5

Niti Aayogmember justifies internet ban in J&K

TS Prisons depttops gross valueturnover of salein country

3

Air India unionsto demandVRS in meetingtoday

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MONEY 8DAVOS READIES FOR DECADE OF DELIVERY

ANALYSIS 7DECODING THE FUTURE OFJOBS

SPORTS 12DOMINANT INDIA

TAKE SERIES

HYDERABAD, MONDAY JANUARY 20, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 2 ISSUE 100*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated January 19, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC TODAY

Month & Paksham:Paush & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Ekadami: 02:05 am (Next Day) Nakshatram: Anuradha: 11:30 pm Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 08:16 am- 09:40 amYamagandam: 11:03 am – 12:27 pm

Varjyam: 05:09 am - 06:46 am

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FFoorreeccaasstt:: Partly CloudyTemp: 31/18Humidity: 75%Sunrise: 06.49Sunset: 06.04

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

AP Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy had ameeting with Finance MinisterBuggana Rajendranath Reddyand Government Chief WhipGadikota Srikanth Reddy anddiscussed plan to be adoptedduring the three-day sessionthat begins on Monday.

In all probability, the govern-ment may table theDecentralisation Bill onMonday itself. The ChiefMinister's Office (CMO) is

also learnt to have discussedthe strategy to be employed inthe Legislative Council wherethe Opposition TDP is strong.The Cabinet meeting will beheld at 9 am. It will discuss thereport to be submitted to it by

the High Power Committee onthe recommendations madeby SivaramakrishnaCommittee, GN RaoCommittee and the BostonConsulting Group (BCG).

Continued on Page 3

3-DAY ASSEMBLY SESSION

PNS n HYDERABAD

Determined to push for job-creating investments inTelangana State, IT andIndustries Minister KT RamaRao left for Davos on Sundayto participate in the 50th annu-al meeting of World EconomicForum (WEF) to be held fromJanuary 21 to 24.

Principal Secretary for ITand Industries Jayesh Ranjan,Digital Media wing directorDileep Konatham and otherofficials accompanied him onbehalf of the State govern-ment.

The State government willfocus on attracting investmentsin sectors with high employ-ment potential including food

processing, electronics, tex-tiles, life sciences andInformation Technology,among others. A TelanganaPavilion has been already setup and the Minister has sever-

al scheduled meetings and fol-low-up meetings with top busi-ness leaders from various partsof the world.

During an interaction withmedia recently, Rama Rao said

Davos provides great opportu-nity to meet the cream ofworld industry within a span ofthree days which otherwisewould take three years to mate-rialise. He was hopeful to sellhis ideas and translate somemeetings into investments.

Even if all the meetings donot result in immediate invest-

ments, he was confident thatthey would have the recallvalue where investors wouldautomatically think ofTelangana State whenever theyplan to invest in India. Herecalled how his chance meet-ing at Davos led to setting upof Tech Mahindra campus inWarangal recently.

The Industries Ministercould not attend 48th and49th editions of WEF annualmeetings due to prior commit-ments and Assembly electionsover last two years.

However, he decided not tomiss the latest edition whichcelebrates 50th anniversaryand several world leaders inindustry are expected to jointhe celebrations.

KTR leaves for Davos, eyes job-creating investmentsPNS n DHARAMSHALA

The United Forum of BankUnions (UFBU), which repre-sents nine trade unions, hasgiven a call for a two-day strikebeginning January 31.

It has also called strike athree-day strike from March11, and if the demands are notmet, the UFBU has threatenedto go on an indefinite strikefrom April 1, 2020.

So, the bank unions areplanning basically to observestrike in three phases.

According to the convenerof UFBU, Sanjeev KumarBandlish, a letter in this regardhas already been sent to the

chairman of Indian Banks'Association, SecretaryDepartment of FinancialServices and Chief LabourCommissioner.

Bandlish said the decisionto go on a strike was taken asour demands of wage revisionsettlement at 20% on payslip,five-day banking, scraping ofnew pension scheme etc havebeen lying pending since long.

A TS Pavilion has beenalready set up andKTR has severalscheduled meetingsand follow-upmeetings with topbusiness leaders fromacross the world

Telangana new debt strategy: Issue 30-year tenor bondsL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The Telangana State govern-ment has adopted a ratherunique 'debt strategy' for rais-ing loans and repaying them.

Normally, states issue secu-rities or bonds to raise fundsfrom the market. Generally,these securities are issued fora tenor of 10 years at fixed orvariable interest rate.

For example, a bond wasissued in undivided AndhraPradesh on April 22, 2008 fora tenor of 10 years, maturingon April 22, 2018, at the inter-est rate of 8.24 per cent perannum. Coupon on thissecurity is paid half-yearly at4.12% (half yearly paymentbeing half the annual couponof 8.24%) of the face value on

October 22 and April 22 ofeach year.

The Telangana governmentis now issuing similar bondsfor a tenor of 30 years -- thehighest in the country. Theidea is to buy more time torepay the loan upon maturity.

Although this will give reliefto the state government byenabling repayment of the loanover 30 years, it will impose

higher interest burden as theinterest rate will automatical-ly increase whenever the tenorof the loan increases.

The state government is ofthe considered view that pay-ing higher interest is betterthan having to repay the entireloan in short term, given theprevailing recessionary eco-nomic conditions and the con-sequent shortfall in govern-

ment's revenues and earningsacross all sectors.

The TRS government head-ed by Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has beenrelying mainly on loans tofund its flagship programmessuch as Kaleshwaram,Palamur-Ranga Reddy,Sitharama projects, MissionBhagiratha etc.

With this, the debt burden ofthe Telangana government hasincreased by 159 per cent with-in five years after bifurcation ofAndhra Pradesh in June 2014.Telangana State had debtstotaling Rs 69,517 crore whenundivided AP was bifurcatedin 2014. The debt increased toRs 79,880 crore by 2015. Thedebt burden touched Rs 1.80lakh crore in 2018-19.

Continued on Page 3

The TS govt is nowissuing similarbonds for a tenor of30 yrs -- the highestin the country. Theidea is to buy moretime to repay theloan upon maturity

HIGH-VOLTAGE CIVIC POLLS CAMPAIGN TO END TODAY…

Contestants vie to inducevoters in ‘ballot market'Cash, liquor flowing freer than water on city outskirtsPNS n HYDERABAD

With the high-voltage cam-paign for municipal polls inTelangana scheduled to end onMonday, many of the contes-tants belonging to major polit-ical parties, especially those inthe fray in municipalities andmunicipal corporations locat-ed on the outskirts of the city,are spending crores of rupeesto ensure their victory. In theprocess, liquor has virtuallyflooded the 'ballot market' asthe contestants have no qualmsabout how they woo voters.Some of the candidates are nothesitating to dispose of theirlands to raise money for meet-ing the poll expenses.

There are25 municipalities and

seven municipal corporationsin undivided Rangareddy dis-trict. Barring the seven munic-ipal corporations, the rest arelocated on the outskirts of thecity. The contestants are vyingwith one another in spendingmoney. As many of the contes-tants are real estate players too,they are not hesitating to spendmoney like water on the backof the realty boom.

Some of the contestants inIbrahimpatnam, Turkayamjal

and Adibhatla civic bodieshave disposed of two or

three housing plots to raisefunds to meet their electionexpenses. Contestants inBoduppal, Peerzadiguda,Nizampet and Shamshabadcivic bodies too have disposedof properties to fund their elec-tion management practices.

Leaders eyeing corporationmayor and municipal chair-man posts are overwhelmingvoters with inducements in theform of money, liquor andgifts. Some others have beenoffering crores of rupees toMLAs.

Continued on Page 3

Detained OU Prof Kasimproduced before CJHearing adjourned to Jan 24PNS n HYDERABAD

Osmania University ProfessorC Kasim, who was arrested onSaturday for alleged links withMaoists, was produced beforethe Telangana High CourtChief Justice here on Sunday.

Kasim, an AssociateProfessor in TeluguDepartment, was brought tothe residence of Chief JusticeRS Chauhan in Banjara Hills,as per court orders onSaturday.

After hearing Kasim's coun-sel, the Chief Justice asked theTelangana government to sub-mit a counter affidavit by

January 23, giving details ofthe arrest and the chargesagainst the professor. Thehearing was adjourned toJanuary 24.

Continued on Page 3

Professor C Kasim

n The Decentralisation Billenvisages all-rounddevelopment of the State.As part of this, variousgovernment departments,branches and systems willbe set up in different regions

PNS n HYDERABAD

A recent verdict of theTelangana High Court, direct-ing medical colleges to collectfees only for four and half yearsfrom MBBS students, hashelped parents of 1,269 stu-dents save Rs 99.82 crore in all,according to conservative esti-mates.

The tuition fees being col-lected since 2017-18 from eachstudent by colleges listed underA category is Rs 60,000 perannum, while those listedunder B category collect atleast Rs 12.10 lakh from eachstudent. As for the colleges list-ed under C category, the pre-scribed tuition fee is Rs 22lakh. However, minority col-

leges listed under B categorycharge Rs 14 lakh from eachstudent and those listed underC category collect Rs 28 lakh.

Of the 2,100 MBBS seatsthat are on offer in private col-leges across the state, 50 percent are allocated under theEAMCET convener quota. Thetuition fee for such seats is Rs60,000. Under the manage-

ment quota (B category) thetotal number of seats includ-ed is 735 and 315 (C category)respectively. The annual feesare Rs 12.10 lakh for seatsunder B category and Rs 22lakh for seats under C catego-ry.

Students of B category col-leges and C category collegescan save up to Rs 6 lakh and Rs11 lakh respectively if they areallowed to pay tuition fee onlyfor six months of the final year.

Those who enter the finalyear in 2021 would have to paytuition fee for six-month peri-od only. There are 1,269 suchstudents. Cumulatively, theirsavings would be around Rs99.82 crore.

Continued on Page 3

HC verdict on MBBS fee savesRs 99.82 crore for 1,269 students

MCI allots 54PG medicalseats to TSPNS n HYDERABAD

The Medical Council of Indiahas issued orders allotting 54PG medical seats for theNizamabad Medical Collegein Telangana. Authorities ofthe medical education depart-ment are jubilant over theallotment of 54 PG medicalseats to the college within oneyear of it getting MCI recog-nition. The break-up of themedical seats is as follows:General Medicine-10,Anaesthesia-6, Gynaecology-6, Orthepaedics-4, Anatomy-4, ENT-3, Forensic Medicine-3, Physiology-2, Paediatrics-3,Psychiatry-2, Ophthalmology-3, Pathology-3, Microbiology-3 and Bio-Chemistry-2.

Continued on Page 3

5 MLAs skipTDLP meetingPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Five TDP MLAs skipped theTelugu Desam LegislatureParty (TDLP) at the partyoffice in Mangalagiri onSunday which discussed thestrategy to be adopted duringthe crucial three-day Assemblysession that begins on Monday.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n NEW DELHI

JP Nadda is likely to beappointed BJP's national pres-ident on Monday. Top partyleaders including Union min-isters are likely to arrive at theBJP headquarters to file nom-inations in support of MrNadda, who has long beenseen as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and AmitShah's choice for the job.

Senior BJP leader RadhaMohan Singh, who is in chargeof the party's organisationalpoll process, said that nomina-

tions for the national presi-dent's election will be filed onJanuary 20, and a contest willtake place the next day ifrequired.

Conventionally, the BJPelects its president with con-sensus and without any con-test.

Will sendback 1 croreBangladeshiMuslimsPNS n PARGANAS

BJP's West Bengal unit chiefDilip Ghosh said on Sundaythat the government is com-mitted to implementing theproposed nationwide NRCand will send back 1 croreBangladeshi Muslims livingin the state illegally.

Addressing a rally in theNorth 24 Parganas district,Ghosh said that those oppos-ing the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) areanti-Bengali and against theidea of India.

He said 1 crore illegalMuslims in the state are"thriving" on the govern-ment's Rs 2 per kg subsidisedrice.

"We will send them back,"he announced.

"These illegal BangladeshiMuslims are involved inarsons across the state,"Ghosh added.

COMMITTED TO NRC

Dilip Ghosh

Nineteen Indians, kidnapped by pirates from a commercial vessel fromthe high sea off the western coast of Africa last month, have been

released while one died in their captivity, according to the Indianmission here. Twenty Indian crew members were kidnapped from thevessel MT Duke in the high seas off the western coast of Africa onDecember 15. The High Commission ofIndia in Abuja on Sunday tweeted that 19Indian nationals were released on Saturdaywhile one died in the captivity of the piratesin adverse conditions.

19 INDIANS KIDNAPPED BY PIRATESRELEASED, ONE DIE IN CAPTIVITY

GANDHI WANTED TO SPEND 15 AUG, 1947 IN PAK: BOOK

INDIAN TEACHER FIRST FOREIGNERTO CONTRACT CORONAVIRUS A45-year-old Indian school teacher is undergoing treatment for a new

strain of pneumonia outbreak spreading in the Chinese cities ofWuhan and Shenzhen, becoming the first foreigner to have contractedthe mysterious SARS-like coronavirus. Preeti Maheshwari, a teacher atan international school in Shenzhen, has been admitted to a localhospital after she fell seriously ill lastFriday. Doctors on Monday confirmed thatshe was suffering from the virus and isbeing treated for it, her husband AshumanKhowal told PTI from Shenzhen.

Mahatma Gandhi wanted to spend August 15, 1947, the first day offreedom, in breakaway Pakistan rather than in India, says a new book by

former Union minister MJ Akbar. This was, however, neither tokenism nor agesture of support for a country carved out of multifaithIndia in the name of one religion, Islam, the author writes in‘Gandhi's Hinduism: The Struggle Against Jinnah's Islam"."It was a promise of defiance. Gandhi simply did not believein the partition of India, and the creation of new, ‘unnatural'borders by an arbitrary scalpel in a fit of what he describedas momentary madness," he says.

TWO ‘DEPRESSED' CAPITAL RYOTS DIE Two farmers - Abburi Appa Rao and Bezawada Smarajyamma - died

due to heart attack on Sunday. Appa Rao, who had given seven acresof land under the land pooling scheme, had been participating in theagitation for the past one month. He went into a depression as his sonand daughter-in-law were being harassedby police by registering cases againstthem. Swarajyamma had parted with 20acres of land for the Capital project. Herson Gopala Rao was recently arrested bypolice for participating in the agitation.

Bill on shifting of AP capital likely today

Bank unions call two-daystrike from Jan 31

JP Nadda likely to succeedAmit Shah as BJP president

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HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JANUARY 20, 2020 hyderabad 02

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administers pulse polio drops to children at Rajbhavan staff quarters on Sunday

PULSE PPOLIO

HC UPADHYAY n HYDERABAD

Although politicians of rulingparties both at the central as wellas state levels assert day in andday out that the police andother security agencies havetotal freedom to deal with anylaw and order problem, the factremains that in many sensitivecases, particularly those involv-ing ruling party members, thelaw-enforcing agencies are notonly prevented from doing theirduty honestly and independent-ly, but quite often coerced to bowdown to political pressure.

To prove this point, we do nothave to go far in history. Ifmedia reports are to be believed,tremendous pressure was exert-ed on the police to save the crim-inals involved or delay theirarrest in cases of lynching, killingsby the cow vigilantes and even inrape and murder by powers thatbe close to the ruling party.

Similarly, in Hyderabad, inseveral cases of rioting, arson-ing etc, certain important func-tionaries and an MLA ofAIMIM party, the ally of ruling

TRS, were seen threatening thepolice personnel of dire conse-quences should they proceedagainst their workers and sup-porters. In this exercise, theyhad also the audacity to get anFIR filed against an IPS officerholding the high office of theJoint Commissioner ofHyderabad Police. Obviously,such practices demoralise thepolice force.

True, there are umpteen casesof corruption, use of brutalforce on the innocent people,and dereliction of duty bysome black sheep in policeand other security forcesand they need to beattended with all seri-ousness, but in doing so,let the Constitutionalauthorities not losesight of maintaining thebalance and impartiality.

Unfortunately, judicia-ry which wields lots ofpower to prevent the abuse oflegal process by people in power,be they public representatives orpublic servants; often tends tobe quite slow in exercising itspowers suo motu.

In fact, the million-dollarquestion is: When there is

rampant corruption,gross abuse of powerand meticulously

planned action tocreate ac i v i l - w a rlike situa-

tion by open defi-ance of the lawfully

established govern-ment, who will ensurethe rule of law andprotect the life, prop-erty and human digni-

ty of the people ? Certainly, thepeople are not asking too muchin expecting from theConstitutional wings due dis-charge of their Constitutionalobligations to which they have

solemnly or in the name of Godbeen sworn in. SC on adverse possession

Mere continuous possessionof the property is not enough toprove adverse possession of aproperty, but it is also necessaryto prove the hostile possessionto its true owner, thus held adivision bench of the SupremeCourt on January 15.

In Shri Uttamchand (D)through LRs vs. Nathu Ram(D) through LRs and Ors, adivision bench of JusticesL.Nageswara Rao and HemantGupta, after quoting a catena ofjudgments, dealt with theimport of Article 65 of theLimitation Act. To bring home

the point, the court also reliedupon its recent judgment inAyodhya case, M. Siddiqui (D)through LRs vs. Mahant SureshDas & others.

Sweeping changes inRussian Constitution

Post resignation of PrimeMinister Dimitry Medvedev,Russian President VladimirPutin has proposed sweepingchanges in the Constitution.According to Putin, the changesempower more Parliamentwithout changing the basicstructure of the Constitution.

The changes, though gener-ally welcomed, are also lookeddown as a ploy of the Presidentto retain power for a longerperiod. The new Prime MinisterMikhail Mishustin is considereda trusted lieutenant of Putin.

Jolt to telecom companies

In a major jolt to telecomcompanies, the Supreme Courton January 10 dismissed thereview petition filed by thesecompanies against its orderpassed in July last year.

As a result of this, the telecomcompanies, including BharatiAirtel, Vodafone-Idea, RelianceCommunication and state-owned MTNL and BSNL, willhave to pay altogether a whop-ping sum of about Rs.96,500crore towards the share in thelicence fee to the government.

Man seeks Rs 1.5 crorefrom cruel mother

Fit to be a film plot, a 40-year-old man, Shrikant, has filed aplea before the Bombay HighCourt to award damages to thetune of Rs. 1.5 crore from hisbiological mother Arti Mhaskar,who had left him on the PuneRailway platform when he wasjust 2.1/2 years old kid.

The petitioner, in his affidavitfiled in the court, has narratedhis pathetic story of ' dreadful'life after his own mother aban-doned him in a cruel mannerand eloped with her paramour.Though a woman has right togive birth, she has also an oblig-ation to bring up the baby in aresponsible manner, the peti-tioner has contended and addedthat in order to prevent recur-

rence of such incidentsb insociety, he was seeking theexemplary damages of Rs.1.5crore.Hyderabad encounters:Terms of referencefinalised

The apex court has finalisedthe terms of reference in thealleged encounter killings offour accused persons by policein the Disha rape and murdercase in the wee hours ofDecember 6 last year.

On December 12, while hear-ing a PIL petition, the benchpresided over by the ChiefJustice of India S.A Bobde,while virtually staying enquiriesin the incident by any othercourt or forum, had constitut-ed a three-member EnquiryCommission. The Commissionwill be headed by the formerJudge of the SC, Justice VSSirpurkar, while former judge ofthe Bombay High Court, JusticeRekha Baldolta and former CBIDirector Karthikeyan will be itsmembers. The court has grant-ed six months period to com-plete the enquiry.

LEGAL ROUNDUP

Mere continuous possession of theproperty is not enough to proveadverse possession of a property, butit is also necessary to prove thehostile possession to its true owner,thus held a division bench of theSupreme Court on January 15

‘REAL' FREEDOM TO POLICE STILL ELUSIVE

Precious metals breatheeasy as war clouds dissipatePNS n HYDERABAD

Amidst the signing of the firstphase trade agreement betweenthe US and China and de-esca-lation of hostility of the formerwith Iran, global markets of pre-cious metals breathed easy dur-ing the week. New York goldand silver closed at US $15,569.69 and 18.12 (per oz)respectively. Platinum and pal-ladium were quoted at $1,024.64 and 2,536.85 (peroz).

In foreign exchangemarket, IndianRupee remainedalmost unchangedwith marginalupswing. On theclosing day, USDollar andB r i t i s hP o u n dc o m -m a n d e dthe exchange values of Rs.71.08 and Rs.92.41 respective-ly. Similarly, Euro and CanadianDollar closed at Rs.78.79 andRs. 54.37 while Kuwaiti Dinarand UAE Dinar stood atRs.234.16 and Rs.19.34 respec-tively. Saudi Riyal and OmaniRiyal were quoted at Rs.18.94and Rs.176.62, whereasSingapore Dollar andAustralian Dollar wereexchanged for Rs.52.73 andRs.48.92 respectively.

