CHIRU AS A CRUSADER

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SPORTS 12NO POLITTICS BEHIND MY

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l Launches ‘Rythu Bharosa' scheme in Nellore

Fulfilling every promisemade to people: CM JaganPNS n NELLORE

Fulfilling a major poll promise,Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Tuesday launched'YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme-PM Kisan' scheme under whicheach farmer will get Rs 13,500as input assistance every year.

The Chief Minister launchedthe flagship scheme at Kakuturin Nellore district by handingover cheques to beneficiaries.The scheme is expected to ben-efit 54 lakh farmers, includingtenant farmers across the State.The amount will be deposited inthe bank accounts of the bene-ficiaries. Addressing a publicmeeting on the occasion, theChief Minister said though YSRCongress Party (YSRCP) duringthe elections had promisedfinancial assistance of Rs 12,500per year, the government hasdecided to increase it by Rs 1,000.

The Chief Minister saiddespite financial constraints,his government was committedto implement the scheme for

five years. He said though theprevious government had iden-tified 43 lakh beneficiaries, theYSRCP government has con-ducted a transparent survey toinclude all those eligible bene-

ficiaries, who were left out dur-ing the previous survey.

He claimed that AndhraPradesh is the only State toimplement such a huge financialassistance scheme for tenant

farmers. Three lakh tenantfarmers belonging to ScheduledCastes (SC), Scheduled Tribes(ST), backward classes andminority communities areamong 54 lakh beneficiaries.

He said YSRCP had promisedto implement the scheme fromMay 2020, but it has advancedthe implementation by eightmonths. Beneficiaries underPM Kisan Nidhi scheme of theCentre will get Rs 6,000, whilethe remaining amount will bepaid by the State government.Those not covered under theCentre's scheme will get theentire assistance from the State.

He said beneficiary farmerswere given Rs 2,000 each in Juneand now they will get Rs 9,500.Another Rs 2,000 will be paidduring 'Sankranthi'.

From next year, every bene-ficiary will get Rs. 7,500 in Mayat the beginning of Kharif sow-ing season, Rs 4,000 in Octoberfor harvesting Kharif crop or forRabi needs. The remaining Rs2,000 will be paid on the occa-sion of 'Sankranthi'.

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy lifting aplough by donning a turban during the launch ofRythu Bharosa scheme in Nellore district on Tuesday

PNS n KAKINADA

Seven pilgrims died on thespot and five sustained injurieswhen the mini-van in whichthey were travelling fell into thevalley near Maredumalli inEast Godavari agency ghatroad on Tuesday. The incidentoccurred went the pilgrimsfrom Chellangeri inChitradurrga district ofKarnataka were on their way toAnnavaram temple in EastGodavari in a mini-van afterhaving darshan of Bhadradritemple at Bhadrachalam inneighbouring Telangana State.

On reaching Vali- Sugrivaturning en route from Chinturto Maredumilli in EastGodavari, the driver of themini-bus lost control whilenegotiating a curve, resultingin the mini-bus fall into thegorge about 40 feet belowfrom the ghat road.

The deceased were identi-fied as Meda Srinuvasulu,Meda Madhurakshmma ,Meda Gayatramma , MedaSweta, Meda Ramalakshmi,Kuncham Ramesh, KunchamAmrutavani. The injured wereMeda Jagannadham, K Sweta,K Geetalakshmi, N VenkataChlapati. A two-year-old girlchild Jnana Sri, however,

escaped unhurt. The relativesof these, who were travellingin another mini bus, weresafe.

In all, 26 pilgrims in twomini-buses were to reachAnnavaram in the afternoonon Tuesday and from there toVasavi Maata temple atPenugonda in West Godavarilater on the day. Relatives oftwo families are on templetourism from Karnataka.

According toRampachodavaram ASP,Vakul Zindal, out of the totalfive injured the condition ofone of them is critical. Allthese are undergoing treat-

ment at area hospital inRampachodavaram.

All bodies of all the sevendeceased were sent toRajamahedravaram govern-ment hospital for postmortem,the ASP said. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy spoke toEast Godavari district officialsover phone and enquired aboutthe accident, a release from hisoffice here said. He directed thedistrict authorities to ensureproper treatment to the injured.Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu expressedgrief over the accident and con-veyed his condolences to thebereaved families.

The mangled mini-bus, which fell from ghat road into the valley, seen atMaredumilli in East Godavari agency on Tuesday

Farmers thank CM for ‘Bharosa'PNS n NELLORE

There have been many firstsbesides innovations and trendsettings which could be seen asthe main feature of YSRCP thathas received overwhelmingpublic support in 2019 generalelections and much before.

Encouraging participatorypolitics during public meet-ings and events became the hall-mark of YSRCP. During thenumerous dharnas and deek-shas party president YSJaganmohan Reddy has takenup since the inception of theparty, audience was alwaysgiven prominence and wasgiven the mike to speak onevery single occasion.

When farmers were givenmike at the launch of RythuBharosa-PM Kisan here onTuesday, two of them - ChandPasha and Ramana Reddy -thanked the Chief Minister forthe help they have received.

This has been the pattern thatwas well received by the civilsociety and comes like a whiff

of fresh air to see the beneficia-ries talking and the chief guestlistening to them.

The CM also makes it apoint to go round the stalls atevery function and interactwith the people working atground level which shows hisdown-to-earth approach.

During the launch of VillageSecretariats and before that,while giving away the certificatesto the Village Volunteers, he hadgiven the mike to the participantsand they had the opportunity to

speak their mind out. At theVahana Mitra launch, auto dri-vers shared the dais with the CMand spoke about themselves andthe welfare scheme. During theYSR Kanti Velugu, where screen-ing tests began to school chil-dren, it was a moving sight to seea visually impaired boy speak hismind out and equally movingwas the scene when a young girlhas asked for the provision ofsanitary napkins at governmentschools.

Continued on Page 3

Operation resumes to salvage sunken boatPNS n RAJAHMUNDRY

A month after a boat ferrying77 persons capsized in theRiver Godavari, a private firmbegan the operation onTuesday to pull out the vessel.

Workers of Balaji Marineswith the help of heavy machin-ery began efforts to salvage theboat from the water atKachluru village inDevipatnam block of EastGodavari district.

The company had failed inits first attempt to pull out theboat earlier this month. Theoperation was called off afterthree days due to heavy flow of

water. As the flood watersbegan to recede, it resumed theoperation on Tuesday.

The firm is using the ser-vices of expert swimmers,boats, raft, 1,500 metres of ironcable and hooks for the salvageoperation.

The Royal Vasista touristboat, ferrying 77 persons totourism spot Papikondalu, cap-sized on September 15 nearKachuluru village. While 26tourists were rescued by vil-lagers, the bodies of 38 otherswere retrieved later.

As many as 13 people werestill missing and their bodiesare believed to be stuck in thesunken boat.

The government has alreadyordered a magisterial inquiryinto the incident. The boatowner and operator werearrested for operating the ves-sel despite a ban due to thefloods.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

About Rs 6,000 crore powerdues are pending from variousgovernment departments inthe State, according to ChiefSecretary LV Subrahmanyam.

Addressing officials of var-ious departments at theSecretariat on Tuesday, hesaid the dues should be paidby making use of theresources available in variousdepartments. He said WaterResources Department owesRs 2,000 crore followed by the

Rural DevelopmentDepartment with Rs 500 croredues. Panchayats should paythe dues by drawing funds

from the General Funds. Heasked Rural DevelopmentPrincipal Secretar yGopalakrishna Dwivedi totake appropriate steps in thatdirection.

Subrahmanyam suggestedto the Water ResourcesDepartment to arrange pay-ment of arrears drawing fundsfrom the Water Grid scheme.The Chief Secretary directedPrincipal Secretary of FinanceDepartment SS Rawat to approve the pending proposals.

Rs 6K cr power dues pending from govt depts

l CM YSJaganmohan Reddysaid despite financialconstraints, hisgovernment wascommitted toimplement thescheme for five years

l From next year,every beneficiary willget Rs 7,500 in May atthe beginning ofKharif sowing season,Rs 4,000 in Octoberfor harvesting Kharifcrop or for Rabineeds. The remainingRs 2,000 will be paidon the occasion ofSankranthi

Village Volunteersremoving our votes:TDP complains to CEOPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The TDP team led by formerminister K Atchannaidu metChief Electoral Officer KVijayanand and complainedthat with the help of VillageVolunteers, the YSRCP isremoving votes of TDP follow-ers. They explained that volun-teers are doing the work ofBLOs (Booth Level Officials)and tampering with voters' list.

They stated in the complaintthat in the name of voter veri-fication programme, votes ofTDP followers were removedby Village Volunteers. They

stated that YSRCP has recruit-ed their party cadre as VillageVolunteers and influencing thevoter verification programme.They quoted the YSRCP MPVIjayasai Reddy's statement inwhich he has mentioned that90% of volunteers are of YSRCPworkers.

Atchannaidu explained tothe CEO that Village Volunteershave taken over the work ofvoter verification from BLOs.They hatched a conspiracy toremove the votes of TDP sup-porters in a systematic manner,he alleged.

Continued on Page 3

Southwestmonsoonwithdrawalcontinues in AP

Class onestudent dies ofheart attackRANCHI: A class one studentdied of a heart attack inJamshedpur on Tuesday, policesaid. According to the police,class one student Vaishnawifell on the ground duringprayer time on Tuesday. Shewas taken to hospital whereshe died during treatment.The doctors said that the girldied due to a heart attack.According to her parents shewas a heart patient and wasundergoing treatment.

The incident took place atShiksha Niketan school ofJamshedpur. "During prayertime a staffer saw the girlfalling on the ground in theclassroom. She was rushed toTata Motors hospital by prin-cipal Sushmita Dey and VicePrincipal Rajani Pandey.

Kerala HCserves noticeto Mohanlal inivory caseKOCHI: The Kerala HighCourt on Tuesday served anotice to superstar Mohanlalon a petition that the per-mission granted to him tokeep elephant tusks shouldbe cancelled.

The Chief Justice SManikumar after hearingthe petition filed by a formerForest Service off icialordered the notice to beserved to the superstar andposted the case for furtherhearing after two weeks. Thecase first surfaced in 2011,following an income tax raidat the superstar's home inKochi, when it came to lightthat he was in possession ofelephant tusks and the Forestdepartment took up the case.

HYDERABAD: Withdrawalline of the South-West mon-soon began covering someparts of Coastal AP and somemore parts of Telangana. Asper IMD, Conditions willbecome favourable for with-drawal of southwest mon-soon from the remaining partsof the country and simultane-ous commencement of north-east monsoon rains oversoutheast India during subse-quent 48 hours. The with-drawal line of SouthwestMonsoon passes throughTuni, Hanamkonda, Bidar,Solapur, Ratnagiri.

In its update on TuesdayIMD said Conditions arebecoming favourable for fur-ther withdrawal of southwestmonsoon from some moreparts of central Bay of Bengal,some more parts of southIndia, remaining parts of westIndia and some more parts ofcentral Arabian Sea duringnext 24 hours.

Continued on Page 3

LV Subrahmanyam said Water ResourcesDepartment owes Rs2,000 crore followed bythe Rural DevelopmentDepartment with Rs 500 cr dues

LV Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary

Forest dept to go online for permitsPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The forest department is plan-ning to set up an online systemfor issuing various permitsregarding disposal of timber andother products. This decision ismade to bring transparency inthe permit system and to clearcorruption allegations againstthe forest staff. The forestdepartment doesn't deal direct-ly with people in many issuesand it only comes into the pic-ture when the people deal withthe timber.

All the permits for selling andtransporting of wood should bepermitted by the forest depart-ment. This process is beingdelayed in many places acrossthe State. Now, the online sys-tem is also expected to bringdown the waiting time for the

people, who are buying, sellingand transporting the wood.

Forest department officialshave to issue permissions forsawmills for buying, importingand transporting the wood.Usually, sawmills apply forForm-2, while Form-4 will beapplied for permits of transport-

ing converted wood within themunicipal limits. Other permis-sion includes cutting of trees liketeak and other trees.

The process of permits isactually taking about 15 days andbeing delayed many a time. Toissue permits there will be oneinspection and two levels of file

processing. Sawmills applyingfor permits will be inspected bythe range officer and the file willbe processed in the range and atthe DFO level. So, the forestdepartment is also expecting thatthe online permits would help toreduce the file processing time.

Principal Chief Conservator ofForests N Prateep Kumar said,"We are planning to bring all thepermits under online system.This will give more transparen-cy and corruption-free permitsfor the people. Our teams arealready studying the online pro-cedure of the commercial depart-ments. Based on the reports, wewill launch the online method.We are also expecting that apply-ing online would speed up theprocess. The Chief Minister hasclearly directed us to makeeverything transparent."

CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy giving cheque to a farmer during the launch of RuthuBharosa scheme in Nellore district on Tuesday

PNS n AMARAVATI

The Andhra Pradesh HighCourt on Tuesday stayed theUnion government's orderto the Government ofAndhra Pradesh directing itto issue Letters of Credit(LoCs) for continuation ofPower PurchaseAgreements reachedby the TDP gov-ernment withcertain compa-nies producingwind and solarpower, accord-ing to sources.

The HighCourt issued thestay order for threeweeks after the EnergyDepartment of the State gov-ernment filed a lunch motionpetition.

The counselfor the APGovernmentargued that itis not possible

to issue theLoCs in view of

the critical finan-cial condition of the

State. The next hearing in thecase wil l be held onNovember 5.

SC to concludehearing onAyodhya today PNS n NEW DELHI

The hearing in Ayodhyatitle dispute case is likely toend on October 16 insteadof October 17, with ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi hint-ing that the argument inthe 70-year-old dispute willcome to an end onWednesday itself.

On the final day of thehearing, the Chief Justicehas allocated initial 45 min-utes to Hindu parties fol-lowed by one hour toMuslim side, and then fourslots of 45 minute each toassorted parties involved inthe matter.

This is then likely to befollowed by moulding ofrelief in the RamJ a n m a b h o o m i - B a b r iMasjid dispute.

ED to quizChidambaram,will arrest ifrequiredPNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court Tuesday allowedthe Enforcement Directorate(ED) to interrogate formerfinance minister PChidambaram in Tihar jailtomorrow, and arrest him ifnecessary, in connection withthe INX Media money laun-dering case. The seniorCongress leader's judicial cus-tody in the INX Media corrup-tion case, which was filed bythe CBI, ends on October 17.Since his arrest on August 21,he has till Tuesday spent 54days in custody — both of theCBI as well as judicial — innine spells.

The court said three EDofficials can interrogateChidambaram on Wednesdayafter 8:30 am and asked the jailsuperintendent to makearrangements in this regard.

BJP maypropose BharatRatna forGodse: D RajaPNS n MUMBAI

Slamming the MaharashtraBJP for mooting BharatRatna award for V DSavarkar, Communist Partyof India general secretary DRaja on Tuesday said theruling party may even pro-pose the honour forMahatma Gandhi's killerNathuram Godse.

The election manifesto ofMaharashtra BJP, released onTuesday said the party will askthe NDA government at theCentre to confer India's high-est civilian award on VinayakDamodar Savarkar, popular-ly known as Veer Savarkar.

N Prateep Kumar

HC stays Centre's orderto AP on PPA LoCs

HC issued the stayorder for threeweeks after theEnergy Departmentof the Stategovernment filed a

lunch motionpetition

Seven K'taka pilgrims die as mini-bus falls into valley

l Selling and transporting ofwood should be permitted bythe forest departmentl This process is beingdelayed in many places acrossthe Statel Now, the online system isexpected to bring down thewaiting time for the people,who are buying, selling andtransporting the wood

VIJAYAWADAWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated October 15, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACMonth & Paksham:Ashwin & Krishna Paksha Tithi : Tritiya: Full NightNakshatram: Bharini: 02:22 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:01 pm – 01:28 pmYamagandam: 07:39 am – 09:07 am

Varjyam: 03:07 am – 04:49 am

Gulika: 10:34 am - 12:01 pmGood Time: (to start any

important work)Amritakalam: 09:12 am – 10:55 amAbhijit Muhurtham: Nil

Forecast: ThunderstormTemp: 31/24Humidity: 81%Sunrise: 06.09Sunset: 05.53

TODAY

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VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2019 vijayawada 02

EGGRATES

` 38, 237 (10 gm)

` 63

GOLD

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HYDERABAD 390VIJAYAWADA 422VISAKHAPATNAM 420RETAIL PPRICE `4.22

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

Lakhs throng Sirimanotsavam PNS n VIZIANAGARAM

Religious fervour marked theannual Sirimanotsavam ofpresiding deity ofVizianagaram town SriPydithalli Ammavaru, thebiggest annual festival innorth Andhra on Tuesday.

Over two lakh devoteesfrom various parts of northcoastal Andhra and neigh-bouring Odisha andChhattisgarh visitedVizianagaram to seek bless-ings of the presiding deity.

As per the schedule, theprocession of Sirimanu wasstarted at 4 pm at ChaduruGudi of Pydithalli and movedslowly towards the fort.

The chief priest of templeBantupalli Venkata Rao wasperched on top of 40 feet highpole (Sirimanu) and paradedfrom the temple to the fortthree times before returningto the temple.

Devotees believe that thepriest is possessed and threwbananas at him. Lakhs ofdevotees, who occupied everyavailable space along the roadand every rooftop in the fortcity, too, stayed put to watchti l l the end ofSirimanotasavam.

Vizianagaram civic bodyauthorities put up public toi-lets near the fort, bus stationand a few other places. Also,the banana skins, which werethrown over the temple andthe priest during the proces-sion, were cleared immediate-ly to keep the road free fromdebris.

In the morning, peopleperformed pujas atPydithallamma temple andsought Her blessings. A spir-itual and philosophical dis-course was also organised toeducate people on the reasonfor worshipping the local

deity. The locals said that thefestival was started in 1757had a sorrowful background.The then Vizianagaram

Maharaja VijayaramaGajapathi Raju's sisterPydimamba committed sui-cide by jumping into the local

tank. She took the extremestep after knowing about herbrother's death in the historicfight at Bobbili fort onJanuary 23, 1757.

Anticipating the outcome ofthe battle, she warned herbrother not to go for warwhen she and other familymembers were ill with plague.Her sudden demise was a bigshock for the family and peo-ple of Vizianagaram. However,she reportedly told Raja's aidePativada Appala Naidu thatshe would protect the town asGoddess Pydimamba. Later,her idol was found in the tankand a temple was constructedin her name. For this reason,all the families connected tothe episode play a key role in'Sirimantosavam' which hasbeen continuing for the past260 years.

The political situation inAndhra Pradesh isslowly, but surely tak-

ing a curious turn with thetwo major political players inthe state making strategicmoves.

While the ruling YSRCongress Party is wary of themachinations of a buoyantBJP that has made no bonesabout its expansion plans byinvolving its national leader-ship, the Telugu DesamParty, after biting the dust inthe elections, is desperatelytrying to regain its loststrength by mending fenceswith the saffron party.

TDP was solely responsi-ble for breaking its ties withBJP in the pre-poll scenarioon the assumption that Modihad lost his charisma. TDPsupremo ChandrababuNaidu projected himself as apowerful coordinator and

guide to all anti-Modi forcesin the country.

The Telugu Desam Party isnow convinced that it can'tface YSR Congress in future,given the present state ofaffairs in AP. That is why itappears to be cozying up tothe saffron party for reestab-lishing friendship and takingit to the 1999 level whenTDP was a crucial support-er of the then NDA govern-ment headed by Atal BehariVajpayee. Therefore, Naiduseems to be exploring alloptions to re-establish a 'reli-able link' with Modi!

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy, on the contrary, isbelieved to be thinking ofways in which BJP's expan-sion plans can be thwarted inAndhra. Jagan has beeninteracting with leaders ofvarious constituencies with a

view to streamlining theparty's organizational set-up. As part of the exercise, hemay have to rub BJP on thewrong side due to variousreasons.

For instance, prominentpol it ical coupleD.Puradheswari and DrD.Venkateswara Rao (daugh-

ter and son-in-law ofNTR) contested thegeneral e lect ion onbehalf of two separate par-ties. Purandeswari contest-ed on BJP ticket from theVisakhapatnam LS seat andVenkateswara Rao was inthe fray on YSRC ticket fromthe Parchur Assembly seat in

Prakasam district. Bothlost in the elections. While the husband

remained calm thereafter,the wife has been activelyparticipating in BJP pro-grammes. She is behind nonein criticising Jagan's gov-ernment and its 'anti-peoplepolicies'. She entered politics

in 2004 and successfully con-tested the Lok Sabha elec-tions on Congress ticket fortwo consecutive terms andbecame Union minister atthe behest of the thenCongress president SoniaGandhi. She and her hus-band chose different partiesto continue their politicaljourney after having servedthe Congress.

Purandeswari has beengiven a nominated post atthe national level (Director,Air India) by the Modi gov-ernment and she is workingfor her better future in BJP.The Bharatiya Janata Partyhas targeted the YSRC gov-ernment as it wants to cashin on the growing populari-ty of the Modi governmentwith regard to abrogation ofArticle 370 in J&K.

BJP has sketched plans forpossible expansion in AP by

highlighting Modi govern-ment's welfare schemes andpitting the YSRC governmentas an obstacle to progress.

