PV govt successful in maintaininggood ties with neighbours: Tharoor

PNS n HYDERABAD

A 30-year-old doctor work-ing in the Government AreaHospital in Bhadrachalamhas been booked for alleged-ly raping a 28-year-old staffnurse.

The Bhadrachalam policeare investigation the case.

Inspector of policeBhadrachalam Vinod Kumarconfirmed the incident. Hetold The Pioneer that theaccused raped the woman onAugust 24 night, though thepolice received a complaintrelating to it on Saturday. "Wehave booked a rape case.Investigation is on," he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The first phase of the Censusand the exercise to update theNational Population Register(NPR), scheduled for this yearbut deferred due to the coro-navirus outbreak, may bedelayed by a year as there is nosign of slowdown of the pan-demic.

The Indian census is one ofthe largest administrative andstatistical exercises in theworld, with the involvement ofmore than 30 lakh officialswho would visit each house-hold across the length andbreadth of the country.

"Census is not an essentialexercise for now. Even if it isdelayed by a year, there wouldbe no harm," a senior officialtold PTI.

The official said no finaldecision has been taken onwhen the first phase of the

Census 2021 and NPR updatewould take place, but it isalmost certain that it would notbe held in 2020 due to the ris-ing cases of the coronavirus.

The house-listing phase ofthe Census and the exercise toupdate NPR were scheduled tobe carried out across the coun-try from April 1 to September30, 2020, but were postponeddue to the COVID-19 out-break.

"As the entire exercise needsthe involvement of lakhs ofofficials and visit to each fam-ily, we can't undermine thehealth risk involved in it," theofficial said.

With a record single-dayspike of 78,761 cases, the totalcoronavirus cases in India roseto 35,42,733, while the deathtoll climbed to 63,498 as onSunday.

PNS n HYDERABAD

What if our jails are not prop-erly designed to reform andrehabilitate prisoners in rightearnest? They are at leastbecoming highly productivefrom a business standpoint.

This is the impression manywould get if they go by thesheer fact that in 2019Telangana jail inmates pro-duced goods worth of Rs599.89 crore, which is thehighest in value compared tothat produced by prisoners inall other states in the country,according to latest data relating

to prisons released by theNational Crime RecordsBureau (NCRB).

As a part of rehabilitation, atotal of 1,972 prisoners under-went vocational training in

areas like weaving, agricul-ture, carpentry and other crafts.Telangana provides computercourse to 4,740 jail inmates,again topping the list of states.

Explaining the intention ofthe prison administration, thedocument said:"The reforma-tion and rehabilitation ofoffenders is the ultimate objec-

tive of prison administration".It further added that manyStates/UTs, under the directionand supervision of the

Central Government, havebeen taking a number of initia-tives in the field of rehabilita-tion and welfare of prisoninmates.

HYDERABAD, MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

www.dailypioneer.com

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

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India, ASEANtrade ministerscall for free tradeagreement review

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India can becomeworld's toy hub,time to be vocalfor local toys: PM

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Cabbies feel helpless with no aid from government

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India and Russia were declared as the joint winners of the 2020 OnlineChess Olympiad after internet disconnection and server malfunction

marred the final leading to India provisionally losing 1.5-4.5 toRussia in the second round and subsequently the entirematch on Sunday.On board five and six both Nihal Sarinand Divya Deshmukh's games saw disconnection whichsaw India drop points, while on board 3 Koneru Humpyalso faced some internet issues as she lost vitalseconds due to internet malfunction.Humpycompleted her game but lost her advantageousposition and eventually dropped a point.

INDIA, RUSSIA ANNOUNCED JOINTWINNERS OF CHESS OLYMPIAD

122 LAW STUDENTS URGE SC TORECONSIDER PRASHANT JUDGEMENT

Ahospital has every right to insist on payment but it alsohas the prime duty to take care of a patient facing a

health emergency, the National Consumer DisputesRedressal Commission (NCDRC) has said while awarding acompensation of Rs 25 lakh for medical negligence to awoman whose husband died at the Christian MedicalCollege (CMC), Vellore. A bench of presiding member S M Kantikar andDinesh Singh awarded the compensation to the deceased patient's wifeYashumati Devi noting that there was an urgent need for the patient'sbrain CT scan but it was delayed for more than three hours as the hospitalwaited for a fresh receipt of Rs 1,850 towards charges for the procedure.

The Ministry of Finance has advised banks not to collect any chargeson transactions or payments made through electronic mode, the

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement on Sunday.According to the CBDT, representations were made that some bankswere imposing and collectingcharges on transactions carriedout through UPI.A certain numberof transactions were allowed freeby these banks beyond whichevery transaction bears a charge,the CBDT noted.

DON'T LEVY CHARGES ONELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS

Over a hunderd law students from across the country have written toChief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde and other judges of the Supreme

Court to reconsider the judgement on senior lawyer PrashantBhushan in the contempt case. The Supreme Court had,earlier this month, held Mr Bhushan guilty of contempt ofcourt over his tweets and reserved its order on thequantum of punishment. The top court is scheduled topronounce the sentence on Monday. In the letter, around122 law students made an emotional appeal to the CJI andother judges to reconsider the sentencing against PrashanrBhushan in the case.

HOSPITAL PRIME DUTY IS TO TAKECARE OF PATIENT: NCDRC

Newshounds worth their salt get their best, juicy and eyebrows-raising stuff from the corridors of power, where they are alwaysunwelcome, because of the occupational hazards they pose to

touchy babus. Information that is hidden and jealously guarded is prisedout tactfully from motormouths and disgruntled elements to cater hotnews to discerning readers who relish such material. At times, thosewho blurt out such 'inside' information, based on what happens in theanteroom, themselves may not know the value of what they are sharingwith nosy parkers. That exactly is what makes it news of the highestorder. Starting today, THE PIONEER will carry Monday mirchi, a piecethat will shed light on hard-won information deemed to be lies until it isofficially announced as truth. Since no dude gets such stuff on a platter,of course there could be masala about top officials and netas that wouldbe red-hot for one who is provoked, spicy for another who pinches aswell as cradles a baby, and delightful for yet another who has the lastlaugh in the pecking order. All of this is shared in good faith and with nomotive to hurt or belittle anyone whatsoever. There lies the truth of thisweekly piece. We advise you to enjoy it with a pinch of salt! -- PAGE 2

Monday Mirchi

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The Governments of Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh are appar-ently sore at the GST shortfallrelief plan announced recentlyby the Centre, though therespective Chief Ministers havenot hit out at the untenableoptions given by the UnionFinance Ministry.

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao and his APcounterpart YS Jagan-mohanReddy are therefore watchingother non-BJP ruled States todevise their individual strategyfor addressing the GST payoutissue, sources told The Pioneer.

Finance Department offi-cials in the Telugu states havethoroughly studied the 'twooptions' given by the Centre tomeet GST shortfall.

The Centre has given twooptions to meet this year’sGST compensation shortfall of

Rs 2.35 lakh crore to all States.Option 1 has a special win-

dow for states, coordinated bythe Finance Ministry, to borrowthe projected shortfall of Rs97,000 crore only on account ofGST implementation — andnot the Covid-19 pandemic —and this amount can be fullyrepaid from the compensationcess fund, without being count-ed as states’ debt.

Option 2 takes into account

the impact of the pandemic andproposes that states could bor-row the entire Rs 2.35 lakh croreand bear the interest burden,though principal could berepaid from the cess proceeds.The GST shortfall amount (Rs97,000 crore) will not be count-ed as states’ debt, while the restof the amount of Rs 1.38 lakhcrore will be counted in thebooks of the states.

Union Finance Secretary

and Expenditure Secretary willhold a meeting with statefinance secretaries on Tuesdayto clarify issues relating to thetwo options.

However, on Sunday officialsources said that, though somecircles in both TS and AP feelthat "Option 1" is better than"Option 2", KCR and Jagan areaverse to both the options asthey ask States to borrow.Both TS and AP have alreadyrun up huge debts in the firstthree months of this fiscal.

Property registrationsnosedive in Telanganan Outcome of lens on illegal properties PNS n HYDERABAD

Property registrations havecome down drastically acrossTelangana, following the recentorders barring registration ofunauthorised plots, flats, hous-es etc. Revenue earnings fromproperty registrations declinedsignificantly post August 27,when the orders were issued.

Prior to that, over 5,500property documents used to beregistered per day on an aver-age in 141 sub-registrar officesacross the state. Now, proper-ty registrations are witnessinga declining trend. On August27, property registrations fell to4,800 documents in state.

This came down further to4,800 documents on August28. Again on August 29, theproperty registra-tions slipped to4,000.

This hasimpacted rev-enue earnings ofthe state governmentthrough the Stamps andRegistration Department.The state government used to

earn Rs 27 crore per day on anaverage prior to issuance of

orders barringregistration of ille-gal properties.

Census, National PopulationRegister unlikely in 2020

UG, PG final exams dilemma for TS students

Doctor ‘rapes'nurse in TSNo events in Tollywood

without drugs: Madhavi

UDTA TOLLYWOOD?

PNS n HYDERABAD

Creating a sensation, BJPleader Madhavi Latha claimedon Sunday that drugs are anessential part of parties attend-ed by Tollywood celebrities.

She went on to aver that noparty is ever held in Tollywoodwithout the use of drugs.Hence, she wanted theNarcotics Control Bureau offi-cials of Telangana to focus onsubstance abuse by Tollywoodpersonalities.

Welcoming investigation intodrug angle in the SushantRajput case in Bollywood, she

appealed to NCB officials toturn their attention to substanceabuse in Tollywood as well.

"Substance abuse is equallyhigh in Tollywood," sheobserved.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The P V Narasimha Rao gov-ernment was successful inmaintaining good relationswith neighbouring countriesthrough reasonable, concilia-tory and accommodativeapproach while the presentBJP dispensation has "failed"in the area, Congress MPShashi Tharoor claimed onSunday.

Delivering a talk on "India'sForeign Policy--Former PrimeMinister P V Narasimha Rao",organised by the Congress'Telangana unit, he alsodescribed the late leader as a'true jewel of India' and pitchedfor conferring Bharat Ratnaposthumously on him.

He was addressing throughvideo conferencing the eventheld as part of the year-long

birth centenary celebrations ofRao, who hailed fromTelangana, by the Congress.

"The reason things are sobad today is first -- a divisive,ideologically driven and arro-gant politics which our neigh-bours pay attention to,"Tharoor alleged, replying to aquery on how he compared the

foreign policy handling of Raoand the current Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

"Second, huge difference inpersonality between the arro-gance of the current leadershipin our country and the quite,understated, humble approachof Narasimha Rao," he said.

Centre ignoresproblems causedby Covid: Owaisi PNS n HYDERABAD

AIMIM president AsaduddinOwaisi has charged the NDAgovernment with not show-ing enough concern toaddress the job losses andother adverse effects broughtabout by theC O V I D - 1 9pandemic inthe country

He said1.8 crorepeople allover the coun-try were now notreceiving salaries and eightcrore daily wage labourerswere out of work.

Also, 10 crore school chil-dren who used to get mid-daymeals have reportedly beendeprive of it because of thelockdown, he said, addressingan online public meeting hereon Saturday night.

TS prisoners produce goods worth nearly Rs 600 cr

PNS n HYDERABAD

Over 40 per cent of studentshave backlogs and for themtaking the final semester exam-ination in September amountsto a sterile exercise. For, evenif they clear the final semesterexams, they are unlikely to getthe degree certificate becauseof their backlogs in previoussemesters.

Across the state, such stu-dents constitute 42.50 percent of the total students. Asfor Osmania University, 62per cent of its students havebacklogs . In TelanganaUniversity, more than 65%students have backlogs. Asfor degree courses like BA, BCom, B Sc and BBA, 68 percent of the students havebacklogs.

The authorities are prepar-ing to conduct the last semes-ter examinations for tradition-al degree courses as well asengineering courses fromSeptember 15.

The state council of highereducation has decided to con-duct backlog examinations andPG last semester examinationsin October.

Usually backlog examina-

tions are held in March/Aprilannually, along with the lastsemester examinations.Because of Corona virus, thestate council has decided tohold the last semester exami-nations in September.

There are over 3 lakh stu-dents preparing to take theirlast semester degree and PGexaminations.

TS, AP UNHAPPY OVERCENTRE'S GST RELIEF PLAN

Prior to that, over 5,500 property documents usedto be registered per day on an average in 141 sub-registrar offices across the state. Now, propertyregistrations are witnessing a declining trend.

As a part of rehabilitation, a total of 1,972 prisonersunderwent vocational training in areas like weaving,agriculture, carpentry and other crafts. Telanganaprovides computer course to 4,740 jail inmates, againtopping the list of states.

Finance Departmentofficials in the Telugustates have thoroughlystudied the 'twooptions' given by theCentre to meet GSTshortfall.

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated August 30, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Bhadrapada & Shukla Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Trayodashi: 08:48 am

Nakshatram: Shravana: 03:04 pm

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 07:38 am – 09:10 am

Yamagandam: 10:43 am – 12:16 pm

Varjyam: 07:19 pm – 09:02 pm

Gulika: 01:48 pm - 03:21 pm

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 05:33 am – 07:15 am

Abhijit Muhurtham: 11:51 am – 12:40 pm

FFoorreeccaasstt:: Partly cloudyTemp: 32/22Humidity: 62%Sunrise: 06.02 amSunset: 06.30 pm

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HYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020 hyderabad 02

Monday Mirchi Ajeya stars set for another shift

Principal advisor to the Andhra Pradeshgovernment Ajeya Kallam is being

(t)eased out of his position. A 1983 batchIAS officer who has held key positions inthe previous government -- includingChief Secretary of the Government of AP,Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust,and Executive Officer of the TirumalaTirupati Devasthanams, Ajeya was namedas head of all advisors when the YSRCPparty came to power. But in less than oneyear, he was divested of many importantduties, including managing the ChiefMinister’s Office (CMO). Grapevine has itthat he is now tipped to be the SpecialRepresentative of Andhra Pradesh in NewDelhi, a post presently held by Rajya Sabhamember V Vijayasai Reddy. It is a truismin the corridors of power that, if somebodymust go, they shall; somewhere or the other.In the present case, it does not matter if thename ‘Ajeya’ means one who cannot be con-quered. So, in the event of any change ofmind among the powers that be, the PlanB is to recommend Ajeya’s name for UnionPublic Service Commission (UPSC) mem-ber post. Since this matter is well within thepurview of the Central government, andsince the saffron party has ties that are notunfriendly with YSRCP, no one sees anyhurdle for the principal advisor’s elevation.Super advisors, aware of this development,vouch for this. Whatever it may be, it seemseven the present configuration of stars pointto a change of location for Ajeya Kallamfrom Vijayawada to New Delhi.

Yes Yes Rawat’s dilemma

When buffeted by fund crunch, evenseasoned bureaucrats will wilt.

Andhra Principal Finance SecretaryShamsher Singh Rawat is facing unprece-dented challenges in managing the financesof the state. No wonder he landed in atricky situation, which is projected to theoutside world as one that takes away hisentire time “clearing bills”. Ostensibly toreduce his ‘burden’, during the recentadministrative reshuffle, his hold on theexpenditure side of finance was cut to size.The formidable task has been given toDhanunjay Reddy, a secretary in the CMO.Now Dhanunjay will tell which bills to clearand when. Since Rawat is PFS, he has thefinal say in releasing funds, though it wouldbe tempered by the recommendations ofDhanunjay Reddy who will look at theexpenditure with a fine-toothed comb.Since there won’t be any written correspon-dence while releasing or holding billsafter a particular bill comes to CFMS (afinance release system), (God forbid, crysupporters of PFS) should any legal issuesurface tomorrow, Rawat would be heldresponsible. Whatever happens, Rawatmust defend his action, be it releasing orholding back payments. This reminds oneof what happened in 2009, when theTelugu Desam Party raised the issue ofnon-payment of bills to contractors not in

the good books of YSR. The ElectionCommission then sent a special team andverified all payments to find out the verac-ity of the allegations. Shrewd YSR, antici-pating such things, had taken precautionson the advice of senior officials and wassaved from coming under the EC’s scan-ner. Whether Rawat can handle such sit-uation now?

E-GOs facing extinction

Gone are the days when governmentorders were available within minutes of

their approval. Nowadays not many GOs areavailable in the public domain. People aregoing back to ‘good’ old days of lobbying forGO copies from the respective departments!These days, the Telangana government hasrestricted even the number of GOs to bereleased. There were days when the GeneralAdministration Department (GAD) used torelease more than 20 GOs per day. Itincluded every aspect of the government andnothing could escape from the public eye.Now many things are given exemptions.Besides, selectively and secretively informa-tion is censored to avoid any controversy.This has led to a fall in the numbers of GOsissued. No wonder, in August, the govern-ment released only 19 GOs for the entiremonth! Some departments do not churn outeven a couple of GOs in the entire month,raising questions about their functioning.People are now worried that like in the caseof RTI, which has been gradually diluted bysuccessive governments, the e-GO platformtoo would end up without any significancein the coming days, if the present trend con-tinues.

KTR is buzzword inBizworld

National and international bizmen arefull of praise for Telangana Industries

Minister KT Ramarao. Despite Covid-19restrictions and lack of enthusiasm in everysector, the Minister has been in constanttouch with leading business associationslike the Confederation of Indian Industryand foreign delegations through video con-ferencing. Last three weeks, KTR did notleave any chance to reach leading businessgroups and personalities. Infusing confi-dence among people, he toured many dis-tricts and participated in several govern-ment programs. Despite Covid threat, hecarried himself so efficiently that none ofhis programs had to be postponed ordeferred throughout the lockdown period.Trying to make the most of ‘anti-China’sentiments prevailing across the globe, theMinister is leaving no stone unturned towoo foreign investments in Telanganastate. He is personally monitoring the issuesrelated to foreign investments and meet-ing honchos via VC to give a semblance ofpersonal touch. These studied, consistentefforts have paid off well. According toexcited business circles, many companiesare now looking at Telangana as their nextinvestment destination.

- yours truly

Global marketsdivergentPNS n HYDERABAD

Amidst acrimoniousdebates between the con-tenders in the light of fast-approaching Presidentialelections in the US and thewar preparedness forced bythe unrelenting China, theglobal markets remaineddivergent during the weekended Saturday.Consequently, New Yorkgold showed an increaseand finally closed at US $1,964.30 (per ounce), whilesilver followed suit andclosed at $ 27.47 (perounce). Platinum movedupward and closed at $ 924(per ounce) andPalladium tooappreciat-ed and closed at $ 2,083(per ounce).

Other economicp a r a m e t e r sremained strong.Brent closed atU S $4 5 . 8 1(per bar-rel) whileCrude MCX oil was quotedat Rs.3,149 (per barrel).Gold MCX stood atRs.51,448 (per 10gms),while MCX silvermoved downward andclosed at Rs.65,976 (per kg),Copper marched ahead andclosed at Rs.530.35 (per kg).

Sensex and Nifty 50 closedat the higher levels of39467.31 and 11647.60points. Leading foreign cur-rencies' exchange rates were:US $: Rs.73.13, BritishPound: Rs.97.63, Euro:Rs.87.07, Singapore $:Rs.53.83, Swiss Franc:Rs.80.88, Australian $:Rs.53.88, Saudi Riyal :Rs.19.50, New ZealandDollar: Rs.49.31, KuwaitiDinar: Rs.239.43, OmaniRial: Rs.189.96 and UAEDirham: Rs.19.91, JapaneseYen: Rs.0.69, Hong KongDollar: Rs.9.44.

In local markets, standardgold (24 carats) declined by

Rs.1,720 and closed atRs.53,730 (per 10 gms).

COMMODITIESThe sentiment

in principalwholesale com-

modity mar-kets int w i nc i t i e sc o n t i n -

ued to remain strong. RythuBazars and commoditymarkets located in BegumBazar, Kishangunj,Mukthyargunj, MirAlamMandi, Dilsukhnagar,Kukatpally, Bowenpally,General Bazar are gradual-ly returning to normalcy.

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

HC UPADHYAY nHYDERABAD

Although the Apex Court is yetto determine the quantum ofpunishment to be awarded tosenior lawyerPrashantBhushanfor contempt of court,the Gujarat High Court hascome down heavily, in unequiv-ocal terms, on a similar state-level heavyweight and head ofthe high court bar association,Yatin Oza and deflated thecontemnor's ego. The kid-gloves approach adopted bythe Apex Court for whateverreasons in the case of PrashantBhushan was totally absent incase of Oza. That is why theHigh Court could arrive at aconclusion in that case.

Like Prashant Bhushan in theSupreme Court, Yatin Oza toowas slapped with the contemptnotice suo motu by the stateHigh Court for his contemptu-ous statements regarding thefunctioning of the High Courtand its Registry. Oza made anunsuccessful bid to stall the pro-ceedings by approaching the

Apex Court, after which he ten-dered an unconditional apolo-gy. But the full court resolutionof the High Court did notaccept it as it lacked sincereremorse. A division benchcomprising Justice SoniaGokani and N V Anjaria, inits judgement dated 27thAugust, observed: "Mereapology may not be ananswer to an act, utter-ance or publication ofcontempt which isgrave in nature soas to scandalize themajesty, dignityand authority ofthe court. The schoolof thought of 'Giveslap, say sorry andforget'was notendorsed by the Supreme Courtin L.D.Jaikwal."

Indeed, the tough standtaken by the High Court willhave a chilling effect over the

legal fraternity, but that is theneed of the hour. One does notbecome a 'big' lawyer by usinginsulting language againstjudges and anybody concernedwith the justice delivery mech-anism. In the cases on hand,

both lawyers are repeatoffenders, having bitten thedust on earlier occasions.Therefore, logical course for

the Supreme Court wasto inflict themaximum pun-ishment pre-

scribed under the law toPrashant Bhushan and

stripping him of his'Senior' designation. Thatcould have reduced to zeroone who had aspired to behero by quoting Mahatma

Gandhi. Unfortunately, a lobbywith a singular agenda ofdemeaning judiciary and belit-tling the learned judges hasbeen active. In the name of free-

dom of expression, this lobbyhas been indulging in indisci-pline, abuse and name-callinggames. Added to this, the lobbygets unwarranted support andsympathy from some retiredjudges and bar associations.Even the Attorney General incase of Prashant Bhushan triedto whitewash the entire suomotu exercise of the apex courtby pleading for mercy to thecontemnor which the latternever asked. Such strange con-duct of the first lawyer of thecountry needs to be seriously

probed and pending an enquiry,the Attorney General should besuspended immediately. Lastbut not the least, the statementof Bhushan's lawyers made at awebinar on August 26 that thecitizens should continue toshow mirror to judges is noth-ing but highly contemptuousand inciting the people againstthe judges and thereby thejudiciary of the country. Dave,too, needs to be taught a lessonor two in the matters likerespecting the judges and theprocedures of the court to

ensure justice to the people. Itis high time Parliament took aholistic view of the Contemptof Court Act, 1971 and amendsit suitably so as to instill the fearof law which alone can scare theunruly people from indulgingin nonsensical tirades againstthe judiciary.

Wives beware

Here comes some cau-t i on ar y n e w s for t h eestranged wives, particu-larly those who are underthe wrong impression thatthe laws of the land areblindly supporting them,irrespective of the bald alle-gations they might makeagainst their husbands andhis relatives. Deliveringthe judgement in an appealfiled by the wife, Anita Gauragainst her husband RajeshGaur, the Uttarakhand HighC ou r t on Au g u s t 2 4

affirmed the lower court'sjudgement grant ing thedecree of divorce mainlyon the ground of cruelty.The division bench com-pris ing Just ice NarayanSingh Dhanik and JusticeRavi Malimath, while dis-missing the appeal filed bythe wife, noted that thewife, without informing herspouse, borrowed moneyon interest from many per-sons, made purchases oncredit, used to steal orna-ments and valuables fromher own house and leveledso many allegations againsther spouse which she failedto substantiate.

