PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment's decision to introduceEnglish as the medium ofinstruction in all governmentschools has triggered a contro-versy, with a section of acade-micians and teachers opposingthe move. The YS JaganmohanReddy-led government hasannounced converting all gov-ernment, Mandal PrajaParishad (MPP) and ZillaParishad (ZP) schools intoEnglish medium schools.

According to an order issuedby the School EducationDepartment, English will bethe medium of instructionfrom Class I to VIII from aca-demic year 2020-21. For ClassIX and X, English will be themedium of instruction from2021-22.

However, Telugu or Urduwill be a compulsory subject inall schools. The government's

decision has evoked criticismfrom a section of academicsand teachers. Katti NarasimhaReddy, a member of theAndhra Pradesh LegislativeCouncil, found fault with the

move, saying that it wentagainst the recommendation ofthe Kasturi Rangan Committeethat had said teaching shouldbe done in mother tongue, atleast in primary classes.

The legislator from teachers'constituency said that con-verting all government schoolsinto English medium schoolswas also a deviation from theproposed national educationpolicy. The YSR Congress Party(YSRCP) government hascome under criticism for intro-ducing English medium with-out doing the necessary groundwork.

Teachers of government-runTelugu and Urdu mediumschools opposed the move,saying they lacked the neces-sary skills to teach in English."As the new academic yearstarts in June, and we have justeight months in hand which isnot sufficient to prepare our-selves for the new task," said ateacher in Vijayawada.

Meanwhile, the United

Teachers' Federation (UTF)condemned the governmentorder and demanded thatTelugu medium schools shouldbe allowed to continue. UTFstate president Sheikh Saabjisaid that scrapping Telugu asthe medium of instruction inall government schools is nota proper decision.

Continued on Page 3

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Academics, teachers say English in all schools is againstKasturi panel recommendations, and impractical

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment has distributed ex-gratiaof Rs five lakh to each of thefamilies of five constructionworkers who committed sui-cide in Guntur district, fromBuilding and OtherConstruction Workers Welfarefund on Wednesday,November 7.

AP Labour CommissionerG Rekha Rani said that theamount was given to thedeceased families from thefund on the instructions of APChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy.

The AP State governmenthas said that there is sandscarcity in the state and saidthat continued flood in majorrivers has hampered excava-tion of sand. The Chief

Minister has assured that sandshortage will be sorted in thenext 10 days and sand avail-ability will be improved.

The AP state government istaking all the necessary stepsto tide over the crisis and foravoiding any inconvenienceto the labourer who depends

on the sand for their liveli-hood. Added to that, the APstate government has plannedto bring new legislation toregulate and impose strictmeasures for violations in min-ing and transport of sand is inthe offing to check sand mafiaand to regulate the prices.

Kin of construction workersget Rs 5 lakh ex gratia

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy called on CPM senior leader P Madhualong with advisor S Ramkrishna Reddy on Thursday

PNS n NEW DELHI

Industrial development cannotbe done on the graves of humanbeings and should not be at thecost of "air and water quality",the NGT said Thursday whiledirecting the Haryana govern-ment to shorten the period ofinspection of polluting factories.

A bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice AdarshKumar Goel said there is needfor reduction in period ofinspections and increase in fre-quency with regard to "highlypolluting" industries.

"Needless to say that whileindustrial development in sus-tainable manner is necessary, itcannot be at the cost of air andwater quality which are themeans of sustenance of life. Theindustrial development cannotbe on the graves of humanbeings.

"There can be no objection tobureaucratic procedures andhassles being relaxed, simplifiedand shortened and industrialgrowth and employment gener-ation programmes beingencouraged but at the same

time, such initiatives are to bebalanced against deteriorationof air and water quality whichmust be protected," the benchsaid.

The green panel said vigi-lance is also required on "greencategory", which are less pollut-

ing, to verify that "green" statusis being genuinely used.

It said that there is a need forthe Central Pollution ControlBoard to ensure revision ofpolicies in all the states havingregard to the data of air andwater quality.

The policy should coverinspections with reference to theWater (Prevention and Controlof Pollution) Act, 1974 as wellas the Air (Prevention andControl of Pollution) Act, 1981,it said, adding that furtheraction taken report may befiled by the CPCB before thenext date by e-mail.

Centre asksstates to bealert ahead ofSC verdict

Now bars to be open till 10 pm

AP Cabinet tomeet on Nov 13PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh Cabinetmeeting is scheduled to beheld on November 13. In-charge Chief SecretaryNeerab Kumar Prasad hassent a note in this regard toall the officials on Thursday.

"All the Special ChiefSecretaries and PrincipalSecretaries have to preparethe reports and proposals indetail. First they have to sub-mit all the files in CMO forthe consideration," he said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

To gradually cut availabilityand consumption of liquor,the Chief Minister, YSJaganmohan Reddy has askedthe concerned officials tobring down the number ofbars in the state. In a meet-ing at the camp office, theChief Minister instructed theofficials to implement therule from January 1 nextyear.

He further said that barswill be open from 11.00 amto 10 pm. The Chief Ministerinstructed the officials toconsider all aspects whilegranting permission to set upa bar. The Andhra Pradeshgovernment had taken over3,500 liquor shops across thestate, which will be run by theAP State BeveragesCorporation.

NEW DELHI:x The Centrehas asked all states to remainalert ahead of the SupremeCourt verdict on RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidtitle dispute and ensure secu-rity in sensitive areas, officialssaid on Thursday.

The Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA) has also dis-patched around 4,000 para-military personnel for secu-rity deployment in UttarPradesh, particularly inAyodhya.

A general advisory hasbeen sent to all states andUnion territories asking themto deploy adequate securitypersonnel in all sensitiveplaces and ensure that nountoward incident takes placeanywhere in the country, ahome ministry official said.

Man who burntalive womanMRO diesHYDERABAD: The man,who had burnt alive aTelangana government offi-cial in her office nearHyderabad on Monday, alsosuccumbed to his injurieson Thursday, taking the tollto three in the ghastly inci-dent.

K. Suresh died at govern-ment-run Osmania Hospitalaround 3.30 p.m., doctorssaid. His condition starteddeteriorating on Wednesdaynight and he was put on ven-tilator.

Vijaya Reddy, 37, a tahsil-dar (Mandal RevenueOfficer) of Abdullapurmetmandal, was burnt alive inher office by Suresh overland row.

PM to visitBrazil on Nov13-14 forBRICS summitNEW DELHI: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willvisit Brazil from Nov 13-14 toattend an annual summit ofBRICS, a grouping of fivecountries, the external affairsministry said on Thursday.

The BRICS comprisesBrazil, Russia, India, Chinaand South Africa.

Secretary (EconomicRelations) in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs T STirumurti told reporters thatthe leaders at the summit willdeliberate on boosting over-all cooperation among themember nations.Brazil is thecurrent chair of the groupingwhich represents over 3.6billion people, or half of theworld population and theyhave a combined nominalGDP of USD 16.6 trillion.

PNS n MUMBAI

With just a day to the deadlinefor government formation inMaharashtra, the Shiv Senamoved its MLAs to a hotel inMumbai amid reports that afaction could break away tosupport its ally BJP. Talk ofdefections from the Senagained more ground as the BJPmet with Governor BhagarSingh Koshyari.

"Our MLAs are committedto the party and do not needsequestering to keep them fromdefecting. No party will breakin Maharashtra," Shiv Sena MPSanjay Raut said earlier today,rubbishing the reports.

"No one can dare to comenear Shiv Sena MLAs. OurMLAs are firm in theirresolve and committed tothe party. Those who arespreading such rumoursshould worry about theirMLAs first," Sanjay Raut toldreporters.

But in the afternoon, SenaMLAs were seen enteringRangsharda, a small hoteljust a few minutes away fromMatoshree, party chiefUddhav Thackeray's home.The MLAs may stay there fora couple of days, it wasreportedly decided after ameeting at Matoshree.

Continued on Page 3

Shiv Sena MLAs moveto Mumbai hotelamid uncertainty

PNS n NEW DELHI

In the wake of some 'honey trap'incidents, the Indian Army hasissued an advisory, asking itspersonnel to be cautious andavoid being friendly withstrangers posing as spiritualleaders or women of foreignorigin. The Army has alsoidentified around 150 profilesused by Pakistan to honey trapIndian Army personnel.

The advisory, issued in mid-October, says that Pakistaniintelligence agencies are target-ing Indian security personnel,especially Indian Army person-nel, who are deployed in sensi-tive areas.

The Army has asked every-one not to divulge sensitiveinformation on social mediaand be cautious about honeytrap attempts.

"Pakistan-based operatives,through social media, gathercontact numbers of senior armyofficials, and deployment pat-terns," said a senior IndianArmy officer. Many Pakistan-based social media operativestake disguise as a Person ofIndian Origin and identifythemselves with pseudo nameslike Vikram calling from armyheadquarters or as insurancesofficers and take details.

Indian Army tells Jawansnot to get ‘honey trapped'

Announcementsin southernlanguages atVaranasi stationPNS n VARANASI

The railway station in primeminister Narendra Modi'sparliamentary constituencyVaranasi will soon airannouncements in Tamil,Telugu, Malyalam andKannada languages. TheRailway is making specialarrangements for the growingnumber of non-Hindi speak-ing people visiting the holycity.

"Non- Hindi speakers,especially from South Indiaare coming here in largenumbers. A majority of themdo not understand Hindi.So, for their ease and conve-nience, we will be soon mak-ing the announcements inregional languages. Initially,it will be in four languages.The system is being upgrad-ed for this," said AnandMohan, Director, regionalCantt station.

"We are beginning withTamil, Malayalam, Kannadaand Telugu. Later Odia,Marathi and other languageswill also be added. This willbe done by the end of thismonth."

"This is a new experimentand it will be started from theprime minister's constituen-cy," Mohan said.

Non-Hindi speaking visi-tors face a lot of problemswhile trying to get informa-tion about their train timings,etc. and many a times theyhave missed their trains in theprocess.

Panel said vigilance isalso required on‘green category’,which are lesspolluting, to verifythat ‘green’ status isbeing genuinely used

LANGUAGE WRANGLEn Govt plans to make English

medium of instruction from ClassI to VIII from 2020-21; Class IXand X from 2021-22

n Teachers say with just eightmonths to go, ground work forimplementation is zero

n Move goes againstrecommendation that teachingshould be done in mother tongue

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Putting all speculations torest, IT Minister M GouthamReddy claimed that Adaniand Reliance Groups are verymuch interested in setting uptheir proposed projects inAndhra Pradesh and the pro-jects were not going to anyother place as the rumoursdoing rounds. The YSRCPgovernment is not issuingblind cheque to investors inthe form of lands withoutgoing through their invest-ment plan thoroughly.

Commenting on the

rumours that Adani groupshelved its data centre projectproposed in Visakhapatnam to

open the same in Hyderabad,the IT Minister said "AdaniGroup has not withdrawn itsplans to invest in a data parkin Visakhapatnam.

We have asked the group tocome up with a clear invest-ment plan so that according-ly land parcels could be allo-cated in a phased manner. Ihad spoken to Adani Grouprepresentatives and they arevery much interested to set uptheir data centre inVisakhapatnam and arepreparing an investment planas suggested by us. We willsoon announce the date for

the grounding of the project."Citing the reason behind

thoroughly going into theproposed projects, he said theallocation of lands to indus-tries blindly without verifyingtheir credentials had resultedin land crunch.

Consequently, the adverseaffect is state government isleft with not enough landbank to allocate to genuineplayers. "We are not here tomake MoUs and provide landswithout checking the invest-ment plan to hog the medialimelight.

Continued on Page 3

IT Minister M Goutham Reddy

‘Adani, Reliance projects not going anywhere’

Ind growth cannot be done ongraves of human beings: NGT

English medium in govt schools raises heckles

FULFILLED ANOTHERPROMISE, SAYS CMCM distributes cheques to AgriGold scam victimsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy has said that the gov-ernment has launched manywelfare schemes. Other statesare taking us as role model, hesaid.

Speaking at a functionorganised in Guntur to dis-tribute the cheques toAgriGold victims, the ChiefMinister said that though thecase was a matter involving aprivate company and the issuebeing in court, the govern-ment has taken the permis-sion of the court to disbursean amount of Rs 264 crore to3.7 lakh victims.

If anyone is left out, they canregister their names with theDistrict Legal ServicesAuthority (DLSA) for onemore month to get the bene-fit. "Presently, dues are beingpaid to those who had invest-ed up to Rs 10,000 and in thenext phase, we will take per-mission from the court to pro-vide the benefit to those whohad deposited up to Rs 20,000,"Jaganmohan Reddy said.

"I have given a word to thevictims who approached meduring my 3,648 km padaya-tra and told me as to how theywere cheated and the previousgovernment tried to manipu-

late the situation. At that time,I was in the Opposition andtook up your cause and foughtwith the Government. Today,I am before you to fulfill theassurance I have given then.On May 30, we came to power.In June, we discussed the mat-ter in the Cabinet and on July12 we have allocated funds inthe budget. We are just five-months-old but provided jobsto over four lakh people ofwhich 1.30 jobs are of perma-nent nature in the VillageSecretariats. We have given Rs

10,000 financial assistance toauto and cab owner-cum-dri-vers under YSR Vahana Mitra,"he further said.

The Chief Minister claimedthat during the last fivemonths, the government hadbrought out a legislation fixing75 per cent quota in jobs toyouth in industries andincreased the old age pensionamount.

"The previous governmenthad allotted Rs 500 crore whilewe have earmarked.

Continued on Page 3

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Home Minister Sucharita at thyeAgriGold cheque distribution programme on Thursday

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any important work)Rahukalam: 11:59 am – 01:24 pmYamagandam: 07:44 am – 09:09 amVarjyam: 02:21 pm – 04:09 pmGulika: 10:34 am - 11:59 amGood Time: (to start any

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VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 8, 2019 vijayawada 02

Pursue fundamental research, youth toldPNS n BENGALURU

IT czar N R Narayana Murthyon Thursday said he wantsIndia to be a place where dis-covery and invention happenevery month. Noting that Indiaprobably has more problemsfacing its citizens than anyother country in the world, hestressedon the need for coun-try's youngsters to pursue fun-damental research.

"What kind of researchshould our youngsters do? Iwantit to be 'an expression of an ageas well as an influence operatingupon both present and future,'as Abraham Flexner once said.I want India to be a place wherediscovery andinvention happenevery month," Murthy said.

Addressing an event organ-ised to announce the winners of

the 11th Infosys Prize by InfosysScience Foundation, ofwhichhe is a trustee, Murthy said, ouryouth deserve toinvent someimportant stuff valuable to Indiaand the world sothat they arerecognised and respected. "Else,what is our contribution to thisworld as anation of 1.25 billionpeople?" he asked.

Pointing at India's own histo-ry of advances in Science andMathematics, the Infosys co-founder said, there were manyIndian scientists and mathemati-cians who did "earth-shaking"work during the "golden period"of science and mathematics inIndia from 100 AD to 1400 AD.

"The scientists and mathe-maticians of the golden era ofIndian science and mathemat-ics were some of the deepest andmost original thinkers of the

world of that period," he said, ashe listed the contributions ofAryabhatta, Brahmagupta,Bhaskaracharya, and Madhava.

"The conclusion is that ouryouth is capable of originalthinking if we create an environ-ment that encourages suchadventures of mind," he added.

Observing that there wereeven more important reasonswhyour youngsters have to beencouraged and equipped tobecomecontributors to solvinghuge problems that confront usevery day, Murthy said, Indiaprobably has more problems

facing itscitizens than any othercountry in the world.

"Our huge population is abig bottleneck for providingour children with basic edu-cation, healthcare, nutritionand shelter," he said.

Murthy believed that wecould find appropriatesolu-tions to our problems if weeducate the youth tothinkindependently to useresearch and its applications.

He stressed the need to pro-vide full freedom of inquiry andimagination to youngsters whoenter the portals of the country's

higher educational and researchinstitutions.

"These youngsters come in asintelligent, curious, enthusiasticand energetic young men andyoung women, and they have tobe nurtured to leave as confi-dent, knowledgeable, daring,open-minded and independent

thinkers that will go after solu-tions to the problems of ourcountry," he opined.

Raising several queries like-can our youngstersfind a vaccineto chikungunya or dengue? canthey find aninexpensive solutionto desalination of sea water?among others, Murthy said, ifour youngsters can find solu-tions tothese problems thenthey would bring back pride toour people,and to our futuregenerations.

Murthy further said, wehave to overcome our "skep-ticism" about the so-called"useless knowledge" and starthelping our youngsters pursuefundamental research enthu-siastically.

Also speaking at the event,another Infosys co-founderKris Gopalakrishnan under-

scored the need for increasingthe overall per cent of spend-ing on research. "Today Indiaspends 0.6 per cent to 0.7 percent ofGDP on research. Out ofthis 0.6 per cent is spent by thegovernment, private sector thatincludes philanthropy spends0.1 per cent on research.Developed countries like- USspends3 per cent, Korea 4 percent and China 4-5 per cent.We have toincrease the overallper cent of spending onresearch," he said.

Government has made acommitment to increase theirspending to 1 per cent, but theprivate sector and philanthropyhave to significantly increaseabove what they are doing today,he said adding "the wealth isthere, weneed to spend thatmoney."

PNS n AMARAVATI

Andhra Pradesh governmentwill soon inaugurate as manyas eight control rooms toensure prevention of boat acci-dents, tighten procedures toissue licences for boats andimpart training to operatorsamong other measures.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy chaired areview meeting to take neces-sary precautions to preventboat accidents and decided toset up eight control rooms forprevention of boat accidentsand security, according to anofficial release.

The control rooms will beunder the Mandal RevenueOffice and will include stafffrom the Water Resources,Police and TourismDepartment. The ChiefMinister instructed officialsthat at least 13 personnel staffand three police constablesshould be in each controlroom.

The Chief Minister is sched-uled to inaugurate the con-struction of eight controlrooms on November 21 andthey will be available within 90

days. The Chief Minister saidthat there should be continu-ous information with the con-trol room on the movement ofboats, their routes, and infor-mation of floods. Alcohol con-sumption should be banned.He also instructed the officialsto attach GPS connections,ban the consumption of alco-hol by staff and conduct breathanalyser tests on staff.

"MRO will be in charge ofthe control room. If the controlroom is seen without any haz-ard, they will be given at leasttwo months salary as incen-tives based on the grading," thechief minister said adding that

walkie-talkies and GPS will bemandatory on boats.

"Permission should begiven to boats only after thor-ough checking and make surethat the Standard OperatingProcedure (SOP) is installedon the boats. Periodic infor-mation should be available onthe river flow," he said. TheChief Minister said that thecontrol room staff shouldtake responsibility for thetrips in the river and therecruited staff in controlrooms should be trained forthree months.

The officers told ChiefMinister that they are current-

ly checking licenses and boats.The Chief Minister instructedofficials that the boat trainersshould also be trained andboats should be allowed onlyafter inspection.

On September 15, the RoyalVasishta boat capsized in riverGodavari. Of the 77 persons onboard, only 26 persons sur-vived. The boat was broughtout of the river and pulled tothe shore on October 22.

AP to set up control roomsto prevent boat accidents

KGH gets new operation theatre

n The control roomswill be under thecharge of MRO andwill include staff fromWater Resources,Tourism depts, Police

n At least 13 personnelstaff and three policeconstables will be ineach control room

n The CM is scheduledto inaugurate theconstruction of eightcontrol rooms onNovember 21 andthey will be availablewithin 90 days

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Collector V Vinay Chand onThursday inaugurated a newoperation theatre complex-Mathrusri Maternity Facility atGynaecology Department inKGH.

Kamala Nagula and DrSeetharamayya Nagula, thealumni of Andhra MedicalCollege, Visakhapatnam(1966) donated funds for theoperation theatre complex.

The construction of thebuilding and equipmentamounts to Rs 1 crore, whichwas donated by AMCANA(Andhra Medical CollegeAlumni of North America)and Rs 1.5 lakh was spent fromthe Hospital DevelopmentSociety funds of King GeorgeHospital, sanctioned by theChairman: HDS and DistrictCollector, Visakhapatnam.

District Collector VinayChand thanked DrSeetharamayya Nagula andAMCANA members for pro-viding infrastructure facilityfor the KGH and alsorequested them to supportthe construction of theCentenary Block in AMCwith adequate funds.

Dr G Arjuna,Superintendent, KGH, alsothanked Dr SeetharamayyaNagula, AMCANA for provid-ing many projects in KGH likefor cervical cancer detection

facility for women, mammog-raphy facility for breast cancerand NICU ward for children.He also thanked districtCollector for sanctioning thefund under HDS and also

inaugurated the facility. Dr PVSudhakar, Principal, AndhraMedical College,Visakhapatnam also thankedand requested the AMCANAmembers to support the otherprojects in AMC.

