page 11 · 2020. 7. 31. · 2 hyderabad, saturday, august 1, 2020; pages 12 `3 rni no....

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HYDERABAD, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

www.dailypioneer.com

*LATE CITY VOL. 2 ISSUE 292*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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K’taka may bringin law banningsale of tobacco,paan masala: CM

Creating the LocalSoftware forCovid-Control

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

MONEY 8MANUFACTURERS UPBEAT AS GOVT

IMPOSES CURBS ON IMPORTS OF TVS

ANALYSIS 7STOP VACCINE NATIONALISM

SPORTS 12PLAYER LIKE STOKES IS EVERY

CAPTAIN'S DREAM: SMITH

MONSOON LIKELY TO BE NORMAL INSECOND HALF OF RAINFALL SEASON: IMD

OVER 292,000 CORONAVIRUSCASES IN ONE DAY ACROSS WORLD

The World Health Organization reported a record increase in globalcoronavirus cases on Friday, with the total rising by 292,527. The

biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India andSouth Africa, according to a daily report. Deaths rose by6,812. The four countries have dominated globalheadlines with large outbreaks. The previous WHOrecord for new cases was 284,196 on July 24.Deaths rose by 9,753 on July 24, the secondlargest one-day increase ever. Deaths have beenaveraging 5,200 a day in July, up from an averageof 4,600 a day in June.

Monsoon is likely to be normal in the second half of the four-monthrainfall season, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday. In

its Long Range Forecast for the rainfall during second half (August-September) of the 2020 Southwest Monsoon, the IMD said August islikely to receive rainfall that is 97 per cent of the LongPeriod Average. "Quantitatively, the rainfall over thecountry as a whole during the second half of the seasonis likely to be 104 per cent of LPA with a model errorof plus/minus 8 per cent," the IMD said. The LongPeriod Average (LPA) rainfall over the country as awhole for the period 1961-2010 is 88 centimetres.

To help Madhya Pradesh in its fight against the coronavirus, a doctor with aprivate hospital here has come up with a simple yet ingenious way to keep

doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers safe fromCOVID-19 -an air bubble. The fully sealed, transparent,face covering - like a face suit - has an independentsupply of virus-free compressed air so state's CoronaWarriors can breathe safely while treating patients.Cardiologist Dr Skand Trivedi said this concept wasspecifically introduced for healthcare workers wholook after coronavirus patients and was aimed atsaving lives of doctors, nurses and technicians.

BHOPAL HOSPITAL DEVISES "AIR BUBBLE"TO KEEP CORONA WARRIORS SAFE

SAJAD GANI LONE RELEASED FROM YEAR-LONG DETENTION

Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC) chairman Sajad GaniLone was on Friday released from nearly a year-long detention, officials

said Lone was released days ahead of the first anniversary of the Centre'smove to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution in August last year, theofficials said Lone also confirmed his release by taking toTwitter "Finally five days short of a year I have been officiallyinformed that I am a free man. So much has changed. Sohave I. Jail was not a new experience. Earlier ones wereharsh with usual doses of physical torture. But thiswas psychologically draining. Much to sharehopefully soon," he said in a tweet.

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated July 31, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Shravana & Shukla Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Trayodashi: 09:53 pm

Nakshatram: Mula: 06:48 am

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 09:10 am – 10:46 am

Yamagandam: 01:58 pm – 03:33 pm

Varjyam: 04:26 pm – 06:02 pm

Gulika: 05:59 am - 07:34 am

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 02:03 am – 03:39 am

Abhijit Muhurtham: 11:56 am – 12:47 pm

FFoorreeccaasstt:: DrizzleTTeemmpp:: 31/24HHuummiiddiittyy:: 82%SSuunnrriissee:: 05.55 amSSuunnsseett:: 06.49 pm

NOW, AP CAPITALDIVIDED INTO THREEn AP's three-capital bills get Guv's assent C PRADEEPn VIJAYAWADA

Moving at a rapid pace, theYSRCP government on Fridayissued Gazette notificationspublishing Act No. 27 of 2020repealing the APCRDA andAct No. 20 of 2020 of the APDecentralisation and InclusiveDevelopment of All RegionsAct, 2020, just hours afterGovernor BiswabhushanHarichandan gave his assent tothe two Bills.

Though the two Bills willnow formally become law fol-lowing the Governor's assent,the YSRCP government willhave to clear legal hurdlesbefore it could finally make itsthree capitals plan a reality.

The issue is now pendingbefore the AP High Court.

In the Gazette, theGovernment informed thatthe Decentralisation Act willapply to the whole of the Stateof Andhra Pradesh. It

informed that the governmentshall demarcate the entire areaof the State into such numberof zones as many be notified bydefining the limits of suchzones.

The Gazette stated that toenable a decentralised model

of governance and to providean inclusive governance in theState there shall be three Seatsof Governance in the State ofAndhra Pradesh to called asCapitals. The Gazette definedthree Capitals as:

GRAVE SITUATION

Cremations double in Hyd due to Covid

PNS n HYDERABAD

The number of cremations incity graveyards has doubledsince the outbreak of Covid-19.Highly placed sources in thegovernment pointed out that‘as a precautionary measure’even non-corona victims werebeing cremated as per Covid-19 norms.

Once a patient succumbs tocoronavirus, the death auditreport committee reviews thecause of the death and reportsit to the government on adaily basis. Sources said, "InTelangana, even if a patient isinfected with coronavirus, buthas comorbidities, the deathsare registered as co-morbidcondition. Only if the persondies due to breathing problems

and is infected with the virus,the audit committee registers itas Covid-19 death. This Covid-19 death is reported in the

health bulletin." Sources said that the immu-

nity of a person with co-mor-bidities becomes impaired

because of which they getinfected by Covid-19. The rea-son for death in such cases can-not be attributed to Covid-19as the underlying co-morbid-ity may have caused the issuein the first place.

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

About 81% of people are bliss-fully unaware so to speak thatthey have Covid-19.

Health Minister EatalaRajender said that 81 per cent ofpeople are unaware of beinginfected by coronavirus, withoutsymptoms, but are getting cured.

Speaking at Khammam,Eatala said “I have beenobserving this coronavirusclosely for over four months.Today, we are putting outnumbers of lakhs of tests ineach state, 81 per cent don’thave symptoms and remainunaware. Once they realise,they are being cured underhome isolation. Only 14% areshowing symptoms. Only 5 percent are serious who are neg-ligent towards or those whose

immune system is suppressed.Even these people can be curedif they visit hospital at earliest.”

Minister Eatala Rajendersaid that Telangana was next toKerala and Tamil Nadu in thefield of medicine. The Ministerappreciated doctors and sani-tation workers in the state fortheir commitment to service

during the corona times. Hepraised government doctorsworking in Khammam.

The Minister held a reviewwith district officials inKhammam city on Friday.Eatala said it was the respon-sibility of the government toinstill courage in people. "Weare working for it."

Centre’s positionon GST payoutrude jolt to Statesn Telangana govt set to lose Rs 14,000 cr this fiscal year

KCR Govt has unleashed terroragainst Dalits, alleges UttamPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) president& Nalgonda MP Capt. N.Uttam Kumar Reddy hasalleged that the TRSGovernment, headed by ChiefMinister K. ChandrashekharRao, has unleashed terroragainst Dalits across the State.

Addressing media personson Friday, Uttam Kumar Reddysaid several incidents of atroci-ties, violence and injustice againstDalits had surfaced in Telanganain the last two-three days. The'horrifying' incidents had sent

shockwaves among people notonly belonging to Dalit commu-nities, but also Girijans,

Backward Classes, minoritiesand other weaker sections.

Gold worth Rs 1.66 crseized from 11 airpassengers in Hyd PNS n HYDERABAD

Smuggled gold weighing 3.11kg and valued at Rs 1.66 crorewas seized at the internation-al airport here from 11 pas-sengers, Customs officialssaid on Friday.

According to Customs offi-cials, the passengers,whoarrived here fromDammam(in Saudi Arabia) by a VandeBharath Mission flight onThursday had "concealed thegold" (bars) in the innerpocket of their trousers whichthey were wearing.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

At least ten alcohol addicts,including three beggars, diedafter allegedly consumingsanitiser as an alternativeto liquor in a villageunder COVID-19lockdown inPrakasam districtof AndhraPradesh, policesaid on Friday.

The victims ofKurichedu villagehad been drinking sani-tiser for the past few days,mixing it with water and softdrinks, Prakasam districtSuperintendent of Police

Siddharth Kaushal told PTIover phone.

Two people died onThursday night and the othereight since Friday morning,

the SP, who visited the vil-lage where liquor out-

lets are also closedfor the past fewdays due toe x t e n d e dCOVID-19 lock-down, said.

"We are investi-gating whether the

sanitiser had any othertoxic content. We have sent thestocks for chemical analysis,Kaushal said.

10 people die after consumingsanitiser in Andhra village

n The two Bills werepassed only by theLegislative Assemblytwice, first on January20 and next on June 16and were not clearedby the LegislativeCouncil.

n The issue is nowpending before the AP HC.

n Though the two Bills will

now formallybecome law,the govt willhave to clearlegal hurdles

before its 3 capitals plan

become a reality.

VisakhapatnamExecutive Capital

Amaravati

Kurnool

Legislative Capital

Judicial Capital

81% people are unaware ofCovid infection: Eatala

I have beenobserving this

coronavirus closely overpast 4months. Today weare putting out numbersof lakhs of tests in eachstate, 81percent don’thave symptoms andremain unaware.

— EATALA RAJENDER

Health Minister

Sonu Sood comes to rescue of 3 orphaned children PNS n BHONGIR

After having helped a dalitfarmer in Chittoor district ofAndhra Pradesh with a newtractor and Software Sarada ofWarangal in Telangana with anew job, Sonu Sood, whochooses to be a GoodSamaritan in real life, has nowcome forward to helporphaned children inAtmakuru mandal of Bhongirdistrict.

A couple living inAtmakuru, Satyanarayana andAnuradha, left behind threechildren.

Satyanarayana died a yearago due to ill-health. After hisdeath, Anuradha used to dosmall jobs to support the fam-ily. As fate would have it, shedied a week ago due to ill-

health, forcing the children tofend for themselves. The eldestson in the family now takescare of his younger brother andsister.

Moved at the plight of the

children, Rajesh Karanamposted the matter onTwitter and tagged SonuSood. The actor actedimmediately responded,saying that the three chil-dren would no longer beorphans. He offered totake the kids underhis wings.

Sonu Sood has

previously helped thousandsof stranded migrant work-ers, hundreds of nursesreach their native placesduring the lockdown andthereafter. He was also

instrumental in helpingIndians stranded

in other coun-tries get backhome.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The opinion expressed byAttorney General of India KKVenugopal that there is noobligation on the part of theCentre to pay the GST com-pensation shortfall to statesand that it is for the GSTCouncil to decide on ways tomake good any shortfall hascome as a rude jolt toTelangana government, whichhas been reeling under severefinancial crisis from the begin-ning FY 2020-21.

The TS government faced Rs4,000 crore revenue shortfalldue to lockdown in April andMay, at the rate of Rs 2,000crore per month, for which ithad sought GST compensationfrom the Centre. Upon easingof lockdown restrictions, itlost Rs 2,000 crore in June andJuly additionally, at the rate ofRs 1,000 crore per month. TheFinance Department estimat-ed that the state governmentwould lose another Rs 8,000crore in the next eight months,

if the trend continues, takingthe total losses to Rs 14,000crore in the current fiscal year.

The Centre too is facingsevere financial crisis. So, ithad sought the AG's legalopinion on its liability to paycompensation to States inview of the drastic shortfallthis fiscal.

Upon easing oflockdownrestrictions, it lostRs 2,000 crore inJune and Julyadditionally, at therate of Rs 1,000crore per month.

Sonu Sood, the reel-life villain who hasoutdone fictional heroes in real life with hisaltruistic initiatives at huge personal cost,has now offered to take three orphaned TSkids under his wings

KCR not cooperating with Centreto solve water rows: Bandi PNS n HYDERABAD

Karimnagar MP andTelangana BJP chief BandiSanjay Kumar hasalleged that state ChiefMinister KChandrasekhar Raois not cooperatingwith the Centre whenit comes to resolvingwater disputes betweenTelangana and AndhraPradesh states.

Bandi Sanjay told the mediahere that Telanganga State had

been getting only 200 tmc ofwater instead of 500 tmc fromthe Krishna river due to the

negligent attitude of KCR."He has no sincerity in

protecting the peo-ple of Telanganga.KCR is filling hiscoffers in the nameof redesign of pro-

jects with commis-sions. KCR and (AP

CM) Jagan are looting theTelugu States with internalagreement.

n PEOPLE IN DISTRICTS DON'T WANT BODIES TO BE SENT BACKn In TS, if a patient isinfected with coronavirus,but has comorbidities, thedeaths are registered as dueto co-morbid condition

n In other states,irrespective of co-morbidities, if the person isinfected with Covid-19, it isreported as Covid-19 death

PNS n CHANDIGARH

At least 38 people have diedin several districts of Punjaballegedly after consumingtoxic liquor, prompting ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh toorder a high-level probe.Eight accused have beenarrested in the case.

A government statementsaid the deaths reportedlytook place in Amritsar, Batalaand Tarn Taran districts afterWednesday night.

38 dead in Punjabfrom toxic liquor

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}BUNNY TO BE

SEEN AS STUDENTLEADER IN

KORATALA'S NEXT?1

{

Mukesh Ambanicalls for urgentpolicy steps to doaway with 2G

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HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | AUGUST 1, 2020 hyderabad 02

EGG RATES

` 55,610 (10 gm)

290

GOLD

` 63,000 (1kg)

` 33,050

HYDERABAD 320

VIJAYAWADA 372

VISAKHAPATNAM 367

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `33..3300

SILVER

HYDERABAD

BULLION RATES

`//110000

CHICKEN RATES

Dressed/With Skin `151

Without Skin `172

Broiler at Farm `104

`//KKGG

(IN HYDERABAD)

DISCOMS TOLD TO PREPAREREPORTS ON ARREARSPNS n HYDERABAD

As per the directions of ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao, Chief Secretary SomeshKumar held a meeting with theDiscoms, Municipal andPanchayat Raj officials toresolve issues pertaining to thepayment of electricity bills.

Chief Secretary directed thatall the gram panchayats andmunicipalities should pay thecurrent month power billsevery month. Any deviationswill be viewed seriously.Arrears will be separated anda decision on payment for thesame will be taken up later.

He asked the Discoms toprepare a detailed report onarrears within seven days duly

reconciling the figures with thegram panchayats and munic-ipalities. Detailed report andoptions regarding arrearswould be presented shortlybefore the Chief Minister to

take policy decision on arrearsrelated to local bodies.

Joint teams of Discoms,gram panchayats and munic-ipality officials should be con-stituted to resolve discrepan-

cies in bills such as thoserelating to borewells etc. ChiefSecretary directed that 100per cent bills shall be generat-ed by Discoms based onmeter readings only. Metersshould be fixed where ever ithas not been done within onemonth.

Principal SecretaryMunicipal AdministrationArvind Kumar, SecretaryPanchayat Raj Sandeep KumarSultania, Secretary MunicipalAdministration SudershanReddy, CommissionerPanchayat Raj RaghunandanRao, Director MunicipalAdministration SatyanarayanaCMD SPDCL RaghumaReddy and other officialsattended the meeting.

‘Modi govt ensured gender equality among Muslims'PNS n NEW DELHI

Triple talaq was given 'politi-cal patronage' by 'merchants ofvote bank', and it was theNarendra Modi governmentthat made it a criminal offencethus bolstering self-relianceand self-confidence amongMuslim women, MinorityAffairs Minister MukhtarAbbas Naqvi said on Friday.

Addressing Muslim womenfrom across the country via avideo link at an event markingthe first anniversary of theMuslim Women (Protection ofRights on Marriage) Act, 2019,Naqvi said after the enactmentof the law, triple talaq caseshave come down drastically.The Modi government is com-mitted to political empower-ment and not 'politicalexploitation', he said. UnionLaw Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad and Union Minister forWomen and ChildDevelopment Smriti Irani alsoaddressed the Muslim womenon the occasion.

Naqvi said August 1 is theday on which Muslim womenwere freed from the socialevil of triple talaq and it hasbeen recorded in the country'shistory as 'Muslim Women'sRights Day'. In an apparent dig

at the Congress, Naqvi saidtriple talaq or 'talaq-e-biddat'was "neither Islamic, nor legal",but despite that, the socialevil was given "political patron-age" by "merchants of votebank".

The law against triple talaqcould have been passed in the1980s when the SupremeCourt had given a historicjudgement in the Shah Banocase, he said. "The Congresshad an absolute majority inParliament with more than400 out of 545 Lok Sabhamembers and more than 159out of 245 members in theRajya Sabha. But the RajivGandhi government used itsstrength in Parliament to makethe Supreme Court judgementineffective and deprive Muslimwomen of their constitutional

and fundamental rights," hesaid.

The Modi governmentmade the law against tripletalaq to make the SupremeCourt's judgement effective,Naqvi said. "A year has gone bysince the law against tripletalaq was passed and there isabout 82 per cent decline intriple talaq cases thereafter. Ifany such case was reported,action was taken under thelaw," Naqvi said.

At the event, Law MinisterPrasad and Women and ChildDevelopment Irani along withNaqvi addressed Muslimwomen from several citiesincluding New Delhi, GreaterNoida, Lucknow and Varanasi,Jaipur, Mumbai, Bhopal,Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu'sKrishnagiri.

August 1 is the dayon which Muslimwomen were freed

from the social evil of tripletalaq and it has beenrecorded in the country'shistory as 'Muslim Women'sRights Day'

— MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI,

MMiinnoorriittyy AAffffaaiirrss MMiinniisstteerr

TS reports 1,986 new cases, 14 deathsPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana reported 1,986 newCovid-19 cases, the highest sin-gle day spike so far, taking thetally of positive cases in thestate to 62,703. With 14 moredeaths, the coronavirus toll inthe state rose to 519, a stategovernment bulletin said onFriday, providing data as of 8pm on July 30.

While the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC), thehotbed of the virus spread inthe state, continues to report ahigh number of cases, there hasbeen a significant rise in thenumber of cases being report-ed from different districts,including Ranga Reddy,

M e d c h a l - M a l k a j g i r i ,Sangareddy, Warangal Urbanand Karimnagar.

Out of the 1,986 fresh cases,586 were from the GHMC, fol-lowed by Medchal-Malkajgiri(207) and Ranga Reddy (205)districts, the bulletin said. The

other districts which reporteda substantial number of casesinclude Warangal Urban (123),Karimnagar (116) andSangareddy (108). The casefatality rate in the state was 0.82per cent, while it was 2.20 percent at the national level, it said.

As many as 45,388 peoplehave recovered from the infec-tion so far, while 16,796 wereunder treatment.

The recovery rate was 72.3per cent in the state, while itwas 64 per cent in the country.The number of individuals inhome/institutional isolationwas 10,632. The number ofasymptomatic cases (of thoseunder home isolation) was 84per cent, it said. The bulletinsaid 21,380 samples were test-ed on July 30, the highest in asingle day so far. Cumulatively,4,37,582 samples have beentested. Talking about age andgender wise COVID-19 posi-tive details, it said 65.6 per centwere male, while 34.4 per centwere female.

There has been an inor-dinate focus, and right-ly so, on acquiring the

hardware (e.g. PPEs, testingkits) required for Covid-con-trol operations. Now, the focushas to shift to creating thesoftware.

In vector control opera-tions, the SIRA model(Survey, Information,Response, Appraisal) is wide-ly used. Basically, the SIRAensures that all breedingplaces are covered once everyseven days to ensure that allmosquitos are killed at the lar-vae stage.

At the same time high mos-quito density areas are iden-tified and control measuresundertaken.

All the localities aremapped and health workers

(e.g. Asha workers, pulse polioteams) conduct a daily house-hold survey.

Only targeted informationhelpful in developing aresponse to Covid-19 is col-lected. The first level of infor-mation relates to identifyingpeople with symptoms (e.g.body temperature, oxygenlevel using oximeters, cough)or morbidity (e.g. severe asth-ma, serious heart conditions,severe obesity, diabetes, kid-ney disease).

The best way to collectinformation is by using digi-tal tools (e.g. ANMOLtablets); however, keeping in

view the differences in use ofdigital tools in states, paperforms could also be used.

Next, information is com-municated to an interdepart-mental command-and-con-trol centre (CCC). The CCCwould be established for alocality in urban/semi-urban

areas, or 200 villages in ruralareas. The CCC would besupervised by an officer notbelow the rank of a DeputyCollector. The CCC wouldensure that daily surveys areorganised, informationreceived and organised inusable form, action taken and

feedback obtained in order tomodify the response, on-the-fly.

The third step is to use the

information to develop a setof actions to achieve set tar-gets. Combining survey infor-mation with other sources ofinformation (e.g. via AarogyaSetu, social media) the CCCwould decide onindividuals/households orblocks of houses to be tested.On receiving the test results,the CCC would decide on thepatients to be sent to hospitalsor kept in home isolation. Incase of widespread infectionin a locality, either lockdownor lock-in of a block of hous-es would be enforced.

For these households doordelivery of essentials would be

organised through e-com-merce or other means. InCovid-free areas, the CCCwould carry out an awarenesscampaign to make peoplewear face masks, wash handsand maintain social distancingmeasures.

