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VIJAYAWADA, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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Which side areyou on - Godseor Gandhi?:Kishor to Nitish

Das says no reason to doubt,govt will meetfiscal deficit targets

8

I-T raidsrevealJagan’sgame-plan forNaidu

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Another Kambala racer has created a record in 100 metres during atraditional buffalo race in Karnataka covering the distance in 9.51

seconds, improving on the timing of Srinivas Gowda who stirred up asocial media frenzy with his recent running exploits. Nishant Shettyfrom Bajagoli Jogibettu broke 28-year-oldGowda's record at the Venoor Kambala onSunday, organisers said. Organisers saidthus far, four participants have joined theelite club of racers who have completed the100 metres in less than ten seconds.

ANOTHER KAMBALA RACER BREAKSSRINIVAS GOWDA’S 100 M RECORD

PM MEETS RICKSHAW PULLER WHOINVITED HIM TO WEDDING OF BETIDuring his one-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi, on

February 16, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Mangal Kewat, therickshaw puller who had sent his daughter's wedd-ing invite to the PM. The Prime Minister enquiredabout the health and well-being of Mangal Ke-wat and his family and also commended himon his contribution to the Swacch BharatAbhiyaan. Inspired by PM Modi, MangalKewat has taken to cleaning the Ganga banksin his village on his own.

RAHUL DRAVID'S SON SAMITSLAMS SECOND DOUBLE-CENTURYRahul Dravid's son Samit Dravid once again showed his prowess with

the bat as he slammed a double-hundred in under-14 cricket whilerepresenting his school Mallya Aditi Internationalin the BTR Shield Under-14 Group I, Division IITournament on Saturday. Samit Dravid took just146 balls and smashed 33 boundaries en route tohis second double-century inside two months.Samit's batting blitz helped his side post animposing total of 377 for three from their allotted50 overs.

‘Bajrang Bali-Hanuman' was a big issue in the recently concludedDelhi Assembly Election 2020, but the issue has once again been

ignited by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, whoon Tuesday (February 18) announced that Sunderkand(dedicated to valour Lord Hanuman in RamcharitManas) will be recited on the first Tuesday of everymonth in different areas of his constituency. Earlieron Tuesday, Saurabh Bhardwaj tweeted that therecitation of Sundarkand will be held at 4:30 pmat the ancient Shiva temple, Chirag Delhi.

AAP MLA BHARDWAJ TO ORGANISERECITATION OF SUNDERKAND

Jagan launches 3rd phase of YSR Kanti Velugu programme at Kurnool PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Promising to usher in a healthystate, Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy onTuesday launched the thirdphase of the YSR Kanti Veluguproject in Kurnool that willbenefit over 56,88,420 seniorcitizens.

Speaking on the occasion,Jagan said that some forms ofcancer can be cured, but thereis no treatment available for theacidity caused due to jealousyof TDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu. "In fact, Aarogyasrischeme covers treatment forover 2,000 diseases, but not forthe stomachache caused byjealousy. There is treatment fordimmed sight due to eye ail-ments, but there is no treat-ment for a defective perspec-tive," the Chief Minister said.

He said that some age-relat-ed ailments are curable, butthere is no cure for those who

misuse their brain. Jagan said that the govern-

ment will change the contoursof all hospitals right from thePHCs in villages to that of a

teaching hospital. "A sum of Rs 15,335 crore

would be spent on KantiVelugu programme," Jagan saidon the occasion.

A total of 56,88,424 peoplein the 60-plus age group will becovered in this phase of theprogramme, under whichinterventions like primary eyescreening, prescription of spec-tacles, supply of essential med-icines to needy patients, refer-ral for cataract surgeries andreferral for tertiary eye caremanagement will be undertak-en.

Screening of eyes of seniorcitizens will commence in vil-lage secretariats in all 175Assembly constituencies fromMarch 1. There are only 11teaching hospitals in the stateand vowed to bring an addi-tional 16 to the state, Jagansaid.

He said that the governmenthas set its sights on develop-ment of medical and health,agriculture sectors and also ondevelopment of education sec-tor.

EYES ON TARGET

CM: Cancer curable, no curefor Naidu's acidic attitude

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy interacts with senior citizens at the launchof the third phase of the YSR Kanti Velugu in Kurnool on Tuesday.

Skill to power new industrial policy: Goutham Govt to attract industries with skilled manpower, rather than subsidies and incentivesSUMIT ONKA n VISAKHAPATNAM

Unlike its predecessor, the newindustrial policy of the YSRCPgovernment would focus moreon the creating skilled man-power than subsidies andincentives.

When asked about the majorchange that the new Industrialpolicy will reflect in compari-son to the previous govern-ment on the sidelines of aninteractive meeting conducted

by United Nations IndustrialDevelopment Organization(UNIDO) and DPIIT, AP min-ister for Industry, Commerce

and IT, Mekapati GouthamReddy said the governmentwould attract industries with itsskilled manpower rather than

subsidies and incentives."It is not that we will not pro-

vide land, subsidies and incen-tives to industries in the newpolicy, but to those units look-ing for long-term investment inAndhra Pradesh with crediblebackground concrete plan. Ourpolicy will be transparent andpromises will be delivered. Wewill have 28-days window pol-icy to help industries get clear-ances for their business oper-ation," the minister said.

The Andhra Pradesh

Industrial, IT policy, APElectronic Policy, Innovationand Start-up Policy framed in2014 will lapse in 2020 and 90per cent of the final draft of thenew policy has been complet-ed.

The government is now col-lecting feedback before releas-ing the final draft.

Goutham Reddy added thatthe TDP was ruining the imageof Andhra Pradesh just forpolitical mileage.

Goutham Reddy

Skilled manpower will attractindustries to the state. We are

planning big to make the studentsjob-ready with a vigorous industry-academic model and establishingSkill Development University.

— MEKAPATI GOUTHAM REDDYMINISTER FOR INDUSTRIES

CM confident of Centre’s nodfor Ravindra, shifts Intel chiefPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Confident that the Centre willclear its request on inter-cadretransfer for Stephen Ravindra,the YSRCP government onTuesday transferredIntelligence chief KumarViswajit and posted him asPrincipal Secretary, Home.

In a minor reshuffle of IPSofficers, the AP Governmentappointed Sunil Kumar NaikDIG of CID, KRM Kishore Ku-mar was posted as Chairman,Road Safety Authority, BalaSubrahmanyam appointedAdditional Director-GeneralRailway Protection Force andAbhishek Mohanty the Gre-yhounds Group Commandant.

Vineet Brijlal was givenadditional responsibility asdirector of excise department.The government directedExcise director Hari Kumar

and Kripananda Tripathi toreport to the office of theDirector-General of Police.

If the Centre, as expected bythe AP government, approvesthe inter-cadre transfer ofStephen Ravindra, an IPS offi-cer of 1990 batch from Telan-gana cadre, it will pave the way

for his appointment as Int-elligence chief of the Go-vernment of Andhra Pradesh.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy had start-ed making attempts to getStephen Ravindra to AP cadresoon after he assumed charge.

Stephen Ravindra

Shariff asks Guv to intervene,resolve select panel imbroglio PNS n VIJAYAWADA

AP Legislative CouncilChairman MA Shariff onTuesday called on GovernorBiswabushan Harichandan andexplained the circumstancesleading to the CouncilSecretary not honouring hisorders on the SelectCommittee and asked theGovernor to take suitable dis-ciplinary action against theofficial.

Shariff called on theGovernor at around 7 pm andexplained the case in detail.

Later, speaking to media, hesaid that the secretary returned

the relevant file on constitutionof the Select Committee twicein spite of his ruling. Hecharged the secretary with

adopting dilly-dallying tac-tics.

Shariff said that the secre-tary refused to honour hisruling on setting up a SelectCommittee on Bills related toDecentralisation ofAdministration and dissolu-tion of the CRDA. The Billswere stalled in the Councilafter being passed in theAssembly.

He emphasised that thedecision to refer the Bills to theSelect Committee was not inviolation of the rules.Therefore, he urged theGovernor to intervene in thematter.

Council Chairman MA Shariff

HC reservesorder onmoving offices PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The AP High Court on Tue-sday reserved its orders on re-location of offices to Kurnool.

Farmers of Amaravati hadfiled a writ petition in thecourt against a GO issued bythe YSRCP government to re-locate the offices of Commi-ssioner of Inquiries and Vig-ilance Commissioner to Ku-rnool and sought a stay order.

The government submittedto the court that it relocatedthe two offices to Kurnool asspace was not sufficient in theSecretariat at Amaravati.

Police inspector trapswoman, suspendedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Guntur range IG Brijlal Vineethas issued orders suspendingNagarampalem model policestation inspector K VenkatReddy from service on chargesof coercing a woman to havesexual relations with him.

This is the latest in a list ofsimilar shockers from Guntur.

In her complaint to thehigher officials of the depart-ment, the victim narrated herordeal and said that theinspector trapped her when

she approached him to sortout her problems.

She said that when sherealised that she was beingcheated by Venkat Reddy, sheapproached higher officialsand lodged a complaint.

The district superintendentof police Ramakrishna con-ducted a thorough inquiryinto her allegations and foundthat the victim was trappedand cheated by the circleinspector.

A suspension order wasserved on the CI on Tuesday.

First trader arrested underSGST in AP for tax evasion Europe’s biggest bank HSBC to cut 35,000 jobs

PNS n LONDON

HSBC Holdings PLC said onTuesday it would shed $100 bil-lion in assets, shrink its invest-ment bank, and revamp its USand European businesses in adrastic overhaul that will mean35,000 jobs cut over threeyears.

The bank, which has strug-gled to keep pace with leanerand more focused rivals, isseeking to become more com-

petitive as it grapples withslowing growth in its majormarkets, the coronavirus epi-demic, Britain's EuropeanUnion exit and lower central

bank interest rates.In the latest in a series of

overhauls since the 2008 finan-cial crisis, HSBC officials said

the bank would merge its pri-vate banking and wealth busi-nesses, axe European stocktrading and cut US retailbranches as it seeks to remove$4.5 billion in costs.

"The totality of this programis that our headcount is likelyto go from 235,000 to closer to200,000 over the next threeyears," Noel Quinn, interimchief executive, told newsagency Reuters.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

For the first time in AndhraPradesh, a trader in Vizag citywas arrested by tax officialsunder the State GST Act oncharges of evading Rs 2.6 croretax by raising fake bills.

The accused has been iden-tified as Duddu Sekhar, propri-etor of Sekhar Traders andVenkat Sai Traders.

The Assistant Commissi-oner and Deputy Assistant

Commissioner of SGST,Gajuwaka Circle in Vizag anda team of officials, under theguidance of Joint Commis-sioner of State, Vizag Divisionarrested Duddu Sekhar.

The officials said that Sekhargot registered under GST Actfor doing business in ironscrap at Gajuwaka in Vizag city.Sekhar misused online e-way-bills for an amount of Rs14.4crore and evaded paying tax ofRs 2.6 crore.

The entire transactions seemto be bogus as per the onlinewaybill data as they have sup-plied and received goods fromthe same dealers in Telangana,officials said.

Sekhar committed anoffence under the provisions ofSection 132 of SGST Act-2017and he was arrested underSection 69 of SGST Act 2017,the SGST officials toldreporters here.

Fadnavis toface trial inaffidavit casePNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onTuesday told formerMaharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis to facetrial for allegedly failing tofurnish details of pendingcriminal cases in his 2014 pollaffidavit, as the judgement onhis election matter couldhave wider ramifications onthe candidates in the electoralfray.

Fadnavis insisted to reviewthe verdict in this matter.

A bench headed by JusticeArun Mishra and comprisingJustices Deepak Gupta andAniruddha Bose, after argu-ments on the matter reservedits verdict on its 2019 judge-ment asking Fadnavis to facetrial.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A speeding car hurtled off theBharath Nagar flyover in thewee hours of Tuesday, killingone person and injuring sixothers. This is the secondsuch incident in the city in lessthan three months.

The police identified thedriver of the car as Sunil. Dueto over speeding, Sunil lost co-ntrol of the vehicle andcrashed through the flyover'srailing, before landing on theroad below, police said.

Mohd Sohail, a hotel owner,one of the passengers, died onthe spot. The other occupantsof the car viz. Sunil, Irfan, As-hwak, Ghouse and Sohel sus-tained injuries. They are be-ing treated at Gandhi Hospital.

The incident occurredaround 02:15 AM on Tuesday,

when the group of friendswere heading towards Errag-adda from Bharath Nagar.Some persons standing under-neath the flyover narrowlymissed being hit when the carcame crashing down.

Sanathnagar Police sub-inspector Narasimha Goud,said that the car landed on theside where Sohail was sitting,due to which, he sufferedmultiple injuries and died onthe spot.

1 killed, 6 hurt as carcareens off flyover

The bank, which hasstruggled to keeppace with leaner andmore focused rivals,is seeking to becomemore competitive

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CAPSULE

Lord appears inbewitchingMohini avatarVIJAYAWADA: In His bewitchingMohini avatar Lord KalyanaVenkateshwara took out for acelestial ride on the tastefullydecked palanquin asJaganmohini accompanied byChinni Krishna on Tiruchi on thefifth day of the ongoing annualBrahmotsavams at SrinivasaMangapuram on Tuesdaymorning. Devotees thronged themada streets offering aarati andwere blessed as the Lord'sensemble parade comprisingdrumbeaters of Kerala, chakkabhajans and kolatas all along theprocession. Mohini avatar is amystic presentation of the Lordin His endeavour of protectingthe good in the world. Deputyexecutive officer Yellappa, AEODhananjayudu, superintendentChengalrayulu, main priest BalajiRangacharyulu, Inspector AnilKumar participated.

Somaskanda Murthytakes celestial rideVIJAYAWADA: Sri SomaskandaMurthy took celestial ride onTiruchi to bless devotees on fifthday of annual Brahmotsavams ofSri Kapileswara temple onTuesday morning. His grandprocession on the streets ofTirupati with its ensemble ofbhajans, and mangala vadyamswas a spectacle of devotionalfervour. Deputy executive officerSubramanyam, superintendentBhupathi Raju, AVSO Surendraand others took part.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 vijayawada 02

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HYDERABAD 365VIJAYAWADA 398VISAKHAPATNAM 417RETAIL PPRICE `3.98

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `119

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

Th erecentIncome

Tax raid on P.Srinivas Rao, for-

mer personal sec-retary of

TDP supremo N.Chandrababu Naidu

is by all accounts onemore attempt by YSRCP chiefYS Jaganmohan Reddy to cor-ner his political bête noire.

If one takes stock of therecent developments, it can beassumed that Jagan is doing hisbest not only to get close toPrime Minister NarendraModi but also ensure thatNaidu is kept at a distancefrom the BJP.

The reported detection ofillegal transactions worth Rs2,000 crore during the I-Traids has already dented theTDP’s, as well as Naidu’s rep-utation. It may be argued thatthe I-T sleuths found only Rs2.60 lakh in the residence ofNaidu’s PS, but the fact

remains that the figure of Rs2,000 crore immediatelyattracts one’s attention andthe TDP will find it difficult toconvince people otherwise.

The I-T raids are likely to setoff a chain of events that havethe possibility of transfixingpolitical observers across thecountry, especially Delhi.

On the ground however,cadre of both the YSRCP andTDP say that such tactics willput a full-stop to any presidentof a political party would onlybe a dream.

The history between Naiduand Jagan has always been bit-ter and there does not appearto be any possibility of cordial-ity between the two, at least notin the foreseeable future.

During 2014-19, Naidu heldall the political aces and did hisbest to clip the wings of Jaganwith a view to ensure his safefuture. He exerted pressure onthe Modi government to inten-sify investigation into the casesbeing probed by the CBI and

get Jagan jailed by cancellinghis bail in several DA cases.

Had the Centre acquiesced,Jagan would have found him-self behind bars by the time the2019 general elections came.However, Modi didn't yield toNaidu despite their friend-ship for various reasons, butworked to garner everybody'ssupport irrespective of ideol-ogy.

Interestingly, there is little to

differentiate between Jaganand Naidu when it comes todealing with the Muslim com-munity.

It may be recalled thatNaidu, as Chief Minister ofundivided AP, backtracked onwhat he preached in themidterm elections for the LokSabha in February, 1998. Thepolitical approach of Naidu inpost-poll scenario was entire-ly contrary to what he had said

during electioneering. He hadlaunched scathing attacks onthe BJP, describing it as a partythat demolishes mosques. Afterelections, he joined hands withthe BJP justifying the move bysaying that it was only to keepCongress from power.

Naidu went on to break thebackbone of United Front, thethird force that was alternativeto both the Congress and BJP.

Despite these flip-flops,

Naidu never faced an adversepolitical situation for himselfin AP, and was least botheredabout aversion amongMuslims for his proximity tothe Vajpayee-led NDA regime.

His stand was vindicated byhis party's thumping victory in1999 elections in which theTDP bagged 29 of the 42 LokSabha seats in undivided AP.Reaping dividends from thealliance, the BJP won sevenseats, its best ever performancein AP till date. Congress couldonly win only five seats, despitebeing led by a political stalwartlike YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

Now, Jagan is followingNaidu when it comes to theMuslim community. A case inpoint was the controversialCitizenship Amendment Act,which the YSRCP supporteddespite absence of any formalrequest by the BJP. This wasdespite the YSRCP enjoyingthe support of Muslims in APbecause of its secular image ithad built by maintaining dis-

tance from the BJP in pre-2019political situation.

According to an internalsurvey conducted at the behestof the YSRCP, there will not beany considerable backlashfrom Muslims if the partyfavours CAA, as its impactwould be negligible in AP.

In other words, Muslimswill understand the situationbeing faced by YSRCP andparty will assure the commu-nity that it will safeguard theirinterests.

However, Deputy ChiefMinister Amzath Basha’sthreats that he would resign inthe event of the YSRCP joiningthe NDA has alarmed the partyand the Jagan government.

This development stunnedthe YSRCP, especially sinceBasha was mum when hisparty supported CAA inParliament.

Basha is likely to be pacifiedby the leadership for the timebeing, but his dissidence hasalready made an impact among

the minority community. Minister Botsa

Satyanarayana might not haveconveyed the hidden messageregarding YSRCP joining theNDA which means sharingpower with the BJP. The BJPleadership might be inclinedtowards the YSRCP as thiswould boost the NDA strengthin the Rajya Sabha.

If indeed the YSRCP joinsthe NDA government, paral-lels can be drawn betweenNaidu and Jagan and theircapacity to influence the pre-vious and present NDA gov-ernments. Naidu was the life-line for NDA-1 with his 29-strong force of MPs, whileJagan, despite having 22 MPs,has little to offer the BJP in theLok Sabha. It is only in theRajya Sabha that he would bebeneficial to the BJP.

By trying to keep the TDPaway from the NDA, Jagan hasindicated that he does notwant to face a TDP-BJP-JanaSena alliance in 2024.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

During 2014-19, Naidu held allthe political aces and did hisbest to clip the wings of Jaganwith a view to ensure his safefuture. He exerted pressure onthe Modi government to intensifyinvestigation into the casesbeing probed by the CBI and getJagan jailed by cancelling hisbail in several DA cases

PINPOINT

I-T raids reveal Jagan’s game-plan for Naidu

Govt cracks whip againstschools violating normsC PRADEEPn VIJAYAWADA

The YSRCP government hastaken several measures torevamp the education sector inthe State. The main step isbeing introduction of Englishmedium in governmentschools. Though the opposi-tion parties cried foul over thedecision stating that the gov-ernment is neglecting mothertongue Telugu and givingprominence to English, but thegovernment went ahead.

In this regard, the govern-ment has taken initiative anddecided to impart training toteachers to teach in Englishmedium from Class I to VIfrom the academic year 2020-21. The other initiative wasMana-Badi Naadu-Nedu, whichwas launched to improve infra-structure in government schoolsacross the State.

The government was con-ducting surprise inspections onprivate schools and colleges tosee whether they are followingthe prescribed norms andguidelines framed by thedepartment.

The government has takenan initiative to conduct sur-prise inspections on privateschools and colleges and they

selected 130 schools and 130junior colleges in the State. Theeducational department offi-cials conducted surpriseinspection and identified thatmany schools have been violat-ing the rules and regulations.

As many as 20 officials ineach district carried out inspec-tions without prior notice tothe managements of institu-tions. Officials probed intothe standards being main-tained by institutions and iden-tified many schools and col-leges breach the guidelinesframed by the educationdepartment. Officials identifiedthat many schools and collegeswere collecting exorbitant fees

from students.Speaking to The Pioneer,

Andhra Pradesh SchoolEducation RegulatoryCommission chairman JusticeR Kantha Rao said that sternaction will be taken against themanagements of those privateschools and colleges for violat-ing the rules and guidelines ofthe department.

The Commission chairmanstated that the departmentofficers inspected institutionson facilities being provided tostudents like infrastructure,fee, number of students pereach class, teachers and stu-dents' ratio, classrooms, play-grounds, washroom facility,

library, laboratory and others.He said that officials noticed

that many institutes failed toprovide infrastructure, qualityeducation and collecting highfees, insufficient toilets, noqualified teachers, extra class-es for Class III to V.

