PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana has written to theKrishna Water Management Boardraising objections once again to theGazette notification of July 15showing Srisailam left bank canalworks as two different components.

Muralidhar Rao, Engineer-in-Chief, in his letter to the KRMBChairman said that the gazette noti-fication has shown an additional 10TMC water was being utilisedunder the second component ofSLBC. But this is not correct.

2

CURRENT LOCKDOWN IN CHINA ISBIGGEST SINCE COVID BROKE OUT

China locked down the western city of Xi'an onThursday to stamp out a persistent Covid outbreak, itsbiggest such move since the pandemic started in

Wuhan, underscoring how the country's zero-toleranceapproach hasn't allowed it to move on since the virusemerged nearly two years ago. The 13 million residents ofXi'an were told to remain in their homes and to designateone person to go out every other day for necessities,triggering fights over access to food. Non-essential travelout of the city was banned.

WITH OMICRON, EXPERTS WARNAGAINST CLOTH MASKS

Omicron is once again making people think twice beforereaching out for their colorful, reusable cloth facemasks. Double or triple-layer masks made of a mix of

materials can be more effective, but most cloth coveringsare just "fashion accessories," according to Greenhalgh,professor from Oxford. The main issue with a clothcovering is they don't have to meet any kind of healthstandard, says Greenhalgh. In contrast, thosemanufacturing N95 respirator masks, for example, have tomake sure they filter out 95% of particles.

PREPPING FOR 1 LAKH CASES/DAY,HOME VISITS: KEJRIWAL ON OMICRON

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has outlined thecity's preparations for the highly infectious Covidvariant Omicron, with a keen focus on home

isolation of patients. The government, however, will makeproper arrangements for hospital beds and strengthen thebig weak point that caused mayhem during the lethalDelta outbreak of summer -- oxygen.Fifteen oxygentankers will be deployed to keep the hospitals properlystocked, Kejriwal said, adding that the city is preparingfor one lakh cases a day.

NO COUNTRY CAN BOOST ITS WAYOUT OF PANDEMIC: WHO CHIEF

The World Health Organization chief warned Wednesday thatthe rush in wealthy countries to roll out additional Covidvaccine doses was deepening the inequity in access to jabs

that is prolonging the pandemic. WHO Director-General TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus insisted that the priority must remain toget vaccines to vulnerable people everywhere rather than givingadditional doses to the already vaccinated. "No country canboost its way out of the pandemic," he told reporters. The UNhealth agency has long decried the glaring inequity in access toCovid vaccines.

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 4 ISSUE 75*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

}‘SHYAM SINGHAROY NOT JUST

ENTERTAINS, BUTINFORMS TOO’

Page 11{

www.dailypioneer.com

ANALYSIS 7GREEN SHOOTS FOR AGRI SECTOR WITH NEP2020

MONEY 8GOVERNMENT TO DEVELOP NATIONAL

DATABASE ON COOPERATIVES

SPORTS 12INDIAN BATTING LINE-UP GOOD ENOUGH TOTACKLE SOUTH AFRICAN PACERS: PUJARA

HYDERABAD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

HHYYDDRRAABBAADDWWEEAATTHHEERR

Updated DECEMBER 23, 2021 5:00 PM

FFoorreeccaasstt:: SUNNYTTeemmpp:: 29oc

HHuummiiddiittyy:: 43%SSuunnrriissee:: 6:42 AMSSuunnsseett:: 5:48 PM

AALLMMAANNAACC

TTOODDAAYY

Month & Paksham:

Margashirsha & Shukla Paksha

Tithi : Panchami 19:34

Nakshatram : Magha 28:09

Rahukalam : 10:53 am - 12:15 pm

Yamagandam : 3:00 pm - 4:22 pm

Varjyam : 3:25 pm - 5:07 pm

Gulika : 8:09 am - 9:31 am

Amritakalam : 1:37 am - 3:18 am

Abhijit Muhurtham : 11:53 am - 12:37 pm

ML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

With 14 new Omicron cases report-ed in Telangana on Wednesday, andthe overall tally touching 38, there isintense speculation in official and non-official quarters that the State govern-ment may impose night curfew andother curbs in line with the suggestionsmade by the Centre to States/UTs.

On Wednesday, the Centre sug-gested to States/UTs that they shouldconsider inter alia enforcing nightcurfew, regulating large congrega-tions and meetings, declaring con-tainment zones in areas with highnumber of positive cases, enforcingsuitable restrictions, and sendingsamples for genome sequencing.

Speculations overnight curfew in TS

Omicron: HC directsstate govt to issueguidelines in 3 days

FDA clears Merckpill against Covid

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onThursday directed the state gov-ernment to frame appropriateguidelines in three days to preventthe possible spread of 'Omicron'strain of coronavirus in the statein view of the upcoming festivaland New Year celebrations.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice Satish Chandra Sharmawhile hearing a batch of PILs onCOVID-19 issues, directed thestate government to issue set ofrules and guidelines in terms ofdirectives of the Centre to preventOmicron spread and measures totackle COVID-19.

Most Govt staff not happywith allocation of zonesPNS n HYDERABAD

Most government employees areunhappy with the allocations doneas per the zonal system.

Most departments do not followthe norms of the zonal system andgovernment orders. This is especial-ly true of superior officers who donot follow the instructions of ChiefMinister K. Chandrashekar Rao.

The CM had said that first prior-ity should be given to spouse cases.But many departments violated theChief Minister's orders and actedagainst norms.

Spouse cases are not being con-sidered. Many couples have beenposted in different districts. After theallocation, they are forced to appealto the head of the department.There are no vacancies while fillingup posts in the process.

It is learnt that even zonal alloca-tions in some departments are notdone in a transparent manner.

Sources said that allocations weremade at will as per the recommen-dations of district in-charge minis-ters. Now the employees are havingtrouble moving to their new placesof posting with their families.

The government initiated a newzonal policy for transfers. Afterstate bifurcation, the new zonalsystem was not implemented by thegovernment due to the pending

Presidential order. After the clear-ance of the Presidential order, thegovernment formulated the zonalsystem. The government issued anorder to allocate governmentemployees as per the new zonal pol-icy. The allocation process wascompleted on Wednesday.

Employees of all departmentschoose zones based on vacancies andseniority. The head of the depart-ment allocated zones and issued theallotment order to the employees.But most employees were unhappywith the allotments. Rules were notfollowed while passing the govern-ment order.

For example, in the RuralDevelopment and Panchayat RajDepartment officials who work asPanchayat Secretaries in 12,751panchayats work in villages andreport to Mandal ParishadDevelopment Officers.

BJP high command picksEatala for ‘Operation Aakarsh’SNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD

The BJP high command has entrust-ed ‘Operation Aakarsh’ to MLAEatala Rajendar. The task is to bringall TRS dissidents into the BJP.During the recent MLC electionssome TRS dissidents came outopenly and some others workedbehind the scene.

Eatala Rajendar has around twodecades of association with theTRS. Along with TRS supremo K.

Chandrasekhar Rao, Eatala played akey role in the Telangana movement.

Eatala also knows all importantTRS leaders. Keeping this in view theBJP high command has given thetask to him.

Former TRS MLA EnuguRavindar Reddy had also joined theBJP along with Eatala. EnuguRavindar Reddy won twice on a TRSticket twice from the YellareddyAssembly constituency inKamareddy district.

Piyush gave his word on paddypurchase, says Niranjan ReddyPNS n HYDERABAD

Agriculture Minister S. NiranjanReddy and other TS Ministers arestill waiting in New Delhi. Theysaid on Thursday that UnionMinister Piyush Goel had given hisword about paddy purchase andthey are waiting to get the same inwriting.

Piyush Goel had said three daysago that he would get back on theirrequest for a written assurance intwo days but they have still notheard from him, Niranjan saidwhile addressing a media confer-ence.

“We have not come here to handover letters or for picnicking. Wecame here to seek a solution to a

problem faced by lakhs of farmers,”he said, wondering why the Centrewas not sincere about addressingfarmers’ problems.

Ministers Gangula Kamalakar,Errabelli Dayakar Rao, VemulaPrashanth Reddy,

BJP trying to win over activistsK VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

The BJP is trying to win overTelangana protagonists. Sourcessaid the party has been contactingTelangana protagonists to makethem join the BJP to take on theTRS and Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao.

As part of it, Telangana BJP chiefBandi Sanjay Kumar and othershave already said that the BJP is theright place for Telangana protago-nists to uphold their self-respect.

The party is also ramping up itsefforts to make all Telangana pro-tagonists join the BJP, it is learnt.

Many Telangana protagonistslike the first Telangana LegislativeCouncil chairman Swamy Goud,

TSRTC union leader AshwathamaReddy, TSPSC member Ch. Vittal,Theenmar Mallanna and someothers have joined the BJP.

The first Telangana pro-tagonist to join the BJPwas Dubbaka MLAM. RaghunandanRao and the latestone to join isHuzurabad MLAEatala Rajender.

The BJP is striv-ing hard to win overthe other Telanganaprotagonists too. As partof it, it is holding talks withthe Telangana protagonists whooppose the TRS Government andTRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Due to the efforts of BJP leaders,

Telangana protagonists like JittaBalakrishna Reddy and RaniRudrama Devi have expressedtheir willingness to join the party.

The BJP is also making all-out efforts to convince

former Chevella MPKonda VishweshwarReddy, TJS chief Prof.M. Kodandaram,Telangana Inti Partychief Dr CherukuSudhakar, and former

Nakerekal MLAVemula Veeresham to

join the BJP.However, these Telangana

protagonists have not yet respond-ed to the signals of BJP leaders.

TS objects to showing SLBC as two componentsTelangana rejects AP’s proposal to supply drinking water to Chennai

The Telangana Government has rejected the Andhra Pradesh government’sproposal to take up a special lift irrigation scheme at Srisailam for

supplying drinking water to Chennai. The Telangana Government made analternative proposal that as Andhra Pradesh had already diverted a largequantum of water from Srisailam, it should divert part of it to Chennai. Themeeting to discuss drinking water supply to Chennai under the TeluguGanga scheme was held by the drinking water committee of KRMB, underthe chairmanship of KRMB Member Secretary Raipure. The meeting held invirtual mode on Thursday was attended by senior officials and engineers ofMaharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. TamilNadu has requested the release of another six TMCs of water and AP hadproposed that water should be released from Srisailam.

Priyanka, Mayawati seek SC interventionin alleged land ‘scam' in AyodhyaPNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi andBSP supremoMayawati onThursday sought theintervention of theSupreme Court in thealleged land 'scam' inAyodhya linked to localMLAs and relatives ofstate government offi-cials, a day after theUttar Pradesh govern-ment ordered a probeinto the matter.

Gandhi also dismissed asan "eyewash" the probe intowhat she called as Ayodhya land'scam' in areas around the pro-posed Ram temple while Mayawati

demanded that the state govern-ment cancel the land deals

if the allegations in amedia report on theissue are true.

Gandhi said theSupreme Court shouldtake suo motu cogni-

sance of the land dealsand hold an inquiry as the

Ram temple in Ayodhyais being built followingits order.

Addressing a pressconference in Delhi, she

accused BJP leaders andofficials of indulging in

"corruption", and said theyhave hurt the faith of people who

have donated for the constructionof the Ram temple.

Fight againstpandemic notover, says PMPNS n NEW DELHI

Amid rising concerns over thespread of Omicron variant ofcoronavirus, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursdaystressed on Covid-appropriatebehavior, saying the fightagainst the pandemic is notover and directed officials tosend teams to states with lowvaccination, rising cases, andinsufficient health infrastruc-ture, to assist them in improv-ing the situation.

Modi gave directions toofficials during a high-levelmeeting to review the status ofCOVID-19 and Omicron, thenew variant of concern(VOC), and said "we should be'satark' (vigilant) and 'saavd-han' (cautious)".

The fight against the pan-demic is not over, he said, andasserted that the need forcontinued adherence to Covidsafe behaviour is of para-mount importance even today.

Officials briefed the primminister about the emergingscenario globally driven bythe new variant, with anoverview of the surge incases in countries havinghigh vaccination coverageand presence of the Omicronvariant, it said.

PNS n WASHINGTON

US health regulators on Thursdayauthorized the second pill againstCovid, providing another easy-to-use medication to battle the risingtide of omicron infections.

The Food and DrugAdministration authorizationcomes one day after the agencycleared a competing drug fromPfizer. That pill is likely to becomethe first-choice treatment againstthe virus, thanks to its superior ben-efits and milder side effects.

As a result, Merck's pill is expect-ed to have a smaller role against thepandemic than predicted just a fewweeks ago. Its ability to head offsevere Covid is much smaller thaninitially announced and the druglabel will warn of serious safetyissues, including the potential forbirth defects.

The Food and DrugAdministration authorized Merck'sdrug for adults with early symptomsof Covid who face the highest risksof hospitalization, including olderpeople and those with conditionslike obesity and heart disease.

Centre too issues guidelines States on restrictions

RBI extends card tokenisation deadlinePNS n MUMBAI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)on Thursday extended the card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation dead-line by six months to June 30,2022, in view of various represen-tations received from industrybodies.

Card-on-file, or CoF, refers tocard information stored by pay-ment gateway and merchants toprocess future transactions.

The earlier deadline wasDecember 31, 2021.

"In light of various representa-tions received in this regard, weadvise...the timeline for storing ofCoF data is extended by sixmonths, ie., till June 30, 2022 andpost this, such data shall bepurged," RBI said in a notificationaddressed to all payment systemproviders and payment system

participants.In addition to tokenisation, it

said, "Industry stakeholders maydevise alternate mechanism(s) tohandle any use case (includingrecurring e-mandates, EMI option,etc.) or post-transaction activity

(including chargeback handling,dispute resolution, reward/ loyal-ty programme, etc.) that current-ly involves/requires storage ofCoF data by entities other thancard issuers and card networks."

Under tokenisation services, a

unique alternate code is generat-ed to facilitate transactions

through cards.The RBI in September

prohibited merchants fromstoring customer carddetails on their serverswith effect from January1, 2022, and mandatedthe adoption of CoF

tokenisation as an alterna-tive to card storage.Citing several operational

challenges, industry associa-t ions Merchant PaymentsAlliance of India (MPAI) andAll iance of Digital IndiaFoundation (ADIF) had request-ed the RBI to extend theDecember 31 deadline for imple-mentation of norms related totokenisation of card transactions.

File photo

Is India still a democracy?Oppn leaders slam‘Haridwar conclave’ PNS n NEW DELHI

Several Opposition leaders,including those from the Congressand the TMC, on Thursday con-demned what they said was a "hatespeech conclave" held in Haridwarrecently and called for strict actionagainst those involved.

All-India Trinamool Congressnational spokesman SaketGokhale demanded immediateaction against the organisers andspeakers of the Dharma Sansadheld recently in Haridwar, where"hate speeches" were allegedlymade against Muslims.

2

2

22

2

2 2 2

2 2

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

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

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

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

hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 24, 2021

EGG

RATES

HYDERABAD 472

VIJAYAWADA 495

VISAKHAPATNAM 500

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀44..7722

`̀//110000

CHICKEN

RATES

Dressed/With Skin `160

Without Skin `200

Broiler at Farm `250

`̀//KKGG

(IN HYDERABAD)

ML MELLY MAITREYI

n HYDERABAD

The uncertainty over paddyprocurement continues tohaunt the State’s farmers.Meanwhile, TRS Ministershailed farmers on Thursday asthe day is being observed asNational Farmers Day.

TRS Working President andthe Minister for IT, Industryand MunicipalAdministration, KT RamaRao, said that Telangana hascreated records in food grainproduction under the leader-ship of Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao.

Recalling that the State hadrequested the Centre severaltimes to announce a clearpolicy on paddy purchase,KTR said that they believedthat if farmers were happy, the

State would be happy and ifthe State was happy the nationwould do well.

He also tweeted about theplight of farmers before theformation of Telangana andhow the situation hasimproved now with 24x7power supply, Rythu Bandhuinvestment assistance of Rs10,000 for two seasons in ayear, development of tanksunder Mission Kakatiya, con-version of pending projectsinto running projects, speedyprogress of the Palamur-Ranga Reddy lift irrigationproject, construction ofKaleswaram, the world’slargest multi-stage lift irriga-tion project, the timely supplyof seeds and fertilizers andprovision of security to thefamilies of farmers throughRythu Bhima.

Finance and HealthMinister Harish Rao alsogreeted farmers in a Twittermessage on Farmers Day andsaluted their victory in thestruggle against the Centre’sfarm laws.

He said he that would prayto God to give the Centre wis-dom to uphold the spirit ofdemocracy and solve the prob-lems of Telangana farmers.

Harish who participated inan event at the KondaLakshman HorticultureUniversity at Mulug inSiddipet to mark its seventhanniversary, called upon agri-culture and horticulture uni-versities to encourage farmersto cultivate crops which are indemand.

Farmers should be encour-aged to raise oilseeds, pulses,fruits and vegetables.Agriculture scientists shoulddevelop crops that would bringdown costs and give farmersprofits, Harish said.

Harish said that a target hasbeen set to cultivate oil palmon 20 lakh acres in the State.

The government would give asubsidy of Rs 1.4 lakh for anacre of oil palm, he said andcalled upon farmers to take upoil palm cultivation.

He suggested that theHorticulture University shouldadopt some villages in the dis-trict and strive for profitablefarming.

Harish said that apart fromteaching and research, univer-sities should focus on exten-sion.

Around 140 acres near theuniversity would be acquiredand given to the university tomeet its requirements, headded.

Agriculture students shouldmake field visits to understandthe problems in cultivatinghorticulture crops. Lab to landapproach alone can help stu-dents, he said.

‘Agriculture varsities must encouragefarmers to cultivate crops in demand’

Konda Vishweshwar flaysKTR on ST girl rape issuePNS n HYDERABAD

Former Chevella MP KondaVishweshwar Reddy is fullyactive on social media rakingup the failures of the TRSGovernment and replying tothe questions of netizens.

Vishweshwar criticised TRSWorking President and ITMinister KT Ramarao. He re-tweeted on Thursday regardingKTR’s October 5 tweet on the

Lakhimpur Kheri incident.Vishweshwar tweeted, “He is

shocked by a crime in UP. Butignores the rape of an ST girlin his own constituency Sircillaby his own man. It requires athick skin.”

Vishweshwar also postednews reports (published onOctober 31) regarding therape of the five-year-old girl.

It may be recalled that KTRtweeted on Lakhimpur Kheri

saying “Shocked & Horrified tosee the ruthless & cold blood-ed murder of farmers in#Lakhimpur_Kheri of UttarPradesh strongly condemn thebarbaric incident & hope theperpetrators will be brought tojustice soonest.”

It may be recalled that a mannamed Radharapu Shankarallegedly raped five-year-oldgirl in Yellareddypet mandal inSircilla district.

Tributes paid to formerPM Narasimha Rao onhis death anniversaryPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan and severalother leaders on Thursdaypaid tributes to former PrimeMinister P V Narasimha Raoon his 17th death anniversary.

Soundararajan, who visited' PV Gyan Bhoomi', the formerPrime Minister's samadhi atthe Hussain Sagar lake here,paid floral tributes.

Describing Narasimha Rao as

a statesman, Soundararajan saidthe former Prime Minister is arole model to the youth. Shehailed the economic reforms ini-tiated by Rao as Prime Minister.State ministers T Srinivas Yadav,Mohd Mahmood Ali, adviser tostate government K VRamanachary and other leadersalso paid tributes.

Yadav said the state govern-ment organised NarasimhaRao's centenary celebrationson a grand scale.

Delhi Police arrest2, bust globalsyndicate involvedin fake Indian notesPNS n NEW DELHI

With the arrest of two men,the Special Cell of DelhiPolice busted an interna-tional syndicate indulgingin circulation of fake Indiancurrency notes, officialssaid on Thursday.

High-quality fake Indiancurrency notes (FICNs)amounting to Rs 8 lakh inthe denomination of Rs2,000 were seized from theduo, they said.

Feroj Sheikh (42) andMuffazul Sheikh (52), bothresidents of Murshidabaddistrict in West Bengal,were apprehended onDecember 21 near KalkajiMandir area , JasmeetSingh, DeputyCommissioner of Police(Special Cell) said.

The fake notes werebeing routed in India fromBangladesh bordersthrough Malda district inWest Bengal, he said.

IT/ITeS, Infrastructure Drive growth in TSPNS n HYDERABAD

State witnessed INR 1.5 LakhCr. worth IT exports in 2020-21 - a 12.98% rise against thepreceding year; 2.21X growthin IT/ITeS exports comparedwith the national average

More than 6.3 Lakh employ-ees presently working inIT/ITeS sector in Telangana.

