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VIJAYAWADA, SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2019; PAGES 12 `3

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SCHOOLOF HARDKNOCKS

7

400 injured during traditional ‘stone-pelting' festivalPNS n CHHINDWARA (MP)

Over 400 people were injured,12 of them seriously, during theannual ̀ Gotmaar' (stone-pelt-ing) festival in Chhindwara dis-trict of Madhya Pradesh onSaturday, police said.

The seriously injured oneswere admitted to the govern-ment hospital at Pandhurna,District Superintendent ofPolice Manoj Rai said.

Two persons received eyeinjuries, he added. The admin-istration had deployed about800 police personnel and ateam of doctors at the spotalongwith drone cameras, hesaid.

During the festival, resi-dents of Sawargaon andPandhurna, two villages divid-

ed by the Jaam river, gather onopposite banks and race tosnatch a flag hoisted on a dead

tree fixed in the middle of theriver while throwing stones atthe other side.

Pandhurna residentsgrabbed the flag this time andwere declared winners.

The tradition is said to havestarted around 300 years agowhen a boy from Pandhurnaeloped with a girl from

Sawargaon and faced a volleyof stones when he was crossingthe river with her.

Villagers from Pandhurnacame to their help, and the cou-ple crossed over safely.

In the past there have beeninstances of people dying dueto the injuries suffered duringGotmaar.

The tradition is said to have started around 300years ago when a boy from Pandhurna eloped witha girl from Sawargaon and faced a volley of stoneswhen he was crossing the river with her

VIJAYAWADA: TDPNational President NChandrababu Naidu willembark on a tour of all districtsfrom September 5. The tour isaimed at identifying the fac-tors, which led to the partydefeat in the 2019 Assemblyelections. According tosources, Naidu will begin histour in East Godavari with onedistrict every week and willsupposedly stay for two daysin every district headquarters.

Naidu to tourdistricts

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Jana Sena president PawanKalyan has given a categoricalassurance to farmers whopooled their lands for newstate capital at Amaravati thatthere would be no relocationof the state capital at any cost.Addressing farmers in a pub-lic meeting held at Jana SenaParty office in Mangalagiri onSaturday, he said that the newstate capital is not like a child'splay and maintained that thelocal farmers alienated theirlands not to individuals but tothe Government of AndhraPradesh.

The Jana Sena would striveto render justice to each andevery farmer who had pooledtheir lands for Amaravati.The Jana Sena would not keepmum if attempts are made torelocate the state capital else-where giving it a caste colour,he said without mincingwords.

The meeting was attendedby farmers of 29 villages.

He said that he had touredthe state capital for two daysmoved by the agony of thefarmers. In fact, Jana Sena wasfloated by him unable to bearwith the sufferings of the peo-ple at the hands of the rulers,he said.

He attributed the precipita-tion of the present situation to

the personal enmity betweenleaders. The Center gave Rs1500 crore towards its contri-bution to the new state capi-tal -Amaravati, he said addingthat Prime Minister NarendraModi was well aware ofAmaravati.

Had the YSRCP come topower in 2014 and decided tohave the capital at Donakonda,then it would have been okay,

he said advising the YSRCPleaders against making state-ments to create confusion inthe minds of the people sinceit is has a formidable strengthof 151 MLAs in the House.

It is not acceptable to JanaSena to relocate the state cap-ital elsewhere giving it a casecolour, he said adding thatthere are BCs, SCs and manymore in Amaravati.

Running a governmentshould not be similar to achild's play, he said advisingthe ruling party leaders againstcausing mental agony to thou-sands of people by issuingreckless statements.

If the persons in the previ-ous regime committed mis-takes, they should be punishedafter an enquiry, he saidthreatening to meet PMNarendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah if there isno change in the YSRCP standon Amaravati.

In fact, the governmentshould create a feeling amongall that Amaravati belongs toeveryone, he suggested to thegovernment advising farmersagainst selling their lands outof distress. Either the familymembers of Chief MinisterJagan Mohan Reddy or hisclose confidantes did notmake any adverse commentson Amaravati, he observedadvising Minister BotsaSatyanarayana not to beresponsible for makingadverse statements onAmaravati.

Who knows whether BotsaSatyanarayana is going tobecome the CM of AndhraPradesh, he said asking him toconduct himself keeping thisaspect in mind.

Continued on Page 4

Jana Sena President Pawan Kalyan interacts with villagers in the Capital Region on Saturday

l Jana Sena Chief stated thatpeople were confused due to

inconsistent statements by ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddy's

Cabinet colleagues and asked themto be responsible while makingstatements on sensitive issues

Shifting of capital is nota child's play: Pawan

Withdraw PPA cancellation:APTEL orders govtPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Appellate Tribunal forElectricity (APTEL) hasordered the State governmentto take back the decision tocancel the Power PurchaseAgreements (PPAs). TheTribunal gave the order onSaturday after hearing thearguments on the petition filedby Ayana Kadapa RenewablePower, Sprng Soura KiranVidyut, Sprng Agnitra, SBEnergy Seven and SB EnergySolar against the State govern-ment. The Tribunal hasordered the cancellation ofpublic hearing as well. It hasinstructed APSPDCL(Discom) and AP RegulatoryCommission not to go for anycancellation of PPAs with 21companies mentioned in thelist of notice of the APSPDCL.

It may be recalled that inJuly, the government underthe leadership of Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy haddecided to cancel the PPAs of21 wind and solar power com-panies and gave notices tothem through APSPDCL.

Jaganmohan Reddy's elec-tion campaign itself hadtouched on the topic of theTDP government makingmoney out of the PPAs by giv-ing them a high price. Hemade the same statement onhis first day after taking oath asthe Chief Minister. Confiningto his opinion, he took a deci-sion for cancellation of the

PPAs showing the Rs 21,000crore debts on distributioncompanies as a big burden tothe State.

But the Chief Minister'sdecision spread shockwavesover business circles acrossthe globe. Even Japan, whichhad agreements of power sup-ply, wrote a letter to theGovernment of India to pre-vent the State government'saction and Minister for PowerRaj Kumar Singh also object-ed to the decision.

Wind and solar power com-panies Ayana Kadapa

Renewable Power, Sprng SouraKiran Vidyut, Sprng Agnitra,SB Energy Seven and SBEnergy Solar approached theAppellate Tribunal on elec-tricity to resolve the situationand requested to order theGovernment of AndhraPradesh to take back the deci-sion of cancelling PPAs. TheTribunal has given the ordersaccordingly now.

Already, the proceedings ofa petition filed by 40 companiesis in the High Court and thejudgement may be expectednext week.

It may be recalled that in July, the governmentunder the leadership of Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy had decided to cancel thePPAs of 21 wind and solar power companies andgave notices to them through APSPDCL

BJP to take up cudgels againstgovt on Amaravati, PolavaramPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The BJP has decided to take upcudgels against the YSRCPgovernment over speculationsto shift the Capital Amaravatiand on Polavaram project.According to sources, they areplanning to to take up the issuewith the Union governmentdirectly.

BJP leaders convened ameeting in Hyderabad onSaturday where they discussedabout the strategies to be fol-lowed in Andhra Pradesh.

State leadership, especiallyKanna Lakshminarayanafound fault with TG Venkateshover his statement on proposedfour capital cities' issue andopined his utterance has con-fused the party cadre inAndhra Pradesh. He arguedthat the party should fight

against the decisions of theYSRCP government on shift-ing of the Capital fromAmaravati.

They reportedly proposed tothe national leadership to con-sider the proposal of taking upthe construction of thePolavaram project directlyunder the auspices of Uniongovernment as it was a nation-al project. Meanwhile, theparty was reportedly in favourof the report submitted by thePolavaram Project Authority tocontinue the present contrac-tor and not to go for reversetendering to avoid unnecessarydelay.

Continued on Page 3

l They decided to oppose the YSRCPgovernment and they are planning topersuade the Centre to supervise theconstruction of Polavaram project as ifcompleted, credit goes to the BJP and it can bestrengthened politically in AP

l BJP leadersconvened a meeting in

Hyderabad anddiscussed about

speculations on shiftingof Capital Amaravati

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy stated that the State gov-ernment was committed to theprotection of the environment.Participating at theVanamahotsavam at Dokiparruvillage in Guntur district onSaturday, he said that the gov-ernment will initiate the planta-tion of 25 crore saplings in theState and added that the forestdepartment will plant 12 croresaplings and horticulture depart-ment will take care of 13 croresaplings. He said that the Statehad only 23% of greenerywhereas the national policy pre-scribes 33%. The Chief Ministerexplained that industries had tocome up and development hadto take place, but at the sametime, pollution should also be

avoided by those industries. Hesaid, "We will bring reforms ingranting permission to set upindustries. Any new industry filewill go to the approval of thePollution Control Board".

Continued on Page 3

Government committed to protection of environment: CM Jagan

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddyplanting a sapling at Vanamahotsavamprogramme in Guntur District onSaturday

l 25 crore saplings to beplanted

l The Chief Minister made apledge to protect theenvironment, along with all theofficials and the people, whoattended Vanamahotsavamprogramme

G RAVI KIRAN n VIJAYAWADA

The new excise policy maysoon clear the issues sur-rounding the placement ofpermit rooms in wine shops.The government is all set tocancel the permission forpermit rooms at wine shopswhere many people in adrunken state roam aroundposing a threat to womenpassing by the areas.

Earlier in united AndhraPradesh, permit rooms wereallowed at wine shops withthe provision for people todrink at the shop itself. Theprovision was given to avoidroadside drinking, but inreality not many wine shops

arrange specific space for itand allowed people to drinkaround the vicinity itself.

Continued on Page 3

New excise policy to doaway with permit rooms

Twitter CEO account hackedPNS n SAN FRANCISCO

Twitter said Friday the accountof chief executive Jack Dorseyhad been "compromised" aftera series of erratic and offen-sive messages were posted.The tweets containingracial slurs and suggestionsabout a bomb showed uparound 2000 GMT on the@jack account of the founder ofthe short messaging servicebefore being deleted.

Some of the tweets con-tained the hashtag

#ChucklingSquad which wasbelieved to indicate the identi-ty of the hacker group.

"We're aware that @jack wascompromised and investigat-

ing what happened," aTwitter spokespersonsaid. A barrage of com-ments fired off on the

platform questioned whythe Twitter co-founder didn'tsecure his account with two-factor authentication, and howdisturbing a sign it was that theservice wasn't to keep its ownchief safe on the platform.

US preps for an ‘absolutemonster’: Hurricane DorianPNS nMIAMI

Unsure where HurricaneDorian is going to land overLabor Day weekend, manyFlorida residents faced a senseof helplessness as they pre-pared for what PresidentDonald Trump said could be an"absolute monster" of a storm.

"All indications are it's goingto hit very hard and it's going to

be very big," Trump said in avideo he tweeted Thursdayevening, comparing Dorian toHurricane Andrew, which dev-astated South Florida in 1992.

The National HurricaneCenter said the Category 2storm is expected to strength-en into a potentially catastrophicCategory 4 with winds of 130mph (209 kph) and slam intothe US on Monday somewhere

between the Florida Keys andsouthern Georgia — a 500-mile(805-kilometer) stretch thatreflected the high degree ofuncertainty this far out.

"If it makes landfall as aCategory 3 or 4 hurricane,that's a big deal," said Universityof Miami hurricane researcherBrian McNoldy. "A lot of peo-ple are going to be affected. Alot of insurance claims."

Online bookingof rail tickets tobecome costlyNEW DELHI: Planning tobook train tickets using asmartphone or a computer? Beprepared to pay more asIndian Railways has opted tobring back service charges onits e-tickets from Sunday.

Service charges had beenwithdrawn in the aftermath ofdemonetisation in 2016 in abid to encourage digital pay-ments. Now, people looking tomake payments for their tick-ets using the web will onceagain have to pay the addi-tional amount. While the ser-vice charge imposed previ-ously was at Rs 20 per ticket innon-AC coaches and Rs 40 foreach ticket in AC coaches,these would be Rs 15 and Rs30 now.

Final NRC out inAssam, nearly2mn stare atuncertain futureGUWAHATI: The updat-ed final NRC, which val-idates bonafide Indiancitizens of Assam, wasout on Saturday, with over19 lakh applicants whofailed to make it to the liststaring at an uncertainfuture.

Full report in Page 5

Google signs‘Build for DigitalIndia' pactNEW DELHI: Tech giantGoogle on Saturday said ithas signed a statement ofintent with the Ministry ofElectronics and IT (MeitY)for rolling out 'Build forDigital India' programme.

The programme will offera platform to engineeringstudents to develop market-ready, technology-based solu-tions that address key socialproblems, a release said.

As part of the program,engineering students acrossthe country will be invited topresent their ideas and solu-tions in areas like healthcare,agriculture, education, smartcities and infrastructure,women safety, smart mobil-ity and transportation.

l The new excise policy willallow the State governmentto take over the wine shops

l Belt shops run by illegalwine dealers are expected tobe eliminated with this step

l M Suvarna Kumari, ahouse-wife, said, "If this isreally going to happen, thenwe will be very happy. We arefacing so much troublebecause of drunken people atwine shops

If there wereirregularities in capital

city’s works, the govt shouldtake “action, but it is notproper to create confusion withsuch statements”

— PAWAN KALYAN, Jana Sena Chief

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated August 24, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Shravana & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Navami: 08:10 amNakshatram: Mrigashirisha 03:19 am

(Next Day)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 04:58 pm – 06:31 pmYamagandam: 12:18 am – 01:51 pmVarjyam: 09:48 pm - 11:23 amGulika: 03:24 pm - 04:58 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 07:17 pm - 08:52 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:53 am - 12:43 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Isolated ThunderstormsTemp: 32/26Humidity: 80%Sunrise: 06.00Sunset: 06.35

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CAPSULE

THREE ATKINSONGIRLS EXCEL AT BALOTSAVSCIENCE FAIR VIJAYAWADA: Three Atkinsonschool students - Sparsa,Niharika and Mehabooba-took part in the BalotsavScience Fair on Saturday andenlightened public aboutsome self-sufficient projectsto be taken up by gatedcommunities, which arespreading fast in the country.These three girls won thehearts of many with theirinnate skill and enthusiasm.Their theme was conservationof energy using solar panels,vertical farming and wasterecycling using biodegradablemethods. They wanted allIndians to walks an extra mileto protect the environment."Guide teacher ZakiraRahaman deserves a huge patfor his committed guidance,”said Atkinson Schoolprincipal Sr Maria Christia.The programme organised forthree days at SRR and CVRGovernment Collegeconcluded on Saturday inwhich more than 100 schoolsand colleges from Vijayawadaand surroundings placesparticipated.

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 vijayawada 02

EGGRATES

` 38,100 (10 gm)

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GOLD

` 44, 500 (1kg)

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HYDERABAD 315VIJAYAWADA 330VISAKHAPATNAM 361RETAIL PPRICE `3.30

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

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CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `133

Without Skin `152

Broiler at Farm `92

`/KG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

Appointment of woman cop in VillageSecretariat is a good move: PadmaPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh Women’sCommission chairpersonVasireddy Padma on Saturdaysaid that appointment of awoman police constable inVillage Secretariat in each vil-lage will play an important rolein protecting the safety andsecurity of women.

Speaking to media persons,she said, at a time whenAndhra Pradesh earned thedistinction of emerging asnumber one state in crimeagainst women in the county,the move by Chief MinisterJagan Mohan Reddy was laud-able.

“Women’s Commission isnot against men, but it is anorganisation, which strives forthe welfare of women in allwalks of life - taking care ofdignity, welfare and safety.

“Abusing women and girls isbecoming a fashion in society.More so with the rampantprevalence of social media,women and systematicallybeing targeted by wily men -destroying their character andnormal lives”.

She said a change should bebrought in the outlook of menright from their childhood

and both parents and educa-tion institutions played a piv-otal role in changing the mind-

set of boys. “Boys should betaught how to treat womenwith respect by their parents.Even schools play an importantrole in nurturing boys to treatwomen as equals”.

She thanked the ChiefMinister Jagan Mohan Reddyfor granting a cabinet status tothe commission and she saidshe would work in tandemwith all the ministers toaddress the issues relatingwomen.

She also welcomed the ChiefMinister’s decision to prohib-it the liquor in a phased man-ner and felt the move will solveseveral problems of the womenas alcohol was the root cause ofseveral agonies of women.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

CPI State Secretary K Ramakrishna on Saturdaysaid that Andhra Pradesh lostits identity with the merger ofAndhra Bank as it was the onlybank which had its headquar-ters in the State.

Speaking to media persons,he said the merger of 10 bankswas aimed at helping the cor-porate sector, which was in abad shape “Never in the histo-ry of Independent India, thecountry suffered such a badpatch in economy. The recentbailout from RBI to the tune ofRs 1.76 lakh crore was a shin-ing example of the desperate sit-uation faced by the governmenton the economic front”.

He said merger had createda distance between banks andthe poor and marginalised sec-tions. “Soon Andhra Bank willwitness the closure of thebranches putting the employeesin peril. When the State Bankof Hyderabad merged withState bank of India, severalbranches of SBH were closed.The banks were nationalised in

1969 to help the poor anddeprived sections. But, underBJP the priority has changed".

On Jagan’s administration,the senior Left leader, said thatthe Chief Minister shouldcome clean on the capital cityformation as varied theorieswere doing rounds in the State.

He said it would be prudentif Jagan built the Capital Cityin Amravati and develop northAndhra and Rayalaseemaregions by setting up of indus-trial hubs. “Unlike former Chief Minister N Chandrababu

Naidu, who was keen to cen-tralise the development only inAmaravati, the new ChiefMinister should decentralisedevelopment”.

He said four districts ofRayalaseema was reeling underdrought and people weremigrating to the other States.“Farmers are committed sui-cides for want of seeds for agri-culture operations.

The State governmentshould take steps to come tothe rescue of the farming sector.

Andhra Bank merger willput employees in peril: CPI

The decision ofthe Chief Minister

to prohibit theliquor in a phased manner

is a welcome moveVASIDREDDY PADMA

Women’s CommissionChairperson

“Women’s Commission is not against men, butit is an organisation, which strives for thewelfare of women in all walks of life, takingcare of dignity, welfare and safety, explains AP Women’s Commission Chairperson

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Tollywood star Mahesh Babu,on the occasion his sonGowtham’s birthday organ-ised a school health clinic atBurripalem near Tenali withAndhra Hospitals on Saturday.

Doctors and Dietitians con-ducted an awareness sessionon hygiene and healthy diet inthis camp. A total of 150 chil-dren attended the camp.Medicines were given afterconsultation. This is the 25thcamp at Burripalem sinceMahesh Babu adopted a vil-lage. “Our motto is to keep all

children and adults healthy inthis village”.

Dr P.V. Rama Rao, Chief ofChildren’s Services & Director,Andhra Hospitals said thathealth awareness and healthcamps would continue inBurripalem regularly and itwas the aim of Mahesh Babuto develop the village as modelhealth village in AndhraPradesh in association withAndhra Hospitals.

Dr Suresh, Dr Harshith, DrSwaroopa, High school HeadMaster Lalitha Prasad, teach-ers and hospital staff attendedthe camp.

A doctor belonging to Andhra Hospitals examining a kid at a health camp inBurripalem village on Saturday

School health clinicheld at Burripalem

Vishwa Brahmin youth lodgescomplaint against top jewellerPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Andhra Pradesh Vishwa BrahminYouth Association President TSrikanth and Vijayawada VishwaBrahmana Sangam ChairpersonG. Srinivasa Chakravarthy onSaturday said they met VijayawadaJoint Police CommissionerNagendra Kumar and lodged acomplaint against the owner of aleading jewellery shop for hisderogatory comments againsttheir community.

They said that the leading jew-eller in a television interview hasquestioned the integrity of thecommunity, which was sincerely

pursuing their traditional businesswith utmost honesty and integri-ty.“The owner of the top jewelleryshop should not forget his earlier

days. He mastered the art ofornament making by learning thebasics from traditional goldsmithsfrom Nellore". Association State

Secretary N. Prasad, senior gold-smiths P. Brahmam and otherswere part of the delegation.

A delegation of Andhra Pradesh Vishwa Brahmin Youth Association meeting JointPolice Commissioner Nagendra Kumar in Vijayawada on Saturday

The leading jeweller ina TV interview hasquestioned theintegrity of thecommunity, which wassincerely pursuing theirtraditional businesswith and integrity, theypointed out

‘Banks’ merger a step backward’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh CongressCommittee vice-presidentTulasi Reddy on Saturday saidthat that the Centralgovernment’s moveto merge AndhraBank withUnited Bank ofIndia andC or p or at i onBank as a stepbackward andwas aimed at help-ing the corporatesector.

He said through this merg-er BJP government has madeits intention clear that it wasmoving towards privatizationof banks. “The efforts byPattabhi Seetaramayya, who

established Andhra Bank inMachilipatnam in 1923, whichwill be history as the bank soon will soon lose itsidentity”.

He said the bank with96-year history had

2, 904 branches inwhich about 20,400 employeeswere workingprimarily inremote villages.

“Andhra Bank isthe pride of Telugus

even after bifurca-tion”.

He appealed to UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitaraman to reconsider herdecision to merge AndhraBank with other banks as theTelugu pride was at stake.

RINL CLARIFIES OVER FAKENEWS ON EXAM CENTRESPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

RINL has issued a clarificationover the fake news that jobapplicants from Visakhapatnamfor the posts of junior traineesand OCM trainees in RINLwere allotted centres at otherplaces deliberately.

