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BJP means ‘Bakwas Jumla Party’, says KTR

Nadda slams Punjab oversecurity breach

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Army Issues Fresh Covid Advi-sory To Deal With Rising CasesNew Delhi: The Army has issued a fresh advisory to all its units and forma-tions, recommending precautionary measures to check the spread of the infection in view of rising cases of COVID-19 in the country.In the advisory, the Integrated Head Quar-ter of the Ministry of De-fence (Army) prescribed specific measures as per the weekly positivity rate in its establishments besides suggesting health education and awareness campaigns to deal with the situation.The weekly positivity rate in the Army for the week ending December 31 was 2.34 per cent, it said, adding, the current rising trends necessitate re-visiting the existing measures.The advisory said if a station records a positivity rate

in the range of one to two per cent, then all its personnel returning from leave and temporary duties should be tested and all social gatherings should be cancelled.In such a scenario, official meetings should be held virtually and quarantine facilities should be kept in a full state of readiness.If the weekly positivity rate is in the range of two to five per cent, all personnel returning from outstation leave and duties should be quarantined for seven days and tested before allowing them to leave the quaran-tine facilities, the advisory said.It said teleconsul-tations for treatment should be resorted to if feasible besides activating quarantine facilities.The advisory recommended that attendance in offices

should be restricted if the weekly positivity rate ranges between five and 10. All non-essential travel of service personnel should be curtailed in such a scenario, it said. For stations that report a weekly positivity rate of over 10, the advisory rec-ommended stopping phys-ical attendance as well as all non-essential leave and temporary training.The advisory said the military hospitals will continue to provide all Covid-related and emergency/life-saving services.The hospitals should postpone “cold surgeries” if the bed-oc-cupancy (ICU) is 40 per cent.The advisory also recommended ensuring “advance engagement and information campaigns” so that there is no misin-formation or panic.

Akhilesh Cancels Vijay Rath Yatra In Ayodhya Over Covid SpikeNew Delhi: Samajwadi Party’s Vijay Rath Yatra in Ayodhya, scheduled for January 9, has been cancelled as Covid cases continue to rise fuelled by the Omicron variant. Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has also called off his other rallies in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda and Basti on January 7 and January 8.Political parties are aggressively campaigning in the state in the build-up to the high-stakes February-March elections.Last month, Akhilesh Yadav had cancelled another rally in western UP and said he would stay away from public events for three days after his wife and daughter test-ed positive.Mr Yadav shared his Covid-negative report on Twitter and said he had taken the decision as a precautionary move since his family members have been infect-ed.On Wednesday, Congress had written to the Election Commis-sion asking it to “cancel big rallies (in the state) in view of an antici-pated third wave of Covid cases”. Congress has postponed all its events in the poll-bound state over the recent surge in cases believed to be driven by the highly trans-missible Omicron variant. India reported 58,097 cases in 24 hours on Wednesday - the sixth daily increase in the past nine days.“-Congress has decided to postpone major rallies in UP and other poll-bound states. We have asked state units to assess the COVID-19 situation in their states and then take a decision on holding rallies,” the party’s General Secretary, KC Venugopal, was quoted by news agency ANI.Ads by Meanwhile, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also cancelled a government func-tion in the state’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district scheduled for today. While no official reason was given, the district has reported the highest number of Covid cases from the state in the past week. The cancel-lation followed shocking scenes from UP’s Bareilly district Tuesday, where hundreds of women and teen girls were without masks during a party event that almost led to a near-stampede situation.

PM Modi Skips Punjab Rally Over ‘Security Breach’

Goa Congress Spokesper-son Quits Party, Joins Trin-amool Ahead Of PollsPanaji: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) spokesperson Rakhi Prabhudesai Naik on Wednesday resigned from her post and the party to join the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC).Ms Naik tendered her resignation to GPCC president Girish Chodankar.“With heavy heart and after thinking consciously, I have decided to end my short but fruitful inning in @INCGoa. I have sent my resignation to @girishgoa,” Ms Naik said in a tweet. In her resigna-tion letter, Ms Naik had stated that she had started to get despondent in the party owing to the “directionless leadership”.Ms Naik had joined the Congress two months ago after resigning from the Shiv Sena.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Over 58,000 New Covid Cases In India, 2,135 Total Omi-cron Cases

New Delhi: India reported 58,097 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 55 per cent higher than yesterday’s 37,379 cases. The gov-ernment has been continuously speeding up vaccination drive across the country. Those in the age group 15-18 are being inoculated now.The number of deaths climbed to 4,82,551 with 534 more fatalities, the data showed.A total of 2,135 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected across 23 states and Union Territories so far, out of which 828 have recovered or migrat-ed, according to the Union health ministry’s data updated on Wednes-day.Several states have announced restrictions like night curfew as Covid cases continue to rise.Soaring Omicron cases around the world could increase the risk of a newer, more dangerous variant emerging, the World Health Organisation, or WHO, said yesterday.While the vari-ant is spreading like wildfire around the world,

HC Grants Bail To Bandi SanjayHy6derabad : The Telangana High Court on Wednesday, January 5, granted bail to the state BJP President Bandi Sanjay Kumar. Providing relief to the arrested MP, the High Court granted Bandi Sanjay bail amid heavy protests by BJP workers in the state. The BJP leader had been kept under custody for three days by Telangana Police.The Telangana BJP president was detained in the late hours on Sunday, January 2 from his office, while extending his support to pro-testing teachers in Karimnagar. On January 3, Telangana Police issued a 14-day remand for Bandi Sanjay Kumar. Notably, the decision by the Telangana High Court comes after Hyderabad Police on Tuesday re-fused permission for BJP’s proposed candlelight rally to protest against the arrest of the party’s state presi-dent. However, despite being denied police permission, a massive crowd gathered at the spot amid increased police presence, Police barricades were also erected to block the BJP protest. BJP National president JP Nadda was present at the protest site. BJP calls Bandi Sanjay’s arrest ‘illegal’, ‘a murder of democracy’Be-

sides, G Kishan Reddy, the Union Minister for Tourism, met with BJP Telangana unit president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday, January 4, at a jail in Karimnagar, where the latter was detained after a thwarted protest. According to Kis-han Reddy, Bandi Sanjay and others were “illegally charged and arrested.” He wrote, “Sri Sanjay Garu and oth-ers remain undeterred, and we’re all determined to fight KCR’s oppressive rule.” Bandi’s apartment and the camp office, where he was arrested by police on Sunday night, were also visited by the Union Minister.Earlier, the saffron party’s national president, JP Nadda, condemned the arrest and called it a ‘murder of democracy.’

Assam Chief Minister Calls Urgent Meet-ing Over Covid, Rules Out LockdownGuwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Bisawa Sarma has called for an urgent review meeting on Thursday on the Covid scenario in the state with positive cases shooting up five times within a week, de-tection of two Omicron cas-es, and IIT Guwahati being declared a containment zone after 60 people in the cam-pus, most of them students, tested positive.However, the Chief Minister has ruled out employing lockdown to fight the virus.Talking to reporters in Dibrugarh, CM Sarma said, “The rising cases of COVID-19 is a matter of concern but there is no chance of lockdown in Assam. We will sit at Guwa-hati tomorrow to analyse the COVID-19 data of last one week and take decision re-

garding our next step.”Since December 30, 2021, at least 60 Covid positive cases have been detected at the IIT-Guwahati.Addressing a press conference in Guwa-hati today, Health minister Keshab Mahanta said, “Till date, two Omicron variant cases have been reported from Assam. One case has been detected in Shill-ong. From January 1, the COVID-19 cases have been rising in the state. We have already directed the district administration and the hospitals for preparations. Till now, altogether 25,000 beds are their in hospitals across the state. Tomorrow, we will hold a meeting and discuss a roadmap to deal with the rising cases of the COVID-19,” he said. He said, “Under GMCH, 1503

hospital bed are there and out of that we have 337 Oxy-gen beds and 336 ICU beds with pipe oxygen cylinders and jumbo cylinders. We are fully prepared and direc-tions have also been given to the hospitals for any kinds of situations,” Keshab Ma-hanta further said, “In last ten days COVID-19 cases have been rising in Guwa-hati Metro, Kamrup rural, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Cachar, Hojai and Nagaon. A total of 832 COVID-19 positive cases have been detected in Kamrup Metro followed with 156 cases in Kamrup rural. Jorhat has also seen rise in Covid cases in last ten days with 105 Covid positive cases,”. The state minister said all hospitals, model hospitals have been asked to step up efforts.