Notices were served onthose schools and colleges,which failed in following therules, to rectify their defects.He said that action will betaken on CBSE, ICSC schoolsand colleges, which are not fol-lowing guidelines of thedepartment, said chairmanKantha Rao.

n Andhra Pradesh SchoolEducation RegulatoryCommission chairmanJustice R Kantha Rao saidthat stern action will betaken against themanagements of thoseprivate schools andcolleges for violating therules and guidelines ofthe department

n Notices were served onthose schools andcolleges, which failed infollowing the rules, torectify their defects

Businessmen sensitisedon export-import policyPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Andhra PradeshChambers of Commerce andIndustry Federation in asso-ciation with the DirectorateGeneral of Foreign Trade(DGFT), Visakhapatnam, hasorganised an awareness pro-gramme on export-importpolicy procedures underNiryat Bandhu scheme atYMCA Hall, Beach Road,here on Tuesday

The aim of the scheme ishelping new exporters andimporters by leveraging theknowledge base of officersand providing timely andappropriate support, said BNRamesh, Joint DirectorDGFT, Visakhapatnam.

Underscoring the need todevelop knowledge on exportproducts and export mar-kets, Ramesh sensitised ben-efits and incentives givenunder Niryat Bandhu scheme,an innovative programmelaunched by the Central gov-ernment to mentor first gen-eration entrepreneurs as apart of foreign trade policy.

Also, he highlighted themajor components ofschemes, which are prepara-tion, development and use ofNew Importer and ExporterCode (IEC) by the holder,monitoring new and potentialexporter through counselling

and training. J Sudhakar,branch manager from ExportCredit GuaranteeCorporation (ECGC),Visakhapatnam, shared thedetails of the procedure forthe traders on how they canavail the opportunities likecredit risk insurance, whichcovers the exporters againstloss in export of goods andservices.

He also explained the dif-ferent types of products avail-able for the exporters indetail. ECGC covers thebanks and financial institu-tions, which enable exportersto obtain better facilities fromthem.

Pydah Krishna Prasad,president elect of APChambers, termed the semi-nar to be very informativeand appreciated operations ofboth the ECGC and DGFT,while Zonal Chairman of APChambers Sudhir Mulagadasaid that the era of controllingauthorities have been replacedby exporter friendly regime,

which has made internation-al trade easier. The govern-ment is promoting the exportof services and goods by giv-ing incentives.

n BN Ramesh, JointDirector DGFT,Visakhapatnam,underscored theneed to developknowledge on exportproducts and exportmarkets

n He sensitised benefitsand incentives givenunder Niryat Bandhuscheme, aninnovativeprogramme launchedby the Centralgovernment tomentor firstgenerationentrepreneurs as apart of foreign tradepolicy

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Home Minister Mekathoti Suc-haritha released the final resultsof Assistant Public Prosecutor(APP) posts. Addressing themedia here on Tuesday, afterreleasing the final list here onTuesday, the Minister statedthat the notification to fill the 50posts of Assistant PublicProsecutors was issued onSeptember 30, 2019.

She informed that of the total50 posts, 49 were filled in the dueprocess and one post was left outas there is no eligible candidate.As many as 2,488 candidatesregistered for the examination ofwhich 1981 attended the exam.

She said that in the writtentest, 496 were qualified, while 97candidates attended the inter-

view. Finally, 49 were selectedand after verification of certifi-cates will undergo training in afew days.

Last time, the recruitmenttook place in 2013 but the train-ing was imparted in 2017. Butthis time, training will be impart-ed within a week. For the firsttime in history of the State, morethan 50 per cent of the posts arefilled with women, she said.

Sucharitha releasesresults of APP test

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Kommuri Kanaka Rao, chair-man of Madiga Finance Corpo-ration, said that it was the Chri-stian community that encour-aged the poor and the margin-alised sections in the educationand employment sectors.

Kanaka Rao was the chiefguest at BR Ambedkar andMahatma Jyotirao Phule Awardfunction held at the Press Clubhere on Tuesday organised byChristian Literary Academypresident M Prabhat Kumar.

Addressing a gathering,Kanaka Rao said the award'srecipients have more responsibil-ity and commitment towards thecommunity. They were asked totake on the responsibility of

leading the backward classes inthe education, employment andpolitics. Awards were given to DJPrabhakar Rao, K Chandra-sekhara, P Prabhu Sai, M SureshBabu, K Chittibabu, I Ramaiah,S Ranga Rao, P Mallikarjuna Raoand Rajasekhara.

Madiga FinanceCorpn chief allpraise for Christians IN ALL, 49 HAVE BEEN SELECTED

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for EndowmentsVelampalli Srinivas assuredthat he would try to bringChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy for theHazrat Syed Shah BukhariUrs, which will begin atKondapalli village from March4 to 6. He released a poster inthis regard at his office here onTuesday. Speaking on theoccasion, the minister saidthat the administration willtake an active part in organis-ing celebrations.

Hazrat Syed Shah BukhariUrs Committee chairman MdAltaf Raza said that they aremaking arrangements for cel-ebrating the urs on a grandnote. He further stated elabo-rate arrangements will be made

as lakhs of people are likely toparticipate in celebrations.Muslim leaders GMC Basha,

Karimullah, Wajid Khan, Irfan,Rafi, Chandbasha and otherswere present.

Syed Shah Bukhari Urscelebrations from March 4

Minister for Endowments Velampalli Srinivas releases a poster on Hazrat SyedShah Bukhari Urs in Vijayawada on Tuesday

RINL CELEBRATES 38TH FORMATION DAY

Pradhan exhorts RINL employees to strive, rededicate, increase efficiency PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Union Minister of Petroleum,Natural Gas and Steel DharmendraPradhan congratulated RINL onthe occasion of its 38th FormationDay and contribution towardsnation building.

He exhorted RINL employees tocontinue their strides rededicatingthemselves on this day for improv-ing every possible aspect of efficien-

cy in steel making in RINL andbanking on professional approach byidentifying opportunities to improvethe efficiency to produce environ-mental-friendly steel.

PK Rath, CMD, RINL-VSP,unveiled the Mahatma Gandhi stat-ue in the front lawns of the mainadministration building to mark theRINL Formation Day, along withDirectors. Rath and other dignitariespaid floral tributes to the Mahatma

on the occasion. Gandhi statuesculptured and cast with in-housetalent is going to be a main attrac-tion with the backdrop of a 100 feethigh mast national flag.

Speaking on the occasion, Rathexpressed his gratitude to people,who fought for the establishment ofthe steel plant here. While praisingdepartments involved in making anderecting the statue, Rath observedthat RINL collective proved their

dynamism, innovation and inherenttalent in making the statue with in-house talent. The statue weighingaround four tonnes is the first of itskind made with cast iron.

To mark the Formation Day cel-ebrations, Rath, CMD and Directorsof RINL, participated in a mass plan-tation drive at Ukkunagaram onTuesday.

PK Rath, CMD, RINL, presentedJawaharlal Nehru Awards to 83

employees, executives and non-exec-utives for their outstanding perfor-mance. Celebrations also marked cul-tural programmes by schoolchildrenof Ukkunagaram. A musical nite bynoted playback singer SonaMohapatra and party enthralled theaudience at the sprawling TrishnaGrounds in the township. KDhanajaya Rao, tollywood playbacksinger, memerised the audience withold and new Telugu songs.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 vijayawada 03

Scholarshipsdistributed to visually-challengedVIJAYAWADA: Help the BlindFoundation, an NGO fromChennai, has providedscholarships worth Rs 7.35lakh to 67 visually challengedstudents from Andhra LoyolaCollege and other colleges inVijayawada and Guntur.Scholarships were processedthrough Higher Education forthe Persons with Special Needs(HEPSN) wing of AndhraLoyola College. Scholarshipswere distributed on Tuesday onthe ALC premises. Managingtrustee of the NGO JV Ramanidistributed Rs 25,000 tohostellers and Rs 10,000 today-scholars. Principal of thecollege Fr GM VictorEmmanuel, correspondent FrSagayaraj, vice-principal(Degree) Fr S Melchior,coordinator of HEPSN Dr GSahaya Baskaran andvolunteers of HEPSN werepresent.

Former Collector releases poster on VITopia-2020 VIJAYAWADA: B LakshmiKantham, former Collector ofKrishna district and former JEO,TTD, released a poster onVITopia-2020 at the VIT-APcampus here on Tuesday.VITopia is the InternationalSports and Cultural Festival ofVIT-AP celebrated annually.Releasing the poster, the chiefguest stated that such culturalfestivals promote harmonyamong educational institutionsand creativity among students.He addressed the gathering on'Society Interest Vs Self Intere-st'. During his address, he em-phasised the importance ofculture, which is an integral partof ethics and values. CLV SivaKumar, Registrar, VIT-APUniversity, conveners ofVITopia-2020 M Kaylan Chakra-varthi and others were present.

CAPSULE

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB) sleuths conducted asurprise raid on the MunicipalCorporation Office in Gunturand seized

Rs 55,000 from the contractand outsourcing employeesand Rs 25,000 from the townplanning department.

According to ACB officials,raids were conducted as manycomplaints were lodged withthem against the TownPlanning department employ-ees from all corners. The raidswere conducted in order tomake the State as a corruption-free and provide transparentadministration to people.

Raids were conducted onSrikakulam Municipal Corpo-ration, Vizianagram MunicipalCorporation, Gajuwaka zone,Madhurawada zone, KakinadaMunicipal Coporation, Tade-palligudem Municipality,Vijayawada Municipal Corpo-ration, Guntur MunicipalCorporation, Ongole Munici-pal Corporation, NelloreMunicipal Corporation,

Tirupati Municipal Corpora-tion, Proddatur municipality,Yemmiganur municipality andKadiri municipality.

In Kakinada of EastGodavari district, ACB officialsconducted raids on municipalcorporation office, town plan-ning section and observedthat the process of planapprovals was being delayedand identified deviation inconstruction against theapproved plan.

In Greater Visakhapatnam

Municipal Corporation,Gajuvaka zone, five ACB offi-cials conducted a raid on theTown Planning section and ver-ified the records. DSP ShakilaBhanu, CI Lakshman Murthyand others conducted the raids.

ACB officials continuedraids on Town Planning sec-tion of Vijayawada MunicipalCorporation and verified therecords. The raid was conduct-ed under the supervision ofAdditional Superintendent ofPolice Maheswar Rao.

ACB conducts raids onmunicipal corporationsRs 80,000 was seized from Guntur Municipal Corporation office

Nani urges Paswan to release Rs 4,000 crorearrears from FCI to APPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for Civil SuppliesKodali Sri Venkateswara Rao(Nani) met Union Minister ofConsumer Affairs, Food andPublic Distribution Ram VilasPaswan on Tuesday and dis-cussed issues related to civilsupplies.

Speaking to the media hereon Tuesday, Kodali Nani saidthat he requested the UnionMinister to release arrears ofRs 4,000 crore from FoodCorporation of India to theState. He said the UnionMinister was asked to permitto increase the space in FCIgodowns in order to store themore paddy procured fromfarmers.

The Central governmenthas recognised only 92 lakhrice cards and he urged torecognise 1.3 crore rice cardsin the State, he said.

The State government hasrelaxed the guidelines to issuerice cards to more number ofbeneficiaries. After issuing feereimbursement cards and

Aarogyasri health cards, near-ly nine lakh rice card benefi-ciaries have come forwardvoluntarily to surrender theirrice cards, he said.

l The State government hasrelaxed the guidelines toissue rice cards to morenumber of beneficiaries,said Minister for CivilSupplies Kodali SriVenkateswara Rao (Nani)

l Nearly nine lakh rice cardbeneficiaries have comeforward voluntarily tosurrender their rice cards,he said

INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Vizag only city in southIndia to get UN's supportPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Visakhapatnam is the onlypilot city in South India andamong the six in the countryselected by the United NationsIndustrial DevelopmentOrganisation (UNIDO) andDepartment for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade(DPIIT) in a bid to establishinclusive and sustainableindustrialisation practices.

The other five cities areVaranasi, Muzaffarpur, Solan,Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri.This is exclusively focused onfacilitating inclusive and sus-tainable industrialisation tocreate comprehensive and inte-grated models with examples atdistrict-level that can be repli-cated elsewhere.

On Tuesday, as a part of theflagship UNIDO IndiaCountry Program (CP), theDPIIT, in collaboration withAndhra Pradesh's Departmentof Industries and organised aninteractive session with MSMEunits on 'Inclusive and sustain-able industrialisation’.

Mekapati Goutham Reddy,Minister for Industries, IT,Skill Development & Trainingand Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao,Minister for Tourism, Cultureand Youth Advancement, alongwith Rene Van Berkel, UNIDOrepresentative from UNIDORegional Office India; JVNSubramanyam, Director ofIndustries & Commerce, CEO,Andhra Pradesh EconomicDevelopment Board, Vinay

Chand, District Collector,Vishakapatanam, Rajeev Vijh,Director, UNIDOInternational Centre forInclusive and SustainableIndustrial Development (IC-ISID), and Srinivas ShankarPrasad, CEO, Empower MSMETrust, took up questions andalso suggestions from the par-ticipants.

This day-long sessionbrought respective ministers,industry bodies, industry rep-resentation, government offi-cials, UNIDO representativesunder single roof to discuss onstrengthening the industrialecosystem in textiles and gar-ments, food processing, phar-maceutical, general manufac-turing of auto componentsand other sectors.

Entrepreneurs from AutoNagar in Gajuwaka, especially

depending on the PSUs fortheir business, put forth theirproblems in getting bulk ordersand need of government helpin common manufacturing ortesting facilities and preferenceto the local traders. The man-ufacturing units are sufferingdue to unavailability ofrequired manpower, infra-structure in terms of technol-ogy upgradation.

The UNIDO CP is particu-larly aimed at unleashing pro-ductive and resilient Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs), create solutions forclimate, resources and environ-ment; inclusive and responsi-ble value chains and businessand strategic policy formula-tion for industrial transforma-tion.

Industries MinisterGoutham Reddy exuded con-

fidence that UNIDO-DPIITinitiative for inclusive and sus-tainable industrialisation inVisakhapatnam will translate togrowth for all and percolates toimprove the living standards ofall and benefits should beshared equitably.

Rene Van Berkel, UNIDOrepresentative from UNIDORegional Office, India, saidVisakhapatnam should bestrengthened to set an examplefor sectoral efficiency, techni-cal skill equipped and estab-lishing a strong network ofsmall scale manufacturing.

He emphasised that this dis-trict-level promotion ofstrengthening industrialecosystem is the need of thehour and they are soon to takeup base line study to identifysectors and equip capacities ofinstitutes and engineering col-leges in industrial skills for thenext three years.

Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Youth Advancementlights a lamp to inaugurate an interactive session with MSME units on 'Inclusiveand sustainable industrialisation’ in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday

n The other five cities areVaranasi, Muzaffarpur,Solan, Sindhudurg andRatnagiri

n This is exclusivelyfocused on facilitatinginclusive andsustainableindustrialisation tocreate comprehensiveand integrated modelswith examples atdistrict-level that can bereplicated elsewhere

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Students should be the agentsof change to serve society bybeing the aspirants of IAS, IPSand other posts, which can beachieved through goal setting,choosing the right path, beingpositive, having confidence,courage, hard work, thinkingand dreaming high by improv-ing subject knowledge, com-munication skills, opined VaniMohan, Commissioner andthe Registrar of CooperativeSocieties. She further statedthat doing online courses willhelp a lot to achieve success inlife and also in serving thenation, she pointed out.

She was the chief guest at the13th National LevelManagement Meet 'SAMAN-VAY-2020', which was organ-ised under the aegis of the PGDepartment of BusinessAdministration of Maris StellaCollege on Tuesday. Guests ofhonour GV Raghu Ram, Vice-President, Power Mech ProjectsLimited, Hannah Anuhya, vice-principal, degree section,Malathi, Smitha, Pranavi,Prameela and other facultyand students were present.

3 sisters go missing from Vizag PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Three sisters reportedly wentmissing from their home atDwarakanagar area inVisakhapatnam city. The girls,happens to be siblings, have lefthome on February 11 eveningand did not return.

They were identified asMindi Anuradha (22), Tulasi(20) and Komali (17). Theyoungest is studying B Sc inBVK College in the city. Theincident came to light afterDwaraka police registered amissing case on Monday latenight based on a complaintlodged by the father of the girlsMindi Yerram Naidu, whoworks as a watchman in anapartment at Dwarakanagararea.

According to Dwarakapolice, the girls reportedly lefthome at 5.30 pm on Monday.As they did not return hometill evening, their parentsstarted searching for themfrantically.

They a lso received amobile text message fromtheir daughter number thatthey left home intentionallyand not to look out for themas they were ending their

lives. Cell phones of the threegirls are switched off.

It was learnt that at around2 pm on Tuesday, parentsreceived another message fromthe girls, who said that theywere safe and also appealed totake care of their health.According to sources, parents

suspect that the girls are inChennai.

However, as a part of theirsearch, Dwaraka police formedthree teams and checkingCCTV footage at various partsof the city, including bus sta-tions, railway station and alsoenquiring with travel agents.

l The incident came to lightafter Dwaraka policeregistered a missing caseon Monday late nightbased on a complaintlodged by the father of thegirls Mindi Yerram Naidu,who works as a watchmanin an apartment atDwarakanagar area

l It was learnt that at around 2pm on Tuesday, parentsreceived a message from thegirls, who said that they weresafe and also appealed to takecare of their health

l According to sources, parentssuspect that the girls are inChennai

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Indian Navy's Annual RefitConference (ARC) and AnnualInfrastructure Conference (AIC)commenced on Tuesday at theEastern Naval Command, head-quarters, here on Tuesday.

The two-day conferencechaired by Vice-Admiral GSPabby, Chief of Materiel (COM),Integrated Headquarters,Ministry of Defence (Navy), isbeing attended by all the stake-holders representing the NavalHeadquarters, three NavalCommands, the Tri-ServicesAndaman & Nicobar Commandat Port Blair, Dockyards, RepairYards and MaterialOrganisations of the Navy.

The delegates will deliberateupon refit plans for all ships andsubmarines of the Indian Navyand formulate plans for infra-structure augmentation to meetthe growing requirements of theIndian Navy. Delivering theinaugural address, Vice-AdmiralAtul Kumar Jain, Flag Officer

Commanding-in-Chief, ENC,welcomed the delegates andappreciated the dedicated effortsbeing put in by one and all inensuring combat availability ofNaval platforms.

Role of the Naval RepairYards towards the sustainedoperation of platforms at sea waslauded. The Chief of Materiel(COM), during his address,complimented the forum forensuring quality refits of ships

and submarines, with a focus onthe safety of personnel andmaterial. During the course ofthe conference, technical andlogistics aspects concerningrefits were deliberated at lengthwith a special emphasis onenhanced efficiency/capability ofsea-going units. He also urgedall concerned to focus on greaterindigenisation in keeping withthe spirit of the 'Make in India'initiative.

Indian Navy reviews refit of ships, submarines at ENC

Participants Annual Refit Conference strike a pose at Eastern Naval Command inVisakhapatnam on Tuesday

Fadnavis toface trial inaffidavit case

Continued from Page 1

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing forFadnavis, contended beforethe top court this matter hasthe potential for far reach-ing consequences on othercandidates in the poll frayand the apex court needs tore-examine its October 1,2019 decision.

Rohtagi submitted as perSection 33 A (1) of theRepresentat ion of thePeoples Act, 1951, therewas no requirement to fur-nish information on crim-inal case unless chargeshave been framed by a trialcourt.

CM confident ofCentre’s nod...

Continued from Page 1

Though Jagan had taken upthe matter personally withUnion Home Minister AmitShah last year, and his admin-istration followed up with theCentre, the proposal was keptpending as officials in theMHA were of the view that itwas not in accordance with theAll India Service rules.

Soon after Jagan made itclear that he wanted Ravindraheading the Intelligence wing,the Telangana state govern-ment gave its 'no-objection' toRavindra's request for inter-cadre deputation.

As per service rules, inter-cadre transfer is permittedfor All-India Service officerson marriage to another mem-ber of the All-India Servicewhere the officer or officers

concerned have sought a ch-ange or encountered extremehardship in the rarest of cases.

Inter cadre transfer is notpermitted to the home state ofan officer. The service rulesalso state that "extreme hard-ship" includes threat to the lifeof the officer or his/her imme-diate family and severe healthproblems to the officer or hisimmediate family due to theclimate or environment of thestate to which he is allotted.

According to sources, offi-cials of the DoPT are reluctantto approve Ravindra's inter-cadre transfer as they had totake into consideration the ser-vice rules and also wanted toavoid setting a precedent thatwill come in handy for otherbureaucrats across the country,many of whom would like togo on inter-cadre deputation.

1 killed, 6 hurt as carcareens off flyover...