Multiple sources wouldprovide feedback to the CCC.Some of the well-knownsources are: social media, vol-unteers, press, health andother government workersand local organisations. Thefeedback would primarilyinform the CCC on the effi-cacy of their response andgaps in survey or information

flow. The constant feedbackwould enable the CCC tomodify its plans, real-time.

This local software is like-ly to connect people withpublic service providers andprovide incentive for citizenvigilance. People would takemore interest in Covid-controloperations as they recognisethe value of coherent andsystematic action where theirpreferences and demandscount. An army of Covid-19warriors would be recruited,leading to greater efficiencyand integrity of Covid-controloperations.

(Author has a PhD fromthe USA and a DLitt from

Kanchi University. The arti-cle is based on his researchand practice and views are

personal)

SAMEER SHARMA, IAS

Creating the local software for Covid control In vector control operations, the SIRA model(Survey, Information, Response, Appraisal) iswidely used. Basically, the SIRA ensuresthat all breeding places are covered onceevery seven days to ensure that allmosquitos are killed at the larvae stage

Harish assuresunemployedyouth of all helpPNS n SIDDIPET

Finance Minister T HarishRao has offered to providetraining for youth fromGangireddula community toget them employment andloans that would help themstart businesses.

He was participating aschief guest at the inaugura-tion of 36 double bedroomhouses at Nancharupally vil-lage in the district on Friday.While 20 were allotted topoor families fromGangireddula community,the remaining 16 were allot-ted to SC families. He said thegovernment will provide skillenhancement training toGangireddula communityyouth with the help of NACand will extend loans throughMBC Corporation to them.

Continued from page 1

Uttam Kumar Reddy saidthat a party delegation wouldsoon meet Governor Dr.Tamilisai Soundararajan onthe issue. A petition would alsobe filed with the NationalHuman Rights Commission.The Congress would explore alllegal and democratic means toget justice for Dalits, Girijansand other oppressed classes, hesaid.

Referring to the recent sui-cide by one B. Narasimhulu inGajwel constituency (repre-sented by CM), Uttam KumarReddy said that the Dalitfarmer was forced to commitsuicide as the TRS governmenthad taken away 13 guntas of hisland to construct Rythu Vedikabuilding. Before ending hislife, the Dalit farmer hadrecorded a selfie video explain-

ing the reasons for his extremestep. In that clip, he has namedthe local MRO, VRO, sarpanchand TRS leaders. Instead ofregistering a case against thoseresponsible for the suicide,TRS leaders were "shameless-ly trying to justify the famer'sdeath... The video should betreated as dying declarationand a case booked againstMRO, VRO, sarpanch andTRS leaders for abetment ofthe suicide, he said and warnedthat the Congress would notrest until a case was bookedagainst the culprits.

Uttam dismissed HarishRao's statement thatNarasimhulu's land was orig-inally taken away by the previ-ous Congress government fora sub-station. He said that theDalit farmer was in possessionof the entire land, which wasunder cultivation by several

generations of the family.Another Dalit man, K.

Narasimhulu, was run overby a lorry belonging to the ille-gal sand mafia inThirumalapur village ofRajapur mandal inMahabubnagar district. Hewas bumped off as he had con-fronted the illegal sand mafiaoperators for exploiting the vil-lage’s stream. Still, the localpolice had registered a case ofaccidental death so as to pro-tect the sand mafia backed byTRS leaders.

Girijans and Dalits inNerella, Sircilla were subjectedto third-degree torture by thepolice when they raised voiceagainst illegal sand mafiabacked by TRS MP and KCR'snephew

Santosh Reddy. No actionwas taken against the guiltypolice officials, despite confir-

mation that they had brutallytortured local Dalits andGirijans, Uttam said.

Citing other atrocities, hesaid a Dalit youth, Revuli Raja,was murdered at Mallaramvillage on July 6 allegedly by alocal TRS leader and his goons.He said Congress leaders,including him, were arrestedwhen they tried to visit the vil-lage to meet Raja's family.Another Dalit, SeelamRangaiah, died in a policelock-up in Ramgiri village ofManthani constituency. A Dalitwoman, Teku Laxmi, wasgang-raped and murdered inthe forest area of Yellapatar inLingapur mandal,Kumarambheem Asifabad dis-trict in November last year. Hedemanded a high level and fairprobe into all the incidents andstern action against the cul-prits.

KCR Govt has unleashed terror against...


The SP said illicitly-dis-tilled arrack was not involvedin the "sad incident".

The deceased were highlyaddicted to alcohol and itsnon- availability due toextended Covid-19 lockdownin Kurichedu forced them togo for sanitiser that had alco-holic content, police said.

Apart from the beggars,the other deceased were poorrickshaw pullers and hamalis,who had a hand-to-mouthexistence. Two beggars near atemple were the first to fall vic-tim on Thursday night.

While one of them wasfound dead at the spot, anoth-er died in the governmenthospital in nearby Darsi town,police said. A third person wasalso taken to the Darsi hospi-tal late on Thursday night afterhe fainted, but declaredbrought dead. Another sevenseven, who fell ill after alleged-ly consuming sanitiser, suc-cumbed on Friday.A couple ofother persons, who also com-plained of some health prob-lems after drinking sanitiser,were undergoing treatmentand out of danger, the policeadded.


The AG, as chief legal officerof the Union government,made it clear that there is noobligation on the part of theCentre to compensate States.Now, the States are left with nooption but to go for additionalmarket borrowings. Thiswould mean further increase intheir debt burden and widen-ing of the fiscal deficit.

The GST compensation paidby the Centre this week for themonth of March 2020 came tothe rescue of all the cash-starved States in the country.On July 27, the Centre releasedRs 13,806 crore to all the States.Of this, Telangana got Rs 3,054

crore and Andhra Pradesh Rs3,028 crore. With this, the totalcompensation paid to all theStates by the Centre for FY2019-20 touched Rs 1,65,302crore. Now if the Centre sticksto its position that it is notobiged to compensate States,the latter will be deprived ofnearly Rs 2 lakh crore in FY2020-21, considering that everyState has suffered huge revenuelosses due to lockdown and thattoo at a time when States aremore dependent than everbefore on devolution of fundsfrom the Centre. Though theCentre announced AtmaNirbhar Scheme, it has nothingto offer States in terms of finan-cial aid, except for loans.


There is no response fromKCR even though Jagan is try-ing to open Pothireddypadutenders in the first week ofAugust," he alleged. Accordingto Sanjay, KCR has soughtpostponement of the ApexCouncil meeting at the behestof Jagan. "KCR is behaving likea mute spectator when

Telangana is going to experi-ence injustice. Why is KCR notwriting any letter to the Centrewhen Jagan is inviting ten-ders?" he asked.

Urging the Centre to do jus-tice to the state as per thebifurcation act, he said: "Wewill try to stop the tenderprocess in case the chief min-isters fail to respond to theApex Council by August 5."

38 dead inPunjab fromtoxic liquorContinued from page 1

The first five deathswere reported fromMucchal and Tangra vil-lages in Amritsar'sTarsikka on July 29, policesaid.

On Friday, five peopledied in Batala; four fatal-ities were reported fromTarn Taran.

Chief Secretarydirected that allthe grampanchayats andmunicipalitiesshould pay thecurrent monthpower bills everymonth. Anydeviations will beviewed seriously


About 53.87 per cent of thetotal deaths reported in stateso far are said to be co-mor-bid, while 46.13 per cent areCovid-19 deaths. However,this is not the way it is report-ed in other states,where, irre-spective of co-morbidities, ifthe person is infected withCovid-19, it is reported asCovid-19 death. Once theaudit committee clears thecause of the death, the policeand GHMC are informed todo the formalities.

Sources said that patient'sattendants are scared theymight be infected with Covidor the attendants themselvesmay have to be quarantined.Some of them are not eventurning up for identificationof the body, let alone crema-tion.

This apart, dead bodies arepiling up, especially amongcases referred from districts.For, regardless of the cause ofdeaths, people from districtsdon’t want the bodies to besent back due to stigma. Thishas stretched the existinginfrastructure in the city.

The state government hassaid that cremation of bodiesat ESI crematorium was dueto lack of transport fromGHMC. Health MinisterEatala Rajender recently saidthat 250 of 1,000 deaths inTelangana are in Hyderabad.

Now, AP Capital divided...Continued from page 1

(i) Amaravati MetropolitanRegion Development Area(hereinafter referred to asAmaravati) to be called as the'Legislative Capital' . (ii)Visakhapatnam MetropolitanRegion Development Area(hereinafter referred to asVisakhapatnam) to be called asthe 'Executive Capital'. (iii)Kurnool Urban DevelopmentArea (hereinafter referred to asKurnool) to be called as the'Judicial Capital'. The threeregions would be construed by

the notifications issued underthe provisions of the AndhraPradesh Metropolitan Regionand Urban DevelopmentAuthorities Act, 2016.

The Gazette further statedthat the seat of Legislatureshall be at the LegislativeCapital of Amaravati. The RajBhawan, Secretariat andOffices of the Heads of theDepartments of Governmentshall be located at theExecutive Capital ofVisakhapatnam.

The Seat of all State JudicialInstitutions established under

State legislations, under theGovernment shall initiate stepsto seek relocation of thePrincipal Seat of High Court ofAndhra Pradesh to the JudicialCapital of Kurnool and for theconstitution of benches of theHigh Court of Andhra Pradeshin accordance with the proce-dure prescribed under the APReorganisation Act, 2014.

The two Bills were passedonly by the LegislativeAssembly twice, first onJanuary 20 and next on June 16and were not cleared by theLegislative Council.


Based on suspicion andprofiling of the passengers,cases were booked against 11passengers for allegedly"smuggling" ofgold and theywere being questioned.

In another case, Customsin coordination with CISFdetected five passengers whowere trying to smuggle outsandalwood and a total of78.5 kg of sandalwood wasseized from them at the air-port on Thursday.

Cremationsdouble in Hyd...

Gold worth Rs1.66 cr seized ...

KCR not cooperating with...

10 people dieafterconsuming...

Centre's position onGST payout rude...


IN BRIEFIN BRIEF

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Raoon Friday conveyed greetings to the

Muslim community on the eve of Bakrid(Id-Ul-Zuha). In a message, the ChiefMinister has stated that it's a festival ofsacrifice and reminds everyone to followthe noble teachings of the prophet andimbibe the spirit of sacrifice,compassion and tolerance for fellowbeings during these days of Covid-19.Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also extended her greetings tothe people of Telangana on the eve of Bakrid. The Governorappealed to all to celebrate the festival safely by staying homeand taking all necessary precautions against Covid-19.

CM, Governor extendBakrid greetings

Due to the Pandemic, many educationalinstitutions have been looking at

online/digital classes for the students asnew medium of education. To ensure theeducation of vocational intermediatestudent goes on uninterrupted, the TSBIEis looking at producing digital content forthe students. In a letter to theCommissioner of Intermediate Education,Syed Omer Jaleel, has requested the

District Intermediate Education Officers to nominate two subjectexperts, district wise, from each course before August 3. The stephas been taken as the department desires to prepare digital content(video lessons) of 22 vocational which they are offering and want toconstitute subject committee with subject experts from each course.

South Central Railway(SCR) has been

implementing an extensiveand well-planned strategy toefficiently utilise the currentsituation of reduced trainmovements to give longterm benefits to the rail passengers. It identified some long-pendingbridge repair work which requires strengthening. As a result, work wascarried out over a record number of 23 bridges during April-June 2020.The selection of bridges was also done meticulously so that the bridgesfalling in the key and congested sections were given prime importance.Some of the bridges that were repaired are the bridges over Kazipet-Vijayawada section, Kacheguda-Dhone section, Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam section and Nadikudi-Macherla section. Gajanan Mallya,General Manager, SCR, has appreciated the efforts of the staff.

The Society for Cyberabad SecurityCouncil (SCSC) conducted a virtual

Orientation-cum-Interactive meeting ofInfra and Developers with CyberabadPolice Commissioner and SCSCChairman VC Sajjanar on Friday. Thecontent setting of the meeting was doneby forum leader Srikanth Badiga followedby the address of Sajjanar, who thankedthe Infra and Developers community for

their support by donating groceries, safety kits, meals, etc., and thesupport extended during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said thoughSCSC started with the Information Technology industry initially,collaboration with other industries also needed to improve safetyand security of the society. Later in the question and answersession, suggestions came in about promoting the publictransportation, organising blood donation camps in residentialcommunities, etc., to which the commissioner responded positively.

Digital content forvocational Inter students

SCR completes bridgestrengthening work

SCSC conducts virtualinteractive meet

Auto-rickshaw driversstruggling to meet endsPNS n HYDERABAD

Two months after the Delhigovernment relaxed restric-tions amid coronavirus out-break, auto drivers in the citystruggle to keep afloat as theyface weak demand and finan-cial pressure. They rue thatvery few people are steppingout and availing their services,while private financiers areforcing them to pay back theloans taken by them to buy thevehicles. With people still keep-ing indoors due to the coron-avirus scare, autorickshaw dri-vers are finding passengerswith much difficulty thesedays. Most of these drivers arefinding it hard to survive.

With the alleged harass-ment of the financiers, who arenot hesitating to seize theirauto-rickshaws, many left fortheir villages and bouncedback and landed in Hyderabadas they find no work there also.For want of business, theydefaulted payment of EMIs tofinanciers. There are 1.4 lakhautorickshaws in GHMC lim-its. Daily, 8-10 lakh people usethe three-wheeler services.

The public transport hascome to a standstill and peo-ple are only using private trans-port. Autos, buses, MMTS and

train services are also affecteddue to the virus. Because of thevirus, people are hesitating touse autorickshaws and cab ser-vices. Schools and colleges andother educational institutionshave remained closed, rob-bing the autowallahs of theirbusiness.

While people are apprehen-sive of contracting the virus ifthey board autorickshaws, theautowallahs are also appre-hensive of contracting the virusfrom people. A driver whoused to earn anywhere betweenRs 800 and Rs 1000 per day isnow currently earning Rs 200

a day is doubtful.Paying house rents and sup-

porting families have becomedifficult. Besides, the harass-ment of financiers is unbear-able, says an autorickshaw dri-ver Sankar of Adikmet.Another driver Ramulu ofECIL says that he and otherdrivers are afraid of bringingout the three-wheeler onto theroads for fear of contracting thevirus. But, it is inevitable.Otherwise, families of driverswould have to starve. Heexpressed concern overfinanciers seizing the autorick-shaw. Generally speaking,

when bandhs are observedbuses will go off the road. Thenpeople will patronise autorick-shaws. Because of theCoronavirus, there are no citybuses playing, but people arealso hesitating to use autorick-shaws. The increasing numberof cases of virus is prohibitingthe people to step out of theirhomes. Even if the governmentasked the private financiers tostop recovery of loans, they arebehaving high-handedly withautorickshaw drivers and seiz-ing the vehicles, A Satti Reddy,Telangana auto-rickshaw dri-vers' association said.

Coal mafia gangbusted; 8 arrestedPNS n HYDERABAD

Officials of the SpecialOperations Team (SOT), LBNagar Zone along with theIbrahimpatnam Police nabbedeight persons who wereinvolved in the adulteration ofcoal by mixing the inferiorquality coal with the highgrade consignment beingimported from South Africaand Australia, as well as withthe coal from Singareni col-lieries. Officials seized valuablesworth Rs 1.62 crore from them.

The arrested were identifiedas Gunde Raju (38), KatravathSoma (33), Challa AmarenderReddy (33), Kurathala Mallesh(27), Nizamuddin (25), ErukalaAnjaiah (50), Sagarala Satyam(28) and Rizwan (20). Fourother persons, UttampalliLaxman (38), Ameer

Mohammad, UmakondaPurshotham Reddy (36),Karunakar Reddy and RamReddy are absconding, saidthe Police. During the earlyhours of Friday, officials raid-ed both the coal yards andapprehended the arrestedaccused. Efforts are on toapprehend the absconding, thepolice said. Officials seized1,050 tonnes of coal, 700 tonnesof coal ash, cash, land moversand JCBs and other evidence,all worth Rs 1.62 crore.

They rue thatvery few peopleare stepping outand availingtheir services,while privatefinanciers areforcing them topay back theloans taken bythem to buy thevehicles

The policeseized valuablesworth Rs 1.62 crfrom theirpossession

Covid worries spike demand for used vehiclesPNS n HYDERABAD

The demand for second handcars is on the rise across thecountry as the people are stillnot ready to take public trans-port. The demand for secondhand cars, which was 19 percent prior to lockdown, hasalmost doubled to 37 per centin the post-lockdown situation,according to a sample surveyconducted by Cars 24.

The organisation surveyed100 dealers in metropolitancities and over 10,000 cus-tomers and concluded thatpeople are inclined to use ofpersonal transport. People arenot prepared to travel by buses,Metro Rail, shared cabs, carpooling, local trains and so on.

On one hand the demandfor used cars has increased, buton the other the market fornew cars slumped from 81per cent to 63 per cent. The

demand for used cars, of allmetro cities, is more inBengaluru. The second handmarket in the garden city hasincreased by 81 per cent. Delhiranked second with 35 per centgrowth in demand. Hyderabadranked number three with 10per cent hike in demand. Pune

figured at the other end of thespectrum with only 5 per centdemand.

Many people are opting tobuy used cars, rather thanused two wheelers, as the carsare safer to travel on highways.The survey identified thatmany prefer to buy cars in the

price range between Rs 2 and5 lakh. The car brands popu-lar with second hand car buy-ers are Maruti Swift, WagonR,Volks Wagon, Hundai i 10 andI 20 cars. Those who are usingpublic transport hitherto onaccount of pollution and traf-fic congestion are preferring to

use private transport. The used cars business is

picking up both online andoffline. Services like contactlesssales, door-step test drives,online documentation and dig-ital payments, free ownershiptransfer, testing the car condi-tion, easy finance at low inter-est rate are being offered towoo intending buyers.

Meanwhile, automakersindeed are making the most ofthe opportunity. Tapping intothe accelerated demand forused cars, major automakersare now doubling down onorganising this market and areprocuring vehicles not just oftheir won brand, but others aswell. Volkswagen, for instance,said it is already selling as manyused cars as new ones amid thepandemic -- a first for them inthe country -- and the compa-ny hopes to double its used carsales this fiscal.

Tapping intothe accelerateddemand forused cars,majorautomakers arenow doublingdown onorganising thismarket

ADDED ATTRACTION

In an attempt at making the ride along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) a pleasurableexperience, authorities concerned have taken-up series of measures including densetree plantation, lightning and landscaping

Traffic cops adviceagainst rash drivingPNS n HYDERABAD

The traffic officials ofCyberabad issued an advisoryagainst reckless driving, whichincludes driving without ahelmet, insurance, or licencse,after two people lost theirlives in road mishaps. Citinga case study, DCP of Trafficsaid that Hemalatha Rao diedin an accident at the MoosapetCcrossroads. She was on herway home from the flowermarket with her daughterPriyanka who was driving thescooty. However, she lost herbalance and rammed into alorry.

“While Priyanka was wear-

ing a helmet, her mother wasnot. When they fell on theroad, a rear wheel of the lorrywent over Hemalatha’s head.She died on the spot due to amajor head injury. Priyanka,who received minor injuries,is at a local hospital,” thepolice said.

In another incident, a 14-year-old boy lost his life in anaccident in front of theCyberabad PoliceCommissionerate on Friday.Citing these two incidents,the Cyberabad transportdeputy commissioner saidfamilies should not allowminors or those without alicence to drive.

Rising Covid casesimpact train occupancy PNS n HYDERABAD

As the Corona cases are on therise in Telugu states, peoplehave stopped using publictransport including trains. Assuch, the occupancy ratio of 23special trains introduced by theCentre in May this year hascome down to hardly 20,000travellers a day as against theprevious 25,000-30,000 per day.

As the Centre declaredUnlock 3.0, the people are notprepared to undertake travel.The lockdowns clamped insome cities for about week orfifteen has impacted the traintravel. The Secunderabad-Kolkata Howrah Express isbeing run up toBhubaneshwar. Recently, somemore train services have beencancelled. Two trains havebeen first introduced betweenBengaluru and Delhi andSecunderabad and Delhi for

the benefit of those strandedin places like Vijayawada,Hyderabad, Tirupati andVisakhapatnam and so on.Later, special trains have beenrun to places like Bengaluru,Delhi, Mumbai,Visakhapatnam, Tirupati andother areas. As such, 23 trainservices have been introduced.

Reservation system hasbeen introduced even for gen-eral bogies. Initially, thereused to be a waiting list up to100. As Covid cases are on therise in Telugu states since July,the people have stoppedundertaking travel.

In SCR, over 10.50-lakhcommute daily on 750-oddtrain services. About 220 trainservices are operated to vari-ous destinations fromSecunderabad alone. The SCRdaily income is put at Rs 12crore. Currently, it earns onlyRs 1 to Rs 1.5 crore.

Transport organisationsunhappy with authoritiesNAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

With very few people steppingout due to the pandemic, thetransport industry has taken ahuge hit. After reaching out tostate authorities for help, var-ious transport organisationsplan to stage a protest in fromof the RTA, Khairatabad, onAugust 4. The heads of varioustransport organisations held ameeting regarding the same.

"We have been trying to talkto the authorities concernedfor a while now. But every timewe reach out, the police blocksour way," says Shaik Salauddin,Chairman of Telangana StateTaxi and Driver JAC, adding,"Most drivers haven't been earn-ing anything for four months.No one from the gNvernmenthas even expressed their concernabout the matter. The state gov-

ernment keeps extending thedeadline for fines, taxes, insur-ance and other things, howev-er we need a waiver. We want totalk about our grievances to theTransport Commossioner, ifnot we will stage a protest."

