VIJAYAWADA, MONDAY MAY 3, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

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Month & Paksham:

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Panchangam

Tithi : Saptami: 01:38 pm

Nakshatram : Uttara Ashadha: 08:22 am

Time to Avoid : (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam : 07:27 am – 09:02 am

Yamagandam : 10:38 am – 12:13 pm

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Good Time : (to start any important work)

Amritakalam : 10:00 pm – 11:36 pm

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State Government on Sundayhas postponed Intermediateexaminations taking High Courtrecommendations into consider-ation. In a statement released byEducation Minister AdimulapuSuresh, it was stated that theexaminations were scheduled tostart from May 5, but due to spikein Covid cases across the state, theHigh Court had suggested recon-sidering the decision and

the government had postponedthe examinations. The new datesfor conducting Inter-examina-tions would be announced assoon as the pandemic eases.

As the Union government didn’tprovide clear instructions on con-ducting Class X and Intermediateexaminations, a few states had can-celed the exams and awarded passcertificates to the students.However, a few states went aheadwith examinations and awardedgrades as per the students scores.Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment had also decided to con-duct examinations, as both Class Xand Intermediate grades played avital role in students careers, andthus scheduled the Intermediateexaminations from May 5.

Andhra govtpostponesInter exams

PNS n HYDERABAD

The ruling TRS has retainedNagarjuna Sagar Assembly seg-ment by winning majority of over18,000 votes in the bypoll held onApril 17. The counting of voteswas taken up on Sunday.

TRS candidate Nomula Bhagatpolled 89,804 while his nearestCongress rival K Jana Reddy got70,932 votes. BJP lost the deposit.

The bypoll was necessitateddue to the death of sitting TRSlegislator Nomula Narsimhaiahin December last.

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao, fondlyaddressed as KCR, thanked thepeople in Nagarjuna SagarLegislative Assembly con-stituency for electing TRS can-didate, an official press releasesaid. As per the partys policy,the promises made during theelectioneering would be ful-filled, the release said quotingKCR.

The TRS, despite theunex-pected jolt in the previouslyheld Dubbak bypoll andHyderabad civic polls, againestablished itself as a formida-ble force in Telangana with themuch-needed win.

N’ Sagar: TRStriumphs inby-election

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The win with bigger margin than lasttime in Tirupati by-poll is moreimportant and sweeter to YSRCPChief YS Jaganmohan Reddy as hewas successful in an experiment ofnot spending money at a time whenpolls in the country especially insouth India had turned so expensive.

In an experiment of sorts, Jaganwent to the by-poll purely on his gov-ernment's two-year rule of deliveringalmost all the promises he gave in2019 poll manifesto especially rollingout all the welfare schemes with lastmile delivery without any leakages.

He refused to use money bags tobuy votes and made it clear to hisparty cadres and leaders. Southernstates are notorious for spending hugemoney in the polls to buy votes. Hehad also changed the party candidateinstead of fielding Balli Durga Prasad'sfamily members.

Jagan had also stayed away fromcampaigning as he did for polls tolocal bodies. Though, succumbingto the pressure from the party cadreto campaign, Jagan had decided toaddress a public meeting in Tirupati,but he cancelled the meeting in thelast minute owing to surge in Covidcases. He was only confined to

micro planning sitting at hisTadepalli residence. He had deployedone each minister to each seven ofthe assembly segments that comeunder Tirupati parliamentary con-stituency. Jagan was hailed for his 'Notalk, only action' attitude during thepolls to both urban and rural localbodies as she stayed away from cam-paigning and didn't even send avideo appeal seeking votes to theYSRCP candidates.

In contrast, TDP supremo NChandrababu Naidu and his sonNara Lokesh had toiled hard in bothpolls to local bodies and Tirupati by-poll.

Jagan's resolve to rely solely on his2-yr rule yields positive results

TDP's votes drop; Robbin's strategy failsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Tirupati by-poll result is consid-ered only a last nail in the cof-fin of TDP which has been suf-fering with existential crisis eversince its worst defeat in 2019polls. Ever since the huge loss in2019 polls, TDP has been facinga series of setbacks in the formof worst performance in polls toboth urban and rural local bod-ies. Worst is that TDP could win

only a little over 20 per cent ofthe panchayats and only onemunicipality and not even onemunicipal corporation. Suchwas the worst performance ofTDP since 2019's major setback.

TDP which had hoped to bet-ter its performance in theTirupati by-poll had put up apoor show as the party's poll per-centage had dropped from the2019 polls. The by poll has beena litmus test and punctured

TDP's claims that the state hasbeen reeling under misrule ofChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy and that undercurrentanti-incumbency against the gov-ernment was sweeping underthe carpet. While the TDP can-didate's vote percentage was37.65 per cent in 2019 polls, itdropped to 32.1 pc during the2021 by-poll.

PNS n NEW DELHI

With the results of fiveassembly polls delivering achastening blow to BJP'selectoral juggernaut and vir-tually decimating its mainrival Congress, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee's massive victoryover the formidable saffronmachinery may help bringregional satraps to the foreof the national politics yetagain, analysts believe.

Under flak from theopposition for its govern-ment's handling of theCOVID-19 crisis, the BJP's

big loss in West Bengal pollshas denied the party a face-saver it might have hopedfor to claim the popularendorsement for its policiesand has lent further ballastto the view that it often fallsshort against a popularregional force.

While the BJP will drawsome satisfaction from itscomfortable win in Assam,the overall mood in theparty was sombre as itappeared drawing a blank inKerala and also fared poorlyin Tamil Nadu where itssenior ally AIADMK was setto lose power to the rival

DMK but defied some exitpoll predictions of its rout.The BJP-led NDA, however,trumped its rivals inPuducherry.

BJP sources claimed that ameltdown of the Left-Congress alliance, consoli-dation of Muslim votesbehind Banerjee-headedTrinamool Congress, and afall in the polling percent-age, especially in the last fewphases as the COVID-19cases surged, played a rolein its defeat.

The saffron party's WestBengal unit chief DilipGhosh, however, said that

the leaders whocame to BJPfromTrinamoolsomehowdid not farewell in theelections, whileanother senior partyleader KailashVijayvargiya creditedBanerjee for the TMC'sastounding performance.

"The TMC won becauseof Mamata Banerjee. Itseems people havechosen Didi.

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Prashant Kishor: seasoned poll strategist whorevived Mamata's fortunes after LS setbackPNS n KOLKATA

Barring occasional interviews withthe news media, he works ratherquietly in his election war room oris seated obscurely among throngsof party workers and leaders listen-ing intently to them.

Yet, the "Man of the Match"sobriquent has often been bestowedupon Prashant Kishor for his rolein winning for towering leadersacross parties an election game.And West Bengal was no different.

"..., in reality BJP will struggle tocross double digits in #WestBengal,"he had tweeted as early asDecember last year and his wordsproved prophetic.

"If BJP does any better, I mustquit this space!" the poll strategistadded, a statement was perceivedas bravado by many given theBJP's impressive gains in the 2019

Lok Sabha elections in Bengal andits energetic, high-decibel cam-paign for the assembly polls.

On Sunday, despite the massiveanticipated victory of the TMC,Kishor announced on national TVhe will quit strategising for politi-cal parties.

"I am quitting this space," he toldTV channels.

Prashant Kishor or simply PK, ashe is called by his team members,started working for the TMC at therequest of party supremo MamataBanerjee soon after the 2019 LokSabha polls when the BJP won 18of the state's 42 seats and the rul-ing party appeared losing its grip onthe state.

Realising, that there was aground swell of anger against sev-eral lower level TMC leaders whowere often accused of petty corrup-tion in execution of public welfare

schemes, Kishor designed the 'DidiKe Bolo' (Tell Didi) campaignunder which citizens could direct-ly approach Chief Minister MamataBanerjee with their grievances.

Election strategist Prashant Kishor, who guided the TMC to what islikely to be a spectacular victory, announced Sunday he is "quitting

this space", after firing a parting shot at the Election Commission,accusing it of being an "extension of BJP". "I am quitting this space,"he told India Today TV channel after trends showed a landslidevictory for the TMC, the party whose election strategy he helped craftfor the assembly elections. "I have never seen a more partial ElectionCommission, it did everything to help BJP....from allowing use ofreligion to scheduling poll and bending rules, EC did everything tohelp the BJP," he said, calling the poll panel an "extension" of thesaffron party. Talking to NDTV, Kishor stuck to his stand that the BJPwas a formidable force in West Bengal. He said he was confidentabout the TMC's victory despite the BJP's attempt to "build amassive propaganda" that it was winning.

‘Lives at risk,major tragedymay occur':Delhi hospitals PNS n NEW DELHI

Battling an acute shortage of oxy-gen, some hospitals in Delhi onSunday sent out desperate SOS callsto authorities to replenish theirdwindling stocks, with one health-care facility even "crying out" to thegovernment to shift out its patients.

Madhukar Rainbow Children'sHospital in Malviya Nagar onSunday sounded an alarm abouttheir depleting stocks around noon,saying 50 people, including fournewborns, were "at risk".

An official of the hospital said inthe afternoon there are around 80patients, including those sufferingfrom COVID-19, at the hospital.

‘Quitting this space’, declares Kishor;

calls EC ‘extension of BJP’

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Majority - 2,71 ,592

YSRCP getsthumping majorityin Tirupati bypollPNS n AMARAVATI

The ruling YSR Congress onSunday secured a thumping victo-ry in the by-election to theTirupati (SC) Lok Sabha con-stituency, trouncing the mainopposition Telugu Desam Party bya record margin of over 2.70 lakhvotes.

A political novice, YSRCs MGurumoorthy defeated former UnionMinister of State Panabaka Lakshmi ofthe TDP by a margin of over 14 percent votes.

It was virtually a no-show for theBJP, which had high hopes ofreclaiming the seat,though its nominee KRatna Prabha, a retiredIAS officer, managedto get 5.16 per centof the votes. She hadto forfeit her deposit.

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Amidst acrimoniousdebate over the USPresident’s revealing

the home plan on his comple-tion of 100 days in office,global markets remaineduncertain about growth, notthat Biden administration hasan eye on the pockets of itscitizens by way of imposinghigher taxes, but more for thelooming fear of devastationlikely to be caused by thenew mutants of corona virusthroughout the world.

Consequently, New Yorkgold closed at US $ 1,769.10(per ounce) while silver closed

at $ 25.91 (per ounce).Platinum and palladiumclosed at $ 1,195 (per ounce)and $ 2,842(per ounce)respectively.

Other economic parame-ters continued to remain

moderate. Brent closed atUS$ 66.76 (per barrel), whileCrude MCX oil was quoted atRs.4,716 (per barrel). WhileGold MCX stood atRs.46,785 (per 10 gms),MCX Silver appreci-ated and closed at

Rs.47, 492 (perkg). Copper MCXclosed atRs.753.95(per kg).Sensex andNifty 50 closed at 48782.36and 14631.10 points respec-tively.

On the closing day, leadingforeign currencies’ exchangerates were: US $: Rs.74.10,

British Pound: Rs.102.37,Euro: Rs.89.06, Singapore $:Rs.55.67, Swiss Franc:

Rs.81.14, Australian $:Rs.57.22, Saudi Riyal:

Rs.19.76, New ZealandDollar: Rs.53.07, KuwaitiDinar: Rs.246.04, Omani Rial:Rs.192.47 and UAE Dirham:Rs.20.17, Japanese Yen:Rs.0.68 and Hong Kong

Dollar: Rs.9.54.In local markets, dueto lower demandstandard gold (24

carats) declined byRs.1,110 andclosed atRs.47,770 (per

10 gms). Ornamental gold toofollowed suit and was quotedin the range of Rs.43,690–43,790 on the closing day.Silver (0.999) retained itshigher position with a smallappreciation of Rs.100 andclosed at Rs.74,100 (per kg).

COMMODITIESThe sentiment in principal

wholesale commodity mar-

kets in the twin citiesremained moderate due tolower demand, followingfresh restrictions imposed bythe government. RythuBazars and other commodi-ty markets located in BegumBazar, Kishangunj,Mukthyargunj, RisalaAbdullah, Mir AlamMandi,Dilsukhnagar, Kukatpally,Bowenpally and GeneralBazar localities recordedmoderate trading.

Meanwhile, the All-IndiaConsumer Price Index forIndustrial workers (Base year

2016=100), which deter-mines the dearness allowance,increased to 119.6 points in

March as against 119.0points for February. Similarly,inflation for March went upto 5.64 per cent, compared to4.48 per cent in the previous

month.During the week, com-

mon pulses such as tuar dal,masoor dal, moong dal andurad dal and commoditieslike chillies and garlic movedwithin a narrow bracket,while staple food grains andcommon edible recorded anegligible decline.

Common vegetables suchas cabbage, cauliflower,ribbed gourd, snake gourd,lady’s finger, cucumber, pota-toes, onions, tomatoes,French beans and leafy veg-etables flared up still furtherin the range of 12% to 34%.The NECC wholesale price ofegg in Hyderabad appreciat-ed by Rs.17 and closed atRs.367(per 100). The highestprice of Rs.440 was recordedat Kolkata, while Barwalarecorded the lowest of Rs.327

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

nHC UPADHYAY

Although after bitter experi-ence of the Emergencyclamped down by formerprime minister Indira Gandhi,the very word Emergency hasbeen abhorred by the people ofIndia, the fact remains that thismuch-dreaded provision stillremains intact in theConstitution of India. Besides,the Disaster Management Act,2005 also enables the govern-ment to proclaim a MedicalEmergency in any part of thecountry or all over the country.

Going by the people’s outcryover shortage of medicines,hospital beds and oxygen tocope with the rapidly spread-ing Covid-19 pandemic in itsnew ‘avatar’, the demand fordoctors, nurses and para-med-ical workers is expected tomultiply manifold in the nearfuture. The incidence of posi-tivity of Covid-19 among peo-ple has been increasing dayafter day to an alarming num-ber. Therefore, several High

Courts and the Supreme Courthave flagged red signal to theState and Central govern-ments and advised theExecutive to leave no stoneunturned to fight the dan-ger.

However, on the face ofit, governmentsalone cannot tacklethe massive prob-lem of Covid-19.Besides the govern-ment machineryincluding the defenceand para-militaryforces, public-spirit-ed volunteers fromthe civil population will have tobe involved in the fight againstthe pandemic on a war-footing.

Unfortunately, some fringeelements, including those nur-turing jihadi, divisive, separatistand extremist dreams, are toobusy to cash in on this ‘oppor-tunity’ to ensure that the coun-try suffers the most. Theseelements not only engage invicious propaganda throughmedia and digital platforms,

but also ‘celebrate’ the gloomysituation by spreading fake

news and rumours, therebyadding fuel to the fire.

The idea behind suchnefarious activities is obvi-

ously to create panic insociety and ill-

will towardsthe lawfully

elected governmentof the day.The present blame

game between the so-called well-wishers of peo-ple is nothing but a cleverploy to win over thegullible people and make

them believe that the populargovernments are doing nothingto save their life.

And to ensure this, theseanti-national forces would go toany extent;

from looting the medicinesto their black marketing andscaring away the needy peopleto approach hospitals.

True, there is dearth of doc-tors, nurses and para-medicalstaff as on today and the prob-

lem is likely to become acute inthe days to come. That is why,considering the overall situa-tion, it is high time that thecentral government took full-control of the situation in itshands. This is possible only byinvoking the provisions of theDisaster Management Act,2005 after consulting the States.The law gives the Union gov-ernment sufficient powers todeal with the emergent situa-tion.

Last but not the least, tomake the Medical Emergencysuccessful, the governmentsshould not hesitate to drawrequired talent from the vastcivilian population. All otheractivities like trade, commerceand industry should be kept onthe back-burner duringMedical Emergency and good

Samaritans should beencouraged to come forward toserve the nation in the criticaltimes. Later, after normalcyreturns, such volunteers shouldbe rewarded fabulously andtheir services recognized on par

with the services of the defenceand security forces.

Dispose of EP within sixmonths: SC

In a bid to reduce delays inexecution proceedings, theapex court has directed the exe-cuting courts to dispose ofexecution proceedings withinsix months from the date of fil-ing and added that this limita-tion could only be extendedafter noting reasons for thedelay.

The Court also issued a slewof directions to facilitate time-ly disposal of EPs.

Awesome ‘online’ experienceAlthough the Supreme

Court of India has come outwith a Vision Document tostreamline the virtual hear-ings of the court cases through-out the country and invitedcomments, suggestions andopinions from the public; theprevailing state of affairs in thematter of online hearingthrough video conferencing

has been, to say the least, ‘dis-mal.’ The legal fraternity, par-ticularly the practicing lawyersseems to be divided on the ratioof efficacy of the online hear-ing cases. One side whichbelieves that the problems ofconnectivity, distortion of com-munication and mismanage-ment are the incurable factors,the other side is still hopefuland thinks that these are onlythe teething troubles and wouldbe over soon.

However, a lot more needs tobe done in this direction. Adedicated satellite to cater tothe needs of the legal fraterni-ty and judiciary exclusivelyseems to be the first require-ment to overcome the connec-tivity issue. Further, equippingthe stakeholders namely,judges, court staff and lawyerswith the electronic gadgetshaving latest technology andthe knowledge of their opera-tion is also a must to ensure anuninterrupted working of thecourt proceedings. Above all,there has to be an attitudinal

change among the users of theonline facility because onlythe will, will find a way.

Legal stalwart Sorabjee no moreLegal stalwart and former

Attorney General Soli.J.Sorabjee bade adieu at the age of 91to this world on April 30 aftercontracting COVID-19. Hiswife, Zena, is undergoing treat-ment for COVID-19. With thepassing away of Soli Sorabjee,an era of Constitutional Lawand Justice System experts hascome to an end. He was indeedhighly erudite,

sociable, affable and intelli-gent lawyer who will always beremembered by the legal frater-nity as a pioneer of freedom ofexpression. He was for a longtime associated with the BarAssociation of India and othernational and internationalorganizations of repute. Hewas honoured by the nationwith the Padma Vibhushan.

Your Lordship, you too!In a conscience-shaking

judgment, the Karnataka HighCourt has observed that a for-mer judge of the same Courtallegedly attempted to get theGovernor’s post by bribing anastrologer has lowered the pres-tige of Judges and also degrad-ed the image of the Governor’spost.

The said retired judge by herown admission had shelleddown a hefty sum of Rs.8.5crore to an astrologer who hadtaken her for ride by his glibtalk promising the governor-ship.

Indeed, this incident shouldnot be seen as an aberration ofthe system, but must be con-sidered with due seriousness.The High Court would dobetter to institute an enquiryinto her conduct before, dur-ing and after her judgeship ofthe said Court and dig out herpast activities, the people whobecame hand tools for herand so on to convince the pub-lic at large that the judiciary ofthe country does not toleratesuch black sheep.

LEGAL

ROUNDUP

It’s high time we declared medical emergency!

Global markets uncertain about growth

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a severe blow and majorembarrassment to BJP whichhad been rearing to occupythe opposition space by dis-lodging TDP, had put in itsworst performance and lost itselection deposit. To retainelection deposit, a candidateshould poll at least 16.5 percent of the total polled votes.BJP's candidate former seniorbureaucrat K Ratnaprabhahad secured only 5.17 per centvotes. BJP also hoped that itwould gain from the alliancewith Jana Sena, but the moveproved futile.

On the part of BJP, manynational leaders, especiallyparty national president JPNadda, and leaders fromneighbouring Telanagana andJana Sena chief Pawan Kalyantoo campaigned for the party'scandidate.

Buoyed with the success in

Dubbak by-poll and GHMCpolls in neighbouringTelangana, BJP appeared tohave found little success inAndhra Pradesh by turningthe by-poll for Tirupati LokSabha segment from bipolarcontest between the rulingYSRCP and the TDP into atriangular fight amongYSRCP, TDP and BJP.

However, it is understoodthat BJP failed to use themomentum properly to itsadvantage.

The BJP has been strivinghard to occupy the oppositionspace and to go to public as anonly alternative to YSRCPand make TDP irrelevant by2024 polls.

Precisely, as part of a longterm strategy, BJP now wantsto emerge as a number twoparty in the state pushingTDP away by 2024 and thenemerge as number one by2029 polls. And, to achieve the

desired results of its longdrawn strategy, BJP consid-ered Tirupati by-poll as aperfect launch pad and also alitmus test to its strategy inAndhra Pradesh.

In 2019 polls the fight wasbipolar only between YSRCPand TDP and the BJP was leftbehind as its candidate waspolled less than NOTA option.

The BJP leaders have alsostayed put up in Tirupati anddid some ground work eversince it was assumed thatTirupati will go for by-pollafter the untimely demise ofsitting YSRCP MP Balli DurgaPrasad.

It was also part of thatstrategy BJP had picked aMadiga candidate, a retiredsenior bureaucrat, KRatnaprabha, though YSRCPand TDP picked Mala candi-dates to contest from theTirupati SC reserved con-stituency.

BJP faces roadblockin its Andhra strategy

Didi is Bengal ‘Dada’Continued from page 1

We will introspect what wentwrong, whether it was organi-sational issues, lack of face,insider-outsider debate. Wewill see what went wrong,"Vijayvargiya said.

