RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 4 ISSUE 352*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

}{www.dailypioneer.com

ANALYSIS 7FREEBIE POWERS

THE AAP GOVT IN DELHI

MONEY 8‘DON'T DEPEND ON SMALL INCENTIVES,

SUBSIDIES; INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS’

SPORTS 12BUMRAH RULED OUT OF T20 WC

HYDERABAD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022; PAGES 12 `3

SAMANTHA WINSBEST PERFORMANCE

IN KWK 7

Page 11

3 RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS RETURNSAFELY FROM INTL SPACE STATION

ELDERLY WOMAN REFUSES TO TRAVELFREE IN TN GOVT BUS, VIDEO GOES VIRAL

PEOPLE TRAPPED, 2.5M WITHOUTPOWER AS IAN DRENCHES FLORIDA

Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction across Florida,trapping people in flooded homes, cutting off the only bridge toa barrier island, destroying a historic waterfront pier and

knocking out power to 2.5 million people as it dumped rain over ahuge area on Thursday. Catastrophic flooding was threatenedaround the state as one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit theUnited States crossed the peninsula. Ian's tropical-storm-forcewinds extended outward up to 415 miles (665 km), drenching muchof Florida and the southeastern Atlantic coast. It crushed us, LeeCounty Sheriff Carmine Marceno told ABC's Good Morning America.

LT GEN ANIL CHAUHAN (RETD) TO TAKECHARGE AS NEW CDS TODAY

Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (retired) will assume charge as India's newChief of Defence Staff on Friday that is expected to bring thefocus back on the implementation of the ambitious theaterisation

drive to bring synergy among the three services. A decorated Armyofficer, 61-year-old Chauhan will also function as Secretary in theDepartment of Military Affairs. On Wednesday, the governmentannounced appointing Chauhan as the new Chief of Defence Staff,more than nine months after the post fell vacant following the deathof Gen Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash. Lt Gen Chauhan (retd) isfrom the 11 Gorkha Rifles, the same regiment of Gen Rawat.

Apparently unwilling to utilise a government sop, an elderlywoman has refused to travel free in a government bus hereand is seen arguing with the conductor to issue a ticket to

her, visuals of which have gone viral in the social media. Freetravel for women in state-run buses in Tamil Nadu is a pollpromise of the ruling DMK made ahead of the 2021 Assemblyelections. The incident came in the backdrop of a state minister'scertain remarks made in the context of the free bus travelscheme, which has not gone down well with a section of womencommuters and others in the state.

ALMANAC

Updated: SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 5:00 PM

Forecast: Thunderstorm

Temp: 26oc

Humidity: 92%

Sunrise: 6:06 AM

Sunset: 6:06 PM

Month & Paksham:Tithi: Panchami: Sep 30 12:09 AM

to Sep 30 10:35 PMShashthi: Sep 30 10:35 PM

to Oct 01 08:47 PM

Nakshatram: Anuradha: Sep 30 05:13 AM

to Oct 01 04:19 AMJyeshta: Oct 01 04:19 AM

to Oct 02 03:11 AM

Rahukalam: 10:37 AM to 12:06 PM

Yamagandam: 3:04 PM to 4:33 PM

Varjyam: 09:39 AM to 11:10 AM

Gulika: 7:38 AM to 9:07 AM

Amritakalam: 06:18 PM to 07:50 PM

Abhijit Muhurtham: 11:42 AM to 12:29 PM

TODAY

HYDERABAD WEATHER

Three Russian cosmonauts returned safely on Thursday from amission to the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-21spacecraft carrying Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey

Korsakov touched down softly at 4:57 pm (1057 GMT) at a designatedsite in the steppes of Kazakstan about 150 kilometers southeast of thecity of Zhezkazgan. For Artemyev, the mission marked a third spaceflight that has brought his total time spent in orbit to 561 days.Matveyev and Korsakov each logged 195 days on their first missions.As the Soyuz capsule was descending Artemyev reported to theMission Control that all members of the crew were feeling fine.

SNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD

If TRS Chief K. ChandrasekharRao launches his national party asexpected who will head its Telanganaunit? This has become a point of dis-cussion in TRS circles.

It is quite natural for KCR to headthe national party. He will not giveothers a chance to head the nation-al party. It is also a fact that only ifKCR heads the national party it willget a good image at the nationallevel.

Once KCR launches his nationalparty he will have to appoint stateunit presidents across the country.TRS circles are discussing whomKCR will appoint to head the party’sTelangana unit.

At present KCR's son, IT MinisterKT Rama Rao, is the working pres-ident of the party. Whether KCR willappoint KTR to head the state unitor choose someone else is creatinginterest in party circles.

There are different opinions inparty circles about this issue.Opposition parties particularly thoseopposed to the TRS criticise it as afamily party. If KTR is appointed asthe state unit president the nation-al party will also get the sameimpression.

KCR may appoint some otherleader from the weaker sections asthe state unit head to avoid this. IfKCR wants to appoint somebodyother than his son to head the

party he may choose a person fromthe SC or ST communities.

It may be recalled that before the2014 Assembly elections KCR hadmade a promise to appoint an SCleader as the first Chief Minister ofTelangana it the TRS is voted topower. But due to various reasonsafter the TRS won the Assemblyelections KCR became the ChiefMinister. Opposition parties criticiseKCR on this issue always. Keepingthis in mind KCR may appoint an

SC leader as the Telangana unit pres-ident. But some TRS leaders thinkthat KCR may not mind such criti-cism and may appoint his son as theTelangana unit president.

As the working president, KTRhas proved that he can run the partysuccessfully. During the lastAssembly elections and local bodyelections also KTR took the lead inthe party campaign.

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

The Dharani Portal is likely to be onthe election agenda of the BJP.

The Congress has already madethe Dharani Portal an issue in itsagenda for the next Assembly elec-tion in the State. The Congress madeit clear in its Warangal Declarationthat it will scrap the Dharani Portaland solve the problems of farmersimmediately after coming to power.

Following the footsteps of theCongress, the BJP too has decidedto walk on the Dharani path. Theparty has decided to launch state-wide movements against theDharani Portal.

BJP leaders Nizamabad MPDharmapuri Arvind and HuzurabadMLA Eatala Rajender said the BJPwill launch movements to solve theproblems of the farmers created bythe Dharani Portal.

On Thursday, Eatala Rajendersaid the BJP will launch state-wideprotests against Dharani Portalissues. He also said the KCR and theTRS government has become a

‘Land Broker’ after launching theDharani Portal.

Two days ago, Arvind made itclear that they will scrap the DharaniPortal immediately after coming topower. He said that Chief MinisterK. Chandrasekhar Rao has intro-duced the Dharani Portal to help theland mafia.

Arvind said that TRS leadershave been looting farmers in thename of Dharani and that theKalvakuntla family has alreadygrabbed lands worth thousands ofcrores. It may be recalled that for-mer AICC president Rahul Gandhireleased the Warangal Declarationon May 6 at the Rythu SangharshanaSabha held in Warangal.

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

After all the hype around the 10 percent reservation for STs and almosttwo weeks after the announcement,no progress has been made.

On September 17, Chief MinisterK. Chandrasekhar Rao announced,“I am telling the Chief Secretary. Wewill implement 10 per cent reserva-tion for tribals in seven days. MrModi, will you respect our GO ormake this GO your noose. Think foryourself.”

The announcement was followedby massive rallies, Palabhishekamand tribal leaders hailing it. But nowlet alone a GO, there is hardly anyprogress on the promised 10 percent ST reservation.

“This announcement is like anyother announcement and cannot bedone in a time-bound manner. Inreality, such GOs cannot be issuedinstantly. It is a time-consumingprocess, even if the CM himselfannounces it,” sources said.

The sources added that it needsto go through the law department

and if such an order can be givendirectly it needs Assembly legisla-tion.

In 2017, TS had passed a Bill forincreasing reservations for STs fromsix per cent to 10 per cent, but theTRS has been blaming the Centrefor not giving its nod as it is beyondthe overall reservation limits of 50per cent. KCR said there is no ceil-ing for reser vations in theConstitution and that Tamil Naduhas been implementing quotas upto 69 per cent.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Thursdayraised rates on some small savingsschemes by up to 30 basis points(bps) in line with the hardeninginterest rate in the economy.

With the revision, a three-yeartime deposit with post officeswould earn 5.8 per cent from theexisting 5.5 per cent, an increase of30 basis points for the third quar-ter of the current financial year.

Senior Citizen Savings schemewill earn 20 basis points more to7.6 per cent from the existing rateof 7.4 per cent during the October-December period, a finance min-istry notification said.

With regard to Kisan VikasPatra, the government has revisedboth tenure and interest rates.

The Reserve Bank since May hasraised the benchmark lending rateby 140 basis points, promptingbanks to raise interest rates ondeposits as well.

What is KCR’s game plan?

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K. ChandrasekharRao will visit the Yadadri LakshmiNarasimha Swamy temple onFriday. He will present a kilo and16 tolas of gold for the gold platingof the temple’s ‘vimana gopuram.’

This is the first time the CM will

be visiting the shrine after he visitedit when the renovated temple wasopened to the public. According totemple authorities, the Chief Ministerwould also lay the foundation stonefor a ‘Kala Vedika’ on the premises ofthe existing Balalayam of the shrine.

CM visiting temples ahead of national foray

Only hype, no headway

BJP to walk on ‘Dharani' path

m No progress on 10% ST quota

Interest rates onsmall savingsschemes hiked

m Questions galore over national move, including who will head TS unit of national party

Odisha Ministerappreciates TSschemesPNS n HYDERABAD

Odisha’s Handlooms and TextilesMinister, Rita Sahu, and her team whotoured Telangana have appreciated theTelangana government’s initiatives inthe handlooms and textiles sector.During her tour from September 27to 29, the Odisha Minister and threeofficers from the Directorate ofTextiles, Odisha, visited handloomclusters and cooperatives. OnThursday, she met Telangana’sHandlooms and Textiles Minister KTRama Rao in Hyderabad.

Retirement planning not a priority for urban IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

Retirement planning is not the top-most priority for urban India butthey worry that savings will not beenough to cover for old age life, withonly one in three actively working tomeet retirement goals, according toa study.

Max Life Insurance in partnershipwith marketing data firm Kantarconducted a survey to assess theurban salaried class' readiness forcontent and financially independentretired life.

About 90 per cent of peopleabove the age of 50 years in the sur-vey regretted not starting earlyenough in life to save for retired life.

In its second edition, the survey

finds the India Retirement IndexStudy (IRIS) remaining at 44, point-ing there is a lag in preparednessover the last one year among theurban salaried class for retired lifeplanning.

Conducted through a self-admin-istered digital manner, the surveyinvolved 3,220 male as well asfemale respondents across 28 cities,of which 6 were metro cities and 12tier I and 12 tier II cities.

Life expectancy is consistently ris-ing over the years.

"The objective here is to create abarometer or mirror through whichwe can keep observing how we aremaking progress. I think there areseveral questions when you start toconsider about retirement. There are

few realities that everybody talksabout that India is a very youngcountry but India is also ageing,"Prashant Tripathy, Managing

Director and CEO, Max LifeInsurance said here while briefingreporters. Over the next 8-9 years,the number of people whose age will

be 60 will grow by 41 per cent."The second reality is, as human-

ity evolves and prospers, you willfind that life expectancy will contin-ue to grow. Right now the lifeexpectancy is close to 70 years butit is expected that in a few years itwill touch about 80 years. So, peo-ple will live longer," Tripathy said.

Health and financial preparednessindex stood at 41 and 49, respective-ly. Emotional preparedness wit-nessed a fall from 62 to 59, indicat-ing increasing dependency on fam-ily, friends, and social support dur-ing retirement. Tripathy said Indiansmust start early to plan for theirretirement so that they have enoughto live a healthy and financially inde-pendent life.

Conducted through aself-administereddigital manner, thesurvey involved 3,220male as well asfemale respondentsacross 28 cities, ofwhich 6 were metrocities and 12 tier I and12 tier II cities.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana government insistedon a third-party study on the impactof the Polavaram Project on villagesabutting the backwaters.

Along with Telangana, Odishaand Chhattisgarh also demanded adecrease in the height of thePolavaram Project to reduce sub-mergence.

Rajat Kumar, Special ChiefSecretary of the TS irrigation depart-ment, said that a third-party studyshould be done on the effect ofPolavaram backwaters and the flood

prevention measures that must betaken. Rajat made this demand at ameeting held with the officials of theirrigation departments of Telangana,Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra

Pradesh under the auspices of theUnion Ministry of Jal Shakti onThursday.

TS said that a third-party study should bedone on the effect ofPolavaram backwatersand the floodprevention measuresthat must be taken.

Sharpening Munugode strategy

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP affairs in-chargeSunil Bansal is coming to the Stateon October 1.

Bansal would have a meeting withthe Vivek-headed Munugode by-poll Steering Committee. He willalso have a meeting with mandal in-charges, mandal coordinating com-mittees and state BJP leaders.

Sources said Bansal will discussthe strategies to be implemented inMunugode at all his meetings.

It is learnt that the BJP high com-mand has been conducting a specialsurvey and the agency conductingthe survey has been sending its feed-back directly to BJP’s head office inNew Delhi. It is also learnt thatUnion Home Minister Amit Shah isalso conducting a survey using

Central Intelligence and is alertingthe BJP unit from time to time.

Bansal is also conducting a sur-vey using a special survey team fromUttar Pradesh. Apart from all thesesurveys, the state BJP is also con-ducting its own survey.

Decrease the height of Polavaram

TTRRSS PPLLAANNNNIINNGG

TTOO BBUUYY AA PPLLAANNEEPNS n HYDERABAD

The TRS is likely to buy aplane. The order will be givenafter the announcement of thenational party on October 5.

Chief Minister KCR is mak-ing arrangements for a country-wide tour. It was decided to buya plane with a capacity of 12seats at a cost of Rs 80 crore.

TRS leaders decided to raisefunds to buy the plane throughdonations. They said thatalready have Rs 865 crore intheir kitty.

TRS leaders are competing todonate to buy the plane. Ifeverything goes according toplan the TRS will soon becomea political party with its own air-craft.

m Union Ministers throwing mud at TRS govt: HarishPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Health and FinanceMinister Harish Rao said that UnionMinisters praised Telangana govern-ment’s schemes in New Delhi butcriticized them on the streets.

“It is ironic that while presentingawards Union Ministers are sayingthat corruption has taken place.They are giving awards for whichParliament stands as witness. If theCentre has guts it should give fundsfor schemes and talk about itsshare,” Harish said.

Harish Rao and Minister ErrabelliDayakar Rao were speaking to themedia at the Mission Bhagirathaoffice in Erra Manzil.

“Central Ministers who visit theState are indulging in mud-slinging

against the TRS Government,” hesaid.

Harish reminded that during pre-vious governments, sarpanches’ jobwas repairing boreholes. He said thatthere were no water and electricity

problems during the eight years ofTRS rule. He said that the people ofTelangana will teach a lesson to lead-ers who are doing padayatras andcycle trips.

“Quality, quantity and consis-tency are Telangana's speciality. Thecountry is looking towards theTelangana model,” he said.

Awards at Delhi, abuses in gully!

“Quality, quantity andconsistency are Telangana'sspeciality. The country islooking towards theTelangana model,”

KCR to openmedical collegeon October 1st

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K. ChandrasekharRao will visit Warangal on October1.

KCR will start from PragathiBhavan by road at 9 am onSaturday (Oct. 1).

He will reach Pratima Hospitalon Mulugu Road in Warangal at11.15 am. Later, the Chief Ministerwill inaugurate the Pratima ReliefInstitute of Medical Sciences andMedical College.

m Bansal to meet BJP election incharges

‘Innovation willmake India adevelopednation’ P5

m TS, Odisha and Chhattisgarh demand study of Project

2

22

2 2

22

2

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Executive Editor: Navin Upadhyay. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any

damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement before

responding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

EGG

RATES

VIJAYAWADA 477

HYDERABAD 484

VISAKHAPATNAM 477

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀44..8844

`̀//110000

CHICKEN

RATES

Dressed/With Skin `225

Without Skin `235

Broiler at Farm `200

`̀//KKGG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

PNS n HYDERABAD

Schneider Electric, the leader in digi-tal transformation of energy manage-ment and automation, conducted thegroundbreaking ceremony of its state-of-the-art smart factory at the GMRIndustrial Park in Hyderabad onThursday.

The event was attended by KT RamaRao, the Minister of IT, Industries,Municipal Administration and UrbanDevelopment, Emmanuel Lenain, theAmbassador of France in India, andJayesh Ranjan, the Principal Secretaryof the Industries and CommerceDepartment.

Spread over 18 acres, the upcomingunit will be the company’s second fac-tory in Telangana, strengthening its sup-ply chain operations. The new facilitywill be developed in two phases. Thefirst phase extending over 2 lakh sq. ft.is expected to be completed inSeptember 2023.

“I congratulate Schneider Electric onthis momentous occasion. The factorywill greatly contribute to the state’s econ-omy, which is a leading investment cen-tre. With India rising as an economicpowerhouse, the opportunities are huge.We believe that this facility, apart fromcatering to the needs of the industry, will

also magnify revenue generation oppor-tunities and boost job creation,” KTRsaid. Speaking at the groundbreakingceremony, the Ambassador of France,Emmanuel Lenain said, “I congratulateSchneider Electric on this new mile-stone. This factory will be a demonstra-tion of how state-of-the-art technology

can support sustainable manufacturing.It also symbolises Telangana’s econom-ic dynamism and attractiveness forFrench businesses. Schneider Electric’sdecades-long presence in India is a suc-cess story that mirrors the strength ofthe Indo-French partnership andFrance’s commitment to helping Indiameet its development goals.” “Today isa proud moment for us. The state-of-the-art smart factory is a testament toour commitment to making Hyderabada leading manufacturing hub. We willbe investing over Rs 300 crore in thisproject, which will create 1,000 jobs. Webelieve that as an industry leader, it isthe most opportune time for us to accel-erate our efforts and contribute to theeconomic growth of the country. We fol-low India for India and India for Globestrategy, manufacturing in India for localconsumption and global exports toover 30 countries. This project will con-tribute to our efforts for AatmanirbharBharat.

PNS n HYDERABAD

YSRTP president YS Sharmilasaid the BJP and the Congressalso have deceived the peopleof Telangana like ChiefMinister K. ChandrasekharRao.

She said the BJP and theCongress have no guts toquestion the excesses of KCRand that KCR has been doingwhat he liked.

Addressing the people ofHathnura Mandal in Narsapuron Thursday, Sharmila saidthat KCR had cheated thepeople of Telangana in the lasteight years.

She said that every schemeof KCR is a lie. KCR deceivedfarmers in the name of loanwaiver. He deceived the poorin the name of double-bed-room houses and tribal peoplein the name of Podu lands.There is a big list of KCR’sdeceptions, Sharmila said.

She said that KCR treatspeople as voters and tells them

cock and bull stories for thesake of votes. KCR lures peo-ple using schemes. The peoplebelieve in KCR’s speeches andvote for him. But KCR goes tohis farmhouse after getting thevotes and never thinks howpeople live. In fact, there is noleader in Telangana to ask peo-ple what they want, she said.

Pointing out that KCRstopped the agriculture sub-sidy schemes introduced byformer Chief Minister, thelate YS Rajashekar Reddy,Sharmila said KCR has beenbeating his own drum by giv-ing a mere Rs 5,000 per acre.

She asked whether farmerswould become crorepatis ifthey are given Rs 5,000 peracre. The Rythu Bandhuscheme of the TRS govern-ment is not enough to pay theinterest levied by banks, shesaid. KCR made farmers bankdefaulters by not waiving theirloans, she said and added thatdue to KCR farmers are notgetting new loans.

PNS n HYDERABAD

CPI Secretary Dr K Narayanasaid that TRS president K.Chandrasekhar Rao’s nationalparty should strengthen theanti-BJP coalition. He said theBJP government which is incit-ing fanaticism, plundering thecountry's wealth for the sake ofcorporates, and destroying thefederal system and the

Constitution needs a strongalliance to counter it. At thismoment, many chief ministersacross the country and all nation-al parties including the Congressare coming forward against theBJP, and it is justified for KCR tojoin that, he said. He said KCR’snational party has to competeagainst the BJP and it would bebetter if it takes steps to strength-en the anti-BJP alliance.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao is speak-ing about launching a nation-al party only to hide his cor-ruption, TPCC CampaignCommittee Chairman MadhuYashki Goud said.

KCR is busy dealing with thecorruption cases against hisfamily, Madhu said and addedthat he has deceived everybodyin Telangana and that nobodyis likely to believe KCR at thenational level.

“NCP Chief Sharad Pawaronce told me that the mostdeceptive Chief Minister in the

country is KCR. KCR didnothing for the people in thelast 8 years. The people will notget anything if KCR floats anational party,” Madhu said.

He said that KCR has beencooperating with the BJP toescape from the liquor scamand that the BJP is saying thatthe TRS and the Congresswould enter into an allianceonly to trouble the Congress inTelangana.

