HYDERABAD, THURSDAY DECEMBER 10, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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Mamata synony-mous with ‘intoler-ance’, says Nadda

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CBI officer from TS gets President’smedal

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India will havecheapest powerfrom renewablesources: Adani

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person stands disqualified from contesting polls under the election law ifhis conviction in a criminal case, in which a jail term of two or more

years has been awarded, is not stayed, the Supreme Court said onWednesday. The top court's observation came in a judgement by which itdismissed an appeal of Saritha S Nair against the rejection of hernomination papers for contesting Lok Sabha polls fromErnakulam, Kerala, by the returning officers in 2019 onaccount of her conviction and sentencing in twocriminal cases related to the Solar scam in the state.Hibi Eden of Congress party won the seat. Nair had alsomoved the top court against rejection of her nominationpapers on the same grounds for contesting Lok Sabhapolls from Wayanad seat against Rahul Gandhi.

A PERSON IS DISQUALIFIED TO CONTESTPOLLS IF CONVICTION NOT STAYED: SC

ROUND-THE-CLOCK RTGS FROM DECEMBER 14

US President Donald Trump and President-Elect Joe Bidenemerged as the most and second-most tweeted about people on

Twitter for the year 2020, according to the micro-blogging site'sannual year-end review. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi also made it to the top 10most tweeted about people's list andoccupied seventh place on the list. Indian-American Vice President-elect Kamala Harriswas the only woman on the list and stood atthe 10th position globally. "People continuedto utilize Twitter to publicly advocate forpolitical change and demand accountabilityfrom world leaders this year.

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has announced that a total of 4,726vacancies will be filled through the Combined Higher Secondary Level

(CHSL) exam 2020. The application forms for the exam are available onlineon SSC's website. The SSC CHSL application forms can be filled andsubmitted till December 15. Apply Online The CHSL2019 exam was held to fill 4,893 vacancies. ForCHSL 2017 exam, SSC has announced a total of5,874 vacancies and for CHSL 2018 it hadannounced 5,789 vacancies. SSC conducts the CHSLexam every year to fill vacancies in Lower DivisionClerk, Junior Secretariat Assistant, Postal Assistant,Sorting Assistant, and Data Entry Operator posts invarious ministries, departments and organisations.

The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) for high-valuetransactions will be available round-the-clock on all days from 00:30

hours of December 14, making India one of the few countries tooperate the system 24x7. In October, the RBI had announced thatRTGS will be available round-the-clock on all days of the year."Accordingly, RTGS 24x7x365 will belaunched with effect from 00:30 hourson December 14, 2020," the centralbank said in a statement. The RBI saidIndia will become one of the fewcountries in the world to operate itsRTGS system round-the-clockthroughout the year.

TRUMP MOST TWEETED-ABOUTPERSON IN 2020, PM MODI IN TOP TEN

FOR CHSL 2020 EXAM, SSCANNOUNCES 4,726 VACANCIES

HYDERABADWEATHER

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CM KCR springs a surprise,

appreciates Modi on Central VistaVENKAT RAM REDDY LAKKADIn HYDERABAD

TRS chief and Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao, a dayafter his party fully backed'Bharat Bandh' in Telanganaagainst the recently enactedfarm laws, sprang a surprise bywriting a letter on Wednesdayto Prime Minister NarendraModi and praising him for theprestigious Central Vista pro-ject, a part of which the PM isset to symbolically launch inDelhi on Thursday.

KCR expressed his view thatthe Central Vista project wouldbe "a symbol of self-esteem,prestige and national pride ofa resurgent, confident andstrong India". The CM wishedspeedy completion of the pres-tigious and nationally impor-tant project.

KCR's views have raisedeyebrows in some quarters asopposition parties are attack-ing Modi for "wasting hugepublic money on this projectduring corona-induced finan-cial crisis". Besides, parallelsare being drawn between theKCR government's plans tobuild a new Secretariat against

huge outcry in various circlesand the undercurrent of oppo-sition in New Delhi to theUnion government's plans togo ahead with the Centralvista project.

KCR's Wednesday letter toModi has gained political sig-nificance in TS,

TRS MLA bookedfor abusing scribe PNS n HYDERABAD

A case has been registeredagainst a ruling TRS MLA forallegedly threatening and abus-ing a journalist in neighbour-ing Sangareddy district, policesaid on Wednesday.

Patancheru MLA G MahipalReddy was booked under var-ious IPC sections including 504(intentional insult with intent toprovoke breach of the peace)and 506 (criminal intimidation)and provisions of the SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities) Act,they said.

The journalist of a localnewspaper filed a complaintaccusing the MLA of abusingand threatening him over

phone on Tuesday over a newsreport filed by him whichalleged the legislator's followerswere involved in grabbing landin Ameenpur area. Based on thecomplaint, a case was registeredand it is under investigation, asenior police official said.

Congresshumiliated byBJP in Rajlocal pollsPNS n JAIPUR

In a major shocker toRajasthan's ruling Congress,the opposition BharatiyaJanata Party in Rajasthanswept 1,911 seats in therecently held panchayat sami-ti elections while it was lim-ited to 1,781 seats.

The Independents gained425 seats, the Bahujan SamajParty got 3 seats while theCPI-M captured 16 seats inthe elections while theRashtriya Loktantrik Partygot 57 seats, according to theState Election Commissionwebsite.

The results for 4,239 ofthe 4,371 seats wereannounced, with countingwas still underway in theremaining.

The BJP's winning streakcontinued in PanchayatSamiti elections where theyhave won the Zila Parishadelections in 353 seats whileCongress was limited to 252.

The CPI-M garnered twoseats, the Independents 18and RLP 10 seats.

"This victory is the people'sstamp on BJP's rural policies.It reflects PM NarendraModi's developed ideologyfor farmers and this victoryalso reflects the hard effortstaken by BJP workers," BJPstate president Satish Pooniasaid.

SUMIT ONKA n ELURU

Pesticide, battery, bleachingand chlorine used during thesanitation programme weresuggested by the medicalexperts as the probable reasonfor the presence of the heavymetals like lead and nickel inthe patients affected by themystery illness in Eluru. Thissuggestion came during theirvideo conference with ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy on Wednesday.

Doctors and experts from

WHO, AIIMS, NIN, CCMBand IICT were present duringthe video conference. TheChief Minister said that correc-tive measures will be taken

based on the final outcome ofinvestigations and urged theexperts to find an actual reasonbehind the illness.

TS pvt hospitalsto withdraw allnon-essentialservicesPNS n HYDERABAD

Private hospitals in TelanganaState will withdraw all non-essential, non-Covid medicalservices on Friday (Dec 11), inline with the call given by theTS unit of the Indian MedicalAssociation against the Centre'smove to allow Ayush doctors inthe country to practice and per-form surgical procedures andtechniques of modern allo-pathic medicine. All medicalservices, except emergencyones, will be closed from 6amto 6pm on Friday. The IndianMedical Association onWednesday tweeted that theyare withdrawing all non-essen-tial non-Covid medicalServices on December 11, 2020.

RGI Airport to have direct flights to US from Jan 15ANUSHA PUPPALAn HYDERABAD

Come January 2021, there willbe direct flights from Hyderabadto the US from the Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport here. TheGMR-led RGIA announced onWednesday that Air India willbe starting its direct, non-stopflight between Hyderabad andChicago effective January 15,2021.

The airline would be operat-ing with Boeing 777-200 aircraft,with seat capacity of 238 (8 FirstClass + 35 Business Class + 195Economy Class), to connectHyderabad with Chicago.

Hyderabad-USA-Hyderabad

has been the largest unservedpassenger origin and destina-tion (O&D) market between

India and the US, with a poten-tial of over 700,000 passengersannually. Additionally, the

flights are intended to serveover 2.2 lakh passengers orig-inating from the Hyderabad

catchment area and headed forthe US annually.

Pradeep Panicker, CEO,GMR HyderabadInternational Airport Ltd,said, "This new non-stoproute connecting Hyderabadand Chicago in the USA hasbeen on our connectivity wishlist for quite some time. Andwe are delighted that it is ourvery own national carrier AirIndia that has commencedthis service. The launch of thisroute brings two destinationscloser for all our passengerswho have been waiting eager-ly for a direct flight fromHyderabad to the USA.

Farmers reject govt proposal, to intensify agitation PNS n NEW DELHI

Farmer leaders Wednesdayrejected a government propos-al to amend the new agri laws,and announced they wouldintensify their agitation byblocking the Jaipur-Delhi andthe Delhi-Agra expressways bySaturday, and escalating it to anationwide protest onDecember 14.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, farmer leader ShivKumar Kakka said there wasnothing new in the govern-ment's proposal, and that itwas "completely rejected" bythe 'Sanyukta KisanCommittee' in its meeting onWednesday.

Farmer union leaders termedthe proposal an "insult" to thefarmers of the country. They,however, said if the government

sends a fresh proposal of talks,they may consider it.

The sixth round of talksbetween the government andfarm union leaders, whichwas scheduled for Wednesdaymorning, has been cancelled.

According to the union

leaders, a new Delhi chalo'(march to Delhi)' call is beinggiven to all farmers in thenorth India for December 14,while those in the South willbe asked to protest at districtheadquarters.

Oppn meets Prezseeks repeal offarm lawsA

delegation of oppositionleaders on Wednesday met

President Ram Nath Kovindand sought repeal of the threefarm laws against whichthousands of farmers havebeen protesting on variousborders of the national capital.The five-member delegationcomprised Congress leaderRahul Gandhi, NCP chiefSharad Pawar, CPI(M) generalsecretary Sitaram Yechury,CPI general secretary D Rajaand DMK leader TKSElangovan.

Telangana cabinet reshuffle in New Year ‘Failed’ ministers banking on KTR, Kavitha to retain their berthPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Rashtra Samitisupremo and Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao may gofor a reshuffle of his cabinet inthe New Year.

There is an intense debatein TRS circles over KCR goingfor a rejig of his team in viewof the party's poor perfor-mance in the recent DubbakAssembly bypoll and theGHMC polls. Speculationsare rife that KCR wouldreward 'good performers' in

elections with ministerialposts and punish 'non-per-formers' by removing them

from the state cabinet. Thereis talk that KCR may inductinto the cabinet his daughter

and Nizamabad MLCKalvakuntla Kavitha as part ofthe rejig.

However, some of the min-isters who had been appoint-ed as in-charges for a fewwards in the GHMC elections,but failed to ensure victory ofTRS candidates in those wards,seem to be banking on KCR'sson and IT Minister KT RamaRao and KCR's daughter andNizamabad MLC K Kavitha forsome 'grace' marks so thatthey are retained in the cabinet.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre released Rs 6,195crore to 14 states as monthlyinstalment of post devolutionrevenue deficit grant.

"Based on the 15th FinanceCommission interim recom-mendations, the Governmentreleased Rs 6,195.08 crore onDecember 9, 2020 to 14 Stateson account of the ninth equat-ed monthly instalment of PostDevolution Revenue Deficit

Grant," the office of FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamantweeted. Andhra Pradesh,Assam, Himachal Pradesh,Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya,Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab,Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura,Uttarakhand and West Bengalare the states to whom theamount has been released. Asimilar amount was released asgrant for April-Novembermonths of the current finan-cial year.

Centre releases Rs 6,195 cr to 14 states

Telangana not in the list

File photo

There is talk thatKCR may induct intothe cabinet hisdaughter andNizamabad MLCKalvakuntla Kavithaas part of the rejig

Jagan appointsChalameshwar’sson as Addl A-GSNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

The YS Jaganmohan Reddygovernment on Wednesdayappointed Jasti Naga Bhushan,the son of retired judge of theSupreme Court, Justice JastiChalameshwar, as AdditionalAdvocate-General of the State.

Naga Bhushan is a practic-ing advocate. A GO confirm-ing his appointment was issuedby the State Government on

Wednesday evening.The appointment has raised

eyebrows since there werereports that Naga Bhushan’sfather, Justice Chalameshwar,who is known for his legal acu-men, has been of late guidingand helping Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy. The ChiefMinister has gone publicclaiming that the judiciary inthe state had been hostile tohis government.

Heavy metals linked to‘sanitation' programmePesticides, battery, bleaching and chlorine

in Eluru drinking water

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Continued from page 1

Hyderabad InternationalAirport has been always com-mitted to connect the best des-tinations to cater to the pas-senger demands. We are con-stantly working on linkingmore cities domestic andinternational with focus onhigh standards of safety toserve our passengers."

Hyderabad is second hometo the US giants such asAmazon, Microsoft, Apple,Google etc. to name a few. Theprogressive measures takenby the Telangana StateGovernment and investments,especially from the US-basedcompanies in Hyderabad, haveincreased manifold and con-tinues to increase. The USAhas been numero uno destina-tion for IT exports fromHyderabad with 70% of thetotal IT exports fromHyderabad to the US.

Direct connectivity to theUS from Hyderabad was longdue and is much deservingoffering from Air India to thecorporate community fromthe regions. The First Class

and Business Class offerings ofAir India will surely be anexperience fitting the cus-tomers valuing high taste.

The Telugu diaspora fromthe Telangana and AndhraPradesh states is one of thefastest-growing community inthe US. As per some estimates,every 4th student travelingabroad for studies from Indiais from the Telugu states ofTelangana and AndhraPradesh. India is the 2ndlargest source country for for-eign students coming to USAeach year.

Also, Hyderabad is knownas the Pharma Capital of Indiaand a Vaccine ManufacturingHub of India. Now direct con-nectivity to USA would pro-vide the much-needed impe-tus to its Pharma industry forAir Cargo uplift. The currentannual air cargo tonnage in theHyderabad-USA market seg-ment is pegged at 22,000 met-ric tons and growing at 8%annually. This flight couldplay an important role in pro-viding the logistic support totransport COVID vaccinesbetween the two regions.

RGI Airport to...

Continued from page 1

Jagan had also written to ChiefJustice of India SA Bobde inOctober, levelling serious alle-gations of bias and corruptionagainst a sitting judge of theSupreme Court, Justice NVRamana, who is next in the lineto become the Chief Justice ofIndia.

Jagan’s letter to Justice Bobdecame after he met PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onOctober 6 and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah onSeptember 21.

Notably, it is learnt thatNaga Bhushan had alsoaccompanied Jagan along withthe Advocate-General SriramSubramanyam during themeeting with Amit Shah.

The meeting with Amit

Shah was considered crucialwhere Jagan is said to haveexplained and convinced hiscase to the Union HomeMinister with strong legalstanding and other documen-tary evidence.

The corridors of power inAmaravati are abuzz thatChalameshwar had beenactively helping Jagan to faceJustice Ramana, whom Jaganbelieves had been playing inthe hands of TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu.

Jagan had mentioned this inhis letter to the CJI.

The rivalry between JusticeChalameshwar and the JusticeRamana-Naidu duo goes along way.

In March 2017, JusticeChalameshwar had written tothe then Chief Justice of India,

Justice JS Khehar, alleging“unwarranted intimacybetween the executive and thejudiciary” in the matter ofappointing judges for the HighCourt of Judicature atHyderabad for the States ofTelangana and AndhraPradesh.

Justice Chalameswhar hadwritten that “the proximity ofthe Hon’ble judge and the pre-sent Chief Minister of AndhraPradesh is too well known”referring to Justice Ramanaand Chandrababu Naidurespectively.

The matter refers to theproposal of appointing sixadvocates to the High Court inHyderabad for Telangana andAndhra Pradesh, for whichopinions of both the ChiefMinisters were sought.

Jagan appoints Chalameshwar’s...

Foreign envoys visit Bharat BiotechPNS n HYDERABAD

Envoys of 64 countries onWednesday visited the facilitiesof Bharat Biotech andBiological E, which are devel-oping vaccines forCoronavirus.

After landing in Hyderabadby a special Air India flight, theAmbassadors and HighCommissioners from thecountries in Asia, Africa,Europe, North America, SouthAmerica, and Oceania reachedGenome Valley on the city out-skirts to visit the two compa-nies. The visit by the heads offoreign missions was organisedby the Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) and was part ofIndia's efforts to develop part-nerships for the manufactureand delivery of vaccines.

At Bharat Biotech, the dele-gation was briefed about com-pany's vaccine developmentprogramme by Dr. KrishnaElla, Chairman and ManagingDirector, spearheadingCovaxin research, develop-

ment, clinical trials and pro-duction teams. Chief SecretarySomesh Kumar also addressedthe diplomats and showcasedthe potential of the state. Hesaid though being the youngeststate in the country, Teangana

achieved tremendous progressunder the dynamic leadershipof Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao.

He also informed that thecombined value of the pharmasector in the state is around $50billion. Hyderabad is the vac-cine hub of not only India butthe entire world with 33 per-cent of the entire vaccine pro-duction being done inHyderabad.

During the last six years, thestate has been a front ranker inthe ease of doing business inthe country. The state is hometo some of the top valuedcompanies such as Google,Apple, Facebook, Amazon,Microsoft etc. Most of thesecompanies have their largestestablishments outside the USin Hyderabad.

Students from theIndian Institute of

Technology-Hyderabad(IIT-H) got 222placement offersincluding 30international offers from63 companies during thephase-I of campusplacement drive between December 1 and 6. The entire processwas held online with students attending job interviews from theirrespective homes across the country.This year's placement seasonstarted on a positive note with the 48 Pre-Placement Offers (PPO),as opposed to 37 PPOs in the previous academic year. The phase-II of placements will be held in January 2021.The same trendcontinued in international offers this year too when compared tolast year. For the current placement year 2020-21, the institutereceived 30 international offers from 8 companies from Japan andTaiwan. More international offers are expected during the phase-II.For the placement year 2019-20, IIT-H students got 38 internationaloffers from 15 companies across 3 countries. Over 500 studentshad registered for placements across departments this year.

CITY LIGHTS

Aschedule for TSEAMCET (BiPC)2020 special round

admission counsellingwas announced onWednesday. Accordingto schedule released byTS EAMCET (B)admissions convenorNavin Mittal, TS EAMCET AM qualified candidates can fill basicinformation, pay processing fee and book a slot on December16.The certificate verification for candidates who booked the slotwill be done on December 17 and web options will be availablefrom December 16 to 18. Provisional seat allotment orders will beissued on December 21. Students must pay tuition fee and self-report online through the website between December 21 and 23.Students must report at the allotted colleges during December 21to 24. The spot admission guidelines for private pharmacy andengineering colleges would be placed on the websitehttps://tseamcetb.nic.in on December 21.

TRS wins one moredivision in GHMC pollsPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) has won the Neredmetdivision of Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) after the counting ofvotes was taken up onWednesday followingTelangana High Court orders.TRS candidate MeenaUpender Reddy was declaredelected with a majority of 782votes over her nearest rivalPrasanna Naidu of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP).With this, TRS' tally in GHMChas gone up to 56 out of 150seats. The BJP won 48 seats,MIM 44 and Congress two.

The counting of votes inNeredmet was taken up onDecember 4 along with thevotes polled in all 150 divisionsof GHMC. However, the resultwas withheld as there were 544ballots with different mark-ings. The TRS candidate wasleading with 504 votes but asthere were more ballots with

different markings, the StateElection Commission (SEC)withheld the result as per thedirection of the High Court.

The High Court had direct-ed SEC on December 4 that ifthe number of votes with dif-ferent marks exceed the major-ity, the result should be with-held. It was late on December3 that the SEC had issued a cir-cular declaring ballot papers

with distinguishing marksinstead of the arrow cross-mark (Swastik) as valid in theGHMC elections.

As polling officers in somepolling stations had provideda distinguishing mark insteadof the arrow cross-mark formarking on the ballot paper tothe voters to cast their vote, theSEC said that all such votesshould be treated valid.

However, on a house motionmoved by the BJP on Friday,the High Court suspendedthe circular. It had directedthat ballots with marking otherthan the arrow cross-mark betreated separately and if thenumber of such votes is nothigher than the majority, theSEC may declare results, but ifthe number is more than themajority, the results will besubject to court's final ordersin the matter.

