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MONEY 8WORLD SHARES SLUMP

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VIJAYAWADA, FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUN HYDERABAD

SPEED BUMP

CORONAVIRUS

Chandrababu Naidu detainedat Vizag airport, sent backYSRCP activists block TDP supremo on way to Praja Chaitanya Yatra SUMIT ONKA n VISAKHAPATNAM

YSRCP activists on Thursdayscuttled TDP supremo NChandrababu Naidu's plans ofPraja Chaitanya Yatra inVisakhapatnam district withtheir strident protest.

As announced by the party,several YSRCP supportersblockaded the TDP chief wholanded at the Vizag as part ofhis yatra. This was Naidu's firstvisit to Vizag after the city wasproposed by the YSRCP gov-ernment as the ExecutiveCapital of Andhra Pradesh.

A notice under Section 151CrPC was served on Naidu andhe was taken into preventivecustody "because of his safetyand security", Vizag city PoliceCommissioner Rajiv KumarMeena said.

Naidu was sent back into theVIP lounge inside the airporthere and from there onto aplane to Hyderabad.

The unprecedented and

high-adrenaline politicalprotest at Vizag airport saw theYSRCP activists laying downon the road in front of the con-voy meant for Naidu to pro-

ceed with his years, even as slo-gans of 'Go back Babu' rent theair.

"He cooperated with us andagreed to go to the VIP loungeat the airport. Though we ini-tially tried to allow him to goahead with his planned pro-gramme, there were too manynumber protesters and so wedecided to take him into pre-ventive custody for his safety,"Meena said.

Earlier, the convoy meant forNaidu was held up for hours asYSRCP cadres remained ada-mant at not letting it enter theairport.

The protesters called Naidua "traitor" and claimed he hasno moral right to visit Vizag ashe has opposed the proposal ofmaking the city the executivecapital.

Ensure free, fairelections:Dhankhar tostate EC

Trump: India isincredible, lot ofprogress madein bilateral ties

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Pragya appearsbefore specialcourt in Mumbai

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KEJRIWAL ANNOUNCES RS 10 LAKHEX GRATIA FOR DELHI VICTIMS’ KIN

Japan will close schools nationwide to help control the spread of thenew virus, the government announced Thursday. Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe was asking all elementary, middle and high schools toremain shut until spring holidays begin in late March.The measure affects 12.8 million students at 34,847schools nationwide, the education ministry said."The coming week or two is an extremely importanttime," Abe said. "This is to prioritize the health andsafety of the children and take precautions toavoid possible large-scale infections,” he said.

BULLIED 9-YEAR-OLD BOY TO SKIPDISNEYLAND, WILL DONATE $475,000

An Australian boy with dwarfism whose distress from bullying becamea viral video will donate hundreds-of-thousands of

dollars in donations to charity rather than a trip toDisneyland. The clip of nine-year-old Quaden Baylesshowed him crying and repeatedly saying he wantedto die after being bullied at school, sparking anoutpouring of support from around the world. The videowas watched millions of times and prompted UScomedian Brad Williams to start a GoFundMe pagethat eventually raised almost US$475,000.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday halted travel to the holiest sites in Islamover fears about a viral epidemic just months ahead of the annual

hajj pilgrimage, a move that came as the Mideast has over 240confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. The extraordinary decision bySaudi Arabia stops foreignersfrom reaching the holy city ofMecca and the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure the world's 1.8billion Muslims pray toward fivetimes a day.

SAUDI ARABIA HALTS PILGRIMAGESOVER CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

JAPAN TO CLOSE SCHOOLS TOCONTROL SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS

The Delhi government will give Rs 10 lakh to the families of those wholost their lives in the communal violence in northeast Delhi, Chief

Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Thursday. He also said that thegovernment will bear the cost of treatment of those injured in theviolence and admitted to private hospitals. Those seriously injuredwill get Rs 2 lakh, the CM told a press conference. Specialcamps will be set up for people to get essential documentswhich they lost during arson, Kejriwal said. When asked aboutthe alleged involvement of AAP councillor Tahir Hussainin the riots, Kejriwal said no rioter should be spared.

TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu squats on the ground in protest afterpolice stopped him from exiting the Vizag airport on Thursday.

HC judge Muralidhar shiftedhours after criticising police PNS n NEW DELHI

A row erupted on Thursdayover the timing of the transferof Delhi High Court judgeJustice S Muralidhar, who hadslammed the police for not reg-istering a case against three BJPleaders for their alleged hatespeeches, as the Congress saidthe "midnight" notificationwas "shameful" and the Centreaccused the opposition party ofpoliticising a "routine" shift.

The Union Law Ministry onWednesday night issued threeseparate notifications for thetransfer of Justice Muralidharand two other judges--JusticeRanjit Vasantrao More of theBombay High Court and Ju-stice Ravi Vijay Kumar Mali-math of the Karnataka HighCourt. Justice Muralidhar wastransferred to the Punjab andHaryana High Court.

The transfer came ona day when a benchheaded by the judgeexpressed ‘anguish’over Delhi Police'sfailure to register FIRsagainst BJP leaders.

‘Gujarat model’replicated in DelhiAmit Shah must resign, says NCPPNS n MUMBAI

Alleging that "Gujarat model"has been replicated in Delhiwhich witnessed large-scalecommunal violence over theCAA, the NCP on Thursdaycalled for Union Home Mi-nister Amit Shah's resignation.

The responsibility of main-taining law and order in Delhiis with the Union home min-istry.

NCP national spokespersonNawab Malik also demandeda probe into whether Shah co-uld not handle the situation inthe national capital or he hadallegedly given instructionsto the police to not respondquickly to the situation.

Opposition parties haveaccused the police of being a

silent spectator to the riots inthe national capital, wherethe death toll has reached 34.

The Congress has alreadydemanded Shahs resignation.

The Gujarat model has beenrepeated in Delhi, Malik toldreporters here, apparentlyreferring to the 2002 riots inthe BJP-ruled western state.

Warner back asSunrisers captainPNS n NEW DELHI

Explosive Australian batsmanDavid Warner was onThursday reinstated as IPLfranchise SunrisersHyderabad's captain, a posi-tion that he had to give upafter the ball-tamperingscandal in 2018.

The 33-year-oldWarner, who led theSunrisers to thetrophy in 2016,will take over

from New Zealand skipperKane Williamson for the sea-son starting March 29.

"I am thrilled to be given thecaptaincy for this comingIPL 2020. I'm extremelygrateful for the opportu-nity to lead the side once

again," Warner said ina video posted bythe SunrisersHyderabad.

Delimitation inAP, TS ‘not sosoon’: KishanPNS n NEW DELHI

Union Minister of State forHome G Kishan Reddy onThursday said that there wo-uld be no delimitation exer-cise exclusively for AP andTelangana, effectively rulingout any possibility of an incr-ease in the number ofAssembly seats.

It would only take place aspart of a nationwide exercise,Kishan Reddy said. He emp-hasised that a decision on thematter was yet to be taken.

He also told reporters thatan outreach programme inJ&K would be held again inMay and hinted that alloca-tion of not less than Rs 30,000crore would be made to thestate as part of a specialpackage.

The situation in Delhi isreturning to normal, he said.

Priyanka attacks Centre overtransfer of Delhi HC judgeNEW DELHI: Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra onThursday attacked the govern-ment over the transfer of DelhiHigh Court Judge S Muralid-har, saying the Centre's attem-pts to "muzzle" justice and "br-eak people's faith in an uprightjudiciary are deplorable"

Justice Muralidhar was tra-nsferred to the Punjab and Ha-

ryana High Court, days afterthe Supreme Court collegiummade the recommendation.

The judge was hearing theDelhi violence case and the lateevening notification came onthe day when a bench headedby him expressed "anguish"over the Delhi Police's failureto register FIRs against allegedhate speeches by BJP leaders.

India evacuates 112 peoplefrom China, 124 from JapanPNS n NEW DELHI

India on Thursday broughtback 112 people from thecoronavirus-hit Chinese city ofWuhan and another group of124 from Tokyo who were onboard a cruise ship infected by

the deadly virus.A C-17 Globemaster III

transport aircraft of IndianAir Force evacuated 76 Indiansand 36 foreign nationals fromWuhan while an Air Indiaflight brought back the groupof 124 people from Tokyo.

The foreign national evacu-ated from Wuhan so farincluded 23 from Bangladesh,six from China, two each fromMyanmar and Maldives andone each from South Africa,USA and Madagascar, besidesthe 119 Indians.

Nawab Malik

Insurance firmtold to pay Rs2.5L, fine forrefusing claim PNS n NEW DELHI

The New Delhi district con-sumer forum has directedMax New York Life Insuranceto pay Rs 2.5 lakh along withinterest and compensationto a policy holder's nomineefor repudiating claim on thegrounds of non-disclosureof ailments.

The firm has been asked topay half of the repudiatedclaim Rs 2.5 lakh, half of therepudiated claim amount,along with 9 per cent interestand a compensation of Rs15,000 towards "harassment,mental agony and pain"caused to the claimant.

The Forum termed therepudiation unjust.

DISCOM’s development charges shocker to consumersHouseholds having ACs or air coolers get demand notices to pay up Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000 C PRADEEPn VIJAYAWADA

In a major shock, the AP DIS-COM has started sendingnotices to people across thestate, sending notices to pay"development charges" rangingfrom Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000 tohouseholds that have eitherACs or air coolers.

With summer approachingfast, the notices have sentshockwaves among the people,who are nonplussed as they areunable to understand why they

need to pay over and above theelectricity bill for the powerconsumed.

On Monday, some people inthe Vambay Colony, that wasestablished by the govern-

ment, received such demandnotices.

According to some angryconsumers, the power depart-ment has sent notices demand-ing Rs 3,000 per AC and Rs1,500 for each air cooler in thehousehold. The residents ofVambay Colony said that theywere poor and could barelyafford to pay the electricitybills, let alone this additionaldemand. They said the sum-mers are becoming increasing-ly harsh, and life without atleast an air cooler would be

unbearable. Following the notices, the

heat is on for those who hadavailed of the heavy discountsand easy payment optionsoffered by electricity appli-ance dealers. Quite a few of thepeople have opted for ACsinstead of a air cooler due tothe 'zero per cent loan' facili-ty. Now, with the demandnotice from the AP Discom,the overall price of the AC hasproven to be costly, say con-sumers.

YSRCP defends blockingNaidu with 2017 reminderPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The YSRCP on Thursday justi-fied the blockade of formerChief Minister N Chandrab-abu Naidu at the Vizag airportby the rank and file of theparty by reminding that theTDP chief had prevented theirleader YS Jaganmohan Reddyin a similar way on January 26,2017.

However, TDP leaderscountered this claim of theYSRCP leaders stating thatthe circumstances in both theincidents were not identical.

On January 26, 2017,Jaganmohan Reddy, as part ofthe party's strategy to stall theTDP meeting to scout forinvestments, landed in Vizag.However, he was taken intocustody at the airport itself and

refused permission to pro-ceed further with his tour.

Earlier, the YSRCP hadannounced its decision to stallthe meeting. The governmentdid not give permission to

Jagan for his tour. Moreover,the YSRCP leadership did notapply for permission fromgovernment for the pro-gramme.

YSRCP and TDP activists argue on the road to Vizag airport where former ChiefMinister N Chandrababu Naidu was set to land, on Thursday.

Jyoti, others airlifted from China, reach DelhiPNS n NEW DELHI

A resident of Andhra PradeshAnnem Jyoti who was strand-ed in the Chinese city ofWuhan, that is under lock-down due to coronavirus, onThursday reached here on mil-itary transport aircraft alongwith some other Indians

stranded there. She will remain in Delhi for

some days and undergo med-ical tests before behind allowedto be on her way to her home-town Ernapadu in BandiAtmakur Mandal.

Amarnath Reddy, to whomshe is betrothed, quotingIndian embassy sources, con-

firmed Jyoti returning to Delhi. Earlier, the Union Health

and Family Welfare Ministrysent messages to Indians stra-nded in Wuhan to be preparedto fly to India since a militaryaircraft has been dispatched tobring them home, he said.

Jyoti had gone to Wuhan aspart of her job training and was

stranded there on account ofcoronavirus outbreak. She sp-ent one month there in a dor-mitory.

Nandyal MP P. BrahmanandReddy took the initiative andtook her family members toministers to submit memoran-da requesting their interven-tion and help in Jyoti's return.

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3Current Weather ConditionsUpdated February 27, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Phalguna & Shukla PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Chaturthi: Full NightNakshatram: Revati: 01:08 am (NextDay)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 01:56 pm – 03:23 pmYamagandam: 06:39 am – 08:07 amVarjyam: 11:38 am – 01:26 pmGulika: 09:34 am - 11:01 amGood Time: (to start any important

work)Amritakalam: 10:26 pm – 12:14 amAbhijit Muhurtham: 12:05 pm – 12:52 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Mostly SunnyTemp: 34/21Humidity: 54%Sunrise: 06.35Sunset: 06.22

FULL REPORTON PAGE 11

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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 anydamage 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 beforeresponding 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.

CAPSULE

966th Avatarotsavamof Ananta Alwar on March 1 VIJAYAWADA: The TTD plansto celebrate grandly the 966thAvatarotsavam of prominentVaishnavite and top amongAlwars, Ananta Alwar atPurushaivari Thota located onnorth east of Srivari temple onMarch 1. The TTD isorganising the event for thepast nine years. Nearly, 10exponents on Alwar's workswill deliver special lecturersduring the celebrations heldunder the auspices of theAlwar Divya Prabanda Projectof TTD. This is a specialoccasion when descendants ofAnantalwar from across thecountry gather at thePurusaivarithota and performDivya Prabanda PasuraParayanam and renderpravachanams. Legends saythat the karpoora patch on themula Virat idol of SriVenkateswara Swamy was putby Anantalwar after heaccidentally hit on a boy in aTirumala garden, who turnedout to be the Lord himself.Even today karpoora is appliedto the chin of Lord andPrabanda Parayanam is doneregularly. The Mahadwaram ofSrivari temple also showcasesthe crowbar with whichAnantawar has hit the Lord inthe boy's guise. TheAvatarotsavam will beconducted under thesupervision of AcharyaRajagopalan, the secretary ofHDPP and Special Officer ofDivya Prabandam Project ofTTD.

Araku Utsav to begin on Feb 29VISAKHAPATNAM: ArakuUtsav is all set to begin onFebruary 29. The two-dayutsav will be conducted on agrand note by inviting guestsfrom across the country toexplore the beauty of ArakuValley. The festival showcasesthe culture and traditions oftribals in the region, while thegovernment is makingelaborate arrangements for thefestival. Picturesque locations,lush green hills and dances oftribals will impress tourists.Last year's balloon festival atAraku Utsav impressed thetourists. But, this year, thegovernment is makingarrangements to entertain thetourists with different themes.Recently, Minister for Tourism,Culture and YouthAdvancement MuttamsettiSrinivasa Rao released aposter on Arku Utsav.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2020 vijayawada 02

EGGRATES

` 42,890 (10 gm)

` 160

GOLD

` 46,900 (10 gm)

` 1100

HYDERABAD 313VIJAYAWADA 335VISAKHAPATNAM 375RETAIL PPRICE `3.35

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `104

Without Skin `119

Broiler at Farm `72

`/KG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

CH PRADEEPn VIJAYAWADA

Mangoes, the king of fruits,will hit the market soon.Mango lovers will for onset ofsummer so that that they canrelish delicious Pedda Rasaluand Banganapalli from Nuzvidin Krishna district. Those twovarieties are not only famousacross the Telugu States butalso country.

This year, the yield would begood compared to previousyears due to timely rains andless cold wave during the flow-ering season. It is expected thatthis year there would be aminimum of five to six tonnesof mango yield per hectare,which would bring profits tofarmers, according to sources.

Hundreds of people getemployment during the mangoseason for packing, gradingand segregating a large numberquantity of tasty mangoes fromNuzvid, as they will be trans-ported to north Indian Statesand even to the Middle andEast. During the season, mid-dle men also get a chance to

make good money. To get goodyield, pruning of mango treesshould be carried out before theseason starts, as there will be agood scope for tender branch-es to grow. However, most offarmers wakeup days before theseason commences, which isthe reason for a normal yield.

In the current year, one-thirdof mango trees are less than 10-year-old and growers can

expect a good harvest fromthose trees. For a good harvestof mangoes, the government issupplying fruit cover, whichwill protect the fruit fromspots and scars that enables thefruit to grow spotless, whichhas a good demand for exports.

It is estimated that the priceof mangoes would be around

Rs 30,000 per tonne for thecurrent mango season in

Krishna district.To know more about the

mango farming activity in thedistrict during the current year,The Pioneer spoke to ChSrinivasulu, additional director,horticulture department,Nuzvid-he said that this seasonthere would be a good yield forgrowers. We would get mangoyield across the district.

Srinivasulu said to get a bet-

ter price to mangoes, growersshould follow integrated packhouse and heat treatment pro-cedures. For the ripening of thefruit, farmers should exposefruits to ethylene gas in theripening chamber for naturalripening, which will keep thefruit free from fungus andinsecticides. If one follows theprocedure, there will be gooddemand for mangoes.

He further stated that theState government was encour-aging farmers to establishripening chamber, collecting

and grading centre/integratedpack chamber by offering sub-sidy.

Koteswara Rao, a mangofarmer, said that early flower-ing is a good sign of good yield."This year, we are expecting abetter yield compared to pre-vious year. So far, climatic con-ditions are favourable withvery less cloud breeze at thetime of flowering and the rain-fall in the rainy season was alsogood, mango farmers in thisarea will have a good season inthe days to come, he said.

n Koteswara Rao, a mangofarmer, said that earlyflowering is a good sign ofgood yield. "This year, weare expecting a better yieldcompared to previous year.So far, climatic conditionsare favourable"

n Ch Srinivasulu, additionaldirector, horticulturedepartment, Nuzvid, saidto get a better price tomangoes, growers shouldfollow integrated packhouse and heat treatmentprocedures

n For the ripening of the fruit, farmers should expose fruits toethylene gas in the ripening chamber for natural ripening,which will keep the fruit free from fungus and insecticides. Ifone follows the procedure, there will be good demand formangoes

VANDALISM IN DELHI

Broken desks, burnt books bear witness to riotsPNS n NEW DELHI

"Welcome to a very happyschool" reads a half-charredboard at a private school inBrijpuri area of north east Delhi,which is now home to brokendesks and burnt books after itwas vandalised during the vio-lence.

Arun Modern SeniorSecondary School, which is over32 year- old, looks no less thana cemetery, say officials, whoclaim the damage is estimated tobe over Rs 70 lakh.

"While I am yet to recoverfrom what has happened at theschool, my biggest relief is thatchildren were not on the premis-es when this happened. I do noteven want to imagine what

would have happened if that wasthe case," said school principalJyoti Rani.

"Our security guard was thereon Tuesday evening when a mobentered the precincts. Scared bythe happenings, he rushed out-side to save his life. Only twodays later, we could gather thecourage to go to the school andall I could see was vandaliseddesks, burnt books in library anda mess everywhere. It looks noless than a cemetery now," sheadded.

Bhisham Sharma, the ownerof the school, said the riotersburnt books worth Rs 70 lakh.

"The school has been runningsince 1987. The incident hap-pened around 5 pm on Tuesday.They came and burnt down

everything. We have lost recordsof 30 years. The only thing weare thankful is that there were nochildren at that time in theschool, otherwise the loss wouldhave been huge," he said.

Shaheen, parent of a Class VIIstudent of the school, said,"Why did the rioters have to

burn down a school, whicheducates students? They areburning everything else andcould have spared schools. Whatabout the children, who areawaiting their final exams? Theiryear-long effort will go waste."

At Rajdhani Public School inShiv Vihar, a few student bags,

crayons strewn over, half-burntmodels that were part of arecently held exhibition and cutouts from the Republic Day cel-ebrations last month, are amongthe remains while the entirelibrary has been burnt.

Security guard Pawan Susheelsaid, "Kindergarten students at

times leave their bags in schools.No student has been hurt. This(the violence) did not happen inschool hours. I came todayonly."

Similar heart-wrenchingscenes can be witnessed in DPRSchool in the same area. Nobodywas present on the premises.

The main gate of the school hasbeen damaged making it easy foranybody to enter inside.

Schools have been closed innorth east Delhi and east Delhifor three consecutive days, whilethe CBSE has postponed Boardexams in the area scheduled tillFebruary 29.

The communal violence overthe amended citizenship law innortheast Delhi has claimed 34lives so far and left over 200 peo-ple injured. Frenzied mobstorched houses, shops, vehi-cles, a petrol pump and peltedstones at locals and police per-sonnel. Jaffrabad, Maujpur,Babarpur, Yamuna Vihar,Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh andShiv Vihar are among the areasmainly affected by the riots.

n Arun ModernSenior SecondarySchool, which isover 32 year- old,looks no less than acemetery, sayofficials, who claimthe damage isestimated to beover Rs 70 lakh

n Shaheen, parent of a Class VIIstudent of the school, said, "Whydid the rioters have to burndown a school, which educatesstudents? They are burningeverything else and could havespared schools. What about thechildren, who are awaiting theirfinal exams? Their year-longeffort will go waste"

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

CPM leader Ch Babu Raodemanded that the govern-ment take back the noticesserved on consumers forcollecting electricity devel-opment charges.

