VIJAYAWADA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2022; PAGES 12 `3

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ALMANAC

Updated: JULY 5, 2022 5:00 PM

Forecast: Thunderstorm

Temp: 34oc

Humidity: 83%

Sunrise: 5:40 AM

Sunset: 6:44 PM

Month & Paksham:

Tithi: Saptami: Jul 05 07:28 PMto Jul 06 07:48 PM

Ashtami: Jul 06 07:48 PM to Jul 07 07:28 PM

Nakshatram: Uttara Phalguni: Jul 05 10:30 AM

to Jul 06 11:44 AMHasta: Jul 06 11:44 AM

to Jul 07 12:19 PM

Rahukalam: 12:20 PM to 1:58 PM

Yamagandam: 7:28 AM to 9:05 AM

Varjyam: 08:20 PM to 09:59 PM

Gulika: 10:43 AM to 12:20 PM

Amritakalam: None

Abhijit Muhurtham: Nil

TTOODDAAYY

VIJAYAWADA WEATHER

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Adding another feather to its cap,Andhra Pradesh stood among thetop three states in the general cat-egory in the State Ranking Indexfor National Food Security Act(NFSA).

While Odisha has beenadjudged the top-ranked State fol-lowed by Uttar Pradesh at the sec-ond spot, Andhra Pradesh stoodthird amongst the general catego-ry States in the ‘State RankingIndex for NFSA’. Union Ministerof Consumer Affairs, Food &Public Distribution, Piyush Goyalreleased the first edition of ‘StateRanking Index for NFSA’ duringthe conference of Food Ministersof States/UTs on ‘Food Nutritionand Security in India’ organised bythe Department of Food and

Public Distribution in Delhi onMonday.

While Odisha obtained an indexscore of 0.836 and ranked numberone, Uttar Pradesh at second rankobtained a 0.797 index score.Andhra Pradesh stood thirdamong the general category statesin the country had obtained a 0.794index score. This “State rankingIndex for NFSA” attempts to doc-ument the status and progress ofimplementation of NFSA and var-ious reform initiatives across thecountry, post consultation withstates. It highlights the reformsundertaken by states and UTs andcreates a cross-learning environ-ment and scale-up reform meas-ures by all states and union terri-tories.

SNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD

In a significant development, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has invit-ed former Union minister megas-tar Chiranjeevi to New Delhi.

Prime Minister Modi unveiledthe statue of Alluri Sitarama Rajuat Bhimavaram in West Godavaridistrict in Andhra Pradesh onMonday. Chiranjeevi was alsoinvited to the function.

When Chiranjeevi greeted PrimeMinister Modi on the dais they hada discussion for a few seconds. Itappeared that Prime Minister Modihad given special attention to

Chiranjeevi. Sources on the daissaid that Prime Minister Modi hadinvited Chiranjeevi to New Delhi.They said that the PM toldChiranjeevi, “Please come to NewDelhi once. We can have a discus-sion. In the past too I have invited

you.” It may be recalled some timeago that there were speculationsthat Chiranjeevi may join the BJP.Chiranjeevi himself deniedrumours about him joining the BJP.He had categorically made it clearthat he has no interest in joiningpolitics again.

In 2014, after the Congress-ledUPA was defeated in the generalelections, Chiranjeevi kept awayfrom politics and concentrated onfilms. Chiranjeevi has good rela-tions with both Telugu ChiefMinisters, YS Jagan Mohan Reddyand K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

PNS n ADONI (KURNOOL DIST)

For the third consecutive year,Chief Minister YS Jagan MohanReddy has distributed JaganannaVidya Kanuka kits to 47.4 lakh stu-dents at a cost of Rs 931 crore asschools across the State werereopened on Tuesday.

Addressing a public meetinghere on Tuesday, The ChiefMinister emphasised providingquality education to every studentfor eliminating poverty and statedthat everyone should study inEnglish medium. In regard to'Vidya Kanuka' kits, he said that itwas a gift to the students from theiruncle, and there will not be anycompromise on the quality of thecontents.

He said that the value of the kithas been increasing over the yearsand went up to Rs 2,000, as the kit

quality also gets improving. In theacademic year 2020-21, each kitwas valued at Rs 1,530 and was dis-tributed to over 42 lakh students atan expenditure of Rs 650 crore. In

2021-22, the cost of the kitincreased to Rs 1,726 and was givento over 45 lakh students at a cost ofRs 790 crore. In the current aca-demic year 2022-23, each kit costs

Rs 1,964, which will be distributedto 47 lakh students with an expen-diture of Rs 931 crore. The kit com-prises three pairs of uniform cloth-ing, bilingual textbooks, work-books, notebooks, a school bag,shoes, a belt, two pairs of socks, andan Oxford Dictionary will be givento the new admissions and tothose who lost their previous one.The Chief Minister said that thegovernment will be providing Tabsto 4.7 lakh class 8 students withByju’s content free of cost, with anadditional expenditure of Rs 500crores. He stated that in threeyears of governance, the overalladmissions in government schoolsacross the State increased by 7.2lakh, registering a total strength of44.3 lakh students in the academ-ic year 2021-22.

Increased enrolment at govt schools,a shot in the arm for Jagan’s reformsC PRADEEP KUMARn VIJAYAWADA

In what appears to be a thumb-up to a series of initiatives takenby the Andhra Pradesh govern-ment to revamp the educationsystem, schools across the State onTuesday reopened to increasedenrolment at government institu-tions. The Department of SchoolEducation has made arrangementsfor comprehensive teaching andlearning programmes in all schoolsfor the academic year 2022-23. TheState Council of EducationalResearch and Training (SCERT) hasalso released the academic calendarthat includes the activities to beundertaken on each day. Keepingits promise for the third successiveyear, the State government hasmade arrangements for the distri-bution of school kits to governmentschool students under the'Jagananna Vidya Kanuka' on thefirst day of the reopening of schools.

DASARI SRINIVASA RAOn VIJAYAWADA

Desilting of the foreshore ofPrakasam Barrage across RiverKrishna to store water to the fullreservoir capacity of 3.071 TMC isprogressing at a brisk pace. Fivedesilting works are in progress andanother one will begin soon.

The Water ResourcesDepartment (WRD) has proposed12 works for desilting the barragewith help of the Andhra PradeshMining Development CorporationLimited (APMDC) and the tenderprocess was completed two yearsago. Tender agreements for fiveworks are yet to be done.

The Water Resources Departmenttook up these works worthRs.102.447 crore with the help of

APMDC a few months ago. The de-silting is expected to help in increas-ing the storage capacity of PrakasamBarrage, apart from increasing theavailability of sand.

According to available informa-tion, the State government hadaccorded administrative approval totake up desilting works upstream ofPrakasam Barrage spending Rs102.44 crore, in March 2021. As perthe orders, desilting operations haveto be taken up half-a-kilometre

away from Prakasam Barrageupstream (from 0.50 km to 13.50 kmon River Krishna). The works beganin September 2021 and the depart-ment could extract 8,60,566 cubicmetres of silt from the river bed sofar. Of this, 2,02,499 cubic metres ofde-silt material have been handedover to APMDC and 6,58,067 cubicmetres are yet to be handed over.The target is to extract 50 lakhtonnes of de-silt material from theforeshore of Prakasam Barrage,sources said.

The government told the depart-ment that the value derived from thesale of the desilted material shouldexceed the cost of the end-to-endoperation i.e., survey, excavation,transportation, and sale among oth-ers, and result in net profit toAPMDC Limited/government.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A fresh plea has been filed in theSupreme Court challenging theCentre's 'Agnipath' scheme forrecruitment in the armed forces.

The petition filed by ex-service-men Ravindra Singh Shekhawathas sought quashing of notificationissued by the Ministry of Defence,contending it as illegal, unconsti-tutional, and ultra vires to the rightsguaranteed under the Constitution.

The recently launched scheme hasreceived skepticism nationwidefrom the armed forces aspirantsand has left several questions unan-swered. Some of the concerns arerelated to the aspirants who werein the middle/final stages of theirrecruitment process. This abruptchange in the recruitment processhas evoked several unforeseeablecircumstances for the aspirantsand has put their futures at stake/in the dark.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Senior IPS officer AB Venkateswara Rao, who was suspended forthe second time, has moved theAndhra Pradesh High Courtseeking to quash the case filed bythe Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB) against him in 2021 sus-pecting corruption in the pur-chase of security equipment dur-ing his regime as intelligencechief. In his petition, Venkateswara Rao submitted that not a sin-gle rupee was spent on the pur-chase of any equipment and nota single paisa was paid to any-body. The ACB had foisted a caseagainst him by making the gen-eral inquiry, without goingthrough the process of an inves-tigation by the AP VigilanceCommission.

Nine initiatives changedthe face of edn in AP: CM Top IAS official puts wards in ZP school

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In an interesting development inthe State, a few top officials havejoined their wards in governmentschools. Sports Authority ofAndhra Pradesh (SAAP) MD NPrabhakar Reddy has joined histwo children in the ZP High|School at Patamata in Vijayawada.Speaking to media persons onTuesday, Lakshmi, the SAAP MD’swife, said that they joined their

two children in Patamata school asthe State government was givingtop priority to education inAndhra Pradesh. She said that ear-lier their children studied in a gov-ernment school in Nellore whenPrabhakar Reddy was the joint col-lector. Government schools havewell-qualified B.Ed teachers withgood skills and the students willnot feel the stress of studying.

ABV moves AP HCagainst suspension

BJP planning to check PawanKalyan with brother Chiranjeevi

Food Security Act: Stateranks 3rd in implementation

Desilting works at Prakasam Barrage gain steamProject taken up at a cost of Rs.102.447 cr to increase storage capacity of Prakasam Barrage

The works began in

September 2021 and the

department could extract

8,60,566 cubic metres of

silt from the river bed so far

Pithapuram girltops APPSCGroup 1 exam PNS n VIJAYAWADA

APPSC Chairman GowtamSawang released the 2018Group 1 results on Tuesday.Rani Sushmitha fromPithapuram, East Godavarisecured the first in Group I-2018 examinations followedby K Srinivasulu Raju,Kotulaguttapalli, Kadapa dis-trict who secured the secondrank and V Sanjana Simha ofHyderabad, Telangana,secured the third. Amongthe top 10 ranks, seven rankswere secured by women, hesaid. The results werereleased by APPSCChairman at the R&B confer-ence hall in Vijayawada. Theresults have been uploaded tothe APPSC website.

Fresh plea challenges ‘Agnipath’

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2 of Raghurama’s

security men

suspended for

attack on AP cop

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20 AIRPORTS EQUIPPED WITHAMBULIFTS TO HELP ‘DIVYANG'

Twenty airports have been equipped with ambulifts to help flyers withdisability or reduced mobility in boarding an aircraft under the Centre'sAccessible India campaign, the Disability Affairs Department said.

These airports include Vijayawada, Kanpur, Port Blair, Jodhpur, Belgaum,Silchar, Jharsuguda, Rajkot and Hubli, officials said. The initiative has beentaken to facilitate passengers with reduced mobility, 'divyang' travellers onwheelchair and passengers on stretchers during their air travel.Thedepartment also said India's 35 international airports and 55 out of 69domestic airports are now accessible to ‘divyangjan' with accessibilityfeatures, and 41 airports are fully equipped with aerobridges.

BODY PARTS, GEAR FOUND ON ITALIANGLACIER AFTER AVALANCHE

Rescuers found body parts and equipment as they searched Tuesdayfor hikers missing following a powerful avalanche that killed at leastseven people and is being blamed in large part on rising

temperatures that are melting glaciers. Officials initially feared 13 hikerswere still missing, but the province of Trento on Tuesday reduced thenumber of people unaccounted-for to five, after eight others checked inwith authorities. Rain hampered the search Monday, but sunny weatheron Tuesday allowed helicopters to bring more rescue teams up to the siteon the Marmolada glacier, east of Bolzano in the Dolomite mountains,even as hopes dimmed of finding anyone alive.

FATHER-DAUGHTER DUO CREATESHISTORY IN IAF, FLIES SAME FORMATION

Afather-daughter duo has created history in the Indian Air Force (IAF),when they flew in the same formation here recently, IAF said onTuesday. There has not been any previous instance in the IAF where

a father and his daughter were part of the same formation for a mission,an official release said. Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and his daughterAnanya flew in the same formation recently. "The father-daughter duocreated history on 30 May 2022, when they flew in the same formationof Hawk-132 aircraft at Air Force Station Bidar, where Flying OfficerAnanya Sharma is undergoing her training before she graduates ontofaster and more superior fighter aircraft of the IAF," the release said.

HIGH COST OF RUSSIAN GAINS INUKRAINE MAY LIMIT NEW ADVANCE

After more than four months of ferocious fighting, Russia claimeda key victory: full control over one of the two provinces inUkraine's eastern industrial heartland. But Moscow's seizure of

the last major stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk provincecame at a steep price. The critical question now is whether Russiacan muster enough strength for a new offensive to complete itscapture of the Donbas and make gains elsewhere in Ukraine. Yes, theRussians have seized the Luhansk region, but at what price? askedOleh Zhdanov, a military analyst in Ukraine, noting that some Russianunits involved in the battle lost up to a half their soldiers.

vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JULY 6, 2022

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Srinivasa Kalyanam fete wasobserved with utmost reli-gious grandeur at WashingtonDC in the United States ofAmerica during the earlyhours on Tuesday. The team ofTTD 'Archakas' and 'Veda'pundits performed theSrinivasa Kalyanam as per

'Vaikhanasa Agama' traditionto the accompaniment of'Mangala Vaidyam'. TTD isorganising the holy eventacross various cities in theUnited States of America incollaboration with APNRTSand TTD advisory committeesin each city. The event was acelestial feast for the scores ofNRI denizens who participat-

ed in the divine wedding cer-emony with utmost enthusi-asm and devotion.

The various stages of SrivariKalyanam fete included'Punyaha vachanam', 'Viswaksena Aradhana', 'Ankurarpanam', 'Maha Sankalpam','Kanyadanam', 'MangalyaDharana', 'Varana Mayiaram'and finally 'Harat'i.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The CRPF has suspendedASI/GD K Ganga Ram andCT/GD (jawan) Nanaware SandipSadhu of Battalion-221 for man-handling and injuring IntelligenceConstable Sk Farooq Basha of theAndhra Pradesh police inHyderabad.

Farooq Basha had filed a com-plaint with the Gachibowli policestation against RaghuRamakrishna Raju's family mem-bers and some CRPF constables,who had attacked him while hewas discharging duty at ISB gatein Hyderabad on Monday morn-ing.

YSRCP rebel MP fromNarsapuram K RaghuRamakrishna Raju's security per-sonnel (CRPF constables) hadassaulted Sk Farooq Basha whilehe was on duty in Hyderabad dur-ing Prime Minister NarendraModi's visit on July 4. As perreports, the constable wasattacked and forcibly taken to theMP's house on Monday morningwhen he was posted near the

Indian School of Business (ISB)during the PM’s visit.

During Prime Minister Modi'svisit to AP and Telangana, thepolice of both States had madesecurity arrangements followingthe guidelines of the SpecialProtection Group (SPG) as perprotocol. It was also reportedbased on Intelligence inputs thatsome groups from AndhraPradesh had reached Hyderabadto protest against the PrimeMinister. In Vijayawada and

Bhimavaram also, it was foundthat some people were ready tostage agitations. Based on theseinputs, the AP IntelligenceDepartment appointed some con-stables as spotters in Hyderabadto keep track of the movementsof the representatives of suchgroups, agitators, and suspectswho had come from AP toHyderabad. As per Union HomeMinistry guidelines, this is thepolicy followed by all State policedepartments. As part of the guide-

lines, the AP police appointedIntelligence Constable FarooqBasha from Anantapur as a spot-ter at the ISB gate in Hyderabadon Monday morning. The ISBgate is about a kilometre awayfrom the MP's residence atBoulder Hills in Gachibowli.

As Farooq was dischargingduty, some members of the MP’sfamily along with CRPF consta-bles came in a car (a white FordEco Sports bearing number7777) and attacked Farooq. Theythrashed him up on the sidewalkand questioned him. Though hetried to show his identity cardand stated that he was anIntelligence Constable, they paidno attention and confiscated hisID card. Not stopping there, they

held his hands behind andassaulted him on the road, anddragged him to the MP's houseeven as people were watching onthe main road. Some of thepedestrians also took videos ofthe constable being assaulted anddragged on their cell phones.They, along with Raju's familymembers, took him to the MP'shouse and beat him up for morethan two hours. They later tookhim to the Gachibowli police sta-tion and handed him over to thepolice and lodged a complaintstating that the person wascaught moving around suspi-ciously.

Farooq Basha filed a com-plaint with the Gachibowli policestation against RaghuRamakrishna Raju's familymembers and some CRPF con-stables and said that they hadsnatched his purse, mobilephone, and ID card. FarooqBasha was shifted to a hospitaland his condition is said to bestable. The MP was said to bepresent in the house when theconstable was assaulted.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Budget carrier SpiceJet hadanother rough day on Tuesdayas the airline's Delhi-Dubaiflight was diverted to Karachidue to a malfunctioning fuelindicator and its Kandla-Mumbai flight did prioritylanding in Maharashtra's cap-ital city after cracks developedon its windshield mid-air.

The two incidents ofTuesday have taken the totalnumber of technical malfunc-tion incidents on SpiceJet air-craft -- which have taken place

in the last 17 days -- to seven.According to officials of

the Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA), theaviation regulator is investigat-ing all the seven incidents.

The Boeing 737 Max air-craft -- which was headingfrom Delhi to Dubai Tuesdaymorning -- started showingunusual fuel quantity reduc-tion from its left tank when itwas mid-air, following whichit was diverted to Karachi, theysaid.

When an inspection wasdone at the Karachi airport, no

visual leak was observed fromthe left tank, they added.

An official of Pakistan CivilAviation Authority (PCCA)said the pilot of SpiceJet'sDelhi-Dubai flight contactedthe control tower while flyingover Pakistan airspace, statingthat the aircraft has developedsome technical fault.

After the plane was allowedto land on humanitariangrounds, engineers of thePakistan International Airlinesworked with SpiceJet crew tolocate and rectify the techni-cal fault, the PCCA official

added. Apparently, there wasa problem with the aircraft'slight indicator machinery, butit could not be repaired imme-diately so another aircraft wasarranged to take the passen-gers to Dubai, he said.

Another source at theKarachi airport said around150 passengers were on boardthe aircraft and were provid-ed food and refreshments.

Later during the day, a Q400plane of SpiceJet conducted apriority landing at Mumbaiairport after its windshieldcracked at 23,000 feet altitude,

DGCA officials said. TheQ400 plane -- which was com-ing from Kandla in Gujarat -- did not face any cabin pres-surisation issues, they noted.

About the Kandla-Mumbaiflight incident, SpiceJet said,"On 5th July, 2022, SpiceJetQ400 aircraft was operatingSG 3324 (Kandla-Mumbai).During cruise at FL230(23,000 feet altitude), P2 sidewindshield outer panecracked. Pressurization wasobserved to be normal. Theaircraft landed safely inMumbai."

Every legislator of the rul-ing YSR Congress Party(YSRCP) in Andhra

Pradesh is aspiring to getre-elected in 2024.Although YSRC presi-dent and Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddyhas fond hopes that theparty would return topower on the strength of hisgovernment’s welfare schemesbundled as 'Nava Ratnas', theYSRCP legislators are jitteryabout re-election at the indi-vidual level. For, none of themis seen publicly disbursing thebenefits under popular welfareschemes in the present system.

The Chief Minister hasgiven priority to implementa-tion of the welfare schemes,claiming that there is absolute-ly no scope for corruption. Theschemes are so structures thatthere is Chief Minister one the

side and just beneficia-ries on the other

side, with the moneygetting credited direct-ly to the beneficiaries’accounts . The whole

thing looks if theChief Minister is

giving money directly tothe beneficiaries to obviate

graft. This is where the legis-lators are feeling the pinch,because they are nowhere inthe picture when it comes todisbursal of welfare schemes.

Thousands of crores ofrupees are going into the bankaccounts of beneficiaries ofwelfare schemes before theeyes of the MLAs, but withouttheir direct involvement.During the erstwhile regimes,it was customary to involvelocal MLAs in the disbursal ofwelfare benefits to the benefi-ciaries. This practice gave the

MLAs some heft. That is whyeven establishing a pump toensure drinking water in a vil-lage is done under the aegis ofthe local MLA. Likewise, pen-sions for old age people are dis-bursed by legislators.