Continued from Page 1

CCTV footage obtained froma camera right below the crashsite showed visuals of the carhurtling down the flyover andcrashing on the road. The areaunderneath the flyover serves asa popular vegetable market,which, because of night fall, hadonly a few workers when themishap took place. Accordingto an auto driver who livesnearby, the workers narrowlyescaped being crushed, as theystarted running the momentthey heard a loud crash whenthe car hit the flyover's railing.The car, registered in the nameof a Gopal Goud L, has unpaidchallans from the year 2014worth Rs 840. The Sanath NagarPolice registered a case. Thecrash site drew a huge numberof curious passersby who peeped

from the top to catch a glimpseof the crashed car below, caus-ing a traffic jam, with vehiclesbeing stuck as far as two kilome-tres away. In the previous inci-dent, a speeding car fell off thenewly inaugurated BiodiversityFlyover on November 23 lastyear, killing a woman and injur-ing four others underneath.Although the Raidurgam Policehave concrete evidence of overspeeding by the driver of the car,the accused, identified asKalvakuntla Krishna Milan Rao,has not been arrested yet.

CCTV visuals obtained afterthe incident showed the car zip-ping at 106 kmph at the time ofthe accident. However, Rao'slawyers blatantly argue thattheir client was driving withinthe speed limit, and blamed themishap on 'faulty design' of theflyover.

CM: Cancer curable, no cure for Naidu's acidic attitudeContinued from Page 1

The Rs 560 crore 'KantiVelugu' scheme was launched onOctober 10 last year to rectify thevision defects of over 2.12 crorepeople in the state. It will beimplemented in six phasesspread over three years.

Under Phase-I, 66,15,467 stu-dents of 60,401 schools were cov-ered.In the preliminary screen-ing, 4,36,979 children were iden-tified with eye problems.

In the second phase, 1,34,252children with vision defects wereidentified for distribution ofspectacles, but so far only 56,767

were distributed while another77,485 "are under process",according to information provid-ed by the Chief Minister's Office.

Phase-3 of the programmewill be conducted till July 31,2020 to cover the targeted 56.88lakh people.

In all, 500 teams from govern-

ment and private eye hospitalshave been identified to conductthe secondary eye screening inthe villages.

In fact, 85 per cent of promis-es made in YSRCP manifestohave been implemented evenbefore the government turningone year in office.

Continued from Page 1

Skilled manpower, theminister said, will attractindustries to the state andhence the state governmentwas planning big to makethe students job-ready witha vigorous industry-acade-mic model and establishingSki l l DevelopmentUniversity. According tohim, 25 skill developmentschools will come up at var-ious places in the stateunder the ambit of the SkillDevelopment University.

Besides, four Centres ofExcellence (CoE) will alsobe opened to analyze theskills required by the jobmarket and prepare thetraining module accord-ingly.

"We will present the finalreport on the establish-ment of the varsity within45 days to the state govern-ment," Goutham Reddysaid, speaking about theprogress made on the pro-posal. Earlier, AP govern-ment has issued a GO,mandating private organi-sations to reserve 75 percent of jobs to locals. OnTuesday, representativesfrom various industrial sec-tors pointed out theunavailability of local man-power to cater to thedemand.

Skill to powernew industrialpolicy: Goutham

First traderarrestedunder SGST...

HC reservesorder onshifting

Continued from Page 1

The restructuring, one of thelargest undertaken by a blue chiplender for more than a decade,will be partly managed throughnatural attrition as people leavethe bank, he said.

The UK-based bank, whosehuge Asian operations are head-quartered in Hong Kong, saidthe coronavirus epidemic hadsignificantly impacted staff andcustomers. In the long run it

could reduce revenue and causebad loans to rise as supplychains are disrupted, Quinnsaid.The virus has killed almost1,900 people, overwhelmingly inmainland China, and infectedmore than 70,000, while its eco-nomic impact is spreadingacross the globe.

HSBC veteran Mr Quinn isauditioning for the permanentrole of CEO, which the bank saidin August would be announcedwithin six to 12 months.

Europe’s biggest bankHSBC to cut 35,000 jobs

Continued from Page 1

The officials of SGST pro-duced Sekhar before theDistrict Sessions Judge Courtand Special EconomicOffenses Court in Vizag cityon Tuesday. The court orderedjudicial remand and Sekharwas sent to Central Prison inVizag city. The officials saidthat further investigation is inthe case is on.

Continued from Page 1

The court asked the govern-ment why it was relocating thetwo offices to Kurnool insteadof shifting them to anotherbuilding in Amaravati. Thethree-member Bench askedthe government to submit anaffidavit. As per court direc-tions, the government submit-ted an affidavit to court onTuesday.

The affidavit attributed therelocation to inadequate spacein Secretariat. The affidavit alsohighlighted a proposal to relo-cate some of the offices notconnected to the Secretariat.There are plans to relocate atleast 10 government offices,including the offices ofCommissioner of Inquiriesand Vigilance Commissioner,to Kurnool as DistrictCollector of Kurnool submit-ted a report to governmentindicating availability of suit-able buildings there and hencethe relocation.

‘Students shouldbe agents of change’

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

Case against TN manfor derogatory tweetagainst Chidambaram SIVAGANGA (TN): A case wasregistered against a resident ofKaraikudi in this district for analleged 'derogatory andthreatening' tweet againstformer union minister PChidambaram and his son,police said on Tuesday. TheKaraikudi police registered thecaseagainst the man hailingfrom the town fortweetingagainst Chidambaram andhisson Karthi Chidambaram.While Chidambaram is a RajyaSabha MP, his son representsSivaganga constituency in theLok Sabha. The FIRwasregistered based ona complaintby A Palaniappan, a localCongress functionary.

Maha: Matka denbusted in Jalna, six arrested

MP: 13 Barasinghastranslocated toSatpura tiger reseveBHOPAL: As part ofconservation process, MadhyaPradesh forest department hasshifted 13 endangeredBarasinghas (swamp deer)from the Kanha Tiger Reserveto the Satpura Tiger Reserve, aforest official said on Tuesday.With the latest translocation onMonday, the total number ofswamp deer in the Satpuraspecial enclosure has gone upfrom 23 to 36, the official said."Barasingha"--the state animalof Madhya Pradesh--iscategorised as "extinct". It isfound only in the Kanha TigerReserve. In order to raise theirpopulation they were shiftedsuccessfully to Bhopal'sNational Van Vihar and SatpuraTiger Reserve (STR), wheretheir numbers are increasing,the official said. Earlier, 33swamp deer were translocatedto Satpura as part of theconservation programme.Following their increasingnumbers, some 20-25Barasinghas were released inthe wild, he added.

JALNA: Six persons werearrested and valuables worthRs 60 lakh were seized from analleged 'matka' (gambling) denin a residential building atDouble Jeen in Maharashtra'sJalna city, an official said onTuesday. The police received acomplaint about the matka denand raided the apartment ofMachindra Uttaram Athawale(63) on Monday, inspectorDevidas Shelke said. While sixpeople were caught red-handed, valuables worth Rs 60lakh including 12 smartphones, computers, printersand cash were seized from thepremises, he added. Oninterrogation, the arrestedaccused revealed that theracket was being run byShivling Chaggan Appa Veer, aresident Kabadi Mohalla ofJalna, the official said. Thepolice are on the look out forthe main accused in the case,he added.

‘British MP's visarevoked for heranti-India activities’

PNS n NEW DELHI

British lawmaker DebbieAbrahams' e-Business visa wasrevoked as she was involved inanti-India activities and thecancellation was conveyed toher on February 14, govern-ment sources said on Tuesday.

Asserting that the grant,rejection or revocation of avisa or electronic travel autho-risation is the sovereign rightof a country, the sources saidAbrahams was issued an e-Business visa on October 7 lastyear which was valid tillOctober 5, 2020 for attending

business meetings."Her e-Business visa was

revoked on February 14, 2020on account of her indulging inactivities which went againstIndia's national interest. Therejection of the e-Businessvisa was intimated to her onFebruary 14," a source said.

Abrahams, who chairs aBritish parliamentary group onKashmir, was denied entry intoIndia upon her arrival at theNew Delhi airport on Monday.Government officials had saidon Monday also that she wasinformed in advance that her e-visa had been cancelled.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has earmarked Rs 783crore in its 2020-21 budgetfor improvement of educa-tion and basic infrastruc-ture facilities under the'Pradhanmantri Jan VikasKaryakram' in minority-dominated areas.

"The budget has a provi-sion of Rs 783 crore forimprovement of education,sanitation, health, drink-ing water and basic infra-structure facilities underPM Jan Vikas Karkyakramin minority-dominatedareas," Finance MinisterSuresh Khanna said in hisbudget speech.

UP earmarks Rs 783 crorefor education

SUPERSTITIOUS REMARKS

Preacher IndurikarMaharaj apologisesPNS n AURANGABAD

Marathi 'kirtankar' (preacher)Nivrutti Maharaj Indurikaron Tuesday tendered an apol-ogy over his remarks on thetiming of intercourse and gen-der of child, seeking to end acontroversy on the issue. Hisapology came after state min-ister Bachchu Kadu saidMaharashtra government willnot file a case against him overthe remarks.

During his kirtan (sermon)at a hamlet in Ahmednagardistrict recently, the preacherreportedly said intercourse bya couple on an even datewould beget a male child,while on an odd date wouldresult in the birth of a girl.

The MaharashtraAndhashraddha NirmulanSamiti, a voluntary organisa-tion working to eradicatesuperstitious beliefs, hadsought a police case againstIndurikar Maharaj, alleging

that his comments violatedprovisions of the PCPNDTAct.

In a statement, IndurikarMaharaj said he was tenderingan apology if anyone's senti-ments were hurt by hisremarks. "In the last 26 yearsof my delivering kirtans, I hadstressed on fighting supe-rstition and other social ills...If my remarks hurt anyone'ssentiments, I apologise for it,"he said.

Covid19 outbreak hits industriesdependent on parts from ChinaPNS n AURANGABAD

The coronavirus outbreak hashit industries in Maharashtra'sAurangabad district, a promi-nent manufacturing hub, withcompanies finding it difficult toprocure substitutes for Chineseparts. Companies have startedsourcing products from othercountries to continue theirmanufacturing without inter-ruptions.

"Aurangabad has more than4,000 companies and some ofthem source parts from China.The coronavirus outbreak inChina has disturbed the supplychain of materials," formerchairman of Chamber ofMarathwada Industries andAgriculture (CMIA) PrasadKokil said.

The gap in the supply of rawmaterials can create problems,he said, adding that this is achance to look for substitutesand decrease the dependencyon Chinese parts.

The micro, small and medi-um enterprises can grab thisopportunity, Kokil said.Companies working in solarand energy sector have toimport parts from China, solarand energy equipment manu-facturer M P Sharma said.

"The production of solaritems has been impacted, as the

supply of raw materials fromChina has been disrupted. Wehave found new alternatives inVietnam and Taiwan," he said.

"Imported parts make 60 percent of our products. We needto buy them even if they are 13to 15 per cent costlier thanChinese imports," he added.

One of the manufacturerswho has invested Rs 3.5 crorein Chinese machines is unableto get his consignment, as hecan't send anyone to transportthe equipment from there,

industrialist Sunil Kirdak said.When asked if local MSMEs

can profit from this develop-ment, Confederation of IndianIndustry's zonal chairmanMukund Kulkarni said it wouldbe highly unlikely as the partswill have to be delivered in ashort span of time. "We canmake quality parts, but wemay not be able to meet the de-mands in a short span of time.Hence, imports will continue,only the countries we importfrom will change," he said.

Buddhist monks on wayto Pak stopped in Raj PNS n BARMER

Thirteen Buddhist monks on aglobal peace mission FromThailand to France had to returnfrom Barmer after they were notallowed to undertake furtherjourney to neighbouring Pakis-tan through Rajasthan's Muna-bao border. According to apolice official, they were stoppedfrom entering the area restrict-ed for foreigners in Barmer, over100 kilometres away from theIndo-Pakistan border.

Now, they will go to theAttari-Wagah border crossingfor their further journey intoPakistan, a police official said.

The monks have a valid visafor India and Pakistan.

Their leader said they were

carrying the message of globalpeace and will be covering near-ly 9,000 km from Thailand toFrance in this mission.

"A group of monks is on apeace journey and will go toPakistan from India. There wasno clarity over their route. Sincethey cannot cross the borderfrom here, they were asked to goto the Wagah border," BarmerCircle Officer Vijay Singh said.

UP BUDGET

Infrastructure push for AyodhyaPNS n LUCKNOW

With an aim to developAyodhya as a tourist attraction,the Uttar Pradesh governmentin its budget for 2020-21 hasmade a special provision of Rs500 crore for an airport in thecity. Apart from it, the state gov-ernment will spend Rs 85 croreon the development of a high-class infrastructure in the pil-grim city.

In the fourth budget of theYogi government in the state, Rs10 crore has been kept for therenovation of Tulsi SmarakBhawan in Ayodhya.

The budget also earmarkedRs 180 crore for setting up a cul-

tural centre in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's constituencyVaranasi and Rs 200 crore forthe expansion and beautifica-tion of the Kashi Vishwanathtemple.

The government also ear-marked Rs 18 crore for the con-struction of a "vedic vigyan

kendra" under Kashi HinduVishwavidyalaya.

The budget also provides forRs 8 crore subsidy for theKailash Mansarovar yatra andRs 10 lakh for Sindhu Darshan.

The budget proposed Rs 50crore to promote tourism unitsunder the Uttar PradeshTourism Policy-2018.

Development ofGarhmuketshwar in Hapur dis-trict to conserve cultural andancient heritage, developmentof water sports in Ramgarh Taalin Gorakhpur, construction ofheliports at important touristcentres and the implementationof 46 tourism schemes have alsobeen proposed in the budget.

Not mulling prohibition: Rajasthan ministerPNS n JAIPUR

Rajasthan's Parliamentary Affairsminister Shanti Dhariwal onTuesday said the government isnot contemplating a liquor banin the state.

Replying to a query byRashtriya Loktantrik Party MLAIndira Devi during Questionhour in the state Assembly,Dhariwal said the governmenthas announced an excise policywhich emphasises temperance.

The minister said a commit-tee, headed by the then addition-al chief secretary CS Rajan, wasformed on March 26, 2013 to dis-cuss proposals on liquor ban.

The committee submitted itsreport on September 10, 2013.The committee's view was that

liquor ban was not a practicalpolicy and temperance was theonly solution in Rajasthan, theminister said.

The government at present isnot considering a liquor ban inthe state. The government has

announced an excise policywhich emphasises temperance,Dhariwal said.

Some of the important direc-tions in the policy include strictcompliance of timing for open-ing and closure of liquor shops,

action on advertisementsencouraging liquor consump-tion, awareness on the sideeffects of liquor, ban on advertise-ments in liquor shops, penalty onconsuming liquor at public placesand ban on illegal liquor, he said.

Earlier, the opposition BJPstaged a walk out from theHouse over the reply ofAgriculture minister Lal ChandKataria on a question related toPM Crop Insurance Scheme.

The minister informed theHouse that the state governmentwill deposit premium amount ofRs 685.85 crore for Rabi crop for2019-20 for which the processhas been initiated. He also saidfarmers have deposited a premi-um of Rs 384.51 crore to insur-ance companies.

Festival to celebrate Indian heritagePNS n NEW DELHI

An upcoming festival will cel-ebrate India's cultural heritageand ethos through a series ofpanel discussions, classicaldance and music perfor-mances, plays, 'mushaira', andsufi music.

"Jashn-e-Hind", organisedby Delhi-based NGO Sakshi,will be held at the IndiraGandhi National Centre for theArts (IGNCA) from February21.

Aimed at reviving the India's"cultural legacy", the three-day event will feature 'ghazal','gurbani', 'qawwali', 'bhajan',and folk music performancesto highlight the "Ganga-Jamunitehzeeb".

"The festival will addresscontemporary issues of socialrelevance by raising aware-

ness in the community. It isaimed at reviving our richcomposite, cultural legacy. "The choice of programs willbear in mind that the ethosshould be in consonance withvalues of the 'Ganga Jamnitehzeeb', that is, living in amity,

harmony and with respect forlife and environment," MridulaTandon, president, Sakshi, said.

She added that the event willalso "bring to the fore and cel-ebrate the contribution" of thearmed forces including theparamilitary.

The multi-cultural event willhost leading names in the fieldof poetry including ShamsurRahman Faruqi, LaxmiShankar Bajpai, KunwarBechain, Moien Shadab, andMahesh Garg 'Bedhadak'.

It will also witness participa-tion by classical dancers likeBirju Maharaj, ShovanaNarain, Yamini and BhavnaReddy, Priti Patel, and GeetaChandran's troupe, as well asmusical stalwarts like qawwali-singing Sabri brothers, flautistAjay Prasanna, Rajasthanivocalist Sudesh Sharma amongothers.

Other participating speakersinclude, lyricist Piyush Mishra,literary critic Shamim Hanfi,psychiatrist Nimesh Desai, andparalympian Ranveer Saini.

The festival will come to anend on February 23.

Actor, ex-MP Tapas Paul deadPNS n AURANGABAD

Veteran Bengali actor and for-mer Trinamool Congress MPTapas Paul died of a cardiacarrest in a Mumbai hospitalearly Tuesday, his wife said. Hewas 61.

Paul, who had a long histo-ry of heart problems, wasadmitted to a private hospitalin Mumbai, where he hadgone to meet his daughter inJanuary.

The two-term former MPfrom Krishnanagar, whomoved away from both cine-ma and active politics after theCBI arrested him in the RoseValley chit-fund scam inDecember 2016, is survived byhis daughter Sohini and wifeNandini.

According to Nandini Paul,the actor was rushed to hospi-tal on February 1 after he fellill at the Mumbai airport on hisway to the United States fortreatment.

The actor-politician, knownfor films such as "Saheb" and"Amar Bandhan", was on theventilator till February 6.

"He was taken off the ven-

tilator and was recovering, butsuddenly his condition wors-ened and he died of cardiacarrest around 3.30 am onTuesday," Nandini Paul told.

Paul had been sufferingfrom heart ailments and beenin and out of hospitals fortreatment during the past twoyears.

He was born inChandannagar in Hooghlydistrict and graduated fromHooghly Mohsin College inbioscience.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said in hercondolence message that Paul'sdeath had left a deep void infilms and politics.

"Saddened and shocked tohear about the demise of Tapas

Paul. He was a superstar ofBengali cinema who was amember of the Trinamool fam-ily. Tapas served the people asa two-term MP and MLA. Wewill miss him dearly. My con-dolences to his wife Nandini,daughter Sohini and his manyfans," Banerjee tweeted.

A romantic hero, havingendeared himself to the Bengaliaudience since his debut film"Dadar Kirti" in 1980, Paulbecame a household namewith his leading roles in"Parabat Priya" (1984),"Bhalobasa Bhalobasa" (1985),"Anurager Choyan" and "AmarBandhan" (1986). He madehis Bollywood debut in HirenNag's "Abodh" (1984) oppositeMadhuri Dixit Nene.

The actor-politician,known for filmssuch as "Saheb"and "AmarBandhan", was onthe ventilator tillFebruary 6

PNS n ALIGARH (UP)

A Samajwadi Party leader'sson was shot dead during a vio-lent clash that broke out hereafter a "road rage" incidentinvolving them and a local BJPpolitician's son, police said onTuesday. They said 20-year-oldSachin, son of a district-level SPleader Puranmal Prajapati, waskilled Monday night inPalasahibabad locality in SasniGate area as the argument fol-lowing the collision betweentwo motorcycles led to stone-pelting and firing. At least sixpeople, including the deceased'syounger brother and a police-man, were injured in the clash,the police said.

Aligarh SPleader's sonshot dead in‘road rage'

PNS n NEW DELHI

The central government hasrenamed Institute for DefenceStudies and Analyses (IDSA),a government think tank, asManohar Parrikar Institutefor Defence Studies andAnalyses in order to "honourthe commitment and legacy"of the late defence minister.

Parrikar, who was defenceminister from November 9,2014 to March 14, 2017, died onMarch 17 last year in Panaji atGoa due to pancreatic cancer.

He steered the DefenceMinistry "through the toughchallenges of attacks likePathankot and Uri andresponded to these with exem-plary boldness", said a govern-ment statement on Tuesday.

"An epitome of integrityand dedication in public life,throughout his career, lateManohar Parrikar showed atremendous fighting spirit,taking on the odds with fear-lessness," the statement noted.

When Parrikar was the

defence minister, India wit-nessed a series of decisions that"enhanced its security capacities,boosted indigenous defenceproduction and bettered thelives of ex-servicemen", it said.

His "biggest" contributionwas towards the implementa-tion of long-standing OneRank One Pension (OROP)demand for the armed forces,the statement said.

The renaming of the IDSA"will align the vision and aspi-ration of the premier defenceinstitute with the contributionof the former Raksha Mantriand Padma Bhushan awardee",said the statement.

NCOV SCARE:

Med teams to screenvisitors to WB for Urs PNS n MIDNAPORE

A special medical team hasbeen deployed to screen pil-grims arriving in this WestBengal town from countriessuch as Bangladesh,Indonesia, Sri Lanka andPakistan to take part in theannual Urs festival, amid thescare of novel coronavirus,officials said on Tuesday.