Manindra Nath Thakur, anassociate professor at the Centrefor Political Studies of JNU, saidthe West Bengal results maytrigger a new realignment withBanerjee, whom he described asthe strongest woman leaderafter Indira Gandhi, emergingas a key force.

Noting that she does have aparty structure outside Bengal,he said the second phase ofcoalition politics may emergewith regional satraps playing astrong role. The Congress willhave a role in states where itremains strong, he added.

The regional forces used tohave a significant presence inthe national politics till 2014when Prime Minister NarendraModi steered BJP to its maid-en majority in Lok Sabha pollsdiminishing the say of statesatraps in power corridors ofthe national capital.

Even in defeat, a BJP leadersaid, the party emerged as theonly capable challenger toBanerjee.

"From three seats (2016),we now have nearly 90 MLAs.Analysts will write whateverthey have to but the BJP is nowan obvious alternative to theTMC, which was not the caseuntil a few years back," he said.

Thakur also noted that

Bengal is now "between the BJPand Mamata" with the Left andthe Congress having beenwiped out. "The BJP has gainedground in the state. With thekind of party structure andresources it has, it may createproblems for her in the next fiveyears," he said.

However, judged against itsrhetoric of winning over 200seats, such is the scale of theBJP's loss that it was reminis-cent for some of its drubbing inthe 2015 Bihar assembly pollswhere it was simply no matchto the popular support theRJD-JD(U) alliance enjoyeddespite its high-decibel cam-paign. According to theElection Commission's data,the gap between the TMC andthe BJP vote share was almost10 per cent. This meant a lossof nearly 3 per cent for the saf-fron party and a gain of about5 per cent for the TMC sincethe 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

According to theECs data, the gapbetween the TMCand the BJP voteshare was almost10%. This meant aloss of nearly 3%for the saffronparty and a gainof about 5% forthe TMC since the2019 LS elections.

Monday MirchiA babu's ecologically

sound request

Amidst the raging pandemic, the role ofsocial media has become significant.Numerous requests for supply of oxygen,ICU and ventilator beds, plasma et al arebeing amplified over the internet. Whilesome people are sharing grief, others aresharing recovery stories. Still others are high-lighting human interconnectedness with allother species in the globe. Near home, arequest from an IAS officer tugs at yourheartstrings, while throwing the spotlight onpets and strays amid the raging pandemic.Telangana Principal Secretary of MunicipalAdministration Arvind Kumar has request-ed netizens to look for those who can par-ent a 3-month-old kitten, which wasorphaned in Delhi after its parents passedaway due to Covid. It certainly pains to thinkabout pets that have been left in the lurchduring this pandemic. The grief that theyendure while the humans looking after themare gone can depress any animal lover. At theend of the day, requests such as the one madeby the babu sends a message to society thatone must think also about other beings shar-ing space in the biosphere.

Real pearls do not lose their lustre

Being a topper in Civil Services examina-tion is one thing and managing people at thehelm of affairs in babudom is quite anoth-er. At the end of the day, it seems only theone who has the best of both worlds countin Andhra Pradesh. Like real pearls, they aretreasured and never lose their luster even ifthey are put away in the jewel box for long.Revu Mutyala Raju, 2006 IAS topper, hasbeen a hot topic of discussion in AP babu-dom over the past few days. While mid-levelbabus are in awe of Mutyala Raju, those whoare somewhat senior are envious of theirshining colleague who has just been hand-picked by Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy to join his team in the CMO as addi-tional secretary. Some of them are scratch-ing their heads to know what it is thatimpressed Jagan to zero in on Raju. On hind-sight, some babus think Raju's people-man-agement skills and his good rapport withthose who matter in the CMO earned himthe coveted position. For, many IAS officershad vied for that post. Mutyala Raju, whois deservedly all smiles now, was an IPS pro-bationer when he topped the 2006 UnionPublic Service Commission Civil ServicesExamination -- his third attempt in the UPSCexamination. In his previous attempt in 2005,he secured 223rd rank and was allottedRajasthan cadre of the Indian Police Service.He previously secured the first rank in IndianEngineering Services 2003 and was postedas a railway engineer. So, he was on trackright from the beginning!

Political loyalties within administration

Administrators are expected to be apolit-ical. But that happens rarely. It is commonto find government officials informallygrouped on the basis of whether they are for

the ruling party or against it. Such group loy-alty sometimes continues even if the rulingparty loses power in the elections. This is evi-dent in AP.

When Telugu Desam Party was in power,there were taunts that some IAS officers "areworking like TDP workers". Now, thoughYSR Congress is ruling the state, those veryIAS officers are continuing to shield them-selves and their former political bosses,against whom Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy is determined to launch pro-ceedings for corrupt practices in the previ-ous regime. Jagan does not want to spare anyof the corrupt former Ministers of TDP. Yet,the yellow-striped IAS officers are protect-ing the former TDP Ministers by leaving notrace of their former bosses' misdeeds.There is talk that these babus are white-wash-ing records to protect themselves and the for-mer ministers concerned. The CMO can-not nail anybody without proper evidence.So, these babus are doing everything with-in their means to make it clear that there were"no irregularities" during the previous regimeand that "everything was fine". All that thesebabus' rival group can do now is to leaksecrets to the opposition parties.

Administrators left to their own devices

In Telangana State, with the ruling party'sreal decision-makers, including ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao and ITMinister K T Rama Rao, recuperating aftertesting Covid-19 positive, it is just a hand-ful of bureaucrats who are bearing the bruntof administration by working round the clockon rotational basis. They know the gravityof the health crisis, but have to suffer the idio-syncrasies of their political bosses, who haveshown proclivity to do on priority everythingto keep their power intact and checkmatetheir political rivals within and outside theparty. Netas have no qualms over how thejust-concluded series of elections and pub-lic meetings contributed to the acceleratedspread of the virus. Ace babus too have beenvictims of the raging pandemic. But they areback on their feet soon, tackling the pandem-ic - inter alia getting oxygen supplies going,addressing the shortage of Remdesivir injec-tions, augmenting hospital beds, and nego-tiating with vaccine manufacturing compa-nies. Some of these babus handle moredepartments than others and their workloadhas increased manifold. But one has toadmire their incredible energy levels. Rightfrom the Chief Secretary, who not long agorecovered from Covid-19, to a handful ofbureaucrats, each one of them has a lot onhis or her plate. Sandeep Sultania, JayeshRanjan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Rahul Bojja, Rizviand Lokesh Kumar are some among thesehyperactive officials. Likewise, some of theFinance Department officials are immersedin tracking the fund flow and balancing withapproved limits of expenditure.

Director of Public Health Dr.G.SrinivasaRao and Director of Medical EducationDr.Ramesh Reddy, who have taken theadditional load of keeping people and mediainformed, of course need special mention.

- Your’s truly

Prashant Kishor: seasoned...Continued from page 1

"PK's programme became pop-ular and acted as a safety valveallowing popular steam tocome out," said Rajat Roy,political analyst and member,Calcutta Research Group.

The strategist, in his earlyforties, has loads of experiencein successfully crafting elec-tion strategies, includingNarendra Modi's first primeministerial campaign in 2014when he was the Gujarat chiefminister.

Kishor spent months on endcarefully crafting Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar's 2015campaign and subsequentlyhelped devise Congress'sCaptain Amarinder Singh's suc-cessful bid in Punjab.

He proved he is the masterof his craft when he helpedcatapult Jagan Mohan Reddyof the YSR Congress to powerin Andhra Pradesh in 2019.He also advised Arvind

Kejriwal during the 2020 Delhiassembly elections.

The inputs the TMC gotfrom its meetings with citizensgroups and polls conducted byKishor's team about candi-dates saw many senior leadersgetting dropped and new facesbrought in. Minor rebellionsbrewed but were stamped out.

The chief minister's attemps totackle corruption in the middle andlower rungs of the party followingBJP's accusation of large-scale irreg-

ularities in distribution of reief fol-lowing cyclone Amphan, also borefruit, said Kishor.

The strategist who isbelieved to have conceptu-alised the 'Duare Sarkar' (gov-ernment at your doorstep)programme under which ben-efits of a host of welfareschemes, including scheduledcaste certificates, were deliv-ered to the homes of the ben-eficiaries, also boosted herstanding among the poor.

West Bengal government'sUN award winning 'Kanyashree'programme, where money istransferred to the bank accountsof girls so they could study fur-ther and early marriages couldbe prevented, was highlightedduring the campaign.

The strategy to extend the'Swasthya Sathi' health insur-ance scheme to the entirepopulation in December 2000was welcomed by all. Thescheme was launched byBanerjee in 2016.

‘Quitting this... Continued from page 1

"The result may look like one-sided but it was a tough fight.BJP is a formidable force andwill be," he said. "..., in realityBJP will struggle to crossdouble digits in #WestBengal,"he had tweeted as early asDecember last year and hiswords proved prophetic.

PNS n AMARAVATI(AP)

Amaravati(AP), May 2(PTI) Andhra PradeshChief Minister Y S JaganMohan Reddy on Sundaycalled DMK chief M KStalin by phone and con-gratulated him over the vic-tory in the Assembly elec-tions in Tamil Nadu.

Jagan later tweeted:"Hearty congratulations to

all the candidates and polit-ical parties for scoring vic-tories in the Assembly elec-tions and bypolls across thecountry.

My best wishes to every-one for a successful tenurein public service."

He tagged @mkstalin,@ M a m a t a O f f i c i a l ,@vijayanpinarayi and@BJP4India in his tweet.

Telugu Desam president

N Chandrababu Naidu alsotook to Twitter to congrat-ulate Mamata Banerjee,Stalin, Sarbananda Sonowal,Pinarayi Vijayan over theirparties victories in theAssembly elections.

The former ChiefMinister conveyed his goodwishes to AINRC and BJPfor decisively winning thePuducherry Assembly elec-tions.

AP CM greets Stalin,Mamata on poll victory

TDP's votes drop...Continued from page 1

In despair, TDP heir-apparentNara Lokesh had hiredRobbin Sharma a former aideof poll consultant PrashantKishor. Sharma, also runs anorganisation ShowtimeConsulting, on the lines ofKishor's IPAC. Interestingly,Robbin Sharma too focusedall his energies and resourceson Tirupati by poll keepingaside the work for polls tolocal bodies. He personallymade several trips to Tirupati

to understand the constituen-cy.

The by-poll is more impor-tant and prestigious to TDPchief N Chandrababu Naiduas Tirupati is in Chittoor dis-trict where he started hispolitical career and learnedthe nuances of politics. It isfrom the SV University inTirupati that Naidu had start-ed his political career as a stu-dent leader.

He considers Chittoor espe-cially Tirupati as his strongbastion.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP spokesperson DrSaptagiri Prasad on Sundaycame down heavily on YSRCPgovernment for trying to holdthe examinations for studentsinfected with Covid by makingspecial arrangements for themin separate rooms at all theexamination centres in thestate.

Saptagiri asked how the APgovernment could violate theguidelines which clearly stipu-late that all the virus-infectedpatients including the studentsshould be kept in home isola-tion compulsorily.

Instead of making multiplemistakes, the Chief Ministershould better cancel or post-pone the Class X andIntermediate exams withimmediate effect to put anend to the needless controver-sy, he added.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, the TDP leader saidthat the students of the govern-ment colleges and schools were

not in a position to write theexams right now.

Nearly 70 per cent of the syl-labus has not been completedfor them. They attended class-es only for 3 months and thesyllabus designed for ninemonths was completed withinjust three months withoutproper planning. Online class-es were not conducted forthem, while the corporate andprivate institutions preparedtheir students well in advance,he observed.

The CM should realise thatthe government colleges and

schools remained closed forseven months during 2020 fol-lowing the Covid-inducedlockdown.

Dr Saptagiri deplored thatCM Jagan's adamant decisionwas posing a great risk to the

lives of 15 lakh students ofClass X and Intermediate.

This in turn poses a threat totheir parents, family mem-bers, neighbours and the teach-ing and non-teaching staff aswell, he said.

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 3, 2021

A devotee from Chennai-based M/s G square Realtors has donated Rs 1 crore to the SVBC Trust on Sunday. Representativesof the corporate group handed over the DD to TTD Additional EO and SVBC MD AV Dharma Reddy at the Nada Niranjanamplatform.

DEVOTEE DDONATES RRS 11 CCR TTO SSVBC

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The AP State EnergyConservation Mission(APSECM) has advised peopleto use air conditioners at 26degrees to reduce power con-sumption.

As the mercury levels con-tinue to rise, the usage of airconditioners in the domesticsector has substantiallyincreased in the state.

As per estimates, the presentannual demand of ACs is 2,800MU. In view of this, theAPSECM advised the generalpublic to set their AC temper-ature at 26 degrees Celsiuswhich consumes less electric-ity.

Moreover, it also helps theconsumers in avoiding the ill-effects on health during theexisting Covid pandemic.

Ultimately, the move ensuresclean environment by reducingGreen House Gases (CO2)

If the air conditioner tem-perature is set between 19 to 21degrees which is much lowerthan the normal body temper-ature, it may increase the riskof causing hypothermia, arthri-tis, skin allergy or itching,high blood pressure amongpeople.

After a thorough study, thenational level experts have

revealed that when an air con-ditioner is run at low temper-atures, its compressor contin-uously works on full energyand consumes excessive powerwhich increases the electricitybills.

The best way to run AC is toset its temperatures at 26degrees or more and put thefan at slow speed. This willconsume less electricity.

Even if 5 units are saved perAC per night by running it 26degrees, it is expected to save5 million units of electricity perday in 10 lakh houses.

This will ultimately help

reduce the effects of globalwarming and keep your bodyand environment healthy.

Air conditioners are beingpurchased by consumers owingto the continuous increase intemperatures day after day.Usage of 5-star rated AC willsave considerable amount ofsavings of 4.5 units per daywhen compared to zero-starAC. One star split AC of 1.5 tonwould save Rs 665 per yearwhile 5-star AC would savearound Rs 2,500 when com-pared to zero-star AC.

Energy secretary SrikantNagulapalli, during an exclu-

sive online meeting on star-rated appliances and theirimpact on domestic electrici-ty bills with APSECM officials,said that 1 degree reduction insetting of AC temperature willresult in 6 per cent reductionin electricity consumption.

He advised the officials tocreate awareness among con-sumers to purchase star-ratedair conditioners and set theirtemperatures at 26 degreesCelsius or more as per thecommunication of Ministry ofPower.

"Most of the people have ahabit of running their ACs at

20 to 22 degrees Celsius andwhen they feel cold, they coverthemselves with blankets. Thisnot only consumes morepower, but also has ill-effectson health. The temperature ofhuman body is 35 degreesCelsius and it can tolerate tem-perature ranging from 23degrees to 39 degrees Celsiuseasily. It is called human bodytemperature tolerance. Whenthe room temperature is loweror higher, the body reacts bysneezing, shivering, etc.", thesecretary said.

In a communication toAPSECM, the BEE, Ministry ofPower, Government of India,has emphasised the need to setair conditioners at 26 degreesCelsius or more to all thedomestic consumers across thecountry. The present totalinstalled air conditioner capac-ity of around 80 million TR(tonne of refrigerator) (74,234MW) in the country. It mayincrease to about 250 millionTR (2,31,982 MW) within 10years due to which the totalconnected load in India willincrease to about 200 GW by2030.

This is a major challenge forclimate change as an AC willrelease almost 10 kg of CO2emission every day, if it runs 8to 10 hours a day.

‘Set ACs at 260 Celsius toconserve energy, environment’

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Anil Kumar Singhal, PrincipalSecretary, Medical & Healthdepartment, on Sunday warnedthat stern action would be takenagainst private hospitals if theytreated covid patients withoutobtaining permission from thedepartment.

He said that the state govern-ment has appointed a commit-tee with senior officials to mon-itor the purchase of oxygen,medicines and other essentials ascoronavirus positive cases wereon the rise.

He said that during the past 24hours, covid tests were con-ducted on 1,14,299 persons,

while 23,920 samples werereported positive and 83 peoplesuccumbed to covid.

He said that out of total55,719 beds available in 558 hos-pitals across the state 33,765 bedswere occupied with covidpatients. Out of total 27,576oxygen beds available in the state,18,299 were occupied withpatients.

Similarly, 10,100 patients areundergoing treatment in 81covid care centres in the state, hesaid adding that 27,615Remdesivir injections were avail-able in government hospitals and14,602 injections were suppliedto private hospitals. About 437MT on medical oxygen was

received from the Central gov-ernment in the last 24 hours.Anil Kumar Singhal said thatthey have been receiving manycalls to 104 telemedicine call cen-tre. The call centre has receivedas many as 17,579 calls seekingadvice for various problems likeadmission into hospital, covidtests and test reports and healthsuggestions. He said that 92,700people are undergoing treat-ment in home isolation andthat the government had recruit-ed 18,000 medical staff last year.

As many as 16,019 personshave been recruited in the cur-rent year so far and another twoto three thousand medical staffwill be recruited soon, he said.

Official warns stern actionagainst hospitals treatingpatients without permission

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Tension prevailed at a privatehospital in Vijayawada onSaturday as the relatives of apatient created ruckus over thedeath of a person while under-going treatment in the hospi-tal.

The relatives of the deceasedstage a protest by squatting onthe road near Pushpa Hoteldemanding justice. Theyalleged that the hospital man-agement was extorting moneyeven after death of the patient.

Traffic came to a halt on thebusy as they staged protest.However, police rushed to thespot and cleared the traffic.

The relatives of thedeceased, N Ramesh, said thatthey have spent Rs 4 lakh tillnow.

The patient was brought tothe hospital due to a kidneyproblem, but the hospital staff

told them that the patient wascovid positive though the testreport was negative. The hos-pital staff even asked to bringRemdesivir injection to treatthe patient.

The patient died whileundergoing treatment at thehospital on Saturday and thehospital management askedthe relatives to pay Rs 2 lakhto hand over the body.

The irate relatives staged aprotest against the adamantinebehaviour of the hospitalauthorities.

Later, the hospital authori-ties spoke to the deceased's rel-atives and resolved the issue.

Earlier, I Sai, a reporterworking with a Telugu vernac-ular daily in Vijayawada dieddue to Covid while undergo-ing treatment in a privatehospital.

Following the complaint ofvictim's wife, the Joint

Collector Sivashankar and thehealth department officialscancelled the permission ofthe hospital after conductinga thorough enquiry into thematter.

It can be noted that there aremany complaints from therelatives of the Covid patientsthat the private hospitals wereextorting money in the nameof covid treatment and charg-ing heavy fees at the timeadmitting the patient in thehospital.

The state government hasconstituted flying squads formonitoring irregularities inthe treatment of Covidpatients across the state. Theflying squad officials haveinspected hospitals on thecomplaints received from thevictims and cases are beingbooked against the hospitalmanagements for irregulari-ties.

Hospitals extorting moneyfrom Covid patients, allege kin

PNS n TIRUMALA

The 13th edition ofSundarakanda AkhandaParayanams held at the NadaNiranjanam platform ampli-fied the bhakti wave atTirumala on Sunday morn-ing.

TTD organised the divineparayanams of 171 shlokas of54-57 sargas by vedic schol-ars as per Covid guidelines.

Speaking on occasion,Kuppa Shiva SubramanyaAvadhani, principal ofDharmagiri Veda VignanaPeetham, said that theparayanam of significantepisodes of Lanka Dahanaand Rakshasa Samhara ofSundarakanda was organ-ised on Sunday for protectingthe humanity from Coronapandemic.

He said the MantraParayana Mahotsavamorganised by TTD in thewake of corona pandemichad completed 388 days andthe Akhanda Parayanams ofSundarakanda alone hascrossed 326 days.

Under his supervision, the171 shlokas of the 13th edi-tion were recited by the vedicscholars - Maruti andNarasimha Charyulu.

The program was live tele-cast by SVBC between 7amand 9 am for benefit of devo-tees.

Additional EO AVDharma Reddy, faculty mem-bers of DharmagiriPathashala and other officialswere present.

Sundarakanda Akhanda Parayanamamplifies bhakti wave at Tirumala

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu on Sunday congratu-lated Mamata Banerjee, MKStalin and Pinarayi Vijayanfor victory in the recentlyconcluded elections in theirstates.

Naidu spoke to the threevictorious leaders on phoneand extended greetings to

them on Sunday. The TDP chief congratu-

lated CM Mamata Banerjeefor the triumph of the AllIndia Trinamool Congressin the West Bengal assemblyelection.

Naidu extended his bestwishes to MK Stalin for theresounding victory of theDMK in the Tamil Naduassembly election. He also

expressed his congratula-tions to CM Pinarayi Vijayanfor steer ing the Lef tDemocratic Front to a mas-sive victory in the Keralaassembly polls.

The TDP chief has sent acongratulatory message toAssam CM SarbanandaSonowal for leading the BJP-led NDA to victory in theAssam assembly election.