He said that KCR’s relative,who earned thousands ofcrores in the name of trees, isalso involved in the liquorscam. He said that there is arumour that the KCR family is

involved in the liquor scamand why is the Centre not serv-ing notices to them.

Madhu wondered why noaction is being against KCR’scorruption if the fight isbetween the BJP and the TRS.

He said the TRS MLA fromIbrahimpatnam, ManchireddyKishan Reddy, would be arrest-ed shortly.

Madhu made it clear that apolitical alliance is not possi-ble at the national level with-out the Congress. Already for-mer AICC president RahulGandhi has made it clear thatthere will not be any alliancewith the TRS.

KCR’s talk about national partyintended to hide corruption: Madhu

BJP, Congress have no gutsto challenge KCR: Sharmila KTR lays foundation for Schneider

Electric’s Rs 300 crore plant

‘KCR’s national party muststrengthen anti-BJP coalition’

PD Act Advisory Board holdshearing in Raja Singh casePNS n HYDERABAD

The Preventive Detention(PD) Act Advisory Board con-ducted a hearing on invokingthe PD Act against BJP MLAT. Raja Singh on Thursday.

The PD Act Advisory Boardconducted the hearing fromthe Begumpet GreenlandsGuest House.

The Mangalhat Police hadgiven the reasons and the evi-dence they have for invokingthe PD Act against Raja Singhto the Advisory Board. RajaSingh attended the hearingthrough videoconference fromthe Cherlapally Jail.

Raja Singh’s wife Usha Bhai,and his advocate Karuna Sagarappeared before the AdvisoryBoard. Raja Singh argued thatthe police invoked the PD Actagainst him illegally. His wifehad already filed a petition inthe High Court on invokingthe PD Act against her hus-band.

The PD Act Advisory

Board, after hearing bothsides, reserved its verdict.

Raja Singh’s advocateKaruna Sagar said theAdvisory Board mayannounce its verdict in threeto four weeks.

He said they will challengethe Advisory Board in case itapproves invoking the PD Actagainst Raja Singh.

The hearing was held in thepresence of the PD ActAdvisory Board chairmanBhaskar Rao and two otherjudges. West Zone DCP,Mangalhat andShahinayatgunj police alsoattended the hearing.

It may be recalled that thepolice arrested Raja Singh onAugust 25 after invoking thePD Act against him.

Raja Singh is now in theCherlapally jail. He objected toinvoking the PD Act againsthim during the hearing whenAdvisory Board chairmanBhaskar Rao asked Raja Singhto express his objections.

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC president RevanthReddy requested theCantonment Board to con-struct speed breakers inthe Cantonment Board areato prevent accidents.

Revanth attended aB oard meet ing onThursday and brought sev-eral issues to the notice ofthe Board.

He requested the Boardto solve the drainage prob-lems in the Cantonmentarea and appea led toCantonment Board presi-dent Soma Shankar to sanc-tion funds for the con-struction of roads.

Revanth will attend theprogramme planned forunveiling the statue ofCongress leader the late S.Jaipal Reddy in Madgulavillage in Rangareddy dis-trict on September 30 at 10am.

Revanth asksSCB to constructspeed breakers

PNS n HYDERABAD

A catering worker was mur-dered in Sanathnagar overa loan amount of Rs 16,000.The victim M Nilesh, hadtaken the loan from hisfriend Mahesh and wasunable to return the money.Both of them met onWednesday night and aftera heated argument, Mahesh,along with his friend,stabbed Nilesh with a knife.

Nilesh was immediatelyrushed to Gandhi Hospitalwhere the doctors pro-nounced him 'broughtdead'. The Sanathnagarpolice registered a caseunder Section 302(Punishment for Murder) ofthe Indian Penal Code andare currently investigatingthe case. Efforts are under-way to nab both theaccused, said police offi-cials.

‘BharosaCentres willbe set up inall districts’PNS n HYDERABAD

The general body meeting ofthe Bharosa Society ofProtection of Women andChildren, Hyderabad, was heldon Thursday at the office ofHome Minister Mahmood Ali.The minister chaired the meet-ing as ex-officio chairperson ofthe Bharosa Society. Speakingon the occasion, the HomeMinister said that the Bharosacentre is the pride of Telanganastate and has been a support-ing pillar for the redressal of vic-tims of domestic violence. Healso said that Bharosa centreswill soon be established in allthe districts and appreciated thewomen safety wing for operat-ing the entres effectively.

DGP Mahendar Reddy saidthat there is a need for creatinga post of woman gynecologistin the Bharosa Centres.

Man stabbedto death overRs 16,000

Only hype...Continued from page 1

But ST activists point outthat the issue is within purviewof the state as it is applicableonly for state governmentjobs, is based on their popu-lation and doesn't needCentral nod. They said thatpermission is required forEBCs and not STs and an exec-utive order can do it. Sourcespointed out that it can bedelinked it from the TBCSC-ST Bill and a GO can be issued.

What is KCR’s...Continued from page 1

The next Assembly andgeneral elections are crucial toKCR's political future. In theseelections, a capable leader hasto head the party. TRS leadersfeel that whoever may headthe state unit KTR will play akey role.

KCR introduced the DalitBandhu scheme to give prior-ity to SCs. After makingDraupadi Murmu thePresident the BJP started acampaign to get the support ofSTs across the country. KCRintroduced the GirijanaBandhu scheme to counterthis and also announced 10per cent reservations to them.

So if KCR appoints his sonas the Telangana unit president

he will get the support of allsections and people will ignoreany criticism from opposi-tion parties.

Meanwhile, in his nationalparty, KCR may give impor-tance to former Gujarat ChiefMinister Shankar SinghVaghela.

It may be recalled thatShankar Singh Vaghela metKCR a few days ago at thePragathi Bhavan and discussednational politics. Vaghela hadextended his full support toKCR for his entry into nation-al politics. KCR thinks that ifVaghela is given a place in thenational party it will get a‘northern look’ also. Thereare chances that KCR may givean important post to Vaghelain his national party.

CM visiting temples...Continued from page 1

He would also hold a reviewmeeting with officials andtemple authorities.

This visit gains significance,ahead of KCR announcinghis national party. There arespeculations that the CM willbe making the announcementon Dusshera.

Sources said the ChiefMinister is known to be a reli-gious person. So he is visiting

Lakshmi Narasimha Swamyand a special pooja will beconducted.

KCR will reportedly visitVenkateswara Swamy atKonayapalli in Siddipet districtbefore Dusshera. Specialprayers are likely to be con-ducted there too. No officialannouncement has been madeyet on the party’s flag or name.However, a TRSLP meetingmay be held at the TelanganaBhavan on October 5.

Decrease the height of...Continued from page 1

He made strong argumentson flood issues and empha-sized that there have beenmany changes in the projectdesign, and to that extent, theproblem of flooding will alsoworsen.

He said that it was explainedwith statistics that floods willexceed estimate. He said thatthere is a possibility of inunda-tion of historical places andpower plants.

During the 28 lakh cusecsflood in 1986 water levels inthe river reached only 61metres. However, the waterlevel reached 71.5 metres dur-ing the rains this monsoon sea-son despite f lood levelsremaining at 24 lakh cusecs.He said that the estimationssubmitted by Andhra Pradeshto the Centre were full off laws and needed to bereviewed in the wake of theincreased height of the project.

Odisha and Chhattisgarh,

which participated in themeeting, also made the samearguments. They said that nopublic opinion has been soughtin their states yet and insistedthat the height of thePolavaram project should bereduced.

They also demanded thatmeasures to prevent floodingmust be taken immediately.

After hearing the argumentsof all the states, the Jal ShaktiDepartment decided to hold ameeting again on October 7.

KCR to open...Continued from page 1

KCR will participate inlocal programmes and leavefor Hyderabad at 2 pm.

The Chief Minister willvisit the Lord LakshmiNarasimhaswamy Temple inYadadri on Friday(September 30).

The CM will leave forYadadri by road fromPragathi Bhavan at 10.30 amand reach by 11.30 am onFriday.

Awards at...Continued from page 1

He made it clear thatMission Bhagiratha hasbecome a model throughoutthe country. Half the people inthe country still do not haveaccess to safe drinking water.He emphasized that Telanganais the only state which provides100 per cent safe drinkingwater. “The CAG and NITIAayog appreciated Telanganaon financial issues and nation-al agencies are conferringawards on TS projects.

SharpeningMunugode...Continued from page 1

In all the BJP is conduct-ing four surveys. Bansalwill discuss with BJP lead-ers about the survey resultsand alert the leaders aboutthe party’s position inMunugode to strengthenthe party wherever it isweak by hook or crook.The Congress is also con-ducting surveys using threeagencies. The candidatesPalvai Sravanthi (Congress)and KomatireddyRajagopal Reddy (BJP) andTRS ticket hopefuls arealso conducting their ownsurveys.

Odisha Minister...Continued from page 1

Rita visited the Pochampllyhandloom cluster and HWCSLtd Koyyalgudem of YadadriDistrict on Wednesday.During the tour, the Ministervisited Pochampally villageand interacted with weaverswho weave Ikkat in silk andcotton.

Rita observed that the tech-nique of Ikkat weavingrequires precision and skill.The Minister appreciated thestyle used by the weavers inweaving and dyeing with nat-ural vegetable dyes and theirdesigning.

The Minister also visitedHWCS Ltd Koyyalagudemwhich is famous for doubleikkat bed sheets and furnish-

ing cloth and interacted withsociety members.

The Odisha Minister appre-ciated the Telangana govern-ment’s Schemes like 40 percent yarn subsidy and theinsurance scheme for weavers.

The Minister said theOdisha Government is provid-ing work sheds and accessoriesto the weavers of Odisha.

Later, the Ministersexchanged their views on theimplementation of schemes intheir respective states for help-ing poor handloom weavers.They came to an understand-ing to implement state spon-sored schemes in their Statesto help weavers. The OdishaMinister invited Minister KTRto visit Odisha and it wasaccepted by KTR.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The new French Bureau inHyderabad will be operational bymid-2023 and will offer commer-cial as well as consular and visaservices, immensely benefitingstudents and business communi-ty and foster closer relationswith France. Minister KT RamaRao interacted with the French

Business Mission at Taj Krishna,Hyderabad and gave a presenta-tion on Telangana's progressiveindustrial policies and investmentopportunities. EmmanuelLenain, Ambassador of France toIndia, Paul Hermelin, GérardWolf, who led the MEDEFBusiness Delegation, JayeshRanjan, Principal Secretary,Industries & Commerce

Department and E. VishnuVardhan Reddy, SpecialSecretary, Industries Departmentparticipated.

Minister KTR said, "I welcomeFrench government's decision toopen new 'House of France' inHyderabad in recognition of thestrong and growing businessand people to people ties betweenFrance and Telangana.

French Bureau to start inHyderabad by mid-2023

Man held for moneylaundering; Rs 1.2 crore seizedPNS n HYDERABAD

Sleuths of the Central ZoneCommissioner's Task Forceon Thursday arrested oneperson in connection withmoney laundering andseized Rs 1.2 crore in cashfrom him.

The accused Shoaib Malikis a native of Meerut, UttarPradesh. He came to

Hyderabad in February 2022and was involved in scrapbusiness in Katedan. Heconfessed to the police say-ing that his uncle KamilMalik informed him to col-lect Rs 1.2 crore in cash froma person named Bharath.After that Shoaib wasinformed to distribute themoney to four people inHyderabad.

SC asks Centre for starvation death data

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onThursday asked the Centre toplace before it data on deathsdue to starvation and malnu-trition across the countrybesides a model plan to imple-ment the community kitchenscheme.

The top court had onJanuary 18 said the Centre willhave a role in drafting themodel Community KitchensScheme and, particularly,exploring the possibility ofproviding additional foodgrains for it.

It had granted two weeks toall the state governments andUnion Territory administra-tions to file an affidavit indicat-ing the incidence of starvationdeaths, if any, and malnutri-tion, with a copy in advance tothe counsel for the petitioneras also the attorney generalwho will collate the nationaldata for court's perusal.

Additional Solicitor GeneralMadhvi Divan told a bench ofJustices A S Bopanna and P SNarasimha the details werebeing sought from all state gov-ernments in terms of the ear-lier order, and sought somemore time to collate the mate-rial and file an appropriatereport before the court.

The bench took note of thefact that some states have notprovided the information tothe Centre and conceding theASG's request listed the plea forfurther hearing on November3.

At the outset, lawyer AshimaMandla, appearing for PILpetitioner Anun Dhawan andothers, said as per the latestdata, the number of Indianswho go to sleep hungry hasincreased from 19 crores in2018 to 35 crores in 2022.

She also said existing pro-grammes like Mid-Day MealScheme, ICDS and others, pro-vide food only to a limited class

of population such as childrentill 14 years of age, senior cit-izens, pregnant and lactatingwomen.

Therefore there is no schemeto provide cooked food to thegeneral population, the lawyersaid.

On the issue of data ondeaths, the bench said it is noteven discovered that a deathhas been caused due to starva-tion or malnutrition.

The top court had onJanuary 18 this year taken astrong note of the Centre'sstatement that no states havereported deaths due to starva-tion, quipping whether itshould be taken as a correctstatement .

It had then asked the Centreto prepare a model plan toimplement the CommunityKitchen Scheme across thecountry and provide addition-al food grains to states to runit, saying the issue of "hungerhas to be taken care of ".

The bench was hearing a PILseeking directions to theCentre, states and UnionTerritories (UTs) to formulatea scheme for running commu-nity kitchens to combat hungerand malnutrition.

Prior to this, it had expressedstrong displeasure over theCentre's response to framing apolicy for the CommunityKitchen Scheme.

"This affidavit does not indi-cate anywhere that you areconsidering framing a scheme.You are extracting information.It does not say what fund youhave collected and what youare doing etc. We wanted a uni-form model from the Centre.You have to ask the states... Notto collect information likepolice, the bench had said. Theapex court had on October 18,2019 favoured setting up com-munity kitchens, saying thecountry needs this kind of asystem to tackle the problem ofhunger.

m Tells it to respond to plea for community kitchens

hyderabad 03HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

PNS n HYDERABAD

.In the wake of blatant viola-tions of traffic rules and viola-tions, HyderabadCommissioner of Police CVAnand on Thursday said thatthe Hyderabad traffic policehas initiated measures to betaken against violators underOperation ROPE (Removal ofObstructive Parking andEncroachments).

Carriageways will be keptclear as per this operation.The commissioner said thatmore towing cranes will bepressed into service to keep thecarriageway clear. In lieu ofquantity, the emphasis will beon quality enforcement and itsimpact on complying withtraffic rules. During peakhours, all senior officers of traf-

fic will be out on the field andfocus on regulation and strin-gent measures will be initiatedagainst commuters resorting towrong-side driving, triple rid-ing and improper numberplates.

While addressing the mediaon Thursday at the TelanganaState Police IntegratedCommand and Control Centre

(TSPICCC), CV Anand saidthat the number of vehicles oncity roads has increased from64 lakh in December 2019 to77 lakh in August 2022. As ofDecember 2019, there were10.9 lakh registered cars in thecity, which increased to 13.7lakh in August 2022, which isan 18 per cent increase.

The Hyderabad City Police

will focus on three golden Es oftraffic management,Enforcement, Education andEngineering. Anand said thata fourth E has been added,which means Enablement. Thiswill help the traffic manage-ment with enhanced focus tocater to the welfare needs oftraffic personnel through reg-ular health camps, kit bags andcontinuous capacity building atthe Traffic Training Institute.

With the allotment of 40Inspectors and Sis of 2010 andother recent batches, alongwith 100 home guards, the traf-fic wing has been furtherstrengthened. Also, around100 women constables fromthe City Armed Reserve (CAR)will be deployed for trafficduties to cover more junc-tions, he added.

Meanwhile, CyberabadCommissioner of PoliceStephen Raveendra held a roadtraffic safety review meetingwith officials of the trafficwing in regards to traffic issuesand road safety. The currentsafety scenario on the roads inthe CyberabadCommissionerate limits waspresented and the identifiedroad accident black spots werebrought to the knowledge ofthe officials. While discussingthe causes for accidents atblack spots, it was decided toconduct joint inspections andtake measures to prevent them.Stephen Raveendra instructedto conduct frequent drunk-dri-ving checking and more partic-ularly enforcement on viola-tions which may cause fatal andnon-fatal accidents.

POST IMMERSION OF GANESH IDOLS

Levels of pollutants increase in Hussain Sagar

BATHUKAMMA FFETE

Schools opt for online revision during Dasara vacationDEEPIKA PASHAM

n HYDERABAD

Despite the dilemma overgoing ahead with Dasara vaca-tion, some private schoolshave taken to online mode tocomplete their revision.

The private schools in thecity that are yet to begin theirhalf-yearly examinations afterthe vacation are revising thesubjects for students.

One of the parents said, "Mygirl is in Class VI and her revi-sion classes are going on. Theschool informed us that focuson the subject is mandatorybecause students have lost thetouch with physical examina-tions due to online teaching inthe previous years. We agreedas we want better educationfor our children."

Some schools left the optionto parents to decide on attend-ing classes because as vacationcommences, families move tonative places and it is difficultto attend due to various net-work issues.

On condition of anonymi-

ty, a private teacher said, "If thesyllabus is not up to the markby year-end examinations, itwill be a pressure on teachers.Instead, we thought of agree-ing with the school manage-ment's decision to conductclasses online for a few days

during the vacation.According to the vacation cal-endar, we would have specif-ic days for holidays, but thisyear, the governmentannounced holidays to keepchildren away from heavyrainfall. So, we are substitut-ing for those days."

The principals of someschools have explained thatteachers or children are notbeing forced to attend, butgiven a free hand because ofvarious reasons. "Firstly, stu-dents have attention prob-lems, in-depth subject touch isnil. During the first set ofexams after Covid-19, stu-dents' report cards were asurprise to all of us, includingparents. So, it is crucial toguide the student in the rightpath before they grow up."

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad will be hosting the20th edition of Green BuildingCongress-2022 to be organisedby the Indian Green BuildingCouncil. The event will be heldat the Hyderabad InternationalConvention Centre (HICC)between October 20 and 22.The highlights of the eventwere announced by ShekarReddy, Chairman, IGBC, inthe presence of KS Venkatagiri,Executive Director, CII- IBGC.Over 3,000 delegates areexpected to attend the confer-ence. The 3-day Congress willhost exclusive sessions onGreen homes, green productsand materials.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana is witnessing aspike in the number of peo-ple suffering from fungalinfections and the widespreaduse of topical corticosteroidsis leading to more side-effectsamong the patients.Dermatophyte infection ismost common in India due tohot and humid weather, espe-cially in South India, duringthe rainy season. The infec-tion is caused by fungalagents called dermatophytesthat are capable of growing byinvading the upper layers ofthe skin, hair and nail forobtaining nutrients.DrVimala Manne, MedicalDirector and Dermatologist,Dr Vimala's Skin Centre said,"We are witnessing a rise inthe number of people gettinginfected in all age groups,especially younger adults andolder patients. I am person-ally witnessing at least 15 fun-gal infection cases at myclinic daily. Out of them, 50per cent of the OPD caseshave fungal infection. Wehave seen that people areusing steroid creams recent-ly without proper advice fromthe doctor and this is con-tributing to the severity of thecondition. These creams pro-vide instant relief from itch-ing, but eventually it worsensthe infections which comeback with more severity."

PNS n HYDERABAD

District Forest Departmentoffice complex constructed ata cost of Rs 3.17 crore was inau-gurated in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiridistrict on Thursday.

The complex was inaugurat-ed by Forest and EnvironmentMinister Indrakaran Reddyand Minister Jagdish Reddy.

Speaking on the occasion,Minister Indrakaran Reddysaid that the people of the statewere greatly benefited by thereorganisation of districts. Onthe other hand, he said that thestate government is making

efforts to create infrastructurein the forest department andforest conservation.

He said that after the reor-ganisation of the districts, thenew zonal system came intoforce and the forest departmentgot a new look. He said thatalong with improving the facil-ities, we are working to createthe necessary infrastructure.

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has facil-itated governance throughdecentralisation of power andthat the administration shouldbe in accordance with the aspi-rations and hopes of the peo-

ple, he said and added thatsaplings are being planted on alarge scale through the HarithaHaram programme and thestate is getting greener and it

was raining on time. The for-est officials were suggested tofocus more on improving for-est cover in the joint Nalgondadistrict.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad MetropolitanDevelopment Authority(HMDA) has announced toallot the balance RajivSwagruha flats at Bandlagudaand Pocharam townships forapplicants who have alreadypaid Rs 1,000 towards appli-cation fee. The notice said,"The balance Rajiv Swagruhaflats at Bandlaguda andPocharam townships are pro-posed to be allotted to theapplicants by way of lottery to

those who are ready to pay atoken advance. Interestedapplicants may submit a tokenadvance of Rs 3lakh or Rs 2lakh or Rs 1 lakh for 3-BHK,2-BHK, 1-BHK and 1-BHKsenior citizen category." TheDD has to be submitted in theoffice of the ManagingDirector, Telangana RajivSwagruha CorporationLimited, Urdugally, StreetNo.17, Himayathnagar, drawnin favour of MetropolitanCommissioner, HMDA,payable at Hyderabad.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A sure remedy for cardiacarrest a device called theAutomated ExternalDefibrillator (AED). An AEDis a compact and portabledevice that can deliver a shockto the heart during an emer-gency situation.