Keeping in view the limitedfacilities available in and aroundVisakhapatnam to conductComputer Based Test requiringseparate computer to each can-didate, some of the candidateshave been allotted test centre inGuntur, Tirupati, Hyderabadother than Visakhapatnam, theRINL management has

informed. The online test forrecruitment of junior traineesand OCM trainee is slated forSeptember 7 and 8 on Pan-Indiabasis. As many as 68,714 candi-dates registered for the onlinetest for recruitment of 551junior trainees and 30 OCMtrainees vacancies. Out of thetotal registered candidates30,584 candidates are fromAndhra Pradesh, while 11,662candidates from Mechanicaland 8,096 candidates fromElectrical have registered prefer-ring Visakhapatnam as TestCentre.

Though no test centre asannounced earlier was can-

celled, a few test centres havebeen added to accommodatehuge number of applicants whoopted for Visakhapatnam cen-tre. This was mentioned in theadvertisement which read that“The Company howeverreserves the right to add anyadditional centres depending onthe number of candidates.”Accordingly, candidates wereallotted test centres in the near-est possible cities after consid-ering the available centres inVisakhapatnam on first comefirst serve basis. Physically chal-lenged candidates have beenallotted centres as per theirpreferred cities.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Godowns will become marketyards in the future, accordingto Warehousing Developmentand Regulatory Authority(WDRA) Chairman BBPattanaik. Speaking at a work-shop on 'Registration andCoordination betweenElectronic NationalAgricultural Marketing (e-NAM) and Electronic NationalWarehousing Receipt (e-SWR)here on Saturday, he lauded theState government for convert-ing 23 godowns into marketyards and stated that farmers'problems will be solved astheir produce can be sold atgodowns.

Pattanaik stated that with thecoordination of marketing andwarehousing, farmers can selltheir produce at a good price.Through e-NAM, they couldalso have the knowledge ofmarket prices across the coun-try and can get to know theprocedures to sell their pro-duce anywhere, he added. Heassured that WDRA was readyto provide training for thestaff of warehouses.

PK Swine, Joint Secretary ofthe Marketing Department,said, "Farmers have been pro-vided online sales through e-NAM. They can have good

price from the buyers acrossthe globe. We have also pro-vided a mobile app throughwhich also they can operatetheir sales".

Special Secretary of APAgriculture and Marketing MMadhusudhan Reddy appealedthe farmers and owners ofwarehousing units to maintainthe quality of the produce sothat they can get a good price.Officials explained that farm-ers can get loans on their pro-duce stored at warehousesfrom the banks and that theycan transfer their stocks to any-body at any time.

Dance forms reflect Indian culture: VishnuPNS n VIJAYAWADA

City's Central MLA MalladiVishnu launched the dancefestival - Nrithya Bharathi'featuring seven differentIndian classical dance formsas a tribute to Mother Indiaon the occasion of 73rd India'sIndependence Day jointlyorganised by NatyaSaraswathi, Cultural Centre ofVijayawada and Amaravati(CCVA), Andhra PradeshState Creativity and CultureCommission (APSCCC) andHotel Aira Smart Stay atCCVA on Saturday.

He said that Indian culturereflected in the classical dance

forms which need to be pre-served for posterity and com-plimented artists for theirextraordinary performances

and their passion to pursuetheir forms against all odds.

The 10th edition, curatedby Saraswathi Rajathesh,

Director of the Dance Festival,showcased seven dance tradi-tions from across the nationthat included Bharatanatyam,

Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam,Kathak, Manipuri, Odissi,Sattriya followed by a specialthematic dance ballet - Ide IdeMana Desam - by Guru ShriKhaleel.

The fest ended withVandemataram dance by allthe artists with special musiccomposed by Praveen Rao, an internationally acclaimed musician andmusic composer, fromBengaluru Praveen Rao washonoured with NatyaSangeetha Saraswathi title.

Later the chief guest felici-tated the artists. A good num-ber of dance lovers of the cityattended the programme.

Erasing AndhraBank frompeople's memoryis sad: KVPPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Congress Rajya Sabha mem-ber K V Ramachandra Rao onSaturday wrote a letter toFinance Minister NirmalaSitaraman on the merger ofAndhra Bank and said thatmerger has hurt the senti-ments of the Telugu speakingpeople.

He said Telugu speakingpeople, particularly in AndhraPradesh, were fuming at therepeated step-motherly treat-ment of the BJP governmenttowards the newly formedState.

"The government has com-pletely ignored the sentimentsof AP since bifurcation of thefirst linguistic State and failedto fulfil the assurances givenduring the bifurcation inParliament". "Now, govern-ment's decision to eraseAndhra Bank from publicmemory has shattered themorale of people of AndhraPradesh. It is sad that themove was made by the daugh-ter-in-law of Andhra State,who is heading the UnionMinistry of Finance". Herequested the Finance Ministerto continue Andhra bank as aseparate PSU. "If the merger isinevitable in the interest ofnational economy at leastretain the name of AndhraBank to the group of banksmerged as a mark of reverenceto Pattabhi Seetharamayyaand the 10 crore Telugu-speak-ing people".

Varaha Jayanti todayTirumala: The annualVaraha Jayanti festival willtake place in Sri Bhu VarahaSwamy temple at Tirumalaon Sunday. The TTD hasmade elaborate arrangementsfor the special abhishekam,which will be performed tothe presiding deity. Pilgrimswill be allowed for darshanafter the special abhishekam.

n WarehousingDevelopment andRegulatory Authority (WDRA)Chairman BB Pattanaikstated that with thecoordination of marketingand warehousing, farmerscan sell their produce at agood price

n Through e-NAM, they couldalso have the knowledge ofmarket prices across thecountry and can get to knowthe procedures to sell theirproduce anywhere

n WDRA was ready to providetraining for the staff ofwarehouses

Special Secretaryof AP Agricultureand MarketingMadhusudhanReddy appealed tothe farmers andowners ofwarehousing unitsto maintain thequality of theproduce so thatthey can get a goodprice

Sales at warehouses tobenefit farmers: WDRA

City's Central MLA Malladi Vishnu inaugurating dance festival at Cultural Centre of Vijayawada on Saturday

2 JCBs, 12 trucks seized forsand miningKakinada: Revenue authorities seized two JCBs and12 loaded trucks in con-nection with unauthorisedsand mining in assignedlands in East Godavaridistrict. Pedda puram rev-enue division authoritieson a tip-off conductedraids at RamesampetaMetta village in Peddapuram mandal in EG dis-trict in the early hours ofSaturday and seized twoJCBs and 12 loaded trucksready to carry red gravel tovarious destinations. Theauthorities headed byPedda puram tahsildarPadmavati found unau-thorised quarrying of thesand in assigned lands andseized vehicles.Accordingto Peddapuram RDO, SMallibabu, the case hasbeen transferred to EastGodavari district miningdepartment for furtheraction.

Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) Chairman BBPattanaik addressing a meeting in Vijayawada on Saturday

CPI State Secretary K Ramakrishna addressing a meeting in Vijayawada onSaturday

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

RARE SURGERY ATCAPITAL HOSPITAL VIJAYAWADA: A rare andcomplex heart surgery wasperformed successfully on KRamaiah from West Godavaridistrict at Capital Hospital, saidcardiologist Dr Bhupal onSaturday. Addressing the media,Dr Bhupal said that the patienthad been admitted to thehospital with a lung problem. Ondiagnosis, they discovered thathe had a hole in his heart andthat blood was getting depositedin his lungs. The complicationsof the surgery was discussedwith the patient's familymembers and the Aortic StentGraft procedure was performedsuccessfully. The patient wasmade to walk the very next dayafter surgery and seems to bedoing well. The surgery wassuccessful with the collectiveeffort of the doctors, said DrBhupal on the occasion.

MAN KILLS WIFESUSPECTINGFIDELITYVijayawada: A man lynched hiswife to death at Nidamanuru onSaturday. Samuel, who wasworking as a lorry driver,suspected his wife Ashwini'sfidelity. On Friday night, theyhad a heated argument andSamuel left the house. He cameback on Saturday morning andas Ashwini opened the door, hehit her with a stick. Later, theaccused went up to the policestation and surrendered. Heshowed them photos of his wifewith another person andexplained to them that he killedhis wife as she was an havingillicit affair. He also called up hisin-laws and informed them thathe had killed their daughter. The couple was blessed withtwo children. Police registered acase under IPC 302 and otherSections and took upinvestigation.

45 EVE-TEASERSNABBED BY SHE TEAMSHyderabad: As many as 48cases were booked by theSHE teams of Rachakonda inthe month of August. The 48cases include 16 FIRs, 27petty cases and 5 counseling.The SHE teams also arrested45 eve teasers, including 8minors. All the eve-teasershave attended the counselingsession conducted at thecommissio ner's camp officein Nagole along with theirfamily members. The SHEteams helped women in needand were able to arrest menwho were harassing them onvarious pretexts. In one of thecases, a 25-year-old marriedwoman was being harassedby a manager in her workplace at Yadagirigutta.

K’taka CM at TirumalaPNS n TIRUMALA

Chief Minister of KarnatakaYediyurappa offered prayers inthe temple of SroVenkateswara Swamy here onFriday. After darshan of theLord, he was offeredVedasirvachanam at

Ranganayakula Mandapam.Special Officer AV DharmaReddy presented theerthaprasadams of Lord to theChief Minister of Karnataka.CVSO Gopinath Jatti, templedeputy executive officerHarindranath were also present.

Mosquito-borne diseaseson the rise in city CH SHARMILAn VIJAYAWADA

Over the past few weeks,there is a rise in viral fevers andmosquito-borne diseases dueto unhygienic conditions.Patients with symptoms offever, body ache, respiratoryand throat infections are mak-ing a beeline for public and pri-vate hospitals, as well as dis-pensaries. The general ward ofnew Vijayawada GovernmentGeneral Hospital (GGH) wasflooded with viral feverpatients.

According to the informa-tion given by the staff of a pri-vate clinic in the city, around100 patients used to visit theclinic daily earlier, but rightnow, the number has gone upto 150 patients per day. Of thescores of patients visiting thehospitals in the city, up to 60%are suffering from viral fever,according to a private hospitalsuperintendent Rama Devi.

Many claim that the mos-quito population in the city hasbeen on the rise, along withfever cases, and the authoritiesare doing little to control thegrowing mosquito population.However, according to officialsources, the VijayawadaMunicipal Corporation(VMC) is taking up measuresto control the mosquito menace.

Though it is the monsoonsseason, the amount of rain has

dropped and the fluctuationbetween heat and cold hasassisted the bloom of viralfever and related diseases.Since there is also a rise in epi-demic diseases like dengueand malaria, ignorance is notwell-advised, inform doctors.

"Mosquitoes have adaptedto urban environments. Thereis construction activity hap-pening round the year, leading

to accumulation of water inmany places, where mosqui-toes can breed easily", says DrBalaji. Mosquito-borne virus-es are also mutating and devel-oping resistance to drugs.

Viral fever or flu is caused bya virus infection, which can becontracted via inhalation,ingestion, vector-borne agentsand bodily fluids.

Many strains of viral fevers

have now come together tocreate a fresh variant that can-not be cured with existingmedication. They are diffi-cult to treat because the symp-toms of many strains are large-ly similar and so there may bea significant increase in timefor diagnosis and treatment.

For example, Dr Balajiexplains, "Viral fevers withvery high temperature formore than four days andsevere joint pain is a newstrain that resemblesChikungunya, but the strain ofthe virus in both the diseasesare different. So, while treatingsuch fevers, the doctor has tokeep in mind that normalmedication may take longer tocure the disease. It takes a dif-ferent amount of time for theeffect of different strains tomitigate".

n According to theinformation given by the staffof a private clinic in the city,around 100 patients used tovisit the clinic daily earlier, butright now, the number hasgone up to 150 patients perday

n Of the scores of patientsvisiting the hospitals in the city,up to 60% are suffering fromviral fever, according to aprivate hospitalsuperintendent Rama Devi

Many claim that the mosquitopopulation in the city has been on therise, along with fever cases, and theauthorities are doing little to controlthe growing mosquito population

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Vice-President M VenkaiahNaidu on Saturday visited thenew Venkatachalam-Obulavaripalli railway line con-necting the adjoining districts ofNellore and Kadapa.

He travelled the entire lengthof India's longest electrifiedtunnel (6.6 km) on the routebetween Rapuru andCherlopalli Railway Stations.

Addressing the gathering atCherlopalli, who turned up inlarge numbers to see him, hestated that the commissioningof Venkatachalam -Obulavaripalli new railway linewas his childhood dream.

He spoke of the relentlessefforts made by him throughseveral years as a UnionMinister to get the project sur-veyed, sanctioned and finallycompleted.

The new line extending up toKrishnapatnam port covers alength of 112 km, and has beencompleted at a cost of Rs 1,993crore, with nine railway stationsen route and has 146 bridges, 60road under bridges and twotunnels.

A salient feature of the newline is that they are no levelcrossings, thereby enhancingsafety.

Speaking on the benefits thatthe project will accrue, Naidustated that it will facilitate theoperation of freight trains con-necting Krishnapatnam Port,thereby enabling significantsocio-economic growth in theregion and beyond.

The new line will also easecongestion betweenVijayawada-Gudur-Renigunta-Guntakal sections, and providethe shortest path betweenChennai - Howrah andChennai - Mumbai rail routes.Once passenger train servicescommence in the section, peo-ple of this hitherto unconnect-ed region will experience seam-less train connectivity, enablingtravel at very cheap costs. Heexpressed his happiness in ded-icating this world-class rail lineto the people of the region.

Suresh Angadi, Minister ofState of Railways, who accom-

panied the Vice President, stat-ed that no words could describethe happiness of the people ofNellore and Kadapa districts,with the commissioning of thenew rail line.

"Such projects can take shapeonly when there is a strongresolve to overcome any obsta-cle and succeed in completinga set task, the right examplebeing Venkaiah Naidu, whostrived hard to get the projectcommissioned," he said. AnilKumar, Minister for Irrigation,Andhra Pradesh and B DurgaPrasad, Member of Parliamentwere amongst those present.

Gajanan Mallya, GeneralManager of SCR, Pradeep Gaur,Chairman and ManagingDirector of Rail Vikas NigamLimited, and P Srinivas,Divisional Railway Manager ofVijayawada accompanied theVice-President.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu visits Venkatachalam – Obulavaripalli new railway line on Saturday

The new line extending up to Krishnapatnamport covers a length of 112 km, and has beencompleted at a cost of Rs 1,993 crore, withnine railway stations en route and has 146bridges, 60 road under bridges and twotunnels

Clay idols for Ganesh ChaturthiPNS n VIJAYAWADA

People in villages are takinginitiatives to create awarenessabout using clay idols forGanesh Chaturthi to protectthe environment. As a part ofthis, social activist Rami ReddySridhar and his team distrib-uted more than 2,000 clayGanesh idols to the people inNandigama on Saturday.

Speaking to mediapersons,he said, "The environment is asimportant as God, so it is upto us to protect this beautifulworld.

Clay dissolves in water withno environmental effects.Plaster of Paris's effects onnature is widely known to allof us as it directly affects ourwater animals, pollutes ourwater and destroys ourresources. So, they should notbe encouraged.

We must use eco-friendlyGanesha idols. These clay idolswere distributed to create

awareness among the peopleon the use of clay idols withnatural colours, which wouldsave the water bodies from pol-lution caused by Plaster ofParis and artificial colours.Let's spread the awareness ofeco-friendly Ganesha andmake our environment cleanand green".

These clay idolswere distributedto createawarenessamong the peopleforeign countries

Rajagopalan isHDPP secretaryPNS n TIRUPATI

Prof K Rajagopalan ofR ashtr iya SanskritVidyapeetha has beenappointed as the Secretaryof TTD's Hindu DharmaPrachara Parishad (HDPP).TTD has established HDPPto propagate Hindu dharmaacross the country. DrRajagopalan will be in officefor one year as mentionedby TTD in the appoint-ment order.

Belongs to a traditionalSri Vaishnava family, he isa scholar in Vedanta andhas been working as aProfessor in RSVP's SahityaDepartment.

RSVP Vice-ChancellorProf V Mural idharaSharma, Registrar Prof GSR Krishna Murthy and others congratulatedRajagopalan on his appoint-ment.

Chief Minister of Karnataka Yediyurappa receiving a portrait of LordVenkateswara at Tirumala on Saturday

Dy CMinauguratesVanmahotsavamPNS n TIRUPATI

Deputy Chief Minister KNarayana Swamy inaugu-rated 70th Vanamahotsavam at Tukivakam vil-lage on Saturday. Speakingon the occasion, he under-lined the importance ofplanting saplings in a bigway. The forest depart-ment has geared up toplant 2.78 crore plants inthe district during thisseason. TUDA Chairmanand Chandragiri MLAChevireddy BhaskarReddy, Collector Dr NBharat Gupta, district for-est officials and otherstook part in the pro-gramme.

‘TRS and BJP are the same’ Hyderabad: Congress MP fromMalkajgiri A Revanth Reddy onSaturday alleged that theTelangana BJP has been divid-ed into two groups - one is pro-Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao andanother is anti-KCR. There is noplace in Telangana BJP for theanti-KCR leaders; he said opin-ing that both TRS and BJP aretwo pieces of same cloth. Hemade it clear that he will notspeak on power issues ifTelangana State BJP presidentDr K Laxman reveals the datesof CBI enquiry into Power

Purchasing Agreements (PPAs). He alleged that the state gov-

ernments, in general, appointssenior IAS officials as CMDs tothe Transco and Genco but theChief Minister appointed retiredofficials by removing seniorIAS officials, who refused to signon indiscriminate power pur-chasing agreements. As part ofit, the Chief Minister appoint-ed D Prabhakar Rao, RaghumaRao, Gopala Rao, the threewere extended their support tothe lootings of KCR, as CMDsof power companies in thestate, he alleged.

CPI Narayanaprotests in frontof White HousePNS n HYDERABAD

Protests erupted at the WhiteHouse against the abrogationof Article 370. On Saturday,CPI national secretary Dr KNarayana too participated inthe protest staged at theWhite House. The protestersraised slogans chanting 'stopmassacre in Kashmir' and'war is not a solution forKashmir issue'. They alsoraised slogans chantinghuman rights are not belongsto American PresidentDonald Trump. Theydemanded AmericanPresident to do justice to thepeople of Kashmir.

Speaking on the occasion,Narayana said that inAmerica, people have achance to stage protests up to100 km away from WhiteHouse.

The same is not possible inAndhra Pradesh andTelangana States. People haveno chance to stage dharnas 10km away from Secretariat. Hesaid that both Telangana andAndhra Pradesh govern-ments are violating the rightsof people.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In an impressive ceremony, theCoast Guard Offshore PatrolVessel (OPV) Yard-45005 waslaunched by Secretary(Defence Finance) Gargi Kaul,in the presence of ADG KRNautiyal, PTM, TM CoastGuard Commander (EasternSeaboard) and InspectorGeneral S Parmesh, PTM, TM,Commander Coast GuardRegion (East) on August 31 atL&T Shipyard, at Kattupalli inTamil Nadu.

The OPV is fifth from aseries of seven OPVs underconstruction by L&TShipbuilding Ltd against thecontract signed between theMinistry of Defence and L&Tshipyard on March 2015. It hadbeen indigenously designedand built for the first time forICG by a private shipbuildingyard, M/S Larsen and ToubroShipbuilding Ltd at Kattupalli.

The vessel is likely to beinducted into the Indian CoastGuard in early 2020 after com-pletion of extensive trials onfitted equipment and

machineries. It will be fittedwith one 30 mm Naval SurfaceGun (NSG) and two 12.7 mmgun with Fire Control Systems.The ship is also equipped withIntegral Twin EngineHelicopter which willenhances its operational, sur-

veillance, search and rescuecapability. Thes OPVs wouldbe utilised for day and nightpatrol and surveillance alongwith anti-terrorist/anti-smug-gling operations in ExclusiveEconomic Zone (EEZ) andCoastal Security. The ships

would be manned by a crew of102 ICG personnel, including14 Officers.

Kaul mentioned that theevent marked an importantmilestone for any ship, sinceshe was being immersed in thewaters for the first time, the

place, where she belongs. Thislaunch not only validates theconfidence reposed by CoastGuard in Indigenous shipbuilding, but also brings lau-rels to L&T as a Shipyard.

She also said that the gov-ernment was committed toensure that the Indian CoastGuard is fully equipped formeeting challenges at sea.Today, the Coast Guard has afleet of 141 ships and boats, inaddition, 65 new ships arebeing built in variousShipyards across the country.This indeed is a major step inthe Ship acquisition plan andby the turn of the presentdecade, the Coast Guard is onits way to achieve an invento-ry of 150 ships and boats.

Kaul stated that it is indeedheartening to note that privateShipyards like L&T have mas-tered the intricate art ofdesigning and building sophis-ticated ships. These indige-nous capacities are sure toprovide the much neededemployment opportunities andspill over benefits to industries,including MSMEs.

BJP to take up cudgels againstgovt on Amaravati, PolavaramContinued from Page 1

If it goes according to their plan, the credit for the Polavaramproject would goes to BJP and will benefit them politically, lead-ers assuming. The meeting also touched upon the possibilities ofBJP joining hands with other parties, including the TDP. Formerminister Adinarayana Reddy is set to join BJP in the presence ofnational leaders.

Sudish Rambhotla also condemned the campaign of aparticular media saying that Rambhotla had convened aseparate meeting against Kanna Lakshminarayana and willcomplain against him to the national leadership.

