morechildren are adopted. Delays thatoccur in following all legal pro-cedures prevent many kids from

getting adopted. The girl wasadopted in the presence ofVisakhapatnam district collectorV Vinay Chand and officialsfrom the District Women andChild Development Agency.Visakhapatnam DW&CDAproject director N SeethaMahalakshmi and District ChildProtection Officer A Satyanarayawere also present when Pushpawas given in the care of theFrench couple.

Gutha is...Continued from Page 1

The deadline to file nomina-tions ended at 5 pm onMonday. Legislative affairsminister Vemula PrashanthReddy said that DeputySpeaker Nethi Vidyasagar willmake a formal announce-ment on Gutha's election inthe House on September 11.He said Gutha's name for theChairman's post had beenproposed by seven MLCs.

Godavari in spate

MRPS protestsover CabinetexpansionPNS n WARANGAL

The Madiga ReservationPorata Samithi (MRPS)staged a protest over non-inclusion of a representativefrom the Madiga communi-ty in the Cabinet, which wasexpanded to its full strengthon Sunday.

The MRPS staged a protestin Warangal and its chief,Manda Krishna Madigademanded the TRS leader-ship to spell out its stand onthe Madigas and their inclu-sion in the state Cabinetimmediately.

On Monday morning, theMRPS activists staged a dhar-na at the Ambedkar circle inHanamkonda and camedown heavily on the ChiefMinister for belittling theSCs in general and Madigasin particular in the constitu-tion of the Cabinet of theTelangana state.

The MRPS leader, MandaKrishna said the MLAsbelonging to MadigaCommunity were compelledto play a second fiddle in thewake of cabinet expansionand the TRS party leadershiphas deliberately ignored theMadigas for their vestedpolitical interests.

MP Soyam Bapuin house arrestPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP Lok Sabha Member fromAdilabad Soyam Bapu Raowas on Monday put underhouse arrest confining him tohis house in Hafizpet underPeerzadiguda region of the cityto prevent him from leavingfor Armoor, where a felicita-tion function was scheduledon Monday.

Adivasi associationsplanned to felicitate Bapu Raoat a function planned inArmoor of Karimnagar dis-trict on Monday The incidentassumed significance as itcame a day after Bapu Rao'srival Sathyavati Rathode'sinduction into the state cabi-net during the Sunday'sCabinet expansion.

The house arrest triggereda war of words between theBJP and TRS leaders. The BJP

sees it as a victimization mea-sure, while the police regard itas a precautionary measure.

The BJP activists criticisedSatyavati rathode for the arrest.The TRS leaders defend thepreventive detention given thehistory of passing controver-sial remarks by Bapu Rao.Bapu Rao called it as a con-spiracy to spoil his felicitationfunction.

"The Adivasi felicitationfunction has police permissiontill Sunday, but it was cancelledsurprisingly soon afterSatyavati Rathore swearing inas Minister. It is an act ofvendetta. Besides my arrest,the police are arrestingAdivasis in Armoor andKarimnagar," he said.

The Adivasis proposed tohold a mammoth public meet-ing at Jantar-Mantar in Delhion December 9.

Will move to selllands yield results?PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao claimedin his Budget speech that theState government will sell landparcels to raise funds to imple-ment welfare schemes anddevelopment programmes inthese times of ecomomicslowdown and at a time whenthe revenue earnings of stategovernment from all depart-ments witness steep declinedue to recession.

He even estimated in theBudget that the land salewould fetch Rs 10,000 crorethis fiscal (2019-20). The full-fledged Budget presented inAssembly on Monday will bein force from October 2019 toMarch 2020, which wouldmean that only six months areremaining. The questionsbeing raised now is how could

the government expect landsales to happen and fetch Rs10,000 crore to governmentwithin six months, when thegovernment itself is claimingthat the TS economy is reelingunder severe economic slow-down for the past few months.

This is because when reces-sion sets in, it naturally affectsall the sectors. The real estatewill be the prime one to beaffected as no property trans-actions happen due to liquid-ity crunch in the system dueto recession. In this back-drop, the government expec-tations of raising Rs 10,000crore through land sale lookslike an herculean task.Moreover, the government isbanking on sale of lands locat-ed on city outskirts, primari-ly in IT corridor and sur-rounding areas, which com-mand huge real estate value.

Slowdown hits TS Budget...Continued from Page 1

Rs 1,82,017 crore estimated inthe Vote-on-Account present-ed by him in the Assembly ear-lier in February.

The Budget comprises revenueexpenditure of Rs 1,11,055 croreand capital expenditure of Rs17,274 crore. The state has pro-jected a fiscal deficit of Rs 24,081crore and an estimated revenuesurplus of Rs 2,044 crore.

In his Budget speech inLegislative Assembly, KCR saidthat the state had to revise theBudget estimates, taking inview the impact of slowdownover last few months.

"I regret that I am presentingthe State Budget for 2019-20 inthe House when both theCentre and State are goingthrough a severe financial cri-sis. We have to tread carefullyand cautiously during such atesting time," he said.

"There is a steep fall in theGDP. All the major sectors areexperiencing a downward trend.Revenues have fallen. The coun-try's economic situation has abearing on the State too. Thegovernment has decided to for-mulate the Budget based on thechange in the scenario and theground realities," he said. KCRtold the House that the severeeconomic slowdown is leadingto serious repercussions in thecountry, as is being witnesseddaily. "The economic slowdownhas adversely impacted all sec-tors. There is a negative growth

in many key sectors, whichmirror the prevailing econom-ic situation. The official data putout by the institutions con-nected with these sectors pre-sent a gloomy picture," headded. KCR, however, assuredthe House that the governmentis committed to continuingwelfare for poor people andfarmers, despite the existingfinancial crisis. KCR said thegovernment could free valuableland parcels worth thousands ofcrores in Hyderabad fromencroachers by putting up a sus-tained legal fight in courts.

Telangana a modelState in the country...Continued from Page 1

I am informed that the Statehas brought out leapfrog ini-tiatives in good governancethrough administrativereforms aimed at decentrali-sation.

The objective of takingadministration and welfarebenefits up to the door stepsof the beneficiaries be itremote villages or urban townsis on the anvil of fulfillmentand offer hassle free services tofarmers and people. The 30days action plan for develop-ment of all villages in the Stateis set to become benchmark inadministration. The programsfor Cleanliness, HarithaHaram, power generation,Rythu Bandhu and RythuBheema, Mission Kakatiya,

Mission Bhageeratha are someof the unique programmesfor their fool proof imple-mentation. The Governmenthas become a role model in thecountry in fulfilling the aspi-rations of Dalits, Tribals,Backward classes and theMinorities.

The Government tops thecountry in public health pro-grams like Arogyasri for med-ical treatment and KantiVelugu program.Kaleswaramproject, a man made wonderand its commission in recordtime has invited Global atten-tion, in harnessing theGodavari water forAgriculture, Power genera-tion and also drinking waterpurposes by channelizingadditionally 575 TMC of waterfrom being wasted to sea.

Continued from Page 1

Singh said, "The decision hasstarted impacting globalinvestments in India's energysector. What has transpired isexactly what I feared. Peoplecome and invest in this coun-try with a faith that any con-tract they sign will be hon-oured. If you start abrogatingcontracts, then people willstop coming to invest."

Speaking to the media inHyderabad about the achieve-

ments of the Narendra Modigovernment in the first 100days, Singh said, "I have haddiscussions with the state gov-ernment and I am confidentthey will pay Rs 2,000 croredues from discoms to renew-able companies". Contendingthat the AP government's deci-sion to review PPAs has nowhit the legal block, he said thatthe Centre will reply to the let-ter Jagan wrote to the PM andaddress the issue shortly.

It may be mentioned here

that In June, both Singh andUnion energy secretary AnandKumar wrote to the AP CMand chief secretary L VSubrahmanyam, expressingtheir fears over renegotiatingthe PPAs.

Meanwhile, the YSRCP gov-ernment, which is claiminglarge-scale corruption in thepower deals, is confident thatthe power tariffs could bebrought down if the powercompanies were convincedabout renegotiations.

Jagan decision on PPAs...

TOTAL EXPENDITURE RS 1,46,492.30 CRn Revenue Expenditure Rs 1,11,055.84 crn Capital Expenditure Rs 17,274.67 crn Loans and Advances Rs 8,896.02 crn Capital disbursements Rs 9,265.77 cr

PNS n PUNE

Malaria eradication is one ofthe top priorities of the gov-ernment, Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan saidon Monday, and reaffirmed theCentre's resolve to also elimi-nate diseases like tuberculosis,encephalitis and 'kala azar'.

There are a couple of dis-eases which are on the radar ofthe health ministry and malar-ia is one of them, he said.

"We are working towardsending malaria as soon aspossible," the minister toldreporters here.

"Similarly, we are aiming ateradicating leprosy, encephali-tis and kala azar (visceral leish-maniasis). These are on highpriority. Malaria is one of thetopmost priorities," he said.

The minister said the inter-national target set for eradica-tion of tuberculosis (TB) is2030, but the Union govern-ment wants to eliminate it by2025. The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) had set2030 as the target, as part of its'End TB Strategy' adopted inthe World Health Assembly in2014.

Asked about the healthissues being faced by the peo-ple of Jammu and Kashmir, theminister said the government

had done a lot inthe past five yearsto address themand more was instore.

"The governmentis keen to addressevery issue in Jammuand Kashmir, which includeshealth as well. In the last fiveyears, the government did somuch in the Valley. We areestablishing the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) (at Samba in Jammuand Pulwama in Kashmir)," hesaid.

He expressed confidence

that developmentin Jammu andKashmir in nextfive years wouldmake people there

wonder why therewas a need for Article

370 in the first place.The Centre recently abro-

gated Article 370 which gavespecial status to Jammu andKashmir.

The minister was interactingwith mediapersons on thesidelines of the inauguration ofa new vaccine research anddevelopment plant at theSerum Institute of India here.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Resumption of powersupply kills 4 stealingoverhead wiresTIKAMGARH (MP): Fourpersons were electrocuted inthe early hours of Mondaywhile trying to steal overheadwires during a power outage inTikamgarh district in MadhyaPradesh, police said.The incident took place inBanarsi area of the district,some 34 kilometres from here,an official said. "While theywere trying to steal theoverhead wires, power supplywas restored, killing theminstantly. Villagers found theirbodies lying on the ground. Allwere in their mid-20s,"Inspector Mukesh Singhal ofMohangarh police stationsaid. He identified the dead asGokal Kushwaka of Banarsivillage, and Pritam, Sanjay Brarand Raju Kushwaha ofadjoining Niwari district.

JAIPUR: Former Union ministerKalraj Mishra was sworn in asGovernor of Rajasthan in aceremony at the Raj Bhawanhere on Monday. Mishrareplaced Kalyan Singh, whohas completed his five yeartenure. Rajasthan High CourtChief Justice Shripathi RavindraBhat administered the oath ofoffice to Mishra. The Governorwas given guard of honourafter the oath ceremony. Beforethe oath, chief secretary D BGupta read out the warrant ofappointment issued by thePresident. Mishra, 78, is aformer union minister who wasthe Governor of HimachalPradesh prior to Rajasthan.Chief minister Ashok Gehlot,deputy chief minister SachinPilot, members of council ofministers, leader of oppositionGulab Chand Kataria, deputyleader of opposition RajendraRathore and others werepresent on the occasion.

GUWAHATI: Union HomeMinister Amit Shah asserted onMonday the Centre intends toexpel all illegal immigrants notjust from Assam but the entirecountry. Addressing the fourthconclave of the North-EastDemocratic Alliance (NEDA),the NDA's version in thenortheast, the BJP presidentalso accused successiveCongress government's ofhaving alienated the regionfrom the rest of the country."Our intention is to expel illegalimmigrants from the entirecountry and not just Assam,"he declared. He alleged theprolonged militancy in theregion was because theCongress hardly cared for theregion. "The Congressgovernments sowed the seedsof strife in the northeast. Theparty did not care for thenortheast and because of thatmilitancy flourished. It alwaysbelieved in the policy of divideand rule," he alleged.

We are aiming at eradicating leprosy, encephalitisand kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis). These are onhigh priority. Malaria is one of the topmost priorities

— HARSH VARDHAN, Union HHealth MMinister

PNS n NEW DELHI

Having crossed the 100-daymark of the Modi 2.0 govern-ment with a stint that sawKashmir's special status endand instant Triple Talaq crim-inalized, BJP has now scram-bled its top ministers across thecountry to carpet bomb dri-ving home a single point —political will of a strong gov-ernment. A day after UnionMinister Prakash Javadekaraddressed a mega press con-ference at in Delhi, highlight-ing the government's achieve-ments in the first 100 days, onMonday it was Nitin Gadkari,Thawar Chand Gehlot andR.K. Singh's turn.

Even alliance partners likeShiriomani Akali Dal'sHarsimrat Kaur Badal was puton the job.

While Singh was atBegumpet Hyderabad, Gadkariwas in Worli, Mumbai.Harsimrat and Gehlotaddressed a presser inChandigarh and Raipur inChhattisgarh, respectively.

Speaking in Mumbai,Gadkari stressed on Kashmir:"All the joblessness in Kashmirwas because of Article 370

and 35A. With the two Articlesgone, it will be a new era there."He added his ministry aloneinvested Rs 60,000 crore in theerstwhile state, including tobuild the highway from Jammuand Srinagar. Gadkari remind-ed how Triple Talaq Bill hasbeen a blessing for many

Muslim women. "A time, whenpeople went to the extent ofmaking the Talaq extra instantby announcing it throughWhatsApp, this governmenthas criminalised it," the RoadTransport Minister said. Healso highlighted amendment tothe Motor Vehicle Act as a big

achievement not only for hisministry but the NarendraModi government.

In Hyderabad, the Ministerof State (Independent charge)for Power and New &Renewable Energy focused onimplementation of theKUSUM scheme that providesfinancial and water security tofarmers. Singh also highlight-ed an unique effort by the gov-ernment by which farmers canset up solar plants and solarpumps at 10 per cent cost andin turn sell electricity to thegovernment.

Gehlot, the Social JusticeMinister who was tasked totake Prime Minister's messageto the Congress-runChhatisgarh, hailed the bifur-cation of Jammu and Kashmirinto two Union Territories asa "historical step".

"Now the lakhs of tribal,Dalits, women and youth of inKashmir, Kargil and Leh-Ladakh will join the main-stream of the country. Theunity of the nation and socialequality has also been ensured,"said the Minister. He also said,the government is makingefforts to reverse the ongoingeconomic slowdown.

Centre scrambles top names toflaunt 100-day achievements

Gehlot, the Social Justice Ministerwho was tasked to take PrimeMinister's message to the Congress-run Chhatisgarh, hailed thebifurcation of J&k into two UnionTerritories as a ‘historical step’

Malaria eradication top priorityfor govt, says Harsh Vardhan

Kalraj Mishra sworn inas Rajasthan Governor

Intend to expel illegalimmigrants fromentire country: Shah

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Mondayappointed former presidentPranab Mukherjee's daughterSharmistha Mukherjee and andex-Lok Sabha speaker MeiraKumar's son Anshul Kumar asnational spokespersons.

Congress President SoniaGandhi has approved theirappointment, party's chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala said in a statement.Sharmishtha, the Delhi MahilaCongress chief, took to Twitterto thank Gandhi and Surjewalafor the appointment.

PNS n PUSHKAR

The RSS on Monday said thereare "some errors" in the final listof the National Register ofCitizens in Assam and the gov-ernment should remove thosebefore moving forward, butasserted that the exercise is awelcome step.

Concerns were raised on thefirst day of the RSS' annualcoordination meeting onSaturday over several genuinecitizens being left out of thefinal list of NRC in Assam,majority of whom they claimedare Hindus, sources said.

BJP's general secretary RamMadhav, who is also the party'sin charge for all the sevennortheastern states, has briefedthe meeting about the NRCexercise carried out in Assam

and its final list. Addressing apress conference here on thefinal day of the Sangh's coor-dination meeting, RSS jointgeneral secretary DattatreyaHosabale described NRC as a

"complicated and complexissue" as names of manyBangladeshi illegal immigrantsare in the voters list.

"There are about 35 to 40lakh illegal immigrants from

Bangladeshis who are now set-tled in Assam, and had beenissued legal documents duringprevious governments, whichhave complicated and made theentire issue more complex," hesaid, adding that the NRC wasdiscussed in the meeting.

Suggesting that before mov-ing forward the governmentshould rectify the NRC list, theRSS leader said, "NRC's final listis not a law...there are someerrors and mistakes in it..gov-

ernment should move forwardby removing those."

However, he applauded thestate BJP government for car-rying out NRC exercise, sayingthey have to complete this taskin a stipulated time after com-ing into power.

According to the sourcespresent in the meeting, theNRC issue was discussed atlength and concerns were raisedon several genuine citizensbeing left out, especially those

who settled in Assam from theneighbouring states. The lead-ers also expressed concernsclaiming that majority of the 1.9million people excluded areHindus, they said.

The BJP has criticised theupdated NRC list and said thegovernment will bring in alegislation to safeguard Indiancitizens if the ForeignersTribunals deliver adversejudgements against the appeals.

The final list of the NRC inAssam, published on August 31,left out over 1.9 million people.

More than 200 delegates of35 RSS affiliates attended thecoordination meeting, the firstsuch after the Lok Sabha elec-tion. BJP working president J PNadda, general secretary(organisation) B L Santhoshwere among those present.

Some errors in NRC's final list says RSS

Cong names Pranab'sdaughter, Meira Kumar's sonnational spokespersons

PNS n CHENNAI

The Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO)clarified on Mondaythat its Chairman K.Sivan does not haveany personal accounton the social media.ISRO said in a tweet:"It is noticed thataccounts in the nameof Kailasavadivoo Sivanis operational on many Socialmedia. This is to clarify that

Dr. K Sivan, Chairman, ISRO,does not have any personalaccounts."

Meanwhile, ISROofficials said that anyupdate onChandrayaan-2 mis-sion, including thestatus of the moonlander Vikram thatcrash landed on thelunar surface on

Saturday, wil l beannounced on the organisa-tion's website.

Social media accounts in K Sivan’s name fake: ISRO

Chandrayaan-2 orbiter canfunction for seven yearsPNS n BENGALURU

Flawless and precise launchand efficient management ofthe Chandrayaan-2 mission tillthe lander 'Vikram' lost com-munication with ground-sta-tions — has paid rich divi-dends to the ISRO on theorbiter front.

The 2,379 kg orbiter whosemission life was designed to beone year would now be ablefunction for almost sevenyears. "Enough fuel is availablewith the orbiter. Up to (lunar)orbit insertion, we did nothave any flaw. Additional fuelwhich was anticipated wasnot used at all. Every thingwent as per the plan.Additional fuel is availablewith us (on-board theorbiter)," an ISRO official said.

Another ISRO officialadded: "One of the limitingfactor is on-board fuel avail-ability. Because the perfor-mance of GSLV-MK III(which launched the space-craft) and efficient missionmanagement, we have enoughfuel for continuing it forwardfor seven years."

The space agency also said,the precise launch and mis-sion management hasensured a long life of almostseven years instead of theplanned one year for theorbiter.

ISRO said 90 to 95 per centof the Chandrayaan-2 mis-sion objectives have beenaccomplished and will con-tinue to contribute to Lunarscience, notwithstanding theloss of communication withthe lander which hit lunarsurface after failing in itsplanned attempt to soft-landin the early hours of Saturday.

Pointing out that theorbiter has already beenplaced in its intended orbitaround the Moon, ISRO said,

it shall enrich our under-standing of the moon's evo-lution and mapping of theminerals and water mole-cules in the polar regions,using its eight state-of-the-artscientific instruments.