The court on December 7directed that the SEC cantreat all the votes with differ-ent marks too as valid. It saidsince the intention of voterswas clear, the votes should betreated as valid. The court dis-missed the petition of BJP legalcell in-charge Antony Reddy,who sought direction to theSEC not to count ballots withmarks other than 'Swastik'.With the victory in Neredmet,TRS' tally in GHMC has goneup to 56. BJP won 48 seats,MIM 44 and Congress two.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Central BureauInvestigation (CBI) InspectorB Satish Prabhu onWednesday received thePrestigious President PoliceMedal. Central GovernmentAdvisor for Security Ajit Dovalpresented the President PoliceMedal to Mr Prabhu at a pro-gramme held at the CBI head-quarters, New Delhi, onWednesday.

Prabhu got this medal forinvestigating many sensation-al cases in CBI and in the pastwith the RPF. He has bustedAbu Saleem-Monica Bedi caseas an investigating officer ofCBI. He has proved corruptcharges against the IncomeTax Chief Commissioner,Central Income Tax AssistantCommissioner with proofs.Prabhu has also busted theGowthami Express conspira-cy and international Ganja

smuggling and other cases.Earlier, he had received thePrestigious Indian PoliceMedal in 2012.

CBI Director Rishi KumarShulda, Union HomeSecretary Ajay Bhalla andother CBI officials congratu-lated him on the occasion, arelease here said.

Priority for publichealth, says KTRPNS n RAJANNA-SIRCILLA

The state government hasaccorded top priority to pub-lic health and improving facil-ities in government hospitals,Municipal Administration andUrban Development MinisterK T Rama Rao said onWednesday. The Minister wasspeaking after inaugurating aliquid oxygen tank, Covidpatients ward and dialysiscentre in Sircilla district head-quarters hospital. While theliquid oxygen tank was estab-lished at a cost of Rs 40 lakh,five dialysis units were set upat a cost of Rs 50 lakh. Later,Rama Rao interacted withpatients who visited the hos-pital for treatment and

enquired about the facilities,treatment, response of themedical staff and the problemsthey faced in the hospital.

Speaking on the occasion,the Minister said public healthwas one of the top priorities ofthe government. Providingquality treatment to peoplewho visit government hospi-tals was a major objective ofthe government, and towardsthis, various facilities are beingdeveloped in hospitals, hesaid. Talking about Sircillahospital, Rama Rao said thepeople who visit governmenthospital should not face anyproblems. It was the responsi-bility of doctors and hospitalstaff to provide quality servicesto the people, he said.

CBI officer from TSgets President’s medal

Heavy metals linked to...Continued from page 1

He told the authorities to focuson whether the illness was dueto water contamination or dueto some other cause and askedto conduct a detailed investi-gation. Meanwhile, expertsfrom the WHO said that theyare surveying the areas of thepeople fallen sick and are tak-ing health details including thefood they have taken.

On the other hand, expertssuspect that bleaching andchlorine used in sanitationprogrammes as part of Covidprevention measures may alsobe the cause. Doctors andexperts from AIIMS, Delhisaid that comprehensive tests

are yet to be done, but the pre-liminary investigationsrevealed that lead and nickelappear to be high in the bloodof those who were ill.

As Indians do have nickel intheir bodies, the presence oflead might have caused the ill-ness. Also, it was found thatthere is a significant drop inthe level of lead in the patientbodies after 24 hours ofbecoming sick. The process ofrecycling batteries or due to thedumping of broken batteries,or when fired may also lead tothe current situation. “We willalso test drinking water andmilk samples and come to adefinite conclusion on the rea-sons as soon as possible,” they

said.Experts from AIIMS,

Mangalagiri said that pesti-cides might have contaminat-ed the organic chlorides, whichis just a primary finding, whereaccurate conclusions on thisare yet to come.

Expert team from NIN,Hyderabad said that they haveexamined the food, water,milk, urine and blood samplesfrom the families of the sickand also taken samples of veg-etables and essentials fromthe market. “We are conduct-ing comprehensive tests, so far,there are no signs of danger.We shall submit a report onwater, food, milk, urine andblood samples,” they said.

CM KCR...Continued from page 1

considering the bitter politicalfight between the TRS and theBJP during the recent Dubbakbypolls and the GHMC polls.KCR's abortive plan to hold aconclave of 'non-BJP, non-Cong' CMs and chiefs of par-ties in Hyderabad this monthis an additional notable factor.

Political observers say,KCR, by writing a letter toModi, probably wants to cor-ner the BJP, which hadattacked him viciously over hisdecision to demolish the stateSecretariat building to pay wayfor the construction of a newone its place, spending Rs 500crore. The letter was ostensi-bly to convey his greetings tothe Prime Minister on theoccasion of laying foundationfor the prestigious CentralVista project in New Delhi. "Ijoin you with a sense of prideon the occasion of layingfoundation stone for the grandproject of Central Vista," KCRsaid in the letter.

Stating that the CentralVista was long overdue, theChief Minister said the exist-ing government infrastructurein the national capital wasinadequate and also associat-ed with the nation's colonialpast.

Congress...Continued from page 1

The Panchayat and ZilaParishad polls victoriescome at a time when Modi'spolices were being protest-ed against in Rajasthan bythe Congress governmentwho were supporting thebandh call on Tuesday.When they were peltingstones on BJP office as a partof Bharat Bandh, peoplevoted against their two yearsof misrule which wasmarred by lawlessness,Poonia alleged.

Also there was no imple-mentation of farm loan waiv-er as promised by Congressleaders during assembly elec-tions, the school fee issue,electricity bill issue were fur-ther left unresolved, headded.

Farmers reject...Continued from page 1

They said all toll plazas acrossthe country will be made toll-free on December 12.

The Centre's proposal wassent to the farmers onWednesday, a day after UnionHome Minister Amit Shahmet their 13 representativesover the contentious legisla-tions.

In the proposal, the govern-ment had offered to give a"written assurance" to thefarmers that the existingMinimum Support Price(MSP) regime for crop pro-curement will continue.

Darshan Pal, anotherfarmer leader, said the farm-ers rejected the proposedamendments in the laws asthey wanted nothing less thana complete withdrawal of thelegislations.

He said the new draft con-tained what had already beenproposed to them by UnionAgriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar in his previousmeetings with farmer leaders.

He said the protesters willblock all highways to thenational capital on December

14, and gherao district head-quarters, and also BJP districtoffices.

If the three farm laws arenot scrapped, the farmers willblock all the roads leading toDelhi one by one, Kakka said.

Farmer leader Jangvir Singhsaid, "We will boycott estab-lishments and services ownedby Adani and Ambani."

"We met the President andinformed him of our viewregarding the three farm laws.We have asked for theirrepeal. We informed thePresident that it is critical thatthey are taken back," Gandhitold reporters after themeeting. He said the way thefarm laws were passed inParliament, "we feel it was aninsult to farmers and that iswhy they are protesting in thecold weather against them".The three bills were passedwithout any discussion orconversation with theopposition parties or withfarmers, he said.

Oppn meets...

Telanganacabinet...Continued from page 1

These Ministers, despite hav-ing failed to ensure TRS can-didates' victory, take solacefrom the fact that it was KTRwho led TRS GHMC elec-tions campaign. So, the dip inTRS' tally, from 99 seats in the2016 GHMC polls to 56 now,is seen as KTR's failure as well.They point out that Kavithatoo had failed to ensure thevictory TRS' Gandhinagarcandidate, for whom she hadbeen appointed as in-charge.TRS sources say if perfor-mance during the GHMCpolls was the only criterion,then KTR and Kavitha too donot deserve to find berths inthe recast cabinet. KTR alsofailed as in-charge for theHydernagar division in whichTRS candidate was defeated.

Power Minister G JagadishReddy was appointed as in-charge for the Saroornagardivision, where TRS wasdefeated. Health MinisterEtela Rajender was appoint-ed as in-charge for theMalkajgiri division, whereTRS was defeated.

IIT-Hyderabad students get 222 placement offers

TS Eamcet (BiPC) special round admissions from December 16

TS pvt hospitals to withdraw all...Continued from page 1

IMA tweeted, "Say no to'Mixopathy' . IMA withdrawsall non-essential non-CovidMedical Services on FridayDecember 11,2020 between6am to 6pm. No OPD, NoElective Surgery (sic)".

Dr Sanjeev Kumar Yadavfrom the Telangana MedicalAssociation told The Pioneer:"This is a call given by IMAheadquarters. More than fourlakh IMA doctors across thecountry are participating inthis. We have also discussedthis issue with a lot of private

doctors, HRDA, TJUDA,NIMS, and all of them agreedto participate in the protestand boycott non-essentialduties. We are boycotting non-essential duties from 6am to6pm on Friday as part of ourfight against new AyurvedicLaw by Indian govt". TheIndian government onNovember 20,2020 issued anotification allowing Ayushdoctors to practice and performsurgical procedures and tech-niques of the modern allopath-ic medicine, despite the lack ofthe basic expertise required toperform the procedures.

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 10, 2020 hyderabad 03

Event management firm told to pay Rs 75,000

DURGA PRASAD SUNKU

n HYDERABAD

A man who hired an eventmanager to perform his daugh-ter's marriage was shocked tofind some of the importantevents were not videographedduring the marriage. Followingwhich, he approached the con-sumer forum, which slapped afine of Rs 75,000 against theevent manager due to deficien-cy in service.

The complaintant Sarvesw-ara Rao booked MaruthiGardens Convention Centre atLakdi-ka-pool for two days in

August 2016 to perform hisdaughter's wedding.

Further, he entered into acontract with Maruthi Dheerajand paid Rs 7.5 lakh in fiveinstallments including video-graphing the marriage andeven paid Rs 75,000 for elec-tricity bills.

The complainant receivedthe marriage DVD by payingRs 25,000. However, when hechecked for marriage videomost of the important eventsincluding 'MangalasuthraDharana' (tying the knot) weremissing.

Subsequently, SarveswaraRao approached MaruthiDheeraj to enquire about the

missing videos. However, thereis no response from MaruthiDheeraj.

Alleging that it is a breach ofcontract, affected his reputationbadly among his relatives,friends and parents of his son-in-law. He suffered insult andmental agony and sweet mem-ories of important ceremoniesin the marriage could not bebrought back, he filed a peti-tion with Consumer DisputesRedressal Commission,Hyderabad for compensation.

Meanwhile, MaruthiGardens management con-tended that there is no defi-

ciency of service on their part.Further, consumer forum

stated that there is deficiencyof service on the part of theMaruthi Gardens managementin providing service to thecomplainant Sarveswara Rao.

The consumer redressalforum opined that Rs 75,000along with interest is quitereasonable amount towardsthe compensation and wouldmeet the ends of justice.

The forum directed MaruthiDheeraj to pay the fine of Rs75,000 to Sarveswara Rao withseven per cent interest withinone month.

DEFICIENCY IN SERVICES

n Videographer did not record the video of couple while tying the knot

The complainantSarveswara Raoentered into acontract withthe eventmanagementfirm and paid Rs 7.5 lakh infive installments

ANUSHA PUPPALA

n HYDERABAD

Aspirants of University ofHyderabad (UoH) alleged thatUniversity has closed theiradmissions before many uni-versities without filling vacantseats in multiple departmentsof MA, M Phil & PhD, deny-ing admission to the aspirants.

According to the StudentsUnion, the entrance results forMA, MPhil/PhD programmesof University of Hyderabadwere declared in the third andfourth weeks of October, 2020.

Despite several protests byStudents Union againstUniversity's decision andpromise by the Universityadmin to not to leave any seatsvacant, around 100 seats arevacant even now in researchprogrammes even after consid-ering a second round of inter-view lists, alleged the UoHStudents Union.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Deshdeep Dhankar an UoHaspirant said, "I am an UoHaspirant who applied for theUoH entrance exam for thecourse of MA in PoliticalScience this year. My rank is36th in the unreserved list andthe candidate with the 34thrank has got admission so far.When I enquired at theController of Examinationsoffice, it was informed that theadmission for this session isclosed. Since other Universitiesare still in the process of theiradmissions, I know fellow stu-

dents from those selected inUniversity of Hyderabad (UoH)who are either withdrawing orhave already withdrawn theiradmissions, as they got in otherUniversities like DU, JNU,Jamia and others."

He further added, "After allthis, I decided to write anemail to University ofHyderabad officials for open-ing admissions for waiting liststudents but did not receive anyresponse till now. I decided towrite again and sent an emailbut still not received anyresponse from the officials. Inmy mail, I included importantofficials; Vice chancellor, con-troller of examinations, Deanof students, Dean of socialsciences and many others. I am

not the only student who isbeing denied admission butmore than 10 students fromevery department are suffering.When I approached the stu-dent Union of UoH, I got toknow that this is not onlyhappening in Masters but inthe courses of M.Phil and PhDtoo. Student union informedme that they along with com-mon students are also trying toconvince officials to fill up thevacant seats by reopeningadmissions."

Speaking to this newspaper,Abhishek Nandan, President ofUoH Student said, "We werealways against the decision ofthe University to adopt the2016 UGC regulation toemploy a minimum qualifying

mark criteria bypassing thenorm of University academiccouncil to include the electedstudent representatives in thediscussion. We were consoledsaying there is nothing to beworried about and that allseats will be filled. But contraryto that more than 70 seats werefound vacant of which 67 werereserved seats. As the adminwas deaf to our concerns, theStudents Union went for anindefinite protest and observeda 6 day long relay hungerstrike. Consequently the adminhad called for a meeting andpromised that reserved seatswould not be left vacant. Buteven after considering a secondround of interview lists around100 seats are vacant even now

in research programmes".He further added, "Some

department don't even havePhD program for this session.We expect more vacancies tocome once other universitiespublish their results. In masterprogrammes also the situa-tion is no difference. Due to thepandemic situation most of thehigher education institutionshad their entrance or admis-sion process in October only ofwhich many pioneering insti-tutions are yet to declareresults. University ofHyderabad had closed theadmissions for masters by thirdweek of Nov. As we all knowmany candidates appear in thelist of all or most of the HEIsand they choose according totheir respective preferences.Now, UoH has closed theadmissions prior to many emi-nent Universities publishingtheir results and as a resultwhen other universities publishtheir entrance results a hugenumber of students will dropout. And those students, as perearlier practice would getadmission from waitlists, willnot have any opportunities.Seats will remain vacant deny-ing a huge number of studentsa bright future. The StudentsUnion had brought this issuerepeatedly to administrationand now we are working onfuture course of action. We areto intensify our struggle."

University authorities werenot available to comment onthis issue.

Seats vacant but admissions closed!

GO

GREEN

Hyderabad MetroRail Limited is leaving

no stone unturned to creategreen lung spaces in the

city with planned treeplantation.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A special court for dealing POCSO caseshere on Wednesday has a convicted a 26-year-old man, a painter, guilty under rel-evant sections of the Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences (POCSO)Act and IPC and sentenced him to under-go 20 years RI. Besides, a total fine of Rs12,000 was slapped on him.

According to prosecution, on May 27,2018 the girl had gone to a grocery storeclose to her relative's house, when theaccused saw the victim and took her to hisroom.

As the girl did not return, her motherwent to the shop, where she was told thatthe victim was abducted by the man.

The woman went to the house of theaccused along with her elder brother andfound her daughter crying, while theaccused fled.

Subsequently, the victim's motherlodged a formal complaint with Jubileehills police station. The police booked acase and started investigation.

During the trial, the First AdditionalMetropolitan session judge SuneethaKunchala after going through all the evi-dences, convicted the accused under thePOCSO Act and 376AB IPC and award-ed him 20 years rigorous imprisonmentand 10 more years imprisonment for366A IPC.

The judge also fined him Rs 12,000 indefault of payment of fine amount he hasto undergo simple imprisonment for aperiod of 6 months.Out of the fineamount of 12,000 an amount of 10,000shall be paid to the victim girl towardsher pain and suffering.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana's Covid-19 tally crossed2.75 lakh mark on Wednesdaywith the state adding 753 new casesduring the last 24 hours. GreaterHyderabad reported 123 new cases.Medchal Malkajgiri district saw thesecond highest number of newcases at 58 followed by Rangareddy(51), Warangal Urban (47),Karimnagar (37), Khammam (32)and Nalgonda (31).

Three more persons succumbedto the virus, taking the death tollto 1,480. The fatality rate stands at0.53 per cent against the nationalaverage of 1.5 per cent. Accordingto the director of public health andfamily welfare, 44.96 per cent of thedeaths were due to COVID whilethe remaining 55.04 were onaccount of comorbidities.

Recoveries continued to out-number daily count of new infec-tions as 753 people recovered fromthe virus during the last 24 hours,taking the cumulative recoveries to2,66,120. The recovery rateimproved further to 96.67 per centagainst the national average of94.6 per cent. The state now has

7,661 active COVID cases and ofthem 5,576 were in home or insti-tutional isolation.

Over 90 per cent of beds in gov-ernment-run hospitals treatingCovid-19 in the state remainedvacant. Out of 8,561 beds availablein 61 government hospitals treat-ing Covid, 7,790 beds were vacant.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Meerpet police arrested aquack for setting up a clinicand treating people for theirailments on Wednesday.

The accused identified as PSai Kumar, 35, was running'Sai Clinic' at Meerpet crossroads claiming to be a doctor.

With a tip off, MeerpetPolice raided the clinic andtook Sai Kumar into custodyon Tuesday. Investigationrevealed that the accused did-n't have any certificates or legalpermissions from concernedmedical department to run aclinic. "He has a fake MBBS,MD certificate. Further, healong with another person SKAhmed are treating patientsand collecting consultancy fee

of Rs 150 per person," saidSunpreet sing, DCP, of LBNagar zone.

When questioned, theaccused Sai Kumar disclosedthat he has completed hisIntermediate in the year 2004.Later, he worked in SrinivasaHospital, Santhoshnagar asan operation theatre assistantfrom 2006 to 2012.

"Taking advantage of theknowledge he gained whileworking in medical field byassisting the doctors, he hasdecided to earn quick buck bycheating patients. As per theplan, he opened a clinic," saidMeerpet Inspector of Police, MMahender Reddy.

On Tuesday, Meerpet Policearrested the accused and senthim to judicial custody.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Rachakonda police came to the res-cue of a 17-year-old girl whose fam-ily has been planning to marry her.The girl scored 97 per cent of marksin the SSC examination.

Speaking to The Pioneer LKrishnam Raju, Inspector of policeKandukur police station stated thatshe recently passed SSC examinationwith flying colours by scoring 97 percent in the examination.

However, her parents are planningto marry her due to their week finan-

cial status as they couldn't affordmore on her studies.

With a credible information SHEteams along with Kandukur policereached their residence in Begumpetunder Kandukur police station lim-its. “Parents of the girl and boy werediscussing about the marriage, dur-ing which we have intercepted andbrought parents of the girl to policestation and counselled them regard-ing the disadvantages of child mar-riage,” said a police officer. The par-ents of the girl were convinced andthey agreed to drop their plans.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Two persons who were inv-olved in a burglary at a housein Mangalhat were arrestedby the police on Wednesday.The police recovered goldornaments and cash valued atRs. 3.35 lakh from them.

The arrested persons wereidentified as Manohar, 23,and Vijaya Kumar, 23, ofBegum Bazaar. “The duoentered into the house of abusinessman and took awaythe gold ornaments and cash,”said police.

Based on a complaint thepolice booked a case andarrested the accused.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The body of an unidentified man wasfound in a secluded place at KishanNagar in Shadnagar on the city outskirtson Wednesday afternoon. According to thepolice, the person, aged around 50 years,is suspected to have been killed during abrawl. Police said the injuries on the bodyindicated that he was stabbed with sharpobjects. Passers-by noticed the body around noonand informed the Shadnagar police, whoshifted the body to the district governmentmortuary for autopsy.

Senior police officials said it was yet tobe ascertained if the victim was murderedat the spot or killed elsewhere and his bodydumped there. Shadnagar Inspector ASreedhar Kumar said special teams wereformed to identify the victim and to nabthe killers.