The High Court observedthat the word 'cruelty' hasnot been defined under thelaw and that the same couldbe physical or mental. "Inthe matrimonial life, cruel-ty may be of unfounded

variety. But before the con-duct could be called cruel-ty, it must touch the certainpitch of severity and con-duct should be such that noreasonable person wouldtolerate it. It should be will-ful and unjustifiable con-duct. The enquiry, there-fore, must be whether theconduct charged as crueltyis of such a character ornot.''

New date for bar exam The Bar Council of India has

decided to hold the All IndiaBar Examination on November8 and has extended the date foronline applications till October17. The date of examination waspostponed due to the prevailingpandemic. The Bar Councilhas released the updated sched-ule of AIBE XV which can beviewed on https://www.allindi-abarexamination.com.

LEGAL

ROUNDUP

Like Prashant Bhushan in the SupremeCourt, Yatin Oza too was slapped with thecontempt notice suo motu by the state HighCourt for his contemptuous statementsregarding the functioning of the High Courtand its Registry

CRACKING HARD NUTS: GUJARAT HC SHOWS THE WAY!

PNS n HYDERABAD

The double whammy ofCovid-19 and the recent floodshas increased the cost of veg-etables across the state, burn-ing a hole in the commonman's pocket. This is the firsttime in several years that veg-etable prices have increased inAugust, with many saying itcosts as much as chicken.

In spite of heavy rains, avail-ability of irrigation facility andtanks, rivers and reservoirsfull up to the brim, the state hasto import vegetables fromother states.

The total area under variousvegetable crops duringVanakalam would be at lest1.40-lakh acres. But, this yearthe area shrunk by at least50,000 acres because of heavyslump in demand. Many hotels

are not yet fully resumed theirbusiness activity, marriages arefar and few in between andpeople are not in a mood tocelebrate family occasionsbecause of Covid-19 threat.Because of these reasons, therehas been a slump in demand

for vegetable crops. According to horticulture

director L Venkatram Reddy,many farmers have switchedover to other crops from rais-ing vegetable crops because ofshortage of agriculture work-ers.

The state is importing car-rots and onions from up, ivygourd from West Bengal,tomatoes from Maharashtra,drum sticks from Tamil Nadu,some other varieties fromAndhra Pradesh, Karnataka,and Chhattisgarh and MP. Theincreased cost of transporta-tion and hamali charges havepushed up vegetable prices oflate. On Saturday, a kg of spinygourd was sold at Rs 105,while green chillies and beansare sold at Rs 60 a kg. Incolonies, the spiny gourd isbeing sold at Rs 120 a kg, beansand chillies are being soldbetween Rs 80-Rs 100 a kg.

The common man com-plains that the retail tradershave priced their vegetables at50 per cent higher prices thatt he cost of the vegetables soldin Rythu Bazars.

COVID-19, RAINS PUSHVEGETABLE PRICES UP

Centre ignoresproblems causedby Covid: Owaisi Continued from page 1

Prime Minister NarendraModi had 'invited' all this onthe country by imposing anunplanned, unconstitutionallockdown, he alleged.

He also alleged that therehas been a 64 per cent dip inchild immunisation and that10 lakh children had notreceived their BCG vaccina-tion during the lockdown.

Besides, six lakh childrenhad missed getting their oralpolio vaccine since theCOVID-19 outbreak, he said.

The Prime Minister, healleged, also was not worriedabout Chinese intrusionsalong the nation's borders.

Owaisi urged his support-ers to help people during theCOVID-19 pandemic,regardless of ones religion

He said his party wouldcontest the coming assemblypolls in Bihar.

Census, NationalPopulation Register...Continued from page 1

According to the earlier sched-ule, the census would have itsreference date as March 1,2021, and in the snow-boundareas of Jammu and Kashmir,Himachal Pradesh andUttarakhand, it would beOctober 1, 2020. "TheCOVID-19 threat is still loom-ing large. The census andNPR are not in the priority listof the government as of now,"another official said.

In March, when the coron-avirus-induced lockdown wasannounced, theRegistrarGeneral and CensusCommissioner of India was allset for the first phase of thecensus and updation of theNPR that was scheduled tobegin from April 1.

Even though some stategovernments opposed theNPR update, all offered fullsupport to the census exercise.

The census is the largestsingle source of a variety ofstatistical information onpeople of India which helpsthe State to chalk out variouspolicies.

With a history of more than130 years, this reliable, timetested exercise has been bring-ing out a veritable wealth of

statistics every10 years, includ-ing on the rich diversity of thepeople, and has become one ofthe tools to understand andstudy India. The objective ofthe NPR is to create a compre-hensive identity database ofevery usual resident in thecountry. The database wouldcontain demographic as wellas biometric particulars.

The NPR is a register of theusual residents of the country.It is prepared at the local (vil-lage and sub-town), subdis-trict, district, state and nation-al levels under provisions ofthe Citizenship Act, 1955 andthe Citizenship (Registrationof Citizens and Issue ofNational Identity Cards) Rules,2003.

The data for NPR was lastcollected in 2010 along withthe house listing phase of theCensus 2011. Updating of thisdata was done during 2015 byconducting a door-to-doorsurvey.

While updating the registerin 2015, the government hadasked details like Aadhaarand the mobile number ofpeople.

This time, the informationrelated to their driving licenceand voter ID card may also begathered, the officials said.

PV govt successful in maintaining...Continued from page 1

The Thiruvananthapuram MPsaid Narasimha Rao was prag-matic and wanted to "changethings" without seeming to bechanging any.

"Finally, Narasimha Rao waspragmatic...he wanted tochange things without seemingto bechanging any...you neverhear a speech from him sayingthat all our previous foreignpolicies arebad and I amchanging everything. He por-trayed everythingwas incon-tinuation of the past but at thesame time he brought aboutfundamental changes," headded. According to Tharoor,Narasimha Rao knew the art ofhow to relate to the neighbour-

hood in an asymmetrical fash-ion -- show these countriesthat India will give more thanit takes as opposed to the pre-sent regime.

"For example in the con-frontation with Nepal overthe new Constitution (there) itlooked like India was demand-ing more from Nepal thanNepal could feasibly give...thatis not the approach by a bigcountry to a small country.

"We have to go out of ourway to be reasonable, concilia-tory and accommodative.Sadly, this is where the presentregime has failed and this iswhere Narasimha Rao suc-ceeded," Tharoor said.

He further said in one ofIndia's most difficult periods in

1991, India was blessed with anextraordinary statesman and avisionary leader in Rao, whoaccording to him changed thecountry's fortunes in an excep-tionally transformative way.

His skilful management ofalliances and courage to intro-duce bold economic reformswith Manmohan Singh funda-mentally changed India, headded. "He achieved thisdespite not being a popularmass leader, presiding over aminority government and asan accidental prime minister.Under him the foreign policyof India moved decisively awayfrom pure Nehruvian idealismto more pragmatic pursuits ofnational self-interest," Tharooradded.

Propertyregistrations...Continued from page 1

This amount has now dwin-dled to Rs 24 crore per day.

Most of the property buy-ers visiting sub-registraroffices for registration arebeing shown the door if theyfail to submit documents toprove that their property islegal.

While the situation is badin Hyderabad and RangaReddy districts, it is worse inother districts. This is becausemost of the layouts doneunder municipal corpora-tions, municipalities andgram panchayats in the dis-tricts are illegal. They do nothave approvals of urban orrural local bodies.

The ban on registration ofillegal properties is beingexecuted mainly at the levelof document writers. Sub-registrars have directed doc-ument writers to draft docu-ments and send them to sub-registrar offices only if theparties have valid documentsto prove that their property islegal.

Due to this, documentwriters are refusing to draftdocuments of illegal proper-ties at their level itself, whichhas led to a decrease in reg-istrations in sub-registraroffices.

Doctor ‘rapes'nurse in TSContinued from page 1

The accused, identified asBanoth Reddy, joined thehospital recently.

The victim, in her com-plaint, stated that Reddy usedto harass her. On August 24,he went to the residence ofthe victim at Medical Colonyand forced himself on herwhile she was alone.

Based on her complaint,the accused doctor wasbooked under Section 376IPC (Punishment for rape)and other relevant sections,Vinod Kumar said. Effortswere being made to nab theaccused doctor, he added.

TS, AP unhappy over Centre's...Continued from page 1

The debt burden in both statesis expected to touch new peaksat this rate. This being the pre-sent dismal position, the debtwill be compounded if addi-tional loans have to be securedto meet GST shortfall.

Some of the BJP-ruled stateshave indicated their willing-ness to back the first option.Opposition-ruled states wantthe Centre to take over thedebt burden, arguing that theyhave much lower headroom toeither borrow or service it.Besides, they argue that theCentre can raise funds at acheaper interest rate.

The TS government hadraised Rs 12,461 crore in the

very first quarter of this fiscal(April-June).

In July, the governmentraised an additional Rs 3,500crore and in August anotherRs 3,000 crore was raised tillAugust 14.

With this, the total loansraised by state governmentthrough auction of bonds inthis fiscal increased to Rs19,000 crore.

Going by the current pace,the total market borrowings ofTelangana State is expected totouch Rs 49,000 crore by theend of this fiscal 2020-21.

The neighbouring AP'sfinancial condition is worse. Itis already a 'revenue-deficit'since 2014, when AP wasbifurcated.

UG, PG final exams...Continued from page 1

Considering campus inter-views, the last semester exam-inations of professional cours-es in JNTU-H and MBAcourses are being conducted inSeptember. The last semesterexaminations would be con-ducted over a period of 12-15days. To complete holding thebacklog examinations fromsemester one to five, it wouldrequire at least 25-30 days,according to OU officials.

Even if there is one student

who must clear the backlogs ineach semester, it would requireone month for the varsity toconduct examinations for allsemesters. Even if there is onestudent, the backlog examina-tions would have to be con-ducted. By the time the resultsare declared for all semesters,it would take more time,delaying PG admissions fur-ther. TSCHE said that in TamilNadu students had beenawarded minimum markswithout conducting examina-tions and promoted.

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020 hyderabad 03

IN BRIEFIN BRIEF

Institute of Public Enterprise(IPE), Hyderabad, which is

accepting applications for PostGraduate programmes for the2020 admissions year, hasextended the last date foradmission applications toSeptember 10. According to apress release issued here on Sunday, IPE is offering programmesincluding Post Graduate Diploma in Management - General, PDGM -Banking, Insurance and Financial Service, PDGM - Marketing, PGDM- International Business, PGDM - Human Resource Management andExecutive PDGM. Any graduate can apply and will be admitted as perthe new guidelines of AICTE, the press release said adding that up toRs 2 lakh is offered as scholarship to students with top scores ofCAT/MAT/XAT/CMAT/ATMA/GMAT.

As part of the 150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi, University of Hyderabad

(UoH) is organising a one-day internationalwebinar on Peace from Within to GlobalPeace in Gandhian Perspective on Monday.The UoH is jointly hosting the webinar withGandhi-King Global Initiative, Stanford

University, USA & Gandhi-King Foundation, Hyderabad. There willbe two sessions from 8 am to 11 am, and the other from 6 pm to 8pm. The key speakers of the webinar include Prof ClayborneCarson, Director, The Martin Luther King Jr Research & EducationInstitute, Stanford University, USA, Prof Paul Bueno de Mesquita,Director, Centre for Peace & Nonviolence Studies, University ofRhode Island, Kingston RI, USA, Dr Sarada Purna Sonty, Chicago,Prof Isao Takagi, Faculty of Economics, Soka University, Japan.

Surgeons from Medicover Hospitals,Madhapur, have successfully

conducted a lung procedure to save thelife of a 17-year-old Covid-19 positiveyoungster Prem Kumar, hailing forRangareddy district. Apart from testingpositive for Covid, Prem Kumar alsodeveloped a bacterial infection in thelungs and doctors had to conduct decortication, a surgicalprocedure involving removal of restrictive layer of fibrous tissueover the lungs, so that it can re-expand. "The patient who wasadmitted in the first week of August suffered further complicationsdue to bacterial infection. Puss had formed around his left lung,which was causing breathlessness and chest pain. Followingdecortication, Prem was administered with antivirals for Covid andanti-bacterial drugs for lung infection," said hospital's senior CTsurgeon, Dr. Pramod Reddy. Subsequent to the procedure, Premgradually developed Covid-19 antibodies and was discharged."Culture study of the puss recovered from the lungs turned out to bea regular form of Staphylococcus bacteria," added Dr. Pramod.

Date for IPE admissions

extended to September 10

UoH to hold international webinar on Global Peace

Covid patient with bacterial infection in lung recovers

‘Open educational institutes with alternate day classes for batches'NAMRATA SRIVASTAVAn HYDERABAD

With no income for severalmonths, small educationalinstitutions are in a financialcrisis. Several institutions' man-agements opine that the gov-ernment should open educa-tional institutes fromSeptember 15, where studentscan attend classes in batches.

Talking about the state offinancial affair, Syed Arif,Principal, Alliance Interna-tional School, Golconda, says,"Understanding the pandemicsituation, maybe we can let stu-dents study in batches atschool. They can ask only thehigher classes - VIII, IX and X- to attend the classes with onlyhalf attendance on each day.This way each student canattend the classes on alternatedays. We are ready to maintainevery Covid norm and socialdistancing for the students."

He adds, "Since the schoolsare closed, we have not been

receiving any around 70-75 percent fees from students. This inturn is causing delay in pay-ment of teachers, or no pay-ment at all. Since, we havestarted taking online classes,the teachers have to work with-out much salary."

A Santhosh Kumar,President of Telengana StateTechnical Colleges EmployeesAssociation (TSTCEA), sharesthat despite the lockdown, thecollege managements wereasked to we pay the buildingrent, electricity bills and other

bills. "All the sectors includingshopping malls and restau-rants have been opened.However, the educational insti-tutes are still closed. Severalstudents do not have smartphones or access to network,for those students the bestway to get education is to

attend physical classes. I feel,the government should openthe educational institutes, withlimited attendance each dayand proper pandemic precau-tions."

With some of the educa-tionalists do not agree thateducational institutionsshould open, they believe thatgovernment should help smallprivate institutes to make surethey do not pull the shutterdown.

S Srinivas Reddy, one of theleaders in schools' associationsays the current situation willleave a huge impact on thefuture of education. "Around3,000 to 4,000 of the schoolsin Telangana are on the vergeof shutting down. With overthree lakh teachers working inthe state, the governmentshould at least pay theirsalaries to reduce the burdenoff private schools. If moreschools decide to close doors,the future of education in thestate will be in danger."

Some of theeducationalistsbelieve that the governmentshould helpsmall privateinstitutes tomake sure theydo not pull theshutter downamid Covid-19crisis

Cabbies feel helpless with no aid from governmentPNS n HYDERABAD

Despite several protests bydrivers, the state governmenthas not extended the tax andloan moratorium period forthe vehicles beyond August 31.With the deadline here, sever-al drivers feel helpless withoutany financial help from theauthorities.

Many drivers are the solobread winners for their fami-ly. A Mahesh, who bought aDzire just before the pandem-ic hit, is clueless how he willmanage the EMIs for the vehi-cle. "I bought the car thinkingit will increase the income. Butas the deadline to not pay theEMIs for the car is here, I amdreading how to manage myfinances. I am the only oneearning for a family of six andthere was no business for fourmonths. Now when the bankcalled me, they asked me tonot only pay five months'EMI, but also the payment forSeptember. I have to pay themRs 50,000 immediately. Noauthority is helping us," heshares.

Owing to strict lockdown,many drivers didn't have anybusiness for four months. Mostof these people have scrappedthrough their savings and liv-ing on hand-to-mouth basis.

K Satish Kumar, who drivesa school van, shares thatalthough the vehicle quarter-ly tax for schools vehicles isvery less, the current situationis such that he cannot evenafford that. He shares, "Thevehicle tax that I paid quarter-ly is only Rs 350 - that is myfamily's two time meal. I can'tafford it at the moment. Soon

after the pandemic hit, I start-ed selling sanitisers on road.Initially the business faredwell, but now even that isn'tgetting me anything. I alsohave to arrange for a Rs 15,000monthly EMI that I haven'tpaid for five months. The gov-ernment has just abandonedus."

Incidentally, the drivers hadasked the government for awaiver on the loan EMIs andvehicle tax till the end the year,however government has notyet released any order pertain-ing to their request.

New rules from fire department worry jr collegesPNS n HYDERABAD

Rule requiring private juniorcolleges to submit No-objec-tion Certificate (NoC) fromfire department to renew theiraffiliation with the TelanganaState Board of IntermediateEducation is posing problemsto the college managements.

Earlier, only those collegebuildings which are tallerthan 15 metres and more arerequired to submit the NoC.Now the government made itcompulsory for the juniorcolleges which are six metrestall and more to submit theNoC from fire department.

In the 2,472 junior collegein the state, 404 are govern-ment-run colleges and 300 areresidential and government-

aided junior colleges. As per the latest rules, 1,450

junior colleges are required to

submit the NOCs. Going by the existing struc-

ture and setback conditions,

these colleges are unlikely toget the NOCs. Accordingly,getting affiliation for the year2020-21 academic year is dif-ficult to get. The college man-agements are worried aboutthe state government intro-ducing the new rule.

The Intermediate II yearclasses are going to com-mence very shortly. If theircollege did not get affiliationfor the current year, whatwould be their fate, questionthe students.

The Coronavirus hasseverely upset the academicschedule this year. If majori-ty of the college did not getrecognition it would affect theIntermediate education thisyear.

The college managements

are all set to begin classesonline from September 1.

Over 5.3 lakh studentspassed SSC during this year.Another 70,000 have qualifiedin SSC through open school.Over six lakh students needseats in Intermediate.

If 50 per cent of the juniorcolleges did not get recogni-tion, seats would be denied toat least 3 lakh students.

The state governmentshould take an early decisionon fire department's NOC tosolve the problem.

The private colleges' man-agement association presi-dent Gouri Satish says that themanagements press for elim-inating the need to submit theNOC up to a height of 6metres.

Fire department officials train students on fire safety equipment

PNS n HYDERABAD

An elderly woman was founddead on the footpath wrappedin a blanket on the busy streetin Banjara Hills on Sunday.Efforts are being made totrace the accused who left thebody on footpath.

The police officials reachedthe spot and examined thebody after receiving informa-tion about a dead bodywrapped in blanket left on thefootpath in front of LumbiniMall in Road no 2

Banjara Hills Inspector ofpolice N Kalinga Rao said,

"There are no external injurieson the body. The body sur-faced on the footpath on thebusy road during afternoon.We suspect someone mighthave left the body. We areanalysing the CCTV camerafootage in the surroundingareas to trace who left thebody. Preliminary investiga-tion indicates that she is a beg-gar."

Meanwhile, police officialsrecovered the body and shift-ed to Osmania GeneralHospital for autopsy. Effortsare being made to identify thewoman.

The body of anelderly womanfound wrapped in ablanket on footpathin Banjara Hills

Woman's body wrapped inblanket found on footpath

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad InternationalAirport has won the presti-gious awards of CII "NationalEnergy Leader" and "ExcellentEnergy Efficient Unit" at the21st National Awards forExcellence in EnergyManagement organised by theConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII) -GBC)duringthe 19th edition of EnergyEfficiency Summit, VirtualConference and Expositionon Energy Efficiency heldfrom August 6 to 28.

Rajiv Gandhi InternationalAirport, Hyderabad has beenrecognised with "ExcellentEnergy Efficient Unit" and"National Energy Leader"accolades for the fourth and

second year in a row, respec-tively. The forum recognisesthe companies engaged inenergy-efficiency initiativesthat adopt best practices andtechnological advancement intheir daily operations. Thejury evaluated the partici-pants on many parameters ofenergy efficiency and innov-ative thought process adopted.The jury, CII members andindustry delegates appreciatedthe initiatives of RGIA.

Hyd airport wins two CII national awards

State forest officials win two wildlife photography awards

PNS n HYDERABAD

Forest officers of Telanganahave won two national levelawards for wildlife photogra-phy in a competition con-ducted by the WildLifeConservation Society.

DFO, Adilabad, ChandraSekhar Rao won second prizefor his photograph of BengalTiger, DFO, Macherial,Madhav Rao Siripurapu wonthird prize for his photo ofCrested Hawk Eagle.

The WCS organized the'Best Wildlife Photograph2020' contest on the occasionof World Photography Daylast week.

Forest Minister IndrakaranReddy and other senior offi-cers of the department con-gratulated the winners.

ADDED ATTRACTION

Hyderabad's Durgam Cheruvu cable-stayed bridge, which will be opened soon, is undergoing

final touches. The facility, built at a cost of Rs 184 crore, reduces the travel time between

Madhapur and Jubilee Hills and connects the Hi-Tec City and financial district with the city

CCS cops beginprobe into sexual exploitation casePNS n HYDERABAD

Sleuths of the Central CrimeStation of Hyderabad Policehave started a full-fledgedinvestigation into the sexualexploitation case reported atPunjagutta.

The police raided theoffice of a social organisationnamed in the complaint bythe victim and are makingefforts to nab one personDollar Boy alias Raju.

The victim told the policethat Raju had blackmailedher all these years and sex-ually exploited her.

The Punjagutta police hadbooked a case on August 21following the complaint madeby the victim and later trans-ferred it to the Central CrimeStation.

The CCS official hadrecorded the statement ofthe victim and questioned afew persons who were namedin the FIR.

The Central CrimeStation teams are makingefforts to nab Raju so thatthey can get a clear pictureof the allegations madeagainst him and the remain-ing 142 persons by the vic-tim.

Jail occupancy in TS below normalDURGA PRASAD SUNKU n HYDERABAD

While the country grappleswith overcrowded prisons,Telangana state claims to bebelow its maximum capacitybased on results of an inquiryinto the number of prisonerscurrently placed.

The Telangana prisons withless than 100 percent occupan-cy rate are far better comparedto all others states prisons inthe country.

Jails across India remainedovercrowded in 2019 withthese facilities lodging 4.78lakh prisoners against the actu-al capacity of 4.03 lakh.However the picture ofTelangana prisons is different.The state having 37 prisonsincluding central, district, subjails, and others has a capaci-ty to accommodate around7785 inmates. But in 2019 thenumber of inmates stands at6717 inmates which equates to86.3 percent.

"The prison population hasincreased tremendously whichcreates number of challengesbefore prison administrationlike security and safety inprison, hygiene issues, over-crowding and other issues"read the report published byNCRB. Most of the inmateslodged in Telangana prisons

are under trail prisoners (65.3per cent) followed by convicts(31.1 per cent) and detunes(3.6 per cent) reveals the latestdata by the National CrimeRecords Bureau (NCRB).

The educational profile thejail inmates including convictsunder trail prisoners, detunesshow that predominantly theyare illiterates.

As many as 227 jail inmatesare post graduates and 451graduates are lodged inTelangana prisons.

Niloufer staffersuccumbs toCoronavirusPNS n HYDERABAD

One more employee fromNiloufer Hospital, this timefrom the hospital’s non-clin-ical wing, has succumbed toCovid at TIMSvon Saturdaynight, taking the total num-ber of Covid related deaths inthe hospital to three.

The deceased office super-intendent, Suresh was admit-ted to TIMS last Friday butfailed to recover and breathedhis last on Saturday. Earlierthis week, two employeesfrom the hospital including asanitary worker and a radiol-ogy technician passed awaywhile undergoing treatment.