The buoyancy continued togrip the stock market. Sensexand Nifty 50 closed at41,945.37 and 12,352.35

points respectively.MCX gold and silverclosed at Rs.39,957

(per 10 gms) andRs. 46,451 (perkg). MCX cop-

per closed atRs. 452.25 (per

kg). Similarly,Brent oilclosed at $65.35, while

crude oil was quoted at 4,153(per barrel).

In local market, the preciousmetals were divergent. Whilestandard gold (24 carats) appre-ciated by Rs.70 and closed atRs.40,020 (per 10 gms), silver(0.999) recorded a decline ofRs.200 at Rs.46,700 (per kg) atclosing. With the Sankranti fes-tival over, the new buying boutof precious metals, particularlyin rural areas, has begun.Therefore, the buoyancy is

expected to return in due course.

COMMODITIESThe sentiment in local prin-

cipal wholesale commoditymarkets remained firm. Themarkets at Begum Bazar,Osmangunj, Mir Alam Mandi,General Bazar, Bowenpally,Kukatpally, Dilsukhnagar,Risala Abdullah, Maharajgunj,Kishangunj and Monda Markethave been back with brisk busi-ness after the festival.

The sentiment in chillis, gin-ger, garlic and sugar remainedstrong; while in coriander, com-mon pulses and edible oils, itwas moderate.

Common vegetables andNECC eggs recorded a consid-erable decline due to theincreased arrivals. InHyderabad, the NECC whole-sale egg price crashed by Rs.24at the closing price of Rs.408(per 100). Surat recorded thehighest price of Rs.487, whileNamakkal closed with the low-est of Rs.395.

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

Congress senior leader VHanumantha Rao playstricks every now and then to

attract media attention. On January17, he held a presser on 36th RajivGandhi All India Under-19Twenty-20 League CricketChampionship-2020. After hisaddress, he asked media persons toshoot questions, if any. One of thescribes posed a loaded question,asking him what he would do if theCongress high command does notgive TPCC chief post to BCs.VHR then shot back, "Will youpeople ask Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao such ques-tions? You people are targeting meas I am in the opposition party."

Taken aback, the scribe responded"The Chief Minister did not askscribes to pose questions, but youasked us to raise questions andhence we are asking questions".Then VHR said: "You have to askeasy questions, instead of typicalquestions", leaving scribes in splits.

KTR mutes, rarely blocks IT Minister K T Rama Rao, who

is active on Twitter, recentlyrevealed his preference: his mutelist is longer than his block list.Being a politician, KTR is at thereceiving end many times. "I pre-fer to mute people." Due to the so-called 'Chowkidar campaign' byBJP, most of BJP people are on his

mute list. KTR recently ventured onInstagram, but conceded that hecouldn't really get the hang of thesocial networking site. Instagram isa great way to connect to the mil-lennials, but once you are ontoTwitter, it is difficult. The Ministerspends about 2 hours per day onsocial media. Whenever he is trav-elling and while on flight, whatev-er orders or advice he has to give,he sends it through WhatsApp inflight mode. Once he gets off, themessages are delivered and officialscarry out their tasks.

Pre-Jatara rushWith just about a fortnight left

for the biennial Medaram or

Sammakka Saralamma Jatara in theerstwhile Warangal district, therush of pilgrims has begun, moreso due to the Sankranti holidays.Many devotees of the tribal deitieshave started flocking to the Jatara.The arrivals over the last four daysand particularly the rush on Sundayhave been a record of sorts for thepre-Jatara period in recent times.

Business activities concerningthe Jatara too have commenced.On the Mulugu-Tadwai stretch, tif-fin centres and makeshift breakfasthotels have stated their Jatara-ori-ented business ahead of the sched-ule.

The Jatara devotees in Telanganachose Sunday as the appropriatetime and their chain of visits com-menced from the Vemulawada-Inavole-Koththakonda and homeSammakka pandaga to theSammakka Jatara venue this timetoo. This time the Jatara has beendeclared plastic-free event. Manypeople hope that the ban on plas-tic would help address environ-mental concerns post Jatara.

The rebel has his wayJupalli Krishna Rao has always

stood out as a 'rebel' from the earlydays of struggle for Telangana state-hood. He had resigned as ministerand joined the TRS brigade duringthe initial days of Telangana move-ment. This sacrifice is believed tohave given him prominence in thepink party during the first term ofChief Minister and party supremeK Chandrasekhar Reddy. He got aministerial berth in the first cabinetof TRS and he remained among theparty's main leaders till the 2018Assembly polls. However, thatimportance is no longer there forhim ever since he was defeated byCongress candidate Harshavardhan

Reddy in the Kollapur constituen-cy. This of course came as a rude joltto Jupalli and subsequent to thedefection of Kollapur present MLAHarshavardhan Reddy to TRS, hisimportance at the high commanddecreased further. The urban localbodies' election has given Jupalli thescope to once rebel against theparty's official nominees and theIndian Forward Block Party's offercame as a blessing in disguise forhim.

(Contributed by Kolishetty Venkateshwarlu,

Naveena GhanateP V Kondal Rao and

Avinash Deepak Puli)

REPORTERS’

D ARY

Standing request to scribes: Don't ask tough questions!

In foreign exchange market, IndianRupee remained almost unchangedwith marginal upswing. On the closingday, US Dollar and British Poundcommanded the exchange values ofRs 71.08 and Rs 92.41 respectively

Lakhs of devotees throngMedaram ahead of jataraPNS n MEDARAM

Many devotees thronged theSammakka Sarakka festivalvenue of Medaram on Sundayand took a holy dip in theJampanna stream and fulfilledtheir vows to the forest deities.

It may be recalled that theMedaram festival is scheduled tobe held from February 5 to 8.

However, devotees startedthronging the venue before-hand from Hyderabad,Khammam, Karimnagar,Warangal and other areasanticipating millions and mil-lions of footfalls during the fes-tival period.

On account of the unprece-dented rush, traffic jams have

been reported at several places. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary

Somesh Kumar and DirectorGeneral of Police MahenderReddy reached Medaram inMulug district and inspectedbathing ghats, roads and park-ing places and made suitablesuggestions to officials provid-ing amenities there. The DGP

beefed up the security with thepolice officials.

Later, the DGP and the ChiefSecretary reviewed the arrange-ments for the festival at HaritaHotel here and asked officials tospeed up execution of theremainder of the works as earlyas possible since the devoteesstarted thronging the venue.

n CS, DGP review security arrangements at venue

Sammakka Sarakka jatara isscheduled to be held from February 5to 8. However, devotees startedthronging the venue beforehand fromHyderabad, Khammam, Karimnagar,Warangal and other areas

1,370 trainees showno interest to undergoconstable training PNS n HYDERABAD

Of the 16,000 that have beenshortlisted for the police con-stable training programme,1,370 candidates have notevinced any interest to under-go the training. Of them, 500did not furnish their prelimi-nary information to therecruitment board. However,they furnished written under-taking expressing their inabil-ity to attend the training. Incase of another 750, no attes-tation forms have been sub-mitted. The rest of 120 did notundergo medical examina-tion.

The TSLPRB chairman VVSrinivasa Rao, in an officialrelease on Friday, felt thatthey could have done sobecause of personal reasons.

In all, 3,800 have beenshortlisted for the TelanganaSpecial Police Force but yet toreceive call letter inviting themto take part in the trainingprogramme. The PoliceDepartment is yet to take adecision on conducting train-ing programme for them.

On Friday, training pro-gramme commenced for the9,200 trainees for draftingthem into the civil police,armed reserve police, special

protection force, prisons, fireservices, IT departments andfor the posts of mechanic anddriver.

At least 500 short listedcandidates have been involvedin criminal cases.

The police recruitmentboard has constituted a com-mittee to go into the nitty andgritty of the issue.

In all, 200 candidates havefailed to clear the medicalexamination, another 200 can-didates have furnished incom-plete details. Telangana StateSpecial Police force training isgetting delayed. The same hasbeen intimated to the traineespromising to get back to themwith the training scheduleshortly.

Police arresttwo for murder,gangrape ofwoman PNS n MEDAK

The Medak district police onSaturday cracked the murdermystery and arrested twoculprits and sent them toremand.

On January 13, a suspiciousmurder case has been regis-tered in Medak as an uniden-tified body of a woman wasfound on the outskirts ofMalapadu, near here.

Disclosing this to mediahere on Saturday,Sangareddy DSP SridharReddy said that the kingpinof the murder mysteryMahipal, who had marriedthrice, has been living alone.He befriended an autorick-shaw driver Shaik Javed ofSinguru village.

Mahipal became acquaint-ed with Devamma of Momi-npet mandal of Vikarabaddistrict at a toddy shop onJanuary 12.

Promising to giveDevamma money, Mahipal,who requisitioned his friendJaved, led her to the outskirtsof Malapadu and gangrapedher and later eliminated her,the DSP said.

The police identified theculprits with the help ofCCTV camera footage andtook the culprits into custodyand interrogated them.

As they confessed to theircrime, they have been arrest-ed and later sent for remand.

Man found dead in BalapurPNS n HYDERABAD

A 23-year-old man was founddead under mysterious circu-mstances as his hands weretied up while the body washanging by a rod in Balapurarea on Sunday. The localsnoticed the body and calledthe cops to inform the same.

Police said that they haveidentified the man as Prashant,a resident of Balapur basti.

"Prashant did not have par-ents and was staying with hiselder brother Srikanth. Weinformed him about the sui-cide and shifted the body forpostmortem examination afterregistering a case,” police said.

Case filed againstSangareddy MLAPNS n HYDERABAD

Sangareddy Rural Police fileda case following complaintlodged by former MLC RSathyanarayana alleging thatJagga Reddy made objection-able and abusive commentsagainst Finance Minister THarish Rao.

The police filed cases agai-nst Jagga Reddy under 153A,188 and 504 Sections.

Later speaking to themedia at Sangareddy, Sathya-narayana alleged that Jagga

Reddy is making uncivilisedcomments against HarishRao with the fear that Cong-ress candidates would facedefeat in municipal elections.

Sathyanarayana said thatJagga Reddy is bringing badname to Sangareddy by usingabusive language to destroyself respect of his opponents.

Sathyanarayana urged vot-ers to defeat Congress candi-dates to teach a lesson toJagga Reddy. TRS leaderChintha Prabhakar was alsopresent.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police Mahender Reddy offer prayers at Medaram in Mulug on Sunday

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JANUARY 20, 2020 hyderabad 03

Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatreya felicitate film actor Krishnam Raju and lyricist Sirivennela SitaramaSastry during Sankranthi Sambaralu organised by Telugu Sangamam at Narsingi in Hyderabad

HONOURING LLEGENDS

The two-day hackathon event organised by the Hyderabad city police in partnership with We Hub concluded on Sunday. RaviGupta, IPS Principal Secretary to Government, was the Chief Guest. Anjani Kumar IPS, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, Shikha Goel IPS, Additional CP of Crimes and Jayesh Ranjan IAS,Principal Secretary, IT and other senior officers distributed certificaates and cheques to students.

HACKATHON WWINNERSRIME ORNERC

Youth sexuallyassaults minor girl HYDERABAD: A 10-year-oldminor girl was sexually assaultedby a youth in Pargi area ofVikarabad district. The offencetook place in BC Colony area inwhen the girl was playing nearthe house of the accused,identified as Sai. The accusedtook the girl to an isolated placeand sexually assaulted her, saidthe police, adding that theincident came to light when thegirl started bleeding andinformed her family membersabout the same. When theyshifted her to a hospital, thedoctors said that confirmed thatwas sexually assaulted. Theresidents of the colony caughthold of the accused and thrashedhim. Later, he was handed overto the police, who registeredcases against him under relevantsections of the IPC and POCSOand are investigating.

One killed, 3 injuredas car rams truck

A30-year-old man was killedwhile three others sustainedsevere injuries in a road

mishap when their car crashedinto a truck on the Outer RingRoad at Shamshabad on Sunday.The truck was parked on theORR carriageway at the time ofthe incident, police said. Thevictim was identified as BSNReddy, said the police inspectorof Shamshabad, R Venkatesh,adding that Reddy and threeothers were in a car travellingfrom Gachibowli towards PeddaAmberpet when the mishapoccurred. "As the driver of thetruck did not take any precauti-ons to indicate, it was not visible.The driver of the car did not noti-ce the parked truck and crashedinto it from the rear, leading tothe mishap,” police said.

NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

The jail inmates in Telanganastate prisons have reportedthe highest gross valueturnover of sale proceeds in theyear 2018, valued at a whop-ping worth Rs 206.405 crores,followed by Tamil Nadu, whoclocked in Rs 72.796 croreand Kerala with Rs 34.403crore, according to the latestPrisons stats released by theNCRB (National CrimeRecords Bureau).

Telangana stood first in theyear 2017 as well by generatingRs 59,923 crore of sale, fol-lowed by Tamilnadu (Rs 56,834crore) and Maharashtra (Rs30,502 crore), said the NCRBreport.

The training of jail inmatesin vocational trades resultedin production of articleswhich have market value."The value of goods pro-duced per inmate was high-est in Telangana (Rs3,71,900.9) fol lowed byChandigarh (Rs 57,922.71)and Tamil Nadu (Rs

53,236.8) during the year2018," said the report.

Prisoners who are engaged inlabour are paid a nominal wagebased on their skill sets. Anaverage of Rs 92.67, Rs 64.05and Rs 70.19 were paid per dayto skilled, semi-skilled andunskilled prisoners respective-ly. The States/UTs of Delhi,Karnataka and Tamil Naduhas reported that Rs 361, Rs 225

and Rs 200 per day were paidfor skilled works in their statesrespectively and Rs 328, Rs 200and Rs 180 per day were thewages for semi-skilled work.

When asked about thereport and biggest turnover inthe country, the DirectorGeneral of DG Prisons &Correctional Services,Telangana, Rajiv Trivedi saidthat it a great news and that

they are doing their best in allaspects to stand apart amongthe other jails in the country.However, the official refused tocomment further on the latestreport as he was newlyappointed as the DG and theNCRB report furnished wasduring the tenure of VK Singh.

Under the leadership ofSingh, the Prisons Departmenthas reduced the deaths of pris-oners and has taken up a seriesof measures for educating theprisoners in all jails in the state.Chanchalguda jail is the onlyone with facilities like an airconditioned meeting room,which was just a ground with-out proper benches before.

According to the formerDG, the biggest achievementof the department in the lastthree years was to eradicatecorruption from all jails in theState. He said the TelanganaPrisons Department was inthe forefront to rehabilitatebeggars, intellectually chal-lenged, destitutes and addedthat no Prisons Departmentin the world has taken upsuch initiative.

TS Prisons department tops gross value sales turnover

Contestants vie to inducevoters in ‘ballot market'

Continued from Page 1

The leaders who have eyedon corporation mayor andmunicipal chairman are flood-ing the voters with induce-ments of money, liquor andgifts. Some others have beenoffering crores of money to theMLAs.

A businessman who is field-ing his spouse for the mayorpost in one of the municipalcorporations located on thecity outskirts has offered a partyfund of Rs 20 crore to the localleaders and their political out-fits to ensure her victory asmayor, according to a wordfrom the grapevine.

Similarly, another contestantdisposed of his land worth Rs 5crore to fund his electionexpenses.

Voters have been demandingat least Rs 10,000 per vote. Acandidate who eyed on themunicipal chairman post offeredto give Rs 30,000 to each vote.But his rival also came up withthe same offer the former hasrevised his offer to give addi-tional one tula of gold.

Because of these induce-ments, the election expenses ofeach contestant is crossing Rs 50lakh on an average. Those whoare in the race for mayor anddeputy mayor posts are spend-ing more than Rs 1 crore. In

addition, they are financiallysupporting their contestantswho are in the race for the coun-cilor or corporator post. InChunduru village of Nalgondadistrict, one of the contestantswas reported to have offered Rs1 lakh to a household that hasat least four votes.

Another candidate who runsa function hall promised to giveRs 10,116 to students securing10 out of 10 GPA in the SSCpublic exams and also to girlsgetting married off. Moreover,he offered to give his functionhall free of cost to the residentsof the ward to perform theirfamily functions and cere-monies.

Continued from Page 1

The government had paidRs 18,286 crore towards debtservicing alone in 2018-19,which includes payment ofinterests totaling Rs 11,691crore and debt repaymentsadding up to Rs 6,594 crore.

For the current fiscal (2019-20), the government has ear-marked Rs 23,841 crore fordebt servicing, comprising Rs14,575 crore interest and Rs9,266 crore debt repayment.

With mounting debt servic-ing burden, the government

has decided to issue long-tenor bonds of 30-years toavoid repayment of higheramount in short term.

The state has decided to goin for elongation of maturitystructure of outstanding debt.

The maturity pattern of out-standing debt across Indianstates and Union Territorieshas also been increasing.

As noted by RBI, since 2015-16, as many as 15 state govern-ments, including Telanganaand the UT of Puducherry,have issued longer-tenor secu-rities. Among these states,

Telangana has the longest tenorfor state government securities,with the debt maturity profilebeing 30 years.

Given aspirational develop-ment agenda of the state, it isa challenge to maintain thestipulated growth path at 14-15%, while adhering to fiscalrules by containing debt-GSDPratio at 20%.

Telangana, since its forma-tion, has been on the highgrowth trajectory and thestate's economy has beengrowing at rate that is a high-er than national GDP growth.

HC verdict onMBBS feesaves Rs 99.82 crorefor 1,269...

Continued from Page 1

Officials in the EducationDepartment say that the HighCourt verdict is binding onthe medical colleges, but themanagements of medical col-leges are contemplating toappeal against the HC verdict.

In this backdrop, studentsand their parents held a meet-ing at Warangal on Sundayand decided to give a mem-orandum to the state govern-ment urging it to ensure thatthe tuition fee is collected forsix months only in the finalyear. They contend that if theHC verdict is implemented, itwould greatly reduce the debtburden on parents.

Continued from Page 1

The Chief Justice alsoallowed Kasim's family mem-bers to meet him at his resi-dence. The 43-year-old pro-fessor was later shifted toCherlapally Jail.

He was arrested by theSiddipet district police aftera raid on his residence at uni-versity staff quarters onSaturday.

The arrest, allegedly inconnection with a case reg-istered against him in 2016,triggered protests from stu-dents as well as human rightsgroups.

Gaddam Laxman, presi-dent of the Telangana CivilLiberties Committee, hadmoved a habeas corpus peti-

tion as house motion againstthe arrest at the ChiefJustice's residence.

Taking exception to themanner in which the arrestwas made, the Chief Justicehad directed the police toproduce him at his residenceon Sunday.

Kasim was arrested in con-nection with a case registeredagainst him under the dra-conian Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act at MuluguPolice Station in 2016. Hewas charged with sedition;attempt to wage war againstthe country, and criminalconspiracy.

The petitioner's counsel, VRaghunath, submitted to thecourt that Kasim was shown"absconding" in the case

though he had been regular-ly attending to his duties.

Just ice Chauhan hadthreatened to order probe bythe Centra l Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) againstthe state police for detainingpeople unlawfully.

Kasim was recently elect-ed as secretar y of theRevolut ionar y WritersAssociation or Virasam. He isalso the editor of a Telugunewspaper 'NadusthunnaTelangana' (contemporaryTelangana).

Virasam was earlier head-ed by well-known writerVaravara Rao, who is cur-rently in jail in for his allegedinvolvement in the BhimaKoregaon violence case inMaharashtra.

Detained OU Prof Kasimproduced before CJ

Bill on shifting of AP capital likely todayContinued from Page 1

The Cabinet meeting willalso discuss the AndhraPradesh Decentralisation andEqual Development of AllRegions Bill-2020 and is like-ly to give its approval for it,according to official sources.

It would also take up theCRDA Act Amendment Bill2020. The Business AdvisoryCouncil (BAC) meeting will beheld at 10 am to be attended byChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy, Finance MinisterBuggana Rajendranath Reddy,Water Resources Minister AnilKumar Yadav and TDLPdeputy leader K Atchannaidu.The Assembly session is sched-uled to begin at 11 am.

The Decentralisation Billenvisages all-round develop-ment of the State. As part of this,various government depart-ments, branches and systemswill be set up in different

regions. The State will be divid-ed into four zones, namely,North Andhra, Central Andhra,South Andhra andRayalaseema, each with a com-missionerate. The zonal com-missionerates will take care ofthe needs of the people locally.

They need not have to trav-el to the Secretariat for redres-sal of their grievances. TheChief Minister will be thechairman of the zonal boards.Each board will have its ownvice-chairman, an MP, twoMLAs and four members to beappointed by the government.

The CRDA AmendmentBill-2020 aims at revoking theprovisions of the old CRDAAct and notifications issuedunder it. It also aims at reviv-ing the Vijayawada - Guntur -Tenali - Mangalagiri UrbanDevelopment Authority(VGTM - UDA) and the entireCRDA would come under itspurview. Loans availed under

the CRDA would be trans-ferred to VGTMUDA. TheCRDA employees will be trans-ferred to VGTM - UDA.

The trial run of the CM'sconvoy was conducted along

the road that leads to theSecretariat. Three-layeredsecurity has been arranged inCapital villages and check-posts were arranged at prob-lematic villages.

