c m y k c m y k

Max: 29OCMin: 22OC RH: 89%Rainfall: Nil

Forecast: Cloudy sky.Rain, thundershowers

likely. Max/Min 31/22ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDEVikari: Dakshinayana

Tithi: Bhadrapada BahulaTrayodasi till 7.30 am,

Bhadrapada Bahula Chaturdasitill 3.45 am (Saturday)

Star: Purvaphalguni till 1.03 am(Saturday)

Varjyam: 11 am to 12.24 pmDurmuhurtam: 8.32 am to 9.20

am, 12.31 pm to 1.19 pm Rahukalam: 10.30 am to 12 pm

HIJRI CALENDARMuharram 27,1441 AH

PRAYERSFajar: 5.06 am

Zohar: 12.17 pmAsar: 4.26 pm

Maghrib: 6.14 pmIsha: 7.21 pm

SUNSET TODAY 6.09 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.06 AM

MOONRISE TOMORROW 4.23 AMMOONSET TODAY 5.19 AM

Trouble in storefor Vadra

New Delhi: TheEnforcement Directorate

on Thursday told theDelhi High Court that it

wanted custodial interro-gation of Robert Vadra

because the “moneychain” in a case of

money laundering wasallegedly directly linked

to him. Mr Vadra was notcooperating with the

investigation in the case,the agency added. MrVadra is facing allega-

tions of money launder-ing in the purchase of a

London-based property.

■ Report on Page 7

deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle Vol. 82 No. 268 Established 1938 | 32 PAGES | `4.00

TABLOID10 Tamannaah Bhatia will be seen asa kabaddi coach in her next film

WORLDTrump calls impeachment

probe by Democrats a ‘joke’

IN BRIEF

Srini daughteris TNCA prez

Chennai: Rupa Gurunath,daughter of former BCCI

chief N. Srinivasan, wason Thursday elected

unopposed as presidentof the Tamil Nadu

Cricket Association(TNCA), making her the

first woman to head astate unit of the IndianBoard. Ms Rupa is the

wife of GurunathMeiyappan, who is serv-

ing a life ban for hisinvolvement in the 2013

Indian Premier League(IPL) spot-fixing scandal.

■ Report on Page 13

COUNTER POINT

DC CORRESPONDENT with agency inputsNEW DELHI,SEPT. 26

Minister for externalaffairs SubhramanyamJaishankar ruled out thepossibility of India play-ing cricket with Pakistan.While referring to Islama-bad’s support to terror-ism, Mr Jaishankar saidthat New Delhi can’t takea “tea break” and say “letus go and play cricket”with Pakistan.

Speaking in New Yorkon Thursday, Mr Jaishan-kar said that the “domi-nating narrative of therelationship” betweenNew Delhi and Islamabad“is of terrorism, suicidebombings, violence andthen you say, ‘okay guystea break, let us go andplay cricket’.”

He highlighted therecent terror attacks inIndia at Uri, Pathankot,and Pulwama and saidthat “it’s a very hard nar-rative to sell to people...It’s a democracy, senti-ments do matter and onemessage [that] I don’twant to give [is that] youdo terrorism by night, and[then] it’s business as

usual during the day.”Mr Jaishankar said the

issue for India was notwhether it talks toPakistan, but how it cantalk to a country that isconducting terrorism. “Ofcourse everyone wants totalk to their neighbour.The issue is, how do I talkto a country that is con-ducting terrorism andwhich frankly I would say

follows a policy of implau-sible deniability,” he said.

“They do it, they kind ofpretend they don’t do it.They know that that pre-tense is not serious, butyet they do it. So, how doyou address that and Ithink it’s a huge challengefor us,” he added.

The external affairs min-ister stressed the historyof India and Pakistan wasnot a normal history.

Mr Jaishankar said thatdespite being a neighbour,Pakistan will not tradewith India, is a member ofthe WTO but will notextend MFN status, eventhough they are legallyobliged to and New Delhidid it.

“You have a neighbourwho would not allow youconnectivity. So we have,for example, the potentialto use Pakistan to transiton to Afghanistan, Iranbut they will not allow youthat connectivity,” hesaid. Such an attitude hasslowed down regionalism,largely because of a con-cern that that might inte-grate them more withIndia’s economy, he said.“So it’s a very challengingneighbour.”

No cricket withPak, says India

Human rights panel yetto be split, plaints pile upIREDDY SRINIVAS REDDY| DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The two Telugu Stateswere divided, but amongstthe unfinished agenda isthe division of the ersth-while Andhra PradeshState Human RightsCommission (HRC), pend-ing which, the worst abuseof power and greatest ofcitizen grievances —abuse of human rights —remain ignored. The HRC,tasked with providingtimely relief to distressedcitizens, has become non-functional, as the bifurca-tion of the Commission forthe Telugu states is yet tobe finished.

The HRC, which in par-ticular dealt with severalsensational cases anddelivered justice to thevictims before the forma-tion of Telangana state,has been completely non-functional for last threeyears, with the bifurcationof the Commission stillpending between AndhraPradesh and TS. Thous-ands of victims from boththe Telugu states areawaiting justice to theirgrievances that were putbefore the HRC. Withvacancies for severalposts, including that of thechairman, members, andexecutives have been notfilled from December 2016,the victims were forced to

wait for the relief. TheCommission had earlierdealt the cases whichinvolved victims of policecases, encounters, andattacks, and several vic-tims received justice.

The 10th Schedule of theState Re-organisation Actstipulates that theCommission on HumanRights should be dividedinto two; however, afterclose to 200 weeks, noprogress has taken place.The governments of APand TS have completeddivision of corporationsand other organisations in10th Schedule, but not theHRC.

■ Page 5: CMs’s meet didnot take up HRC split

EC defers bypollsto 17 K’taka seats

KTR bachcha, playsdirty politics: Uttam

BIG CRACKIN PVNREXPRESSWAY

S.A. ISHAQUI | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The misery for Hydera-badis just increases.Already under an onsla-ught from a plethora ofdifficulties — a healthepidemic of viral fevers,dengue and malaria,incessant rainfall, water-logging, bad roads, andbelow-par sewage andwater supply, people nowhave a new cause fortears — rising prices ofonion. The retail price ofonions has shot evenabove the high levels of`55 for a while andbreached the `58 per kilomark, the second time ina month that the priceshave risen.

Supermarkets havepurchased large stocks ofonions at a higher pricefrom wholesalers andprices will thus stay inthis range till stocks runout.

■ Page 5: Mantri blameshike of prices on hoarding

CITIZENS INTEARS: ONIONTOUCHES `58

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 26

Sunni Waqf Board onThursday assailed theASI report, based on itsexcavation at the disput-ed site, saying that itsconjectures were movingin a “preconceived”direction, in favour ofthe Ram temple.

Thursday was the 32rdday of the hearing thatcommenced on August 6,2019. “There will not beany extra day afterOctober 18. It will bemiraculous, if we deliverthe judgement in fourweeks in the matter,”said Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi who isheading the five-judgeConstitution bench said.CJI Gogoi, is set to retireon November 17.

■ Report on Page 7

SC FIRM ONTEMPLE CASEDEADLINE

COREENA SUARES | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

Dr Ch. Devika Rani, dir-ector, Insurance MedicalServices (IMS) has comeunder the scanner ofAnti-Corruption Bureau(ACB), besides 16 othergovernment officials,including two other doc-tors holding key posi-tions. The ACB sleuthscarried out searches at 23locations, includingoffice and residences of17 government officials,besides four private per-sons.

The ACB’s investiga-tion revealed that thedirector of IMS and otherofficials were involved inmaking ‘fake indent’, fal-sification of records, vio-lating rules in purchaseof medicines and surgi-cal kits. It is estimatedthat this has caused aloss of `9 crore to thegovernment exchequer.

Following a complaintfiled with the Vigilance& Enforcement (V&E)against these officials, aprobe was ordered. TheV&E’s year-long investi-gation unearthed amulti-crore scam in thesupply of medicines todispensaries and ESIHospitals by non ratecontract (RC) firms,involving top govern-ment officers. The V&Einvestigated all the medi-cines supplied by firmsfor a period between 2016and 2018, and concludedthat large-scale viola-tions had been commit-ted in the purchase ofmedicines and surgicalkits.

■ Page 4: Indents split toavoid tenders

ACB CORNERS17 OFFICIALSIN MED SCAM

66m kids exposed to internet via smart gadgetsAlmost 15 p.c. of India’s Net userbase aged between 5 and 11 years, says studyNET | EFFECT

ARCHAK SENGUPTA | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

India’s internet penetra-tion has risen to recordheights in an unusual seg-ment of the population andit is not a delightful devel-opment. Of the 451 millionmonthly active users inIndia, 66 million are in theage bracket of five to 11years, who access interneton devices of family mem-bers, an IAMAI reporttitled, ‘India Internet 2019’said.

Anecdotally, it is com-mon knowledge that young

children these days areaddicted to games avail-able on smart phones. Thesituation – of their increas-ing usage of digital screens– has worsened with theproliferation of ‘budget’smartphones in the coun-try. Bad news for parentswho have been concernedabout games, these chil-dren are now also usinginternet on the phone.

With the proliferation ofbudget smartphones,India, which is onlybehind China in terms ofactive internet userbase atend of March, 2019, also

saw a considerable rise ininternet penetration. But,these budget smartphones,which can also be used toaccess internet, are oftenseen in hands of kids, whoare not only playing gamesbut accessing the internet,without parental guidance

or safety measures inplace.

The report, brought outby the industry body,Internet and MobileAssociation of India(IAMAI), has confirmedthat kids are not onlyusing such devices to playgames but also to accessthe internet.

The report says, omi-nously for Indian parents,“there is still much head-room for growth”, as theinternet penetration levelis currently only at 36 percent and can only headnorth, rapidly. Parents

will need to step up to thechallenge as access tointernet, which has its pos-itive sides in terms ofinteractive learning andknowledge acquisition,also opens and exposesyoung children to variouscategories of digitalthreats.

According to cyber secu-rity experts, the most com-mon threat, if one excludesthe threat of digital databreaches, would be thatthe kids would be interact-ing with strangers, andmay become victims ofcyber bullying. Worse,

paedophiles use digitalmediums to interact withkids in large numbers.

Recently, Google and USFTC had reached a $170million settlement overalleged YouTube viola-tions of kids’ privacy.

The report also says thatfemale internet users’ pop-ulation is about half of the258 million male internetusers. The bias is more evi-dent in rural India. Kerala,Tamil Nadu and Delhihave a higher proportionof female internet userscompared to other states,it said.

PARMOD KUMAR | DCNEW DELHI, SEPT. 26

The Election Commissionon Thursday told theSupreme Court that itwould defer the byelec-tions to 17 Assembly seatsin Karnataka that fellvacant after the disqualifi-cation of MLAs belongingto the JD(S) and theCongress after they defiedthe party whip and stayedaway from voting on theconfidence motion by for-mer chief minister H.D.Kumaraswamy.

The EC said this as abench comprising Justi-ces N.V. Ramana, SanjeevKhanna and KrishnaMurari decided to hold afinal hearing on October22-23, and decide on thepetitions by 17 MLAs chal-lenging their disqualifica-tion by then Speaker K.R.Ramesh Kumar.

Appearing for the EC,senior counsel RakeshDwivedi told the court thepoll panel can use Section153 of the Representationof the People Act 1951 anddefer the byelections,which were announced onSeptember 21, and thenominations for whichwere to begin fromSeptember 29.

Section 153 of the RP Actstates: “It shall be compe-tent for the ElectionCommission for reasonswhich it considers suffi-

cient, to extend the timefor completion of any elec-tion by making necessaryamendments in the notifi-cation issued by it underSection 30 or sub-section(1) of Section 39.”

Former KarnatakaSpeaker K.R. RameshKumar had rejected theMLAs’ resignations, andacting on a complaint bythe Congress disqualifiedthem. Of the 17 MLAs whowere disqualified, 14belonged to the Congressand three to the JD(S).

■ Page 7: Bypolls inKarnataka inevitable: EC

■ CITY... PAGE 2Don’t use Ranitidinefor time being: Docs

■ POLITICS... PAGE 5AP HC overturns

YSRC’s gag order

INSIDE

Rain brings muck, filth homeT.S.S. SIDDHARTH | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

After two days of torren-tial rainfall, the city isnow busy cleaning up themuck and filth huge flood-ing by rainwater hasbrought to its doorsteps.Over the last two days,humungous amounts ofsilt, mud and constructiondebris, which weredumped earlier on toroadsides, have made itsway over onto to the mid-dle of the roads.

A senior official fromthe sanitation departmentsaid that most of the wastethat was cleaned up wasmud and sand that sweptup to the roadsides. Hesaid that the rainwatercould have brought themud along with it.

Making matters worsewas the fact they wereplastic bags and cups clog-ging up the drains of thePanjagutta flyover, whichmade way for the creationof an impromptu swim-ming pool of sorts, notthat any Hyderabadi

would be too eager toswim in rainwater accu-mulated on a road.

“Workers of the mon-soon teams cleared thePanjagutta flyover. Thereis no water on the flyover

now. But on inquiry, welearnt that a lot of thewater was stopped fromentering the vents due toplastic and paper waste,”he added.

Meanwhile, the Met

department said the citywould continue to witnesssparse amounts of rainfallfor the next 24 hours.

■ More reportson Page 2

City gets into clean-up mode; Met predicts rain for 24 hours

Must respect people’s sentiments: Jaishankar

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The P.V. Narasimha RaoExpressway developedcracks on Pillar No. 20,creating panic amongmotorists. After therecent incident atAmeerpet metro station,everyone’s focus is onflyovers and the con-struction of the MetroRail.

However, officials ofthe Hyderabad Metropo-litan Development Aut-hority said there was noneed to worry.

■ Report on Page 3

Mithalinagar at Jillelaguda remains flooded for the second day on Thursday, follow-ing the heavy downpour in the city. — P. SURENDRA

● BYPOLLS INKarnataka were tobe held on October21 and counting ofvotes on October 24.● SUPREME COURTto hold a final hear-ing on October 22-23and decide on thepetitions by 17 MLAschallenging their dis-qualification.

THE ISSUE is,how do I talkto a country

that is conductingterrorism andwhich frankly Iwould say follows apolicy ofimplausibledeniability.’’

S. JAISHANKAR,EAM

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I FRIDAY I 27 SEPTEMBER 2019

S.N.C.N. ACHARYULU | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

N. Uttam Kumar Reddy,president of the Telanga-na Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) madeserious comments againstK.T. Rama Rao, ministerand working president ofthe Telangana RashtraSamiti (TRS), saying, KTRwas a bachcha, who wasplaying dirty politics offamily and caste.

Earlier, N. Padmavathi,wife of Uttam Reddy, andthe Congress candidate inbyelection for the Huzur-nagar Assembly con-stituency, filled her nomi-nation on Thursday.

Speaking to media on

this occasion at Suryapet,Mr Uttam Reddy posed aquestion to KTR, saying, ifthe TRS was sure of win-ning in Huzurnagar, whywas he trying to purchaseCongress leaders. He chal-lenged KTR to give anaccount of the develop-ment done by the TRSgovernment in theHuzurnagar Assemblyconstituency. He allegedthat Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao’sfamily was looting thestate. He said that theKCR government was tap-ping the phones of opposi-tion leaders.

■ Page 5: ‘How much waslooted in Bhagiratha’

SPEAK OUT

As the authorities, read-ers and the general

public wake up to thecity’s much-loved griev-ances column Speak Out,Deccan Chronicle feelsproud to dedicate an additional page to theweekly column to highlightcitizen woes. We requestreaders to keep up thepace and write to us withyour problems, civic innature, pointing out anylacunae in governance,services and infrastructure.

SCR to run specialtrains in Nov.

Hyderabad: South CentralRailways (SCR) will run spe-

cial trains from the city tovarious destinations to clear

the extra rush of passengers.Sixteen trains will be runbetween Kacheguda andKanpur on Fridays from

November 8 to December 27.There will be 10 weekly spe-

cials between Hyderabadand Kochuvelli from

November 2 to 30. There willbe another eight weekly spe-

cial trains betweenHyderabad and Ernakulam

on Wednesdays, fromNovember 6 to 27.

PAGE

2CityFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Quick movesKTR says stating government is takingsteps to reopen the RamagundamFertilisers factory as soon as possible

Representation givento minister G. Kishan

Reddy againstfrequent road closure

— A. Revanth ReddyMalkajgiri Congress MP

IN BRIEF

Protest atOsmania over fees

Hyderabad: A section ofOsmania University students

staged a protest at ArtsCollege to demand the

release of fee reimburse-ment and the filling up of

vacancies, on Thursday.They said the government

owes students `2,453 croreas fee reimbursement.

Several students had discon-tinued their education

because they did not receivethe money. ABVP Hyderabad

secretary P. Srihari saidmany teaching and non-

teaching posts were lyingvacant and teachers were

overburdened.

HC: NOT RIGHTFORUM FOR

ROYALTY DISPUTEDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The High Court made it clearthat the petition of DoravariDastagiri Reddy and four oth-ers claiming to be legal heirsof freedom fighter Uyyala-wada Narasimha Reddy wouldnot be maintainable.

Justice Abhinand KumarShavili was hearing a plea ofthe petitioners urging thecourt to direct the CensorBoard not to clear a biopic onthe freedom fighter.

The judge observed that ifthe petitioners had filed theplea with the intention of get-ting royalty, the High Courtwas not the forum to resolvecivil disputes. The petitionershad the alternative remedy —to approach the civil court.

Counsel for the film-makerssubmitted that the petitionerswere seeking `20 crore as roy-alty. To a pointed query fromJustice Shavili on whether thepetitioners were seekingmoney and whether they hadan agreement with the moviemakers, their counsel P.Janardhan Reddy replied thatthey are seeking money as perthe agreement.

Justice Shavili wonderedhow a civil dispute could beshown as a reason for seekingto stall the release of a film.

“To get the agreementenforced, you have to app-roach a civil court,” the judgesaid.

Citing Section 32 of theCinematography Act, counselfor the petitioners said thatcensor certificate cannot begranted if objections areraised.

UoH student pollsend peacefully

Hyderabad: The University ofHyderabad student elections

concluded peacefully onThursday and the results will

be announced on Friday.Students patiently waited in

long queues and exercisedtheir franchise at the 16

polling booths. A total of 24candidates are in the fray for

six posts: president (fivecandidates), vice-president

(five), general secretary(four), joint secretary (four),

cultural secretary (three) andsports secretary (three can-

didates). In addition, 124candidates contested for the

position of school boardmembers, school councillorsand unternal complaint com-

mittee representatives.

TRS leader protests over bad roadsHeavy rains led to water-logging in many areas of the city; road in Hayathnagar has not been levelledCOREENA SUARES | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

In what may turn anembarrassment for theTRS government, rulingparty corporator from theHayathnagar ward in thecity went on to lie down onthe road in protest againstheavy water logging due toa dug-up road in his divi-sion that affected 800 resi-dents of the GreenMeadows apartment .

Wednesday’s heavy rainsover the city led to waterlogging in many areas ofthe city. One such localityturned out to be in theHayathnagar ward alongthe Auto Nagar road lead-ing to the highway.

Hayathnagar corporatorSama Tirumal Reddy said,“Over 800 people live inGreen Meadows apart-ments that house 204 flats.The road near these apart-ments has been dug up bycontractors. Despite sever-al request to the ZonalGHMC office, the road hasnot been laid. Due to inces-sant rainfall during thelast two days, water hasstagnated in the area,thereby obstructing move-ment of people. Many chil-dren are afraid of usingthe road”.

The corporator went onto say, “The residents areblaming me for the apathy.With no option left, I hadto lie down on the road inprotest.”

The road has not beenlevelled as on Thursday.

Despite the skies remaining clear for most parts of Thursday, the cellar of an apartment complex in Malkajgiriremains flooded. — S. SURENDER REDDY

City ignore nalaplan, paid dearly

Goshamahal school kids stranded

City’s tryst with rain isn’t over yetDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 27

The city’s tryst with therain is not over yet.According to officials ofthe Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), thecity will continue to wit-ness sparse amounts ofrainfall for the next 24hours.

“There is a forecast ofrainfall decreasing across

the city from Fridayonwards, as the upper aircyclonic circulation—thatbrought on the torrentialrainfall over the last twodays—has moved awayfrom the city. It will gainstrength over Maha-rashtra soon,” Dr KNagaratna, chief ofweather prediction, toldDeccan Chronicle.

While that is the case, theincessant rains triggered

in the city have turned itinto a rainfall surplus one.“Given the heavy rainfallthat took place in the cityover the last two-days thecity has become a rainfallsurplus as high as 37% ,”she added.

As against an average of157mm in September, thecity has received a cumu-lative average rainfall of215.4mm up to September25 this month.

According to the IMD’srecords, in September2016, the city had received439.7 mm over the courseof the entire month and231.1 mm in September2010. However she refusedto comment on the wean-ing away of the south westmonsoon, as she claimedthat this particular pieceof information has to beissued by the New Delhioffice of the IMD.

ATHER MOIN | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

Students of GovernmentHigh School, Goshamahal,get stuck in their classesduring the rainy seasonwhenever the nearbyOsmangunj nala over-flows. Sometimes, teach-ers carry children on theirshoulders in the knee-deepwater inundating theschool to leave them out-side the main gate.

There is also an urbanhostel on the school prem-ises. During heavy rains inthe nights, inmates of thehostel are forced to takeshelter in classrooms onthe first floor, as waterenters the rooms on theground floor.

Parents complain thateven drainage waterenters into the school

premises whenever thearea receives a heavy rain.This has been happening

over the years and civicauthorities have failed tosolve the problem. Manyparents say this is causingillness among their chil-dren. School teacherSarwat says in case thereare rains during the daytime, water stagnates inthe school ground andthey have to carry the chil-dren on their shoulders.“We have shifted the class-rooms from the ground tothe first floor because ofthis problem,” she pointedout.

Another teacher saidwhenever water stagnateson the school ground, theyinform the MetroSewerage Board authori-ties, who immediatelycome to their rescue.

ROADS ARE RID OF RAINWATER IN MALKAJGIRIDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

After torrential andrecord-breaking rainfallfor the last 48 hours, resi-dents of water-loggedareas like East Anand-bagh and Malkajgiri final-ly breathed a sigh of reliefon Thursday.

Over the last two daysthe narrow nalas led tomassive run-off of excessrainwater onto the streets.“We struggled to travelalong the roads as most ofthem were at least knee-deep in water. But now thesun is out, the drains arecleared and the roads arerid of any water,” said arelieved B.T. Srinivasan,resident of Tarnaka.

Some had to force theGreater Hyderabad Muni-cipal Corporation (GHMC)to de-silt and clear thegarbage before the mon-soon started. “Alwal andthe low lying areas hereare the most prone to flood-ing and that is why weensured that the GHMCdid their job in the areabeforehand. Fortunately,with the silt out of the way,the run-off water easilyflows into the drains andnalas,” said G.V. Rao, a res-ident of Alwal.

Don’t use ranitidine fortime being, warn doctorsRecalling from retail market not possible

Sachin praises AIG chairmanDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The hard work put in bydoctors was acknowledgedby Sachin Tendulkar whenhe mentioned how DrNageshwar Reddy, chair-man of the Asian Instituteof Gastroenterology (AIG),works till 1.30 in the nightand is available by 7.30 amfor a surgery.

The commitment andpassion Dr Reddy has formedicine, is the same ashis own commitment tocricket, said MrTendulkar, who was thechief guest at AIG’s 25thyear celebrations inHyderabad. The hospital,which started as an out-patient department, isnow a full-fledged andreputed gastroenterologyhospital not only in thecountry but the world.

Over 25,00,000 patientshave passed through itsdoors in the past 25 years.AIG is also committed tocommunity service andaround one crore peoplehave been screened forgastro-intestinal disor-ders through communityand rural screening pro-grammes that are free.

Dr Reddy, in an interac-tive session with the crick-eting legend, talked about

cricket and also the needfor sports medicine inIndia as most Indiansportsmen are going toAustralia and the UnitedKingdom for treatment.

Mr Tendulkar, who tooka tour of the hospital, isconsidered ‘lucky’ by Dr

Reddy as he had also visit-ed his hospital inSomajiguda in the year2005.

AIG’s in-patient servicesstarted in 1994 andexpanded in 2004 inSomajiguda.

During this 25-year peri-

od, it evolved from a clini-cal care hospital to carry-ing out cutting-edgeresearch and training ingastro-enterology. It isalso the first centre in theworld to use flexible robot-ic endoscopic techniquesin gastric cancer.

KANIZA GARARI | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

Prescribing ranitidine asmedicine for acidity,ulcers and other gastroin-testinal problems must bestopped forthwith forpatient safety, rather thaninspecting manufacturingunits in the state, pharmaexperts have stated.

They observed that theneed of the hour is to edu-cate people that raniti-dine, the most commonlyused medicine for dia-betes, heart diseases,ulcers, geriatric and gas-trointestinal ailments,has traces of carcinogenicelements. They must shiftto alternative medica-tions, suggested Dr SanjayReddy, president of Telan-gana Pharma Society.

He said, “The DrugController must, in coor-dination with the TSMedical Council andhealth department, issueinstructions that doctorsstop prescribing raniti-dine. Presently, it is onlyan advisory that is hardly

being followed. Doctorsmust be ordered to stopprescribing this medi-cine.”

The antacid is used by alarge section of the popu-lation on a daily basis.This is a cause for con-cern, as use of this drugleads to buildup of toxicelements in the body andcan lead to development ofcancer cells, Dr Sanjaywarned.

Dr Satya Sunil, a seniorconsultant pharmacolo-gist, stated, “Ranitidine isavailable in tablet form indosages of 150 mg and 300mg. A large number ofpeople take these tabletsfor various diseases.

Many of them self-diag-nose acidity and purchasethe medicine. Antacidsare among the highly mis-used medicines in India."

Following the warningby the US Food and DrugAdministration (USFDA),it has been found that theexisting stocks of raniti-dine with wholesalers willlast six months whileretailers have a stock ofthree months. There are26,000 chemists in thestate.

To recall these medi-cines from the retail mar-ket is not possible, saydrug inspectors.

A senior drug inspector,on condition of anonymi-ty, disclosed: “We are col-lecting samples from thestocks of manufacturingunits and wholesalers tocheck which batches ofthese medicines haveimpurities. Accordingly,those batches will bestopped. It is not possibleto recall the completeproduct from the market,as the medicine is neededby many patients.”

Asian Institute of Gastroenterology chairman Dr Nageshwar Reddy gives a personaltour to Sachin Tendulkar of the hospital campus.

MADDY DEEKSHITH | DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

Lack of desiltation andhalting the nala wideningproject has maximised thesubmersion of low lyingareas in the city. Thoughnight-long rescue opera-tions were taken up, theGreater Hyderabad Muni-cipal Corporation man-aged to clear the waterstagnation at very fewlocations on Wednesday.