"The orbiter camera is thehighest resolution camera(0.3 metres) in any lunarmission so far and shall pro-vide high resolution imageswhich will be immensely use-ful to the global scientificcommunity," it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

P Chidambaram on Mondayurged authorities not to arrestofficers who were involved ingiving clearances to INXMedia when he was financeminister, saying none of themdone anything wrong.

Chidambaram, who wassent to judicial custody inTihar Jail last week for allegedcorruption given to INXMedia when he was Unionfinance minister, asked hisfamily to post a message fromhim on Twitter.

The veteran Congress leadersaid people asked him whyonly he had been arrested, buthe had no answer.

"I have requested my fami-ly to tweet on my behalf thefollowing:- People have askedme 'If the dozen officers whoprocessed and recommendedthe case to you have not beenarrested, why have you beenarrested? Only because youhave put the last signature'?"the tweet fromChidambaram's officialTwitter handle said.

"I have no answer," he said."No officer has done any-

thing wrong. I do not wantanyone to be arrested,"Chidambaram said in anoth-er tweet.

Chidambaram was putbehind bars last Thursday,hours after a CBI court senthim to two-week judicial cus-

tody in the INX Media case, anunprecedented setback for theCongress veteran who evenoffered to surrender to the EDin a desperate attempt to bespared the ignominy of goingto prison.

The CBI registered an FIRon May 15, 2017, allegingirregularities in the ForeignInvestment Promotion Board(FIPB) clearance granted tothe INX Media group forreceiving overseas funds of Rs305 crore in 2007 duringChidambaram's tenure asfinance minister.

Thereafter, the ED lodged amoney laundering case in thisregard in 2017.

INX Media had sought theFIPB clearances on March 13,2007, for permission to issue,by way of preferential allot-ment, up to 14.98 equity sharesto three non-resident entities- Dunearn, NSR PE and NewVeron Pvt Equity Ltd.

My family tweeted on mybehalf: Chidambaram

National EducationPolicy will transformedu sector: HRD MinPNS n KOTA

Union HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal 'Nishank' said thedraft of the Centre's NationalEducation Policy has been com-pleted and it will bring a hugetransformation in the educationsector of the country. He wasspeaking at a felicitation pro-gramme organised here onSunday for around 40 studentswho succeeded in academicsdespite facing hardships.

Nishank said the policy draftwas prepared by educationistsafter taking into account viewsof over one lakh people.

Lok Sabha Speaker and KotaMP O M Birla was also presentat the programme, 'Shiksha-Raksha-Sangarsh Samman',organised by Allen CareerInstitute here.

Among the students felici-tated during the function wereRupa Yadav, an MBBS candi-date who was married at ayoung age, Anisha Goyal, whofought cancer and achievedacademic success, and around30 children of soldiers who laiddown their lives for the nation.Presiding over the programme,Birla said quality education isimparted to students in Kotaand he will continue to makeefforts for the progress anddevelopment of the city.

The speaker said there areabundant opportunities intourism sector in Kota and itwill get a boost after opening ofthe Mukundra Tiger Reserve.

Earlier, the HRD ministerinteracted with around 2,000students from Uttarakhandwho are taking coaching of theIIT Joint Entrance Examination(JEE) here. Rajasthan UrbanDevelopment and HousingMinister Shanti Dhariwalappealed to the HRD ministerto reduce the 18 per cent GSTover coaching education.

Enough fuel is available with theorbiter. Up to (lunar) orbit insertion,we did not have any flaw. Additionalfuel which was anticipated was notused at all. Every thing went as perthe plan, says ISRO official

The policy draft wasprepared byeducationists after

taking into account views ofover one lakh people

RAMESH POKHRIYALUnion HRD MInister

India to create online database for all cities by ’24PNS n NEW DELHI

India will have an online data-base of all cities by 2024 oninfrastructure, education andhealth facilities among othersas it aims to create a "culture ofdata" to address urban chal-lenges of the country, an offi-cial said on Monday.

There will be an 'OpenDatabase' that can be accessedby everybody free of cost andan 'Exchange of Database'under which agencies mightcharge for commercial use of

data, as per a plan by theUnion Housing and UrbanAffairs (HUA) Ministry.

The database, which willinclude data on infrastructure,traffic, education, health, san-itation, safety and population,will be created on a single plat-

form in a phased manner, theministry said. In the first phase,a database for 100 cities underthe Centre's flagship 'SmartCity Mission' will be created byMarch 2020, while in the sec-ond phase, 500 cities will bebrought under the project by

2022. HUA Joint Secretary andDirector of the Smart CityMission Kunal Kumar said100 "data officers" are beingtrained and they will beresponsible for better coordi-nation between governmentagencies and providing infor-

mation on the single platform."We will have a database of

over 4,000 cities by 2024. Weare building a database ofthese cities. Data storage willbe available at one place," hesaid.

For instance, a person look-ing for a property in a partic-ular area can utilise the onlinedata to see what civic ameni-ties are available nearby.

People can use data on the'Open Database' platform fortheir needs accordingly,Kumar said.

There are about 35 to 40 lakh illegal immigrants fromBangladeshis who are now settled in Assam, andhad been issued legal documents during previous

governments, which have complicated and made theentire issue more complex

— DATTATREYA HOSABALE, RSS jjoint ggeneral ssecretary

We will have a database of over 4,000 cities by 2024.We are building a database of these cities. Datastorage will be available at one place

— KUNAL KUMAR, HUA JJoint SSecretary aand DDirector oof tthe SSmart CCity MMission

IANS n NEW DELHI

The Union Home Ministry hascleared a proposal to reopen1984 anti-Sikh riot cases againstMadhya Pradesh Chief MinisterKamal Nath, Delhi's ShiromaniAkali Dal MLA ManjinderSingh Sirsa said on Monday.

"A big victory for Akali Dal.SIT Opens case against@OfficeOfKNath for his allegedinvolvement in 1984 Sikh geno-cide. Notification issued byMHA upon my submission lastyear, Case number 601/84 toreopen and consider freshEvidence against Kamal Nath,"he said in a tweet.

Sirsa, who is the President ofDelhi Sikh GurudwaraManagement Committee(DSGMC), said that a SpecialInvestigation Team was inves-tigating allegations againstNath.

"I thank the SIT for reopen-

ing the case. I request the peo-ple who were an eyewitness toKamal Nath killing Sikhs tocome forward and become awitness, there is no need to bescared," he said.

Sirsa also lashed out at theCongress over continuance ofKamal Nath as Chief Ministerdespite his alleged involvementin the 1984 riots targeting theSikh community.

Briefing media, he urgedCongress' interim PresidentSonia Gandhi to seek his resig-nation so that Sikhs get justicefor 1984 riots near GurudwaraRakab Ganj here.

Even I have paid fine for speeding: Nitin GadkariPNS n MUMBAI

Amid concerns over the heftyfines for traffic violations underthe amended motor vehicles law,Union Road Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari on Monday saideven he has been fined for speed-ing on the Bandra-Worli sealinkin Mumbai.

Talking to reporters about themajor decisions of the Modi-ledgovernment in its first 100 days,Gadkari also said that abrogationof Article 370 and division ofJammu and Kashmir was the"most important achievement" of

the Centre.He said it is Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's wish to makeIndia a "super economic power".

"100 days is a trailer, the entirefilm will unroll in the next fiveyears," he said.

Criminalisation of instanttriple talaq and the amendedmotor vehicles law were some ofthe big achievements of the NDAgovernment, the minister said.

"Even I have paid a fine forspeeding on the sealink," Gadkarisaid.

The Motor VehiclesAmendment Act, approved by

President Ram Nath Kovind lastmonth, aims at stricter punish-ment for violation of traffic reg-ulations and to bring disciplineon roads. "Passing the MV Actamendment is a big achievementfor our government. The highfines will lead to transparency,and (will) not result in corrup-tion," Gadkari said.The minister

said road engineering is a reason,along with auto engineering, forthe high incidents of accidents inIndia.He six districts in Vidarbharegion of the state will be madediesel-free in five years and vehi-cles will run on bio-fuels.

Highlighting the government'sother major decisions, he said,"Our first achievement is passing

the triple talaq bill and ensuringjustice to Muslim women. It wasa historic moment."Hitting out atthe Congress, he said in the 1986Shah Bano case, the oppositionparty overturned the SupremeCourt judgement as well.Gadkari said the most importantachievement of the Modi gov-ernment during 100 days inoffice in its second consecutiveterm, is the abrogation ofArticle 370 in Jammu andKashmir and division of thestate."Poverty and hungerin Jammu and Kashmirwere due to Article 370.

Pakistan has been run-ning a proxy war there,militants are spreadingterror,” he said.

Passing the MV Act amendment is a big achievement forour government. The high fines will lead to transparency,and (will) not result in corruption,

NITIN GADKARI, Union Road Transport Minister

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 nation 06

TROUBLE FOR KAMAL NATH ASMHA TO REOPEN ’84 RIOT CASES

Kerala to set up country's first global trade centre for womenPNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

In a major initiative to accel-erate women entrepreneurshipand secure gender parity,Kerala will set up the country'sfirst International Women'sTrade Centre (iWTC), in con-sonance with the UnitedNations SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs), inKozhikode.

A key project of the state'sGender Park under theDepartment of Social Justice, itis envisaged as a safe spaceaway from home for women toharness their entrepreneurialcapabilities, set up or expandtheir businesses and get theirproducts marketed globally.

The first phase of iWTC,being executed under theGender Park's "Vision 2020", isscheduled to be completed by2021.

"It is significant that theGender Park has unveilediWTC project at a time whenmore and more women are for-aying into entrepreneurship

and exploring other self-employment options in Kerala,"said Minister for Health andSocial Justice K K Shailaja.

"This forward-looking ven-ture will fulfill the need for pro-viding a platform to helpwomen break the glass ceilingby overcoming social barriersin their way and forge ahead assuccessful entrepreneurs," shesaid here in a statement.

Gender Park CEO, P TMohammed Sunish said theoverall scheme of iWTC wouldbe that of a world class shop-ping destination, encompassingwithin its ambit a string of out-lets catering to the needs ofwomen entrepreneurs.

"The facility will havewomen's start-up and incuba-tion centre, retail fashion andtechnology outlets, health andwellness centres, business cen-tres and offices, conference-convention-exhibition spaces,performing arts centre, resi-dential suites and day-care forseniors and children," he said.

The official also said they

were seeking financial sup-port for the project from rele-vant institutions.

Besides serving as a facilita-tor to launch their own ven-tures, iWTC is envisaged toenable women entrepreneurs tocome forward and participate

in international trade, enjoygreater economic benefits andenhance their competitivenessto tap market opportunities.

Special emphasis will be onhand-holding and bringingeconomically backwardwomen, marginalised groups,

women with disabilities andtransgenders to the forefront byhelping harness and nurturetheir entrepreneurial capabili-ties.

While creating a safe andsustainable environment forthe growth of industry, busi-

ness, trade and lifestyle, iWTCwill also have a dedicated spacefor cultural expressions ofwomen to promote and show-case performing arts and cul-tural forms like dance, musicand theatre.

"This is a fine concept thatlooks upfront," said eminentchoreographer and activistMallika Sarabhai, who is anadvisor to the Gender Park, anautonomous body under theSocial Justice Department.

"This will not only helpwomen to develop andexpand\ their ventures andbuild relationships, but also bea platform for their creativeexpression," said the danseuse,who was on a visit to Keralarecently, in connection withthe launch of some of GenderPark's schemes.

In September 2015, the UNGeneral Assembly adoptedthe 2030 Agenda, whichincludes 17 SDGs to transformthe world, building on theprinciple of "leaving no onebehind."

The facility will havewomen's start-upand incubationcentre, retail fashionand technologyoutlets, health andwellness centres,business centres andoffices, conference-convention-exhibitionspaces, says GenderPark CEO, P TMohammed Sunish

India to raise target forrestoring degraded land: PMPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday announcedthat India would raise its tar-get for restoring degraded landfrom 21 million hectares to 26million hectares by 2030.

Speaking at the 14th sessionof the Conference of Parties(COP) to the United NationsConvention to CombatDesertification (UNCCD),Modi said between 2015 and2017, India's tree and forestcover increased by 0.8 millionhectares.

"I would like to announcethat India would raise its ambi-tion of the total area thatwould be restored from its landdegradation status, from twen-ty one million hectares totwenty six million hectaresbetween now and 2030," the

Prime Minister said.Modi also said India would

be happy to propose initiativesfor greater South-South coop-eration in addressing issues ofclimate change, biodiversityand land degradation.

The prime minister alsocalled upon the leadership ofUNCCD to conceive globalwater action agenda which iscentral to Land DegradationNeutrality strategy.

Climate change, he noted,is also leading to land degra-dation of various kinds rang-ing from rise in sea levels andwave action, erratic rainfall andstorms, and sand stormscaused by hot temperatures.

"When we address degrad-ed lands, we also address waterscarcity. Augmenting watersupply, enhancing waterrecharge, slowing down waterrun-off and retaining moisturein the soil are all parts of aholistic land and water strate-gy," he said.

Modi said India takes pridein using remote sensing andspace technology for multipleapplications, including landrestoration and it would behappy to help other friendlycountries develop land restora-tion strategies through costeffective satellite technology.

Clear standon JNU case,BJP MP Lekhito KejriwalPNS n NEW DELHI

Days after Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwalsaid his government is yet todecide on granting prosecu-tion sanction in the 2016 JNUsedition case, BJP MPMeenakshi Lekhi on Mondaydemanded he make clear ifhis dispensation "favoursthose who want to breakIndia".

At a press conference here,the MP from the New Delhiconstituency wondered if theKejriwal government had an"understanding with thosewho raised the controversialslogans" on the JNU campusin February 2016.

"They were raising slogansagainst the hanging of AfzalGuru, against India. Onlyterrorists can talk in suchlanguage. The Kejriwal gov-ernment should make clearif it is standing with thosewho want to break India,"Lekhi asked.

She also wondered if theAam Aadmi party was "con-sidering fielding these peo-ple in the upcoming assem-bly elections".

The Kejriwal governmentis causing interruptions in thejudiciary's work, she alleged.

Citing provisions in thelaw, she said the JNU incidentwas a fit case to slap seditioncharges.

In February this year, a citycourt had lashed out at theDelhi government over delayin granting requisite sanc-tions to prosecute formerJNU students union presidentKanhaiya Kumar and othersin the sedition case, sayingthey cannot sit on the fileindefinitely. Beef ban:K'taka govt

to consider people'sfeelings, says JoshiPNS n PANAJI

Union minister Prahlad Joshion Monday said a decision onbanning cow slaughter inKarnataka will be taken whileconsidering the sentiments ofpeople of the state.

When asked about the BJP'sstand on cow slaughter, he saidthe party endorses MahatmaGandhi's views on the issue.

Notably, Mahatma Gandhihad firmly opposed the idea ofbeef consumption.

Gau SamrakshanaPrakoshta, the BJP's cow pro-tection cell in Karnataka, lastmonth wrote to Chief MinisterB S Yediyurappa on bringingback the 2010 anti-cow slaugh-ter bill.

"Cow slaughter ban is therein many states of the country.And Karnataka is also eligiblefor it," Joshi told reporters herewhile replying to a question.

He said the Karnataka gov-ernment has not decided any-thing over the issue.

"Even if it decides, it willconsider the feelings of peoplein Karnataka and it will bedecided as per the emotions ofpeople of the state," Joshiasserted.

"And I don't think it willhave any impact on Goa," theLok Sabha member fromDharwad in Karnataka said.

Asked about the BJP's standon the issue, he said, "Ourparty's stand is the same as

that of Mahatma Gandhi. EvenMahatma Gandhi's stand wasalso the same (which the BJPhas adopted), and we endorsehis stand on cow slaughter."

The Union parliamentaryaffairs, coal and mines minis-ter was addressing the medi-apersons to inform aboutsome of the bold decisionstaken by the BJP-led NDAgovernment during its last100 days in office.

Cow slaughterban is there inmany states ofthe country. AndKarnataka isalso eligible forit, the UnionMinister says

PNS n LUCKNOW

After serving a full five-yearterm as Rajasthan governor,former UP chief ministerKalyan Singh on Mondayrejoined the BJP at the partyoffice here in presence ofsenior leaders of the stateunit.

The 87-year-old leadertook the membership of thesaffron party in the presenceof UP BJP chief SwatantradevSingh.

His son Rajveer Singh, LokSabha MP from Etah, andgrandson Sandeep Singh,minister of state for finance,were also present at the partyoffice.

Kalyan Sigh's tenure asRajasthan governor endedon September 3.

Former UP CMKalyan Singhrejoins BJP

Three BSF jawans among five injured in clashPNS n AGARTALA

Three BSF jawans were amongfive people injured in a clashbetween the troops and localresidents in West Tripura dis-trict, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred atRayermura village near theIndia-Bangladesh border onSunday evening.

"A BSF patrol detained threepeople who were allegedlythrowing packets of some con-traband items from the Indianside of the international bor-der to Bangladesh at

Rayermura village on Sundayevening," DIG of police,Arindam Nath said.

He said when the BSF per-sonnel prevented the allegedsmugglers from throwing thecontraband items toBangladesh, some villagersattacked the jawans and otherlocal residents joined them.

"The BSF jawans had toopen two rounds of pump-action gun on the attackers,causing injuries to two ofthem," Nath said.

The BSF personnel havelodged an FIR against the

attackers, he said.BSF DIG, C L Belwa, con-

firming Nath's version, saidthat his jawans had opened fireon the villagers in self- defencefrom pump-action guns caus-ing minor injuries to two ofthem.

Three BSF personnel,including a company com-mander, were injured in stone-pelting by the alleged smug-glers, he said.The injured per-sons were given first aid atTripura Medical College.Police are investigating thecase.

Akhilesh postpones Rampur visitPNS n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party supremoAkhilesh Yadav on Mondaypostponed his visit to Rampurto September 13-14 in view ofprohibitory orders imposed inthe city due to Muharram andGanesh Chaturthi, even as healleged that the district magis-trate was working at the behestof the state government.

Addressing a press confer-ence at the party office here,the SP chief, who was sched-uled to meet party leader AzamKhan's family on Monday, alsoclaimed that the administra-tion has said his visit couldresult in riots in Rampur.

"I have to visit Rampur aftermeeting party workers in

Sitapur, Shahjahanpur andBareilly. I have postponed thevisit by two days. It has beenrescheduled to Sep 13-14. Noone can stop us from meetingpeople in a democracy," Yadavtold reporters here.

He said the administrationhas told the party that pro-hibitory orders were imposedin Rampur in view of

Muharram and GaneshChaturthi due to communitysensitivity.However, Yadavalleged that the Rampur dis-trict magistrate was "workingat the behest of government ashis tenure is going to end andhe wanted an extension". "Fakecases were lodged againstAzam Khan under pressure ofthe local administration," he

said, defending the partyleader."I and the entireSamajwadi Party is with himand will fight at all levels andalso explore ways for the legalfight," the SP chief said.

He said "politically motivat-ed" cases are being lodgedagainst Azam Khan to finishoff the university founded byhim.

The SP chief, who was scheduled tomeet party leader Azam Khan's family, also claimed that theadministration has said his visit could result in riots in Rampur

Groups clashover religiousprocessionPNS n BAREILLY

Four persons were injuredwhen two groups belongingto different communitiesclashed at Khailam villagehere over a religious proces-sion. The clash took place onSunday when the "pagdharyatra" was passing in front ofa religious place. Some peo-ple shouted slogans duringthe procession and the groupsclashed with sticks, resultingin injuries to four people,police said. "Pagdhar yatra" istaken out after "devi puja".Water is sprinkled in the vil-lage during the procession.

Citizenship Bill willchange demographyof NE: Nagaland CMPNS n GUWAHATI

Nagaland Chief MinisterNeiphiu Rio on Monday saidthe "highly controversial"Citizenship (Amendment) Billwill change the demography ofthe Northeast, if it is imple-mented by the Centre.