Talking about the issues var-ious drivers are facing,Manchireddy Rajender Reddy,the Working President ofTelangana Lorry Owners'Association, says, "There arenearly 5 lakh 20,000 lorries inTelangana. The owners of these

vehicles haven't worked a dayfor the past four months.However, most of them wereasked to for insurance, whichranges between Rs 1 lakh to 1.5lakh. When they haven't earnedanything, how can they paysuch huge amount? Also, peo-ple who have already paid forthe insurance have their vehiclesparked at home. We demandthe government pays a mini-mum of Rs 7,500 to these dri-vers, so they can at least runtheir kitchen."

GHMC cracks downon illegal structuresPNS n HYDERABAD

GHMC Town Planning wingdemolished illegal structuresin Serilingampally Zone. Sofar, the Town planning wingdemolished 130 slabs of 30buildings from the last fourdays.

The special drive of demo-litions of illegal structures wastaken up from 27 July inSerilingampally Zone. Earlier,in the special drive, GHMChas demolished 29 unautho-

rised buildings in AyyappaSociety by deploying heavymachinery. To demolish theunauthorised buildings at pre-sent the GHMC is using gascutters, compressors. GHMCis also demolishing the addi-tional floor constructions,which are more than permit-ted. Further, GHMC appealedthe citizens not to buyillegal/unauthorised construc-tions and buy only those who gotGHMC construction permis-sions and occupancy certificates.

We have been trying to talk to theauthorities concerned for a whilenow. But every time we reach out, thepolice blocks our way, said ShaikSalauddin, Chairman of TelanganaState Taxi and Driver JAC

Sudanesenationals held withsandalwoodPNS n HYDERABAD

Five Sudanese nationals wereintercepted at Hyderabad'sRajiv Gandhi InternationalAirport on Friday while try-ing to smuggle sandalwood.According to officials, themen were part of a group thatwas travelling to Khartoum,Sudan, in a special reliefflight.

The officers of the CISFseized 78.5 kg of sandalwoodfrom them and handed theseized goods and the five per-sons to the Customs depart-ment for further investiga-tion. The CISF officersnoticed some suspiciousitems in their luggage duringa routine security check.While the passengers deniedthat they were carrying any-thing illegal, the officerssearched their baggage andfound sandalwood.

They had procured thesandalwood during their stayin the city and were planningto sell it in Sudan at a high-er price.

2 suspectsarrested for burglaryPNS n HYDERABAD

The Central Crime Station,LB Nagar along with thePahadishareef Police onFriday, apprehended two per-sons at Tukkuguda, who wereinvolved in burglary offences.Officials recovered valuablesworth Rs 5.60 lakh fromtheir possession.

The arrested were identi-fied as Shaik Riyaz Pasha(25), a resident ofMusheerabad and GamsariNazari (29), a native ofAssam residing at Barkas.Their associates, MurjalaRaju (32), a resident ofBorabanda and MdAzharuddin (23), a residentof Musheerabad, were arrest-ed on July 7, while MdNazeer is absconding, saidthe Police.

The accused have con-fessed to their involvementin 15 burglary cases acrossvarious police station limitsof the tri-commissioneratearea since December 2019.Pasha was previouslyinvolved in 18 propertyoffences while GamsariNazari was involved in 16cases. Police said that Nazeerused to recee the target area,a day before committingoffences. On the day of theplan, the gang used to meetat Aramghar cross roadswhere they consume liquorand then proceed to burglehouses.


Many in race for BJPstate committee posts PNS n HYDERABAD

There are many contenders in the BJP for the statecommittee posts. Therefore, the BJP state unit pres-ident Bandi Sanjay asked the national committeeto take steps to fill the posts. Bandi Sanjay calledon national president JP Nadda twice on Wednesdayand Thursday and furnished him names of con-tenders in the state BJP for various posts.

He urged the national committee to appointleaders on the committee without giving anyroom for controversies and discontentmentamong the party leaders. JP Nadda was report-ed to have remarked, "Let us see." The BJP hasreduced the number of office-bearers to 8 fromthe previous 11 in the state committee.

The number of general secretary posts has beenreduced to three from the previous four. Thenumber of posts has come down, but the num-ber of aspirants increased, putting pressure on thestate leadership of the party. The BJP leaders areof the view to accommodate the leaders, whocould not find find a berth in the state commit-tee, in other committees.

Many towns take tough stepsto contain spread of Covid-19K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Since the past few days, thestate has been registering risein Corona positive cases.Following this, many townsacross the state have opted self-imposed lockdown. While thebusiness community is volun-tarily closing their establish-ments to check the spread ofcoronavirus, residents of a vil-lage have decided to impose aself-lockdown.

Towns like Wyra inKhammam district,Miryalaguda in Nalgonda dis-trict announced self-lockdown.In Wyra, owners of businessestablishments have decided toclose their shops till August 9.Taking cue, residents ofMiryalaguda, includingParboiled and steam mills haveopted for self-imposed lock-down. The decision was takenafter some police personnel andlocal MLA N Bhaskar Raotested positive for Coronavirus.

Few days ago, towns likeTandur, Vikarabad, Pargi,Shadnagar in erstwhile RangaReddy opted self lockdown.

However, Chevelle and fewother mandal head quarters areobserving half day lockdown.It may be recalled that RangaReddy has been recording risein positive cases after GHMC.

From just about 100 cases inJune, the rate at whichRangareddy district is addingCovid-19 cases is alarming.Officials attribute the risingnumber of cases to the increasein movement of people. Inareas like Shankarpally, peoplehave undertaken voluntarylockdown. Even people ofMokila have resorted to volun-

tary lockdown in view ofincreasing cases.

Known for Industries andrealty, parts of Rangareddy fallunder GHMC limits. The areaswhich are close to Hyderabadlike Serilingampally,Manikonda, Sivarampally,Mansoorabad are adding morecases. Coronavirus cases havebeen increasing in non-GHMCparts of the district as well.

The Health Department hasalso flagged an alarm over therapid increase in cases in erst-while districts of Telangana. Thelocal authorities in these towns

are also urging people not tocome out of their residences tillthe self lockdown ends. Theyalso advised people to takenecessary precautions if theystep out of their residences. Itmay be recalled that Hyderabadhas witnessed an exodus ofsorts, with many choosing toleave for their home districts toavoid being stranded if a lock-down is imposed. Among thosethat packed their bags and leftwere several self-employedtechnicians working asplumbers, electricians, carpen-ters, and painters in city.

While the businesscommunity isvoluntarily closing theirestablishments tocheck the spreadof corona,residents of avillage havedecided to imposea self-lockdown

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Congress party on Fridayheld protests across TelanganaState against the demolition oftwo mosques and a temple inthe Secretariat. Led byTelangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) MinoritiesDepartment chairman ShaikAbdullah Sohail, the Congressleaders held

demonstrations after Fridayprayers. "Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has com-mitted a heinous crime byordering the demolition ofplaces of worship in theSecretariat just to satisfy hissuperstitious beliefs. He hasshown utter disrespect to thefeelings of not only Muslimsand Hindus, but everyone whobelieves in the religion. He isacting as a ruthless ruler andnot as a democratically elect-ed leader," Abdullah Sohailsaid while speaking to mediapersons at Masjid-e-QutubShahi, in Hyderabad where heled the protest today.

Abdullah Sohail said thatthere was no question ofaccepting the Chief Minister'soffer for having a mosque ata different place in the newSecretariat. "It is part of our

religious belief that once amosque is constructed, then itremains a mosque ti l lQayamah and no one isauthorised or empowered tochange its status although itcan be expanded to improvefacilities or increase capacity.But there is no question ofpermanently shifting themosque to any other place," hesaid.

The Congress leader saidthat KCR's apology for thedemolition of places of wor-ship was fake and misleadingas the State Government hasrazed the entire Secretariat tothe ground without leavingany signs of two mosquesand one temple. The ChiefMinister tried to give theimpression that some damagewas caused to places of wor-

ship due to the demolition ofother structures in theSecretariat. He said that CMhas got habituated of cheatingthe Muslims.

"KCR came to power bycheating the Muslims on thepromise of giving 12 per centreservation in jobs and educa-tion. He secretly allied withthe BJP and supported alldecisions of Prime MinisterNarender Modi includingTriple Talaq Bill, NationalRegister of Citizenship (NRC)and CAA. He is now trying tocheat the Muslims on thedemolition of two mosques inthe Secretariat. He is under-estimating the anger of theMuslim community. Ourthree generations have foughtfor Babri Masjid for overseven decades,”he said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Since the past few days, Telanganahas been registering rise in Covidpositive cases. Scientists' andresearchers' across the world arestruggling hard to find out waysand means to control the spread ofthe pandemic.

To address this issue, with thesupport and encouragement ofProf D Dinakar, Head,Department of Physics, Dr DHaranath, an Associate Professorin Physics along with his researchscholar, P Chandar Rao havedeveloped a multi-purpose, chem-ical-free and safe sterilization sys-tem and named it as "OzoNIT".

This system just resembles thehousehold refrigerator in whichone can easily disinfect vegetables,fruits, packed food, milk packets,masks, cloths, wallet, cash, watch-

es, cell phones, ornaments, shoes,handbags, newspaper, parcels etc.

all in one go. With a click of abutton, the device produces 500mg of ozone gas in an hour fromambient air. Exposure of thesearticles under ozone gas for about20-25 minutes will kill all typesof viruses, fungi and bacteria upto 99.99 per cent without the useof any sterilizing chemicals. Thedesign of the chamber is madesuch that no leakage of the ozone

gas takes place while it is beingoperated.

Prof N V Ramana Rao, Director,NIT Warangal told the mediathat OzoNIT is much powerful,effective and superior to all UV-Cbased contemporary units avail-able in the market in making allthe articles fully virus-free. Afterthe ozone treatment, the vegetablesand fruits could be cooked/con-sumed without any fear ensuingthorough cleaning under tap water.There is no change in their qual-ity and taste, added the Director.Further, he emphasised that'OzoNIT' should become a part ofevery family, office and education-al institution for their dailyrequirement of disinfection andNIT Warangal is committed tolaunch this product into the mar-ket very soon through propermechanism and investors.

NIT-Warangal comes up withchemical-free sterilistion system

This system justresembles thehouseholdrefrigerator in whichone can easilydisinfect vegetables,fruits, packed foodand others

Cong holds state-wide protestagainst demolition of mosques

Youngsterstabs friend PNS n HYDERABAD

A youngster was stabbedmultiple times by his friendwith a sharp blunt weaponat Ghouse Nagar area ofChandrayangutta in the oldcity during the wee hours ofFriday. According to thepolice, the suspectShoukath, a resident ofGhouse Nagar and the vic-tim Mohammed recentlyhad a fight over some issueand Shoukath bore a grudgeagainst Mohammed, to theextent that he wanted toeliminate Mohammed.

Both were addicted tosubstance and alcohol,police said, adding thatthey had frequent argu-ments over the last fewdays . Of f ic ia ls saidShoukath met Mohammedto discuss about the matterand ended up arguing onFriday morning as well. Ina fit of rage, Shoukathstabbed Mohammed multi-ple times.

Mohammed was immedi-ately rushed to the OsmaniaGeneral Hospital, where hiscondition is said to be sta-ble. ChandrayanguttaInspector Rudra Bhaskarsaid a case was registeredand investigation was on.

Komatireddy holdsgovt responsible forDalit farmer's suicidePNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MP from Bhongir KomatireddyVenkat Reddy on Friday blamed the stategovernment for the death of Dalit farmer,Byagari Narsimhulu, who committed sui-cide by consuming pesticide. "The stategovernment deceived Dalits. The govern-ment promised that each landless Dalitfamily would be given 3 acres of land," healleged.

The MP demanded the government toinitiate action against the officials concernedfor the death of Narsimhulu. Komatireddydemanded the Chief Minister to tenderapologies to Dalits owning responsibility forthe attacks on them. He demanded theChief Minster to give three acre land andRs 50 lakh ex-gratia to the bereaved fami-ly. On the other hand, Komatireddy extend-ed Rs 1 lakh assistance through localCongress leaders.

Meanwhile, BJP senior leaderMothkupally Narsimhulu also blamed thestate government for the death of the Dalitfarmer. He made it clear that BJP will fighttill the bereaved family gets justice.

PV CENTENARY FETE

Govt launches dedicated website PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Government onFriday launched a dedicatedwebsite https://pvnr.telan-gana.gov.in as the platform toshowcase birth centenary cel-ebrations of former PrimeMinister PV Narasimha Rao.

MP and chairman of the PVNarasimha Rao CentenaryCelebrations Committee K.Keshava Rao launched thewebsite at Ravindra Bharathi.The website will serve as theone stop resource for all theinformation related to birthcentenary celebrations of theformer Prime Minister beingorganised by TelanganaGovernment.

Apart from the life journeyof the stalwart in Indian poli-tics and public administra-tion, all the events, schedules,registration forms, photos,videos, official handles ofsocial media, news, articles andGOs/ circulars related to the

centenary celebrations will bemade available on the website.

It may be recalled that theTelangana government hasdecided to hold year-long cel-ebrations marking the birthcentenary of PV NarasimhaRao starting 28 June, 2020 till28 June, 2021. The governmenthas also constituted "Sri PVNarasimha Rao CentenaryCelebrations Committee"under the chairmanship of KKeshava Rao.

MA&UD KT Rama Rao,son and daughter of PV

Narasimha Rao - PVPrabhakar Rao and SurabhiVani Devi respectively, ChiefAdvisor to government DrRajiv Sharma, Advisor to gov-ernment Dr. KV Ramanachary,chairman, Telangana OfficialLanguage CommissionDevulapalli Prabhakar Rao,Tourism & Culture Dept.Secretary Sreenivasa Raju,Director of Language &Culture Mamidi Harikrishnaand Director, Digital MediaKonatham Dileep were pre-sent.

KRMB urged torelease 37 TMC for TSPNS n HYDERABAD

The Engineer-in-Chief ofWater Resources Departmentof the Government ofTelangana has addressed aletter to the Krishna RiverManagement Board asking itto facilitate release of 37 TMCfrom Srisailam andNagarjunasagar projects tomeet water needs ofKalwakurti LI Scheme,Nagarjuna Sagar Left CanalProject, AMRP, MissionBhagiratha and drinking waterneeds of residents ofHyderabad.

The official was reported tohave urged the board to releasethe water along with 27 TMCallotted last year, which thegovernment of Telanganacould not use. A few days ago,the Government of AP alsourged the board for release of17 TMC from Handri-Neeva

and Potireddypadu project.The Board is likely to take

a decision on the issue in twoor there days. Meanwhile, theGovernment of AP urged theboard to get the release ofwater through Srisailam LeftCanal power house stalled. Italleged that the power utilitiesof Telangana are getting thewater released through hydelpower generation without per-mission from the board andinforming the Srisailam pro-ject authorities.

The government termedthe release of water was againstthe GO No.69 on release ofwater from Srisailam project.

Illegal sand mining goes uncheckedPNS n TIRMALPUR

Illegal quarrying of sand fromlake and river beds is goingunchecked and the vestedinterests looting the sand arenot even hesitating to assaultanyone who tries to resistthem. In Tirmalapur ofMahbubnagar district, death ofa farmer reported on Thursdaywas due to rash driving by thesand-laden tractor.

The official machinery reg-isters cases against thoseresponsible now and then andusually turns a blind-eye to thegoings on, it is alleged. As partof the new sand policy of thestate government, TelanganaState Mineral DevelopmentCorporaition is selling sandthrough online booking. Thesand is being quarried fromRiver Musi, River Godavari,River Krishna and their tribu-taries. Besides this, the DistrictCollectors are implementingsand taxi system to sell sand

quarried from local streams.During the summer, theTSMDC used to sell 40,000cubic meters of sand daily, butthe supply has come downbetween 8,000 and 12,000cubic meters a day on accountof the rainy season.

The illegal sand quarrying inRiver Musi at Jajireddy Gudemin Suryapet district has beengoing on unchecked for overtwo decades. In villages, in thevicinity of Maneru stream in

Sircilla district, illegal sandquarrying is going on. Localpeople's representatives andsand tractor owners formedinto a ring and smugglingsand to the districts ofRangareddy, Kamareddy andSiddipet districts.

In Malyal village of Mulugdistrict, the revenue officialsgave permission for sand quar-rying in lands of eight farmersbecause of sand casting. But thecontractor, taking advantage of

fake way bills and bar codes, issmuggling the sand to otherareas. The Ghatkesar Policeunearthed the fake way billscase leading to the arrest of sixpersons.

In Godavari River ofMahadevpur mandal ofBhupalapalli district, sand isbeing smuggled out from 28ghats as each lorry transport-ing sand fills one to two tonnesover and above its capacitycausing a dent to the govern-ment's revenue.

Daily at least 2,000 lorriestransport sand fromKaleswaram surroundingareas. Over speeding of the lor-ries caused the death of over 20during the past four years.Tractor owners, indulging inquarrying of sand inVenkatapur of Yellareddypetamandal of Sircilla district, onthe suspicion of one personacting as a police informerassaulted him inflicting griev-ous injuries to him.

Sri Ram Sagar Projectreceives good inflowsPNS n HYDERABAD

Sri Ram Sagar Project flood inflowsincreased on Friday due to heavyrains in Maharashtra and local catch-ment area in Telangana. On Fridayafternoon, the project received 19,283cusecs inflows and project obtain 17.5TMCft water in this rainy season.

Due to Balegaon, Amdura andVishnupuri projects reaching fullreservoir level and according to theSupreme Court orders, Maharashtrairrigation officials lifted the gates ofBabli project and releasing total floodinto river Godavari and these inflowsdirectly arriving into the SRSP project.

On this rainy season, SRSP projecttill now has received nearly 17.5TMCft water into the project, thisyear project already having 29.73TMCft water in the project andreleasing water to the vaanakalamcrops along SRSP ayacut andNizamsagar ayacut in Nizamabaddistrict.

On Friday morning, the projecthaving 8,464 cusecs inflows, but tillafternoon it obtained 19,283 cusecsinflows. Now, the SRSP project hav-ing 39 TMC’s of water storage andreleasing 6,000 cusecs to Kakatiyacanal, 800 cusecs to Saraswathi, 350cusecs to Lakshmi canals, 360 cusecsto Alisagar lift, 405 cusecs to Gutpalift irrigation scheme. Apart from that,430 cusecs are evaporation losses and142 cusecs of water releasing to theMission Bhagiratha scheme.

Eagle squad to be raisedto neutralise dronesPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana governmenton Friday issued an order giv-ing the Home Departmentpermission to raise a squad ofeagles for training them toneutralise drones duringVIP/VVIP visits and officialprogrammes. The order wasissued by the FinanceDepartment following arequest by the HomeDepartment on June 26 to beallowed to raise ‘Garuda’squad at the IntegratedIntelligence TrainingAcademy of Police atMoinabad on Hyderabadoutskirts.

The Finance Departmentalso gave permission toengage the services of tworesource persons as trainers

on contract basis. When thesquad is raised, the police ofTelangana will become thesecond force in the world touse this method of trackingunauthorised drones.Earlier, police of theNetherlands trained eaglesto take down drones amidconcerns that they wereincreasingly being used tocommit crimes.

Eagles were said to be apreferred lot to combatdrones because of theirsharp talons and equallysharp eyesight whichenabled them to pinpointand pluck a drone from thesky in a single and fastmanoeuvre. The Dutchpolice demonstrated theskills of eagles first in 2016.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | AUGUST 1, 2020 nation 05

SHORT READS

Nitish Kumar's rallypostponed in view ofCOVID-19 outbreakPATNA: A much-anticipatedvirtual rally of Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar nextweek, where he was expectedto sound the bugle forassembly polls, has been putoff for the time being, a topoffice-bearer of the rulingJanata Dal (United) said hereon Friday. In a statement, theparty's state unit presidentVashishtha Narayan Singh saidthe rally, scheduled for August7, has been postponed "in viewof the coronavirus pandemicand floods. Nearly four millionpeople in north Bihar have beenaffected by the floods causedby a rise in water levels ofrivers originating in Nepal. Afresh date for the virtual rallywill be decided in due course,the statement added. Seniorleaders of the party, of whichthe chief minister is the nationalpresident, had been busyholding orientation workshopsfor grassroots-level workersover video conferences for thepast two weeks.

Bengal Guv invokesSatyajit Ray in latestsalvo on Mamata govt

71 booked in tripletalaq cases in UP'sShamli in last one yearMUZAFFARNAGAR: Seventy-one people have been bookedand 62 arrested in triple talaqcases in Shamli district in thelast one year, police said onFriday. Shamli SP Vinit Jaiswalsaid 19 cases of triple talaqwere registered against 71people and charge sheets werefiled in 16 cases against 62people in courts. Duringinvestigation, nine out of 71people were found innocent,the SP added. The MuslimWomen (Protection of Rightson Marriage) Act prohibits thepractice of instant divorce byMuslim men. Any violation ofthe law is punishable by jailterm of up to three years.

KOLKATA: Alleging thatviolence and corruption havebecome a part of thegovernance in West Bengal,Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar hitout at Chief Minister MamataBanerjee's dispensation with areference to Satyajit Ray'spolitical satire 'Hirak RajarDeshe' as he completed a yearin office. Dhankhar, whose firstyear in office has been markedby frequent face-offs betweenRaj Bhavan and statesecretariat 'Nabanna', said Raywould never have imagined thatsimilar state of affairs wouldprevail in his own state WestBengal as is evident now."Violence, corruption andhegemony goondaism underpolice protection have becomea part of the governance; whatdo we call it, Hirak RajarDeshe?" Dhankhar said. 'HirakRajar Deshe' (In The Land ofDiamond King), which is a partof the popular 'Goopy GyneBagha Byne' trilogy, is a 1980Ray classic on the decayingstate of the administration andpublic welfare that is relevanteven in the present times.