Lakhs of Bengali-speak-ing Muslims from acrossIndia and several countries inthe region have been comingto the Midnapore town inWest Midnapore district tooffer flowers, 'chaddar' and itrto the shrine of saint SyedShah Mehr Ali Alquadri AlBaghdadi on the occasion forover a hundred years.

This year marks the 119thanniversary of the Urs. Atrain carrying 2,321 pilgrimsfrom Dhaka in Bangladesharrived here on Monday.Among the passengers, 994

were female and 106 children.A district official said ade-

quate police arrangements havebeen made for the Urs festivaland to facilitate the pilgrims.

Medical teams have alsobeen deployed to screen peo-ple arriving here from foreigncountries amid the scare ofnovel coronavirus, he said.

The teams have beendeputed at the Midnaporerailway station to screen thepilgrims for symptoms of thedisease and only after thatthey are being allowed toenter the town, the officialsaid. The Urs, which beganon Monday, will continuetill Wednesday.

The gap in the supply of raw materialscan create problems, he said, addingthat this is a chance to look forsubstitutes and decrease thedependency on Chinese parts

He steered the DefenceMinistry “through thetough challenges ofattacks like Pathankotand Uri and respondedto these with exemplaryboldness”

Centre renamesdefence instituteafter Parrikar

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Vice President to attendShivarathri celebratonsat Isha Yoga CentreCOIMBATORE: Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu will participatein the Mahashivarathricelebrations at Isha Yoga Centrenear here on February 21. Tightsecurity cover will be made inand around the city duringNaidu's visit, police said onTuesday. Naidu is expected toarrive in the city around noon onFriday and will head to IshaYoga Centre, some 25 km away,by helicopter as per the initialtravel plan. Security will betightened across the 25-kmstretch as Naidu is expected toreturn to the city by road in thenight and stay at Circuit House,police sources said. TheMahashivratri celebrations willcommence at 6 p.m and go ontill 6 a.m the next day, in front of112-feet tall Adiyogi statuewhere Isha Foundation founderSadhguru Jaggi Vasudev willjoin thousands of people fromall over the world.

Maha: Thane Mayorannounces crackdownon hawkers

Kejriwal meets LG Anil BaijalNEW DELHI: AAP ConvenorArvind Kejriwal on Tuesday metLt Governor Anil Baijal, a dayafter the Delhi chief ministerand his cabinet colleagues tookcharge of their respectiveoffices. An official said themeeting took place at the LGSecretariat. The meeting comesa day before the first cabinetmeeting of the new AAPgovernment.

THANE: Thane mayor NareshMhaske announced acrackdown on hawkers in thecity and directed the ThaneMunicipal Corporation to ensurethat roads and footpaths arehawker-free. Addressing a meetat the civic body in Maha'sThane city on Monday, he saidfootpaths and roads weremeant for citizens and theyshould be free at all times. "Iwant torid footpaths and roadsof hawkers for Thane citizens,"he said. "Even if hawkers'associations agitate against me,take out a morcha or burn myeffigy I don't care. I will ensurethat roads and footpaths arefree of hawkers," the mayorsaid. He directed the civicadministration to act on thematter immediately.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court directed the CBIon Tuesday to hand over to PChidambaram and his sonKarti certain documents filedalong with the charge sheet inthe INX Media corruptioncase. Special Judge Ajay KumarKuhar issued the direction tothe CBI during the hearing inthe INX Media corruptioncase. The court was also hear-ing the money laundering caselodged by the EnforcementDirectorate.

The Chidambarams werepresent in the court.

Chidambaram was takeninto custody on August 21when he was arrested by theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) in INX Media corrup-tion case.

On October 16, the EDarrested him in the separatemoney-laundering case.

Six days later, on October22, the apex court had grant-ed him bail in the case lodgedby the CBI.

On December 4, after 105

days of custody, Chidambaramwas granted bail by theSupreme Court in the moneylaundering case lodged by the ED.

Karti is also currently out onbail in both cases.

CBI had registered its caseon May 15, 2017, alleging

irregularities in a ForeignInvestment Promotion Boardclearance granted to INXMedia group for receivingoverseas funds of Rs 305 crorein 2007 during Chidambaram'stenure as finance minister.

Thereafter, ED had lodgedthe money laundering case.

INX MEDIA CASE

Court directs CBI to handover certain documents to PC

PNS n PATNA

Poll strategist-turned-politi-cian Prashant Kishor onTuesday mocked Bihar ChiefMinister NitishKumar foraligning with the BJP in hisquest for power, and said theJD(U) leader cannot be wed-ded to Gandhian ideals andstand with those who supportGodse at the same time.

Addressing a crowded pressconference here, the first sincehis expulsion from the JD(U),which Kumar heads, Kishorasserted that the chief minis-ter has been a "father figure" tohim even before he formallyjoined the party and so hewished to speak no ill of him.

Kishor, however, acknowl-edged that he had differenceswith Kumar over the contra-diction in his avowed commit-ment to the principles ofGandhi and his tie-up with theBJP, the party the poll strategistsought to identify with theMahatma's assassin NathuramGodse.

"Nitish ji has always said thathe cannot leave the ideals ofGandhi, JP and Lohia... At thesame time, how can he be withthe people who support theideology of Godse? Both can-not go together. If you want tostay with the BJP, I don't haveany problem with it but youcannot be on both sides,"Kishore said.

"There has been a lot of dis-

cussion between me and Nitishji on this. He has his thoughtprocess and I have mine. Therehave been differences betweenhim and me that the ideologiesof Godse and Gandhi cannotstand together. As the leader ofthe party you have to saywhich side you are on," headded.

He also said that unlike theJD(U) rank and file for whomthe chief minister's accom-plishments in governance hadbecome the "gold standard", hehad been candid enough topoint out that being a betterperformer than the past RJDgovernments will not sufficesince the state still laggedbehind most others in terms ofdevelopment.

Kishor, whose first claim to

fame was his handling ofNarendra Modi's prime minis-terial campaign of 2014,seemed to be still smartingunder Kumar's statement thathe was inducted into the JD(U)on the recommendation ofAmit Shah.

"My association with variouspolitical parties as a strategistis well known. I have neverkept it a secret. But I had notjoined the JD(U) as an agent ofsome other party. If speakinga lie makes things easier forNitish Kumar, then I grant thisto a man who is like a fatherfigure to me," he said.

Kishor said that in 2014,when Kumar had fought theLok Sabha polls alone afterhaving parted ways with theBJP and was drubbed, return-

ing with only two seats, "he wasstill the pride of Bihar".

"Compare that with the sit-uation today when a Gujaratileader from another party (anallusion to Shah) has to give theassurance that Kumar will bethe NDA leader in the assem-bly polls as if he was not theleader of the people of the statebut a manager of a firm,"Kishor said.

"Bihar cannot bear to see itsleader becoming a 'pichhlaggu'(piggybacking). Nitish Kumar,who had once famouslythwarted Narendra Modi fromcampaigning for the BJP inBihar, cut a sorry figure recent-ly when he spoke at rallies inDelhi assembly polls like amere sidekick while Shah andJ P Nadda were running theshow," he lamented.

Nitish ji has alwayssaid that he cannotleave the ideals of

Gandhi, JP and Lohia... At thesame time, how can he bewith the people who supportthe ideology of Godse? Bothcannot go together. If youwant to stay with the BJP, Idon't have any problem with itbut you cannot be on bothsides

— PRASHANT KISHORPoll strategist-turned-politician

Which side are you on - Godseor Gandhi?: Kishor to Nitish

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar issued thedirection to the CBI during the hearing in theINX Media corruption case. The court wasalso hearing the money laundering caselodged by the Enforcement Directorate

Delhi court sendsSharjeel to judicialcustody till March 3PNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court Tuesday sentSharjeel Imam, named as an"instigator" by Delhi Police inits charge sheet on violentprotests against theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) at New Friends Colonyhere last year, to judicial cus-tody till March 3.

Imam was arrested on sedi-tion charges last month in aseparate case.

The police has filed thecharge sheet before ChiefMetropolitan MagistrateGurmohina Kaur, namingImam as an instigator of theviolence.

It said it has attached CCTVfootage, call detail recordsand statements of over 100witnesses as evidence in thecharge sheet.

The court had on Mondaysent Imam to one-day custodyof Delhi Police in the case asit wanted to quiz him becausean accused - Furkan - in theDecember 15, 2019 violencecase has alleged in his disclo-sure statement that he wasprovoked by Imam's speeches.

The police had earlier toldthe court that Furkan wasarrested on the basis of aCCTV footage which showedhim carrying a containerallegedly containing petrol.

Four people were arrested inthe case on December 16 andsent to judicial custody.Furkan was arrested later.

Imam, who came into thelimelight during the ongoingprotests at Shaheen Bagh hereagainst the CAA and theNational Register of Citizens,was arrested from Bihar'sJehanabad on January 28 in aseparate case for allegedlymaking inflammatory speech-es at the Jamia Millia IslamiaUniversity here and in Aligarh.

A case had been registeredagainst him on sedition andother charges on January 26.

BJP appointsobserver toselect leader ofLegislative partyPNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP has appointed itsnational general secretarySaroj Pandey as observer forselecting the leader of itsLegistlative party in the DelhiAssembly, a party statementsaid on Tuesday.

It also appointed its nation-al general secretary PMuralidhar Rao as an observ-er for selecting the leader ofits Legistlative party in theJharkhand Assembly.

The appointments weremade with the approval of theparty President JP Nadda, thestatement said.

The AAP bagged 62 of the70 assembly seats in the justconcluded polls in Delhi.

The police has filedthe charge sheetbefore ChiefMetropolitanMagistrateGurmohina Kaur,naming Imam as aninstigator of theviolence

Guj: Satellitephone foundon islandPNS n BHUJ

A local fisherman allegedlyrecovered a satellite phone onan island near Kandla port inGujarat's Kutch district, anofficial said on Tuesday.

The police has launched aprobe into the recovery of theInmarsat satellite phone,which was found on Paparvaisland, superintendent ofpolice (Kutch-East)Parikshita Rathod said.

The fisherman on Mondayapproached the police withthe satellite phone, which hemistook for a mobile phone,when he found it on theisland near jetty number 10of the Kandla port onFebruary 3, she said.

"While the island is unin-habited, local fishermen gothere to dry their catch,"Rathod said.

He took the phone to alocal mobile shop to buy aSIM card on Monday andwas informed that it wasn't aregular cellphone, the officialsaid. As per preliminaryinvestigation, the satellitephone is not active and callrecord details will be extract-ed soon based on the IMEInumber, she added.

PNS nMUMBAI

Former Mumbai police com-missioner Rakesh Maria hasclaimed his successor AhmadJaved knew Sheena Bora mur-der case accused Indrani andPeter Mukerjea socially, andthat Peter also knew the thenJoint Commissioner of Police(law and order) Deven Bharti on"first name terms".

Maria, who investigated somehigh-profile cases like the 1993Mumbai serial blasts and alsoheaded probe in the 26/11Mumbai terror attack, madethe revelation in his memoir 'LetMe Say It Now' released onMonday.

Bharti, now MaharashtraAnti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)

chief, rejected the claim, sayingit appears to be a marketingstrategy for the book whichattempts to grab more eyeballsrather than place facts.

Peter Mukerjea was arrested

on November 19, 2015 in theSheena Bora murder case, inwhich his former wife IndraniMukerjea is the main accused.

Sheena Bora, 24, was IndraniMukerjea's daughter from an

earlier relationship. The killingcame to light in 2015 whenIndrani Mukerjea's driverShyamwar Rai, who had helpedthem dispose of the body, wasarrested in another case.

Rai later turned an approverin the case. As per Maria'sbook, Peter Mukerjea knewDeven Bharti "on first nameterms". Maria has also writtenthat Javed also knew theMukerjeas socially, adding they

were invitees to the latter's Eidparty. According to excerptsfrom the memoir, during inter-rogation in the murder case,Peter Mukerjea told Maria thathe had approached DevenBharti in 2012 to complainabout Sheena Bora going miss-ing. The book mentions thatwhen Maria asked PeterMukerjea about "doing nothing"when he found out aboutSheena's sudden disappearance,

he replied, "Sir, I had toldDeven!"

Recalling Mukerjea's interro-gation, Maria said, "That nightI couldn't sleep a wink. Thethought uppermost in my mindwas to find out the exact mean-ing of what Peter had told me inthe evening."

"It meant that Peter Mukerjeaknew Deven Bharti on firstname terms. And I had notknown this all these days.Moreover, Deven Bharti had notthought it fit to tell me even oncethat the Mukerjeas were close tohim," he says in the book. Mariaclaimed that whenever he woulddiscuss with Bharti the mysteryof non-registration of missingcomplaint or accidental deathreport, he would keep silent.

Maria claims top cops knew Sheena Bora case accused socially

PNS n MUMBAI

NCP chief Sharad Pawar onTuesday claimed that the pre-vious Devendra Fadnavis-ledgovernment in Maharashtrahad misused police machin-ery in the Elgar Parishadcase.

The former Union ministeralso said the Elgar Parishadcase and the case of violenceat Koregaon-Bhima in Punedistrict on January 1, 2018,were two completely differentcases.

Talking to reporters here,Pawar said the Fadnavis-ledBJP government and the Punepolice "misused" their powerin Elgar Parishad case.

He demanded that an SITbe appointed to probe theconduct of Pune police andthe misuse of power by theFadnavis-led government.

The Centre transferred thecase from the state to theNational InvestigationAgency (NIA) fearing that thetruth would be out, Pawarsaid.

The activists in the ElgarParishad case could betermed as aggressive but notanti-nationals, he said.

The violence at Koregaon-Bhima was the result of a "dif-ferent atmosphere" createdby Hindutva actvists MilindEkbote and Sambhaji Bhide,he said. Cases were also reg-istered by Pune police againstthose who were neitherinvolved with Elgar Parishadnor the Koregaon-Bhima vio-lence, he said.

The matter relates toalleged inflammatory speech-es delivered at the ElgarParishad conclave, held atShaniwarwada in Pune onDecember 31, 2017, whichthe police claimed, triggeredviolence near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in the

district the next day.The Pune Police have

claimed the conclave wasbacked by Maoists.

During the probe, the Punepolice arrested Left- leaningactivists Sudhir Dhawale,Rona Wilson, SurendraGadling, Mahesh Raut,Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira,Vernon Gonsalves, SudhaBharadwaj and Varavara Raofor alleged Maoist links. Theyhave been booked under rel-evant sections of the IPC andanti-terror law UAPA.

The Pune court hearingthe Elgar Parishad case hastransferred it to the specialNIA court in Mumbai.

Fadnavis govt misued policein Elgar Parishad case: Pawar

The former Unionminister also saidthe Elgar Parishadcase and the caseof violence atKoregaon-Bhima inPune district onJanuary 1, 2018,were 2completelydifferent cases

PNS n BHOPAL

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath onTuesday denied being angrywith Congress general secre-tary Jyotiraditya Scindia, wholast week threatened to hit thestreets against the state govern-ment over non- fulfillment ofpromises made in the pollmanifesto.

“When I have never beenangry with (former chief min-ister and BJP national vicepresident) Shivraj SinghChouhan, how come I can bewith Scindia," Nath told

reporters here on thesidelines of a pro-gramme, whenasked about hisparty colleague.

While mention-ing Chouhan, he wasapparently referring tothe frequent criticismof the state Congressgovernment by thesenior BJP leader.

At a public rallyin Tikamgarh lastThursday, Scindiathreatened that hewould hit the streets ifpromises made in the

Congress' manifestobefore the 2018Madhya Pradeshpolls and demandsof guest teachers inthe state are not ful-

filled.Responding to it,

Nath on Saturday said,"Toh woh utar jaaye(let him do so)."

Later on Sunday,Scindia reiteratedhe is a public ser-

vant and will hit thestreets if promises

made in the poll mani-festo are not fulfilled, but also

said there is a need to bepatient with the Kamal Nathgovernment as it has complet-ed only a year.

Scindia was one of the front-runners for the post of MadhyaPradesh chief minister after theCongress defeated the BJP inthe Assembly polls held inDecember 2018.

The Congress, however,decided to go with seniorleader Kamal Nath, leavingseveral in the Scindia campunhappy.

Scindia later lost the LokSabha polls last year fromhome turf Guna.

Kamal Nath denies being angry with Scindia

According to excerpts from the memoir,during interrogation in the murder case, PeterMukerjea told Maria that he had approachedDeven Bharti in 2012 to complain aboutSheena Bora going missing

PNS n CHENNAI

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister KPalaniswami on Tuesdayaccused the DMK of deceivingthe people over the CAA anddared it to explain "whichminority" community hasbeen affected by the law in thestate. Making an interventionin the state assembly when aDMK member batted for aHouse resolution opposingthe Citizenship (Amendment)Act, he slammed the principalopposition party and said itwas deceiving the people onthe issue. The assembly, debating the2020-21 budget, witnessedexchanges over the controver-sial law even as protests byMuslims against it continuedfor the fifth day at OldWashermanpet here.

Speaking on the budget,DMK MLA T ManoThangaraj favoured an anti-CAA resolution in the House.

Intervening, Palaniswami,who had been maintainingthat the government will notallow anything that may affectthe minorities, sought to turnthe tables on the DMK andasked it to give details aboutthose affected by the citizen-ship act. "Which minority isaffected in Tamil Nadu? Weare not acting (deceiving) like

you (DMK)," he said. WhenThangaraj, defended his posi-tion and pointed to resolutionsagainst the CAA in somestates, the Chief Minister saidthe law related to Citizenshipcame under the domain of theCentral government and notthe state. IUML memberKAM Muhammed Abubackertoo spoke and pointed to apprehensions vis-a-vis theCAA.

TN CM accuses DMK of deceivingpeople over CAA

Won't hand over Koregaon-Bhima probe to Centre: UddhavPNS nMUMBAI

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Tuesdaysaid his government willnot hand overprobe in theKoregaon-Bhimaviolence case to theCentre. The violencewas a result of thealleged inflammatoryspeeches delivered at theElgar Parishad conclave atShaniwarwada in Pune onDecember 31, 2017.The Maharashtra government

had recently okayed the hand-ing over of investigation into theElgar Parishad case to the

National InvestigationAgency (NIA).

"Elgar andKoregaon-Bhimaare two separatetopics. The issuefacing my Dalitbrothers is about

Koregaon-Bhimaand I will not give it to

the Centre. I want to makeit clear that there will be noinjustice to Dalit brothers,"Thackeray tweeted.

Making an interventionin the state Assemblywhen a DMK memberbatted for a Houseresolution opposing theCAA, he slammed theprincipal oppositionparty and said it wasdeceiving people on the issue

One of the keys to improvingCentre-State relations andensuring development is even-handed and judicious distrib-ution of tax revenue and other

forms of earning between the federal andState Governments. The FinanceCommission of India is a unique consti-tutional body that is periodically set upunder Article 280 of the Constitution todefine financial relations between theCentral and State Governments. It laysdown a set of principles that determines themethod and formula for the distributionof tax proceeds between bothGovernments.

A majority of the taxes such asCustoms duty, income tax, service tax andCentral excise are collected by the Centre.States were given the mandate to provideeconomic and social services to the peo-ple. They are empowered to levy incometax on agricultural earnings, professionaltax, value added tax (VAT), State exciseduty, land revenue and stamp duty. Hence,the Finance Commission was created toaddress issues of vertical and horizontalimbalances of federal finances in India.

The 15th Finance Commission, whichwas established to decide on the devolu-tion of taxes and other receipts to theCentre and States for the next five yearsbeginning April 2020, submitted its recom-mendations before the CentralGovernment last December. TheCommission used the population data of2011 while making its recommendationsand for the first time, in addition to incomedistance, population and area and forestcover, it used two additional factors —demographic performance and tax effort— to determine the tax pool of States.

The Commisson’s usage of the 2011population figures gave rise to considerablecontroversies. While the 14th FinanceCommission had taken the 1971 census asthe base with a weightage of 17.5 per centand assigned a weightage of 10 per cent tothe 2011 population figures, the present onehas kept the weightage of 2011 populationat 15 per cent and has given additional 12.5per cent to demographic performance. Theuse of 2011 data has benefitted some Stateslike Uttar Pradesh and Bihar while othershave been disadvantaged.

Most States in southern India, exceptTamil Nadu, feel that they are sufferingbecause of their policy of population con-trol. They believe they will get a smallershare of the pie if the population dispen-sation is applied. However, according to theEconomic Survey, 2016, inter-State labourmobility averaged 5-6.5 million peoplebetween 2001 and 2011, yielding an inter-State migrant population of about 60 mil-lion and an inter-district migration as highas 80 million. Apart from the southernStates, Assam, Goa, Himachal Pradesh,Odisha, Punjab and West Bengal, too, saw

a dip in population comparedto the 1971 census. The 15thFinance Commission was crit-ical of the Union and StateGovernments’ tendency tofinance spending through off-budget borrowings, too. Onthis front, it called upon both tophase out off-budget liabilities.

Irrespective of the sur-rounding controversies, theCommission made it clearthat it wants to play a key rolein fostering sustainable devel-opment. It must be noted thatthe 14th Commission hadaccepted it as a criterion todetermine the share of taxes tovarious States. This is why“forest cover” was assigned7.5 per cent weightage. The15th Finance Commissionsought to raise the area coverto 10 per cent in order toreward States that have “pro-vided ecological services” tothe country.