Babu Rao on Thursdaytook part in a protest stagedat Vambay Colony allegingthat the government issuednotices to consumersdemanding that they payRs 3,000 for having an airconditioner and Rs 1,500 fora cooler.

Speaking on the occasion,he reminded that the TDPgovernment had deceivedthe poor by imposing excesscharges; hence, people votedto the YSRCP. However,after coming to power, theYSRCP government is alsowalking in the footsteps ofthe TDP.

He alleged that the gov-ernment was implementingvarious welfare schemes likeAmma-Vodi, Rythu Barosa,Rs 10,000 to auto drivers,house sites to homeless onone hand and cancellingration cards, pensions andscholarships creating troubleto the poor in the State onthe other hand.

He pointed out that peo-ple at Vambay Colony arepoor and demanded that

notices issued to people ask-ing to pay developmentchanges, should be takenback, or else people wouldteach a befitting lesson tothe YSRCP in next elec-tions.

He further stated thatwith the BJP policies artifi-cial recession was createdand buying capacity amongpeople has fallen drastical-ly.

In the last six months dueto shortage of sand, therewere no works and peoplesuffered a lot.

He appealed to the gov-ernment to rethink on col-lecting electricity develop-ment charges and take awise decision.

CPM leaders K DurgaRao, K Subhani, A RatnaKumari, K Omkar, K Murali,P Mukanti and others werepresent.

CPM against ‘electricity devt charges’

Govt gives ‘shock’to power consumers

CPM leadersstaged a dharnaat VambayColonydemanding thatthe governmentrevoke itsdecision

CPM leader Ch Babu Rao enquires with a woman about electricity developmentcharges at Vambay Colony in Vijayawada on Thursday

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh NGOAssociation leaders appealed tothe government to take mea-sures to solve the long-pend-ing demands of the employees.The APNGO leaders took partin 'All India Demands Day'programme at the IrrigationOffice on the call given by theAll India State EmployeesFederation.

Speaking on the occasion,association state president NChandrasekhar Reddy saideven nine months after theYSRCP assuming power, noaction has been taken to solvethe pending problems ofemployees.

He recalled that Chief

Minister YS JaganmohanReddy had promised to cancelCPS during padayatra andincluded in the party mani-festo, no action has been takenyet to cancel CPS and imple-ment the old pension scheme.

He recalled that employeeswere happy that the YSRCPgovernment would solve alltheir problems, but in vain.

He pointed out that for 11thPRC, a retired IAS officerTakkar, has been appointed.Later, a committee was formedwith the ministers and anthercommittee was set up with offi-cials, which were delaying theprocess, the association lead-ers condemned.

Employees AssociationAmaravati JAC State secretary

Sudhir Babu alleged that beforeelections, both the Centraland State governments saidthat employees' issues will besolved on a priority basis butafter coming to power,employee's issues are beingignored.

Association district presi-dent Vidyasagar said for everyfive years, the pay should berevised as per the increase inprices, if the government reg-ulates the prices, there will beno need for the government topay DA, he pointed out.

Association leadersKrupanandam, Vasanta Rao,Ratna Kumari, Md Iqbal, PRamesh, Satish Kumar, JSwamy, Sampath Kumar andothers were present.

APNGOs step up pressure ongovt to solve pending issues

Andhra Pradesh NGO Association leaders take out a rally in Vijayawada on Thursday demaning that the government solvetheir pending problems

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The TTD is organisingAradhanotsavams of Trimurthyof Carnatic music - Sri ShyamaShashi, Sri Thyagaraja Swamyand Sri MuthuswamyDikshitulu- at SV College ofMusic and Dance on Friday.

Aradhanotsavamswill commence inthe morning withspecial pujas andgarlanding of theidols and portraitsof SangeetaT r i m u r t i s .Thereafter studentsand teachers willsing keertans andcompositions ofmusical giants for 14 hourswithout any break.

Syama Shastri was born atThiruvarur and settled inThanjavur. His family wor-shipped Goddess Kamakshi forgenerations and an exponent inTamil, Telugu and Sanskrit.

Also known, as Venkata-subramanian Shastri was a con-temporary of Thyagaraja andMuthuswamy and also like

them a master of Bhairavi,Thodi and Yadukula ragas. Heinnovated a new trend in Thalaand his works are Nava RatnaMalika.

Thyagaraja also hailing fromThiruvarur in Thanjavur districtof Tamil Nadu. Thyagaraya isfamous as a legend of Carnatic

music. Also knownas Nadayogi, he haspenned and sung24,000 lyrics butonly 750 are avail-able now. He is alsocredited for recit-ing Rama Nama for90 crore times onthe advice ofRamakrishnananda

Swamy and also forhaving Rama darshan.

Muthurswamy Dikshitulu, anative of Thiruvarur inThanjavur district, he was thedisciple of Chidambar Nadayogiat Kashi and also an upasaka ofGod Sri Subramanya. His greatworks in Sanskrit are known asKritis, including Kamalambana-varna, Navagraha, Vibhakti,Panchalinga and ShodashaGanapathi.

Aradhhanotsavamsof Carnatic musictrinity from today

IANS n LONDON

An exoplanet more than twicethe size of the Earth may havethe right conditions to host life,say scientists led by an Indian-origin astronomer, opening thesearch for potentially habit-able planets significantly larg-er than the Earth, but smallerthan Neptune.

The researchers from theUniversity of Cambridge inthe UK used the mass, radius,and atmospheric data of thepreviously identified exoplan-et K2-18b, which is 124 light-years away.

The study, published in The

Astrophysical Journal Letters,determined that it is possible forthe planet to host liquid waterat habitable conditions beneathits hydrogen-rich atmosphere.

K2-18b is 2.6 times theradius and 8.6 times the massof Earth, and orbits its starwithin the habitable zone,where temperatures could allowliquid water to exist, theresearchers said.

The planet was the subject ofsignificant media coverage in2019, as two different teamsreported detection of watervapour in its hydrogen-richatmosphere.

However, the extent of the

atmosphere and the conditionsof the interior underneathremained unknown, they said.

"Water vapour has beendetected in the atmospheres ofa number of exoplanets, buteven if the planet is in the hab-itable zone, that doesn't neces-sarily mean there are habitableconditions on the surface," saidNikku Madhusudhan fromCambridge, who led the new

research."To establish the prospects for

habitability, it is important toobtain a unified understandingof the interior and atmospher-ic conditions on the planet - inparticular, whether liquid watercan exist beneath the atmos-phere," Madhusudhan said.

Given the large size of K2-18b, it has been suggested thatit would be more like a small-

er version of Neptune than alarger version of the Earth.

A 'mini-Neptune' is expect-ed to have a significant hydro-gen 'envelope' surrounding alayer of high-pressure water,with an inner core of rock andiron, the researchers said.

If the hydrogen envelope is,too, thick, the temperature andpressure at the surface of thewater layer beneath would befar, too, great to support life,they said.

The new study showed thatdespite the size of K2-18b, itshydrogen envelope is not nec-essarily, too, thick and the waterlayer could have the right con-

ditions to support life.They used the existing obser-

vations of the atmosphere, aswell as the mass and radius, todetermine the composition andstructure of both the atmos-phere and interior usingdetailed numerical models, andstatistical methods to explainthe data.

The researchers confirmedthe atmosphere to be hydrogen-rich with a significant amountof water vapour.

They also found that levels ofother chemicals such asmethane and ammonia werelower than expected for such anatmosphere.

Exoplanet may have right conditions for life: ScientistsThe study, published in The AstrophysicalJournal Letters, determined that it is possible forthe planet to host liquid water at habitableconditions beneath its hydrogen-rich atmosphere

Mango growers expect bumper yieldPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

On a tip-off, officials of theDirectorate of RevenueIntelligence (DRI), Visakha-patnam, intercepted a truckand a car at NAD Junction inVisakhapatnam and seized1,638 kgs of the banned nar-cotic marijuana on Thursday.

Officials found 40 bagsconcealed under a load ofbanana stalks consisting of800 brown sugar packets.Investigation revealed thatthe contraband was loadedinto the goods carriage nearNarsipatnam and the samewas being handed over to adriver near Anakapalle.

"The ganja has been pro-cured from the VishakaAgency area and was beingsent to Bhubaneswar. Thenarcotic drug has been seizedunder the provisions ofNarcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act-1985. The valueof seized ganja in the greymarket would be around Rs2.45 crore.

Ganja worth Rs 2.45 crore seized in Vizag

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2020 vijayawada 03

Kondarama SwamytempleBrahmotsavamsVIJAYAWADA: The annualBrahmotsavams of SriKodandarama Swamy templewill begin from March 23 withAnkurarpanam on March 22.The important days duringBrahmotsavams includeDwajarohanam on March 23,Kalpavruksha on March 25,Garuda Vahanam on March 27,Rathotsavam on March 30 andChakra Snanam on March 31.Ahead of Brahmotsavams, theTTD is performing the holytemple cleaning Koil AlwarThirumanjanam on March 20.The artists of cultural wings ofTTD HDPP, AnnamacharyaProject and Dasa SahityaProject will present bhajans,kolatas and harikatha in all daysBrahmotsavams.

Minor girl raped in NuzvidVIJAYAWADA: A minor wasraped by an unidentified personat Nuzvid on Wednesdaymidnight. The incident tookplace when the girl was waitingoutside the house for her fatherto return home. On noticingthat the girl was lonely, amiscreant took the advantageand told the girl that he wouldtake her to his father. Believingthe words of the stranger, sheaccompanied him on hisbicycle. The culprit took her toa lonely place adjacent to IIITNuzvid and raped her and fledthe scene.Weeping victim reached themain road, Nuzvid CircleInspector Ramchander Rao,who was on night-patrollingduty, noticed the girl cryingtook her to a hospital fortreatment. As the condition ofthe girl was serious, she wasshifted to Vijayawada hospitalfor better treatment. Aman0hunt was launched by theNuzvid police to nab the culprit.

CAPSULE Guv exhorts students to serve nation PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Governor Biswa BushanHarichandan appealed to stu-dents to protect the interestsof downtrodden. He said it isthe responsibility of studentsin whatever sphere they settlein their lives to instil confi-dence among underprivilegedthat they are all equal beforethe law.

Addressing 35th and 36thconvocations of AcharyaNagarjuna University inGuntur on Thursday, he saidthat students should createawareness among the poorabout their fundamental rightsprovided by the Constitution.

The Governor explainedhow Mahatma Gandhi freedthe country from the Britishrule through non-violenceand lauded the role of sever-al leaders in the freedomstruggle. He said the countryemerged as an atomic powerduring the regime of AtalBihari Vajpayee and no other

country is dared enough to seetowards our country after suc-cessfully conducting nuclearexplosion. He said that theAcharya Nagarjuna Universitygained prominence withexclusive Centres ofExcellence and Research suchas Mahayana Buddhism, BRAmbedkar chair, JagjeevanRam's chair, MahatmaJyotibha Phule's chair, Centrefor Women's Studies, Centrefor Gandhian Studies andCentre for Scientific Socialismand Centre for Afro-Asian

Philosophies. He congratu-lated the authorities forachieving a second rank forthe university in the emergingeconomics university rank-ings-2020. The Governorcalled upon students to servethe nation. He said now as thenation is on the cusp of changeand emerging as the fastestgrowing economy in the world,it truly requires the dedicatedservices of students. Hereminded students the lastwords of Gautam Buddha to hisdisciples 'Be your own light'.

The Governor said onlythrough innovation, researchand development, India caninitiate positive transforma-tion in the world and addressunemployment, racial, casteand gender discriminations.

Earlier, , Minister ofEducation and guests. Vice-Chancellor Prof P Rajasekharpresented a report on theactivities of the universitysince the last convocation heldin 2013. Minister forEducation Audimulapu Sureshaddressed the students.

Later, the Chancellor pre-sented PhD degrees and goldmedals to students in variousdisciplines.

Governor Biswa Bushan Harichandan addresses 35th and 36th convocations of Acharya Nagarjuna University in Guntur on Thursday. (right) A large number of students attend to receive degrees and medals

n Governor Biswa BushanHarichandan explainedhow Mahatma Gandhifreed the country fromthe British rule throughnon-violence and laudedthe role of severalleaders in the freedomstruggle

n He said now as thenation is on the cusp ofchange and emerging asthe fastest growingeconomy in the world, ittruly requires thededicated services ofstudents

n He reminded studentsthe last words of GautamBuddha to his disciples'Be your own light'

Ambati terms Naidu ‘traitor’PNS n AMARAVATI

TDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu proved out to be traitor,as he was not allowed to moveout of the Vizag airport for fourhours by the people of northAndhra region, sais YSRCPMLA Ambati Rambabu.

Footwear, eggs and waterbottles were thrown at Naiduby people to show their resent-ment over his remarks againstthe region. "We are not sup-porting the protests. But onehas to realise that they protest-ed against Naidu's standagainst the Executive Capitalbeing set up in Visakhapatnam,and Naidu's stand only to pro-mote Amaravati as the capital.Naidu and his cronies hadamassed wealth and lands inAmaravati, hence, speakingonly in favour of that region,"he pointed out.

It was wrong to say that itwas just YSRCP activists, whoprotested, it was a protest by allthose who wanted northAndhra to develop. Naidu'sclaim that 5,000 people camefrom Pulivendula is false. It isnot a fight between the YSRCPand the TDP but a protestagainst Naidu who spokeagainst north Andhra," saidRambabu.

"Today people are against

Naidu. It was the TDP govern-ment, which blocked YSJaganmohan Reddy when hewent to Vizag seeking SpecialCategory Status for AP in2017. Where was democracythen and where is it now?Police had the only option ofsending back Naidu than stop-ping the thousands of protest-ers against him, asking him togo back. It was for the policeto act to save law and order."

"Vizag is a peaceful place.Naidu was trying to pollute theatmosphere there by inciting asection of the people. I laud thedecision taken by the police inVizag and it is wrong to blamethe DGP, who had also workedduring Naidu's rule," he said.

"It is not possible for Naiduto belittle the government.

Out of frustration, Naidu wasmaking his cronies attack AnilKumar Yadav, RamakrishnaReddy and Roja. But the gov-ernment won't keep mum, ifsuch acts are repeated," warnedthe MLA and added that thereis awareness among people,who protested in Vizag.

"Decentralisation would betaken up with three capitalsand nobody can stop us fromdoing it. The TDP MLAs fromnorth Andhra had alreadypassed a resolution in favour ofExecutive Capital in Vizag," theMLA said.

n Footwear, eggs andwater bottles werethrown at Naidu bypeople to show theirresentment over hisremarks against theregion

n "Out of frustration,Naidu was making hiscronies attack AnilKumar Yadav,Ramakrishna Reddyand Roja. But thegovernment won'tkeep mum, if such actsare repeated," warnedthe MLA

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy said thatthere should be a YSR VillageClinic available for every pop-ulation of 2000. A B Sc nurs-ing graduate should be avail-able at the clinic round-the-clock in the villages wherethere are Village and WardSecretariats. The Village Clinicshould work like a referralpoint extending middle-levelhealth services provider.

He was reviewing the activ-ities of the health departmentwith officials here onThursday.

Explaining the significanceof Village Secretariats inextending services at thedoorstep of villagers, he hint-ed at more and more servicesare being provided to farmersthrough Rytu BharosaKendras.

He said that health servicesat YSR Clinics would be pro-vided free of cost administer-ing basic medicines topatients. The Village Clinicshould immediately attend toserve the patient and treatsmall ailments then and therewhile referring the majorhealth issues to other hospitals.Each and every district shouldhave a teaching hospital andalso one in each of the 25 LokSabha constituencies.

Detailed project reports arebeing prepared to set up sevenmedical colleges in the State,he said asking officials tomake arrangements to provideamenities to teaching hospi-tals. Each teaching hospitalshould provide dental educa-tion service. PHCs shouldalso provide facility of dentalcheck-up.

Under the 'Dr YSRChirunavvu' scheme, dentalscreening of students of class-es from I to VI would be con-ducted soon. Under thescheme, each student shouldbe given free of cost tooth-paste and tooth brush. Thetarget is to screen 60 lakh stu-dents. Prior to launching thescheme, he wanted officials tostudy all aspects carefully andwanted them to observe howthe Kanti Velugu scheme isbeing implemented.

The dental screening pro-gramme should be imple-mented on the lines of KantiVelugu with no hiccups sur-facing at any level. Thereshould be constant monitoringof the scheme by superiors.The Chief Minister enquiredfrom officials on the progressof Kanti Velugu. Whether,spectacles are being given freeof cost to senior citizens or not.Health Minister Alla Naniand higher authorities inhealth department attendedthe meeting.

One YSR VillageClinic for 2,000population: CM

n Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddysaid that healthservices at YSR Clinicswould be provided freeof cost administeringbasic medicines topatients

n The Village Clinicshould immediatelyattend to serve thepatient and treat smallailments then andthere while referringthe major health issuesto other hospitals

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP MLA AllaRamakrishna Reddy onThursday wrote a letter toChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy request-ing him to instal BRAmbedkar statue on the hillat Neerukonda village inAmaravati. He recalled thatopposit ion leader NChandrababu Naidu hadinaugurated AmbedkarSmruthi Vanam atIyanovolu and proposed toinstal 125 feet Ambedkarstatue.

He mentioned in his let-ter that Ambedkar SmruthiVanam works were stoppedand requested to install a100 feet Ambedkar statue atNeerukonda village hill andinaugurate the works onUgadi festival.

‘Instal Ambedkarstatue onNeerukonda hill'

New tool developedto ‘outsmart' hackersIANS n NEW YORK

Instead of blocking hackers,researchers created a newcybersecurity defence approach,which involves setting traps forhackers. The method, calledDEEP-Dig (DEcEPtionDIGging), ushers intruders intoa decoy site so the computer canlearn from hackers' tactics. Theinformation is then used totrain the computer to recogniseand stop future attacks.

DEEP-Dig advances a rapid-ly growing cybersecurity fieldknown as deception technolo-gy, which involves setting trapsfor hackers.

"There are criminals trying toattack our networks all thetime, and normally, we viewthat as a negative thing, insteadof blocking them, maybe whatwe could be doing is viewingthese attackers as a source offree labour," said studyresearcher Kevin Hamlen fromUniversity of Texas in Dallas,the US. "They're providing usdata about what maliciousattacks look like. It's a freesource of highly prised data,"Hamlen added.

The approach aims at solving

a major challenge to usingArtificial Intelligence (AI) forcybersecurity: "A shortage ofdata needed to train computersto detect intruders. The lack ofdata is due to privacy concerns.Better data will mean betterability to detect attacks",researchers said.

"We're using the data fromhackers to train the machine toidentify an attack, we're usingdeception to get better data,"said study researcher GbadeboAyoade. Hackers typically beginwith their simplest tricks andthen use increasingly sophisti-cated tactics, the researcherssaid.

But most cyberdefence pro-grammes try to disrupt intrud-ers before anyone can monitorthe intruders' techniques.DEEP-Dig will give researchersa window into hackers' meth-ods as they enter a decoy sitestocked with disinformation.

The decoy site looks legiti-mate to intruders, and attack-ers will feel they're successful,said study researcher LatifurKhan. As hackers' tacticschange, DEEP-Dig could helpcybersecurity defence systemskeep up with their new tricks.

Continued from Page 1

Citing security reasons,the police did not allow Jaganto go ahead with his tourplan.

The TDP leaders contendthat the current scenario istotally different. They saythat prior permission wasobtained for Naidu's tourand showed the relevant doc-uments to substantiate theirclaims.

They said that Jagan wasnot allowed to visitVisakhapatnam on securityreasons, while Naidu wasgheraoed on politicalgrounds.

The TDP leaders allegethat city airport became thevenue for the YSRCP toavenge for the political insultheaped on it.

They allege "Pulivendulabrand of factionism raised itsugly head in Visakhapatnam"and demanded to know whyJagan was afraid of Naidu ifhe is not at fault.

"Disturbances are beingcreated in the city to cover upfor the land scams of Jagangangs. Had the TDP conduct-ed in the same fashion, couldJagan have successfully com-pleted his pada yatra," theTDP leaders said.

HC judge Muralidhar shifted hours after criticising policeContinued from Page 1

The notifications saidPresident Ram Nath Kovindapproved the transfers afterconsulting the Chief Justice ofIndia.

They came on a day when abench headed by JusticeMuralidhar, the third senior-most judge in the Delhi HighCourt, expressed "anguish" overDelhi Police's failure to registerFIRs against alleged hate speech-es by BJP leaders ParveshVerma, Kapil Mishra andAnurag Thakur in connectionwith the protests against the newCitizenship law.

Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad said JusticeMuralidhar was transferred onthe recommendation of theSupreme Court Collegium andaccused the opposition party ofpoliticising a routine transfer.