Legislators believe that itwould benefit them if they areinvolved in Nava Ratnas too.They are not all that happy atthe present arrangement for

disbursement of funds relatingto various schemes in thepresence party cadre at theconstituency-level meetings.These legislators feel that their'graph' of performance andimage in the public domainhas gone down. Despite hav-ing the power to decide the listof beneficiaries of various wel-fare schemes, they rue their'non involvement' in the dis-

bursement exercise. Votes required for the

party’s victory at the hustingsare drawn from the individualimage or graph of legislators.The rest of the contribution ofvotes for victory probablycomes because of the influence

of the government or leader-ship! Only blending of theimages of the legislators andthe Chief Minister would leadto the ultimate result. Thinkingof retaining power with onlythe image of the Chief Ministerin the public domain may notbe the correct approach, it isfelt by legislators. Even if theChief Minister assures any-thing to people during his visitto any constituency, that wouldget fulfilled only at the behestof the local legislator.

If it is proved tomorrow thata seat has been lost because ofthe low image of the local leg-islator, the leadership mayhave to be held responsible forsuch a loss. Images of bothleadership and legislator maytogether work for success. Thecontribution of a legislator atthe constituency level is essen-tial for success.

Will Jagan lend his ears tothe feelings of legislators whoare keen on shoring up theirindividual image in the mindsof people? Internal differencesamong party leaders surfacedrecently at constituency-levelmeetings involving public rep-resentatives. Of course, theleadership has gagged publicrepresentatives.

Local legislator PerniVenkatramaiah @Nani is apowerful man out there and sois MP Vallapaneni Balasouri,a business partner of Jagan. Byvirtue of being CM’s 'ownman', the MP had pressed forstern action. But the leadershipturned down his demand. Inregional parties, there is noscope for acting against theMLA at the behest of an MP.

An amount of Rs. 1.37 lakhcrores of rupees has been dis-bursed through the accounts of

the beneficiaries of variouswelfare schemes. A totalamount of Rs.2.47 lakh croresof rupees will have been cred-ited to the bank accounts of thebeneficiaries for the period2019-24.

Legislators are looking long-ingly at the huge amountsgoing to electors without theiractive involvement. Anothersource of embarrassment forsome of the legislators is thenon-clearance of bills relatingto party workers who hadexecuted government workson contract basis. Such partyworkers had mobilized moneyat high rates of interests fromfinanciers. They chose to avoidtheir legislators who had cometo their streets for campaign-ing. Legislators are feeling thatthey have become uselesswhen it comes to even gettingpending bills cleared.

M D RATNA KUMAR

Senior Journalist

Thousands of crores of rupees are goinginto the bank accounts of beneficiariesof welfare schemes before the eyes ofthe MLAs, but without their directinvolvement. During the erstwhileregimes, it was customary to involvelocal MLAs in the disbursal of welfarebenefits to the beneficiaries. Thispractice gave the MLAs some heft.

PIN

POINT

Why YSRCP MLAs feel left out in disbursal of welfare benefits

2 of Raghurama’s security mensuspended for attack on AP cop

Grandeur marks celestialwedding in Washignton DC

Continued from page 1

With nine initiatives such as'Mana Badi Nadu-Nedu','Vidya Kanuka', 'JaganannaGorumuddha', 'SampoornaPoshana', 'Amma Vod'i,English Medium education,'Vidya Deevena', V'asatiDeevena', and pact with Byju’s,revolutionary changes werebrought in the education sec-tor. He said that the govern-ment is making Byju's appavailable to underprivilegedchildren, which would changethe lives of poor students andthe content would guide themto learn better, as contentprovided by Byju’s will makeit easier for children to achieve

good results. ‘Byju's contentwas not available without pay-ing Rs 20,000 per year towardsa subscription, whereas thegovernment has made it avail-able for free to the studentsstudying in governmentschools,’ said the ChiefMinister. On this occasion, theChief Minister interacted withthe students and also checkedthe kits to see whether all thecontents were in place. Later,he announced plans to take updevelopmental projects inAdoni. Ministers BotsaSatyanara yana, GummanuruJayaram, MLA Sai PrasadReddy, party leaders, and var-ious other officials were pre-sent at the event.

Continued from page 1

The government has madecertain changes under the newNational Education Policy(NEP) which has come intoforce right away.

This academic year hasstarted with Pre-Primary 1(PP1) and Pre-Primary 2(PP2) to strengthen the foun-dation of education. Theseschools have been categorisedinto Satellite Foundation,Foundation, Foundation Plus,Pre-High School, High School,and High School Plus. TheEducation Department hasalso issued instructions to theofficials to shift students ofClass 3, 4, and 5 of the prima-ry schools to nearby highschools and pre-high schools.

For the current academicyear, the schools will func-tion for 220 days. TheEducation Department hastaken up the school readinessprogramme from June 28 for

the reopening of schools.Besides cleaning everyschool, and providing drink-ing water facilities, it alsoconducted village visit pro-grammes to encourage chil-dren from neighboring areasand villages to join govern-ment schools. The govern-ment is explaining the edu-

cational programmes to theparents and encouragingthem to enroll their childrenin schools. On the otherhand, there are complaintsabout the shortage of text-books and 'Jagananna VidyaKanuka' kits in a few schools.DEO Krishna Tahera Sultanasaid that there is a goodresponse to admissions ingovernment schools and saidthat she had been receivingcalls stating that there was novacancy in a good number ofschools in the district. In afew schools in the State,more than 80 per cent ofattendance was reportedfrom schools that wore a fes-tive look. She said that 90 percent of textbooks and JVKkits with nine articles weredistributed to the students onthe first day of school. Thekits will continue to be dis-tributed for a few more daysuntil the admissions arecompleted.

Top IAS official puts

wards in ZP schoolContinued from page 1

She said that the classroomsare good and the parents areallowed to check the class-rooms unlike in privateschools. The school has agood playground and ismaintaining good infrastruc-ture, well-maintained toiletsand nice colours on the wallswith quotes that inspire thestudents, she said.

Continued from page 1

He requested that the false caseagainst him be dismissed andwanted that all the actions to betaken on the basis of the FIR filedby the ACB be suspended till thecase is disposed of by the court.The senior IPS officer arguedthat he had absolutely no role toplay in the government in pur-chase of any security equipmentas there is a separate committeefor the same. The State TradeCorpo ration of India Ltd had

returned Rs 10 lakh to the gov-ernment, which had paid themoney towards the transactionfee, he said. Last week, ABV wassuspended for the second timewithin 10 days after giving post-ing orders as commissioner ofprinting and stationery. He saidthough the case was registered ayear-and-a-half ago, no chargesheet was filed to date. He won-dered how he could influence orthreaten the witnesses chargesheet was not filed and the hear-ing did not begin in court at all.

Continued from page 1

He has good relations with theCongress and BJP leaders too.Chiranjeevi wants to become‘Andarivadu’ and is not inter-ested in joining any particularpolitical party.

In AP, at present, the BJPand the Jana Sena of PawanKalyan, the brother ofChiranjeevi, have an alliance.The BJP leadership is maintain-ing good relations with AndhraPradesh Chief Minister JaganMohan Reddy too. Sourcessaid that the BJP leadership haslearnt that Pawan Kalyan is try-

ing to have an alliance with theTDP headed by former chiefminister N. ChandrababuNaidu. After the 2019 generalelections, the BJP leadershiptotally turned againstChandrababu. In spite ofChandrababu’s attempts torevive old relations the BJPleadership refused. Now theBJP leadership's plan is to useChiranjeevi if Pawan Kalyandumps the BJP and opts for analliance with the TDP. The BJPis planning to check the ‘PowerStar’ with the ‘Mega Star.’ Modimight have invited Chiranjeevito New Delhi keeping this in

mind. Generally, political par-ties want to come to power. Ifthat is not possible they wantto come to power through anally. In AP, the BJP has nochance of coming to power. Soit prefers Jagan to continue inpower than the TDP coming topower. The BJP leadership isaware of Chiranjeevi's decisionthat he has no interest in join-ing any political party. But ifthey maintain good relationswith Chiranjeevi there will besome confusion among Kapusand they may not sail withPawan Kalyan if he joins handswith the TDP.

Continued from page 1

The present Index is largelyfocused on NFSA Distributionand will include procurement,and PMGKAY Distribution inthe future. The Index for rank-

ing the states and UTs is built onthree key pillars which cover theend-to-end implementation ofNFSA through TPDS. These pil-lars are NFSA— Coverage, tar-geting and provisions of the Act,Delivery platform, and

Nutrition initiatives. The NFSAwas enacted on July 5, 2013, andin order to celebrate the day, theconference was organized todeliberate and discuss nutrition-al security, food security, bestpractices followed in PublicDistribution System, crop diver-sification, reforms in PDS, andstorage sector.

Continued from page 1

He said that the selected can-didates will have to give theundertaking letter eitherthrough post or directly at theAPPSC office. He said thatAPPSC has conducted arecruitment process for 167Group 1 posts in 2018, includ-ing 30 Deputy Collector posts,and 28 DSP posts. Of the 167Group 1 posts, 67 female and96 male candidates have beenselected for the jobs and four

posts could not be filled dueto various reasons. As manyas 9,679 candidates appearedfor Group 1 Mains inDecember 2020 and theresults were announced onApril 28, 2021 after digital val-uation, but this year, as per theorders of the High Court,manual valuation was doneagain and the results werereleased in May. According tothe orders of the High Court,the interviews for filling thevacancies of 165 Group 1

posts have been successfullycompleted. Group-1 inter-views were conducted byappointing three interviewboards. He said that theAPPSC would issue a notifi-cation in the next month for110 Group-I posts and also182 Group-II posts. He saidthat the written test will beconducted on July 24 forEndowment department EOposts, and a written exam for620 junior assistant posts onJuly 31.

Increased enrolment at govt schools...

Nine initiatives changedthe face of edn in AP: CM

Food Security Act..

Pithapuram girl tops APPSC Group 1 exam

BJP planning to check Pawan Kalyan...

ABV moves AP HC against...

Two more incidents take place on SpiceJet aircraft

MP writes to KCR over ‘recce'

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) rebel MP from Narasapuram,Raghu Ramakrishna Raju wrote to Telangana CM, KChandrasekhara Rao, on Tuesday stating that six people were

conducting recce around his house at Emaar Boulder Hills onMonday. The CRPF security allotted by the Central government hadidentified the persons and managed to catch one of them while theothers escaped in a 4-wheeler, presumably an AP police vehicle. Theperson, who was caught, was identified as Subhan Ali Basha whoclaimed to be an employee of the Intelligence Department, AP Police.Raghurama Raju said that they had requested to show the identitycard but Subhan Ali Basha told he was not carrying the same.

vijayawada 03

As much as 770 kg of ganja seized during the last three months was set on fire by the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB)officials in Vijayawada on Tuesday. The contraband was seized at various places by the police in Krishna, East and WestGodavari districts.

GANJA UUP IIN SSMOKE

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JULY 6, 2022

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The recruitment rally for enrolment tothe Indian Army as Agniveers will beheld at Indira Priyadarshini Stadium,Visakhapatnam from August 14 to 31.Candidates from 13 districts of AndhraPradesh, i.e., Srikakulam, Vizianagaram,Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, WestGodavari, Krishna, ParvathipuramManyam, Alluri Sitharama Raju,

Anakapalli, Konaseema, Eluru,Kakinada and NTR as well as Yanam(district of Union Territory ofPuducherry) will be screened for cat-egories that include Agniveer GeneralDuty, Agniveer Technical, AgniveerClerk / Store Keeper Technical,Agniveer Tradesman 10th pass andAgniveer Tradesman 8th pass.

The registration for the recruitmentrally is open till July 30. Only candi-

dates who apply online are eligible toattend the said rally. The admit cardswill be issued online with effect fromAugust 7. The date of reporting at therally site will be intimated on the AdmitCard and the applicant can take a print-out of the Admit Card after August 7from www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.

To avoid large gatherings at oneplace, candidates will be directed toreport to different Report Centres in

the vicinity of the main venue IndiraPriyadarshini Stadium,Visakhapatnam. The same will becoordinated by the recruiting staff atthe venue when the candidates report.

The recruitment process is fullyautomated, fair, and transparent.Candidates must guard againsttouts/fraudsters who claim that theycan help anyone pass or get enrolled.Only hard work and preparation will

ensure selection as per merit.Candidates can clarify all recruit-

ment-related queries from the onlinemobile application ‘Army Calling’which provides a live chat facility foraspiring candidates and can be down-loaded from Google Play Store.Candidates may also call the ArmyRecruitment Office, Visakhapatnamon Telephone No 0891-2756959 &0891- 2754680 for further information.

Agniveers recruitment rally in Vizag from Aug 14 to 31

INS Satpura participates in RIMPAC harbour phase

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

INS Satpura is at PearlHarbour in Hawaii, partic-ipating in one of the largestmultilateral NavalExercises, the 'Rim of thePacific' exercise, alsoknown as RIMPAC sinceJune 27.

During the harbourphase of the exercise, theship has taken part in mul-tiple symposiums, exer-cise planning discussions,and sports competitions.

The ship’s crew also vis-ited the historic museumship USS Missouri andpaid homage to fallen sol-diers who made thesupreme sacrifice duringWorld War II at USS

Arizona Memorial.INS Satpura and one

P8I maritime patrol air-craft are participating inthe exercise which spansover six weeks of intenseoperations and trainingaimed at enhancing inter-operability and buildingtrust among Navies offriendly foreign coun-tries.

As many as 26 coun-tries, 38 warships, nineland forces, 31 unmannedsystems, 170 aircraft, andover 25,000 personnel areparticipating in the multi-dimensional exercise. Thesea phase commences onJuly 12 and will culminatewith the closing ceremonyon August 4.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Vijayawada MunicipalCorporation (VMC)Commissioner SwapnilDinakar Pundkar has said thatthe VMC will develop BenzCircle, Mahanadu junction,and Ramavarappadu Ring. Hehas directed the engineeringdepartment to prepare designs.He directed the officials to takenecessary action to improvegreenery on both sides of thenational highway from BenzCircle to Ramavarappadu.

The VMC Commissionerinspected the stretch fromBenz Circle toRamavarappadu, Bank Colony,and Pinnamaneni Polyclinicroad on Tuesday.

He enquired the officialsabout greenery and sanitationin the city. He also directedthem to prepare a design forthe development of the BenzCircle junction. “Set up a busstop for the convenience of buscommuters between 13th and14th pillars under the flyover,”he said.

He further directed the offi-cers to develop greenery in the

Ramavarappadu ring andremove the police box fromthere. The Engineering andHorticulture departments wereasked to coordinate with eachother to develop the ring.Remove encroachments anddevelop the ‘Mana Vijayawada’area, he said.

Later, he visited several areasand gave instructions to theHealth, Engineering, andHorticulture officials on sani-tation.

He instructed that the con-cerned departments shoulddevelop the Mahanadu junc-tion, which is the busiest junc-

tion on the national highway.VMC Deputy City Planner

Jubin Siral Roy, ExecutiveEngineers V Chandrasekhar,ASS Prasad, Health OfficerDr. Sridevi, ADH Srinivas,Zonal Commissioner PardhaSaradhi, and others accompa-nied the Commissioner.

Benz Circle, RamavarappaduRing Road to be developed

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams (TTD) is plan-ning to construct a KalyanaMandapam at Nunna in theNTR district. Deputy ExecutiveEngineer (DEE) MallelaNagabhushanam inspected thegovernment land at theTeachers Colony in Nunna, thesite proposed for the Kalyana

Mandapam, on Tuesday. Theengineering department of theTTD has prepared a roughestimate of Rs 2 crore for theKalyana Mandapam, a long-pending demand of the localpeople. The State governmenthad acquired five acres of landin 2006 for the Indirammahousing scheme beneficiaries,but it was not utilised.Meanwhile, local people’s rep-

resentatives submitted a repre-sentation to MP VallabhaneniBalashowry urging him to con-struct the Kalyana Mandapam.The MP sent a proposal to TTDchairman YV Subba Reddy.

Following the request of theMP, the TTD chairman direct-ed the engineering departmentofficers to inspect the land andsend a report to him within aweek.

TTD plans Kalyana Mandapam

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Commemorating the ban onsingle-use plastic in the SmartCity Visakhapatnam, HelpingHearts Foundation presidentand founder S Rajkumari andhis team organised a blooddonation camp at GVMCoffice on Tuesday.

GVMC CommissionerLakshmisha and deputy mayorJiyyani Sridhar inauguratedthe blood donation camp.

The GVMC Commissionerdonated blood for a socialcause to save life and motivat-ed other staff members of theGVMC to donate blood.

Many took this as an inspi-ration and all zones of GVMCstaff came forward to donateblood. Around 300 units ofblood were collected duringthe day-long camp from thedonors.

Sha told the donors todonate blood every 4 monthsas it will help the needy and

blood donating is one of theholy forms of helping fellowhumans. Redcross SocietyChairman K ShivanagendraReddy attended the programalong with other members.

Visakha Women's Collegestudents participated as volun-teers as a part of the NSSAwareness programme.

Redcross Society ofVisakhapatnam and RotaryBlood Bank Visakhapatnam isthe blood bank that participat-

ed in this GVMC mega blooddonation camp.

GVMC Commissioner dis-tributed mementos to the vol-unteers of Helping HeartsFoundation “Life Saver Award2022” for their service byarranging blood for the needyat times of emergency acrossthe country.

Deputy Mayor distributedmementos to the students ofVisakha Women's College forparticipating as volunteers.

Blood donation marks ban on single-use plastic PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Krishna and NTR DistrictEducation Departments organ-ised the third phase of theJagananna Vidya Kanuka dis-tribution programme atPenamaluru ZPH in Krishnaand MK Baig MunicipalCorporation High School,Ajith Singh Nagar, inVijayawada on Tuesday.

Krishna ZP ChairpersonUppala Harika, Collector PRanjith Basha, MLAs K PardhaSaradhi and K Anil Kumar dis-tributed the books and bags tothe students under JaganannaVidya Kanuka at Penamaluru,while Vijayawada Central MLAMalladi Vishnu, NTR DistrictCollector S Dilli Rao andMunicipal CommissionerSwapnil Dinakar Pundkar dis-tributed the kits in Vijayawada.

Speaking on the occasion,Uppala Harika said that theState government had beensetting up good infrastructurefacilities in government schoolsto enhance the educationalstandards. The newly imple-mented English medium had

given fruitful results and sev-eral government high schoolstudents spoke in English veryfluently. Under the Nadu-Nedu scheme, the governmentschools got a number of addi-tional classrooms, she added.

Krishna Collector P RanjithBasha said that Penamaluru

ZPH School would be devel-oped as a model to other schoolsin the district. “The State gov-ernment is spending Rs.500crore every year to develop theeducation sector. Studentsshould utilise the facilities andget more results. As many as1,29,921 students from 1,461

schools have got the JaganannaVidya Kanuka kits,” he said.

“Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy wishes that nostudent should be denied edu-cation because of financialproblems and hence he intro-duced several welfare schemesfor the benefit of students,” said

Penamaluru MLA K PardhaSaradhi.

APSRTC Vijayawada RegionalChairperson T Padmavati,APTIDCO Director P Ramarao,Sarpanch L Bhaskara Rao, DEOTahera Sultana, SSA AdditionalProject Coordinator Dr ASekhar, Vuyyuru RDO VijayKumar, Tahsildar Bhadru,MPDO J Vimala Kumari, MEOKanaka Mahalakshmi and oth-ers were present.

In NTR district, JaganannaVidya Kanuka kits distributionfunction was held at MK BaigMunicipal Corporation HighSchool. Collector S Dilli Ram,VMC Commissioner SwapnilDinakar Pundkar and MLAMalladi Vishnu distributed thekits to the students.

Speaking on the occasion,MLA Vishnu said that CM YSJagan Mohan Reddy was tak-ing utmost care on the educa-tion sector and he implement-ed several development andwelfare schemes for the bene-fit of students. “Students shouldovercome all the hurdles toreach their goals by utilising thegovernment facilities,” he said.

‘Jagananna Vidya Kanuka’ kits distributed

10th

supplementary,betterment examsfrom todayPNS n VIJAYAWADA

All arrangements are in placefor conducting the advancedsupplementary examinationsand betterment examinationfor Class 10 students, whichwill be held from July 6 to 15across the State. In all, 2,07,160students who failed inone or more subjectswill take theadvanced supple-mentary examwhile 8,609 stu-dents are appear-ing for better-ment examina-tions. The examswill be held from 9.30am to 12.45 pm in 986 centresin the State.

Of the 2.07 lakh studentsappearing for the exam,1,16,826 are boys and 90,334are girls. Meanwhile, 8,609 stu-dents are appearing for better-ment examinations, of which4,737 are boys and 3,872 aregirls.