K’taka may bring in law banningsale of tobacco, paan masala: CMPNS n BENGALURU

Karnataka may bring an ordi-nance to ban the sale of tobac-co, gutkha and paan masala inthe state over fears of drugs beingsold in paan masala pouches,Chief Minister B S Yediyurappatold Governor Vajubhai Vala onFriday. Yediyurappa along withHome Minister BasavarajBommai had called on theGovernor to discuss a host ofissues with him including drugs,crime and coronavirus cases inthe state.

During the discussion, theGovernor suggested to the ChiefMinister to ban the sale and dis-tribution of tobacco, Gutkha,Paan Masala and all types ofpouches in which in the name ofgutkha, drugs were sold in thestate, a statement from the

Governor's office said."The Chief Minister said that

the issue will be discussed andaction will be taken. If necessaryan ordinance will be broughtabout this," the statement read.

Recently, the Bengaluru policebusted a racket with the arrest offour persons from Kerala with amajor drug haul of Rs 1.25

crore from their hideout.These drugs were brought to

India in a clandestine mannerand sold to college students andyouth in Bengaluru and otherparts of the state. "The Governoralso sought to know about themeasures taken to contain thecoronavirus cases in the state andemphasised upon the usage ofAyurveda medicines to boostimmunity," Bommai toldreporters after meeting theGovernor.

Sources in the HomeDepartment said the Governoralso discussed with Yediyurappaand Bommai about the stepstaken by the government tocheck terrorist activities in thestate following the UnitedNations' recent report pointingtowards substantial presence ofIS supporters in Karnataka.

PNS n MUMBAI

Actor Rhea Chakraborty, whohas been accused by SushantSingh Rajput's family of abet-ting the actor's suicide, hasbroken her silence in the case,claiming "the truth shall pre-vail".

Rajput, who was datingChakraborty, was found deadat his Bandra residence onJune 14.

Over a month after the 34-year-old actor's death, hisfather lodged a police com-plaint in Patna on Tuesdayagainst Chakraborty.

In a video statementreleased through her lawyers,Chakraborty said she had faithin the judiciary.

"I have immense faith ingod and the judiciary. I

believe that I will get justice.Even though a lot of horri-ble things are being saidabout me on the electronicmedia, I refrain from com-menting on the advice of mylawyers as the matter is sub-judice. Satyamev Jayate, thetruth shall prevail,” the actorsaid.

Raj political crisis:

PNS n JAIPUR

Over 50 MLAs of the AshokGehlot camp, who were lodgedin a hotel on the Jaipur- DelhiHighway amid the ongoingpolitical crisis in Rajasthan,were being shifted to Jaisalmeron Friday, Congress sourcessaid. Three chartered flightscarrying 54 MLAs to Jaisalmertook off from here in the firstround. The remaining legisla-tors will go in the secondround, the sources said. “Weare going to Jaisalmer for achange,” Congress MLAPrashant Bairwa said. ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot is alsoexpected to go to Jaisalmer, theysaid. The decision to shift theMLAs come a day after Gehlotindicated that he will seek aconfidence vote when theassembly convenes next fort-night and claimed that themoney offered to the MLAs toswitch sides had increasedsharply ahead of the session.

54 Gehlot campMLAs on way toJaisalmer

Prez gifts racing bicycle to school boywho dreams of excelling as cyclistPNS n NEW DELHI

Riyaz, a budding cyclist and stu-dent of class 9 in the nationalcapital, got his 'Eidi' on Fridaywhen President Ram NathKovind gifted him a racingbicycle to help him achieve hisdream of becoming a world-class cyclist.

A student of Sarvodaya BalVidyalaya at Anand Vihar inDelhi, Riyaz originally belongsto Madhubani district in Bihar.

His family, comprising par-ents, two sisters and a brother,lives in Madhubani, while Riyazstays in a rented accommoda-tion in Maharajpur, Ghaziabad,according to a statement issuedby Rashtrapati Bhavan.

To supplement his father'spaltry income as a cook, the boyin his free time works in aneatery in Ghaziabad as a dish-washer, it said.

Riyaz's passion is cycling,and he practises hard after

studies and work. In 2017, hewon a bronze medal in theDelhi State CyclingChampionship. He went on toparticipate in a school gamesevent in Guwahati, according tothe District Magistrate,Ghaziabad, and achieved fourthrank at the national level. Thepresident came to know ofRiyaz's story of struggle throughreports in the media.

The boy has been takingprofessional training from coachPramod Sharma, who regular-ly trains him at the IndiraGandhi Indoor Stadium inDelhi. Unfortunately, Riyazhad to depend on a borrowedsports cycle for his practice, andall that the budding championwanted was a cycle of his own.His wish was finally granted onthe occasion of Eid.

‘Ram temple‘bhoomi puja'not requiredamid pandemic’PNS n MUMBAI

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS) chief Raj Thackeray onFriday said that the 'bhoomipujan' ceremony of the pro-posed Ram temple in Ayodhya,scheduled to be held on August5, is not required amid theCOVID-19 pandemic andcould be organised later whenthings normalised. He alsorejected Chief Minister UddhavThackeray's suggestion for "e-bhoomi pujan" and said theground-breaking ceremonyshould be held with great fer-vour. Speaking to a Marathinews channel, the MNS chiefsaid, "The bhoomi pujan is notrequired at this time as peopleare in a different mindset rightnow. It could have been heldafter two months when thingsnormalise. People would haveenjoyed the ceremony then."

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) on Friday inked a dealwith the KVIC to procure a vari-ety of 'swadeshi' and 'khadi'goods for around 10 lakh person-nel of the Central Armed PoliceForces. The force will procure1,200 quintals of mustard oilfrom the Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission (KVIC)with "a total financial implicationof over Rs 1.73 crore", an ITBPspokesperson said.

"A Memorandum ofUnderstanding was signedbetween the two sides on Friday.The aim is to increasingly pro-cure 'swadeshi' or indigenouslymade products," he said.

The MoU was signed byKVIC Chairman Vinai KumarSaxena and officials of the ITBPprocurement wing in Delhi.

The ITBP, a mountain-warfaretrained force for guarding the3,488-km-longs Line of Actual

Control (LAC) with China, is thefirst among the paramilitary orCAPFs to ink such a deal. Theother Central Armed PoliceForces are the CRPF, CISF, BSFand the SSB.

Home Minister Amit Shahhad declared few months agothat the CAPF canteens willonly sell 'swadeshi' or indigenousproducts from June. Apart frommustard oil, the ITBP is alsoprocuring durries (mats), towels

and blankets from the suppliersempanelled with the KVIC.

"Approximately 2.5 lakh dur-ries will be procured by ITBP ata cost of Rs 17 crore. The forceis the nodal agency for procure-ment of durries for all CAPFs,"the spokesperson said.

The ITBP has also suggestedthat yoga kits, hospital bedsheets, 'khadi' uniform, pickelsand some other items can be pur-chased for the CAPF jawans

through KVIC, a senior officialsaid. These items will also be soldto the personnel and their fam-ilies through the CAPF canteens.

These canteens, with a net-work of 1,700 stores, do an esti-mated business worth Rs 2,800crore annually by selling theirproducts to 50 lakh family mem-bers of about 10 lakh personnelof these forces tasked with a vari-ety of internal security work apartfrom border guarding duties.

ITBP inks deal with KVIC to procure‘swadeshi', ‘khadi' items for CAPF staff

PNS n MUMBAI

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput'sfriend has sent an e-mail toMumbai Police, alleging thatthe family members of the lateBollywood star pressurised himto give a statement against actressRhea Chakraborty, an officialsaid. The purported mail wassent by Rajput's friend SiddharthPithani on the official e-mailaddress of the Bandra Police onJuly 28, the official said.

"In the mail, Siddharth saidthat he received conferencecalls from the family membersof Rajput and an unknownnumber on July 22, in whichthey asked him questionsregarding Rhea Chakrabortyand her expenses during herstay at Mont Blanc apartment(in Bandra) with the late actor,"he said.

"He said that on July 27, heagain received a phone call, inwhich a family member ofRajput asked him to give astatement against Rhea

Chakraborty to Bihar Police,"the official added.

"Siddharth said that the fam-ily member told him that hewould get a phone call soon.Accordingly, he received a callfrom an unknown WhatsAppnumber, which ended within 40seconds and hence he could notgive any statement," the officialsaid. Pithani, who was a flatmateof the late actor, alleged in themail that he was being pres-surised to record a statementagainst Chakraborty about thethings which he was not awareof, he said.

SC refuses to stay final yearexams, asks for MHA standPNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Fridayrefused to pass any interimorder on a batch of petitionsseeking cancellation of finalyear/semester examinations inSeptember amid the COVID-19 pandemic and asked theCentre to clear the stand ofMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA) on the issue.

The UGC told the top courtthat nobody should remainunder the impression that sincethe Supreme Court is examin-ing this issue, the final year/semester examination will bestayed.

A bench head by JusticeAshok Bhushan, which con-ducted the hearing throughvideo conferencing, said that itis not passing any orders on theissue and posted the matters forfurther hearing on August 10.

The bench, also comprisingJustices R Subhash Reddy andM R Shah, was informed bySolicitor General Tushar

Mehta, appearing for theCentre and the UGC, that hewould apprise the court aboutMHA's stand on the issue.

Mehta said they are onlyconcerned with final year examsand out of over 800 universitiesin the country, 209 have com-pleted the examinations.

He said that around 390 uni-versities are in the process ofconducting the examinations.

"Let nobody remain underthe impression that since this

court is examining this, it willbe stayed. Let students contin-ue with their studies," Mehtasaid.

To this, the bench said, "Weare not passing any such order."

The bench also asked coun-sel for Maharashtra to placebefore it the June 19 order ofthe state disaster managementcommittee passed in thisregard.

"Let the decision (of statedisaster management commit-

tee of Maharashtra) be broughton record," the bench said.

The top court said all theaffidavits be filed by August 7.

At the fag end of the hear-ing, advocate Alakh AlokSrivastava, appearing for someof the petitioners, raised theissue of plight of students in theflood affected areas of Assamand Bihar.

"This is not a case for inter-im order today," the bench said."On August 10, we will hear it".

Delhi govt's five-day sero-survey to begin todayPNS n NEW DELHI

The next round of sero-preva-lence survey in the nationalcapital is slated to begin onSaturday, with authorities gear-ing up for the five-day exerciseto comprehensively analysethe COVID-19 situation inDelhi.

Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain on July 22 hadannounced that after analysingthe results of the last survey, itwas decided that more suchexercises would be done everymonth to formulate betterpolicies for tackling theCOVID-19 situation in thenational capital.

The next sero-prevalencesurvey is scheduled to takeplace from August 1-5.

The health department hasprepared a detailed plan underwhich every district medicalofficer has been asked to con-duct the survey in their respec-tive jurisdictions, officials said.

Delhi recorded 1093 freshcoronavirus cases on Thursday,taking the tally in the city to

over 1.34 lakh,while the deathtoll from the disease climbedto 3,936, authorities said.

The active cases tally onThursday was 10,743, downfrom 10,770 the previous day.

The last sero-prevalencestudy was done by the Delhigovernment in associationwith the National Centre forDisease Control (NCDC) fromJune 27 to July 10.

The study had found thataround 23 per cent of thepeople surveyed in Delhi hadan exposure to the novel coro-

navirus, the central govern-ment had said.

"The results of the sero-survey conducted from June27-July 10 came out yesterday,and it shows that nearly one-fourth of people had developedantibodies, meaning they hadgot infected and recovered.Most of these people whowere sampled did not knowthat they were infected earlier,"Jain had told reporters, a dayafter the results wereannounced by the HealthMinistry.

PNS n LUCKNOW

BSP president Mayawati onFriday favoured that an invi-tation be extended to DalitMahamandelshwar KanhaiyaPrabhunandan Giri for the'bhoomi pujan' ceremony ofthe Ram temple in Ayodhya,saying it would have someimpact on the Constitutionalintention of setting a castelesssociety.

This comes after reports inthe media that Giri wasunhappy over not being invit-ed to the event. The ground-breaking ceremony for thetemple is slated for August 5.

In a tweet, the BSP supremosaid, “In view of the complaintof Dalit Mahamandelshwar

Swami KanhaiyaPrabhunanadan Giri, it wouldhave been better if he was alsoinvited to the bhoomi pujan cer-emony in Ayodhya on August 5along with 200 other saints.Thiscould have had some impact onthe Constitutional intention ofestablishing a casteless society inthe country.”

Invite dalit spiritualleader for Ram templeceremony: Mayawati

PNS n AHMEDABAD

The proposed Ram temple inAyodhya will be almost doublethe size of what was originallyplanned as its design was mod-ified following the SupremeCourt verdict last year, its archi-tect said on Friday.

The temple, to be construct-ed in Nagara style of architec-ture, will have five domesinstead of two as envisaged ear-lier to accommodate morenumber of devotees, the archi-tect said.

According to him, the projectis likely to be completed in thenext three years once the workcommences.

The 'bhoomi pujan' (ground-breaking) ceremony of the tem-ple in Ayodhya is scheduled tobe held on August 5, whichPrime Minister Narendra Modiis likely to attend, as told by themembers of the Shri RamJanmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra,a trust formed to oversee its

construction. "The design of thetemple was modified after theSupreme Court verdict. Now itwill be almost double the sizeof what was originally planned,"architect ChandrakantSompura, who has designed it,told PTI.

"It will now have a shikhara(tower) over the sanctum sanc-torum and five domes insteadof the earlier plan of two domes.The height of the temple will

also be more than what was inthe previous plan," he said.

In November last year, theSupreme Court had paved theway for the construction ofRam temple by at the disputedsite at Ayodhya, and directedthe Centre to allot an alterna-tive five-acre plot to the SunniWaqf Board for building a newmosque at a "prominent" placein the holy town in UttarPradesh.

Ram temple to be grander thanplanned earlier: Architect

A bench head byJustice AshokBhushan, whichconducted thehearing throughvideo conferencing,said that it is notpassing any orderson the issue andposted the mattersfor further hearing onAugust 10

ED should filecase in Sushantcase: Fadnavis

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) should register an

Enforcement Case InformationReport (ECIR) in connectionwith the money launderingangle in the Sushant SinghRajput death case, formerMaharashtra chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis said onFriday. There is a "huge publicsentiment" about handing overthe case to the CBI, but theUddhav Thackeray-led MahaVikas Aghadi (MVA)government in the state hasbeen reluctant to do so. "Thereis a huge sentiment among thepeople in the Sushant SinghRajput case. They feelsomething is being hidden, newrevelations are being made.Hence, people are demanding aCBI probe into it," he said.

‘Rajput's family pressured me togive statement against Rhea'

Truth shall prevail:Rhea on allegations

"A Memorandum ofUnderstanding wassigned between thetwo sides onFriday. The aim isto increasinglyprocure ‘swadeshi'or indigenouslymade products," hesaid

There is a famous parable that isbelieved to have originated in theIndian sub-continent and finds amention in ancient Buddhist,Hindu and Jain texts. The story

is of a group of blind men, who encounteran elephant for the first time when the ani-mal is brought to their village. Having noidea about its shape or size, the blind mendecided that they must inspect the animalby touching it in order to paint a picture intheir minds. One blind man put his handon the trunk of the elephant and said thatthe animal was a thick snake. Anothertouched the elephant’s ear and said that itseemed like a type of fan. A third blind man,who touched the leg of the elephant, saidthat it resembled a tree trunk while anoth-er felt its tusk and thought the animal waslike a spear. The parable deals with how oursubjective experiences, while they may betrue and honest, have an inherent limitation.They fail to account for the truths and expe-riences of other people. The parable is anappropriate metaphor for the law-makingprocess adopted by the BJP Government atthe helm.

A recent example of this myopicapproach to law-making is the constitutionof a five-member Committee for Reformsin Criminal Law, which has been set up bythe Union Ministry of Home Affairs at theNational Law University, Delhi. The panelincludes the Vice Chancellor and Registrarof the university as well as the ViceChancellor of Dharmashastra National LawUniversity, Jabalpur, renowned criminallawyer Mahesh Jethmalani and a formerdistrict and sessions judge from NewDelhi. The committee’s primary role is torecommend changes and reforms to thecriminal laws of the country by examiningthe procedural, evidentiary and substan-tive rules.

Let me be clear, no one can deny thefact that there’s an urgent need to reformour criminal laws. However, the manner inwhich the committee has been formed, theway it is expected to operate and the lim-ited perspective that it will offer leave a lotto be desired. With regard to the forma-tion of the committee, it has been estab-lished under the directions of the UnionHome Ministry, which essentially hasunder its purview the very organs that haveviolated a number of criminal laws whilecarrying out their functions.

This is especially surprising becauselaw reform is typically the domain of theMinistry of Law and Justice. This Ministryforms commissions, which consist oflawyers, bureaucrats and other relevantstakeholders. In fact, in the past, several lawcommissions have recommended changesto the criminal laws in their reports. So, itis not clear why this role was suddenlyusurped by the Union Home Ministry.

The second issue relates to the man-ner in which this newly-formed panel was

constituted. While the need toreform criminal laws has beenfelt time and again, it is unclearwhy such a necessity arose atthe time of a global pandemic,when every fifth case ofCOVID-19 is reportedly anIndian. The committee hascommenced online consulta-tions barring a few people whomay not be able to participatethrough this mode. Thereby, ithas automatically excluded thevery people who are mostaffected by the abuse of crim-inal laws and the due process.Not only is the commencementof the consultation suspectiblebut the time given to the com-mittee to prepare its report —six months — is reflective of acruel sense of humour whereunfortunately, the joke will beon everyday citizens, who aresubjected to outdated criminallaws on a regular basis.

The third matter relates tothe constitution of the com-mittee itself. It is shockinghow north India-centric andmore specifically Delhi-centricthe committee is. What is evenmore appalling is that the com-mittee lacks diversity as thereis no woman or any memberfrom the minority or the mar-ginalised sections of society onthe panel. These are the very

people who disproportionate-ly are the victims of criminallaws.

For example, it is stagger-ing that the committee will bedebating on things like whethermarital rape should be exclud-ed from the domain of rapelaws. However, women practi-tioners of criminal law have notbeen included in its panel. It isprecisely for this reason that anumber of retired judges,senior advocates and womenlawyers from all across thecountry have written to thecommittee, expressing concernabout its blinkered nature.

Unfortunately, the com-mittee is a reflection of the BJP’sapproach to governance whereit is assumed that India is nota diverse, vivid populace but ahomogenous block; where dis-cussion and debate are anunnecessary time lag. It is pre-cisely this approach that wasvisible when a monumentaldisaster called demonetisationwas inflicted upon us. Whilethe well-to-do and the uppermiddle class managed just finewith easy access to funds, it wasthe poor and the unorganisedsector that bore the brunt (andis still bearing) of perhaps themost ignorant policy decisionin recent memory.

The fact that cash in theeconomy today is higher thanit was even during pre-demon-etisation levels is an embarrass-ing reminder of theGovernment’s high-handed,rushed and negligent approach.

However, the Governmentdoes not appear to have learntfrom its mistakes and looks tobe sticking to its doggedapproach. In some cases, how-ever, there are institutions likethe High Court of Karnataka,which, while examining a chal-lenge to the draft EnvironmentImpact Assessment notifica-tion, expressed displeasure onthe Central Government’sstand that it will not publish thedraft EIA notification inregional languages and willconsider staying the notifica-tion.

Ultimately, we can onlyhope and pray that theGovernment pays heed to theseconcerns raised by civil societyand institutions, who wish toensure representative law-mak-ing. If the Government fails todo so, you and I will be leftholding the tail of the elephantwhile the Government calls ita rope.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, a former MP and cur-rently a member of the AAP)

Individuals and companies may not like auditsbecause they might expose some of theirdeliberate wrongdoings. But very often,

audits are useful because they can help plugloopholes and gaps that many folks never knewexisted. In some cases, an audit might bringup obvious flaws that in hindsight should havebeen noticed and be the result of an innocu-ous mistake. But as we all know, innocuousmistakes can have devastating results. And thisis what a hitherto unknown audit of the nation-al digital payments processor, the NationalPayments Corporation of India (NCPI), has

revealed, including an encrypted file that stored names and card details of mil-lions of individuals.

While the NCPI claims to have rectified the errors that were revealed in theaudit, this highlights why it is important to have such technology audits for allmajor Government services. Huge swathes of our personal information residewith Governments — from the many panchayats and municipalities, districts,States to the Centre. Then there are medical, tax and payment records. It is impor-tant, more so among private companies, that information stays secure at all points.The new data privacy norms mooted by the Government have been describedas a “nationalisation of data” by some commentators. While that is an extremedescription, the norms on data protection are thin and punishment for violationsas well. What will happen when Government data is breached? At the same time,it is important to realise that a majority of the frauds on the internet surrounddigital payments. Mechanisms have to be developed around them. Financial fraudhas existed since the beginning of time and will continue to bother us. Mistakeswill be made but we have to ensure that the digital payment ecosystem, vitallyimportant in today’s contactless day and age, stays as clean as possible.