Dr Seetharamayya NagulaMD, who was an NRI, deliv-ered a PPT (power point pre-sentation) on 'Helping theHelpless' in the radiology lec-ture gallery. ThroughAMCANA (Andhra MedicalCollege Alumni of NorthAmerica ), he promised ot fur-ther collect the fund to helpfor the development of theAMC/KGH in future. Dr TPadmavathi, Prof and head ofthe department of Obst andGynaecology and other seniordoctors were present alongwith members of AMCANAand 1966 AMC batch Doctors.

Collector V Vinay Chand, principal of Andhra Medical College Dr PV Sudhakarand KGH superintendent Dr G Arjuna at the new operation theatre, which wasinaugurated on Thursday

The construction ofthe building andequipment has costRs 1 crore, whichwas donated byAMCANA and Rs 1.5lakh was spent fromthe HospitalDevelopmentSociety funds ofKing GeorgeHospital

The conclusion is that our youth is capable of originalthinking if we create an environment that encouragessuch adventures of mind

— N R NARAYANA MURTHY, IT cczar

Govt foisting falsecases, saysDiwakar Reddy

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh State SkillDevelopment Corporation(APSSDC) launched 'Skillson Wheels' bus on Thursdayfrom the corporation officehere to provide digital edu-cation in rural areas of thestate.

The bus will travel to sixdistricts of the state, whichinclude Prakasam, Nellore,Chittoor, Anantapur, andKurnool. "In each district, atleast 5 villages will be cov-

ered. Under this scheme,three groups of the societywill be provided education -school children, unemployedyouth and Self Help Groupmembers," said MadhusudanReddy, Chairman, APSSDC.

He also said that communi-ty programs will be held invarious parts of the state. "Intotal, various groups will beprovided digital literacy for 11hours per day. HewlettPackard (HP) is providingtechnical support for this pro-ject," he added.

‘Skills on Wheels' toeducate rural youth

PNS n ANANTAPUR

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy has been victimisingpolitical rivals and this trend isgoing to increase further infuture, alleged former TDP MPJC Diwakar Reddy. He allegedthat Jagan has been targetingsome individuals and foistingfalse cases against them.

In mining sector too, thephenomenon is perceptible. Tosave from police harassment, thetargeted individuals have beenurged to join the YSRCP. Thegovernment officials too have nooption except paying heed towhat the government says. Theofficials are dreading that thesame fate would fall as that of theChief Secretary LVSubrahmanyam if they did notpay heed to what the govern-ment says, he pointed out.

He claims to have experi-enced more than 74 years in

transport sector. Referring toRTA officials seizing DiwakarTravels' buses, he wanted toknow whether the DiwakarTravels is the lone offender. Hewanted to know how manybuses of other travel serviceshave been seized.

Even though the tribunal hasbeen asking the RTA officials torelease the seized buses, the RTAofficials are not paying heed tothe tribunal directions, helamented.

PNS n NEW DELHI

After nearly two decades ofoperations, Yahoo Groups isshutting down and users whostill have data on the once pop-ular groups have time tillDecember 14 to save them. TheVerizon-owned tech companyhas disabled uploading of con-tent on the Yahoo Groups site.

Beginning December 14, allGroups will be made privateand content uploaded previ-ously via the website will beremoved. "Privacy is criticaland we have taken this deci-sion to better align with ouroverall principles. If you wouldlike to keep any of the contentyou've posted or stored inyour Yahoo Group, pleasedownload it by December 14,"the Yahoo Groups team said inan email to users.

"Photos and files can besaved right from the YahooGroups site, or you can down-load your data from thePrivacy Dashboard," the com-pany said. In the 18 years, since

Yahoo Groups' launch in 2001,millions have used the facilityto connect with others aroundtheir common bonds andinterests.

But a lot has changed aboutthe Internet since 2001 andtaking into consideration thechanging habit of Internetusers, Yahoo began the processof helping active Yahoo Groupsmigrate to its email platform.In September, Yahoo unveileda new version of its Mail appthat aims to redefine the waypeople use their inboxes.

The new version brings arevamped interface, developedkeeping in mind today's tallermobile screens, which allowsintuitive one-hand usage withthe new navigation bar at thebottom of the screen. Yahoo,however, emphasised that newgroups could still be formed.The difference is that all thecontent that you shared previ-ously on the website, can nowbe shared via email. The cur-tains on Yahoo Groups alsoreflects how the smartphone ischanging the world around us.

Save your Yahoo Groupsdata within 5 weeks!

Task Forcepersonnel raidbrothel; fivearrested

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The City Task Force person-nel raided a brothel housein the city on Thursdayand arrested five persons.They raided a brothel houseat Shankar Nagar inMadhavadhara and arrest-ed one organiser BuddigaNaga Mani, 39, and twocustomers, Chotelal 35 ofGanesh Plywood GlassCentre, Santhipuram,Sankaramatham Road andLuna Ram Kumar, 34, ofSeethammapeta and res-cued a woman, who is anative of Kolkata. Cashworth Rs 5,330, five mobilephones were recoveredfrom their possession. Theywere handed over to theconcerned SHO, AirportPS for fur ther act ion.Meanwhile, two personswere arrested for organisingcockfights at Uppada ofBhimili.

Why shiftcapital? TDPMLC asks govtPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister Botsa Satyanarayanadoes not know the differencebetween temporary struc-tures and permanent struc-tures, TDP MLC BendalamAshok has opined. Speakingto the media on Thursday atGuntur, he demanded thegovernment to explain whythe capital is being shiftedfrom Amaravati.

He opined that theMinisters are speaking a lotmore than the engineers."Why are they making fun offarmers' sacrifices?" he ques-tioned. He said that theMinisters do not know any-thing except demolishing thestructures. Because of theirattitude, investments aregoing back from the State."We are ready to show theMinisters, what was done inAmaravati," he said.

PNS n NEW YORK

Getting too little sleep islinked with a higher risk ofhaving low bone mineral den-sity (BMD) and developingosteoporosis, researchers havewarned. Osteoporosis is a dis-ease in which bone weakeningincreases the risk of a brokenbone. "Our study suggeststhat sleep may negativelyimpact bone health, adding tothe list of the negative healthimpacts of poor sleep," said the

study lead author HeatherOchs-Balcom, from theUniversity at Buffalo in theUS.

In the study of 11,084 post-menopausal women, thosewho reported sleeping fivehours or less per night hadlower BMD at all four sitesassessed -- whole body, totalhip, neck, and spine -- com-pared with women whoreported sleeping seven hoursper night. After adjustments,women reporting five hours or

less per night had 22 per centand 63 per cent higher risks ofexperiencing low bone massand osteoporosis of the hip,respectively.

Similar results were seenwith the spine "I hope that itcan also serve as a reminder tostrive for the recommendedseven or more hours of sleepper night for our physicaland mental health," Ochs-Balcom said. The study waspublished in the Journal ofBone and Mineral Research.

Less sleep may affect women's bone healthPNS n NOIDA (UP)

Industrialists Ratan Tata and GM Rao were conferred honorarydoctorates on Thursday by aprivate university here. Thehonorary doctorates were con-ferred on them by AmityUniversity during its annualconvocation ceremony attend-ed by Human ResourceDevelopment Minister RameshPokhriyal 'Nishank'.

While Tata was honoured inabsentia, Rao, the chairman ofGMR group, said it was an hon-our for him to be receiving thePhD alongside his "role model".

Addressing students,Pokhriyal said the central gov-ernment would soon be com-ing up with a new educationpolicy after a gap of 33 years.

"Wide consultations havebeen made with experts, stu-dents, parents and guardians.

Comprehensive consultationshave been made with over onelakh village committees. Thenew policy encompasses 'gyaan,vigyaan, navachaar and san-skaar' (knowledge, science,innovation and culture)," he toldreporters. "It's going to be India-centric policy and empowerthe country according to theprime minister's vision of 'newIndia'," he said, adding that thepolicy would be unveiled soon.

Founder-president of AmityGroup Ashok K Chauhan said6,900 graduates were awardedwith degrees and diplomas,besides 42 PhDs.

Honorary doctorates for Ratan Tata, GM Rao

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(IN VISAKHAPATNAM)

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 8, 2019 vijayawada 03

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh GovernorBiswabhusan Harichandanordered state police to conductan investigation in the allegedjob scam which was allegedlydone by an outsourcing agencyon the pretext of offering jobsin Raj Bhavan.

The outsourcing agency M/sSumati Corporate Services Pvt.Ltd was engaged by the RajBhavan to hire people as atten-ders, receptionists, office sub-ordinate, etc. But soon reportsemerged that the agency hascollected large sums of moneyfrom the job seekers on a falsepromise for permanent jobs.

"A complaint was receivedby the Raj Bhavan authoritiesthat illegal demand for moneywas made and collected bysupervisors of the outsourcingagency engaged by Raj BhavanM/s Sumati Corporate ServicesPvt. Ltd in connivance withsome protocol staff and otherpeople for placing their ser-vices in the newly formed RajBhavan as Attenders,Receptionist, Office Sub-ordi-

nate, etc," stated a press release."The committee headed by

the Secretary to Governor afterexamining and taking a state-ment of attenders and otheroutsourcing staff, came to theopinion that money has beendemanded and collected from9 outsourcing employees bythe supervisory staff in con-nivance with some other peo-ple promising them permanentjobs in the Raj Bhavan vacan-cies," it added.

Governor Harichandan hasordered the Police

Commissioner of VijaywadaDwaraka Tirumala Rao to takeimmediate legal and criminalaction against the agency andpersons responsible for thecommission of this illegal act.

After the instructions bythe Governor, the secretari-at has initiated proceedingsagainst the Agency involvedand the Commissioner ofPolice, Vijayawada has initi-ated an investigation to bookthe culprits responsible forthis unlawful and reprehen-sible act.

Continued from Page1

"It is necessary for all theMLAs to be together in theprevailing situation. Whateverdecision Uddhav ji takes willbe binding on all of us," SenaMLA Sunil Prabhu said.

Maharashtra will go intoPresident's Rule if no govern-ment is in place by tomorrow,before the state assembly'sterm ends.

Yesterday, a BJP leader closeto Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis, Sudhir Mungantiwar,had talked about "good news"and said that the "Mahayuti"(BJP-Shiv Sena alliance) wouldcome to power, no matter what.

This was followed by reportsthat a section of the Sena's 56MLAs was in talks to breakaway and back the BJP, which

has 105 MLAs. Together, thetwo parties (161) won a clearmajority in the 288-memberMaharashtra assembly but thealliance hit a rough patch overthe Sena's demand for a "50:50partnership" that includes rota-tional chief ministership. TheBJP's Devendra Fadnavis, eye-ing a second full term inpower, has rejected it.

"We will get good newsfrom Mungantiwar himselfthat Maharashtra will get ShivSena Chief Minister," Mr Rautsaid, repeating that his partywould form the Maharashtragovernment with its own ChiefMinister.

Mr Raut claims the supportof over 170 MLAs but has notspecified how. The Sena's per-ceived attempts to get the sup-port of the rival Nationalist

Congress Party (NCP)-Congress alliance didn't pro-duce results with CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi'srefusal to consider any truckwith the long-term BJP ally.

With time running outbefore the Maharashtra assem-bly's term ends on Saturday,the Sena MP said: "There is nodeadlock from Shiv Sena. Wedon't carry any locks or keys.We only have one key and thatis truth."

Amid tense negotiations,Union Minister Nitin Gadkarisaid the BJP would win theSena's support and form gov-ernment. "Devendra Fadnavisis the choice and he shouldlead the government. The BJPwon 105 seats so the ChiefMinister should be from theBJP," Mr Gadkari said.

Shiv Sena MLAs move toMumbai hotel amid uncertainty PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The two-day joint exercise ofIndia and Indonesia navies'Samudra Shakti' in Bay ofBengal concluded here onThursday. INS Kamorta, anAnti-Submarine WarfareCorvette took part in the exer-cise with Indonesian WarshipKRI Usman Harun, a multi-role Corvette. The joint exer-cises include manoeuvres, sur-face warfare exercises, airdefense exercises, weapon fir-ing drills, helicopter operationsand boarding operations.

KRI Usman Harun arrivedat Visakhapatnam onNovember 4 to participate inthe second edition Ex'Samudra Shakti'. The harborphase, which was conductedon November 4 and November5, included professional inter-actions in the form of SubjectMatter Expert Exchanges

(SMEE), cross deck visits, sim-ulator drills, planning confer-ences, sports fixtures and socialinteractions.

Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro,Indonesian Ambassador toIndia witnessed some of the

activities of the harbor phase atVisakhapatnam. TheAmbassador held discussionswith Vice Admiral Atul KumarJain, Flag OfficerCommanding-in-Chief, ENCalong with Indonesian Navy

delegation headed byCommodore Yayan Sofiyan,Commander of Security TaskForce of Indonesian FleetCommand on issues of mutu-al maritime interest in theregion.

‘Samudra Shakti' ends on a grand note

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

An inter-state red sanders-smuggling racket has been bust-ed and four people have beenarrested in this connection,police said here on Thursday.The red sanders weighing about2.5 tonne and a car totally worthRs 1 crore have been seized fromthem, the police said.

N Radha Krishna, who is thekingpin of the racket, used tosmuggle the wood from Kadapadistrict in Andhra Pradesh andstore it inPedda Shapur, a village,near here, Hyderabad policecommissioner Anjani Kumarsaid. Acting on a tip-off, a police

team nabbed the prime accused,along with three others, while hewas moving in a car with a fakenumber plate and carrying thered sanders samples to show toprospective customers, policesaid.

Red sanders, also known asred sandalwood, is a valuablewood which has a huge demandoverseas. The wood growsmainly in Seshachalam Hillsspread across Kadapa, Chittoorand Kurnool in the Rayalaseemaregion and parts of Nellore dis-trict in Andhra Pradesh, thoughmajority of red sanders-smug-gling takes place from Chittoorand Kadapa.

Red sanderssmuggling racketbusted, 4 arrested

Mahila Commission chiefVasireddy hits out at NaiduPNS n GUNTUR

State Mahila Commission chair-person Vasireddy Padma con-demned opposition leader NChandrababu Naidu's remarksagainst prohibition stating thatdeaths due to consumption ofspurious liquor would occur ifYSRCP government goes aheadwith its plan.

She said that Article 47 of theConstitution includes responsi-bilities of the state governmentand imposition of prohibitionwas one of them. Why a formerChief Minister should ridiculesuch a good provision? she asked.The main reason behind atroci-ties against women in the statewas liquor. She said the addictionto liquor among children in theage group of below 14 years in thetwo Telugu states has grown overthe past 10 years.

Similarly, she said 6 per centof the deaths caused in thecountry were due to liquor and40 per cent of accidents were alsodue to liquor consumption. Thereason behind families belong-ing to SC, ST, BC, OBC and EBCremaining below poverty linewas due to liquor.

These facts were taken to thenotice of Chief Minister YS

Jaganmohan Reddy and heimmediately reacted and includ-ed prohibition in the party man-ifesto and soon after takingcharge prohibition is beingimposed in phases, she said.

All the illegal liquor outletswere closed in the state. Manywomen have claimed that thismove has brought about aremarkable change in their hus-bands who stopped drinking, shesaid. While NTR imposed pro-hibition, it was lifted afterChandrababu Naidu came topower. The Mahila Commissionchairperson it seemed like Naiduwants liquor consumption to be

encouraged by his statementsand claiming that there will bedeaths due to consumption ofspurious liquor due to imposi-tion of prohibition was alsoderogatory.

She said Chadrababu Naidubranding prohibition as a uselessmove should be condemned byone and all. She said such state-ments were against the livelihoodand honour of women. Insteadof speaking in favour of theimposition of prohibition bythe government, she said it wasunfortunate that Naidu wasmaking it a political issue andspeaking against it.

PNS n CHITTOOR

Former Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu onThursday expressed indignationat the police using force on theyouth, who visited airport to wel-come him, causing severe injuriesto Pakala Hemanth ofChinabayalupalli.

The incident occurred whenNaidu was on his way to ChinaItavolu, near Chandragiri, toaddress the party extended meet-ing. "We are not going to wagea war. Moreover, we are not goingto launch an assault on the stategovernment. The police hit ayouth who visited here to wel-come him out of love and affec-tion was lathi-charged brutallyinflicting head injuries on him.The police disrupted the two-wheeler rally out of jealousy," hesaid drawing a parallel betweenthe police during his regime asthe CM and the police in the YSJaganmohan Reddy regime.

"I have seen many CMs andDGPs. If anyone crosses theirlimit, they would have to facetrouble. When 24 claymoremines were triggered to eliminatehim, I was not frightened. LordVenkateswara Swamy saved me.Even now, my spirit is such that

I am not afraid of anyone or any-thing. My struggle is not againstthe police, but against theYSRCP's anti-people actions,"said an anguished Chandrababu.

Jaganmohan Reddy promisedCS job to LV Subrahmanyamand Gautam Sawang the DGPpost and sought their support tohis government. Within fivemonths of coming to power, LVSubrahmanyam was bundled toan insignificant post, he said cau-tioning officials that the same fatewould befall other officials too.He attributed it to the style ofthinking of Jaganmohan Reddy.

Former MP N Siva Prasad,Chandrababu Naidu's schoolmate, fought for the special sta-tus to the state in Delhi withoutcompromising for anything, he

recalled and said that Siva Prasadentered politics at his behest. Helent respect to the realm of pol-itics. "He inspired us till now andwe should forge ahead derivinginspiration from him," Naiduappeals the party rank and file.

Kodela Siva Prasada Rao,known as Palnadu Tiger, washarassed by the government tothe point of death. Cases werefoisted against TDP workersand leaders. Physical attacks andattacks on financial resources ofrival TDP activists are being car-ried out, he alleged. The policeare filing non-bailable casesagainst victims and bailable casesagainst perpetrators, he observed.

He said that the police tiedropes to gates of his house whenthe TDP embarked on ChaloAtmakur protest programme.He said that he had warned theYSRCP government that theropes would be the last straw onthe YSRCP government. "As Irequested the YSRCP govern-

ment to spare the Praja Vedika,out of vendetta the governmentpulled down the Vedika," he saidpredicting that the government,which commenced its journeywith pulling down structures, willcollapse under its own weight.

Everywhere, Pulivendula kindof panchayats are being held. Ifthe same trend were to contin-ue, he cautioned the CM Jaganthat the people would confinehim to Pulivendula alone.Claiming to earn reputation ofbeing a good CM in the first sixmonths, Jaganmohan Reddyearned the dubious distinction ofthe worst ever CM in the first fivemonths of his rule, he said.

"CMs who were predecessorto Jagan never entertained suchdisastrous toughts. We havehitherto seen only good CMs.Now we are experiencing a CMwho is out to give trouble to peo-ple. We have come across a CMwho wants to obliterate rivalpolitical outfits," he remarked.

Naidu alleges police excesses on youth

Adani, Relianceprojects notgoing anywhere

Continued from Page1

He also pointed out thatprevious TDP Governmenthad allocated 136 acres ofland near Tirupati to theReliance group without ver-ifying them properly asmost of the land parcelswere caught up in legal tan-gle.

Hence, the state govern-ment had written to thegroup that alternativelylands would be allocatedelsewhere for the project inthe same area. The negoti-ations were still on and theproject had not beenshelved, "but still rumoursand mischievous reportsare beings spread to malignthe present Government.Many of the issues we oweto the legacy of the previousGovernment. Only fivemonths ago we assumedcharge and we are sortingthings out one by one."

English mediumin govt schoolsraises heckles

Continued from Page1

"How can the governmentremove Telugu as the medi-um of instruction in aTelugu speaking state andreplace it with English,"asked UTF GeneralSecretary Babu Reddy.

The teachers' body fearedthat introduction of Englishas the medium of instruc-t ion wi l l af fect the education of students, espe-cially those coming fromweaker sections of the soci-ety, and increase thedropout rate.

Continued from Page1

Rs 1,300 crore which is threetimes that of the allocationsmade by the previous govern-ment," he added. During thesefive months, the State govern-ment started the 'Kanti Velugu'programme in which 65 lakhstudents had undergone eyetests and 4.5 lakh were iden-tified for eye surgery or wereprovided with spectacles.

"To provide corruption-freegovernance, we have broughtin a legislation for setting upof the Judicial PreviewCommission that will scruti-nise the tenders in a verytransparent manner. Other

states are emulating our mod-ule. We have also brought inreverse tendering and theprocess which has saved Rs830 crore, in Velugonda pro-ject Rs 50 crore was saved and,in all, Rs 1,000 crore wassaved to the exchequer in thepast five months. "In the com-ing days, we shall take up moreactivities to provide good gov-ernance," he added.

Party leaders and StateMinisters UmmareddyVenkateswarlu, PushpaSrivani, Sucharita,Peddireddy RamachandraReddy, Ranganatha Raju wereamong those who attendedthe function.

Fulfilled anotherpromise, says CM

Guv orders probeinto job scam

Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro, Indonesia’s Ambassador to India, and others in Visakhapatnam on Thursday

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has appointed a four-member committee to assessthe damage due to cofferdamof Polavaram. The Tribunalhas questioned the PolavaramProject Authority (PPA) whythey have not arranged reha-bilitation for people losingtheir houses due to the coffer-dam. On the petition of SocialActivist Pentapati Pulla Rao,NGT is enquiring the officialsconcerned. The next hearingwill be on February 14.