The District Educationalofficer who is presently work-ing in the headquarters of theerstwhile 13 districts was

appointed as the Nodal Officerfor that erstwhile district.District collectors and dis-trict magistrates will convenemeetings with theSuperintendents of Police ofthe concerned district, DEOs,and officials from the stake-holder departments such as

Treasury, Revenue,Police, Electricity,

Postal, APSRTC andH e a l t hD e p a r t m e n t .Section 144 of theCrPC will be inforce in the vicini-

ty of the examina-tion centres. Police

have ensured security atthe centres.

“All the examination centresshall be declared as ‘no-phonezones’. Invigilators, depart-mental officers, non-teachingstaff and other departmentalstaff on examination dutysuch as ANMs and policepersonnel including the ChiefSuperintendents cannot bringmobile phones to the exami-nation centres,” said DirectorGovernment ExaminationsDevananda Reddy.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Four fishermen belonging toCambelpet of Machilipatnamcity, Krishna district, have beenmissing at the sea for the pasttwo days. The incident came tolight on Tuesday when thefamily members approachedthe district administration.

Viswanathapalli ChinaMastan, 51, Ramani ChinaNancharaiah, 64, ChekkaNarasimha Rao, 51, and MokaVenkateswara Rao, 44, alongwith other fishermen venturedinto the sea four days ago.

However, one fiber boat withregistration number IND-AP-k2-Mo-60, file No AP 3469went missing with the four fish-

ermen due to some technicalproblem. The only mobilephone they had was switchedoff as the battery was exhaust-ed. There has been no commu-nication between the fishermenand their families since 7.30p.m. on July 3.

Krishna District CollectorRanjit Basha, in a press releaseon Tuesday, said a massivesearch was launched in the seato trace the missing fisher-men.

He said one chopper waspressed into service on Tuesdayto search the missing personsand the boat. He said the heli-copter searched for four hoursand would resume the searchon Wednesday.

Surprisechecks atpilgrim centres,tourist spotsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

In view of complaints thatshopkeepers at pilgrimagecentres and tourist placeswere selling food items to thepublic at prices exceedingMRP, surprise raids wereconducted by the Vigilanceand Enforcement officialsalong with the officers of theLegal MetrologyDepartment across the Stateon Tuesday. Raids were con-ducted at 218 shops spreadacross different districts inAndhra Pradesh.

Following the surpriseinspections, 136 cases werefiled under section 18(2) ofLegal Metrology PackagedCommodities Rule, 2011 andthe Legal Metrology Act,2009 for selling items at ratesexceeding MRP and for com-mitting various other irregu-larities.

The Vigilance andEnforcement Departmentgave statutory warning thatfood and other business oper-ators should not sell any itemabove MRP and strictly con-form to law, rules and regu-lations.

Will solve land issuesof Bobbillapadufarmers: CollectorPNS n VIJAYAWADA

NTR District Collector S DilliRao has assured the farmers ofBobbillapadu inChandarlapadu mandal ofsorting out the land issues byverifying the records. He saidhe would be ready to solve theproblems of farmers at anytime.

Bobbillapadu farmers, alongwith Bobbillapati Sai, met theNTR Collector at his campoffice in Vijayawada onTuesday.

Bobbilapati Sai said thattheir lands had belonged to theMuktyala estate and later, theywent into the hands of zamin-dari families in 1956. Later, theforefathers of the farmers pur-chased the lands from thezamindars and enjoyed fullrights on them, he said.

He further said that,Bobbillapadu lands were reg-

istered, by mistake, in thename of zamindars after thecompletion of land re-survey.However, the Sri VedadriLakshmi Narasimha Swamilands were also registered inthe names of zamindars. As aresult, the farmers had beenfacing several problems. TheDistrict Collector should sanc-tion a No Objection Certificate(NOC) to the farmers, heurged.

Later, the Collector saidthat the farmers should com-plain to the Land SettlementCourt, which is under thejurisdiction of the JointCollector. An inquiry wouldbe conducted and orderswould be issued under section15 to solve the problems.

Farmers’ leaders VasireddyPrasad, T Vijaya BhaskarReddy, M Srinivvas Reddy, GNaveen Babu and others werepresent.

Four fishermen go missing

04VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JULY 6, 2022

Seized ‘gold' turns out to be gilt jewelleryBAPATLA: The seizure of what was thought to be gold jewellery bythe SEB officials turned out to be gilt jewellery. The police on a tip-off conducted a checking of vehicles on the highway at Martur. Theyinspected an Innova car and found 2 kg of jewellery. The officialsthought them to be gold jewellery and being transported withoutrelevant documents including waybills. The officials got the seizedjewellery tested by exports at a jewellery shop. After testing thejewellery the gold exports certified that they were gilt jewellery,made of copper but the gold layer was coated. With this, the SEBofficials let the five people go with the gilt jewellery.

10 passengers injured asprivate bus rams into lorryNALGONDA: Ten passengers suffered injuries when a private travelbus rammed into a lorry on a flyover on National Highway 65 atNarketpally in the early hours of Tuesday. A bus, owned by a privatetravelling agency, was on its way to Khammam from Hyderabadwhen the accident happened.The condition of two of the injured issaid to be critical. The injured have been admitted to KamineniInstitute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) at Narketpally. The lorry fell onthe road and the traffic on the busy national highway was hit. Thetraffic came to a grinding halt at a stretch of one kilometre.

Police arrest two, seize 120 kg ganjaNALGONDA: Police on Tuesday arrested a two-member inter-stategang of ganja smugglers and seized 60 packets of marijuanaweighing 120 kg. It is estimated to be worth Rs. 7 lakhs. Police alsoseized a car and two mobiles. District Superintendent of PoliceRema Rajeshwari told media persons that the Nakrekal police, incoordination with the Task Force police, organised 'vehicle checking'on the highway. The culprits were caught. While of the arrestedhailed from Andhra Pradesh, another from Telangana. The arrestedwere identified as Rathod Mohan from Wangdal village inSangareddy district and Mandalanka Praveen from Sanath Nagar inVisakapatanam district in Andhra Pradesh State.

S H O R T TA K E S

Over 2.40 lakh students to get ‘Vidya Kanuka’ kits in Prakasam

55 red sanders logs seized, 7 arrested

PNS n NELLORE

Ruling party MLAKotamreddy Sridhar Reddyheld a novel protest by sittingin a sewage drain in protestagainst the municipal author-ity’s indifference to mod-ernising the drainage system inthe Ummareddy Gunta area ofthe city.

Sridhar Reddy, along withhis followers, went to theUmmareddy Gunta area onTuesday. While questioningthe officials why they hadfailed in modernising thedrainage system at the place,taking everyone by surprise, heentered the drain and stood inthe sewage water for sometime. Later he sat on a boulderin the canal.

The MLA expressed anguishthat though the YSRCP is inpower, the construction ofdrainage canals and modern-izing the system at the placehave not taken up so far. He

expressed anger over the rail-way and municipal corporationofficials for not constructing adrainage canal at the place. Hevowed to continue his fight forthe construction of a drainagecanal at the place for the con-venience of the people of the

area.He demanded the municipal

corporation officials to givehim a written assurance on bywhat time they would take upthe works and when they couldcomplete it.

The officials have given a

written assurance to the MLAthat the works for the construc-tion would begin by 15. Withthe written assurance by theofficials, the MLA relented.Talking to the media he saidthat he fought for the construc-tion of a drainage system at theplace when he was in theOpposition party and fightingfor the same cause though heis in the ruling party. Due tothe lack of a proper drainagesystem in the area, the situationturned out to be miserable dur-ing the rainy season, helamented.

Novel protest by Kotamreddyfor upgrading sewage drains

He demanded themunicipal corporationofficials to give him awritten assurance on bywhat time they would takeup the works and whenthey could complete it.

Noted playback singer P Susheela felicitatedPNS n ONGOLE

Noted playback singer PSusheela was felicitated byVasavi Choultries presidentDevaki Venkateswrulu cou-ple in Ravindra Bharati in

Hyderabad on Mondaynight.

The felicitation programmewas organised on the occasionof the 90 birth birth anniver-sary of former Chief MinisterK Rosaiah.

PNS n ONGOLE/ELURU

District Collector A S DineshKumar has said that 2,40,129students studying at 2473 gov-ernment schools in the districtwould get the 'Jagananna VidyaKanuka' kits.

The district Collector andZP chairperson BuchepalliVenkayamma participated inthe 'Jagananna Vidya Kanuka'programme here Tuesday anddistributed Vidya Kanukakits to some students.Speaking on the occasion, theCollector said that each VidyaKanuka kit consists of aschool bag, three pairs of uni-forms, a pair of shoes andsacks, test books, notebooks,a belt and an Oxford dictio-nary. Each Vidya Kanuka kidis worth Rs 1,996, theCollector informed.

He said that Rs 47.95 croreworth of 'Vidya Kanuka' kitsare being distributed free ofcost to the students in the dis-trict during the academic year.The Collector explained thatthe government is taking thesemeasures to increase theenrollment of students inschools, reduce dropouts, andincrease the self-confidenceof students to compete withprivate schools. Because ofthe measures being taken con-siderable results are being

yielded in the 10th class exam-ination. He highlighted thatthe Prakasam district rankedfirst in class 10 examinationresults.

The Collector called uponthe teachers to work in accor-dance with the aspirations ofthe government and strive tokeep the district at the top inthe tenth class results. “Thegovernment will provide thenecessary support to theschools. In the coming days,the teachers should produceresults in such a manner thatthe VIPs recommend for a seatin the government schools", hesaid.

Buchepalli Venkayammasaid that all children shouldnot be hindered by poverty inpursuing education and thegovernment should take careof the education of poor stu-dents. He called upon the stu-dents to utilize the opportuni-ty and reach heights in life.Mayor Gangada Sujata ChiefMinister Y S Jagan MohanReddy is committed to provid-ing quality education to thestudents without putting theburden on the parents. DEOVijay Bhaskar and SC welfareofficer Lakshma Nayak wereamong those who were pre-sent.

In Eluru, the Vidya Kanukaprogramme was held and kits

were distributed to the stu-dents, Speaking on the occa-sion, Collector V PrasannaVenkatesh said that 1,87,050students were getting VidyaKanuka kits worth Rs 37.34crore.

The Teachers should orga-nize a special orientation forthe children in their schoolsonce a month to inform themabout world knowledge andthe need for education. He saidthat in order to recognize thetalent in children and providethem with the necessary skillsto excel in studies.

The Collector said thatunder Nadu Nedu govern-ment schools are being mod-ernized on par with the privateschools. The government isimplementing 'Amma Vodi','Vidya Deevena', 'VasatiDeevena', 'Kanti Velugu', and'Goru Mudda' for the stu-dents, he said.

MLA VR Elija and MLC Sk.Sabji were among those whowere present. Speaking on theoccasion, the Collector under-lined the need of doing awaywith the memorized educationsystem MPP Kodama Jyothi,and ZPTC Srinivasa Babu alsospoke. Municipal chairmanBattina Nagalakshmi and vice-chairman M Veeranjaneyuluwere among those who werepresent.

PNS n BAPATLA

Superintendent of PoliceVakul Jindal has directed thepolice officials to conductchecks to curb drunken dri-ving to curb road accidents.

The SP directed the policeofficials to conduct visiblepolicing to give assurance tothe people of protection. Invisible policing, awarenessshould be created among thepeople about the crimes. Hedirected the officials to con-duct checking of vehicles tocontain the illegal transporta-tion of ganja, liquor, bannedgutka, and other bannedtobacco products.

Police officials were alsodirected to intensifypatrolling at women's col-leges, girls' schools, busstands, railway stations, andimportant intersections andtake action against miscreantswho misbehave with women.

“It is said that road acci-dents are caused due to somedrivers driving under theinfluence of alcohol, due towhich even the motoristsand pedestrians who are fol-lowing the rules and regula-tions are exposed to danger,therefore frequent drunk anddriving checks are conduct-ed and strict legal action istaken against those who driveunder the influence of alco-hol and counseling them notto drive under the influenceof alcohol again”, the SP toldthe officials. The officialswere ordered to organize andregister cases against thosewho drink alcohol in publicplaces.

Check drunkendriving: SP

PNS n GUNTUR

National Human RightsCommission (NHRC)Director-General PrakashMehra has lauded the AndhraPradesh government’s secre-tariat system which is playinga key role to take welfarescheme benefits to the eligiblepoor.

Prakash Mehra visited thevillage secretary 5 ofPedakakani and Rythu BharosaKendra at Namburu villageon Tuesday. State HumanRights Commission memberDr.G Srinivas Rao and JointCollector G Rajakumar accom-panied him.

Mehra inquired with theANM Mobina Begum aboutthe responsibilities of the sec-retariats, its staff, and theirduties. The ANM told him thatfrom 8 am to 12 noon, she vis-its the village to find outwhether the pregnant women,infants, children, and the elder-ly have received the necessarymedicines and vaccinations,and they would be given to

those who need them. Prakash Mehra examined

the medicines available at theANM. Panchayat Secretaryand Digital Assistant KakarlaSai Sneha informed PrakashMohra about the services pro-vided in the Secretariat. Later,Prakash Mohra told reportersthat he would study the welfareschemes being implemented inAP and development beingcarried out here and submit areport to the central govern-

ment.The secretariat system and

the volunteer system whichwere introduced by ChiefMinister Y S Jagan MohanReddy are working well and areport in this regard would besubmitted to the Central gov-ernment, he informed.

Mehra also praised theimplementation of develop-ment and welfare programs inthe state. He said that if theentire country implements

such schemes good resultscould be obtained. LaterPrakash Mehra inspectedRythu Bharosa Kendra inNambur village.

District Agriculture OfficerN Venkateswarulu told himthat the state achieves progresswhen the farmers are prosper-ous, adding that the govern-ment is implementing revolu-tionary schemes for the devel-opment of farmers for the wel-fare of farmers.

He said that the agriculturedepartment has made allarrangements to supply qual-ity seeds and fertilizers throughRBKs for the Kharif crop to thefarmers. It was explained tohim that in order to get thebenefits the farmers have toregister the details of theircrops in the e-Crop app.

Earlier he was welcomed byJC Rajakumari, SHRCSrinivasa Rao. RDO BhaskarReddy, DRDA PD Harinath,Tahasildar Ratnam MPDOVijaya Lakshmi, and sarpanchGolla Swaroop were amongthose who were present.

NHRC DG lauds AP’s secretariat system

PNS n KADAPA

The police seized 55 redsanders logs worth Rs 9.05 lakhand arrested seven red sanderssmugglers including notori-ous smuggler Fakruddin.

Disclosing this to the mediahere on Tuesday,Superintendent of Police KKNAnburajan said that the policeconducted raids at two placesand seized 55 red sanders logsweighing over 2 tonnes andworth Rs 9.05 lakh. The policealso seized four cars and minitransport vehicle and a motor-cycle from them. A police teamled by taskforce teams led byCIs Nagabhusanam, Satyababu,RSI Pothuraju and Ibrahimconducted a raid and seized thelogs, and arrested seven smug-glers including interstate smug-

gler Fakuruddin.The police team noticed five

cars at Maduru road inProddatur town near KrishnaReddy oil mill. On suspicion,the police checked the vehiclesand found 40 red sander logs.On seeking the police, somesmugglers fled the scene in a

car. The police seized the 40red sander logs worth Rs 9.05lakh and 4 mobile phones.They tried to attack the policewith axes, hunting sickles andstones but the police overpow-ered them.

Notorious smugglerFakruddin was involved in 71

various criminal cases and hewas sent to prison many times.He formed a gang with Jakhir,Latif, Raman, and Shiva Babu.He established contacts withred sander smugglers in otherstates. He used to bring wood-cutters from Tamil Nadu to cutred sander trees here andexport the logs to neighbour-ing states. The SP Appreciatedthe police for arresting thenotorious interstate red sandersmuggler and seizing redsander logs.

In Khajipet, a police teamled by S Kullayappa conduct-ed a raid and seized 15 redsander logs weighing 277 kgwhich were loaded in aMahendra mini goods vehicleto be transported at Kothapetvillage in the reserve forestarea.

PNS n BHIMAVARAM

The victims of Garagaparruvillage organised a rallydemanding the governmentfulfil the assurances whichwere given to them and dothem justice.

The victims holding flexibanners and raising slogansorganised a huge rally onTuesday. They said that in2017 some Dalits were ostra-cized by the villagers. TheGaragaparru SanghikaBahiskarana BaditulaSankshema Sangam presidentDr Raja Sundara Babu said thatwhen some Dalits atGaragaparru village weresocially boycotted the thengovernment made some assur-ances to the victims.

They assured to fulfil fivedemands on January 19 butnot fulfilled the same.

He said that they had beentrying to meet the Collectorfor the last one month toexplain their woes but theywere not given permission.Ignoring fulfilling the assur-

ances amounted to not imple-menting the SC/ST Act, heopined.

He demanded that fundsshould be released to install theAmbudkar statue, andAmbedkar library and to con-struct a community hall atGaragaparru village. He alsodemanded to add some othersections in the charge sheet

pertaining to the social boycottcase. He also demanded toallocate three acres of land tothe victims.

If the demands were notconceded they would organisea siege of the Collectorate, hewarned. Later they metCollector P Prashanti and SPU Ravi Prakash and submitteda memorandum.

Garagaparru victims takeout rally demanding justice

PNS n GUNTUR

Municipal CommissionerKeerthi Chekuri has said thatall steps have been taken toprovide purified potable waterto the people of the city with-out compromise at any point.She said that the engineeringofficial concerned would beheld responsible if drinkingwater pollution is found any-where in the city.

The Commissioner onTuesday inspected the HLRreservoir and she saw theprocess of cleaning the tankfrom atop the tank. She wenthouse to house in theGunturvarithota area andinquired about the quality ofwater being supplied by thecorporation.

She also saw the chlorinationand pumping of water to var-ious localities. She directed theofficials that the chlorine levelshould not come down at thetail-end areas.

She directed the amenitysecretariats to take some sam-ples of water and register the

quality in the log book. Shedirected the officials to takesteps to clean the reservoirevery month and mention thedate on the notice board. Thechlorine should be laced to thewater at the reservoir appropri-

ately.Later Keerthi Chekuri inter-

acted with the people of thelocality and knew their prob-lems in getting water. SE DSrinivas, EE Santhi Raju, andDEE Rafiq accompanied her.

Civic chief assures supply of potable water to denizens

nation 05VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JULY 6, 2022

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R Free coaching for NEET, JEE launched for tribal students in J-K

The Jammu and Kashmir Tribal Affairs Department on Tuesday launched a first-of-its-kind ini-tiative to provide coaching for meritorious tribal students preparing for NEET and JEEentrance exams, officials said. The course fee will be sponsored by the department and the

candidates qualifying for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint EntranceExamination (JEE) after coaching will also be provided with a scholarship, they said. Tribal AffairsDepartment Secretary Shahid Iqbal Choudharysaid 100 tribal students are being selected forNEET coaching in government-empanelledcoaching institutes, under two different sub-schemes. The two sub-schemes are 'Host-50'for hostellers and 'Top-50' for other tribal meri-torious students in the first year under thescheme which is being implemented throughthe education wing of the Tribal ResearchInstitute. Choudhary said the coaching fee forNEET and JEE at select institutions would besponsored by the department after verificationof attendance and evaluation.

‘Murmu will win Prez polls comfortably’

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday exuded confidence that NDApresidential candidate Droupadi Murmu will comfortably win the election. Murmuvisited Patna during the day and met NDA leaders, including legislators and

parliamentarians from the state, seeking their support for the presidential electionscheduled on July 18. "I am confident that Droupadi Murmu will comfortably win thepresidential election. It is a matter of happiness that a tribal woman is running for thehighest constitutional position of the country," Kumar told reporters after Murmu'smeeting with NDA leaders here.Murmu was given a rousing welcomewhen she reached Patna earlier in theday. Accompanied by Union ministersSarbananda Sonowal and GajendraSingh Shekhawat, she arrived at Patnaairport aboard a special flight at 11.13AM. Deputy Chief Ministers TarkishorePrasad and Renu Devi, Union ministerNityanand Rai, state BJP chief SanjayJaiswal and several state ministersreceived her at the Jay PrakashNarayan International Airport.