MCI allots 54PG medicalseats in TS

Continued from Page 1

It may be recalled that MCIallotted 3 PG seats inPharmacology. Those who aresuccessful in NEET (PG) willbe given admission to fill theseats in March/April this year.There are 704 PG medicalseats in 10 government med-ical colleges and 917 seats in21 private medical colleges. Inall, the total number of PGseats in the state 1,623.

5 MLAs skip TDLP meetingContinued from Page 1

Ganta Srinivasa Rao,Vasupalli Ganesh, Ashok andAnagani Satya Prasad andAdireddy Bhavani did notturn up for the meeting. Theyhave sent messages to theparty high command statingthat they were unable toattend the meeting for per-sonal reasons.

According to party sources,all of them will attend theAssembly session on Monday.The party has issued the whip

to all members, includingrebel MLAs VallabhaneniVamsi and Maddali Giridhar,to attend the session. Therebels were warned thataction would be taken againstthem if they acted in violationof the party whip.

The TDLP has discussed indetail the strategy to be adopt-ed if the CRDA Bill is tabledas Money Bill. The Assemblywill discuss decentralisation ofdevelopment and adminis-tration as well as amendmentto the CRDA Act.

Telangana new debt strategy: Issue 30-year tenor bonds

Kia Motors eyes fullcapacity utilisationwith slew of modelsPNS n HYDERABAD

South Korean automaker KiaMotors plans to keep rollingout new models at regularintervals in India as it aims tofully utilise its current installedproduction capacity of 3 lakhunits by March 2022, a seniorcompany official said.

The company, which hasgot to a flying start in thecountry with its first productSeltos, aims to bring in twomore models this year.

It will drive in luxury multipurpose vehicle Carnival atAuto Expo, followed by acompact SUV laterduring the year.

Similarly, thec o m p a n ywould alsolook atbringing intwo moreproducts nextyear as well.

"We have alreadystated that we will keep intro-ducing a new model every sixmonths. Our first goal rightnow is to fully exhaust theinstalled production capacity,"Kia Motors India HeadMarketing and Sales ManoharBhat said.

It should take around 4-5models from the company'sstables to achieve the target in2022, he added.

Kia Motors' manufacturingfacility in Andhra Pradeshhas an installed productioncapacity to roll out 3 lakh units

per annum on a three shiftbasis.

The company is currentlyrunning two shifts at the plant.

Commenting on Carnival,which was showcased here,Bhat said the company wouldbe creating a new segmentwith the model.

"Carnival is going to be ourflagship model in India. Thereis no product like it in thecountry right now. It wouldmeet the evolving needs ofelite customers in the country,"Bhatt said.

Carnival will bepowered by a 2.2

litre dieselengine witha claimedfuel efficien-cy of 13.9 km

per litre."We will

redefine the mar-ket place with this

product as well as we didwith Seltos. It will have BS-VIcompliant engine right fromthe start," Bhat said.

When asked to comment onsales expectations from themodel, he added that the com-pany is not looking at it fromvolume point of view, butwants to showcase its prowessin terms of quality and luxu-ry.

The compact SUV model,which would be showcased atthe Auto Expo and launchedlater during the year, would bemore of a volume cruncher forthe company, he added.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Global Hospitals inHyderabad has been direct-ed by the Telangana StateConsumer Dispute RedressalCommission to pay a com-pensation of Rs 35,000 foralleged medical negligence.

The complaint was filed byMA Aleem who alleged neg-ligence from Global Hospitalswhere the delay in his treat-ment cost him heavily. OnDecember 15, 2012, heapproached Global Hospitalfollowing a head injury.

However, after the admin-istration of the tetanus injec-tion, Aleem felt weaknessand pain. He further allegedthat the staff in the hospitalfailed to provide adequatefacilities.

Global Hospitals' counselhas mentioned before thedistrict consumer forum thatthey were not given theopportunity to present theirarguments. The counsel hasargued that the opportunitythat is afforded to them in thedistrict forum could not beavailed for reasons beyondtheir control. The judges haveallowed their request toappeal and have directed theGlobal Hospital to pay acompensation of Rs 35,000 tothe complainant for the delay.The judgement has also spec-ified that since the complai-nant was 65-years-old, hemerits the compensation,within one month of the dateof judgement.

PNS n HYDERABAD

According to the AnnualStatus of Education Report(ASER), 2018 it is found thatmore than half of the studentsstudying in Class VIII inTelangana state lack basicarithmetic, including subtrac-tion or division.

It has been found thataround 66.6 per cent of stu-dents studying in the eighthgrade in Telangana cannotsubtract correctly. The reportalso revealed that basic arith-metic ability in subtraction hasbeen decreasing since 2010.

Apart from this, around51.3 per cent of students areunable to do division. The dataalso revealed that the numberof students, from both govern-ment and private schools, whocan do it appropriately hasbeen on the decline. From 61.6per cent in 2012 it has comedown to 48.7 percent in 2018.

Another observation fromthe ASER report shows thatthe reading levels of studentshave also been on the decline.

In 2012, around 85.6 per centof students studying in eighthstandard were able to read abasic text of Class II whereasthis number has come down to69.6 per cent in 2018.

The report also shows thegap between qualities of read-ing between governmentschools and private schools. In2018, around 37 per cent ofClass VIII in governmentschools were unable to read abasic Class II text whereas forprivate schools it was 11 percent. The teachers believe thatthe poor performance of stu-dents in Telangana schools isa serious matter.

A school teacher said thatthey are facing crisis mainlybecause there is a lack ofstrong basic foundation.

In December 2019, FinanceMinister Harish Rao did a sur-prise inspection at a ZillaParishad School at Sangareddywhere he was surprised toknow that several students ofthe tenth standard were unableto either recite tables or writetheir names in Telugu.

ASER REPORT

TS Class VIII studentslack basic math skills

Redressal forumdirects GlobalHospitals to paycompensation

Worker falls to deathPNS n HYDERABAD

A centering worker ofTurkayamjal and a native ofNagarkurnool, died afterfalling from a building atVanasthalipuram on Sunday.

According to the police, thevictim was identified as SSrinivasulu, 28. "Srinivasuluwas working at an under-con-

struction building atVanasthalipuram on Saturdaywhen he fell from the thirdfloor of the building. He sus-tained injuries and was rushedto a hospital for treatmentwhere he died while undergo-ing treatment late in the night,"said police. Police registered acase under Section 174 ofCrPc and started investigation.

hyderabad 04URBAN

POLL - 2020HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JANUARY 20, 2020

JANUARY

22

PNS n HYDERABAD

In view of the political andgeographical significance of10 municipal corporations,the Telangana RashtraSamithi had deployed 10Ministers and 40 MLAs forextensively campaigning forMunicipal elections.

The municipal corpora-tions of Karimnagar,Nizamabad andRamagundam are politicallysignificant because the TRSwon the 2018 elections inKarimnagar and NizamabadAssembly elections but drewa blank in the Lok Sabha elec-tions.

The RamagundamMunicipal Corporation ishome to the employees of theSingareni CollieriesCompany Limited. The restof the corporations are locat-ed on the city outskirts.

Chief Minister and TRSchief K Chandrasekhar Raogave clear cut directions toMinisters and MLAs whohave been put in-charge ofthe elections, while the TRSworking president KT RamaRao drew up an electionstrategy. Meetings were heldwith Ministers, MLAs, MPsand MLCs thrice.

KT Rama Rao has beenholding tele-conferencewith the contestantsalmost daily and givingsuggestions to the contes-tants analysing the situa-tion from time to time. Hehas been advising the con-testants to take the TRSwelfare and developmentinitiatives strongly into themasses.

Minister Vemula Prasant Reddy, local MLAs and MLCs have been campaigning infavour of the official nominees of the party extensively. The MIM has been trying toestablish its clout there. The TRS is confident of support from the minoritieswherever its candidates are in the race, except in the seats where the MIMcandidates are fielded.

NIZAMABAD CORPORATION

KARIMNAGAR BANDLAGUDA NIZAMPET

BODUPPAL,JAWAHARNAGAR &PEERZADIGUDA Labour Minister Malla

Reddy has been put in-charge of the election in the

three corporations.Selection of candidates

proved to be difficult initially.TRS working president KTR had tostep in to resolve the problems. Malla Reddy hasbeen forging ahead in his campaign setting asidethe criticism against him by unsuccessful ticket

aspirants. The TRS deployed senior MLAs forcampaigning here. Naveen Kumar and other MLCs have been

roped in to campaign here. Jawahar Nagar and Peerjadiguda areinclined towads the TRS, while the party is encountering rough weatherin Boduppal. The main contest in Bodduppal Corporation is limited toTRS and the Congress.

Candidates have been picked byMinister Gangula Kamalakar.The problem of dissidence hasbeen quelled. TRS candidates

were electedunopposed intwo divisionsof thecorporation.Planning board

vice-chairman BVinod Kumar, at

least 10 party MLAs, MLCs andMPs have been camping in thecity to intensify the campaign.Triangular contests are onthe cards for various seats.

Rajendra Nagar MLAPrakash Goudregards themunicipal elections asan acid test for hisefficiency. The MLA personallyshortlisted the candidates for variousdivisions. Senior MPs, MLAs andMLCs have been deployed tocampaign in favour of the officialnominees. The TRS will lock horns

with Congressand BJP

here.

It comes under thejurisdiction of QutubullahpurAssembly constituency. It isone of the crucialsettlements on thecity outskirts.The TRShas paidattention tocapture themunicipalcorporation. MLAVivekananda and MLCSambhipur Raju otherleaders and MLAs havebeen campaigningundertaking door-to-doorvisits.

The TRSseeks tocapturethe civicbody withthe help ofthe SCCLworkers. Minister KoppulaEswar banked on hisexperience to ensure theTRS victory. MLAs, MPs,

leaders have beentouring divisions to

see that the TRSromped home.

The BJP andCongress were

pitted against TRS.

Ruling TRS focus on 10 municipal corporations

MIRPETAND BADANGPET

These come under the jurisdiction ofMinister Sabita Reddy's constituency.

Many precautions have beenadopted in the selection ofcandidates. The TRS hasdeployed senior MLAsfor campaigning. The

BJP and TRS ally MIMcandidates are pitted

against ruling TRS insome divisions.

‘CASH FOR TICKET'

Congress: File graft case against Malla ReddyPNS n HYDERABAD

All India Congress Committee(AICC) spokesperson DrDasoju Sravan on Sundaydemanded that a case of cor-ruption be registered againstLabour Minister Ch MallaReddy who allegedly collectedcrores of rupees from aspirantsto give TRS tickets forMmunicipal elections. DrSravan also demanded thatMalla Reddy be sacked fromCabinet with immediate effect.

Addressing a press confere-nce at Gandhi Bhavan on Sun-day, Dr Sravan played someaudio clips which went viral onsocial media which suggeststhat Malla Reddy and his closerelatives asked for huge moneyto give TRS tickets. He said theaudio clip was of a telephonicconversation between MallaReddy and son-in-law Rajshe-khar Reddy who alleged dem-anded aspirants to pay lakhs ofrupees to get TRS ticket forMunicipal elections. Asking

whether seeking money togive party ticket was not cor-ruption, he demanded theAnti-Corruption Bureau(ACB) officials to register a suomotto case against the Ministerand his relatives. He said some

aspirants have also spoken tomedia accusing the minister ofdemanding huge amounts. Hesaid when ACB could arrestsemployees for demandingmoney, why was it silent whena similar crime was allegedlybeing committed by aMinister?

Dr Sravan demanded anenquiry into the allegationsand stern action against theMinister. He said that theCongress party would lodge aformal complaint with thepolice and the ElectionCommission in this regard. Hereminded that Chief MinisterK Chandrashehar Rao hadannounced in the past that hewould not spare anyone whoindulges in corruption.

The Congress leader alsodemanded that ElectionCommission take againstMinister Errabelli DayakarRao who intimidated the vot-ers by saying that he wouldcome to know whom theyhave voted for in the elections.

HYDERABAD: TelanganaCongress leaders alleged that theLabor Minister Ch Malla Reddysold party tickets to contest inMunicipal election for Rs 50 lakheach. The leaders alleged that theTRS had given tickets to theencroachers and murderers.Speaking in municipal electionscampaign in Quthbullahpurconstituency on Sunday,Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddyalleged that TRS leaders woulddo anything to win elections.Revanth Reddy said that the TRSleaders were selling ticketsthrough auction. The MinisterMalla Reddy sold tickets for Rs50 lakh each. Urging theCongress and TDP cadre to workunited till elections, RevanthReddy warned TRS leaderssaying that he will not leave ifthey threaten Congresscandidates. Revanth Reddy urged the voters

to ensure the victory of Congresscorporators if they wanteddevelopment in colonies. He saidthat he will bring the funds fromDelhi for the development of themunicipalities, however, he askedthe voters to ensure the victory ofCongress candidates to spend

those funds properly. Finding fault with the ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao,who stated that he will not askvotes if drinking water was notprovided to every house, RevanthReddy questioned KCR to tell asto how he is asking votes again.

Revanth: Labour Minister sold tickets for Rs 50L

Election Commissionshould take against

Minister ErrabelliDayakar Rao who intimidated

the voters —DASOJU SRAVAN

AICC spokesperson

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP leaders assuredthat they will implement man-ifesto released on Sunday forMunicipal elections by provid-ing good administration andcorruption free governance inmunicipalities wherever it wins.

The party said that it willreduce the house tax, which isunscientific and burdeningthe people by liberalising thetax system. The party assuredin its manifesto that it will pro-tect the tanks and parks fromthe encroachers.

BJP MLC and GreaterHyderabad party chief NRamchander Rao and othersreleased the manifesto. Beforethe release of manifesto,Ramchander Rao said thattheir party will abolish thehouse tax to the houses con-structed below 100 yards. Theywill rationalise the property taxwithin 100 days. BJP willensure that it will collect 100

per cent taxes by reforming thetaxes. It will create special sys-tem to assess the property taxto control the corruption andto increase the tax collections.

Ramchander Rao said thatthe party will computerise therecords to control the landencroachments. He said thatthe BJP will help the victims ofland encroachments by creat-ing toll-free number and help-ing centers. He said that theirparty would encourage settingup of small scale industries.BJP will also modernise RythuBazaars for the sake of smallvendors and foot-path traders.The party will set up mecha-nised dhobi ghats and modernmarkets.

The MLC said that the partywould appoint more sanitaryinspectors to control the adul-teration of food in hotels anddhabas. The party would striveto implement the SC, ST sub-plan by allocating funds for it.The party will construct func-tion halls with 300 seatingcapacity and will be giventhem to poor people for free ofcost. The party will set upsenior citizens clubs, multi-theme parks for children. Theparty will take up scientificsteps to control the mosqui-toes. One Rs 5 meal centerswill be set up for every 10,000people. High resolution CCCameras will be set up inevery street, he said.

Will reduce house tax ifBJP wins: Ramchander

BJP RELEASES MANIFESTO

The party will set up senior citizen clubs, multi-themeparks for children. The party will take up scientificsteps to control the mosquitoes.

— RAMCHANDER RAO , HHyyddeerraabbaadd BBJJPP cchhiieeff

Teach alesson to TRS,says MPKomatireddyPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MP from BhongirKomatireddy Venkat Reddyhas said that the residents ofAdibhatla are falling ill asthere is no Firangi canal inAdibhatla.

Venkat Reddy said thathealth problems will besolved if Firangi canal workswere completed with Rs 50lakh. He alleged that localMLA Manchireddy KishanReddy, who joined TRS fromTDP five years ago, is notsolving the issue.

While participating inmunicipal election campaignin Adibhatla on Sunday inIbrahimpatnam constituencyin Rangareddy district,Venkat Reddy urged the peo-ple to teach a lesson to theTRS party in the form ofvotes as it is failed to devel-op the area.

Venkat Reddy said that hebrought several companies toAdibhatla when he was ITMinister during the thenChief Minister late YSRajashekar Reddy's regime.

Venkat Reddy said, "Castyour vote the Congress,which accorded separateTelangana state."

PNS n HYDERABAD

Maharashtra Assembly speak-er and former All India KisanCongress president NanaFalgunrao Patole has said thatthe economic condition of thenation is very bad. The Centreis stating wrong calculations oneconomy as the nation's GDPis in bad state, Falgunrao Patolesaid alleging that the BJP ledNDA government has noaccountability as it is makinglaws against the people.

Telangana Kisan Congressfelicitated Falgunrao Patole ata private hotel on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion,Falgunrao Patole said that thepeople opposed the BJP ledCentral government duringGST and CAA. The govern-ment has to change its standwhen people oppose.

Unemployment has increaseddue to the policies of BJP, healleged.

Falgunrao Patole said that hewould pray Tirupati Balaji todevelop the farmers besideseradication of unemployment.

There is a need for the govern-ments to develop all sections ofthe people as said by Dr BRAmbedkar, Falgunrao Patoleopined stressing the need ofallocation of funds by the gov-ernments for the development

of people below the povertyline.

Congress senior leader VHanumantha Rao said thatthe farmers were facing lot oftroubles across the nation. Thefarmers, who feed the nationare committing suicides forfailing to feed own family afterfalling under debts.

The farmers' suicides weremore in Telangana state,Hanumantha Rao lamented

saying that the police officialsinsulted farmers by puttinghand cuffs to the hands of thefarmers. He said that FalgunraoPatole waged several move-ments for farmers.

Former MLA and AICCsecretary SA Sampath Kumarsaid that Falgunrao Patolejoined Congress being rulingBJP MP only for the sake offarmers. Falgunrao Patole is astrong leader and strives con-tinuously for the sake of farm-ers, he said.

The Telangana Congressleader Ponnala Laxmaiah,Rajya Sabha member MAKhan, All India Kisan Congressvice-president M KodandaReddy, Telangana KisanCongress president AnveshReddy and several KisanCongress leaders were alsopresent.

‘Economic condition of the nation is bad’n Telangana Kisan Cong felicitates Maharshtra Assembly speaker Nana Falgunrao Patole

FalgunaraoPatole said thathe would prayBalaji for upliftof farmers anderadication ofunemployment

‘Revanth should haveaddressed letter toAmit Shah on KTR’PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress senior leader VHanumantha Rao opined thataddressing a letter to ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao by Malkajgiri MP A Rev-anth Reddy seeking inquiryinto the assets of TRS workingpresident and IT Minister KTRama Rao, is a good one. Butthe doubt is whether KCR willorder an inquiry into his sonKTR's corruption, he said.

Hanumantha Rao opinedthat Revanth Reddy's intentionis good, but he addressed theletter to a wrong person.Revanth Reddy would haveaddressed the same letter toUnion Home Minister AmitShah because all investigativeagencies are in the hands ofAmit Shah, he stated.

Speaking to the media hereon Sunday, Hanumantha Raosaid that there is no need toapproach courts on KTR'salleged illegal assets. AmitShah will send the same letterto Election Commission thenKTR's earnings will come out.

Hanumantha Rao said thatthere are two benefits ifaddressed the same letter toAmit Shah as it exposes therelation between TRS and BJPbesides inquiry. He suggestedRevanth Reddy to address thesame letter to Union HomeMinister or Central ElectionCommission. HanumanthaRao said that he will lodge acomplaint with the UnionHome Minister against KTR ifRevanth Reddy fails to addressthe letter to Union HomeMinister.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) Presidentand Nalgonda MP N UttamKumar Reddy has accusedMinister KT Rama Rao ofindulging in 'headline manage-ment' by making false and hol-low claims of development.

As part of election campaignfor municipal elections, UttamKumar Reddy addressed aseries of meetings in Nalgondaand Kodad besides speaking ata press conference and havinglive interaction with partyworkers on social media plat-

form Facebook on Sunday.Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged

that KTR has failed to performas the Minister for MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment. The develop-ment in areas under munici-palities and municipal corpo-rations came to a halt ever

since TRS came to power.Entire existing infrastructurein urban local bodies was cre-ated under previous Congressregime. However, KTR hasbeen making false claims ofdevelopment and cheating thepeople with fake promises bygiving big statements in news-papers. He also alleged thatKTR was forcing the newspa-pers to publish his interviewson Front Page. He said suchtactics would not work infavour of TRS as people haverealised that only Congressparty could bring develop-ment.

IT Minister KT RamaRao was forcingnewspapers to publish

his interviews on front page. —UTTAM KUMAR REDDY

TPCC chief

Uttam: TRS making false claims,fake promises on development

Candidates supply meat to woo votersPNS n HYDERABAD

To induce voters, candidatebelonging to a mainstreampolitical party placed one kg ofmeat at the doorsteps of peo-ple in the sixth ward of thetown on Sankranti festival day.

A kg of chicken along with

a cool drink bottles were sup-plied to voters on another day.

On Saturday, 50 grams teapacket, one kg of red gram, a

milk packet, 1 kg of greengram appeared in front of thedoors of houses in one of themunicipal wards of the town.

One kg of chicken along with a cooldrink bottles supplied to voters

RAMAGUNDAM

PNS n AHMEDABAD

NITI Aayog member V KSaraswat has said the shut downof internet services in Jammuand Kashmir after the abroga-tion of Article 370 did not haveany significant impact on theeconomy, as people there didnothing other than watching"dirty films" online.