The Ashok Gehlot-Sachin Pilot standoff inRajasthan shows no signs of abating witha new point of friction emerging as soon

as an existing issue gets sorted. And it seemsthat the inter-generational war in the Congressis all set to worsen even if Gehlot aces the num-bers game for now. It is not a matter of sav-ing the Government but scoring points in anego war that will ultimately not help the party.For even if Gehlot sails through, there will beno end to the discontent of the younger breedled by Pilot, who had staked their efforts to

craft the party’s return and relevance in the State as elders had failed, but weredenied their right to rewards. If Pilot, no doubt a prize potential for the BJP, whichmakes no bones about a Congress-free heartland, does manage to get moreMLAs to his side, he will still be a deliverer of power but not the Chief Minister.He will be just a pawn and not the embodiment of the cause he represents. Nomatter how flexible it becomes, the BJP can at best still keep him as a deputythat he was. In the end, the Congress would be the loser as it would be seenas dishonouring the people’s verdict with its personality clashes instead of con-solidating governance and insuring its house. So now that Governor Kalraj Mishrahas agreed to call a House session on August 14, expecting the Chief Ministerto seek the trust vote, which the rebels led by his ex-deputy Chief Minister willattend, Gehlot is again upping the perception game with a measure of bluster.Having cornered Pilot with sedition charges, saying he was colluding with theBJP to topple his Government, and sacking him, he was hoping the rebels ledby his younger adversary would be disqualified for anti-party activities. The courtsdidn’t allow it, so Gehlot decided to withdraw the legal case and mount a polit-ical campaign, claiming that the BJP had bought over Pilot. While he has beenscreaming “horse trading” since the Rajya Sabha polls, which incidentally theCongress won, he’s now claiming that the Governor’s 21-day window beforethe Assembly session will “increase horse-trading” and that the rates had beenupped for crossing over. He has even accused Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chiefMayawati of siding with the BJP and questioning last year’s merger of the sixBSP MLAs into the Congress while overlooking the BJP’s absorption of four TDPMPs (in Rajya Sabha) into it overnight. He has launched a direct missile againstthe Modi-Shah duo by calling out the Government for “misusing” the IncomeTax Department, ED, CBI to “scare and threaten everyone.” Will this pay off?

There’s no doubt that the BJP, in no small part aided by its central leader-ship, is trying all methods, from inducement to intimidation, to wrest Rajasthan.Or that Gehlot is equally masterful, herding his MLAs with resort quarantine, andnow taking them to Jaisalmer. But the political discourse is getting murkier witha return of money bags and power-broking, making a mockery of the mandateand diluting focus besides diverting limited resources in pandemic times. Gehlot’sdesperation stems from the fact that he has a narrow lead, one over the major-ity mark of 101 in the 200-member Assembly. Officially, the Pilot camp has 19MLAs and now that they can vote, could destabilise Gehlot. And if the court caseagainst the six BSP MLAs, who merged into the Congress, is pursued, then thingscould get uncomfortable. His desperation is symptomatic of the larger churn-ing in the Congress, which was evident at a virtual meeting of the party presidedover by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Rahul Gandhi loyalist Rajiv Satavopenly blamed UPA-II as the reason for the party’s erosion in public life, claim-ing that “the stint of that Government ruined the Congress and so the account-ability for the party’s crisis must be fixed from that time.” Yet the elders persist-ed with their line that “lightweight, inexperienced youngsters” were trying to “unde-servingly thrive” by creating a generational divide. The old guards forget that someof them were given prime responsibility in their younger years, upsetting manyseniors of their time. And in their advanced years, they have settled into inertia,continuing with what they have built for themselves rather than rebuilding theparty. Yet there are younger leaders, who are driven by the desire to leave theirmark and are ready to even work at the grassroots as Pilot has shown. For allits talk of devolution of power, the older lot in the Congress still relies on cen-tralised thinking rather than empowering the grassroots functionaries or at leastgiving them a listen. Pilot had not been so persistent about the top post initiallybut wanted his stake in governance. Yet he was left out of every decision-mak-ing process. Gehlot allowed that rift to widen instead of closing it and strategi-cally keeping him busy. He is a mature politician enough to be told what wasneeded to be done. But he let his ego and a chieftain’s territoriality come in theway, one that has cost the Congress its Governments in Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand,Arunachal, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

Rajasthan mess

Merits and demerits

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “New curriculum” (July 31).The National Education Policy(NEP), 2020, proposes manystructural changes and is aimedat fixing the mess in India’s edu-cation system. However, it fails toaddress some of the ills plaguingthis sector.

One of the main drawbacksof our present education systemis that students, who pass out ofeducational institutions, do notpossess the skills required to beemployable. Second, the contentof the subject remains irrelevantand is not in sync with presenttimes. Third, our education sys-tem is too exam-centric. Four,students get typecast for lifebased on the subjects they study.The NEP 2020 does attempt toaddress this issue by allowing thestudents to choose from the sub-jects they like. Five, commercial-isation and corruption still plaguethe education system. The NEP,2020, does promise to treat edu-cation as a “not for profit”entity. However, this will lead tomore corruption because institu-tions are not meant for charity.

Merits of the NEP must,

however, not be forgotten. It pro-vides for the extension of theRight to Education to cover allchildren between three and 18years of age. The plan to intro-

duce three-year and four-yearundergraduate programmes, too,is welcome.

Venu GSKollam

Implementation hurdle

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“New curriculum” (July 31).

Laying stress on scientific temperand mathematical abilities, thenew NEP will help develop theobjective and analytical faculties ofthe students. Taking three-year-oldchildren under the EarlyChildhood Care and Educationscheme, too, is a laudable aspectof the NEP. But it is imperative thatthe necessary staff, who have thevision to implement the policymandate, be made available.

AyushVia email

Defence boost

Sir — The arrival of the Rafale jetsand the exuberance it generatedare understandable. Known for itsgreater offensive capabilities andadvanced weaponry system, theRafales will significantly enhanceIndia’s strategic capabilities.

But while taking concretesteps to augment our defencecapabilities, we cannot be oblivi-ous to the need of boosting ourdomestic defence manufacturingcapacities.

ShrutikaVia email

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


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op nionHYDERABAD | SATURDAY | AUGUST 1, 2020

06

Hasty proposition

AJOY KUMAR

The timing, motive and the very structure of the five-member committee formed to

make changes to criminal laws are questionable. Greater transparency is needed

Chennithala is the son of anRSS sympathiser and it's nosurprise that Janmabhumiadvocated for him. He donsthe uniform of RSS workersin Kerala better than them.

Kerala CPM secretary—Kodiyeri Balakrishnan

The platform (social media)is toxic because the world has become toxic.People take advantage ofanonymity to find relevance and vent.

Actor—Richa Chadha

Claims that they have nowmade for real estate inBhutan, the incursion thattook place in India, these are indicative of Chinese intention.

US Secretary of State—Mike Pompeo

S O U N D B I T E

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

Omar strikes a chord

This refers to the editorial, “Omar’s message” (July29). The abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A last yearin August was a decisive step towards mainstream-

ing Jammu & Kashmir into India. Such incremental stepshave been happening since 1947 when Hari Singh signedthe Instrument of Accession (IoA). National Conference(NC) founder Sheikh Abdullah became Jammu &Kashmir’s first head to be elected in 1948. His refusalto have the IoA ratified by the Constituent Assembly asalso his espousal of independent Kashmir, called“Kashmir conspiracy”, resulted in his dismissal, arrestand replacement by Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad in1953. The new incumbent, also from NC, had the IoAratified by the Assembly in 1954, thus expanding theUnion Government’s role in the former State. The nextmilestone came in the form of the Indira-SheikhAccord of 1975 under which the latter discarded the “self-determination” demand in exchange for his political reha-bilitation. Jammu & Kashmir’s new status since lastAugust is the culmination of efforts of successiveGovernments since independence. Winning the Valley’shearts and minds, on abrogation, remains elusive assecurity forces remain stationed there in abundance.Militancy, too, is on the rise as people are ripped awayfrom the mainstream like never before. While digital cur-few is jeopardising the career of Kashmiri youths, job-

lessness is rising by the day. Let alone new opportuni-ties, even traditional jobs have disappeared.

NC leader Omar Abdullah offers a window that theGovernment can still use to reach out to the Kashmiris.NC, being the oldest party, has a deep connection withthe former State. It is the NC that helped the Governmentin 1954 and 1975. It may still be helpful today. TheGovernment must leverage Omar’s logical stand andrevive the political process. Omar’s on-boarding and con-clusion of delimitation exercise need to be expedited orwe will lose the narrative.

SK PrabhakarGurugram

UNFORTUNATELY,THE COMMITTEEIS A REFLECTION

OF THE BJP’SAPPROACH TOGOVERNANCE

WHERE IT ISASSUMED THATINDIA IS NOT ADIVERSE, VIVID

POPULACE BUT AHOMOGENOUS

BLOCK; WHEREDISCUSSION AND

DEBATE ARE ANUNNECESSARY

TIME LAG

Send yyour ffeedback tto:[email protected]

Payment problems

I wouldn’t say I was thegreatest but I was a betterathlete than all three (IanBotham, Richard Hadlee,and Imran Khan) puttogether.

Former cricketer—Kapil Dev

As Gehlot herds MLAs at Jaisalmer and the BJP plays behindthe scene, topple games dilute the people’s mandate

Digital payments are more popular than ever before but aGovernment audit has found glaring holes in the system

Stop vaccine nationalism

MUMBAI POLICE IS OBSTRUCTING A FAIR INVESTIGATION

BY BIHAR POLICE INTO SUSHANT’S DEATH. THE BJP

FEELS THAT THE CBI SHOULD TAKE OVER THIS CASE.

—BIHAR DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER

SUSHIL KUMAR MODI

THERE IS NO NEED FOR A CBI PROBE. MUMBAI POLICE

IS INVESTIGATING THE MATTER ON THE BASIS OF

EVIDENCE. WE EXPECT THE PROBE TO BE OVER SOON.

—MAHARASHTRA WATER RESOURCES MINISTER

JAYANT PATIL

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The race for the vaccine for COVID-19 is infull swing across the world as more andmore people fall victim to the pandemic and

the number of cases globally reaches 17,505,564and casualties touch the 6,77,465 mark. India, too,is one of the contenders in the race for the vac-cine and desperately needs it to come out as soonas possible, given the fact that the communityspread has begun in the country and the numberof cases has touched 16,43,543 and that of casu-alties is 35,817. In fact, India reported a new recordsurge on July 31 with more than 55,000 fresh infec-tions registered in 24 hours.

In the midst of the outbreak, the one big ques-tion uppermost on everyone’s mind is, whoeverwins the vaccine race, will the benefits permeateglobally to the neediest or will they be restrictednationally? It is widely predicted that restrictingthe precious vaccine nationally is going to devas-tate public health and the world economy in equalmeasure.

Vaccine nationalism occurs when a countrymanages to secure doses of vaccine for its own peo-ple before they are made available to other nations.This is done through pre-purchase agreementsbetween a Government and the vaccine manufac-turer. The US has been attempting to secure pri-ority access to doses of the Coronavirus vaccine.Other countries, including India and Russia, havetaken similar stances recently.

A nationalist view for a vaccine may not justbe for confining it to one’s own people. There maybe multiple angles to it. The concept exists since2009, when, during the early stages of the H1N1flu pandemic, some of the wealthiest countriesentered into pre-purchase agreements with sev-eral pharmaceutical companies working on thevaccines. As a result, the distribution of the doseswas based on high-income countries’ purchasingpower and lacked an epidemiological basis.However, the distribution dynamics took a differ-ent turn when the initial production was slow andthe supply was inadequate for the target groupsfor whom the US Health Agency had recommend-ed vaccination.

Moreover, the Live-Attenuated InfluenzaVaccine (LAIV) for H1N1 was contraindicated forthe very young, for those with asthma and for preg-nant women — among the target groups consid-ered to be the highest priority. Further, manyhealthcare workers were reluctant to receiveLAIV because of unfounded concerns about trans-mission to patients in healthcare settings and vac-cine efficacy. On the other side, paediatricians andother healthcare providers were inundated by callsfrom large numbers of patients and anxious par-ents demanding the vaccine or asking where togo for a shot.

As dose supply started to increase, the inci-dence of 2009 H1N1 disease declined and themedia frenzy quietened. By January 2010, patientdemand for the vaccine had decreased to the pointwhere many providers were left with the vaccineon the shelf. It is, therefore, evident from the H1N1experience that vaccine nationalism hardly servedany purpose and the approach resulted in surplusdoses of vaccines on one side and deprived a largepopulation that needed the vaccine on the otherside.

The case for the COVID-19 vaccine is yet tounfold. How emerging vaccines will be distributedto those who need them is as yet unclear.Moreover, each vaccine candidate is likely to havea different safety and efficacy profile and it wouldbe premature to say that the vaccine candidate forwhich a nation would have secured supply

through a pre-purchase order would bethe most optimum vaccine for its pop-ulation.

Most vaccine development projectsinvolve several parties from multiplecountries and there are very fewinstances in which a single country canclaim to be the sole developer of a vac-cine. Moreover, in a global economy,infection does not respect internation-al borders and inequitable access to vac-cines during a pandemic is likely todefeat the purpose of vaccination alto-gether.

Vaccine nationalism is not only pos-ing a challenge to vulnerable populationswith inequitable access but is also result-ing in scientists opting for riskierapproaches to the vaccine developmentprocess. The urgency for the develop-ment of a preventive has given rise to aglobal tendency to take risks and cut cor-ners. It has led to disparate efforts likea Chinese vaccine company engaging thePeople’s Liberation Army (PLA) epi-demiologist, Major-General Chen Wei,to oversee its vaccine hunt. Chen Weiherself took one of the first shots of theexperimental vaccine to display nation-alistic fervour.

Similarly, the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR), along withthe National Institute of Virology (NIV),is trying for an early COVID-19 vaccinerelease in the market with BharatBiotech International Ltd (BBIL). Thereare instances wherein the countries aremoving away from a collective and equi-table global strategy for combatting thepandemic. European nations, the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation and theWellcome Trust committed over $8 bil-lion to finance the Access to COVID-19Tools (ACT), dedicated to rapid deploy-ment of new Coronavirus-related healthtechnologies.

Yet the US, Russia and India havechosen not to participate in this initia-

tive. The Serum Institute of India, theworld’s largest producer of vaccinedoses, declared that most of its doses“would have to go to our countrymenbefore they go abroad.”

AstraZeneca reported that due to theUK’s $79 million investment, the first 30million doses of the vaccine it is devel-oping with the University of Oxford,would be allocated to the UK. Then, onMay 21, the US pledged $1.2 billion tothe company in order to obtain at least300 million doses, with the first to bedelivered as early as October.

It would be prudent for nations tolearn from the experience of past pan-demics where vaccine nationalism hashardly delivered any advantage and hasrather resulted in surplus stocks that latergo waste. A more efficient vaccine sup-ply chain is required rather than secur-ing first doses of the vaccine. During theH1N1 pandemic, out of the 162 milliondoses of the vaccine produced for thegeneral public, only 90 million doseswere used. This is a clear indicator ofpoor supply and distribution planningand could have been better addressedwith a supply chain management-basedapproach rather than a hoarding-basedone that is termed as vaccine national-ism.

Having a vaccine scarcity in the ini-tial phases was a result of overly-opti-mistic projections of supply. And later,the situation of having surplus stocksresulted due to certain groups being hes-itant to take vaccines due to the fear ofadverse reactions. This was not takeninto account during the distributionplanning.

It is, therefore, clear that securing thefirst supply of vaccines created by devel-oped nations and the bargaining powermay result in surplus stocks that candeprive vulnerable populations. This willdefeat the purpose of developing the vac-cine in a globally-mobile world.

There are better ways in whichnational interests can be safeguardedwithout compromising on equitableglobal access to vaccines. One such ini-tiative is the 70:30 approach at the timeof launch, wherein 70 per cent of the pro-duced vaccine doses are reserved for cap-tive consumption of a producing/spon-soring nation and 30 per cent of thedoses can be allocated to global healthorganisations like the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) for equitableaccess to vulnerable populations of theworld.

Customised strategies for using theavailable vaccine may be deployed in dif-ferent countries when the vaccine firstbecomes available in limited quantities.These strategies may depend on theprevalence of the virus, the degree towhich testing can identify all infectedpeople and how the infected patients aregeographically distributed. Public healthleaders can integrate key lessons on allo-cation and distribution from previousexperiences with H1N1 flu, polio andsmallpox vaccination efforts.

For such strategies to be implement-ed, a global coordination mechanismmay be devised with global health gov-ernance bodies like the WHO, Coalitionfor Epidemic Preparedness Innovations(CEPI), Global Fund, Gavi, representa-tives of the respective health ministriesand the private sector. This will not onlyresult in effective and equitable distrib-ution of vaccines globally but will alsoresult in optimising the return oninvestments on vaccine development,which till now, remains uncertain.

The strategy may also rest on wherethe dire need is. This will keep thehumane angle alive with the trust of aglobal approach while satisfying localneeds.

(Bhaskar is Registrar and Suri isCEO-Office of Connectivity, RegionalCentre for Biotechnology)

Nations must learn from the experiences of past pandemics where hoarding has hardlydelivered any advantage and has rather resulted in surplus stocks and their wastage

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

Corona bug bites careers

RUCHI SAINI

It is vital that mothers who desire to have a careerpost-childbirth feel supported rather than judged

and exhausted, with or without the pandemic

DEEPIKA BHASKAR

FEROZ SURI

DURING THE H1N1

PANDEMIC,OUT OF THE

162 MILLION DOSES OF THE

VACCINEPRODUCED

FOR THE GENERAL

PUBLIC, ONLY 90 MILLION

DOSES WERE USED.THIS IS A CLEAR

INDICATOR OFPOOR

SUPPLY ANDDISTRIBUTION

PLANNING ANDCOULD HAVE BEEN BETTERADDRESSED

WITH A SUPPLY CHAIN

MANAGEMENT-BASED APPROACH

RATHER THAN A

HOARDING-BASEDONE

Now I understand why working mothers leave their jobs”, saidmy friend, who has a son, over a phone call from India. Shewas one of my closest friends growing up and I was talking

to her after more than half a decade. She used to be a very ambi-tious girl and naturally, I was rather taken aback by her statement.“What happened? How did your views change?”, I asked, to whichshe replied, “Well, isn’t it obvious, a baby happened followed by thepandemic.” Due to the pandemic, Aakriti (name changed) had beenworking from home for the last three months, while home-school-ing her four-year-old son and performing additional domestic chores.Her husband, on the other hand, is both ill-equipped for and disin-terested in performing domestic chores.

Even before the outbreak, women in India constituted animmensely small portion of the labour force and the pandemic is allset to widen this gap. A 2019 World Bank report revealed that only21 per cent of the female population in India is a part of the labourforce, compared to 83 per cent in Nepal, 60 per cent in China and36 per cent in Bangladesh. And while many reasons exist for theabysmal representation of Indian women within the workforce, schol-ars have talked at length about how motherhood pushes scores ofwomen unwillingly out of the workforce. Growing up in India, I cameacross various instances during social gatherings and even schol-arly meetings where both men and women deemed this as a “nat-ural” and “an unfortunate but inescapable” consequence of the choiceto have a child.

However, it is not motherhood but rather the unequal divisionof labour inside the home after becoming a mother that pushes womenout of the workforce. Post-childbirth, men can perform all the actslinked with child-rearing (cooking, cleaning, washing and so on) exceptbreastfeeding, but are typically not conditioned to do so. Accordingto a report released by OECD (Organisation for EconomicCorporation and Development) in 2018, Indian women spend an aver-age of five hours and 51 minutes daily on “unpaid” domestic work,the second-highest among the 31 countries surveyed. Indian men,on the other hand, spend an average of a measly 45 minutes dailyand ranked among the bottom three countries in the table. Given theaverage Indian male’s distaste towards performing domestic duties,women are shouldering the majority of household responsibilitiesduring the pandemic. An online petition started by Subarna Ghosh(a working mother from Mumbai) urges Prime Minister Narendra Modito “talk to Indian men about doing an equal share of care work with-in the household” in his next speech. The petition, which draws atten-tion towards how the nationwide lockdown has forced families toconfront the issue of unpaid care work done by women, has alreadygained 71,000 signatures. A 2018 report by Ashoka University, titledPredicament of Returning Mothers, revealed that after becoming moth-ers, 50 per cent of women in the corporate, media and developmentsectors leave their jobs before the age of 30 and only 16 per centof senior leadership roles in these sectors are held by women. Thereport goes on to state that the pressure to play multiple roles of the“homemaker, mother and employee” post-childbirth often pusheseven the most resolute of women out of the workforce.

The exodus of talented and intelligent women out of the work-force is catastrophic for both the individual and society and oughtto be stopped. And the first step towards this direction is challeng-ing the “gendered” division of household labour across Indian house-holds. The real reason men do not perform household chores is thatit is “unpaid” work. The fact that most of the famous Indian chefsare men proves that when paid for the same work, men do it justas well or even better than women. As a result, when raising youngboys, parents should ensure that they, too, perform domestic choresinstead of considering it a “woman’s job.” Second, India’s inabilityto introduce an effective system of day care within the workplace,when coupled with the harsh judgment meted out to women (notmen) who put their children in day care centres, has disastrous con-sequences for working mothers. And while the Indian Maternity Benefit(Amendment) Act, 2017 makes the creche facility mandatory in anestablishment with at least 50 employees, it is rarely implemented.In the few cases where it is implemented, there is little to no quali-ty assurance which dissuades parents from making use of it.