BJP AP In-Charge Satish, Sunil Deodhar, KannaLakshminarayana and other leaders participated in the meeting.

Govt committed to protectionof environment: CM JaganContinued from P1

Quoting P Sainath, a seniorjournalist, who has done exten-sive research on the agriculturesector, he said, "Sainath hasanalysed that land should havegreenery in all seasons. Hementioned that in Rayalaseemaonly one crop will be grown fortwo or three months and therest of the period sun rays hitthe land directly, thereby mak-ing it dry and unfit for agricul-

ture. We have to note that thegreenery to the land is vital andit should be our responsibilityto do that." The Chief Ministeralso made a pledge to protectthe environment, along with allthe officials and the public, whoattended the programme.Ministers Balineni SrinivasaReddy, Mekathoti Sucharitaand other MLAs, along withofficials of Forest Department,participated in theVanamahotsavam.

New excise policy to do away with permit rooms Continued from P1

Due to this situation, womenhave been facing trouble passingthrough these areas. G Satyavati,AIDWA (All India DemocraticWomen's Association) leadersaid, "We fought over the issuemany times and have given rep-resentations to the excise depart-ment officials to remove thesepermit rooms. We know how adrunken man will behave on theroad. The issue is not whetherthere is a permit room or not, buthow the people are drinking at

the liquor shops and then roam-ing on the roads, causing trou-ble to women".

The new excise policy willallow the State government totake over the wine shops. Beltshops run by illegal wine dealersare expected to be eliminatedwith this step. There will be noscope for permit rooms at theshops, as well as no permissionto drink there. Officials proposednot to keep refrigerators at theshops so that people have to buybeer and keep in their ownrefrigerators at home. These

steps are expected to provide abreather to women, who havebeen suffering the nuisance ofdrunken people at the wineshops. M Suvarna Kumari, ahouse-wife, said, "If this is reallygoing to happen, then we will bevery happy. We are facing somuch trouble because of drunk-en people at wine shops. The gov-ernment should also take care ofthe placement of the wine shopstoo. Presently, many exist in res-idential areas. Officials shouldlook into this before starting gov-ernment wine shops."

Coast Guard launches fifth Offshore Patrol Vessel

V-P pays visit to newVenkatachalam,Obulavaripalli rail line

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 region 04

Millets: Rich crave for‘poor man's staple

CAPSULE

IIPE DISTRIBUTESECO-FRIENDLY CLAY IDOLSVisakhapatnam: In an effort tocelebrate Ganesh Chaturthi in aneco-friendly manner, the IndianInstitute of Petroleum Energy(IIPE) distributed clay idols hereon Saturday. On the occasion,Prof VSRK Prasad, Director, IIPEexplained the importance ofprotection of environment,spiritual values and adoption ofearlier traditions of Ganesh Puja.He also mentioned how water,land and environment can beprotected effectively by makinguse of clay idols. "Earlier, around30-40 years ago, the peopleused clay idols. The other idolswhich had pollutants were usedin between, causingenvironmental pollution. Peopleare now realising and areadopting the old traditionalmethods," he said.Sriram Murthy, SeniorEnvironmental Engineer fromPollution Control Board, ASVRamanan, OSD (IIPE), Dr BMurali Krishna, Deputy Registrar(IIPE), Prof Bala Prasad (AU),staff and students of IIPEparticipated in the event.

ANDHRA SKATERSWIN GOLD ATNATIONALCHAMPIONSHIPVisakhapatnam: The Winter

Games Association of AndhraPradesh announced the resultsof the 16th National Ice SkatingChampionship held from August29 in Iskate, Gurgaon. AndhraPradesh won the overallchampionship.The AP synchronised teambagged gold medal and a cashaward of Rs 20, 000. The teamhad attended the training campbefore National Championship atIskate from August 25. A PavanKumar from AP was the officialcoach for the camp, along withsenior coaches from Delhi andDehradun.The selection trails for the APteam had been held on July 14at VUDA Park Skating Rink. Thisis the second year that AP haswon the overall championship.President Durga Prasad andteam management congratulatedthe players. Gold Medallist for the last fouryears and National ChildAwardee Priyam Tated also wonthe Gold medal this year. He hasbeen awarded as the best skaterfor the year. All gold medallistshave been awarded with cashprize of Rs 10,000 each.The AP team thanked ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddyfor announcing the new sportspolicy, which included incentivesto the National medal winners.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Millets, once considered asthe poor man's food, hasbecome so favoured by the richthat its price has been skyrock-eting.

Wholesalers and retailershave almost doubled the pricesof organic millets during thelast few years. Health-con-scious people are now cravingfor the millets that used to bethe poor man's staple onceupon a time.

Apart from grocery stores,supermarkets and organicproduct outlets, the milletsare also available on e-com-merce websites. Being learntabout the benefits of millets,the new-age households areready to buy the products atany price. The sellers havestarted keeping "organic" labelson the products and chargingtwo to three times more thanthe market rates.

People are unaware that mil-lets grow under natural farm-ing practices. The usage ofchemical fertilisers and pesti-cides is not required in millet

farming. Cashing in on thegrowing demand for organicproducts and healthy diet, theretailers are doing a good busi-ness in the name of "organic

millets".City-based fitness consultant

Dinesh Kumar said, "Milletscarry fibre content which helpsto improve the health. Based

on the demand, the whole-salers have increased prices offoxtail millets, barnyard millets,browntop millets, little milletsand kodo millets in the retailmarket owing to their healthbenefits."

"We encourage buying sta-ples like millets and pulsesbearing the organic productlabels. The prices of milletsmust be affordable as manyretailers purchase directly fromnearby farms. This may cutdown middle men and bringdown the costs," said AnjaliDange V, Chief NutritionConsultant at Starlite Nutritionand Wellness Centre.

According to noted agri-culture scientist Dr KhaderVali, foxtail millet is good forthe nervous system and forpatients suffering from psycho-logical disorders. "Little milletsimprove male and female fer-tility.

Browntop millet improvesthe digestive system. Kodomillet removes blood impuri-ties, while barnyard millet sup-ports the condition of liver andkidney," he said.

According to noted agriculture scientistDr Khader Vali, foxtail millet is good forthe nervous system and for patientssuffering from psychological disorders."Little millets improve male and femalefertility”

TCS hires 370 GITAM students PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

IT major Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS) has selected370 students from all branch-es of engineering from GITAM(Deemed to be University)here on Saturday. This year,TCS has widened the netthrough its NationalQualification Test (TCS NQT),in which GITAM studentstopped the AP region.

The national qualifier wasfollowed by campus interviewsin which 268 students havebeen handpicked by the TCSteam. The students have beenselected based on their acad-emic performance, extra andco-curricular activities, intern-ships/ mini projects and per-sonality traits.

The interviews focused oncorporate awareness and pro-ject readiness. The selected stu-dents will undergo an intensetraining programme and willjoin the project groups work-

ing on latest technologiesincluding cloud computing,AI, big data and machinelearning. The selection processconsisted of NQT, technical,managerial and HR interviews,

informed GITAM Trainingand Placements DirectorGurumoorthy Gangadharan.

Another 14 students havebagged the TCS Digital Offerfrom TCS Hyderabad. Theselected students will get toexplore new technology pro-jects including Internet ofThings (IoT), ArtificialIntelligence, machine learning,big data, cloud computing androbotics. The Digital packageis 7 LPA for the UG studentsand 7.33 LPA for the PG stu-dents. TCS Senior Vice-President and Global HeadRajanna appreciated the effortsbeing put in by GITAMtowards all round develop-ment of student communityand praised the role beingplayed by GITAM alumni inthe growth of TCS.

GITAM Vice-ChancellorProf K Sivaramakrishna, andRegistrar Prof KVGD Balajiappreciated the students fortheir achievement.

Vizag district toplant one cr saplingsin next five years PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

As part of the StateGovernment's initiative to pro-tect the environment andincrease the green cover, the70th Vana Mahotsavam wasconducted at YVS Murthyauditorium at AndhraUniversity here on Saturday.

State Tourism MinisterMuttamshetti Srinivasa Raostated that as Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy hadinstructed to carry out thesapling plantation programmeacross the State, "Our districtadministration should take apledge in planting 20 lakhsaplings every year from nowand take it to one crore saplingsin the next five years."

Rao said that the plantationof each sapling will help incurbing pollution caused due tovarious pollutants. "Everyone

in the society should plant asapling in their surroundings.Protecting nature is everyone'sresponsibility and we shouldtake the initiative to protect theresources and guide our futuregeneration on how to utilisethem without polluting them.As the government's pro-gramme will be carried out tillthe end of September, everyoneshould plant as many assaplings as they can," he said.

The Minister, along withdistrict officials, students andYSRCP party-men took apledge to protect naturalresources.

As part of the programme,the Minister planted saplingsaround Andhra UniversityEngineering College hostel.VMRDA ChairmanDronamraju Srinivasa Rao,along with Joint Collector LShiva Shankar, were present.

Braving heavyrain, enthusiastsrun nightmarathonPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Braving the heavy rain that bat-tered Vizag city on Saturdayevening, thousands of enthusi-asts participated in the high-voltage Kinley Vizag BayMarathon 2019 on RK Beach.

Vikas Sunkad, DirectorIndia-Company Bottling oper-ation, Coca-Cola India Pvt Ltdand Vizag City Commissionerof Police RK Meena flagged offthe 21k, 10k and 5k runs.

The marathon commencedfrom 5pm in the evening ofSaturday at RK beach. As manyas 4,500 had registered for the5K category while 2500 and 500enthusiasts would be runningfor the 10k and 21k category.The run is unique in its way,being organised in the night,and has been receiving tremen-dous response from its first stint."We are honored to be part ofthis initiative. Physical fitness ismost essential in everything thatwe do," said Vikas Sunkad.Event organiser LeadraftEntertainment thanked thepeople of Vizag for making thefourth edition of the nightmarathon a grand success.

Officer falls into ACBnet in Srikakulam fordemanding bribe PNS n SRIKAKULAM

A survey officer from theSub-Collector's office atTekkali in Srikakulam wascaught red-handed by theAnti Corruption Bureau(ACB) on Saturday.

According to ACBsources, NE Kasi who wasworking as Deputy Inspectorof Sur vey at the SubCollector's Office at Tekkaliunder Srikakulam district,accepted a bribe of Rs 30,000from the complainant DKranthi Kiran for issuing hisland patta. Kiran He hadapplied the land patta underthe sub-division of SurveyNo. 244-2A, 3A, 4A to anextent of 57 cents and 16

cents in 246-1B of NandigamMandal, which were wrong-ly noted at the time of regis-tration. The complainantneeded to change the same inthe computer and otherrecords of the Tahsildar'sOffice. The tainted officerdemanded a bribe of Rs30,000 to rectify the same byscrutiny.

Chemical tests done onboth hands of the tainted offi-cer confirmed that he hadreceived the bribe.

ACB sleuths recovered theamount kept in the drawer ofthe office table.

The officer was arrestedand sent to remand and willbe produced in the specialcourt on Monday.

The interviewsfocused oncorporateawareness andproject readiness.The selectedstudents willundergo an intensetraining programme

Mortal remains of student whodrowned in US lake reach cityPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The mortal remains of the stu-dent who recently drowned atCrater Lake in the US, arrivedto the city on Saturday morn-ing. His last rites were con-ducted on the same day.

Sumedh Mannar (27) wasstudying MS in robotics atOregon State University in theUS. He drowned in the lakeon August 20 when he report-edly jumped from a height ofseven metres at JumpingRock, a popular recreationarea in Crater Lake NationalPark.

His father, MS Kumar, wasa former state Ranji cricketerand is currently working asDeputy General Manager

(Sports) at Rashtriya IspatNigam Ltd (RINL). Hisbrother Jitin Mannar, a soft-ware employee fromKathmandu, Nepal, came tothe city to attend the finalrites.

Several relatives, friends,luminaries from cricket worldand trade union leaders paidtearful tributes to Sumedh.Telugu film director ShekarKammula also came as he is a

close relative to the family.Condolences were paid by

Visakhapatnam DistrictCricket Association (VDCA)President and former MLA PVishnukumar Raju, along withother executive committeemembers. RINL Director(Personnel) KC Das and theentire team from the SportsDepartment attended the lastrites.

Two months ago, the USwaters led to the death ofanother man from the city.Avinash Kuna (32), a softwareengineer, died after drowningin Lake Hopatcong in NewJersey in the month of June.His father K Venkata Rao isalso a senior employee atRINL.

Sumedh Mannar (27)was studying MS inrobotics at OregonState University in the US

Continued from Page 1

He recalled how the ministertried hard to become the lastCM of the undivided AndhraPradesh. It did not materialisethen, but who knows about thefuture, he said passing sarcas-tic comments against BotsaSatyanarayana.

All those who are againstthe new state capital atAmaravati are antagonisingNarendra Modi and AmitShah, he reminded.

He reminded BotsaSatyanarayana about his state-ments on the Volkswagon caseand advised others to exerciseprudence while making state-ments and not to speak a laBotsa Satyanarayana.

Passing remarks on the elec-toral victory of the YSRCP, hesaid that the party was votedto power perhaps because ofthe mercy of favourable timeor the EVMs.

Further, he commented onthe style of functioning of theYSRCP government stating

that the Jagan Government isplaying with the sand issueand termed it dangerous for it.

The farmers alienated theirlands to the government forcultivation as a tenant farmer,but for the state capital, he saidadding that no governmentwould survive long if it makespeople cry. He vowed to stepup the agitation if the govern-ment tries to relocate the statecapital.

" Power is not permanentand sands of time shift. YSRCPgovernment is destructive.The Jana Sena will not keepmum if the government triesto misuse the public property.It is not proper to give casteand political colour to the statecapital issue. During the TDPregime, justice was not done tothe farmers of assigned lands.At one time, L and T site ofAmaravati, at least 7000 work-ers used to work. Now theyhave to compromise. Suchconsequences benefit none,but harmful to the StateGovernment, he remarked.

Shifting of Capital is not achild's play: Pawan

Weeklong holidaysfor students PNS n ANANTAPUR

Because of the village secre-tariat recruitment examina-tion in the state, the govern-ment declared September 1,3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 as holidays.September 2 is a holiday onaccount of Ganesh festival.The Anantpur districtadministration gave holidayone day prior to the com-mencement of the examunder the District SelectionCommittee to make arrange-ments at those schools andcolleges for the recruitment

test. Holidays have beendeclared for all the 398schools and colleges wherethe recruitment test is beingheld. Similarly, teachers andlecturers of those schoolswho have been appointedinvigilators have been giventhe local holiday.

For the first time in the his-tory of undivided AP, week-long holidays have beendeclared for students inSeptember because of theDSC examinations. In anant-pur district, 1,74,820 are tak-ing the test.

Retired cop takes onLaw Enforcement DeptPNS n KARIMNAGAR

Dasari Bhumaiah, a retiredpolice officer in Karimnagardistrict made scathingremarks on the LawEnforcement Departmentand spoke tete-a-tete with themedia in Karimnagar onSaturday.

The inspector cadre officialof law enforcement agencyhas relinquished his serviceson Saturday and on this occa-sion, he spoke openly with themedia pointing out certainlapses in the department. Healleged that he was draggedinto a corruption case by thepolice officials though hedischarged his duties withoutany blemish. "The officialsthen have shifted me fromJammikunta for supportingthe Telangana statehoodstruggle but it was takenback by the Telangana gov-

ernment wherein the ChiefMinister KCR has accordedme the posting in Husnabad,"Bhumaiah said.

The retiring inspector whoremained controversial dur-ing the last four years of ser-vice alleged that theSuperintendent of PoliceShivakumar has harassed himfor questioning certain rules.Bhumaiah alleged that thefamilies of the IPS officialswere misusing the govern-ment vehicles and indulgingin misappropriation of pub-lic money for their interests.

The inspector questionedthe police department aboutthe whereabouts of missingAK47 and .9mm Carbine inthe Husnabad police station.He asked why the top brass inthe department is calm in thisepisode and questioned howhe was dragged into an ACBcase.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Technological developmentshave encroached upon ser-vices of the Postal Departmentleading it to diversify intocommercial activities. Postcards have almost been phasedout. The Internet and cellphone revolution, especiallySMSs, encroached upon thepostal mail, digital bankingservices. The technologicalrevolution has posed a threatto postal services forcing thedepartment to look for alter-nate ways of earning money.

Hitherto, the PostalDepartment brought mail andmoney orders to the doorstepof the people. Now, it shiftedits focus to transport of goods,e-commerce deliveries, couri-er service, insurance, pension,passport services, booking ofTTD tickets, parcel servicefor books and medicines.

Having served the people ofthe country for over 160 years,the telegram services were sus-pended five years ago. Besidestransporting goods and e-com-merce deliveries, the PostalDepartment has embarked onbanking services. To continueto get closer to the people of thecountry, it is taking care ofpassport application andAadhaar registration services.Postcards, inland letters grad-ually gave way to commercialservices of the postal depart-ment like business mails,

parcels, speed post, registeredmails and so on.

Majority of the deliveriesinclude passports, drivinglicences, ATM ards, bankcheque books, students' studymaterials and so on. To clearthe post-boxes on time, thePostal Department has beenscanning them using smartphones.

The department augmentedits network and upgraded tech-nology and entered into agree-ments with logistics companiesto deliver e-commerce prod-ucts to customers, whichbecame the main sources ofprofit for the posts. E-com-merce companies like 'Naaptol'were dependent on the postaldepartment for implementingthe services like cash-on-deliv-ery. The Snap Deal struck anagreement with the depart-ment to sell stamps. It alsostruck deal with Amazon todeliver goods across the nation.The postal department has 60per cent of the share in deliv-ering e-commerce goods.

The Postal Department hasstarted the India PostPayments Bank offering threekinds of zero-balance depositservices. One of the savingsbank accounts entertainunlimited withdrawals, door-step banking facility and facil-ity to deposit funds. It offers 4per cent interest on savingsbank accounts. It also offers e-account services to deposit

money and transfer money toanother account and facili-tates payment of bills, internetbanking and digital payment.

The department set up par-cel hubs at Autonagar on theoutskirts of twin cities,Padmaraonagar inMusheerabad. Goods can bebooked at the nearby postoffices. It introduced parcelservices too. If the goods areentrusted to the postal depart-ment, it parcels them andhands them over to theaddressee. However, it chargesmoney for packaging goods. Italso facilitates vegetable trans-port service too. Depending onthe weight of the parcel, itcharges a fixed sum for everykilometer. Goods pick-up ser-vice from logistic companiesalso picked up speed.

While small units in themanufacturing sector on theoutskirts of the city are depen-dent on postal department tosend their parcels overseas,while big players send theirgoods by sea. To scan thegoods to be sent overseas, thepostal department, in associ-ation with central ExciseDepartment, set up a foreignpost office at Humayungar toscan the parcels exported andimported. Similarly, the firstSpeed Post Hub of the postaldepartment has been set up atBegumpet in the city, which isthe first-of-its-kind in thewhole country.

The changing face ofPostal Department

New genometech centre for‘personalisedmedicine' opensMAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

DNA sequencing, till recent-ly a very expensive affair, hasreduced considerably in recentyears thanks to advancementin technology. This has alsobrought about an improve-ment in its implementationand use. A new DNA sequenc-ing clinic developed on thebasis of medical genomicstechnology was inaugurated inHyderabad recently whichoffers personalised medicinesand treatment protocolsdevoid of side-effects.

Medical genomics analy-ses human genes to look at theroot cause for the pathogene-sis of any disease. The biggerbenefit is, however, the abili-ty it brings to provide 'person-alised medicine' that is a stepup from the 'one drug for all'approach to treatment that hasbeen the norm hitherto witha patients with any particularcondition. "We are all uniqueand our health is determined byour genetic differences alongwith our lifestyle and environ-ment. Likewise, treatment andprescription also need to be dif-ferent," said Dr Hima JyothiChalla, a genomics graduatefrom Harvard University.

"Most of the times patientssuffering from diabetes initial-ly do not respond to pre-scribed medicines because it isvery difficult to target a partic-ular group of conditions with-in the patient with precision.In such cases, doctors increasepatients' drug doze or changethe course of medicine, whichcan have adverse effects onhealth," said Hima Jyothi. The'K and H PersonalisedMedicine Clinic' will also storeelectronic health record (EHR)that will hold the genomesequence of an individual sothat the doctors can betterinvestigate irregularities in thepatient's health and arrive at aprecise prognosis.

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 nation 05

PNS n GUWAHATI

The Assam Public Works(APW), the original petition-er in the Supreme Court whichled to the updation of theNational Register of Citizenssix years ago, said the finalNRC turned out to be a "flaweddocument" because its prayerfor reverification of the draftlist was rejected by the apexcourt.

The NGO also wonderedwhether the software used inthe updation exercise wascapable to handle so much dataand if it was examined by anythird party InformationTechnology expert, APW pres-ident Aabhijeet Sharma said.

"The Final NRC has made itobvious that the problem ofillegal immigration will neverbe resolved in Assam. Had itbeen completed flawlessly, itwould have been a goldenchapter in Assam's history,"Sharma told reporters after thefinal NRC was released,excluding names of over 19lakh applicants.

The APW, as the primarypetitioner, had submitted five

memoranda in the SupremeCourt requesting re-verifica-tion of the draft NRC but theywere rejected, he said.

"The 27 per cent re-verifi-cation done by him (NRCState Coordinator PrateekHajela) is a mystery. No oneknows whether or not it was100 per cent flawless," Sharmasaid.