He also said that internet ser-vices were suspended inJammuand Kashmir to prevent certainelements from "misusing" infor-mation that could affect law andorder situation there.

Saraswat was speaking toreporters in Gandhinagar onSaturday after attending theconvocation of the DhirubhaiAmbani Institute of Informationand CommunicationTechnology. "What differencedoes it make if there's no inter-net there? What do you watchon internet there? What e-tail-ing is happening there? Besideswatching dirty films, you donothing there," he said.

"If there is no internet inKashmir, it does not have anysignificant effect on the econo-my," he added. Saraswat said thereason for suspending internetservices in Jammu and Kashmirwas to prevent certain elementsfrom misusing information.

"If Article 370 had to beremoved, and if Kashmir had tobe taken forward, we knewthere were elements there whichwill misuse this kind of informa-tion in a manner that will affectthe law and order situation," hesaid. On recent protests inDelhi's Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU), Saraswat saidthe institution has become a"political battleground" withhalf of the teachers being "hard-core Leftists".

He called for the issues thereto be resolved "democratically".

Saraswat also said thatprotests like those against theCitizenship Amendment Actand in JNU affect the economy.

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JANUARY 20, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Ex-UP home ministerSaiduzzamancomplains of extortion MUZAFFARNAGAR (UP):Congress leader and former UPhome minister S Saiduzzamanhas alleged that unidentifiedpersons called him to demandextortion money and threatenedto kill his son if the paymentwas not made here. Duringanti-citizenship law protestslast month, four cars inside hishouse were burnt byunidentified people afterviolence erupted here. Afterlodging a complaint with theKotwali police station here onSaturday, the formerMuzaffarnagar Lok Sabha MPsaid that the miscreants wantedRs 10 lakh failing which theythreatened to kill his sonSalman Sayeed.

‘Union govt shouldcome clean onderadicalisation camps’

Delhi CM Kejriwal releases‘guarantee card'NEW DELHI: Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal on Sundayreleased a "guarantee card"listing 10 promises, includingfree bus rides for students anddeployment of "mohallamarshals" for women's safety,that his AAP will fulfil if it is re-elected in Delhi. The card, "10guarantees of Kejriwal", alsopromises to continue thescheme for free electricity up to200 units, free health facilities,to plant two crore saplings,clean Yamuna river and reducepollution in Delhi over the nextfive years. "I am giving 10guarantees to the people ofDelhi. This is not a manifesto.We will launch acomprehensive manifesto in 7-10 days. The manifesto willhave more things specificallyfor students, teachers, amongothers. This will be foreveryone," Kejriwal said.

BJP repeatedlyharassing Hardik Patel:Priyanka GandhiNEW DELHI: Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra onSunday accused the BJP ofrepeatedly harassing partyleader Hardik Patel, who hasbeen arrested for failing toappear before a court in a 2015sedition case. The Congressgeneral secretary said Patel hasbeen fighting for theemployment of youth and therights of farmers. The BJP isrepeatedly harassing Patel,Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweetin Hindi. "Hardik voiced theconcerns of the people of hissociety, sought jobs for them,sought scholarships, carriedout farmers' movement. BJP iscalling this 'treason'," she said.Patel was arrested on Saturdaynight from Viramgam taluka inGujarat's Ahmedabad districtfor failing to appear before atrial court in connection withthe sedition case, hours after awarrant was issued againsthim.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:CPI(M) General SecretarySitaram Yechury on Sundaydemanded that the Uniongovernment come clean on thede-radicalisation campsoperating in India. He describedas "outrageous" the disclosureof Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)Gen Bipin Rawat that de-radicalisation camps wereoperating in the country. TheCDS had said there is need forde-radicalisation of Muslimyouth, particularly in Kashmir."Army commanders areentering domestic politics. Thisis unprecedented.

Niti Aayog member justifiesinternet ban in J&K

PNS n SRINAGAR

The Kashmir Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(KCCI) – an apex trade body— on Sunday condemnedNITI Aayog member V KSaraswat's reported remarksthat the Union Territory'seconomy was not significant-ly affected by the internet sus-pension and the data servicewas only used to watch "dirtyfilms", and demanded hisimmediate removal.

"We condemn theseremarks. They are spreadingvenom against the people ofKashmir. Nobody gives himthe right to speak like thisabout the people of Jammu andKashmir and utter this non-sense against us," KCCI presi-dent Sheikh Ashiq told PTI.

Speaking to reporters onthe sidelines of the annualconvocation at DhirubhaiAmbani Institute ofInformation andCommunication Technology(DA-IICT) in Gandhinagar,Gujarat, on Saturday, Saraswat

said, "What difference does itmake if there's no internetthere (Kashmir)? What do youwatch on internet there? Whate-tailing is happening there?Besides watching dirty films,you do nothing there."

Ashiq said the whole worldknows that the Valley is suffer-ing due to the internet shut-down and the losses to thebusiness sector here haveamounted to over Rs 18,000crore in the past nearly sixmonths.

"We at the Chamber knowthat our economy has been

deeply affected by the suspen-sion of internet services. Everysector of our economy hassuffered a great deal. If any per-son says something like this, itspeaks a volume about hismind capacity. He has no rightto sit in the NITI Aayog," hesaid.

The KCCI recently submit-ted a detailed report about thebusiness losses in the Kashmirvalley to Lieutenant GovernorG C Murmu and Union min-ister of Commerce PiyushGoyal as well as MoS PMOJitendra Singh.

NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat

Whatdifferencedoes it make if

there's no internetthere? What do youwatch on internetthere? What e-tailingis happening there?Besides watchingdirty films, you donothing there

‘Nobody has the right to speak like this’

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Sundayexpressed apprehension overthe government's reported bidto revamp official statistics toaccount for the unorganisedsector, saying no attemptshould be made to "artificial-ly boost" the rate of growth.

The government has sud-denly expressed alarm and a"revamp of official statistics" isbeing proposed because itbelieves unorganised sector hasnot been looked at, AbhishekSinghvi said at a press confer-ence. "We have no problem if itis a constructive exercise...Please don't do somethingwhere you artificially boostyour official 4.9 per cent rate ofgrowth which your own CEA(Arvind Subramanian) believesis 2-2.5 per cent less than stat-ed," he said.

"This government is desper-ate to find quick-fix solutions,jumla solutions, misleadingsolutions, to find sleight ofhand solutions, to avoid sub-stance, to avoid the real meatof the matter, and give a mis-leading new issue to digressand divert attention," He alleged.

PNS n MUMBAI

NCP leader Ajit Pawar hassaid while his uncle andparty president SharadPawar was the state's chiefminister four times, he also"anyhow" became the deputyCM as many times. AjitPawar was speaking at afunction in his constituencyBaramati in Pune district onSaturday.

"I am a party worker whohas seen 'saheb' (SharadPawar) become chief minis-ter four times. I too, anyhow,became deputy chief minis-ter four times," the 60-year-old leader said, evokinglaughter from the audience.

"If saheb can be chief min-ister four times, why not me(be DyCM)," he said.

Ajit Pawar was deputychief minister twice in the15- year regime of Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtraduring 1999-2014.

Later, he was again swornin to the post on November23 last year after he rebelledagainst the NCP and joinedhands with the BJP. Heresigned three days later onNovember 26, leading tocollapse of the DevendraFadnavis-led government.

PNS n BENGALURU

Karnataka Chief Minister B SYediyurappa on Sunday said hehas had detailed discussionswith BJP national PresidentAmit Shah on the cabinetexpansion and that the exercisewould be carried out after hisreturn from Davos.

The Chief Minister toldreporters before leaving forDavos to attend the WorldEconomic Forum meet that hehoped his visit would help bringin large-scale investments to thestate.

"On cabinet expansion, I haddetailed discussions for abouthalf-an-hour (with Amit Shahon Saturday), got a goodresponse... one or two days afterI come from Davos, I willexpand the cabinet. There are nostumbling blocks for it,Yediyurappa said.

He also rubbished mediareports about lack of clarity onthe Ministry expansion.

"It is not right... there are noissues, he said.

Asked whether he wouldtravel to Delhi to meet Shah afterreturning from Davos,Yediyurappa merely said, "It is

natural for me to meet AmitShah." According to the ChiefMinisters tour programme, hewill be back in the city onJanuary 24.

Yediyurappa, along withUnion ministers Piyush Goyaland Mansukh Mandaviya, aswell as Chief Ministers

Amarinder Singh of Punjaband Kamal Nath of MadhyaPradesh, are among thoseexpected to join over 100 IndianCEOs at Davos in the comingdays for the WEF's 50th annu-al meeting. Stating that he wasleaving on a four day trip forDavos with an aim to bringinvestments to the state, he saidinteractions have been fixedwith 38 industrialists andinvestors.

"There is a large possibility ofinvestments coming to the statefrom meetings during the WEFmeet. I will assure industrialists

and investors that the govern-ment will give all necessaryfacilities within our limits andalso clear all the doubts that theyhave," the Chief Minister said.

He said employment oppor-tunities in Karnataka wouldincrease due to all these efforts.

Claiming that the economicsituation in Karnataka was sta-ble despite the global econom-ic slowdown, he said the statewas also organising the GlobalInvestors Meet in November toattract industries and createemployment opportunities.

The delegation led by

Yediyurappa includes IndustriesMinister Jagadish Shattar, ChiefSecretary T M Vijaya Bhaskarand top officials of the state gov-ernment.

The Chief Minister,who wasanxiously waiting for the highcommand's nod to expand hisministry amid intense lobbyingby the aspirants, was keen ongetting approval for it fromShah, but was asked to visitDelhi after returning fromDavos, party sources said.

They also said that with J PNadda all set to take over as BJPNational President, he wouldhave final discussions withYediyurappa on the Ministryexpansion exercise.

S R Vishwanath,PoliticalSecretarytothe Chief Ministertoo said that Yediyurappa wouldgo to Delhi after his return fromDavos and immediately expandthe Ministry.

Spoke to Amit Shah on cabinet expansion: BSY

VPNS n COLOMBO

India has pledged a USD 50million security assistance toSri Lanka as National SecurityAdvisor Ajit Doval called onPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksaand discussed a range of bilat-eral issues, including strength-ening cooperation in defence,intelligence sharing and mar-itime security.

Doval arrived in Colomboon Saturday on a previouslyunannounced visit duringwhich he also met several for-eign diplomats and discussedimportant issues of mutualinterest.

"A very cordial discussionwas held with NationalSecurity Advisor of India, AjitDoval today. Strengthening ofbilateral cooperation onnational security, intelligencesharing, maritime security &fostering of regional collabora-tion, were some of the keypoints of discussion," PresidentRajapaksa tweeted on Saturday.

The President's office saidDoval pledged that India willprovide USD 50 million to SriLanka to help the countrypurchase equipment for itssecurity forces.

During the talks, India alsopledged to provide assistanceto Sri Lanka with technologyon intelligence gathering, TheSunday Times newspaper

reported. The President's officesaid President Rajapaksa andDoval also discussed improv-ing bilateral relations andstrengthening cooperationbetween the armed forces andcoastguard agencies of the twocountries and maritime secu-rity.

Doval pointed out theimportance of reviewing theintelligence related to the mar-

itime zone between Sri Lanka,the Maldives and India. Hesaid other regional countriesshould also be brought intothis process as observers, thepaper said, quoting thePresident's office.

Doval has become the sec-ond highest ranking Indianofficial to visit Colombo afterRajapaksa assumed office inmid November.

CAA petition in SC: Kerala Guvseeks report from LDF govtPNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala Governor ArifMohammed Khan has soughta report from the state govern-ment for moving the SupremeCourt against the CitizenshipAmendment Act withoutinforming him.

The office of Raj Bhavan hassought the report from theChief Secretary of the state.

"The Governor's office hassought a report from the ChiefSecretary for not informinghim about the state's move toapproach the apex courtagainst the CAA," a top sourcefrom Raj Bhavan told PTI onSunday.

The LDF government hadon January 13 moved the topcourt challenging the Act andhad sought to declare it as ultravires of the Constitution.

Attacking Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, Khan hadearlier said the public affairsand the business of the govern-ment cannot be run in accor-dance with the "whims of anindividual or a political party"and everyone has to respect therules. Kerala was the first stateto pass a resolution in the stateassembly against the CAA andto knock on the doors of thetop court, challenging the newlaw. The Governor, who hasmade his displeasure known

public, had told reporters inDelhi that as per Rules ofBusiness Section 34(2) subsection 5, the state governmentshould inform the Governoron matters that affect the rela-tions between the state and theCentre. However, the state hasmaintained that it had not vio-lated any rules and no deliber-ate attempts had been made tochallenge the authority of theGovernor's office.

Law Minister A K Balan hadsaid on Saturday that the gov-ernment would clear all appre-hensions raised by Khan.

A day after CPI(M) mouth-piece Deshabhimani attackedthe Governor in a hard hittingeditorial, party state secretary

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan onSunday accused Khan ofunnecessarily interfering inthe day-to-day affairs of the

government. "The Governor isdefaming a state governmentwhich was elected by the peo-ple of the state.

The post of Governor is notto defame the state govern-ment," he said in an article inthe party newspaper.

Meanwhile, Khan, who wasscheduled to attend a publicfunction at Kozhikode onSunday, cancelled it, citingsecurity reasons.

The Governor was sched-uled to attend a session at theKerala Literary Festival (KLF).

"The organisers told us itwould be difficult for them tofollow the security protocol forthe Governor as the KLF is afunction which is being attend-ed by thousands of people.They requested us to changethe date,"Raj Bhavan sourcessaid.

Arif Mohammed Khan

PNS n LUCKNOW

A group of women continuedtheir protest against theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) at the Ghantaghar Parkhere on Sunday with some ofthem alleging that police tookaway their blankets, a chargedismissed by the police.

On the lines of Delhi'sShaheen Bagh, around 50women along with childrenhave been squatting near theClock Tower in Lucknow'sold quarters protesting theCAA and National Register ofCitizens.

The women protestersalleged that blankets providedto them by some organisationswere taken away by police.

Rubbishing the claims made

by the women protesters, theLucknow Police in a tweetsaid, "During the illegal protestgoing at Lucknow'sGhantaghar Park (ClockTower), some people tried tomake a 'gheraa' (cordon) usingropes and sticks, and alsotried to put sheets. They werenot allowed to do so. Someorganisations were distributingblankets in park premises. Asa result of which, people livingin the vicinity, who are not apart of the protests, were com-ing to take the blankets."

"Police removed those per-sons and organisations distrib-uting blankets there, andaction is being initiated againstthem," the Lucknow Policesaid, and urged people not tospread rumours.

Anti-CAA protests: Copstake away blankets

JNU students to moveHC on hostel manual

PNS n NEW DELHI

Senior Congress leader KapilSibal on Sunday asserted thatevery state assembly has theconstitutional right to pass aresolution and seek theamended Citizenship Act'swithdrawal, but if the law isdeclared constitutional by theSupreme Court then it will beproblematic to oppose it.

His remarks came a dayafter he had said there is no

way a state can deny theimplementation of the

Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) when it is alreadypassed by the Parliament.

"I believe the CAA isunconstitutional. Every StateAssembly has the constitu-tional right to pass a resolu-tion and seek its withdrawal.When and if the law isdeclared to be constitutionalby the Supreme Court then itwill be problematic to opposeit. The fight must go on!" Sibalsaid in a tweet.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityStudents' Union on Sunday saidit will approach the Delhi HC onJan 20 seeking a direction forquashing the new hostel man-ual which has provisions for feehike. In a statement, the stu-dents' body said it will be filingthe plea on Monday against theInter-Hall Administration man-ual which, it claimed, was passed"illegally" in October withouttaking the feedback of theUnion. The JNUSU, which hasbeen on a strike on the issue forclose to three months, urged thestudents to continue the boycottof registration and all academ-ic activities. The petition shallalso seek registration at "old rateswithout late fines", they said.Early this month, the university

had witnessed tussle betweenstudent groups over the issue ofregistration.

Amid the stir, masked menhad gone on a rampage on Jan5 in the campus assaulting stu-dents and teachers and storm-ing hostels, drawing widespreadoutrage. The JNUSU alsoappealed to students to boycottexams and classes till they get"buffer time" to complete theacademic backlog of theMonsoon Semester 2019.

"Furthermore, taking examsand/or classes at this juncturewill only create more chaos andruckus and lead to anotherbifurcation in the student com-munity that has been resolute-ly and unitedly fighting toothand nail against this draconianVC and his political masters,"the JNUSU said.

Cong: Don't dosomething toartificiallyboost growth

When and if CAA is declared constitutionalby SC, it will be problematic: Kapil Sibal

Ajit: ‘Saheb' is four-timeCM, I anyhowbecame DyCM

The Chief Minister told reporters beforeleaving for Davos to attend the WorldEconomic Forum meet that he hoped his visit would help bring in large-scaleinvestments to the state

However, the statehas maintainedthat it had notviolated any rulesand no deliberateattempts had beenmade to challengethe authority of theGovernor's office

NSA Doval meets LankanPrez, pledges $50 mn security

Doval arrived in Colombo on Saturday ona previously unannounced visit duringwhich he also met several foreigndiplomats and discussed importantissues of mutual interest

It is just another Sunday evening inDelhi, the howling cold forcing peopleindoors for comfort and wrapping uptheir energies for the week ahead. Yetin an old warehouse in Okhla, an all-

women group stages a play, a dark tale aboutthe common woman’s conflict with identi-ty, one who finds no space to breathe amidthe sorting and reordering of society thatdecides who she should be. What of themigrant worker, who doesn’t know where shewas born or belongs, who got her to the cityor not except the world that her workplacehas become? Trafficked as a child, she has nopaper trail, no parentage to prove why shewas born. Then there’s the grass widow ofAssam, whose husband has gone to the bigcity in search of work after their farmland wasravaged by the floods in the Brahmaputra,her ration card, the only claim to her citizen-ry and proof that she was married to a local,washed away by the raging waters. So left outof the National Register of Citizens (NRC),she has been torn apart from her family.What of the orphaned factory worker, whohas no memory of ancestry? These are sur-vivors in a no woman’s land, a wilderness ofthe disowned, rising up to claim their duesfor service to a nation that they are being toldis not their own. “For years, have we notimproved your lives as workers in factoriesand helps at home? Have you not trusted yourchildren with us? Have we not been produc-tive or contributed to your economy? Havewe not helped you build your lives? Whythrow us away now?” Rhetorical questionsthat trouble the audience.

The thunder of protest courses throughthe walls and seeps into every pore of humanconsciousness. Somehow it streams out all theway to Shaheen Bagh, to Seelampuri and evenPrayagraj. Everyday women, having finishedtheir chores and responsibilities for the day,are sitting on night vigils with candles andwoollens — the same faces showing up likeclockwork at the same time, same place andfor the same time period — to fight for thesafe future of their children and their rightto be heard as mothers born of earth.Nurturing societies as they have known, cre-ated and healed, they won’t let them bedestroyed by divisive constructs of theempire of politics or the hate virus that’s lab-grown from the databank of social and ances-try profiles. Certainly, they are shedding thepatronising mantle of empowerment, likesome undeserved grant or concession, andcreating their own powerful narratives ontheir terms. And should that meet brutality,they would face it not as human shields orspoils of war but as a force majeure of allhumanity. Age, education, privilege would-n’t matter.

Women across the world are challeng-ing the authoritarian politics of the times byleading mass grassroots movements and civiluprisings. Be it the women of Shaheen Bagh,or those in Sudan and Algeria, they havebecome the new face of democracy, change

and peace-building in a worldwhere all of these have becometoxic or anachronistic. Why isthis so? Because for all theirefforts at political participationas drivers of change, women arestill a minority or a marginalisedlot in decision-making process-es. This despite the UnitedNations’ vision from 20 years agothat women could anchor con-flict resolution better whenentrusted with leadership roles.Somewhere, this has got to dowith the idea of leadership itselfmutating with the bubbling upof women and the intransigenceof a patriarchal order to give in.It is becoming increasingly mus-cular and male, qualities that areincreasingly finding acceptancein a fractured world looking fordirection. One that is dominat-ed by a totalitarian control ofegoistic fiefdoms and the toxicmasculinity of helmsmanship.One that cannot deal with thecrumbling of failing institutionsand seeks solace in history, onethat is lazy about finding one’sway in changed times and con-texts and falls back on the pro-tectorate of revisionism, onethat chooses simplicity of bina-ries over the complexities of mul-tiplicity. Simply because it is eas-ier to follow than evolve, simplybecause the past is tested and thepresent is too risky to try out. Asa “pretend democracy,” India isfast becoming an Orwellian

nightmare, the State controllingevery cellular aspect of nationallife. Be it through identity andprivacy laws or through nation-alism enforced with the sancti-ty of religion, there is a patriar-chal aggression, sometimes vio-lence, at play to keep order sim-ply by denial of rights. That iswhy women are changing thisparadigm by not staying withinbut choosing to move out andseizing the polarity that liesvacant, by embracing the oppo-siteness of gender as a strength,not a weakness. They alsoembody the contrarian discoursethrough their rather dramaticcampaigns, the night vigils acrossIndia being a case in point.