NGT has conducted hear-ing on Thursday at Delhi.Polavaram Member SecretaryB P Pandey and SE Nagireddyattended. The Tribunal ques-tioned them why the PPA

didn't arrange rehabilitationbefore the construction ofcofferdam. The Tibunal hasclarified that PPA should takethe responsibility.

Member Secretary Pandeyadmitted that due to coffer-dam, villages were affected byfloods. "But, we have shiftedthe people well in advance,avoiding loss of human lives,"he added. The Tribunal hasappointed a four-membercommittee to assess the dam-age due to cofferdam. It hasasked them whether the back-water effect in Telangana andChhattisgarh has beenassessed. Pandey said thatthey had submitted a detailedreport one month back andwill submit a copy to theTribunal.

Polavaram cofferdam:Panel to assess damage

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Detailed Project Report(DPR) of the Ramayapatnamport would be submitted to theUnion Shipping Ministry by theend of November. Earlier, theUnion Government had reject-ed the Andhra Pradesh govern-ment's proposal to develop aport at Dugarajapatnam in viewof security and environmentconcerns associated with the sitein neighbouring Nellore districtclose to the Satish DhawanSpace Centre.

Complying with the sugges-tion of the union government,AP government has identifiedRamayapatnam port as an alter-native to Dugarajapatnam.Andhra Pradesh Minister forIndustries, Commerce, and

Information Technology, M Goutham Reddy said, "The

DPR for the Ramayapatnamport has been readied. We arefollowing it up and will be soonsubmitting the report to theUnion Government by thismonth end."

He also mentioned about theprospects of Machilipatnamport. The district administrationhas identified about 3,000 acresof land at Ramayapatnam for theproject. In Andhra Pradesh,VPT remains to be the onlymajor port backed by CentralGovernment despite having longcoastline. The state governmenthad been delaying to find alter-native place instead of theDugarajapatnam as the uniongovernment did not find theport feasible there.

RAMAYAPATNAM PORT

Govt to submit DPR by Nov-end

The outsourcingagency SumatiCorporate ServicesPvt. Ltd wasengaged by RajBhavan to hirepeople as attenders,receptionists, officesub-ordinates, etc

The reasonbehind familiesbelonging to SC,ST, BC, OBCand EBCremaining belowpoverty line wasdue toconsumption ofliquor, she said

We are not going to wage a war. Moreover, weare not going to launch an assault on the stategovernment. The police disrupted the two-wheeler rally out of jealousy, says the former CM

AGRIGOLD CHEQUES

Over 52,000 people benefitted in Vizag: MinisterPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Minister for Tourism and CultureMuttamsetti Srinivasa Rao saidthat Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy fulfilled thepromise he made during'Padayayatra' to help the victimsof AgriGold scam.

At meeting held in the city onThursday, the Minister said, "thestate government has sanctionedRs 40 crore for Visakhapatnam,which will benefit nearly 52,000families. The State governmenthas earmarked Rs 1,150 crore inthe Budget." He said this was thefirst phase of the promise and theremaining amount would bepaid in phases. He alleged thataround 260 persons had commit-ted suicide during the last 10

years after losing their savings tothe private company. Thoughpeople were cheated when YSJaganmohan was the oppositionleader, he assured of solvingtheir problems. Soon after com-ing to power, Jaganmohan hadassured to solve their problemsthough the case was pending inthe court, said GovernmentWhip Budi Mutyala Naidu.

People believed him and votedfor the party and now the CM is

fulfilling his promise, he furthersaid. Paykaraopeta MLA GollaBabu Rao said he was present inthe padayatra when the AgriGoldvictims met Jagan and he waswitness to the promise made byhim.

Commissioner of GVMCDr G Srijana said governmentdid social justice by payingmoney to the victims cheatedby a private company. Themeetings were held in

Srikakulam and Vizianagaramtoo. In Vizianagaram, Minsterfor Municipal Administrationand Urban Development BotsaSatyanarayana announced thetransfer of money to theaccounts of victims. He said anamount of Rs 37 crore wassanctioned for the district

which would benefit 57,941victims.

Govt stood by its assurance: Dy CM

Deputy CM P SubhashChandra Bose has said that theYSRC government stood by itsassurance made to the victims ofAgriGold scam. Addressing thedepositors at Spandana meetinghall at East Godavari Collectorateon Thursday, the Dy CM saidthat in the first phase, the stategovernment has taken special ini-tiative towards small investors ofRs 10,000 and below. For thispurpose, at state-level, 263.99crore has been sanctioned and itsshare at East Godavari has cometo Rs 11.46 crore for 19, 535depositors, the Minister said.

Tourism and Culture MuttamsettiSrinivasa Rao alleged that around 260persons had committed suicide duringthe last 10 years after losing theirsavings to the private company

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 8, 2019 region 04

Share of women in subordinatecourts highest in Telangana: ReportPNS n NEW DELHI

Telangana has the highest shareof women judges at 44 per centand Bihar the lowest at 11.5 percent in subordinate courts,while seven states did not havea single woman judge in theirhigh courts as of June 2018,according to a report.

The share of women in thejudiciary has come down anddespite wide acceptance of valueof gender diversity, the actualpresence of women in statejudiciaries is underwhelming,the Tata Trusts' India JusticeReport-2019 stated.

It said that "among the largeand mid-sized states, at justabove 44 per cent, Telanganahad the largest share of womenin the subordinate courts, but atthe high court level, this dropsto a meagre 10 per cent."

"Similarly, Punjab with 39 percent at the subordinate level,(the share of women judges)drops down to 12 per cent in thehigh court," it said.

"This pattern is apparenteverywhere with only TamilNadu breaking the trend with ahigh number of women at thehigh court level (19.6 per cent),and more women than its quotaof 35 per cent at the subordinatecourts," according to the report.

Data of 18 large and mid-sized states, and seven small

states was taken for the TataTrust report.

The share of women judgesat subordinate courts inMeghalaya is 74 per cent and inGoa, 66 per cent the highestamong small states.

"However, Goa's share at thehigh court level was just 12.68per cent. Sikkim demonstratesa high share of women at bothlevels, with 64.71 per cent in thehigh court and 33.33 per cent atthe subordinate court level.

"In terms of absolute num-bers, however, this would be onefemale judge of three, at the highcourt-level, and 11 femalejudges out of 17 at the level of

subordinate courts," the reportsaid.

The ranking is an initiative ofTata Trusts in collaborationwith Centre for Social Justice,Common Cause,Commonwealth Human RightsInitiative, DAKSH, TISS- Prayasand Vidhi Centre for LegalPolicy.

"The presence of womenjudges portrays the institutionthat upholds law and dispens-es justice as an equal opportu-nity space driven by fair, meri-tocratic, and non-discrimina-tory practices and norms.

"Arguably, women on thebench also influence the qual-ity of judicial decision-making,because the inclusion of their lifeexperiences must necessarilyallow a wider variety of humanexperiences into the process ofjudging," the report said.

The country has about 18,200judges with about 23 per centsanctioned posts vacant, as perthe findings of the report.

The share of women in the judiciary hascome down and despite wide acceptanceof value of gender diversity, the actualpresence of women in state judiciaries isunderwhelming, the Tata Trusts' IndiaJustice Report-2019 stated

PNS n HYDERABAD

Former minister and ex-leaderof opposition in LegislativeCouncil, Mohammed AliShabbir, said that ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao's lies on the RTC issue has'self exposed' when senior IASofficials apologised before theHigh Court for furnishingwrong statistics. He said acase of cheating must bebooked against the chief min-ister and the officials.

Shabbir Ali, in a mediastatement on Thursday, allegedthat it was the chief ministerwho forced senior bureaucratsto furnish wrong informationbefore the High Court on theRTC issue. "KCR is a habitualliar. It is common for him tospeak lies in public meetings,assembly, council and pressconferences. He also turnedsenior bureaucrats into liars bymaking them furnish falseinformation. However, thoselies were caught when theytried to mislead the HighCourt. They had to apologisefor submitting false and incor-rect information," he said.

The Congress leader saidthat this was not the first time

that a wrong decision taken bythe chief minister was turneddown by the High Court.However, he said it was appar-ently the first time in historyof independent India, that agroup of senior IAS officerswere rebuked by the HighCourt for furnishing wrong

information. He said bureau-crats, all across the country,enjoy a good reputation fortheir efficiency and prompt-ness. However, by falling intoKCR's trap, some senior offi-cials of the Telangana govern-ment lost their credibility."When officials try to misleadthe High Court to suit theneeds of a chief minister, theycan go to any extent outside thecourt. This favouritism is notonly unconstitutional, but dan-gerous for the very survival ofdemocracy," he said.

Shabbir Ali said that the HighCourt has rightly pointed out thatthe state government does notappear serious in resolving theissues of RTC employees. "KCRmust take the remarks made bythe High Court seriously andchange his attitude,” he said.

KCR is a habitual liar. It is common for him to speaklies in public meetings, assembly, council and pressconferences. He also turned senior bureaucrats into

liars by making them furnish false information. However,those lies were caught when they tried to mislead the HighCourt. They had to apologise for submitting false andincorrect information

— MOHAMMED ALI SHABBIR, senior CCongress lleader

Book KCR, babus for lyingto HC about RTC: Shabbir

Mock drillheld to testaccidentpreparednessPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Waltair Division of EastCoast Railway organised amock drill, a real-time reliefand rescue operations onThursday at SimhachalamRailway Station. Under thedirection of the DivisionalRailway Manager - ChetanKumar Shrivastava, theSafety Department lead byNR Sahu, Sr DivisionalSafety Officer, besides otherRailway Departments -Operations, Commercial,Mechanical, Medical,Security, Signal & Telecom,Civil Engineering, TractionDistribution, Electrical andPersonnel, National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) andCivil Administration instan-taneously rose to the situa-tion for rescuing the pas-sengers in the affectedcoaches, other relief opera-tions and ultimately restor-ing the normalcy of the trackfor swift movement of traf-fic.

ADRM Akshay Saxenaand other branch officerswere present in the mockdrill.

Naidu slams YSRC govt for spendingover Rs 15 crore on Jagan’s housePNS n VIJAYAWADA

Telugu Desam Party president NChandrababu Naidu onThursday attacked the YSRCongress government forallegedly splurging Rs 15.65crore of public money on ChiefMinister Y S Jagan MohanReddy's "palatial home", draw-ing a sharp reaction from theruling party. The former chiefminister alleged that hugeamount of money was spent bythe government for Jagan's res-idence when the State was fac-ing a financial crisis.

Naidu also slammed Jaganover his "five months' misrule"and said the "Nero of AndhraPradesh" is busy playing video-games at his residence.

"When Rome burned, Nerofiddled. When AP is burningunder financial strain due to 5months misrule & constructionworkers are ending lives, theNero of AP @ysjagan is busyplaying video-games at his pala-tial home on which a staggeringRs 15.65 Cr (sic) was spent bythe Govt.

Shocking!" he tweeted.

The Leader of Oppositionposted a snapshot of govern-ment orders purportedly issuedfor the expenditure.

On Wednesday, the TDPchief had alleged that the stategovernment allotted "a whop-ping Rs 73 lakh to fix windowsfor his (Jagan's) house."

"Now that's one super-expen-sive view at the expense of Stateexchequer! This comes at a

time when Andhra Pradesh isgrappling with the fiscal messcaused by mismanagement inthe last 5 months. Truly cringe-worthy!", he tweeted.

Attacking the TDP chief,State Information and PublicRelations Minister PerniVenkataramaiah alleged thatover Rs 99 crore was spentfrom the government coffers forNaidu's needs when he was

Chief Minister during 2014-19."If Rs 73 lakh expenditure, for

windows fixed for security pur-poses is super expensive, whatshould the Rs 5 lakh spendingon shifting a UPS from one floorto the other inside his (Naidu's)house (be) called? Is it notcriminal waste of people'smoney," Venkataramaiah ques-tioned.

Another Rs 3 lakh was spenton improving lawn lighting andenvironmental lighting in thethen Chief Minister's leasedresidence, he alleged.

The TDP chief 's family stayedin a plush multi-star hotel forseveral months when theirhouse in Hyderabad was beingrebuilt. Crores of rupees of gov-ernment money was spent on

their stay in the hotel, the min-ister claimed.

Like no other Chief Ministerin the country, ChandrababuNaidu maintained three officesand three camp offices (resi-dences) in Hyderabad,Vijayawada and Amaravati, hesaid. "Crores of rupees from gov-ernment coffers were spent onreadying and maintaining themfor five years. Is he really enti-tled to such opulent indul-gences," the minister asked.

"Certain expenditure is sure-ly involved at Jagan MohanReddy's residence because ofsecurity requirements befittingthe Chief Minister. You can'tfind fault with it," theInformation Minister main-tained.

The former Chief Minister and TDPnational president alleged that huge amount of money was spent by the government for Jagan'sresidence when the State was facing a financial crisis

Bhatti demandsKCR's apology formisleading HC PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress Legislature partyleader MalluBhattivikramarka onThursday demanded ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao to send an apology noteto the Telangana High Courtand to the State LegislativeAssembly.

He alleged that the TRSgovernment duped not onlythe people of the state, but alsothe High Court and the StateAssembly.

The leaders claimed that heearlier pointed out about theKCR government misleadingthe State Legislative Assemblyby furnishing false informa-tion to it on the RTC issue.

Instead of having talks withthe RTC staff and concludingthe issue, the state governmentis trying to give away RTCproperties to private individ-uals taking advantage of the

strike, he alleged. Terming thestyle of functioning of thestate government as the mostdangerous, he said, previousregimes protected the RTCproperties, but the existinggovernment is trying to dis-pose them off to private enti-ties. He said that the Congresswould lend its full support tothe proposed million marchby the RTC Joint action com-mittee on November 9.

PV KONDAL RAOn WARANGAL

The one rupee cremationconcept introduced byKarimnagar mayor RavinderSingh at the fag end of histenure as the civic body chiefwas suspended all of a sud-den. As the funding requiredfor the cremation was con-tributed by the authorities atthe beginning, authoritieshelped conduct the cremationof about twenty people in thecity limits. The death of RTCdriver Srinivas revealed thatthe Rs 1 cremation processwas abruptly suspendedbecause of the completion ofthe tenure of the KMC body.

The issue came to fore aslocal minister GangulaKamalakar announced thathe had contributed the cre-mation expenses of the RTCemployee while the opposi-tion parties staged protests.

The matter certainlycaused concern among thepoor as the concept promot-ed by the municipal corpo-ration was helping them dur-ing the hour of grief. Thatprogramme was helping theneedy and attained promi-nence in almost all urbanparts of the state. However,the process was suspendedsoon after the completion ofthe tenure of the KMC body.Since it was suspended, themayor could not initiate anymeasure on his own.

Cremationof Re1 heldback, poorbear brunt

Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjaycomplains to LS speaker against copsl Privilege notices served on TS police, Karimnagar CollectorPNS n NEW DELHI

Karimnagar Lok Sabha MPBandi Sanjay Kumar onThursday complained to LokSabha Speaker Om Birla thatthe police behaved with himin a high-handed mannerduring the recent funeral pro-cession of RTC driverNagunuri Babu.

The MP called on Speakerin Delhi and submitted evi-dence of the police high-handed behavior towards him.Therefore, privilege noticeswere served on the Telanganapolice and Karimnagar col-lector as the Speaker referredthe matter to PrivilegesCommittee chairmanSusilkumar Singh. They were

asked to conduct the enquiryas early as possible and submithim with the report.

Speaker assured the MPthat suitable action would beinitiated against the officialswho had behaved high-hand-

edly towards him. The privi-leges committee included CS,Home secretary, DGP,Karimnagar CP as respon-dents in the issue. NagunuriBabu, working as driver ofKarimnagar-2 bus depot ofRTC, who attended the SakalaJanula Samarabheri on Oct 30at Saroor Nagar stadium onthe Hyderabad city outskirtsdied of heart attack.

The bereaved family mem-bers put the condition that thegovernment invites the JACleaders for talks to cremate thebody. There was no responsefrom the government evenafter 48 hours. At the behestof the JAC leaders, his funer-al was conducted on Nov 1.

Condemning the govern-

ment's style of functioning, theBJP MP decided to shift bodyof Nagunuri Babu toKarimnagar depot. He daredthe police to arrest him sincethe funeral procession wouldbe taken out via theKarimnagar depot.

But the police resisted thefuneral procession fromreaching the depot leading toan altercation between thepolice and the MP. The MPalleged that during the alter-cation a police officer behavedin a high-handed mannerwith him. He vowed to not tospare the police officer whoattacked him. Accordingly, helodged a complaint with theHuman Rights Commissionand the Speaker.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Municipal administrationminister KT Rama Rao saidthat the Telangana govern-ment has launched severalschemes to promote tinyunits and set up an industri-al health clinic to revive thesick units, and that it givestop priority to industrialdevelopment with emphasison development of majorand medium industries.

Inaugurating a three-month capacity building pro-gramme being organised inassociation with IndianSchool of Business, for theprospective entrepreneurs

here on Thursday, he said thegovernment is working hardto set up industrial parksacross the state.

As part of the scheme, he

sanctioned Rs 7 crore worthunits among 17 tribal entre-preneurs under the CM's STEntrepreneurship InnovationScheme.

Tribal welfare ministerSatyavati Rathode laudedCM K Chandrasekhar Rao'scontribution for develop-ment of the tribal welfare inthe state through innovativeschemes.

Severa l benef iciar iesexpressed their vision of howthey would fulfill their dreamof becoming entrepreneurs.They thanked the tribal wel-fare department and CMKCR for devising schemesfor them.

KT Rama Rao hands over factory units to 17 tribalsl Units worth Rs 7 crore given by govt to boost entrepreneurship among tribals

Seven countries come together for tech and economic cooperationPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Union Minister of State forShipping, Mansukh Mandaviyastressed on developing inlandwaterways in the country toreduce the logistics cost. Heinaugurated the two-day 'BIM-STEC Ports' Conclave beingconducted by theVisakhapatnam Port Trust hereon Thursday.

The Bay of Bengal Initiativefor Multi-Sector Technical andEconomic Cooperation (BIM-STEC) is a regional organisa-tion comprising of seven mem-ber states lying in the littoralareas of Bay Bengal(Bangladesh, India, Myanmar,

Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutanand Nepal.

On the occasion, he said thatthere are around 204 minorports in the country, but only73 are operational. The Uniongovernment has been prepar-ing an action plan along withthe state governments for thecomprehensive developmentof all the minor ports.

"India has the rich maritimeculture with long coastlines. Itis this geographical positionthat enables India East andIndia West to abut the Bay ofBengal and the Arabian Sea,respectively, forming two dis-tinct coastal and maritime tra-ditions" said, Mansukh L.

Mandaviya, Union Minister ofState for Shipping during hisinaugural address at two dayBIMSTEC Port Conclave inVisakhapatnam here.

Reiterating the importanceof the BIMSTEC in line withPrime Minister NarendraModi's slogan Sab ka Saath,

SabKa Vikas, Mr.Mandaviyasaid, it will harness trade andaccelerated growth with mutu-al cooperation in differentareas of common interest withBIMSTEC countries by utilis-ing the regional resources andgeographical advantage.

He further said, BIMSTEC

countries bring 1.67 billionpeople together to create com-bine GDP growth of 3.71 tril-lion US dollars.

Welcoming the delegatesfrom the BIMSTEC nations tothe conclave, K Ram MohanRao, Chairman ofVisakhapatnam Port Trust,said, presence of luminariesfrom these countries will havegreater effect on exploring thepossibility of increasing eco-nomic cooperation by further-ing EXIM trade and coastalshipping. It also leads to invest-ment opportunities and shar-ing of best practices adoptedfor productivity and safety atports.

Union Minister of State for Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya and others at aprogramme in Visakhapatnam on Thursday

PNS n SURYAPET

Power Minister G JagdishReddy instructed officials ofIrrigation Department to fillup all the village tanks, whichare linked to SRSP canalwithin 10 days.

Jagdish Reddy helda review meetingat his office atSuryapet andi n q u i r e dabout thewater levelsin the villagetanks andcondition ofthe canals.Reminding thatGodavari watershave reached the dis-trict through SRSP canal, hehas instructed the officialsthat all the village tanksshould be filled up and watershould flow in all sub-canalsto provide irrigation facilityto the farmers. It would alsohelp officials to know thecondition of the canals. Thefarmers of the district were

jubilant after waters ofGodavari river touched theirareas through SRSP canal. Hepointed out that tens of vil-lages, which have receivedGodavari waters, had suffi-cient water.

He has also instructed theofficials to prepare pro-

posals to clear hur-dles, if any, in

providing irri-gation facilityto the farmersthrough SRSPc a n a l .R e m i n d i n g

that the stategovernment has

already sanc-tioned Rs 640 crore

for modernisation ofSRSP canal, he said that thegovernment was ready totake up any additional work.

The officials told theMinister that there were 198chain-vil lage tanks inThungathurthy, Suryapet andKodad AssemblyConstituencies in the dis-trict.

