HYDERABAD, THURSDAY NOVEMBER 19, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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Bihar Oppn attacksNitish over graft

5

BJP, JSP vote splitmay help TRS

4

Sensex jumps 227pts; Nifty tops12,900

8

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated November 18, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

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Kartik & Shukla Paksha

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Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 12:01 pm – 01:24 pm

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L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

TRS supremo and ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoon Wednesday virtuallydeclared an all-out war againstthe Bharatiya Janata Party andPrime Minister NarendraModi, asserting that the battlefor restoration of democracy inthe country and giving prima-cy to the federal spirit of theConstitution would begin fromHyderabad in Telangana State.

KCR announced that hewould hold a national conclavein Hyderabad during the sec-ond week of December (i.e.

soon after the results of GHMCelections are declared), involv-ing regional parties opposingBJP. The conclave was beingheld against the "anti-people,anti-labour, anti-farmer poli-cies of the BJP-led govern-ment at the Centre headed byPrime Minister NarendraModi".

KCR made this significantannouncement while address-ing TRS Ministers, MLAs,MLCs and MPs at theTelangana Bhavan here duringa meeting held to devise theparty's strategy for the GHMCpolls.

The TRS supremo stated

that he had already invitedabout 10 CMs and chiefs ofvarious parties to his conclave

over phone and that they hadagreed to take part in themeeting. He said that he had

spoken to TrinamoolCongress chief, West BengalCM Mamata Banerjee,

Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav, NationalistCongress Party chief Sharad

Pawar, Shiromani Akali Dalichief SS Badal, DMK chiefMK Stalin etc and invitedthem for his conclave.

Interestingly, KCR did nottake the names of YSRCP chief,AP CM YS Jaganmohan Reddyand TDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu.

"Since the Congress hasbecome inactive and peopleacross India no more considerCongress as an alternativepolitical force, the onus lies onother parties to save the coun-try and people from the evilclutches of the BJP governmentat the Centre," KCR said.

KCR declares war on BJP and PM Modi

TRS supremo and Chief Minister K ChandrasekharRao on Wednesday exuded confidence that thepink party would win 105 wards out of 150 in theGHMC polls. All the surveys commissioned by himfor the GHMC polls revealed public support for theparty so much so that TRS would beat its ownrecord of winning 99 seats in the GHMC polls (in2016) by bagging 105 seats this time.KCR chaired a meeting of the TRS ParliamentaryParty and the Legislative Party at TelanganaBhavan here on Wednesday to brace up the party

for the GHMC polls. In the meeting, it wasunanimously resolved to go all guns blazing duringthe GHMC election campaign and give a fittingreply to the opposition parties, which wereresorting to false propaganda against the TRSgovernment. Apart from taking on the oppositionparties, KCR underlined, party members shouldreach out to every household, and explain to themabout the welfare and developmental activitiestaken up by the state government in the statecapital.

TRS will win 105 seats

SEC halts disbursal of Rs 10K flood relief in cityKCR holds BJP responsible, turns it into plank PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana State ElectionCommission (SEC) onWednesday asked thePrincipal Secretar y,Municipal Administrationand Urban Development toput on hold the registrationand disbursal of Rs 10,000relief amount to each of theflood-affected families in theGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) limitstill declaration of the GHMCelection results.

In an unusually urgentpiece of communicationaddressed to the PrincipalSecretary, SEC Secretary M.Ashok Kumar asked the gov-ernment to put on hold theregistration and distributionof relief, saying it was

"attracting the Model Code ofConduct" and was "likely toinfluence the electors". Withthe notification of GHMCelections, the Model Code ofConduct took effect onTuesday and would remain in

force till declaration of theGHMC election results, hesaid.

Quick on the uptake, TRSchief and Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao held theBharatiya Janata Partyresponsible for the stoppageof flood relief.

Addressing party leaders atTelangana Bhavan here onWednesday, KCR said theSEC stopped distribution offlood relief following a com-plaint lodged by BJP with theSEC. He asked party leadersand cadre to highlight thisduring campaigning for theGHMC polls and explain theflood-hit people how the BJPhad deprived them of the Rs10,000 benefit offered by theTRS government.

Maha govtagrees to shiftVaravara Raoto hospital PNS n MUMBAI

The Maharashtra govern-ment on Wednesday agreedto shift jailed poet-activistVaravara Rao, an accused inthe Elgar Parishad-Maoistlinks case, to the NanavatiHospital in Mumbai for treat-ment for 15 days.

Following the interven-tion of a bench of Justices SS Shinde and MadhavJamdar, the state said it willshift Rao (81), who is lodgedas an under-trial in theTaloja prison in neighbour-ing Navi Mumbai, to theNanavati Hospital as a "spe-cial case".

State's counsel DeepakThakre told the court that hehad taken instructions fromMaharashtra Home MinisterAnil Deshmukh,

GHMC MAYOR POST

PNS n HYDERABAD

Retaining the GHMC Mayorpost is going to be a cakewalkfor the ruling TelanganaRashtra Samiti, even if its seatstally is down by half in theGHMC polls this time overthat of the 2016 polls, thanksto its strength of ex-officiomembers in the form of MLAs,MLCs and MPs.

Ex-officio members havevoting right to elect GHMCMayor, along with corporators.

In the 2016 GHMC polls,the pink party scripted histo-ry by winning 99 out of 150wards and bagged the Mayorpost on its own without theneed to exercise the votes ofex-officio members.

When TRS supremo andChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao advancedGHMC polls by two months ata time when TRS faced shock-ing defeat at the hands of BJPin the Dubbak Assembly

bypolls just a week ago, themillion-dollar question raisedin some circles was: Whatgives KCR the confidence to gofor snap polls to the civicbody now?

TRS sources have a differenta set of calculations in supportof KCR's decision.

Although the number ofcorporators in the GHMC is150, the Mayoral election alsoinvolves 52 ex-officio mem-bers. Elected MLAs, MLCsand MPs constitute the ex-offi-cio members. Thus, the totalnumber of voters for Mayoral

election is 202. So, Mayorneeds 102 votes to win. Of the52 members, the TRS andMIM put together have 48 ex-officio votes.

This means the TRS, againstall odds, needs to win just 54divisions to get its candidateelected as the Mayor of theGHMC. Even if TRS fails to win54 seats on its own, it still hasthe chance to secure this magicfigure with the support of itsfriendly party AIMIM, which issure of winning about 45 wardsin Old City, come what may.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Hyderabad civic body hasso far seen only two women inthe seat of Mayor. In 1965,Bathukamma Kunta corpora-tor Sarojini Pullareddy becamethe first woman Mayor. Afterthe Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation wasformed, in 2009 Tarnaka cor-porator Banda Karthika Reddybecame the second Mayor.Now again it is the turn for awoman to become Mayor asthe SEC has declared that theposition is for General catego-

ry woman. Of the 12 Mayorsthat Hyderabad has witnessed,

City to get third woman Mayor

NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

In a revolting incident thatwould raise the hackles of animallovers, the carcasses of about 70monkeys, including those ofinfants, were found among bush-es near an electric substation onthe outskirts of Shanigapuramvillage in Mahabubabad onTuesday night. As per officials,it appears that the monkeyswere poisoned by some as-yetunidentified person(s).

Some activists, includingMohammed Saleema akaSuma, a member of NenuSaitam (a voluntary organisa-

tion working for animals andon environmental issues),reached the spot first andalerted local forest officials.

Holding a placard, Sumastaged a protest demandingthat officials must take imme-diate steps to identify the cul-prits and ensure harsh punish-ment for them.

Talking about the incident,Suma's father, MohammedSubhani, shares, "It's heart-breaking what happened here.

70 monkeys poisoned to death,stuffed in gunny bags

RT PCR test priceslashed by 60%PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana State govern-ment has reduced the price ofthe RT-PCR test done in pri-vate labs and now a Covid-19test costs less than thousandrupees. As per the Director ofPublic Health Dr G SrinivasaRao, "RT-PCR testing rates inprivate labs have beenreduced from Rs.2,200/-toRs.850/- if collected at lab. Ifsamples are collected at home,the rates have been slashed

from Rs.2,800 to Rs.1,200".It's represents a 2.5 times'

decrease in the cost of thetest, which is considered asthe gold standard.

Two types of tests are done totest for COVID-19 in the city:RT-PCR and Rapid AntigenTest. Both tests are done for freeat government testing centresand hospitals. Private clinicscharge for the test. He urgedpeople to avail of Governmenttesting facilities for Covid-19testing free of cost.

In a setback to Congress ahead of the December 1 GreaterHyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections, party leader andformer city Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy on Wednesday joined theBJP, even as major parties announced the names of their candidatesfor the poll. Karthika Reddy, who served asMayor before the formation of Telangana, joinedBJP in the presence of the party's NationalGeneral Secretary Bhupender Yadav. Herhusband Chandra Reddy also joined the saffronparty. Welcoming Karthika Reddy and others intothe party fold, Yadav said BJP would like toprovide a corruption-free administration in theGHMC and later in Telangana.

Karthika Reddy of Cong joins BJP

nKCR slams Modi govt on disinvestment, ‘anti-farmer’ policies; to hold conclave of opposition parties in December

TRS -BJP battle turnsmurky over Bandi letterPNS n HYDERABAD

The battle for GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation between the rul-ing TRS and opposition BJPturned murky on Thursdayover the purported trigger forhalting flood relief to flood-hitvictims in GHMC limits.

It all started with the StateElection Commission (SEC)issuing orders on Wednesdaydirecting the state governmentto halt distribution of Rs 10,000flood relief amount to each of

the flood-affected families in theGHMC limits. The TRS wasquick to react, accusing the BJPof stopping flood relief by lodg-ing a complaint with SEC againstdistribution of 10K cash whenthe Model Code of Conduct forthe elections was in force.

A 'letter' purportedly writ-ten by BJP Telangana chiefBandi Sanjay to the CentralElection Commission waswidely circulated in the socialmedia in support of the accu-sations against BJP.

AP SEC meets Governor,complains about state govtPNS n AMARAVATI

Andhra Pradesh State ElectionCommissioner NimmagaddaRamesh Kumar on Wednesdayconferred with state GovernorBiswabhusan Harichandan andcomplained against "the unconsti-tutional acts" of the Y S JaganMohan Reddy government after itdiffered on the move to hold theGram panchayat polls in February,official sources said. Ramesh

Kumar took strong exception tothe stance being adopted by thestate government on holding

elections to the local bodies andmaintained that it was "unconsti-tutional" and amounted to under-mining the independence of aconstitutional body like the SEC,the sources said. In a letter to theSEC, state Chief Secretary NilamSawhney pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic and said as andwhen the situation became con-ducive for the conduct of electionsto local bodies,

In the 2016 GHMC polls, the pinkparty scripted history bywinning 99 out of 150 wardsand bagged the Mayor poston its own without the needto exercise the votes of ex-officio members

Cakewalk for TRS this time

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Joe Biden, who will take over as United States President in January, hastold Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that alongside Kamala

Harris he wants to strengthen and expand relations between theircountries. Working closely on the Covid-19 pandemic figured in theirphone call on Tuesday, Biden's transition organisation's readout of theconversation said. "The President-elect thanked thePrime Minister for his congratulations and expressedhis desire to strengthen and expand the US-Indiastrategic partnership alongside the first Vice Presidentof South Asian descent" Kamala Harris, according tothe readout."The President-elect noted that he looksforward to working closely with the Prime Minister onshared global challenges.

WILL WORK TO STRENGTHEN INDIATIES, BIDEN TELLS MODI

12 INJURED IN GRENADE ATTACKIN J&K’S PULWAMA

After the Diwali weekend and Bhai Dooj celebrations came to an end, Indiarecorded more than 30 per cent jump in new cases of Covid-19 with 38,617

new cases reported in past 24 hours pushing the cumulative the tally to 89,12,907,data from the Union Health Ministry showed on Wednesday. The toll rose to1,30,993 with 474 more deaths in one day. The number of active cases stoodat 4,46,805. As many as 83,35,109 people have recovered fromthe disease so far. On Tuesday, India reported 29,164 new Covid-19 cases and 449 deaths. The figure of Wednesday is almost32 per cent more in the single-day spike. However, thereason could be a rise in the testing as total 9,37,279 sam-ples were tested on Tuesday after a long weekend of test-ing eight lakh samples on an average, testing data fromthe Indian Council of Medical Research showed.

Abikini model has claimed that Pope Francis’ Instagram account liked aracy photo of her dressed in stockings and suspenders. Natalia Garibotto,

27, said the pontiff’s verified Franciscus account was among the 133,000that “liked” an image of her standing at a school locker with a white crop-topand a skirt barely reaching her behind.“My mum may hate my ass pics but thePope be double-tapping,” the Brazilianjoked with Barstool Sports, which alsoclaimed to have seen the apparent papalseal of approval before it was removed.“Brb on my way to the Vatican,”Garibotto joked with her Twitterfollowers, along with a prayer emoji.

At least 12 people were injured in a grenade attack by terrorists inJammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Wednesday, security officials

said. Unidentified terrorists threw agrenade near the Kakapora Chowk inPulwama, an official said. They wereaiming for a team of security forcepersonnel but the grenade missed thetarget and exploded on the road. Noone from the Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) was hurt, they said. Theinjured, most of whom sufferedsplinter wounds, were shifted to anearby hospital.

INDIA SHOWS JUMP OF 30% IN NEWCOVID CASES SINCE DIWALI

POPE’S INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT SEEMSTO ‘LIKE’ BIKINI MODEL’S PHOTO

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2020

1 1 Kapra S. Swarna Raj

2 11 Nagole Cheruku Sangeetha

Prashanth Goud

3 12 Mansoorabad Koppula Vittal Reddy

4 13 Hayathnagar Sama Tirumala Reddy

5 14 B.N.Reddy Muddagouni Laxmi

Prasanna Goud

6 15 Vanasthalipuram Jitta RajasekharReddy

7 16 Hasthinapuram Ramavath Padma Nayak

8 17 Champapet Sama Ramana Reddy

9 18 Lingojiguda Srinivasa Rao

Mudraboina

10 19 Saroornagar P Anitha Dayakar Reddy

11 20 R.K.Puram MV Bharathi Aravind Sharma

12 21 Kothapet G V Sagar Reddy

13 22 Chaitaynapuri Jinnaram Vittal Reddy

14 23 Gaddiannaram Bhavani Praveen Kumar

15 24 Saidabad Singireddy Swarna Latha Reddy

16 25 Moosarambagh Teegala Sunaritha Reddy

17 26 Old Malakpet Pagilla Shalini

18 27 Akbhar Bagh Sridhar Reddy

Madhikunta

19 28 Azhampura Arthi Babu Rao

20 29 Chawani MD Showkath Ali

21 30 Dabeerpura MD. Sabeer

22 31 Reinbazar MD. Abdul Javeed

23 32 Patherghat MD. Akthar Mohinuddin

24 33 Moghalpura SV Saritha

25 34 Talabchanchalam Meher Unnisa

26 35 Gowlipura Boddu Sarita

27 36 Lalith Bagh G Raghavendra Raju

28 37 Kurmaguda Mailkolli Navita Yadav

29 38 I S Sadan Sama Swapna Sundhar Reddy

30 39 Santhosh Nagar Chintala Srinivas Rao Nayee

31 40 Riyasat Nagar B Santhosh Kumar

32 41 Kanchan Bagh Akula Vasantha

33 42 Barkas C Saritha

34 43 Chandrayan Gutta Jurki Santhosh Rani

35 44 Uppuguda Muppadi Sobha Rami Reddy

36 45 Jangamet K Swaroopa Ramsingh Nayak

37 46 Falaknuma Giridhar Naik

38 47 Nawab Sahkunta Sameena Begum

39 48 Shalibanda P. Radha Krishna

40 49 Ghansi Bazar P. Ishitha

41 51 Goshamahal Mukesh Singh

42 52 Pooranapul Laxman Rao

43 53 Doodhbowli Shabana Anjum

44 54 Jahanuma Palle Viramani

45 55 Ramnaspura Mahhammad Inkeshaf

46 56 Kishanbagh Mohd Shakeel Ahmed

47 62 Ziaguda A. Krishna

48 63 Mangalhat Parmeshwari Singh

49 64 Dattatreya Nagar MD Saleem

50 65 Karwan Mutyala Bhaskar

51 66 Langerhouse B Parvatamma Yadav

52 67 Golkonda Asfia Khan

53 68 Toli Chowki A. Naga Jyothi

54 69 Nanalnagar SK Azar

55 70 Mehidipatnam Santhosh Kumar

56 71 Gudimalkapur Bangari Prakash

57 72 Asif Nagar Mallepula Sai Sirisha

58 73 Vijay Nagar Colony M. Swarupa Rani

59 74 Ahmed Nagar Sarika

60 75 Red Hills Priyanka Goud

61 76 Mallepalli Mettu Padmavathi

62 77 Jambagh Anand Goud

63 78 Gunfoundry M. Mamatha Guptha

64 87 Ramnagar V. Srinivas Reddy

65 89 Gandhi Nagar Muta Padma Naresh

66 91 Khairatabad P Vijaya Reddy

67 92 Venkateshwara Colony Kavitha Reddy

68 93 Banjara Hills Vijaya Laxmi R Gadwal

69 95 Jubliee Hills Kaja Suryanarayana

70 97 Somajiguda Vanam Sangitha Yadav

71 98 Ameerpet N. Seshu Kumari

72 100 Sanath Nagar Kolanu Lakshmi

73 101 Erragadda Pallavi Mahender Yadav

74 103 Borabanda Baba Fasiuddin Dy Mayor

75 104 Kondapur Shaik Hameed Patel

76 105 Gachibowli K. Sai Baba

77 107 Madhapur Jagadeeshwar Goud

78 108 Miyapur Uppalapati Srikanth

79 109 Hafeezpet V. Pujitha Jagadeeswar

80 111 Bharathi nagar V. Sindhu Adharsh Reddy

81 112 RC Puram Pushpa Nagesh Yadav

82 113 Patancheruvu Mettu Kumar Yadav

83 114 KPHB Colony Mandadi Srinivasa Rao

84 115 Balaji Nagar Sirisha Bapu Rao

85 116 Allapur Sabeeha Begum

86 117 Moosapet Thumu Shravan Kumar

87 118 Fathenagar Sathish Goud

88 119 Old Bowenpally M. Narsimha Yadav

89 124 Alwyncolony D. Venkatesh Goud

90 125 Gajularamaram Ravula Sheshagiri

91 126 Jagathgirigutta Kolukula Jagan

92 127 Ranga Reddy Nagar B. Vijay Shekhar Goud

93 128 Chintal Rashida Begum

94 129 Suraram Manthri Satyanarayana

95 130 Subash Nagar Adhilaxmi Gudimetla

96 131 Quthbullapur Kuna Gourish Parijatha Goud

97 132 Jeedimetla K Padma - Prathap Goud

98 133 Macha Bollarum ES Raj Jitender Nath

99 134 Alwal Chinthala Vijayshanti

100 135 Venkatapuram Sabitha Kishore

101 140 Malkajgiri Jagadish Goud

102 145 Seethapalmandi Samala Hema

103 147 Bansilapet Kurma Hemalatha

104 148 Ramgopalpet Aruna A

105 150 Monda Market Akula Rupha

S.

NO

DIV

NO

NAME OF

THE

DIVISION

NAME OF THE

CANDIDATE

S.

NO.

DIV.