New Delhi/Chandigarh, Jan 5 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not attend a rally in Ferozepur of Punjab, after his caval-cade got stuck on a flyover for around 20 minutes due to a roadblock by protesters, raising a security con-cern.The Home Ministry called it a major security lapse. Home Minister Amit Shah said a report has been sought from the state government over the incident.Calling it “a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister”, the Home Ministry said in a statement that the incident took place around 30 km from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala.“When the PM’s convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The PM was stuck on a flyover for

15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse,” said the state-ment.“The PM’s schedule and travel plan was com-municated well in advance to the Punjab government. As per procedure, they have to made necessary arrange-ments for logistics, security as well as keep a contin-gency plan ready.Home Minister Amit Shah referred to the incident as a “Con-

gress-made happening” and said “repeated rejections by the people have taken them to the path of insanity. The topmost echelons of the Congress owe an apology to the people of India for what they have done”.A war of words between BJP and Congress leaders ensued as Congress said the Prime Minister did not attend the rally due to the thin crowd

at the rally. BJP leaders, meanwhile, slammed the Congress for compromising the Prime Minister’s secu-rity.BJP President JP Nadda alleged that it was a ploy by the Punjab government to prevent the Prime Minister from announcing major development projects ahead of Assembly elections.The BJP chief questioned how the farmers were allowed to reach the Prime Minister’s route despite assurances given by the Punjab Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police to the Special Protection Group that the route was clear.Union Minister Smriti Irani held a press conference and questioned the intentions of Congress.“We know Congress hates Modi, today they tried to harm the PM of India,” she said, accusing the state government of

“knowingly constructing a scenario where the PM could be brought to harm”.Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi however said there was no security lapse, adding that he was ready for any probe in the incident. He said state government had asked the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to discontinue the visit due to bad weath-er conditions and pro-tests.“There was no security lapse of any kind and there was no situation of any attack,” he said.He further said that the PM’s convoy was stopped much before the protest spot and it took time to remove the agita-tors.Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala hit back at the BJP for levelling “baseless allega-tions” over the security lapse in Punjab and claimed

that it was due to “empty chairs” at the rally venue and the farmers’ anger over unfulfilled promises that led to the cancellation of Ferozepur rally.Surjewala said, “People of Punjab have shown the mirror to the ‘arrogant’ government in power by distancing them-selves from the PM’s rally. Cancellation was due to ‘empty chairs’. Please accept your anti-farmer mindset and do some introspec-tion.”The Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal also slammed the state government for the lapse.AAP’s Raghav Chadda said any lapse in security of the Prime Minister was unac-ceptable.“Whatever our dif-ferences maybe, every state government must provide the highest level of security for the Prime Minister,” he said.

STATE / CITY 2TAKES SHORT

Mahabubabad Health dept gears up for Covid third Mahabubabad Moreover, the con-struction works on the government medical college on Thorrur road are being done at brisk pace, he added. Ma-habubabad: The officials of Medical and Health department, staff of Mahabubabad district hospital and officials of other departments said they were ready for a surge in Covid-19 cases

as the Omicron variant was spreading at a rapid pace. District Collector K Shashanka, who held a meeting with the super-intendent of the hospital and other officials on Monday, directed them to be ready to face any situation arising out of the possible spurt in the Covid-19 cases in the district.“We have already increased the number of the beds from 100 to

180 at the Area hospital which was upgraded as the district hospital. The bed strength will be increased further up to 250. On the other hand, facilities and medical infrastructure are being improved at the hospi-tal,” he said adding that construction of oxygen plant had also been tak-en up besides providing oxygen to the needed patients.

Siddipet farmers cele-brate Rythu Bandhu feat

Siddipet: Rythu Bandhu celebrations were organised in a grand way at Marpagada in Siddipet district on Wednes-day. The elected representatives performed Palabhishekam to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Finance Min-ister T Harish Rao’s portraits at Rythu Vedika at Marp-agada. The artistes of Telangana Samskruthika Sarathi, educated the local farmers on how the Telangana govern-ment has spent Rs 50,000 crore on Rythu Bandhu scheme since its inception.The artistes also visited the agricultural field in the neighbourhood to celebrate the occasion with the farmers at their fields. Meanwhile, the women in the villages celebrated the milestone of Rythu Bandhu scheme with different Rangoli paintings in front of their houses in the district. Similar kind of celebrations were organised across the erstwhile Medak district.

Hyderabad: The State government has accorded permis-sion for the establishment of JNTU Engineering College at Wanaparthy from the academic year 2022-23. An order to this effect has been issued by the Higher Education depart-ment on January 3. As per the order, the JNTU Engineering College at Wanaparthy will be established by utilizing the existing infrastructure and other facilities available at the Government Polytechnic, Wanaparthy, for the present till completion of the establishment of the full-fledged college.Orders regarding courses, staff and other amenities to be sanctioned to the Engineering college will be issued sep-arately. The department has asked the JNTU-Hyderabad Registrar and Telangana State Council of Higher Education Secretary to take further necessary action accordingly.

Pittsburgh Professor pats KITS Warangal

Warangal: Prof Pesaru Sudhakar Reddy, Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) & Chairman SHARE/ MediCiti Institute of Medical Sci-ences, appreciated the management of the Kakatiya Institute of Technology of Science (KITS), Warangal, for setting up the Center of Excellence, Indo-Ameri-can Artificial Heart Programme Laboratory worth Rs 45 lakh established in the department of Mechanical Engineering. He highlighted vast progress, achieve-ments and excellent contribution of KITS Warangal in the “Indo-American Artificial Heart Programme (IAAHP)”.Prof Pesaru Sudhakar Reddy visited the KITS Warangal campus on Jan 3. “The faculty members involved in this project have demonstrated on the Mockup loop test setup installed for perform-ing the hydrodynamic and Hemolysis test on the Centrifugal Heart pump designed and developed by the team IAAHP, KITSW. As a part of this research programme, a 3D printing machine worth Rs 20 lakh was purchased to perform prototypes of centrifugal heart pumps. Also simulation models were generat-ed by the Team in CATIA and Research version of ANSYS Software worth Rs eight lakhs,” said KITSW Principal Prof K Ashoka Reddy in a press note here on Wednesday.KITSW Secretary and Correspon-dent Capt V Lakshmikantha Rao, Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Prof K Raja Narender Reddy, Chairman IQAC & IAAHP, Prof K Eswaraiah, HoD, EIE, Dr M Raghuram, Member IAAHP, Prof K Venumadhav, Member IAAHP & faculty In-charge R&D Cell, Dr G Ganesh Kumar, member IAAHP, Dr G Saikumar, Associate Professor of Chemistry and PRO Dr D Prabhakara Chary and other faculty mem-bers were present.

Sangareddy: Patancheru MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy laid the foundation stone for a by-pass road at Lakdaram village of Patancheru mandal on Wednesday. The road will be built with a budget of Rs 2.4 crore. The local crushing industries have given the fund to lay the road under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. The road will not only be helpful for the industries but also improve road connectivity to local villages. Earlier, the MLA also laid the foundation stone for CC roads at Sulthanpur and Vadakpally villages of Ameenpur Mandal. Reddy also presented five tractors to Gram Panchayats in Ameenpur Mandal.Speaking on the occasion, he said they had been working hard to provide all the infrastructure facilities in Patancheru Assembly Constituency utilising CSR funds. He said that they were also putting the constituency development funds (CDF) and Zilla Parishad funds to the best use. ZPTC Sudhakar Reddy, MPP Devanandam, MPDO Mallesham, Sarpanches Lalitha, Mallesh, Ravi, Bhaskar Goud, Pandu and others were present.

Taking up development works with CSR funds: Patancheru MLA

Hyderabad: TRS working president and Minister KT Rama Rao denied violating Covid-19 norms of the Centre during his programmes after fresh guidelines were issued on January 1. Instead, he had cancelled his visit to Khammam and other places after the orders were issued. Rama Rao rubbished the allegations by the BJP leaders that the TRS party as well as

the Telangana govern-ment was violating the Covid-19 guildelines, but arrested BJP State president Bandi Sanjay who was fighting on behalf of government employees to revoke GO 317. “The gov-ernment cancelled all public gatherings. Even I have cancelled my visit to Khammam and other districts after the fresh guidelines were issued on January 1,” he added.

He said if the BJP lead-ers want to question violation of the Covid-19 norms by the TRS lead-ers prior to January 1, he too can point fingers at the public meetings and election rallies ad-dressed by Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi and union Ministers since first wave of Covid-19. He ridiculed the BJP lo-cal leaders for criticising the guidelines issued by their party-led govern-ment at the Centre.

Did not violate Covid guide-lines after fresh orders: KTR

TRS Acting President and Minister KT Rama Rao Launched the Waqf Board Calendar 2022 at Telangana Bhawan, Hyderabad in the presence of Waqf Board Chairman Muhammad Saleem and others.

Work with discipline, Telan-gana Congress cadre told

Hyderabad: All India Congress Com-mittee (AICC) in charge of Telangana, Manickam Tagore called upon the party leaders to work with discipline. Speaking at the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) political affairs committee meeting, which lasted for over four hours on virtual mode on Thursday, he asked the party leaders to complete the digital membership programme within the stipulated time frame.He also asked the leaders

to make AICC training programmes to be com-menced from January 10 a success and advised them that everyone should take part in these programmes actively without fail. Apart from the training programmes, the party leadership has also planned ‘Jana Jaga-rana’ programmes across the State. TPCC president A Revanth Reddy, who was also present at the meeting, said the Con-gress would intensify its fight against the failures of BJP and TRS.

Nizamabad: A 52-year-old plumber was arrested by the Nizamabad district police on Wednesday on charges of killing his son for regularly harassing his family mem-bers in an inebriated condition. Konda Ravi, a resident of Hamalwadi in Nizamabad, murdered his son Upendra (21) by smashing his head with an iron road repeatedly, said Nizamabad Police Commissioner KR Nagaraju , address-ing a press conference.Ravi killed Upendra when the latter returned home in an inebriated state and fell asleep on Monday night. The Police Commissioner said Upendra quarrelled with his mother on Monday afternoon demand-ing money to consume liquor. When she refused, Upendra forcibly took Rs 100 from her and beat Ravi before return-ing home around 10.30 pm. The family members earlier counselled Upendra to stop consuming liquor but he did not relent.Moreover, Upendra went to jail in the past for his alleged involvement in theft cases. Unable to bear the harassment by him, Ravi attacked Upendra with an iron rod when he was asleep. On Tuesday morning, he brought Upendra to the government hospital for treatment.But when the doctors declared him dead, Ravi left the hospital without furnishing any details. After a probe, the police detained Ravi, who admitted to the crime.