He added that a "well-settledprocess" was followed in the

transfer.At the BJP party briefing,

senior leader and union minis-ter Prakash Javadekar said thetransfer was in line with the rec-ommendation of the Collegium.The recommendation was madeon February 12.

The Congress alleged that thetransfer of Justice Muralidharwas aimed at saving some BJPleaders in the Delhi violencecase and exposed the govern-ment's "intimidation andvendetta politics" against thejudiciary.

Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra accused the gov-ernment of making attempts to"muzzle" justice and "break peo-ple's faith in an upright judicia-ry". "The midnight transfer ofJustice Muralidhar isn't shock-ing given the current dispensa-tion, but it is certainly sad andshameful," she tweeted.

Taking a dig at the govern-ment over what he called

Muralidhar's "sudden" transfer,former Congress chief RahulGandhi tweeted, "Rememberingthe brave Judge Loya, who was-n't transferred."

Special CBI judge B H Loya,who was hearing the high-pro-file Sohrabuddin Sheikh fakeencounter case, died in allegedmysterious circumstances onDecember 1, 2014.

At a press conference on the

issue of Justice Muralidhar'stransfer, Congress chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala alleged that the BJPgovernment was "waging a bat-tle of revenge" against the judi-ciary. He called the transfer aclassic case of "hit-and-runinjustice" by the government.

The judge who reminded thegovernment of its 'raj dharma'and initiated and directed action

against the BJP leaders makinginflammatory statements wastransferred overnight from theDelhi High Court, he said.

Hitting back at the Congressover the allegations, LawMinister Prasad said, "By politi-cising a routine transfer,Congress has yet again dis-played its scant regard for thejudiciary."

"Transfer of Hon'ble JusticeMuralidhar was done pursuantto the recommendation datedFebruary 12 of the SupremeCourt collegium headed byChief Justice of India," Prasadsaid in a series of tweets.

He said a judge's consent istaken before transferring him orher.

Continuing his attack on theopposition party, Prasad said thepeople of India have rejected theCongress and "hence it is hellbent on destroying the veryinstitutions India cherishes byconstantly attacking them".

YSRCP defendsblocking Naiduwith 2017reminder

‘Gujarat model’replicated in Delhi

DISCOM’sdevelopment chargesshocker to consumersContinued from Page 1

On Monday, activists of the Left partiesstaged a protest, describing the AP Discomsdemand as "unfair" and seeking a rollback.

The protesters said that on the one hand, thegovernment was implementing various welfareschemes like Amma-Vodi, Rythu Barosa, Rs10,000 to auto drivers, house sites to homeless,moves like imposing a "development surcharge"on people would be counterproductive.

M Raj Kumar JE, Moghalrajapuram said thatdevelopment charges are being collected fromthe customers as per their usage. Generally, theconsumers do not reveal all the electrical appli-ances in their house and take a minimum of 1KVA connections and later in the bill it will beclearly evident that they are using A/c or Cooleror water heater or other appliances that con-sume more electricity. Raj Kumar said that asthe consumer takes minimum load power con-nection by paying less amounts will in turnreflect on the load on transformers. He said thatthese development charges are being collect-ed to provide better service to the customers.

Naidu detained at Vizagairport, sent back...Continued from Page 1

While the police personnel hadarranged security for the Leader ofthe Opposition at the airport, theprotesters managed to block theconvoy and even hurled eggs andtomatoes at it, as per reports.Several TDP and YSRCP sup-porters were spotted get-ting into heated argu-ments with each other.

The situation led toa traffic jam on thebusy Gajuwaka-NADstretch, leaving thecommon public tobear the brunt of thepolitical power play.

Naidu was scheduled to meetfarmers at Pendurthi on his wayto Vizianagaram. The TDP supre-mo is on a two-day tour of theNorth Andhra region.

Meanwhile, TPD leaders

alleged that the protest of theYSRCP was conducted with thefull support of the police as theprotesters were not taken intopreventive custody but wereallowed to come near the air-port.

Though the police denied per-mission to both the groups to

stage any peaceful protestsand deployed a large

number police per-sonnel, leaders andsupporters of boththe parties managedto reach the airport

road by early Thursday.Anticipating trouble

and a possible clashbetween TDP and YSRCP work-ers and leaders at the Airport, theVizag Police Commissionerrefused to give permission forTDP leaders to reach the airportto greet their leader.

Insurance firm told topay Rs 2.5L, fine forrefusing claim Continued from Page 1

The New Delhi district consumer forum said thepolicy was issued after conducting proper medicalexamination and therefore the company cannotabsolve itself of its liabilities by shifting onus on theinsured person. Kamla Devi had taken a policy withMax New York Life Insurance in 2010.

After her death, her nominee was denied the ben-efits of the claim, alleging that the policy holder wassuffering from cardiomyopathy, but did not discloseit to the company while taking the insurance. The com-mission said it would be unjust to allow the insurancecompany to shirk its responsibility to record about ail-ment of the insured.

It also said that the insurance company in its dis-cretion could have rejected the application, but it optedand issued the policy. "In the instant case, since theinsured died and the policy was issued to her after med-ical examination, shifting the entire onus on the insured(now died) would tantamount to shifting of respon-sibility by the OP (opposite party) and does not absolvethe OP of its liabilities.

"In our considered view, repudiation of claim in suchcircumstances is unjust," the commission said.

Continued from Page 1

Whether the homeminister could not han-dle the situation in Delhior he himself had givensuch instructions to thepolice should be probed.He should resign imme-diately, Malik said.

Malik accused theDelhi police of not dis-charging their duty andfalling prey to politicalpressure.

He also pitched forresignation of anotherUnion minister, AnuragThakur, and Delhi BJPleader Kapil Mishra forallegedly makingprovocative speeches.

Meanwhile, Maliksaid the Mumbai NCPwill organise a meeting

of party workers onMarch 1.

NCP presidentSharad Pawar,Maharashtra DeputyChief Minister AjitPawar and party's stateunit chief Jayant Patilwill attend the meeting,he added.

Speaking about thecontroversial Citizenship(Amendment) Act,Malik said the right ofimplementing the lawlies with the Centre andnot the state govern-ment.

"We, however, will notimplement the NRC (inMaharashtra)," he said.

The NCP is the sec-ond largest constituentof the Shiv Sena-led rul-ing coalition MVA.

Minister: Krishna,Guntur districtswill be developedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy was keen on develop-ment of Krishna and Gunturdistricts, said District In-chargeand Panchayat Raj MinisterPeddireddy Ramchandra Reddy.The government had taken upmany development pro-grammes in these districts, hereminded. Addressing a reviewmeeting here on Thursday, hesaid that of 4,53,064 are draw-ing pensions in Krishna districtand 64,000 new people havebeen selected for the pensionscheme in the district.

He also said that about 11,013persons were identified as inel-igible in the district and the

cause of ineligibility was alreadyinformed through the notices,which was displayed at theVillage Secretariats.

Collector A Md Imtiaz andMLAs thanked the District In-charge Minister for allocating Rs100 crore for the Job Guaranteescheme for the district. On theoccasion, MLA KolusuPardhasaradhi, GovernmentWhip Samineni Udaya Bhanu,MLAs Vasantha Krishna Prasad,Jogi Ramesh, MalladiVishnuvardhan, Rakshna Nidhi,Dulam Nageswara Rao, K AnilKumar and others thankedMinister PerddireddyRamachandra Reddy for hissupport in the development oftheir constituencies.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

NCW chief writes toKejriwal, asks him toinclude women MLAs in CabinetNEW DELHI: NationalCommission for Women(NCW) Chairperson RekhaSharma has written to DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon including womenlegislators in his cabinet.Sharma has expressedconcern over no womanbeing part of Kejriwal'scouncil of seven ministers."Various kinds of equality,including political equality,political leadership andpower sharing is one of themost basic, intrinsicallyvaluable as it is the key toequality on other realms, andall citizens are supposed tobe given equal representationand leadership irrespective ofgender," she said in her letter.The NCW chairperson hasrequested the chief ministerto consider inducting acouple of women legislatorsor at least one in his councilof ministers, the commissionsaid in a statement.

Rajasthan CM Gehlotquestions central govtover JusticeMuralidhar's transfer

Delhi govt to prepare3-level action plan tocurb pollutionNEW DELHI: Delhi EnvironmentMinister Gopal Rai on Thursdaysaid the Delhi government willprepare a three-level actionplan – quarterly, annually andfive years – to reduce pollutionin the national capital. Rai helda meeting with experts whosuggested the government toissue a direction to agenciesthat no outdoor constructionactivities should be conductedin winters when the pollutionlevels rise. The minister saidthe experts also suggested thatthere should be an inter-stateaction committee to take stepsto curb pollution. Rai said thesuggestions will be sent toChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalnext week and a final actionplan will be prepared.

JAIPUR: Questioning thetransfer of Delhi High Courtjudge S Muralidhar,Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Thursdayasked the central governmentwhat message it was tryingto convey. The notification ofJustice Muralidhar's transferto the Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court came lateWednesday evening, on a daywhen a bench headed by himexpressed "anguish" overDelhi Police's failure toregister FIRs against allegedhate speeches by BJP leadersParvesh Verma, Kapil Mishraand Anurag Thakur. "Whatmessage is centralgovernment trying to give bytransferring JusticeMuralidhar, who showed hisresentment against policeinaction during Delhi violenceand in failure of police to actagainst BJP leaders for theirhate speeches" Gehlottweeted on Thursday. "Peoplehave so much faith in thejudiciary and thegovernment's attempts toundermine the justice systemare very unfortunate," hesaid.

PNS n GANDHINAGAR

The Gujarat government onThursday informed the legisla-tive Assembly that the state'spublic debt has risen by over Rs28,000 crore in one year andnow stands at Rs 2.4 lakh crore.Responding to a written queryraised by Congress MLAShailesh Parmar during theQuestion Hour, Deputy CMNitin Patel said as on December31 2019, Gujarat owes Rs2,40,652 crore, a rise of Rs28,061 crore from 2018-19. OnWednesday, Patel had present-ed a Rs 2,17,287 crore statebudget for 2020-21, withhealthy allocations to educa-tion, health and agriculture sec-tors. In a written reply to a sub-question about interest paid onloans taken in the last two years,Patel said in 2017 -18, the statehad paid Rs 17,146 crore inter-est and Rs 13,700 crore as prin-cipal amount.

Bangladeshi studentasked to leave IndiaPNS n KOLKATA

A Bangladeshi student of VisvaBharati University has beenasked by the home ministry toleave the country for reported-ly engaging in "anti-govern-ment activities".

Afsara Anika Meem, anundergraduate student at thecentral university, has beenserved a 'Leave India Notice'by the Foreigners' RegionalRegistration Office, Kolkata —under the Ministry of HomeAffairs.

The notice — which has

asked Meem to leave Indiawithin 15 days from the dateof its receipt — did not spec-ify the nature of the "anti-Indiaactivities".

The woman, who hails fromKustia district of Bangladesh,got enrolled in the Bachelor ofDesign course at the varsity in2018. She received the noticedated February 14 on Wedne-sday, one of her friends said.

Meem had allegedly sharedsome posts on Facebook relat-ed to anti-CAA protests inDecember, and has been tro-lled on social media since.

CBI brings back girl taken to Dubaiby her dad in defiance of HC orderPNS n NEW DELHI

The CBI on Thursday broughtback a three-year-old girl fromDubai who was taken there byher father in alleged violationof Delhi High Court orders,officials said.

The girl's father, AmanLohia, had taken Baby Raina toDubai amid a custody battlewith his wife Kiran Kaur Lohiain the high court that hadasked him to deposit his pass-port with authorities to preventhim from leaving the country,they said.

The Supreme Court, whichwas apprised of the matterthrough a petition against ahigh court order in the case,had directed the CBI to visitDubai to bring back the girl toIndia.

A team of CBI officials hadrecently gone to Dubai whereit coordinated with localauthorities to ensure the safereturn of the girl and herfather.

After the team arrived onThursday morning, the CBIrushed to the apex court and

informed it about its compli-ance action, the officials said.

The girl will be producedbefore the Supreme Court onFriday, they said, adding thatthe child is at her mother'shome under the agency's care.

The dramatic developmentsof Thursday were a culmina-tion of a six-month long trailof a defiant father who in a des-perate move escaped to Dubaiwith his daughter claiming hewas a "victim of gender bias" ofcourts and that it was the "lovefor his daughter" which direct-ed his actions.

Aman Lohia, son of a notedbusinessman, was fighting acustody battle for his daughterRaina in the high court afterseparating from his wife KiranKaur Lohia, a Delhi-based der-matologist.

The high court had grantedRaina's custody to the motherwith a parenting plan, accord-ing to which, Aman Lohiacould meet his daughter forsome hours on three days of aweek. The court also asked himto deposit his passport, whichhe did, the officials said.

On August 24 last year,

when the girl had come to meetAman Lohia as per the parent-ing plan, he took her alongwith family confidant PawanKumar and maid ShiuratiaDebi to Dubai using a cir-cuitous route via Nepal andother gulf countries.

Considering “internationalramifications”, the Delhi HighCourt had handed over theprobe to the CBI which hadregistered a case.

The Interpol had issued a'Yellow Notice' for the girl ona CBI request, the officialssaid.

Yellow Notices are issued bythe Interpol on the request ofmember countries to locatemissing persons, they said.

The CBI had also filed acharge sheet on December 19last year before a special courtagainst Aman Lohia, his moth-er Meena Lohia, allegedaccomplice Pawan Kumar andmaid Shiuratia Debi Mahto,they said.

The agency has invokedIndian Penal Code provisionspertaining to criminal conspir-acy, kidnapping from Indiaand kidnapping from lawfulguardianship among othersagainst the businessman.

Aman Lohia had allegedlydecided to flee to Dubai, where“personal laws enjoin exclusivecustody upon the father”, usinga passport acquired fromCaribbean country theCommonwealth of Dominica.

The high court had termedAman Lohia's escape with hisdaughter on a Dominican pass-port and refusal to subjecthimself to the jurisdiction ofthe Indian legal system as a“contempt of court”.

AAP councillordenies involvementin death of IB staffer PNS n NEW DELHI

AAP council lor TahirHussain on Thursday deniedany involvement in the riotsor the kil l ing of anIntelligence Bureau stafferwhose family accused him ofbeing behind the murder,saying these are "baselessaccusations".

He called for an impartialprobe into the incident andsaid action should be takenagainst the guilty. "It is wrongto target me. I and my fami-ly have nothing to do with it,"Hussain said.

The AAP leader alsodemanded strict actionagainst BJP leaders responsi-ble for giving inflammatoryspeeches.

Ankit Sharma (26), whoworked for the IntelligenceBureau (IB), had gone miss-ing on Tuesday and his bodywas found in a drain near hishome in northeast Delhi'sriot-hit Chand Bagh area onWednesday.

His family membersclaimed that the local coun-

cillor and his associates werebehind the killing.

Hussain has rejected theallegations.

"I came to know from newsreports that I am beingblamed for the murder of aman. These are lies and base-less accusations. For our safe-ty, my family and I hadmoved away from our homeon Monday in police pres-ence," he said.

Senior AAP leader SanjaySingh said the party's standremains clear that strictestpunishment must be takenagainst anyone associatedwith spreading violence andadded that Hussain has givenhis statement on the matter.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid reports of differenceswith Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh, Congressleader Navjot Singh Sidhuon Thursday said he metparty chief Sonia Gandhiand Priyanka Gandhi Vadrahere and got a "patient hear-ing".

In a statement, Sidhu saidhe was called by the "partyhigh command" to Delhi andthat he apprised the twosenior leaders of a road mapfor the "revival" of theCongress-ruled state "to itspristine glory".

He said he met CongressGeneral Secretary PriyankaGandhi on February 25, for40 minutes at her residence.

On Wednesday, he metthe Congress President andthe General Secretary at 10Janpath for more than anhour.

PNS n JAIPUR

A tyre burst appeared to because of the bus accident thatkilled 24 people in Bundi dis-trict, the Rajasthan govern-ment told the state assembly onThursday during a brief discus-sion which ended with an oppo-sition walkout.

A mini-bus carrying a wed-ding party had hurtled off abridge on Kota-Dausa highwayon Wednesday morning.

After making a statementon the accident, ParliamentaryAffairs Minister ShantiDhariwal targeted the opposi-tion BJP by asking under whosetenure the highway was built.

As BJP members protested,Speaker C P Joshi asked themto maintain order and directedthe minister to end his state-ment. The BJP MLAs thenwalked out.

According to report fromthe relief management controlroom, the prima facie cause ofthe accident was a tyre burst,Dhariwal earlier said. However,the matter is being investigated,he added.

A case against bus driverShyam Singh, who also died inthe accident, has been regis-tered. The documents recoveredfrom the vehicle are beingexamined, the minister said inthe statement.

The vehicle had insuranceand a temporary permit for atwo-way trip from Kota toSawai Madhopur, where themarriage party was headed. Itsfitness certificate was valid tillSeptember 20.

Dhariwal said the state'shealth and transport ministerswent to Kota on Wednesday tooffer their condolences to thefamilies of the victims.

The state government hasannounced a compensation ofRs 2 lakh to the next of kin ofthose killed Rs 40,000 for theinjured. The state governmentwill also bear the expenditure onthe education up to the collegelevel of the victim's children.

Deputy Leader of OppositionRajendra Rathore said the gov-ernment should run a campaignagainst vehicles running with-out valid permit and fitness cer-tificates.

Tyre burst caused Rajasthanbus accident which killed 24

Pragya appears beforespecial court in Mumbai

MALEGAON BLAST CASE

PNS n MUMBAI

BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakuron Thursday appeared beforea special NIA court here inconnection with the 2008Malegaon blast case, in whichshe is one of the accused.

This came a day after specialcourt judge V S Padalkardirected all the accused in thecase to take note of his order(passed in May last year)directing them to appearbefore it at least once a week.

The Bhopal MP appearedbefore the court around 1 pm.After taking note of her app-earance, the judge allowed herto go.

Interacting with reportersoutside the court, Thakur saidwhenever the court summonsher, she will appear before it.

She had last appeared beforethe court in connection withthe case in June 2019.

Seven persons, includingThakur and Lt Col Prasad Pu-rohit, are facing trial in thecase.

Six people were killed andover 100 injured when anexplosive device strapped on amotorcycle went off near amosque in Malegaon, a townabout 200 km from here innorth Maharashtra, onSeptember 29, 2008.

According to police, the

motorcycle was registered inThakur's name and that led toher arrest in 2008.

The Bombay High Courthad granted bail to her in 2017.Thakur was given a clean chitby the National InvestigationAgency (NIA), but the trialcourt refused to discharge herfrom the case.

The court had dropped thecharges against her under theMaharashtra Control of Org-anised Crime Act (MCOCA),but she is being tried under theUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act (UAPA) andother relevant laws.

The accused are facing trialunder various sections of theUAPA, the Indian Penal Codeand the Explosive SubstancesAct. They have been chargedunder UAPA sections 16(committing terrorist act) and18 (conspiring to commit ter-rorist act).

PNS n NEW DELHI

As the country marks theNational Science Day onFriday, many leading Indianwomen scientists have stressedon the need for the right kindof support, equality, and gen-der-fair policies in the field ofresearch.

National Science Day is cel-ebrated on February 28 eachyear commemorating Indianphysicist C V Raman's discov-ery in 1928 of the Raman effect— the scattering of photons orlight particles by matter.

Raman received a NobelPrize in Physics in 1930. Of the607 Nobel medals awarded sofar in scientific disciplinesglobally, just 20 have gone to

women.Noting that a career in sci-

ence is a demanding and toughoption, Rupamanjari Ghosh,Vice-Chancellor, Shiv NadarUniversity, Greater Noida saidthere are additional barriers -- often unintentional andunconscious ones -- which areput up along the career path ofwomen in science.

"When such a careerdemands long hours, there areissues of lack of security andbasic amenities that affectwomen more adversely thanmen in this society. We need topay active attention to thesepreventable problems,” Ghosh,a Professor of Physics, told.

G Geetha, Professor andHead, Division of Research

and Development at LovelyProfessional University (LPU)in Punjab, emphasised on clos-ing the gender gap, and mov-ing towards women-led pro-jects in science.

She noted that outof the 560 awardees ofShanti Swarup BhatnagarPrize for Science andTechnology, only 18 recipientshave been women.

The prize is one ofthe highest multi-disciplinary scienceawards in India.

According toGeetha, women

represent onlyabout a fifth of senior

authors in all publishedresearch.A study, published in the

journal PLOS One in 2018,assessed 293,557 research arti-

cles from 54 journals, andfound that "29.8 per cent of allresearch authors, and 33.1 percent of the first, 31.8 per centof the co-, and 18.1 per cent ofthe last authors were women."

Another study by the UK'sIntellectual Property Office(IPO) noted that women inven-tors account for just under 13per cent of patent applicationsglobally.

For society to evolve with

equality, Geetha feels the stateand union governments shouldprovide women grants for star-tups, core research, travel, andprototype development.

"Universities should prefer-entially encourage womenentrepreneurs and women star-tups. A survey has to be con-ducted on participation ofwomen as chairpersons orcommittee member in policymaking,” Geetha added.