Kali is meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess: Mahua Moitra

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Tuesday stirred a controversy by saying thatshe has every right as an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating andalcohol-accepting goddess, as every person has the right to worship god and goddess in

his or her own way. While the BJP went hammer and tongs against Moitra and wondered ifit was the official stand of West Bengal's rulingparty to insult Hindu gods and goddesses, theTMC distanced itself from the comment andcondemned it. While taking part in India TodayConclave East held in Kolkata, theKrishnanagar MP said it is up to individualshow they view their gods. "If you go to Bhutanor Sikkim, for example, when they do puja,they give whisky to their god. Now, if you goto Uttar Pradesh and say that you give whiskyto your god as prasad, they will say that isblasphemous, she said. Moitra said thatpeople have the right to imagine their godsor goddess in the way they want.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Health MinisterMansukh Mandaviya hasreviewed the issue of out-standing CGHS dues ofaround Rs 1,400 crore andordered officials to clear thosewithin a month, officialsources said. According toofficials, there are complaintsof over 11 lakh bills pendingfor the last few months, forc-ing many empanelled hospitalsto discontinue cashless treat-

ment of Central GovernmentHealth Scheme (CGHS) ben-eficiaries. At the three-hour-long review meeting onMonday, Mandaviya ordered

the health secretary, the CGHSdirector and the CEO of theNational Health Authority topresent a detailed report on thematter and the solutions to it,a source said. He instructedthem to clear nine lakh pend-ing CGHS bills within 15 daysand repay all pending dueswithin a month. The healthminister also ordered officialsto increase the number ofclaim clearance officers imme-diately to clear the pendency,official sources said.

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/ NEW DELHI

The central leadership of theCPI(M) on Tuesday rejectedthe opposition demand forresignation of Kerala MinisterSaji Cheriyan over his harshcriticism of the Constitution,terming it as just a slip oftongue.

CPI(M) politburo memberM A Baby said an explanationwas sought from the minister,who is also a member of theparty's Kerala state secretari-at, and he has explained thatno criticism was made againstthe Constitution.

It would have been just aslip of tongue, Baby said.

The minister has said whathe meant was the currentsocio-economic system pre-

vailing in the country.Cheriyan said he has saidnothing adverse against theConstitution, Baby said.

Saying that the minister'sremarks might have been mis-interpreted, Baby, talking toMalayalam media persons inNew Delhi, said there was noneed to ask for his resignationon the basis of it.

Cheriyan, while addressinga party function inPathanamthitta district, hadharshly criticised theConstitution, saying it "con-dones exploitation" and iswritten in a way helping to"plunder" the people of thecountry, drawing sharp reac-tion from the oppositionwhich sought for his immedi-ate removal from the PinarayiVijayan-led LDF cabinet.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Tuesday demandedthe removal of Kerala ministerSaji Cheriyan for his commentsagainst the Constitution, sayinghe cannot hold an office enabledby the Constitution he hasdisrespected. Union minister VMuraleedharan, a BJP leaderfrom Kerala, also said CPI(M)leaders such as Sitaram Yechurydescribe the Constitution as atemplate of Indian nationalismbut choose to ignore thisdeliberate attempt to disregardit. This is shameful and provestheir "so called respect for theConstitution is just for show", he

alleged while demanding thatCheriyan be sacked.In visuals aired by local TVchannels in Kerala, the ministercan be seen saying at a recentevent that the Constitution ofthe country "condonesexploitation" and is written in away that helps to "plunder" thepeople of the country. "The@CPIMKerala leaders, includingMinisters in @VijayanPinarayi'sCabinet, have crossed all limitsof decency in public life. Whatcan we expect from those whotoe Chinese Line. CPM nevercared or respected IndianRepublic," Muraleedharan saidon Twitter.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Accusing the BJP of showing a"disturbing willingness to flirtwith anti-national forces", theCongress on Tuesday ques-tioned the silence of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shah onthe alleged links of two arrest-ed terrorists with the rulingparty.

Congress spokespersonPawan Khera alleged the BJPwas indulging in "fake nation-alism", remarks coming in thebackdrop of alleged links ofUdaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal's

killer Riyaz Attari and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist TalibHussain Shah with the BJP.

He said two incidents in the

past week have exposed the"double-faced" BJP, after Attariand Shah, who was captured byvillagers in Jammu andKashmir's Reasi district, wereclaimed to be associated withthe Centre's ruling party. Theirphotographs with BJP leadershave gone viral on socialmedia, he said.

Khera also asked how TalibHussain Shah, who wasallegedly planning to attack theAmarnath Yatra in Kashmir,was seen in a photograph withAmit Shah. He wonderedwhether it was not a securitybreach.

A photograph tweeted bythe Congress' Jammu andKashmir unit showed a beard-ed man standing among peo-ple at a meeting attended byAmit Shah which someclaimed was Talib, the allegedmastermind of serial bombblasts in Rajouri.

"It is shocking that the BJP,a party that loses no opportu-nity to preach to Indians aboutnationalism, has members andoffice-bearers who are deeplyimplicated in violent anti-national activities," Khera toldreporters, adding these weredisturbing instances.

‘BA.2.75 sub-variant of Omicronhas limited circulation in IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

The highly transmissible strainof Omicron's BA.2 sub-variantBA.2.75 has been documentedto have a limited circulation inIndia, official sources said onTuesday, underlining that thislineage has so far not beenrecorded to have enhancedseverity or the spread of thedisease.

Currently, the predominantcirculating variant of concernof SARS-CoV-2 is OmicronVoC and globally, the BA.2Omicron lineage has beenseen to replace the BA.1 lin-eage, the sources said.

In India, BA.2.75 has beendocumented to have a limitedcirculation and so far, this lin-eage has not been document-ed to have enhanced severity orthe spread of the disease.

As the BA.2 lineage is evolv-ing, many of its sub-lineagesare now developing with a setof distinct mutations. B.2.75 isa similar sub-lineage of BA.2.

The sources also said it iscritical to continue to monitor

the spread of this sub-lineageand also the other emergingsub-lineages of Omicron. Thescale of genomic sequencingneeds to be expanded andmaintained for an early detec-tion of the variant strains ofSARS-CoV-2.

BA.2.75 -- the second gen-eration of the BA.2 variants -- has high transmissibility andis being said to be behind the

recent increase in the numberof COVID-19 cases in thecountry.

There has been an uptick inthe number of Covid cases inIndia. The country recorded13,086 fresh coronavirus caseson Tuesday, pushing its tally ofsuch cases to 4,35,31,650, whilethe number of active cases ofthe infection climbed to1,14,475.

‘Will not allow terrorism to take root’PNS n JAMMU

In a remote hamlet in theMahore belt of Jammu andKashmir's Reasi district thatwas once a hotbed of militancy,villagers who displayed exem-plary courage by overpoweringtwo heavily-armed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists say theyare determined not to let mili-tants regain ground.

The terrorists who were lateridentified as the most-wantedLeT commander Talib HussainShah - the mastermind behinda series of explosions in hishome district Rajouri - and his

associate Faisal Ahmad Dar ofsouth Kashmir's Pulwama dis-trict were escaping the dragnetof security forces and hadreached the village for shelter onSaturday night.

The six close relatives kepttheir wits about them as theytook on the two armed terror-ists bare-handed in an hour-long confrontation in the hilltopvillage that can be reached onlyafter trekking for over twohours from the last motorableroad.

When I returned to my 'dhok'(hamlet) in the evening (onSaturday) after work, I saw twounknown persons inside thehouse and got suspicious as theyintroduced themselves as busi-nessmen. They ordered me toswitch off the mobile and keepit on the floor. They also restrict-

ed me from going outside,Mohammad Yousuf said.

As it was dark, Yousuf said,he tricked the terrorists bykeeping his mobile phone onthe ground with one hand andswooping it up with the otherbefore pleading with them to lethim go outside to attendnature's call.

Outside the premises, Yousufsaid he telephoned his brotherand told him that this might beour last conversation as somepeople have come to my houseand collected all the informationabout our extended family. Theymight kill us all.

‘Modi's determination hasshaped India's Pak policy’PNS n NEW DELHI

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Tuesday saidthat Prime Minister NarendraModi's determination that hewould not allow cross-borderterrorism to be normalisedhas helped in shaping India'sPakistan policy since 2014.

Speaking at an event at DelhiUniversity, S Jaishankar notedthat Prime Minister Modi isperceived abroad as ''quintes-sentially Indian'' and his intu-itive feeling for diplomacy hasled him to form a connect withforeign countries and theirleaders.

Reading excerpts from thechapter written by him in thebook 'Modi@20: Dreams MeetDelivery', Jaishankar said,"When I first met him (PMModi) in China in 2011, I wasthe ambassador. Unlike manyother chief ministers, he specif-ically sought political briefing".

"I recall his (Modi's) empha-

sises that on the issue of terror-ism and sovereignty, we need-ed to make sure that we speakwith one voice abroad, espe-cially in China.

"When it comes to terror-ism, especially of cross-bordernature, he has been crystalclear that he would not allowit to be normalised. This deter-

mination has shaped ourPakistan policy since 2014," headded. The minister highlight-ed that PM Modi looms largeon the world stage as his poli-cies and initiatives have had animpact.

"Peers perceive him as quin-tessentially Indian and respondaccordingly. His language,

metaphor, appearances andmannerism define a personathat a world has come to recog-nise," he said, reading anotherparagraph from the book

"Prime Minister Modi's intu-itive feeling for diplomacy hasled him to find connect withforeign countries and theirleaders with India," he added.

Jaishankar was the chiefguest at a special discussionorganised by the DU on thebook.

Speaking about the book,Jaishankar noted that a largepart of the book has beenwritten by people outside thegovernment.

"Books are written aboutprime ministers. That is notunusual.... But to have a bookwhere sitting foreign ministerand Home Minister (AmitShah), National SecurityAdvisor (Ajit Doval) have writ-ten about the sitting primeminister, that is unusual, heasserted.

MP govt formscommittee for G-20 conferences PNS n BHOPAL

The Madhya Pradesh govern-ment has constituted a commit-tee of top officials to look afterthe hospitality and security fortwo conferences of G-20 coun-tries to be held in Indore andBhopal, an official said onTuesday.

The committee, headed bythe chief secretary, will look afterthe hospitality and securityarrangements of the internation-al participants during the twoconferences of G-20 countries,a statement said. However, nodates for these events werementioned in the statement.

The committee includesadditional chief secretaries of thegeneral administration andhome departments, besidesother senior officials, it said. Theprincipal secretary of thetourism department will be thesecretary and nodal officer ofthis committee, it was stated. Asper the statement, India will hostover 190 meetings and confer-ences of G-20 delegates fromDecember 1, 2022 to November30, 2023 across the country.

CPI(M) rejects opposition demandfor Kerala Minister’s resignation

BJP demands sacking of KeralaMinister for criticising Constitution

Govt plans spl remissionfor prisoners as part of‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'PNS n NEW DELHI

Good news is in the offing forthousands of women andtransgender convicts abovethe age of 50 with the govern-ment planning to commutetheir sentence over three phas-es subject to their behaviourin jail.

The scheme, part of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'splans to celebrate Azadi KaAmrit Mahotsav, will alsocover male prisoners abovethe age of 60 and physicallychallenged convicts who havecompleted more than halftheir total sentence, the HomeMinistry said.

Poor or indigent prisonerswho have completed theirsentence but are still in jail dueto non-payment of finesimposed on them will benefittoo with their fines beingwaived.

According to a recentHome Ministry communica-

tion to all states and union ter-ritories, prisoners who fulfilthe eligibility criteria will bereleased in three phases -- onAugust 15, 2022, January 26,2023 and August 15, 2023.

The scheme, the ministrysaid, does not apply to prison-ers sentenced to death or lifeimprisonment, and convictedin rape, terror charges, dowrydeaths and money launderingcases.

Those convicted under theExplosives Act, NationalSecurity Act, Official SecretsAct, Anti-Hijacking Act aswell as those convicted forhuman trafficking will alsonot be considered for remis-sion.

According to a 2020 officialestimate, jails across Indiacontinued to remain over-crowded, lodging about 4.78lakh prisoners against an actu-al capacity of 4.03 lakh.

Of the total prisoners, near-ly a lakh are women.

Maha: Boy fallsinto water-filledlift duct, diesPNS n THANE

A 6-year-old boy died afterfalling into a water-filled liftduct in an under-constructionbuilding in Thane district'sDombivali area on Tuesday, apolice official said. VedantJadhav had gone missing ataround 11:30am and a probefound he fell into the pit whiletrying to retrieve the ball withwhich he was playing, theManpada police official said.

Mandaviya orders clearing pendingCGHS dues worth Rs 1,400 crore

ED charge-sheetagainst JharkhandIAS official Pooja PNS n RANCHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against formerJharkhand mining secretaryPooja Singhal and others aspart of a money-launderingprobe against her and thoselinked to the IAS officer, offi-cials said.

The federal agency submit-ted the around 5,000-pageprosecution complaint alongwith annexures and a list ofwitnesses and evidence collect-ed before a special Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA) court in Ranchi andhas named Singhal, SumanKumar, a chartered accountantallegedly linked to her, and fewothers.

The ED requested the courtto take cognisance of thecharge sheet and issue theprocess for a trial in the case,officials said.

Singhal, a 2000-batch IASofficer, was arrested by theagency in May as part of aprobe linked to allegedembezzlement of MGNREGAfunds and some other allegedsuspicious financial transac-tions.

The 44-year-old bureaucratwas suspended by theJharkhand government soonafter her arrest. She was post-ed as the secretary of indus-tries and was handling thecharge of the secretary of thestate mining and geologydepartment in an additionalcapacity.

Sumar Kumar was alsoarrested. They both are injudicial custody.

The ED had first raided thepremises of Singhal, that of herbusinessman husbandAbhishek Jha and the char-tered accountant on May 6 inRanchi and covered a fewother locations in the state.

Cong slams BJP's willingness to ‘flirt’ with anti-nationals

Reserve Bank of India’s former Governor Raghuram Rajan has again warnedthat without the suitable aid of the much-needed reforms, the pace of eco-nomic growth is bound to slow down steeply. It is true, too. Without the right

set of reforms and more of the political turmoil and infighting that always keepshappening in India, it is likely it’ll grow too slowly. However, the big question stillremains as to how the country gets to that higher pace of reforms. Rajan, speak-ing at a Standard Chartered event in Singapore recently, said: “We have in placea Government that’s attempting those reforms. But unfortunately, perhaps becausea consensus for those reforms hasn’t been reached widely, there is a lot of oppo-sition and those reforms haven’t played out — for example, on agriculture thesewere effectively rolled back.” On November 19, following months of massive and

nationwide protests by farmers to the three newfarm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modiannounced that the Government would repeal them.Such ad hoc, kabhi haan, kabhi naa approach isbound to rattle the Government’s reforms agendaand depict it in a rather poor light in the eyes ofthe electorate.

While India’s GDP is estimated to have grownby 8.7 per cent in FY22, it was on the back of alow base, with the economy having contracted 6.6per cent in FY21. Besides, growth is seen slow-ing down to 7.2 per cent in FY23 and closer to 6per cent in the medium term. The former RBI boss,

however, pointed out to the recent reports of bank privatisation and said theGovernment may not be done yet with reforms. “If that can be done reasonably,it offers an opportunity because the banking sector at this point, on net, is hold-ing back the economy rather than propelling it. Credit growth has to be muchstronger,” he added. But how is India seen abroad as an investment opportunity?Of course, it has a great deal of potential because of its young population and witha great need for infrastructure. However, a point of concern remains in terms ofIndia’s ‘drag consumption’ which could in the long term mean that while India maybe a $3-trillion economy, it is a long way from being a substitute for China, whichis five times larger.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion that India is leading the fourth industrialrevolution, or Industry 4.0, may appear to be an exaggeration to his critics. It is,however, correct that the country has made remarkable progress in the techno-

logies that are the defining features of the fourth revolution. The World Economic Forumelucidates the concept as: “The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam powerto mechanise production. The Second used electric power to create mass production.The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now aFourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has beenoccurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterised by a fusion of tech-

nologies that is blurring the lines between the physi-cal, digital and biological spheres.” Are we even nearIndustry 4.0? Well, certain facts are indeed discon-certing. For all the talk about being an emerging eco-nomy or, as more enthusiastic souls call it, a risingeconomic power, the reality is that our per capita incomeis below $2,300, below that of Bangladesh’s. India isa poor country, placed at the 142nd rank in terms ofper capita income. Besides, manufacturing has not beendoing well since 2011-12. Its share in the country’sgross value added (GVA) has come down from 17.4per cent in 2011-12 to 14.5 per cent in 2020-21.

Yet, it would not be very correct to say that thereis no hope. As Prime Minister Modi said, “All programmes launched today are going tostrengthen Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living. They’ll give a fillip to India’s start-up ecosystem. India can proudly say that it is not just part of the Industry 4.0 Revolutionbut is actually leading it.” He said this while launching multiple digital portals at the DigitalIndia Week 2022 on Monday. All Industry 4.0 technologies are not only being used inIndia but are promoted by the Government. In February this year, for instance, theGovernment released a national strategy for additive manufacturing (also called 3D print-ing) to encourage interface between academia, Government and industry. The objectivewas to make India a global hub for design, development and deployment in the sector.The Department of Science & Technology is implementing the National Mission onInterdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to promote research, train person-nel, develop the relevant technologies, incubate entrepreneurship and promote internation-al collaboration. As many as 25 technology innovation hubs have already been estab-lished in reputed institutes across the country in advanced technologies including machinelearning and artificial intelligence. The Government’s desire to lead Industry 4.0 is there;it has also made some efforts in that direction. What PM Modi has to ensure is that thescourges that plagued the earlier rounds of industrialization — statist policies, the insti-tutionalised anti-business attitude, excessive regulation, red tape et al — don’t belea-guer Industry 4.0. It will be a pity if that happens.

We can do better

GODS OF THE WAR CURSESir — What a travesty it is of global leader-ship that keeps fanning the fire of war, thistime in Ukraine? Whither the tenets of greatthinkers and statesmen who helmed the des-tiny of nations and people across ages.History is no longer in the syllabus of mod-ern-day politicians who stake false claimsto statesmanship. Wars start small and thengrow too big to be controlled by the comi-ty of nations. The fickleness and vanity ofnations had prevailed over human sanity inevery major conflict. It is significant thatGermany was at the core of both the WorldWars and Russia, its opponent.

The Ukraine conflict now has Russia onthe one side and Germany is rubbing shoul-ders with other Western nations at Nato.Nothing has changed except that technol-ogy has vastly upgraded weapons. But thesenations and their leaders have not gradu-ated from archaic mindsets, despite suffer-ing miseries of large scale military engage-ments over many a modern decade. Goingby precedents, the Ukraine conflict can onlyexpand, perhaps exponentially, as the likesof Hannibal who swore eternal enmity toRome or Hitler the visceral racist, keep rein-carnating. Mankind is willingly propitiatingthe gods of war curse.

R Narayanan | Navi Mumbai

REACHING OUT TO MUSLIMSSir — It has come as a pleasant surprise thatPrime Minister Narendra Modi has exhort-ed the party cadre to reach out to the“deprived, non-elite” Muslims. This isbecause he is not exactly known for his pro-minority or pro-Muslim utterances. His per-sona is one of a leader who refused to sporta skull cap and urged people to identify theanti-CAA protesters by their dress. Onewishes that the BJP cadres abide by his callto care for the impoverished Muslims. It willimprove the lot of the poor Muslims andstrengthen inter-faith bonds. It doesn’tmatter whether it is known as ‘Muslimappeasement’ or ‘politics of fulfilment’.

The Sachar Commission report gives anaccount of how the majority of Muslims live

in misery. It should not be reduced to a gameplan to prevail on the impoverished Muslimsto support the party and subscribe to itsHindutva ideology. Also, as a goodwill ges-ture, Modi can accept a skull cap from amember of the Pasmandas community ora non-Syed, OBC Muslim if he is more com-fortable with it. This will dispel the impres-sion that he embraces only the rulers of theaffluent Arab nations and not his humbleIndian Muslim compatriots.

G David Milton | Maruthancode

NEED TO SAVE AAREY FORESTSir — The Mumbai Congress stronglyopposed the construction of the Metro railcar-shed in the green lungs of Aarey, withcity unit chief Bhai Jagtap urging the UnionGovernment and Maharashtra DeputyChief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to droptheir “juvenile insistence” on going aheadwith the plan. One of the first decisions takenby the Eknath Shinde Government was to

allow construction of the car-shed forMetro Line 3 at Aarey, a move that has metwith opposition from environmentalactivists and some political parties, overturn-ing the previous Government’s plan to buildit at Kanjurmarg.