In these circumstances,YSRC leadership reportedlyasked the couple to be in"one party" , implyingPuradheswari should joinYSRC. This development hasraised many quest ionsamong the cadres of bothparties: With what intentionthe leadership of YSRC has'specified' like that? Whatwould be the fate of 'hiddenfriendship' that has contin-ued till now? Is the YSRCPleadership preparing to set-tle scores with BJP? Is it real-ly possible for YSRC in itspresent politically precariousand sensitive condition, con-sidering Chief Minister JaganReddy is facing serious casesof economic offences beingprobed by central investigat-

ing agencies like CBI & ED? Interest ingly, s imilar

attempts made by YSRC werethwarted by the central lead-ership of BJP in the pre- elec-tion scenario. The presentpresident of BJP AP unitand former minister KannaLakshminarayana had madeall arrangements to joinYSRC then. BJP central lead-ership, however, asked YSRCnot to admit its leaders. Itwas a big shock, yet YSRCconceded. Now, a similarsituation prevails followingJagan's move to br ingPurandeswari into YSRCwith specific assurancesregarding their son's politi-cal future! YSRC feels thatorganisational strength isessential for retaining powerin 2024. Hence, the rulingparty has to gingerly curtailthe attempts of BJP toexpand its base in AP.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has targetedthe YSRC government as it wants to cashin on the growing popularity of the Modigovernment with regard to abrogation ofArticle 370 in J&K. BJP has sketchedplans for possible expansion in AP byhighlighting Modi government's welfareschemes and pitting the YSRCgovernment as an obstacle toprogress

Jagan's bid to thwart BJP's expansion in AP dicey

PINPOINT

A sea of humanity at Sirimanotsavam in Vizianagaram on Tuesday. Minister forMunicipal Administration Botsa Satyanarayana carrying silk clothes to offer to Goddess Pydithalli, along with his wife Botsa Jhansilakshmi

u Locals said that thefestival was started in1757 had a sorrowfulbackground. The thenVizianagaram MaharajaVijayarama GajapathiRaju's sister Pydimambacommitted suicide byjumping into the localtank. She took theextreme step afterknowing about herbrother's death in thehistoric fight at Bobbili forton January 23, 1757u Later, her idol was found in the tank and a temple wasconstructed in her name. For this reason, all the familiesconnected to the episode play a key role in 'Sirimantosavam'which has been continuing for the past 260 years

u The chief priest of templeBantupalli Venkata Rao wasperched on top of 40 feet highpole (Sirimanu) and paraded fromthe temple to the fort three timesbefore returning to the temple

u In the morning, peopleperformed pujas atPydithallamma temple and soughtHer blessings

u However, she reportedly toldRaja's aide Pativada Appala Naiduthat she would protect the townas Goddess Pydimamba

Revive licensing system for passenger boat drivers PNSn KAKINADA

The Godavari Launch WorkersUnion under the aegis of AITUCdemanded the state port author-ities for immediate issuance ofdriving licence to passenger boatdrivers and helpers, who havebeen associated with ferrying ofpassengers in water ways in thedistrict.

The issue of licence to the boatdrivers, who are engaged in car-rying of passages in water ways,attained significance after theKuchhuluru tourism boatmishap, in which 64 tourists losttheir lives and 12 others, wentmissing in the incident atKuchhuluru in Devipatnammandal of East Godavari onSeptember 15.

The representatives ofGodavari Launch WorkersUnion alleged that because ofnon-issuance of licences on aseniority basis, those whole haveno proper licence were appoint-ed as drivers of passenger car-riers resulting in tragedy such asthe tourist boat incident in theRiver Godavari.

They disclosed that the licens-ing system, which was under irri-gation department, has beentransferred to AP State PortAuthorities in 2018. Port author-ities since then not issued anylicences. Representatives allegedthat this has affected the liveli-

hood of 250 families, whodepended on boats driving andas helpers for several years.

When contacted, KakinadaState Port Officer CaptainAdinarayana said that the licens-ing authority has been trans-ferred to the port departmentform irrigation department in2018.

The port officer said that hetook charge as the port officerrecently after the boat mishap inthe River Godavari in September.

The officer said that he hasbeen travelling to various ferriesin the district where the passen-ger boats are in operation rightfrom Narasapuram to severalother places in East Godavari.Meanwhile, "We approached AllIndia Institute of Inland WaterManagement in Patna andsought their services to train thedrivers at SIFT in Kakinada."

"Soon the training for driverswill be started in association withSIFTS (State Institute of FisheriesTechnology) and we will issuethe certificates for drivers onmerit," Captain Adinarayanasaid.

n The issue of licence to theboat drivers, who are engagedin carrying of passages inwater ways, attainedsignificance after the tourismboat mishap, in which 64tourists lost their lives and 12others, went missing in theincident at Kuchhuluru inDevipatnam mandal of EastGodavari on September 15

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Mosquito bite leading to deathdue to dengue fever cannot beconstrued as an accidentaldeath, opined DisputesRedressal Forum-I in Vizag,which dismissed that acciden-tal insurance claim (accidentaldeath benefit) of a deceased'swife.

According to reports, RahulAnand had obtained a LifeInsurance policy from state-run Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) for Rs 10lakh with a premium of Rs14,825 per year on July 23,2016. Anand's wife Puja is anominee of the policy, they canclaim the maturity benefitsfrom LIC in 2037.

The 27-year-old widowPuja, a resident of Chinawaltairin Vizag city, has filed a uniquecase in the Consumer Forum.Puja in her petition men-tioned that her husbandRahul Anand was admittedto a private hospital inVizag, he was diag-nosed withdengue andbreathed his

last due to cardio-respiratoryarrest on September 19, 2018.

When she approached theinsurance firm with all thedocuments, the insurance firmhad paid Rs 13.5 lakh to Pujaon January 1, 2019, towards theeligible death benefit under thepolicy. The insurance firmrefused to pay the accidentalclaim citing that death due todengue fever cannot be treat-ed as an accidental death.

However, she has filed apetition in the ConsumerForum against LIC underSection-12 of ConsumerProtection Act seeking theforum to direct the insurancefirm to pay the accidentaldeath claim of Rs 10 lakhunder the policy and to pay Rs

50,000 towardscompensationfor rejecting herclaim and Rs

10,000 towardslegal expenses of

the litigation.In her com-p l a i n t

againstLIC,

she mentioned that as such,being bitten by a mosquito isan unforeseen eventuality andshould be regarded as an acci-dent.

The insurance firm hasrejected her claim saying thatdengue death can't be treatedas accidental as per the as perClause No 11 of the policybond, wherein it is clearlymentioned about the defini-tion of accident such as "anaccident is a sudden, unfore-seen and involuntary eventcaused by external, violentand visible means".

So, dengue fever does notsatisfy the features and thefever is not visible means.Therefore, the dengue feverdoes not come under accidentas per the accidental clausementioned in the policy bonditself. The forum led by presi-dent D Leelavathi and memberKVR Maheswari opined thatdeath due to dengue fevercan't be treated as an acciden-tal death so that there is nodeficiency of service on thepart of the insurance firm. Theforum dismissed the com-plaint.

Death resulting from mosquito bite not accidental: Consumer Forum

New device shows promise in Type 2 diabetes treatmentIANS n LONDON

Researchers have found that anewly tested medical device,called 'Sleeveballoon', mimicsthe effects of traditionalbariatric surgery in rodentsand produces impressiveresults on body weight, fattyliver and diabetes control.

Sleeveballoon is a devicethat combines a balloon witha connected sleeve, which cov-ers the initial parts of thesmall intestine. It is insertedinto the stomach and bowelduring minimally invasivesurgery under general anaes-thetic.

For the study, published inthe journal EBioMedicine,researchers compared theeffects of the Sleeveballoonand traditional bariatricsurgery on 30 rodents fed witha high-fat diet, achieving verysimilar results.

Results were also comparedto rats, with the new devicereducing food intake by 60 percent and resulting in a 57 percent reduction in fat mass.

The effect on diabetes wassimilarly impressive with blood

glucose levels dropping by 65per cent.

"Gastric bypass surgery is ahighly effective treatment ofobesity and type 2 diabetes.However, very few eligiblepatients, only around one percent, are offered surgery andsome also prefer less invasiveapproaches," said study's leadauthor Geltrude Mingrone,Professor at King's CollegeLondon.

During the study, the

research team found that themetabolic effects of theSleeveballoon device are sim-ilar to those of the gastricbypass but have distinct advan-tages over the traditionalmethod.

In both, insulin sensitivityand heart functions improved.

"However, while gastricbypass causes a rapid rise inpost food blood glucose levelswhich can cause hypogly-caemia, the Sleeveballoon

induces a slowing down ofdigestion which has a steady-ing effect on blood sugar lev-els," Mingrone said.

"This helps control appetiteand hunger, keeping the personfuller for longer and substan-tially reduces weight," headded.

n For the study, publishedin the journal EBioMedicine,researchers compared theeffects of the Sleeveballoonand traditional bariatricsurgery on 30 rodents fedwith a high-fat diet,achieving very similarresults.

n Results were alsocompared to rats, with thenew device reducing foodintake by 60 per cent andresulting in a 57 per centreduction in fat mass.

n The effect on diabeteswas similarly impressivewith blood glucose levelsdropping by 65 per cent

Special dailytrain for ArakuPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In order to clear extra rush oftourists to Araku, East CoastRailway will run specialexpress trains betweenVisakhapatnam and Arakufrom October 16 toDecember end as it is gettinggood patronisation.

The special express trainwill leave Visakhapatnam at08.10 am and reach Araku at11.30 am on the same day.

In return direction, thetrain will leave Araku at 2.30pm and reachVisakhapatnam on the sameday at 6 pm. This pair oftrains will stop atSimhachalam, Kottavalasa, SKota and Borraguhalubetween Visakhapatnam andAraku.The train comprisesone third coach, one sleepercoach, eight general secondclass and two second classcum luggage coaches.

SCR to run Diwali, winter, specials PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In order to clear extra rush ofpassengers during Diwali andwinter season, the SouthCentral Railway will run 19 spe-cial trains between Kakinadatown and Tirupati; Kakinadatown - Secunderabad andVillupuram - Secunderabad.

Train No. 07210 KakinadaTown - Tirupati Special Trainwill depart Kakinada Town at21:00 hrs on October 26 andarrive in Tirupati at 08.20 hrsnext day.

In the return direction, Train

No. 07209 Tirupati - Kakinadatown special train will departTirupati at 19:30 hrs onOctober 27 and arrive inKakinada town at 07:30 hrsnext day. En route, these specialtrains will stop at Samalkot,Dwarapudi, Rajahmundry,Nidadavolu, Tanuku,Bhimavaram town, Kaikaluru,Gudivada, Vijayawada, Tenali,Chirala, Ongole, Nellore,Gudur, and Renigunta stationsin both directions.

These special trains consist ofAC II Tier, AC III Tier andsleeper class coaches.

Restore milk supplyto Anganwadis,says ForumPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Child Rights ProtectionForum State president DrGondu Sitaram and otherForum members, who visit-ed Anganwadi at Isukathota,were surprised to find non-availability of milk to the chil-dren. Sitaram said milk sup-ply and Bala Sanjiveenischeme were vital for theimprovement of nutritionallevel in kids.

"This will affect 1.85 lakhchildren of less than six yearsof age and 53,000 pregnantwomen in the district,"Sitaram told reporters hereon Tuesday.

He further stated that non-availability of milk has beenhappening quite frequently,but contractors are beingblamed in this regard. Theactivist demanded immediaterestoration of milk supply toall Anganwadi centres in thedistrict. Another activist andneuro surgeon Dr B RameshBabu said milk plays animportant role in mainte-nance of balanced diet as itcontains milk proteins, iron,zinc, vitamin A and vitaminB12 and minerals. Milk playsvital role in the proteinmetabolism of body and richsource of vitamin D. It willalso boost the immune statusof children, he added.

State committee membersof CRPF B Skunthala, BLaxman Reddy and Sekharwere present.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2019 vijayawada 03

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60-YEAR-OLD HELDFOR IMPREGNATINGMINOR GIRLVijayawada: Police arrested asixty-year-old man here onTuesday for luring a minor girland making her pregnant.According to police, a minor girlwas living at NewRajarajeswaripeta with herparents. The 60-year-old person,who was living near her house,befriended the minor girl, byoffering gifts and money and hada sexual relationship. Accordingto Ajit Singh Nagar police, whenthe girl fell ill her father took herto a hospital where she wasfound pregnant. Parents came toknow about the elderly man andlodged a complaint with police.Based on the complaint, policearrested the accused byregistering a case and shifted theminor to the government hospitalfor medical tests.

GIRL ATTEMPTSSUICIDE AT IIT-ONGOLEVijayawada: Lahari, who isstudying at IIIT, Ongole campus,made a bid to commit suicide onTuesday. She hails from Krishnadistrict and studying first yearIIT. After coming to the campusfor holidays, she jumped fromthe college building. She isundergoing treatment at thegovernment hospital and hercondition is stated to stable,according to doctors. Laharipurportedly left a suicide note inwhich she stated that she iscommitting suicide due to ill-health. She said sorry to herparents in the letter andrequested her sister and brotherto study well and take care ofparents.

JUNIOR ASSISTANTIN ACB NETVijayawada: Junior Assistant ofVMC was caught by the ACB atCircle-3 Municipal CorporationOffice on Tuesday. PonnapallySurya Bhagavan is working as ajunior assistant in revenuesection at AssistantCommissioner Office of Circle-3,Patamata. K Sailaja approachedhim for the mutation of threeflats in her name, in the place ofher father's name, submittingthe support documents,including tax receipts. But, theJunior Assistant has demandedher Rs 9,000 bribe. Thecomplainant complained againstthe junior assistant. Then, theACB laid a trap and asked her tomeet him with currency notes,which were laced withchemicals. Surya Bhagwan hasreceived the amount and kept itin the desk. ACB sleuths raidedand caught the accused red-handed. They recoveredcurrency notes from the deskand tested chemically. Aftergetting confirmation, theyregistered a case against thejunior assistant.

DGP Gautam Sawang in a cheerful mood at an exhibition of weapons of the Police Department under Open Houseprogramme organised in Vijayawada on Tuesday ahead of Commemoration Week

HIGH FFIVE AAMID SSOLEMNITY

Corporate hospitals fleecing patientsG RAVI KIRANn VIJAYAWADA

Of late, treatment has become socostly, the poor, lower middleclass and middle class are unableto afford treatment at private andcorporate hospitals.

Adding insult to injury, cor-porate hospitals are charging in-patients heavily in the name ofmedicines. A social activist dis-closed margins of medicinesbeing sold by corporate hospitals'in-house medical shops. TheDrug Control Authority turneda Nelson's eye towards irregular-ities, Prajarogya Vedika hasalleged.

Corporate hospitals startfleecing patients the momentthey are admitted to an ICU.Initially, they will ask for adeposit of at least Rs 50,000.After eight hours, a call will comefrom the billing section to theattendant of that patient. Theywill say "Sir, your deposit wasover. You have to pay more. Now,you pay Rs 50,000 more, if youdon't have, at least pay Rs 30,000and then tomorrow pay thebalance."

The attendant will be sur-prised and will ask for the clar-ification of the billing, then ser-vice charges of the hospital,room charge all will be less, butthe major amount will be for

medicines. With no way, theattendant will pay the amount.This is the routine experience ofanybody, who goes to the corpo-rate hospital in an emergencycondition.

In the recent past inVijayawada, a dengue patientwas admitted to a private hospi-tal. After one week, the patientdied. Till then, relatives of thepatient have paid Rs 3 lakh. But,the management of the hospitalhas given Rs 7 lakh bill to themand demanded that they pay thebalance of Rs 4 lakh. How comeanybody expects Rs 7 lakh billfor a dengue patient's treat-

ment? Nallamotu Sreedhar, atechnical expert and socialactivist, exposed the margin ofmedicines being sold by corpo-rate hospitals.

He posted details on hisFacebook wall. He explained dif-ference between medicine beingsold at corporate hospitals andthe same medicine (composi-tion) of other company beingsold at medical shops outsidecorporate hospitals.

He mentioned in that postabout Creatine 700T's actualcost as Rs 2,051, but it was beingsold for Rs 28,416 at a corporatehospital. He has given almost 484

medicines list with details ofcosts being charged by corporatehospitals and druggists outside.He demanded that the vigi-lance department and drug con-trol monitor medicines' sale atcorporate hospitals.

Dr Ramanaiah, Convenor,Prajarogya Vedika, said: "Thispractice is going on in all corpo-rate hospitals. The same compo-sition with different names willbe available at corporate hospi-tals for high prices and outsidedrug dealers at a cheaper price.A drug used for post transplantpatients will be charged at cor-porate hospital for five times the

actual cost. It's true. Anybodycan check. But, nobody is focus-ing on this issue.

When a patient was admittedto a corporate hospital for anemergency treatment, familymembers of the former cannotquestion, they will ponder aboutthe safety of the patient only notabout money. Only the DrugControl Authority and the gov-ernment can control looting inthe name of medicines by cor-porate hospitals".

n Charging hefty price formedicines

n Nallamotu Sreedhar, atechnical expert and socialactivist, exposed the marginof medicines being sold bycorporate hospitals

n He posted details on hisFacebook wall. He explaineddifference between medicinebeing sold at corporatehospitals and the samemedicine (composition) ofother company being sold atmedical shops outsidecorporate hospitals

Dr Ramanaiah,Convenor,Prajarogya Vedika,said: "Thispractice is goingon in all corporatehospitals. Thesame compositionwith differentnames will beavailable atcorporatehospitals for highprices and outsidedrug dealers at acheaper price

Village Volunteersremoving ourvotes: TDPcomplains to CEOContinued from Page 1

TDP leaders alleged thatthe State government hasskipped the process of givinga schedule for voter enrol-ment and verification afterconducting an all-party meet-ing with an intention toremove TDP voters. "Werequest you to restore oldelectoral process duly exclud-ing the role of Village/WardVolunteers".

Atchannaidu stated"Earlier, before Assemblyelections, the YSRCP hadtried to remove many votesand were restored with ouralertness. Now again, beforeMunicipal and Panchayatelections, they planned toremove the votes of TDPsupporters

Farmersthank CM for‘Bharosa'

Continued from Page 1

Students, weavers, farmers,women and all sections ofpeople were given the oppor-tunity to speak in most of thefunctions and meetingsaddressed by YS JaganmohanReddy. It was YSRCP, whichwas the first political party, toshow audio visual clippings inpress conferences and publicmeetings to effectivelycounter the opponents andnails their lies.

Agriculture Minister KKanna Babu said it was thelaunch of Village Secretariats,which has given a hope toYuvajana (youth) followedby Kanti Velugu to Shramika(auto, taxi and maxi cab dri-vers) and Rythu (farmers)welfare that has been lookedafter by the government andall this happened in just onemonth's time, he said.

Southwestmonsoonwithdrawalcontinues in TSContinued from Page 1

South West Monsoon hasbeen weak over Telanganaand, IMD predicts Light tomoderate rain or thundershowers at a few places overTS. However, IMD issuedheavy rainfall warning withThunderstorm accompaniedwith at isolated places overSouth TS for Tuesday. Mainlylow level Easterly winds pre-vail over the state. ForHyderabad, IMD predictsRain or thundershowerstowards evening or night overthe next four days.

For Andhra Pradesh, IMDissued Heavy rain warningwith Thunderstorm and light-ning at isolated places in thedistricts of Krishna,Guntur,Prakasham and Nellor OFCoastal Andhra Pradesh andin all districts of Rayalaseema..

US Consul General launches ‘Safe Village' prog PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Hundreds of people haveenrolled as volunteers andRakshaks (protectors) for the'Safe Village' programme'launched at Sabbavaram nearKakinada in East Godavaridistrict by Joel Reifman, ConsulGeneral, US Consulate General,Hyderabad.

Sponsored by the USConsulate General, Hyderabad,the programme is being man-aged by My ChoicesFoundation. It is a holistic ini-tiative aimed at sensitizing 'at-risk' community membersabout human trafficking, itscauses and risk factors, creatingawareness about ways to pre-vent trafficking from happen-ing, sustaining the awarenessand conducting vulnerability-reduction workshops. To runthe programme, 'OperationRed Alert' - a division partnerof My Choices Foundation,has partnered with local NGOsthat work on issues of women

and trafficking, trains themon Safe Village programme, andappoints them as official'Implementing Partners'. Theseimplementing partners con-duct Safe Village programmesunder the management of'Operation Red Alert'. Only thestaff trained by 'Operation RedAlert' are eligible to conduct theprogrammes.

There are three stages in a

Safe Village programme: Pre-visit, two days Safe Village pro-gramme and the follow-up. As

a part of the pre-visit, volun-teers visit the targeted villagesand collect data to confirm the

vulnerability and traffickingrisk and get a deeper assess-ment of the issue. Volunteersthen discuss the issue with theauthorities, including sarpanchand NGOs, seeking their part-nership in the programme.Other partners in this missionare school headmasters,Anganwadi workers and ASHAworkers. After obtaining theconsensus and assurance fromstake-holders, the 'OperationRed Alert' designs the pro-gramme schedule for a partic-ular village. During this inten-sive programme, volunteersspeak about the signs of poten-tial traffickers, potential vulner-able people and the strategiestraffickers adopt to lure inno-cent people.

During the course of the pro-gramme, volunteers distributefliers and material among themasses with emergency phonenumbers to alert the policewhen they suspect any traffick-ing activity, child abuse orchild marriage in the village.

Expedite constructionof houses for poor,says Chief Secretary PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Secretary LVSubrahmanyam has calledupon officials to expedite con-struction of houses sanctionedunder rural and urban hous-ing schemes.

Addressing a meeting ofofficials at the Secretariat onTuesday, he asked officials tomake use of services of thestaff at Village/WardSecretariats in completing thework. About 25 lakh shelter-less poor should be able to gethouses by March next year, hesaid.

The Chief Secretary saidsteps should be taken to ensurethat individual houses arebuilt in 40 days and multi-storeyed apartments in 150days. The houses should bebuilt with the funds releasedby the Central and State gov-ernments. The beneficiariescan raise loans by mortgagingthe pattas allotted to them, tobanks.