Professor Manjula Reddy,Chief Scientist, Center forCellular and Molecular Biology(CCMB), Hyderabad believesthat science in India is pro-gressing at a rapid pace sincethe last decade, thanks to thefocus and initiatives on educa-tion and research.

"Setting up new education-al and research institutionsacross India has contributed tothis cause,” she said.

However, Reddy, who wonthe Infosys Prize 2019, thinksIndia is lagging behind in basicsciences as compared to devel-oped countries, and needs tomake serious efforts to fill thegap.

"This can be achieved withstructured funding, more focuson education and researchactivities.

"Basic research is a develop-mental activity; it may nothave immediate tangible ben-efit, but has long-term sustain-ability and is the bedrock forfuture technological advances,"she explained.

NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY

India's women scientists want better support, fair policies in research

AIBA cancels European forum in ItalyCORONAVIRUS IMPACT

PNS n NEW DELHI

The International BoxingAssociation (AIBA) onThursday cancelled theEuropean leg of its continen-tal forum in Italy, citing thenovel coronavirus outbreak inthat country.

The forum was scheduled tobe held on Saturday in Assisi,where the Indian boxing teamis currently participating in apreparatory camp for nextmonth's Olympic qualifiers inJordan.

"Scheduled for February29th in Assisi, Italy AIBA Eur-opean Forum 2020 is can-celled due to COVID-19 (coro-navirus). This decision wastaken by AIBA leadership inthe best interests of the dele-gates," AIBA Interim PresidentDr Mohamed Moustahsanesaid in a statement.

"The coronavirus outbreakin Italy worsened and Italy has

by far the highest number ofcoronavirus cases in Europe.Moreover, Italy has imposedstrict quarantine restrictions insome regions which could lastfor weeks," it added.

The Indian boxers are sch-eduled to fly out of Italy onFriday.

Moustahsane said the AIBAwill organise the Forum later inthe year "when situation inEurope becomes better."

"I hope you and your fami-lies stay healthy and that thecoronavirus will be eradicatedsoon. Your health is our prior-ity and we will do this forumwhen the circumstances arebetter," Moustahsane said in acommunication to NationalFederations.

Assisi is a hill town in thecentral Italian region ofUmbria. The coronavirus out-break in Italy has so far affect-

ed the northern Lombardyregion, leaving 12 dead and 400infected. Eleven Italian towns-- 10 in Lombardy and one inthe north-eastern region ofVeneto -- have been placedunder a lockdown, accordingto various media reports.

AIBA continental forumsare meant to "unite NationalFederations through dialogue".The forums allow for meetingsbetween NF presidents andgeneral secretaries to discussand resolve all internal andbilateral problems.

The goal is to discuss AIBAreforms and future of theorganisation, which has beenstripped of the right to conductthe qualifying as well as themain event of the TokyoOlympics by the InternationalOlympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC has cited allegedfinancial and administrativemismanagement in the AIBAfor its decision.

The HC termedAman Lohia'sescape with hisdaughter on aDominican pass-port and refusalto subject himselfto jurisdiction ofthe Indian legalsystem as a “co-ntempt of court”

Gujarat's debtswells to Rs 2.4 L crore,Assembly told

Got patienthearing, Sidhusays aftermeeting Sonia

National Science Day is celebrated onFebruary 28 each year commemoratingCV Raman's discovery in 1928 of theRaman effect — the scattering ofphotons or light particles by matter.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2020 nation 05

CAPSULE

Centre must ensurepeace in violence-hitDelhi: RSS leaderNAGPUR: Nobody has right totake the law into their handsand the Centre should ensurethat peace is restored in Delhiwhich has been wracked bycommunal violence, RSSgeneral secretary Suresh‘Bhaiyyaji' Joshi said onThursday. Necessary actionshould be taken to restore lawand order in the nationalcapital, he said. "Thegovernment should establishpeace in areas where there is'ashanti' (unrest). Nobody hasthe right to take law into theirhands," he said. Joshi wasreplying to queries of reporterson the Delhi violence on thesidelines of a programme here.Communal riots, which brokeout on Sunday in various partsof north-east Delhi over theamended citizenship law,\ haveso far claimed 34 lives. Morethan 200 people have beeninjured in the riots in thenational capital, where thepolice department comes underthe Union home ministry.

Resignation of Justice DharmadhikarinotifiedNEW DELHI: The governmenthas notified the resignation ofJustice SatyaranjanDharmadhikari who was thesecond senior-most judge ofthe Bombay High Court.The Law Ministry has notifiedhis resignation, saying it iseffective from February 15. He had tendered hisresignation, saying he does notwant to be transferred out ofMaharashtra due to his"personal and family" reasons.Talking to reporters onFebruary 14, JusticeDharmadhikari had said heresigned as he had beenelevated as the chief justice ofthe high court of another stateand he did not wanted to leaveMumbai. Judges of theSupreme Court and the highcourts send their resignationsto the president, which isaccepted.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Still to come to terms with theloss of their loved ones in vio-lence in parts of northeastDelhi, relatives are anxiouslywaiting outside GTB hospital'smortuary for the postmortemto be conducted before thebodies are handed over tothem. Family members of peo-ple, who are missing since theviolence broke out, also havebeen asking hospital authori-ties to check whether werebrought dead or are beingtreated.

Relatives of 35-year-oldMudassir Khan who have beenwaiting at the mortuary atGTB hospital said they are stillto recover from the shock.

"We have been coming heresince last two days. Yesterday,the in-charge IO said that fileswere ready and the post-mortem would be conducted.Today, we have been waitinghere since 8 am and the post-mortem is underway.

"We hope to get the bodysoon. We will conduct the lastrites today itself," his nephewArbaaz Khan said.

Talking about the situationin his area in Mustafabad,Arbaaz said with securitydeployment, it is returning tonormal but there is still fearamong people.

"No one is able to sleeppeacefully. There is still fear.

Children are not going toschool, everyone is preferringto stay indoors and we are noteven using our vehicles tocommute. We are in shockover what happened withinthree days," he said.

Mudassir was outside hishouse in Kardampuri onMonday when he was attackedby a mob, his family said. Hesustained bullet injury on hishead and was declared broughtdead by doctors at GTB hos-pital. He used to work in aplastic scrap manufacturingunit and lived with his wife andchildren in Kardampuri area of

northeast Delhi. Many relativesand friends of riot-affectedvictims are waiting in the hos-pital anxiously to get detailsabout their loved ones.

Some of them claimed thatneither police nor the hospitalauthorities are telling themexactly when will the post-mortem be conducted.

Relatives including themother of of 22-year-oldShahbaz (25), who has beenmissing since February 25, arewaiting anxiously outside themortuary at GTB hospitalsince morning to know if theirson is even alive.

DELHI VIOLENCE

PNS n NEW DELHI

Accusing Home Minister AmitShah of "abdication of duty"during the communal violencein Delhi, a Congress delegationled by party chief Sonia Gandhion Thursday urged PresidentRam Nath Kovind to call for hisresignation and remind theCentre of its "raj dharma".

Reading out parts of thememorandum that the partysubmitted to the president,Gandhi said both the Delhi gov-ernment and the Centreremained "mute spectators"instead of trying to take reme-dial measures to control the sit-uation. "We call upon you andthe constitutional office youhold, that the life, liberty andproperty of the citizens is pre-served, secured and protected.You should immediately call forthe removal of the home min-ister given the gross ineptitude,abdication of duty and hisinability to contain the situation.

"We owe this to the citizenswho have lost their loved ones,their homes and their livelihoodand most of all their long cher-ished amity and brotherhood.We hope you will take decisiveaction on this matter," she toldthe media outside RashtrapatiBhavan after meeting the pres-ident. The delegation includedformer prime ministerManmohan Singh, Leader ofOpposition in Rajya SabhaGhulam Nabi Azad, AhmedPatel, P Chidambaram, K CVenugopal, MallikarjunaKharge, Priyanka GandhiVadra, Anand Sharma, A KAntony, Kumari Selja andRandeep Surjewala.

"Rashtrapatiji, you are giventhe highest possible responsibil-ity under the Constitution ofIndia: to act as the consciencekeeper of this government and

to remind it of its constitution-al duty and the pillars of rajdharma by which any just gov-ernment must abide," she said,flanked by senior leaders of herparty. Questioning Shah's role,

Gandhi asked where he was asthe violence spread acrossnortheast Delhi.

"What was he preoccupiedwith since last Sunday that hewas unable, apparently, to give

his attention to these graveevents? For that matter, theDelhi chief minister, and thenewly elected Delhi govern-ment were also completelymissing from the scene.

Transfer of HC judge aimedat saving BJP leaders: CongPNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Thursdayalleged that the transfer ofDelhi High Court Judge SMuralidhar was aimed at sav-ing some BJP leaders in theDelhi violence case andexposed the Modi govern-ment's "intimidation andvendetta politics" against thejudiciary.

The notification of JusticeMuralidhar's transfer to thePunjab and Haryana HighCourt came late Wednesdayevening, on a day when abench headed by himexpressed "anguish" overDelhi Police's failure to regis-ter FIRs against alleged hatespeeches by BJP leadersParvesh Verma, Kapil Mishraand Anurag Thakur.

Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra hit out at thegovernment over the transfer,saying the Centre's attemptsto "muzzle" justice and "breakpeople's faith in an uprightjudiciary are deplorable".

"The midnight transfer ofJustice Muralidhar isn'tshocking given the currentdispensation, but it is certain-ly sad and shameful,"Priyanka Gandhi tweeted.

"Millions of Indians havefaith in a resilient and uprightjudiciary, the government'sattempts to muzzle justice &break their faith aredeplorable," the Congressgeneral secretary said.

Taking a dig at the govern-ment over Muralidhar's "sud-den" transfer, formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhitweeted, "Remembering thebrave Judge Loya, who wasn'ttransferred."

Special CBI judge B HLoya, who was hearing thehigh-profile SohrabuddinSheikh fake encounter case,

died in allegedly mysteriouscircumstances on December1, 2014. At a press conferenceon the issue of JusticeMuralidhar's transfer,Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said itseems those doing justice incountry will now not bespared.

He alleged that the govern-ment was "waging a battle ofrevenge" against the judicia-

ry. Slamming the Congressover the allegations, UnionLaw Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said the judge wastransferred on the recom-mendation of the SupremeCourt collegium and accusedthe opposition party of politi-cising a routine transfer.Surjewala hit back at Prasad,describing him as the "mostlawless minister" this countryhas ever seen.

CPI(M): Justice Muralidhar'stransfer ‘selective response'NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) on Thursday said JusticeS Muralidhar's transfer from the Delhi HighCourt was a "selective response" to his courtorders in which he rapped the city police for"trying to shield" BJP leaders who made "hatespeeches". The Left party demanded thegovernment keep the transfer order, notified lateWednesday night, in abeyance to reinforce the confidence of thepeople in the judicial system. Justice Muralidhar was transferred tothe Punjab and Haryana High Court, on a day a bench headed byhim expressed "anguish" over the Delhi Police's "failure" to registerFIRs against the alleged hate speeches made by BJP leadersParvesh Verma, Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur. The CPI (M) saidin a statement that the transfer was recommended by the SupremeCourt collegium, but it has been protested against by the Delhi HighCourt Bar Association for well-argued judicial-administrativeconsiderations.

CONG LEADERS MEET PREZ,DEMAND SHAH'S RESIGNATION

48 FIRs lodged, SG informs HCNEW DELHI: Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta told the DelhiHigh Court on Thursday that48 FIRs have been lodged inrelation to the north-east Delhiviolence and there be nojudicial intervention tillnormalcy is restored in thenational capital. A bench ofChief Justice D N Patel andJustice C Hari Shankar wastold by Mehta that the Centreand the police need to file areply to the plea for lodgingFIRs against alleged hatespeeches by three BJPleaders. Mehta informed thecourt that 48 FIRs have beenlodged till date in relation toarson, looting and the deathsin the communal violence haserupted over the amendedcitizenship law.

‘AAP's stand onviolence remainsclear: take action’NEW DELHI: Senior AAPleaders Sanjay Singh and GopalRai on Thursday said theparty's stand on violenceremains clear that strictestpunishment must be given toanyone associated withspreading it. Their reactioncame after family of anIntelligence Bureau (IB) staffer,who was found dead in a drainnear his home in northeastDelhi's riot-hit Chand Bagharea, accused AAP councillorTahir Hussain of being behindthe killing. Family members ofAnkit Sharma, 26, alleged thatHussain and his associateswere behind the killing. Hussainrejected the allegations.

CONG, AAP POLITICISING VIOLENCE IN DELHI: BJPNEW DELHI: The BJP onThursday accused the Congressand the AAP of "politicising" theriots in the national capital andclaimed that attempts toinstigate violence had beenmade for two months afterCongress president SoniaGandhi gave the call for ‘aar yaapar' (fight to the finish) inDecember last year. Addressinga press conference at the partyoffice, senior BJP leader andUnion Minister PrakashJavadekar asked why otherpolitical parties were silent onthe attack on the policemen andon the death of IntelligenceBureau staffer Ankit Sharma. "Insuch a situation, the duty of allpolitical parties should be toconsolidate peace," he said.

Taking on the AAP whichgoverns Delhi, Javadekar saidthat its MLAs should haveworked for peace, but ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwalidentified riot victims by religionin the Assembly. He alleged thatattempts to instigate violencehad been made for the last two

months since Sonia Gandhi gavethe call for 'fight to the finish' ata rally. Javadekar said the BJPwas working to restore peaceand condemned the Congress,the AAP for doing politics overthe violence that claimed 34lives in northeast Delhi and leftover 200 injured. He assertedthat peace was restored in twodays due to Union HomeMinister Amit Shah's effectivehandling. He said the Congress'sdemand for Shah's resignationwas "petty politics." Earlier in theday, the Congress hit out at thegovernment over the transfer ofDelhi High Court Judge SMuralidhar, alleging that theModi dispensation was waging abattle of revenge against thejudiciary.

PNS n NEW DELHI

State Election CommissionerSourav Das on Thursday metWest Bengal GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar who askedhim to ensure peaceful andfair civic polls in the state, andtake action to prevent a repeatof the violence that marredthe panchayat elections in2018.

The meeting, which lastedfor 20 minutes, took place atthe Raj Bhavan.

In the meeting, Dhankhartold Das to ensure that the"kind of scenario noticed" inthe panchayat elections heldin May 2018 is not repeatedand the civic polls, likely to beheld in mid-April, take placein a peaceful, orderly and fairatmosphere, according to anofficial statement.

The governor also askedthe commissioner to keephim informed about the stepstaken by the poll panel.

Dhankhar underlined theneed in giving all partiesequal opportunities as a pre-requisite to free and fair polls.

He told the commissionerthat if the situation arises, Dasmay "take recourse even totransferring officials in theinterest of ensuring fair andpeaceful polls".

The governor further saidthat the state election com-missioner must take all stepsto dispel fears and impres-sions that the poll panel is anextension of the government

and must engage in dialoguewith all stakeholders. Thestatement further said that thecommissioner needs to tellthe police and administrationthat any partisan approachwould invite exemplary con-sequences.

The commissionerinformed Dhankhar that hewill be meeting district mag-istrates on March 4.

Das was accompanied bysecretary of the commissionNilanjan Sandilya to themeeting. He was tight-lippedabout discussions in themeeting amid queries fromreporters while leaving thegovernor's official residencearound 11.50 am.

Ensure free, fairelections: Dhankharto state EC

PNS n NEW DELHI

Taking strong note of effluentdischarge in Kanpur drains pol-luting the river Ganga, theCentral Pollution Control Boardhas asked the state pollutioncontrol body to take stern actionagainst the non-complyingindustrial units and order theirclosure.

In a letter to the Uttar PradeshPollution Control Board(UPPCB), the CPCB asked it toensure that no industry dis-charges effluent into any drainwithout meeting prescribedstandards, and that coloured oruntreated effluent is not drainedinto river Ganga.

It has asked the UPPCB to file

an action taken report byFebruary 29.

"In exercise of the powerconferred under the Water(Prevention and Control of

Pollution) Act, you (UPPCB) arehereby directed to take appropri-ate measures including issuanceof directions to ensure imple-mentation of the following pol-

lution control measures in a timebound manner," said CPCBActing Chairman R S Prasad.

In 2017, the Supreme Courthad passed a judgement whichdirected all state pollution con-trol boards to mandatorily carryout inspections and take appro-priate action against erringindustrial units.

Water quality of river Ganga

and its tributaries has beenthreatened due to disposal ofuntreated sewage and sullagefrom drains and discharge ofuntreated or partially treatedeffluent from grossly pollutingindustries (GPI) which aremixed with drain effluent andreach Ganga river directlythrough its tributaries, said aCPCB official.The CPCB, in

consultation with the UPPCB,has inventoried over 1,000 GPIoperating in Uttar Pradesh withthe potential to discharge efflu-ent in the river Ganga.

It has also been monitoring 24drains, two in Unnao and 22 inKanpur since March 2019 on aweekly basis, the official said.

During its monitoringbetween December 31, 2019 andJanuary 7, 2020, the CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) found industrial efflu-ent or sewage was being dis-charged in four drains inKanpur- Sheetla Bazaar,Wazidpur, Bhudiya Ghat andRatanpur- despite several meet-ings held last year over such pol-luting activities.

GANGA POLLUTION

CPCB asks UP authorities to act firmly against violatorsIn a letter to the Uttar Pradesh PollutionControl Board (UPPCB), the CPCB asked it toensure that no industry discharges effluentinto any drain without meeting prescribedstandards, and that coloured or untreatedeffluent is not drained into river Ganga

Take recourse even to transferring officialsin the interest of

ensuring fair and peacefulpolls

— JAGDEEP DHANKHARWest Bengal Governor

Family members of people, who are missingsince the violence broke out, also have beenasking hospital authorities to check whetherwere brought dead or are being treated

Pride ofGuruvayur,Padmanabhanpasses awayPNS n KERALA

One of the most popular ele-phants of the Guruvayurtemple in Kerala's Thrissurdistrict, 'Gajaratnam'Guruvayur Padmanabhan,died on Wednesday. Thetusker, who had been carry-ing the Guruvayur SriKrishna idol for festivals,was 84 years old.

According to the authori-ties of the GuruvayurDevaswom Board, whichoversees the administrationof the temple, the tusker hadbeen unwell for over a monthand was being treated for thelast two weeks after he devel-oped swelling in his body.Post 9 am on Wednesday, hiscondition worsened and wasdeclared dead at 2 pm at thePunathoorkotta, a trainingcentre for captive elephantsnear the Guruvayur SriKrishna tem-ple.

At thetime of hisdeath, alldoctors oft h eGu r u v ay u rD e v a s w o mwere presentnear the tusker,monitoring hishealth condi-tion.

Agonising wait for relativesoutside mortuary in Delhi

MLA announceswithdrawingsupport toKhattar govt PNS n CHANDIGARH

Haryana Independent MLABalraj Kundu announced hisdecision to withdraw supportto the M L Khattar dispensa-tion on Thursday, saying hewas "deeply hurt" with the gov-ernment giving "clean chit" inthe sugar mills corruption hehad flagged.

"I had extended my supportto an honest chief minister andan honest government, but Icame to know today that thedisplay of honesty is a farce,"the MLA told reporters out-side the Assembly, after thechief minister refused to orderany probe into allegationsmade without substantialproof or due to personal enmi-ty. "I withdraw my support tothis government and on FridayI will formally hand over myletter to the Governor and theSpeaker," said Kundu, whorepresents Meham constituen-cy in the Assembly.

UN rights chiefexpresses‘great concern'over CAAPNS n GENEVA

The UN human rights chief onThursday voiced "great con-cern" over India's amended cit-izenship law and reports of"police inaction" in the face ofcommunal attacks in Delhi,urging political leaders to pre-vent violence.

Updating the ongoing 43rdSession of the Human RightsCouncil in Geneva on humanrights developments aroundthe world, UN HighCommissioner for HumanRights Michelle Bachelet alsospoke about the situation inJammu and Kashmir.

She said the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA)adopted last year by India'sParliament was of "great con-cern". "Indians in huge num-bers, and from all communi-ties, have expressed - in amostly peaceful manner -their opposition to the Act,and support for the country'slong tradition of secularism,"she said. "I am concerned byreports of police inaction inthe face of attacks againstMuslims by other groups, aswell as previous reports ofexcessive use of force by policeagainst peaceful protesters.

When the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) was voted topower in 2014 and then evenmore resoundingly in 2019,one of the pillars that the

party sought to stand on was its claim thatPrime Minister Narendra Modi will representa strong Government and that it will protectthe country from any divisive internal or exter-nal force. It is this assurance that forms thebackdrop of the now-infamous belief that thePrime Minister’s “56-inch chest” will provideIndia with a protective shield. Events thatunfolded in Delhi over the past week, whereclashes broke out between communities thatled to the killing of 35 people (at the time ofwriting), have thrown cold water over thePrime Minister’s hollow claims of leading astrong Government.