NO

NAME OF

THE

DIVISION

NAME OF THE CANDIDATE

SL.NO. DIV DIV. NAME CANDIDATE

1 32 PATHERGATTI Anil Bajaj

2 33 MOGHALPURA C. Manjula

3 52 PURANAPOOL Kongara Surender Kumar

4 65 KARWAN Katla Ashok

5 66 LONGER HOUSE Smt Sugandha Pushpa

6 68 TOLICHOWKI Smt. K. Roja

7 69 NANAL NAGAR K. Karan kumar

8 24 SAIDABAD K. Aruna

9 27 AKBERBAGH Naveen Reddy

10 30 DABERPURA Mirza Akhil Afandi

11 31 REINBAZAR Eeshwar Yadav

12 36 LALITHBAGH M. Chandrashekar

13 37 KURMAGUDA Uppalla Shantha

14 38 IS SADAN Jangam Swetha

15 40 RIYASATHNAGAR Mahender Reddy

16 43 CHANDRAYANAGUTTA J. Naveen Kumar

17 44 UPPUGUDA Thadem Srinivas Rao

18 35 GOWLIPURA Ale Bhagyalaxmi

19 48 SHAHALIBANDA Y. Naresh

20 53 DOODH BOWLI Niranjan Kumar

21 26 OLD MALAKPET Kanakaboina Renuka

PNS n HYDERABAD

The TRS, BJP and Congresson Wednesday announcedcandidates for the GHMCelections. The ruling TRSannounced the list with 105

candidates and said that itwill release another list with45 candidates on Thursday.The BJP has also declared itsfirst list of 21 candidates forthe GHMC elections. Thelist included the names of

Anil Bajaj, C Manjula,Kongara Surender Kumar,Katla Ashok, SugandhaPushpa, K Roja, K KaranKumar, K Aruna, NaveenReddy, Mirza Akhil Afandi,Eeshwar Yadav, M

Chandrashekhar, UppalaShanta, Jangam Shewtha,Mahender Reddy, J NaveenKumar, Thadem Srinivas,Ale Bhagyalaxmi, Y naresh,Niranjan Kumar andKanakaboina Renuka.

Parties announcelists of candidates

Continued from Page 1

KCR tore into the six-year-longrule of the Narendra Modi ledBJP government at the Centre.He said that the BJP had turned'social media' into 'anti-socialmedia' and was resorting to mali-cious propaganda against all thepolitical parties and leaders. Heaccused the BJP of spreading lieson social media and projectingModi as the 'achiever' of all-round development of India inhis six-year-rule, while the factremains that "India did not makeeven an inch of progress underhis regime".

"Let alone India marchingahead in development underModi rule, it is going in thereverse direction with negativegrowth in all sectors. Modi isadopting anti-people, farmer,labour policies due to which allsections in India are facing ter-rible hardships. The time hascome to discuss and debate theill-effects of Modi on India andIndian economy," KCR remarked.

KCR lashed out at Modi forresorting to privatisation of prof-it-making public sector undertak-ings like BSNL, LIC etc to bene-fit a few of his 'crony capitalistfriends'. In the last six years, theModi governemnt did nothing

for any sections of society. Whatthey did is simply whip up patri-otic, regional, communal pas-sions by taking names ofPakistan, Kashmir, Pulwama etc.and derive political mileage in theelections. BJP gives build-up as ifthey are fighting a battle bystanding on borders againstPakistan. In reality, the BJP gov-

ernment shies away from fight-ing against China on the bor-ders," KCR ridiculed.

Accusing the AB Vajpayee-ledBJP government of launching thedisastrous initiative of 'divest-ment' of mega public sectorundertakings in India by creatinga special ministry in the Unioncabinet, he said the same was fol-

lowed by the Congress-led UPAgovernment later and is being fol-lowed now by the Modi-led gov-ernment.KCR threatened tomobilise the support of employ-ees of LIC, BSNL, the Railwaysetc across India to launch fightagainst Modi's privatisation andcorporatisation of PSUs.

SEC halts disbursal of Rs 10Kflood relief in cityContinued from Page 1

KCR pointed out that thegovernment had received near-ly 2 lakh applications from peo-ple in GHMC limits for floodrelief through Mee Seva centresover the past three days and thestate government had clearednearly 1.40 lakh of those appli-cations on a war-footing. Now,the flood relief amount wouldbe distributed to the left overpeople upon declaration of theresults of the GHMC elections,

he said.It may be mentioned here

that on November 8th, TRSworking president andMunicipal Administrat ionMinister KT Rama Rao accusedthe Central government ofignoring Telangana in providingflood relief but promptly help-ing States where the saffronparty is in power. At a presser,KTR said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was prompt torelease the money to Karnatakawithin four days of a letter

seeking assistance, whereasthere was no sign of such helpto Telangana. He pointed outthat KCR had written to thePrime Minister on October 15citing the losses suffered inf loods in Hyderabad andrequesting the release of ?1,350crore as immediate relief.

At the same time, ?669 crorewas released to Karnataka with-in four days of its Chief MinisterB.S. Yeduirappa writing a letterto the Centre, KTR pointedout.

Maha govt agrees toshift Varavara Rao toHospital Continued from Page 1

who said the state had no objec-tion to shifting Rao to the NanavatiHospital, a private medical facili-ty.

The cost of Rao's treatmentwill be borne by the state, the courtdirected.

The HC further directed that heshould not be discharged from thehospital without informing thecourt.

The state will also have to sub-mit all medical reports of Raobefore the court, and Rao's fami-ly members should be allowed tomeet him at the hospital, thebench said.

The bench passed its orderswhile hearing a writ petition filedby Rao's wife Hemlata seeking thathe be shifted from the Talojaprison hospital to the NanavatiHospital immediately, since hiscontinued detention was a breachof his fundamental rights.

The court was also hearing a bailplea filed by Rao on medicalgrounds.

Rao's counsel, senior advocateIndira Jaising, did not press for bailon Wednesday after the high courtsuggested that she restrict her

arguments to the interim relief ofshifting Rao to the NanavatiHospital.

Jaising told HC that Rao suf-fered from dementia, had devel-oped a urinary tract infection inprison, and his "mental and phys-ical health condition was fastdiminishing".

There existed reasonable appre-hension that Rao might die whilein prison, she said.

Jaising alleged that the state hadbeen negligent in taking care ofRao's health while he was in itscustody as an under-trial.

She also said Rao's conditionneeded the intervention of special-ists and that he could not betreated at the Taloja prison hospi-tal. This prompted the bench to askthe state and the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) whyRao could not be shifted to theNanavati Hospital.

"Ultimately the man is on almosthis death bed. He needs sometreatment. Can the State say no wewill treat him in Taloja?" thebench asked.

"We are only saying transfer himto the Nanavati Hospital for twoweeks. We will further see after twoweeks," the judges said.

Continued from Page 1

only two are woman, while theremaining are men.

The importance anduniqueness of becomingMayor of this city is differentand many dream of occupyingthat position. Since 1951, onlytwo women ascended thepedestal and they belonged tothe Congress. If TRS or BJPwins, it would be first for boththe parties. Moreover, sincethe Mayor seat is allocated towomen of General category,everyone, regardless of socialclass, has the opportunity.

Talasani Srinivas Yadav'sdaughter-in-law Mahitha,Nayini Narasimha Reddy'sdaughter Samanta Reddy, KKeshav Rao's daughter Vijaya

Reddy, Malla Reddy's daugh-ter Mamtha, Deputy SpeakerT Padma Rao's daughter-in-law T Swetha, PJR's daughterVijaya, Mayor Bonthu RamMohan's wife Sridevi Yadavare reportedly eyeing the post.

70 monkeys poisoned todeath, stuffed in gunny...Continued from Page 1

We got a call on Tuesday eveningthat there was stench coming fromthe bushes, and our volunteersrushed to the spot. When theyinformed me and my daughterabout the carcasses, we wereshocked. As per the information wehave, some say villagers did this."

The forest officials have startedinvestigations. They cremated themonkeys on Wednesday.

Giving details, District ForestOfficer, Mahabubabad, T RaviKiran, shares, "We are on the look-out for them with the help of policeand local. Although we have no sus-pects as yet, we have reason tobelieve that the monkeys were killedas they might have been mischievousaround here. We have no one whosaw anything at all. So, the investi-gation is taking a while."

He added, "It is a wildlife case;however, this is not an endangeredspecies. Hence, once we have theculprits in our custody, we will leave

it to the honorable court to decidetheir punishment."

Meanwhile, Suma has announcedthat she will undertake fast if theofficials do not take strict stepsagainst the culprits.

TRS, BJP battle turnsmurky over Bandi letterContinued from Page 1

However, Bandi Sanjay strong-ly condemned the accusationslevelled by TRS against him andalso BJP on flood relief issue.

Bandi Sanjay stated that he hadnever written any letter to CECand it was a 'fake letter' created byTRS by forging his signature aswell as BJP letterhead.

Bandi Sanjay ridiculed the TRSby asking how someone couldexpect him or anyone to write aletter to CEC while the GHMCpolls fell under the jurisdiction ofSEC. "This forged letter clearlyexposed the ignorance and crim-inal mentality of TRS. They don'teven have minimum commonsense while forging and creating a

fake letter of mine that GHMCpolls come under the jurisdictionof SEC and not CEC."

Bandi Sanjay demanded that theSEC and the Police Departmentimmediately inquire into the issueand book the culprits.

The SEC too clarified that thedecision to stop flood relief wastaken following the complaints andrepresentations received from var-ious sections and not from BJP.

"We have received several rep-resentations and complaints fromvarious sections of society seekingstoppage of flood relief. We havenot received any complaint or let-ter from BJP or Bandi Sanjay. SEChas no objection if governmentextends flood relief to beneficiarieswho are already identified.”

AP SECmeets ...Continued fromPage 1

Official sourcessaid the StateE l e c t i o nCommissioner wasnow contemplatingfurther course oflegal action againstthe government inthe matter. In fact,the Chief Secretaryherself told the SEC,in her letter, that Itmay perhaps not benecessary at presentto review the pre-paredness for con-duct of elections andsaid the proposedvideo conferencewas not necessary.

Cake walk forTRS this timeContinued from Page 1

Even if the TRS is facinganti-incumbency factor, it canstill win up to 55 seats on itsown; and, if not, AIMIM isalways there to support it,party sources reasoned. It is thisshrewd calculation that prompt-ed the TRS supremo to go in forearly election. KCR feels that theTRS tally would not fall beyond55 seats. The BJP, KCR feels, can-not win more than 45 seats.Although this would still be a bigjump from the four seats itpresently has, this is not enoughfor the saffron party to get itsMayor candidate elected.

KCR declares war on BJP and PM ModiTRS will win 105 seats

Continued from Page 1

During the brainstorming session,KCR instructed party leaders towork hard and reach out to everyhousehold in Greater Hyderabadseeking votes for TRS in the GHMCpolls. He wanted them to exposethe obstructive politics of theopposition parties, especially of thekind practiced by BJP state leaders.Despite requests from the Stategovernment, the BJP-led Centralgovernment did not release a paisatowards flood relief in the wake ofrecent heavy rains and subsequentfloods in Hyderabad and itssurrounding areas."They would not release fundstowards flood relief. Instead, theyresort to obstructive politics bywriting letters to the Election

Commission and seeking to stopthe financial assistance beingextended to the flood-affectedfamilies in GHMC and itssurrounding municipalities.Moreover, they claim to havereleased funds towards flood relief,though they did not. It is high timeTRS leaders exposed their liesbefore the people of TelanganaState. When the State governmentis trying to help the flood victims inthe most transparent manner byaccepting applications through MeeSeva centres and depositingfinancial assistance into their bankaccounts, such obstructive politicsshould not be spared," he observed.KCR wanted TRS Ministers andMLAs to expose the doublestandard and obstructive politics ofthe BJP leaders.

KCR promised to extend financialassistance to all the eligible flood-affected families upon declarationof the results of GHMC elections.The TRS government had spentabout Rs 67,000 crore fordevelopmental activities inHyderabad over the past six yearsand handed over division-wise listsof works taken up to party in-charges, he mentioned.The Chief Minister announced thenames of party in-charges for all150 divisions and handed over thedivision-wise voters' list as well asTRS activists' list to them. He saidthe names of TRS candidates willbe released in two phases. Heexpressed his confidence that TRSwould win more than 100 seats inthe GHMC elections as all surveyspointed to such a tally.

1. 1 Kapra Pathi Kumar

2. 2 Dr.A.S.RaoNagar S.Sirisha Reddy

3 10 Uppal M Rajitha

4 11 Nagole Musku Shailaja

5 12 Mansoorabad Jakkidi Prabhakar Reddy

6 13 Hayathnagar Gurram Srinivas Reddy

7 16 Hastinapuram Sangeetha Naik

8 23 Gaddiannaram B. Venkatesh Yadhav

9 149 Begumpet A Manjula Reddy

10 116 Allapur Kousar Begum

11 117 Moosapet GopishettyRaghavendar

12 119 OldBownpally Amulya

13 120 Balanagar Satyam Sri Rangam

14 121 Kukatpally GittimukkalaViswatejeswar Rao

15 125 Gajularamaram Kuna Srinivas Goud

16 127 RangaReddyNagar Girigi Shaker

17 129 Suraram B Venkatesh

18 132 Jeedimetla Bandi Lalitha

19 136 Neredmet Mariamma Chacko

20 138 Moula Ali P Umamaheshwari

21 20 R K Puram Punna Ganesh Nirmala Netha

22 57 Suleman Nagar Rizwana Begum

23 59 Mailradevpally Sanam Srinivas Goud

24 60 Rajendra Nagar Bathula Divya

25 61 Attapur Vasavi Bhaskar Goud

26 104 Kondapur Mahipal Yadav

27 108 Miyapur ILAIS Sharif

28 140 Malkajgiri Geedi Srinivas Goud

29 141 Goutham Nagar TV Tapaswani Yadav

30 25 MOOSARAMAGH C. Lakshmi

31 26 OLD MALAKPET Veeramani

32 32 PATHERGATTI Mohd.Moosa Khasim

33 38 IS SADAN KirthiManjula

34 39 SANTOSH NAGAR Mateen Shareef

35 52 PURANAPOOL Mohammed SahilAkber

36 36 LALITHABAGH Mohammed Abdullrfan

37 40 RIYASATH NAGAR Syed Mustafa Quadri

38 41 KANCHANBAGH Amena Saba

39 42 BARKAS Shahnaz Begum

40. 43 CHANDRAYANGUTTA Shaik Afzal

41 47 NAWABSAHEBKUNTA Mehraj Begum

42 48 SHALIBANDA TirupathiChandra Sekhar

43 56 KJSHAN BAGH Mir Asad Ali

44 50 BEGUMBAZAR V.G.Purushotham

45 64 DATTATREYA NAGAR Aley Narayana

City to getthird woman...

Moreover, since the

Mayor seat is

allocated to women

of General

category, everyone,

regardless of social

class, has the

opportunity

“We are on thelookout for themwith the help ofpolice and local.Although we haveno suspects as yet,we have reason tobelieve that themonkeys were killedas they might havebeen mischievousaround here,”District Forest

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2020 hyderabad 03

Women devotees make a beeline to snake pits at Subrahmanya Swamy, Shiva temples and other places in the city to worship‘Naga Devata’ on the auspicious Nagula Chavithi on Wednesday. — SSV CCHARY

FESTIVE FFERVOUR

The seventh batchof Forest RangeOfficers (FRO)

was welcomed onWednesday during theinduction trainingprogramme inTelangana State ForestAcademy (TSFA). TheDirector of ForestEducation, Dehradun who is the Controlling Authority for the trainingof FROs across the country, allotted 68 FROs to TSFA for undergoingthe induction training programme. Out of the 68, 36 are from TamilNadu, 13 from Himachal Pradesh, 6 from Madhya Pradesh, 5 fromJammu Kashmir, 5 from FDCM Chhattisgarh, 2 from Nagaland and 1from Telangana State. Out of 68 allotted, 63 trainees have reported,of which 16 are lady officers. Regarding educational qualifications ofthese trainees, 15 trainees have an engineering background and 16trainees are postgraduates in agriculture, forestry, 31 are graduatesin Forestry & Environmental Science. Many of the trainees are goodin sports, cultural activities, poetry, Drama, Elocution, Karate,swimming and singing. The course period is for 18 monthsconducted in 2 phases with a one-month term break in between.

Transplant surgeons atKrishna Institute ofMedical Sciences (KIMS),

Secunderabad havesuccessfully conducted a liveliver transplant surgery on atwo-year-old baby girl fromPhilippines. The father of thetoddler donated a portion ofhis liver for taking up thetransplant surgery. The child was suffering from a congenital liverdisease known as Biliary Atresia. Back in Philippines, the girlunderwent a procedure for treatment of Biliary Atresia. However, shedeveloped jaundice and was later diagnosed with liver cirrhosis andwas referred for liver transplantation. Her father came forward todonate a part of his liver. Following the surgery, the baby girl and herfather are recovering. While the child is under observation, the fatherhas been discharged. The liver functions of the girl have improvesand she has started consuming normal food and play actively.

Induction programme held for seventh batch of FROs

2-year-old Philippines girl undergoes liver transplant

RachakondaPoliceCommissioner

Mahesh M Bhagwaton Wednesday visitednomination centres atdifferent places in theRachakondaCommissionerate andreviewed securityarrangements. TheCommissioner, whoinstructed policeofficials to make proper bandobast arrangements, interacted withGHMC Deputy Commissioners and sought their feedback on thearrangements. Mahesh Bhagwat said adequate securityarrangements were being made at every nomination centre bydeploying men from the Law & Order, Traffic and City Armed Reserve(CAR) wings. The entire activity at the centre would be videographedand teams from the IT cell would also be monitoring theproceedings.

Top cop reviews security at nomination centres in city

CITY LIGHTS

Indian Institute ofTechnology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) will be jointly hosting a

nine-day internationalworkshop on ‘AdvancedFunctional Analysis and itsApplications-2020’ fromDecember 16, 2020, inassociation with NISER,Bhubaneswar. People fromvarious parts of the world have been invited to deliver talks in thisevent. The main focus will be on ‘Analysis on Banach spaces’. This isan online event and the organisers are keen to reach out to theparticipants with their requirements and interests virtually. Its primeobjective is to cover some advanced topics in Functional Analysis atits introductory level. Apart from the application viewpoints thesubject Functional Analysis can be studied in its own interests. Fromthe time of Joseph Fourier to the present day the subject evolved andexpanded in many directions. J Dieudonne’s book ‘History ofFunctional Analysis’ encounters the developments of this subject.Interested participants can register for this conference.

IIT-H to host intl workshop on Advanced Functional Analysis

Diwali triggers spike in meat price PNS n HYDERABAD

With the foodies indulging intheir favourite non-vegetariandishes during the festive sea-son, the demand for chicken,mutton and fish has increasedsharply. Meat traders, whosensed increased public con-sumption during the Diwalifestival, raised prices exception-ally. Traders have primarilyincreased the prices of dressedchicken, mutton and fish.

Generally, chicken and fishwere available at affordableprices for people, but the priceof chicken and fish had alsoincreased drastically. The priceof chicken ranges from Rs 180per kg to Rs 250 per kg,depending on the region.

The price of chicken is high-er in cities and towns than invillages. The chicken is sold forup to Rs 250 per kg in variousparts of Khammam. Poultrychicken was also available inlimited areas at high price.

'Natukodi', which is generallyavailable for up to Rs 300 perkg, sold for up to Rs 400 per kg.

During the summer, theprice of chicken generally goesup as the birds die during thattime of the year from varioussicknesses. Although the situ-ation is not the same now, yet

the traders have increased theprice by Rs 50 per kg in viewof the increased public con-sumption.

The prices of fish are alsofollowing this trend. The pricesof fishes vary depending ontheir types. Usually the price ofa kilo of fish was around Rs

150. During the Diwali festival,it was sold at Rs 180 per kg.Recognising the increase inconsumer demand, the fishtraders raised prices abruptly.Prices of fishes such as prawnsand cormorants have risensharply. As it is not the fishingseason at present, but the dish-es are brought from AndhraPradesh and were sold here.

The price of mutton tooskyrocketed. Mutton, whichwas priced at Rs 800 per kg,sold at Rs 1,000 during the fes-tival. It was a situation wheremutton prices went out ofreach of the common middleclass man.

"The prices of fish, muttonand chicken were hiked notic-ing the increase in consump-tion of the people. The priceswere higher on Diwali daythan in the last week. Theprice of mutton has gone upby Rs 200 per kg. Prices ofchicken and fish have gone upby Rs 50 per kg," said a con-

sumer, NallamotuLakshmayya.

Moreover, traders are sellingmeat in villages, towns andcities without any rules, pre-cautions and permits. In addi-tion to non-compliance withthe rules, prices are also beinginflated.

Merchants are making thesesales through lower levelemployees, who need to becontrolled locally. However,people are accusing theauthorities for the prevailingsituation where meat, fish andchicken are often being sold bythe roadside in polluted places.

On some instances peoplehave fallen sick consumingcontaminated chicken, fishand meat. People on the roadare complaining that the gov-ernment and its variousdepartments have failed tocontrol the situation. Peoplewant the authorities to focuson regulations and prices andtake appropriate action.