The houses should be builtin time and the loans shouldbe paid promptly, the Chief

Secretary said and added thatby doing so the beneficiariescan cultivate the habit of sav-ing, thereby achieving eco-nomic stability.

Principal Secretary ofHousing Ajay Jain said six lakhhouses are being built underthe PMAY by various urbanlocal bodies and urban devel-opment authorities in theState.

Earlier, APITIDCO MDDiwan Moideen made aPowerPoint presentation onagendas. MunicipalAdministration SecretarySyamala Rao, Andhra BankDGM Nancharaiah, CCLASecretary Chakravarthy andothers were present.

Action plan for utilisationof Rs 1,750 cr Campa funds PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The forest department hasprepared an action plan forutilisation of funds ofCompensatory AfforestationFund Management andPlanning Authority (Campa).Principal Chief Conservator ofForests N Prateep Kumarinformed that there are aboutRs 1,750 crore under Campafor Andhra Pradesh.

Prateep Kumar visitedKambalakonda in Vizag onTuesday, along with ChiefConservator of Forests RahulPandey and other officials.Speaking to media persons, hesaid, "The State has about Rs1,750 crore under Campafunds. We have created anaction plan for works aroundRs 323 crore. Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy haspromised that there will be agreen channel budget forCampa that can be used at anytime."

He also said the ChiefMinister also agreed to equipnew vehicles for the staff andother welfare activities forwhich Rs 40 crore were alreadysanctioned for the same.

He said there were about 56per cent vacancies in thedepartment and requested the

Chief Minister for filling atleast 50 per cent vacancies. Hehas directed to fill all thevacancies.

Similarly, plantations willbe taken up across the State to

have 33 per cent green cover.Other departments are alsobeing asked to take up planta-tion activities on a large scale.

Responding on the wildlifeprotection, the PCCF said,"We will take special mea-sures for the protection of thewildlife.

We have one of the biggesttiger reserves in the country.Protection of tigers will be ourprime agenda. The ChiefMinister has ordered us todevelop eco-tourism in theState. We already have about 29ecotourism projects in theState. Strengthening the exist-ing ones, we will bring newprojects."

Chief Minister YSJaganmohanReddy haspromised that therewill be a greenchannel budget forCampa that can beused at any time

ATM offender held, Rs 5.46 lakh recoveredPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Gannavaram police arrestedATM offender Ch Suresh forcheating women and seniorcitizens at ATMs. The modusoperandi of Suresh was tocheat women and senior cit-izens, who find it difficult towithdraw money from theATM machine. Police recov-ered Rs 5.46 lakh from hispossession.

The accused was producedbefore the media on Tuesdayby DCP Harshavardhan, ACPSurendranath Reddy and CISrinivas Rao.

Suresh was arrested when awoman (building workers

contractor) filed a cheatingcase against Suresh for cheat-ing her when she visited SBIATM at cinema hall centre atGannavaram to draw money.

Suresh cheated her by say-ing that he would help her indrawing money from theATM machine and later said

that the ATM machine wasnot functioning. In the mean-time, he changed the ATMcard and returned anotherATM card to the woman.Later, Suresh withdrew Rs71,000 from her account.

Suresh is the native ofAnaparthi in East Godavari

district and relocated toKrishnalanka, Vijayawada in2003. He worked as a securi-ty guard, as he was addictedto liquor and other bad habits,he started earning money bycheating people.

Cases were registeredagainst Suresh in 2017 atGuntur III Town PoliceStation, Vijayawada GRPPolice Station, in 2018, threecases were registered atKrishnalakna Police Stationand was sent to prison. Aftercoming out, he was involvedin 16 cases in Gannavaram,Hanuman Junction,Gudivada, Nuzvid andAgaripalli areas.

Cases were registered against Suresh in 2017at Guntur III Town Police Station, VijayawadaGRP Police Station, in 2018, three cases wereregistered at Krishnalakna Police Station and was sent to prison

AU to introduce bar coding system PNSn VISAKHAPATNAM

Andhra University Vice-Chancellor Prof PVGD PrasadReddy said the university willintroduce bar coding system inthe upcoming semester examsfrom October 17.

In a press release issued hereon Tuesday, Prof Reddy askedstudents to attend the exams ina stress-free manner. The resultsshould reflect the potential andtalent of the varsity students. Theintroduction of the optical markrecognition (OMR) sheet-based

exam system is aimed atautomating the evaluationprocess. Currently, scores of astudent are totalled and enteredmanually into the computer sys-tems. Under the new system, themarks for each question areawarded in an OMR sheet. Later,the OMR sheets will be sent forthe machine valuation withoutany human intervention. Thiswill help release the results in avery short span, said Prof Reddy.

On the other hand, membersof the Singapore BusinessFederation visited the varsity

on Tuesday. Prof Reddy chaireda meeting and asked them toextend their technology to train

the youth in the State. They dis-cussed about providing AndhraUniversity students internships inSingapore and launching jointcourses in genetic engineeringand mechatronics. The Vice-Chancellor also asked them towork on Uddanam kidney dis-ease issue in Srikakulam.

"We will invite faculties work-ing in Singaporean varsities asdistinguished professors toAndhra University," said ProfReddy. The visitors wereimpressed with the Fine Artsdepartment.

Month-longfree eye campfrom todayPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Amaravati Eye Hospital andDrusya Opticals will organisea month-long free eye campfrom October 16 to November15, according to city-basedophthalmologist Dr Nadella.

Addressing a press confer-ence at Gayatrinagar here onTuesday, Dr Nadella calledupon the people to make useof the opportunity.

Dr Nadella said the healthcamp is being organised tomark the inauguration of thenew branch of Amaravati EyeHospital at Gayatrinagar andas a part of the social serviceactivity of the DrusyaOpticals.

Prominent ophthalmolo-gists in the city will examinethe patients. Cataract andLasik & ICL surgeries will alsobe performed free of costduring the camp. Patients canmake use of the opportunitybetween 10 am and 8 pm onall working days during thecamp. For more details,patients can contact phoneNos. 0866 2491458 or 08662491459.

Joel Reifman, Consul General, US Consulate General, Hyderabad, launches ‘Safe Village' programme' at Sabbavaram nearKakinada in East Godavari district on Tuesday

Sponsored by the US Consulate General,Hyderabad, the programme is being managed byMy Choices Foundation. It is a holistic initiativeaimed at sensitizing 'at-risk' community membersabout human trafficking

PNSn HYDERABAD

IT and MA&UD MinisterKTR held a video conferencewith District Collectors fromthe Secretariat here onTuesday. During the videoconference, the Ministerdirected the Collectors to comeup with a comprehensive san-itation plan, green action planand a water usage plan withinone week for all newMunicipalities. Minister askedthe Collectors to provide infor-mation about the process ofcollection of waste material,recycling, etc in the plan.

Minister stated that therecently held 30-day actionplan gave positive results in thegram panchayats. He said thatsimilar plans should be intro-duced in the municipalities forimproving sanitation. Likegram panchayat workers, themunicipal staff should also beprovided with insurance facil-ities, said Minister KTR.

Minister instructed the

Collectors to identify loca-tions for dump yards, FaecalSludge Treatment Plants, com-posting centers, dry resourcecollection centers, and sewagetreatment plants in the newmunicipalities. He also askedthe Collectors to ensure thereplacement of streetlights

with LEDs in the new munic-ipalities and also identify sitesto develop urban lung spaces.

Keeping in mind theincreasing population in themunicipalities, the Ministerasked the Collectors to increasethe number of public toiletsand She toilets. Minister stat-ed that the government hasalready provided Swatch autosfor collection of garbage fromdoor to door. He asked the col-lectors to increase the staff andvehicles MA&UD PrincipalSecretary Arvind Kumar,CDMA Director TK Sridevi,and HMWSSB MD DanaKishore participated.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2019 vijayawada 04

CAPSULE

HYDERABAD TO HOST‘GLOBAL EDUFEST'TOMORROWHyderabad: The Institute ofManagement & Foreign Studies(IMFS) will be hosting the first-of-its-kind 'Global Edu-Fest' forstudents wanting to pursue variouseducational programmes at foreignuniversities. The one-dayprogramme to be attended by 70Universities from 8 countries willbe held at Hotel Marigold onThursday, October 17th. TheGlobal EduFest will be inauguratedby Dr D N Rao, Chairman, VNRVigyan Jothi Educational Trust.Dileep Konatham, Director, DigitalMedia, Govt of Telangana andPVRK Murthy, Chairman, GayatriEducation Institutions will attendthe inauguration as 'Guests ofHonour'. Global EduFest is aneducation fair that is beingorganised for the seventh year in arow by IMFS, India's leadingOverseas Education Consultancy.Global Edufest brings on to oneplatform all the stakeholdes in thevertical 'Study Abroad' viz,students, universities, financialinstitutions, agencies like BritishCouncil which hold thestandardised tests like IELTS etc.Representatives of the USConsulate and Education USA toowill be present and a informationsession on Study in USA and alsoabout the US Visa process will beconducted by them. Universityrepresentatives will hold seminarson various topics of interest to thevisiting students.

‘TikTok effective platform for govt campaigns'PNS n HYDERABAD

TikTok App can be an effec-tive social media platform forvarious government outreachcampaigns and initiatives. A'Training Workshop onTikTok' was held forGovernment PROs in associ-ation with Digital Mediawing of the ITE&CDepartment, Government ofTelangana.

Talking at the session,Nitin Saluja, Director ofPublic Policy, TikTok India,said, "Success of social cam-paigns such as #CleanIndia#Skills4all and #Edutok aretestimony to the fact thatcontent platforms such asTikTok have the potential tosuccessfully engage users tospread awareness on varioussocial issues. Through thesecampaigns, TikTok has takena step towards contributing tosocietal good and empower-ing citizens through thepower of its technology."

Detailing on the utility, safe-ty, security and the in-appgrievance redressal mecha-

nisms that the platform offers,Saluja stated that the App has200 million users in India.

TikTok has carried out sever-al online and offline cam-paigns on the effective and safe

usage of the App; strengthenedit with 13 Industry leadingsafety features.

Director, Digital MediaDileep Konatham has in hisinitial remarks explained howthe Telangana Governmenthas been utilising socialmedia platforms to connectwith citizens and engagethem for the dissemination ofinformation.

"ITE&C Department hasbeen hosting trainings, work-

shops and awareness pro-grammes for the Governmentofficials, staff and otherstakeholders on varioussocia l media plat formsincluding Facebook, Google,Twitter, ShareChat. Off late,TikTok has become popularamong the social mediausers, and hence Governmentwanted to conduct a sessionon its proper and effectiveusage. Government entitiesshould find ways to preparecontent for these platforms aslakhs of citizens are presentthere. Local bodies, PublicUtilities, Departments likePolice and those implement-ing flagship programmes likeHaritha Haram are immedi-ate candidates for TikTokusage," he opined.

Chief Minister 's PRORamesh Hazari, RachakondaPolice Commissioner PRODayakar, Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner PRO KiranKumar, Telangana DGP PROHarsha Bhargavi and PROsfrom Tourism Dept., ForestDept., GHMC and HMWSSBhave attended the Workshop.

Nitin Saluja, Director of Public Policy, TikTok India,said, "Success of social campaigns such as#CleanIndia #Skills4all and #Edutok are testimonyto the fact that content platforms such as TikTokhave the potential to successfully engage users tospread awareness on various social issues

Cong issues ultimatum to govt‘RESOLVE RTC STRIKE BY OCT 19’

PNSn HYDERABAD

The Congress has set October19 as the deadline for ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao to resolve the RTC strikeissue. Else, the Congress lead-ers warned that they would laysiege to CM's official residencePragathi Bhavan on October 21.This was announced in a jointpress conference at GandhiBhavan on Tuesday by TPCCworking president and MP ARevanth Reddy, formerMinister and ex-Leader ofOpposition in TelanganaLegislative Council MohammedAli Shabbir, ex-Deputy CMDamodar Rajanarasimha andother leaders.

Revanth Reddy alleged thatthe provocative statements ofChief Minister and hisMinisters drove many RTCemployees to suicide and theyfailed to find a solution despitethe strike entering 11th day onTuesday. He said the ChiefMinister was more sympathet-ic to the dog of Pragathi Bhavanthan the common people.

He said that a serious casethat might result in five yearsimprisonment was bookedagainst a veterinary doctor fol-lowing death of CM's dog.However, no action was takenwhen RTC employees com-mitted suicide followingMinisters' provocative state-ments.

He said Ministers ErrabelliDayakara Rao and TalasaniSrininvas Yadav should be

booked under Section 306. Hedescribed the suicide by RTCemployees as institutional mur-ders. Former Minister ShabbirAli alleged that TRS leaderswere giving contradictory andconfusing statements on theRTC employees strike.

He said that at one sideChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has beeninsisting that more than 48,000RTC employees were 'self-dimissed' and they were nomore part of the corporation.On the other side, TRSMinisters and TRS SecretaryGeneral K Keshava Rao are giv-

ing statements appealing RTCworkers to call of the strike. "Ifthe Chief Minister is correct andover 48,000 employees are 'selfdismissed', then to whomMinisters and TRS MP areappealing to call off the strikeand talk with the government,"he said.

Shabbir Ali urged CM andother TRS leaders to stop giv-ing contradictory statements tocreate confusion among people,especially the employees.Keshava Rao apparently offeredto mediate the talks while thefact is he himself has no accessto the Chief Minister and latter

is not willing to talk with any-one on the issue, he said.

The Congress leader saidthat the TRS government wasnot only playing with the livesof thousands of RTC employees,but also with the lives of com-mon people. Those not capableof riding a motor-cycle werebeing allowed to drive RTCbuses. Consequently, there hasbeen a rise in number of busaccidents and more than 15people got injured in differentaccidents so far. By deployinginexperienced drivers, CM KCRhas turned all roads prone toaccidents. Shabbir Ali said thatthe Congress party has beensupporting the RTC employeesfrom day one onwards and thesupport would continue tilltheir problems are resolved.He said although TPCCPresident Uttam Kumar Reddywas busy in campaign forHuzurnagar bye-elections,other Congress leaders havebeen supporting the protest byRTC employees across the State.

He appealed to the people tosupport the RTC JAC'sTelanana Bandh on October 19.

Ex- Deputy CM DamodarRajanarasimha alleged thatTelangana was witnessing theworst aristocratic form of gov-ernment in the country. He saidthat the Central Governmentshould intervene into the mat-ter and hoped that GovernorTamilisai Soundararajan, who ispresently on Delhi's tour, wouldenlighten the Centre on theissue.

Revanth Reddy alleged that theprovocative statements of ChiefMinister and his Ministers drove manyRTC employees to suicide and theyfailed to find a solution despite thestrike entering 11th day on Tuesday

KTR bats for green action planAsks Collectorsto implementplans similar to‘30-day actionplan' inmunicipalities

Thirty days action plangave positive resultsin the gram

panchayatsKTR

Minister for IT

This temple inMancherial earnsRs 2.83 L in a dayPNSn MANCHERIAL

The ancient SriSathyanarayana Swamy templeof Gudem village inDandepalli mandal saw anincome of Rs 2.83 lakhthrough offerings and sale oftickets for various services atthe holy place on full moonday of Hindu calendar year'sAshwayuja month. Countingof hundis was held on thepremises of the shrine onMonday.

Executive officer TNarayana said that the templeearned Rs 94,843 by way ofofferings by devotees and salesof tickets belonging to variousservices fetched Rs 1,88,889for the abode of LordSathyarayana Swamy regardedas Annavaram of Telangana.

Several hundreds of pilgrimsthronged the temple on theauspicious day.

The abode of LordSatyanarayana Swamy is amajor pilgrim centre ofMancherial district. It isthronged by pilgrims belong-ing to not only various partsof State, but also neighbouringMaharashtra. It is located onthe right bank of Godavari. Ascustomary ritual, couples per-form Sri Satyanarayana Swamyvratham at the temple.

Endowments Department'sNirmal division inspector RRavikishan Goud, members ofthe governing body of theshrine Akula Tirupathi andvolunteers of SriSathyanarayana Swamy SevaSamithi and the priests werepresent.

Bhagiratha water toKarimnagar from Jan 1PNSn KARIMNAGAR

BC Welfare and Civil SuppliesMinister Gangula Kamalakaron Monday said MissionBhagiratha water will be sup-plied daily to the residents ofKarimangar town fromJanuary 1, 2020. The Ministerwas speaking at a review meet-ing with Mission Bhagirathaengineers on the progress ofMB works in urban and ruralmandals at the DistrictCollectorate here.

Stating that 90 per cent ofthe Mission works had beencompleted, he instructed theofficials to complete theremaining 10 per cent works asearly as possible. He alsoinstructed the officials to con-duct test runs after completingurban work by December 15and rural works by the end ofNovember. Repair worksshould be taken up if therewere any leakages, he added.

Kamalakar also directed theofficials to give connections towater tanks constructed atSatavahana University,Housing Board Colony andMarkfed areas as part of theMB scheme. He instructedthe engineers to speed up lay-ing of pipelines sinceKarimnagar Smart City workswere set to commence. Missionofficials, KarimnagarMunicipal Corporation andPublic Health departmentshould work in coordination tocomplete pending works.

Stating that public moneyshould not be wasted by dig-

ging roads where they arealready laid, the Ministerwarned of serious action if anydepartment dug roads aftercompletion of road layingworks. Kamalakar instructedthe KMC officials to shift veg-etable vendors to Rythu Bazarand roadside vendors to newshops constructed behind the

bus stand. He wanted theauthorities to speed up roadworks at the Collectorate-LICoffice-Ambedkar Stadium, andbypass road.

KMC commissioner GVenugopal Reddy,Superintendent EngineerBadraiah and others participat-ed in the meeting.

The Minister stated that 90% of theMission works had been completed,he instructed officials to complete theremaining 10% soon. He instructedthem to conduct test runs aftercompleting urban work by Dec 15 andrural works by the end of November.Repair works should be taken up ifthere were any leakages

RTC workers say the lossesdue to govt's failure PNSn HYDERABAD

The RTC trade unions accuseChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao of adopt-ing use and throw policy as faras the RTC workers are con-cerned. The TRS used RTCworkers during Sakala JanulaSamme, but now declaringRTC workers' strike as illegal.

They felt let down as theCM used their services duringthe course of Telangana agita-tion and trying to ditch themnow going back on hispromise to merge the RTCwith the Government.

The TRS government isalso accused of defaultingpayment of Rs 1052 croreto the TSRTC after collect-ing motor vehicles tax.

Dismissing the existingRTC staff and asking the newrecruits not to join any unionshow the dictatorial face of theCM.

The RTC workers suspect aconspiracy to loot the RTCassets through encouragingbenamis to file tenders.

The Telangana movementwas fought on the grounds ofdue share in water, funds andappointments. But the RTCworkers state that many of thedrivers and conductors aresometimes working doubleshifts at the cost of their healthsince there were no recentrecruitments in the RTC,which has been affecting theirhealth.

The losses of the RTC areattributed to the government'sfailure in running the trans-port undertaking.

In 2014, the RTC staffstrength was 57,000. Thesemany employees helped theRTC operate buses to 125crore KM. Even after retiringof 6000 employees from ser-vice subsequently, 50,000-odd

workers helped the transportundertaking run its busesto132 crore KM, which is asure signof increasing the pro-duction.

In spite of this, the RTC hasbeen sustaining losses onlybecause of the government'sfailure to run it on profitablelines, say the agitating RTCworkers. But, the governmentis slinging mud on the RTCworkers.

The woman conductors areworking more than eighthours elsewhere in the state,barring the Hyderabad city, astheir duty does not end in 8hours.

RTC workers are braving 48degrees hot sun during peaksummers working doubleshifts. Some of the employeessuccumbed to sun strokeexhibiting their loyalty to theorganization.

In spite of putting suchhard work, the RTC is closing

down many of its facilities liketyre rebutton shed in Warangaland invited tenders from pri-vate parties. The RTC alsoclosed down its printing press.Security services have beenoutsourced, depot audit hasbeen outsourced. Did the TRSfought for statehood toTelangana only to makeappointments on the basis ofoutsourcing of services. Nowthe government is embarkedon a plan to outsource bus ser-vices.

How can the RTC workersbe held accountable for theRTC's accumulated losses. Ifthe workers should be blamed,the RTC would not ended upwinning so many awards inreduction of accident rate,conserving fuel and so on.

The annual hike in fuelprice would burden the RTCto the tune of Rs 25 crore. TheRTC consumes at least 25crore liters of fuel per annum.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyaddressed the NationalConference of Chiefs ofATS/STFs organised by theNational Investigation Agency(NIA). Speaking on the occa-sion, Kishan Reddy congratu-lated the NIA and called terror-ism a major challenge for thecountry, a curse for any civi-lized society and the biggestobstacle to modern develop-ment.

He added that India hasalways been capable of meet-ing such challenges. He out-lined the importance of NIA inthe context of a detailed inves-tigation of terrorist incidentsand said that the organizationwas vital to ensure nationalsecurity.

Detailing the agency's work,Kishan said that the NIA hasregistered 286 serious terror-ism cases during its tenure of10 years since its inception. Outof these, a professional inves-tigation of 210 cases has beensuccessfully submitted in theNIA Special Courts.

He noted that the successachieved by NIA in such ashort time and the work it hasdone in the field of counter-ter-rorism has emerged as a veri-table signature. He also con-gratulated the NIA for expos-ing Pakistan's role inPathankot, Uri, Banihal andHandwara cases of terroristattacks and in the manufactur-ing and circulation of fake

Indian currency. He remarkedthat India's national securitychallenges were functions of itsunique geography, diversityand regional as well as globaldevelopments. He enumeratedfundamentalism, separatismmovements, extremism, com-munalism and Maoist vio-lence as the major internalsecurity challenges faced byIndia. He emphasized that allproblems and grievancesshould be solved peacefullywithin the constitutional pro-visions of the nation.