Taking the global scenariointo account, women-led move-ments are inclusive, non-violent,compassionate and have a 50 percent chance of ensuring resultsthan those led by others. Theyare cooptive, practical, welcom-ing of other subsidiary move-ments and can metabolise theminto a larger force to spark a rev-olution. Women’s movementshave managed to reset the agen-da in Spain, Argentina, Braziland South Korea, simply becausethey reflect the issues that mat-ter to people at a structural, liveli-hood level rather than foistingimagined devils that hang in theair so thick and heavy, it givesyou a brain fog. UN research hasshown that where women are

influencers rather than being atoken presence, the peaceprocesses and social stability aremore lasting. And as the womenof Shaheen Bagh have shown,their door-to-door access tohomes has meant that they arebest placed to generate agroundswell of support, irrespec-tive of faith, propaganda orhired activism. A Sikh jathacooked for the women ofShaheen Bagh in solidarity, sim-ply because the community isconvinced by their spontaneityand sense of justice. Theirs is anethical integrity, one that cannever be bought or intimidated.This subliminal hold as nurtur-ers definitely lends womenmovements a decisive edge. Andgiven their tenacity and disci-pline, women-led movementslast longer and emerge as asocial disruptor. Most important-ly, they appeal to the youth, sim-ply because by resisting change,they appeal to their sensibility ofchallenging status quo. If we panall mass movements of 2019, wewould find that women collec-tives, not leadership, have com-pelled course correction.

Narmada Bachao Andolanactivist Medha Patkar had oncesaid that women were swords,something she herself harnessedfor her anti-dam agitations andensured rehabilitation of evac-uees and refugees. Visuals ofwomen half-immersing them-

selves in water still form a pic-ture of civil determination. Orremember Sundar Bahuguna’sChipko movement, where villagewomen encircled and huggedtrees to save them from beingfelled by loggers and set anexample for conservation muchbefore Greta Thunberg did?This organised resistance didlead to a ban on tree-felling inUttar Pradesh.

Women have spearheadedprotests against the Kudankulamnuclear plant, where authoritieswanted to set up a reactor forspent fuel, and have got a con-versation going on safeguardsagainst radioactivity for commu-nities that live around it. And letus not forget the women sur-vivors and descendants of theBhopal gas tragedy, who despitegetting their compensation, havenot given up the campaignagainst exploitative practices ofmultinationals or the awarenessdrive on chemical contamina-tion, ensuring that there is norepeat of a disaster that resultedfrom governmental sellouts.Women in India will no longerbe content being unicorns withself-made success stories meantto be emulated and inspira-tional. They are going to havefaith in their regular lives andtake on societal irregularities bystaying together.

(The writer is AssociateEditor, The Pioneer)

With the gong being struck for a three-cornered electoral contest in Delhi, thetwo top contenders — the Aam

Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) — have had a tough task draw-ing up candidate lists as local polls mean thateach face has to be popular and an effectivevote-gatherer for each seat no matter what theparty ideology or politics is. And the Delhi voteris known to be demanding when it comes tochoosing representatives who serve his/herinterests. Neither can AAP, which has the

advantage built on its performance and delivery of promises, sit easy, nor canthe BJP use the tried and tested formula of banking on the nationalist personaof Narendra Modi or identity politics to make up for warring State unit leaders.If we consider the winnability factor, then the BJP’s list looks lacklustre as it hassought to repeat most of its candidates, certainly not a determined push for wrest-ing the Delhi durbar. For none of these faces have delivered in the 20 years thatthe party has been out of power in the State. Either the BJP has not learnt a les-son from its defeat in five States in the past 12 months because of its over-depen-dence on the Modi brand or it is giving up without a fight and a chief ministeri-al face. Maybe it feels its improved Lok Sabha vote share last year could be ajetpack for the State polls. At least it should have conveyed the optics for attempt-ing a “generational change.” But it has sought to rely on old-timers, particular-ly those who had helped it sweep the 2017 civic polls. In about 57 of the 70seats, candidates who have previously fought the Lok Sabha or the municipalpolls, have been given tickets. Perhaps, the BJP in Delhi is hemmed in by thelocalised hold of these leaders and doesn’t want to risk dissent and sabotage.At the same time, it has rewarded AAP turncoat Kapil Mishra, going by its pastpractice of rehabilitating inductees of rivals. This transactional politics benefitsnobody much and parties looking to make a difference should, therefore, notgo by cliches.

AAP, too, has sought to retain 46 sitting members even though a few incum-bent MLAs — including former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandsonAdarsh Shastri — have been dropped. AAP has injected a dose of seriousnessby bringing in Lok Sabha faces Atishi Marlena and Raghav Chandra. Marlena isknown for her work in education reforms, having stridently worked for it whileChandra, one of the youngest to take the political plunge, is perceived as a sin-cere worker. Simultaneously, a few incumbents have been replaced with new-comers. It has fielded 23 new faces, counting on their freshness of appeal andsincerity of purpose. This could work for a party which has demonstrated changeand needs to take forward a new message and image. Yet, AAP has not beenimmune to turncoats either, fielding Congress’ Ram Singh Netaji and Vinay Mishra.What is common to both the AAP and the BJP is the lack of gender diversity.While the former has named eight women candidates, the latter has nominatedjust five. In the end, the hard-earned trust of Delhiites will be the only decider.

For some time, besieged by infrastructur-al breakdowns and carrying the weightof history, Mumbai had lost its swanky

flavour and standing as the first among met-ros. Newer cities and the Tier II explosion meantthat it was no longer considered a smart option.Besides, once considered a safe haven forwomen, the rising crime graph even puncturedthe indulgent soft spot it has had in urban con-sciousness. And ever since the Mumbai blastsof March 1993, the subsequent ganglandkillings and terror blasts meant that the nightlife

the citizens so prided in was gone forever. Not to forget the monsoon delugeevery season that has now pushed it to the edge of our consciousness as a for-gettable urban nightmare. All that is set to change from January 26, when Mumbaiturns 24X7 and literally becomes the city that never sleeps. Thanks to a seven-year-old proposal that got the green signal on January 16, restaurants, malls,multiplexes, shopping plazas and food courts will remain open round-the-clock.Though the restaurants will not be able to serve alcohol beyond 1.30 am dueto security concerns, the move gels well with the Maximum City’s singular char-acter that has mixed business and pleasure with effortless ease and made it anaspirant of the world city tag. A vibrant nightlife defines a city’s culture of accept-ability and openness. A pet project of the young and aspirational Environmentand Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray, who was the first to suggest it, the movewill do much to boost tourism and employment in Maharashtra that’s battlingan employment crisis with as many as 1.5 lakh job opportunities lost. That theGovernment is keen to boost tourism to offset the impact of the economic decel-eration and put Mumbai on the global map became clear when it gave the greensignal for setting up a Mumbai Eye on the lines of the London Eye. Mumbai willbe the testing ground for this initiative — the notification for which was issuedover a year ago by the erstwhile BJP-Sena Government but was shelved postthe restaurant fire in Kamala Mills Compound — before it is eventually rolled outin other cities of the State to draw crowds and generate much-needed revenue.Politically, the young Thackeray also wants the “Mumbai nightlife” campaign toneutralise the Shiv Sena’s retrograde image as anti-youth and anti-West.

The idea is to open more business avenues and capitalise on existing resourcesin a city that does not have any scope for expansion and also to attract interna-tional businesses by fostering a hip metropolitan culture like that of New York,Las Vegas, Paris, Buenos Aires, Dubai, Bangkok and Cairo, cities which haveseen a boost in their economies by capitalising on their unique distinction andculture. Nightlife has been a major revenue earner for these cities. The untappedpotential is exposed by comparative figures for Mumbai and Bangkok — theformer attracts five lakh tourists per year while the latter gets 15 million. As it is,Mumbai practically runs day and night with people commuting long distancesto work and factories working in multiple shifts due to the availability of Statetransport buses at all hours and suburban trains running for over 20 hours. However,the success of this initiative hinges on security. One is yet to forget the streetmolestation on a New Year’s night some years ago. So keeping this in mind,only establishments falling within gated communities, non-residential zones withsecurity, CCTVs, parking areas and so on can remain open round-the-clock. Thismove, which is being hailed as progressive by the traders and hospitality indus-try, is expected to boost employment by at least 25 per cent and open up near-ly 50,000 jobs for security providers. Some of the major luxury malls, clearly atthe receiving end of a sluggish economy and online business, are already onboard to harness the potential of the Maximum City. Can this be the zing thing?

Maximum city, again

Overhaul the system

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Death of justice” (January17). It’s wrong on the part ofpolitical parties to politicise thedelay in the execution of the cul-prits of the 2012 Delhi gangrape.Actually, the fault lies in the verysystem, which is ridden with toomany loopholes, allowing con-victs to twist it and get their way.

The four convicts have nofear for death as they continueto utilise every caveat in the rulebook to defer their hanging.There’s a possibility even nowthat they may not be hanged onFebruary 1 because three of theconvicts can still file mercypetitions one after the other. Itis surprising that their mercypetitions are still being enter-tained.

This calls for an overhaul ofthe system whereby crimesattracting death penalty must befast-tracked during all stages oftrial from the district court tothe Supreme Court. Review orcurative petitions should beallowed only in the SupremeCourt. These, too, should bedecided within a fortnight afterthey have been filed. Mercy

petitions should be decided in atime-bound period of threemonths. May be they should beallowed only when no court hashanded out the death sentence.The law should be amended insuch a manner that criminalsfear death penalty.

Madhu Agrawal Delhi

All-rounder cricketer

Sir — Indian cricket has lost a realstalwart in Bapu Nadkarni. Hebecame famous for havingbowled 21 consecutive maidenovers (21.5 overs or 131 balls) inan inning against England onJanuary 12, 1964, at the Nehru

(Corporation) Stadium in Madras(now Chennai). Besides, he wasalso a brilliant fielder. He was thecoach of the Indian team thattoured Australia in 1981, whichsaw a major controversy withSunil Gavaskar threatening awalkout in the Melbourne Test.

In today’s scenario of limitedovers cricket, he would have

been a wonderful bowler. Hisdeliveries used to skid off thewicket pretty quickly. He wasimpossible to negotiate on theback foot. If today’s LPW rule wasto be applied, his tally would havebeen more than thrice of what itwas. He was also a sound utilitybatsman. He was probably themain person instrumental inhaving Sandeep Patil come backafter a blow on his head.

Vijaykumar HK Karnataka

Welcome initiative

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Talks with Pakistan?”(January 18). India’s decision toinvite Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan for the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation (SCO)meet has come at a time whenrelations between the two coun-tries are strained. Though it is apositive development, a lot willnow depend on Khan. Will heaccept the invitation or just senda representative?

ShashiVia email

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | MONDAY | JANUARY 20, 2020

06

The hand that rocks

RINKU GHOSH

Women across the world are challenging the authoritarian politics of the times by leading mass grassroots movements and civil uprisings

I have nothing againstRahul Gandhi personally.He is a decent fellow, verywell-mannered. But youngIndia does not want a fifth-generation dynast.

Historian —Ramachandra Guha

There was a time when Itook up whatever came myway. Now, my choicesdepend on what I would like to do and whether it is worth my time.

Actor—Neha Dhupia

The so-called ‘supreme leader'of Iran, who has not been sosupreme lately, who had somenasty things to say about theUS and Europe, should becareful with his words!

US President—Donald Trump

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

Lesson in humility

India’s pride, the world’s No 1 batsman and the cap-tain of the star-studded men’s cricket team, ViratKohli, has set an unenviable record by becoming the

first Indian skipper to oversee a 10-wicket defeatagainst Australia in One-Day International (ODI)cricket. Kudos to Australia, not just for its record-break-ing win but also for blowing what is arguably India’sbest-ever bowling line-up to smithereens in less than38 overs. Between them, the Aussie captain, AaronFinch, and David Warner set the Wankhede stadiumon fire with their boundaries, winning the match againstIndia without losing a wicket.

Although in the recent past India has been on awinning spree against Afghanistan, Bangladesh, WestIndies and Sri Lanka, the mighty Australia has humil-iated the “Men in Blue” miserably. This was also India’sfourth successive loss to Australia in ODIs at home;who can forget that 10 months ago Finch’s men hadoverturned a 2-0 deficit to win a five-match series 3-2 in India? The main reasons for India’s defeat wereRohit Sharma’s early departure, the failure of Kohli’s

experiment of batting at No 4 and the usual collapseof India’s middle order. But one must not forget thatcricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. Hence, eventhough India was mercilessly beaten by the Aussiesin the first ODI, cricket lovers expect that our men willrecover. The next ODI did turn the tide in their favour.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

No surprises here

The BJP-RSS combine hascreated a civil war-like situation by raising divisiveissues aimed to polariseand divide the people oncommunal lines.

CPI general secretary—D Raja

Shops, malls and eateries will remain open 24X7 in Mumbaifrom January 26. Will this rebrand the city?

Both the BJP and AAP candidate lists play safewith expected names and reward turncoats

Decoding the future of jobs

WHILE I IDENTIFY WITH ASHA DEVI’S PAIN, I URGE HERTO FOLLOW SONIA GANDHI’S EXAMPLE WHO FORGAVE

AND DID NOT WANT DEATH PENALTY FOR NALINI.—ADVOCATE

INDIRA JAISING

WHO IS INDIRA JAISING TO GIVE ME SUCH ADVICE?BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE HER, JUSTICE IS NOT DONEWITH RAPE VICTIMS.—NIRBHAYA’S MOTHERASHA DEVI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Goal 8 of the UN Sustainable DevelopmentGoals looks at decent work and economicgrowth. One offshoot of this should be an

improvement and sustained growth in the country’sstate of jobs. But India is facing a unique challengeon this front, owing to a combination of evolving jobopportunities across sectors, reduced employabili-ty due to the gaps between the education system andthe dynamic changes in today’s workplace and defi-cient learning capabilities due to legacy nutrition chal-lenges. Even though the NSSO data estimating India’ssix per cent unemployment rate at a 45-year high wascontested due to its narrow sample-size, the labourforce participation rate and work participation rate(those in working-age looking for work and findingit, respectively) declined between 2012 and 2018, asper a paper by the Azim Premji University. TheGrameen Foundation India’s (GFI’s) State of the Jobsin India report underscored the urgency to create jobsfor over 15 million youth who are expected to enterthe workforce each year. The question is whichavenues can create net new jobs?

A more enduring challenge is the fact that oureducated workforce often lacks the requisite employ-ability skills to meet the emerging demands of today’sjobs, be it on knowledge, competencies, technolo-gies, processes, critical thinking and analytical abil-ities. Our archaic education pedagogy is not mak-ing our youth employable. This is causing a mismatchbetween aspirations and abilities, between incomeand consumption and a delay in realising India’sdemographic dividend. The need to push the rightskill set and education to meet the evolving natureof jobs is perhaps even more imminent.

The investment in human capital for most of ourpopulation has been low from infancy which hascaused legacy nutrition issues like stunting and under-nutrition. Research suggests stunting and undernu-trition impacts the brain’s development and thus abil-ities to learn new knowledge and skills which ren-ders us unemployable. No quick-fix skill training canaddress this vexed issue.

The GFI recently brought together corporates,policymakers, researchers, think-tanks, innovators,skill-developers, financiers, NGOs and the youth todeliberate on the current situation, identify trendsand opportunities and seek the best recourse as theway forward. One priority was to address the issuessurrounding the major employers of the workforce,i.e. agriculture and micro, small and medium enter-prises (MSMEs). The discourse on these sectors oftengets shadowed by the buzz surrounding start-ups andtechnology as the new engines of job growth; how-ever, these two remain the mass employers.

With net income growth from farming movingsouth — a minuscule growth of 0.44 per cent perannum between 2011 and 2016 as per a NITI Aayogpaper — coupled with chronic debt due to expen-sive chemical inputs and natural phenomena likevarying rainfall, floods and droughts, it is no surprisethat sectoral employment declined by 27 millionbetween 2012 and 2018. This is manifesting in massmigration from rural regions, led by youth. Whilethe Government’s efforts to bridge the knowledge-gaps of new farming methods and technologies withextension and technical training have been in theright direction, there is a need to devise a reverse-migration strategy to bring back the youth to thefarms. This can be done by incentivising low-cost,

sustainable farming, setting up rural-based industries, facilitating farmer pro-ducer organisations (FPOs), ramping upsocial collateral-based rural credit, intro-ducing technologies to scale up crop pro-ductivity, reduce damage, facilitate storageand transport and encourage the agri-entrepreneur ecosystem. That would alsohelp revive the Bharat consumption story,a selling point of India’s growth story thathas hit headwinds.

The manufacturing sector, whereMSMEs dominate in terms of peopleemployed, saw employment decline by 3.5million between 2012 and 2018. While thiswas led by a sluggishness in the construc-tion sector, it is also worth noting that onlyabout 50 million out of the 62-63 millionMSMEs are said to be operational andmost are struggling to scale up. The chal-lenges include their inability to adopt newtechnologies, digitalisation and productionprocesses and the failure to reinvent theircompetitiveness given the new sources ofcompetition and trade-wars. A concertedmix of technology influx, policy supportand funding measures is needed to buildtheir long-term competitiveness and cre-ate better outcomes through sustainedbusiness and job growth. That presuppos-es their workforce is also made capable onskills to leverage the new technologies.

The debate on sustainability and cli-mate change is turning loud following theincreasing awareness of consumers andinvestors. Stakeholders are concernedhow these risks impact businesses,economies, natural and social ecosystems,and that is driving a new category of jobs,i.e. green jobs. Most of these did not existtill some time back, ergo their existingworkforce migrated from other roles.That implies a demand for upskilling to filltheir knowledge gaps. New graduatecourses dedicated to these avenues are alsorequired.

Renewable energy, circular economy,waste recycling, water treatment, sanita-

tion, green transport and so on are theavenues picking up speed. Social enterpris-es that seek broader social goals and notjust shareholder returns, are another.While these are still in their infancy, theycould be instrumental in creating much ofthe new jobs the country needs. Since thesesectors still require partnerships betweencorporates, Governments and communi-ties to establish scalable operating models,these linkages could create job opportu-nities even with other stakeholders.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, ledby breakthrough technologies, is changingthe way we work. That means new typesof jobs, replacement of erstwhile jobs andnew skills. It is important to understandthat technology is becoming a job-enableracross sectors and not just a job by itself.Thus, to grow in any sector or function,the workforce will need to build technol-ogy skills. This includes sectors which werarely associate with technology, like agri-culture and textiles. It is also important tounderstand that upskilling on technologyis not only to save oneself from the discom-fort of becoming redundant but to makeone competent to leverage newer oppor-tunities of business (and job) growth. Wenot only need more people to devise inno-vative technologies, we also need thinkersto devise how those innovations can helpus redefine our target market, expand cus-tomer base and markets. That means build-ing our critical thinking and analytical skillsas well.

A growing awareness among workingprofessionals to remain relevant and avoidlayoffs is driving the demand for upskilling.Institutionalising upskilling programmesthat are quick, low-cost and convenient forall would depend on the employers’ ini-tiatives and the strength of public-privatepartnerships. A frequent method ofupskilling are skill programmes by theemployers themselves. This may need part-nerships with state authorities to developcontent or recognised certifications. The

employers’ role enables relevance of thepedagogy. Such programmes could also berevenue-generating if they enrol out-siders. Certification courses could bedeveloped separately by specialised skillproviders as well, leaving employers freeto focus on their core business.

This upskilling and critical thinkingwould also boost growth of startups asmany ventures are still in the red despiteseveral years in operations. The era of star-tups delivering me-too products withouta distinct competitive advantage is ending.Critical thinking and innovations wouldbe instrumental in making their businessmodels competitive, generating operatingcash flows and turning their books black.

Inclusiveness in the workforce bybringing in more women and specially-abled could help the job market incremen-tally, while driving economic gains. Almosthalf of India’s specially-abled are literate andin employable age, a potential workforceIndia could leverage with market-basedvocational training and appropriate roles.Addressing the socio-cultural challengesthat women face at homes, on the streetsand at the workplace could help reduce thegender gap.

Several sectors hold promise to createnew jobs, provided the necessary policies,technologies and funding converge in time.In the near-term, there is a need to driverelevant skilling and education content thatmust be monitored, measured and backedwith appropriate apprenticeships, entrepre-neur-incubation or job functions so thatthe migration from skilling to relevant jobsoccurs. That presupposes measures toimprove the nutritional status of ourhouseholds, especially in the rural and peri-urban regions. One has to watch how Indiaaddresses all these requirements. Withoutthese investments in human capital devel-opment, the going would only get tough.

