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‘ALL ANDSUNDRY’

Naidu’s detention isanother case ofvendetta politics

Published From VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARHBHUBANESWARRANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

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VIJAYAWADA, SUNDAY MARCH 1, 2020; PAGES 12 `312

SPEADING‘SUNSHINE’

Philanthropist Bill Gates on Friday urged wealthy nations to help lowand middle-income countries strengthen their health systems in

hopes of slowing the spread of the coronavirus, which Mr Gates saidhas started to behave like a "once-in-a-century"pathogen. "By helping countries in Africa and SouthAsia get ready now, we can save lives and also slowthe global circulation of this virus," Mr Gates, theformer chairman and chief executive of MicrosoftCorp , wrote in an editorial in the New EnglandJournal of Medicine.

CORONAVIRUS A ‘ONCE-IN-A-CENTURY’ PATHOGEN: BILL GATES

US SIGNS PEACE DEAL WITHTALIBAN, TO WITHDRAW FORCES The United States "will not hesitate to nullify" its historic deal with the

Taliban if the insurgents renege on their security guarantees andcommitment to hold talks with the Afghan government, US DefenseSecretary Mark Esper said Saturday. His comments came as the USsigned an accord with the Taliban inDoha, laying out a timetable for afull troop withdrawal fromAfghanistan within 14months as it seeks an exitfrom its longest-ever war.

US REPORTS 4TH CORONAVIRUSCASE OF UNKNOWN ORIGINUS health officials reported a fourth case of novel coronavirus of

unknown origin on Friday, indicating the disease was spreading inthe country. The latest case is a boy under 18 in Washington State whotested "presumptive positive," local authorities said without releasingfurther details about the patient. He is currently in home isolation inSnohomish County. The high schoolhe attends will be shut until March 3while it is deep cleaned, theWashington State Department ofHealth said.

The presence of two feral pigeons onboard a GoAir flight at the airport inAhmedabad in Gujarat created a flutter among the amused passengers,

even though the avian surprise did not lead to any untoward incident ordelay in the flight. The incident took place on Friday when the passengerswere boarding the Ahmedabad-Jaipur flight. "Twopigeons had found their way inside the flight G8 702while the passengers were boarding," an airlinestatement said on Saturday. "The crew immediatelyshooed away the birds. The flight took off at itsscheduled time at 5 p.m.," it added.

TWO PIGEONS SPOTTED INSIDEAHMEDABAD-JAIPUR GOAIR FLIGHT

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated February 29, 2019 5:00 PM

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LORD’s RICHES FOR PILGRIM AMENITIES

MUKESH AMBANI MEETS JAGAN

PNS n TIRUPATI

Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams (TTD) thatgoverns the world famousshrine of Lord Venkateswaraat Tirumala Hills here onSaturday presented its budgetfor 2020-2021.

The budget proposals envis-age a total revenue of about Rs3,310 crore during the fiscalyear, a top TTD official said.Of the total income, the cashofferings made by devoteeswere projected at Rs 1,351crore, TTD chairman YV

Subba Reddy told mediaper-sons on the Hills.

The revenue from the inter-est on deposits in nationalisedand private banks was estimat-ed to be about Rs 706 crore, hesaid.

The sale of tickets for vari-ous forms of worship, includ-ing daily and weekly rituals inthe temple, special entry tick-ets of VIPs and the online tick-ets priced at Rs 300 could getRs 302 crore while the laddu'prasadam' might amount toabout Rs 400 crore, he said.

TTD unveils Rs 3,310-cr budget

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

After the Andhra PradeshHigh Court pulled up thepolice over the preventivearrest of TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu at theVizag airport, the Vizag policeswung into action and arrest-ed an agitator for indulging inself-immolation stunt.

The agitator, JT Rama Rao,was pretending to set himselfon fire pouring a cold drinkbottle on him. During verifi-cation of the CCTV footage,the police observed thisdrama.

Even as there were no com-plaints, the city police in a suomotu action investigated theincident. The agitator wasarrested under Section 283

(danger or obstruction in pub-lic way or line of navigation)and Section 427 (mischiefcausing damage) of the IndianPenal Code.

On Friday, the High Courthad asked the DirectorGeneral of Police and VizagPolice Commissioner to sub-mit an affidavit with regard toarrest of Naidu. Former TDPlegislator Shravan Kumar hadmoved the court challengingthe arrest.

Agitator held asHC pulls up policefor Naidu’s arrest

TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy discusses with officials on budget proposals fordevelopment and other works at a meeting in Tirumala on Saturday

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Reliance Industries LtdChairman Mukesh Ambanion Saturday made a sudden,apparently unscheduled visit toAndhra Pradesh and met ChiefMinister YS Jagan MohanReddy.

The state government keptMukesh's visit under wrapsuntil he arrived inGannavaram airport and pro-ceeded straight to meet Jaganat the Chief Minister's campoffice in Tadepalli. Both werecloseted for about one and ahalf hours.

Jagan's close friend andRajya Sabha member YVijayasai Reddy receivedMukesh at the Gannavaramairport and both travelled byroad to reach the ChiefMinister's office.

Mukesh was accompaniedby his friend, industrialist andRajya Sabha member ParimalNathwangi. Mukesh's sonAnant Ambani was also pre-sent.

As Parimal Natwangiaccompanied Mukesh for the

meeting with Jagan, there arespeculations in political circlesthat Mukesh had come tolobby for Rajya Sabha berth for

Parimal under AP quota withthe help of YSRCP.

This is because Parimal iscurrently serving as Rajya

Sabha member fromJharkhand. His tenure is set toend on April 19.

The notification for thebiennial Rajya Sabha polls inAP was issued recently. FourRajya Sabha seats fell vacant inAP and YSRCP will win allthese four seats based on thehuge majority it secured in theAssembly elections. YSRCPwon 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly in the May2019 elections.

In this backdrop, it is learntthe Mukesh wanted Jagan tore-nominate his friend Parimalfrom AP to the Rajya Sabhaand hence brought Parimal,along with him, to meet Jagan.

RS berth to Ambani’s close friend?AP govt keeps Mukesh's visit a ‘secret' till he met CMMukesh's close friend cum industrialist Parimal Nathwangi accompanies

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani greeting Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy along with son Ananth at the CM’s camp office in Tadepalli on Saturday

n Speculations rife over Mukeshlobbying for Rajya Sabha berthfor Parimal from AP

n Parimal's Rajya Sabha tenurefrom Jharkhand to end on April 19

n Jagan-Mukesh also discussrevival of Reliance's electronichub project in Tirupathi

Telugu man among 5gangsters held in UK PNS n LONDON

An Indian national is amonga gang of five men jailed by aUK court for a total of over 30years for an online fraud con-spiracy involving a 10-millionpounds payment diversionscam.

Satish Kotinadhuni, 44, wasarrested from his home in eastLondon and charged in Junelast year with conspiracy tocommit fraud and conspiracyto convert criminal property.

He was sentenced atSouthwark Crown Court inLondon on Friday to five yearsfor conspiracy to commitfraud by false representationand six years for conspiracy toconvert criminal property,both sentences to run concur-rently. "Satish Kotinadhuniwas a 'mule herder'. He wouldprocure hundreds other peo-ple's bank accounts for use inthe fraud," the MetropolitanPolice said.

"Such accounts weresourced from dishonest peo-ple, who were prepared to 'sell

on' their own bank accountsfor a fee whilst knowing thatthey would be used for fraud,"the Met said.

Officers based in the NorthWest London EconomicCrime Unit, which forms partof the Met's Specialist CrimeDirectorate, identified a totalof 235 separate frauds, com-mitted from 2014 to 2019,totalling GBP 9,218,522.76.

TDP submits memo to Guv on Naidu’s detentionPNS n VIJAYAWADA

A delegation of the TDP lead-ers on Saturday called onGovernor Biswa BushanHarichandan and submitted amemorandum to him high-lighting the objectionable waythe police conducted them-selves in Visakhapatnam dur-ing the tour of the Leader of

the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu.

Giving details to the medialater, senior TDP leader VarlaRamaiah accused the YSRCPrule in the State as that of anar-chic. The Visakhapatnamepisode reminisces one of themonarchic rule in the State.

Ministers Avanti Srinivasand Botsa Satyanarayana called

upon the YSRCP activists tocause hurdles toChandrababu's PrajaChaitanya Yatra in spite of thepolice giving permission tohim to undertake the yatra.

He charged the governmentwith total failure in maintain-ing the law and order in theState.

Mamata plansto send PK toRS: sourcesPNS n NEW DELHI

Political strategist PrashantKishor, who was expelledfrom the Janata Dal-United inJanuary-end, could be a TMCcandidate in the Rajya Sabhaelections to be held in WestBengal next month, a partysource said here on Saturday.

The poll is scheduled onMarch 26.

The source said that bar-ring one, the MamataBanerjee's party TrinamoolCongress (TMC) is lookingfor new faces since it wantsmore active members in theUpper House of Parliament.