Strongly opposing the bill inthe presence of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah at thefourth NEDA conclave here,Rio said all the Northeasternstates had resolved earlier thatthey would not let the legisla-tion affect the region.

"We believe it will changethe demography of the NorthEast. We need to understandthe ground situation," Riosaid. He hoped that Shah andthe central government would"listen to us".

Rio also said that the nego-tiations on the Naga Peaceaccord were at an advancedstage.

"We are hopeful of a solu-tion very soon. We have alsoformed a joint legislationgroup," he added.

Rio also sought support ofall the states of the region toamicably settle the Nagalandissue as it was the "mother ofall issues in the Northeast".

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 world 07

TROTTINGTROTTINGGLOBE

BAHAMAS HURRICANETOLL UP TO 45Nassau (Bahamas): Authoritiesin the Bahamas have updated thedeath toll from Hurricane Dorianto 45, with police calling for thepublic to register details of themany people still missing.

B’DESH HALTS SIM CARDSALE IN ROHINGYA CAMPSDhaka: Bangladesh mobileoperators have on government orders stopped selling new SIMcards to Rohingya refugees,officials said on Monday, in afurther sign of Dhaka’simpatience following the latest failed repatriation move.

2 DEAD AFTER TYPHOONPUMMELS TOKYOTokyo: A powerful typhoon thatbattered Tokyo overnight with record winds killed twopeople, police said Monday.

ROBERT MUGABE TO BEBURIED ON SEP 15Harare: Zimbabwe’s latePresident Robert Mugabe will beburied on Sep 15, according to agovernment statement. Mugabe,95, died on September 6 inSingapore where he had beenreceiving treatment since April.

AP n BERLIN

The United Nations’ atomicwatchdog confirmed

Monday that Iran is preparingto use more advanced cen-trifuges, another breach of lim-its set in the country’s unrav-elling nuclear deal with majorpowers.

Iran had alreadyannounced the step, its latestviolation of the 2015 agreementas it tries to pressure Europeansignatories to find a way tomaintain oil shipments andease the toll of US sanctions onthe Iranian economy.

The International AtomicEnergy Agency reported itsinspectors verified the instal-lation of new centrifuges.

The agency said all hadbeen “prepared for testing” butnone yet tested at the time ofthe September 7-8 inspection.

The nuclear deal wasmeant to keep Tehran frombuilding atomic weapons inexchange for economic incen-tives.

Its collapse started with the

United States unilaterally with-drawing from the deal lastyear and imposing increasedsanctions.

The other signatories —Britain, France, Germany,China and Russia, as well as theEuropean Union — have beenstruggling to salvage the agree-ment and find a way to meetTehran’s demands.

To put pressure on them,Iran has already pushed pastlimits in the deal, known asJCPOA for short, on nuclearenrichment purity and stock-piles of enriched uranium.

A centrifuge is a device thatenriches uranium by rapidly

spinning uranium hexafluo-ride gas.

The IAEA said the ones itsinspectors saw included 30advanced IR-6 and three IR-6smodels, as well as multiple IR-4 and IR-5 models.

Under the atomic accord,Iran has been limited to oper-ating 5,060 older model IR-1centrifuges.

Russia’s permanent repre-sentative to internationalorganisations in Vienna,Mikhail Ulyanov, downplayedthe development, saying afterIran revealed its step about cen-trifuges that the move “should-n’t be overdramatised.”

UN atomic watchdog confirmsIran installing new centrifuges

AFP n HONG KONG

Hong Kong democracyactivist Joshua Wong was

making his way to Germany onMonday after he was releasedfrom a brief spell in custody fol-lowing a mistake in his bailconditions, his party con-firmed.

Wong, 22, was among mul-tiple prominent democracyadvocates who were detainedlate last month in a roundup bypolice as the semi-autonomouscity reels from more than threemonths of unprecedented pro-democracy protests.

He was accused of “incit-ing others to take part in unau-thorised assembly” amongother charges and later releasedon bail.

On Sunday, he said he wasdetained at Hong Kong airport

for “breaching bail conditions”after returning from Taiwanand as he then tried to makeanother overseas trip toGermany.

He also planned to travel tothe United States after.

But he was released by acourt on Monday after itemerged the detention was aprocedural error and that hisbail requirements allowed himto take any overseas trips thathad been arranged before hisarrest, local news station RTHKreported.

AP n WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’sweekend tweet canceling

secret meetings at Camp Davidwith the Taliban and Afghanleaders just days before theanniversary of the September11 attacks is the latest exampleof a commander in chief will-ing to take a big risk in pursuitof a foreign policy victory.

What had seemed like animminent deal to end the warhas unraveled, with Trumpand the Taliban blaming eachother for the collapse of near-ly a year of US-Taliban nego-tiations in Doha, Qatar.

The insurgents are nowpromising more bloodshed.The Afghan governmentremains mostly on the sidelinesof the US effort to end war.

And as Trump’s reelectioncampaign heats up, his quest towithdraw the remaining 14,000US troops from Afghanistanremains unfulfilled — so far.

Trump said he axed theCamp David meetings andcalled off negotiations becauseof a recent Taliban bombing nearthe US Embassy in Kabul thatkilled a US service member, eventhough nine other Americanshave died since June 25 inTaliban-orchestrated violence.

Ouagadougou: At least 29 peo-ple were killed in two attacks innorthern Burkina Faso onSunday, in a region prone tojihadist violence, the govern-ment said. One vehicle trans-porting people and goods “rodeover an IED in the Barsaloghoarea” leaving at least 15 pas-sengers dead, governmentspokesman Remis FulganceDandjinou said in a statement.

A security source said mostwere traders.

Meanwhile, around 50kilometres (30 miles) away, 14people were killed when foodvans travelling in convoy wereattacked, the spokesman added.

Local sources said many ofthe dead were the drivers of thethree-wheeler vans, which werecarrying provisions for peopledisplaced by fighting. AFP

AP n ST SIMONS ISLAND (GEORGIA)

Rescuers scoured theGeorgia coast on Sunday

for four missing crew membersof a cargo ship that overturnedand caught fire, but the effortsran into trouble amid theflames and instability of theship, the US Coast Guard said.

The Golden Ray cargo ship’sproblems began early Sundaymorning when it listed heavilyand rolled on its side in St.Simons Sound near the Port ofBrunswick with 23 crew mem-bers and one pilot on board.

Coast Guard Capt. JohnReed said 20 were safely evac-uated from the ship beforerescuers determined the situa-tion, as smoke and flamesappeared, was too risky to gofurther inside the vessel. Thevessel was just offshore in viewof beachgoers on the shoreline.

Reed said rescue teamsSunday were trying to stabilizethe 656-foot (200-meter) vehiclecarrier to continue their searchfor the missing crew, but theyhave been unable to determineif the fire has been extinguished.

IANS n LONDON

The UK could be bracing forone of the coldest winters

in 30 years, scientists havewarned.

The scientists made thisprediction after analysing cur-rent sea temperatures andweather systems over the NorthAtlantic, The Daily Mail said inthe reported.

The team, led by professorMark Saunders, told TheSunday Times: “This wouldrank the 2020 January-February central England tem-perature as the coldest wintersince 2013 and January-February 2020 as the seventhcoldest winter in the past 30years.”

Freezing Arctic air is set todescend on the UK in the firstmonths of next year as the Gulfstream will sidestep Britain,leaving the country without therise in temperature it normal-ly brings to the British Islesfrom the Atlantic andCaribbean sea.

Bangkok: Pakistan on Mondaysubmitted detailed answers to125 questions posed by theFinancial Action Task Force(FATF) on moves taken by it tostrengthen anti-money laun-dering and combat financing ofterrorism, as Islamabad seeks tomove out of the FATF Greylist.

The report was submittedby Pakistan’s Minister forEconomic Affairs HammadAzhar who is heading the 15-member delegation to Bangkokfor the FATF negotiations,which will continue tillSeptember 13.

The Asia Pacific JointGroup of the FATF began itsfour-day meeting on Mondayin Bangkok to review the com-pliance report of Pakistan,besides other countries. IANS

Hong Kong’s JoshuaWong on way to Germany,US after brief detention

At least 29 killedin two attacks inBurkina Faso

Pakistan team inBangkok submitsanswers to FATF’s125 queries

Georgia: Searchon for 4 missingafter cargo shipoverturns

UK bracesfor coldestwinter in 30 years

Plan for Taliban meeting latestbold Trump gamble to unravel

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson is welcomed by Ireland’s Prime MinisterLeo Varadkar at Government Buildings in Dublin on Monday AP

AFP n DUBLIN

Irish Prime Minister LeoVaradkar said on Monday

that the European Union hadnot received from Britain anyalternatives to the so-calledbackstop provision in the Brexitdivorce deal.

“We haven’t received suchproposals to date,” Varadkarsaid during a visit by UK PrimeMinister Boris Johnson aheadof their first face-to-face talkssince the British leader tookpower in July.

“No backstop is no deal,”

he added, noting the meetingbetween the pair was “anopportunity to see where there might be commonground”.

The backstop is a provisionin the withdrawal agreementJohnson’s predecessor TheresaMay struck with Brussels tokeep the Irish border openregardless of the outcome ofBritain’s future relationshipwith the EU.

It would keep the countryin the bloc’s customs unionuntil a long-term solution totrade terms is agreed.

EU yet to receive UK’s alternativesto Brexit backstop, says Varadkar

AFP n LONDON

John Bercow, the speaker ofBritain’s House of Commons,

announced Monday that hewould step down within weeks,amid criticism by Brexit hard-liners who say he has twistedparliamentary rules to under-mine them.

Bercow said he would notstand again if MPs vote laterMonday in favour of an earlygeneral election — and if theydo not, as seems likely, hewould resign on October 31:the scheduled date for Brexit.

Bercow has served asspeaker of parliament’s lowerchamber for 10 years, oversee-ing heated debates on Brexitand making decisions as towhat the house should do,based on centuries of prece-dent.

“If the house votes tonightfor an early general election,my tenure as speaker and MPwill end when this parliamentends,” Bercow told the cham-ber.

“If the house does not sovote, I have concluded that theleast disruptive and mostdemocratic course of actionwould be for me to stand down

at the close of business onThursday, October 31.”

Bercow is best known forpresiding over debates, bel-lowing “Order! Order!” atunruly lawmakers and humor-ously chastising MPs who irkhim.

He has sought to mod-ernise parliament, abandoningthe speaker’s traditional robesfor a simple gown over a suit,and seeking to make it easierfor female MPs with newbabies.

But critics say he ispompous, biased in favour ofanti-Brexit MPs, and overlyfond of the sound of his ownvoice.

Bercow said the timing ofhis departure would mean thatMPs would have some knowl-

edge of the candidates toreplace him.

He also said it would bebetter than after a general elec-tion, when new MPs may comeunder party influence in theirchoice of the next speaker.

“I have sought to increasethe relative authority of this leg-islature, for which I will makeabsolutely no apology,” Bercowtold MPs.

“This is a wonderful placefilled overwhelmingly by peo-ple who are motivated by theirnotion of the national interest,by their perception of the pub-lic good, and by their duty, notas delegates, but as representa-tives to do what they believe isright for our country.

“We degrade this parlia-ment at our peril.”

I’ll step down, says UKParliament Speaker

Boris tosuspend Parlas his Brexitplans stallLondon: Prime Minister BorisJohnson insisted on Mondaythat a new Brexit deal can bereached to ensure Britain leavesthe European Union by theOct. 31 deadline, as he pre-pared to suspend Parliamentand send rebellious lawmakershome until two weeks beforeBritain is supposed to leave theEuropean Union.

Lawmakers used the hoursbefore the suspension to deliv-er new blows to Johnson’s tee-tering authority. An opposi-tion-backed measure designedto stop Britain from crashingout of the EU on Oct. 31 with-out a divorce deal became lawafter receiving the formal assentof Queen Elizabeth II. Thatcame hours before legislatorswere set to reject Johnson’sdemand for a snap election to break the politicaldeadlock engulfing the gov-ernment.

Meanwhile, Speaker JohnBercow, whose control of busi-ness in the House of Commonshas made him a central playerin the Brexit drama, announcedhe would step down after adecade in the job. AP

Bercow said he would notstand again if MPs vote

later Monday in favour ofan early general election— and if they do not, asseems likely, he would

resign on October 31: thescheduled date for Brexit

When we look at the histo-ry of democratic institu-tions in the country, wecome across severalinstances of MPs and

MLAs in the Opposition who work hardto pin down the Government. But rarelydo we find a ruling party MP firing all gunsin his effort to expose a scam and to insiston transparency and accountability in thefunctioning of his Government. One suchMP was Feroze Gandhi of the Congress, acrusader against corruption and India’s firstand undoubtedly the best investigative par-liamentarian whose birth anniversary fallson September 12.

Feroze Gandhi must be remembered formany things — his participation in the free-dom struggle which resulted in jail termsmore than once; his painstaking researchand commitment to probity in public lifewhich cost Jawaharlal Nehru’s FinanceMinister TT Krishnamachari his job; thenationalisation of life insurance; and forbringing in a law to insulate the media fromdefamation and libel suits when theyreported the proceedings of Parliament.

Incidentally, since the Congress nevertakes the name of such an impassioned cam-paigner against corruption, the youngergeneration may not know that he was IndiraGandhi’s husband, Sonia Gandhi’s father-in-law and Rahul Gandhi’s grand father. FerozeGandhi was inspired by Kamala Nehru to jointhe national movement for independence inthe late 1920s. He was jailed on more than oneoccasion and even led an undergroundmovement. He became a member of theProvisional Parliament in 1950 and was elect-ed to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and in 1957.

Initially Feroze relished his role as abackbencher but became an instant hit withhis maiden speech in the Lok Sabha inDecember 1955. Everyone was compelled tosit up and take notice when he spoke on theInsurance (Amendment) Bill. He held theHouse in thrall for close to two hours as heexposed the nefarious activities of privateinsurance firms and built an iron-clad casefor the nationalisation of the life insurancebusiness. He demanded strong measures toprotect public funds that had been invest-ed in these companies.

By the time he ended his speech, everymember felt that private insurance companieswere doomed. His arguments were so com-pelling that within two months the Presidentpromulgated an ordinance nationalising lifeinsurance. Congratulating the Government,Feroze said: “To hold a horse you need a rein;to hold an elephant you need a chain.” In thewords of his biographer, Tarun KumarMukhopadhyay, Feroze’s maiden speechsounded the death-knell for the private lifeinsurance business. Following nationalisation,the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) cameinto being. This was a signal achievement foran MP but more was to come when in the lat-ter half of 1957, Feroze Gandhi received a tip-

off about a scam in the FinanceMinistry. He heard that LIC hadsuddenly bought shares of com-panies owned by HD Mundhra,an industrialist close to theCongress, at inflated prices. Thisprompted him to intervene dur-ing Question Hour and seek aspecial debate.

The Finance Minister’s disin-genuous response put Feroze onfull alert and he sought a specialdebate on this issue. Initiating adiscussion he said: “A mutiny inmy mind has compelled me toraise this debate. When things ofsuch magnitude, as I shalldescribe to you later, occur,silence becomes a crime.”

To put it briefly, the story wasthat Mundhra, a businessmanwith a dubious record and whohad funded the Congress’ elec-tion campaign, ran into financialproblems and wanted the NehruGovernment to bail him out. Heasked the Government to investa crore of rupees in the shares ofsome of his companies. Althoughnone of the Mundhra companieswere doing well, the Governmentagreed to do this via the LIC.

However, while the negoti-ations were on, Mundhra boughtup shares of his own company inthe Calcutta Stock Exchangeand artificially jacked up theprices of his shares. Therefore,eventually, when the LIC went tothe market, it bought them atprices much higher than whatprevailed when Mundhra firstapproached the Government for

help. This is what is called theLIC-Mundhra scandal.

Feroze Gandhi deployed histruly extraordinary investigativeskills to track share prices ofMundhra companies over a fort-night to expose the Government.The then Finance Minister,Krishnamachari, tried to defendthe deal by saying that LICdecided to enter the market tobuild up its portfolio and so,bought these shares. But FerozeGandhi was not convinced. Whydid you take a fancy only toMundhra companies and whydid you buy them at inflatedprices? How can public money besquandered in this manner, heasked, pointing out that theprices of these shares slumpedafter LIC bought them.

The Government had noconvincing answers. Anyway, tocut a long story short, Nehru wasforced to institute a commissionof inquiry which heldKrishnamachari morally respon-sible for the questionable deci-sion, leading to his resignation.

Feroze Gandhi had severalmore achievements in his parlia-mentary career, including the Billhe introduced to insulate themedia from defamation suitswhen it covered Parliament.Journalists told him that whileMPs had the privilege to speakfreely in Parliament, reporting theproceedings faced defamationand libel suits. Given his deep andabiding commitment to democ-racy and Press freedom, he felt

that the media should have noconstraint while reportingParliament and the people mustget a faithful account of whattranspires in legislative chambers.

Feroze Gandhi introducedthe Parliamentary Proceedings(Protection of Publication) Bill toinsulate the media. And in anextraordinary gesture, theGovernment adopted this Billand saw it through in the twoHouses. In each of theseinstances, Feroze Gandhi’s metic-ulous collection of data and factshelped him to almost singlehand-edly carry the debate on hisshoulders until it reached its log-ical conclusion.

A variety of factors enabledFeroze Gandhi to effectivelypursue his goals as a represen-tative of the people. The firstwas his crusading nature andhis commitment to public wel-fare and democracy. Second,the diligence with which hegathered information to arguethis case and the ease withwhich he connected with hissources deep within theGovernment. Lastly, his parlia-mentary prowess. That is whyhis fellow MPs and ministers inJawaharlal Nehru’s Governmentdescribed him as “a dangerous-ly well-informed man”.

India needs to do a lotmore to remember this MP-extraordinaire!

(The writer is an author specialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal)The US Open Final will be remembered

for the victory of ageism and the defeatof its embedded implication of fading

away. For if we pan the performance of RafaelNadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams,then it is clear that there is shelf life yet forstar power in tennis and they still haveendurance enough to last out the nerve-wrack-ing uncertainties of competitive sport, own anddominate it even. Significantly, their standardshave been emulated by the young as bothFederer and Serena lost to learners who

idolised them, the former in the quarter final to Grigor Dimitrov, lovingly called“Baby Federer” and the latter in the final to Bianca Andreescu, who has muchof Serena’s bestial hunt and presence on the courts. Of course, fightback heroesdon’t have as much glamour as the Grand Slam winner but Serena, who hasreduced many a talent to a flash in the pan over the past decades and chal-lenged medical issues, would be happy to have birthed somebody with equalpower by being a spectacular inspiration. But it was Rafael Nadal who still stayedtrue king of the clay court. As an 18-year-old, who burst onto the internationalscene in 2005, tennis fans were already talking about him in hushed tones whenthe Spaniard from the island of Mallorca had what was to become one of themost dominant seasons on the clay courts around southern Europe. We sayso because Nadal possibly owns all 10 of the topmost big seasons on clay courts.And 12 of the clay court Grand Slam tournaments at Paris’ Roland Garros. Noother player has dominated a single tournament in the modern era as much asNadal has at the French Open. But he scored a career Grand Slam ahead of hisgreat friend and rival, Roger Federer, and after his stunning win at Flushing Meadowsin New York City to claim his fourth US Open tennis title, he stands just oneGrand Slam behind an ageing Federer at 19 titles.