TS prisoners produce goods...Continued from Page 1

Telangana has reported thehighest gross value of saleproceeds of ?599.89 croregenerated by jail inmates,followed by Tamil Nadu(72.96 crore) and Maharas-htra (29.40 crore) during theyear 2019, according to theNCRB document.

To achieve this, the inmateswere given vocational train-ing in Agriculture (32),Carpentry (1), Tailoring(179), Weaving (1,055),Making soap and pheynl(20)and others- 685. Convictswere divided into skilled,

semi-skilled and unskilled,and paid Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 30wages per day respectively.

Even with regard to thevalue of goods produced, TStopped (8,93,093.81), fol-lowed by TN (?49,611.55)and Chandigarh (?41,478.66)during the year 2019.

In addition,Telangana pris-ons administration helpedthe inmates to pursue theireducation. Around 13,633inmates were enrolled in ele-mentary education, 7,670inmates in Adult education,546 inmates in higher educa-tion and 4,740 inmates inComputer course in 2019.

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020 hyderabad 04

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and his family members performing Ganapati homam at Pragathi Bhavan on Sunday

DIVINE TTIME

Kishan asks party cadreto gear up for GHMC pollsPNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister for State ofHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyon Sunday called upon theparty leaders to strive hard tosweep the GHMC elections. Heasked the party leaders to workhard by preparing an actionplan for Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahbubnagar andN a l g o n d a - K h a m m a m -Warangal graduate constituen-cies MLC elections.

While participating in a videoconference held under the lead-ership of Telangana BJP ChiefBandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday,Kishan Reddy alleged that theTRS leaders are indulging in afalsehood campaign by claim-ing that the Central schemes astheir schemes in the state. Heasked the BJP cadre to reveal thetruth to the people. He also sug-gested the party leaders andcadre to take Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's liberal helpand cooperation to the develop-ment of Telangana state.

On the other hand, theUnion Minister held a reviewmeeting with the state agricul-ture officials at Dilkusha GuestHouse on Sunday. He asked theofficials to provide adequate fer-tilizers in tune with theincreased crop area in the stateto see that the farmers do notface troubles. He inquired aboutthe availability of urea to thefarmers and the details of thecrop area and told officials that

he will talk to Union Fertilizersand Chemicals DepartmentMinister Sadananda Gouda ifneed arises.

The officials informed theUnion Minister that the Centreallocated 10.50 lakh tonnes ofurea this year following therequest of the state. Last year,the Centre allocated 3.50 lakhtonnes of urea by this time, theofficials said and informed thatthe farmers already purchased7 lakh tonnes of urea. The offi-cials brought to the notice of theUnion Minister that the statemay need fertilizers additional-

ly though the departmentensured the supply of fertilizersin tune with the farming in thestate. Reacting on it the Ministersaid that the centre will extendall help and cooperation to thestate.

Earlier, the Union Ministeralso held a review meeting withMetro Rail MD NVS Reddy anddiscussed the issues-extensionof Metro rail up to Old City, theMetro faced troubles due to lockdown and the security measuresto be taken on the occasion ofrestart of Metro Rail servicefrom September 7.

Union MInister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy with the officials ofAgriculture Department, in Hyderabad on Sunday

‘Advanced techhelps in reachingout to people'HYDERABAD: Union Minister ofState for Home Affairs G KishanReddy on Sunday highlightedthe importance of usingadvanced technology increating awareness on welfareschemes of the UnionGovernment so that theprogrammes can have massappeal to attract the generalpublic. While speaking withInformation & BroadcastingMinistry officials in Hyderabad,he suggested using creatives,info- graphics which can easilyattract the attention of commonman and can give comprehen-sive information on all govern-ment scheme benefits. Statingthat Hyderabad is a hub ofmany National Institutes likeNPA, NISA, NSG, etc, KishanReddy suggested that specialprogrammes on their activitiesmay be broadcast in publicinterest to create moreawareness. Kishan Reddyreviewed various activities ofmedia units of the Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting,in Hyderabad on Sunday. TheMinister released theSeptember edition of Yojana,magazine of PublicationDivision on the occasion.

Rly Board gives nod to run spl trainsPNS n HYDERABAD

As Unlock 3.0 is nearing itsend, the fourth phase of the'Unlock' is about to begin fromSeptember 1 across the coun-try. The guidelines of 'Unlock4.0' were announced yesterdayby the Ministry of HomeAffairs, under which the min-istry allowed metro services toresume across the countryfrom September 7.

The Railway Board hasgranted permission to railwayzones to run special trains instates upon consulting statesunder the limits of the railwayzones. The final decision is leftto the state governmentdepending on severity ofCovid-19 cases. The govern-ment Chief Secretaries arelikely to write letters to thezones in a day or two.

If the state government gives

its nod to run special trains, theservices will be run from statecapital to various districts inthe state. As part of unlock 4.0,the railway board discussedtwo days ago on running spe-cial trains in states. It decidedto run special train servicesbetween various districts.

If the state governments

have no objection, the railwayboard has no objection to runspecial trains. Normally,employees, petty traders andpeople commute betweenMahbubnagar, Nalgonda,Warangal, Janagoan,Kamareddy and Hyderabad asfrequently as possible.

There are many persons

who travel to districts fromthe city too. The train fare iseconomical, compared to busfare. Therefore, many showinclination to rail travel. If thedecision were to be imple-mented, passenger train ser-vices, MEMU, DEMU, push-pull trains will come intoforce soon.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana has reported 2,924new Coronavirus cases in thelast 24 hours, taking the state'soverall tally to 1,23,090, healthofficials said on Sunday.Meanwhile, 10 more newdeaths have increased the totalnumber of fatalities to 818. Thehealth officials said the state'scase fatality rate furtherdropped to 0.66 per centagainst the national average of1.79 per cent. Out of the totalfatalities, 53.87 per cent hadcomorbidities.

Authorities have tested61,148 samples during the last24 hours ending 8 p.m.Saturday. The results of 1,801samples are awaited. Duringthe last seven days, over 4.30lakh tests were conducted.This has taken the overallnumber of tests to 13,27,791.The authorities have added fivelaboratories including fourprivate for conducting RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TRUENATtypes of tests. Now a total of 17government and 35 privatelaboratories are conductingthese tests, while the state has1,076 rapid antigen tests cen-tres.

Unlike some other states, theauthorities in Telangana havenot provided a break-up of thetype of tests conducted. Duringthe last 24 hours, 27,516 pri-mary contacts and 8,560 sec-ondary contacts were tested.The officials claimed that with35,763 samples tested per mil-lion population, the number of

tests conducted in the state ismuch higher than the dailytesting target of 5,600 per dayas per the World HealthOrganization's (WHO) bench-mark of 140 per million perday. According to the latestbulletin, out of total positivecases so far, 84,932 that is 69per cent of the total caseswere asymptomatic while theremaining 31 per cent weresymptomatic. The number ofcases in Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) increased to 461from 432 the previous day.

Rangareddy and MedchalMalkajgiri districts abuttingGHMC reported 153 and 213cases respectively. Sangareddy,another district bordering the

state capital, recorded 44 newcases. Outside GHMC andsurrounding districts,Khammam was the worstaffected district with 181 newcases followed by Karimnagar172, Nalgonda with 171,Nizamabad 140 and Suryapet118 cases. Warangal Urbanreported 102 cases, Siddipet 97cases, Jagtiyal 92 andMancherial 91. During thelast 24 hours, 1,638 peoplerecovered from COVID, takingthe total number of recoveriesto 90,988. The state's recoveryrate stands at 73.9 per centagainst the national average of76.63 per cent. The number ofactive cases in the state standsat 31,284 including 24,176 inhome/institutional isolation.

Telangana reports 2,924new cases, 10 deaths

Observingsilence to keepCovid at bay! PNS n HYDERABAD

To prevent the spread ofCoronavirus, the golden ruleis observing silence ratherthan talking loudly andyelling. According to an arti-cle published in The BMJjournal conducted studies inUK, China and USA indicat-ed that the risk is more inindoor work places andplaces of worship.

The higher will be theventilation, the less would bethe risk. In indoor places,people congregate at placeswhere there is poor ventila-tion and speaking together,singing songs and yelling atthe top of the voice are someof the factors that induce thevirus.

In the USA, a singer takingpart in a concert spread thevirus among 52 persons.When the persons who test-ed positive for the virus,coughed up and sneezes thedroplets will fly up to the dis-tance of over nine metreswithout any change in quan-tity. Subsequently, even iftheir quantity changes, thesmaller the droplet size themore severity would be theproblem, the studies indicate.Observing a distance of 2-3metres is of no use, it said.

PNS n WARANGAL URBAN

All arrangements are in placefor the smooth immersion ofthe Ganesh idols under GreaterWarangal MunicipalCorporation (GWMC) limits.The immersion will take placeas a low-key affair on Mondayas per the Covid-19 norms atsix identified places.

They includePadmakshamma Gundam,Chinnawaddepally tank,Bandham Cheruvu,Hasanparthy pedd cheruvu,Ursu Katta cheruvu andSiddeshwara Gundam, saidIncharge District RevenueOfficer (DRO) Vasuchandra."No processions will be allowed,people participating in the

immersion programme mustwear the masks besides follow-ing other the Covid-19 norms,"he added.

A total of 15 cranes and 15trollies have been pressed for theimmersion of the idols. Removal

of the bushes and weed weretaken up on the roads that leadto the tanks. "CCTV cameraswere also set up at the tanks," saidACP Jithender Reddy. Fire offi-cials were asked to be ready withsix fire tenders.

All set for Ganeshimmersion in GWMC limits

Shun plastic, says HarishPNS n SIDDIPET

Finance Minister T Harish Raocalled upon people of Siddipetto use only steel utensils to serveguests at functions instead ofusing plastic. The Minister,who inaugurated steel bankfacilities in the 20th, 21nd and23rd wards of SiddipetMunicipality on Sunday,appealed to people to put thesteel banks to optimum utilisa-tion to stay away from plastic.

He asked the resource per-sons of MEPMA to sensitisethe people by visiting every dayand bring awareness on theneed of utilisation besides edu-cating them on the importanceof segregating wet and drywaste. Rao also laid the foun-

dation stone for multiple CCroads in the town with an out-lay of Rs 50 lakh.

Earlier, he sensitised the peo-ple on the need to empty all theutensils to counter the Mosquitomenace besides disposing of the

waste. The Minister visited sev-eral houses in these threemunicipal wards and sensitisedthe people. MunicipalChairperson K Rajanarsu,Commissioner Srinivas Reddyand others were present.

Finance Minister Harish Rao sensitising the people on the use of steel boxes inSiddipet on Sunday

‘Centre keeping ‘eagle eye' on KCR's corrupt practices’PNS n HYDERABAD

Karimnagar MP and TelanganaBJP Chief Bandi Sanjay Kumaron Sunday alleged that ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raohas destroyed all the sectors,including Health andAgriculture in the state. Thestate government has beenindulging in corruption, healleged and said that the Centreput an 'eagle eye' on KCR's cor-rupt practices. "KCR and histeam will definitely go to jail.The Centre is keeping an eye onthe corrupt practices of thestate government," he said andexuded confidence that theparty will storm to power in2023.

Speaking to the media on

Sunday, Bandi Sanjay allegedthat the Telangana governmenthas utterly failed in containingthe spread of Coronavirus. "KCRremained as a mute spectatoreven though the corporate hos-pitals across the state are collect-ing huge money from thepatients, who tested positivefor the virus," he alleged. TheChief Minister left the real cul-prits and initiated steps on fewprivate hospitals for name sake,he said. Bandi Sanjay observedthat the hospital's issue is a goodexample for KCR's corrupt prac-tices.

The Karimnagar MP allegedthat KCR is extending his sup-port to a particular religionand adopting anti-Hindu poli-cies and it will be easily under-

stood while seeing the ordersissued during various festivals.He alleged that the state govern-ment showed less number ofCorona cases during Ramzanfestival, however, the same state

government stated that the virusis spreading fast when Ganeshfestival was round the corner.

"The TRS government hasdeceived all the sections of thepeople in the state. The govern-ment didn't even care about thefarmers who faced losses due toheavy rains and neglected teach-ers and other employees. TheChief Minister left his assuranceon PRC to the wind and KCRfailed to stick to his word givento the coal mine workers duringSingareni elections," he alleged.Sanjay demanded KCR toextend help to them at least now.He alleged the Chief Minister isspeaking differently when heparticipates in the review meet-ings of the centre and speaks dif-ferently outside.

Participating in Webinar withBJP new state committee,Telangana chief also warnedhis own party leaders by statingthat he will not tolerate the lead-ers from booth level to nation-al level if they act against theparty rules and regulations. Theoffice bearers meeting was heldunder the leadership of BandiSanjay Kumar and party leaders-BJP national general secretary PMuralidhar Rao, Union Ministerfor State of Home Affairs GKishan Reddy, BJP state in-charge PK Krishna Das,National Saha Sangatana gener-al secretary Soudhan Singh,MLC N Ramchander Rao, MPs,presidents of various Morchasand special invitees participat-ed in the video conference.

Chief Minister, KTR denyingappointment, alleges Swamy GoudPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Legislative CouncilChairman Swamy Goud hasalleged that the TRS is not giv-ing preference to those whohave taken part in the state-hood movement. In an inter-view to a local TV channel onSunday, he alleged that the TRSgives importance to those lead-ers who heckled him and hisother fellow participants in themovement for Telangana.

Swamy Goud claimed thatChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao andMunicipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Rao is notgiving appointment to himeven if he seeks to meet them."If they could not give appoint-ment to those who had puttheir best foot forward in themovement for Telanganawhom else would they give the

appointment," he wondered.He ruled out changing theparty and made it clear that hewould continue in the TRS.

He said that he is not inter-ested in power. He wants theparty elders to speak to thosewho had taken part in themovement, weaker sectionsand the down trodden. KCRpromised him Chevella Lok

Sabha ticket, but could notkeep his promise, he saidexpressing his inability to deci-pher what circumstances hadprompted the CM to go backon his word to him.

The LegislativeCouncilChairmanSwamy Goudsaid that theTRS party is notgivingimportance tothe leaders wholed theTelanganamovement fromthe front

KCR donatesfor templein AndhraPNS n NAYUDUPET

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao and hisspouse Sobha have lent sup-port to build the SriVenkateswara swamy templeat Swarnamukhi pilgrimagecentre. The couple donatedfor building the RajaGopuram of the temple anddeveloping the East MadaStreet.

On Saturday, installation ofthe deity's idol andKumbhabhishekam andother rituals were conductedas per the traditions. In fact,the CM couple should havetaken part in the event, butcould not attend because ofCovid-19 regulations. Aplaque of the temple reads thenames of the CM and hisspouse in it.

CID team tosubmit reporton fire accident PNS n NAGARKURNOOL

The CID report on SrisailamLeft Bank Power House fireaccident that claimed lives ofnine is ready for submissionto the government. The CIDofficials questioned officialsworking in the Power Houseand personnel working invarious departments there.

They observed the dam-aged electric panel boardsdue to short-circuit, cablewires, generators, switchboards and analysed the FIRlodged with the police andcompared the aspects men-tioned in it with their obser-vation during investigation.On Saturday, the probe teamwith the help of engineersobtained a comprehensivesketch of the Power House.

Expedite RoBworks: Puvvada PNS n KHAMMAM

Transport Minister PuvvadaAjay Kumar on Sunday visitedthe RoB at Damsalapuramunder construction at a cost ofRs 74 crore and inspected theworks and asked R and Bexecutive engineer ShyamPrasad to complete the worksas early as possible. He said thatthe approach road worksshould not be kept in pending.

The four-lane roads linkingKhammam with Bonakal arealmost complete and advisedthe district authorities to com-plete the remainder of worksand get them inaugurated byMinister for MunicipalAdministration KT Rama Rao.

Union Minister Kishan Reddy asked theagricultural officials to provideadequate fertilisers in tune with theincreased crop area in the state to seethat the farmers do not face troubles

According to the latest bulletin, out oftotal positive cases so far, 84,932 thatis 69 per cent of the total cases wereasymptomatic

The RailwayBoard hasgrantedpermission torailway zones torun specialtrains in statesupon consultingstate govts

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020 nation 05

SHORT READS

Stopping Rahul fromleading party willdestroy Cong: Sanjay MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MP SanjayRaut on Sunday said stoppingRahul Gandhi from taking overleadership of Congresswill leadto "extinction" of the grand oldparty. In his weekly columnRokhthok in the Senamouthpiece Saamana, Rautalso said Congress lacks aleader who can stand up toPrime Minister Narendra Modiwith full might. Referring to theletter by 23 Congress leaders toSonia Gandhi on having a "fulltime" leadership that is active inthe field and "visible" in partyoffices, Raut wondered who isstopping these leaders frombeing active. "Activeness tostop Rahul Gandhi will beinstrumental in destroying theparty and lead to its extinction,"Raut said. Having a non-Gandhias Congress president is agood idea, but no one in those23 has that capability, said Rautwhose party, along withCongress and NCP, is aconstituent of the rulingalliance in Maharashtra.

Lata Mangeshkar'sbuilding gets sealed,singer and family safe

Army JCO killed inPak firing along LoCin J-K's RajouriJAMMU: A JuniorCommissioned Officer (JCO) ofthe Army was killed on Sundayin firing by Pakistani troopsalong the Line of Control (LoC)in Rajouri district of Jammuand Kashmir, a defencespokesman said. The firingfrom across the border in theNowshera sector wasunprovoked and respondedstrongly by the Indian Army,the spokesman said. He saidNaib Subedar Rajwinder Singhwas critically injured in the"unprovoked ceasefire violation"by the Pakistan army. Singhlater succumbed to injuries, thespokesman said. "Naib SubedarSingh was a brave, highlymotivated and a sincere soldier.The nation will always remainindebted to him for hissupreme sacrifice and devotionto duty," the spokesman said.

MUMBAI: Legendary singerLata Mangeshkar's building hasbeen sealed by theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) as aprecautionary measure amidthe coronavirus pandemic. The90-year-old singer resides inPrabhukunj building at PeddarRoad in south Mumbai. TheMangeshkar family, in astatement, said the buildingwas sealed as it houses manysenior citizens. "We have beeninundated by calls all eveningenquiring whether Prabhukunjis sealed. The Building Societyand the BMC have sealed itfrom the onset of the epidemicas we have senior citizens athome and in the building and itis mandatory to take theseprecautions. "Even our usualfestive Ganesha celebrationswas a simple familial one thistime to co-operate and supportsocial distancing," thestatement read.

India can become world's toy hub,time to be vocal for local toys: PMPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Sunday called upon startupsand entrepreneurs to "team upfor toys", as he noted India'sminiscule share in the global toymarket of over Rs 7 lakh croreand asserted that the country hastalent and ability to become a hubfor the industry.

In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat'address, he said it was time forstartups to be "vocal for localtoys" and also asked them todevelop computer games in andbased on India, citing the nation'srich heritage and traditions thatcan drive innovations in the toyand gaming industry.

"Our country has so manyideas, so many concepts; our his-tory has been very rich. Can wemake games based on that? I callupon the young talent of thecountry - make games in Indiaand make games based on Indiatoo. It is said that let the gamebegin! So, let us start the game,"he said.

The prime minister had alsorecently chaired a meeting aimedat boosting India's share in theglobal toy trade in which Chinais one of the largest manufactur-ers and exporters.

Modi touched on a number ofissues in the broadcast and laud-ed people for maintaining

unprecedented restraint and sim-plicity in celebrating festivalsduring the COVID pandemicand praised farmers for anincrease in the sowing area forcrops.

He also asked teachers towork to apprise students of localevents and heroes of the freedomstruggle as India approaches 75years of Independence in 2022,saying it will bring to the fore sto-ries of lakhs of "unsung heroes",who lived and died for the coun-try but had faded into "oblivion".

Touching on his government's'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' campaign,he said in his address that thecountry has to be self-reliant inevery area and added that a bigopportunity lies in the toy andgaming sector.

"You will be surprised to knowthat the global toy Industry is of

more than Rs 7 lakh crore. Sucha big business but India's share isvery little in this. Now, just sparea thought for a nation which hasso much of heritage, tradition,variety, young population, will itfeel good to have such littleshare in the toy market?" heasked.

The prime minister said Indiahas had a rich tradition of localtoys and has talented and skilledartisans with expertise in mak-ing good toys, noting that someparts of the country are develop-ing as toy clusters.

"We can do two thingsthrough toys - bring back the glo-rious past in our lives and alsospruce up our golden future. Tomy start-up friends, to our newentrepreneurs I say team up fortoys. For everybody it is the timeto get vocal for local toys," he said.

‘Students wanted to hearPariksha pe charcha not Khilone pe charcha’PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Sunday said that the studentswanted Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to address theissue of NEET and JEE examsin his monthly radio pro-gramme, but he spoke on toys.

His remark came after PrimeMinister Modi in his "Mann kiBaat" address said that thecountry has the talent and abil-ity to become a hub for the toyindustry and called upon star-tups and entrepreneurs to "teamup for toys". Using the hashtag"Mann_Ki_Nahi_Students_Ki_Baat", Rahul Gandhi tweeted,"JEE-NEET aspirants wantedthe PM to do 'Pariksha PeCharcha' but the PM did'Khilone Pe Charcha'."

Rahul Gandhi and hisCongress party have support-ed a demand by a section topostpone the NEET and JEEexaminations, which are start-

ing from September 1, in viewof the COVID pandemic.

Six state governmentsthrough their ministers havealso moved the Supreme Courtwith a review petition seekingpostponement of these exams.

In yet another push to his'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' cam-paign to make India self-reliant,PM Modi on Sunday urged thestartups to develop computergames in and based on India,citing the nation's rich heritageand traditions that can driveinnovations in the toy andgaming industry.

New govt business rules for J&K aimed atundermining authority of legislature: NPPPNS n JAMMU

Describing the new govern-ment business rules for Jammuand Kashmir as “repulsivelybizarre”, the National PanthersParty (NPP) on Sunday said thenotification seemed to be amove on the part of BJP-ledgovernment to “undermine theauthority” of J&K legislature.

“The new rules which pro-vide for allocation of powersand government businessbetween the legislators of J&K,Lt Governor and the uniongovernment will almost makethe elected representativesredundant by snatching major-ity of the powers which areconferred upon them in a reg-ular state,” NPP chairman andformer minister Harsh DevSingh said in a statement here.

He said while majority of thepowers of council of ministershave also been transferred tothe Lt Governor, the Centre too

would wield huge influenceover the administration as wellas the day to day functioningof the J&K government.

On August 28, the Centreissued rules for a smooth func-tioning of the Jammu andKashmir administration, spec-ifying that the police, the all-India services and the anti-cor-ruption bureau will be underthe direct control of theLieutenant Governor of theUnion Territory.

The rules, notified by UnionHome Secretary Ajay Bhallaunder the Jammu and KashmirReorganisation Act, 2019, alsomade it clear that in case of adifference of opinion betweenthe LG and the council ofministers (when it is formed)with regard to any matter, theformer shall refer it to theCentre for the decision of thepresident and shall act accord-ing to that decision.

“It is bizarre that under the

new rules, the chief minister ofJ&K would not have the pow-ers to transfer even a constableof the police force. Not onlythat the Lt Governor can vetoany decision of legislature evenif passed unanimously in theassembly. An assault on thevery soul of democracy,” Singhsaid. The NPP leader said itwas on August 5, 2019 thatthe BJP government demot-ed the state into a UnionTerritory.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress Sunday ques-tioned the "alacrity" exhibit-ed by the Centre in orderinga CBI probe in the SushantSingh Rajput case and soughtinvestigation into alleged BJPlinks of Sandeep Singh, theproducer of a biopic on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, whois under the scanner in a relat-ed drugs case.