State clears JNTU engineer-ing college at Wanaparthy

Plumber held for killing al-coholic son in Nizamabad

Wake Up Telangana | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

NATION 3PM lays foundation stone for Ganga Expressway

TAKESSHORT

India opens embas-sy in Dominican

RepublicNew Delhi/Santo Domingo, Jan 5 (UNI) India opened its embassy in the Carib-bean nation of Dominican Republic on January 1, with the arrival of the Second Secretary Arup Saha in capital Santo Do-mingo.The newly-launched twitter handle of the Indian Embassy, tweeted the news of opening of the Indian embassy and the meeting of the Indian diplomat with se-nior officials of the Dominican Republic.India in Dominican Republic @Indi-ainDR tweeted: “With the arrival of Mr. Arup Saha, Sec Secy in Santo Domingo on 1st Jan’22, India opens its Emb in Dom Republic.“Mr. Saha had separate meetings with Vice Minister of Bilateral Foreign Policies Amb José Gómez and Chief of Prot Amb Francisco Nadal.”Ramu Abba-gani, Joint Secretary in the MEA, is taking over as the new Indian Ambassador in the Dominican Republic this month.

Nadda slams Punjab over security breach

New Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai on Wednesday said the government is commit-ted to provide better health facilities to secu-rity personnel and their dependents.The Minister said this while addressing CRPF officers here.“Our security forces stake care of the security of the country round the clock, so it is our responsibility

to take care of the jawans and their families,” he added.Rai distributed the last 10 Ayushman cards to National Secu-rity Guard and Central Armed Police Forces

(CAPF) personnel.“Ay-ushman cards will provide seamless access to health services across the country to the secu-rity personnel and their dependents,” he said.Around 35 lakh cards have been distributed so far.The Ayushman CAPF scheme was launched by Home Minister Amit Shah last year. The distribution of the cards started on November 2.

Security forces to get better health facilities

New Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) BJP Pres-ident J P Nadda on Wednesday accused the Congress government in Punjab of not providing se-curity and safe passage to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cav-alcade for a rally in Ferozepur district leading to its cancellation.He termed the incident as a “big security lapse” and accused the state government of having “given access to the protestors” on the PM’s route.Nadda alleged that it was a ploy by the Punjab gov-ernment to prevent the Prime Minister from announcing major development projects ahead of Assembly election.The BJP chief questioned how the farmers were allowed to reach the Prime Min-ister’s route despite assurances given by the Punjab Chief Secre-tary and the Director General of Police to the Special Protection Group that the route was clear.Nadda’s reaction came after Mo-di’s first rally in Punjab scheduled in Ferozepur on Wednesday was cancelled due to what the Union Home Ministry has described as a “major lapse in the PM’s security”.Criticizing Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Nadda said: “To make matters worse, CM Channi refused to get on the

phone to either address the matter or solve it. The tactics used by the Congress government in Punjab would pain anyone who believes in democratic principles.“It is sad that the PM’s visit to launch development projects worth thou-sands of crores for Punjab was disrupted. But we will not let such a cheap mentality hinder prog-ress of Punjab and will continue the effort for the development of Punjab,” he said.“The state police were instructed to prevent people from attending the rally. A large numbers of buses were stranded because of the high-handedness of the police and connivance with protestors,” he alleged.

Home isolation for mild cases now 7 daysNew Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) The Central government has reduced the isola-tion period for mild and asymptomatic Covid-19 patients to seven days while a provision of manda-tory evaluation by a medical officer has been added.Accord-ing to the revised protocols released by the Health Ministry on Wednesday, the provi-sion of self-quarantine for three days has

been removed from the home isolation guidelines, slashing the discharge period to seven days now.The updated guide-lines allow the isola-tion period to be over after seven days from the day one tests positive if there is no fever on the 5th, 6th and 7th days.Earlier, the discharge from home isolation was 10 days from testing pos-itive with mandatory self-quarantine on

the 8th, 9th and 10th days.There is no need for re-testing after home isolation period is over, the Ministry stated.Besides, the Centre has allowed home isolation of pa-

tients aged above 60 and those suffering an immuno-compromised state (HIV, cancer, transplant) only after a proper evaluation by the treating medical officer, the updated

norms say.Over the last two years, it has been seen globally as well as in India that a majority of cases of Covid-19 are either asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms.Such cases usually recover with minimal interventions and accordingly may be managed at home under proper medical guidance and mon-itoring, the Ministry said.According to the new protocols,

asymptomatic cases are laboratory con-firmed cases that are not experiencing any symptoms and have oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 per cent.“Clinically assigned mild cas-es are patients with upper respiratory tract symptoms with or without fever, without shortness of breath and having oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 per cent,” it said.

Rajnath gets report on CDS chopper crashNew Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) A Court of Inquiry formed to probe the December 8 chopper crash leading to the death of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and 13 others gave a detailed presentation to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday.The panel, headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh with officers of the Army and Navy, also made certain recommendations for VVIP travel in choppers, informed sources said.IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari and Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar were present during the presentation.Govern-

ment sources said a Con-trolled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) has been mentioned as the cause of the accident, meaning the pilot may have entered an envelope of cloud and got disoriented due to low visibility, leading to a collision and subse-quent crash.The chopper was flying along a railway line on low attitude before entering into thick cloud cover.The inquiry ruled out sabotage or technical fault as probable reasons behind the crash.The panel has

made certain recommenda-tions to re-look at the Stan-dard Operating Procedures to fly VVIPs.The inquiry team collected evidence, examined the black box and studied various aspects of aviation while preparing a report.Gen Rawat died near Coonoor together with his wife Madhulika, his senior most staff officer Brig L S Lidder and Lt Col Har-jinder Singh, Naik Gurse-wak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Naik Vivek Kumar, Naik B. Sai Teja, Havaldar Satpal and pilots flying the helicopter.The chopper had taken off from the Sulur IAF station and was flying to Wellington.

Delhi receives light rain, Air quality still in

“very poor” categoryNew Delhi Jan 5 (UNI) Delhi and its adjoin-ing areas received moderate to light rainfall on Wednesday morning, as the minimum temperature was recorded at 10.9 degree Cel-sius, four notches above normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IM-D).“Light to moderate intensity rain would occur over and in the adjoining areas of Del-hi, Kaithal, Narwana, Fatehabad, Rajaund, Assandh, Safidon, Barwala, Jind, Adampur, Hissar, Hansi, Siwani, Meham, Tosham, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Loharu,” IMD said in its morning bulletin.The agency has pre-dicted thunderstorms with rain during the day and the maximum temperature is likely to hover around 19 degree Celsius.Earlier, the weather agency said that two consecutive western disturbances (From January 3-5) and (January 6-9) would affect Northwest and adjoining central India during the next seven days.The IMD further said that rains will continue till January 9 but no cold wave conditions are likely over north India in the next 6-7 days.“Fairly widespread to wide-spread rainfall/snowfall is very likely over Western Himalayan Region during January 7 to 9 and decreases thereafter. Isolated heavy rainfall/snowfall is likely over Jammu-Kash-mir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad during the same time and then over Himach-al Pradesh on January 8 & 9,” it said.Mean-while, the air quality in the city remained in the “very poor” category, as the overall Air quality Index stood at 387.“The air quality over Delhi-NCT is likely to improve but re-main in the “very poor” category on January 5 and it is likely to improve further owing to good rainfall and crossover to the “poor cate-gory” on January 6,” IMD said in a statement.The concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 stood at 210 in the ‘very poor’ and 323 in the ‘poor’ category respectively around 10 am, as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51

Members of a Farmers Organization burning an effigy at the site of a public rally scheduled to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra modi in Ferozpur on Wednesday

India registers 58,097 Covid

cases, 534 deathsNew Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) India recorded 58,097 fresh Covid-19 cases, almost 55 percent higher than Tuesday’s tally of 37,379, and 534 deaths, the Health Minis-try said on Wednesday.The total death toll has now climbed to 4,82,551.The Ministry said the total active cases in the country stood at 2,14,004.The recovery tally rose to 3,43,21,803 as 15,389 people got freed from the disease. The recovery rate is 98.01 per cent.Meanwhile, 2,135 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been reported across 23 states and Union Terri-tories, out of which 828 have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data updated on Wednesday.Maharashtra has recorded the maximum number of 653 cases followed by Delhi at 464, Kerala 185, Rajasthan 174 and Guja-rat 154.The government is speeding up the vaccination drive across the country.“In-dia has so far administered 147.72 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine so far,” the Ministry said.