Quack arrested

Man gets 20 yearRI for assaultingfour-year-old girl

SHE team preventschild marriage of girl

2 burglars held,property worth Rs 3L recovered

TS Covid tally crosses 2.75 lakh

Body of 50-yr-old man withinjuries found in Shadnagar

AT UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD

MLC K Kavitha offered prayers at Kondaswamy Temple, Jagga Sagar and later planted a sapling on the temple premises

DIVINE BBLESSINGS, NNO GGREEN CCHALLENGE

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 10, 2020 hyderabad 04

PNS n SIDDIPET

The State government hasgranted Rs 160 crore to builda 76 km long road fromPonnala near Siddipet townto Duddeda, aimed at facili-tating by-pass of all the traf-fic coming from Husnabadconstituency without havingto enter Siddipet town. Thetwo-line BT Road will alsoact as Ring Road for Siddipettown.

Since the ever expandingSiddipet town is experiencingtraffic jams quite often,Finance Minister T HarishRao, who represents SiddipetAssembly constituency, pur-sued the State government torelease the fund for the road.The Minister said the road willbe named "KCR Marg afterChief Minister KChandrashekar Rao. TheChief Minister, who was bornin Chintamadaka village nearSiddipet, was elected as MLA

for six consecutive terms fromhere.

Officials said travel dis-tance between Husnabad andHyderabad will come down by15 to 20 km once the roadwork is completed. The by-pass road will benefit peoplefrom Siddipet, Husnabad,Gajwel, Dubbak andManakondur constituencieswho can avoid going throughSiddipet town while goingtowards Karimnagar,Hyderabad, Medak andWarangal.

The 76 km long road willbegin at Ponnala on RajivRahadhari and end atDuddeda on Rajiv Rahadhari.The road touches 21 villagesen route. Harish Rao said thatit will not only ease out traf-fic in Siddipet town but willalso benefit commuters. Sincethe Siddipet town is fastspreading, Rao said having aby-pass road was a must forthe town.

RAJESH JAIN NIDARKAR

n HYDERABAD

Keeping in view of the demandfor edible oils and increasingimports from abroad, the Stategovernment has focused onpromoting oil palm cultivationon a large scale in the State.Edible oil problems in the stateare getting worse with eachpassing day due to fluctuatingprices which is putting anadditional financial burden onthe poor and middle class fam-ilies.

The state depends onimports to fulfill its 80 per centof needs and the problem hasbeen continuing for the last 10months. Moreover, prices haverun out of control as lockdownimposed due to Covid-19posed hurdles for importingoils and others.

Taking cognizance of thesituation, Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao hadinstructed the officials con-cerned to evolve a permanentsolution to the problem. Withan aim to make the state self-sufficient, the AgricultureDepartment has set target toincrease oil production to meetthe needs of the people of thestate. Consequently, it hasdecided to promote the culti-vation of oilseed crops.

The government is plan-ning to provide financial assis-

tance to the farmers cultivatingoil palm plantations throughTSOILFED to boost the pro-duction of oil seeds. The planwill be implemented from thecoming Kharif season and theoils produced in the state willbe pushed in to the marketunder the brand name ofTelangana. The prices of cook-ing oils have skyrocketed sincehotels, restaurants, eateries andbars have been reopened afterCovid Unlock-5.

The price per kg of cookingoil has gone up from Rs 30 toRs 45 when compared to the

rates in pre-Covid scenario. Atpresent, the prices of cookingoil range from Rs 127 to Rs 175per kg, depending on the man-ufacturer, while the prices werein the range from Rs 85 to Rs100 per kg during the sameperiod last year. The price ofsunflower oil, which was onlyRs 100 in mid-March this year,has now touched Rs 145.

As edible oil is a must forevery household, the price arelikely to go up further in thecoming days. Covid-19 isindeed the main reason forprice rise. However, there are

also other factors that led to theunprecedented rise the oilprices. India largely depends onimports for cooking oil needs.We import palm oil fromMalaysia and Indonesia, andsoyabean oil from Argentinaand Brazil, while sunfloweroil is being imported fromRussia and Ukraine.

As the state governmentaims at increasing farmers'income, the officials havefound oil palm crop as the mostprofitable crop for them. TheHorticulture Department offi-cials have submitted a detailed

report to the Chief Ministerand particular plan is likely tobe implemented as a specialprogramme from the next agri-cultural year. However, therewill be a wide publicity cam-paign to create awarenessamong the farmers from nextmonsoon onwards.

According to the guidelinesof CM, an action plan has beenprepared for the developmentof oil palm plantations acrossthe state. The horticulture offi-cials said that of the total 248zones, about 2.50 lakh hectaresare suitable for cultivation of oilpalm plantations. Moreover,the Horticultural scientists saythat the farmers can earn extraincome by cultivating vegeta-bles as an intercrop whilegrowing oil palm.

Agriculture MinisterNiranjan Reddy said the stategovernment was planning toexpand oil palm plantationsacross the state and farmerswere showing interest in theirfarms. The Telangana Oil Palm

Advisory Committee is holdingconsultations on what incen-tives should be given to thefarmers cultivating these plan-tations.

Palm oil plantations arebeing developed inMahbubabad and Manchiryalon a pilot basis. The required2 lakh plants are being pro-cured and distributed fromvarious companies. Two nurs-eries have been set up atManchiryal and Beechupalli togrow 6 lakh seedlings.Agronomists are also of theopinion that this crop will beof great use to farmers in thelong run. Fertilizers will besupplied at a discount to thefarmers and farmers with dripirrigation facility are given pri-ority. Vijaya Oils, a state-ownedcompany, currently has aturnover of Rs 350 crore peryear. The government hasfocused on the development ofoil palm plantations with theaim of further increasing thesesales.

Making TS self-reliant in edible oilRecently, the Chief Minister approvedthe Oil Palm Crop Extension project ata cost of Rs 4,800 Crore. The CMdeclared that farmers would be given50 per cent subsidy to cultivate the oilpalm in the State

PNS n HYDERABAD

All arrangements have beenmade for Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao's visit toSiddipet on December 10. Onthe occasion, Chief Ministerwill inaugurate a gated com-munity consisting of 2,460 twobed room houses built at a costof Rs 163 crores at Narsapur onthe outskirts of Siddipet town.

District Collector PVenkatrami Reddy inspectedthe arrangements at RythuVedika built at Mittapally, theland identified for IT Tower,Medical College, UndergroundDrainage Seweage Treatmentplant, 2BH houses at Narsapur,Necklace road atKomaticheruvu andGovernment Degree College,where the Chief Minister will

address a public meeting.The Collector said instruc-

tions have been issued to all thestaff to make the visit a success-

ful. In view of Covid-19 out-break, the collector said thestaff have been instructed towear masks while discharging

duties during the ChiefMinister's visit. Over 1,503personnel would be deployedfor the Chief Minister's visit to

provide strict security. Earlier,Finance Minister T HarishRao also inspected the variousplaces where ChandrashekarRao would be participating inprogrammes. The Ministermade several suggestions to theofficials on the arrangementsneeded to be made.

He said he would requestChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao to sanc-tion another 1,000 2BHK hous-es for Siddipet in addition tothe 2,460 houses already con-structed, when the latter visitsSiddipet town on December10. Stating that he wanted tobuild a house for each andevery homeless, Harish Raosaid the government will buildan additional 1,000 housesonce the 2,460 houses arehanded over.

Everything in place for CM’s visit to Siddipet

Siddipet to get 76km long Ring Road

PNS n HYDERABAD

Former Minister MohammedAli Shabbir said that Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi hasempowered the poor and com-mon citizens of India by enact-ing several legislations as thechairperson of Congress-ledUPA from 2004-2014.He wasspeaking after distributingblankets among 500 poor peo-ple at Kamareddy DistrictCongress Committee office onthe occasion of the 74th birth-day of AICC President SoniaGandhi on Wednesday. Theblanket distribution was organ-ised by Shabbir Ali Foundation.

Shabbir Ali said that it was onher birthday in 2009 whenSonia Gandhi first made theannouncement that the CentralGovernment would begin theprocess of formation ofTelangana State.

Despite facing serious oppo-sition from the Congress lead-ers from Seemandhra regionand also a few other States, shehonoured the promise of giv-ing statehood for Telangana.“Telangana would not havebeen a reality without SoniaGandhi. We will remainindebted to her throughout ourlives for turning a 60-year-olddream into a reality,” he said.

‘Sonia empoweredpoor, middle class’

PNS n HYDERABAD

AICC Spokesperson Dr SravanDasoju demanded for dismissalof State Labour MinisterChamakura Malla Reddy onallegations of land grabbing inHyderabad. "Malla Reddyalong with his son allegedlythreatened the aggrieved per-son whose land has been will-fully grabbed and fenced byforce. It is reported in themedia about the Minister'salleged land grabbing issueand an FIR has been filedagainst him. So, we demand theChief Minister KCR to imme-diately dismiss the MinisterMalla Reddy from the councilof ministers", Sravan said.

According to the seniorCongress party leader, a leadingTelugu Daily published an arti-cle on Malla Reddy who hasallegedly grabbed 20 guntas ofland, out of 2.5 acres, at his col-leges located at Suraram,Hyderabad. As per the report,that land parcel is locatedbetween two colleges belongingto Malla Reddy. Therefore, heand his son threatened the land-

lord to sell the remaining landparcel to them at a price fixed bythem. Upon receiving the com-plaint by the aggrieved person,the Dundigal police have report-edly registered an FIR on MallaReddy, his son Bhadra Reddyand five other followers.

"On the basis of a complaintregistered against the Ministerin a police station, he must beimmediately thrown out of thestate Cabinet and punishedrigorously," Sravan demanded.

Cong: Remove MallaReddy from Cabinet

The Ministermust beimmediatelythrown out ofthe stateCabinet andpunishedrigorously,demanded AICCSpokespersonDasoju Sravan PNS n HYDERABAD

Four members of a familyfrom Badangpet nearHyderabad died in a road acci-dent at Gudigandla nearMakthal in Narayanpet districton Wednesday. They were trav-elling to Raichur in the carwhich overturned allegedlydue to overspeeding andcrashed.

According to reports, all thefour were travelling in a carwhich hit a culvert and turnedturtle near Gudigandla villageof Makhtal mandal. The vic-tims hailing from Badangpet in

Hyderabad were on their wayto Navodaya Medical Collegein Raichur of Karnataka fortreatment, when the mishapoccurred.

The victims were identifiedas Ellaiah (55), his wifeGovindamma (50), his sisterSarada (56) and her daughterHarika (26). The car driverVinod is critically injured andwas rushed to hospital inMahbubnagar. The only sur-vivor in the road accident wasSarvin, (4). Reason for theaccident is yet to be ascertained,but overspeeding could haveled to the accident, police said.

Govt firm onuplift of weakersections: MLAPNS n MANCHERIAL

Government whip andChennur MLA Balka Sumansaid the State governmentwas committed to the welfareof weaker sections and thepoor. Speaking at a pro-gramme where he distrib-uted Kalyana Laxmi chequesto beneficiaries in Chennurtown on Wednesday, Sumansaid the government wasimplementing a slew of wel-fare schemes, while givingparamount importance to thedevelopment of the State.

He said that no state wasoffering the schemes as manythe government does. He citedAsara Pensions, RaithuBandhu, Raithu Bandhu,Kalyana Laxmi, etc. He addedthat the scheme was helpingfinancially weak families toperform weddings of theirdaughters. The legislator laterlaid foundation stone to ablack top road fromNarayanapur to Dugnepalli,CC Road and another BTroad from Kothapallli toGangaram villages.

Four die in mishap nearMakhtal, 4-yr-old unhurt

Three minor brothers werefound dead in a pond at avillage in Gujarat's

Vadodara district onWednesday, a day after theywent missing, police said.Bodies of Sureshbhai Saniya'ssons Mayur (13), Dhruv (10)and Uttam (8), were foundfloating in a pond at Koliyad village in Karjan taluka, an official fromKarjan police station said. The children belonged to a family ofherders hailing from Botad district of Gujarat, and were temporarilystationed in the village, the official said. The trio had gone missingon Tuesday evening and their family along with villagers had beenlooking for them without success, he said. The bodies have beenfished out from the pond and sent for post-mortem, the official said.

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 10, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

Former West Bengal ChiefMinister BuddhadebBhattacharya was taken to a

hospital in Kolkata onWednesday afternoon after hisbreathing-related problemsaggravated, sources said.Doctors are attending theveteran CPI(M) leader at thehospital's 'flu clinic', they said."We are treating him. Necessary testsare being conducted at our flu clinic, following which we will decideon whether he requires hospitalisation," an official of the privatehospital said. Bhattacharya, who was the chief minister of WestBengal from 2000 to 2011, has been suffering from breathingproblems and other old age-rlated ailments for quite some time. Hehad stepped down from the CPI(M)'s politburo, the centralcommittee as well as the state secretariat in 2018.

Minimum temperatureshovered above normallimits at most places in

Haryana and Punjab onWednesday, the MeteorologicalDepartment here said. Fogreduced visibility at a few placesin the two states in the morningincluding Ambala, Karnal,Bhiwani, Ludhiana and Patiala,MeT department officials said. Chandigarh recorded a minimumtemperature of 10.8 degrees Celsius. In Haryana, Sirsa recorded alow of 11.2 degrees Celsius, Bhiwani 9.6 degrees Celsius, Ambala9.2 degrees Celsius, Karnal 9 degrees Celsius and Hisar 8.7degrees Celsius.

In a relief to seafood exporters,who were reeling under theimpact of COVID-19 pandemic,

Japan has completely easedinspection of Indian Black Tigershrimps after exportconsignments of this delectableprawn variety were found totallyfreefrom any residue of syntheticanti- bacterial drug furazolidone.The decision in this regard was conveyed by Food Inspection andSafety Division of Japans Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare(MHLW) to the Indian Embassy in Japan, the Marine ProductsExport Development Authority (MPEDA) and Export InspectionCouncil of India. Earlier, the MHLW had reduced importinspection sampling frequency for Black Tiger shrimp (Penaeusmonodon) to 30 per cent from the 100 per cent through anotification issued on March 25 this year.

Buddhadeb rushed to hospitalwith breathing troubles

Guj: Three minor boys found dead in pond in Vadodara district

PNS n NEW DELHI

As many as nine states havecompleted One Nation OneRation Card reform followingwhich the Central governmenthas allowed them to raise anadditional Rs 23,523 crore,said an official release onWednesday.

The states which have suc-cessfully completed the PublicDistribution System (PDS)reforms are Andhra Pradesh,Goa, Gujarat, Haryana,Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana,Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh is the biggestbeneficiary with an additionalborrowing window of Rs 4,851crore, followed by KarnatakaRs 4,509 crore and Gujarat Rs4,352 crore.

Department of Food andPublic Distribution in theMinistry of Consumer Affairs,Food and Public Distributionis the Nodal Department tocertify that a State has met theconditions stipulated for thisreform, the Finance Ministrystatement said.

Further, to become eligiblefor additional borrowing, theStates have to complete thereforms by December 31, 2020,it said, adding, it is expectedthat many more states willcomplete this reform before thestipulated date.

In addition to the OneNation One Ration Card, itsaid, other reforms specified asa precondition to avail addi-tional borrowing are : ease ofdoing business reform, urbanlocal body/utility reforms and

power sector reforms.In view of the challenges

posed by the COVID-19 pan-demic for mobilisation offinancial resources, the Indiangovernment has strengthenedthe hands of the States throughmultiple measures includinggrant of additional borrowingpermission of 2 per cent of theGross State Domestic Product(GSDP) during 2020-21.

This has enabled the Statesto mobilise additional financialresources to fight the pan-

demic and maintain the stan-dards of service delivery to thepublic, it said.

However, it said, to ensurelong-term debt sustainabilityand prevent any adverse impacton future, a part of the addi-tional borrowing was linked tothe States carrying out reformsin the sectors critical for servicedelivery to the citizens.

One of the sectors identifiedfor reforms is the PublicDistribution System, it said,adding, out of the additionalborrowing limit of 2 per centof GSDP, 0.25 per cent is linkedto implementation of "OneNation One Ration Card sys-tem".

This was aimed to ensure

that the beneficiaries under theNational Food Security Act(NFSA) and other welfareschemes, especially the migrantworkers and their families, getration from any Fair PriceShop (FPS) across the country.

Other aims of the intendedreform were to better targetbeneficiaries, elimination ofbogus/duplicate/ ineligibleration cards and thus enhancewelfare and reduce leakage, itsaid.

For this, it said, the reformconditions stipulated AadharSeeding of all Ration Cards,biometric authentification ofbeneficiaries and automation ofall the Fair Price Shops (FPS)in the State.

Nine states implement ‘One NationOne Ration Card' system: Centre

The states which have successfullycompleted the Public DistributionSystem (PDS) reforms are AndhraPradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana,Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Tripuraand Uttar Pradesh

PNS n KOLKATA

BJP president J P NaddaWednesday accused WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee of being synonymouswith "intolerance", and exud-ed confidence about formingthe next government in thestate with more than 200 seats.

Nadda, who arrived here ona two-day West Bengal visit,criticised the "dynastic politics"of the ruling TMC and otherparties in the country, andasserted for the BJP "party isfamily".

"Today, I want to recollectwhat Syama PrasadMookherjee had said aboutdiscipline and tolerance...it is

very pertinent in the presentsituation in Bengal. For West

Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee....thy nameis intolerance," he said afterinaugurating nine party officesacross various districts of thestate.

Nadda accused theTrinamool Congress govern-ment of "minority appease-ment".

He asserted the saffron partywill come to power in 2021polls with more than 200 seatsousting the TMC "lock stockand barrel".

"When the entire countrywas watching the 'BhoomiPujan' (of Ram temple inAyodhya), Mamata Banerjeeimposed a lockdown in WestBengal on August 5 to preventpeople from being part of theoccasion at the local level.

"In sharp contrast, the lock-down was withdrawn for Bakr-

Eid, on July 31. This shows thatthe state government's policiesare driven by appeasementpolitics," he said.

Later in the day, Nadda willWednesday launch a door- to-door campaign in Kalighatlocality here, close to Banerjee'shome, as part of the massivepublic outreach the party has

planned in the run up to thestate assembly election.

He will visit residences onthe Girish Mukherjee Road,considered Banerjee's back-yard in Kalighat, during the'Griha Sampark Abhiyan' aspart of the BJP's 'Aar NoiAnnay' (No More Injustice)campaign.

Mamata synonymous with‘intolerance’, says Nadda

PNS n KOLKATA

BJP president J P Nadda willWednesday launch a door-to-door campaign in Kalighatlocality here, close to ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee'shome, as part of the massivepublic outreach the party hasplanned in the run up to thestate assembly election. Nadda,who arrived here on a two-dayvisit to the state, will also

inaugurate an election controlroom at Hastings and partyoffices in nine districts digitally.He will visit residences on theGirish Mukherjee Road,considered Banerjee's backyardin Kalighat, during the 'GrihaSampark Abhiyan' as part of theBJP's 'Aar Noi Annay' (No MoreInjustice) campaign. The BJPchief will also offer prayers atthe Kalighat temple, a seniorparty leader said.

BJP’s door-to-door campaign from Mamata's backyard

Minimum temperatures hoverabove normal limits in Haryana

Japan relaxes inspection of IndianBlack Tiger shrimp imports

PNS n NEW DELHI

India loves cricket and this hasbeen proven yet again as theIndian Premier League (IPL)beat even the coronavirus forthe top trending query overallin the year, according toGoogle India's 'Year In Search2020' announced onWednesday.

Last year, the top trendingquery on Google Search was'ICC Cricket World Cup'.

IPL, which was also themost searched sporting andnews event, was followed bythe coronavirus, US electionresults, Pradhan Mantri KisanSammann Nidhi (PM KisanScheme), Bihar election resultsand Delhi election results in theoverall top trending query onthe search engine giant Google.