Few eras in any individual sport in modern times have been dominatedby so few. Alongside the Spaniard and the Swiss Federer is the Serbian play-er Novak Djokovic and until he was forced to withdraw, the Scotsman AndyMurray was a part of the foursome. It is not funny that the top three have won55 Grand Slam tournaments between them, with Murray winning three more.But while Murray’s chronic pains have already forced him to pretty much leavethe sport, the “Big Three” of men’s tennis are still chugging along, giving moreevidence that modern training and recovery techniques can keep athletes atthe top for longer periods of time than ever before. Serena has clearly out-lasted her peers and is not giving up yet, ready to now fight her legacy. It isunlikely that another period of such dominance will ever be witnessed againin any sport, let alone the king of racquet sports.

Howsoever persistently we may counterPakistan’s adventurism and militarism,challenge the terms it sets, defang its

threat threshold, one thing can never change.And that is its export of terror in hydra-head-ed manifestations. So a report that Pakistanhas secretly released now UN-designated ter-rorist Masood Azhar, obviously to raise a batchof fidayeens and push them into India, does-n’t come as much of a surprise. With India’sclever reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmirand Pakistan’s isolation on the subject in world

diplomacy, the latter is clearly left with no option but to engage in local level offen-sives, be it diplomatically, militarily or surreptitiously. Since the first two have hard-ly worked, the last is its only dependable recourse. Given the current alienationin the Valley, it is not difficult for it to prop up home-grown militants as sponta-neous fighters for a cause. In fact, Pakistan has sensed that the terrain after theabrogation of Article 370 is most conducive for jihadi operations. It won’t aban-don its terror factory simply because it knows that it is not affecting the home-lands of countries that matter — namely strategic partner US and all-weatherfriend China. On the international stage, the big majors may talk about stoppingterrorism and resuming dialogue for India’s sake, even crunch their funding some-what, but beyond that, they do not have to deal with terror as a quotidian fact oflife as we have to. And since we are the victims, the actionable solutions are onour heads. Pakistan understands that apart from censures and condemnations,India wouldn’t want further internationalist intervention. And no matter how manypreventives we may take, slipping in a terror module, especially one as prac-tised and rehearsed in Indian conditions as the ones by Azhar, is easier for Pakistan.Resiliently dealing with a hit is a tougher act on our part. Everybody knows thatarrests of globally declared terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar typi-cally involve a seizure of assets and house confinement, a camouflage for sub-terranean operations. What doesn’t stop is the ideological propagation througha baton relay at seminaries, the funding that continues through religious chari-ties and the re-emergence of the same breed of terror through new nomencla-ture. Worse, Pakistan has never convicted terror group leaders and has dilutedtheir cases over such time as to allow a memory lapse, citing inadequate evi-dence. Even the US admitted that the previous arrest of Saeed had not made adifference and the Lashkar had been able to operate freely. Clearly, Pakistan willchoose to keep and blow the cover when the heat builds up, particularly of thekind involving the Financial Action task Force (FATF), which tracks terror fund-ing and is empowered to cut off international loans and aids. Besides, the USwon’t shortchange a strategic ally in the region completely, given Pakistan’s facil-ity with the Taliban in Afghanistan. India must realise that the US, therefore, won’tlook at Pakistan’s proxy wars against us beyond a point.

So what must we do? For starters, we must realise that no amount of ret-ributive justice or punitive action from our side will stop Pakistan from pursuingits old but effective “thousand cuts” operations across India. While we have beefedup counter-insurgency operations in recent years, eliminated Pakistan-exportedmilitant hives in the Valley and seemingly avenged a Pulwama with Balakot —at a great cost one must admit — the point is these won’t be decelerators ofPakistani ambition, rather animus. We would have to keep a tautness of prepared-ness, which means sharpening our alertness and counter-terrorism protocolswith technology upgrades and an emergency-level efficiency. Politically, there-fore, we cannot force the hand of Kashmiris with an extended lockdown of basicamenities of life and alienate them further. There must be civil engagement anda basic semblance of normal life that must be restored. Otherwise, we are justgiving Pakistan enough reason to make deeper cuts. We may have won the diplo-matic round but are yet to size up the reality on the ground.

Pak sticks to formula

Not a setback

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Onwards and upwards”(September 9). The inability ofVikram, the lander, to make theneeded and expected “soft land-ing” on the moon’s hithertouncharted “South Pole” broke abillion and more hearts. Still, whatthe Indian Space ResearchOrganisation’s (ISRO’s) complexlunar mission achieved is notsmall given that the orbiter is safeand is revolving the moon. Thisis remarkable enough to fill uswith pride.

It is not for nothing that theChandrayaan-2 mission has comein for praise from NASA. The lastminute glitch caused by “hardbrake” that possibly spun the lan-der out of control was not a fail-ure but a deferred success. It isonly a matter of time beforeISRO clears the final hurdle. Toquote Rabindranath Tagore, its“tireless striving stretches its armstowards perfection.” It is a mis-nomer to call the faltering in thelast leg a “setback” as there isnothing called “setback” in therealm of science.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Success in failures

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Onwards and upwards”(September 9). A landing to themoon is not easy. A total of 38

attempts have been made by manyother countries to land a rover onthe moon and they have succeed-ed only in a little more than halfthe time. While China toucheddown on the lunar far side toexplore the South Pole-Aitken

basin, India’s Chandrayaan-2 mis-sion was special in the sense thatit was exploring an unknown ter-rain — the moon’s South Poleregion. Our propulsion, algo-rithms and software were superbto follow the scripted trajectory.

Our payloads were indigenous.The velocity of the lander was suc-cessfully controlled from 6,000 kmper hour at the start of its descentat 35 km altitude to a few metresper second before communicationwas lost. We may be disappoint-ed today but we ain’t disheartenedas 90-95 per cent of the mission’sobjectives have already been“accomplished.” In their quest fornew frontiers of knowledge, mostnations opt for selective silence butby laying open our every endeav-our in space, we seek to serve thelarger cause of science.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

What about peace?

Sir — India scored a goal by con-vincing the international commu-nity and the UN about theinevitability of its move in Jammuand Kashmir. But how will it jus-tify the fact that peace seems tobe elusive even a month after theabrogation of Article 370 anddivision of the State?

ZeeshanVia email

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

08

The forgotten Gandhi

A SURYA PRAKASH

It’s unfortunate that the Congress never mentions Feroze Gandhi, who was a crusaderagainst corruption and India’s first and undoubtedly the best investigative parliamentarian

There is social and economicdisparity in our society andtherefore reservation isrequired…we totally supportthe reservation as mandatedby the Constitution.

RSS joint general secretary —Dattatreya Hosabale

An actor is probably the mostinsecure person. Anyone whotells you he's not insecure islying. From being relevant, tostaying alive in a really com-petitive terrain, it's not easy.

Actor—Emraan Hashmi

I am deeply concerned aboutthe impact of recent actionsby India on human rights ofKashmiris and the detentionof local political leaders and activists.

UN Human Rights chief —Michelle Bachelet

S O U N D B I T E

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

Destination moon must go on

This refers to the editorial, “Onwards and upwards”(September 9). “Not failure but low aim is sin”, saidBenjamin Elijah Mays. When India's moon mission

came tantalisingly close to a finish but could not deliv-er due to a lapse of communication with the lander, theentire country seemed to suggest what Mays said to theIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ChairmanK Sivan. Nevertheless, with Vikram the lander being locat-ed on the lunar surface, Sivan and his dedicated bandof scientists are trying to establish contact with it. Theyare all professional scientists who know how best theyshould handle both success and failure. In fact, in sci-ence, success is honed around failures.

Emotions vacillated and efforts of ISRO scientistswere highly appreciated by one and all despite the nearmiss. Cheers, hugs and consolation — all should workin ISRO's favour in its missionary zeal to go aheadnotwithstanding the aberration. And there should be nolooking back. The ambitious Gaganyaan mission is sched-uled for 2022. The solar mission, Aditya, too, is on track.Besides, ISRO will also aim for the moon again to bringsamples from the lunar polar region. The JapaneseAerospace Exploration Agency has been roped in for themission. After initial failures, ISRO has grown by leaps

and bounds. It is our pride and has had many feathersin its overflowing cap. Moreover, Chandrayaan-2 has notfailed. The orbiter is very much alive and with the “pre-cise launch and mission management”, its life span willextend to almost seven years. Just like it has sent imagesof the lander, it will keep sending high-resolution mapsof the lunar surface. Since no other country has attempt-ed to explore this region, they would be keen on get-ting data from the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. NASA plansto send its astronauts to the South Pole by 2024.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

HE MUST BEREMEMBERED

FOR HISPARTICIPATION IN

THE FREEDOMSTRUGGLE; HIS

PAINSTAKINGRESEARCH AND

COMMITMENT TOPROBITY IN

PUBLIC LIFE; THENATIONALISATION

OF LIFEINSURANCE; ANDFOR BRINGING IN

A LAW TOINSULATE THE

MEDIA FROMDEFAMATION AND

LIBEL SUITS WHENTHEY REPORTED

THE PROCEEDINGSOF PARLIAMENT

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

True grit

I did not come to the Congressbecause I had a life-long careerhere. I came because Ibelieved it is the best vehiclefor advancement of an inclu-sive and progressive India.

Congress leader—Shashi Tharoor

There’s no reason to be alarmed about a report of MasoodAzhar being released as it is just a repetition of past drills

Since the turn of the millennium, tennis has been dominatedby familiar names. As they age, greats aren’t clearly giving up

Look beyond the surface

ARTICLE 370 WAS TEMPORARY IN NATURE WHILEARTICLE 371 IS ABOUT SPECIAL PROVISIONS IN THENORTH-EAST. THE CENTRE WOULD NEVER TOUCH IT.

—HOME MINISTERAMIT SHAH

IT SHOWS CENTRE’S DOUBLE STANDARDS. AFTERTHE NRC, THE WHOLE NORTH-EAST IS IN TURMOILAND HE (SHAH) WANTS TO PLEASE THEM.—CPI(M) GENERAL SECRETARYD RAJA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

In science, there is no such thing as failure.There are only experiments and efforts.” Withthese words, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

consoled a crestfallen nation after India’s moonlander Vikram was unsuccessful in descendingon the lunar surface smoothly. Some may ques-tion the `970 crore ($140 million) price tag ofthe Chandrayaan-2 mission. But this investmentwill eventually pave the way for India to tap intothe trillions of dollars of mineral wealth on themoon and near-earth asteroids.

To many, this may sound like science fiction,but several national space agencies including theUS’ National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA), the European SpaceAgency, Chinese Space Agency, Russia’sRoscosmos, the Japanese Japan AerospaceExploration Agency (JAXA), are already map-ping and exploring the lunar surface and near-by asteroids.

Many private players like Moon Express,Astrobotic Technology, Blue Origin, iSpace andso on have serious commercial plans for lunarprospecting as well. The Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO), too, completed our firstmission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1 in 2008,with great results and now Chandrayaan-2 isexpected to take it forward with a mission lifeof up to seven years. The moon isn’t so far outof our reach after all. Actually, it’s only a two-three day journey, which is shorter than the 79-hour journey on the Kanyakumari-DibrugarhVivek Express!

The technology to exploit lunar resources,though immature, is around the corner. The firstlunar rover was launched in 1970 by the erst-while Soviet Union, a year after the first humanlunar landing by the USA. Safely landing andremotely driving a car-sized eight-wheeledvehicle on the moon’s surface back in 1970 wasa gigantic achievement. The technology was re-used in 1986 to clear radioactive debris insidethe Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the after-math of the nuclear disaster there. In 1997,NASA’s Sojourner rover became the first roveron Mars, followed by rovers Spirit in 2004,Opportunity in 2004 and Curiosity in 2012.China landed two of its rovers on the moon,Yutu in 2013 and Yutu-2 in 2018.

India started its moon exploration missionwith Chandrayaan-1, announced by PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003 andlaunched in 2008. ISRO’s Moon Impact Probeconfirmed the presence of water in the lunar soil,whereas NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapperinstrument on-board looked for minerals acrossthe moon’s surface. Interestingly, Chandrayaan-1 was also looking for Helium-3. This specificform of Helium, scarce on earth, is abundant onthe moon’s surface. But why are ISRO and otherspace agencies looking for it? The answer ispotentially abundant, safe and clean nuclearenergy hidden in it. While Helium-3 fusion tech-nology is laboratory-proven, it isn’t yet commer-cially viable. Helium-3 also finds applications incryogenics and medical imaging.

Rare Earth Metals (REMs) are indispensablefor modern electronics. China has already cor-nered 90 per cent of the supply and is aggres-sively capturing more. While only limitedsources of REMs have been found on the moon,

NASA still considers it important to be able tomine it, given its critical importance. Further,the moon also has concentrated deposits of tita-nium, a metal critical for advanced weaponry.

However, the big question remains if lunarmining will ever become commercially viable?For that, we need to look at other maturingknowhow that will benefit lunar mining tech-nology. Reusable rockets, as demonstrated bySpaceX and Blue Origin, are set to disrupt thelaunch industry. Other Government and privateagencies are furiously trying to emulate the sameto remain competitive. Space transportationcosts are expected to go down significantly. Withequipment delivered to the moon, advanced con-struction robots will assemble mining facilities.

Also, 3-D printing technologies will allowforging smaller parts and replacements.Autonomous vehicle technology being pioneeredby the likes of Google, Tesla and Uber can bere-purposed for automated prospecting, extrac-tion and movement of lunar mining vehicles.Advances in industrial robotics will lead to auto-mated ore refineries, with lunar mining vehiclesdumping raw ore at one end and refined prod-uct coming out of the other. Human supervi-sors would stay in habitats built into the lunarcaves, similar to the International Space Station.

It is not just one technology in isolation, norjust one mineral that will seal the deal. Whentaken together, we can see a reasonably positivepicture emerge. The likely trajectory of lunarmining will probably start with surveying andsmall sample-return missions. These will even-tually grow in scope with small factories andminor human settlements, before growing intoa large industry.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the firstsatellite in orbit. Just six decades later, globalspace activities are valued over $350 billion asrevealed by a Morgan Stanley report, with pro-jections to reach over a $1 trillion by the 2040s.NASA estimates that the present lunar resourcesare worth hundreds of billions. But the moonis just a test bed of sorts for asteroid mining and

Mars colonisation, where there are even moreresources to be harnessed. The website Asteranklists several near-earth asteroids and theirpotential financial value. Asteroid Ryugu, thatis orbiting between the Earth and Mars, has anestimated $80 billion worth of minerals. Japan’sHayabusa 2 touched down on it earlier this yearand is expected to return with a sample next year.

In the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata,after the devastating war between the Pandavasand the Kauravas, the oldest of the 100 Pandavabrothers, Yudhisthira laments over his deplet-ed treasury. However, Ved Vyas tells him of thegreat Mount Meru (the sacred five-peakedmountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmol-ogy that is considered to be the centre of all thephysical, metaphysical and spiritual universes)in the inhospitable reaches of the northernHimalayas that has an abundance of gold.Yudhishthira launches an expedition to mine themountain and thus replenishes his kingdom’scoffers.

We are an ancient yet continuing civilisa-tion. For centuries, India was at the forefront ofseveral technologies, especially metallurgy, tex-tile, civil engineering and agro-tech. While large-scale space mining and colonisation are stilldecades away and are fraught with millions ofdangers and hurdles, no civilisation can prop-agate itself unless the present generation plansand invests for the future.

In 2018, the Modi Government restarted theambitious Indian Human SpaceflightProgramme by announcing budgetary fundingfor the programme and Gaganyaan, an Indiancrewed orbital spacecraft, is intended to be thebasis of the project.

The programme will eventually help estab-lish a domestic space tourism sector and per-haps decades later, lead to an Indian moon base.We owe it to our descendants to give them a headstart when they take over the reins of India.

(The writer is Telangana BJP spokesperson,economist and Director, Centre for Leadership andGovernance, Hyderabad)

Post the Chandrayaan-2 setback, some may question the ` 970-crore investment in spacebut this will pave the way for India to tap into trillions of dollars worth of lunar minerals

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Link with a globalsupply chain

KARAN BHASIN

India must cut corporate tax rates and sort outtrade disputes with the USA. This will signal tothe world that the country is open for business

ANUGULA RAKESH REDDY

Recently, the People’s Bank of China reduced the amount ofreserves with commercial banks by half a percentage point.This frees up $126 billion for lending with the hope that it will

anchor the slowing economy at a time when global growth is weak.So far we’ve witnessed interest rate cuts from all major central banksof the world and Fed (United States of America’s central bank) indi-cated another rate cut at its meeting this month, which will resultin further rate cuts from other central banks. All of this signals aformal recognition by central bankers that a slowdown is pretty muchhere.

The fact that the global economy is weak is no secret as we’veseen a contraction in Germany’s economy. Besides, consumptionremained weak across Asia. Many argue that increased uncertain-ty due to the ongoing trade war is a major reason behind the cur-rent slowdown as investments and consumption both remain mutedsince the start of this year. The US was an exception to the slow-down as it experienced record low levels of unemployment with-out any inflationary pressures. The August job report for the USshows further expansion in economic growth but at a slower paceand this is likely to be a reason for the rate cut by the Fed if it wereto happen this month.

Indeed, there’s uncertainty due to the current trade war. This,when combined with slow global growth and domestic economicslowdown further complicates the situation, requiring greater pol-icy intervention. While there’s a lot of pessimism on the econom-ic front, most of it is unwarranted as India at present has a rareopportunity to make itself an integral part of the global value chain.

A major reason for the reorientation of the global value chainsfrom China is greater uncertainty regarding tariffs due to the cur-rent trade war between the US and China. However, recent increasein wage costs and the lack of availability of factory workers hadresulted in reluctance of firms to set up new plants in China overthe last five years. Therefore, the China story was largely over evenbefore the current trade war but the conflict has only acceleratedthe process of firms moving away from China to other South Asiancountries.

A likely choice was Vietnam. However, that country has limit-ed capacity to absorb more companies moving their supply there.Other countries are Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh while someof these firms have also come to India. While the Indian Governmenthas started making attempts at aggressively pursuing some of theseenterprises that have exited China, Indonesia has been undertak-ing successive reforms while making changes in its tax structureto appear as an attractive destination.

India’s massive population, with a sizeable and booming mid-dle class, acts as an additional incentive for firms to shift their sup-ply chains here. The strong domestic demand acts as a compen-sation from any uncertainty with respect to global growth or tar-iffs. Therefore, India would have been the obvious choice for mostof these organisations if it wasn’t for our uncompetitive taxationnorms, especially corporate taxes.

Hopefully, the new Direct Tax Code (DTC) will address someof these issues but given that the relocation is happening as wespeak, some tax cuts should be announced right away to grab theattention of global firms. The Government should simultaneouslyconsider releasing the DTC report and initiating a consultative processso that it can be implemented from the next financial year.

Further, we should appreciate the strong common strategic andeconomic interests between India and the US. Addressing all tradeissues should be a priority to ensure that there’s predictability oftrade policy. This will go a long way in addressing the concernsthat many multi-national corporations are facing, and consequent-ly they’ve been avoiding shifting their production line to India. Infact, India should proactively push for predictable trade policy withall its major trading partners to remove uncertainties. We alreadyknow that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is looking for a tradedeal with India and, therefore, proactiveness on this front will go along way in sending a strong signal to global investors and corpo-rations. There are many other interventions that are required by theGovernment to make India a competitive and attractive destinationfor the manufacturing sector. Reforms in factor markets, such asland and labour, combined with reducing the cost of capital are somesuch interventions.

While reforms in factor markets are important, they will requirea lot of discussion, deliberations and negotiations. The least thatwe can do in the meantime is reduce our corporate tax rates andsort our trade disputes with the US. This will act as the best sig-nal to the world that India is open for business!