TDP flays govt over exams for Covid-infected studentsLOKESH THANKS MINISTER FORPOSTPONING INTER EXAMS

TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh on Sunday thankedMinister for Education Audimulapu Suresh for saving lakhs ofstudents and their parents from Coronavirus threat by

postponing Intermediate examinations. Lokesh said the EducationMinister took a 'bold decision' without following the 'adamantstand' of the Chief Minister with regard to the exams. It was indeeda victory for the virtual agitation and legal struggle waged by thestudents against the government's initial decision to hold theexams compulsorily, he added. Addressing a press conferencehere, the TDP MLC said that threat to the lives of over 15 lakhstudents was averted due to the postponement of exams. "Had thegovernment taken the decision in the first week of April itself, over10,000 students would have been protected from Covid infections.The practical exams conducted during the initial stages of Covidspread had led to infections among some students. When all otherstates took early decisions to postpone or cancel the examinations,the YSRCP government woke up from its slumber only afterprotest from the students and the general public," he said.

Naidu extends greetings to Mamata,Stalin, Vijayan for electoral victory

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a major breakthrough, thecity crime police on Saturdaynabbed a worker and recovered10 kg of gold articles which hestole from the shop he wasworking in Jaihind Complex inVijayawada on April 27. Theaccused was identified asBobbili Venkata Harsha of

Krishna lanka.According to the commis-

sioner of police B Srinivasulu,Harsha has been working in ajewellery shop in Jaihind goldmarket for the past one year.

His owner Mahaveer trust-ed Venkata Harsha too muchand asked him to bring thegold from the residence in thefifth floor of the building to the

shop located in the groundfloor. Harsha used to take thegold from shop to home andhome to shop regularly.

Taking advantage of thetrust of the shop owner, Harshadecided to rob the gold. OnApril 27, he went to the resi-dence of Mahaveer and told hiswife that the latter had asked tobring the gold. She trusted him

and gave gold articles weighing10 kg worth nearly Rs 5 crore.

The accused packed the goldarticles in two bags and left thecomplex. Harsha vacated hishome in Krishna lanka on April18 and rented a house inTadigadapa. Harsha also took ablank cheque from trader'scheque book and withdrew Rs4.60 lakh by forging his signature.

Vax only way tostop Covid 2

nd

wave: TDPPNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP leader GummidiSandhya Rani on Sundayridiculed that governmentwas shunning its responsibil-ity of getting all sections of thepeople in the state vaccinated.

"It is unfortunate that theCM announced that the gov-ernment would not be able togive vaccine to all those fallingin the 18 to 45 years age groupright now. It was shameful onthe part of the government tosay that it had no funds to buythe vaccines to meet thedemand," she said.

In a statement here, shesaid that the CM was notspending enough funds forvaccination. The governmenthad spent Rs 3,000 crore forcolouring the governmentbuildings with the colours ofthe YSRCP party flag andthen changing those coloursfollowing a court order, sheadded.

Vijayawada cops crack 10 kg gold theft; worker held

C PRADEEP KUMAR

n VIJAYAWADA

The private bus operators inthe state have stopped bus ser-vices from Saturday as theyhave to run buses with 50 percent occupancy in the wake ofsecond wave of covid.

Moreover, people are notinterested in travelling by pri-vate buses as positive cases con-tinue to rise in the state.

The owners of private trav-els have informed the transportdepartment in advance thatthey will stop turning 880

buses on their own fromSaturday.

Private bus operators haveinformed the TransportDepartment that they wouldstop operating 880 servicesamid Covid threat.

The officials of TransportDepartment said that the oper-ators would be able to get taxexemption by informing theDepartment in advance aboutcancellation of bus services.

J Satish, managing partner,Morning Star Travels said thatthey have been operating busesto other states like Telangana,

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.However, we are unable to

operate services due restric-tions like lockdown, night cur-

few and other restrictions inthe neighbouring states, headded.

They also hope that the AP

government might imposelockdown to contain the spreadof covid.

He said: "Tax should be paidquarterly and it should be paidin the first month of the quar-ter. Payment of tax in themonth of April for the nextquarter has become a burdenfor operators as we don't expectany business in May and June."

Hence, we have decided tocancel services to neighbouringstates as corona cases areincreasing since April, headded.

The officials responded pos-

itively to our pleas and asked topay tax only for the month ofApril, said Satish.

Additional TransportCommissioner S Prasad Raosaid that about 880 privatetravel owners have intimatedthe department that they wouldnot operate buses due to thepandemic.

There is lack of momentumin the business as they have torun buses with 50 per centoccupancy as per Covid norms.Hence, they have informedthe department so that they canclaim tax exemption, he added.

Private bus operators cancel services due to losses Cigarette leaves 18 in anoffice infected with Corona PNS n HYDERABAD

Due to one cigarette, 18 personscontracted Covid in Hyderabad.A marketing manager carelessand irresponsible behaviourhas made his office colleaguesgo into home isolation.

Srinagar colony based mar-keting manager was on hisassignment duty in the city. Hestopped at the KBR park andin order to light his cigarette,he borrowed another person'scigarette. As usual, he gotback to do his office work.

After three days, the man-ager complained of high feverwith body pains and difficul-ty in breathing upon which heunderwent a CT scan. As aresult he was found to beCovid positive with 30 percent of his lungs affected.

He then informed his teammembers of his Covid stateupon which 20 membersundertook tests and 18 per-sons' results came out positive.Though how many peoplehave been affected by these 18persons is yet to be known.

Mala Mahanadu activists creating awareness on Covid regulations in the attire of Lord Yama and corona virus requestingpeople to wear a mask and maintain physical distance at Church Centre in Ongole on Sunday.

MASK OOR DDEATH

vijayawada 04VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 3, 2021

COVID-19: A humane agenda for actionF

or a while, it seemed India had wonthe battle. While the pandemic con-tinued to race across North America,

Europe and Latin America infecting, hos-pitalising and killing millions, it appearedbenign with Indians. Blessed with amnesia,we moved on. We had forgotten themonths of incarceration at home, march ofmillions through the length and breadth ofthe vast country, physical and mental suf-fering of the infected, lives snatched prema-turely, the grief and tears of their loved ones.

Governments and people went back tobusiness, celebrating the Indian exception-alism. The much-touted great disruption ofthe century seemed an accidental blip,despite unprecedented damage to the econ-omy and livelihoods of millions. The factthat the number of poor more than dou-bled, and the middle class shrunk by 3.2crore, was not even whispered, let aloneaddressed.

The spectre in the form of Coronaviruswas merely biding its time, watching thevanity of our leaders, nonchalant conductof our citizens, and exuberant exhibition-ism of political campaigns, religious cere-monies, and social celebrations. Having cal-ibrated the governments' lackadaisicalapproach to crisis management, the frag-ile institutional capability, and yawningchasm between the rhetoric and reality, itturned on the country with an unprecedent-ed vicious vigour.

Lest we forget, SARS-COV2, the virusthat causes COVID-19 infection, is a nanoterror weapon that's autonomous of centralcontrol and command apparatus. It is pro-grammed to adapt to adversity, change itsform, and survive by becoming morelethal. It has to be smarter than its enemy,the humans, to survive and thrive.Coronavirus does not seem to follow thepath of its peers; instead, it wages a low-intensity guerrilla insurgency. When theenemy guard is down and circumstances

appropriate, it launches a full-scale war, asit has done now.

The number of infected is growingexponentially with the consequential bur-den on the ill-equipped, overworked pub-lic health system and equally unprepared,unregulated, rent-seeking private health sys-tem. Official data indicates more than fourlakh new cases and four thousand deathsin the last 24 hours. The reality, it appears,is far worse. From all accounts, it appearsthe virus has penetrated every part of thecountry, including the rural and tribal areas.

The health system is overwhelmed.Mortuaries and cremation ghats are inun-dated. There is shortage of essential med-icines and oxygen. Due to lack of medicalattention thousands of precious lives arebeing lost, while the health system cannotcope with the burden. Additional beds andequipment can be installed, but not trainedhuman resources. The health functionar-ies, police and administrators, who havebeen battling the virus for over a year, areexhausted. The transmission and spreadof the virus through the community can-not be controlled with a mask and sanitis-er. The vaccine is a weapon for the medi-um-term and is unlikely to have an imme-diate impact on the Covid tsunami sweep-ing the country.

This is not just a medical emergency asis being perceived by many. This is anunprecedented national crisis that is likelyto inflict irreparable damage and leave per-manent scars on every facet of public life,apart from lakhs of premature deaths, ifaction is delayed. Therefore, immediatemeasures must be taken, and it can only bedone by the governments, to disrupt andretard the spread of the virus. The author-ities must, inter alia, stop all non-essentialmovement; cancel elections, examinations,and all public events; prohibit political, reli-gious, social congregations; close all non-essential services in public and private sec-tors, and ensure 'shelter-at-home' for all cit-izens, with a strong safety net for the vul-nerable sections.

This 'shelter-at-home' plan, which is'humane national slowdown', may berequired for four weeks in the first instance.Several experts, including Chief MedicalAdvisor to the Biden Administration DrAnthony Fauci, have endorsed this strate-gy. Experiences from China, Europe, NorthAmerica clearly demonstrate the positive

impact of national shutdown, as it not onlyslows the spread of virus, but also gives timefor the system to recover, review, plan andact with renewed energy and commitment.

The national slowdown for four weeksand beyond requires protection to the mostvulnerable sections, including migrantlabour, homeless persons, beggars, those liv-ing in slums, including the illegal and unau-thorised tenements. They must be provid-ed shelter, livelihood, nutrition support,unemployment compensation, payment ofwages to the private sector, contract and out-sourced staff.

The current situation mandates a com-prehensive national strategy with state-spe-cific adaptations that should be managed atthe district and sub-district levels. The strat-egy has to be citizen-centric with people atthe heart of the action plan. All resources,including armed forces and para-militaryforces, may have to be marshalled anddeployed to supplement and support the civiladministration. While the strategy for theshort-term has its focus on pandemic con-trol and management and ensuring essen-tial services, the strategy for the medium-term must focus on revitalising the healthsystem and reviving the economy.

Scientific and evidence-based manage-

ment of the current surge in some parts ofthe country, notably Karnataka,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan,Chhattisgarh, etc., provides a model foradoption across the nation. The manage-ment authority and the accountability mustbe decentralised to the district, sub-division,PHC, urban and rural local bodies withnational standards for surveillance, testing,tracing, treatment and reporting. The sur-veillance and follow-up system needs to bereactivated with the legion of field-levelhealth functionaries with each monitoringa cluster of 50 to 100 households for the syn-dromic approach, follow-up, referral andpost-Covid management with PHC andsub-centre as the coordinating units.

All health resources available in public,private, non-profit sectors must be mappedto manage the range of activities, includingactive surveillance, early case detection, test-ing, contact tracing, home isolation and care,streamlined referral system, triage systemthat is transparent and equitable, efficientmanagement of hospital systems, toll-freecall centre for clinical guidance and men-tal health counselling. All resources mustbe brought under the direct control andmanagement of the district committeeheaded by the Collector with delegatedauthority and accountability, who must beguided by a team of public health profes-sionals.

The logistic system needs to be stream-lined by the central and state governmentto ensure uninterrupted supply of essentialmedicines, oxygen, etc. Notwithstanding theevidence to the contrary, medicines likeRemdesivir, plasma therapy and other

exotic medicines continue to be used.Standardised clinical pathways must beissued by the national government withoutany ambiguity to the hospitals. The cost ofhospital treatment for all COVID patientswho are not covered by insurance or theemployer must be met by the government,with the exception of income tax payers.Special attention must be devoted to themanagement of non-Covid emergenciesand chronic patients requiring medication.

Considering that data integrity is the soulof pandemic management and criticallyimportant for effective strategy, policy andoperational effectiveness, the national taskforce must establish standards, definitions,protocols, processes, timeframe for a rangeof key indicators, reporting systems, man-agement systems, etc for the nation. Thewarped belief that a higher number of infec-tions and deaths is a reflection on the per-formance of any individual or institution ispatently incorrect, as none is vested withdivine powers to order the virus.

The pandemic started to race across thenation around the time the health machin-ery was gearing up to unroll the vaccina-tion project that was launched ignoring thelessons learnt from decades of effectivenational immunisation programs. As aresult, fewer than 10 per cent of Indiansreceived a single dose, and less than 1.6 percent are fully vaccinated after 105 days. Atthe current pace, it will be years before everyIndian is fully vaccinated.

The national vaccination strategy needsto be reviewed and revised duly recognis-ing the production constraints and adopt-ing the best practices of the expanded

immunisation program. The strategy mustbe comprehensive with clear guidelines forcoverage priority, schedule for vaccinationmatched with production, and decen-tralised to the village and ward level underPHC supervision with ANMs administer-ing the jab. Considering that vaccine is themost important public good, the govern-ment must finance the cost of productionand supply. This would also enable the hos-pitals to focus on clinical management ofCovid rather than vaccination.

The government and citizens have equalstake in effective mitigation of the pandem-ic crisis. The trust and confidence in the gov-ernment can be reinforced through honestand transparent information sharing, dulyexplaining the constraints and the effortsbeing made by the government.Professionals who enjoy national and inter-national credibility and inspire confidenceshall be enlisted to communicate with thepublic.

An old Somali proverb tells us 'If peoplecome together, they can even mend a crackin the sky.' We have demonstrated that wewould rise above all schismatic impulses tofight unitedly the enemy at the nation's bor-ders. Now the enemy has entered our homesand is taking over our breath, our oxygen,and our lives. This is the time for the lead-ers to level with people and present unvar-nished truth. Millions of people, includingseveral retired civil servants, medical pro-fessionals, etc., are ready to lend a helpinghand. The government could considerenlisting their services.

When people are dying in droves, debat-ing the primacy of lives or livelihood is pre-posterous and inhuman. The economy canbe rebuilt; lives cannot be retrieved. A coun-try without compassion, concern, and carefor its citizens become a shmashan. This isthe time for all citizens to break out of theirethnocentric cocoons and join hands withempathy and compassion to contain andcontrol the pandemic.

The Chinese believe that 'in every crisis,there is opportunity.' This crisis offers theopportunity for the country to rediscoveritself and help rebuild and revitalise the insti-tutions and systems that determine thefuture of India: health care, education, nutri-tion, and child and women development.The words of Dr Tedros, WHO Director-General said a year ago, "Be safe, be smart,be kind", remain as relevant today.

PNS n KADAPA

Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddyand Kadapa District CollectorC Harikiran were working astorch-bearers in the wake of thesurge in the corona cases andthey were providing half of thetreatment to those who wereexhausting in the fight with theCovid pandemic by instillingcourage among them. Thoughboth of them were not doctors,their quest to do somethingbest for the Covid patients wasreceiving an overwhelmingresponse from all corners. Theduo was visiting the hospitalswithout caring for their livesand instilling courage and self-confidence among the Covid-stricken patients.

With a population of 30lakh, about 600 cases werereported in each mandal in theworst-hit mandals of 14 inApril alone. About 9,184 caseswere registered in Kadapa aloneand 3174 cases in Proddatur.One can imagine how the

Covid situation worsened inthe district.

When the private doctors ofKadapa staged a protest bydisplaying boards in front oftheir hospitals stating theywouldn't admit Coronapatients, District CollectorHarikiran exhibited his tacticsand convinced them to startservices. He met them andexplained the importance of theservice in an almost serious sit-

uation.The District Collector made

surprise checks in the Covidpatients' ward in Rims, wearingPPE kits asking the doctors totreat the Covid patients withhumanity. He also interactedwith corona positive patientsand infused courage amongthem. The Collector has askedthe patients at the field levelabout their health condition,the details of the treatment they

were receiving and whetherthere were facing any problems.

Similarly, no exaggeration tosay that there was no politicianother than YS Avinash Reddywho stood for the Covidpatients. On Sunday, he wore aPPE kit and entered the CoronaPatient Ward at Fatima CovidHospital in Kadapa and spenttwo hours in the ward to dis-cuss the treatments being givento the patients. The coronapatients were advised not to getpanic. An attempt was made toreassure patients that Coronawould do nothing if stayedwithout anxiety and fear. Hesaid the Fatima Covid Hospitalcurrently has a capacity of 400beds, of which 150 beds haveoxygen supply and they wouldincrease its capacity to 250beds.

Similarly, 11 KL capacityoxygen cylinders would beinstalled at Fatima CovidHospital and 22 KL oxygentanker at Kadapa RimsHospital, he said.

MP, Collector's visit infusescourage among Covid patients

Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy interacting with corona patients and instillingconfidence at RIMS hospital in Kadapa on Sunday

A CHANDRASEKHAR

n ONGOLE

As the Covid was creating anunprecedented catastrophe, thepeople were losing hope inPrakasam district. The situationwas going beyond control ascases were increasing day byday. Though the district has twoministers, there was no result asanticipated as their role in deal-ing with the situation was noteven minimal. The in-chargeMinister was not seen since thesecond wave of corona.

The condition of Covidpatients was worsening alarm-ingly and the incidence of coro-na patients arriving in OngoleGGH has increased. Many pos-itive cases were reported onSaturday and Sunday, causingmany difficulties in findingbeds as the victims queued upat the Ongole Rims hospital.

Authorities were makingarrangements to set up addi-tional beds. In contrary to thegovernment records whichwere showing the availability ofbeds, people in huge numberswere waiting for beds at theRims hospital. Patients have nofacilities, no proper sanitationand no health workers to takecare of the influx of patients.

However, the people wereseen wailing uncontrollablyafter losing their near anddear with corona. To pick upthe corpses, the private ambu-lances were exploiting theirrelatives. The panic-strickenpeople were waiting for helpas there was no let-up in thenumber of cases.

There were 30 Covid treat-ment centres in the district,including all government hos-pitals. Of these, 2,268 bedswere set up. Of them, 250 ICUbeds, 1194 oxygen beds, 824ordinary beds are available.

Prakasam District CollectorPola Bhaskar inspected the sit-uation in Rims. He said thatthe people and the mediashould act with responsibility

and the authorities were alsohuman beings. The media wasasked not to sensationalize ifminor mistakes happened.

Moreover, it was allegedthat the corona patients weregiven rotten food. Theauthorities became alertedwhen the matter came tolight. The government hasallocated Rs 350 per day forfood for each patient under-going Covid treatment. Thegovernment menu suggestedproviding breakfast, lunchwith chicken, tea, snacks anddinner with egg and 4 bottlesof water for the patients. Thecontractors were exploitingthe situation to make a fastbuck and supplying poorquality food.

Covid situation worsening

Collector Pola Bhaskar discussing with the RIMS doctors (Right) Patient showingthe rotten food supplied while treatment

Dr PV RameshInternational Development Professional

This is not just a medical emergency as is being perceived bymany. This is an unprecedented national crisis that is likely toinflict irreparable damage and leave permanent scars on everyfacet of public life, apart from lakhs of premature deaths, ifaction is delayed. Therefore, immediate measures must betaken, and it can only be done by the governments, to disruptand retard the spread of the virus. The authorities must, interalia, stop all non-essential movement; cancel elections,examinations, and all public events; prohibit political,religious, social congregations; close all non-essentialservices in public and private sectors, and ensure 'shelter-at-home' for all citizens, with a strong safety net for thevulnerable sections.

GollapalliAshok winsfrom YanamPNS n KAKINADA

Young Turk Gollapalli SrinivasAshok has created a poll his-tory by winning from theYanam Assembly constituen-cy.

It may be recalled thatMalladi Krishna Rao, the lat-est ex MLA from the fishingcommunity, has been electedfrom the Yanam constituencyfor six terms. He also ascend-ed to ministerial positionsthree times. No one could beatMalladi in the constituency forseveral reasons. GollapalliGangadhar Pratap, who hadearlier contested against himas a BJP candidate and laterdied of a heart attack. Ashokwas the son of GangadharPratap.

Malladi Krishna Rao hasannounced that he would bealoof from politics and field-ed former CM Rangaswamyas his candidate. Moreover,AP ruling party ministers andMLAs from the East Godavaridistrict did campaign in sup-port of Rangaswamy also.

PNS n KAKINADA

Since the Covid pandemic wasspreading day by day across thecountry, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi hasannounced a free ration to themigrant workers to return totheir homes in May and June.The distribution of essentialcommodities came into forcefrom May 1.

In addition to the quota

given by the Center, the stategovernment has also decidedto give the same quantity freeof cost to the people below thepoverty line. Based on this atotal of 15.25 lakh ration card-holders across the districtwould get each five kg of ricefree of cost, no matter howmany names were on the cardon behalf of the CentralGovernment. However, daland peas were not included in

the list of commodities.In addition, the state govern-

ment has decided to providethe same quantity of rice.Hence, each card-holder wouldget a total of 10 kg rice per per-son. The ration distributionstarted on Saturday. DSO KPrasada Rao of the CivilSupplies Department said onlyrice was being given for freeand dal and sugar should bepurchased in the old manner.

Additional PDS rice for 2 months

PNS n TIRUPATI

Telugu Desam Party (TDP)candidate for Tirupati by-elec-tions Panabaka Lakshmi onSunday alleged that YSRCPwon the election with malprac-tices and irregularities andclaimed that "TDP has won theelection morally".