The Aarey forest is the breathline ofMumbai. It is basically the lungs of Mumbai.By destroying the forest and cutting downtrees, the Centre and State are doing juve-nile insistence to set up a metro car-shedthere. This is a project that destroys the envi-ronment. It is being opposed at all levels.Mumbaikars don’t want this project in Aarey.The Metro car-shed should come up inKanjurmarg. With this, the legal dispute isexpected between the Centre and theMumbaikars with support of activists andthe Opposition parties like the Shiv Sena,Congress and the NCP.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

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Economy travailsThere’s a crying need for reforms to boost

the pace of economic growth in India

PICTALK

Students walk past as people try to repair an auto-rickshaw on a flooded road amid heavy rain, in Mumbai PTI

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

The Government’s desire to lead Industry 4.0 is there; it has even made efforts in that direction

Though Chief Minister MK Stalin has beenstriving hard to implement the promisesmade in the electoral manifesto of his

party and has also succeeded in implementinga sizeable number of their leaders’ promises,it is a wonder why there is no progress in tak-ing action against the former Ministers andpartymen of the AIADMK alleged to have beeninvolved in gargantuan corruption and amass-ing wealth disproportionate to their income,

as assured by him in his election speeches.Even now we find former Ministers againstwhom such grievous graft charges were levelled by the DMK , particularly by the ChiefMinister, moving around scot-free and evenchallenging the Government.

The people who voted the DMK to powerwith the hope that they would see that thecorrupt politicians against whom they haveeven complained to the Governor to initiateaction would be arrested and their ill-gottenwealth confiscated, remain totally disappoint-ed that no serious action has been initiatedagainst them. This leads to lots of guessesand people have even started wonderingwhether the ruling dispensation itself is pro-tecting them. It is time the Chief Ministerlooked into this burning issue and took appro-priate expeditious action on war footing, lestthe people come to a firm conclusion that theincumbent Government is trying to cover uptheir misdeeds and acts of corruption.

Shalini Gerald | Chennai

Act against corrupt leaders

SOUNDBITE

Uloom, Deoband, accessedonline. An inquirer sought toknow about the punishmentof blasphemy against ProphetMohammed in India, andunder Islamic law respec-tively (Question ID=2019).The answer ie fatwa(1386/1226=B) says that pun-ishing a criminal guilty is theduty of the Government notindividuals though oneshould try one’s level best topunish such a perpetratoraccording to IndianConstitution. Under anIslamic country, the culprit isto be killed.

The acts of the enthusi-asts, it is evident, are not with-out sanction in Islam. Thoseissuing death threats, or car-rying out executions, feelself-righteous in doing so inthe light of Islamic laws.Accepting even that Nupurhad been wrong, no Maulanaor Mufti has yet come for-ward to correct her on facts.Would that not have been themost civilised way of dealingwith the issue? Only a Salafischool cleric from Pakistan,Engineer Muhammad AliMirza, was discerning enoughto state that what Nupur saidwas evidently under provoca-tion from the Muslim side.Her approach was that ifMuslims wish to mockHinduism on theologicalground, they must not over-

look their own Achilles’ heel.It is speculative if

Christians of India wouldcome out with kitchen knivesif Nupur had expressed gravedoubts on Jesus Christ’s mir-acles of loaves and fishesraining from heaven. Orwould the Indian ambas-sador to Israel Sanjeev Singlawould have been hurriedlysummoned to Israel’sMinistry of Foreign Affairs at9, Yitzhak Rabin Boulevard atKiryat HaLeom in Jerusalem,if Nupur had expressed anegative opinion on certainacts of Moses or ProphetIsaiah in the Old Testament?Neither Judaism norChristianity at presentenforces blasphemy, whichexplains why no Christian orJew views defending the hon-our of their Prophets with theaid of swords or guns as partof their religion. This allowscritical and historical exam-ination of those religionspossible without any fear oflethal reprisal. Any such exer-cise with regard to Islam isfraught with mortal riskalthough, at the same time,Islam is being hailed as ‘reli-gion of peace’. This dichoto-my begs for an answer.

On June 8, 1992, promi-nent Egyptian professor,writer and human rightsactivist Farag Foda was assas-sinated in Cairo by the mem-

bers of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyya. Foga often daredadvocates of Sharia rule inEgypt to show how possiblythey would deal with modernproblems like housing short-age in Cairo. Foda had beenaccused of blasphemy by Al-Azhar University, though thatdid not authorise his assassi-nation by member of anIslamist organisation. Hiskiller Abu El’Ela Abdrabu,released from prison in 2012,later said in a television inter-view that the punishment ofan apostate (one who leavesIslam) is death, even if herepents.

In India, the emphasishas always been on tolerat-ing Muslims. Going intofundamentals of Islam,therefore, appeared to begoing for the jugular of thereligion. Even the judiciary,the lighthouse of rationality,felt shaken by it.

In July 2009, Justices RV Raveendran andMarkandeya Katju had buck-led under Islamist pressure towithdraw a Supreme Courtorder (March 30, 2009) thatequated Muslims insistenceon keeping beard with“Talibanisation” of India. MayPeace be upon us!

(The writer is an authorand independent researcherbased in New Delhi. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

The Indian judiciary will do great disservice to a free nation by even remotelyencouraging the blasphemous, unauthorised regime of Islam

THE DEATH THREATSTO NUPUR ARE NOTARBITRARY; THERE

IS A DEFINITE BASISTO THEM IN ISLAMICLAW. THIS EXPLAINS

WHY A LARGENUMBER OF

MUSLIMS THOUGHTTHE SAME WAY,

DESPITE THE FACTTHAT INTIMIDATION

IS PUNISHABLEUNDER LAW OF

THE LAND

PRIYADARSHI DUTTA

A bait to regimeof blasphemy

Last Friday, a local court inUdaipur transferred thetailor-beheading case tothe National Investigative

Agency (NIA). Even theRajasthan Government, other-wise accused of soft-pedallingMuslim fanaticism, is treatingthe case as an act of terror withforeign linkage. The same day,however, a vacation Bench of theSupreme Court held NupurSharma morally culpable forthe Udaipur killing. The Bench,comprising Justices Surya Kantand JB Padrewala, orallyobserved that she was “single-handedly responsible” for whatwas happening in the countrylike the “unfortunate incident” inUdaipur. One is sure that RiyazAkhtari and Ghaus Mohammed,arrested on charges of Udaipurmurder, will not fail to takeadvantage of the SupremeCourt’s observations duringtheir trial.

Way back in September1934, one Abdul Qayum stabbedto death Nathuramal Sharmainside the Court of the JudicialCommissioner of Sind. The lat-ter was waiting for his turn to beheard under Section 195 ofIndian Penal Code for publica-tion of a pamphlet on the histo-ry of Islam. The case of AbdulQayum was argued by BarkatAli, a barrister from Lahore. “Hewent to the length of saying” —as BR Ambedkar informs —“that Qayum was not guilty ofmurder of Nathuramal becausehis act was justifiable by the lawof Koran” (Pakistan or Partitionof India, P147). It would beunsurprising if Riyaz & Ghausalso argue that they had donenothing wrong according to thelaws of Islam by beheadingKanhaiya Lal Teli, the tailor.

Nupur Sharma has receiveda flurry of death threats, fromIndia and abroad, most of whichshe possibly could not see asthey clogged her email account.These death threats are notarbitrary, but there is a definitebasis to them in Islamic law. Thisexplains why a large number ofMuslims thought the same way,despite the fact that intimidationis punishable under law of theland. The answer could be foundin a fatwa of Darul Ifta of Darul

In the last 100years, differentcountries adoptedtwo models:Communism &capitalism. But ourcooperative modelis the idle path, one that succeeds.

Union Home Minister—Amit Shah

I believe that(COVID) maskswill play a biggerrole again in theautumn and winter.

German Chancellor—Olaf Scholz

Gujarat can get

cheap, 24x7

power… I’ll be back

on Sunday with a

solution to the

State’s power issue.

Delhi Chief Minister

—Arvind Kejriwal

It’s constant bullying. That’s what he (Kyrgios)does. I don’t likebullies.

Tennis player—Stefanos Tsitsipas

I want to do a filmbut whenever I getan opportunity todo a TV show, Ican’t say no.

Actor

—Shaheer Sheikh

KCR for consciencevote in Prez election

CONGRESS HAS BEEN WORKING IN GUJARAT WITH

THE PEOPLE… YOU WILL COME ACROSS PEOPLE

WHO BELIEVE IN OUR IDEOLOGY.

—GUJARAT CONGRESS GENERAL SECRETARY

NISHIT VYAS

AS AN ORGANISATION, WE HAVE BECOME

BIGGER THAN THE CONGRESS IN GUJARAT.

IT EXISTS LARGELY ON PAPER HERE.

—AAP NATIONAL CONVENER

ARVIND KEJRIWAL

Those who know driving are aware that we need to shift gearsto change the speed of the vehicle. And when we stop the car,we bring the gear to neutral position. Just like the car, there is

a neutral gear for everything. It is the gear that brings everything tostillness, neutrality, balance and renewal. When things are in neutralgear, they are at rest, and they get aligned properly. Neutrality bringsbalance and fairness in all actions.

In India at several places, especially in workshops, they have some-thing called ‘dharam kaanta’, which is basically a device used for weigh-ing goods in commercial vehicles such as trucks. It is believed thatweighing at such a place assures accuracy in weighing standards.It is again a way to ensure neutrality and fairness in commercial trans-actions. Similarly, in political and social affairs, mediators play a vitalrole. That’s because they act neutrally to find a solution for differentparties or groups of people involved in a conflict or disagreement.Likewise, there are mediators even in families and communities whohelp to resolve family disputes.

Meditation helps in looking at a problem or dispute from a neu-tral perspective, which facilitates a balanced and unbiased decisionand choices. In order for things to flow or move smoothly even speedneeds to be controlled and brought to a neutral point. That is why wesee how traffic signals ensure the smooth flow of traffic on roads.Similarly, a taxi meter is readjusted to neutral or zero and so is thepetrol vending machine in order to ensure fair transaction. In the sameway, when we need to change the colour of clothes, we have to firstbleach and make them white, which is a neutral colour. There is aneutral power above all creation that acts neutrally to bring the crea-tion to its best state.

HE, whom we know by different names, is both loving anddetached. HE is always neutral – HE does not act out of bias, likesor dislikes. That is why everyone prays to HIM to solve their prob-lems and to guide them to well-being. Hence, it is important for humansalso to be detached whilst performing actions. For, it is only throughspiritual awareness that one can act neutrally and be free from thebondage of ‘Karma’. And, it is only when we perform neutrally thatwe can empower others or do welfare and constructive work.Remember! When we are too involved and attached to actions androles, we cannot do good or empower others in spite of wanting todo so because attachment creates expectations and dependence onpeople and results.

So, in order to act and live neutrally, we have to come to the zeropoint, i.e., to a neutral position. We have to detach even from our bodyand become soul conscious. As souls we are the children of ONESupreme, hence, we need to live in this world like a trustee who ownsnothing. When we act in the remembrance of ONE, we accumulatetremendous power and fortune, which further adds the power of zeroto our account of Karma like 10, 100, 1000.... One of the easiest andeffortless ways to become neutral is to put a full stop. YES! Throughoutthe day while playing different roles, we just have to pause and stopthinking about external things and connect to our original state of beingpeaceful and pure for a minute and then come back to action. Thesefull stops, applied periodically during the day, help us to become neu-tral, balanced and empowered to do our best. So, let’s begin the jour-ney to ZERO.

( The author is a spiritual educator.)

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JULY 6, 2022

07

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

FIRSTCOLUMN

SEEKING NEUTRALITY,DETACHMENT IN WORLD

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

VANAM JWALANARASIMHA RAO

& VJM DIVAKAR

Neutrality brings balance and fairness in all actions

CANDIDATESOFTEN APPEAL

FORCONSCIENCEVOTE IN THE

PRESIDENTIALELECTION,

AND THETELANGANA

CM KCRARGUED IN AN

ADDRESS TOMPS AND MLAS

THATYASHWANT

SINHA’SVICTORY

COULDHERALD MANYCHANGES FOR

THE BETTER

While the Shiv Senahas split inMaharashtra, the

AIADMK in Tamil Nadu isengaged in a power strugglewith two former chief minis-ters, E. Palaniswamy (EPS)and O. Pannerselvam (OPS),fighting with each other.

In a fast-developingdrama, the EPS camp wouldlike to relieve OPS of his pre-sent post of party treasurer andDeputy Leader in theAssembly. After losing theAssembly elections last year,and successive local body polls,the EPS camp feels that thedual leadership has only ham-pered the working of the party.

Amid its golden jubileecelebrations, the AIADMKcadres are confused. Five yearsago, when a relativelyunknown EPS was chosen as

CM candidate by ex-AIADMKgeneral secretary V.K. Sasikala,EPS and OPS reached a trucein 2017 to establish dual lead-ership. Together they steeredthe party and government suc-cessfully for four years, brav-ing a pandemic.

After five decades, theAIADMK is facing a bleakfuture. Carefully built by twoformer chief ministers—founder M.G. Ramachandranand his protege J. Jayalalithaa—it is undergoing a bad patch.There is a disconnect betweenthe leaders and cadres. Some ofthe party's challenges includefactionalism and the approachtowards the ally BharatiyaJanata Party, which is trying toreplace the Dravidian party asa counterforce to the DMK.

A gradual erosion in thepost-Jayalalithaa era is amply

clear. The AIADMK's voteshare stands at 25.47 per centin the urban local body elec-tion. It got 33.29 per cent ofvotes in the Assembly.

The charismatic matineeidol MGR established theAIADMK on October 12,1972, two days after the parentparty DMK expelled him. Heserved as the chief ministerfrom 1977 till his death in1987. He chose to be on theright side of the Centre andmade compromises with theprime ministers, includingIndira Gandhi.

The philosophy of DMKfounder and former chiefminister C.N. Annaduraibecame the founding princi-ple of the AIADMK. MGR'ssuccessor Jayalalithaa alignedwith BJP and the Congress atdifferent times, and became

chief minister six times withinterruptions.

It is not the first time theAIADMK is facing a split.Following MGR's death in1987, there was a power strug-gle between one faction head-ed by MGR's wife Janaki andthe other by Jayalalithaa. WhileJanaki succeeded MGR as chiefminister for a short period,both sections lost miserably tothe DMK in the 1989 polls.Then Janaki withdrew frompolitics, and Jayalalithaabecame the sole leader.

OPS and EPS have takentheir fight to the general coun-cil, which has the power toelect an interim general secre-tary, not a permanent one.That was how Sasikala donnedthe post following the death ofJayalalithaa. But EPS and OPSremoved Sasikala from that

post and created new positionssuch as coordinator and co-coordinator, which are alsotemporary.

In the current situation,OPS got a midnight hearingbefore the Tamil Nadu HighCourt to restrict discussionpoints in the general councilmeeting. He thus stopped theparty from elevating EPS as thesole leader at the June 23 gen-eral council meeting. However,the discussion turned uglywhen clashes broke outbetween the two camps.

Seventy-five district secre-taries, headquarters func-tionaries, and general councilmembers have moved to theEPS camp in the last few days.OPS has the support of justnine district secretaries andleaders like Manoj Pandianand R. Vaithilingam.

OPS blamed vested inte-rests and asserted that thegeneral council and Monday'smeeting of top AIADMKfunctionaries were illegal.Similarly, a proposed GC onJuly 11 is also not legal. It isdoubtful whether it will takeplace or OPS will move thecourt to stop it.

After Jaya, the BJP hasremote control over theAIADMK from the Centre.The change was abundantlyclear on issues like NEET,New Education Policy, three-language policy (giving thenod first and then withdraw-ing it after the protests), theCAA, farmers' law, handling ofthe pandemic, etc.

The BJP is not able to pen-etrate much because of its ide-ology. In Tamil Nadu, theDravidian-Tamil sentiment is

strong. So just like Congress,the BJP is riding piggyback on AIADMK. The Dravidianparties have had tie-ups withthe two national parties at different times.

OPS tried to rope in theBJP, which had backed himearlier, but Prime MinisterNarendra Modi refused to givehim an audience last week. Adisappointed OPS came backfrom Delhi and is resorting toother measures to survive.

In any political party, thecadres decide who gets to leadthe party, and, in this case,Panneerselvam is certainly nottheir first choice. It is abouttime he accepted the fact andworked towards gaining accep-tance of the large number ofAIADMK cadre as their leader,as, after all, courts cannot gethim back to his workers.

It’s a challenge for AIADMK as to how to engage with ally BJP which is trying to use it as a counterforce to DMK

EPS, OPS slug it out for control over AIADMK

(The writer is a seniorjournalist. The views

expressed are personal.)

KALYANI SHANKAR

RAJYOGI BHRAHMAKUMAR NIKUNJ JI

Aray of hope for sustenance ofdemocracy and for a bright andprosperous India emerged crystalclear when Telangana Chief

Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) president K Chandrashekhar Raoattacked the Union government led byPrime Minister Narendra Modi. He poin-ted out how for the past eight years it hasbeen bulldozing every institution, basicrights of democracy, the secular fabric of thenation, while ruthlessly, arrogantly andunethically trying to silence the opposition,and also immorally and illegally toppling thedemocratically elected state governmentswhen its inability to face the aggression ofthe external enemies and becoming an agentof a few crony capitalists and so on. The plat-form was Hyderabad Jalavihar where ameeting of TRS MLAs and MPs was con-vened to extend support to the presidentialcandidate Yashwant Sinha.

Reminding the 1969 Presidential elec-tion contest between Congress’ officialcandidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and thethen Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suppor-ted independent candidate VV Giri, whenan appeal was made to the electoral collegemembers to vote as per their conscience,KCR urged all MPs and MLAs to once againvote as per their conscience this time irre-spective of party affiliations.

KCR argued that Yashwant Sinha wouldbe a better choice when compared to NDAcandidate Droupadi Murmu, in view of hisability to bring a qualitative change in pol-itics. And thus, KCR had every reason tomake an appeal for a conscience vote in favorof Yashwant Sinha, as he said “nothing inthis country is going on in a rightful man-ner”. KCR in his hour-long address to theElectoral College members cited a series ofexamples in support of his appeal for a con-science vote and also as to why there is aneed for qualitative changes and why thereis a need for electing Yashwant Sinha to thehighest office.

Though PM Modi made tall promisessoon after assuming office, pointed out KCR,he failed to fulfill even a single promise. Inaddition, he enacted three draconian farmlaws, forcing the peasant community to siton protests for over a year. Finally, Modi hadto withdraw the farm laws after 700 farmerslost their precious lives. Also, neither thefarmers’ income was doubled nor MinimumSupport Price (MSP) was increased.

KCR was sarcastic when he said that PMModi thinks he is invincible though the 14Prime Ministers who preceded him neverthought so. Modi is under the false impres-sion that he would be the PM of India per-manently despite the fact that politicalchange in a democracy is imminent.

KCR detailed how under PM Modi, thecountry’s image all over the world lowered;how farmers, unemployed and employeeshave been facing problems; how price riseand inflation are uncontrolled; how theunion government is abusing theConstitutional institutions; how opposition

KCR has sought conscience vote for Presidential candidateYashwant Sinha to boost anti-Modi front

parties are harassed and targeted, etc.This according to KCR is nothingbut murder of democracy.

Touching upon the aspect ofhow the BJP rulers are conspiring todestabilize the state governments,KCR said the Modi government hastoppled nine Opposition-ruledstates.

Taking serious objection toModi’s exerting pressure on SriLankan government to allot contractworks to his favored persons, whichwas openly confessed by a Sri LankaElectricity Board official, KCRdemanded a clarification from PM.He also labelled that the present cri-sis in Sri Lanka is the handiwork ofModi and Sri Lankan economy’s col-lapse hurt India's reputation. KCRhinted at fighting against this. KCRwanted Modi to disclose the insidestory of the Sri Lanka crisis.

Criticizing the much-hyped‘Make in India’ programme, KCRsought a clarification on job creationdue to this, as well as industrialgrowth in the Modi regime. KCRalso suggested to Modi to learnlessons from China where the rulersspeak less and work more.

While the country has abundantcoal stocks, KCR asked why theModi government forced Telanganato buy 10 per cent imported coal ata higher price. Charging that Modiis working like a salesman of bigtraders, KCR said that he shouldexplain why the BJP government ispromoting coal imports. KCRsought an explanation from Modi asto why many major internationalcompanies like Fiat, Ford, GMmotors, Datsun, United Motors,Harley Davidson stopped their busi-nesses in the country.

Asserting that the 130-crorepopulation cannot be a spectator,KCR expressed concerns at blackmoney doubling in the Modiregime, depreciation of rupee to an all-time low, privatization of profit-making public-sector under-takings, including LIC. The infer-ence is that the Modi governmentplayed a major role in the decline ofall sectors.