He also expressed "strongdoubt" on the software used asnames of many doubtful vot-ers had entered the draft NRC.

"Was it due to the flaws ofthe software that members of39 families of 'D' (doubtful)voters of Morigaon districtare included in the draft NRC

as mentioned by the then dis-trict dommissioner?" the APWpresident asked.

In 2009, the APW filed apetition in the Supreme Courtpraying that names of 41 lakhforeigners be deleted from theelectoral rolls of Assam and theNRC updated.

In response to the petition,the Centre told the apex courtthat the 1951 NRC was beingupdated.

The Supreme Court in 2013took up the APW petitionand directed both the Centraland state governments to beginthe process for updating theNRC and the actual workbegan two years later.

PNS n GUWAHATI

The updated final NRC, whichvalidates bonafide Indian citi-zens of Assam, was out onSaturday, with over 19 lakhapplicants who failed to makeit to the list staring at anuncertain future.

A total of 3,30,27,661 peoplehad applied to be included inthe NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004have been included in the doc-ument and 19,06,657 excluded,a statement from the NRCState Coordinator's office saidhere.

Those who have beenexcluded from the NationalRegister of Citizens have 120days to appeal against it atForeigners Tribunals.

The Assam government hasalready ruled out detention ofpeople who do not figure in thelist "in any circumstances" tillthe time Foreigners Tribunalsdeclare them foreigners.

The final list was publishedat 10 am and the hard copies ofthe Supplementary List ofInclusions are available forpublic viewing at the NRC SevaKendras (NSK), offices of thedeputy commissioner andoffices of the Circle Officerduring office hours, a state-ment by the NRC authoritysaid.

Hundreds of people beganthronging these offices soonafter the list was released, withsome returning home happyand some disappointed.

The ruling BJP and opposi-tion Congress, besides the AllAssam Students Union saidthey were dissatisfied with thefinal citizenship roll.

Ramen Deka, a former BJPMP from Mangaldoi, said alarge number of illegal Muslimmigrants from Bangladesh hadmade the cut, while manyindigenous people were leftout.

"We are not at all happy. Alarge number of BangladeshiMuslims have been enlisted,while genuine Indian citizens

have been left out. The exercisewas conducted under thesupervision of the SupremeCourt but the document is notup to the mark," he said.

Abdul Khaleque, theCongress lawmaker fromBarpeta, said he was "not fullysatisfied".

"A lot of genuine nameshave been excluded," he said.

The All Assam StudentsUnion (AASU), which spear-headed the 6-year movementthat culminated in the signingof the Assam Accord of 1985,also said it was not happy withthe final NRC and will appealagainst it in the SupremeCourt. One of the clauses of theaccord was "detection, deletion

and deportation" of illegalBangladeshi migrants.

"We are not happy at all. Itseems there were some defi-ciencies in the updatationprocess. We believe that it is anincomplete NRC. We willappeal to the Supreme Court toremove all the faults anddescrepancies in this NRC,"AASU General SecretaryLurinjyoti Gogoi said.

Addressing a press confer-ence, Gogoi said the final fig-ure of exclusion did not evencome close to the figures offi-cially announced by authoritieson various occasions.

Assam minister HimantaBiswa Sarma, who is also theconvener of the North-EastDemocratic Alliance (NEDA),the NDA's version in thenortheast, deplored that manypeople who came to India asrefugees before 1971 were notincluded in the final citizenshiproll.

He demanded that theSupreme Court allow reverifi-cation of at least 20 per cent ofpeople included in the list in

districts bordering Bangladeshand 10 per cent in the rest ofAssam.

"Names of many Indian cit-izens who migrated fromBangladesh as refugees prior to1971 have not been included inthe NRC because authoritiesrefused to accept refugee cer-tificates. Many names gotincluded because of manipu-lation of legacy data as allegedby many," he tweeted.

The Assam Public Works(APW), the original petition-er in the Supreme Court whichled to the NRC updation, calledthe final NRC a "flawed docu-ment". It said the citizenshiproll could not become error-free because the apex court hadturned down its demand forreverification.

"The Final NRC has made itobvious that the problem ofillegal immigration will neverbe resolved in Assam. If thisNRC had been completed flaw-lessly, it would have gone downas a golden chapter in Assam'shistory," APW presidentAabhijeet Sharma said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

IPS officer Vivek Kumar Johritook charge as the DirectorGeneral (DG) of the country'slargest border guarding force,BSF, here on Saturday.

Johri, a 1984-batch officer ofMadhya Pradesh cadre, tookcharge from his batch-mateRajni Kant Mishra at the BSFheadquarters in CGOComplex at Lodhi Road.

Mishra, an Indian PoliceService officer from the UttarPradesh cadre, retired afteroccupying the top post of theBSF for less than a year.

Mishra took over as theBSF DG in October last year.

The new DG, Johri, willretire in September next yearand is the 25th chief of theforce that was raised in 1965.

The new chief was accord-ed a guard of honour before hetook the baton from Mishra, aBSF spokesperson said.

Johri has been serving as the

Special Secretary in the exter-nal intelligence agencyResearch and Analysis Wing(RAW), under the CabinetSecretariat, till now.

He was appointed as anOfficer on Special Duty (OSD)in the Union home ministryon July 29 so that he can takeover as the BSF DG.

An engineering graduatefrom Maulana Azad NationalInstitute of Technology(MANIT), Bhopal, Johri hasearlier served in the CBI apart

from serving in his cadre state.The BSF, with a present

strength of over 2.6 lakh per-sonnel, is the country's largestborder guarding force and istasked with securing two ofIndia's most important borderswith Pakistan and Bangladesh,apart from rendering a varietyof duties in the internal secu-rity domain of the country.

The two other border guard-ing force under the home min-istry are ITBP (China) and SSB(Nepal and Bhutan).

PNS n NEW DELHI

The ED on Saturday said it hasattached assets worth over Rs1.08 crore of a Shimla-basedcompany and its promoters inconnection with a bank fraudand money-laundering case.

It said a provisional orderfor attachment of assets hasbeen issued against ZoyaResorts and Hotel under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).

The total value of theattached properties is over Rs1.08 crore, the agency said ina statement.

"Attached assets consists oftwo plots of Zoya Resorts andHotel including constructionover them at Mohal Sadhoravillage, Shimla in HimachalPradesh, and a flat of LalChand Shyam situated atRoyal Oaks Apartment, MaujaKaithu, Shimla," theEnforcement Directorate said.

Investigation found that aloan of Rs 1.5 crore was sanc-tioned by the Central Bank ofIndia, Shimla, to the firm, outof which Rs 1.25 crore was dis-bursed to the current accountof the company in "gross vio-lation" of the terms and con-ditions laid down in the loanagreement, the agency alleged.

Partners of the firm, RajeshMukhyan and Neenu Shyamand Lal Chand Shyam (guar-antor of loan availed by ZoyaResorts and Hotel) in "con-nivance" with the then chiefmanager of the bank, P KSrivastava, and former seniormanager Indira Kashyap

forged "a criminal conspiracy"at the stage of loan applicationand defrauded the bank, itcharged.

The accused, it alleged,routed these funds throughother accounts and used themfor non-sanctioned purposes.

"The loan account finallyturned into a non performingasset with outstanding amountof Rs 1.53 crore," the ED said.

Investigation in the case isongoing, it said.

PNS n MUMBAI

At least 13 workers were killedand 58 others injured in chainexplosions of nitrogen gascylinders at a chemical facto-ry in Dhule district ofMaharashtra on Saturdaymorning, police said.

Prima facie, a leaking chem-ical from a barrel triggered firewhich led to serial explosionsin the factory in Waghadi vil-lage in Shirpur taluka around9:45 am, a senior police officertold PTI.

"13 workers have been killedwhile 58 others were injured inthe explosion of nitrogen gascylinders at the chemical fac-tory," he said.

At least 100 workers werepresent in the factory at thetime of the incident, he added.

The officer said the rescueoperation at the spot is stillgoing on while the blaze hasbeen brought under control.

Teams of fire brigade, police,State Disaster Response Force(SDRF) are conducting therelief and rescue operations.

The deafening sound ofexplosions caused panic in thevicinity prompting many peo-ple to rush out of their hous-

es.Maharashtra Chief Minister

Devendra Fadnavis hasexpressed grief over the loss oflives in the explosion andannounced Rs 5 lakh com-pensation to the kin of thedeceased.

"CM Devendra Fadnavisexpressed grief over loss of livesin explosion at chemical fac-tory near Shirpur in Dhule dis-

trict. Guardian Minister,Collector, SP on spot. SDRFteam reached too and now fireis under control. CM DevendraFadnavis also announced 5lakh to the kin of deceased," theChief Minister's Office (CMO)tweeted.

The concerned factoryRumit Chemsynth Pvt Ltd.manufactures a chemical usedfor making medicines.

The officer said that pres-ence of a number of nitrogengas cylinders and barrels con-taining chemicals in the facto-ry increased the severity of theblasts.

"Prima facie, a fire was trig-gered due to leak of chemicalfrom a barrel which spread tocylinders causing blasts," theofficer said.

Police initially suspected the

boiler of the company hasexploded, but have found it tobe intact.

The injured have beenadmitted at the Dhule civil hos-pital and Shirpur CottageHospital.

All deceased have been iden-tified. A contingent of RiotControl Police has beendeployed at the spot alongwith local police personnel.

Meanwhile, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah spoke toFadnavis and took stock of thesituation arising out of theexplosion at the chemical fac-tory.

During the telephonic con-versation, the chief ministerconveyed to the home minis-ter that the state governmenthas been doing its best to helpthose who are in distress.

13 killed, 58 hurt in Maha factory explosions

SHORT READS

Modi govt keen tofurther strengthenIndia-Singapore ties

Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: The NarendraModi-led government is alwayskeen to further strengthen theIndia-Singapore relations,Union Home Minister AmitShah Saturday told hisSingapore counterpart KShanmugam SC during ameeting here. Shanmugam iscurrently on an official visit toIndia. "Had a very fruitfulmeeting with Mr@kshanmugam, Home Ministerof Singapore and discussedseveral issues of mutualinterest," Shah tweeted. "Indiaunder the leadership of PrimeMinister Shri Narendra Modialways looks forward to furtherstrengthening India-Singaporefriendship," he said.

Dead bird on Mumbaiairport runway delaystwo incoming flights

Ex-Maha ministersJain, Deokar convictedin housing scamMUMBAI: A sessions court inMaharashtra's Dhule district onSaturday convicted formerstate ministers Suresh Jain andGulabrao Deokar, along with 46others, in the multi-crore'Gharkul' housing scam.Special Judge SrushtiNeelkanth directed police thatall the 48 accused, who arecurrently out on bail andpresent in the court, be takeninto custody immediately. Thecourt will pronounce theirsentence later in the day. ShivSena leader Jain was arrestedin March 2012 for his allegedinvolvement in the Rs 29-crorehousing project scam when hewas the state minister of homein the 1990s. NCP leaderDeokar was arrested in May2012. He spent three years injail before securing bail.

UP: Man held for‘objectionable' remarksagainst Lord RamBALLIA (UP): A man wasarrested here on Saturday forallegedly posting objectionablecomments against Lord Ramon a social networking site,police said. Mohd. ShaheedAnsari, a resident of Tika Devrivillage, on Friday posted someobjectionable commentsagainst the Hindu deity oninstant messaging appWhatsApp, ASP Sanjay Yadavsaid. Following a complaint bya local, a named FIR was filedagainst Ansari and he wasarrested, the ASP added.

Amit Shah speaks toMaharashtra CM onexplosionsNEW DELHI: Union HomeMinister Amit Shah Saturdayspoke to Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavisand took stock of the situationarising out of the explosion at achemical factory in Dhule inwhich at least 10 people werekilled on Saturday. During thetelephonic conversation, thechief minister conveyed to thehome minister that the stategovernment has been doing itsbest to help those who are indistress. "Anguished to learnabout the loss of lives due toexplosion at a chemical factoryin Dhule, Maharashtra. Havespoken to CM @Dev_Fadnavis,state govt is doing everythingpossible to assist the people inneed. My condolences with thebereaved families. May injuredrecover soon," Shah tweeted.

MUMBAI: A dead bird on therunway of the city's ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj internationalairporton Saturday forced anAirAsia India flight to do a go-around and an IndiGo aircraftto discontinue the approach, anMIAL spokesperson said. Thepresence of the dead bird onthe runway was reported to theATC bythe pilot of a GoAir flightlanding from Delhi, the MumbaiInternational Airport Ltd (MIAL)said. "The pilot of G8-338informed ATC of a dead bird onthe runway. During the removalof the foreign objective debris(FOD), I5-304 was asked to go-around and 6E224 was askedto discontinue approach," thespokesperson said in astatement. Both flights havesince landed after operationson the runway resumed, sheadded.

The ruling BJP and oppositionCongress, besides the All AssamStudents Union said they weredissatisfied with the final citizenship roll

BANK FRAUD

ED attaches Rs 1.08-cr assets ofShimla-based firm

Investigationfound that a loanof Rs 1.5 crorewas sanctioned bythe Central Bankof India, Shimla, tothe firm, out ofwhich Rs 1.25crore wasdisbursed to thecurrent account ofthe company in"gross violation"of the terms andconditions laiddown in the

Vivek Kumar Johri takescharge as BSF DG

Vivek Kumar Johri

He was appointedas an Officer onSpecial Duty(OSD) in theUnion homeministry on July29 so that he cantake over as theBSF DG

PNS n GUWAHATI

Assam Finance MinisterHimanta Biswa SarmaSaturday said the final versionof the National Register ofCitizens (NRC) did not con-tain names of many personcoming to India fromBangladesh before 1971, thecut off period for updation.

In a series of Tweets, thesenior leader of the ruling BJPalso alleged that the legacydata were manipulated forincluding names of doubtfulpersons as alleged by many.

"Names of many Indian cit-izens who migrated fromBangladesh as refugees priorto 1971 have not been includ-ed in the NRC because author-ities refused to accept refugeecertificates," Sarma said inthe micro blogging site.

"Many names got includedbecause of manipulation oflegacy data as alleged bymany," he added.

Sarma, the Convenor of theNDA's North East wingNEDA, further said that theSupreme Court should allowat least 20 per cent re-verifi-cation of the names in borderdistricts and 10 per cent in therest of Assam as requested bythe State and Central govern-ments earlier.

"I reiterate that as request-ed by Central and State gov-

ernments at least 20% reveri-fication (bordering districts)and 10% re-verification(remaining dis-tricts) should be allowed byHonble Apex court for a cor-rect and fair NRC," he tweet-ed. Both the governments hadappealed the top court twicefor sample re-verification tofind out wrongful inclusions,especially in districts border-ing Bangladesh, and exclu-sions in the NRC.

PNS n SRINAGAR

Restrictions were lifted frommost parts of Kashmir onSaturday, a day after strict curbson the movement of peoplewere imposed in view of Fridaycongregational prayers, offi-cials said.

Restrictions have been liftedfrom most areas of the valley onSaturday morning, the officialssaid. They said barricades havebeen removed from the roads inmost areas of the city and else-where in the valley to allow themovement of people.

However, deployment ofsecurity forces continued on the

ground to maintain law andorder, the officials said.

Strict restrictions on themovement of people wereimposed across the valley onFriday in view of apprehensionsof law and order problems after

congregational prayers.Only ambulances and people

in emergency situations wereallowed to move.

The officials said the situationremained peaceful on Fridayand no untoward incident was

reported from anywhere in thevalley. However, normal liferemained affected across thevalley for the 27th consecutiveday on Saturday.

The markets continued toremain shut, while public trans-port was off the roads, the offi-cials said, adding schools alsoremained closed.

The officials said landlinetelephone services have beenrestored in most places acrossthe valley in view of the improv-ing situation, though the ser-vices continued to remainsnapped in the commercialhub of Lal Chowk and PressEnclave here.

Curbs on movement of people lifted in Kashmir PNS n KOCHI

Sarah Jacob Cohen, the old-est member of Kerala's tinyjewish community, passedaway at her residence atMattancherry jew town here.

She died on Friday. Cohenwas 96, her caretaker said.

She would be laid to rest onSunday at the cemeteryattached to ancient syna-gogue in Mattancherry.

She had been staying aloneat her home on the famousjew street since the demise ofher husband Jacob Cohenyears ago. They had no chil-dren. Her relatives had goneback to Israel.

She, however, preferred tostay back in Kochi.

Kerala's oldestjewish womandies at 96

PNS n BHADOHI (UP)

A 15-year-old girl wasforcibly married threemonths ago and kept captiveallegedly by her cousins inUttar Pradesh's Bhadohi dis-trict, police said on Saturday.

The incident appear to bea fallout of a property disputebetween the girl's father, whoworks in Mumbai, and cousinRamesh Dubey, a resident ofSuriyawa town.

The dispute is pending ina court, police said. In May,the girl had come to the dis-trict to visit the family whenDubey took her to a templein Gopiganj area and forciblymarried her off to DeepakUpadhaya (25), the brother-in-law of her son, Suriyawanpolice station incharge VijayPratap Singh said.

The teenager was kept cap-tive in a house since May 27,from where she managed toescape on Friday. She reachedher grandfather's house andnarrated her ordeal, Singhsaid. A case of forcible mar-riage, rape and kidnappinghas been registered againstfour people.

Teen forciblymarried, keptcaptive

Himanta Biswa Sarma

Sarma, the Convenorof the NDA's NorthEast wing NEDA,further said that theSupreme Court shouldallow at least 20 percent re-verification ofthe names in borderdistricts and 10 percent in the rest ofAssam as requestedby the State andCentral government

NRC leaves out namesof many pre-1971refugees: Sarma

Final NRC out in Assam, nearly 2mn stare at uncertain future

Original petitioner unhappy with ‘flawed’ NRC

CAPSULE

Vodafone Ideadenies reports ofexiting 6 telecom circlesNEW DELHI: Telecomoperator Vodafone Idea onSaturday categorically deniedand dismissed the speculationthat the company may exit sixtelecom circles where it hasseen a dip in its revenue. Arecent Bank of America MerrilLynch (BofA-ML) report said itbelieved Vodafone Idea Ltd(VIL) would exit the six circlesin C-Circle where it has beencontinuously losing revenuemarket share with share below20 per cent. The report hasidentified Himachal Pradesh,Bihar, Odisha, Jammu andKashmir, North East andAssam from where VIL mayexit. "There has been reportagein some media that VodafoneIdea may exit six circlesHimachal Pradesh, Bihar,Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir,North East and Assam. Wecategorically deny and dismissthis speculation as completelybaseless and factually incorrect.

Protest in Hong Kongnot to impact tradewith India: HKTDCNEW DELHI: The ongoinglarge-scale protests in HongKong would not impact itsbilateral trade with India,which stood at around USD 31billion in 2018-19, HKTDC saidon Saturday. Hong Kong TradeDevelopment Council (HKTDC)said: "With a lot of concernsaround the ongoing large-scale protest/unrest in HongKong and its possible impacton trade, we would like toassure that we have not seenany downtrend in business."South Asia Consultant atHKTDC Rajesh Bhagat said thecity overall remains safe, andmajor functions are operatingnormally, such as the financialmarket, flow of information andother business activities. Healso said that about 40 Indiancompanies would beparticipating in the three-dayHong Kong Electronics Fair2019, beginning from October13."Over the last two years, wehave seen a rise of close to 10per cent in the number of Indianbuyers participating in tradefairs in Hong Kong," he said.

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 money 06

Govt to infuse over Rs 55,000 cr forstrengthening banks, push lendingPTI n NEW DELHI

The government on Fridaysaid it will infuse about Rs55,000 crore in public sectorbanks to enhance their capitalbase so that they can acceler-ate lending in a bid to bolstergrowth.

This was the second set ofmeasures announced byFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman to prop up theeconomy and at least one moreis expected next week.

The announcement formedpart of the government's megaplan to merge 10 public sectorbanks into four with a view tocreating fewer and strongerglobal-sized lenders withrobust balance sheets.

All the anchor banks in theconsolidation process will getcapital support. As a result,Punjab National Bank will getRs 16,000 crore, Union Bank ofIndia Rs 11,700 crore, CanaraBank Rs 6,500 crore and IndianBank Rs 2,500 crore.

Besides, Bank of Baroda willget Rs 7,000 crore, IndianOverseas Bank Rs 3,800 croreand Central Bank of India Rs3,300 crore.

This are indicative figuresand the actual capital infusionmay vary depending on banks'assessment, Sitharaman toldreporters here.

Giving details of governancereforms in the public sectorbanks, she said these will bringtransparency and strengthen

bank boards.To make management

accountable, a board commit-tee of nationalised banks willappraise performance of GMand above ranks, includingmanaging director, and alsorecruit Chief Risk Officer atmarket-linked compensationto attract best talent, she said.

To enable succession plan-ning, she said boards willdecide a system of individualdevelopment plans for allsenior executive positions.

She also said flexibility hasbeen given to boards of largepublic sector banks to enhancesitting fees of non-officialdirectors (NODs).

Boards have also been giventhe mandate to reduce or ratio-nalise committees, she said,adding that ManagementCommittee of Board (MCB)loan sanction thresholds hasbeen enhanced by up to 100

per cent to enable focussedattention to higher value loanproposals.

Executive directors' strengthin larger banks has been raisedto four for better functionalfocus and thrust to technolo-gy, she said.

The finance minister alsosaid that the merger would notresult in any retrenchment butrather improve the benefit ofthe employees.

Asked about any plan forgiving relief to home buyers,Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumarsaid the Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs is looking atit and soon some measures willbe announced.