Accusing the ruling YSRCPof resorting to malpracticesand irregularities in the by-election to TirupatiParliamentary constituency,the TDP candidate said thatpeople know how the YSRCPwon the election by deploying

thousands of its henchmenfrom other parts of Chittoorand Kadapa districts for votingin a fraudulent manner. TheTDP leaders caught hundreds

of the fraudulent voters stand-ing in queue lines holdingfake ID cards, but there was noaction from the electionauthorities, she alleged.

Lakshmi further stated thatthere was no response from thelocal election authoritiesdespite numerous complaintsto the Election Commissionwith video and photographicevidence, Officials on elec-tion duty and police have notacted promptly and they, inturn, cooperated with theimpersonators and fake votersbelonging to the YSRCP, shealleged.

It's TDP's moral victory: Panabaka Lakshmi

PNS n ELURU

The revenue and drug officialson Sunday sealed a medical shopand initiated action against theshop owner for selling medicalequipment required for coronapatients at exorbitant prices inEluru. Sadbhavana medical storein Eluru was found manipulat-ing the prices of some drugs andmedical equipment. The officialsfound that the pulse oximetersbeing used by the Covid patientswere sold at higher prices.

During the inspections, the

officials noticed that there wasno mention of the manufactur-er's name on the equipment andeven the selling price was miss-ing.

Eluru Tahsildar Somasekharsaid that the issue came to thenotice of West GodavariDistrict Collector KartikeyaMishra and on his directions,he inspected the SadbhavanaMedical Store, he said. Hefurther said a report on themedical shop would be pre-pared and submitted to theCollector.

Medical shop sealed for sellingoximeter at inflated price

PNS n KAKINADA

East Godavari District author-ities were taking measures toserve the corona patients as theCovid has been on the spike forthe past week. They were goingto set up three new corona carecentres in the district. One ofthem would be with 1000 beds,which would be set up in theKakinada JNTU premises.

District Collector D

Muralidhar Reddy said thatCovid Care Centers could notbe set up till a week ago. Headvised the people with mildcorona symptoms to stay in thehome quarantine or else admitto Covid hospitals if they havebreathing problems.Unexpectedly, the corona pos-itive cases were on the rise inthe district. Between 1000 and1800 positive cases were beingreported every day. Hence, the

Collector spoke to the ChiefMinister's Office in this regardand discussed with theMinisters and other people'srepresentatives. Later, the CovidCare Centers, which had beenoperating in the past, werereopened in the Bommuru andBodasakurru villages.

Meanwhile, a Covid CareCenter was established atKakinada JNTU duringCorona peak time last year. The

centre would be opened againon Monday and all arrange-ments were being made toaccommodate 1000 patientsat a time. Kakinada UrbanTahasildar AlluriHemachandra Satish wassupervising this Covid CareCenter. The authorities havepreviously changed the previ-ous year's food supply contrac-tor. Now, the AP TourismDepartment has been entrust-

ed with the responsibility ofdistributing food to those inthe CCCs to provide betternutrition rather than to the pri-vate sector.

Arrangements are beingmade to prepare hot food fromtime to time depending on thenumber of patients. The JNTUCare Center will open onMonday and hoped that itwould give a respite to thecorona patients.

Kakinada JNTU made as 1,000-bed Covid Care Center

The current situationmandates a comprehensivenational strategy with state-specific adaptationsthat should be managed atthe district and sub-districtlevels.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 3, 2021 nation 05

Odisha on Sunday registered8,015 new COVID-19 cases,

pushing the tally in the state to4,62,622, while 14 freshfatalities raised the toll to2,068, a health departmentofficial said. Of the 8,015 newcases, 4,568 were reportedfrom various quarantinecentres and the rest were detected during contact tracing, he said.Khurda district, of which state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, reportedthe maximum number of fresh cases at 1,275, followed by Sundergarhat 735 and Angul at 525. Other districts which reported over 100 casesinclude Cuttack, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Puri. Taking to Twitter, thehealth department said, "Regret to inform about the demise of fourteenCOVID positive patients while under treatment in hospitals." Fourdeaths were recorded in Rayagada district, two in Keonjhar and oneeach in Bhadrak, Bolangir, Boudh, Deogarh, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur,Khurdha and Sundergarh. This apart, 53 other COVID-19 patients havedied in the state due to comorbidities, the official said. Odisha currentlyhas 69,453 active cases, while 3,91,048 people have so far recoveredfrom the infectious disease.

Four members of a family and amechanic were injured in a fire

caused by LPG cylinder leakageat a house in Maharashtra's Thanedistrict, an official said on Sunday.The incident took place around 9.30pm on Saturday in the flat locatedon the seventh floor of a building inBadlapur township here, Thane Municipal Corporation's regionaldisaster management cell chief Santosh Kadam said. The familymembers noticed gas leakage from the nozzle of the LPG cylinderand called a mechanic to plug it, he said. While the mechanic wasattending to the fault, the gas leakage caused a fire and anexplosion in the house, the official said. "A couple, their twochildren and the mechanic received burn injuries. They have beenadmitted to a local hospital," he said.

INDIA CORNER

Karnataka Chief Minister B SYediyurappa on Sunday

effected a minor rejig in thecabinet by assigning districtresponsibility to six ministers. The exercise is seen as one toensure smooth COVIDmanagement in the districts. As per the notification issuedby the government, DeputyChief Minister Govind Karjol, who holds the Public Works portfolio,will be in charge of Belagavi. He was the district in charge ministerof Bagalkote and Kalaburagi. As Belagavi in charge minister, he willreplacing Ramesh Jarkiholi, who had to step down as ministerowing to the alleged sex-for-job scandal on March 3. Food and CivilSupplies Minister Umesh Katti will be in charge of Bagalkote districtwhereas Mining and Geology Minister Murugesh Nirani will lookafter Kalaburagi district.

Odisha logs 8,015 new Covidcases, 14 fresh fatalities

Yediyurappa carries out minor rejig in Cabinet, assigns districts

As people are desperately looking for tips to boost their immunesystem to fight against the deadly coronavirus, a state-run

ayurvedic college and hospital here is witnessing increased footfall.The Rajkiya Ayurvedic College and Hospital in the state capital is nowwitnessing around 300 footfalls daily, while over 100 people normallyvisit the facility per day, its Superintendent Vijay Shankar Dubey toldPTI. Though the hospital has not been designated as a COVID centre,it is providing ayurvedic medicines to people to strengthen theirimmunity which would help them fight against the killer virus, he said.At a time when the general hospitals are chock-a-block with COVIDpatients, the ayurvedic facility is doing its best for the people, hestated. "We are also providing vaccination facility at our centre," Dubeysaid. Deputy Superintendent of the hospital Dhananjay Sharma saidthe authority is offering "Ayush Kadha" (decoction) recommended bythe Union government to people, free of cost. In addition, thegovernment ayurvedic college is also conducting yoga sessions for thepeople to help them stay safe during the COVID-19 crisis, he said. Theayurvedic hospital has 140 beds for general patients and thoseadmitted in the facility are also being taken care of in these challengingtimes, the superintendent said. Dr Amrendra Kumar Singh of thehospital said, "We are prescribing 'Kadha', 'Dhanwati' and'Chyavanprash' to boost the immunity of people. We are also providingmedical consultation to needy people over the phone," he added.

Bihar ayurvedic hospital witnessingsurge in footfall amid COVID crisis

Five injured in fire caused by gas leak in Thane

PNS n NEW DELHI

With the TMC's victoryimminent in West Bengal,congratulations poured in forparty president and ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee.

According to trends avail-able for 284 out of 292 con-stituencies in the state, theparty was leading in 202 seats,while the BJP was leading in77. However, Banerjee wastrailing her former protege-turned-BJP rival SuvenduAdhikari in Nandigram byover 8,000 votes.

" C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s@MamataOfficial didi for thelandslide victory. What afight! Congratulations to thepeople of WB," tweeted DelhiChief Minister ArvindKejriwal.

NCP chief Sharad Pawaralso extended his best wish-es to Banerjee." C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s@MamataOfficial on yourstupendous victory! Let uscontinue our work towardsthe welfare of people andtackling the pandemic collec-tively," Pawar said in a tweet.

Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav in a tweetcongratulated the people ofthe state for being "conscious"and hailed the workers' effortsin defeating BJP's "politics ofhate".

"Hearty congratulations tothe conscious public, thecombative Ms. MamtaBanerjee ji and the dedicatedleaders and activists of TMC,who defeated the politics ofhate of BJP in Bengal! "Thisis a befitting reply given bythe public to the insulting sar-casm 'Didi O Didi' by awoman from the BJP," hesaid. TMC nationalspokesperson and RajyaSabha MP Derek O'Briendescribed it as a "momentous"day for India and WestBengal. "An emotional dayafter fighting the world's mostdestructive force, MO-SHA'sBJP. Filthy campaign aided byagencies and shameless EC. Amomentous day for India andBengal. It is understandablethat we are euphoric but wealso know that during#COVID we have to celebrateresponsibly," he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs on Sunday said it is incontinuous touch with allforeign embassies in Indiaand is responding to theirmedical demands, especiallythose related to COVID-19.

MEA SpokespersonArindam Bagchi said theresponse to medical demandsof the embassies includedfacilitating treatment in hos-pital even as he urged all notto hoard essential supplies,including oxygen.

Earlier, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar hit outat Congress leader JairamRamesh after he said onTwitter that the youth wing ofthe Congress was attending toSOS calls from foreignembassies and wonderedwhether the MEA was sleep-ing.

Ramesh also shared a videoposted on Twitter by IndianYouth Congress nationalpresident Srinivas B V thatshowed a mini pickup vanentering the embassy of thePhilippines in Delhi, carryingoxygen cylinders.

"The MEA checked withthe Philippines Embassy. Thiswas an unsolicited supply asthey had no COVID cases.Clearly for cheap publicity byyou know who. Giving awaycylinders like this when there

are people in desperate needof oxygen is simplyappalling," Jaishankar tweet-ed.

"Jairamji, MEA neversleeps; our people knowacross the world. MEA alsonever fakes; we know whodoes," he said in anothertweet.

Srinivas tweeted the videowith a caption "#SOSIYCmembers at Embassy of thePhilippines in New Delhi."

In his comments, Rameshcomplimented the IndianYouth Congress. "While Ithank @IYC for its stellarefforts, as an Indian citizenI'm stunned that the youthwing of the opposition partyis attending to SOS calls fromforeign embassies. Is the MEAsleeping @DrSJaishankar?,"he tweeted.

MEA: In touch with embassiesresponding on medical supplies

CHANDIGARH: Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, the Haryanagovernment on Sunday announced imposition of a week-longlockdown in the entire state beginning May 3. Earlier, weekendcurfew was enforced in nine districts of the state. "From May 3, therewill be a 7-day long lockdown in the entire state," Haryana's Homeand Health Minister Anil Vij said in a tweet on Sunday. Haryana onSaturday had registered 125 COVID fatalities, taking the death toll inthe state to 4,341, while 13,588 fresh infections pushed the tally to5,01,566.

Congratulations pour in for Mamata, Stalin

MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Sunday congratulatedMamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan and M K Stalin as their parties lookset to win the assembly elections in West Bengal, Kerala and TamilNadu respectively. The counting of votes for the assembly elections inthese states is currently on. In West Bengal, ruling TrinamoolCongress looks set to retain power with its candidates leading in 202of the state's 292 seats that went to poll against the BJP's 79, astrends were available for 286 seats. "Congratulations @MamataOfficialon your stupendous victory! Let us continue our work towards thewelfare of people and tackling the Pandemic collectively," tweetedPawar, whose party shares power with the Shiv Sena and Congress inMaharashtra.

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and Unionminister Rajnath Singh on Sundaycongratulated TMC supremo MamataBanerjee and DMK chief MK Stalin for thevictory of their parties in West Bengal andTamil Nadu assembly elections,respectively. In a series of tweets, Singhalso congratulated Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda andAssam Chief Minister Sadbanand Sonawalfor the party's victory in the stateassembly polls. He said the pro-peoplepolicies of the Modi-led government at theCentre and the state government underSonowal have once again helped the BJPin winning the assembly elections inAssam. Singh also congratulated KeralaChief Minister and CPI(M) leader PinariVijayan for his party's victory in the stateassembly polls. Congratulating Banerjee,Singh said he wished the best to her forher next tenure. The assembly poll resultsfor the four states of Assam,West Bengal,Kerala and Tamil Nadu along with UTPuducherry are being announced onSunday.

Rajnath SinghcongratulatesMamata, Stalin

SRINAGAR: PDP presidentMehbooba Mufti on Sundaycongratulated the TMC onits performance in the WestBengal assembly polls,saying people have rejected“disruptive and divisiveforces”. The MamataBanerjee led TrinamoolCongress looks to retainpower in West Bengal withits candidates leading inover 200 of the state's 292seats that went to polls,according to latest trends.In a tweet, the formerJammu and Kashmir chiefminister said,"Congratulations to@MamataOfficial@AITCofficialderekobrienmp on theirsplendid victory today.Kudos to the people of WestBengal for rejectingdisruptive & divisive forces".

PDP chief hailsMamata KOLKATA: Asserting that the TMC will storm back to power in West

Bengal, senior party leader and outgoing urban development ministerFirhad Hakim on Sunday said the primary task of the new governmentwould be to put the state's "derailed health system back on track", amid therelentless surge in COVID-19 cases. He also said that the TMC, aftercoming to power, will have to shoulder greater responsibilities in the wakeof the pandemic-induced crisis, and celebrations and victory rallies cantake a back seat. "We will win the elections with two-thirds majority andform government in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee will be ourchief minister forthe third time. This will be the victory of common people.

‘Primary task of new TMCgovt will be health system’

CHENNAI: DMK president M K Stalin, who is set to become the ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu for the first time, on Sunday thanked the peoplefor voting his party to power and assured them that he would truthfullywork for them. Stalin expressed his 'heartfelt thanks' to all the people ofthe state for mandating his party to govern Tamil Nadu for the sixth time.According to the Election Commission data

at 6.30 pm, DMK was leading in122 segments of the total 234

in the state and won twoseats, which isinclusive of its allieswho fought on theparty's rising sun

symbol.

Stalin thanks Tamil Nadu peoplefor voting DMK to power

Sharad Pawar congratulates Mamata, Vijayan and Stalin

PNS n MUMBAI

As the TMC is set to retainpower in West Bengal, the ShivSena on Sunday said MamataBanerjee's win in her state is"victory of democracy" in Indiaand the result would give a newdirection to national politics.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Rautalso hailed Banerjee as the"Tigress of Bengal".

"Congratulations Tigress ofBengal," he tweeted afterBanerjee's Trinamool Congress(TMC) surged way ahead theBJP in the counting of votescurrently underway.

As per the latest trends, theTMC was ahead in 202 of the292 seats that went to polls inWest Bengal, way over thehalfway mark of 147, leavingthe BJP trailing far behind in 82seats.

Talking to reporters, Rautsaid, it was not easy to defeatBanerjee, even though the BJPworked hard and invested a lotin the West Bengal polls.

"People of Bengal voted forBengal's pride and image.

They voted fearlessly. Thecountry is looking at Banerjeewith hope. She fought like awounded tigress. Her victory isa victory of democracy in Indiaand the result would give a newdirection to national politics,"he said.

"We have to complimentMamata didi that she accepted

the BJP's challenge and contest-ed only from one seat," hesaid.

We have no doubt that herparty will form the next govern-ment in West Bengal, the ShivSena's chief spokesperson said.He said when the country wasfacing a pandemic, the coun-try's top leadership stayed putin a state for several weeks todefeat a woman.

"All attempts were made todestroy her party, but she foughthard. Central investigatingagencies were pitted againsther," Raut alleged.

The BJP worked hard inBengal and the top leader-ship's prestige was at stake, hesaid, adding that the BJPshowed how to strategise andwin elections. "But they triedand lost. Violating all COVID-19 norms, the BJP focused onthe show of strength, roadshows and massive rallies,"Raut said.

But Banerjee is a grassrootleader and she defeated all ofthem, he said.

She has proved that the high-handedness of Delhi will not betolerated. People of states willdecide whom to hand overtheir state for ruling, he said.

Raut said he called upBanerjee to congratulate her onher win.

"(Maharashtra ChiefMinister) Uddhav Thackeray isalso pleased about Banerjee'swin," he said.

He alleged that due to thepoll rallies in Bengal, the coro-navirus spread rapidly.

"We were fighting to defeatcoronavirus and the Centrewas fighting to defeat MamataBanerjee. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi ignoredCOVID management to focuson Bengal polls. When PMconcentrates so much onassembly polls and the partyloses, it is not good," he said.

He said everyone was nowmore worried about the risingCOVID-19 numbers than thepolitical numbers. "We are pay-ing the price for the electioncampaigning. It is time to intro-spect and to do that also weneed oxygen," he said.

The Shiv Sena, which sharespower in Maharashtra withNCP and Congress, did notcontest the West Bengal polls,but extended its support toBanerjee.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A group of scientists workingon mathematical models toforecast the surge of coron-avirus cases said Sunday theycould not predict the exact tra-jectory of the devastating sec-ond wave as the virus dynam-ics and its transmissibilitychanged substantially overtime.

A statement issued by theDepartment of Science andTechnology, and signed by IITKanpur Professor ManindraAgrawal, Integrated DefenseStaff Deputy Chief MadhuriKanitkar and IIT HyderabadProfessor M Vidyasagar, saidmathematical models had pre-

dicted a second wave of coro-navirus and its peak in thethird week of April with dailycases of around I lakh.

They also rejected reportsthat the scientists working onthe SUTRA model cautioned inMarch about the second wave,but that their warning wasignored.

"This is incorrect," they saidin the statement.

Last year, the governmenthad formed a group of scien-tists, mathematicians andexperts to forecast the surge ofcases.

They said the nature of thevirus has been changing veryrapidly, and in such a scenario,any prediction must be contin-

ually readjusted, sometimesalmost daily.

"We are working closely withthe government and our inputshave always been received pos-itively. While we could not pre-dict the exact nature of the sec-

ond wave earlier, we continueour efforts to better estimate itsfuture trajectory," they said.

They added that the gov-ernment sought its inputs onApril 2 when they predicteda peak would come around

t he t h i rd week of t hatmonth.

"A meeting was called on2nd April to seek our inputs byone of the very senior officersof the government coordinat-ing the national pandemicresponse. We indicated that theSUTRA model predicted thesecond wave to peak by thethird week of April and to staymost likely around 1 lakh dailycases," the scientists said in thestatement.

However, the daily figuresactually reported were thricethe predicted numbers.

On April 15, India reported2,00,739 cases, while it record-ed 3,14,835 cases on April 22.Breaching its all previous

records, the country hit arecord daily high with over 4lakh new infections on May 1.

"Clearly, the model predic-tions in this instance wereincorrect because of the rea-sons below," they said, listingreasons why.

A mathematical model, theysaid, can only predict the futurewith some certainty so long asvirus dynamics and its trans-missibility do not change sub-stantially over time.

Mathematical models canalso provide a mechanism topredicting alternate scenarioscorresponding to various pol-icy decisions such as non-pharmaceutical interventions,they added.

Could not predict exact nature of 2nd wave: Scientists

Covid: Haryana announces one-week lockdown from May 3

WB poll results victory of democracy: Shiv Sena

PANAJI: Leader of Opposition inthe Goa Assembly DigambarKamat on Sunday said the four-day lockdown imposed in thestate needs to be extended inview of the "grim situation" inthe coastal state. Following avery high test positivity rate,Goa went into a lockdown onFriday and it will remainapplicable till 6 am on Monday.All essential services have beenexempted from the curbs. In astatement issued here, Congressleader Kamat claimed people ofGoa are scared in the wake ofthe "unstoppable rise" in COVID-19 cases and the increasingnumberof deaths.

COVID-19 surge:Congress wantsextension oflockdown in Goa

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

Odisha Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Sunday declaredworking journalists of the stateas frontline Covid warriors.While approving a proposal tothis effect, the chief ministersaid, journalists are doing agreat service to the state byproviding seamless news feedand making people aware ofcoronavirus-related issues.

"They are a great support forour war against COVID-19," astatement issued by the ChiefMinister's Office said.

The decision would benefitover 6,500 journalists. "Asmany as 6,944 working jour-nalists of the state have been

covered under theGopabandhu SambadikaSwasthya Bima Yojana. Theyare getting health insurancecover of Rs 2 lakh each," thestatement said. Odisha hasalso announced an ex gratia ofRs 15 lakh for the next of kinof journalists who die ofCOVID-19 while performingtheir duty, it said.

After being declared asfrontline workers by the stategovernment, journalists willnow get priority in the vacci-nation programme, sourcessaid. As many as 11 news-pareons have died of theinfection in Odisha since thebeginning of the pandemic,sources said.

Odisha declares journalistsas frontline Covid warriors

12 journaliststest positivefor COVID-19PNS n BELAGAVI

As many as 12 journalists, whohad undergone RT-PCR teststo cover the Belgaum LokSabha bypoll counting, havetested positive for COVID-19,officials said on Sunday. A totalof 29 journalists had under-gone the tests as mandated bythe Election Commission, saidthe officials. The 12 are fromprint and television newschannels, they said. Followingthe medical report, DeputyChief Minister Laxman Savadiasked the officials to quaran-tine the scribes and arrange fortheir medical treatment.