However, it is distressingthat none of the States has beenliberal in granting funds to theforest department commen-surate to the contribution theforests have made in gettingfunds. The enhancement offunds to States — from 7.5 percent to 10 per cent — if imple-mented, can go a long way inprotecting the country’s ecolog-ical frontiers. This can also lead

to the economic well-being ofthe people and the country andhelp consolidate forestresources as well.

The importance of themaintenance of forest-likebuildings and roads was firstrecognised by the 13th FinanceCommission, which earmarked`1,000 crore and called uponthe States to manage ecology,environment and climatechange, consistent with sustain-able development. This fundwas kept at the disposal of theGovernment of India and wasreleased to States on a projectbasis. This helped a great dealin maintaining forests acrossthe country.

However, the actualspending on forests by States,after the 14th FinanceCommission grants, has notbeen very encouraging whencompared to the intention ofthe criterion to strengthenforest cover base. The State ofForest Report 2019 released bythe Forest Survey of Indiarecorded a marginal increaseof 5,188 sq km in total forestand tree cover in the country.However, it gave a dismalpicture in tribal areas (wherethe forest cover has gonedown by 741 sq km). Withregard to the disappearance ofhigher girth class trees in

forests due to poor regenera-tion and protection, thereport, if examined critically,indicates the urgent need tospend money on naturalforests. Yet another importantissue that needs to be dealtwith is to address the concernof States, which have less for-est cover. We need to step upefforts to cover more areasthrough agroforestry, farmforestry, block plantations,urban and peri-urban forestryamong other efforts.

Efficient fiscal manage-ment goals of the Commissioncannot be achieved unless wehave an effective monitoringsystem in place. The 15thFinance Commission shouldfollow the pattern of the 13thFinance Commission, whichrecommend inter alia that aportion of the divisible pool oftax within the forest criterionshould be retained with theGovernment of India to besanctioned by the Ministry ofFinance and Environment,Forest and Climate Change, forthe maintenance of forests.

It would be appropriate toensure third-party monitoringof the use of the grant toStates so that misuse or arbi-trary or unauthorised use ofthe funds can be checked.Further, for monitoring and

evaluation of the works under-taken through the FinanceCommission Awards, Statesshould opt for certification offorests. This can help promotesustainable forest managementand at the same time providespace for international marketsfor procurement of forestproducts.

Further, the Commissionshould put a complete ban onthe freebie culture of politicians,who are more interested invotebank politics. If need be, itmust ask the Government toamend the Constitution. ThePrime Minister must thinkabout curbing the freebie cul-ture sooner than later. At thesame time, the ElectionCommission must ensure polit-ical consensus on this. A groupof retired forest officers hadsought time from the Chairmanof the Finance Commission tosubmit a memorandum onthese issues so that theCommission’s own recommen-dations lead to desired effectson the country’s economy andon conservation of forests,water and bio-diversity. A for-est governance policy must payattention to the multiple waysin which our green cover isvaluable.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

The discovery of an estimated reserve of14,000 tonnes of lithium ore in Mandya,100 km from Bengaluru, has gotten sev-

eral people excited. Rightly so, because thismetal is one of the key components for Lithium-Ion batteries and is a crucial building block forelectric vehicles, which many believe, will bethe future of India, indeed for global mobility.But there’s no need to get overly excited aboutthis. In terms of reserves, it is less than halfa per cent of the total deposits found in Chile,which along with Bolivia, holds some of the

world’s largest stocks of this key material. By some estimates, India will needover a million tonnes of lithium ore in the next two decades to ensure half itsvehicle fleet is able to drive on electric vehicle battery. So, 14,000 tonnes of lithi-um ore cannot even power the electric vehicles that will be needed in Bengaluruand its suburbs alone. This discovery should, however, be used as an opportu-nity to further mineral exploration. Low on reserves, we have to import miner-als and metals worth billions of dollars — crude oil to gold — from nations acrossthe world. We have to become more pro-active in tapping deposits and max-imising their potential. This small finding should spur Indian companies and theGovernment to look for other key resources for the future like rare-earth metals— a sector where China commands a near-global monopoly.

India should also carefully evaluate technologies that can be used to powerthe future. In mobility, this could involve discussions around hydrogen-based fuel-cell technologies that are less dependent on lithium resources. While hydrogenextraction technologies are currently expensive and energy negative, the dramat-ic lowering of unit costs of solar and wind energy can allow for sufficient hydro-gen generation, which can also use the existing fuel-retail system. India shouldnot become beholden to another set of resource-rich countries. Policy-makershave to be extremely careful about which path the country will take. They mustnot give in to half-baked ideas by motivated parties. Our bureaucrats and politi-cians must be very careful and make serious considerations about India’s futurebecause their decisions will decide which path the country will take and the impactit will have in the next five or six decades. We cannot afford to lose more decadesas we have already wasted the first two this millennium.

In the end, the executive abdicated its respon-sibility and left it to the judiciary to tackle civilunrest in the country that has risen in oppo-

sition to its new profile-linked citizenship law.And the highest court of the land, theSupreme Court, had to intervene to settle theissue of moving protesters at Shaheen Bagh,the epicentre of a relentless people’s struggleagainst a law that violates the Constitutionalspirit of equality of all religions. Addressing aclutch of petitions against the protesters thatwere pushed in a surrogate manner, the court

did not denounce their stance and upheld what it has before, that citizens havea democratic right to disagree and be heard. But considering the sit-in on a pub-lic road had stretched to over two months and was obstructing traffic and pub-lic convenience, the court said that the protest site should be relocated to averta crisis. Yet it did not pare the protesters down with dictated choices of sites butsent in mediators to work out a deal. The Shaheen Bagh women, who have neverrefused a dialogue, had gone public with their desire to meet the Home Ministerand Prime Minister, but it was the Government which did not honour the rulesof civil engagement and instead demonised them as enemies of the State. Hadit indeed mastered statecraft, it could have made a virtue of the negotiations,used them for explanatory propaganda on the new law and avoided a confla-gration that ultimately burnt it badly. Now as many Shaheen Baghs and dissentmovements have erupted across the country, will the Government squander awayits political mandate as an administrator or create new binaries for electoral pol-itics? Will it be a reconciler of diversity or just the interpreter of societal maladies?

There is nothing wrong with the BJP Government justifying its ideologicalpitch but when in governance, it cannot be seen as abetting a civil war. Particularlywhen the women-led protest at Shaheen Bagh swiftly turned into civil society’sspontaneous combustion and powered the Opposition. Primarily because thewomen of Shaheen Bagh had taken a high moral ground when they started out,reading the Preamble and positing themselves as citizens who shouldn’t be definedby exclusion as opposed to the establishment’s determination to brand them anti-Hindu. As all religions made common cause with them, the BJP turned theminto a test case of nationalism, lionising them with its intolerance. So what beganas an anti-establishment forum was needlessly elevated to a referendum on whetherminority intrusion can disrupt a majority lives — in this case, blockade-hit Delhiites— on whether there was a mini-Pakistan that needs to be surgically cut out fromthe heart of the city. Clearly, the BJP is solely responsible for terming every demo-cratic disagreement as a treacherous feat, even making its core voter deeply uncom-fortable. Yes, the women blocked traffic because that’s the only way they couldmake people sit up but it was the BJP which gave shelf life to the sit-in, prolong-ing it for intended political gains, adamant in rejecting overtures and scoring aself-goal by weaponising it for the Delhi Assembly elections. Even the womenpointed out that their protest was not a civic issue but a national one and, there-fore, were unconcerned about the buzz around them. The Delhi voter, in the end,chose a “doing” Government rather than a “blaming” one. Had the BJP beensmart, it could have attempted reconciliation talks. Considering the city-state’slaw and order is a Central subject, it could have worked around the traffic mess.By engaging with the women, it would have not only demonstrated seriousnessof intent, it could have been seen as an expert negotiator, one who attempted toclear misconceptions around the CAA. Clearly, the Government’s mishandlingof Shaheen Bagh has blown up in its face and compelled it to eat humble pie.The Prime Minister had to clarify that CAA “does not affect Indian Muslims” andthat there was no talk of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) yet. Home MinisterAmit Shah had to simmer down on NRC after declaring in Parliament that everyinfiltrator would be thrown out and even admit that aggressive and polarising rhetorichad cost the BJP the Delhi election. It’s a different matter though that the NationalPopulation Register (NPR) can be used to harvest profile-based data still, some-thing that the civil protest movements are now questioning, too. This has forcedthe Government to concede that respondents wouldn’t be needed to show anypapers. It is in this sense that the Shaheen Bagh protests have been successfulcompared to other protests before; they have forced a systemic reaction. Andwith mini protests acquiring gale force, the Modi Government can no longer affordto be in a victim or petitioner mode. It cannot be a denier anymore, it has to seizethe discourse. Or be horribly out of sync with what India wants.

Together, we can

Sir — The forthcoming visit ofDonald Trump to India is uniquenot only because this will be hisfirst since he became the USPresident but also because it comessoon after his acquittal in theimpeachment trial by the USSenate. Besides, he is also one of thefrontrunners for the US electionslater this year and enjoys record-high popularity back home.

Relations between the USand India have seen an upswingin recent years. The US consid-ers India a key player in the Indo-Pacific region. Bilateral trade,both goods and services, touched$142 billion in 2018. But there’sa lot that is left to be desired andworked on.

Importantly, Trump consid-ers India to be among thosenations taking trade advantage ofthe US. Since long, America hasbeen averse to India’s intellectu-al policy legal framework andsome investment restrictions.India, on the other hand, believesthat under Trump’s presidency,the US has taken a more rigidstance; new tariffs have beenintroduced for new products.

But both nations have a com-

mon agenda too: To challenge arising and aggressive China andcreate a new rules-based order inEast Asia. Challenges faced byboth are entirely different innature and it’s difficult to findcommon ground. Yet, bothnations must unite and plan the

way forward strategically. A “minitrade” deal may not help iron outdifferences but is of utmostimportance for India, given itseconomy is in the midst of a slowdown at the moment.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Better late than never

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Lead from the front” (February18). The Supreme Court’s ruling,asking the Government to ensurethat all women officers are given

permanent commission besidesmaking them eligible for com-mand posting at par with maleofficers, is historic.

It’s shocking that despite theArmy facing shortage of officersin support services, it let go oftrained women officers. Timeand again women have provedtheir mettle in all spheres. Theyare not in any way inferior to malecounterparts. It’s about time thatwe realise and acknowledge theircontribution wholeheartedly andgive them their due respect.

Bal GovindNoida

Shameful incident

Sir — It is shameful that more than60 girl students were forced to stripin an administrative check aboutwhether they were menstruatingor not at a college in Gujarat’s Bhuj.The Government needs to keep acheck on the norms laid downand take action against them.There should be uniformity in pol-icy and rules.

ShashiVia email

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

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

op nionVIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020

06

Now, a green fund

VK BAHUGUNA

The Finance Commission must be lauded for including forest cover in the mix for allocationof tax resources. States must respect this and do their bit in conserving it

Nitishji has always said that hecannot leave the ideals ofGandhi, JP and Lohia... At the same time, how can he be with the people who support the ideology of Godse?

Political strategist—Prashant Kishor

I was also a newcomer at onepoint of time, I'm only fouryears old here. I am no veteran. Every film is a newfilm. I am as new as the direc-tor for that film and story.

Actor—Vicky Kaushal

Using funds of peacekeepingoperations for other requirements,while payments for peacekeepingremain, is not only bad accounting practice but also tendsto be interpreted as bad faith.

Indian Envoy—Syed Akbaruddin

S O U N D B I T E

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

Wall to hide misdeeds and guilt

The construction of a wall in front of a slum alongthe road connecting Sardar Vallabhbhai PatelInternational Airport to the Indira Bridge in

Ahmedabad ahead of US President Donald Trump’sstate visit has rightly drawn a lot of flak. This illus-trates that BJP-led Governments at the Centre and inGujarat refuse to accept the nation as it is. This act isclearly at odds with their claims of “patriotism” and“commitment” towards the impoverished sections ofthe country. The Government is clearly not above con-juring a false narrative to provide an impression of“national glory.” It seems that the wall is being con-structed to prevent Trump’s convoy from viewing theslums, which the American visitors would presumablyconsider “eyesores.” But they should remember thatslum dwellers are victims of an unjust and inequitablesocial order. Apart from the deprivation they alreadyhave to live with, it is inhuman to render them “invis-ible” in this humiliating manner.

It would be reasonable to ask why money wasspent on a “beautification drive” rather than onimproving the living conditions of the slum dwellers.The veneer of prosperity created to impress a world

leader dehumanises millions of poverty-strickenIndians, who are unlikely to be represented at the“Namaste, President Trump” event in Ahmedabad. Oneis reminded of Rabindranath Tagore’s words, “Give methe strength never to disown the poor or bend myknees before the insolent might.” Those in power woulddo well to live by them.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Too little to chargeIf NRC is implemented, it willaffect not only Hindus orMuslims but also Adivasis.NPR is a census, and I don'tfind anyone will be affectedas it happens every 10 years.

Maharashtra CM —Uddhav Thackeray

SC appoints mediators for shifting women-led protests onthe CAA. Should the Govt not have done this instead?

Let’s not get excited by the discovery of lithium reserves.They are not enough to fuel India’s electric ambitions

Message of Shaheen Bagh

Use AI to fight pandemics

THE CONGRESS PARTY ALWAYS CHOOSES TO STANDWITH THOSE WHO ARE INIMICAL TO THE COUNTRY

AND RILE UP SECURITY FORCES.—BJP SPOKESPERSON

GVL NARASIMHA RAO

WHEN POLICEMEN HIDE THE TRUTH, THERE’S NODIALOGUE WITH THE YOUTH AND GOVT BECOMES ASLEUTH, DEMOCRACY WILL WEAKEN AT ITS ROOTS.—CONGRESS LEADERKAPIL SIBAL

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

In 2019, the Global Preparedness MonitoringBoard said that the world was not prepared forthe next big pandemic, which could potentially

spread between continents in 36 hours and kill upto 80 million people. It pointed out that the climatecrisis, global migration and humanitarian conflictswere all breeding grounds for newer outbreaks. TheCoronavirus took us by surprise, simultaneouslypointing out that systems of the past decade mightnot be effective in tackling challenges that are tak-ing novel shapes and forms. With one of the largestpopulations and widening socio-economic divides,India is vulnerable to contagions. Experts claim thatthis susceptibility hasn’t changed much in the last100 years, when India was one of the countries worsthit by the Spanish Influenza in 1918. We have beenstruggling to contain influenza and encephalitis out-breaks for the last four decades. There is a pressingneed to overhaul how we respond to outbreaks, bothglobally and in India, keeping technology at the cen-tre. Coronavirus’ example itself shows that it was twoArtificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled enterprises,BlueDot and Metabiota, that provided the key andlife-saving insights into the containment of this viraleruption. By using Natural Language Processing(NLP), BlueDot sifts through and analyses over10,000 articles in 65 languages, including foreignnews reports, plants and animal disease networksand official proclamations, to issue warnings. It wasable to catch and warn about the impending out-break days before the official announcement wasmade. Similarly, Metabiota applied AI to the usedtravel itineraries and flight patterns to determine thelikely spread of the disease. It was accurate insofaras it predicted that South Korea, Japan, Taiwan andThailand had the highest risk of the viral outbreak.

AI for comprehensive disease surveillance: Asepidemics spread in phases from introduction toamplification and finally contained transmission, theresponse and sequence of interventions flow accord-ingly. Even before diseases erupt, a public health sys-tem attempts to anticipate new and re-emerging dis-ease through early detection. Thereafter, the responsestrategy changes to containment, control and mit-igation, followed by re-focus on eradication. Creatinga technology-based intervention into pandemic man-agement also needs to consider the response strate-gies commensurate with the stage of epidemical evo-lution.

However, technologies have a critical and moresuccessful role to play in some phases of the responsecycle as opposed to others. One such is predictionand early warnings, for which integrated disease sur-veillance programmes exist both in the public andprivate sectors. These surveillance strategies includeEvent-Based Surveillance (EBS) and Risk Modelling.EBS systems use unstructured data from multiplesources like internet, official reports, social mediaand so on, to detect and trace the evidence of anemerging threat and overlay it with traditional sur-veillance systems to issue public health warnings andformulate mitigation strategies. The Global PublicHealth Intelligence Network (GPHIN), andHealthMap, an automated electronic informationsystem, are EBS tools that use NLP, text processingalgorithms and Machine Learning (ML). These canincrease the speed of identifying signs, filtering infor-mation, enhance capacity for consuming informa-tion and increase accuracy manifold.

The Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases(ProMED), Medical Information System (MedISys)and Pattern-based Understanding and LearningSystem (PULS) are similar EBS tools. These systemsare proving absolutely essential in disseminatinginformation at breakneck speed, characterising trans-missibility patterns, contagiousness, illnesses and

deaths caused by the pathogen, aidingquicker emergency response. Risk mod-elling uses statistical tools to characteriseand identify factors in populations or indi-viduals that enhance their vulnerabilitiesto contracting a particular disease.Overlaying this data with open sourceinternet data and climate data accountingfor presence, distribution and movementof pathogens can help identify correlationsthat were invisible to us before. Forexample, in China, the cases of hand, footand mouth disease in children were bestpredicted by AI models that utilised dataon weekly temperature and precipitationas well as data on disease-related queriesfrom the Chinese Baidu search engine.

Compared to these, India’s IntegratedDisease Surveillance Programme (IDSP)uses manual surveillance, where data onsome 24 epidemic-prone diseases is col-lected on a weekly basis at the primaryhealth centre level and reported upwards.Whenever there is a rising trend of illness-es in any area, it is investigated by theRapid Response Teams (RRT) to diagnoseand control the outbreak. This system isslow and doesn’t use any risk modellingfor predictions. A study by the IndianInstitute of Public Health, Hyderabad in2016 pointed out that this procedure suf-fered a time lag from anything betweenthree to 64 days.

The Media Scanning and VerificationCell of the IDSP was established in 2008for early warning signals through mediareports. However, this activity is limitedto manually scanning newspapers/elec-tronic media. Some technologically-adeptStates use Google alerts to automate theprocess. Needless to say, State media ver-ification cells are unable to exhaustivelyscan all media sources with the swiftnessthat’s needed to respond to outbreaks. TheHealth Ministry is piloting an IntegratedHealth Information Platform (IHIP) thatcan enable near real-time data reportingand hopes to apply modelling and GIStools to enhance the IDSP. There existsimmense scope for integrating emergingtechnologies within the IHIP platform. But

at present these discussions are nascent. Focussing on holistic pandemic

management: While most technologyapplications in pandemic response are lim-ited to surveillance, there is a dire need toidentify intervention areas in overall pan-demic management. AI can not only helpus predict where the disease might be trav-elling to, but it can also offer insights intohow people take up health services dur-ing emergencies. Accounting for health-seeking behaviours in designing responsestrategies can substantially boost effective-ness and success of responses.

Learning from behavioural data, MLmodels can identify less obvious patternsin human behaviour and disease transmis-sion, which could enable a targettedresponse. This is called infodemiology,where you can integrate internet data intopublic health informatics to examineindividual health-seeking patterns duringemergencies. Google Trends Data as wellas more-specific Google Dengue Trendshave also been used by researchers todevelop a holistic understanding of behav-ioural aspects of citizen response to pan-demics. Such insights can be used to deter-mine where health services are imperativeto be delivered in times of shortages thatmandate trade-offs. In a more mature sys-tem, one would also be able to determineif an individual or a group of people is like-ly to change its location, go out and seekformal assistance, or if they will adhere totreatment routines — all insights that canhelp authorities make better decisions.

AI-assisted genomics research isslowly emerging to be a game changer inthe rapid development of treatments andvaccines for contemporary infections.Baidu has developed an algorithm that cansignificantly speed up RNA structure pre-diction and subsequently unlock the keyto the virus. Developing models that canmatch patterns embedded in the viralgenomes to their animal host and vectorsthat carry the virus can be a breakthroughin narrowing the search for diseases. Thiscan lead to early interventions in control-ling disease upsurge or preventing their

emergence altogether. Building blocks for AI in pandem-

ic response: Building a comprehensiveand accurate surveillance system requiresmassive amounts of quality data from dif-ferent sources. Meteorological data, forinstance, needs to be overlaid with vector-movements and population mobility datato accurately identify hotspots for out-breaks. This requires Government depart-ments coming together in mission-modeand pooling their data into one consoli-dated programme. It also requires AI-enabled technologies to be integrated intoexisting workflows for pandemic manage-ment and creation of new protocols withadequate capacity-building, so its benefitscan flow to all levels.

As pandemics are not constrained bynational boundaries, a global surveillancesystem is imperative, something wheremultilaterals like the WHO and interna-tional foundations can play a catalytic role.Nations need to be propelled to make dis-ease information public and if possiblemove towards interoperable surveillancenetworks that can communicate with theirglobal counterparts.