Commenting on the merg-er decision, PNB ManagingDirector Sunil Mehta said thisis a very welcome measuretaken by the government.

"This is going to provide lotof strength to the economy

because these mergers willbring synergies in operation.The amount of capital provid-ed to the bank will provide anopportunity to grow faster.The decision will be deliberat-ed by the board," he said.

Canara Bank ManagingDirector R A ShankaraNarayanan said the merger

will add value and it willbecome the fourth largest pub-lic-sector bank.

Union Bank of India MDRajkiran Rai said, "We don'tforsee any problem with regardto merger. Similar timelinewould be there as was in thecase of BoB. It could be evenfaster."

Bank employees stage protestagainst Centre's decision tomerge PSU banksPTI n CHENNAI

Members of the All IndiaBank Employees' Associationon Saturday staged a protesthere against the Centre's deci-sion to merge 10 public sec-tor banks into four entities.

Employees of all publicand private sector bankswore black badges to work asa mark of protest to the gov-ernment's decision.

The Association's GeneralSecretary, C H Venkatachalamsaid the government's move was"ill timed" and needs a review.A rally opposing it was alsoplanned by the Association,Venkatachalam told PTI.

He alleged the merger ofpublic sector banks wouldmean closure of six banks.

The BJP government at

the Centre had on Fridayunveiled a mega plan tomerge 10 public sector banksinto four, to create fewer andstronger global-sized bankersas it looks to revive econom-ic growth.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman Friday said 10public sector banks -- PunjabNational Bank, Canara bank,Union Bank of India, IndianBank, United Bank of India,Allahabad Bank,

Syndicate Bank,Corporation Bank, OrientalBank of Commerce andAndhra Bank would bemerged. "Government maycall it a merger.. six bankswhich have been built upover the years will disappearfrom bankingscenario",Venkatachalam said.

BPCL lines upRs 1.1 lakh crcapex by FY 24PTI n MUMBAI

National refiner and oil mar-keter Bharat Petroleum isinvesting nearly Rs 1.10 lakhcrore in the next five years toexpand its capacity and enternewer streams.

For the current fiscal, thecompany will invest Rs 7,800crore, it said on Friday afterthe AGM here.

The company is alsofocussing on enhancing thepetchem business mainly tooffset the impact of decline indemand for petrol and diesel.

"In the next five years, weplan to invest around Rs 1.10lakh crore at the group level toaugment the refining and mar-keting infrastructure and toenhance the petchem capaci-ty, upstream forays and gasproliferation," chairman andmanaging director DRajkumar told reporters.

He said the company is notgoing to expand only in refin-ery but is also focusing onpetchems keeping in mindthe decline in demand fortransport fuels.

"For refineries upgrade andexpansion, we plan to invest Rs20,000 crore. The investmentsare planned basically keepingpetrochemicals in mind. Forpetrochem we will be invest-ing Rs 20,000 crore.

"For our equity share inMozambique, we will be

investing another Rs 20,000crore and Rs 6000 crore for thepipeline infrastructure alongwith a significant amount formarketing facilities," he saidexplaining the capex breakup.

Rajkumar said the companyalso aims to increase the shareof petchems in term of volumesto 10-15 percent by 2024.

"When we initially started, itwas just 1 percent as the focuswas on transport fuels. Thattimewe were only talking abouttransport fuel and did not lookat petchem. With EVs comingin,there could be some likelyimpact on transportation fuelsand so we are now taking upexpansion in petchem. Ourplan is to move from 1 percentto 10 percent or even 15 per-cent by 2024," he added.

For the currentfiscal, thecompany willinvestRs 7,800 crore

‘GDP slump reflects dip in investment, consumption’PTI n NEW DELHI

India's economic growth drop-ping to an over six-year low of5 per cent in April-June 2019is indicating a "significantdeceleration" in both invest-ment and consumer demand,industry body Ficci said onSaturday.

Expressing "deep" concernsover sluggishness in the growthmomentum, Ficci PresidentSandip Somany said "the latestGDP growth numbers arebelow expectations and pointtowards a significant decelera-tion in both consumption andinvestment demand."

He, however, hoped that aseries of measures being takenby the government and thecentral bank to reverse thisslowing trajectory would help

improve economic situationin the subsequent quarters,according to a Ficci statement.

"The mega bank consolida-tion plan, liberalisation of FDI

guidelines and the stimuluspackage are comprehensiveand address the key pain areasof the economy," he added.

With a mix of both broader

measures and sector specificinterventions, the Indian econ-omy and the industry wouldcome out of this weak patchsoon, he said.

The PHD Chamber ofCommerce and Industry saidthe recent economic reformsundertaken by the govern-ment and the RBI will create astrong and resilient economicenvironment in the countryand rejuvenate GDP growthrate in the coming quarters.

PHDCCI President RajeevTalwar said: "The big ticketeconomic reforms includingrecapitalisation of public sectorbanks, rollback of enhancedsurcharge on foreign portfolioinvestors, payment of all pend-ing GST refunds to MSMEs...areinspiring and would go a longway to foster strong, stable andinclusive growth environmentin the country."

Going ahead, he said, furtherreforms in ease of doing busi-

ness at the ground level espe-cially for the small and medi-um sized businesses along withdesired reforms in labour lawssuch as fixed term employmentfor flexibility in hiring byindustry across the states wouldbe crucial to strengthen themanufacturing sector.

India's economic growth hasslumped for the fifth straightquarter to an over six-yearlow of 5 per cent in the threemonths ended June as con-sumer demand and privateinvestment slowed amid dete-riorating global environment.

Having lost the tag of theworld's fastest-growing econo-my earlier this year, India'sGDP growth was behindChina's 6.2 per cent in April-June, its weakest pace in at least27 years.

Having lost the tag of the world'sfastest-growing economy earlier thisyear, India's GDP growth was behindChina's 6.2 per cent in April-June, itsweakest pace in at least 27 years

PTI n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan International Airlineshas laid off nearly 1,000"redundant staff " and hastaken other measures to reducethe operational cost andincrease revenues of the cash-strapped national carrier, amedia report said on Saturday.

The development was con-firmed by PakistanInternational Airlines (PIA)president and Chief ExecutiveAir Marshal Arshad Malikduring a meeting with Adviserto the Prime Minister onFinance Abdul Hafeez Sheikhon Friday.

Malik apprised Sheikh onvarious activities and initia-tives undertaken by the PIA toreduce its operational costand increase revenues throughbetter management and effec-tive utilisation of availablefinancial and humanresources, the Dawn newspa-per reported.

Sheikh asked the PIA to pur-sue independent, sustainablebusiness plan and said the gov-ernment wanted the nationalflag carrier to effectively utiliseits assets, improve revenuestreams and ensure efficiencyand financial discipline, it said.

Cash-strapped PIA has beenrunning into huge financiallosses. For years, the airlinewith 18,000 plus employeeand a fleet of 32 airplanes hasonly been adding billions to itsloss sheets.

Sheikh said the governmentwas fully behind the PIA man-agement and expected it toturn the national flag carrierinto an economically stable,viable and dependable airlinefor local and internationaltravellers.

Malik said the PIA man-agement had been able to layoff nearly 1,000 "redundantstaff " to save costs.

On Tuesday, Prime MinisterImran Khan had chaired ameeting of the AviationDivision in Islamabad to dis-cuss PIA's business plan,requirements and other issues.

Khan directed the PIA chiefexecutive to improve the per-formance of the airline andincrease travel facilities. Healso directed the finance min-istry to cooperate with the PIAin the purchase of new aircraft.

Pak flag carrier PIAlays off nearly 1,000surplus employees

Malik said thePIA managementhad been able tolay off nearly1,000 "redundantstaff" to savecosts

HDFC sells GruhFinance sharesworth nearly Rs 1,665 crPTI n NEW DELHI

Mortgage lender HDFC onFriday offloaded 6.74 croreshares of Gruh Finance, worthnearly Rs 1,665 crore throughopen market transaction.

"The sale was carried outthrough stock exchanges at theprevailing market price. Theaverage price was Rs 247.15per equity share," HDFC saidin a regulatory filing.

Bandhan Bank had agreedto takeover Gruh Finance, theaffordable housing financearm of HDFC, in a shareswap deal in January.

"...the Reserve Bank ofIndia had granted its approvalto the corporation to acquireand hold only 9.9 per cent orless of the paid-up share cap-ital of Bandhan as against itsentitlement of 14.96 per centof the paid-up share capital ofBandhan upon the schemebecoming effective," it said.

HDFC sold the shares incompliance with the centralbank's directions.

Earlier on May 24 andJune 14, the mortgage lenderhad sold 7.57 crore shares ofGruh Finance, it said.

As per the block deal dataavailable on the exchanges,HDFC sold 6.47 crore sharesof Gruh Finance on NSE,while it sold 27 lakh shares onBSE.

The shares sold on BSEwere bought by SocieteGenerale, while those sold onNSE were bought by SBIBlue Chip Fund, GoldmanSachs Singapore, The MasterTrust Bank Of Japan, andNomura Funds Ireland, thedata showed.

"Post completion of theaforesaid sale of shares, thecorporation would hold 38.22per cent of paid-up share cap-ital of Gruh," it said.

YouTube settles FTCcomplaint for at least $ 150MPTI n SAN FRANCISCO

Google will pay $150 million to$200 million to settle a com-plaint with the Federal TradeCommission over how it treatsinformation from children onits YouTube video site, accord-ing to a published report Friday.

The FTC has reportedlybeen investigating YouTubefor violating a lawdesigned to protectkids online.

Politico said theFTC voted 3-2 alongparty lines to approvethe fine to settle thecase. The report saidthe matter now goesto the JusticeDepartment forreview.

Federal law typicallyrequires parental consentbefore online services can col-lect information about chil-

dren under 13.The FTC's investigation into

YouTube reportedly lookedinto how YouTube collectsdata to serve personalized ads.

The company saysthe service isintended for peo-ple ages 13 andolder, but it alsohas many popu-lar kids-focusedvideo channels.

The FTC andGoogle declined

to comment.YouTube has a separate app forkids, and it launched a websiteversion of YouTube Kids thisweek.

The site asks kids to get

parental consent to start view-ing and offers a simple mathproblem as a way to gaugewhether the person unlockingthe website is really an adult.

YouTube says it doesn't tar-get ads to individuals' interestson its kids service.

The FTC's scrutiny ofYouTube comes as Google andother big tech companies areunder the microscope for theway they sell and store cus-tomers' personal information.

Facebook recently agreedto pay USD 5 billion to settleprivacy charges.

But the settlement againstYouTube may not go farenough for many children'sprivacy advocates.

The FTC and Google declined tocomment. YouTube has a separate appfor kids, and it launched a websiteversion of YouTube Kids this week

Goa govt certifies17 startups understate policyPTI n PANAJI

The Goa government has cer-tified 17 startups under its pol-icy and approved "incentivedisbursement" worth Rs 82lakh for 13 certified companies.

This announcement wasmade by Chief MinisterPramod Sawant while chairinga meeting of the high-poweredcommittee, formed under GoaStartup Policy 2017, atSecretariat here on Friday.

State InformationTechnology Minister JenifferMonserratte was also present.

"A total of 17 Startups werecertified and incentive dis-bursement worth Rs 82 lakhwas approved for 13 certifiedcompanies. This is a majorboost to our homegrown star-tups," he said.

The Startup Policy, approvedearlier this year, aims to makeGoa an aspirational geo-graphical and human resourcebase for startups.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The government's announce-ment to allow single-brandretailers to sell goods onlinefirst before opening brick-and-mortar stores is a win-winfor global players to tap thedomestic market, consultancyfirm Deloitte said on Saturday.

The government recentlyrelaxed norms for single-brandretailers having foreign invest-ment to attract global players.It has now permitted them tosell goods through onlinestores before opening brick-and-mortar stores within twoyears.

It has also relaxed certainprovisions for complying withthe mandatory 30 per centlocal sourcing requirements.

"A retail company can nowstart selling to the Indian con-

sumers via online platformand open up a physical storelater (within a period of twoyears). This is going to be aclear win-win for global retail-ers to tap the Indian marketsitting overseas," Anil Talreja,Partner at Deloitte India, said.

He said the move wouldalso give a boost to the pillarsof the Indian retail industry inthe form of transportation,payments, customer care andwarehousing.

PTI n NEW DELHI

After removing founderGautam Thapar as chairmanof the company, the board offraud-hit CG Power andIndustrial Solutions hassacked the firm's CFO V RVenkatesh over alleged "mis-conduct" and breach of trust.

The board of the companyat its meeting on Friday "ter-minated the employment of VR Venkatesh as the ChiefFinancial Officer of the com-pany, for cause, with imme-diate effect," CG Power said ina regulatory filing.

"The termination of theemployment of Venkatesh is

due to the grave nature of themisconduct and breach oftrust on his part and havingknowingly undertakenactions which were detri-mental to the interests of thecompany and its stakehold-

ers," it said.Venkatesh could not be

contacted for comments.Company CEO and

Managing Director K NNeelkant, who was sent onleave on May 10 by the board

to enable proper investigationinto financial irregularities,continues in his role for now.

However, some investorsand lenders have questionedhis continuance given that thefraud involving some assets ofthe firm being provided ascollateral and the money fromthe loans siphoned off by"identified company person-nel, both current and past,including certain non-execu-tive directors", happenedunder his watch.

The board-instituted inves-tigation had also found someliabilities and advances torelated and unrelated partiesbeing understated.

Fraud-hit CG Power sacks CFO VenkateshThe board-institutedinvestigation hadalso found someliabilities andadvances to relatedand unrelatedparties beingunderstated

India RatingsdowngradesYes Bank,outlook negativePTI n NEW DELHI

Private sector lender Yes Bankon Saturday said India Ratingsand Research (Ind-Ra) hasdowngraded its long-termissuer rating to 'IND A+'.

"India Ratings andResearch has downgradedYes Bank Ltd's long-termissuer rating to 'IND A+'from 'IND AA-," the banksaid in a BSE filing.

"The outlook is negative.The agency has affirmedthe bank's short-term issuerrating at 'IND A1+'," itadded.

‘Allowing single-brandretailers to sell onlinewill broaden Indian mkt’

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SundaySeptember 1, 2019

rom being a child labourer toemerging as a top grade well-respected bureaucrat, the IASofficer has seen it all - the pangsof agony to professional adula-tion. The best of part of the

unassuming officer is that he has stood hisground be it while living in distressed con-ditions in Jangaon or as a globe-trotterendowed with remarkable administrativeacumen that is all endearing. If one wereto put his chequered life and describe hissurvival instincts that weathered many astorm, it has to be-adaptability.

A Telugu medium student until gradu-ation and now author of a best seller onAmazon, the man who takes pride inswearing by his roots is a polyglot. Apartfrom constructing a temple in an SCcolony, serving the poor, and beingobsessed with bringing in societal changes,Venkatesham recalls how he did not wantto be a ticket collector till retirement buta District Collector, the passion for whichwas kindled by his alma mater's principal.

Being a Child labourer…I am a native of Obulkeshavapuram vil-

lage, which is about 10km from Jangaon.A semi-arid and rain-shadow region, theland is not fertile enough to usher in agri-culture prosperity. As a consequence,the locals live in accursed econom-ic conditions. Most are small farm-ers. For instance, my father, drivenby pangs of agony had to sellwhatever bit of agriculture landhe possessed in order to providefor the family even before I wasborn. Bigger tragedy befellwhen my father, whose toddytapping was the sole bread-earning source, passed awaywhen I was merely sevenyears old. I salute my moth-er's never die spirit as shecoped with the circum-stances and earned a liveli-hood doing all kinds ofmenial agriculture labourjobs that she could. Attimes, even I had to go tochip with an extra rupee ortwo. I was so small andunskilled that the injurythat I sustained on my littlefinger while cutting paddycrop remains a permanentscar.

Son of a ToddyTapper…

My father, Burra Narayana, wasa toddy tapper, which, as you know,is a dangerous proposition. He fellfrom a toddy tree, became sick andnever recovered from it. It is iron-ic that although I did nurtureambitions of doing somethingbig, it was my father who hadmore trust in my abilities and would oftenaver in the presence of all, 'My boy willbecome big someday. There is no one

more intelligent than him in the entire vil-lage'. Alas, he never took a photograph andso whatever I remember of him comesfrom the fading memory that I have. It ismy father's wish, the guidance of my teach-ers, who shaped my latent talent that tookme to the top in academics.

Headmaster said you could top…

My headmaster, MK Moinuddin Sir,who died about a month back, was instru-mental in helping me learnEnglish, though wewere studying inTelugu medium.My headmasterwould alwaysinsist that theone exam,which could becleared despitethe hurdles,was IAS. Hebolstered me bystating that Icould top it. Hispearls of wis-d o m ,

when I was studying in sixth standard,were so overwhelming that it was aroundthat time that I resolved to make IAS mycareer option. Since I was the topper, I waseligible to appear for the exam aimed atidentifying rural talent for admission ingovernment residential schools, which areforerunners to Navodaya Vidyalayas. Ineighth standard I changed my school andcompleted my tenth in 1983.

Ticket collector to District Collector…

As the financial condition of the fami-ly could not support my academic pursuitsafter the 10th standard, I moved toHyderabad, hoping to land up some oddjob that could help me continue my high-er education aspirations. I took uptuitions wherein I was teaching 10thstandard students, which was also fine-tuning my own subject knowledge. I feelthat any exam is fun for me. A goldmedalist, I got selected in the railway

exam, which I cleared in flying colours. Ijoined as a ticket collector and for twomonths was posted in Renigunta. It wasthen that I firmed up my desire to becomea real administrative collector and notremain ticket collector. So I resigned. In

1989, I appeared for Civils for the firsttime and cleared the prelims even

before I graduated.

Discrimination isnever directlyvisible….

The number of bureaucratsfrom Telangana is considerablyless. I was always for a separatestate of Telangana as it was aquestion of non-integration oftwo cultures. Though we mayspeak the same language, thefact of the matter is that thereis a vast difference in the waythe people live in the tworegions. Instead of respectingeach other's sentiments, therewas some kind of discomfortbetween the two as one wastrying to bring in a predom-inant cultural influence.Telangana was never a will-ing partner and it could

not do much to showcase its identity. Interms of discrimination (prior to 2014),although not pronounced, as such, it waslurking in the shadows. Once they knowwho you are, they will either put up withyou or get you transferred.

An incident that could be agood movie subject…

When I was District Collector of Medak,there was a family in Zaheerabad that hadsix blind persons. One can understand thetragic plight they were living in. Ideally,they should be the first beneficia-ries of any prevailing govern-ment schemes. But, for somereasons, this family was not.They received their first benefitfrom the government, when Iwas there. It is a reflection of thesociety we live in that benefitsevade the rightful and fully-eligi-ble beneficiaries. This incidentthat dramatically changed mymindset could make for a veryemotional movie. How an eligibleperson is lost in the quagmire willjuxtapose the ground-reality vis-à-vis the stated objective. We are avery insensitive society when itcomes to helping people, especial-ly the physically challenged. In mypresent role, I am trying to addressthe issue on humanitarian grounds.Going further, the tourism plaza hastwo hotels - Talking Hands is run bythe hearing impaired and Dialoguein the Dark, which is run by blindpeople.

Polyglot by choice…I can read, write and converse in

four languages, quite effortlessly,including Telugu, Hindi, Kannada andEnglish. I also have proficiency inMalayalam, Tamil and Urdu. Spanishand Indonesian are at intermediate levelwhile Portuguese and Japanese are at abeginner level. I love learning languages.Language was never a barrier for me. Eventhough I Studied in Telugu Medium untilgraduation, I picked up English quickly. Iremain indebted to all those teachers, whoused to encourage my learning enthusiasmby allowing me to write Social Studies andArithmetic exams in English.

Family is the first forum…My mother Gowramma is a simple per-

son. Though, she was hard-pressed tomake ends meet with her paltry earnings,she never forced me to do anythingagainst my will. We are three children;besides me an elder sister and olderbrother. My

brother was the first to grad-uate. He teaches Hindi in an aided school.My sister and mother had no education.My wife Dr Geeta Lakshmi is a homeo-pathic doctor. Our son Yogya HariPrakash, a product of IIT-Madras, nowworks in the United States while ourdaughter Bhavya Sree is in Bengaluru pur-

suing English Literature. She played a cru-cial role in helping me with 'Selfie ofSuccess' from the conceptualizing stage toits publishing. My entire family is the firstforum where I express my thoughts andideas; elicit their opinions and go about fol-lowing them later.

Venkatesham as achild…

Due to the pitiable conditions Iwas brought up in, although I wasa 20-year-old, my mental age wasalmost 60 as my maturity levelswere quite high for one of that age.I guess, experiences will have last-ing impressions on one's thought-process. The thing is I was disci-plined from a young age andunderstood balancing the month-ly budget without being extrava-gant. The trait has so evolved thatI am comfortable being withelders and kids but not whilehanging out with peer groups asthey tend to have fun.