Normal life remains affected inJ-K as Covid curbs continuePNS n SRINAGAR

Normal life remained affected inJammu and Kashmir on Sundaywith the imposition of the lock-down in the wake of an alarm-ing surge in coronavirus cases,officials said.

“Restrictions on the move-ment and assembly of peoplecontinued to remain imposedacross the UT in the wake of the84-hour lockdown announcedby the government," the officialssaid.

They said security forces putbarricades on roads at manyplaces in the city here as well asin other district headquarters ofthe Valley and the Jammu region

to prevent the movement of peo-ple.

The restrictions were beingimplemented strictly and thepeople were also cooperatingwith the administration, theofficials said. However, essentialand emergency services areallowed, they added.

The officials said shops, fuelstations and other businessestablishments were shut acrossthe UT, while public transportwas off the roads. The Jammuand Kashmir administrationhad imposed lockdown in 11districts -- Srinagar, Anantnag,Baramulla, Budgam, Kulgam,Pulwama, Ganderbal, Jammu,Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur -

- at 7 pm on Thursday.In the rest of the nine districts

-- Bandipora, Kupwara, Shopian,Rajouri, Poonch, Samba, Doda,Kishtwar and Ramban -- thelockdown came into effect at 7pm on Friday.

However, the government onSaturday announced the exten-sion of the lockdown in four dis-tricts -- Jammu and three oth-ers in the valley -- till Thursdaymorning, the officials said.

They said the 'CoronaCurfew', which was to end at 7am on Monday, stands extend-ed till 7 am on Thursday in thefour districts of Srinagar,Baramulla, Budgam andJammu.

The Government hasannounced the SagarmathSambad (Everest Dialogue) asa multi-stakeholder dialogueforum committed to deliberat-ing on the prominent issues ofglobal, regional and nationalsignificance. The first Sambadwas to be convened on April 2-4 but it has been postponed dueto the pandemic. AlthoughNepal has invited the US, Indiaand China to participate in thedeliberations, a no-show forNepal at the Climate Summitsays a thousand words of anincreasing unease inWashington DC towardsNepal. For the record, Nepalhas prioritised climate changeas a “national security threat” inits first-ever National SecurityPolicy 2016; it stands as apolitical manifestation to seekinternational funds to the cause.

Soured ties: With India,Oli has left no stone unturnedin capitalising on soured ties. Asa next-door neighbour, Indiahas stood with Nepal in allrough seasons. India was at theheart of bringing the guerrillaMaoist fighters down from thehills for the dialogue which ulti-mately resulted in the establish-ment of democracy in Nepal.Yet, all the previous Governmentsand the Oli-led Governmenthave misused India’s goodwill

for political benefits. At the timeIndia provided help to Nepal infighting against COVID-19,Oli was engaged in a borderfiasco with India to appeaseChina. As a responsible neigh-bour, Nepal could have useddiplomatic channels to discussthe border issues, but it choseto demonise India.

Bonhomie in question:The Nepalese Prime Ministermay swear upon the so-called“peaceful intentions” and coop-eration with China and defendits micromanagement of Nepal’sdomestic affairs, but Beijing isnot at all pleased with Oli. Heplayed a masterstroke by invit-ing Chinese President XiJinping to Nepal, where sever-al pacts were signed in 2019.

However, China did not getwhat it wanted during Xi’s visit.Beijing was expecting an extra-dition treaty with Kathmandu,which would allow Chinagreater control to suppress the“free Tibet” voices of theTibetan refugees living in Nepal.With mounting internationalpressure from the UNHCR,human rights organisationsand the Opposition at home,the treaty was taken off the tableat the last minute, which hasnot gone down well withChina. In the joint statement,Beijing had conveyed its hopes

for the treaty in a shorter span.While the Oli-led

Communist Government mayhave surrendered before theChinese interests, Beijing willnot bargain for anything lessthan the extradition treaty as itconcerns its Tibet policy.

Conclusion: Politics anddiplomacy are two sides of thesame coin, and they requireequal attention at the mint. InNepal, the personal and partyinterests have been prioritisedover national interests. Leaderslike Oli have spared “specialrelations” with India for elec-toral gains and surrendereddiplomatic autonomy toChinese interests. While Nepalis a landlocked country andrequires assistance from Indiaand other friendly countries, itsdiplomatic conduct towardsthem has been shortsighted. Afurbished relationship withIndia and the US will helpNepal keep China in balance.As Nepal’s politics and politi-cians remain unreliable, its peo-ple will have to take the lead incharting the course of its destiny.

(The author is an ICSSRDoctoral Fellow at the JNUand Visiting Fellow at theAsian Institute of Diplomacyand International Affairs,Kathmandu. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

The much-awaited third phase of the anti-COVID inoculation drive for all adults sput-tered to life on May 1. Ironically, at a time when India seemed to have got over itsvaccine hesitancy — if the rush to register on the Co-WIN app is anything to go

by — the Governments were unable to provide the citizens the shots they need to beatthe virus. As a result, despite the alacrity shown by young India to get the jab, the drivehas begun in fits and starts. While States like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat began inoculat-

ing a lucky few, some States announced vaccinationfor different age groups also (such as for those above35 years) while others told the people not to line upoutside vaccination centres as they have not receivedenough stocks of the shots. Chief among the latter wereDelhi, Odisha, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, AndhraPradesh and Punjab, who plan to launch the drive laterthis month. In the meantime, the Centre, trying its bestto save face, has assured the people that the campaignwill soon be operational across India as “any new exer-cise takes time to pick up pace”.

Even though the Union Health Ministry remainsupbeat about the vaccine supply and 1,50,000 doses

of the Russian-made Sputnik V landed in Hyderabad on May 1, this is just a drop inthe ocean and in no way comforting. The million-dollar question is how many monthswill it take to inoculate all Indian adults? Of our 138 crore population, the 0-14 agegroup share is 26.16 per cent, 15-65 age group is 67.27 per cent and 6.57 per centare more than 65 years old. What an uphill task lies ahead can be gauged by the factthat ever since the inoculation drive began on January 16, we have been able to fullyvaccinate only two per cent of our citizens and 11 per cent have got just one dose.So, in order to be able to cover all the adults, India will have to administer 6.5 mil-lion doses per day till the end of this year. This is a big task, but do we have any otherchoice? Maybe it is time to listen to top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, who sug-gests ramping up vaccine production in India and a total lockdown for a few weeks tostop the surge. But not for six months like last year, because our economy cannot afforda body blow like that again. It may be worthwhile to listen to him. We don’t have any-thing more to lose, do we?

Ravaged by COVID-19, scandalised by foreign media and treated as a pariah bythe world, which has cut all air links with New Delhi fearing the spread of thecontagion, India faces a unique challenge that may have few parallels in its post-

Independence history. It’s one thing to face a period of economic slowdown, a boutof some epidemic, foreign aggression or domestic turmoil, and quite another to con-front a challenge of this magnitude. Due to rising cases and mounting deaths, it’s butnatural that foreign media will turn its focus towards India after the end of the chaot-ic Trump era in the US. As long as Trump was in the saddle, he gave more than enoughfor the news-hungry media to dine and sup, but now that the US has managed to

control the pandemic and the White House is nolonger a source of media entertainment, the glob-al newshounds have enough free time to shift theirfocus to another happening zone — India. With grimstories of patients dying on the pavements and beingcremated in canine crematoriums, hospital runningout of beds and oxygen cylinders and Remdesivirfetching as much as 10-fold its basic price in theblack market, the media has more than it could askfor. The matter has been made worse by the Tughlaqidiktats issued by some States to crack down onsharing of information on social media. Even theMahakumbh and Assembly elections provided a per-

fect cocktail of religion and politics to the foreign press.The sceptics may call the foreign media coverage biased and conspiratorial but

the fact remains that the Western press, by nature, has a tendency to turn even adull menu into a spicy fare. Why would they miss the opportunity when they haveall ingredients, and more. In a relatable narrative, dozens of countries have cut linkswith India and asked their citizens to return home. With its failing health infrastruc-ture and chaos, India is today seen as an untouchable land. It is the same countrywhich, in the pre-Corona days, had emerged as a challenger to the world’s super-powers. But Corona has quickly turned the perception on its head. While much ofthe debate in foreign media is focused on the so-called absence of governance, whathas been overlooked is that the man on the street is equally responsible for the spreadof the virus. It’s obvious that we Indians follow protocols or guidelines only whenthese are enforced with the application of punitive measures. It’s important to notethat our leaders have also failed to set an example in self-discipline, but that’s noth-ing new. But now that India faces a serious image crisis, the leaders and the com-mon man must come together to take tangible steps and change this perception.Forging a strong political unity would go a long way in sending the right messageto the world community. It’s time for the parties to realise that the nation is biggerthan their political goals — they, and they alone, can mobilise the masses to fightthis perception battle that has tarnished our image in the global arena.

Comeback time

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

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 3, 2021

06

In third, but slowHiccups greet the vaccination drive’s latest phase,which is poised to gather steam later this month

Lurching from one crisis to another, the Oli-led unfocused Govt has lost the plot both at home and on the foreign policy front

PICTALK

People march past the City Hall during the traditional May Day rally in Madrid, Spain PTI

ALL THE PREVIOUSCOMMUNIST

GOVERNMENTS ANDTHE KP OLI-LED

GOVERNMENT HAVE MISUSED

INDIA'S GOODWILLFOR POLITICAL

BENEFITS. AT THE TIME INDIA

PROVIDED HELP TONEPAL IN FIGHTINGAGAINST COVID-19,OLI WAS ENGAGED

IN A BORDERFIASCO WITH INDIATO APPEASE CHINA

RISHI GUPTA

India’s image has taken a severe beating globally. It's time to show the world our true mettle

Nepal gets thecold shoulder

Acommon element inNepalese politics hasbeen the uncertaintyand unpredictability of

political moves. These moves areoften far removed from nationalwelfare and have severely dam-aged its diplomatic endeavours.The KP Oli-led incumbentGovernment has neither been ableto focus on domestic priorities norbothered about strengthening itsforeign policy. While Nepal is wit-nessing a surge in COVID-19cases and panicking to managethe supply of vaccines from Indiaand China, the country is expe-riencing diplomatic isolation.

Diplomatic isolation: Nepal’sabsence at the Raisina Dialogue inNew Delhi, the BOAO Forummeet in China and the ClimateSummit convened by the US hassparked a debate whether thisGovernment is serious on the for-eign policy front. While Nepal isyet to assure India of greater coop-eration, China seems to havegiven a second thought to blind-ly relying on Oli to meet itsstrategic interests. The US, on theother hand, is irked by Oli after heshowed no interest in joining theMillennium ChallengeCooperation (MCC), which aimsto provide affordable and greentransportation, electricity, region-al security, peace and developmentto partners, only because Chinacalls it a military platform.

No-show invite: Nepal standson the verge of severe climate chal-lenges. The devastation caused bythe 2015 earthquake to implica-tions on Mount Everest, forestfires, toxic air quality and thescarcity of freshwater supply in thecountry are a few examples whereNepal requires international aid.Under the Biden Administration,the US has re-affirmed its com-mitment to climate change, andthe Paris Declaration and therecent climate summit were afresh effort in this regard. Whilean invitation to Nepal was obvi-ous at the summit, the diplomat-ic mishandling over the MCC bythe self-centred Oli saw no tick-et to the show for Nepal. The UShas often requested Nepal toconsider the MCC on priority.Still, all successive CommunistGovernments have made it a USversus China deal.

What is happening inUttar Pradesh isnothing less than acrime againsthumanity and theChief Electoral Officer(CEO) is playing along.

Congress leader

— Priyanka Gandhi

SOUNDBITEHOSPITALS MUST FOLLOW SAFETY NORMSSir — It is not only the shortage of medicaloxygen, hospital beds and essential medi-cines that are taking a toll on people dur-ing the second wave of COVID-19 but alsotragedies like the fire accidents in hospitals.It is really shocking to read that at least 18people were killed after a fire broke out atthe ICU of a hospital in Bharuch district ofGujarat on Saturday. There is an urgent needto not only ramp up the healthcare infrastruc-ture in the country but also make the exist-ing infrastructure safer and more robust.

The fire department officials believedthat a short-circuit might have led to theblaze while the patients slept. After notic-ing the fire, the hospital staff tried to res-cue the patients who were on ventilators.The hospitals in our country, especially theones in big cities, often fail to comply withthe fire safety norms and standards. The cor-rupt officials of fire safety and other depart-ments give these hospitals the No-ObjectionCertificate (NOC) after pocketing heftybribes. Most private hospitals are owned byrich or politically connected people and thusno action is taken against them. It is hightime that a hospital be allowed to operateonly if it fulfils all safety conditions. Severalhospital buildings in metropolitan cities arealso not earthquake-resistant.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

ELECTIONS WERE SUPER-SPREADERSSir — The Assembly elections in four Statesand a Union Territory are associated withthe spread of Coronavirus infection at arapid rate. They will be recorded as super-spreaders that worsened the COVID-19 cri-sis than as a democratic exercise to expresspolitical aspirations and elect newGovernments. It doesn’t depreciate theproverbial wisdom of the Indian electoratein any way. The Election Commission drewstrictures from the Calcutta and MadrasHigh Courts for turning a blind eye to thereckless disregard for the mandatory pro-tocol and COVID-appropriate behaviourduring the election campaigns.

The countrymen facing the worst timesare not at all attached to the outcomes of

these elections. It’s true that election resultsmatter as politics determines everything.Elections were held in the midst of a pan-demic. Still public health did not figureprominently as an election issue. It was real-ly shameful that when the country was busyfighting the pandemic, political parties andtheir leaders organised large rallies and roadshows that eventually led to a spurt in thenumber of COVID cases. The issue of thehealth of society is certainly above the elec-tions and results.

G David Milton | Tamil Nadu

THE SECOND WAVE IS OUR FAILURESir — As I write to you, another hospitalis maxed out on capacity. We are averag-ing 150 deaths per hour due to COVID-19. The people are dying due to lack ofbasic items such as oxygen and Remdesivir.We are a country that spends a mere oneper cent of our GDP on healthcare; it’s

absolutely appalling considering the factthat we are the “pharmacy of the world”.We have now become an internationalembarrassment but what is even more dis-gusting is that we are still defending ourhorrendous rollout of vaccines.

Vaccine Maitri has been an absolutesham and the Centre has ripped its own peo-ple off. We have become beggars, asking foraid and alms from the international com-munity. It has never happened in the his-tory of our country. We were busy giftingventilators and oxygen to the world insteadof realising that we might need them. Whenthe second wave was crushing the world, wemessed up by not preparing for the worst.We are the worse off now than we were ear-lier. And, the worst is yet to come!

Sean Colin Young | New Delhi

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

India had already extended a helping handto the international community during theCOVID pandemic with as many as 150

nations benefiting from New Delhi’s philan-thropy. We sent out vaccines and other med-ical supplies and now the world, in a recipro-cal gesture, has reached out to India as it isbattered by a second wave of the pandemic.Australia, along with Singapore, has promisedto send a retinue of non-invasive ventilatorsand, in the meantime, Saudi Arabia, HongKong, Thailand and the UAE have decided topitch in to mitigate the unprecedented med-ical oxygen crisis the country is faced with.

The UK has pledged to send vital medicalequipment. Biden reaffirmed that the US isdetermined to support India in its efforts to con-tain the pandemic as he quickly deployedresources and adding oxygen equipment sup-plies, therapeutics, medics, ventilators andother critical material for vaccine manufactur-ing. The US will be sending supplies worthmore than $100 million to India, including1,000 refillable oxygen cylinders, 15 millionN95 masks and 1 million rapid diagnostic tests.The Biden Administration has also redirectedits own order of AstraZeneca manufacturingsupplies to India, which will allow it to makeover 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. TheUS Department of Defense, USAID, Departmentof State and the White House are working insync to provide relief to India. France andRussia are among the other nations in this listof donors and Russia is supplying the SputnikV vaccine. It has happened due to the coordi-nated efforts by the Indian Government and ourrelations with the international community.

Yash Pal Ralhan | Jalandhar

Nations repay India’s goodness

India has been verygenerous in the pastcrisis in helpingother countries;now is the time forother countries to

try to alleviate the immediateproblem that India has.

US Chief Medical Advisor — Anthony S Fauci

Each woman who ispart of our ecosystem,they are all rolemodels for womenwho don't even havethe opportunity todecide what they would want to doin the next minute.

Actor— Gul Panag

Sri Guru Teg Bahadur ji isrespected globally forhis courage and hisefforts to serve thedowntrodden. Herefused to bow down to tyranny and injustice.

Prime Minister

— Narendra Modi

My teammate and NewZealand all-rounderKyle Jamieson wantsto learn Hindi from me.

RCB cricketer

— Yuzvendra Chahal

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

When we wrong our own people

SHUT DOWN THE COUNTRY FOR A FEW

WEEKS…HANG IN THERE, TAKE CARE OF EACH

OTHER, WE’LL GET TO A NORMAL.

—US CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISOR

ANTHONY S FAUCI

CAN’T AMERICA AND ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES COME

TOGETHER AND ASK CHINA SOME TOUGH QUESTIONS?

WHY HAVE THEY SPREAD IT IN THE WHOLE WORLD?

—INDIAN CRICKETER

HARBHAJAN SINGH

Half a century ago, an entire populace of alargish Indian town vanished into the jun-gles in a matter of hours. They converged

in the neighbouring satellite villages and silentlywatched the city burn from a distance; an eventnow remembered as the ‘Zoram Day.’ And now,while millions of citizens of this diverse land goon with their daily lives, the pervasive forgetful-ness of a nation that takes its history lightly can-not relegate painful memories of a catastrophe thatcontinues to evoke strong opinions among the oldand the young of Mizoram.

For, it was the day when we bombed our ownpeople. And how can the memories be wiped clean— when shell casings are still found in nooks andcorners of Aizawl and elders talk of the event ina hushed tone? Yet, sitting in an overcrowdedSumo Maxi-cab, a friendly Mizo neighbour nar-rates his story nonchalantly as he chews a headycocktail of fresh betel nuts. Friendly, warm andat ease with nature, the Mizo also happens to beone of the last remnants of a true ecosystem com-munity in India.

As he speaks, it becomes apparent that asproud custodians of one of the most forested Statesin the nation, Mizos make constant efforts to pro-tect their natural landscape. The younger gener-ation is aware and they take steps to protect theancient forests. Several initiatives to protectwater sources are ongoing. However, the high for-est cover is deceptive with almost 67 per cent offorest area categorised as open forest. With theincreasing threat of plantations and barely 200square kilometre of very dense forest remaining,Mizos are taking an active interest in protectingtheir land.

Hearing these stories while driving in the Statemakes the hill more mesmerising than at firstglance. Seeing their sustainable lifestyle, one wish-es that the rest of the country was as environmen-tal conscious as the Mizos. But then, your co-pas-senger reminds you to visit prominent landmarksin Aizwal. And you visit the graveyard there. Criss-crossed with graves and a small monument, thefirst reaction of a visitor is usually “It must be relat-ed to the Japanese Invasion”. But that is not thecase. The graveyard commemorates the Mizo peo-ple who died during the period of conflict in the1960s and 70s. The monument was a reminderof the rarest of rare atrocity that a State could per-petuate against its own people — bombing thetown using fighter jets of the Indian Air Force(IAF).

During the turbulent times of the insurgencyin February 1966, the Mizo National Front(MNF) launched ‘Operation Jericho’ to throw outthe security forces stationed in Mizoram —launching simultaneous attacks on Assam Riflesgarrisons in Aizawl and Lunglei and capturing sev-eral significant buildings including theGovernment treasury at Aizawl. The front sub-sequently declared independence from India forc-ing the then Central Government to take a stepthat is unprecedented in India’s post-Independencehistory. On March 5, 1966, fighter jets of the IAFstrafed Aizawl with machine gunfire.

The jets returned on March 6 to drop incen-diary bombs. This bombing continued till March13 with significant damages reported across thetown. Then just as suddenly as they started, the

bombings stopped and temporarypeace was restored. It is a story thathas few parallels in modern Indianhistory. Unbelievably, it is true andthe collective scars of those daysconstitute a significant portion ofthe memories of all Mizos whoremember the event in precisedetails while the rest of us are bliss-fully unaware.

The anti-establishment move-ment finally came to an end in June1986 when the Mizoram PeaceAccord was signed between theMNF and the Government of India.As per this agreement the regionwas given statehood and the sepa-rate State of Mizoram was born inFebruary 1987. MNF chiefLaldenga became the State’s firstChief Minister.

A young local stooped over amobile phone, mentions wistfullythat his generation looked at theevents of those days through histo-ry books and often cannot relate tothe events. But it is the elders whohave a painful memory and do notwant to talk about it. Many eldersfall into a chilling silence and seemto want to forget it. But he goes onto add that there are a lot of peo-ple who keep the memory alive,especially the younger generation,some of whom have made shortfilms on the era.