‘Govt ruining economy by itsmonumental mismanagement’Centre should provide guaranteed employment for 150 daysPNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress onSaturday accused thegovernment of "ruin-ing" the economy byits "monumental mis-management" andadvised theCentre toi m m e d i -ately givem o n e y

in the hands of the poor bymaking rural job scheme

MNREGA "needbased".

Senior Congressleader Anand Sharmasaid that under therural job schemeMNREGA the govern-

ment should giveemployment for

150 days a yearat a daily wage

of Rs 500 to revive ruraldemand and economy.

"We remain seriously con-cerned about the continuingjob losses, which will eventu-ally have an adverse impacton social stability and peacein the country with a largenumber of unemployed youthin the country having nohope and in despair," Sharmasaid.

112 Wuhanevacuees testnegative forcoronavirusPNS n NEW DELHI

All the 112 people, housed atan ITBP quarantine facilityafter being evacuated fromWuhan in China, have testednegative for coronavirus aftertheir first samples were taken,an official said on Saturday.

"The samples of all the 112people were sent to the AIIMSand the reports are negative.The quarantine period willcontinue for about a fort-night," a spokesperson for theborder guarding force said.

Seventy-six Indians and 36foreigners were taken to theIndo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) force quarantine cen-tre in the Chhawla area of thenational capital on February 27after they were flown in fromWuhan city on an IAF trans-port plane.

Assam teacher heldfor derogatoryremarks against PMPNS n GUWAHATI

A college teacher in Assamwas arrested for his socialmedia post where heallegedly used swear wordsagainst "Sanatan dharma"and made derogatory com-ments about Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in relationto the recent Delhi violence.

Souradeep Sengupta wasarrested by the police onFriday night from his homein Silchar in Cachar districtafter students of GurucharanCollege protested near hishouse and later filed a policecomplaint.

Sengupta, a guest lectur-er of Physics in the collegeand former student leader ofPresidency University, hadcome out with a Facebookpost on Tuesday where heaccused the BJP and RSS of"trying to recreate Godhra inDelhi right now", made abu-sive comments about Modibesides using swear wordsabout 'Sanatan dharma'.

According to the teacher'sfamily, a group of studentshad staged a demonstrationagainst Sengupta at the col-lege for his post, following which he deletedit and apologised onFacebook itself for unin-tentionally hurting religioussentiments.

Delhi violencea nationalblot: PaswanPNS n NEW DELHI

Terming the Delhi violence anational blot, Union MinisterRam Vilas Paswan said strictaction should be takenagainst those who have beenconvicted for it.

Talking to the media,Paswan said the case shouldbe prosecuted in a fast trackcourt and immediate actionshould be ensured.

Action should be takenagainst those also who madeinflammatory statements andno one should be discrimi-nated in this case, saidPaswan.

The minister added thatthe law for sentencing shouldalso be changed if requiredbut it should not be delayedunder any circumstances.

He reminded that justicewas delayed

in the anti-Sikh vio-lence inDelhi andthis shouldnot hap-pen in

t h i scase.

6 held for shouting ‘shoot the traitors’ in Delhi MetroPNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi Police have detainedsix men for raising controversialslogans at Delhi's Rajiv Chowkmetro station on Saturday.

According to the Delhi Police,"Around 12.30 p.m. slogans'desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro***** ko' were raised at RajivChowk metro station... we havedetained them at Rajiv Chowkmetro police station and inter-rogation is being carried out."

Sources said that the six menraised the "shoot the traitors"slogans inside the metro whenit was about to halt at the stationand then they continued toshout the slogans after deboard-ing.

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) personnel,responsible for the security ofthe Delhi Metro, intercepted theprotesters and handed themover to the Delhi Police.

Satish Kotinadhuni,44, was arrestedfrom his residence ineast London and charged in June 2019

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for anydamage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement beforeresponding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | MARCH 1, 2020 vijayawada 02

CAPSULE

SarvarinamaSamvatsaraPanchagam releasedTIRUMALA: TTD Chairman YVSubba Reddy, along with TTDExecutive Officer Anil KumarSinghal released the SriSarvarinama Samvatsara UgadiPanchangam at AnnamaiahBhavan here on Saturday. TTDex-officio member C BhaskarReddy, Board member SivaKumar, Board special invitee BKarunakar Reddy, additionalexecutive officer AV DharmaReddy and CVSO Gopinath Jattiwere present.

Padaraja Mutt pontiff at TirumalaTIRUMALA: KeshavanidhiTheertha Swamiji, Padaraja Mutt,Mulbagal, visited LordVenkateswara temple at Tirumalaon Saturday. On his arrival at infront of the temple, deputyexecutive officer Haridranath,priests welcomed him withtemple honours and led him tosanctum sanctorum. PeishkarJagannadhachari, OSDSeshadhari and others werepresent on the occasion.

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HYDERABAD 316VIJAYAWADA 340VISAKHAPATNAM 375RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `33..4400

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VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`//110000

CHICKEN RATES

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

Vendetta politics toucheda new low when theYSR Congress regime

had former Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu detainedat Visakhapatnam airport onFebruary 27 and forcibly bun-dled into a Hyderabad-boundflight. It was reminiscent ofTDP founder N. T. RamaRao's sudden arrest from theTank Bund, where he wasprotesting against vandalism ofhis property by Congressmenin May 1991.

The harassment of Naidu byChief Minister Y. S. JaganMohan Reddy since heassumed office nine monthsago places him right on top ofState satraps seeking to settlescores against political foes. Incontrast to his fatherRajasekhara Reddy, who tem-pered his animosity towardsNaidu, Jagan is shaping him-

self in the mould of J.Jayalalitha and M.Karunanidhi, both no more.

Parallels are drawn withhow Jaya had Karunanidhi'shouse raided at 1.45 am in2011 and hauled down thestairs with his lungi undone inretaliation to a somewhat sim-ilar raid by MK's regime on herhouse and incarceration for sixmonths. Similar vendetta isbeing unleashed at the Centreby Modi-Shah duo in retalia-tion to the umpteen casesfiled against them by settingcentral investigating agenciesafter the top brass of Congresslike P. Chidambaram, MotilalVora, Kamal Nath, SoniaGandhi, Rahul Gandhi,Virabhadra Singh and D. K.Shiva Kumar.

Jagan, who spent 14 monthsin jail, hasn't looked backfrom the time he demolishedthe government-owned build-ing alongside a rented villa

where Naidu heard publicgrievances. In his bucket list ofthings to do against his prede-cessor, Jagan can tick the boxesalongside scrapping Amaravatias the administrative capitaland abolition of the LegislativeCouncil, though they are stillwork in progress.

The harassment of 70-year-old Naidu in Vizag by keepinghim confined inside his vehi-cle for hours was part of thiscontinuum. No amount ofjustification by Jagan's men tovarnish the police action canconvince all those who believe

in the right to protest as a fun-damental right flowing out ofArt 19 (1) (a) of theConstitution dealing with free-dom of speech and expression.

They seem to have missedout on the ongoing nation-wide debate over the legitima-cy of the Shaheen Baghprotests in Delhi against theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA). Almost everyone,from the Supreme Courtdownwards, have endorsedtheir right to protest, thoughthey have disagreed with equalvehemence the protesters' road

blockade affecting movementof an estimated 1,00,000 vehi-cles a day to and from UP.

Naidu had received per-mission from the police to visitPendurthi to interact withfarmers whose lands wereforcibly acquired and to par-ticipate in his ongoing PrajaChaitanya Yatra against Jagan's

3-capital idea in Vizianagaram.Before he could exit the air-port, placard-holding cadreof YSR Congress obstructedhis vehicle, forcing him toremain confined inside forhours. Instead of removingthose obstructing the path ofa high-risk leader, policedetained Naidu under Section151 of Cr. P.C.

Under this Section, policeare empowered to arrest aperson without warrant onknowing that he may commita cognizable offence. It beatslogic how police sensed thatNaidu could beat up YSRCworkers who outnumberedhis own party men or createtrouble at Pendurthi andVizianagaram, where policewere required to deploy ade-quate force. Even assumingthat Naidu's motives were sus-pect, police were required tokeep the two groups apart.This did not happen as

footwear and eggs werethrown towards Naidu andpersonnel of his elite Z+ secu-rity.

True that Jagan too wasdetained at Vizag airport to foilhis candlelight rally in 2017and he also suffered a knifeattack the following year. Tojustify Naidu's detention onthese grounds is tantamount toendorsing Jagan's arrest.Equally foolish is someMinisters' claim that peoplehad sent him back for oppos-ing Vizag as the executivecapital. Vizagites neverdemanded re-location of thecapital from Amaravati. It waspurely Jagan's brainchildwhich was sought to be givena veneer of credibility withreports by so-called experts.But, the broader question hereis the attack on Jagan's free-dom of speech in 2017 andNaidu's now.