Spiritualism…I strongly believe in egalitar-

ianism and inclusive growth. Iam more inclined to philosoph-ical and spiritual ideas. I coinedDigital age Dharma - which isa concept that seeks to bringcommon distilled wisdom ofeach religion. People are focus-ing on the 5-10 percent differ-ence in religion instead ofappreciating the commonal-ity. It tries to foster interna-

tional interface and believesthat all faiths teach the same things in theirrespective holy books. I have constructeda temple near SC colony in my village,where all people are allowed free access. Noteven one name is put up anywhere and itis serving as a feeding point for the hun-gry. It is a pretext to do something big,because write-ups and thesis won't work.Temple is a way to tell what needs to be told.

n Favourite Spot in Hyderabad -Osmania Universityn Favourite singer - Susheela, I likesweetness in her voicen Holiday spot - Off late within countryMallad, area in western ghats, outside -Istanbuln How many countries you visited - 35countriesn Favourite food - I am not a foodie andjust eat anything. May be Biryanin Best advice - Don't react to the

challenge they give you immediately. Iused to give back immediately, I used toget exhausted.n Annoys you the most - Undue orunjust demand being commanded overand over againn Most hyped news story - Fashion getsunnecessarily hyped.n Impressive thing about you - Beingsincere to the jobn Objective of live - To see everybodyhunger free

n Important object to you - Never amaterialistic personn Regret the most - I used to get toomuch annoyed when people purposefuldrag me into controversy. I shouldn'thave reacted to their wrong statements. n TV series - I did 300hours of Netflix -oceans, world war2, Pablo escobar,good Samaritann Scares you the most - I am scared ofpeople who talk exactly opposite to whatthey are that too with strong conviction. I

want to be away from peoplen Meanest comment about you - He isenjoying is life while they attach it withmaterialism I attach with spiritualismn Three words that describe - Sincereto the coren Favourite book - Science of beinggreat changed my thinking, GeorgeOrwell- 1984, My experiments with truthn Compliment that people give you themost - He is laughs like child andhumble

Andhra Pradesh’s topperhen I was 25, I took a two-year break to consolidatemyself, rather than stay disheartened after failing toclear the interview twice. In the meanwhile, to sup-port myself, I appeared for Group B test, cleared it and

joined in Bangalore Customs. That is when I got married. Aftermarriage and the new job, I became fairly settled. However, Inever gave up on my IAS dreams. Subsequently, I changed bothmy optionals. It gave me a new perspective and I topped. Therewas a negative feature in me, mind you. Being malnourishedall through my growing up years, I weighed around 40kgs.Anyone with such a physical structure has to reckon with aproblem that could make or break one's dreams. Interviewerstend not to take you seriously and gave me average marks inthe interview, only on that count. Now that I am in a positionto talk to UPSC members, and those seeking make IAS a career,I point out that the interview process never takes you on whatyou are inside but looks at your physical appearance.Nevertheless, I secured All India 15th rank and was the top-per in Andhra Pradesh. Thus, I joined the AP Cadre and nowserve Telangana State.

QUIC

K BI

TES

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PM, CM, DM RUN

THE COUNTRY…The most defining role for any IAS offi-

cer is being posted as a District Collector as

it gives you flexibility, overall coordination

and commanding powers. It is often con-

tended that the PM (Prime Minister), CM

(Chief Minister), and DM (District Magistrate) run

the country. You see, as a Collector, only limited

resources are at your disposal, which implies that

long-lasting solutions are not possible. Many high-

er ups may not share your point of view. I am of the

firm conviction that belonging to a civilized society

it is shame for all when someone digs food from the

leftovers in the dustbin. First and foremost, hunger

should be mitigated and starvation should be avoid-

ed. It is rather painful that we are turning a Nelson's

Eye to this overriding societal problem that keeps

manifesting itself. As District Collector of Medak, tak-

ing forward the 'Pidikedu Biyyam' initiative, in col-

laboration with self-help groups, we identified

6,000 orphans and served two square meals every day

to each of them. Unfortunately, although this was

taken up with all seriousness for as long as I was in

Medak, it was discontinued since my transfer. I feel

such measures ought to become continuous policies

as they give hope to the have-nots.

t

Selfie of Success…Every book written on successhas showcased it as a fascinat-ing, noble and virtuous trait inthe world. I wondered if every-

thing is as presented by such books, andconcluded that it was not the case. So Ithought of presenting a different perspec-tive on success with its various facets,nature and phases. My maiden book'Selfie of Success' tops the Amazononline sales charts. I have decided thatall the proceeds from its sales will go tosenior citizens and differently-abled sec-tions. I would like to state that books thatI write in the future will also beendeavoured at helping distraught peo-ple.

e

In a free-wheeling interview, Tourism Secretary Burra Venkateshamtalks to NAVEENA GHANATE about battling abject poverty, writing abook, family and spiritualism

f

Rising from the school of hard knocks

The day of 12 July 1975started like any other dayfor Rajnath Singh andafter his morning exerciseand bath, as he was about

to step out, he was arrested by theMirzapur police under MISA. By thetime of his arrest, Singh had becomeknown as a formidable force whohad galvanized the JP movementprogrammes, and the authoritieswere instructed to not take himlightly. No one arrested under MISAwas allowed any access to peopleoutside, and Singh being one of theprominent detainees in the area, allcontact was ruled out.

After he had spent a few days inMirzapur jail, Singh was transferredto the Naini Central Jail nearAllahabad. Hearing about the trans-fer, Savitri and Gujarati Devi decidedto meet Singh at Mirzapur railwaystation where the train carrying himwas scheduled to make a brief stop.Savitri had not seen her husbandsince the day he was arrested, but ithad been a few months sinceGujarati Devi had seen her son. Onthe day Singh was being ferried bytrain, both reached the station hoursbefore the train was due. Everymoment that passed filled them withanxiety. No one knew how long hewould be under detention and thenews of thousands more beinghauled up across the country addedto their fears.

The train arrived slightly laterthan it was due and soon the plat-form was full of police personnel. Ina matter of seconds, Gujarati Deviand Savitri were separated from thetrain by a sea of humanity dressed inkhaki. Handcuffed and held bypolicemen at the elbows, Singhemerged from the train hoping tomeet his wife and mother. He spot-ted them at some distance but thesheer number of policemen betweenhim and his family made it impossi-ble for him to meet them. At twentyfour, Singh, who had been a physicslecturer at a local college a few yearsago, was just a young man taking hisfirst steps in politics but the securitypersonnel treated him like a hard-ened criminal. Some of the peoplewhom Singh had worked with dur-ing the JP movement had also madeit to the railway station and theybegan sloganeering. It was impossi-ble for Singh to hear his mother orSavitri in the middle of all thecacophony and sloganeering, askinghim to carry on with his struggle. Asthe policemen whisked Singh away,he finally heard Gujarati Devi. Evenin the face of uncertainty about whatlay ahead for her son, the only thingGujarati Devi told him was not tobow down. ‘Babua, maafi maange kinaheen! Chahe umar bhar kaalkothri

mein kyon na katt jaye ... kabhi sarmat jhukana.’ (Never beg for forgive-ness, my son, even if you have tospend your entire life within theconfines of a prison ... never bowdown). Hearing his mother urginghim to never give in filled Singh withpride as he fought back the tears thathad welled up. Many policemen toowere moved by Gujarati’s comment.That was the last time Singh eversaw his mother.

During the first few weeks inNaini Central Jail, Rajnath Singh wasput in solitary confinement. Despitethe bleak scenario and the uncertain-ty, Singh never lost faith. Thisenforced isolation gave him the timeto reflect on the ideals and the prin-ciples instilled in him by his fatherand the values for which his motherwas willing to let go of the chance tosee her youngest son ever again.

A while later, when the solitaryconfinement ended, Singh saw someof his friends move applications forrelease on parole but he refused to doso. For Rajnath Singh, the time in jailmade him reassess the ideals forwhich he was willing to put his lifeon the line. There were times whenhe caught himself thinking abouthow things had come to such a passin the political history of the country.Irrespective of the differences in ide-ology or political affiliation, mostpoliticians and people in public life,he believed, had one goal: serve thepeople and the country. Despite thecynicism about politicians that wasbeginning to set in among the public,the idea of making India a strongnation, one that would attract theenvy of the world, was perhaps stillthe singular thought amongst peopleoperating in the political sphere. Inthis context, the total disregard forpropriety and decorum, and thehigh-handedness that the govern-ment displayed towards those in theOpposition and anyone who ques-tioned it, in the process pushing thecountry into an era of darknesswhere basic civil liberties weresnatched away, did not make muchsense for young people such asSingh. For them, politics, at least upuntil the Emergency was declared,was about a debate between two ormore theories and ultimately it wasthe voter who decided on which setof ideas suited them.

The Emergency was a tool toelicit a political price from those whochallenged Indira Gandhi, but, formany, it extracted much more.Gujarati Devi had kept abreast of theunfolding situation and counted thedays to her son’s return. She oftenasked the same question every timeshe met any of her nephews: ‘Babuakabhin aayen?’ (When will my ladreturn?) One of Rajnath Singh’s

cousins told Gujarati Devi that MISAwould be retracted in a year’s time andso, if everything went off well, Singhwould probably be released on 25 June1976. Through the course of the firstyear of the Emergency, scores of moth-ers like Gujarati Devi kept track of thedays and waited with bated breath forsomeone to repeal the law or the gov-ernment to release those detainedunder it.

A year later, on the said date, 25June 1976, Gujarati Devi asked thesame nephew about Singh’s release,and unable to give her any goodnews, he told her that the govern-ment had extended MISA and noone had any idea how long itwould take. It could well beanother year. Gujarati Deviwas unable to take it anymore and suffered a stroke. Shewas rushed to the hospitaland the doctors concurredshe had had a brain haem-orrhage. Her conditionworsened over the nextfew days and, preparingfor the worst, the doctorasked Savitri to informher husband.

Upon hearing thenews, Singh refused tomove an application fora furlough to visit hismother in the hospital,preferring to absorb theblow silently. Everymorning at sunrise, hehoped against hope thatany news about his moth-er would be delayed byyet another day. The jailand the treatment metedout to him had not suc-ceeded in breaking hisspirit. The jail authori-ties were followingorders from a dispensa-tion powerful enoughto brush away basicrights of one of theworld’s most populous countries bya mere stroke of the pen. They haddented the self-esteem of many ofthe inmates and ensured that the per-son eventually walking out was not thesame as the one who had gone in.

Singh remained determined to not lettinganything undermine him mentally and moreso when the news about his mother’s condi-tion became public knowledge. He remindedhimself of what his mother would have expect-ed from him and carried on. It was in jail thatSingh got to learn about his mother’s passing awayand performed all the post-death rites includingshaving his head within the confines of NainiCentral Jail. To this day, Singh finds it difficult tostop tears welling up in his eyes every time heremembers his mother.

sundaymagazine

11

Vijayawada, September 1, 2019

09Importance of loving self

I’ve always consideredmyself a feminist. But, like

a lot of women of mygeneration, I didn’t thinkwe had to fight for it. I

thought it was all done. Itook so much for granted

— Elisabeth Moss

For centuries, time was dedicated forprayer and meditation. The practice

holds relevance even today

One has to bear the consequences ofgood or bad choices made. This bindshuman beings to a cause-effect chain

F R O M T H E I N S I D E

FOR RAJNATH SINGH,THE TIME IN JAIL

MADE HIM REASSESSTHE IDEALS FORWHICH HE WAS

WILLING TO PUT HISLIFE ON THE LINE.

THERE WERE TIMESWHEN HE CAUGHT

HIMSELF THINKINGABOUT HOW THINGSHAD COME TO SUCH

A PASS IN THEPOLITICAL HISTORY

OF THE COUNTRY.IRRESPECTIVE OF

THE DIFFERENCES INIDEOLOGY OR

POLITICALAFFILIATION, MOST

POLITICIANS ANDPEOPLE IN PUBLICLIFE, HE BELIEVED,

HAD ONE GOAL:SERVE THE PEOPLEAND THE COUNTRY

Rajnath Singh was to contest the elections from Mirzapur in 1977immediately after the Emergency but at the last moment, a seatswap between Jana Sangh and the Janata Dal saw him give itup. Singh could have fought the elections independently, asadvised by a few people, as he was a very popular youngleader. But, he not only chose to stick by the party’s decision, healso came out in the support of thecandidate who replaced him in a way thatwas not imaginable, writes GAUTAMCHINTAMANI in his book, Rajneeti: ABiography of Rajnath Singh. An edited excerpt:

Stay grounded for a good life

>> p9

sundaymagazine

spirituality 09Vijayawada, September 1, 2019

LEARN FROM THE PAST, SET VIVID,DETAILED GOALS FOR THE FUTURE, AND

LIVE IN THE ONLY MOMENT OF TIME OVERWHICH YOU HAVE ANY CONTROL: NOW

— DENIS WAITLEY

HIDDENSOULSPRAMOD PATHAK

Poverty is an issue that fails to be addressed. As onephilosophy puts it, there are only two castes in thesociety — the rich and the poor. Biblical cannon

“blessed are the meek...” offers no solace when half-filledstomachs continue to struggle for the next meal. Statisticaldata suggests that we have come a long way as far as pover-ty alleviation is concerned, but the fact remains that themarch ahead is longer. Is there a faster way to poverty erad-ication? Or is this an unending journey. Well, it is not easyto figure. Given the fact that poverty as an issue has alwaysbeen at the top of the agenda of governments since inde-pendence,we can only keep our fingers crossed. The prob-lem persists despite the force of the rhetoric and the grow-ing decibel volume. Not that there are reasons to doubtthe intentions. But the methodology and systemic inter-ventions have not proved their authenticity. True, inter-ventions from outside have their limitations and there areleakages in the system, these will have to be addressed notby external forces but by internal forces that work to changehearts. Institutional remedies depend on human commit-ments for their effectiveness. Moreover, societal transfor-mation is also needed. People with compassion and munif-icence who care for the poor and work for the upliftmentof the deprived. Governments are just one part of the larg-er society. Societal action thus would be more crucial.Wealth accumulation has become the benchmark of excel-lence in the society and people are running madly afterit. Naturally, when this becomes the norm, selfish motivesdrive the society and personal prosperity and amassingriches is the only end. In such a society, we can only breedinequality and push the vulnerable to misery. Wealth, asthe vedic wisdom says, “has to be earned by two hands anddistributed by thousand hands”. We need to realise the sig-nificance of those golden words of wisdom: ‘when wealthis lost nothing is lost, when health is lost something is lost,when character is lost everything is lost’. We need to buildsocietal character. Corruption poses one of the gravestthreats to economic growth, democracy, and political sta-bility. Political corruption has taken on a new prominencein public discourse due to its devastating impact on pub-lic confidence in political and economic institutions andprocesses. But institutions may not be enough. There is aneed for a socio-cultural overhaul and change in individ-ual mind set. Vulgar consumerism coupled with egoisticextravaganza has blurred the line between need and greed.Insecurity of the rich and callousness of the society needsto be addressed. Perhaps, the Gandhi Talisman can throwsome hints. The same is quoted here: “I will give you a tal-isman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the selfbecomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recallthe face of the poorest and the weakest person whom youmay have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contem-plate is going to be of any use to that person”. It may berecalled that Gandhi popularised the term ‘Daridranarayan’.

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com

Afamous film star suffered deepdepression; her latest film hadflopped. And this was the film

which she had hoped would make herstand out in the film industry. She hadco-produced this film after many suc-cesses as an actress. She had workedvery hard and in her mind she had notleft anything to chance. Therefore,once the film bombed at the box office,her heart was broken. She went intoheavy depression. But she was no fool;she was determined to get to the rootof her problem. She began calling herfriends when the numbness caused bythe setback somewhat lessened. Nonecould really help with their words ofsympathy; she wanted to know the realcause of the failure.

Out of desperation, she called a col-lege friend, with whom she was not intouch. This friend had spiritual leanings.That was the reason that she was notexactly her favourite. Desperate timescalled for desperate measures; so shesought her out. That friend was sur-prised to hear from her now famousfriend. They met and this friendrequested the actress to accompany herto the ashram of her guru. After initialhesitation, she agreed to do so becauseher friend was insistent that if anyonecould help her, it was this person.

Upon reaching the ashram, theysought an audience with the guru. Oneof the residents recognised the actressand rushed to the guru in great excite-ment. They were asked to wait. Once thecall came, they went to meet the exalt-ed personality. He asked them to beseated and, then, asked about the pur-pose of their visit. The friend shared theactress’ predicament. The guru lookedunperturbed and asked, “What is new?”The actress was surprised. She thoughtthe guru was joking. She said emphat-ically, “I am very unhappy.” The guru

replied, “I have heard that but what isunusual about it? We all have moodchanges. Who can stay in one fixedmood? Once in a material body in thismaterial world, we all are prone to moodswings.” The actress said, “I have neverfelt so bad earlier.” The guru replied,“You were lucky. By the way, what hascaused this?”

The actress explained about the fail-ure of her latest film. The guru stated,“Success and failure are the results ofone’s fate, especially the big ones. Onecannot ensure success by mere presentefforts.” He then stated, “Do you realisehow many businessmen are tryinghard but never reach the big league. Youwere destined to be successful early onin your career. Now a bad period hascome.” The actress nodded her head andasked, “What can I do now to get overthis extreme disappointment? The gurureplied, “God can help. You pray to Himfor solace and He will respond.”

The actress, not a believer, seemeddisappointed. The guru read her mindand said, “It is not as difficult as you areimagining. God does not normallyinterfere in the working of thekarmaphala principle according to

which we are rewarded or punished forour acts, but He can and does intervenefor His devotees once something badhappens. How do you think that I tryto maintain equanimity? God helps. We,human beings, are intrinsically smalland are given to react in extreme man-ners. No one is exempt from bad hap-penings, because our very presence inthis painful material world indicates thatnot everything was right in our pastlives; that is we carry the baggage fromour past; all of us do. A sound connec-tion with God ensures a degree of sta-bility. The actress listened to the guruin rapt attention. This was somethingshe had never heard before.

She asked for guidance to be ableto do what the guru was telling; she wasdesperate. The guru explained manyprocesses and asked the actress tochoose what suited her. After giving itmuch thought, the actress smiled andsaid, “I feel that I can do what you aresuggesting. I needed a ray of hope andyou have shown me the light. I thankyou sincerely.” And, they left.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reachedat spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com

It is quite common for us toencounter life coaches, motiva-tional speakers and gurus speak-ing about managing one’s health,mind and body and to help one-

self before reaching out to others. Itis a trend these days to gift oneself thewell-deserved ‘Me time’ and engagingin therapies to relax and detox.Focusing on oneself is not uncommonto our ethos and culture, where forcenturies together, significant timewas dedicated for prayers, meditationand other productive, self-motivatedactivities. As a result the society ben-efited, ensuring human evolution.This practice holds relevance even intoday’s fast paced life.

First thing first. It is critical tounderstand that often the image of theself we carry is actually a componentof many entities — physical, astral andcausal. The physical body consists ofa physical self, mind and intellect. Thespirit within, the suksham sharir (thebody that exists before, during andafter a birth in this life) and the causalbody or the kaarna sharir which isalways attached to the spirit andcontains the hard disk of our samskars.

Hence, if the focus is loving thephysical body, you may get caught ina web of complexities that physical

existence weaves around you. On theother hand, when you love yourinner self, you set yourself free fromall complexes, attached to the physi-cal existence.

WHY SHOULD YOU LOVE YOURSELF?The point of discussion is not aboutloving yourself frivolously or in van-ity, but learning to accept, respect andrevere yourself. This is certainly notan easy task. The art of loving your‘self ’ has been understood and advo-cated across spiritual forums andreligious doctrines.

Adi Shankaracharya has beenone such proponent of the self and hesays: “As the mind becomes gradual-ly established in the self, it proportion-ately gives up the desire for externalobjects. When all such desires havebeen eliminated, there is the unob-structed realisation of the self.”

If we have to extrapolate this toour current environment, and themany selves one has, it makes theprocess more complex and research -worthy.

In order to understand the con-cept of self-love we must deconstructan old Sanskrit phrase, Tat Twam Asi— That You Are. In this, ‘Tat’ standsfor the consciousness supreme, of

which all human beings belong.‘Twam’ refers to the body, the spirit,the mind and the jivaatma or individ-ual soul. ‘Asi’ means you are a part ofthe consciousness supreme, even ifyou do not know it, even if you do notfeel it, even if you do not want tobelieve it.

Right now the ‘you’ that is read-ing this article is just the physical one.But realising the essence of the arti-cle is done by the spirit self.

Most people believe they love theconcept of consciousness supreme butforget to love themselves as a part ofthe Tat factor. A poignant quote bySaint and poet Kabir explains the con-cept beautifully:

“Boond samani hai samundermein, janat hai sab koi;

Samunder samana boond mein,bujhe birla koi.”

(When a drop merges into theocean, everyone understands it

But when the ocean merges intothe drop, seldom does one understandit.)

This explains how one is not justa part of the consciousness supremebut in fact is the consciousnesssupreme itself.

Perception has an influential roleto play in this study, who we think we

are, is not the reality but is the delu-sion of the mind also known as: Maya.

Your self-assessment is oftenbased on expectations and achieve-ments. Getting the best job, dreamhouse, good looking partner, highestgrades and constant appreciation,work as triggers to boost the level ofself-love. And if you fail to match upto your expected results, the image ofthe self comes crashing down.However, it is futile to succumb tosuch self-created environments anddeprive yourself of the true love itdeserves.

The other factors outside thephysical realm that affect self-imageand love are fate, guilt and thoughtsand are beyond your control.

HOW DO YOUR LEARN TO LOVEYOURSELF?One of the critical steps to lovingyourself is learning to accept yourself.

We need to accept ourselves on an‘as is where is’ basis. This is not onlyfor self-preservation, but also for ourcollective intent that aids the machin-ery of the consciousness supreme.

There are various impedimentsthat obstruct self acceptance. Forinstance, thoughts. It is not easy todeal with thousands of unnervingthoughts, as they take us to a level ofjudging ourselves poorly and keep usin a state of degradation.