The Union government has beenpreparing an action plan along withthe state governments for thecomprehensive development of all the minor ports, said the UnionMinister of State for Shipping

‘Fill village tankslinked to SRSPcanal in 10 days’

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 8, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Heavy rush of pilgrimsin Ayodhya for KarthikPurnima next week AYODHYA: Ayodhya is expectedto see a heavy rush of pilgrimsnext week over Karthik Purnimaas the local administrationgears up to ensure calm afterthe Supreme Court verdict inthe Ram Janmabhoomi-BabriMasjid land dispute case. Theapex court is likely to deliver itsverdict on the emotive Ayodhyaissue before Chief Justice ofIndia (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi retireson November 17. "No, devoteeswill continue to come toAyodhya to offer prayers attemples," Faizabad DistrictMagistrate Anuj Kumar Jha toldPTI when asked whetherdevotees would be graduallyevacuated ahead of the verdict.Lakhs of devotees are expectedto gather in the city onNovember 12 for KarthikPurnima Snan. "Devotees whocome to Ayodhya for PurnimaSnan stay back for some daysin the temple town, so theremust be heavy presence ofpilgrims in Ayodhya tillNovember 20," said MahantJugal Kishore Sharan Shastri,priest of Saryu Kunj Sita Ramtemple here.

Four arrested forthreatening locals in north Kashmir

HC to hear pre-arrestbail pleas of GJMleaders from Nov 19

Cong with UP PowerCorp staffers; BJPaccountable: PriyankaNEW DELHI: Congress generalsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra on Thursday said UttarPradesh Power Corporationemployees' demand forbringing all facts pertaining tothe EPF scam was justified andthe BJP government shouldgive an account of every penny.A controversy has erupted overparking of EPF money of UttarPradesh Power Corporation Ltd(UPPCL) staff to the tune ofover Rs 2,600 crore in scam-hitDHFL, whose promoters wererecently grilled by theEnforcement Directorate fortheir links with a front companyof Iqbal Mirchi, a former aide offugitive gangster DawoodIbrahim. "Employees of UttarPradesh power departmenthave called for bringing all factsforward with regard to the PFscam. This demand of theirs isabsolutely justified. Duringelections, employees of severalUP departments had raisedconcerns over the new pensionscheme. The Congress party iswith them.

KOLKATA: The Calcutta HighCourt will hold daily hearingson the anticipatory bail pleas ofGorkha Janmukti Morchaleaders Bimal Gurung andRoshan Giri from November19, in connection with over 150cases filed against them duringthe statehood agitation by theoutfit in 2017. A division bench,comprising justices JoymalyaBagchi and M Mandal, directedthat it will hear the applicationsdaily from November 19, afterthe prosecution lawyermentioned the matter before it.Public prosecutor SaswataMukherjee said the anticipatorybail prayers were filed inconnection with 158 casesagainst Gurung, Giri and someother GJM leaders. The caseswere filed against them by theWest Bengal police overincidents of violence during thestatehood agitation by the GJMin Darjeeling hills in 2017.

JAMMU: Four persons werearrested on Thursday for"threatening and intimidating"locals in Sopore town in northKashmir and incriminatingmaterial was recovered fromthem, a senior police officersaid. The arrested persons havebeen identified as RameezAhmad Malla, Riyaz KhaliqParray, Waseem Manzoor Ghaziand Ikhlaq Imtiyaz Sheikh ofSopore, the officer said. Theywere arrested at a mobilevehicle check post at Chatloora-Gundmalraj crossing inRafiabad, he added."...incriminating material wasrecovered from theirpossession," he said. A casehas been registered againstthem at the Dangiwacha policestation and investigation isgoing on. Officials said thatthree persons were arrested onWednesday for "threatening andintimidating" locals inAwantipora in south Kashmirusing posters issued byproscribed terror outfits HizbulMujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

PNS n BENGALURU

There should be neither cele-bration nor protest overSupreme Court verdict on theAyodhya issue, former SolicitorGeneral of India N SantoshHegde said on Thursday.

The retired Supreme Courtjudge said the nation shouldaccept the judicial pronounce-ment and there should be noexpression of adverse opinionon that.

"And on a matter of princi-ple, as a judicial pronounce-ment, we must accept it... bothsides," he said.

The Supreme Court is like-ly to deliver its verdict on theemotive Ayodhya issue beforeChief Justice of India (CJI)Ranjan Gogoi retires onNovember 17.

"Winning side also shouldaccept gracefully; side whichloses also should accept as it isthe verdict of highest court in

India. And there should beabsolutely no adverse reac-tion, not even celebrationshould be there", Hegde toldPTI.

"There should be no cele-bration, there should be noprotest either. It should beaccepted as a pronouncementof law, it should be respected byeverybody," the formerKarnataka Lokayukta added.

One should respect thesupremacy of law, he said.

PNS n AYODHYA

In anticipation of the SupremeCourt verdict in the Ayodhyaland dispute case, the VishwaHindu Parishad has stoppedstone carving work for theconstruction of a Ram Templehere for the first time since1990.

All the artisans involved inthe work have returned totheir homes, said VHPspokesperson Sharad Sharma.

He said the decision to stopthe carving has been taken bytop leaders of the VHP, aHindu right-wing organiza-tion that has been at the fore-front of the movementdemanding the construction ofa 'grand temple' dedicated toLord Ram at the site of thedemolished Babri Masjid.

The Supreme Court isexpected to announce its ver-dict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid demolition caseby November 17, the day of

retirement of Chief Justice ofIndia Ranjan Gogoi who headsthe five-judge bench that heardarguments in the case.

"We have stopped the carv-ing of stones and the RamJanmabhoomi Nyas will decidewhen the carving will berestarted," Sharma said.

"All our proposed pro-grammes regarding differentactivities of our outfits havebeen cancelled keeping in viewthe upcoming Ayodhya ver-dict," he said.

The carving of stones for theconstruction of a Ram Templewas started by the VHP at theRam Mandir NirmaanKaryashala here in 1990 whenMulayam Singh Yadav of theSamajwadi Party was UttarPradesh chief minister.

The carving work by artisanshad been carried out uninter-rupted since then.

According to the VHP, 1.25lakh cubic foot of stone hasalready been carved. The orga-nization claims that stone work

sufficient for the first floor ofthe proposed temple is readyand that 1.75 lakh cubic footstone for the rest of the struc-ture is still to be carved.

Ahead of the judgement onthe contentious issue, the VHPhas also appealed to its cadresto remain calm and restrainfrom creating an atmosphere ofcelebratory frenzy.

In a letter to its workers,VHP central vice-presidentChampat Rai said, "This (theverdict) should not be a mat-ter of Hindus and Muslims. Itis about accepting the truth. So,do not create a celebratoryfrenzy in society and nobody

should be taunted."He noted that arguments of

lawyers in the case and obser-vations of judges indicate that"the verdict will be in thefavour of truth" and that soci-ety will rejoice over the judge-ment.

VHP spokesperson Sharmasaid, "Whether the verdict is infavour of Hindus or Muslims,it is time that both communi-ties present great examples ofharmony and brotherhood.We all have to take care that noincident which mixes venom inthe cordial relations of Hindusand Muslims should takeplace."

PNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar on Thursday saidpeople in this state were beingdeprived of the benefits of theCentre's f lagship healthscheme - Ayushman BharatYojana -- and stressed that"such matters should not bepoliticised".

The governor also claimedthat he had received around3000 applications from all overthe state, seeking immediatemedical assistance.

"It has not been 100 dayssince I have taken charge as thegovernor. And l have receivedaround 3000 applications fromall over the state seeking med-ical assistance during this peri-od. I have examined theseapplications and found outthat they were all eligible forCentre's Ayushman scheme,"Dhankhar said on the sidelinesof a programme here.

"I have also come to knowthat the applicants could havetaken benefits of state-runschemes. Despite that if they arewriting to the Raj Bhavan thenthere was something that need-ed to be looked into," he stated.

Dhankhar claimed that hewanted to reach out to the onesin need but his funds were lim-ited. "The governor has a largeheart but a small fund of Rstwo crores... while an MP getsabout Rs 5 crore. In moststates, MLAs have Rs two tofour crores (as funds). Here (inWest Bengal), I have been toldthat MLAs have a fund of Rs

60 crores. Of the Rs two croresthat have been allotted to me,I have about 18 items to dealwith," he maintained.

The swelling number ofapplications reflected the stateof healthcare situation in WestBengal, Dhankar said.

"If I am getting 3000 appli-cations in three months, seek-ing health assistance, it is def-initely reflective of the state ofsituation in the state," heasserted.

"I somehow find it incon-gruous why a central schemethat makes available such agreat facility, which has beenrecognised all over the world, isnot being adopted here for thebenefit of people," he stated. The

Ayushman Bharat Yojana,launched in 2018, provides anannual health cover of Rs 5 lakhfor secondary and tertiary carehospitalisation through a net-work of Empanelled HealthCare Providers. There is no capon family size and age.

The state government pulledout of the scheme in Januarythis year, accusing theNarendra Modi-led NDA gov-ernment of making "tallclaims" under the programme.

The governor, who has beenat loggerheads with theMamata Banerjee governmentover several issues, said noteverything should be politi-cized. "Health should be keptabove politics. Access tohealthcare facilities should notbe denied to people on accountof their financial situation," hemaintained. The governorinsisted that those in powershould work in harmony forthe benefit of commoners.

"If a big benefit can be madeavailable to a citizen, the 'aamaadmi' of state, then people(policy makers) should work inharmony to ensure that he getsit. Every rupee that can helpthe people of West Bengalmatters.”

PNS n RANCHI/GIRIDIH

A family in Jharkhand's Giridihdistrict has alleged that one ofits members died of starvation,but state's Food and CivilSupplies minister Saryu RoyThursday said official reportson the incident deny the claim.

The minister said a perfect-ly laid out protocol to preventdeath due to starvation is inplace in the state.

Ramesh Turi of Chirudih inGiridih district had told themedia that his 48-year-old wifeSavitri died of starvation onTuesday last.

Not buying the claim, theminister said, "there is a perfectprotocol to give ration underthe Annapurna Yojana to theneedy even if they dont haveration cards, there are grainbank and Rs 10,000 is given toMukhias who can beapproached for assistance.

"The officials deny the reportof starvation death," Roy toldPTI, citing "ambiguity" in themedia reports.

He, however, said "if the(starvation) report is true thencertainly responsibility will befixed."

Giridih DeputyCommissioner- Rahul KumarSinha-dismissed that SavitriDevi died because of lack offood.

"After an investigation intothe report of starvation death,it was found that all the mem-bers of the family are healthy,food materials are at theirhome and it is not a case ofstarvation," Sinha told PTI in

Giridih.District Supply Officer-

Pawan Mandal- said the inves-tigating team found that fourkg of rice, one kg pulse andpotatoes were at their home.

"His eldest son is construct-ing a pucca house after takingloan while two other sons arehealthy and a daughter is mar-ried and stays in the same local-ity," Mandal said.

Civil Surgeon- Dr AwadheshKumar Sinha- said the familymembers did not allow for apost-mortem after theyclaimed that she died of star-vation.

PNS n NAGPUR

Union minister Nitin Gadkarion Thursday said RSS chiefMohan Bhagwat should not belinked to the government for-mation moves in Maharashtra.

He also said a decision willsoon be taken on governmentformation in the state, andsince the BJP won more num-ber of seats than the Sena, thechief minister will be from hisparty.

Speaking to reporters here,the Lok Sabha member fromNagpur also ruled out hisreturn to his home state toassume the top job.

"Devendra Fadnavis willhead the new government,"Gadkari said.

To another query, he said,"RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat orthe Sangh have no relationwith all this. It won't be appro-priate to link the RSS chief tothe goings on (over govern-ment formation)."

Amid the impasse over gov-ernment formation, farmactivist Kishore Tiwari, whojoined the Shiv Sena ahead ofthe Assembly polls, recentlysaid Bhagwat should deputeGadkari to resolve the power-

tussle between the BJP and theSena.

He said people were worriedover the Sangh's "silence" onthe issue.

Gadkari said the BJP andShiv Sena have got people'smandate to form the newgovernment and very soon adecision will be taken.

"The BJP has won 105 seats,obviously the chief ministerwill be of the BJP. The partythat has won more seats inAssembly polls will have thechief minister's post," he said.

However, Gadkari said hewas hopeful that the deadlockbetween the BJP and ShivSena will get resolved.

"Maharashtra will have theBJP-Sena government underthe leadership of DevendraFadnavis. The mandate is for'yuti' (grand alliance), so therewill be some solution to thedeadlock," he said.

"Fadnavis has been appoint-ed leader of the BJP's legisla-ture wing. The governmentshould be formed under hisleadership," Gadkari said.

He also said that talks withthe Sena were on and therewill be a solution "for sure", hesaid.

Sena authorises Uddhav to takefinal call on govt formationPNS n MUMBAI

Shiv Sena MLAs on Thursdaypassed a resolution, authoris-ing party chief UddhavThackeray to take a "final deci-sion" on government forma-tion in Maharashtra.

After the meeting of theSena MLAs at Thackeray'sresidence 'Matoshree', all thelegislators went to RangshardaHotel, close to the partychief 's home in suburbanBandra, where they have beenshifted amid the ongoinguncertainty over governmentformation and fear of switch-ing sides.

"It is necessary for all theMLAs to be together in theprevailing situation. Whateverdecision Uddhavji takes will bebinding on all of us," SenaMLA Sunil Prabhu said.

Thackeray chaired themeeting of all party MLAs forover an hour during whichdiscussions were held on thepolitical situation and the leg-islators reiterated that the for-mula of "equal sharing ofposts and responsibilities"agreed upon before the LokSabha polls should be imple-mented.

The party also appeared

firm on its decision of sharingthe chief minister's post fortwo-and-a-half years each withthe BJP.

"The Sena MLAs passed aresolution authorisingUddhavji to take a final deci-sion regarding governmentformation," party legislatorShambhuraje Desai toldreporters after the meetingended.

Sena MLA Abdul Sattar said,"The next chief minister will befrom the Shiv Sena. Uddhavjiwill take a final decision

regarding government forma-tion."

Another MLA, on conditionof anonymity, said Thackeraywas "hurt" over the ongoingdevelopments in the state.

"He (Thackeray) feelsissues could have beenresolved by sitting across thetable. This did not happen.Instead, what was decidedwas denied. Uddhavji said hedid not want to break thealliance with the BJP. He onlyexpects that what was decid-ed be implemented," the leg-

islator said."He told us to wait and

watch," the MLA added.The Shiv Sena has been

maintaining that in Februarythis year, before the Lok Sabhapolls, it was decided that therewill be equal sharing of postsand responsibilities betweenthe party and the BJP.

While the Shiv Sena hasbeen insisting on sharing thechief minister's post, the BJPhas rejected it.

Both the parties are lockedin a tussle over the issue of thechief minister's post, resultingin a stalemate in governmentformation.

In the polls, the BJP won105 seats, Shiv Sena-56, NCP-54 and the Congress won 44seats.

Uddhav Thackeray

Sena MLAs passeda resolutionauthorisingUddhavji to take afinal decisionregardinggovernmentformation, saidlegislators

Governor Dhankhar said people in thestate were being deprived of benefits ofthe Centre's flagship health scheme -Ayushman Bharat Yojana He claimedthat he wanted to reach out to those inneed but his funds were limited

Matters of health should not bepoliticised: West Bengal guv

VHP stops stone carving work, cancels allevents ahead of Ayodhya verdict

All artisans have returned to theirhomes, said VHP spokesperson SharadSharma. “We have stopped the carvingof stones and the Ram JanmabhoomiNyas will decide when the carving willbe restarted,” he said

Don't link RSSchief to Maha govtformation: Gadkari

PNS n SATARA

A 30-year-old man was shotdead by unidentified assailantsin Maharashtra's Satara district,police said on Thursday.

Vicky Raghunath Lakhe waswaiting for someone on theroad at Agashiv Nagar inKarad at around 10 pm onWednesday, when a group ofmotorcycle-borne men cameto the spot and started shoot-ing at him, an official said.

The unidentified accusedfled the scene leaving Lakhe inthe pool of blood, he added.

At least 12 rounds werefired at Lakhe, who was rushedto a nearby hospital, where hewas declared dead on arrival,the official said. Police are try-ing to ascertain the reason forthe attack.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Not limiting Kashmir to a"zone of conflict", a new bookthrows light on the rich his-tory of the valley, describingit as a "sacred space", "prince-ly state", "nation", "secularsymbol" and more.

Titled "Kashmir", the bookwritten by HistorianChitralekha Zutshi, is part ofthe Oxford India's short intro-duction series. Rendered inevocative and lucid prose, thebook, according to the author,talks about Kashmir as a "geo-graphic entity as well as acomposite of multiple ideas".

"It brings to light the ever-changing and yet intercon-nected political and religiousinstitutions and ideologies, lit-erary traditions, and socialclasses that shaped the historyof this region," reads the intro-duction of the book.Comprising of only sevenchapters, according to the pub-lishers, the intention behindthis short book is to untanglethe "complex issue of Kashmir".They noted that since 1947-48,when India and Pakistanfought their first war overKashmir, the region has beenreduced to an "endlessly dis-puted territory".

Zutshi's earlier books include"Kashmir: History, Politics,Representation" (2018);"Kashmir's Contested Pasts:Narratives, SacredGeographies, and the HistoricalImagination" (2014).

Pollution: BJPleaders protestoutsideSisodia's housePNS n NEW DELHI

In his protest against stubbleburning, BJP MP Vijay Goelon Thursday carried cropresidue on a bicycle to DelhiDeputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia's residence andaccused AAP MLAs in Punjabof encouraging the practice.

Goel, along with Delhi BJPleaders, staged a protest out-side Sisdoia's residence onMathura road here.

"We are carrying paddystubble for Sisodia in a protestagainst his government's fail-ure to do anything to curb airpollution in Delhi and therole of AAP MLAs in Punjabbehind stubble burning," thesenior BJP leader said.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal and AAPleaders have been blamingstubble burning in Punjab forthe rising pollution levels inthe national capital.

"Kejriwal and his partymembers are hypocrites. Onone hand, they are blamingstubble burning beingresponsible for air pollutionin Delhi and on the otherhand, the party's MLAs inPunjab are instigating andencouraging stubble burn-ing," Goel alleged. Earlier,Sisodia had asked Goel tocheck data on role of stubbleburning in air pollution.

Man shot byunidentifiedduo in Satara

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment on Thursday gave com-pulsory retirement to sevenpolice officers for not effec-tively performing their duties,officials said.

The officers are from theProvincial Police Service(PPS) and of 50 years of ageor above, a statement said.

"Following orders of ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath,the state government hasgiven compulsory retirementto seven police officials onrecommendations of ascreening committee set upfor the purpose," AdditionalChief Secretary, Home,Awanish Awasthi said.

7 UP cops‘retired’ for poorperformance

BJP MP Vijay Goel

Civil Supplies minister Saryu Roy

Ramesh Turi ofGiridih district toldmedia that hiswife Savitri died ofstarvation onTuesday. CivilSupplies ministersaid officialreports deny claim

New book onKashmir shedslight on Valley'srich history

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

N Santosh Hegde

Don’t celebrate or protestSC’s Ayodhya verdict,says Santosh Hegde

Starvation death: Ministerdenies J’khand family claim

Imagine this. It’s winter time once again.Post-Diwali, people in the northernplains of India are expecting air pollution

to worsen from stubble burning in Punjab,Haryana and western UP. But nothing of thatsort happens. No stubble burning and so nospike in air pollution levels. Nobody knowswhy. Then a few months later, a scholar,researching on the issue, reveals it all in hisTED talk on good governance. He reportshow the Chief Ministers of Punjab, Haryana,Delhi and UP had come together and tookupon themselves to tackle this menace. Theyco-created a fund and entrusted it to anagency that would fast-track search for a solu-tion. The entrusted agency hired the best andthe brightest brains in the country and gotthem to focus on the issue. A few monthslater, a multi-disciplinary team came up witha few good uses of crop residue. They devel-oped a few applications of crop residue, stud-ied their market potential and also developeda business model around it. In doing so, theynot only created a value proposition but alsoa potential for employment. A few entrepre-neurs were roped in to produce and sell thoseproducts/applications. As a result, cropresidue now commands a price. Farmers havenow started selling crop residue for moneyinstead of burning it. All this sounds amaz-ing, isn’t it?

What’s even more amazing is that theState Governments did so quietly, away frompublic glare. Not seeking credit or scoring apoint over each other’s political parties. Comeelections and the incumbent political partieswill have a chance to narrate this “success”story to its people and “win” their hearts (andvotes too!). This may all sound surreal butthis is the spirit needed in solving any devel-opment problem. This is the spirit behindgood governance. In reality, however, whatwe are seeing is not good governance butdirty politics. Instead of finding a solutionto the problem at hand, State Governmentsare using this problem to show each otherin a bad light. Having failed to take any cor-rective action on time, they are now resort-ing to symbolism: the Punjab CM has writ-ten to the Centre asking for its intervention;the Delhi CM has played a “victim card”, dis-tributed masks and initiated the odd-evenscheme; the Haryana CM has announcedincentives for anybody reporting stubbleburning in the State and so forth.