(Labh is the CEO of GIF and a globaldevelopment expert and Aiyer is a consul-tant with a leading business insights portal)

India is facing a unique challenge owing to new job opportunities, reduced employability due toarchaic education, changes in the workplace and poor learning capabilities caused by malnutrition

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

Modi needs tomake a decisionThe benefits of e-commerce far outweigh thenegatives. But it is vital that the Government

formulates a policy which benefits allthe stakeholders, says Javvadi Rao

THERE IS A NEEDTO DRIVE

RELEVANTSKILLING AND

EDUCATIONCONTENT THAT

MUST BEMONITORED,

MEASURED ANDBACKED WITHAPPROPRIATE

APPRENTICESHIPS,ENTREPRENEUR-INCUBATION ORJOB FUNCTIONS

SO THAT THEMIGRATION FROM

SKILLING TORELEVANT JOBS

OCCURS. THATPRESUPPOSESMEASURES TOIMPROVE THENUTRITIONAL

STATUS OF OURHOUSEHOLDS,

ESPECIALLY IN THERURAL AND

PERI-URBANREGIONS. ONE HAS

TO WATCH HOWINDIA ADDRESSES

ALL THESEREQUIREMENTS

The tone and tenor of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s remarksabout Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was certainly scornful and willplease the politically-important trader lobby, the core constituen-

cy of the BJP, ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections. The Amazonboss was in India last week but received a frosty reception, with thebillionaire being ignored by top Government officials and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, alike. In fact, Bezos’ most high-profile interactionswere in Mumbai where he celebrated the success of Amazon’s videostreaming service Amazon Prime with Bollywood’s elite and the hon-chos of several Indian conglomerates.

Meanwhile, not disheartened by the Government’s apathy, Bezoslauded India for its potential and even promised to invest $1 billionin the country in the days to come, by creating one million jobs overthe same period. This is indeed a big positive for the country as wellas to the Modi Government, coming as it is at a time when unem-ployment has rocketed to a four-decade high. Significantly, as Bezosconcluded his three-day visit to India on Saturday, he announced thatAmazon had partnered with thousands of kirana (grocery) stores acrossthe country, which will now act as delivery points. This, incidentallywas in response to a demand raised by Goyal in a meeting held inNovember 2019 with Amazon, where the Minister had emphasisedon the need for propping up India’s kirana stores through partner-ships with e-commerce marketplaces and platforms.

Meanwhile, Bezos’ statement, which gracefully steered clear ofany reference to Goyal’s distasteful swipe, suggests he is fully awareof the Modi Government’s Achilles heel and not unfamiliar with thesubtle art of shadow-boxing. Even the common man understandsthat the BJP is venting its anger on the CEO due to the critical standtaken by the Bezos-owned newspaper The Washington Post, on thescrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the enactmentof the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which has sparked spon-taneous protests across India.

Just before his visit, the country’s anti-trust authority theCompetition Commission of India (CCI) had hauled up Amazon for“unfair” trade practices, a move hailed breathlessly by the SwadeshiJagran Manch and trader/retailer associations. Over the last five-and-a-half-years the BJP, under Modi and Amit Shah, is returning to itsprotectionist, anti-multinational corporation, technophobic notions,underlining that strong Governments can also be more risk-averse.

While Bezos’ e-commerce platform, Amazon.in, has grown sev-eral times over in India, the Government — neither the previous onenor the current dispensation — has still not made up its mind whetherthis industry is good for the country or not. In some way, such dither-ing helps e-commerce players who happily chug along unfettered,unregulated expanding their businesses, much to the joy of consumers.Such procrastination only helps a set of stakeholders and not every-one as can be seen from the recent action of the CCI which can’tseem to make up its mind whether it should go after e-commerceplayers, Flipkart and Amazon for their alleged “unfair trade practices”or wait till the Government formulates a complete policy on these com-panies. The fact that businesses can sell their wares at any price belowthe minimum retail price is a point they miss out completely.

The e-commerce world and start-ups work differently from anyother businesses. Valuations of these entities are based on the num-ber of footfalls and conversions into actual sales. For that to happen,entities like Flipkart and Amazon offer discounts higher than thoseoffered by offline players. Once the valuations go up, investors, pri-marily venture capitalists and private equities exit at a higher priceoffering their stakes to other similar investors.

In case the CCI rules against such practices, Amazon and Flipkartwould be mere online stores who would offer only the convenienceof shopping sitting at home without trudging to the brick and mor-tar stores. What the regulators and the Government should realise isthat e-commerce is a reality and that it is also one among the enter-prises which offers jobs and at the same time helps a wide sectionof the people, who do not have access to capital to set up physicalstores, to sell their goods through these online stores.

There are benefits which far outweigh the negatives, though itis equally important that the Government formulates a policy whichbenefits all the stakeholders in this space. For a long time now, theGovernment has been dragging its feet on coming out with a robuste-commerce policy, or even a policy on online tech platforms like aSwiggy or a Zomato or an Uber or an Ola. Most of the statementsfrom the Government are like knee-jerk reactions to certain situations.

However, the crux of the matter is that consumers are largelyhappy with the speedy delivery that is ensured by these e-platformsand love the addictive discounts that the e-commerce giants offer.On top of that, the Government needs foreign investment to grow aslowing economy. The takeaway for the anti-trust authority is thatthey can’t put up new restrictions on Amazon and Flipkart based onthe seven per cent of a $1.2 trillion retail market that has gone online.Major changes are afoot in the remaining 93 per cent of the indus-try that’s currently offline. Meanwhile consumers are waiting for thechurn that comes after JioMart goes live. Bezos, too, will be wait-ing, that’s a certainty.

The assassination of the contro-versial Major General of Iran’sIslamic Revolutionary Guard,

Qassem Soleimani, by the equally con-troversial Government of US PresidentDonald Trump, has sent Pakistaninto a spin. A Minister in PrimeMinister Imran Khan’s Governmentannounced that Pakistan would sidewith Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich king-dom that is a firm American ally andstrongly opposed to Iran. However, thespokesperson of the Pakistan military’sInter-Services Public Relations wingand then Foreign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi were quick toannounce that the country wouldremain neutral in case hostilitiesintensify between Iran and the US.

Pakistan was a frontline proxyState in the US and Saudi-funded

“Islamist” insurgency against Soviettroops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Bythe time Soviet troops left Afghanistanin the late 1980s, the fallout of that wargreatly impacted Pakistan, deepeningsectarian fissures in the country andaiding the mushrooming of religiousmilitancy and extremism, that even-tually mutated and turned anti-state.Indeed, this must be on the minds ofthe state and Government of Pakistanfor them to declare their neutrality. Butthere is a lot more to Pakistan’s ambi-guity in this context. And I use theword ambiguity because relationsbetween Iran and Pakistan have large-ly remained abstruse, especially in thelast 40 years or so. Rand Corporation’s2014 study Iran’s Inf luence inAfghanistan describes the relationshipbetween Pakistan and Iran as “a com-plex mix of cooperation and peer rival-ry.” Iran is a Shia Muslim-majoritycountry headed by a powerful Shiaclergy, which came to power througha revolution in 1979. According toAndreas Rieck’s 2016 book The Shiasof Pakistan: An Assertive andBeleaguered Minority, Pakistan has asignificant Shia minority. Estimatesfrom 2018 suggest 20 to 25 per cent ofPakistan’s population is Shia. And

according to Jacquelyn Davis, inAnticipating a Nuclear Iran, many ofthe Pakistani Shia support Iran’s post-1979 political and ideological set-up.

Until the mid-1970s, Pakistanenjoyed a seamless relationship withIran. In fact, Pakistan was closer to Iranthan it was to Saudi Arabia. Iran, amodern pro-US monarchy, was one ofthe first countries to recognise Pakistanwhen it was formed in August 1947.Also, the Shah of Iran became the firstmajor foreign head of state to visitPakistan in 1950.

During the 1965 Pakistan-Indiawar, when the US had suspended allmilitary aid to both India and Pakistan,Iran sent nurses, medical supplies and5,000 tonnes of petroleum to Pakistan.As an oil-rich country, Iran alsothreatened to impose an embargo onoil supplies to India. In the 2015 edi-tion of the journal International Affairsand Global Strategy, M Saqib Khanwrites that, to sidestep the US andEuropean arms embargo imposed onIndia and Pakistan during the war, Iranbought 90 Sabre fighter jets from WestGermany and sent them to Pakistan.

Iran saw Pakistan as a modernextension of Persian culture in SouthAsia because of the role this culture

and language had played duringMuslim rule in India between the 13thand 19th centuries. But since the Shah’sIran was known as “America’s police-man in Asia”, it also tried to insulatePakistan from the Left-leaning “Third-Worldism” — an idea first formulat-ed by the charismatic Arab national-ist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egyptand the “socialist” Indian PMJawaharlal Nehru. Iran made sure thatPakistan remained firmly in theAmerican orbit during the Cold War.

The state of Pakistan admiredIran’s economic and social moderni-ty and tried to emulate it. In his essay,Pakistan As A Factor in Indo-IranianRelations, for the December 1974issue of The Indian Journal of PoliticalScience, LK Choudhary wrote that,during the 1971 Pakistan-India war,Iran again sidestepped an arms embar-go on Pakistan and supplied it withmilitary equipment. The Times ofIndia quoted the Shah as saying,“Pakistan and Iran are like one soul intwo bodies.”

In 1973, when a Baloch insur-gency broke out in Balochistan, whichshares a border with Iran, the Shahprovided lethal American-made com-bat helicopters to Pakistan so that

Baloch insurgents operating in theremote areas near the border could beeliminated. This way Iran also elimi-nated the threat of the insurgencyspilling into Iran’s Baloch-majorityareas. Relations between the twocountries began to somewhat recedewhen the populist Government of ZABhutto in Pakistan attempted to for-mulate an international “Muslim bloc”in 1974. The planned bloc also includ-ed “enemies” of the Shah, especially“radical” Soviet-backed Arab regimes,such as Libya, Iraq, Syria, Algeria andthe erstwhile South Yemen. Therefore,the Shah was the only major Muslimhead of state to decline attending the1974 Islamic Summit in Lahore,organised by the Bhutto Government.

In 1977, the Bhutto regime wastoppled in a reactionary military coupby General Zia-ul-Haq. So when theShah’s regime fell in 1979 and wasreplaced by a radical theocracy,Pakistan became the first country torecognise the new Government. Butthe refreshed relations between the twocountries, on the basis of Islam, soonbegan to nosedive from 1981 onwards.

From the mid-1970s, SaudiArabia, buoyed by increasing oilprices, had begun to aggressively

expand its circle of influence with thepower of the so-called “petrodollar.” Italso started to outpace Iran in mattersof providing economic aid to Pakistan,which came with the condition ofadopting the Arab culture and faith asprescribed by Saudi Arabia.

Iran’s Shia theocracy began to beseen as a threat by the puritanical Saudipolitical and religious establishment —especially when Iran initiated therather unabashed export of its versionof anti-Saudi and anti-US “politicalIslam” to other Muslim countries.

In the 1980s, Pakistan acceptedhefty financial and military aid fromthe US and Saudi Arabia during theanti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan.This money was also used to form rad-ical Sunni indoctrination outlets andmilitant outfits to supplement Afghanmilitant groups. But many such out-fits eventually turned anti-Shia andthus anti-Iran. This saw Iran bankrollmilitant Shia groups within Pakistan.The result was deadly violence, clash-es and riots between Saudi and Iranianproxies in Pakistan.

Even though Pakistan declaredneutrality during the Iran-Iraq war inthe 1980s, the Zia regime increasing-ly galvanised Pakistan towards the

Saudi and American orbit. Pakistansent 40,000 soldiers to Saudi Arabia incase the conflict spread to the king-dom. A cultural consequence of thiswas the “Saudization” of Pakistan andthe steady erosion of Persian culture;after the 1979 revolution in Iran, itbegan being seen as “Shia culture.”

Ever since 1981, Pakistan’s rela-tions with Iran have remained tenseand enigmatic. Iran has often accusedPakistan of backing radical anti-IranSunni groups operating near the Pak-Iran border, and Pakistan hasexpressed concern that anti-Pakistangroups backed by India have beenallowed by Iran to operate near thesame border. Yet, not once have thetwo countries come close to fightinga war against each other. Soleimani wasunderstood by Islamabad as being an‘anti-Pakistan hawk.’ Pakistan, havingfrenzied borders with India andAfghanistan, and only recently man-aging to vanquish the extreme conse-quences of its participation in the anti-Soviet Afghan insurgency, has wiselydecided to declare neutrality in the US-Iran conflict. More so, it has down-played the fact that Soleimani was nohero to Pakistan.

(Courtesy Dawn)

The thin red line in Pak-Iran relationsSince 1981, Pakistan’s relations with Iran have remained tense in contrast to their earlier warm ties. Yet not once have the two come close to fighting a war

NADEEM PARACHA

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JANUARY 20, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

PRABHATLABH

SOURAJIT AIYER

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JANUARY 20, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Tea production willincrease only whenworkers' quality oflife improves: ITAJALPAIPURI: The Indian TeaAssociation (ITA) has said that teaproduction will increaseonly when the quality of life of teagarden workers improves. ITAvice-chairman NayantaraPalchoudhuri, addressing the142nd annual convention of theorganisation's Dooars branch inWest Bengal's Jalpaiguri districton Saturday, said a recent studyhas found that many women teaworkers suffer from anaemia andsteps are being taken in thisregard.She also stressed on the need toprovide sanitary napkins ataffordable rates to women workers.Palchoudhuri said work is beingdone to upgrade the healthfacilities, especially for newbornbabies and lactating mothers.ITA secretary general Arijit Rahasaid steps are beingtaken to ensure that tea gardenworkers avail central welfareschemes, their salary and bonusdisbursement is digitised forwhich they have Aadhaar cards,and owners provide them withaccommodation, health, water andeducation facilities.

HCL Tech expectsstrong demand acrosssectors in comingquartersNEW DELHI: IT services firm HCLTechnologies is betting on strongdemand across sectors, includingmanufacturing and retail, tocontinue its growth momentum inthe coming quarters. Thecompany, which posted 15.5 percent rise in revenue in theDecember quarter, is also seeingstrong growth in the European andUS markets. "Our pipeline is verystrong. And we're also prettyconfident of the conversion rates. Aswe speak, we're looking large deals.So overall, I'm positive," HCLTechnologies President and CEO CVijayakumar told PTI. He added thatsectors like manufacturing, retail andCPG (consumer packaged goods)look quite strong. "On financialservices, we are a little bit cautiousbecause European banks...there isstill some decline in spends in someof our customers," he said, addingthat Europe overall is performingwell for the company.

PTI n DAVOS

As top world leaders get readyfor the 50th WEF AnnualMeeting in this Swiss Alpineresort town, the Geneva-basedorganisation's founder KlausSchwab on Sunday urged allmembers and partners of theForum to commit to achievingnet-zero carbon emissions by2050 or earlier.

In letters sent to all WEFmembers and partners, Schwabunderlined the need to put inplace concrete measures for acohesive and sustainable world.

The move comes just aheadof the WEF's annual meeting,starting on Monday and expect-ed to be attended by more than3,000 world leaders includingtop CEOs and political leadersincluding US President DonaldTrump and German ChancellorAngela Merkel.

The 50th annual meetingwill have a theme of'Stakeholders for a Cohesiveand Sustainable World'.

In the letter, Schwab said,"The opportunity and the needfor companies and investors toshow leadership on climatechange is more eminent thanever before."

He said committing to tack-le the urgent issue of climatechange is also in line with thestakeholder imperative of the2020 Davos Manifesto, a doc-ument released by the Forumin December outlining theconcept of stakeholder capi-

talism in the modern era.The year 2020 also marks the

fifth anniversary of the ParisAgreement on climate change.However, the years since havebeen marked by under-per-formance at the governmentand business level in imple-menting decarbonization poli-cies.

Schwab's request will form akey element to discussionsacross each industry andcommunity group at theAnnual Meeting, with the hopeof lending momentum toongoing efforts by govern-

ment, business and financeleaders at the beginning of thiscritical decade.

A number ofinitiatives areexpected to beeither launched oradvanced thisweek in Davosand these includeE S G(Environmental,social and governance) report-ing, net-zero asset owners'alliance, mission possible plat-form and 1t.org.

The WEF said a common

challenge for businesses look-ing to take action on climate is

the lack of ag l o b a l l yaccepted stan-dard of mea-surement. The140-memberInternationalB u s i n e s sC om mu n it ywill meet this

week to review and hopefullyadopt proposals that couldmove climate action furtherinto the mainstream.

Besides, a coalition of insti-

tutional investors with nearlyUSD 4 trillion under manage-ment has committed to transi-tioning their portfolios to net-zero emissions by 2050.Members of the allianceinclude some of the world'slargest insurers and pensionfunds. The alliance is expect-ed to offer an update on activ-ities in a press conference dur-ing the WEF Annual Meeting.

The Mission PossiblePlatform is a public-privatepartnership aimed at helpingindustries that rely heavily onfossil fuels – such as aviation,maritime, trucking, chemicalsand iron and steel – transitionto a net-zero future.

CEOs from these industrieswill meet in Davos to discussthe technology, financing andpolicy interventions neededfor a low-carbon transition.

In the letter,Schwab said,"Theopportunity andthe need forcompanies andinvestors toshow leadershipon climatechange is moreeminent thanever before."

Half of world economy dependent on nature: WEF studyPTI n DAVOS

Flagging huge risks to theeconomy from dangers of bio-diversity loss and climatechange, a new WEF study onSunday said businesses aremore than dependent onnature with an estimated expo-sure of USD 44 trillion or halfof the world GDP.

Releasing the Nature RiskRising Report ahead of its 50thAnnual Meeting, the WorldEconomic Forum said about 25per cent of our assessed plantand animal species are threat-ened by human actions, with amillion species facing extinc-tion, many within decades.

China, the EU and the UShave the highest absolute eco-nomic value in nature-depen-dent industries.

An analysis of 163 industrysectors and their supply chainsfound that over half of theworld's GDP is moderately orhighly dependent on nature

and its services. Pollination,water quality and disease con-trol are three examples of theservices an ecosystem can pro-vide.

The report said USD 44 tril-lion of economic value gener-ation - over half the world'stotal GDP - is moderately orhighly dependent on natureand its services and, as a result,exposed to risks from natureloss.

Construction (USD 4 tril-lion), agriculture (USD 2.5trillion) and food and bever-ages (USD 1.4 trillion) are thethree largest industries that

depend most on nature.Combined, their value isroughly twice the size of theGerman economy.

Such industries rely on eitherthe direct extraction ofresources from forests andoceans or the provision ofecosystem services such ashealthy soils, clean water, pol-lination and a stable climate.

As nature loses its capacity toprovide such services, these

industries could be signifi-cantly disrupted. Industrieshighly dependent on naturegenerate 15 per cent of globalGDP (USD 13 trillion), whilemoderately dependent indus-tries generate 37 per cent (USD31 trillion).

This World EconomicForum report, produced incollaboration with PwC UK,found that many industrieshave significant “hiddendependencies” on nature intheir supply chain and may bemore at risk of disruption thanexpected.

For instance, there are sixindustries which have less than15 per cent of their directgross value added (GVA) thatis highly dependent on nature,yet over 50 per cent of theirsupply chains' GVA is highly or

moderately nature-dependent.The industries are chemicalsand materials; aviation, traveland tourism; real estate; min-ing and metals; supply chainand transport; and retail, con-sumer goods and lifestyle.

In terms of global exposure,larger economies have thehighest absolute amounts ofGDP in nature-dependent sec-tors: USD 2.7 trillion in China,USD 2.4 trillion in theEuropean Union and USD 2.1trillion in the United States.

“We need to reset the rela-tionship between humans andnature,” said DominicWaughray, Managing Directorat the World Economic Forum.

The report said damage tonature from economic activitycan no longer be considered an‘externality'.

Such industries rely on either thedirect extraction of resources fromforests and oceans or the provision ofecosystem services such as healthysoils, clean water, pollination and astable climate

Interim dividendmay figure inRBI's board meetPNS n NEW DELHI

The issue of interim dividendmay come up for discussion inthe next Reserve Bank boardmeeting as the governmentstruggles to meet its ambitiousfiscal deficit target of 3.3 percent amid revenue shortfall,sources said.

Government finances havecome under pressure due tomoderation in revenue collectionand a slew of measures taken tolift growth from over six-year-low of 4.5 per cent in the secondquarter of the current fiscal.

As per the government'sestimate, the country's GDPgrowth is seen dipping to an11-year low of 5 per cent in thecurrent fiscal as compared to6.8 per cent in 2018-19.

There would be at least oneboard meeting of RBI beforethis fiscal comes to an end, theissue of interim dividend couldbe raised by government nom-inee directors in the meeting,sources said.

However, the board meetingwould be preceded by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamancustomary address to the cen-tral board of RBI to explainvision of the Budget to be pre-sented on February 1. This tra-ditional exercise takes places afew days after the Budget pre-sentation every year.

According to sources, it hasbeen an exceptional year dur-ing which several extra-ordi-nary measures including slash-ing corporate tax rate outsideBudget were announcedputting government financesunder stress.

If the RBI board agrees tointerim dividend based ontheir six-month performance,it would provide some finan-

cial relief to the government,sources added. Reserve Bankof India (RBI) follows July toJune financial year.