Other than Hyderabad,various companies alreadyexploring Warangal,Karimnagar & Nizamabad asalternate IT/ITeS hubs due toavailability of cheaper land,sound infra & presence ofmany professional colleges;CYIENT & Tech Mahindraopen offices in Warangal

Sustained physical infradevelopment in past & multi-ple upcoming mega projects(expansion of railways net-work, greenfield & brownfield

airports, industrial corridors,Regional Ring Road, & metrorail corridors) to unlock futurepotential of new growth corri-dors in Telangana

Large base of MSMEs pro-vides ample opportunities forindustrial development; 13,379total registered MSMEs since2014 in state.

M e d c h a l - M a l k a j g i r i ,Sangareddy, Rangareddy,Karimnagar districts account formajority MSME units, invest-

ment, & employment acrossstate; these districts have highpotential to be developed asaffordable housing destination

Telangana, India's youngeststate, has grown exponentiallysince its formation in 2014. Avibrant IT/ITeS sector androbust infrastructure develop-ment are prime growth driversin the state, reveals theCREDAI-ANAROCK report'Telangana: A State on theMove'.

Govt troubling teachersthrough transfers: CongPNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC’s official spokespersonRamchandra Reddy has allegedthat the government is troublingteachers who played a key rolein the Telangana movement inthe name of transfers.

He slammed the TRSGovernment saying that thetransfer of teachers was notrational.

G.O.No. 317 is defective. Hesaid that NGTs and SchoolAssistants are equal in rank toDeputy Tahsildars and Grade IIIMunicipal Commissioners. Butthe government is confiningNGTs and School Assistants tonew districts.

Speaking to the media at theGandhi Bhavan on Thursday,Ramachandra alleged that the

government has been confiningteachers to districts and notallowing them zonal transfers.

The teachers are at a loss dueto the government’s bias, hepointed out, saying that it isagainst Presidential Orders (Para3). The government is trying toavoid HRA and teachers work-ing in villages will be at thereceiving end. The governmentis not taking seriously the factthat wives and husbands mustwork at one place.

The government is alsobehaving negligently on thetransfers of widowed teachers.The government has to imple-ment an equal transfer policy forwidowed teachers, he said.

The government seems tohave an inferiority complexregarding the transfer of teachers.

‘KCR trying to frighten Christians’PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress leader MohammedAli Shabbir has accused ChiefMinister K. ChandrashekharRao of trying to frightenChristians by giving theimpression that they will beattacked.

Shabbir said that the ChiefMinister, while speaking at theChristmas dinner programmeat LB Stadium on Tuesday, hadsaid that it was the responsibil-ity of the government to pro-tect all communities andensure that there are no attackson anybody.

“Why is he speaking ofattacks? Who is attackingChristians? Does he have anyspecific information about pos-

sible attacks?" he asked in amedia statement on Thursday.

The Congress leader allegedthat KCR was trying to conveyan indirect message toChristians that they were'unsafe' in Telangana and thathis government was 'protecting'them.

"It is the strategy of the RSS-BJP and their allies to gainstrength by capitalising on thefear of minority communities.Although KCR is a secret-allyof the BJP, he has started imple-menting the RSS tactic of usingfear,” he alleged.

"Many promises made by theChief Minister to the Christiancommunity remain unfulfilled.While addressing the firstChristmas celebrations after

the formation of Telangana in2014, KCR had promised toconstruct a Christian Bhavan ata cost of Rs 10 crore. He evenannounced that the Christmasof 2015 will be celebrated in thenew Christian Bhavan. Thepromise has remained unful-filled but he kept repeating thepromise for three years. Evenafter seven years, ChristianBhavan in Hyderabad is adream," he said.

Shabbir said that KCR didnot release funds for theChristian community duringthe last seven years. He did notsay even once that the moneyallocated for the ChristianMinorities FinanceCorporation had been fullyreleased and utilised.

Continued from page 1

The then Andhra Pradeshgovernment had increased theayacut of SLBC from threelakh acres to four lakh acresbut did not make matchingwater allocation.

Thus the Telangana gov-ernment had increased thewater allocation from 30 TMCto 40 TMC to meet therequirements of the ayacutincreased by the then AP gov-ernment. It is not a new com-ponent, he clarified.

Giving antecedents of theproject, Muralidhar said that in1969, the Srisailam Left BankCanal scheme was proposedwith 150 TMC utiisationthrough gravity.

The canal head regulator silllevel was kept at +825 feet levelin the Srisailam reservoir.Unfortunately by 1973, beforeKWDT-I, this in basin schemewas relegated to the surpluswaters and the then AP Statedid not give priority to thisproject compared to projectsoutside the basin in Andhraareas.

He also said that as per theGodawari Tribunal Award(1980), in lieu of Godavariwater diverted through

Polavaram project, the then APState was allowed to use 45TMC of Krishna waterupstream of Nagarjuna Sagar.

Based on that the SLBCproject was proposed allocat-ing dependable water suppliesand the DPR was submitted tothe CWC for its approval in1985 itself.

However, by then as thePolavaram project was notapproved by the CWC, it sentback the DPR to the then APgovernment and asked it to sub-mit the DPR after the Polavaramproject was approved.

Therefore as per the GWDTAward, the Telangana govern-ment has represented to theKWDT-II to allocate depend-able water supplies to SLBC.

The then AP governmenthad secured dependable waterallocation to Srisailam RightBank canal project that wouldprovide water to Andhra areasoutside Krishna basin in 1981itself. It also constructed theproject by 1988. However, itdid not pay attention to SLBCthat would provide water toareas in Telangana, Muralidharexplained in his letter.

TS objects to showing SLBC as...

Telangana rejects AP’s proposal to...Continued from page 1

But Telangana in its response said that as AP had already divertedexcess water to Kandaleru this year it should supply water toChennai from Kandaleru. AP also suggested that a special liftirrigation scheme should be constructed at Srisailam to supplywater to Chennai without problems every year. However, Telanganaobjected to that proposal. The meeting also discussed the laying ofa pipeline from Kandaleru to Chennai. Telangana said that if theywere given a detailed project report, they would be able to givetheir opinion about it. Maharashtra and Karnataka once againrequested that they should be removed from the Drinking WaterSupply Committee to Chennai. They said that the 10 TMCs ofwater to be given by them to meet the drinking water requirementsof Chennai should be reduced from their dependable water quota.

BJP high command picks Eatala...Continued from page 1

Enugu also had close links withmany TRS leaders. Along withEatala former MLA, Enugu is alsoinvolved in ‘Operation Aakarsh.’Another BJP MLA,Raghunandan Rao, was also inthe TRS. He also had links withTRS leaders.

In fact, for winning theDubbaka Assembly by-electionon a BJP ticket RaghunandanRao’s relations with TRS leadershelped a lot. Now he is alsoinvolved in ‘Operation Aakarsh.’

But the main job has beenentrusted to Eatala Rajendar.According to reliable sources,Eatala and Enugu RavindarReddy are in touch with severalTRS leaders. Eatala says thatafter the Cabinet reshuffle and

appointments to nominated postsmore dissidents will exit TRS. TheBJP high command has takenTelangana politics seriously andis determined to come to powerin the next Assembly elections.

Some BJP leaders who hadjoined from the TRS and theCongress in the past were plan-ning to go back to their old par-ties. But after knowing the BJPhigh command’s seriousnessregarding Telangana they havedecided to remain in the party.

Sources said the TRS dissidentsare planning to send their follow-ers into the BJP initially. Before thenext Assembly elections theywant to jump from the TRS to theBJP. They want to convey theirdissatisfaction to the TRS leader-ship by sending their followersinto the BJP.

Omicron: HCdirects state...Continued from page 1

As there will be congregationsduring festival season andNew Year celebrations, thecourt asked the state govern-ment to issue guidelines oncontainment, wearing masks,imposing penalties and forsensitising the people to becareful in the wake of spreadof Omicron.

The counsel for the peti-tioner prayed for court direc-tion to the state governmentto impose restrictions onlarge gatherings of peoplefor the upcoming festival andNew Year celebrations asbeing done by some states.

The petitioner also soughtconducting tests on the bor-ders on those travelling toTelangana state.

Speculations...Continued from page 1

As of Wednesday, there were noindications that the State govern-ment was thinking of imposingnight curfew and other toughmeasures on its own or in com-pliance with the Centre's sugges-tions. However, in light of theobservations of the TelanganaHigh Court on Thursday that itis better for the State to imposerestrictions on Christmas, NewYear and Sankranthi celebra-tions, the State may have to taketough measures, including thoseintended to prevent large gather-ings, sources said.

States like Maharashtra andDelhi, which witnessed moreOmicron variant cases, haveimposed restrictions and takenmeasures to prevent people fromgathering for festivals and eventsconnected to New Year celebra-tions.

The High Court suggested tothe Telangana government toexamine the measures taken byDelhi and Maharashtra govern-ments and to carry out Covid testsat State borders. The HC advisedthe State to be on high alert in

view of reports that the Omicronvariant spreads fast without theaffected showing symptoms.

Meanwhile, the Centre hasissued guidelines in view of thesteady increase in Omicron casesin the country. It issued instruc-tions that States and UnionTerritories should enforce strictnorms if required.

Union Health Secretary RajeshBhushan held a review meetingon Omicron and made severalsuggestions to States and askedthem to focus on districts withhigh positivity rates.

In view of the Omicron vari-ant spreading fast, restrictionsshould be imposed before the sit-uation turned serious. Theserestrictions should be in force forat least 14 days and greater cau-tion is advised during festivals.

Some of the suggestions madeby the Centre to the States areenforcing night curfew, regulationof large congregations and meet-ings, declaring containment zonesareas with high number of posi-tive cases and enforcing suitablerestrictions, and sending samplesfor genome sequencing.

RBI extends card tokenisation...Continued from page 1

MPAI is a consortium of mer-chants who accept digital pay-ments and counts Microsoft,Netflix, Spotify, Zoom,BookMyShow, Disney+Hotstar,Policybazaar and Times Internetamong its members.

Alliance of Digital IndiaFoundation (ADIF) is a think-tank for digital start-ups, whosemembers include Paytm,Matrimony.com, GOQii andMapmyIndia.

Citing the convenience and

comfort factor for users whileundertaking card transactionsonline, many entities involvedin the card payment transactionchain store actual card details.

Some merchants force theircustomers for storing carddetails.

Availability of such detailswith a large number of mer-chants substantially increasesthe risk of card data beingstolen. In the recent past, therewere incidents where card datastored by some merchants havebeen compromised/ leaked.

Any leakage of CoF data canhave serious repercussionsbecause many jurisdictions donot require an AFA for cardtransactions, the RBI saidadding that stolen card data canalso be used to perpetrate fraudswithin India through socialengineering techniques.

The RBI had in March 2020had stipulated that authorisedpayment aggregators and themerchants onboarded by themshould not store actual card datawith a view to minimise vulner-able points in the system.

BJP trying to...Continued from page 1

BJP leaders are also trying tocontact Telangana protagonistslike Addanki Dayakar andDasoju Sravan, who are now inthe Congress and had workedin the Telangana movement. Itis learnt that they didn’t respondto the BJP leaders. One seniorTS BJP leader on condition ofanonymity told The Pioneer thatit is a fact that the BJP is tryingto win over all TS protagonists.

Priyanka, Mayawati seek SC intervention in...Continued from page 1

A report in The Indian Expresson Wednesday claimed thatMLAs, mayors, relatives of thecommissioner, SDM and DIGbought land in Ayodhya afterthe Supreme Court announcedthe verdict in theRamjanmabhoomi-BabriMasjid dispute on November 9,2019. The long awaited verdicthad cleared the way for con-struction of the Ram temple.

Additional Chief Secretary,Information, Navneet Sehgaltold PTI in Lucknow on

Wednesday night that "ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hasordered the Revenue departmentto probe the matter thoroughly."Mayawati, a former UP chiefminister, urged the SupremeCourt to take note of the mediareport and order a high-levelinquiry into the land deals.

"It is a very serious matter. Myparty would want the SupremeCourt to take notice and if theallegations are true, the state gov-ernment needs to get the dealscancelled," she told reporters inLucknow when asked to com-ment on the report.

Most Government staff not happy with allocation of zonesContinued from page 1

They have been divided into fourgrades, that is, 516 employees inGrade-1, 536 in Grade-2, 2,536 inGrade-3, 2,230 in Grade-4 asSecretaries and 6,603 as Junior

Panchayat Secretaries. Most of the Grade-1 Secretaries

are working in municipalitiesthat were earlier gram panchayats.The post of Panchayat Secretaryis not a zonal post when theyrecruit district-level committees.

Now they are allotted zonal posts.In this connection, nearly 150

panchayat secretaries of erstwhileMahbubnagar district have beentransferred to Nizamabad district.This is very painful to the employ-ees as the new place is around 250

km away.Employees are being put to

great trouble by the government’szonal policy. Although the alloca-tion process has been completedonly 10 per cent of the employeesare satisfied.

Piyush gave his word on...Continued from page 1

Jagadishwar Reddy, MPsNama Nageswara Rao and K.Kesava Rao were also presentat the media conference heldat the Telangana Bhavan inNew Delhi. Niranjan said thebold decisions of ChiefMinister K. ChandrasekharRao were responsible for theState’s impressive agriculturalgrowth.

Telangana proved to thecountry how bold decisions canyield impressive results and ithas been ratified by severalCentral departments whoappreciated the results achievedby Telangana, he said.

He said that they would nottalk about parboiled rice andpaddy would not be cultivat-ed during Rabi/Yasangi as theCentre does not want paddyduring Rabi.

Is India still a democracy? Oppn leaders...Continued from page 1

Gokhale lodged a complaint inthis connection at the Jwalapurpolice station in Haridwar dis-trict, asking the Station HouseOfficer to register an FIR with-in 24 hours.

At the event, several speak-ers allegedly made inflammato-ry and provocative speeches,calling for the killing of peoplefrom the minority community.

Held at Ved Niketan Dhamin Haridwar from December17-20, the Dharma Sansad wasorganised by YatiNarasimhanand Giri of theJuna Akhada, who is alreadyunder police scanner for mak-ing hate speeches and incitingviolence against Muslims.

Madani said, "They haveposed threat to the peace andcommunal harmony of thecountry".

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 24, 2021 hyderabad 03

PNS n HYDERABAD

Governor Dr. TamilisaiSoundararajan on Thursdaycalled on real estate develop-ers to come up with affordablehousing models.

She stated that the afford-able housing models will helpthe economically underpriv-ileged sections to fulfill theirdreams of owning a house.

The Governor addressedthe inaugural of the first everconclave of the Confederationof the Real Estate DevelopersAssociation of India(CREDAI)'s Telangana StateConclave-2021.

In view of the changed pri-orities and necessities duringthe ongoing pandemic condi-tions, Soundararajan suggest-ed for the promotion of eco-friendly green housing con-

cept so as to save energy con-sumption.

"The houses should be con-structed in such a way thatthey should have plenty ofnatural light and ventilationand promote quality andhealthy living inside the hous-es," she added.

The Governor also askedthe real estate developers to

include an exclusive BookRoom in their designs, whilehaving necessary facilities intune with the lockdown con-ditions.

Dr. Tamilisai said thatTelangana State, thoughyoungest, is developing fasterthan many other States and itwill witness further expan-sion.

The Governor also appreci-ated the role of CREDAI forits contribution in theTelangana State's develop-ment.

She asked them to contin-ue the philanthropic and ser-vice activities to reach out theneedy as they did during thelockdown.

Governor calls for housing for all

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working president andSangareddy MLA T. JaggaReddy has demanded that thestate government should payRs 25 lakh each to the familiesof the Intermediate first yearstudents who had committedsuicide after the announce-ment of results.

He also demanded that thegovernment should pass thestudents who had failed inIntermediate first year exam-inations.

Jagga staged a dharna beforethe Intermediate Board onThursday along with NSUIstate president BalmoorVenkat Narsimha Rao. Heurged students not to takesuch drastic steps and leaveparents in tears. He warnedthat the Congress will intensi-fy its protest and will announcean action plan on Friday.

The TPCC WorkingPresident alleged that 2.35lakh of the 4.50 lakh studentshad failed in the Intermediate

first-year examinations. He said that students who

failed are from governmentcolleges as they didn't haveonline classes. The governmentdid not provide Internet facil-ity to them and hence theyfailed. The students of privatecolleges passed as they hadconducted online classes.

The government has to carefor the failed students as itfailed to provide Internet facil-ity to them.

Students are committing

suicide every day as the gov-ernment is delaying its deci-sion. It is good for the govern-ment if it makes a decisionsoon and there is no use if adecision is taken late, Jaggasaid. Former PCC presidentPonnala Laxmaiah declaredhis support for Jagga's dharna.Ponnala asked the govern-ment to explain why it promot-ed students after failing them.He asked the government to dojustice to the students at leastnow.

‘Pay Rs 25 lakh to the familiesof deceased Inter students’

PNS n HYDERABAD

A woman has faced harass-ment from a gang at ClubRogue, Jubilee Hills onTuesday. The woman, who isan artist, had gone to a pubwith her friends. On her wayback, three men misbehavedand harassed her. As thewoman waited for her friend'scar in the basement, 3 menmade abusive gestures at herand harassed her. She wasn'tsuccessful when she tried toavoid them. The menallegedly threatened her to getinto their car. She refused andwent to the police stationstraight to the Jubilee HillsPolice station to lodge a com-plaint.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad Police arrest-ed three drug peddlers onWednesday. The accused haveallegedly brought cocaine andother substances to Hyderabadfor the purpose of selling themon the occasion of new year.The Commissioner of PoliceStephen Raveendra gave outdetails in a press conference

The dealers allegedly hadCocaine in powder form andthe cops seized 183 grams ofthe drug, 44 MD Ecstasytablets and three mobilephones from them worthapproximately Rs. 26 lakhs.

Zude, main organizer &drug supplier, is a native ofNigeria, Mohammed AshrafBaig, resident of Toli Chowki,Rameshwara Sravan Kumar,resident of Nizampet,Hyderabad, Gorental Charan

Teja, resident of PrakasamDistrict, Andhra Pradesh.

The accused Zude isabsconding. On Wednesday,the cops have arrested twopeople Rameshwara Sravankumar and Gorentla CharanTeja along with 2 grams ofCocaine at Ramky Towers,Gachibowli. Ashraf Baig was

arrested on Thursday fromGachibowli as well.

They came to know that theaccused Mohammed AshrafBaig was procuring a hugequantity of the substance fromthe main drug supplier Zudefor New Year and immediate-ly acted up on this informa-tion.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A student at VNREngineering College Hostelhas committed suicide byjumping from the 13th flooron Thursday. The deceased has left a sui-cide note. The woman waspursuing Engineering firstyear in the college and was aresident at the college hostel.In the suicide note, she stat-ed that she was fed up withlife and committing suicide.The police have shifted thedead body for post-mortemand registered the case.Meanwhile, Akhila BharathaVidyardhi Parishad (ABVP),student union have stageddharna before the college.

G. RAVI KIRAN

n HYDERABAD

Shilpa Chowdary and her hus-band Srinivasa Prasad got bailon Thursday. They may getout of jail on Friday. Threecases were filed against themin Narsingi Police Station.Last week, they got bail in onecase and on Thursday, thecourt has given bail order intwo other cases.

The cops have inquired herin custody for six days inthree phases. They filed a pleain court against granting bailto her.

But, the court has given herbail after hearing argumentsfrom both sides.

Shilpa Chowdary hasallegedly taken Rs.7.9 croresfrom three people as per thecases filed in the NarsingiPolice Station. Unofficially,

many have informed the copsthat they have given money toShilpa as an investment. Theydidn't come forward to filecomplaints.

On the other hand, hilpaChowdary has promised thatshe will return the money.

Shilpa Chowdary gets bailWoman harassedat Club Rogue,accused identified

A unique, giant size Christmassetup is made using food items bythe students of Pinnacle Instituteof Hotel Management. The set up,which is 6 feet height and 40 feetwide, consists of butter carvingsof Santa, Reindeers and Sledges.To make the set up, they used 105kg butter, 60kg flour, 60 kg salt,10kg gelatin, 123 eggs, 40 kg icingsugar, 10 kg bread rusk, 28kggolden syrup, 5 kg ginger powder,3kg mixed ginger, 15 kg brownsugar, 3kg Cinnamon powder and40 litre milk all at the cost of Rs89,000.