Nothing stops State Governments fromjoining hands in finding an effective solutionahead of the problem that shows up everyyear with striking regularity. It’s well withinthe capacity of any State Government to finda solution, even if nobody is cooperating. ThePunjab Government, for example, could haveeasily taken the lead in cracking this prob-lem in its jurisdiction, one that didn’trequire huge resources. All it needed was alittle foresight and a commitment to findinga progressive solution. But it failed to seizethe opportunity. In doing so, it also misseda chance to contribute to uplifting the sag-

ging image of its political partyat the national level.

Seeing the lack of serious-ness of States, the SupremeCourt (SC) had to finally inter-vene. It announced, among othermeasures, a complete ban onstubble burning. It noted that incase of any violation of the ban,the entire administrativemachinery — from the top to thebottom — would be heldaccountable. With the SC ordercoming in, people can heave asigh of relief. They can be restassured that some meaningfulaction would happen. But thisrelief is only temporary as theproblem of stubble burning itselflasts for no more than a coupleof weeks. While the air pollutionis most acute during the periodof stubble burning, it remains asilent killer almost round theyear and, therefore, needsaddressing too.

It is a known fact that pol-lution levels in the NationalCapital Region (NCR) remainunsafe for the most part of a year.It’s created by a host of other fac-tors, notably vehicular emis-sion, dust from constructionand demolition of buildings,burning of garbage and dryleaves, and emissions fromindustrial activities. An effectivestrategy is needed to deal witheach of these sources of pollu-tion. In devising and implement-ing such a strategy, StateGovernments of Delhi, Haryanaand Uttar Pradesh need to workclosely with the national govern-ment and municipalities in anon-partisan manner. But thisisn’t happening.

What’s indeed happening isthat those in power want to beseen doing something about it

without necessarily dirtying theirhands. Controlling air pollutionis a messy affair. It also entailstaking some harsh measures.Some of those measures may notgo down well with the public andmay prove to be un-populist.Governments generally hate tak-

ing such measures. Theiremphasis is on seeking credit,scoring a point, even if they dealonly with a part of the probleminstead of the whole.Governments are happy “educat-ing” the people of what is with-in their control and what is not.Their conduct is not entirely sur-prising though. But StateGovernments need to realise thechanging political landscape inIndia and the rising expectationsof people from their electedrepresentatives. Governmentsare elected not only for “educat-ing” the public but also for find-ing an effective solution, regard-less of what it takes. Good gov-ernance is not just about absenceof corruption; it is also abouteffective decision-taking. Peopleare wanting to see examples ofgood governance from theirelected leaders and the politicalparties they represent.

Despite these underlyingchanges, it’s unlikely that the gov-ernments in the NCR region willfollow through all the measuresnecessary to control all thesources of air pollution. As amatter of fact, when administra-tions at different levels are affil-iated to different political parties,they start working at cross-pur-poses instead of working collec-tively in solving any problem.Nowhere is this seen as clearlyas in the NCR; and no otherproblem illuminates this so wellas the problem of air pollution.The SC needs to ensure that theadministrations in the NCRdeal with the problem of air pol-lution, comprehensively andeffectively.

It is worth reminding thatair pollution is not the only prob-lem affecting the NCR. It’s no

secret that NCR is a badly man-aged region. Examples aboundof glaring failures of the admin-istration at all levels: farm ani-mals meandering freely onroads, obstructing flow of traf-fic; huge parking space crises co-existing with mis-managed park-ing spaces; new encroachmentsand illegal structures gettingbuilt every day but the authori-ties refuse to take cognisance, letalone taking action; manage-ment of city traffic lacks appli-cation of even basic thinking oftraffic segregation and so forth.The reason for these, and a hostof other problems, is a systemicfailure of administrations towork in tandem with each other.Actually, this is what SC needsto address. How?

If the SC can provide aframework guidance on how theadministrative authorities at dif-ferent levels are supposed to con-duct and coordinate with eachother, it will have dealt with theroot cause of most problems fac-ing the city dwellers. This is par-ticularly needed when differentlevels of administration are ruledby different political parties.Further, any guidance toringfence technical issues frompolitical interference would be asignificant move forward. Afterall, cities are complex systemsthat need to be operated effi-ciently, which requires somedegree of technical sophistica-tion. Cities cannot become“smart” unless the administra-tions become “smart” – that is,unless they take decisions in aprofessional manner.

(The author is a Delhi-based development economist,

formerly with the GatesFoundation and World Bank)

The decision of the Government to pumpin`25,000 crore to help revive the stalledreal-estate market is interesting in more

ways than one. For one, this is a massive sopto the middle classes, millions of whom havefound their investments in their dream homesto be money poured down the drain with deliv-ery delays now exceeding seven-eight years.Second, by capping the value amount of thehomes that the project would help with, theGovernment is attempting to curb the intensespeculation and massive price-rise that

accompanied the real-estate sector in the boom years. In doing so, there mustbe a hope that this move will bring a degree of rationality to prices and that devel-opers desperate for a bailout would slash their tags. At the same time, the con-ditions for getting a bailout are very strict and while a massive corpus has beenannounced, meeting the conditions might be difficult for several developers asthe Government has made it clear at the very outset that it won’t fund projectsthat have a negative net worth. So several stalled projects by prominent devel-opers around the National Capital Region (NCR) will not get a breather unlessthe conditions are changed.

Then there is another question. With the State Bank of India (SBI) and theLife Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) providing `15,000 crore of the fundstowards this revival, one wonders how these two organisations will make anymoney? There is yet to be any clarity on that issue. It is likely that the develop-ers will have to pay interest on the funds that they acquire through this project,whether it is through the pending payments of existing house owners or throughthe sale of the unsold dwelling units. And it remains to be seen whether real-estate developers, who have often been adamant on not reducing prices, beingforced to do so, either to gain eligibility or just to stay competitive. This mightaddress some of the incomplete projects out there and will help those who havebeen waiting for delivery of homes for years, but it might not do enough to spuradditional demand. For years, real-estate developers had taken buyers for a rideand the particularly egregious ones — both sides of the Wadhawan clan for exam-ple — were living life up at the expense of homebuyers. Those days are overand right now it is a buyer’s market. The Government’s intervention will makeit even more so.

Guru Nanak is not just a Sikh guru in thesub-continent but embodies a con-sciousness. As scholars have chroni-

cled his travels across Saudi Arabia, Tibet, SriLanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq,India and Pakistan, he spread what is calleda “Nanakpanthi culture.” Its practitioners weresyncretic groups of people in the Indus plainswho followed Guru Nanak’s teachings, irre-spective of them being Sikhs, Hindus andMuslims. A community of believers, they broke

down barriers of faith and cultures and were undiluted even by the Partition in1947. So the Kartarpur corridor, connecting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan,where Guru Nanak spent his last days, and Dera Baba Nanak Sahib in India, inthat sense, is a symbolic leap of faith in humanity. And probably the antidotethat could have helped reconcile the wounds of Partition and set up a commu-nication channel in the Indo-Pakistan dynamic, given the current stress it is under.But Pakistan has been using Kartarpur’s iconic value to further its separatist agen-da of indoctrinating and radicalising Sikhs in India and reviving the Khalistani move-ment all over again. And for all the sweet talk by its Prime Minister Imran Khan,it is just an elaborate trap by the Pakistan Army and Inter-Service Intelligence torefuel militancy in Punjab and give us another security bother. There’s a delib-erateness of mixed signals, be it in wooing the Sikh community worldwide throughits grandstanding of allowing pilgrim access and provoking us at the same time.Hence the use of pictures of Khalistani separatist leaders Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale,Maj Gen Shabeg Singh and Amrik Singh Khalsa in its promotional videos onKartarpur. The video, which prominently conveys the harmony between Sikhsand Muslims, also features former Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and UnionMinister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, in a crude attempt to project Khan as welcom-ing of religious minorities in the sub-continent. Pakistan is hell-bent on denyinga sense of comfort to the Indian side, forcing last minute changes that are intend-ed to portray us as the spoiler of expectations. Despite having assured visa-free passage, Pakistan now wants pilgrims to carry passports and permits whichdefeats the purpose of a dedicated corridor. No Overseas Citizenship of India(OCI)-card holder can make it through Kartarpur, the implication being that Pakistanwants to address only a section of Sikhs in India. While India sought 5,000 pil-grims daily, Pakistan has limited that number to 500 per day. Pilgrims cannottravel on foot, as is ritual, and instead of an annual flow, our neighbour intendsto restrict seekers to just “visiting and special occasion” days.

Clearly, now that its level-playing field has been upturned in Jammu andKashmir, and with both the West and the Islamic world supporting India’s posi-tion on its changed status, Pakistan doesn’t want to isolate the Sikhs or lose thetrumpcard of Khalistan. Particularly, after its Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “crywolf” threats of a nuclear war have dented the nation’s credibility at internation-al fora. So the Pakistan Army, without whom Khan would not have been in thechair, has decided to up the pro-Khalistan extremist agenda and foment troublein Punjab. In fact, this divisive agenda has been in the works over the last 15years or so. And though the Pakistani leadership has been cool to the ManmohanSingh government’s overtures on Kartarpur, fact is it had been using it as a neo-axis of Sikh separatism since 2003. The gurdwara had been abandoned till thenand served as a cattle shed. Pakistan even allowed rampant encroachment butnow the land owned by the gurdwara has also been quietly acquired by its gov-ernment. While announcing the Kartarpur project, Pakistan appointed severalKhalistani separatists on the committee, much to India’s discomfort. Its formerArmy chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg openly advised the military and the govern-ment to use the Kartarpur corridor for Khalistan terror and “create trouble forIndia.” Recently, the Pakistan Army even got pro-Khalistani supporters to chal-lenge the reorganisation of Kashmir. No matter how hard India may try to makeKartarpur a matter of people-to-people concern, it will never be free of our neigh-bour’s insidiousness. India has to be alert that the base camp on the Pakistanside doesn’t become a hotbed for Khalistani propaganda in the name of allow-ing faith congregations. When Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Bajwa stoodin Kartarpur, shaking hands with known Khalistani face Gopal Singh Chawla, itwas clear he was starting a new front in the proxy war.

Pak games in KartarpurP A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 8, 2019

06

No piecemeal solutions

RAJEEV AHUJA

Good governance is not just about absence of corruption; it is also about effectivedecision-taking. People are wanting to see such examples from their elected leaders

Jumpstarting housing

Provocative gestures and doublespeak on the pilgrim corridor show the Pakistani Army’s new designs

The housing sector collapse triggered the slide in theeconomy. Will the Government’s revival plan help?

Sad sight Sir — This refers to the editorial“For the sake of law” (November7). Lawyers are protectors of thelaws of the land while the policeensure implementation of thosevery laws on the ground. Bothhave a duty to uphold the sanc-tity of law. However, the ongoingbattle between these two arms ofthe justice system, not just in thenational Capital but in otherparts of the country likeRajasthan and Haryana, is shock-ing and embarrassing to watch.

Thousands of Delhi Policepersonnel, along with their fam-ilies, went on an unprecedentedprotest on Tuesday at the DelhiPolice headquarters against theassaults on them in variouscourts. There is something verywrong somewhere if the protec-tors of the people want protectionthemselves. Senior lawyers andpolice officers should cometogether and sort out this matteramicably as the reputation oflawyers and the police force is atstake here.

However, at the end of theday, it is the litigants who are thebiggest sufferers in this unbecom-ing tussle, as they have to wait formonths for their cases to be

heard in court. It was appallingthat lawyers locked litigants outof all six district courts as theycontinued their strike for the thirdconsecutive day on Wednesday.

The apex court should take cog-nisance of this mater immediate-ly and take action against allerring parties so that such embar-rassing sights of lawyers and

policemen brawling on the roadswhile the public looks on in hor-ror, are not seen again.

Ramesh JethwaniBengaluru

Not just farmersSir — This refers to the article“Act or will suspend you, SC tellsPunjab Chief Secretary”,(November 7). At last the coun-try’s strongest pillar of democra-cy, the Supreme Court (SC),intervened to improve the airquality of Delhi-NCR andordered every State Governmentto take measures to tackle stub-ble burning and not pass thebuck. “Why should there be cropburning?” the court asked. Buthave not the farmers of Haryanaand Punjab and western UttarPradesh been burning stubble foryears?

Hence, it is senseless to blamethem for the present pollution inDelhi that starts peaking fromDiwali night. Have the learnedjudges forgotten the geographicallocation of Delhi? It is a troughand there has been an explosiveincrease in the population andnumber of vehicles. So, fightingpollution will have to be a collec-tive effort. Not just the responsi-bility of the farmers.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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

Not enemies but on the same sideT

his refers to the editorial “For the sake of law”(November 7). The open confrontation between thepolice and the lawyers in courts around the country,

in police stations and on the streets of Delhi in particu-lar, has caused consternation among the public. Both sidesshould share the blame in some measure, despite a veryone-sided picture presented by large sections of the media.It takes two to tango, as the saying goes. As two vital pro-fessional arms of the bodypolitic, both the legal fraterni-ty and the police force, should have behaved with greaterself-restraint and dignity.

There must have been a lot of simmering resentmentand mutual mistrust, for what started as a parking alter-cation between an on-duty constable and an advocate, tosnowball into violent clashes not just in Tis Hazari courtsbut in other district courts in the national Capital and inRajasthan and Haryana. The instinctive territoriality of thelawyers and the police largely explains the scuffles thathave broken out between them. Video clippings haveshown police vandalising the chambers of lawyers andlawyers ransacking police stations. The unprecedentedprotests by the lower rungs of the police force, joined bytheir kin with placards reading “protectors need protec-tion” and “we need justice”, were in violation of servicerules and in defiance of their superiors. This is not some-thing that the country should witness again. Getting phys-

ical is an uncivilised act. Slapping, thrashing or manhan-dling is wrong; all of these amount to a punishable offence,no matter who the perpetrator and the victim. As two indis-pensable pillars of the criminal justice system, the lawyersand law enforcers should nurture their interdependent rela-tionship and complement each other in upholding the ruleof law and serving justice. It is not necessary to draw ademarcation between them or portray them as villains andvictims or vice-versa. They are entitled to dignity of labour.As compatriots, they should now put “India First” and burythe hatchet.

David MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

WHENADMINISTRATIONS

AT DIFFERENTLEVELS ARE

AFFILIATED TOVARIOUS PARTIES,

THEY STARTWORKING AT

CROSS-PURPOSESINSTEAD OF

COLLECTIVELY INSOLVING ANY

PROBLEM.NOWHERE IS THISSEEN AS CLEARLY

AS IN THE NCR; ANDNO OTHERPROBLEM

ILLUMINATES THISSO WELL AS THEPROBLEM OF AIR

POLLUTION.

I do not know how he (SteveSmith) does it. If he wasplaying in my time, I wouldhave tried to hurt him to stophim from scoring.

Former cricketer—Shoaib Akhtar

I have always believedkindness has many forms. Ithink of my sister Lisaoften when I thinkof kindness.

Hollywood actress—Julia Roberts

The Crime Branch has donea clean probe in the policeconstable examination case.The Government feels thereis no need for a CBI probe.

Kerala Chief Minister—Pinarayi Vijayan

I am in Delhi. There is noquestion of my returning tostate politics. The politicalcrisis (in Maharashtra)will be resolved soon.

Union Transport Minister — Nitin Gadkari

S O U N D B I T E

Mediflation & innovation

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

India’s recent policy interventions in thehealthcare sector have grabbed eyeballsaround the globe. Be it the world’s largest

healthcare scheme, Ayushman Bharat, that waslaunched by the Narendra Modi Government inorder to ensure affordable medical care to theunderprivileged, or whether it is in the field ofbuilding a holistic ecosystem that rewards inno-vation and provides the latest diagnostic solutionsto patients, India has been in the news world-wide.

Hence, as the Central Government preparesthe draft of the Medical Devices Act, it is impor-tant to take a holistic view and consider bothincentivising innovation and keeping the risingdrug prices in check.

Holding price fairness as its priority, theGovernment maintains that an alleged mecha-nism of profiteering, through both hospital billsor drug costs, is fleecing a patient up to 1800 percent and needs intervention.

There is enough evidence of drug overpric-ing across the country. When the NationalPharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) led aninvestigation into billing by two hospitals in 2018it revealed mark-ups, ranging from 350-1700 percent, adversely impacting the high and rising out-of-pocket-expenditure (OOPE) of patients.

High trade margins — the difference betweenthe price at which the manufacturers sell thedrugs to distributors and the final MRP (maxi-mum retail price) — were held responsible for“mediflation” or rise in prices of medical care incancer treatment.

At the centre of any healthcare ecosystem, therealities of accessibility, quality and affordabili-ty exist. Whereas critics of imported medicaldevices have raised concern about the high-costburden and suggested imposing stringent mea-sures such as irrational price caps, other health-care experts and policymakers have pointed atpotential quality lapses as a result of price caps.

One such example is that of the unsuccess-ful case of capping prices of coronary stents.While the objective was to curb high treatmentcosts and increase accessibility, other issues haveoften been raised. It is not a hidden fact howmany of the global medical device companiesbegan withdrawing their superior quality prod-ucts from the market as price caps disincentivisedinnovation. They began skimming on researchand development (R&D) resources that aid inno-vation. Although there have been multiple dis-cussions between industry players and theGovernment to figure out a pragmatic solutionto the ever-increasing treatment costs and sus-taining innovation, nothing fruitful has beenachieved so far.

In 2013, while hearing a case againstRanbaxy for selling drugs at a mark-up of 900per cent, the Punjab and Haryana High Courthad maintained that there appears to be no legalprovision in force to save the consumers fromfleecing by the petitioner or other drug manu-facturers who over-price medicines to such anextent.

In a bid to end the burgeoning OOPE, theGovernment then developed an indigenousmodel called Trade Margin Rationalisation(TMR) in 2018. This distinctive Indian interven-tion aims to address the whole gamut of dissim-

ilar pressures that impact the final price.Through this the Government plans tomake the Indian healthcare pricingarchitecture free from external forceswhich support “mediflation.”

Hailing TMR as pilot for proof ofconcept, the Government implement-ed it and capped the trade margin of 42cancer drugs at 30 per cent. Throughthis proof of concept, the Governmentmade an attempt to better comprehendthe impact of this rationalisation on theend-user price of the identified cancerdrugs. The result?

In his written reply in Rajya Sabha,Minister of Chemical and Fertiliserssubmitted that “MRPs have beenreduced by up to 90 per cent and cal-culated annual savings for patients areapproximately around `984 crore,much more than a minimum saving of`200 crore per annum to cancerpatients on account of this interven-tion.” The NPPA also advocated thesame formula, for medical devices andconsumables, of 50 per cent trademargin, hoping the MRP would comedown by around 73 per cent.

But the Government needs to takea holistic approach while handlingTMR, as price capping mechanismshave been regularly hitting the pharma-ceutical and medical devices industry.A country that meets 80 per cent of itsdemand for medical devices throughimports cannot suddenly disregardthe innovative capabilities of theimported technology over cost. Hence,when adopting TMR as the best bet foraffordability, the Government shouldalso look at improving the overallhealth infrastructure. The strategyahead should factor the cost calculationside. The Government should not fol-low a narrow approach when calculat-ing margins. With a massive diseaseburden and disease profiles evolving bythe day, can India afford to keep

investors at bay? There exists in India’s TMR

approach a significant loophole, thatcan mar the inflow of optimum diag-nostic technologies into the country.Take, for instance, the case of landedcost. An overly narrow approach doesnot consider various expenses of aninvestor. These expenses include train-ing clinicians on technology, financingsales and collection costs, corporatetaxes, and other routine expenses fordeveloping and serving the market inIndia. After witnessing a sharp declinein the entry and sustenance of medicalinnovation, so much so that the bulkdrugs industry started vanishing, theGovernment decided to discontinuedisregarding an investor’s cost.(National Pharmaceutical PricingPolicy 2012)

Looking at the larger picture, thelegislative price controls advocated bythe Government might be a quick-fix.However, in the long run India will loseout on much-needed innovations andspecialised treatments necessary tomanage the complex and costly diseaseburden. This will also limit the accessof advanced technology products toIndian patients.

Legislating non-remunerative pric-ing is limiting the usefulness to a sin-gle dimension price. This may be lim-iting the opportunity to gain from theglobal enriching experience of theinnovator for the entire healthcarevalue chain.

In such a scenario, differentiationin pricing, with respect to the costinvolved would be a way to encourageinnovation and with it catalyse better,focussed solutions.

Medical devices have wide, demon-strable differentiation that makes thesame group of devices seem very het-erogeneous. Both the local and stand-alone importers focus on high volume,

low value and less technical medicaldevices such as syringe, needles,catheters and high-volume base levelimplants like stents. Local subsidiariesget supplies from their principals attransfer-price and local costs are borneby local subsidiary, which is addition-al costs like import duty, customscharges, clearance, warehousing, cost ofcapital, and so on.