Dr Vijay R Boinapally, fac-ulty at the InternationalTraining Centre of GandhiMedical College, said, "Whena person suffers a sudden car-diac arrest, there is an electri-cal as well as mechanical fail-ure in the heart. To overcomethe mechanical failure, chestcompression throughC a r d i o p u l m o n a r yResuscitation (CPR) is done,and then to overcome theelectrical failure, an AED isused to deliver a shock to theheart. If both are administeredsimultaneously within the first

five minutes of the arrest, thechances of survival become 70to 80 per cent."

The AED device automati-cally recognises the heartrhythm and delivers the shockto restore the heart back to itsnormal rhythm. The advantageof an AED is that its use is notlimited to a hospital setting. Itcan be used by anybody to joltthe heart of a person who isunder cardiac arrest. Themachine is available in Indiaand costs around 85,000 to Rs1 lakh.

While explaining about thedifference between heartattacks and cardiac arrests, DrVijay said, "A heart attack iswhen one of the coronaryarteries of the person isblocked. There will be noblood supply to the heart andit can die due to not enoughoxygen. A cardiac arrest on theother hand is an electricalmalfunction in the heart whichcauses irregular heartbeat. Theheart stops pumping blood tothe brain, lungs and otherorgans.

Using AED during cardiac arrestincreases survival rate by 80%

IIT Hyd to offer course in SanskritPNS n HYDERABAD

Under the guidance of CentralSanskrit University (CSU), NewDelhi, a Non-Formal SanskritEducation Centre (NFSE) wasestablished at IIT Hyderabad(IITH). This centre is hostingan introductory Sanskrit courseon the IITH campus, andinvites students, faculty, staff,family of faculty or staff, andeven people outside IITH tojoin. The course is called thePrathama-diksha by CSU andis the prerequisite for theDvitiya-diksha (a diplomacourse). This course will focuson a graded learning method,with flexibility where the stu-

dents can decide their pace andthere are no prerequisites forjoining. It is scheduled to startthis October and classes will beheld at the IITH campus.

Sharing the vision behindthe course, Director, IITHyderabad, Prof BS Murty,said, "IITH, has emerged as oneof the top 10 engineering insti-tutes in India in the QS-2023world rankings. It has estab-lished a Department of HeritageScience and Technology (HST)and Indian Knowledge Systems(IKS) Cell, which is under theaegis of the department ofHST, to nurture an awarenessof the traditional IndianKnowledge Systems (shaas-

tras). I strongly believe that theIKS Cell has great potential toact as a bridge between tradi-tional knowledge and moderntechnologies. As Sanskrit is thegateway to the ancient Indianknowledge, courses likePrathama-diksha play a criticalrole in achieving this goal."

PNS n HYDERABAD

A revenue inspector (RI) atMusheerabad was beaten upby a group of residents forhis alleged misbehavior witha young lady who went fora certificate. It is alleged that the revenueinspector R Vijay behavedrudely towards the youngwoman who went for thecertificate. He told theyoung lady to come alone ifshe wants the certificate.On Thursday, she took herparents and went to theoffice in Musheerabad.

RI beaten up formisbehaving with a lady

Reorganisation of districts helped people: Min

TS witnessing aspike in fungalinfection cases

PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for Education SabithaIndra Reddy has felicitated thetoppers in Intermediate onThursday. The minister hand-ed over memos to 10 of them.

Speaking on the occasion,the minister said, "Talent doesnot belong to anyone. Studentsfrom government colleges are

best for companies. Follow theteachers and prepare withoutwasting time to become win-ners." The minister said,"Government institutions aregiving the best results due tobetter educational standards.Facilities have been providedand measures are being takento increase the percentage ofstudents at government col-

leges. Special classes are con-ducted if necessary. Students injunior colleges are being helpedby psychologists."The ministersaid that they are imparting IITand NEET courses. She askedofficials to take special classesin morning and evening hours,divide the students into groupsand to give special focus onbackward students.

Operation ROPE begins toimprove free flow of traffic

Hyderabad Commissioner of Police CV Anand and Joint CP(Traffic) AVRanganath, along with other traffic officials, at TSPICCC on Thursday

Min Sabitha felicitates Intermediate toppers

Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy felicitates Intermediate toppers in Hyderabad on Thursday

HMDA to allot balanceRajiv Swagruha flats

PNS n HYDERABAD

To commemorate WorldHeart Day, free cardiac screen-ing camps were hosted forcommuters at the Ameerpetand Raidurg Metro Stationson Thursday from 9 am to 3pm. Tests were performed onpeople as part of the free campwhich included random bloodsugar, cholesterol, BP checkfollowed by a physician con-sultation. ECG screening was also doneto those people found to havesome traces of cardiac ail-ments and Echo screening wasdone to those people needingfurther investigation.Thecamp at Ameerpet MetroStation was organised byApollo Spectra Hospital inassociation with HyderabadMetro Rail.

Free cardiacscreening campconducted

Hyd to host GreenBuilding Congress

PNS n HYDERABAD

Botanical Walkers Associationhas announced to organise thesecond edition of Run forPeace at Botanical Garden,Gachibowli on October 2.State Forest and EnvironmentMinister A Indrakaran Reddyand State Forest DevelopmentCorporation ChairmanVanteru Pratap Reddyunveiled the Run for Peace jer-sey and medals at AranyaBhavan on Thursday.

Second editionof Run forPeace on Oct 2

District Forest Office complex being inaugurated by Forest and EnvironmentMinister Indrakaran Reddy at Yadadri on Thursday

Students and faculty of the Telugu University celebrate Bathukamma festival on the campus on Thursday

PNS n HYDERABAD

The body of a 23-year-oldwoman who jumped off theDurgam Cheruvu cablebridge on Wednesday wasfound and taken out of thelake on Thursday.

The lake police startedthe search for the body onWednesday afternoon.

The body was shifted toa mortuary where an autop-sy will be conducted afterwhich it will be handedover to the family members.

The woman identified asSwapna jumped into thelake was reportedly suffer-ing from mental illness dueto a divorce she recentlywent through.

Body ofwoman whojumped intolake traced

WITHIN FIRST FIVE MINUTES

PNS n HYDERABAD

Water samples analysed by theTelangana State PollutionControl Board has revealedincreased levels of pollution inthe Hussain Sagar Lake.

An analysis of the watersample for colour, mud parti-cles, soluble solids, biologicaloxygen demand, chemical oxy-gen demand and the level ofpresence of heavy metalsshowed that all these factors arepresent in the water more thanthe permitted levels. Theincreased level of pollutantsposes problems to the marinespecies like fish. Also affectedwould be birds and plant andanimal species.

Water samples were collect-ed from the Hussain SagarLake at NTR Park, LumbiniPark, Necklace Road, Lepakshi

Point and at Buddha Image atthe centre of the lake prior tothe immersion on August 29and while the immersion wasunder progress on September2, 5, 7 and 9 and after theimmersion on Sept. 12 andsubjected to lab analysis. Theresults indicate increased levelof pollutants in the water at allpoints.

An analysis of the samplecollected at NTR Park indicat-ed increase of mud particlesfrom 45 mg, prior to theimmersion, to 152 mg after theimmersion. Water density isobserved at 7.24 points. Thechemical oxygen level shot upto 164 mg from earlier 37 mg.The demand for biologicaloxygen multiplied three timesto 30. The presence of heavymetals like chromium, lead,zinc, copper, cadmium and

others increased heavily. At Lumbini Park, the water

colour turned green. The pres-ence of mud particles rose to1,340 mg, while the density ofwater is registered at 8.12. Thesoluble solids level in the watersample is found to be 831 mg.

The demand for chemical oxy-gen was put at 284 mg.Hardness of water alsoincreased considerably. Ananalysis of the sample collect-ed at Necklace Road indicatedthe presence of mud particlesto be 112 mg. Density of the

sample is found to be 8.24points.

The water soluble solidspresence was put at 829 mg.Traces of E-Coli bacterial pres-ence was observed. Thedemand for chemical oxygenrose to 160 mg. The hardness

of water is observed as 404 mg. The sample collected near

Buddha statue contained 96 mgof mud particles, 832 mg ofwater soluble solids, chemicaloxygen demand of 101 mg. Thehardness of water is found to be426 mg.

The biological oxygendemand is found to be 24 mg.The quality of air and water inthe vicinity of the lake will getpolluted. There is a possibilityof the lake water emittingunbearable stink. The groundwater table in the vicinity willbecome toxic. Slag containingCalcium, silicon, magnesium,molybdenum, iron will formthe top layer of the water,while the harmful elements likechromium, cobalt, nickel, cop-per, zinc, cadmium, lithiumwill get deposited at the bottomof the water.

The increasedlevel ofpollutants posesproblems to themarine specieslike fish. Alsoaffected wouldbe birds andplant and animalspecies

The course iscalled thePrathama-dikshaby CSU and isthe prerequisitefor the Dvitiya-diksha

04HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

PNS n SIDDIPET

Minister for Finance T HarishRao on Thursday asserted thatthe Telangana government hasbeen paying higher salaries tothe employees than any otherState in the country.

Speaking at the DiamondJubilee celebrations of the StateTeachers' Union (STU) here,the Minister recalled that theState government hadannounced 73 per cent fitnessfor government employees dur-ing the last five years. In fact,the legislators, belonging tovarious parties in various States,want their goverments toimplement the welfare schemewhich benefited the vast major-ity of people in Telangana.

The Chief Minister, KChandrashekar Rao, was keenon giving a facelift to the gov-ernment schools. The Stategovernment has been spending

12 per cent of its budget oneducation. The State took ini-tiative to boost the educationsector, he said. The governmenthas established 17 medical gov-ernment in government sectorduring the last seven years. Thenumber of MBBS seats in theState went up 2,840 from 840.

Apart from it, the govern-ment has been spending Rs7,300 crore to improve infra-

structure in the governmentschools across the State. TheMana Ooru-Mana Badi pro-gramme was intended to boostthe education sector.

Despite the Centre restrict-ing the release of funds toTelangana, he said the ChiefMinister was implementing allthe schemes.

He expressed concern overthe Centre trying to stall the

welfare scheme and impede theprogress of the State. TheCentree failed to release Rs30,000 funds to the State, hesaid. Harish Rao made criticalcomments on the AndhraPradesh government.

The Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment, he said, has beenharassing the teachers andsending to jail.He admittedthat payment of salaries to the

employees is sometimes beingdelayed. The Centre had heldback Rs 30,000 crore owed tothe State.

Earlier, Minister for Health THarish Rao on Thursday urgedthe poor people to make prop-er use of Basti Dawakhanas.The Minister was inauguratinga Basti Dawakhana near theoffice of the Revenue DivisionalOfficer here.

Speaking on the occasion,the State government has beenestablishing Basti Dawakhanasin every ward to provide health-care to people.

Additional CollectorMuzammil Khan, RevenueDivisional Officer AnanthReddy, District Medical andHealth Officer Kasinath andothers were present. MunicipalCommissioner RavinderReddy, TRS leaders PalaSairam, Tadaduri Sai, RajaNarsu also spoke.

PNS n WANAPARTHY

Minister for Agriculture SNiranjan Reddy on Thursdaysaid that the State govern-ment strengthened the coop-erative sector. It became strongonly after it was entrustedwith the task of procuringpaddy from farmers and itenabled the sector to earn acommission.

He was speaking as chiefguest at the Wanaparthy man-dal Primary AgriculturalCooperative Society generalbody meeting.

After taking part in theevent, he proceeded toMunnanur village of Gopalpetmandal and distributed Aasarapension cards to the new pen-sioners and the Bathukammasaris to women.

Later, he visited ChennaKesava Swamy temple in thevillage.

He expressed concern overthe successive regimes thatruled the United AP neglect-ing the cooperative e sector inthe State. The cooperative sys-

tem is meant not only o pro-vide loans to the farmers, butalso to wriggle them out of thedebt trap.

No Chief Minister in theUnited AP evinced interest inthe welfare of farmers. ChiefMinister K ChandrashekarRao came to the rescue of the

farmer. The Rytu Bandhuscheme has helped farmerscome out of the debt trap. Itbecame a role model for otherStates, he pointed out.

He asked the farmers tofocus on crop diversificationand come out of the mindsetof cultivating traditional crops.

PNS n MEDAK

Local Bodies AdditionalCollector Pratima Singh onThursday offered prayers inconnection with theBathukamma festival and par-ticipated in the celebrations.

She observed that thewomen were celebrating thefestival on a grand scale.

The festival helps peopleshare happiness with oneanother and also reflects val-ues. She said that the festival is

celebrated on Friday on thepremises of the SC, ST, BCWelfare and Departmentoffice. MLA Padma DevenderReddy will take part in the

Bathukamma celebrations tobe held at junior college, shesaid, asking the district officialsto take part in the celebrationsthere.

PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP State unit president BandiSanjay Kumar will conduct 5thphase Praja Sangrama Yatrafrom October 15 onwards.

The Yatra will be startedfrom Bainsa to Karimnagarcity. Sanjay will start his yatraat Bainsa only after perform-ing special pooja to GoddessBasara Saraswati .

Sanjay walked 1,260 kilo-meters touching 48 Assemblyconstituencies.

PNS n MEDAK

Six fishermen, who werestranded in the middle of theRiver Manjeera, were rescuedby the officials on Thursday.The river is full spate followingreleased of water from Singurproject.

Six fishermen, named BSiddiramulu, Bingiri Pochaiah,Y Nagaraju, Krishna, K

Yadagiri and K Siddipramuluventured into the river thoughit is in spate.

Papannapet TahsildarMahender and DeputySuperintendent of PoliceSaidulu along Fire OfficerAmarnath Goud with the helpof Fire Service personnel res-cued the fishermen.

The police also deployedtwo divers too.

TRS government strengthenscooperative sector: Niranjan

Minister for Agriculture S Niranjan Reddy speaking at a public meeting atNunnanur village in Wanaparthy district on Thursday

Six fishermen stranded in Manjeera rescued

PNS n NAGARKURNOOL

A training programme wasconducted for ANMS at theDMHO office here onThursday on how to identi-fy women with high-riskpregnancy and how to plantheir delivery in the hospitalsoffering the services of med-ical experts. The trainingprogramme was conductedunder the joint aegis of thecivil society organizationArmon and DMHO.

Addressing the ANMs,DrK Sudhakar Lal asked theANMs to register the preg-nant women within 12 weeksof pregnancy and make themundergo quality health check-ups.

Dr Priyanka Rani, DrDasarath and Armon repre-sentative Sandhya gave spe-cialized training to the ANMson how to identify pregnantwomen having hypertension,diabetes and anaemia.

PNS n GADWAL

BJP national vice-presidentD K Aruna on Thursdayperformed special puja toGoddess Annapurna at atemple in the town.

As part of the DasaraNavaratri celebrations, theGoddess was embellished inthe form of GoddessGodadevi on Thursday.

She expressed the hopethat the Dasara Navaratricelebrations were conducted

with religious fervour andpiety by the people as well asdevotees and let the peopleget the mercy of the deity.

BJP state executive bodymember Geddam KrishnaReddy, floor leader in themunicipal ity TRamanjaneyulu, districtBJYM president MirjapuramVenkateswara Reddy, BJPsenior leader TummalaNarasimhulu and otherswere present on the occa-sion.

Aruna worshipsGoddess Annapurna

BJP national vice-president D K Aruna offering prayers at a temple in Gadwal onThursday

PNS n MANCHERIAL

The cultivation of Sitamma JadaFlowers (called Celosia inEnglish) is fetching good returnsto the farmers. Thanks toBathukamma festival season.The farmers have reduced areaunder other crops like red gram,maize and increased the area ofcultivation under Celosia grad-ually increasing the area under

the crop. NAlong with the Telangana

state flower of Cassia Auriculata,women prefer to use Celosia todecorate Bathukammas becauseCelosia is very attractive. Theydo not hesitate to buy theCelosia flower inspite of highcost in the market. The demandfor Celosia flower increases inmarket since the day of SaddulaBathukamma festival.

Training programmeon high-riskpregnancy held

Additional Collector takes partin Bathukamma celebrations

TS employees are highest paidgovt staff in country: Harish

Minister for Finance T Harish Rao speaking at the State Teachers Union meeting in Siddipet on Thursday

After taking part in the event, heproceeded to Munnanur village ofGopalpet mandal and distributedAasara pension cards to the newpensioners and the Bathukammasaris to women.

Additional Collector Pratima Singh participating in the Bathukamma celebrationsin Medak on Thursday

Celosia flowers fetch good revenueto farmers in Bathukamma festival

Low-lying areas inundated in MahabubnagarPNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

Heavy rains lashed the townon Thursday for three hoursinudating the low-lying areasof the town.

Minister for Excise VSrinivas Goud directed thedistrict machinery to monitorthe situation in the low-lyingareas of the town and takerelief measures and take reliefmeasures. The Minister, whois in Ahmedabad, called upthe officials from there andput the officials machinery onhigh alert. AdditionalCollector Tejas Nandlal

Pawar, District SPVenkateswarlu, Municipal

Chairman K C Narsimhulu,Municipal Commissioner

Pradip, Fire Department per-sonnel, police personnel vis-ited low-lying areas RamaiahBowli, BK Reddy Colony,Vallabh Nagar, SivasaktiNagar.

The town experienced 10cm of rainfall leading to inun-dation of low-lying areas ofthe town, the officials told theMinister, who ordered themto evacuate the affected peo-ple to safer places.

He asked officials to alwaysremain accessible to the peo-ple living in low-lying areasand see to it that no inconve-nience is caused to them.

A car being swept away in flood waters in Mahabubnagar on Thursday

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

The last date for filing nomi-nations for the election to thepost of AICC president isSeptember 30.

Senior party leadersDigvijay Singh and ShashiTharoor are going to file nom-inations on Friday.

No Telangana Congressleader is willing to file nomi-nation for the election beingheld on October 17. The resultwill be announced on October19.

Speaking to ‘The Pioneer,’senior Telangana Congressleader V. Hanumantha Raosaid he thought of filing hisnomination but decidedagainst it after Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlotexpressed his willingness tocontest to the post.

“I would have contested ifAshok Gehlot had notexpressed his willingness in thebeginning. Gehlot said that heis not contesting. It’s a differ-ent thing. I don’t have any indi-cations from AICC interimpresident Sonia Gandhi.However, I met Digvijay todaywho is going to file his nomi-nation on Friday,” VH said.

VH is in New Delhi for thelast two days and is returningon Friday to Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoortweeted posting the photo ofhis opponent Digvijay Singhon Thursday.

Tharoor said in his tweet,“Received a visit from @digvi-jaya_28 this afternoon. I wel-come his candidacy for thepresidency. We both agreedthat ours is not a battlebetween rivals but a friendlycontest among colleagues. Allwe both want is that whoeverprevails, @incIndia will win!”

None from Telangana infray for AICC prez election

PNS n HYDERABAD

A team of doctors from MAAENT Hospital, Hyderabad,successfully treated a 45-year-old male patient who wasadmitted with loss of vision.The patient initially had asevere pain in the right eye andheadache on the right side. OnSeptember 10 he sufferedcomplete vision loss.On exam-ination, the doctors observedsluggish pupillary reflex withno vision in the right eye andpurulent material in the rightside of the nose. and MRIshowed fungal infectioninvolving the right side sinus-es and right orbit. The doctorsoperated and removed thedisease from all the sinusesand right eyeball socket.

45-year-old malewith vision losstreated successfully

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary SomeshKumar released a book, titledTelangana,History,Culture,Movements, at BRKR Bhavanon Thursday.

He said that while the statehas achieved tremendousprogress in economic andsocial sectors after its forma-tion, there is a need for moreresearch-oriented bookscomparing the state with thepast.

The historic eventsdescribed in the book are atestimony to Chief MinisterK Chandrashekar Rao'sobservation that every nookand corner of Telangana statehas a historical background.Telangana history is believedto be 2,000 years old.However, there are historicalevidences to prove that early

man lived in this part of thestate even before. He statedthat though many books arebeing published on history,culture and social fabric ofTelangana state after thestate's formation, there is aneed for more such books.

The Chief Secretary con-gratulated the authors,Professor A Satyanarayanaand D Satyanarayana, fortheir analytical views andstudy of Telangana's medieval

and pre-medieval period.The book will be very usefulfor the students appearing forcompetitive exams, he added.

Telangana MediaAcademy Chairman AllamNarayana, Sahitya AcademyChairman JuluriGowrishankar, TSPSC for-mer Chairman GhantaChakrapani, ProfessorKishore and Hyderabad BookExhibition Society SecretaryChandramohan participated.