CULINARY MARVEL

Three drug peddlers arrested

PNS n HYDERABAD

A man, who has black-mailed many girls, wasarrested in Dilsukhnagaron Thursday. The manallegedly created a fakeIns t a g r am a c c ou nt ,befriended many womenin the guise of a woman.Later, he downloaded theirphotos, morphed themand blackmailed thesewomen to go on dates withhim.

Ajay, a student in Hyderabad, had created aprofile in the name of awoman on Instagram. Hethreatened the women andsaid that he will put up themorphed, compromisingpictures of the women onsocial media.

15 days ago, one of thevictims lodged a complaintwith the cops. They inves-tigated the case based onhis Instagram and the IPaddresses he used. OnThursday, they found himin Dilsukhnagar.

They will produce himin court and will ask forcustody.

Man arrested forcreating fakeInstagram account,cheating many

Woman atengineeringcollege dies bysuicide

PNS n HYDERABAD

Rajasthan Government's'Investors Connect' inHyderabad drew focus to theemerging industrial scenarioand investment friendly poli-cy framework of the state. Adelegation of the state govern-ment led by Industry andCommerce MinisterShakuntala Rawat, TechnicalEducation, Ayurveda andIndian Medicine MinisterSubhash Garg, and Ministerfor Revenue Ramlal Jat helddiscussions with investors atthe investment roadshow atHitech city, Hyderabad onThursday. Axis Energy,Semaliya Energy, AkshatGreentech and Crochet indus-tries pvt Ltd, signed MoUs andLoIs of Rs 40,510 crore duringthe road show.

The road show organisedwith support of national part-ner CII arrives in series ofglobal outreach program ofRajasthan Government

planned ahead of 'InvestRajasthan: investment summit2022 happening on 24-25January, 2022 in Jaipur.

The state governmentaddressed the Hyderabadbased corporates and entrepre-neurs in B2G meetings todayand appealed the interestedinvestors to be part ofRajasthan's growth story.

Shakuntala Rawat,Industries & Commerce

Minister of RajasthanGovernment, said, "RajasthanGovernment under leadershipof Chief Minister AshokGehlot has created a policyframework to promote growthacross all industrial sectors.Invest Rajasthan 2022 is goingto be a milestone towardstransformation of state's indus-trial scenario."

The Hyderabad roadshowshowcased emerging invest-

ment destinations of Rajasthanincluding Petroleum andpetrochemical investmentregion, electric vehicle zone,Fintech Park and MedicalDevice Park. TechnicalEducation, Ayurveda andIndian Medicine MinisterSubhash Garg said, "The tradi-tional advantages of strategiclocation, abundant mineralresources and skilled man-power are being accentuate by

the state government policies.The new investments will fur-ther create more opportunitiesfor industrial and social devel-opment." Minister for RevenueRamlal Jat said, "Rajasthan isa leading state in ease of doingbusiness. The state govern-ment through its initiativessuch as One Stop Stop hasbeen bringing all departmentson single platform to facilitateinvestments.

The immense interest ofinvestors received ahead ofInvest Rajasthan reflects uponthe success of the policy levelinitiatives." Renewable energy,Mines & Minerals, Agri &Food Processing, Energy,Textiles, Logistics, IT & ITeS,Healthcare, and MSMEs wereamong prominent sectors thatgained investors interest atthe roadshow. The incentivesand advantages of RajasthanIndustrial Policy 2019, RIPS2019 and other sector specif-ic policies also drew attentionof the investors.

Rajasthan Government connects with investors in Hyderabad

Govt's special effort to develop Urdu language

She stated thatthe affordablehousing modelswill help theeconomicallyunderprivilegedsections to fulfilltheir dreams ofowning a house.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The American TeluguAssociation (ATA), an organ-isation of the Telugu commu-nity in the US, organised'Business Seminar 2021,' inHyderabad on Thursday.

The seminar is an initiativeto encourage business ideas,mentor young entrepreneurs,provide a platform for venturecapitalists, and start-ups.

Nearly 100 mentors, venturecapitalists, entrepreneurs, andtechnology experts based inthe US and India attended theseminar.

Kashi Kotha, the BusinessCommittee Chair of ATA said,"This Business Seminar aimsto increase interactionbetween US-based Teluguentrepreneurs and businessowners based in Telangana,invest in start-ups in India,especially in Telangana, andattract more companies intosecond-tier cities likeKhammam, Warangal,Nalgonda, Karimnagar and

Nizamabad."Commenting on the semi-

nar, Jayanth Challa, theConference AdvisoryCommittee Chair of theAmerican Telugu Associationsaid, "Telugu entrepreneursare gaining prominence acrossthe US. The ATA BusinessSeminar is an effort to pro-mote US-India partnershipsand encourage entrepreneursto invest in districts acrossTelangana. ATA has been con-ducting such seminars inHyderabad once every twoyears since 2014, and over

USD 20 million (more thanINR 150 crore) have beeninvested in Indian start-ups.These Business Seminarsencouraged many companiesto move into second-tier cities,and the starting of a T-Hub inKhammam is a big accom-plishment made possible byLax Chepuri, the ATA Co-Chair for Business."

In addition to mentoringand potential investment dis-cussions between investors,venture capitalists, and entre-preneurs, the 'BusinessSeminar' is also a launchpadfor a dialogue between enter-prises planning to move tosecond-tier cities and officialsrepresenting the TSGovernment.

Senior officials like ITSecretary Jayesh Ranjan,Transport Minister PuvvadaAjay Kumar, Vijay Rangineni,the CEO of IT Investments,and Srikanth Sinha, the CEOof the Telangana Academy ofSkill and Knowledge attendedthe function.

ATA to focus on Telugu bizmen,offers funding and mentoring

Chief Secretary

holds high-level

meet on AadhaarPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary SomeshKumar, IAS held a High levelreview meeting today atBRKR Bhavan on issuance ofAadhaar card to everyone inthe state and linkingAadhaar with their individ-ual mobile number .

Chief Secretary said thatsix lakh children are bornevery year in the state, andevery newborn should begiven Aadhaar immediately.He directed Education andWomen and Child welfareDepartment Officials to takesteps to generate Aadhaar forall children between agegroup of 0-5 years in thestate.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana state has recorded177 covid-19 cases in the last24 hours (by Thursdayevening) as it conducted38,219 tests. The overall pos-itive cases increased upto6,80,251. The state recordedone corona death on Thursdayand the total deaths increasedto 4018. However, 190 patientsrecovered from coronavirusand 4470 active cases werereported in the state.

Meanwhile, 93 positivecases were registered inGHMC limits. Kamareddy 1,Karimnagar 3, Khammam 4,M ahabubnagar 5,Mahabubabad 3, Mancherial2, Medchal Malkajgiri 9,Nalgonda 5, Nizamabad 4,Peddapalli 4, Rajanna Sircilla1, Rangareddy 16, Sangareddy7, Siddipet 4, Vikarabad 1,Wanaparthy 1, WarangalRural 1, Hanumakonda 7,Yadadri Bhongir 3. Accordingto the state Health

Department bulletin, 648 peo-ple landed at Rajiv GandhiAirport from at-risk countrieson Thursday. However, 6 peo-ple tested positive when theauthorities conducted RTPCR tests and the sampleswere sent for genomesequencing. However, not asingle Omicron case was reg-istered on Thursday. However,10,029 people landed inTelangana from at-risk

nations till date and 38Omicron positives were foundwhen the health officials sent70 samples to genomesequencing and 10 results areyet to come. On the otherhand, 3,67,177 people werevaccinated on Thursday ingovernment vaccination cen-tres and 1425 in private vac-cination centres. The totalnumber of people vaccinatedon Thursday is 3,68,602.

93 Covid-19 cases inGHMC limits in 24 hours

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Scheduled caste develop-ment Minister Koppula Eshwarsaid on Thursday the govern-ment is making special effortsfor the development of Urdulanguage.

The Minister released Urdutextbooks at his camp office inHyderabad and also inaugurat-ed the online booking of confer-ence halls under the auspices ofthe Urdu Academy. Later, theminister said that Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao is mov-

ing forward with determinationfor the development of Urdulanguage and safeguarding itssupremacy and working tobring prestige to this languagewhich was once rich.Ministerpointed out that the governmenthas declared Urdu as the second

official language in the state and204 minority residential schoolsstarted to educate Muslimminorities. The Urdu Academyofficials appreciate the printingand offering of free textbooks to24 degree college students con-tinuing in Urdu medium.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The National InvestigationAgency has filed a charge-sheet in the Darbhanga blastcase on Thursday before a spe-cial court. The NIA listed fivepeople as accused in the case.

The blast happened on June17 as per the direction ofPakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, the NIA said in thecharge-sheet.

Of the five named in thecharge-sheet, MohammadNasir Khan, Imran Malik,Saleem Ahmed and KafilAhmad have been arrested.

The fifth, IqbalMohammed, is abscondingand is in Lahore, the NIA said,adding that they hail fromShamli in Uttar Pradesh.

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)operatives had planned to setablaze a long-distance train byplacing incendiary IEDs/par-cel bombs in it so that there isa huge loss of life, the NIAsaid.

As per the directions ofHafeez Iqbal, a Pakistan-based

LeT operative, MohammadNasir Khan and Imran Malikfabricated an IED using local-ly available chemicals andplaced it in a parcel of clothes,the NIA stated in the charge-sheet. The parcel was bookedin the Secunderabad-Darbhanga Express. The planwas to trigger the incendiaryIED so that the cloth parcelwould catch fire, spread toother parcels leading to a largeconflagration, the NIA said.

Mohammad Nasir Khanhad gone to Pakistan and hadreceived training in espionage,handling of arms and ammu-nition and fabricating IEDs.He also received funds fromPakistan on various occasions,the official said.

After the incident, thePakistan-based handlers hadtried to facilitate the escape ofMohammad Nasir Khan,Imran Malik, Saleem Ahmedand Kafil Ahmad to a foreigncountry through Nepal. Butthey were arrested, the NIAsaid, adding that investigationsare going on.

NIA files charge-sheet inDarbhanga blast case

04HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 24, 2021

PNS n JAYASHANKARBHUPALAPALLI

Mandhani MLA D SridharBabu has described formerPrime Minister late PVNarasimha Rao as a greatthinker who put the countryon the road to developmentwith his fiscal reforms and apolyglot who spoke speak flu-ently in14 languages.

Paying rich tributes to PVNarasimha Rao by garlandinghis portrait at his the campoffice here on Thursday, theMLA said that Narasimha Raohad emerged as a top leader inwhom the country took pride.

Narasimha Rao was electedMLA four times fromMandhani and served as the

CM of undivided AP, he saidadding, “We all should takepride in his achievements”.

PV Narasimha Rao wasappreciated by one and all

calling him “Ajaata Satruvu”, aman who has no enemies at all,he said. During his tenure aseducation minister, he wasinstrumental in establishingresidential schools and tookeducation closer to the com-mon man. Similarly, PV wasresponsible for implementingthe Land Ceiling Act and dis-

tributing land among the poor.People should learn how oneshould conduct oneselfhumbly from PV in spite ofscaling dizzy heights in hiscareer, he said.

He vowed to fulfill the idealsof PV Narasimha Rao. SeveralCongress leaders took part inthe event.

PV a visionary politician: Sridharbabu

PNSnMULUGU

Finance and Health Minister THarish Rao has said that thestate government spent Rs2.50-lakh care during the pastseven years for the farmers’welfare.

Participating as the chiefguest in the seventh founda-tion day celebrations of KondaLaxman HorticultureUniversity at Mulugu onThursday suggested to thehealth university to adoptsome villages in the districtand work to achieve change inthose villages. He suggested tothe university to work to makehorticulture profitable.

The Minister went throughvarious discoveries made bythe horticulture university dur-ing the past seven years,released a song penned bylyricist Suddala Ashok Teja andalso a trademark to sell theuniversity produce.

It was targeted to grow oilpalm in 20-lakh acres inTelangana, including 50,000acres in Mulugu district, hesaid adding that the subsidycomponent to cultivating oilpalm in an acre would be Rs1.40 lakh. He appealed tofarmers to come forward tocultivate

oil palm. The agricultureand horticulture universitiesshould encourage farmers toraise only those crops thatenjoy good demand in themarket, he said giving exam-

ples of oilseeds, pulses, oil-palm, fruits, vegetables. He alsoasked farmers to develop thoseseeds of crops that are cost-effective and would be prof-itable to the farmer.

Laying emphasis on researchand extension activity in agri-cultural and horticultural uni-versities, he vowed to handover 140 acres near the univer-sity by procuring the landfrom farmers. He would takethe problems of the release offunds, recruitment of staff,land allocation, and otherproblems to the notice of theCM for resolution.Horticultural University vice-chancellor Dr. B NeerajaPrabhakar presented a progressreport of the university andnoted that the varsity crossedmany milestones during thepast seven years.

Padmasri Chintala VenkataReddy of Alwal, who ownedpatents for his organic farmingtechniques, said, quoting fromhis experience, that any cropfor example paddy or wheat orsorghum millet or foxtail mil-let can be made to acquire vit-amins. His objective is toensure that the farmers pro-duce profitable crops and leada prosperous life. The demandfor farmers’ crops can be cre-ated by ensuring that theyacquire vitamins by followinghis farming methods. He want-ed the Minister to pay specialattention to it. ZP chairpersonRoja Radhakrishna Sarma,MLC Yadava Reddy, ForestDevelopment Corporationchairman Pratap Reddy, addi-tional collector MuzammelKhan, and others were presenton the occasion.

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

District Collector S VenkataRao has directed Tahsildars toclear 829 pending applica-tions for registration of thelands through the Dharaniportal as early as possible.

The registration of landsdone through the portalshould be foolproof. TheTahsildars should give prior-ity to the convenience of thosewho booked slots for land reg-istrations, he directed theTahsildars.

Addressing Tahsildarsthrough video conferencefrom his camp office onThursday, he asked them toverify the applications pend-ing with the computer opera-tor and take steps to clearthem and speak with those

who booked the slot for didnot report for registering theland over the phone so thatthey will come for registeringthe land at their convenienttime. The District Collectoralso reviewed the progress ofmutations, transactions per-taining to succession, courtcases, and other applications.

Clear pending applicationswithout delay: DC

TRS govt spent Rs 2.50-lakhcr for farmers’ development

PNS nPATANCHERU

Local legislator GudemMahipal Reddy has said thatthe credit for reviving the agri-culture sector, which receivedstep-motherly treatment undersuccessive AP rulers, and mak-ing agriculture profitable goesto Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao.

Participating in RytuDinotsavam at Gummadidalaon Thursday, the MLA recalledhow Telangana state’s agricul-ture sector development set anexample for other states toemulate during the past eightyears. He quoted the examplesof Rytu Bandhu scheme, RytuBeema, Mission Kakatiya, RytuVedikas, supply of seeds and

fertilisers on time, and pro-curement of the paddy at theMSP. The CM became demi-God to the farmers, he said.

On account of the adamantattitude of the Centre towardsthe Telangana farmers, thefarmers in the state have beensubjected to untold miseries,

he said predicting that thepeople would reject the doublestandards of the BJP centraland state leadership. As theCM is extending full supportto the farmers, he appealed tothe farmers to grow only thosecrops advised by the state gov-ernment.

KCR revived agriculturesector, says MLA Mahipal

‘Will strive for all-round progress’

PNS n MEDCHAL MALKAJGIRI

District Collector Harish hasasked officers of all govern-ment departments to be care-ful in making arrangementsfor President RamnathKovind’s visit to Hyderabad aspart of his winter sojourn.There should be no room forany negligence.

As part of his southernsojourn, Ramnath Kovind willstay at Rashtrapathi Nilayamfrom December 29 to January3. The officials should conductthemselves responsibly so thatthe President’s sojourn bringsmore recognition to the city.The officials should draw upplans beforehand to make thepresident’s visit successful, hesaid asking them to work withcoordination.

The District Medical and

Health officials should makespecial arrangements atHakimpet airport, he said giv-ing directions to the DMHOMallikarjuna Rao. Ambulanceshould be kept ready at the air-port, medical personnelshould be deployed there toconduct the RTPC tests.

As many VIPs would usethe Hakimpet airport roadalong with the President, the

the district collector hasasked officials to clear theditches on the road and under-take necessary repairs to theroad. R and B officer SrinivasMurthy was told to make allarrangements like erecting atent and providing chairs andother incidental arrangementson the stage. The municipalcommissioner should takesteps to clear garbage fromtime to time, he said.

DC reviews arrangements for President’s visit to Hyderabad

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

Excise Minister V SrinivasGoud has participated in astring of development pro-grammes on Thursday in thecity and laid the foundationstone for a Rs 2-crore electriccrematorium in Padmavaticolony, inaugurated publichealth executive engineer’soffice at Palakonda built at Rs3 core and laid the founda-tion stone for a park to bedeveloped at a cost of Rs 10lakh in Bhagiradha colony.

As part of the all-arounddevelopment of the city, by-pass roads have been devel-oped, roads have beenwidened, drainages have beenmodernised, planting of 10-year-old saplings on roaddividers among other things.All measures are being initi-ated to develop all localitiesof the city equally.

Electric crematoria arebeing built in four corners ofthe city. Shortly, a gas-basedcrematorium would be start-ed soon, he said.Mahabubnagar city, whichfaced utter neglect duringthe united AP rulers’ regime,contours have been changedon account of the implemen-tation of several develop-ment programmes. As such,the lands and other proper-

ty values increased. In fact,the city is developing on a parwith Hyderabad. Earlier, peo-ple desired to own a house inHyderabad. But currently,they want to own a house inMahabubnagar. A food parkis going to be set up atHanwada, he said. He askedthe city residents to plantsaplings in front of theirhouses and also plant saplingsat the time of building homes.

PNS n NAGARKURNOOL

Upon Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao giving hisgreen signal, the irrigationauthorities have sent DPR tothe Krishna WaterManagement Board to securethe concerned approvals for thePalamuru-Rangareddy LIScheme.

The project has been con-ceived with an outlay of Rs52,056 Crore to irrigate landsin Vikarabad, Nalgonda,Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool,Narayanapet districts.

Main canals, tunnels anddistributary canals, and otherstructures would be built at acost of Rs 8069 crore.Administrative sanction hasbeen given to execute the firstphase of the project with anoutlay of Rs 35,200 crore.

Farmers’ groups and expertshave expressed concern overthe project displacing over14,841 families. The acquisitionof huge extents of lands willlead to the shrinking of the aya-cut under the project leading to

falling in food production.The farmers' groups have

been demanding the nationalproject status for the project sothat there would be no dearthof funds for the project’s exe-cution. Recently, the govern-ment has specified that the pro-ject should secure necessarypermissions for the projectwithin six months of a gazette

notification on the jurisdictionof Krishna and Godavari WaterManagement Board. If the per-mission is not secured withinsix months, the project workswould be stalled. Therefore, theirrigation authorities havestepped up momentum to getthe necessary approvals forthe project, which is billed asthe biggest project on River

Krishna.The project would have no

scope for the Central WaterCommission granting permis-sion for it as it is the project thatis being built on surplus waters.Therefore, the irrigation offi-cials are keen to obtain hydro-logical permissions.

Meanwhile, the irrigationauthorities have sought permis-

sion from the government tolift 45 tmc of water through thePalamuru-Rangareddy LIScheme, which is located in theupper reaches ofNagarjunasagar project.

The officials have incorpo-rated details of the reservoirsunder construction atUddandapur, Narlapur,Karivena, Vattem, Yedula reser-voirs, Karivena, Yelluru, Yedulapump house, tunnels underconstruction, sub-stations,gravity canals and other rele-vant structures in the DPR. Thereport has the project’s likelyimpact on irrigation projects ofneighboring states.

The DPR has informationabout the Podu lands to beacquired through the forestdepartment and the delibera-tions the government has hadwith the union ministry ofenvironment and so on. In thefirst phase, the constructionactivity of the project would belimited to Uddandapur, thepermissions would be limitedto the construction of thereservoir alone.

DPR sent to KWMB to approvePalamuru-Rangareddy LI Scheme

PNS nNALGONDA

State Governor Dr. Tamil SaiSoundara Rajan said that theCentral and StateGovernments are working forthe development of the horti-culture sector.

State Governor Dr. TamilSai Soundara Rajan onThursday inaugurated theGram Bharathi UdyanPolytechnic College affiliatedto Konda Lakshman BapujiUdyan University inMarriguda (Mall), Nalgondadistrict.

On this occasion, the stategovernment said it was a great

pleasure to come to Marrigudavillage on the occasion ofFarmers' Day.

He said the central govern-ment was allocating Rs 2,250crore for the development ofthe horticulture sector by2021-22. He said the state gov-ernment was planting large-scale plants through theHarithaharam program toenhance greenery.