It is easy to worship water in theocean, but not in a glass of fresh limesoda — the core of both being thesame; the lime and fizz are only adul-terations and limitations. These lim-itations are self-created and do notallow us the luxury of self-worship.

A major deterrent in shedding theperceptions we hold of ourselves is ourlack of knowledge of destiny. Until weunderstand this concept better, wecontinue to blame ourselves for all ouractions and often even our thoughts.There are many stories in historywherein the predictions about thefuture have been accurate. If that istrue, then the trends of our life are pre-determined and the future has alreadyhappened in a cross-section of timeand space that lies ahead.Understanding the factor of destinywill make self-acceptance and removalof guilt much easier.

Self-love has to go beyond atten-tion seeking. If you look around, yourdog is asking for it, your kids are ask-ing for it, and many of your friendsare asking for it as well. So do not jointhe attention-seeking club. Once yousee the spark of divinity within you,you will not want attention from any-one else. You will look for vairagyaand that solitude will give you a high.

The writer is the author of Hingori Sutras seriesof spiritual books

Povertyconcerns

IMPORTANCE OF LOVING SELF

Living in a material worldPain in present material world indicates that not everything was rightin our past lives. This is karmaphala, says AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

Focusing on self is not uncommon to our culture, where for centuries time was dedicated forprayer, meditation and motivational tasks. The practice holds relevance even today, writes HINGORI

On 18 January 1977, Indira Gandhicalled for fresh Lok Sabha electionsthat would be held in the month of

March and although she also ordered therelease of those her government haddetained, the Emergency officially endedon 21 March 1977.

The Opposition soon galvanized peo-ple and left no stone unturned to make itamply clear that this was their last chanceto pick between democracy and dictator-ship. After his release, Singh found greatsupport within his community that wasaware of the hardships he had undergoneduring the Emergency. An entire genera-tion of India’s political class that had beenput through the strongest of fires wasabout to graduate and Singh was amongstthem. Unlike the decision to not give tick-ets to some rising stars such as the ABVPstudents as the Jana Sangh felt they hadbeen overly politicized during theEmergency, which could lead them tolook at things in a different light, therewas no predicament when it came toSingh. He became an automatic choice forthe Lok Sabha ticket from Mirzapur. The

principal Opposition parties-the JanaSangh, the Bharatiya Lok Dal, the SocialistParty and the Congress (Organization)-had come together as the Janata allianceto fight the elections against IndiraGandhi. Singh began campaigning in fullswing for the elections that were to beheld between 16 and 19 Match 1977. Butbefore voting day, an internal understand-ing between the Jana Sangh and the LokDal relegated him to the sidelines. Aneleventh-hour seat-sharing arrangementbetween the parties that constituted theJanata alliance saw the Jana Sangh givingup Mirzapur in favour of Fakir Ali Ansari.As a result, the Jana Sangh could not pitchits candidate and the Lok Dal decided tofield a locally recognized carpet manufac-turer as the contender from Mirzapur.

The news of the change sent shock-waves across the city. Not just the JanaSangh party workers but also the RSS andABVP cadre offered their support toSingh. Much like the earlier elections, theRSS cadre was bound to play a significantrole in mobilizing the electorate in favourof the Janata alliance as it had done for

the Jana Sangh in the past. The word onthe ground suggested that the joint cadrewas willing to go against the executive ifRajnath Singh was not picked and somehad even begun suggesting that he shouldfight the elections as an independent.

Singh made his way to the district col-lector’s office to withdraw his candida-ture, accompanied by a swarm of support-ers. The sight was perhaps too intimidat-ing for Ansari, the Lok Dal candidate, asoft-spoken Muslim gentleman who wasknown to Singh as well. As he entered theoffice, Singh offered him his best wishes.The district collector informed Singh thatthe time to withdraw candidature wasover and his name would remain on theballot paper. As Singh pondered over howto avoid a situation that would be detri-mental for both the Jana Sangh and theJanata alliance, the clamour urging him tofight as an independent candidate grewlouder amongst the cadre. Singh took amoment to think and decided to stand bythe party. He told everyone that if theparty was right in thinking of him as wor-thy enough to contest, how could it bewrong if it changed its mind due to someunavoidable circumstance? In a practicaldisplay of walking the talk, doing theright thing irrespective of the situation,which was also fast becoming a muchtalked about trait of Rajnath Singh, heoffered all his support to the Janataalliance candidate. As he stepped out ofthe DC’s office, Singh addressed thecrowd, underlining that it was his badluck that the rules did not permit hisname to be struck off the ballot paper. Hetold everyone present that if he got evenone vote it would be tantamount to dis-honouring his name. When the votes werecast and the ballots counted, RajnathSingh did not get a single vote. To thisdate, he considers it to be a victory unlikeany other in his entire life.

Excerpted with permission fromGautam Chintamani’s Rajneeti: A

Biography of Rajnath Singh; Pengiun, `599

Committed to his ideals

WE NEED TOACCEPT

OURSELVES ON AN‘AS IS WHERE IS’

BASIS. THIS IS NOTONLY FOR SELF-PRESERVATION,BUT ALSO FOR

OUR COLLECTIVEINTENT THAT AIDSTHE MACHINERY

OF THECONSCIOUSNESS

SUPREME

F R O M P A G E 08

Vijayawada Sunday September 1, 2019

10

K RAMYA SREEn HYDERABAD

t’s that time of the yearagain to celebrate thebirthday of the elephant-headed God. Yes, it’sGanesh Chaturthi! LordGanesha is supposed tobring peace and prosperi-

ty to everyone. But if there is onemore thing associated with him,it is the fact that he is a knownfoodie. And that means gorgingon sweets for the next 10 days.Lord Ganesha and Modaks gohand in hand and you literallyfind him holding it in his handsin all pandals.

Speaking of Modaks, while we

all know the recipe for the usualjaggery based Modak, KhandaniRajdhani, a restaurant in thecity, has come up with seven dif-ferent recipes of the Lord'sfavourite food. From dry fruitsfor the health conscious tochocolate Modaks for the foodies, they have it all covered.

food

IUKDICHE MODAK

INGREDIENTSRice flour - 1 and half cupsA pinch of saltOil - 1 tsp for greasingFor stuffing:Fresh grated coconut - 1and half cupsJaggery grated - 1 cupPoppy seeds(khuskhus/posto) roasted -1 tbsp A pinch of green cardamompowderA pinch of nutmeg powder

METHODo Heat one and one-fourth

cups of water with salt andone teaspoon oil in a deepnon-stick pan.

o Bring to a boil, reduce theflame and add the rice flourin a steady flow, stirring

continuously to preventlumps from forming. Coverthe pan with a deep lid andpour some water into thelid. Cook on low heat forthree minutes.

o Remove the lid, sprinklesome cold water on the riceflour and cover again withthe lid, bring to a boil,reduce heat, and add therice flour in a steady flow,stirring continuously toprevent lumps fromforming water in it; cook foranother three minutes.Repeat this process twicemore. Take the pan off theheat and keep it covered fortwo minutes.

o Transfer the mixture to alarge plate, grease thepalms of your hands with

oil and knead the dough tillcompletely smooth andpliable. The dough shouldnot stick to your palms.Rest the dough coveredwith a damp cloth.

o For the stuffing, combinethe coconut and jaggery ina non-stick pan and cookon medium heat for one ortwo minutes till light goldenbrown. Make sure that youdo not overcook themixture. Add the roastedpoppy seeds, cardamompowder and nutmegpowder, an

o Divide the dough intotwelve equal portions andshape them into balls.Grease the palms of yourhands and spread each ballto form a three-inch bowl.

Pressthe edges of the bowls toreduce the thickness.

o Place a portion of thestuffing in the centre; pleatthe edges of the dough andgather them together toform a bundle. Pinch toseal the edges at the top.

o Heat some water in asteamer. Place the modakon a perforated plate in thesteamer and steam for tento twelve minutes.

o Serve hot modak with pureghee.

KESAR MAWA MODAK

INGREDIENTSMawa/dried whole milk - 1 cupSugar - 1/2 cupGreen cardamom - 2(powdered)Kesar/saffron - few strandsMilk - 2 tbsp

METHODo Mash mawa andkeep it ready.Remove seeds fromthe cardamom podsand crush it nicely.Grease a square

plate with some gheeand keep it ready.

o Add few saffron strands towarm milk and keep it asidefor 20 minutes.

o Add mawa, sugar, saffronmilk in a non-stick pan andmix well.

o Heat the pan and cook on

medium heat. Keep stirringtill the mixture becomesthick. Do not wait tocompletely dry the mix as itwill harden.

o Turn off the flame, addcardamom powder and mixwell. Spread the mixture onthe greased plate.

o When it cools down, takena portion in your hand andgive it a modak shape usingmould. You can also cut itinto equal squares if you donot have modak mouldavailable.

NOTE:o Quick Method to make

khoya/Mawa at home: Takea pan and add 1 litre wholemilk and bring it to boilingpoint. Lower the flame andcontinue to boil. Keepstirring so that it does notstick to the pan. Stirvigorously when milk startsto thicken. Khoya is readywhen the milk stopssimmering and itscompletely dry. Transfer itinto a bowl and keep itaside to cool.

CHOCOLATE MODAKINGREDIENTSRicotta Cheese - 2 cupsSweetened condensed milk - 1 cupSemi-sweet chocolate chips - 1/2 cupUnsweetened cocoapowder - 1 tbsp

METHODo Heat heavy bottom pan on

medium flame.o Add ricotta cheese it and

cook for five to eightminutes while mixing it inbetween

o Once the ricotta cheesestarts to thicken up, addcondensed milk to it andcook for four to fiveminutes.

o Now, turn off the heat and

add cocoa powder,chocolate chips, mix well.

o Wait until mixture coolsdown completely.

o Once the chocolate mixtureis cool to touch, take themodal mould and stuff withchocolate mixture to give amodak shape to it.

o Chocolate Modak is allready!

KAJU MODAKINGREDIENTSMava - 2 cupsCashew nut powder - 1cupPowdered sugar - 1/2cupCardamom powderYellow food colour

METHODo Take mava, sugar and

cashew nut powder in

heavy bottom pan. o Turn the heat on

medium heat. o Stir and mix well.o Add food colour.o As it heat up, it starts to

melt. Add cardamompowder to the mixture.

o Roast it well till themoisture evaporates.

o Spread it on a plate andlet it cool.

o Check mava and makesure there are no lumps.

o Take small ball of mavaand put into the mould.

o By using your fingerpack it.

o Press it and open themould carefully andremove it.

o Modaks are ready toserve.

COCONUT MODAK INGREDIENTSFresh grated coconut - 1cupMawa or milk powder - 200 gramsSugar - 1 cupCardamom - 4 podsGhee - 2 tbsp

METHODo In a mixer jar add

cardamom and sugar,grind to form powderedsugar.

o Heat a wok on mediumflame and add ghee.Once the ghee melts andthe wok starts to smoke,,place wok on low flame

and add grated coconut.o Once the coconut is

added, keep stirring untilthere is no moisture in thecoconut.

o When the coconut do nothave any moisture, addkhova and powderedsugar keep stirring untilthe khova and sugar hasthoroughly combined withthe coconut.

o Do not add any water ormilk to melt the sugar orkhova as the consistencyof peda with get watery.

o On low flame, keepstirring all the ingredientsuntil the peda mixture

starts to form a ballconsistency andghee starts toseparate. Removefrom heat andtransfer the mixtureto a bowl and allow itto cool..

o Make sure themixture does notcool completely as wecannot form modakshapes.

o Once the pedamixture gets warm,take a portion of themixture and fill in modakmould and form equalmodaks.

o If you do not have amodak mould, spread themixture on a plate and cutthe peda using cookiecutter. Serve right away.

INGREDIENTS15 dates seeds removed10 dried FigsRaisins - ¼ cupAlmonds - ¼ cupPistachios - ¼ cupShelled walnuts -

¼ cupDesiccated coconut - ¼cup4 cardamom pods, seedscrushed into powder Ghee - 1 tsp

METHODo Finely chop thedates, figs and raisins.o Also chop all the

almonds, pistachios andwalnuts into tiny bits.o In a saucepan,

dry roast the desiccatedcoconut till lightlybrowned. Transfer to alarge bowl and keepaside.

o Dry roast the choppednuts together till lightlybrowned. Add them to thebowl with the coconut andkeep aside.

o Heat ghee in the same panand add chopped dates,figs and raisins and frycontinuously for about 5minutes.

o Switch off the heat and letit cool slightly.

o Grind the cooled dates,figs and raisin mixture tillit forms a coarse paste.

o Add this paste to the bowlwith the browned nuts.Mix well till a uniformmass is formed.

o Take lime-sized balls ofthe mixture and formthem into modak shapes.

o You can use a modakmould to do this, or shapethem by hand.

o To shape them by hand,make a lime-sized ball firstand then, holding the ballin the palm of one hand,use the fingers of yourother hand to pull up thetop of the ball, thusforming a fig shape.

o Store the modak in a air-tight container.

o These should last at roomtemperature for about 4-5days.

MOTICHUR MODAKINGREDIENTSGram flour - 1 bowlSugar - 1 and a half bowlWater - 1 and a half bowlVegetable oil - 1 tbspCardamom powder - 1/2tspChopped Pista - 1tbspSaffron leaves - 10-15Vegetable oil or ghee fordeep fry

METHODo Take gram flour in a large

size bowl and add half bowlwater slowly to make thinbatter without lumps andadd 1 tbsp oil. Beat it forfive to seven minutes with

beater to make it fluffy.o Put pan on the gas and add

ghee. Heat it on mediumflame

o Hold Jhar (a big roundspoon with multiple smallholes in it) just above thepan and put batter on itwith service spoon and tapat edge of the jhar so smalldroplets will fall in the oil.

o Fry it for five to sevenminutes on medium flameand take it out in a platewith another jhar to drainextra oil. If possible putbloating paper on plate toabsorb extra oil.

o Put another pan on the gas.

Add one bowl of waterand sugar and cook it for10-15 minutes onmedium flame to makeone taar sugar syrup. Tocheck one taar, take onedrop of sugar syrupbetween thumb and indexfinger and see single taar.

o Add cardamom powder,pista and saffron leaves insugar syrup and put offgas

o Add Boondi in sugar syrupand properly mix it andkeep for 15 minutes

o Now put Boondi mixture inModak mould and press it.Now take it out.

o If you do not have Modakmould then make it withhand and give shape ofModak

DRY FRUIT MODAK RECIPE

MAHARAJ JODHARAM

CHOUDHARY

Chef- Khandani Rajdhani

MODAKSREINVENTED

Your health will be good. You might plan a foreign tourwith the family. Networking with people from differentplaces is also likely. You have the skill and intelligencebut need guidance to hone your skill further andprepare for a brighter future. Design your resume inadvance. You will participate in research related workand seminars. Your words may prove to be moreimportant to others than your actions right now. Youwill have the ability to influence your near and dearones. If in love, be flexible in your approach, commandwith purpose and not take undue advantage or hurtothers. If you are single, take a backseat this week asthere appears little chance that you might meetsomeone special!

Lucky number 27Lucky colour SilverLucky day Monday

ARIES March 21-April 19

You may need to take action to improve your healthcondition. Being paralysed from the neck down, you canstill do things actively to help yourself, think about whatthese things might be, and then follow through. Everyaction makes a difference. Maintain a positive outlook.You have to make a decision on your career front.Analyse all available information, and then make yourbest choice. It's possible that what you initially interpretas bad may work out in your favour. Committedrelationship will become more strong and balanced.Allow your beloved his/her own space and make surethat you are giving your fair share to the relationship. Ifyou are unattached but looking, you are likely to meetsomeone new who is positive, kind, and generous.

Lucky number 8Lucky colour RedLucky day Thursday

TAURUS April 20-May 20

You are likely to feel lethargic, inactive and fail to goahead in certain circumstances. This is the time torefresh and seek advice from the experts. You arecarrying a fear which is baseless. Once you come outof this self-created dilemma, life would be exciting andgoals attainable. Be positive and you will shine bright.New opportunities in profession will make you creativethis week. It is possible that you have been feeling thedrive to advance your career. Take advantage of thistime to write out what you had aspired and like toaccomplish. This is a positive time for work practices,its strategies and success in the market. Relationshipsmay suffer, conflict is a near surety. Things may notwork out as you would hope with a love relationship.

Lucky number 29Lucky colour BlackLucky day Wednesday

GEMINI May 21-June 20

This week you will feel good and pamper yourself. Youwould be attracted to pleasantries, food, andentertainment activities. Spa and rejuvenation spaceswill draw your attention. You may plan a vacation to anexotic destination over the weekend. Career-wise thiswill be a great week for you. You will be creative andfocused. Promotion or appraisal is indicated. Self-confidence will keep your morale high. You will findyourself in a position of power and authority. You canhandle any situation with your intelligence. Yourdreams are big and so are your actions. You have theability to create a world of your own and make a mark.Lust, passion and addictions are all negative forcesthat make life meaningless.

Lucky number 1Lucky colour BlueLucky day Saturday

CANCER June 21-July 22

You will feel restricted, indecisive and confused. You mayhave recently gone through a very difficult time. But nowyou have arrived at solutions and plans to improve yoursituation and that's a good thing. Just ensure that youdon't make the same mistakes again. Professionalmatters need your attention. Those looking for a jobshould keep their resume ready. It is good to have soundknowledge of your area of interest, but it is equallyimportant to be able to articulate this knowledge. Othersmay feel envy for you. You would be sharp with yourmental abilities. Your will do well if appearing for aninterview. You are also in a mood to experiment withplatonic love as intellectual friends or lovers attract yourattention.

Lucky number 8Lucky colour PeachLucky day Saturday

VIRGO Aug 23-Sep 22

Travel and other nitty-gritties of life will keep you busy thisweek. Amidst all this, you may have to take someimportant decisions. There will be a significant shift inyour schedule by the end of the week, as you will seek toengage in exercise, yoga practices and solitude for yourwell being. The sudden change in the scenario maysurprise you. You might be offered a job, a posting or adream project. You will feel positive and enthusiastic.Those aspiring for education abroad may find that all thenecessary requirements, such as visa, passport and loanetc are progressing in a positive direction. You are in amood to confront a near and dear one. Something isbothering you and your anger and aggression may go outof limit.

Lucky number 5Lucky colour Emerald GreenLucky day Thursday

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 22

You may feel restricted — mentally, physically andfinancially — at the beginning of the week. Confidencewill start building as the week progresses. Look at thepositive side of everything. Take good care of yourhealth. In monetary terms, the week looks good. There isa certain element of perfectionism associated with you.You are meticulous in your approach and you make surethat everything is planned and executed down to thefinest detail to create overall success. You will not leave ajob half done. It is essential to you that you complete allassigned tasks and projects to a certain standard andthat you follow through on your promises. You will try tobring balance to all your works. You are in tune with yourbody/mind/spirit and feel great about yourself.

Lucky number 30Lucky colour WhiteLucky day Wednesday

SCORPIO Oct 23-Nov 21

You need to change your routine and try new things forbetter health. Start with the basics. Find out if you aregetting enough sleep, exercise, and eating healthyfoods. You don't have to undergo some anuncomfortable, and difficult regime to feel better.Small, positive steps are the kind of change that youcan live with and see the results. Travel is on the cards.You may like to shift your residence or office this week.Whether single or married, you will feel the need forfreedom as never before. You may feel misunderstoodby others. Possibilities of a good relationship are allaround you this week, whether you are looking for anew love, a new friend, or a new relationship of anykind.

Lucky number 4Lucky colour YellowLucky day Sunday

AQUARIUS Jan 20-Feb 18

There could be a turning point in your health. Beaccountable to yourself and move on. Do whatever ittakes to keep your stress level under control. Propernutrition, good rest and exercise go a long way towardshealthy living. If closing a deal, read the documentcarefully before you put your signatures on it. Avoidrigorous exercise, as it may cause injury. Career-wise, thisis the time for more work and less play. You will realisenow that you must do as much as you can to achieve allyour goals. A sudden turn of events could see you changeyour views about a friend who you have taken for granted.A friend may be harbouring a feeling of envy orjealousness against you. This could come as shockingrevelation.

Lucky number 19Lucky colour GreyLucky day Monday

PISCES Feb 19-March 20

There can be a push-pull type of energy which could takeyou on a very low phase and negative mind-set. Thismight not be unfamiliar to you as you are often facedwith such mood swings. Get yourself examined, as theenergy of the week is not very positive. Take medicaladvice. If something is wrong, don’t hesitate to take asecond opinion and switch treatment before it is too late.Make sure your financial documents are up to date andthat you have been keeping an account of your incomeand expenditure. If you are in a job don't expect theentire system to be changed just because you believe itshould be different. Expect the best to happen in arelationship. Those in a committed relationship canexpect new heights of intimacy and joy.

Lucky number 22Lucky colour MauveLucky day Tuesday

CAPRICORN Dec 22-Jan 19

Health remains good. Since spiritual practices hadoccupied your mind space till now, you may feel theurgency to make time for things that feed your soul. Youhave faith in yourself and the Almighty. Religiouspractices done in a group with people from differentwalks of life will enhance your aura and personality. Thisis a transition period in your career. You want change. Bereceptive. You will find yourself on the right track. Thingsare turning towards positivity. Old habits die hard, but youcould make it with your determination in a short time. Youare likely to worry or lose sleep over delays in personalaffairs. This is not the best time to begin a newrelationship. Turn to your friend or relative who will helpyou control your emotions.