Wake Up Telangana | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

WORLD 4

Hong Kong Bans Flights From India, 7 Other Nations, Ramps Up Covid CurbsHong Kong: Hong Kong announced strict new anti-coronavirus controls on Wednesday, banning flights from eight nations, shuttering bars and gyms and cancelling evening restaurant dining after the Omicron variant was detected within the city.The restrictions are the latest economic blow to an international business hub pursuing a zero-Covid strategy that has kept cases low but left residents cut off from the rest of the world.Like mainland China, Hong Kong has maintained some of the world’s harshest mea-sures throughout the pandemic -- including virtually closed borders, weeks-long quarantines, targeted lockdowns and mass testing.The city has recorded 114 Omicron cases as of Tuesday evening, with the vast majority identified at the airport or during the 21-day hotel quarantine that is mandatory for most arrivals.But a small com-munity outbreak traced to Cathay Pacific airline staff in recent days has sparked the imposition of tough new measures.Chief executive Carrie

Lam said health officials now fear the contagious variant was silently spreading within the community.“We have cas-es that have their sources identified but not the route of transmission,” she told reportersFlights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, UK and US will be banned from midnight on Saturday for two weeks.- Business restrictions -All large-scale public events will be cancelled while from Friday over a dozen types of businesses, including bars, nightclubs, gyms, and beauty parlours, will have to close.Dining inside restaurants will be banned after 6:00 pm.All cruises have also been cancelled -- on Wednes-day a ship carrying 3,700 passengers and crew returned to port for mass testing after nine people were traced as close con-tacts of an Omicron case.Ads by Hong Kong has bounced between heavy and light social distanc-ing restrictions through-out the pandemic.Com-pulsory mask-wearing, limits on more than four people gathering in pub-lic and restaurant quotas

have remained even during periods when no local cases were detected for weeks at a time.The restrictions have ham-mered the tourist and bar sectors and left interna-tional businesses strug-gling to retain and recruit talent.The catering sector had a torrid 2020 but largely bounced back last year as residents flocked to local restaurants and hotels.Hong Kong’s strict rules have kept the city enviably free of the virus, with just over 12,000 cas-es and 213 deaths since the pandemic began.Lam has said that resum-ing travel routes with mainland China must come before reopening to the rest of the world.But there has been little concrete progress on that front and the latest outbreak has once again caused a setback.Hong Kong’s ability to reopen has also been hampered by poor vaccine takeup.Despite ample supplies, only 70 percent of Hong Kongers have chosen to have two doses and the rates among the elderly -- the demographic most likely to die in the event of an outbreak -- is far lower

Mayor’s Office Ambushed By Protesters At Almaty, Kazakhstan’s Largest CityAlmaty: Protesters gath-ered at the mayor’s office in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty on Wednesday as unprec-edented protests over a hike in energy prices spun out of control.Police fired stun grenades and tear gas at a crowd of sev-eral thousand protesters, some armed with batons and shields seized from police, but were unable to prevent the protesters from entering the build-ing, an AFP correspon-dent said.More than 200 people were detained during protests that swept across the Central Asian country following a New Year increase in prices for Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), which is wide-ly used to fuel cars in the west of the country, police said on Wednes-day morning.Thousands took to the streets in the largest city Almaty and in the western province of Mangystau, saying the price rise was un-fair given oil and gas

exporter Kazakhstan’s vast energy reserves.On Wednesday afternoon AFP correspondents in Almaty witnessed men dressed in police uni-form throw down their shields and helmets into a pile and embrace protesters. The men in police uniform refused to be interviewed.“They have come over to our side,” yelled one woman as she embraced a fellow protester.The protests are the biggest threat so far to the regime established

by Kazakhstan’s found-ing president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down in 2019 and ush-ered loyalist Kassym-Jomart Tokayev into the presidency. Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989, retains control over the country as chairman of the security council and “Leader of the Nation” -- a constitutional role that affords him unique policy-making privileges as well as immunity from prosecution.

TAKESSeven killed, 5 injured in fire, gas leakage acci-dents in PakistanIslamabad, Jan 5 (UNI/Xinhua) Seven people were killed and five others injured in two separate accidents in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, local media reported on Wednesday.According to the reports, seven people of a family were killed after fire erupted in a village on the outskirts of Toba Tek Singh district of the country’s eastern Punjab province.The acci-dent took place while the victims were sleeping, resulting in the death of all the family members in the house, rescue workers told lo-cal media.The deceased included five girls, local media said.Sepa-rately, five people were injured af-ter a blast hit a house in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta, local media said.Reportedly, the explo-sion occurred due to gas leakage in the house, resulting in injuries of all the people from the same family including three kids.

SHORT

Hong Kong, Jan 5 (UNI/Xinhua) The Hong Kong Special Adminis-trative Region (HKSAR) govern-ment announced on Wednesday that incoming passenger flights from eight countries will be banned from landing in Hong Kong starting from Jan. 8 for 14 days.HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the flight suspension at a press conference.According to her, the ban will affect passengers from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United States, including transfer-ring passengers.According to Lam, the decision on the flight suspen-sion was made because of a rapid change in the local COVID-19.

India’s envoy to UN takes over as Chair of

Counter Terrorism Committee

United Nations, Jan 5 (UNI) TS Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, has

taken over as Chair of the Counter Terrorism Committee for 2022.The United Nations Counter-Terrorism

Committee Executive Director-ate tweeted the news, along with a short bio.“The new Chair of the

Counter-Terrorism Committee for 2022 is H.E. Mr. T. S. Tirumurti @ambtstirumurti, Permanent Rep-

resentative and Ambassador @IndiaUNNewYork,” it posted.India is a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council and its two-year term ends on December

31, 2022.On January 1, India voted in favour of a resolution to renew the mandate of the CTC Executive Directorate, and asked nations to

remain united against the “tenden-cy of labelling terror acts based on its motivation” and said that such categorisation will lead the global community back to the pre-9/11 era of “my terrorist” versus “your terrorist”.“As the Chair of CTC for 2022, India will make determined

efforts to further enhance the role of CTC in strengthening the multilat-eral response to counter-terrorism,

and more importantly, ensuring that global response to the threat of

terrorism remains unambiguous, undivided and effective,” India said in its explanation of vote to renew

the CTED mandate.

A man can be seen holding his umbrella while taking a walk after fresh snowfall, in Baramulla on Tuesday.

Five killed in road accidents in

PakistanIslamabad, Jan 5 (UNI/Xinhua) At least five people were killed and seven others injured in two separate road accidents in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, local media reported on Wednesday.In the

Lower Dir district of the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an ambulance skidded in the snow and fell into a river, killing four and injuring six others, said the

reports.Another person was killed and one injured when a truck overturned on Multan road close to Chunian city of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, local media reported.Road accidents

frequently happen in Pakistan, mainly due to poorly maintained vehicles,

dilapidated roads as well as negligence of road safety measures.

No new Covid re-strictions: UK PMLondon, Jan 5 (UNI) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he hoped to “ride out” the current

wave of Covid-19 without impos-ing any more restrictions.BBC

quoted the PM as saying that there was a “good chance” he would not impose fresh measures and

would recommend continuing the government’s “Plan B” strategy in England to ministers on Wednes-

day.On Tuesday, he also announced Covid test plans for 100,000 critical workers, including those employed in food processing, transport and the border force.The PM said at

a Downing Street briefing he will recommended England sticks with Plan B restrictions, when cabinet

ministers meet to discuss extending them, BBC reported.He said, the

country had a a chance to “ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again”.“We can keep our schools and our busi-nesses open and we can find a way to live with this virus,” he added.

Hong Kong to suspend flights from 8 countries over Covid-19

China’s Locked Down City Thrown Into Chaos After Covid App CrashChina’s Covid-19 health code system that strictly governs people’s move-ments crashed in Xi’an this week, worsening conditions in the locked-down city where the country’s worst outbreak since Wuhan has been unfolding.The crash has complicated efforts to weed out cases through mass testing, created hur-dles for people seeking care at hospitals and led to the suspension of a top official, the latest among a slew of bureaucrats to be punished as Beijing fumes over the situation.Liu Jun, head of Xi’an’s big-data bureau, was tem-porarily dismissed over performance failures, the

municipal Communist Party Committee said in a statement. While the committee didn’t explic-itly lay out the reason behind its decision, it came after Xi’an’s health code system -- which is under Liu’s purview and tracks individuals’ move-ments and vaccination status -- broke down on Tuesday.The system crash meant that locals were unable to access their Covid infection status after Xi’an embarked on a new widespread round of nucleic acid tests, accord-ing to a media report. The provincial government said in a statement later that the system was tem-porarily paralyzed due to

overwhelming traffic, and being fixed. It had also experienced technical is-sues in December.People must show their health codes -- which prove that they tested negative for Covid -- to enter hospitals.The provincial women’s federation is investigating reports that a pregnant woman in Xi’an lost her baby after being refused entry to a hospital on New Year’s Day because she couldn’t show she was infec-tion-free via the health code app, media portal iFeng.com reported. A video posted Tuesday showing what appeared to be a woman bleeding on the sidewalk outside a

hospital in Xi’an’s Gaoxin district was trending on Weibo.Similar complaints and criticisms were seen elsewhere on Chinese social media as patients failed to get timely treatment at hospitals already overwhelmed by the virus.With more than 1,700 cases, the virus situation in Xi’an has triggered shortag-es of food and medical care amid a lockdown that has banned its more than 13 million residents from leaving their homes without a special rea-son. The strict measures -- some of the toughest in the world -- come as Chinese authorities race to curtail the country’s

Covid outbreak ahead of the Beijing Winter Olym-pics next month, and have led to increasingly vocal frustration among locals.China is the only country left practicing a zero-tolerance Covid strategy, which involves ever-escalating measures to bring infections down to zero. While the Xi’an outbreak is of the delta variant, the more-trans-missible omicron strain now roiling the world will challenge the approach even further. Mainland China has not yet report-ed any community spread of omicron.Two other local officials, including the deputy mayor, were removed this week over.

Wake Up Telangana | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

5EDIT

Editorial

The editor,

The TS govt's education minister took the deci-sion to conduct Inter 1st year board exam in near future, then what is the meaning of PROMOTED ? It seems the education ministry will definitely conduct the exams for those classes to which it promoted. If not so the made announcement should be revoked. Thus the Inter 1st year stu-dents will sigh relearf and will give full attention in the study of 2nd year in which they are sitting after promoted by TS govt.