As the Indian economy is gradually reopening and the threat ofthe virus continues to loom large, the lack of good-quality day carecentres is being felt even more acutely by working mothers. It is impor-tant that mothers who desire to have a career post-childbirth feelsupported and encouraged rather than judged and exhausted, withor without the pandemic. Challenging the gendered division of house-hold labour and providing good quality day care services within theworkplace are two of the most effective ways to do that. And whilethe task is challenging, it is not impossible. Little steps taken by par-ents while raising their children and financial investment by organ-isations in setting up effective day care centres can go a long wayin ensuring that society is not deprived of the contributions by halfof its population.

(The writer is an educator and PhD scholar in Gender andEducation from the University of Maryland)

Defence Minister Rajnath Singhrecently spoke to his Israelicounterpart over telephone

and strengthening bilateral defence tieswas the focus of the conversation. BothMinisters expressed satisfaction atthe progress of strategic cooperationbetween the two countries and dis-cussed possibilities of further strength-ening defence engagements.

Narendra Modi had visited Israelin July 2017 and was the first-everIndian Prime Minister to do so. Indo-Israeli relations have witnessed asharp upswing since the present

Government came to power andthere has been an unprecedentedlevel of bilateral visits by seniorMinisters from India to Israel and vice-versa. India is now the largest purchas-er of Israeli military equipment.

The Israel–Palestine conflict is anunresolved one, dating from the endof World War-I. Palestine was a partof the Ottoman Empire and duringWorld War-I, the Ottoman Empiresided with Germany and was defeat-ed. It was then dissolved. Its succes-sor, the Republic of Turkey, transferredPalestine to the British Empire. In1917, British Foreign Minister ArthurBalfour issued what is known as theBalfour Declaration for the establish-ment in Palestine of a national homefor the Jewish people. In 1947, theUnited Nations General Assembly(UNGA) approved a plan to partitionPalestinian land and proposed aJewish State and an Arab State on it.The Arab State of Palestine includedthe West Bank, East Jerusalem, the

Gaza Strip and some other territories.The Jewish State of Israel was estab-lished in 1948 and several warsbetween the Israelis and the Arabs fol-lowed.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote then,“The cry for a national home for theJews does not make much appeal tome. Why should they not, like otherpeoples on Earth, make that countrytheir home where they are born andwhere they earn their livelihood?Palestine belongs to the Arabs in thesame sense that England belongs to theEnglish or France to the French. It iswrong and inhuman to impose theJews on the Arabs. What is going onin Palestine today cannot be justifiedby any moral code of conduct. Surelyit would be a crime against humani-ty to reduce the proud Arabs so thatPalestine can be delivered to the Jewspartly or wholly as their nationalhome. The nobler course would be toinsist on a just treatment of the Jewswherever they are born and bred. The

Jews born in France are French in pre-cisely the same sense that Christiansand Hindus born in France areFrench.”

It has been more than 50 yearssince Israel annexed the Palestinianterritories of West Bank, EastJerusalem and Gaza Strip following thesix-day Arab–Israel war of June 1967.Thereafter, Israel tightened its holdover these territories, crushedPalestinian resistance and createdhundreds of thousands of refugees.

The United Nations SecurityCouncil (UNSC) has condemnedrepeatedly Israeli depredations in theoccupied territories. Last year, a UNSCresolution directed Israel to immedi-ately and completely cease all settle-ments in the occupied territories,including East Jerusalem. AmnestyInternational has held Israel guilty ofwar crimes and demolition of homes.

India was the first non-Arabcountry to recognise the PalestinianLiberation Organisation (PLO) as the

sole legitimate representative of thePalestinian people. A PLO office wasset up in New Delhi in 1975 and fulldiplomatic relations were establishedin 1980. In 1991, during my tenure inthe Ministry of External Affairs, I wasasked by Prime Minister NarasimhaRao to ensure the establishment ofdiplomatic relations with Israel so thatIndia could assist the Palestiniancause in a more efficient manner.

I met with the PLO ChairmanYasser Arafat at his headquarters inTunis. Arafat told me that he was con-fident that India would not vacillate onits commitment to the legitimatedemand for an independent Palestineand that he had no objection if weestablished diplomatic relations withIsrael. I then held a meeting with theIsraeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peresat the UN in New York and diplomat-ic relations with Israel followed. Indiacontinued its unstinted support to thePalestinian people in their quest for astrong and viable State and provided

material as well as technical supportto the Palestinian Government in theirefforts at nation-building.

At present, most countries of theworld recognise the State of Palestinewith the exception of the US and someof its Western allies. Even in the West,support for the Palestinian cause isincreasing. It is ironical that while theWest, the architect of the Palestinianplight, is finally trying to reach out tothe Palestinians, India, the old sup-porter, has almost vanished from thescene.

The international community hasbeen closely observing the growingdefence and strategic cooperationbetween India and Israel, since the pre-sent Government assumed office.Israel has in the last couple of yearsprovided the Indian armed forces withradar and border monitoring systems.Israeli companies have been makingmillions of dollars upgrading MiG-21sand other Soviet-era aircraft. Theyhave recently bagged a contract to pro-

vide the avionics for the Indian AirForce MiG-27s.

For the first time, in 2015, Indiaabstained on a United Nations HumanRights Council resolution calling fora probe by the International CriminalCourt into war crimes by Israel. It con-tinued to abstain on this resolution in2016 and thereafter. Israel ought tocomply with international law and theUN resolutions and vacate the occu-pied Palestinian territories. All futureagreements between India and Israelshould explicitly exclude Jewish settle-ments in the occupied territories.

The relationship between Indiaand Israel should be sustained but notat the expense of our traditional loy-alty to the Palestinian cause. Indiashould not dither on its long-standingand unequivocal support to the strug-gle of the Palestinian people fornational liberation and for an indepen-dent State.

(The writer is a former UnionMinister)

Why ignore an old friend for a new one?The relationship between India and Israel should be sustained but not at the expense of our traditional loyalty to the Palestinian cause

EDUARDO FALEIRO

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | AUGUST 1, 2020


HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | AUGUST 1, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

JSW Energy netprofit down 12.7 pcat Rs 213 cr in Jun NEW DELHI: JSW Energy onFriday reported 12.7 per centdip in its consolidated netprofit to Rs 213 crore in Junequarter, mainly due to lowerrevenues. "The company's(consolidated) net profit stoodat Rs 213 crore vis-a-vis Rs244 crore in thecorresponding quarter ofprevious year," the companysaid in a BSE filing. Accordingto the statement, total revenuedecreased by 23 per cent onyear-on-year basis to Rs 1,887crore in June quarter, from Rs2,464 crore in thecorresponding quarterprevious fiscal, on account oflower long-term and short-term sales.

Taxes, levies intelecom sectorhigh:Sunil MittalNEW DELHI: Telecom czarSunil Bharti Mittal on Fridaymade a renewed pitch forlowering the high levies ontelecom industry, saying thegovernment should not viewthe sector as a source for theexchequer, but instead as a"force multiplier" for ensuringeconomic momentum. Mittal,who is the chairman of BhartiAirtel, also said that the PrimeMinister's vision ofAtmanirbhar Bharat has givena clarion call to the industry toensure that more valueaddition is done in India fortelecom networks, mobiledevices, and software.

Sun Pharma Q1 net loss at Rs1,655.60 cr NEW DELHI: Drug major SunPharmaceutical Industries onFriday reported a consolidatednet loss of Rs 1,655.60 crorefor the quarter ended June 30,2020. The company hadposted a net profit of Rs1,387.48 crore for thecorresponding period of theprevious fiscal, Sun Pharmasaid in a BSE filing.Consolidated revenue fromoperations stood at Rs7,585.25 crore for the quarterunder consideration as againstRs 8,374.36 crore for thesame period year ago, itadded. Shares of SunPharmaceutical Industriesclosed at Rs 531.75 per scripon the BSE, up 4.27 per centover previous close.

PNS n MUMBAI

Domestic equity bench-mark Sensex dropped 129points on Friday, trackinglosses in index heavy-weights Reliance Industriesand HDFC twins amidweak cues from global mar-kets.

The BSE Sensex ended129.18 points or 0.34 percent lower at 37,606.89,while the NSE Nifty fell28.70 points or 0.26 percent to 11,073.45.

The company onThursday reported a recordnet profit of Rs 13,248 crorefor the June quarter after aone-time gain from stakesale as well as bumper tele-com revenues cushionedCOVID-19 hit earningsfrom refining, petchem andretail segments.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd(IOC), the nation's biggest oilfirm, on Friday reported a 47per cent drop in its June quar-ter net profit as pandemicoutbreak pummelled fueldemand and shrank refiningmargins.

Standalone net profit inApril-June quarter at Rs1,910.84 crore, or Rs 2.08 pershare, was 46.8 per cent lowerthan Rs 3,596.11 crore, or Rs3.92 a share, net profit in thesame period of the last finan-cial year, the company said ina regulatory filing.

With a good part of thequarter being spent underlockdown where the vehicularmovement was sparse, IOCfuel sales fell 29 per cent to

15.25 million tonnes.Its refineries processed 25

per cent less crude oil at 12.9million tonnes in the firstquarter of 2020-21 fiscal.

IOC said it lost USD 1.98 onturning every barrel of crudeoil into fuel in the April-Juneperiod. This compared to agross refining margin of USD4.69 a barrel in Q1 of 2019-20.

PNS n NEW DELHI

South Korean auto major KiaMotors on Friday said it hascrossed the 1-lakh cumulativesales milestone in India with-in 11 months since it startedselling vehicles here.

The company entered theIndian market with the launchof its now-popular SUV Seltosin August 2019 and later onlaunched multipurpose vehicleCarnival.

"The company becomes thefastest automaker in India toreach this landmark in just 11months since the launch of itsdebut car last year, a recordnumber for any new entrant to

achieve in such a short time,"Kia Motors India said in astatement.

Kia Motors India MD andCEO Kookhyun Shim said,"2019 marked an importantyear for Kia as we introducedour first car for the Indianmarket with an aim to becomea household name in the coun-try. We are overwhelmed withthe response and acceptancethat Indian customers haveshown towards us."

PNS n NEW DELHI

E-commerce giant Amazon isfocused on digitising micro,small and medium-sized busi-nesses in India and is workingon getting more sellers onboard and hiring more people,a top company executive said.

"We've talked about Indiamany times, but a lot of focuson building that out... what'sgreat about a place – all geo-graphies with a place like Indiais we're really focused on digi-tising the Indian sellers. A lotof micro, small and medium-sized businesses there,"Amazon Director InvestorRelations David Fildes saidduring an investor call.

He further said, "welaunched new features thereto help support the digitisa-tion efforts with some ofthose brands and just a lot ofwork, great work being doneby that team. They have some

goals there around gettingmore sellers on board andhiring many more people aswell. So a lot of focus there."

The comments come at atime when the US-basedcompany is locked in a bat-tle for market leadership inIndia with Walmart-ownedFlipkart. The competition inthe e-commerce space is setto intensify further with theentry of billionaire MukeshAmbani's JioMart.

According to a recentreport by Goldman Sachs,India's e-commerce business

is expected to grow at a com-pound annual growth rate(CAGR) of 27 per cent toreach USD 99 billion by 2024,with grocer y andfashion/apparel likely to bethe key drivers.

Recently, Amazon hadinfused fresh capital to thetune of Rs 2,310 crore intoone of its India units ,Amazon Seller Services, asper regulatory documents.Amazon Seller Services hadreceived another tranche ofRs 2,208 crore earlier in theyear.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's IT capital Bengaluru isideally placed to be a model ofdigitalisation in the country,based on parameters like sus-tainability, mobility and oppor-tunity, according to a report.

Siemens AG on Fridayunveiled its report 'Atlas ofDigitalization' which analysesand compares the transfor-mation of cities globally.

The report includes ninecities in the world -- Bengaluru,Berlin, Buenos Aires, London,Singapore, Dubai,

Johannesburg, Los Angelesand Taipei, the company saidin a statement. Each city'sunique challenges -- including

traffic congestion, water avail-ability and air quality -- havebeen given scores based on dig-italisation readiness and potent.

The report stated that digi-talisation is a key to makeIndian cities globally compet-itive. It said Bengaluru is ide-ally placed to be a model of dig-italisation in the country.

Bengaluru is one of theworld's fastest growing cities,with a 47 per cent surge in pop-ulation density over the last 10years, the report said.

Home to a third of India'sscience and technology talent,the city has the highest employ-ability rate in the country, witha large proportion of tech-savvy early adopters. This givesBengaluru a strong appetite tobuild a city that symbolises theworld-leading services it deliv-ers across the globe, it added.

Cities in India can competeglobally on parameters such as

optimal use of resources, howpeople get around, as well asways to improve productivityand wellbeing, the report said.

"Many cities in India have ahuge potential to improve thequality of life and ease of doingbusiness. While each city has itsown unique challenges, theAtlas of Digitalization and itsstudy of Bengaluru gives agood reference for other citiesto further improve on their sus-tainability, mobility and oppor-tunity parameters," SiemensLtd MD and CEO SunilMathur said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Diagnostic services providerDr Lal PathLabs on Fridayreported a 51.94 per centdecline in its consolidated netprofit at Rs 28.4 crore for thequarter ended June 30, 2020.

The company had posted anet profit of Rs 59.1 crore forthe corresponding period ofthe previous fiscal, Dr LalPathLabs said in a filing toBSE. Consolidated revenuefrom operations of the com-pany stood at Rs 266 crore, asagainst Rs 335.2 crore in theyear-ago period, it saidadding that underlyingpatient volume decline was28.4 per cent during thequarter. "This was a difficultquarter, not just for Dr LalPathlabs, but for the entirenation and the economy.Business was impactedadversely, with volumes get-ting hit.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government's move toimpose restrictions on importsof TV sets will boost domesticmanufacturing and assemblingactivities in India, according toleading industry players.

Brands such as Sony, LG,Panasonic, Thomson and con-tract manufacturers like DixonTechnologies say the banwould create a momentum forlocal manufacturing and createopportunities for the industry.

"India can emerge as thenext hub for manufacturingTV not only for the Indianmarkets but also for the glob-al market. This step is definite-ly in the right direction and willhelp in creating a global hub,which we want to be and it alsohelps to create a strong ecosys-tem for manufacturing of theproducts,” Dixon TechnologiesChairman Sunil Vachani toldPTI.

This will also help controlthe “flood of import” of TVsets in the short term and theindustry will be self-reliantwith required scale and willcompete with global markets,

he added.According to Vachani, the

Indian TV market is expectedto be around 16 to 17 millionunits per year and around 30per cent of this was mostlyimported from countries likeChina, Thailand and Vietnam.

"It (import) is worth Rs7,000 crore of the local produc-tion," he added.

Dixon Technologies is aleading contract manufactur-er in home appliances andconsumer electronics segmentand has manufacturing units inNoida and Tirupati.

Panasonic India Presidentand CEO Manish Sharmasaid that consumers are going

to get high quality TV setsassembled in India now.

"It will definitely have apositive impact on domesticassembling which happenshere. Leading brands alreadyhave manufacturing andassembling units in the coun-try. So, it is not going toimpact us," he said.

However, Sharma said thatprice-wise consumers will notbenefit and the price wouldremain the same in the mar-ket.

Industry body ConsumerElectronics and AppliancesManufacturers Association(CEAMA) said the move tolicense import of fully built TV

by putting them on therestricted list would supportdomestic manufacturing.

“This will encourage andsupport domestic manufac-turing of all size TV, moreinvestment in the sector andhence more job creation," saidCEAMA President KamalNandi.

The government hasimposed restrictions onimports of colour television, amove aimed at promotingdomestic manufacturing andcut inbound shipments ofnon-essential items fromcountries like China.

The Directorate General ofForeign Trade (DGFT) in anotification has put imports ofTV under a restricted catego-ry from free, which meansimporter of that commoditywill have to seek licence fromthe commerce ministry'sDGFT for the imports.

The curbs are imposed onTV sets of screen size rangingfrom up to 36 cm to over 105cm. Liquid crystal display(LCD) television sets of screensize below 63 cm are also cov-ered under the restrictions.

Bengaluru a model of digitalisation in India

Manufacturers upbeat as govtimposes curbs on imports of TVs

‘Focussed on digitising MSMEs inIndia, on-boarding more sellers’

Sebi relaxes upfront margin frameworkPNS n NEW DELHI

In a relief to brokers andtraders, markets regulator Sebion Friday said penalty forshort-collection will not beapplicable if trading memberscollect at least 20 per centupfront margin from the client.

The decision has been takenafter receiving representationsfrom investors, trading mem-bers (TMs) or clearing mem-bers (CMs) and stock brokerassociations.

"If TM/ CM collects mini-mum 20 per cent upfront mar-gin in lieu of VaR (value at risk)and ELM (extreme loss mar-gin) from the client, thenpenalty for short-collection/non-collection of margin shallnot be applicable," Sebi said ina circular.

Samco Group founder andCEO Jimeet Modi said theinclusion of this rule shall

mean that no penalty shall beapplicable in cases where mar-gin was actually collected andis more than 20 per cent."Genuine cases will getexempted from margin penal-ty." However, the regulatorreiterated that clearing corpo-ration will continue to collectthe upfront margin from theTM/CM based on VaR andELM.

The regulator said penaltyprovision for short-collectionor non-collection of upfrontmargin in the cash segmentwill be implemented witheffect from September 1, 2020.

Earlier this month, stockbrokers' association Anmiwrote to Sebi expressing con-cern on the margin collectionframework in the cash segmentsaying it will cause hardship tobrokers and their clients.

It had expressed concernson the methodology of levy ofmargins on the sale positionsresulting in deliveries, marginson square up of open positionsand margins on securitiesintended to be delivered onT+2 day.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's largest bank SBIon Friday posted 81 per centjump in standalone net profitto Rs 4,189.34 crore for the firstquarter, aided by decline in badloan and sale of minority stakein its subsidiary SBI LifeInsurance.

The bank had reported a netprofit of Rs 2,312.02 crore inthe April-June quarter of 2019-20.

The June quarter profitreflects Rs 1,539.73 croreearned out of sale of 2.1 percent stake in SBI Life Insurance

Company, the bank said whileannouncing its first quarternumbers.

Consequently, holding ofthe public sector bank in SBILife has come down to 55.60per cent from 57.70 per cent.

Standalone total incomeincreased to Rs 74,457.86 crore

in the first quarter of 2020-21,from Rs 70,653.23 crore in thesame period a year ago, SBIsaid in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit of the bankincreased by 36 per cent to Rs

18,061 crore, against Rs 13,246crores in the April-June quar-ter previous fiscal.

Interest income of the bankrose to Rs 62,638 crore, com-pared to Rs 66,500 crore at theend of June 2019, registering agrowth of 6 per cent.

However, net interest mar-gin of the bank declined to 3.01per cent as against 3.24 per centat the end of first quarter of lastyear.

Its gross non-performingassets (NPA) declined to 5.44per cent as of June-end, over7.53 per cent at June-end lastyear.

PNS n PARIS

The economy of the 19-coun-try eurozone shrank by a dev-astating 12.1 per cent duringthe second quarter from thequarter before as coronaviruslockdowns froze business andconsumer activity. It was thelargest drop on record.

Spain, which suffered asevere virus outbreak thatdevastated its tourism indus-try, was the hardest hit with a18.5% drop. Italy and Portugalalso suffered steep declines,but no country escaped theimpact of the pandemic.

For the currency union as awhole it was the biggestdecline since the records start-ed in 1995. For the broader 27-

country European Union, notall of whose members use theeuro, output sagged 11.9%.

European governments arecountering the recession withmassive stimulus measures.EU leaders have agreed on a750 billion-euro recovery fundbacked by common borrowingto support the economy from2021. National govern-ments have stepped in withloans to keep businesses afloatand wage support programsthat pay workers' salaries whilethey are furloughed.

The European Central Bankis pumping 1.35 trillion eurosin newly printed money intothe economy, a step whichhelps keep borrowing costslow.

PNS n BENGALURU

ABB India on Fridayannounced opening of a newfacility here that wouldenable it to deliver roboticapplications and digital solu-tions for a variety of indus-tries, including automotive,food & beverage, electronicsand other upcoming sectors.

Spread over 3,600 sq.m atthe ABB Nelamangala facto-ry premises in Bengaluru, therobotics solutions facilityhouses a state-of-the-art shopfloor that can run proof ofconcepts and factory accep-tance tests for 1,000 ABBrobots every year, whichdoubles the company'scapacity, according to a com-pany statement.

"This enables rapid inno-vation, adaption, optimisa-tion and agile delivery ofmade-to-order roboticsapplications for Indian cus-tomers," it said.

"The new facility harness-es the powers of ABB's deepglobal expertise and knowl-edge of the Indian industri-al landscape to support ourcustomer base," said SanjeevSharma, Managing Directorof ABB India.

PNS n HELSINKI

Nokia has reported better thanexpected second-quarter earn-ings on the back of improvedmargins for telecoms equip-ment and software despite thecoronavirus crisis causing asubstantial drop in revenue.

The Espoo, Finland-basedmaker of new-generation 5Gmobile and other networkssaid Friday that its net profitfor the April-June period wasup 22 per cent at 316 millioneuros (USD 376 million). Saleswere down 11 per cent at 5.1billion euros.

CEO Rajeev Suri said in astatement that the majority ofthe drop in revenue was "theresult of COVID-19 as well asa sharp decline in China basedon the prudent approach wehave taken in that market.”

Nokia estimated that the

COVID-19 crisis hurt its netsales by about 300 millioneuros in the second quarterand about 500 million euros inthe first half of the year.