After Baba Ramdev and

his supporters were evictedfrom the Ramlila Maidan inDelhi on 4-5th June 2011, theSupreme Court said even ifthe government had decidedto evict people, they wereentitled to a reasonable notice.Basically, it held the right toprotest as a fundamental rightto protest and assemble. TheA. P. High Court too hasfrowned upon the policeaction by seeking an explana-tion how Naidu was detainedunder Sec 151 of Cr. P.C.after giving permission to hisprogrammes.

On the contrary, YSRCworkers had no permission toprotest, more so on a proper-ty that belongs to the IndianNavy. Aside from the law,party workers should knowthat their liberty ends whereNaidu's nose begins. Maybe,it does not matter when alarger game of vendetta poli-tics is at play.

In his bucket list of things to do againsthis predecessor, Jagan can tick the boxesalongside scrapping Amaravati as theadministrative capital and abolition of theLegislative Council, though they are stillwork in progress

S NAGESH KUMARFormer Resident Editor,

The Hindu

‘ALL ANDSUNDRY’

Naidu's detention is another case of vendetta politics

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In the run-up to theInternational Women's Day,which will be celebrated onMarch 8, many women, whosurvived cancer with theirindomitable spirit, would sharetheir experience with others atApollo Cancer Hospital here onMarch 2.

"We truly love to care for ouramazing patients and this is justour way of thanking you forchoosing and trusting TeamApollo. When a patient hearsthe word cancer they passthrough a lot of stress becausethey think cancer means death,on top of that the words likechemotherapy, radiotherapy,surgery and disfigurementmake their life more difficult,"said the programme organiserDr Suman Das, SeniorConsultant RadiationOncologist at Apollo Cancer

Hospital Visakhapatnam. Hefurther reflected on that whenthe cancer patients come to thecancer hospital, breaking theice, to get the patient out of thepsychological stress is the mostimportant task for an oncolo-gist. Once they come out of thepsychological block and decide

to fight the disease nothing canstop them to win over it. Therole of the family members andoncologists is only to supportthem during the journey. OnMarch 2, we are celebratingthese women warriors as our'Victorious Vanithalu'.

Many women cancer sur-

vivors would turn up at theApollo Cancer Hospitals,Visakhapatnam, for an interac-tive session to share their expe-riences of defeating cancer andhow they limped back to nor-malcy life.

Dr A Praveen, SeniorConsultant Medical oncolo-gist, will be explaining about themyths and facts of cancer andits treatment. Dr Sami, COO of

Apollo Hospitals,Visakhapatnam, would sharethe efforts taken by ApolloHospitals to facilitate the earlydiagnosis and prevention ofcancer.

Rohit Memorial Trust is wellknown for being associatedwith these kinds of pro-grammes with social interest.They are presenting an interac-tive session with the patients.

Fears over consumptionof chicken, eggs allayedPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Coronavirus has created apanic among people and mostof them shunning consump-tion of chicken assuming thatthey will contract the virus,which has become deadly, asscores of people not only inChina but across the world fellprey to hit.

In this backdrop, Dr MSrinivas Rao, Director ofAnimal HusbandryDepartment, allayed fears ofpeople on consumption ofchicken. He appealed to themnot to believe news that is beingcirculated on social media stat-ing that if they eat chicken andeggs, they will be contractedwith coronavirus (Covid-19).

In a release issued here onSaturday, the director said theposts on social media are base-less and unscientific andappealed to the people not tobelieve in them.

He said Covid-19 virus wasoriginated by eating bats andsnakes. The virus will spreadfrom the infected personthrough sneezing and havingclose contact with the infectedpersons. One should note thatthe Covid-19 virus will notspread by eating chicken oreggs. Rumours hit the poultry

market hard and as a resultmany people, who are depen-dent on the sales, are incurringlosses, as many people havestopped buying chicken.

He appealed to people toenjoy chicken and eggs, whichhave an abundant quantity ofproteins, and told people not tospread rumours on Covid-19.

"We truly love to care for our amazingpatients and this is just our way ofthanking you for choosing and trustingTeam Apollo. When a patient hears theword cancer they pass through a lot ofstress because they think cancermeans death, " said the programmeorganiser Dr Suman Das, SeniorConsultant Radiation Oncologist atApollo Cancer Hospital, Visakhapatnam

n Dr M Srinivas Rao,Director of AnimalHusbandry Department,said that the posts onsocial media are baselessand unscientific andappealed to people notto believe in them

n Rumours hit the poultrymarket hard and as aresult many people, whoare dependent on thesales, are incurringlosses, as many peoplehave stopped buyingchicken

n He appealed to people toenjoy chicken and eggs,which have an abundantquantity of proteins, andtold people not to spreadrumours on Covid-19

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

GITAM Deemed to beUniversity School of Law isorganising Dr MVVS MurthiNational Moot Court competi-tion on 'Space Law-2020' fromMarch 5 to 8, informed SchoolDirector Prof R Anita Rao.GITAM Moot & AdvocacyCommittee (GMAC) is makingarrangements to conduct theevent, she added.

Explaining the rationale forselecting a problem on 'SpaceLaw', Prof R Anita Rao, Dean& Director of GSL, said thatmore awareness is needed as towhy participation in space con-tests is important and why stu-dents, particularly career-focused law students, shouldcare about something wherethere seems to be no immedi-ate market for this knowledge.In India, only a handful of lawfirms are aware of space law asa practice, she added.

The Law School Directorbriefed that they allowed themoot problem to revolvearound the kinds of agree-ments needed to regulate theactivities of space through cre-ating enforcement mechanisms,addressing liability allocationand other legal and physicalrealities of space activities con-sidering that objects move,information is gathered andtransmitted, resources must bediscovered, contracts signedand torts committed. She hoped

that the problem will provide anopportunity for all participantsto engage in more futuristicthinking for challenges thatmay not have yet become a real-ity.

Eminent panel of judgescomprising academicians, pol-icy makers, bar and bench hav-ing expertise in the area ofSpace Law would be judgingthe various rounds. Finals willbe held on March 8 and will bejudged by an eminent panelcomprising Justice DVSSSomayajulu, Judge, High Courtof Andhra Pradesh, Justice

Challa Kodanda Ram, Judge,High Court, Telangana, andProf V Balakista Reddy,Professor of Law and RegistrarNALSAR.

Teams from leading LawSchools like NUSRL-Ranchi,RGNUL-Patiala, DSNLU-Visakhapatnam, HNLU-Raipur,NLU-Odisha, School ofExcellence Chennai, SymbiosisLaw School, DrabberAmbedkar College of Law(A.U.), among others, have reg-istered for the Moot contest,informed by GITAM LawSchool Director.

NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION

‘Law students shouldexplore ‘Space Law'

Explaining the rationale for selecting a problem on'Space Law', Prof R Anita Rao, Dean & Director ofGSL, said that more awareness is needed as to whyparticipation in space contests is important and whystudents, particularly career-focused law students,should care about something through there seemsto be no immediate market for this knowledge

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The eligible beneficiaries inBandar division will get freehouse sites, said Collector MdImtiaz. In this regard, he con-vened a review meeting at theRDO office on Saturday andinstructed the RDOs to procureland and complete the layouts in

time. He said that 2.71 lakh ben-eficiaries across Krishna districtwill get free house sites byUgadi.

The Collector appreciatedthe efforts of the revenue depart-ment officials in identifying thelands for the distribution. Hesaid that the layout work wasalso going on at a brisk phase.

Over 1.5 cent land in ruralareas and 1 cent of the land inurban area will be distributed toall the eligible poor on Ugadi.

In Machilipatnam MunicipalCorporation, 45,300 beneficia-ries have been identified in 12mandals and 900 acres arerequired and 420 acres are iden-tified, he said.

45,300 beneficiaries to get housesites in Bandar division: Collector

Celebrating the spirit of women cancer survivors

TECH EXPO-2020 KICKS OFF

Instilling scientific temper among studentsPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

GITAM Institute ofTechnology professional bod-ies organised Tech Expo-2020here on Saturday for final yearstudents.

The event was conductedwith an aim of instilling scien-tific temper in the minds of theyounger generation and nur-turing an aptitude for research,innovation and creativity.

The expo featured modelsand exhibits by GITAM stu-dents in the latest technologiesunmanned ground vehicle,multipurpose material han-dling trolley, automatic garagedoor opener, modified bikes,multipurpose drones, solaroperated and electric vehicles,home automation using DTMFmodule, foot type detector,

impulse robotic arm, gravitycity power through gravity,smart dustbin, shadow detec-

tor, blue tooth controlled car,hospital automation and manyother projects are on display.

Institute for Electronics andTelecommunication Engineers(IETE) GITAM student chap-ter, Mechanical EngineeringDepartment jointly organisedthe Tech Expo.

The Tech Expo inauguratedby Jindal Steel and PowerLimited Condition MonitoringCell Deputy General ManagerSivanth Ram, VisakhapatnamPort Trust Deputy TrafficManager V Sridhar.

GITAM Institute ofTechnology Principal Prof CDharmaraj, MechanicalEngineering Department HeadProf MRS Satyanarayana, ECEDepartment Head Prof PVYJayasri participated in theevent. The projects designed bythe students give the visitors afuturistic prospect based onscenario.