The 13th edition of IPL,which due to the COVID-19outbreak was held in the UAEfrom September 19 to

November 10, witnessed arecord-breaking 28 per centincrease in viewership com-pared to the last edition.

The Nirbhaya case, lock-down, India-China skirmishesand Ram Mandir made it to thetop 10 among the mostsearched news events byIndians, according to the list.UEFA Champion League,English Premier League,French Open and La Liga wereamong the most searched

sporting events.Topping the list of the most

searched personalities was USPresident-elect Joe Biden fol-lowed by journalist ArnabGoswami -- who made head-lines after his arrest by theMaharashtra police for thealleged abetment of suicide ofinterior designer Anvay Naikand his mother Kumud -- andsinger Kanika Kapoor.

North Korea leader KimJong Un and veteran actor

Amitabh Bachchan were atthe fourth and fifth spot,respectively. The list alsoincluded actress KanganaRanaut, Rhea Chakraborty andAnkita Lokhande.

While "Dil Bechara" by lateactor Sushant Singh Rajputoccupied the top spot for themost searched movie, toppingthe list of TV/Web series wasNetflix's Spanish crime drama"Money Heist".

"Dil Bechara" was followedby Suriya-starrer Tamil movie"Soorarai Pottru", Ajay Devgnstarrer "Tanhaji" and biopicsmade on the lives and times ofwomen extraordinaireShakuntla Devi and GunjanSaxena.

For TV/Web series, themost searched after "MoneyHeist" were Sony Liv's smash-ing hit "Scam 1992: TheHarshad Mehta Story", story ofthe one of the biggest financialscams in the Indian stock mar-

ket, reality show Bigg Boss 14,Amazon Prime's "Mirzapur 2"and "Paatal Lok".

It also witnessed a widerange of queries in its "How to"section, where questions like"How to make paneer", "Howto increase immunity", "How tomake Dalgona Coffee", "Howto link Pan card with Aadhaarcard" and "How to make sani-tizer at home" dominated theGoogle charts.

Among the most searchedterms, majority of Indianswanted to know "What wascoronavirus", followed by abattery of questions like "Whatis Binod", "What is COVID-19", "What is Plasma Therapy","What is CAA".

For Google's 'Near Me' fea-ture that helps locate places ofinterest near your location,the top queries revolvedaround food shelters, COVID-19 tests, cracker shops, liquorshops and night shelters.

Not Covid, IPL is top trending query on Google

PNS n NEW DELHI

As thousands of farmers con-tinue to protest at various bor-ders of the national capitaldemanding the repeal of threenew farm laws, a representativegroup of their unions onWednesday received a draftproposal from the govern-ment on some key concernsraised by the protesters.

The draft proposal has beensent to 13 farm union leadersincluding Joginder SinghUrgrahan of BKU, one of thebiggest among nearly 40 agitat-ing unions. "Farmer unionshave received the draft propos-al from the government," BKUnational spokesperson RakeshTikait said. Home MinisterAmit Shah in Tuesday meetingwith 13 union leaders hadsaid the government wouldsend a draft proposal on keyissues raised by the farmersregarding the three farm laws,even though the meeting hadfailed to break the ice with farmunion leaders who are insist-ing for repealing these laws.

Farmer unionsget draftproposals

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Wednesday took a swipe atthe government, alleging thatit wants to get rid of democra-cy. Taking to Twitter, heclaimed that under the regimeof Prime Minister Narendra

Modi reform equals theft."Under Mr Modi, reform

equals theft. That's why theyneed to get rid of democracy,"Gandhi said, using the hashtag"TooMuch Democracy".

Gandhi's tweet came afterNiti Aayog CEO AmitabhKant's comment during a vir-

tual event on Tuesday. "Toughreforms are very difficult in theIndian context, we have toomuch of democracy...Youneeded political will to carryout these reforms (mining,coal, labour, agriculture) andmany more reforms still needto be done," Kant had said.

Government wants to get rid ofdemocracy, says Rahul Gandhi

PNS n NEW DELHI

As thousands of farmers con-tinue to protest at various bor-ders of the national capitaldemanding the repeal of threenew farm laws, the governmenton Wednesday proposed togive a "written assurance" thatthe existing Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) regime for pro-curement will continue.

The government also pro-posed to make necessaryamendments on at least sevenissues, including one to allayfears about the weakening ofthe mandi system. In a draftproposal sent to 13 agitatingfarmer unions, the govern-ment also said it is ready toprovide all necessary clarifica-tions on their concerns aboutthe new farm laws enacted inSeptember, but it did not men-tion anything about the maindemand of protesting farmers

for the repeal of the laws.Home Minister Amit Shah

in Tuesday night's meetingwith 13 union leaders had saidthe government would send adraft proposal on key issuesraised by the farmers regardingthe three farm laws, eventhough the meeting had failedto break the ice with farmunion leaders who are insisting

for repealing these laws.The sixth round of talks

between the government andfarm union leaders, which wasscheduled for Wednesdaymorning, has also been can-celed. In the proposal, sent byAgriculture Ministry JointSecretary Vivek Aggarwal, thegovernment said is ready toconsider with an open heart

the objections which farmershave on the new farm laws.

"The government has triedto address the concerns offarmers with an open heart andwith respect for the farmingcommunity of the country.The government appeals theKisan unions to end their agi-tation," it said.

On concerns that farmersmay be duped as anyone hav-ing just a pan card is allowedto trade outside APMC man-dis, the government said to ruleout such apprehensions, thestate governments can be giventhe power to register suchtraders and make rules keep-ing in mind the local situationof farmers. On the issue offarmers not getting the right toappeal in civil courts for dis-pute resolution, the govern-ment said it is open to makingan amendment to provide foran appeal in civil courts.

Move for written assurance on MSP

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) has filed a chargesheetin a money laundering caselinked to a UPA-era defencedeal with aircraft manufactur-er Embrarer, the central probeagency said on Wednesday.

It said the prosecutioncomplaint has been filed beforea special Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) courthere and the agency has namedEmbraer SA, Brazil, InterdevAviation Services Pte Ltd,KRBL Limited, Anoop KumarGupta (director of KRBLLimited), Anurag Potdar(nephew of Anoop KumarGupta) and others.

KRBL Ltd is the manufac-turer of India Gate BasmatiRice. The case pertains to pay-ment of alleged commissionby Embraer to clinch the USD208 million deal with India, inwhich it is suspected andalleged that kickbacks were

paid. The ED, in a statement,said its probe found that"Embraer SA Brazil obtainedthe contract for supply of air-craft to Indian Air Force forUSD 210 million and paidcommission of USD 5.76 mil-lion to a middleman namedVipin Khanna for influencingthe said contract in its favour".

"The said kickbacks ofUSD 5.76 million were rout-ed by Embraer SA, Brazilthrough its subsidiaries toInterdev Aviation Services PteLtd, Singapore in lieu of shamagreement."

ED files chargesheetin Embraer case

PNS n BENGALURU

A certain section of peoplemay be hesitant to takeCOVID-19 vaccine but notbiotechnology industry vet-eran Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw,who said on Wednesday shewill get vaccinated though itsdurability is not known as ofnow.

The Executive Chairperson of Bengaluru-head-quartered biotech majorBiocon supported theunprecedented speed in tak-ing the vaccine from thedevelopment stage toapproval process.

"I think there is a need forregulatory speed to reviewand approve". BharatBiotech, Serum Institute ofIndia and Pfizer have appliedto the Drugs ControllerGeneral of India seekingemergency use authorisa-tion for their COVID-19vaccine candidates.

PNS n NOIDA (UP)

It is the Centre, and not thefarmers, which is prolong-ing the ongoing demonstra-tion against the new agricul-ture laws at Delhi's bordersby not addressing the issues,a farmer union leaderalleged on Wednesday as theprotest entered its ninth

day here.Scores of protestors, who

belong to various districts ofwestern Uttar Pradesh andare chiefly members of theBharatiya Kisan Union'sBhanu and Lok Shakti fac-tions, are camping at theNoida-Delhi border amidheavy deployment of policepersonnel.

PNS n AZAMGARH

A BJP worker was allegedlyshot dead by three unidenti-fied men outside a shop hereWednesday, police said.

The three men came on abike and opened fire at DilipGiri alias Bablu, 42, inGosaiganj Bazar in Devgaonarea, the police said.

After the incident, panicgripped the market and shop-keepers ran away closingtheir shops. Circle OfficerManoj Raghuvansi said theincident was a fallout of oldenmity and police was prob-ing the incident.

BJP worker shotdead by threemen in UP

Shaw to take Covidvaccine; safety not a concern

BKU blames Centrefor farmers protest

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP claimed that farmershave given their "mandate" forthe agri reforms enacted by theModi government as it cited itswin in the Rajasthan localbody polls besides in electionsin a number of states after thethree farm sector laws werepassed to assert people's sup-port for the party across thecountry. BJP president J PNadda said the saffron party'swin in Rajasthan symbolisesthe trust the poor, farmersand labourers have in PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's lead-ership, while senior party leaderand Union minister PrakashJavadekar stressed that people,especially farmers, have givenit a "decisive" victory.

‘Farmers havegiven mandatefor agro reforms’ The government

also proposed tomake necessaryamendments onat least sevenissues, includingone to allay fearsabout theweakening of themandi system.

ed his health remains stable.The first reason is Tamilians

are spiritual people and could,therefore, resonate withRajinikanth’s humanism.Dravidian political parties, to bespecific the DMK, had assuredthe voters of a casteless, rational-ist and atheist Tamil society.Instead Tamil Nadu has becomea caste-ridden society, whereeverything runs on the identitytags of caste, community, evensub-castes. The ground realitiesassociated with the DMK and itsoffshoots are none too pleasanteither. M Karunanidhi, whoremained the DMK’s supremeleader for almost five decades,had been described by theJustice Ranjit Singh SarkariaCommission (appointed by theIndira Gandhi-led Government)as the “father of scientific cor-ruption.” And he made theDMK a family-run enterprise.The rationalist DMK may be theonly political outfit in the coun-try, which has an in-house bish-op to spit venom against Hindus(Bishop Sargunam, the DMK’sofficial spiritual guide).

The DMK’s proposed caste-less society never took off.Karunanidhi opted for the easyway out by designating all caste-based Hindu groups intoBackward, Most Backward andOther Backward Communities.Disgusted with this degenera-tion, C Subramaniam, who washonoured with Bharat Ratna formaking India self-sufficient inagricultural production throughthe Green Revolution, wrote: “Ibelong to the dominant commu-nity, Kongu Vellalar, with thecaste appellation of Gounder.Kongu represents the regionhistorically known asKongunadu, consisting of thedistricts of Coimbatore andSalem and a part ofTiruchirappalli. The KonguVellalars own the real wealth,land and cattle and thus domi-nate the rest of the community.

In independent India, our com-munity is classified as a back-ward community.”

This is not an isolated case.The DMK ensured its dominantposition among all castes by des-ignating/classifying them aseither backward, OBC or MBC.The paradox is that dominantcommunities like Thevar (towhich late AIADMK chiefJayalalithaa’s aide Sasikalabelongs), Vanniyar (Ramadoss),Mukkulathur, Mudaliyaar,Naicker , Maravar (the rulingclan of Ramanathapuram) enjoythe status of backward commu-nities and are beneficiaries ofreservation in educational insti-tutions and Government service.This is a big fraud perpetratedon the population of TamilNadu by the Dravidian outfits,according to Prof RVaidyanathan, retired profes-sor of finance at IIM Bangalore,whose work, Caste As SocialCapital, is proof of how the ratio-nalist Dravidian entity turnedTamil Nadu into a caste-riddensociety.

Rajinikanth is entering this

wild and unknown turf with hisspiritual politics, which theDMK and its associates arewary about. To understand whatspiritual politics is, one shouldlisten to Tamilaruvi Manian,who speaks about the role playedby the legendary Kamaraj inmaking Tamil Nadu a transpar-ent, humane and humble State.“Tamil Nadu was allocated 10sugar factories during the tenureof Kamaraj as Chief Minister. Itwas the Japanese governmentwhich offered technical andfinancial aid to set up these fac-tories. When the deal wasfinalised, the then industriesminister, R Venkitaraman, wentto Kamaraj and said that theJapanese consortium had given`1 crore as commission for set-ting up the plants. Each plantwas set up at a cost of `1 croreand what was offered to theChief Minister as commissionwas 10 per cent of the totalinvestment. Kamaraj askedVenkitaraman how much itwould cost to set up one sugarfactory to which the latterreplied, ‘`1 crore.’ The ChiefMinister asked Venkitaraman totell the Japanese to set up onemore factory so that TamilNadu could get 11 sugar facto-ries. This was recounted by NKalyanasundaram, a close aideof Kamaraj for decades.”Kolahala Srenivasan, politicalcommentator, describes this asembodying the spiritual politicsof Rajinikanth.

Even before the star’sannouncement, leaders of fringeparties claimed that he wouldnot be able to make an impact.“He will not be able to act inde-pendently. The BJP wants toenter the State through him. Hewill be another face of the BJPand will act that way,” said TholThirumavalavan, VCK leader.Questions are being asked abouthis prospective alliance partners.“But these things can wait andlet Rajinikanth himself take a call

on this. The issue is that TamilNadu politics has undergone amajor shift with his decision,”said S Gurumurthy, editorTughlaq, and long time friend ofthe actor.

The truth is that both theDMK and the Congress areupset over the development andit is reflected in the words of stateCongress president K S Alagiri:“There is no point in comment-ing on his decision since it is notgoing to benefit the people.” TheCongress leader’s words wereechoed by CPI(M)’s KBalakrishnan. “The kind of pol-itics he is advocating will not cutice with people,” he said.

Till December 3, 2020, therewas a perception that the DMKwould have a cakewalk over itsrivals. But experts feel that whatRajinikanth has told the elec-torate, that instead of focussingon who the winner of the 2021Assembly election will be, theyshould give importance to whoshould not win the election, issignificant. The message is clear-ly to change the status quo andmake a moral choice.

The Vetrivel yatra undertak-en by the BJP, which concludedat the Thiruchendur LordMuruga Temple on Monday,went unnoticed by the media.But it showed that Hindutva hasfound some takers. DMK chiefM K Stalin worsened matterstactically when he said“Sanatana Dharma” was moredangerous to India than thethreats from China andPakistan. The BJP would, there-fore, find Rajinikanth’s “spiritu-al” tag attractive to latch on to.

Interestingly, Tamil Nadu’sfortunes were decided not bychaste Tamils but by the Kerala-born MGR, the Mysore-bornJayalalithaa and Karunanidhiwhose mother tongue wasTelugu. Even the self-styled pro-tector of Tamil culture,Vayyapuri Gopalasamy, popu-larly known as Vaiko, is a TeluguNaidu. So there is nothing sur-prising in the Maharashtrian-born Rajinikanth claiming legit-imacy.

There is enough space inTamil Nadu politics for a charis-matic leader after the deaths ofKarunanidhi and Jayalalithaa.The 2014 Lok Sabha poll saw theNDA poll more than 19 per centvotes in the State, dominated tillthen by the DMK and theAIADMK, though it failed toconsolidate in 2019 as the DMKswept the results. ButRajinikanth is a refreshing expe-rience and if he uses that and theBJP’s organisational matrix, orcan convince people that spiri-tuality and religiosity would bean easy fit, then the Tamil Nadubattle just got interesting.

(The author is a senior jour-nalist, The Pioneer)

Thursday, December 3,2020, will remain etchedin Tamil Nadu’s politicalhistory for decades tocome. Around noon that

day, reigning superstar of Tamilfilms, Rajinikanth, declared that hewould contest all the 234 seats inthe forthcoming Assembly electionwith his “spiritual” political partyto be launched in early 2021.Significant because it tookRajinikanth three years to finaliseand announce his political debutsince the day he announced hisintention to join the political band-wagon on December 31, 2017. Andjust when everybody had given upon him, he set the cat among thepigeons.

The film star was accompaniedby his Man Friday TamilaruviManian, a former chief of TamilNadu Congress Committee, who isalso a well-known Gandhian, andArjunamurthy, a hitherto unknownentity in Tamil Nadu politics.

This unsettled the binarybetween the All-India AnnaDravida Munnetra Kazhagam(AIADMK) and the DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (DMK) asalso the fringe groups that gravitatetowards one or the other. And asThalaiva said confidently, “It is nowor never. We are going to changeeverything associated with TamilNadu and change them for good.If I win, it will be the victory of thepeople. If I lose, it will be their loss,”the polls certainly won’t be a pre-dictable run anymore. Theannouncement by Rajinikanth hadthe same impact as that of October1972 when the then matinee idol,M G Ramachandran, who wasexpelled from the DMK by the thenChief Minister, M Karunanidhi,declared the formation of theAIADMK. The political outfitlaunched by MGR was a refreshingexperience for the voters, whowere caught between the devil(DMK) and the deep sea(Congress). Politics was not thesame in Tamil Nadu since then.

Rajinikanth has no politicalexperience to speak about but hehas a good image as a human being.Though many film personalitieshad launched political parties in theState after MGR, (Sarath Kumar,Sivaji Ganeshan, Vijayakanth,Kamal Haasan, to name a few)none of them could make any kindof impact among the voters till date.But there are reasons to believe thatRajinikanth is here to stay, provid-

Reliance Industries Limited chairman MukeshAmbani has consistently defied the slump of thepandemic-induced economy to make rich gains.

First, he got a host of investors on to his Jio telecom-munications platform. Then he bought out India’s largesthome-grown retail chain, Future Group. And now he haspromised the rollout of 5G technology in India by thesecond half of 2021, with indigenous technology. Whilethis sounded futuristic and bright at the Indian MobileCongress, which he was addressing, the question is evenwith policy enablers in place, this is a tough ask. Mostexperts and even Jio’s rivals, Bharti Airtel and VodafoneIdea, argue that even if the spectrum is allocated, India

lacks the infrastructure to implement 5G efficaciously. Besides, the economics would notsit easy as the services would be high priced. How will Reliance resolve affordability, whichis its hallmark, with a premium service, is still not clear. Which is why most operators areplanning a phased rollout, testing the response and their own serviceable efficiencies. Aseamless ecosystem requires a uniform depth of connectivity across the country.

Jio apparently has a home-grown, end-to-end 5G solution ready for deployment. Butquestions arise on whether it has done extensive field trials considering that most com-panies have had to content themselves with lab trials. This technology needs a massivenetwork infrastructure that is not patchy and is fool-proof. While Reliance may be readyto deploy, does it have the guaranteed network to run its services on? We must remem-ber that our technology will be measured against some of the most competitive namesin the business, some of whom have exclusive patents on 5G. Reliance, of course, is work-ing with American chipmaker Qualcomm and is fairly confident of its edge in the high stakesgame, claiming that Jio users will be able to browse the internet at up to 1Gbps speeds.For India, 5G, with faster data speeds and enhanced digital experiences across a host ofconnected devices, like smartphones, laptops, augmented and virtual reality products andinternet of things (IoT) solutions, would revolutionise fields like telemedicine and health-care, of utmost significance in a post-pandemic world. And while we may want to jointhe select club of the US, South Korea, Australia, Switzerland and Germany sooner, wecannot shortchange viability.