The Prime Minister of Indiawas implementing plans witha holistic vision for the devel-opment of the agriculture andhorticulture sector to boost thecountry's economy and pro-mote horticultural crops.

She said the horticulturalpolytechnic college would ben-efit rural students as per thegovernment’s intention.

Meanwhile, in the wake ofthe Corona Third WaveOmicron outbreak, everyonewas urged to observe the socialdistance, wear masks, observehygiene, celebrate festivals withcorona precautions and geteveryone vaccinated withCovid vaccine. On the occa-sion, Munugode legislators K. Raja Gopal Reddy, AdditionalCollectors Rahul Sharma,Vanamala Chandrasekhar,Suryapeta SP Rajendra Prasad,and others present.

Govts working to develop horticulture: Guv

PNS n GODAVARIKHANI

Kala Jatha troupes onThursday sensitised peopleon the ban on the use of plas-tics, segregating garbage intowet garbage, dry garbage andhazardous garbage and prepa-ration of vermicompost usingwet garbage. The artists whosensitised the people on theseissues through dance and songsequences are identified asDaya, Narsing, Padma, andRajaiah. The RamagundamMunicipal Corporation’sefforts on sensitising peopleagainst the use of plastic have

been paying dividends.Accordingly, food is served inleaf plates as against in plasticplates at poor feeding pro-gramme held at GloriousMinistries place of worship inmemory of Ravulapelli Lakshmi, spouse of RamaswamyPeter. Drinking water has beenserved in paper glasses. On thedirections of RamagundamMayor, municipal commis-sioner, and sanitary inspector,environmental engineer, andMIS operator Srikant appreci-ated Ramaswamy Peter andhis son-in-law Vinod Kumarfor not using plastics.

People sensitised on waste segregation

PNS n SIDDIPET

Finance Minister T HarishRao has directed horticultureofficials to distribute oil palmsaplings under the first prior-ity and fixed targets to culti-vate oil palm and mulberrycrops to agriculture exten-sion officers cluster-wise.

Addressing agriculture andhorticulture officials throughvideo conference fromHorticulture department’sguest house at Mulugu here onThursday, he said that theSiddipet district is suitablefor the cultivation of oil palmcrops, which have globaldemand. He predicted brightfuture to oilpalm farmers. Heasked the agriculture and hor-ticulture officials to distributeoilpalm saplings on first comefirst served basis as

the saplings enough to raisethe crop in 1100 acres are leftwith the government.

Currently, farmers have raisedoil palm in 2100 acres and also

cultivating intercrops, he said.SC and ST farmers will get

a 100 percent subsidy on dripequipment. As the Centre isnot procuring Rabi paddy,the agriculture and horticul-ture officials and elected peo-ple’s representatives to sensi-tise farmers on long-term cropvarieties and also on oil palm,which enjoys demand global-ly, and take steps to plant oilpalm in 1100 acres in 15 days,he said. He asked the sericul-ture officials to encourage thecultivation of mulberry cropsby husband and wife teams.He asked the officials andlocal elected people’s represen-tatives to choose beneficiaries.The crops will provide stableincome to the farmer andassure return on investments.District agriculture officerShravan, district horticulturedeputy director Ramalakshmi,AEOs and others took part inthe programme.

Oil palm saplings to be planted in 1,100 acres in 15 days

PNS n ELURU

Minister for Women and ChildWelfare released fingerlings inthe river Godavari at Kovvuruon Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion,she said that in order to help thefishermen community juve-nile fish were being releasedinto the river Godvari andother reservoirs. She said that20 lakh juvenile fish were beingreleased into the rivers, tanksand reservoirs. The release offish fry would help the fisher-men community a lot in thefuture. She said that 6 lakhjuvenile fish were released inKovvur, 4.5 lakh at Vadapalli,14 lakh fingerlings werereleased into the Pogonda,Kovvada and Yarla reservoirs.

Minister releasesfingerlings inGodavari

nation 05HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 24, 2021

IND

IA C

OR

NE

R India successfully tests new-generation‘Pralay' missile for second consecutive day

India on Thursday successfully conducted the second flight test of indigenously developedsurface-to-surface missile 'Pralay' off the Odisha coast, the DRDO said. For the first time,flight tests of a ballistic missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development

Organisation, have been conducted successfully in two consecutive days, it said. The missile,launched from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island, met all the mission objectives, the DRDO said. "Intoday's launch, the 'Pralay' missile wastested for heavier payload and differentrange to prove the precision and lethalityof the weapon," it said. India had onWednesday successfully conducted themaiden flight test of the missile. The sec-ond launch was monitored by all therange sensors and instruments, includ-ing telemetry, radar and electro-optictracking system deployed across theeastern coast and the downrange shipspositioned near the impact point, thedefence research organisation said.

COVID-19 aid for Odisha newspaper hawkers

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced a financial aid of Rs6,000 for every newspaper hawker to help them tide over the COVID-19 crisis. Thechief minister also said that they would be given financial cover for accidents. In

case of death due to accident, the government will pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation tothe family. Hawkers will be entitled to anything between Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000 if leftincapacitated. Also, families of news-paper hawkers, who die of naturalcauses, would be given Rs 1 lakh ascompensation, the CM stated.According to an official release issuedby the chief minister's office, Odishais the "first state in the country to offerCOVID-19 assistance for newspaperhawkers". As many as 7,300 newspa-per hawkers, who have been regis-tered under the state's UnorganisedWorkers' Social Security Board, willget the benefits, officials said.

60-yr-old rescued blind elephantshifted to hospital in UP

A60-year-old blind female elephant, that was rescued and rehabilitated at the ElephantConservation and Care Centre here, has been shifted to the Elephant Hospital as it issuffering from multiple diseases, an official said. “Besides her old age, 'Ginger' (as

named by the centre) is blind, she is suffering from osteoarthritis, wear and tear offootpads and diseases caused due tomalnutrition,” deputy director,veterinary services, Wildlife SOS, Dr SIlayaraja said. Due to excessive frictionand long walks on hot rough surfaces,Ginger's footpads have worn out somuch that she continuously feels thepain and is unable to bear her ownweight, he said. According to DrIlayaraja, the hospital has begun painmanagement sessions, including lasertherapy. “We will also begin sole-guardtherapy on her footpads to protect themfrom further damage”, he said.

PNS n VARANASI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday inaugurat-ed or laid the foundation stonesof 27 development projectsworth Rs 2,095 crore in hisVaranasi parliamentary con-stituency ahead of the UttarPradesh assembly elections.

This is Modi's second visit tothe holy city within 10 days.

After arriving here in themorning Thursday, he laid thefoundation stone of the ‘BanasDairy Sankul' at the UttarPradesh State IndustrialDevelopment Authority FoodPark, Karkhiyaon.

Spread across 30 acres, thedairy will be built at a cost ofabout Rs 475 crore and wouldprocess about 5 lakh litre milkper day, according to officials.

This will strengthen therural economy and help thefarmers of the region by creat-ing new opportunities forthem, they said.

The prime minister alsodigitally transferred a bonus ofabout Rs 35 crore to the bank

accounts of more than 1.7lakh milk producers associat-ed with the Banas Dairy. Healso laid the foundation stonefor a biogas-based electricitygeneration plant for a MilkProducers' Cooperative Unionplant in Varanasi's Ramnagar.

Modi also launched a portaland a logo dedicated to theConformity AssessmentScheme of milk productsdeveloped by the Bureau ofIndian Standards (BIS) withthe help of the National Dairy

Development Board (NDDB).The unified logo, featuring

both the BIS logo and theNDDB quality mark, will sim-plify the certification processfor the dairy sector and reas-sure the public about dairyproduct quality.

In another effort to reducethe number of land ownershipissues at the grassroots level,the prime minister virtuallydistributed the rural residentialrights record, "Gharauni",under the Swamitva scheme of

the Union Ministry ofPanchayati Raj to over 20 lakhresidents of the state.

The prime minister alsoinaugurated multiple urbandevelopment projects, includ-ing six for the redevelopmentof Old Kashi wards, a parking-and-surface park at Beniabag,beautification of two ponds, asewage treatment plant inRamna village and the provi-sioning of advanced surveil-lance cameras at 720 locationsunder the Smart City Mission.

Projects in the educationsector inaugurated by theprime minister include theUnion Education Ministry'sInter University Centre forTeachers Education, built at acost of around Rs 107 crore,and a teachers' education cen-tre at the Central Institute ofHigher Tibetan Studies, built ata cost of over Rs 7 crore.

Further, residential flats andstaff quarters at the BanarasHindu University (BHU) andthe ITI, Karaundi were alsoinaugurated by the prime min-ister.

PM Modi launches slew of projects in Varanasi PNS n MUMBAI

Eight activists accused in theElgar Parishad-Maoist linkscase, who were denied defaultbail by the Bombay HighCourt earlier this month, toldthe HC on Thursday that theywill file review petitions againstthe order which was based ona "factual error".

The accused activists andacademicians -- SudhirDawale, Dr P Varavara Rao,Rona Wilson, advocateSurendra Gadling, ProfessorShoma Sen, Mahesh Raut,Vernon Gonsalves and ArunFerreira, -- had earlier thisweek filed an application for'speaking to minutes', which isused for getting minor correc-tions made to an order of acourt.

On Thursday, a bench ofJustices S S Shinde and N JJamadar said the court couldnot pass any orders acceptingor denying the claims made bythe parties, or even listen to thearguments on merits since theaccused had preferred to movethe speaking to minutes appli-cation.

Senior advocate Sudeep

Pasbola, who appeared for oneof the accused activists in thecase, then told the bench thatthe accused will withdraw thespeaking to minutes applica-tion and file fresh pleas seek-ing a review of the HC order.

Pasbola said the accusedwill file the fresh plea/s inJanuary 2022, once the HCreopens after the Christmasvacations.

The bench then said it wasnot granting any liberty or spe-cific permission to the accusedto file the review petition.However, if the procedure estab-lished under the law providedfor a review petition, they werefree to file it, the HC said.

On December 1 this year,

the bench of Justices Shindeand Jamadar granted defaultbail to Sudha Bharadwaj, alsoan accused in the ElgarParishad case, on the groundthat the Pune sessions court,which had granted extensionof time to the Pune police forfiling of charge sheet after themandatory 90-day period wasover, did not have the jurisdic-tion to do so. At that time, thebench rejected the same relieffor the eight other co-accusedin the case.

The HC then said theseeight persons had not exercisedtheir right to seek default bailin time. It had observed thatwhile Bharadwaj filed a pleabefore the Pune court seekingdefault bail as soon as the 90-day period for filing of thecharge sheet in the case gotover, these eight accused haddelayed filing of their applica-tions.

On Tuesday, however, theeight accused personsinformed the bench throughtheir counsel RSathyanarayanan that its judg-ment denying them defaultbail was based on a "factualerror".

Elgar case: 8 activists denieddefault bail to file review pleas

PNS n NEW DELHI

In good news for bibliophiles,the much-awaited 13th editionof Apeejay Kolkata LiteraryFestival (AKLF), curated byOxford Bookstore, will be heldfrom January 21-23, 2022,announced the organisers.

The three-day literaryextravaganza is to be held at theiconic heritage building ParkMansions at Park Street and isexpected to see participation byover 50 authors, poets, screen-play writers, thinkers,sportspersons, journalists andactors.

It will host sessions virtual-ly on the inaugural day andoffline on January 22 and 23,the organisers said at the cur-tain raiser event in the nation-

al capital on Wednesday.Badminton legend Pullela

Gopichand, movie criticAnupama Chopra and Frenchwriter Patrick Deville areamong the speakers of the fes-tival.

"The 13th Edition of theAKLF, sets its sights on our fastevolving world, and thechanges that lie in store in theyears ahead. Curated meticu-lously to meet the challenges ofthe hybrid/virtual format, withdelegate participation fromacross three time zones, thisacceleration to digital connec-tivity has not stopped us frommoving forward with this keyinitiative," said Maina Bhagat,director of AKLF since its firstedition in 2010.

"The festival, packed with

thought provoking, entertain-ing and informative sessions, isa celebration of the writtenword, in the time of Covid," shesaid.

AKLF, touted to be India'sonly literary festival created bya bookstore and Kolkata's first

literary festival, aims to reflectthe city's vibrancy of thought,its engagement with the liter-ary world at large and exploresliterature as part of its tangibleand intangible heritage.

The event also sawannouncement of the longlist

of the 'Oxford Bookstore BookCover Prize', now in its seventhedition.

The longlist, featuring 21books ranging across a varietyof genres, include PerumalMurugan's novel, "Estuary",designed by Gavin Morris;author Nandini Sengupta's his-torical fiction, "The BlueHorse", designed by DaminiGupta; Shylashri Shankar'sbook on Indian cuisine,"Turmeric Nation", designed byMaithili Doshi; RaziuddinAquil book on Sufism, "Days InThe Life of a Sufi", designed byMisha Oberoi, and RobertElgood book on historic Indianfirearms "The Maharaja ofJodhpur's Guns", designed byShashi Bushan Prasad.

Two Hindi translations,

"Chaiwaad" (designed bySanjukta Roy) and "Garv SeKaho" (designed by SanatanDinda) are also part of the list.

The annual prize, initiated in2015 to recognise and celebratethe extraordinary work of illus-trators, designers, and publish-ers throughout India, carries acash prize along with a trophy.

Other books that made it tothe list include names like"Ratno Dholi" authored by JennyBhatt and designed by HarshadMarathe; Anubha Yadav's "TheAnger of Saintly Men", designedby Bhavi Mehta; Manpreet JSingh's "The Sikh Next Door:An Identity in Transition",designed by Mehek Malhotra;Giggling Monkey Studio; "TheIllustrated Ramayana", designedby Neha Ahuja.

Kolkata Literary Festival to kick-start on January 21

Cow is mother,sacred to us:PM ModiPNS n VARANASI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday said cowis mother and sacred to manypeople and those who findthis as "sin" don't realise thatlivelihood of crores of peopledepends on cattle.

The PM was addressing arally after inaugurating andlaying foundation stones of27 projects worth Rs 2,095crore in Varanasi, his parlia-mentary constituency, justmonths ahead of theAssembly elections in UttarPradesh. Taking a jibe at rivalparties, he said those makingjokes on cows and buffaloesforget that the livelihood ofcrores of people depends on"pashudhan" (livestock).

"Cow is mother and sacredto us," he said, adding thatsome find it as "sin".

In an apparent attack onthe Samajwadi Party, Modisaid their dictionary con-tains "mafiavad" and "pari-varvad". "For us, the prior-ity is 'sabka saath, sabkavikas," the PM said. This isModi's second visit to hisconstituency in the past 10days.

Prez: Kerala leads otherstates on several indicesof human developmentPNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala leads other states onseveral indices of humandevelopment, includingaspects of sustainable develop-ment and successive govern-ments in the state have kept asustained focus on the agendaof growth and development,President Ram Nath Kovindsaid on Thursday.

Addressing a gathering afterunveiling the statue of P NPanicker, considered as thefather of library movement inKerala, atPoojappura inthe state capital,he said it's aunique featureof Kerala that inevery villagethere is a libraryand people feelan emotionalconnect withthe library intheir village ortown.

The Presidentpraised Governor of Kerala,Arif Mohammed Khan andChief Minister PinarayiVijayan, saying they wereamong the "most experiencedand sagacious personalities" inthe area of public service.

"I am glad that the people ofKerala are benefitting from theguidance of the Governor andthe leadership of the ChiefMinister to scale even greaterheights of excellence andinclusion," Kovind said.

Lauding the service sectorprofessionals from Kerala,especially the nurses and doc-tors, he said they are highlyrespected and relied upon bypeople everywhere.

"Recently, when the Covidaffected the entire world, nurs-es and doctors from Keralawere among the most visibleCovid-warriors in India, themiddle-east and so manyother regions on the globe.The people of Kerala enhancethe pride of India," thePresident noted.

Earlier in the day, Kovindunveiled the statue of Panickerin the presence of Khan,Vijayan, Union Minster ofState V Muraleedharan andothers.

"A visionary can see whatothers don't see. I believe thatShri Panicker would have seenhis pioneering steps leading tothe great strides Kerala took inthe areas of literacy and edu-cation. An area of illiteracy canremain an area of darkness.The light of literacy can bright-en the path to individual andcollective progress," Kovindsaid.

The President further saidPanicker made libraries andliteracy a movement of thepeople and in fact, he made it

a popular cultur-al movement.

"It is a uniquefeature of Keralathat in every vil-lage, even in theremotest villages,there is a library.People feel anemotional con-nect with thelibrary in theirvillage or townjust as they feel aspecial connect

with the temple or church ormosque or school. Librariescreated by the movement ofShri Panicker later becamenerve centres of all social andcultural activities of whichthe literacy movement ofKerala is an impressive exam-ple," Kovind said.

He pointed out that the"Granthashala Sangam" start-ed by Panicker with about 50small libraries in 1945 grewinto a large network of thou-sands of libraries and throughthis, the common people ofKerala could get to know theideals of Sree Narayana Guru,Ayyankali, V T Bhattathiripadand other great masters.

"The cosmopolitan outlookof an average person fromKerala can be traced to thelibrary and literacy movementof Shri Panicker... Kerala leadsother states on several indicesof human development,including aspects of sustain-able development. Successivegovernments in Kerala havekept sustained focus on theagenda of growth and develop-ment. Therefore, the State hasmaintained its leadership posi-tion on several markers ofexcellence," Kovind said.

Firhad Hakimnamed next

Mayor of KolkataKOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress

on Thursday named ministerFirhad Hakim as the next mayor of

Kolkata after a meeting of thenewly-elected councillors of thecity civic body. Hakim, who won

the Kolkata Municipal Corporation(KMC) election from ward 82, isthe former mayor of the city and

was appointed the civic body'sadministrator after the earlier

board's term expired in 2020 butelections could not be held due tothe pandemic. Hakim, who is also

an MLA from the Kolkata Portassembly segment, holds the

Transport and Housing portfolios in the state Cabinet.

Newly-married man steals motorcycles to fund expenses for outings with wife; held with 5 othersTHANE: Police have arrested a newly-married man along with five others at Manpada in Thane district forallegedly stealing motorcycles so that he could fund the expenses for taking his wife for outings, and recoveredsome of the stolen vehicles collectively worth over Rs five lakh, an official said on Thursday. The accused hadstolen at least 17 motorcycles, he said. "In the recent past, there were several complaints of motorcycle thefts inand around Manpada, following which the police had formed special teams to trace the accused," DCP (zone-III), Kalyan, S B Gunjal, told reporters in the morning. "The team worked on several inputs, including the CCTVfootage and also enquired with the local scrap dealers and garages. Police kept a watch on the suspects.

12 Omicron cases reported inKarnataka, tally rises to 31

BENGALURU: Karnataka on Thursday reported 12 newcases of Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, tak-ing its tally in the state to 31, Karnataka Health MinisterDr K Sudhakar said. Seven of them are female, includ-ing two girls aged nine and 11 years old."12 new cases

of Omicron have been confirmed in Karnataka todaytaking the tally to 31," Sudhakar said.

Akhilesh seeks Bharat Ratnafor Chaudhary Charan SinghLUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav onThursday demanded that the Bharat Ratna be conferred onformer prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. On theKisan Diwas today, we demand that the Bharat Ratna beconferred on the former prime minister, who devoted allhis life for farmers and the country, Akhilesh said in a tweetin Hindi on the leader's 119th birth anniversary.

PNS n ALAPPUZHA

All the 12 accused, suspectedto have been directly involvedin the recent murder of BJPfunctionary Ranjith Sreenivashere, have been identified butthey have managed to escapefrom Kerala, police said onThursday while the arrest ofanother person was recordedin the murder of SDPI's K SShan for allegedly providinglogistic support to the killers.

Special police teams weredeployed to track down theabsconding culprits and theprobe has been extended out-side the state, ADGP (Law and

Order) Vijay Sakhare toldreporters here.

The senior IPS officer, whoheads the Special InvestigationTeam probing the back to backmurder cases of Sreenivas andShan, however, said they havegot relevant informationregarding the conspiracy inboth cases but could notdivulge the details as it wouldadversely impact the investiga-tion.

"All the 12 accused, direct-ly involved in the murder ofSreenivas, have been identified.But, none of them are in thestate now. We are chasingthem. They will land in police

custody soon," he said.It is sure that the killers had

received external support to gointo hiding and the police wasexamining the details, he said.

Asked about the SDPI's alle-gations against frequent policesearches in the houses of partyactivists and sympathisers, hesaid raids would continue inthe suspected hideouts of theaccused as it was important tonab the culprits.