Man nabbed forstealing Rs 30Lfrom roommatePNS n HYDERABAD

A 22-year-old engineeringdropout, who committedtheft of Rs 29.50 lakh fromhis friend's room at Keesara,was arrested by RachakondaPolice with 24 hours onWednesday.

The accused identified asA Naresh, 22, hailing fromWarangal district, sharedroom along with three of hisfriends at Nagaram. "Nareshfound his friend Yogeshwarsaving money in a suitcase,"said a police official.

"On Tuesday night, Nareshcame to the city fromWarangal. When Yogeshwarwent out, Naresh opened theroom with a key he had withhim and stole the money,"added the police official.

Time extended for Inter admissionsNAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

The admission of students toI year Intermediate has beenextended by the TelanganaState Board of IntermediateEducation (TSBIE) onWednesday. The Board inti-mated all the principals of thevarious institutes that theadmissions process is now

extended up to November 30. The delay in admission is

due to the pending affiliationof junior college in the state.

Throwing light on the mat-ter Syed Omer Jaleel, IAS,Secretary, TSBIE, shares, "Wealready gave affiliations tomore than 1000 private insti-tutions. Right now, as many as395 colleges have pendingaffiliations. These colleges are

located in buildings that havemixed occupancy. The fireservices department has putout a new GO, as per whichthese institutes will have toobtain a No ObjectionCertificate (NOC) from thefire department. They have notproduced that NOC as yet andthat is why the affiliation isdelayed. We are just followingthe guidelines provided."

PNS n HYDERABAD

A couple who were involvedin loan fraud was arrested bythe Cyberabad Police atKeesara on Wednesday.

The arrested couple wasidentified as P Prabhakar,47, his wife P Saritha, 42, res-idents of Shaikpet.

The couple obtained loansto the tune of Rs 5.3 crore bysubmitting false documentsat Indian Bank, Shadnagar.

"They failed to pay EMIs.During the course of enquiry,the bank officials found thatthey submitted fake docume-nts," said police. Based on thecomplaint from bank offi-cials, the Shadnagar policearrested the couple.

The probe revealed thatPrabhakar was previously in-volved in six similar cases invarious police stations inCyberabad and Rachakonda.

Couple arrested for duping bank of Rs 5.3 crore

Snag hits Hyd Metro servicesPNS n HYDERABAD

Metro services on the LBNagar-Miyapur corridor wereaffected due to glitches onWednesday. Due to snags, theMetro services did not com-mence from Miyapur on the

corridor and passengers had toboard the trains from JNTU.

MRHL tweeted "We have atechnical issue at Miyapurdue to which trains are avail-able in Red line from JNTUCollege. We expect the issue tobe resolved in some time.”

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Commissioner's WestZone task force team bustedtwo hawala rackets and seizedRs 34 lakhs unaccounted cashon Wednesday. The officialsalso arrested three members intwo separate incidents onWednesday.

On receiving credible infor-mation, the task force policelaid a trap and arrested SyedAhmed who was in processionof Rs 21 lakh unaccountedcash under Sultan Bazaarpolice station limits.

In another incident, twopersons hailing from Rajasthanwere arrested, who were inpossession of Rs 13 lakhsunaccounted cash underAfzalgunj police station limitswere taken into custody, saidWest zone task force inspectorGattu Mallu. As the accused

persons could not produceproper documents for posses-sion of money in both thecases, the West Zone task forceteam seized the money andand handed over the accusedto the concerned police sta-tions.

Two hawala rackets busted, Rs 34 L seized; 3 arrested

SEC U-turn disappoints anxious beneficiariesNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Serpentine queues were dis-persed at Mee seva centers onWednesday, disappointingthousands of anxious benefi-ciaries, after the State ElectionCommission declared that thedisbursal of Rs 10,000 floodrelief amount to flood-hit vic-tims has been halted, pendingdeclaration of results of theGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation elections.

The State Election Commi-ssion on Wednesday asked theMunicipal Administration andUrban Development Secretaryto put on hold the registrationand distribution of relief toflood-affected families inGHMC limits.

On Tuesday, the SEC saidthat the money could be dis-bursed as long as it is put intothe bank accounts directly.

However on Wednesday,Principal Secretary, SECSecretary M. Ashok Kumar

asked the government to puton hold the activity as it was"attracting the Model Code ofConduct" and was "likely toinfluence the electors".

People threw their docu-ments at Mee seva centers andreturned home.

Meanwhile, politiciansbegan a blame game on whowas responsible for halting therelief.

Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao said thatBJP was the reason for stoppingRs10,000 relief payment.

However, BJP presidentBandi Sanjay said that his sig-nature was forged and a letterwas being circulated statingthat BJP opposed distributionof flood relief. He said a com-plaint would be filed as the let-ter in question was fake and

created by TRS.TPCC spokesperson Dasoju

Sravan said the governmentcould have deposited theamount directly into the bankaccounts of the flood victims;yet, it deliberately made themstand in queues.

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2020

CITIZEN’S CCORNER

ALWAL CIRCLE

Our major problem iswaterlogging, espe-cially during the rainy

season. This year it rained alot, however, I am living herefor at least four years andevery year the streets areclogged due to rain water.Another big issue is roads.Although the main road isfine, the lanes and by-lanesare not well maintained."

K Praveen,Venkatapuram

The road near my house wasdug up for a long time.Another major problem in

my area is we have stray pigs.That creates a lot of filth around.Also, we have no public parks aswell.

S Navneet,Machabolaram

There are too many straydogs in my area. Wehave been complain-

ing for about two years now,but no action has been taken.There have been cases wherethe dogs have bitten the kidsin my colony. Drinking watercomes every second day foran hour only. It's not enough.Also, while the main road isfine, there are no properroads in lanes and by-lanes."

Mahboob Bee,Machabolaram

The roads are the biggestproblem here. Even themain roads are not well

maintained. In fact, there areno dividers in many places,especially on road connectingSuchitra to Alwal andBolaram. That is a heavytraffic area. There should beat least dividers. Also, roadsnear the railway crossing arenot good. While some hous-es get drinking water, manydo not. Even if they do, it's not

enough. There is one play ground in Old Alwal, and noone maintains it. It's filthy and residents don't want to sendtheir kids there. Also, we have no public parks around.Despite requests, no work has been done here.

Vamshi Krishna,Alwal

PUBLIC MEETINGS AND RALLIESn No party or candidate can hold public meetings or pro-

cessions without permission from competent local author-ities

n Without permission, parties or candidates cannot useloud speakers. They will have to be used only for trans-mitting speeches live or recorded

n Loud speakers cannot be used to transmit music or songs

n Use of loud speakers at public meetings and road showswill be permitted from 6 am to 10 pm

Taking no chances

PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP Telangana unit presi-dent Bandi Sanjay and JanaSena party chief PawanKalyan have announcedtheir decision to contest ontheir own in GHMC elec-tions. TRS party leadersbelieve that this will lead toa split in anti-TRS votesand might help TRS inGHMC polls.

Though Jana Sena is inalliance with BJP in AndhraPradesh, both the partiesfailed to reach an under-standing over contesting theGHMC polls jointly. BJP,which is in a complete joshafter Dubbaka by-electionappears to have taken JanaSena for granted and PawanKalyan retaliated for thefirst time sending a clearmessage that he will not shy

away from contesting inde-pendently.

Telangana BJP presidentBandi Sanjay told the mediathat the party will have noalliance with any partyincluding Jana Sena. Thisunilateral announcement

came as a shock to Jana Senaand Pawan Kalyan alsoresponded strongly. Minutesafter that Pawan Kalyanannounced contesting theGHMC elections alone.Reliable sources say thatBJP was only offering 10-15

seats to Jana Sena whilePawan Kalyan is not accept-ing anything less than 40seats. Telangana BJP leadersfelt leaving more seats toJana Sena which is weak inTelangana means giftingthose seats to TRS. Evenwhile the talks are happen-ing, Bandi Sanjay camebefore the media to makethe announcement.

Jana Sena contesting theelection will prove to bedetrimental to BJP as it will

eat into Opposition votesand also, a section of set-tlers may look at Jana Sena.Sources say that some BJPleaders are in talks withPawan Kalyan to convincehim to backtrack. On theother side, polit icalobser vers say PawanKalyan has sent a strongmessage to BJP AP unit aswell which is unilaterallyannouncing putting up acandidate for the Tirupatiby-election.

BJP, JSP vote split may help TRSThough Jana Sena is in alliancewith BJP in Andhra Pradesh, both the parties failed to reach an understanding over contestingthe GHMC elections jointly

PNS n HYDERABAD

Political parties will get lessthan 10 days to campaign inthe elections for GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC). TheTelangana State ElectionCommission (TSEC) onTuesday announced the pollschedule and issued the noti-fication. Polling for 150-mem-ber municipal body will beheld on December 1 whilecounting of votes will be takenup on December 4.

The process for filing ofnominations began onWednesday and will continuetill November 20. The scruti-ny of nomination papers willbe taken up on November 21while November 22 will be thelast day for withdrawal ofnominations. The TelanganaJana Samithi (TJS) took excep-tion to the hurried manner inwhich the TSEC is conducting

the polls. “They want to com-plete the entire poll process intwo weeks. The elections werenever conducted in such amanner,” TJS leader MKodandaram said.

He alleged that following thesetback in the recent by-elec-tion to Dubbak Assembly con-stituency, the ruling TelanganaRashtra Samithi (TRS) was

afraid of another defeat. “Thegovernment wants to rushthrough the GHMC polls as itwas worried that the opposi-tion parties may join hands,” hesaid. Immediately after theannouncement of poll sched-ule, major political partiesbegan the exercise of selectingtheir candidates and finalisingtheir strategies.

The TRS, which had wonsecured massive majority with99 seats in 2016 polls, is tryingto use all the resources at itsdisposal to retain power in keymunicipal body. They party isfocusing on 100 divisions,unofficially leaving the remain-ing for its friendly partyAIMIM. The two parties arenot likely to have a formalalliance but may unofficiallyagree for friendly contests indivisions where the AIMIMhas strong presence.

TRS president KCR hasentrusted the responsibility ofensuring party's victory toministers, MLAs, MLCs andother senior leaders. “We areconfident of winning over 100seats. We will be seeking themandate on the basis of ourgovernment's performance andthe development and welfareprogrammes undertaken dur-ing last six years,” said MinisterT Srinivas Yadav.

Political parties step up campaign

PNS n HYDERABAD

It is not the Old City but theoutskirts that the parties arefocusing on in this GHMCelection. GHMC coversHyderabad, Rangareddy,Medchal and Sangareddy dis-tricts. There are nearly 66 seatsin the districts of Rangareddy,Medchal and Sangareddy dis-tricts.

The wards in Old City aremostly within the district ofHyderabad. Based on the out-come of last elections, the MIMhas dominated most of theseats. With this in mind, themajor parties want to focusmore on Rangareddy andMedchal districts as there are 63

seats in these two districts.There are 3 more wards inSangareddy district.

In the last GHMC elections,the Congress won the wards inNacharam and Patancheru inMedchal and Sangareddy dis-trict. Suleman Nagar andShastripuram in Rangareddydistrict was won by MIM whileBJP won in RK Puram. Theremaining 61 seats were won byTRS. In the 2018 Assemblyelections, the Congress won theseats of Maheshwaram and LBNagar in Rangareddy district.But in the aftermath, theCongress lost its representationwhen Sabithareddy and SudhirReddy, who had won therespective seats, joined TRS.

66 seats on outskirtshold the key

CRACKDOWN

PNS n HYDERABAD

MLC K Kavitha on Wednesday appealed tothe people to vote for the car symbol andelect TRS candidates in the GHMC electionsto be held on December 1. In a video mes-sage, she said that Hyderabad made a lot ofprogress in the last six years under TRSregime and stated that to continue the samedevelopment in Hyderabad, the TRS partyshould win the GHMC elections.

Kavitha said the TRS government devel-oped roads, flyovers and other infrastruc-ture in the city as well as ensured uninter-rupted power supply, peace and security forpeople, attracting conditions that attractinternational organisations and multi-national companies to Hyderabad. Shepointed out that Hyderabad had beendeclared the Best City in India for consec-utive years by international agencies suchas Mercer.

"Such international ranks and recognitioncannot be achieved with mere words, butonly through hard work. The TRS govern-ment could achieve them under the lead-ership of Chief Minister K ChandrashekharRao," she said.

Kavitha urgespeople to vote for TRS

PNS n HYDERABAD

Even before the partieshave officiallyannounced their candi-dates list, on the firstday of nominations forthe GHMC elections,17 candidates filed 20nominations. Of the 20nominations filed, 2nominations were filedfrom BJP, 3 nomina-tions from Congress, 6

nominations from TRS,5 nominations fromTDP, 1 nominationfrom a recognised partyand 3 nominationsfrom independents.About 4 nominationswere filed in KapraCircle, 3 in Uppal circle,2 in Saroornagar circle,3 in Malkajgiri circle, 3in Patancheruvu, 1 eachin Kukatpally, Jeedimetlaand Moosapet circles.

GHMC polls: 17 candidatesfile nominations on Day 1

PNS n HYDERABAD

AICC spokesperson Dr SravanDasoju on Wednesday tookpotshots at the State ElectionCommission (SEC) for takinga U turn on the distribution offlood relief to the victims. TheSEC, while announcing theGHMC election schedule onTuesday allowed the registra-tion and distribution of floodrelief funds. However, onWednesday it has issued anew notification by stalling theprocess citing the electioncode.

The senior Congress Partyleader criticised the SEC forallegedly showing double stan-dards and acting like a puppetin the hands of Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Rao."Wonder why the SEC hasreversed the decision within 24hours. What prompted you tosuddenly issue this notifica-tion? You are behaving like aslave to KCR", Sravan fired.

He further criticised the

functioning of the SEC inTelangana and demanded forthe 'immediate restoration ofthe registration and distribu-tion of flood relief funds inHyderabad'. Sravan also askedKCR and KTR to stop theshameless politics in the nameof flood relief funds. "TheCongress Party is demandingonly to stop the cash distribu-tion and application process atE-Seva and Mee-Seva centres.And we are demanding for thedirect money transfer to theaccounts of the last victim of

Hyderabad floods," he said.Speaking to the media at

Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday,Sravan Dasoju said,"Thousands of people includ-ing women are standing inqueues without food or shelterdue to the decisions taken bythe mindless KCR and KTRwho are enjoying the show withan evil mindset. Some of thepeople are even sleeping on theroads overnight by bringingblankets fearing that they mightnot get the chance to apply ifthey leave the place.”

Cong takes a dig at SEC fortaking U-turn on flood relief

Anti defacement work being carried out by EV&DM teams as part of enforcement of MCC in the city on Wednesday

‘No LRS, no TRS’: Oppn’swar cry for GHMC polls PNS n HYDERABAD

.'No LRS- No TRS' has becomea major poll agenda for bothBJP and Congress in GHMCelections. Across the state,more than 25.59 lakh applica-tions were received for LRSprior to the deadline. Both theparties point that legalisingillegal construction by meansof LRS and BRS is a slap on theface of honest citizens and themost inhuman way of fleecingpeople.

They said that LRS schemeis going to fetch thousands ofcrores to the government bylevying hefty penalty. Theypoint out that the lands weresold by bigwigs, registered bythe government, but peoplehave to pay a penalty. Anonline trend is also going onurging people to say No to LRSand No to TRS.

BJP is asking voters statingthat if the party wins inGHMC elections, TRS wouldbe forced to remove LRS.Congress went a step aheadand said it would regularisethe plots for free of costs onceit returned to power. At thetime when people are facingfinancial crisis, LRS is a loot oncitizens who purchased plotsyears ago. They allege thatpeople will end up payingpenalties based on the presentrates even though they pur-chased decades ago.

It may be mentioned herethat Telangana High Courtstated that Hyderabad mightflood by 2050 if the govern-ment approves regularisationof illegal lands while hearinga petition against the imple-mentation of LandRegularization Scheme (LRS)on Thursday.

Congress suffers jolt as key leaders shift loyaltyPNS n HYDERABAD

The Congress party, whichhas been facing a series ofdebacles in every election inTelangana since the formationof the state in June 2014, hasbeen making no attempts tobounce back, thanks to inter-nal bickering and lack of moti-vation among the cadre. Sincethe national leadership of theparty itself is in deep crisis, ithas not been in a position tostrengthen the party at thestate-level. In Dubbak by-elec-tion, the party could not put upeven a decent fight and lost itsdeposit.

And now with the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation elections onDecember 1, the party has notbeen in a position to protect itsown leaders and cadres, at atime when there should betough competition for theparty tickets. Many of its seniorleaders are now looking up toBharatiya Janata Party as theonly alternative to safeguardtheir political future. For thelast two days, there have beenlarge scale defections ofCongress leaders into the BJP.

Former legislator fromSerilingampally BhikshapathiYadav and along with his son

and Youth Congress leaderRavi Kumar Yadav quit theparty and decided to join theBJP. Bhikshapathi Yadav hasbeen angry with the partyever since he was denied theparty ticket in 2018 Assemblyelections. Another seniorCongress leader KoppulaNarsimha Reddy, a close con-fidant of PCC working presi-dent and Malkajgiri MP ARevanth Reddy, also resignedfrom the party and joined the

BJP. Another follower ofRevanth Kasam Ram Reddy,who is general secretary ofRanga Reddy DistrictCongress Committee has alsofollowed suit. Similarly, formerHyderabad Mayor BandaKarthika Reddy also called itquits to the Congress anddefected to the BJP along withher husband Banda ChandraReddy. Both of them are saidto be strong loyalists of PCCchief Uttam Kumar Reddy.

Former legislator from Serilingampally Bhikshapathi Yadav,along with his son and YouthCongress leader Ravi Kumar Yadav,quit the party and decided to join the BJP

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijalhas approved the AAPgovernment's proposal to

allow only 50 people to attendwedding functions in the nationalcapital, officials said onWednesday. On Tuesday, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal said thathis government has decided towithdraw an order allowing 200guests to attend weddings in the city, and sent the proposal to the LGfor approval. "The lieutenant governor has approved the Delhigovernment's proposal to allow only 50 people at marriage functions,"the official said. Kejriwal had on Tuesday said that according todirections and guidelines of the Centre, 200 participants were earlierallowed in wedding ceremonies due to decreasing number ofcoronavirus cases. "Now, a proposal has been sent to LG Baijal for hisapproval to withdraw the previous order and bring the number ofguests for wedding ceremonies back to 50 from 200," he had said.

Bengaluru's coronavirus casefatality rate of 1.1 per centwas the lowest among all

major cities in the country,Karnataka Health MinisterSudhakar K said onWednesday.On Tuesday,Karnataka recorded 1,336 newcases of COVID- 19 and 16related fatalities, taking the totalnumber of infections to 8.64 lakh

and the toll to 11,557 in the state. "Bengaluru's COVID-19 casefatality rate (1.1 per cent) is the lowest among all major cities inIndia. With 3,36,880 recoveries and 17,707 active cases as onTuesday, city's recovery rate stands at a healthy 93.94 per cent andactive rate stands at 4.93 per cent", he tweeted. Union HealthMinistry on Wednesday reported a single day rise of 38,617 newCOVID-19 cases and 474 fatalities pushing India's virus caseload to89.12 lakh and toll to 1.30 lakh.

The DMK on Wednesdayannounced rejigging moreparty districts for better

administration,continuing itsexercise of reorganising partyunits ahead of Assemblyelections next year. TheChennai North and West districtsare bifurcated and a new districtunit, Thanjavur Central has beencarved out of the existing Thanjavur North and South district units.The reorganisation of party units is for better administration, DMKgeneral secretary Duraimurugan said in a statement. Assemblyelections are due during April-May 2021 in Tamil Nadu. Tha IlayaAruna shall be the in-charge for Chennai Northdistrict, comprising Dr RK Nagar, Perambur and RoyapuramAssembly constitutencies and Madhavaram S Sudarsanam wouldtake care of North East district that includes Madhavaram andTiruvotriyur segments.

LG approves Delhi govt's proposalto allow only 50 people at weddings

Bengaluru's COVID-19 fatality ratelowest among major Indian cities

DMK continues to reorganiseparty units ahead of 2021 polls

PNS n NEW DELHI

Japan's decision to releaseradioactive contaminated waterfrom its wrecked nuclear plantin Fukushima into the sea by2022 has led to alarm bellsringing in India with expertswarning it would set a wrongprecedent and impact aquaticand human life along coastalbelts of several parts of theworld.