A student exhibiting his vehicle at the Tech Expo on the premises of GITAMInstitute of Technology in Visakhapatnam on Saturday

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Customs offi-cials seized10 gold bis-cuits weigh-ing around800 gramsfrom two passen-gers at VisakhapatnamInternational Airport onSaturday. According to officials,two passengers arrived inVisakhapatnam from Dubaivia Hyderabad.

They had hidden the gold intheir rectum in paste form. Thegold seized could weigh around800 grams, which would havea market value of Rs 50 lakh.Customs officials detained boththe passengers and the inves-tigation is on.

Ten gold biscuits seizedat Vizag airport

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | MARCH 1, 2020 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

GST Chief Commissionerassures industry problems will be solvedVISAKHAPATNAM: AndhraPradesh Chambers of Commerceand Industry Federationrepresentatives met ChiefCommissioner GST, CentralExcise and Customs PenumakaNaresh and discussed GSTissues with regard to delayedpayments for work executed andunderscored the need to bringpolicy changes needed to beinitiated so as to facilitate Easeof Doing Business. The officerbearers, including Pydah KrishnaPrasad, president elect, K KumarRaja, vice-president, SudhirMulagada, zonal chairman andKVS Prakash Zonal, vice-chairman, along with GSambasiva Rao, past president,interacted with the ChiefCommissioner. Assuring all thesupport to the genuine problemsbeing faced by the industry, theChief Commissioner requestedthe traders to cooperateregarding achieving the targetsand agreed to interact withtraders and industry from timeto time. He also urged thetraders to bring to his notice anykind of pending customsclearances due to outbreak ofcoronavirus affecting globalsupply chains.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

CPI National Secretary KNarayana called upon people tointensify the movement againstshifting of the capital fromAmaravati so that it finds echoin Delhi political corridors.

He said that the neighbour-ing States are keenly observingthe developments in the State.Addressing a gathering at theAmaravati JAC round-tablehere on Saturday, Narayanasaid that Amaravati JAC officewill be opened in Hyderabadsoon and added that that theirparty will support theAmaravati JAC movement.

TDP leader VangaveetiRadhakrishna alleged thatChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy was insulting the farm-ers, who gave their land for thecapital Amaravati. AmaravatiJAC movement has brought allthe political parties under oneplatform, he felt.

TDP leader Varla Ramaiahsaid that everyone will walk inthe footsteps of AmaravatiJAC in order to achieve the

goal. JAC convener A SivaReddy alleged that the Stateand the Central governmentsdid not react even after 50 diedtill now in Amaravati.

He said that false cases arebeing registered against people,who took part in the AmaravatiJAC movement. He said ifthey cannot safeguardAmaravati, they will be treat-ed as traitors.

BJP leader V Satyamurthy

said that they might be havingdifferences with TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu, however,they condemn the blockinghim at the Vizag Airport. Hesaid that Amaravati is related tothe State not 29 villages inAmaravati and recalled that allpolitical parties have taken adecision and should stand by it.

CPM state leader Ch BabuRao said to stay unitedAmaravati should be contin-

ued as the capital of the Stateas it's a do-or-die battle for thepeople of Amaravati. With thethree-capital proposal by thegovernment, the financial sit-uation of the State has gonefrom bad to worst, he point-ed out.

The Amaravati JAC demand-ed that the government grantcompensation for farmers, whodied while agitating, and policewithdraw cases registeredagainst women and innocentpeople for protesting to retainAmaravati as the capital.

PROTESTS AGAINST SHIFTING OF AMARAVATI CONTINUE

Narayana calls upon peopleto intensify agitation

Narayana saidthat AmaravatiJAC office will beopened inHyderabad soonand added thatthat their partywill support themovement

CPI National Secretary Narayana addresses the Amaravati Joint ActionCommittee round-table in Vijayawada on Saturday

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A documentary on 'Snakerescue call' which shows anincredible true story ofwildlife conservationists,who work to solve human-snake conflict in their com-munities, while risking theirown lives to protect some ofIndia's most dangerous snakespecies was of f ic ia l lyscreened at Indira GandhiZoological Park here onSaturday.

The whole film is based onthe snake conservation workcarried out by the EasternGhats Wildlife Society incollaboration with AndhraPradesh Forest Departmentand Agumbe RainforestResearch Station in theWestern Ghats of Karnataka.

It 's an internationallyaccredited film shot jointlyby a Czech Republic- basedfilm studio 'Living Zoology'and the US-based non-prof-it organisation 'Save theSnakes" in 2018.

Curator of the Zoo YasodaBai addressed the gatheringand shared some interestingfacts about reptile conserva-tion efforts in India andapplauded the snake con-ser vat ion work by theEastern Ghats wi ldl i feSociety (EGWS).

The 50-minute featurelength film shows stunningdrone shots of some amazingsnake species found in andaround Visakhapatnam,while showing the variousprogrammes being organ-ised to conserve snakes andalso prevent loss of humanlife from snakebites.

The king cobra conserva-t ion ef for t by Agumbe

Rainforest Research Stationin Karnataka was also shown.Earlier, the on-going kingcobra conservation effortsin the Eastern Ghats ofAndhra Pradesh under thesuper vis ion of AndhraPradesh Forest Departmentwas also shown in short edu-cational film to the visitors.Over 50 students from SriPrakash School had activelyparticipated in the event. Inaddition, students fromAndhra University ZoologyDepartment, wildlife enthu-

siasts, snake rescuers, visitorsalso enjoyed the film andlearnt a lot through interac-tive sessions before and afterthe film.

Murthy Kantimahanti,Founder of Eastern GhatsWildlife Society, spoke aboutthe challenges in snake con-servation work and what hasbeen accomplished so far.Emely Das, education andcommunication officer ofEGWS, presented the wholeprogramme and proposed avote of thanks.

n The whole film is based onthe snake conservation workcarried out by the EasternGhats Wildlife Society incollaboration with AndhraPradesh Forest Departmentand Agumbe RainforestResearch Station in theWestern Ghats of Karnataka

n Curator of the Zoo Yasoda Bai addressed the gatheringand shared some interesting facts about reptileconservation efforts in India and applauded the snakeconservation work by the Eastern Ghats wildlife Society

n It's an internationallyaccredited film shotjointly by a CzechRepublic- based filmstudio 'Living Zoology'and the US-basednon-profitorganisation 'Save theSnakes" in 2018

‘TDP allegations overNaidu's arrest baseless’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Allegations on YSRCPobstructing Leader ofOpposition N ChandrababuNaidu's tour in Visakhapatnamare baseless, said MLA TJRSudhakar Babu.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Saturday,Sudhakar Babu also rubbishedthe allegations that the partyhad brought people from out-side to attack Naidu inVisakhapatnam.

"It is not correct to blame theYSRCP leaders when it wasNaidu, who did real estate busi-ness in the name of develop-ment of the capital. While thegovernment organisations pur-chased land at Rs 4 crore peracre, the companies, which

bribed Naidu got land for Rs 1.5lakh per acre," he said SudhakarBabu. He also alleged that theTDP chief is using such tacticsto gain sympathy. "The TDPleaders are lying that the YSRCPleaders attacked Naidu. It wasthe people, who obstructedNaidu's tour in the northAndhra region," he said.

Officials told to curbmaternal mortality ratePNS n VIJAYAWADA

District Collector Md Imtiaztold the Medical and Healthdepartment officials to takemeasures to minimise mater-nal mortality rate. TheCollector presided over themeeting on maternal mortal-ity with the Task ForceCommittee held atMachilipatnam on Saturday.Speaking on the occasion, hesaid that the mortality rate inthe current year is high com-pared to the previous year.

He said that according to thematernal mortality rate report inthe year 2018-19, the mortalityrate in Krishna district wasMMR 44 per cent, however, it

was almost double in the year2019-20 with MMR 73 per cent.The Collector asked officialswhat measures should be takenup to bring down the MMR.

He said that the main reasonbehind the rise in MMR waspregnant women were highlyanaemic and deaths take placebetween 12 midnight to 8 amand it is observed that womenbetween the age group of 20 to26. Bearing premature preg-nancy lack of awareness wasalso one of the reasons behindMMR, said the collector.

He said that efforts shouldbe taken up to rectify the laps-es to minimise the MMR andassured of providing anaesthe-sia, medical, surgery, blood

bank and separate ambulancefacility with 24/7.

Action will be taken toestablish a separate medicalunit and suggested that gynae-cologists and cardiologists willbe made available to avoiddeaths due to cardiac problemsamong pregnant women. Hesaid that on March 9, PradhanMantri Matru Vandana pro-gramme will be organised.