"We have to maintain thatthe law and order situation isnot broken down. For that,raids are important," he said.

An ambulance, suspectedto have been used by the cul-

prits involved in the Shanmurder case, was seized by thepolice and its scientific andforensic examination wouldbe carried out soon, he said.

"It is a cat and mouse gamenow. Every accused is in hid-ing but we will nab them atany cost," the senior officeradded.

Shan, the state secretary ofSDPI, was killed by a gang onSaturday night while he was onhis way back home, while theBJP OBC Morcha state secre-tary Sreenivas was hacked todeath in front of his family bysome assailants in his house onSunday morning.

Identified killers of BJP functionary escape

U'khand Cong presidentsays he has similarfeelings as RawatPNS n DEHRADUN

A day after Congress cam-paign head accused the partyorganization of not co-operat-ing with him, UttarakhandCongress president GaneshGodiyal on Thursday said heshares the senior leader's feel-ings but his dissatisfaction isan organisational matterwhich will be sorted out in aday or two in consultationwith the party high command.

The state Congress leaderswill go to Delhi on Friday tomeet central leaders, the PCCpresident said.

In a tweet in Hindi, HarishRawat had said, "Isn't it strangethat the organisational struc-ture at most places, instead ofextending a helping hand, isstanding with its head turnedaway or playing a negative role

at a time when I have to swimacross the ocean of elections."

Commenting on Rawat'stweet where he had chargedelements within the party withnot co-operating with himand standing with their headsturned away, Godiyal said hehas also been having similarfeelings.

"I also feel this and nottoday but for quite some time.But my style is to give the per-son in question enough timeto correct himself," he saidendorsing the views expressedin Rawat's tweet.

The organisation is awareof this and the process toaddress issues raised by us hasalso been underway.However, if they wereaddressed earlier there wouldnot have been a tweet likethis, Godiyal said.

He exhorted his country’smenfolk to dress in loungesuits and womenfolk in skirtsand blouses. He abolished theArabic script for the Turkishlanguage, all in a matter ofthree months. The Quranwas re-written in the Romanscript, just as the Turkish lan-guage. Kemal Pasha intro-duced Western-style democ-racy, replacing the Ottomanautocracy. Atatürk’s visionhas sadly not been followedby the present ruler, Erdogan;consequently Turkey’s dreamof being admitted into theEurope Union and becominga western country hascrashed.

In contrast to the tale ofreform told above, our neigh-bours Pakistan andBangladesh, especially theformer, have chosen ortho-doxy, if not also obscuran-tism, as their pathway to des-tiny. Both call themselvesIslamic republics and bothdesecrate, demolish templesas though they are siding withEmperor Aurangzeb. Thesetwo States came together,separated from India in 1947,to fall apart from each otherin 1971. We still wonder whathappened to the Two-NationTheory — Hindus’ andMuslims’ — so eloquentlyadvocated, first by Sir SayyidAhmad Khan, seconded by

poet Mohammad Iqbal andtaken to its climax byMohammed Ali Jinnah. Themyth that Muslims are onepeople was exploded by theMukti Bahini of Bangladesh.

Abrahamism needs a CTscan to know why Judaism,membered by arguably themost brilliant people in theworld, has shrunk so expo-nentially. Why hasChristianity scattered into somany denominations and lostsome of its followers very per-ceptibly in Europe? Why hasIslam antagonised so manycountries in five of the sixcontinents? Arguably, thefourth sibling, Marxism,packed its bags hastily. Life’sbut a walking shadow, a poorplayer that struts and frets hishour upon the stage, andthen is heard no more. It is atale told by an idiot, full ofsound and fury, signifyingnothing. Had WilliamShakespeare been comment-ing on the Abrahamic ideolo-gies or outlooks, these famouslines of his would aptlydescribe them.

A British visitor oncetried to explain to me thatanything which is rigid is aptto crack and break, as com-munism did. Anything firm,on the other hand, tends toscatter. Anything that doesnot change with the sands of

time is apt to shrink. Whenfrustrated with changeless-ness, some people cry out toquit their faith. Filmmaker AliAkbar of Kerala is one whohas quit. As a good Indian, hecould not bear the sight ofpeople smiling at the recenthelicopter crash over theNilgiris. This phenomenon ofsmiling at such a nationaltragedy indicates that thereare young men and women inIndia who feel happy whenthe country suffers misfor-tune. They were possiblythere in the days ofBabasaheb Ambedkar who,incidentally, did not wish todie a Hindu. He, therefore,converted to another reli-gion long before his death.When he began thinking, hesummarily put asideChristianity and Islam.Ambedkar said that sincethese faiths had been bornoutside India, they mighthave a denationalising effecton his followers. His choiceeventually fell on Buddhism.A person quitting her/hisreligion is a deserter who iscalled a murtad (apostate)who deserves the punish-ment of death.

(The writer is a well-known columnist, an authorand a former member of theRajya Sabha. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

CASTE PREJUDICE WINS, AGAIN Sir — Unable to understand that some 40upper caste students of the SukhidhangGovernment Inter College (GIC) ofChampawat district in Uttarakhandrefused to eat food cooked by Dalit ‘bhojanmata’ (cook) Sunita Devi. Though,on Devi’s first day, all students consumedthe mid-day meal together which impliesthat the students were provoked or mis-guided by some bad elements. Sadly, notonly the students, even their parentsbacked the boycott that prompted theSchool Management Committee (SMC)set up a meeting and seal the fate of Dalitbhojanmata Sunita Devi. Consequently,Sunita Devi has been fired for ‘wrongfulappointment’ and sacked. As a result, par-ents are satisfied with the inquiry andupper caste children have called off theboycott and are having midday meals asearlier.

The judgement is absolutely unfair.Discrimination will only alienate lowercaste people from the society. People won-der why the inquiry committee did notask the aggrieved persons if they ever eat‘samosas’ from a shop and ask the sellerhis caste? The college authorities indeedshould have made an example by allow-ing Sunita Devi to continue as the cook.The students who protested against herand the parents who supported them arecausing and promoting discrimination.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee | Faridabad

WHAT’S WRONG WITH SRI LANKA? Sir —The arrest of 69 Tamil Nadu fisher-men by the Sri Lankan Navy for alleged-ly violating the international border hasagain raised concerns for Indian fishermenin that region. The question arises thatwhat is the problem with Sri Lanka? Whenthe civil war broke out in Sri Lanka, theIndian Army supported the Sri LankanGovernment. Both the countries havealways been good friends. So what is thereason why India and Sri Lanka are notable to resolve this matter?

The cause of dispute is the fishingmethod of the fishermen of Tamil Nadu.Tamil Nadu fishermen use bottomtrawlers, which are banned in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Government says that themarine ecosystem will be disturbed if fish-ermen use the bottom trawler methodol-ogy of fishing. The Tamil NaduGovernment should encourage their fish-ermen to do deep sea methodology of fish-ing which will also be good for the marineecosystem but this method is very expen-sive. The State and Central Governmentsmust find ways to help the fishermen con-tinue fishing without calling for such inci-dents.

Tarun Patidar | Ujjain

TURN FULL MAJORITY TO GOOD USESir — In tune with their usual practice andon the basis of the brutal majority theyhave in Parliament, the BJP Governmentat the centre has bulldozed another con-troversial Bill without allowing any discus-sions, wider consultations or deliberationsin both the houses of Parliament. Theunwillingness of the ruling dispensationto allow meaningful debate on the con-

tentious Bill to link electoral roll data withthe Aadhaar ecosystem exposes theunclean and murky intention of theGovernment. There can be no secondopinion that once the linking is mademandatory, many will lose their franchisefor various reasons.

This Bill is brought in such a hurryas the BJP, which is on a sticky wicket invarious States that are going for Assemblyelections shortly, particularly UttarPradesh, hopes to gain out of this Bill inthe elections. While there is no doubt thatthe Bill will be given the necessaryassent by the President without delay,only the Supreme Court can come to therescue of us citizens who are really con-cerned about the implications of thisunwarranted exercise by the BJPGovernment for selfish ends.

Tharcius S Fernando |Virugambakkam

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

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

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 24, 2021

06

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Anything rigid is apt to break, as communism did. Anything that doesnot change with time is apt to shrink. It applies to religions, too

IN SAUDI ARABIA,WOMEN ARE NOW

FREE TO DRIVECARS; UNMARRIEDCOUPLES ARE FREETO OCCUPY HOTEL

ROOMS. THESHARIA HAS

BEEN AMENDEDWHEREBY MINORS

WILL NO LONGERBE PUNISHED

WITH DEATH FORANY CRIME

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

PRAFULL GORADIA

The end of the year gives no sign of theending of the COVID-19 pandemicending any time soon. At the turn of the

year, we are on tenterhooks waiting to seeif Omicron, which is currently spreadingrapidly, will establish itself as the dominantvariant and drive new waves of infection. Itis sobering to realise that the elimination ofSARs-CoV-2 to achieve the “Zero COVID-19” goal is nowhere in sight. Even as theWHO holds that it is too early to determine

the severity of COVID-19 caused byOmicron, preliminary data suggest that thenew variant ‘may cause milder and lesssevere disease’. But then we can only drawa little comfort from it in view of its high levelof transmissibility.

India should not be complacent aboutOmicron as there could be a fresh surge incases powered by this variant. Omicroncases add up to 287 and counting whilethere were none at the start of the month.It should put India on full alert. Anticipatingthe worst case scenario, India must be pre-pared with hospital beds, supplementaryoxygen and medicines to prevent needlessdeaths. We should lose no time to take sci-ence-based decisions on administeringbooster doses and jabbing those below 18years. Wherever necessary, restrictionsmust be imposed, mask wearing and phys-ical distancing must be made compulsoryand holiday gatherings and partying mustbe banned in order to protect lives.

G David Milton | Maruthancode

Brace for Omicron’s impact

Reforms take off butUmmah at a crossroads

My sympathies go outto some of myMuslim friends whohave been true

momins and have lived throughtheir religion, which is nowapproaching an era of flux. Onthe one hand, Saudi crownprince Mohammad bin Salman,or MBS, has abolished Friday asthe day of rest and prayer. Theentire Abrahamic world hashad a tradition of allotting onefixed day of the week as a day ofSabbath since the time ofProphet Abraham. The greatman asked the Jews only to restand pray on Saturdays, and notwork. When Christianityappeared on the world stage, theapostles chose Sunday. TheMuslim Caliphs were taken upwith Friday and with afternoonprayers, accompanied by thekhutba, which the imam deliv-ers to communicate with theworshippers, standing on thesteps, called the mimbar. In thepre-technological era, this wasabout the only means of com-munication between the leadersand the followers.

With the advent of technol-ogy, the khutba is no longerindispensable. So presumablybelieves Prince Salman of SaudiArabia. He has abolished Fridayas the weekly holiday in hiscountry. Women are now free todrive cars in the kingdom;unmarried couples are free tooccupy hotel rooms. The Shariahas been amended wherebyminors will no longer be pun-ished with death for any crime.Flogging, too, has been replacedwith prison time, fines andcommunity service.

Salman’s Saudi Arabia ishome to the Hejaz, where Meccaand Medina are situated. Onemust remember that the king ofSaudi Arabia is the guardian ofthese two holy places. The lid ontaqlid, or orthodoxy, which wasplaced some thousand yearsago, is off. The era of reformshas begun to take off.

One leader who violatedtaqlid and subjected his countryto drastic reforms was MustafaKemal Pasha, popularly knownas Atatürk. He came to power inTurkey soon after World War Iended. He told his people thatTurkey’s future lay with Europe.

SOUNDBITEWe appeal to per-

sons with mild

symptoms to stay

at home; don't rush

to hospitals.

Delhi Chief Minister

—Arvind Kejriwal

We have tens ofmillions of peoplewho are eligible for the booster shotbut have not yetgotten it.

US President—Joe Biden

Dairy products of India have ahuge overseasmarket and wehave a lot ofpotential to grow.

Prime Minister

—Narendra Modi

The Proteas are nopushovers in theirown backyard but wehave got the firepower and thearsenal to match that.

Former India head coach —Ravi Shastri

An unsavoury incident involving a Dalit woman and upper caste school students,which led to her dismissal soon after the kids boycotted the mid-day meals cookedand served by her, has put the spotlight back on the unending issue of social dis-

crimination and caste prejudice. The sense of shock and indignation over the unsight-ly development, which was reported from the Champawat district of Uttarakhand, isintensified by the fact that the very same set of students had had no qualms in con-suming the food prepared by her on her first day in the kitchen. However, the followingday, they obnoxiously started boycotting the mid-day meal provided by the Government

through the school on the pretext that it was cookedby Sunita Devi, the Dalit bhojanmata, and got theirlunch tiffin from home. To complicate matters and giv-ing the issue a caste angle, while the village’s uppercaste parents alleged that Devi had been chosen byoverlooking a more deserving Brahmin candidate, theschool’s principal steadfastly refuted the charge andasserted that she was selected in an “open meetingof the parent teacher association and school man-agement committee” in early December.

However, an inquiry ordered by the State educa-tion authorities has since decided that norms were

allegedly flouted in Devi’s appointment and she lost her job. Till the appointment of anew cook, another bhojanmata, an upper caste woman, has been roped in to make themidday meals. Now, it’s for any right-thinking and logical citizen to gauge how easy itis to manipulate local sentiment and the inquiry team against a Dalit woman in a pre-dominantly upper-caste locality (remember, 40 of the 66 pupils meant to consume themeals are children belonging to upper castes). The casteist nature of the incident is bla-tantly obvious. For one, the children and their parents complied with resuming mealsfrom someone who was appointed as a temporary replacement to Devi. Moreover, insti-tutional casteism has always employed process-related roadblocks to disguise preju-dice on paper. As is often the case with institutional casteism, a combination of beingoutnumbered by the oppressor caste people and strong bureaucratic machinery oper-ated in this case, too. The relationship between one’s religion, caste and food in Indiahas always been fraught with tensions due to the notions of ‘purity’ or ‘pollution’ asso-ciated with the Dalits. Isn’t it time that we stopped eating out of the hands of bigots?

The Omicron variant is now spread over 56 countries and still counting. It spreadsfast and it is impossible to stop it from entering any country. It is only a mat-ter of time before Omicron becomes the dominant strain in the world. Vaccination

is not going to stop Omicron. Antibodies in previously infected patients are not strongenough to thwart it. The only silver lining is that scientific studies are yet to indicatethat its infection can prove serious. The unusual characteristics of Omicron have flum-moxed world Governments. To lockdown or not is the question they are grapplingwith today. Strangely, there is no indication of the Governments approaching, or intend-ing to approach, a global platform, like the WHO or the United Nations, for a univer-sal response to Omicron. In early 2020, when the Coronavirus wave hit the world,the WHO came up with three broad policies that all member nations accepted. Onewas the concept of lockdown. Two, a massive mobilisation of medical infrastruc-ture. Three, a race to find a vaccine. The world, once again, needs to reach a com-mon understanding to tackle the unpredictable Omicron variant. However, there appears

to be no cohesion in how to combat the spikingOmicron. The world appears divided on it. In India,most States are still considering what restrictivemeasures to announce. The United States is alsomulling restrictions even though around 571,461cases were reported in the last week.

China, in stark contrast, has a zero-case poli-cy that has resulted in a complete lockdown of citiesreporting even a single fresh case. The Chinese donot want the Coronavirus to cancel the WinterOlympics in Beijing beginning next February. In theUnited Kingdom, the Omicron surge is already appar-

ent. However, the Government is only toying with its options. South Africa, whereOmicron was first reported and now records 20,000 fresh cases daily, is not intenton implementing any strict measures. The Netherlands is relatively free from freshcases, but it went into total lockdown last week. Israel is similarly strict, its list ofred countries increasing daily. Israelis are banned from travelling to 58 red countriesunless they get a special exemption. Switzerland wants its residents to carry vacci-nation certificates when entering public places. Japan has a 14-day compulsory quar-antine for incoming travellers. French Health Minister Olivier Veran says no new restric-tions are mooted even though the country may soon see one lakh new cases a day.Germany does not want to impose restrictions till December 28 while Spain wantsBritons to show evidence of vaccination before entering the country. Portugal, where30,000 cases were reported last week, has not introduced any safety measures yet.Is there an unsaid realisation that total lockdown cannot be an option because it affectsthe economy and the practical objective, in face of the inability to reduce the speedof Omicron’s spread, is to limit the risk of serious cases?

Global disarray

In bad tasteThe sacking of a Dalit cook from a school inUttarakhand smacks of blatant discrimination

PICTALK

Students make a sand art of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya on the eve of his birth anniversary, in Varanasi PTI

It seems a consensus eludes world Governmentson how to tackle the Omicron’s swift spread

I find it really amusing that every-thing becomes sucha big deal to people.It's social media,guys. Just chill out.

Actor—Priyanka Chopra

Green shoots for agri sector with NEP2020

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW! ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVOURS (IF THERE ARE ANY),HARISH RAWAT JI.—FORMER PUNJAB CHIEF MINISTERCAPT AMARINDER SINGH

INSTEAD OF SUPPORTING ME, THE ORGANISATIONHAS EITHER TURNED ITS BACK ON ME OR IS

PLAYING A NEGATIVE ROLE.—CONGRESS LEADER

HARISH RAWAT

The Government must take steps to initiate and integrate agriculturaleducation in middle and senior secondary schools across the country

Last week India was swamped by several senior leaders from theimmediate neighborhood. First there was a host of bilateral meet-ings between visiting foreign ministers of five central Asian coun-

tries neighboring Afghanistan. These leaders also revived the India-CentralAsia dialogue and met with the Indian prime minister, discussing region-al issues of safety, security, stabilization of Afghanistan, and improvingbilateral ties. Around the same time, Vuong Dinh Hue, President, NationalAssembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, along with a Parliamentarydelegation, was holding conversations with senior Indian leaders in NewDelhi. The year 2021 also marks the golden jubilee of India establish-ing diplomatic ties with Vietnam. The External Affairs Minister rightfullypointed out that "as political and security partners, India and Vietnamhave converging interests in a multi-polar and rebalancing world". Vietnamascended to the international trade body WTO in 2007 and ever since

has amalgamated with global trade rhythms and rules and signed sev-eral free trade agreements (FTAs) bringing bounties for this relatively small-er nation. This south-east Asian country, ravaged by internal unrest andforeign attacks, has developed into one of the most promising invest-ment destinations for all across the globe. This has been strategicallymade possible by carefully using bilateral and multilateral trade agree-ments as assets to its advantage. Consider this, Vietnam, an erstwhilecommunist state, has a flourishing trade agreement in place with manycountries across the world. That it has successfully managed to nego-tiate trade deals to its advantage either as an individual country, like theEVFTA (Europe Vietnam free trade agreement) with Europe, or, as a mem-ber to a regional multilateral forum such as ASEAN and RCEP, speaksa lot about the sharp achievements by this country in few years. An FTAis an agreement between two countries or a country and regional/trad-ing block which sets the ground rules of tariffs and duties for entry andexit of goods and services into each other's territories. One of the keyfactors that has facilitated any country to avail benefits of market accessinto lucrative geographies is by allowing mutually complementary con-ditions in domestic markets to trading partners. Most of these ultimate-ly boil down to tariff and non-tariff barriers. Direct tariffs imposed by coun-tries on entry of imported goods and non-tariff(barriers) constitute thosedealing with regulatory practices, both taken together form the entire com-plex universe of free trade agreement negotiations. India does not haveany significant free trade agreements with any prosperous market in theworld due to the complex mix of domestic and global lobbies influenc-ing each other.

India is considered one of the highest tariff nations on the world tradetable with some for the most complicated and often repetitive regulato-ry practices and compliances. A telecom infrastructure equipment, notcurrently manufactured in the country, when imported. may have to under-go a compliance and safety test in multiple labs around the country beforeit can be certified fit for use. Most of the labs would be guided by theirown regulatory practices and will have separate clearance timelines. Laborlaws and land acquisition, investment guarantee are other key factorswhich impact the sentiments. This brings one back to India and Vietnamboth of which are on different trajectories on the trade front. However,they are extremely important for each other in the strategic Indo-PacificRegion. India referred to increasing mutual trade with Vietnam from $10bn in 2020 to $12 in 2021 and reiterated the need to promote resilient,reliable and trusted supply chains but with a no trade agreement in place,it would be a tough task.

(The writer is a policy analyst. The views expressed are personal.)