Congress spokespersonAbhishek Singhvi asked whoin the BJP is trying to "save"Ssingh, who produced “PMNarendra Modi”, the postersof which were unveiled by thethen Maharashtra chief min-ister Devendra Fadnavis.

Singhvi alleged the film

producer who claimed to beRajput's close friend made 53calls to the Maharashtra BJPoffice in the last few months."Who he was seeking securi-ty from," Singhvi asked.

He said political parties donot get into Bollywood mat-

ters. "But if a suspect is linkedto the ruling party, the coun-try wants to know who is heconnected to and who in theBJP is trying to save SandeepSsingh.”

"Was Sandeep Ssingh thereasons for showing alacrity inordering a CBI probe? Whyare such people linked to theBJP?" he asked.

Singhvi said Fadnavis andsenior BJP leader NitinGadkari should answer as towhy Ssingh made these manycalls to the Maharashtra BJPoffice and who was his boss.

The Congress leader saidSsingh's closeness to the rul-ing party is evident from thefact that he made the biopicon PM Modi.

Rhea called for questioning by CBI for 3-dayPNS n MUMBAI

The CBI called actress RheaChakraborty for the thirdconsecutive day on Sunday forquestioning in the case ofdeath of her boyfriend andfilmstar Sushant Singh Rajput,a police official said.

The 28-year-old actress isaccused of abetting Rajput'ssuicide. Her brother ShowikChakraborty was also calledby the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) for thefourth day in a row for ques-tioning in the case, the officialsaid. Rhea Chakraborty andher brother reached theDRDO guest house at Kalinain Santacruz, where the probeteam is stationed, around10.30 am, he said.

A Mumbai Police vehicleescorted the car in which thetwo arrived at the guesthouse, he said. Rajput's man-

ager Samual Miranda anddomestic help Keshav alsoreached the guest house in themorning. Earlier, RheaChakraborty was questionedfor nearly 10 hours on Fridayand allowed to return homeunder police escort as a largenumber of media personnelwere present outside herbuilding. She was quizzedfor around seven hours onSaturday.

Her brother is being ques-

tioned by the CBI sinceThursday. On Saturday, theCBI also questioned Rajput'sflatmate Siddharth Pithani,cook Neeraj Singh andaccountant Rajat Mewati atthe guest house.

Rhea Chakraborty hadbeen earlier questioned bythe Mumbai Police in thecase. The EnforcementDirectorate has also quizzedher in a related money laun-dering case.

PNS n NEW DELHI

With a record over 10.5 lakhtests conducted in a day fordetection of COVID-19, thenumber of such tests performedin the country has crossed 4.14crore, the Union health ministrysaid on Sunday. The exponen-tial jump in the testing capaci-ty and the number of tests hasresulted in an upsurge in TestsPer Million to 30,044 as on date,it highlighted.

With a record 10,55,027 testsconducted on Saturday, thecountry has further strength-ened the national diagnosticcapacity of testing more than 10lakh samples for COVID-19daily. The total number of testsconducted in the country fordetection of coronavirus cur-rently stands at 4,14,61,636, theministry said.

The Centre, keeping in viewthe evolving global context of

COVID-19, conceptualised andimplemented the continuum ofcare strategy of "test, track andtreat" in close coordination withthe states and Union territories,it said.

Pivoted on the strong pillar ofaggressive testing, the positivecases are identified early, whichenables and ensures that theircontacts are efficiently tracked ina timely manner, the ministrystated. This is followed up withprompt isolation at home or afacility setting for the mild andmoderate cases, and hospitalisa-tion for the severe and criticalpatients, it said.

The World HealthOrganization (WHO), in itsguidance note on 'Public HealthCriteria to Adjust Public Healthand Social Measures in theContext of COVID-19', hasadvised comprehensive sur-veillance for suspected coron-avirus cases.

Record 10.5 lakh testsin a day takes India'stotal tests past 4.14 cr

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

Union Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal Nishank onSaturday expressed hope that thenew education policy will helpIndia recapture its past glory asa centre of learning.

Nishank was among a host ofother eminent persons, includ-ing President Ram Nath Kovindand Odisha Governor GaneshiLal, to speak on the occasion ofthe 12th foundation day of theCentral University of Odisha,which was held through videoconference. Kovind, who is theVisitor of central universities,emphasised the need for valuebased education for the growthand development of studentsand the youth.

In his address, Nishank saidthere was an era when foregnnations were "attracted" to Indiafor its academic prowess.

"Now, it's time to achieve thattype of education through theNew Education Policy," the min-ister said, urging universities tofocus more on research anddevelopment.

Hope NEP will recaptureIndia's past glory: Nishank

PNS n NEW DELHI

Asserting that there was nourgency to have an electedCongress president, seniorleader Salman Khurshid onSunday said he "can't see theheavens falling" for the needof a party chief as SoniaGandhi was still at the helmand should be the one todecide on the leadershipissue.

Khurshid, a former Unionminister and among the lead-ers considered close to theGandhi family, told PTI in aninterview that he would nothave signed the letter even ifhe was approached by thegroup that wrote to Gandhiseeking urgent organisation-

al overhaul, including anactive and full-time leader-ship.

On Ghulam Nabi Azad,the most vocal among the 23letter writers, seeking organ-isational elections to ensurethat the Congress does notremain out of power fordecades, Khurshid said thesenior leader from Jammuand Kashmir had been part ofthe top echelons of the party

for years when there hasbeen no such elections andstill the party prospered. Hesaid probably Azad wanted achange now in what the partyhas been doing over the yearsand expressed confidencethat the leadership will givea thought to what he is say-ing as he is a senior leader

Khurshid said the leaderswho have written to SoniaGandhi always had access toher and could haveapproached her rather thanwriting to her.

Khurshid said no one hadapproached him for signingthe letter and even if anyonehad done so, he would nothave signed because he doesnot agree with the letter.

‘Can't see heavens falling' for needof elected Cong president: Khurshid

PNS n NEW DELHI

Reacting sharply to Pakistanhailing the recent GupkarDeclaration in which six polit-ical parties of Jammu andKashmir vowed to fight collec-tively against the abrogation ofArticle 370, National Conference(NC) president Farooq Abdullahon Sunday asserted that "we arenot anyone's puppets".

"Pakistan has always abusedmainstream political parties ofJammu and Kashmir but nowsuddenly they like us", the for-mer chief minister said whenasked about Pakistan ForeignMinister Shah MehmoodQureshi's statement that thedeclaration issued by the NC,PDP, Congress and three other

parties was "not an ordinaryoccurrence but an importantdevelopment".

"Let me make it clear thatwe are not anyone's puppets,neither New Delhi's nor ofanyone across the border. Weare answerable to the people ofJammu and Kashmir and willwork for them," he said.

We are not anyone's puppets:Farooq's retort to Pakistan

Three LeT militants, ASIkilled in J-K encounterPNS n SRINAGAR

Three Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)militants and an assistant sub-inspector of Jammu andKashmir Police were killed in agunfight on the outskirts of thecity here on Sunday, police said.

Militants fired on a joint 'naka'of police and the Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) at PanthaChowk area late on Saturdaynight, a police official said.

He said the joint parties ofthe forces cordoned off thearea and launched a searchoperation there.

During the searches in thearea, the militants again fired onthe search party of the forces,who retaliated, leading to anencounter, the official said.

A tight cordon was main-tained throughout the nightand the firing resumed thismorning, he said.

He said three militants werekilled in the gunfight.

An assistant sub-inspectorof Jammu and Kashmir Police,Babu Ram, was also killed inthe operation, the officialadded.

Speaking to reporters on thesidelines of the wreath layingceremony of the slain ASI,Director General of Jammuand Kashmir Police (DGP)Dilbag Singh said the threemilitants came on a bike and

fired at the joint party of thesecurity forces.

“After firing upon the forces,they (militants) tried to snatchweapons, but it was foiled byalert troops, forcing the mili-tants to flee, leaving behindtheir bike. The forces chasedthem and they took shelter ina nearby area known as DhobiMohalla, Pantha Chowk,” hesaid.

BJP has noconnection withSushant case:Union MinisterJALNA: In a veiled attack on theShiv Sena-led Maharashtragovernment over actor SushantSingh Rajput death case, Unionminister Raosaheb Danve onSunday said some people hadopposed the CBI probe toprotect "someone" and they arenow trying to drag the BJP inthe matter. Responding to aquery on certain allegationslevelled by state Congressgeneral secretary Sachin Sawant,Danve said the BJP had noconnection with the case. "Wehad been demanding a CBIprobe in Rajput case, as wewanted truth to come out.However, it seems thoseopposing such investigationknew that something is fishy inthe case.

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT CASE

Cong questions Centre over CBI probe,wants Singh's ‘BJP-link' investigated

Modi recallssacrifice ofImam HussainPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi paid homage to ImamHussain on Sunday to markMuharram, saying nothingwas more important to himthan the values of truth andjustice. Imam Hussain'semphasis on equality as well asfairness is noteworthy andgives strength to many, theprime minister said. "Werecall the sacrifice of ImamHussain (AS). For him, therewas nothing more importantthan the values of truth andjustice. His emphasis on equal-ity as well as fairness are note-worthy and give strength tomany," Modi said in a tweet.

Majority of thepowers of councilof ministers havealso beentransferred to theLt Governor, theCentre too wouldwield hugeinfluence

The coming months arethe time to tell Beijingthat the occasion tosettle our mutual issuesand disputes is now. For

its own sake. And it pays to worktransactionally with India to stayrelevant in a world that is rapid-ly turning against it. It must endlingering disputes or else sooneror later the American alliancewould expand and tilt the scalesfor a unipolar world. On its part,India has been non-aligned and itsleaders would prefer a multi-lat-eral world to continue. It shouldbe a sad day if one Asian countrydrives another Asian nation intothe arms of the West. It is forBeijing to balance the cultural,economic and strategic damage ofan Asian split. Or it could work fora larger Asian unity. This is thetime to act.

The external affairs situationis gearing itself into a remarkableopportunity for New Delhi toregain what we lost in 1962 andbefore. It is as if many a planet ispositioning itself to assist India. Itbegan with Chinese ruler XiJinping becoming highly ambi-tious, apparently wanting to makehis Middle Kingdom the power-ful pivot of the earth. LikeNapoleon Bonaparte in 1804, Xihas crowned himself Emperorfor life, although the world haschanged a great deal over the lasttwo centuries. Today any numberof his colleagues would resentsuch a royal elevation and implic-itly compel Xi to prove himself agreat man every week. That pres-sure is hard to live up to.

The US has an unusuallybold President; he has an electionto win in less than three monthsfrom now. President DonaldTrump has been waging a coldwar with Beijing for quite a while.It has become colder of late andis likely to freeze further. Hedemonstrated in Texas earlierthis year how much he likesPrime Minister Narendra Modi.Lately, he, along with his Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo, has open-ly supported India in the contextof Chinese border intrusions,although their main concern isTaiwan, a democratic island coun-try off the southeast coast ofChina. It is an independent coun-try but Beijing claims that China,Taiwan and Hong Kong-Macaoare one country, three systems.The US has a defence treaty with

Taiwan and cannot possiblyallow the island country to begrabbed by China.Nevertheless, it is a matter of a“do or die” prestige issue forBeijing, especially in Asia. Itwill, therefore, be interesting tosee how the issue will unfold.

According to its President,the US is likely to jettison theNorth Atlantic TreatyOrganisation (NATO). Thiswas an alliance to combat aninvasion by the Soviet Union ofwestern Europe. By 1991, theSoviet Union had broken up. Sowhat is the rationale forNATO? Who should it defendand against whom? In anycase, this should mainly be theresponsibility of westernEurope, not the US. If this wereto happen, the US militarybudget would have a lot ofmoney and troops to spare forAsia. Half the American troopsstationed in Germany arealready being transferred toAsia. After World War II endedin 1945, Germany and Japanwere asked by the US andallies to scale down their mil-itary status. They were forbid-den from letting their forcesleave the shores of their coun-tries for any military opera-tions. In fact, for the first fiveyears after WWII, these coun-tries were not to have any mil-itary at all. They were to be pro-tected by the US, with or with-out NATO. Germany remainedconservative, saved money and

produced its economic miracle.Japan was militarily a littlemore restless and began devel-oping its navy, airforce andstrengthening its army, eventhough slowly. In these 70years, it has quietly modernisedits navy and airforce, has builta helicopter-carrier and makesmodern submarines. The pre-sent Prime Minister, ShinzoAbe, has worked hard to amendthe Constitution and Japan cannow send troops overseas. Themore China developed, thegreater was the Japanese intentto be militarily stronger; so alsois the case with India over thelast six years. Every action hasa reaction.

Similarly, the people ofTaiwan have been alerted, espe-cially after trouble began inHong Kong. Until the XiJinping regime passed a lawthat anyone arrested for wrong-doing in Hong Kong could beextradited to mainland Chinafor being tried, these smallerplaces were relaxed. This newChinese law, Hong Kongersrightly feel, is a violation ofBeijing’s commitment of 1997,when the British left, of “onecountry two systems” wherebythe mainland would not inter-fere in island, which is also a bigrevenue earner. Popular protestspilled over to the streets whereeven American flags wereflown, provoking great anger inBeijing. These continual agita-tions have further alerted the

Taiwanese and new PresidentTsai Ing Wen is committed tocomplete independence and adeeper cooperation in theneighbourhood, which infuri-ates Beijing no end. The US isdefending Taiwan’s freedom todemonstrate its seriousness;very recently a Secretary of theTrump government has visitedTaipei as a show of support.India under Prime MinisterModi has appointed an envoyto Taiwan, following theLadakh clashes.

More distant countries,whether in Europe or SouthAmerica, have got resentful ofChina for suppressing factsabout the Wuhan contagion.The international wind is blow-ing against the Dragon.

The Islamic countries maynot speak up but are upset athow Beijing is treating Muslimsin its country, especially thoseliving in Xinjiang, which wasonce an independent EastTurkestan. After the Red rev-olution and Mao Zedong com-ing to power in 1950, some 28leading politicians of this coun-try were invited to Beijing(then Peking). The stated pur-pose was to meet fraternalleaders and discuss issues ofmutual interest. Since theUygurs had no means of trav-el, a special plane was sent tothe capital Ürümqi. After theconference and get-together,the same aircraft that was tak-ing the Turkish leaders back,

crashed. All Uygur leaderswere killed except two commu-nists who had opted out at thelast moment feigning sickness.They took over the governmentof East Turkestan and soonmerged it with the rest ofChina.

The Sino-Japanese rela-tions have an uneven history.For example, Manchuria was acolonial province of Japanbetween 1932 and 1945. As aresult of World War II, it wasceded to China. Over the manydecades, especially after itsnaval victory over Russia in1905, Japan had consideredthe Pacific Ocean more as itsown than anyone else’s. Lately,China has been spreading itswings over the South ChinaSea, which is objected to byseveral powers, including Japanas well as the US. Beijing hasbuilt an island in its midst, pro-voking Australia, India, Japanand the US, which havedeployed their navies to con-duct exercises in the high seas.The current bone of contentionhappens to be the SenkakuIslands, a group of uninhabit-ed islands. Except for the USadministering them between1945 and 1972, as part of theRyukyu Islands, the archipelagohas been controlled by Japansince 1895. The People’s ofRepublic of China (PRC) start-ed talking of the sovereigntyover the islands in the latter halfof 1970 when evidence relatingto the existence of oil reservessurfaced.

Additionally, after claiminglarge portions of the SouthChina Sea as well as Mt Everest,two Chinese websites havebeen claiming that centralAsian countries like Kyrgystanand Kazakhstan have beenparts of China and with the lat-ter even eager to “return” toChina. According to the latestChinese territorial claims onothers’ territories, under theKhan dynasty, a total of 510,000square kilometres of Kyrgystan,or the entire country, was partof China but was later overrunby the Russian empire.

It is well known that Chinais over populated and land-hungry. In the bargain, thePeople’s Liberation Army hadtried to cross the Ussuri riverand into Russian territory in1969. The vast area of RussianAsia has comparatively fewpeople and is, therefore, a per-petual temptation for theChinese to occupy. Beijing hasfew friends for fear of what itis and what it could desire.North Korea and Pakistan arethe only obviously perceptibleallies.

(The author is a seniorjournalist. Views expressed arepersonal)

Legends die young. And 2020 has not been akind year, particularly to those in the entertain-ment industry, both in India and abroad. But the

death of Hollywood actor Chadwick Boseman at ayoung age of 43 hurts that much more. Because hewas the Black Panther, the avenger of wrongs, thechallenger of a White world and a transitional per-fection from man to superman. Because he was theking of Wakanda, upholding the spirit of tradition andembracing modernity with that rare combination ofwarmth and intelligence. He may have played Blackicons like Jackie Robinson and James Brown but as

Black Panther, that lithe, smart and fearless warrior, he transcended barriers and madea place in everybody’s hearts. Black Panther was the first superhero film to be nom-inated for a best picture Oscar and one of the highest-grossing films of all time, bring-ing in over $1.3 billion. This despite the many icons emerging from the Marvel CinematicUniverse. In life, Boseman was no less a fighter. In between his fight with cancer,numerous surgeries and chemotherapy sessions, he gave us films like Marshall, Da5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and many more. A private man, he had keptthe news of his fight with the disease to himself and married his long-time partnerand singer Taylor Simon Ledward earlier this year, maybe because he knew the endwas near. And he never forgot to wish his friend and Democrat Vice-Presidential can-didate Kamala Harris a few days ago.

Black Panther will always represent a watershed moment in popular culture, par-ticularly for African-Americans. A legacy that Boseman was clearly very proud ofand for which he had travelled to Africa. The film was considered to be a positiveforce for social change in the US and at that time, activist Frederick T Joseph raisedmoney through a GoFundMe campaign called “Help Children See Black Panther.”He was quoted as saying that he was promoting “stories and content that’s com-batting the rhetoric and racism of the Trump Administration.” In fact, the film madeMarvel consider more inclusions. Black Widow and Captain Marvel are more thanjust about women empowerment, they are the carriers of the future. However, a real-ist, Boseman himself did not think that Black Panther had in any way solved Hollywood’smuch-touted diversity issues. He said that it came about as a result of a momentthat had been building over years with works like the Martin Luther King drama Selma,the Disney fantasy-adventure A Wrinkle in Time and TV shows such as Insecure.He believed that quality film-making was needed for Hollywood to embrace diversi-ty as the new normal rather than just doing movies with a Black cast and director.His own work he considered as “just another doorway into something else.” Hopefullya perennial kingdom called Wakanda.

In what could signal the first step towards changingthe electoral apparatus of the country and holdingsimultaneous polls, top officials at the Prime

Minister’s Office (PMO) have discussed drawing up acommon voters’ list. This means there would be a com-bined database that would be applicable to local body,Assembly and parliamentary elections. On the face ofit, and taken in isolation, this is a favourable move. Infact, as far back as 1999, the Election Commission (EC)had argued for a uniform voters’ list, saying a multi-plicity of rolls not only created confusion among vot-ers but led to manipulation by political parties as well.

Truth be told, there have been many cases where voters may have figured on the nation-al rolls but not on the local list, simply because different mechanisms handle them. Oftenthe inclusion of voters’ names for local body polls is heavily dependent on volunteers oflocal parties and, therefore, prone to fudging. Besides, a single voters’ list could also stream-line processes and avoid duplication of effort and expenditure. But it is the political impli-cations of the move that may well stall a consensus on what seems expedient. For theruling BJP, it would mean ticking off another agenda it had promised in its manifesto andcentralising control over voters’ lists, and by extension the electoral process in each State.This would be seen as a maximalist move on federalism by regional parties. As of now,the State Election Commissions (SECs) are bound by State laws, are autonomous andempowered to prepare their own electoral rolls for local body elections without coordi-nating with the EC. If the EC becomes the superintending authority, State Governmentswouldn’t want to cede their territorial right to oversee local polls. They wouldn’t want theirSECs defanged or their own political stake in Assembly formation compromised by abig-brotherly overlordship. Even the minutest roll revision, factoring in local dynamics,would have to be done through Central intervention. Even if the Centre pushes a consti-tutional amendment to Articles 243K and 243ZA, that currently give the power of super-intendence, direction and control of preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of localbody elections to SECs, States wouldn’t correspondingly change their own laws and couldplace hurdles in implementation. Besides, one cannot deny this as a run-up to the “onenation one poll” proposal.

This, too, needs careful deliberation and has to be fully compliant with Constitutionalchecks and balances than just being a talking point. The high-sounding argument is thatwith States in India’s federal structure going to polls at varied points of time within theCentral government’s mandated period of governance, no visionary or decisive steps canbe taken or implemented as they would be subservient to electoral politics, which in thiscountry tends to be overtly populist in nature. Besides, it would rid the country from beingin a continuous poll mode and instead go in for a performance mode. But it is in the sub-text of the Westminster system we have adopted that questions arise about whether aunitary system works best for our federal structure. And in the current political context,whether it threatens the very idea of regionalism itself, considering that in a single elec-tion, national issues tend to take centrestage and drown out or at least blur pertinent issuesof localised interest, something that regional parties are usually in better command ofand base their political relevance on. Although many argue that the Indian voter is evolvedenough to make a distinction between the larger national interest and those of his periph-ery, there is always a possibility that the overarching aura of the former could swampthe judgment call of the voter at the State level, if the prevailing party seeking mandatehappens to be of a centrist party. And as the Lok Sabha results have shown, the cen-trist surge helped the ruling NDA regain its footprint in States, where it had been hit badlyin the Assembly elections. Of course, this, too, will require a substantive number ofConstitutional amendments to the Representation of People’s Act 1951, the anti-defec-tion law and others relating to rules of procedure with two-thirds majority in both Houses.Besides, such a move does not factor in mid-term situations where a State governmentmay choose to dissolve itself or fall because of a loss of majority. Would the Governorthen not call fresh polls or hold on to a moribund Assembly till the dates of the next roundof general elections are announced? What if the Central Government falls before the termof the Assemblies ends? As it is, though we call ourselves a federal state, in reality weare a more centralised union of states. The “One nation, one election” formula would fur-ther strengthen this idea of a monolithic State. And given the state of disarray the Oppositionis in, the BJP is making a loaded move.

Common voters’ list

No tears for the poor

Sir — The whole country seemsto be obsessed with the death ofactor Sushant Singh Rajput.While it is sad that a young andtalented person like him died anunnatural and untimely death,and no one can make up theloss of his life for his parents, thefact remains that there havebeen many more suicides byactors during this pandemic.How come no one talks aboutthose deaths? Is it because theywere not so well-known people?Everyone knows that small-time film and television stars aredesperate as they are either notbeing paid or are being givenhalf of what is due to them.This has led to deep financialdistress for a bevy of actors andsome of them have committedsuicide in the last few monthssince the pandemic swept theworld. One wishes that some-one would give a thought tosuch people too and speak upfor the ones who died by sui-cide. Those entertainment com-panies that held back the pay-ments and resulted in the des-perate actors committing sui-cide should also be brought tobook. They deserve justice too.

Or is justice in this country onlyreserved for the politically-con-nected and well-known people?

R DikshitNavi Mumbai

SSR obsession

Sir — If one were to go by themedia reports and news chan-nels in the country, then there

is nothing else happening in ournation apart from the probe inthe Sushant Singh Rajput suicidecase. The real issues on theground are being ignored. What

is being said about the resur-gence of lynchings by cow vig-ilantes in the cow belt? Why isnothing being said about thecontinuing horrific injuries thatelephants are suffering aftereating fruits stuffed with pres-sure bombs in the South? Whatof the rapes in Uttar Pradesh(UP) that are taking place everyother day? What of the risingcases of Coronavirus in UPand Karnataka and the fact thatIndia is now the third-mostaffected country in the world?Are these, and many otherissues plaguing the country, notworth discussing on nationalmedia? Obviously, real journal-ism has taken a backseat andscribes and news anchors arenow just trying to print/showwhat sells. Circulation figuresand TRP ratings have replacedall other considerations.Journalists seem to have losttheir voice and are at the beckand call of media house ownerswho seem to measure everythingin terms of bottomlines. Sadly,the fourth pillar of democracyhas developed major cracks.