In fact, there will be few instances in thehistory of independent India where a citizenhas felt more unsafe than he/she does rightnow. Delhi is in the midst of its worst riotssince 1984. And as relevant authorities exam-ine who exactly is to be blamed for the vio-lence that has been unleashed, there are someissues that are indisputable and require sometough answers.

The first is, how did such a riot take place,that, too, in the capital city? Delhi is not justthe capital of this country but is also hometo India’s most well-funded and trainedpolice force. Let this sink in. Theoreticallyspeaking, this means that the Delhi police,which functions under the CentralGovernment that is controlled by the BJP andmore specifically comes under the directsupervision of Union Home Minister AmitShah, is India’s best equipped police force. Thismeans that in terms of numbers and assis-tance, compared to other forces across thecountry, the law and order situation in Delhicould not have been better protected. Well,hypothetically speaking, at least.

In addition to this, Delhi is also the cen-tre for all intelligence agencies in the coun-try. It is home to several intelligence bodies,whose job includes to be alert about all pos-sible acts of violence or riots that may eruptin the country. But the intelligence bodies andthe police force have failed to prevent violencein not more than a 10-km radius fromParliament. How does this make those resid-ing in other parts of the country feel? If theGovernment could not stop acts of mass vio-lence in places where its base is the strongest,how exactly does it plan to protect the rest ofthe country?

Let’s once assume that this is not true. Butthe element of bias cannot be denied becauseas per reports, the Delhi police was sent at leastsix alerts on Sunday (February 23), asking fordeployment to be stepped up after BJP leaderKapil Mishra called for a gathering in supportof the Citizenship Act at Delhi’s Maujpur. Whythen was the police so helpless in preventingviolence? This is a greater cause for concernbecause if the Delhi police is better equippedto tackle violence than any other police force

in the country, why did it fail todeliver?

These are not the only ques-tions over the conduct of theDelhi police. Why are videos ofpolice personnel destroyingCCTV cameras doing therounds? The only way to getanswers and to ensure that suchriots do not happen again is to digdeep and find out as to whatexactly happened. But how willthe destruction of CCTV cam-eras help answer that question?

What I am concerned aboutand what should concern all ofus is the establishment of truthand the delivery of justice to allthose people who have beenaffected by this senseless violence.This can be done only by takingappropriate action against thoseinvolved in the violence.Perpetrators include leaders ofpolitical parties of every hue andany official, who allowed suchviolence to go unabated for threedays.

The more serious concern isthat slowly but steadily, we havereached this shameful place.There are a few reasons for this.One is the lack of resistance bythe bureaucracy. I have somesympathy for the bureaucratshere though. Governments of thepast have often shown — and theBJP Government has mastered— how adept they are in the artof abuse, twist and wrangle. Thisis in contrast to SardarVallabhbhai Patel’s vision of thecivil services being the “steelframe” of good governance.

Bureaucrats are now routine-

ly being threatened with transferorders, raids by income taxauthorities or the EnforcementDirectorate or any other agencywhich is at the Centre’s disposalwith a degree of reckless aban-don. I don’t think we would haveto go more than a few weeksbehind to find an instance of suchabuse. It has permeated all insti-tutions, including the ElectionCommission of India.

More recently came thebrazen example of Justice SMuralidhar of the Delhi HighCourt, who received a presiden-tial order transferring him to thePunjab and Haryana High Court.This order came a day later afterhe pulled up the Solicitor Generaland the Delhi police for inactionduring the riots in north-eastDelhi. Coming down heavily onthe Delhi police, he pulled it upfor its failure to register FIRsagainst alleged hate-speeches bythree BJP leaders, AnuragThakur, Kapil Mishra and otherusual suspects from the BJP.

While pressure by aGovernment on the bureaucra-cy and the judiciary is not aninvention of the BJP — there areobvious examples of theEmergency, 1984 and 2002 —rarely has there been as concert-ed an effort by a Government toundermine all institutions, all atonce. Circumstances are nothelped by members of theseinstitutions either. So often, wesee bureaucrats being asked tojump and respond back with,“How high?” In the judiciary, too,we have recently seen a sitting

Supreme Court judge lavishheavy praise on the PrimeMinister even as serious allega-tions of abuse of State power werebeing examined by the verysame court.

Such acts and comments byindividuals in positions of author-ity — whether in the bureaucra-cy or in the judiciary or any otherinstitution — have chilling effectson the citizens. It erodes theirfaith in the institutions and theConstitution. This poses a greaterrisk to India’s democratic healthin the long term than individualacts of abuse of power by the BJPthat I have highlighted in this arti-cle.

So what do we do? If theState machinery is failing us andinstitutions are displaying a lackof backbone, the answer and bur-den (unfortunately or fortunate-ly) fall on everyday people.Unfortunate because this is agreat burden that the civil soci-ety must now discharge when itsinstitutions appear to be foundwanting. Fortunate because thereis rarely a time in history whenany Government or institutioncan suppress the will of the peo-ple. The only thing we must makesure is that we fight, not with vio-lence, but with vigour, voice andvote to uphold the rule of the lawand the Constitution. Victorythen will be undeniable for every-one who wants to live in a uni-fied, peaceful and prosperousdemocracy.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, a former MP and current-ly a member of the AAP)

The battle of justice for women, who takeon rich and powerful men for molesta-tion, or worse rape, is long, lonely and

hard. No matter in which part of the globe theyare, whether it is India, Pakistan, the UK or eventhe biggest and one of the most technologi-cally-advanced Western countries in theworld, the US. What else justifies the fact thatmovie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who wasaccused by no less than 90 women of sexcrimes, was convicted only in two caseswhereas he was found guilty of raping one

woman and committing a non-consensual sex act on another? It was imper-fect justice because he was acquitted of the most serious charges — two countsof predatory sexual assault and one count of first-degree rape, which might haveput him in a cell for the rest of his life. The jury only convicted him of third-degreerape and a first-degree criminal sexual act. So now he is looking at just five yearsin prison. And this was the man, who throughout his long career as a film pro-ducer, had silenced multiple accusations of rape and sexual assault with threats,denials, character assassinations, monetary settlements and Non-DisclosureAgreements. He had even scared off journalists who tried to expose his das-tardly acts and bring him to justice, till tenacious journalists from the New YorkTimes and the New Yorker brought him down with their exposés in 2017. However,the verdict is a small victory for women around the world battling hard againsttheir sexual predators. The Unnao rape victim, who accused former BJP MLAKuldeep Singh Sengar of rape or the law student, who tried to bring former BJPMP Swami Chinmayanand to book for raping her repeatedly, would tell you atwhat personal peril they managed to be heard. Weinstein’s conviction is also adefeat of the most belligerent victim-shaming and blaming tactics that are usedby ruthless defence lawyers in such cases. More importantly, it broke the stereo-type of what a “perfect victim” is as justice was given to the two women whodid not end their relationship with their tormentor simply because he was whohe was. It is a small measure of vindication for the six women who testified thatWeinstein attacked and sought to intimidate them as they were put through thegrinder by his lawyers. They can now feel proud of the part they played in get-ting the predator put behind bars, where he belongs. It is also a victory for the#MeToo movement, which was fast classified as a fad than a cause.

The story of the Delhi violence lies muchbeyond the headlines or the number ofthe dead. The terrifying visual of a man,

whose photo of being beaten up by a violentmob simply because he wore a certain kindof clothes and sported a beard went viral, val-idated the pogrom-like sequence of events asthe new normal and its casual acceptance innormal life. It’s something as statistical as anaccident on the crime charts. It is serious sim-ply because it happened in Delhi, the nation’scapital no less, and not in a far-flung town in

India clouded by obscurantism. It is a test case that could get copied elsewhereand worse, be passed off as another law and order situation that can be tampeddown by Section 144. When a judge like Justice Muralidhar, whom junior lawyerscall an inspiration, gets transferred overnight for daring to question the Delhipolice, then we should worry, with deep furrowed brows. Simply because anindependent judiciary is the only hope for citizens seeking justice and rightsthat the Constitution guarantees to them. If this institution is broken, then ourstatute books mean nothing at all and public morality simply spins out of theorbit of our nation as we knew it. Till now. If north-east Delhi, where variouscommunities have literally lived cheek by jowl for decades and more, is tornasunder by blood-curdling rage at the mere remark of an extremist, it showsthat Indians, as a people, are harbouring a tinder box in their minds. This is aseparatism that has nothing to do with the unresolved wounds of Partition. Butan otherisation propaganda that has been bred systematically on a fertile groundof insecurities and economic denial. The polarisation of the mind is a far dead-lier poison for it blunts the edge of humanity. It also means a subterranean con-flict, which may bubble up any moment and because of its smouldering nature,engulf every other human possibility of reason, wisdom and compassion. IfBJP motormouth and “go and kill” instigator Kapil Mishra has not been reinedin despite protests from within his own party, it legitimises the politics of hateas a yielder of fast dividends and delegitimises public service. Politically, social-ly and culturally, there is a sudden vacuum which nobody wants to plunge intoor commit to. That explains why the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), despite winninga solid verdict, seems uncertain about the public stance it should take. It can-not stick its neck out simply because nobody, including the BJP, knows whatshape panic can acquire in a vacuum. Prejudice has taken over national prideto such an extent that everybody listens to it, not without it.

The only certainty about these uncertain times is that it is not the best timeto seek our place in the world. US lawmaker Bernie Sanders has expressedreservations and concern as has the US Commission on International ReligiousFreedom (USCIRF). Even UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “verysaddened” by the casualties in Delhi. He called for maximum restraint and vio-lence to be avoided. Although the Modi Government sought to describe suchcomments as “factually inaccurate and misleading,” truth is the world does-n’t expect India to indulge in genocidal politics. Especially, when we use theoptics of the Sabarmati ashram for visiting dignitaries but forget the non-vio-lence mantra preached by its original resident. When it comes to the Opposition,the BJP anyway wins the battle on competitive whataboutery. So when seniorCongress leaders, led by party chief Sonia Gandhi, met President Ram NathKovind to demand the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah over his “abdi-cation of duty”, the party reminded it of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. BJP MPPragya Singh Thakur, another motormouth who hasn’t been reined in, askedthe Congress to review its role during that period. Only RSS general secretarySuresh “Bhaiyyaji” Joshi advised the BJP that nobody had the right to takethe law into their hands and that the Centre should ensure that peace is restoredin Delhi. Placatory, high-sounding terms that are abstract enough to spare theBJP’s extreme elements, all of whom have been birthed by its ideology. In theend, it is time for the civil movement to free itself from the piecemeal appro-priation of causes and issues by political parties. Or be exploited by them. ForDelhiites, who have found a new identity in a city that is a melting pot of allmigrants, the time for denial is over. We cannot be sporting identity cards likea curfew pass. We must stand up and be counted.

Costlier casualty

The science of prayer

Sir — Every year, the country cel-ebrates February 28 as theNational Science Day in remem-brance of Dr CV Raman, who dis-covered the scattering of light, alsoknown as the “Raman effect.” Itis fascinating that great scientistsstrongly believed in the power ofprayer, which helped them discov-er the secrets of nature.

This reminds me of a storyabout a young businessmansharing a compartment on atrain with an elderly gentle-man. When he noticed that theold fellow was quietly andintently praying with his Rosary,the young man chided him forhis “superstition” and told himthat science had rendered thebeliefs of religion irrelevant.“How did you come to discoverthat?” the old gentleman asked.

His companion didn’t really know how to answer thequestion then and there, so heoffered to send him a few textsand public lecture notes on thesubject for his enlightenment.“What’s your address?,” he asked,“I’ll send you the material via thepost.”

The old man rummaged in

his coat pocket and produced atattered business card that read,Louis Pasteur, Paris Institute ofScientif ic Research.Undoubtedly, spirituality isgreater than science. Man hasonly learnt to clone the body, notthe soul.

TS KarthikChennai

Shun prejudice

Sir — This refers to the report,“CCPD issues notice to centralmedical institutions for denyingjob to Divyang doc” (February26). The office of the ChiefCommissioner for Persons withDisabilities (CCCPD) has made

the right intervention by steppingin to issue notices to the Delhi-based central medical institu-tions, Safdarjung Hospital andVMM College. They allegedlydenied a teaching job to DrNonita Gangwani, an MD inphysiology and a wheelchair userwith 70 per cent disability due tomultiple sclerosis, despite her

clearing an exam and interviewfor the post. At a time whenPrime Minister Narendra Modihas given special status to thephysically challenged and calledthem Divyang to emphasise theirspecial place in the society, suchdiscrimination is condemnable.Action should be taken againstthe officials responsible.

Lalit AdesaraPune

Dirty political game

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “The court rap” (February 27).The violence in the capital, aresult of political manoeuvres,was avoidable. It reflects badly notonly on the police force but alsoon the functioning of the highechelons of bureaucracy. Keepingthe Delhi police under the con-trol of the Union Government hasprovided much space for shame-less and dirty politics. To makegovernance accountable, the com-mand of the police must be givento the State Government.

Vineet KeshriVia email

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2020

06

Some hard, home truths

AJOY KUMAR

It is an irony of our times that the very Government, which promised to protectthe country from any divisive internal or external force, has failed to fulfill its duties

When the US President washere lakhs of policemen weredeployed. How could a riothappen? Had the Governmentand police wanted, it wouldnot have happened.

SP chief—Akhilesh Yadav

Ongoing incidents in Delhi aremore concerning in the contextof efforts to target and poten-tially disenfranchise Muslims, in clear violation of internationalhuman rights standards.

USCIRF Chair—Tony Perkins

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Amid chaos, heroes still exist

This refers to the editorial, “Delhi aflame” (February26). Blood, violence and hate sum up the last fewdays in Delhi. This cauldron has been going on

for four days and counting, and citizens, along withthe rest of the country, can only helplessly look on inhorror. The visuals have been so graphic that theywould make one shut out the disturbing imagery andnews headlines making their way onto the screen. Butdespite the flood of negativity, glimmers of hoperemain.

Even as rioters and hateful, communal bigots giveus a glimpse of India’s ugliest underlying tendencies,there are still people in the city who can restore faithin humanity. Still, there are heroes as the city burns.These heroes are the people who have chosen to puthumanity first at a time that demands that religion beprioritised. They are the people who stood up for theirneighbours and fellow citizens, even while the Statemachinery failed to contain the bloodshed. They arethose, who after the destruction had passed, were thereto pick up the pieces, hand-in-hand with their neigh-

bours and friends. They have also fought to ensurethat daily life continues, despite the upheaval. Theiractions are a soothing balm in these tumultuous times,a reminder that India and its children still rememberand honour the spirit of the Constitution — one thatpromises to secure justice, liberty, equality and fra-ternity for its citizens.

Javvadi Lakshmana RaoAndhra Pradesh

IF THE STATEMACHINERY IS

FAILING US ANDINSTITUTIONS

ARE DISPLAYINGA LACK OF

BACKBONE, THEANSWER AND

BURDEN(UNFORTUNATELY

OR FORTUNATELY)FALL ON

EVERYDAYPEOPLE. IN THISFIGHT, THE ONLYTHING WE MUST

MAKE SURE ISTHAT WE FIGHT,

NOT WITHVIOLENCE, BUTWITH VIGOUR,

VOICE AND VOTETO UPHOLD THE

RULE OF THE LAW

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Imperfect justiceInstead of taking activesteps to remedy or defusethe situation, the Centralgovernment as also theDelhi Government haveremained mute spectators.

Congress president—Sonia Gandhi

The Delhi violence is serious because it shows that binarieshave been deep-set and a panic economy has taken over

Harvey Weinstein is convicted of third-degree rapeand a criminal sexual act. He’s staring at just 5 years

I am a big believer in education. I truly believe that the way forward for anycountry, any family, city,state is by educating itselfmore and more.

Actor—Shah Rukh Khan

Shouldering responsibility

THE ARMY SHOULD BE DEPLOYED IN DELHI AS THEPOLICE HAS BEEN UNABLE TO CONTROL THE

SITUATION AND INSTILL CONFIDENCE.—DELHI CHIEF MINISTER

ARVIND KEJRIWAL

CM WAS READY TO COOPERATE IN MAINTAININGPEACE IN DELHI BUT TODAY HE TALKS ABOUTCALLING THE ARMY. THE POLICE IS WORKING 24X7 —DELHI BJP PRESIDENT MANOJ TIWARI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

On May 23, 2013, while speaking at the foun-dation stone-laying ceremony for the IndianNational Defence University, Gurugram, the

then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh exuded con-fidence that India was well-positioned and willing“to become a net provider of security” in its imme-diate region and beyond. In 2015, the Institute forDefence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), New Delhi,came out with an assessment report titled, India asa Security Provider. The report highlights India’sgrowing military capabilities and its proactiveresponses to the human and non-human threats tothe littoral nations of the Indian Ocean, which cor-roborates the country’s image and positioning as abenign power and net security provider in the region.But the question here is: Is India also willing to playthe role of net security provider when it comes toensuring water security in the region? The above-mentioned IDSA report points out, “While tradi-tional security threats limit India’s role; cooperationon non-traditional threats opens up a new oppor-tunity for India to play a regional role.” Thus, it isa geostrategic imperative for India to focus on non-traditional security threats in the region emergingfrom sectors such as water and energy.

Today all the nations of South Asia face a watercrisis in one form or another due to a range of fac-tors — population growth, urbanisation, inefficientuse, bad management and lack of governance,among others. The unfolding water crises pose a seri-ous threat to sustainable development, agricultureand industries, poverty reduction and the ecosys-tem. Climate change has exacerbated the brewingwater crises like never before. The United NationsSecretary General António Guterres has termed cli-mate change as “the most systematic threat tohumankind.”

Water is a common resource and managing andgoverning it has always been a challenge at any scale,be it local or regional. A participatory robust insti-tutional architecture for water governance is need-ed to manage and govern resources in a systemat-ic and efficient way. Many of the important waterbodies in South Asia are transboundary and thustheir basins spread in more than one country.Integrated basin management would not be a real-ity without regional cooperation at the SouthAsian level.

Most of the water treaties in South Asia are bilat-eral in nature, which form the core of the SouthAsian political ecology of governance. Be it upperor lower riparian, nations in the region are appar-ently not content with the existing treaties. For exam-ple, India, an upper riparian nation, does not seemto be happy with the Indus Water Treaty withPakistan, a lower riparian nation in this case.Between Bangladesh, a low riparian nation and India,the Teesta river issue still remains unresolved, withDhaka asking for an increase in water share.People in Nepal, an upper riparian nation, thinkwater treaties with India produces environmentalinjustices to the riverine people of Koshi river. Alongwith this kind of political ecology of the region, theissue of sovereignty in South Asia is a very sensi-tive topic. South Asia represents a typical case of theWestphalian concept of sovereignty, where eachnation has exclusive sovereignty over its territory andthe natural resources, including water. No nationwould like to be seen as compromising its sovereign-ty. However in reality, in the face of globalisation andtrade integration, each nation is bargaining its sov-ereignty with the other nations and regional andinternational actors. These two factors — theexisting South Asian political ecology and the powerpolitics played out in the name of sovereignty — both

hinder and open up opportunities forregional cooperation at the same time.Some may think that regional coopera-tion compromises on the sovereignty ofa State. However, the notion of sovereign-ty can be broadened to accommodate andfacilitate the idea of cooperation, whichis not about imposing suzerainty of onenation on another.

India has been quite active in theregion in terms of coming to the rescueof its neighbours when they are in trou-ble. A case in point is when Maldives faceda water crisis in December 2014, Indialaunched Operation NEER to immediate-ly provide Maldives with it. The peopleand the Government of Maldives wereappreciative of India’s quick response andhelp. Having said that, one must bemindful that those were more of aresponse to a crisis that emerged and sim-ilar exercises could be useful to tacklefuture contingencies of that sort. However,water woes coupled with the effects of cli-mate change have resulted in a distinct setof challenges that call for India’s proactiverole in the South Asian region. What isrequired today is a continuous regionalcooperation in providing water security,which is at present marred by the absenceof an institutional architecture for watergovernance in South Asia.

India should play a lead role in insti-tutionalising regional cooperation byestablishing a robust architecture. It hasalready set an example with the launch ofSouth Asian Satellite in 2017, whichPrime Minister Narendra Modi in histweet termed as a “symbol of South Asiancooperation” and “a journey to build themost advanced frontier” of regional coop-eration and partnership. With India look-ing for a larger regional role, it cannotafford to be a security consumer. It has tometamorphose itself into a credible secu-

rity provider. Benjamin Kienzle, a facul-ty member of Defence Studies at King’sCollege London, elucidates, “A securityprovider has a stronger interest in theimmediate security of a third party,rather than in direct security gains foritself…the action of a security providereasily lead to a win-win situation…A secu-rity consumer, on the other hand, is pri-marily interested in its own security andis largely indistinct towards the securityneeds of third parties…In general, secu-rity consumers create easily win-lose sit-uations...” Notwithstanding, he makes itclear that a security provider in no waycompromises its own security interests.