The contaminants of themassive quantities of nuclearwater will include radioactiveisotopes such as cesium, tri-tium, cobalt and carbon-12and may take from 12 to 30years to decay. It will destroyeverything it comes in contactwith almost immediately andcripple the economy related tothe fishing industry and lead toa spectrum of diseases, includ-ing cancer.

“This will be the first inci-dent of high volumes ofradioactive water beingreleased in the sea and can seta wrong precedent for others tofollow. Concerns related to theenvironment and health are

crucial for the existence of thehuman race. Therefore, alter-native arrangements may bedebated globally,” A K Singh,director general of health sci-ence at the Defence ResearchDevelopment Organisation(DRDO), told PTI.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0magnitude earthquake struckoff the north-eastern coast ofJapan, triggering a 15-metretsunami that damaged the5,306 MW Fukushima nuclearplant. It is the second biggestnuclear disaster in the history

of nuclear power generationafter Chernobyl in 1986.

After the accident, 1.2 mil-lion tonnes of radioactive con-taminated water released fromthe reactors in over 1,000 tankswere kept in a cordoned offlarge area near the Fukushimaplant. However, authorities arerunning out of space as theplant is to be decommissionedand the Japanese governmenthas decided to release theradioactive contaminated waterin the sea starting 2022.

Singh, among the Indian

government's top nuclearhealth scientists, said therelease of contaminated waterinto the ocean will directlyimpact human and aquaticlife. “The possibility of inges-tion of tritium in humans willincrease and since this isotopewill distribute in all organs inhumans and long.Radioactivity monitoring infish and other aquatic life innear vicinity (coastal areas) anddrinking water will be neces-sary. Deposition of the radioac-tive elements on the rocks hasalso to be seen,” he said.

While Japanese authoritieshave said the water would bediluted before being releasedand it would only contain only

tritium, other health expertswho have been monitoringthe issue said the risk involvedshould never be undermined.

Yudhyavir Singh, assistantprofessor of anaesthesia andcritical care at the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences,said the risks will dependentirely on the amount of thecontaminants present in thenuclear wastewater and theirnature.

“Mostly contaminants areradioactive isotopes whichinclude cesium, cobalt, carbon-14 and tritium. The half-life ofcesium is 30 years… it will take30 years of half of the materi-al to decay. Also the half-life oftritium is 12 years,” he said.

“This will be the first incident of highvolumes of radioactive water beingreleased in the sea and can set a wrongprecedent for others to follow. Concernsrelated to the environment and health arecrucial for the existence of the humanrace,” AK Singh said

PNS n COOCHBEHAR (WB)

A local BJP leader wasallegedly beaten to deathduring a clash between mem-bers of two community clubsin West Bengal's Coochbehardistrict on Wednesday, hisfamily said.

The incident took placeduring immersion of idols ofGoddess Kali in Tufanganjarea, they said.

The BJP, however, allegedthat the TMC was behind theincident, a charge denied bythe ruling party in the state.

BJP booth secretaryKalachand Karmakar (55)attempted to pacify the clash-ing members of the two clubs,during which he also got beat-en up. He collapsed on theground and was declaredbrought dead when taken to ahospital, a senior police officersaid. One person has beenarrested and an investigationis underway, he said.Karmakar's wife alleged he wasbeaten with bamboo staffs.

BJP worker‘beaten to death'during inter-clubclash in Bengal

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onWednesday issued notices ona batch of petitions challengingthe election of External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar to RajyaSabha from Gujarat.

The pleas have also raisedthe issue of ElectionCommission's power onissuance of separate notifica-tions for holding by-polls forcasual and regular vacancies inRajya Sabha.

One of the petitions againstJaishankar has been filed byCongress leader GauravPandya. A bench comprisingChief Justice S A Bobde andJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian took noteof the submissions of senioradvocate Kapil Sibal that adate be fixed for hearing these

matters. We will give you shortdate and it will be listed on nonmiscellaneous day ," the benchsaid in a hearing conducted viavideo conferencing. Senioradvocate Harish Salve, appear-ing for Jaishankar, accepted thenotice. Earlier, the top courthad said that it would like togive an authoritative pro-nouncement on the issue of

EC's power on issuance ofseparate notifications for hold-ing by-polls for regular andcasual elections to fill vacanciesin Rajya Sabha.

arlier, the apex court hadsaid that there was no author-itative judgement of theSupreme Court as to whetherthe election to more than onevacancy should be held sepa-

rately or jointly.The Gujarat High Court, on

February 4, had dismissed theplea of Congress leader GauravPandya against Jaishankar'selection to the Rajya Sabha.

It had also dismissed twoother petitions filed byCongress leaders Chandrikaben Chudasama andPareshkumar Dhanani againstthe election of BJP candidateJugalji Thakore.

Chandrikaben Chudasamaand Pareshkumar Dhananihave also moved the apexcourt against High Court orderdismissing their election peti-tions against Thakore.

Both Jaishankar andThakore were elected to RajyaSabha on July 5 last year in by-polls held on seats vacated byUnion ministers Amit Shahand Smriti Irani.

SC issues notice on pleas against electionof Jaishankar to Rajya Sabha, EC’s power

PNS nTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

A single window mechanism,providing coordinated ser-vices of doctor, psychologist,police, advocate and prosecu-tor, should be set up in all dis-tricts of Kerala to ensure jus-tice for children,who survivedsexual offences and maximumpunishment for the guilty, arecent webinar opined.

All stakeholders fromdoctors to judges should begiven specialtraining in con-nection with the implemen-tation of the Protection of

Children from SexualOffences (POCSO), to ensure

speedy justice to the childvictims of sexual assault, the

recent webinar, organisedby the Kerala StateCommission for Protectionof Child Rights (KSCPCR),said.

The webinar was organisedfor the rights' panel officials,who deal with the POCSOcases in northern Kasaragodand Kannur.

Kasaragod additional dis-trict judge and POCSO spe-cial judge R L Biju, whoinaugurated the webinar,urged the child rights panelto take steps to impart nec-essary training in this regard.

Training, as per the guide-

lines issued by the KeralaHigh Court recently, isinevitable to ensure punish-ment for the guilty and col-lective responsibility of var-ious stakeholders, he said.

The judge also said thechange in the behaviour andattitude of assault survivorsshould also be taken intoaccount while collecting evi-dence during the investiga-tion of the case.

Expert training isinevitable to record minutedetails, like the child victim'sreluctance to communicateandhis or her absence for

weeks from school, and bringthem as evidence before thecourt, he added.

Panel chairman K V ManojKumar said the core objectiveof the KSCPCR was to bringin a social condition in whichno child was molested in thestate. The rights panel isimplementing an ambitiousdrive titled "child-friendlyKerala", to create awarenessabout this among childrenand parents, he noted addingthat special training would beimparted to all stakeholdersin this regard as part of theproject.

PNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal Congress chiefAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury onWednesday alleged that theTMC government in the statedid "cheap politics" with themortal remains of legendaryactor Soumitra Chatterjee,while not giving him duerespect during his lifetime.

Chowdhury met the thespi-an's daughter Poulomi Basu attheir Golf Green residence insouth Kolkata.

"The Trinamool Congressdid not give him due respect

after coming to power in thestate in 2011. They hadremoved him from variouscommittees. But after his deathon November 15, they didcheap politics with his body,"the Congress Lok Sabha leadertold reporters.

Chatterjee's body was kept

at Rabindra Sadan in centralKolkata for people to paytheir last tributes. It wasthen taken to Keoratala cre-matorium as thousands ofpeople, including ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeand senior Left leaders,walked in a procession. Hewas cremated with full statehonours.

"We think Soumitra Babu'svast experience could havebeen used in a better way bythis government but he waskept out of the state's keycommittees on art and cul-ture," Chowdhury said.Whenasked about Chowdhury'scriticism of the state govern-ment, Basu said, "We don'twant to get into all these." ATMC leader, however,termed Chowdhury's criti-cism as "extremely unfortu-nate and in poor taste".

TMC played cheap politicswith legend’s body: Cong

PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's apex healthresearch body, ICMR, hasissued an advisory statingthat indiscriminate use of con-valescent plasma therapy(CPT) in coronavirus infectedpatients is not advisable.

The COVID-19 caseloadin India has mounted to over89 lakh.

In an "Evidence BasedAdvisory to addressInappropriate Use ofConvalescent Plasma inCOVID-19 Patients", theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) said that apotential donor for convales-cent plasma should have suf-ficient concentration of anti-body working againstCOVID-19.

Benefits of CPT in improv-ing clinical outcomes, reduc-ing severity of disease, dura-tion of hospitalisation andmortality in COVID-19patients are dependent on theconcentration of specific anti-bodies in convalescent plasmathat could neutralise the effectsof SARS-CoV-2.

CPT or passive immunotherapy has been tried in the past

for treatment of viral infec-tions like H1N1, Ebola andSARS-CoV-1 etc.

The ICMR recently con-ducted an open label phase IImulticentre randomised con-trolled trial in India across 39public and private hospitals onuse of convalescent plasma inthe management of cases withmoderate COVID-19 disease(PLACID Trial).

It was concluded that CPTdid not lead to reduction inprogression to severe COVID-19 or all-cause mortality in thegroup that received CPT ascompared to the group thatdid not receive the therapy.

A fruit vendor waits for customers ahead of Chhath Puja festival in Kolkata on Wednesday

FESTIVITIES BBEGIN

Training for stakeholders in POCSO cases stressed

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High CourtWednesday refused to inter-fere with AAP government'sdecision to ban Chhath Pujacelebrations at public placeslike ponds and riverbanks inthe city due to the COVID-19pandemic.

The high court said thethird wave of the infectionwas already underway in thenational capital and allowinga large gathering would resultin people becoming “superspreaders”.

A bench of Justices HimaKohli and SubramoniumPrasad dismissed a petition byDurga Jan Seva Trust, chal-lenging the November 10order of chairman of DelhiDisaster ManagementAuthority (DDMA) not toallow any gathering in publicplaces for Chhath Puja on

November 20.The trust sought permis-

sion to hold a gathering of1,000 people for Chhath Puja.

To this, the benchremarked, “Oh really! Todaywhen the Delhi governmentis not allowing marriageswith over 50 persons, youwant only 1,000 persons. Howcome?”

The bench said the author-ities passed the order afterconsidering the spread ofinfection in Delhi and thepetition was meritless.

"In today's day and time,such a petition is belied by theground reality," the benchsaid, adding that the petition-er should have taken intoconsideration the current cir-cumstances in the city.

The high court said itappeared that the petitioner isnot alive to the COVID-19situation.

HC refuses nodfor Chhath Puja

PNS n LEH

The Indian Army has com-pleted establishment of habi-tat facilities for all troopsdeployed in eastern Ladakhto ensure operational effi-ciency in the harsh wintermonths, it said onWednesday.

The Army said that apartfrom smart camps with inte-grated facilities which havebeen built over the years,additional state-of-the-arthabitats with integratedarrangements for electricity,water, heating facilities, healthand hygiene have beenrecently created to accommo-date the troops.

"Troops in frontline areaccommodated in heatedtents as per tactical consider-ations of their deployment. Inaddition, adequate civil infra-structure has also been iden-tified to cater for any emer-gent requirements," it said.

The region sees tempera-ture dipping to minus 30-40degrees Celsius and experi-ences up to 40 feet of snow-fall after the month ofNovember.

Army establishesliving facilities fortroops deployedin eastern Ladakh

The ICMR recentlyconducted an openlabel phase IImulticentrerandomisedcontrolled trial inIndia across 39public and privatehospitals on use of CPT

‘Indiscriminate use of CPT not advisable’

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's daily COVID-19 recov-eries have outpaced the newinfections for over 1.5 monthsnow, while less than 50,000fresh coronavirus cases havebeen reported for 11 straightdays, the Union health min-istry said on Wednesday.

A total 44,739 COVID-19patients recovered the previous

day as against 38,617 newcases, it said.

This translates to a net reduc-tion of 6,122 in the activeCOVID-19 caseload which nowstands at 4,46,805 and compris-es merely 5.01 per cent of the totalcases as on date, it said. "India hascontinued the unbroken trend ofthe daily new recoveries outpac-ing the daily new additions formore than 1.5 months. The

country also reported less than50,000 new daily cases for theeleventh continuous day," theministry said. "Apart from thesuccessful dissemination ofCOVID appropriate behaviouramong the varied populationgroups, this trend assumes widersignificance as many countries inEurope and America continue tosee a surge in their COVID-19positive numbers," it said.

India's daily recoveries improves

Japan's N-decision sets off alarmRELEASE OF FUKUSHIMA N-PLANT WATER INTO SEA

In the United States of America,the civilian post of DefenceSecretary is a political appoint-ment even though it is usually

held by former combatants, whohave the domain experience andperspective. Yet it calls for trapezejugglery as the former DefenceSecretary and legendary warrior-scholar, General James Mattis,noted, “Remember that the DefenceDepartment stays outside of poli-tics for a reason. There’s a long-standing tradition, why you do notwant the military to be engaged inpolitics.” With such apolitical andprofessional instincts, the likes ofJames Mattis were not expected tosurvive long with the infamousDonald Trump fickleness. Andthey didn’t – Mattis joined therevolving door of axed veterans,who couldn’t lower their discourseto match the President’s impetuous-ness and crassness.

Mattis’s predecessor asSecretary of Defence, Ash Carter,was an international affairs acade-mician, who had spent over 37 yearsin the Pentagon working across thepolitical divide, and he alwaysbelieved that the “profession of armsis honour and trust” and thatTrump’s brazenly political expecta-tions, interference and insistencewould infect the apolitical ways ofthe US military. Recently, Trumpfired his fourth Secretary of DefenceMark Esper and appointed hisfifth, Christopher Miller. As theChief Executive Officer of theUnited States Department ofDefence, the fifth appointee in lessthan four years is a self-explanato-ry narrative of Trump’s whimsical-ity, impatience and unprofessional-ism. Except that the timing of thisparticular change, just after Trump’selectoral debacle, but before Biden’sformal take-over, has sent danger-ous signals – because with Trump,anything is possible.

Given his vanity and despera-tion, fears that he could deploy theUS military, in a last-ditch effort ofhis final two-month tenure, are real.For long, Trump has dangled andinvoked the military as a politicalprop for self-aggrandisement andeven as a tool for domestic gover-nance. What gives credence toconspiracy theorists is the tentativerelationship that Mark Esper hadwith the Commander-in-Chief,Trump, especially when the formercombatant had disagreed with theidea of using the military duringcivil unrest. Embarrassingly for

Trump, Esper opposed theInsurrection Act of 1807 bystating the institutional belief, “Isay this not only as Secretary ofDefence, but also as a former sol-dier, and a former member of theNational Guard. The option touse active duty forces in a lawenforcement role should only beused as a matter of last resort,and only in the most urgent anddire of situations.” Earlier also,Esper had weighed in favourwith the professional view of the“uniformed” fraternity in dis-suading Trump from hasteningthe process of troops withdraw-al from Syria and Afghanistan –as this urgency was Trump’s per-sonal and political commitment,but contrary to the institutionaland sovereign interests. However,for Trump, who can readilytrade military values of restraintand apolitical stances in favourof his political self-interest, pro-fessionals like Esper are a burdenand not an asset. ReplacingEsper with a professionally lack-lustre but an avowedly Trump-loyalist has not helped opticseither.

Even though the Trumptenure has compromised andforced many casual liberties onthe US military ecosystem, itwould not be a cakewalk to getthe institution to “fall in line”politically, despite these unprece-dented changes. The US militaryfolk have repeatedly shown thespine, moral courage and consti-tutionality in words and actionsto “call out” signs of danger.Foremost among them has been

General Mike Milley, Chairmanof the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,who had earlier unknowinglybecome victim of a political“photo-op” by Trump during thecivic protests, pursuant to whichhe issued a very public and hon-est regret that his presence hadcreated an unwanted and wrongperception of military involve-ment in domestic politics. Later,Milley went further and bluntlydenied that he gave permissionto use his image in the Trump re-election campaign. Now, asMilley watched the ensuingdrama of the untimely change ofSecretary of Defence – which isessentially beyond his profes-sional mandate or control – hestill chose to word a very delib-erate and reassuring messagewhen he said in the midst of thenew Secretary of DefenceChristopher Miller, “We do nottake an oath to a King or aQueen, a tyrant or a dictator. Wedo not take an oath to an indi-vidual!” Milley passionatelybeseeched that duty was only tothe Constitution, which he calledthe “moral north star” for theinstitution. His statement that themilitary “will protect and defendthat document regardless of thepersonal price” was immenselyloaded and cautionary againstany attempt to politicise or mis-use the military. Milley joined theranks of his illustrious predeces-sor Marine General JosephDunford in managing the polit-ical expectations of Trump,whenever things started goingadrift.

Esper had alluded to thenecessary public perceptions ofapolitical anchorage when itcame to matters military, whenhe had spoken about getting“ambushed” in the photo-op.“Look, I do everything I can totry and stay apolitical and try tostay out of situations that mayappear political,” he said, adding,“Sometimes, I’m successful, andsometimes I’m not as successful.”This time that effort to staysteadfast, without succumbing topoliticisation of the US military,has led to his ouster but in thatsacrifice, Esper may have savedthe US military from unimagin-able portents of a partisan force.The serving top brass of the USmilitary themselves have shownadmirable restraint in not kow-towing to the political establish-ment, especially with a dispen-sation that has thrown caution tothe winds in terms of diluting,denigrating and politicising theinstitution. The military investsincalculable emotions in profes-sional character or what we callizzat. As General NormanSchwarzkopf of OperationDesert Storm fame once said,“Leadership is a potent combi-nation of strategy and character.But if you must be without one,be without strategy.” In thismelee, it is that apolitical nobil-ity and almost Chetwodian ethosthat have been upheld by the USmilitary’s top brass, despite theprice to some.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

Aformer sports minister of India derided motorsportsbecause he was truly unaware of the physicality,the mental effort, competitiveness and the tech-

nical nous that a driver needs to be a winner. In win-ning the race and his seventh World DriversChampionship at Istanbul this past Sunday, LewisHamilton displayed all those properties in spades. Andwhile this race may not have had the drama of his firstchampionship in 2008, where he won by a single point,overtaking German driver Timo Glock and denyingFerrari’s Brazilian driver Filipe Massa a chance to holdthe title aloft at his home Grand Prix, the way Lewis won

proved that sticking the best driver in the best car isn’t enough. More importantly, Lewis also proved wrong the theory that Formula 1 drivers have to

have immense family wealth and a connection with the top echelons of motorsports tosucceed. A mixed-race child, who grew up in government housing in a lower middle-classpart of England, he is now the winningest driver in the sport and has equalled MichaelSchumacher’s seven world titles. If he resigns with Mercedes-AMG next year, as he isalmost certain to do, it is a matter of when and not if he will win 100 Formula 1 races anda potential eight world titles. However, as Michael Schumacher himself said in an inter-view over a decade ago, records are meant to be broken and one day even Lewis’ suc-cess might be under threat. In this severely disrupted year, Formula 1 races have beenfascinating to watch. Lewis, once famous for his partying ways, dedicated himself to race-craft and admitted that he had barely met friends or family except enjoying the companyof his pet bulldog, Roscoe. But he is not just a champion on the race track, he has takena strong stand on issues such as racism through the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. Hegot his team, Mercedes-AMG, to change its cars and associated infrastructure from thetraditional silver livery to a black livery as well as got his fellow drivers to kneel at the startof the season, proving that some athletes and sports stars can provide leadership. Afterwinning the race in Istanbul, he called out Formula 1 for ignoring human rights issues inmany countries it races in as well as the need for the sport to become more sustainable.