S.M.ARIF HUSSAIN, Senior Hon. Server in Education. MUSHEERABAD. cell: 9985450106

India’s diversity must never be used against it

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The Editor

Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara: a true karma yogi

It is time to reflect on the years gone by. We need to assess where our nation stands today and what lies ahead with the dawn of the new year. The nature of politics today feeds on our stratified social structures. Our relatively young population is aspira-tional yet frustrated. The middle class dreams of a better life, which at present is beyond its grasp. The elderly worry about the challenges of ageing. This makes our country one of the most complex to govern. The manner in which the political establishment has tried to grapple with all these issues has made the task even more daunting.The fundamental com-plexity that confronts us as a nation is that as citizens of this country, we clothe ourselves with mul-tiple identities. An upper-class Hindu does not necessarily identify himself with backward or most backward Hindus. Competitive back-wardness divides rather than unites each backward caste and sub-caste group looking for state lar-gesse. This tokenism does not lead to sub-stantial upliftment of their backwardness, yet its symbolic value is a powerful political weapon.

Punjabi Hindus, who speak Punjabi, live happily with the Sikh community which speaks the same lan-guage, yet they have different cultural identities. Within them, there are those who are part of the Scheduled Castes. Such multiple iden-tities of individuals are spread all across India. Each has attri-butes that differ from state to state. The Ya-davs, whose identity is subsumed by the nature of their back-wardness, may at times, hold the reins of power. They have no common identity with the Brahmins or the Thakurs or those who belong to the forward castes. They also do not share a common identity with other backward communities in Ut-tar Pradesh like the Kurmis, Mauryas, Kashyaps, Nishads, Rajbhars, Binds, Sahus, and Prajapatis among others. The Scheduled Castes in the state have their own unique identity. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, Bhumihars and Yadavs along with Kurmis, Kush-wahas and Lodhis have their own separate identities. Within these two states, there is also a large segment of Muslim minorities who have their own special identities and castes. The Muslims

themselves have two separate identities in the form of Shias and Sunnis. A tribal culture belonging to a different race within the cauldron of the Northeast serves multiple identities. States like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland are in-habited prominently by tribals. They, in turn, have their own diversities. States like Assam, Mani-pur, Tripura and Sikkim have people of various religious denominations like Hindus, Christians and Muslims and a combination of local tribes and commu-nities. The Bengali and non-Bengali speaking Hindus within Assam have their own identities. Similarly, Nagas, Ma-nipuris, Assamese, Muslims and others all live together with different languages and cultures, seek-ing to protect their identities and cater to their distinct yet separate aspirations, both cultural and territorial.In south India, social groups in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala have their own cultural identities and aspire to be part of the political structure to satisfy their multiple aspirations. In Tamil Nadu, the interme-

diary castes like the Vellalars, Chettiyars, Mudhaliyars, Naidus, Gounders, Thevars and Vanniyars, among others, seek to play an import-ant role in electoral outcomes. In Karna-taka, the Vokkaligas and Lingayats along with Muslims and OBCs have their own cultural and electoral identities. In Andhra Pradesh, the two politically dominant communities are the Reddys and Kam-mas.A nation with multiple individual identities needs to search for solu-tions to take India forward. However, the ruling political class seeks to exploit these identities for political power. We, therefore, see the spectacle of shifting alliances when indi-viduals with multiple identities feel dis-enchanted with the power structures for the failure to rec-ognise their needs and aspirations. This shifting of alliances is opportunistic, unre-lated to any cohesive national agenda. Coupled with this, majoritarian groups take sustenance with Hindus of multiple identities being fed on propaganda that seeks to divide, while the power structure they have established continues to reap electoral dividends.

LETTERS

Why the nature of the Capitol attack is hotly contested in USJanuary 6 will mark a year since the deadly siege of the US Capitol by a partially-armed and whimsically-dressed mob made of supporters of then President Donald Trump. The attack on the Capitol — a complex that is widely seen as a symbol of American democracy — was unprecedented. The only other forcible breach had occurred more than 200 years earlier when British troops set fire to it in August 1814. That the January 6 assault was perpetrated by flag-waving patriots instigated by a sitting president making false claims of a stolen election — and refusing to acknowledge his electoral defeat — only underscores the political danger it portends. Accepting electoral defeat is, after all, fundamental to the functioning of any democracy.Yet what happened that day has become a matter of political and ideological contestation. Going by dic-tionary and legal definitions, it would be apt to call the siege and the events leading to it an insurrection. Indeed, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army found it wise to send a message to American troops that the “actions inside the Capitol build-ing . . . were inconsistent with the rule of law” and that “the rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition and insurrection”. In order not to leave any room for doubt among the armed forces, the statement added that Joe Biden will take office on the constitutionally mandated Inauguration Day and “will become our 46th Commander in Chief ”. But despite the seri-ous nature of what occurred, attempts by the US Congress to create a bipartisan commission to investigate it — on the lines of the 9/11 Commission — failed because of objections from the Republican Party that has embraced Trump’s unsubstanti-ated claims of a fraudulent election, partly because it wants to hold on to his loyal political base. The House of Representa-tives has formed a select committee to investigate the assault, but it does not have the support of most Republican members.Many Republican leaders have refused to condemn the siege; they accuse the Democrats of wildly exaggerating its gravity and of overreacting. Some lawmakers call the 727 people arrested and charged with crimes stemming from the attack, political prisoners. The most ideolog-ically committed of the detainees describe themselves as the Patriot Wing, and they have developed a fan base outside prison.Patriot Purge, a three-part faux documen-tary by Tucker Carlson, a top-rated host of the Fox News Channel, and broadcast on its subscription streaming service, offers a revisionist account of the events. Ac-cording to the fact-checking website PolitiFact, it white-washes the facts of the insurrection and contrives “a dystopian, alternative explanation” by invoking conspira-cy theories to suggest that left-wing instigators and agent provocateurs were behind it and that the insurrectionists may have fallen into a trap set by domestic intelligence agencies intent on purging American society of its best patriots.What explains this bizarre turn of events? A demographic database of about 600 of those arrested offers an entry point to addressing the question. The data was gathered by a team of researchers at the University of Chicago led by political scientist Robert A. Pape.The insurrectionists are overwhelmingly white, but they do not fall into the demographics of people stereotypical-ly associated with far-right extremist violence. Only a small minority are members of right-wing militias. Very few of them are marginalised young, unemployed men. Many are well-to-do middle-aged people in occupations including business owners, doctors, lawyers, information technology professionals and accountants. There is a sig-nificant number of women. The insurrectionists are not all from rural areas where Trump has a loyal base. Many

History often fails to do justice to social reform-ers who have also been religious leaders. Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, who triggered a renais-sance in Kerala in the 19th century, was one such reformer who was also a man of faith. The 150th death anniversary of this saint-reformer — which was commem-orated on January 3 — is an occasion to revisit his life and works.Saint Chavara was a social reformer, an education-ist, a social entrepreneur, and a prolific poet. He deserves a place in the

pantheon of socio-re-ligious reformers that in-cludes Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Jyotirao Phule, Swami Dayananda Saraswa-ti and Sree Narayana Guru. Millions, irrespec-tive of caste and creed, benefited from his work, which triggered a social, cultural and intellectual awakening in Kerala. Saint Chavara was a pioneer of education reforms. When educa-tion was the privilege of the social elites, his Pallikkoodam move-ment (setting up schools in church premises) en-

abled universal access to education. As the Vicar General of Syro-Malabar Christians, he ordered that schools be set up on all church premises and threatened to close down those that failed to comply. He also start-ed free mid-day meals and provided clothes and books to reduce drop-outs among the poor and Dalit students. For this purpose, he mobilised resources by collecting pidiyari (a handful of rice) and tithe from well-off families. The practice initiated by Saint Chavara in Chris-

tian schools influenced the diwan of Travancore, C P Ramaswamy Iyer, to plan mid-day meals in government schools in 1936. In 1846, Saint Chavara established a Sanskrit school in Mannanam in Kerala, that enabled ordinary people to study the sacred Hindu literature in Sanskrit. The first indigenous Catholic re-ligious congregation for men (CMI) he founded in 1831 supplied dedi-cated and highly-skilled personnel for managing the schools and institu-tions. The first religious

congregation for women (CMC-CTC) he founded in 1866 established schools to promote education for women with boarding facilities. It was a starting point for women’s empower-ment in Kerala. These congregations continue to pursue Saint Chavara’s vision of universal and affordable education, by running hundreds of educational institutions across the country. In the words of former President R Venkatara-man, Saint Chavara “represented a major manifestation of the In-

dian renaissance, which was to raise our under-privileged, to alleviate distress and infuse our people with a sense of pride in themselves”.In 1846, with the permis-sion of Swathi Thirunal, the maharajah of Tra-vancore, Saint Chavara founded a printing press in Mannanam, and published educational materials and books to promote social harmony. He was convinced that the print media was a powerful medium to further learning.