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 24, 2021

07

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

FIRSTCOLUMN

FTAS WITH VIETNAMNEED OF THE HOUR

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

BRIJENDER SINGH PANWAR

India does not have any significant free tradeagreement with prosperous markets in the world

The holistic, inclusive, flexible andmultidisciplinary approach adopt-ed by the Government towards theformulation and implementation

of the National Education policy (NEP)2020, has raised the expectations of all thestakeholders. The aim of the NEP is to bringthe next generations of our students at parwith international standards by makingthem globally competitive and stop the out-flow of creamy layer of Indian students touniversities in developed countries. Thereforms suggested are expected to trans-form India into a "global knowledge power— the Vishwa Guru" as envisaged by thePrime minister,Narendra Modi.

The new policy talks about establish-ing a single regulator for higher educationin the form of National ResearchFoundation which would ensure fundingfor outstanding peer-review research andto actively promote research in universitiesand colleges. The Higher EducationInstitutions (HEIs) should be governed byhighly qualified independent boards hav-ing academic and administrative autono-my who would ensure the appointment ofcompetent and experienced faculty and fillup institutional positions on merit.

Agriculture plays a crucial role in feed-ing the masses and providing employmentto a large section of Indian population. Butunfortunately, the NEP has no specificmention about agricultural education perse. It mentions "show the way to reform andre-engineer India's agriculture educationsystem in conjunction with the systems forother branches of education, especially suchthat it can deliver high-quality higher edu-cation, with equity and inclusion".

Taking notice of this omission, a groupof more than 60 eminent scientists, profes-sionals, education and policy relatedexperts from India and abroad, represent-ing the newly formed "Indian AgricultureAdvancement Group International (IAAG),organized an international webinar todiscuss about the need for an orientationand reforms in India's agricultural educa-tion system in order to make it relevant,efficient and effective in line with NEP.

The convener of IAAG International,Ramesh Deshpande, submitted the report"Re-engineering India's AgriculturalEducation" prepared by the PM's group.The report stated that India has a robustAgricultural Education System comprisingof 73 agricultural universities- StateAgricultural Universities (SAUs) — 62,Deemed Universities — 5, CentralAgricultural Universities — 2 and CentralUniversities with agricultural faculties- 4.Unfortunately, they are being badly man-aged with outdated curriculum and work-ing with the mindset of the early 1990swhen Green Revolution started waningaway and agriculture growth became slug-gish. At present, the SAUs are facing a rangeof challenges in terms of governance withlittle or no autonomy for the ViceChancellors, frequent and unnecessaryinterventions by government officials and

THE AGRICULTURESECTOR IN INDIA

IS PASSINGTHROUGH A

SENSITIVE ANDCRITICAL PHASE.

THE COUNTRY HAS FACED ONE

OF THE LONGESTFARMERS'AGITATION

BECAUSE FARMINGHAS BECOME

ECONOMICALLYUNVIABLE DUE TOFRAGMENTATION

OF FARMHOLDINGS AND

IMBALANCEBETWEEN THE

INPUT ANDOUTPUT RATIO OFFARM ECONOMICS

politicians, lack of meritocracy ineducation, limited Nation-Statecoordination, disconnect betweenresearch, extension and education,inadequate investment and imbal-ance in resource allocation, lack orslow implementation of reforms andabove all outdated curriculum andinfrastructure and no accountabil-ity of faculty performance in time-bound promotions.

While appreciating the positivesteps taken by the Indian Councilof Agricultural Research (ICAR) forimplementation of some recom-mendations of the NEP, the IAAGmembers feel much more needs tobe done. Firstly, the role of ICARshould be explicitly defined anddelineated under the NEP. Thereshould be a strong ICAR/DARE sys-tem with the creation of an indepen-dent "National AgriculturalEducation Council" as an apexbody to monitor, coordinate andhave an oversight function at thenational level. Secondly, effectivesteps need to be taken to evolve amechanism and ways to initiate andintegrate agricultural education inmiddle and senior secondaryschools. Thirdly, SAUs need to aimfor excellence through diversifica-tion and making the course curricu-lum more relevant and flexible andensuring faculty to generateresources by competing for externalgrants thus reducing the depen-dence on public funds. Fourthly, cre-ate a "National AgriculturalResearch and Innovation Fund"with an initial allocation of `1,000crore under ICAR.

Fifthly, the NationalAgriculture Research and ExtensionSystem (NARES) must integrateScience Social Responsibility withCorporate Social Responsibilityleading to effective Public PrivatePartnership (PPP). It must enhancethe complementarity of ICAR insti-tutes and SAUs in different agri-

ecosystems to be more 'vocal forlocal' and double the farmer'sincome while meeting theSustainable Development Goals(SDGs) by 2030. It must create a"National Mission on Youth" tomotivate and attract youth in agri-culture to act as technology agents,extension service providers andsuccessful entrepreneurs. Sixthly,steps should be taken to transformthe Land Grant University Systeminto the world classMultidisciplinary Education andResearch Universities (MERU) withthe flexibility for the entry-exit sys-tem and to embrace non-formalvocational education for neededprofessionalism and skill develop-ment in agriculture. This system isworking effectively in the US fromwhere we adopted the Land GrantUniversity System. The universitiesin the US enjoy direct linkages withCommunity Colleges which offertwo-year Associate Degrees withprovision of flexible entry and exitand vertical mobility by way oftransfer of credits to four-year col-leges and universities. Studentscoming from underprivileged andlow-income groups are takingadvantage of this system to join theotherwise very costly mainstreameducation in the US. The same sys-tem can be introduced throughcommunity colleges in India whichcan offer one-year or two-yearDiploma courses with the provisionof transfer of credits to agricultur-al and horticultural universities.

Similar views emerged in therecently concluded meeting of theDean's Committee constituted bythe ICAR at CSR Himachal PradeshAgriculture University, Palampur,attended by the Vice-Chancellorsand Deans of AgriculturalUniversities of the region. Dr TejPartap, Vice-Chancellor, GB PantUniversity of Agriculture andTechnology, Uttrarakhand and

Chairman of the Committee, admit-ted that at present admissions infarm universities are not as per theneeds and are unable to serve thepurpose as many students who arepassing out are not joining the farmsector. There is a need to frameguidelines to introduce the compo-nent of entrepreneurship in the cur-riculum. Dr Partap said that "fun-damental changes had been pro-posed in the National EducationPolicy but the ICAR had left it tofarm universities to restructure thecourse and curriculum. Effortsshould be made to increase thecomponent of practicals in under-graduate programmes andPostgraduate courses would also berestructured in a similar manner.Farm universities should structureone-year certificate courses leadingto two-year diploma courses,hesuggested. Dr HK Chaudhary, Vice-Chancellor of the host university,suggested widening the horizon offarm education by allowing freedomto choose subjects, multi-discipli-nary approaches and introducing-farm education at school level.CSK University, Palampur, hadmoved fast to adopt and implementkey recommendations of the NEPby increasing the intake of variousUG and PG programmes, digitisa-tion, smart classrooms and use ofsophisticated new age technology",he added.

The agriculture sector in Indiais passing through a sensitive andcritical phase. The country hasfaced one of the longest farmers' agi-tations because farming has becomeuneconomical due to fragmentationof farm holdings and imbalancebetween the input and output ratioof farm economics. Consequently,the rural youth have lost interest inthe profession of farming. Hence, aneffective strategy needs to be workedout to revive the farm sector at theearliest.

(The writer is a senior journalist andChairman, Panwar

Group of Institutions,Solan (HP). The views

expressed are personal.)

The fifth round of theNational Family HealthSurvey (NFHS-5) data

depicts a holistic picture ofIndia's health status therebygiving us some reasons to cel-ebrate and others to think. Dataon India's nutritional statushighlights the triple burden ofmalnutrition (undernutrition,micronutrient deficiencies, andobesity) faced by the countryeven before the onset of theCOVID-19 pandemic. Asrequired, the focus for thepast year and a half was on theimmediate threat of the virusfollowed by immunizing thepopulation. India now enters anew phase wherein trueresilient recovery can only takeplace if we pledge to focus onnutrition, especially of theyoung population collectively.

The second phase of

NFHS-5 conducted in 2019-2021, shows that the percent-age of children who are stunt-ed, wasted and underweighthas gone down only margin-ally. There is, however, a slightincrease in the percentage ofseverely wasted and over-weight children.Concomitantly, there has beena steep increase in anaemiaamong all age groups. The per-centage of overweight or obese(BMI —25.0 kg/m2) womenand men between ages 15-49has also increased.

The ComprehensiveNational Nutrition Survey for2016-2018 reveals that everysecond Indian adolescent suf-fers from some form of mal-nutrition. About a quarter ofadolescents are thin for theirage while five per cent areoverweight (BMI-for-age >+1

SD). Under half of preschool-ers, a fourth of school-age chil-dren, and close to a third ofadolescents were anaemic.

An often-overlookedaspect of malnutrition is thelack of proper dietary habits.Lack of adequate knowledgeand awareness about healthyfood choices, poor diet diver-sity, and emphasis on high fat,sugar, salt (HFSS) foods havea dire impact on the nutrition-al status. The existing underly-ing nutritional challenges havebeen further exacerbated withthe collateral impact of the fight

against COVID-19. With thedisruption in food and nutri-tion services such as inIntegrated Child DevelopmentServices (ICDS) and mid-daymeal (MDM) and Weekly IronFolic Acid Supplementation(WIFS) in schools, the malnu-trition challenge has furtherbeen compounded. The pro-longed closure of schools andextended online classes has notonly impacted eating habits butalso decreased the physicalactivity levels of children,increasing the susceptibility toobesity.

Micronutrient deficiencyduring early childhood canoften transverse into adoles-cence which if not addressedcan lead to long-term effects onhealth, cognition, education,and productivity. Hence, ado-lescence can be considered as

a second window of opportu-nity to improve the nutrition-al status of the individual.India is home to almost a fifthof the global adolescent (10-19years) population. Nutritionalrequirements increase sub-stantially and peak during thisperiod with a 15-25 per centincrease in height, attainmentof 40-60 per cent of peak bonemass, and up to 50 per cent ofadult body weight — as well asblood loss due to the onset ofmenstruation among girls.

Adopting a lifecycleapproach, by ensuring goodnutrition to our children andadolescents will go a long wayin ensuring the good health offuture generations.

To strengthen the health ofthe future of the country, weneed to ensure the optimalnutritional and health status of

our children and young peo-ple today. To understand thestate of nutrition in differentpopulation segments and thetarget areas which need to befocused on for effective, imme-diate as well as sustained inter-ventions, research in the formof a rapid assessment shouldbe conducted.

Dietary factors are associ-ated with increased risk ofchronic diseases and undernu-trition, national and interna-tional dietary guidelines rec-ommend improving the diver-sity of diet to achieve a bal-anced diet. This requires thatthe macro and micronutrientsrequirement and sources, areunderstood and accessible byall, especially growing childrenand adolescents. By enablingand empowering the presentand future generation through

the access and knowledge of ahealthy diet and its sources,India enables subsequent eco-nomic and development goalsas well.

Given the scale and size ofIndia, in order to achieve thisgoal, all stakeholders musttake conscious measures.Public-private partnershipsacross sectors can enable con-gruence of efforts toward com-mon goals to address malnu-trition and boost immunity.Food technology and logisticsexpertise of the private sectorcan be leveraged to strength-en and scale-up governmentinitiatives like PoshanAbhiyaan and Anemia MuktBharat. Convergence of effortswould enable the maximiza-tion of impact while optimiz-ing resources across nutri-tional outcomes for India.

Little knowledge about healthy food choices, poor diet diversity and emphasis on fatty, sugary & salty foods have a dire impact on nutritional status

Galvanise the life-cycle approach to child nutrition

SEEMA PURI

(The writer is AssociateProfessor, Department of

Food and Nutrition,Institute of Home

Economics, University ofDelhi. The views expressed

are personal.)

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 24, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Fairfax-backed IIFL Group onThursday said IIFL Fintech Fundis planning to invest Rs 300 crore

in early-stage Indian fintech start-upsin the next two years. The move isaimed at facilitating the creation ofaffordable products and technologiesthat aid financial inclusion, astatement said. In August 2021, IIFLFintech Fund was established with a

dedicated Rs 140 crore sponsorship from two group companies - IIFLFinance and IIFL Securities. The financial services group with a largeretail interface is aiming to offer last-mile credit with the help of cost-effective technologies, the statement said. The fund sponsored by IIFLFinance and IIFL Securities has already made four investments --Leegality, FinBox, Trendlyne and DataSutram – within three months ofits existence, it added.IIFL Fintech Fund is in advanced stages ofdiscussion to make investments 10 more fintech start-ups by end ofMarch 2022, it said. There is always need for early-stage funding tonurture the fintech start-up ecosystem, R Venkataraman, Co-Promoterof IIFL Group and Chairman of IIFL Securities Ltd, said. “Fintechs play abig role in creating cost-effective delivery of various financial productsto the underserved and unbanked customers and help in acceleratingthe financial inclusion process,” Venkataraman added.

IIFL Fintech Fund to invest Rs 300 cr inearly-stage fintech startups

The country's largest two-wheelermaker Hero MotoCorp onThursday said it will increase

prices of its entire model range by upto Rs 2,000 from January 4, 2022 inorder to offset the impact of rise ininput cost. The company will makean upward revision in the ex-showroom prices of its motorcyclesand scooters, with effect from

January 4, 2022, Hero MotoCorp said in a statement. The pricerevision has been necessitated to partially offset the impact of steadilyincreasing commodity prices, it added."The price revision will be up toRs 2,000 and the exact quantum of increase will depend on the modeland the market," the two-wheeler maker stated. Similarly, VolkswagenPassenger Cars India announced that it will hike the prices of Polo,Vento and Taigun from January 1, 2022 owing to the rising input andoperational costs.The price revision will be ranging from 2-5 per centdepending on the carline and the variant., it said.Price hike will not beapplicable to the new Tiguan, which was launched in India recently, itadded. "Our effort over the years has been to make our brand,products and services more accessible and establish Volkswagen asthe brand of choice amongst our customers. Due to the substantialincrease in the input and operational costs, we have decided to hikethe prices of our product offering ranging from 2-5 per cent andkeeping the impact on customers at a minimal level," VolkswagenPassenger Cars India Brand Director Ashish Gupta noted.

Hero MotoCorp, Volkswagen toincrease prices from January

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has decided todevelop a national database ofcooperatives that will help inbetter implementation of theproposed national policy oncooperatives, CooperationSecretary D K Singh said onThursday.

"Many people ask how manycooperatives are operating inthe country and their sector-wise presence. We have somedata but it is not scientific," theSecretary told PTI on the side-lines of an event organized bya digital platform Rural Voicehere. The current database iscollated by the NationalCooperative Union of India(NCUI) and the ministry doesnot have its own, he said.

As per the data published bythe NCUI, there are about 8.6lakh cooperatives in the coun-try, out of which active prima-ry agricultural cooperatives(PACs) are about 63,000, headded.

Stating that scientific data ofcooperatives is required forbetter implementation of gov-ernment programs, theSecretary said, "therefore, we

have decided to create anational database after consul-tation with state governments,key federations and coopera-tive unions." A national data-base is key for designing a bet-ter national policy on cooper-atives. "The data needs to bestreamlined and we hope thiswill be done in a year," headded.

Earlier addressing an event,the Secretary said people havehigh expectations from thenewly carved out Ministry ofCo-operation.

The ministry is focusing onthree main areas: digitisationof PACs, a national policy andmainstreaming the schemes toimprove cooperatives underdifferent ministries, he said.

On the status of the pro-posed national policy on coop-eratives, he said the consulta-tion process is underway andthe government has soughtcomments from various stake-holders. The ministry haswritten to IIMs, IITs and IIITsto give their suggestions onhow to make cooperativesbusiness entities and address

the prevailing technology gapin cooperatives, he said.

"We have received a positiveresponse from IIT Jammu. Weare awaiting comments fromother institutions and stake-holders," he said and addedthat a national policy will takea little time.

The Secretary also men-tioned that the government hasfound that some ministries arenot in the cooperative sectorand efforts will be made torope them. Speaking on theoccasion, NationalCooperative DevelopmentCorporation (NCDC)Managing Director SundeepNayak said NCDC's focus is onrural credit and there has beena rise in credit flow to cooper-atives in the last few years.

While credit flow stood atRs 25,000 crore in the entire2020-21 fiscal, it has alreadyreached Rs 35,000 crore so farin the ongoing fiscal, he said.

Nayak stressed on the needto improve technology andproductivity of cooperatives.For which, there is a need toconnect cooperatives withstart-ups which are innovatingtechnologies.

Government to develop national database on cooperatives PNS n NEW DELHI

The government is working tobring changes in the GST Actand other public platforms sothat companies can utilise datato grow big in size and scale,Jayant Sinha, Chairperson,Parliament StandingCommittee on Finance, said onThursday.

"Public platforms such asUPI and Aadhaar are veryimportant platforms. Eventhen, for us to leapfrog, wehave to do more in terms ofpublic platforms," Sinha saidwhile speaking at theAssocham e-summit on 'Non-Banking Finance Companies &Infrastructure Financing:Transforming the FinancialLending Landscape'.

When the Factoring Billcame to the StandingCommittee on Finance, thegovernment was opening upfactoring to more non-bankingfinancial companies andenabling more NBFCs to par-ticipate in that.

"But even as we were doingthat we were not addressingsome important platform anddata related issues. That iswhy we suggested that any-thing that is on GST as aninvoice should automaticallybe gone to TReDS as well.Then it can be used on TReDS

to finance receivables and soon.

"So, that was the recommen-dation of the committee, andI am very happy to tell you itwas accepted by the govern-ment," Sinha said.

However, he said, anychange will need statutorybacking through legislation, asthe GSTN (GST Network)does not enable the usage ofdata within GSTN for anyother purpose.

So, there is a need to changenot only the central GST Actbut all the state GSTN Acts toenable GSTN invoices to auto-matically get on to TReDS orother platforms, he added.

TReDS is a platform thatfacilitates discounting of

invoices for MSMEs from cor-porate buyers through multi-ple financiers.

He said GST is fast becom-ing the commercial backboneof this country, and the gov-ernment is doing all the nec-essary changes that will berequired to support the busi-nesses.

For India to leapfrog andbecome a globally competitiveeconomy of the size of USD 10trillion, public platforms, aswell as private innovation,need to work in tandem, hesaid.

While making public plat-forms frictionless is 10 per centof the story, 90 per cent of thestory lies with the private play-ers and businesses to innovate.

Govt working to bring changesin GST Act, public platforms

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian aviation industrywas able to breathe a little eas-ier in 2021 as domestic flightoperations reached their pre-pandemic levels even thoughinternational services contin-ued to remain curtailed due toCovid-related travel restric-tions.

Air India's sale to the TataGroup and arrival of RakeshJhunjhunwala-backed new air-line Akasa Air in 2021 are like-ly to introduce more competi-tion and change the dynamicsof the Indian aviation sector inthe coming years.

While the Ministry of CivilAviation (MoCA) removed allcapacity restriction on sched-uled domestic flights onOctober 18, the lower and

upper limits on domestic airfares continue to remain inplace.

Both -- capacity restriction

and fare limits -- were imposedby the MoCA from May 25,2020, when scheduled domes-tic flights resumed after a two-

month-long suspension dueto COVID-19.

Though the MoCAannounced on November 26

that scheduled internationalflights would resume fromDecember 15, the decision wassuspended on December 1 inthe wake of spread of theOmicron variant of coron-avirus.

Scheduled internationalflights have been suspended inIndia since March 23, 2020.Currently, special passengerflights have been operatingbetween India and approxi-mately 32 countries on thebasis of air bubble arrange-ments signed with them.

With US-based aircraft man-ufacturer Boeing making allnecessary software rectifica-tions in 737 Max plane to thesatisfaction of Indian aviationregulator Directorate Generalof Civil Aviation (DGCA), theban on the aircraft's commer-

cial flight operations was lift-ed after 27 months.

All Max planes were ground-ed in India by DGCA onMarch 13, 2019, three daysafter the crash of an EthiopianAirlines 737 Max plane nearAddis Ababa, which had killed157 people, including fourIndians. Akasa Air -- the newairline backed by ace investorJhunjhunwala and aviation vet-erans Aditya Ghosh and VinayDube -- got the no-objectioncertificate (NOC) from theMoCA to launch commercialflight operations in the first halfof August.

With the DGCA giving itsgreen light to Max aircraft inlate August, Akasa Air signeda deal with Boeing onNovember 26 to purchase 72Max planes.

Indian aviation industry was able to breathe a little easier in 2021

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian hospitality indus-try, battered by the pandemic,is on alert mode but not pan-icking yet in the face of theOmicron variant threateningto derail prospects of winterholiday season business,according to industry players.