The BJP’s gameplan in the Valley, ever since the abro-gation of Article 370 and in keeping with its organ-isational formula, has been to build an alternative

political structure conducive to its narrative. One that hadnecessitated its crackdown on existing elected leaders,all of whom had supported integration with India but insist-ed on a special status, and justified their detention as“anti-nationals.” Former Chief Ministers, Ministers, MPsand MLAs were out of sight for a year. Then it hopedto supplant mainstream leaders by seeding local ones,following the ground-up, pyramidal method, as true rep-resentatives and prioritised empowerment of local bod-

ies. It began its doorstep connect, telling people that the big parties had availed the ben-efits of Kashmir’s erstwhile special status and funds but had not passed them on to ordone nothing for the people. In fact, Union Home Minister Amit Shah went so far as tosay that the people had lost out on the dividends of democratic governance. The BJP sys-tematically went about propping “friendly” candidates and hoping that with the mainstreamparties at bay, it could chaperone any electoral exercise on its terms and get a mandate.But that was not to be. As the BJP found itself at the receiving end of a popular counter-challenge, it had to let go of the Valley’s leaders. People rejected attempted electoral process-es, making them conditional on the release of their chosen representatives. Only 7,528 ofthe 19,582 panch and sarpanch seats in Kashmir went to polls in 2018 and the BJP could-n’t fill over 12,000 seats that are still empty, affecting local administration. Now there isan undeclared civil disobedience, with more local youth drawn to militancy and local busi-nesses resorting to economic boycotts. There has been a spike in hitback killings of BJPleaders and sarpanches. The BJP’s attempt to raise a mainstream party, the Jammu andKashmir Apni Party (JKAP), drawing rejects from the big parties, lacks credibility. Ratherlate in the day, the Government realised that it could not show transformative intent till itgot some kind of mediatory presence of local parties. Which is why it released mainstreamleaders and decided to hold elections to District Development Councils (DDCs) and theremaining panchayat seats. What it didn’t realise was that the political vacuum it createddid not have enough suction power for it and had ended up lionising National Conferenceleaders Farooq and Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader MehboobaMufti instead. All of them had been BJP allies before and are now its sworn enemies postthe abrogation and downgrading of Kashmir as a Union Territory. And all of them have,despite their differences and incendiary speeches, decided to contest the DDC electionsas a common front, sharing seats depending on their mutual strengths. The Gupkar alliance,driven by the NC and PDP, also comprises the People’s Conference, Awami Ittehad, AwamiNational Conference, CPI(M) and J&K People’s Movement. They are fighting for the restora-tion of Article 370 and statehood, a tall order really, but emotional enough to submergethe BJP’s pet development agenda with that of Kashmiri identity. They have claimed thehigh moral ground by choosing to fight the BJP democratically, through elections, and evenmaking common cause with Jammu and Ladakh. The Dogras of Hindu-dominated Jammuand Ladakhis are not too happy about their local culture and privileges being swept awayunder the new land rules, which allow outsiders to buy non-agricultural land. The implieddemographic colonisation will certainly find some resonance as a poll plank.

This explains Shah’s belligerence, once again slandering the “Gupkari gang” as anti-India, intent on foreign intervention in Kashmir. He even called out the Congress for align-ing with it, though the latter insisted that it was not part of the alliance but was contestingon its own. This was not just bluster but a careful strategy. At one time, the BJP was count-ing on a political boycott and minimal voter turnout to sail through and have its way. Butnow with all mainstream parties participating, its leaders appearing like martyrs to a cause,the BJP suddenly has an electoral challenge at hand with them fighting unitedly and tac-tically. Understandably, it is trying hard to split the negative vote. The JKAP can hardly playspoiler. So by buttonholing the Congress for betraying the national will on scrapping ofArticle 370 and siding with the alliance, it clearly wants a four-cornered contest. Therewas talk of Congress joining the alliance but realistically, the party, given the sentiment onKashmir, won’t go beyond a seat adjustment of sorts. Its spokesperson Randeep Surjewalasaid as much. Clearly, the BJP has been outsmarted by the alliance. It had not bargainedfor its constituents going against their grain to participate in a political process that wouldlegitimise the Centre’s move to scrap special status. But Kashmir parties have realisedthat their movement would be defeated if they allow the BJP to capture the political spaceuncontested. A neat BJP win would push them further to the fringes. Besides, electionswould also be an opportunity for them to rebuild their votebases, something which haddrifted away hopelessly. And should the verdict go their way, it would help them becomepolitically relevant and deservedly get a position to call the shots. The PDP is apparentlyin talks with Sikh groups, Gaddi and Sippi (Dogra) leaders, Kashmiri Pandits, Gujjar, Bakerwalas well as Scheduled Caste and OBC leaders to craft an umbrella appeal, aware that theBJP has justified the reintegration on the ground of helping tribals, women and Dalits. Inthe end, the BJP has misread the pulse and created its own enemy.

BJP’s challenge in J&K

Pak’s pathetic bidSir — The timing of the intenseexchange of fire along the Lineof Control (LoC), followingceasefire violations by Pakistaniforces and Islamabad’s release ofa “dossier” with so-called evi-dence of terror against it alleged-ly sponsored by India, has led tospeculation about the intentionof our neighbouring nation’sleadership. The exchange of firealong the LoC on November 13killed nine people on the Indianside while retaliatory firing by theIndian armed forces destroyedseveral bunkers and logistic facil-ities on the Pakistani side.

There is speculation thatboth developments were part ofIslamabad’s trite efforts to influ-ence the incoming US adminis-tration, led by President-elect JoeBiden, on the Kashmir issue andIndo-Pakistan relations. Theadministration of PresidentDonald Trump had imposedsome of the harshest sanctions onPakistan, including the suspen-sion of security assistance worthbillions of dollars since 2018 forits support to terrorist groups.

Maybe that is why Pakistanis trying to taint India’s image too.Thankfully, its “terror dossier”

found few takers in the worldcommunity. Its latest gambit hascome at a time when PrimeMinister Imran Khan is grap-pling with pressing domesticissues, from severe economic dis-tress, joblessness to greater cohe-sive efforts by the Opposition tounseat him.

Khan should focus on settinghis own house in order instead

of making futile attempts to stirthe Kashmir pot, just to keep hisseat. That’s not working anymore.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

Keep schools shut Sir — Schools provide the idealenvironment for the spread ofCOVID-19. Studies have shown

that children and teenagers cancatch and spread COVID-19just as easily as adults. Moreover,children, once infected, carryhigh viral and extremely conta-gious loads, which they can passon to their parents and others.If schools were to reopen with-out the necessary Coronavirusprecautions and protocols inplace, it is highly likely that stu-

dents would play a much larg-er role in spreading this pan-demic than has occurred previ-ously. Second, everyone needs toknow the basics. The schoolcommunity — students, parents,school staff and all people thesegroups are connected to —needs basic information onCOVID-19 transmission andhow to reduce it through estab-lished procedures. Moreover,many Government schools donot have access to sufficient run-ning water to ensure that thechildren can wash their handsfrequently. In addition, there area very limited number of func-tional toilets in mostGovernment-run schools. Whowill ensure that the children arewashing their hands frequentlyor wearing their masks all thetime and maintaining socialdistancing?

Which parent would like totake the risk of sending theirson/daughter to school whenthe pandemic has not yet dieddown? The right time for re-opening schools would beJanuary, once the winter is overand the expected surge of casesis on the wane.

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2020

06

Apolitical nobilityThe serving US military top brass has shown admirable restraint in not kowtowing

to the political establishment, especially one that has thrown caution to the winds

There are pros and cons to India joining the RCEP. But the debate has nevertaken place in Parliament oramong the people or involv-ing the Opposition parties.

Congress leader—P Chidambaram

Political parties need to clean up their act

The Supreme Court has declined to pass orders onthe plea by retired civil servant SN Shukla, repre-senting a non-governmental organisation (NGO),

for barring tainted politicians from contesting elections.The court refused, shifting the onus of enacting lawsto bar criminal politicians from contesting polls to theParliament.

The Supreme Court has taken the right decision.The main role of the courts is to interpret the law as itexists. Convictions and acquittals should be based onthe violation or observance of laws. Lawmakers, cut-ting across party lines, are likely to oppose any ideato bar criminals from contesting polls. If consensus pre-vails among the lawmakers to cleanse the political spaceand keep it free from tainted politicians, it may not bedifficult for the Parliament to pass the necessary law.

It is naïve to expect political parties not to give tick-ets to people with criminal records, especially“bahubalis (henchmen)” they have used symbiotical-ly from time to time to garner votes for themselves.

Expeditious disposal of criminal cases with convictionscan keep tainted people away from the political arena.The apex court’s ruling should kickstart a debate on themove to enact laws to bar people with criminal recordsand cases from contesting polls. The Representationof People's Act needs to be amended.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Champion Lewis

By contesting the Kashmir local body polls unitedly and tactically,the Gupkar alliance has public goodwill on its side

Lewis Hamilton can rewrite the Formula 1 record book buthe is quietly changing the dynamics off the field too

BHOPINDER SINGH

Few countries would be willing to join a coalition that excludesplayers like China. They all want to dobusiness with Beijing.

Singaporean PM—Lee Hsien Loong

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

S O U N D B I T EI got so angry that my (mentalhealth) story was twisted intoso many different things. Did Igo and get help? Yes I did. ButI'm not ashamed. I feel betterand understand things now.

Singer and actor —Selena Gomez

EVEN THOUGH THE TRUMP

TENURE HASCOMPROMISED

AND FORCEDMANY CASUAL

LIBERTIES ON THEUS MILITARY

ECOSYSTEM, ITWOULD NOT BE A

CAKEWALK TO GETTHE INSTITUTIONTO ‘FALL IN LINE’POLITICALLY. THE

MILITARY FOLKHAVE REPEATEDLY

SHOWN SPINEAND MORAL

COURAGE

I think there are a coupleof teams; CSK certainly needs a little bit of restructuring ahead of next year's Indian Premier League.

Former India fast bowler—Ajit Agarkar

Time for a hate-free world

WE ARE YET TO HEAR THE PARTY’S VIEWS ON OUR

RECENT PERFORMANCE IN BIHAR. MAYBE THEY

THINK ALL IS WELL AND IT’S BUSINESS AS USUAL.

—CONGRESS LEADER

KAPIL SIBAL

HAD KAPIL SIBAL GONE TO BIHAR AND MP, HE

COULD HAVE PROVED THAT WHAT HE IS SAYING IS

CORRECT. MERE TALK WILL ACHIEVE NOTHING.

—CONGRESS LEADER

ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Sigmund Freud’s diagnostic work, entitledCivilization and its Discontents, explains howcivilisations spawn neurotic responses. The

French principle of laïcité (secularism) places thehuge demand of strict separation between State andreligion. Freud’s theory of neurotic response aris-es from the inability to follow such difficult and hardcommands of civilisations. Essentially it means thatFrance, as a State, has no other way but to respondwith angst to the terrorist act of killing of a teacher,which precisely is an act of Freudian discontent,may be even neurosis. The subject of neurosis isnecessarily misplaced or displaced. France’s specif-ic problem with its principle of laïcité is that it findsthe core values of Islam incongruent with theFrench national ethos. If freedom of expression insecularism involves the right to offend symbols ofother religions by calling them antithetical to Frenchnational culture, it marks the effacement of a minor-ity religion like Islam in the public space. This ishow France cannot uphold a true laïcité by over-riding the faith of erstwhile colonised Arabs fromthe Maghreb and other minorities, who comprisea diverse Muslim populace. So laïcité takes the formof political secularism that creates a hierarchy inwhich it decides which religious faith is acceptableand which one is not. Secularism, then, acts as arule of the majority over minority faiths. This cre-ates an apparent conflict between the majority worldview and minority religions.

Placing the burden of tolerance on a particu-lar religion after offending its symbols is certain-ly unwarranted in a secular State. This is a failureto establish equality between religions as well as afailure to ensure freedom of conscience. This alsojustifies reactive violence on a populace for theirfailure to come to terms with the offence commit-ted on their faith. The French version of secular-ism, placing the demand on the State to remainstrictly separated from religion, cannot heal thewounds of history of the erstwhile colonised.

The long history of colonisation of BlackAfricans and Arabs by France impacts the presentshape of French secularism to create marginalityand radical Islam together in the people from erst-while French colonies. Political secularism livesthrough such contrarian moments of extremismand radical religious politics arising from a histo-ry of colonisation. Here, one needs to draw a dis-tinction between “political secularism” and “sec-ularism of values.” Secularism of values differs frompolitical secularism as it promotes an attitude of“neither pro, nor anti-religion.” Political secularismpolarises this secularism of values into somethingthat is anti or against some practices of a particu-lar religious group.

An attitude of neutrality towards religion doesnot stop the French State from turning against it,or turning selectively in favour of a religion. Thisbrings into picture the logic of uniformity of sym-bols in public space that does not allow a differ-ence of religious symbols. Political secularism rel-egates religions to the private, or at most to com-munity spaces.

If the freedom of every religion in France istaken literally in laïcité, why is it so very hard forMuslims to follow their symbols or to ensure theirfaith? Derogation of the Prophet in any way can-not be considered as consistent with the practiceof hard secularist neutrality. Secular neutrality of“neither for nor against” is supposed to remain neu-tral to the way a religion practises its belief. Insteadof such a principled stance, what the French laïc-ité does is to allow the way a religion is reflectedin the mirror of French State or public.

In effect, exercise of legal indemnity towards

a distortion of symbols or image of a faithis a licence to undermine the specificcharacter and practices of a particularfaith or religion. This is projecting awrong image of a religion in the publicspace. Taken to its extreme, French sec-ularism posits religious identities into anadversary by allowing an underlying “waron religion” or by allowing a derogationof religious symbols. Such an outcomecannot be fully legit in a pluralist democ-racy. Seemingly France tweaks its legal,political and juridical concepts attachedto secularism to legitimise constraintsupon those religions that are consideredas outliers. Hence the law of secularismis no guarantee for religious freedom, itrather is a way of tweaking and moder-ating religious expressions within limitsof French neutrality.

Are certain identities, then, to betreated as antithetical to the principles oflaïcité? Is treating every religion in anequal manner a way of cutting it to sizeby downplaying its core belief structure?In French President Emmanuel Macron’slanguage, “no totem or taboo”, referringto religious symbols. Is it then, a hard sec-ular knock at others? Is there a secular-ism-inspired separation of the self andother as part of State policy? This is adenial or acceptance of the select valuesof religion, mixed with the secular cause,a certain fragmentation of laïcité itself.Rejection of the turban or the hijab inter-estingly turns an outsider’s gaze onFrench secularism that continuouslyundercuts the line of strict separation.

This creates a political issue ofadjustment between a religious victim’sperception of being denigrated and thedemand placed on him/her to not showdifference of identity in the public sphere.This also turns French laïcité into a “mis-use of secularism to stigmatise people.”Clearly President Macron’s statement,“Islam is a religion in crisis all over theworld” or a highly visible crackdown onIslam as a religion border on a near anti-

Islam positioning that goes against thegrain of neutrality and freedom of con-science.

A mea culpa anti-Islam version ofFrench secularism has its internal victims.The French Council of the Muslim Faith(CFCM) stated, “We are sometimes tar-gets of anti-Muslim acts but others arealso victims of hostile acts. In the face ofthese provocations, we must remaindecent, serene and clear-sighted.” If thepublic sphere is not supposed to carry theremnants of any such mea culpa versionfrom any side, as per French secularism,the exact opposite has happened.Stigmatisation, racial othering and lam-pooning of the doctrines of faith assumethe garb of French laïcité. So whatremains unresolved is this lack of criti-cism against an anti-Islam stance ofPresident Macron, often known as“Macronism.”

This Macronist secularism misdirect-ed against a religion arises from theFrench President’s political secularismthat wrecks equality of faiths. It furthercauses an emotional and grief-based sol-idarity that provides a fulcrum for newlaws for monitoring schools and mosquesin Muslim areas of France. Acquiescenceby Saudi Arabia to the Macronist stanceon Islam in terms of his “counter-terror-ism and deradicalisation” measuresstrengthens the pre-emptive fixing of theguilt on Muslim immigrants in France,especially if they are of Arab origin.

The deficits of laïcité cannot be sup-plemented by such externalisation of ananti-Islam stance. Should secularismturn Islamophobic, it brings back animage of an anti-Semite European worldview, which ultimately undermines thesecularism of values by a version of polit-ical secularism.

France has to overcome the presentantagonism by building more bridgeswith Muslims on its soil and dispellingthe image of being at war with Islam.Macron cannot afford to become a mas-

cot of Right-wing Islamophobes. A lib-eral State ultimately needs to accommo-date differences and return to unifyingnationalism that promotes love and co-belonging. Faith needs to be negotiatedwith a special ecumenism and empathyfor the marginalised and the culturally-different by breaking through the glassceiling of Europeanism and replacing itwith cosmopolitanism.

Cosmopolitanism in Europe placesthe demand of adopting a value-neutralposition to both one’s own religion as wellas to other religions. Catholic churchesof France, irked by a certain mockery oftheir faith, filed cases on Charlie Hebdo,but, unlike Islamists, never indulged interror attacks. However, Islamists and cer-tain conservative clerics create an atmos-phere of backlash on the slightest slightof their religious symbols. Islamic nationStates, too, are particularly intransigenttowards people of different faiths andcompel them to comply with codes ofIslam in everyday life.

The value-neutral and secular cos-mopolitan European culture allows foracceptance of symbols of religious tradi-tions as a universal heritage of mankind.The French version of secularism insistson the separation of the sphere of faithfrom the sphere of common and sharedpublic life, that is supposed to extol virtuesof tolerance and unconditional respect forthe other. It is here that reactions to free-dom of aesthetic and artistic representa-tion of religious symbols and prophets issupposed to be beyond any dogmaticcondemnation.

France stands for not restricting free-dom of satirisation or artistic freedom tobe unconstrained by religious dogmas. Itis here that French laïcité ensures thatFrance will not side with any faith, be itIslam, be it Sikhism or Christianity inallowing freedom of choice, conscienceand individuality to all people.

(The writer is a philosopher and polit-ical analyst based in Shillong)

Faith needs to be negotiated with empathy for the marginalised and the culturally-differentby breaking through the glass ceiling of Europeanism and replacing it with cosmopolitanism

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

Adopt politics ofprinciples

VIJAY BAHADUR PATHAK

We need to shun those leaders who have a pricetag because they can compromise at any time and

in any situation, provided the sum is right

PRASENJIT BISWAS

FRANCE HASTO OVERCOMETHE PRESENT

ANTAGONISM BYBUILDING MORE

BRIDGES WITHMUSLIMS ON ITS

SOIL ANDDISPELLING THEIMAGE OF BEING

AT WAR WITHISLAM. MACRON CANNOT AFFORD

TO BECOME AMASCOT OF

RIGHT-WINGISLAMOPHOBES.A LIBERAL STATE

ULTIMATELYNEEDS TO

ACCOMMODATEDIFFERENCES

AND RETURN TOUNIFYING

NATIONALISMTHAT PROMOTES

LOVE AND CO-BELONGING

Every person on this Earth is an independent political unit, becausepolitics influences all walks of life and its impact can be felteverywhere. Theoretically, politics is pure because it is meant

to bring prosperity and positivity. But it has become tainted as it isbeing influenced by caste, creed and religion. It is believed that vot-ing is by and large fair and not manipulated. But the truth is thatmanipulation still continues. An electoral process gets influencedmuch before the voter enters the polling booth because caste andcreed guide his/her voting decision rather than the welfare of soci-ety. This can best be summarised in the words of Deen DayalUpadhyay who said, “Voting without principle leads to irrational pol-itics.” This is true because unprincipled politics leads to exploita-tion of all values of life — social, economic and religious.

To prevent such an unfortunate situation, the foundation of pol-itics has to be re-evaluated, reformed and reconstructed. This ispossible only if transformation begins from the villages as they arewhere the soul of India lives. However, change is possible only ifthe politics of principle takes the place of opportunism, money power,muscle power and other trappings that lead to corruption.

We need to shun those leaders who have a price tag becausethey can compromise at any time and in any situation, provided thefigure is right. Rejecting such leaders is the cornerstone of princi-pled politics. This requires introspection because the problem is notoutside, but within. There is a huge difference between our desiresand what we practise. This distinction is the bulwark of a strongdemocracy. However, there is a dichotomy. We want our democ-racy to be flourishing, mature and progressive but our voting is influ-enced by hatred, vengeance, caste, religion, sect, relationship witha particular person, selfishness or profit. This duplicity is the rootof political degeneration.

We need to keep in mind that the person, who is contestingthe election, is not the only one who is political but every individ-ual voting for him/her is a political unit, too. The statement of Greekphilosopher Aristotle that “man is a political and social animal” isvery relevant here. Therefore, every person has a role in spreadingpolitical purity. There is a need to discipline oneself. The spirit shouldbe that we are making a choice not to rule, but to prevent and elim-inate negative politics. This route is difficult because it can lead toboth, defeat and victory. But in both cases there should be a senseof satisfaction. Because, if one wins and is able to transform pol-itics then it is good for society. And if one fails, this should give onethe satisfaction that s/he tried to bring change. This is no less thana victory. But the fact remains that politics should be principled anda small section of people does support this line of thinking. If onesticks to it, this number will swell and one day India will witnesspolitical change.