Wake Up Telangana HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 29, 2021

Wake Up Telangana | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

GAMES 6TTFI postpones National Ranking championship at Indore owing to Covid-194th Ashes Test,

Day1: Australia 126/3 at stumpsSydney, Jan 5 (UNI) Australia posted 126 for the loss of three wickets at stumps on first day of the fourth Ashes Test here at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.Steve Smith (6 not out) and Usman Khawaja (4 not out) saw off the day towards the end. Both Australia and En-gland made one change each in their playing eleven.The visitors brought Stuart Broad in place of Ollie Robinson, while the hosts called Khawaja to replace Travis Head, who has been ruled out after testing Covid-19 positive.Australia opted to bat first after the toss was delayed due to wet outfield.Only 12.3 were played in the morning session as the rain forced the early break. Austra-lia were 30 for loss with David Warner and Marcus Harris on the crease.Post lunch, Broad gave England their first breakthrough when he dismissed Warner for 30, who chased a wide one and edged the ball to Zak Crawley in the slip.Rain again stopped the play and tea break was taken early, with Australia reeling on 56/1.Only 21.4 overs were played in the first two sessions, as the rain contin-ued to interrupt the play.In the final session, Harris and Marnus Labuschagne put a 68-run stand before James Anderson removed Harris for 38.Soon after Harris’ dismissal, Labuschagne (28) got caught on a Mark Wood delivery in the 41st over.In the 47th over rain interrupted the play again and forced the stumps early on Day1 of the penultimate Test with 37 minutes left in a day.For England, Anderson, Broad and Wood claimed one wicket each.

SHORTTAKESKolkata, Jan 5 (UNI) Amid the Covid-19 surge, the Table Ten-nis Federation of India (TTFI) has postponed events in three categories (Under-15, Under-13 and Under-11) in the ongoing UTTNational Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships at Indore.The executive committee of the TTFI also put off the Cadet & Sub-Junior Nationals that were to begin at Indore from January 11, feder-ation’s secretary-general Arun Kumar Banerjee said in a statement.These decisions were taken during a virtual meet-ing chaired by Senior Vice-President Rajeev P. Bodas, Secretary-General Arun Kumar Banerjee, three organising stake-holders of the four cham-

pionships—Central Zone National Ranking Cham-pionships and Cadet & Sub-Junior Nationals, MPTTA president Om Soni, Senior Nationals, Meghalaya TTA secretary

Chiranjib Choudhary, and the Junior and Youth Nationals, president N. Ganeshan of TTAK—be-sides secretaries from other states.Taking into consideration the pre-

vailing situation, partic-ularly in the aftermath of several positive cases at the Central Zone events, the Secretary-General announced that the three events in the Central Zone championships and the Cadet & Sub-Ju-nior Nationals that follow from January 11 to 19 stands postponed.He also said that it was in the best interests of the players and officials that the committee also decided to postpone the Senior Nationals to be held in Shillong from January 22 to 29. As for the Junior and Youth Nationals (Alleppey), the Secretary-General said that there was no change in the original schedule (February 22-March 2) for the time being.

Sri Lankan batter Bha-nuka Rajapaksa quits international cricket

Sri Lanka batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa on Wednesday announced his retirement from international crick-et with immediate effect, citing family obligations.Rajapaksa’s ODI career lasted less than six months as the 30-year-old left hander had made his debut in July 2021. He tendered his letter of resignation to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), which posted the development on its website. “I have very carefully considered my position as a player, husband and am taking this de-cision looking forward to fatherhood and associated familial obligations,” Rajapaksa wrote in his resig-nation letter.Rajapaksa represented Sri Lanka in five ODIs and 18 T20Is, scoring a total of runs 409 across formats which included three fifties. He was part of Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup 2021 squad and finished as the third-highest run-scorer for his team with 155 runs from eight matches.

I have a role to play in SA cricket and RCB: AB de VilliersHe isn’t sure what future holds in store for him but former South Africa captain AB de Villiers is confident that he will have a role to play in national team and his IPL franchise RCB’s future set-up.One of contempo-rary cricket’s greatest batters, De Villiers had retired from all forms of game in November last year, putting an end to his glorious 17-year career in top-flight.“I still believe that I have a role to play in SA cricket and also over there in the IPL with the Royal Challengers

Bangalore (RCB),” he was quoted as saying by ‘Times LIVE’. Besides a staggering 20,017 international runs across all formats under his belt, De Villiers also holds the record for fastest 50, 100 and 150 in ODIs. He has also played 156 matches for RCB and scored 4,491 runs.“I have no idea what will come next but I will take it one day at a time and see,” he add-ed.The 37-year-old De Villiers, who has played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20s for South Africa, said he has been “looking after and men-

toring some youngsters with potential and ability for the last few years.” “No one knows about it and hopefully I can look back one day in the future knowing that I have made a big difference in the lives of a few players.“That is my focus for now and I don’t know if it’s going to be professional or on a casual basis, but we will see where we go with that.” De Villiers, who had announced his retirement from international cricket in 2018, opened up about the personal challenges that he faced in the last

couple of years with the COVID-19 pandemic also taking a toll.“Hav-ing to go to the IPL twice last year where we had to deal with a lot of travelling restric-tions, Covid-19 testing, missed and cancelled flights, and having to organise school for the kids was very challeng-ing,” he said.“I decided over the past few years that I am not going to travel without my kids any more and the split IPL really made it very complicated. Probably the biggest challenge was to stay sane, motivated and keep-

ing the energy.“I also picked up Covid-19 at some stage and I was really sick for 10 to 12 days and luckily I got through it. Those were the challenges and there were basic stresses of life with the pandemic floating around.” The IPL was suspended in 2020 after multiple COVID cases were detected inside the bio-bubble in India. It was completed later in the year after being shifted to the UAE.“By a long way, the travel-ling arrangements and the IPL have been the biggest challenge this

year and finding that energy to still want to be the best in the world was difficult,” De Villiers said. He said the game has “always been about enjoyment” for him.“And the minute where I felt the difficulty of travelling and being there at the IPL for two and half to three months a year, specifically with this one that was spilt into two, bubbles and this and that made things very complicated with regards to cricket and the enjoyment there-of “I found myself on the park where scoring

runs and doing well for the team didn’t really match with everything that goes with it any more and that’s where the balance started leading towards hang-ing my gloves up.He only moved on when he knew that enjoyment was gone.“I have never been the guy who is go-ing to push every single bit of energy of my ability and my cricket-ing skill, I have always played for the enjoy-ment of the game. And the minute that sort of started going down, I knew it was time for me to move on.”

FUN

TIM

EWake Up Telangana | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

7LEGAL PRISM

CJI Bids Farewell To Justice R.Subhash Reddy, Commends His Ethical Conduct

Six men held for hacking, manipulating online exam from across country :PoliceNew Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) Six men, who were allegedly involved in hacking and manipulating the results of on-line examinations, including GMAT and JEE, were arrested from differ-ent states including Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon and Jaipur.The accused hired Russian hackers to get access to various exam portals, police said on Wednesday.They have been identified as A Dhunna (39), S Dhunna (28), H Shah (42), trio is native of Mum-bai, K Goel (39) resident of Delhi, M Sharma (35) and R Teotia (33), both are from Haryana.The police said one of the accused Teotia has cash reward of Rs one lakh on his arrest from Haryana and also is on the wanted list of CBI.The police said Teotia was apprehended from Jaipur. Teotia told police that he was engaged in online examination hacking and solving for the last past five years and he had been in touch with Russian hackers for getting the exams hacked. He vis-ited Russia in 2018. During the lock-down, Russian hackers also stayed at his place.“The group has been instru-mental in getting 18 candidates clear the GMAT exam and over 500 candi-dates in other exams over a period of about 3 years,” KPS Malhotra, DCP, Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO), Delhi Police.DCP said the police had received informa-tion that few syndicates were involved into unauthorized access of various competition exams and were charging hefty amount for getting the candi-dates the desired scores in the online examinationsThese syndicates were advertising or claiming to have access into online examinations of GMAT, JEE, Cisco- Associate, Professional, Specialty, IBM-All Exams Compe-tition - All exams EC Council-CEH, CHFI and CCISO.DCP said the infor-mation was developed and the alleged hackers were contacted through a de-coy customer and a deal for cracking GMAT examination was struck with the syndicate members. They assured that they would clear the examination in lieu of consideration amount. As a part of the deal, the examination was booked in the name of a decoy police official and examination fees was sub-mitted and slot for examination was booked. Token money of the deal was also deposited in the bank account provided by the alleged persons.On the day of examination (December 26), the alleged hackers asked the de-coy candidate to download a software “Ultraviewer” and thereby gained the remote access of the decoy candidate’s laptop. They also connected the can-didate’s laptop to the solver, who had attempted the whole examination and evaded the detection from the proctor and other safety measures. The hacker got access to the laptop and disguised the remote access file as the system file.The decoy candidate, who was a police officer got a total score of 780 out of 800, which was 97 percentiles.DCP said the technical analysis of the telecom and financial data led to the identification of the syndicate mem-bers, which were found to be based in Mumbai.On January 1, raids were conducted in Mumbai and arrested three persons A Dhunna, S Dhunna and H Shah from Mahim. These three were allegedly involved in striking the deal with the decoy customer and then connecting the decoy customer with another module of syndicate, which gained access and solved the exam.During interrogation, the ac-cused told police about identification of other members, who were then apprehended from different places.