Domestically India has made someprogress to improve water governance.The then Ministry of Water Resources,River Development and GangaRejuvenation (now Ministry of Jal Shakti)constituted a committee led by Mihir Shahto suggest institutional reforms for watergovernance to deal with the water chal-lenges that India faces in the 21st centu-ry. In July 2016, the Committee came outwith a report titled, A 21st CenturyInstitutional Architecture for India’s WaterReforms. The report makes a number ofcritical suggestions to strengthen thegovernance of India’s water resources. Oneof them is about its shape and structure.The report underlines that “polycentricgovernance regimes characterised by a dis-tribution of power but effective coordina-tion structures perform better.”Considering water as one of the sectorsmost vulnerable to climate change, thereport stressed that the ability to respondto it is strengthened by polycentric gov-ernance regimes.

The existing political ecology ofSouth Asia makes the space of waterresources a geopolitically contested zone.Governance is needed to protect the envi-

ronment, to save the ecology and to man-age water resources in an integrated andholistic manner. Polycentrism is inherentin South Asia and by default distributionof power is effected by the very nature ofSouth Asian sovereignty. What is missingessentially is the effective coordination torealise and unlock water governancepotential in the region. Effective coordi-nation can be established only through awell-structured institutional architectureinvolving all the actors and stakeholders.With the emergence of non-State environ-mental actors and groups in the region,the role of governments has receded inwater governance and self-organised gov-ernance networks have found prominence.

In their article “Reflections on Actor-Network Theory, Governance Networks,and Strategic Outcomes”, Ludmilla MeyerMontenegro and Sergio Bulgacov cautionthat, “self-organised governance networkscan impede (policy) implementation…orthey can enhance the efficiency of policyimplementation…Thus, it is importantto determine how these networks areformed, who forms them and how theyfunction, since they have such directimpacts on governance. The more weknow about networks, the better weunderstand governance dynamics and itsrelationships with the Government,informal mechanisms, and privateactors.”

India should painstakingly study thegovernance networks that exist today inSouth Asia for conceptualising a region-al institutional architecture for watergovernance in the region, to not repeatanother SAARC which is failing under itsburden.

(The writer works as a SeniorProgramme Manager for climate andwater projects at a German foundation andis a policy commentator)

South Asian nations face a water crisis which poses a threat to agriculture and industries. Given itsincreasing influence, is India willing to become a provider of water security in the region?

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

India’s baptismby fire

MARKANDEY KATJU

The nation is passing through a transitionalperiod in its history, from a feudal agricultural

society to a modern industrial one

SANDEEP KUMAR DUBEY

WATER WOESCOUPLED WITH THE EFFECTS OF

CLIMATE CHANGEHAVE RESULTED IN A

DISTINCT SET OFCHALLENGES THAT

CALL FOR INDIA’SPROACTIVE ROLE IN

THE SOUTH ASIANREGION. WHAT IS

REQUIREDTODAY IS A

CONTINUOUSREGIONAL

COOPERATION INPROVIDING WATER

SECURITY, WHICH IS AT

PRESENT MARREDBY THE ABSENCE OF

AN INSTITUTIONALARCHITECTURE

FOR WATERGOVERNANCE IN

SOUTH ASIA. INDIA SHOULD

PLAY A LEAD ROLE IN

INSTITUTIONALISINGREGIONAL

COOPERATION BYESTABLISHING A

ROBUSTARCHITECTURE

Few people in India or for that matter, outside the country,are able to understand what is happening in the nation, par-ticularly after the recent mindless violence in the national

Capital in which as many as 38 people lost their lives and a whop-ping 150 were injured, apart from the massive destruction ofprivate and public property. So let me try and explain this as bestas I can. India is passing through a transitional period in its his-tory, from a feudal agricultural society, to a modern industrialone. At present it is not entirely feudal nor entirely modern butstuck somewhere in between. Though there was a limited degreeof industrialisation in India after 1947, it was not complete, likein Western countries (or even anywhere near that of China). Feudalremnants in the form of casteism, communalism, religious big-otry, superstitions, gender discrimination and so on are still pow-erful and well-entrenched.

A transitional period is always a very painful time in histo-ry as it is full of turbulence and strife. If we read the history ofEurope from the 16th to the 19th centuries, when Europe waspassing through its transition from a feudal to modern society,we find it was full of turbulence, turmoil, wars, revolutions, chaot-ic conditions, intellectual ferment and so on. It was only aftergoing through this fire that modern society emerged in Europe.At present, India is going through this fire and we are going througha very painful epoch, which night last another 15-20 years orso.

For what is a transitional period? It is a time when the oldsociety is being totally uprooted and torn apart, when ancientvalues are being challenged and destroyed but new values areyet to be created. Can such a historical transition be achievedpeacefully? One wishes it could be so. However, historical expe-rience shows otherwise. The vested interests in the old orderalways put up a fierce resistance to any fundamental change inthe political and social order, as that would endanger their inter-ests. So this change can only be achieved by some kind of rev-olution.

People ask when and how such a revolution will come aboutin India. Who will be its leaders? No one can say for sure. Onecan never be rigid about historical forms. But this much can besaid with certainty: Some kind of revolution is inevitable in Indiabecause everything has collapsed here. All our State institutionshave become hollow and empty shells, while on the other handthe Indian economy is sinking and the people’s distress is grow-ing. Nature does not like a vacuum and chaos cannot continueforever. So some alternative to the present political and socialsystem is bound to emerge.

At present we have a parliamentary democracy in our coun-try but this runs largely on the basis of caste and communalvote banks. Casteism and communalism are feudal forces whichmust be destroyed if India is to progress. However, parliamen-tary democracy further entrenches them. So we have to havean alternative. What that alternative system will be has to bethought out by intellectuals and for this they have to use theircreativity. Intellectuals are the eyes of society and without thema society is blind. However, the test of every political system oract is one and only one: Does it raise the standard of living ofthe people ? Does it give them better lives?

Before an actual revolution there has to be an intellectualrevolution. For instance, before the French Revolution of 1789there were several decades of intellectual struggles by greatthinkers like Voltaire, Rousseau and the other thinkers of theEnlightenment, who attacked the feudal system, religious big-otry and so on. This intellectual revolution is needed to changethe mindsets of the masses who are at present steeped in feu-dal ideas and feudal practices.

So the present stage in Indian history is the pre-revolution-ary stage, i.e, the stage of the intellectual revolution. All patriot-ic, broad-minded intellectuals must contribute to it. In particu-lar, they must attack the poison of communalism which hasgripped India, and which is being promoted and fostered by ourmedieval-minded political masters.

All forces which divide our people and spread religious orcaste hatred must be strongly combated, for only a mighty unit-ed people’s struggle can lead to the revolution which will trans-form India into a prosperous, highly developed and highly indus-trialised country. It will also get rid of the scourge of poverty,record and rising unemployment, appalling level of child mal-nourishment, almost total lack of proper healthcare and qualityeducation for our masses, atrocities and discrimination againstminorities and Dalits, widespread corruption, gender discrimi-nation, female infanticide, child marriage farmers distress andso on, which have bedeviled Indian society for long.

(The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India)

It has taken the world a while toreach the understanding thatnature can never be taken for

granted. Unfortunately, in India, thisis not the case and utilisation of com-mon natural resources like forests,green cover, oceans, rivers, fish stocksand so on, doesn’t reflect anywhere inour Gross Domestic Product (GDP)accounting, as these are difficult tochronicle. This economic inconspic-uousness of nature’s services becomesan underlying concern, which hasgenerated debate and discussions like

The Economics of Ecosystems andBiodiversity (TEEB) initiated by theUnited Nations in 2007. TEEB is aglobal initiative focussed on “makingnature’s value visible”. Its main objec-tive is to mainstream the value of bio-diversity and ecosystem services intodecision-making at all levels. It aimsto achieve this goal by following astructured approach to valuation thathelps decision-makers recognise thewide range of benefits provided byecosystems and biodiversity, demon-strate their values in economic termsand where appropriate, capture themin decision-making.

Although conservationists likePavan Sukhdev and Gretchen C Daily— pioneers in illuminating and quan-tifying the economic value of our nat-ural environment — who are award-ed with the Tyler Prize forEnvironmental Achievement in 2020,have clearly put forward the sameopinion, acceptance remains elusive.The economic invisibility of nature to

drive humanity and dependence uponmarket-based economic systems,remain at the heart of deserved recog-nition to account for nature in theGDP, especially in relation to the sur-vival of marginalised sections of soci-ety. This invincibility somehow ham-pers the cognition to acknowledge theGDP of the poor via negative exter-nalities. Often, in the process, the sec-ondary sector (industrial) omits tomake the required dent due to aninvisible characteristic attached tothe transformation, from sourcing ofraw material to processing of finishedproduce.

Think-tanks and economistsrealised the requirement for truedemonstration of environmental eco-nomics or “greenomics” for its invis-ible values much earlier and Americanbiologist and philosopher GarrettHardin’s The tragedy of the commonsis an exemplar to this. For the unini-tiated, the tragedy of the commons isa situation in a shared-resource sys-

tem where individual users, actingindependently according to their ownself-interest, behave contrary to thecommon good of all users by deplet-ing or spoiling the shared resourcethrough their collective action. It isquite worrisome that big businesshouses and people at large are not ableto value the gratuitous support pro-vided by nature due to imprudenceand the incompetence to distinguishprivate goods from public goods.

Greenomics is all about econom-ic factoring of public and non-market-ed (those not made by man and nottransacted in the market) goods incomputation of the national domes-tic product of an economy. It is defi-nitely essential (and poses a challengein a way) to evaluate the intrinsic eco-nomic value, as most of the businessminds have tried to comprehendtoday. One such endeavour comesthrough the Global Initiative for aSustainable Tomorrow (GIST) plat-form to quantify the impact of nega-

tive externalities by allocating eco-nomic values to invisibles to make ita plausible option for inclusion by thebureaucrats and corporates.

The concept of GDP accountingof the poor appears to be crucial inthat it has to blend sustainability alongwith big data that is accessible to all.The TEEB framework facilitates all ofthe above by merging it with data ana-lytics, technology and sustainability.

Certainly, it is not about placinga price on nature, rather it is aboutrecognising, demonstrating and valu-ing nature’s services to people. Nobodyis buying or selling a cloud. The real-ity is that forests can generate rainfallthat is vital for agricultural productiv-ity. However, recognising and demon-strating that true scientific value is thereality now.

The idea propagated by TEEB’sIndian members, “GDP of the poor”,holds relevance especially in a fragileatmosphere of everlasting ecologicaluncertainties that undoubtedly will

decide the future placement of thenation on the global map. Theirreport signals that the rural produc-tion system would suffer the most,given the destruction of our ecosys-tems. The question that we must askourselves is, that if nations likeVietnam, Indonesia and so on, canseparately compute the GDP of thepoor, why not India, despite three ofthe members on the board of theTEEB being Indian. Initiatives likezero-budget natural farming inAndhra Pradesh and Maharashtra arewelcome and the need of the hour. Ifbureaucrats could accept poverty-alleviation as a mainstream agenda tomake a powerful diminution of ruralpoverty, accounting for the GDP of thepoor can be the way forward.

(The writer is Assistant Professorand Senior Research Scholar,DRC/FMS, University of Delhi. Inputsby Kushankur Dey, Assistant Professor,IIM Lucknow. The views expressed arepersonal.)

Make nature’s value visibleIf bureaucrats could accept poverty-alleviation as a mainstream agenda to make a powerful diminution

of rural poverty, accounting for the GDP of the poor can be the way forward

MEGHA JAIN

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Over 30 people have diedand hundreds have beeninjured in New Delhi. ThePrime Minister talks ofpeace and brotherhood, buthe has led his country here.The political opposition isenfeebled. He continuesefforts to muzzle civilsociety. Yet it is fightingback. Indian citizens haveexpressed their revulsion atthe country’s direction.

(The Guardian editorial)

A NATION ON FIREFOR ITS FREEDOM

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2020 money 08SHORT READS

Gold rises Rs 78 on global cues, silver up by Rs 35NEW DELHI: Gold prices onThursday rose by Rs 78 to Rs43,513 per 10 gram in thenational capital on positiveglobal trend as worries overspread of coronavirus raisedyellow metal's safe havenappeal, according to HDFCSecurities. The precious metalhad closed at Rs 43,435 per 10gram in the previous tradingsession. Silver prices alsogained Rs 35 to Rs 48,130 perkg from Rs 48,095 per kg."Spot gold for 24 karat in Delhigained Rs 78 with recovery ininternational gold prices. Goldprices traded higher oncoronavirus worries withincrease of new cases," HDFCSecurities Senior Analyst(Commodities) Tapan Patelsaid.

Skoda Auto launchesOctavia Rs 245 pricedat Rs 35.99 lakh

Vatika leases 50K sq ftto Decathlon inGurugramNEW DELHI: Realty firm Vatikahas leased about 50,000 sq ftarea to retail chain Decathlon inits project at Gurugram. Vatikahas leased this space to Frenchfirm Decathlon, which is intoretailing of sports goods, at itsproject 'Shopper's Village INXT'in New Gurugram, Haryana.The project, which is part of alarge township, will have aleasable area of around 1.2million sq ft. Alok Mehta, HeadProduct Strategy, Vatika, saidDecathlon has been pre-leasedabout 50,000 sq ft area in thisproject to open its flagshipstore in New Gurugram.

NEW DELHI: Skoda Auto Indiaon Thursday launched itslimited edition Octavia RS 245model priced at Rs 35.99 lakh(ex-showroom) with onlinebookings scheduled to open onMarch 1. The car can bebooked against a fee of Rs 1lakh and a limited 200 units ofthe model 245 will be soldexclusively through itscentralised platformwww.buyskodaonline.co.in, thecompany said in a statement.Commenting on the launch,Skoda Auto India BrandDirector Zac Hollis said, "Withthe Octavia RS 245, wetranslate our century-longmotorsports legacy into thefastest koda offering in India."It offers a combination of high-performance engine, sportyappearance and dynamicdriving capabilities along withclass-leading safety andintelligent connectivity features,he added.

PNS n LONDON

Shares fell in Europe and Asiaon Thursday after PresidentDonald Trump announcedthat the US was stepping up itsefforts to combat the virus out-break that began in China, asthe number of cases surpassed81,000.

Germany's DAX lost 2.2per cent to 12,498.88 and theCAC 40 in Paris dropped 2.3per cent to 5,59.99. In London,the FTSE 100 lost 2.5 per centto 6,869.80. The future for theDow Jones Industrial Averagefell 0.5 per cent to 26,779.00and the future contract for theS&P 500 was 0.6 per centlower, at 3,092.20.

Trump told reporters lateWednesday that he was opento spending "whatever isappropriate" to fight the virus,after the Senate DemocraticLeader Chuck Schumer of

New York suggested USD 8.5billion instead of the request-ed USD 2.5 billion. He put VicePresident Mike Pence incharge of the response to thevirus outbreak.

Trump said he didn't believea pandemic was inevitable,though health officials stand-ing beside him warned moreinfections are coming. Andshortly after Trump spoke,the government announcedthat another person in the USwas infected — someone inCalifornia who appears not tohave the usual risk factors ofhaving travelled abroad orbeing exposed to anotherpatient.

Traders are concerned theglobal economy could stumbleas major industrial countriesstruggles to contain the out-break. News of hundreds ofnew infections in China andelsewhere helped pull share

prices lower Thursday in Asia."Previous crisis playbooks

have all revolved around buy-ing the dip in equities, so Iwonder just how much further

the fire sale will go before themarket at least starts to scalein again," Stephen Innes ofAxiCorp said in a report.

"But based on last night's

price action, it does appear thatany bounce in stocks is likelyto be short-lived. And eventu-ally, the markets could falldeeper as investors start tothink what's the point of try-ing to pick the bottom in theshort term."

Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost2.1 per cent to 21,948.23, whilein Australia, the S&P ASX/200dropped 0.8 per cent to6,657.90. Hong Kong's climbed

0.3 per cent to 26,778.62.In South Korea, where 334

new cases of the virus werereported, the Kospi dropped1.1 per cent to 2,054.89. Thecentral bank downgraded itsgrowth estimate for 2020 to 2.1per cent from 2.3 per cent andsaid the virus outbreak wouldhave a short-term impact onbusiness activity, after theeconomy expanded at its slow-est pace in a decade last year.

The Bank of Korea kept itskey policy rate unchanged, atits current record low 1.25 percent.

The Shanghai Compositeindex rose 0.1 per cent to2,991.33, while shares fell inTaiwan and most of SoutheastAsia. Thailand's benchmarkrose 1.5 per cent after tumbling5.1 per cent on Wednesday fol-lowing reports of newly dis-covered virus cases.

Investors have been movingmore money from stocks intobonds in the wake of the out-break. The yield on the 10-yearTreasury was at 1.29 per centThursday, down from 1.34per cent. The yield on thethree-month Treasury billedged up to 1.51 per cent. Theinversion in the yield betweenthe 10-year and the 3-monthTreasurys is a red flag forinvestors because it has preced-ed the last seven recessions.

Sensex drops 143 pts on coronavirus jittersPNS n MUMBAI

Extending its losses for the fifthconsecutive session, equitybenchmark Sensex declined143 points on Thursday track-ing a global selloff amid risingfears of the coronavirus out-break turning into a pandem-ic and hitting the world econ-omy.

The expiry of domesticderivatives contracts too keptmarket volatile, traders said.

After plunging over 465.69points during the day, the 30-share BSE barometer finallysettled 143.30 points, or 0.36per cent, lower at 39,745.66.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty fell 45.20 points or 0.39per cent to end at 11,633.30.

ONGC was the top loser inthe Sensex pack, followed byHCL Tech, SBI, ICICI Bank,IndusInd Bank, HeroMotoCorp and M&M.

On the other hand, SunPharma, Titan, Asian Paintsand Axis Bank led the gainers'chart.

Market opened in negative

tracking its Asian peers as therapid global spread of thecoronavirus kept investors onthe edge and made them seeksafety in gold and bonds, saidNarendra Solanki, HeadFundamental Research(Investment Services) - AVPEquity Research, Anand RathiShares & Stock Brokers.

India is at risk of gettingseverely impacted by the epi-

demic economically because ofits high reliance on Chineseimports for various goods, henoted.

Benchmarks also remainedvolatile on account of month-ly expiry of derivatives con-tracts, he said, adding that sen-timent remained sluggish amidreports that GDP growth islikely to stay flat at 4.5 per centin October-December 2019.

PNS n WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump hasdescribed the US' relationshipwith India now as "extraordi-nary" and said a lot of progresswas made in bilateral ties dur-ing his maiden official visit tothe "incredible country" whereAmerica is going to do a lot ofbusiness.

Trump's remarks came evenas his likely Democratic Partyrival in the November presi-dential elections BernieSanders criticised the US pres-ident for what he claimed wasa "failure of leadership" on theissue of human rights in thelight of the communal riots inDelhi.

President Trump and hisfamily visited India fromFebruary 24 to 25 at the invi-tation of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. Trump wasaccompanied by top brass ofhis administration, includingNational Security AdvisorRobert O'Brien.

Talking to reporters afterhis return from India onWednesday, Trump said, "He(Prime Minister Modi) is agreat gentleman, a greatleader. It's an incrediblecountry."

Trump visitedAhmedabad, Agra andNew Delhi. During hisstay, he addressed a massiverally in Ahmedabad alongwith Modi, visited Agra andheld official meetings inNew Delhi.

The US president was

feted at the world's largestcricket stadium in the"Namaste Trump" event inAhmedabad and was cheeredby tens of thousands of people.

"We were treated very, verywell and we really enjoyed it. Alot of tremendous progresswas made in terms of relation-ship -- our relationship withIndia is extraordinary rightnow," Trump said.

"We are going to be doing alot of business with India, theyare sending billions and bil-lions of dollars now to theUnited States," Trump saidin response to a ques-tion.

But in the midstof the positivecomments onIndia by Trump,his family andadministra-

tion officials, his likelyDemocratic Party rival in theNovember 3 presidential elec-

tion, Sanders slammedthe president and

said the Trump'sstatement regard-

ing the vio-lence in

N e wDelhidur-i n gh i s

India visit was a "failure of lead-ership".

Asked about incidents ofviolence during his India visit,the US president had said, "Asfar as the individual attacks, Iheard about it, but I didn't dis-cuss that with him (Modi).That's up to India."

Reacting on Trump's state-ment on the issue, Sanders onWednesday tweeted, "Over 200million Muslims call Indiahome. Widespread anti-Muslim mob violence haskilled at least 27 and injuredmany more. Trump respondsby saying 'That's up to India'.This is a failure of leadershipon human rights."

Sanders is the secondDemocratic presidential nom-inee after Senator ElizabethWarren to speak against theviolence over the CitizenshipAmendment Act in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, PresidentTrump's daughter Ivanka notedthat the president announcedthat the US InternationalDevelopment FinanceCorporation (USIDFC) will

open an office in India.The USIDFC will

establish a permanentpresence in India tostrengthen our eco-nomic ties, improvedevelopment plus fur-ther women's eco-nomic empowermentthrough WGDP(Women's GlobalDevelopment andP r o s p e r i t yInitiative)!"