The civic body in a spanof two years has managedto clear four bottlenecksout of 46 identified in thecity. This apart, the corpo-ration was yet to clear 14major stagnation points inthe low lying areas alongMusi River. Officialsblamed the local leadersfor hindering the projectand they clarified thatthey could not go aheadunless with strong politi-cal will.

Parts of the city gotflooded every year when-ever there was a littleextra rainfall, because thecause of this flooding wasthe encroachments onnalas which decreasedtheir ability to carry theextra water. The opposi-tion too was not pressingfor action of this kind.Authorities claimed thatincessant rains onTuesday and Wednesdayshould be an eye-openerfor the higher authoritieswho had been keeping thenala widening project onthe back burner for 15years.

The Telangana govern-ment had sanctioned ` 230crore for widening of thestorm water drains at 47identified bottleneckpoints. The corporation ina knee jerk reaction hadidentified as many as 46bottlenecks and 850encroachments on them.The civic body had decid-ed to remove the encroach-ments and widen the nalasto save the city from inun-dation.

However, the corporationhad managed to widennalas only on a 371 metresstretch. The civic bodyhad widened 55 metres bytunnelling the pipe drainat Nawab Saheb Kunta,widened 200 metres nala atKalaniketan to Musi rivermissing links, it hadwidened nala by 16 metresby constructing stormwater drain from QayamNagar -Fortview colony toMusi river gap portion inAshok Vihar Colony and100 metre nala wideningwas also done from BSNLoffice to KPHB Cheruvudrain. Barring this, thecorporation was yet towiden nalas of about 8,642metres in Kapra, Nacha-ram, Rajendernagar,Falaknuma, Tolichowki,

Khajaguda, Hafeezpet,Allwyn colony, Balanagar,Akber Nagar and RKPuram. The project wasput on hold since thenwhich resulted in majorareas in the city gettinginundated.

A senior GHMC official,on condition of anonymi-ty, said that the issue ofnala widening did not seeany progress since 15years. He said since then,no successive govern-ments came in support ofthe civic body. The official,citing land acquisitionand encroachmentremoval as primary hin-drance for the project, saidnala widening could notbe taken up withoutaddressing both issues. Hesaid that due to non co-operation of variouswings in the GHMC, thecorporation could evenmanage to complete thetender process for severalworks. The official alsostressed that the corpora-tion could not widen thecity’s nalas even in thenext 15 years withoutstrong political will.Incidentally, politiciansblame corporation offi-cials during inundation.

The GHMC official alsostressed that the low-lyingareas in the city would beinundated during the cur-rent monsoon and politi-cal leaders were the onlyones to blame for the dis-aster in waiting. He saidthat despite remindingthat encroachments beremoved from nalas, vari-ous wings within the cor-poration were also notextending support of anysort.

However, the official saidthat 384 monsoon responseteams, 13 disaster teamsjumped into action, andcleared 82 water stagna-tion points and 12 uproot-ed trees. Disaster responseforce (DRF) teams savedtwo persons who werestranded in the heavy flowat Nagole.

■ ■ THE CIVIC body in aspan of two years hasmanaged to clear fourbottlenecks out of 46identified in the city.

■ ■ THE CORPORATIONwas yet to clear 14 majorstagnation points in thelow lying areas alongMusi River.

■ ■ PARTS OF the city getflooded every year when-ever there was a littleextra rainfall, becausethe cause of this floodingwas the encroachmentson nalas whichdecreased their ability tocarry the extra water.

■ ■ AN ADVISORY ofcaution with regard tothe medicine has beenissued. Healthcareproviders must educatepeople on switching toalternate medicines,the drug inspectoradded.

Waste from the overflowing nala is seen at the premises of theGoshamahal government high school. — DC

PAGE

3CityFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Crack found on PVNRATHER MOIN I DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The P.V. Narasimha RaoExpressway developed crackson pillar no. 20, creatingpanic among motorists. Afterthe recent incident atAmeerpet metro station,everyone’s focus is on fly-overs and the construction ofthe Metro Rail. However, offi-cials of the HyderabadMetropolitan DevelopmentAuthority (HMDA) said therewas no need to worry.

The crack was first identi-fied on Wednesday and a fewpeople had posted photos ofthe damaged pillar onFacebook and Twitter. Later,film director Kona Venkatshared a picture of it on hisFacebook and Twitter feed.He pointed out that pillar no.20 of the PVNR Expresswayhad developed cracks andasked the authorities to takecare before it was too late.

The director tagged GHMCand the Minister for munici-pal administration and urbandevelopment, Mr K.T. RamaRao in his post.

Local people said that theyfound it only yesterday butcan’t say when the cracksfirst developed. They said itmay have developed followingthe torrential rains thatlashed the city over the lastfew days.

They said there may be nodanger to the structuralhealth of the expressway, butthey fear what would happenif a piece fell down.

Chief engineer of HMDA,Mr B. L. N. Reddy, said a teamof engineers inspected thespot and it was found thatthere is no danger to thestructure as the cracks werenot developed either on a pil-lar or girder.

“The flyover is totallyintact. People should notpanic,” he said.

He added that repair workwould be carried outovernight .

■ ■ FILM DIRECTOR KonaVenkat shared a picture ofthe pillar on his Facebook andTwitter feed and asked theauthorities to take carebefore it was too late.

Crack above pillar no. 20 of the PVNR expressway.

PAGE

4CityFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Cop workCyberabad police commissioner V.C.Sajjanar says 488 applicants selectedas constables were coached by cops

Trump praised Modikeeping in mind the

US presidentialelections

— V. Hanumantha RaoAICC secretary

IN BRIEF

Bizmen arrested for selling vapesHyderabad: The West ZoneTask Force team conducted

raids on a shop named as‘Alam's Pan Shop’ at

Balkampet, S.R. Nagar,Hyderabad in the limits of

S.R. Nagar P.S. on Wednes-day and found illegal mar-

keting and sales of bannedelectronic cigarettes (ENDS).

The police arrested ImranAlam and Mohd. Kamruddin

and seized 29 e-cigarettemachines of different com-

panies from their possession.The apprehended accusedpersons, along with seized

property, were handed overto S.R. Nagar police for

further investigation.

GOVERNMENTCONSTITUTES 9POCSO COURTS

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The state government onThursday constituted ninemore special courts to belocated across Telangana rideal with cases registeredunder the POCSO (Protectionof Children from SexualOffences) Act, 2012.

In a GO, the governmentmentioned that the existingfast track courts situated innine districts, includingHyderabad and Ranga Reddy,are being converted into spe-cial courts to exclusively dealwith the trial and disposal ofcases under the POCSO Act.

The following are the fasttrack courts being convertedas special courts to solely dealwith trial and disposal ofcases under the POCSO Act:XIII Additional Chief Judge(FTC), City Civil Court,Hyderabad, IV AdditionalDistrict and Sessions Judge’sCourt (FTC), Karimnagar, IIAdditional District andSessions Judge’s Court (FTC)situated at Khammam,Mahabubnagar, Medak atSangareddy, Nalgonda , andNizamabad; IX AdditionalDistrict and Sessions Judge’sCourt cum X AdditionalMetropolitan Sessions Judge’sCourt (FTC), Cyberabad,Ranga Reddy, at L.B. Nagar,and IV Additional District andSessions Judge’s Court (FTC),Warangal.

After the Supreme Courtdirected all the states to con-stitute special courts for deal-ing with cases lodged underthe POCSO Act, the TelanganaHigh Court addressed a letterto the state government,which resulted in the conver-sion of fast track courts intospecial courts.

CMS’ MEET DID NOT TAKE UP HRC SPLITFROM PAGE 1

There have been allegationsthat the delay in theCommission’s division is dueto a lack of communicationbetween concerned officers.Due to this, the governments ofthe two states have not focusedon the appointment of a chair-man and other members.

Justice Nisar Ahmad Kakruserved as the last chairman ofthe Human Rights Commi-ssion. He retired on August 21,2016. In August 2015, membersof the commission had com-pleted their term. Since then,both the AP and Telanganagovernments did not consti-tute the commission.

At least 3,960 petitions arepending with the HRC sinceJanuary this year, the totalpendency is estimated to be inseveral thousands. Recently,the chief ministers of the twostates have met and discussedthe issues related to the bifur-

cation of employees and usageof river waters and otherissues, but the HRC appoint-ments did not come on up fordiscussion. Political partiesand NGOs say that both statesgovernments are neglectingthe constitution of the work-ing body for the HRC, deliber-ately. Despite several lettersfrom the NHRC to both stateson the formation of the com-missions at the earliest, theissue was never addressed. TheNHRC and HRCs of severalstates are now delivering serv-ices online to citizens, whereasthe Telugu states even are lack-ing in appointing members.

Tera Rajinikanth Reddy, sec-retary, Telangana High CourtsAdvocates Association, said,“When citizens face any dis-tress or denied of justice fromthe government bodies, theyapproach the Human RightsCommission. But for people ofthe two Telugu states, no serv-ices are being rendered.”

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

A car driver from thecity, wanted in nine bur-glaries, was arrested byCyberabad police onThursday. The accused,Mohammed Ibrahim, aresident of Golconda,had been taken into cus-tody seven times in 11years.

According to theCyberabad police,Ibrahim, 40, startedcommitting burglariesfrom 2005. He kept aneye on locked housesand broke into themwhenever an opportuni-ty arose. His latest theftwas on September 12 at

Rajendranagar whenthe inmates of a househad gone to watch theGanesh idol immersionprocession. When theyreturned that night,they found the houseburgled.

Police disclosed thatbetween 2005 and 2016,Ibrahim was arrestedseven times for beinginvolved in 43 thefts. Hewas an expert in break-ing into locked housesusing a screwdriver andan iron rod. In 2016, hewas booked under thePreventive DetentionAct and detained inChanchalguda CentralPrison. On release fromthe jail in January 2019,

he took up job as a driv-er with a businessman.

Rajendranagar detec-tive inspector D. Ashoksaid: “Ibrahim used toborrow his employer’scar saying that he wantsto take his family mem-bers for a ride. But heused it to commit theftsfrom locked houses.While most burglars lav-ishly spent the moneythey made on them-selves, Ibrahim alwaysspent the money madeto meet his family’sneeds. He has a wife andfour children, and oftenfaced difficulty in meet-ing their expenses.”

With clues collectedfrom the scene of

offence in Rajendra-nagar, Ibrahim wasnabbed during the weehours of Thursday atP&T Colony in the SunCity area.

Investigations haverevealed his involve-ment in four cases inRajendranagar, three inGolconda and two inAsif Nagar, said thedetective inspector.

Based on Ibrahim’sconfession, 17 tolas ofgold, silver articlesweighing 500 gms, `1.4lakh cash, a car (AP13 J7916) used in commit-ting the offences, apartfrom an iron rod and ascrewdriver were recov-ered from him.

Driver held for burglariesSince 2005, he committed over 50 theftsLONG | CAREER

Indents split to below`5L to avoid tendersAfter probe, ACB carried out searches at 23 locationsFROM PAGE 1

Subsequently, the inves-tigating agency recom-mended the initiationof disciplinary actionagainst errant officialsto principal secretary,labour employmenttraining and factoriesdepartment.

The V&E, in its finalreport, a copy of whichyour newspaper hasprocured, said, “it hasbeen observed that cer-tain drugs were pro-cured from non-RCfirms at high rateswhen compared to RCfirm. The officials havedeliberately splitindents to below Rs 5lakh, the official limitto avoid limited tender,and then went for localpurchases in violationof G.O No. 489 ofFinance).”

The report furthersaid. “Devika Rani andfive other top officersare not convincing intheir responses. It wasfound that no e-procure-ment system of pur-chase of medicines wasfollowed up to 2018,most of the drugs werepurchased locally byaccepting quotationswithout forming a localpurchases committeeand obtaining certifi-

cates, which is manda-tory “.

Based on this prelimi-nary report, the gov-ernment had orderedthe ACB to furtherprobe the matter indetail. After 45 days ofinvestigation, the ACBon September 26 car-ried out searches at 23locations, including

houses of 17 govern-ment employees. Thosewhose houses weresearched includeDevika Rani, Dr. K.Padma, joint director,Warangal, Dr. K.Vasantha Indira, assis-tant director, stores, M.Radhika, pharmacist,Ms. Um Fatima, phar-macist (grade II) and

other supporting staff,besides four privatepersons.

Director of IMS,Devika Rani has beenon the radar of ACB fora long time. Speaking toDeccan Chronicle, theinvestigation officersaid, “The searches willcontinue, but no arresthas been made so far.”

WOMAN SENTENCEDTO 2-YR JAIL FORTHREATENING 2

EXCISE SEIZES 150 KILOS OFGANJA, 4 CAUGHT

Officials shut illegalschool in Malakpet

90-yr-old tries to end life

Bus mows down cyclist in HayathnagarDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

A BSNL employee whowas riding a bicyclewas killed when a pri-

vate bus hit him atHayathnagar on Thurs-day morning.

According to police,the incident took placeat around 6.30 am on

the main road near thepolice station, when S.Ramulu, 57, an atten-dant with the BSNLwas crossing the roadon his bicycle.

Ramulu, a resident ofSBH Colony in Munaga-nuru, was taking a U-turn, when a speedingbus (AP05 TF22) belong-ing hit the bicycle.

PULI SHARAT KUMAR | DCRAMAGUNDAM, SEPT. 26

A 90 year-old personwho allegedly tried tocommit suicide byjumping into theGodavari was saved bylocals in Godavari-khani of Ramagun-dam, Peddapalli dis-trict. According toAssistant Commissio-ner of police Umendar,Mr Adla SanjeevaReddy, a resident ofMamidapalli in

Veenavanka mandal ofKarimnagar district,attempted suicide byjumping off the bridgeon the river. MrSanjeeva Reddy liveswith his sons Naraya-na Reddy and Narasi-mha Reddy for the pastfew years, after thedeath of his wife. Fewdays ago, Mr SanjeevaReddy handed over hisproperty of 20 acresalong with `3 lakhsdivided equally bet-ween his sons. Afterthis, they allegedly

started harassing himand did not even pro-vide him food.Moreover, they startedabusing him and pres-sured him so much hedecided to jump in thewaters and end hislife, he said. Unable tobear the torture by hissons, Mr SanjeevaReddy jumped into theGodavari river fromthe bridge. The localswho noticed this, res-cued the old man andinformed the police,he added.

RAJESHWARI PARASA I DCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

A private school inMalakpet was shutdown on Thursday byofficials of the SchoolEducation Departme-nt, as it was runningwithout any permis-sion from the govern-ment or its agencies.

This has affected 350children who, officialssay, would be accom-modated in nearbyschools.

Officials inspectedthe Integral Founda-tion School, followinga complaint by theTelangana Private

Teachers Forum. Theyfound that the schooldid not have any kindof permission, wheth-er a no-objection cer-tificate (NoC) from thefire department, build-ing permission fromthe GHMC or the per-mission required fromthe traffic police.Following this, theauthorities sealed theschool.

The school started inthe 2018-19 academicyear and was runningclasses till IX, on anaverage collecting`28,000 to `30,000 infees per student.

Sources said theschool will have to re-

fund the fee to the par-ents if it fails to obtainpermission before theDasara holidays.

One of the parents,on condition of anony-mity, said, “We wouldhave been happy ifthis was done at thebeginning of the aca-demic year. Officialsshould make sure thatsuch schools do notstart at all. Now ourchildren will have tosuffer.” One of thecomplainants, MrShabbir Ali, presidentof Telangana PrivateTeachers Forum, saidparents need to be care-ful when admittingtheir kids to school.

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The Prohibition andExcise team of Medakarrested four personsinvolved in illegal trans-portation of ganja andseized 150 kgs contra-band worth about 10lakhs on Wednesday latenight. The arrestedaccused were identifiedas P. Nikhil, P. Srinivas,P. Satish and RathodSrikant. According to D.Gayathri, AssistantProhibition and ExciseSuperintendent, Medak,during a route-watch atBudhera cross roads NH65, they found a four-wheeler illegally trans-porting contrabandfrom Marpally town ofRanga reddy district toChilapally thanda,Jharasangam mandal,Sangareddy for sale. Theaccused were transport-ing the contraband in afour-wheeler and a two-wheeler was piloting thevehicle. Investigationrevealed that a hamletnear Marpally town wasbeing used as a transientpoint for exchange andthe smugglers are dis-tributing the ganja tocities like Hyderabad,Bidar and Mumbai. Thepolice laid a trap, arrest-ed the four accused anda manhunt waslaunched for two otherswho were on the run.

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

A 50 year-old woman whofailed to repay a debt of `15lakh taken from two womenand threatened them whenthey asked for their moneyback, was convicted by acourt on Thursday.

The court directed her toundergo two years of rigor-ous imprisonment and pay`10,000 as fine.

A case was registeredagainst K. Arundhathi, 50, aresident of Bharani Colonyby Neredmet police in 2016,on the complaint of one S.Radha Devi, that the formerhas abused and threatenedher when she was asked torepay her debt.

The Rachakonda policesaid that Radha Devi and herfriend Rama Devi, had given`10 lakh and `5 lakh respec-tively to Arundhathi, as aloan in 2015, with a promiseto claim the debt in a year.

When the duo askedArundhathi about themoney, she abused them infilthy language and alsothreatened them with direconsequences if they askedfor the money. Subsequently,a case was registered againsther under sections 420, 406and 504 of IPC.

After the investigation, thecase was charge-sheetedbefore the 12th AdditionalMetropolitan MagistrateCourt at Malkajgiri.

The court conducted a trialand on Thursday gave ajudgement convictingArundhathi and directed herto undergo two years of rig-orous imprisonment, andalso to pay `10.000 as fine,said the police.

■ ■ IN A GO, the governmentmentioned that the existingfast track courts situated innine districts, includingHyderabad and RangaReddy, are being convertedinto special courts to exclu-sively deal with the trial anddisposal of cases under thePOCSO Act.

CHALIS WAon 28.09.2019 Saturday

Late KHAJA FAROOQ ALIDate of Death: 28.08.2019

National Chess Champion in 1963Retired Employee of R.B.I.

Add:- Plot No. 134, Ghouse Nagar,Bandlaguda, Opp. Abu BakarSiddique Masjid.

Contact No.: 9032426171Inserted by:

Khaja Mujahed Ali, Maqsood Ali(S/1920/D00941)

FIRST DEATH ANNIVERSARYBlessed are those who die in the Lord... forthey will rest from their hard work: for theirgood deeds follow them. (Revelation 14:13)

KOMMU SUBUSHAN KUMAR(Sunny)

DOB: 19.02.1976 DOD: 27.09.2018Inserted by:

Mrs. K. Esther (Wife), Nora Jenniffer, Shannon Stane and

Nirayl JemimaYou are loved beyond words and missed beyond measure

(S/1920/D00952)

BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE

GANDIBOINA ABRAHAM RAJUS/o (Late) Gandiboina PrakashamDOB: 27.09.1952 DOD: 30.09.2002

Your memories are in our heart forever. We miss you DAD

Inserted by Children:G. Christina, G. Sujay, G. Supreeth

I will dwell in the house of the Lordforever. PS: 23:67th DEATH ANNIVERSARY

Late S.S. RAJARATHNAMDOB: 01.09.1929 DOD: 27.09.2012

We always remember & cherish your good deeds & your memories

Sanjeev (Son)Shirley (Daughter-in-Law)Sheeba (Grand Daughter)

Sam (Grand Son)

(S/1920/D00949)

SHRADHANJALI

Smt. MEKA VIMALABorn: 08 July 1962 Died: 23 Sep 2019

Your presence was our strengthYour touch was our comfort

Now your memories will be our treasureInserted by:

Mr. M. Amarender (Husband)Mr. M. Navaneet Kumar (Son)

Mrs. B. Lavanya (Daughter)Mrs. S. Bhavana (Daughter)

Sons-in-Law & Grand Daughters(S/1920/D00951)

3rd DEATH ANNIVERSARY

PEREJI MARY MEENA KUMARID.O.D: 27-09-2016Mother in Heaven

Missing You AlwaysInserted by:

Best Price Whole Sale Medical9666208209

1st DEATH ANNIVERSARY

Sri KOTHAPALLY NARASIMHA(Bhishma Pithamaha, Meru Sangam)Your memories are with us all the time.

Inserted by:K.N. Son’s Tailors &

Kothapally Srinivas & K. Ramu(B/1920/D00100)

1st DEATH ANNIVERSARY

Sri KOTHAPALLY NARASIMHA(Bhishma Pithamaha, Meru Sangam)Your memories are with us all the time.

Inserted by:Kothapally Family.

(B/1920/D00099)

■■ Same offi-cials inserted286 purchaseorders (POs) inAugust 2018 as if itis issued in May 2015 bycancelling 26 earlier purchasesorders by inserting ante datedregistered number entries inrecords for causing benefit topharma companies.

■■ Serious allegations that Devika Rani and assistant director VasantaIndira, including other officials, caused loss of `9. 43 crore through pur-chase of medicines through special drug dispensing units (SDDU) in localpurchase, instead of rate contract during 2017-18.

‘ALLEGATIONS’ AGAINST OFFICIALS OFINSURANCE MEDICAL SERVICE DEPARTMENTS

■■ Allegations that two fakeindents for medicines worth`1.03 lakh were prepared by

Dr. K. Padma, serving as jointdirector, Hyderabad and claimedbills though concerned in-charge

medical officers of Patencheru andBorabanda dispensary, who have

not indented those medicines. Thebills were passed by Ch. Devika

Rani, director, IMS.

■■ Medicines worth `1.22 croreindented and received by K.

Padma, joint director, IMSHyderabad, but the stock was not

sent to dispensaries of Bollaramand Bonthapally during May 2018.

PAGE

5PoliticsFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Paying tributeKCR recalls contribution made byAcharya Konda Laxman Bapuji to thestatehood struggle on his 104th jayanti

Disburse insuranceamount to farmers

within a week of thedeath of a farmer

— T. Harish RaoFinance minister

IN BRIEF

Bar Council to meet on Sec. 41

HHyyddeerraabbaadd:: With advocatesseeking the repeal of

amendments to Section 41of the Criminal Procedure

Code, the Bar Councilof Telangana has decided to

convene a joint meeting ofthe Bar Council and presi-

dents and secretaries of barassociations on October 19.

The amendment enhancesthe powers of the police,advocates say. An officer

would have the right to givebail to an offender or serve

notice to a person who com-mits any offence for which

the punishment is belowseven years jail to appearbefore the police officer.

BJP says, probe Karimnagar fundsHHyyddeerraabbaadd:: Karimnagar BJP

MP Bandi Sanjay and stateparty president Dr K.

Laxman asked GovernorTamilisai Soundararajan to

inquire into the allegedirregularities in tenders for

the works by the KarimnagarSmart City Corporation andalleged illegal granite min-

ing in the district by a cartelof the MLA and officials.

They also demanded a CBIprobe. In a memorandum, Mr

Sanjay said the Centre hadearmarked `1,878 crore for

taking up developmentalworks in Karimnagar but

there are irregularities in thetenders and contracts had

been given to ineligible con-tractors.

MPs ask SCR formore trains

HHyyddeerraabbaadd:: About 15 MPsfrom TS and Karnataka tookpart in a meeting hosted bySouth Central Railway with

regard to Secunderabad andHyderabad divisions. SCR

GM Gajanan Mallya briefedthe MPs on the green initia-

tives, water conservation,avoiding use of plastic. TheMPs raised issues related to

development works andservices in their constituen-cies. The demands included

construction of new lines,introduction of trains, exten-

sion of services, additionalstoppages, construction of

bridges and providingimproved passenger ameni-ties. TS MPs also demanded

more MMTS services.

SS..AA.. IISSHHAAQQUUII II DDCC HYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

State BJP leaders arebrainstorming over con-testing the Huzurnagarbyelection. As per thesuggestions of some sen-ior leaders, the party’score committee decidedto drop the idea of con-testing, fearing that adefeat could have a cas-cading negative impacton the ensuing munici-pal elections.

The BJP’s candidatesecured a meagre 1,500votes in the December2018 Assembly electionsin the constituency. Inthe Lok Sabha polls thatfollowed a few monthslater, the BJP nomineesecured only 3,000 votesfrom the Huzurnagarsegment.

Keeping in view thepoor performance of theparty in the Assemblysegment, certain seniorparty leaders havereportedly suggestedthat the party should notcontest the byelection,and instead concentrateon the ensuing electionsto urban local bodies(ULBs).

Sources in the partydisclosed that seniorleaders are of the viewthat instead of focusingon the byelection, itwould be a better strate-gy for the party to focuson polls to the ULBs,especially given thatBJP’s core voters havemainly been based in theurban areas.

There is another sec-tion of leaders withinthe party which does notwant to be seen as run-ning away from the con-test or conceding defeat,especially at a time whenthe party is growingstronger in the state.

Mr N. RamachandraRao, MLC and member ofthe BJP Telangana corecommittee, said thatthough some leadersmight have opined andadvocated dropping offfrom the contest in

Huzurnagar, there is nodesire to concede defeator drop out of the con-test.

Sources disclosed thatthe core committee hasexamined all probablesand shortlisted thenames of Ms SrikalaReddy, daughter ofJitender Reddy, formerMLA of Kodad; Mr L.Appireddy, an NRI, andthree senior BJP leadersfrom Nalgonda district,Dr Rama Rao, Mr AshokNaik and Mr S. RamReddy, of whom, theparty will select one as acandidate.

Sources revealed thatkeeping in mind thecaste and other politicalfactors, Ms Srikala

Reddy was the forerun-ner and the core commit-tee would likely nomi-nate her.

A senior party leader,on condition of anonymi-ty, said that though thewinning chances maybeless when compared withthe Congress and the rul-ing TRS in the segment,the party has to improveits position in the seg-ment as well as in the dis-trict.

“There has been a lot ofchange in the politicalscenario compared withthe situation during theAssembly elections inDecember, 2018. We willcertainly put up a goodshow,” the leader toldthis newspaper.

From Page 1

Wholesalers said that oncenew stock comes into themarket, price will drop.Onions are being sold at `35to `45 per kg in the whole-sale market.

Heavy rain has destroyedthe onion crop in Maha-rashtra, the largest produc-er of onions. This has exac-erbated situation and led toa steep price rise. Othermajor onion growing statessuch as Karnataka, Guj-arat, Bihar, Madhya Pra-desh and Andhra Pradeshhave had heavy rainfall.

Traders say that once thenew stock comes into themarket, prices will drop to`500 per quintal, bringingdown retail prices as well.Those who had hoardedlarge stocks are now selling

them at high prices.Mr S. Niranjan Reddy,

agriculture and marketingminister, said that in viewof reports that certaintraders were creating anartificial scarcity, the mar-keting director was asked tohold discussions withtraders to control pricesand not to burden people.

He said that there werereports that new crop ofonions is coming into themarket and prices shoulddrop in the next two tothree days.

The minister disclosedthat the government was intouch with the Centre toboost supply by liftingCentral buffer stock tomaintain prices, in case thesituation gets worse.

“Once the flood situationin Maharashtra is nor-

malised, retail price ofonions will come down,” MrReddy assured.