Can AI fight the next Coronavirus isa question up for debate. But it can bol-ster our capacity to respond substantial-ly, especially in disease pre-emption,design of accurate interventions and insome cases with more research investment,even prevention of outbreaks.

Therefore, in a fight against outbreaks— one that the global community is notwinning — channelising the power of datathrough AI can be the perfect weapon.Coronavirus and the swiftness that AI-enabled solutions showed here were nec-essary proof of the concept to incentivisegreater resources and collaborations in AI-assisted outbreak management. Now it isupon governments and multilaterals tolead the way in mobilising AI against thenext virus.

(Verma is a lawyer and public policyconsultant and Sharma is a software engi-neer. Both work with the InternationalInnovation Corps, University of Chicago.)

The Coronavirus outbreak has called into question the ability of governments in predicting,containing and even preventing epidemics. AI and big data can be the answer

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

What lies aheadfor social sector As India will be home to the largest workingpopulation in the world by 2030, health and

education are key areas it must focus on

IN THE FIGHTAGAINST

OUTBREAKS —ONE THAT THE

GLOBALCOMMUNITY IS

NOT WINNING —CHANNELISINGTHE POWER OFDATA THROUGH

AI CAN BE THE PERFECT

WEAPON.CORONAVIRUS

AND THESWIFTNESS

THAT AI-ENABLEDSOLUTIONS

SHOWEDHERE WERENECESSARY

PROOF OF THECONCEPT TOINCENTIVISE

GREATERRESOURCES

ANDCOLLABORATIONS

IN AI-ASSISTEDOUTBREAK

MANAGEMENT.NOW IT IS UPONGOVERNMENTS

ANDMULTILATERALS

TO LEAD THE WAYIN MOBILISING

AI AGAINST THENEXT VIRUS

At the start of the new decade, the much-awaited Budget 2020-21 set the tone for the year ahead. With the core themes of“Aspirational India”, “Economic Development” and “Caring

Society”, health and education feature as cross-cutting elements, crit-ical for driving inclusive growth. As a prelude to the New EducationPolicy, the Budget had some key announcements on higher educa-tion, in particular. First, leveraging the triple helix model of innova-tion and ensuring greater university-Government-industry linkage, 150institutes will initiate apprenticeship-embedded courses by next year.As India stands at the threshold of the fourth Industrial Revolution,this move will facilitate the generation of a skilled workforce, readyto be absorbed by the industry.

Second, in a novel step to promote greater access, the Budgetalso announced that the top 100 institutes in the National InstituteRanking Framework will launch exclusive online education pro-grammes. Third, diversifying the options for further study, it propos-es the establishment of a National Forensic University, offering cours-es on niche aspects such as cyber-forensics. While these are stepsin the right direction, we must be cognisant of the sheer scale of theeducation ecosystem. India has around 25 crore children in over 15lakh schools, while at the higher education level there are about 3.7crore students in 41,000 institutes. To ensure the delivery of quali-ty education across this landscape, an emphasis on early childhoodeducation and foundational learning is critical. Beyond the Budget,we need a nationwide call to action for a sustained effort on knowl-edge enhancement to enable foundational learning for all. Further,while the financial allocation to education has increased by 4.7 percent, it falls short of the recommended level of investment at six percent of the GDP. Opening up the sector to External CommercialBorrowings and Foreign Direct Investment may serve as an avenuefor increased spending in it. Any enhancement in expenditure, ofcourse, must be targetted at driving improvements in quality edu-cation, in sync with the need to shift the policy focus away from inputand access metrics.

On health, the Budget provides an additional `69,000 crore.However, there is still some way to go before the 2017 National HealthPolicy’s (NHP’s) goal of raising public health spending to 2.5 percent of the GDP by 2024-25, is achieved. Of course States, too, needto ramp up spending on health as they account for 64.4 per cent ofthe total Government health expenditure.

A key Budget announcement was setting up of hospitals in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to boostthe supply of health services under the Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana, through a viability gap funding mechanism. The scheme hasbeen fairly successful since its launch in September 2018, reach-ing out to over 80 lakh patients across more than 20,000 hospitals.Although the budgetary allocation for Health and Wellness Centres(HWCs), the second pillar of Ayushman Bharat, has not beenenhanced, it is crucial that these Centres are operationalised in a time-ly manner, providing screening for non-communicable diseases inaddition to reproductive, maternal and child health interventions.

Focussing on human resources is critical, not just for the healthsector but also for the broader economy, given the sector’s signifi-cant job-creation potential. Recognising the shortfall of medical per-sonnel, the Budget emphasises the need for attaching medical col-leges to district hospitals in PPP mode.

Furthermore, a push was made on integrating MachineLearning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Ayushman Bharat.AI can offer an unbiased second opinion on diagnosis, treatmentmodalities, potential risks and predicted outcomes as well as enablehealth personnel to identify dormant signs of diseases. The announce-ment of a national-level scheme to map India’s genetic landscapeis another crucial move given that the answer to many diseases andtheir treatment, at least partly, lies in our genes. On social determi-nants of health, the Budget increased the allocation for nutrition-relat-ed programmes by 25 per cent and also committed to implement-ing the necessary steps for sustaining behaviour change in sanita-tion and focussing on waste management.

Overall, Budget 2020-21 included some noteworthy announce-ments for social sectors. However, there is much more that needsto be done if India is to truly harness the potential of its human cap-ital for boosting economic growth. As India will be home to the largestworking population in the world by 2030, health and education arekey for reaping the benefits of the much talked about demographicdividend. Of course, the Union Budget is only one instrument for achiev-ing this and much of the action, in terms of increased spending onsocial sectors as well as quality implementation at scale, lies in States,thus necessitating ongoing coordination between the Centre and States.

(Prasad is a public policy specialist and Iype is an educationspecialist. Both are with the NITI Aayog and the views expressedare personal)

Many people are writing off the135-year-old Congress Partyafter its dismal performance

in the just-concluded Delhi Assemblyelections. This is because the grand oldparty has suffered one setback after theother since 2014, though there weresome good patches in between. Now,critical questions are being raisedover its survival that need to beanswered by Congressmen. This is notthe first time that the party is facingsuch a crisis. In its long history, the

Congress has been written off manytimes by its opponents. However,every time it rose like a phoenix fromthe ashes and came back to power.

The slide began in 1967 when theparty lost many States. After the 1969split, Indira Gandhi emerged success-ful in the 1971 mid-term poll.However, after the defeat of Indira in1977, the party was written off. But itrallied again in 1980 and continued torule till 1989. After VP Singh chal-lenged Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, therewere apprehensions about theCongress’ survival but in 1991 theparty came back to power at the headof a coalition, though it could notretain power for long.

In 1998, Sonia Gandhi took overthe Congress amid panic in the partythat it would perish. When no oneexpected the Sonia-led Congress tosucceed, she formed the UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) and cap-

tured power in 2004. After 10 years ofthe UPA’s rule, the party faced its worst-ever humiliation when it got just 44seats in 2014 and 52 seats in the 2019Lok Sabha polls.

Now, once again, the Congress isbeing written off. No doubt the partyis going through one of its worst exis-tential and leadership crises rightnow. Thankfully, the Congress hasalways performed well in States whereregional strongmen were given the jobof handling the elections. TheMaharashtra and Haryana polls provedthis fact in recent times. That said, isthat enough for the party to remain rel-evant? From ruling the Centre and amajority of States in the ‘60s and ‘70s,the Congress has now been pushedinto a corner with its governments ina measly five States. When theNarendra Modi Government stormedto power in 2014, many thought thatthe Congress would eventually recov-

er but it has only declined further asit had failed to gauge the mood of thepublic and turn it into electoral suc-cess. Last year’s electoral victories inRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh apart, the Congress haswitnessed gradual decay in its Stateunits in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Odisha,Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi.Today, the Congress is ruthlessly crit-icised and mocked because of itsdetermination to cling to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

The BJP has vowed to create a“Congress-mukt Bharat” but anOpposition is not bad, even for the rul-ing party in a democracy, as the lateAtal Bihari Vajpayee used to say. Oneparty rule is not what our foundingfathers visualised. Some analysts arguethat the collapse of the Congress as anational alternative to the BJP createsa political vacuum. It is not as if there

is no base for the Congress despite theslide, as it is the only party, apart fromthe BJP, with a national presence. Evenin its worst defeat the Congress man-aged to get 19.6 per cent of thenational vote; about 117 million peo-ple voted for it in 2019. It must buildon this base.

The decline of the Congress is ofits own making. Its dependence on onefamily, its high command and coterieculture, loss of connect with grassrootworkers, lack of an organisationalstructure, poor communication skills,disconnect with the aspirations of vot-ers and living in its past glory, have allled to its downfall. Moreover, the BJPhas emerged as an alternative to theCongress at the national level, while insome States the regional satraps haveusurped the Congress’ space. Since theparty refuses to move out from underthe shadow of the Gandhis, it is for thefamily to fill the leadership vacuum

and fight to get back its political space.They must find the right formula to dothis, fast.

It is too soon to write an obituaryof the Congress. The grand old partyis like an ancient banyan tree. Its rootsare deep and in many States. All thatthe Congress needs is a charismaticleader and a vote catcher who couldreinvent and revive the party. Did notthe then UK Prime Minister Tony Blairreinvent the Labour party and calledit the New Labour?

It is time the Congress wakes up,defines its ideology, strengthens Stateunits, faces the challenge of regional-ism and reclaims its lost space. It wasan umbrella party at one time givingspace to all shades of opinions and ide-ologies — the Right, Left and theCentre — and despite many splits it hassurvived so far. So there is no reasonwhy it cannot do so in the future.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Don’t write the Congress off yetIt was an umbrella party at one time giving space to all shades of opinions and ideologies — the Right, Left and the

Centre — and despite many splits it has survived so far. So there is no reason why it cannot do so in the future

KALYANI SHANKAR

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

It is no accident that themost worrying recentpandemics to afflict theplanet have emerged fromAsia and Africa, in poorcountries that haveinadequate health services.Hospitals, laboratories andresearch centres there needbolstering rapidly andshould be the focus ofmajor investment by theWest.(The Guardian editorial)

INVEST IN POORNATIONS

ABHINAVVERMA

YUKTISHARMA

URVASHI PRASAD

SARAHIYPE

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

EESL,BSNL to setup 1,000 EVcharging stationsNEW DELHI: State-ownedEnergy Efficiency Services Ltd(EESL) on Tuesday said it hassigned an initial pact withBSNL for installing chargingstations for electric vehicles.As per the Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU), EESLwill set up public EV chargingstations at 1,000 BSNL sites ina phased manner across thecountry, an EESL statementsaid. EESL will make the entireupfront investment on theservices pertaining to theMoU, along with the operationand maintenance of thecharging infrastructure byusing qualified personnel.Telecom PSU BSNL would beresponsible for providing therequisite space and powerconnections for installing thecharging infrastructure. Takingforward the vision of NationalElectric Mobility Programme,EESL has commissioned 300AC and 170 DC chargersacross India.

Birla meetsTelecom Secy amid AGR issuesNEW DELHI: Amid talks of thegovernment encashing itsbank guarantee over default inpayment of dues, VodafoneIdea Chairman KumarMangalam Birla met TelecomSecretary Anshu Prakash onTuesday as he looked foroptions to keep the companyafloat. After the meeting, Birlasaid he "cannot say anythingat the moment." Vodafone Ideaon Monday paid Rs 2,500crore to the Department ofTelecom (DoT) and promisedto pay another Rs 1,000 crorebefore the end of the week.But the amount paid for nowis less than 5 per cent of thedues that the DoT estimatesthe company owes to thegovernment following aSupreme Court ruling thatasked for including non-telecom revenues of telcos incomputing statutory paymentssuch as licence fee andspectrum charges.

Gold rises Rs 239on global cues,rupee depreciationNEW DELHI: Gold prices onTuesday rose by Rs 239 to Rs41,865 per 10 gram in thenational capital on positiveglobal cues and rupeedepreciation, according toHDFC Securities. The yellowmetal had closed at Rs 41,626per 10 gram in the previoussession. Silver prices alsojumped Rs 296 to Rs 47,584per kg from Rs 47,288 per kgon Monday. "Spot gold for 24karat in Delhi traded higher byRs 239 with stronginternational prices and rupeedepreciation. The spot rupeewas trading around 23 paiseweaker against the dollar forthe day," HDFC SecuritiesSenior Analyst (Commodities)Tapan Patel said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Companies in India are pro-jected to dole out an averagesalary hike of 9.1 per cent thisyear, the highest level in theAsia Pacific region, as they lookfor key talent and niche skills,says a report.

However, the quantum islower than 9.3 per cent increaseseen in 2019 and also the low-est in a decade.

Leading HR consultancyAon's annual salary hike sur-vey released on Tuesday alsoshowed that around 39 per centof the companies surveyed areexpected to give as much as 10per cent increase in pay.

The results are based onresponses from over 1,000

organisations spread acrossmore than 20 industries.

In the Asia-Pacific region,India is expected to dole outthe highest salary hike at 9.1per cent, followed by China at6.3 per cent this year.

For India, the previous low-est quantum of hike was 6.6 percent in 2009, as per Aon.

As per the survey,Philippines is anticipated to seea salary rise of 5.8 per cent, fol-lowed by Malaysia (5.3 per

cent), Singapore (3.8 per cent)and Australia (3.1 per cent) in2020.

"Despite economic chal-lenges in 2019, organisations inIndia are taking a positive

view. Pay increases in Indiacontinue to be the highest inthe region," Tzeitel Fernandes,Partner (Rewards Solutions) atAon told reporters here.

A big reason for India'shigher salary increase, as com-pared to other growingeconomies, is the high inflationrate and the war for key talentand niche skills, Fernandesnoted. In 2019, companies inIndia gave an average payincrease of 9.3 per cent, reflect-ing a slowdown in the econo-my compared to 2018, the sur-vey said. According to the sur-vey, 39 per cent firms areexpected to raise the salaryover 10 per cent while 42 percent would go for an increasebetween 8-10 per cent.

India Inc to dole out average 9.1 pc salary hike

PNS n NEW DELHI

Housing sales bookings of top9 listed real estate developersrose 2 per cent to nearly Rs5,800 crore during the thirdquarter of this fiscal year,according to property consul-tant Anarock.

Sales bookings of DLF,Sobha, Puravankara, PrestigeEstates, Brigade Enterprises,Mahindra LifespaceDevelopers, Godrej Properties,Oberoi Realty and Kolte Patilhave been taken into account.

"Housing sales revenue ofthe top 9 stock exchange-list-

ed developers continued togrow steadily in the last festivequarter. Despite all headwinds,their collective revenues inthird quarter of fiscal 2020stood at a little less than Rs5,800 crore, increasing 4 percent on a quarterly basis and

2 per cent in a year," Anarocksaid.

The first three quarters offiscal 2020 indicate that theoverall sales bookings of thetop 9 developers was close toRs 16,500 crore as against Rs15,730 crore during the corre-sponding period of the previ-ous year.

Godrej Properties, PrestigeEstates and Sobha were the topthree players with maximumsales revenue during the firstnine months of fiscal 2020.Together, they accounted for a55 per cent share of the totalsales revenue of Rs 16,500 crore.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's sugar export may cross5 million tonne in the market-ing year ending September onhigher demand from overseasamid global deficit of 8-9 mil-lion tonne, industry bodyISMA said on Tuesday.

For the current year, thegovernment has allowedexport of 6 million tonne ofsugar under MaximumAdmissible Export Quota(MAEQ) to help deal with thesurplus sugar.

India had exported 3.8 mil-lion tonne during 2018-19marketing year (October-September) against the manda-tory quota of 5 million tonne.

The country's sugar produc-tion has reached 16.98 milliontonne till February 15 of thecurrent marketing year, whichis much lower than 21.96 mil-lion tonne output till the sameperiod a year ago, it said.

According to the IndianSugar Mills Association(ISMA), global sugar prices forraw and white sugar are 20-25per cent higher than the priceswhich prevailed three monthsago when India started its

exports against 6 million tonneunder MAEQ.

"Accordingly, Indian sugarexports may get accelerated inthe coming months, and couldachieve more than 5 milliontonne of MAEQ in the wholeseason," it said in a statement.

As per market reports, about1.6 million tonne of sugar hasbeen exported from India andabout 3.2 million tonne ofcontracts have been signedfor exports, it said.

As per reports available, fewsugar mills are not planning toexport sugar against their allo-cated export quotas. A few of

them have surrendered a partof their MAEQ to the govern-ment, it added.

ISMA said the governmenthas decided to withdraw andreallocate export quota of millswhich were not able to under-take shipments.

"20 per cent of export quo-tas of mills which have notcontracted for 25 per cent oftheir MAEQ by end of January2020, will be withdrawn andreallocated among the otherswho have exported most of theMAEQ and are willing toexport beyond their originalMAEQ," it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Casual dining chain BarbequeNation Hospitality has filedfresh papers with markets reg-ulator Sebi to raise an estimat-ed Rs 1,000-1,200 crore throughan initial public offering.The IPO comprises a freshissue of shares worth Rs 275crore and an offer-for-sale of upto 98,22,947 equity shares,according to the draft papersfiled with the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi).

The company may considera pre-IPO placement to thetune of Rs 150 crore.

Proceeds of the issue will beutilised to repay an outstand-ing borrowing of Rs 205 crorein part or full and for generalcorporate purposes.

The company is promotedby Sayaji Hotels, SayajiHousekeeping Services,Kayum Dhanani, RaoofDhanani and Suchitra Dhanani

and is backed by private equi-ty firm CX Partners, whichmade its first investment in2013 and again in 2015.

The promoters hold 60.24per cent, CX Partners owns33.79 per cent and renownedstock market investor RakeshJhunjhunwala's investmentfirm Alchemy Capital holds2.05 per cent in the company.

According to marketsources, the IPO size willapproximately be between Rs1,000-1,200 crore.

The issue is being managedby IIFL Securities, AxisCapital, Ambit Capital andSBI Capital Markets.

In 2017, the company hadfiled IPO papers with Sebiseeking to raise Rs 700 crore.However, the regulator keptthe processing of the compa-ny's proposed IPO in abeyance"pending regulatory action forpast violations" and finallyapproved the IPO plan inJanuary 2018.

Although, the companycould not launch the initialshare-sale due to averse mar-ket conditions.

Barbeque Nation Hospitalityowns and operates BarbequeNation Restaurants, currentlyoperating at 138 outlets acrossIndia and 7 outlets in theUAE, Oman and Malaysia.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Throwing his weight behindFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman's budget numbers,Reserve Bank GovernorShaktikanta Das has said thatthere is no reason to doubt thatthe government will be able tocut fiscal deficit to 3.5 per centof the GDP in the fiscal begin-ning April 1.

In an interview with PTI,Das said the government hasremained within the limits setby the Fiscal Responsibilityand Budget Management(FRBM) Committee for thebudget deficit.

Sitharaman missed deficittarget for the third year in arow, pushing shortfall to 3.8per cent of the GDP in the cur-rent fiscal as compared to 3.3per cent previously planned.The fiscal deficit target for thecoming fiscal year startingApril 1, has been fixed at 3.5per cent.

The fiscal deficit is the short-fall in a government's incomecompared with its spending. Itessentially means that the gov-ernment is spending beyond itsmeans.

"With regard to the fiscalmanagement of the govern-ment, the government hasremained within the recom-mendations FRBM commit-tee," Das said. "So, therefore,the excess fiscal deficit hasbeen restricted to 0.5 per cent.The government has adheredto that and a large part of thefinancing of fiscal deficit nextyear will come from small sav-ings."

The FRBM committee head-ed by N K Singh had recom-mended fiscal deficit to be cutto 2.8 per cent in 2020-21 fis-cal and to 2.5 per cent byFY2023.

The panel had suggested an"escape clause" in case of over-

riding consideration of nation-al security, acts of war, calami-ties of national proportion andcollapse of agriculture severe-ly affecting farm output andincomes. Under this, a devia-tion from the stipulated fiscaldeficit target can be taken butnot in excess of 0.5 percentagepoints in a year.

Das said there is no reasonto doubt that the fiscal deficitfor the next year would bemet.

"There is no reason for any-one to doubt that number.The Budget has been present-ed just about a fortnight ago.There is no reason to disbelievethat number," he said.

The fiscal slippage

announced in the govern-ment's new FY2021 budget ismodest relative to its previoustargets.

The RBI governor said theBudget for 2020-21 hadannouncements that certainbonds will be opened up fornon-resident investment with-out any limit.

"Besides, an announcementhas been made in Budget forraising limits for corporatebonds from 9 per cent to 15 percent," he said. "So, therefore,there are a lot of foreignresources which are going tocome into India. Indian corpo-rates are also accessing a lot ofmoney from foreign sourcestoday through ECB."

The FRBMcommittee headedby N K Singh hadrecommendedfiscal deficit to becut to 2.8 per centin 2020-21 fiscaland to 2.5 per centby FY2023

PNS n NEW DELHI

IT services major HCLTechnologies on Tuesday saidit has bagged a new largecontract with New Zealanddairy co-operative, Fonterra tomodernise and manage itsentire technology infrastruc-ture.