Giving the example ofJammu and Kashmir, Reddysaid that the state of Jammuand Kashmir, despite being inIndia, was acting as a separatesovereign state due to disrup-tive and separatist activities.

Terror biggest obstacle toprogress: Kishan Reddy

Kishan Reddyremarked that India'snation al securitychallenges werefunctions of its uniquegeography, diversityand regional as well asglobal developments

Man lynchedon suspicionof temple theft PTIn NIZAMABAD

A 25-year-old man wasallegedly lynched by a groupof villagers on suspicion ofcommitting a theft at a templein Nizamabad district, policesaid on Tuesday. The man,who works as a mason, was onMonday thrashed by the groupafter he was caught allegedlytrying to steal from the placeof worship, a senior police offi-cial said. The villagers laterinformed the police who gotthe man shifted to the govern-ment hospital in Nizamabadbut he died without respond-ing to treatment, the officialsaid. The victim's wife told TVchannels she received a phonecall on Monday night sayingher husband was caughtallegedly trying to commit atheft and beaten up beforebeing shifted to a hospital.

The caller then asked her tovisit the hospital. "I told thecaller they could haveinformed the police about herhusband instead of beatinghim up. When I reached thehospital on Monday morning,I found my husband dead," thewailing woman, holding hertwo-month-old baby in herarms, said. Based on a com-plaint from her, a case ofmurder has been registeredand an investigation to iden-tify the accused was on, theofficial added.

The RTC workerssuspect a conspiracy toloot the RTC assets

through encouragingbenamis to file tenders.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Congress spreadingrumours over Article370: ModiCHARKHI DADRI (HARYANA):Prime Minister Narendra Modion Tuesday accused Congressleaders of spreading rumoursover Article 370 in India andthe world. While addressing arally at Charkhi Dadri in poll-bound Haryana, Modi said thepeople of the state havedecided to put their stamp onthe clean and transparentadministration of the BJPgovernment and bring it backto power. "People of Haryanahave decided to bring BJP backto power," Modi said. Withwrestler Babita Phogat enteringinto the political 'dangal' as theBJP candidate for the Dadriassembly seat, Modi saiddaughters of Haryana haveproved their mettle in all fields."During an informal meeting,Chinese President Xi Jinpingtold me he has seen Dangal movie," Modi said."Mahre Choree Choroon SayKam Hey Ke," he said inHaryanvi.

Maharashtra unit ofBJP proposes BharatRatna for Savarkar

White tiger dies atOdisha'sNandankanan ZooBHUBANESWAR: A five-year-old white male tiger died at theNandankanan Zoological Parkhere on Tuesday due to liver-related aliments, a seniorofficial said. ‘Subhranshu', whowas a major attraction at thezoo, died at about 10.15 amfollowing month-long liverailment, said Nandankanan Zoodeputy director Jayant KumarDas. "The white tiger suddenlycollapsed on Saturday andstopped eating. He was treatedby experts from the OdishaUniversity of Agriculture andTechnology (OUAT) but didn'tsurvive," Das said. Subhranshuwas born to Royal Bengal TigerMahesh and white tigressSneha on July 25, 2014. Withthe death of Subhranshu, thetiger population at the zoo hascome down to 25, out of which12 are male and 13 arefemales. The white tiger's deathcame weeks after the death offour elephants at the zoo due toHerpes Virus infection.

MUMBAI: Maharashtra BJPunit on Tuesday said it will askthe party-led NDA governmentat the Centre to confer BharatRatna, India's highest civilianaward, on Vinayak DamodarSavarkar, popularly known asVeer Savarkar. In its electionmanifesto, released by BJPworking president J P Nadda,the state unit also sought thehonour for social reformersJyotiba Phule and SavitribaiPhule, a party leader said. Themanifesto speaks of "pursuingthe matter with the Centralgovernment," the leader said.Many BJP leaders look up toSavarkar for inspirationalthough he was a member ofthe Hindu Mahasabha and notthe Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS), the ideologicalparent of the BJP.

PNS n NEW DELHI

In the run up to Maharashtraelections, the Congress is pitch-ing high on slowdown inIndian economy. The partyhas decided to field formerPrime Minister Dr. ManmohanSingh on October 17 to lend acredible voice against the gov-ernment's policies on the eco-nomic issues.

The party has sent an invi-tation, titled "Words ofWisdom on Indian Economyby Dr. Manmohan Singh". Thevenue is Garware ClubBanquets at WankhedeStadium, Mumbai.

The former Prime Ministerwill be addressing a PressConference and will meeteminent personalities of the

state . The l ist is beingfinalised, a source told IANS.Important people from allwalks of life are being invit-ed to meet Manmohan Singh,a source said.

The party is engaged inhigh-pitched battle with theincumbent BJP-Shiv Sena in

Maharashtra. The Congressis also fighting an internalbattle, as many leaders havedefected to the ruling com-bine. The infighting is out inthe open with SanjayNirupam accusing Delhileaders of sidelining him.

The Former Congress

President Rahul Gandhi hasa lso targeted the ModiGovernment on economicslowdown. He said that thegovernment is not interest-ed in providing jobs, but isonly diverting attention ofthe public by talking some-thing else.

Manmohan to meet press andeminent personalities in Mumbai

The party has sent aninvitation, titled"Words of Wisdom onIndian Economy byDr. Manmohan Singh".The venue is GarwareClub Banquets atWankhede Stadium,Mumbai

Abhijit Banerjee, theIndian-origin econo-mist who won the

Nobel prize on Monday, spent10 days in Delhi's Tihar jail forparticipating in a protest as astudent of Jawaharlal NehruUniversity.

In a scenario not unlike the2016 JNU sedition row, abunch of JNU students wasarrested and "beaten up" by thepolice in 1983 for "gheraoingthe vice-chancellor in hishouse for the umpteenth time"for expelling the president ofthe student union.

In an article, published inHindustan Times in 2016,Abhijit Banerjee shared that heand his friends were kept inTihar jail for 10 days and werebeaten up. "We were beaten (Iwas) and thrown into Tiharjail, charged not quite withsedition, but attempt to mur-der and the rest. The chargeswere eventually dropped thankGod but not before we spent 10days or so in Tihar," he said in

the article.The world-renowned econ-

omist, recognised for his workon global poverty alleviation,says in the article that thepolice action was backed byCongress government at theCentre and Left-leaning fac-ulty. He said there were alle-gations that the student bodypresident was expelled to insti-gate protests, which could beused to change admission pol-icy, which gave weightage tostudents from rural areas.

"What it undoubtedly was is

an attempt by the State toestablish the lines of authori-ty. We are the boss they weretelling us, shut up and behave,"Abhijit Banerjee said in the2016 article.

Drawing parallels to theJNU sedition row, hittingheadlines at the time, AbhijitBanerjee said that the govern-ment intervention in the mat-ter once again said that itwants to establish authorityover the university campus.

PNS n NEW DELHI

In a bid to achieve last-mileconnectivity for people travel-ling between small towns andmajor cities, Railways MinisterPiyush Goyal on Tuesdayflagged off nine 'Sewa Service'trains saying the nationaltransporter is taking transfor-mational steps for the future.

According to railways, out ofthese, five trains will run on adaily basis, whereas the rest ofthem will run six days a week.

The Ministry of Railwayshad recently approved 10 trainsunder its 'Sewa Service' initia-tive for better connectivitybetween smaller towns andimportant cities.

Speaking at the flagging offceremony here along withUnion Ministers Dr. HarshVardhan, DharmendraPradhan and Minister of Statefor Railways Suresh C. Angadi,Goyal said: "Indian Railways istaking transformational stepstoday. I would like to thankPrime Minister NarendraModi that he gave a vision tothe railways, and providedfunds for the progress of therailway through the budget."

Hailing the Prime Minister,Goyal said: "He (Modi) alwaysgives a suggestion how tomake maximum use of theresources and system of rail-ways. And people demandthat trains reach small cities,and for this we have 'Sewa

Service' trains concept."Goyal said without spending

anything and without makingany new investment, railwayshas started these nine trainstoday from the availableresources. "And further thetrains which are standing willbe used for the public," he said.

He said for the PrimeMinister's vision for the coun-try, railways will play animportant role for the future.The Minister also thanked therailway employees for showingdedication to improve railwayfacilities.

Goyal further said that ofthese 9 trains, a train will alsogo from Vadnagar to Mehsana."The tea-seller at that Vadnagarstation has become the PrimeMinister of the country, byconnecting Vadnagar withMahesana, railways has givena gift to Modiji," he said.

The 'Sewa Service' dailytrains have been introducedbetween Delhi and Shamli,Bhubaneswar and Nayagarhtown, Murkongselex andDibrugarh, Kota and Jhalawarcity, and Coimbatore andPalani. While the other 'SewaService' Trains that will run sixdays a week will run fromVadnagar to Mahesana, Asaryato Himmatnagar, Karur toSalem, Yesvantpur to Tumkurand Coimbatore to Pollachi.

Piyush Goyal flags offnine Sewa Service trains

PNS n KARACHI

The halt in the supply ofcheaper anti-rabies vaccinefrom India and China has ledto an acute shortage of thelife-saving drug in Pakistan'sSindh province as it grappleswith increasing incidents ofdog bites, an official said.

Naseem Salahuddin, Directorof the Rabies Free KarachiProgramme, said that there is abig difference in the price of thevaccine imported from India ascompared to the one purchasedfrom other countries. The vac-cine imported from India costsRs 1,000 (USD 6) whereas thedrug imported from Europecosts a whopping Rs 70,000(USD 446), the official said,adding that this life-saving drugis only available in the govern-ment hospitals in the country.

The shortage or absence ofthe anti-rabies vaccine has beenwitnessed in government hos-pitals in the Sindh province,including its capital Karachi asimports of the vaccine fromIndia has stopped in recentmonths, while its import fromChina has been suspended.

Shortage of anti-rabies vaccine inPak as India,China halt supply

Indian bizman inDubai buys ticketsto send 13 foreignprisoners home

PNS n NEW DELHI

While the Supreme Court isworking with its full sanc-tioned strength, vacancy ofjudges is on the rise in the 25high courts of the country,according to latest LawMinistry data.

The figures released bythe ministry onOctober 1 show thatthe high courtsfaced a shortage of420 judges -- thehighest till nowthis year.

As on October 1,the high courts wereworking with 659 judgesas compared to the sanctionedstrength of 1079.

In September, a total of 414posts of judges are vacant inthe 25 high courts.

Over 43 lakh cases arepending in the high courts.The figure was 409 in Augustand 403 in July, according tothe data available in publicdomain.

A three-member SupremeCourt collegium recommendsnames of candidates forappointment as high court

judges. In case of appoint-ments to the Supreme Court,the collegium consists of fivetop judges of the top court.

High court collegiums shortlist candidates for their respec-tive high courts and send thenames to the law ministry.

The ministry, along withbackground check reports

by the IntelligenceBureau, forwards itto the SupremeCourt collegiumfor a final call.

The govern-ment has main-

tained that appoint-ment of judges in the

high courts is a "contin-uous collaborative process"between the Executive and theJudiciary, as it requires con-sultation and approval fromvarious constitutional author-ities. Vacancies keep arising onaccount of retirement, resig-nation or elevation of judgesand increase in judges'strength. In June, the vacancyposition stood at 399, while itwas 396 in May.

In April, 399 posts of judgeswere vacant, while the figurewas 394 in March.

PNS n DUBAI

A Dubai-based Indian busi-nessman has bought one-way tickets for 13 foreignprisoners, including fromPakistan, Bangladesh, Chinaand Afghanistan to returnhome after they were releasedfrom prison here, a mediareport said on Tuesday.

Joginder Singh Salaria, thechairman and managingdirector of PehalInternational Transport andfounder of Pehal CharitableTrust (PCT Humanity) pur-chased one-way flight ticketsin coordination with DubaiPolice authorities for the pris-oners who were released froma jail on Monday, the KhaleejTimes reported.The prison-ers are from Pakistan,Bangladesh, Uganda,Afghanistan, Nigeria, China,and Ethiopia, it said.

PNS n MUMBAI

The Bombay High Courtrefused bail on Tuesday toactivists Sudha Bharadwaj,Arun Ferreira and VernonGonsalves, arrested for alleged-ly inciting caste-based violenceat Koregaon-Bhima in Puneand Maoist links, noting thatthey were "active members" ofbanned outfit CPI (Maoist).

Justice Sarang Kotwal reject-ed the bail pleas of the threecivil liberties activists, observ-ing that there was prima facieevidence against them.

In three separate orders, thejudge said the accused wereactive and senior members ofthe banned Communist Partyof India (Maoist), and arrangedfunds for the organisation andrecruited cadres.

The Pune police lodged acase against them in January,2018 after the Elgar Parishadheld on December 31, 2017allegedly triggered violence atKoregaon-Bhima village inMaharashtra's Pune districtthe next day.

The scope of the investiga-

tion was not restricted to find-ing out the object and effect ofthe programme organised onDecember 31, 2017 by theElgar Parishad or carrying outa probe into the violence thatfollowed the event, the courtsaid.

"The investigation was

expanded to unearth a muchlarger conspiracy of seizingpolitical power through anarmed revolution by mobilisingthe masses," it said.

Justice Kotwal further saidone of the objectives of thebanned organisation wasdefeating the "enemy forces"

with the use of weapons and byforming a people's army.

"The state's armed forceswere treated as enemy forces bythe organisation," the courtsaid.

The three were initiallyplaced under house arrest bythe Pune police in August lastyear and later, taken into cus-tody on October 26 after a ses-sions court in Pune rejected

their bail pleas.The accused, who are in jail

since then, approached thehigh court last year.

The police booked the threeand several other activistsunder the provisions of thestringent Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act (UAPA) andthe Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On Ferreira, the court saidone of his tasks was to raise,

manage and distribute funds inthe banned organisation and heoccupied an important positionin the outfit.

"Ferreira's work towardsachieving some of the objec-tives of the banned organisa-tion was not only appreciatedby it, but, he was given specif-ic directions on some occa-sions. This all shows that theapplicant was an active mem-ber of the banned organisa-tion," the court said.

"There is material in thechargesheet to show that primafacie the applicant (Ferreira)had actively worked towardsfulfilling that responsibility,"the court said.

It also noted that Gonsalves'act of recruiting cadres for thebanned outfit and being itsactive member was punishable

under the provisions of theUAPA.

"Facts sufficiently establishprima facie that the applicant(Vernon Gonsalves), oninstructions of the bannedorganisation, was recruitingcadres from institutions likeTISS (Tata Institute of SocialSciences)," the court said.

It added that the evidenceput forward by the prosecutionshowed that Gonsalves was animportant and active memberof the CPI (Maoist) and waspart of the "larger conspiracy".

"One of the important taskswas recruiting cadres and thereis material in the chargesheet toshow that prima facie the appli-cant (Gonsalves) had activelyworked towards fulfilling thatresponsibility," the court said.

HC refuses bail to 3 activists, says they are ‘active members' of CPI (Maoist)

Sudha Bharadwaj Arun Ferreira Vernon Gonsalves

The three were initially placed underhouse arrest by Pune police in Augustlast year and later, taken into custodyon October 26 after a sessions court inPune rejected their bail pleas.Theaccused, who are in jail since then,approached the high court last year

Judges' vacancies inhigh courts on therise: Law Ministry data

PNS n THANE

AIMIM president AsaduddinOwaisi has said Bharat is "nota Hindu Rashtra" and they willalso not let it become so.

His comments came afterRSS chief Mohan Bhagwat lastweek said the Sangh is firm onits vision that "Bharat is aHindu Rashtra".

Addressing an election rallyon Monday night in Kalyantown of Maharashtra's Thanedistrict for party candidateAiaz Moulavi, Owaisi said asection of society wants topaint the entire country in onecolour, but "we see Hindustanin multiple colours, it is thebeauty of Hindustan".

"Bharat is not a HinduRashtra, and Inshallah, we willnot allow it to become so," hesaid.

Alleging that the Shiv Senawas against the green colour,he said, "Change your specta-cles and you will see the greencolour in the national flagalso."

He said Bharat is uniquebecause of itssecularism andpluralism. There is no othercountry in the world as Bharat

and "we are proud of it"."I want to tell those in the

RSS that we are not living hereon your sympathy. If you wantto measure the index of myhappiness or sorrow, you andwe should see what theConstitution has given to us,"Owaisi said.

He also said that the AllIndia Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) hasestablished itself inAurangabad because of itsown efforts.

"We will spread to otherparts of the state also. You can-not stop us," he said.

Owaisi also said that theNDA government was pat-ting its own back by banningthe practice of triple talaq, butwas not aware of the woes ofmembers of the Muslim com-munity.

Won't allow Bharat to become‘Hindu Rashtra': Owaisi

PNS n GURGAON

The abrogation of Article 370provisions is a "decisive battle"waged by the Narendra Modigovernment to end years ofPakistan-sponsored proxy warand terrorism, and it will bringlong-lasting peace in Jammuand Kashmir, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah said onTuesday.

Attending the 35th RaisingDay celebrations of the counter-terror force NSG as the chiefguest here, Shah said the recentdecision to repeal special provi-sions in J and K will help "com-pletely eradicate" Pakistan-sup-ported terrorism from theKashmir Valley.

The minister said his govern-

ment is firm on the policy of"zero tolerance" on terrorism andto defeat all its forms.

The National Security Guard(NSG) is an important instru-ment to achieve this goal, theminister said.

"I believe that with the

abrogation of Article 370 byPM Narendra Modi, we haveinitiated a decisive battleagainst years of proxy warand terror acts perpetrated byour neighbour (Pakistan) andthis step will ensure long-lasting peace in Kashmir andthe region," Shah said at theNSG garrison in the Manesar

area here.He said India has been fac-

ing terrorism for many yearsand there would be very fewcountries across the globe whohave waged such a long battleagainst terrorism. Terrorism isa curse on any civilised societyand the biggest impediment todevelopment, he said.

I believe that with the abrogation of Article370, we have initiated a decisive battleagainst years of proxy war and terror actsperpetrated by our neighbour and this stepwill ensure long-lasting peace in Kashmirand the region, he said

The tea-seller atthat Vadnagarstation hasbecome thePrime Minister ofthe country, byconnectingVadnagar withMahesana,railways hasgiven a gift toModiji, RailwaysMinister PiyushGoyal said

The world-renownedeconomist, recognised forhis work on global povertyalleviation, says in thearticle that the policeaction was backed byCongress government atthe Centre and Left-leaning faculty

ARTICLE 370 ABROGATION

When Abhijit Banerjeespent 10 days in Tihar jail

‘Decisive battle' against proxy war andterror in Kashmir: Amit Shah

Former Prime Minister of India IKGujral was one of the most schol-arly and well-read leaders we havehad. At a public function organisedby this writer, he mentioned that the

battle of Panipat took place at that locationonly because it was the southernmost loca-tion, which had an open area suitable forwarfare. According to him, right from theKhyber Pass to Panipat, the entire terrain washeavily forested where conventional warfareof that period was not possible.

A recent news report mentioned that theGovernment is planning to build a 1,400kilometre-long “great green wall” of India.If this project receives official sanction andis backed by innovative institutional arrange-ments for its implementation, it would marka remarkable step forward in greeningIndia because we, as a nation, have failed toseize the importance of greening our degrad-ed and deforested land.

The Green India mission was one of theeight key missions included in the NationalAction Plan on Climate Change. The pur-pose of this operation was to protect, enhanceand restore India’s decreasing forest cover andact on the growing extent of climate changethrough a combination of mitigation andadaptation measures. Unfortunately, the mis-sion has been grossly under-funded. Areport by the Parliamentary Committee, titled,‘Performance of the National Action Plan onClimate Change (NAPCC) pertaining toMinistry of Environment, Forest & ClimateChange (MoEFCC)’, quotes MoEFCC as stat-ing that the “budget allocation of ̀ 47.80 crorefor FY 2017-18 is grossly insufficient. Thecommitted liability of FY 2015-16 and 2016-17 is ̀ 89.53 crore, which is more than the bud-get allocation of FY 2017-18.”

Expansion of population and encroach-ments by humans on forest land and the habi-tat of other species have not only reduced for-est cover since independence but has also ledto poor forest density even in those areas,which are regarded as forest land. The pro-posed “green wall” of India is planned to estab-lish a green belt from Porbandar to Panipatand would help restore degraded landthrough afforestation, particularly along theAravalli hill range, which covers Gujarat,Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.

It is well-known that the Aravallis havebeen heavily degraded in several areas, par-ticularly in Haryana, as a result of the nexusbetween politicians and the builders’ lobby.The establishment of the “green wall” wouldprovide an effective barrier for dust comingfrom the deserts in Western India andPakistan. It is now well-established that dustfrom deserts can travel large distances as hasbeen seen with dust from Saudi Arabia trav-elling to northern parts of Europe. This writerhas always advised officials in the Middle East,including a former Saudi Oil Minister,“Please convert your oil wealth to soil health.”

Recently, the Conference of the Parties(COP 14) of the United Nations Convention

to Combat Desertification(UNCCD) was held in India andas a follow-up to that event, Indiacan and should set an example forother countries that are threat-ened with desertification.

The UNCCD is an agree-ment to combat desertificationand mitigate the effects ofdrought, based on long-termstrategies and national pro-grammes, supported by interna-tional cooperation and partner-ship arrangements. It was in2006 that in order to gather sup-port for the convention, the UNdeclared that year as the“International Year of Desertsand Desertification.”