In India, as in other democracies, transparent voting forms thebulwark of democracy. But our voting is influenced by caste andreligion. This is a negative way of voting and we end up electing acorrupt person with a criminal record as our representative. If s/heis corrupt, we have ourselves to blame because we elected thatperson. This can be best summed up through a Hindi proverb whichsays, “Boya ped babul ka, aam kahan se hoye (How can we expecta harvest of mangoes when we have planted an Acacia tree)?” Or,as the Biblical proverb says, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”

We elect a criminal to be our leader and then we expect him/herto do something good for society. It is just wishful thinking on ourpart to expect a corrupt MP/MLA to shed his/her personal greedand ambition and start working for the betterment of society.

In a democracy, the responsibility of nation-building lies withthe people, too. If the Parliament is the temple of democracy, thegram panchayats are its power centres. It is the panchayat whichis the root of our democracy because this is the place where India’sheart lives. But unfortunately we neglect these power centres. Abeginning has to be made from these village units and for that weneed to change the thinking process of our democracy and villageempowerment. The politics of money should be replaced with pol-itics of transparency. In Uttar Pradesh, the panchayat elections wereusually contested on an individual basis. Money and local influenceused to play an important role in the election of members and thevillage head. The time has come to boycott those who wish to becomepradhans on the basis of muscle and money power. One way tocleanse the system is to give party symbols to those who are con-testing panchayat elections. The beginning will be made by the BJP,which has decided to field candidates at the village-level elections.Other political parties can follow suit, too.

It is believed that India’s nationwide thinking cannot be “one”because this country is a nation with different beliefs and lifestyles.However, unity in diversity is a greater truth than India. In spite ofdifferent foods, religions, cultures and life philosophies, the entirenation is “one” because the desire to build a prosperous, capableand empowered India is one.

(The writer is vice-president of UP BJP and MLC)

The conservation of forests inIndia has been a bone of con-tention for more than a century

now, ever since the creation of aForest Department in 1864. The Britishenacted the Indian Forest Act in 1865and amended it in 1878 with detail pre-scriptions on how to control and sci-entifically work forests. The 1878 Actwas again modified in 1927 and todayit forms the basis of management offorests in the country along with theWildlife Protection Act, 1972 andForest Conservation Act, 1980.

The struggle for access and con-trol of forest resources by tribals inten-

sified after the forests of princelyStates were declared as reserved andprotected areas. In 1989, theGovernment set up a dispute settle-ment mechanism at the district levelwith a committee consisting of a Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Sub-DivisionalForest Officers and the Sub-DivisionalTribal Welfare Officer. But this com-mittee remained either non-function-al or did not do its job. The problemkept festering, with rival politicalinterests taking centrestage after theSupreme Court’s order in 2003 on evic-tion of all encroachments on forestlands. After the General Election of2004, the United Progressive Allianceenacted the Scheduled Tribes and theOther Forest Dwellers (Recognition ofForest Rights) Act, 2006. It recognisedthat forest rights on the ancestral landsof the tribals and their habitat were notadequately provided, resulting in his-torical injustice to the ScheduledTribes and other traditional forestdwellers, who are integral to the verysurvival of the ecosystem.

For the last 14 years, the processof vesting forest rights is under wayunder the provisions of the Forest Act.As per the Ministry of Tribal Affairs,as on June 30, a total of 42,52,124claims had been filed. Of this 41, 03,001were individual claims and 1,49,123were community ones. A total of19,09,249 individual claims compris-ing over 16.69 lakh hectares (ha) offorests were settled and vested with thepeople. And 76,383 community claimsover 35.22 lakh ha of forests were vest-ed with the beneficiaries. Thus forestrights of tribal people and traditionalforest dwellers on around 52 lakh haof forests stand settled.

Now the question is, what is hap-pening to these people? In the tribalbelt of Madhya Pradesh, in the districtsof Jabalpur, Seoni, Mandla, Umeria,Balaghat and Dindori, I met represen-tatives of local NGOs, Jai BharatiSiksha Kendra, Kalyan Ashram andBharat Vikas Parishad and a large num-ber of tribal people, and discussed theimplementation of the Act. On the pos-

itive side, in well-stocked forests,where mahua, chirongi and so on areavailable, the people have raised theirincome. At one place in Dabra Khurdin Jabalpur district, the managementof 42 forest resources out of 75 has beentransferred to 12 village communities.But these 3,500 ha of forests, from thepoint of view of the management, havebecome a no man’s land as neither isthe forest department doing anything,nor do the communities have thewherewithal to manage them becauseof lack of funds and capacity. The pro-posal for the creation of a Van Dhan

Centre by communities is being tossedbetween the Collector’s Office and theDivisional Forest Officer. Anotherproposal of the Dabra village commu-nity for preparation of the micro plan,as per the provision of the Act, has notbeen forwarded by the Tribal WelfareDepartment of Madhya Pradesh to theCentre, for funding under the tribalsub-plan, in the last two-and-a-halfyears.

Grassroot workers put this downto corruption in the Tribal WelfareDepartment where a huge amount offunds remains unutilised. Hence, outof frustration, social workers are leav-ing these communities in the lurch.

The villagers of Dabra Khurd areasking for tendu patta auction rightsbecause in the existing process, theJoint Forest Management (JFM) com-mittees get a part of the sale money andnot the Community RightsCommittees. The viability of contin-uing JFM committees in these areas isbeing questioned and there is talk ofreplacing it with a better, people-cen-

tric strategy.There is confusion in these villages

regarding the management of forestsas the local forest officers feel that theyare not allowed to operate in these areasand the people also do not approachthem due to lack of mutual trust. Whilethe local Chief Conservator of Forestshas agreed to hold a meeting with thepeople to develop a model for the man-agement of Non-Timber ForestProducts, politics is making the peo-ple root for more individual rights.They are not focussing on managingcommunity rights. It is ironical that 86per cent of the growers in India aremarginal farmers with less than two haof land. The basic aim of the enactmentof this Act has, therefore, succeededonly partially.

The Act’s implementation suffersdue to the lackadaisical and target-ori-ented approach of the Tribal AffairsMinistry. It is just content with settlingclaims. The objective of this Act is tohelp both, the people and the ecosys-tem they are a part of. The Union

Government must consider makingthe Forest Department responsible forpreparing a micro plan and buildingthe capacity of the people for manag-ing the forests.

One major decision warranted isto continue JFM in other forest areaswith second-generation reforms but inareas where the forest right Act is beingimplemented, it should be replacedwith community forest management,with the communities having the free-dom to manage the resources with thetechnical support of the ForestDepartment.

Grassroot level NGOs should bemade stakeholders for more trans-parency and to support the commu-nities in capacity-building. The basicflaws in the Act’s implementationmust be rectified by making the ForestDepartment the nodal agency for theexecution of management and devel-opment of resources jointly with com-munities. This is so that a single pointdelivery system with accountabilityexists.

The Forest Rights Act is not serving its purposeThe law’s implementation suffers due to the lackadaisical and target-oriented approach of the Tribal Affairs Ministry, which is just content with settling claims

VK BAHUGUNA

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2020

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HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2020 money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Vedanta Group on Wednesdayconfirmed putting in apreliminary expression of

interest (EoI) for buyinggovernment's stake in BharatPetroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL).Vedanta's interest in India's secondlargest fuel retailer is because ofsynergies with its existing oil and gas business. The government isselling its entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL and last date ofputting EoI was November 16. "Vedanta's EoI for BPCL is toevaluate potential synergies with our existing oil and gas business,"the company spokesperson said in a statement. "The EoI is at apreliminary stage and exploratory in nature." The government hadat the close of bidding stated that "multiple" EoIs had been received.It, however, did not reveal the identity of the bidders.

Markets regulator Sebi hastweaked its frameworkpertaining to allotment of

units by emerging investmentvehicle InvIT on a preferential basis.The preferential issue of units wouldnot be made to any person who has

sold or transferred any units of the issuer during the six monthspreceding the relevant date, the regulator said in a circular. Explain-ing further, Sebi said, "where any person belonging to sponsor (s)has sold/ transferred their units of the issuer during the six monthspreceding the relevant date, the sponsor(s) shall be ineligible forallotment of units on preferential basis".In November 2019, theregulator had come out with guidelines for preferential issue as wellas institutional placement of units by a listed real estate investmenttrust (REIT) and infrastructure investment trust (InvIT).Securitiesand Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had first notified REITs andInvIT Regulations in 2014, allowing setting up and listing of suchtrusts which are popular in some advanced markets. However, tilldate, only a few InvITs and REITs have listed their units in Indiadespite various relaxations given by the markets regulator.

Insuretech platformTurtlemint on Wednesdaysaid it has raised USD 30

million (Rs 225 crore) in around led by GGV Capital.New investors AmericanFamily Ventures, MassMutualVentures and SIG, along withexisting investors Sequoia Capital India, Blume Ventures, NexusVenture Partners, Dream Incubator and Trifecta Capital alsoparticipated in the round, the company said in a release. The fundsraised will be utilised to bolster the product/platform by investing intechnology solutions, significantly scale geographic penetration in tierII/III towns and upskill advisors and customers through training andcontent, it said. The company is a deep tech platform that helpsadvisors educate customers and recommend products that are bestsuited to meet their requirements, enabling them to purchaseinsurance seamlessly.

Sebi amends guidelines onpreferential allotment by listed InvITs

Insuretech platform Turtlemintraises USD 30 million

Larsen & Toubro on Wednesdaysaid it has bagged one of itsmajor orders from Tata Steel to

supply 46 units of miningequipment. "The order comprises41 units of Komatsu HD785-7,three units of Komatsu WA900-3E0and two units of Komatsu D275A-5R," the company said in a

statement. The scope of order for L&T's construction and miningequipment business includes supply of equipment and fullmaintenance contract for 60,000 hours of equipment operation."Komatsu's superior products and L&T's seamless support over theyears paved the way for securing this prestigious order and we lookforward to partnering India's largest steel producer, Tata Steel, intheir growth journey," S N Subrahmanyan, CEO and MD, Larsen &Toubro, said. Twenty six of these 46 units will be deployed at TataSteel's iron ore mines at Joda, Noamundi and Khondbond inOdisha, while 20 units of Komatsu 100-ton dump trucks will bedeployed at the steel firm's West Bokaro coal mines in Jharkhand.

L&T bags order from Tata Steel for supply of mining equipment

PNSn NEW DELHI

The BSE Sensex jumped 227points to finish above the44,000-mark for the first timeon Wednesday, tracking gainsin financial stocks amid large-ly positive cues from Asianmarkets and persistent foreignfund inflows.

After touching its lifetimeintra-day high of 44,215.49, the30-share BSE benchmarkended 227.34 points or 0.52 percent higher at its record clos-ing of 44,180.05.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty advanced 64.05 points or0.50 per cent to end at its all-time high of 12,938.25. It hadtouched an intra-day record of12,948.85.

M&M was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, soaring over10 per cent, followed by L&T,IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv,SBI, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bankand Kotak Bank.

On the other hand, HUL,

ITC, Titan TCS and BhartiAirtel were among the losers.

According to traders, large-ly positive cues from globalmarkets and persistent foreign

fund inflows buoyed marketsentiment.

Domestic equities continuedto maintain their northwardmove mainly led by rebound in

financials and automobiles,said Arjun Yash Mahajan,Head Institutional Business atReliance Securities, adding thatstrong buying continued in

mid-cap and small-cap stocks"A healthy improvement in

earnings outlook of financialsand visibility over asset qual-ity continued to support finan-cial stocks. Rotational tradealso remained visible where IT,FMCG and Pharma remainedlaggards and cyclical and beat-en down stocks witnessedsharp upmove," he said.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Shanghai, Hong Kong andSeoul ended on a positivenote, while Tokyo was in thered.

Stock exchanges in Europealso largely opened with gains.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, wastrading 0.85 per cent higher atUSD 44.12 per barrel.

Meanwhile, foreign institu-tional investors remained netbuyers in the capital market asthey purchased shares worthRs 4,905.35 crore on Tuesday,according to provisionalexchange data.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Majority of respondents inIndia are willing to pay morefor a premium subscription forenhanced video and audioquality, said a new consumerstudy by Wakefield Researchconducted in four countries forDolby Laboratories.

The study was conductedbetween October 1 and 16,2020, among respondents inChina (2,000), France (1,000),India (1,000), and the US(1,000).

The India leg of the studyconducted across six cities,including New Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabadand Ahmedabad, was aimed at

understanding the changingcontent consumption habitsduring the pandemic, DolbyLaboratories said.

"Indian consumers are nowprioritising and seeking betterexperiences possibly driven bylong hours spent at home.

Indian consumers are spendingmore on quality in order to bet-ter connect with content and toconnect with each other," thesurvey said.

As per the survey, 96 percent Indians say they plan toupgrade their entertainmentequipment in the next sixmonths.

“Despite all of the chal-lenges of this past year, thisstudy has illustrated the powerof entertainment in bringing ustogether with those that aremost important to us,” saidPankaj Kedia, ManagingDirector, Emerging Markets,Dolby Laboratories.

The survey pointed out thatCOVID-19 has driven many

Indians to use entertainment asa way of unwinding and 66 percent of Indian respondentssaid they use it as an opportu-nity to relax.

95 per cent Indian respon-dents got into new types ofcontent they didn't watchbefore, the survey added.

The survey pointed out 97per cent of Indian respon-dents have increased theirmonthly spends on content by48 per cent on an averagecompared to the start of theyear. Over 85 per cent ofIndians respondents who par-ticipated in the survey have inthe past six months alreadyinvested in upgrading theirstreaming services.

Indians willing to pay more for premium content

PNSn NEW DELHI

Microsoft on Wednesdayannounced the general avail-ability of its Dynamics 365Project Operations solution inIndia, which will enable serviceorganizations to enhance pro-ject management.

The solution has been devel-oped to help service-basedbusinesses in unifying opera-tional workflows to providevisibility, collaboration, andinsights to drive success acrossteams, from prospects to pay-ments to profit, MicrosoftIndia COO Rajiv Sodhi toldreporters in a virtual briefing.

He added that the solutionuses real-time analytics to con-nect and empower leadership,sales, resourcing, project man-agement, and accountingteams with the visibility need-ed to deliver services to cus-

tomers on-time and on-budget. "Service organizations are

looking for flexible and scalableways to address their function-al requirements. The solutionwill help organizations in win-ning new deals, tracking andmanaging projects throughouttheir lifecycle, retaining bestpeople, and increasing profitmargins," Sodhi said.

He added that MicrosoftDynamics 365 ProjectOperations will enable busi-

nesses to reimagine projectmanagement by bringingtogether cross-functionalteams to deliver differentiatedcustomer experiences.

Sodhi explained that therewould be over 500 millionapplications (as per industryestimates) developed over thenext five years as businessesexpand and adopt technology- which means that there is ahuge requirement for develop-ers and low-code platforms to

help develop these apps andmanage the data that flows in.

Service organizations oftenface challenges arising fromdisparate systems and datasilos. These issues often lead toinadequacies in client expan-sion, collaboration betweenproject managers, visibility andmobility of team members,workforce optimization, andtimely billing. Built on theMicrosoft Power Platform, Dy-namics 365 Project Operationsintegrates with an organiza-tion's current enterprise sys-tems without the need to ripand replace existing systems.

Praveen M, Business lead –Business Applications at Mic-rosoft, said while the solutionswould address requirementsacross service organizations, itcould especially benefit sectorslike IT-enabled services, man-ufacturing and construction.

Microsoft introduces Dynamics 365 Project

PNSn NEW DELHI

National Aluminium Co Ltd(Nalco) on Wednesday saidits board has approved aninterim dividend of Rs 0.50per share on the paid-upequity share capital of Rs932.81 crore for the currentfinancial year.

The approval was givenduring the board meeting onWednesday, Nalco said in afiling to the BSE.

"The board of directors ofthe company in their meetingheld on November 18, 2020,have approved a payment ofinterim dividend at Rs 0.50per share (10 per cent on facevalue of Rs 5 each) on thepaid-up equity share capitalof Rs 932.81 crore for thefinancial year 2020-21," itadded.

Nalco approvesinterim dividendof Rs 0.50 pershare for fiscal

PNSn NEW DELHI

India continues to be a targetfor tobacco smugglers in spiteof several restrictions with analmost eightfold increase inthe illegal activity, according toindustry chamber FICCI'sCASCADE.

Enforcement agencies inIndia seized illicit cigarettesworth around Rs 412 crore inthe last five months acrossIndia, which is a quantumjump compared to Rs 52 crorein June-October period of2019, FICCI CASCADE saidin a statement.

"This comes in the wake ofseveral cases being intercept-ed during the COVID-19 pan-

demic," it added.Commenting on the devel-

opment, FICCI CASCADEChairman Anil Rajput said:"There has been an almosteightfold increase over theyear, indicating that Indiacontinues to be a target fortobacco smugglers in spite ofseveral restrictions. It is clearthat criminal enterprises arecontinuing to seek ways ofensuring infiltration of smug-gled goods into the country."

While lauding the recentefforts of enforcement officers,he said: "We cannot afford tolet the guard go down andmust maintain strict vigil toensure that these offenders arekept at bay."

Eightfold increase intobacco smuggling

PNSn NEW DELHI

Smaller towns have emerged as'heroes' for FMCG majorNestle India during the coro-navirus pandemic, playing asignificant role in the compa-ny's growth, offsetting 'some-what muted' performance inlarge metros, companyChairman and ManagingDirector Suresh Narayanansaid on Wednesday.

While the tier II, III and IVtowns are still counted as partof the urban market for thecompany, these smaller placesare witnessing twice the growthrate seen in larger metros,even as the company has seenits rural markets outpacingurban counterparts this year.

"One of the themes I wouldbe having for the future is oursmaller towns -- our tier II, IIIand IV towns which are townswith population of up to 5 lakh,up to 1 lakh and below a lakh

population -- have reallybecome the heroes of this pan-demic," Narayanan toldreporters in a video conference.

Stating that these placeshave "come back very strong-ly", he said, "these have beenreally resilient and that has alsoaccounted for the strong per-formance despite the fact thatthe large urban centres weresomewhat muted."

Narayanan said mega-met-ros and metros felt the adverseimpact of the pandemic muchmore due to the lockdown, thestop-starts that have happenedin the retail space.

On the other hand, he saidthe growth rate in the smallertowns is "at least twice thegrowth rate that we have in thelarge mega-metros and metros.The business holding up has

been much better in the small-er towns for a variety of rea-sons".

He said, "most importantly,in terms of the (COVID-19)wave, (it) probably hit with lessimpact on some of these small-er towns as it has hit some ofthe larger metros and mega-metros. Therefore the opera-tional efficiencies have beenmuch better as a consequenceof that." Narayanan furthersaid increasing levels of e-commerce has also played apart in delivering products toconsumers, who were lookingout for good, safe, hygienic andnutritious brands during thepandemic even "where thenormal channels of distribu-tion was somewhat stunted".

He said the company'sefforts to double "outreachpoints" from about 6,000 in thelast three years has also helpedin driving sales in smallertowns.

‘Smaller towns emerged as heroes'

PNSn NEW DELHI

CapitaLand on Wednesdaysaid it has secured Rs 1,700crore green loans from DBSBank India and HSBC Indiafor the development of busi-ness parks in Chennai,Gurugram and Pune.

"Proceeds from the greenloans will be used to financethe development of its green-certified International techParks in Chennai, Gurgaonand Pune," CapitaLand said ina statement.

The green loans provided byDBS will be used to financethe development of Phase 1 ofInternational Tech ParkChennai and Phase 1 ofInternational Tech ParkGurgaon. The Rs 650 croregreen loan provided by HSBCIndia will be used to financethe development ofInternational Tech Park Pune.CapitaLand CEO, BusinessParks, Vinamra Srivastavasaid: "CapitaLand places sus-

tainability at the core of whatwe do. We integrate sustain-ability into every stage of ourreal estate life cycle, frominvestment to design, develop-ment and operations, garner-ing international recognitionfor our efforts in greening ourbusiness parks".

Securing the first greenloans in India demonstratesCapitaLand's commitment togrowing its business in aresponsible manner, he said.