New Zealand fortrade pact with IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

New Zealand on Thursdaysaid it will look forward to abilateral trade agreement withIndia in case New Delhi doesnot join the China-backedmega trade deal RCEP.

The Narendra Modi-ledgovernment in Novemberdecided not to join RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) deal asnegotiations failed to satisfac-torily address New Delhi's"outstanding issues and con-cerns". However, the possibil-ity of India joining the tradepact is open provided its con-cerns are addressed by themember nations.

"I met with your minister ofcommerce (Piyush Goyal) yes-terday and we discussed thoseissues. Of course, NewZealand and India have beenbusy for some years negotiat-ing through the rubric ofRCEP and we will know by theend of the year as to whetherIndia chooses to stay out orparticipate in RCEP.

"But if they don't participatein RCEP then we will obvious-

ly want to pursue a tradingrelationship through a differ-ent means," New Zealand'sMinister for Trade and ExportGrowth David Parker said ata Ficci conference.

Responding to issues con-cerning the opening of domes-tic dairy sector, he said NewZealand appreciates the con-cerns of the Indian dairyindustry but expressed hopethat some solutions could bearrived at through negotia-tions.

"We know it is an issue ofsensitivity to the Indian gov-ernment on behalf of the peo-ple. We know that there is areal issue for India. The onlyway that a deal is eventuallydone is if it is mutually bene-ficial. How might that be donein respect of dairy. Well itwould be good if it were a factbased argument".

India's dairy industry -- thelargest in the world -- hadexpressed apprehension thatthe RCEP trade pact wouldseverely impact dairy farmersbecause of cheaper importsfrom Australia and NewZealand.

Trump told reporters late Wednesdaythat he was open to spending"whatever is appropriate" to fight thevirus, after the Senate DemocraticLeader Chuck Schumer of New Yorksuggested USD 8.5 billion instead ofthe requested USD 2.5 billion. He putVice President Mike Pence in charge ofthe response to the virus outbreak.

India is at risk of getting severelyimpacted by the epidemic economicallybecause of its high reliance on Chineseimports for various goods, he noted

Talking to reportersafter his returnfrom India onWednesday, Trumpsaid, "He (PrimeMinister Modi) is agreat gentleman, agreat leader. It's anincredible country."

PNS n NEW DELHI

Jason Kothari, who has the dis-tinction of transforming sever-al distressed Indian Internetfirms, shares the turnaroundstory of his journey from arebel, train-wreck kid to one ofthe top ten paid young execu-tives in the country.

As a college student atWharton, Kothari scrapedtogether money from familyand friends to save his child-hood favourite comic bookcompany, ValiantEntertainment, from bank-ruptcy and bring it back to life.A few years later, he trans-formed Valiant into the third-largest superhero entertain-ment company in the worldafter Marvel and DC Comicsand sold it for USD 100 mil-

lion. Jason then became a pro-fessional turnaround leaderand went on to transform dis-tressed Indian Internet firmsHousing.com, FreeCharge andSnapdeal, and advise giants liketechnology investor Softbankand real estate developerEmaar.

In his book "IrrationallyPassionate: My Turnaround

from Rebel to Entrepreneur",Kothari share's his turnaroundstory and the many learningsfrom it with students andyoung entrepreneurs to helpthem in their journey.

Published by HarperBusiness, the book tells howKothari started as an assistantto Jackie Chan in Hong Kong,learned strategy from champi-on Muay Thai fighters inThailand, tackled huge person-al setbacks and became a CEOin 60 seconds, among manyother stories.

As the CEO ofHousing.com, Kothari is cred-ited with leading the transfor-mation of the distressed com-pany and a merger with NewsCorp's PropTiger to create theUSD 350 million industryleader.

HMSI launchesBS-VI compliantUnicorn bikemodelPNS n NEW DELHI

Honda Motorcycle & ScooterIndia (HMIS) on Thursdaylaunched BS-VI compliantversion of its Unicorn bikemodel with price starting atRs 93,593 (ex-showroom,Delhi).

The Unicorn BS-VI ispowered by a 160cc engineproviding greater perfor-mance and superior efficien-cy, HMSI said in a statement.

"Unicorn was the firstmotorcycle introduced byHonda in India. Since itslaunch, it has always been thebenchmark when it comes toengine refinement andsmooth performance," HMSIPresident, CEO & ManagingDirector Minoru Kato said.

The Unicorn model hasbeen in the market for morethan 16 years and has morethan 2.5 million customers,he added.

HMSI Senior VicePresident, Sales andMarketing Yadvinder SinghGuleria said with the newadvanced 160cc engine deliv-ering more power, UnicornBS-VI "will raise the bar forseamless refined performancealong with the trust of Hondareliability".

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian economy will soonbounce back from its worstshowing in 11 years as a steepcut in taxes will help attractinvestments and the massiveinfrastructure spendingrevives economic activity,mining baron Anil Agarwalsaid.

Besides spending on build-ing infrastructure, the govern-ment should focus on exploit-ing natural resources thecountry has and look at stakesale in most PSUs.

Public sector firms havethe potential to produce three-times more than the currentoutput and should be operat-ed independently, he told PTIhere.

"I think it (economy) willbounce back. It has tremen-dous potential. I see light at theend of the tunnel, it is not far.The economy will kick startsoon," he said adding the roll-out of Goods and Services Tax(GST) had a temporary impactbut it is being straightenednow.

Indian economic growthplunged to an 11-year lowin the July-Septemberquarter when it clocked4.5 per cent expansion.The government has

forecast a 5 per cent GDPgrowth for the full 2019-20 fis-cal that ends in March butmany experts believe thegrowth rate will be lower thanthe projection.

Agarwal, the founder andchairman of Vedanta, said thegovernment cutting tax oncompanies to the lowest in theworld will attract investment

but companiesneed a littlehand-hold-

ing to seetheir pro-j e c t sthrough.

Jason Kothari

Jason Kothari reveals mantraof turnaround success in book

PNS n NEW DELHI

Troubled Vodafone Idea haswritten to the telecom depart-ment expressing its inability topay full AGR dues unless thegovernment takes urgent mea-sures, including allowing stag-gered payment, reduction inlevies and implementation offloor prices in the crisis-riddensector.

The letter to the communi-cations ministry comes at atime when the company isconfronted with AGR dues ofover Rs 53,000 crore and haspaid a mere 7 per cent of itsliabilities so far.

Warning that it is "not in a

sound financial state",Vodafone Idea said the com-pany would be in a position tomeet its liabilities only if thegovernment initiates steps

including allowing set offs forGST credit accumulated so far,and permitting staggeredmechanism for payment ofbalance amount of interest,

penalty, and interest on penal-ty. It said adjustment of GSTcredit due from the govern-ment could help in meeting itsAGR payment.

Citing its losses over last fewyears, the company said thefinancial stress in the telecomsector is widely acknowledged.The company underlined itscurrent subscriber base of 300

million, and employee base of10,000 direct staffers whilemaking a strong plea for"urgent support from govern-ment".

Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL)said it can settle the balance ofits self-assessed principle if theCentre allows set-offs of Rs8,000 crore worth of GSTcredit lying with the govern-

ment.In fact, the amount when

fully set off will even pay inpart the self assessed interest,it said in the letter to the tele-com department seen by PTI.

The company has sought amoratorium of three years onpayment of interest and penal-ty, and subsequent paymenttimeline of 15 years at aninterest of six per cent.

The letter, similar to the onewritten by industry bodyCOAI, has also batted forgrant of loan, equal to AGRamount at six per cent inter-est rate "so that the AGR lia-bility may be dischargedimmediately".

Can pay dues if Centre adjusts GST credit: Voda IdeaThe company has sought a moratoriumof three years on payment of interestand penalty, and subsequent paymenttimeline of 15 years at an interest ofsix per cent

World shares slump after Trump announcement on virus plans

Trump: India is incredible, lot ofprogress made in bilateral ties

Public sector firmshave the potential toproduce three-times

more than the current outputand should be operatedindependently, he told PTIhere.

ANIL AGARWAL

‘Indian economywill bounce back’

Stressed over boardexams? Spend 10 minsdaily with nature

mid the ongo-ing boardexams, spend-ing as little as10 minutes in anatural setting

like the neighbourhoodpark can help students feelhappier and lessen theeffects of both physicaland mental stress, sayresearchers.

The team from CornellUniversity in the US foundthat 10-50 minutes in nat-ural spaces was the mosteffective to improve mood,focus and physiologicalmarkers like blood pres-sure and heart rate.

The study, published inthe journal Frontiers inPsychology, aims to providean easily-achievabledosage that physicians canprescribe as a preventivemeasure against high levels

of stress, anxiety, depres-sion and other mentalhealth issues college stu-dents face.

“It doesn’t take muchtime for the positive bene-fits to kick in — we’re talk-ing 10 minutes outside in aspace with nature,” saidstudy lead author GenMeredith from the CornellUniversity.

“We firmly believe thatevery student, no matterwhat subject or how hightheir workload, has thatmuch discretionary timeeach day, or at least a fewtimes per week,” Meredithadded.

For the findings, theresearch team reviewedstudies that examined theeffects of nature on peopleof college age (no youngerthan 15, no older than 30)to discover how much

time students should bespending outside and whatthey should be doing whilethey’re there.

They found that 10-50minutes in natural spaceswas the most effective toimprove mood, focus andphysiological markers likeblood pressure and heartrate.

“It’s not that there’s adecline after 50 minutes,but rather that the physio-logical and self-reportedpsychological benefits tendto plateau after that,” saidstudy co-author DonaldRakow.

To enjoy the positiveeffects of being outside,students need only to besitting or walking, the twoprimary activities theresearchers examined inan effort to provide acces-sible recommendations.

“This is an opportunityto challenge our thinkingaround what nature canbe. It is really all aroundus: trees, a planter withflowers, a grassy quad or awooded area,” Meredithsaid.

The impetus for thiswork is a movementtoward prescribing time innature as a way to preventor improve stress and anx-iety, while also supportingphysical and mental healthoutcomes.

A

SPENDING 10-50 MININ NATURAL SPACESWILL IMPROVE MOOD,FOCUS AND PHYSIO-LOGICAL MARKERSLIKE BLOOD PRESS-URE AND HEART RATE

RADHIKA MADAN: Clothes don't define us

ctress Radhika Madansays she gets baffledwhen she finds howwomen are still made tofeel “judged” for some-thing like a bra-strap.

The actress has come forward tolend her support to women,shamed for their peeking brastraps. She has come on board asthe face of Baar Bra Dekho, anunique initiative by MTV tospread the word against strapshaming and normalise conver-sations around it.

“Awkward stares, nastyglances, unwanted touch -almost all of us have beensubjected to such instanceswhile travelling in publictransport or otherwise. It baf-fles me to see how women arestill made to feel judged forsomething like a bra-strapshowing that should havebeen normalised longago,” Radhika said.

“Clothes don’tdefine us and it’s sim-ply a woman’s call on

what she chooses to wear and how.I am glad to lend my voice to athought provoking initiative likeBaar Bra Dekho that lets womengive back and be at comfort. Let’scelebrate this Women’s Day differ-ently and

choose not to feel awkward for ourbra straps showing. Straps don’tshame, so you shouldn’t also,” sheadded.

Sharing her story, Radhika said:“I was in school, and it was thatphase when you’re growing up andyou start wearing new bras. I wentto school one day, wearing acoloured bra. Ek ladka aaya merepass and usne mujhe kaha, ‘arey,

your bra strap is showing’.“And at that time I realised, I

was so embarrassed. I wenthome and decided that I willnow wear nude bras under myschool uniform. But nowwhen I think about it, I feel

like get a life dude, it’s just abra strap. A bra strap —that is it. You don’t have tobe embarrassed about it,

it’s just there.”Through the initiative,

Radhika will be askingwomen to share theirstories of shaming to

trigger attention andawareness.

— IANS

A

nubhav Sinharecently declaredThappad is meant tobe the concludingfeature of his ‘dis-crimination trilogy’

— the other two being Mulk(2018), and Article 15 (2019),his manifesto on oppression onthe basis of caste. Thappadtrains focus on gender discrim-ination to complete the picture.

Sinha’s biggest credit as far asThappad goes is that he maint-ains a balance in tone, nevergetting overly preachy withwhat his narrative has to con-vey. Thappad merely utilises arandom, impulsive act of slap-ping to lay out an intricate por-trait of marital exploitation thatcould be happening within theconfines of any household thatmight maintain a picture ofcalm on the outside.

Importantly, the film ques-tions the male entitlement ofsuperiority in a relationship.

Sinha and co-writerMrunmayee Lagoo set the tonefor that idea right from theearly frames, long before thefilm’s highlight, titular act ofviolence actually happens. Wespot it in little things thatdefine the life of protagonistAmrita (Taapsee Pannu). It is agiven, for instance, that she isthe one who must wake up toturn off the alarm clock thather husband Vikram (PavailGulati) sets, so that he can getup on time for work. If he mustwork all night, she should bearound to fix the printer, andshe must also be there to brewthe perfect cuppa for her in-laws early next morning.

For Amrita, according thatadvantage to Vikram wouldseem like a natural thing, main-ly due to the superior stature ofhis family that is unsaid in thescript and yet subtly portrayed.She is okay with the idea of

being a housewife who hasgiven up her dream of being adancer, and is now satisfiedputting her talent to use only ingiving dance tuitions to theneighbour’s daughter.

Amrita’s sole purpose in life,it would seem, is to be happyand proud about the fact thatVikram is all set to be trans-ferred by his firm to London,where he will take up a top joband they will set up home in ahouse with a cute blue door.

The trigger that sets off tur-moil in her seemingly contentlife is the slap that Vikramlands on her cheek, at a houseparty to celebrate their Londontransfer, in an uncharacteristicand frustrated fit of rage.

The very brief scene, master-fully written and executed, res-onates for the sheer sense ofdisparity it so simply conveys.You understand the deepseatedchauvinism about Vikram, anotherwise sophisticated guywith a pleasant demeanour,which drives him to instinctive-ly take umbrage when his wifetries stopping him as he entersinto an aggressive showdownwith a colleague at the party.Amrita, on the other hand, isexpected not to make too muchof the incident because, as hermother-in-law (Tanvi Azmi)says, there are guests outsidewaiting to be entertained.

Thappad digs deep to estab-lish the fact that gender dis-

crimination is an outcome ofthe upbringing that not justmen, but also women, get inour country. The screenplay isquietly effective in the way itshows how the thought of say-ing sorry, even long afterward,never quite crosses Vikram’smind. For Amrita, his lack ofremorse sparks off the realisa-tion that her marriage wasalways built on Vikram's egoand not love.

For maximum impact, thestory draws up subtexts utilis-ing prop female characters. AsAmrita decides to walk out ofher marriage, we meet herlawyer (Maya Sarao). She is asuccessful career woman whofights for women’s rights andyet cannot escape her hus-band’s (Manav Kaul) brutishways in the privacy of theirposh bedroom. At the otherextreme is Amrita’s domestichelp, who suffers physicalabuse regularly at the hands ofher husband because he feels itis only right that a man beatsup his wife. If these sub plotsappear too familiar while set-ting up a broader picture,Sinha does well to executethem with authenticity.

Yet, despite the film’s overallprofundity, you get a sense thatnot everything about Thappadis perfect. The only man whoseems to have a sense of genderequality is Amrita’s father(Kumud Mishra), but he does

notgetanythingsubstantialto do inthefilmapartfrombeingtherefor her.We under-stand Amrita’sawakening hap-pens primarilybecause she is slappedin public, Does thatmean she would haveglossed over the issue hadVikram assaulted her in pri-vate? Also, gender equations ina marital relationship cannotalways be explained in blackand white. The film never quitedelves into the grey areas ofAmrita and Vikram’s marriage.

Still, Thappad resonates withimpact. It is without a doubtone of the finer films you willsee this year, simply because ittackles a difficult and powerfulsubject with credibility. A castof proven talents excels in well-

craft-ed roles,toplined byTaapseePannu’s career-defining act.

This film is anurgent call for a worldwhere there would be nobattle of the sexes.

— IANS

T THAPPAD resonateswith impact CAST:

TAAPSEE PANNU,PAVAIL GULATI, KUMUDMISHRA, RATNA PATHAKSHAH, TANVI AZMI, MAYA

SARAO, DIA MIRZA, MANAVKAUL; DIRECTION: ANUBHAV

SINHARATING:

4/5

FridayFebruary 28, 2020

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10

Vijayawada Friday February 28, 2020 what’s brewing?

A.R. RAHMAN ONTURNING PRODUCER

scar-winningcomposer A.R.Rahman saysturning produc-er is like beingborn again as a

new man.He has turned writer

and producer with hismovie 99 Songs.

“I feel like I have beenreborn since the time Ihave decided to turn pro-ducer. It’s an entirely newfeeling,” Rahman said.

Opening up about thechallenges of making afilm, he said, “It’s like beingborn again as a new man.When I started as a filmmusic composer, I alreadyhad ten years of experi-ence.”

“But as a producer, it feltso new and seemed like Iwas starting all over againand I wanted to leave nostone unturned in giving itmy best. Also, since I wasworking with other debu-tants — the director andthe actor — I was remind-ed that I have a completelynew team and we had amodest budget. I didn’twant to spare any effort inpresenting it well and tryto make our own epic.”

Asked if he was a regularon sets during the shoot,he said, “I knew that ifsome important scenesneeded to be expanded, Iensured I would be presenton set. Our executive pro-ducer would tell me thatwe have time constraintsand will have to wrap thescene in a day while I waskeen on four because thoseare the scenes that needlove and complete justice.It's an art to balancebetween creative and com-mercial. However, if youget too creative then youmay have to sell your prop-erty.”

“It is a first attempt and Ihope we have done ourbest. My wife and daugh-ters have been a great sup-port,” he added.

The movie is directed bydebutant director VishweshKrishnamoorthy and willrelease in three languages,including Hindi, Tamil andTelugu. 99 Songs will alsointroduce Ehan Bhat.

Presented by Jio Studios,the film is produced byA.R. Rahman’s productioncompany YM Movies andco-produced by IdealEntertainment.

O

Ashish Vidyarthi to makehis debut on podcast

ctor AshishVidyarthi, whoworks predomi-nantly inBollywood, Tamil,Kannada,

Malayalam, Telugu and otherlanguages, is all set to makehis podcast debut. He is com-ing up with the show Begin

The Journey.“I am an actor and a

communicator who lovesexploring different forms of communication which are exciting. Podcast, today is a form which is finding a lot of traction and I am excited to explorethis new genre. My show

Begin The Journey itself is anew journey for me as anartist. I hope to connect withmy audiences on a personallevel as I share experienceson this new medium,” Ashishsaid.

The show will air on IVMPodcasts from March 2.

— IANS

Actress EvaMendes hasrevealed thatshe would liketo play aDisney villain.

In an interview toEntertainment Tonight,Mendes spoke about howmotherhood has limitedher choices on screen, andalso spoke of desire to doa Disney project, reportsfemalefirst.co.uk.

“Acting is somethingthat I will always love. It’sjust like now that I havechildren, I’m kind ofextreme. There’s just somany things I won’t do.Like I won’t do most ofthe movies I’ve done inthe past. A lot of thingsare off that list. I don’twant to do anything tooviolent. Of course, I don’twant to do anything toosexual or sexual at all.

“So I’m basically like,‘Disney, I’m all yours,Disney’. That’s all that’sleft,” she said.

And she prefers doingthe role of a Disney vil-lain, rather than that of aprincess.

“I’m more of the villainkinda type of girl. I’mmore of the Ursula type ...I like the villains of theDisney movies. They’refun,” Mendes added.

Eva Mendes wants toplay a Disney Villain

A

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

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

Yesterday’s solution

PTI n MELBOURNE

India entered the semifinals of thewomen’s T20 World Cup afterShafali Verma’s 34-ball 46 fol-

lowed by a superlative performancefrom the bowlers helped the teamnotch up a narrow four-run win overNew Zealand here on Thursday.

Invited to bat, India posted abelow-par 133 for eight in the groupA match with Shafali top-scoringwith a 34-ball 46 and Taniya Bhatiachipping in with a 25-ball 23.

They, however, produced a dis-ciplined performance with the ball torestrict New Zealand to 129 for sixand register their third successive winin the tournament and seal a last-fourspot.

With this win, India toppedGroup A, having beaten Australiaand Bangladesh in their last two out-ing.

“It is a great feeling when yourteam is performing like that,” Indiaskipper Harmanpreet Kaur said afterthe match.

“We did the same mistakes, wegot a good start in the first 10 oversand we didn’t carry the momentum.We did bowl well in patches andsome times, we were not up to themark and have to focus on thoseareas,” she added.

Defending a below-par total,India introduced spin straight awaybut Deepti Sharma bled 12 runs withopener Rachel Priest (12) hitting herfor two boundaries.

But experienced pacer ShikhaPandey removed Priest in the nextover when she had her caught at midwicket.

With Shikha and left-arm spin-ner Rajeshwari Gayakwad bowling intandem, New Zealand played withcaution to reach 28 for one.