Mr Venkata Ramana,president, Onion Importsand Exports TradersAssociation of Hyderabad,said that around 135 truck-loads of onions had comefrom Maharashtra and 35loads were sufficient for thecity. He said that onionstocks were coming in fromMaharashtra and Kurnool.

“It has become very diffi-cult to manage our house-hold needs with the risingprices. We use onions inmany ways — raw onions insalads, and in many dishes.The price rise has hit ourmonthly budget,” said MsUrvashri M., a homemaker.“The government shouldkeep track and not allowthese steep price rises.”

Mantri blames increase ofonion prices on hoarding

TS REPORTED 6,000 ROHINGYAS, SAYS KISHANDDCC CCOORRRREESSPPOONNDDEENNTTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

Minister of state, home, G.Kishan Reddy said the TSgovernment had informedthe Centre that the statehad 6,000 Rohingyas.

Asked whether theNational Register ofCitizens would be imple-mented in the state, he said

the Centre had not taken adecision.

Mr Reddy criticised ChiefMinister K. ChandrasekharRao for blaming the Centrefor the economic crisis inthe state.

“There has no decrease inthe Budget from the Centreto the state. The UnionBudget is very differentfrom the state Budget. The

Central Budget has fiscaldiscipline while the stateBudget has none.:

To a question on MIMchief Asaduddin Owaisi’sstatement on US PresidentDonald Trump for callingPrime Minister NarendraModi ‘father of India’, hereplied “Owaisi is an MP.He does not have the level toquestion the US President.”

BJP in two minds onHuzurnagar bypollParty fears poor show may affect new-found momentum

TRS win will helpone family: Cong

From Page 1

Mr N. Uttam KumarReddy, president of theTelangana Pradesh Con-gress Committee, askedTRS working presidentand state minister K.T.Rama Rao to “reveal howmuch money was lootedin Mission Bhagirathascheme”.

Describing theHuzurnagar byelectionas one which will be aturning point in the his-tory of Telangana state,he said that TRS hadgiven its ticket to a per-son hailing fromYamaram village ofDachepalli mandal inGuntur district.

Mr Reddy said thatGutta Sukhender Reddy,TRS MLC, was indulgingin unethical practicesand was pressuring localCongress leaders to jointhe TRS.

He said that they wouldlodge a complaint withthe Governor besides theChairman of theLegislative Councilagainst Mr SukhenderReddy.

The TRS was trying towoo the voters and localleaders with power,money and liquor, hesaid, and demanded thatthe the ElectionCommission conduct thebyelection with Centralforces.

SS..NN..CC..NN.. AACCHHAARRYYUULLUU IIDDCCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The Huzurnagar byelec-tion is gradually heatingup, with comments andcounters by the leadingcontenders — the TRSand the Congress.

TRS working presidentand minister K.T. RamaRao had said onWednesday, “If TRS winsin Huzurnagar, it willbenefit the people. If theCongress wins, it willonly benefit TPCC presi-dent N. Uttam KumarReddy.”

In their reply, Congressleaders said democracywould benefit if theCongress won the bypoll,but only “one family” —a reference to theKalvakuntlas, the firstfamily of the TRS —would benefit if the rul-ing party won.

TPCC vice-presidentMallu Ravi, speaking tomediapersons here, saidthat it was ridiculous for

the TRS to say that MrRama Rao would developHuzurnagar if the partywon the bypoll. Had notthe people already elect-ed the TRS to govern anddevelop the state, heasked.

Mr Ravi said the peopleshould make a statementagainst dictatorship andsave democracy bydefeating the TRS.

Former MLC RamuluNaik said the byelectionwas a fight betweenmoney power and peo-ple’s power. He asked byTRS leaders why, if theywere confident of win-ning the bypoll, weredeputing one ministerfor each mandal and oneMLA for each village.

TPCC working presi-dent J. Kusuma Kumaralleged that the TRS wasmisusing power. He saidthe TRS candidate wouldrepresent a handful ofelites while the Congresswould take the voice ofthe people to theAssembly.

AP HC overturnsYSRC’s gag order

HC to hear PILs on civic pollsDDCC CCOORRRREESSPPOONNDDEENNTTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

The High Court hasagreed to hear PILsagainst on municipalelections on Friday, fol-lowing a request by theState Election Commis-sion (SEC) and the gov-ernment.

A division bench com-prising Chief JusticeRaghavendra SinghChauhan and Justice A.Abhishek Reddy wereabout to adjourn thehearing to October 21,

when counsels for theSEC and the govern-ment said a single judgehad on July 25 directedthat the civic polls beconducted within 119days from the day theorders were issued.

Additional advocate-general J. RamachandraRao said municipalauthorities had recti-fied the objectionsraised in the PILsregarding delimitationof wards, publication ofthe voters’ list and othergrievances.

Chinnola NareshReddy, counsel for thepetitioner, had said thatfive MPs had filed affi-davits stating they hadnot been informed ofthe division of wards.

Responding to this, theChief Justice asked whythey had not mentionedtheir political affiliationin the affidavit. Heasked if KarimnagarBJP MP Bandi Sanjay,who had alleged that hissignature was forged,had lodged a police com-plaint.

SSAAMMPPAATT GG.. SSAAMMRRIITTAANN II DDCCVIJAYAWADA, SEPT. 26

The AP High Court has setaside an informal banreportedly imposed by theJagan Mohan Reddy gov-ernment, whose ministersthreatened multiple-systemoperators (MSOs) to blackout two Telugu TV.

The court upheld the pleasof ABN and TV5, which hadsought restoring of telecast,causing a major embarrass-ment to the ruling party.

The unofficial gag orderon the pretext of opposingtheir journalistic lapses incovering the ‘achievements’of the government in itsfirst 100 days, has drawnsevere criticism from theEditor’s Guild, the opposi-tion Telugu Desam and BJP,besides intellectuals, jour-nalists and the public.

AP ministers PeddireddyRamachandra Reddy, PerniVenkata Ramaiah andKodali Sri VenkateswaraRao reportedly held a meet-ing with MSOs at a govern-ment office located on thepremises of Pandit Nehrubus station and instructedthem to stop the telecast ofABN and TV5, and allegedlythreatened them of direconsequences if they didnot comply. The two chan-nels were blacked out.

The YSRC is drawing crit-icism even from generalpublic as it is reportedlydirecting the police to bookcases against those whopost critical remarks forgoing on a spree of undoingwhat the TD did.

TD MLA K. Atchennaidusaid, “The YSRC is unableto tolerate criticism fromany quarter.”

BJP senior leader P.Satyanarayana said, “Evenas people are giving clearcut mandate in each elec-tion, the YSRC and the TDare unable to understandthat the people can nolonger be influenced bybiased mass media. Thegovernment should allowmedia to play its role.”

An MSO official said,“Both the YSRC and the TDadopt same tactics to sup-press the media. When TDwas in power, it forced clo-sure of Sakshi TV and NTVtwice. The YSRC is takingrevenge by shutting downABN and TV5.”

Asked about the issue,YSRC Amalapuram MPChintha Anuradha said,“We will accept construc-tive criticism. If a section ofmedia deliberately takes upmis-information cam-paigns, it is unfair on theirpart and we will not acceptsuch a tendency.”

UUttttaamm KKuummaarr RReeddddyy

UTTAM ASKS KTRABOUT ‘LOOT’IN BHAGIRATHA

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6NationFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

HistoryThere is a need to correct Indian historydistorted by colonial rulers, said Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu.

The country hadentered a stage

of recession.— Sitaram Yechury

CPI(M) general secretary

IN BRIEF

NAGAS SEEKPOLITICALSOLUTION

MANOJ ANAND | DCGUWAHATI, SEPT. 26

After civil society initiatives,the Naga Students’ Federation(NSF) has started mountingpressure for an early solutionto the ongoing Naga peacetalks by writing to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi foran ‘honourable political solu-tion’ to the political issue.

The NSF, in a detailed letterto the prime minister, hasmade an appeal to usher in an‘era of peace’ through a politi-cal solution that defines andrecognises the identity of theNaga people.

“We believe that the righttime has come for the govern-ment to recognise and materi-alise Nagas’ desire and theright to live together underone political roof,” the NSFstated.

The letter signed by NSFpresident Ninoto Awomi andgeneral secretary Liremo R.Kikon has also drawn theprime minister’s attention tothe Naga people’s unique his-tory and the solution that canbe put forth based on it.

According to the NSF,Nagaland, which it defines asNagalaim, was placed withinthe Indian Union neither byconquest nor by the consent ofthe Naga people, unlike thethen princely states, whichagreed to form the IndianUnion.

“The Naga leaders neveragreed to be a part of India.They neither signed theinstrument of accession nordid they gratify the IndianIndependence Act 1947. This isthe unique history of theNagas and it has beenacknowledged by the govern-ment of India,” the NSF point-ed out.

The NSF also pleaded not tocompare or subject the Nagaissue to any other politicalissue in the country, and evenabroad.

“Since time immemorial,each individual Naga villagewas a sovereign republic. Noinvading forces or kin couldexert their dominance overthe entire stretch of Naga ter-ritory.

Even the Britishers, post-1885, had adapted the policy ofnon-interference in the NagaHills after they overranAssam. On January 10, 1929,the Naga Club, on behalf ofthe Naga people, submitted amemorandum to the SimonCommission that the Nagaswould not want to be part ofindependent India,” the NSF,while referring to and remind-ing the government of theunique history of Nagaland,said.

Madras HC quashes prohibition ontaking liquor to registered clubsJ. STALIN | DCCHENNAI, SEPT. 26

In a major relief to regis-tered clubs, their membersand guests, the MadrasHigh Court quashed a cir-cular dated March 23, 2010issued by theCommissioner ofProhibition and Excise,Chennai, denying permis-sion to the members ofclubs or their guests tobring liquor or wine or anysort, from outside thepremises and consume inthe club premises.

Allowing a batch of peti-tions from Madras Club,Madras Gymkhana Cluband 18 others, Justice M.S.Ramesh said, “The author-ities shall not prohibit themembers of the registeredclubs or its guests fromcarrying liquor from out-side the club premises forconsumption on the clubpremises, so long as suchliquors are within the per-missible quantity namely,4.5 litres of IMFL, 4.5 litresof foreign liquor, 7.8 litres

of beer and 9 litres ofwine”.

According to advocateAbudukumar Rajaratnam,appearing for MadrasGymkhana Club, it hasbeen a regular practice ofthe members of the peti-tioner club to carry theirown liquor to the club forconsumption on the prem-ises of the club, whichholds a permit to supplyliquor. The petitioner clubcharges an additional feeknown as ‘Corkage’ forpermitting their membersto use their own liquor onthe premises of the club.

To the shock and surpriseof the petitioner club andits members, theCommissioner ofProhibition and Excise

had issued a circular datedMarch 23, 2010, citing Rule34 (2) of the Tamil NaduLiquor (License andPermit) Rules by which allF.L.2 licensees have beeninstructed not to permitthe members of the club ortheir guests to bring liquorfrom outside and consumeit in the clubs.

The circular had beenissued as though the rulecontains an implied nega-tive meaning so as to pro-hibit carrying of liquor bymembers of the club fromoutside. Moreover, as perthe rules, any person canpossess 4.5 litres of IMFS,4.5 litres of foreign liquor,7.8 litres of beer and 9litres of wine at a givenpoint of time, within the

state, Abudukumar added.Extracting Rule 34 (2) of

the TN Liquor (Licenseand Permit) Rules, thejudge said, “A carefulperusal of the aforesaidprovision does not, evenremotely imply to theeffect that, consumption ofliquor within the clubbrought from outside theclub is prohibited. The saidrule only contemplates andenables the club to supplyliquor to its members andtheir guests and that,liquor supplied by theclubs could either be con-sumed within the premisesof the club or removedfrom there in sealed bot-tles.

As such, the assumptionof the Commissioner,Prohibition and Excise,Chennai, that there is animplication for restrictionof liquor being broughtinside the club for con-sumption, is misconceived.On this short ground, thecircular dated March 23,2010, is liable to bequashed”.

Jacobites cause tensionat Ernakulam churchUnable to enter church, orthodox faction staged protestDC CORRESPONDENTKOCHI, SEPT. 26

The Ernakulam districtcollector took control ofPiravom St. Mary’sChurch in Kerala amidstdramatic scenes onThursday following aHigh Court order toimplement the SupremeCourt verdict and sub-mit a report by 1.45 pm.

The wailing and shout-ing protesters of theJacobite faction alongwith bishops and priestswere arrested andremoved by a strong con-tingent of police endingthe stand-off betweenthe rival groups ofMalankara Church.

The Jacobites hadlocked the gates of thechurch on Tuesday nightand were holding a‘prayer protest’ insidethe church in the pres-ence of CatholicosBaselios Thomas-I, met-ropolitan trustee JosephMar Gregorios and othersenior members of theChurch.

Collector S. Suhassealed the gates and therooms of the church andthe keys will be submit-ted to the High Court onFriday. The members ofthe Orthodox faction,who were staging a sit-inprotest to enter thechurch, ended it follow-ing discussions with thepolice officials.

The police swung into

action following theHigh Court fixing adeadline to remove theJacobite group from thechurch premises.

Although the copsrequested them to vacatethe premises, theyrefused to budge and thepolice forced open thegates with chain cutters.

They first arrested themetropolitans and

priests before removingthe members of the laityfrom the spot. The entireoperation was conductedpeacefully as theJacobite bishops saidthey will not create anylaw and order problems.A total of 67 people werearrested and removedfrom the premises. Theywere later released onbail.

The police and the dis-trict administrationhandled a highly tensesituation in a deft man-ner amidst emotionalscenes with priests and nuns weeping open-ly.

The members of theOrthodox group came tocelebrate Mass onWednesday as per theapex court order. Butthey were unable toenter the church andstaged a sit-in protest.

The group thenapproached the HighCourt which directed thecivil authorities to takesteps to implement theSC verdict.

Trains deck up withBapu pics for Oct. 2DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 26

Indian Railways has elabo-rate plans for October 2, tomark the 150th birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi. While theRailways has alreadyannounced to junk single-use plastic on its trainsfrom October 2, theCentral Railways hasdecided to have pictures ofMahatma Gandhi on itslocomotives.

The work to paint thelocomotives started abouttwo months back andalready, 15 of them havebeen completed whilework on seven more is on.

Already, some of thelocomotives with the pic-tures are running on theMumbai-Pune andMumbai-Konkan routes.Central Railway officialssaid that the locomotivesare being painted in thelocosheds.

During a meeting withthe general managers(GM) and divisional rail-way managers (DRMs) ofZonal Railways throughvideo conferencing on

Thursday, Minister ofstate for Railways MrSuresh C. Angadi directedall zones and divisions tocomplete preparationswith regard to 150th birthanniversary celebrationsof Mahatma Gandhi intime.

“Various initiativesbeing taken in this direc-tion include elimination ofsingle-use plastic fromrailway premises, provi-sion of bottle crushingmachines, cleanliness instations, trains and rail-way premises, tree planta-tion and development of150 track side nurseries,”railway officials said.

On Wednesday, theRailways had circulatedthe guidelines with regardto plastic waste manage-ment. Railways hasalready decided to replaceits plastic cutlery withmore environment-friend-ly products.

Meanwhile, during themeeting the minister alsoreviewed safety, punctuali-ty, freight loading, passen-ger traffic, infrastructureprojects and other ongoingdevelopmental projects.

PRIYANKA SLAMSARREST OF LAW STUDENT

Mentally-ill Odisha manchained for 30 yearsDC CORRESPONDENT BHUBANESWAR, SEPT. 26

Tied up in chains in adark room of athatched house,Ramakant Behera ofUdayapur village underDasarathpur block inOdisha’s Jajpur districtstares out of the win-dow with naive curiosi-ty, completely unawareof the happeningsaround him.

Ramakant, around 50years of age, has been

confined to the room byhis family membersafter he turned violentwithout reason andstarted attacking peo-ple without provocationwhen he was pursuinghis Intermediate.

Gradually, he failed toeven recognise hisloved ones.

While financial con-straint has deterred thefamily from admittingRamakant to a hospitalfor treatment, theyhave been seeking help.

“We are financiallyweak which is why wecan’t bear the cost ofhis treatment. He losthis mental balance 30years back and it hasbecome difficult for usto take care of him,”said Ramakant’s moth-er Sitarani Behera.

Ramakanta’s father,Sridhar Behera said,“After losing mentalbalance, he became vio-lent. We are trying ourbest to get governmentassistance.”

New Delhi, Sept. 26:Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadraon Thursday hit out atthe Yogi Adityanath gov-ernment in UttarPradesh over the arrestof the student who hasaccused former Unionminister SwamiChinmayanand of rape,and asked if this is theBJP’s justice.

The law student was onWednesday arrested oncharges of extortion andsent to 14-day judicialcustody. Hours later, herbail plea was rejected.

“Unnao rape case:Victim’s father is killed.Victim’s uncle is arrest-ed. Following massivepublic pressure and after13 months, accused MLAarrested. Attempt to killthe victim’s family.Shahjahanpur rape case:Victim arrested. Victim’sfamily being pressured,”Priyanka Gandhi said ina tweet.

The police deliberatelydelayed action againstthe accused BJP leaderand it was after publicpressure that they arrest-ed him, said theCongress general secre-tary in-charge of easternUP. “Even the charge ofrape has not been put onthe accused BJP leader.This is BJP’s justice?”she said.

Chinmayanand, sent tojudicial custody after hisarrest, was booked undersection 376C of the IPC, acharge with lesser pun-ishment than rape.

— PTI

RS BYPOLLS ON OCT 16 FORJAITLEY, JETHMALANI SEATSDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 26

The Election Commissionof India on Thursdayannounced bypolls for thetwo Rajya Sabha seatsthat fell vacant followingthe deaths of formerUnion ministers ArunJaitley and RamJethmalani. The polls forthese two seats will beheld on October 16.

The ECI will issue noti-fication for the by-elec-

tion on September 27 andthe nominations willbegin from the same day.The counting of voteswill be held on October 16at 5 pm.

BJP leader Jaitley rep-resented Uttar Pradeshwhile Mr Jethmalani rep-resented Bihar from RJD.Mr Jaitley’s term, whopassed away on August24, was to end on April 2,2024 while that of MrJathmalani’s was to endon July 7, 2022.

■ ■ Members of the registered clubs or its guests arenow authorised to carry liquor within the permissiblequantity namely, 4.5 litres of IMFL, 4.5 litres of foreignliquor, 7.8 litres of beer and 9 litres of wine, as per thecourt order

■ ■ At any given point of time, any person carry liquor inpermissible limits across the state, advocates say.

■ ■ The law student, whohas accusedChinmayanand of rape,was arrested on chargesof extortion and sent to14-day judicial custodyon Wednesday, and hourslater, her bail plea wasrejected

Members of laity cry after the police removed theprotesters inside the St Mary’s church at Piravom inKerala on Thursday. — ARUN CHANDRABOSE

‘Super’ tourists at the symbol of love

Supermodels from 16 countries at the Taj Mahal on the eve of World Tourism Day on Thursday. — PTI

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7NationFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Top postingArmy chief Gen. Bipin Rawat will receive baton of Chairman ofChiefs of Staff Committee from Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa,making him the front-runner for Chief of Defence Staff post

BJP’s ab ki baar 75par slogan reflects

onion, petrol, prices

— Randeep Singh Surjewala,

Congress leader

IN BRIEF

ODISHA GOVTTO WEED OUTINEPT STAFF

Bhubaneswar: The Odishagovernment has decided to gofor premature retirement ofemployees of doubtful integri-ty or inefficiency from publicservice to ensure efficiency inadministration, an officialsaid on Thursday.

The General Administrationand Public Grievance depart-ment has issued a circular inthis regard to all the secre-taries asking them to weed outofficers and employees ofdoubtful integrity or ineffi-ciency from public service.

The employees who havecompleted 30 years of serviceor have attained 50 years ofage, whichever is earlier, andthose who have attained theage of 55, will come under thepurview of this process, thecircular said.

Performances of such stategovernment employeesbelonging to Group A, B, C andD categories will be reviewedby committees every threemonths.

The secretary of the admin-istrative department is alsoempowered to constitute inter-nal committees to scrutiniseall the cases to be reviewed ineach quarter and finalise thespecific cases to be reviewed.

SOCIAL MEDIATO FOLLOW

ELECTION CODEDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 26

Social media platforms likeFacebook, WhatsApp, Twitter,Google, Shar-echat, TikTokand the Internet and MobileAssociation of India (IAMAI)have assured the ElectionCommission of India (ECI)that they will follow the“Voluntary Code of Ethics”during the upcoming electionsin Haryana and Maharashtralegislative Assemblies and thevarious byelections that are tobe held simultaneously.

Since social media platformsare the biggest source of fakenews and misinformation,particularly during the time ofelections, the ECI had vigor-ously pursued that they takeresponsibility for contentbeing circulated on their plat-forms. Following this, theyjoined hands with IAMAI todevelop a “Voluntary Code ofEthics” which it came intoeffect from the day it was pre-sented to the ECI, on March 20this year.

17 KILLED INPUNE RAINS,

16K RESCUEDPune: At least 17 people werekilled in various incidents offlooding and wall collapseafter intense rainfall batteredMaharashtra's Pune city andvarious other parts of the dis-trict, officials said onThursday.

Nearly 16,000 people, includ-ing some stuck on rooftopsand trees, were rescued fromPune city and other parts ofthe district, they said, addingthat four persons were miss-ing.

Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis said he was painedto know about the loss of livesdue to heavy rains in Pune.He said teams of the NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF) were deployed in thecity and Baramati tehsil, andall necessary assistance wasbeing provided in the affectedareas. Schools and colleges invarious tehsils of Punedeclared a holiday onThursday in view of the del-uge. Five people sleeping at adargah in Khed-Shivapur vil-lage, located on the Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway,were washed away after theheavy downpour,Superintendent of PoliceSandip Patil said.

Besides, 12 people, includingfive women, lost their lives invarious other incidents.

UN okays bankaccess to HafizRequest cleared after objections raisedDC CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, SEPT 26

In a controversial movetaken in August this year,it has come to light thatthe United NationsSecurity Council hasreportedly approved arequest by Pakistan forglobal terrorist and 26/11mastermind Hafiz Saeedto be allowed to use hisbank account to meet“basic monthly expensesfor himself and his fami-ly”, according to websiteand TV reports from NewYork.

Pakistan’s request isbeing seen once again aspart of Islamabad’s opensupport for terrorism butquestions are also beingraised on why the UNSCallowed it either onhumanitarian or proce-dural grounds.

According to reports, ina letter dated August 15,the United NationsSecurity Council said thatthe request was approvedafter no objections wereraised by the deadline ofthe same date. “The Chairhas the honour to refer tohis draft letter to theIslamic Republic ofPakistan communicatingthe Committee’s decisionwith respect to the inten-tion of the Pakistaniauthorities to authourise

certain expenditures tothe benefit of HafizMuhammed Saeed (QDi.263), Haji MuhammadAshraf (QDi. 265) andZafar Iqbal (QDi. 308) tocover basic expenses, asspecified in the note ver-bale of the IslamicRepublic of Pakistan,” theletter by the UNSC Chairwas quoted by thesereports as stating onAugust 15.

Pakistan had reportedlyearlier written a letter tothe UN to release theexpenditure on a requestfrom Saeed to cover basicliving expenses for him-

self and his family.According to mediareports, Pakistan’s letterwent on to elaborate thathis bank account wasmade inaccessible afterthe UNSC’s resolution tofreeze his assets. Saeedhas requested PKR(Pakistani Rupees)1,50,000 to cover theexpenses. Islamabad’srequest to the UN appar-ently mentioned that themastermind behind 2008Mumbai terror attack wasan assistant professor ofengineering and technolo-gy in Lahore.

Incidentally, Pakistan isin serious danger of beingblacklisted next month bythe FATF — a global inter-governmental body tocombat terror financing— due to Islamabad’s fail-ure or lack of willingnessto take action against ter-rorism emanating from itssoil.

India has been maintain-ing that no credible actionhas been taken byPakistan against terror-ists on its soil and that noaction has been taken byPakistan to bring the per-petrators of the 26/11attacks of 2008 onMumbai to book.

Saeed’s arrest comesjust ahead of Pakistan PMKhan’s maiden visit to theUS on July 21.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during a meeting, inNew York, USA on Wednesday. — PTI

Byelections in K’takainevitable, says EC

‘ASI report in favourof Ram temple’DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 26

Sunni Waqf Board onThursday assailed theArchaeological Survey ofIndia’s (ASI) report,based on its excavation atthe disputed site, sayingthat its conjectures weremoving in a “precon-ceived” direction, infavour of the Ram temple.

“There is a directionthis report (of ASI) isgoing on … see how reportproceeds, it proceeds withpreconceived view. Allthrough the report BabriMasjid is described as a‘disputed structure’, butRam Chabutra as ‘RamChabutra’”, senior coun-sel Meenakshi Arora toldthe five-judge Constitu-tion Bench headed by CJIRanjan Gogoi.

Pointing to discrepan-cies in the ASI reportrelating to the existenceof a massive structurethat was supported by pil-lars, which is sought to bedescribed as Ram templeby lawyers appearing forRam Lalla, Ms Arora tookthe bench through thelocation of pillars’ andtheir foundation, showingthere was no clarity inwhat existed when, andwhether these pillars sup-ported a massive struc-ture.

The ASI has, in itsreport, claimed the exis-tence of 85 pillars — fiveeach in 17 rows. These pil-lars are spread over fourseparate levels, and eachlevel belongs to a separate

period of history. Thetime gap between the fourfloors of pillars could be acentury or more.

But the manner inwhich the pillars havebeen numbered seemsrandom, and this led todiscrepancies in the con-clusions drawn, Ms Arorapointed out. She told thecourt that pillar basisnumber 18 is shown atfloor 4, 19 on floor 3, 21 atfloor number 3 and 22 atlevel number 4.

Ms Arora is dealingwith the archaeologicalevidence that surfaced inthe course of excavationorder by Allahabad highcourt in 2003. Apart fromthe pillars, a wall measur-ing 50 meters, and a five-feet wide base, was alsodiscovered.

Arora said that these“levels” in the ASI reportmust not be visualised aspresent day high-risebuildings where one flooris constructed over theother. She said that theselayers are separated bycenturies and each suc-ceeding layer sits uneven-ly on the surface on theearlier structure, whichgot buried under theearth and disappeared.

She said this while addr-essing the question whenthis massive structurecame about and whetherit was a temple or not.

Modi, Ardern condemn PulwamaNew York, Sept. 26:Prime Minister NarendraModi and his New Zealandcounterpart JacindaArdern strongly con-demned the Pulwama andthe Christchurch terrorattacks as they met hereand extended support toeach other to fight terror-ism.

Modi and Ardern met onthe sidelines of the UNGAsummit and reviewed thebilateral relations and dis-cussed steps to intensifypolitical, economic,defence, security and peo-ple to people relations, theMinistry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) said in astatement.