Joint Collector-II MohanKumar, RDO A Prasad,DM&HO RamchandraMurthy, Zilla Parishad CEOSurya Prakash Rao, superin-tendent Dr M Jaya Kumar,Vijayawada GGH DrHimabindu, Dr Lakshmi Balaand others were present.

n MLA TJR Sudhakar Babualleged that the TDP chiefis using tactics to gainsympathy

n "The TDP leaders are lyingthat the YSRCP leadersattacked Naidu. It waspeople, who obstructedNaidu's tour in the northAndhra region," he said

TTD unveils Rs 3,310-cr budgetContinued from Page 1

The earnings from the auc-tion on human hair to beoffered by millions of devotees,including the aged, womenand infants, as fulfillment oftheir vow were likely to be Rs106.7 crore, he said.

The revenue from the TTDaccommodations and mar-riage halls allotted to devoteeswas estimated to be around Rs110 crore, he said.

About Rs 250 crore wasexpected to be spent on new

construction of pilgrims'amenities, taking up repairand laying of roads, he said.

To prevent frequent fireaccidents at Tirumala templekitchen, the budget ear-marked Rs 3.30 lakh. Thebudget has allocated Rs 34crore to set up the SV BhajanSchool, to widen the Alipiriroad at a cost of Rs 16 croreand to purchase medicalequipment to extend bettermedicare at BIRRD Hospital,

The meeting has approvedconstruction of Lord Balaji

temple in Jammu andKashmir, Mumbai andVaranasi. Similarly, it hasdecided to open a cyberwing. The TTD has decidedto instal over 1500 CCTVcameras on the TTD templepremises and other publicplaces.

Furthermore, the governingbody approved filling securityguard posts in vigilancedepartment of the TTD. Also,it took a decision construct theGoddes Padmavati temple inChennai.

‘Govt ruining economy by its...

Continued from Page 1

It is understood that Parimal'sre-nomination from his homestate --Jharkhand as an indepen-dent may be difficult with formerUnion minister and JharkhandMukti Morcha (JMM) presidentShibu Soren deciding to returnto active politics with the upcom-ing Rajya Sabha polls.

Besides, sources said, Jaganand Mukesh also discussed pro-posals to revive the Reliance elec-tronic manufacturing hub atTirupati.

Reliance has business interestsin Andhra Pradesh and in 2018,Mukesh Ambani had made thegrand announcement of startingan electronics park in Tirupati,spread over 150 acres. The parkwas supposed to manufacturemobile phones and television sets.

Reliance in February 2019 hadsigned an MoU with plans to setup a Rs 15,000 crore electronicsmanufacturing hub at Tirupati.The MoU was signed by the pre-vious Telugu Desam Party gov-ernment, which allotted 150acres. However, the land couldnot be handed over due to con-troversy over compensationpackage after some farmersapproached courts on this issue.

Subsequently, TDP lostAssembly polls in May 2019 and

after the YSRCP came to power,the project could not make headway with no initiative from boththe sides. Mukesh is learnt tohave expressed his desire to goahead with the Tirupati projectif the state government handsover 150 acres at the earliest.

Previously there were reportsthat Ambani was unhappy overthe allegations levelled by YSRCleaders against him over theuntimely death of Jagan's fatherand former chief minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy inSeptember 2009.

There were reports in Jagan'smedia group "Sakshi" those days,quoting a Russian magazineExile, which claimed that YSR'sdeath was not an accident but apre-planned murder, conspired

by Mukesh Ambani and others,including some leaders in theCongress party.

It was alleged that Ambanihad spent nearly Rs 1,000 croreto eliminate YSR for opposingallotment of natural gas and oilreserves worth Rs 38,000 crorein the Krishna-Godavari basin tothe Reliance group. However, theallegations were never substan-tiated and it turned out to be afake story. The meeting onSaturday between Mukesh andJagan is learnt to have helpedboth clear the air and restore theconfidence of investors inAndhra Pradesh at a time whenthe Opposition is alleging thatindustries and investors havebeen shying away from AP afterJagan became CM.

RS berth to Ambani’s close friend?

Continued from Page 1

After six hours of high-adrenaline political drama atthe Visakhapatnam airporton Thursday, policedetained TDP supremo andformer Chief Minister Naiduand sent him back toHyderabad, as ruling YSRCPcadre stopped him fromentering the city.

The cops, in written,informed that he was beingarrested under Section 151of Criminal Procedure Code"in the interest of the safety"of Naidu and his followers.. The police later droppedhim at the airport to sendhim back to Hyderabad in a7.55 pm flight.

Several YSRCP supportersand people claiming them-selves as supporters of Vizagas Executive Capitalopposed the visit of TDPChief to the city, who waslanded in Vizag as part of hisPraja Chaitanya Yatra. Thiswas the first visit of Naidu toVizag after the city was pro-posed as the ExecutiveCapital.

Continued from Page 1

"This government is ruiningthe economy by its monumen-tal mismanagement and it con-tinues to remain in denial," hetold reporters. He urged thegovernment to honestly releasethe number of jobs lost and notmislead the people by giving "thenumbers of the changeover frominformal to formal as the num-ber of people who are expectedin normal course or the employ-ees to come on the providentfund platform".

NSO data shows that theGDP for the third quarter is at 4.7per cent, which is the lowest ofthe last seven years, Sharmasaid.

Noting that this is the seventhconsecutive quarter when theGDP has fallen, Sharma said it isa matter of "grave concern" that

the nominal GDP of India con-tinues to be in single digit. If 7.7per cent is the nominal GDPwhich includes the inflationthen where is growth, he said.

"If you take out the expendi-ture on defence, public admin-istration and other services of thegovernment, the actual GDPgrowth of third quarter is 3.7 percent whereas the third quarterhistorically shows the strongest

growth because it is after thekharif crop so there is a growthin agriculture then it is factoredin the gross value addition andin the nominal GDP and the realGDP," he added.

Sharma said the third quarternumbers are generally goodbecause it is the festive seasonwhen people go for purchasesconsumption shows a spike.

"But that has not happened so

even in festive season people havenot spent because people have nomoney," he added.

Sharma said there is 9.2 percent fall in the investments, grossfixed capital formation whichactually is the only measure of theeconomy growing and a tangibleinvestments growing for cre-ation of new assets, new factoriesand job creation that remains inthe negative.

"We are also staring at a hugefiscal deficit, unmanageble rev-enue deficit. Revenue receipts arevery low both when we look atthe GST numbers and also theincome tax. So direct and indi-rect taxes receipts are very lowand the government's budgetaryprojections are based on revenuereceipts of Rs 26 lakh crorewhereas up to December thetotal revenue receipts have beenRs 11 lakh crore.

Mamata plansto send PK toRS: sources

Continued from Page 1

The four TMC seats,which will fall vacant, arecurrently held by ManishGupta, Jogen Chowdhury,Ahmed Hassan Imran, andKD Singh.

"Given the demands ofthe national politics at pre-sent, more active politiciansand Rajya Sabha MPs areneeded. Therefore, the youthshould get a chance.Prashant Kishor has openeda front against the BJP. It willhelp TMC to speak out at thenational level. Those whocan get a chance on theother seats include DineshTrivedi and Mausam Noor,"the source said.

As per the number ofMLAs in the West BengalAssembly, the TMC will winfour seats to the Rajya Sabha,whereas a candidate witheither the support ofCPI(M)-Congress or theTMC-Congress combine willsail through to win the fifthone.

This fifth seat is current-ly held by Ritabrata Banerjee,elected as a CPI(M) nomineein 2014 but since expelledfrom the party in 2017.

6 held forshouting ‘shootthe traitors’...

Continued from Page 1

The police are interrogat-ing them. Sources said thatthe six men were raising pro-CAA slogans.

The five-six men, wearingsaffron T-shirts and kurta,started the sloganeering whenthe train was about to halt atthe metro station, accordingto a PTI reporter who was atthe spot.

After deboarding the train,they continued chanting pro-CAA and provocative sloganslike "shoot the traitors" andone more literally meaningthat the "youth of the coun-try is out to support anddefend CAA".

TDP submitsmemo...

Agitator heldas HC pulls uppolice...Continued from Page 1

He questioned the DGPwhether he has had anyorders from Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy toobstruct the Praja ChitanyaYatra. He sought to knowwhat transpired at the DGP'smeeting with \Chief MinisterJagan, a day prior to Naidu'syatra. He said that the TDPdelegation took all theseaspects to the notice of theGovernor.

Continued from Page 1

A number of victims weretraced with the help of theUK's Nat ional FraudIntelligence Bureau whoseAction Fraud Service allowsboth domestic and overseasvictims to report fraudonline.

"This has been a long trialdue to the defendants 'refusal to accept their guiltdespite overwhelming evi-dence, " said Detect iveConstable Chris Collins ofthe Met's Economic Crime.

"A common feature inthis case was the use ofmule bank accounts. I adviseanyone conducting finan-cial business by e mail toverify the bank account theyare sending their money toby contacting the intendedrecipient by means otherthan e mail," Collins said.

"Furthermore, peopleshould be aware that a gen-uine investment companywould not use different pri-vate bank accounts in differ-

ent names in a legitimatetransaction," he added.

The main methodemployed by the gang wasthe use of Malware to stealthe login credentials of emailaccounts belonging to busi-nesses and private individu-als worldwide.