CS releases book on Telangana history

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar releasing a book on Telangana history, culture andmovements at BRKR Bhavan in Hyderabad on Thursday

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana governmentissued an order amending therules of Kaoji Narayana RaoUniversity of Health Sciences(KNRUHS) for admission intoMBBS and BDS courses revis-ing 85 per cent of B categorymanagement quota seats inprivate medical colleges tolocal students and remaining15 per cent has been set as anopen quota for students fromacross the country.

The Health, Medical andFamily Welfare departmentissued two orders and decidedto amend the Telangana unaid-ed Non-Minority and Minorityprofessional institutions. Withthe release of these two orders,an additional 1,068 MBBSseats in all 24 private medical

colleges across the state will beavailable to the students fromTelangana. There are a total of3,750 seats available in 20non-minority and four minor-ity private medical colleges inthe state.

Until last year, out of the3,200 seats available in non-minority colleges, 1,120 (35%)seats were under the manage-ment quota which was avail-able to students from acrossthe country. With the revisionof guidelines now, 952 out ofthe 1,120 will be available tostudents of Telangana andremaining 168 will be openquota seats. In the same way,137 of the 550 seats in Minoritycolleges were in managementquota and now after the revi-sion 116 out the 137 will be forTelangana students.

85% category B seats in privatemedical colleges will be for locals

PNS n HYDERABAD

L&T Metro Rail, L&MRHLorganised a prize distribu-tion ceremony for five win-ners of the lucky draw offerunder Metro Suvarna Offer-2022, in partnership withSugar Box.

AK Gupta, DRM, SouthCentral Railway, along withKVB Reddy, MD & CEO,L&TMRHL, SudhirChiplunkar, CO O,L&TMRHL, and MuraliVaradarajan, CSO,L&TMRHL, gave away theprizes to the winners atAmeerpet metro station onThursday.

Winners of the monthlylucky draw were, 1st prize

won by K Sri Sahithya, 2ndprize by Prabir Kumar Barik,3rd prize won by RathlavathRajitha, 4th prize by DBaladev and 5th prize byNampelly Yugender.

Speaking on the occa-sion,KVB Reddy said, "Suchengagement efforts help usto reach out to our passen-gers and recognise theirassociation and patronagewith us. We are committedto providing an engagingjourney for our passengersand making their commutecomfortable and safe." Thisoffer has been applicable forthe passengers who travel 20t imes or more withHyderabad Metro in a calen-dar month.

Metro Rail felicitateswinners of lucky draw

Bandi Sanjay5th phase yatrafrom Oct 15

NEWS FROM ANDHRA PRADESH

Jagan ready with hit-list of 27SAMBASIVA RAO M

n AMARAVATI

In a revelation of sorts, threesix sitting ministers, two for-mer ministers, two whips,and the Speaker figure in thelist of 27 'under-performing'YSRCP MLAs with whomChief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy is reportedlynot satisfied. The MLAs whohave shifted their loyaltiesfrom TDP to YSRCP mayhave to face the axe if they failto improve their performance.They may not be consideredfor tickets either by theYSRCP or TDP in the nextgeneral elections.

The Chief Minister hasbeen doing this exercise towin all the Assembly con-stituencies in the State, nam-ing it 'Mission 175'.

Jagan Mohan Reddywarned some Ministers thathe would replace them withothers if they do not improvetheir performance, at aCabinet meeting held justbefore the recently-conclud-ed monsoon session of theAssembly. It was informedthat the Chief Minister wouldconduct a meeting with allthe MLAs and other partyleaders during the Assemblysession, but it was postponedtwice and finally organised onWednesday.

Wednesday’s meeting was aone-man show, where onlyJagan Mohan Reddy spoke atlength and warned the MLAs,including Ministers, that ifthey fail to improve their per-formance, he would not givetickets to them in the ensuingGeneral Elections.

HC orders shifting of CBI

courts to Kurnool, VijayawadaPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh HighCourt has directed theVisakhapatnam, Krishna andKurnool Principal DistrictJudges to take steps to shiftthe Second Additional CBIcourt to Kurnool fromVisakhapatnam.

The High Court alsodirected the Judges to takesteps to shift the Third

Additional CBI court toVijayawada. The AndhraPradesh government had ear-lier decided to shift the CBIcourts to Kurnool andVijayawada and issued a GOin this regard. The AP HCRegistrar (Recruitments)Alapati Giridhar issuedorders to the PrincipalDistrict Judges to make nec-essary arrangements to shiftthe two CBI courts.

nation 05HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

IND

IA C

OR

NE

R A day after ban, PFI's Twitterhandle taken down

The Twitter handle of the Popular Front of India (PFI) was taken down on Thursday, a day afterthe group was banned by the government for five years for allegedly having "links" with globalterror organisations like the ISIS and trying to spread communal hatred in the country.

"Account Withheld. @PFIOfficial's account has been withheld in India in response to a legaldemand," a message in the page read. The PFI was accused of indulging in "disturbing"communal and secular fabric of the country and "posing a grave threat" to the national security byadvancing its radical ideology and callingfor establishment of political Islam in Indiabesides allegedly carrying out targetedkillings of Hindu activists. The PFI, thehome ministry alleged, is encouraging andtrying to enforce a terror-based regressiveregime, continue to propagate anti-nationalsentiments and radicalising a particularsection of society to create disaffectionagainst the country, aggravating activitieswhich are detrimental to the integrity,security and sovereignty of the country.

Autobiography of filmmaker Muzaffar Ali to release in November

The autobiography of renowned filmmaker and painter Muzaffar Ali will hit thestands in November, Penguin Random House India (PRHI) announced onThursday. Peppered with unheard anecdotes about films and Bollywood, Ali in

"Zikr: In The Light and Shade of Time" takes readers behind the scenes of films like"Anjuman" and "Gaman", speaking of the sensibilities that shaped them and theinfluences on his work. "I'm driven by poetry, but I am not a poet. Inspired by artistes,have inspired artistes. 'Zikr' is ahomage to people I have met andplaces I have lived in. A celebration ofcultures I have experienced constantlyfinding and creating bridges toconnect," said the 77-year-oldcelebrated filmmaker in a statement."Rumi and Khusrau are beacons of lightilluminating my path. A path ofuniversal humanism showed by myfather and his contemporaries like Faiz,"he added.

Qutub Minar most visited touristdestination for foreigners

THE Qutub Minar was the most visited destination for foreign visitors between April andJune, according to an RTI reply. The historic Red Fort was the second most visiteddestination for foreign visitors followed by Humayun's Tomb during the same period, the

reply said. An analysis of data shows that 15,51,975 Indians visited tourist places betweenApril and June. The number of foreign visitors stood at 21,580. Qutub Minar, a UNSECO-recognised world heritage site in Delhi,received 3,81,249 Indian visitors and9,063 foreign tourists between April andJune, according to data shared by theArchaeological Survey of India (ASI),Delhi Circle. The maximum number offoreign tourists visited the monument inApril. The Mughal-era Red Fort wasvisited by 5,696 foreign tourists duringthe three-month period. It received thehighest number of domestic visitors at8,13,434, more than twice the numberat Qutub Minar.

Congress saysdecision on RajasthanCM in a day or two

PNS n BENGALURU

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman onThursday said innovation isgoing to be key factor in mak-ing India a developed nationby 2047, as she highlighted theimmense potential of digital-isation in achieving this.

She also said that if thesame momentum that wasseen through COVID-19 andimmediately after that contin-ues, and if all countrymen puttheir efforts together, buildingIndia as a developed economyby 2047 should not be diffi-cult.

"Innovation is going to bethe key for many things thatwe can do between now and2047. It is because of theinnovation, the solutionswhich we have for very manyof the festering problems ofthis economy, we can achievethat desired developed econ-omy status," Sitharaman said.Also highlighting the empha-sis that is being laid on furtherdigitalisation, whether intomedical services, educationand Software as a service(SaaS), she said there isimmense potential to take itup further.

The Finance Minister wasaddressing the 105th AnnualGeneral Meeting ofFederation of KarnatakaChambers of Commerce and

Industry (FKCCI) here.Noting that India went

through the pandemic with ofcourse sufferings, but suc-ceeded in keeping itself steadyand businesses came out of it,the Minister said, "We havelots more to do, I'm not say-ing that we have succeeded inachieving everything that wewant, but we have come out."

"There is more assistanceneeded by some sections, weare attending to them, as andwhen we hear from them."

Pointing out that even devel-oped world has suffered andthe countries belonging to thedeveloped world are sufferingon many parameters, whether

it is inflation management,giving access to vaccination tothe needy, reaching out to thepoorest of poor, Sitharamansaid, "you will find that differ-ent countries have had experi-ences, very different from whatIndia has had."

She said, India, despitebeing a large country withhuge population and differentaccess with respect to road orany other parameter, becauseof the technological revolutionof sorts that happened muchbefore the pandemic therewas access to technology toprovide relief, reach peopleand for the transparentprocess.

FM asks Karnataka to dobranding during G-20 meetings

PNS n BENGALURU

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman onThursday said most of the G-20 meetings next year will beheld at several destinationsacross the country, includingthose in Karnataka, and calledon the state to do its branding,and to identify its products,which can be showcased.

She also requested theChambers of Commerce towork together with thoseindustries, particularly smalland medium, and those partic-ularly working in handicraftsand traditional Karnatakaproducts, so that they areshowcased and the benefit ofG-20 coming to the state isreaped fully.

"Next year, India is going tohold the chair for G-20. The 20countries and multilateralinstitutions which are invitedto participate will be moving allover the country. The PrimeMinister has said G-20 meet-ings will happen not just inDelhi, most of them will hap-pen outside of Delhi, and

there are several destinations inKarnataka where the meetingswill be held," Sitharaman said.

She said, "I hope andearnestly wish, and I will cer-tainly do my bit for Karnatakato do its branding, to identifythose products, which canreally be branded and show-cased during the G-20 meet-ings. It will immediately attractthe attention of the top leader-ship which will be movingacross the country during thecourse of next year."

The Finance Minister, whois Member of Rajya Sabhafrom Karnataka was address-ing the 105th Annual GeneralMeeting of Federation ofKarnataka Chambers of

Commerce and Industry(FKCCI) here.

Noting that next year is the"year of millets" and Karnatakais the lead producer of milletsin the country, Sitharaman,while highlighting its process-ing said millet is now the"gold for wellbeing", all overthe world there is a market forit.

"All over the world there isa market for it. India is thelargest producer and thirdlargest exporter of millets, butvalue addition is what is goingto be important," she said,while observing that there is aneed for a lot of startups tolook at innovative ways ofdoing it.

BJD govt failed tofulfil people'saspirations: Nadda PNS nBHUBANESWAR

The BJD government in Odishahas failed to fulfil the aspirationsof the people, BJP president JPNadda said on Thursday, callingupon the voters to oust it.

Addressing a rally here, Naddaalleged that there is corruption indifferent spheres of the govern-ment in the state.

"The protector is killer inOdisha as at least three ministerswere allegedly involved in the dif-ferent murder cases," he said."There is corruption in the imple-mentation of PMAY, MGNRE-GA and other schemes," healleged. Alleging misrule underthe BJD regime, Nadda claimedthat people here have to take theirrelatives to hospital on bicycles.

Nadda said that it is unfortu-nate for a democracy like Indiathat most of the national partieshave been reduced to regionalparties. BJP is the only nationalparty and has regional aspirations,he claimed. "It is unfortunate thatall the national parties have beenreduced to regional parties. TheBJP being the world's largestpolitical party now fights against

the family-based parties in differ-ent states," he said. "The IndianNational Congress is neithernational nor Indian. It is now the'Bhai-Behen' (brother-sister)party," he quipped. Nadda saidthat the Congress's situation issuch that its candidates lostdeposits in most assembly seatsof Uttar Pradesh.

PNS nNAGPUR

Union minister Nitin Gadkarion Thursday said even asIndia has emerged as theworld's fifth largest economyand although the country isrich, its population is poor, fac-ing issues like starvation,unemployment, casteism,untouchability and inflation.The gap between the rich andthe poor has widened in thecountry, which needs to bebridged, he said.

He was addressing a pro-gramme organised by BharatVikas Parishad, a RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-inspired organisation.

"We are the fastest-growingeconomy in the world and arethe fifth largest economy. Weare a rich nation with a poorpopulation. Our country isrich, but the population is poorfacing starvation, unemploy-ment, poverty, inflation,casteism, untouchability andother factors that are not goodfor the progress of the society,"he said. "There is a need toestablish social and econom-ic equality in the society. Thegap between these two sec-tions of the society has

widened. Economic disparityhas also increased like socialdisparity," the Minister forRoad Transport and Highwaysnoted. Gadkari emphasisedthe need to work in the fieldsof education, health and ser-vices to bridge the rich-poorgap. "The purpose of theBharat Vikas Parishad is veryclear, but the biggest challengebefore us is how to work invarious sectors with socialresponsibility and social con-

sciousness to bring about achange in the society.However, we are still very farfrom our objective and need tospeed up our efforts to achieveit," he said.

The minister called forworking in a united way todevelop 124 aspirational dis-tricts in the country.

"These 124 aspirational dis-tricts in the country are lag-ging behind socially and interms of education and health.The urban regions have wit-nessed a lot of development,but a huge population hasmigrated to cities due to lackof facilities and opportunities,"he said while appealing to theBharat Vikas Parishad to workon empowering rural areas.

"Swami Vivekananda saidthat the 21st century belongsto India, and therefore every-one should contribute in theirown way towards the progressof the nation," he said.Gadkari gave an example ofhis own initiatives being car-ried out in the tribal regionssince the last 23 years, underwhich 1,200 Ekal Vidyalaysare being run in the Vidarbha,where 18,000 students aregetting education.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress president SoniaGandhi will decide on theRajasthan chief minister's postwithin a day or two, party gen-eral secretary KC Venugopalsaid on Thursday.

Venugopal made the state-ment outside Gandhi's 10,Janpath residence here after aseries of meetings to resolvethe Rajasthan crisis.

He also said it will be clearby tomorrow, the last day offiling nomina-tions for the toppost, who all willcontest.

The commentscame soon afterRajasthan ChiefMinister AshokG e h l o tannounced thathe will not con-test the Congresspresidential pollsas he took moral responsibil-ity for the political crisis in hisstate, and said the decision onwhether he would remain CMwould be taken by the partychief. After meeting the partypresident, Gehlot toldreporters that he apologised toGandhi for the developmentson Sunday when MLAs sup-porting him defied the centralobservers and thwarted themove to hold a meeting of

party legislators.Instead, they held a parallel

meeting to pitch for Gehlot'scontinuation or the guaranteethat his bete noire SachinPilot will not replace him.

Gehlot, a three-time statechief minister, described him-self as a disciplined soldier ofthe party and expressed hissadness over the turn of eventsin the state.

Asked if he will continue aschief minister, Gehlot saidGandhi will decide on the

issue.Me a nw h i l e ,

senior Congressleader DigvijayaSingh, who islikely to file hisnomination forthe Congresspresident's poston Friday, metShashi Tharoor,who said theyagreed that theirs

is "not a battle between rivalsbut a friendly contest" amongcolleagues.

Singh met the party MPfrom Thiruvananthapuramon Thursday after collectingnomination papers for thepolls. "Received a visit fromDigvijaya Singh this after-noon. I welcome his candida-cy for the Presidency of ourParty," Tharoor said in atweet.

Elected SP chiefagain, Akhilesheyes nationalstatus for partyPNS n LUCKNOW

Elected as Samajwadi Partypresident for a third term,Akhilesh Yadav Thursday askedparty workers to bring togeth-er the followers of Dalit iconBhimrao Ambedkar and social-ist leader Ram Manohar Lohia,and make the SP a nationalparty. Yadav (49), who in hisfresh term will lead the party inthe 2024 Lok Sabha polls andthe 2027 Uttar Pradesh elec-tions, said his father and SPfounder Mulayam Singh Yadavalways wanted the SP to becomea national party.

We struggled for it and trieda lot. On this day, when you aregiving me another term of fiveyears, we should all take apledge that the next time wemeet the SP becomes a nation-al party, he told.

‘Innovation will make India a developed nation’

We have lots more to do, I'm not saying that we have

succeeded in achieving everythingthat we want, but we have come out.

There is a need to establish social

and economic equalityin the society. The gapbetween these two sections of the society has widened.Economic disparity has also increased like social disparity.

The protector iskiller in Odisha as

at least three ministerswere allegedly involvedin the different murdercases, he said. ‘Thereis corruption in theimplementation ofPMAY, MGNREGA andother schemes’.

}

}

}

PNS n NEW DELHI

India on Thursday stressed onthe need to work towardsenhancing affordable access tomedicines, therapeutics andvaccines for fighting any pan-demic such as Covid-19.

Speaking at the 21st meet-ing of Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) ministersresponsible for foreign econ-omy and trade, Minister ofState for Commerce andIndustry Anupriya Patel alsocalled for an effective cooper-ation among the membercountries to promote trade.

"She stressed on the need towork towards enhancingaffordable access to medi-cines, therapeutics, vaccines aswell as healthcare at affordableprices for fighting any pan-demic, such as Covid-19, topreserve the life, livelihood,food and nutritional securityof the poorest," the commerceministry said in a statement.

She also pitched for sharingthe best practices on techno-logical development, opti-mum utilisation of resourcesand conservation of environ-ment.

The virtual meeting wasattended by the representativeof SCO secretariat and heads

of delegations of China,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistanand Uzbekistan, it added.

Enhance affordable accessto therapeutics, vaccines to fight pandemic: Patel

She stressed on the

need to work towards

enhancing affordable

access to medicines,

therapeutics, vaccines

as well as healthcare

at affordable prices

for fighting any

pandemic, such as

Covid-19, to preserve

the life, livelihood,

food and nutritional

security of the poorest

FILLING BACKLOG VACANCIES OF SCs

PSU banks to start drive from October 2PNS n NEW DELHI

All public sector banks will begin aspecial drive from October 2 for fill-ing up of backlog vacanciesreserved for scheduled castes,National Commission forScheduled Castes (NCSC)Chairman Vijay Sampla said onThursday. The decision comes aftera review meeting, jointly chaired bythe NCSC chairman and FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman, washeld on the performance of publicsector banks (PSBs) on credit andother welfare schemes for scheduledcastes (SCs).

Sampla said he, along with the

finance minister, reviewed the var-ious measures taken by PSBs in giv-ing credit to persons belonging toa scheduled caste community andtheir welfare in terms of reservation,backlog vacancies, functioning ofwelfare and grievance redressalmechanism, and other issues.

While addressing the media here,the NCSC chairman said the bankswill conduct the drive from October2 to December 31 this year for fill-ing up the backlog vacancies. Also,the banks have been directed toclear and complete the pendinggrievances of people belonging tothe SCs during this drive, tillOctober 31.

The banks' branches will com-plete the targets assigned to them,especially the obligations towardsthe members of the SC communi-ty, as per the Stand Up IndiaProgramme of the Union govern-ment. Similarly, with regard toother government schemes likeNRLM, NULM, Mudra, Swabhimanand Awas Yojana, banks should seta target to achieve the percentageearmarked for SC beneficiaries," headded.

Sampla also said that the bankswill send a report on reservationpolicy, with regard to recruitmentsand coverage of SC beneficiaries inall the schemes, and submit the

progress of all the schemes to theNCSC, twice every year. "Also,banks have been asked to makephysical presentations before theNCSC during the period from April14 to April 30 (birthday of Dr B RAmbedkar) every year; and send areport in the second fortnight ofOctober each year, he added.

The banks were also directed togive minimum wages to all the out-sourced employees and submit thereport regarding this to the depart-ment of financial services andNCSC, and the banks will reviewthe data of all the loans that wereapproved but not disbursed, andanalyze the gap.

It has been found that there area lot of cases in SC-VCF (ScheduledCaste Venture Capital Fund) whereaccounts have become NPAs. Bankswere directed to examine the back-ward-forward linkages at the timeof sanctioning of loan. Banks maytake services of advisors/consultantsto help the SC entrepreneurs forproject appraisal before sanctioningof loan and to ensure the properimplementation of projects, Samplasaid. Bankers should ensure thatevery eligible scheduled caste per-son applying under the CreditEnhancement Guarantee Scheme orother such schemes gets the bene-fit thereof, he added.

India is a rich country withpoor population: Gadkari

Noting that next year is the “year ofmillets” and Karnataka is the leadproducer of millets in the country,Sitharaman, while highlighting itsprocessing said millet is now the “gold for wellbeing”, all over the worldthere is a market for it.