They also discussed theglobal and regional issuesof mutual interest, includ-ing the issue of interna-tional terrorism andappreciated the conver-gence of views between

the two countries on thisissue.

“Both countries havestrongly condemned andextended support to eachother following thePulwama andChristchurch terrorattacks,” the statementsaid.

In February, tensionsflared up between Indiaand Pakistan after a sui-cide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed(JeM) killed 40 CRPF per-sonnel in Pulwama. Amidmounting outrage, theIndian Air Force carriedout a counter-terror opera-tion, hitting the biggestJeM training camp inBalakot, deep insidePakistan on February 26.

A month later in March,at least 47 people, includ-ing five Indians, werekilled when a Australia-born white supremacist

opened fire on worship-pers at two mosques inNew Zealand'sChristchurch town, in oneof the worst attack onMuslims in a westerncountry.

The 28-year-old gunmanhad published a racistmanifesto on Twitterbefore livestreaming hisrampage.

India had also supportedthe joint New Zealand-French initiative onChristchurch Call ofAction, which aims ateliminating terrorists andviolent extremist contentonline, the statement said.

During the meeting,Ardern noted that theIndian diaspora and stu-dents in New Zealand areimportant bridgesbetween the two nationsand contributing to bondsof friendship.

She also informed Modi

about New Zealand's newstrategic paper 'India 2022-Investing in the relation-ship', which is a continua-tion of the NZ Inc IndiaStrategy 2011.

Modi and Ardenerecalled their earliermeeting in November 2017in Manila and noted thatfollowing the visit of for-mer New Zealand primeminister John Key toIndia in October 2016, newinstitutional mechanismshave been instituted,which has substantiallyenhanced the bilateralrelationship, the state-ment said.

Modi also thanked hisNew Zealand counterpartfor accepting his invita-tion to participate in theevent 'Relevance ofGandhi in the contempo-rary Times' held on thesidelines of UNGA onTuesday. — PTI

From Page 1

Addressing the court, MrDwivedi, appearing forthe EC, said even if courtset aside the disqualifica-tion of the former legisla-tors, their membership ofthe state Assembly wouldgo due to their resigna-tions, thus suggesting thatthe bypolls wereinevitable either way.

He said it was not justthe question of the rightof the disqualified MLAsto contest the election butalso the rights of the elec-torate of 17 constituenciesto have representation int h eAssembly.

“If there is a right of anindividual to contest,there is a right of a con-stituency to be represent-ed”, Mr Dwivedi said,opposing the suggestionto put the election on hold.Mr Dwivedi said thisbefore the court said itwould hold a final hearingon the matter.

Appearing for theCongress, on whose com-plaint the legislators wereunseated, senior counsel

Kapil Sibal said that theSpeaker, while decidingwhether the resignationswere voluntary and gen-uine, could not be oblivi-ous of the fact that thesedisqualified MLAs werehobnobbing with the BJPand were staying at ahotel in Mumbai underhigh security.

In a dig at the argumentthat the rebel MLAs werenot comfortable with theworking of the coalitiongovernment headed bythen CM H.D.Kumaraswamy, Mr Sibalsaid it was not that theywere uncomfortable withthe coalition but were“more comfortable” withthe BJP.

Mr Sibal said in the firstplace they did not submittheir resignations to theSpeaker but to the gover-nor, and then left forMumbai in a BJP MLA’sprivate aircraft from theHAL airport.

In the course of argu-ments, Mr Sibal said theissue needed to bereferred to theConstitution Bench of theSupreme Court.

ED SAYS VADRACUSTODIALPROBE NEEDEDDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 26

Noose seems to be tight-ening around RobertVadra, son-in-law ofCongress chief SoniaGandhi as theE n f o r c e m e n tDirectorate on Thursdaytold the Delhi HighCourt that it wanted cus-todial interrogation ofMr Vadra because the“money chain” in a caseof money launderingwas allegedly directlylinked to him.

Mr Vadra ‘was notcooperating with theinvestigation in thecase’, the agency toldbefore Justice ChandraShekhar. Mr Vadra isfacing allegations ofmoney laundering in thepurchase of a London-based property — esti-mated at 1.9 millionpounds. The case isbeing probed under theprovisions of thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act. MrVadra’s lawyer denyingthe ED’s claims sayinghis client had cooperat-ed in the investigation.

■ ■ The ASI has, in itsreport, claimed the exis-tence of 85 pillars — fiveeach in 17 rows

BJP RELIEVEDWITH BYPOLLSUSPENSIONDC CORRESPONDENT BENGALURU/NEW DELHI,SEPT. 26

The ElectionCommission’s U-turn inthe Supreme Court vis-a-vis crucial bypolls to 15Assembly constituenciesand the subsequent deci-sion to defer till October22 hearing of petitionsagainst disqualificationcame as a manna not onlyto disqualified legislatorsbut also to Chief MinisterB.S. Yediyurappa and sen-ior leaders of party.

With four days left for fil-ing nomination papers forpolls originally scheduledfor October 21, all disqual-ified legislators were anx-ious about the apexcourt’s verdict on theirpetitions and mountedpressure on MrYediyurappa to protecttheir interests.

Hafiz Saeed

■ ■ Pakistan is in danger ofbeing blacklisted by theFATF due to Islamabad’sfailure or lack of willing-ness to take actionagainst terrorism

RELIGIOUS TEXT:NO FAITH IN CBISAYS PUNJAB CMChandigarh, Sept 26:A day after the CBI sub-mitted before a Mohalicourt that a new specialinvestigation team willprobe the desecration ofreligious texts in Barg-ari, Punjab Chief Min-ister Amarinder Singhsaid that the state gov-ernment had no faith inthe premiere central ag-ency.

“The decision to handover the case to a newSIT three months afterthe CBI had filed a clo-sure report in the courtis a clear ploy to delaythe probe and stop thestate government fromtaking over it. The stategovernment has no faithin the CBI in the matterof the Bargari sacrilegecase,” the Chief Mini-ster said in a statementhere on Thursday.

Accusing the Centre ofpressuring the CBI atthe behest of the Badals,who led the previousgovernment in the state,Singh said they wouldnot allow them preventthe investigation fromgoing back to the PunjabPolice.

The CBI on Wednesdayhad told the Mohalicourt that a new teamwill take over the probein the 2015 case.

—PTI

SHAH CHAIRS MEETTO GIVE SHAPE TOMAHA POLLS New Delhi, Sep 26: BJPpresident Amit Shah onThursday chaired a mee-ting of the party's coregroup from Mahara-shtra to give final shapeto its poll strategy,including seat-sharingwith Shiv Sena, and zerodown on candidates forthe state assembly elec-tions on October 21.

The meeting comesamidst reports of une-ase in saffron alliance inMaharashtra in view ofthe BJP offering fewerseats to the Sena insteadof equal division ofseats. However, sourcesplayed down thesereports and expressedconfidence that a seat-sharing deal will beannounced soon by thetwo parties.

—PTI

VIKRAM SHARMA I DCHYDERABAD SEPT. 26

Post August 5 — the daythe Centre abrogated (oras some will have it, de-operationalised) Article370, and bifurcated thestate of Jammu and Kash-mir into two Union territo-ries — the country’s para-military forces appear tobe on a shopping spree.

With heightened threatsto their campuses not onlyin J&K but elsewhere, theministry of home affairs(MHA) has fast-trackedthe process of acquiringlatest state-of-the-art gadg-ets and equipment to fullysecure the campuses bel-onging to the paramilitaryforces.

From mini UnmannedAerial Vehicles (UAVs) tothe latest Intrusion Det-ection Systems, hydraulictyre killers, non-crash

rated boom barriers to det-ect forced intrusions, auto-mated licence plate recog-nition systems, bollards,road blockers — the list islong.

Sources in the securityestablishment told DeccanChronicle that ever sincethe Centre made Article370 inoperative, instruc-tions have been issued bythe Union Home Ministerto fast-track the purchasesof all the latest gadgetsand equipment to securethe major campuses whichhouse the officers, menand their families.

The decision to fast-trackthe purchases was takenin anticipation of thethreat that would emergefrom terror groups whowill repeatedly try tostrike at the forces.

Over the last severaldays, multiple alerts havebeen issued to the paramil-

itary forces — particularlythe Border Security Force(BSF) and Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) —what with both agenciesplaying a crucial role inmaintaining peace in J&K.While the BSF guards theInternational Border,CRPF is deployed allacross the Kashmir valleyto tackle law and orderproblems besides takingup anti-terror operations.

Over the last one month,several groups of techni-

cal experts on surveillanceequipment, which hasbeen constituted by theMHA, have held meetingsto finalise the new and lat-est equipment required tofoil the nefarious designsof the terrorists.

Among the latest gadgetsto be acquired shortly arethe mini UAVs with arange of 15 kilometres andloiter rime of 60 minutesat target with maximumpayload up to launch alti-tude of 1,000 metres above

sea level. The mini UAVs,whose weight will be lessthan 35 kg will have dayand night cameras andwill be capable of storing100 or more flight routeswith each route havingcapacity to configure min-imum 70 way points.

Similarly, latest intru-sion detection systems forsafeguarding border areasor security of a campus ofparamilitary force is alsobeing acquired. The aco-ustic sensors in the systemare useful for detectingtunnelling activity underthe ground. There are var-ious technologies avail-able and already quite afew firms have come for-ward and given a demon-stration.

To prevent terroristsfrom storming into thecampuses on a four-wheel-er, state-of-the-art tyre kil-lers will soon be installed

at the entry points of thecampuses. “The spikes arebeing designed in such away as to ensure that tyresof intruding vehicles, irre-spective of the direction ofthe approach, will be dis-abled. It has already beentested in one of the locati-ons wherein the four radi-al tyres of an intrudingSUV were punctured inst-antly,” sources explained.

Besides, more under-vehicle-scanning systems,automated licence platerecognition systems, pas-sive night telescopic sightfor 5.56 mm INSAS riflesand other weapons is alsobeing purchased.

“The Army and AirForce bases already havemost of these latest gadg-ets and equipment in placeand the paramilitaryforces were laggingbehind. But not anymore,” sources added.

Paramilitary forces on shopping spree■ Among the latest gadgets to be acquired shortly are the mini UAVsHEIGHTENED | THREATS

■ ■ WITH HEIGHTENED threats to their campusesnot only in J&K but elsewhere, the ministry ofhome affairs (MHA) has fast-tracked the processof acquiring latest state-of-the-art gadgets andequipment to fully secure the campuses belongingto the paramilitary forces.

■ ■ TO PREVENT terrorists from storming into thecampuses on a four-wheeler, state-of-the-art tyrekillers will soon be installed at the entry points.

In any fair-minded biography of the BJP in power, there is apt to be, alongwith other landmark episodes such as demonetisation and deprivingKashmir of its constitutional autonomy, a chunk dedicated to the saffronparty’s ties with its political opponents.

The filing of an FIR by the Enforcement Directorate against NCP founderSharad Pawar and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Actearlier this week is a signifier of that relationship. The principal character-istic of the ruling side’s dealings with key national and regional parties thatdare to stand up to it is to seek to demonise them. A subset of this approachis to send the ED, CBI or income-tax investigators after them with a view toreduce them in public esteem and, subliminally, create the tag of “corrupt”for them.

In some cases, the ruling party’s calculus is that targeted individuals maybe terrorised into submission and switch over to the Hindutva party. Thishas happened in West Bengal, for instance, where a leading former TrinamulCongress leader has had criminal cases dropped against him and is now theBJP’s chief spotter in the state. A prominent BJP leader of Assam, a formerCongressman, is also a defector against whom cases have been dropped.

The curious case of Mr Pawar, his nephewAjit Pawar, a Shiv Sena MP, AnandraoAdsul, and a clutch of other Maharashtrapoliticians, is that their turn has come lessthan four weeks before the next Assemblyelection in the state. Evidently, they aresought to be disadvantaged.

Should our politicians be investigated? Theanswer is they ought to be investigated justas much as anyone else deserves that treat-ment if a prima facie case is made out. Thetrouble, however, is that the party whichrules at the Centre unleashes its power onlyagainst its political opponents and their rela-tives. In contrast, investigations are scuttled,not begun, or cleverly suppressed throughjudicial manipulation when it comes to the

top boys of the ruling side. (There is an impressive list.)A noteworthy feature is that the cases against the Opposition leaders are

rarely brought to a conclusion. We still hear about Bofors from BJP leaders,though many years of BJP rule have brought no fresh evidence after theDelhi high court cleared the late Rajiv Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-lawRobert Vadra’s investigation never seems to end.

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have been booked in the so-called National Heraldcase, although their culpability is hard to fathom. P. Chidambaram is soughtto be humiliated in jail when investigations — based solely on documents —are long done. Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar’s remand also does not end.

The lesson is that justice in India does not depend on institutions. It’s a giftof those in power. For a democracy that is a shame we must live through untilwe are able to change our structures.

27 SEPTEMBER 2019

Things are indeed topsy-turvy in Uttar Pradesh. A rape survivor is injail while the alleged rapist, a former Union minister, is in hospital,ostensibly because he’s too ill to be in judicial custody. Doctors may

have a different medical opinion about Swami Chinmayanand, but heenjoys the privileges of being given the maximum leeway by the YogiAdityanath government. The case took a startling turn with the police tak-ing the alleged extortionists, including the rape survivor who is a law stu-dent and her three friends, into custody saying they had confessed. Thecharges were brought against the rape survivor on the strength of a com-plaint, not by Chinmayanand but by others against the alleged blackmail-ers. This is the state of affairs in India’s biggest state, which sends themost MPs to Parliament.

The string of episodes in the Chinmayanand saga would have made anintriguing plot for a Kafkaesque novel or film screenplay if not for theoriginal sin of rape committed in the real world by another person in aposition of influence. How the establishment sprang to shield him afterthe details were revealed doesn’t surprise us because of the state wherethe incidents took place. UP has a history of governments being at thebeck and call of ruling politicians, caged parrots aplenty. The politicianin seen as a bridge between the BJP and its supporters with a host ofschools and colleges, while heading an akhara. Only a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry might bring out all the facts. Rape is rape, regardlessof extortion after it, and if guilty the swami must even hang by the newpunishments possible in the laws against rapists.

It’s topsy-turvy in UP

CBI, ED, I-T, agenciesused to play politics

The trouble, however,is that the party which

rules at the Centreunleashes its power

only against its political opponents

and their relatives... The lesson is that

justice in India doesnot depend on

institutions.

c m y k c m y k

I don’t see any purpose of wanting to look back

In order for answers to become clear, thequestions have to be clear

AMITABH BACHCHANMIND POWER

ABDOLKARIM SOROUSH PAGE

8EditFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

The cows are coming down,the cows are coming down,and I’m off to the Bagel. MySwiss neighbours have cut,

raked and baled the grass that thesweet four-legged ones with bellsaround their necks will be eating allwinter while indoors. They willparade through the town next week,and it will certainly be an improve-ment after the kind of tourists we’vebeen getting of late. Give me four-legged beings any old day — and Ireally mean that.

I’ll give you a brief example. Lastweek, when I was in the Gstaad localbank, a couple came in and went tothe teller next to mine. As I had towait for something complicated(gone are the days when one couldsend moolah with a simple name andaddress), I couldn’t help but overheartheir conversation. The man was talland blond, the woman was fromsomewhere in the Gulf and muchyounger. They enquired about theamount that can be deposited for a12-year-old student at the Rosey

school to draw on. The teller, whom Iknow, smiled and asked the couplehow much they had in mind. “Well,not a million or two,” answered theman. That’s fine, said the teller, stillsmiling. But how much? Seven toeight hundred, came the answer.That should do, said the teller. Thencame the bombshell: “Seven to eighthundred thousand.” The tellergasped but said nothing. “Is it ille-gal?” asked the father. “No, no, butyou said the child is 12.” I looked atthem and they seemed normalenough, but how normal is it to givethat kind of dough to a 12-year-old toplay with?

See what I mean about preferringfour-legged creatures to humans?Exclusivity has always been theethos of the very rich, but today’srich bums are out of control. All onehas to do is to look south — at SaudiArabia for one. Forget the bad taste,the outrageous conduct towardswomen, the killing of dissidents andthe bullying of servants that goes asfar as torturing them if they don’t

execute orders to the letter. Forexample: Princess Hassa bintSalman, the sister of the presentSaudi strongman, was just con-demned by a French court for order-ing her bodyguard to beat up aplumber in her apartment. He hadphotographed pieces of furniture inorder to put them back in the rightplace. The Saudi woman was out-raged. And this happened in Paris, ofall places. This lot sees us as a bunchof money-hungry peons they canmanipulate and push around. Thatbloody woman, needless to say, hadleft France by the time the verdictwas delivered. It will all be sweptunder the carpet in due course.

And like all cowardly bullies, theSaudis cried foul when two of theiroil installations blew up over theweekend. Houthi drones did it. Goodfor the drones, say I. The Saudis andtheir allies have killed nearly 100,000people and are starving millionswith their airstrikes and blockades.They are using hunger as a weapon,and have the gall to cry foul when the

injured ones retaliate.One of the reasons I rarely go into

the Swiss village nowadays is thehorrors that one sees. And it’s boundto get worse. Winter is better becausethe rats can’t stand the cold. Still, it’sstrange to live in one of the mostbeautiful spots on this earth and hes-itate to walk through the picturesquevillage because of who you mightmeet. Pundits keep banging on aboutequality and freedom — but whatkind of freedom is it when you haveSaudi and Gulf potentates mistreat-ing their Filipino servants behindclosed doors right here in Swit-zerland, supposedly the most democ-ratic nation of all? One of the reasonsI think feminism and political cor-rectness are bad jokes is that thereare thousands, if not millions, ofHarvey Weinsteins in that part of theworld, and we refuse to do anythingabout it. Instead we kiss theirextremely ugly asses.

Never mind. Back in good old NewYork, the Sacklers, the billionairefamily behind OxyContin, have

offered up to $12 billion to settle morethan 2,000 opioid claims. The opioidcrisis has caused the death of morethan 400,000 people. Twelve billionsmackers for 400,000 dead comes tohow much per dead person?

The Sacklers, meanwhile, are relo-cating to Palm Beach. Once they arethere the family will be fine. Theywon’t join the Everglades club, or theBath & Tennis — strongholds of oldmoney made the old-fashioned way— but they will be welcome to thePalm Beach Country Club, whereBernie Madoff was among the mostpopular members. The OxyContinheiress Joss Sackler just had a fash-ion show in New York. If there wereany shame left in this world, therewould not have been polite applauseat the end of the show. Goody, goodygumdrops: next time I write I’ll beamong the vomit-inducing, cynicalinsincerity of Noo Yawk groupies.Yippee!

By arrangement with the Spectator

Why cows canbe preferable

to humans

How will one card solveany of India’s problems?

As a balloonsent up to testthe air or thewindsock totest the direc-

tion and speed of thewind, the “one card-onenation” proposition wasbrain numbing. The pur-pose of “The Card”,according to home minis-ter Amit Shah, would bethat “all data should beput together in a singlecard”. The question iswhy? What will this carddo? How will the holder ofthe card benefit from it?

Apart from the fact thatneither passports nordriving licences wouldbe valid if these docu-ments were put on to a“single card”, the idea of“The Card” tells us noth-ing at all on what makesit “should” do. On theother hand, the idea of“The Card” is going toraise hackles in somequarters, create opportu-nities for endless specu-lation and enable a con-versation that can onlygo around in circles, asno one really knowswhat it means.

Indians already havecards. Those who need totravel overseas or eventhose who dream ofdoing so but never mayhave passports. Justabout 50 per cent of thepopulation have 574 mil-lion bank accounts(though some, like me,may have multipleaccounts, all duly filedwith the income-taxauthorities, in the inter-ests of full disclosure)and presumably chip-enabled cards. Almosteveryone of eligible agehas a voter card,totalling some 897 mil-lion voters as per the2019 elections. Even so,there are eligible citizenswho do not have votercards; thousands andthousands of women arenot on the list, becausethey have either neverbeen enlisted or theyhave moved or theirnames have changed.This is quite apart fromthe mysterious exclu-sions that occur every

time the voters’ list isrevised.

Cards and lists that pre-cede the making of thecards are error-ridden,annoying, time-consum-ing, income terminating,albeit temporarily, mis-adventures in India.Nothing ever gets donein one shot. Just howinefficient the system ishas been proved withheart-stopping clarity bythe failure of the “sys-tem” to produce a flaw-less list of registered/eli-gible citizens in one cor-ner of a not very heavilypopulated state, namelyAssam.

The trouble with MrAmit Shah’s statementon why there should beyet one more card is thathe wears at least twohats. He is the Unionhome minister as well asthe president of theBharatiya Janata Party.What exactly is his sta-tus within the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh isnot equally important,but if he has one, it mustcome with some respon-sibilities. If “The Card”idea was floated by MrShah in his BJP persona,it would be a deliberatelyprovocative politicalpoke. If, on the otherhand, “The Card” ideawas proposed by MrShah as home minister,then it is an altogetherdifferent ballgame.

The BJP may have beenright when it laid downthe law — one man-onepost. It would haveavoided the current con-fusion over which AmitShah proposed the ideaof “The Card”. Trying tofigure out the exact point

at which Mr Shah slipsin and out of his tworoles when speaking inpublic and making sig-nificant announcementsis mind-boggling. Givenhis stamina, Mr Shahmay not get disoriented,but others do, jugglingwith the multiple person-alities and the disorderthat follows.

A BJP president with adefinite target to keepthe party in power in asmany states as possiblefor as long as possiblehas a political agenda.“The Card” is in the ser-vice of that agenda, asone more effort at weed-ing out whoever isrequired to be politicallydeclared persona nongrata or whatever is thefancy word for a personwho sneaked in acrossthe border as an illegal,makes a lot of sense. As aeuphemism for the veryflawed and extremelyexasperating processknown as the NationalRegister of Citizens andits concomitant, theCitizenship AmendmentBill, “The Card” couldcut the derision as wellas the apprehension thatis now inevitable, afterAssam.

A home minister, how-ever, needs to be farmore cautious in propos-ing an idea that is, tobegin with, a snafu.Passports cannot be puton the same card and thehighly experiencedbureaucrats in the homeministry must haveknown it. If they did notadvise the minister onwhat to list as the datathat “should be puttogether in a singlecard”, then the ministershould watch out onwhat is happening on histurf, because he is inserious danger of beingmisled, and so in mis-leading the nation.

As home minister, MrShah has the additionalresponsibility that he isaccountable for hiswords as much as for his

actions in that role.Irrespective of how dys-functional Parliamentmay be, the fact is that aministry is accountablefor the work it does andthe minister likewise.

“The Card” is not anidea floated for politicalpurposes when the homeminister announces it. Itbecomes a proposal ofthe government thatmust then tell citizenswhat the card is for.Saying “should” is sim-ply not enough. Sayingthat it puts together datais seriously dangerous,because the purpose ofthe government is notsurveillance.

Making cards costsmoney. It requires to bepaid for through bud-getary provisions.Therefore, the homeminister has to explainwhy this card is neces-sary and how it will ben-efit people. He is answer-able for when it will berolled out. And why thecard is to be linked todigitisation of theCensus. Such randomconnections are notappropriate for the homeminister, however suit-able these may be for theBJP chief, because theseare irresponsible state-ments. The home minis-ter must explain and jus-tify the expenditure ofpublic money and thebenefit such a card willprovide.

Will this too be a“jumla”, as Mr Shahonce famously describedthe 2014 election promiseof `15 lakhs in everyIndian's bank account? Itought not to be. In 2014,he was only the BJP pres-ident. As home ministerof the sixth or seventhlargest economy in theworld, a country that isinternationally signifi-cant, he owes the publiceither an explanation ora retraction.

The writer is a seniorjournalist in Kolkata

A BJP presidentwith a definite target to keep theparty in power in asmany states aspossible for as longas possible has apolitical agenda.‘The Card’ is in the service of thatagenda...

The trouble with MrAmit Shah’s state-ment on why thereshould be yet one

more card is that hewears at least two

hats. He is the Unionhome minister as

well as the presidentof the Bharatiya

Janata Party.

The government musttell citizens what the

card is for. Saying‘should’ is simply notenough. Saying thatit puts together data

is seriously dangerous, because

the purpose of thegovernment is not

surveillance.

Subhani

Taki

Shikha Mukerjee

LETTERSLYNCHING BARBARICKilling innocent children foropen defecation is barbaric(2 Dalit kids lynched foropen defecation in MP, DC,Sept. 26). Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had in theUS announced that 99 percent of open defecationhas been curtailed in India.But here, destitute childrenare being killed. Statisticsmislead, ground reality isdifferent. Instead of publici-ty, government must pon-der upon providing facili-ties, especially in villages.

G. ThirupathaiahKothapet, Hyderabad

HYDERABAD ROADSAuthorities must provide betterinfrastructure in roads and fly-overs to meet the increasing trafficdemands rather than imposingheavy fines (Record 132mm rainsinks city, DC, Sept. 26). This wouldup morale of those who followrules. Tuesday’s rain havoc sup-ports the fact.

Mohammed Abdul MuqeethHyderabad

FATHER OF INDIAUS President Donald Trumppraised Prime Minister NarendraModi, calling him ‘Father of India’.Why is MIM chief Asaduddin Owa-isi shocked? A world-renownedleader praising our PM is not aninsult to India. It is wrong to thinkthat Mr Modi ‘divides country’,since 2014 Mr Modi has beenspreading ‘pride of India’ globally.

Vivaan Ramvikas Raj Kacheguda, Hyderabad

MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi,before criticising US PresidentDonald Trump must get his factscorrect. ‘Father of India’ title wasnot given to Gandhiji, though wecall him so out of respect. This wasthe clarification given by homeministry to an RTI query. Suchtitle can be given to anyone.

K. GaneshHyderabad

ERRANT AUTO DRIVERSAs suggested by Mohd Usmani,traffic police should start issuingchallans to errant autorickshawdrivers also. Police is having mis-placed sympathy for autos, butauto drivers commit all kinds oftraffic offences: park on roadside,engage in gossip, stop in middle ofthe road, change lanes abruptly,drive on wrong side of road, etc.

Dr K.S. RaoShaikpet, Hyderabad

DECCAN CHRONICLE

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9OpedFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

CONCRETE COLLAR CYBRARIANWord SPY

An extensive system of roads or highways that surround a city

A librarian who specialises in locating, prioritising and organising information on the Internet

Iranian PresidentHassan Rouhani’sWest Asia peace planwill be dissected, dis-cussed and digestedbecause it is essentialto stabilise a hugelydisrupted region. Of

course, any idea from one sideof an arbitrarily drawn Shia-Sunni faultline will possiblycause Crown PrinceMohammad bin Salman ofSaudi Arabia to throw a gingerfit, but after recent setbacks heis something of a wounded stagand may be amenable to reason.