Ashmit AaronNoida, UP

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020

06

China must settle wiselyIt is for Beijing to work out the cultural, economic and strategic damage

of an Asian split. Or it could work for a larger Asian unity

Freedom of expression isunder threat, democracy isbeing destroyed. They wantIndia's people, women,youth to keep their mouthsshut.

Congress president—Sonia Gandhi

(Practice) went much betterthan expected, to be honest.I was pretty scared. I hadn’tpicked up a bat for fivemonths but yeah it came outbetter than I thought.

Cricketer—Virat Kohli

The BJP has been allowed to exercise control ofWhatsApp’s India operations in return for a possible licence for its payment operations.

Congress general secretary—KC Venugopal

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

Cong must respect dissent

This refers to the editorial, ‘Congress Vs Congress’(August 29). The arrogance and pride shown by thehigher-ups in the Congress after the leak of a letter

written by 23 senior Congress leaders, demanding achange in the party organisation, whether real or partof a strategy, have ultimately made a mockery of the partyin public. Despite a resounding victory in three Statesin 2018, the party did not get as much coverage at thenational level as it got from this controversy. TheCongress Working Committee (CWC) meeting was calledto discuss the situation after the letter written by the vet-eran leaders to Sonia Gandhi was leaked in the media.The letter had the signatures of seniors like Ghulam NabiAzad, Bhupendra Singh Hooda, Shashi Tharoor, KapilSibal, Prithviraj Chavan and Anand Sharma. All these lead-ers have held important positions in the party at one timeor the other. However, the recent controversy over thewell-meaning letter has given rise to many questions.Is there a possibility of a non-Gandhi leading theCongress? At the Congress Working Committee meet-ing on Monday, Sonia Gandhi was urged to hold the posttill the next decision, which she also accepted. ChiefMinisters and Congress MPs of different States were run-ning similar campaigns. The MPs had expressed theirsolidarity by writing a letter to Sonia Gandhi. At the sametime, they had urged that till Rahul Gandhi takes overas the president, she should continue.

It has been alleged that those who are talking aboutthe change of leadership are playing into the hands ofthe BJP and weakening the party. It was evident fromthis campaign that the leaders and workers of the partywere talking about strengthening the leadership of theGandhi family. It is being speculated that time is beinggiven to Rahul Gandhi to prepare his team.

It seems that veteran Congress leaders think thatthe unity of the party is possible only with the Gandhifamily at the helm. Despite this, there is no shortage ofexperienced and tall leaders in the party. Political pun-dits say that when a party is going through a difficulttime, voices of contradiction are natural in the party. Thesevoices must be respected at all cost as they mean well.

Abhijit RoyJamshedpur

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Wakanda forever

During my struggling days,this person (character actor)would take me to meetingswith people from Dubai. Istarted fearing that they wouldsupply me to Dubai.

Actress—Kangana Ranaut

A uniform database may be reformatory but as a build-up tosimultaneous polls, there’s a political agenda

Boseman was not just another Black actor pushingdiversity, he showed any man could be superman

PRAFULL GORADIA

The language of the heart

PLEASE JOIN THE BJP’S MASS MOVEMENT AGAINST THE

KEJRIWAL GOVERNMENT, WHICH IS THE NEW NAME OF

SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CORRUPTION.

—DELHI BJP CHIEF

ADESH GUPTA

MODIJI SAYS THAT THE CENTRE HAS TAKEN STEPS TO

ERADICATE GRAFT. WHY DOES HE NOT TAKE LEGAL

STEPS IF THE DELHI GOVERNMENT IS CORRUPT?

—SOCIAL ACTIVIST

ANNA HAZARE

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Badi ashrafiat hei zabaan mein. Nawabi kamaza deti hai Urdu faqiri mein (The Urdulanguage is so aristocratic that it makes even

a pauper feel like a king).”Urdu, an Indo-Aryan language, is renowned

for its candour and timelessness. It goes withoutsaying that since time immemorial, Urdu hadbeen the lingua franca of Sindh, Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, undivided Bengal, Punjab, Doaba andso on, besides being the language of the heart andsoul, as emphasised by the Hindi littérateur-cum-Education Minister of India, Ramesh Pokhriyal‘Nishank’, at the inauguration of a two-day webi-nar titled, The role and responsibility of Urdu writ-ers in the age of electronic and social media.

Speaking during the webinar organised bythe National Council for Promotion of UrduLanguage (NCPUL), Pokhriyal emphasised thatUrdu is a language of not only a composite cul-ture, syncretism and interfaith bonds but also ofhumaneness.

Thankfully, Urdu has kept up with the timesand become a techno-savvy language with softcopies of hundreds of books being available onapps. However, as social and electronic media isthe biggest platform for the dissemination ofinformation these days, it is the responsibility ofall connoisseurs and littérateurs to ensure thatUrdu makes its presence felt there.

According to eminent Urdu professor ZamanAzurdah, writers, poets and authors are the eyesof the entire social, religious and political sys-tem and they have a huge responsibility towardslovers of language and literature. Hence, they haveto be positive and shed all negativity. And as themost powerful source of information is the socialand electronic media, like the authors, poets andjournalists of other languages, Urdu writers, too,must toe the line of the internet. Fortunately,many of them are already connecting globally viasmartphones and computers and taking the lan-guage to the masses.

Even before the advent of Muslims in India,the country was connected historically, cultur-ally, politically and commercially via Arabic,Persian and Turkish influences to the Middle Eastand other countries, including Iran, Sudan andTurkey. After Muslims settled in India, the con-glomeration of people of various cultures speak-ing a variety of languages like Rekhta, Hindaviand ultimately, Urdu, came into being.

This intermingling was also known aslashkar (group). The purpose of all the Indian andinternational languages is to achieve the frater-nal spirit. Urdu is a beautiful language born outof the conglomeration of Hindu, Muslim andeven English cultural backgrounds.

Dr Humra Parveen, Department of MassCommunication, AMU, says that Urdu happensto be the language of the conglomerate traditionand culture of India that, after being acquired bythe Khanqahs, educational institutions and theofficial world, also became the language of com-merce. During the times of Mohammed Shah andQuli Qutub Shah, it became the Government’slanguage. At that time, it was, in fact, the most

popular language and owing to its poet-ic exuberance and ease of learning(which it is even today), Urdu replacedPersian.

The cultural and artistic tone andtenor of Urdu has been depicted gen-erously in multifarious forms, includ-ing the Mushaira (poetic gathering),Marsiahkhwani (elegy) Ghazal (poet-ry recitation), Qawwali (chorus),Dastangoi (storytelling), Chahar Bait(poetry competition) and so on, besidesother art forms like drama.

The reason that Urdu proliferatedand got promoted was owing to its sec-ular character and a universal base inIndia and abroad. Today it happens tobe one of the most popular of all inter-national languages. Not only that,Urdu is the voice of the sub-continentand has become an important link lan-guage for South Asian Association forRegional Cooperation (SAARC)

In India alone, as per Governmentrecords, Urdu is the mother tongue ofmore than 70 million people. However,an equal number of Urdu-knowingpeople are spread all over the nation.In the erstwhile State of Jammu andKashmir, Urdu is the first languagewhile in other States like Uttar Pradesh,Delhi, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,West Bengal, it has been recognised asthe second language.

Nevertheless, there are some otherareas where people have recordedUrdu to be their mother tongue, likeBihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka,Jharkhand and Rajasthan. So far as thelinguistic link of Urdu is concerned, its

family includes Sanskrit, Persian, Arabicand Dravidian languages like Teluguand Kannada.

Owing to its historicity, linguisticappeal, cultural multiplicity and liter-ary taste, it doesn’t have any religion orregion. Connoisseurs of Urdu arefound around the world. Besides,another salient feature of Urdu has beenits linkage to the dialects. Writers, espe-cially from Punjab, Kashmir,Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka,have also glorified the language glob-ally.

All languages are beautiful and havetheir own charm and distinct persona,but Urdu, in particular, is sweet andpoetic and at the same time, very adapt-able. If a language can be developedthrough a combination of seven lan-guages, what can be more flexible andwelcoming? Many foreigners ask tohear Urdu, and when they do, their firstreaction is: It is so soft and easy on theears.

Phonologically, Urdu sounds arethe same as those of Hindi except forslight variations in short vowel allo-phones. Urdu also retains a completeset of aspirated stops (sounds pro-nounced with a sudden release with anaudible breath), a characteristic ofIndo-Aryan, as well as retroflex stops.

It does not retain the completerange of Perso-Arabic consonants,despite its heavy borrowing from thattradition. From the grammatical pointof view, there is not much differencebetween Hindi and Urdu. One distinc-tion is that Urdu uses more Perso-

Arabic prefixes and suffixes than Hindi.Another interesting aspect of Urdu

is that it has incorporated in itself theidioms and clichés of other Indian lan-guages like Punjabi, Hindi, Marathi,Sindhi, Hindi, Sanskrit, Gujarati,Pushto, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Kashmiri,Telugu and Kannada. In fact, the innerspirit of Urdu is Sanskrit and it has beenconnected to it. Same is the case withmany foreign languages, like Arabic,Persian, Turkish, English, Uzbek andNepali that have gelled quite well withUrdu. It is assured that if a language hasviable connects with the other tongues,the result is a very pleasant one, basi-cally indicating an intermingling of andrespect for cultures. In this regard, itis pertinent to mention that Urdu is awindow to the cultural heritage of India.It makes us introspect as it is a languageof a composite culture and joins bro-ken hearts.

The NCPUL has been promotingUrdu on a pan-India basis by conduct-ing seminars, workshops on calligraphy,graphic designing, e-books, Urdu mediaand other topics, besides teaching ofUrdu, Persian and Arabic to peoplefrom all cross-sections of society andbringing out of Urdu magazines. Tillsuch organisations are there and thelanguage uses technology to propagateitself on social and electronic media,Urdu will live on in the hearts andminds of people.

(The writer is the Chancellor ofMaulana Azad National UrduUniversity and grandnephew of BharatRatna Maulana Azad)

The reason that Urdu proliferated and got promoted was owing to its secular character and a universalbase in India and abroad. Today it happens to be one of the most popular of all international languages

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

Be resilient in order to survive

VINAYSHIL GAUTAM

The present times are unique in history becauseof the almost endless and all-pervadingambiguities the pandemic has generated

FIROZ BAKHT AHMED

ALL LANGUAGESARE BEAUTIFUL

AND HAVE THEIR OWN

CHARM ANDDISTINCT

PERSONA BUTURDU, IN

PARTICULAR, IS SWEET AND

POETIC AND AT THE SAME

TIME, VERYADAPTABLE.

IF A LANGUAGE CAN BE

DEVELOPEDTHROUGH A

COMBINATION OF SEVEN

LANGUAGES, WHAT CAN

BE MORE FLEXIBLE ANDWELCOMING?

No matter how one adulates the ability to face ambiguity andno matter how this capability is seen as the fundamental char-acteristic of an innovative person, the truth is somewhat

removed. Whereas dealing with uncertainty raises resilience, likein everything else, one could well say “thus far and no further.”Equivocacy ensconced in certain clear-cut parameters works.Ambiguity as a constant and dominant feature of life can be cor-rosive. The present times are unique in human history because ofthe almost endless and all-pervading ambiguities the pandemic hasgenerated. One does not know where the virus originated from orthe logic of its transmutation. One does not know much about itsantidote or how it could strike. It is true that much poetry has beenwoven around the theme of subtle, calculated or not so calculat-ed ambiguity. That kind of romanticised writing is conspicuous byits absence in the present case.

By a rough estimate, there are about 250 million children world-wide who do not have access to schools. For them, staying awayfrom formal education was a no-choice situation. Of the childrenwho have access to schools, 1.6 billion students across 93 coun-tries have faced disruption due to the outbreak. The sheer magni-tude of these numbers cannot be comprehended in terms of theimpact of an invisible virus that can be so disruptive.

As of now, there is no certitude regarding where it will resur-face and how long the contagion will last. The limitations of sci-ence and technology stare human existence in the face. It cannotbe a subject to be trifled with. Notwithstanding the gravity of thesituation for those who understand and for those who try to under-stand, there is a general sense of gloom in the environment, if nota sense of tentative trepidation. This is bound to have a long-rangeeffect on frames of reference, the ability to understand and inter-pret interpersonal dynamics and cope with adversity. The wholeworld is at different levels of lockdown or reopening.

News has just been filtering in of the Coronavirus having reacheda remote tribe in Andaman and Nicobar islands. Of this tribe, onlyabout 50 members survive today. Reportedly, nearly a dozen ofthem are affected. Obviously, there will be any number of hypothe-ses of how the virus got there. The more relevant part of the storyis the enigmatic one: Where else will it travel and how?

In the meanwhile, the vaccine story has its own drama, thrills,hopes and reality checks. The bare truth is, as of now, nobody knowsexactly how far away, in time, is this vaccine. If an election has tobe won and if one can do it, one obviously invests public moneyin buying up stocks of a vaccine, the availability of which is anenigma in itself. The media is busy with claims and counter-claims.One particular country is also reported to have the vaccine andhas been ostensibly using it for a month at least.

The Indian version of this pandemic has the typical stamp ofthe Indian way of problem-solving, as some quarters are knownto practise. First the lockdown came in less than four hours. Thatit followed a voluntary curfew and beating of cymbals and so on,was also characteristic, in parts. Literally, an endless stream ofpeople termed “migrants” started trudging back home. The firstresponse was of disbelief, then bewilderment, then an attempt tocontain, cope and finally reconcile to the processes. The hardshipsof this odyssey of wanting to return to the place of one’s origincan only be believed by those who witnessed it. Then came theclosing and opening of many kind of borders, picking up the sickfrom their homes and rushing them to hospitals. And finally, theinevitable clarion call, “Learn to live with COVID-19.”

Characteristically, a few notables offered adulation to somenations for successful handling of the virus and how much Indianshad to learn from foreigners. That many such places experienceda second and a third spike was forgotten.The crisis has its crestsand troughs. India is in the top three affected regions. The politi-cian and the public figure with glib logic now peddle “cautious nor-malcy” with masks, sanitisers and, of course, social distancing.One would like to believe this would be a panacea.

In the meanwhile, the Government has rolled out an educa-tion policy of unprecedented dimensions, complete with slogansof digitisation, online learning, hybrid education, academic creditbanks, digital citizenship and, of course, how a ‘New India’ will beborn. Maybe it will! In the meanwhile, the institutions, which willdeliver this education policy, are yet to be fashioned. This will bethe most critical of all “unlocking” efforts. Resilience would be need-ed.

(The writer is a well-known management consultant)

In 1924, a year after declaringTurkey a republic and becomingits President, the former com-

mander in the army of the shrink-ing Ottoman Empire, and a hero ofWorld War-I, Mustafa Kemal Pasha,abolished the centuries-old office ofthe caliphate and drove the lastOttoman Caliph into exile.

With this act, not only didKemal launch his ambitious repub-lican and secularisation project inTurkey, but he also triggered a racebetween Muslim leaders and mon-archs to become recognised as thenew leaders of the Muslim world.

Various Muslim groups aroundthe world had agitated againstEuropean powers, who were at warwith the Ottomans during WorldWar-I. But after the defeat of theOttomans, many Muslim politicalleaders and intellectuals hailedKemal’s coming into power and sawhim as a modern redeemer of Islam.

The British historian, E

Kedourie, in a 1963 essay for theJournal of the Royal Asiatic Societyof Great Britain, writes that Kemalwas conscious of the fact that theidea of the caliphate was deeplyembedded in the minds of Muslims.According to Kedourie, at onepoint, Kemal actually wanted toname himself as the new Caliph. Butsince this would have contradictedand complicated his secularisationand republican project, he didn’t.

However, Kedourie adds thatKemal then offered a much-weak-ened version of the caliphate toShaikh Ahmad al-Sanusi, an Arabhead of a Sufi order, as long as hewould remain outside Turkey.

This suggests that, despitelaunching an aggressive project tosecularise Turkey, Kemal was stillinterested in retaining the country’srole as the “spiritual and politicalleader of the Muslim world.” Butafter the abolition of the Ottomancaliphate, two contenders rushed into claim the title. King Fuad of Egypt(that was still being ruled by theBritish) and the Wahabi Arab trib-al leader, Ibn Saud, who, with thehelp of the British, had conqueredformer Ottoman territories in whatwould become Saudi Arabia in1932. In 1926, Fuad organised aninternational Muslim conferencein Cairo. It was not attended by

Saud. Weeks later, Saud held a sim-ilar conference in Mecca. Turkey didnot attend any of the two events andneither did the Shia-majority Iran.

In 1947, a much smaller playeremerged in this race. It called itselfPakistan. It was founded in August1947 by Muhammad Ali Jinnah’sMuslim League. The party’s roots layin an evolving idea which emergedin the 19th century. It took a mod-ernist approach to understandingIslam. This then progressed as aMuslim nationalism, which wasremoulded as Pakistani nationalism.According to the French politicalscientist, Christophe Jaffrelot, thisapproach relegated Islamic rituals tothe private sphere and brought intopublic space Islam as a political-cul-tural identity marker.

Inspired by the writings ofMuslim reformers such as Sir SyedAhmad Khan and the poet andphilosopher Muhammad Iqbal,Jinnah and his party imagined a sov-ereign Muslim-majority countryuntainted by, what Iqbal had lament-ed, tribalism inherent in Arabianpolities. Iqbal pleaded for a faithunderstood and articulated accord-ing to the needs of modern times.

Jinnah and his colleagues need-ed to greatly trim the pan-Islamicaspects of Muslim nationalism toroot it more in the realities of

South-Asian Muslims. But this did not deter Pakistan’s

first Prime Minister, Liaquat AliKhan, from declaring that Pakistanwas a lot more than just anotherMuslim country. According to MRazvi, in the 1981 issue of theJournal of Pakistan Institute of

International Affairs, Pakistan helda World Muslim Conference in1951 in Karachi. During the event,Liaquat highlighted the importanceof retaining pan-Islamic ideas.

This did not please SaudiArabia, which suspected thatPakistan was trying to underminethe kingdom’s (self-appointed) roleas the leader of the post-ColonialMuslim world. But this role was dra-matically snatched away by GamalAbdel Nasser, the EgyptianPresident who came to powerthrough a coup in 1952. Charismaticand articulate, Nasser was hailed asa hero by Muslims around theworld when, in 1956, he managedto keep at bay an attack by Britishand Israeli forces on Egypt.

With his displays of Arab social-ism and a modernity suited to theneeds of the evolving Muslim poli-ties, Nasser mocked Saudi Arabia ofbeing retrogressive and rigid. For adecade after 1956, Nasser’s Egyptwas the undisputed leader of theMuslim world, inspiring large num-bers of Muslims in Arab and non-Arab regions alike.

Stung by Nasser’s status in thiscontext, and also by his criticism ofSaudi Arabia, the Saudi monarchKing Faisal (who came to the thronein 1964) unfolded a hectic moderni-sation process in Saudi Arabia.

However, Nasser’s mystique andinfluence began to rapidly recedewhen Egyptian and Syrian forceswere decimated by their Israelicounterparts in 1967.

In 1970, Nasser passed away,and Saudi Arabia once again rushedin to pick up the status of the leaderof the Muslim world. A windfall ofprofits made during (and becauseof) the 1973 oil crisis enhanced theinfluence of what became known asthe “petro-dollar.” And Saudi Arabiahad the most.

Faisal cleverly used these to sub-due (and win over) Nasser’s succes-sor Anwar Sadat. Faisal was alsoaware of the ambitions of PakistaniPrime Minister ZA Bhutto, who fan-cied himself as a champion of themodern Muslim world. But sincePakistan had lost a war in 1971 andits economy was weak, Faisalbrought Pakistan fully into theever-expanding Saudi orbit.

By the 1980s, flush with petro-dollars and with a surge in the pop-ularity of “political Islam” in Muslimcountries, Saudi political and reli-gious influence witnessed a mani-fold increase. It was only chal-lenged by the radical Shia theocra-cy in Iran. Both countries fought abrutal war of influence through sec-tarian proxies in countries such asPakistan and Lebanon.

However, in the new century,events such as the Arab Spring, thefall of dictatorships in Libya, Iraqand Tunisia, civil wars inAfghanistan, Somalia, Syria andYemen, the emergence of multipleviolent anti-State Islamist outfits inmost Muslim countries, along withthe retreat of the US and the rise ofChina, began to make variousMuslim countries reconsider theirstrategic priorities and even reinventtheir ideological character to strikenew alliances. Turkey, which haddropped out of the game of Muslimleadership decades ago, entered thefray again and is trying to lure non-Arab Muslim regions to break awayfrom the Saudi orbit. It is an orbitthat had already begun to decay.

This is one reason why the newSaudi monarchs are trying to reviveKing Faisal’s initial reformist ideas.Whereas the conservative aspect ofSaudi ideology was castigated byNasser’s Egypt in the past, thistime it is being challenged byErdogan’s “neo-Ottomanism”, whichis critical of Saudi Arabia for squan-dering the influence it had enjoyedfor decades as the leader of theMuslim world.

Turkey sees itself as a more nat-ural candidate for this role. This titleonce again is up for grabs.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

Who is the leader of the Muslim world?Challenged by Turkey’s ‘neo-Ottomanism’, Saudi Arabia is trying to revive King Faisal’s reformist ideas. The goal, as before, is the leadership of the Sunni world

NADEEM PARACHA

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Boat Lifestyle eyes Rs 1,000 crrevenue in FY24NEW DELHI: Consumer techproducts maker Boat Lifestyleregistered gross revenue ofover Rs 500 crore in FY2019-20 and aims to double thetopline by FY24 on the back ofstrong demand for productslike audio devices andaccessories in the country, atop company executive said. "We had a target of Rs 500crore revenue in FY21-22, wehave already crossed that, wehad an outstanding year inFY20. We have grown 2.5Xfrom the previous year...Sinceinception, our financialperformance has been strongand have been EBITDApositive," Boat Lifestyle co-founder Aman Gupta said. Headded that the company has asustainable approach togrowth, is not burning moneylike many start-ups.

Smaller Dunkin'Donuts outlets tobe scaled upNEW DELHI: JubilantFoodWorks, which operatesDunkin' Donuts chain in India,has piloted a smaller sizedkiosk model for the coffee andbaked goods chain in thecountry and is evaluatingopportunities to scale upthrough the new format."Dunkin' Donuts India is usinga calibrated pilot to test thenew format of restaurants. Thecompany is now evaluatingopportunities of growth tobuild this model. There iscontinued focus on optimisingcost and bringing efficiencies,"Jubilant FoodWorks said in itsannual report for financialyear 2019-20. JubilantFoodWorks, which alsooperates Domino's Pizza chainin India, said for Dunkin'Donuts, it opened 4restaurants with a smallerformat to pilot and test theeffectiveness of the format.

Toy cluster atKoppala cangenerate 40K jobsBENGALURU: India's ‘first toymanufacturing cluster' tocome up at Koppal has thepotential to create 40,000 jobsin five years and attract overRs 5,000 crore investment,Karnataka Chief Minister B SYediyurappa said here onSunday. "In line with PM@narendramodi 's vision of#VocalForLocal & boosting toymanufacturing, Koppala willhave India's first toymanufacturing cluster. Withthe eco-system to support toycluster in place, this 400 acresSEZ will have top-class infra &generate 40,000 jobs in 5years," Yediyurappa tweeted.The tweet by the ChiefMinister came following PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'saddress in his 'Mann Ki Baat.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Domestic equity bourses in thecoming week will be guided byQ1 GDP print, infrastructureoutput data for July andmonthly auto sales numbers,which together will give anindication about the health ofthe economy, analysts said.