This would allow thefraudsters to monitor thechosen e mail accounts forhigh value financial transac-tions.

Having identified a legit-imate financial transactionbetween two parties, e mailconversations were inter-cepted and spoof e mailssent so that victims wereduped into paying fundsinto the UK based "mule"bank accounts, controlledby the fraudsters instead oftheir intended legitimatedestination.

Another method involvedconning victims out of thou-sands of pounds by sellinginvestments in "Binary cur-rency trading schemes" thatdid not exist.

Telugu manamong 5 gangstersheld in UK

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy sharing a lighter moment with his wife YS Bharati, while Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and YSRCP MPVijayasai Reddy look on

Chinatowns turn into ghost townsIANS n SAN FRANCISCO

From the US to Singapore,Chinatowns that are historicand picturesque Chinese settle-ments across the world are fac-ing the brunt of coronavirus(COVID-19) fears owing topoor tourist footfall.

Since the outbreak of thecoronavirus, the largest andoldest Chinatown in SanFrancisco has seen a massivedrop in tourism. According toa report in NPR, there are no

confirmed cases of the newcoronavirus among San

Francisco residents but thecity's mayor has declared a

local state of emergency. "Thecity's Chinatown is alreadyfeeling the financial effects offears over the virus," the reportsaid.

Food markets and restau-rants in Chinatown are hit themost who are witnessingempty tables throughout theday. Facebook has come for-ward, helping Chinatown herewith a $20,000 grant and$5,000 in Facebook ad creditsto encourage people to shoplocal.

‘Snake Rescue Call'documentary screened

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | MARCH 1, 2020 nation 04

SHORT READS

Modi lays foundationstone of BundelkhandExpresswayCHITRAKOOT (UP): PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSaturday laid the foundationstone of the 296-km-longBundelkhand Expressway inChitrakoot by pressing abutton. To be built at a cost ofRs 14,849 crore, theexpressway will pass throughChitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpurand Jalaun districts. Theexpressway will besupplementing the nodes of theUttar Pradesh DefenceIndustrial Corridor announcedby the Central government inFebruary 2018. Thisexpressway will linkBundelkhand to the nationalcapital Delhi through Agra-Lucknow Expressway andYamuna Expressway as well asplay a vital role in thedevelopment of the region.

Environment of fearprevailing in Delhi:Congress

Param Bir Singh newMumbai PoliceCommissioner

Azam Khan aleges‘inhuman' treatment in jail

MUMBAI: The Maharashtragovernment on Saturdayappointed Param Bir Singh asthe new Mumbai PoliceCommissioner. Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was postedas the Director General (DG) ofAnti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)before his appointment as theMumbai Police Commissioner.Singh succeeds Sanjay Barve,who retired on Saturday.

SITAPUR (UP): JailedSamajwadi Party MP AzamKhan on Saturday alleged thatvery inhuman treatment wasmeted out to him. "Bahutamanviya bartav hua hai meresaath,' Khan who was taken toRampur court Saturdaymorning in connection with acourt hearing from the Sitapurjail told newspersons from thepolice van. Khan's legislatorwife Tanzeen Fatima and theirson and disqualified MLAAbdullah Azam were also takento Rampur amidst tight securityin connection with a hearing inanother case. The three wereshifted to Sitapur jail fromRampur on Thursday. A courthad sent them to judicialcustody till March 2 in a fakebirth certificate case after theysurrendered before it onWednesday. The case relates totwo birth certificates forAbdullah Azam, who allegedlygave a wrong date of birthwhile filing his nominationpapers for the assemblyelections in 2017. Abdullah'selection was set aside by theAllahabad High Court lastDecember, and on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: The situation isfar from normal and anenvironment of fear is stillprevailing in Delhi, theCongress party said onSaturday, after 42 peoplepeople died in the worstcommunal riots in the city inover three decades. SeniorCongress leader Anand Sharmaalso claimed that a "one-sided"investigation is taking placeinto the riots. "We have noexpectations from Centre orDelhi CM but we have hopesfrom the courts," he toldreporters.

‘Some political parties rubbing saltinto wounds of violence victims’PNS n NEW DELHI

Taking a swipe at theOpposition, Minority AffairsMinister Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi on Saturday said somepolitical parties and "profes-sional provokers" were rubbingsalt into the wounds of thoseaffected by the communalriots, but harmony will prevail.

Provokers and perpetratorswill be in prison and peace andharmony will prevail, thesenior BJP leader said, addingthat this should be "our com-mitment and the confidence".

Instead of healing thewounds of the victims of theviolence, some political partiesand "professional provokers"are rubbing salt into theirwounds, Naqvi told reportershere.

The "secular ride" on theunfortunate communal riotsshould be stopped, Naqvi said.

"It is our collective respon-sibility to ensure the victimsget justice and perpetrators arepunished heavily and peaceand harmony is restored," theminister said.

The death toll in Delhi'scommunal violence rose to 42on Friday as the situationshowed some signs of return-ing to normalcy and clouds ofsmoke cleared to reveal the

extent of the damage from theworst riots in the city in overthree decades.

"When we heard reports ofviolence and anarchy, at thesame time we have witnessedseveral examples of harmonyand brotherhood. This is thestrength of 'unity in diversity'of my India," Naqvi said.

He said the unity and har-mony is the soul of a secularand democratic India.

"We should not allow thesoul and strength of India toweaken under any circum-stances," he said.

Any kind of violence notonly inflicts injuries to ahuman but also the entirehumanity and it also hurts thesoul of India, he said.

"It is the national duty of allof us to ensure that the fabric

of harmony and unity doesn'tget weaken under any cir-cumstances," Naqvi said.

Curfew lifted, mobile internetsuspended in 6 Meghalaya districtsPNS n SHILLONG

The curfew imposed in Shillongafter one person was killed inclashes between KSU membersand non-tribals during a meet-ing on CAA and inner line per-mit (ILP) was lifted Saturdaymorning but a ban on mobileinternet services was continuingin six districts. Most shops andbusinesses in the city were closedeven after the curfew ended, offi-cials said.

The clashes between the KhasiStudents Union members andnon-tribals broke out duringanti-CAA and pro-ILP meetingheld in Ichamati area of EastKhasi Hills district close to theIndo-Bangladesh border onFriday, officials said.

After the clashes, a curfew wasimposed in Shillong and adjoin-ing areas and mobile internet ser-vices suspended in six districts— East Jaintia Hills, West JaintiaHills, East Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi,West Khasi Hills an South WestKhasi hills — from Friday night

for 48-hours, they said. Officialssaid SMSes will be limited to fiveper day. Meghalaya GovernorTathagata Roy has appealed topeople to stay calm and not payattention to rumours.

"I appeal to all citizens inMeghalaya, tribal or non-tribal,keep calm. Don't spreadrumours and don't listen torumours. The chief ministerhas spoken to me. He assured mehe is taking all necessary steps.The prime requirement now isto maintain law and order," thegovernor said in a statement.

Meghalaya Home MinisterLahkmen Rymbui has con-demned the incident in Ichamati.Rymbui said a magisterial inquiryhas been initiated into the inci-dent to find out the truth.

PNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar has demanded infor-mation from the state govern-ment on alleged misuse of pub-lic funds on an advertisementcampaign against the new citi-zenship law and on the author-ities who sanctioned the cam-paign, official sources said onSaturday. The governor's officehas sent a letter to the principalsecretary, Information andCultural Affairs, to submit to hima detailed response on the moneyspent on the anti-CAA cam-paign, they said.

In a communication to thegovernment on February 4, thesources said, Dhankhar took

exception to the spending of"crores of rupees" on advertise-ments in print and visual mediahaving a tagline "No CAA, NoNRC, No NPR".

A concern was also raised

about the involvement of senioradministrative and police func-tionaries, including the chiefand home secretaries and theDGP, in the ads by the side of thechief minister, they added.

Dhankhar had repeatedly cau-tioned the state government thatan agitation against a valid lawcannot be funded through adver-tisements at State expense. Later,

the Calcutta High Court askedthe Bengal government to sus-pend all such advertisements.

According to the sources, suchutilisation of public funds makesa plausible case for grant ofsanction of prosecution by thegovernor. There are instanceswhen governors have given sanc-tion for prosecution of chiefministers for misuse of publicfunds. Apart from the A RAntulay case, in recent times thenKarnataka Governor H RBhardwaj in 2011 sanctioned theprosecution of Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa by the KarnatakaLokayukta under the Preventionof Corruption Act, 1988, for hisinvolvement in illegal mining ofiron ore in the state.

WB guv seeks info on funds used for anti-CAA campaign

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government should havebeen a "little careful" while issu-ing the "midnight" order trans-ferring Delhi High Court JudgeS Muralidhar to the Punjab andHaryana High Court, formerChief Justice of India Justice KG Balakrishnan has said, amida row over the timing of thetransfer.