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy researcher)

On the occasion of theInternational Tiger Day,Prime Minister Narendra

Modi released the 2018 TigerEstimation report with great fanfareand broke the news of a significantincrease in the tiger population ofIndia. He termed the success of tigerconservation efforts in India as“baaghon mein bahar hai,” a take onthe popular Hindi film song fromyesteryears. According to the estima-tion report, the tiger population hasincreased from 1,400 in 2014 to 2,967in 2019, a solid growth of 34 per cent.It is a remarkable achievement for thecountry that in spite of several hic-cups in conservation, it has three-fourth of the world’s tiger population

and has emerged as the safest habi-tat for the big cat. HighlightingIndia’s conservation efforts, Modisaid that the target to double the tigerpopulation by 2022, which was set in2010 in St Petersburg by the interna-tional community, was achieved byIndia four years in advance.

The tiger census, one of theworld’s largest, was carried out overan area of 3,91,400 sq km in 3,17,958sample habitat plots. As many as26,838 camera traps located at 141sites covered over 1,21,337 sq km offorests and snapped more than76,000 pictures of the big cats.

This estimation seems quite reli-able given the meticulous planning,use of cutting-edge technology andanalytical tools. This time humanerrors were minimised and figureswere based on recording of actualfield data digitally through themobile phone application M-STrIPES (Monitoring System forTiger-Intensive Protection andEcological Status). The sighting oftigers and other animals was record-ed and geo-tagged. One of the keysto success was the adoption of a land-

scape approach across five tigerhabitats, i.e. the Shivaliks and Indo-Gangetic Plains, Central India andEastern Ghats, Western Ghats, theNorth-East and the Sunderbans.National Geographic prepared a doc-umentary on this census, highlight-ing the hard work done by the fieldstaff and other officers.

The increase in tiger numbers inthe country has basically been due tothe hard work put in by the forestersand positive attitude of villagers

apart from policy thrust and prior-ity attached to conservation by theCentre and State Governments.

The impact of improvement inoverall forest management and tech-nological back-up was also felt.However, we must also rememberthat the tiger is a prolific breeder andonce its numbers started growing, agood prey base and habitat ensuredthat the population would registergood growth. But the nation mustgive equal credit to villagers situat-

ed near tiger habitats as without theircooperation, protecting the felinespecies would have been a pipedream, as is the case in many othercountries. However, the increasedtiger population has brought with itmore responsibility and challengesfor forest departments as tigers canonly prosper in healthy environs thatwould support their prey base.

Incidentally, the highest numberof tigers, 526, was located in MadhyaPradesh (MP), followed by 524 inKarnataka and 442 in Uttarakhand.

Sadly, Chhattisgarh witnessed abig decline from 46 tigers in 2014 to19 in 2019 and is a cause for concern.Similarly the results in Bihar, Goa,Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Mizoramand Arunanchal Pradesh are not veryencouraging and the situation maybecome critical in other areas also.Shockingly, no tigers were reportedin Buxa, Palamu and Dampa tigerreserves.

However, a word of caution forMP, Uttarakhand and Karnatakawhich have shown a boost in big catnumbers. They must control theincreasing man-animal conflicts as

a larger tiger population meansincreasing competition for food,water and space. Issues like condi-tions of forests, prey base, livelihoodof fringe forest dwellers, tribals andso on, need to be taken up on a pri-ority basis so that the big cats don’tcome in conflict with people. Further,water sources will have to beimproved on a war footing to com-bat climatic vagaries.

The Ministry of Environment’sCompensatory AfforestationPlanning and ManagementAuthority (CAMPA) recentlyreleased ̀ 47,000 crore to States. Evenif the annual interest earned on thisamount is used in a well-plannedmanner, it can solve the monetaryand resource crunch faced by the for-est department.

There is also dire need to syn-chronise the working of forests,rural, tribal affairs and Jal ShaktiMinistries. The time is ripe to makesome innovative and forward-look-ing changes in the governance ofthese subjects.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

More tigers bring newer challengesIssues like conditions of forests, prey base, livelihood of fringe forest dwellers, tribals and so on need to be taken up

on a priority basis so that the big cats don’t come in conflict with people

VK BAHUGUNA

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Compelling tourists to makea financial contribution tothe places they visit beyondtheir personal consumptionshould be part of a widercultural shift. Westernershave often behaved as ifthey have a right to gowherever they choose withlittle heed for theconsequences. Just as theenvironmental harm causedby aviation and othertransport must come underfar greater scrutiny, thesocial cost of tourism mustalso be confronted.

(The Guardian editorial)

TAXING TOURISTSNOT A BAD THING

THE MOON IS JUST ATEST BED OF SORTS FORASTEROID MINING ANDMARS COLONISATION,

WHERE THERE ARE EVENMORE RESOURCES TO BE

HARNESSED. THEWEBSITE ASTERANK

LISTS SEVERAL NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDSAND THEIR POTENTIAL

FINANCIAL VALUE.ASTEROID RYUGU THAT ISORBITING BETWEEN THE

EARTH AND MARS HAS ANESTIMATED $80 BILLIONWORTH OF MINERALS.JAPAN’S HAYABUSA-2TOUCHED DOWN ON IT

EARLIER THIS YEAR ANDIS EXPECTED TO

RETURN WITH A SAMPLENEXT YEAR

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

British Airways saysalmost all UK flightscancelled over strikeNEW DELHI: British Airwayssaid Monday it has been forcedto cancel almost all its flightsfrom UK airports on the first dayof a strike by pilots."After many months of trying toresolve the pay dispute, we areextremely sorry that it has cometo this," BA said in a statement.The airline said it remains willingto return to talks with the BritishAirline Pilots Association(BALPA). "Unfortunately, with nodetail from BALPA on whichpilots would strike, we had noway of predicting how manywould come to work or whichaircraft they are qualified to fly,so we had no option but tocancel nearly 100 percent of ourflights". The UK flag carrier andits 4,300 pilots have been lockedin a nine-month pay dispute thatcould disrupt the travel plans ofnearly 300,000 people.

Passenger vehiclesales decline for10th straight monthNEW DELHI: India's domesticpassenger vehicle sales fell forthe tenth straight month inAugust, declining 31.57 percent to 1,96,524 units from2,87,198 units in the year-agoperiod. Domestic car saleswere down 41.09 per cent to1,15,957 units as against1,96,847 units in August2018, according to datareleased by the Society ofIndian AutomobileManufacturers (SIAM)released on Monday.Motorcycle sales last monthdeclined 22.33 per cent to9,37,486 units as against12,07,005 units a year earlier.Total two-wheeler sales inAugust declined 22.24 percent to 15,14,196 unitscompared to 19,47,304 unitsin the year-ago month.

Innolia Energyannounces Rs 225cr investment insolar moduleNEW DELHI: US-based InnoliaEnergy on Monday said it haslaunched a project entailinginvestment of Rs 225 crore toset up a manufacturing facilityin Hyderabad for solarmodules, lithium battery andelectric vehicle (EV) products."Leveraging years of developingadvanced technology solutionsfor companies in the US,Innolia Energy's manufacturingplant (300MW) in India deliversa fully integrated andcustomisable system solutionof solar panels, lithium-batteryand EV products manufacturingunder a single roof," a companystatement said. According tothe statement, themanufacturing unit is India'sfirst fully integrated solar andlithium battery packmanufacturing companyproviding technologyintegration solutions forgeneral-purpose or application-specific renewable markets.

India looks at open, balancedIndo-Pacific region: JaishankarPNS n SINGAPORE.India looks at an open, inclu-sive and balanced region con-nected by secure seas, inte-grated by trade and investment,underpinned by the rule of law,External Affairs Minister SJaishanakar said on Monday, ashe sought Singapore's supportin addressing the challengesposed by the changing world.

Addressing the inauguralsession of India Singapore:The Next Phase of StrategicPartnership, Jaishankar said,"There is no hegemonic powerto underwrite an internation-al order but nor is there a glob-al compact among nations.The international situationtoday is under stress."

In geopolitics, it's not onlythe rise of China and thesharper competition betweenthe United States and Chinabut the simultaneous rise ofseveral countries, the promiseof an Asian century whose risestill has challenges to over-come, he said.

"We do see multilateralismin retreat. There are questionmarks about the effectivenessof institution that we have setup in the last 50 years," he said.

Highlighting PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'svision, Jaishankar said,

"We look at an open, inclu-sive and balance region con-nected by secure seas, inte-

grated by trade and investment,underpinned by the rule of lawand anchored in ASEAN unityand centrality with East AsiaSummit as its principal forum.

His comments came amidstChina flexing its muscles in thestrategic Indo-Pacific region.

"We are poised at a veryimportant juncture in the worldpolitics. It is not obviously aneasy time, but also not a dis-heartening time. I think a lotwould depend on the imagina-tion and the dexterity withwhich we together addressmany of the challenges," he said.

Recalling India's ties withSingapore, Jaishankar, who wasearlier posted in Singapore asthe high commissioner said,"When we came together in thecontemporary phase of ourrelationship, it was the timewhen the world was changingand India was changing.Thetwo changes had something to

do with each other."At that time India was fac-

ing severe balance of paymentscrisis and was embarking onradical economic reform. Thenworld was changing and theCold War was coming to anend.

"It was very clear that a lotof assumptions on which the

world was working had to berevised. In that situation, Indiaturned to Singapore andSingapore responded. We hadthe Look East Policy. Singaporethen became a key partner inIndia's growth and develop-ment," Jaishankar added.

It also became a bridge tothis region, he said.

"In 1992, India launchedthe India-Asian partnershipand by 2005 we were membersof the East Asia Summit," theminister said.

During that periodSingapore was a direct sourceof investments into India. Itsfinancial market was a majorsource of capital. Singapore wasthe first country with whomIndia signed a ComprehensiveEconomic PartnershipAgreement, he said.

"We have a robust defencerelationship. We have just com-pleted 25 years of uninter-rupted naval exercises which Ithink is the longest India hadwith any country. Now wehave extended it as a trilateralwith Thailand," he said.

"In political, strategic as wellas economic and commercialareas, Singapore has become afulcrum for India's policieseast of India. Today, what start-ed as a bilateral relationship issomething that has grown verymuch bigger," he said ahead ofhis meeting with the leaders ofthe country.

We do see multilateralism in retreat. There arequestion marks about the effectiveness of institutionthat we have set up in the last 50 years

— S JAISHANAKAR , External AAffairs MMinister

Pension: Coal executives association to stage dharnaPTI n NEW DELHI

An association of serving andretired executives of state-owned CIL and SCCL onMonday said it is mulling aday-long protest in the nation-al capital by the year-end toprotest against lack of pensionreforms in coal sector.

The association says thatpension of CIL and SingareniCollieries Co Ltd (SCCL)employees has not beenreviewed since 1998 despite theprovision for review of CoalMine Pension Scheme (CMPS)every three years.

"All India Association ofCoal Executives (AIACE) is ...planning to stage one-day dhar-na (by the end of the year ) inDelhi with other coal pension-ers welfare associations toattract the attention of the gov-ernment towards the plight of

pensioners," AIACE PrincipalGeneral Secretary P K SinghRathor said in a statement.

Coal employers and execu-tives are covered under CMPS,1998 which is effective fromApril 1, 1994.

Despite the provision ofreview of the scheme everythree years, it has not beendone and pension once fixed atthe time of retirement hasnever been increased sinceinception, AIACE explained.

As a result, even CMDs ofcoal companies like Coal India(CIL) who retired before 1997are in receipt of a monthly pen-sion of just Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000per month.

"Whereas even the lowestlevel employees of both PSUs--CIL and SCCL -- retiringtoday get more than Rs10,000/month as pension dueto increase in salary in 2007and 2017 pay revision forExecutives and different

NCWA (Nation Coal WageAgreement) over the last 20years," the statement said.

Since inception of thescheme 21 years ago, not evenonce the pension was enhancedleaving those retired 15 to 20years ago in a state of destitu-tion, Rathor explained.

Since CMPS, 1998 is a gov-ernment notified scheme, theCentre must pitch in to bail outthe scheme by levying a cess oncoal production in the country.

"Also pension issue shouldbe made part...of pay revisionpackage of employees of CILand SCCL in future," Rathoresaid. Pensioners associationsapproached the Supreme Courtin February, 2015.

"The associations plead forsuitable modification in thepension scheme so that oldpensioners (from a cut-off dateto be fixed) should get not lessthan 50 per cent of the pensionnew retirees are getting whoretire in the same grade/post,"the statement said.

The apex court transferredthe writ petition to Delhi HighCourt.

"Regular hearings are takingplace ever since and next dateis on September 11. All pen-sioners are hoping to realise thelong pending demand forenhancement," the statementsaid.

The association says that pension ofCIL and Singareni Collieries Co Ltd(SCCL) employees has not beenreviewed since 1998 despite theprovision for review of Coal MinePension Scheme (CMPS) every three years

Satyam scam: SATquashes ban on PwCPTI n MUMBAI

In a major setback to Sebi, SATMonday overturned the mar-kets regulator's order banningPrice Waterhouse Coopersfrom auditing any listed com-pany for two years for its rolein the RS 7,800-crore Satyamscam.

However, Securities AppellateTribunal or SAT partly alloweddisgorgement of the Rs 13 crorefee from the auditor.

The scam saw the companyRamalinga Raju promotedcompany going belly up inJanuary 2009.

Setting aside the ban onPwC, which is one of the BigFour global accounting firms,SAT said, only the nationalauditors watchdog ICAI(Institute of CharteredAccountants of India) cantake any action against itsmembers and fraud cannot beproved on the basis of negli-gence in auditing.

"Sebi has no authority tolook into the quality of auditand auditing services. Sebican only take remedial andpreventative action. The direc-tion issued is neither remedi-al nor preventive. But puni-tive," SAT said.

If there was any derelictionof duties, it was on the part ofthe two partners for which theother 10 firms cannot bebanned just because they havesome resource sharing agree-ments, the tribunal added.

However, it said there hasbeen breach of duty, therefore,the entire fee of Rs 13 crorecan be taken back with inter-est from PwC.

On January 8, 2009, SatyamComputer Services founder-chairman B Ramalinga Rajuhad publicly admitted andconfessed to large-scale finan-cial manipulations to the tuneof over Rs 5,000 crore in thecompany's books. A Sebi probehowever found the scam wasmuch higher at Rs 7,800 crore.

Soon after the admission,the government supersededthe Satyam board and initiat-ed a sale process, which inApril that year endedTehMahindra taking over thecompany.

However,SecuritiesAppellateTribunal or SATpartly alloweddisgorgement ofthe Rs 13 crore feefrom the auditor

PTI n NEW DELHI

The government has imposedcountervailing duty onSaccharin, a kind of sweeten-er, from China for five years,a move to guard domesticplayers from cheap imports.

The Department ofRevenue imposed the dutyafter it was recommended bythe Commerce Ministry'sinvestigation arm DGTR.

In its probe, the DirectorateGeneral of Trade Remedies(DGTR) concluded thatSaccharin has been exportedto India at subsidised value,

which has resulted in sub-sidisation of the product. Dueto this, domestic industry hassuffered material injury.

After considering thesefindings, "the designatedauthority, hereby imposesdefinitive countervailing duty"on the goods "originating inand exported" by China, anofficial notification said.

The product would attract20 per cent duty, which wouldbe imposed on the base of CIF(Cost, Insurance and Freight)value. The CIF value is theactual value of the goodswhen they are exported.

While the DGTR recom-mends duty, Finance Ministrytakes the final call to impose theduty.

The purpose of imposition ofcountervailing duty, in general,

is to eliminate injury caused tothe domestic industry by unfairtrade practices of subsidisa-tion so as to re-establish a situ-ation of open and fair compe-tition in the Indian market.

Imposition of countervail-ing duty would not restrictimports from these countriesand would not affect the avail-ability of the products to theconsumers.

In 2018-19, Saccharinimport stood at USD 7.60million (about Rs 54 crore). Itwas USD 3.94 million (aboutRs 28 crore) during April-Julyperiod of the current fiscal.

From China, the import ofthis product slightly dipped toUSD 4 million (about Rs 28crore) in 2018-19 from USD4.17 million (about Rs 29crore) in the previous fiscal.

Govt imposes countervailing duty on Chinese sweetenerThe productwould attract 20per cent duty,which would beimposed on thebase of CIF (Cost,Insurance andFreight) value

McLeod Russelseeks debtrestructuringPTI n KOLKATA

Bulk tea producer McLeodRussel India, a part of theWilliamson Magor group, is intalks with the bankers forrestructuring its debt, a com-pany official said on Monday.

The company's short andlong-term debt amounts toaround Rs 1,700 crore.

"We are keen for a restruc-turing of debt for which dis-cussions with the bankers areon. We are trying to give a pro-posal through SBI Caps forconversion of short-term loansinto long term and also reduc-tion of interest rates", McLeodRussel CMD Aditya Khaitantold reporters on the sidelinesof the company's annual gen-eral meeting here.

Khaitan said the tea produc-er, which received around Rs 90crore from the sale of two estatesto Goodricke, has used the sumto repay a part of its debt.

In his reply to the share-holders' queries on lending toanother group firm McNallyBharat, Khaitan said, "In hind-sight, it appears that it was a

mistake. We wanted to see ifthat money could help turn-around of McNally Bharat. Ithas taken a toll on the com-pany and the group."

He clarified that there wasno fresh lending to McNallyBharat after that.

Mcleod Russel had lentnearly Rs 1,800 crore toMcNally Bharat. Khaitan saidthat the tea industry is goingthrough a rough patch.

"Production in the organ-ised sector is stagnant. Growthis only from the bought leaffactories (BLF) which are clut-tering the market", he stated.

According to him, the gov-ernment needs to regulate thegrowth of the BLFs.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Union Bank of India onMonday said its board of direc-tors has approved merger ofAndhra Bank and CorporationBank with itself and givennod for a capital infusion of Rs17,200 crore in the currentfinancial year.

The decision was taken atthe meeting of the board ofdirectors held on Monday,the bank said in a regulatoryfiling.

The board "considered andgiven its in-principle approvalfor the amalgamation ofAndhra Bank and CorporationBank into Union Bank.

"And, (the board also)approved the revised capitalplan for 2019-20 to raise cap-ital funds by an amount notexceeding Rs 17,200 crorewithin which up to Rs 13,000crore through equity capitaland up to Rs 4,200 crore

through additional tier I/IIbonds," it said.

The bank added that theboard has okayed capital rais-ing by issue of equity sharesthrough preferential allotmentto the government for anamount up to Rs 13,000 crore,subject to other regulatoryapprovals.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had on August 30announced a mega merger ofpubic sector banks, wherebythe number of such banks

would now come down to 13from 19 at present.

In the latest round, as manyas 10 banks will be merged intofour banks.

Among others, Delhi-headquartered PunjabNational Bank will mergeOriental Bank of Commerceand United Bank of Indiawith itself, Canara Bank willmerge Syndicate Bank into itwhile Allahabad Bank will beconsolidated with IndianBank.

Union Bank board okays mergerof Andhra, Corp Bank with itself

The decision wastaken at themeeting of theboard ofdirectors held onMonday, the banksaid in aregulatory filing

PTI n NEW DELHI

Prices of gold on Mondaydeclined Rs 300 to Rs 39,225per 10 gram at the bullionmarket here, in absence ofdemand and a stronger rupee,according to HDFC Securities.

Silver was also on weakground, tumbling Rs 1,400 toRs 48,500 per kilogram.

"Spot gold prices for 24karat (99.9 per cent purity) inDelhi was trading down by Rs300 in absence of physicaldemand and a stronger rupee,"HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities) TapanPatel said. He added that thefestival demand has not pickedup yet in the physical marketdue to higher gold prices.

The rupee appreciated 14paise to 71.58 against the USdollar in early trade onMonday as China's easing

move and rate cut hopes by theUS Fed enthused investors.

In the international market,gold was trading flat at USD1,506 per ounce in New York,while silver traded lower atUSD 18.05 an ounce.