Now even local body elections have become sig-nificant, each verdict a litmus test of the rulingBJP’s consolidation of power, each victory in an

Opposition-ruled State a vote of no-confidence in thealternative, each mandate in its favour dissolving theboundaries between a local and national issue. So justas the BJP made a statement by making deep inroadsin the Hyderabad municipal elections, challenging themyth that it could not pry open that city’s predominant-ly Islamic culture, it has seized the political discoursein Rajasthan. Upstaging the ruling Congress, the BJPseemed all set to muscle its way back into the panchay-

at samiti and zila parishad elections held in the State’s 21 districts. At last count, in thepanchayat samitis, the BJP won 1,836 seats against the Congress’ 1,718. In the zila parishad,the BJP got 323 seats while Congress won 246. Besieged as it is by the farmers’ protests,the victory was more than sweet for the BJP which claimed that it was an endorsementof the Modi Government’s grassroots governance, including the farm laws, and that theCongress had failed to address local issues, too busy as it was with leadership rows. Thoughthis heightened rhetoric is for popular consumption, the fact of the matter is the BJP hasbeen working hard to rebuild its support in a State that it had lost. And considering itsattempts at using Operation Lotus to topple the Ashok Gehlot Government and encashthe Chief Minister’s rift with his one-time deputy Sachin Pilot somewhat misfired, it gotback to working the grassroots. Having marginalised the outgoing Chief Minister VasundharaRaje, the State BJP chief Satish Poonia and Leader of Opposition, Gulab Chand Kataria,the last a provocative proponent of Hindutva and schooled in RSS’ style of constituencymanagement, have ensured the party’s recovery. But the bigger political takeaway is thatthey could not do so earlier, simply because Pilot had held on to the Congress organisa-tional matrix during the bypolls to some local bodies in 2019, soon after the mammothLok Sabha verdict in favour of Modi. Clearly, the erosion of Pilot’s power and his ongo-ing rift with Gehlot have finally cost the Congress its primacy in Rajasthan.

If anything, the results will once again foreground the conflict that never really wentaway but was just papered over by the Congress high command. Part of the reason whythe Central leadership, while respectful of Pilot’s commitment, was worried about Gehlotwas because the latter had convinced it of his overarching hold on the State unit and con-nect with the grassroots. These current results have definitely dented that aura of invinci-bility and shown that under-using Pilot has hurt the party badly. Gehlot had probably sensedthe tide in BJP’s favour given his latest remarks that the saffron party was trying anoth-er topple game and had, therefore, argued for his indispensability in a crucial heartlandState. The fact of the matter is he didn’t want to give up his fiefdom amid murmurs thathe would be given a Central role in the Congress following the death of senior leader AhmedPatel, a move that would even help the high command argue for a transition of power toPilot. That he is reluctant about giving up is further obvious from his supporters’ com-ments that local body polls weren’t indicative of a larger sentiment and that Pilot had notcooperated. The Pilot camp, on the other hand, argued that the BJP gained at the expenseof Gehlot’s stubbornness and refusal to change templates. The larger question is how longwill Pilot hold on, roaming in the wilderness? Ever since he revolted openly, and the highcommand pacified him by setting up a coordination committee to settle differences, noth-ing has been done to his satisfaction, except deploying him as a campaigner for the MadhyaPradesh bypolls. The committee, too, has not got down to deciding the specifics of rec-onciliation or demarcation of powers between the two. If anything the anxieties continueto fester. There was some talk of a Cabinet reshuffle to accommodate Pilot’s supportersbut an egoistic Gehlot has been delaying it. With this on the backburner, any hope of thePradesh Congress Committee being overhauled to ensure equal representation of bothcamps has also diminished. Gehlot may have had the majority of the party legislators onhis side to hold off the predatory instincts of the BJP, which guaranteed him continuity asa Chief Minister. But what if he loses the numbers that matter, the seats in an election?Pilot did gift the Congress the 2018 Assembly results, despite Gehlot’s stock being at anall-time low, by crafting the right moves. He has lived down his entitlements and educa-tion, moved to Rajasthan, picked up dialects and worked the ground assiduously. He isconscious of his caste endowments, the Gujjar votebank. But while that is a traditionalstrength, he has played it down and focussed instead on strengthening administration andthe organisation. Although not allowed to operate autonomously in governance, Pilot strength-ened the party base while ignoring the Lok Sabha elections which Gehlot wanted to useto shore up his strengths. We know how that turned out to be, a complete blank. If theCongress doesn’t want Rajasthan to slip out of its grasp, then it better solve its internecinewars. Given the BJP’s rhetoric and its swift conversion rate, it would be in a command-ing position by the time of the next Assembly elections. In fact, the local body polls arejust a test run for that. Pretence won’t help the Congress any longer, action will.

BJP upstages Cong

Repeal the farm lawsSir — The meeting between UnionHome Minister Amit Shah and thefarmers’ leaders failed to break thelogjam. The Government willsend fresh proposals to the grow-ers over the three agriculture lawsthat are at the heart of the agita-tion. Though the farmers’ repre-sentatives will wait for theGovernment’s new proposals, fornow they have rejected all the rec-ommendations on amendmentsand want all the laws to be with-drawn immediately.

On his part, Shah did climbdown on certain clauses, includetheir concerns but he did not agreeto withdraw them. Today is the14th day of the stir. If the sixthround of talks today (December10) fails, the farmers’ agitation willget escalated. It may create seriousunrest, which will be a disaster forthe whole country and the CentralGovernment will be held respon-sible for food shortages and vio-lence that might follow. TheGovernment must reconsider thelaws if those whom the reforms aresupposedly meant to help arerejecting them outright.

It will be a democratic moveand a show of grace from aGovernment that has time and

again been accused of being auto-cratic and unbending in nature.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

Heightened ties Sir — The joint statement made byNepal and China regarding thenew height of the world’s tallest

peak, Mount Everest, being8,848.86 metres, about 86 centime-tres more than the previous sur-vey done by India in 1954, has tobe interpreted as not just therenewed measurement of the peakbut something more. It shows thenew-found love that the tinyHimalayan nation has for its giant

neighbour. The extent of Chineseinfluence on Nepal has now beenexposed through this joint decla-ration. Nepal had hitherto adheredto the measurement made byIndia, which was 8,848 metres, allthese years. In fact, Nepal andChina have always had a conflictover the height of the peak.

Expeditions were carried out fromboth sides to get the exact mea-surements as geographical expertsand scientists wondered whetherany changes had occurred inMount Everest’s altitude after thegreat Himalayan earthquake afew years ago. Now, surveyorsfrom both the nations have agreedthat the new height is 8,848.86metres (29,031.69 feet), a bit morethan their previous calculations. Itremains to be seen whether thisjoint official confirmation willtake their relationship to greaterheights or if like an Himalayan avalanche it will come crashing down.

M PradyuKannur

Give IIMs autonomySir — Dangling the threat of aninquiry over IIM boards leaves lit-tle doubts about the Ministry ofEducation’s intentions. It is precise-ly this attitude that, over thedecades, has cramped the creativ-ity of institutes of higher learning.The PMO must step in and con-vince the Ministry to trust theIIMs and give them autonomy.

Ronit RajNoida

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 10, 2020

06

Return of ThalaivaRajinikanth is a refreshing entrant and if he uses the BJP’s matrix to convince people

that spirituality and religiosity can be an easy fit, then the TN battle just got interesting

The public health and other departmentalstaff should probe theEluru issue deeply andfind out the reasons forthe illness.

Andhra Chief Minister—Jagan Mohan Reddy

Free Father Stan Swamy

It is such a tragedy that a man who dedicated his life forthe uplift of the nation’s poor is today being treated insuch an inhuman manner. The frail, old and ailing Father

Stan Swamy is today being punished and humiliatedbecause he had the courage to empower the Adivasis andothers excluded from the mainstream. He has selflesslybeen accompanying them in their quest for justice and dig-nity. His arrest is a violation of human rights. Since the1990s, Swamy has been a major voice in defence of theAdivasi and low-caste groups in remote Jharkhand. Hespearheaded the local Pathalgadi movement to empowervillage communities to protect their land from private min-ing companies. He learnt the indigenous languages, cul-tures and mores (although he hails from a village in thesouthern part of India), and the locals looked to him forpsychological and spiritual support as they resisted landgrabs, abuse of sedition and anti-terror laws and displace-ment of Adivasis in the name of development.

The priest suffers from Parkinson’s disease and wearshearing aids in both ears. He has applied twice for basicamenities such as warm clothes and a straw and sipperso he can drink water. Father Stan Swamy should be freed

even though his request for a sipper was granted days later.Is this how a country that prides itself in respecting its elder-ly treat an 83-year-old man suffering from Parkinson’s dis-ease? The priest is among 16 people, who were arrestedby the Government for allegedly inciting caste-based vio-lence in the Bhima Koregaon village. Those arrested withhim include prominent intellectuals, writers, poets and cul-tural activists, who have repeatedly been denied bail underthe anti-terror law. Father Stan Swamy has repeatedly deniedthe allegations against him. Now he is being made to suf-fer for being a social activist in a nation where a majorityof the population lives a hand to mouth existence. It is acrying shame. Jubel D’Cruz Mumbai

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Can we rely on 5G?Mukesh Ambani promises rollout by 2021 but India lacks

the infrastructure even if spectrum is allocated

KUMAR CHELLAPAN

I’ve asked Dr Vivek Murthy

to serve again as

Surgeon-General. He will

be a key voice on our

COVID response.

US President-elect —Joe Biden

Today, I retire from all formsof cricket and as I bring downthe curtains on this 18-yearjourney, I feel heavier withgratitude towards many.

Wicketkeeper-batsman

—Parthiv Patel

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 EIt finally feels like this is my time and may it neverpass. I want to give the audience one memorable film and roleafter another.

Actor—Pankaj Tripathi

THE SUPERSTAR'SMESSAGE TO GIVE

IMPORTANCE TOWHO SHOULD NOTWIN THE ELECTION

INSTEAD OFPREDICTING A

WINNER ISSIGNIFICANT. HE

WANTS TOCHANGE THESTATUS QUO

As the party wins big in Rajasthan local body polls, theGehlot-Pilot war has clearly hurt Congress

A sentinel of human rights

TOUGH REFORMS ARE VERY DIFFICULT IN

THE INDIAN CONTEXT. WE ARE TOO MUCH

OF A DEMOCRACY.

—NITI AAYOG CEO

AMITABH KANT

WELL, LET ME ASSURE YOU THAT (DESPITE

EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN REPORTED)

WE ARE PROUD OF OUR DEMOCRACY.

—UNION MINISTER

RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Lon L Fuller, in a rivetting piece written forthe Harvard Law Review back in 1978, titledForms and Limits of Adjudication, makes a

compelling argument. He says that adjudicationis a form of “social ordering” that manifests itselfin two forms: Organisation by common aims andorganisation by reciprocity. Institutions workingon the principle of common aims share the sameunderstanding and objectives whereas thoseworking on reciprocity engage in a rational cal-culation of the advantages of an association. Heexplains this with an example. Imagine that aroadway connects two farms with a highway,which is now blocked by a boulder. There are twofarmers. Neither of them is strong enough toremove the boulder by himself. However, whenthe two join hands, it is obviously an organisa-tion by common aims. Now, imagine both thegrowers are engaged in subsistence farming andone has a large crop of onions whereas the otherhas an abundance of potatoes. A deal to trade aportion of their respective crops with each otherwill make both the agriculturists richer and thatis the most obvious form of organisation by rec-iprocity.

Now imagine the judiciary as an institutionworking on the principles of reciprocity by engag-ing itself in a mathematical calculation and draw-ing out the benefits of its association with dif-ferent branches of the Government. What if thishappens in a democracy where the judiciary issupposed to remain independent and functionas a sentinel of individual liberty, human rightsand basic freedoms of the citizens?

This criticism of the judiciary in the recentpast, that it is an executive court, is by far not justthe most important but also a sensitive one. Ifthe court’s moral and political positioning is inalignment with the Government, it is problem-atic for the citizens. This is so, because then thecourt would fail in its most important job, enforc-ing the fundamental rights of citizens against theState’s arbitrary, unfair, unjust and unreasonableactions. The court is supposed to act and func-tion as a counter-narrative to the executive. Thisduty becomes even more important in a democ-racy because democracies can tend to slip intoa majoritarian rule, given that there is a very thinline between the two.

Senior advocates, retired judges, civil soci-ety organisations, political parties and even cit-izens have gone on to criticise the courts for theiralleged role in selectively protecting human rightsof citizens and social activists. The criticismextends to the selective listing of cases, delay inhearing on important issues and the highly con-troversial issue of post-retirement jobs forjudges. The judiciary has not responded to thesecriticisms.

Many citizens believe that such a trend in thejudiciary will see its rise and fall with the rise andfall of populist governments in the country. Thelast time we saw the judiciary working the waythat it is today was during the era of Emergency.And that is a part of its history that India is notparticularly proud of. Justifiably, the nation doesnot want to see history repeat itself in that sense.As we celebrate Human Rights Day today, it isimportant to look into other troubling issues thatplague the judiciary, which have existed and havebeen continuously raised for quite some timenow.

Attorney-General KK Venugopal, whilespeaking recently on the ways to gender sensi-

tise the courts and judges, said that oneof the ways in which this could be donewas by increasing the representation ofwomen on the Bench. Article 15 of theConstitution of India guarantees toevery citizen that s/he shall not be dis-criminated on the basis of their gender.Despite the presence of Article 15 in theConstitution as a fundamental right,only eight women judges have beenappointed to the Supreme Court out ofa total of 245 appointments post-Independence.

Even more crucially, till date, nowoman has ever served as the ChiefJustice of India. This in a country thatworships goddesses and reveres womenas an incarnation of shakti (power). ForConstitutional courts that are respon-sible to continuously challenge, trans-form and redefine stereotypical notionsof gender, identity and race within thesociety, it is important to have widerand larger representation on the Benchfrom those who have had such experi-ences of their own.

The criticism that the judiciaryworks like a hollow chamber, devoid ofany human emotions, often fallinginto the trap of “abstract notions of jus-tice”, flowing from complex and incom-prehensible legal jargon, can only beanswered by increasing diversity with-in the judiciary and making it more andmore representative.

Another issue that needs to befocussed on is the huge pendency ofcases. There are more than three crorecases pending before several courts inIndia. Litigants are often disillusionedwhen they approach the courts. Eventhe smallest of cases, involving little tono questions of law, take years if notdecades to be decided. This huge pen-dency of cases and the continuous delayin deciding them has had three majorconsequences. First, it has led to the

criminalisation of politics. More than4,500 cases against sitting and formerMembers of Parliament and MLAs arestill pending before several courtsacross the nation.

Worryingly, many of these caseshave been pending before the courts fordecades. They range from serious andheinous offences like crimes againstwomen, corruption and so on, tooffences that have long-term impacts onthe democratic fabric of our country.These include complaints registeredagainst crimes like damaging publicproperty, instigating riots, religiousoffences, and so on.

What this has done is that it hasonly inspired a future generation ofpoliticians to commit more of suchcrimes and get away with it easily. Thishas resultantly weakened the strengthof our democracy as someone who atone time used to commit crimes is nowsitting in the temple of democracy, i.e.the Parliament.

Second, it has motivated criminalsto commit excesses across the countryalmost professionally and third, this haspushed the victims to a position wherethey now prefer not approaching thecourt at all even after a crime. Cases,therefore, don’t get reported in ourpolice stations and instead end with anout of court compromise. Access to jus-tice is a fundamental right of the citi-zens in this country and yet we see thata majority of our population doesn’teven understand what it means to havebeen justly adjudicated. Even caseswhere the police commit violation ofhuman rights don’t get heard speedily,eroding the faith of the people in thejustice system.

The common perception thatjudges are extremely powerful adjudi-cators and that the parties before thecourt will in no case be given biased

treatment needs to be actualised. Thecourts can no longer work as unac-countable isolated chambers of deliv-ering justice.

So, when India celebrates HumanRights Day today and Minorities Rightsday on December 18, the questions thatneed to be asked to the most importantinstitution responsible for enforcingthese rights, is this: Has the judiciary,in the recent past, done enough to pro-tect the rights of those who are stand-ing at the end of the line, those who arevulnerable, weak, fragile, historicallysidelined and come from the loweststrata of the society?

If it hasn’t then it needs to. Becausethe judiciary as an institution survivesonly on the symbolic value of the imagethat it has created for itself. Its extra-ordinarily rich history of the most land-mark judgments in the past has forcedforeign courts to cite them and set themas a precedent in their respective juris-dictions. If this rich history of the courtwas to be attacked, it will have long-term impacts which will be irreversible.

The apex court needs to counter thenarrative that it is an executive court bylisting matters of urgent public inter-est before Benches without delay andimpartially. It needs to add more judgesto the Bar by making the process ofappointments to the higher judiciarymore transparent, accountable andrepresentative.

The judiciary needs to fix the nar-rative that offence will not be taken per-sonally, and dissent will be appreciat-ed as a form of deliberative democra-cy. Unless the judiciary adopts these asits guiding principles, it will fail in itsmost important duty and thereafter loseits credibility. Both of which are a night-mare for the country today.

(The writer is with the National LawUniversity, Visakhapatnam)

As India celebrates the International Human Rights Day today, it must ask the judiciary a few important questions

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

A tiger reserve inneed of help

VK BAHUGUNA

The NTCA must oversee the way the BandhavgarhNational Park is being managed and check how the

tourism revenue is being distributed in the State

ANURAG TIWARY

HAS THEJUDICIARY,

IN THE RECENT

PAST, DONEENOUGH TO

PROTECT THE RIGHTS

OF THOSE WHO ARE

STANDING AT THEEND OF

THE LINE, THOSE WHO ARE

VULNERABLE,WEAK,

FRAGILE,HISTORICALLY

SIDELINED ANDCOME FROM THE LOWEST

STRATA OF THESOCIETY?

The Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve, known forthe highest striped cat density per sq km in the country, isone terrain where the chances of sighting the tiger are quite

high. Situated in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh, the reservewith around 124 tigers is spread over 1,536 sq km. The core areais 716 sq km. It consists of 32 sandstone hillocks, marshy land,water bodies, rocky areas and grasslands, making it an excellenthabitat for the diverse plants and animals that can be found here.Bandhavgarh was declared a National Park in 1968 and broughtunder Project Tiger in 1994. It has three tourist zones in Tala, Maghatiand Khitauli where most of the sighting of the tigers and other wildlifeoccurs. Apart from the tigers, the park has 36 species of mam-mals, 250 species of birds and 70 species of butterflies. The tigerpopulation in Bandhavgarh started growing only after the Baghelrulers, along with several villages, shifted their capital in 1617 fromhere to Rewa. The Bandhavgarh forests, however, remained thefavourite hunting grounds of Baghel rulers, who, out of supersti-tion and a false sense of pride, used to set the target of killing atleast 109 tigers in a year. As a result, Maharaja Gulab Singh shot83 tigers in 1923 while Maharaja Martand Singh shot 100.Thankfully, despite the extensive hunting, the area continued to sup-port a large tiger population. This speaks volumes about the car-rying capacity of the forests which are rich in both prey and preda-tors.

The reserve is important from an archaeological, historical,cultural and religious perspective, too. It is said that Lord Ramamade this fort for Laxman while returning to Ayodhya from Sri Lanka.The ancient scriptures Shiv Puran and Narad Panch make refer-ences to this fort. There is a temple at the top of a hillock, whichthe people flock to during Ram Navami and Janmashtami. Thereare a few caves here where ancient saints are said to have donepenance and there are other archaeological monuments, too. Thereis a Shesh Shaiya near the fort depicting Lord Vishnu on the seven-hooded Shesh Nag.

Sadly, the wildlife map of the park is changing. Earlier it washome to gaurs but all of them died after contracting contagiousdiseases from cattle. In 2012, as many as 50 gaurs were relo-cated here from the Kanha National Park. Then, due to food short-age, a herd of 38 elephants entered the park from Chhattisgarhand are breeding here. They are a major management headachefor the park as well as the neighbouring villages in the buffer zone.They have been destroying the solar panels and damaging build-ings, staff quarters and eating rations, too.

Bandhavgarh needs immediate management intervention atthe highest level in terms of infrastructure, manpower and effi-ciency. The fund position is awful, too, and the staff is facing severehousing, water supply and electricity issues. Six of their vehicleshave been junked but the park authorities are not able to replacethem. The souvenir shops being managed by private businessesare in a poor shape and the forest rest house is being run as acommercial venture by the staff. There is a shortage of fundsreleased for grassland management by the State Government, eventhough grasslands are an essential requirement for herbivores.Thankfully some money was released by a few panchayats forthe areas falling under their jurisdictions.