Referring to the period of corona crisis, KCR said that whilethe holy Ganga River was floodedwith corpses, while the Modi government failed to provide anysuccor to the migrant labor, it wasTelangana government that did itsbest in extending relief to one andall. Every policy adopted by theModi government proved disastrousfor the country.

With statistical data, KCRexplained how under the Modiregime rankings in many sectors atthe international level had fallen, beit Human Development Index,Human Rights, employment, hap-piness index, environment, etc. Itshows the poor performance of theModi government in the last eightyears.

Asserting that the Modi govern-ment killed democracy and weak-ened federal structure, besidesharassing state governments, KCRtook serious objection to the state-ment of a Union minister thatTelangana government would betoppled. He said if Modi's dictator-ial rule dethrones Telangana govern-ment, his party would unseat theBJP government at the Center, hint-ing that Telangana is ready foranother big fight.

Among others, KCR also cate-

gorically mentioned that India isbeing insulted on international plat-forms due to Modi's decisions andpolicies; India's Father of the nationis insulted repeatedly by the Modi'smen; Modi is unnecessarily interfer-ing in elections of other countries ashe supported Donald Trump in theUS elections; Harassment of statesand exploitation of the constitution-al bodies continue.

In his concluding remarks, KCRsaid that it is time for people in thecountry to wage another non-vio-lent movement to dislodge the BJP-led government at the Center andpave the way for a new, honest,peaceful, secular, democratic andprogressive government. The firststep in this direction is to getYashwant Sinha elected as thePresident of the country. Hence, hemade an appeal for a conscience votefor Sinha. In this context he madethe timely reminder of thePresidential contest between NeelamSanjeev Reddy and VV Giri, whenthe conscience vote gave India itsPresident.

KCR’s address has raised hopesthat Modi can be questioned, and hisactions can be opposed. KCR’sspeech may well be the first step inthe direction to restore the countryback to its glorious past. It also is thebeginning to lay a strong foundationfor the country to once again standtall with true democratic and secu-lar values and become once again aneconomic power in Asia.

Though KCR demanded repliesfrom PM Modi to the points heraised, PM remained silent in hisaddress in the public meeting heldafter the BJP national executive com-mittee meeting.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JULY 6, 2022 Money 08

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RS

Passenger vehicle retail sales in the country rose 40 per cent in June indicating animprovement in semiconductor supplies even as demand, especially for SUVs, remainedrobust, auto dealer' body FADA said on Tuesday.According to the Federation of Automobile

Dealers Associations (FADA), passenger vehicle (PV) registrations rose to 2,60,683 units lastmonth, as compared to 1,85,998 units in June 2021, registering an increase of 40 per cent."ThePV segment continued to see robust growth. Anincrease in dispatches clearly shows thatsemiconductor availability is now getting easier,"FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said in astatement.Due to chip shortage, however,waiting periods, especially in compact SUV andSUV segments, continue to remain high, headded.Despite long waiting periods, new vehiclelaunches are witnessing robust bookings thusreflecting a healthy demand pipeline, Gulatisaid.Two-wheeler retail sales last month rose 20per cent to 11,19,096 units, as compared to9,30,825 units in the year-ago period, FADA datashowed.

FMCG major Marico on Tuesday reported a volume decline "in mid-single digits" in itsIndia business, as the sector continued to witness "tepid demand" as rising retailinflation exerted pressure on the share of wallet.Current trends indicate that

consumers "titrated consumption" in some nonessential categories and either"downtraded among brands or switched to smaller packs" in the essential categories,said Marico."In the given context, Indiabusiness volumes declined in mid-single digits. The performance wasparticularly dragged by a sharp drop inSaffola Oils. Excluding Saffola Oils, theIndia business posted marginalvolume growth. Parachute Coconut Oilrecorded a minor volume decline," saidMarico in its quarterly update for Q1FY23.However, premium discretionarycategories fared relatively better in theApril-June quarter because of a lowerbase and lower consumption dip in theupper-income consumer segment.

Witnessing a robust demand for its electric scooter Chetak, Bajaj Auto plans to scaleup the sales infrastructure for the model to 75 locations across the country in thecurrent fiscal.The Pune-based firm had brought back its iconic Chetak scooter in

electric avatar in October 2019."Seeing the enthusiastic demand for this iconic model, thecompany has increased the touchpoints to 20 locations in FY 2022. This is expected togrow to 75 in FY 2023," the company saidin its Annual Report for 2021-22.Initially, Chetak was sold from only twolocations, Pune and Bengaluru. Thecompany noted that when bookings for themodel were first rolled out in early 2020, ithad to be stopped on account of COVID."When we restarted online bookings onApril 13, 2021, we had to stop 48 hourslater, owing to overwhelming demand," itnoted.During the last fiscal, the companysaid it has sold 8,187 units of the e-scooter."We are committed to thedevelopment of Electric Vehicles (EVs).

Passenger vehicle retail sales up 40pc in June as chip supply improves

Marico reports mid-single-digitvolume decline in domestic market

Bajaj Auto looks to sell Chetak from75 locations in current fiscal

PNS n MUMBAI

The production-linked incen-tives (PLI) scheme, which seeksto boost manufacturing in keyareas by offering nearly Rs 2.4lakh crore in incentives overthe next five years, can add 4per cent to the GDP annuallyin terms of incremental rev-enue, says a report.

So far, the scheme has seenmaximum response from theelectronics, auto components,and pharma sectors, accordingto Emkay InvestmentManagers.

The PLI scheme has thepotential to add nearly 4 percent to GDP per annum in

terms of incremental revenueif fully realised, the reportreleased on Tuesday said.

Manufacturing companiesare adding capacities due torobust returns and this is evi-dent from the number of newmanufacturing companies reg-istered.

Registration of manufactur-ing companies has shot up tothe highest ever in the lastseven years and the share ofmanufacturing companies intotal registrations is also atalmost highest level since thepast decade.

Also, the number of environ-mental clearances sought andgranted was the highest ever in

FY22, which was 10x of FY15,says the report and credits thesame to the structural changesunveiled during 2018-21 whichare reminiscent of the manysuch things that happened

prior to the 2003-06 boomcycle.The report said thatdomestic manufacturing washit due to demonetisation,badly rolled out GST, and thepandemic apart from the miss-

ing consumer demand. As aresult manufacturing compa-nies have been reporting dis-mal RoCEs (return on capitalemployed) till FY18.

Since then the cash ROCEshave improved to almost 20 percent driven by tighter workingcapital cycles and the cashreturn on capital employedwas the highest in FY22.

The report goes on to addthat the current differencebetween cash ROCE and com-parable investment is one of thehighest and the attractivenessof cash returns coupled withbetter capacity utilization hasput manufacturers on the frontfoot.

PLI scheme can add 4% to GDP annually

NTPC mines 61 pc more coal at42.20 lakh metric tonnes in April-JunePNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned power giantNTPC on Tuesday said that itscoal output grew by 61 percent to Rs 42.40 lakh metrictonnes in April-June quarterfrom 26.40 lakh metric tonnes(MT) in the same period ayear ago.

"The three operational coalmines -- Pakri-Barwadih(Jharkhand), Dulanga(Odisha) and Talaipalli(Chhattisgarh) -- have con-tributed to achieving 42.40lakh metric tonnes of coal pro-duction," an NTPC statementsaid.According to the state-ment, the coal production of42.40 lakh MT in the firstquarter of FY23 was 61 percent more than the productionof 26.40 lakh MT achieved inthe same period last year.

The production of coal dur-ing the month of June 2022almost doubled to 15.55 lakh

MT from 7.73 lakh MT in thesame month a year ago.

Along with this coal pro-duction, the NTPC has alsocontributed to the removal of106 lakh cubic metre and coaldespatch of 41.74 lakh MT toNTPC power plants, in thisquarter.NTPC said that it hasalso started mining opera-tions in its Chatti-Bariatu coalmine (Jharkhand) and has

already touched coal in Maythis year.

The coal from this mine willbe supplied to Barh PowerStation of NTPC.

NTPC was awarded theoperation contract forTalaipalli (West Pit)(Chhattisgarh) on June 30,2022 and the mining opera-tions in this pit will commencesoon.

PNS n GANDHINAGAR

Union IT minister AshwiniVaishnaw on Tuesday exudedconfidence that Open Networkfor Digital Commerce(ONDC) can become the nextUPI, one of India's most suc-cessful digital products.

According to Vaishnaw,ONDC can help entrepre-neurs who are into either e-commerce, B2B or dealingdirectly with customers.

"Can we expand ONDC tomake it the next UPI? I requestall of you to have a serious lookat it. We believe that ONDCcan be the next UPI. Just lookhow you can leverage it foryour business," said Vaishnawin his address after inaugurat-ing the 'National StartupConference' at MahatmaMandir convention centre hereas part of the Digital IndiaWeek 2022.

In April, the Centrelaunched ONDC in five citiesof Delhi NCR, Bengaluru,Bhopal, Shillong andCoimbatore in the pilot phase.

It is an initiative of the govern-ment to promote an openplatform for all aspects of theexchange of goods and servicesthrough electronicnetworks.Through this plat-form, consumers can poten-tially discover any seller, prod-uct or service by using anyONDC-compatible applica-tion or platform, thus increas-ing freedom of choice for con-sumers.

In his address, Vaishnawalso urged startup entrepre-neurs to take the UPI (Unified

Payments Interface), a systemthat powers multiple bankaccounts into a single mobileapplication, to the world in a"very big way".

"UPI is a fabulous solution.Three countries have alreadysigned up agreements with usto use it. But, can we take it toa large scale?" asked Vaishnaw,who handles Railways,Communications andElectronics as well asInformation Technology port-folio as Cabinet minister.

On the occasion, he saidwhen the Centre had launchedthe "Startup India" initiative,political opponents had pre-dicted its failure saying it wasjust a slogan or "jumla". "Now,see the change which has hap-pened.

India currently has nearly70,000 startups and over 100unicorns. The first questionministers of other countriesask is how we were able to cre-ate such a startup ecosystem insuch a short time, becauseother countries took decades"said the minister.

ONDC can become nextUPI, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

PNS n MUMBAI

Bengaluru-based electric vehi-cle startup Bounce on Tuesdayannounced its partnership withthe central government's e-governance service deliverynetwork CSC to strengthen itspresence across ruralmarkets.Under the collabora-tion, Bounce will sell its prod-uct offerings through theCommon Service Centre (CSC)network, the companysaid.CSC, a special purpose

vehicle of the ministry of elec-tronics and IT, allows Village-Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs)the option to launch a rural e-store.CSC Rural e-Mobility pro-motes the use of EVs (ElectricVehicles) and charging infra-structure across the countrythrough a strong and vibrantnetwork of VLEs.Initially, thecompany will offer BounceInfinity e-scooters, fleet rentalservice and two- and three-wheelers retrofitting, Bouncesaid in a statement.

Bounce to sell its electricvehicle product offerings

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee fell by 41 paise toclose at a fresh lifetime low of79.36 (provisional) againstthe US dollar on Tuesdayamid a strong greenbackoverseas and unrelenting for-eign fund outflows.

At the interbank forexmarket, the local unit openedat 79.04 against the greenbackand witnessed an intra-dayhigh of 79.02 and a low of79.38.It finally settled at 79.36(provisional), down 41 paiseover its previous close. OnMonday, the rupee had closedat 78.95 against the US dol-lar.The Indian rupee hit afresh record low against theUS Dollar on Tuesday on theback of stronger dollar andw e a k e r- t h a n - e x p e c t e ddomestic data, said AnujChoudhary - ResearchAnalyst at Sharekhan by BNPParibas.

Rupee plunges by 41paise to record low of79.36 against US dollar

PNS n NEW DELHI

CII's President Sanjiv Bajaj onTuesday pitched for the simpli-fication of Goods and ServicesTax structure, and suggestedthat electricity as well as fuelshould be brought under theGST ambit as that will helpmake the industry more com-petitive.He also suggested thatthe number of tax slabs underthe GST should be broughtdown to three."Going forward,we believe that on GST furthersimplification, cutting some ofthe inconsistencies, there aresectors where there is invertedtax structure, bringing in itemslike electricity, fuel under GSTwill further help simplify, cutcosts, make industry morecompetitive," he said in aninterview to PTI.

Further, the president ofthe industry body said there isjustification for keeping sin andluxury goods in the highestslab."We believe there is (scopefor) simplification to probablythree slabs. Now that five yearshave gone and there is experi-ence over there, is what makessense and that is somethingthat should be deliberatedupon," Bajaj, who is Chairmanand Managing Director ofBajaj Finserv Limited, said.

Industry body CIIpitches forsimplification of GST PNS n NEW DELHI

Retail chain Shoppers StopLtd has plans to launch 12new stores in FY23, primar-ily in tier-2 and tier-3 cities,and will continue to invest instore renovations.

Shoppers Stop plans toincrease the share of new andrefurbished stores to over 50per cent in FY23, said the lat-est annual report of the com-pany.

The company will alsocontinue to invest in its pri-vate labels, including celebri-ty endorsements.

Shoppers Stop is investingin the new-age technologyand is backing its data analyt-ics project Jarvis to max-imise its understanding ofcustomer behaviour and pref-

erences."Project Jarvis, a massive

data lake and analytics pro-ject , wil l s ignif icantlyimprove our overall analyti-cal capabilities, enabling us toget 'closer' to our customersthrough the use of a propen-sity model and better miningof behavioural data and pref-erences," the report said.

This can then be translat-ed into much more effectivemarketing and product rec-ommendations, leading togreater customer accretionand stickiness.

"We are enhancing the sup-ply chain function throughan automatic inventor yreplenishment system thatcan trigger customer-centricproduct assortments to opti-mise sales," it said.

Shoppers Stop to add 12 new storesin FY23; focuses on private labels

PNS n MUMBAI

The Bombay High Court onTuesday upheld the decision ofthe Brihanmumbai ElectricSupply and Transport (BEST)Undertaking to disqualify TataMotors from a tender bid foroperating electric buses in thecity. A bench of Justices S VGangapurwala and MadhavJamdar dismissed a plea filed byTata Motors challenging the

disqualification.The bench heldthat BEST had been right in dis-qualifying the Tata Motors.Theauto major had approached theHC challenging the BEST'sdecision to disqualify it from thetender process for operating1,400 electric buses forMumbai.Tata Motors had par-ticipated in the tender process,but its bid was disqualified byBEST following a technical suit-ability evaluation, the parties

had previously told the highcourt.It had argued that itstechnical bid was "arbitrarily"rejected to favour the companythat won the tender process.Asper the plea filed by the automo-bile company, BEST had pub-lished an e-tender notice onFebruary 26 this year for two-bid e-tender for the operation ofstage carriage services for 1,400single-decker AC electric busesfor Mumbai and its suburbs.

Bombay HC upholds disqualification ofTata Motors from e-buses tender process

PNS n MUMBAI

Public-Private Partnership(PPP) projects in the port sec-tor are of great significance inmaking Indian ports morecompetitive and strengthen-ing the country's position ininternational trade, ministerof state for ports, shippingand waterways Shripad YessoNaik said on Tuesday.

The minister said that rop-ing in private players hashelped in improving the effi-ciency of the port sector andincrease earnings.

Naik was addressing theMaritime Public-PrivatePartnership Enclave 2022here, organised jointly by theJawaharlal Nehru PortAuthority (JNPA) andMumbai Port Authority(MbPA) on 25 years of PPPinvestments in major ports.

"PPP mode has becomethe perfect mode of infra-structure development. Whilewe celebrate these fruitful 25years, we need to furtherstrengthen the existing andfuture PPPs by providing asupportive environment," hesaid.

When the port privatisa-tion programme was flagged

off in 1997, the minister said,the port sector witnessed newinvestments including thosefrom overseas.

"PPP projects in the portssector are of great significancein making Indian ports morecompetitive and therebystrengthening India's posi-tion in international trade," hesaid.To drive the economictransformation through themodernisation of port infra-structure requires expansionand upgradation of berths,construction of new berthsand terminals, automation ofport operations, among oth-ers, the minister said.

"As we embark on a newera of economic resurgence,bolstered by port-led develop-ment, we look forward tostreamlining initiatives topromote private participa-tion," Naik said.He said thegovernment is working onproviding a conducive ecosys-tem by implementing policiesto enhance the legal and polit-ical environment, improvingthe efficiency of the publicsector, preparing a robustinstitutional framework,expediting the clearanceprocesses and providingfunding assistance.

Public-pvt partnership projectscan boost trade in ports sector

PNS n NEW DELHI

India will not need to importurea by 2025-end as thedomestic production of con-ventional urea and nano liquidurea is expected to be suffi-cient to meet the country'sannual demand, UnionMinister for Chemicals andFertilisers MansukhMandaviya said on Tuesday.

At present, the country'surea (conventional) produc-tion is 260 lakh tonnes, whilearound 90 lakh tonnes areimported to meet localdemand.

"As per our estimate, we willbe self-sufficient in urea by2025-end and there will be noimport dependence. Ourdomestic production of con-ventional urea and nano ureawill be more than thedemand," he told reportershere.

The minister said around 60lakh tonnes of productioncapacity will be added for

conventional urea, while theoutput of nano urea is estimat-ed to rise to 44 crores bottles(of 500 ml each) per annum,which will be equivalent to 200lakh tonnes of conventionalurea.

Mandaviya said the adop-tion of nano urea by farmershas been very encouragingand highlighted that the liquidnutrient is effective for main-taining soil health as well as forincreasing crop yield.

According to a ministry

official, the government willsave foreign exchange of aboutRs 40,000 crore per annumdue to a reduction in imports.

One bottle of nano urea isequivalent to one bag of urea.Its application can effectivelylead to a reduction in soil,water and air pollution whichhappens due to the overuse ofchemical fertilisers both atproduction and consumptionlevels.

At present, the capacity ofnano urea is 5 crore bottles per

year.Co-operative major IFFCO

has introduced innovativenano urea in the market. Thecommercial production start-ed on August 1, 2021 fromIFFCO's plant at Kalol inGujarat.

Seven more nano ureaplants are being set up byIFFCO as well as two state-owned firms RCF and NFL.IFFCO has transferred thenano urea technology to thesetwo public sector undertakingsfree of cost.

On demand of nano-urea,the official said the totaldespatch of nano urea was3,90,03,284 bottles and sales2,87,25,822 bottles betweenAugust 2021 and June 2022.

Nano urea has been soldacross various states. As manyas 3,36,456 bottles have beenexported as well.Explainingthe benefits, the official saidthat nano urea is eco-friendlyas it leads to less soil, air andwater pollution.

India to be self-sufficientin urea by 2025 end: Govt

ED conducts raidsagainst Vivo, relatedcompanies in moneylaundering probePNS n NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Tuesday conductedsearches at 44 places across thecountry in a money launderinginvestigation against Chinesesmartphone manufacturingcompany Vivo and relatedfirms, officials said.The search-es are being carried out undersections of the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) at locations in sever-al states including in Delhi,Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya,Maharashtra and others.Theagency is conducting searchesat 44 places related to Vivo andassociated companies, theysaid.A query sent by PTI to Vivodid not elicit a response. Thenews piece will be updated oncethe company issues a state-ment.The federal agency fileda money laundering case aftertaking cognisance of a recentDelhi Police (economic offenceswing) FIR against a distributorof the agency based in Jammuand Kashmir where it wasalleged that few Chinese share-holders in that company forgedtheir identify documents.

9

Vijayawada | Wednesday July 6, 2022 what’s brewing?

Vidyut Jammwal, hasmade a mark with hisfilms including Force,

Commando, and KhudaHaafiz among the rest.Vidyut is all set to be seen inhis next film Khuda Haafizchapter 2 Agni Pariksha.

He has recently talkedabout how the society oftenrestricts women fromexploring certain areas, toassure their safety. He saidthat men and brothers, whowere raised in the same envi-ronment, are less likely tomisbehave with women.

Speaking about paternity,and how he would become afather, he said that he wouldgive all the freedom to hisdaughter and added that weoften limit our daughters. Hesays, “I would tell her ‘dowhatever you want, tumharabaap hai na.”

Vidyut told PrabhatKhabar, “Since I was born,the scenario has been thesame. It’s not the govern-ment, but society that canchange into this. I think if asister and two brothers, abrother would turn out to begood. There will be rarecases where a sister is raisedin an atmosphere of equal

treatment and abrother misbe-haves withwomen outsidethe home.Basically, wemust ensure theeducation ofgirls and boys isdone equally.”

Vidyut is cur-rently busy pro-moting for thesecond install-ment of hisaction film,titled KhudaHaafiz Chapter 2Agni Pariksha,which will bereleased in cine-mas on July 8.The film waswritten anddirected byFaruk Kabir,who had workedon the first filmin the franchise.