The convention has thus farbeen ratified by 190 States andthe European Union (EU).However, on March 28, 2013,Canada became the first coun-try to withdraw from it butreversed this arrangement onMarch 21, 2017.

In hosting COP14 of theconvention, India made a majorimpact on this expanding prob-lem in different countries of theworld. Prime Minister NarendraModi in his address to this con-ference stated: “I call upon theleadership of UNCCD to createa global water action agenda,which is central to land degra-dation neutrality strategy.”

The IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC)recently published a specialreport on climate change, deser-tification, land degradation, sus-tainable land management, foodsecurity and greenhouse gas

fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems.The report states, “The level ofrisk posed by climate changedepends both on the level ofwarming and on how population,consumption, production, tech-nological development and landmanagement patterns evolve.Pathways with higher demandfor food, feed and water, moreresource-intensive consumptionand production and more limit-ed technological improvementsin agriculture yields result inhigher risks from water scarcityin drylands, land degradation,and food insecurity.”

It further states: “Many activ-ities for combating desertificationcan contribute to climate changeadaptation with mitigation co-benefits as well as to halting bio-diversity loss with sustainabledevelopment co-benefits to soci-ety...Preventing desertification ispreferable to attempting to restoredegraded land due to the poten-tial for residual risks and mal-adaptive outcomes.”

The UN system, as is wide-ly known, is currently under-funded and is actually facing aserious crisis. For several yearsnow, there has been a growingrealisation that the UN systemneeds to be restructured andreformed, starting, of course,with the composition of thepermanent members of theSecurity Council, of which Indiashould have been admitted as amember years ago.

In the case of the UNFramework Convention onClimate Change (UNFCCC),

the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (CBD) and theUNCCD, there are distinct over-laps. Clearly, actions under oneconvention would have implica-tions for the other two. The dri-vers of change underlying thesethree conventions are common,namely the increase in humansociety’s ecological footprint asGandhiji had warned us aboutall his life. It is to be consideredwhether a comprehensive con-vention, which covers climatechange, loss of biodiversity anddesertification, may be far moreeffective than fragmentedactions being taken under eachof these conventions.

As far as India is con-cerned, the advance of deserti-fication has negative implica-tions for the country as a whole.To that extent, therefore, the“great green wall”, which isbeing considered, would be anexcellent initiative. However,just as in the case of acid rain inNorth America, which crossesnational boundaries and, there-fore, required a regional solu-tion, it would be important forSouth Asian nations to cooper-ate on activities, which involvesimilar initiatives in Pakistan,Afghanistan and Bangladeshas well. Given that naturerespects no political bound-aries, we need to promote com-mon solutions to problems thatare regional in nature. Terrorismshould give way to terra-ism.

(The writer is former chair-man, Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change, 2002-15)

As if the existing threats to wildlife in theform of illegal poaching, encroachmentsand culling were not enough, a new

provocation comes from intrusive tourism.Unknowingly or out of curiosity, tourists areheckling animals so much during safaris thatthe latter are now displaying aberrant behav-iour. The latest such instance was captured byone of the passengers aboard a jeep at the AtalBihari Vajpayee Zoological Park in Bellary,Karnataka, in August, which went viral thisweek. An aggressive male lion is seen chas-

ing a jeep full of visitors until the driver accelerated enough to outpace him. Itwas sheer luck that the tourists managed to escape the wrath of the lion, whowas hellbent on pouncing upon them. Now the king of the jungle is usually gen-tle when not on the hunt, even unperturbed by human behaviour. Besides, byvirtue of park tourism, lions have become quite immune to human attention. Soit was quite strange that Keshri, the lion in question, would become hostile unlesshe was teased or provoked. Turns out he had just been brought to the park andwas yet to settle down. Clearly, he was not used to tourist behaviour and shouldnot have been exposed to visitors either. Particularly, when he was yet to demar-cate his territoriality and be sure of his limits, he was but expectedly insecure.In the age of daring selfies and their virality, tourists are not just happy takingroutine shots but want a dramatic film sequence. And when they cross limits ofadmissibility, they run the risk of a chase or attack. Be it big cats or elephants,several videos of them raging after tourists have circulated on social media. InJuly, a similar video was captured as bikers were chased by a tiger at the MuthangaWildlife Sanctuary in Wayanad, Kerala.

Our big cats are stressed in their fragmented habitats, some of which do nothave enough roaming stretches, prey bases or transit corridors to deeper forests.Human encroachment and development have resulted in frequent man-animalconflicts. Hemmed in from all sides, such aberrant behaviour is being reportedall too frequently now, even from reserves like the Kruger National Park. Touristbehaviour, therefore, should be respectful of protocol and mindful of the peaceany sanctuary guarantees the wild. For example, protocol calls for the visitorsto maintain a certain distance from the animals during an encounter, which isdefinitely not followed either by them or unscrupulous tour operators hellbenton selling a “sighting.” With greater interest comes greater responsibility.

Pakistan may not be blacklisted by theFinancial Action Task Force (FATF), theinter-governmental forum that links ter-

ror funding to freezing international aid, butIndia’s persistent campaign against it nursingterror hubs has clearly paid off. It now appearsthat Pakistan could slip into the “dark grey”list, a severe warning to take correctives, asit has but fulfilled only six of the 27 conditionsof compliance to evade curfew altogether.Besides, the common cause on terror hubsimpacting domestic politics that India has man-

aged to drum up around the world, particularly winning US endorsement on thiseffort, means Pakistan has few friends. In August, the FATF’s Asia Pacific sub-group placed it in the “enhanced blacklist” for its failure to meet global standards.Yet its Prime Minister Imran Khan has been lobbying hard for the overall FATFvote, diverting attention from the terror factory at home to Kashmir, forging anew Islamic alliance with Turkey and Malaysia for a crusade-like stance againstthe Western world, still dangling the Taliban sword to keep the US invested inits relevance for Afghanistan and playing on Chinese anxieties about the Indo-US axis. And while Pakistan may scrape through this time, requiring just threemembers’ support to escape a funding ban, it has still got away by being a strate-gic counterweight for others’ geo-political concerns rather than attempting anycourse correction at home. What else explains the renewed push for militancyin Kashmir? That problem continues and can only be beaten by now normalis-ing life in the Valley. Discontent cannot be allowed to fester under lockdown forPakistan’s no-risk benefit schemes.

So what are India’s obstacles? The recent incremental push in bilateral rela-tions with China has meant that it has come around to agreeing with our view-point of combatting terror without referencing Pakistan. How else could it justi-fy its own clampdown on Uighur Muslims? And though it dragged its feet at theUN, it did assent to designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. But as thenew president of the FATF, China isn’t expected to ignore concerns of its all-weath-er friend Pakistan. It has wriggled a bit here and there but cannot abandon itsally given its strategic interests in the region. Direct transactional benefits withChina will frankly take a long time to mature as significant tradeoffs on Pakistan.Of course, there are two more nations, Turkey and Malaysia, to deal with. Bothare now spearheading a new-Islamic axis as India has stepped up diplomaticengagement and is building on mutual understanding with the UAE and SaudiArabia. In fact, India has made significant inroads in the Organisation of IslamicCooperation (OIC), which has traditionally been opposed to it on Kashmir. Butwith the UAE and Saudi Arabia inviting India as an “observer” in its last edition,the OIC has warmed up a bit albeit Malaysia and Turkey continue to supportPakistan. In fact, Khan is now advocating a trilateral forum for a neo-Islamic worlddistinct from the traditional pan-Islamism. This leadership challenge to religiouslegacies has not gone down well with even Saudi Arabia of late. India, too, hasnow given up the charm offensive with both Turkey and Malaysia and is hittingback economically. It is reviewing imports of palm oil and other products fromMalaysia in response to its Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed’s United NationsGeneral Assembly (UNGA) speech on Kashmir. With that country hosting radi-cal Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, there are some creases of discomfort.Reports say that following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s addresson the Kashmir issue, India pulled out of discussions with Anadolu Shipyard,which intended to tie up with with us for building a 45,000-tonne fleet supportship. Simultaneously, India is also building bridges with the ring states aroundTurkey and Malaysia — Cyprus, Armenia and Greece around the former andIndonesia around the latter. India is now pegging its diplomacy on sound eco-nomic sense and that’s delivering results, particularly in one-on-one negotia-tions in a multilateral world. It is demanding that sensitivities be shown to it inreturn, considering some of these nations are defaulting on rights records too— Turkey in Syria and China in Hong Kong, Tibet and in Uighur-dominated Xinjiang.In fact, India has stayed away from commenting on these issues until now, whenit has condemned Turkey’s action against Syria. Smart reasoning and correspond-ing posturing might change the way the world perceives our concerns.

Together, we can win

Sir — A large number of climatestrikes have recently eruptedaround the world, directing atten-tion to issues such as climatechange and global warming. It isalso interesting to note that manyindigenous tribes have been pray-ing for the protection of theAmazon rainforest as thousands ofwildfires continue to destroy it.People often turn to prayer in dif-ficult times. Such prayers notonly lead to positive results butalso strengthen relationshipsamong people. The prayers for theAmazon and the protests haveattracted the attention of the glob-al population. One hopes that suchadmirable activities continue toinspire people around the world.

P SenthilVia email

Misleading policy

Sir — Economists have foreverbeen negotiating between thetwin poles of wealth and pover-ty. In 1776, Adam Smith postu-lated that the existence of eco-nomic prosperity, more than thepersistence of poverty, must be

paid attention to. An eon wasspent on identifying the condi-tions necessary for wealth cre-ation. Then an era was spent onthe distribution of incomebetween capital and labour.

Finally, Nobel Prize-winningeconomist Angus Deaton delvedinto the cause, spread and mea-surement of poverty. But lookslike Indian-American economistAbhijit Banerjee has analysed

the problem with poverty with anexperimental approach. The ran-domised controlled field trials(RCTs) adopted by him hashelped find out what works andwhat doesn’t to fight poverty.

The traditional way of measur-ing wealth on account of the coun-try’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is misleading. It probablyfurther skews the distribution ofwealth and accentuates income dis-

parity. We have journeyed longfrom exploring the creation ofwealth to the distribution of incometo now Nobel prize winner AbhijitBanerjee’s treatise on poverty.

Strangely, it is seen that deep-er the democratic mores, as it is inthe US, the sharper has been theturn to the right wing ideology ofwealth inequality. It may takeages for the socio-economists,much less the Governments, to

move away from a trite GDP toeven grasp the concept of creationand distribution of happiness.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

Challenges ahead

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Bangla pride” (October 15). Theappointment of former cricketteam captain Sourav Ganguly asthe head of the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI) is wel-come. In fact, he may just be theperson the cricket administrationneeds right now to set thingsright. It’s good to learn that on hispriority list are first class players,who are the foundation for astrong pool of talent for the nation-al team. Other issues like theabsence of an Indian umpire in theelite panel of ICC and reducing thegulf between women and men incricket should be given impor-tance. Ganguly must also ensurethat financial management in theBCCI becomes more transparent.He has his task cut out.

Bal GovindNoida

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2019

06

The great wall of nature

RK PACHAURI

The proposal for a 1,400km-long green corridor along the Aravalli range, which isstill in the planning stage, is a remarkable step forward in greening the country

It is biggest irony of our timesthat while we are celebratingGandhiji’s birth centenary, theBJP is seeking Bharat Ratnafor Savarkar, an accused inhis assassination case.

CPI general secretary —D Raja

Professionally, it has been a very special year for me. Boththe successes have only motivated and encouraged me to keep following myinstincts and work hard.

Actor—Hrithik Roshan

The global security situationis in a flux. There is concernover the inherent dangers innuclear brinkmanship pur-sued by countries as a coverfor cross-border terrorism.

Indian diplomat—Pankaj Sharma

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

The historic China connect

This refers to the editorial, “Finding an old connect”(October 14). The second informal summitbetween Prime Minister Narendra Modi and

Chinese President Xi Jinping was historically signifi-cant. The choice of Mamallapuram as the venue of themeet was important on account of its historical linkswith China, which dates back to the seventh century.Mamallapuram, named after Narasimhavarman I of thePallava dynasty, is an ancient port town that has a strongmercantile history with China. It was also part of China’ssilk route and India’s spice route. In fact, the originsof Kanchipuram’s silk industry can be traced back tothe import of raw silk from China via Mamallapuram.Sino-India links in the region can be traced back as faras 2,000 years. Chinese coins discovered in the regionfurther establish the age-old link between the twonations. This rich history made Mamallapuram a befit-ting venue for this summit.

China has seen an exponential growth in cutting-

edge technology, leaping far beyond India. Electronicgoods manufactured by it, which were once frownedupon, have now become much sought after. As India isa big market for Chinese goods, it is unlikely that Xi willtake a harsh stand against India on the issue of Kashmir.

TK NandananKochi

IT IS WELL-KNOWNTHAT THE

ARAVALLIS HAVEBEEN HEAVILYDEGRADED IN

SEVERAL AREAS,PARTICULARLY IN

HARYANA, AS ARESULT OF THE

NEXUS BETWEENPOLITICIANS AND

THE BUILDERS’LOBBY. THE

ESTABLISHMENTOF THE ‘GREEN

WALL’ WILLPROVIDE AN

EFFECTIVE BARRIERFOR DUST

COMING FROM THE DESERTS

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Wild chaseWhen a ship sinks in themiddle of a sea, the captainevacuates everyone safelybut Gandhi is a captain whohimself left after seeing theCongress sinking.

AIMIM chief—Asaduddin Owaisi

Though it may not be blacklisted, it does slide further oncompliances required for countering terror at FATF

The aberrant behaviour by a lion at a wildlife park inKarnataka shows why we need a tourism protocol

Pakistan slips up

A double-edged sword

CONGRESS NE KHODA PAHAD, NIKLI CHUHIYA. WOHBHI MARI HUI. (THEY DUG A MOUNTAIN, ONLY TO FIND

A MOUSE. THAT TOO A DEAD ONE).—HARYANA CHIEF MINISTER

MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR

THINK IN WHAT LIGHT DO THESE REMARKS SHOW WOMEN. BECAUSE OF PEOPLE WITH YOUR MINDSET,HARYANA IS KNOWN AS THE CRIME CAPITAL.—HARYANA CONGRESS PRESIDENT KUMARI SELJA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’sannouncement on offering free publictransport to women has sparked off a

debate across the country about the financial per-formance and pricing of public transport. As citiesacross the world struggle to keep the Mass RapidTransit System (MRTS) and other modes of pub-lic transport financially viable, scholars and oper-ators alike are trying to arrive at an economical-ly sound formula for operations.

According to an estimate by the DelhiTransport Corporation and the Delhi Metro,women constitute around 30 to 35 per cent pas-sengers in both buses and the trains. This comesto about 14 lakh women per day on the busesand 800,000 women per day on the metro. TheDelhi Government is assuming that the schemewill see a rise of 50 per cent in female ridership,resulting in a decrease in the number of vehicleson the city’s roads and improved safety for thosevulnerable sections who cannot afford publictransport otherwise.

Impact studies in cities that have experiment-ed with a free public transport policy indicate tan-gible benefits such as higher ridership, less traf-fic congestion, better air quality, savings on print-ing, ticket-punching technology and the peopleengaged in ticket sales. Free public transportpromises intangible benefits, too, such as astronger democracy, higher citizen participation,better liveability and a vibrant economy.

However, it is easier said than done. Cities likeTallinn in Estonia and Châteauroux and Aubagnein France experimented with free public trans-port in the past and achieved positive results fora while. Sustaining the results beyond a few years,however, proved to be a problem. Also, while thecombined effect of free service and happier com-muters can significantly increase ridership, pub-lic transport can also experience a rebound effect,resulting in crowding and poor service quality dueto a large demand response. Such a response canresult in a higher tax burden for the transportagency.

The key to operating a free public transportis to identify alternate sources of revenue tofinance it. Sustaining a free transport policy in thelong-term, especially during times of economicvolatility, can be highly strenuous. The city ofChâteaurouxin, France could generate returns onpublic transport in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007.However, 2008 onwards, the returns declined. Thecity of Hasselt in Belgium had to wind up its freepublic transport policy after a few years as theGovernment could no longer support its financ-ing.

So, the big question is, can Indian cities affordfree transport for their citizens, given the burgeon-ing population of the country?

Cities in India face a severe shortage of pub-lic transport. City peripheries and low-incomeneighbourhoods often remain unserved and evenif a network of buses and local trains and so onexists, the frequency of service is low, renderingit ineffective. Free or otherwise, the absence ofpublic transport results in last-mile connectivi-ty problems for the poor. Addressing the inade-quacies of the country’s public transport networkwill require huge capital investments and consid-ering the amount of expenditure it entails, it could

be too much of a burden on the StateGovernments to then generate funds for operat-ing expenses.

However, the good news is that, though itappears impossible at present, there are solutionsworth exploring. Given that State Governmentsare finding it difficult to provide even partial sup-port in the form of subsidies and grants to pub-lic transport agencies, relying on budgetary sup-port to fund a free transport policy seems verydifficult at present. Running free public transportmay or may not be possible but every city musthave at least an affordable transport system. Thereare a few strategies for long-term funding andcost-cutting that could be explored for achievingthis.

Cross-utility subsidy: Although it’s not verypopular in the country, cross-utility financing isprevalent in many parts of the world, includingEurope and North America.

There are many ways to enforce a cross-util-ity subsidy like imposing a levy on utility use orcross-subsidising a loss-making utility by a prof-it-making one. The loss-making transport depart-ment of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply &Transport (BEST), for instance, was, for a longtime, cross-subsidised by revenues generated bythe profitable electricity department. If imple-mented in a prudent manner, cross-utility sub-sidy can offer a long-term solution for fundingpublic transport.

Targetted subsidy: Grants often fail to ben-efit the desired user groups. So, the solution liesin introducing selective subsidisation for careful-ly identified beneficiaries. It is a difficult thing topull off but one can take heart from the fact thatover 10 million customers in India gave up theirLiquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) subsidy inresponse to the Government’s plea. If people aremade aware about the purpose of a subsidy, therewill be many who will give it up if they don’trequire it. At any rate, the Government shouldexplore targetted subsidies to offer affordable pub-

lic transport to the needy and the vulnerable. Dedicated transport fund: Many experts

have emphasised the need to exempt public bustransport corporations from the motor vehicle tax.For many bus corporations, the operational loss-es are almost equal to what they pay as motor vehi-cle tax. While there is a sound rationale behindtaxing vehicles that generate huge negative exter-nalities like emissions and congestion, imposinga similar tax on public buses is draconian. On a“per passenger kilometre” basis, public transportis more efficient and causes lower emission andcongestion than private vehicles. Moreover, thetax gets directly passed on to the commuters aspart of the fares they pay. Foregoing the tax willalso make fares more affordable and improve thefinancial accessibility of public transport.

New performance indicators: There is alsoa need to develop new performance indicators forevaluating public transport corporations. Theseindicators must mainstream social and environ-mental goals. Currently, public transport opera-tions in the country are guided primarily by finan-cial parameters like earnings and cost-per-kilo-metre. Now, more emphasis needs to be placedon the intangible socio-economic benefits suchas time savings, improved productivity, lower con-gestion and improved livelihood opportunitiesthat public transport enables. Changing the waypublic transport corporations are assessed will alsochange the manner in which they operate and thegoals they prioritise in service delivery.

While financial performance is critical foroperating public transport, increasing the fare isnot the best solution. The approach to the prob-lem will change once it is realised that the objec-tive of operating public transport is not to gen-erate revenue but to offer affordable services tocitizens. The need of the hour is to find innova-tive solutions to make public transport affordablefor all.

(The writer is Area Convenor, Centre forSustainable Mobility, TERI)

While cities that experimented with free public transport achieved positive resultsfor a while, sustaining them beyond a few years proved to be a problem

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

Fight pollutioncollectively

NAVDHA MALHOTRA

Carpooling, using public transport, segregatingwaste to reduce burning, choosing not to burstfirecrackers at Diwali can make a big difference

MEGHA KUMAR

The Diwali season comes with many debates: Does a ban onfirecrackers make a difference? Could we have prepared bet-ter? Has the national Capital’s air pollution decreased? What

can Delhiites do to help bring it down?This year the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government announced

a series of measures to tackle air pollution, including the odd-evenvehicle rationing scheme; distribution of masks to prevent PM10 intake;a community pyrotechnic show for Diwali; mechanised road-sweep-ing; a tree plantation drive and a pollution plan for 12 hot spots. InSeptember, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that according to theair quality data of the last four years, the pollution levels in Delhi hadreduced by 25 per cent. While the data is still being examined, thisindicates a positive step in the fight for a cleaner Delhi.

In the past, there have been many claims and counter-claimsover the impact of the odd-even scheme implemented in the Capital.While some studies indicated that it was a success, others claimedthat there was no impact, and still others contended that it was impos-sible to isolate vehicular pollution from Delhi’s data sets. However,the one thing all studies agree on is that the odd-even scheme willnot succeed without a robust public transport system and withoutrestrictions placed on heavy vehicles and two-wheelers, which makeup the majority of Delhi’s vehicular traffic. In the past, the schemeprovided exclusions for two and three-wheelers, trucks, taxis andcars used by VIPs. These exemptions, and the limited hours of theodd-even scheme, made it harder to define the success of the pro-ject, especially as two-wheelers have the highest emissions levels.At the moment, the Delhi Metro and bus fleet are not equipped tokeep up with the existing demand from commuters, let alone thedemand that will be generated during vehicular rationing days. However,the undeniable benefit of the scheme is decreased congestion onthe city’s roads. This cuts down the number of hours citizens spendin their cars and the pollution caused by congestion. The schemeis a step in the right direction but it alone cannot solve the problemsof vehicular pollution.