During this data heavy week,the investor focus will alsoremain on global market trendsand COVID-19 updates likethe number of infection casesand news related to theprogress of vaccines.

"This week, participants willbe closely eyeing auto salesnumber and GDP data forcues on how the economy isprogressing. Besides, monsoonprogress and news updates

related to COVID-19 wouldalso be on their radar," said AjitMishra, VP-Research, ReligareBroking Ltd.

The Indian market last week,ended August 28, showed astellar performance, with the

BSE Sensex gaining 1,032points and the NSE Niftyadding 276 points — bothindices rising 2 per cent each.

The National StatisticalOffice (NSO) will release theinfrastructure output data for

July and the GDP number forthe April-June quarter onMonday.

Various rating agencies andindustry experts have beenforecasting GDP contractionfor the first quarter as theeconomy came under a severepressure in the wake of thecoronavirus outbreak andensuing lockdowns during thisperiod.

As other macro data areconcerned, auto companieswill announce their monthlysales data for August this weekand PMI data for manufactur-ing and services sector arealso due.

"Market is expected to con-tinue the momentum. Therecould be a slight consolidationin the markets, when profit-

booking emerges, but it is notlikely to be a long drawn outcorrection," Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit FinancialServices, said.

Samco Securities SeniorResearch Analyst Nirali Shahsaid, "For the week ahead,markets may watch out forAugust auto sales numbersfrom India Inc which mightbroadly act as a proxy for thehealth of our ailing economy,to an extent."

Experts are of the view thatmovement in rupee/USD,trend in foreign fund andcrude oil would also be mon-itored by market participants.

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 case tally crossed 35 lakhmark with a spike of nearly79,000 new cases in a day.

Shipping Corp outclasses rival Indianfleet owners in recruiting womenPNS n NEW DELHI

Domestic linerS h i p p i n gCorporation of India(SCI) has emergedas a pioneer amongtop Indian fleet own-ers when it comes tohiring women in keyroles on ships withover 20 per centwomen workforce and a robustgender-neutral hiring policy inplace.

Incidentally, SCI — whichowns and operates aroundone-third of the Indian ton-nage and has operating inter-ests in practically all areas ofthe shipping business, servic-

ing both national and interna-tional trades -- has at its helma woman as the chairpersonand managing director, H KJoshi. Of the total 646 employ-ees, 135 are women.

"SCI has been the pioneer inIndia with regards to recruit-ing women for jobs on board

its fleet. Presently, two masters,five chief officers, two secondengineers, 31 second/thirdofficers, six third/fourth engi-neers and two nurses arewomen serving on varioustypes of ships," as per theannual report of the Navratnapublic sector enterprise.

In addition, there are 13women trainee nautical offi-cers, four woman traineemarine engineers and sevenwoman trainee electrical engi-neers.

The company is committedto the principle of equalemployment opportunity andstrives to provide employeeswith a workplace free of dis-crimination, the report said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's fiscal deficitis expected totouch 7 per cent ofGDP in 2020-21fiscal as againstbudget estimate of3.5 per cent, withrevenue collectionsbeing hit amid dis-ruptions in eco-nomic activities due to lock-downs, according to BrickworkRatings.

"The impact of the lock-down on economic activityshows up starkly in the trendsin the central government rev-enue collection during the firstthree months of fiscal 2020-21,"the agency said in a report.

As per data released by theController General of Accounts(CGA), the central govern-ment's revenue in Q1 (April-June) of the current fiscal yearis much lower than collectionsfor the corresponding periodlast year. Revenue from incometaxes (personal income tax andcorporate income taxes) waslower by 30.5 per cent, and theGST by almost 34 per cent dur-ing the period.

On the other hand, there is asharp increase in expenditure(by 13.1 per cent) due to addi-tional spending incurred tosave lives and livelihoods and toprovide stimulus under the'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' pro-gramme. "This has resulted inthe fiscal deficit widening to83.2 per cent of the budgetedtarget in the first quarter itself,"the agency said.

Brickwork Ratings expectsthe economy to gradually pickup from the third quarter of thisfiscal. "Given early signs ofresumption in business activi-ty, we expect revenue collectionsto reach pre-Covid levelstowards the end of the thirdquarter, hoping that festive sea-son demand induces consump-tion and spending.

Fiscal deficit to touch7 per cent in FY21

PNS n NEW DELHI

Telecom industry's revenuesare expected to rise 14-15 percent in the current financialyear led by some uptick inaverage revenue per user,though the subscriber basemay remain flat with ruralgrowth offsetting SIM consol-idation in urban locations,apex association COAI esti-mates.

The newly appointedDirector General of CellularOperators' Association of India(COAI) S P Kochhar told PTIthat any duopoly situation inthe current three-player privatetelcos market can "never be agood thing" and asserted thatsufficient competition amongthe operators is required forensuring that subscribers getgood services at better prices.

The COAI will continue tobe a neutral body that believesin consensus building andunanimity of views, Kochharsaid when asked about past dif-ferences amongst the telecomcompanies, who are membersof the association, on variousissues.

"COAI tries to get the point

of view of all members unan-imously and we make surewhenever we project to anyauthority whether in govern-ment or regulatory, we do it asunanimous voice, we are notpartisan...," he said.

Kochhar said that industry'sfinancial distress is "evident"and that the COAI will contin-ue to push for relief includingreduction in spectrum usagecharges (SUC) and licence fee;and exemption of GST onlicence fee and SUC, as well ason payment of spectrumacquired in auctions.

On whether, the telecom

industry is headed towards aduopoly, Kochhar spoke infavour of competition saying,"at the end of the day, generalpublic should get benefits oftelecom and that will not hap-pen in case of a duopoly".

It is in the interest of thecountry that duopoly does notcome in and "we have morecompetition, so better servicesat better prices can be offeredto subscribers", he said.

The industry's revenue,Kochhar said, will grow at 14-15 per cent in FY21, led bysome improvement in averagerevenue per user (ARPU).

PNS n NEW DELHI

Emerging investment instru-ment REIT seems tobe finally catchinginvestors' fancy,with mutualfunds investinga whopping Rs735 crore in suchunits in the firstsix months of2020, nearly three-fold jump from theyear-ago period.

However, mutual funds'investment in infrastructureinvestment trusts (InvITs)dropped by 8 per cent to Rs4,968 crore in the period

under review, data with theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) showed.

REITs and InvITs arerelatively new invest-

ment instrumentsin the Indian con-text but areextremely popu-lar in global mar-kets. While an

REIT comprises aportfolio of com-

mercial real assets, amajor portion of which are

already leased out, InvITscomprise a portfolio of infra-structure assets such as high-ways, power transmissionassets.

MF investment in REITsjumps 3-fold to Rs 735 cr

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Steel MinisterDharmendra Pradhan alongwith Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal Nishank onSaturday laid down the foun-dation for new projects atCentral University of Odisha(CUO) in Koraput town of thestate, an official statement said.

Pradhan and Nishank laidthe foundation stone for theacademic block, library andstaff quarters at the CUOthrough video conferencing,the Ministry of Steel said in amedia statement.

Pradhan said the CUO hasestablished itself as a premier

centre forh i g h e rlearningin thestate.

M o d ihas alwaysgiven a spe-cial focus onhigher education in Odisha.Under his leadership severalpremier institutes of learninglike IIM, IIT, IISER, CIPET,NISER, ICT-IOCL have beenestablished in Odisha, the min-ister said.

He further said, "The NEPwill enable regionally rootedindustry-academia-govt part-nership for the holistic devel-

opment ofthe region.Koraputis rich int r i b a ldiversity

and NEP2020 focus-

ing on a broad-based and creative curriculawill enable CUO to providemore opportunities for disad-vantaged students and alsopromote research-based tribaland anthropological studiesin Odisha."

Pradhan also has urged thestudents and faculty of CUO toundertake innovative efforts tofind better and bigger markets

for organic products grown inKoraput such as the world-famous Koraput ginger.

Nishank said, "I am delight-ed to see the progress made bythe institution in tuning itsobjectives and processes inaccordance with the NationalEducation Policy 2020. I amsure that the introduction ofcore science and new social sci-ence courses will add furtherquality dimensions to the exist-ing faculties of CU Odisha."

Nishank has also expressedhappiness over the university'smassive skill development pro-gramme which the institutionhas started in 12 districts ofOdisha.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Trade ministers of India and10-member ASEAN countrieshave instructed their officials tostart discussions for determin-ing the scope of review of freetrade agreement (FTA) at theearliest with a view to make thepact more user-friendly, sim-ple, and trade facilitative forbusinesses.

The issue was discussed dur-ing the 17th ASEAN-IndiaEconomic MinistersConsultations meet held virtu-ally on August 29, an officialstatement said on Sunday.

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal stated

that the review of FTA ingoods has been "inordinatelydelayed", and requested to startthe full review before the end

of this year."The ministers from India

and ASEAN countries instruct-ed the senior officials to start

the discussions to determinethe scope of the review at theearliest to, inter-alia, make thefree trade agreement moreuser-friendly, simple, and tradefacilitative for businesses," thestatement said.

The review will make theagreement modern with con-temporary trade facilitativepractices, and streamlined cus-toms and regulatory proce-dures, it added.

Goyal highlighted that thepact has to be mutually bene-ficial and a win-win for allsides.

He also expressed the needto strengthen rules of originprovisions, work towards

removal of non-tariff barriersand provide better marketaccess to Indian businesses.

Goyal and Tran Tuan Anh,Minister of Industry and Tradeof Vietnam, co-chaired theconsultations.

It was attended by tradeministers of all 10 ASEANcountries — Brunei,Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,Malaysia, Myanmar,Philippines, Singapore,Thailand and Vietnam.

The Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN)-Indiatrade in goods agreement wassigned on August 13, 2009and came into force on January1, 2010.

6 of top 10 most valuedfirms together add overRs 1 lakh cr in m-capPNS n NEW DELHI

The market valuation of six ofthe top 10 most valued firmszoomed by Rs 1,06,523.84crore last week, withICICI Bank andKotak MahindraBank leadingthe pack.

During thelast week, theBSE bench-mark Sensexhad gained1,032.59 points or2.68 per cent.

Of these 10 most val-ued companies in terms ofmarket capitalisation (m-cap),Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL),HDFC Bank, HDFC, KotakMahindra Bank, Bharti Airteland ICICI Bank emerged asgainers.

On the other hand, fourfirms Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS), HindustanUnilever Ltd (HUL), Infosysand ITC ended the week withlosses.

The market valuation ofICICI Bank jumped by Rs26,620.32 crore to Rs2,82,550.05 crore, becomingthe biggest gainer.

Kotak Mahindra Bank's m-cap rose by Rs 25,360.91 croreto Rs 2,90,458.09 crore, RIL'svaluation was up by Rs

21,458.89 crore at Rs13,41,164.42 crore

and HDFC Bank'sworth increased

by Rs 16,547.52crore to Rs6,13,598.67crore.

A m o n gother two

gainers, HDFCsaw its market

valuation rise byRs 14,599.47 crore to

Rs 3,37,472.45 crore andBharti Airtel added Rs1,936.73 crore to Rs2,85,625.71 crore.

In contrast, the market capof HUL plunged by Rs11,982.71 crore to Rs5,05,658.41 crore.

Infosys witnessed an ero-sion of Rs 5,963.14 crore to Rs3,98,188.66 crore from its val-uation and TCS took a hit ofRs 4,165.15 crore to see itsmarket cap at Rs 8,39,445.98crore.

The valuation of ITC alsodeclined by Rs 1,661.13 croreto Rs 2,40,619 crore.

‘GDP numbers fresh triggers for stock market this week’

India, ASEAN trade ministers call for free trade agreement review

Telecom industry revenueexpected to rise 14-15%

‘Continuing with certain provisions of MMDR Act to cause loss’PNS n NEW DELHI

Continuing with certain provi-sions of the Mines andMinerals (Development andRegulation) Act will cause hugefinancial loss to state exche-quer, the Mines Ministry hasobserved while proposingamendments to the law.

The amendments will paveway for unlocking of large

number of potential mineralbearing areas which areblocked as of now due to var-ious reasons, including absenceof sun set clause in the Act, theministry said on its website.

The ministry said it propos-es to amend provisions relatedto grant of prospecting licenceand mining leases, and allocatesuch mineral blocks throughtransparent method of auction.

Section 10A(2)(b) pertainsto the leases where reconnais-sance permit or prospectinglicence were granted and10A(2)(c) relates to grant ofmining leases (ML).

"Since continuing with exist-ing provisions of 10 A 2(b) and10 A (2) (c) will also cause hugefinancial loss to the state exche-quer, the Amendment bill seeksto amend the existing provision

of 10 A 2(b) and 10 A (2) (c)and reallocation of such min-eral blocks through transparentmethod of auction," the minesministry said.

At present, a large number ofpotential leases are blocked inlegacy cases. These cases canneither be granted because ofthe time period to grant themis already over, nor can they bebrought to auction because of

legal impasse, the ministrysaid. "The cases coming undersection 10A(2) (c) of the Actwhich stood extinguished onJanuary 12, 2017, as per law,but are still litigated or pursuedunnecessarily at various levels,need to be brought to a closureto end the policy stalemate," itsaid. The cases coming undersection 10A (2) (b) of the Actare still disputed in the absence

of specific sun set clause in theAct, and they have not reachedclosure till date, it said.

Section 7 of the MMDR Actprovides for maximum periodof five years for completing theprospecting operations.

These amendments came ineffect on January 12, 2015,and the maximum period offive year for prospecting hasalso lapsed on January 12.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Overdue replacement cycle ofcommercial vehicles willdrive recovery in the market,while demand for trucks isexpected to start comingback from October-November onwards, accord-ing to a top official of VECommercial Vehicles(VECV).

Despite the challengingmarket situation currently,the company, a joint venturebetween the Volvo Groupand Eicher Motors Ltd,expects that truck makersmay find it difficult to supplywhen demand starts comingback, especially when largefleet operators opt for effi-ciency and productivity todrive down operating costs.

"Even though the currentmarket situation is very verytough, I am very optimisticbecause of a few reasons,"VECV Managing Directorand CEO Vinod Aggarwalsaid. In the CV market,trucks are replaced by bigfleet operators in five to sixyears, but the CV marketdropped by 40 per cent in2019-20,” he said.

Overduereplacementcycle to driverecovery

Pradhan, Nishank lay foundation stonesof new facilities at Odisha university

ESAF Small Finance Bank totake call on Rs 976-cr IPOPNS n NEW DELHI

Kerala-based ESAFSmall FinanceBank has said itwill take a call onRs 976-crore ini-tial public offering(IPO) afterSeptember.

As part of its com-mitment for going publicby listing its stock in line withrequisite guidelines, the bankhad filed draft red herringprospectus (DRHP) in Januaryand subsequently got approvalfrom the market regulatorSebi in the last week of March.

However, the bank could

not go to market due tolockdown imposed in

the wake ofCOVID-19 out-break.

"We have Sebiapproval but wehave not yet

decided about theright time. After

September, we willtake a call about the IPO

in consultation with merchantbankers," its managing direc-tor K Paul Thomas told PTI.

The proposed IPO compris-es a fresh issue worth Rs 800crore and an offer for sale(OFS) aggregating up to Rs176.2 crore.

FROM DARINGTRAPEZE ACTS TOMESMERIZINGACROBATIC STUNTS,THE VIRTUAL SHOWPROMISES TO BECOMPLETE FAMILYENTERTAINMENT.

amboCircus,one of thebiggestand oldestcircus in

the country whichhas been badlyimpacted by the

COVID-19 cri-sis with showscoming to astandstill,has comeup with auniqueidea: Forthe first

time the cir-cus will be

going onlineits digitally pro-

duced show, 'Lifeis a circus’ — An odeto the greatest show-manship. The showwill be a virtualfundraiser thataims to raise

awareness for thecause and benefit theRambo Circus artistsand their families tocome back strongerfrom the difficult sit-uation.

From daringtrapeze acts to mes-merizing acrobaticstunts, the virtualshow promises to becomplete familyentertainment. Theshow will be a ticket-ed event hosted on avirtual platform withthe audience watch-

ing it from remotelocations. The fundsraised from this ini-tiative will be donat-ed directly to thecrew for their welfareand wellbeing.

“The circus wasone of the most pre-ferred outings forkids and the entirefamily a few decadesback. Every kid bornin the 80s’ and 90s’will have some nostalgic memoriesattached to it. Withisolation becomingthe new norm, we’renow trying to rein-vent the whole expe-rience of watching acircus online. Peoplecan buy tickets onlinefrom BookMyShowand watch the showfrom their homes.We are hopeful thatthe digital revolutionwill bring lost visibili-ty and respect to theart form,” said SujitDilip, owner ofRambo Circus owner.

Brought to theaudience by the nar-rator, the show struc-ture and format willweave in a story inthe form of a narra-tive. The narrativewould harp on thejourney of RamboCircus itself. It willunravel the acts whilehighlighting the

achieve-ments, struggles,global presence, andthe never-endingenthusiasm of theartists that have keptit alive through thickand thin. The grandfinale act will culmi-nate into the best ofall acts dedicated tothe COVID Warriorsfor their constanteffort to combat thepandemic with a spe-cial message from theRambo Circus artists.

One can makedonations onlinethrough the paymentgateway page linkprovided atBookmyshow or thislink: https://secure-payments.payu.in/bmsdonate4 anddonate even ifthey don’t buy aticket.

ADMITTED: THE MISSING

GUIDE TO CRAFT A WINNING

APPLICATION & STUDY

ABROAD’ IS AN ALL-

ENCOMPASSING BOOK THAT

COVERS THE END-TO-END

PROCESS OF GETTING AN

ADMIT AND PREPARING TO

STUDY IN A FOREIGN

COUNTRY.

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

MondayAugust 31, 2020

or debut authorSoundaryaBalasubramani,her book did notbegin as that, abook, but as a

missing link for studentswanting to study abroad. Inher own words, she wantedto create a short, 10-pageguide to help students whowanted to study abroad. Asshe began researchingthrough, she soon found outthe lack of — and need of —a comprehensive guide onthis topic.

“But instead of writing a

book that instructed thereader on exactly what todo, my team and I took adifferent approach. We usedthe virtue of graphic design,mental models from otherdomains, testimonials frompast graduates, and my ownstories to write and design abook that teaches the readerhow to think instead.‘Admitted’ is not just abouthelping you get your dreamadmit. It’s also about prepar-ing you for the next phase inyour life,” saysBalasubramani, who holds aa master's degree from

Columbia University, NewYork and a Gold Medal fromNIT Trichy up her sleeve.

Her debut book,‘Admitted: The MissingGuide to Craft a WinningApplication & StudyAbroad’ is an all-encom-passing book that covers theend-to-end process of get-ting an admit and preparingto study in a foreign coun-try.

“The pandemic certainlyput a dent on many students’dreams. But once things sta-bilise, universities abroadwill be even more welcom-

ing to receiving internationalstudents, given how impor-tant they are to the universi-ties’ lifeline and country’seconomy. Hence, I urge stu-dents to treat this time asmore runway to prepare; totake up online courses, gainmore certifications, intern atstartups, and work on side-projects. Make yourself morevaluable and interesting.There is no reason for you tostop, because the world didso,” says the author.

The book provides criticalinformation on every part ofthe journey: crafting a

resume, writing a state-ment of purpose, preparingfor competitive exams (GRE,IELTS, TOEFL), picking theright university, preparingfor interviews, applying forscholarships, and more. Italso lays bare lesser-knowninformation about studentloans and visas, post gettingan admit.

The author added that100 percent of profits fromthe sales will go towardshelping the underprivilegedget access to education. Thebook is available at: admit-tedthebook.com.

A ‘MISSING GUIDE' TO APPLYING FOR AFOREIGN EDUCATIONF

A friend to bank upon

during troubled timeslue and grey-col-lared Indians, caughtin the grip ofCOVID-19, and indesperate need formoney, had a sav-

iour, who stood by them andcontinues to even as the worldis struggling to stay afloat andsurvive the impact of the pan-demic.

Most of the distraught havebeen sounding NIRA with theirSOS, a lending App thatpromises to provide customer-friendly loans. Launched in2018 by Rohit Sen and NupurGupta, who quit high-payingjobs at Goldman Sachs, NIRAhas been at the forefront ofhelping the needy. Incidentally,their largest customer base out-side of Bangalore is Hyderabadand the maximum beneficiariesare from Telangana.

A majority of that availingthe three-12 month loans (rang-ing from Rs 2,500 to Rs Onelakh) are vegetable vendors,auto-rickshaw drivers, newspa-per hawkers, barbers, domestic

helps, Class IV employees, teajoints, and paan shop owners,among several others.

The fintech business venturehas helped fetch seed funding ofone million dollars in October2018 from angel investors basedin the United Kingdom andIndia. Rohit Sen says, “As most

fintechs pursue tech-savvy mil-lennials to fund their aspira-tional purchases, NIRA wasconceptualised to assist themiddle and lower-middle-classcustomers.”

On the existence of severalTelangana-based lending appsand their own survival robust-

ness, Nupur Gupta says, “Manylending apps have stopped dis-bursing loans to new customerssince the onset of Covid-19 butNIRA has remained open andwe are actually giving loans topeople during the troubledtimes that continue to adverselyimpact millions of distraughtfamilies.”

Elaborating further, the co-founders state that they havenoticed that in Hyderabad, forinstance, demand for discre-tionary spending like buying anew smartphone has droppedsignificantly while it has shot upsubstantially for meeting non-discretionary expenditure onmedical costs, school fees,Ramzan and other festivities.

“We are being extra vigilantwith risk management and col-lections during the pandemicbecause the situation canchange quickly and the crisisremains, although most small-time vendors have resumed fulloperations and students arehooked onto online classes,” thepromoters explain.

NUPUR GUPTA, CO-FOUNDER, NIRA

ROHIT SEN,CEO & Co-Founder, NIRA

b

Rambo circusback on its feet, butonline this time

R

shaan Khatterchose anunconventionalroute to makeforay in filmswith celebrated

Iranian filmmaker MajidMajidi’s drama Beyond theClouds, but the actor isnow set to play a quintes-sential Bollywood hero inKhaali Peeli, an opportu-nity which he says hasbeen both fun and satisfy-ing.

In 2017’s Beyond theClouds, Ishaan played adrug dealer and followedit up with Dhadak, aromantic-drama oppositeactor Janhvi Kapoor. Hislatest project is MiraNair’s A Suitable Boyseries for BBC, in whichhe essays the role of

Maan Kapoor, a rebelliousson of a politician.

The 24-year-old actor isnow looking forward tohis first two Bollywoodentertainers Khaali Peeli,opposite Ananya Panday,and horror comedy PhoneBooth with Katrina

Kaif and SiddhantChaturvedi.

“Khaali Peeli is a stylishcaper. It is a thrilling ride.It is my first hero role.Every character that Ihave played before this, beit Beyond the Clouds orDhadak, I have beenaware they are not heroroles and to play themlike that would have beengoing against the story. Sothere is a different level offun and satisfaction inplaying a role like inKhaali Peeli, Ishaan toldPTI.

The teaser of the film,directed by debutantMaqbool Khan, wasreleased recently and rec-eived positive reviews.

ctorRajkummarRao says lifeis all aboutcreatingmemories.

He took toInstagram, where heshared two pictures. Inthe first image, he isseen enjoying himselfin the swimming pool.The second picturehas the actor posingwith his actress girl-friend Patralekhaaand some friends.