CapitaLand Ltd is one ofAsia's largest diversified realestate groups.

Headquartered and listed inSingapore, it owns and man-ages a global portfolio worthabout 133.3 billion Singaporedollar as on September 30,2020. CapitaLand's portfoliospans across diversified realestate classes, which includescommercial, retail; businesspark, industrial and logistics;integrated development, urbandevelopment; as well as lodg-ing and residential.

CapitaLand securesgreen loans of Rs 1k cr

PNSn MUMBAI

T N Manoharan, the RBI-appointed administrator ofLakshmi Vilas Bank, onWednesday said that deposi-tors' money is safe andexpressed confidence of com-pleting the lender's mergerwith DBS Bank India withinthe deadline set by the regula-tor.

On Tuesday, the ReserveBank of India (RBI) appoint-ed former non-executive chair-man of Canara Bank T NManoharan as the administra-tor of Lakshmi Vilas Bankafter superseding the board ofthe crippled private sectorlender.

A moratorium has beenimposed on the bank and cashwithdrawals have been capped

at Rs 25,000 per account.Talking to reporters,

Manoharan said that he wasconfident of the timely merg-er of the bank with DBS BankIndia before the December 16deadline.

He said that his top priori-ty is to assure depositors thattheir money is safe and that thebank has enough liquidity topay back the depositors.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank depositors'money safe, says RBI admin

PNSn NEW DELHI

Gold prices fell Rs 357 to Rs50,253 per 10 gram in thenational capital onWednesday on rupee appre-ciation and muted demandby investors, according toHDFC Securities.

The yellow metal hadclosed at Rs 50,610 per 10gram in the previous trade.

Silver prices also declinedRs 532 to Rs 62,639 per kilo-gram from Rs 63,171 perkilogram on Tuesday.

"Spot gold prices for 24karat gold in Delhi fell by Rs357, pressured by sharprupee appreciation on cen-tral bank interventionsdespite firm global prices,"HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities)Tapan Patel said.

He added that the rupeewas trading around 32 paisestronger against the dollarduring the day.

Gold prices were muted asinvestors turned cautiousabout safe-haven buying ontwo positive announcementsabout COVID-19 vaccinesin a month, Patel said.

Gold prices are expectedto trade sideways to down inabsence of any major trig-gers from economic data.

PNSn MUMBAI

UK Prime Minister BorisJohnson on Wednesdayunveiled plans for a new GreenIndustrial Revolution for thecountry, including a ban onthe sale of new petrol anddiesel cars by 2030 and newmeasures to become a worldleader in carbon capture.

Downing Street says thegovernment has mobilised12 billion pounds for the 10-point plan, which it claimswill support up to 250,000jobs and comes as the UKprepares to co-host theClimate Ambition Summit

on December 12 and the UNCOP26 climate summit nextyear.

Johnson will also speakabout the plan in the Houseof Commons as he attendsthe weekly PMQs session forthe first time via videolinkfrom Downing Street, wherehe continues to self-isolatefollowing contact with anMP who later tested positive.

“Although this year hastaken a very different path tothe one we expected, the UKis looking to the future andseizing the opportunity tobuild back greener,” saidJohnson.

Ban on petrol, dieselcars in UK from 2030

Gold price fallsby Rs 357,silver by Rs 532

Vedanta puts in expression ofinterest to buy govt stake in BPCL

Sensex jumps 227 pts; Nifty tops 12,900

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facebook.com/dailypioneer

ThursdayNovember 19, 2020

uring Diwali,many corporateshave come for-ward to donate asmile by helpingpeople in need. As

we continue to work fromhome for the wellbeing ofour people, these corporatesconnected with its employeesvirtually to celebrate the fes-tival of lights — Diwali, andorganised fun activities tokeep its staff active.

As some companies optedout of celebrating Diwali2020, SYKES, a digital mar-keting and customer out-sourcer, used this opportuni-ty to show gratitude andappreciate the hard work ofits employees.

Partnering with WestinMarriot, SYKES crafted per-sonalised hampers for theiremployees along with a boxof special caramel candiesand handmade cookies deliv-ered right to their doorstep.It also included goodies suchas a mouse pad and a pillowboth of which they could useas they work at the safety oftheir homes.

They also held onlineactivities to keep theiremployees engaged despitethe distance. They had aFacebook Live Quiz forDiwali, where they gave awayluxury watches to winners,and another upcomingFacebook Promo where theywill give away AppleAirpods. They also have anupcoming virtual dress-upget together, whereSYKESers can showcase theirtraditional garb, enjoy fungames, and socialize withtheir co-workers.

Additionally,it also heldannual Diwaliactivities for acause, and thisyear was no differ-ent. They held aCSR activity forHome for theDifferentlyAbled.

Commenting on the initia-tives for Diwali, DishantBhojwani, Country Head,Sykes India said, “Diwali hasalways been our biggestevent of the year. This 2020,the celebration has beenmore special, with the tri-umphs and challenges thatwe've survived throughoutthe pandemic. The times arehard, but our team’s light andpassion have helped us findour way and thrive amidst itall. Our teams have done anamazing job, delivering thebest service to our clients,while lending a helping handto others whenever they can.We’re truly thankful foreveryone’s hard work, that’swhy this year’s celebration isdedicated to showing ourgratitude and appreciationfor everything that they do.”

Another firm ADP India,a Fortune 500 (ranked 237 in2019) and Forbes Global2000 (ranked 301 in 2019)company celebrated Diwali

virtually with itsemployees while

hosting some funactivities.

Vipul Singh, DivisionalVice President and Head ofHR, ADP Private Limitedsaid, “At ADP, there is nosuch thing as just anotherday at work — far from it!We believe in passion, fun,friendships and celebratingall of it regardless of the cir-cumstances. As we continueto work from home for thewellbeing of our people, weconnected with them virtu-ally to celebrate the festivalof lights. To bring all ourpeople on to a single stagefor the festivities, we organ-ised several fun engagementactivities. The kindest ges-ture came from our leaders,who led these efforts fromthe front. They took greatpleasure in making theefforts to ensure every asso-ciate is engaged and virtuallyjoin in the celebrations! We

believe that a sense ofbelongingness is key to con-tinuous innovation andgrowth, and efforts of thiskind continue to help us sus-tain the kind of inclusiveculture for our people tothrive.”

mPowerO, a cloud-hostede-Learning platform devel-oped by SkillPro Edutech,had a different way of cele-brating Diwlai.

Jerold Chagas Pereira,Executive Director and CEO,mPowerO said, “The pan-demic opened newer busi-ness avenues for mPowerO,which we have been able tocapitalize upon in quick-time. Our team has played acritical role in helping usleverage these opportunities,and the least we can do is toappreciate their efforts andunflinching support through

personalized gifts, which Iam sure will strengthen theiraffinity to SkillPro.”

Slowly but surely, corporate communities are working towards being not just a group ofbusiness junkies wokrinhtoward a deadline but doingsall they can to be of signifi-cant help to the society, achange welcomed byHyderabad!

D

GIFTING A SMILEThis year has posed an unprecedented challenge for companies all over

the globe. With thousands being affected and millions without basicamenities, help is the need of the hour. These testing times have shed abeautiful light on the human side of the business world where earlier itfelt like corporates only care about cut throat competition and making

money. The corporate community in Hyderabad, a bustling city thatserves as the headquarters for several thriving businesses, has

actively responded to the challenge thrown up by the Coronavirusoutbreak. Be it standing upfront for helping people or

bringing smiles on their employees' faces, corporates aredoing it all, writes The Pioneer's K RAMYA SREE as

she talks to different companies on how they've beenringing in the festive cheer this Diwali

he gender gap was adirty little secret inthe entertainmentfraternity datingback to 60’s andwhen women

raised their voices about it,they were reminded ofevery time a female centricfilm did not become a Rs100 crore club member.Sometimes these box officenumbers are thrown atactresses for justificationcausing many young talentattraction to back downand settle for less. However,this seems to be changingnow with films like Raazi,Queen, Oh Baby,Arundhati, etc.! Or moviessuch as AlaVaikunthapuramlo, Krishnaand his Leela, Fidaa, etc.where there is an interest-ing pairing. So many estab-lished actresses are turningdown projects and stand-ing up for themselves nowby not settling for less thanwhat they feel are worththeir values.

Recent blockbuster hitSoorai Pottru’s leading ladyAparna Balamurali straightup says whether it’s a maleor female centric film or afilm where the male actoris already an establishedsuperstar, your worth can-not be compromised onand the cast and crew ofSoorai Pottru never madeher feel so too, which fillsher with more hope andpositivity towards theentertainment industry.“There’s a drastic change inour film industry, now per-haps female-led movies arehitting the big numbersmore and running as muchas commercial films do,which means our ticket-buying-audience is open tothat. Females can be‘heroes’ too! Doubling upon-screen already createsthe much hype and excite-ment and sharing equalscreen space with Suriya sirwas a cherry on the cake,”shares the actress.

Soorarai Pottru is thestory of NedumaranRajangam, a man fromSolavandhan, a small townin Madurai who dreams oflaunching a

low-cost airline and hiswife Sundari who runs asuccessful bakery andfunds his dreams. How didAparna land opposite illus-trious actor Suriya? Shehappened to audition forSoorai Pottru and there shemade it onto our bigscreens! Titling directorSudha Kongara as a perfec-tionist, Aparna believes forlong as movies persistsprominent female directorswill be making the big cutbecause sometimes womendon’t ask for control, theytake it! Aparna’s characterin the film is that of a self-made woman and to pre-pare for the role, shewatched movies like MannVasanai and Paruthiveeran.Giving an insight into howSundari is different fromher in real life, she said,“Bombi is someone who istotally different from who Iam. She is a village girlfrom Madurai. But, what-ever she does, she is veryfuturistic. And it is verydifferent from other char-acters I have played so far.”

Ever since theCoronavirus pandemic, theart of marketing films havescaled to e-promotionsnow. Promotion of films atdiverse media platforms isa core feature of the moviebusiness because cinema isa complex cultural indus-try. With e-promotions,Aparna along with thewhole team of SooraiPottru enjoys being a partof this new virtual experi-ence driving the desire tosee their film on an OTTplatform for a higherephemeral value.“Everyday interviews arelined up on zoom call withmultiple media channelswhile the best taken advan-tage from this could be thatyou get to relax at yourown den. Despite this, Iimmensely miss meetingall my press mates and thataura of a crowded venue

filled

with journalists who arewaiting to grab the mics,”she laughs.

It doesn’t matter if it’s anOTT platform, or a newgenre or who’s the otherleading co-actor, some-times there are certainactors who find their wayto our screens every timewe stream. AparnaBalamurali wasn’t shovedto a side by the director asthe ‘supporting cast’instead roped in as theleading lady opposite cele-brated actor Suriya withenough spotlight on her —“I never imagined havingto act with a known massactor like Suriya sir. I wasspeechless the moment Ireceived the news that Iwill be paired oppositehim. With no superioritycomplex, Suriya sir was oneamong us which makeshim stand out from all theother A-listers I suppose.What an elementary man!”she says of Suriya.

Aspiring to be a leadingactress and making a markin this showbiz industry isa challenge in itself andAparna Balamurali man-aged to rise above the sea.She’s an actress who hasabundant patience with theright career graph. With nofear, arrogance or self-doubt, she takes up filmprojects with extremeresilience. Sometimes,being in this field burnsyou out but she surpassedall these challenges and isready to fly higher.

On the rise of viewershipon OTT platform, AparnaBalamurali says, “I can wit-ness how the process offilmmaking is changingand expanding its latitude.Also, due to OTT, you areseeing a lot of new faces aswell. The big screens arenot going anywhere, nowit’s not necessary for a bigstar to attract the audi-ences. Theatres will alwaysremain a family spectacleand I would not have want-ed to be an actor if I didn’twatch a movie in a 70mmtheatre l, so both have itsown edges.”

Recent blockbuster Soorai Pottru’s leading lady AparnaBalamurali's name is making all the noise, for the right

reasons. The actress, who stars opposite superstarSuriya in the film, talks to The Pioneer's SHIKHADUGGAL on women centric films, roles that carry

weight, OTT vs Cinema, acting with Suriya and more

‘Females canbe ‘heroes’ too!’

T

Learning wine etiquettehe festive season ishere and for many ofus this year is aboutentertaining athome, in smallgroups. If you are

hosting a celebratory soiree,wine is an integral part of it.Master of Wine, Sonal Holland,helps you demonstrate the bestwine etiquette with these sim-ple tips.

Tip 1: As a host, there is alwaysone general rule to follow,which helps you never gowrong. Be generous withthe wine you serve.Nothing is better thanbuilding great memoriesover a bottle of wine, soensure you choose wiselyand well.

Tip 2: The festive season is agreat time to experiment,when hosting intimategatherings! We all have ourtried and tested wines thatwe go back to, but why notexpand your guest’s palettesby serving as many styles ofwine as possible? Whenhosting a wine party athome, try to create anassortment of different bot-tles of wine, your guests

can choose from. The beau-ty of wines is about enjoy-ing the diversity of its vari-ous styles and discoveringnew tastes.

Tip 3: It’s important to investin good quality stemware toserve wine. It’s a fact thatthe taste of even the mostordinary wines is enhancedwhen served in properglasses. Choose clearstemware with no design orcuts. Ensure the glass has a

lovely, steady base, a stemto hold the glass with, abroad base at the bottom ofthe bowl, and narrow rims.Keep it simple yet high-quality, and you will nevergo wrong.

Tip 4: When hosting anevening at home, chancesare that some of your guestswill arrive with gifts oftheir own, many times, abottle of wine. It becomesyour duty to ask your

guests if they would likeyou to open their bottle andserve the wine to the guests— often, wine-loving guestsmake a lot of effort tochoose and bring a goodquality bottle of wine to aparty, and would thereforeappreciate you and the restof the guests, trying whatthey have brought. At othertimes, some guests are sim-ply recycling bottles of winethey don’t want for them-selves, so may not be com-fortable with you openingtheir bottles at the party.Either way, it’s importantthat you ask them first, tolet them decide if their bot-tle should be opened at theparty or saved for later.

Tip 5: As a host, especially onewho loves wines, it isabsolutely fine for you totake the stage so to speak,to tell your guests a littleabout the wines you’ve cho-sen for the evening, andwhy. The only tip is: knowwhen to stop. A few amus-ing, informational anec-dotes about the bottles cho-sen are charming; anythingmore and you stand to loseyour audience!

T

Dishant Bhojwani Jerold Chagas Pereira Vipul Singh

PARTY

BACKWITH ABANG! A

iming to help women-runbusinesses take off in the

city, Women BusinessCult, founded by Anika Khara, Imageand fashion consultant, and Deepika

Maheshwari, artist for murals, gotback to work after months of break

due to the pandemic. A high tea eventwas organised in Banjara Hills with

proper precautions, hoping to provide

10

Hyderabad Thursday November 19 2020

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l Smitha l Riddhi and Siddhi l Chandini l Harshada

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Hrithik Roshan:I have becomemore forgivingwith time

is two-decade journey inBollywood has helped HrithikRoshan evolve as an actor and as ahuman being.

“Earlier I used to have a toolboxmethod but with Kaabil and post

Kaabil my process as an actor has evolved. Ithink I have become more forgiving and at thesame time I think I trust myself more now.This allows me to explore better. Without thefear of being wrong,” he told IANS.

“The last 20 years, as an actor, have been ajoy ride! Filled with learnings and diverseexperiences. It has been enriching. I think Iwork because a working environment helpsbuild virtues . And virtues is what one needsto become the best version of oneself . That initself is my overall mission in life. Lookingahead, our industry is at a juncture where theaudience, storytelling and technology are con-stantly evolving - there is so much out thereto explore, to depict. It is an exciting space tobe in, as an artist. I am excited for the nextphase of my career,” he shared.

He continued, “As an artist, I have alwaysgiven my all to my work. I wouldn’t say myproductivity has had any kind of shift (duringthe lockdown). I have missed my film sets,the hustle of each stage of production. But I’mglad that we as an industry evolved to work-ing remotely. I have been working on multipleprojects throughout the pandemic, with theunlock, there have been developments.”

How does he select his films? “A story thatspeaks to the audience, while keeping themengaged and entertained. So my selectionprocess is not genre centric, but content cen-tric,” he replied.

H

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

what’s brewing?

11

Hyderabad Thursday November 19 2020

couple of monthsago, C/OKancharapa le mfame KarthikRatnam was in the

running to play one of theleads in SitharaEntertainments Teluguremake of Malayalamsuper hit Kappela. But itseems he is no longerattached to the project.According to a source,the makers have decid-ed to set the project on

a grand canvas realiz-ing the story potentialand it is the reason

why they’ve appro-ached Naveen Chandra

to play one of the two maleleads. The source adds that

the actor has given his verbalnod. Vishwak Sen has already

been spoken to play the otherlead.

The source informs, “Naveen

fits the role of an innocent auto rickshaw dri-ver to a tee especially after his nice guy actin Bhanumathi Ramakrishna. The actor tooloved the original and with Sithara set to pro-duce it in Telugu, he gave his consent. Theicing on the cake for him was the tweaks theymade to the role and the fact that he didn'tneed to allot his dates immediately to theproject. As his present schedule is crammed,he was relieved when the makers told himthat he needs to film for his portions nextyear.”

The source adds that Naveen will be pairedopposite Uppena girl Krithi Shetty in thefilm. “It’s a dream role and Krithi is glad thatafter Uppena, it is another film that will testher.”

When The Pioneer reached Vamsi for aconfirmation, he said, “The mentionednames have not been finalised yet.”

The original revolved around an ordinary,innocent girl (played by Anna Ben) who fallsfor the charm of an auto rickshaw driver(Roshan Mathew). And when she meets himfinally after endless conversations on thephone, she understands that things are farfrom rosy.

ctor-turned-politicianKhushbu Sundar hasshared that she met withan accident while goingto Cuddalore in TamilNadu.

The actress, who recentlyjumped ship from the Congressto the BJP, took to Twitter toshare details of her road accident.She clarified that her car was inthe right lane, when a tankerrammed into her vehicle.

“Met with an accident nearMelmarvathur..a tanker rammedinto us. With your blessings andGod’s grace I am safe. Will con-tinue my journey towardsCuddalore to participate in#VelYaatrai #Police are investigat-ing the case. #LordMurugan hassaved us. My husband’s trust inhim is seen,” Khushbu tweeted,while sharing images of herrammed car.

“Request the press to under-stand that a container rammed

into me and not the other way.My car was on the move in theright lane and this containercame from nowhere andrammed into me. Police areinvestigating n questioning thedriver to rule out any foul play,”she added.

The actress continued, “Thankyou so much for all theinquiries n good wishes. Ifeel indebted. I am safe ncontinuing my journeytowards Cuddalore.Nothing has stoppedme before this,nothing will stopme now either.Zindagi harkadam ek nayiJung hai. Jeetjaayenge humtu agar sanghai#VelYaatrai.”

a

Khushbu meets withaccident,escapes unhurt

ack when thecoronaviruscases in thetwo Telugustates present-ed a grim pic-

ture, the makers of SoloBrathuke So Bettertoyed with the idea ofsending the filmdirectly to a stream-er. Reports of ZEE5acquiring therights as a part of

a two-film deal withproducer BVSN Prasad also did the rounds

but neither he nor the streamer came on record.However, with the situation improving slightly in thelast 40 days and with theatres set to reopen from nextmonth in the Telugu states, it has now emerged thatthe film will release in cinema halls first. ZEE onWednesday officially announced that they have the

distribution rights with them. Stating that “it is exciting” to partner with SVCC,

Shariq Patel, CEO, ZEE Studios, said, “After the suc-cess of our previous regional films, we are happy tobring yet another entertainer on board, Solo BrathukeSo Better, featuring incredible talent. Hope this is thestart of a long-lasting association with Sai Tej andSVCC (Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra). I’m confidentthat the audience will enjoy this hilarious story.”

Happy to be associating with ZEE group, Sai point-ed out, “I am sure their association will be a fruitfulone for all of us. I hope SBSB entertains the audiencein such unprecedented times.”