With states imposing restric-tions on gatherings forChristmas and New Year cel-ebrations, hoteliers and restau-rant operators are, however,staring at possible bookingcancellations even as they hopefor some support from the gov-ernment like what the UKgovernment has done for theindustry there.

Federation of Associationsin Indian Tourism andHospitality (FAITH)Consulting CEO AashishGupta said there is uncertain-ty within the industry aboutthe impact of the Omicronvariant with different inputscoming in from various placesregarding its severity and speedof spread.

"The first scene is that every-body is on alert mode but,

there is no panic mode becausethe information itself is notcreating panic. The informa-tion is like a wait and watch,"Gupta told PTI. Terming thesituation as dynamic, he said interms of reservations aroundChristmas and New Year thereisn't much of cancellation asyet as the "information is notcreating those states of panic".

"If the information changesovernight, over the next 24hours to 48 hours and then thewhole action around the hol-iday and the New Year willimmediately change. All of asudden, you will see a bit ofcancellation. So, everyone isvery alert. It is a wait and watch

the situation," he said.Commenting on states

putting restrictions on massgatherings for Christmas andNew Year in the wake of theemergence of the Omicronvariant, Gupta said the govern-ments have put caps based onwhatever information theyhave and the hospitality indus-try will agree to it but "actual-ly it will put a damper on theirbusiness". If the caps aroundcelebrations on the number ofpeople who gather come inacross the country, he said,"business and plans whicheverybody was waiting foralmost 20 months will getreally impacted".

Hospitality industry on alertmode amid Omicron threat PNS n NEW DELHI

The Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations (FIEO) onThursday said taking a conser-vative approach, it will aim forUSD 460-475 billion exports inthe next fiscal year due to emer-gence of new variants of coro-navirus and the existing supplyside challenges.

During 2021-22, exportsare expected to reach USD 400billion, FIEO President ASakthivel said.

He said the spectacularincrease in global trade byabout 22 per cent, buoyed byhigh prices of commodities, aswitnessed in 2021 will not bethere to provide the tailwind toIndia's exports.

Much will also depend on

whether the world would beable to contain COVID-19through massive vaccinationacross the globe and be able tocreate the required vaccinemanufacturing capacity."Looking into the emergence ofthe new variants and supply sidechallenges at this point of time,we would like to be a little con-servative and will aim for anexport of USD 460-475 billionduring the next fiscal," he added.He also expressed hope that theglobal consumption would goup substantially in 2022, albeitthe pandemic is controlled."The good thing with ourexports has been a very bal-anced growth across sectorsboth in traditional exports aswell as sunrise sectors of exportsduring the current fiscal.

FIEO aims at US $ 460-475bn exports next fiscal year

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexsurged 385 points onThursday following gains inindex majors Infosys, ITCand HDFC amid a positivetrend overseas.

The 30-share index jumped384.72 points or 0.68 per centto end at 57,315.28. Similarly,the NSE Nifty advanced117.15 points or 0.69 per centto 17,072.60.

PowerGrid was the topgainer in the Sensex pack, ris-ing around 4 per cent, followedby ITC, Bajaj Finance, Infosys,NTPC and Tech Mahindra.On the other hand, BhartiAirtel, Sun Pharma, Marutiand UltraTech Cement wereamong the laggards. "Indianmarkets opened in green fol-lowing positive Asian marketpeers as investors reacted tostudies about reduced risk ofhospitalisation and severe dis-ease with Omicron comparedto Delta," said NarendraSolanki, Head- EquityResearch (Fundamental),Anand Rathi.

Sensex jumps 385pts on firm globalcues; Niftyreclaims 17,000

PNS n MUMBAI

The primary issue market hashit an all-time high with 63corporates raising Rs 1,18,704crore through main-board ini-tial public offerings (IPOs) sofar in 2021, which is nearly 4.5times more than the Rs 26,613crore raised through 15 issuesin 2020 and almost double ofthe previous best of Rs 68,827crore in 2017, according to areport.

Pranav Haldea, managingdirector of Prime DatabaseGroup, said the IPO frenzy wasdriven by new-age loss-makingtechnology start-ups alongwith strong retail participation,and the resultant massive list-ing gains were the key high-lights of the year. Anotherhighlight was only 51 per cent

or Rs 1,03,621 crore of the totalRs 2,02,009 crore was freshcapital raising and the remain-ing Rs 98,388 crore were offersfor sale.

Overall, public equityfundraising crossed the Rs 2-lakh-crore mark at Rs 2,02,009crore in 2021 so far, which ishigher than the previous highof Rs 1,76,914 crore in 2020,according to the report byPrime Database.

Haldea said the largestmain-board IPOs were theOne97 Communications(Paytm) issue of Rs 18,300crore, followed by delivery appZomato at over Rs 9,300 crore.The average issue size was ahigh Rs 1,884 crore this year.

Of the 59 issues for whichdata is available now, 36received more than 10 times

oversubscription, of which sixwere more than 100 times,while eight were oversub-scribed by more than threetimes. The balance 15 wereoversubscribed 1-3 times.

The biggest hallmark of theyear was the massive retailresponse as the average retail

applications stood at 14.36lakh, in comparison to 12.77lakh in 2020 and 4.05 lakh in2019. The highest number ofretail applications was forGlenmark Life Sciences (33.95lakh) followed by DevyaniInternational (32.67 lakh) andLatent View (31.87 lakh).

63 IPO issuers mop up record Rs 1.18 lakh crore

IIIMs, IITs AND IIITs TO GIVE SUGGESTIONS

PNS n NEW DELHI

Shares of Medplus HealthServices on Thursday listedwith a premium of nearly 31per cent against the issue priceof Rs 796.

The stock listed at Rs 1,015,a gain of 27.51 per cent againstthe issue price on BSE. It fur-ther zoomed 40.69 per cent toRs 1,119.95.

On NSE, it made its debutat Rs 1,040, reflecting a jumpof 30.65 per cent.

Its market valuationremained at Rs 13,083.06crore. The initial public offer-ing of pharmacy retail chainMedPlus Health Services Ltd

was subscribed 52.59 times lastweek. The Rs 1,398.3-croreIPO had a price range at Rs780-796 per share. MedPluswas founded in 2006 byGangadi Madhukar Reddy,who is the company's manag-ing director and chief execu-tive officer. The Hyderabad-based pharmacy retailer offersa wide range of products,including pharmaceutical andwellness products, such asmedicines, vitamins, medicaldevices and test kits, andFMCG products like homeand personal care items,including toiletries, baby careproducts, soaps and deter-gents and sanitisers.

Medplus shares list withnearly 31 pc premium

n the last few years, the Indian wed-ding industry witnessed a substantialshift towards matrimonial sites.Millions of people have found theirmatches through these sites. Whileoften on the lookout for a suitable

bride or groom, a significant number of peoplehave found themselves being scammed or dupedby profiles created on these matrimonial sites. Toprevent oneself from a similar situation, there aresome tips to keep in mind to identify and avoidfake profiles on these sites.” Scrutinize: Fake profiles often have inconsis-

tent data regarding professional and educa-tional backgrounds. Such profiles are frequent-ly edited, and information regarding incomeand age is often changed. Their pictures arefew or are heavily edited sometimes, lookinglike they were taken many years prior.

” Absence on social media: In today’s times, oneof the first places to find any individual issocial media. Their absence from social mediaacross all platforms is a sign that these individ-uals might not exist at all.

” Boastful remarks: Genuine and sound individ-uals will not be bragging about their profes-

sional or academic background.Any profile coming across aswealthy, highly educated witha likely stellar career at ayoung age is more likely to befake since these profilesshowcase these attributes toattract more matches.

” Uninvolved family mem-bers: Most profiles on matri-monial sites are handled byparents or siblings. Sincerecandidates will eitherapproach you through theirfamily members or get youin touch with one. A profilematch where the candidate isthe sole source of communi-cation or hesitant to intro-duce the family members anddoes not disclose much infor-mation about them is mostlikely to be a fake one.

” Overfriendly disposition:Normally, it is expected of peo-ple to be polite on matrimonialsites, the act of over-friendlinessand acting overly familiar is awarning bell. A candidate trying toget in touch with you directlythrough messaging and making per-verted and flirtatious remarks is to besteered away.

” Seeking monetary help: Often, peoplecome across profiles where the candidateseems genuine and can strike a chord withthe potential match only to later reveal a finan-cial ordeal or dire situation like illness of fami-ly members or friends and ask for financialhelp. Such profiles are run by scammers and

mustnot beenter-tained.

” Cross verifica-tion: All genuinecandidates working ina reputable company at asenior position will havesocial media especially, Linkedinor Twitter. Verify their profiles bylooking up connections and findingpeople from their workplace and the univer-sity they went to. It is one of the best ways ofensuring that the person is indeed genuine andactual.

(The writer, Salman Sarwer, is the CEO & Co-Founder at Corporate Marriage Bureau)

Tips to identify fake profileson matrimonial sites

SHREYA SRIKONDA

new viral trackmaking therounds today isEkk Vari, and thesoulful song’smusic video

shows Daisy Shah andTaha Shah Badussa withunmatchable chemistry!Ekk Vari was sung by noneother than ShahzanMujeeb, who was a finaliston Indian Idol season 11.He shares, “Sanjeev sir —the songmaker and lyricist,called me during the lock-down and spoke to meabout a wonderful newsong, and asked if i wouldsing it. I immediately saidyes, and sent him a demorecording from my record-ing setup at home. Hespoke about modern loveand said that’s what I hadto remember while work-ing on the song. I latercame to know about Daisyand Taaha dancing to thissong, and when I saw thevideo, I thought it wasabsolutely amazing!” says acheerful Shahzan.

“We’ve been listening toa lof of Punjabi influencein Hindi music these days,so it wasn’t too difficult toget the words right, but thesong’s ‘feel’ was tough tonail because I was being

asked to sing a love songduring a period when Iwas locked inside myhouse because of the pan-demic! I managed some-how and the rest is up tothe audience to tell us whatthey think,” he laughs.

It’s great there’s a lot ofnew dialects and regionalslang that’s making its wayinto the limelight, becausewe get to explore morekinds of music, and morelanguages from all over thecountry.

The trained singer talksabout the vocal warm upexercises before he sings,and says that it is a mustfor him to practice in themornings as he wakes up.When asked what traininghe undergoes beforerecording a song, themusician keeps it simple.“Taking Ek Vari as anexample, Sanjeev sir toldme that it is a modern agelove song. As musicians,we’re always listening to allkinds of music from allover the world, so whenwe get prompts for a songto be a certain way, we canalways tap into our knowl-edge of how it should be.That’s all the training asinger needs- to be able tocapture the feel of the songperfectly,” concludes theyoung singer with a widesmile.

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

FridayDecember 24, 2021

hether you arethe bride, groomor the tribe,wedding seasonscall for a daz-zling dance per-

formance that is capturedfor years to come! Whydon’t you put on the danc-ing shoes and learn fromthe best trainer in town?Just in time for the wed-ding season, popular chore-ographer and one of India’sbest dancers, Punit J Pathakhas dropped his very owndance classes withFrontRow’s latest ‘dance’offering!

Here are quick 5 tips andtricks you can include inchoreographies — warm-up, expression, and musi-cality among others andfollow Punit’s expertinsights for a memorablecocktail or the sangeetnight:” Step on the beat:

Imagine the beats of asong to be the blueprintto reading the music anddancing to it. When yourbody and mind arereceptive to the beat, it ishalf the battle won.Queue yourself to makea movement on everybeat and you will soon beon your way to perfect-ing your thumka tim-ings.

” Ace the transition: Onceyou have mastered themovement that goes withevery beat, it is time foryou to bridge thosemovements with a transi-tion. Transitioning

movements add flow toyour choreography andmake them look seam-less.

” Careful of the passivearm: Dancing involvesengagement of the wholebody, but more oftenthan not, our focus on asingle hand movementrenders the rest of thebody limp. To avoid this,be careful of the passivearm or leg. Ensure youallot a movement tothem as well so as to tieup the dance well.

” The magic of props:Including props in yourchoreography is anothersmart way of adding anedge to your dancerecital. They are greatlyeffective in attracting andamusing the audience.Ensure you interact withyour prop well and use itto further the story ofyour choreography.

” Being the expressionqueen/king: Impactfuldance choreographiescall for your body tobe emotive. Your expres-

sions hold the key toyour audience feeling therhythm and it is for thisreason, every smile, side-eye and eyebrowraise counts. Addingexpressions to yourmovements is the ulti-mate cherry on top.

To get more exclusivetips on preparing yourchoreography for thewedding season, joinchoreographer Punit JPathak’s masterclass!

2021 was a ground-break-ing year for the overall marketvalue of cryptocurrencies,which climbed by about$1.5 trillion in 2021 tosome $2.3 trillions as of

December 17, accordingto tracker CoinGecko,

which counted almost12,000 tokens!

Cryptocurrencieshave indeed

proven resilient.Let’s rewind a

few storiesof crypto,

whichheat-

ed

up the market this year: 2021 kicked off with Elon Musk

announcing that the companyinvested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin,making it the biggest investment bya mainstream corporation into themost popular cryptocurrency. Itplanned to start accepting the digi-tal currency as a payment option forits products. Soon after Tesla’sannouncement, the rate of Bitcoinskyrocketed to an all-time high,breaching the $44,000-mark for thefirst time.

Silicon Valley-based DraperDragon Fund, an early backer ofNasdaq-listed crypto exchangeCoinbase Global Inc. entered Indiaamid regulatory uncertainty aroundthe future of blockchain technologyand crypto trading.

Goldman Sachs is exploring planswhich could see the Wall Street

bank use bitcoin as collateralfor institutional cash loans,

according to a report. Itis considering

whether it mightbe able to gain

access tocryp-

tocurren-cies suchas bit-coinwith-outneed-ing todirect-lyengagewith thetoken by offer-ing loans utilising tri-party repoarrangements, CoinDesk reported,citing three people familiar with thematter!

The financial services companiessuch as payments player Mastercardand Bank of New York Mellon alsoannounced their intention of vali-dating digital assets. Mastercard’snew partnership expects digital cur-rencies to become even more com-mon in everyday life.

But the controversy over Bitcoin’sputative role in investment portfo-lios continues to rage, as propo-nents argue it offers a hedge againstsome of the highest inflation in ageneration. But the token in 2021tended to correlate more consistent-

ly with risk assets, like technologystocks, rather than inflation

expectations!

Cryptic crypto stories

Salam Sarwer

Put on yourdancing shoes& get grooving

W

a

i

Bri

ngin

g to

lif

e a

cute

lov

e st

ory

We’ve been listening toa lof of Punjabi

influence in Hindi musicthese days, so it wasn’t

too difficult to get thewords right, but the song’s

‘feel’ was tough to nail because I wasbeing asked to sing a love song during a

period when I was locked inside myhouse because of the pandemic!

10

Hyderabad Friday December 24, 2021 what’s brewing?

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

To create awareness on Self love, Loveism Foundation launched their website in the city. A video song on self lovewas also unveiled at Marigold Hotel, Begumpet.

Roots and meats, an all new outlet for vegetables, fresh meat and seafood was unveiled in KPHB, Kukatpally, overthe weekend. This is a one-of-a-kind store where you get veggies and meat under one roof at reasonable prices.

A3-day Aakriti Elite Exhibition began at Taj Krishna on Thursday, where renowned fashion designers, artisans acrossthe country will present their designs from across the country. Nearly 100 stalls have been set up where exquisitesaris, designer wear, jewellery, bridal wear, life style accessories, home decors, among others will be showcased.

Actress’ Archana Veda,Kamakshi Bhaskarla,along with a few other

celebrities and fashionlovers graced the launch ofSutraa Exhibition at NovotelHICC. The expo, which willcontinue till December 25,will offer exhilarating festiveand wedding shoppingexperience.

SOULFUL EXPERIENCE

PAR

TY

Ph

oto

s b

y S

V C

ha

ryl Archana Shastry Veda l Kamakshi l Urmila

l Sanjanal Srilekha

l Umesh Madhyan

l Subhashree

11

tollywoodHyderabad Friday December 24, 2021

PNS | HYDERABAD

he cast of Shyam Singha Roy is busy pro-moting the film in various parts of thecountry as the film is set to release in multi-ple languages!

Directed by Rahul Sankrityan ofTaxiwala fame, the film’s cast is all pumped up to

know the audiences’ response about the film,during the conversation happened on

Thursday. The film has hit the screens

today and is the costliest filmmade in Nani’s career as per

reports! Shyam Singha Royhas released in Tamil,Malayalam and Kannadalanguages along withTelugu, basically cover-ing the whole of Southregion. A day beforethe film’s release, theactor spoke about thefilm and said, “What’sthe entertainingaspect, you ask me?The film manages tonot just entertain butalso informs. That’swhy every singleteam memberworked hard. Thereare so many newthings in this movie.This will be the filmthat has created such

an impact in recenttimes. I had such afeeling when I firstheard the story and I

am sure it will impressaudiences from all walks

of life.”

Shyam Singha Roy is learned to be a commercial thrillerwith mystic elements found in the story! Sai Pallavi will beseen to appear in a powerful role, and with all the inter-views given back to back by the whole star cast, the moviehas already generated a decent buzz. There’s more to theconversation, hold on, “It covers all genres. It will be ableto create an emotional impact too! For the character Vasu,he’s as simple as he can be. But Shyam separates the world!I’m also a spectator. What matters is how well the film isshown. Can we take that into the world or not seems to belike the prior point. I learned the Bengali language so thatno matter what language the audience sees, the languagedoes not look wrong,” an excited Nani said.

Surely, for binge-watchers, OTT platforms are cost-effective but can it give the feeling of a sound blusteringtheatre? Certainly not. The team is also doing there rele-vant calculations here and there and predicting what mayhappen after the release. As per their prediction goes, “Allof us our happy with a theatrical release, initially movieswere being released on OTT which was a sigh of relief andwere not in a position to come to the theaters. But nowthe audience is coming into the theater. Let's see howmany people watch. If we lose, we lose. Let’s look at thecalculations later!”

Further in the conversation, Nani, thanking the Telugumedia said, “We set up this event to thank the mediabefore the release. They have been supporting us from thebeginning. But to be considerate enough, as all of us areaware that the day before the release there will be a lot oftension surrounding the whole team. Yet there is a feelingthat it will turn out to be an excellent and novel contentfor the audiences. How will the audience feel after watch-ing the movie is what I have been thinking for the lastcouple of days.”

ersatile starDhanush hasunveiled the titleof his upcomingbilingual flick.The Tamil, Telugu

movie starring Dhanush hasbeen named Sir in Telugu.Dhanush made theannouncement on Twitter.The actor wrote, “My next ..a Tamil, Telugu bilingual#Vaathi #sir”. The title posterof the film comprises a hugeblackboard with a class ofstudents looking over it.

Sithara Entertainments,who are on a roll with multi-ple movies in production,are taking a step ahead andteamed up with the two timetime National AwardWinning actor Dhanush forthis bilingual movie. On thisoccasion, the makersunveiled the intriguing titlelook motion poster of themovie, which grabbed theattention of the movie buffs

across social media.Youthful director Venky

Atluri, who had directedRang De under the samebanner, will be directing thisprestigious film. SitharaEntertainments, headed bySuryadevara Naga Vamsi,will be co-producing thisfilm along with Sai Soujanyaof Fortune Four Cinemas.Kerala kutti SamyukthaMenon will be the femalelead.

The posters of Vaathi andSIR, released in both lan-guages, in the backdrop of ablackboard filled with sever-al numbers, mathemeticalequations, besides a notestating ‘classes start soon’,create an element of curiosi-ty.

Cinematographer DineshKrishnan will be handlingthe camera work. NavinNooli is the editor, while G.V. Prakash Kumar is themusic director.

Dhanush’s next withVenky Atluri titled SIR

kkineniNagarjuna,NagaChaitanya,RamyaKrishna and

Krithi Shetty’s much-awaited wholesomefamily entertainerBangarraju is nearingcompletion. A hugeset was erected inAnnapurna Studiosand a peppy dancenumber is beingfilmed on NagaChaitanya and KrithiShetty. The film’sshoot has wrapped upon Thursday.

Informing thesame, Nagarjunatweeted, “Last day ofthe shoot!! Anotherpeppy dance numberloading.!! comingsoon #Bangarraju#BangarrajuComing@chay_akkineni@kalyankrishna_k@iamkrithishetty@anuprubens@AnnapurnaStdios@ZeeStudios_”.