The final price subsumes thesecosts and margins are calculated there-after. Standalone importers in effect buyand their requirement plus the seller’smargin are a part of the price.

Any high-end medical deviceswhich require sustainable training andquality assurance need direct involve-ment of subsidiaries of the parentcompanies. This complicates the mat-ter and the one-size-fits-all base TMRrate of 30 per cent comes up for a seri-ous debate. This also acts as a setbackto the idea of different patient, differ-ent needs.

While civil society groups insist ona price-fixation mechanism as a meansto affordable care, nuances of the med-ical device industry including innova-tive, knowledge-base, clinical and tech-nical support, storage, transportation —accounting for massive investments —cannot be ignored.

A holistic TMR should take intoconsideration the concerns of multiplestakeholders so that all the key stake-holders can function in coherencewith each other. Such a robust and bal-anced TMR would address the hard-ships of end-users, address the com-mercial and industrial concerns ofhospitals and providers, be remunera-tive to vendors and help theGovernment in its quest for universalhealthcare for all at affordable prices.TMR is a veritable win-win solution.

(The writer is a public healthcareconsultant with various industry bodies)

As the Government prepares the draft of the Medical Devices Act, it is important to take a holisticview and consider both incentivising innovation and keeping the rising drug prices in check

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

Big ticket reformsneed of the hour

VK BAHUGUNA

Sweeping changes in the judiciary are must inorder to modernise it so that it can provide

timely and affordable justice

RAKSHIT TEWARI

WHILE CIVILSOCIETY GROUPS

INSIST ON APRICE-FIXATION

MECHANISMAS A MEANS TO

AFFORDABLECARE, NUANCESOF THE MEDICAL

DEVICE INDUSTRY,INCLUDING

INNOVATIVE,KNOWLEDGE

BASE, CLINICALAND TECHNICAL

SUPPORT,STORAGE,

TRANSPORTATION— ACCOUNTING

FOR MASSIVEINVESTMENTS —

CANNOT BEIGNORED

When it comes to assessing governance, it is usually the per-formance of the Executive and the bureaucracy that is scru-tinised by the media and experts. But a sound, effective

and independent judiciary is equally important in a country to pro-tect the constitutional rights of the people. The hallmark of an effi-cient judicial system is how fast it delivers justice. Today more than3.5 crore cases are pending in Indian courts and the number isincreasing every year almost at the rate of 9.7 per cent. In the SupremeCourt (SC) alone the number of pending cases as on July 2019was 58,669. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) took up the matter withthe Prime Minister for increasing the retirement age of judges todeal with this backlog. Though this idea might have some merit,the real issue, however, is the absence of quick, affordable and acces-sible justice for a vast majority of our people. The causes of pen-dency are also the way our judicial system functions. The Governmentmust seize this opportunity to discuss with an open mind the restruc-turing of our faltering judicial mechanism so that a futuristic, nat-ural justice regime is created which is quick, fair and affordable notonly at the district level but right up to the apex court.

On many national issues of public interest, the judiciary hascome to the rescue of citizens, right from enforcing fundamentalrights to ensuring conservation of the environment, protecting thebasic features of the Constitution, independence of institutions andalso firmly correcting aberrations in discharging duties as per thelaw by the executives and primarily the bureaucracy. However, themoot question is why the judiciary is perceived to have failed onthe issue of providing quick access to justice to commoners. Thecost of getting justice is very high, cumbersome and time consum-ing and powerful people get away with their misdeeds in many cases.Therefore, there is a need for sweeping changes in the judiciary inorder to modernise it so that it can provide timely and affordablejustice by mirroring the needs of present day society.

On visiting a court, the first impression is that getting justiceis a tedious process, especially in civil suits, due to constant delaysin court proceedings. The law and its interpretation is so cumber-some that in frustration many people leave their fight midway andthe rich and powerful who can afford costly advocates get their way.This is particularly true in case of property disputes among closefamily members. Here the law, instead of finding contours of nat-ural justice, gets trapped in the nitty-gritty of interpretations.

During the early eighties, judicial reforms brought many tri-bunals into existence so that domain expertise is used in handlingcases on specific subjects along with judicial scrutiny and in orderto give quick delivery of justice and to reduce the work of High Courts.Many tribunals however, have become the biggest impediments forjustice in many cases. Take for instance the National ConsumerDispute Redressal Forum (NCDRF) and the Central AdministrativeTribunal (CATs). These bodies constituted under two different Actsof Parliament, have become another sinecure for retired judges anda few bureaucrats. They are the antithesis of the purpose they wereset up for, holding up cases for many years. There is a case beingheard in the Bench of a retired bureaucrat in the NCDRF for the lastfour years against the Amrapali Group in Noida. The member is exten-ing dates after dates with a gap of 10-12 months and it seems likehe is helping the builder more than the litigants. Interestingly, thesame issue is being heard by the SC and the consumer forum shouldhave closed the case as its decision had been overridden by theapex court in any case. The situation is no different in CATs. In theGuwahati CAT, the simple case of one officer has not been decid-ed for the last seven years as the members are either on leave orkeep postponing the matter on flimsy grounds. Needless to say,the officer is suffering. The Law Ministry should appoint a com-mittee to examine if the purpose of creating these bodies is achieved.There may be umpteen cases which can be cited to invoke the con-science of our SC and the Government to see if the country canreview its legal framework and at least simplify it in many cases.The judiciary must evolve a protocol so that judges decide the caseswithin a time limit and develop a mechanism to quickly deal withintricacies of cases. Another issue is of providing judicial assistanceand the exorbitant fee charged by lawyers. It should also be exam-ined if the profession of judges could be separated from lawyers.It will bring more professionalism and effectiveness into the sys-tem. For tribunals and other such bodies, only serving judges shouldbe appointed so that they are accountable for what they do. However,the SC should constitute a panel of experts of domain knowledgeto assist the judges on subject matters if the need arises. Hope thispiece can attract the attention of the CJI, the Prime Minister andthe Law Minister and spur some thinking on the issues raised here.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

Until the Partition of India,Urdu enjoyed tremendouscultural prestige among edu-

cated north Indian Muslims andHindus, as well as among the moreconscientious British administra-tors.

Urdu was also the first literarylanguage for many of those who alsowrote in Hindi. For instance,Upendranath Ashk and MunshiPremchand were famous Urduauthors before they even began towrite in Hindi.

In order to fully grasp the stateof Urdu in the post-Independenceperiod, an examination of the rootsof the language is required. Urduwithin India has faced many turbu-lent times, pressure brought upon

by the Government, Hindi chauvin-ists and sometimes the ineffective-ness of Urdu literary education.

In 1947, when the countrygained its independence fromBritish rule and Pakistan wasformed, a great shift was made inthe maintenance of Urdu in India.Many Urdu experts may argue thatwithin India during the periodimmediately followingIndependence, keeping the lan-guage alive was a difficult task inmany respects.

Many organisations and indi-viduals, with and without the sup-port of the Government, workedhard over the decades to preservethe language and educate theyounger generations.

However, there were and stillremain, many roadblocks toprogress in preserving and spread-ing the language in modern India.

Among the Urdu writers of the19th century, the most renownedwas Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1869) who was described byMuhammad Sadiq in his book A

History of Urdu Literature as avisionary who “broke away from thepast both in thought and style. Hestands at the threshold of the mod-ern world.” Other famous literaryfigures were poet Muhammad Iqbal(1878-1938) and short story writerSH Manto (1912-55).

Although, since the Partition,the use of Urdu has become moreand more restricted to Pakistan andamong Indian Muslims, it is still theprimary literary language of manyHindus and Sikhs in India.

In the early years ofIndependence, in the area whichone might call the heartland ofUrdu, Uttar Pradesh (UP) andBihar, the Governments of theseStates were working to discontinueits use. The somewhat twisted inter-pretation of the three-language for-mula devised by the Governmentwas the device by which the StateGovernments attacked it.

The Centre recommended thatthree tongues be taught in allschools, the language of the State, amodern Indian language and one

other tongue. In UP, Urdu shouldhave been chosen as one of the threelanguages as it was the most wide-ly used means of communicationthere after Hindi. However, theGovernment of UP and some otherHindi-Urdu speaking States choseSanskrit as the modern language,and so Urdu, which was taught inschools before Independence, wasdiscontinued.

However, from Indira Gandhi’stime onwards, the Governmenthad its own political reasons forsupporting Urdu literature. DuringIndira’s time, a committee was setup in 1972 headed by IK Gujral toconsider how the cause of the lan-guage could be advanced. Due tovigorous opposition the report wasput on the back burner. Later, in1990 when Ali Sardar Jafri investi-gated the committee report, hefound that 95 per cent of the recom-mendations made by the Gujralcommittee had not been adopted.

However, in 1989, the StateGovernments of Bihar and UPrecognised Urdu as an official lan-

guage. Warsi, in his paper titled,History and Prospects of Urdu PrintMedia, made an observation that,“in the early stages of the post-Independence period the Urduprint media was mainly beingaffected by the tragedy of Partition.Consequently, the Urdu Press suf-fered the most. However, the Urdumedia is still struggling for its sur-vival in different Indian cities.”

Many of the Urdu speakers inIndia, who are not limited to theMuslim community, do not knowthe its written script, thus givingthem access to literary works inRoman Urdu and in the Devanagariscript would further the cause of thelanguage.

Tariq Mansoor, Vice-Chancellorof Aligarh Muslim University oncevery rightly said that “knowledge ofmany languages is the doorway tosuccess.”

One of the great Urdu scholarsGopi Chand Narang, was quoted assaying that “Urdu is not the lan-guage of Muslims. If at all there isany language of Muslims, it should

be Arabic. Urdu belongs to the com-posite culture of India. Hindi andUrdu are supplementary and com-plementary. They are like sistersstrengthening each other.” Thisviewpoint must also be adopted bythe organisations created to preserveit. They should focus their resourcesand attention to the accurate writ-ing of Urdu classics and translationinto Devanagari script. Narang feelsthat the politicisation of the causehas harmed the language, whichshould function as a bridge betweenthe Hindu and Muslim subcul-tures within India.

If Government and State fund-ing went into the production of textsof important and popular Urduauthors in Devanagari script, thereading of Urdu literature wouldgrow tremendously.

Although many works havebeen reproduced in the Devanagariscript, major organisations havenot yet made it their duty to helppublish such works. The translationof classical Urdu texts into Englishis another venture, which has been

undertaken, but still needs to bedone on a larger scale.

The language has seen manyshifts in support throughout its longhistory, as the times change the peo-ple, led by their Government, fall inand out of favour of certain lan-guages.

The National Council forPromotion of Urdu has taken theinitiative and is bringing out pub-lications in and about Urdu lan-guage and literature.

Within India the use of the lan-guage is a cause which many peo-ple and organisations have beenworking to uphold. However, theseefforts are not without their flaws.It is the mix of these efforts alongwith popular interest developed byfilms and ongoing research, whichwill ensure that classical Urdu textswill be preserved and promoted inthe country so that the languagedoes not die and future generationsare not the poorer because of thislaxity on our part.

(The writer is a well-knownlinguist, author and columnist)

Will Urdu’s future be brighter than its glorious past?If Government and State funding went into the production of texts of important and popular Urdu authors in the Devanagari script,

the reading of literature in this beautiful language would grow tremendously in the country

MJ WARSI

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 8, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

WE DISCUSSED VARIOUS LEGAL OPTIONS AVAILABLE TORESOLVE THE ISSUE. ALSO INFORMED KOSHYARI ABOUT

THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE STATE.—MAHARASHTRA BJP PRESIDENT

CHANDRAKANT PATIL

WHY DID THE BJP LEADERS WHO MET THE GOVERNORTODAY NOT STAKE CLAIM? THEY WANT TO CREATE ASITUATION FOR THE IMPOSITION OF PRESIDENT’S RULE.—SENA LEADERSANJAY RAUT

PNS n NEW DELHI

India may impose anti-subsidyduty for a period of five yearson copper wire rods fromIndonesia, Malaysia, Thailandand Vietnam after concludinga probe that these importshave impacted domestic play-ers.

The commerce ministry'sinvestigating arm DirectorateGeneral of Trade Remedies(DGTR) in September lastyear started a probe into analleged subsidisation of exportsof 'continuous cast copper wirerods' by these four countries.

Hindalco Industries andVedanta Industries (SterliteCopper) had filed an applica-tion on behalf of domesticindustry before the DGTRalleging subsidisation of theproducts from these fournations, and requested the ini-tiation of an anti-subsidy inves-tigation.

The directorate has recom-mended "imposition of defin-itive countervailing duty (or

anti-subsidy duty) for a periodof five years," it said.

The finance ministry takesthe final call to impose these

duties. In the probe, the DGTRhas concluded that the prod-ucts have been exported toIndia from these countries at

subsidised prices. "The domes-tic industry has suffered mate-rial injury due to subsidisationof the product. The injury hasbeen caused by the subsidisedimports of the goods originat-ing in or exported from thesecountries," it added.

The directorate has recom-mended duty in the rangebetween 2.47 per cent and10.27 per cent on the landedvalue of the product in India.

The petitioners had allegedthat the producers/exporters ofthe goods in these countrieshave benefitted from the"actionable subsidies" provid-ed at various levels by thegovernments of these coun-tries. The period of investiga-tion was 2017-18 (12 months).It also covered the data of2014-17.

Countervailing or anti-sub-sidy duty is a country-specificduty which is imposed to safe-guard domestic industryagainst unfair trade subsidiesprovided by the local govern-ments of the exporting nations.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 8, 2019 money 08

CAPSULE

Whirlpool of IndiaQ2 net up 63.82 pcat Rs 128.7 crNEW DELHI: Consumerelectronics firm Whirlpool ofIndia on Thursday reported63.82 per cent increase inconsolidated net profit at Rs128.7 crore. The companyhad posted a consolidatednet profit of Rs 78.56 crorein the year-ago quarter,Whirlpool of India said in aregulatory filing.Revenue from operationsduring the quarter underreview stood at Rs 1,393.46crore as against Rs 1,181.5crore in the correspondingperiod last year, a growth of17.94 per cent. Commentingon the financial performance,Whirlpool of India ChairmanArvind Uppal said, "This wasanother strong quarter wherewe continued to performahead of industry with strongexecution across all levers."

Ipca Labratories Q2net up 63.27 pc atRs 193.54 crNEW DELHI: Ipca Labratorieson Thursday reported a 63.27per cent rise in consolidatednet profit at Rs 193.54 crore inthe second quarter endedSeptember 30. The companyhad posted a consolidated netprofit of Rs 118.54 crore inthe same period last fiscal,Ipca Laboratories said in aregulatory filing. Revenuefrom operations during theperiod under review stood atRs 1,283.9 crore as against Rs1,012 crore in the year-agoquarter, it added. During thesecond quarter, revenue ofdomestic formulationsbusiness grew 16 per cent toRs 543.21 crore as comparedto Rs 468.62 crore in thecorresponding period a yearago, the company said.Revenue from exports ofbranded formulations stood atRs 100.2 crore, while thatfrom generic formulations wasat Rs 179.17 crore.

Hero launches BS-VI compliantSplendor iSmart

The commerce ministry's investigating arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies(DGTR) in September last year started a probeinto an alleged subsidisation of exports of‘continuous cast copper wire rods' by thesefour countries

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Sensex scaledyet another

lifet imep e a k

while the Nifty closed above thekey 12,000-mark after fivemonths on Thursday asinvestors cheered the govern-ment's latest reforms push andprogress on US-China tradenegotiations.

A f t e r

hitting an intra-day record of40,688.27, the BSE Sensexended 183.96 points, or 0.45per cent up at its new all-timehigh of 40,653.74, trackinggains in metal, energy andbanking stocks. Similarly, thebroader NSE Nifty ended witha gain of 46 points, or 0.38 percent, at 12,012.05. The indexlast closed above the 12,000-level on June 4 this year.

Trading sentiment was bull-ish after the government late onWednesday approved a Rs25,000 crore fund for 1,600stalled housing projects, which

is expected to jumpstart con-sumption and give a boost toreal estate and allied sectors.

Strong corporate earningsand sustained foreign fundinflows also kept domesticmarket sentiment upbeat, ana-lysts said.

Further, global equitiesturned positive after theChinese commerce ministrysaid China and the US haveagreed on a plan to removeimport tariffs in stages, asnegotiators try to craft a tradedeal. Sun Pharma was the topgainer in the Sensex pack,

spurting 3.02 per cent, after thecompany swung back to blackin the September quarter witha net profit of Rs 1,064.09 crore.

Other winners includedIndusInd Bank, RIL, ITC,

Vedanta, Asian Paints, HDFCand Infosys, advancing up to2.88 per cent. On the otherhand, Yes Bank, HUL, ONGC,Tata Motors, Axis Bank, L&Tand NTPC retreated up to

3.27 per cent. "Reforms andearnings are the market drivers,the measures to support real-ty sector augers well for the sec-tor to outperform. The pro-posed measure will help to startthe recovery of stalled projectsand can see a ripple effect inNBFCs, banks and cementsector.

"On global front, Chinaagreed with US for phasedremoval of tariffs that hasbrightened hope for a tradedeal and bring some cheer formarkets across the globe," saidVinod Nair, Head of Research,

Geojit Financial Services.Sectorally, BSE energy, metal,realty, consumer durables, tele-com and healthcare indicesrose up to 0.96 per cent.

On the other hand, oil andgas, capital goods, utilities andauto fell up to 0.26 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices followed thebenchmarks to end up to 0.69per cent higher. Bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyoand Seoul settled in the posi-tive terrain following positivenews on the US-China tradefront.

Sensex maintains record run on reforms push, trade optimism; Nifty reclaims 12kAfter hitting an intra-day record of40,688.27, the BSE Sensex ended183.96 points or 0.45 per cent up atits new all-time high of 40,653.74,tracking gains in metal, energy andbanking stocks

PNS n NEW DELHI

The commerce ministry hastaken up the issue of Directorateof Revenue Intelligence (DRI)notices being sent to 1,000exporters for alleged violation ofGoods and Services Tax with itsfinance counterpart, an officialsaid. The commerce ministryhas stated that the "overzealousrevenue collection" move byDRI (Directorate of RevenueIntelligence) was againstexporters.

The ministry has demandedintegrated goods and servicestax (IGST) exemption for inputsused in exports betweenOctober 2017 and January 2019,the official said. In a letter to theDepartment of Revenue, thecommerce ministry said that thedemand of giving retrospectiveIGST exemption to exporterscould be taken up by the GSTCouncil, chaired by the financeminister and comprising stateministers.

"This department is of theview that enthusiasm ofexporters should not be killedby overzealous revenue collec-tion based on technicalities

where revenue does not accruein principle. You may considerplacing these concerns beforethe GST Council for early res-olution," the ministry has said.

It has also stated that as ondate, imports made under theadvance authorisation schemeon both pre and post exportbasis are exempted from pay-ment of IGST. Exporters have

raised concerns regarding liti-gation and penal action by DRIwith regard to pre-import con-dition under the scheme.

DRI had sent notices toexporters for claiming postimport IGST exemptionbetween October 2017 andJanuary 2019. During the peri-od, this exemption was allowedonly for pre-import of inputs.

Issue of DRI notices toexporters raised with FinMin

PNS n CHENNAI

German luxury car makerMercedes- Benz on Thursdayrolled out its new multi-pur-pose vehicle V- Class Elite,expanding the product range inthe premium automobile seg-ment offered by the company.

The V-Class Elite, anupgraded version of V-ClassExpression and V-ClassExclusive would be built inSpain and sold in domesticmarket, Company ManagingDirector and CEO, MartinSchwenk said.

After unveiling the car, here,Schwenk said the luxury MPVis priced at Rs 1.10 crore (ex-showroom India) and would be

sold along with V-Class prod-uct range V-Class Expression atRs 68.40 lakh (ex-showroomIndia) and V-Class Exclusive at

Rs 81.90 lakh (ex-showroomIndia). Equipped with a host offeatures including seats withmassaging function, climate

control, remote controlleddoor, 15 speaker surroundsound system, the car also hasagility control suspension sys-tem, he said. The V-Class Elitewill be available in a six-seaterlonger-wheel base variant andcomplaint to BSVI norms, hesaid. "We are glad to continueour product offensive with thelaunch of yet another uniqueand versatile product for ourdiscerning customers. The V-Class launched this year pio-neered the luxury MPV seg-ment and has witnessed muchsuccess", he said.

To a query, he said the com-pany's V-Class sold in Indiawas in "triple digits" in thecountry, but declined to reveal

exact figures. He said the V-Class Elite was aimed at largefamilies, sports enthusiasts,business owners.

"We are confident that V-Class Elite as a one of its kindproduct in India will createnew benchmarks for luxurytravel in the country andexpand the segment", he said.

Mercedes-Benz India wit-nessed a fall of 16 per cent to9,915 units in the January-September period, as against11,789 units in the first ninemonths of 2018. The company,however, said it has alreadycrossed 10,000 units in the firstweek of October and expectssales to rise slightly in the fullyear.