West Bengal Post-Poll Violence: ASG YJ Dastoor Writes to Editor of Times of India Seeking (Syed Ali Taher Abedi)Additional solicitor General of Calcutta High Court Yezdezard Jehandir Dastoor has written a letter to the Editor of Times of India seeking retraction of an article which stated that the Central Bureau of Inves-tigation (CBI) had found no evidence in 21 Rape cases filed in aftermath of post-poll Violence in West Bengal.While referring to the print and web version of Times of India dated January 4,2022 which stipulated that the CBI on Monday informed the Calcutta High Court that it had found no evidence in the 21 rape cases cited by (NHRC) in its report of post-poll violence in the State.ASG Dastoor said unfortunately the said re-ports contain not an iota of truth with regard to the statements allegedly made on behalf of the CBI. None of the statements as reported in the aforesaid two articles were made on behalf of the CBI in the hearing yesterday. In fact ,the headlines and the fact, the headlines and the facts and figures mentioned in your said report are ab-

solutely untrue, the letter said.The ASG, therefore, asked the newspaper to published a retraction and apologise.ASG further stated in his letter that “it is a cause of concern that suchfalse reports in a sen-sitive matter have been published by a newspa-per of such a repute”CBI has also issued a press release denying the said report“CBI had received 29 number of complaints of sexual offences from NHRC till 22.12.2021. Out of these, 02 cases have been decided by CBI for handing over to State SIT on the grounds of nature of offences, in line with the mandate given in the orders of the Hon’ble Cal-cutta High Court. Further, two complaints relating to same incident of sexual assault were received by CBI which were amalgam-ated, resulting in registra-tion of only one regular case for investigation. Remaining cases are un-der progress.”The reports published in a section me-dia alleging that CBI has found no evidence in 21 cases.It has been report-ed in a section of media on 3rd January & 4th January, 2022 that 21

number of instances of Sexual Assault forwarded by NHRC, were closed by CBI alleging that no evi-dence of Rape, Attempt to Rape, Molestation, Sexual Assault was found in those complaints. News have been published saying it to be based on source input and Sec-ond Status Report dated 22.12.2021 submitted by CBI in the Hon’ble Cal-cutta High Court on Post Poll Violence Cases.It is further mentioned that the news was carried by other publications as well, and the same was tweet-ed by Trinamool Congress ParliamentariansASG has further submitted that the proceedings in the post-poll violence mat-ters, which were taken up for hearing by the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta on January 3, 2022, have been reported in the Times of India, Calcutta Edition dated 4.1.2022 respectively.Unfortunately, the said reports contain not an iota of truth with regard to the statements alleged-ly made on behalf of the CBI in the hearing yester-day.ON Monday the ASG had appraised a Division

Bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivas-tava that a total of 52 cases had been registered by the CBI out of which 2 cases had been handed over to the SIT.Earlier the Calcutta High Court on July,18, directed the chair-person of the BHRC to constitutes a committee to examine complaints by persons displaced by the alleged post-poll violence.Several petitions alleged that many people from opposition parties were subject to violence by TMC workers. Many of them had to flee their houses due to the vio-lence and they were not being allowed to return, the petitions alleged.The NHRC after conducting investigations, submitted its report accusing the ruling TMC of turning affairs into the “Law of Ruler” instead of “Rule of Law”.The seven-member committee recommended that grievous offences that took place in the State, including those of murder and rape, should be handed over to the CBI for investiga-tion, and that such cases should be tried outside the state.05-01-2022

Suspended Chhattisgarh IPS Officer’s Corruption Case: Apex Court Denies (Syed Ali Taher Abedi) The suspended Additional Director General of Police Gurjinder Pal Singh denied any protection from the Apex Court on Monday in a case filed against him under the prevention of Corruption Act for allegation of dispro-portionate assets.The bench headed by CJI NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Hima Kohli, while hearing a SLP filed by Gurjinder Pal Singh chal-lenging a order of November 226 by Chhattisgarh High Court refusing to grant him any protection from arrest and stay on the ongoing investigation being conducted by the economic Offences Wing/Anti-Corruption Branch of the State Police.IN the SLP the state government was represented by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi and Lawyer Sumeet Sodhi. Senior Advo-cate UR Lalit and Advocate Bansuri Swaraj appeared for the petitioner.The petitioner prayed for interim relief of protection against the arrest & stay in further proceedings in the quashing petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C for the impugned FIR in question lodged against him under section 13(3) b and 13(2) of the prevention of Corruption

Act.The relief is being sought for the time during the pendency of the main petition pending before the High Court for quashing of the impugned FIR.The present SLP has been submit-ted that concerning one nagrik Nigam Scam popularly known as NAN Scam in the state of Chhattisgarh,The petition-er was repeatedly forced, as Economic Offences wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau, to proceed against previous Chief Minister and his wife. However, when he showed his disability to it because according to his opinion the material available was not sufficient enough to proceed against him in the form of multiple frivolous preliminary enqui-ries.The petitioner has submitted that the respondents did not even seek the mandatory approval from the petition-er’s department which is a compulsory requirement before lodging an enquiry or FIR against any public servant and thereby the respondents thrown away such compliance in anxiety of securing the physical study of petitioner just to harass him.Earlier the court had in October last year protected Singh in the sedition and extortion case filed against him.After the completion of

the preliminary inquiry on June 29, the State Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had registered an FIR under preven-tion of Corruption Act.The petitioner’s house was raided on July 1,2021, by the police and they allegedly found some pieces of papers in a drain be-hind the house of the petitioner which were later on reconstructed by them into some notes, criticize, statistics re-port against political party and against few representatives of the various wings of the State.The contents of the reconstructed documents have been alleged to be illicit vengeance and ha-tred against the State Government and as a result of which, an FIR against him was registered against him for com-mitting offence under Sections 124A & 153A of IPC. The petitioner further states that the impugned FIR under section 13(1)(b) and 13(2) of prevention of Corruption Act was itself an unfounded action by the Respondent authorities be-ing lacked with obligatory statutory compliances mentioned under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption (amendment) Act,

(Judicial Quest News Network)Justice Ramayyagari Subhash Reddy was the first judge from Telangana State to become a Supreme Court Judge after the new state came into being.Said the Chief Justice of Indi, Justice NV Ramana on Tuesday during Justice Reddy farewell from the ceremonial bench. He further said that Justice Subhash Reddy is known for his compassion and consciousness about social realities, throughout his tenure as a Judge for 20 years in different high courts and Supreme Court of India, he always upheld and protected the people’s liberty.He has penned down more than 100 judgements.CJI NV Ramana said that he always cherished his(Justice Subhash Reddy’s) strong support and friendship in all 30 years of association Justice Reddy born In the Year 1957 In an Agricultural Family in Kamaram Village of Chinna Shankarampet Mandal, Medak District.had his primary education in upper primary school and higher education in zilla parishad high school, Sankarampet, Medak district. passed intermediate and graduation from Andhra Vidyalaya college (av college), Hyderabad. obtained law degree from the university college of law, Osmania university, Hyderabad.enrolled as an advocate on the rolls of the bar council of Andhra Pradesh on 30/10/1980 and joined the chambers of Justice b. Subhasan Reddy (as advocate as he then was).actively practised in civil, criminal, constitutional and almost all other branches of law. had developed his independent practice with in short span of time and extensively dealt with number of cases covering all branches of law.deeply interested in philosophy, culture, music and education.was standing counsel for premier institutions like s.v. university and Jawaharlal Nehru technical university etc.elected unanimously as the president of the ap high court advocates association for the year 2001-2002.elevated as additional judge of high court of andhra pradesh on 02.12.2002.sworn in as judge of high court of a.p. w.e.f. 24.06.2004.continued as judge of the high court of judicature at Hyderabad till 12th February 2016.elevated as chief justice, high court of Gujarat on 13th February 2016.elevated as judge, supreme court of India on 2nd November 2018.At the farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), justice Reddy highlighted the need to update procedural laws to meet the needs of changing times, especially to reduce pendency in the courts.He further said that time consuming procedures in civil or criminal prescribed in 19th Century for the trial of cases in the pre-Industrial society need to be modernised to suit the needs of modern society…unless we come up with comprehensive planning and giving time lines for disposal of cases, the present system may not work for the present and future needs.

Adulterated Vijaya ghee racket busted in Hyder-

abadHyderabad, Jan 5 (UNI) The city police has busted adulterated Vijay Ghee racket by ar-resting two persons.Police seized 970 liters of adulterated ghee and duplicate holograms of Vijaya dairy products worth Rs 5 lakh from their possession.On credible information, the sleuths of Commissioner’s Task Force, South Zone Team along with Vijaya Dairy Devel-opment officials and Shahinayathgunj Police conducted joint operation at New Famous Transport in Jummerath Bazar and apprehend-ed Deepak Penurkar (55) of Saidabad and native of Nanded in Maharashtra and Rahul Agarwal (31) of Himayathnagar when they were selling adulterated ghee with Holograms of Vijay Dairy products, a police release here said on Wednes-day.The accused Deepak is residing at Saidabad along with his family by running OYO lodge in the same area. Due to pandemic and lockdown the business is not running well and hence, he hatched a plan and met with his distant relative Rahul Agarwal who is familiar with oil and ghee business.On the direction of Rahul Agarwal, Deepak established own manufacturing unit at his native place Nanded and started production of adulterated Ghee with Palmolein oil and vegetable fats.The same has been repacked in the Poly-Packs which are designed as Vijaya Telangana Brand. Later the adulterated Ghee was sent to Rahul through transport for further sale to the customers.The apprehended accused and seized material was handed over to Station House Officer (SHO), Shahinayathgunj Police station, for taking further action, the release added

3 hospitalized after ti-ger attack at wildlife

park in JapanTokyo, Jan 5 (UNI/Xinhua) A tiger attacked three workers at a safari park in a prefecture north of Tokyo on Wednesday, with all the three hospitalized, the Japanese police and park operator said.According to the authori-ties, the 10-year-old male Bengal tiger, which is 3 meters long and weighs 150 kg, bit at least one keeper, who was transported by medical helicopter. All workers were conscious at the time of hospitalization.The accident occurred at Nasu Safari Park in Tochigi Prefecture at around 8:30 a.m. local time, when the workers were preparing for the day’s service, the op-erator said. The keepers, all in their 20s, were trying to release the animal from its inner-cage to an outside enclosure by opening doors.They usually avoid from being in the same space with the tiger, but on Wednesday one of the keepers apparently entered the cage due to a problem with part of the doors, the operator said.Following the accident, the park decided to close for the day.The park houses about 700 animals of 70 species including elephants and giraffes, offering special bus tours and provid-ing services for customers who drive their own cars.Similar accidents occurred in 1997 and 2000, involving keepers being attacked by lions at the park.