Local organisations have alsoworked hard to claim compensationfor victims who faced atrocities dur-ing those years. As he succinctlymentions, “The collusion of the suf-ferers”, especially the old, does not

wipe out the memories of the days. Late in the day, a jarring feeling

returned. And it was then, that aMizo friend spoke about the unnat-urally hanging villages by the road-sides. After the bombings of 1966which was not even officiallyaccepted by the Government till the1980s, the Government decided tocreate Protected and ProgressiveVillages (PPV). A misnomer ifthere ever was one, the authoritiesherded villagers from across the tinyhill State into 110 such camps andsowed the seeds of an undisguisedannihilation of traditional cus-toms.

The sociocultural impacts offorcing communities to leave theirtraditional lands while their livesburnt to the ground is felt to this daywith a bewildered community stillsearching for answers for thatsenseless act of brutality.

For many people, the bombingwas a minor event when comparedto the PPVs. These forced segrega-tions had a long-lasting effect onMizo society as many people losttheir ancestral bearings. The painwas not even about burning ofassets, but the perceptible change insocietal norms with people forcedto live in proximity with other vil-lagers.

The widespread human rightsabuses, pervasive food shortage ina new place, and a growing discon-nect from their ancestral villages,have left a scar. Even after the PPVswere disbanded and many peoplereturned, they reverted to a broken

society. Many did not even returnand continued staying near thecamp grounds.

The break up meant that manysmall clusters of pseudo-villagescame up in the State. Administrativedecisions on developing infrastruc-ture in the villages became a chal-lenge as choices had to be madeupon where to start a school, whichvillage should get a water supplyand so on. The results have beenlong drawn but often visible in thefaces of children who must walklong distances to attend school,increased isolation and poverty,poor healthcare and scanty watersupply, the hinterland is still pick-ing up the pieces from livingforcibly.

Now New Delhi’s measures toprevent Myanmarese nationals flee-ing the junta from entering IndianStates bordering Myanmar haveopened up old wounds.

The Mizos do not ask formuch, as those lucky enough tomake the arduous journey to theMizo hills will attest to. They loveunconditionally and care for theirland as few other communities do.Above all, they exude the sameextraordinary warmth that manyhill communities display — be it theHimachali, Uttaranchali, Sikkimeseand Arunachalis. However, theMizos do clamour for closure sothat the burden of ‘Zoram Day’ andlife in PPVs can be relieved. Closureand acknowledgement of thosedays will sow the seeds for a deepreconciliation in the future.

Mizos clamour for closure so that the burden of ‘Zoram Day’ and life in PPVs can be relieved.Closure and acknowledgement will sow the seeds for a deep reconciliation in the future

SAURAV MALHOTRA

THESOCIOCULTURAL

IMPACTS OF FORCING

COMMUNITIES TO LEAVE

THEIR TRADITIONAL

LANDS WHILE THEIR

LIVES BURNT TO THE

GROUND IS FELT

TO THIS DAY, WITH A

BEWILDEREDCOMMUNITY

STILL SEARCHING

FOR ANSWERSFOR THAT

SENSELESS ACT OF

BRUTALITY

Green is in. As the world gears up to set key climate goals at COP26in Glasgow this year, countries and corporations are racing toinstitute new policies to limit carbon emissions and invest in sus-

tainable business models and practices. Countries like China and theUS have outlined ambitious programmes to ramp up Government spend-ing to aid a complete renewable energy transition while creating jobsfor their economies and strengthening their GDP. Pressure is mount-ing on India to commit to similarly ambitious climate goals, as the third-largest source of carbon emissions globally. The country is currentlyon track to meet its Paris Agreement commitments but its goals fallshort of the policies needed to reduce emissions in line with the tar-gets needed to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5° Celsius by2050. New policies on coal mining, forests and businesses within envi-ronmentally sensitive zones diverge from the global move towards pro-tecting and restoring forests.

For climate vulnerable regions like the Eastern Himalayas, includ-ing India’s North East, even a 1.5° Celsius rise will transform its cli-mate, impacting everything from its water sources, to the crops thatcan be grown, its biodiversity and by extension, the lives of the 246million people living there. India’s farmlands account for 21 per centof its total emissions. However, effective management of farmland willmitigate its emissions by 222.44 million tonnes of carbon a year. Thesesolutions include mosaic restoration of agricultural land, the use of biochar,optimising grazing intensity, nutrient management and improved ricecultivation techniques. According to data compiled by the WorldResources Institute, the country has the opportunity to transform 87million hectares (ha) of agricultural land by planting trees on farmland- mosaic restoration. In India’s Eastern Himalayas, this farmland is 1.8million ha. Under the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, farm-ers received support of up to `70 per tree planted on agricultural landor in the periphery/boundary areas. This support needs to be stream-lined with existing policies and subsidies, which currently focus onincreasing production of cash crops like oil palm through monocul-ture cultivation, often in unsuitable areas.

With a growing global appetite for sustainable investment in ener-gy and sustainable land and ocean use, India is rife with opportunitiesthat must be leveraged effectively. Sustainable funds have outperformedtheir regular counterparts, with the Nifty ESG Index delivering a five-year return of 10.80 per cent compared to 8.99 per cent on the Nifty50. The global push to eliminate deforestation from supply chains mustbe foregrounded in the Indian context. Both the stock exchange’s ESGguidelines and SEBI’s new guidelines on Business Responsibility andSustainability Reporting include environmental concerns in reportingindices, but must be expanded to mandate deforestation/habitat lossaudits across a firm’s supply chain. Stronger, robust climate and envi-ronment impact and risk reporting must be mandatory for business-es and must be weighted in their investment rankings. Uniform stan-dards need to be introduced for ESG funds, with robust minimum require-ments on environment and climate sustainability for businesses to beincluded in ESG portfolios. Global opportunities in sustainable land andocean use stand at approximately $3 trillion according to the WorldEconomic Forum. For natural capital rich regions like India’s EasternHimalayas to benefit, stronger mechanisms are needed to define a localcarbon market to allow firms to invest directly in forests for their car-bon sequestration services. More studies and robust assessments areneeded on the scale of business opportunities in sustainable land useand forestry. Greater investor outreach and awareness is needed in India,to calculate the risks versus opportunities of sustainable land use againstbusiness as usual scenarios, particularly in eco-sensitive zones.

(The writer is co-founder Rural Futures and designer, BaliparaFoundation. The views expressed are personal.)

There was a tempest in asmall teapot recently, asHuman Rights Watch

(HRW) accused Israel ofapartheid. That echoed theviews of the Israeli humanrights group B’Tselem, whichsaid in January that the cur-rent Israeli Government is an“apartheid regime.” But theofficial response was differ-ent. The Israeli Governmentignored B’Tselem, but itsWashington Embassy gaveHRW the standard responseto foreign criticism: “Westrongly reject the false accu-sations that HRW is spread-ing about Israel. This is anorganisation known to havea long-standing anti-Israelagenda.” Then the caravanmoved on, leaving the bark-ing dogs behind.

Some aspects of Israelare reminiscent of SouthAfrica — high fences, lots ofguns, and large, unfriendly

dogs — and religion hasplayed a big role in politics inboth countries. But the cara-vans are moving in oppositedirections: South Africatowards democracy, Israelaway from it.

The usual chicken-or-eggquestion arises at this point.Was it extreme Right-wingpolitics that drove Israel to itscurrent dilemma, condemnedto perpetual subjugation of itsArab population under theleadership of a political thuglike Binyamin ‘Bibi’Netanyahu? Or was it theneed to keep the Arabs downthat drove Israelis so farRight?

History says the latter. ForJews in the shtetls of late 19thcentury Eastern Europe, fac-ing unrelenting prejudice andoccasional pogroms in thecountries where they wereborn, there were only twoways out: A revolutionary

socialism that promised todrown all the national hatredin a shared post-nationalistparadise, or a nationalismthat created a sovereign stateto protect all Jews.

The younger generationof Jewish activists split: Theidealists became Communistsand the realists becameZionists — Jewish national-ists, in other words. Bothgroups achieved their goals:A significant proportion ofthe Bolshevik leaders inRussia in 1917 were Jews, andZionists created the state ofIsrael in 1948.

But despite their nation-alism, most of the Zionistswere also tempted by social-ism, and for the first 30 yearsafter independence all IsraeliGovernments were Left-wingcoalitions led by the LabourParty.

For another two decades,until 1996, Israeli coalitions

alternated between Left andRight. For all but three yearsof the past quarter-century(since 1996, when Netanyahufirst became Prime Minister),Israel’s Governments have allbeen led by the Right. Nor isthat situation likely to changein the foreseeable future.

You can trace the drift tothe Right back to the Six-DayWar of 1967, when Israel

conquered enough land fromSyria, Jordan and Egypt toquadruple its size. It gave theSinai Peninsula back to Egyptin exchange for a peace treatyin 1977, but Israelis could notbring themselves to return therest. They kept it, whichmeant keeping all thePalestinians who lived there.

That was the fatal step.Just before the Six-Day War,thanks to massive Jewishimmigration from the diaspo-ra, Jewish Israelis outnum-bered the Arabs who had notbeen driven out in the 1948war by around seven-to-one.That’s a comfortable majori-ty, big enough that Israelcould afford to let its Arabshave citizenship, the vote, allthe usual democratic rights.And it did.

But after 1967 Israel ruleda far larger territory on whichalmost exactly half the pop-ulation was Arab. More than

half a century later it stilldoes, and it doesn’t want togive that land up. But it can-not afford to give all thoseArabs citizenship and all therights that go with it, so theonly solution is permanentsubjugation of all its post-1967 Arab subjects. Onlyhard Right-wingGovernments can do thatand still be at peace withthemselves, so that is whatIsrael has ended up with.

As former Prime MinisterEhud Barak said in 2017: “Ifwe keep controlling the wholearea from the Mediterraneanto the river Jordan wheresome 13 million people areliving, if only one entityreigned over this whole area,named Israel, it wouldbecome inevitably … eithernon-Jewish or non-democra-tic.”

Netanyahu’s solution tothis dilemma is never stated

explicitly, but a majority ofJewish Israeli voters under-stand and accept it. It is thatthe Arabs in the occupied ter-ritories will have to live underpermanent military occupa-tion, in order that JewishIsraelis may continue to livein a Jewish State that extendsfrom the Mediterranean tothe Jordan River.

In four consecutive elec-tions in the past two years,Netanyahu has failed to get anoutcome that delivers him apossible winning coalition.He’s playing for a deadlockand a fifth election now, buthe may end up out of officeand in jail instead.

Any politician whoreplaces ‘Bibi’, with or with-out another election, wouldpursue the same basic policy.The centre of gravity of Israelipolitics is now far to theRight, and still moving right-wards.

It is a hard fact that the centre of gravity of Israeli politics is now far to the Right, and still moving rightwards. This will remain so, with or without ‘Bibi’

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 3, 2021

07

www.dailypioneer.com facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

FIRSTCOLUMN

BOOST SUSTAINABLEINVESTMENTS

Greater investor outreach is needed to grasp the risksversus opportunities of sustainable land use

KUNAL SHARMA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The writer is AssistantProfessor at Azim Premji

University. The viewsexpressed are personal.

Why Netanyahu, or someone like him, can’t lose in Israel

GWYNNE DYER

Gwynne Dyer’s newbook is ‘Growing Pains:

The Future of Democracyand Work’. The views

expressed are personal.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 3, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

India's coal import is expected tobe subdued in coming months onaccount of various factors like

prevailing Covid situation, high coalstock in the system and higherinternational prices, according tomjunction. mjunction -- a joint

venture between Tata Steel and SAIL -- is a B2B e-commercecompany and also publishes research reports on coal and steelverticals. The country's coal import fell 12.62 per cent to 215.92million tonnes (MT) in FY21 from 247.10 MT in FY20, according to aprovisional compilation by mjunction services, based on monitoringof vessels' positions and data received from shipping companies."The overall decline in coal imports during the year 2020-21 was onexpected lines. In coming months, import demand is likely to besubdued in view of the surge in COVID-19 infections, high coal stockin the system and high prices prevailing in the international market,"mjunction services MD and CEO Vinaya Varma said.

India's coal import likely to be subdued in coming months

India Inc's externalcommercial borrowingsjumped by over 24 per cent

to USD 9.23 billion in Marchthis year, RBI data showed.Indian firms had raised USD7.44 billion from the foreignmarket in the same period ayear ago.Of the total

borrowings during March 2021, USD 5.35 billion came in throughthe approval route of the external commercial borrowings (ECB),while the rest of USD 3.88 billion was raked in via the automaticroute of raising funds from international markets No money wasraised through the rupee denominated bonds (RDB) or the masalabonds, as was the case in the year-ago period as well. Indian RailwayFinance Corporation (IRFC), ONGC Videsh Rovuma and REC Ltdwere the three players that raised money in the approval routecategory. IRFC raised a total of USD 3.33 billion in three tranches forthe purpose of infrastructure development, while ONGC VideshRovuma Ltd borrowed USD 1.6 billion for overseas acquisition.

India Inc's foreign borrowingsjump 24% to $9.23 bn in March

The government has appointedRBI Executive Director T RabiSankar as the fourth deputy

governor of the central bank. Sankarfills the vacancy created by theretirement of BP Kanungo on April 2,after completing one-year extension.The Appointments Committee of theCabinet on Saturday cleared his

appointment for a three-year tenure or till he superannuates,whichever is earlier. The other three deputy governors are Michael DPatra, who heads the all-important monetary policy department;Mukesh Kumar Jain, the commercial banker-turned-central banker;and Rajeshwar Rao. Sankar's portfolio may include the departmentsheaded by Kanungo, which included fintech, information technology,payments system and risk monitoring. He had joined the centralbank as a research officer in September 1990. Sankar has a Master'sdegree in science and statistics from the Banaras Hindu Universityand a diploma in development planning from the Institute ofEconomic Growth, according to a Linkedin post.

Govt appoints T Rabi Sankar as next RBI deputy governor

As many as 462infrastructure projects,each worth Rs 150

crore or more, have been hitby cost overruns totallingmore than Rs 4.36 lakhcrore, according to a report.The Ministry of Statisticsand ProgrammeImplementation monitors

infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above. Of the 1,737such projects, 462 reported cost overruns and 557 weredelayed."Total original cost of implementation of the 1,737 projectswas Rs 22,33,409.53 crore and their anticipated completion cost islikely to be Rs 26,69,649.35 crore, which reflects overall costoverruns of Rs 4,36,239.82 crore (19.53 per cent of original cost),"the ministry's latest report for March 2021 said. According to thereport, the cost overrun for completing these 462 projects works outto be Rs 4,36,239.82 crore.

462 infra projects show costoverruns worth Rs 4.36 L crore

PNS n NEW DELHI

Market movement this weekwill be influenced by updateson the COVID-19 front,macroeconomic dataannouncement, quarterly earn-ings and global trends, saidanalysts.

They also added that stateelection results are unlikely tohave any major impact on themarkets and the major deter-mining factor will be the risingCOVID-19 cases and how gov-ernments (both central andstates) are going to address thishealth crisis.

The ruling TrinamoolCongress was ahead of theBJP in the keenly watchedstate of West Bengal, while thesaffron party-led NDA wasleading in Assam and the DMKin Tamil Nadu, according tothe latest trends for Assemblypolls. In Kerala, the ruling LDFis leading in 88 of the 140assembly constituencies whilethe opposition Congress-head-ed UDF was ahead in 50 seg-ments.

Geojit Financial ServicesChief Investment Strategist V

K Vijayakumar said, "The elec-tion results are unlikely tohave any impact on the mar-kets. The news value won't lastmore than a few hours. Themajor determining factor willbe the rising COVID-19 casesand how governments (bothcentral and states) are going to

address this tragic health cri-sis."

He added that if the risingCOVID-19 case load leads toa major catastrophe and anoth-er country-wide lockdown isdeclared, the market wouldbe hugely impacted. "So, watchout for the COVID-19 counts

more than the vote counts."The counting of votes for the

Assembly polls in four statesand a Union Territory is beingtaken up at a time when thecountry is grappling with a rag-ing COVID-19 pandemic.

Religare Broking Vice-President (Research) Ajit

Mishra said, "We expect volatil-ity to remain high this week,too. First, participants willreact to Reliance Industriesresults which came in aftermarket hours on Friday.Election results of the 5 stateswill also be the focus."

He added that on the econ-omy front, manufacturing PMIand services data are scheduledon May 3 and May 5, respec-tively.

"Needless to say, updatesrelated to COVID-19 cases,vaccine drive and global cueswill also be closely tracked.

"Earnings season will alsogain pace and some big nameslike Kotak Mahindra Bank,Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel,Dabur and HDFC willannounce their results alongwith several others," Mishrasaid. Reliance Industries onFriday reported more thandoubling of its March quarternet profit as consumer busi-nesses of retail and telecom aswell as petrochemicals sawsequential recovery onimproved spreads offsettingcontinued weakness in refiningbusiness.

Markets to be guided by Covidsituation, macro data and earnings PNS n NEW DELHI

India's exports in April jumpednearly three-folds to USD30.21 billion on account ofhealthy growth in key sectorsincluding engineering, gemsand jewellery, and petroleumproducts, even as trade deficitwidened to USD 15.24 billion,according to commerce min-istry's preliminary datareleased on Sunday.

The country's merchandiseexports were to the tune ofUSD 10.17 billion in April2020. Trade deficit in thatmonth was USD 6.92 billion.

Imports too rose by overthree-folds to USD 45.45 bil-lion last month as against USD17.09 billion in April 2020.

"India's merchandise exportsin April 2021 were USD 30.21billion, an increase of 197.03per cent over USD 10.17 bil-lion in April 2020 and anincrease of 16.03 per cent overUSD 26.04 billion in April2019," the ministry said in astatement.

In percentage terms, thegrowth rate in exports andimports are at record high,mainly due to base-effect.

Due to the COVID-19 pan-demic induced lockdown last

year, exports shrank by arecord 60.28 per cent in April2020. In March this year,exports grew by 60.29 percent to USD 34.45 billion.

In April 2021, oil importsstood at USD 10.8 billion ascompared to USD 4.65 billionin the corresponding monthlast year.

Major export commoditieswhich have recorded positivegrowth in April include gemsand jewellery, jute, pharmaceu-ticals, carpet, handicrafts,leather, electronic goods, oilmeals, cashew, engineering,petroleum products, marineproducts and chemicals.

Exports of engineering,gems and jewellery, and petro-leum products rose multifoldto USD 5.55 billion, USD 3.3billion, and USD 2.12 billion,respectively in April.

Gold imports surged to USD6.12 billion during the monthunder review as against USD2.83 million in April 2020.

Major commodity groupsof import showing positivegrowth in April 2021 over thecorresponding month of lastyear include electronic goods,transport equipment, minerals,machinery, textile yarn fabric,vegetable oil and iron, andsteel.

Exports jump to $30.21 bnin Apr; trade deficit widens

PNS n NEW DELHI

As the second wave of COVID-19 continues to wreak havocacross the country, leadingautomobile companies haveinitiated various steps to safe-guard their workforce from thehighly infectious disease.

With a spike in the numberof cases, companies like MarutiSuzuki, MG Motor, HeroMotoCorp and HondaMotorcycle & Scooter Indiahave already announced tem-porary suspension of produc-tion work at their respectivemanufacturing facilities tobreak the transmission chain.

Others, who are still manu-facturing, are taking multipleprecautions like cutting downon the production by reducingthe number of people in thefactories as well undertakingvarious welfare schemes.

The country's largest auto-mobile company Tata Motors

told PTI that the companyremains vigilant about theevolving COVID situation andhas scaled up efforts to enhancethe well-being of its personneland its business as well as sup-porting the ecosystem.

Keeping employee safetyforemost, standard operatingprocedures have been updatedfor the prevailing second wavewith the focus on expeditingvaccinations, providing supportto affected employees and their

family members, the companysaid.

“We are running operationsin strict compliance withguidelines issued by relevantauthorities across all our plants.A limited number of employ-

ees are attending duties adher-ing to all safety protocols, dis-tancing norms and hygienestandards,” it added.

In addition to mandatedtesting, screening at plant gatesis robust and if a symptomaticcase is identified, the companyensures that the employee isisolated and provided with allsupport for quarantine andcontact tracing thereafter, TataMotors said.

“Our medical teams havealso begun vaccination drivesin our plants by collaboratingwith local health authorities, foreligible employees,” it noted.

The Mumbai-based firm hasalso set in motion a businessplan to protect and serve theinterests of its customers, deal-ers and suppliers as the lock-downs enforced in variousparts of the country are expect-ed to impact vehicle demandtemporarily.

The automakers have been

forced to initiate measures asIndia continues to witness aTsunami of coronavirus cases.On Saturday, the countryreported over 4 lakh new infec-tions in the last 24 hours.

Mahindra & Mahindra(M&M) said it is extendingsupport to employees to ben-efit from the nation-wide vac-cination programme.

“The company will bear thecost of inoculation for ouremployees and their spouse,eligible as per the governmentguidelines. To further facilitatethis on priority, we have part-nered with hospitals at variouslocations,” M&M HumanResources Officer (Automotiveand Farm sectors) RajeshwarTripathi noted.