The film is packaged as an entertainer withromance, fun, comedy, and emotions in equal mea-sure. Sai plays a student who is averse to the idea ofbeing in a relationship, leading him to form a clubcalled SBSB (Solo Brathuke So Better). Nabha Natesh,on the other hand, plays a spunky young girl whochallenges Sai’s steely resolve to stay single. The film,which is a Thaman musical, marks the directorialdebut of Subbu.

ctressTejaswiMadivadacredits film-m a k e rLakshmikanth Chenna for

reigniting her interest in movies again. “I lostinterest in movies and was into travelling whenLakshmikanth Chenna offered me the script ofCommitment. It was so realistic. It was not ascript, it was my life story; in fact it is every girl’sstory. The film is not about sex and exposure

but about reality and how we frown upon theidea of sex. The film mirrors what happens

in society in a realistic fashion,” the petiteactress, who plays a budding actress who

faces casting couch in the film, said.She was speaking at the teaser launch

of the film in Hyderabad onWednesday.

An anthology drama compris-ing four different stories, witheach story running into 35-40minutes, the film co-stars

Anveshi Jain, SrinathMaganti and Surya

Srinivas among others.Tejaswi, who enteredthe industry as aTelugu girl, admittedfacing a lot of hur-dles. Without takingnames, she pointedout, “They wouldl o o k

down upon youbecause you are a Telugugirl. It also becomes eas-ier for them to ask commit-ment (in film industry par-lance, commitment refers toinfluential personalities on amovie seeking sexual favoursfrom actresses to board the pro-ject) from a Telugu girl, whilst fornorth Indian girls; they have to takethe help of managers. I lived mycharacter’s life where I fought throughcommitments and people. I’ve workedwith big directors and I felt uncomfort-able at many places but I never got theopportunity to tell my story to the people.Thankfully God gave me this film, whichis literally my life’s story.”

She appealed to people to watch it as aninformative film rather than a dirty picture.

Director Chenna said he asked some eminent personalities to launch the teaser but theywere afraid to do so because of the title. He notedthat they are looking at a theatrical release but if the-atres take time to open, they will consider a direct-to-web release.

Speakingat the teaserlaunch of thefilm, Tejaswi

Madivada openedup about her

hurdles, industrylooking down uponTelugu girls and

more

‘Commitment isliterally my

life’s story'

he filming of PrasanthVarma’s Zombie Reddy, fea-turing Teja Sajja, Anandhiand Daksha, has beenwrapped up. Post-produc-tion works too kicked-off on

Wednesday in Hyderabad, with Tejabeginning dubbing for his portions.With theatres set to reopen from nextmonth, the director’s wish of a the-atrical rollout for the film will be areality after all. “I’m optimistic abouta traditional release for the film.Coronavirus too has been kind to me

all this while. It helped me to take thescript to the next level. As and whenmy first copy is ready, I’m sensingtheatres will reopen. And I believethe film will have a long run in thehalls,” Prasanth had told us inSeptember.

While the film’s storyline is guard-ed, it is touted to be a hilarious enter-tainer revolving around COVID-19pandemic. Prasanth is looking to slotit after Sankranti. Produced by RajShekar Varma, it has music by MarkK Robin.

T

Prasanth Varma wrapsup Zombie Reddy

b

a

a

Naveen and Krithi inKappela remake?

tollywood

ZEE, BVSN Prasad to

release SBSB next month

PTI n NEW DELHI

India’s premier strike bowlersJasprit Bumrah and

Mohammed Shami are unlike-ly to play all the upcoming sixwhite-ball games againstAustralia as the team manage-ment would like to keep thembattle-ready for the four-Testseries starting December 17.

India are starting their twomonth tour of Australia withthree ODIs followed by as manyT20Is — to be played betweenNovember 27 to December 8 inSydney and Canberra.

If sources in BCCI are to bebelieved, Bumrah and Shami’sworkload management is para-mount for head coach RaviShastri and bowling coachBharath Arun in case IshantSharma is not available for thefirst Test.

The first red ball warm-up

game at Drummoyne Oval willbe played between December 6-8.

However, India’s second andthird T20Is will be coincidingwith the first warm-up game forthe Tests.

There is a school of thoughtthat with Bumrah and Shamiboth being integral to India’sTest match plans, themanagement (headcoach Ravi Shastri, cap-tain Virat Kohli andbowling coach BharatArun) will not risk play-ing them in six back toback games in only 12days.

“If both (Bumrah andShami) play the T20Is (onDec 4, 6 and 8), then theywill have one warm-upmatch less which I don’tthink the team manage-ment will fancy at this

moment,” a source said.So, there is a chance that

Shami and Bumrah will berotated during the white-

ball series.Shami has been

seen primarily bowl-ing with pink and redballs during net ses-sions, which is an

indicator ofwhere his andteam’s prioritieslie.

It may bepossible that

both Bumrahand Shami will

play the ODIswhere they canbowl their 10 overquota and thenswitch to Testmatch mode byplaying the warm-up games which

will help them get the oversunder their belt before the Day-Night game at Adelaide Oval.

In fact, there is a pink ballwarm-up game at the SCG from

December 11-13 where India’slikely 11 is set to play in the dressrehearsal.

In that case, the T20 first XImight feature Deepak Chahar,

Thangarasu ‘Yorker’ Natarajanand Navdeep Saini as the pacetrio with Yuzvendra Chahal,Ravindra Jadeja and WashingtonSundar in the spin attack.

sport 12HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2020

AFP n SEVILLE

Ferran Torres grabbed ahat-trick as Spain con-demned Germany to

their worst defeat in 89 yearson Tuesday, winning 6-0 inSeville to qualify for the UEFANations League finals andjoin France, who came frombehind to beat Sweden 4-2.

Manchester City forwardTorres was the star for Spain,who were as brilliant asGermany were bad. The resultraises further questions aboutGermany coach Joachim Löw,who was already under pres-sure coming into this game.

“This has been a black dayfor us,” admitted Löw afterGermany’s heaviest defeatsince losing 6-0 to Austria in1931.

They came into their finalgame in League A, Group 4 ontop, a point clear of Spain, andso only needed a draw at anempty La Cartuja to qualifyfor the finals in October nextyear.

But Alvaro Morata head-ed Spain in front in the 17thminute before Torres crashedin the second on 33 minutesafter Dani Olmo’s header hitthe bar.

His City team-mate Rodriheaded in another to make it3-0 for Spain before the end ofa first half in which they lostSergio Canales and skipperSergio Ramos to injury, withthe latter coming off feelinghis hamstring.

Germany’s defence wasposted missing as Jose Gaya

burst through and squared forTorres to get the fourth on 55minutes, and Fabian Ruiz teedup the 20-year-old Torres tocomplete his hat-trick.

Serge Gnabry hit the barfor Germany before substituteMikel Oyarzabal completedthe rout.

“It was one of the best and

most complete matches of theSpanish national team,” saidSpain coach Luis Enrique.

Germany now have sever-al months to reflect on this

loss before the start of 2022World Cup qualifying inMarch and then the delayedEuro 2020 in June andJuly.

Spain, meanwhile,become the second sideto qualify for the NationsLeague f inals afterFrance clinched theirplace by beating Portugalat the weekend.

WIN WWITH LLATE GGOALThe World Cup holders

finished off their League A,Group 3 campaign by beatingSweden behind closed doorsat the Stade de France asOlivier Giroud continued hisremarkable scoring record forLes Bleus with a brace.

Viktor Claesson’s deflect-ed early strike gave Swedenthe lead, but Giroud soonequalised and BenjaminPavard put France aheadbefore half-time.

Giroud then headedin Kylian Mbappe’s cross tomake it 3-1 before thehour mark, andKingsley Comanscored France’sfinal goal at thedeath after RobinQuaison hadnetted Sweden’ssecond.

H a v i n gr e c e n t l yovertakenM i c h e lPlat in i’stally of 41goals forLes Bleus,

Giroud is now on 44 and isclosing in on Thierry Henry’soverall record mark of 51.

The 34-year-oldremains a key playerfor France despite beingon the periphery withhis club Chelsea, forwhom he has startedjust once this season, inthe League Cup.

Sweden finish bot-tom of the group behindCroatia and are relegated tothe second-tier League B forthe next edition of the compe-tition.

That is despite 10-manCroatia losing 3-2 at home toPortugal in Split , withManchester City defenderRuben Dias getting a 90th-minute winner for the 2019

Nations League champi-ons.

Chelsea’s MateoKovacic had scoredtwice for Croatia,

either side of Dias’sfirst of the night anda Joao Felix effort

for Portugal, whof e a t u r e dC r i s t i a n oRonaldo wearingthe captain’s

armband.T h e

remaining twospots in theNations Leaguesemi-finals willbe decided onWednesday, with

Italy and Belgiumcurrently inpole position.

AFP n MONTEVIDEO

Brazil continued their per-fect start to the qualifiers

for the 2022 World Cup witha 2-0 win over Uruguay whilerivals Argentina stayed intouch with an easy win inPeru.

First-half goals fromArthur and Richarlisonhelped Brazil to a 2-0 winover Uruguay, who hadManchester Unitedstriker Edinson Cavanisent off.

Argentina, withLionel Messi pulling thestrings, brushed aside alimited Peru 2-0 in Lima, withgoals from Inter Milan’sLautaro Martinez andNicholas Gonzalez in a gamein which they were nevertroubled.

Ecuador, playing on theirhome turf in high-altitudeQuito, hammered Colombia6-1. Paraguay and Boliviafought out a 2-2 draw.

While Venezuela — theonly South American teamnever to qualify for a WorldCup finals — picked up theirfirst points in a 2-1 victory

over Chile in Caracas.Victory in Montevideo

left Brazil on top of SouthAmerica’s qualifying stand-ings on 12 points with fourwins from four games.Argentina are second on 10points after beating Peru,with surprise team Ecuadorthird on nine points.

Uruguay are fifth on sixpoints, behind Paraguay on

goal difference afterfour matches.

The f irst fourteams in SouthAmerica’s round-robincompetition qualifydirectly for the World

Cup finals in Qatar, while the5th placed nation faces aplayoff against the countryqualifying from Oceania.

Five-time world champi-ons Brazil were fortunate tobe two goals up at half timein Montevideo after Uruguayhad hit the woodwork twiceat either end of the half.

The win also extendedBrazil’s long reign of domi-nance over the Celeste, whohave not beaten their fiercerivals since 2001.

PTI n LONDON

Afive-match Test seriesagainst India will headline

England’s bumper home sum-mer in 2021 as the country’scricket board on Wednesdayunveiled a provisional fixturewith plans to get crowds backinto the stadiums.

The matches against Indiaare scheduled for August-September.

The England and WalesCricket Board (ECB) seemseager to stage the return of fansinto the playing arena from thenext season onwards dependingon the Covid-19 situation.

“We had an amazing sum-mer of international cricket thisyear with some memorable per-formances, and we know howmuch enjoyment it brought topeople whilst staying at home,”ECB chief executive officer,Tom Harrison, said in a release.“Next year we’ve got another biginternational programme tolook forward to, with the thrillof a five-Test series against Indiaas the centrepiece, compellingwhite ball series for our men andwomen, and an Ashes Series forour Visually Impaired team.”

Much to the delight ofEnglish cricket fans craving forLive action, the CEO added, “It’san exciting prospect for Englandfans, and while Covid-19 meansthere’s still a great deal of uncer-

tainty, we really hope to be ableto welcome fans back into thegrounds safely next year tobring that unique atmosphere tostadia across the country.”

The Test series against Indiais due to conclude the men’sinternational summer, withmatches at Trent Bridge, Lord’s,Headingley, the Kia Oval andOld Trafford.

The series is due to getunderway on August 4 at TrentBridge, with following matchestaking place at Lord’s,Headingley and The Oval,before finishing up inManchester on September 14.

Before the assignmentsagainst India, Sri Lanka are dueto play three ODIs from June 29to July 4, with Pakistan arrivingfor three T20Is and three ODIsbetween July 8 and 20.

The ODIs will be played inCardiff, London (Lord’s) andBirmingham on July 8, 10 and13 respectively, while the T20Iswill be held in Nottingham,Leeds and Manchester on July16, 18 and 20 respectively.

PROVISIONAL SSCHEDULEAugust 4-8: 1st Test, TrentBridgeAugust 12-16: 2nd Test, Lord’sAugust 25-29: 3rd Test,HeadingleySept 2-6: 4th Test, OvalSept 10-14: 5th Test, OldTrafford.

PTI n SYDNEY

Veteran wicketkeeperWriddhiman Saha was

back at the Indian team netshere on Wednesday, showingsigns of recovery from aninjury with four weeks stillleft for the much-anticipatedDecember 17-21 Test seriesopener against Australia inAdelaide.

Saha, one of the finest ofglovesmen ever to havedonned the national colours,had damaged both his ham-strings during a short but suc-cessful IPL campaign forSunrisers Hyderabad, inwhich he scored two match-winning half-centuries.

Thanks to the injury, the36-year-old keeper missedthe eliminator as well as thesecond qualifier of the IndianPremier League.

On Wednesday, Saha wasseen facing throwdowns atthe nets from the Sri Lankanleft-arm specialist NuwanSeneviratne and Indian right-arm bowler Dayananda

Garani for a considerableperiod of time.

He didn’t keep wicketsthough and the extent ofrecovery couldn’t be ascer-tained from the videouploaded by the BCCI media.

There wasn’t any pro-nounced forward press orfootwork involved while dri-ving the half-volleys, whichcould be an indicator of howquickly his hamstring is heal-ing.

However, the man whohas so far played 37 Tests andscored 1238 runs for thecountry, didn’t look uncom-fortable during his time at thenets.

From the video it seemedthat both the throwdownspecialists didn’t go full tilt atthe batsman, who is trying togradually get into the grooveafter the injury.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former Pakistan pacerShoaib Akhtar feels

Rohit Sharma leading theIndian Test team againstAustralia in Virat Kohli’sabsence is a no brainer andthe-much awaited serieswill be his “best chance” tostake claim for captaincy inone of the limited-oversformats.

Calls have been grow-ing for spilt captaincy inthe Indian team sinceRohit led Mumbai Indiansto a fifth title in the IPL.Rohit has also led India toan Asia Cup title in Kohli’sabsence.

Though AjinkyaRahane is the vice-captain

on paper, Akhtar seesRohit taking over leader-ship duties from Kohli fol-lowing the first Test at theAdelaide Oval. The Indiaskipper will be returninghome after the series-opener to attend the birthof his first child.

Speaking to PTI ,Akhtar offered his view onthe debate.

“My take on it is pret-ty simple. From what Iknow Virat is very keen totake the team forward. It alldepends on how fatiguedhe is feeling. He has beenplaying non-stop since2010, has got 70 centuriesand a mountain of runsunder his belt,” he said.

“If he is feeling

fatigued, then he shouldthink about giving theleadership role to Rohit inone of the formats (prefer-ably T20s).

“I could see the bore-dom on his face during theIPL, may be it was becauseof the bio-bubble situation,he seemed a bit stressedout. It all depends on howhe feels. Rohit has beenready for captaincy for awhile.”

The series will also beRohit’s first in overseasconditions as an openerand he faces a tough taskin facing the likes of PatCummins, Mitchell Starcand Josh Hazlewood.

“Rohit is one of thegreatest batsmen India has

produced. Now he alsounderstands the real valueof his talent.

“Australia will be hisbest chance to prove him-self as captain. He shouldgrab it with both hands.He has the talent and abil-ity to lead the team. It willbe a tough test for Indiaand I would look for thesekind of situations as aplayer.

“The whole worldwould be looking at Rohitas captain and batsman. Ifhe does well for himselfand the team, then thereshould be a debate aboutsplit captaincy.”

India won their firstever series in Australiatwo years ago but the task

seems much tougher thistime with Kohli not beingavailable after the first Testand Australia being astronger team followingthe return of DavidWarner and Steve Smith.

“In my opinion, Indiahave the ability to winagain. But if their middleorder doesn’t perform, Isee them struggling.People will be watchingthis series with great inter-est including myself.

“The day-night Testwill be their toughest test.If India play well in thoseconditions, then you neverknow. The first twoinnings of the first Test willtell us where the series isheaded.”

PTI n KARACHI

England will make their first trip to Pakistan in 16years for a two-match T20 International series next

October as part of a reciprocal agreement reachedbetween the two cricket boards.

The two games, to be held in Karachi on October14 and 15, will form part of the 2021 T20 World Cupbuild-up.

Both the England and Wales Cricket Board(ECB) and its counterparts from Pakistan onWednesday confirmed that the tour will take place justbefore the mega-event in India.

“I am delighted to confirm that England will betouring Pakistan to play two T20Is in October 2021,”PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said.

“This will be their first visit to Pakistan by Englandfor 16 years and will open the door for both Test andwhite-ball tours in the 2022-23 season.

England will arrive in Karachi on October 12, andboth the sides will depart for India on October 16 forthe ICC T20 World Cup.

Die Mannschaft suffer heaviest loss in 89 years after Spain beat them 6-0 to qualify for Nations League finals

Germany reach all-time Löw

Mikel Oyarzabal celebrates with Spanish teammate Gaya after scoring his side’s sixth goal against Germany @EURO2020

Richarlison celebrates with teammate Roberto Firmino after scoring Brazil’s 2ndgoal against Uruguay at Centenario stadium in Montevideo AP

Brazil continue perfect start

England aim for fans’ return

in 2021 India Test series

Bumrah, Shami likely to be rotated in Aus T20s

SYDNEY: Fast bowler AndrewTye on Wednesday replacedKane Richardson in Australia’ssquad for the upcoming ODIand T20 series against Indiaafter the latter decided to bewith his family in the wake ofthe Covid-19 pandemic.

Cricket Australia has saidthat Richardson had informedthe national selectors onTuesday about his decision towithdraw from the squad tospend time with his wife andtheir newborn son.

“It was a difficult decision

for Kane to make but onewhich has the complete sup-port of the selectors and theentire playing squad,” nation-al selector Trevor Hohns saidin a statement.

“Kane wanted to remain inAdelaide with Nyki and theirnewborn son. We will alwayssupport our players and theirfamilies. We will miss what hebrings to the team but com-pletely understand and supporthis decision,” it added.

Tye, who was part ofAustralia squad which went toEngland for a limited-oversseries earlier this year, has sofar played seven ODIs and 26T20Is, in which he has pickedup 12 and 37 wickets respec-tively. PTI

Tye replaces Richardson in limited-overs squad

Poms confirm firstPak tour in 16 yearsEngland will play two T20Is next October

Wriddhiman back at nets

Bugatha to lead Indianchallenge at ADHM 2020

‘Will be tough to ignore split captaincy calls if Rohit does well in Oz’

Indian captain Virat Kohli and England’s Joe Root pose with trophy AP/File Photo

AIFF hints atextension forDennerbyPTI n NEW DELHI

Head coach Thomas Dennerby could contin-ue, but the journey of several of his Indian

players has ended even before they could hit theroad to fame, courtesy the cancellation of nextyear’s FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup.Havingworked so hard and for so long, they are now goingto miss the mega-event for no fault of theirs.TheAll India Football Federation (AIFF) onWednesday assured them that they would be con-sidered for selection to the senior team in the nearfuture. “I believe that some players, who are 2005born in this team, may qualify to play in the FIFAU-17 Women’s World Cup in 2022. FIFA (has) notyet (given age cut-offs) but we believe it will be2005-2007 born,” AIFF general secretary KushalDas said,“All these players are part of overall planto develop women’s football. They will continueto be part of national camp.

“This team will be the core team to play inround one of AFC U-20 Women’s Asian Cup qual-ifiers in March 2021 in view of their training andexposure so far.”

He said many of these players (who will missout on the 2022 Women’s U-17 World Cup) “willmake it” to the senior national team for the AFCAsian Women’s Cup in 2022, which the countryis hosting.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Defending champion Srinu Bugatha will lead astrong Indian field in the annual Airtel Delhi

Half Marathon (ADHM) to be held here onNovember 29.

Bugatha, the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2020champion, will spearhead the men’s field alongsideAbhishek Pal, Avinash Sable and Pradeep Singh.

Pal and Sable were involved in a thrilling raceat ADHM 2018, running neck-and-neck until thefinal five kilometers when the former broke awayand finished as the fastest Indian in that edition.

The national record holder in 3000m steeple-chase, Sable became the first Indian to qualify forthe Olympics since 1952 in his discipline last year.

In women’s category, the winner of the HalfMarathon race at the Tata Mumbai Marathon ear-lier this year, Parul Chaudhary will lead the Indianelite team along with Sanjivani Jadhav, MonikaAthare and Chinta Yadav.