As the caption,Rajkummar wrote, “Life is allabout creating wonderfulmemories.”

Speaking about his work,the actor will be seen sharingscreen space with PriyankaChopra Jonas in an OTTadaptation of the ManBooker Prize winning novelThe White Tiger.

He will also be seen oppo-site Nushrratt Bharuccha inHansal Mehta’s comedydrama Chhalaang. He is alsoa part of Ludo, Roohi Afzanaand Badhaai Do.

10

Hyderabad Monday August 31 2020 what’s brewing?

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

MY STYLE HAS EVOLVED

OVER THE YEARS:

DEEPIKA PADUKONE

ollywood actress

Deepika Padukone

says fashion for her

is being able toeffortlessly blend

what is in trend with

her individual authentic style.

In an interview with

IANSlife, Deepika, who has

been roped in as the brand

ambassador of ethnic brand

Melange by Lifestyle, shares

more about her fashion pref-

erences, her style and more.

EXCERPTS:

HOW WOULD YOU

DEFINE YOUR STYLE?

My personal style has cer-

tainly evolved over the years

but inherently I believe my

personal style is Classic and

Elegant. I absolutely love tra-

ditional wear and the saree is

my most favourite garment!

WHAT IS FASHION FOR

YOU?

Fashion for me is being

able to effortlessly blend what

is in trend with my individual

authentic style.

WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL

WORK-FROM-HOME

OUTFIT?

Fabrics and silhouettes that

allow me to feel comfortable.

IS IT TOUGH AT TIMES

FOR YOU AND YOUR

STYLIST TO FINALISE A

RED CARPET LOOK ?

We’ve never thought of it as

tough. The most important

criteria for us is to have fun

and enjoy the process!

ORDINARILY HOW LONG

DOES IT TAKE FOR YOU

TO GET READY FOR

THE DAY?

Not more than 10-15 min-

utes.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR

COLLABORATION WITH

MELANGE?

Melange by Lifestyle is a

brand that effortlessly com-

bines modernity with tradi-

tionalism; attributes that res-

onate very strongly with my

core values.Whether you are looking

for something festive or a

casual day out, there is some-

thing for everybody. For years

we’ve been conditioned to

think of ethnic wear as some-

thing that one can only wear

in the evenings or during cel-

ebrations, but Melange

encourages you to rethink

ethnic wear.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE

THE MOST OF IT?

With this collection in par-

ticular, I’m excited about the

fact that we have been able to

marry ethnicity and moderni-

ty and believe that the linen

kurtas, the Chikankari kurtas

and the contemporary shirt

kurtas in particular will be

very well received.

B

ctress MadhuriDixit Nene saysthat after readingthe script ofSaajan, whichreleased 29 years

ago on this day, she instantlydecided to be a part of it.

Madhuri took toInstagram, where she shareda still from the film, whichalso stars Sanjay Dutt and

Salman Khan.She captioned the picture,

“#29YearsOfSaajan. Afterreading the script of thisfilm, I instantly decided tobe a part of it. The story wasromantic, the dialogues werepoetic and the music wasbrilliant!”

Directed by LawrenceD’Souza, Saajan wasreleased in 1991.

The film tells the tale oftwo best friends Amar and Akash who fall in lovewith the same girl namedPooja.

Madhuri was last seen onscreen in the 2019 filmKalank, which also starredAlia Bhatt, Sonakshi Sinha,Aditya Roy Kapur, VarunDhawan and Sanjay Dutt.

A

MADHURI DIXIT ‘instantly

decided' to be part of ‘Saajan'

A

Rajkummar Rao: Lifeis all about creating

wonderful memories

I

There's a different level ofsatisfaction in playing a hero:ISHAAN KHATTER

irectorKaaranamBabji, whomade filmslike MentalPolice and

Operation 2019 earlier,has wrapped up the

shooting of his next,Mission 2020, on

Saturday. Like hisearlier films, this

new film too isset in a con-

temporarypoliticalbackdrop,withNaveen

Chandra playing the leadrole. K Venkatesh andKVSSL Ramesh Raju havejointly produced it.

The film’s first look wasunveiled by Srikanth onSunday. “Mental Police andOperation 2019 have earnedme a good name as an actor.Operation 2019 has donegood business in Hindi aswell. Mission 2020 has astrong story. The year hasn’tbeen a pleasant one for theindustry but I hope thisfilm’s success will be a silverlining,” Srikanth hoped.

Babji said the film’s storyis the real hero and thatNaveen, Naga Babu andJayaprakash have aced theirroles. “We went to floorsearlier this January andwrapped up the shootingformalities before the lock-down came into effect.Naveen has shown a lot ofdedication to complete it.We’ve shot an item songwith Sri Rapaka on Saturdayand it has come out well,”the director noted.

id Pawan Kalyanagree to headlineanother film?Reports doing therounds say so,pointing out that he

is set to honour the commit-ment he made to his friendRam Talluri sometime back.According to reports,Surender Reddy has pippedDolly to bag the project to bemade under Talluri’s SRTEntertainments and theannouncement is likely to bemade to coincide with Pawan’sbirthday on September 2.Reports further say that Reddywill be directing from a script

of Vakkantham Vamsi, whohas written the story of for-mer’s popcorn entertainerslike Oosaravelli, Kick and RaceGurram. It will be a commer-cial entertainer with a differ-ence, it is being said. The pro-ject is likely to go in front ofthe cameras towards the endof next year.

Meanwhile, Pawan stillneeds to complete some por-tions of Vakeel Saab before hedives into the filming ofKrish’s period drama andHarish Shankar’s commercialentertainer. Reddy also has afilm lined-up with AkhilAkkineni up next.

D

11

Hyderabad Monday August 31 2020tollywood

lthough she isn’tpaired opposite Naniin his landmark 25thfilm V, this is thethird time thatNivetha Thomas will

be seen in a Nani-starrer, play-ing a central role. She was hisromantic interest in box-office

smashes like Gentleman andNinnu Kori. She admits that

she forged a bond beyondfilms with Nani. “He is

like a family memberto me now. I discuss

the stories I likewith him. It isvice-versa withhim as well. If heaccepts to do arole, he wouldput in the hardyards to bring it

alive. He is aninspiration to me

in many aspects,”she told the mediacontingent duringthe promotions

of V over a zoom session.V is an action thriller about a

cop (played by Sudheer Babu)falling in love with a crimewriter (Nivetha). When every-thing is going great, his lifeturns upside down when akiller (Nani) challenges himwith a puzzle to solve, leadingto a good-versus-evil show-down. “I could connect to thestory the moment Mohan sir(director Indraganti) narrated itto me. My part Apurva comesacross as a woman who is dar-ing and confident,” she pointsout.

V was initially planned to hitthe big screens around Ugadiearlier this year but the lock-down triggered by the pandem-ic ensured that its release waskept on hold. Rapidly escalat-ing interest rates meant thatproducer Dil Raju, who forlong considered releasing it intheatres, inked a deal withAmazon Prime recently, mak-ing it the first big film from

Telugu to get a direct webrelease. “The unit worked hardto release the film for cinemahalls but the present circum-stances pushed us to opt for anOTT release. Watching V onthe big screen would’ve been awhole together different experi-ence. As actors, we want ourfilms for the silver screen buteveryone knows what’s happen-ing around us. However, theexcitement surrounding theOTT release is palpable,” sheinforms.

The actress was shooting forPawan Kalyan-starrer VakeelSaab when the lockdown wasenforced earlier this summer.Ever since, she confined herselfto her home in Chennai.Commenting on her lockdownroutine, she says lockdown orotherwise, she believes in learn-ing new things like reading abook or learning about a newsoftware related to her studies.Also, the actress, who has adegree in architecture shares, “I

prefer to stay alone but for thefirst time after several years Ispent a lot of time at my home.My dad has been working inDubai for the past 17 years andhis stays at home have beenbrief. Due to lockdown, he hasbeen with us for the past sixmonths and I had the best timewith my family. I’ve also partic-ipated in the script develop-ment sessions of the projectsI’ve signed and that are in dis-cussions.”

Nivetha’s script selection hasearned her much praise overyears and giving a peek into herthought process, she maintainsthat she listens to all kinds ofscripts that come her way.“During the narrations itself, Iponder whether I would do jus-tice to the role and my finaldecision (on signing it or not)hinges on it,” she says, addingthat she never thinks aboutstardom, but is enjoying herpresent position. “I just want toearn the tag of a good actress.”

With V going the streamingway, is she getting any offersfrom digital platforms? Sheresponds, “I haven’t beenapproached for content onOTT yet. If I do, I’d give it athought. I’ve listened to threeTelugu scripts in the past fivemonths and they are in differ-ent stages of development.Also, I’m ready to play a villainrole. Such roles have a widerange for an actor to explore.It’s not necessary to beat up oneto play a villain. You can play itstrategically.”

In a recent interview, shesaid that it’s her dream to sit inthe director’s saddle. Speakingabout it, she says, “As of now,my focus remains acting.Nobody will offer me a direc-tion chance just because I wantto direct; I have to bag it. Iwon’t be directing straightawaythough. I would cut my teethby making short films first and later graduate to featurefilms.”

A

The actress speaksto NAGARAJGOUD about hernext, V, the bond sheshares with actorNani offscreen,shooting for PawanKalyan-starrer Vakeel

Saab and more

READY TO PLAYA NEGATIVE ROLE:NIVETHA THOMAS

ilmmaker VijayKonda’s Orey…Bujjigaa, starringRaj Tarun andMalavika Nair,was one of the

first summer releases thathad to skip a theatrical roll-out due to the outbreak ofnovel COVID-19. Whilethe film did attract OTToffers initially, the makersdidn’t oblige as they firmlybelieved that it was meantfor the big screen experi-

ence. But now we hear thatit will join the likes of otherTelugu films like V, MissIndia, Solo Brathuke SoBetter and Good Luck Sakhiin going straight to digital.

A source close to thedevelopment tells us that themakers have struck a neatdeal with an OTT player.According to the deal, thefilm’s digital rights were soldfor Rs 3.5 crore, while thesatellite rights got the mak-ers Rs 1.5 crore. The film

will land on a popular GECmore than a month after itsdigital debut.

A Hyderabad-set dramaon the lines of Konda’sGundejaari Gallanthayyindebut with an interesting lovestory thrown into the mix,Orey… Bujjigaa sees VaniViswanath, Naresh, PosaniKrishna Murali, Sapthagiri,Raja Raveendra, AjayGhosh, Annapurna, Sathyaand Madhunandan in sup-porting roles.

articipating in an Ask Me Anythingsession on her popular Instagrampage over the weekend, SamanthaAkkineni dismissed rumours sur-rounding her pregnancy. “I have beenpregnant since 2017, I think. This

baby doesn’t want to come out,” she chuckled.Up next, Samantha is set for her digi-

tal and Hindi debut with Rajand DK’s The Family Man 2.Speaking about it, she said,“This is the most excitementyou will see on my face. Icompleted dubbing of theseries. Oh my god! It is sokicka**!”

Besides the web debut,she also hinted at some-thing special from her end,which she would be mak-ing public. “In this time, Igot to work on somethingspecial. I cannot wait toshare with all you guys,”she replied to a follower.

When a fan wanted toknow about her height,she cheekily replied, “Iam barely 5’3. Greatthings come in smallpackages. So, woohoo!”

Samantha alsoshared the “special”thing she shares withher husband, actorNaga Chaitanya.She told fans, “Mytattoo means –create your ownreality. Chay andI got thistogether. It isreally specialfor both ofus.”

Great things come insmall packages: Sam

P

Orey… Bujjigaa headsfor a digital release

F

PK GIVES NOD TOSURENDER REDDY?

D

Naveen Chandra ina political drama

PTI n DUBAI

Terming the upcoming IPLone of his “most important

assignments” as captain, DelhiCapitals’ Shreyas Iyer hasdemanded consistency from allhis teammates.

In the last edition, DelhiCapitals reached the IPL play-offs for the first time in sevenyears, and they are hoping tobetter that result this time.

“It’s certainly very differentfrom last season, but chal-lenges excite me,” Iyer toldIPLT20.Com.

“As a captain, this is goingto be certainly one of my mostimportant assignments justbecause of how different thesetting is. It is going to be verydifferent, the key is to take itone day at a time.

“We’re being briefed aboutthe do’s and don’ts at every step,it’s crucial that everyone who ispart of our team bubble followsthat.”

Moved out of India due tothe COVID-19 pandemic, the13th edition of the world'sbiggest T20 league will beplayed across three venues inthe UAE from September 19 toNovember 10.

“All pieces of the puzzleneed to fall in the right place tobe a champion team,” he said.

“But the IPL is a long tour-nament and results keep goingup and down invariably.

“The one thing thatworked for us last season forhow in each and every match,different players stepped up tothe occasion and that was cru-cial to our success and will bekey this year too. Having notjust one consistent performerbut many of them.”

Iyer welcomed the newadditions in the form of expe-rienced India playersRavichandran Ashwin andAjinkya Rahane.

“Ashwin and Rahane addtremendous depth to our side

and give Ricky and me optionsto be flexible with our playingXI depending on where we'replaying, who our opposition isand where we are placed in thetournament at a particulartime,” Iyer said.

“Also these are two individ-uals who are highly knowledge-able about the game and havecaptained IPL teams, so for meas captain, this is an opportu-nity to use all experience andreach out to them whenever Iwant to share or discuss any-thing at all.”

He said he is blessed to beworking alongside Australianlegend Ricky Ponting, who isthe chief coach of the Delhifranchise.

“He’s such a legend andmakes everyone, from thesenior-most to the newest guyfeel at home and as a part ofthis unit. As a captain, he givesme freedom and that hashelped me grow as a cricketer.”

12HYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020

AP n NEW YORK

For all that’s been on Novak Djokovic’splate of late - including a painful neck

and his efforts to start a new players’ asso-ciation in men’s tennis - he just keeps win-ning.

He’s perfect in 2020, an ideal way tohead into the U.S. Open.

Djokovic tied Rafael Nadal’s record byearning his 35th title at a Masters 1000tournament, overcoming a sluggish startto beat Milos Raonic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in theWestern & Southern Open final Saturdayand improve to 23-0 this season.

“Has been challenging mentally andemotionally for me to stay sane and be ableto compete on the highest level and winthis title,” Djokovic said.

“Going on an unbeaten run so far thisyear obviously brings even more confi-dence each match.”

Djokovic, 11-0 head-to-head against2016 Wimbledon runner-up Raonic, goesinto the U.S. Open as the No. 1 seed anda big favorite. The Grand Slam tournamentbegins Monday.

“What is that, 23-0?” Raonic said play-fully during the trophy ceremony.

“Honestly, if I start the year off 3-0, I’mpretty happy.”

Earlier Saturday, Victoria Azarenkawon her first tour title since 2016 whenNaomi Osaka pulled out of the women'sfinal because of a left hamstring injury.

“I just hope I'm giving myself, youknow, the opportunity and the chance tohave enough time” to recover ahead of theU.S. Open, Osaka said.

The Western & Southern Open nor-mally is held in Ohio but was moved toFlushing Meadows this year because of thecoronavirus pandemic as part of a two-tournament "controlled environment.”

Djokovic will be seeking his 18thGrand Slam title, which would move himone behind Nadal and two behind RogerFederer's men's record of 20. Neither ofthose rivals is entered in the U.S. Open -

although both spoke out via Twitter onSaturday against Djokovic’s bid to start anew group to represent men’s tennis play-ers.

“We want to have our own organiza-tion and association that is 100% ours,”Djokovic said.

On court, Djokovic was listless in thefirst set, looking exactly the way one mighthave expected given that he laboredthrough a three-hour semifinal a day ear-lier, when he repeatedly grabbed hisstomach and twice had his neck massagedby a trainer.

It took all of 30 minutes for Raonic, aCanadian ranked No. 30, to take that set.But Djokovic asserted himself in the sec-ond set, breaking to lead 3-2 with a back-hand passing shot and raising his right fist.

In the third, Djokovic broke twicemore, and eventually the 33-year-oldfrom Serbia was raising his arms to mark

his 80th career title and 61st on hardcourts. Jimmy Connors holds the men’srecord of 109 titles; the only others aheadof Djokovic are Federer, Ivan Lendl andNadal.

Djokovic also won the Western &Southern Open in 2018 and is now the firstman to win each Masters 1000 event - onelevel below the Grand Slams - at least twice.

Osaka initially felt a problem with herleg in her first match of the Western &Southern Open and said she pulled thehamstring in the second-set tiebreaker ofher semifinal Friday.

She called this an “emotional week.”The 22-year-old Osaka brought the

push for racial justice to the tennis tour bysaying she was not going to play in hersemifinal, joining athletes in other sportssitting out in reaction to the shooting bya Wisconsin police officer of a Black man,Jacob Blake.

PTI n DUBAI

Indian captain Virat Kohliadmitted he was “pretty

scared” to hit the nets for thefirst time in five months but saidhis first training session aheadof the IPL went “better thanexpected”. The RoyalChallengers Bangalore captainresumed training after a five-month coronavirus-forced hia-tus. The net session was alsoattended by South African pacelegend Dale Steyn and RCB

team director Mike Hesson. “(Itwent) much better than expect-ed, to be honest. I was prettyscared. I hadn’t picked up a batfor five months, but yeah itcame out better than I thought,to be honest,” Kohli was quot-ed as saying by the franchise’swebsite.

The 31-year-old, who wasRCB’s highest run-getter lastyear, said staying fit during thelockdown helped him to reactbetter during the net sessioneven though he was training

after a long break.“I’ve trained quite a bit

during the lockdown, so I’mfeeling quite fit and that helps.Because the body is light andyou react better, I feel like I havemore time on the ball. That's abig plus,” he said.

“Otherwise you come heav-ier into the season, the body isn’tmoving as much, and it startsplaying on mind, but yeah, as Isaid it went much better than Iexpected.” RCB arrived inDubai last week ahead of the

13th IPL which is scheduled tobegin on September 19. Thecash-rich T20 event was movedout of India due to the risingCOVID-19 cases in the coun-try. The team hit the nets onSaturday after successfully end-ing its quarantine period.Besides Kohli, spin trio ofChahal, Washington andShahbaz Nadeem and a fewpacers also trained and Kohliwas pleased with the way theywent about their business in thefirst session.

PTI n NEW DELHI

At a time when most of theyoung cricketers are lured by

“easy money” in thriving T20leagues, West Indian RahkeemCornwall, the heaviest ever to playthe five-day format at more than140kg, has got his prioritiesstraight.

The 27-year-old spinner wantsto “nail down” his Test career,which is only three games old, andif leagues like the IPL happen alongthe way, it would be a “bonus”.

Speaking to PTI from Trinidad,where he is making an impact withboth bat and ball for St Lucia Zouksin the CPL, Cornwall expressed hisdevotion to Test cricket.

“If I can play the T20 formatand travel the world and playleagues it would be good but myaim is to be one of the most suc-cessful Test players out there.

“Playing Test cricket is the artof cricket, everyone wants to playTest cricket and do well. I havealready played the format, I justwant to make sure I get what I am

really looking for in Test cricketand when my times comes toretire, I don’t have any regrets,” saidCornwall. West Indies cricket has

enjoyed most success in the short-est format over the past 10 yearswith a chunk of its players going onmake a name and some handsomeamount of money in T20 leaguesaround the world.

Cornwall too is open tobecoming a T20 globetrotter butnot before he achieves his goals inTest cricket. “If I get to play differ-ent leagues around the world, itwould be a bonus for me but themain focus is to keep pushing myTest career,” said the offie whomade his Test debut against India

in Jamaica last year when he tookthree wickets includingCheteshwar Pujara's.

He had also dismissed Indiaskipper Virat Kohli in a tour gamein 2016. “Pujara is a quality play-er, a good player of spin. To get himwas a joy, more so as it was my firstTest wicket,” recalled Cornwall,who is yet to make his limited oversdebut for West Indies but is con-fident of doing so with a success-ful outing the ongoing CPL.

At the moment, he likes to beknown as the off-spinner who

can “drastically” improve with thebat. The constant chatter aroundhis size doesn't bother him but hewould want to be fitter and lean-er to the point where he is able toperform at his best in all formats.

“Size does not matter to me. Ialready know who I am and whatmy size is. I just try to be fit as pos-sible so that can perform for myteam,” said the 6'6'' tall cricketerwhen asked if needs to be fitter forthe shorter formats where one isrequired to be more agile on thefield.

PTI n CHENNAI

India and Russia were on Sunday declaredjoint winners of the 2020 Online Chess

Olympiad after the final was marred by inter-net disconnection and server malfunction.

Russia were initially declared winnersafter two Indian players — Nihal Sarin andDivya Deshmukh — lost out on time in thefinal after suffering a disconnection with theserver.

India lodged a protest against the contro-versial decision which was reviewed.

This was the first time FIDE, the inter-national chess federation, was holding theOlympiad in an online format, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

“FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovichmade a decision to give gold medals of FIDEOnline #ChessOlympiad to both teams - Indiaand Russia,” the world chess body tweeted.

“We are the champions !! CongratsRussia!,” the legendary Viswananthan Anandwrote on his twitter handle after the final.

The first round of the final ended in a 3-3 draw with all the six games finishing in stale-mate. Russia won the second round 4.5-1.5with wins for Andrey Esipenko over Sarin andPolina Shuvalova over Deshmukh, leading toa controversy as the Indians claimed the loss-es were due to connection issues.

In the second round, Anand, coming infor P Harikrishna, had drawn with IanNepomniachtchi while captain Vidit Gujrathidrew with Daniil Dubov.

Koneru Humpy, the world rapid cham-pion, was beaten by Alexandra Goryachkinaand D Harika drew with AlexandraKosteniuk.

AFP n MANCHESTER

Mohammad Hafeez and BabarAzam both half centuries asPakistan piled up an impos-

ing 195-4 against England in the sec-ond Twenty20 international at OldTrafford on Sunday.

Hafeez top-scored with 69 afterPakistan captain and opener Babar,the world's number one-ranked T20batsman, launched the innings with56.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid brieflychecked Pakistan's progress with 2-32from his maximum four overs.

But the rest of 50-over worldchampions England's attack lackedpenetration, with seamer Tom Curranconceding 46 runs - including 23 offone over.

In a fixture where both sides wereunchanged after Friday's opener in athree-match series ended as a noresult washout, the tourists were sentinto bat by Eoin Morgan, the Englandcaptain.

But Babar, who pulled the firstball of the match from fast bowlerSaqib Mahmood for four, was uncon-cerned as he struck boundaries offspinners and seamers alike.

Fellow opener Fakhar Zamansaw his brisk 36 end when he skyedRashid to long-on to leave his side 72.

Babar completed a fine fifty witha superb extra-cover drive off Rashid- his seventh four in 37 balls faced.

But Rashid had his revenge whenBabar miscued a pull to deep mid-wicket.

Hafeez, whose pulled six offMahmood kept the runs coming

when he pulled a careless Curran no-ball, an above waist-high full toss, forsix.

Hafeez’s scooped four offMahmood to long leg which saw him

to a 26-ball fifty including four foursand three sixes before he was dis-missed off the penultimate ball of theinnings when he drove Curran toMorgan at extra-cover.

Morgan stars in Eng chase Having many consistentperformers will be key: Iyer

India shareChess OlympiadGold with Russia

Andersonkeenly waitingto challengeKohliPTI n LONDON

Record-setting Englandpacer James Anderson rel-

ishes the challenge of gettingthe best batsmen out and islooking forward to a toughcontest against Virat Kohliwhen his side travels India nextyear.

Anderson, who recentlybecame the highest Test wick-et taker among pacers with 600scalps during the home seriesagainst Pakistan, and Kohlihave had some intriguing bat-tles over the years.