The transfer order wasissued by the Union Law andJustice Ministry on February26, the day a bench headed byJustice Muralidhar expressed"anguish" over Delhi Police'sfailure to register FIRs againstalleged hate speeches by threeBJP leaders. The governmenthas said the transfer had noth-

ing to do with any case as a rec-ommendation to this effectwas already made by theSupreme Court Collegium andthe judge had also given hisconsent.

Talking to PTI over phoneon Friday, Justice Balakrishnansaid it was a mere coincidencethat the final transfer notifica-tion was issued on the daywhen he passed the order on

the hate speeches because hisshift to had been already con-templated by the SupremeCourt collegium a week ago. "Idon't know on what date thetransfer issue came up beforethe collegium," he added.

Justice Muralidhar's transferhas nothing to do with theobservations he made whilehearing the Delhi violencecase, the former CJI said.

"When the situation in thecountry is so volatile andmedia and others are active thegovernment should have beenlittle careful while issuing suchmidnight transfer order asthere are chances of peoplethinking otherwise. The peo-ple could interpret differently,"Justice Balakrishnan said.

Govt should have been careful in issuingjudge’s transfer order: Justice Balakrishnan

PNS n NEW DELHI

The ED has attached assetsworth Rs 2.6 crore in a moneylaundering case related to thealleged embezzlement of fundsof the Jammu and KashmirCricket Association (JKCA),the central agency said onSaturday.

A provisional order forattachment of assets has beenissued under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) against former trea-surer of JKCA Ahsan AhmadMirza and its finance commit-tee member Mir Mansoor

Gazanffer, it said.Former Jammu and

Kashmir Chief Minister andNational Conference presi-dent Farooq Abdullah hasbeen questioned by theEnforcement Directorate inthe case.

Abdullah has been slappedwith the Public Safety Act(PSA) and is under detentionsince August 5 last year whenthe Union government abro-gated Article 370 provisionsthat accorded special status tothe erstwhile state of Jammuand Kashmir and bifurcated itinto Union territories ofJammu-Kashmir and Ladakh.

"The attached assets consistof three FDRs (fixed depositreceipts) totalling Rs 1.29 crorewith J&K Bank branch in LajpatNagar, New Delhi in the nameof Mirza Sons, a partnershipfirm of Mirza and his father.

PMLA case: ED attaches Rs 2.6 crassets of JK Cricket Association

PNS n ALLAHABAD

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday said ensuring thatall citizens get benefit and jus-tice is the government's respon-sibility and also the base of'sabka saath, sabka vikas andsabka vishwas'.

"It is the responsibility of thegovernment that every personis benefitted and every persongets justice. This is the base ofsabka saath, sabka vikas, sabkavishwas," he said reciting aSanskrit shloka at a mega campfor distribution of assistivedevices among people withdisabilities and senior citizens.

Modi said serving 130 crorepeople of the country is the pri-ority of his government.

Hitting out at previous gov-ernments, he said they did notcare for the people with disabil-ities but his dispensation wasthinking about their problemsand finding ways to reducetheir issues.

During previous govern-ments, very few such campsused to be organised, he said.

"In the last five years, ourgovernment held around 9,000camps in various parts of thecountry. In the five years of theprevious government, equip-

ment to people with disabilitiesworth less than Rs 380 crorewere distributed, while ourgovernment gave equipmentworth more than Rs 900 crore,which is two-and-half timesmore," he said.

"I am of the view that theseequipment will only assist your'buland hausla' (strong confi-dence). Your real strength isyour patience, capacity (saa-marthya) and mind (maanas),"he said, adding that he has beentold that many records arebeing created at this camp.

In building a "new India", thepartnership of every youth andchild with disability is essential.

"Be it industry, service sec-tor or sports, the skills of thedivyaangjan are being contin-uously encouraged," he said.

"The sensitivity with whichthe government has worked forthe divyaangjan was neverdone earlier. The divyaangjanwere earlier made to makerounds of offices for weeks,only then they used to get somehelp. Attention was not paid tothe seriousness with which

your problems should hadbeen heard. The situationwherein the divyaanganj wereleft 'besahara' (helpless) is notacceptable to us," Modi said.

"When there is feeling toserve the poor and thedivyaang, then this type ofpace comes, then work is donewith pace," he added.

During his over 30-minuteaddress, the prime ministergave an account of governmentschemes for the differently-abled and senior citizens.

"In the last four-five years,

hundreds of streets in thecountry, more than 700 railwaystations, airports have beenmade convenient for divyaang-jan. Those which are left arebeing linked with SugamyaBharat Abhiyan (AccessibleIndia Campaign)," he said.

"It was our government,which brought a law that forthe first time clearly stated therights of the divyaangjan. Oursis the first government, whichhas enacted the Rights ofPersons with the DisabilitiesAct. The benefit of this law was

that it increased the ambit ofdivyaang category from 7 to21," he said, adding that reser-vation for people with disabil-ities in institutes of higherstudies has been increasedfrom 3 per cent to 5 per cent.

The prime minister also saidhis government was workingfor the welfare of senior citi-zens.

"The government launchedRashtriya Vayoshri Yojanaalmost three years ago, so thatpoor senior citizens could getnecessary equipment. In thepast five to five-and-a-halfyears, cost incurred on treat-ment of senior citizens hascome down substantially ascompared to earlier time," hesaid.

"In this year's Budget, a pro-vision was made. Earlier if abank goes bankrupt, then youused to get only Rs 1 lakh. Wechanged the law, and amountnow is Rs 5 lakh. This willrepose faith in banks," he said.

Modi also said, "A commonsign language for the divyaangwas never thought of earlier.Our government made effortsfor this, and Indian SignLanguage Research andTraining Centre was estab-lished. My speech is also being

disseminated in sign language.No one had the time to do thisin 70 years. Government web-sites and currency have beenmade divyaang-friendly."

He also informed that a dic-tionary containing 6,000 wordshas also been prepared.

At the international levelsports events for the handi-capped, the performance of theIndian sportspersons has beenoutstanding, he said.

"A sports centre in Gwalioris being established to tap thetalents," he added.

There are more than 2.50crore people with disabilities inthe country, and over 10 croresenior citizens in the country,he said.

Recalling his earlier visit toAllahabad (now renamedPrayagraj), Modi said, "Onealways experiences a uniquefeeling of piousness and ener-gy by coming to 'Teertharaj'Prayagraj. I remember it wasduring last February when Icame during the Kumbh."

In the biggest ever 'SamajikAdhikarta Shivir', the Modidistributed assistive aids anddevices to nearly 27,000senior citizens and peoplewith disabilities at a mega dis-tribution camp.

In the five years ofthe previousgovernment,equipment to peoplewith disabilitiesworth less than Rs380 crore weredistributed, while ourgovernment gaveequipment worthmore than Rs 900crore, which is two-and-half timesmore," Modi said

Amit Shah offersprayers at Jagannathtemple in PuriPNS n BHUBANESWAR

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Saturday visited theseaside pilgrim town of Puriand offered prayers at the ShriJagannath Temple.

Shah, on a two-day visit toOdisha, visited the 12th-centu-ry shrine on the second day ofhis tour amidst tight securityand sought blessings from thetrinity - Lord Balabhadra, DeviSubhadra and Lord Jagannath.

Accompanied by Unionministers DharmendraPradhan, Pratap Sarangi andPrahlad Singh Patel and BJP'snational vice presidentBaijayant Panda, the homeminister reached the temple inthe morning.

BJP's Odisha in-charge ArunSingh, national spokespersonSambit Patra and party's stateunit president Samir Mohantywere also present as Shah waswelcomed near the lion's gate ofthe shrine.

During his 30-minute stay inthe temple premises, Shah haddarshan near the sanctum sanc-torum and lighted lamp (deep)while paying obeisance to thepresiding deities, said the tem-ple priests.

Besides offering prayerinside the main shrine, thehome minister also wentaround the premises and vis-ited the temples of Devi Vimlaand Mahalaxmi, said Shah'sfamily priest RaghunathGochhikar.

The death toll inDelhi's communalviolence rose to 42on Friday as thesituation showedsome signs ofreturning tonormalcy and cloudsof smoke cleared toreveal the extent ofthe damage fromthe worst riots inthe city in over threedecades

Justice S Muralidhar Justice K G Balakrishnan

A concern was alsoraised about theinvolvement of senioradministrative andpolice functionaries,including the chiefand homesecretaries and theDGP, in the ads bythe side of the chiefminister, they added

Justice for all priority of govt: Modi

Prez highlights need for value-based educationPNS n GUMLA (JHARKHAND)

President Ram Nath Kovindon Saturday stressed on theimportance of value-basededucation, saying the objectiveshould be to make studentsgood human beings.

"A good human being canbecome a good doctor, a goodleader, a good father, a goodhusband. If a daughterbecomes a good human being,she can become a good daugh-ter-in-law and a good moth-er-in-law," Kovind said,emphasising the importance ofvalue-based education.

He also said that a degreeitself is not the end of educa-tion.

The Centre and state gov-ernments have taken several

initiatives in education, andevery person should take ben-efit of such schemes, the pres-ident said.