The attack on Aramco,claimed by the Houthis, is awound, of course, but so is thewasted four-year-long war inYemen. It is now turning uponhim. The sight of his buddy,

Benjamin Netanyahu, hangingfrom the precipice is not reas-suring either. Mr Netanyahumay well clamber on again, orhe may fall without a trace, thechances of him being a durablefigure in Israeli public life areat a discount. The picture mustcause despair in Riyadh andTel Aviv now that there is noJohn Bolton, holding a topsecret folder to his chest andmuttering: “I shall do suchthings, what they are I knownot but they shall be the ter-rors of the earth.” (Lear)

The up-and-down in Iran’simage in Washington is fre-quent. An unforgettable imageis the Oped page of the NewYork Times of March 20, 2005:Columnist Thomas L.Friedman had recommended

Ayatollah Sistani for the NobelPrize. Paul Bremer, US repre-sentative in Baghdad, had writ-ten a note to Ayatollah Sistani,seeking an interview. Sistani’sresponse was cryptic: “Neitheryou nor I belong to Iraq: LetIraqis settle their affairs.”

The two belong to the sameculture. Any observer of Iranwould have anticipated theessence of President Rouhani’smessage: “Let the region settleits affairs.”

The drone attack by theHouthis on Saudi Aramco’sAbqaiq oil facility in Buqyaqwas devastating for the Saudis,of course. But it was much moreworrying for the American mil-itary-industrial complex. Thequestion uppermost in theminds of the Saudi ruling elitewill be “if the trillions of dollarsof Western arms which we havebought over the years cannotprotect our crown jewels?” andthe US arms market may take aprofound hit worldwide, whichwill not be a happy developmentat a time when PresidentDonald Trump is looking fordeep pockets to clean out theChinese in the trade war.

Mr Netanyahu is not a very“likeable” person in Tehran, aselsewhere. This was one of theingredients in the anti-Semitismsweeping through the Westernworld. The persistent lobbyingby the Israeli leader to demoniseIran has not worked. Indeed, ithas boomeranged. In fact, hehimself has had egg on his faceas, for instance, at the high-pow-ered conference in Warsaw lastFebruary with the known pur-pose of isolating Iran. Russiaslammed the planned meeting atthe very outset as “counterpro-ductive” because of its obses-sion with Iran.

The conference collapsed

after Israeli foreign ministerIsrael Katz had crossed all thepossible diplomatic red lines.“Poles suckled anti-Semitismfrom their mother’s milk”, hetold his hosts, leaving the con-ference in tatters. A meetingscheduled in Jerusalem tocarry forward the ideas fromWarsaw was cancelled. Canyou blame the Poles for hatinghim? The Law on Restitution ofJewish Property was passed bythe Poles because the Jews, asHolocaust victims, were suc-cessfully laying claim to prop-erty with the help of theJewish clout globally. The USstate department sent outinstructions to all its missionsto keep an eye on Jewish prop-erty cases. This behaviourcomes across as high-handedto most sovereign states.

Here is an opportunity for theleader of Blue and White Party,Benny Gantz, to make Israelnot just feared, but also loved. Ihave in years past travelledaround the length and breadthof the Israel, the Gaza Strip andthe West Bank with my dearfriend, the late Eric Silver.Israel then was never a harsh,

forbidding place it appeared tobe in the Netanyahu years.

Just after Donald Trumpbecame President, two grandold men and leaders of thestrategic community, HenryKissinger and ZbigniewBrzezinski, turned up in Osloas guests of the NobelFoundation. I could distil thepoint which had great urgency.The Arab-Israeli faultline waslosing saliency to the Shia-Sunni faultline. There was anassumption that the Sunnis,being numerically superior,would in the end prevail. Andwith US and Israeli support,they could ask for the moon.

To get the calculations right,one must set aside Indonesia,the world’s largest Muslimcountry, and Malaysia, bothSunni but different from theArab world. In Indonesia, par-ticularly, there is a quaint co-existence of Islam and Hinduculture. Even though Islam isthe religion of an overwhelm-ing majority, the Mahabharatand Ramayan define thenation’s culture.

The Gulf Cooperation Councilput its heads together largely in

response to the Iranian revolu-tion of 1979. But it is far from aWahabi-Salafi dominatedhomogenous group. In Bahrain,the conflict is unique — an 80per cent majority Shia popula-tion is treated by the Wahabiruling sheikhs as the only oppo-sition. In 2011, when the ArabSpring was in the air, US diplo-mat Jeffrey Feltman had verynearly worked out a power-sharing arrangement betweenthe ruling sheikh and the mainOpposition. The arrangementwas scuttled by the late KingAbdullah of Saudi Arabia, whosaw any arrangement with theShias as a compact with Iran,and therefore the devil. He sawIran as “the head of a snakewhich had to be cut off”.

Has this approach worked forthe Saudis? They are sitting ona heap of rubble in Yemen, inAramco and in Syria. Iran,meanwhile, has consolidateditself with the Hezbollah inBeirut, the Hashd al-Shaabi (inIraq) and the Houthis in Yemen.

The writer is a senior journalist and commentator

based in New Delhi

The first book I everproduced, some 50years ago, was a col-lection of poetry writ-ten by children. I

called it Children’s Words.There are poems in there by theyoung Daniel Day Lewis andMontagu Don, among others,and another by one SamuelTaylor Coleridge.

I was a young teacher tryingall I could to help children findtheir voices. It was at a timewhen teachers were not so con-fined to and driven by a narrowcurriculum, the children not sotaught to the exam, not so force-fed. So teachers like me couldall have more time and space toexplore ideas, discover worlds,write our poetry, tell our tales,sing our songs, paint our pic-tures, make and act our plays. Itwas a good time to teach. Thework they were producing wasextraordinary; I was alreadybeginning to realise just howimmense the potential and tal-ent of these young people was. Ishould have known. I had chil-dren of my own.

What had not occurred to meso much then but has becomemuch more apparent to menow, and to all of us, I suspect —and has been one of the greatand important benefits of socialmedia — is the power of youngpeople to change lives, changethe world and how we see it.

Patronise if you dare! Thedetermination and courage ofthe young to take on the adultworld, its hypocrisy, its greed,its idiocies, its hubris, its self-delusion, its ignorance, itsabsurd preconceptions andprejudices, “to bravely gowhere no one has gone before”,has taken most of us by sur-prise.

Some of us might not havethought that young people hadit in them. Some of us did notthink they were old enough.

Some of us did not think theywould understand such things.And some did not think theyhad a right to stand up for theirbeliefs, to say and write whatthey feel, to do what they thinkis right, and what should be putright. It wasn’t long ago thatthere were some who thought ofwomen that way. That’s worthremembering.

Worth remembering too is thecontribution millions of chil-dren today are making theworld over towards the lives ofothers, towards this good earth,towards human rights, towardspeace and reconciliation.

Let me mention just three ofthe millions who have made ussit up and think and change,who are telling us straight howit is, who are pricking our con-sciences and showing us a newway forward, a better way.

In Pakistan, some ten yearsago now, Malala Yousafzai, ayoung schoolgirl of 11, wasspeaking out for the rights of allgirls to be educated, and educat-ed well. In full knowledge ofhow some in Pakistan mightobject to this — the Taliban inparticular, and others — andunderstanding fully what risksshe was taking, she went onspeaking out. Her blogs for theBBC became well known. Andthe Taliban came for her, tosilence her. They shot her inthe school bus on her wayhome.

The assassination attemptbackfired. After long months inhospital with all the world look-ing on, through social media,all of us, young or old, wishingher well again, the doctorsworked miracles and Malalarecovered. And once recoveredshe simply went on where shehad left off, flying the flag forthe rights of girls the worldover to be educated.

And by then, of course, theworld was listening, applaud-

ing. She spoke at the UnitedNations. They have theirDeclaration of Human Rights;but standing there before themwas a young girl from Pakistanwho had nearly lost her life forthose rights. She received theNobel Peace Prize, the youngestever to do so. A child hadchanged the lives of others,changed the world for the bet-ter.

Then another young girl camealong, Greta Thunberg, 15, whodecided enough was enough.She could see how climatechange was threatening, howSweden, her country, ecologi-cally speaking supposed to beamong the most enlightened ofcountries, was not movingnearly fast enough in thereforms that urgently need tobe made. In school her teacherswere telling her to switch offthe lights and save the planet,and then they flew off all overthe world for their holidays.Against all advice from parentsand teachers she went on strikefrom her school, sitting in thestreet beside her banner. Whenasked, she replied, in her ownparlance: “I am doing thisbecause you adults are s****ingon my future.”

This rang a bell for young peo-ple all over the world. Here wasone of their own, brave enoughto face up to the adult worldthat they knew was being hypo-critical. This was their worldthat was being systematicallypolluted, exploited anddestroyed. Young people areaware of the power of socialmedia, know how to use it, andthey used it. Greta’s message

went around the world.Millions of children went onstrike from school, marched inthe streets. The great and pow-erful, the politicians and theestablishment, may have shak-en their heads in disapproval,but they knew well enough thatthey had been rumbled, thatGreta was right, as were hersupporters, who will very soonbe voters.

Greta has just sailed acrossthe Atlantic, to bring her mes-sage to the US. She does notlack courage. Atlantic stormsor President Donald Trump,she faces them down in her ownmanner, quietly, firmly, polite-ly. The other day she wasprotesting outside the WhiteHouse. She is championing agreat cause, to end climatechange before it is too late, now,because it is an outrageousinjustice to the planet, and acruel injustice to future genera-tions. This is a cause the youngall over the world have taken totheir hearts, and quite a fewmillion old folk like me. Wecould not wish for a betterchampion.

And now to a hidden injusticeI knew little or nothing of untilI met a young boy calledJonathan Bryan. He was 10when I met him. He has suf-fered from severe cerebralpalsy all his life. He has locked-in syndrome. He is entirelyreliant on his family and hiscarers, and on 24-hour medicalsupport — life support effective-ly. He hears, he sees, he feels, hesmiles. But he has no ability tospeak at all, so cannot commu-nicate. Well, that’s what peopleoften think about such chil-dren, and why people often giveup on such children.

His mother and his familythought otherwise. For a whileJonathan simply existed. Hewould lie there in a room, thetelevision on, with other chil-dren similarly afflicted. Hismother knew there was a childin there longing to communi-cate: that Jonathan had a spirit,a mind, a personality, and thathe was longing to express him-self. Between his mother andhis family and his carers, and

Jonathan, they found the key tounlock this locked-in boy.

Jonathan could blink, hecould move his eyes. He learnedto spell out words, blinking atletters on the board his carerheld out in front of him.Looking on, his mother spokehis words. It took years of prac-tice to make the words makesentences, make conversation,make writing, make poetry,make a book, his first book, EyeCan Write. And can he write!And can he speak! I should sayso.

I’ve known him for four yearsnow. When I first met him I didnot know what to say. I knew hewas a poet. All I could managewas a rather awkward: “It’sgood to meet a young writer.”And he replied slowly, in hisown blinking way: “And it’sgood… to… meet… an… old…writer!”

I never patronised Jonathanagain.

Not good enough for thisremarkable boy to learn tospeak with the blink of an eye,not good enough to write abook. No, Jonathan Bryanbegan a campaign. He went tosee ministers, talked to thosewho can make things change,went armed with a persuasivestatement and an insistentdemand which has importantimplications for the educationof all children everywhere. Hismessage is simply this. Neverunderestimate a child’s poten-tial. Give us the teaching, giveus all we need to fulfil our-selves, to make the best of our-selves. Look at me. I had thehelp, support and encourage-ment I needed. And Eye CanWrite. And with my writing Ican change things, changelives. I can make a difference.

Three children, all of whomfound a voice of their own, amission of their own, found thecourage to endure and to speakout, and are making the lives ofothers immeasurably better.Listen to the children. It’s theirworld as much as ours. Morereally. They’ll be here longer.

By arrangement with the Spectator

Edison, the famous sci-entist, had set up avery expensive labora-tory, which one day

caught fire. There was nopanic. Instead, he called up hiswife and said, “Please come,you will not get to see such aspectacle again!” After that hewent home and slept peaceful-ly. An objective attitude helpsgreatly. However, to keepcalm in the face of misfortunerequires mental strength.Once, I met a young girl whohad lost both her legs. Thecentre of everyone’s sympa-thy, she remained completely

unfazed. Smiling from herwheelchair, she confidentlydeclared, “In two weeks I willget artificial limbs and beginto walk again.” This justproves that some can remaincalm in the face of even greattrauma. Like the man, whohaving lost everything in afinancial crash, said to hisfriend, “I came empty handedinto this world and shall leaveempty handed.”

Situations in life demanddecisions. Theoretically, lifecould present several options,but one must choose a practi-cal course, within one’s reach

and follow it up withaction. Just do it!The choice willdepend on one’svision of life; a spiri-tual outlook will dif-fer.

We find it difficultto break an attachment withloving and kind people and itis much easier to break a bondwith someone whose conductis disturbing. Wisdom is innot having expectations fromanyone, because the only onewe can truly depend upon isthe Lord — our sole well-wish-er and friend. Our response tothe varied situations life pre-sents is determined by ourvision. We cannot imitate oth-ers. Aman once tried to imi-tate Jesus Christ. When hewas slapped once, he turnedthe other cheek. However,when slapped on the othercheek, he retaliated with ahard smack. On being asked

why he was not fol-lowing Christ, he said,“Jesus said turn theother cheek when youare hit. But he did notsay what to do whenthe other cheek is alsoslapped. So, I gave it

back.” Imitation cannot standthe test of a crisis. This iswhen our true nature isrevealed. How long can weremain indecisive? Considerthe various standpoints, takedecisions with clarity aboutthe vision, goal and values.Don’t be doubtful. Arrangematters in accordance withthe end result. However, beready for all consequences —conducive or otherwise.

Swami Tejomayananda isfrom Chinmaya Mission.

To find out more aboutChinmaya Mission and

Swamiji, visit www.chinmayamission.com.

Greta, Malala & Jonathan: Kids whoare fearlessly taking on the world

Clear vision dictates sound action

Saudi-Iran tussle always goes Tehran’s way at UN

What do Saudis gainfrom acts of largessetowards Pak leaders?

What could bemore disarm-ing than to bechauffeured by

a debonair, dusky PrimeMinister? (CanadianPremier Justin Trudeaudoes not qualify. His dusk-iness was self-applied.)

Saudi Crown PrinceMohammad bin Salmanhas not forgotten PrimeMinister Imran Khan’sendearing hospitality. Hereciprocated by openingthe doors of the HolyKa’aba for Imran Khan toenter Islam’s holiest epi-centre, a privilege theSaudis extend only to thosethey allow close to them.

Over the years, Pakistanirulers have become accus-tomed to such spontaneousacts of Saudi largesse. Inmid-December 2000, adeposed Prime Minister —Nawaz Sharif — wasreleased from Attock fortwhere he had been sen-tenced to life imprison-ment, convicted of kidnap-ping, hijacking and cor-ruption. He had beenincarcerated there for 14months when suddenly heand his family were flownout of Pakistan in a privatejet belonging to the Saudiroyal family. Immediatelyafter his arrival atMakkah, he performedumrah, thankful for hisunexpected deliverance.

In March 2004, PresidentGeneral Pervez Musharrafvisited Saudi Arabiawhere, according to histhen information ministerSheikh Rashid (now ImranKhan’s voluble minister ofrailways), Musharraf helda “one-on-one meetingwith the Saudi Arabianleadership and discussedissues including Kashmir,Palestine, the situation inIraq and Afghanistan”.Sheikh Rashid’s efferves-cence bubbled: “PresidentGeneral Pervez Musharrafis the first Pakistani leaderwho has been blessed withthe honour of going to theroof of Khana Ka’aba afterperforming umrah.”

Later, in 2016, Musharrafrevealed in an interviewthat “a few months [after]leaving Pakistan he went toSaudi Arabia to performumrah and King Abdullahthen asked him where hewas staying. Musharrafsaid King Abdullah consid-ered him as a youngerbrother and gave him a bigamount of money by open-ing a bank account in hisname in London.

More recently, retiredGen. Raheel Sharif (thefirst Army chief in over 20years to retire without anextension) has been givena lucrative sinecure by theSaudis. He is employed ascommander-in-chief of theSaudi-led Islamic MilitaryCounter TerrorismCoalition. What explana-tion, one wonders, wouldthis new C-in-C have given

his employers for notanticipating the cripplingattack on their oil facilitiesat Abqaiq and Khurais?

One news report con-tends that the Saudidefence equipment thereproved “ineffective … dueto the inability to track andengage low flying targets”.The British Guardiannewspaper gave a differentexplanation. “The [Saudi]defences were pointed inthe wrong direction [,]pointed across the Gulftowards Iran and southtowards Yemen.” TheIsraelis once joked aboutan Egyptian tank beingdesigned with the unusualconfiguration of threereverse and one forwardgears. The three reversegears were needed shouldthe Israelis attack from thefront, and the forward gearin case they made a sur-prise attack from the rear.

A recent press conferenceby the Saudi minister ofstate for foreign affairs inRiyadh provided no clari-ty. He explained that hewas sure the attack “wasnot launched from Yemen,but from the north”. He dis-closed that the Saudis hadasked the UN and othercountries to conduct aprobe into the attacks.When that probe is com-pleted, the Saudis willdecide on “appropriate pro-cedures” to respond to theaggression. Could any com-muniqué have been morebenign or forgiving, or dila-tory? By asking the UN toprobe into the drone andmissile attacks on its vitaloil facilities, the Saudisseem to be deliberatelyinviting delay. Neither theSaudi crown prince norImran Khan will recall thatit took the three-memberUN Commission of Inquirynine months to investigatethe death of Benazir Bhutto.And even then, the commis-sion concluded that “itremains the responsibilityof the Pakistani authoritiesto carry out a serious, credi-ble criminal investigation”.

Dare one ask what do theSaudis gain from suchopen-pursed benefactionsto Pakistani representa-tives? And why doPakistan’s leaders degener-ate so readily into posturesof obsequious gratitude? Itis rumoured that theSaudis are behind furtiveovertures to free an earlierfavourite, Nawaz Sharif. Heis currently serving a sec-ond prison sentence. PrimeMinister Imran Khan hassworn he will not releasehim. Yet, his record showsthat he can take a U-turnwhenever it is expedient.

Meanwhile, NawazSharif can boast a qualifi-cation his successor doesnot have, as yet. He has atleast two convictions.

By arrangement with Dawn

The Saudis are sitting on a heap ofrubble in Yemen, inAramco and in Syria.Iran, meanwhile, has consolidated itself with theHezbollah in Beirut, the Hashd al-Shaabi (in Iraq) and theHouthis in Yemen.

Let me mention justthree of the millions [of children] who havemade us sit up andthink and change, whoare telling us straighthow it is, who arepricking our consciences and showing us a new wayforward, a better way

F.S. Aijazuddin

Swami Tejomayananda

Saeed Naqvi

Wide Angle

Michael Morpurgo

By a staff reporterHYDERABAD, Sept. 26.THE President, Mr. V. V.

Giri said here today that therecent happenings atAhmedabad “fill our heartswith sorrow and anguish.”

It was all the more painful,the President said, to notethat these violent distur-bances should occur in thecity hallowed by Gandhiji’sclose association and wherehe established hisSabarmati. The Presidentwho was inaugurating theGandhi Saptah at theRavindra Bharati said it wasa matter of “deep regret andshame that in spite of our bit-ter experience in the past wehave still not learnt the les-son.”

50 YEARS AGO IN

Giri pained atGujarat incidents

PAGE

10WorldFRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Reef contradictionsWeeks after the Australian government downgraded the GreatBarrier Reef’s long-term outlook to ‘very poor,’ PM ScottMorrison says the world heritage site is vibrant and resilient

The world is facing anunprecedented threatfrom intolerance and

terrorism— Antonio Guterres

UN secretary-general

IN BRIEFEx-French Prez

Chirac dies at 86Paris: Jacques Chirac, a two-

term French president whowas the first leader to

acknowledge France’s rolein the Holocaust and defi-

antly opposed the US inva-sion of Iraq in 2003, died

Thursday at age 86. His son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux

said that Chirac died“peacefully, among his loved

ones.” He did not give acause of death, though

Chirac had had repeatedhealth problems since leav-

ing office in 2007. Chiracwas long the standard-bear-

er of France’s conservativeright, and mayor of Paris fornearly two decades. He was

nicknamed “Le Bulldozer”.

Student lay dead indorm for 2 months

Wellington: A teenager laydead in his campus dorm

room for up to two months,a New Zealand university

said on Thursday, with theyoung man’s body only dis-

covered after fellow resi-dents complained of the

smell. The remains of thefirst year University of

Canterbury student were sobadly decomposed that spe-cialist disaster investigatorswere brought in to identifythem. “Clearly there’s been

quite a big failure here,” NewZealand education minister

Chris Hipkins said. “And ifthat means that things needto change to make sure this

sort of thing doesn’t happenagain in the future, then we

will do that.” The 19-year-old, who has not been pub-

licly identified, wasdescribed by friends as a

“good and confident guy”,but who would sometimes“go off the grid for a week

or so.” He began his coursein July opting to live on the

university’s leafy campus.

Cholera outbreakin Sudan, 8 dead

Khartoum: Eight people havedied from cholera in Sudan

including six in the war-tornstate of Blue Nile, according

to the World HealthOrganisation, amid a surgein the number of reported

cases. A total of 184 cases ofcholera were reported in the

African country over the pastmonth, including 128 cases

from Blue Nile and 56 inSinnar state, WHO said in astatement late Wednesday

citing health ministryrecords. “Eight cholera-relat-ed deaths have been record-ed by the federal ministry ofhealth, including six in BlueNile state and two in Sinnar

state,” WHO said.

Protesters break a hole in the wall of Parliament building compound in Kendari on Thursday during a rally againstthe government’s proposed change in its criminal code laws and plans to weaken the anti-corruption commission.Hundreds of Indonesians gathered in several major centres across the archipelago on Thursday as authoritiesbraced for more violent opposition to a major overhaul of the criminal code. — AFP

Trump calls impeachmentprobe by Democrats a ‘joke’White House releases whistleblower complaint to members of Congress Washington, Sept. 26: Inthe days following thephone call between USPresident Donald Trumpand Ukraine’s new presi-dent, senior White Houseofficials intervened to“lock down” all records ofthe call. That’s accordingto a declassified whistle-blower complaint releasedon Thursday by the HouseIntelligence Committee.

The complaint says thatthe whistleblower learnedabout the effort from“multiple US officials.”

Committee members arehearing the testimony onThursday over the com-plaint and details of theJuly 25 call on whichTrump prodded Ukraine’sleader to work withTrump’s personal lawyerRudy Giuliani and the USattorney general to inves-tigate Democratic politicalrival Joe Biden.

Trump has said he’sdone nothing wrong.“They are getting hit hardon this witch hunt becausewhen they look at theinformation, it’s a joke,”he said. House SpeakerNancy Pelosi announced aformal impeachmentinquiry.

The House IntelligenceCommittee has released aredacted version of awhistleblower complaintat the centre of Demo-crats’ impeachment probeof President DonaldTrump.

Lawmakers began

reviewing a classified ver-sion of the complaint onWednesday evening aheadof testimony on Thursdaymorning by actingDirector of National Intel-ligence Joseph Maguire.

House Democrats whohave read the documentsay it’s “deeply disturb-ing.”

The whistleblower’sidentity was not madepublic.

The complaint is at leastin part related to a Julyphone call between Trumpand Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy.

The White Housereleased a rough tran-script of that callWednesday morning.

— AFP

Dhaka, Sept. 26:Bangladesh border guardsare marking the homes ofsuspected drug andhuman traffickers in apublic shaming campaignas part of a bid to tackle asharp rise in crime, offi-cials said Thursday.

The impoverished SouthAsian nation has been bat-tling a surge in the traf-ficking of cheap metham-phetamine pills calledyaba from neighbouringMyanmar, and prescrip-tion drugs and alcoholfrom India.

Human trafficking hasalso increased, with smug-glers enticing Rohingyarefugees in Bangladeshcamps to take boat jour-

neys to other countries.Officials have been writ-

ing slogans such as “this isa house of a drug traffick-er” in red paint on somedwellings in the borderdistricts of Brahmanbariaand Joypurhat, popularroutes for criminals.

“We have done this aspart of our social cam-paign to discourage othersfrom committing suchcrimes,” Border GuardBangladesh regional com-mander LieutenantColonel Golam Kabir said.

Kabir said accused wererepeatedly committing thesame crimes “despitebeing arrested multipletimes”, as they keep get-ting bail.

A local villager inB r a h m a n b a r i a ,Mohammad Ali, welcomedthe move and said that “we

hope they will think abouttheir children’s futures”.

But rights activists criti-cised the campaign, saying

entire families were being“vilified”.

Bangladesh shares a4,200-kilometre land bor-

der with India and a 273-kilometre border withMyanmar.

A large part of the bor-der is poorly policed,allowing criminals tosmuggle humans, drugsand cattle.

Authorities have alsoshut down dozens of travelagencies in recent monthsover charges they are usedas fronts for human traf-ficking. — AFP

Bangladesh ‘shames’ human traffickers■ Smugglers enticing Rohingya refugees in camps to take boat journeysVIOLATORS | MARKED

Bangladesh border guards watch as a home belonging to a suspected drug traffickeris marked with red paint, which reads, “This is a house of a drug trafficker” — inAkhaura. — AFP

LOS ANGELES PIOsRAISE FUNDS FOREX-VP JOE BIDENWashington, Sept. 26:Days after US PresidentDonald Trump tried towoo Indian Americans byjoining Prime MinisterNarendra Modi at a megarally in Houston,Democratic presidentialaspirant Joe Biden washosted for a major fund-raiser by this small butrich community.

The fund-raiser in LosAngeles Wednesday nightwas organised by Indian-American surgeon SanjayKhurana and his software-engineer wife Mona, attheir picturesque Manha-ttan Beach home. It wasattended by about 150 topIndian Americans from inand around Hollywood.

During his nearly 30-minute speech, Biden saidhe is running for presi-dent to “restore the soul ofAmerica, to rebuild themiddle class and to unitethe country”.

The former vice-presi-dent said if Trump iselected again, it will fun-damentally change the US.

“We can handle the next18 or 16 months if he does-n’t get us into a war. Wecan’t handle another fouryears of Trump,” Bidensaid. — PTI

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speak dur-ing a meeting in New York on Thursday. — AFP

TRUMP WHISTLEBLOWER COMPLAINT‘VERY TROUBLING’, SAY LAWMAKERSNew York, Sept. 26: Awhistleblower report thathas prompted an impeach-ment inquiry into DonaldTrump contains “verytroubling” allegations, USlawmakers have said, afterthe President dismissedthe case against him as a“joke.” Democrats haveaccused Trump of a“mafia-style shakedown”of his Ukrainian counter-part Volodymyr Zelenskyby urging a probe into hisrival Joe Biden — prompt-ing the complaint by ananonymous US intelli-gence official earlier in

September. That docu-ment has now been declas-sified, Republican Congre-ssman and HouseIntelligence Committeemember Chris Stewartsaid late on Wednesday.

Top Democratic SenatorChuck Schumer toldreporters the complaintwas “very troubling” — anassessment echoed byRepublican Senator BenSasse.