So far, more than 90 per centof the eligible workforce,including temporary and con-tractual employees, above theage of 45 years has been vacci-nated, he added.

Automakers firm up measures to safeguard workforce

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has waivedlate fee on delayed filing ofmonthly return GSTR-3B andtax payment for the months ofMarch and April and also cutinterest rate for late filers.

Taxpayers with a turnover ofover Rs 5 crore have been given15 days extra time to filemonthly summary returnGSTR-3B and pay taxes with-out paying any late fees. They would be required to paya lower 9 per cent for these 15days, after which the ratewould be 18 per cent.

While those with a turnoverup to Rs 5 crore in the preced-

ing financial year have 30 daysmore time from their originaldue date for filing 3B returnsfor March and April, with latefee waiver. Interest rate wouldbe 'Nil' for the first 15 days,

post which it would be 9 percent. After 30 days, a 18 percent interest would be levied.

The Central Board ofIndirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC) on May 1 issued the

notification, saying that theserelaxations come into effectfrom April 18. Also the duedate for filing April sales returnGSTR-1 has been extendedtill May 26, from the originaldue date of May 11. For com-position dealers filing salesreturn GSTR-4, the deadlinefor filing returns for the finan-cial year ended March 31,2021, has been extended by amonth till May 31. AMRG &Associates Senior Partner RajatMohan said owing to Covidinduced exigencies, the govern-ment has introduced compli-ance-related reliefs for theblock of two-month Marchand April, 2021.

Late fee on delayed tax returns filing waived

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways hasnotified certain changes in theCentral Motor Vehicles Rules,1989 to facilitate the owner ofa vehicle for nominating aperson in the registration cer-tificate, which would help themotor vehicle to be registeredor transferred in the name ofthe nominee, in case of deathof the owner.

Now, the owner can put thename of the nominee at thetime of registration of thevehicles and can also add itlater through an online appli-cation.

The process is otherwisecumbersome and non-uni-form across the country.

According to the notified

rules, the owner of a vehiclehas to submit proof of theidentity of the nominee, in casethe nominee is mentioned.

"Where the owner of amotor vehicle dies, the personnominated by the vehicleowner in the certificate of reg-

istration or the person suc-ceeding to the possession ofthe vehicle, as the case may be,may for a period of threemonths from the death of theowner of the motor vehicle, usethe vehicle as if it has beentransferred to him,

Vehicle ownership transfer: RoadMinistry notifies changes in rules

PNS n NEW DELHI

Serum Institute of India CEOAdar Poonawalla, whohas been in the UK onextended stay toevade alleged threatsin India over ever-increasing demandfor COVID-19 vac-cines, has said he willreturn in a few days.

In an interview to 'TheTimes', Poonawalla hadalleged that he had beenreceiving threats in India andthat he and his family had leftthe country for London after

unprecedented "pressure andaggression" over the demandof COVID-19 vaccines.

In a late night tweet onSaturday, he said the

production of Covis-hield -- the Oxford/Astra Zeneca's Covidvaccine that is being

produced by SerumInstitute in India -- was in

full swing at SII's facility inPune. "Pleased to state thatCOVISHIELD's productionis in full swing in Pune. I lookforward to reviewing opera-tions upon my return in a fewdays," Poonawalla said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Agri-tech start-up Reshama ndiis going ahead with its plannedexpansion despite the secondwave of the coronavirus pan-demic, targeting to onboardaround 2 lakh silk farmers on itsplatform in two years, accord-ing to a top company official.

The company, whichworks in the silk supply chainoffering farmers to sell theirproduce by linking up withreelers and weavers, is alsolooking to raise its Series Acapital this year to fund itsfootprint expansion, includ-ing in Africa. "From a two-year perspective, we areassuming that we will have atleast 2 lakh farmers workingon our platform across differ-ent states (in India),"Reshamandi Co-Founder &CEO Mayank Tiwari said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

State Bank of India (SBI) willtry to keep the interest ratesbenign as long as possible witha view to supporting the eco-nomic growth, its chairman

Dinesh Kumar Khara has said.On the impact of the second

wave of COVID-19 on non-performing assets of the bank,the SBI chief said that as thelockdown was not pan-India,one will have to wait and watch

to assess its impact on thebanking sector.

Observing that multiplevariables including inflationhave a bearing on the interestrates, he said, "our effort is tosupport the growth initiatives.

To really ensure that happens,we will try to keep the softinterest rate regime for as longas possible." Khara said it is tooearly to give any colour to like-ly scenario of NPAs because oflocal restrictions. The impact

of lockdown differ from statesto states as it is not uniform, hesaid, adding, "so, probably wecan wait and watch for somemore time before making anycomment on impact on econ-omy and NPA situation."

PNS n NEW DELHI

Ola Electric is looking at tak-ing its electric scooter to inter-national markets, includingcountries like France, Italyand Germany, this fiscal, a topcompany executive said.

The company, which isworking on setting up a'Hypercharger Network' forits electric vehicle, is slated tolaunch its electric scooter inIndia in July this year.

"We are going to be launch-ing internationally...this finan-cial year itself, we will be sellinginternationally also. We startwith India first but soon, wemove into international marketswith a focus on Europe," OlaChairman and Group CEOBhavish Aggarwal told PTI.

The company has not yetdisclosed details like pricing ofthe e-scooter.

Last year, Ola hadannounced a Rs 2,400-croreinvestment for setting up itsfirst electric scooter factory inTamil Nadu. Upon comple-tion, the factory will createnearly 10,000 jobs and will bethe world's largest scootermanufacturing facility thatwill initially have an annualcapacity of 2 million units.

Reshamandigoing aheadwith expansiondespite Covid

Will keep soft interest rate as long as possible: SBI

Ola to take e-scooterto intl mkts this fiscal

Poonawalla: Will return to India in a few days

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

9

Vijayawada Monday May 3, 2021what’s brewing?

FUN

anoj Muntashir,lyricist andscreenwriter anda judge on SonyTV’s singing real-ity show Indian

Idol 12, has apologisedfor a factual mistake hecommitted on theshow’s latest episode.

In the episode,Muntashir, knownfor songs like TereSang Yaara, Dil Meri

Na Sune, Phir BhiTumkoChaahunga, Kaun

Tujhe and also forwriting the Hindi dubbeddialogues for Baahubali 2

and Black Panther, hadmentioned Shammi Kapoor

and his relationship with hislate wife and actor GeetaBaali.

Muntashir talked about ananecdote according to whichKapoor applied Geeta’s lip-

stick to the parting between her hairin place of vermillion to consummatetheir marriage.

While talking to Rauf Ahmed forhis book Shammi Kapoor: The GameChanger, Kapoor had said, “When wereached the temple at the crack ofdawn, Geeta in her by-now crumpled

salwar-kameez and I in my kurta-paja-ma, it was pouring cats and dogs.With Hari Valia as the sole witness,the pujari (priest) performed the cere-monial rites and we took seven pheras(rounds) of the holy fire and weredeclared husband and wife. Geetatook out a lipstick from her purse andasked me to apply it on her maang(parting of the hair) like sindoor (ver-milion) to proclaim our marital sta-tus.”

After talking about the anecdote,Manoj went on to say that ShammiKapoor never married again, but thetruth is that he did. In 1969, four yearsafter the death of Geeta, he marriedNeela Devi Gohil. Their marriage last-ed until Neela’s death in 2011.

Muntashir wrote on Twitter, “Likeall you lovely people out there, I am adie hard Hindi cinema fan too.Sometimes fan do commit mistakesunintentionally. I apologize about afactual error in today’s Indian idolepisode. Shammi ji married NeilaDevi after the untimely demise ofGeeta Bali Ji. @SonyTV (sic).”

INDIAN IDOL 12: MANOJ MUNTASHIRAPOLOGISES FOR ‘FACTUAL ERROR’ unjabi singer and

actor GippyGrewal and someof his crew mem-bers were arrestedfor allegedly

flouting Covid-19 restric-tions by shooting for a filmat Banur in Punjab’s Patialadistrict, police said onSaturday.

They were later releasedon bail, police said.

A police official said over100 people had gathered atthe shooting site in a villagein Banur, even as a weekendlockdown was in force inPunjab.

Police arrested Grewaland some crew membersfrom the spot, the officialsaid.

A case under section 188

(disobedience to order dulypromulgated by public ser-vant) of the IPC, relevantsections of the EpidemicDiseases Act and theDisaster Management Acthas been registered at

Banur police station.A few days ago, actor

Jimmy Shergill and somecrew members were bookedfor allegedly defying Covidrestrictions while shootingfor web series in Ludhiana.

lympia Dukakis, theveteran stage andscreen actor whoseflair for maternalroles helped her winan Oscar as Cher’s

mother in the romantic com-edy Moonstruck, has died. Shewas 89.

Dukakis died Saturdaymorning in her home in NewYork City, according toAllison Levy, her agent atInnovative Artists. A cause ofdeath was not immediatelyreleased, but her family saidin a statement that she hadbeen in failing health formonths.

Dukakis won her Oscar

through a surprising chain ofcircumstances, beginningwith author Nora Ephron’srecommendation that sheplay Meryl Streep’s mother inthe film version of Ephron’sbook Heartburn. Dukakis gotthe role, but her scenes werecut from the film. To make itup to her, director MikeNichols cast her in his hit playSocial Security. DirectorNorman Jewison saw her inthat role and cast her inMoonstruck.

Dukakis won the Oscar forbest supporting actress andCher took home the trophyfor best actress.

She referred to her 1988

win as “the year of theDukakii” because it was alsothe year Massachusetts Gov.Michael Dukakis, her cousin,was the Democratic Party’spresidential nominee.

At the ceremony, she heldher Oscar high over her headand called out: “OK, Michael,let’s go!”

In 1989, her Oscar statuettewas stolen from Dukakis’New Jersey home.

“We’re not pretentious,” herhusband, actor Louis Zorich,said at the time.

“We kept the Oscar in thekitchen.”

Her recent projects includ-ed the 2019 TV miniseries

Tales of the City and theupcoming film Not to Forgot.

But the stage was her firstlove.

“My ambition wasn’t to winthe Oscar,” she commentedafter her Moonstruck win, “Itwas to play the great parts.”

Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-winning Moonstruck

star, dies at 89

hat happenedwhen an X-Menfan had achanceencounter withHugh Jackman?

The admirer, who hap-pened to be a New YorkCity police officer, sent amessage to RyanReynolds via theWolverine star to castJackman in the thirdDeadpool movie, even ifit’s for a ‘10-minutecameo,’ promising solidbox office collections.

Jackman, who is bestknown for playing theadamantium-clawedmutant Wolverine/Logan in the X-Menfilms of the now Disney-owned Marvel Studios,shared the video ofOfficer John Dobkowskion his verified Twitteraccount.

“Officer Dobkowski isdoling out incrediblysmart career advice for@VancityReynolds.Sharing is caring,”Jackman captioned thevideo on the microblog-ging site.

In the 34-second-longclip, Dobkowski said,“Hey Ryan, you’ve got to

get this guy in Deadpool3. Even if it’s for a 10-minute cameo, thatwould be awesome.That movie would beso cool, so great, itwould blow the boxoffice.” The officer alsojokingly threatened togive Reynolds aticket ifJackman does-n’t show up inthe film.

Sometimesfor comicrelief, some-times forextendingsupportduring theongoingcoron-avirus pan-demic,Jackmanand Reynoldsoften put on adisplay of a“feud” on socialmedia.

Jokes apart, ack-man has repeatedlysaid that he is notinterested in returningas Wolverine, a role heplayed in the X-Men filmseries from 2000 to 2018,for which he holds the

Guinness World Recordfor the “longest career asa live-action Marvelsuperhero”

REGARDING SHAMMI KAPOOR

M

O

W

P

Hugh Jackman shares Deadpoolfan’s ‘advice’ for Ryan Reynolds

Singer Gippy Grewal held forflouting curbs, released later

Venturing out duringthe deadly secondwave of the Covidpandemic, even tobuy essential items,is today a riskyadventure. Thanksto online shopping,buying fresh,organic, and healthygroceries hasbecome easier.Product + price +delivery mix seems to have hit the sweetspot with urbanIndia, writes The

Pioneer's SHIKHADUGGAL.

t’s no longer onlyclothes or booksor cosmetics thatpeople want tobuy online!Because, when it

comes to buying everydaygroceries, people are nowincreasingly turning toonline shopping amid thesecond wave of the Covidpandemic. FreshToHome’sFTH Daily, the subscrip-tion-based e-grocery app,with its services spreadacross Hyderabad,Bangalore, and Pune,recently held a survey thatrevealed exciting e-grocerytrends! Shoppers say thatonline grocery shoppinghas led to a shift in habits.For instance, several peo-ple mentioned that theynow order only organicfruits and veggies. Whileshoppers are used to get-ting bank offers, extra dis-counts, and special dealson electronics and furni-ture during the festive sea-son sale, there are e-com-merce websites now thathave extended these offersto groceries too.

“Online grocery shop-ping has come like a boonfor many of us. I thorough-ly enjoyed visiting super-markets earlier and discov-ering what’s new! Yes, I domiss it while I know howprecarious it is to visit oneat the moment.

With the emergence ofonline grocery shopping,there are ample advantagesthat are tied up instead ofcounting out any disadvan-tages, which I feel, is none.Firstly, it saves me the bur-den of commuting and sec-

ondly, it’s much conve-nient. I don’t have to standin long queues at thebilling counter — one tapand the billing amount getsdeducted from my card.

How easy is that! There’san automated list of itemsthat are segregated so wellthat one can just keep onadding it to their cart with-out much hassle — saves alot of time.

Come to think of it, theonly ebb I can think ofcurrently, is that the storesare very limited online.

The best part about onlinegrocery shopping amid thepandemic is that your con-fectionery is coming inbulk and there's someoneassigned for your deliv-ery! You don’t have togo out in theseunprecedentedtimes,” shares themulti-talentedanchor ShilpaChakravarthy,who says she’sefficientlyinvolved inall the

house-holdchores.

Thetrendreport by

FTHobserved

that the platform gets maxi-

mum orderson Tuesdaysand Wednesdays outof which60% of theorders aremadetowards theevening.

Thus, there isvariation in the

usual pattern ofordering fruits

and vegetables overthe weekend.

Additionally, the ‘nodelivery charges’ feature

of FTH Daily has enabledthe customers to placeorders on a daily basis andenjoy maximum nutritionalvalue. It is successfullymaking urban India con-sume fresh! The surveyalso revealed that 54% ofwomen and 46% of menshop online for groceries.

The survey also revealedthat milk, fruits, and veg-etables are the most

ordered items. And thecustomers place fruits andvegetable orders along withtheir milk subscription! Ithinted at an average totalspend of Rs 5000-6000 perwallet made by the con-sumers while the averagespend on only milk pur-chasers was around Rs 3000per month.

It was also discoveredthat 60% of walletrecharges were throughUPI payments. One of therevelations of the trendsincluded over ten lakhorders approximately permonth across Hyderabad,Bangalore, and Pune.

The supply chain isattuned to ensure deliver-ing nutrition at its maxespecially in the case offruits and vegetables to thecustomers through swift-ness of supply chain opera-tions sourcing to process-ing and delivery.

The world around us isconstantly changing andtechnology forms a greaterpart of this change! Theability to purchase itemswith just a tap and havingthem delivered home,rather than picking them atstores is more feasible now.

Get onto the wagon,because it’s a market withpotential growth in thefuture!

I

ertility treatmentis still consid-ered taboo inmost parts ofIndia, even in2021. The pain,

shame, and stigma thatsociety attaches to it wors-en things mentally for acouple trying to conceive.Imagine facing all of these,in the midst of a pandem-ic! To address and educatepeople in such tryingtimes, Femina, in associa-tion with Bharat Serumsand Vaccines Ltd., hosteda conversation on IVF (Invitro fertilisation), withexpert doctors as part ofFemina Dialogues — TheHealth Series on the topicof seeking fertility treat-ment during the covidpandemic times.

The discussion moder-ated by Shraddha Kamdar,Production Editor,Femina, saw commentsand suggestions from DrRicha Jagtap, Clinical

Director and Consultant,Reproductive Medicine atNova IVF Fertility Centre,Chembur, Mumbai, andDr Preethi Reddy, L eadIVF Consultant, Birthright

Rainbow Hospitals,Hyderabad. It started withunderstanding the psycho-logical and physiologicaleffects that infertility canhave on a woman andunderstanding therecourse from that point.

The doctors answered per-tinent questions related tosensitive patient care, safe-ty measures to be taken,the age and time at whichcouples should seek help,and the processes andtypes of treatments avail-

able to patients.Dr Preethi pointed out

that often couples thinkthat the period of trying toconceive determines whenthey should seek medicalhelp, but that is not thecase. “It is important for

couples to understand thatthe age factor is veryimportant, irrespective ofthe number of years theyhave been married for. Forinstance, if the patient isabove 35 years of age andhas been trying for over

six months, unsuccessfully,she should seek assistance.If she is over 37 or 38years, she should considerit even after trying forthree months. The rest ofthe couples who areyounger should think of itafter a year of trying withnatural unprotected inter-course,” she informed.

Talking of the risks andmeasures to be taken dur-ing treatment at this sensi-tive time, amid the pan-demic, both doctors saidthat they advise theirpatients to wait if possibleuntil things are better. DrJagtap also mentioned thattaking all the safety pre-cautions following all theISAR (Indian Society ForAssisted Reproduction)guidelines at the clinichelps put the patients atease, so they feel secure inthe environment aroundthem.

In the concluding seg-ment, they spoke of theway forward if the IVFtreatment failed, and howpatients should not see itas the end of the road.They also talked of howcouples should understandthat the treatment doesnot come with a guaran-tee, but the doctors will bewith them every step ofthe way.

A better approach

to fertility

anzar, sung byIndian Idol 10winner SalmanAli and play-back singerVipin Aneja,

who was last working onJazbaa and Saheb, Biwi AurGangster, has recentlyreceived an amazingresponse from the audi-ences, music, and film fra-ternity!

The song which has nowhit 1 million views wasdirected by Devansh Pateland saw music stalwartslike Sonu Nigam, MikaSingh, and celebrities likeFarhan Akhtar, SidharthMalhotra, Manoj Bajpayee,Hansal Mehta, JaideepAhlawat, Onir, PulkitSamrat, Hemant Kher,Karan V Grover, Kubra Saitand many more coming insupport for such a timelyand an inspiring song.

Director Devansh Patel,on receiving such greatsupport and feedback fromthe film and music fraterni-ty, said, “It’s overwhelming.We’re living in such toughtimes, it means a lot to usto get this warmth andacceptance. We havecrossed 1 million viewswithin a week and it just

goes to prove our point fur-ther. Because with poignantlyrics, mesmerising vocals,simple melody, and an evensimpler message, Manzarwas created for you — thepeople of the world.Manzar is an ode tohumanity and I am ever sograteful to receive this lovefor my directorial debut.”

The soft and melodioussong written by lyricistGilbert Chettiar, founder ofLafzon Music label, andcomposed by AnshulSharma was born out ofseparation, hardship, andthe frustration of the pan-demic.

Talking about the song,lyricist Gilbert Chettiarsaid, “This song wascathartic for me, I did notintend it to take this direc-tion, totally followed myheart and captured how Iwas feeling at that point. Ibelieve this is my mosthonest creation, it’s unfil-tered and as authentic as itcan get. I’m really thankfulthat people have loved thesong and they have sup-ported us over socialmedia. In times like this it’svery reassuring, gives us areason to look forward to abetter.”

MANZAR RECEIVES

APPLAUSE FROM

ALL CORNERS

F

M

MondayMay 3, 2021

Follow us on

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facebook.com/dailypioneer

PTI n AHMEDABAD

Star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalorewould look to get their mojo back when they

face struggling Kolkata Knight Riders who needa complete overhaul for their revival here onMonday.

From leading the table with four wins on thetrot, the Virat Kohli-led team has slipped to thirdspot at the halfway stage after suffering two defeatsfrom their last three matches.

In fact, RCB would have lost three in a rowif pacer Mohammed Siraj had not defended 14runs in the final over against Delhi Capitals’ explo-sive duo of Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer.

The onus would be on their famed battinglineup of Kohli, AB de Villiers and GlennMaxwell to start firing once again and put pres-sure on the KKR batsmen. Talented openerDevdutt Padikkal would also be keen to get backamong runs as he has not clicked after his unbeat-en 101 against Rajasthan Royals.

Having started the season with muchpromise under Eoin Morgan, KKR so far havefailed to inspire, suffering five defeats inseven matches. They are at the seventhspot in the eight-team table, staringat early elimination for a thirdseason in a row.

The biggest letdown for KKRthis season has been their top-order batting as the top threeShubman Gill, Nitish Rana, RahulTripathi have failed to give the teama decent start.

Supremely-talented Gill isstruggling in the T20 scheme ofthings and has failed to convert his startsat the top, while the likes of Nitish Ranaand Rahul Tripathi have been patchy.