3 held in ‘Bulli Bai’ App case

Mumbai, Jan 5 (UNI) Mumbai Police said on Wednesday that its Cyber Crime Cell has arrested three people including a woman for uploading photographs of several women from a religious community with the comment “available for booking”.Addressing the media here, Police Commissioner Hemant Nagarale said the App was uploaded on December 31 and a complaint was registered with the Cyber Crime Cell the very next day.Investigation showed that a Kumar Vishal was involved and he was nabbed from Benga-luru.On Tuesday, on his information, the police arrested the mastermind, Shweta Singh from Uttarakhand.A third suspect from Uttarakhand was being brought to Mumbai, he added.Both Vishal and Shweta Singh were remanded for five days in police custody, Nagarale said.He said the victims of the App included a number of women of a particular religion including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities. They were marked “available for booking”.

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He minced no words in stating that the BJP was misusing government agencies to attack those who question them or their policies, and was working with the only agenda of getting a ‘few more votes’ by promoting Hindu-Muslim hatred. “When we call out their ‘jhumla’, they resort to ‘hamla’ (attack). The BJP attacks those who question them by using some of the regulatory agencies,” he said, sarcastically adding that the constituents of the NDA government at the Centre were BJP, CBI, ED, NIA, IT and other Central enforcement agencies.Speaking to media persons at Telangana Bhavan, Rama Rao listed out all the ‘jhumlas’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by producing press reports and said that this government at the Centre was shameless. He called the Prime Minister ‘Rythu Virodhi’ (anti-farmer) and said that no Prime Minister in the history of the country had to stop for 20 minutes and go back because farmers were protesting on the streets. He was referring to the security breach of the Prime Minister’s convoy in Punjab on Wednesday. ( Photo : WUT )

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RSS meet in Hyderabad to focus on Bharat-centric educationHyderabad: A three-day coor-dination meeting of various Sangh Parivar outfits, including the RSS, here will discuss issues including “Bharat-centred ed-ucation”. The ‘Akhil Bharatiya Samanvay Baithak’ of the chief functionaries of various organisa-tions of the Sangh Parivar, including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, began

here on Wednesday and is being held only for sharing information and no decisions would be taken in it, Sunil Ambekar, Akhil Bharatiya Prachaar Pramukh of RSS, said in a release. This is a comprehen-sive meeting held once a year.Besides Bhagwat, RSS Sark-aryavah Dattatreya Hosbale and all the five sah-sarkaryavah along with other

office-bearers of the Sangh were pres-ent in the meeting. BJP president J P Nadda arrived here on Tuesday to participate in the discussions. The release said 216 office bearers from 36 organisations are participating in the event. The attendees have taken both doses of the vaccine as per COVID-19 protocol.Observing that organisations

related to the econ-omy and labour, including Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and Swadeshi Jagran Manch, debated on plans to improve employment in the country in the meet-ing held in Gujarat last year, the release said “Bharat-centred education” would be discussed this year by Vidya Bharati, ABVP, Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal and others.

Former Indian captain Victor Amalraj becomes brand ambassador of SCBHyderabad: Former Indian football team captain Victor Amalraj has been nominated as the Brand Ambassador of the Secunder-abad Cantonment Board (SCB) for its Swachh Survekshan programme for 2021-22. Speaking on the occasion Amalraj thanked SCB president Brigadier Abhijit Chandra and CEO Ajit Reddy for bestowing him with the honour. “Especially in these times of the Covid and its different forms such as the Omicron that is sweeping across the country now, it is important to maintain hygiene and cleanliness everywhere. I am glad that the SCB has embarked upon this plan which will help to keep the cantonment clean and green and thereby prevent the spread of the virus,” he said.Amalraj has also been asked to help to develop football and other sports in the grounds within the SCB. The grounds are located at Bowenpally, Trimulgherry, Mud Fort and Bolaram.

‘Omicron less severe than Delta’Hyderabad: While Omi-cron-driven Covid-19 infec-tions are increasing expo-nentially across the country, including in Telangana, the rate of hospitalisations among positive cases is expected to be negligible when compared to the Delta-driven second wave, senior health officials said here on Wednesday.A majority of Omicron cases, which are mild and asymptomatic, can recover under home isolation and it is the immunocompro-mised individuals if infected by the Omicron variant, who may require hospital care.The noted SUTRA mathematical projection model of pandem-ics developed by researchers from IIT-Kanpur and Hyder-abad in their projections have indicated that only 1 in 10 Omicron positive cases could require hospitalisation in India while during the second Delta wave, 1 in 5 reported cases had required hospitalisa-tion in the country. Based on the sero-survey carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the SUTRA model has indicated that natu-ral immunity acquired during the previous two-Covid waves among Indians is close to 83

per cent. In Hyderabad, a re-cent pilot study by Asian Insti-tute Gastroenterology (AIG), Hospitals, has indicated that 87 per cent of the participants in the study, who didn’t get vaccinated and never tested positive, had Covid-19 related antibodies.Countries with bet-ter natural immunity, which is the case in States like Telan-gana and other parts of the country, could fare better in overcoming the threat of Omi-cron, researchers have main-tained. “South Africa data shows that natural immunity is significantly retained while vaccine immunity is almost completely lost. So countries with high vaccine immunity but low natural immunity will

do worse than those with high natural immunity (SA and In-dia for example),” Dr Manin-dra Agrawal of SUTRA model explained.Distinguished fac-ulty and SERB Chair, IIT-Hy-derabad, Dr M Vidyasagar, who is also part of the SUTRA consortium, also believes that the severity of the Omicron and hospitalisations will not be huge when compared to the Delta wave.“Hospitalisa-tions during Omicron variant should be less when compared to the Delta variant in the sec-ond wave. It appears as if the natural immunity due to prior exposure to the Delta variant offers better protection than vaccination,” Dr Vidyasagar points out.Even in countries like UK, recent studies have indicated that hospitalisations could be less due to Omi-cron variant. According to an analysis published by UK Health Security Agency, which collaborated with Cambridge University, and analysed 5, 28, 176 Omicron infections and 5, 73, 012 in Delta cases, the risk of hospitalisation is lower for Omicron cases with symp-tomatic and asymptomatic infection after 2 to 3 doses of vaccine.

Wake Up Telangana | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

BJP means ‘Bakwas Jumla Party’, says KTR

Warangal District Collector inspected the Narsampet Community Health Center.Warangal District Collector Dr B Gopi inspected the Warangal Rural Narsampet Community Health Center. Tuesday morningThe Collector inspected a 50-bed community health center at Narsampet in Warangal district. HealthThe wards at the center and the delivery ward were inspected along with the collector staff. At the health center Health Center Superintendent Dr B Gopal inquired about Kovid Ward 30 beds ready in total Kovid ward He told the Collector that there were 20 isolation beds and 10 beds allotted for the ICU The superintendent collector said all 96 beds in the health center had oxygen points Inquiries and ventilator at the health center, found out about Hypo Na Cell Ka Month.Granted by RTPCR Lab The Collector said that the bill and its plan should be sent, stating that the billing for it has not been seen In addition, the Telangana Diagnostic Hub has been sanctioned for the health center as a site for the construction of a new building Said to have been examined. The collector inquired about the staff at the com-munity health center and the doctors The event was attended by RDO Pawan Kumar, Tasildar Rammuri Medical Policy Parishad DE Rajasekhar and staff.

Actress Sanjjanaa Galrani Pose with Famous Pulao’s & Starters of Ulavacharu at the Launch of Ulavacharu Restau-rant at Kothapet in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Late Mirza Haamid Baig S/o Late Mirza Munawar Baig RTO Police Officer , S/o Late Molvi Mirza Mo-hammed Biag Khan Sab Khan Bahadur Khaiser Hind Nawab Of Yemmignoor one of the biggest Town of Kurnool Dist AP . Pass away on 3 Jan-uary 2022 Do Death Decesed Age about 73 Years old

Vijayalakshmi of Vijaya Helping Hands was today felicitated by National NGOs Organisations at Press Club, Somajiguda on the occassion of Savitribai Phule Jayant in hyderabad

Hyderabad youngster reported missing in AustraliaHyderabad: Mo-hammed Mohsin Ali Maaz, a non-resi-dent Indian from Hyderabad, who was a student in Mel-bourne in Australia, has been reported missing. Accord-ing to the Victoria Police, Maaz, a mechanical engi-neering student, was last seen in Clayton South in Australia, on December 30. The law enforcement agency has posted details of the miss-ing youngster on their social media

platforms, following which Telangana To-day contacted MA Aziz Shoaib, a cous-in of Maaz. Shoaib had also posted on Facebook asking whether anyone had information on his missing broth-er. Shoaib said the 28-year-old Maaz had left Hyderabad, four years ago.“Since 2018, he was living with his friends and recently complet-ed his mechanical engineering. He was looking for a job here,” said Shoaib,

who is also pursu-ing his Master’s in Australia.Maaz’s Facebook bio reads that he is a mechan-ical engineer and a project manager. Shoaib said he was looking for Per-manent Residency too, which has now deepened the mys-tery over the young-ster’s disappearance.Victoria Police has asked anyone with information on his whereabouts to con-tact Broadmeadows Police Station on 9302 8222.

Mirza Haamid Baig Pass away