Trump struck a subduedtone at his first press meetsince Democrats launchedan official impeachmentinquiry. — AFP

Sikh woman, 15ultras arrestedKuala Lumpur, Sept.26: An Indian Sikhwoman was among 16 ter-ror suspects arrested bythe Malaysian Police forallegedly planning toattack leaders of localpolitical parties, a mediareport said on Thursday.

The suspects, some ofwhom were linked to theIslamic State, werearrested in a special oper-ation conducted betweenAugust 10 and September25 in Kuala Lumpur,Sabah, Pahang, Johor,Penang and Selangorcities, state-run Bernamanews agency reported.

The 16 terror suspectscomprised 12 Indones-ians, three Malaysiansand one Indian national,it said.

Quoting Ayob KhanMydin, assistant directorof Malaysian Police’scounter-terrorism divi-sion, the report said the38-year-old Indianwoman, who worked as acleaner, was a member ofthe secessionist Sikhs ForJustice (SFJ) group.

India in July banned thepro-Khalistani group forits alleged anti-nationalactivities.

The US-based SFJ push-es for Sikh Referendum2020 as part of its sepa-ratist agenda. Thegroup’s primary objectiveis to establish an “inde-pendent and sovereigncountry” in Punjab.

He said two Malaysiansdetained in Sabah wereresponsible for spreadingIS propaganda and actedas facilitators for anIndonesian couple and

three of their childrenwho carried out a suicidebombing attack on achurch in Philippines inDecember last year.

The two also arrangedfor funds to be channelledto the Maute terroristgroup in southernPhilippines, he said.

Mydin said some of thesuspects created new IScells in Malaysia and pro-moted the group throughsocial media.

“They were also activein recruiting new mem-bers, includingIndonesians andMalaysians, and plannedto launch attacks inMalaysia and Indonesiaafter recruiting as manymembers as possible,” hesaid. — Agencies

Indonesians protest in Parliament

Defiant Boris demands polls in UKLondon, Sept. 26: BritishPrime Minister BorisJohnson challenged Oppo-sition parties to table a no-confidence motion againsthis government to triggera general election, amidchaotic scenes in theHouse of Commons after ahistoric Supreme Courtverdict over-ruling hisearlier suspension ofParliament.

Johnson, who had todash back from the UN

summit in New York toface furious parliamentar-ians on Wednesdayevening, appeared unre-pentant as he stuck to hisstand that the seniorjudges had been wrongand rejected the pleas ofMembers of Parliament tomoderate his inflammato-ry language as an attemptto frustrate his Brexitstrategy to meet theOctober 31 deadline.

Instead of facing the vot-

ers the Opposition turnedtail and fled from an elec-tion. Instead of decidingto let the voters decide,they ran for the courts it isabsolutely no disrespect tothe judiciary to say I thinkthe court was wrong, hedeclared, amid extraordi-nary verbal clashes in theCommons.

Other Parliamentariansalso rounded on Johnsonfor his lack of contritionfollowing the unanimous

defeat for the governmentin the highest court of thecountry.

Responding to Johnson,Labour Party leaderJeremy Corbyn accusedhim of failing to take thecourt defeat seriously,branding his statement“10 minutes of blusterfrom a dangerous PrimeMinister who thinks he isabove the law but in truthis not fit for the office heholds. — PTI

Mayor dumps trashon beach in S. KoreaSeoul, Sept. 26: A SouthKorean mayor who dum-ped a tonne of trash on aclean beach to give envi-ronmental campaignerssomething to pick up hassaid sorry for his decep-tion.

Officials trucked in lit-ter and waste that hadalready been collectedfrom rubbish-strewn coa-sts, and scattered it allover the pristine sand ofsouthwest Jindo.

The following day hun-dreds of volunteersscoured the shores andbagged up the garbage aspart of an event to markInternational CoastalCleanup Day, a globalevent aimed at counter-

ing the scourge of sea-borne waste. “We broughtin waste styrofoam andother coastal trash gath-ered from nearby areas sothe 600 participants couldcarry out clean-up activi-ties,” said Lee Dong-jin,Jindo county mayor, in astatement.

His office apologised forcausing trouble and saidthe event was meant to“raise awareness aboutthe seriousness of coastalwaste”. Lee said all thelitter had been retrievedand taken care of “100percent”. He said nonehad entered the ocean andthere had been “no sec-ondary pollution”.

—Agencies

FB AD RULES STRICTER INPOLL-BOUND SINGAPORESingapore, Sept. 26:Facebook on Thursdayintroduced strict crite-ria for political ads onthe social network inSingapore to prevent thespread of misinforma-tion as the city-stategears up for elections.

Faced with criticismthe site has been used tomanipulate polls, Faceb-ook has been tighteningrules on such advertsaround the world, fromthe US to India.

Those advertising inSingapore about elec-tions and politics onFacebook or its Instag-ram app will now haveto first confirm their

identity and location,and disclose who isresponsible for the ad,the social network said.

They must also give aphone number, email orwebsite, said KatieHarbath, Facebook’spublic policy director.

In addition, the newrequirements will applyto those wanting to runads on social issues likeimmigration and crime— hotly debated bySingaporeans onFacebook.

“To enable healthy dis-course, we’ve takensteps to reduce thespread of misinforma-tion,,” she said. — AFP

MBS: KHASHOGGIKILLING UNDERMY WATCHWashington, Sept. 26:Saudi Arabia’s crownprince appeared toaccept responsibility forthe killing of journalistJamal Khashoggi,telling US television afew months later that it“happened under mywatch,” but denying anyprior knowledge.

“It happened under mywatch,” Prince Moha-mmed bin Salman told areporter in December2018, according to quotesreleased ahead of a newPBS documentary to beaired next week.

“I get all the responsi-bility, because it hap-pened under my watch,”the heir to the Gulfkingdom’s throne isquoted as saying, follow-ing the October 2 mur-der. Prince Mohammed,the kingdom’s de factoruler, has come underhuge international pres-sure after the US-basedwriter was killed anddismembered in theSaudi consulate inIstanbul.

Khashoggi’s body wasnever found.

Asked during a conver-sation at a car race trackoutside Riyadh inDecember 2018 why hedid not know about themurder, the princereplied: “We have 20 mil-lion people. We havethree million govern-ment employees.”

And pressed on how ateam could take one ofthe royal planes toIstanbul to carry out thekilling, he said: “I haveofficials, ministers to fol-low things, and they’reresponsible, they havethe authority to do that.”

Riyadh has repeatedlydenied that Prince Moh-ammed was behind themurder of Khashoggi.

And in the PBS com-ments, the PrinceMohammed insisted thekilling was executedwithout his knowledge.

A report by a UNhuman rights expert,who conducted an inde-pendent probe, saidthere was “credible evi-dence” linking thecrown prince to the mur-der and an attemptedcover up.

— AFP

■ ■ THE CIA has alsoreportedly said thekilling was likelyordered by PrinceMohammed.

■ ■ AN UN also linkedthe crown prince tothe murder

■ ■ THE SUSPECTS,some of whom werelinked to the IslamicState, were arrested ina special operationconducted betweenAugust 10 andSeptember 25

■ ■ THE 16 SUSPECTS,comprised 12 Indones-ians, three Malaysiansand one Indian nation-al, it said.

■ ■ THE 38-YEAR-OLDIndian woman, whoworked as a cleaner,was a member of thesecessionist Sikhs ForJustice (SFJ) group.

TREMORSRETURN TOHAUNT PAK

SHAFQAT ALI | DCISLAMABAD, SEPT. 26

An Earthquake had onThursday again hit PakistanAdministered Kashmir andother parts of Pakistan andtriggered fear among the peo-ple.

The tremor struck Mirpur,Jhelum, Sargodha, Rawalakot,Narowal, Sangla Hill, Dina,Sheikhupura and other areas.People came out of theirhomes, offices, educationalinstitutions and other build-ings in panic.

The epicentre of the 4.7-mag-nitude tremor was 10 kilome-tres deep near Jhelum. 70 per-sons were injured in the inci-dent.

At least 38 people lost theirlives while 160 received severeand 360 sustained minorinjuries in an earthquake thatrattled Pakistan on Tuesday.

The quake had completelydamaged 270 houses whereas2,709 buildings were partiallydestroyed. The earthquakelevelled homes and shops andsplit open roads in an areabetween the towns of Jhelumand Mirpur to the north,which is in Pakistan’s portionof Kashmir.

■ ■ BANGLADESH Armysaid the accused wererepeatedly committingthe same crimes“despite being arrestedmultiple times”

FALAKNAAZ SYEDMUMBAI, SEPT. 26

After a huge outcry fromthe general public, theReserve Bank of India(RBI) on Thursday raisedthe cash withdrawal limitfor Punjab and Maharash-tra Cooperative Bank(PMC Bank) customers toRs 10,000 per account fromRs 1,000. The revised limitwill include the Rs 1,000that customers may havealready withdrawn.

The central bank saidthat with the raised with-drawal limit, more than 60per cent of the bank’sdepositors will be able towithdraw their entireaccount balance.

The central bank alsosacked the board of thebank and appointed anadministrator. The bank’sManaging Director JoyThomas has also been sus-pended effectiveWednesday. As a result, thePMC Bank called off its36th annual general meet-ing that was scheduled tobe held on September 28 inMumbai.

Thomas notified thedevelopment to stakehold-ers late on Wednesday.

The RBI has also askedPMC Bank to keep theamount required to pay thedepositors separately in anescrow account and/or inearmarked securitieswhich will be utilised bythe bank only to pay to thedepositors.

“It has been decided toallow the depositors towithdraw a sum notexceeding Rs 10,000/-(Rupees Ten ThousandOnly) (including Rs 1,000/-wherever already with-drawn) of the total balanceheld in every savings bank

account or current accountor any other depositaccount by whatever namecalled, subject to condi-tions stipulated in the RBIDirective dated September23, 2019… With the aboverelaxation, more than 60per cent of the depositorsof the bank will be able towithdraw their entireaccount balance,” the RBIsaid. It said the Directionswere necessitated onaccount of major financialirregularities, failure ofinternal control and sys-tems of the bank andwrong/under-reporting ofits exposures under vari-ous Off-site surveillancereports to RBI that came tothe Reserve Bank’s noticerecently.

One reason for the RBIaction was the high under-reporting of bad loans bythe bank. The gross non-performing assets (NPAs),as per its FY19 balancesheet, was at 3.76 per centof its advances but newsreports pegged it in highdouble-digits.

Thomas in an interviewhas admitted that the prob-lem rose because of under-

reporting of NPAs fromthe loans granted to realestate group HousingDevelopment Infrastruc-ture (HDIL), which hasgone bankrupt.

Former BJP MP KiritSomaiya and severalaccount holders of PMCBank filed police com-plaints on Thursdayagainst top officials of thebank and HDIL for alleged-ly looting Rs 3,000 crore ofthe depositors, police said.Somaiya went to MumbaiPolice's Economic OffencesWing (EOW) and filed awritten complaint, alleg-ing that money of at least9.12 lakh depositors of thePMC Bank was looted byits top management andHDIL and that thereshould be a forensic auditof these transactions.

The bank unions, the AllIndia Bank EmployeesAssociation (AIBEA) andthe All India Co-operativeBank Employees Federa-tion (AICBEF) wrote toFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman seeking sternaction against the RBI offi-cials responsible for thebank’s oversight.

FRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABAD

■ 60% increase in sales seen on small town outreach

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, SEPT. 26

Slowdown or not, e-com-merce will have its festivesplash in October. The fes-tive month, whichincludes Puja and Diwali,is expected to see e-com-merce sales of $7 billion,or Rs 45,000 crore. The six-day sales around Pujaitself could garner sales of$3.7 billion or Rs 24,000crore.

B e n g a l u r u - b a s e dRedSeer Consulting saidthe gross sales revenue of$7 billion expected for themonth would mark a 60per cent jump, from $4.3billion, or Rs 28,000 crore,clocked during last year’sfestive month.

Included in this festivemonth calculation is thePuja week, which startsfrom September 29 andending by October 4. ThePuja week alone may see60 to 65 per cent growth insales to $3.7 billion, or Rs24,000 crore, against $2.3billion, or Rs 15,000 crore ayear ago. More than 75million gross transactionsare expected over this six-day period.

Compared to usual busi-ness days, e-tailers maysee a gross merchandisevalue (GMV) spike of 7Xon these festive daysagainst 6X last year.

As the e-commerce play-ers gear up with offers anddiscounts in various prod-ucts and categories, thenumber of shoppers mak-ing purchases is alsoexpected to go up by 60 per

cent to 32 million from 20million last year. Thegrowth will be primarilydriven by new shoppersfrom smaller towns andcities.

Newer customers willget attracted to e-com-

merce due to a host of fac-tors, including vernacularinterface of platforms,which are breaking theaccessibility barriers.Wider than ever selectionacross categories, attrac-tive deals, wider than ever

credit availability, prom-ise of fast delivery drivenby widest supply chainnetwork ever, spreadacross smaller cities andregions are also support-ing e-commerce sales inBharat.

“Our consumer and busi-ness research and predic-tion modellers clearlyindicate that the market isready to grow significant-ly during festive days 2019...enabled by multiplethemes that industry hasbeen focusing and invest-ing on vernacular, creditavailability, wide selectionand fast shipping. Theevent is likely to mark alandmark for the industryas it democratises to reachnew consumer segmentsand new categories overnext few years,” said AnilKumar, Founder and CEO,RedSeer Consulting.

Consumer electronicsand fashion are expectedto drive growth this festiveseason and newer cate-gories like furniture alsoare likely to emergestrongly. Around 40 percent respondents want tobuy consumer electronicsand large appliances.

However, willingness tobuy mobiles is slightlylower than last year. Lastyear, mobile was the mostpreferred category with 29per cent respondentswanting to buy a new one.The lower share of mobilephones will result in asmall drop in averageorder value, which willcome down from $51 in2018 to $47 in 2019.

Mumbai, Sept. 26:Airports Authority ofIndia (AAI) said onThursday it has mandat-ed its integrated logisticsarm AAICLAS to carryout in-line baggagescreening at various air-ports from next months.

In the in-line baggagescreening system, pas-sengers don’t have toqueue up near the X-raymachines to scan theirbaggage before check-in.

To this effect, the AAICargo LogisticsandAlliedServices Com-pany (AAICLAS) andAAI have inked a pact onWednesday, an officialrelease said.

The pact entailsAAICLAS carrying outhold baggage screeningfunction under the con-trol, supervision andadministration of AAI atvarious domestic andinternational airports,the release said.

This is in compliancewith the Bureau of CivilAviation Security normsfor ensuring safe andsecure in-line hold bag-gage screening system, itsaid. Starting October 1,AAICLAS will first com-mence operations atKolkata, Chennai, Ahme-dabad and Calicut.— PTI

MFs askedto invest in listed securities

Stiglitz sees‘significantslowdown’,not crisis

AAI arm todo luggagescanning

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, SEPT. 26

As the economic slowdownbites, Indian travellers areexploring pocket-friendlysmaller cities to satiatetheir wanderlust, it seems.Going by Oyo bookingnumbers, people are look-ing for short trips to newplaces to find balancebetween work and leisure.

Surprisingly, Guwahatiemerged as the most

booked destination and themost sought after by cou-ples, while Kochi toppedthe charts of being the tier-II city mostly booked byfamilies.

The new-age hospitalitycompany says it witnessedan upward surge in book-ings in its hotels in smallercities in the Septemberquarter compared to theprevious quarter and thesame quarter last year.

Surat and Nagpur saw

daily average bookingsshooting up by 493 per centand 291 per cent, respec-tively, in the Septemberquarter against the samequarter last year.

Among different cities,Puri witnessed 62 per centgrowth in the Septemberquarter over the Junequarter, Kanpur 49 percent, Nagpur 49 per cent,Surat 41 per cent, Varanasi38 per cent, Faridabad 38per cent and Prayagraj 37

per cent.“It’s interesting to see

how the travel and hospi-tality industry has evolvedin recent times. Driven bythe availability of hands-on internet and demandfor unique hospitalityexperiences, people areexperimenting with itiner-aries, breaking away frommainstream destinationsand heading out to differ-ent tier 2 and tier 3 cities insearch of more nuanced

experiences,” said GauravAjmera, Chief OperatingOfficer, India & SouthAsia, Oyo Hotels andHomes.

Rather than spendingdays in one location, peo-ple are increasingly look-ing to explore new placeson their own. According toOyo’s data, Ahmedabadwas the top tier-2 city cho-sen by solo travellers,recording 27 per centincrease sequentially.

Short trip to small cities is new travel trend

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 38,989.74 +1.03Nifty 50 11,571.20 +1.15S&P 500 2,975.51 -0.31Dollar (`) 70.88 -0.21Pound Sterling (`) 87.45 -0.22Euro (`) 77.46 -0.25Gold (10gm)* (`) 38,685▼497 -1.28Brent crude ($/bbl)* 62.13 -0.42IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.710 -0.045US 10-Yr T-bill yield 1.687 -0.045

* As of 9:30 pm IST

FAL sells 5% inICICI Lombardfor `2,500 croreFAL Corporation, a whollyowned subsidiary of Canada-based Fairfax FinancialHoldings, offloaded a 5 percent stake in ICICI LombardGeneral Insurance Co Ltd forover Rs 2,500 crore throughopen market transactions. Theshares were picked up by ahost of Indian mutual fundhouses, insurance companiesand foreign investors.

Axis Bank raises`12,500 crorethrough QIP

Axis Bank said it has raised Rs12,500 crore through qualifiedinstitutional placement (QIP) tofund business growth. "Weunderstand that the transactionis the largest ever QIP by a pri-vate sector issuer in India.Despite a challenging macro-economic and market environ-ment, the placement has wit-nessed strong reception,” AxisBank said in a statement.

Govt to take acall on IT relieflater: ThakurThe government will take adecision on raising the incometax exemption limit at anappropriate time, Minister ofState for Finance Anurag SinghThakur said. "When the timearises to take a call on it(income tax relief), the govern-ment will do so. The govern-ment in the past has alsoincreased (the limit) from Rs2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh,” he said.

Onion prices tocool from Nov:Niti official

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No.APENG/2008/24282. © All rightsreserved. Reproduction in whole or in partwithout written permission of The Editor,

Financial Chronicle ® is prohibited.

Overleaf

Onion prices, which are rulinghigh at Rs 70-80 per kg in thenational capital and other partsof the country, will calm downfrom November onwards whenfresh kharif crop hits the mar-ket, Niti Aayog MemberRamesh Chand said onThursday. To keep a lid onprices, the Centre is offloadingonion from its buffer stockthrough agencies like Nafed,NCCF and Safal outlets.

Mumbai, Sept. 26:Terming privatisation asthe top-most priority, asenior Finance Ministryofficial on Thursday saidthe government will sell“whatever is saleable”,and is also planning tobreach the minimum 51per cent ownership levelin select entities.

Getting down the gov-ernment stake below 51per cent will requireamendments in the lawsand will also ensure thatthese companies movebeyond the remit of over-sight agencies like theCentral VigilanceCommission and theComptroller & AuditorGeneral.

The official explainedthat the Cabinet had inthe past decided to own atleast 51 per cent in PSUsbut it will now have totake a call on going downbelow that level.

“The government isproposing/planning tobring down its equityholding below 51 percentin select central publicsector enterprises,” theofficial said, requestingnot to be named. This willalso take out these unitsout of the purview of var-ious central oversightagencies, the official said.

Privatisation, the offi-cial said, is “the top-mostpriority” for the govern-ment for the next three-four years.

“We have a strong sup-port from the prime min-ister. With that support, Iam 100 percent sure thatwhatever is saleable willbe sold, and whatever is

not saleable also will betried,” the official said.

Addressing the annualCapam conference inMumbai, a senior govern-ment official said the gov-ernment is confident ofexceeding the divestmenttarget for the fourth con-secutive year.

“We have a very welllaid-out strategy forachieving the divestmenttarget this year also. Lastthree years we exceededthe target and there is noreason why we will notexceed the target thisyear as well," DheerajBhatnagar, AdditionalSecretary in theDepartment ofInvestment and PublicAsset Management, said.

The budget has set adivestment target of Rs1.05 lakh crore for thecurrent fiscal, up from Rs90,000 crore last fiscalthat it had overshot.

He said the governmentwants to sell excess landholdings held by state-run enterprises and willsoon be appointing inter-national consultants forthe same.

“We are in the processof appointing interna-tional consultants for theproperty (sale). They willbe handling these trans-actions,” Bhatnagar said.

The list of excess landor non-crore holdingsheld by the enterpriseswill be collected first bythe Niti Aayog in consul-tation with the PSU’sadministrative ministry,the DIPAM and the con-cerned state government.

— PTI

Govt plans to sell ‘whatever is saleable’

ARI ALTSTEDTERSEPT. 26

Apollo Hospitals Enter-prise, India’s largest hospi-tal chain, is consideringpassing on the proceeds ofcorporate tax cutsannounced last week to itsshareholders, people famil-iar with the matter said.

Apollo may also use someof its tax savings to paydown debt and invest in thebusiness, which operates 71hospitals throughout India,said the people, who askednot to be named discussinginternal matters. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sgovernment pared the cor-porate tax rate to 22 per

cent from 30 per cent, as ittries to ignite an economy.

The people familiarwith these plans did-n’t elaborate onhow Apollo willdeliver the pro-ceeds toi n v e s t o r s ,whether by pay-ing dividends orthrough a buy-back.

Apollo’s moves toreturn tax savings to share-holders would be a furtherboost after a surge in thestock price this year as thecompany pivots away frommulti-year investments tobuild new hospitals tofocusing on increasing

profitability. The biggestbeneficiaries would be

Apollo’s founders andlargest shareholders,

the Reddy family,who have beenselling assets topay down theirown debt andtrying to lower

the amount ofshares pledged as

collateral withlenders.

An Apollo spokesmandeclined to comment onhow the firm intends to usethis unexpected windfall.Apollo’s effective tax ratelast year was 46 per cent,according to data compiledby Bloomberg.

Other companies areemploying this tax savingin different ways.

Maruti Suzuki India,India’s biggest carmaker,said on September 25 thatit’ll cut prices of some carmodels by Rs 5,000 ($71) topass on the tax cut benefit.Bajaj Auto said the extramoney will defray costsand boost its ability toinvest in technology, as thesector fights a sales slumpthat’s near two-decade low.

Apollo Hospitals is led byits octogenarian founderPrathap C. Reddy, and hisfour daughters, who sharethe roles of Chairman andManaging Director bet-ween them. —Bloomberg

New Delhi, Sept. 26:Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursdayhoped the economy willstart looking up in the sec-ond half of the currentfinancial year as consump-tion rises and banksincrease their lendingoperations.

Weeks after meeting pub-lic sector bankers, theFinance Minister metheads of leading privatesector lenders and finan-cial institutions.

They categorically toldthe FM that there is no liq-uidity crisis and there is

enough demand for loans.To cash in on the festive

demand, Sitharamanurged the lenders to jointhe outreach programmein 400 districts to pushlending and boost con-sumption.

After meeting the topmanagement of 29 leadingprivate sector financialinstitutions, she said, "Onthe whole, it was a tonic-like meeting where I haveheard a lot of good things,positive things and not onevoice said there is a con-cern, there is a shortfall ofdemand but to my sur-

prise...None of them voicedliquidity concerns."

She said economic slow-down seems to have bot-tomed out and the coming

festive season will help theeconomy start looking up.

"Things are looking for-ward and upward. That iswhy I started by saying itwas like tonic for me and Ihope this message goesacross...The message that Iget from this meeting todayis consumption is happen-ing," the minister added.

"From what has emergedtoday I think demand willget back and motivate oureconomy to move at afaster rate... In the cominghalf year things will haveto look up...," she added.

—PTI

Apollo mulls passing on tax benefits

Economy to look up from H2: FM

FC BUREAUCHENNAI, SEPT. 26

Amazon said it has beenworking towards bringingthe next 100 million cus-tomers online this festiveseason, through enhancedpresence in smaller citiesand support services inlocal languages.

Manish Tiwary,Amazon India’s VP forCategory Management,said driving accessibilityin regional and tier-II-plus cities “is a huge partof Amazon’s vision forIndia.” He said of thenext 100 million, a major-ity is expected to comefrom tier-II and below

geographies.He said to help cus-

tomer migration,“Amazon.in has shoppingexperience in Hindi, cus-tomer service and as wellas seller supports in fivelanguages – English,Hindi, Kannada, Teluguand Tamil.”

“We are expecting thisto be the biggest festiveseason for us in terms oftraffic, new customers aswell gross sales. We haveadded 1.5 lakh more sell-ers to last year’s count of3.5 lakh and we have ourhighest selection and wehave 1.5X more fulfill-ment capacity,” Tiwarysaid.

Amazon eyes 100 mn more buyers

Former BJP MP KiritSomaiya and severalaccount holders filedpolice complaintsPMC Bank asked

to keep theamountrequired topay thedepositors inescrow

accountBank Unions

write to FM,demand stern action

Cash withdrawallimit raised to`10,000The central bankalso sacked theboard of the bankand appointed an administrator The bank’s MDJoy Thomas hasbeen suspendedeffectiveWednesday

ALL IN A DAY

Bank'sAGMcalledoff

PMC Bank board sacked,withdrawal limit raisedFestive season may see

`45,000 cr online splurge

Apollo’seffective taxrate last year

was 46 per cent,according toBloomberg

data

Nirmala Sitharaman

FRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABAD

New Delhi, Sept. 26: Withan aim to safeguard mutualfund investors from high-ri-sk assets, regulator Sebi hasasked asset managementcompanies to make all theirinvestments in listed or to-be-listed equity securities.

The new frameworkcomes after the board of theSecurities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi)approved a proposal in thisregard in August. Exposureto risky debt securities hasemerged as a major risk forcapital market investors,including those comingthrough the mutual fundroute, and the regulator hasbeen making efforts toenhance its regulatory safe-ty net against such risks.

“All investments by amutual fund scheme inequity shares and equityrelated instruments shallonly be made, providedsuch securities are listed orto be listed,” the regulatorsaid in a notification datedSeptember 23.

Besides, Sebi has allowedmutual funds to invest inunlisted non-convertibledebentures (NCDs) up to amaximum of 10 per cent ofthe debt portfolio of thescheme. This would be sub-ject to such investments inunlisted NCDs having sim-ple structures, being rated,secured and with monthlycoupons.

“Mutual fund scheme sha-ll not invest in unlisteddebt instruments includingcommercial papers, exceptgovernment securities andother money market instr-uments. Provided that mu-tual fund schemes may inv-est in unlisted nonconverti-ble debentures up to a max-imum of 10 per cent of thedebt portfolio of the sch-

eme,” the regulator noted.Also mutual funds have

been permitted to acceptupfront fees with disclo-sure of all such fees to val-uation agencies, and stan-dard methodology for treat-ment of such fees would beissued by industry bodyAMFI (Association ofMutual Funds in India) inconsultation with Sebi.