India may impose anti-subsidyduty on import of copper rods

The commerce ministry's investigating arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies(DGTR) in September last year started a probe into an alleged subsidisation of exports of 'continuous cast copper wire rods' by these four countries

Mercedes-Benz rolls out V-Class Elite at Rs 1.10 cr

PNS n LONDON/NEW DELHI

The world's largest steel makerArcelorMittal on Thursdayreported a net loss of USD 539million for the July-Septemberquarter of 2019 hit by lowersteel shipments and prices,and high material costs.

The company had posted anet income (attributable toequity holders of the parent) ofUSD 899 million in the year-ago period. The steelmakerhad posted a loss of aroundUSD 400 million in the secondquarter of 2019.

Sales of the companydeclined to USD 16,634 mil-lion in the July-Septemberquarter from USD 18,522 mil-lion in the year-ago period.

Commenting on the result,ArcelorMittal Chairman andCEO Lakshmi N Mittal in astatement said that "as antici-pated, we continued to facetough market conditions in thethird quarter, characterised bylow steel prices coupled with

high raw material costs.""In these markets, we

remain focused on our owninitiatives to improve perfor-mance and our priority is toreduce costs, adapt productionand focus on ensuring thebusiness remains cash flowpositive. We continue to expecta substantial working capitalrelease in the fourth quarterwhich should enable us tofurther reduce net debt year onyear," Mittal added.

"Total steel shipments in3Q 2019 were 1.7 per centlower as compared with20.5Mt for 3Q 2018. Excludingthe impact of the ArcelorMittalItalia acquisition net of theremedy asset sales, steel ship-ments were 1.6 per cent loweras compared to 3Q 2018," thestatement said. On the outlook,the company said that basedon year-to-date growth and thecurrent economic outlookArcelorMittal expects globalapparent steel consumptionto grow in 2019.

ArcelorMittalposts $ 539 mnloss in Jul-Sep

PNS n DHARAMSHALA (HP)

The United Arab Emirates(UAE) can play a vital role inachieving Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's vision ofmaking India a USD 5 trillioneconomy by 2025, UAEAmbassador to India AhmedAlbanna said.

Participating in the inau-gural session of HimachalRising Global Investors' Meetat Dharamshala on Thursday,Albanna said, "The UAE is thethird largest business partnerof India after the USA andChina." The bilateral relationsbetween India and the UAEhave strengthened after thefirst visit of Modi to the UAEin August 2015, he noted.

Modi's subsequent two vis-its to the UAE in February2018 and August 2019 and, vis-its of Crown Prince of AbuDhabi Sheikh Mohammed binZayed Al Nahyan to India inFebruary 2016 and January2017 as the chief guest on theRepublic Day celebration had

made the bilateral relationsmore cordial, he added.

The trade between the twocountries has reached to 60 bil-lion dollars in 2018-19 from a

mere 185 million dollars in1980, he added.

Three millions Indians areliving in the UAE, he men-tioned.

UAE can play vital role in Modi'svision of $ 5 tn economy: Official

Modi's subsequent two visits to the UAE inFebruary 2018 and August 2019 and, visits ofCrown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammedbin Zayed Al Nahyan to India in February 2016and January 2017 as the chief guest on theRepublic Day celebration had made thebilateral relations more cordial

PNS n BENGALURU

ICICI Bank on Thursdayannounced it has expanded itsretail network in Karnataka byadding 44 new branches thisfiscal. Seven of them are inhitherto unbanked villagesincluding Kurki in Davanageredistrict, Sanapura in Ballaridistrict and Malat in Richurdistrict. Other branches havebeen opened in locations likeBengaluru, Chikkamagaluruand Chitradurga, the banksaid in a statement.

The expansion has resultedin the bank now having a net-work of 333 branches andextension counters along with1,280 ATMs in Karnataka, itwas stated.

ICICI Bankopens 44branches inKarnataka

City UnionBank netprofit rises toRs 194 cr PNS n NEW DELHI

City Union Bank on Thursdayreported a 15.2 per cent rise inits net profit to Rs 193.53 crorefor the second quarter endedSeptember 30.

It had posted a net profit ofRs 167.99 crore in the corre-sponding quarter of 2018-19.

Total income during theSeptember 2019 quarter roseto Rs 1,231.80 crore from Rs1,045.04 crore in the year-agoquarter, the bank said in a reg-ulatory filing. Its interestincome stood at Rs 1,036.82crore, higher as comparedwith Rs 926.49 crore in theyear-ago period.

China agrees with USto remove tariffs iftrade deal progressesPNS n BEIJING

China and the United Stateshave agreed a plan to removetariffs imposed on two-waygoods in stages, the commerceministry said Thursday, asnegotiators try to hammer outa trade deal. The two sides havebeen embroiled in a bruisingtrade war for more than a year,and have slapped punitive tar-iffs on hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars-worth of two-waytrade. But there has been grow-ing hope that they are close toreaching a mini agreement aspart of a wider deal.

"In the past two weeks, thenegotiation leaders of the twosides have held serious and con-structive discussions on prop-erly resolving their core con-cerns and agreed to roll backthe additional tariffs in stages,as progress is made towards a(final) agreement," ministryspokesman Gao Feng said at anews conference. If confirmedby the US, the comments couldbe the latest positive signal inefforts by negotiators to for-malise a partial trade deal —although details remain sparse.

Gao said if the two sidesreached a phase-one agree-ment, tariffs should be rolledback "in the same proportionand simultaneously".

"This is an important condi-tion for reaching an agree-ment," he said. Chinese VicePremier Liu He spoke by tele-phone with US TradeRepresentative RobertLighthizer and TreasurySecretary Steven Mnuchin lastFriday, a call both sidesdescribed as "constructive".

The 2 sides have beenembroiled in a bruisingtrade war for more than ayear, and have slappedpunitive tariffs onhundreds-of-billions-of-dollars-worth of two-waytrade

PNS nMUMBAI

The Bombay High Court onThursday restrained DewanHousing Finance CorporationLtd (DHFL) promotersDheeraj Wadhawan and KapilWadhawan from leaving thecountry until further orders, ina plea filed by 63 MoonsTechnologies seeking recoveryof around Rs 200 crore dues.

Justice S J Kathwalla said theWadhawans will have to seekpermission from the highcourt if they wish to leave thecountry.

The bench was hearing aplea filed by Jignesh Shah-pro-moted 63 MoonsTechnologies, seeking direc-tions against DHFL and for therecovery of around Rs 200crore that it said was due from

the mortgage lender, and toensure that promoters

Dheeraj Wadhawan and hisbrother Kapil Wadhawan donot leave the country.

DHFL earlier told the courtthat the Wadhawans may haveto travel abroad to raise funds.63 Moons, however, raisedapprehensions that theWadhawans, if allowed to leavethe country, may escape.

63 MOONS DUES

HC curb on DHFL promoters’ travel

NEW DELHI: Two-wheelermarket leader Hero MotoCorpon Thursday launched its firstBS-VI compliant motorcycle,the new Splendor iSmart,priced at Rs 64,900. Themotorcycle, which has 110ccfuel injection engine thatdelivers power of 9 BHP, alsoprovides added punch withhigher torque along with ahigher fuel efficiency from theprevious generation, HeroMotoCorp said in a statement."This is the first BS-VIcompliant motorcyclehomologated in the countrywith a new engine family, anda new chassis design,completely designed anddeveloped at our Centre ofInnovation and Technology(CIT) in Jaipur," HeroMotoCorp Head - GlobalProduct Planning Malo LeMasson said.

I took towriting

because I wassure this is what Iam good at. I wasdiscouraged bymy family too asthey were worriedthat I may not beable to make a livingin this field. They had,in fact asked me tojoin the army, whichI’m glad Ididn’t gofor

he Indian cricket teamis gearing up for itsupcoming tours withBangladesh and WestIndies, gluing cricket

fans from across the country totheir television sets. But mostyoungsters, have dedicatedthemselves to the sport tobecome the next Tendulkar andKohli. Keeping this in mind,Gaudium Sportopia joins thehigh ranks of hi-end sportsschools in the country recentlywith the inauguration of its owncricket academy in collaborationwith Gen-Next Cricket Institute.It aims to provide excellence ineducation and sports with state-of-the-art infrastructure andmentoring from top-notchexperts, which includes world’shighest active wicket-taker andArjuna awardee, RavichandranAshwin.

The children who attendedthe event had a memorable

time with Ashwin bowling inan exhibition cricket matchthat gave them an early tasteof playing against theworld's best.

“We have already activat-ed five academies so far

including the badminton acad-emy. All of these have receiveda huge response after suchgreat champions have come onboard to guide the young sport-ing minds. I am equally confi-dent that this latest collabora-tion with RavichandranAshwin and Gen-Next CricketInstitute will create a newroadmap for producing cham-pions for the future,” said KirthiReddy, Director &Founder of TheGaudium School

and Gaudium Sportopia.Gaudium Sportopia is look-

ing at a total investment ofRs180 crore to build morethan 25 specialised sports acad-emies by 2020.

“GenNext Institute and I arevery delighted to be associatedwith Gaudium Sportopia. Ialways believe that excellentinfrastructure and innovativetechniques from a young agemakes a lot of difference and

Gaudium Sportopia is onesuch place who is truly out tochange the entire sportingecosystem of the country byexposing the kids to some ofthe finest facilities. I am look-ing forward to seeing some of

these promising young-sters take India to

even greaterheights in thefuture,” saidR a v i -c h a n d r a nAshwin.

I always believe that excellentinfrastructure and innovative techniquesfrom a young age makes a lot of

difference and Gaudium Sportopia is onesuch place who is truly out to change

the entire sporting ecosystem of thecountry by exposing the kids to someof the finest facilities

ndian DJ, singer and electronic dancemusic producer Ritviz Srivastava is allset to enthrall the Hyderabad musiclovers today at the SunBurn Festival.The 21-year-old from Pune is trained

in Hindustani Classical Music. His music isbass-heavy and rich in eastern sounds owingto his training as a Hindustani classical musi-cian since the age of seven.

Ahead of his live performance in Hyderabad,speaking to The Pioneer, Ritviz says, “It isalways a great experience to perform in frontof the Hyderabad audience. People here havea great music sense and it’s been a while sinceI performed here.”

Ritviz who grew up listening to Hindustaniclassical music, feels it played a key role in hislife. “I learned how to sing Khayal from mymother and my father used to play tabla. I wastrained under pandit Uday Bhawalkar forDhrupad. I composed my first song when I wasat 10 years old,” he says adding the classicalmusic and his upbringing has influenced himin choosing music as his profession.

It was no turning back for the 21-year-oldafter he won the Bacardi House Party for histrack Udd Gaye in 2017. The track is a lyricalfusion of Indian and electronic music. Whenasked about it he says, “I never expected to winit despite submitting my application. I wasskeptical and was dual minded. Things changedfor real after I won the title and people in largenumbers started recognising my work and havebeen very supportive throughout.”

Ritviz has started his maiden music festival

YUV FEST this year. Speaking about the same,he says, “The future of India is in the handsof youth. YUV FEST is all about the essenceof Indian youth and promoting ideas andexpressions. This fest is aimed to encourage theyouth of India. The first edition of the festivalheld in Pune and it would be held all over thecountry soon.”

Ritviz believes that independent musiccomposing is important for an individual tomake a mark in the field. He elaborates, “It isalways important to have your own composi-tions and music. Rather than doing musicunder any label name, independent musicgives more name and fame for a musi-cian.”

The DJ’s performance is anopening act for singers KatyPerry and Dua Lipa who willbe debuting in India thisyear.

Giving a gist about hisupcoming projects, hesays, “I’m working on mynew album after theDev one. I will releasemany tracks through itand people couldunderstand about mewith these tracks. TheEDM scene is growingin India and manypeople are nowfocusing on theirsounds and music.”

I

DJ, singer and EDMproducer Ritviz

Srivastava, who is inHyderabad to perform

at the SunBurnfestival, shares hisviews about EDM

scene in India andindependent

music, amongothers with V SATEESH

REDDY

Ruskin Bond who wasin the city interacted

with students,academicians,

instructors and others.During the session he

opened up about his life,work, urge to

return to India,among others,

reportsANUSHKAPRADEEP

T

WORLD CLASS BOWLER TO

TEACH CRICKET

atna Sagar, an emi-nent publishinghouse in India, gaveliterature enthusi-asts in the citysomething to

remember by hosting RuskinBond. The event was titled“Memorable Moments withRuskin Bond”.

The hall was brimming withenthusiasm as it was filled withacademicians, students, instruc-tors and many more. The eventopened with an introductorysession by eager young fans ofthe author who were called upon stage to present pieces ofpoetry. These little kids wereencouraged to present any formof poetry and they recited theirown pieces and also took inspi-ration from Mr Bond.

The session was initiatedand moderated by Atiya Zaidi— publisher from Ratna Sagar.During the conversation, hespoke about several incidents ofhis life including Mr Oliver —who played a crucial part inshaping his childhood — hisexperiments with ghost storiesand a lot more. He told the

audiences about how everypiece of prose that he’d writeabout nature was inspired bythe surroundings he wasbrought up in. Bond had trav-elled a lot during his youth.Right from Shimla to Jam Nagaror even the days spent in theUnited Kingdom.

When asked why he returnedto India, he said, “While peoplearound me often wish to trav-el and stay in countries abroad,I just couldn’t stay there. I hadthis calling within me to returnto India which I couldn’t getover. I remember slogging offmy days working as hard as Icould in order to return toIndia. I even got an offer fromHong Kong a few years later. Myfriends would also try to per-suade me to accept the offer.Nevertheless, I declined it. Indiais more than just my home. Icouldn’t imagine myself livinganywhere else apart from India.”

During the question andanswer session, several teacherswho had come from across thetwo Telugu states came forwardwith their questions. When anaspiring writer audience asked

how he could become a writer,Ruskin replied, “Today, thereare several people who are will-ing to come forward and dowhat it takes to be a writer. Butback then, there were almostnone. My advice to you is sim-ple. If you love writing and ifyou think you are good at it, justdo it.”

He aimed to give the audi-ence straight facts.

“Disappointment is a part of thejourney and it might be some-thing you’ll have to get used tobefore you make it big.Nevertheless, if you want to bea writer, there a just a few basicthings you ought to remember.First, respect and master thelanguage you are writing. Findyour own style and the contextof what you’re writing. It isextremely important that you be

a good reader in order tobecome a good writer. Also notmany realise that the interest tomeet people from differentwalks of life is one of the basicnecessities in writing, as theirlife itself will provide you newstory ideas. Stories are bornthrough people, be it you, orthem.”

In an exclusive conversationwith The Pioneer, he was askedhow he was so certain that writ-ing is what he wanted to do. Hesaid, “I took to writing becauseI was sure this is what I amgood at. I was discouraged bymy family too as they were wor-ried that I may not be able tomake a living in this field.They had, in fact asked me tojoin the army, which I’m glad Ididn’t go for.”

In response to what hethinks about the scope of liter-ature in India today, he said,“India has come very farin terms of liter-a t u r et o d a y.W eh a v em o r e

writers than readers now. Backthen, in order to make sure Icould try my hand at writing,I wrote for several differentmagazines. In fact, I had alsowritten for The Pioneer. Buttoday, the dynamics havechanged. Today writers haveaccess to several publishinghouses and there is an evidentgrowth in the community. ButI would still advice that youventure into self-publish-ing eventually.Nevertheless, oneneeds a lot ofpatience and hasto be preparedto persevere alot before theycan actuallyacquire anyfame int h efield.”

BONDING WITH

RRUSKIN BOND

With Atiya Zaidi — publisher from Ratna Sagar

I learned how to sing Khayal from mymother and my father used to play

tabla. I was trained under pandit UdayBhawalkar for Dhrupad. I composed my firstsong when I was at 10 years old

‘Composing independentmusic very important’

FridayNovember 8, 2019

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/

dailypioneer

10

what’s brewing?Vijayawada Friday November 8, 2019

ollywood actor Saif AliKhan has revealed thatdespite being called a‘Nawab’ most of thetimes, the actor had toearn back his Pataudi

Palace after it was rented to a hotelchain post the death of his fatherMansur Ali Khan Pataudi.

Speaking about the money he paidto earn back the Pataudi Palace, Saiftold Mid-Day that, “People have acertain fixed notion. For that mat-ter, even (with) Pataudi (palace),when my father (Mansur Ali KhanPataudi) died, it got rented toNeemrana Hotels. Aman (Nath)and Francis (Wacziarg) used to run(the hotel). Francis passed away. He’dsaid that if I wanted (the palace)back, I could let him know. I said, ‘Iwant it back’. They held a conference,and said, ‘okay, you have to give uslots of money!’ Which I then conse-quently earned.”

He added, “So, even the houseI’m supposed to have inherited hasbeen earned back through moneyfrom films. You can’t live off thepast. At least we can’t in our fami-ly, because there was nothing. Thereis history, culture, beautiful pho-tographs; and, of course, someland. It has been a privilegedupbringing. But there’s been noinheritance.”

Talking about his childhood, the

actor said, “I was born and evenraised in Bombay. My father livedwith my mother in her (CarmichaelRoad) flat... He had just finished play-ing cricket. His last Test series waswhen I was four/five. My mother(actor Sharmila Tagore) says he wasbunking his responsibilities. Hismother was looking after things inBhopal and Pataudi. She’d got old. Sowe moved to Delhi to live with her.”

Saif and Kareena Kapoor, alongwith their son Taimur, often joinSharmila Tagore at the Pataudi

Palace. Kareena had celebratedher birthday this year at the palacein the company of the Khans andsister Karisma Kapoor.

Saif is all set to be seen in hisfirst historical, Tanhaji: TheUnsung Warrior. Ajay Devgnreleased his character poster lastmonth describing him as “Mightthat cut deeper than asword...” Saif plays UdayBhan in the film direct-ed by Om Raut.

Saif has alreadywrapped up theshooting of hisnext, JawaaniJaaneman . Italso starsTabu, PoojaBedi’s daugh-ter AlaiaFurniture-wala andKubbra Saitand is scheduledto hit theatres bythe end of thismonth.

B

Even the house I’m supposed to haveinherited has been earned back throughmoney from films. You can’t live off the past.At least we can’t in our family, because therewas nothing

ctor-f i lmmakerKamal Haasan onThursday rang inhis 65th birthdaywith members of

his family in hometownParamakudi in Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil veteran, duringhis stay in Paramakudi, willunveil a statue of his latefather, according to a state-ment.

The 65-year-old will alsobe looking forward to thecelebrations that are plannedto commemorate 60 years ofhis acting career. Membersof the Tamil film fraternitywill come together for theevent.

On the career front,Kamal Haasan is currentlyworking on Shankar’s Indian2. The film, a sequel toIndian, marks his return asnonagenarian vigilante,Senapathy.

Indian 2, which will hitthe screens in 2021, alsostars Siddharth, KajalAggarwal, Rakul Preet Singhand Priya Bhavani Shankar.

The team of Indian 2recently completed an actionsequence shot on a report-

ed budget of Rs. 40 crore inBhopal. The team alsobriefly shot in Gwaliorbefore wrapping up the sec-ond schedule.

The next schedule will bein Madhya Pradesh from thethird week of November.

Kamal Haasan also hasthe Tamil political thrillerThalaivan Irukkindran inthe pipeline. The film isrumoured to be a sequel toThevar Magan.

Meanwhile, fresh reportsemerged earlier this weekthat the actor has signedKaithi director LokeshKanagaraj for a new projectthat will take off next year.

A The 65-year-oldwill also be lookingforward to thecelebrations thatare planned tocommemorate 60years of his actingcareer

Kamal ringsin 65th b'daywith family

‘Had to shell out a lot of moneyto earn my Pataudi Palace'

FUN TIME

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

Narra Srinu going places

surprises Sudheer at every end

udigali Sudheer,who is a key partic-ipant on the huge-ly popular comedyshow Jabardusth, is

debuting as a leadactor with the filmSoftware Sudheer. Afamily entertainer,

the film, directed by PRajashekar Reddy, sees

Dhanya Balakrishna alongsideSudheer, while the supportingcast is stacked up with the likes ofIndraja, Posani Krishna Murali,Sayaji Shinde and Siva Prasad.Speaking at a promotional eventof the film in Hyderabad onThursday, Sudheer traced thefilm’s journey. “RajashekarReddy approached me with anoutline of the story, which Iliked. I was keen on doing a filmwith good technical values andwhen I quizzed about the film’stechnicians, he mentioned thenames of Ram Prasad (camera-man), Gautam Raju (editor),Bheems (music composer) andRam-Laxman (stunt choreogra-phers). I thought he was kiddingbut in the second meeting, hecame to me with a producer, gave

my remuneration and made mesign an agreement. It was all toofast but he assured, saying, ‘Don’tworry, these are the techniciansand we are doing the film’. We start-ed the film on March 20 and it wasthe most memorable day of my life,as I’ve started shooting for another film,Three Monkeys in the night,” Sudheersaid.