The multi-year partnershipwith HCL Technologies willconsolidate Fonterra's technol-ogy suppliers and bringtogether the co-operative's ITinfrastructure services underone umbrella, HCLTechnologies said in a state-ment.

It, however, did not disclosethe financial terms of the deal.

"This partnership will alsoextend HCL's New Zealandpresence to three offices with-in the country and will bringaround 60 new jobs to theWaikato region as the localsupport services for Fonterraemployees will be based at itsHamilton Delivery centre,"the statement said.

The partnership will rein-force HCL's focus in support-

ing the local New Zealand ITecosystem by investing in localskills and partnering withregional companies and ter-tiary education groups todevelop the local expertise tofill these roles over the com-ing years.

"We have been supportingFonterra for over a decade bymanaging its IT applicationsupport and maintenanceportfolio including SAP. Weare delighted to expand ourpartnership with Fonterra tomodernise and manage theentire technology infrastruc-ture," HCL TechnologiesExecutive Vice President andCountry Manager, (Australiaand New Zealand) MichaelHorton said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Private equity and venture cap-ital investments in the countrytouched an all-time high ofUSD 48 billion in 2019, accord-ing to an EY report.

The report titled 'PE/VCAgenda: India Trend Book 2020'said that this is the third consec-utive year that the private equi-ty and venture capital sector hasoutperformed.

"In terms of value, PE/VCinvestments increased by 28 percent as compared to 2018, whilethe deal volume increased by 35per cent.

"The growth was primarilydriven by a significant increasein investments in infrastructuresector, which grew over threetimes compared to 2018," it said.

The report was released onMonday at the Indian PrivateEquity and Venture CapitalAssociation (IVCA) conclave2020.

According to a report, whilegrowth in traditional PE/VCinvestments dipped marginallyin 2019, the growth in overall

PE/VC investments was drivenby investments in the infrastruc-ture asset class.

"Investments in infrastruc-ture sector accounted for 30 percent of PE/VC investments byvalue compared to 12 per centin 2018," it said.

The report pointed out that

largest deals in 2019 were alsoin the infrastructure sectorincluding Brookfield's USD 3.7billion buyout of Reliance Jio'stower assets and USD 1.9 billioninvestment in RelianceIndustries East-West pipeline.

The largest deal in tradi-tional PE/VC asset class wasAlibaba and Softbank's USD 1billion investment in Paytm, itsaid.

The EY report said largestfund raise during the year sawgovernment sponsor a USD1.5 billion fund for providinglast-mile funding to real estatedevelopers for completion ofstalled housing projects fol-lowed by Edelweiss AlternativeAsset Advisors and KotakSpecial Situations Fund raisingUSD 1.3 billion and USD 1 bil-lion respectively to invest instressed assets.

As per the report, PE/VCinvestments in infrastructurespace were at USD 14.5 billionin 2019, which were higher thanthe cumulative PE/VC infra-structure investments receivedin the previous seven years.

Private equity, VC investments hitrecord high of $ 48 bn in 2019

"The growth wasprimarily driven bya significantincrease ininvestments ininfrastructuresector, which grewover three timescompared to2018," it said

Tea Boardpush forquality checkof Nepal brewPNS n KOLKATA

Amid concerns that CTC vari-ety from Nepal was being soldas Darjeeling tea to the con-sumers, Tea Board has askedthe commissioner of customs,Kolkata (land), to check thequality of brew arriving fromthe country at FSSAI-accred-ited laboratories. Accordingto a Tea Board official, brewfrom the neighbouring coun-try cannot be banned as thetreaty signed between the twocountries has provisions for itsimport. As per the treaty, Indiaimports tea from Nepal atzero duty, the official said.

"As the plucking season inDarjeeling has arrived, wehave asked the customsdepartment to check if thequality of tea from Nepal con-forms to FSSAI parameters,"he told PTI on Tuesday. ArunKr Ray, the deputy chairmanof Tea Board, said the agencyhas sought help from a labo-ratory in Mumbai, which candifferentiate betweenDarjeeling and Nepal tea.

RaviViswanathanto join TVSSupply ChainPNS n CHENNAI

T VS Supply ChainSolutions, part of the USD8.5 billion TVS Group onTuesday said RaviViswanathan has beenappointed as the CEO andthe joint managing directorwith effect from April 1.

The city-based leadingend-to-end supply chainmanagement services compa-ny in a statement saidViswanathan would report toManaging Director, RDinesh.

Prior taking up the newrole, he had served IT majorTata Consultancy Services asits Gobal chief marketingofficer.

An alumni of NITTiruchirappalli, Viswanathanhas built and led multiplebusiness units in TCS duringhis over 30-year career.

Viswanathan will take onthe role of CEO and jointmanaging director of thecompany from April 1, 2020.

A big reason forIndia's highersalary increase, ascompared to othergrowingeconomies, is thehigh inflation rateand the war forkey talent andniche skills,Fernandes noted

PNS n NEW DELHI

Reservoirs with cumulative(surface) area of 18,000 squarekilometers in India have thepotential to generate 280 GWof solar energy through float-ing solar photovoltaic, a reporthas said. The report 'FloatingSolar Photovoltaic (FSPV): AThird Pillar to Solar PVSector?' has been produced byThe Energy and ResourcesInstitute (TERI) as part ofEnergy TransmissionCommission (ETC) India.

A new report by TERI hasfound that India's reservoirshave 18,000 sq km of area withthe potential to generate 280GW of solar power throughfloating solar photovoltaic(PV) plants, TERI said in astatement. ETC India is a

research platform based inTERI, New Delhi. It is theIndian chapter of the globalEnergy TransitionsCommission. Thefindings of the report, whichwas released during the recent-ly held World SustainableDevelopment Summit 2020,

have the potential to help inplanning out strategies forachieving overall capacity addi-tion in solar energy in India.

The report has calculated thepotential for floating solarphotovoltaics (FSPVs), or 'floa-tovoltaics', on the basis of 30per cent of the water surface

area of the country's mediumand large reservoirs.

The report provides state-wise details of floating solarpotential in the form of a web-based interactive tool calledIndia Floating Solar PV-Tool,which has also been developedunder this study.

The report hascalculated thepotential for floatingsolar photovoltaics(FSPVs), or'floatovoltaics', onthe basis of 30 percent of the watersurface area of thecountry's mediumand large reservoirs

The issue is beingmanaged by IIFLSecurities, AxisCapital, AmbitCapital and SBICapital Markets

Barbeque Nation files IPO papersto raise Rs 1,000-1,200 cr

Housing sales bookings of top9 listed realty firms up 2%

Das says no reason to doubt, govtwill meet fiscal deficit targets

HCL Tech bagsIT deal from NZ

SOLAR ENERGY

India's 18K sq km reservoir surfacearea has potential to generate 280 GW

‘India's sugar export maycross 5 MT this year’

oungsters are thefuture of thecountry and theyneed to have theright informationabout contempo-

rary issues to understandthem.

Hyderabad-based PhDscholar in Theatre Arts JohnBasheer started his theatregroup in 2013 and has beenstaging street plays sincethen about issues that con-cern the society like womenempowerment, unemploy-ment, GDP, latest row overthe CAA and the NRC andmore.

Speaking to The Pioneer,John Basheer says, “I’mdoing my PhD from SNSchool of Fine Arts at theUniversity of Hyderabad. Iwas inspired to create thisgroup by Jananatya manch’sfounder Safdar Hashmi andhis plays.”

They also did a play called

March On about the OctoberRevolution. He says, “It is atravelling street theatre per-formance as part of the cen-tenary celebrations of theOctober Revolution. Thestreet theatre performance,while presenting the socialrealities of our times, took usback to the conditions thatled to revolution in 1917. Itput forward the need for therevolt of the peasants, work-ers and students to fightagainst imperial, communal,fascist conditions existing inour times and to march ontowards socialism.”

Usually, they stage everyplay at three venues in theuniversity including theNorth Shopping Complex,the South Shopping Complexand the Ladies HostelCanteen. The performers arenot only from theatre artsand also from other depart-ments. More than 200 stu-dents attend each play of the

group. He says, “We are get-ting a positive response forour street plays in the cam-pus. Many students are gain-ing knowledge after watchingour plays. We also startedstaging our plays outside thecampus and recently stagedone at the Ravindra Bharati.We are staging our next inAnantapur district of AP onFebruary 29.”

Speaking about how theplay is created, John says,“Before staging a play, wepost it on social media andinvite people to join us. Weask interested candidates doresearch about a topic. Afterthe research, we create thescript. For us, everyone is ascript writer. After the script,we conduct a theatre work-shop and practice rehearsals.Finally, we stage plays at thethree venues.”

About their recent play onthe Citizens Amendment Act(CAA), John adds, “Recently,

we did a play about theCitizens Amendment Actand its impact on Indians.During the play, weexplained what is the Act isabout and how it’s affectingcitizens. We are not againstanyone. We are just showcas-ing facts about a particularissue. We have seen hugeprotests about the CAA inAssam recently. To find out-siders in the country, it is notfair to force laws on the restof the citizens.”

John said that most oftheir team members arewomen and added that theyare very happy to be a part of

this good cause. He added that they did

various plays on womenissues to create awarenessamong women fraternity inthe campus.

The team also staged aplay about late Rohit Vemulain the campus.

John said that theyexplained the problems Dalitstudents face in the universi-ties by narrating it on lines ofthe story of Ekalavya.

“Not just dialogues, wealso narrate plays in the formof folk songs,” he says. Thegroup says they don’t giveany solution for the problems

because they are not policymakers and only explainwhat was happening in thecountry about various issuesof the nation.

He adds, “The Central gov-ernment spoke about givingautonomous status to someuniversities recently. But onthe other hand they areencouraging private universi-ties like Jio and neglectinggovernment universities. Toexplain this issue, we staged aplay about how governmentis neglecting universities. Westaged the play about howuniversities are sufferingfrom the lack of funds.”

Y

‘Gave up on dream job for acting'

annada-based actorMeghana Lokesh enteredthe Telugu television indus-try with ShashirekhaParinayam and through heracting skills she garnered a

name for herself. She is now a part ofpopular serials such as RaktaSambhandham and KalyanaVaibhogam in Zee Telugu. Meghanahas also acted in two Tollywood films— Idi Maa Prema Katha and Ameerpetto America.

THEATRE OPENED ROADS

Meghana said she wanted to be partof a theatre group since she was eightyears old. “I don’t have any familybackground in acting. I was born andbrought up in Mysore. My father andbrother are engineers and my motheris a lecturer. During my school days, Iwas part of Natana Theatre Groupheaded by my guru Mandya Ramesh

sir. I performed in more than 200plays across Karnataka. Theatreopened roads for me to learn andpractice acting for a living,” she said.

ENTRY INTO SERIALS Meghana forayed into acting at the

age of 18 with a Kannada serial. Shesaid, “I played a supporting role in myfirst serial Devi. I bagged my first leadrole in Pavitra Bandhana. Later, Iworked in Purushottama, which gotme fame and I became a familiarname in the Kannada television frater-nity.”

CHEMISTRY LECTURER If not for acting, Meghana would

have become a chemistry lecturer. “Iwanted to become a chemistry lectur-er. It feels good to wear an apron andwork in a lab. Because of my actingschedules, I had to give up on mydream of becoming a lecturer. Itbecame difficult to balance bothcareers so I chose acting,” sheexplained.

TELUGU ENTRY Sasireka Parinayam was Meghana’s

debut serial in Telugu. She said, “Igave my audition for SasirekaParinayam in Hyderabad in 2013.At that time, I didn’t know a singleword of Telugu. However, I wasselected and the Sasireka Parinayamteam helped me learn the language.That serial established me in theTelugu industry.”

DUAL ROLES We have seen actors perform dual

roles in movies. Meghana also plays adual role in the daily serial KalyanaVaibhogam as Manga and Nithya.Speaking of the same she said, “InKalyana Vaibhogam, I have to play apositive Manga and a negative Nithya.I need to portray two opposite charac-ters and I took it as a challenge. I’mgetting positive response from theaudience for my roles in the serial.”

“I am also a part of the RaktaSambhandham serial as Tulasi. It is an

optimistic character who believes inherself. I loved her,” she added.

ACTING IN CINEMA Meghana did’nt just confine herself

to small screen. She has also done twomovies in Telugu — Idi Maa PremaKatha and Ameerpet to America andwas part of two short films — Emotionand Beautiful Life. About her stint intomovies and short films, Meghan said,“Movies happened to me due to serials.My first film was Idi Maa Prema Kathaalongside anchor Ravi. It is a love story.My second film was Ameerpet toAmerica. I also did two short films —Emotion and Beautiful Life.”

SERIALS TRAVEL WITH YOUWhen asked about the difference

between acting for television and stag-ing a theatre, Meghana said, “The pat-tern and style of acting are differentwhether it’s theatre, serial or cinema.Theatre is a live performance and wehave no second chance to correct it. Ilove to do message-oriented shortfilms. The life-cycle of a movie is just acouple of months in people’s

memory but serials take years andtravel with the audience. I would liketo work in more movies but right nowI’m busy with serials.”

NO DREAM ROLE AS SUCHShe says that she doesn’t have any

dream role to look forward to butwants to give her best with every roleshe gets. She said, “I will give my 100per cent to whatever role I get andhave no dream roles. I want to engageaudience with my acting. Whenever Igo out, people interact with me aboutmy role and appreciate it. It gives me alot of energy to do more and moreserials.”

NO IMPACT She says that every medium,

whether it’s TV, web series or cinemadon’t affect one another. “Every medi-um has its own audience and there isno impact of one medium on theother. Web series and cinema quicklyend their run, but television serialsbecome intrinsic to the viewer’s fami-ly,” she said.

Speaking to V SATEESHREDDY,television actressMeghana Lokeshshares her journeyto acting, givingup on her dreamof becoming achemistrylecturer,childhood andmore

K

The pattern and style of actingare different in each medium.

Theatre is a live performance andwe have no second chance to correct it.The life cycle of a movie is just a coupleof months in people’s memory but serialstake years and travel with the audience. Iwould like to work in many movies butright now I’m busy with serials

MEGHANA LOKESHTV ACTOR

out of the

BOX

With her husband Swaroop Bharadwaj

A PLATFORMFOR CHANGE

Progressive Theatre Group, started by HCU'sPhD scholar in Theatre Arts, John Basheer, has

been spreading awareness on social issues throughstreet plays, finds V SATEESH REDDY

WednesdayFebruary 19, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Wednesday February 19, 2020 what’s brewing?I owe my career to debutant directors: VICKY KAUSHAL

uccessive hits anda National Awardlater, actor VickyKaushal vividlyremembers histime as a newcom-

er four years ago and says heowes his career to first-timedirectors.

The actor, who was firstnoticed in the then debutantdirector Neeraj Ghaywan;s2015 social drama Masaan,said every film is a new pro-ject for both the actor and thefilmmaker.

He later collaborated with astring of new directing talentlike Mozez Singh for Zubaan,Anand Tiwari for Love PerSquare Foot, and Aditya Dharfor Uri: The Surgical Strike, forwhich the actor earned thebest actor National Award.

“I owe my career to debu-tant directors, so I’m quiteused to working with firsttimers. I just read the scriptand if I am sold on that, Imeet the director to under-stand his vision. If I senseclarity and vision there, that’swhat I am sold to.”

“I was also a newcomer atone point of time, I’m onlyfour years old here. I am noveteran. Every film is a newfilm. I am as new as the direc-

tor for that film and story. Wehave to work with that spirit. Itried to bring out the samefire in every film that I had inmy first film,” Vicky told PTIin an interview here.

But the 31-year-old actor ismore excited about workingwith a new director as theybring a “scared energy” to thefilm sets.

With his upcoming horrorfilm Bhoot: The Haunted Ship too, Vicky is joininghands with debutant directorBhanu Pratap Singh, whoserved as assistant director onHumpty Sharma Ki Dulhania(2014).

“There is a different sort ofenthusiasm which comes onboard. That energy is not anenergy which takes things forgranted. It’s a scared energyand that brings out somethingspecial,” he said.

The actor has always main-tained he is no horror buff butit was the story, based on atrue incident of a strandedcargo ship at Juhu Beach, thatfound him.

He said unlike Sanju wherehe needed to learn a dialectfor the character or Uri whichdemanded physical transfor-mation, essaying the role ofPrithvi was a pretty much a

straight line.“It was more about

adapting to the new grammar.It was something I was not so prepared for. I had under-estimated the horror genrebefore doing this film quite alot. In horror, timing has to be correct, everything has tofall in the right place at theright time, all departmentswork in sync to make that one shot,” he added.

Vicky said the team hasattempted to present the hor-ror genre in its truest form —with jump scares and atmos-pherics.

“Bhoot is not just aboutjump scares but it is alsoabout the mood that keepsyou on your toes when youwatch it. We have tried to staytrue to the genre. There areno unnecessary subplots.”

“We have not tried to lurethe audience with making anice musical album wherepeople are like ‘let’s go towatch the songs’ or turninginto a romantic horror or hor-ror comedy. They have beenmade over the years.”

Asked his first memory of ahorror film, Vicky remem-bered how scared he was afterwatching Ram Gopal Varma’sRaat.

S

ews of Shah RukhKhan’sdaughterSuhanaKhan and

popular Bigg Boss 13contestant Asim Riaz’s Bollywood debut is doing the

rounds on the Internet.

According to the latest reports, filmmaker Karan Johar, who is known tolaunch new actors inhis films has taken upthe task to introduceSuhana. Reportedly, he

will be launchingSuhana and Asim inthe third installment ofthe Student Of TheYear franchise.

Karan has previouslylaunched Alia Bhatt,Varun Dhawan,Sidharth Malhotra,Ananya Pandey and

Tara Sutaria with theStudent Of The Yearfranchise.

The filmmaker cur-rently awaits therelease of Bhoot PartOne: The Haunted Ship scheduled forFebruary 21.

— IANS

NKJo to launch Suhana Khan, AsimRiaz in Student Of The Year 3?

Taapsee, Tahir Raj Bhasin indesi version of Run Lola Run

ctors TaapseePannu and TahirRaj Bhasin willbe teaming up forthe Hindi adapta-tion of German

film Run Lola Run.The 1998 Tom Tykwer

directorial was about twostar-crossed lovers whofind themselves left with afew minutes to changetheir lives forever.

The Hindi version titledLooop Lapeta will behelmed by Aakash Bhatia,who will make his directo-rial debut with the movie.

It will be produced bySony Pictures Films India,

Ellipsis Entertainment andAayush Maheshwari.

“Looop Lapeta is a shin-ing addition to our slate ofclutter-breaking and com-pelling motion pictures.We love the amazing castwhich has come on boardto breathe life into this cut-ting-edge script. It willalways be the studio’s con-stant endeavour to workwith new directors andactors, and Aakash Bhatiais one amazing find for thestudio,” said VivekKrishnani, ManagingDirector, Sony PicturesEntertainment India.

The principal photogra-

phy will begin in April.Tanuj Garg and Atul

Kasbekar, ManagingPartners, EllipsisEntertainment, said, “Weare emotional about thisfilm, as it was the first toget green-lit at Ellipsis afterour company was formed.When Aayush Maheshwariapproached us with therights, we agreed immedi-ately and invested the bet-ter part of three years inworking on various ver-sions and drafts to adaptthe German film to suit anIndian context.

The film will release onJanuary 29, 2021.

A

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020

PTI n BERLIN

British F1 ace Lewis Hamiltonand Lionel Messi, arguablythe world’s greatest foot-

baller, were on Monday declaredthe joint winners of the prestigiousLaureus World Sportsman of theyear award.

They received the same num-ber of votes, a first in the 20-yearhistory of the awards with the juryunable to split Hamilton and Messi.

Messi, the six-time FIFA WorldPlayer of the year, is the firstteam-player to bag the award. Hethough was not present to receivethe award and sent a video mes-sage.

They pipped golfing greatTiger Woods, Kenyan marathonerEliud Kipchoge, tennis legendRafael Nadal and MotoGP cham-pion Marc Marquez.

American gymnast SimoneBiles who won five gold medals atthe 2019 World Championships,grabbed the World Sportswomanof the year award, her third in fouryears after winning it in 2017 andin 2019.

She beat a strong challengefrom Jamaican sprinting greatShelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who

missed out on the honour for thefifth time. She was nominated2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016 also butdid not win it.

The most decorated gymnastalso beat competit ion fromAmerican footballer MeganRapinoe, Japanese tennis sensationNaomi Osaka, American trackand field athlete Allyson Felix andskier Mikaela Shiffrin.

Snowboarding sensation ChloeKim won the World ActionSportsperson honour, her secondstraight in the same category.

In the Sportsperson of theyear with a disability category,Oksana Masters, born with limbimpairments caused by radiationfrom Chernobyl and adopted by anAmerican single parent, was recog-nised for an outstanding year in2019.

She won five Gold medals anda Silver at the World Para NordicSkiing Championships.

South Bronx United (SBU), afootball programme based in NewYork, was honoured with the Sportfor Good Award. The programmeuses football to achieve education-al outcomes for young peoplefrom underserved communities.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup

winners South Africa won theirsecond Laureus World Team of theYear Award, beating Jurgen Klopp’sLiverpool and the US Women’sFootball Team, among others.