“The balance-sheet shalldisclose under each type ofinvestment (s) in securi-ties, the aggregate marketvalue or fair value of secu-rities classified as belowinvestment grade anddefault,” Sebi noted.

— PTI

ANTONIO RODRIGUEZPARIS, SEPT. 26

Nobel prize-winning econo-mist Joseph Stiglitz saidthe global economy isentering a severe slow-down, but told AFP in aninterview he did not see ithurtling towards crisis.

“I would say that I don’tsee a crisis,” said the USeconomist in Paris wherehe was promoting theFrench version of his latestbook: People, Power, andProfits: ProgressiveCapitalism for an Age ofDiscontent.

“What I see is a signifi-cant slowdown,” he said.“In the process of this sig-nificant slowdown, therewill be bankruptcies.”

He said that slowdown de-prived corporate managersof a cushion to soften theconsequences of theirerrors.

“When you are slowingdown and you mismanage,you go bankrupt.”

This made people nerv-ous, “but the particular sit-uation for a global crisisrequires much more dis-ruption than that”, he said.

Stiglitz said some devel-oping countries like

Argentina might be sweptinto dire straits “but I don’tthink it is likely thatEurope and America will.”

The 2001 winner of theNobel Memorial Prize inEconomic Sciences said hewas concerned about ratecuts by US and eurozonecentral banks and a revivalof liquidity injections intothe economy.

“I think the benefit thatthey get out of this is verylittle,” he said. “They areclearly losing ammunitionin case the situation getsworse.”

Stiglitz said the threemain economies — China,the eurozone and theUnited States — were all

having problems.“China has been having a

hard time going from amanufactured export ledgrowth to a more domesti-cally driven growth,” hesaid.

Germany is under pres-sure to stimulate its owneconomy as well as its euro-zone partners, while the US“has a problem calledTrump”, said Stiglitz.

“It’s not just a trade war.He has introduced a newdegree of political uncer-tainty, a new level of chaos”that has reduced growth.

“Those three togethermean slow economicgrowth,” said Stiglitz.

“The trade war just

makes it all worse.”In his book Stiglitz argues

for a “progressive capital-ism” where the state wouldagain wield more powerover the economy, includ-ing regulating markets.

He recommended thebreakup of internet giants.

“There was no reason thatFacebook should have beenallowed to aquireInstagram and WhatsApp,”said Stiglitz.

The economist welcomedthe French government’smove to tax the revenue ofFacebook, Apple, Amazonand Google who have beendeclaring global profits intargeted low-tax jurisdic-tions. The French initiativehad forced “a global conver-sation about the taxation ofthe digital companies”, hesaid.

“And it helps the peoplerealize that there is some-thing fundamentally wrongwhen the richest corpora-tions in the world are notpaying taxes”.

Stiglitz was Chief Econ-omist at the World Bank forthree years after serving asthe head of US PresidentBill Clinton’s Council ofEconomic Advisors.

— AFP

DOUGLAS GILLISON &DELPHINE TOUITOUWASHINGTON, SEPT. 26

The Internatio-nal MonetaryFund formallyselected Krista-lina Georgievaof Bulgaria tobe only the sec-ond womanever to lead the189-member institution.

The selection had beenall but guaranteed afterthe global crisis lendersaid earlier this monththat Georgieva, a formerWorld Bank CEO, was thesole candidate.

In acknowledging herselection, Georgieva spo-ke of tempestuous timesfor the global economy.

“It is a huge responsibil-ity to be at the helm of theIMF at a time when globaleconomic growth contin-ues to disappoint, tradetensions persist, and debtis at historically high lev-els,” she told reporters.

“This means also deali-ng with issues like inequa-lities, climate risks andtechnological change.”

Georgieva is to take upher position as ManagingDirector on Oct 1, replaci-ng Christine Lagarde,who is expected to takeover the European Cent-ral Bank later this year.

She inherits the helm ofan institution buffeted bythe rise of populism inadvanced economies andescalating trade conflicts— the largest of which hasbeen driven by the UnitedStates, the fund’s singlebiggest shareholder.

— AFP

Financial

OPENING

PROJECTION FOR TODAYBELL

Sensex and Nifty-50 gainedover one per cent after aday of profit booking inthe previous session, withfront line stocks as well asthe broader market gain-ing as the future andoptions contracts forSeptember month expired.

Sensex crossed 39000 ma-rk intra-day and touched ahigh of 39158.07 and finallyclosed at 38989.74 up 396.22points or 1.03 per cent.Broader Nifty-50 Indexclosed at 11571.20 up 131points or 1.15 per cent.

In the broader marketBSE Mid-Cap Index gained0.92 per cent while BSESmall-Cap Index gained0.42 per cent.

Technical View

Rahul Mishra, AssistantVice President(Derivatives), EmkayGlobal Financial Servicessaid, “Nifty startedSeptember month around10800 level and was strug-gling to cross the 11000resistance as the initialstimulus from FM couldnot help improve investor'ssentiments till the corpo-rate tax cut wasannounced. Nifty is cur-rently trading above 50and 200 day moving aver-age and we believe 11300will be the support level,11600 will be good resist-ance and we may see sup-ply around this level.”

“From derivatives pointof view, FPIs have doubledtheir position in Indexfuture during the month sofar. The monthly optiondata suggest that the Niftyrange for the month ofOctober will be 11000-11500, however, 12000 callholds a decent open inter-est making it the nextresistance,” Mishra said.

Rohit Singre, Senior Tec-hnical Analyst, LKP Secu-rities said, “Nifty-50 expi-red September series at11571 with gains of nearly6 per cent. Immediate sup-port for Nifty is comingnear 11510-11450 zone andresistance is coming near11625-11680 zone, imm-ediate support for NiftyBank is coming near 29850-29,650 and resistance iscoming near 30300-30550”.

Market View

Vinod Nair, Head of Resea-rch, Geojit Financial Serv-ices said, “Previous ses-sion’s global selling wasbased on US political dra-ma which reversed on Th-ursday. While Indian mar-ket recovered from profitbooking from the sharpgain. Momentum was bro-ad based with auto, banksand metals leading the ga-ins on expectation of bet-ter demand during festiveseason. This positive trendis likely to be maintainedin combination with easein trade-war & domesticstimulus.”

Market may retain positive trend

Stiglitz sees ‘significantslowdown’, not crisis

KristalinaGeorgieva

named IMF MD

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, SEPT. 26

Notwithstanding the curre-nt growth trajectory, plas-tic exports are likely to seemuted growth going aheaddue to plastic import banby different countries, US-China trade war and lin-gering working capital con-cerns. Diversifying intoeco-friendly varieties andalternative product cate-gories has become impera-tive for the plastic industry,finds a study.

The Y-o-Y growth in plasti-cs exports is expected to re-main tepid at best, finds areport by Drip Capital. TheUS-China trade war and theUS’s removal of Generali-sed System of Preferencesare creating uncertainty forthe future of plastic exports.

Consumers and marketsare increasingly seeking ecofriendly alternatives to sin-gle-use plastics. Many coun-tries such as France, Chinaand Malaysia, have bannedthese plastic goods entirely,necessitating a shifttowards other possibilities.

In the midst of rising polit-ical and economic tensionsglobally, plastics could beco-me a flashpoint for manytrade conflicts. It is impera-tive that exporters and oth-er stakeholders keep an eyeon upcoming embargos/ re-strictions, similar to the on-es in place in Southeast

Asia. In the long term, thesustainability of plasticexports remains to be seen,finds Drip Capital.

Moreover, the small andmedium exporters are relia-nt on export incentive sche-mes like MEIS for workingcapital needs. While MEIShas been replaced byRoDTEP, the rates have notbeen announced yet.

Muted growth seen in plastic exports

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, SEPT. 26

Volvo Cars, the Swedishluxury car brand, willunveil its first fully electriccar called XC40 small SUVnext month for the globalmarket in the US.

The brand has promisedthat its first EV will be“one of the safest carswe’ve ever built”. Indialaunch and its assembly inthe country is also on thecards. It will unveil theelectric version of the SUVon October 16 in America.

The company, famed forits safety, said that it aimsto maintain its establishedreputation for safety withthe new model.

“Regardless of whatdrives a car forward, be itan electric machine or com-bustion engine, a Volvomust be safe,” MalinEkholm, Head of Safety atV o l v oCars

said. The front structure ofthe XC40, which is built onVolvo’s Compact ModularArchitecture (CMA) plat-form, has been redesignedto account for the absenceof an engine.

The XC40 SUV, with thestarting price at Rs 39.9lakh, is currently on sale inIndia. The demand forVolvo cars has been grow-ing steadily in the country.

Its sales grew 11 per centto 1,159 units in January-June period while masscar market continued tobleed.

Volvo to unveil first EV XC40 SUV in OctMFs asked to investin listed securities

ANDY MUKHERJEE

From ATMs to credit cardsand PayPal, the West’s dom-inance of innovation in con-sumer finance appears tohave exhausted itself.

At the top of the emergentnew order is the fintech duofrom China — AlibabaGroup Holding and TencentHoldings. Next in line areAlphabet and Walmart,whose highly localizedsmartphone payment rival-ry is playing out betweenGoogle Pay and PhonePe inIndia. In Southeast Asia,two homegrown ride-hail-ing giants are aspiring todominate commerce.

But the ultimate frontierin tech-enabled consumerbanking lies far from theAsian theater.

Consider this one statistic:In 13 countries, more than10 per cent of the populationuses mobile phones for pay-ments. All of them are insub-Saharan Africa, wherea majority of adults don’t

have basic bank accounts.The rise of African mobile

money is associated with M-Pesa, Kenya’s digital-walletrevolution. Now traditionallenders like Standard Chart-ered, with a presence on thecontinent going back morethan a century, are discover-ing that online banking canhelp them mobilize low-costcurrent and sa-vings accountsmore profitablythan acquiringcustomers viaphysical branches.

StanChart’s digital push,which began last year inCote D’Ivoire, has spread toother countries includingUganda, Ghana, Kenya andTanzania. The next stop willbe Nigeria. Among theattractions of going fullyonline: a 15-minute clientsignup process that doesn’trequire physical validationof people or documents. CanHong Kong’s eight virtualbanks — StanChart will beamong them — similarly

compress expen-sive and time-c o n s u m i n gknow-your-cus-

tomer processes? That’s onequestion analysts will askwhen the lenders finallyarrive next year, after adelay caused by the ongoinganti-government protests inthe city. The answer wouldpartly determine the dentonline-only banks will makein the sprawling depositfranchise of HSBCHoldings, Hong Kong’sundisputed banking leader.

Large as it is, Africaremains a tiny laboratoryfor finance. The revenue

pool for the continent was$35 billion in 2017, accordingto McKinsey & Co, whichsees it expanding to $53 bil-lion by 2022. By contrast,HSBC's Hong Kong opera-tions alone garnered $18 bil-lion last year.

There are other distinctio-ns, too. Hong Kong and Sing-apore are giving out brandnew virtual banking licens-es, whereas in Africa, Stan-Chart uses its existing com-mercial banks to offer its SCMobile app. Not only willvirtual banks in Asia, espe-cially those that don’t havepedigreed lenders backingthem — have to win deposi-

tors’ trust from scratch, th-ey’ll also have to find borro-wers online. Big Data is sup-posed to make it easier tofind creditworthy custom-ers; yet that theory will beput to the test, since digital-only banks won’t have anybranch managers intimate-ly familiar with local busi-nesses and their prospects.

Africa won’t be without itsown peculiar challenges.The verdict will come downwhen StanChart begins dig-ital-consumer lending oper-ations there, starting withKenya later this year. This isan area where fintech firmsare growing fast, though thebasic infrastructure for dis-ciplined lending — con-sumer-credit registries —are underdeveloped in ma-ny parts of the continent.The sudden decision by Talato shutter its consumer-loanoperation in Tanzania hasalso made the industry jit-tery. Just last month, theCalifornia-based fintechraised new money from the

likes of PayPal. Even inKenya, where small andmedium-size enterprisesroutinely fund themselveswith working capital fromfintech, onerous debt loadscould become a problem.

StanChart is right to focuson deposits before it dips itstoes into online lending. It’sembarrassing enough thatthe lender was unable to tellregulators how some of itsprivate-banking clients am-assed their wealth, as Bloo-mberg News reported recen-tly. Promoting an unsustain-able credit culture amongpoorer African customerscould be a PR disaster.

The rewards of getting itright are high, though.HSBC, StanChart’s traditio-nal rival, has bet big on theBeijing-sponsored GreaterBay Area, an economic pow-erhouse connecting the ma-nufacturing hubs of south-ern China — and the gam-bling centers in Macau —with Hong Kong, and the fin-ancial and corporate servic-

es the city has to offer. Butnot only is the mainlandcaught up in a global tradewar, its relationship withHong Kong is also fraying.And while StanChart has itsstrong presence in Southea-st Asia, especially Singap-ore, to compensate for anyweakness in China andHong Kong, HSBC is far tooreliant on both. Investorstook note when Beijingsnubbed HSBC by excludingit from the group of banksthat help set the loan primerate, a new policy tool.

The Africa push may nothave a direct bearing on Sta-nChart’s digital plans in As-ia, but it makes sense. EvenStanChart’s rivals privatelysay that the specialist emer-ging-markets lender, whichCEO Bill Winters has beentrying to remake with unev-en success, has a good storyto tell investors. A tale fromexotic Africa, no less. Andthat, too, when HSBC is run-ning thin on happy news.

— Bloomberg

PAGE

12

—RAVI RANJAN PRASAD

Beijing, Sept. 26: Worldshares were mostly high-er on Thursday afterPresident Donald Trumpsuggested a costly tariffwar with China could beresolved soon.

But Wall Street stocksdipped in early trade asinvestors weighed awhistleblower com-plaint in impeachmentproceedings against Pre-sident Donald Trump.

Germany’s DAXadvanced 0.5 per cent to12,296.76 and the CAC 40n Paris climbed 0.8 percent to 5,626.55. Britain’sFTSE gained 1.1 per centto 7,371.02.

US stocks had rebound-ed on Wednesday afterTrump told reportersChina wants “to make adeal very badly” and it“could happen soonerthan you think.”

“Investors have been‘trade war’ bearish for solong that any sliver ofoptimism is cheered,”said Stephen Innes ofAxiTrader in a report.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei225 picked up 0.1 per centto 22,048.24 while HongKong’s Hang Seng gained0.4 per cent to 26,041.93.

The Shanghai Compo-site Index lost 0.9 percent to 2,929.09. —AFP

World sharesup over tradewar thaw

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, SEPT. 26

Basmati exports are fac-ing headwinds in thecurrent fiscal, after twoyears of strong growth.

Due to uncertaintyover exports to Iran aswell as likely modera-tion in average exportrealisations, Basmatirice exports are expectedto be muted in FY20,finds Icra.

In FY19, Basmati riceexports were at an all-time high at Rs 32,806crore, primarily led byaggressive buying byIran. Iran has been mak-ing aggressive pre-emp-tive buying in the firsthalf of FY2019 due to an-ticipated impact on its gl-obal trade with re-impo-sition of US trade sanc-tions later in that year.

On a comparative bas-is, Basmati rice exportsin 4M FY20 stood at Rs.10,847 crore, 6 per centlower than Rs. 11,575crore in the correspon-ding period in the previ-ous fiscal. During thecurrent fiscal, Basmatirice exports realisationsstood at Rs 75,589/MT for4M FY2020, only 2 percent higher than the pre-vious fiscal.

Basmati riceexports to bemuted this year

FC BANKING BUREAUMUMBAI, SEPT. 26

The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) on Thursdayreleased the report onliquidity management fr-amework submitted byan internal working gro-up that was set up to helpthe central bank managesystem liquidity more ef-fectively. The RBI panelhas recommended large-ly maintaining the pres-ent corridor system withcall money rate as the ta-rget rate. However, it hassuggested making it mo-re flexible to adapt to theneeds of the system, wh-en it is in deficit or sur-plus mode.

“Minimizing the num-ber of operations shouldbe an efficiency goal ofthe liquidity framework.Consequently, there sho-uld be ideally one singleovernight variable rateoperation in a day, suppo-rted by fine-tuning oper-ations, if required. Thecurrent provision of ass-ured liquidity — up toone per cent of net dema-nd and time liabilities —is no longer necessarysince the proposed liq-uidity framework wouldentirely meet the liquidi-ty needs,” said RBI.

RBI’s reporton liquidityframework

Darwinbox raises$15 mn fromSequoia, othersNew Delhi, Sept. 26:Darwinbox, an enterpriseHR technology platform,on Thursday said it hasraised $15 million (aboutRs 105 crore) led bySequoia India.

The series B round alsosaw participation fromexisting investors,Lightspeed India Partners,Endiya Partners and 3one4Capital, a statement said.

Darwinbox's cloud basedend-to-end HumanResource ManagementSystem (HRMS) caters toHR needs across the entireemployee lifecycle (hire-to-retire).

"Partnering with mar-quee investors will acceler-ate our penetration intothe Asian Enterprise mar-ket, drive product innova-tion and maximize valuedelivered to customers,"Darwinbox co-founderJayant Paleti said.

— PTI

Column

THIS FINTECH SAFARI COULD BE A WILD RIDEStanChart’s Africa lending operations are small, but the net interest margin on the contient is better thananywhere else

Small, but profitable

Srouce: Standard Chartered/Bloomberg

Region NIM (%) Customer loans ($B)

Greater China & North Asia 1.48 128ASEAN & South Asia 1.96 81Africa & Middle East 3.10 29Europe & Americans 0.55 26

Chennai, Sept. 26: Morethan seven crore tradersacross the country willgive up single use plasticbags from October 2, saysthe national traders’ body.

The Confederation ofAll India Traders (CAIT )had launched a nationwi-de campaign from Septe-mber 1, to make tradersand people aware aboutthe impact of plastic usa-ge on environment andhas advised both tradersto use alternatives of pla-stics and prompt their cu-stomers also to use clothor jute bags or other alter-natives. The traders arenow ready for the change,said CAIT Secretary Gen-eral Praveen Khandelwal.

— FC Bureau

Traders to giveup plastic: Cait

Mumbai, Sept. 26: Sebisaid it will take a view ona proposal to reduce thetime taken for rightsissues to around 31 days.

Besides, the market wat-chdog is in the process oftaking steps to further st-rengthen the frameworkfor alternative investme-nt funds (AIFs), Sebi chiefAjay Tyagi said at a Ficcievent here. He furthersaid Sebi is examiningthe concept of company‘promoters’ and studyingif we can shift to ‘control-ling shareholders’. Theconcept of ‘promoters’has been prevalent inIndia for a long period oftime. Globally, rather th-an promoters, the conceptof ‘controlling sharehold-ers’ is more prevalent.

— PTI

Sebi to take viewon rights issue

—RAVI RANJAN PRASAD

Vishwaraj Sugar Industr-ies, based in BelgaumDistrict of Karnataka ann-ounced Rs 60 crore initialpublic offering in a priceband of Rs 55 to Rs 60 pershare of Rs 10 face valueeach, for listing on the ma-in board of BSE and NSE.

The public offer of 1 croreequity shares from the co-

mpany after an interval ofmore than 8 years opens onSeptember 30 and closes onOctober 4, 2019.

The funds raised throughare proposed to be primari-ly utilized to finance theworking capital require-ment of the company andbridge the funding require-ment gap.

STREETbuzzVishwaraj IPO from Sept 30

Shares of government ow-ned hydro electric powerproducer NHPC gained asthe company bagged Rs4,112 crore project fromGovernment of HimachalPradesh. NHPC sharesclosed 0.88 per cent up at Rs22.95 on the BSE andtouched a high of Rs 23.25in the intra-day trading.

“NHPC has signed a

Memorandum of Underst-anding (MoU) with Gover-nment of Himachal Prade-sh for execution of 449 me-ga watt Dugar HE Projectlocated in Chamba District,Himachal Pradesh. Theproject is a run of the riverscheme on Chenab River.The estimated present daycost of the project is Rs4,112 crore,” NHPC said.

NHPC up on `4,112-cr MoU

I would say that I don’tsee a crisis, What Isee is a significant

slowdown. In theprocess of this signifi-cant slowdown, therewill be bankruptcies.When you are slowingdown and you misman-age, you go bankrupt

— Joseph Stiglitz, Economist

KristalinaGeorgieva

■Economist says Trump has introduced a new level of chaos

PAGE

13FRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

SHORT TAKESICC, Facebook are

in a partnershipDDuubbaaii:: The International Cricket

Council (ICC) on Thursdayannounced a partnership withFacebook which will becomethe exclusive digital contentrights partner for ICC global

events in the Indian sub-conti-nent. Facebook, a popular

social media platform, will alsocarry post match recaps

throughout the rest of theworld through to 2023.

Facebook will carry a range ofdigital content across four

years including match recaps,in-play key moments and other

match and feature content.“We are delighted to welcomeFacebook to the global cricket

family for this multi-year, multi-market partnership which is afirst for our sport. The combi-

nation of one of the world’smost watched sports with one

of the world’s largest platformsis exciting for the future of our

game,” ICC Chief ExecutiveManu Sawhney said. — PTI

Chappell retiresas Oz selector

SA vs BP XI firstday washed out

SSyyddnneeyy:: Australia are on thehunt for a new national selectorafter Greg Chappell announced

his retirement from the gameon Thursday.

The former Australian skipper,who played 87 Tests and 74one-day internationals, had

been Cricket Australia’s nation-al talent manager for the past

nine years as well as a selector.Former Test wicketkeeper

Graham Manou will take over anexpanded role of national talent

and pathway manager, with areplacement selector to be

named at a later date.The current panel consists of

Chappell, chairman TrevorHohns and coach Justin Langer.

Cricket Australia chief KevinRoberts paid tribute to the 71-

year-old for his “exemplaryservice” to the game.

“Greg has had a profound andpositive impact on cricket forgenerations,” he said. — AFP

VViizziiaannaaggaarraamm:: The opening dayof the warm-up game between

Board President’s XI and thevisiting South Africa side was

washed out after heavy rainplayed spoilsport on Thursday.

The first day’s proceedings wascalled off in the post-lunch ses-

sion as rain lashed the PVGRaju ACA Sports Complex. Thisis South Africa’s only warm-up

game before the first Testbegins in Visakhapatnam onOctober 2. The focus of the

warm-up match is BoardPresident’s XI skipper Rohit

Sharma, who will be openingthe innings as a pre-cursor to

the opening Test. — PTI

Ultimately for me,playing for India,

you should not bepicking and

choosing series.— Gautam Gambhir on Mahendra

Singh Dhoni

Test callAustralia’s one-day skipper Aaron Finch is keen toplay Test cricket again after watching the top orderfail to fire during the recent Ashes series

GamesHigh-stakes HCApolls set for todayMOSES KKONDETY || DDCHYDERABAD, SEPT. 26

It’s judgement day at theHyderabad CricketAssociation. After hecticcampaigning, 155 privateclubs, 51 institutional ones,9 district associations and11 former internationalplayers will vote on Fridayto elect six members to theApex Council that willsteer the game in the State.

For the first time, formerinternationals will get toexercise their franchiseand would play an activepart in shaping up theAssociation that controlscricket in the State.

Former Indian captainMohammad Azharuddin isangling for the lead role ashe matches his witsagainst Prakash ChandJain and K. Dilip Kumarfor the president’s post.

Traditional heavy-weights N. Shivlal Yadav,Arshad Ayub, Man Singhand the Agarwals are play-ing behind the scenes thistime around as they fallfoul of the sniping LodhaCommittee recommenda-tions.

However, the consortiumcontrols a good chunk ofthe votes and is pullingstrings from behind thecurtain and throwing theirweight behind the panelled by Azhar.

There’s a block with mul-tiple votes and then thereare the single voters whoare trying to huddle togeth-er to punch big. Also, thereare a considerable numberthat are open to negotia-tions and can be swung

when persisted with. Yes,money does flow freely offthe field.

There’s so much at stakebesides the cricket —awarding of contracts andgetting men in positions oncommittees or HCA relatedworks are the bargainingchips in the grimy game.

On election eve, membersof the single club group ledby treasurer aspirant C.Babu Rao and secretarycontestant R. M. Bhaskarreleased their manifesto,promising to develop infra-structure, pick playerspurely on the basis of per-formance, round the yearcoaching camps, freecoaching in the districtsand boost the women’sgame among others.

The others, well, they’vebeen promising everythingunder the sky, even themoon.

The ones in their ele-ments will be known whenthe sun sets on the RajivGandhi InternationalCricket Stadium today.

TTHHEE CCOONNTTEESSTTAANNTTSS■ PPrreessiiddeenntt:: MohammadAzharuddin, Prakash ChandJain, K. Dilip Kumar.■ VViiccee--pprreessiiddeenntt:: K. JohnManoj, Sardar Daljeet Singh.■ SSeeccrreettaarryy:: R. M. Bhaskar, R.Vijayanand, S.Venkateshwaran.■ JJooiinntt SSeeccrreettaarryy:: J. ShivajiYadav, Naresh Sharma,Satish Chandra Srivastava.■ TTrreeaassuurreerr:: C. Babu Rao,Surender Kumar Agarwal, K.Hanmanth Reddy.■ CCoouunncciilllloorr:: P. Anuradha,Ravinder Singh, VinodKumar.

KKaarraacchhii:: Karachi hosts a One-Day International for the first

time in 10 years when Pakistantake on a depleted Sri Lanka onFriday, furthering the country’srevival in international cricket.

“History will be made on Fridaywhen Karachi will host the first

ODI. We must thank the SriLankan team for touring us,”

said Pakistan captain SarfarazAhmed.

Teams have been reluctant tovisit the cricket-mad countrysince a militant attack on the

Sri Lankan team bus in Lahorein 2009. Although no players

were killed in the attack, sever-al were injured and eight peo-

ple died.The attack forced Pakistan to

play all their “home” Tests andmost of its short-form games in

the UAE with Zimbabwebecoming the first team to

return to Pakistan in 2015. Thattour was followed by a

Twenty20 series by a World XIin 2017, a one-off T20 matchagainst Sri Lanka that same

year, and the West Indies for aTwenty20 series in Karachi in

2018. — AFP

PAK-LANKASERIES KICKS

OFF TODAY

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD SEPT. 26

Hyderabad’s RajeshwarReddy won both the singlesas well as doubles title atthe All India RankingTennis ChampionshipSeries held at ChamundaTennis Academy inKarnal, Haryana.

In the Under 16 singlesfinal, he defeated Prasha-nth Procha of Haryana 3-6,6-1, 6-3 before pairing upwith Pranay Keshruwalato beat Prashanth Prochaand Sanjeev Rathee 6-3, 6-1for the doubles trophy.

Earlier in the singlessemifinal, Rajeshwarproved too good for Pranay,beating him 6-3, 6-2.