Lucky number 3Lucky colour PurpleLucky day Monday

LEO July 23-Aug 22

This is a great time to boost your health and vitality.Read the signs your body is giving out to decide whetheryou need more exercise or rest. You can make thingsbetter with moderate changes. You are in a mood toparty and celebrations will draw your attention. As theweek progresses, you will delve into solitude in search ofspiritual awakening. A baseless fear has taken over youand is making you restless. Worrying about your job isnot going to help. Focus on what you can control, and tryto overcome your anxiety. Your intention is right and youare caring towards your near and dear ones, but otherpeople in your life are contributing towards your angerand aggression. Something that worked for you in arelationship in the past may now start to go wrong.

Lucky number 6Lucky colour BeigeLucky day Friday

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22-Dec 21

YOURWEEK

AHEADMADHU KOTIYA

sundaymagazine

tarot 11UNTIL THE EARLY 1900s ONLY THEMAJOR ARCANA AND COURT CARDSWERE ILLUSTRATED. THE NUMBEREDCARDS JUST SHOWED THE NUMBER

OF PIPS FOR EACH SUIT Vijayawada, September 1, 2019

Agirl having entered her forties andyet not married, would naturallybe a concern for parents. One

such helpless father came asking theother day: “Sir, why has my daughter notbeen able to get married by now? Is hermarriage denied? If not, suggest someremedial measures that would facilitateher marriage. I am approaching 80 anddon’t know how long I will survive. Iwish to get her married before I leavethis world.”

Be assured your daughter’s marriageis not denied. Going by her astrologicalpointers, had she not wilfully evadedmarriage, she would have been marriedat least 10 years back. Bear in mind; anydelay in taking initiatives or grabbingopportunities in hand, you run out oftime. Consequently, you will be leftbehind in the run of life, which applies inyour daughter’s case.

“In God’s plan, if she was to get mar-ried ten years back, why did it not hap-pen? Can God’s will ever get compro-mised?” The old man countered.

Well, there is nothing like a God’splan. It’s always your self-made plan assettled by Karmic carryover from thepast, that you are not conscious about. If

we look at the way the existential order ismade out, unlike other species and exis-tences that are bound by a predefinednature, human beings enjoy the privilegeof having the freedom to make choices.But, if there is a choice, the probability ofits use and misuse remains equal. Andthere is nothing like a free lunch in life.One has to bear with the consequencesof good or bad choices made. This bindshuman beings to a cause-effect chain,which operates in a self-automatedmode. In this scheme of things, thereremains a cause behind every effect,which in turn, sets the premise on whichfuture events take off. Evidently, thecause-effect chain runs in succession,which could stretch on to the next life.This is what sets the premise of the ‘Lawsof Karma’. So, you become a beneficiaryor victim of your own Karma. There isno scope for any extra-terrestrial bodythat would be adjudicating our Karma,and selectively granting boons inresponse to your prayers.

The Karmic imprints carried overfrom the past set the ground on whichour new life takes off. These imprintsavailable in our memory as thought-seeds, carry the potential to bloom out

during the ongoing life, as and whencongenial ground becomes available.Here again, we have to exercise ourchoice and take the call — whether to letit happen, defer it for later times, or evendeny it. In this respect our habit tenden-cies play a major role, often playing atrickster. Let’s now look into astrologicalpointers to her habit tendencies.

She is born in Scorpio lagna, with itslord Mars posited in the 12th house.That makes out a stubborn person, whois vulnerable to becoming a victim of herown making. Mars conjunct Rahu makesher erratic, who may often fritter awayher energies towards unproductive ends.Mars also conjunct Uranus makes herself-willed. Mars again, ill-disposed off tomischievous Neptune points to the possi-bility of suffering from inferiority com-plex, who remains susceptible tounmindfully get into self-undoing acts.Mind signifying Moon occupies the fierysign Aries, again owned by Mars, whichmakes her impulsive, aggressive, intoler-ant, impatient, and domineering. Moonopposed to Mars and Uranus brings inmercurial temperamental, and makes hermoody, rash, argumentative, and eccen-tric. She may jump into action oninstinctive judgment without applyingproper forethought, more often detri-

mental to her interest. It is only when shelands into crisis that she applies hermind. Moon also placed adverse toSaturn brings in a negative mind-set,which makes her inhibitive by nature.Also, she would be habitually suspiciousand overcritical of others. That doesn’t lether take timely decisions, and so her ini-tiatives often get delayed. She also fails tograb the opportunities coming her waywithin time.

What further compounds her prob-lems is her swaggering ego, coming as itmay with the Sun placed adverse toJupiter. That narrows down her vision toself-defined beliefs and perceptions,often out of touch with ground realities.She would not be even open to exploreadvisories and counsel offered by elders.What further acts as a multiplier effect toher already inflated ego is her fixatedone-track mind, as would Saturn placedadverse to Mercury imply. It is still notlate if she begins appreciating living reali-ties.

The wwriter iis aan aastrologer, vvastu cconsultantand sspiritual ccounsellor. WWrite tto hhim aat

G-1102, BBharat NNagar, NNew FFriends CColony,New DDelhi-1110 0025

Tel: 991-111-449848475/9818037273Email: bbharatbhushanpadmadeo@gmail.com

Website: wwww.bharatastro.com

ASTROTURFBHARAT BHUSHAN PADMADEO

Madhu Kotiya is a tarot card reader, spiritual healer, and Founder, MShezaim Institute of Tarot and Divination. Contact details: madhu@indiatarot.com, www.indiatarot.com, M: 9873283331

Be grounded for life’s smooth run

TEAM AGENDA DESK > NAVNEET MENDIRATTA, CONSULTING EDITOR | H LAYOUT AND DESIGN > SATISH CHANDRA JAKHMOLA, SENIOR EDITOR (CREATIVE)

Now yyou ccan wwrite tto uus aat agendapioneer@gmail.com

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

AFP n NEW YORK

Top-ranked defendingchampion NovakDjokovic rolled into the

US Open fourth round onFriday while Serena Williamscruised into the last 16 and KeiNishikori was eliminated.

Djokovic, champion infour of the past five Slams and16 overall, was less bothered byleft shoulder pain that naggedhim in the second round indefeating 111th-rankedAmerican Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

“That I managed to playalmost pain-free, that’s a bigimprovement from last matchobviously,” Djokovic said. “Ididn’t know how my bodywould react. That was nice.”

Djokovic, who neededtreatment throughout his sec-ond-round triumph, skippedpractice on Thursday in favorof shoulder treatment.

The 32-year-old Serbian, athree-time US Open winner,booked a Sunday showdownwith three-time Slam winnerStan Wawrinka, the Swiss 23rdseed who eliminated Italianlucky loser Paolo Lorenzi 6-4,7-6 (11/9), 7-6 (7/4).

“There’s something withhim that when I get into mybest game, I know that it’s goingto have some big rallies and I’mgoing to play good tennis,”Wawrinka said.

Djokovic, no worse than aUS Open semi-finalist since athird-round exit in 2006, leadsWawrinka 19-5 in their all-timerivalry, but they haven’t metsince Wawrinka beat Djokovicin the 2016 US Open final.

“We’ve had some great bat-tles over the years, but espe-cially here,” Djokovic said. “Letthe better player win.”

DE MINAUR CAUSESUPSET

Williams continued herquest for a 24th career GrandSlam title to equal MargaretCourt’s all-time record bycrushing 44th-ranked CzechKarolina Muchova 6-3, 6-2 in74 minutes.

“I had a lot of intensity

today, which is really good forme,” said Williams, whose nextopponent is Croatian 22ndseed Petra Martic.

The 37-year-old American,a six-time US Open champion,last won a Slam at the 2017Australian Open and hasn’t

won the US Open since 2014.Japanese seventh seed

Nishikori, the 2014 US Openrunner-up, lost to Australia’sAlex de Minaur 6-2, 6-4, 2-6,6-3. The 20-year-old Aussie, onhis deepest Grand Slam run,took his first victory over a top-

10 foe in 12 tries.“This is where I feel like my

game’s at. I want to be pushingsecond weeks of Grand Slamsand putting myself out there,”De Minaur said. “Hopefully Ican just keep it rolling.”

Russian fifth seed Daniil

Medvedev made an obscenegesture during his 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 victory overSpain’s Feliciano Lopez.

The ATP Cincinnati win-ner was booed by the crowdrepeatedly after holding anupraised middle finger asidehis head for stadium camerasbut away from chair umpireDamien Dumusois afterreceiving a code violation.

Reigning French Openchampion Ashleigh Barty, theAussie second seed, and Czechthird seed Karolina Pliskova,

chasing her first Slamtitle, also advanced.

Pliskova, the 2016US Open runner-up,outlasted Tunisia’s OnsJabeur 6-1, 4-6, 6-4while Barty dispatched

Greek 30th seed Maria Sakkari7-5, 6-3.

Pliskova next plays British16th seed Johanna Konta whileBarty, a possible Williamsquarter-final foe, meetsChinese 18th seed WangQiang.

“It’s going to be an incred-ibly physical match,” Bartysaid.

Barty and Pliskova are bat-tling top-ranked defendingchampion Naomi Osaka to beworld number one at the endof the Flushing Meadows fort-night.

One more Barty winwould ensure Japan’s Osaka isdethroned but Pliskova couldstill take the top spot by reach-

HARSHIT BISHT n NEW DELHI

He didn’t featured in the firstfour games for Haryana

Steelers this season due to injurybut ever since he made hisreturn into the mat after gettingfully recovered, Vikash Kandolais on a roll and his superb raid-ing skills has turned out to be ablessing for the side as they havewon six of the last seven gamesthey played after that.

It is because of his charis-matic style of offensive playthat Haryana’s shattered defensehas also fallen into place and iscontributing well to the teamsuccess but despite that too thestar raider is not yet satisfied andfeels there is a lot more he canimprove in his game to be moreeffective in the coming match-es.

Talking about his perfor-mance in the season so farKandola said, “My preparationsare very good as I am fully fitand ready to roar in the mat. ButI am still looking to improve fur-ther in the upcoming matches tobe more effective.”

On being asked about whatall areas he needs to improve, thestar player said that he hascommitted a lot of errors in theraids which he is well aware ofand his focus now is to makesure that it doesn’t repeat further.

“I want to rectify the mis-take that I have committed in theprevious games and that is myfocus point. Also, I need to workmore on collecting bonus pointsbecause that is one area whereI feel, I’m not doing good. I needto be more consistent.”

Discussing the team’s per-formance, he said that after a dis-appointing start the team hasfinally found the mojo back andis now working towards main-taining consistency.

“The team is performingwell now especially after wob-bles in the first few match-es. The return of PrashantRai along with me hashelped the side andthe result of which isthat now we arewinning matches.We are collectingmore regular points inthe raids and that is helpingbecause until the time raiders

don’t score, defenders can’t alonewin the matches for you.”

Talking about playing underRakesh Kumar, who made hiscoaching debut this season,Vikash was full of praise for theformer Indian skipper and saysthat his experience of the gamehas been a blessing for all theplayers in the dugout.

“It is a wonderful experienceworking with Rakesh sir, he issuch an experienced player andis a very cool minded person.Apart from being a brilliantteacher he never let us take anysort of pressure in the game.”

“Even if we get tackled in anattempt to go for a difficult point,he is always there to motivatesaying ‘Koi Nahi, Agli baarayega’ (It’s okay, it will come nexttime).”

Like every other player par-ticipating in the league,Kandola’s dream also is to winthe Pro Kabaddi League trophybut he is well aware that thecompetition is still wide openand to reach the goal, the sidecan’t afford to lose the grip at anypoint. “Our initial plan is to topthe table and then play the finalto win the trophy.

And we are preparingaccording to it but since thecompetition is wide open so itis too early to predict anything.But we will continue to keepraising our performance and tryto win as many games as possi-

ble.”

PTI n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Young Ishan Kishan blasted a blistering24-ball 55 as India ‘A’ beat South Africa

‘A’ by two wickets in the rain-hit secondunofficial ODI to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series here on Saturday.

Chasing 163 to win in a rain-curtailedmatch, the hosts scampered home with anover to spare, thanks to Kishan’s heroics andKrunal Pandya’s crucial 15-ball 23.

Kishan hit five boundaries and four sixesin his innings, while Pandya’s knock com-prised one six and a four.

Sent into bat, South Africa ‘A’ posted 162for 5 in 21 overs with George Linde top-scor-ing with a power-packed 52 not out whichwas studded with one four and five sixes.

Kishan, who plays for Jharkhand indomestic cricket, walked in with India ‘A’ ina spot of bother at 57 for 3.

He went on the attack from the word goand hammered the spinners nonchalantlyand when the pacy Junior Dale bowled short,he swivelled around and smacked him fora big six. His stunning assault made histeam’s task of chasing down what appearedto be a stiff target easy.

Earlier, Anmolpreet Singh (30, 19 balls,2X4, 2X6) set the tone for the chase alongwith Shubman Gill (21) after the quick dis-missal of opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (1).

Batting first, Linde’s pyrotechnics helpedSouth Africa ‘A’ reach 162 for 5 in 20 oversafter India A sent both the openers back bythe end of the fourth over.

Linde reached his half-century in 24balls to power the visiting team's late surge.

Skipper Temba Bavuma (40, 33 balls, 6fours) and Heinrich Klaasen (31, 27 balls,3 sixes) also provided the impetus to the SA‘A’ innings.

AFP n DERBY

Mitchell Starc pressed hiscase for a Ashes berth

with a four-wicket haul asAustralia completed theirpreparations for next week’sfourth Test at Old Traffordwith a comfortable innings and54-run win over Derbyshire onSaturday.

Starc, yet to feature in theAshes, ended the match 15minutes before lunch on thethird day in Derby with twowickets in two balls. He hadHamidullah Qadri caught inthe slips by Matthew Wadebefore clean bowling DustinMelton.

With Derbyshire pace-man Tony Palladino unable tobat because of an ankle injury,the match ended withDerbyshire 112 all out.

Left-arm fast bowler Starcfinished with figures of 4-39 in10.4 overs.

Derbyshire resumedSaturday on 53-3, 113 runsbehind Australia’s first innings338.

After Steve Smith hadmade 23 on Friday in his firstcompetitive innings sincereturn, attention turned toStarc. He could be recalled forthe fourth Test, with the pitchat Old Trafford expected to be

the quickest of the series.But it was fellow paceman

Michael Neser, uncapped atTest level, who struck first onSaturday when he bowled AlexHughes for 11 to leaveDerbyshire 58-4.

After a brief rain break,fast bowler Peter Siddle —looking to regain his Test place— had Harvey Hosein (eight)

caught behind by diving wick-etkeeper Alex Carey.

Mitchell Marsh, like Starcpushing for his first Test of theseries, then took two wickets inthree balls to reduceDerbyshire to 99-7.

He had left-hander Leusdu Plooy, who made 86 inDerbyshire’s first innings, lbwfor 37 and then bowled AlfieGleadall for a second-ballduck.

In order to accommodateSmith and MarnusLabuschagne in Manchester,Australia may leave out Harrisand promote Usman Khawajato open with Warner.

Both Harris (64) andstand-in skipper Khawaja (72)made fifties in Australia’sinnings before they wereinvolved in a mix-up that sawHarris run out.

Khawaja averages 96.8 inthe seven Test innings in whichhe has opened.

AFP n METZ

Depleted Paris Saint-Germain gavedebuts to two teenagers but still won 2-

0 at Metz on Friday in a another Ligue 1game interrupted by fan banners.

Angel Di Maria and Eric MaximChoupo-Moting scored the goals the visi-tors needed to win an undistinguished gameand move to the top of the table.

“We won, and that was important,” saidDi Maria.

Neymar, who reportedly wants to returnto Spain, was again left out of the squad asnegotiations over his potential transferdrag on.

Another player who has become thecentre of speculation, goalkeeper AlphonseAreola, dropped to the bench.

Areola is reportedly set to go to RealMadrid in a swap for veteran Costa RicanKeylor Navas.

PSG also started without the injured pairof Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani.

“It wasn’t easy because this week therewere a lot of possibilities to be distracted,”said PSG manager Thomas Tuchel.

Marcin Bulka started instead of Areola,making his senior professional debut. The19-year-old Pole arrived in the summer afterspending three seasons in the Chelseayouth system.

PSG also gave a debut to midfielder AdilAouchiche. At 17 years and six weeks, hewas their youngest ever Ligue 1 starter.

Di Maria smashed home an 11th-minute penalty to give PSG the lead.

After play resumed, Idrissa Gueye hitthe Metz bar with a close-range header. Thehome team’s marking had not improvedwhen Choupo-Moting barely had to jumpto head the second goal in the 43rd minute.

Metz gave PSG uncomfortable momentsin both halves, but could not force Bulka tomake a difficult save.

AFP n BERLIN

Timo Werner scored ahat-trick as RB Leipzig

won 3-1 at BorussiaMoenchengladbach onFriday to move top of thefledgling Bundesliga table.

The German inter-national striker was at hisclinical best as JulianNagelsmann's fine startto life as Leipzig coachcontinued with a thirdstraight win to kick offthe league season.

Leipzig, who weredrawn in ChampionsLeague Group G along-side Zenit Saint-Petersburg, Benfica andLyon on Thursday, hadbeaten Union Berlin andEintracht Frankfurt intheir first two games.

They continued theirstrong form as Wernerlatched onto EmilForsberg's through ball to

AFP n MADRID

Zinedine Zidane insists his rela-tionship with Real Madrid presi-

dent Florentino Perez is strong and heis happy with his squad ahead of thetransfer window closing on Monday.

Madrid have spent around 300 mil-lion euros this summer but Zidane hasnot selected a single new signing in hisfirst starting line-ups for the first twogames of the season.

Zidane hoped the club would signPaul Pogba, but Manchester Unitedwould not sell, and sell Gareth Bale, butthe Welshman remains determined tosee out his contract, which expires in2022.

“The decisions that are up to me areon the pitch,” said Zidane in a pressconference on Saturday, ahead oftoday’s league game away at Villarreal.

“My relationship with FlorentinoPerez has always been very good, he willalways be the president that brought mehere and I will never forget that.

“Sometimes it is better to clarifythings and I say the relationship is good,I don’t care what anyone says. Theimportant thing is my day-to-day workand that I have the chance to coach this

great team.”Madrid have brought in Eden

Hazard from Chelsea but the Belgianhas a thigh injury and will not returnuntil after the international break.Hazard began training alone on Friday.

Real have also signed Eder Militao,Luka Jovic, Rodrygo and FerlandMendy, with Zidane refusing to rule outfurther additions before the windowshuts.

Neymar’s future at Paris Saint-Germain remains uncertain whileTottenham’s Christian Eriksen andAjax’s Donny van de Beek are alsobelieved to be targets.

“Until Monday at midnight, every-thing can happen, one surprise, twosurprises, but the match is tomorrow,”Zidane said.

“I am proud of the players I have,for me they are the best players. Evenwhen you say you want to make somechanges, the important thing is whenthe season starts, you are happy and Iam happy.

“I cannot complain about the squadthat I have. If I complain, I can changejobs.”

Keylor Navas has fallen behindThibaut Courtois in the race to beMadrid's first-choice goalkeeper and isexpected to join PSG.

“It could happen,” Zidane said.“Keylor will be with us for the gameagainst Villarreal and until the windowcloses, anything can happen.”

Kandola’s bestis yet to comeDjoker, Serena roll at Open

Top rank Serb cruise past Kudla to set Wawrinka showdown; Williams eliminates Muchova

Serena Williams reacts after defeating Karolina Muchova during round three of the US Open championship on Friday AP

Novak Djokovic reacts after winning his third round match against Denis Kudla AP

Bopanna,Shapovalovmove to2nd roundPTI n NEW YORK

India experienced a mixedday at the US Open as

Rohan Bopanna advanced tothe men’s doubles secondround with DenisShapovalov but LeanderPaes made a first-round exitwith Guillermo Duran here.

Bopanna and hisCanadian partner knockedout formidable fourth-seed-ed French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and NicolasMahut 6-3, 6-1 in just 55minutes on Friday night.

Bopanna andShapovalov lost their servetwice but broke their rivalssix times out of sevenchances.

Paes and Argentina’sGuillermo Duran lost 5-7, 2-6 to Serbia’s MiomirKecmanovic and Norway’sCasper Ruud.

Divij Sharan andMonaco’s Hugo Nys hadalso lost their first round toRobert Carballes Baena andFederico Delbonis onThursday.

Kishan’s 55 scriptsIndia A triumph

Starc strikes as Aus thrash Derby

Mitchell Starc celebrates with Australian teammates after taking wicket ICC

Werner takes Leipzig on top

Timo Werner celebrates after scoring AP

slip a shot between thelegs of Gladbach goal-keeper Yann Sommerand give the visitors a38th-minute lead atBorussia Park.

Leipzig caught theirhosts cold less than twominutes into the secondperiod, as YussufPoulsen sent Wernerracing in on goal again,and the 23-year-oldmade no mistake.

He made it fivegoals in just threeleague appearances inthe final minute ofadded time after BreelEmbolo had brieflygiven the home fanssome hope, slottingcalmly into the bottomcorner after a poorback-header byMatthias Ginter.

A first defeat of theseason leaves Gladbachseventh on four points.

Zidane happy with Madrid squad

Zinedine Zidane instructs during Madrid’s game AP

Ishan Kishan in a file picture Mumbai Indians/Twitter

Angel comes to rescue PSG

PSG players celebrate a goal in the first half AP