Fans of psychological thrillers rate Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as one of the bestnovellas ever written. The story published in 1886 by RL Stevenson is aboutDr Jekyll, a gentleman, and Mr Hyde a murderous criminal, and a series of mur-

ders that shook society. It turns out that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person withJekyll transforming into Hyde with the help of a chemical concoction. A real-lifedrama of the Jekyll and Hyde genre is being staged in India with the Popular Frontof India and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) as the main characters.The SDPI is the political face of PFI, a terrorist organisation that is responsible formurder and mayhem in the many States of India. Nobody was surprised when theNational Investigation Agency and Enforcement Directorate swept down on the lead-ers of the PFI and SDPI across the country on Thursday and arrested nearly 100

prominent faces of these outfits. The PFI called fora hartal in Kerala last Friday to protest against theraids and arrests of its establishments and leadersrespectively. Unlike the previous hartals, the one onFriday turned out to be the most violent.

Police looked the other way when the PopularFront of India workers damaged the Karnataka SRTCbuses and made shopkeepers down the shutters.Shop owners who refused to heed the hartal callsaw their shops and establishments gettingdestroyed. Policemen were attacked and there werea couple of attempts on the lives of policemen whowere on patrol. It was the suomoto intervention of

the Kerala High Court which made the police take action against the hartal mon-gers. Strangely, neither chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan nor the Opposition Congresswere heard condemning the widespread rioting by the PFI activists. The recent ral-lies staged by the PFI and which were attended by lakhs of activists stand out forthe kind of slogans raised by the participants. All one could say is that they weredespicable of the highest order. The SDPI, the political arm of the PFI plays a dou-ble game by washing its hands off the words and deeds of the latter. This is a ployto facilitate the growth of the PFI, an organisation known for its religious bigotry.There is no space in Indian society for organisations that promote religious hatredand communal divide. It is time we identified real cancer that is eating up the age-old Indian psyche.

The Government’s move to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana(PM-GKAY) for a further period of three months, from October to December 2022,flies in the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stand on freebies. The incon-

gruity appears starker against the backdrop of resistance by the Finance Ministry tothe extension. Under this scheme, 5 kg of food grain per person per month is pro-vided free of cost for all the beneficiaries covered under the National Food SecurityAct (NFSA). The PM-GKAY came into being during the first wave of Covid-19 overtwo years ago to provide food security to the poor, needy, and the vulnerable house-holds. Even after the pandemic subsided and normalcy restored, the Government keptextending the scheme. The Finance Ministry also said that since the pandemic hasabated considerably, distress for which relief was given doesn’t appear to be preva-lent. Financial implications for the Central Government have been about Rs 3.45 lakh

crore so far. The latest extension will cost about Rs44,762 crore. The official press release announcingthe latest extension called it a “welfare scheme.” Thismay not be a very accurate description, for the econ-omy is back on track with hardly any restrictions onpeople and businesses. The rationale offered by theGovernment for the extension is that major festivalslike Navratri, Dussehra, Milad-un-nabi, Deepawali,Chhath pooja, Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti, Christmas,etc., are forthcoming. Another extension would helppeople “celebrate [these festivals] with great gaiety.”

At best, this is a specious justification: the fes-tive season arrives every year, but that doesn’t mean

that government, at the Centre or in states, should start distributing one thing or theother for free. The business of government is governance, not distributing freebies,especially when the fiscal situation is strained and when the economy is facing glob-al and domestic headwinds. This is the reason that the Finance Ministry talked aboutthe fiscal pressure due to the Russia-Ukraine War, effect on fuel prices, and rise inother subsidies. The Finance Ministry is also worried that the continuation of the schemefor a long period could give the impression of its permanent or indefinite continua-tion. FinMin bureaucrats seemed to be echoing great economist Milton Friedman’sfamous quote, “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government programme.”The Finance Ministry has made some very valid points, but are the powers that belistening? The answer may not be very comforting. It seems that all the fuss the ModiGovernment and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been making about freebies is pol-itics; there may not be any genuine desire to restrain the evidence of freebies. Otherwise,the Government would not have continued with the scheme of free rations for anoth-er three months. What was a welfarist measure a couple of years ago has becomea freebie. One can only hope that the PM-GKAY doesn’t get another extension.

Incongruity

APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW CDS

Sir — The Appointment of New Chief ofDefence Staff, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan(Retd), military adviser to the NationalSecurity Council Secretariat (NSCS), isthe most timely and most needed one, hewill be the 2nd CDS of the country afterthe sad demise of 1st CDS Gen BipinSingh Rawat in a helicopter crash. Lt GenAnil Chauhan is a highly experiencedarmy officer who has held significantpositions like that of the GOC of the east-ern command, Director Of MilitaryOperation, and has extensive counter-insurgency experience in J and K and NE,he has wide experience in strategic andnational security issues.

India's prevailing security environ-ment is marked by regional instabilitywith a nuclear overhang, on the westernfront is Pakistan and on the eastern sec-tor is China and both have a commonagenda of destabilizing India, they can'tsee India inching towards becoming aglobal economic power. The appointmentof the 1st CDS was a significant step tocarry out India's most significant militaryreform since Independence. The post ofCDS is an institution that carries tremen-dous responsibility for modernizing theIndian military, hence more than everbefore, it is now necessary for the nation-al security decision-makers to be given'single-point military advice that takesinto account the operational strengthsand weaknesses and the inter-dependenceof each of the armed forces. New CDS LtGen Anil Chauhan has a Hercules taskto carry forward the unfinished agendaof his predecessor Gen Rawat, who waspushing forward the agenda of the mod-ernisation and reorganization of thearmed forces into the integrated theatrecommands.

Ramesh G Jethwani | Bengaluru

TOKENISATION IS SAFE AND SIMPLESir — Tokenisation is a welcome mandateof RBI. Tokenisation is a safe, secure, sim-ple, and fast method for online payment.It is the replacement of actual carddetails with a unique configurable token

without exposing the sensitive carddetails of consumers.

With the help of this, our sensitivecard details will be safe and cannot bestolen. It will have benefits such as two-factor authentication like OTP ( OneTime Password). It is simple to use withjust three easy steps, First - Punch in yourcard number, Second- Agree to secure-ly save your card one time, Third - Enterthe OTP received via SMS. Like this mer-chants can’t access consumers' data.Thanks to the RBI for a great mandate.

Somya Agrawal | Ujjain

MOONLIGHTING A BIG NO-NOSir — Bottom line is that the issue ofmoonlighting is simply a mess and a lackof authentic information spoils the show.If you pay all your employees well no onewill moonlight. And it is quite commonsense that no one wants to trade extra 4hours of sleep and 48 hours of the week-

end if your primary employee takes goodcare of you and your family. Instead ofsacking their employees, they need to stopexploiting them and thereby reduce theworkload and provide them with the bestway possible.

This raises the question of why theiremployees were forced to or even moti-vated to engage in such risky, work-life bal-ance and ultimately a career in health-impacting behaviour. Same competency,double delivery, two different laptops,same WiFi and thereby catering to two dif-ferent clients- all from the comfort of theirown home, in their hometown. In thebackground, India is integrating all of itsislands of excellence in the best way pos-sible. Moonlighting should not fade thelight at the end of the tunnel.

CK Subramaniam | Mumbai

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

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

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

06

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Real face of PFIPFI is not as clean as it claims; the truth is that

it hides behind a carefully constructed veil

PICTALK

Commuters cross the Ganga river during sunset, in Patna PTI

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

The Govt slams freebies and yet extends the free ration scheme for three months

The Covid-19 pandemic has made the health-care industry worldwide realize the need forspeeding up its infrastructure on digital

transformation. The 2018 Digital Trends reportfrom Econsultancy, a leading Digital Marketingorganization in London, reveals that only sevenpercent of healthcare and pharmaceutical com-

panies have gone digital, compared with 15 per-cent of companies in other industries. ("Digitisedhealthcare depends on faster connectivity",Sep. 26). The pandemic has taught a lesson tothe healthcare industry on the value and impor-tance of digitalization of medical service, whichprovides dual benefits of lower costs and high-er quality. In fact, in Austria, e-Medication hasbeen successfully running for years, withElectronic Medical records allowing patients thereto view all their e-Results anytime and anywhere.

Similarly, doctors in Sweden and Denmarksend e-prescriptions to pharmacies. Also, theNational Health Service in the UK is working withGoogle to deploy Artificial Intelligence in the med-ical field. Digital transformation in medical ser-vices will allow patients to manage their treat-ment independently and share data with doctors.Medical history is critical in emergencies whena physical copy may not be available. In sucha scenario, digitization helps by keeping the doc-tor informed about the patient’s medical histo-ry in every situation.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

Healthcare must be digitalised

SOUNDBITE

turtles have existed in theircurrent form since the age ofthe dinosaurs. As leather-backs are migratory, some ofthem swim over 10,000 milesa year between nesting andforaging grounds. Thechances of survival for theseturtles making this arduousjourney and then findingtheir nesting groundsdestroyed are bleak.

Shouldn’t this projecthave been stopped by theNational Board for Wildlife(NBWL), the governmentinstitution constituted to pro-tect wildlife, sanctuaries, andparks? Bindra points out thatinstead of exercising itsauthority and taking correc-tive action, the NBWLallowed this to happen.

While denotification ofthe Galathea National Parkcould not be prevented, amove to denotify a wildlifesanctuary in HimachalPradesh to set up a cementfactory was scuttled thanks toa newspaper report by award-winning veteran journalistUsha Rai. Why Stories Are ImportantThis was not the only time Raiused her pen to stop thedestruction of wildlife in thename of development.

It was Rai’s story on how

the rich and powerful likeindustrialist Sameer Thapar,owner of JCT Mills,Phagwara, would fly in heli-copters and shoot at wildlifein the Corbett National Parkthat sent shockwaves acrossthe country with the issueeven being raised inParliament. A case was lodgedagainst Thapar for floutingenvironmental norms bylanding a helicopter inside theCorbett Tiger Reserve, a pro-tected area.

These stories are part ofan absorbing book that chron-icles fifty years of the WildlifeProtection Act 1972. This iswhat makes the book, titled'Wildlife India @50,' a greatread. The book has been edit-ed by Manoj Kumar Misra, aformer Indian Forest Serviceofficer, this 517-page Rupapublication. Conservation ChampionsIt is a fact that policies alonecannot protect wildlife. Aninformed community is per-haps the biggest conservationchampion. This has been seenover and over again across thecountry. In ArunachalPradesh had it not been forthe commitment of the com-munity, the red panda, anendangered species, foundonly in the eastern Himalayas,

may have become extinctmuch like the cheetahs.Engaging the communityconstructively has workednot only in ArunachalPradesh but also in Kerala.Realising the importance oftapping the potential of thecommunity in planning andmanagement of conservationof wildlife habitats paid richdividends in Kerala’sParambikulam Tiger Reserve.Making forest managementinclusive and participatorywas key to sustaining theprotection of wildlife habitats.For the first time, forestry stu-dents, local scientists, natural-ists, photographers, and thelocal tribal community alongwith the staff of the Reservewere involved in planningwhich areas needed to becategorised as buffer zones.

The sixth assessmentreport of the Intergovern-mental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) has under-lined that India’s human vul-nerability. Climate changecoupled with a ‘development-at-any cost’ attitude is a dou-ble whammy for India’s frag-ile ecosystem and wildlife.

(The author is a journal-ist writing on development

and gender. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

IT IS A FACT THATPOLICIES ALONE

CANNOT PROTECTWILDLIFE. AN

INFORMEDCOMMUNITY IS

PERHAPS THEBIGGEST

CONSERVATIONCHAMPION

The key to wildlife conservation

The African cheetahsarrived in India earli-er this month amidgreat fanfare andpolitical hoopla. They

have been kept in an enclosedarea for now but will soon bereleased in the hope that theywill boost efforts to conserveIndia’s threatened and largelyneglected grasslands. However,many wildlife conservationistsbelieve that the introduction ofthese cheetahs not only goesagainst national conservationpriorities but will also not haveany impact on protecting grass-lands and open forest ecosystemsas has been claimed.Conservation scientists like RaviChellam contend that a quickerand more efficient way to con-serve the grasslands would be tostop categorising them as waste-lands and delete them from theWasteland Atlas of India. Thiswould enable a more focusedconservation plan for them.

But has protecting habitatsalways been the prime consider-ation behind all decisions relat-ed to wildlife conservation? Ifyes, why was the GalatheaNational Park, an iconic nestingsite of the leatherback sea turtle,located in the Great NicobarIsland, denotified in 2021? Entiresanctuaries have been denotifiedand erased off the map of Indiain the name of development, saysPrerna Bindra, author and for-mer member of, the NationalBoard for Wildlife. The denoti-fication of the Galathea NationalPark coincided with the develop-ment plans for Great Nicobar putforward by the NITI Aayog, thegovernment’s public policy thinktank. Little thought was given towhere the leatherbacks wouldnest once their site was destroyedfor a shipping project and howthis would accelerate the steepdecline in their population, con-tends Bindra.Securing the WildProtecting habitats for theleatherback turtles assumes crit-ical importance as their numbersare decreasing sharply. These arethe world’s largest turtles and theonly species without scales anda hard shell. Named after theirtough rubbery skin, leatherback

We have, we havenever thought thatit was an easyprocess. But we dobelieve that theneed for reformcannot be deniedforever."

External Affairs Minister—S Jaishankar

Being daughter-in-law of Vadra fami-ly, she (Priyanka)is no more mem-

ber of Gandhi fam-ily as per Indian

tradition.Congress MP

—Abdul Khaleque

I take feedbackfrom my sons a lot.They have a veryincredible rage.They have watchedall kinds of cinema.They have a veryrefined perspective. And think,that is the perspective we need.

Actor—Hrithik Roshan

We will continue towork with alliesand partners tobring even morepressure on Russiaand the individualsthat are helping

support its attempted land grab.US State Dept spokesperson—Ned Price

While the poolmatches might nothave gone in theside's favour in theFIH Women'sHockey World Cup,the fact that the

team was still alive in the competi-tion is all that mattered right now.Indian women hockey team captain—Savita

Wildlife conservation cannot be achieved by ad hoc measures, itshould involve people and have a grounded policy framework

SWAPNA MAJUMDAR

MAXIM OF ONE ‘ONE PARTY, ONE

POST’ WOULD BE STRICTLY

ADHERED TO.

—CONGRESS LEADER

JAIRAM RAMESH

THERE IS ALWAYS DISCIPLINE INSIDE THE

CONGRESS... SONIA GANDHI JI IS OUR

PRESIDENT. I HAVE APOLOGISED TO HER.

—RAJASTHAN CHIEF MINISTER

ASHOK GEHLOT

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has been a busy man inthe last few months, more so, last week when he managedmarathon meetings at the United Nations General Assembly. The

meeting participants suggest India’s new foreign policy stance of find-ing allies and strategic partners around the globe. India met with itsQUAD (US, Australia, and Japan) partners, also Libya, Syria, Cuba,renewed its commitment to France, India, Australia trilateral and France,India UAE strategic partnership.

France, Australia, UAE trilaterals with India are relatively new, bornout of the need to find allies post pandemic and keep a check on Chinain the Indo Pacific region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on ashort visit to Japan this week to attend the funeral of former JapanesePrime Minister Shinzo Abe. The focus was Indo pacific, shared inter-ests and building on the India Japan bilateral.

Clearly, the world order has undergone a significant shift since2020 with two course altering events, the Covid pandemic and Russia’smilitary attack in Ukraine, thereby shattering the myth of no war inthe Eurozone.

If the Covid pandemic and the subsequent disruption in global sup-ply chains (mostly concentrated in China) hadn’t dented the existingorder, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent push to annexterritories has created a shock in energy and food prices around theglobe. There are multiple streams of evolving partnerships which willforever shape the way planet earth emerges in the 21st century.

First, faced by a clear danger of nuclear-powered Russia in thebackyard, the larger European countries are rethinking their nuclearstrategies. Most of them except for France had given up the nuclearshield to be under US-led NATO providing them umbrella cover.Meanwhile in the eastern hemisphere, Japan faced by a belligerentneighbour, China, is also rethinking its nuclear celibacy strategy.

The US and the UK have already come together to provide Australiawith nuclear capabilities in the Indian Ocean region to prevent Chinafrom being adventurous. The headwinds are a clear indication of aworld again looking at nuclear weapons as a go to deterrent/safetynet in case of full-fledged war.

Second, global energy prices, threatening to put almost all of Europethrough a very cold and dark winter of 2022, will shape the way thehastily glued western alliance against Russia will behave in 2023.

A clear and present danger in Russia is forcing ideological shiftsin Europe. Meanwhile, the energy and food prices have pushed a cou-ple of nations (including two in India’s neighbourhood) in Asia andAfrica on the verge of economic breakdown and are looking at insti-tutions such as the IMF for bailouts.

Third, there is a huge drop in acceptance for multilateral institu-tions as platforms for sorting global common problems. China hasbeen persistently denying India and a couple of other largeeconomies from taking their rightful positions as permanent mem-bers of the United Nations Security Council.

There is a huge lack of consensus globally on ways to reap thedividends of a digital economy and therefore effectively tax the tech-nology companies.

This leads to India’s presidency of the G20 beginning towardsthe end of the year. The current Indonesia presidency ends in Novemberand depending on the outcome the baton will be passed on to NewDelhi to shape the global narrative. This will be at a time when Indiawould be the most populous democracy, besides being the fifth largesteconomy in the world. It must find innovative ways of negotiating aconsensus on most pressing world issues.

(The author is a foreign affairs commentator)

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

07

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

FIRSTCOLUMN

INDIA HEADS G20AMID FLUX

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Political parties in Indiahave begun advanceplanning for the 2024

Lok Sabha polls. However, itis early yet; the rulingNational Democratic Allianceand the Opposition partieshave been vying with eachother in their preparations.They are making and remak-ing strategies according to thepolitical climate. The stage isset for the next general elec-tions in 2024.

The regional partiesmight threaten the BharatiyaJanata Party. While the rulingBJP plans a hat-trick forPrime Minister NarendraModi, the Opposition is try-ing to unseat him. Both sidesare strengthening with a 350-plus target in a Modi-versus-all scenario.

The Opposition dreams

of unity but has a decisive dis-advantage as it is still search-ing for a challenger to Modi.This lack of a prime ministe-rial candidate may hurt theOpposition—and the BJP willplay up the question of Modi-versus-who.

With Mamata Banerjee inWest Bengal, Nitish Kumar inBihar, K Chandrasekhar Rao,MK Stalin in the south, andArvind Kejriwal in the north,the BJP has formidable con-tests from different regions.There are more than 200seats in the Oppositionstrongholds. HimachalPradesh and Gujarat votelater this year, and next yearsix key states—Karnataka,Tripura, Telangana, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, andChhattisgarh—go to the polls.

The BJP is yet to con-

quer the southern states(129 seats).

While Aam Aadmi Partychief Kejriwal takes on thePM on the corruption issue,others plan to corner the BJPon price rise and unem-ployment.

Secondly, right or wrong,the BJP is clear about its ide-ology, has a compelling nar-rative and poll prepared-ness, active cadres, and hugefinances to fight the poll.Modi has the Governmentmachinery and welfareschemes and works to showwhile the regional satraps arepretty strong in their states.

Modi has not only kepthis flock together but, despitecriticism, has also brokenother parties and lured theminto the BJP. More impor-tantly, he has fulfilled the

core agenda of the SanghParivar, like Ram mandir,removal of Article 370 inKashmir, and triple talaq. Heis likely to take up the issueof a uniform civil code soon.All these will keep his com-mitted voters intact.

However, the recentParliamentary Board revampand JD(U) exit in Bihar lastmonth triggered some unrestwithin the BJP. Still, leadersbank on the BJP's ability tomake course corrections.The BJP also needs to getmore allies.

The party has begunaggressive preparations forthe general elections. It helda meeting recently in Delhi todraw a blueprint for strength-ening its position in 144 LokSabha weak constituencies.The party also proposes to

focus on the 70 Lok Sabhaseats it never won.

On the other hand, theOpposition is not coherentand is a mixture of differentideologies. They all mustadopt a give-and-take pos-ture. While regional leadershave performed well in theirrespective states, they mustwork out a common mini-mum programme acceptableto all partners.

Despite their indifferenthealth, Deve Gowda, LaluYadav, Nitish Kumar, andSharad Pawar may collaborateto unite the former Janataconstituents. With theCongress, they could consol-idate across multi-party statessuch as Haryana, Karnataka,Bihar, Jharkhand and UttarPradesh. That's nearly 200Lok Sabha seats. Rahul

Gandhi's current Bharat JodoYatra might help theCongress if it clicks.

The Samajwadi Party, asolid regional party in UP,focuses on strengthening itsorganisational structure. Onthe other hand, UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hastargeted 75 seats for the BJP,which has 80 Lok Sabha seats.

The BSP has launched amassive membership drivewith a target of making75,000 members from eachassembly segment as thef irst step. BSP chiefMayawati has been facingdefeat after defeat in the pastdecade but has a solid Dalitvote bank.

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister YS Jagan MohanReddy has warned his MLAsto perform or perish. He has

also launched a door-to-door visit of his legislators.Telangana chief ministerK.Chandrashekhar Rao alsoplans to launch a nationalparty, seeking a national role.

It will be a thrilling rideuntil 2024 for all players.