Given these concerns, the next logical solution would be to con-sider electric vehicles (EVs) and particularly electric public transport.Several cities around the country have committed to electric bus fleetsand feeder buses and should these measures be implemented, theywill certainly have a positive impact on air pollution. However, cut-ting down on tailpipe emissions is only half the battle. As long asEVs are powered by traditional electricity, they still contribute to fos-sil fuel emissions, just perhaps not in the same city they are drivenin. EVs are a step in the right direction but not enough to tackle theair pollution crisis, unless they become solar powered in the future.

Like the different sources of the problem, the solutions to ourair quality issues are also varied and complex. Pollution does notacknowledge State or city boundaries and our solutions must tran-scend these as well. Central and State Governments must work togeth-er to ensure heavy industrial and vehicular activity is kept outsidecities; equitable and environmental solutions for stubble burning areimplemented as quickly as possible; industrial activity is heavily reg-ulated and fuel emission standards for vehicles continue to advance.Most importantly, this Government needs to ensure that air qualityis monitored adequately and that the data is shared so that the ben-efits of schemes like odd-even can be evaluated.

At the moment, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) hasa woefully incomplete monitoring network, with data gaps for manypollutants and locations. The newly-released National Clean Air Plan(NCAP) fails to include many of the Indian cities that require policyaction and doesn’t give local authorities the enforcement power theyneed to penalise offenders. As citizens, it often feels like there is lit-tle we can do beyond voting for the right candidate every few years.Installing air purifiers, limiting physical activity and wearing masksoutside allows those who can afford it a break from the air pollu-tion but it does not solve the issue. Each individual can take certainproactive actions: Carpooling and using public transport cut vehic-ular emissions. Ensuring that waste is segregated before it is dis-carded cuts down waste burning as does limiting open garbage andleaf burning in the winter. During Diwali, choosing not to burn fire-crackers can make a massive difference, as we have seen in thelast decade in New Delhi.

However, it is clear that only stringent policy can create the kindof widespread change that is needed to tackle air pollution. To makethis happen, citizens must encourage their representatives to takeaction through their votes and their voice. Elections will be held inseveral States soon, including Delhi. We must make our prioritiesknown to our leaders by raising our voices and demanding a bet-ter standard of air quality from our representatives.

(The writer is a social campaigns manager)

How would the late Sena chiefBal Thackeray have reacted tothe idea of his grandson

Aditya entering electoral politicswhen the Thackeray clan hadscrupulously kept out of it fordecades? He would have chuckled.

So far, the family has run a pow-erful political party in Maharashtrawithout contesting elections. Theyoungest Thackeray, Aditya breaksthat tradition in the forthcomingMaharashtra Assembly elections bycontesting from the Worli seat inMumbai.

Balasaheb had once told me hehad taken three decisions — hewould not contest elections, would

not write his autobiography andwould not take any Government postand he had stuck to them till the endof his life.

After the first Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party Government(BJP) was formed in 1995, Balasaheboften quipped that he ruled theState via “remote control.” Balasaheb’sson Uddhav Thackeray surprisinglynot only kept the party alive but alsofollowed the “remote control” poli-cy of his father.

However, the 29-year-old Adityais different in this sense and he rep-resents the aspirationalMaharashtrian youth. His image-makers are trying to project him asa suave, English-speaking Senaleader. Nine years ago, Balasahebhimself introduced his grandson tothe political world in October 2010and also named Aditya the head ofthe party’s newly-created youth wing.

The timing is perfect for theThackeray scion to make his electoraldebut, with the BJP-Sena alliancepoised to win the Assembly polls thismonth.

Aditya stated the obvious in aninterview recently, “I chose this elec-tion because I thought this was theright time.” There is a vacuum in theyouth leadership in Maharashtra,which he hopes to fill.

As a child, Aditya used to trav-el with his father and grandfather andbecame interested in politics fromthen on. “If you have to do some-thing good for society, politics is theway. I have been thinking of my jour-ney for the last five years. We did sev-eral agitations. How to serveMaharashtra better, Shiv Sena style?I have always thought that I shouldjoin my party legislators”, says Aditya.

Prior to this electoral contest, hehad undertaken a Jan Ashirwad

yatra in July to thank the voters forthe 2019 success but his real inten-tion was to gauge the public moodfor his own debut.

The young Thackeray repre-sents the changing political sce-nario and also the evolving cultureof the Sena. Much has changedsince the days of Balasaheb. Theparty’s clout in Maharashtra politicshas certainly diminished. Politics haschanged, the voters have changedand the Sena, too, has become ajunior partner in the coalition, ascompared to the earlier days ofdominating the Sena-BJP alliance.

Aditya is experimenting with adifferent kind of politics, trying tochange the old narrative. The Sena’simage has been that of a muscularpolitical party and he would have tochange this if he wants to succeed.The Sena is no more a rabble-rous-ing party.

In the past it used to launch agi-tations against the South Indians,Gujaratis, Biharis and Muslims.Today, in a bid to woo non-Maharashtrian voters, his campaign

has multi-lingual posters. He doesnot mention religion or Hindutvaand instead prefers to raise bread andbutter issues like employment anddevelopment.

He talks about the ban on plas-tic, beach cleaning and the environ-ment. Aditya is more cosmopolitan,modern and open to new-age elec-toral politics. He is accused of beingcomfortable with the Page 3 set buthe is also trying to appeal to the ordi-nary youth.

Second, Aditya is emulating hisgrandfather by building a baseamong the youth. The seniorThackeray had a devoted youth fol-lowing all his life. As long as he wasalive, every Vijayadasami day, thou-sands of youth had attended hismeeting at the Shivaji Park. Now,Aditya is targeting the millennial vot-ers. He is being projected as a sen-sitive, modern, young leader, who isflexible and open to new ideas.

Third, it was the family’s consid-ered decision to support Aditya’s elec-toral plunge. Bal Thackeray couldrun the Government through remote

control. Uddhav, too, managed to dothat but Aditya, encouraged by hismother Reshmi, believes that thedays of “remote control governance”are over and one needs to be in thesystem.

Above all, the Sena wants tostrengthen itself on the ground fear-ing that the BJP might subsume theparty. The family feels that thejunior Thackeray’s presence in thenext Cabinet would give them somecontrol.

Aditya is poised to win theWorli seat, if Dame Luck smiles athim, he might even become theDeputy Chief Minister. ThoughUddhav says now, “The first step inpolitics doesn’t mean that you haveto become the Chief Minister of theState. He has just entered politics, thisis just the beginning.” He would pushfor his son when the time comes.

Aditya wants to prove that he isnot just another son of a powerfulpolitical family but a grassrootsleader in his own right. TheAssembly contest will be his acid test.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Will the Thackeray clan see a s(o)nrise? The timing is perfect for Thackeray scion Aditya to make his electoral debut with the BJP-Sena alliance poised to win the

Assembly polls. The young Thackeray represents the changing political scenario and the Sena’s evolving culture

KALYANI SHANKAR

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

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VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2019 money 08CAPSULE

Gold up marginallyby Rs 5, silver falls Rs 91NEW DELHI: Gold witnessedmuted trading on Tuesday,rising marginally higher by Rs5 to Rs 39,105 per 10 gram inthe national capital as aweaker rupee kept thedownside limited, according toHDFC Securities. "Spot goldprices for 24 Karat in Delhiwere trading marginally up byRs 5 at Rs 39,105 as weakerrupee kept the downsidelimited. Spot rupee wastrading 10 paise weakeragainst the dollar during theday," Tapan Patel, senioranalyst - commodities, HDFCSecurities said. The yellowmetal had closed at Rs 39,100per 10 gram in the previoustrade here. Silver, however, fellby Rs 91 to Rs 46,809 perkilogram from Rs 46,900 perkilogram on Monday. In theglobal market, gold wastrading higher at USD1,493.30 an ounce, whilesilver too firmed up at USD17.62 per ounce.

Sensex spurts 292pts; auto, metalstocks drive rally

Lectro E-MobilitySolutions launchese-bicycleNEW DELHI: Lectro E-MobilitySolutions, a part of HeroCycles, on Tuesday launched anew electric bicycle, priced atRs 30,999. Townmaster, athrottle e-bike, can be chargedfrom a regular plug point anddoes not need specialcharging stations, much likeother products under theLectro range and can go for30-40 km on a single chargeof around three hours. "Thereis new emerging category ofconsumers in India who isfitness-oriented while alsobeing environmentally-conscious about reducingtheir carbon footprint. "Thiscategory of consumers isleading the demand foralternative and clean transportoptions that are viable fordifferent kinds of trips – be itshort distance or longdistance," Lectro E-MobilitySolutions Director AdityaMunjal said in a statement.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Non-life insurance companieswitnessed 28.3 per cent rise intheir collective new premiumat Rs 24,563.24 crore inSeptember, according to Irdaidata.

All the 34 non-life insurershad collected business premi-um of Rs 19,141.65 crore in thesame month a year ago.

Among these, 25 generalinsurers reported a rise of 39.3per cent in their combined pre-mium during the month at Rs20,145.46 crore as against Rs14,463.60 crore in September2018, as per the InsuranceRegulatory and Development

Authority of India (Irdai) data.The seven stand-alone pri-

vate sector health insurancecompanies clocked Rs 1,115.75crore premium in Septemberthis year, up 21.6 per cent fromRs 917.38 crore in the year-agoperiod.

The rest two specialised

PSU insurers -- AgriculturalInsurance Company of Indiaand ECGC -- saw a decline of12.2 per cent in their premiumincome at Rs 3,302.02 crorecompared to Rs 3,760.67 crore.

On a cumulative basis, pre-mium collection of all non-lifeinsurers during April-September this fiscal rose by17.23 per cent to Rs 95,978.99crore.

The 25 general insurers wit-nessed 16.84 per cent increasein their combined premiumincome at Rs 82,802.51 crore,and the seven stand-alone pri-vate sector health insurers reg-istered rise of 6.35 per cent toRs 6,096.98 crore.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Leading exchange BSE hascome out with a new frame-work for companies seeking tomigrate from its small andmedium enterprises (SME)platform to the main board.

Under the new guidelines,companies listed on SMEexchange need to have a mar-ket capitalisation of at least Rs25 crore in order to move upto the main board, BSE said ina circular. Explaining further,BSE said that the market cap-italisation on WeightedAverage Price (WAP) of pre-ceding 20 traded days from thedate of submission of applica-tion to the bourse for migra-tion from SME platform to themain board should be equal toor in excess of Rs 25 crore.

The exchange has nottweaked guidelines pertainingto requirement of post issuecapital and debarred entities.

BSE said that the firmsneed to ensure that their postissue capital should be over Rs10 crore, besides, companies,their directors or promotersshould not be barred from thecapital markets for shifting tothe main platform.

At present, firms that havea post-issue paid up capital ofmore than Rs 10 crore butbelow Rs 25 crore has theoption to list on the mainboard or the SME Exchange.In case their post-issue paid-up capital exceeds Rs 25 crore,main board listing becomesmandatory.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian Oil Corp (IOC), thenation's biggest oil firm, plansto rais?e Rs 3,000 crore in rupeeborrowings this month to meetits general corporate financingneeds, IOC Director (Finance)Sandeep Kumar Gupta said onTuesday.

"We plan to raise through arupee denominated bondsissue up to Rs 3,000 crore. Asimilar amount may be raisedlater in the financial year," hesaid here.

The b?ond issue will be of Rs1,000 crore with a greenshoeoption of another Rs 2,000

crore, he said and added that"we may retain or not retainover-subscription of up to Rs2,000 crore." The bond issuewill be of 10 year tenure.

IOC plans to use the moneyraised though the bond issuefor general corporate financing,he said adding the companyhad a borrowing of Rs 81,000crore at the end of Septemberquarter.

The company is aggressive-ly expanding refining andpetrochemical capacity andlaying infrastructure to meetrising energy demand in thecountry. "We had a plannedcapital spending of Rs 25,000crore during current fiscal. Ofthis, about Rs 8,000 crore wasspent till August-end and

another Rs 1,500 crore wouldhave been done in September,"he said expressing confidenceof fully spending the plannedcapex by March 2020.

The company, which sub-sidises cooking gas LPG andPDS kerosene, is yet to receiveRs 9,700 crore from the gov-ernment in unpaid subsidises.

"The unpaid subsidises arecoming down. They were Rs19,000 crore at the beginningof the fiscal and have nowcome down to Rs 9,700 crore,"he said. Gupta said, IOC hasalready announced plans toinvest Rs 2 lakh crore in next5-7 years to expand refiningand petrochemical capacities inorder to maintain leadershipposition. The plan is to almostdouble its oil refining capaci-ty to 150 million tonnes perannum, expand fuels and LPGretailing network, jack uppetrochemical productioncapacity and produce morecrude oil and gas.

IOC to raise Rs 3000 cr via rupee bonds

PNS n MUMBAI

Union minister Smriti Irani onTuesday pointed out that chal-lenges before the governmentlies in getting corporate Indiaimplement the laws speciallyenacted for women and chil-dren. Government has takenvarious initiatives and intro-duced laws for the safety ofwomen and children so thatthey get justice faster, the min-ister noted.

"The real challenge is actu-ally bridging government poli-cies with those of companies sothat we collectively deliver thebenefits of the laws to womenat large," she told a Bloombergevent here.

Irani, who heads the textileministry, said government hasbeen taking initiatives towardsbetter childcare as well point-ed to the enhanced materni-ty/paternity leaves.

"Companies need ensurethat women do not feel left outespecially in areas where theyfeel they can be promoted tothe next level," she said, addinggovernment has not just cod-ified the labour laws but hasalso ensured that laws makewomen feel secured in theirworkplaces in both in theorganised as well as unorgan-ised sectors.

Noting that woman andchild security is not an issue ofa particular country, she saidthe government has passed

laws to protect children fromsexual offences.

"For the first time, we havebrought a law where childpornography, especially in theonline space, is dealt withseriously," she added.

Irani further said the onlyissue on which political partiesof all hues have one view isregarding women and chil-dren, and as a result, the coun-try could move, especially inthe past five years, to a women-led development model fromwomen's development.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Vegetable oil imports fell by 13per cent to 13.03 lakh tonnesin September from samemonth last year, due to largecarry-over stock and imposi-tion of safeguard duty on palmoil originating from Malaysia,industry body SEA said onTuesday.

The Solvent ExtractorsAssociation of India (SEA)highlighted that many tradersare shifting to Indonesia forimports of palm oil amidreports that India might curbshipments from Malaysiawhich used strong words in theUnited Nations on India's deci-sion to abrogate Article 370 inJammu & Kashmir.

"The government imposed 5per cent safeguard duty onRBD Palmolein/Palm Oil ofMalaysian origin with effectfrom September 4. In view ofthis, now the duty differencebetween crude and refinedpalm oil has increased to 10per cent irrespective of any ori-gin," the association said.

Although the import ofRBD palmolein remainedmore or less same inSeptember, the quantity ofimports from Malaysiareduced to one-third fromprevious month's import, itadded. SEA's Executive direc-tor BV Mehta attributed the fallin vegetable oil imports tocarry-over stock and imposi-tion of safeguard duty.

"Secondly, recent reportappeared in Media, that

Government of India may takesome action to curtail importsof palm oil from Malaysia fol-lowing the hostile attitude ofMalaysia at the UN inSeptember when Malaysiacharged that India invadedand occupied J&K. Fearingsome action by Government ofIndia in retaliation, manyimporter/refiners shifting theirbuying from Malaysia toIndonesia for November-December shipment," thestatement said.

Imports of vegetable oils(comprising edible and non-edible oil) during Septemberdeclined by 13 per cent to13,03,976 tonnes compared to

14,91,174 tonnes in the year-ago period.

Imports of edible oil fell to12,54,443 tonnes in September2019, from 14,22,003 tonnes inthe year-ago period, whilenon-edible oil imports fell to49,533 tonnes from 69,171tonnes during the periodunder review.

However, the overallimports of vegetable oils dur-ing November 2018 toSeptember 2019 went up by 3per cent to 14.17 milliontonnes, SEA said in a state-ment.

During November 2018 toSeptember 2019, SEA saidimports of refined oil (RBDpalmolein) increased to26,12,394 tonnes from19,98,813 tonnes in same peri-od of last year, due to lowerduty on palmolein importedfrom Malaysia.

This resulted in lowerimports of crude oil whichstood at 109,69,087 tonnesfrom 113,43,273 tonnes duringthe same period of last year,reducing capacity utilization ofdomestic industry.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The industrial and logisticsegment has attracted USD 500million (about Rs 3,500 crore)investment since 2017, asdemand for quality warehous-ing space is growing rapidlypost the implementation ofGST, property consultantCBRE said on Tuesday.

In its report, the consultanthighlighted that several poli-cies (both proposed andimplemented), along with thegrant of infrastructure status tothe logistics sector, led to morethan USD 500 million beinginvested in acquiring industrialand logistics assets in Indiaduring 2017-H1 2019.

In its survey of warehousingclients post GST, CBRE foundthat almost 70 per cent ofrespondents indicated animprovement in ease of doingbusiness mainly on account ofe-way billing, which hasremoved a lot of bottlenecks incargo storage and transportprocesses.

About 80 per cent ofrespondents felt that the taxa-tion system improved after

the implementation of GST,while 40 per cent respondentsindicated that they willincrease the number of ware-houses in the post-GST era.

On outlook of this sector,CBRE said demand for ware-housing will strengthen andestimated that leasing will beabout 10-15 per cent higher

this year at 25-30 million sq ftcompared to last year.

CBRE had earlier reportedthat leasing of warehousingspaces went up by 31 per centto over 13 million sq ft acrosseight major cities in the firsthalf of this year, driven main-ly by demand from third party-logistic and e-commerce firms.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Terming TRAI's review ofcall connect charges "retro-grade", Reliance Jio has saidthe regulator's consultationpaper is neither warrantednor sustainable and thatretention of such charges willharm subscribers and punishefficient operators.

Jio alleged that any defer-ment of sunset clause forinter-operator terminationcharges will end up rewarding"designed defaulters" whohave deliberately stayed awayfrom new and efficient tech-nologies.

Jio has shot off a letter toTRAI saying the presentConsultation Paper "sub-sidises and incentivises thetelecom service providerswho, by design and astuteplanning, do not want toshift to IP based technology".

Jio has questioned TRAI'sjurisdiction and reasons totinker with the originalschedule for implementationof zero termination chargeregime from January 1, 2020.

Launching a scathingattack on the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(TRAI), which is examiningwhether sunset clause forinter-operator terminationcharges should be deferred,Jio said nothing preventedincumbent operators fromswitching their networks toefficient VOLTE (Voice overLong-Term Evolution) all thiswhile.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Multinational pharmaceuticalcompany Mylan is workingwith Drug Controller Generalof India (DCGI) to launchpretomanid, a medicine usedto treat drug-resistant tuber-culosis (TB), a top official ofthe US drug major has said.

Non-profit drug developerTB Alliance and Mylan NVhad in April announced aglobal collaboration to makethe experimental drug pre-tomanid for cure of pul-monary tuberculosis.

"We have submitted thenew drug application to theoffice of DCGI. We are in anadvanced stage of discussionand are working with theoffice of DCGI... Mylan willbe in a position to launch theproduct in India soon afterreceiving approvals fromDCGI," Mylans global presi-dent and executive directorRajiv Malik told PTI duringhis recent visit to India.

This drug is important forIndia because Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said Indiawould get rid of tuberculosisby 2025, he added.

Also, Modi launched acampaign to eradicate TBfrom India by 2025, five yearsahead of a globally-set dead-line.

TB Alliance was currentlyadvancing the development ofpretomanid in three ongoinglate-stage clinical trials, Mylanhad said in April.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal on Tuesday said Indiaand the US do not have anytrade disputes and both nationshave huge bilateral trade andinvestment potential.

Speaking during a ministe-rial panel discussion at IndiaEnergy Forum here, Goyalsaid, "There is no (trade) dis-pute (with the US). We hadcertain disagreements, but Idont think that there is... anyrelation where there are no dis-agreements at all. I think wewelcome some 'nok jhok'(argument). Little bit of uncer-tainty helps in taking thingsforward."

Goyal's comments assumessignificance in view of recentwithdrawal of GeneralizedSystem of Preferences (GSP) or

trade tariff incentives onIndian products by the US,especially when both countriesare negotiating a trade agree-ment.

Goyal was of the view thathis discussion with his UScounterpart helped improvethe bilateral relations further.

Referring to the withdraw-al of GSP by the US, Goyalsaid, it could be a "dispute inthe eyes of some, but I think itopened up an opportunity forme to have a dialogue with mycolleague (US trade represen-tative). We had some wonder-ful discussions."

About the business potentialwith US Energy firms he said,"There is huge potential on thegas side and also in nuclearenergy. The US and India have

a robust relationship, which hashuge potential going forward...We should not look at incre-mental growth in our rela-tionship. We should be lookingat a quantum leap. We have sethalf-trillion-dollar (trade) tar-get (with the US)."

Goyal said that there is hugepotential of energy exportsfrom the US to India andbusiness is going on with theUS on oil, gas and nuclearfronts.

PNS n MUMBAI

The Reserve Bank will contin-ue to be accommodative anddeliver one more rate cut in theDecember policy reviewdespite the "surprising" spike inheadline inflation forSeptember, say analysts.

Some analysts also wonderif the economy is headedtowards "stagflation", which ischaracterised by persistentlyhigh inflation and low eco-nomic and jobs growth.

Official data released onMonday showed consumerprice inflation for Septemberracing to 3.99 percent, up from3.3 percent in August. Underthe inflation targeting frame-work, the RBI is bound to keepthe price index at 4 percentwith a 2 percentage pointseither way.