Though the Project Tiger authorities have released funds, theState Government has not given its share. Not maintaining the grass-lands and negligence in releasing State’s funding is a serious mat-ter and the Chief Wildlife Warden needs to act fast. Otherwise thecondition of this park will deteriorate. It is said that the annual rev-enue from the park is around ̀ 8 crore but most of it is not ploughedback into the reserve and is distributed across the State. TheGovernment must stop political interference in allocation and atleast 70 per cent of the revenue collected from the park must bereturned to the reserve and spent in a structured manner. The Statewildlife wing must have a separate management scheme for thetuskers who are now part of this park and take advantage of theProject Elephant. The museum and the interpretation centre arein a pathetic state, too, and need total revamping. The Director isin dual charge and the Ranger and the Sub-Divisional Officer inTala are under probation. This is not an acceptable situation forany well-managed reserve. The chinks in the park’s managementare now visible as two tigers were killed by poachers and villagers.The Wildlife Crime Bureau of the Government of India recently appre-hended the killers. This must serve as a wake-up call for the NationalTiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). It must step in and put thingsback on the right track. It needs to monitor the manpower hereand address their issues. The NTCA must oversee the way theBandhavgarh National Park is being run, check how the tourismrevenue is being distributed in the State and fix a limit for use out-side the reserve. The NTCA needs to act before the wildlife hereruns out of time.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

The clarion call for making Indiaatmanirbhar (self-reliant) has amajor component of sustainable

income and quality employment. Thetiny State of Goa, with a population of15 lakh, was one with the highest percapita income in the country at onetime. The two major pillars of its econ-omy were tourism and mining. Withalmost 100 per cent export, the Statehad a turnover of nearly `6,000 crorefrom mining itself. Nearly one-fifth ofthe population of Goa got sustainable,quality employment in mining and itsrelated activities. It is sad to talk aboutthis in the past tense as the State hasbeen reduced to penury ever since the

Supreme Court ordered a completestop of all mining operations onFebruary 7, 2018 by quashing the sec-ond renewal of 88 mining leases. Thejudgment, by a Bench led by JusticesMadan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta,slammed the “rapacious and rampantexploitation” of Goa’s fragile ecologyby private mining lease holders andsaid that their “sole motive is to makeprofits, for years.”

Since then, the State has seenadversely-affected income levels dueto the decision. This, coupled with thefall in income from the touristsbecause of the COVID-19 outbreak,has come as a double whammy forGoa. Sadly, the social and financialimpact of the apex court’s decision onthe population and the State’s prosper-ity is never an issue in court argumentsand goes unnoticed, time and again.This is despite the fact that the halt ofmining operations has slowed downthe entire economy of the State and thelives of its people, too. The iron ore ofGoa, which has a lower Fe content

(around 55 per cent), had a boomingmarket across Indian shores and wasexported to various countries likeJapan, South Korea and China. It con-tributed to 30 per cent of the State’sGDP. Now, the closure of mines hasresulted in Goa’s lost presence in theinternational iron ore market and theGoan variant has been replaced byBrazilian and Australian ones.

And it is not just the miners whoare suffering in the State. The relatedloss of business to those providinglogistical support to the mining indus-try, in terms of trucks, barges andmachinery, adds to the problem. Theimmediate challenge and need is torestart this major economic operationfor the State. Despite the apex court’sconcerns over the ecology of theState, Goa always had a history of envi-ronment-friendly mining and itsnotable best practices were demon-strated at all international fora as well.The ISO 14001 Standards and theindependent Mineral Foundation ofGoa (the precursor to the present

District Mineral Fund concept) wereearly moves towards an environmen-tally sustainable industry. Mining inGoa is not an issue of spoiling the envi-ronment as modern technology andmethodology were already used in alloperations. So the issue in Goa is ofunderstanding and harmonising thetwo Acts, namely the Mines andMinerals Development and RegulationAct, 2015 (MMDR Act) with itsamendments and the Goa, Daman andDiu Mining Concessions (Abolitionand Declaration as Mining Leases) Act,1987, commonly known as theAbolition Act, 1987. This harmonisa-tion can only come through policyclarification and legal amendment. TheState Government as well as the min-ing industry and experts are unani-

mous in their decision that they wantan end to the status quo. The entireState Assembly has unanimously putin a request to the Central Governmentto allow Goa to recommence miningoperations at the earliest, throughappropriate means.

Prior to December 19, 1961, Goawas a Portuguese territory and min-ing concessions were granted underthe Portuguese Mining Colonial Laws,1906. After Goa became a part of theIndian Union in 1961, the MMDR Act,1957 was extended to Goa in October1963. In 1975, notices were served toconcessionaires under the MiningLease Modification Terms Rule, 1956,by the controller of mining leases. Thiswas done to bring in parity with theprovisions of the MMDR Act, theMineral Concession Rule and theMineral Conservation andDevelopment Rules (MCDR).

Thus, the end of the MineralConcession Rule was not to put min-ing operations in Goa at a disadvan-tage, it was an effort to bring it at par

with the MMDR Act that is operativein the rest of the country. Thus, thestalemate caused by the delay in har-monising the two is definitely notcalled for.

The Central Government shouldcome forward and resolve the issue ofdate of applicability of the AbolitionAct, 1987 and the MMDR amendmentof 2015/20, by accepting the prospec-tive time period of lease from the intro-duction of the Abolition Act on May23, 1987 for 50 years i.e. till 2037. Thus,is it important to settle the interpre-tation that it is prospective and not ret-rospective and the lease thus is enti-tled till 2037. The same can be donethrough a legislative amendment in theAbolition Act, which is a law applic-able for the State of Goa and shall notaffect mining regimes in the rest of thecountry. The State Government has onmultiple occasions sought the inter-vention of the Central Government onthe matter. Goa has requested forputting an end to the inequitable sit-uation which arose out of the rest of

the States being allowed to renew min-ing leases for 50 years. This has beenrepresented before the Supreme Courtthrough petitions, reviews and inter-locutory petitions among others, by theGoa Government, the mining indus-try and even the panchayats from themining districts in the State, who havebeen devastated by the financial dis-tress arising out of the end of mining.

There is an urgent need to decidequickly and set a credible and consis-tent way forward so that miningoperations can start with immediateeffect. All the above issues can beresolved in one stroke if the intentionis to make Goa a shining example ofan atmanirbhar State contributing tothe GDP of the country. The resump-tion of mining activities in the State willbring great relief to the State and itspopulace in the short term and sub-stantial benefit in the long run. It willalso result in Goa being a State withthe highest per capita income again.

(The writer is former Secretary tothe Government of India)

Goa needs to be made atmanirbhar tooThe resumption of mining in the State will bring great relief. Remember it always had a history of environment-friendly processes and notable best practices

ARUNA SHARMA

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 10, 2020

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HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 10, 2020 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

The rupee strengthenedby 3 paise and settled

for the day at 73.57against the US dollar onWednesday, supported byforeign fund inflows andheavy buying in domesticequities. Traders saidweakening of the Americancurrency in the overseasmarket also supported the local unit. At the interbank forex market,the domestic unit opened at 73.58 against the US dollar andwitnessed an intra-day high of 73.49 and a low of 73.61. The localunit finally closed at 73.57 against the American currency, registeringa rise of 3 paise over its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupeesurged by 30 paise to settle at a one-and-a-half month high of 73.60against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges thegreenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading0.24 per cent down at 90.74.

RBL Bank and ICICI PrudentialLife Insurance have joined hands

under a bancassurance partnershipto sell insurance policies to thebank's customers. As many as 398RBL Bank branches across 28states will distribute ICICI PrudentialLife's protection and savingsproducts, according to a joint pressrelease issued on Wednesday. The

alliance will enable over 8.7 million customers of RBL Bank to accessand seamlessly purchase customer-centric protection and long-termsavings products of the insurance company, it added. Under thepartnership, RBL Bank will distribute ICICI Prudential Life's productsthrough its network of 398 branches spread across 28 states besidesits internet and mobile banking touch-points, that distinguish thebank's multi-channel distribution network. For ICICI Prudential Life,the partnership will deepen and further strengthen its multi-channeldistribution network. “This collaboration empowers our customers tochoose from a comprehensive suite of products and plan for afinancially secure future. With our strong distribution reach anddigital platforms, we will be able to offer these products instantly toall our customer segments," RBL MD and CEO Vishwavir Ahuja said.

Mahindra and Mahindra(M&M) on Wednesday

said it has increased stakein its Finland-based armSampo Rosenlew Oy to79.13 per cent with theacquisition of additional1,050 shares for Rs 31.15crore. Sampo Rosenlew isa leading player in combineharvesters' market, well-known for mid-sized combine harvesters in the markets of Europe,Eurasian countries and North Africa and is also a joint venturepartner for combine harvesters in Algeria, the company said in aregulatory filing. The company has subscribed to 1,050 equity sharesof Sampo. Pursuant to the said transaction, the voting rights of thecompany in Sampo would increase from 74.97 per cent to 79.13 percent, M&M said. "Total acquisition cost is 34,99,650 euros (1,050equity shares at 3,333 euros per share) -- equivalent to around Rs31.15 crore at the foreign exchange rate of Rs 89 per euro," the filingsaid. M&M said together with its existing strategy in the coremarkets, Sampo is working on a new range of combine harvestersfor developing markets and for specialty crops.

The plastics processing industryon Wednesday alleged that

prices of raw materials haveincreased exponentially in the lastthree months, disruptingoperations of several units.President of Indian PlasticsFederation (IPF) Ramesh Rateriasaid the prices have increasedbetween 30 per cent and 120 per

cent in various grades of polymers, which is having an adverseimpact on the processing industry. "It is causing problems in runningthe processing units across the country where nearly 25 lakh peopleare either directly or indirectly involved in 50,000 units," Rateria saidat a virtual press conference. He said most of them are located ineastern India, which has three petrochemical plants HaldiaPetrochemicals, Brahmaputra Crackers and Polymers, and Indian Oilrefinery. Rateria said IPF has forwarded a written submission toPrime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the issue.

RBL, ICICI Prudential join handsfor bancassurance partnership

Mahindra and Mahindra ups stakein Finland-based subsidiary

Plastics processing industry flagssteep rise of raw material prices

Rupee settles 3 paise higher at 73.57 against US dollar

India will have cheapest powerfrom renewable sources: Adani PNS n NEW DELHI

Billionaire Gautam Adani onWednesday said India is at adramatic inflexion point fromwhere its economy will grow toten times by 2050 with thenation having several trillion-dollar companies and cheapestpower from renewable energy.

In his talk on 'IncredibleIndia and the opportunitiesahead for India' at the TiEGlobal Summit, Adani sawIndia's GDP rising to USD 28trillion by 2050 from the cur-rent USD 2.8 trillion, stockmarket valuation swelling toUSD 30 trillion and a USD 10trillion retail market. Plus thenation will be home to one inevery three middle-class peo-ple in the world.

A combination of "India'ssoft power with the hard powerof a USD 28 trillion GDP anda USD 30 trillion value stockmarket will give an incredible

nation that is taking the jour-ney to becoming the greatestopportunity of the 21st centu-ry," he said.

Adani, who had earlier thisyear set a goal of his groupbecoming the world's largestrenewable power company by2025, said the marginal cost ofelectricity will continue to

drop sharply as the renewableenergy boom accelerates andthe country will produce thecheapest electricity fromrenewable energy sources.

"In my view, India is todayat a dramatic inflexion point.I believe that over the next fewdecades India will have firm-ly positioned itself as the great-

est opportunity of the 21st cen-tury and become even strongerthe year 2050 onwards," hesaid.

There, however, will be chal-lenges such as periods of slow-down that every large econo-my goes through.

Adani said themarginal cost ofelectricity willcontinue to dropas renewableenergy boomaccelerates andthe country willproducecheapest powerfrom renewableenergy sources

Cabinet approves Rs 22,810 cr outlayfor Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved Rs22,810 crore outlay for a newemployment scheme thataims at encouraging busi-nesses to do fresh hiring.

Under the AtmanirbharBharat Rojgar Yojana, thegovernment will for two yearsprovide employee andemployer contribution to theretirement fund for new hiresby businesses and entities,Labour Minister SantoshGangwar said. The schemewould till 2023 entail anoutgo of Rs 22,810 crore andwould benefit around 58.5lakh employees.

Govt approves PM WANI schemeto unleash Wi-Fi revolutionThe government has approved a

framework for the proliferationof public Wi-Fi networks throughPM WANI scheme,Communications Minister RaviShankar Prasad said onWednesday. PM Wi-Fi AccessNetwork Interface (PM WANI)would unleash a massive Wi-Firevolution in the country, Prasadsaid. This would entail a completeframework involving multipleelements -- Public Data Office

(PDO), Public Data OfficeAggregators and app providers."No licence, no registration, andno fee would be applicable for thePDOs, which could be smallshops or even Common ServiceCentres," Prasad told reportersafter the meeting of the Cabinet.The Cabinet has also approved thelaying of undersea submarineoptical fibre cable to provide high-speed broadband toLakshadweep, he said.

Rs 2,500 cr needed to support cashless paymentsPNS n NEW DELHI

The government needs to pro-vide an annual budgetary sup-port of Rs 2,500 crore to sup-port cashless paymentsthrough BHIM-UPI as it wouldresult in substantial savings onhandling of cash, said a reportprepared by IIT-Bombay.

Observing that consumershave to often pay conveniencefee on payments made throughdigital mode, the report said,"RBI should refrain from cre-ating an environment where,for pull payments initiated bymerchants (effected by acquir-er banks/payment aggregators(PAs) on behalf of merchants),the acquirer banks/PAs chargethe consumers."

It said that the practice ofIRCTC to offer explicit dis-counts for accepting paymentsthrough BHIM-UPI needs tobe emulated by prominent e-commerce merchants Amazon,Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy,

Airtel and Makemytrip."This would boost BHIM-

UPI volumes", the reportadded. The report, prepared byDepartment of Mathematics,Indian Institute of Technology- Bombay, suggested that "a

budgetary support to the tuneof Rs 2,500 crore annuallywould on the one hand supportBHIM-UPI and on the otherrender substantial savings onhandling cash." Being a simpleand efficient smartphone-based means of payment,Indians have taken to BHIM-

UPI like fish to water, it said,adding that other modes of dig-ital payments stand no compe-tition to BHIM-UPI.

There were over Rs 221crore BHIM-UPI transactionsin November 2020 alone.

As BHIM-UPI gets furtherfillip, in order to maintain its

performance in terms ofrobustness and efficiency,banks and system providerswill have to invest moretowards upgrading their infra-structure and security, bringabout product innovations(R&D) and further awarenessamong the people of India.

Expenditures to develop andpromote asset-lite BHIM-UPI,an apposite digital alternativeto cash, should be borne by thegovernment and RBI, it said.

The letter and spirit behindthe RBI regulation prohibitingMDR charges being passed,directly or indirectly, onto thecustomers, should guide RBI toprotect the end consumers fordebit card transactions done atIRCTC.

It said that the practice of IRCTC tooffer explicit discounts for acceptingpayments through BHIM-UPI needs tobe emulated by prominent e-commerce merchants Amazon,Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, Airtel andMakemytrip

Maruti Suzuki launches online carfinancing platform ‘Smart Finance'PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's largest carmak-er Maruti Suzuki India onWednesday launched its multi-financier, online car financingplatform 'Smart Finance'.

The company is initiallylaunching the platform in 30cities through its premium carretail chain Nexa, targetingsalaried customers with plansto expand its mass marketchain Arena and customerbase by the fourth quarter ofthis fiscal.

Through the platform, thecompany is seeking to addressthe concerns of potential cus-tomers related to car finance inthe 'new normal' by offering acomprehensive finance solu-tion online with a bouquet offinancing options, MarutiSuzuki India said in a state-ment.

"Under the Smart Financeplatform, currently hosted onthe NEXA website, we havepartnered with several popu-lar financiers to provide cus-tom curated personalised loanoffers for our customers. Thisdigital service offers easyfinancing options and is com-pletely transparent at eachstage of the loan process,"Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)Managing Director and CEOKenichi Ayukawa said in the

statement.Among other advantages, he

said, "The customer gets tocustomise the EMI by choos-ing the loan tenure and inter-est rate and select a preferreddownpayment scheme."

The platform enables cus-tomers to compare multiplescenarios for car loan andoffers from different financiers,and make an informed choiceof loan partner and loantenure, the company said.

Indian market has‘massive’ potential:RB CEO NarasimhanPNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian market has mas-sive potential and can be thesource of many future innova-tions, British FMCG major RBPlc's global CEO LaxmanNarasimhan said onWednesday.

The company expects thatthe innovations will unleashthe potential of the consump-tion class, he said whileaddressing a session at the CIINational FMCG Summit.

"I am deeply optimistic thata lot of the future innovationwill come from India. I havemy eyes out for that,"Narasimhan said in his virtu-al address, adding that "thepotential of India is massive".

RB sells a range of hygieneproducts in India, includingDettol, Lizol and Harpic, whilein the health segment it hassome popular brands likeDisprin and Strepsils.

Narasimhan also said thepost-pandemic world will seea more permanent reset ofconsumer behaviour, and theshift that has happenedtowards digital is going tostay.

The pandemic phase hasalso led to "reimagining of the

consumer's experiences" and"conscious consumption", hesaid.

"So, I think we are going tosee three things -- you aregoing to see digital... you aregoing to see a reimagining ofconsumer experiences done ina safe way and the third is amore conscious consumption,"Narasimhan noted.

The level of media con-sumption and its fundamen-tals have changed after thepandemic and the local com-munity has even become moreimportant, he added.

‘Long, steady auto demand dependson economy, Covid situation’Post-festive car sales have not been as bad as expected with pent-up

demand playing a positive role, but long and steady demand in theauto industry will depend on the economy and developments aroundCOVID-19 vaccine, according to a senior official of India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India. "The auto industry was expecting a largedecline in consumer interest in terms of bookings and inquiries.Although there has been a decline, it is marginal and certainly not asmuch as the expectations or the fear that was in the industry," MarutiSuzuki India Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) ShashankSrivastava told reporters in an interaction on Wednesday. He addedthat in that sense it is a much more positive scenario post-festivalthan was earlier anticipated. Going by the current trends of bookingand inquiries and low stock levels at the dealers and manufacturers,December should be fine, Srivastava said.

Honda suspendsUK productionamid Covid-19shipping delaysPNS n LONDON

Car maker Honda has tem-porarily halted production atits plant in England aftershipping delays linked to theCOVID-19 pandemic andpreparations for Brexit left itwith a shortage of parts.

The company said it wasforced to make the decisionbecause “transport-related”delays left it short of parts.

The factory relies on a“just in time” delivery system,in which parts arrive as theyare needed for assembly andnot stored locally, increasingefficiency.

Sensex rallies 495 pts to cross 46kmark for first time; Nifty tops 13,500PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexsoared 495 points to cross the46,000-level for the first timeon Wednesday amid persistentforeign fund inflows and pos-itive cues from global markets.

After touching a recordintra-day high of 46,164.10, the30-share BSE index ended494.99 points or 1.09 per centhigher at 46,103.50 .

Similarly, the broader NSENifty rallied 136.15 points or1.02 per cent to its new recordhigh of 13,529.10. It touched itslifetime peak of 13,548.90 dur-ing the day.

Asian Paints was the topgainer in the Sensex pack, ris-ing around 3 per cent, followedby Kotak Bank, Axis Bank,HDFC Bank, Infosys, RelianceIndustries and ITC.

On the other hand,UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel,Maruti, SBI and Bajaj Autowere among the laggards.

"Domestic equitiesremained buoyant with Niftyand Sensex recording freshhighs today mainly supportedby sharp rebound in globalmarkets," said Binod Modi,Head-Strategy at RelianceSecurities.

The favourable progress on

COVID-19 vaccine approvalsand distribution across theglobe has overshadowed theconcerns over sharp rise innew cases and resultant lock-downs in various countries, hesaid.