“We expect that the major-ity of sales missed in the (sec-ond) quarter due to COVID-19 will shift to future periods,”Suri said. Suri said that Nokiahas now concluded 83 com-mercial deals for 5G, the newnetwork technology that allowsultra-fast downloading speedsamong other things. Alongwith China's Huawei andSweden's Ericsson, Nokia isone of the three main providersof 5G networks.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Reliance Industries ChairmanMukesh Ambani on Fridaycalled for urgent policy mea-sures to move away from 2Gservices, which started 25 yearsago, and make it a "part of his-tory".

On the silver jubilee of the1st mobile phone call made inIndia, Ambani said that 2G erafeature phones have keptaround 30 crore subscribers

away from basic internet ser-vices when both India andother countries are venturinginto 5G era.

"I specifically refer to the

fact that India still has 300million mobile subscriberstrapped in the 2G era, theirfeature phones keep themexcluded even from the basicusage of the internet at a timewhen both India and the restof the world are standing atthe doorsteps of 5G telepho-ny. I think necessary policysteps should be taken withutmost urgency to make 2Ga part of history," Ambanisaid.

Accoring to areport, India'se-commerce bizis expected togrow at a CAGR of 27 percent

IOC Q1 net profit falls47 pc to Rs 1,910.84 cr

Sensex drops129 pts

Dr LalPathLabs Q1net profit

ABB Indiaopens newroboticsfacility

Kia Motors crosses 1-lakhcar sales milestone in India

Mukesh Ambani calls for urgentpolicy steps to do away with 2G

Eurozone economysuffers record drop

Nokia profit up despiteCovid-19 pandemic

The June quarterprofit reflects Rs1,539.73 croreearned out of saleof 2.1 per centstake in SBI LifeInsuranceCompany

Siemens AG onFriday unveiled itsreport 'Atlas ofDigitalization'which analysesand compares thetransformation ofcities globally

The decision hasbeen taken afterreceivingrepresentationsfrom investors,TMs and stockbroker associations

SBI Q1 profit surges by 81 pc to Rs 4,189 cr

Contractmanufacturerslike Dixon Techsay the banwould create amomentum forlocalmanufacturingunits

AN YOU SHAREYOUR ASSOCI-ATION WITHHYDERABAD?

With Hyderabadbeing such a culturally diversecity, my parents & I never trulyfelt out of place despite belong-ing to a Rajasthani community.Hyderabad is a very welcomingcity, accepting everyone withopen arms. Besides being ahappy and welcoming city, it isalso a very safe place. Thisencouraged my parents tobuild a family in here, whichultimately led to me callingHyderabad my home now.

HOW HAS THE CITYBEEN TREATING YOU?

Strongly believing in the cityof adherent champions,whether it was my career as afitness trainer or a zumbainstructor or a choreographer,the city and its people havealways been kind and support-ive to me. It is a great city tonurture your talents and let’syou grow both personally andcareer-wise. It carries a cos-mopolitan culture having

friendly neti-zens.

Whenever travelling with yourfriends or family toHyderabad, it’s a surity thatyou will be carrying tonneloads of memories back home.I met some really cool peoplehere.

FOR EVERYONE WHO ISMIGRATING FROMOTHER CITIES, HAVEAPPREHENSIONS ORPRE CONCEIVEDNOTIONS ABOUT THECITY THEY ARE GOINGTO LIVE, WHAT KIND OFTHOUGHTS YOU HADABOUT HYD BEFOREMOVING HERE AND HOWDO YOU FIND IT NOW?WERE YOUR APPREHEN-SIONS WERE RIGHT?

According to my experi-ences, I have witnessed peoplewho are moving to Hyderabadhaving apprehensions drivenby stereotypes of South India.Although Hyderabad verymuch resides in the heart ofSouthern India, I think it nulli-fies most stereotypes of it. It’sone of the few cities in thecountry which is lingual asdiverse as it is. So as a Hindispeaking household, my familyto-date has never faced anyhate or issues for not knowingTelugu or not being fluent in it.Hyderabad is also filled withgenuinely caring people whowill often sympathise with youbefore passing any judgements.In a way, I comply by the fact

that this city is the one thathelps break stereotypes of allkinds.

HAVE YOU LIVED INOTHER CITIES IN THECOUNTRY? IF SO, HOWIS HYDERABAD DIFFER-ENT FROM OTHERS?

I have travelled to a lot morecities from Pune, Mumbai,

Kolkata, Delhi, Jaipur,Lucknow, Bengaluru, Kerala toVizag, yet my heart lies here.The people of Hyderabad arewhat makes my home com-plete here. Having such a lov-ingly diverse population iswhat makes Hyderabad sounique. Also, Hyderabad isemerging as the new hub of ITattracting big names likeMicrosoft, Facebook, Amazon,

Uber, etc.

ONE THING THATCOMES TO YOUR MINDWHEN YOU THINK OFHYDERABAD AND WHY?

While the obvious answer tothis question is the biryani. It’sthe most storied food of ourcity and Paradise is one restau-rant that is known for celebrat-ed biryanis. Every minute 95biryanis are ordered via foodapps, that’s the love for it. It’sno more a delight for just theelites!

Apart from that, we have aniconic and an extravagant mon-ument built right in the heart ofthe Old City which is always apleasure to visit. VisitingCharminar needs to be alwaysdone in a true Hyderabadistyle. The streets around thefour-pillared legend are alwaysbustling with people and glis-tening with shiny bangles. I kidyou not, you will take home themost beautiful bangles alongwith a ton of memories fromthese narrow streets.

HOW IS THE CITY HELP-ING YOU IN YOURCAREER?

I’m a very career-orientedindependent woman. I believethis was truly possible onlybecause of my parents and howsupportive Hyderabad is. Iwent from switching careerswanting to be a charteredaccountant and then followingup on my passion for dance.Today, I am a known zumbainstructor and a fitness trainer.This was only possible becauseof all the opportunities this citygave me. Not to forget, switch-ing career paths was almost abreeze for me because I waspresented with the best facili-ties and zero judgment!Hyderabad is filled with energyand enthusiasm which allowedme to take on 10,000+ studentsand about 1,700 sessions. Thecity’s growing IT sector, busi-

ness world and the academicside of me, have also trans-formed me into a buddingentrepreneur. I’ve also furtherexpanded into founding star-tups — Youek and CodedCoffee — and this city is theone that keeps me going! Mycareer’s transparent shifts,highs and lows along with itsgrowth have all been in thearms of Hyderabad.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ANDDISLIKE THE MOSTABOUT HYDERABAD?

I’d like to reiterate my love forHyderabadis, I will forever callthis place my home. Every per-son is so diverse and acceptingin their own way. In many ways,I feel like this city is a reflectionof our country! The one thing Idon’t particularly like about mycity is the traffic, because I’msomeone who lives a very fast-paced life. I jump from sessionto session and absolutely hatedriving. So the Hyderabad traf-fic is a little taxing but accep-tance is what Hyderabad hastaught me and I swore to acceptto this hindrance too.

WHAT'S HYDERABAD TOYOU?

When lockdown began, Iassumed my career would bedone and dusted in dance andfitness, because personal interac-tions are it’s a nessacity. I thenlaunched a 14-day FITWOM-ENCHALLENGE, to increaseawareness about fitness andclean eating amongst women. Ihad 130 women join in thischallenge, and 119 were fromHyderabad. Soon after this suc-cessful programme, I convertedit into “24 Day Challenge byDMK” (concentrating on fat lossand muscle toning) programmeto online sessions. My fellowbrothers and sisters ofHyderabad showered me withmassive support! I am about tokick-start my season 3 now anddue credit given to Hyderabad.Hyderabad is everything to menow.

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SatrudayAugust 1, 2020

‘HYD, GREAT CITY

TO NURTUREYOUR TALENTS'

People moving here have apprehensionsdriven by stereotypes of South India. AlthoughHyderabad resides in the heart of SouthernIndia, I think it nullifies most stereotypes of it.As a Hindi speaking household, my family to-date has never faced any hate or issues for notknowing Telugu or not being fluent in it.Hyderabad is also filled with genuinely caring.

Belonging to a marwadicommunity, Disha MethiKhandelwal establishedherself in the Zumbacommunity and is nowone of the top instructorsin the city! She's alsobeen an ace eventchoreographer, co-founder of Youek.in &takes active part in socialwork around Hyderabad.Disha spoke exclusivelyto The Pioneer revealinghow the city ofHyderabad helped herprogress in her career

reastfeeding is thecornerstone of aninfant. However, con-cerns have beenraised about whethermothers with

COVID-19 can transmit thevirus to their infant throughbreastfeeding. Responding tothis, Dr Anita Rego, PerinatalCounsellor and a psychiatricsocial worker says the fear ofinfecting a child amidst a pan-demic is bewildering for amother, it induces guilt pangs inher eventually leaving her trau-matised. She also adds that inmany circumstances, there havebeen cases where the culturalcontext prevents a mother fromrevealing her COVID status,even after WHO recommendedthat mothers with suspected orconfirmed COVID-19 shouldbe encouraged to initiate orcontinue to breastfeed.

“The excessive focus of clini-cal on prevention and treat-

ments is demotivating mothersfrom breastfeeding. There is alack of understanding aboutpolicy documents and theunderlying conceptualisationaround lactation. Most of theclinicians are aware that thereare substitutes for infant feedingthat can lower their immunityyet they continue to advertisethem. Breastfeeding must bebased on not just potential risksof contracting the infection butalso on morbidity risks andmortality associated with it,”appends Dr Anita.

The benefits of breastfeedingoutweigh the potential risk oftransmission. According toreports, the transmission ofCOVID-19 would need replica-tive and infectious virus beingable to reach target sites in theinfant and also to overcomeinfant defense systems. Theimplications of transmissionrisk need to be framed in termsof COVID-19 prevalence in

breastfeeding mothers. “Themother and her infant shouldbe enabled to remain togetherwhile rooming-in including thatthe mother should wear a surgi-cal mask and wash her handsregularly for preventive mea-sures. She can also feed the babywith a sterilised bottle. Come tothink of the positive phase ofbreastfeeding, a lactating moth-er’s milk produces antibodiesthat can ultimately enhance herchild’s immunisation. Not feed-ing can lead to risks of allergiesand asthma in infants,” informsDr. Apoorva Rawul, M.D.Anaesthesiology, and a criticalcare physician.

At present, data is not suffi-cient to conclude the transmis-sion of COVID-19 throughbreastfeeding. In infants, therisk of COVID-19 infection islow, the infection is typicallymild or asymptomatic while theconsequences of not breastfeed-ing and separation betweenmother and child can be signifi-cant leading to stress for whichthe perinatal counsellor sug-gests seeking therapy.

“The importance of therapyin the perinatal space is fairlya new specialisation and it

needs to be further strength-ened. The perinatal mentalhealth professionals will be able to guide the mother onhow to deal with stress and alsoeducate her about the need tocontinue breastfeeding. Theymay also provide psycho-educa-tion using the knowledge basethat is available from variousresearchers, practitioners, andguidance documents. Most

importantly, the mother needsto relax in such distressingtimes ahead and practice medi-tation or participate in mindfulprograms. Coming to the gov-ernment regulations, the stategovernment must amend theregulation of the production,supply, and distribution act forinfant milk substitutes and feed-ing bottles ensuring more effec-tiveness,” voices the counsellor.

A community of lactationsupport empowering and edu-cating women on breastfeedingacross India-BreastfeedingPumping India run by HannahGrace who is a certified lacta-tion expert shares her finalthoughts on breastfeedingamidst pandemic. “Women areoften prevented from breast-feeding in public, this topicnever interested media. Theconcern lies in the lack of publicsupport for normalisation offeeding the baby in open spacesrather than conducive onesapart from other generic prob-lems already persisting likerestricted milk flow, invertednipples, increased stress levels,lack of access to information on lactation, etc.”

Her personal experiences of having feeding problems led to her creating the supportgroup for mothers on breast-feeding to uplift mothers inachieving their optimum levelsof breastfeeding through naturalmeans.

Let’s all come together topush the need to make decentbaby feeding spots where mothers have comfort and pri-vacy.

The rapidtransmission ofCOVID-19 hasinstilled fear in

everyone, but morefor breastfeedingmothers. And to

those who testpositive for the

virus, they're morequestions than

solutions. Dr. AnitaRego, a Perinatal

Counsellor talks toThe Pioneer's

SHIKHA DUGGALon the benefits and

importance ofbreastfeeding

infants amidst thepandemic

B

‘Benefits of breastfeeding outweighrisk of COVID transmission'

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tthhee bbaabbyy wwiitthh aa sstteerriilliisseedd bboottttllee.. CCoommee ttootthhiinnkk ooff tthhee ppoossiittiivvee pphhaassee ooff bbrreeaassttffeeeeddiinngg,,

aa llaaccttaattiinngg mmootthheerr’’ss mmiillkk pprroodduucceess aannttiibbooddiieess tthhaatt ccaannuullttiimmaatteellyy eennhhaannccee hheerr cchhiilldd’’ss iimmmmuunniissaattiioonn.. NNoott ffeeeeddiinngg

ccaann lleeaadd ttoo rriisskkss ooff aalllleerrggiieess aanndd aasstthhmmaa iinn iinnffaannttss..

DDRR.. AAPPOOOORRVVAA RRAAWWUULL,,M.D. ANAESTHESIOLOGY

10

what’s brewing?Hyderabad Saturday August 1 2020

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

ollywood starSushant SingRajput’s formergirlfriend, TV actorAnkita Lokhandesays the actor had

an admirable zest for life andshe can never believe that hecommitted suicide because ofdepression.

Ankita and Sushant met onthe sets of popular TV serialPavitra Rishtra and dated forover six years till 2016.

In her first interview postSushant’s demise on June 14,Anikta said the actor was ahappy guy who never let suc-cess or failure affect him to theextent of getting depressed.

“When the news came andit was everywhere that hecommitted suicide, it took mea lot of time to accept it. Iwant to tell everyone thatSushant was not the kind ofguy who will get into depres-sion. He was not somebodywho will commit suicidebecause he is sad. He was ahappy guy. Sushant and I havebeen through worse situations.I don’t know what position hewas in and what was he doing,but as time passed I startedtrying to understand howsomebody’s death is labeled assuicide. But as much as Iknow Sushant he was not adepressed guy,” the actor toldRepublic TV.

Anikta said it is heartbreak-ing when people call Sushant adepressed man because he was

somebody who knew how todream big and work towardsmaking them into a reality.

“I have not seen a personlike Sushant, a guy who usedto write his own dreams. Hehad a diary... He had his five-year plan — what he wants todo, how he will look, etc. Andexactly after five years, he hadfulfilled them. And whenthings like ‘depression’ areused after his name... it isheartbreaking. He could beupset about a few things. Weall get anxious, he could beanxious. But depression is abig word. Calling someone‘bipolar’ is a big thing,” shesaid.

Anikta said it is hard for herto accept the narrative that hewas not happy because of afew box office failures asSushant had a lot of patienceand always believed in bounc-ing back.

“He used to say if anythingdoesn’t happen I will make ashort film. I have seen himworking so hard for himself.He was doing theatre andchose Pavitra Rishta. He wasone of the biggest stars on TV.He left the show when he wasat his peak because he wantedto do something else.”

“He did films. He wassomeone who knew what hewanted to do. To get intofilms, he waited for threeyears. He was sitting at homeand waiting for that one break.Everybody doesn’t have so

much patience,” she said.Asked about claims of

financial instability leadinghim into depression, Aniktasaid money was never onSushant’s agenda .

“Money was a small thingfor Sushant, his passion wasway bigger than anything else.He always used to say, Ifeverything ends I will buildmy empire again. Money wasnever an agenda for him. Hispassion for life was biggerthan anything. Success andfailure never affected him. Hebelieved in bouncing back. Heused to find happiness insmaller things. He cannot diefor this,” she said.

“I’m saying he was notdepressed and if somebody issaying it’s suicide, I want toknow why. If somebody is say-ing he was murdered, I wantto know who did it? I amstanding with Sushant’s family.I also want to know what hap-pened. One thing I am sure isthat depression, is impossiblefor me to believe that it hap-pened,” she said.

The actor said while she isunaware about Sushant’s rela-tionship with Rhea, she sharesa good equation with his fami-ly.

“I can’t comment onSushant and Rhea’s relation-ship. I was not there. As forSushant’s family, I want to takea stand for them. They musthave something to prove andshow people,” she concluded.

B

mmy-winning actorBryan Cranston hasrevealed his recovery frommild symptoms of Covid-19, and said he donated

his plasma with a hope that his anti-bodies would help others fight thedisease.

The Breaking Bad star opened upabout his diagnosis via Instagramwith a two-minute video, in whichhe takes his followers through the

plasma donation process, reportsvariety.com.

“I wanted to announce that I hadCOVID-19 a little while ago. Verylucky, very mild symptoms,”Cranston said, adding: “So I thoughtmaybe there’s something I can do,so I started a program (at UCLABlood and Platelet Center) so hope-fully the plasma donation can helpsome other people.”

Along with the video, he wrote:

“Hi. About now you’re probably feel-ing a little tied down, restricting yourmobility and like me, you're tired ofthis!! Well, I just want to encourageyou to have a little more patience. Iwas pretty strict in adhering to theprotocols and still... I contracted thevirus. Yep. it sounds daunting nowthat over 150,000 Americans are deadbecause of it. I was one of the luckyones. Mild symptoms. I count myblessings and urge you to keep wear-

ing the damn mask, keep washingyour hands, and stay socially distant.We can prevail - but ONLY if we fol-low the rules together. Be well - Staywell." Cranston was able to donate840 millilitres of plasma to coron-avirus research, and said that he plansto return soon to make anotherdonation. The actor encouraged hisfollowers to donate plasma if theyhave had Covid-19, saying that theprocess takes only an hour.

Sushant was not a depressed guy,he had passion for life: ANKITA

ED files moneylaundering casein Sushant case

In a major development, the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has filed a case of moneylaundering over transactions worth Rs 15

crore related to the alleged suicide of Bollywoodactor Sushant Singh Rajput. A top ED sourcesaid that it has registered a criminal case underPrevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA),2002.

The development comes amid the complaint ofK.K. Singh, father of Sushant Singh Rajput toBihar Police against actress Rhea Chakraborty.

The ED on Thursday sought details of the FIRregistered against Rhea by the Bihar Police andthe details of two companies owned by SushantSingh Rajput and Rhea's family from the banks.

The ED has also sought details of the financialtransactions of the Vividrage Rhealityx, in whichshe is a director, and Front India For World, inwhich her brother Showik is a director, thesource added.

Sushant's father lodged an FIR against Rhea inPatna, accusing her of cheating and threateninghis son. Sushant and Rhea were in arelationship before the actor's death. Sushant'sfather has levelled various allegations againstRhea, including taking money from his son andalso threatening to disclose his medical reportsto the media. Sushant's family has also accusedher of keeping him away from his family.

MONEY WAS A SMALL THINGFOR SUSHANT, HIS PASSIONWAS WAY BIGGER THANANYTHING ELSE. HE ALWAYSUSED TO SAY, ‘IF EVERYTHINGENDS I WILL BUILD MYEMPIRE AGAIN’. MONEY WASNEVER AN AGENDA FOR HIM.SUCCESS AND FAILURE NEVERAFFECTED HIM. HE BELIEVEDIN BOUNCING BACK. HE USEDTO FIND HAPPINESS INSMALLER THINGS.

E

Bryan reveals recovery from Covid, donates plasma

n a rare honour,one of the bestTelugu films of lastyear, Jersey, star-ring Nani andShraddha Srinath,

has been picked for screeningat the prestigiousInternational Indian TorontoFilm Festival, 2020. The festi-val will begin from August9th and conclude on August15. Naturally, productionhouse Sithara Entertainmentsis overjoyed with the honour.“It is great to celebrate IndianIndependence Day in Canada

with a film that we are reallyproud of,” read a statementfrom the production house onFriday.

Jersey, which won theappreciation of audiences andcritics alike, told the story of afailed cricketer (played byNani) who decides to revivehis cricketing career in his late30’s despite everyone beingskeptical of his ability to doso. It is being remade in Hindiwith Shahid Kapoor steppinginto the shoes of Nani.Gowtam Tinnanuri is direct-ing the Hindi version as well.

fter Allu Arjun’sconfidant BunnyVas confirmedthat the actor’sslate for the nextcouple of years

includes a film with hitmachine Koratala Siva duringan interview with a webchannel more than sixmonths ago, the combinationwas officially announced onFriday. Both the actor andthe director have been wait-ing to team up for a longtime and it seems they finallydecided it’s time. The untitledfilm will mark Koratala’sclose buddy of years,Mikkilineni Sudhakar, debut-ing as a producer under hisproduction house YuvasudhaArts.

The film is tipped to be asignature social Koratalaentertainer, with Allu Arjunloosely attached to essay therole of a student leader. The

actor was full of the joys ofspring declaring the projectwith the director. “Verymuch elated to announce mynext film #AA21 withKoratala Shiva garu. Beenlooking forward to this forquite a while. My best wishesto Sudakar Garu for his 1stventure. Sandy, Swathi &Nutty this is my way of show-ing my love for you guys,” he

tweeted along with a posterwhere two men (presumablyhim and Koratala) can beseen standing near a shoreand gazing at a village. Sandy,Swathi and Nutty are hisfriends who will act as co-producers for the project,representing his in-houseproduction house GA2Pictures.