Nagarjuna alsoshared a picturewhere NagaChaitanya appears inchinna Bangarrajugetup in PancheKattu, while KrithiShetty looks super-hot in saree sporting

shades.Directed by Kalyan

Krishna Kurasala, thefilm’s promotions arein full swing.

Anup Rubens hasscored music and allthe songs released sofar by the team gottremendous response.Particularly, PartySong Of The Year —Vaasivaadi Tassadiyyawhere Jathi Ratnalufame Faria Abdullahwas seen shaking herleg alongsideNagarjuna and NagaChaitanya became asensational hit.

Nagarjuna andNaga Chaitanya aresharing screen spacetogether for the sec-ond time, after themost memorable filmof Akkineni familyManam. Bangarraju,which is a sequel toNagarjuna’s biggestblockbuster SoggadeChinni Nayana, isprogressing with itsshoot.

Zee Studios is co-producing the projectwith AnnapurnaStudios Pvt Ltd.Nagarjuna is the pro-ducer. Satyanand haspenned screenplay,while Yuvaraj handlesthe cinematography.

Bangarraju’speppy song shoot

in full swing

ugmentedreality and vir-tual reality areopening doorsto new experi-ences and

bringing the world closerwith each click. Alwaysthe one to promote, andeven encourage techno-logical growth in therealm of wellness, URLifeManaging DirectorUpasana KamineniKonidela continued hersupport for hi-techadvancement by attend-ing the Expo 2020 inDubai this week.The Expo hosted culturalpavilions from 192nations, which showcaseda diverse range ofexhibits—ranging fromculinary arts to entertain-

ment. One of the mainhighlights of the eventwas the Indian pavilion,where Ms. Konidela vir-tually met honourablePrime Minister, Mr.Narendra Modi. She wasalso privileged to attend avirtual yoga session con-ducted by the PrimeMinister himself—a tes-tament to the power ofinnovation and technolo-gy in the healthcare sec-tor.The theme of theevent was "ConnectingMinds, Creating theFuture"—a statement Ms.Konidela wholeheartedlyabides by. She will also bereceiving her Golden Visain Dubai, which willbring her one step closerto becoming a global citi-zen.

ctor Kamal Haasan, whowas on a break to recov-er from Covid, hasresumed shooting forhis 232nd movie

Vikram. While the unit of Vikramresumed shooting from December10, Kamal Haasan joined the teamonly on Wednesday. Directed byLokesh Kanakaraj, the film stars

Fahadh Faasil, Vijay Sethupathi,Narain, and Kalidas Jayaramamong others.

Vikram, which has music byAnirudh Ravichander, went intoproduction in August and hascompleted many schedules.Shooting is progressing at a briskpace and the combined scenes ofKamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi,

and Fahadh Faasil are to be shot inthis schedule. The crew consists ofcinematographer and Nationalaward winner Girish Gangadharan,editor Philomin Raj, art directorSatheesh, choreographer Sandy,director of action Anbariv. Vikramis produced by Kamal Haasan’sRaaj Kamal Films International inassociation with R. Mahendran.

v

a

Upasana Kamineniattends the

Expo 2020 in Dubai

Pushpa: The Rise beats

KGF, becomes highest

grosser after Baahubali merging as a Pan Indiastar, Allu Arjun’sPushpa: The Rise castsone spectacle afteranother at the boxoffice. The Icon Star’s

action-drama has dethroned KGF:Chapter 1 to become the only pan-India movie with the highest boxoffice collection after Bahubali inits first week. The Allu Arjun star-rer released amid heightenedexpectations, which it has sur-passed by landslide.

In lesser than a week, Pushpa:The Rise beat the collection of big-budget outings such as Spiderman:No Way Home, Sooryavanshi,Master and Vakeel Saab. Now ithas ousted KGF: Chapter 1 and theonly other film to have accom-plished that is S.S. Rajamouli’smonstrous blockbuster, Baahubali.Pushpa: The Rise is currently dom-inating the theatres and the entirenation is witnessing the unrivalledstardom of Allu Arjun as fansacross languages break into cele-brations outside the theatres.

The story of the film follows

Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) a cooliewho moves up in the red sandal-wood smuggling ring with hisacumen and grit. The resoundingsuccess of Pushpa:The Rise isbeing attributed to Allu Arjun,who carries the film on his shoul-

ders with his star powered perfor-mance. His never-seen-beforeavatars and character portrayal hitdifferently in the movie and hisfans are happy to have beenoffered a visual treat they canwatch repeatedly.

a

a

e

t

Kamal Haasan resumesshooting for Vikram

‘Shyam Singha Roy not justentertains, but informs too’

sports 12HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 24, 2021

AP n BARCELONA

Karim Benzema struck two quickgoals to lead Real Madrid to a

2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao in aSpanish league game missing sever-al players because of coronavirusinfections.

Defending champion AtléticoMadrid slumped to a fourth consec-utive league defeat after losing 2-1at Granada, extending its worstrun in the competition since DiegoSimeone took charge a decade ago.

A total of 12 players betweenMadrid and Bilbao missed the gameafter testing positive for COVID-19.That included Madrid midfielderLuka Modric and Bilbao’s UnaiSimón, the goalkeeper for Spain’snational side.

Benzema started the scoring forthe league leaders with a superbstrike four minutes into the matchat San Mamés. He struck again inthe seventh for his league-leading15th goal of the season.

Oihan Sancet hit right back forthe hosts to close out a wild first 10minutes of the game.

Iñaki Williams went close tograbbing an equalizer with a half-hour to play, but a defense anchoredby Éder Militão held on to increaseMadrid’s lead to eight points oversecond-place Sevilla.

The outbreak on Madrid’s squadgave Eden Hazard, EduardoCamavinga, and Nacho Fernándezthe opportunity to earn rare starts.

“I want to highlight the playerswho hadn’t played much were ready

to go, that is the strength of a teamthat wants to compete,” said coachCarlo Ancelotti, whose side entersthe winter break on a 15-gameunbeaten streak in all competi-tions.

“Now to rest and get back thoseplayers who weren’t with us today...

I think that we can have themall back after the holidays.”

The game came hours after theSpanish league strengthened itstesting protocols to try to preventteams being hit by outbreaks.

In addition to Modric, Madridwas without David Alaba, IscoAlarcón, Marco Asensio, Rodrygo,Gareth Bale, Marcelo and backupgoalkeeper Andriy Lunin. BesidesSimón, Bilbao was without IñigoMartínez, Jokin Ezkieta and Alex

Berenguer.Benzema dazzled with his open-

ing goal from the side of the area. The France striker stunned

Bilbao when he used one touch tosend a pass from Toni Kroos curl-ing into the far corner of the net.

“What a striker, what a captain,what a player,” Ancelotti said.

Benzema’s second came after apoor touch by Bilbao defender Unai

Nuñez gifted him the ball withonly Simón’s replacement, JulenAgirrezabala, to beat.

“I like this type of soccer in agreat stadium like this, it makes mehappy, but it makes me even happi-er to beat this good team,” saidBenzema, who was applauded by theBilbao crowd when substituted late.

Sancet struck from the edge of

the area to send the ball in off thepost.

“We had our chance to tie thematch,” Bilbao coach MarcelinoGarcía said. “I am proud of how weplayed against a great league leader.”

ANOTHER LOSSAtlético hadnot lost more than two leaguegames in a row since

Simeone became its coach inDecember 2011. This month it haslost to Mallorca, Real Madrid andSevilla before its defeat in Granada.

Atlético started well with a goalfrom João Félix only three minutesafter kickoff.

Darwin Machís then leveled inthe 18th and Jorge Molina scoredfrom a cross by Granada striker LuisSuárez to complete the comeback inthe 61st.

PTI n JAIPUR

Saurashtra run into an equally dominant TamilNadu, while Himachal Pradesh would have

slight upper hand against Services when theyface-off in the semfinals of the Vijay HazareTrophy here on Friday.

Both Saurashtra and TN made it to the lastfour in convincing fashion. While the southernoutfit thrashed arch-rivals Karnataka by 151runs, Saurashtra slayed Vidarbha by sevenwickets.

Services, on the other hand, decimatedKerala to make it to the last four of the nation-al ODI championship for the first time ever,while Rishi Dhawan-led Himachal notched upa five-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh the otherday.

For Saurashtra, their biggest asset is the formof the middle-order comprising the experiencedSheldon Jackson, Prerak Mankad and ArpitVasavada.

The trio can take any good attack apart ontheir day, including Tamil Nadu’s strong and var-ied one.

Mankad (339 runs) would take a lot of con-fidence from his unbeaten match-winning 77 inthe quarter-final and would be keen to contin-

ue in the same vein.The 35-year-old Jackson, who has 2,212 ‘List

A’ runs, holds the key and his performance couldeventually be the difference between the twosides.

However, Saurashtra openers Vishwaraj

Jadeja and young Harvik Desai, would need toget runs under their belt and would be eyeingfor a big knock in the crunch game.

Samarth Vyas and Chiraj Jani would alsoneed to play their parts as Saurashtra are unlike-ly to change a winning combination.

Their formidable bowling attack, led byskipper Jaydev Unadkat, comprises young Indiaseamer Chetan Sakriya and the duo can wreakhavoc at the start and also at the death.

The spin duo of Dharmendrasinh Jadeja andleggie Yuvraj Chudasma also need to bowl wellin tandem to stop marauding TN batters. EvenChiraj Jani and Mankad’s contribution with theball will be handy.

For Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy championsTamil Nadu, the role of opener N Jagadeesan,who hit a superb hundred in the quarters, wouldbe key and the start he provides with BAparajith will have a say in the team’s fortunes.

Even the other batters including R SaiKishore, who was promoted up the order, skip-per Dinesh Karthik, the reliable Aparajith andBaba Indrajith can tear into Saurashtra’s bowl-ing and given the form they have been in, a bigscore looks imminent.

Tamil Nadu has two other players, who canchange the match’s complexion in a jiffy -- theburly M Shahrukh Khan, who has been mak-ing headlines, and all-rounder Vijay Shankar.

Shahrukh Khan was in devastating moodagainst Karnataka and his blistering assault atthe death pounded the bowlers into submissionand he will look to make his presence felt again.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Sports Minister Anurag Thakur onThursday said that the World Anti-

Doping Agency has restored the accredi-tation of the National Dope TestingLaboratory (NDTL), which was suspend-ed in 2019 because of its failure to meetglobal standards.

The NDTL is based in the nationalcapital. “National Dope Testing Laboratory(NDTL) regains the World Anti-DopingAgency (WADA) accreditation,” Thakurposted on his official Twitter page.

“Restoration of accreditation is aboost to India’s efforts to achieve the high-est global standards of excellence in sport.

This is the result of untiring efforts by GOI(Government of India),” he added.

India is currently third in the WADA’sglobal list of dope violators led by Russia.

“Last week in Parliament, we intro-duced ‘The National Anti-Doping Bill2021’, which is another step in India’s questto become a sporting powerhouse,” Thakursaid referring to the legislation which givethe National Anti-Doping Agency(NADA)powers to conduct raids to nabdope offenders.

The suspension of the NDTL had pro-hibited it from carrying out any anti-dop-ing activities, including all analysis of urineand blood samples.

The WADA first suspended NDTL inAugust 2019 for a period of six months andextended the de-recognition period afterits inspections showed that non-conformi-ties still existed.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Comeback man KidambiSrikanth might clash with

Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in arematch of their WorldChampionships final after beingdrawn in the same half, while PVSindhu and Lakshya Sen receivedeasy draws in the Yonex-SunriseIndia Open 2022 to be held fromJanuary 11 to 16.

Top seed Srikanth, whoregained his place in world’s top-10, will open his campaign againstcompatriot Siril Verma and is like-ly to get another chance to avengehis loss against World championLoh Kean Yew as they are drawnto clash in the semifinals.

Two-time Olympic medallistPV Sindhu, seeded top, will hopeto lay claim on her first title of the

new year when she begins hercampaignagainst compatriot SriKrishna Priya Kudaravalli.

The26-year-old could faceRussian fifth seed EvgeniyaKosetskaya in the last-8 stage.

Fans would be hoping for themarquee all-India summit clashbetween Sindhu and the formerWorld No. 1 Saina Nehwal, whohas also received a relatively toughdraw.

The London Olympics bronzemedallist and fourth seed Nehwal,who endured a tough year plaguedwith multiple injuries, is likely tosquare off against seventh seed IrisWang of USA in the quarter-finalsand second seed BusananOngbamrungphan in the semi-finals. Organised by theBadminton Association of India(BAI), the USD 400,000 Super 500

event will kickstart the 2022 BWFWorld Tour season.

In-form Sen, who claimed amaiden bronze at the WorldChampionships, will start hiscampaign against Adham Elgamalof Egypt and could face compatri-

ot and World Championshipsquarter-finalist HS Prannoy in thequarterfinals.

Prannoy, who is making acomeback after battling postCOVID after-affects, is set tokickstart his challenge against

Spaniard Pablo Abian.Second seed B Sai Praneeth,

who also had a tough 2021, wouldalso be looking to start the year ona high as he opens against Spain’sLuis Penalver in the openinground. He could face Indonesia’sTommy Sugiarto in the quarter-finals.

Sixth seed Sameer Verma,who had suffered a calf muscleinjury in Denmark, will also lookto go deep into the draw after start-ing his campaign against his elderbrother Sourabh.

India’s top men’s pairing ofChirag Shetty and SatwiksairajRankireddy, seeded second, willopen against compatriot Ravi andChirag Arora and are likely tomeet fourth seeded pair of BenLane and Sean Vendy fromEngland in the Last-4 stage.

PTI n LAUSANNE

Olympic bronze winning Indian men’shockey team will end the year in third

spot, its highest-ever, as per the InternationalHockey Federation (FIH) rankings releasedon Thursday.

The Manpreet Singh-led Indian teamwon the bronze in Tokyo Games earlier thisyear to end a 41-year medal wait for the coun-try. India, who finished third in the just-con-

cluded Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka,will end the year with 2296.038 points behindOlympic champions Belgium and toppersAustralia. Australia have leapfrogged Belgiumin the latest chart following the Red Lions’recent FIH Hockey Pro League draw anddefeat at the hands of the Netherlands.

Australia will close the year with2642.25 points, just 10 points ahead of FIHHockey Pro League and Olympic champi-ons Belgium, who have 2632.12.

The Asian Champions Trophy sawvarious exchanges of ranking pointsbetween the competing teams, althoughthere was little in terms of movement.Champions South Korea remain 16th withrunners up Japan still in 17th position.Fourth placed finishers Pakistan continueto hold onto 18th place, while fifth placedBangladesh have dropped two places to 40.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Cricket Association for theBlind in India (CABI) has

selected a 14-member squad forthe three-match ODI and T20series against Bangladesh start-ing on Friday at Bhopal.

The captain of both squadsis Sunil Ramesh from Karnatakawhile Deepak Malik fromHaryana will be his deputy.

The bilateral series, to endon December 29, will be playedat Bhopal’s Faith Cricket Club.

The series will start withT20 matches to be played onDecember 24, 25 and 26 fol-

lowed by three ODIs onDecember 27, 28 and 29, CABIpresident Dr Mahantesh GKivadasannavar said in a release.

Teams: India’s squad for 3 T20s: B1 category: Kalpesh

Nimbadkar (Gujarat), LalitMeena (Rajasthan), AVenkateswara Rao (AndhraPradesh), Om Prakash (MadhyaPradesh), Praveen KumarSharma (Haryana).

B2 category: DVenkateswara Rao (AndhraPradesh), A Maneesh (Kerala),Irfan Diwan (Delhi), NakulBadanayaka (Odisha).

PTI n CENTURION

Middle-order batterCheteshwar Pujara saysthe current India bat-

ting line-up is experiencedenough to tackle lateral movementon pace-friendly tracks in SouthAfrica and he has no doubt thatthe team led by Virat Kohli willdeliver in the Rainbow nation.

Pujara said the recent over-seas success has made India a con-fident unit and that will reflect inthe three-Test series, beginningSunday.

“When you are a visitingteam, you know that there ispace and bounce and there is lat-eral movement and to face the fastbowlers is always a big challengewhen you go out of India,” Pujarasaid in a video posted by BCCI onits twitter handle.

“This team has learnt that andthis is a much more balanced bat-ting line-up and I think we will be

able to tackle that and with ourpreparation I am very confidentwe will put up a good show.”

Pujara also felt that the expe-rience of having played in SouthAfrica will also stand them ingood stead.

“...Most of the (Indian) play-ers have played in South Africa inthe past, it is an experienced sideand it terms of preparation, weknow what is expected from us.

“Most of the teams play wellin their home conditions and it’sthe same with the South Africanteam. They have one of the bestbowling line-ups and facing oneof the best fast bowlers has alwaysbeen challenging,” said the 33-year-old from Rajkot.

India had retained theBorder-Gavaskar trophy afterbeating Australia 2-1 in the four-match series early in the year.

Virat Kohli’s men also claimeda 2-1 victory in the five-Test rub-ber in England before the fifth

Test was cancelled due to COVID-19.

“Having done well in Englandand Australia will make a big dif-ference in this squad’s confidenceand self belief that we can winoverseas, we can win in any con-ditions,” Pujara said.

“And with our bowling andbatting line-up, I am very confi-dent that we have the capacity towin a series in South Africa.”

Pujara has lacked consisten-cy since 2020 with his last centu-ry coming in January 2019 inAustralia. In the last 10 innings,he has scored two fifties butcouldn’t convert them to bigscores.

The Indian batting mainstaysaid he has better clarity nowabout how to go about things,having played in these conditionshere before.

PTI n KOLKATA

The talented Shubman Gillsaid that given a choice he

would like to play for KolkataKnight Riders forever.

Gill, who is currentlynursing a shin injury which iskeeping him out of SouthAfrica tour, was released by theKKR management, whoretained Andre Russell, SunilNarine, Venkatesh Iyer andVaru Chakravarthy.

Once seen as KKR’s futurecaptain, the 22-year-old Indianopener was among the likes ofEoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthiik,Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Ranato be released.

“The kind of bond I havewith the KKR franchise issomething really special tome,” Gill said in a short-filmtitled ‘Love, Faith and Beyond’.

“Once you’re associatedwith a franchise you wouldwant to carry on and play withthem forever... And if I wouldbe able to play in purple andgold, I would play forever,” headded.

Bought for Rs 1.8 croreahead of IPL 2018, a 18-year-old Gill rose to prominencewith KKR in the very first sea-son where scored 203 runs in13 matches at a strike-rate of146.04.

But later on he drew flakfor his poor conversion ratewhile his strike-rate too camedown as overall he has so farplayed 58 matches for the fran-chise, scoring 1417 runs at astrike rate of 123.00.

“Not every year you canhave all the best teammates orall the best players or all yourbest friends in one team.Instead of cribbing about thefact that we don’t have them weshould cherish the time that wehad with them,” Gill added.

The 11-minute short-filmis a KKR’s tribute to some of thebest and the brightest playerswho were a part of the fran-chise.

“Ideally, there are so manyplayers you want to retain butit just does not work that way,”MD & CEO, KKR VenkyMysore said.

PTI n DUBAI

Harnoor Singh struck a fine hundredbefore the Indian bowlers ran

through the opposition to complete a154-run rout of UAE in their opening U-19 Asia Cup match here on Thursday.

Put in to bat, India put up 282 forfive, courtesy Harnoor’s 120 off 130 ballsand skipper Yash Dhull’s 63 off 68 balls.Rajvardhan Hangargekar’s unbeaten 48off 23 balls provided the final flourish.

UAE used as many as nine bowlingoptions at the ICC Academy Ground butthe move did not help their cause.

The home team’s batters came acropper against the Indian bowling lineup, folding up for 128 in 34.3 overs.

Hangargekar took three wickets forIndia while Garv Sangwan, Vicky Oswaland Kaushal Tamble took two each.

India next play arch-rivals Pakistanon Saturday.

In the other matches played onThursday, Pakistan beat Afghanistan byfour wickets and Sri Lanka hammeredKuwait by 274 runs.

The tournament is being playedahead of the U-19 World Cup in theWest Indies next month.

Indian batting line-up good enough totackle South African pacers: Pujara

India thrash UAE in opener

If possible, I would play

for KKR forever: Gill

In-form Saurashtra face uphill task against TN, Himachal hold edge over Services

Suspended NDTL gets back WADA recognition:

Sports Minister Anurag Thakur reveals

CABI pick 14-member Indian blindteam for home series against B’desh

Benzema brace as Madrid beats Bilbao 2-1 in virus-hit game

Indian men to finish 2021 in thirdspot, women drop to ninth

Srikanth-Loh Kean Yew face-off on cards; Sindhu, Sen get easy draws at India Open