"Gold prices are expected totrade in a corrective phase innear term awaiting clarity onUS Federal Reserve rate andprogress on US-China tradetalks," Patel added.

On Saturday, gold closed atRs 39,525 per 10 gram, whilesilver at Rs 49,900 per kilo-gram.

PTI n MUMBAI

The BSE benchmark Sensexended 164 points higher, dri-ven by gains in financial andauto stocks amid positive cuesfrom other Asian markets.

After opening on a negativenote, the 30-share indexrebounded 460 points fromthe day's low of 36,784.47 tosettle 163.68 points, or 0.44 percent, higher at 37,145.45. It hitan intra-day high of 37,244.08.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty rose 56.85 points, or 0.52per cent, to close at 11,003.05.During the day, the indextouched a peak of 11,028.85and low of 10,889.80.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack included Yes Bank,Maruti, L&T, Kotak Bank,Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance,

SBI, ONGC, HDFC and HeroMotoCorp, rising up to 4.47per cent

On the other hand, HCLTech, Infosys, TechM, BajajAuto and TCS fell up to 1.50per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, ShanghaiComposite Index, Nikkei andKospi settled in the green,while Hang Seng ended in thered.

Exchanges in Europe werealso trading on a mixed notein their respective early ses-sions.

In hindsight, itappears that it was amistake. We wanted

to see if that money couldhelp turnaround of McNallyBharat. It has taken a toll onthe company and the group

— ADITYA KHAITANMcLeod Russel CMD

Gold prices drop Rs 300; silver tumbles Rs 1,400

Sensex rises 164 pts; Niftyreclaims 11,000-level

SETBACK FOR SEBI

imply making a period movie isn’t enough any-more. Not unless you have a budget that cangive a Mughal emperor some serious complex.

In turn, mega budgets bring an obvious pitfall — theguarantee of recording a blockbuster diminishes justthat much.

So, Bollywood has slowly started thinking lateral-ly, to sustain the period flick. One of the most lucra-tive — therefore favourite — genres that haveemerged is the sports drama seeped in history. A hand-ful of recent hits have proved that a historic sportingincident, or a legendary sporting icon of the past,makes for an instant winner at the box-office, com-bining the pride of patriotism and the love for sports.

If Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Gold have been amongfilms in the genre that underlined that fact for theBollywood moneybags, there is plenty more tocome.

New-age Bollywood recognised the power of theperiod sports movie when Rakeysh OmprakashMehra’s 2013 film, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, became asuperhit. Based on the life of Milkha Singh, who isknown as The Flying Sikh, the film smartly mixed anemotional story of Partition pangs with a coming-of-age melo drama and, of course, the thrills of sport-ing action. The movie was honoured with twoNational Awards. The 2018 Akshay Kumar-starrerGold, based on India’s first gold medal win as an inde-pendent nation at the 1948 Olympics in hockey, didaverage business, but the intrigue factor it raised wasenough for other producers to understand the powerof the genre.

In the coming months, Bollywood goes full steamwith the genre of the period sports drama. The filmthat has overwhelmingly been in the news fora while now — although its release dateis in April 2020 — is Kabir Khan’s 83about India’s first-ever cricket

World Cup win in 1983. Ranveer Singh essaysKapilDev, who captained the team, while DeepikaPadukone plays Kapil’s wife, Romi. Other team mem-bers are played by actors like Tahir Raj Bhasin, HarddySandhu, Jiiva, Sahil Khattar, Chirag Patil and AmmyVirk, among others. Boman Irani plays FarokhEngineer while Pankaj Tripathi essays the team man-ager. The film is expected to hit theatres in April nextyear. The 83 unit has just completed its London sched-ule.

Ajay Devgn’s Maidaan, the shoot for which hasrecently started, and John Abraham’s 1911, which hasrecently been announced are other films in the genrecoming up.

Maidaan chronicles the journey of the legendaryfootballer Syed Abdul Rahim, who was also the coachand manager of the Indian national football team from1950 until his death in 1963. While Ajay Devgn playsSyed Abdul Rahim, Gajraj Rao, South actress KeerthySuresh and Bengali actor Rudranil Ghosh are also apart of the period drama. The Amit Sharma directo-rial has begun shooting from this month and is expect-ed to release next year.

Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani has recently announcedthat he will be directing the period sports drama 1911,which is set in pre-independence India. The film tellsthe magnificent story of Mohun Bagan’s historic IFAshield win against East Yorkshire Regiment in theyear 1911.

In each of these films — just as Gold, BhaagMilkha Bhaag or Chak De! India some time before— the winning formula that the makers aim tostrike is the combination of patriotism and sport-ing action.

In 1911 for instance, theglory that the Indian clubMohun Bagan achieved does

not just lie in just winning the shield. As the barefoot-ed Indian eleven beat much better-equipped Britishteam, the incident is widely regarded as an importantmoment that sparked off India’s movement.

A biopic of late hockey legend Dhyan Chand is alsoreportedly on the cards, where Varun Dhawan mightplay the lead.

Scriptwriter Rohan Shankar, who recently createdwaves writing Luka Chuppi, finds another reasonbehind the trend. “In Bollywood, filmmakers are goingout of their way to find interesting stories. There havebeen many successful sports personalities in India inthe past. So, Indian actors have also started takinginterest in sports dramas,” he said.

Talking about the trend, trade analyst AmodMehratold says, “Lack of stories leads to such exper-imenting. One or two sports dramas such as MaryKom and MS Dhoni worked, but then Gold was aver-age. I cannot say whether it is a trend but I feel becausethere is a lack of stories, biopics are in for sure. So, alot of movies are being planned on those who arefamous in the world of sports. They make for goodstories because the theme is always an underdog win-ning big.”

The underdog element, of course, works forfilms based on contemporary sporting

heroes, too. Hits of recent times, suchas Dangal (2016), Mary Kom

(2014), Soorma (2018) and MSDhoni: The Untitled Story

(2016) evidence that fact.However, when there is

the right blend of historyand sports, the lure for thebuffs becomes just thatmuch more stronger.

— IANS

aastu is a balancing harmony betweennature and human beings, the five ele-ments of nature — Air, fire, water,earth and space. All architects in theworld are experts in their science butthey should know the in depth science

of Vaastu to excel in their field,” said VaastuAcharya Dr Venugopal RaoVeeramaneni, dur-ing a press conference held in the city recently.

Speaking to The Pioneer, Rao said, as howayurveda and yoga is considered good for bodyand mind, similarly vaastu is considered for ahappy living. He added that these three sciencesare must for people to lead a peaceful life.

Rao shares, “I have been practicing vaastufor the last 10 years and started training oth-ers for the last four years to dispel the widelyspread misinformation in the society aboutvaastu. I am focusing on architects, civilengineers, builders and interior designers, ifthey know they can build vaastu compliantstructures. My training institute imparts train-ing in Indian traditional architecture or vaas-tu, till date we trained 96 people. Recently I wasinvited by Sri Sri Ravishankar of Art of Livingto address foreign delegates on vaastu at hisAshram in Bengaluru. Lot of those foreignerspresent there were keen to know, learn andpractice vaastu.”

Rao informed that vaastu is different for menand women, homes, commercial complexesand apartments, and a couple’s first letters in theirnames can find what kind of house suitable forthem to live.

Rao informs, “After the western world’s expo-sure to yoga and its benefits, they are inquisitiveto demystify and unravel more about Indian wayof life and benefit from it. Several of our Gurusin a sustained way spread the message of yogaand popularised it beyond our shores. But therehas hardly been any attempt to take the knowl-edge of vaastu to them. It is their quest to adoptmore of the ancient Indian practices and leadpeaceful and harmonious lives is what is bring-ing them in hordes to India to learn vaastu.”

He visited more than 20 countries and foundthat people are becoming aware of vaastu and theinterest is growing enormously, it’s just that thereis dearth of experts in their countries to seekguidance.

He says, “It’s really heartening that this desireto be vaastu compliant in those countries, is whatis driving architects and interior designers fromthere to come to India and gain knowledge ofvaastu and satiate their clients needs.”

Recently, some foreign delegates from Brazilvisited Veeramaneni Institute of Vaastu Sciencesand learned more about vaastu with Rao.

One of the delegates, Mariana Brasil, says, “Idiscovered India and the good things of lifethrough art of living and from my spiritual guruSri Sri Ravishankar. I am today capable of tak-ing care of my mind and body through yoga andauyurveda, with excellent outcomes. But Ialways felt, what was lacking in my life was some-

thing which would take care of our homes andimmediate environment. That I came to know,could be bridged through vaastu, a decade ago,prior to that I had no knowledge about vaastu.Since then I have been searching for an able mas-ter to learn vaastu, during my visits to India. Itis fulfilled now, with me coming to know aboutvastu acharya Dr VR Veeramaneni. My clientsare constantly seeking for happier and healthi-er homes, they have problems and are seekingsolutions, I feel vaastu can address these. I don’tsee a challenge in the clients accepting vaastu tobetter their lives.”

Sara Battelli, architect and interior designersays, “I always had a strong intuition about archi-tecture and whenever I design something I wouldimplement my designs, now I have more tools

through vaastu, which are rational, scientific andmakes sense to implement them in my work. I realise this is the right thing to do and I believein taking it to my clients, for them to benefit from it. My job becomes much easier to use vaastu, because people are already aware of themagic yoga and ayurveda can do, the fact that this is an extension of those very helpful sci-ences, will make it to be readily acceptable to theclients.”

Sara adds, “The popularity of this hithertounknown science in the west, is bound to increasein the years to come, because of the beneficialaspects it brings. Dr Rao has a certain set of val-ues that I respect and made me realise that heis the most appropriate master I was looking forlearning vaastu.”

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AFTER THE WESTERN WORLD’SEXPOSURE TO YOGA AND ITSBENEFITS, THEY ARE INQUISITIVETO DEMYSTIFY AND UNRAVELMORE ABOUT INDIAN WAY OF LIFEAND BENEFIT FROM IT. SEVERALOF OUR GURUS IN A SUSTAINEDWAY SPREAD THE MESSAGE OFYOGA AND POPULARISED ITBEYOND OUR SHORES

V

S

TuesdaySeptember 10, 2019

Balancing betweennature and humans

Vaastu Acharya Dr VenugopalRao Veeramaneni along withforeign delegates talks aboutbenefits of vaastu and theimportance of science to lead a peaceful life, reports V SATEEESH REDDY

Recently I was invited bySri Sri Ravishankar of Artof Living to addressforeign delegates on vaastuat his Ashram inBengaluru. A lot of theforeigners present therewere keen to know, learnand practice vaastu

DR VENUGOPAL RAOVAASTU ACHARYA

My job becomes mucheasier to with vaastu,because people arealready aware of themagic yoga and ayurvedacan do. The fact that thisis an extension of thosevery helpful sciences, willmake it readily acceptableto clients

SARA BATTELLIARCHITECT

My clients are constantlyseeking happier andhealthier homes, theyhave problems and areseeking solutions. I feelvaastu can address these.I don’t see any difficulty inclients accepting vaastu tobetter their lives

MARIANA BRASILARCHITECT

Period sports drama: B-Town's new winning trick

NEW-AGE BOLLYWOOD

RECOGNISED THE

POWER OF THE PERIOD

SPORTS MOVIE WHEN

RAKEYSH OMPRAKASH

MEHRA’S 2013 FILM,

BHAAG MILKHA

BHAAG, BECAME A

SUPERHIT. BASED ON

THE LIFE OF MILKHA

SINGH

A STAR-STUDDEDEVENINGConducted by Telugu cine production executive union

‘The Cinemahotsavam' event in Hyderabad over theweekend was a star-studded affair with eminent

people from all walks of life gracing it. Besidesperformances from Devi Sri Prasad, Pooja Hedge andAnasuya, among others setting the stage on fire, theevent also saw veterans Krishnamraju, Geetanjali andMurali Mohan being felicitated. However, the specialattraction turned out to be the presence of megastarChiranjeevi and superstar Mahesh Babu, both of whowere clicked involved inan animatedconversation. Nowonder, their picswent viral. SeshAdivi andPriyadarshi hostedthe event.

what’s brewing?PARTY

12

l Super star Krishna and K Raghavendra Rao l (From right) Rajendra Prasad, T Subbirami Reddy, Murali Mohan, Krishnam Raju, Giri Babu and Geetanjali l Mahesh Babu and Chiranjeevi

l Rakulpreet Singh

l Lavanya Tripathi

l Nagababu and Niharika

l Sumalatha, Jayasudha and Jayapradha

l Jeevitha Rajasekhar and Kishan Reddy among others

Hyderabad Tuesday September 10, 2019

l Tulasi

l Kota Srinivasa Rao and Ambika Krishna

l Allu Aravind

l Devisri Prasad

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

FUN TIME

eems like director Anil Ravipudi is keen onmaking his Sankranti affair SarileruNeekevvaru, starring Mahesh Babu, a star-

studded affair. While he has already pulled out arabbit out of the hat by roping in veteran VijayaShanti to make a comeback with the action-comicentertainer, turns out he is not done yet. If reportsare to be believed, the film has scope for an actressto shake a leg in the introductory number ofMahesh and Ravipudi is keen on TamannaahBhatia performing for it. Apparently, talks with theactress, who has performed for multiple itemsnumbers in the past, have been positive and shehas given her in-principle nod to the shoot aswell. The fact that she worked with Ravipudiearlier for F2- Fun and Frustration helped thedeal to be sealed fast.

A text to one of the producer’s of the film, AnilSunkara, for a confirmation went unanswered tillthe time of going to press.

Meanwhile, strong buzz doing the rounds indi-cate that KGF helmer Prashant Neel has metMahesh at the latter’s residence in Hyderabad overthe weekend for a story narration. The discussionhas gone beyond an hour. A collaboration on thecards? Your guess is good as ours!

is first two ventures — Ee Maya Peremito and Suryakantham— might not have been big box-office draws but Rahul Vijay’sturn in both the films was raved by one and all. He is nowawaiting the release of Telugu-Tamil bilingual College Kumar;a remake of Kannada hit of the same name. Released last year,the original, directed by Santhu, told the coming of age story

of a happy-go lucky chap who has to fulfill his father’s dreams. The pres-sure starts getting to him, leading him to rebel against his dad. The actorhas pinned high hopes on the remake. “I play a college student ShivaKumar in the film. His father (played by Rajendra Prasad) was once aworker at an auditing firm and over an issue; he challenges his superi-or that he will be make his son an auditor. However, Shiva comes acrossas someone who is least interested in academics. He cheats his way tomake his father happy with his studies, until one fine day he gets caught.A heated exchange takes place between the two and they decide to swaproles to understand each other’s pain. While the father will pursue stud-ies at college, the son will take care of the home, raise finances and payhis dad’s fee. It’s a funny concept on a very emotional note. It’s been longsince such a concept has come in Telugu and the freshness factor shouldaugur well for its box-office prospects,” he shares in a conversation withThe Pioneer.

He adds that they’ve just taken the core point of original, while givingthe Telugu version a new spin. “Santhu was candid enough to admit thathe doesn’t know the mindset of Telugu audience, so we hired a writer MasalaSandeep who tailored the script to suit our nativity. In Kannada, the storydrive was more from father’s role, whereas for Telugu version, it’s from mypart. The flaws that Santhu detected in the Kannada version were recti-fied for the new versions,” he states, adding that the director has so far direct-ed six Kannada films, out of which four were hits. “He is very fast on sets,open to suggestions and believes in film being a collaborative effort. Infact, much to my shock, he wrapped up thebilingual in flat 50 days.”

When starring in a remake, the perfor-mance of the original will be subconscious-

ly at the back of one’s mindbut Rahul avers that heapproached the partin his own way. “When

I saw the Kannada versionI was only thinking of

how I can react to thesituations that Shiva is

in. If you are influencedby the original in one

way or the other, it meansyou are not concentrating on

the remake. I generally approachmy scenes on my own. If the direc-

tor likes it, he’d okay the shot or elsewe will discuss and go about my job.It took me three days to internal-ize what Shiva is and what Santhuwas expecting of me and post that it went on smoothly,” he recalls.

The only prep he had to do for the part was to put on five kilos.“In the second half of the film, I’d be seen as a family man whoruns a canteen. So the director wanted me to look a bit chub-

by and he asked me to eat whatever I wanted to. Now, I’mdying to get rid of those extra kilos for my next,” he states,breaking into a wide smile.

Working with veteran Rajendra Prasad, who is consideredto be a master of comedy, was a big learning curve, Rahul

mentions. “There were many scenes where we had done scenechoreography. He would be so sure of how a character moves

in a particular way to evoke laughter and the rightcomic timing to land a punch. After such shots,

the set would erupt in joy and he would latertell me, ‘This is how people will laugh in the-atres as well’. In fact, there was a scene wherehe is quarrelling with my mom and I had tointervene to utter a small dialogue. He wasn’thappy with the way I performed it and hedemonstrated how to go about it. I had to takefour takes to emulate what he did and after Iwatched it in the monitor, I realised how goodit turned out to be because of him,” he signsoff.

Hyderabad Tuesday September 10, 2019

If reports are to be believed, the film hasscope for an actress to shake a leg in theintroductory number of Mahesh andRavipudi is keen on Tamannaah Bhatiaperforming for it. Apparently, talks withthe actress, who has performed formultiple items numbers in the past,have been positive and she hasgiven her in-principle nod to theshoot as well

13

tollywood

Rahul Vijay banks onfun and frustration

HSekhar Kammula's musical love story rolls on

elebrating Kaloji NarayanaRao’s 105th birth anniver-sary on Monday, writer-

filmmaker J Prabhakarannounced a biopic namedKalanna. The film is an attemptto present Kaloji’s written works,his struggle for the country’sindependence to the young lot,the director said. Producer JVijayalakshmi said the film’s pre-liminary pre-production has com-menced and that they have a sto-ryline in place. She added thatKaloji’s close friends will be con-sulted as a part of research and togive screenplay a final shape. NRavi Kumar, a student of SatyajitRay Film Institute, Kolkatta, willbe the film’s cinematographer,while Ghantasala Viswanath willcompose music.

A poet, freedom fighter, anti-fascist, political and civil rightsactivist who opposed tyrannytooth and nail, Kaloji was award-ed the second-highest civilianaward of the country, PadmaVibhushan in 1992. He is alsocredited bringing recognition to

Telangana languageand culture

through hispoetry.

Biopic onKaloji in works

tarring Naga Chaitanya and SaiPallavi, the filming of SekharKammula’s untitled next has kicked

off in Hyderabad on Monday with a combination scene involving the leadactors. Earlier, a pooja was held, post whichdistributor and producer Sunil Naranghanded over the script to Kammula whilethe latter’s father Seshayya sounded theclapboard.

Distributor Sadanand switched on thecamera. To be presented by Kammula’sAmigos Creations, the film, a musical lovestory, is a joint production venture betweenNarayan Das, Sunil Narang and P RamMohan Rao.

The first schedule of the film, to bewrapped up over three schedules, will lastfor 10 days.

Kammula said the film is the love storyof two individuals who travel from the vil-lage to a city to pursue their dreams. “NagaChaitanya has been learning the Telanganadialect with quite a lot of interest. His rolewill be the highlight of the film. SaiPallavi is going to be a surprise,” he said.The director is introducing Pavan, wholearnt music from AR Rahman’s KMMusic Conservatory in Chennai, as thefilm’s composer.

S

C

S

THE FIRST SCHEDULE OF THEFILM, TO BE WRAPPED UPOVER THREE ROUNDS, WILLLAST FOR 10 DAYS

Karthikeya isan authoriseddrinker in 90 ML

he first look ofKarthikeya-starrer 90ML — with a tagline

authorised drinker — wasunveiled by the film’s makers onMonday.

A commercial entertainer,the film, directed by SekharReddy Yerra, who assistedChandra Mahesh in the past, is70 per cent over. The newschedule will begin fromWednesday in Hyderabad. Itwill witness climax actionepisode being shot.