Head coach Brendon McCullumhad questioned their batsmen’s “intent”after they posted a below-par 154/6 togo down to Delhi Capitals by seven wick-ets in their last match.

At the same stage, under DineshKarthik in IPL 2020 in UAE, the teamhad fared a shade better with fourwins and three defeats, before herelinquished the captaincy to letEnglish World Cup-winning

skipper Morgan lead the side.Given the current sce-

nario, skipper Morganneeds to take some tough

calls with regards tohis top-order, some-thing he has stuck tosince match numberone against Sunrisers

Hyderabad this season.It’s a pity that KKR are yet to

give an opportunity to new signingKarun Nair who has a strike rate of

155.49 and has two centuries as a T20opener. They also have uncapped talent-ed batsman Venkatesh Iyer.

The bowling on the other hand hasimpressed, especially the spin duo ofSunil Narine and VarunChakravarthy. Their eight oversagainst the likes of Kohli, De Villiersand Maxwell would be key as they

look to avenge their first leg defeat.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Jos Buttler announced hisreturn to form with belliger-ent maiden T20 hundred as

Rajasthan Royals made amincemeat of an out-of-sortsSunRisers Hyderabad, winningSunday’s IPL encounter by awhopping 55-run margin.

Opening the innings,Buttler smashed a breathtaking124 off 64 balls while SanjuSamson was effective in his 48off 33 deliveries which poweredRajasthan to a commanding220 for three.

Even a change in captain-cy couldn’t bring in luck forSRH as they could manage only165 for eight in their 20 overs.

Chris Morris (3/29) andMustafizur Rahman (3/20) didthe bulk of the work with theball while Kartik Tyagi (1/32)Rahul Twetia (1/45) picked awicket apiece.

With the win, the Royalsmoved up to fifth spot whileSRH continued to stay at thebottom, having won only onematch all season.

GOOD STARTLooking to register their

second win of the season, SRHraced to 57 for no loss in thefirst six overs.

However, Bangladeshpacer Rahman struck rightafter the first strategic time out,getting rid of Manish Pandey(31). The dangerous JonnyBairstow (30) and VijayShankar (8) soon followed.

With the pressure mount-ing, skipper Kane Williamson(20) went for the big shot onlyto be caught at deep midwick-et by Morris off Tyagi as wick-

ets tumbled at regular intervals.Mohammad Nabi (17 off

5) injected some hope in theSRH camp, as he smashedTewatia for two sixes in the14th over. However, the Afghanwas back in the dug out after aquick cameo.

With 91 needed in the last

five overs the lower and mid-dle order struggled.

In the end, the top heavySRH did not have enough fire-power to pull off the mammothchase.

150-RUN STANDEarlier, put in to bat,

THERE ARE NUMBER OF LEADERS IN THEGROUP. IT'S IMPORTANT WE STAY TIGHT.

AND FOR US IT IS ABOUT BUILDING AS A SIDE AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS

— KANE WILLIAMSON

CAPTAIN’S CALLVIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 3, 2021

PLAYER RUNS

1. KL Rahul (PBKS) 331

2. Faf du Plessis (CSK) 320

3. Shikhar Dhawan (DC) 311

PLAYER WKTS

1. Harshal Patel (RCB) 17

2. Avesh Khan (DC) 14

3. Chris Morris (RR) 14

MOST SIXES

1. KL Rahul (PBKS) 16

2. Jonny Bairstow (SRH) 15

3. Ambati Rayudu (CSK) 13

SUMMER SLAM

MOTION PICTURE

CSA deny NOC to van der dussenSouth Africa batsman Rassie van der Dussen is unlikelyto join Rajasthan Royals after failing to obtain a NoObjection Certificate from his country's cricket board.According to a report, the 32-year-old, who was namedas replacement for Ben Stokes was not issued the NOCdue to an unspecified injury. The report, however, saidthat he had obtained a visa to travel to India.

DDCA to donate 100 oxygen concentrators The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) onSunday announced it will be donating 100 units each ofnon-invasive ventilators and oxygen concentrators tothe Delhi Government for distribution across healthcarefacilities in the national capital.

Warner shocked & disappointed: Moody David Warner was “shocked and disappointed” afterbeing dropped from the SRH playing XI but team'sDirector of Cricket Tom Moody defended the “hardcall”, saying someone had to miss out and it's him.This is the first time in Warner's IPL career that he hasbeen dropped by any franchise for lack of form. “Wehad to make the hard call, somebody has to miss outand unfortunately it's him. He's shocked anddisappointed. Anyone would be disappointed,” Moodytold Star Sports before their match against RR.

4s 798

6s 371

boundarymeter

BASILASHVILI WINS IN MUNICH MUNICH: Nikoloz Basilashvili won his fifthcareer title and second of 2021 on Sundaywhen he defeated Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-6(7/5) in the Munich clay court final.

AJAX CLINCH DUTCH TITLE THE HAUGE: Ajax Amsterdam clinched their35th Dutch league title on Sunday with a 4-0victory over Emmen. Erik Ten Hag's side holda 15-point advantage over second-place PSVEindhoven, who have four matches to play.

CHELSEA VS BARCA IN WCL FINALLONDON: Pernille Harder scored a key lategoal and Fran Kirby netted twice as Chelseaoverturned a 2-1 first-leg deficit with a 4-1victory over Bayern Munich to set up aWomen's CL final against Barcelona.

OSAKA DUMPED OUTMADRID: Naomi Osaka suffered a second-round exit at the Madrid Open as the secondseed lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to Karolina Muchova.

DORTMUND ROUT KIELBERLIN: Borussia Dortmund thrashed second-division Holstein Kiel 5-0 on Saturday in theirGerman Cup semi-final even with top-scorerErling Braut Haaland sidelined.

REAL MADRID DEFEAT OSASUNA MADRID: Real Madrid held their nerve to beatOsasuna 2-0 in La Liga on Saturday to cutAtletico’s lead at top as Eden Hazard made hisfirst start since January. Agencies

shortpasses

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TODAYTODAY VSLIVE FROM

7:30PM IST

STAR SSPORTS 11 NNETWORK

Matches 27Kolkata KKnight RRiders 14Royal CChallengers BBangalore 13

MEETING IN IPL 2021

Royal Challengers Bangalore

defeated Kolkata Knight Riders

by 38 runs in Chennai

VENUE: NARENDRA MODI STADIUM, AHMEDABAD

Virat Kohli will become the fifth

player to complete a double

century of matches in IPL history.

He has played 199 matches so

far for Royal Challengers

Bangalore since 2008

Sunil Narine will become the first

player to appear in 125 matches

for Kolkata Knight Riders. He

has played 124 matches since

making his debut in 2012Faisel FFeatures

199

HEAD TO HEADKEY PLAYERS

ANDRE RUSSELL

After a quite season with the bat

last year, Dre Russ’ is back to

his best and hitting big sixes

GLENN MAXWELL

Despite the first ball duck against

PBKS, Maxi is in form and he would

like to continue that run

125

JOS THE BOSSButtler’s maiden T20 hundred (124) sets up Royals big win against Sunrisers

Buttler and Samson stitched a 150-run partnership for the secondwicket after the Royals lost open-er Yashasvi Jaiswal (12) cheaply.

While the Englishman hit theball 11 fours apart from eight max-imums, Samson also had fourfours and two sixes to his credit.

For SRH, Rashid Khan (1/24),

Vijay Shankar (1/42) and SandeepSharma (1/50) picked a wicketeach.

The Royals were off to asedate start as they managed justfive runs of the first two overs.

Williamson, searching forwickets early on in the innings,introduced spin in third over bybringing in star bowler Rashid.

Jaiswal smashed three fours,before the Afghan showed his classand trapped the youngster legbefore.

RR skipper Samson, who wasdropped on 23 by Manish Pandeyin the 10th over, announced hisarrival with a six over mid-wick-et off pacer Khaleel Ahmed.

At the other end, Buttler, wholooked in sublime touch, also hitBhuvneshwar Kumar for twoboundaries in the sixth over as theRoyals amassed 42 runs for theloss of one wicket in thePowerplay.

The duo continued to hitboundaries at regular intervals atthe small Feroz Shah Kotlaground, collecting 18 runs, which

included two sixes, off all-rounderVijay Shankar in the seventh over.

Having successfully navigatedRashid’s four overs, Buttler andSamson upped the ante in the 13thover, plundering 17 runs. TheEnglishman muscled a six overwide long on before lofting oneover extra-cover for boundary.

With all bowlers leaking runs,Williamson turned to MohammadNabi, who is playing his secondgame of the season, but Buttlerhammered the off-spinner fortwo sixes and as many fours.

Vijay Shankar managed to getrid of Samson in the 17th overwith young Riyan Parag (15 notout) walking in.

There was no stopping Buttler,who was in complete control, ashe continued to hit boundaries atwill. Sandeep Sharma, eventuallybrought his innings to an end ofthe penultimate over but he hadinflicted the required damage bythen.

SRH were guilty of beingsloppy in the field, dropping catch-es and missing run outs.

ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO BATWITH JOS. WHENEVER HE GOESON WE WIN GAMES. HAVING HIMIN GOOD FRAME OF MIND ISGREAT NEWS FOR US

Sanju Samson, RR captain

IT WAS JOS' DAY AND HE WASOUTSTANDING. WITH THE BATYOU DO NEED TO GET A FEWTHINGS TO GO YOUR WAY ANDWHEN YOU'RE LOSING WICKETSIT MAKES IT ALL THE MOREHARDER TO CHASE 220

Kane Williamson, SRH captain

quoteunquote

Star-studded RCB standin way of KKR revival

Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler celebrates after he completes his maiden T20hundred on Sunday during IPL clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad @rajasthanroyals

Delhi Capitals crush PunjabKings to top points table

PTI n AHMEDABAD

Delhi Capitals inched closer toa spot in the Indian Premier

League (IPL) 2021 as they rode ona masterful 69 not out fromShikhar Dhawan to beat PunjabKings by 7 wickets in Match 29 atthe Narendra Modi Stadium inAhmedabad. With 6 wins from 8matches, Delhi are the first teamto go past the 10-point mark inIPL 2021.Stand-in captainMayank Agarwal’s well-paced 99took Punjab Kings to 166 for sixagainst Delhi Capitals here onSunday.

It was a brilliant display ofclean hitting from Agarwal whoused the straight bat effectively inhis crucial knock comprisingeights fours and four sixes.

Delhi Capitals kept thingstight in the powerplay, conceding39 runs and sending backPrabhsimran Singh (12) and themighty Chris Gaye (13).

Agarwal, leading the side inthe absence of in-form skipper KL Rahul, steadied the inningsalongside IPL debutant DawidMalan (26) as the two shared a 52-run partnership.

Capitals took total control ofthe game in the 14th over whenAxar Patel found the stumps ofMalan before Deepak Hooda ranhimself out following a mix upwith Agarwal at the other end,leaving Punjab at 88 for four.

Agarwal did not get muchsupport from the other end there-after but he took it upon himselfto take the team to a competitive

total.Agarwal making a slight

room for himself and sendingRabada for a straight six in thepenultimate over was one of thebest shots of his innings.

RCB on Sunday pledged financial assistance for infrastructure“related to oxygen support” in India's fight against the Covid-19pandemic and will also raise funds by auctioning special bluejerseys to be worn by players in an upcoming match @RCBTweets

Rahul diagnosedwith appendicitisAhmedabad: Punjab Kingsskipper K L Rahul has beendiagnosed with acute appen-dicitis and has flown toMumbai for surgery andfurther treatment, whichwill likely keep him on thesidelines for at least twoweeks and might even forcehim out of the tournament.

“K L Rahul complainedof severe abdomen pain lastnight and after not respond-ing to medication, he wastaken to emergency roomfor further tests whichrevealed that he was diag-nosed with acute appen-dicitis,” the team said in astatement.

“It will be resolved sur-gically and for safety mea-sures, he has been trans-ferred to the hospital for thesame,” it added.

Rahul is expected tooperated on Sunday night atthe Breach Candy Hospitalin Mumbai.

His franchise expectshim to return to actionwithin a week or 10 days.

Inter Milan fans celebrate in Piazza Duomo square in front of the gothic cathedral after Inter Milan won itsfirst Serie A title in more than a decade AP

AFP n MILAN

Inter Milan claimed theSerie A title on Sunday

for the first time in 11years to end Juventus’nine-year reign in Italy.

Antonio Conte’s sideclinched their 19thScudetto after nearestrivals Atalanta drew 1-1 atSassuolo to leave theNerazzurri 13 points clearwith four games remain-

ing.Conte had started

Juventus’s record run,winning the first threetitles in a winning streakthat stretched from 2012to 2020.

The 51-year-old tookover Inter in 2019 and lift-ed the trophy after finish-ing second last season.

“I’m astonished,” saidConte.

“We’re breaking up a

dynasty. Not even in mywildest dreams could Ihave imagined that we’dmake up this muchground on the team thatdominated Serie A fornine years in the space oftwo seasons.

Inter are now secondfor league trophies in Italy,one ahead of city rivalsAC Milan’s 18, but stillsome way short ofJuventus’ 36.

Inter win Scudetto

AFP n PORTIMAO

Lewis Hamilton delivered aflawless drive in his Mercedes

to win the Portuguese GrandPrix on Sunday from his archtitle rival Max Verstappen.

Seven-time world champi-on Hamilton’s 97th Grand Prixtriumph extended his early sea-son lead over Red Bull’sVerstappen in the Formula Onedrivers’ standings to eight points.

In third place in Portimaowas pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas inthe other Mercedes with SergioPerez in the second Red Bull infourth.

“That was such a toughrace physically and mentally. Ididn’t get a good start and alsolost out at the restart but it wasa great result in the end,” saidHamilton.

Hamilton winsPortuguese GP

POINTS TABLEP W L NRR PTS

1 DC 8 6 2 +0.547 12

2 CSK 7 5 2 +1.263 10

3 RCB 7 5 2 -0.171 10

4 MI 7 4 3 +0.062 8

5 RR 7 3 4 -0.190 6

6 PBKS 8 3 5 -0.368 6

7 KKR 7 2 5 -0.494 4

8 SRH 7 1 6 -0.623 2

11

12

Vijayawada Monday May 3, 2021 tollywood

ahesh Babu fans have a reasonto celebrate. The actor is all setto collaborate with directorTrivikram for his next film.The actor-director duo will bejoining hands after 11 years.

Earlier, Mahesh starred in Trivikram’s

blockbuster films Athadu (2005) andKhaleja (2010).

The new film, which marks MaheshBabu’s 28th project, will be produced byS. Radha Krishna (Chinababu) under thebanner of Haarika and HassineCreations. It is all set to arrive in the

summer of 2022.Trivikram, who

previously helmedblockbuster AlaVaikuntha purramu-loo, is working onthe Telugu remake ofthe Malayalam filmAyyappanumKoshiyum. The directorhas been roped in towrite the script and dia-logues of the PawanKalyan and Rana Daggubatifilm.

Mahesh Babu, meanwhile,has Sarkaru Vaari Paata inhis kitty. Talking about thefilm, the actor had earliersaid that it will be “a com-plete entertainer with astrong message. I amreally excited about it.”

Sarkaru Vaari Paatais written and directedby Parasuram ofGeetha Govindamfame. “My long wait todirect SuperstarMahesh Babu garu hasjust ended!!! Overjoyedand eagerly waiting tobe on the sets…It’s adream come true!”Parasuram had earliertweeted.

M

It is no newsthat the Tollywoodfilm industry isthe first in thecountry to recoverfrom the first wave

of Covid-19. Filmmakerswent ahead with the shootsand new releases. However,the industry had to come to astandstill with the secondwave of Covid. With uncer-tainty surrounding newreleases, everyone is planningto bring the biggies forSankranthi or summer nextyear.

However, a few star heroes

are said to have alreadyblocked their slots for bothseasons. Now, for s, it will bean interesting clash betweenMahesh Babu, Jr NTR, andPrabhas!

As mentioned, MaheshBabu and Trivikram Srinivasare working for the thirdtime on an exciting film. Themakers confirmed that thefilm will have a release dur-ing summer, next year. Thefilm’s shoot is to begin soon.

NTR, on the other hand, aswe know, has lined up a filmwith Koratala Siva again.After his current, RRR, NTR

will work with Koratala Siva.NTR is also planning tobring the film for a releaseduring summer, next year.The film’s official announce-ment is out already and theshoot will begin soon.

Young Rebel Star Prabhasis much ahead of these twostars. He already startedshooting for his next filmSalaar, which is scheduled fora release during summer,next year. Prashanth Neel ofKGF fame is the film’s direc-tor. The film was initiallyplanned for Sankranthi butwe hear that the team is aim-

ing for a summer release.On the flip side, Mahesh

Babu had already blocked aslot for Sankranthi, next year.His ongoing project SarkaruVaari Paata is scheduled tohit the screens forSankranthi. Powerstar PawanKalyan also aims at releasingHari Hara Veera Mallu forSankranthi, next year. A fewmore biggies might alsorelease during Sankranthi.

It is still uncertain if thefilmmakers will stick to thisplan as reshuffle in releasedates may happen anytime inthe future!

opular TV hostPradeep Machiraju’sfather Pandurangahas breathed his last.Pandu RangaMachiraju has been

facing health issues of late and welearned that he succumbed to his ill

health. Pradeep Machiraju is one of the most-

celebrated TV hosts in the Telugu filmindustry. Pradeep also turned into a solo herothis year with the film 30 RojulloPreminchadam Ela.

What's worse is that Pradeep tested positivefor Coronavirus recently and has isolatedhimself as soon as he came to know the same.

After hosting the Zee: Sare Gama pa thenext singing icon, Pradeep is in talks with adirector for his second film as a solo hero.

The Pioneer conveys its condolences andprays for strength for the family in grief.

ollywood is abuzzwith news thatPrabhas would beteaming up withdirector SiddharthAnand who made

action films like Bang Bang!and War with HrithikRoshan. It is being said thatSiddharth has narrated animpressive story toPrabhas and the latterhas given his nod. It istouted to be anaction thriller with amega-budget!

Now, according tothe latest reports,Siddharth hasroped inBollywood actressKatrina Kaif toromance Prabhasin this actionthriller. Siddharthhas a good equationwith Katrina as sheworked in the Bang Bang!She is said to have givenher nod to Sid to pair upwith Prabhas.

Hindi media is rife thatKatrina is going to romancePrabhas in Siddharth’s direc-torial. Further confirmationon the same is awaited.

Siddharth is currentlyworking on Shah Rukh Khanand Deepika Padukone-star-rer Pathan.

After this, he would liketo begin the shoot ofPrabhas film (Prabhas24). Meanwhile,Prabhas' film withNag Ashwin willsee DeepikaPadukonealongside himand the filmalso starsAmitabhBachchan.

Prabhas is waiting for therelease of his pan-India filmRadhe Shyam in which PoojaHegde plays his love interest.

He has PrasanthNeel’s Salaar

and OmRaut’sAdipurushwhich fea-ture ShrutiHaasan andKritiSanon,respectively.

B

Pradeep Machiraju's

father no more

P

I

Biggies block dates forSankranthi, summer 2022

KATRINA KAIF TORomance Prabhas?

ctor Naga Chaitanyais now one of thebusiest actors inTollywood. He’scurrently workingfor a film with

Manam director VikramKumar titled Thank You.According to the sources, theshoot of Thank You has report-edly faced unusual problems inEurope. Flights from severalcountries to India are beingcancelled due to the secondwave in our country. So, theteam of Thank You has decidedto halt the shoot in Italy andreturn to Hyderabad immedi-ately. A confirmation on the

same is yet to be made. The team landed in Italy last

week to film some importantscenes and songs. RaashiKhanna will be seen as the ladylove of Naga Chaitanya in thefilm.

This is the second time thatRaashi Khanna has paired upwith Naga Chaitanya after

Venky Mama.Dil Raju’sbanner isbankrollingthis familyentertainer.

Thank You's Europeshoot halted?

uccessful direc-tor VenkuKudumula hasmarked his debutas a director withNaga Shourya

and Rashmika Mandannastarrer, Chalo movie and hasgreatly impressed the audi-ence. Most recently, Venkywielded the megaphone forNithiin and RashmikaMandanna-starrer,Bheeshma which alsoreceived a decent responsefrom the audience.

After scoring two back-to-back hit movies, Venky

Kudumula was offered todirect a film starring MegaPower Star Ram Charan in

the lead. But becauseof the second wave ofCoronavirus, there isno clarity aboutwhen the directorcan kick start theshooting of his nextproject.

Without wastinghis time, with theintent to improvehis skills as a direc-tor, Venky has joinedas an assistant directorunder Trivikram Srinivasfor his next movie starringMahesh Babu. The scriptwork of the film is currentlyon and Venky is also part ofit.

On so many occasions,Venky said that he considersTrivikram Srinivas as hismentor. That's probably,

why even after gaining thetag of a successful director,Venky Kudumula was readyto turn assistant directorunder Trivikram.

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Venky Kudumula toassist Trivikram again

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MAHESH-TRIVIKRAM BACKAFTER 11 YEARS, FILM TORELEASE IN 2022