Modi will have ten yearsof anti-incumbency behindhim, but the BJP depends onhis magic. But there aremany questions, like willModi perform a hat-trick?Will the Opposition unite?Will Rahul emerge as a suc-cessful challenger?

In politics, one week issaid to be a long time. Wehave 18 months to go beforethe 2024 polls. The picturewill become clear when weget near the elections. Tillthen, political pundits willwhistle in the dark.

The Opposition dreams of unity but has a decisive disadvantage as it is still searching for a challenger to Narendra Modi

BJP will play up the question of Modi-versus-who?

(The author is a seniorjournalist)

KALYANI SHANKAR

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

Freebie powers theAAP Govt in Delhi ASHWANI MAHAJAN

THE TOTALREVENUE OF

DELHI FOR2021-22 IS

ESTIMATED AT `53,070CRORE,

WHICH IS 3 PER CENT

OF THEREVENUE OFALL STATES.IN 2019-20,

IT WAS `47,136

CRORE AND,IN 2014-15, IT

WAS ONLY `29,584CRORE

To speak against distribution offreebies, of course, will attractthe wrath of those who bene-fit from them. That is, if we saythat electricity, water, travel

should not be made free or that televisionsets or other types of temptations by polit-ical parties are wrong and they shouldend, then it is possible that peopleunaware of the possible consequences ofannouncements of such freebies may notlike it.

After Independence, the emphasis hasgenerally been on development, povertyalleviation, better social services, drink-ing water, road, rail, etc. But now somepolitical parties have started makingpromises to provide electricity, water,transport, television sets and even man-galsutra, all for free, despite poor econom-ic conditions of the states.

Result of such freebies is that statesare coming under huge debts and thequality of public services is the major vic-tim. Significantly, Delhi is a prosperousregion of the country. The per capitaincome here is second highest in thecountry, after Goa. Due to this, the rev-enue of Delhi is also very high.

A large number of migrants also livein Delhi, who have migrated fromother states in search of employment.Their economic conditions are not sogood, which can be gauged from the factthat a large number of people had toleave for their villages, as soon as thelockdown was imposed due to the pan-demic. The sight of a large number ofmigrants going on foot, on bicycle or inbuses, with just one bag, still haunts us.Most of the migrant labourers are dailywage earners, or engaged in microbusinesses. A large number of them livein horrible conditions, where even basicfacilities are lacking.

In such a situation, there is usually noquestion of their families joining them.The number of such migrant labourers inDelhi is not less than 50 lakhs. Thelabourers who bring their families withthem are living in very pathetic conditionsin Delhi. Schools, colleges and other edu-cational institutions are needed for themand their families.

There is also a need for a better sewe-rage system and good health facilities.Roads, flyovers, etc., are also needed fortheir movements. But all these worksrequire huge expenditure. It is seen thatdue to lack of funds, Arvind Kejriwal’sAam Aadmi Party (AAP) government inDelhi is not able to provide a budget fordevelopment and maintenance.

After assuming power in 2015, tilldate the AAP-led Delhi government hasnot been able to build any new school,college, hospital, flyover, etc. In such asituation, the plight of the poor can beeasily imagined. The roads, water andsewage system are also not being takencare of properly. Lack of finances is themain reason for this. It is not that the

The State of Delhi stands out for all the ills plaguing the politics of freebiesacross the country, for many people have been deprived of basic amenities

(The author is Professor, Department

of Economics, DAVCollege)

revenue of Delhi is deficient.The fact is that the per capita rev-enue in Delhi is much higherthan the rest of India and isincreasing continuously.

The total revenue of Delhi for2021-22 is estimated at `53,070crore, which is 3 per cent of therevenue of all the states. In 2019-20 it was `47,136 crore and in2014-15, it was only `29,584 crore.

But along with this increasingrevenue, the expenditure on freeelectricity, water, and transport ofthe Delhi government is increas-ing. The expenditure on free elec-tricity was `1639 crore in 2015-16,which increased to `2968 crore in2021-22. The Power Departmenthas demanded `3200 crore fromthe Delhi government for thispower subsidy for 2022-23. Thatis, it can be understood that theburden on the budget is increas-ing in the name of making elec-tricity free by the Delhi govern-ment and it has almost doubledbetween 2015-16 and 2022-23. Byhuge spending on free electricity,water and transport, there isalways a shortage of funds foressential civic amenities.

As a result of the exercise ofDelhi Government towards reduc-ing water bills to zero, both thedeficit and debt of the Delhi JalBoard are mounting. In the firstthree years of the Kejriwal govern-ment, the loss of Delhi Jal Boardtripled from `220.19 crores in2015-16 to `663 crores in 2018-19.

According to the CAG report,in 1998-99, `26,620 crore was lentto the Delhi Jal Board, out of

which only `351 crore wasreturned and till March 31, 2018,`26,269 crore was outstanding.Meanwhile, the Delhi govern-ment has given `41,000 crore asloan to Delhi Jal Board in the lastfive years. The deteriorating con-ditions of Delhi Jal Board can begauged from the slow pace of itsdevelopment works and poorwater system. It is believed that thefinancial conditions of the DelhiJal Board have become very baddue to the Delhi government andthe free water policy.

Slow pace in water connec-tion in unregulated colonies byDelhi Jal Board and poor condi-tions of sewer system is primar-ily because of poor financialhealth of Delhi Jal Board. Theopposition parties have also beenmaking allegations of allegedcorruption in Delhi Jal Board.

Apart from this, free travel forwomen in Delhi TransportCorporation buses is yet anotherfreebies scheme run by the Delhigovernment. Thousands of croresof rupees are lost by the govern-ment through freebies. It is natur-al that due to the limited resources,this freebies policy puts pressureon the government finances andmany essential expenditures aresacrificed.

At present, the AAP, which isin power, promised in its electionmanifesto in the year 2015, aboutopening 20 new colleges in Delhi,providing free Wi-Fi, building20000 public toilets, constitutingwomen security force, installationof three lakh CCTV cameras,

expansion of health facilities,among others.

There were 69 such promises,including creation of eight lakhjobs, skill training of one lakh youthevery year by Delhi Skill Mission,which either remained merepromises or in which progresswas very slow. It may be noted thatprior to AAP government, 15 yearsbetween 1999-2000 and 2014-15,growth in capital expenditure was19.6 per cent per annum (increasefrom ` 510.5 crores to `7430crores), which declined to hardly9.2 per cent in the first five yearsof the AAP government (increasefrom ̀ 7430 crores to hardly ̀ 11549crores). It can be easily understoodthat the main reason behind thestalling of Delhi’s developmentwas lack of resources, as more andmore resources are being used forgiving freebies.

If it is said that these freebiesschemes are targeted at the poor,then it will not be right. In 2021-22, in Delhi, where per capitaincome at current prices was`401,982 per year, out of 54.5lakh electricity consumers, 43.2lakh people are being providedelectricity either free of cost or athalf price. A big chunk of those,who can easily pay for electricity,are also being given electricityfree. The facilities are being badlyaffected and the debt on the gov-ernment is increasing, so it cannotbe justified.

Not only this, 20,000 liters ofwater per month is also being pro-vided free of cost to 5.3 lakhhouseholds.

Multilateralism is pushed to the wall as world order looks fluid

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 Money 08

MO

NE

Y M

AT

TE

RS

India's current account deficit, a key indicator of the balance of payment position, widenedto 2.8 per cent of GDP at USD 23.9 billion in the first quarter of the current financial year,mainly on account of a higher trade deficit.As per the data released by the Reserve Bank on

India's Balance of Payments during the First Quarter (April-June) of 2022-23, the currentaccount balance recorded a deficit of USD 23.9 billion (2.8 per cent of GDP) in the firstquarter, up from USD 13.4 billion (1.5 per centof GDP) in January-March period of the lastfiscal.India's current account surplus stood atUSD 6.6 billion, equivalent to 0.9 per cent ofGDP in the first quarter (April-June) of 2021-22."Underlying the current account deficit inQ1:2022-23 was the widening of themerchandise trade deficit to USD 68.6 billionfrom USD 54.5 billion in Q4:2021-22 and anincrease in net outgo of investment incomepayments," the RBI said. It also said net servicesreceipts increased, both sequentially and on ayear-on-year (y-o-y) basis, on the back of risingexports of computer and business services.

India is one of "critical markets" for the Dutch brewing major Heineken, where itexpects beer consumption to grow led by factors, including economic recovery,rise in disposable income and increase in market penetration, said a company

official.At present, the average beer consumption is "extremely low" in comparison toother global markets and it has enough headroom for growth. It will provide a fullproposition to meet the consumer choices, said Rajeev Sathyesh, Asia-PacificDirector, Brand Heineken."What we see is an amazing recovery in India post-Covid. Ifyou look at the numbers, which wepublished recently, we have growndouble from last year and aresignificantly ahead of 2019 as well.Therefore, we see number to continueto grow up as well," Sathyesh toldPTI.Consumer behaviour has also"dramatically" changed in favour of thecategory, he added."If I look at thenumber of people going into bars andrestaurants now because consumersfeel that they have lost two years oftheir life and have craving for socialinteractions, that's gone up," he said.

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has floated a wholly-owned subsidiary to carryout finance activities such as fund pooling and treasury operations, it said onThursday.In a stock exchange filing, IOC said its board has accorded approval for

formation of the subsidiary - Finance Company and opening its office in the InternationalFinancial Services Centre (IFSC) at GujaratInternational Finance Tec-City (Gift City) inGandhinagar.The unit will "carry out financeactivities including activities like fund poolingof foreign companies and utilising the samefor carrying out trade financing of IOC andgroup companies."It would also do globaltreasury operation and utilising IFSC to raisecapital and debt from overseas market.It willutilise IFSC for inbound investment fromforeign partners and outbound investmentsof IOC and be the gateway for reinsurancebusiness, it said, adding the unit would alsoinvest in foreign securities.

Current account deficit widens to2.8% of GDP in Q1 of FY23: RBI

India a critical market for Heineken IOC floats subsidiary fortreasury operations

PNS n NEW DELHI

Merger between LIC MutualFund and IDBI Mutual Fundis at a "fairly advanced stage",a top of f icia l said onThursday.

"The process is on, it is ata fairly advanced stage," LICMF's managing director andchief executive T SRamakrishnan told reporters,when asked about reports ofthe merger.

Recent media reports havesaid that LIC Mutual Fundplans to absorb IDBI MutualFund following a regulatorydiktat barring a single pro-

moter from owning morethan 10 per cent stake in twoasset management compa-nies. IDBI Bank, the parent ofIDBI MF, is majority ownedby LIC for the last few years.

Ramakrishnan added thatas and when LIC MF, the22nd largest MF in the coun-try with over Rs 18,000 crorein assets under management,is in a firm comment on themerger process, it will informeverybody.

According to reports, therewere two attempts to sellIDBI Mutual Fund that couldnot be successful, and itresulted in the merger with a

company owned by the sameparent.

Meanwhile, Ramakrishnansaid the fund house is target-ing to be among the top 10 byAUM (Assets UnderManagement) in the next fiveyears, and will be taking spe-cific steps like pushing its dis-tribution efforts and investingin the brand.

It is aiming to increase theshare of equity investments tothe industry average of 45 percent of the AUM by FY24from the present level whichis about 12-13 per cent lower,Ramakrsihnan said.

The fund house will play to

its core strength of reach inthe tier-II and tier-III citieswhich present the biggestopportunity of growth forthe industry, he said, addingthat focus on high net-worthindividuals will also continue.

He said India has thepotential to have at least 40crore investors as against lessthan 4 crore right now.

The asset managementcompany, which announced anew fund offering for anequity multicap fund onThursday, is also looking attwo thematic funds to playthe consumption and manu-facturing stories, officials said.

Merger between LIC Mutual Fund and IDBI MF on cards

PNS n NEW DELHI

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal onThursday asked serviceexporters not to depend onsmall subsidies or incentives toincrease exports and insteadenhance competitiveness.

He said the industry shouldwork on increasing andstrengthening their competi-tiveness to tap global markets.

Ambitious targets of exportsshould not be affected by "smallsupport subsidies and incen-tives. That has been the boneof contention between someservices sectors and the gov-ernment," Goyal said.

He was addressing an eventorganised by the ServicesExport Promotion Council(SEPC).

The sector has time andagain demanded continuationof Service Exports from IndiaScheme (SEIS). The govern-ment has discontinued the

scheme."If I look at the records,

when SEIS was there, actuallyyour exports did not grow atall, very nominal growth wasthere," he said adding "youmust have observed that grad-ually I am removing all subsi-dies from the exportsystem...because this makes usuncompetitive, this holds usback".

Citing examples, he said the

IT sector never asks for anysubsidy and they recordhealthy growth rate in exports.

"How long will this mental-ity last that give us Rs 2, we willbe able to increase exports...Weneed to look at our competitiveedge."Do not depend on thegovernment, he said.

On free trade agreements,the minister said India is seek-ing more market access for ser-vices sector.

PNS n NEW DELHI

S&P Global Ratings onThursday said rising ratesand increased European ener-gy insecurity are hittinggrowth in almost every coun-try, but India with an estimat-ed 7.3 per cent growth this fis-cal, would be the 'star' amongemerging marketeconomies.In a report, S&Psaid global macro perfor-mance over the next few quar-ters points towards growthslowdown with tighteningfinancial conditions amid ratehikes by central banks. Mostleading and sentiment indica-tors are pointing toward slow-er growth as well.

Growth eased in the secondquarter across emerging mar-kets as inflation reduced realhousehold income, businessconfidence deteriorated, andthe external environmentbecame more complicated, itsaid.

Emerging-market centralbanks have been ahead oftheir advanced-country coun-terparts in hiking policy rates,and in Latin America they are

now near the end of theirtightening cycles.

Elsewhere, core inflationcontinues to rise, suggestingthere is more work to do.Large recent hikes by the USFederal Reserve are exacerbat-ing balance-of-paymentstrains across emerging mar-kets."For the 16 emergingeconomies that we cover,excluding China, 2022 GDPgrowth will hit 5.2 per centthis year, in our view. Thisforecast is up 30 basis pointsfrom our previous round.

India is the star of thisgroup with growth of 7.3 percent this fiscal year (ending in

March 2023)," S&P said.The US-based agency said

as central banks aggressivelyraise rates to fight inflation,our confidence is waning thatthey can avoid generating asharp downturn.

"We are now expecting amild recession in the US," itsaid, adding that rising rates,increased European energyinsecurity, and the lingeringeffects of Covid-19 are hittinggrowth almost everywhere.

"This may be the mostanticipated economic slow-down on record, but the datahave yet to fully fall in line,"S&P said.

India a ‘star’ among emerging marketeconomies with 7.3 % growth‘Don't depend on small incentives,

subsidies; increase competitiveness’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Robust car sales during theongoing festive season amid theeasing of chip shortage will helpthe Indian automobile industryoutshine its regional and glob-al peers this year, Moody'sInvestor Service said onThursday.Aided by favourableaspects, the car sales volumesthis year in the country areexpected to increase by 12.5 percent and another 4 per cent in2023, it stated."India remainsthe bright spot for car sales thisyear. So far in 2022, sales aresteady and we expect a strongerfourth quarter with the onset ofthe festive season starting at theend of September," as per anote prepared by Moody's

Investor Service.A relatively stronger macro-

economic environment, theeasing of semiconductor short-ages as well as restocking bydealers will help India outper-form its regional and globalpeers, it added.

APAC will be the strongest

of the major regions in 2022,growing by 3.5 per cent drivenby growth in China and India,Moody's Investor Service said.

"We forecast 2022 auto saleswill rise 4 per cent in China, theworld's largest auto market, andgain a further 3.5 per cent in2023.

India will be pillar of globaleconomic revival: GoyalPNS n KOLKATA

Union Minister Piyush Goyalon Thursday said India willbe the pillar of the global

economic revival as it exhibitedsteady growth and emerged asthe fastest-growing countryamong large economies of theworld. Addressing the BengalChamber's annual generalmeeting virtually, he said if allstakeholders of the economywork together with a sense of'Kartavya bhav' (spirit of duty),the national goal of USD 30-trillion economy will be achievedby 2047, the year when thecountry will celebrate 100thanniversary of its independence."India is already the fifth largesteconomy in the world and isturbocharging its growth to

become the third largest in thecoming years. The primeminister's vision is to make Indiaa developed nation by 2047 withan economy size of USD 30trillion as we will celebrate our100th independence in that year,"Goyal, the commerce andindustry minister, said.All sectors such as agriculture,manufacturing and constructionare doing quite well, he claimed."India is an island of stability andwill be the pillar of global revival.Our economy has shownresilience during the pandemicand is on a steady path ofgrowth," the ministersaid.Asserting that India is thebest destination for investments,Goyal said the government hastaken several structural reforms,and more are in the pipeline.

India remains bright spot for car sales;to outshine regional, global peers

Hospitality sector demands change in infra statusPNS n NEW DELHI

Hotel Association of India(HAI) on Thursday demandedthat the infrastructure status ofthe hospitality sector be amend-ed to spur growth and helpmore cities benefit from it.

The sector has recoveredfrom the impact of the pandem-ic, driven by domestic travelwith occupancy level in latestJune quarter higher by 4 percent as compared to the pre-COVID level and average roomrate up by 16 per cent, HAIPresident Puneet Chhatwal saidhere at the Hoteliers' Conclave2022."Amending the hospitali-ty sector infrastructure statuswill incentivise and spur hospi-

tality development which is theneed of the hour," he said.

Today, that infrastructurestatus is limited to cities with apopulation of one million, hesaid adding, "going forward wecould increase it to five (mil-lion). A lot of cities will bene-fit."As the infrastructure statusaccorded to the hospitality sec-tor is based on a decision takenin 2011, Chhatwal, who is alsoManaging Director and CEO ofIndian Hotels Company Ltd,said it needs to be amended "sothat it is in tune with time andmore cities can be covered".

"If we can get infra status(amended), that will help in get-ting cheaper loans and have alarger or longer moratorium

period. That will make invest-ments more feasible, as the sec-tor is very capital intensive, andis very labour intensive," he said.HAI has also made representa-tions to the government regard-ing services export incentivescheme on "how that can beimproved so that, specially smalland medium sized companies,can benefit...in terms of work-ing capital after two years ofvery difficult survival phase." Interms of the potential of thetravel and tourism industry,Chhatwal said it has the poten-tial to grow three times from thepre-pandemic levels to USD 600billion by 2030 and accelerate byfive times to reach USD 3 tril-lion by 2047.

PNS n MUMBAI

Just 14 companies raised Rs35,456 crore through main-board primary share sales inthe first half of the fiscal,down 32 per cent from theyear-ago period when 25issues had mopped up Rs51,979 crore.

But according to PrimeDatabase, the IPO pipelineis strong with 71 issuesworth Rs 1,05,000 crore hav-ing Sebi approvals andanother 43 worth about Rs70,000 crore are awaitingapproval. Of these 114planned issues, 10 are new-age tech companies, whichare looking to raise roughlyRs 35,000 crore.

IPO mop-upplunges 32 pcto Rs 35,456 cr

PNS n NEW DELHI

Port authorities should prepareland redevelopment plan fortheir ports to prepare them forfuture requirements of busi-nesses, Union ministerSarbananda Sonowal said onThursday.

Sonowal reviewed half-year-ly progress and achievements ofmajor ports in 'ChintanBaithak'.According to an offi-cial statement, it was discussedthat the port ministry shouldachieve the capital expendituretargets so as to meet the over-all expenditure targets of thegovernment.All major portsshould also lay special empha-

sis on optimum utilisation oftheir available land and shouldprepare a futuristic develop-ment plan to cater the forth-coming needs of this businessand prepare them for the futurerequirements and investments,

the statement added.The statement said it was

also deliberated during themeeting that emphasis shouldbe on promoting green ship-ping and reducing the carbonfootprint from the port opera-

tions.Sonowal also reviewedthe progress of various projectsof each major port, discussedduring the previous ChintanBaithak, and directed all portauthorities to keep an eye onthe ongoing projects at theports for timely delivery.

"We should work towardsachieving the goals of MaritimeIndia Vision (MIV) 2030earnestly," he said.

The meeting was attended byall the senior officials of theministry along with chairper-sons of all major ports and topofficials of other organisationsunder the Ministry of Ports,Shipping and Waterways(MoPSW).

Port authorities should prepare land redevelopment planPNS n MUMBAI

Benchmark indices failed tohold on to early gains andclosed in the red for the seventhstraight session on Thursday,with participants remaining inwait-and-watch mode ahead ofthe RBI's interest rate decision.

Unabated selling by foreignfunds added to the pressure,though a modest recovery inthe rupee cushioned the fall,traders said. After rallying inearly trade, the 30-share BSESensex came under selling pres-sure in the afternoon sessionand closed 188.32 points or 0.33per cent lower at 56,409.96.

Sensex slips for 7thday amid F&O expiry;RBI policy in focus

PNS n BENGALURU

Reliance Retail on Thursdaylaunched a large formatpremium fashion andli festy le store brand'AZORTE'.