Apart fromKhuda HaafizChapter 2 AgniPariksha, Vidyutalso got IB 71and Sher SinghRaana in thepipeline.

Men are lesslikely to

misbehave, if raised in the same

environment:Vidyut Jammwal

James Cameron planning to leaveAvatar franchise after third sequel

ilmmaker JamesCameron, who isawaiting therelease of hisupcoming fantasy

epic Avatar: The Way of theWater, has shared that hemight possibly stop direct-ing the films in the franchiseafter the third sequel,reports 'Variety'.

The director told 'Empire'magazine that he's consider-ing leaving the world ofPandora behind for otherprojects down the line andwould pass on the baton toother deserving filmmakersin the process.

The first Avatar sequel,subtitled The Way of Water,is set to hit theatres onDecember 16. A third filmin the Avatar series was shotback-to-back with The Way

of the Water and is eyeing arelease in 2024.

Cameron told 'Empire'magazine, as quoted by'Variety', The Avatar filmsthemselves are kind of all-consuming. I've got someother things I'm developingas well that are exciting.

“I think eventually overtime, I don't know if that'safter three or after four. I'llwant to pass the baton to adirector that I trust to takeover, so I can go do someother stuff that I'm alsointerested in. Or maybe not.I don't know,” he said.

Even so, Cameronexpressed excitement aboutthe potential to watch hisgrand plan for the Avatarsaga come to fruition.

He says, “Movie four is acorker. It's a mo**********. Ihope I get to make it. But itdepends on market forces.Three is in the can so it'scoming out regardless. Ireally hope that we get tomake four and five becauseit's one big story, ultimately.”

Cameron has steppedaway from the director'schair for projects that he haspoured years into, startingwith 2019's Alita: BattleAngel, which was ultimatelyhelmed by RobertRodriguez, although hestayed attached to the pro-duction as an executive pro-ducer and co-writer.

f

French actor JudithChemla has sharedpictures of her

injured face after she washit by her ex last year. Shedid not reveal his namebut opened up about suchincidents in a longInstagram post lateSunday. The pictures,clicked on different days,show her with a cut injuryon her cheek, a bruise onher eyebrow and a swolleneye.

Judith wrote in Frenchalong with the pictures, “Ayear ago my face wasinjured, blue, purpleunder my eye, I sawmyself deformed. A yearago, I looked at my face inthe mirror and I knewthat I could no longer hidemy face. My daughter’sfather. Those who are ableto do this must be out ofharm’s way. But how? I’mnot ashamed of this photo.But he should be ashamed,he should be ashamedtoday, a year later, insteadof continuing to pressureme, to think that he still

has the means to manipu-late me, instead of rottingmy child’s head he shouldbe ashamed and quiet,really want to be forgiven.This is not the case.”

Judith Chemla shared anote and some pictures ofherself on Instagram.

She further wrote, “Ihave so much evidencethat he continues to tryand harm me. Should I goback to the police a thirdtime? Filing a third com-

plaint in a year? To be inthe film industry and havethe sword of Damocles ofeight months of a sus-pended sentence, isn’t thatenough? Really go to jail?He will still play the vic-tim with my daughter andshe will suffer from notseeing her father.”

“Should I keep this tomyself? He will still feelabove the law, will contin-ue to complain and chal-lenge court decisions with

his 5-year-old daughter,who sees him as a normalfather who he is not. Hewill continue to believethat he is able to pressureme and bully me morally.I can not stand it any-more. I demand peace. Isit clearer like this?” sheadded.

According to Deadline,Judith was earlier datingfilm director YohanManca, who was sen-tenced to an eight-monthsuspended jail sentencefor domestic abuse againsther in May. Variety hadstated at the time thatJudith had filed a policecomplaint against YohanManca in Paris after hereportedly hurled a cellphone at her in the streeton July 3, 2021.

Judith was seen inCamille Rewinds (2012),Une Vie (2016) andrecently released comedyNot My Type. She alsostarred in My BrothersAnd I which was screenedin the Un Certain Regardsection of Cannes.

Actor Judith Chemla revealsinjuries from domestic abuse

Playback singer SonaMohapatra, who hascrooned hit numbers such

as Bedardi Raja, Ambarsariyaand Rangabati, has addressed alengthy tweet to Parag Agrawal,CEO of the microblogging site,slamming the practice of notinviting women as headlinersfor cultural events at his almamater IIT Bombay. In hertweet, Sona wrote, “Dear

@paraga, Ur alma-mater has fordecades, mostly never hostedwomen as headliners in theircultural festival. IITB alumni,even CEOs slammed me on fbfor writing this letter.” Sonaurged Agrawal to watch herdocumentary Shut Up Sona toget a glimpse of what femaleartistes have to go through toget equal respect, representa-tion, and remuneration.

She added, “I hope U watchmy film #ShutUpSona to seewhat our reality as femaleartists in the 21rst century is.Love & Light.” She also attachedscreenshots of her viral openletter on Facebook. The tweetserves as a reminder to whateven the most successfulwomen have to face when theycome up against systemic sex-ism.

Sona Mohapatra draws Twitter CEO'sattention to sexism in his alma mater

FUN

ARCHIE

GARFIELDREALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

SUDOKU

Rulesl Each row and column can

contain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

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

Cannabis is legal in more than 30 states,and 18 have legalised cannabis for

recreational use in many countries. The

Pioneer connects with LoveenaSirohi, the youngest female

in this sector, who tellsus all about howthe entire tide is

changing insupport ofcannabis.

Afew years ago, many Indianswoke up to the sight of arespected Hollywood star on

their front pages and on huge bill-boards across their cities, promoting aproduct that most of us readily knowstands for a variety of smokelesstobacco products like gutka and panmasala.

No doubt cultural nuances wereoverlooked, as the actor later clarifiedthat he was unaware of the implica-tions of his actions and that, as anadvocate for cancer awareness, hewould never willingly promote any-thing tobacco-related after losing twofamily members to the disease.Morerecently (and culturally closer), somestars from Bollywood and Tollywoodwere in the news for disassociatingthemselves from tobacco productpromotions. Increased knowledgeabout the deadly effects of tobaccoaside, we can also attribute these actsto increased awareness about surro-gate advertising. One may wonderwhy these public announcements bymembers of our entertainment indus-try are so deserving of our attention.Let us consider a few well-knownfacts available in the public domain.

The Indian government has insti-tuted various laws to curb tobaccousage, including requiring largergraphic warnings on packs, prohibit-ing their sale near educational institu-tions or to minors, mandatingDesignated Smoking Areas (DSA) forcertain places, banningsmoking in publicspaces, fining thosewho spit out chewedtobacco, and banningthe direct or indirectadvertisements oftobacco or tobac-co-related prod-ucts. While theyaddress key chal-lenges, a lot more

ground needs to be covered. One areain need of immediate attention is sur-rogate advertising and the role ofcelebrity endorsements.

Manufacturers use brand exten-sions to build associations and adver-tise, as we have seen with the mouthfresheners advertisements. These areusually sold under the same brandname and with very little differentia-tion. Consumers, especially youngpeople, are subliminally lured andconvinced to make a positive associa-tion between the two. Meanwhile,well-known personalities are misledinto believing that their endorsementis for a tobacco-free sister product, sotheir conscience can rest as there isno law being broken.

A simple endorsement can undoyears of efforts and investments bygovernments in trying to controltobacco use prevalence, intended tosave lives and families from the bur-den of deadly diseases. One may rea-sonably ask how a few actors canmake millions of Indians overcometheir habits. Popular culture andthose at the top of it continue to havea strong sway over individual behav-iours and choices. Especially whenyou consider that more than 50% ofsmokers start using tobacco beforethe age of ten and that one-third ofyouth experiment with tobacco as a

result of

Tobacco Advertising, Promotion, andSponsorship (TAPS).

Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, Professorand Surgeon, Department of Head andNeck Surgery, Tata Memorial Centre,says, “We need to continue fightingagainst tobacco as it is still entrenchedin our lives, especially through popularculture. Tobacco is the only consumerproduct in the world to kill every sec-ond user, according to WHO. As a can-cer surgeon, I have seen first-hand theimpact it has not just on patients but alsoon their families. The immense pain ofavoidable deaths is compounded by thefinancial burdens and other challengesthat come with it. Tobacco products arestill being sold near educational insti-tutions even as DSA norms are floutedelsewhere. While surrogate advertise-ments continue to thrive and prevail,and our movies and shows on silverscreens and online streaming channelsblatantly show the usage of tobaccoproducts. Creative expression and free-dom of speech should also be seen inconjunction with the right to life andgood health. If we don’t address tobac-co use, we could be staring at death tollshigher than COVID-19 each year.”

During peak COVID-19, we roseup as a society, displaying strongsocial, collective, and individualresponsibilities that prioritised com-munity health. Public role modelsfrom all walks of life used their plat-forms and influence to help furtherthese objectives.The pandemic isn’tentirely out of our lives, and yet we

see a sustained momentum for pre-vention and addressing thepandemic. Meanwhile,the much older tobacco

epidemic, which wors-ens COVID-19 andother illnesses, contin-ues unabated. In lightof this, it is essential

that we keep the spiritof collective action alive.

Role model's main role in curbing tobacco

of awareness,legality, andoperations. Ican say it wasthe passion tobe able to helpothers lead abetter lifethrough holis-tic medicinethat kept megoing. I havewitnessed sev-eral rewardingstories of con-sumers and

how theyhave improvedtheir healththrough the range ofproducts we offer, whichhas been extremely fulfill-ing. For example, our oldestconsumer today is 97 yearsof age and has been able totaper off her sleeping pillsand switch to cannabis oils.She shares that this hasgreatly helped improve herquality of life. Till date, wekeep reminding ourselves asto why we really started, andit helps us stay groundedand true to our vision at alltimes,” she added.

Legend has it that theshade of a tall cannabisplant once brought LordShiva relief from the blazingsun. But, there is a differ-

ence now. Millenials consid-er cannabis a means to get

high, but this isn't just the casewhen it comes to cannabis becausethere are a lot of benefits to thiswonder crop.

The young entrepreneur elabo-rated, “Cannabis offers several med-ical benefits. Many mis-perceive itto be only recreational in nature,and that’s what we are slowly chang-ing. The plant has over 25,000+uses and to recognise it for only onesuch use is unfair.

It has been clinically verified tohelp with a wide array of ailmentssuch as neurological problems,chronic pain, arthritis, PCOS, sideeffects of chemotherapy, etc. Sinceit’s also anti-inflammatory in

nature, it's used to manage ailments such asCrohn's Disease and IBS. It's even beenproven helpful in the management of epilep-sy. Medical cannabis is also widely used forsleep management. The calming and relaxingeffects of cannabis can help manage sleepdisorders such as insomnia.”

The plant and its forms are known by vari-ous names around the world, including mari-juana, mary jane, weed, pot, hemp, and grass.The founder also draws its link to Ayurvedatoo and said, ‘Cannabis has been a part ofAyurveda for centuries. The ayurvedic namesof cannabis are Vijaya and Siddhi. Even as farback as 6 BCE, it was used to aid in digestionand appetite problems. It's been used in

spaceto treatpain-relatedissues, sleepissues, neurologi-cal problems, andmore. In Ayurvedicrituals, cannabis wasalso given orally to treatdiseases like malaria andrheumatism. It is even men-tioned in many of the ancienttexts on Ayurveda, like theCharaka Samhita, SushrutaSamhita, and ShargandharaSamhita. The Atharva Veda men-tions cannabis as one of the fivemost sacred plants on Earth and saysthat a guardian angel resides in itsleaves. So, given our ancient Indianconnections with cannabis, we wonderwhy this herb has sparked so muchdebate and outrage in recent times. Itdoes have a future.”

She continued, “As people gravitatetowards a more natural, sustainablelifestyle, they are also looking for safer, nat-ural alternatives to traditional allopathicmedication. With clinical trials and scientificresearch proving the efficacy of the cannabisplant, it stands to reason that more peoplewill be benefiting from its medicinal uses,and the industry will continue to grow. Asfar as regulations are concerned, we are see-ing macro trends work in our favour. Theindustry, collectively, is also workingtowards advocacy, in line with the state andcentral governments for policy formation.Why don’t we legalise cannabis and tax itlike alcohol and tobacco? Cannabis is aproduct that's easy to integrate into yourlifestyle as there are multiple ways to con-sume it with several benefits.”

While the Act prohibits the sale anduse of cannabis resin and flowers, it per-mits the use of their seeds, stems, andleaves. In effect, bhang is legal, whilecannabis remains illegal. What's newis that now, nestled on the banks ofthe river Parvati in Kasol, a hamletin Himachal Pradesh, a cafe is ona mission to normalisecannabis culture.

SHIKHA DUGGAL

he global trend of cannabishas shifted dramaticallystarting in the 1980s.Cannabis is legal in morethan 30 states, and 18 havelegalised cannabis for recre-

ational use in many countries. Canadahas also federally legalised cannabisboth recreationally and industrially, aswell as for medicinal use too.

However, these countries werethe first countries to object to the useof cannabis because of its relevanceand importance in different demo-graphics where they had gone toestablish sovereignty. But now, wehave Loveena Sirohi, Co-Founder andDirector at India Hemp Organics andthe youngest female in this sector,who tells us all about how the entiretide is changing in support ofcannabis.

“It started from a very personaljourney. I had met with a chronicroad accident that led me to beinghospitalised in the ICU because I hadbroken bones, torn lips, and my facewas unrecognisable. My life wasturned upside down overnight, but Iwas keen to research alternative andholistic forms of healing that couldspeed up my recovery as the allopath-

ic medications being administered

came with a lot of side effects. Myresearch led to the discovery ofmedical cannabis oils and theirpotential, and I haven’t lookedback since then. The healing that Iunderwent with the use of medicalcannabis was remarkable. Andcoming out of the accident muchstronger and feeling better thanever before, I knew this was anuntapped opportunity in thecountry that could help solve theproblems of many more individu-als.” But the question was, whereand how would she start? So, sheand her partner sat for monthsand worked closely with key stake-holders like the government, legalpartners, farmers, and doctors tobetter understand the currentscope and needs of the market.The combination of faith, a trans-formational experience, and thestrong will to help others in needin a market that is still at a verynascent stage in India, was whatkept them going, said Loveena.

“I knew there was immensevalue that was yet to be createdthrough this plant in India, whileglobal markets were already capi-talising on this opportunity. Iknew that building a new industryand category in a country likeIndia isn’t easy because of themany challenges it brings in terms

CREATING A HEMP

ECO-SYSTEMt

It's that season of the year when wecrave those piping hot bhajjis andchatpata snacks. But at the same

time, we definitely cannot ignore ourhealth as this is also the same seasonwhen most of us fall sick.

Who doesn’t love to munch onsnacks? Pakoras, samosas, or bhajjishave remained our all-time favourites,though these deeply fried foods arequite bad for our health. High in trans

fat, these snack-ing options leadto many lifestylediseases, andthen the feelingof that heavyguilt makesthese snacks aburden on ourpsyche as well.

However,many food andbeverage compa-nies strive toprovide snacksthat are not onlytasty but alsohealthy and nutri-tious. One suchbrand is Foodio Fit,which brings a widerange of healthysnacks to your

doorstep. The Bengaluru-based startupoffers a complete range of healthysnack options consisting of high pro-tein, low carb, multigrain, and ketoproducts.

We connect with the founder,Apoorva Gururaj, who shares with usthe importance of healthy high-proteinsnacks.

She says, “Nowadays, most consumersare well aware that good health andgood diet and good diet are closelyconnected, but with the fast availabilityof highly-processed and cheap ready-meals, it’s simple for consumers tochoose convenience over health.Adequate and proper nutrition is animportant aspect of a sound way of life.Therefore, it is essential to spreadawareness of the nutrients contained in

food in relation to their roles in bodygrowth, health, and wellbeing. A dietdeficiency in nutritive value can have along-lasting impact on health, leadingto diet-related disorders that result inlow productivity and physical outputand work-life imbalance. Individualsare more mindful of the need. Insteadof adding actual work to their day tokeep themselves fit, discussing nutri-tion is significant. In any event, withregards to pro in athletics, guaranteeingthat Indian competitors get qualitynourishment straightforwardly affectstheir capacity to contend on a globallevel.”

As protein is an essentialmacronutrient, its lack can severelyimpact the growth and overall healthquotient of the body. This offers a tastyrange of high protein-coated peanuts,Madrasi mixture, and bhujia to helpyou supplement your protein require-ments in a fun way. You can also shopfrom a wide range of high-protein atta,chakli, kodubale, and namakpara, all ofwhich boast quite a high percentage of

protein for building and maintain-ing optimal health.

The pandemic has led manypeople to become much morehealth-conscious and start effec-tive dieting. This brand also pro-vides a wide range of keto snacks.

The important role of the ketodiet in reducing weight and burn-ing fat deposits in the body iswell-documented today. Keto dietsare a scientifically proven way tolose weight in a healthy manner.The keto diet reduces the intake ofcarbohydrates and helps yourbody shed extra weight by burn-

ing the fat deposits to produce energy. “We offer highly nutritious keto

products which help you to satiate yourcravings while keeping those extra kilo-grammes at bay. The range of ketoproducts includes coated peanuts, flour,chakli, murukku, kodubale, namakpara,bhujia, and Madrasi mixture. In addi-tion, our vegetable snack options thatcome in the form of bhindi, sweet pota-to, beetroot, and available vacuum-fried chips are loaded with the good-ness of real vegetables. Further, you canenjoy the taste of real coconut waterand sugarcane juice with the freeze-dried products,” concludes the founder.

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WednesdayJuly 6, 2022

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@TheDailyPioneer

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sports 11VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JULY 6, 2022

PTI n NEW DELHI

Star Indian shuttler HSPrannoy on Tuesday

regained his place in the world'stop 20, riding on his consistentshow in the international circuitthis season.

The 29-year-old fromKerala, who had played a pivotalrole in India's monumentalThomas Cup win in May,improved two places to 19 in themen's singles rankings.

Prannoy, who had reacheda career-best ranking of eight in2018, has been one of the mostconsistent male shuttlers in thecircuit with a series of quarter-finals and semifinals appearancethis season.

He is now the third highestranked Indian male shuttler inthe world after Lakshya Sen(10th) and Kidambi Srikanth(11th).

Prannoy, who had reached

the finals of Swiss Open inMarch, surpassed TokyoOlympian B Sai Praneeth(20th).

Two-time Olympic medal-list P V Sindhu maintained herseventh spot in the latest chart,while Saina Nehwal also stayedstatic on 24th.

Chirag Shetty andSatwiksairaj Rankireddy weresteady on eighth in the men'sdoubles rankings, whileAshwini Ponnappa and N SikkiReddy dropped a rung to 24thposition.

Among others, 2014Commonwealth Games cham-pion Paruppali Kashyap jumpedthree places to reach the WorldNo. 36 ranking, riding on hissecond round appearance at theMalaysia Open Super 750 event.

The Verma brothers —Sameer and Sourabh — werethe other two Indians inside theworld's top 50.

AP n PARIS

Paris St Germain announcedChristophe Galtier as their

new manager on Tuesday, short-ly after the Ligue 1 championsparted ways with MauricioPochettino.

Galtier joins PSG after leav-ing Nice last month, havingguided them to a runners-upfinish in the French Cup andfifth place in Ligue 1 last season.

The 55-year-old Frenchmanjoined Nice in 2021 after lead-ing Lille to their first Ligue 1 titlesince 2011 in the previous cam-paign. Before joining Lille,Galtier spent eight seasons atSaint Etienne, where he won theFrench Cup in 2012-2013.

Galtier's appointmentcomes after PSG presidentNasser al-Khelaifi put an end tospeculation surrounding Francegreat Zinedine Zidane, dismiss-ing reports that PSG had beenin talks with the 1998 World

Cup winner about becomingtheir new boss.

Pochettino, who wasappointed by PSG in January2021, won the Ligue 1 title in2021-22 and the French Cup in2020-21 but failed to deliver inthe Champions League, the onlymajor trophy that has eludedPSG since Qatar SportsInvestment took over in 2011.

PSG, eight times leaguewinners since the takeover, wereChampions League runners-upin 2020 but they were knockedout in the last 16 last season byReal Madrid.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Badminton Asia TechnicalCommittee chairman Chih

Shen Chen has apologised totwo-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu for the "human error"committed by the referee dur-ing the women's singles semi-final match of the BadmintonAsia Championships in April.

Sindhu had been left intears after an "unfair" call by theumpires midway through hersemifinal match against Japan'sAkane Yamaguchi saw her godown in three games and even-tually sign off with a Bronzemedal, her second in the con-tinental championship.