Back into the attack, Deeptithen cleaned up Bates with a beau-ty of a delivery as New Zealandslipped to 30 for two.

Poonam Yadav and Radha Yadavthen mounted the pressure on theKiwis and soon the Black Caps were34 for 3 when the former dismissedskipper Sophie Devine (14).

Maddy Green (24) and KateyMartin (25) then tried to resurrectthe innings with a 36-ball 43-runstand.

However, Gayakwad returned to

remove Green, who danced down thepitch only to end up with an outsideedge as Bhatia did the rest.

Radha then dismissed Martin toleave New Zealand at 90 for 5 in 16.3overs.

Needing 44 off 21 balls, Kerr (34)blasted four boundaries to accumu-late 18 runs in the penultimate overbowled by Poonam to bring theequation down to 16 off six balls.

In the final over, Heyley Jensen(11) and Kerr cracked a four each butShikha held her nerves in the end toensure India’s win.

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2020

CHRISTCHURCH: Ajinkya Rahane wants to takeon the New Zealand pace battery with moreintent in the second Test and his foolproof strat-egy includes countering the awkward angleswhich became a nightmare for Indian bats-men during the first Test.

Rahane, who top-scored with 46 inthe first innings of the opening Test,is hopeful that a turnaround willhappen on a green top at theHagley Oval, which he reckons willbe better for batting compared tothe one they got in Wellington.

“I am not saying (we have to be) moreaggressive but having that intent and clearmindset will help us,” Rahane toldreporters on Thursday.

New Zealand pacers Trent Boult, TimSouthee and Kyle Jamieson used theshort ball liberally after coming wide of thecrease with an angle that was disconcert-ing for the batsmen.

“I think they used that angle really wellin Wellington. Bowling wide of the crease orfrom the centre, they changed angles whilebowling the short balls. I think their plan wascompletely clear.

“As a batsman, if you going to think about aparticular shot, then you need to back yourself andplay that shot. You cannot doubt yourself. Weneed to forget what happened in Wellington,”the Indian vice-captain said.

According to Rahane, the two net sessions

at the Hagley Oval is being used to practicenegating the awkward angles that Neil Wagnerand company can create.

“That’s what I said: try and learn what mis-takes we did as a group, what

can we learn. I think we haveto practice those angles. Wehad a practice session and wehave one more tomorrow.And you have to practicethat and trust your ability in

the middle,” Rahane said in areassuring tone.

While net sessions are important, it’sthe instincts in match situations thatcounts, he said.

“But to change or adjust those anglesthere are times you need to be instinctivewhile you are batting. It can mean stand-

ing on off-stump, or standing outside thecrease or staying deep inside the crease - like

if it is a pitch for cut shot then you can standdeeper in the crease. This is the mental side

of the game,” Rahane said.“For me, as a batsman it is important you

show your intent to the bowler, if you standin one spot then the bowler doesn’t need tochange anything. These are small things wehave been working on in practice and how touse the crease and the angles. Doesn’t mat-ter how much you practice you must trust orhave the belief to be able to do it in the mid-

dle,” he added. PTI

PTI n CHRISTCHURCH

Virat Kohli will be itching to make acomeback in the second Test and the

best chance for New Zealand will be toexploit the sideways movement which canspell trouble for the Indian captain, feelsopener Tom Latham.

Kohli had an indifferent tour of NewZealand so far. He was out for 2 and 19 inthe first Test in Wellington.

“When Virat comes out to bat we will beready. He is a quality player and there is areason why he is up around that No 1 rankfor such a period of time,” Latham said atthe media conference on Thursday.

“He has done it for long time and doneit in all conditions. If the surface is conduciveto sideways movement we will try andexploit that,” said Latham.

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shamimight have had a below par game inWellington but Latham said they remainworld class bowlers and the team would becertainly wary of them.

“We have played those guys really wellin the first Test. But they are World class per-formers and we will be wary of them.Certainly they would be on top of their gameand if we play well it will give us a goodchance. We need to be consistent for longperiods,” he said.

Latham is sure that Neil Wagner’s come-back will add firepower to the side.

“I haven’t yet seen him but when herocks up for training he will be absolutelyfizzing up to get going and obviously he willbe raring to go. He is been a quality per-former for a number of years for us,”Latham said.

The Hagley Oval surface will havebounce and Latham expects Wagner to bemore than a handful.

“It’s something that Neil has obviouslybeen so good at for so long and he is sec-ond to none in terms of accuracy.

“He is a short guy and that makes himharder to play. If the surface is up for thatplan he will be looking to go round withthat.”

The first day will be important reckonedLatham.

“Generally, it’s a good surface and sur-faces in NZ have been on the greener sideat the start and then flatten out. So we needto do well on day one.”

PTI n CHRISTCHURCH

Young opener Prithvi Shawmissed Thursday’s train-

ing session due to a swelling onhis left foot, increasing Indianteam management’s worriesahead of the second Test againstNew Zealand beginning onSaturday.

According to sources, Shawwill undergo a blood test onThursday to ascertain the rea-son of the swelling.

In case the medical reportis favourable, a call will betaken during Friday’spractice session on hisavailability for the secondTest. If Shaw is notcomfortable whilebatting, he will notmake it to the playing XI.

Shubman Gill had agood net session onThursday and it is expect-ed that he would be askedto open theinnings along-side MayankAgarwal if Shawis unable tomake it.

D u r i n gThursday’s nets,head coach Ravi

Shastri was seen paying extraattention to Gill’s session. Atone point, Shastri walked up toGill and was seen giving sometechnical inputs about foot-work to Gill and what's requiredto check his uppish drives.

The Indian team manage-ment is hopeful that theswelling will not be a seriousconcern for Shaw.

The Mumbai opener didn'teven take part in the customary

warm-up session whereplayers had a goodtime playing touchrugby.

Shaw had apoor outing in the

first Test inWellington, get-

ting dismissedcheaply inboth theinnings.

AFP n CAPE TOWN

David Warner and AaronFinch launched a brutal

assault on the South Africanbowlers to set up a comprehensive97-run Australian victory in theseries-deciding third Twenty20international at Newlands.

In a near-repeat of Australia’srecord 107-run win in the firstmatch of the series inJohannesburg, South Africa cap-tain Quinton de Kock’s decisionto bowl first backfired spectacu-larly.

Led by opening batsmen

Warner (57) and captain Finch(55), Australia piled up 193 forfive — three fewer than they madein Johannesburg.

They then bowled out SouthAfrica for 96, just seven more thanthe host country’s record low inJohannesburg.

As in Johannesburg, left-armfast bowler Mitchell Starc bowledDe Kock, South Africa’s star bats-man, in the first over of thehome team’s reply.

He followed up by dismissingformer captain Faf du Plessis inthe third over and was namedman-of-the-match after taking

three for 23.Finch was named man of the

series for his aggressive battingand astute captaincy.

“The guys have bought intothe roles they have been asked toplay,” he said.

It was the first time Warnerand Steve Smith had played atNewlands since both were bannedfor a year after a ball-tamperingscandal at the same ground twoyears ago.

South Africa were never in thegame after Warner and Finchthrashed 120 for the first wicket off74 balls.

Apart from some powerfulhitting by both players, they forcedthe South Africans into fieldingerrors with their aggressive run-ning between wickets.

“It’s something we pride our-selves on,” said Finch.

“It’s quite disappointing theway we lost,” said De Kock. “Wehave to keep our heads up andkeep looking forward."

Although Finch said he wouldhave batted if he had won becauseof the dryness of the pitch, DeKock said he would make thesame decision to bowl again.

He said he still thought chas-ing a target at Newlands was a pre-ferred option, but admitted:“Australia were 20 runs above par.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

Ex p l o s i v eAustralian bats-

man David Warnerwas on Thursdayreinstated as IPLfranchise SunrisersHyderabad’s cap-tain, a position thathe had to give upafter the ball-tam-pering scandal in2018.

The 33-year-old Warner, wholed the Sunrisersto the trophy in2016, will take overfrom New Zealandskipper KaneWilliamson for theseason starting March 29.

“I am thrilled to be given the captain-cy for this coming IPL 2020. I’m extreme-ly grateful for the opportunity to lead theside once again,” Warner said in a videoposted by the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“I’d like to thank Kane (Williamson)for the way you guys led the teamthroughout the last couple of years andI’d be leaning on you guys for support andinsight to the game as well,” he said.

“To the management thank you forthe opportunity and I’m sure I’ll bedoing my very best to try and lead us andlift again the IPL trophy this coming year,”he added.

THREE IN A ROW

Indian team celebrate their win over New Zealand in their third game of Women's T20 World Cup in Melbourne AP

Shafali’s 46, bowler’s economical spell help Harman & Co book last 4 place with narrow four-run win over White Ferns

Aus thrash B’desh

PTI n MELBOURNE

Wicket-keeper batswomanTaniya Bhatia says the

Indian team has got better at read-ing and handling different situa-tions, which was evident duringthe recent tri-series in Australia.

India on Thursday becamethe first team to seal a semifinalspot at the T20 World Cup follow-ing a narrow four-run win overNew Zealand here.

“In the last 12 to 14 months,we have improved a lot as a unit.We’re in a really positive position.We’ve been playing well eversince the tri-series. I think we’vegot a lot better as a team in work-ing out how to handle and readsituations well,” Bhatia said at thepost-match press conference.

“The results are in our favour,

but we need to keep up themomentum. If we do that, we willdo well and hopefully we can winthe final,” Bhatia added.

Bhatia is optimistic that theirbatters will definitely come goodin the remaining matches of thetournament.

“We’re playing well, it’s justone or two odd games where ourbatters failed to perform. Shafaliis giving us a good start and therest of us batters will take upresponsibility,” she said.

Bhatia said she is open to batat any position for the team'scause.

“I can bat well up the orderand I know I’m capable of scor-ing runs there,” she said.

India will play Sri Lanka intheir last Group A game onSaturday.

Poonam Yadav celebrates with Taniya Bhatia after the later stumped out opposition player

We read & handle situationsbetter now, says Taniya

PTI n CANBERRA

Alyssa Healy and BethMooney hit attacking half-

centuries in a dominating 151-run opening stand as Australiahammered Bangladesh by 86runs in their ICC Women’s T20World Cup match, here onThursday.

The partnership betweenHealy (83) and Mooney (81 notout) is Australia’s highest forany wicket at the Women’s T20World Cup.

Australia’s 189 for one, thehighest total of the tournament,proved too much for Bangladeshwho could manage only 103 fornine.

Kiwis look to exploitsideways movementagainst Kohli

Aggressive intent & clear mindsetagainst pace will help us: Rahane

Jaffer advises Indianbatsmen to score bigNAVI MUMBAI: Wasim Jaffer, a domestic crick-et giant, says unless the Indian batsmen buildon their starts and put a big total on the board,bouncing back in the Test series against NewZealand will be extremely difficult.

“Virat has a lean patch for a while, so I amexpecting him to come back stronger. Pujaraneeds some runs under his belt. Most impor-tantly they need to convert their starts intothree figures, if that dosen’t happen and if wedon’t put score of 350-400 runs then it is dif-ficult,” Jaffer told PTI.

“In 200-250 (runs) you can’t win a Testmatch unless there is much help from thepitch. When we bat first or bat second, we needto score 400-450 runs,” Jaffer said.

Jaffer also felt that the team getting bun-dled out for below 200 in the first Test was notbeffiting of its number one rank in thelongest format of the game.

“They kept our run-rate in check and keptour batsmen under pressure for long periods.I felt that in the first innings the conditionswere favourable for bowlers, but they workedout an strategy of bouncers and we shouldhave batted better in the second innings. Toget out both times under 200 is unlike thenumber one Test team,” he said. PTI

Prithvi skips practicewith swollen foot

Warner, Finch power hunt Proteas

Australian players pose with winners’ trophy after win in 3rd T20I AP

Warner back as SRH captain

David Warner walks backto the pavilion AP

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Barsapara Stadiumin Guwahati will host

former champions RajasthanRoyals’ f irst two homematches during the upcom-ing edition of the IndianPremier League, the BCCIsaid on Thursday.

“They will now playDelhi Capitals & KolkataKnight Riders on April 5th& April 9th respectively inGuwahati. Both games willhave an 8 PM IST start,”BCCI secretary Jay Shahsaid in a release.

Rajasthan Royals willplay their remaining fivehome matches at their des-ignated home ground ofSawai Mansingh Stadium inJaipur.

The Steve Smith-ledRajasthan Royals will opentheir campaign with an awaymatch against ChennaiSuper Kings on April 2.

“The Royals are bring-ing the IPL to the Northeastfor the very first time,expanding cricket’s footprintin the region. See you in

April, Guwahati!,” RajasthanRoyals wrote on their officialtwitter handle.

Last year, RajasthanRoyals had made a requestto play few of their matchesin Guwahati and have beenin talks with the AssamCricket Association (ACA)for quite sometime. Themove, which is backed bythe IPL Governing Council,was however challenged bya PIL at the Rajasthan HighCourt earlier this year.

The reason behind sucha move was Royals' unhap-piness with the ailing crick-eting ecosystem in the stateand also their poor relationwith the Rajasthan CricketAssociation (RCA).

The Royals also hadbeen incurring losses due toreasons such as highdemands for free tickets andmandatory allotment ofseats to RCA.

Inaugral edition win-ners Rajasthan Royals hadearlier played at Ahmedabadin 2010, and Ahmedabadand Mumbai's BrabourneStadium in the 2015 season.

Virat Kohli plays a pull shot AP

Guwahati will host 2games of RR in IPL

hi La Sow fameRuhani Sharma,who will be nextseen in Fridayrelease Hit, hasbeen signed on by

East Coast Productions fortheir next venture with NagaShaurya. To mark the director-ial debut of Raja, the projectwas announced earlier thismonth.

A source close to the devel-opment says, “Raja wasimpressed with Ruhani’snuanced role in Chi La Sow. Asthe role of the film’s leadinglady has a lot of scope for per-formance, he felt that Ruhaniis a perfect fit. ProducerMahesh too echoed a similaropinion. After she approachedwith the role Ruhani wasimpressed with the story, her

part and the names behind theproject. So, she gave her nod.”

The source further adds thatMahesh has roped in SameerReddy for cinematography andMahati Sagar for music. To beofficially launched today inHyderabad, Dil Raju,Kalyanram and HarishShankar will grace themuhurat as guests.

— NG

oining the likes of his col-leagues like Boman Irani,Arbaaz Khan and RonitRoy, who have dabbled inTollywood in the recentpast, Arjun Rampal will

soon be seen in a Telugu film. ThePioneer has reliably learnt that themodel-turned- actor, who was lastseen in JP Dutta’s Paltan, has beencast as the antagonist in PawanKalyan’s next with Krish. The filmwas launched in a low-key ceremo-ny in Hyderabad last month.

“Discussions with Rampal wentfor over a month and it was onlyrecently that the actor has agreed to

come on board. He was offeredTelugu films in the past but he wasreluctant to take them up because oflanguage issues among other factors.However, he felt the role in Krish’sfilm was something any actor wouldgive his arm and leg for and decidedto simply trust the director with hislines. He is excited to meet PawanKalyan in the second schedulewhich will commence next month,”confirms a source close to the unit.

The source further adds thatRampal, who is known for his rolesin films like Rock On!!, Raajneetiand D-Day, is the second noted facefrom Bollywood to have joined the

film. “JacquelineFernandez has agreedto do a supportingrole in the film. Somereports have claimedthat she is the film’sleading lady but it’snot true,” informs thesource.

A period-drama, the unti-tled film is being made on a bud-get of over Rs 100 crore by pro-ducer AM Ratnam.

Multiple sets have been erectedfor the shoot at the AluminumFactory in Lingampally.

— NG

My father used to dosix to seven films a

year and I’m close tohis numbers. I’m

very choosy aboutmy scripts but I

make sure I do atleast five films in a

year. Doing only twoor three films

doesn’t feel I amdoing justice tomy work so I tryto do as many as I

can

ctor DulquerSalmaan, whois knownamong theTelugu audi-ence for his

movies OK Bangaramand Mahanati says that itis always tricky to makea movie simultaneouslyin multiple languages

“Not all bilingual filmswork well and it’s a trickysituation. The sensibili-ties and tastes differ foreach region and the lan-guage. Hence, I love tolearn new languages formy films and expand myknowledge to variousdialects within a lan-guage. Our films mustconvey something mean-ingful to the audienceand I’m very thankful tothe Telugu audience forencouraging my work,”says Dulquer, whose lat-est movie, Kanulu

Kanulanu Dochayante, abilingual, is scheduledfor release today.

About the movie, hesays, “It is not my regularkind of movie. It has allthe commercial elementslike suspense, thrills, andlove. It keeps the audi-ence guessing until theend with lots of twistsand turns. It was shot inTamil Nadu and Idubbed for myself inboth languages.”

“My team always helpsme when it comes tolearning a language. Theunit of Mahanati helpedme a lot with this and Itrust them. Telugu is abeautiful language and Ilove learning it,” he adds.

Directed by DesinghPeriyasamy, actors RituVarma and GauthamMenon played in pivotalroles in the film. “It is avery young team and I

had a nice experienceworking with them. Ilove to interact with newpeople and know aboutthem. DesinghPeriyasamy is very tal-ented and he presentedthe film in a unique waythat will keep the audi-ence engaged,” says theactor.

Dulquer is quite activein the industry doingmore than five films ayear. He says, “My fatherused to do six to sevenfilms a year and I’m closeto his numbers. I’m verychoosy about my scriptsbut I make sure I do atleast five films in a year.Doing only two or threefilms doesn’t feel I amdoing justice to my workso I try to do as many asI can.”

Speaking about hisinterest to do periodmovies, Dulquer says, “I

haven’t been offered anyepic period dramas. Idon’t see myself in thatspace yet. My choice ofperiod movies would bethe ones related to pre orpost-independence ofIndia. If I get a script likethat then I will take itup.”

Dulquer says that peo-ple are actively seekingquality in movies, irre-spective of the language.He says, “We are at atime where people areseeking quality content.There is a lot of contentbeing generating everyyear on various enter-tainment platfoms.People bother moreabout the quality of themovie than about thelead roles. This is what Ikeep in mind when I gothrough scripts as I don’twant to miss out on agood story.”

Vijayawada Friday February 28, 2020

C

J

12

tollywood

AActor Dulquer

Salmaan speaksto the media

about his latestmovie Kanulu

KanulanuDochayante, hiswish to do morethan five films ayear, his take on

period moviesand more, reports

V SATEESHREDDY

‘PEOPLE ARE ACTIVELYSEEKING QUALITY IN MOVIES'

ARJUN RAMPALto make his T'wood debut

The Bollywood model-turned-actor, who

was last seen in Paltan,has been cast as theantagonist in Pawan

Kalyan's next with Krish,finds NAGARAJ GOUD Bunny, Trivikram

to team up againfter establishing 'non-Baahubali' records at manyterritories across Telugustates with AlaVaikunthapuramlo, the com-bination of Allu Arjun and

Trivikram Srinivas will be comingtogether again. Wait! Before you jumpinto crazy conclusions, the news is thatthey will be teaming up for a commer-cial to promote the latest streaming ser-vice to hit the market, Aha. This OTTplatform is co-owned by the stylishstar's father Allu Aravind. With VijayDeverakonda doing his bit for the appin the first phase of promotions, it'snow Bunny's turn to spread a word

about his father's ambitious digitalforay.

"The ad will talk about Aha being theonly digital platform which streamspure Telugu content. It's been interest-ingly conceived with Trivikram provid-ing his creative inputs. With Bunnyheadlining it, expect the commercial tograb eyeballs. It will be shot inHyderabad, before Bunny joins the setsof Sukumar's next on March 13.Samantha too will join the second phaseof Aha promotions as she is doing a talkshow for the app, whose glitzy launch isslated for Ugadi," says a well-placedsource close to the development.

- NG

A

et to shoot MallidiVasisth’s fantasydrama shortly,NandamuriKalyanram has linedup interesting pro-

jects for the next year. Whileproducer Mahesh Koneru, whoproduced the actor’s successfulfilm 118, a couple of years ago,announced a new project withthe actor sometime back lastyear, we’ve now learnt that itwill be directed by Vi Anand ofEkkadiki Pothavu Chinnadavafame. “The film will be a com-mercial entertainer but will beset in an innovative space likemost Anand’s films. Work onthe script is in full-swing,” saysa source.

Then there is another filmfor Dil Raju, who has distrib-

uted most of the actor’s films inNizam territory in the recentpast. “Kalyan agreed to do afilm for Raju a couple of yearsago and he will be honouringhis word later this year.Cinematographer-turned-direc-tor Guhan has been chosen todirect the film,” informs thesource, further adding that theactor has recently been narratedan action-entertainer by MythriMovie Makers. “He evinced hisinterest but is yet to take a callon the project as his plate isalready full.”

The actor, whose last release,Entha Manchi Vaadavuraa, wasthe box office turkey, is alsoproducing his younger brotherJr NTR’s next with TrivikiramSrinivas along with S RadhaKrishna.

SKalyanram's plate is full

Ruhani roped in forNaga Shaurya’s next