Indian equities emerged asa preferred destination for for-eign investors given the gov-ernment's strong commitmentto revive economy, he said,adding that prospects of cor-porate earnings recovery haveemerged strongly, which ismuch evident from key eco-nomic data and managementcommentaries.

Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) were net buyers in thecapital market as they pur-chased shares worth Rs2,909.60 crore on Tuesday,according to provisionalexchange data.

Gold ETFs log Rs141 cr outflow in Novon profit-bookingPNS n NEW DELHI

After seven straight months ofnet inflows, gold exchangetraded funds witnessed a pull-out of Rs 141 crore in Novem-ber primarily on the back ofprofit-booking by investors.In comparison, the categorysaw a net inflow of nearly Rs 8crore in November 2019, datawith the Association of MutualFunds in India (Amfi) showed.

The category has seeninflows since April 2020,although the pace of invest-ment has been trending down-wards since July. Month-wise,investors put in a net Rs 202crore in January, Rs 1,483 crorein February, but withdrew Rs195 crore in March on profit-

booking. Inflows resumed inApril at Rs 731 crore, followedby Rs 815 crore in May, Rs 494crore in June, Rs 921 crore inJuly, Rs 908 crore in August, Rs597 crore in September, Rs 384crore in October, and finally anoutflow of Rs 141 crore lastmonth.

SBI ties up withMIBL to makedeeper inroadsinto tier-2 citiesPNS n NEW DELHI

SBI General Insurance haspartnered with MahindraInsurance Brokers Ltd (MIBL)to raise its penetration in tier-II and III cities.

This association will enablethe company to provide healthinsurance cover to a significantnumber of people in tier-II andIII cities and generate employ-ment, SBI General Insurancesaid in a release on Wednesday.

Under this 'Sajhedaari pro-gramme', the insurer said ithopes to make a significantmilestone in realising its visionto be the most-trusted gener-al insurer. SBI General is alsoassociated with MIBL for newcar, commercial vehicle, trac-tors and used-car insurance, itsaid. In the digital space also,SBI General has partneredwith PAYBIMA, a digital plat-form by MIBL for providingaffordable insurance solutions,the insurer added.

Japan relaxesinspection ofBlack Tigershrimp importsPNS n KOCHI

In a relief to seafoodexporters, who were reelingunder the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, Japan has com-pletely eased inspection ofIndian Black Tiger shrimpsafter export consignments ofthis delectable prawn varietywere found totally freefromany residue of synthetic anti-bacterial drug furazolidone.

The decision in this regardwas conveyed by FoodInspection and SafetyDivision of Japans Ministry ofHealth, Labour and Welfareto the Indian Embassy in Jap-an, the Marine Products Ex-port Development Authorityand Export InspectionCouncil of India.

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ThursdayDecember 10, 2020

hristmas without car-ols makes the festivalsound so bland, butthe COVID pandemichas brought a stop to

the beautiful tradition ofchurches and choirs goingaround to people’s houses in thecold chilly nights and fill theatmosphere with Christmascheer.

Several churches across theworld have asked their mem-bers and choirs to refrain fromvisiting homes and carolling forfear of the virus’ spread. InHyderabad too, the season’snights have been quite dull ascongregations of almost everychurch have decided to not ven-ture out amid the COVID pan-demic. Rt. Reverand Dr. A.C.Solomon Raj, Bishop in Medak,of Church of South India hadrecently sent out a notice to CSIchurches in Hyderabad andothers that come under theMedak diocese, and urgedchurch members to be mindfuland follow the rules, regula-tions, and precautions laiddown by the government in theface of COVID. The letter read:“Please do not visit every housefor Carols as per our traditionbut have carols in the church.Any program held inside thechurch must be done followingthe Standard OperatingProcedures (SOPs).”

Asked about the notice,Bishop A.C Solomon Raj says,“The pandemic has killed mil-lions of people already, if we’re

not careful and go ahead with-out being mindful, we will onlyendanger many more lives. It isour duty to obey the law of theland, and we’re following thegovernment’s order. There isdarkness hovering over theearth, much like the oneProphet Isaiah spoke about. It isa war-like situation but withoutweapons and bombs. COVID isthis darkness but we know andbelieve, just like Christ is theLight and Life and the Restorerthat He is, we pray that theLight fills people’s lives with joyin times of tribulation, enlight-enment and the saving knowl-edge of Jesus Christ, wherethere’s ignorance."

Churches like CSI WesleyChurch, Ramkote,Musheerabad and other CSIchurches have decided to havecarols by various other wayslike having people from oneparticular area come to thechurch every week duringDecember and sing together.

“It’s a tough time, tough deci-sion, but these are trying timesand this is how we show ourlove for our brothers and sis-ters, by putting their lives first,over mere celebrations,” theysay.

But seems like it won’t be thatquiet in the city this year.Several tiny groups of friendsfrom churches have decided tocheer people up, while main-taining proper guidelines andsafety measures that the gov-ernment has laid down. Onesuch group is a set of friendsfrom the Centenary MethodistChurch, Hyderabad, who decid-ed to visit homes with propersanitisation, social distancing,and masks. Joshua Amara, whojokingly called it ‘MaskedChristmas’, says, “2020 has beena rough year for everyone, sowe wanted to do something aspeople felt all gloomy andmissed the Christmas spirit. Wethought we’d go to only ourown homes, of 10 people,because it’s risky if it’s others ormore. We have all tested our-selves and one of our friends isa doctor, so we’re taking utmostcare.”

Asked how Christmas 2020has been so far, Joshua says,“Ah, it was so hard this year.Who would’ve thought we’d gothrough something like this.Isolation and anxiety and somany challenges every day!Christmas this year started on agloomy note, but we thought itmust change.”

Replacing the red and whiteChristmas cap with masks, andbells with sanitisers, this groupand many like theirs, are beingresponsible in every way, asthey attempt to bring a smile topeople’s faces. They also havebeen planning on other activi-ties like donating blankets andwarm clothes to the poor anddesolate.

To remember this year but

not for the wrong reasons, theyalso hope to take a good pictureof themselves and put it on thisyear’s Christmas card to give itto their families. “We alsoplanned on playing SecretSanta, we really wanted some“good” surprises this year,because the smallest thoughtfulgift will light up people’s livesafter all we’ve gone through thisyear,” they say.

c

December is incompletewithout the air being filledwith sweet and melodioussongs that remember and

celebrate the birth of JesusChrist. But with COVID

playing spoilsport, churchesand choirs have gone silent this

year, finds The Pioneer's RACHEL DAMMALA. Shetalks to pastors, and youth in

the city about what they'redoing to usher in the Christmas

spirit this year.

OVID-19 mayhave brought astop to leisuretravel but thepandemic won’tlast forever and

so, when it’s over, we’vefound the perfect getawayto satiate the gear head inyou. A full-fledged modernracetrack soon is comingup in Dundigal, which isabout 37 kilometres fromHyderabad!

Called the Pista MotorRaceway, the track isdesigned by DeetalesDesign Studio, with inputsfrom Indian racersAnindith Reddy andIshaan Dodhiwala. It isbeing built with spectatorsafety and track fatalitiesbeing given utmost impor-tance and it’s all open to

paying customers whowant to live out theirdreams of being a racingdriver.

“I had a casual visit tothe Buddh InternationalCircuit in Noida, andMadras Motor Race Trackin Kanchipuram, TamilNadu. My friends and Iwondered how amazing itwould be if Hyderabad hada racing track. Beginningwith a rough layout, Iembarked on this newjourney. I took inspirationfrom the best racetracksaround the world, appliedmy own spin to it andmade one of the mostunique racetracks. We areworking to expand the1.8km track to a seven oreight kilometres off-road-track to host a national

event in Q1 2021,” sharesthe founder, Vishnu Reddy.

Many Hyderabadis findracing a bike their firstgateway to freedom, a rushof adventure as the windsare move along with yourspeed of the bike. Racingyour bike on the racingtrack gives you all the lib-erty that you can’t apply ona road full of heavy traffic,giving you the ultimateadrenaline rush. Racing,however, is not everyone’scup of tea and definitelynot for the faint hearted.Nevertheless, with thegrowing interest of localstoward speedway racing,the founder of Pista MotorRaceway seems to havemade the right choice ofbuilding a race track at theright time.

Now, a racetrack in Hyderabad too!The number of

race tracks in thecountry will rise to

4, with the city’supcoming Pista

Motor Raceway!The Pioneer’s

SHIKHADUGGAL talks

to Vishnu Reddy,founder of thenew track, for

more about theproject.

hana Dhillion, who sizzled on-screen with herBollywood debut Hate Story 4 in a glam-orous avatar, looks completely trans-formed and beaming in the newenergies that she has adopted.She has taken to bodyweight

training and upped her diet game toachieve the desired aestheticresults! Ihana was seen in astring of releases while mak-ing her recent digital debuton OTT. A multilingualactress working on diverseprojects swears by the factthat bodyweight training is atotal gamechanger and that sheis living proof of it.

“It has a number of physiological bene-fits. Bodyweight training helps improve bodyposture especially of our day to day activities. This, attimes, also impacts our muscular strength, thus makingour posture incorrect leading to bone injuries. If you per-form bodyweight training, it will strengthen your core mus-cles having a dual impact on cardiovascular fitness. It alsohelps you enhance your brain to mus-cle coordination. Burn yourunwanted fat from the body andfocus on improving aesthetics! Itcan be performed anywherefrom an open garden to thecomfort of your home withoutthe need for any fancy equip-ment. Therefore, you savemoney on investing in equip-ment and maintaining them andstoring them. Today, I have thedesired body composition Idesired, something that I was ableto achieve within a short span,”shares Ihana.

Shooting since the lockdownwas lifted in June, the actresswill also be seen in a Punjabifilm titled Bhoot Uncle TussiGreat Ho starring actors RajBabbar and Jaya Prada. Thefilm has Ihana deliveringsome action stunts for thefirst time ever!

Ihana's bodyweight training, a total gamechanger

c

I

ilmmaker Hansal Mehta’sScam 1992: The HarshadMehta Story has emerged asthe highest user-rated show inIMDb’s ‘Top 10 Indian WebSeries of 2020’ list.

Scam 1992 earned acclaim for thethrilling portrayal of stockbrokerHarshad Mehta, played by PratikGandhi, who single-handedly tookthe stock market to dizzying heights,and his catastrophic downfall.

The IMDb ratings are determinedby users who rate films and TVshows on a 10-point scale.

With a rating of 9.5 out of 10,Scam 1992, a SonyLIV show, has alsolanded a spot in IMDb’s top 250 TVseries of all time.

Amazon Prime Video’s comedy-drama Panchayat, starring JitendraKumar, was at number two on the listwhile Disney+ Hotstar’s “SpecialOps” coming in third. The spythriller marked the digital debut offilmmaker Neeraj Pandey.

The 10-part musical drama

Bandish Bandits ranked fourth on thelist, followed by the hugely popularsecond season of Mirzapur,which landed on fifthposition. Both serieshail from Amazon.

Col Needham,IMDb Founder andCEO, said world-wide interest inIndian steamingseries “hit an all-time high this year”with fans ratingtheir favouritesand helping oth-ers discoverbreakout shows.

“In fact, our #1user-rated Indianweb series of this year, Scam 1992:The Harshad Mehta Story, has beenso popular that it landed a top spoton the IMDb list of the Top 250 TVSeries of all-time,” Needham said in astatement.

Voot Select thriller Asur: Welcome

to Your Dark Side, featuring BarunSobti, was placed at sixth position.

Actor Anushka Sharma backedneo-noir Paatal Lok emerged seventhon the list. The Amazon series fea-tured Jaideep Ahlawat as HathiramChaudhary, a washed-out Delhi

Police cop, who lands the case of alifetime when four suspects arenabbed in the assassination attemptof a prime time journalist.

Akshay Oberoi starrer MX Playerseries High ranked eighth on the list,followed by Kunal Khemu’s ZEE5

Original Abhay.Sushmita Sen’s Aarya, which was

the actor’s first screen appearance ina decade after her last Hindi film NoProblem, closed the list on number10. The Disney+Hotstar series alsomarked Sen's digital debut.

10

Hyderabad Thursday December 10 2020 webbed

F

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

FUN

ast year, Pankaj Tripathistole the show with hisquirky and memorable por-trayal of lawyer MadhavMishra in Criminal Justice,an OTT series where he won

a difficult case on his wit and deter-mination. It seems Madhav Mishrais now on the lookout for a new caseas he revealed his ook for the showon his social media handles. Pankajhas once again effortlessly slippedinto the skin of his character as heshows off his comical side.

Pankaj Tripathi said, “It feels greatto come back as one of my favouritecharacters — Madhav Mishra. Iwon’t reveal too much informationright now so stay tuned for more.”

While all other details are beingtightly guarded, the next chapter inthe franchise is titled CriminalJustice: Behind Closed Doors and asper sources will take things a notchhigher. Pankaj Tripathi’s characterMishra ji is in for a huge surprisewith his next big case - stay tunedfor more details!

ala NiketanEntertainment pre-sents OP Rai’s fea-ture film NobelPeace which recentlybagged the Best

Film (Jury) award at 10th DadaSaheb Phalke Film Festival2020 and best screenplay at 8thIndian Cine Film Festival 2020will now be available on OTTplatform. Starring the well-known name from the televi-sion fraternity — HitenTejwani who was last seen in apivotal role in the criticallyacclaimed film Kalank, NobelPeace is about the journey of ayoung boy named Hayan Mirwho is under the proper guid-ance of his college professorShlok Manhaas on a mission toeradicate hatred from thehearts of those individuals whoare turning to be religious big-ots in the name of ‘Aman’ and‘Shaanti’. Managing Director of

Kala Niketan, O.P Rai shares,“We were discussing this storysince a year. It’s been 30 yearsin the industry and I had adesire to make a unique moviein accordance to film festivalstoo. The idea is very relevantand realistic as per the preva-lent conditions in Jammu andKashmir. This film is especiallymade to bring focal point onthe social issues dealt by the

youth of Kashmir on a dailybasis so that their topic of con-cerns can reach to our massaudiences too. The team wassure from the onset of thisjourney itself that this storywill win awards at internation-al film festivals. It fills me withimmense pride. Negotiationsare going on for Nobel Peace torelease on a reputed OTT plat-form.” Hiten Tejwani on beingasked about his associationsays, “I heard the script ofNoble Peace brought by theproducers and director andsaid a yes the moment I fin-ished reading it. It was anamazing know-how workingwith them and it is reallyencouraging of them to opt fora strong subject like this. Themost exciting part about theshooting journey was the realon set locations in the beautifulvalleys of Kashmir and to beon a roll every day.”

ctor MukulChadda hasbeen cast in anew webseries to behelmed by

director Vikas Bahl.Bahl, who made

Super 30 and Queen inBollywood, is set tocall the shots onSunflower, a crime-comedy. The show isset in the eponymousmiddle-class housingsociety in Mumbaiand has quirky charac-ters.

“I’m glad that Ishare screen spacewith some of the mosttalented people in theindustry. Sunflower isthe kind of web seriesI would love to watchas an Indian viewer. It

has a gripping narra-tive, amusing charac-ters, it’s funny andyou’ll never knowwhat to expect. I findthe blend of situation-al comedy and crimeextremely interesting,”said Mukul.

“It’s great to beworking with contentcreators, who want totry something differ-ent and get viewers tolaugh,” added theactor, recently seen inthe series Bicchoo KaKhel.

The series is writtenby Bahl and stars SunilGrover. It is co-direct-ed by Rahul Senguptaand is produced byRelianceEntertainment andGood Co.

K A

L

Nobel Peace coming on OTT: ajourney to remove religious prejudice!

Mukul Chadda cast in VikasBahl's web series Sunflower

Pankaj Tripathireturns as India’sfavourite lawyer

Hansal Mehta's Scam 1992

leads IMDb's ‘Top 10 Indian Web

Series of 2020' list

Hyderabad Thursday December 10 2020

11

n a shocker to Apple and fans of the brand,Tollywood actor Nagarjuna Akkineni put outa tweet on Wednesday warning users to becareful and watchful about Apple products andApple store India. The actor went on to say thatthe services and policies of the brand are one-

sided and terrible, with an angry emoji. He also tagged Appleand Apple Support’s official Twitter handles on the micro-blogging website.

“BE CAREFUL When you buy Apple products from Applestore India… Their service and policies are one sided and

terrible!! ??@Apple @AppleSupport. (Sic),” tweeted theactor.

The Bigg Boss Telugu 4 host hasn’t yetrevealed what product, in particular, he

was talking about and what defect orissue he has been facing, that forced

him to put out such a tweet.Curious fans of the King starresponded to the tweet inquiringabout what exactly happened andmore. The tweet has now beenpinned on his account, and the

brand is yet to respond to theactor’s warning and accusa-

tions.

hat actor Ravi Teja is star-ring in an interesting filmdirected by Ramesh Varmais known news. While therewere talks that the makers

were looking for a suitable heroineto be paired opposite Ravi Teja,actress Priyanka Arul Mohan hasbeen roped in as one of the femaleleads. Priyanka Arul Mohan madean impressive debut in Tollywoodwith Natural Star Nani’s GangLeader last year. She will be nextseen in Sharwanand’s upcomingfilm Sreekaram. It was also said thatthe makers have decided to castCatherine Tresa in a special song inthis film.

It is being said that MassMaharaja Ravi Teja is essaying adual role in the moviewhich has now beentitled Khiladi and isbeing produced byKoneruSatyanarayana andPen Studios. Toutedto be a politicaldrama, it will bethe second timeRavi Teja andRamesh Varmawork together afterVeera. Musicdirector Devi SriPrasad is scoringthe tunes for thisfilm.

Mass star RaviTeja has recentlycompleted theshoot of hisupcoming actionthriller Krack. ShrutiHaasan, VaralaxmiSarathkumar, andSamuthirakani areplaying key roles inthe film, which isslated for a releasein 2021.

Sankranthi is a major festival season for theTelugu States and Tollywood will depend a

lot on this lucrative season. However, owingto the current situation, it is said thatSankranthi is not going to be that exciting in2021. COVID is still not nullified and thevaccine hasn’t arrived yet. So, the makers, dis-

tributors, and exhibitors are having secondthoughts about releasing more movies at atime, because there have been only 50 percent occupancy in the theatres. So makerswho have scheduled their release dates forSankranthi are now postponing their movies.

Pawan Kalyan’s Vakeel Saab which was to

release in January is now pushed to summer.The decision was made after Dil Raju held adiscussion with the distributors. Anothermega hero Vaishnav Tej’s Uppena too hasbeen postponed. Uppena’s release has beenpostponed a second time, it was originallyscheduled to be released 9 months ago.

Actor Sonu Sood, who’s knownbetter for his charitable deedsafter extending helping hand to

thousands of people amid the lockdown,has now reportedly mortgaged eight proper-ties in Mumbai to raise Rs. 10 crore for theneedy.

The actor who played a villain in films likeDookudu and Julayi turned real-life hero andhelped the less privileged during the entiretyof the lockdown. Sonu has now reportedlymortgaged 8 properties located in Juhu, toraise over 10 crore rupees to help the deso-late. The properties include two shops andsix flats.

According to some documents accessedby media houses in Mumbai, the agreementwas signed on September 15 and was regis-tered on November 24. The building issaid to be located along AB Nayar Road,near Iskcon Temple in Mumbai. A reg-istration fee of Rs. 5 lakh was alsoreportedly paid to raise the loan.

On the work front, the actor iscurrently shooting for AlluduAdhurs, the cast and crew ofwhich, clapped and felicitatedhim when he had arrivedfor its shoot inSeptember.

Sonumortgagespropertiesto help the

needy

In some great news for fansof South Indian actorSiddharth, the actor will be

returning to Tollywood aftereight long years!The talentedstar, who was last seen inJabardasth, is all set for acomeback to Tollywood withTelugu-Tamil bilingual filmMahasamudram. The 41-year-old actor’s Telugu comebackfilm, which is being directed by

RX 100 fame Ajay Bhupathi,will also star actor Sharwanandas one of the leads.