Analysts on Tuesday attrib-uted the sharp spike in theheadline number to a rise infood prices, particularly onions

which alone accounted for0.43 percentage points of thejump.

Foreign brokerage Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynch's econ-omists said the sudden spurt ininflation is "temporary" andexpects it move up further to4.6 percent in October.

But despite this, it expectsthe RBI to continue with itsrate cuts and deliver a 0.25 per-centage points reduction in theDecember review.

It said the RBI will take this

view because the liquiditycrunch that began this time lastyear is still hurting the econo-my and also with an eye on theAugust industrial productionnumbers, which showed a con-traction by 1.1 percent--thesteepest in seven long years.

If growth continues to headsouth or remain slow, the RBIwill cut rates by a further 0.40percent to take the repo ratedown to 4.5 percent by nextSeptember, it added.

Japanese brokerage Nomurawondered if the economy isentering a "stagflation" stage,and warned that a combinationof weaker-than-expectedgrowth and higher inflationmakes for a tough policy callfor the monetary policy com-mittee.

"We believe the larger devi-ation of growth from target vis-a-vis inflation target will like-ly lead the MPC to continuewith an accommodative poli-cy stance and deliver anotherrate cut of 0.15 percent inDecember," it said.

Singaporean bank DBS alsoexpects the rate-setting panelis likely to look past foodinflation and not put brakes onthe easy money policy.

It can be noted that the RBIhas cut rates by a cumulative1.35 percent in five consecutiverate cuts in 2019, to prop upgrowth amid the legroom cre-ated by softer inflation andfalling growth numbers.

MUMBAI: Extending its gainsfor the third consecutivesession, market benchmarkBSE Sensex rallied about 292points on Tuesday driven bygains mainly in auto, metaland banking stocks. Aftersoaring 421 points during theday, the 30-share Sensexended 291.62 points, or 0.76per cent, higher at 38,506.09.It hit an intra-day high of38,635.19 and a low of38,238.27. The broader NSENifty too rose 87.15 points, or0.77 per cent, to settle at11,428.30. Top gainers in theSensex pack included Vedanta,M&M, ONGC, Hero MotoCorpand Maruti, rising up to 3.79per cent. On the other hand,Bharti Airtel, Infosys, TataMotors, HCL Tech and TechMahindra fell up to 2.53 percent. Elsewhere in Asia,bourses in Shanghai, HongKong ended in the red, whilethose in Seoul and Tokyoended higher.

On outlook of this sector, CBRE saiddemand for warehousing will strengthenand estimated that leasing will be about10-15 per cent higher this year at 25-30million sq ft compared to last year

SEA's Executivedirector BV Mehtaattributed the fallin vegetable oilimports to carry-over stock andimposition ofsafeguard duty

Goyal's comments assumessignificance in view of recentwithdrawal of Generalized System ofPreferences (GSP) or trade tariffincentives on Indian products by theUS, especially when both countries arenegotiating a trade agreement

Smriti Irani

Irani nudges India Incto adopt more women-friendly policies

Irani, who headsthe textile ministry,said governmenthas been takinginitiatives towardsbetter childcare aswell pointed to theenhancedmaternity/paternityleaves

Foreign brokerageBank of AmericaMerrill Lynch'seconomists saidthe sudden spurtin inflation is"temporary" andexpects it move upfurther to 4.6percent in October

New BSE normsfor cos to shiftfrom SME

Piyush Goyal

‘No trade disputes with US,only few disagreements’

Veg oil imports fall 13 pc inSep; Malaysian shipments drop

Mylan workingto launch new TB drug in India

‘Despite inflation rise, RBI may cut rates in Dec’

IOC plans to use the money raisedthough the bond issue for generalcorporate financing, he said, adding thecompany had a borrowing of Rs 81,000crore at the end of September quarter

TRAI's IUC review will harmusers, punish efficient telcos: Jio

Warehousing space sees USD500 mn investment since 2017

Non-life insurers see 28% rise in premium

yderabad-based G.Naga Jyothi is on amission to inspirewomen farmers togrow mushroomsand Stevia (sugar

substitute) as protein-richalternatives for people whodon’t consume meat and nat-ural sugar.

She quit her bank job torejoin the work she started inher graduation and sincethen has never looked back.“My agri-based enterprisePlantae is all about research-ing the plant kingdom.During research at my gradu-ation level I realised thatplants hold the solution toevery medical problem weface. I have worked withfarmers and artisans whoseexperiences gave me a lot ofinsight into this,” she said.

The idea of finding a meatalternative came to her whenshe read an article about howmuch non-vegetarians missmeat after they are forced toquit it for health reasons. Soshe researched on plant alter-natives that provide proteinas much as meat and alsotastes good.

Jyothi did her PGAgribusiness Managementfrom MITCON Institute of

Management, Pune. In orderto form her own companyshe later got trained at theICAR-Directorate ofMushroom Research inSolan. “I started on a smallscale by growing exotic medi-cinal mushrooms which areknown to be alternativesfor non-vegetarian diet. Ialso trained manywomen to grow differ-ent varieties of mush-rooms,” she said.

She said finding a sub-stitute for naturalsugar is the need ofthe hour as oneout of every tenteenagers inIndia has highlevels of glucosein blood.

“Many artifi-cial sweetenersthat are availablein the market areproduced fromchemicals. Hence, Istarted promotingStevia as it is a per-fect natural sugarsubstitute,” she said.

“Stevia leaf extract isavailable in the marketbut many people arenot aware of its bene-fits. While doing survey

in the city, I found that manyfelt Stevia leaf extract is likeany other kind of artificialsweetener owing to the simi-larity in packing. Manystayed away from it fearingside effects. But scientists at

the Central Instituteof Medicinal

and

Aromatic Plants informedme about about the plant, itsextraction and its health ben-efits. Our aim isto have thiswonder herbin everyhome

soon. The fresh leaves ofStevia can be used for sweet-ening many dishes. We alsoplanning to start a nursery tosupply these plants for peo-ple,” she added displaying apacket of her Stevia’s sugarsubstitute.

She now has a team of fivemembers who work on pro-

duce, package and marketStevia extract. She alsocollaborates withmany women acrossTelugu states who

produce Stevia attheir homes.

LIVE GUITARPERFORMANCES ANDA HARMONICARENDITION CROONEDBOTH SOLOS ANDDUETS FROM THEVAST COLLECTION OFHITS OF THE SINGER

G. Naga Jyothi’s enterprise, Plantae, is keento help people lead healthier lives andprovide a source of income for women

farmers across Telugu states, finds V SATEESH REDDY

Many artificial sweet-eners that are available inthe market are producedfrom chemicals. Hence, Istarted promoting Steviaas it is a perfect naturalsugar substitute. Steviaextract is also availablebut not many people areaware of its benefits

G. NAGA JYOTHIENTREPRENEURH

REPLACING MEAT AND SUGAR FOR

FOODIES

Breaking mentalbarriers in society

he number ofpeople whoacknowledge(and also cele-brate) WorldMental Health

Day, that falls on October10, has been steadilyincreasing over the years.This shows that more andmore people are acceptingthe importance of ahealthy mind to achieve agood work-life balance.

But taboo, prejudiceand infamy surroundingthe subject have put manypeople in the dark. Totear down the myths andmisinformation sur-rounding mental health,Good Universe, an NGOvocal about social issues,conducted a mentalhealth awareness pro-gramme recently.

“It’s ok to struggle; it’sok to ask for help; it’s okto not have all theanswers and it’s ok to not

be ok. This is our motto,”said the organisers.

The event, themed#flauntyourflaws, wit-nessed talks by manymental health expertswho answered questionsregarding the prejudiceassociated with mentalhealth issues such asdepression and addictionand their treatment.

Many other peoplecame forward to sharetheir stories about mentalhealth.

A dance performanceby Patruni Sastry, anexpressionist, madeeveryone think about howterrible mental illnessescan be.

Ashish, known for hishappy-go-lucky andcomedian attitude,opened up about his sen-sitive history of childabuse in such a poignantand respectful way thatmoved the audience to

tears. “It is true what theysay. Sometimes the mosthappiest people go thro-ugh the most toughesttimes. Ashish lived up toit by sharing his personalstory as well as speakingagainst other shushedtopics like dowry, harass-ment and inter-religiousconflicts,” said the organ-isers.

Speakers at the eventincluded Dr PurnimaNagraja from Dhritifoundation, LuciaKankipati from EverydayMiracles and Dr SnehaKhelani from RetrospectCounseling and alsoShyamanthak Kiran.

Founder of GoodUniverse Kamal says,“Mental health is quiteessential to the overallhealth and well being,and mental illnesses arecommon and treatable.What we need is moreacceptance.”

Many sections of society are waking up to thefact on how important mental health is. Thehuge attendance at a recent event on mental

health is a testament to that fact

T

Remembering Kishore Kumar

Dakshin Dhwani,a city-basedkaraoke group,whose musicaljourney beganthree years ago on

October 13, coinciding withthe 29th death anniversaryof the late playback KishoreKumar — the unchallengedicon of Hindi playbacksinging during the late 1960s— organised a musical eventcommemorating theirgroup’s formation. Thegroup, which has grownfrom a family-run unit of six

members to 35 membersfrom various age groups andbackground, organised theirgrand event ‘Ik Raasta HaiZindagi’ at Our Sacred Spacein Secunderabad.

In all, 13 performers,including live guitar perfor-mances and a harmonicarendition, crooned bothsolos and duets from the vastcollection of hits by KishoreKumar.

The audience, made of allage groups, applauded thesingers for the musicalevening. The performers

comprise people from cor-porate and professionalbackground in the age groupof 25 to 75 who put up soul-ful performances.

With open and culturalspaces in Secunderabadshrinking, this kind of eventwas a breath of fresh air forthe 100-odd crowd whoattended the event. “This isour first anniversary pro-gramme that we performedin Secunderabad after wemoved here. We are over-whelmed with their supportwe got from the people

here,” said T. Balakrishnan,co-founder of the group andone of the performers.

Anjna Puri Surath, a doc-tor and a music buff, said, “Iam very happy that ourgroup went the extra mile tostage this event in anacoustic-friendly venue to asupportive crowd. I lovedtheir claps and whistles as Irendered the Kishore num-bers from the 1960’s which iseasily the golden phase ofHindi cinema.”

The audience couldn’thelp but stay till the end of

the 200-minute long pro-gramme after which theyinteracted with the singers,thanking them for a memo-rable evening.

The young singers wereseen networking with thelike-minded fans who alsoattended Dakshin Dhwani’sprevious event ‘Are DeewanoMujhe Pehchano’, an openmic session that was held atNritya Forum forPerforming Arts at BanjaraHills.

As Prabha Naresh, whoanchored the programme,said, “It was a double treatfor music lovers of Hyd-erabad and Secunderabad. Iam glad we pulled it off.”

T. Balakrishnan informedthat they also held a musicalprogramme at CherlapallyPrison recently as part ofPrisoners Welfare Day inassociation with theTelangana PrisonsDepartment. — VSR

More than100 music

lovers cametogether to

pay homageto legendarylate playback

singer KishoreKumar

D

THE IDEA OF FINDINGAN ALTERNATIVE FOR MEATCAME TO JYOTHI WHEN SHE READABOUT HOW MUCH NON-VEGETARIANSMISS MEAT AFTER THEY QUIT IT FOR

HEALTH REASONS

WednesdayOctober 16, 2019

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

ZOEKRAVITZCAST ASCATWOMANIN THEBATMAN

oe Kravitz has been cast asSelina Kyle, a.k.a.Catwoman, in Matt Reeves’The Batman, an individualwith knowledge of the pro-ject told TheWrap.

Robert Pattinson will play the DarkKnight in the upcoming Warner Bros.film. Reeves and Mattson Tomlin wrotethe screenplay, and the film isbeing produced by Reeves andDylan Clark. Michael E. Uslan isexecutive producing. It is set tostart filming in January in theU.K.

Reeves took over as directorafter Ben Affleck stepped awayfrom both that position and asthe film’s star, saying that hewould be hanging up the cape forgood. Reeves has since describedthe film as a “defining” and “verypersonal” story about the DarkKnight, rather than an originstory in the vein of FrankMiller’s beloved Year Oneseries.

Jonah Hill was mostrecently reported to havebeen talks to play TheRiddler, while JeffreyWright was in negoti-ations to star asCommissionerGordon.

Kravitz’s mostrecent creditsinclude Mad Max:Fury Road, FantasticBeasts and Where to FindThem, Rough Night, FantasticBeasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse andBig Little Lies. She also voiced the roleof Catwoman in The Lego BatmanMovie.

She will next star in Viena and theFantomes and the TV series HighFidelity. Kravitz is represented byParadigm, Untitled Entertainmentand Edelstein and Laird & Sobel.

The Batman will be released onJune 25, 2021.

Z

uperstar Rajinikanth has a deepbond with Uttarakhand whichbrings him to the hill state almostevery year. He sayshe finds

peace

in its atmosphere.The southern star, who is regarded nothing

less than a demigod by his millions of follow-ers, this time arrived in Rishikesh on Sunday

night with his daughter Aishwarya.He stayed at the Dayanand

Ashram and attended the‘Ganga aarti’ in the evening.

He also prayed at the‘samadhi’ of his guru.

Later, he did medi-tation for some

time.The Dayanand

Ashram is situ-ated on thebanks ofGanga Riverand is aunique centrefor the studyof Vedas andSanskrit. It isunique in thesense that thelessons are

conducted inEnglish. There is

a temple dedicat-ed to Lord Shiva.The ashram was

established during thesixties by Swami

Dayanand Saraswati, a

well known scholar of Sanskrit and Vedas.An office bearer at the ashram, who spoke

on condition of anonymity, said, “Rajinikanthis a very pious man and whenever he comeshere, he stays in one of the rooms and eats thefood offered in the ashram. He is always keento know about the activities and programmesin the ashram.”

Rajinikanth went out for a stroll onMonday morning and then left with hisdaughter for Kedarnath and Badrinath in ahelicopter. He offered prayers at both thetemples where he was welcomed by the tem-ple officials.

The superstar told reporters that he hadcome to seek the blessings of the Lord and hisGuru for his upcoming film Darbar.

“We have completed the shooting ofDarbar and I am here to pray for the successof the film,” he said.

Last year, he had visited the temples to prayfor the success of his film 2.0 before itsrelease. He has also visited the place beforethe release of Robot.

Rajinikanth seems to be fascinated by theserenity of Uttarakhand. Last year, in July, hehad stayed in Mussorie for the shooting of afilm. He had visited the SwamiramHimalayan University in Jollygrant and hadoffered tributes at the ‘samadhi’ of Swamiram.

According to sources, Rajnikanth has beenvisiting Uttarakhand since the past onedecade and the actor says that he finds peacein the atmosphere here.

S

Vijayawada Wednesday October 16, 2019

10

celeb talks

hroughout history, hate andconflict have been a part ofthe human experience. Fromhorrific extremes such as theHolocaust or the Rwandangenocide, when hate has

fueled mass destruction, to everydayincidents like playground bullying ormalicious trolling on social media, hateshapes our lives in myriad ways. Andwhile all humans have the capacity tohate, few understand what sparks it andtransforms it into a destructive force.

Executive produced by filmmakingheavyweights Alex Gibney and StevenSpielberg and directed by GeetaGandbhir and Sam Pollard (Emmy

winners for “When The Levees Broke:A Requiem in Four Acts”), WHY WEHATE explores one of humanity’s mostprimal and destructive emotions —hate. At the heart of this timely series isthe notion that if people begin tounderstand their own minds, they canfind ways to work against hate andkeep it from spreading.

The six-part series will begin airingon Sunday, at 8 pm on DiscoveryChannel and Discovery HD world,with additional episodes airing eachsubsequent Sunday. In addition, manyof Discovery’s networks around theworld will begin airing the series inOctober.

T

GEETA GANDBHIR SAM POLLARD

ALEX GIBNEY STEVEN SPIELBERG

ctress Vahbiz Dorabjee has lost 13kilos for her role in a new web series.

“I have always maintained a fitlifestyle and hence working out hasbeen a core part of my daily life.Recently I was also trying out

intermittent fasting. Yoga, regular walks,etc have also been a part of my daily rou-tine, not only to lose weight rather to bebe healthy and fit,” Vahbiz said.

Last week, she teased her fans onInstagram about the project.

“They say when you really withyour heart manifest something,the entire universe conspires tomake it happen (yes, as filmyas it sounds)! But yes, myeyes had seen a dream,one which I had beenworking towards and Ican finally see myselfinching towards it!#Excited#NewBeginnings#AnnouncementComingSoon,” shewrote.

A

VAHBIZ DORABJEESHEDS 13 KILOSFOR WEB SERIES

li Fazal and ShriyaPilgaonkar’s HouseArrest will releaseon Netflix onNovember 15.

Also featuringJim Sarbh and Barkha Singh,House Arrest brings to life theconcept of JOMO (Joy OfMissing Out).

House Arrest is jointlydirected by Shashanka Ghoshand Samit Basu. The film isproduced by Trilok Malhotraand KR Harish of IndiaStories Media &Entertainment Private Ltd.

It is the story of a man —trapped in his own fears —who locks himself at home,only to find that while he canrestrict his interaction withthe world, he can’t keep theworld from entering hisdomain.

Ali feels House Arrest has afantastic script.

“It’s witty, very fresh and forme, selfishly, the character isvery arched and layered. So itwas a fun time on sets to playthis part. Even though it is acomedy, it is complex and Igot to go on set everyday anddo something new and fresheven though it was all oneplace,” he said at the time ofthe announcement.

AALI FAZAL'S HOUSEARREST GETS

RELEASE DATE

RAJINIKANTH'S FASCINATION FOR UTTARAKHAND

OSCAR WINNERS' WHYWE HATE SERIES DEBUTS

ON SUNDAY IN INDIA

hat Victory Venkatesh is playing thelead in Tharun Bhascker’s next setin the backdrop of Malakpet raceclub is old news. The latest piece ofinformation trickling in indicates

that the veteran actor will be seen as a punterwho bets on races. “Venky is always on thelookout for interesting characterisationsand role in Tharun’s film was one. His querieson character front were convincinglyanswered by Tharun. The actor was especial-

ly pleased with his role’s graph.The fact that it is giving him

chance to speak Deccaniwas an added bonus. Hewas in splits goingthrough some dialogueswritten by Tharun andis eager to reel them infront of the cameras,”says a source.

The untitled film ispresently in pre-pro-duction and Tharunwill take it in front of

the cameras once hecompletes promoting

his acting gig MeekuMaathrame Cheptha,

where he played a lead for thefirst time. Suresh Productions

will be bankrolling theventure.

roducer K.K. Radha-mohan, who has burnthis fingers by distributingNGK and Kalki earlier,has acquired the Telugu

dubbing rights of Karthi-starrerKhaidi. Despite the dismal show ofhis last, Dev, Karthi enjoys a decentmarket in Telugu. Radhamohanwill be releasing the film forDiwali, wherein it will lock hornswith Tamil superstar Vijay-starrerWhistle.

Khaidi, helmed by LokeshKanagaraj of Maanagaram fame, isan action-thriller and will seeKarthi playing Dilli, an escapedlife-convict on the run and his

journey with a cop who is on alsoon the run from a deadly smug-gling gang. Dilli also should alsomeet his daughter whom he hasnever seen in life. This segmentforms the emotional crux.Radhamohan said, “Khaidi is dif-ferent from the regular cinema. It’sa concept-driven film devoid ofheroine or songs. It would be a pul-sating affair and the teaser hasreceived phenomenal response.”

Shot completely during nightsand peppered with intense chasesequences on the highway, the filmsees Anjathey Narain, George,and Dheena in pivotal characters.C.S. Sam is the composer.

aunched last week, thefi lming of MegastarChiranjeevi’s next withKoratala Siva, kicks offnext month. Except for

the fact that it will be a signa-ture Koratala social drama, themakers chose to keep a lid overthe plotline.

But that’s up until now.Multiple reports that aredoing rounds point out thatthe film will be set in thebackdrop of EndowmentsDepartment and the step-motherly treatment that hasbeen meted out to it over theyears. It is said that Chiru willbe seen as an employee of thedepartment who is unhappywith the state of some tem-ples and decides to take

matters in his own hands.His part primarily targetsencroachers and political

heavyweights who in thefilm are shown to be involvedin grabbing of the land that

belongs to the departmentand some Hindu religious

institutions. Also, the leassees are

taking the temple lands at throw-away prices and in turn are giv-ing them on sub-lease at marketprices, resulting in huge loss to thedepartment. The film will dealwith these issues, it is widely spec-ulated. For the untitled film — ajoint venture between KonidelaProduction Company andMatinee Entertainments — Ko-ratala has gathered a strong team.Thiru is the cameraman whileSreekar Prasad will be the editor.Suresh Selvarajan, whose work inBharat Ane Nenu received ravereviews, will be the productiondesigner.

A proposal to remakeBrochevarevaruraa for the

Hindi belt has come my way.I didn’t feel like revisiting the

story. Moreover, I am notcomfortable with Hindi. I

would be required to dependon someone for help, which I

don’t want to doVIVEK ATHREYA

WRITER-DIRECTOR t’s rare for a Tollywoodfilmmaker not to suc-cumb to commercialtropes of storytellingand emerge out in fly-ing colours by doing

what he believes in. Vivek Athreyadid that twice. If his maidendirectorial Mental Madhilo was areasonable success despite glow-ing reviews, the enormous successof Brochevarevaruraa proved thathis films can be a big box-officedraw as well. No wonder his nextmove is being keenly watched.The writer-director is taking itslow and is presently penning athriller and a romantic comedy.“The thriller runs as a socialdrama and I’m currently in thefirst draft. As far as the rom-comis concerned, it was an idea that

I had for sometime and I’m devel-oping it. I am working on both thescripts simultaneously and I don’tknow which one will go to setsfirst,” he told The Pioneer in anexclusive interview.