The filming is set to bewrapped up by October firstweek, post which the unit willbe flying off to Europe to shoota couple of numbers.

Producer Ashok Reddypromised the film will be asunique as the title.

Noted actor Ravi Kishan willbe playing Karthikeya’s bêtenoire, while the likes of RaoRamesh, Ajay, Posani KrishnaMurali, Praveen and Ali will beseen in key supporting roles.Newbie Neha Solanki is cast opposite Karthikeya in thefilm.

PRODUCER ASHOKREDDY PROMISEDTHE FILM WILL BE ASUNIQUE AS THE TITLE

Tamannaah toshake a legwith Mahesh?

T

WHEN STARRING INA REMAKE, THEPERFORMANCEOF THE ORIGINALWILL BESUBCONSCIOUSLYAT THE BACK OFONE’S MIND, BUTRAHUL AVERS THATHE APPROACHEDTHE PART IN HISOWN WAY

The actor talks to NAGARAJ GOUD about his upcoming projects, gaining

weight for his next and others

When I saw the Kannadaversion I was only thinking of

how I can react to the situations thatShiva is in. If you are influenced bythe original in one way or the other, itmeans you are not concentrating onthe remake. I generally approach myscenes on my own. If the directorlikes it, he’d okay the shot or else wewill discuss and then go about it

RAHUL VIJAY

fter receiving backlash overhis latest perfume adver-tisement, actor Johnny

Depp defended it, saying it wasmade with great respect.

“The Dior campaign, Sauvage,was pulled on August 30 after beingconsidered offensive to NativeAmericans,” reports holly-

woodreporter.com.During the Deauville Film Festival,

the Pirates of the Caribbean star saidthe teaser released was just a clip anddid not reflect the depth of the fullproject, titled We Are the Land.

“A teaser obviously is a very con-centrated version of images and therewere objections to the teaser of thesmall film. The film has never beenseen,” he said.

Depp feels it was wrong to makesuch objections.

“There was never — and howcould there be or how would there be— any dishonorable (intent). Thefilm was made with a greatrespect for the indigenouspeople not just of NorthAmerica but all overthe world. It’s a pitythat peoplejumped the gunand madethese objec-t i o n s .However, theirobjections aretheir objections,”he added.

The clip showedDepp wandering throughdesert as Native Americansperform a war dance in traditionaldress. The company received com-plaints that it was offensive and it wassubsequently taken down.

DEPP FEELS IT WASWRONG TO MAKE SUCHOBJECTIONS

ctor Pierce Brosnan has said it is time to introducethe female James Bond. “Yes,” hollywoodreporter.comquoted Brosnan as saying to the prospect of a female

Bond.“I think we’ve watched the guys do it for the last 40 years,

get out of the way, guys, and put a woman up there. I thinkit would be exhilarating, it would be exciting,” added the actor,who essayed the role of the famous spy four times.

There are rumours that Lashana Lynch is expected to takeover as the next 007 from Daniel Craig in the upcoming NoTime to Die installment.

Brosnan expressed doubt that the change will play out onscreen under the current producers. “I don’t think that’s goingto happen with the Broccolis. I don’t think that is going tohappen under their watch,” he said.

In the #MeToo era, Brosnan said Bond will have to change.“Without question, yes... The #MeToo movement has beenrelevant and significant and well needed in our society, sothey’ll have to address that,” he said.

Brosnan calls working on the James Bond franchise as ahighlight of his career. “James Bond has a certain sig-nificance and a deep pride. I will be asked abouthim until my dying days — it just goes with theterritory. He’s a beloved character. I was hon-oured to play the role and I rejuvenated afranchise that had been dormant,” headded.

ational Award-winning actor Akshay Kumar is all setto play Prithviraj Chauhan on screen. He says for himit is an honour to be essaying the role of one of the most

“fearless and courageous kings of India”.“It is truly an honour that I will be playing the role of one

of the most fearless and courageous kings of India, PrithvirajChauhan. As a nation, we should always celebrate our heroesand immortalise what they did to propagate the values thatIndians lived by,” said Akshay, who turned 52 recently.

Prithviraj is being made by Yash Raj Films. The movie is beingdirected by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, who directed the tele-vision epic Chanakya. It will release worldwide on Diwali 2020.

“Prithviraj is our attempt to bring to light his valour and dare-devilry. Prithviraj was the only person standing in front of amerciless nemesis and the bravery he showed, made him a true

Indian hero, an inspira-tion for generations

and a legend. So thisannouncementcoming on mybirthday hasindeed made it

more special forme,” Akshayadded.

Historians andfolk legends por-tray Prithviraj

Chauhan as anincredibly brave king

who faced the merci-less Muhammad

Ghori and hisr u t h l e s sinvaders ofI n d i a .

Prithviraj’sdaredevil-ry andheroismmade hima legend.

N

A

Hyderabad Tuesday September 10, 2019

14

ASHA BHOSLE celeb talks

receives birthday wishes from

anadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wished veteran singer AshaBhosle on her 86th birthday.

Bhosle on Sunday shared a message sent by Trudeau on Twitter.It read, “It is a great pleasure to send you best wishes and warmestcongratulations on the occasion of your eighty sixth birthday.”

The Indian singer captioned, “On my 86th birthday, I feel happythat my achievements have put India on theworld music map where world leadersacknowledge my presence. Thank you to PMTrudeau of Canada.”

Bhosle started her career in the 1940s.With a career spanning over six decades, the86-year-old has given her fans several hitsongs like Raatakelihai,Kajramohabbatwala, Dum marodumand Zara sajhoom loon main amongseveral others.

She is also a recipient of the high-est civilian awards in India, includ-ing the Dadasaheb Phalke Awardand the Padma Vibhushan.

JUSTIN TRUDEAUC

Akshay ‘honoured'to play PrithvirajChauhan

Pierce Brosnanwants femaleJames Bond

I think we’ve watchedthe guys do it for thelast 40 years, get out ofthe way, guys, and puta woman up there. Ithink it would beexhilarating, it wouldbe exciting. JamesBond has a certainsignificance and a deeppride. I will be askedabout him until mydying days — it justgoes with the territory.

— PIERCE

BROSNAN

ctor Abhay Deol’supcoming Tamil movieHero is scheduled to

release on December 20.Directed by PS Mithran,

Hero also stars southern filmindustry actorSivakarthikeyan Doss.

On working withSivakarthikeyan, Abhay tookto Instagram and wrote,“Every Villain needs a Hero!Such a privilege to be workingwith the talentedSivakarthikeyan... I’m havinga lot of fun making this, eventhough Tamil is one toughlanguage to speak!”

Hero will be out onDecember 20.

In the film, Abhay will beseen playing a baddie.

Directed by PSMithran, Hero

also starssouthern star

SivakarthikeyanDoss

Abhay Deol'sTamil film Hero torelease on Dec 20

A

Johnny Depp defends his perfume advertisement

A

sport 15HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

AFP n CHITTAGONG

Rashid Khan claimed 6-49and completed his maid-en 10-wicket haul as

Afghanistan defied rain andfading light to beat Bangladeshby a massive 224 runs in theone-off Test in Chittagong onMonday.

Rashid grabbed three ofthe remaining four wickets asAfghanistan took 17.2 overs onthe fifth day to bowl outBangladesh for 173 in the sec-ond innings after the hostsresumed with 136-6.

Play started on the fifth dayat 1:00pm local time after rainwiped out the first session.

It returned in abundanceafter the visitors bowled just 2.1

overs without being able toinflict any damage on the homeside.

Play resumed again at4:20pm and Afghanistan weregiven 18.3 overs to bowl outBangladesh, which was chasinga target of 398 runs.

Left-arm chinaman ZahirKhan dismissed overnight bats-man Shakib Al Hasan in the firstball after the resumption, deal-ing a serious blow to the homeside.

Afsar Zazai took a sharpcatch behind the stump toremove Shakib for 44 and thenRashid did the rest.

Rashid trapped MehidyHasan dead in front for 12 anddismissed Taijul Islam in thenext over for a duck to leave the

last wicket pair of SoumyaSarkar and Nayeem Hasan tosurvive 7.3 overs.

Soumya was the last mandismissed when he flickedRashid to Ibrahim Zadran atshort leg with 20 balls left in thegame as Afghanistan completedtheir second win after playingjust three Tests.

Rashid, who made his debutas the youngest-ever Test captainin this match, finished the gamewith 11 wickets which includeda first innings haul of 5-54.

The Afghan skipper, whoalso made 51 and 24 runs in twoinnings, was named man of thematch.

“We won this game againsta side like Bangladesh,” Rashidsaid after the match.

“We are new to this format,so credit goes to the coachingstaff for their support. Everyoneapplied themselves and stuck totheir plans.

“The four-day structureback home is helping the play-ers. We had the best preparationfor this game and it was chal-lenging for the batsmen.

Bangladesh skipper Shakibwas full of praise forAfghanistan.

“They deserve this victory.After playing for 20 years, wecan’t say it’s a build-up process,”he said.

“It’s been a while since weplayed our last Test match, butAfghanistan kept the pressure onus, credit goes to their hardwork.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

Mumbai stalwart AmolMuzumdar was on

Monday appointed battingcoach of the visiting SouthAfrican team for the Test seriesagainst India beginningOctober 2.

The 44-year-old, whomade 11,167 first-class runs atan average of 48.13 but nevergot to play for India, con-firmed the appointment.

“I was approached last

week and I have accepted thechallenge. It is a great oppor-tunity for me. To be associat-ed with an international side,that too a team like SouthAfrica, is a huge honour,”Muzumdar, who played mostof his cricket for Mumbai said.

Appointed only for theIndia series, Muzumdar has atough task at hand as he joinsa team in transition for thethree-Test series beginning inVisakhapatnam.

The touring South Africa

side was hammered in thefour Test series 0-3 in 2015.

“No doubt it is a big chal-lenge and big responsibility butI am really looking forward toit. Playing India in India isalways a huge challenge,” saidMuzumdar.

Muzumdar, who tackledspinners really well in his play-ing days, said there is no pointlooking back at South Africanteam’s performance in 2015.

“It is a team in transitionwith the retirement of some

senior players and the presenceof youngsters. That brings newchallenges and fresh ides tothe side.”

Asked how he plans to pre-pare the South African bats-men for the spin challenge inIndia, Muzumdar added: “I amyet to speak to the players butthere would be some work todo. What happened last timewas four years ago and this isa fresh start. Every game is anew game and I believe inthat.”

AFP n COLOMBO

Ten Sri Lankan players,including T20 skipper

Lasith Malinga and formercaptains Angelo Mathews andThisara Perera, have pulled outof an upcoming tour ofPakistan citing security con-cerns, officials said on Monday.

The Sri Lanka Cricketboard said in a statement thatplayers in a preliminary squadwere briefed on securityarrangements for the six-matchlimited over series, and giventhe freedom to decide if theywanted to travel.

Following the briefing, tenplayers “chose to stay away”from the series of three One-Day Internationals and threeT20 games, scheduled to begin

on September 27 in Karachi, itsaid.

The other seven whoopted out were NiroshanDickwella, Kusal Perera,Dhananjaya de Silva, AkilaDananjaya, Suranga Lakmal,Dinesh Chandimal andDimuth Karunaratne.

The tour was seen asanother step towards revivinginternational cricket inPakistan after years of isolation.

Batsman DanushkaGunathilaka said he believedsecurity would be adequate.

“From what they told us, Ithink there will be very tightsecurity,” Gunathilaka said.

Sri Lanka are also to playtwo Test matches againstPakistan, but the dates and thevenue are yet to be announced.

PTI n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Young Shubman Gill wasback in form with an

unbeaten 66 after bowlersset the platform, dismissingthe visiting side for 164 on thefirst day of the ‘Unofficial’Test here on Monday.

Gill, who has been anopener for Punjab in thelonger format, played outLungi Ngidi’s (1/18 in 6 overs)first spell as he faced 108 balls,hitting nine fours and a six asIndia A were in commandreaching 129 for 2 at stumps.

With India looking outfor an opener who can replacean out-of-form KL Rahul, abig innings from Gill, will puthim in contention alongsideAbhimanyu Easwaran andPriyank Panchal.

The youngster had twosteady partnerships — 48 forthe opening wicket withRuturaj Gaikwad (30) and 56for the second wicket withRicky Bhui (26).

This was after the bowl-ing attack performedadmirably demolishing theSouth Africans for a meagrescore in 51.5 overs.

Pacer Shardul Thakur (3for 29) and off-spinnerKrishnappa Gowtham (3 for64) were the pick of thebowlers. Left-arm spinnerShahbaz Nadeem was steadyas ever (2/37).

Sent in to bat by thehost, the visiting side was jolt-ed early when senior teamopener Aiden Markram wascaught behind by wicket-keeper Kona Bharat offMohammed Siraj in the firstover of the match.

After Siraj got the prizedscalp of Markram, Thakurtook over, dismissing theother opener Pieter Malan(0), Khayelihle Zondo (6)and the dangerous HeinrichKlaasen (0).

With South Africa ‘A’ tot-tering at 22 for 5 and the hostbowlers being on target,Markram’s side looked indanger of being bundled outfor a double-digit score.

Some late resistance fromyoung paceman MarcoJansen (45 not out, 69 balls,4 fours, 2 sixes) and spinnerDane Piedt (33, 45 balls, 6fours) helped them cross the150-run mark.

POLLARD APPOINTED AS NEW WISKIPPERNew Delhi: Following a disappointing performanceat the World Cup and thereafter a completewhitewash against India, Cricket West Indies (CWI)have reportedly decided to sack Jason Holder andCarlos Brathwaite as skippers of ODI and T20Iteams and have named Kieron Pollard as captain inlimited-overs cricket. The decision was taken byCWI Board of Directors on Saturday, the first day oftheir two-day regular quarterly meeting in Port ofSpain. Pollard was the player proposed by theselection committee and when the vote was taken,he got the support from six directors while theother six abstained. The 32-year-old last played anODI in 2016. He was kept in the reserves for the2019 World Cup and then featured in the T20Isagainst India.

MIRABAI TO LEAD AT WORLDC SHIPNew Delhi: Former champion Mirabai Chanu willlead a seven-member Indian team in the upcomingWeightlifting World Championship to be held inPattaya, Thailand from from September 18 to 27.The World Championship is a Gold-level qualifyingevent for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The squad,which is already training in Thailand, has fourwomen and three men lifters. The quartet of Mirabai(49kg), Commonwealth Championship Goldmedallist Jhilli Dalabehera (45kg), Sneha Soren(55kg) and Rakhi Halder (64kg) will represent Indiain the women's events. Among men, Youth OlympicGold medallist Jeremy Lalrinnunga (67kg) willmake his World Championship debut. Besides,Commonwealth Championship gold medallist AjaySingh (81kg) and national champion Achinta Sheuli(73) will also ply their trade.

PRANNOY OUT OF CHINA &KOREA OPENNew Delhi: Star shuttler HS Prannoy will miss atleast two tournaments on the circuit after beingdiagnosed with dengue. Prannoy will first miss theChina Open, which will be held at Changzhou, fromSeptember 17 to 22 and then the Korea Open,scheduled to be held at Incheon, from September24 to 29. Prannoy took to Twitter to inform his fansabout his health condition. "Quick update — Wouldbe out of action for unpredictable days after beingdiagnosed with dengue. Will not be a part of Indianteam for China and Korea open next week.Hopefully can get back to good healthASAP,"Prannoy tweeted.

TEAM TO ATTEND KOHLI STANDUNVEILINGNew Delhi: The Delhi and District CricketAssociation (DDCA) will be unveiling a stand at theFeroz Shah Kotla after India captain Virat Kohli onThursday and the entire team will be there towitness the momentous occasion. Speaking toIANS, a senior board functionary confirmed that theboys will be present at the unveiling ceremonywhich will take place at the Weightlifting Auditoriumof the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. "The boys will bethere when DDCA unveils the stand in Kohli's name.The boys are assembling in the capital on Thursdaybefore heading to Dharamsala on Friday," thefunctionary said.

MEN TO PLAY RUSSIA; WOMENFACE USALausanne : In a favourable draw, India's men'shockey team was on Monday pitted against lower-ranked Russia while the women's team drew atricky USA in the final round of the Tokyo Olympicsqualifiers. The teams will compete in two back-to-back matches to make it to the Tokyo Games. Themen's team will compete on November 1-2 whilethe women's team will take on the American side onthe same dates in Bhubaneswar. Eight-timeOlympic champions India are ranked five in theworld while the Russians are placed 22 in the FIH

SINGLES

AFP n LONDON

England will assess starall-rounder Ben

Stokes’ fitness to bowl inthis week’s fifth Test withAustralia at the Oval asthey look for a consola-tion win after failing toregain the Ashes.

Stokes was includedin an unchanged 13-manEngland squadannounced on Mondayfollowing a 185-rundefeat in the fourth Testthat ensured Australiawould keep hold of theAshes at 2-1 up with oneto play in the five-Testseries.

Durham pacemanStokes, England’s vice-captain, did not bowl inAustralia’s second inningsat Old Trafford followinga shoulder injury sus-tained during his 11thover in the tourists’ firstinnings.

If Stokes is unfit tobowl at the Oval, wherethe fifth Test starts onThursday, he is expectedto play as a specialistbatsman — it was hisstunning 135 not out thatsaw England to a dramat-ic one-wicket win in thethird Test at Headingley.

In that case, Englandwould look to bring in abowling all-rounder fromwithin the squad in eitherSam Curran, who wouldbe playing on his Surrey

home ground, or ChrisWoakes.

Both Curran andWoakes missed out atOld Trafford.

If either of the pairplay should Englandcoach Trevor Bayliss, inwhat will be his last Testbefore he stands downfrom his post, and captainJoe Root make a changeto the side, it would like-ly mean one of the hosts’struggling specialist bats-men having to make way.

PTI n NEW DELHI

World junior championHima Das was on Monday

named as 4x400m relay runnerin India’s 25-member squad forthe World AthleticsChampionships to be held inDoha from September 27.

The number of athletesannounced after a meeting ofAFI selection committee will,however, increase after the inter-national body (IAAF) gives con-firmation of the likes of WorldUniversity 100m championDutee Chand, who did not meetthe qualification mark but iswithin the required number ofcompetitors for the event.

Hima could not qualify forher pet event 400m but she hasbeen named to run in thewomen’s 4x400m relay and themixed 4x400m relay races. TheAFI is even hoping that themixed 4x400m relay team cancome in the medal bracket or atleast close to it.

The name of star javelinthrower Neeraj Chopra, who isundergoing rehabilitation afteran elbow surgery, was also dis-cussed but was not named in theteam.

“The selectors decided to

discuss the case of javelin throw-er Neeraj Chopra, who is under-going rehabilitation programmeafter an elbow surgery at a laterstage,” a press release from theAFI said.

Sources in the AFI, howev-er, said that Neeraj, who hasqualified for the WorldChampionships before hissurgery, is more or less ruled outof the marquee event.

“Neeraj is unlikely to makeit to Doha Worlds as he isundergoing rehabilitation. Wethink it is better for Neeraj to

recover properly as we see himas a bright prospect for theTokyo Olympics,” the sourcesaid.

“The selection committeealso approved the names ofsprinters Dutee Chand (100mwomen), Archana Suseentran(200m women) and high jumperTejaswin Shankar subject toinvitation from the IAAF.

“The committee also decid-ed to conduct confirmatory trialfor quarter miler Anjali Devi forselection in the team in individ-ual women’s 400m. The trial will

be conducted on September21st at the NIS Patiala,” the AFIrelease added.

An AFI official said thatTejaswin will be asked to cometo India and undergo a trial if hewants to take part in the WorldChampionships.