He continued, “I don’t know whether Iwill work with technicians and actors ofthis repute in the future but I’m thankfulto Rajashekar Reddy for making this hap-pen. I was surprised to see DhanyaBalakrishnan land on the sets three daysafter we went to sets. She has become apart of my family now. I’ve neverexpected the working title SoftwareSudheer finalised as the main title. Itwas another surprise.”

Speaking about the film, he said ascreenplay-based movie. “There’scomedy as well as commercial ele-ments. We’ve even shot for songs inMalaysia recently.”

Sudheer said it’s Chiranjeevi whoinspired him to pursue a career in act-ing, while he is a big admirer ofRajinikanth and Pawan Kalyan’s off-screen persona. “I’ve been made to imi-tate both of them for the film by thedirector,” he chuckled.

his paper was the first toreport (May 27) that directorSriram Adittya will be intro-ducing Ashok Galla,son of industrial-

ist and Guntur MP JayGalla, as an actorwith his fourth fea-ture film director-ial. The latestd e v e l o p m e n tabout the projectis that Tamilmusic composerGhibran is onboard to rendertunes, while RichardPrasad is the camera-man. Naresh, Satya andArchana Soundarya, have been ropedin for supporting roles. The suspense

surrounding who will produce theproject has also been cleared.Padmavathi Galla, Ashok's mother,

will be producing the film, a lovestory, under Amar Raja

Media & Entertainmentbanner. It will be

launched at a starryceremony thisSunday atRamanaidu Studios,with Krishna andMahesh Babu likelyto grace it. Ashok

has gone for a com-plete makeover from

the film and its evidentAdittya has worked on his

leading man's look. NidhhiAgerwal, it is said, will be the film'sleading lady.

ne might envy a celebrity for the glamorouslifestyle they live, but with the fame and successalso comes the risk of being trolled. Time andagain, actress in general, have been victims toonline trolling.

Recently, Kannada beauty Rashmika Mandannawho was on the receiving end, decided to voice out her opin-ion on one such misogynistic post. The actress shared a postof trollaaya_namah, which had Rashmika’s childhood pho-tos in a collage with a derogatory comment. Disturbed withthe trolls, she questioned trollers as to why they target pub-lic figures ruthlessly. “I don’t know what you guys get outof doing this to us actors. Is it because we are a soft targetto you? (Being a) public figure doesn’t mean you can targetus ruthlessly.”

She also wrote that no one had the right to discuss anactor’s personal life. “A lot of you keep saying — ignore the

bad comments or trolls and I generally do. Say anythingyou want about our work — you have the right. But, no

one has any right to say anything about our familiesor our personal lives. No actor deserves this crap

(sic).” The Dear Comrade star pointed out that people

needed to respect each other first, and that everyprofession deserves to be respected. “Because letme tell you this, being an actor is not easy - eachand every profession deserves utmost respect.I think people first need to start respecting oneanother. Congratulations [to] whoever didthis. You have managed to hurt me. Didn’tthink of you were capable of doing that, butwhat’s to follow is on you,” she said.

Vijayawada Friday November 8, 2019

O

11

tollywood

Software Sudheer

SAMUTHIRAKANIin much demand

ctor-fi lmmaker PSamuthirakani is gettingbusier day by day in Telugu.Presently, a part of anticipat-ed fi lms like RRR, Ala

Vaikunthapuramlo and Akhil’s nextwith Bommarillu Bhasker, the notedTamil face has now hopped on boardRavi Teja’s next with GopichandMalineni, according to a statement bythe film’s makers on Thursday. Whilethe nature of his role hasn’t beendivulged, he is the latest to havejoined the film after Shruti Haasanand SS Thaman.

The untitled film is a crime grittycrime drama, which will unfold likea thriller. Ravi’s part will be involvedin solving the crime rate in Ongole,while simultaneously diffusing therivalry between two families that areinvolved in gang rivalry for decadesover a budding love story gone sour.Tagore Madhu is bankrolling theventure, which will roll shortly. Thefilm marks Ravi and Malineni reteam-ing for the third time after successfulventures like Don Sreenu and Balupu.

A

t

Rashmika shutstroller with a virtual slap

he filming of choreogra-pher-turned-directorAmma Rajasekhar’s Hi 5shooting is over. Thefilm is a musical drama

starring Mannara Chopra, whowas last seen in the damp squibSeetha. “The film’s screenplaywill be as different as that of myfirst directorial Ranam. It has 12songs and 5 music directors areworking on it. Songs will beextensions of casual dialogues.Thaman has recorded one song,while composers from London,Malaysia and US have recorded

other songs. We are planning toapproach Devi Sri Prasad for onesong,” Rajasekhar said at a pressmeet of the film in Hyderabadoutskirts on Thursday.

Mannara said she loves danceand the film provided her with theopportunity to showcase herdance skills.

Jasmine, Chaya, Pranali,Triptho, Sameer, Sudheer,Selvaraj, Dikshith will be seen inother roles in the film, which,according to producer RadhaRajasekhar, is being planned fora January release.

t

Amma Rajasekharreturns as a director

Ghibran's music forAshok Galla's film

s

opular Telugu actor Narra Srinuhas been roped in by directorPrabhudheva for his on-setsfilm, Radhe: Your Most WantedBhai, with Bollywood superstarSalman Khan. The film, an

action-thriller, is believed to be a remakeof 2017 South Korean hit The Outlaws, andwill see Salman as a gangster/undercovercop in Mumbai. Srinu, who had ticked thefunny bone of audience with his turns infilms like Gabbar Singh, Premam and ChalMohan Ranga, is chuffed to bits with hismaiden Hindi assignment. “I consider it asa huge opportunity. Although I will beshooting for the film for close to a weekspread over four months, my part carriesa lot of weight. I will be sharing screen spacewith both Salman and Disha Patani. I will

be meeting Salman on the sets itself,” theactor informs us.

Srinu doesn’t see language as a barrier forhis Hindi gig. “I can speak Hindi. Hum Hyd-erabad ka rehne waale, tho Hindi mein baatkarna padtha (I reside in Hyderabad, so I’msupposed to speak in Hindi),” he smiles,adding, “If I have issues, I’m sure Prabhu-dheva, who knows Telugu well, will assistme.” He is also keen to dub for his part. “I’vemade my Tamil debut with TheeranAdhigaaram Ondru (Khakee in Telugu) in2017. Initially, I told director Vinoth I willdub for my role but after the film wrappedup, the makers went ahead with a voiceartist who dubbed for my part. Althoughit’s a serious role, it was laced with a tingeof humour, which the director felt was miss-ing from the voice artiste’s work. He later

rang me and asked if I could dub. I did andit came out very well. I’m keen to dub forRadhe as well if the production house givesme an opportunity,” he informs.

Srinu is happy that Telugu career is on theascent. While he has wrapped up shootingfor Venky Mama sometime back, he is pre-sently awaiting the release of Rajendra Pra-sad-starrer Tholu Bommalata, where he pla-yed a significant supporting role. “I essayedthe part of Rajendra Prasad garu’s son-in-law. As long he is alive, I’m very affable andvery respectful towards him but once hepasses away, I squabble over property. WhatI liked most about the film is that the direc-tor has dealt problems that are a part and par-cel of most families,” he says, adding, inNithiin-starrer Bheeshma, he will be seen asvillain’s brother. “It has a comic touch to it.”

He has also signed Ram-starrer Red thatwas launched earlier this month. An inves-tigative thriller, it is a remake of Tamil hitThadam. “I will be seen as a constable in it.Compared to the original, my role has beenextended and I credit director KishoreTirumala for it. I will start shooting for itfrom this month-end,” he signs off.

p

Srinu who will be seen in Prabhudheva’sRadhe speaks to NAGARAJ GOUD about

career, dubbing in Hindi, Telugu, among others

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 8, 2019

PTI n FUZHOU

India’s men’s doubles pair ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy and

Chirag Shetty on Thursday stunnedsixth seed Hiroyuki Endo and YutaWatanabe of Japan to enter thequarterfinals of the China Openhere.

Rankireddy and Shetty playedtheir hearts out to get the better oftheir Japanese opponents 21-18, 21-23, 21-11 in a pulsating secondround contest that lasted an hourand six minutes.

For Rankireddy and Shetty,who had reached the French Openfinal last month, the latest win istheir second straight over Endo andWatanabe. The Indians had defeat-ed the Japanese duo in straightgames in Paris last month.

Rankireddy and Shetty will faceLi Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen ofChina in the quarterfinals today.

Rankireddy and Shetty were thelone Indians left in the tournamentafter the others bite the dust on

Thursday.Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai

Praneeth were both ousted in thesecond round of the men’s singlesevent.

World No 11 Praneeth foughthard for one hour 24 minutesagainst fourth seed AndersAntonsen of Denmark before goingdown 20-22, 22-20, 21-16.

Kashyap, ranked 25 in theworld, ran out of steam after adecent start against seventh seedVictor Axelsen and went down 13-21, 19-21 in a match that lasted 43minutes. Praneeth’s loss marked theend of India’s campaign in the sin-gles.

It was also the end of the roadfor the mixed doubles pair ofRankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa.The unseeded Indian duo lost 21-23, 16-21 to fifth seeds Seo SeungJae and Chae Yujung of SouthKorea.

PTI n DHAKA

Mominul Haque was “notready at all” for Test cap-

taincy but the thought of lead-ing Bangladesh against ViratKohli’s India makes him feelgood.

Mominul said he wascompletely taken by surprise atthe Bangladesh Cricket Board’sdecision to hand him the Testcaptaincy in place of bannedShakib Al Hasan.

“I was not ready at all. Itwas completely unexpected. Inever thought even in mydreams that I will be the cap-tain of Bangladesh or I willcaptain the Test side,”Monimul told reporters.

The 28-years old has neverled a top domestic team buthas been entrusted with thebig responsibility to captainthe national side for a high-profile assignment startingnext week.

“I am very excited as Ithink Virat Kohli is the bestplayer in the world, the bestbatsman in all formats com-bined. Thinking about that

makes me feel good,” he said.The first Test of the series

will be played in Indore fromNovember 14 to 18, while thesecond match will mark theinaugural day-night Testbetween the two sides, inKolkata from November 22.

Talking about playing hismaiden day-night Test,Mominul said: “We have notplayed a Test under the flood-lights and with the pink ball. Itis a very good chance to playgood cricket.”

The left-handed batsman,who has played 36 Tests andscored 2,613 runs, however,said the innovation would notaffect his game.

“I never considered cap-taincy as pressure or responsi-bility. If I keep thinking that asa captain I have to take extraresponsibility to carry the teamforward then I will be undersome pressure,” said Mominul,who is not part of T20 squad.

“But if I play my naturalgame, and think that I am abatsman who needs to scorefor his team, then it will nothave any effect.”

PTI n DOHA

Chinki Yadav kept aliveIndia’s hopes of securing

the second Olympic quota inwomen’s 25m Pistol, clingingto fifth place in the firstround qualification of theAsian ShootingChampionship here onThursday.

Chinki shot an exception-al 292 and will be looking tomake the final today andtake a shot at clinching one ofthe four available Tokyoberths. Rahi Sarnobat hasalready secured the otherquota place for India in theevent in earlier competitions.Apart from Chinki, VivaanKapoor and Esha Singh wontwo Gold each as India dom-inated the junior competi-tions, where they haveaccounted for 18 of the 23medals won so far by thecountry.

The icing on the cake atthe Lusail Shooting complexwas the 1-2 finish in thejunior men’s trap competitionwhere Vivaan shot his way toan individual Gold with com-patriot BhowneeshMendiratta following himthrough the day to clinchSilver.

The pair also combinedwith Manavaditya SinghRathore to secure the teamGold in the event.

Teenager Esha also won adouble Gold on the day, cap-turing both the individual andteam titles in the 10m air pis-tol women junior competi-tion.

Esha topped the qualifi-cation with a 579 and thenwon the finals with a 242.2.Teammate Priya Raghav wasthird in qualification with574 and finished in the sameposition in the final, closingout with a 217.6.

Esha, Priya and YuvikaTomar claimed the team Goldwith a total of 1721, whicheclipsed both the Asian andworld junior records in thecategory.

Bhakti Bhaskar Khamkarwon India’s fifth Gold of theday, in 50m rifle 3 positionswomen junior, with a domi-nating 453.1 in the final.

Bhakti, Ayushi Podderand Nishchal also won theteam Silver in the event. Sodid the trio of Niraj Kumar,Harshrajsinhji Gohil andNitish Kumar in the 50m rifle3 positions men junior event.Niraj also picked up the indi-vidual Silver.

PTI n NORTH SOUND

Comeback-girl SmritiMandhana and Jemimah

Rodrigues hit contrasting half-centuries to lead the Indianwomen’s team to a 2-1 series vic-tory over the West Indies herewith a comfortable six-wicketwin in the deciding third ODI.

Mandhana, who missed thefirst two matches of the series dueto a toe injury, smashed a 63-ball74 and raised a match-winning141-run partnership with fellowopener Rodrigues (69 off 92) onWednesday night. A solid foun-dation in place, India cruised tothe 195-run target in 42.1 oversafter the Indian bowlers did acommendable job of bowling outthe hosts for a sub-par 194 inexact 50 overs.

During the course of herinnings, Mandhana became thefastest Indian woman to score2,000 runs in One-DayInternationals. The 23-year-oldreached the milestone in her 51stinnings.

Seasoned pacer JhulanGoswami (2/30) and leg-spinnerPoonam Yadav (2/35) shared fourwickets between them, troublingthe rival middle order after the

West Indies elected to bat.It was pacer Shikha Pandey

and leg-spinner RajeshwariGaekwad, who removed the top-order as five of the six Indianbowlers in action, were amongwickets.

Stafanie Taylor kept fightingfor the hosts with a combative 79-run knock but ran short of part-ners as other West Indies battersstruggled to negotiate India’sattack.

Apart from Taylor onlyAtacy-Ann King showed some

stomach for fight with a 45-ball38.

It was Mandhana’s first ODIsince the home series againstEngland in February and thirdhalf-century in a row, havingscored 63 and 66 against theBritish team in Mumbai.

Rodrigues, who had scored 41in India’s defeat in the openingODI, took 92 balls for her 69-runknock which had six boundaries.

The two teams will now playa five-match Twenty20 series,beginning Sunday at Gros Islet.

PTI n KOLKATA

Reigning and former world chesschampions Magnus Carlsen and

Viswanathan Anand in all likelihoodwould ring the customary Eden bell onone of the days during the historicday/night India-Bangladesh Test herefrom November 22-26.

The Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI, whichis organising the first ever day/night Testin India, is awaiting a confirmation fromthe Norwegian world champion, whowould be competing in the Tata SteelChess India — Rapid & Blitz 2019, thepenultimate leg of the Grand ChessTour.

“The BCCI has invited Carlsen to ringthe Eden bell and if time permits, healong with Anand will be seen at the sta-dium in one of the five days,” JeetBanerjee, director of Gameplan Sports, theofficial sponsors and branding partner ofthe tour, said on Thursday.

According to Cricket Association ofBengal (CAB) sources, Anand has alreadyaccepted the invitation and they are nowawaiting a nod from Carlsen, whichcould make it a double delight.

Working out the logistics could be aconcern as the timings of both the eventstoo are almost clashing, one of theorganisers said.

“While the Test will get underway at

1 pm, the GCT Kolkata circuit will startat 2 pm at the National Library,” he said.

The day one’s proceedings of the firstTest is slated to begin with BangladeshPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina ringing theEden Bell.

A galaxy of Indian sports stars includ-ing cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar,Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, ten-nis star Sania Mirza, world badmintonchampion PV Sindhu and six-time box-ing world champion MC Mary Komamong others would be seen in the Test.

The CAB will felicitate the teammembers of Bangladesh-India first everTest in 2000, a game where SouravGanguly, the BCCI president, made hisdebut as Test captain.

The first day of the match could seea helicopter revolving around the EdenGardens from which a skydiver will comeflying into the ground with the trophy.

PTI n RAJKOT

Indian bowlers led by YuzvendraChahal made an impressivecomeback to restrict Bangladesh

to a sub-par 153 for 6 in their must-win second T20 game here onThursday.

Put into bat, Bangladesh couldnot capitalize on a good start asChahal's (2-28) double breakthroughin the 13th over pegged the visitorsback. A quick-fire 30 off 21 balls byskipper Mahmudullah Riyad helpedthem cross the 150-mark.

Openers Liton Das (29 off 21balls, 4x4) and Mohammad Naim(36 off 31 balls, 5x4) shared a 60 runopening stand.

Naim slammed profligate left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (1-44from 4 overs) for three successiveboundaries to start on rousing note.

Seamer Deepak Chahar (1-25)

and off-spinner Washington Sundar(1-25) did manage to stem the flowof runs but Khaleel's poor show con-tinued.

Chahal, on his introduction,had almost removed a set Liton, butRishabh Pant's urge to completeglovework quickly gave the batsmanlifeline.

The TV replays showed thatwhile whipping the bails off, Pantcollected the ball in front of thestumps and hence it was declared no-ball. As per the law, every part ofwicket-keeper's gloves has to bebehind the stumps.

Das then hammered two succes-sive fours to add insult to injury.

He got another reprieve on 26after skipper Rohit Sharma droppedhim at square-leg following a mix-up with Shivam Dube and Pant. ButPant made up for his mistake and ranDas out, with a direct hit in the

eighth over, to break the openingstand.

Das's wicket slowed the scoringrate and that put Naim under pres-sure, who then gave a dolly toShreyas Iyer at deep-mid-wicket offWashington as Bangladesh slumpedwere 83 for 2 in the 11th over.

And then Yuzvendra picked twowickets in the 13th over —MushfiqurRahim (4 off 6 balls), who gave a sit-ter to Krunal Pandya and thenremoved a set Soumya Sarkar (30 off20 balls; 2x4, 1x6) — as Bangladeshwere struggling at 103/4. Sarkarwas stumped by Pant.

Mahmudullah and Afif Hossain(6) tried to steady the ship with a 25run-stand but Khaleel broke thestand dismissing Hossain to leaveBangladesh teetering at 128 for 5 andthen they just managed to cross the150-run-mark as the bowlers bowledin right areas.

PERTH: World number one AshleighBarty has enjoyed a career-changing sea-son and is “extremely hungry” to end iton a high by steering Australia to theirfirst Fed Cup in 45 years.

The seven-time champions have nottasted success in the tournament sincethe days of Evonne Goolagong in 1974,with two-time winners France standingin their way on the hardcourts at PerthArena starting tomorrow.

It will mark the last Fed Cup finalplayed under the current format, withan overhaul next year seeing 12 nationscompete in a six-day event in Budapest.

While there will be a huge boost inprize money, it spells an end to hometies, following a similar change to themen’s Davis Cup.

Barty, fresh from being crownedWTA Finals champion in Shenzhen onSunday, leads a team that boasts worldnumber 51 Ajla Tomljanovic making herdebut, veteran Samantha Stosur (96),Astra Sharma (108) and Priscilla Hon

(126). They are banking on passionatehome support to get them over the line.

“This was a week I circled at thebeginning of the year that I wanted totarget, and to be able to finish the yearplaying as a team for your nation is pret-ty special and I’ve been looking forwardto it for a long time,” said Barty.

“All of us are extremely hungry —it’s taken us probably two or three yearsto get into this position and now it’sabout coming out and enjoying it thisweekend.” AFP

Bowlers restrict B’desh to 153-6

Never thought I'll leadTigers, says Mominul

Rohit becomesfirst Indianman to featurein 100 T20internationalsPTI n RAJKOT

Stand-in skipper Rohit Sharmaon Thursday became the first

Indian man and second in worldcricket to complete 100 T20Internationals.

He reached the milestonewhen he led the team in the sec-ond match against Bangladesh atthe Saurashtra Cricket AssociationStadium here.

Shoaib Malik (111 games)from Pakistan is the only player tohave played more than 100 T20Internationals.

Rohit is currently the top-scor-er in this format with 2452 runswith regular skipper Virat Kohlisecond in the list with an aggregateof 2450 runs. Rohit has scored theruns at a strike-rate of 136.67 withfour hundreds and 17 half-cen-turies.

“It's been a long journey since2007, I made my debut in the T20World Cup. There has been a lotups and down in the last 12 yearsin this format particularly. This hastaught me so many lessons goingforward," Rohit had said in Delhi,when asked about the milestone.

"When you come into theteam as a youngster, you are try-ing to learn things which hap-pened quite smoothly at start.Then with few ups and few downs,I have become a stronger playerand understood my game reallywell."

The Mumbaikar made his T20debut against England in Durbanin 2007.

The captain of the nationalwomen's T20 team, HarmanpreetKaur is the only other Indian play-er to have played 100 matches inthe shortest format.

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SEAMER DEEPAKCHAHAR (1-25) AND

OFF-SPINNERWASHINGTON

SUNDAR (1-25) DIDMANAGE TO STEM

THE FLOW OF RUNSBUT KHALEEL

AHMED’S (1-44FROM 4 OVERS)

POOR SHOWCONTINUED IN THE

2ND GAME AS WELL