Shedding more light on thethriller-social drama, Vivek, whois in talks with premier produc-tion houses DVV Entertainmentand Mythri Movie Makers for hisnext, added, “It would mostly fea-

ture an ensemble. I would ideal-ly need eight to 10 popular facesto spearhead it, with four beingtop-league actresses’. It would bemostly set in Hyderabad.”

His two films have been withSree Vishnu and he is not averseto the idea of teaming up withstars. “Some stars approachedme and expressed their interest towork with me afterBrochevarevaruraa. But as of now

I don’t have scripts for them. Ican’t force myself and write forthem. It’s not good for me orthem. I believe the writing shouldtake its organic course,” hedeclared.

Vivek, who has completed writ-ing dialogues for good friendPavan Sadineni’s next withBellamkonda Ganesh, also ruledout the possibility of directing theHindi remake ofBrochevarevaruraa.

“A proposal to remake it for theHindi belt has come my way. Ididn’t feel like revisiting the storyand waste my time. So, I couldn’ttake it up. Moreover, I’m not com-fortable with Hindi. I would berequired to depend on someonefor help, which I don’t want to do,”he concluded.

i

11

tollywoodVijayawada Wednesday October 16, 2019

l

p

t

KK RADHAMOHAN TODISTRIBUTE KHAIDI

Mebaz launches wedding campaign with

KIARA, VIJAYndian wear brand, Mebaz, from the house of Manyavar,announced the launch of its latest wedding campaignwith Bollywood’s glam-diva Kiara Advani andTollywood’s heartthrob Vijay Deverakonda. Launchedthrough two television commercial films, the duo will

be seen donning Mebaz’s latest wedding-collection across print,outdoor, digital campaigns. Through the move, the brand hopesto widen its appeal amongst the millennial populace of the coun-try.

Following the outstanding success of the Telugu movie ArjunReddy and its Bollywood remake Kabir Singh, Vijay Deverakondaand Kiara Advani have won over the box office and millions ofhearts. Recognised as the next generation actors, the duo withtheir impeccable charm and beauty have won everyone’s heartsacross the industry and social media. The stunning and grace-

ful Kiara Advani, also known for herstyle and acting prowess has

become a household name;while Vijay, with his

smouldering looks andbrooding charm haswon over the audiencerepeatedly. Together, theduo shares a dynamic,youthful energy thatresonates with thebrand’s ethos and its

key message.

iCHIRU WILL BE SEEN ASAN EMPLOYEE OF THEENDOWMENTSDEPARTMENT WHOTARGETSENCROACHMENTS ONTEMPLE LANDS

Venky isa punter

CHIRU as a crusaderagainst temple

encroachments?

FOLLOWING THE OUTSTANDING SUCCESS OF THETELUGU MOVIE ARJUN REDDY AND ITS BOLLYWOODREMAKE KABIR SINGH, VIJAY DEVERAKONDA ANDKIARA ADVANI HAVE WON OVER THE BOX OFFICEAND MILLIONS OF HEARTS. RECOGNISED AS THENEXT GENERATION ACTORS, THE DUO WITH THEIRIMPECCABLE CHARM AND BEAUTY HAVE TAKEN THEINDUSTRY BY STORM.

I can't force myself to writefor stars: Vivek Athreya

The writer-director is going slowand is presently penning a thrillerand a romantic comedy, findsNAGARAJ GOUD

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2019

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Even as Board of Control forCricket in India presidentdesignate Sourav Ganguly

returned to Kolkata amid a grandwelcome the former Cricket Indiacaptain said there was no politicsto be read into his getting nom-inated as the boss of Indiancricket.

Soon after landing at theNSI Airport the cricketing south-paw said, “there was no politicalpressure on me; neither is thereany political deal,” behind his get-ting the priced post. When askedas to whether he saw a shinningpolitical future ahead of himparticularly after the 2021 BengalAssembly elections, he remainednon-committal saying “there wasno talk with anyone on my polit-ical future.”

Incidentally hours beforebeing tipped off to be the firstcricketer to become a BCCI pres-ident Ganguly had a brief meet-ing with Home Minister AmitShah which many critic saw as aprelude to his becoming theBoard president.

On whether there was anyoffer from any political bench for

him he said “there is nothingwrong if any politician wantsgood people to join politics.There is nothing wrong if MrAmit Shah or Mamata Didi wantgood people to join their parties.”

On his future chemistry withBCCI secretary designate JayShah he said “Jay and I have beenvery good friends.

Both of us are young andboth of us have experience andboth of us want to do somethingfor the Indian cricket. So it willbe a great inning for both of us.There will not be lack of any

effort … whether I will be suc-cessful or not I can’t say but I cansay that I will work to the best ofmy capability for the cause ofIndian cricket.”

Dwelling on his priorities asthe BCCI chief he said “my firstpriority is the whole lot of firstclass cricketers. It is this pool ofcricketers from where the toppayers emerge. But the remaininglot of first class cricketers getsvery little for them. So it will bemy first priority to do somethingfor them. We will work collective-ly and change their lives.”

PTI n DUBAI

Injured India opener SmritiMandhana has lost her

number one status after beingtoppled by New Zealand’sAmy Satterthwaite in the bat-ting chart of the latest ICCODI rankings.

Mandhana, who has 755points, slipped to the numbertwo spot after she missedIndia’s recently concludedODI series against SouthAfrica due to injury.

The 23-year-old suffereda fracture in her right toe afterbeing struck by a ball duringa net session before the startof the ODI series againstSouth Africa which India won3-0.

Among others batters,skipper Mithali Raj moveddown to the seventh spotwhile her Harmanpreet Kaurrose in the rankings to theoccupy the 17th place.

In the bowlers’ rankings,Jhulan Goswami, ShikhaPandey and Poonam Yadavmoved down to be placedsixth, eighth and ninth respec-tively.

Among the all-rounders,Deepti Sharma has moveddown to the third place whileShikha Pandey broke into thetop 10.

PTI n RANCHI

The demoralising defeats atthe hands of India in the

first two Tests has forced SouthAfrican paceman KagisoRabada to think if his side canbe put under more pressure.

India’s top-order fired inunison to bury South Africaunder a mountain of runs inboth the Tests, where theyamassed 500 and 600 in the firstinnings in Visakhapatnam andPune.

“We’ve been put underimmense pressure. I don’t knowif we can be put more pressurethan that,” Rabada toldreporters.

The 24-old year old pace-man acknowledged that notonly Indian batsmen but theirbowlers also outsmarted them.

It’s been a long time whenSouth Africa took 20 wickets in

a Test match and Rabada, whois South Africa’s leading seam-er, only has four wickets fromtwo matches in this series.

“They got the ball toreverse and they bowled well asa collective. Their whole attackput pressure on us in every sin-gle aspect. Their spinnersbowled well and when the ballwas reversing their seamerscould exploit that. We didn’treally get the ball to reverse andthat’s a major weapon of ours,”he explained.

Rabada is hoping that thisphase will be over soon.

“It’s never nice to lose,especially in the manner we’relosing right now but we’regoing through a transition peri-od. Our team is fresh andyoung, so the best thing we cando is look at where we canimprove and remember ourstrengths and build on them.”

PTI n KARACHI

Head coach-cum-chief selec-tor Misbah-ul-Haq is

extremely disappointed with theattitude of some Pakistani play-ers, who shy away from propertraining, lack discipline anddon’t adhere to professional stan-dards.

Pakistan recently suffered awhitewash against Sri Lanka inthe three-game T20I series athome and Misbah remains verydisappointed at the way the top-ranked side capitulated to SriLanka in front of home crowds.

“What has disturbed Misbahthe most in his first assignmentas head coach and the chiefselector is the reluctance of someplayers to follow directions of themanagement and do propertraining to keep high fitnessstandards,” one source said.

“He is unhappy that someplayers are just too relaxed andtake training lightly and are notworking on improving theircricket discipline. He has also notbeen encouraged by the attitudeof captain, Sarfaraz Ahmedwhom he feels shies away fromtaking responsibility when thechips are down.”

Another source said thatMisbah was surprised by thebehaviour of three senior play-ers — Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim,and Haris Sohail.

“Several times he felt theywere making excuses to shyaway from training and propernets. He got the feeling they hadsome sort of excuse ready to goeasy on their training,” the sourcesaid.

“Batsman, Haris Sohail hasdeveloped a painful habit ofmaking excuses for having someniggling problem or pain whenasked to push himself in training.

“Another problem whichconfronts Misbah is that most ofthe players don’t appear to havethe cricket discipline to followand execute plans on the fieldwhich are discussed in the dress-ing room.”

The source said at one stageMisbah even felt that the deci-sion of former head coachMickey Arthur to keep left-armpacer Wahab Riaz out of theteam was understandable.

The long-serving formerPakistan captain is also notpleased that some players are alsonot displaying the required pro-fessional standards.

“Two players bluntlyinformed their team’s headcoaches that they would reachfor the National T20Championship matches inFaisalabad on the morning of thegames. When Misbah came toknow about this he told thehead coaches they should bemore firm with the players andensure they joined their provin-cial team a day before the match-es,” one source said.

Misbah is also surprised thatArthur and the ex-support staffdidn’t pay enough attention todeveloping proper batsmen in allformats and didn’t look beyondBabar Azam.

“It is not a very happy situ-ation now and one can expectMisbah to take some hard deci-sions as chief selector whileselecting the T20 and Test squadsfor the coming tour of Australia,”he said.

Zahid Mahmood, a leg-spin-ner who in the past has beenignored by the selectors andcoaches, is now under the consid-eration of Misbah who is not sat-isfied with the form of currentteam leggies, Yasir Shah andShadab Khan.

Similarly, Misbah is also onthe lookout for some new pacebowlers and youngster NaseemShah is under his scanner for theAustralian tour.

The source said it will also beinteresting to see whether Misbahsupports Sarfaraz Ahmed to con-tinue as a Test captain when theboard meets to decide on the cap-tains for the Australian tour.

PNS n NEW DELHI

With the VIVO ProKabaddi League Season

Seven entering its penulti-mate phase, the semi-finals,all eyes are on the star athleteswho have pushed their teamstowards the coveted title.Defending championsBengaluru Bulls have rode onPawan Sehrawat’s raidingbrilliance all season but theywill be up against Leaguetoppers Dabang Delhi KC,who have with them anotherbrilliant talent in raiderNaveen Kumar. In the secondsemi-final, Bengal Warriorswill face an in-form UMumba side, who outclasseda strong Haryana Steelersunit in the Eliminators.

BATTLE OF RAIDERSFor most parts of this sea-

son, Pawan Sehrawat haslooked the best Kabaddi play-er in the country, and he hascarried that form into thecrucial, knockout stages ofthe competition. His 20-pointperformance was vital inBulls’ comeback victoryagainst UP Yoddha in theEliminators and the defend-ing champions will onceagain be reliant on the High-Flyer for the raid pointsagainst Delhi, especially withRohit Kumar still lookingtroubled by his back injury.Pawan has 328 points from 23matches this season, includ-ing 17 Super 10s, but theraider will be facing a famil-iar foe in Delhi’s left cornerRavinder Pahal. Interestingly,the ‘Hawk’ has a better head-to-head histor y againstPawan in duels (8-7), and willtake belief from NiteshKumar’s performances forUP against the raider fromthe same position.

At the other end, NaveenKumar will be keen to launchthe wrecking ball onto a leakyBulls’ defence. BarringMahender Singh, no defend-er looked convincing in theirgame against UP, and inNaveen they will be facing araider of another class. The19-year-old, a produce of the

Future Kabaddi Heroes(FKH) programme, has 19consecutive Super 10s thisseason (268 points from 21matches), and will be a forceto reckon with. With both theraiding departments lookingstrong, the match will mostlikely be won by the defence.

“ W E L L - B A L A N C E D ”SIDES

Bengal Warriors,arguably, have been the mostcomplete side in Season 7,with their defence and attackfiring hand in hand. But theywill be facing a U Mumba,often called a defence-reliantteam, who have discovered anew dimension through twoyoung raiders — AbhishekSingh and Arjun Deshwal.The duo scored 32 points forthe Mumbai side in theirEliminator round, and with UMumba also peaking at theright time, the second semi-final will be a tactical warfare.Baldev Singh (averaging 2.59tackles per match) and RinkuNarwal have been in goodform for the Warriors andthey will be keen to make lifedifficult for Mumbai’s youngraiders. Maninder Singh’sinjury concerns will be aconcern for the Bengal teamthough, especial ly withMumbai corners of FazelAtrachali (top scoring

defender in season seven with81 points so far) and SandeepNarwal in red-hot form. Butin K Prapanjan andMohammad Nabibakhsh, theWarriors have a great raidingunit to support Maninder.

The eliminator roundswere testimony to the factthat there can be no clearfavourites in a Kabaddimatch. Expect nothing shortof fireworks as the mostfiercely competed season ofVIVO PKL enters the finalstages.

The players had a takeon the semi-final match:

Talking about the semi-finals Pawan Hi-FlyerSehrawat, Captain ofBengaluru Bulls, said “It wasa great match yesterday, I

have never played such a highquality match. During myschool days I played a matchwhich ended in a draw andafter that I played a tied gamein the knockout stage yester-day and it was a great experi-ence to be part of it. I had losthope of winning but then ourcoach motivated me and wehad Rohit bhai's support alsothat kept me going. Therewere so many excitingmoments in the match that inthe end turned it turned inour favour. It was a completeteam effort. Our match withDabang Delhi KC is going tobe challenging, they are agood and balanced team withgood quality defenders andraiders and like the previousone it is going to be a close

call. A blockbuster of a RaidFest for sure!”

Talking about the semi-finals Fazel Sultan Atrachali,Captain of U Mumba, said“The last match with Haryanawas very difficult as Haryanahad played us very recentlyand they knew our gameplay.They had strategized accord-ingly to ensure the best result.However, it was a very impor-tant time for me because inthe last season, we qualified tothe playoffs and then could-nt go further so I wanted tonot repeat the same mistake.Yesterday's game was reallygood because we won such atough match so the team isvery motivated and confi-dent. We have strategizedfocusing on defence and whenwe have a controlled defencewe perform really well. EvenBengal Warriors has a gooddefence but I think we canovercome that. We need toconcentrate on team workand not depend on any oneplayer during the match,everyone has to support eachother and play as a unit.”

Talking about the semi-finals Joginder Narwal,Captain of Dabang Delhi,said “The season has beentough and the competitionduring the league stage ishigh. The team worked hardand emerged as table toppers,we wish to continue themomentum and give our bestduring the semi-finals. Wehave always taken one gameat a time and will do so evenfor our match againstBengaluru Bulls. Our aim is topick the cup this year, and weare working towards it.”

Talking about the semi-finals Nabibaksh, BengalWarriors, said “U Mumba putup a good game, they were onpoint with their defence andoffence. We are preparing forthe semi-finals and practicingrigorously to make sure wekeep the pressure on ouropponent from the begin-ning. The match against UMumba will be a neck-to-neck battle and we will giveour best to make sure weemerge victorious and

ST JOHN'S: Phil Simmons hasreturned to take charge of theWest Indies three years afterbeing dismissed in controver-sial circumstances, CricketWest Indies has announced.

In a statement CWI said onMonday that Simmons wouldbe head coach for the next fouryears. He led the Windies to the2016 Twenty20 World Cupbefore being booted out amidtensions with his paymasters.

“Bringing Phil Simmonsback is not just righting a pastwrong, but I am confidentthat CWI has chosen the right

man for the job at the righttime,” said CWI presidentRicky Skerritt.

Former West Indies all-rounder Simmons, 56, wassacked in September 2016 for“differences in culture andstrategic approach” betweenwith the cricket hierarchydespite their remarkable T20World Cup triumph.

Simmons’ success in theT20 arena however was notmirrored in Test cricket.During his reign the WestIndies won only one of 14Tests. PTI

AFP n DUBAI

Ireland captain GaryWilson wants his side

to ensure they finish"right at the top again" inthe upcoming 2020 T20World Cup qualifyingtournament, but Nigeriaand Jersey are amongthose chasing a "dream"appearance on the glob-al stage.

Scotland are thehighest-ranked team inthe competition, with 14nations vying for sixplaces in the openinground of next year'sWorld T20 in Australia,where they would joinBangladesh and SriLanka in attempting toreach the 'Super 12s'.

Ireland are the onlyTest team having to gothrough qualifying,which starts on Friday inthe United ArabEmirates, and will beexpected to book a sixthstraight appearance inthe tournament.

"We are here to com-pete at the world stage,"said Irish skipper Wilson."We have a great recordin the Middle East andthe boys are looking for-ward to a great tourna-ment and ensure we fin-ish right at the top again."

The winners of eachgroup of seven will qual-ify automatically, withthe four remaining spotsto be decided in playoffs.

Scotland, 11th in theworld T20 rankings,claimed their first-everwin at a global ICC tour-nament in the 2016 edi-tion by beating HongKong, but will be lookingto put the pain of agonis-ingly missing out on the50-over World Cup ear-lier this year behindthem.

They had twochances to secure a placeduring last year's qualify-ing in Zimbabwe, butlost to Ireland before raincut short their tense runchase against two-timeworld champions theWest Indies.

"We know everyteam is dangerous in thiscompetition," saidScotland captain KyleCoetzer. "It is vitallyimportant not only for usas Scotland but for everyteam here."

JERSEY CHASING 'DREAM'The Netherlands,

who reached the 'Super10' round in 2014,Oman, Hong Kong andhosts the UAE will all beamong the favourites toqualify.

But the l ikes ofNigeria, Jersey andSingapore insist they arenot going to just makeup the numbers as theybid to give cricket aboost in their countries.

There was already ashock in the Asianregional qualifiers, withSingapore reaching thisstage ahead of Nepal, theworld's 13th-ranked out-fit.

Island team Jerseyare playing in their sec-ond consecutive qualifi-er, having fallen shortfour years ago despitesurprise victories overHong Kong and Nepal.

"For Jersey, it wouldprobably be the biggestthing that has happenedin our sporting history,"admitted captainCharles Perchard.

"It's a dream of oursto potentially play in aWorld Cup next year...

"We're a small island

and in a lot of sports wedo punch above ourweight, especially incricket and qualificationwould be massive forour country."

Nigeria havereached the final stage ofqualifying for the firsttime as cricket continuesto grow in the Africancountry, with their youthside booking a spot atnext year's Under-19World Cup in SouthAfrica.

"It would be a greatthing to be at the WorldCup. It would be a greathistory for Nigeria," saidtheir skipper AdemolaOnikoyi, after his teamtook the place ofZimbabwe followingtheir suspension by theICC.

"Our juniors will beat the World Cup nextyear in South Africa, sowe want to do that aswell."

Singapore, led byAmjad Mahboob, arealso debutants at thequalifying event, whileBermuda will be lookingto repeat the heroics oftheir side who famouslyreached the 2007 WorldCup.

The qualifiers getunderway on Friday,with Scotland facingSingapore in the openingGroup A game, whileIreland take on HongKong and the UAE playOman in Group B.

PTI n MUMBAI

Domestic cricket stalwart andformer India opener Wasim

Jaffer on Tuesday slammed the“unfit” pitches being used inVadodara for the Vijay HazareTrophy.

Jaffer took to Twitter to vent outhis frustration.

“Absolutely unfit pitches to playin ‘List A’ matches in Vadodara,” hewrote.

Later Jaffer, who is the highest-run scorer in Ranji Trophy, said thatthe pitch at the Motibaug ground was“close to being dangerous”.

“Yes, specially the pitch atMotibaug is close to being danger-ous. Two-three players were hit by aball and nobody is scoring more than150-160 runs.

“Our tournament was (sup-pose) to start on 24th (September)but then there was rain for two

weeks. So, I don’t know why theBaroda Cricket Association first of alltook up (the job) to host VijayHazare,” Jaffer said.

All the Group B matches havebeen played in Baroda and Jaffer’steam Vidarbha won only two of theirnine matches, losing four. Three oftheir games had no result. They arelanguishing at the 8th spot in theElite Group B standings and 13th inthe combined Group A and B stand-ings.

“And the matches we are playingon, if you look at the scores, you willget to know what kind of wickets weare playing on. In Bengaluru, Jaipurand Dehradun they are getting goodpitches to play (on), so its just feelsvery sad,” Jaffer said.

A senior member of theVidarbha’s coaching staff believesthat the match-referee should submita detailed report about the conditionof pitches to the BCCI.

Ireland, Scotland attemptto deny minnows ‘dream'

Misbahdisappointedwith attitude ofsome players

No politics behind my selectionas BCCI chief: Ganguly

Jaffer slams ‘unfit’ Vadodarapitches for Hazare trophy

Smriti loses top spot

Smriti Mandhana in a file picture PTI

Don't know if we can be putunder more pressure: Rabada

Simmons reappointed WI coach

Delhi eye maiden PKL final place

‘Want to reverse losingtrend in knock-outgames of ICC events’PTI n KOLKATA

Former India captain SouravGanguly, who is set to be the

new BCCI president, wants theVirat Kohli-led national team toreverse the trend of losing theknock-out games in ICC events.

“India are a good team. Iknow they have not won a bigtournament. But they play well inbig tournaments except the semi-finals and the final. Hopefully,Virat can change it around. He isa champion player,” Gangulytold reporters here on Tuesday.

India have not won an ICCevent since the 2013 ChampionsTrophy. The team finished run-ner-up in the 2017 ChampionsTrophy final after losing toPakistan.

In the World Cup earlier thisyear, India were one of thefavourites to win the title butended up losing the semifinal toNew Zealand.