“If the IAAF sends an invitefor Tejaswin, we will ask him toat least jump 2.25m if not theWorld Championships qualifica-tion standard of 2.30m,” theofficial said.

The personal best forTejaswin is 2.29m, which is also

the national record.The AFI said that the

4x400m relay teams will performbetter than they did in theWorld Relays in Yokohama inMay last.

“We have invested a lot oftime in the 400m runners, get-ting them to train underrenowned coach GalinaBukharina. We believe that thesquad has been well prepared todeliver the best results on theworld stage,” AFI PresidentAdille Sumariwalla said.Men: Jabir MP (400m Hurdles),Jinson Johnson (1500m),Avinash Sable (3000mSteeplechase), KT Irfan andDevender Singh (20km RaceWalk), Gopi T (Marathon),Sreeshankar M (Long Jump),Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (ShotPut), Shivpal Singh (JavelinThrow), Muhammed Anas,Nirmal Noah Tom, Alex Antony,Amoj Jacob, KS Jeevan, DharunAyyasamy and Harsh Kumar(4x400m Men’s & Mixed Relay).Women: PU Chitra (1500m),Annu Rani (Javelin Throw),Hima Das, Vismaya VK,Poovamma MR, Jisna Mathew,Revathi V, Subha Venkatsan,Vithya R (4x400m Women &Mixed Relay).

AFP nMANCHESTER

Joe Root is in no doubt he should remainas England’s Test captain despite pre-

siding over their first failure to win a homeAshes series in 18 years.

England were looking to regain theAshes after a humiliating 4-0 loss underRoot in Australia in 2017/18.

But Australia’s 185-run victory in thefourth Test at Old Trafford on Sunday leftthem with an unassailable 2-1 lead in thefive-match series ahead of next week’sfinale at the Oval.

Root, whose tactical acumen hasbeen questioned this series, may beEngland’s best batsman but three of hislast five Test innings have ended in ducks.

Nevertheless, he had no doubtsabout continuing in the often stressful roleof England captain.

“Definitely, yes,” the 28-year-old saidwhen asked if he still felt he was the rightman for the job.

“Whenever you lose a series it hurtsand I have to take that on the chin. It’s stillvery raw.

“You have to look at areas you wantto get better at, both in yourself and as ateam.

“But I have been given a fantasticopportunity to captain the Test side andwill continue to work very hard doing mybest at that. That is in my control and Ihave to make sure I keep getting this teamin the best shape to win as many gamesas possible.”

This was England’s first defeat in anOld Trafford Test since 2001 and Root,one of several players also involved in thisseason’s World Cup triumph, has littletime in which to revive flagging spirits

ahead of Thursday’s start at The Oval.England, however, could still end this

series all square at 2-2 and gain valuablepoints in the inaugural World TestChampionship with a victory in southLondon.

“It’s important to look at next week,”said Root.

“We have an important Test matchagainst Australia and we have to makesure we finish this summer strong: do notlose this Ashes series.

“We have the Test championship toplay for, do not lose this Ashes series. Itmatters to me, it matters to everyoneinvolved.

“I know the Ashes are not cominghome but in terms of the Test champi-onship, at the end of the two-year cyclethose points could be crucial. “Every gameagainst Australia matters.”

Afghanistan defy rain advantage to beat B’desh for historic win

Beyond the clouds

Afghanistan players pose for photo with the winners trophy after beating Bangladesh by 224 runs in Chittagong Test ACB/Twitter

Shastri vows tofocus on youthPTI n DUBAI

Head coach Ravi Shastri saysfocus will be on investing in

youth during his second stint inthe top position as India beginpreparations for next year's WorldT20 and the later stages of theongoing World TestChampionship.

The former India all-rounderis pretty clear about the kind ofcomposition he would like in thecoming days.

"The path should be thatknowing well you have got 12months to go for the T20 WorldCup and you have about 18-20months to go for the World TestChampionship," Shastri told the'Gulf News' on his return from thetour of Caribbean.

"Getting youth in during thattransition period by keeping aneye on the youth is important sothat they can mix with the expe-rience and give us a really solidside."

The coach stressed on theconsistency and developing benchstrength.

"The vision is to keep the con-sistency level going. It will be ateam in transition and one has tokeep an eye out for the youth andalso keep an eye on developing thebench strength as far as battingand bowling goes across all threeformats.

"We should, at the same time,be never losing sight of the factthat you play to win. Never losingthat angle but yet at the same time,investing in youth," said Shastri.

At the same time, Shastri saidthat with points at stake, WorldTest Championship is a seriousbusiness.

"We are playing at home(against South Africa) and it is theWorld Test Championship - sonow there is even more reason onwhy you have to play the way youshould. There are now points tobe accumulated.

"We are the No 1 team in theworld and we have been for thelast three years, so there is prideat stake as well. So we want to keepthat consistency going and ensur-ing that we are placed nicely in thetable for when the time comesfrom them to decide who plays inthe final."

Shastri was pleased as punchthat his team was able to maintainan unbeaten record in the WestIndies, the first team to do so inthe assortment of island nation.

"To beat the West Indies inWest Indies across all three for-mats, especially the limited overformats and Test matches, I thinkthis must be unprecedented. Ateam going to the Caribbean andnot losing a single game, I don'tthink it has happened in the pastand it will not happen that easilyin the near future," he added.

10 SL players opt out of Pak tour

Lasith Malinga points at his jerseynumber after taking wicket AP

Root wants to stay captain

Unchanged Eng toassess Stokes’s fitness

Ben Stokes speaks with coach Trevor Bayliss during nets session AP

Shubman Gill raises his bat after scoring fifty PTI/File Picture

Bowlers skittleout SA for 164

Muzumdar appointed SA batting coach

Amol Muzumdar in a file picture

Hima named in World’s team as relay runner

sport 16HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

AFP n NEW YORK

Delivering one of his most dra-matic major final performances,Rafael Nadal captured his 19th

career Grand Slam title on Sunday bywinning his fourth US Open, outlast-ing Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3,5-7, 4-6, 6-4.

The 33-year-old Spanish left-han-der moved one shy of Roger Federer’sall-time men’s record 20 Grand Slamtriumphs and became the second-oldest New York champion in the Openera after Ken Rosewall in 1970 at age35.

“Has been one of the most emo-tional nights in my tennis career,” Nadalsaid.

A video tribute in the wake of hisgritty triumph moved Nadal to tears.

“The way that the match becamevery dramatic at the end, that makesthis day unforgettable,” Nadal said.

“Watching all the success, all themoments that came to my mind, I triedto hold the emotion, but somemoments was impossible.”

It took a supreme effort from theSpanish maestro, who nearly becamethe first player to drop the final afterleading by two sets since Ted Schroederin 1949 before winning a near five-hourthriller.

“This victory means a lot,” Nadalsaid. “And the way it happened. It washard to control the nerves. The nerveswere so high after having the matchalmost under control.”

World number two Nadal took thetop prize of $3.85 million at ArthurAshe Stadium and added to his USOpen trophy haul from 2010, 2013 and2017.

Nadal, who was in his fifth USOpen championship matchand 27th Grand Slam final, isthe first man to claim fivemajor titles after turning30.

Nadal, who rose to 22-12 in five-set matches, onlylost once at a Slam when up two sets,to Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the 2015 USOpen third round.

“I more or less had the matchunder control,” Nadal said. “The wayhe was able to fight, to change therhythm of the match, was incredible.”

UNBELIEVABLE, OUTRA-GEOUS’

At four hours and 50 minutes, thematch finished four minutes short ofequaling the longest final in US Openhistory from Mats Wilander’s 1988 winand Andy Murray’s 2012 title.

It was the second Slam title of theyear for Nadal after taking his 12thFrench Open crown in June.

In addition to reaching the brinkof Federer’s mark, Nadal moved one shyof the Open era record five US Opentitles won by Federer, Jimmy Connorsand Pete Sampras.

“A 19th Grand Slam title issomething unbelievable, outra-

geous,” Medvedev said.Nadal, who won his only

prior meeting with Medvedevin last month’s Montreal final,

stretched his win streak over Russiansto 20 matches since losing to NikolayDavydenko in the 2011 Doha semi-finals.

Fifth seed Medvedev, 23, wouldhave been the youngest men’s GrandSlam champion since Juan Martin delPotro at the 2009 US Open.

Medvedev, who rise to a career-bestfourth in the rankings on Monday, wasa champion at Cincinnati and runner-up at Montreal, Washington and theOpen.

“His summer was one of the bestsummers I ever saw,” Nadal said.“People saw why he is already numberfour in the world.”

Medvedev, who saw his career-best12-match win streak snapped, wouldhave been the first Russian to win aGrand Slam title since Marat Safin atthe 2005 Australian Open and the firstRussian to win the US Open since Safin

in 2000.ELECTRIC FIFTH SETOn a knife’s edge at 5-5 in the third

set, Medvedev reeled off eight of the lastnine points to force a fourth, breakingNadal in the 12th game with a back-hand winner.

“To be honest in my mind, I wasalready thinking, ‘What do I say in the

speech, it’s going to be in 20 minutes,”Medvedev said.

“I was like, ‘I have to fight for everyball,’ and it went further but it didn’t gomy way.”

Nadal was broken in the 10th gameof the fourth set to force a fifth whenMedvedev blasted a sterling backhandreturn winner.

Nadal rescued three Medvedevbreak chances to hold in second gameof fifth set, fired a backhand volley win-ner to break Medvedev in the fifth gameand seized a 5-2 edge when Medvedevhit an overhead smash long.

Serving for the match, Nadal wasbroken when umpire Ali Nili issuedNadal a time violation for his first serveand the Spaniard sent his second long,the crowd booing Nili for his call.

Nadal squandered two break andmatch points in the ninth game as thedrama intensified.

Again serving for the match,Nadal rescued a break point then hita forehand drop volley for his thirdmatch point chance and Medvedevsent a forehand return long to end mat-ters.

Nadal screamed and fell to thecourt on his back in joy and exhaus-tion.

FOUGHT LIKE HELLMedvedev has experienced a love-

hate relationship with fans at FlushingMeadows after an obscene gesture ina third-round match prompted loudboos, to which the Russian laterresponded with a taunt of his own.

But the 23-year-old won the crowdover during his run to the final.

“It’s because of your energy that I’mhere in the final. I mean, tonight isgoing to always be in my mind becauseI played in the biggest court in the ten-nis world.

“You guys were pushing me to pro-long this match because you want tosee more tennis. Because of you guys,I was fighting like hell.

“It’s electric. You were booing mefor a reason. I can also change becauseI am a human being and I can makemistakes. Thank you very much from

AFP n GIJON

Spain and Italy moved to withintouching distance of Euro 2020 on

Sunday after respective wins over theFaroe Islands and Finland saw themmaintain their perfect qualifyingrecords for next year’s tournament.

Rodrigo and Paco Alcacer bothscored twice in an easy 4-0 victoryover the Faroes in Gijon, ona night when captain SergioRamos equalled IkerCasillas’ national appear-ances record with his 167thcap.

It was their sixth win from six inGroup F and put them on a perfect18 points, seven clear of Sweden,who drew 1-1 with Scandinavianrivals Norway.

With two teams qualifying fromthe group, they are also a furtherpoint ahead of third-placed Romaniafollowing their 1-0 win over Malta.

Italy also kept their 100 percentrecord thanks to Jorginho’s latepenalty, which fired Italy their ownsixth straight win, 2-1 at nearest

rivals Finland.Chelsea midfielder Jorginho’s

79th-minute winner in Tamperesent Roberto Mancini’s side sixpoints clear of the second-placed

Finns in Group J, after in-formNorwich City striker Teemu Pukkihad levelled Ciro Immobile’s firstItaly goal in two years with apenalty of his own six minutesbefore.

Four-time world championsare flying high with a maximum 18points with four qualifying gamesto play, nine points ahead of third-placed Armenia despite theirthrilling 4-2 win over Bosnia andHerzegovina earlier on Sunday.

They could now secure quali-fication for the tournament, whichkicks off in Rome next June, againstGreece or Liechtenstein — who sur-prisingly drew 1-1 in Athens —next month.

Switzerland kept their hopes ofqualifying from Group D alivewith a 4-0 thumping of Gibraltar,who are yet to pick up a point orscore a goal after five games.

They are also just a point awayfrom second-placed Denmark, whocould only manage a goalless drawat Georgia, and have a game inhand on both their rivals.

PTI n DOHA

Aheart-breaking loss in the cam-paign-opener has dented their

chances of moving ahead and theIndian football team faces anotheruphill task when it takes on Asianchampion Qatar in its most difficultmatch of the World Cup secondround qualifiers here today.

India let in two goals in the lasteight minutes after taking an earlylead to lose their opening matchagainst Oman on September 5 inGuwahati.

Ranked 62nd in the world,Qatar will start today’s Group Ematch against 103-ranked India asoverwhelming favourites. They willlook to claim their second consec-utive win after crushing Afghanistan6-0 in their opening match onSeptember 5 here.

The World Cup hosts haveimproved by leaps and bounds in thelast few years. They won the AsianCup in the UAE earlier this year andthey gave good competition to the

top South American sides in therecent Copa America where theytook part on invitation.

India have also shown improve-ment in recent times as was seen dur-ing the Asian Cup in January wherethey gave scares to the likes of theUAE and Bahrain and missed qual-ifying for the knock-out round by a

whisker.Historically, Qatar have been the

dominant side, having won three outof four official matches playedagainst India. One match ended ina draw.

The last time the two sidesplayed an official match was inSeptember 2007 in the World Cup

qualifiers where Qatar had thrashedIndia 6-0.

India defeated Qatar 2-1 inDoha in 2011 in a friendly but thatmatch was not considered an officialgame as India made more substitu-tions than the rules allowed.

Head coach Igor Stimac, whoprefers possession-based footballby building from the back, sought todwell on the positives from theOman match and said that his sidehas nothing to fear against Qatar.

“Qatar is strongest team in thegroup and playing them will not beeasy. However, it’s a great opportu-nity to learn from. There is no rea-son to fear and we shall look to scoregoals and play good,” Stimac said.

Qatari players are also not tak-ing India lightly and they are expect-ing a stern test from the visitors.

“India had a good match againstOman, despite the defeat. They alsoperformed well in the Asian Cupand they are always improving. Weknow that they are a good team,” saiddefender Pedro Miguel.

MOTION PICTURE

Xisca Perello, right, and family members of Rafael Nadal react during final AP

Gilles Cervara, coach of Daniil Medvedev and Daria Medvedeva, Medvedev's wife,watch play; (right) Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta Jones attend finals AP

CHAMPION,once again

Nadal wins 19th Slam title by edging Medvedev in five-set thriller*The 33-year-old Spanish left-hander moved one shy of

Roger Federer’s all-time men’s record of 20 Grand Slamtriumphs and became the second-oldest New Yorkchampion in the Open era after Ken Rosewall in 1970at age 35.

*He took the top prize of $3.85 million at ArthurAshe Stadium and added to his US Open tro-phy haul from 2010, 2013 and 2017.

*Nadal, who was playing in his fifth US Openchampionship match and 27th Grand Slamfinal, is the first man to claim five major titlesafter turning 30.

*At four hours and 50 minutes, the match finishedfour minutes short of equaling the longest final inUS Open history from Mats Wilander’s 1988 win andAndy Murray’s 2012 title.

*In addition to reaching the brink of Federer’smark, Nadal moved one shy of the Openera record five US Open titles won byFederer, Jimmy Connors and PeteSampras.

*Nadal, who won his only prior meet-ing with Medvedev in last month’sMontreal final, stretched his winstreak over Russians to 20matches since losing to NikolayDavydenko in the 2011 Dohasemi-finals.

*Medvedev, who saw his career-best 12-match win streaksnapped, would have beenthe first Russian to win a GrandSlam title since Marat Safin atthe 2005 Australian Open andthe first Russian to win the USOpen since Safin in 2000.

*Medvedev was attempting tobecome the first man born in the1990s to win a Grand Slam title. MilosRaonic lost the Wimbledon final in 2016while Dominic Thiem finished runner-up to Nadal at the French Open the pasttwo years.

Mertens-Sabalenkatake doubles crown

Elise Mertens, left, poses with doubles partner Arena Sabalenka after win AP

AFP n NEW YORK

Belgium’s Elise Mertensand Belarusian Aryna

Sabalenka captured their firstGrand Slam title on Sundayby winning the US Openwomen’s doubles final overAustralia’s Ashleigh Bartyand Belarus’ VictoriaAzarenka 7-5, 7-5.

The fourth-seeded duodropped only one set in thetournament in reaching theirfirst Grand Slam final.

“I can’t believe we won aGrand Slam,” Mertens said.“It’s all so new. Thanks toAryna. I keep her going.She keeps me going.”

Sabalenka’s overheadsmash produced a break to

win the first set and it was anAzarenka overhead smashbeyond the baseline thatended matters after 97 min-utes.

“It’s like somethingunbelievable this year hap-pened, especially in dou-bles,” Sabalenka said. “I’veenjoyed every second on thecourt.”

Barty, who takes over asworld number one in singles,won last year’s US Opentitle with American CoCoVandeweghe.

The Aussie could havebecome the first woman withback-to-back US Openwomen’s doubles titles sinceFrance’s Nathalie Dechy in2006 and 2007.

AFP n PARIS

US Open winner BiancaAndreescu, 200th in the world

rankings a year ago, leapt into the topfive on Monday, while AshleighBarty knocked Naomi Osaka off topspot.

Eliminated in the first qualifyinground in New York a year ago,Andreescu rose 10 places to numberfive after beating Serena Williams inthe final on Saturday.

The 19-year-old Canadian isone place behind Osaka, whose

defence of her US title ended in thequarterfinals.

Barty was also knocked out inthe last eight but, since she wasknocked out in the fourth round in2018, increased her ranking pointstotal.

The Australian is just over 400points ahead of the Czech KarolinaPliskova, who climbed one place tosecond.

The top two have opened a sub-stantial gap over Elina Svitolina, whorose two spots to third after reach-ing the semi-finals.

Andreescu jumps into top 5PTI n NEW DELHI

Afirst round appearance at the US Open has propelledIndia’s Sumit Nagal to career-high 174 in the ATP rank-

ings released on Monday.The 22-year-old from Haryana leapfrogged 16 places

after his first-round exit in the US Open.He became only the fourth Indian to win a set in the

main draw of a Grand Slam in the last 20 years.Meanwhile, Prajnesh Gunneswaran continued his run

in the top-100. He rose three places to be world No 85. He,like Nagal, also suffered a first round exit at the hands ofUS Open runners-up Daniil Medvedev.

Ramkumar Ramanathan moved up one spot to be176th, rounding up the top-three Indian’s in the men’s sin-gles.

In doubles, Rohan Bopanna dropped four spots to 43rdposition while Divij Sharan and Leander Paes occupy the49th and 78th place respectively.

In the WTA rankings, Ankita Raina continues to beIndia’s top-ranked player at 194 and was followed byPranjala Yadlapalli, who is placed at 338.

Nagal on career-high

“Just very happy.This trophy means

everythingto metoday.Thelastthreehours

of thematch

have been veryintense, very toughmentally andphysically, too. Withthe video, the crowdthat have been asalways amazing, allthese facts make themoment superspecial.Unforgettablemoment.”—RAFAEL NADAL

“It was anamazingmatch.It’s anamazingstory. Allthissummer is amazingfor me. I willremember everymoment of it. I have areally good memory ifwe talk about tennis.I’ll definitelyremember it evenwhen I’m, like, 70years old.”—DANIIL MEDVEDEV

Blue Tigers face toughest test

Indian players train ahead of FIFA World Cup qualifier against Qatar Indian Football/Twitter

Spain’s Paco Alcacer celebrates after scoringhis side fourth goal against Faroe Islands AP

Spain, Italy close in on Euro