The new store formatincludes several tech-enabled interventions suchas smart trial rooms, fash-ion discovery stations, "end-less aisles" and self-check-out kiosks, it said in a state-ment."AZORTE will housethe best of global trends andcontemporary Indian fash-ion with an original take onstyle ranging from westernand Indian wear tofootwear, fashion acces-sories, home, beauty andmore," it added.

Reliance Retaillaunches premiumfashion & lifestylestore brand 'AZORTE'

SERVICE EXPORTERS

Govt policies up domestic toy productionPNS n CHENNAI

The government policy onincreasing customs duty onimported toys and making BIScertification mandatory for toyshas boosted domestic toy man-ufacturing, an official of the ToyAssociation of India said onThursday.The move by thegovernment has also helped theindustry to explore global mar-kets enhancing exports, presi-dent of the association AjayAgarwal said here.

The Indian toy market isgrowing at over 12 per cent.Three years ago, nearly 80 percent of the toys were imported,but, today, the scenario changedas imports dropped dramatical-ly, he was quoted as saying in apress release.

Citing data provided by theMinistry of Commerce and

Industry, he said imports of toyswhich stood at USD 304 mil-lion in 2018-19 fell to USD 36million in 2021-22.Accordingto him, over four to five lakh

artisans were involved in mak-ing of toys and nearly 75 percent of the toy-manufacturingfacilities comprise micro, smalland medium enterprises.

The move by the government has alsohelped the industry to explore globalmarkets enhancing exports, president ofthe association Ajay Agarwal said here.

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

FridaySeptember 30, 2022

TEJAL SINHA

ctor Jatin Goswami rose to fameafter his stint in theNawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer,Babumoshai Bandookbaaz. Theactor has been recently seen inZee 5’s Sky Fire, Hotstar’s The

Great Indian Murder, AyushmanKhurana’s Anek, Rajkumar Rao’s HIT: TheFirst Case, and Netlfix's one of the mostacclaimed series in India, Delhi Crimeseason 2.

After tasting success in his recent pro-jects, looks like the tides are in his favour.

Jatin, who has been recently a part ofNetflix’s Delhi Crime Season 2, is over-whelmed by the response he has received.During this exclusive interview with ThePioneer, the actor reveals that he’s beenreceiving heartful messages from peopleacross the globe. “I feel grateful that I’mgetting interesting parts to play. As anactor, you’re always looking for workingon interesting scripts and characters. Thebest compliment an actor receives, isalways what you receive from the direc-tors you’re working on sets, your co-actors, and audiences. I’ve been receivingmessages from all over the world. I can-not believe this is happening. This showsthe reach of the show. It has beenwatched by audiences all over the world,that’s a great feeling that your work isbeing appreciated that the great thing ofOTT as well.”

The Great Indian Murder is wovenaround a high-profile murder based onVikas Swarup's breakthrough novel SixSuspects. Sharing with us some exclusive

insights about the upcoming season ofThe Great Indian Murder, he reveals,“This season will have more char-acters, which we are going todeal with. This time it's going tobe a bigger show, it's going outof India, we will be shootingoutside India, which in itself ishuge.”

Apart from this, the actorwill once again reunite withTigmanshu Dhulia, in hisupcoming venture Garmi, forSony Liv in Varanasi. It also starsMukesh Tiwari, Vineet Kumar, andmany others.

Telling us more about it, the HITactor shares, “It’s based on stu-dent politics, The show isin the same milieu asHaasil. It’s going tohave a bunch ofvery interestingand talentedactors, the ener-gy on sets issupernet. Theaverage age of thepeople on the sets isaround 22. It’s alwaysinteresting to work withsuch young talents andenthusiastic actors.”

The actor further contin-ues expressing his excitementabout working withTigmasnhu Dhulia, and says,“It’s been great reuniting withhim. He showed his faith in me.It's always fun working withhim. Being an actor himself, he

knows how to direct actors. He reallyknows how to approach

a scene; which is sohelpful for an actor.”

The Anek actorbelieves that everytime that your workis being appreciat-ed, in his case, itwas The GreatIndian Murderand Delhi CrimeSeason 2,

how audiences lap up theirwork, encouraging andappreciating how you’veconnected with the charac-ter, is the most memorablemoment.

Apart from The GreatIndian Murder Season 2,and Garmi, the actor willalso be sharing the screenwith the legendarySharmila Tagore inGulmohar. The actor is cur-rently also doing a filmPatna Shukla, set in Biharwith Arbaaz Khan produc-tions starring the gorgeous,Raveena Tandon.

SHIKHA DUGGAL

e have been seeing the film fra-ternity brimming with talents,hailing from all sorts of back-drops. The sought-after RJMalishka, has struggled herway to fame. She has got an

impressive voice, and is a popular radiojockey, even before she took up a careerin acting. A lesser known fact though,did you know there is always discussionabout her weight? Picking up on it, she'sgarnering tremendous response towardsher short-film Parde mein Rehne Do onself-worth. She had a real melt-down,when King Khan messaged her sayingwhat an interesting perspective she hasshown for the young women out there,and kid you not, she went bonkers!

So, in an interesting and exclusive con-versation with the veteran radio person-ality, we learn, “I have a soul contractwith the almighty. I am going to be aperformer in all the arenas. I eventried painting. With this short film, wepunctured the pressure of lookingperfect. Why girls with a darker skintone subjected to feeling inadequateabout themselves? We threw the vani-ty aspect out of this movie, far andbeyond! I don't want anyone ridi-culing girls for their skin colour, it'sdisgusting.” The RJ-turned-actresswas initially worried about helmingthe whole short-film on her ownshoulders but, “It is my biggest winthat the whole team could envisionme as the protagonist. People onlyassociate me with a woman who’sout there spreading joy or an ener-giser bunny. They asked me tocut my nails, wear under-clothes that are middle-class and not showcasingmy Victoria Secret fetish.”

She screams out loud,when we mention SRKto her and continues,“Now, nobody can tellme that so and so per-son is busy, because ifthe Baadshah ofBollywood can takeout time for me, socan everyone else.Even when I am onradio, I recieve a fairamount of criticism,sometimes becausethe world is alwayson fire! I have gonethrough enough con-troversies because theworld is so divided.Amid all this, I amglad to have receivedsuch positivity.”

Moreover, she’s totallyin favour of high self-esteem, “I hope, I end upbeing your favorite inter-viewee because I knowyour dard. I may give youelaborate responses how-ever you must be lookingfor a substantial crux,and that does get tire-some at times. I amenjoying

every moment ofnow giving an inter-view and rather being

on the other side of the bench, yousee.” She further talks of beauty toxicitytoo, like, “It pains me to talk about it, butI am not alone. Cultivating self worthinside was a problem before. The jour-

nalists are identifying with my storiesof suffering, they have common emo-tional wounds. Because I was curvy in

my childhood, I used to keep my handson my chest while talking to boys.That’s how conscious I used to be! I

was nudged, pinched and made afool out of myself. Even my curly

hair was a subject of scrutiny atone given point! I want girls to

be less vulnerable to anxietynow, don't go for the products

that promises you crap. Ican’t forget being shamed

for my brown skin —hello brown is beau-

tiful? In a situationlike this, I couldnot help but puton a face of abold approachtowards life.Deep down, thescars areprominent andthe hurt is per-sistent.”

Making herownverisimili-tude of lifeshe doesn’tlet the worlddictate herterms any-more, andwhy should

she. She oughtto be comfort-

able in her ownskin, to love her-

self, to embrace hercolour, her body and her

qualities. “I found friends whoembraced me for who I was, peo-ple who appreciated my boldness.Self care should be your priority,

they say. I understood that peo-ple who shamed me were alsothe people who were so unsureof their own mettle, unaware oftheir own prowess. They don’tleave Katrina Kaif also!Sometimes, media decidethe degree of her attractive-ness, innocence, status,power from the tinction ofher skin or standing.”

The popularradio jockey, RJMalishka, getscandid with The

Pioneer over anexclusiveinterview, spillssome beans onher recentlyreleased short-film Parde mein

Rehne

Do, beingcomplimented byShah Rukh Khan,breaking thestereotypesaround lookingperfect, andmuch more.

Jatin Goswami: As an actor, youalways look for interesting scripts

w

a

Over an exclusiveinterview with ThePioneer, actor JatinGoswami, who rose

to fame after his stintfrom Babumoshai

Bandookbaaz, spillssome beans about

his upcomingprojects and

receiving heartfulmessages from

people across theglobe.

K. RAMYA SREE

Be it a wedding, ameeting, an inter-view, a date, a party,

or even daily events likeshopping, and irrespectiveof the dress code, the per-fume you wear, plays amajor role in portraying avivid picture of your char-acter.

Every mood, everyspace, and every specialoccasion in your liferequires a unique fra-grance that resonates withthe essence of its sur-roundings. Studies haveshown that fragranceswork as a powerful moodalleviator. Memories trig-gered by scents are intense,and speak directly to theheart.

A subtle splash of fra-grance has the ability tospark cherished memories,and a wealth of emotionsthat can lift spirits, enrichromance, improve one’smood, and lead to an over-all feeling of happiness.

Today, we speak to AartiKoya, CEO of one of thewell-known luxury fra-grance brands Ekam, whodebunks misconceptionsabout perfumes, benefitsof using humidifiers andmore.

Interestingly, Ekam isowned by Aromee BrandsPvt. Ltd. and is a part ofThe Manipal group, whichhas a rich legacy of morethan 90 years. They haveestablished many nation-building institutions in thefield of education, print-ing, technology andhealthcare, and immenselycontributed to build theUniversity Town of India,Manipal.

Beginning with debunk-ing one of the major mis-conceptions people haveabout perfumes, Aartishares, “One of the biggestmyths is that people thinkgood perfumes are veryexpensive. This is simply

not true, luxury brandsprice their perfumes tosuit their brand position-ing.”

Perfume should berubbed on skin to make itlast, you might have heardor done this atleast once inyour lifestyle. However,Aarti says it’s the wrongway to make it last longer.She says, “You should notdo this. The friction willimpact the fragrance. Justspray it liberally on your-self and step out with con-fidence.”

Wondering how onegoes about selecting thebest fragrance? Here yougo, “A great fragrance isone that makes you feelyour best, which is whatwe call your signature fra-grance or perfume. Thestarting point for selectinga fragrance is to identifyyour preference. For exam-ple, many young adultsprefer fruity fragrances,while those older may pre-fer a more complex floralfragrance while yet othersprefer perfumes withwoody or musky tones.”

Ekam provides fra-grance notes, composi-tions, and detaileddescriptions for each ofthe perfumes on theirwebsite, which makes iteasier for the customers tochoose their favorite fra-grance. They have alsointroduced 5ml trial packsfor the customers to trythe sample perfumes,without hurting theirpockets!

On the other hand,explaining about the bene-fits of using humidifiers,she shares, “Humidifiersare great options for peo-ple who suffer from aller-gies and sinuses, especiallyduring the cold season.Our aromatherapy oilblends are particularlybeneficial in alleviatingmany of the issues that area part of modern life suchas stress, anxiety, sleepless-ness, etc”

Wear your personality

with some aroma

Bihar court issuesarrest warrant

against Ekta Kapoor

Acourt in Bihar’sBegusarai onWednesday issued

arrest warrants against EktaKapoor, film producer anddirector, and her motherShobha Kapoor on charges ofinsulting soldiers and hurtingthe sentiments of their familymembers in her web seriesXXX (Season-2). The court ofjudge Vikas Kumar issued thewarrant on the basis of a com-plaint lodged by ShambhuKumar, an ex-serviceman anda resident of Begusarai.

Kumar, in his complaint in2020, had alleged that seriesXXX (Season-2) featured sev-eral objectionable scenes

related to a soldier’s wife.“The series was aired on

ALTBalaji, an OTT platformowned by Ekta Kapoor’s BalajiTelefilms Ltd. Shobha Kapooris also associated with BalajiTelefilms,” said HrishikeshPathak, advocate of Kumar.

“The court had issued sum-mons to them (Kapoors) andasked them to appear before itin connection with the matter.They (Kapoors), however,informed the court that cer-tain scenes in the series wereremoved after the objection.But they did not appearbefore the court followingwhich the warrant was issuedagainst them,” Pathak added.

Puncturing the pressure oflooking perfect is Malishka

10

Hyderabad | Friday September 30, 2022 what’s brewing?

Ph

oto

s b

y S

V C

ha

ry

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.

l Mona guptal Sunita drsl Sarita agarwal

l Neelam agarwal l Aarti saraiwala

l Reena agarwal

Founder of JabTak Hai JaanKitty Reena

Agarwal, along withsocialites Bala andRanjana and others, cele-brated the Navratri ‘Dandiyaand Garba' event, along withphoolon ki holi, here inHyderabad. The event alsoincluded various competi-tions and prize distributions.

LISTINGS

TATA Tea Geminirallies on tocreate aware-

ness about theharmful impact ofchemicallycoloured teas thathave taken over theTelangana market.The proliferatingtea adulteration inTelangana has ledthe brand to initiatea drive to createawareness of theharmful side effectsof adulterated tea.

CShekar Reddy,Chairman, IGBCHyderabad Chapter

and Co-Chairman,Green BuildingCongress 2022, alongwith K S Venkatagiri,Executive Director, CII -IGBC, announced the20th edition of theGreen BuildingCongress 2022 atHyderabad InternationalConvention Centre(HICC) from October 20to October 22 October.

Zak JewelsExpo, India’sexclusive

B2C exhibition isback toHyderabad, bring-ing together over30 jewellers fromall over Indiaoffering bridaland wedding jew-ellery. Its grandeurshowcase of a pre-mium range ofjewellery with dia-monds, rubies,emeralds, craftedin gold, platinum,silver, kundan andJadau.

Date : Startfrom 1st Octoberto 3rd October2022Place : TajKrishna, GrandBallroom,HyderabadTime : Between10:30 am to 8:30pm

NovotelHyderabadAirport brings

to you a food showcaseof Recipes ofHyderabadi Cuisine.The showcase, in asso-ciation with LUQMA,a catering service lov-ingly put together bythe women of SAFA, asocial enterprisefor the empow-erment ofwomen andyoung girls.Two HomeChefs fromLUQMAwill putforth a foodpromotionat NovotelHyderabad

Airport’s newlyrevamped restaurant,Food Exchange.Following the theme offast-losing Recipes ofHyderabad, the pre-sentation will includedishes such as MuttonTahari, Talawa Gosh,

Khatti Daal, Kaddu kadalcha, Chicken ShamiKebab amongst manyothers. The women ofLUQMA will also havetheir own homemadeproducts available forsale, such as theirBiryani Masala, ChaiMasala, Khatta Masala,Sukhey Kebab, PotliMasala, etc.

Date: Ongoingtill October 2,

2022Time: 7 pm

to 10.30 pmVenue: Food

Exchange atNovotelHyderabadAirport

Contact: 888606 44 30

Platform 65,one of the most

fast-movingtheme-based restaurants in the

Telugu speaking states, introduced aspecial menu to celebrate Dasara. Thenew menu includes many traditional

dishes including pulihora, daddhojanam,paramannam, and others. Not just that,

items like Kaju mushroom pulao,Kashmiri pulao, Lasooni methi

paneer and others are alsoincluded in the festive

menu.

HEIRLOOM RECIPES OFHYDERABADI CUISINE

l Bala Mitta and Ranjana Goyal

PAR

TY

lN

eha

pala

n ch

hejra

Zaid Khan, son of Karnataka’ssenior political leader JameerAhmed, is going to make his

film debut with Pan India projectBanaras, directed by Bell Bottom fameJayathirtha. The film, a fun love storyset in the backdrop of Banaras city(Varanasi), has Sonal Montero playingthe female lead. Thilakaraj Ballal isproducing this film under the bannerof NK Productions. Banaras is unfold-

ing on a huge scale.The trailer started with

hero Zaid Khan’s voice say-ing, “I am a time travelerand I have come from thefuture.” After showing theBanaras visuals at thebeginning of the trailer,Zaid Khan makes a stylishentry that was impressive.The love scenes between thelead pair are beautiful. It isinteresting that the hero says tothe heroine, “I am your futurehusband.” After introducing thetime travel element in the secondhalf of the trailer, the excitingscenes are thrilling.

Zaid Khan has impressed withhis screen presence. He did the

action scenes with ease. Zaid Khanand Sonal’s chemistry is perfect. Thefirst Valape song shown in the traileris romantically impressive. This trailershows that director Jayathirtha hasdone magic in his screenplay. AjanishLoknath’s background music gives theaction more thrill. AdvaitaGurumurthy’s camerawork is rich. Theproduction values of NK Productionsare high. The Banaras trailer is expect-

edto be

a PanIndia movie.

Zaid Khan at the trailer launch said,“Thanks to Ravichandran and ArbaazKhan, who came to the trailer launchevent to bless me. This is my firstmovie, and i’m very happy. There aremany people to thank for this journey.Special thanks to the producerThilakaraj Ballal for introducing me asan actor. He fulfilled my dream ofbecoming an actor. Thanks to directorJayathirtha. It is a film made withgood teamwork. I hope you all likedthe trailer. Entertaining the audienceRavichandran said, “Welcome ZaidKhan to the film industry. Looking atthe trailer, Zaid looks very confidentlike an experienced actor. The trailer isvery exciting. The trailer has raised alot of curiosity. Banaras unit is my bestfor the entire unit. Coming as a PanIndia movie, this film should achievegood success in all languages and givea great start to Zaid.”

Arbaaz Khan said, “My best wishesfor Zaid who is entering the filmindustry. The trailer is very exciting.The time travel element raised a lot ofcuriosity. The trailer shows how hardthe Banaras team worked for thismovie. This movie should be a greatsuccess.”

Satish Verma said, “Zaid's father ismy best friend. I am happy that thismovie is releasing in Telugu. This is amovie with strong content. Afterwatching the trailer, it is even moreexciting to be a part of this movie.”

11

Hyderabad | Friday September 30, 2022 tollywood

The long wait forChiranjeevi fans is grad-ually drawing to a close

as the makers of GodFatherreleased the theatrical trailer atAnantapur.

The trailer gives glimpses ofwhat the film is all about. Thestate’s chief minister PKRpasses away, leading to ques-tions on succession.

While his daughter(Nayanthara) is not interested,his son-in-law (Satya Dev),and a few others in the partyare in the midst of a powergrab. Brahma (Chiranjeevi),the trusted man of the fallenstalwart, is drawn into the

murky affairs and is keen tokeep greedy sharks at bay.

The trailer raises the hypeand expectations from themovie produced by KonidelaProduction Company andSuper Good Films.

Chiranjeevi delivers a strongperformance as Brahma aswell as GodFather. Style comeseasy to Chiranjeevi and that isevident throughout his perfor-mance.

Salman Khan’s aura onscreen amplifies the punchmoment. It’s an eye feast towatch them together.Nayanthara and Satya Dev arecool in their respective roles.

Nirav Shah’s handles cine-matography whileA SSThaman has fired up thescenes with his backgroundscore. Every dialogue utteredby Chiranjeevi comes outpowerful.

Megastar Chiranjeevi andsuperstar Salman Khan will beseen sharing the screen space,which itself is the biggestattraction of the movie.Director Mohan Raja has triedto bring out the best version ofboth stars. He indeed present-ed the two megastars the wayfans wish to see them.

GodFather is up for releaseon October 5.

Chiranjeevi portrays

succession battle in GodFather

Multi-facetedTollywoodstar who's

known for his gripon comedy, AllariNaresh’s latest releaseis set for a Novemberrelease. The makerson Thursdayannounced therelease date of themovie. ItluMaredumilliPrajaneekam will behitting the screensworldwide onNovember 11.

The announce-ment poster showsNaresh, along withhis colleagues andpolice officials, walk-ing in the tribal area.

Itlu MaredumilliPrajaneekam helmedby A.R. Mohan iscurrently in the post-production stages.

The film has gar-nered a buzz in filmcircles, following thepositive response tothe teaser. The videothat unveiled the sto-ryline of the moviepresented AllariNaresh in an intensecharacter as a gov-ernment official whois sent on electionduty in the tribalarea- of Maredumulliwhere he faces manychallenges.

Razesh Danda ofHasya Movies is pro-

ducing the movie, inassociation with ZeeStudios. Anandhi isthe leading lady inthe movie, whereVennela Kishore,Praveen, andSampath Raj will beseen in importantroles. Balaji Gutta isthe co-producer ofthe movie that hasmusic by SricharanPakala, while RaamReddy handled thecinematography.Abburi Ravi haspenned the dia-logues. BrahmaKadali is the artdirector and ChotaK. Prasad is the edi-tor.

Allari Naresh's nextto release on Nov 11

NBK107 wraps Turkey schedule

Balakrishna-GopichandMalineni's project

is going ahead at asupersonic speed. Theproject referred to asNBK107 latest wrappedup its lengthy schedulein Turkey. the makersshared a picture andconfirmed that theyhave wrapped theTurkey schedule andwill be returning toHyderabad. The pictureshowed Gopichand

Malineni andBalakrishna's familiesand much to the sur-prise of all, evenBalakrishna's sonMokshagna is seen.