"Unfortunately, there is norectification at this time.However, we have taken thenecessary steps to avoid a rep-etition of this human error," the

official said in the letter toSindhu.

"We sincerely apologize forthe inconvenience caused toyou. We believe it is part of thesport and that it is accepted assuch."

The incident had happened

while Sindhu was leading 14-11in the second game after hav-ing won the first game when theumpire handed her a one-pointpenalty for taking too muchtime to serve between points.

Sindhu, who turned 27 onTuesday, lost her momentum

after that incident and lost 21-13, 19-21, 16-21.

The Indian was seen havingan animated discussion with thechief referee after the chairumpire asked her to hand overthe shuttle to Yamaguchi but itall fell on deaf ears.

"The umpire told me you'retaking a lot of time but theopponent wasn't ready at thatpoint. But the umpire sudden-ly gave her the point and it wasreally unfair. I think that wasone of the reasons why I lost,"Sindhu had said.

"I mean that is my feelingbecause at that moment it was14-11 and could have become15-11 but instead, it became 14-12 and she took continuouspoints. And I think it was veryunfair. Maybe I would havewon the match and played inthe final."

Sindhu, who is a memberof Badminton WorldFederation's (BWF) Athletes'Commission, had immediate-ly written a letter to the worldbody and the Asia badmintonconfederation, protestingagainst the decision.

PTI n KUALA LUMPUR

India's CommonwealthGames-bound women's

doubles duo of Treesa Jollyand Gayatri Gopichand madea first round exit from theMalaysia Masters badmintontournament, losing to localpair of Pearly Tan andThinaah Muralitharan hereon Tuesday.

The Indian pair was out-played by the Malaysians 14-21, 14-21 in the openinground match that lasted just33 minutes.

None of the Indians wonany match on Tuesday withtwo other women's doublespairs also suffering first round

defeats.The combination of

Ashwini Bhat and ShikhaGautam lost 7-21, 10-21 toYuki Fukushima and SayakaHirota of Japan while PoojaDandu and Arathi Sara wentdown to Bulgaria's GabrielaStoeva and Stefani Stoeva 17-21, 17-21.

In the women's singles,Malvika Bansod also suffereda 10-21, 17-21 defeat againsthost country's Goh Jin Wei in33 minutes to exit from theSuper 500 tournament.

Olympic medallists PVSindhu and Saina Nehwalwill feature in the women'ssingles first round matches onWednesday.

AP n MANCHESTER

Manchester United complet-ed their swoop for

Feyenoord defender TyrellMalacia on Tuesday as Erik tenHag made his first signing sincetaking charge at Old Trafford.

United landed Malacia in areported £12.95 million ($15.4million) deal after making a latemove for the Netherlands full-back, who had been close tojoining French club Lyon.

The 22-year-old has agreeda four-year contract with theoption of a further 12 months.

It is a landmark deal for TenHag, who had been linked witha host of potential signingsbefore finally making Malaciathe first acquisition of his Unitedreign.

Ten Hag arrived at United inMay after finishing his success-ful spell at Ajax, where he hadplenty of opportunities to seeMalacia's quality with Dutchrivals Feyenoord.

Malacia, who made 136appearances for Feyenoord, said:"It's an incredible feeling tohave joined Manchester United.This is a new chapter for me, anew league with new team-mates and a tremendous man-ager leading us.

"I know from playingagainst his teams in theEredivisie, the qualities that hehas and what he demands of hisplayers.

"Whilst I know that I am stillyoung and will continue to

develop, I can promise theUnited fans that I will leaveeverything on the pitch everytime I pull on the red shirt."

Malacia, who plays largely atleft-back, is expected to be partof the United squad that leavesfor the pre-season tour ofThailand and Australia onFriday.

Capped five times by theNetherlands, Malacia is likely tocompete with England left-backLuke Shaw for a place in United'sstarting line-up.

ROMA SIGN CELIK Roma have signed Turkey

international Mehmet Zeki

Celik from Lille, the Serie A clubannounced on Tuesday.

In a statement, Roma saidthe 25-year-old full-back "hassigned a four-year contract withthe Giallorossi that runs until 30June 2026".

The 32-times capped Celikarrives for a reported fee of sevenmillion euros ($7.2 million)with 15 percent of any future salealso going to Lille.

In his four years at LilleCelik played nearly 150 times inall competitions.

RICHARLISON BANNEDTottenham forward

Richarlison was banned onTuesday from his new club'sEnglish Premier League openinggame after throwing a smokecanister when playing forEverton last season.

Richarlison admitted acharge of improper conductand was banned for one gameand fined 25,000 pounds($30,000), the English FootballAssociation said in announcingthe tribunal verdict.

Tottenham start the leaguehosting Southampton on August6. Richarlison should be avail-able to play at Chelsea oneweek later. Richarlison scored inEverton's 1-0 win againstChelsea on May 1 that helped histhen club avoid relegation. Buta lit, blue smoke canister wasthrown on the pitch by Evertonsupporters and Richarlisonpicked it up and threw it awayfrom the field.

AP n LONDON

Defending championNovak Djokovic battledback from two sets to

love down to defeat JannikSinner and reach his 11thWimbledon semi-final onTuesday.

Djokovic triumphed 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and will faceeither Britain's Cameron Norrieor David Goffin of Belgium fora place in Sunday's final.

It was the seventh time inthe Serb's career that he hadrecovered from two sets to loveat the Slams.

"Huge congrats to Jannikfor a big fight, he's so mature forhis age, he has plenty of timeahead of him," said Djokovic.

"The first two sets com-pared to the next three were liketwo different matches. He wasthe better player for those firsttwo sets.

"But at the end of the sec-ond set I took a toilet break,gave myself a little pep talk,tried to gather my thoughts.

"I broke early in the thirdset. I saw a little bit of doubtstart to come into his move-ment. I have many years' expe-rience of playing on thesecourts and coping with thepressure."

Djokovic is bidding to golevel with Pete Sampras as aseven-time Wimbledon cham-pion and stand just one offRoger Federer's men's record ofeight.

He appeared set for a rou-tine afternoon when he sweptinto a 4-1 lead in the openerand had a break point for 5-1against the 20-year-old Italian.

Sinner, the 10th seed, savedit and rallied to move 6-5ahead, carving out an opportu-nity to serve for the set.

Djokovic saved a set pointbut a netted service return gave

the Italian the set.Sinner, relentlessly unleash-

ing winners from all corners ofthe court, stunned the top seedagain with breaks in the thirdand seventh games on his wayto a two-set lead.

However, Djokovic is nostranger to Grand Slam adver-sity, having twice come backfrom two sets to love down asrecently as last year's FrenchOpen.

The second of those stun-ning recoveries came in the finalagainst Stefanos Tsitsipas.

A break in the fourth gameof the third set enabled Djokovicto cut his quarter-final deficit.

In control, the 35-year-oldlevelled the tie with a doublebreak in the fourth set as Sinnertook a worrying tumble on hisankle scrambling to the CentreCourt net.

Djokovic carved out twomore breaks in the decider, thesecond off the back of a stun-ning, cross-court backhand onthe stretch to go to 5-2 beforecalmly serving it out.

MARIA WINSGermany's Tatjana Maria

came from behind to beat com-patriot Jule Niemeier 4-6, 6-2,7-5 on Tuesday and reach herfirst Grand Slam semi-final.

The 34-year-old mother oftwo will play either third seedOns Jabeur or unseeded MarieBouzkova for a place in thefinal.

"I have goosebumps every-where," said Maria, whoreturned from maternity leavejust under a year ago.

"My two little girls, it's adream to live this with my fam-ily, to live this with my two girls.Almost one year ago I gavebirth, it's crazy."

She said would like to faceworld number two Jabeur in thesemi-finals.

AP n LONDON

Rafael Nadal reached the Wimbledon quar-ter-finals for the eighth time on Monday with

a straight-sets defeat of Botic van de Zandschulp.Nadal, who has already won the Australian

and French Opens to stand halfway to the firstcalendar Grand Slam since 1969, triumphed 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).

Next up for the 36-year-old Spaniard is aclash against American 11th seed Taylor Fritz,who beat him in the Indian Wells final earlierin the year.

"To be back in the quarter-finals after notbeing here for three years is amazing," said the2008 and 2010 champion,

"I expect a very tough match against Taylor— he won his first Masters title this year againstme in the final.

"The quarter-finals of a Slam are always verytough."

PTI n WIMBLEDON

Indian tennis ace SaniaMirza and her Croatian

partner Mate Pavic advancedto the Wimbledon mixeddoubles semifinals with ahard-fought win over fourthseeds Gabriela Dabrowskiand John Peers.

Mirza and Pavic, seededsixth, eked out a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win overCanadian-Australian duo inone hour 41 minutes oncourt 3 on Monday night.

The Indo-Croatian pairwill take on the the winnersof the quarterfinal betweenRobert Farah and JelenaOstapenko, the seventh seeds,and second seeds Neil Skupsiand Desirae Krawczyk.

This is Mirza's bestmixed doubles performanceat the All England Club. Shehad previously reached thequarterfinals in 2011, 2013and 2015.

A Wimbledon title is the

only mixed doubles GrandSlam missing from her tro-phy cabinet.

Mirza, a six-time GrandSlam winner, has alreadyannounced her retirementat the end of this season.

DJOKER BATTLES BACK TO BEAT SINNERSania-Pavic in mixed doubles SF

AP n LONDON

Former champion SimonaHalep swept past fourth-

seeded Paula Badosa to reachthe Wimbledon quarter-finalsfor the fifth time on Monday.

Halep won 6-1, 6-2 in justone hour as her Spanish oppo-nent's game fell apart with 21unforced errors.

The Romanian, who waschampion in 2019, has yet todrop a set at the tournament.

Halep, 30, had to sit outWimbledon in 2021 due to a

calf injury that sidelined herfor three months.

Her build-up to this year'stournament was compromisedby a neck injury.

"It means a lot that I'mback in a quarter-finals after Istruggled so much withinjuries and self-confidence,"said Halep.

"I'm working hard everyday. I feel like if I do that, I willget better. I'm really happywith the way I'm playing. I'mreally confident. It's a pleasureto be on court."

Malacia becomes Ten Hag's 1st Man Utd signing

AP n MILAN

Divock Origi signed for ACMilan on Tuesday after

being let go by Liverpool at theend of last season.

The 27-year-old Belgianinternational Origi has joinedMilan as a free agent after hiscontract was registered withthe Italian top flight.

Origi arrives at the Serie Ateam after not having playedenough matches to trigger anextension to his contract with

Liverpool.He has reportedly signed

a four-year deal which will nethim four million euros ($4.23million dollars) a season.

He was largely a bit-partplayer at Liverpool but scoredvital goals over his eight yearson Merseyside which madehim a favourite of fans andmanager Jurgen Klopp.

Those strikes include twoin an astonishing comebackagainst Barcelona in theChampions League semi-finals

in 2019, and the second is thatyear's final as Liverpool liftedtheir sixth European Cupagainst Tottenham.

Origi made 176 appear-ances for the Reds after arriv-ing in 2014, scoring 41 times.

He has been capped 32times for his country, but allthree of his international goalscame in 2014. Milan havebrought in Origi to bolster aforward line which struggledfor goals despite winning lastseason's thrilling Serie A.

ORIGI JOINS AC MILAN

Badminton Asia Technical Committeeapologises to Sindhu for ‘human error’

Treesa & Gayatri exits

PSG sack Pochettino, appointGaltier as new manager

HS Prannoy regains hisplace in world's top 20

Rafa into 8th Wimbledon quarters

HALEP DOWNS BADOSA

After asuccess-ful run

of ModernLoveMumbai,AmazonPrimeVideo isgearingup for itssecondedition

of thethreelocalisedand fic-tion-alised

versions ofthe interna-

tional series,Modern LoveHyderabad.

Set against thebackdrop of the 'Cityof Pearls', the seriesfeatures six hearten-ing stories exploringdifferent shades andrelationships oflove. One of theepisodes titled ‘MyUnlikely PandemicDream Partner’brings togethertwo powerhouseactors, Revathyand NithyaMenen, in anepisode directedby NageshKukunoor. Thestory explores a

special bond between thelead actors.

Set in the heart ofHyderabad, as the directorNagesh Kukunoor says, theepisode marries his two

loves, the old-world charm ofHyderabad and local cuisine.During a recent interaction,Nithya Menen revealed adetail that will leave every-one surprised and apprecia-tive of her dedication.

“I had been practising veg-etarianism for a while, andwhen I told the team aboutit, they were amazed,” saidNithya Menen, and elaborat-ed that the special chef whowas invited to cook theHyderabadi delicacies alsomade vegetarian versions ofthose dishes for the shoot.“There was so muchHyderabadi food... Finally, atone point, I was like, justgive me the chicken, I'll justeat it, it's fine, I have to lookauthentic. So literally, I keeptelling them, they turned meinto a non-vegetarian. Therewas too much to eat,” shesaid.

Interestingly, it was one ofthose episodes where the castand crew would wait for thecut and run to the diningtables to gorge on theHyderabadi feast. From thefamous biryani to Khubani-ka-Meetha, you name it andthe delicacy was served.

Modern Love Hyderabad isset for a global premiere onAmazon Prime Video on July8th. The anthology brings sixstories revolving around theidea and facets of love. Thecast of Modern LoveHyderabad also includespopular names like SuhasiniManiratnam, Naresh, AadhiPinisetty, Ritu Varma,Abijeet Duddala, MalavikaNair, Naresh Agastya, andUlka Gupta, among others.

Nithya Menenindulges inHyderabadi

delicacies

12

Vijayawada | Wednesday July 6, 2022 tollywood

PNS HYDERABAD

rithi Shetty awaits the theatri-cal release of The Warriorrthis July 14. In this interview,the actress talks about herjourney so far in the industry,

working with actor Ram Pothineni anddirector N Lingusamy. Well, in the ini-tial conversation in a chatty mood, sherevealed, “My previous two films,Shyam Singha Roy and Bangarraju were

released within a short period of time.The Warriorr is my second release of theyear. Director N Lingusamy is someoneI have admired ever since I watched hisTamil movie many years ago. When anoffer came my way, I was excited aboutdoing an entertainer with him. Hisheroines are unique characters.”

And you know what, she was verynervous while doing the bullet songgiven that Ram Pothineni is an ener-getic dancer. Once the shoot began, hernervousness abated because the song

has a classy feel. Talking about hercharacter in the upcoming movie,she spilled the beans, “I haveplayed a lovable character and Ihope the audience will find hercute. She is a girl-next-door char-acter with whom you can relate.Maha Lakshmi is a RadioJockey. The love track betweenher and the male protagonistwill be striking, much as thechemistry between them in thesongs.”

Compared to her charactersin her previous three films, thisone is more energetic, it seems.“Lingusamy is always clearabout what he wants. He alsoemotes so that the actor finds iteasy to figure out. He knows

how to modulate the voice and all. So, itwas not highly challenging for me. Iwatched a number of podcasts of RJsbefore the shoot began. I worked on myexpressions to play the role authentical-ly,” she added.

Actor Aadhi Pinisetty is not leftbehind, he's playing a crucial role too.But how well did the lead actress getalong with him? “I have no scenes withAadhi but all I can tell is he is a softieoff-screen. In this film, though, he hasplayed a very aggressive part. I liked

him a lot in Rangasthalam.”Because The Warriorr is coming

out in Tamil too, Krithi also startedlearning Tamil. And said, “People feelthat I have been choosy. I choose scriptsthat suit me, not in terms of whether theproject is big or small. I shot threemovies simultaneously last year. At thattime, it was not easy at all. After listen-ing to a narration, I jot down my obser-vations about the character I am play-ing. That helps me understand the char-acter in-depth. I have the responsibilityto entertain the audience. Definitely,there is pressure. I do listen to mymother's opinions too. I have only donecommercial films so far.” She expressedthis when the question clicked onchoosing scripts pounded her.

On her future endeavours, she dis-closed, “I am doing Suriya's moviedirected by Bala. About 30% of theshoot is over. I am also doing NagaChaitanya's movie directed by VenkatPrabhu. Both are bilinguals. Bala sir hasbeen very easy to work with. He giveshis artists the freedom to interpret ascene as they want. He suggests changesif any after seeing what the actor has tooffer. Aa Ammayi Gurinchi MeekuCheppali, starring Sudheer Babu anddirected by Mohankrishna Indraganti, isamong my other upcoming movies.”

‘I choose scripts thatsuit me, regardless

of the budget’

k

he latestscheduleof thefilming ofRRR, actorRam

Charan’s much-anticipated big-bud-get film, is about tobegin under thedirection of ShankarShanmugham.

Ram Charan is allset for the shoot ofan upbeat songnumber, which isbeing choreo-graphed on expen-sive sets and multi-ple locations. Thecollege-themed trackwill feature close to400 dancers.

As reported earli-er, the film, whoseworking title isRC15, will be shot inAmritsar, amongother places.

Shanmugham isbest known for thegrandeur of canningvisually extravagantsongs, so this partic-ular song is expectedto be one of themajor highlights of

the movie.In this song, which

is being choreo-graphed by GaneshAcharya, RamCharan will appear ina new look beingbilled as stunning bythe makers. The

music is being com-posed by the ever-popular Thaman.

Kiara Advani playsthe female lead oppo-site Ram Charan inRC15, which is beingbankrolled by DilRaju.

Ram Charan to filma peppy campus

number for RC15

t

he makers ofBimbisarareleased thetrailer of theirfilm on

Nandamuri Kalyan Ram’sbirthday. The trailer forthe film was a visual treatand gave us a hint of thefilm's having wars andstunts. The movie is aboutthe time travel of a greatMagadha King, Bimbisara.

According to the latestupdate that was recentlyshared by Kalyan Ramhimself, if things go well

with the film, Bimbisaramight turn up as a threeor four-franchise film. Thefirst instalment will bereleased in theatres onAugust 5, and the secondinstalment will be releasedin 2023.Kalyan had alsostated that his brotherNTR might also be a partof Bimbisara.

The film is directed bydebutant director MallidiVashist. Meanwhile, HariKrishna is producing thefilm under the banner ofNTR Arts Banner.

Bimbisara, a four-part franchise?

t

Swetha Avasthi will play thelead in Veerabhadram's next

Talented directorVeerabhadramChowdary, who

directed several superhitmovies like PoolaRangadu andChuttalabbayi, among therest, will next be direct-ing young hero NareshAgastya of MathuVadalara and Senapathifame in a new film whichwas announced recently.

Nabishaik and ThumuNarsimha Patel will beproducing the movieunder the Deccan DreamWorks and JayadurgadeviMultimedia banners.

The latest update is theyet to be titled flick,which is billed to be acrime comedy and willfeature Swetha Avasthi ofMerise Merise fame play-ing the lead actress. Theactress will join the shootin the first schedule ofthe movie that com-mences this month.

VeerabhadramChowdary has pre-pared an intriguingscript with a differentconcept. Melody spe-

cialist Anup Rubensrenders sound-

tracks for themovie that will

feature somenoted actors.

Furthermoredetails will

beunveiledsoon.

AbhayBethiganti, whorose to fame

with the film GeorgeReddy, is coming upwith another enter-tainer in which he isboth directing andacting. The film titled

Ramanna Youth, isproduced by Rajiniunder Fire Fly Artsbanner. On Tuesday,actors Priyadarshiand RahulRamakrishna releasedthe first look ofRamanna Youth, an

entertaining politicaldrama.

Ramanna Youth isabout the twists andturns in the life of ayoung man aspiringto become a politicalleader. The story alsodeals with today's

social issues, with adifferent storyline,where AbhayBetiganti plays therole of youth leaderRaju. My VillageShow Anil is also saidto play a key role inthis film.

Abhay’s next, a political drama

Before Icon Star

Allu Arjungets busy with

the shoot of theSukumar-directed

sequel to Pushpa: TheRise, which is

scheduled to start inAugust or

September, he istaking a break at the

Serengeti NationalPark in Tanzania.The actor’s wife,

Allu Sneha,posted a familyphoto from the

vacation on herInstagrampage. The

imagefeaturing theAllu familyhas goneviral on

socialmedia.

Allu Arjun chills withhis family in Tanzania

Nalgonda MLA,KancharlaBhupal Reddy

and Nagarjuna SagarMLA, Nomula Bhagat,along with Nalgondamunicipal Chairman,Mandadi Saidi Reddy,graced the mahuratceremony of SillyMonks Studios'"Production No. 09"at Chinna Madaram,Nalgonda District inTelangana. The film isdirected by RGGandikota. The musicis given by CharanArjun and Praveen K

Bangari is the DOPwith a debut cast ofVignesh and Arshita.The movie is

tentativelyscheduled to bereleased in the monthof November 2022.