The film will flag-off after

Arjun and Koratalawrap up their respec-tive projects Pushpaand Acharya. Therelease date thoughhas been indicatedas early 2022 —making onededuce that themakers are tar-geting a Pongaltheatrical roll out.Arjun-starrer AlaVaikunthapuramlo— released duringPongal earlier thisyear — set the box-office on fire, emergingas his biggest grossertill date.

Earlier in the day,Arjun paid a tribute tohis grandfatherPadmashri AlluRamalingaiah on the latter’sdeath anniversary. “I remem-ber this day when he left us. Iknow more about him now

than on that day. The more Iexperience many things inlife the more I connect to hisefforts, struggles, and jour-

ney. We all are here today inthis position because of thispoor farmer’s passion for cin-ema,” the actor wrote.

11

A

tollywoodHyderabad Saturday August 1 2020

BUNNY TO BE SEEN AS STUDENTLEADER IN KORATALA'S NEXT?

Allu Arjun and Koratala Siva have been waiting to team up for along time and it seems they finally decided it's time. The untitledfilm will mark Koratala's close buddy of years, MikkilineniSudhakar, debuting as a producer under his production houseYuvasudha Arts, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

I

Jersey picked for screening at International Indian Toronto Film Festival

lready a part of ChandooMondeti’s Karthikeya 2 andPalnati Surya Pratap’s 18 Pages-both of whose shoot had to besuspended due to the outbreakof COVID-19 — Nikhil

Siddhartha has agreed to topline a newmovie, the announcement of which wasmade on Friday. He is teaming up withproducers Narayan Das K Narang andPuskur Rammohan Rao for the untitledfilm, which will be his 20th as an actor.Rainbow Reels will execute the project onthe production front, while no director isattached to it to helm as of now. “Happy tosign with you Asian Movies... With yourtrust and backing we can make better andbigger films,” Nikhil, who bounced back towinning ways with Arjun Suravaram, post-ed on his Twitter page.

Nikhil signsa film forAsianCinemas

A

Quality mattersven before theirmaiden produc-tion, SR Kalyana-mandapam, ishalf-way throughwith its filming,

production house EliteEntertainments, last month,announced another venture,Sebastian P.C. 524, withKiran Abbaravam playingthe titular role. For itsfounders Pramod and Raju,it has always boiled down toquality — a factor whichdrove them to enter theconstruction sector first fol-lowed by the restaurant sec-tor. “We want to tell storiesof diverse genres withemphasis on superior quali-ty. In this journey I’ve metKiran Abbavaram whocomes from Rayachoti,Kadapa. In fact, I’ve knownhim for the past four years-from his short film days. Inoticed a spark in him backthen itself and after heproved himself with hisdebut film Raja Vaaru RaniGaaru last year, we decidedto associate with him asproducers. He will be theVijay Sethupathi of theTelugu industry in the com-ing years,” Raju, who comesfrom Anantapur, exults.

Pramod chimes in, “Kiranis not just good in front ofthe camera but has a deepunderstanding of othercrafts of filmmaking aswell.”

After a pause, Raju isquick to mention thatbesides passion for cinema,another important objec-tive of their banner is topromote and nurture newtalent. “As much as we can,we want to introduce talentfrom 24 crafts of filmmak-ing with each of our pro-ductions,” he notes, addingthat as a duo, they’ve donetheir research before step-ping foot into the industry.“We’ve already locked sometheatres for SRKalyanamandapam. Wehave a plan ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ forthe film. We have a teamwhich is working on the

marketing side. We areextremely confident aboutthe film and we are plan-ning to kick-start promo-tions by releasing a songthis month.”

Years of watching count-less films growing up meansthat Raju understands that itis the script that is the king.“More than the actors, webelieve in the script.Aspiring talents with a goodstory are welcomed toknock on our doors. If thescript is good, we believeeverything will work. Wewant our films tostand out. Wedon’t wantthem to beaverage. Theidea is todish out con-tent rich-cinema ina waythat peo-ple willflock the-atres by justseeing our pro-ductionhouse’snamein

the promotional materials,”Raju points out gleefully.

With theatres continuingto remain shut, many smallto medium-budgeted filmsare looking at OTT plat-forms to drop their filmsand recover their moneyback. Is it the way for themas well with their debut pro-duction? “As SRKalyanamandapam is ourfirst venture, we are lookingat a theatrical rollout. Wedon’t have a problem if cine-ma halls take time to open;

we will wait. Plus, thefilm’s content is best

experienced onthe big screen,”Pramod addswith an air ofconfidence.

— NG

E

elugu-Hindi actor HarshvardhanRane recently realised how life

comes full circle.The actor, a biking aficionado,was shooting for a commercial

when he remembered how, a decade agowhen he had shot for a commercial, his

face was not shown.“This is how life comes full circle, Iguess. I shot for an ad 10 years ago,

where my face wasn’t even visible. Now, Ishot an ad as a leading man for one of thebiggest motorcycle brands in the country,”

Harshvardhan said.“It’s nothing less than surreal.”

The Avuna actor shot for the advertise-ment in Mumbai during a three-day

schedule.He said, “These are tough times and

everyone is extra careful while venturing outof their homes. I’m glad that all the neces-

sary precautions regarding sanitisation andsocial distancing were taken on the set. Itwas a smooth and refreshing experience.”

Life comes

full circle for

Harshvardhan

Rane

T

12HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | AUGUST 1, 2020

AP n SOUTHAMPTON

David Willey celebrated his returnto the England team with a maid-

en one-day international five-wickethaul as the world champions drew firstblood in the Royal London seriesagainst Ireland at the Ageas Bowl.

Willey was dropped fromEngland's World Cup squad last yearto make room for Jofra Archer, butwith several regulars absent due totheir test commitments the left-armertook centre stage on his internationalreturn.

In England’s first home ODI sincewinning their first 50-over WorldCup, Willey’s 5-30 restricted Ireland to172 all out in 44.4 overs, a total thehosts overhauled with six wickets tospare.

England had lurched to 78-4 butSam Billings, included after Joe Denly’swithdrawal due to a back injury, set-tled the team's nerves with a 67 not outoff 54 deliveries in an unbroken 96-runstand with Eoin Morgan.

England got over the line with 22.1overs still remaining at the start of athree-ODI series that marks the startof the ICC Cricket World Cup SuperLeague, forming part of the qualifica-tion process for India 2023.

But, on a surface where timingproved troublesome for a number ofbatsmen, the day belonged to Willey,who was chiefly responsible for Irelandteetering on 28-5 after being invited tobat first under sunny skies.

After the players took a knee tosupport Black Lives Matter, Irelandwere saved from free fall by interna-tional debutant Curtis Campher, aSouth African-born all-rounder whoqualifies through his mother's pass-port.

The 21-year-old showed no lack ofpatience and fortitude in his 59 not outfrom 118 balls in front of the vastswathes of empty seats, before Willeyreturned to the attack and ended theinnings.

PTI n SOUTHAMPTON

David Willey had “fallenout of love for the game”

following his last-minute ousterfrom England's World Cupsquad but after announcing hiscomeback with a maiden five-wicket haul against Ireland, hesaid his best is still to come.

The 30-year-old pacer, whohas taken 57 wickets in 47ODIs, was ignored for theWorld Cup last year withEngland preferring JofraArcher over him. He was alsoleft out of the limited-overstours of New Zealand andSouth Africa last winter.

Willey said he was at hislowest during his stint at AbuDhabi T10.

“I just didn’t want to bethere. I didn't want to go to theground. When I was at theground, I didn't want to bethere, and I wanted to get backto the hotel. I'd fallen out oflove with the game, I think,” hewas quoted as saying byESPNcricinfo.

Willey said the coron-

avirus-forced break actuallyhelped him as he made a suc-cessful return to guide Englandto a six-wicket win over Irelandin the first ODI on Thursday.

“It was just special to be outthere playing for Englandagain. I’ve gone away andworked quite hard to get backnear my best. It's been a roller-coaster, but I was just out thereenjoying my cricket today. I’mmoving in the right directionand I feel like my best cricketis still to come,” he said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Ben Stokes’ intent of wanti-ng to be in the midst oftough situations makes

him a player that every captainwants in his team, said RajasthanRoyals skipper Steve Smith abouthis team’s premier all-rounder.

While Smith is sincerelyhoping that Stokes doesn't bringin his A game during Australia’swhite ball series in England, hewouldn’t mind one bit if Stokessaves his best in the Royals jer-sey during upcoming IPL in theUAE.

“It will be great to be able toplay some competitive cricketagainst a quality England sidewhich has few of my Royalsteammates (Jofra Archer, BenStokes and Jos Buttler).

“Hope they don’t score toomany runs or take too manywickets and can save that for theIPL,” Smith told PTI during thescreening three-part docu-series,Inside Story: A Season withRajasthan Royals.

The series has been pro-duced by Red Bull Media Houseand would be aired on Jio TVand Jio Cinemas.

Smith was all praise forStokes who has been in dreamform across formats in the pastyear.

“I have seen Stokes go fromstrength to strength. He had anincredible World Cup andrecently played in Test matches.He bowled beautifully and gotsome wickets as well,” Smith said.

“He is a player who wants tobe involved whether he is batting,bowling or fielding. He wants tobe in hotspots. You want theseplayers in team as they want todeliver in tough situations.”Australia will resume their inter-national calendar with a white-

ball series against England andSmith said that nothing betterthan getting to play some qual-ity cricket after nearly sevenmonths.

“It will be great being backto playing some cricket. Wehaven’t played a game sinceFebruary and like most of theworld, our country was alsoshutdown, had to find way to getthrough this Covid experiencewhich has been incredibly differ-

ent for everyone.”On a different note, Smith

admitted that staying in a bio-secure environment away from“loved ones” for extended peri-ods is difficult but people try tomake relationships work as it'sthe way of life for elite cricketers.

The IPL is expected to startfrom September 19 in the UAEand all teams will have to followthe protocols of a bio-secureenvironment which might force

cricketers to be away from wivesand partners for more than twomonths.

“It will be difficult for any-one to be away from their lovedones for extended periods oftime but you kind of get used toit playing international cricket,quite often staying apart for longtimes and trying to make itwork,” said Smith.

The biggest challenge forSmith is to get things in order

but on the other side, most ofthe players will be starting fromzero.

“People haven’t played anycricket or for that matter littlecricket so from that perspective,it will be an even contest.Everyone going in with samesort of preparation,” the formerAustralian skipper said.

Adapting to conditions inthe UAE will be key but Smithbelieves that it will be pretty sim-ilar to India.

“I think part of being a pro-fessional cricket player is beingable to adapt to conditions.Conditions in Dubai can be sim-ilar to India (in terms of heatand humidity).

“Couple of players haveexperienced playing before as theIPL was held (partially) in UAE(in 2014). Guys are going to bejumping out of skin to get backto playing some quality cricket.”

He sounded disappointedthat IPL is not happening inIndia but lauded the BCCI forbeing able to arrange a tourna-ment of this magnitude in anoverseas country.

“Obviously we would haveloved to have playing in India.Amazing what's going behindthe scenes to give everyone achance to play,” said the 31-year-old with nearly 12,000 interna-tional runs.

On the Red Bull produceddocu-series, Smith said it was adifferent experience with cam-eras following the players every-where.

“First time I have been indocumentary and being in twoat the same time was different.People following us left right andcentre with cameras which youare not used to. Meetings, film-ing every little step on the way.It’s done brilliantly,” he said.

PTI n KARACHI

Skipper Azhar Ali said he is luckyto have young pacers like Shaheen

Afridi and Naseem Shah at his dis-posal and the right balance of expe-rience and youth in their pace unitwill hold Pakistan in good stead inthe Test series against England.

The three-Test series begins in abio-secure environment atManchester with the opening Test onAugust 5.

“The way Naseem and Shaheenhave bowled in recent Test series, Ias captain feel very lucky to havethem in my squad,” he said during apodcast organised by the PakistanCricket Board (PCB).

The 35-year-old said that theyoung pace bowlers in the extendedsquad are benefitting immenselyfrom the presence of experiencedpros like Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan,Muhammad Abbas and Imran Khanin the squad.

Experienced left-arm pacerMuhammad Aamir has also nowjoined the squad in Derbyshire withanother young pacer Haris Rauf setto join the team after finally clearinghis COVID-19 tests.

“I am happy we have experienced

and young blood in our pace attackand then there is Yasir Shah a provenperformer in tests,” he said.

“The good thing is that playerslike Muhammad Abbas, Sohail Khan,Wahab are also on this tour and theyare also sharing their experience withthe youngsters. I think our bowlerswill get a lot of advantage.”

Azhar said Yasir’s presence wasa source of comfort for him as theexperienced leg-spinner has donewell in English conditions on his pasttours.

The senior batsman said theplayers were a bit rusty at the start oftheir training but have been makingsteady strides towards regaining theirform after coming out of quarantinein the first week of July.

“Because of coronavirus we havebeen in lockdown for quite some timeand it was a challenging experiencefor all of us but it helped us get ridof our rustiness and now the bowlersare also doing well and are in rhythm.The workload for the fast-bowlers hasbeen good,” he said.

“Our players seem to be in goodtouch. The balance of the side is alsovery good and the good thing is inthe past we have done well in Englandin Tests.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Emirates Cricket Board is eager to fillup 30-50 per cent of the stadiums with spec-

tators when the IPL is held in the UAE provid-ed the government there approves, its secretaryMubashshir Usmani told PTI on Friday.

While announcing the dates of the IPL, itschairman Brijesh Patel had told PTI that thedecision on letting in fans during the September19-November 8 event will be taken by the UAEgovernment.

Having announced the dates, the BCCI toois awaiting the final approval from the Indiangovernment to host the IPL in the UAE.

“Once we get the confirmation from theBCCI (on Indian government’s approval), wewill go to our government with the completeproposal and SOPs which will be prepared byus and the BCCI,” said Usmani over phone.

“We will definitely want our people to expe-rience this prestigious event but it is totally thegovernment’s decision. For most events here,the number ranges from thirty to 50 percentcapacity, we are looking at a similar number.

“We are hopeful of getting our govern-ment’s approval on that,” he added.

The UAE has little over 6000 active casesof COVID-19 and the overall situation aroundthe pandemic is under control.

However, the 2020 Dubai Rugby Sevensevent, scheduled in November, has been can-celled for the first time sine 1970 due to thecoronavirus threat.

Usmani allayed concerns over the safety ofthe IPL.

"The UAE government has been very effi-cient in bringing down the case numbers. Weare almost living a normal life with certain rulesand protocols to be followed.

“And with the IPL still some time way, wewill be in an even better place than what it isright now.”

The IPL Governing Council will meet onSunday to finalise the logistics and SOP for theworld's biggest T20 league.

Usmani said the UAE is ready to host theevent and is only awaiting the Indian govern-ment's approval, "which should come through

soon”, going by what Patel said at the time ofannouncing the tournament dates.

“We are still waiting to hear from the BCCIon the Indian government's approval. Havingsaid that, we are ready,” Usmani said.

“We have plug and play facilities here andhave informed them (officials at Dubai, AbuDhabi and Sharjah stadiums) to be ready andthey are fully aware of it.”

Teams will be arriving in the UAE three-four weeks in advance for training.

Most players have not had proper trainingin India since the lockdown was enforced inMarch.

Asked if managing the training schedulesof eight teams will be a challenge, Usmani said:“UAE is blessed with the support of privateinfrastructure. We are able to deliver such eventsand have delivered before. Last year, we host-ed the T20 World Cup qualifier which had 14teams.”

The UAE had partially hosted the IPL in2014 due to the general elections in India.

“Last time also, it contributed significant-ly to the UAE economy. With the full tourna-ment taking place this time, it will be a muchbigger boost,” added Usmani.

My best is stillto come: Willey

Eng cruise to victory against Ireland

Denly out of Ireland ODIsIANS n SOUTHAMPTON

England batsman Joe Denly hasbeen ruled out of the Royal

London Series against Ireland after suf-fering back spasms in training onWednesday, a statement on Englandand Wales Cricket Board (ECB) web-site said.

The Kent batsman has beenreplaced in the 14-man England ODIsquad by Lancashire’s LiamLivingstone.

Livingstone has representedEngland in two IT20s and would make

his ODI debut if selected in one of thefinal two matches against Ireland.

In the first match, David Willey’smaiden five-for, followed by anunbeaten half-century from SamBillings helped England beat Irelandby six wickets.

Earlier, Morgan won the toss andchose to bowl first in what wasEngland's first ODI match since theirdramatic tied match against NewZealand in the World Cup final on July14, 2019 which led to them winningthe title for the first time in their his-tory.

‘Happy to have experience andyoung blood in our pace attack’

NRAI postpones shootingcamp for core groupPTI n NEW DELHI

The national shooting feder-ation has postponed the

compulsory training camp forits Olympic core group plannedhere from Saturday after takinginto the account the situationarising out of the COVID-19

pandemic.On Thursday, a shooting

coach at the camp's venue -- Dr.Karni Singh Range -- testedpositive for COVID-19 but thedevelopment will not force aclosure of the facility. Delhi'sCOVID-19 case count is over1 lakh.

PLAYER LIKE STOKES IS EVERY CAPTAIN'S DREAM: SMITH

The European Space Agency's Mars Express, a camera-equipped Mars orbiter, is keeping close tabs on a mysterious

"elongated cloud" appearing over the 20 kilometer tall Arsia Monsvolcano near the Red Planet's equator. The spacecraft, and otherones like it, have been following the strange cloud's evolutionsince 2009. Now, new images revealed this week by the ESAshow that the cloud has persisted. Scans suggest that themystery cloud is not linked to volcanic activity in any way - thelast time Arsia Mons was active was about 50 million years ago,according to NASA. Instead, scientists suspect it's a cloud madeup of water iceflowing down thesloping sides of thevolcano. The cloud,as spotted in thelatest images takenon July 17 and 19 byMars Express's VMC,appears to be up to1,800 kilometers inlength. And it doesn't last long, either. Each Martian year, aroundthe time of Mars' southern solstice - the equivalent of December21 here on Earth - the cloud grows for a few hours each day andquickly fades away again. "This elongated cloud forms everyMartian year during this season around the southern solstice,and repeats for 80 days or even more, following a rapid dailycycle," said researchers.

12-year-old Giraffedeclared world's tallest

Pune Police's tweet atreat for PotterheadsI

f you identify yourself as a Potterhead, chances re you knowwhat's special about today. For the uninitiated, read muggles,

July 31 is considered a special day since it's Harry Potter'sbirthday. Pune Police's Twitter handle has not only acknowledgedthe day but also referenced it to share an important message intheir latest tweet. In a bid to share a message about cybersecurity, Pune Police shared a deletedscene from Harry Potter and thePrisoner of Azkaban in whichProfessor McGonagall expresses hershock over a student (NevilleLongbottom) who wrote down all thepasswords and left the note lyingaround. "The most magical way tokeep cyber threat at bay - keep yourpasswords to yourself. Always," saysthe tweet posted along with the tinyclip. Mumbai Police also shared asimilar Harry Potter themed tweet toremind people to stay home with ascene from Harry Potter and theChamber of Secrets in which Harry visits the Weasley's home forthe first time. If you're a fan of the books and films of this magicaluniverse, chances are these tweets have hit you right in the feelsand may have even inspired you to binge watch the entire seriesall over again. What do you think about these Harry Potter-themed tweets with important messages?

A12-year-old giraffe named 'Forest' at an Australian Zoo inQueensland has been honoured with the title of the world's

tallest giraffe, standing at 5.7 m (18ft 8in) by the GuinnessWorld Records. In a blog post on its official website, theauthorities wrote that towering as tall as the "stack of fourMINI cars from the ground" Forest is a statuesque specimenamong the Australian maleGiraffes or the 'Bulls' that canmeasure between 4.6 and 5.5 m(15-18 ft). Further, she urged thepublic to visit the Giraffe on theirnext trip to the zoo. Australia Zoo'sKat Hansen reportedly said thatForest was born in the AucklandZoo as part of the regionalbreeding program. She added thatthere were nine such classifiedsubspecies of giraffe which arevulnerable to extinction, andimportant for the genetic diversity,as per local media reports. Shewas quoted as saying that Forestarrived at Australia Zoo when he was two years old and a "lotsmaller" in height than he is today. She added, the 12-year-oldgiraffe, father of 10 calves, was still growing up. According tothe Guinness World Records' statement, the giraffes grew upto a height of 4.6 metres to 5.5 metres generally.

First dog that tested +vefor Covid in US dies

Strange, giant cloudsreappear on Mars

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German shepherd in New York that had the first confirmed caseof COVID-19 in a dog in the US has died. Robert and Allison

Mahoney of Staten Island told National Geographic that their 7-year-old shepherd, Buddy, developed breathing problems in mid-April after Robert had been sick with the coronavirus for severalweeks. A veterinarian tested Buddy in May and found him positivefor the virus. The US Department of Agriculture reported in Junethat a German shepherd in New York state was the first dog in thecountry to test positive for COVID-19, but did not identify theowners. Buddy's health declined steadily after he developedbreathing problems and thick nasal mucus in April. He waseuthanized on July 11 afterhe started vomiting clottedblood, the Mahoneys toldNational Geographic. It'sunknown if the coronavirusplayed a role in his death.Blood tests indicated Buddylikely had lymphoma, acancer of the immunesystem, veterinarians told thefamily. A spokesman for theNew York City Department ofHealth said arrangementswere made to take the dog's body for a necropsy but when theinstructions were shared with the veterinarian, the body hadalready been cremated.

Emirates board plan to havesome crowd for IPL

page 11 · 2020. 7. 31. · 2 hyderabad, saturday, august 1, 2020; pages 12 `3 rni no....

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