For the 2020 Laureus WorldComeback of the Year, Germany’sgritty F3 driver Sophia Florsch wasthe winner.

Travelling at 276km per hour,she had lost control of her car atthe Macau circuit, crashingthrough safety barriers and leavingher with a spinal fracture whichrequired an 11-hour surgery andmonths of rehabilitation.

In November 2019, a year onfrom her accident, the 18-year-oldSophia was back in the cockpit,racing once again in the MacauGrand Prix.

Egan Bernal, who became theyoungest rider to win the Tour deFrance at 22, grabbed the WorldBreakthrough of the Year award.

German basketball great DirkNowitzki was recognised at theCeremony with the LaureusLifetime Achievement Award forhis contribution to the sport of bas-ketball.

Spanish Basketball Federationgot the Exceptional AchievementAward.

PTI n WELLINGTON

Veteran New Zealand bats-man Ross Taylor doesn't

rule out playing the 2023 ODIWorld Cup but says his form,fitness and motivation level atthe end of next year will decidewhether he actually manages aplace in the squad.

The 35-year-old willbecome the first cricketer in theworld to complete100 gamesacross threeinternational for-mats when hesteps out for thefirst Test againstIndia at BasinReserve on February21.

“I haven’t ruled it(2023 World Cup) outbut I still think it’s along way away. Firstand foremost I want toget to next year - theTwenty20 World Cupand then the homesummer - and then I’llhave a good idea onhow I’m placed at the endof next summer,” Taylor wasquoted as saying by‘stuff.Co.Nz’.

“Whether there is still adrive, whether I’m goodenough, whether I’m fitenough, and whether I deservemy spot in the side. If I can tickall those, then definitely 2023

is an option.”The big-hitting batsman

said despite his desire to con-tinue, he won’t out himselfunder too much pressure.

“You always want to dowell and first and foremost thegame is more important. At thesame time you can put extrapressure on yourself. You've justgot to go out and enjoy it andtake it as another game.Hopefully I can contribute inany way I can,”he said.

PTI n WELLINGTON

New Zealand’s conservative approach againstJasprit Bumrah could become a template for

other teams as they look to tackle the Indian paceace who recently endured a rare wicket-less out-ing in an ODI series, reckons former fast bowlerShane Bond.

The premier bowler copped criticism for hislean run during the three ODIs against NewZealand and Bond put that down to expectations.

“That's the nature of expectations when yougot a bowler of Jasprit's quality,” Bond, the fastestNew Zealand bowler during his time, told PTI inan exclusive interview.

“I thought New Zealand played him well andidentified him as a risk. They have played himconservatively and obviously there was some inex-perience around (Navdeep Saini and ShardulThakur),” he said.

“All teams will now identify him as a risk andattack others. So that’s where the bowling groupand what they do (as a group) is massive. It is notan easy place to bowl as wickets are flat.”

But Bond felt Bumrah's bowling wasn't all thatbad during the series, which India lost 0-3.

“At the end of the day, all you can do is tryand bowl well. He bowled reasonably well butsometimes you don't get wickets,” Bond said.

Bond, who has spent considerable amount oftime with Bumrah as the Mumbai Indians bowl-ing coach in the IPL, nonetheless expects India'spremier strike bowler to have a “massive impact”on the two-Test series starting Friday.

“When you come back from a lay-off, it’salways hard to get into the groove. Just that hehadn't had a lot of game before the series and con-ditions are a bit foreign,” said Bond.

“Although New Zealand played him well inlimited overs, Jasprit will have a massive impacton the Test series. I have no doubt about that,”

added the bowler, whose promising career was cutshort by numerous injuries.

“It always takes time to get back to top formbecause there is no substitute of game time. Soit’s good for Jasprit that he is leading into Testmatches with some short form cricket,” said Bond,who played 18 Tests, 82 ODIs and 20 T20Internationals.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The limited use of Decision ReviewSystem was always planned for the

Ranji Trophy semifinals and notfrom the knockout stages, clarifiedBCCI’s general manager of cricketSaba Karim on Tuesday.

The move to introduce limitedDRS comes after the umpires commit-ted some howlers in some knockoutgames of the previous season.However, the quarterfinals starting onThursday will not see the use of DRS.

“We are introducing from thesemifinals. This the first time we haveinitiated this program, we wanted tobring in semifinals and we have donethat. It was never meant for the quar-terfinals,” Karim, also a former Indiawicketkeeper, told PTI.

“The whole idea is that we want-ed to bring in the DRS wherein we canhave uniformity for both the gamesand that will be in the semifinals. Allthe four teams have been pittedequally and that would not havebeen possible before (in quarters),” hesaid.

The restricted technology forRanji semis will not have Hawk Eyeand Ultra Edge, two key componentsof the DRS used in internationalgames.

“We will be using the technologywhich is available to us. We are look-ing at a very limited use of the DRS.We don't have snickometer and balltracking. We have red zone and wehave spin vision and we will try andgive whatever is available to umpiresfor them to decide,” added Karim.

PTI n BRISBANE

Spinner Poonam Yadavclaimed three wickets as India

geared up for the ICC women’sT20 World Cup with a thrillingtwo-run win over the WestIndies in a low-scoring warm-upmatch here on Tuesday.

Electing to bat, India post-ed a lowly 107 for eight in theirstipulated 20 overs beforereturning to restrict West Indiesto 105 for seven.

Chasing 108 to win, WestIndies were comfortably placedat 57 for one in 13 overs whenDeepti Sharma struck, cleaningup opener Lee-Ann Kirby (42)to trigger a collapse.

Soon skipper Stafanie Taylor(16), Chedean Nation (0) andDeandra Dottin (1) were back inthe hut as West Indies slipped to67 for five in the 17th over.

Hayley Matthews (25) andChinelle Henry (17) blastedthree fours and a six in the 19thover to leave them with 11 to getoff the last six balls.

Henry blasted Poonam fora four but the Indian dismissed

Matthews in the fourth ball.West Indies needed three

runs off the last ball but Henrywas caught by VedaKrishnamurthy.

Earlier, India’s top-threefailed to fire as they werereduced to 17 for three in 3.1overs. Opener SmritiMandhana (4) lasted just sixballs, while Jemimah Rodrigues(0) failed to open her account.Young Shafali Verma blasted acouple of fours before beingcaught by Britney Cooper offShamilia Connell (2/20).

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur(11), too, didn’t stay long, whileKrishnamurthy was cleaned upby Afy Fletcher (1/26), as Indiaslumped to 52 for five in 11.2overs.

Deepti Sharma made a 32-ball 21 before becoming a vic-tim of Anisa Mohammed (2/16),while Pooja Vastrakar (13) wasremoved by Aaliyah Alleyne(1/9). Stafanie taylor then got ridof Taniya Bhatia for 10.

Shikha Pandey finallysmashed a 16-ball 24 to givesome respectability to the total.

PTI n WELLINGTON

There are no half measuresfor fit-again New Zealand

pace spearhead Trent Boultwho is ready to challenge Indiacaptain Virat Kohli on hisreturn to international cricketduring the two-Test seriesstarting here on Friday.

Boult was out of action forthe past six weeks due to a frac-ture on his right hand sus-tained during the Boxing DayTest against Australia andmissed out on the limited-overs leg of the India series.

Back for the traditionalformat, the left-arm fast bowlermade his priorities clear aheadof the first Test.

“That’s personally why Iplay the game, to get guys likethat (Kohli) out and test myselfagainst them, so I can’t wait to

get stuck in. But he’s anexceptional player. Everyoneknows how great he is,”Boult said, sending out awarning after landing inthe capital city for theopening Test.

The Basin Reservetrack will have a lot forthe seamers and inconditions conducive

to seam bowling, a wilycustomer like Boult

might prove to be a hand-ful.

“I’m preparing for asolid wicket. It generally is

very good here and goes thefull distance (five days). I doenjoy playing here, the histo-ry that’s involved, and it’s goingto be an exciting week build-ing up. I can’t wait to get outthere,” said the 30-year-oldwho has taken 256 wicketsfrom 65 Tests.

It was frustrating for himto watch his side get walloped0-5 in the T20 series but exhil-arating to when it got its mojoback in the subsequent one-dayers. The Black Caps won 3-

0 in the 50-over format.“I think it is what it is. I

have just got to put the last sixor so weeks behind me and justback myself to get out thereand do my thing,” said Boult,

who warmed up by playing aclub game at the picturesqueTaupo ground.

“I was pushing in off thelong run. I think a couple ofthe clubbies from Taupo real-ly enjoyed that. It was a goodafternoon,” added the pacer,who sent down eight overs ina friendly game for his clubCadets.

Professionally, Boult had tolie low due to injury, but it wasalso a good break as he andwife Lana welcomed their sec-ond child.

“Having some time awayfrom the game and having mysecond son a couple of weeksago came at quite a good time,”said Boult.

Fighting fit, all he wantsnow is to get hold of a redkookaburra and get a few totail into Kohli and company.

“I am hungry to be hereand can’t wait to get back in thewhite and get the red ballmoving around,” he said.

PTI n WELLINGTON

Towering New Zealandpacer Kyle Jamieson has

revealed that moving fromCanterbury to Auckland helpedhim get rid of a detrimentalaggressive streak and becomea cricketer worthy of nationalduty.

The 6’8” tall pacer, whomade his ODI debut againstIndia in the recent series, washanded a place in the Testsquad for the upcoming two-match rubber beginning atBasin Reserves here onFebruary 21.

“I’m a pretty fiery charac-ter on the field. On the field I’mpretty aggressive. I think itcame out in ways I necessarilydidn’t like. I would sort of doit and then post-game belike,’What did I do that for?” hewas quoted as saying by‘stuff.Co.Nz’.

Jamieson shifted toAuckland, where he was born,prior to this season after mak-ing his T20 debut forCanterbury in 2016 in theSuper Smash.

He said there was a lot of

negativity around him inCanterbury, where he grew up,and it affected his behaviour.

“There was a bit of negativ-ity surrounding myself andthat environment and that wascoming out in my behaviour onthe field,” he said.

The 25-year-old saidreturning to Auckland made amassive difference to his game.

“I’m really enjoying mycricket, which is probablysomething I couldn’t say acouple of years ago,” saidJamieson, who scored 25 andtook 2 for 42 on debut duringthe second ODI against Indiaat Eden Park.

“I was going through a bitof stuff off the field. Just thechance to come in with thisgroup and turn up and learneveryday - try and better myselfas a cricketer - was somethingthat was too hard to turndown, so look, it’s been massivefor my game.

“...It was just a shift that Ineeded to make. Most impor-tantly, I needed to be happy andI needed to enjoy my cricket.Wherever that may take me,then it will,” he added.

British reigning F1 drivers champion Lewis Hamilton poses with Worlds best sportsman of yearAward during the 2020 Laureus World Sports Awards Lewis Hamilton/Twitter

MESSI & HAMILTON ARE WORLD'S BESTPTI n BERLIN

Batting great Sachin Tendulkarbeing carried on the shoulders

of his teammates after India’s WorldCup triumph at home in 2011 wasvoted the Laureus best sportingmoment in the last 20 years.

With the backing of Indiancricket fans, Tendulkar got themaximum number of votes toemerge winner on Monday.

The charged-up Indian crick-eters rushed to the ground at theWankhede Stadium and soon theylifted Tendulkar on their shouldersand made a lap of honour, amoment etched in the minds of thefans.

Former Australian skipperSteve Waugh handed the trophy toTendulkar after tennis legend BrosBecker announced the winner at aglittering ceremony.

“It’s incredible. The feeling ofwinning the world cup was beyondwhat words can express. How

many times you get an event hap-pening where there are no mixedopinions. Very rarely the entirecountry celebrates,” Tendulkar saidafter receiving the trophy.

“And this is a reminder of howpowerful a sport is and what magicit does to our lives. Even now whenI watch that it has stayed with me.”

Tendulkar wins bestsporting moment award

Won’t rule out playing2023 WC: Taylor

Kyle Jamieson after dismissing Prithvi Shaw Black Caps/Twitter

Jamieson credits shift to Aucklandfor making him better cricketer

Indian eves team celebrates after winning the warm-up match against West Indies BCCI

Poonam's three wicketshelp Ind edge out WI

New Zealand seamer Trent Boult celebrates after taking wicket ICC/Twitter

Can’t wait to get Virat out: Boult

Limited DRS usewas always plannedfor Ranji semifinals

‘NZ’s conservative approach againstBumrah will soon be adopted by others’

‘Hope Pandya gets to playsome cricket before IPL’PTI n WELLINGTON

Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bondwants all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is

recovering from a back surgery, to play a fewmatches before the Indian Premier League, begin-ning March 29.

“I only hope he gets to play some cricket beforethe IPL and always believe it’s better to spend a lit-tle bit longer for coming back rather than rush-ing it,” Bond said.

“There’s no doubt he can come back. I am justpleased that they are taking an orthodox approachwith Hardik’s rehabilitation and T20s, especiallyIPL will be nice for him to comeback as he will notbe over-bowled.”

Pandya underwent a productive net session atthe National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengalururecently.

He was seen facing throwdown in the nets andmainly played with a straight bat. It is not yet clearif he will make a comeback in the South AfricaODIs next month or the IPL.

Earlier this month, Pandya was ruled out ofthe Test series against New Zealand after failingto regain full match fitness.

“That’spersonally why Iplay the game,to get guys likethat (Kohli) outand test myselfagainst them, so

I can’t wait toget stuck in. But

he’s anexceptional

player. Everyoneknows how great

he is,”

he prestigious SureshProductions will bedistributing CollegeKumar, featuringRahul Vijay, RajendraPrasad, Madhu and

Priya Vadlamani. An agreement to this end has

been sealed between Suresh Babuand College Kumar producerPadmanabha. Suresh is planningto release the film on March 6.While the film’s promotions havebeen low-key, the cast is hopefulthat full-scale promotions will

begin this month-end as theybelieve that they have a goodproduct in hand. The film is aremake of 2018 Kannada hit ofthe same name. Directed bySanthu, who also helmed theremake, the film told the coming-of-age story of a happy-go luckychap who has to fulfil his father’sdreams. The pressure starts get-ting to him, leading him to rebelagainst his dad. For the Teluguversion, the makers have takenthe core point of the original,while giving it a new spin.

ith the month alreadywitnessing two flops— Jaanu and WorldFamous Lover —expectations are highon the Nithiin-starrer

Bheeshma, a popcorn entertainer,to salvage the box-office frombleeding further. The film, direct-ed by Chalo fame VenkyKudumula, will open in cinemaslater this Friday and the makersconducted a pre-release event inHyderabad on Monday evening,with Trivikram Sreenivas gracingit as the guest.

Speaking at the event, Nithiinrecalled that he didn’t want tostart Bheeshma until he gets abound script in hand, a reasonwhy the film took time. “Before

beginning it, Venky told me he ismy fan, assuring that the film willbe ‘what if a fan directs hisfavourite actor?’ Staying true tohis words, he has presented me ina complete commercial avatarafter a long time. My fans havebeen asking me to do a hardcoredance number since a long timeand this film facilitated me withthat opportunity. I toiled hard forwhattey beauty song. Jaani mastersqueezed all my energy. I wasshocked with the way RashmikaMandanna danced for it. If shemaintains similar work ethics,she will reach a big position inher career.”

The actor further said after hisparents, sister and his lady loveShalini, Pawan Kalyan and

Trivikram are the most impor-tant people in his career.“These people matter to me alot. I consider myself lucky tohave a person like Trivikram inmy life,” he said.

Trivikram, who watched thefilm, said it’s very good andpromised viewers that they willhave a great time watching it intheatres. “I specifically liked afight sequence in the secondhalf. From the way it was con-ceived to the way it was shotby action master Venkat,I enjoyed it immensely.Mahati Sagar did a greatjob with its back-ground score,”he said.

Vijayawada Wednesday February 19, 2020

W

12

tollywood

Ravi Tejaendorsed a

period dramawhich has elements

like friendship,romance and

revenge woven intoit. The actor feels

period drama is anunchartered territory

for him, findsNAGARAJ GOUD

aving comeclose toteaming up acouple oftimes in thepast, the

combination of RaviTeja and writerPrasanna KumarBezawada, who haspenned the story anddialogues of successfulfilms like Nenu Localand Hello GuruPremakosame in thepast, will be a realitysoon.

A fan of Prasanna’sbrand of writing, theactor endorsed a perioddrama which has ele-ments like friendship,romance and revengewoven into it, ThePioneer has exclusively

learnt. Trinadh RaoNakkina, who so far hasdirected Prasanna’s mostscripts, will be sitting inthe director’s saddle.

A highly-placedsource close to thedevelopment tells us,“Ravi has been dis-cussing multiple story-lines with Prasanna forpast couple of years.Although he liked amajority of them, he feltthe period drama is anunchartered territory forhim, while simultane-ously possessing ele-ments that one expectsfrom his films. From hismannerisms to looks todialect, the film will be acomplete changeover forhim. Also, he is playinga role that he has hither-

to played in his careerand he is extremelypumped about it. Majorportions of the film willbe set in the Godavaribelt. Except for the dia-logues, the story is inplace.”

The source furtheradds that People MediaFactory will be poolingin resources for the pro-ject, whose officialannouncement will beout mostly duringUgadi.

“The story has scopefor another two A-listersto join the cast andPrasanna is on the job.The film will roll mostlyin May. Chances of DeviSri Prasad composingmusic are high,” thesource concludes.

H

RAVI TEJA gives hisnod to Prasanna and Trinadh Rao

Raju and Vamsibet big on Sai Tej

eading produc-tion houses SVCand UVCreationssnatched theTelugu states

rights of Sai Tej-starrer SoloBrathuke So Better (SBSB),which is more than halfwayinto filming.

With Sai’s last film,Prathiroju Pandage, landingdistributors in huge profits,Raju and U.V. Vamsi decid-ed to bet big on SBSB. Thereception to the recentteaser was another factor,we hear. Film’s producerB.V.S.N. Prasad is extreme-

ly happy with what he gotwith from SVC and UV. Heis also expecting highprices for US andKarnataka rights.

In the fun-filled enter-tainer, which is slated forthe May Day release, Saiplays a student who isaverse to the idea of beingin a relationship, leadinghim to form a club calledSVSB. Nabha Natesh, onthe other hand, plays aspunky girl who challengesSai’s steely resolve to staysingle. The film, which is aThaman musical, marks thedirectorial debut of Subbu.

L

I want to turn director oneday, says DIGANGANA

iganganaSuryavanshi was sure of notdoing another lovestory after herdebut film in

Telugu, Hippi. Her turn in thelast year release received goodacclaim, with many praisingshe stood out from the rest ofthe cast for maintaining a con-sistent graph all throughout. Itis the reason why she chose asuspense thriller, Valayam,where she has scope for per-formance.

“I was on the lookout for adocile role and I got that withValayam. I play Disha, who ishomely, innocent and marriesas per her parents wish. Sheshares a great bond with herhusband (played by Laksh) butafter sometime, she disappears.Is she kidnapped or murdered?Or is she having an extramari-tal affair? Such questions popup as the male lead gets stuckin a complex web. Which iswhy the title Valayam,” shesays.

She goes on to say that, “Thefilm has a simple and straightnarrative. However, the way itis told and the way it engagesthe viewers with its thrills willkeep them hooked to theirseats.”

As much as she loves com-

mercial cinema, the actresswants to strike a fine balancebetween commercial cinemaand cinema that unleashes theactor in her. “My next isSeetimaar with Gopichand. Itfalls in the commercial brack-et. I will be seen as his loveinterest in the film. It was aconscious decision to sign acommercial film afterValayam,” adds the actress whois playing a quirky and ener-getic news channel anchor inthe sports-drama.

Known for featuring inHindi TV shows like Ek VeerKi Ardaas...Veera and BiggBoss, Digangana is passionateabout writing as well. Her firstbook of English lyrics titledWaves the Endless Emotionswas released at the age of 15and was followed by her twonovels — Nixie the Mermaidand the Power of Love. She hasventured into screen writingnow, completing a couple ofscripts.

“The books are very close tomy heart and I hope I will beable to make them into filmssoon. I started acting when Iwas seven years old and I start-ed writing because of the pas-sion and respect I have for myjob. I want to make films that

people appreciate and

remember for a long time. Myfirst script is about life, family,romance and there’s a psychol-ogy angle as well. The secondtraces the journey of a personwho stops doing what he isdoing and takes up what he ispassionate about.”

Does she intend to directthem as well? “Direction isvery a big job. I will have expe-rienced guys who understandthe technical side of filmmak-ing because it’s not just aboutemotions but how sound thefilm is technically. I have shar-ed the scripts with a few peo-ple who share my thought-process. But I haven’t given theexecution part enough atten-tion as of now,” she says, adm-itting that she has the kheedato switch to direction but notanytime soon. — NG

DT

Nithiin says he is lucky tohave Trivikram in his life

SP backs College Kumar

PEOPLE MEDIA FACTORY WILL BE

POOLING IN RESOURCESFOR THE PROJECT,

WHOSE OFFICIALANNOUNCEMENT WILL

BE OUT MOSTLY DURINGUGADI