TTHHEE RREESSUULLTTSS■■ BBooyyss UU--1166 ssiinngglleess ffiinnaall:Rajeshwar Reddy(Telangana) bt PrashanthProcha (Haryana) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. SSeemmiiffiinnaall:: Rajeshwar bt

Pranay Keshruwala (Gujarat)6-3, 6-2. QQuuaarrtteerrffiinnaall::Rajeshwar bt Himesh Reddy6-2, 6-2.■■ BBooyyss UU--1166 ddoouubblleess ffiinnaall:Rajeshwar Reddy/ PranayKeshruwala bt PrashanthProca/ Sanjeev Rathee 6-3,6-1. SSeemmiiffiinnaall:: Rajeshwar/Pranay bt Rajesh KunalTikkivala/ Ansh 6-7 (7-0), 6-4. QQuuaarrtteerrffiinnaall:: Rajeshwar/Pranay bt Aman/ Goutham6-1, 6-3.

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD SEPT. 26

As many as 48 boxers willcontest in six weight cate-gories over the next sevenSaturdays in the profes-sional boxing champi-onship titled DeccanConquest at Lal BahadurStadium between October5 and November 23 inHyderabad.

Corner SportsPromotions under its flag-ship title ‘Club Fights’ has

launched a Talent Searchprogram in four SouthIndian States ofTelangana, AndhraPradesh, Tamil Nadu andKarnataka in associationwith the Boxing Counciland The South Indianaffiliate of ProfessionalBoxing India.

This initiative aims atscouting, developing andpromoting the best boxingtalent in India. The win-ner takes home theDeccan Champion title

and the belt. Top four box-ers in each weight willqualify for further trialsof Hyderabad BoxingLeague.

Talent recruited throughthis program will beawarded ‘C’ Grade con-tracts and will representTelangana in ProfessionalBoxing Championshipsacross India.

The weight categoriesare bantamweight (53kgs), featherweight (57kgs), lightweight (61 kgs),

super welterweight (69kgs), middleweight (72kgs), heavyweight (90+kgs).

Competition format con-sists four rounds of threeminutes each, with oneminute rest between eachround. The competition isdivided into two phases, aknockout/eliminationphase and the deciders.The elimination phasewill last four Saturdayswith six bouts, one in eachweight on a given day. The

winners of the elimina-tion phase qualify for thesemifinals and subse-quently to the finals.

Club Fights is a conceptproperty inspired by ageold boxing fight nightspromoting boxing on alive platform, where themost promising boxerswill showcase their skills.Maiden edition of ClubFights was held in Hyde-rabad on 28th April where16 boxers participated ineight weight categories.

DOUBLE FOR RAJESHWAR

Deccan Conquest boxing from Oct. 5

Chennai, Sept. 26: RupaGurunath, daughter offormer BCCI chief NSrinivasan, was onThursday elected unop-posed as president of theTamil Nadu CricketAssociation (TNCA), mak-ing her the first woman tohead a state unit of theIndian Board.

Rupa is the wife ofGurunath Meiyappan,who is serving a life banfor his involvement in the2013 Indian PremierLeague (IPL) spot-fixingscandal.

Rupa was elected at theTNCA’s 87th AnnualGeneral Meeting here.

As the filing of nomina-tions came to a close onWednesday evening,Rupa’s was the only nomi-nation filed for the post ofpresident, whose electionwas announced on thefloor of the house as perTNCA norms.

“My immediate priori-ties are to finalise thelease agreement with thegovernment and openingthe three stands. Ofcourse TNCA has zero tol-erance for any form ofcorruption and TNCA willtake appropriate action onany such issues,” Rupasaid after her election.

She said the TNCA willcontinue to provide allnecessary amenities to theplayers to perform at theirbest. “We shall continue toprovide all necessaryamenities and any otherrequirements for the play-ers to perform at theirbest and look forward toimprove their perform-ances in all forms ofcricket,” the new TNCApresident said.

“I am happy to becomethe first woman presidentof the Tamil Nadu CricketAssociation. The TNCAhas been a professionallyrun state association,which has a long historyand headed by eminentpersonalities,” she wasquoted as saying in arelease.

Rupa is an executivedirector in India Cements,her father’s companywhich owns the star-stud-ded IPL franchiseChennai Super Kings, ledby Mahendra SinghDhoni.

The Supreme Court hadon Friday allowed the

TNCA to hold elections forits office-bearers, but saidthe results will be subjectto a final decision on thebody’s compliance withLodha reforms.

The results of electionswill be subject to the orderof the top court and legalremedies will be availableto parties involved.

— PTI

Rupa Gurunath after being elected unopposed as president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association in Chennai on Thursday. — DC

BOARD GAMESSrinivasan’s daughter Rupa to head Tamil Nadu body

MY IIMMEDIATEpriorities are tofinalise the leaseagreement with thegovernment andopening the threestands. Of courseTNCA has zerotolerance for anyform of corruptionand TNCA will takeappropriate actionon any such issues.— Rupa GGurunath,TNCA president

New Delhi, Sept. 26:The Committee ofAdministrators (CoA)has deemed Tamil NaduCricket Association’snew constitution as “noncompliant” on 21 countsas per LodhaCommittee’s recommen-dations and asked themto take corrective meas-ures by October 4 if theyhave to participate in theBCCI AGM on October23.

The TNCA onThursday elected formerBCCI president N.Srinivasan’s daughterRupa Gurunath unop-posed as its first womanpresident as the powersrested with the TamilNadu strongman.

It is being speculatedthat the newly-electedTNCA executive body, inits upcoming meetingwill elect N. Srinivasanas its representative atthe BCCI AGM inMumbai. Srinivasan is73 years old and as peramended BCCI constitu-tion is ineligible for anyrole in Indian cricket setup.

The CoA believes thatTNCA is “mischievously

misinterpreting” theSupreme Court’s orderon September 20 where itstated that “disqualifica-tion is confined to officebearers only”.

However, the CoA onThursday wrote toTNCA “that variousamendments have beenmade by TNCA in theAmended Constitutionon a deliberate misinter-pretation of the orderdated 20th September,2019.”

The CoA in its mailwrote that TNCA hasbeen non-compliant on21 counts, namely “arti-cles 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14,15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26,27, 28, 30, 32, 33 and 34.”

The mail categoricallystates that the age cap of70 years remains andSupreme Court has clari-fied that. “The CoA fur-ther clarifies that theHon’ble Supreme Courtvide its order dated 20thSeptember 2019 in nomanner permits removalof all disqualificationsin relation to Membersof the Apex Council, ashas been effected byTNCA in its AmendedConstitution by removalof Rule 14 (3) to (5),” itstated.

It further stated:“Accordingly, TNCA ishereby again requestedto incorporate all theaforesaid proposedamendments in theirconstitution and registersuch modified constitu-tion with the Registrarof Societies, Tamil Naduand provide a copy of thesaid registered constitu-tion to the Committee ofAdministrators at theearliest.”

TNCA is thereafterrequested to conduct itselections in accordancewith such registered andcompliant constitutionbefore October 4. — PTI

CoA asks TNCA to correctnon-compliant rule book

State nominees by Oct. 4New Delhi, Sept. 26:BCCI electoral officer N.Gopalaswami onThursday set October 4 asthe deadline for nomina-tion of state representa-tives for the BCCI AnnualGeneral Meeting.

The BCCI AGM-cum-elections is scheduled onOctober 23 in Mumbai.The elections were earlierscheduled for October 22but were pushed ahead bya day due to assemblypolls in the states ofMaharashtra andHaryana.

In the BCCI electionstimeline issued byGopalaswami, it was stat-

ed that the draft electoralroll will be released at 5pm on October 4. The finalelectoral roll will bereleased on October 10.

The window to file nomi-nation applications is setfor October 11, 12 and 14between 11 am and 3 pm.The scrutiny of the appli-cations will be done onOctober 15 and on thesame day the list of validnominated candidates willbe announced.

The final step before theOctober 23 election will beannouncement of contest-ing candidates and thatwill be done on October16.

The state units have toconduct their elections byOctober 4 after theCommittee ofAdministrators (COA)running Indian cricketextended the deadlinetwice.

Elections to the Board ofControl for Cricket inIndia will mark an end tothe tenure of the SupremeCourt-appointed COAwhich has been adminis-tering the game sinceJanuary 2017 and wasmandated to implementthe administrativereforms suggested by theJustice (Retd) R. M. Lodhacommittee. — PTI

Danny isMeghalayapresidentNew Delhi, Sept. 26:Retired bureaucratDanny Marak was elect-ed unopposed the presi-dent of the MeghalayaCricket Association(MCA) while college lec-turer Gideon Kharkongorwas elected as secretaryat state body’s AnnualGeneral Meeting inShillong, on Thursday.

Conrad K. Sangma andNaba Bhattacharjee, theerstwhile president andsecretary went intomandatory cooling off asper new BCCI constitu-tion even though thenorth-eastern statebecame a full votingmember only in 2018.

Dhrubajyoti Thakuriabecame the treasurer aselections were held onlyfor two posts.

“Change is the only con-stant in life,”Bhattacharjee said.MMeegghhaallaayyaa CCrriicckkeettAAssssoocciiaattiioonn:: Danny Marak(president), DipulRyntathiang (vice presi-dent), Gideon Kharkongor(secretary), Chiang D. Shira(joint secretary),Dhrubajyoti Thakuria(treasurer), Arowtki Sumer(councillor).

— PTI

● The CoA wrotethat TNCA hasbeen non-compli-ant on 21 counts,and asked it toincorporate all theproposed amend-ments in their con-stitution and regis-ter the modifiedconstitution.

TTNNCCAA ooffffiiccee--bbeeaarreerrss::PPrreessiiddeenntt:: Rupa Gurunath.VViiccee--pprreessiiddeennttss:: T. J.Srinivasaraj (City), Dr P.Ashok Sigamani(Districts). SSeeccrreettaarryy:: R. S.Ramasaamy. JJooiinnttSSeeccrreettaarryy:: K. A. Shankar.AAssssiissttaanntt SSeeccrreettaarryy:: N.Venkatraman. TTrreeaassuurreerr:: J.Parthasarathy.

Test batsman G. H. Vihari (third from right) and TeamIndia fielding coach R. Sridhar (second from left) cut acake during a felicitation function at the St John’s SportsCoaching Foundation in Marredpally, Secunderabad, asformer internationals VVS Laxman (left), M. V. NarasimhaRao (second from right) and coach John Manoj look on.

Kammela Saibaba (right), founding secretary of theSports Coaching Foundation in Hyderabad receives theBest Sports Promotion NGO award from Renuka Sood,president of Haryana Private Schools & Children WelfareAssociation for outstanding contribution towards promo-tion of sports in underprivileged places at 8th IndiaInternational Sporting Goods Forum held at PragathiMaidan in New Delhi.

Felicitation

Honour

Rajeshwar RReddy

PAGE

14FRIDAY | 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

SHORT TAKES

BBeennggaalluurruu:: Kushagra Rawat tri-umphed in 400m freestyle to

bag his fourth gold medal whileSrihari Nataraj created a new

meet record on his way to goldin 100m backstroke at the

Asian Age GroupChampionship, here on

Thursday.Kushagra clocked 3:55.81s to

finish ahead of Taipei’s ChangCheng Li Wei (3:56.82) and

Abbas Omar (4:01.52) of Syria. Kushagra’s idol, Sajan Prakashalso made it to the top of the

podium in the 200metres but-terfly with a time of 2:00.38

seconds. He was followed byWongcharoen Navaphat

(2:01.16) of Thailand and KlzieAyman (2:02.38) of Syria.

Nataraj enthralled the homecrowd with his sensational

sprint in the 100m backstrokefor open category men. He cre-ated a new meet record clock-ing 55.06 while Atayev Merdan(55.28) from Turkmenistan set-tled for silver and Lau Shiu Yue(57.56) of Hong Kong won the

bronze. — PTI

AAnnttwweerrpp:: Mandeep Singh andAkashdeep Singh scored in thesecond half to guide the Indianmen’s hockey team to a superb

2-0 win over Belgium in theopening game of the three-

match series here on Thursday.Mandeep and Akashdeep

sounded the board in the 39thand 54th minute respectively toseal the match in India’s favour.

In a gritty first quarter, Indiawere the ones who took the ini-

tiative early, forcing Loic vanDoren into a save from the first

penalty corner of the game.The Belgium defense was at

hand though denying them anopener.

Despite controlling a largeamount of possession, India

found it difficult to find abreakthrough. The teams went

into half-time without troublingthe scorers.

India kept the tempo up in thethird period and forced van

Doren into multiple saves. Allthe circle entries and creative

play finally found it’s reward inthe 39th minute as Mandeep

scored to give them the lead. It was this narrow lead they

carried into the final quarter.— PTI

We believe in whatwe do. With

humility and workyou achieve a lot.

This is just the start. — Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid

coach after their 2-0 win overOsasuna in the Spanish league

Games

Kushagra, Natrajcontinue to shine

India start on awinning note

NNeeww DDeellhhii:: The WrestlingFederation of India is likely tosack men’s free style national

coach Hossein Karimi, sixmonths after the Iranian was

hired on a contract till theTokyo Olympics.

The Iranian had joined thenational camp in February but

has been struggling to adjust tothe ‘system’.

He went on leave after Indiasavoured its best ever perform-

ance at the WorldChampionship in Nur-Sultan,

where the men’s freestylewrestlers won four medals and

three Olympic quotas. “Karimi’s days are numbered.

He will soon be gone. The WFIis not happy with him,” said anWFI source. It has been learnt

that the diminutive Karimi him-self is not happy with the way

things work in India.Source said he wanted to have

his own program in place at thenational camp in Bahalgarh inSonepat district but country’selite wrestlers trained on their

own. Bajrang Punia has beentraining with Georgian ShakoBentinidis while Sushil Kumar

trains with Russian KamalMalikov. — PTI

WFI LIKELY TOSACK IRANIANCOACH KARIMI

Doha, Sept. 26: Medal istoo far-fetched a thoughtand even hopes of makingthe finals seem barelybelievable as India enterthe World AthleticsChampionship withouttwo of their biggest stars— the injured NeerajChopra and Hima Das.

World-class javelinthrower Neeraj is not tak-ing part in the September27 to October 6 showpieceas he has just started lighttraining since undergo-ing an elbow surgery inMay.

Another brightprospect, Hima, trainedin Europe for nearly fourmonths, winning somelow level races beforepulling out due to a lowerback injury after beingnamed in the initial team.

It is difficult to predictwho among the Indianswill reach the finalthough the AFI is pinningits hopes in the three4x400m relays, particular-ly the mixed. — PTI

INDIA STARTCAMPAIGN SANS STARS

London, Sept. 26:Manchester United sur-vived a League Cupscare against third tierRochdale as they won 5-3on penalties, while WestHam suffered a shock 4-0defeat at Oxford onWednesday.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’sstruggling side wereheld to a 1-1 draw at OldTrafford after 16-year-old Luke Mathesonscored a 76th minuteequaliser followingMason Greenwood’sopener for United eightminutes earlier.

With United in dangerof a humiliating exit,they held their nerve inthe shoot-out, winning 5-3 as Daniel James con-verted the decisive kickafter Sergio Romerosaved Rochdale’s secondpenalty from JimmyKeohane.

Although United avoid-ed the embarrassment oflosing to a team 17th in

League One, the sloppymanner of their per-formance will raisefresh questions about

Solskjaer’s ability toinspire his side.

United are languishingin eighth place in the

Premier League afterSaturday’s dismal 2-0defeat at West Ham leftthem with just two wins

from six games.Liverpool eased to a 2-0

victory at third tier MKDons.

Frank Lampard got afirst home win asChelsea boss under hisbelt as his youthful sidethumped fourth divisionGrimsby 7-1.

Ross Barkley openedthe floodgates and MichyBatshuayi struck twice.

Later, third tier Oxfordreached the fourthround for the first timein 22 years thanks to astunning victory againstWest Ham.

Second-half goals byElliott Moore, MattyTaylor, Tariqe Fosu andShandon Baptiste leftWest Ham shell-shocked.

Hammers boss ManuelPellegrini made ninechanges and handed afull debut to academygraduate NathanHolland, but the under-studies weren’t up to thetask. — AFP

Rochdale kids keepRed Devils on toesRochdale kids keepRed Devils on toes

BBrriigghhttoonn 11 (Roberts 61) AAssttoonn VViillllaa 33 (Jota 22, Hourihane 33,Grealish 77)

CChheellsseeaa 77 (Barkley 4, Batshuayi 7,86, Pedro 43-pen,Zouma 56, James 82,Hudson-Odoi 89) GGrriimmssbbyy 11 (Green 19)

OOxxffoorrdd 44 (Moore 55, Taylor 71,Fosu 84, Baptiste 90)WWeesstt HHaamm 00

SShheeffffiieelldd UUnniitteedd 00SSuunnddeerrllaanndd 11 (Power 9)

MMaanncchheesstteerr UUnniitteedd 11(Greenwood 68)RRoocchhddaallee 11 (Matheson 76)UUnniitteedd wwoonn 55--33 oonnppeennaallttiieess

MMKK DDoonnss 00 LLiivveerrppooooll 22 (Milner 41, Hoever 69)

BBuurrttoonn 22 (Sarkic 14, Broadhead72) BBoouurrnneemmoouutthh 00

WWoollvveess 11 (Jordao 27) RReeaaddiinngg 11 (Boye 90+9)WWoollvveess wwoonn 44--22 oonnppeennaallttiieess

TTHHEE RREESSUULLTTSSLEAGUE CUP THIRD ROUND

Madrid, Sept. 26: RealMadrid’s crisis has beenaverted for the time beingat least after they beatOsasuna 2-0 on Wednesdaywithout Eden Hazard andGareth Bale to go top of LaLiga.

Hazard and Bale wereamong a number of play-ers rested by coachZinedine Zidane, with Realfacing seven games in 21days, the next of themagainst city rivals AtleticoMadrid on Saturday.

Vinicius Junior, who hasendured a difficult fewmonths, filled the void,bending a shot into the topcorner before crying tearsof what presumably were amixture of joy and relief.

This time last year the 19-year-old exploded onto thescene but injury and then adip in form saw him drift,with this a chance toreassert himself in amuch-rotated line-up.

If Vinicius was Madrid’sBrazilian sensation 12months ago, Rodrygomight be one for the pres-ent.

The 18-year-old, who wasbought from Santos in 2018but joined last summer,added a superb secondgoal, and his first for theclub, just one minute aftercoming off the bench for aremarkable debut.

“I’m glad for them,” saidZidane. “Sometimes we for-get they are 18 (and 19)years old. We have seen theemotion they felt aboutscoring at the Bernabeu. Iliked Rodrygo’s goal but Iliked the control evenmore.”

Earlier, Atletico’s AlvaroMorata made a swiftimpact too but with lesspositive results after hewas sent off eight minutesafter being introduced as asubstitute against RealMallorca.

Atletico were already 2-0up thanks to goals fromDiego Costa and Joao Felixbut Morata will now besuspended for the derby atthe Wanda Metropolitano.

The Spaniard’s dreadfulnight got worse as he alsoappeared to engage in aheated exchange with a fanas he later left the stadium.

A week ago it would havebeen almost unthinkablethat Atletico would playtheir rivals in a contest offirst against second in LaLiga but that could now bethe setting this weekend,depending on Sevilla and

Real Sociedad’s resultson Thursday. — AFP

Real, Atletico readyfor derby with wins

RReeaall MMaaddrriidd 22 (Vinicius 36, Rodrygo72) OOssaassuunnaa 00

RReeaall MMaalllloorrccaa 00 AAttlleettiiccoo MMaaddrriidd 22 (Costa 26, Felix 64)

LLeeggaanneess 11 (Rodriguez 61) AAtthhlleettiicc BBiillbbaaoo 11 (Raul Garcia 59-pen)

VVaalleenncciiaa 33 (Gomez 30, 34, Lee 39)GGeettaaffee 33 (Mata 1, Jason 66,Rodriguez Diaz 69)

RREESSUULLTTSS

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD SEPT. 26

City’s shooting talentcame to the fore at the VIHyderabad Open Shoot-ing Competitions inShotgun Events, conduct-ed by the Hyderabad RifleShooting Association,under the aegis ofTelangana RifleAssociation at the SATSShooting Ranges here.

Rahul Ro led the Men’sClay Pigeon TrapShooting (NR) getting 39out of 50, followed byGusti Noria at 35 andEarla Chetan Reddy with31.

In the Individual ClayPigeon Trap ShootingMen (ISSF) NationalChampionship FazalAhmed Shoeb Mohd wonthe title with 99+45.

In the Double TrapShooting (NR) Champion-ship Men, KMA Ansariwon the first place with 37followed by Rahul Raoand Earla Chetan Reddywith 30 each.

Hassan Bin Yesrab ledthe Clay Pigeon SkeetShooting (NR) Champion-ship Junior Men with 37to his credit. Fauzan BinYesrab (29) and MohdArfaat (27) were secondand third respectively.

In the men’s category,Syed Ali MurtuzaHussain shot 36 for thetitle, followed by SaquibBin Yesrab (31/50) andArbaaz Ilyasi (30/50).

Earla Prajeeda Reddywon the Women’s ClayPigeon Skeet Shooting(NR) Championship with20/50.

It was double joy forMunek Battula. He wongold in the Clay PigeonSkeet Shooting JuniorMen (ISSF) NationalChampionship (Individ-

ual) with 113 and 113+48in the Men’s category.

Zahra Mufaddal Deesa-wala took the JuniorWomen title with 110 andalso the Women’s SkeetShooting (ISSF) NationalChampionship (Individ-ual) with the same score.

TTHHEE RREESSUULLTTSS■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn TTrraapp SShhoooottiinngg((NNRR)) CChhaammppiioonn--sshhiipp MMeenn:: 1.Rahul Rao 39/50, 2. GustiNoria 35/50, 3. Earla ChetanReddy 31/50.■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn TTrraapp SShhoooottiinnggMMeenn ((IISSSSFF)) NNaattiioonnaallCChhaammppiioonnsshhiipp ((IInnddiivviidduuaall)):: 1.Fazal Ahmed Shoeb Mohd.99+45, 2. K.M.A Ansari102+41, 3. Dr. Sabir Ali Khan

101+32.■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn DDoouubbllee TTrraappSShhoooottiinngg ((NNRR)) CChhaammppiioonn--sshhiipp MMeenn:: 1. K. M. A. Ansari37/50, 2. Rahul Rao 30/50, 3.Earla Chetan Reddy 30/50.■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn SSkkeeeettSShhoooottiinngg ((NNRR)) CChhaammppiioonn--sshhiipp JJuunniioorr MMeenn:: 1. Hassan BinYesrab 37/50, 2. Fauzan BinYesrab 29/50, 3. Mohd Arfaat27/50.■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn SSkkeeeettSShhoooottiinngg ((NNRR)) CChhaammppiioonn--sshhiipp MMeenn:: 1. Syed Ali MurtuzaHussain 36/50, 2. Saquib BinYesrab 31/50, 3. Arbaaz Ilyasi30/50.■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn SSkkeeeettSShhoooottiinngg ((NNRR)) CChhaammppiioonn--sshhiipp WWoommeenn:: 1. EarlaPrajeeda Reddy 20/50.

■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn SSkkeeeettSShhoooottiinngg JJuunniioorr MMeenn ((IISSSSFF))NNaattiioonnaall CChhaammppiioonnsshhiipp((IInnddiivviidduuaall)):: 1. Munek Battula113.

■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn SSkkeeeettSShhoooottiinngg MMeenn ((IISSSSFF)) NNaattiioonnaallCChhaammppiioonnsshhiipp ((IInnddiivviidduuaall)):: 1.Munek Battula 113+48, 2.Earla Chetan Reddy 98+47, 3.Rahul Rao 108+36.

■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn SSkkeeeettSShhoooottiinngg JJuunniioorr WWoommeenn((IISSSSFF)) NNaattiioonnaall CChhaammppiioonn--sshhiipp ((IInnddiivviidduuaall)):: 1. ZahraMufaddal Deesawala 110.

■■ CCllaayy PPiiggeeoonn SSkkeeeettSShhoooottiinngg WWoommeenn ((IISSSSFF))NNaattiioonnaall CChhaammppiioonnsshhiipp((IInnddiivviidduuaall)):: 1. ZahraMufaddal Deesawala 110.

Skeet shooters fire big timeIncheon, Sept. 26: Indianshuttler Parupalli Kashyapon Thursday advanced tothe Korea Open men’s sin-gles quarterfinals afterbeating Malaysia’s DarenLiew here.

The 33-year-old fromHyderabad prevailed 21-17,11-21, 21-12 over Daren in acontest that lasted 56 min-utes.

He will next square offagainst former world no 2,

Denmark’s Jan OJorgensen, an opponent helast played five years ago atthe Denmark Open.

The 31-year-old Danishshuttler beat eight seededIndonesian AnthonySinisuka Ginting 17-21, 21-16, 21-13 in 58 minutes.

Overall, Kashyap has a 2-4record against Jorgensen, a

2015 World Championshipbronze medallist.

“In the first patch in thesecond game he was play-ing really well. I was strug-gling and once he had a biglead, he played some verygood shot. It was tough tomake the scores equal. Inthe third game, I pushedthe tempo and played a fast-paced game. I didn’t givehim a big lead,” he said.

— PTI

Kashyap into quartersKOREA || OPEN

SPANISH || LEAGUE

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior (left) celebrates with team-mate Toni Kroos after scoring against Osasuna in theirSpanish league match in Madrid on Wednesday. — AP

■ Man Utd survive shoot-out, West Ham crash out

Small wonderHarvey Elliott, 16, becomes the youngest playerever to start for Liverpool as the winger playsfor the club in League Cup on Wednesday

Everton vvsWatfordManchester Cityvs SouthamptonCrawley vvsColchesterOxford vsSunderlandAston VVilla vvsWolvesBurton vsLeicesterChelsea vvsManchester UUnitedLiverpool vsArsenal

Ties to be played inthe week beginning

October 28.

FOURTH ROUNDDRAW

ManchesterUnited players

celebrate their winover Rochdale in their

League Cup thirdround match at Old

Trafford onWednesday.

— AP

Medallists at the Clay Pigeon Skeet Shooting (NR) Championship Men and JuniorMen categories pose with coach Viqar Ahmed Shafeeq (left) and Sports Authority ofTelangana State shooting ranges official Alexander Francis (right) in Hyderabad.

Sports Authority of Telangana State chairman AllipuramVenkateshwar Reddy (second from left) felicitatesTelangana’s cyclist Tanishq Goud (left), boxer NikhatZareen (second from right) and gymnast B. Aruna Reddyand during his visit to the Indira Gandhi Stadium in NewDelhi on Friday. Nikhat is preparing for the IndianOlympic Qualifying tournament to be held in Tokyo,Japan. Aruna Reddy is getting ready for the World ArtisticGymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, whileTanishq is participating in the selection trails for AsianCycling Championship to be held in South Korea.

Regd. No. H/SD/509/2018-20Printed and Published by T.

Venkateswarlu on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited. Printedat Deccan Chronicle Press situatedat Plot No. 9 Alwal Village, VallabhNagar Taluk, Medchal Malkajgiri

Dist. Telangana and Published at 36,S.D. Road, Secunderabad-3.

RNI Registration No. 3081/1957.Editor: A.T. Jayanti