“It’s always tough bowlingat batsmen of that quality. Itwill be a tough battle but that’ssomething I do enjoy. Youwant to get the best playersout,” Anderson told the TestMatch Special podcast.

When India touredEngland in 2014, Andersonwas Kohli’s nemesis with theright-arm pacer dismissingthe India skipper on four occa-sions. Kohli could score just134 runs in his 10 innings.

But Kohli came back toEngland an altogether differentbatsman in 2018 as he finishedthe Test series as the top run-scorer with an impressive 593-run tally with two centuriesand three fifties to his name.

“I had some successagainst him in 2014 and thenhe came back a completely dif-ferent player in 2018 and wasincredible,” the 38-year-oldAnderson, who is currently inthe fourth place among all-time highest Test wicket-tak-ers, said.

Asked what changes hesaw in Kohli’s batting in 2018,Anderson said, “He left the ballreally well in 2018. The firsttime he came over (in 2014),when I was bowling out-swingers he might chase itearly on and that brought theedge and the slips into play.

Was pretty scared to hit nets for first time says Kohli

Cornwall wants to nail down his Test career

Novak matches Rafa's Masters record

Doctors in China removed a 5-inch-long live worm from a man'sbrain. He had the parasite living inside his head for 17 years,according to reports. The 23-year-old patient, who is only knownas Chen, felt numbness in his hands and his feet from the tenderage of 6. Although suffered numbness and headaches for 17years, he ignored all the symptoms by thinking they were geneticas his parents have always had difficulty in moving their limbs. Butin 2015, Chen decided to sought medical support after he lost allsensation in the right half of hisupper body. Doctors at the FirstAffiliated Hospital of WuchangUniversity, initially believed Chensuffered an infection due to theconsumption of raw or poorlycooked exotic meats. For a while,Chen's doctors were confusedabout the cause of the problem.But when they performed a CTscan of Chen's brain, they wereshocked by the results. The scanrevealed a long and twistedparasite inside Chen's brain, following which he was diagnosedwith sparganosis mansoni, a rare parasitic disease. Although thediagnosis was done in 2015, the surgery for the removal of theworm was performed on August 25. The procedure was delayedfor five years as the worm was not in a suitable position for thedoctors to safely remove it from Chen's brain.

Alia Bhatt's Sadak 2 is theworst-rated film on IMDb

Man has live 5-inch worminside his brain for 17 yrs!

Rare flat rainbow spottedin UK after storm FrancisSome phenomenon just leaves us spellbound, with no words todescribe their beauty and rainbows are one of them. The band ofseven colors can bring a smile to anyone's face. However, whatwas recently seen in Torbay is incredibly beautiful. As Britainfaces a 700-mile wide storm, along with 80mph winds, heavydownpours and some of the worst summer weather for 50 yearscaused due to Storm Francis, people saw a beautiful flat rainbowin the coastal town. The images of the beautiful rainbow in sightwere captured from the nearby Paignton beach. The flat rainbowis said to be the result of sun rays through spray whipped off thesurface of the sea. The Facebook account Torbay in Picturesposted the incredible images, with the caption, "Unusual rainboweffect at Torquay, seen from Paignton beach. I believe it's causedby the effect of the sun shining through spray whipped up fromthe sea by the wind. 25.8.2020. 3.36 pm". The account alsoshared a close-up view of the flat rainbow, writing, "Another shotof the "seabow" at Torquay. Netizens couldn't stop praising therather unusual effect. However, as quoted by The Sun, the MetOffice officials said, "This looks like spray being blown up fromthe sea by the strong gusty winds due to Storm Francis".

Sadak 2 continues tobe a victim of vote-brigading. Therecently released filmstands at a 1.1 ratingon the website IMDb,weeks after aconcentrated effortwas made to

downvote its trailer. Based on over 10000 votes, the film iscurrently the worst-rated title on IMDb. It's closest rival is a2015 Turkish film called Code Name: K.O.Z., which has arating of 1.3. Sadak 2 has been panned by critics. TheHindustan Times review called it "one of 2020's worst films."There are, however, just 15 registered user reviews of the filmon IMDb. "Absolute trash," one review was headlined. "Is thismovie a Joke or what!!!" another user demanded to know."Intolerable," and "unspeakable," were other adjectives used todescribe the film, directed by Mahesh Bhatt and starring hisdaughter Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt and Aditya Roy Kapoor.Previously, a campaign to make the film's trailer the mostdisliked video on YouTube was initiated in the days leading upto its unveiling, by fans of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whodied by suicide in June. Sushant's fans have turned againstcertain members of the film industry, most notably by'insiders', based on the theory that Sushant was ostracised forbeing an 'outsider'.

This couple is world’s‘oldest married couple’

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Julio Mora slipped away from his parents to secretly marryWaldramina Quinteros one February day. Both familiesdisapproved. Seventy-nine years later, they're still together - he is110 years of age, and she is 104, both lucid and both in goodhealth, though relatives say they're a little depressed because theymiss their big family get-togethers due to the pandemic. There arelonger marriages, but at the moment no other between people soold, according to Guinness World Records - just short of acombined 215 years. Mora was born on 10 March 1910, andQuinteros on 16 October 1915. They wed on 7 February 1941, inthe first church built by the Spanish in Quito: La Iglesia de ElBelén. The two retired teachers live in Ecuador's capital of Quito,where in mid-August they received the Guinness certification. Theirdaughter Cecilia says they are both lucid and active, although theyno longer have the agility they had before. But "for a month theyhave been different, more downcast because they miss largefamily gatherings". And they can gather quite a crowd: foursurviving children, 11 grandchildren,21 great-grandchildren and onegreat-great-grandchild. "SinceMarch, we have not had any of that,"Cecilia said. "My parents need familycontact." She said her father enjoyswatching television and drinkingmilk and that her mother, whoenjoys desserts, likes to read thenewspaper every morning.

PTI n DUBAI

Terming the upcoming IPLone of his “most important

assignments” as captain, DelhiCapitals’ Shreyas Iyer hasdemanded consistency from allhis teammates.

In the last edition, DelhiCapitals reached the IPL play-offs for the first time in sevenyears, and they are hoping tobetter that result this time.

“It’s certainly very differentfrom last season, but chal-lenges excite me,” Iyer toldIPLT20.Com.

“As a captain, this is goingto be certainly one of my mostimportant assignments justbecause of how different thesetting is. It is going to be verydifferent, the key is to take itone day at a time.

“We’re being briefed aboutthe do’s and don’ts at every step,it’s crucial that everyone who ispart of our team bubble followsthat.”

Moved out of India due tothe COVID-19 pandemic, the13th edition of the world'sbiggest T20 league will beplayed across three venues inthe UAE from September 19 toNovember 10.

“All pieces of the puzzleneed to fall in the right place tobe a champion team,” he said.

“But the IPL is a long tour-nament and results keep goingup and down invariably.

“The one thing thatworked for us last season forhow in each and every match,different players stepped up tothe occasion and that was cru-cial to our success and will bekey this year too. Having notjust one consistent performerbut many of them.”

Iyer welcomed the newadditions in the form of expe-rienced India playersRavichandran Ashwin andAjinkya Rahane.

“Ashwin and Rahane addtremendous depth to our side

and give Ricky and me optionsto be flexible with our playingXI depending on where we'replaying, who our opposition isand where we are placed in thetournament at a particulartime,” Iyer said.

“Also these are two individ-uals who are highly knowledge-able about the game and havecaptained IPL teams, so for meas captain, this is an opportu-nity to use all experience andreach out to them whenever Iwant to share or discuss any-thing at all.”

He said he is blessed to beworking alongside Australianlegend Ricky Ponting, who isthe chief coach of the Delhifranchise.

“He’s such a legend andmakes everyone, from thesenior-most to the newest guyfeel at home and as a part ofthis unit. As a captain, he givesme freedom and that hashelped me grow as a cricketer.”

12HYDERABAD | MONDAY | AUGUST 31, 2020

AP n NEW YORK

For all that’s been on Novak Djokovic’splate of late - including a painful neck

and his efforts to start a new players’ asso-ciation in men’s tennis - he just keeps win-ning.

He’s perfect in 2020, an ideal way tohead into the U.S. Open.

Djokovic tied Rafael Nadal’s record byearning his 35th title at a Masters 1000tournament, overcoming a sluggish startto beat Milos Raonic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in theWestern & Southern Open final Saturdayand improve to 23-0 this season.

“Has been challenging mentally andemotionally for me to stay sane and be ableto compete on the highest level and winthis title,” Djokovic said.

“Going on an unbeaten run so far thisyear obviously brings even more confi-dence each match.”

Djokovic, 11-0 head-to-head against2016 Wimbledon runner-up Raonic, goesinto the U.S. Open as the No. 1 seed anda big favorite. The Grand Slam tournamentbegins Monday.

“What is that, 23-0?” Raonic said play-fully during the trophy ceremony.

“Honestly, if I start the year off 3-0, I’mpretty happy.”

Earlier Saturday, Victoria Azarenkawon her first tour title since 2016 whenNaomi Osaka pulled out of the women'sfinal because of a left hamstring injury.

“I just hope I'm giving myself, youknow, the opportunity and the chance tohave enough time” to recover ahead of theU.S. Open, Osaka said.

The Western & Southern Open nor-mally is held in Ohio but was moved toFlushing Meadows this year because of thecoronavirus pandemic as part of a two-tournament "controlled environment.”

Djokovic will be seeking his 18thGrand Slam title, which would move himone behind Nadal and two behind RogerFederer's men's record of 20. Neither ofthose rivals is entered in the U.S. Open -

although both spoke out via Twitter onSaturday against Djokovic’s bid to start anew group to represent men’s tennis play-ers.

“We want to have our own organiza-tion and association that is 100% ours,”Djokovic said.

On court, Djokovic was listless in thefirst set, looking exactly the way one mighthave expected given that he laboredthrough a three-hour semifinal a day ear-lier, when he repeatedly grabbed hisstomach and twice had his neck massagedby a trainer.

It took all of 30 minutes for Raonic, aCanadian ranked No. 30, to take that set.But Djokovic asserted himself in the sec-ond set, breaking to lead 3-2 with a back-hand passing shot and raising his right fist.

In the third, Djokovic broke twicemore, and eventually the 33-year-oldfrom Serbia was raising his arms to mark

his 80th career title and 61st on hardcourts. Jimmy Connors holds the men’srecord of 109 titles; the only others aheadof Djokovic are Federer, Ivan Lendl andNadal.

Djokovic also won the Western &Southern Open in 2018 and is now the firstman to win each Masters 1000 event - onelevel below the Grand Slams - at least twice.

Osaka initially felt a problem with herleg in her first match of the Western &Southern Open and said she pulled thehamstring in the second-set tiebreaker ofher semifinal Friday.

She called this an “emotional week.”The 22-year-old Osaka brought the

push for racial justice to the tennis tour bysaying she was not going to play in hersemifinal, joining athletes in other sportssitting out in reaction to the shooting bya Wisconsin police officer of a Black man,Jacob Blake.

PTI n DUBAI

Indian captain Virat Kohliadmitted he was “pretty

scared” to hit the nets for thefirst time in five months but saidhis first training session aheadof the IPL went “better thanexpected”. The RoyalChallengers Bangalore captainresumed training after a five-month coronavirus-forced hia-tus. The net session was alsoattended by South African pacelegend Dale Steyn and RCB

team director Mike Hesson. “(Itwent) much better than expect-ed, to be honest. I was prettyscared. I hadn’t picked up a batfor five months, but yeah itcame out better than I thought,to be honest,” Kohli was quot-ed as saying by the franchise’swebsite.

The 31-year-old, who wasRCB’s highest run-getter lastyear, said staying fit during thelockdown helped him to reactbetter during the net sessioneven though he was training

after a long break.“I’ve trained quite a bit

during the lockdown, so I’mfeeling quite fit and that helps.Because the body is light andyou react better, I feel like I havemore time on the ball. That's abig plus,” he said.

“Otherwise you come heav-ier into the season, the body isn’tmoving as much, and it startsplaying on mind, but yeah, as Isaid it went much better than Iexpected.” RCB arrived inDubai last week ahead of the

13th IPL which is scheduled tobegin on September 19. Thecash-rich T20 event was movedout of India due to the risingCOVID-19 cases in the coun-try. The team hit the nets onSaturday after successfully end-ing its quarantine period.Besides Kohli, spin trio ofChahal, Washington andShahbaz Nadeem and a fewpacers also trained and Kohliwas pleased with the way theywent about their business in thefirst session.

PTI n NEW DELHI

At a time when most of theyoung cricketers are lured by

“easy money” in thriving T20leagues, West Indian RahkeemCornwall, the heaviest ever to playthe five-day format at more than140kg, has got his prioritiesstraight.

The 27-year-old spinner wantsto “nail down” his Test career,which is only three games old, andif leagues like the IPL happen alongthe way, it would be a “bonus”.

Speaking to PTI from Trinidad,where he is making an impact withboth bat and ball for St Lucia Zouksin the CPL, Cornwall expressed hisdevotion to Test cricket.

“If I can play the T20 formatand travel the world and playleagues it would be good but myaim is to be one of the most suc-cessful Test players out there.

“Playing Test cricket is the artof cricket, everyone wants to playTest cricket and do well. I havealready played the format, I justwant to make sure I get what I am

really looking for in Test cricketand when my times comes toretire, I don’t have any regrets,” saidCornwall. West Indies cricket has

enjoyed most success in the short-est format over the past 10 yearswith a chunk of its players going onmake a name and some handsomeamount of money in T20 leaguesaround the world.

Cornwall too is open tobecoming a T20 globetrotter butnot before he achieves his goals inTest cricket. “If I get to play differ-ent leagues around the world, itwould be a bonus for me but themain focus is to keep pushing myTest career,” said the offie whomade his Test debut against India

in Jamaica last year when he tookthree wickets includingCheteshwar Pujara's.

He had also dismissed Indiaskipper Virat Kohli in a tour gamein 2016. “Pujara is a quality play-er, a good player of spin. To get himwas a joy, more so as it was my firstTest wicket,” recalled Cornwall,who is yet to make his limited oversdebut for West Indies but is con-fident of doing so with a success-ful outing the ongoing CPL.

At the moment, he likes to beknown as the off-spinner who

can “drastically” improve with thebat. The constant chatter aroundhis size doesn't bother him but hewould want to be fitter and lean-er to the point where he is able toperform at his best in all formats.

“Size does not matter to me. Ialready know who I am and whatmy size is. I just try to be fit as pos-sible so that can perform for myteam,” said the 6'6'' tall cricketerwhen asked if needs to be fitter forthe shorter formats where one isrequired to be more agile on thefield.

PTI n CHENNAI

India and Russia were on Sunday declaredjoint winners of the 2020 Online Chess

Olympiad after the final was marred by inter-net disconnection and server malfunction.

Russia were initially declared winnersafter two Indian players — Nihal Sarin andDivya Deshmukh — lost out on time in thefinal after suffering a disconnection with theserver.

India lodged a protest against the contro-versial decision which was reviewed.

This was the first time FIDE, the inter-national chess federation, was holding theOlympiad in an online format, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

“FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovichmade a decision to give gold medals of FIDEOnline #ChessOlympiad to both teams - Indiaand Russia,” the world chess body tweeted.

“We are the champions !! CongratsRussia!,” the legendary Viswananthan Anandwrote on his twitter handle after the final.

The first round of the final ended in a 3-3 draw with all the six games finishing in stale-mate. Russia won the second round 4.5-1.5with wins for Andrey Esipenko over Sarin andPolina Shuvalova over Deshmukh, leading toa controversy as the Indians claimed the loss-es were due to connection issues.

In the second round, Anand, coming infor P Harikrishna, had drawn with IanNepomniachtchi while captain Vidit Gujrathidrew with Daniil Dubov.

Koneru Humpy, the world rapid cham-pion, was beaten by Alexandra Goryachkinaand D Harika drew with AlexandraKosteniuk.

AFP n MANCHESTER

Mohammad Hafeez and BabarAzam both half centuries asPakistan piled up an impos-

ing 195-4 against England in the sec-ond Twenty20 international at OldTrafford on Sunday.

Hafeez top-scored with 69 afterPakistan captain and opener Babar,the world's number one-ranked T20batsman, launched the innings with56.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid brieflychecked Pakistan's progress with 2-32from his maximum four overs.

But the rest of 50-over worldchampions England's attack lackedpenetration, with seamer Tom Curranconceding 46 runs - including 23 offone over.

In a fixture where both sides wereunchanged after Friday's opener in athree-match series ended as a noresult washout, the tourists were sentinto bat by Eoin Morgan, the Englandcaptain.

But Babar, who pulled the firstball of the match from fast bowlerSaqib Mahmood for four, was uncon-cerned as he struck boundaries offspinners and seamers alike.

Fellow opener Fakhar Zamansaw his brisk 36 end when he skyedRashid to long-on to leave his side 72.

Babar completed a fine fifty witha superb extra-cover drive off Rashid- his seventh four in 37 balls faced.

But Rashid had his revenge whenBabar miscued a pull to deep mid-wicket.

Hafeez, whose pulled six offMahmood kept the runs coming

when he pulled a careless Curran no-ball, an above waist-high full toss, forsix.

Hafeez’s scooped four offMahmood to long leg which saw him

to a 26-ball fifty including four foursand three sixes before he was dis-missed off the penultimate ball of theinnings when he drove Curran toMorgan at extra-cover.

Morgan stars in Eng chase Having many consistentperformers will be key: Iyer

India shareChess OlympiadGold with Russia

Andersonkeenly waitingto challengeKohliPTI n LONDON

Record-setting Englandpacer James Anderson rel-

ishes the challenge of gettingthe best batsmen out and islooking forward to a toughcontest against Virat Kohliwhen his side travels India nextyear.

Anderson, who recentlybecame the highest Test wick-et taker among pacers with 600scalps during the home seriesagainst Pakistan, and Kohlihave had some intriguing bat-tles over the years.

“It’s always tough bowlingat batsmen of that quality. Itwill be a tough battle but that’ssomething I do enjoy. Youwant to get the best playersout,” Anderson told the TestMatch Special podcast.

When India touredEngland in 2014, Andersonwas Kohli’s nemesis with theright-arm pacer dismissingthe India skipper on four occa-sions. Kohli could score just134 runs in his 10 innings.

But Kohli came back toEngland an altogether differentbatsman in 2018 as he finishedthe Test series as the top run-scorer with an impressive 593-run tally with two centuriesand three fifties to his name.

“I had some successagainst him in 2014 and thenhe came back a completely dif-ferent player in 2018 and wasincredible,” the 38-year-oldAnderson, who is currently inthe fourth place among all-time highest Test wicket-tak-ers, said.

Asked what changes hesaw in Kohli’s batting in 2018,Anderson said, “He left the ballreally well in 2018. The firsttime he came over (in 2014),when I was bowling out-swingers he might chase itearly on and that brought theedge and the slips into play.

Was pretty scared to hit nets for first time says Kohli

Cornwall wants to nail down his Test career

Novak matches Rafa's Masters record

Doctors in China removed a 5-inch-long live worm from a man'sbrain. He had the parasite living inside his head for 17 years,according to reports. The 23-year-old patient, who is only knownas Chen, felt numbness in his hands and his feet from the tenderage of 6. Although suffered numbness and headaches for 17years, he ignored all the symptoms by thinking they were geneticas his parents have always had difficulty in moving their limbs. Butin 2015, Chen decided to sought medical support after he lost allsensation in the right half of hisupper body. Doctors at the FirstAffiliated Hospital of WuchangUniversity, initially believed Chensuffered an infection due to theconsumption of raw or poorlycooked exotic meats. For a while,Chen's doctors were confusedabout the cause of the problem.But when they performed a CTscan of Chen's brain, they wereshocked by the results. The scanrevealed a long and twistedparasite inside Chen's brain, following which he was diagnosedwith sparganosis mansoni, a rare parasitic disease. Although thediagnosis was done in 2015, the surgery for the removal of theworm was performed on August 25. The procedure was delayedfor five years as the worm was not in a suitable position for thedoctors to safely remove it from Chen's brain.

Alia Bhatt's Sadak 2 is theworst-rated film on IMDb

Man has live 5-inch worminside his brain for 17 yrs!

Rare flat rainbow spottedin UK after storm FrancisSome phenomenon just leaves us spellbound, with no words todescribe their beauty and rainbows are one of them. The band ofseven colors can bring a smile to anyone's face. However, whatwas recently seen in Torbay is incredibly beautiful. As Britainfaces a 700-mile wide storm, along with 80mph winds, heavydownpours and some of the worst summer weather for 50 yearscaused due to Storm Francis, people saw a beautiful flat rainbowin the coastal town. The images of the beautiful rainbow in sightwere captured from the nearby Paignton beach. The flat rainbowis said to be the result of sun rays through spray whipped off thesurface of the sea. The Facebook account Torbay in Picturesposted the incredible images, with the caption, "Unusual rainboweffect at Torquay, seen from Paignton beach. I believe it's causedby the effect of the sun shining through spray whipped up fromthe sea by the wind. 25.8.2020. 3.36 pm". The account alsoshared a close-up view of the flat rainbow, writing, "Another shotof the "seabow" at Torquay. Netizens couldn't stop praising therather unusual effect. However, as quoted by The Sun, the MetOffice officials said, "This looks like spray being blown up fromthe sea by the strong gusty winds due to Storm Francis".

Sadak 2 continues tobe a victim of vote-brigading. Therecently released filmstands at a 1.1 ratingon the website IMDb,weeks after aconcentrated effortwas made to

downvote its trailer. Based on over 10000 votes, the film iscurrently the worst-rated title on IMDb. It's closest rival is a2015 Turkish film called Code Name: K.O.Z., which has arating of 1.3. Sadak 2 has been panned by critics. TheHindustan Times review called it "one of 2020's worst films."There are, however, just 15 registered user reviews of the filmon IMDb. "Absolute trash," one review was headlined. "Is thismovie a Joke or what!!!" another user demanded to know."Intolerable," and "unspeakable," were other adjectives used todescribe the film, directed by Mahesh Bhatt and starring hisdaughter Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt and Aditya Roy Kapoor.Previously, a campaign to make the film's trailer the mostdisliked video on YouTube was initiated in the days leading upto its unveiling, by fans of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whodied by suicide in June. Sushant's fans have turned againstcertain members of the film industry, most notably by'insiders', based on the theory that Sushant was ostracised forbeing an 'outsider'.

This couple is world’s‘oldest married couple’

NEW

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MostRead

Julio Mora slipped away from his parents to secretly marryWaldramina Quinteros one February day. Both familiesdisapproved. Seventy-nine years later, they're still together - he is110 years of age, and she is 104, both lucid and both in goodhealth, though relatives say they're a little depressed because theymiss their big family get-togethers due to the pandemic. There arelonger marriages, but at the moment no other between people soold, according to Guinness World Records - just short of acombined 215 years. Mora was born on 10 March 1910, andQuinteros on 16 October 1915. They wed on 7 February 1941, inthe first church built by the Spanish in Quito: La Iglesia de ElBelén. The two retired teachers live in Ecuador's capital of Quito,where in mid-August they received the Guinness certification. Theirdaughter Cecilia says they are both lucid and active, although theyno longer have the agility they had before. But "for a month theyhave been different, more downcast because they miss largefamily gatherings". And they can gather quite a crowd: foursurviving children, 11 grandchildren,21 great-grandchildren and onegreat-great-grandchild. "SinceMarch, we have not had any of that,"Cecilia said. "My parents need familycontact." She said her father enjoyswatching television and drinkingmilk and that her mother, whoenjoys desserts, likes to read thenewspaper every morning.