News of Siddharth’s come-back was out when the actortook to social media to con-firm his return to Tollywood.He posted a picture of himselfin air, donning a grey suit witha white tee. Along with the pic-ture, he wrote, “On my,#Telugu set after 8 years today

on the 8th ofDecember. Feelsamazing. Thanks forthe lovely welcome@AnilSunkara1 and@DirAjayBhupathi. Let’s dothis and do it right!#Mahasamudram@ImSharwanand”.

Siddharth’s last Telugu out-ing was Jabardasth (2013), co-starring Samantha Akkineni,

directed by Nandini Reddy.He was last seen on screen inthe Tamil horror-thrillerAruvam, where he playedJagannathan, an honest andsincere food safety officerharassed for doing his job.

Sankranthi releases pushed to summer

Satyadev's Thimmarusu teaser creates ripples

ans of Satyadev,the actor whowon appreciationfor his roles in

films like UmaMaheshwara UgraRoopasya, have more rea-sons to be excited!Produced by MaheshKonnaru’s East CoastProductions and SrujaErabolu’s Originals, theteaser of Thimmarusuwas released onDecember 9, 2020.Critically acclaimed actorSatyadev is one of thevery rare heroes in Telugu

cinema who had multiplereleases during, and afterthe lockdown period aswell. The film’s first lookand now the teaser, hasimpressed fans and criticsalike. Satyadev lookedextremely sauve with avintage look on a bike,the look of which hadbeen creating sparks allover the micro-bloggingsite Twitter. Directed bySharan Koppisetty, thefilm is being produced byMahesh Koneru andSrujan Yarabolu. Moredetails about the film willbe out very soon.

Siddharth makes a

comeback in Tollywood

if

t

Gang Leader actress inRavi Teja's next Nag angry

over Apple products, outlets inIndia

tollywood

AFP n LEIPZIG

Manchester United wereeliminated from theChampions League fol-

lowing Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat atRed Bull Leipzig.

The German hosts carvedout a two-goal advantage with-in 13 minutes after Angelino —who is on loan at Leipzig fromUnited’s local rivals ManchesterCity — arrowed in an earlyopener and then set up AmadouHaidara with a searching cross.

Justin Kluivert notchedLeipzig’s third from close rangemidway through the second halfbefore United almost staged animprobable comeback. BrunoFernandes converted a penaltyand Paul Pogba was creditedwith an 82nd-minute headerthat appeared to strike teammateHarry Maguire on its way intothe goal.

United nearly completedtheir late rally, but it wasn’tthrough the late efforts of aux-iliary striker Maguire or his col-leagues. Instead, Leipzig goal-keeper Peter Gulacsi had to savewith his legs after defenderNordi Mukiele kicked the balltoward his own goal.

With the win, 2019-20 semi-finalists Leipzig confirmed theirprogression into the ChampionsLeague knockout rounds.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side,meanwhile, gets the consolationof Europa League football in thenew year. Whether the under-fireNorwegian is in charge when thecontinental campaign restarts

in February remains to be seen.“We started too late. Great

spirit and comeback again. It’sdifferent to the Premier League— you can’t give a team a three-goal lead and expect to comeback,” Solskjaer told BT Sportpost-match. “We were unluckytowards the end and you almostthought it was in at the lastminute there.

“Of course, you can’t say wewere good enough; we weren’t.”

Leipzig must wait untilWednesday to find out whetherthey finish first or second in thesection, after the contestbetween last season’s runners-upPSG and Turkish championsBasaksehir was interrupted withthe score 0-0 in the 14th minute.

PSG, who advanced follow-ing United’s loss, will claim topspot with victory in Paris.

MOUKOKO MAKES HISTORYBorussia Dortmund striker

Youssoufa Moukoko, aged 16years and 18 days, became theyoungest player in ChampionsLeague history as he came offthe bench in a 2-1 victory awayto Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Cameroon-born Moukoko,who made his European debutas a 58th-minute substitute inRussia, broke the previousrecord of Celestine Babayaro,who was 16 years and 87 dayswhen he played for Anderlechtin November 1994.

Dortmund, who had alreadyqualif ied for the last 16,equalised within minutes ofMoukoko’s introduction, withLukasz Piszczek cancelling outSebastian Driussi’s first-half goalbefore Axel Witsel scored thewinner.

Jorginho spared Chelsea’sblushes as his penalty rescued a1-1 draw against Krasnodar inGroup E following RemyCabella’s opener in London.

Frank Lampard’s side werealready assured of finishing top,while goals from Jules Koundeand two Youssef En-Nesyrieased Sevilla to a 3-1 victory atRennes.

Lazio also secured a spot inthe knockout rounds for the firsttime in two decades following atense 2-2 draw at home to ClubBrugge in the pouring rain inRome.

Ciro Immobile scored hisfifth Champions League goalthis season for the Roman side.

Denys Popov’s headerearned Dynamo Kiev a 1-0 vic-tory over their former star SerhiyRebrov and Ferencvaros in thegroup’s other game, offeringthem a place in the EuropaLeague.

sport 12HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 10, 2020

INDIA FINED FOR SLOW OVER-RRATESydney: The Indian cricket team has been fined 20 percent of its match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate inthe third T20I against Australia. ICC match referee DavidBoon imposed the sanction after India was ruled to beone over short of the target on Tuesday, after timeallowances were taken into consideration. On-fieldumpires Rod Tucker, Gerard Abood, TV umpire PaulWilson & fourth umpire Sam Nogajski levelled charge.

GREEN, SWEPSON IN AUS A SQUAD Sydney: In-form all-rounder Cameron Green and leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson were on Wednesday includedin the 12-member Australia A squad for the day-nightpractice game against India, beginning at the SCG onFriday. The 21-year-old Green, who scored an unbeaten125 in first practice match against India A, will look toseal his place in the first Test playing eleven with anothergood outing. Swepson, on the other hand, featured in allthree T20Is against India and captured five wickets. Ledby Alex Carey, the Australia A side also includes Testsquad members Joe Burns and Sean Abbott, besides all-rounder Moises Henriques and pace bowlers MarkSteketee, Harry Conway and Will Sutherland.

SA TO TOUR PAK FOR 2 TESTS, 3 T20ISKarachi: South Africa will tour Pakistan for the first timein 14 years for two Tests and three T20Is starting inJanuary, the country's cricket board (PCB) said onWednesday. While Karachi and Rawalpindi will hosts thetwo Tests, the three T20Is will be held in Lahore. “SouthAfrica will arrive in Karachi on 16 January and will playthe first Test at the National Stadium in Karachi from 26-30 January,” PCB said in a statement. “They will thentravel to Rawalpindi where the second Test will be heldfrom 4-8 February. The iconic Gaddafi Stadium,headquarters of Pakistan cricket, will be the venue of thethree T20Is, which are scheduled for 11, 13 and 14February.”

MOMOTA ANNOUNCES RETURN TO COMPETITION Tokyo: Japan's badminton world No 1 Kento Momotaon Wednesday announced his long-awaited return tocompetition as he begins his bid for home glory at theTokyo Olympics nearly a year after suffering seriousinjuries in a car crash. Momota will compete at the All-Japan national championships in Tokyo later this monthbefore playing in the Thailand Open in January followinga difficult year in which he feared his career might beover after fracturing an eye socket in the accident. “I'mnervous but I'm really looking forward to it,” saidMomota, who was badly hurt when the vehicle takinghim to Kuala Lumpur airport just hours after he won theMalaysia Masters was involved in an accident that killedhis driver. “I'm really looking forward to playing againstthe best international players after such a long time.”

ENG RETURNING TO SL FOR 2 TESTS London: England will return to Sri Lanka for arearranged two-Test tour in January, 10 months afterleaving the Asian country as the coronavirus pandemicbegan to take hold. England's players will isolate forthree days in Hambantota after arriving in Sri Lanka onJanuary 2, with the first Test starting January 14 in Galle.The second Test starts on January 22. The travellingsquad will undergo full coronavirus testing every twodays throughout the trip and players are expected to beoffered mental health screening ahead of the tour,following concerns about their well-being in a bio-securebubble. Agencies

SINGLES

AFP n BARCELONA

Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice from the penaltyspot to win his battle with rival Lionel Messi and

guide Juventus to a 3-0 win over Barcelona onTuesday, earning the Italians top spot in Group G.

The former Real Madrid striker and hisArgentina counterpart traded Ballon d’Or wins fora decade between 2008-2017 and were figureheadsfor the duelling Spanish giants, but there was onlyone winner at the Camp Nou as they met for the firsttime since Ronaldo’s departure for Juve in 2018.

Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus lost 2-0 at home againstBarcelona in October without Ronaldo, sidelined withCovid-19, but were greatly improved and earned thefirst Champions League away win against Barcelonasince Bayern Munich triumphed in 2013.

Both sides, tied on 15 points, were assured ofqualification before kick-off, but Juve’s three-goal vic-tory handed them a superior head-to-head record.

It only took 13 minutes for Ronaldo to break thedeadlock, slotting home from the penalty spot afterthe referee deemed Ronald Araujo’s challenge on hima foul. Juventus did not relent and their pressure ledto a second goal, US midfielder Weston Mckenzievolleying home Juan Cuadrado’s sweetly clipped crossin the 20th minute.

The Catalans and their captain Messi finally wokefrom their slumber, as the attacker had one effortblocked by Matthijs de Ligt and another saved by vet-eran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, while Pjanic lashedover the bar.

Ronaldo notched his second from the penaltyspot in the 52nd minute after Clement Lenglet han-dled clumsily in the area, as the hosts imploded.

Antoine Griezmann, who was invisible in the firsthalf, grazed the crossbar with a looping header froma Messi free kick, and Buffon beat out another effort,with De Ligt’s pressure enough to stop MartinBraithwaite converting the rebound.

Leonardo Bonucci had a fourth goal ruled outfor offside after he tapped in Ronaldo’s effort fromclose range, with Messi trying in vain at the otherend to answer Ronaldo, but he found the 42-year-old Buffon in his way time and time again.

PTI n SYDNEY

Australia opener David Warnerhas been ruled out of the opening

Test against India in Adelaide due toa groin injury that he suffered duringthe limited-overs series.

The opening Test of the series, tobegin on December 17, will be a day-night affair and Warner said he wantsto be cent percent ready for therigours of traditional format and wastargeting a return in the Boxing DayTest in Melbourne.

“The injury feels a lot better, butI need to be able to satisfy in my ownmind and to my teammates that I am100% ready for Test match conditions— that includes running between thewickets and being agile in the field,”Warner said.

“Right now I feel I am short ofbeing able to play at peak fitness andanother 10 days will make a difference.”

The 34-year-old Warner had sus-tained the injury in the second ODIand was subsequently ruled out of thethird game and the three-game T20series.

Australia coach Justin Langerexuded confidence about Warner’sreturn in the second Test.

“If there is one guy you know willgo well above and beyond that’s Dave,”Langer said.

“He has done an incredible job toget to where he is today and we hopeto have a fully fit David Warner at hisabsolute best in Melbourne.”

Warner’s absence will leaveAustralia with a headache for the open-er’s slot, especially after young WillPucovski suffered a concussion duringthe three-day first warm-up gamebetween India A and Australia A.

PTI n DUBAI

India captain Virat Kohli moved upa place to eighth while KL Rahul

broke into the top three in the latestICC rankings for T20 batsmen, aftertheir impressive performances in thethree-match series against Australia.

Taking the third spot in thechart, Rahul has bagged 816 ratingpoints and is 55 points behind sec-ond-placed Babar Azam in the cur-rent standings.

England batsman Dawid Malan(915 points) retained the top spot,while Australian limited-overs skip-per Aaron Finch slipped to thefourth spot.

Kohli, who struck a brilliant 85in the third T20I, gained one spot tobe at No 8.

Among the bowlers, Australialeg-spinner Adam Zampa jumpedtwo places to be placed at numberfive. England’s Chris Jordan alsobroke into the top 10, whileAfghanistan’s spin duo of RashidKhan and Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman wereplaced at the first and second posi-tions respectively in the list, ahead ofEngland leg-spinner Adil Rashid.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Parthiv Patel, one of the youngest to haveplayed Test cricket for India at the age

of 17, on Wednesday announced his retire-ment from all forms of the game, threemonth’s short of his 36th birthday.

The baby-faced Parthiv, who made hisTest debut under Sourav Ganguly, aged 17years and 153 days, played 65 internation-al games for the country, which included 25Tests, 38 ODIs and two T20 Internationals.

“Today, I announce retirement from allforms of cricket and as I bring down cur-tains on this 18 year-old cricketing journey,I feel heavier with gratitude for many,” the35-year-old Parthiv said in a statement onhis official Twitter and Instagram account.

The left-handed batsman scored near-ly 1700 runs (1696) across formats with 934runs (6 half centuries) coming in thelongest format.

In ODIs, he scored 736 runs with fourhalf-centuries and a highest score of 95. Heeffected 72 dismissals in Tests, whichinclude 62 catches and 10 stumpings.

Parthiv burst onto the scene in early2002, when he was sent to England after hav-ing played for India A in South Africa andeven before he made his Ranji Trophy debut.

In fact, he played his first Ranji Trophyafter he was dropped from the India squadin 2004 due to below-par glovework on toursof Australia and Pakistan.

He was thankful to all his captains and“especially Dada”, referring to BCCI presi-dent Sourav Ganguly.

Once Mahendra Singh Dhoni burst on

to the scene, just like the other glovesmenof that time, Parthiv also had to play thecatch-up game and be satisfied being the sec-ond keeper and at times playing as a spe-cialist batsman.

He rediscovered himself as an openingbatsman in white ball cricket and that’s howhe played a few ODIs for India during hissecond coming but chances were few andfar between.

However, Parthiv like a true sportsmanhad always accepted that he can’t blameDhoni for his sporadic national appearancesas both he and Dinesh Karthik got chancesto cement their places before Dhoni.

But he did become a domestic legendand before retirement, played an astonish-ing 194 first-class games in which he hadscored 11,240 runs with 27 hundreds at anaverage of 43 plus.

Add to it, 194 List A games and 204 T20games, Parthiv had a long run but it was justthat Dhoni was a few lightyears ahead as aperformer.

But Parthiv did play for a lot of IPLteams, including Mumbai Indians, ChennaiSuper Kings, Royal Challengers Bangaloreduring the last 13 editions. Probably not get-ting a game in this IPL edition for RCB wasdecisive in his case.

AFP n NEW DELHI

Cricket legend SachinTendulkar said captain Virat

Kohli’s departure will leave a“void” for India in their Test tourof Australia, but added that it willhand a golden opportunity to ayounger player.

Kohli will only lead the sidein the first of the four Tests, start-ing in Adelaide on December 17,before returning home for thebirth of his first child.

“When you lose an experi-enced player like this (Kohli)there is without any doubt avoid,” Tendulkar, the record run-maker and former India captaintold AFP.

“But let’s understand, this isnot about individuals. It is aboutour team and the best part aboutIndian cricket right now is thereis bench strength,” addedTendulkar.

“So Virat has to come back forpersonal reasons and some young-ster is going to get a chance to playin his spot and that’s an opportu-nity for someone else.”

Tendulkar said the currentAustralian side is a lot “stronger”

with leading batsmen DavidWarner and Steve Smith backfrom the ball-tampering suspen-sions that kept them out two yearsago.

“From the last time thatAustralia played India they havegot three important players. Theyhave got Warner who is back inthe team, Smith and (Marnus)Labuschagne,” said Tendulkar.

“This is a far better squadcompared to the earlier one.When a couple of your senior

members are not there, suddenlythat void is felt and that is whatAustralia felt.”

But Tendulkar insisted thatIndia’s bowling attack led by thefiery Jasprit Bumrah and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin isalso stronger and can challengeAustralia.

“I can say that it (India) is acomplete bowling attack. So itdoesn’t matter what kind of sur-face you are playing on, you havegot all sides covered.

ManOUTUnited

Man City loaneeAngelino stars as

Red Devils exitChampions

League after 2-3loss to Leipzig

AFP n PARIS

Istanbul Basaksehir and Paris Saint-Germain players walked off the pitch dur-

ing Tuesday’s Champions League match atthe Parc des Princes after a member of theTurkish side’s coaching staff accused thefourth official of using a racial slur.

Pierre Webo, a former Cameroonianinternational and current assistant atBasaksehir, who is a Black man, claimed offi-cial Constantin Sebastian Coltescu called hima “negro.” In the exchange in question, heardon television, Coltescu said: “The black oneover there. This is not possible. Go and iden-tify him. That guy, the black one.”

After the referee showed Webo a redcard in the 16th minute for his protests, play-ers from both teams and the Istanbul coachconfronted the referee for the remarks madeby his official. “Why do you say negro?”Webo could be heard saying repeatedly.

UEFA agreed to reschedule the match forWednesday at 6:55 pm Paris time (12:55 pmET) following an hours-long delay and con-fusion over a potential restart. A different offi-ciating crew will take over, and UEFA willinvestigate the incident.

“UEFA has — after discussion with bothclubs — decided on an exceptional basis tohave the remaining minutes of the matchplayed tomorrow (Wednesday) with a newteam of match officials ... (and) a thoroughinvestigation on the incident that took place

will be opened immediately,” read a statement.UEFA initially said the game would

resume and Coltescu would be removedas the fourth official, but staff for bothteams had already begun to pack up theirequipment.

Both teams were incensed when playstopped midway through the first half. Anintense discussion between players and offi-cials went on for several minutes beforeBasaksehir decided to head down the tun-nel. PSG agreed to walk off as well in a showof solidarity.

Basaksehir striker Demba Ba, who’s

been a vocal authority in UEFA’s ongoingfight against racism, confronted the fourthabout the incident.

“When you’re mentioning the white guy,you never say this white guy. You say this guy,”Ba was captured saying on the broadcast. “Sowhy when you mention a Black guy, you haveto say this Black guy?”

The result of the rescheduled matchmeans little in the context of Group H.Basaksehir were already out of con-tention to make the knockout stage, andPSG advanced as a result of ManchesterUnited’s loss to RB Leipzig.

Basaksehir, PSG walk off over alleged racism

PSG and Istanbul Basaksehir players leave the pitch during the Champions’ League group H match on Tuesday AP

Ronaldotops Messiwith 2 goals

Parthiv retires from all forms of cricketInjured Warner out of 1st Test

NEW DELHI: Former Australiacaptain Ian Chappell has foundAjinkya Rahane to be a “fabu-lous captain” and expects thathis “aggressive style” will suit theIndian team which would fancyits chances against a DavidWarner-less hosts in the firstTest in Adelaide fromDecember 17.

“Well, I saw him captain inone Test against Australia (inDharamsala in March, 2017)and found his captaincy to befabulous. He was really an

aggressive captain,” Chappelltold PTI.

Chappell then citednuggets of Rahane’s captaincyduring that Australia Test thathad caught his attention.

“I remember a couple ofaspects about his captaincy.What stood out for me was inthe Australian first innings,Warner was going well and get-ting on top of Indian bowlers.He brought in Kuldeep Yadav(debutant) and he dismissedWarner.

“The second thing Iremember was India chasing alow total and they lost a coupleof wickets. Rahane just came inand attacked the Australianbowlers and scored some 20odd (38 off 27 balls). I liked thatapproach.”

“Look, as a captain, youalways have two choices — oneis the aggressive route and theother is a conservativeapproach. I have believed thatin Test cricket aggressiveapproach is must and Rahaneis aggressive.” PTI

‘Virat’s absence chance for others’ Rahul in top 3of T20 rankings

OUT

Leipzig's Justin Kluivert, left, celebrates with teammate Yussuf Poulsen after scoring his side’s third goal against Man United during Champions’ League group H match AP

Chappell appreciates Rahane'saggressive style of captaincy

Lionel Messi shakes hands with Cristiano Ronaldo AP