The RBI largely earns prof-its through its trading of cur-rencies and governmentbonds. Part of these earningsare set aside by the RBI for itsoperational and contingencyneeds while the rest is trans-ferred to the government inthe form of dividend.

In the past, the govern-ment has taken the route ofseeking interim dividend fromthe RBI to balance its account.Last fiscal, the RBI paid Rs28,000 crore as interim divi-dend. During 2017-18, thegovernment received Rs10,000 crore as interim divi-dend from the central bank.

Last year in August,Governor Shaktikanta Das-led RBI central board gave itsnod for transferring to thegovernment a sum of Rs1,76,051 crore, comprising Rs1,23,414 crore of surplus forthe year 2018-19 and Rs52,637 crore of excess provi-sions identified as per therevised Economic CapitalFramework (ECF).

There would be atleast one boardmeeting of RBIbefore this fiscalcomes to an end,the issue of interimdividend could beraised bygovernmentnominee directorsin the meeting,sources said

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Commerce Ministry hasrecommended restricting pur-chase of tax-free alcohol to onebottle at duty-free shops aspart of steps to reduce importof non-essential goods,sources said.

The ministry has also rec-ommended to its financecounterpart that purchase ofcigarette cartons at duty-freeshops should be prohibited,they said.

These recommendations arepart of proposals made by thecommerce ministry for theforthcoming Budget, which

would be unveiled by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanon February 1.

Currently inbound inter-national passengers areallowed to buy two litres ofalcohol and a carton of ciga-

rette from these shops.According to sources, there

are countries that allow onlyone litre of liquor to interna-tional passengers and the samepractice can be adopted inIndia.

This suggestion assumessignificance as the govern-ment is looking at variousways to curtail import of non-essential goods into the coun-try to rein in trade deficit.

A duty-free shop is wherean inbound international pas-senger can generally purchasegoods worth about Rs 50,000without paying any importduty.

Centre for limiting duty-freealcohol purchase to one bottle

PNS n MUMBAI

Air India trade unions arelikely to demand a VRS pack-age at their second meetingwith Minister of State for CivilAviation Hardeep Singh Puriin New Delhi on Monday.

The minister is set to meetover a dozen Air India unions,including unrecognised ones,on Monday for the secondtime in a month over the air-line's privatisation plans.

The government is planningto float Expression of Interest(EoI) for selling its entire 100 percent stake in the loss-making flagcarrier some time next week.

At the first meeting onJanuary 2, the minister hadmade it clear that privatisationwas the only option before the

government to keep the airlineafloat and sought employeescooperation in carrying outthe disinvestment process.

Puri had also told theunions that he will call themagain after the meeting of theministerial panel on Air Indiadisinvestment.

The government isplanning to floatExpression ofInterest (EoI) forselling its entire100 per cent stakein the loss-makingflag carrier sometime next week

PNS n TRIVITRON

Domestic medical devicesmaker Trivitron Healthcare islooking to clock revenue of overRs 1,000 crore in fiscal year 2022as it expands the number ofmanufacturing facilities andalso eyes inorganic growth, a topcompany official has said.

Trivitron Healthcare cur-rently has nine manufacturingfacilities across five locations -- Chennai, Mumbai, Pune,Ankara and Helsinki -- and isin the process of constructing

the tenth facility in Patalgangain Maharashtra.

The company is expecting toclose the current fiscal yearwith a revenue of around Rs700 crore.

"We are looking at a revenueof over Rs 1,000 crore for thefiscal year 2022. It will beachieved through organic andinorganic growth," Trivitron

Healthcare Chairman and MDGSK Velu told PTI.

At present, 60 per cent ofthe company's revenue comefrom India and 40 per cent isinternational, he added.

"Going forward, Africa isgoing to be one of the biggestareas of growth for the com-pany. We are also looking atboth the US and China as keymarkets for growth this yearand plan to have some kind ofmanufacturing presence inboth the countries in the cur-rent calender year," he added.

Trivitron eyes over Rs 1,000-cr revenue

Reliance outpacesindustry in petrol,diesel salesPNS n NEW DELHI

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)has outpaced industry in clock-ing double digit sales growth inpetrol and diesel from its near-ly 1,400-odd petrol pumps inthe third quarter endedDecember 31, 2019.

In an investor presentationpost announcing earningsfor October-December 2019,Reliance, operator of theworld's largest oil refiningcomplex, said it registered an11 per cent growth in dieselsales and 15 per cent growthrate in petrol sales from its1,394 fuel retail outlets.

This is compared to indus-try growth rate of 0.2 per centfor diesel and 7.1 per cent forpetrol.

‘Govt may go forauction of 100fully explorednew blocks’

‘No dearth ofmoney, plan tospend Rs 5L cron infra’PNS n NAGPUR

Union Minister for RoadTransport and HighwaysNitin Gadkari on Sundaysaid his ministry planned tospend Rs 5 lakh crore oninfrastructure developmentthis year. He was speaking atthe inaugural function of theDiamond Jubilee celebrationsof Visvesvaraya NationalInstitute of Technology(VNIT) in Nagpur inMaharashtra.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union minister Pralhad Joshion Sunday said the Centrewill stop the "substitutableimport" of coal in the nextthree to four years and can gofor auction of100 fullye x pl ore dblocks.

T h estatementassumes sig-nificance in viewof recent developments in thesector where the governmentrecently brought an ordi-nance to amend laws to openup coal mining to firms otherthan those in the steel andpower sectors, removingrestrictions on end-use ofthe fuel.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Investors pumped in nearly Rs75,000 crore in equity-orient-ed mutual fund schemes in2019, a sharp plunge of 41 percent from the preceding year,mainly hit by extreme marketvolatility amid slowing eco-nomic growth.

Experts, however, are of theview that equity schemes willattract investor interest thisyear as the market is expectedto perform well.

"While volatility in the mar-ket may continue for somemore time going forward, webelieve investors will want tobenefit from this volatility anduse it to create and growth theirwealth. As we expect industryinflows to rise, we believe thatall categories of mutual fundsincluding equity funds to see asteady rise in flows," saidAshwani Bhatia, MD and CEOat SBI Mutual Fund.

According to data withAssociation of Mutual funds in

India (Amfi) equity and equity-linked saving schemes (ELSS)attracted an inflow of Rs 74,870crore in 2019, much lower thanRs 1.2 lakh crore seen in 2018.

In 2017, such schemes hadwitnessed an impressive inflow ofaround Rs 1.33 lakh crore as com-pared to Rs 51,000 crore in 2016.

Equity schemes have seen alittle bit of a slowdown in2019 as compared to the pastfew years because of extreme-ly volatile markets, L&T

Mutual Fund chief KailashKulkarni said.

The pace of inflows in equi-ty funds tapered off towards theend of the year with the inflowin such schemes hitting a 41-month low of Rs 1,312 crore inNovember as investors did notsee the index returns in theirown funds. Besides, weaknessin the mid and small-cap spacedented the investor confidence,said Vidya Bala, co-founder ofPrimeinvestor.in.

Investment in equityMFs drops 41% in 2019

Experts,however, are ofthe view thatequity schemeswill attractinvestor interestthis year as themarket isexpected toperform well

Air India unionsto demand VRSin meeting today

Davos readies for decade of deliveryCOHESIVE AND SUSTAINABLE WORLD

verest to Empowerment’was an interactive ses-sion held with moun-taineer Shailee Basnet inHyderabad at the HotelRadisson Blu on

Saturday.She spoke to 150 YFLO mem-

bers about her experienceclimbing some of the tallestmountains on Earth, the chal-

lenges she and her team-mates faced and the lessons

learnt. ‘Start from whereyou are, work on your-

self and keep your egoin check if you have

a vision’, are someof the manylessons Shailee

shared with the audi-ence.Born in Kathmandu

in Nepal, Shailee is amulti-faceted personality

who is a mountaineer, socialworker, motivational speaker,

stand-up comedian and a journal-ist.“Being one with nature was the most

beautiful thing of scaling the MtEverest and was the biggest blessing Iever received,” Shailee said speaking tothe audience.

Many might just stay content withclimbing the world’s highest mountainbeing their greatest achievement, butnot for Shailee. Since her climb up theEverest in May 2008, she’s reached evengreater heights. After conquering theEverest, Shailee set her sights on the‘Seven Summits’ across the continentsand formed a team with sevenwomen. Four-and-a-half-years later,the team became the first women’sgroup to climb the highest peak oneach continent.

Between climbs, Shailee also

accomplished other goals such asbecoming a motivational speaker anda stand-up comic. The 36-year-old talksat conventions, seminars and educa-tional institutions and performs incomedy shows across the world.

Since it is her first visit to the city,she said that she can’t wait to eatbiryani. “I tasted it last night at thehotel. Hyderabad is a nice city and I amreturning on February 20 to address theWomen Congress in the city,” sheshared.

Speaking of scaling the MountEverest, she said that while climbinghas become easy because of betterresources and technology to predictweather accurately, the number ofdeaths hasn’t reduced. People are stilldying. Mountaineering is a simplegame of lungs and legs. The successdepends on how you train and man-age these two organs,” Shailee said.

Over the years, footfall on the

Everest too has changed. “It used to be the same 12 years ago too. What has changed is that there are more photos of the traffic jams being takenand shared on social media, which wasnot the case in the past,” she said.

Not one to rest on her laurels, shesaid that she is also planning to authora book titled 7 Summits, 7 Challengesand 7 Lessons. “I am looking for a goodinternational publisher. The book will be completed this year,” she shared.

The number of people who havescaled the Everest is shy of 6,000. “Ofthis, only a handful of Nepali womenhave summited it. It was only in 1993,40 years after Tenzing Norgay andEdmund Hillary scaled it the first time,that a Nepali woman — Pasang LhamuSherpa — scaled the Everest,” sheadded.

“Junko Tabei was the first woman tosummit the Everest in 1975 and she is

my inspiration. My aim is to transformlives of young girls rescued from fleshtrade. We want to help them live a dig-nified life,” she said, signing off.

Conqueringpeaks incontinents:

Life of Shailee

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

MondayJanuary 20, 2020

Nomads in search of soulThe performance of Violin Nomads in the city was a treat to the ears and

eyes alike. ANUSHKA PRADEEP writes about a melodious fusion betweenIndian and European classical music the city witnessed over the weekend

he hall echoed withthe music of sever-al instruments andmusical segments atthe HICC Novotelas the Violin

Nomads performed their con-cert. The Violin Nomads con-sist of four performers RupamGhosh and Antoine Marhemon the violins, and Eric Navetand Antoine Morino on multi-ple percussion instruments.The band has been touring theworld for a few years now andthis is their first performance inHyderabad.

Speaking with The Pioneer,Rupam Ghosh delves into theformation and journey of theband so far. “It was aroundthree years ago AntoineMarhem and I connectedthrough Facebook. And eve-ntually, thanks to the require-ment of a percussionist, we wel-comed Eric, who played thexylophone, tambourine andthe matka tonight. We havebeen performing across Europesince 2016. And it was duringone of those tours that we ca-me across the very talentedAntoine Morino, an Iranianmusician from another band,”said Rupam, who is a student ofrenowned musician UstadAmjed Ali Khan.

The concert displayed afusion of Indian classical andWestern classical styles. Themost unique point of the con-cert was that while lots of pre-planning goes into preparinggroundwork for most such per-formances, the Violin Nomadswere improvising the musicon the spot as they played,

which was incredible. “We don’tdetail the entirety of our set. Weallow ourselves to just go withthe flow. The only thing wecarry is the order of the piecesthat we are supposed to per-form.”

While the Western classicalportrayed the folk music cul-ture of Germany, France,Romania and several otherEuropean countries, the Indianset consisted of several ragassuch as Shivaranjini and Raag

Charukeshi. A piece titled EkhlaCholo Re, performed as a trib-ute to Nobel laureate Rabind-ranath Tagore, stole the showwith the audience humming tothe tune.

The audiences were captivat-ed by the rich blend of culturewithin music that the ViolinNomads offered them. Theenthusiasm was visible as theaudience rose to laud andoffered standing ovations at notjust one but several musicalpieces at the concert. The audi-ence at many times clapped

along with the rhythm of thesongs. “The concert wasextremely soothing and excit-ing, especially due to the factthat the energy throughout theprogramme was consistentlychanging. I found each piece tobe emotive,” said Mrinalini, anaudience member, founder 6Yards Plus, a start-up on sarees.

The concert was a blend ofemotions — from mellow andmelancholy classicals of MiddleEastern music to tunes depict-ing joy and festivities ofEuropean folk festivals.

“The best thing about theIndian audience is that they areextremely encouraging andkind. The attention and appl-ause we received from audiencehere is extremely heartwarm-ing,” said Antoine Marhem,the lead violinist.

Regarding the future plans ofthe group, he says, “In thefuture we look forward to per-forming in the US.” “Hyderabadwas our first performance inIndia. The next cities lined upare Chennai, Pune, Ahm-edabad, Delhi and Kolkata,”says Rupam.

The event concluded with abirthday song for Antoinewhose birthday was on theweekend. The participants,organisers, and the audiencealike chimed in to offer warmgreetings.

The group performed ninepieces in all. The performancewas organised by AllianceFrancaise in collaboration withthe Hyderabad Literary Festivalwhich is scheduled to be heldfrom January 24 to 26 at theVidyaranya School.

t

7

Scaling mountains is definitely not forthe weak-hearted and scaling the MtEverest, however, is a different ballgame altogether. But mountaineer-turned-comedian Shailee Basnet hasnot only scaled the world's tallestpeak, but also conquered the tallestpeaks in all continents, adding onefeather after another to her skills,writes K RAMYA SREE

The concert was ablend of emotions —from mellow andmelancholyclassicals of MiddleEastern music totunes depicting joyand festivities ofEuropean folkfestivals

The number of deathsthat used to occur on the

Mt Everest is same asbefore. Mountaineering is asimple game of lungs and legs.The success depends on howyou train and manage these twoorgans

SHAILEE BASNETMOUNTAINEER

e

10

Hyderabad Monday January 20, 2020

PARTY

GAME OFCHANCE

‘ART’ITUDEA three-day annual art exhibition

‘Color Palette3’ was organisedby Glendale Academy

International to nurture thepotential in young minds. The

three-day exhibition wasinaugurated by the chief guest

of the event, Anshul Sinha,award-winning filmmaker and

TEDx speaker. The artexhibition was conducted at

College of Fine Arts, JNAFAU,Masab Tank.

Bajaj Electronics recently organised a lottery, the winners ofwhich could carry home a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh, while22 others had the opportunity to win a Maruti Suzuki

Alto car. Several celebrities including actresses NidhhiAgerwal, Hebah Patel, Niharika Konidela and actorHarshvardhan Rane graced the event. The event was heldat PVR Sujana Forum Mall, KPHB Colony.

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CITY GUIDE

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events listed, send your details alongwith a poster and contact number to pioneer.features@gmail.com

COMEDY

l Banyan Tree's Splendor of Masters aims atshowcasing a bouquet of maestros from theworld of Indian music in combinations that arenot only rare but also aesthetic and enriching.Every year this festival has received anoverwhelming response from music lovers invarious cities. The event will be organised atShilpakala Vedika on January 25 at 6 pm.

SPLENDOR OF MASTERS

l Draupadi is a dance drama in Kuchipudi format,with Sravya Manasa playing the lead role asDraupadi. It deals with the less familiar phases ofDraupadi's life along with her inclination towardsKarna. The play shall be held at Pheonix Arena onFebruary 1 at 7 pm.

DRAUPADI - A DANCE DRAMA

l Crowd favourite Rahul Dua starts his countrytour again, this time travelling solo with hisbrand new stand up special ‘Oh Hello!’ He willbe touring multiple venues in the city tillJanuary 25.

l “SPEAK UP” is an intensive weekend workshopon effective Communication and Public Speakingskills. With theatre-based exercises, group activitiesand stage time, this program helps you break outwith confidence and discover your own voice. Thefocus here is on verbal, non-verbal and writtencommunication. The workshop will be conductedon 25 January from 11am to 5pm.

SPEAK UP

THE ACT OF KILLING

BEYOND THOUGHT

l Cinephiles Film Club is screening a film The Act ofKilling on January 29 at Lamakaan from 7.30 pm. Filmmakers expose horrifying mass executions ofaccused communists in Indonesia and those whoare celebrated in their country for perpetrating thecrime.

.

l In a world full of constant change, we arealways aware of what's going on and what wethink about it. Cinephiles Film Club is presentinga documentary titled Beyond Thought onJanuary 22 at 7 pm at Lamakaan.

OH HELLO!

l Niharika Konidela

l Hebah Patel

l Karan Bajaj

l Nidhhi Agerwal

l Harshavardhan Rane

l Anshul Sinha

l Ishita

l Sree Rupa l Sudesh l Sumegha

l Shoma Goswami, Pushpa Latha and Sri Vidya

l Ruchika

what’s brewing?

- Photos by SV Chary

Hyderabad Monday January 20, 2020

11

tollywood

ooks like Varalakshmi Sarath Kumar wants to strikea balance between Kollywood and Tollywood. Afteragreeing to be a part of Ravi Teja-starrer Krack, whereshe will be seen in a significant supporting role, theSarkar actress has signed on Allari Naresh's next withdebutant director Vijay Kanakamedala, who assisted

Harish Shankar for films like Mirapakay, Gabbar Singh and DJ.This would be the first time that she will be acting along withNaresh. She was attached to star alongside him in James Bond(2015) but the negotiations fell through.

A source close to the development tells us, "Varalakshmi willbe seen in the second most important role after Naresh in thefilm. She won't have any songs alongside Naresh. The role willpave way for Telugu directors to consider her for strong char-acter roles in the future. Alongside her, director Vijay has alsogot the nods of Praveen, Harish Uttaman, Devi Prasad andPriyadarshi for in other supporting roles."

To be launched today in Hyderabad, the untitled film is a con-cept-driven social drama where Naresh will be playing a com-mon man. The film discusses an issue he faces and will not haveany resemblance to the kind of films he acted in the past. "In fact,there will not be a tinge of comedy at all. It will be a serious filmloaded with strong emotions," Vijay had said speaking to us some-time back. Satish Vegesna, who has co-produced OkkaKshanam and Mosagallaku Mosagadu in the past, is producingthe film under SV2 Entertainment. Major portions of the filmwill be shot in Hyderabad, beginning Monday. The first sched-ule will go on for 25 days, post which the unit will take a breakof four to five days. The next schedule will witness the comple-tion of the shoot. Sri Charan Pakala has been roped in as the musiccomposer. - NG

Sarileru… and Ala… enter the Rs 100 cr clubt has indeed turned out to be a blockbuster Sankranti. Releasing amid a day gap between, twoof the anticipated films, Sarileru Neekevvaru and Ala Vaikunthapuramlo, have lived up to allthe hype surrounding them and within a week surpassed the magical mark of Rs 100 crore. Inthe process, both films have emerged as personal career best for Mahesh Babu and Allu Arjunrevenue-wise. Till Saturday, the former's film has collected a share of Rs 112.03 crore, while thelatter's minted more than Rs 118. 1 crore. After a flying start, Mahesh's film slowed down con-

siderably but the festive season helped it to pick up. On the other hand, there seems to be no stoppingArjun's film as it consolidated on its first two days momentum all throughout the week and emerged as astrong competitor to Mahesh's film, even establishing non-Baahubali records at most places. Besides someparts of the Telugu states, the film has amassed more than Sarileru Neekevvaru in the US, a region whichis a stronghold of Mahesh. In all probability, going by the current trends Ala Vaikunthapuramlo will endup collecting more than Sarileru Neekevvaru in the days to come.

Realising his film has potential to draw more footfalls, Bunny, who has attended a massive success eventin Vizag on Sunday, will be promoting the film in Tirupati on January 24. He has lined up some events inBengaluru and Kerala over the course of next 10 days. Mahesh, meanwhile, has decided to put a full stopto promotions. He has left the country with his family for a holiday. - NG

l

i

ith iSmart Shankar doing won-ders at the box-office uponrelease last year, Nabha Natesh'scareer took off. No wonder sheadmits that last year has beenthe best of her career so far.

"iSmart Shankar songs were played on aloop wherever I've been to post the release.The events where I've performed asked meto perform to the film's songs and say

some dialogues from it," the actress,who played a Warangal girl Chandini

in the film,gushes inexcitement.

Right now,Nabha isawaiting the

release of ViAnand's Disco

Raja, where she ispaired opposite Mass

Maharaja Ravi Teja. Sheis quick to inform that

her role is in complete con-trast to what she played in

iSmart Shankar. "I play Nabha, abank employee who is independent and

is this generation's woman. She val-ues human emotions and takes careof the people around her. It's a roleclose to my real life. The directorgave me the liberty to experiment

with my looks and acting," she states,adding that as she has roots in the-atre she feels fortunate to have beenoffered a wide variety of roles soearly in her career.

She is a big fan of Ravi Teja,especially after Vikramarkudu,and believes the actor's comictiming is on a different level alto-gether. "I was more than happythat I was offered this film," shesays, going on to explain thatRavi Teja doled out valuableadvice to her on food and life."He doesn't have a negativebone in his body," she adds.