The film is a power-packed action entertain-er and stars ShrutiHaasan as the femalelead. The film featuresDuniya Vijay,VaralakshmiSarathkumar, andHoney Rose in impor-tant roles while

Australian IndianChandrika Ravi is siz-zling in a special num-ber.

Balakrishna will beseen in dual roles andalready the leaked pic-tures and the first lookof Balakrishna are giv-ing goosebumps to themasses. Music for thefilm is tuned byThaman and the film isbankrolled in a stylishway on the MythriMovie Makers banner.

Prabhas, family get royalwelcome in Mogalturu

ZaidKhan’s

Banaras trailershows the film’s

grandeur

In the season finale of KoffeeWith Karan 7, Karan Johar wel-comed comedians Tanmay Bhatt

and Danish Sait, along with influ-encers Kusha Kapila, and NiharikaNM as his guests. The episode wasa total riot, as for once, the tablesturned, and the guests roastedKaran Johar in the most hilariousway.

From KJo’s habit of name-check-ing Alia Bhatt in almost all episodesto his interest in the sexual life ofall celebrities, the guests addressedalmost every hilarious observation.

One of the segments of the finaleepisode was the Koffee Awards. Theawards - which are in a total offive categories - were judged bythe four guests, Tanmay Bhatt,Danish Sait, Kusha Kapila, andNiharika NM. For each cate-gory, Karan presented thenominations followingwhich they picked the win-ner.

This season, the KoffeeWith Karan couch wasgraced by Ranveer Singh,Alia Bhatt, Akshay Kumar,Samantha Ruth Prabhu, SaraAli Khan, Jahnvi Kapoor,Kareena Kapoor, AamirKhan, Ananya Panday, Vijay

Deverakonda, Sonam Kapoor andArjun Kapoor. Followed by,Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani,Kriti Sanon and Tiger Shroff,Vicky Kaushal, SidharthMalhotra, Katrina Kaif, IshaanKhatter and SiddhantChaturvedi, Gauri Khan,Maheep Kapoor, BhavanaPanday, VarunDhawan, andAnil Kapoor.

Samantha wins bestperformance in KWK 7

The memorial service of KrishnamRaju was held at his hometown,Mogalthuru today and it was attend-

ed by Prabhas and Krishnam Raju’s family.This is the first time Prabhas is setting

foot in Mogalturu after a decade and hereceived a very warm welcome from thelocals. There was a massive turnout ofcrowd to see Prabhas and offer finalrespects to their local hero, KrishnamRaju.

The memorial service is a grand one andthe family had also arranged a grand feastfor the attendees. Prabhas greeted his fansand commoners alike. He appeared to betouched by the love and warmth hereceived from the local crowds.

This goes down as an emotional day forthe people of Mogalturu and Prabhas’sfamily.

Icon Star Allu Arjun along with hisfamily members, paid obeisance atthe Golden Temple in Amritsar on

Thursday.There he, along with his wife and

children, bowed his head at Sri DarbarSahib. Today is Allu Arjun’s wife’s

birthday. This is the reasonwhy he came with the wholefamily to seek Waheguru’sblessings.

The actor was seen enteringthe temple like a commonman with the family. Hesought the almighty's bless-

ings at the golden temple without dis-turbing the other visitors.

He has made the birthday of hisloving life memorable and special. Notonly this, the actor has also wishedhim a birthday by sharing a picture onInstagram.

In the photos revealed onsocial media, he and his fami-ly are getting to see the tradi-tional style. Following theentire culture and rules, hehas seen the Golden Temple.

Meanwhile, a large crowd had gath-ered around him. Following thePushpa phenomenon, the audiencewas taken aback when they saw him atthe temple. Fans flocked to take selfieswith the actor and spend time withhim. Notably, Allu Arjun is soongoing to begin the shootingfor his upcomingfilm Pushpa 2.Helmed bySukumar, thefilm madeeveryone craveits sequel.

The massivelymounted filmShaakuntalam

based on interna-tionally acclaimedKalidasa’s Sanskritplay AbhijnanaShakuntalam is allset to release inHindi, Telugu,Tamil, Malayalamand Kannada.

The story of thefilm revolvesaround the epiclove story ofShakuntala andKing Dushyantfrom Mahabharata,portrayed bySamantha and DevMohan. Meanwhile,the makers onThursday,

announced thatShaakuntalam willnow be released in3D. Therefore, thenew release date ofthe film will beannounced soon.

The makersannounced, “weaim to give a biggerexperience withShaakuntalam andimmerse you in theworld of shaakunta-lam', for which weas a team felt 3Dwould be a brilliantway. To facilitatethis, we would betaking some time toput forth and so,will be unable tomeet the earlierannounced date of

release. We thankthe support andlove showered uponus, from around theworld, hoping foryour support in thistoo. We will beannouncing thenew release datesoon.”

Shaakuntalam ishelmed by directorGunasekhar andmarks a whimsicaltale of love set inthe KashyapaKanumalu(Kashmir), thegrandeur andsplendour ofDushyant’s PuruDynasty makingthe film extremelyexceptional.

SHAAKUNTALAMTO RELEASE IN 3D

Allu Arjun visits Golden

Temple with family

sports 12HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

PTI n NEW DELHI

India's pace spearhead JaspritBumrah was on Thursday ruled outof the T20 World Cup due to a back

stress fracture, dealing a massive blowto team's chances at the ICC flagshipevent starting next month in Australia.

A BCCI official told PTI thatBumrah will be forced out of action forsix months due to the back injury.

"Bumrah is not going to play theT20 World Cup for sure. He has a seri-ous back condition. It's a stress fractureand he could be out for a period of sixmonths," a senior BCCI official toldPTI on conditions of anonymity.

Stress fracture is a tiny crack in thebone, caused by overuse and is com-mon in sports persons. When stressreaction (bone bruise) goes undetect-ed for a considerable time, it developsinto stress fracture.

Almost 50 per cent of sportsinjuries are caused by stress fractures.

Back stress fractures do not requiresurgery but a lot of time to heal. Restis best solution to treat stress fractures.

It is understood that either DeepakChahar or Mohammed Shami couldreplace Bumrah in the main squad.Both were named as stand-by playersfor the prestigious tournament by theBCCI.

Bumrah, who played the secondand third T20 against Australia, hadtravelled with the team toThiruvananthapuram for the series-opener against South Africa but left forBengaluru to be at National CricketAcademy (NCA) for rehabilitation.

The 28-year-old fast bowler is thesecond senior star player to be ruledout after Ravindra Jadeja, who isrecovering from a knee surgery.

The Indian team is already look-ing unsettled at the moment and

Bumrah's injury has only compound-ed the woes for skipper Rohit Sharmaand coach Rahul Dravid.

"Losing Bumrah and Jadeja will behuge for India. We didn't expect thatthings will pan out as they have. He wasrested for the Asia Cup precisely tomanage his workload management.Now it remains a question if he was

even fit enough to play the Australiaseries," the senior official said.

Many senior players have beengiven adequate rest, keeping in mindtheir workload.

What is more interesting is the factthat Bumrah has played only fiveTests, five ODIs and as many T20Is in2022 apart from IPL games for

Mumbai Indians."That's not a lot of cricket, consid-

ering that he was rested for Asia Cup,West Indies tour and also some of thebilateral cricket played in India. That'sa lot of rest.

"As of now he is at the NCA andthe rehab will be a long and arduousone. Yes, World T20 is important but

he is still young and India's biggestbowling asset. You can't take risk withhim," the official said.

Bumrah, who has a slinging action,puts a lot of pressure on his back dur-ing loading. Former West Indies pacebowling great Michael Holding hadassessed that Bumrah was always a can-didate for back injuries.

PTI n LAHORE

Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf isbanking on his knowledge

gained from the Big Bash Leagueto outsmart Indian batters in themarquee clash of the T20 WorldCup at the Melbourne CricketGround on October 23.

The arch-rivals, who don'tplay bilateral series due to geo-political tensions, will clash fora fourth time in one year at theMCG.

"If I give my best, theywon't be able to play me easily.For the upcoming World Cupmatch, I'm very happy becauseit is at the Melbourne CricketGround," Rauf, who plays forMelbourne Stars in the BBL, saidin the post-match interactionafter their six-run win overEngland.

"It is my home groundbecause I play for the MelbourneStars, and I have an idea of howthe conditions play out there. I'vealready started planning on howI would bowl against India," hesaid.

Pakistan took a 3-2 serieslead in the seven-match T20I

series here on Wednesday.Pakistan defeated India by

10 wickets — for the first timein a world tournament — in thelast edition of the T20I WorldCup in UAE. But recently in theAsia Cup, India secured a clin-ical five-wicket win before los-ing to Pakistan in the 'Super 4'stage.

The 28-year-old fed theIndian batters with short-pitchdeliveries as he returned wick-etless in their first match of theAsia Cup. But in the Super 4stage, he accounted for the keywicket of India skipper RohitSharma.

The 28-year-old ended theAsia Cup with eight wicketsfrom six matches. But in theongoing series he's been at hisbest, leading the tally with eightwickets from five matches.

"The match between Indiaand Pakistan is always a high-pressure game. In the WorldCup last year, I was feeling somuch pressure. But in the pasttwo matches in the Asia Cup, Ididn't feel much of it because Iknew I just had to give my best,"Rauf added.

PTI n LONDON

England white ball captain JosButtler and his deputy

Moeen Ali said that running outa non-striker for backing too isnot "their thing" and that theywould rather call the playerback if any of their teammatesused it as a mode of dismissal.

Custodians of the laws ofcricket MCC have re-affirmedthat a non-striker's run outwhile backing up is within thelaws of the game but there hasbeen no end to the debate in theaftermath of the third and finalwomen's ODI between Indiaand England where DeeptiSharma ran out Charlie Dean tocomplete clean sweep for visi-tors.

"No, I am calling the bats-man back," the 32-year-oldButtler, who is recovering froma calf injury ahead of the WorldCup, told TalkSPORT.

Incidentally, in IPL 2019,Buttler was at the receiving endas Rajasthan Royals openerwhen he was dismissed in a sim-ilar fashion by veteran Indianoff-spinner RavichandranAswhin, who was back thenplaying for Kings XI Punjab.

"No one wants to see them(mode of dismissal) in the gamebecause they always create sucha talking point when it should beabout the battle between bat and

ball and watching great games ofcricket. They always seem tohappen at unsavoury times."

Moeen, the stand-in captainin their current T20I seriesagainst Pakistan, echoed similarsentiments: "No, it's not mything."

"I don't think I'll ever do itunless I was really angry withsomeone. It's in the laws andthere's nothing illegal so peoplethat do it have the right, but I just

hope it doesn't become a com-mon thing, or something that'sregularly done," Moeen told the'Telegraph'.

"You are not really workingto get a wicket. At least with arun-out, there's a bit of work thathas to be done, and with all theother dismissals. This is justwaiting for the guy and takingthe bails off. Even when I playedcricket as a kid in the garden, it'snot my thing to do."

The mode of dismissal cur-rently listed in the MCC's 'UnfairPlay' section of the laws (41.16.1)is to be moved to the 'Run Out'section from October 1, when anupdate to the ICC PlayingConditions comes into effect.

"Whilst (the dismissal) wasindeed an unusual end to anexciting match, it was properlyofficiated and should not be con-sidered as anything more," astatement from the MCC hassaid earlier.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Suryakumar Yadav's statusas India's best T20I batter in

recent times has been reaf-firmed as he became the high-est scorer in a single calenderyear with 732 runs, surpassingShikhar Dhawan's 689 back in2018.

Suryakumar, who scoredone of his finest T20I half-cen-turies against South Africa ona seaming track inThiruvananthapuram onWednesday, is only 24 runsshort of completing 1000 runsin the format.

His strike-rate in 2022 is awhopping 180.29, while hiscareer strike-rate is a stagger-

ing 173.35 across 32 games. Hehas already hit 57 sixes and 88boundaries in his career so far.

Coming onto bat at No.4position in the first T20Iagainst South Africa with Indiabeing reduced to 17/2 in theseventh over, Suryakumar hittwo sixes off his first three ballsto give the innings a change inmomentum after a slow start.

He remained unbeaten on50 off 33 balls as India scaledthe target with more than threeovers to spare and eight wick-ets in hand.

With the two sixes early inthe innings, Suryakumar alsowent past Pakistan's Moham-mad Rizwan to record themost sixes in any calendar

year in T20Is. Rizwan held therecord for his 42 sixes in 2021with Martin Guptill alsosmashing 41 sixes in the sameyear.

Suryakumar has taken histally of sixes to 45 in 2022already, a record in all T20Is,with three more months towiden the gap with Rizwan.

While Rizwan took 26innings to hit 42 sixes,Suryakumar has broken therecord batting five times fewer.

Suryakumar is up to sec-ond position in the latest MRFTyres ICC Men's T20I PlayerRankings with 801 ratingpoints after his half-century inthe third and final T20I againstAustralia in Hyderabad.

PTI n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Young India left-arm pacerArshdeep Singh said "adapt-

ability" is the main focus of theteam ahead of the T20 WorldCup, starting next month inAustralia.

The T20 World Cup will beheld in Australia from October16 to November 13, andArshdeep said the Indianbowlers are geared up for thetough challenge that awaitsthem.

"Adaptability is the bigmotive of our team. The mainmotive is adapting to the situa-tions and demands of the team,whatever the situations andconditions are," said the 23-year-old pacer, who made a sensa-tional comeback after a disap-pointing outing in the Asia Cuprecently.

"When we go there (Austra-lia) we will see how the condi-tions are. I'm looking forward todoing well."

Arshdeep (3/32) and Dee-pak Chahar (2/24) broke SouthAfrica's backbone to help Indiaregister an easy eight-wicketwin over the Proteas in the low-scoring first T20I.

"We are trying to tick all theboxes in the practice sessionsand trying to execute all ourplans on the field. Today(Wednesday) was really a goodexample of showing a goodpower play bowling and we arelooking forward to do amazingthings in the coming days,"Arshdeep said at the post-matchpresentation.

The left-arm pacer, a keyarsenal in India's death bowlingscheme of things for the ICCshowpiece next month, missedthe preceding three T20Is againstAustralia after he was sent to theNCA for conditioning.

"The purpose of the last 10days was to get refreshed andcome back stronger and fitterthat will help me in my bowling.I feel really refreshed and look-

ing forward to doing goodthings on the field," Arshdeepsaid after his exploits with theball.

Bowling with the new ballin the absence of Jasprit Bumrahand Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Arshdeep came back with abang, grabbing three wickets infive balls to reduce South Africato 8 for 4 inside the second over.

Arshdeep, who made hisdebut in the tour of England inJuly this year, said he alwaysstrives to give his best on thefield without bothering aboutselection.

"They told me you're 'in theplan' back end of the IPL, thatI'm in the scene... I guess themain motive was to keep doingwell whatever opportunities Iget, that's my job and I don'tthink much about the selectionpart," he said.

Arshdeep had a forgettableAsia Cup campaign in the UAE,where he struggled to get wick-ets in the power-play and alsomade headlines for dropping asitter in their loss to Pakistan inthe 'Super 4' stage.

But with some assistancefrom the Greenfield track, hedismissed Quinton de Kock,Rilee Rossouw and David Millerin the second over to silence hiscritics.

"Getting the wickets early onwas always a great feeling. Theplan was really simple, the ballwas swinging. I had to pitch itin the right places and it workedwell. It was about hitting theright areas and making sure theline was good."

He also credited his seniorteammate Chahar for holdingup the pressure from the otherend.

"We practice in every type ofsituation, our job is to adapt tothe situations and do well for theteam. Today (Wednesday) itwas more about the new ball andwe worked really well as a pair,a lot of credit goes to DC bhaias well," he signed off.

PTI n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

South Africa left-arm spinnerKeshav Maharaj feels the

Proteas need to re-assess how tocombat the new ball whichswung "prodigiously" in the firstfew overs of the series openeragainst India.

South Africa's batting unitcrumbled as Indian seamersArshdeep Singh (3/32) andDeepak Chahar (2/24) swungthe ball both ways to set up aneight-wicket win for the hosts inthe first T20I here onWednesday night.

"I don't think it's a chapterwe need to dwell too much on.However, we do need to chatabout how we started," Maharajsaid at the post-match press con-ference.

"The application we sawupfront, we need to re-assess thatand find ways to combat theswing. The ball did swing prodi-giously in the first couple ofovers."

Maharaj, who top-scored forthe visitors with a 35-ball 41,feels some adjustment and achange in mindset could helpthem combat the swing.

"Something that we need toaddress is the new ball, the way

we are playing it, there is a lot ofswing in it. So maybe just adjustour plan and mindset and takeit from there," he added.

South Africa were reeling at9/5 within the first three oversbefore Aiden Markram (25)and Wayne Parnell (24) steadiedthe ship before Maharaj tookthem over the 100-run mark.

"We didn't expect the ball toswing so prodigiously. It wasn'tan easy wicket to bat on, it wastwo paced, the odd balls skiddedthrough, a lot of tennis ballbounce at various points,"Maharaj said.

"I don't think we want todwell too much on what hastranspired, but it is somethingthat we can address going for-ward and hopefully we can rec-tify that," he added.

PTI n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Skipper Rohit Sharma saidthe Indian team got to "learn

a lot" while chasing a meagre tar-get on a "tricky track" in theseries-opener against SouthAfrica.

Suryakumar Yadav's unbea-ten 50 off 33 balls got India overthe line despite KL Rahul'sstruggles on a track where SouthAfrica were left tottering at 9/5at the start of the game onWednesday.

"The wicket was tricky. Youlearn a lot playing such a game.You understand what the teamneeds to do in tough conditions.It was nice to play a game likethat," Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

"We knew the bowlers willget something seeing grass onthe pitch, but we didn't expect-ed help for the full 20 overs."

Rohit admitted that thepitch was a bit damp and thatkept South Africa in the huntdespite a paltry score of 106/8.

"It was damp. Both teamswere in the contest and the teamthat played better won the game.We started well, got five wicketsin quick time and that was the

turning point. It was a perfectshowcase of how to bowl whenthere is help for the pacers."

While Rahul scored a half-century (51) off 56 balls, Rohitsaid conditions need to berespected.

"We knew it wasn't going tobe easy. Got to respect the con-ditions. Lost two wickets andthat partnership between KLand Surya got us home."

‘SURYA'S HELP’KL Rahul, whose scratchy

batting got papered over bySuryakumar Yadav's regal half-century, said that his partner'sattacking intent allowed him totake his own time.

It was because of Rahul'sstruggles that India scored only17 runs in six Powerplay oversbut Surya's imperious form did-n't allow South Africa to makea comeback.

"Definitely, right up there (asthe toughest pitch)," Rahul saidwhen asked if it was the tough-est strip he has batted on inT20Is.

"We have played in somedifficult conditions like this butI haven't got runs. So this washard work."

He was all praise for Surya'sapproach.

"It was unbelievable forSurya to come out there and playthose shots. We have seen howballs were flying, nippingaround, two-paced and every-thing that can be hard for a bat-ter that was the wicket today.

"And for Surya to come withthat approach after the first ballthat hit him, he just woke up andwanted to play his shots, beaggressive and take on the bowl-ing. That helped me take mytime and play one end."

Rahul also praised youngArshdeep Singh, whose threewickets in his first over set-upthe game.

"He's (Arshdeep) growingwith each game and with eachouting he gets better, he issomebody who has a big heartand I have seen him in closequarters while playing in theIPL. This season what he did forhis franchise was phenomenaland to be the number one deathbowler in a team (Punjab Kings)which has Rabada speaks high-ly of him.

"We always want a left-armseamer and it is great to havesomeone like Arshdeep," he said.

AP n LAHORE

Pakistan fast bowler NaseemShah has tested positive for

COVID-19 and will miss theremaining two T20s againstEngland, the Pakistan CricketBoard said on Thursday.

Shah was discharged fromhospital on Thursday after beingdiagnosed with pneumonia andthe PCB said the fast bowler wasfeeling “much better."

“Shah is back in the teamhotel where he will follow allCOVID-19 protocols,” the PCBsaid in a statement.

Pakistan is due to leave forNew Zealand next Monday toparticipate in a triangular T20series also featuring Bangladesh.The PCB didn't clarify whetherthe fast bowler will accompanythe team to New Zealand.

Shah played only one gamein the seven-match series againstEngland in Karachi.

BUMRAH RULED OUT OF T20 WCJasprit will be forced out of action for six months due to a back injury

Arshdeep’s focus ison adaptability aheadof T20 World Cup

Rauf sends warning to Indiaahead of T20 WC opener

SKY is now India's highest run-scorerin T20Is in single calendar year

SA need to find ways to combat new ball: Maharaj Wicket was tricky, it was niceto play a game like that: Rohit

Naseem Shahtests positivefor Covid

Buttler & Moeen Ali not in favour ofrunning out batters at non-striker's end