Into her third year in theindustry, she laments thefact that she didn't makemany friends. "After fin-ishing a film's schedule,I leave to Bengaluru

mostly. I don't get tomeet many people,"points out the

actress, who insiststhat she will be seen ina "never-before-kind

of role" in Sai Tej-starrer Solo

Brathuke So Better.- NG

Varalakshmi boardsAllari Naresh's next

w

et to go to floors fromtoday, PuriJ a g a n n a d h ' sFighter withV i j a yDeverakonda

has gone for a majorchange in terms of itsfemale lead. Bollywood'scurrent favourite, JanhviKapoor, who was tipped to bethe film's female face, is nolonger part of the project.Speculations about her participa-tion in the film did rounds lastmonth but the makers chosenot to deny it. Now we hearthat her dates have turnedout to be the stumblingblock, preventing her tocome onboard. With mul-tiple Hindi projects in herbag, she couldn't adjust herdate diary for the movie,leaving producers Karan Joharand Puri Jagannadh to consid-er other names. "Janhvi is likeKaran's baby and he didn't want to pushher if she wasn't in a position to space outtime. He later proposed the name of AnanyaPanday, who he had introduced in Studentof the Year 2 last year. Puri and Charmmewere okay with it as long as the shoot isn't

delayed because of her dates.Ananya was later given the

narration. She liked her char-acter and the fact that thefilm will give her a chanceto work with VijayDeverakonda. She didn'thave to think twice to sayyes. She is likely join the film

in the second schedule. Inthe interim, she will be taking

some Telugu classes to perfecther dialogues," chips in a source,

who adds that Mehbooba villain,Vishu Reddy, is onboard as well

for a negative role.The first schedule of

Fighter will go on for near-ly 15 days in Mumbai, postwhich Deverakonda willshift attention to the pro-motions of his next, WorldFamous Lover, which is

scheduled for a Valentine's-Day release. The actor, who has

undergone mixed martial artstraining in Thailand for a good

part of this month, is back in India.He will be seen as a martial arts expo-nent in the film, an emotionalaction-drama to be shot in Hindi and Telugu simultane-ously.

JANHVI outof Fighter,ANANYA in

s

ith Ram Charan recently clarifying that RRR will be stickingits scheduled July 30 release date, whispers about a probablepostponement due to the delay in shooting, have died down.However, since Saturday evening, buzz that the film's releasehas moved to October has gained significant momentum.National trade trackers like Taran Adarsh and Komal Natha

dropped hints about the same, while the makers chose to remain mum.A little birdie tells us that chances of making to July 30 are also not ruledout at this juncture. But Rajamouli wants more time before he can makeup his mind. "He is likely to wrap up the film by April-end but wants todevote major time on post-production and marketing, which is why hedoesn't want to rush things as of now. He will let his producer Danayyaknow about his decision shortly. In all likelihood, a postponement isaround the corner," adds the source.

Set in early 1920s, the film is a fictional story based on two real-lifeheroes and freedom fighters -Alluri Seetharama Raju and Komaram Bheem.Tarak is playing the younger Bheem, with English actress Olivia Morrispaired alongside him, while Charan will be seen as younger Ramaraju,with Alia Bhatt as his love interest. The likes of Ajay Devgn, P.Samuthirankani and Irish actors Alison Doody and Ray Stevenson areessaying significant roles. M.M. Keeravani is the film's composer.

NABHA FEELS‘FORTUNATE'

w

LAKSHMI TURNSENGLISH TEACHER

ctor-producer Lakshmi Manchu, who supports many social causes, on Saturday vol-unteered to be a guest English teacher. Taking time off from her schedule, she taughtEnglish to Grade 5 students at a government primary school, Madhapur, to invite vol-unteer applications for Pega 'Teach for Change' Literacy Programme for the new aca-demic year.

The Pega 'Teach for Change' Literacy Programme is a nationwide movement thatworks in collaboration with state governments, to develop literacy skills among primary school-children. As part of the programme, committed individuals volunteer to teach at governmentschools in their community. The volunteers are screened and trained before they are assignedto a neighborhood school. The volunteers teach modules that are specially developed to enhancethe speaking, reading, writing and listening skills of the students. An English-speaking environ-ment is created in the classroom to help the students learn the language easily.

"Lakshmi's commitment to the cause reflects that change can be realised anywhere. She is asymbol of hope and inspiration to make a difference in improving education in India. We feelencouraged and supported in our endeavor to help these students get access to the quality ofeducation they deserve," Suman Reddy, Managing Director, Pegasystems India, said.

a

Puri Jagannadh has signed up Ananya Pandayas the female face for Fighter starring VijayDeverakonda. NAGARAJ GOUD writes about thechange in cast, shooting schedule and more

RRR postponedto October?

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JANUARY 20, 2020 sport 12

PTI n BENGALURU

Rohit Sharma and ViratKohli paced a trickyrun chase with sublime

knocks as India wrapped theseries 2-1 with a comfortableseven-wicket victory in thedecisive third ODI againstAustralia, here on Sunday.

Rohit (119 off 128) wasdue for a big score in the seriesand he delivered in the all-important game for his 29thODI hundred.

India had a point to proveagainst Australia, having lostthe home series to them inMarch last year. The 10-wick-et drubbing in Mumbai didnot deter India as they post-ed emphatic victories inRajkot and here at theChinnaswamy Stadium.

Following Rohit's fall,Kohli (89 off 91) anchored thechase as India cantered to athe win in 47.3 overs. ShreyasIyer remained unbeaten on 44off 35 balls.

The 137-run standbetween Rohit and Kohlieffectively won the game forIndia, who overhauled the287-run target with 15 balls tospare.

Steve Smith's ninth ODIhundred helped Australiascore 286 for nine after AaronFinch opted to bat. Indianbowlers, led by MohammadShami (4/63), did well tolimit Australia to under 300.

Opener Shikhar Dhawandid not come out to bat dueto an injured shoulder and he

did not need to, consideringthe way his team got the jobdone.

Rahul, who batted at threein Mumbai and five in Rajkot,came out to open alongsideRohit. He began with a beau-tiful punch on the off side butlasted only 27 balls afterAustralia took a successfulLBW review off Ashton Agar.

Rohit scored bulk of runsin their 69-run opening stand.

Australia offered Rohitplenty of loose balls to free hisarms as he ended up smash-ing six sixes and eight fours.His best hit came off PatCummins as he flicked thepacer for a spectacular six overmidwicket.

Rohit also became thethird fastest to 9000 ODIruns while Kohli became thefastest batsman to score 5000runs as skipper.

Earlier, India bouncedback in the last 10 overs,conceding just 63 runs for fivewickets.

Smith (131 off 132) roseto the occasion but did not getmuch support from the otherbatsmen. Shami was brilliantin the death overs strikingthrice. The other substantial

knock in the Australianinnings came from MarnusLabuschagne (54 off 64).

Australia won the toss forthe third time in a row butunlike the last game in Rajkot,opted to bat.

Kohli decided to go inwith the winning combinationof the last game even thoughRishabh Pant was available forselection.

It meant Rahul was thespecialist wicketkeeper bats-man for the second successivegame.

Australia lost their in-form openers - David Warner(3) and Aaron Finch (19) --rather early. Targeting theoff-stump channel initially,Shami induced an outsideedge from Warner's bat withan away going delivery.

Smith was responsible forFinch's run out as he called hisskipper for a run beforechanging his mind. Finch,who is usually calm and com-posed, was furious and usedcuss words while walkingback to the dressing room.

By the first powerplay,Australia reached 56 for twowith Smith and Labuschagnein the middle. It was once

again evident why they lovebatting together.

They both had stitched a96-run stand on Friday andbatted in a similar fashion,rotating the strike regularlyand picking up an odd bound-ary enroute to their 127-runpartnership.

Labuschagne, who made46 in his first ODI inningsduring the Rajkot game butgot out at the wrong time,went on to score a half-centu-ry on this occasion.

Alongside Smith, helooked set for a big knockuntil a diving Kohli sent himback with a stunning catch atcover.

Jadeja, who got the ball toturn on a dry pitch, got hissecond wicket of the overwhen he had Mitchell Starc,who was sent ahead of AlexCarey, caught at deep mid-wicket.

Smith was going alongnicely at the other end but theteam needed another sub-stantial contribution to gopast 300. He shared 58 runsfor the fifth wicket withCarey (35) but the latterdeparted when the inningsneeded a move on.

PTI n LINCOLN (NEWZEALAND)

Prithvi Shaw slammed a 100-ball 150 in India A’s 12-run

victory over New Zealand XIin the second practice gamehere on Sunday, coming backfrom an injury in the mannerthat matched the hype aroundhim.

Eyeing a return to theIndian senior team, the 20-year-old Shaw struck 22 foursand two sixes during his blaz-ing knock at the Bert SutcliffeOval.

Shaw’s knock will certain-ly excite the selectors as theypick the squad for the Testseries in New Zealand.

The first Test will getunderway on February 21 atthe Basin Reserve in Hamiltonand the second match is sched-uled to be played at the HagleyOval in Christchurch, startingFebruary 29.

Batting first, India A wereall out for an imposing 372 in49.2 over before restrictingthe home side to 360 for six toregister their second win of thetour.

Shaw was in sparklingtouch since returning fromhis eight-month doping ban,but a shoulder injury on theopening day of Mumbai’s Ranji

Trophy game againstKarnataka cut short his run,ruling him out of India A’s firstpractice match here.

Mayank Agarwal (32) andShaw stitched an 89-run open-ing stand but the former wasdismissed by pacer AndrewHazeldine.

Skipper Shubman Gill (24),Suryakumar Yadav (26) andIshan Kishan (14) alongsideShaw kept the scoreboard tick-ing, helping India reach 241 in31 overs.

After the dismissal of Shawin the beginning of the 35thover, all-rounder Vijay Shankarstamped his authority with a 41-ball 58.

Chasing 373, New Zealandsuffered an early blow withopener Katene Clarke (1)departing in the second over.Josh Clarkson (14) soon fol-lowed, leaving the home teamstruggling at 2-27.

Opener Jack Boyle (130)and Finn Allen (87) kept NewZealand in the fight before thehosts ran out of overs.

For India, right-arm medi-um pacer Ishan Porel (2/39) andspinner Krunal Pandya (2/50)grabbed two wickets each.

Having recovered from theinjury, Shaw has straightawayset his sights on his immediategoals, with a fine knock.

AFP n PORT ELIZABETH

England fast bowler MarkWood came out after a

lengthy rain break and plungedSouth Africa into trouble in theirsecond innings on the fourth dayof the third Test at St George’sPark on Sunday.

South Africa, forced to followon after being bowled out for 209,were 44 for three at tea, still 246runs short of making England batagain. Wood used his extreme

pace to send Dean Elgar’s offstump flying out of the groundbefore he had Zubayr Hamzafeeling for a ball outside his legstump to present a catch to wick-etkeeper Jos Buttler.

England captain Joe Rootstruck a third blow for thetourists when he trapped PieterMalan leg before wicket in thelast over before tea, leavingEngland well-placed to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match seriesdespite uncertain weather.

Following a lengthy delay onSaturday, the players were off formore than three hours, includingthe lunch break, on Sunday.

England enforced the follow-on after they needed only 28 ballsto dismiss South Africa’s lastfour batsmen at the start of play.Stuart Broad took three wicketsas South Africa added only onerun to their overnight total.

Armed with the second newball, Broad struck with the fourthdelivery of the morning when

Vernon Philander missed a driveagainst a full delivery whichswung in between bat and pad.He was out for 27.

Sam Curran uprootedQuinton de Kock’s middle stumpwith the fifth ball of the next overwith the left-hander missing anextravagant drive against a ballangled in from the left-armedbowler.

De Kock had not added tohis overnight score of 63.

Keshav Maharaj was bowledoff a bottom edge when he triedto pull a ball from Broad beforeKagiso Rabada, who scored theonly run in the collapse, hit asimple catch to mid-off to giveBroad his third wicket.

Broad finished with three for30. Wood, bowling around theleft-handed wicket, fired a fastdelivery through Elgar’s defenceswith the eighth ball after theresumption of play in the after-noon before following up withthe wicket of Hamza.

AFP n HARARE

Prince Masvaure struckhis maiden Test fifty

while opening partnerKevin Kasuza approached ahalf-century on debut asZimbabwe reached 108 for1 at tea on the first day ofthe first Test against SriLanka in Harare.

Masvaure, playing inhis third Test, made 55before he was caught by SriLanka captain DimuthKarunaratne off the slowleft-arm bowling of LasithEmbuldeniya.

Kasuza was unbeatenon 48 following the after-noon session, having sur-vived a dropped chance

after he miscued a hookoff Suranga Lakmal.

Zimbabwe captainSean Williams electedto bat first despite over-cast skies at the HarareSports Club, where theAfrican nation are play-ing their first home Testsince 2017.

The hosts handeddebuts to three players— opening batsmanKasuza, left-arm spinnerAinsley Ndlovu andseam bowler VictorNyauchi — in their firstTest match in 14 months.

Fast bowler Lakmalreturned for Sri Lanka,having missed the entirePakistan series, while

Angelo Mathews wasalso included in an expe-rienced side. The two-Test tour was onlyannounced by the SriLankan cricket boardearlier this week.

Zimbabwe werereadmitted as an ICCmember last Octoberfollowing a three-monthsuspension over politicalinterference.

The Sri Lanka gamesrepresent their first Testssince a 1-1 series draw inBangladesh inNovember 2018.Zimbabwe last played aTest at home againstthe West Indies inOctober 2017.

PTI n MUMBAI

Uttar Pradesh batsman Aksh Deep Nathstuck an unbeaten hundred, which not

only pulled his side out of trouble but alsogave them an upper hand, on the openingday of their Elite Ranji Trophy Group Bmatch against Mumbai here on Sunday.

Following an unbroken 137-run fifth-wicket stand between Nath (115 not out off215 balls) andRinku Singh (71 not out off134 balls; 7x4), UP ended the day at a decent281/4 after being 48/3 at one stage at theWankhede Stadium.

Mumbai pacers Akash Parkar (2-67)and Royston Dias (2 -48) initially dominat-ed proceeding but later Nath stuck apatient hundred to ensure Mumbai couldnot capitalise on the early advantage.

VIDARBHA TAKE CONTROL VS DELHINew Delhi :Veteran Wasim Jaffer’s master-class was a purists’ delight as Delhi's strat-egy of preparing a result-oriented seamingtrack boomeranged with defending cham-pions Vidarbha taking control on the

opening day of the Ranji Trophy encounter.On a track where players half his age

were not able to cross 20-run mark, the for-mer India opener, who is a month shy frombeing 42, scored 83 in his team's meagretotal of 179.

With ball jagging around all day in coldand windy conditions, former India U-19seamer Aditya Thakare (4/14) polished theDelhi top-order in a five-over burst toreduce the hosts to 41 for 4 at stumps.

The match is expected to get over insidethree days and Delhi will have to dependon the pair of Nitish Rana (3 batting) andLalit Yadav (0 batting) to at least ensure arespectable first innings total.

Thakare got the bowl to swing bothways as the likes of captain Dhruv Shoreywas deceived by away movement andJonty Sidhu squared up by late swing.

The day belonged to Jaffer, who showedthe technique to bat on a track where thetrio of Ishant Sharma (3/45 in 14 overs),Simarjeet Singh (4/39 in 16.5 overs) andKulwant Khejroliya (2/50 in 18 overs) madelife miserable for other players.

TIWARY PUT BENGAL IN COMMANDKALYANI (WB): Former skipper ManojTiwary hit an unbeaten 156 and ShreevatsGoswami a combative 95 as Bengal recov-ered from a shaky start to end the day oneof their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A matchagainst Hyderabad at a commanding 366for five, here on Sunday.

Desperate for an outright win to keeptheir qualifying hopes alive, Bengal, whochose Kalyani over Eden Gardens, found thegoing tough early on to be reduced to 60for three inside 15 overs.

Opener A Raman fell for a duck in thefifth ball of the day, edging Ravi Kiran (2/47)behind the stumps after Bengal elected tobat.

Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (12)continued his poor run while debutant KaziSaifi, who was drafted in after his stupen-dous show at the U-23 level, could not con-vert his start to be dismissed for 27.

But it was Tiwary who showed a classact as he paced his innings beautifully tolead Bengal's recovery.

Number five Anustup Majumdar (59)

also gave a fine support with 86-ball 59(8x4) as the duo put on 112 runs for thefourth wicket.

TN TAKE UPPERHANDCHENNAI: A superb performance bybowlers R Ashwin and M Siddharth and aton by Abhinav Mukund gave Tamil Naduthe upperhand on the opening day of itsRanji Trophy Group B match againstRailways here on Sunday.

Electing to bat, the visiting team fold-ed for 76 in 39.1 overs as the experiencedAshwin (4/26) and left-arm spinnerSiddharth (4/32) ran through the railwaysbatting order.

At stumps, the hosts were sitting pret-ty putting up 236 for 4.

From 15 for no loss in the 8th over,the Railways batsmen came a cropperagainst Ashwin and Siddharth to be bun-dled out in the opening session of thegame.It was a dismal display by theRailways batsmen as only three managedto reach double figures with Saurabh Singh(22) being the top-scorer.

PTI n BASSETERRE (SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS)

Captain Kieron Pollard producedthe best bowling spell by a West

Indian in Twenty20 Internationalcricket on Saturday before rain forcedthe second match of a three-gameseries against Ireland to be aban-doned.

Pollard took 4-25 as Irelandwere limited to 147-9 in a clashreduced to 19 overs a side.

Set a rain-revised target of 152 towin, the West Indies reached 16-1after 2.2 overs before rain caused

another in a series of stoppages.Umpired eventually called the

game off as a no result. Ireland leadthe series 1-0 after their dramaticfour-run win in the opener inGrenada on Wednesday.

The third and final game is alsoin St Kitts on Sunday.

Pollard ripped the heart out ofthe Irish middle order by removingtop scorer Gareth Delany, whose 44included five sixes, skipper AndyBalbirnie (36) as well Gary Wilson(five) and George Dockrell (two).

Fast bowler Sheldon Cottrellalso starred with two wickets, includ-

ing dangerous opener Paul Stirlingwho was caught in the deep for just17.

Stirling had smashed a 47-ball 95in the first game.

Ireland lost three wickets on thelast three balls of their inningsSaturday, two of them off run-outs asthey desperately scrambled to get past150.

The West Indies would havebeen confident of chasing down thetarget although wary of their recentrecord at St Kitts.

In 2019, they were bowled out forjust 45 and 71 against England.

PTI n BENGALURU

Senior India openerShikhar Dhawan was

taken for an x-ray after hehurt his left shoulder duringthe series-deciding thirdODI against Australia hereon Sunday.

A call on his participa-tion in the match will betaken after further assess-ment, the BCCI said in astatement.

Dhawan was taken offthe field after he got inuredin the fifth over of the gameat the M ChinnaswamyStadium.

“Shikhar Dhawan hasgone for an x-ray. A call onhim being available for thegame will be taken once heis back and assessed,” theBCCI said.

The left-handed bats-man had dived to save anAaron Finch shot in the

cover region before hurtinghis shoulder.

He then walked out andwas replaced by leg-spinnerYuzvendra Chahal on thefield.

The 34-year-oldDhawan had not taken thefield for the entire durationof the Australian innings inthe second ODI after a PatCummins bouncer hit himon the rib cage while batting.The series is levelled at 1-1.

Dominant India take series

India's Rohit Sharma raises his bat to celebrate scoring a century AP

DHAWAN TAKEN FOR SCAN, CALL ONPARTICIPATION AFTER ASSESSMENT

Prithvi shaw celebrates after scoring fifty runs PTI

Shaw slams 150 as IndA hand NZ XI defeat

De Kock falls; SA reeling

Jos Buttler celebrates with Ollie Pope after taking a catch to dismiss Rassie van der Dussen AP

MELBOURNE: Former Australiafast bowler Brett Lee has termedICC’s decision to ban SouthAfrica speedster Kagiso Rabadafor one Test for his aggressivecelebration against England inPort Elizabeth as “ridiculous”.Rabada was banned for one Testby the International CricketCouncil (ICC) for the way hecelebrated the dismissal ofEngland captain Joe Root duringthe first day of the third Test atPort Elizabeth on Thursday.Slamming the ICC for thedecision, Lee tweeted, “Iunderstand that cricket needs tobe played in the spirit of thegame but to ban@KagisoRabada25 for a testmatch for over celebrating to meis ridiculous.”“I also know that he has pushedthe boundaries before but comeon! No swearing involved! Lovehis passion. Don't agree @ICC,”

PTI

Brett Lee terms Rabadaban as “ridiculous”

Pollard’s four wickets in vain

Kieron Pollard during practice session AP

Masvaure fifty helps Zim to solid start against SL

Aksh, Rinku give UP upper-hand against Mumbai

Manoj Tiwari plays a shot during Ranji Trophy domestic cricket Tournament PTI

Rohit'shundred leadsMen in Blue to7 wickets winover Aussies