Addressing a function ofVikas Bharati, an NGO, atBishunpur in Gumla district,Kovind said he felt happy tomeet people from the tribalcommunity here.

"The country is changing,and we too should change. Thechange also requiresresources...the population isincreasing. You educate yourchildren and inculcate goodvalues in them," he told thegathering.

Only through wisdom onecan attain intelligence andskills, he said, adding thateducation also helps inculcat-ing morality.

special 05VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | MARCH 1, 2020

What was a usualweekend for most ofthe Delhiites but forthe residents ofNorth-east Delhi,

the day will be etched in their mindsfor decades to come. The riots thatshook the Capital has left everyonesaddened that they took place in thefirst place. The question that the res-idents ask themselves is if this canhappen in the Capital, which part ofthe country is safe for our children?

On Sunday, February 23, the areasaw the worst riots after more than40 years. Petrol bombs, iron rods,stones and acid — every possible itemthat could kill and burn was used bythe rioters. Some say that it was theanti-CAA protesters who started itfirst while others say that it wasallegedly followed after Kapil Mishra’scontroversial speech. Now, blame oneor blame all, the reality is that 43humans or to be more specific 43Indians lost their lives while 200 oth-ers were left injured.

The history of the protests start-ed in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh dates backto December 14, 2019. The protestscaused traffic snarls, hours of man-hours lost not to mention the petrolthat was wasted as cars idled andinched forward. However, theseprotests didn’t take a very ugly turnuntil a man carrying a pistol marchedinto the area on January 28, 2020 andallegedly threatened the protesters tovacate the area. All was quiet sincethen until last week.

The once congested streets aredeserted even as the area is limpingback to normalcy with some shop-keepers opening their shutters. Yetthere is a strange silence in thestreets of Jaffrabad, Chandbagh,Kabir Nagar and other adjoiningareas. The silence is deafening. Onecan only imagine what terror the res-idents of the area had seen in the lastseven days.

A resident of Jaffrabad, whowitnessed the whole clash says thatboth Hindus and Muslims have beenliving in the area for decades butnothing of this sort ever happenedbetween the two communities. “Wehave been living peacefully in the areawith all our Hindu brothers. We areone big family. We don’t have anygrudges against any religion. The peo-ple who are identified as anti-CAAprotesters who pelted stones andcaused nuisance are not from ourarea. We all were silently protestinguntil these outsiders came and thematter went out of everybody’shands,” he tells you.

Another resident from the areahad another take on why these riotstook place in the first place. The silentprotest turned violent and that result-ed in this clash. “It was initially a clashof ideologies and nothing else but itultimately turned into a Hindu-Muslim clash which should have nothappened at all. People do have dif-ferent opinions and there is no harmin it. Even in our families, we all dodiffer in our ideologies and opinionsbut that doesn’t mean that we willharm our family members. The sameshould have happened in this casetoo. The protesters should have comeforward and talked about what theywanted instead of turning to violence,”he tells you.

But not all is lost here. The ray ofhope in the dark clouds of the hor-rifying riots that has surrounded theCapital also had some great storiesthat spoke of Hindu-Muslim unitythat stood the test of time.

While some neighbours pro-tected their Muslim brothers and gavethem shelter in their homes, other res-idents stood by their Hindu friendsthough thick and thin. SomeGurudwaras opened their gates for allthe riot affected victims. This in itselfis an example that how this senselessact of violence united people from allcommunities even as rioters didtheir best to destroy the peace andharmony in the area.

Raj Kumari, a widow who stayswith her son Prabhat in a three-storeyhouse in Kabir Nagar recalls the hor-ror that the people of the area had

seen last Sunday afternoon. “Theydestroyed my newly built house.What will I do now? So much ofmoney went into it but those peopledidn’t think for a second beforedamaging it,” she says and bursts intotears. Though her neighbours, bothHindus and Muslims, tried a lot tosafeguard the house but they could-n’t.

Another local alleged that it allhappened after Kapil Mishra’s speech.“It was around 3:30 pm on Sundaywhen a mob of around 200 peoplecame here and started throwingstones. All of them were outsiders.They damaged Kumari’s house think-ing that she was a Muslim. We alltried to stop them but they wereuncontrollable. This happened imme-diately after Mishra’s speech. Wehave lost four boys from our area inthese clashes,” another resident, aneighbour of Kumari, recalls.

As one moved towardsChandbagh, one could see that therewas some semblance of normalcy inthe area with autos, bikes and carsmoving as if the riots had never takenplace here. But for some families inChandbagh, they had no option butto flee out of fear. There were otherswho wanted to leave a swell but hadto stay back because they had nooption. A burnt mazaar is the firstsight that one sees. One has to gath-er enough courage and walk a fewsteps here only to see a fruit shopburnt to ashes. Oranges, grapes andbananas lay scattered even as somepeople were trying to clean it. Amidstthis chaos stood the shattered NooreKhan, the owner of the shop cumhome. “See this dark building this wasonce my home and a way to earn myliving. There is nothing left for me. Idon’t have any other business. Thiswas my only source of income. It isa loss of lakhs of rupees,” Khan, whohas been living in the area for years,tells you.

Even though he tells you thatthere is some tension, Khan has noworries for altogether different rea-

son. “Isse bura kya ho sakta hai? Abkya darna. Jo thha sab chala gaya —mera ghar, meri dukaan. Ab kis cheezke liye fiqr karoon ya ghabraoon? Wehave lodged an FIR. Let’s see whathappens,” he tells you.

Almost 50 steps to the right ofKhan’s shop is a small tea stall ownedby Prabhu Singh. “Noore is like ourbrother. Those rioters have takenaway everything from him. They firstlooted his house and shop and lit it,”Singh tells you.

Does mazaar also has a religion?“The rioters set that ablaze as well.Why did they do so? Mazaar toh sabka hai, sab mante hain ise. Almost 90per cent of the people who used tovisit this mazaar were Hindus. Thoserioters were not from our area theywere outsiders,” he laments.

Bhaisahab aka Lala, a resident ofMoonga Nagar who suffered headinjuries during the clash alleges thatthe petrol bombs and stones werethrown from Tahir Hussain’s build-ing.

“When the clash happened I wasout of my home like all the others tostop the attackers and protect ourfamilies. It was then when a group of

people came, all of them were knownto me, woh sab Tahir ke aadmi thhe,they dragged me and two other boysto their area. They beat us up withiron rods and we became uncon-scious. They left us because theythought we were dead. When wecame back into our senses, all threeof us managed to flee the area andreturn to our homes. We tried con-tacting the police but to no avail,” Lala,who works as a taxi driver, recounts.

One of the locals from the samearea too validated Lala’s claims thatallegedly Hussain was involved in theriots. “No one has the access to thehouse cum factory. How was it pos-

sible for a mob of around 200 peo-ple to enter it without his permission?They were definitely his people whospared no one. Also, from the past fewdays some kind of suspicious activi-ty was going on in his house. Thoughwe didn’t see any petrol bombs orstones coming to his place but wedoubt that he had arranged every-thing before hand. It was all planned,”he tells you.

Lala alleges that it was Hussain’speople who dragged Ankit Sharma,a 26-year-old IB officer and killedhim. “It was around 5:30 pm onTuesday when Sharma returned fromhis office. He went outside to assessthe situation. It was then when he wasattacked by a group of people whotook him into Hussain’s factory andclosed the gates. After that we don’tknow what happened inside thedoors. Later, they came and threw hisbody in the drain,” he says.

No doubt that the violence hasleft the people of Moonga Nagar indistress who want a strict actionshould be taken against Hussain andhis associates.

Given the situation in the area,security personnel have beendeployed at every nook and corner tokeep a check. But still there is astrange kind of fear among the peo-ple who are awake all night just incase something goes wrong again.

Not that the violence was limit-ed to the aforesaid areas. It spread itswing to Vijay Park too where peoplehad to vacate their houses and leaveout of fear.

“Petrol bombs and stones werethrown into our houses by a group ofpeople who chanted religious slogans.They threatened us to go back to ournative countries. But, where I ask?India is my motherland, my forefa-thers have lived here. We were for-tunate enough to have managed toflee at the right time,” a resident of thearea tells you.

Whosoever must have been themastermind of these riots but it isonly the common people that has

suffered losses and will continue to suffer.

“We don’t feel safe anymore inany part of the country. These riotshas shaken us to the core. Wheneverwe think about that fateful day, itsends shivers down our spines. We arenot able to sleep at night. Wheneverwe hear an unusual sound we arealarmed,” a traumatised local ofChandbagh tells you.

A local resident of Bhajanpurawho was at his home when the clashhappened says that it was on Mondaywhen a group of people entered thearea and started putting the shops onfire. “Many Muslims have rentedshops in our area. They have neverhad any fear in living in a Hindudominated area until now. That wasone of a fateful day when a mob cameand burnt the shops of Muslims. Wetoo were in fear and locked ourselvesin the homes until everything seemedsilent,” he tells you.

Surender, vice-president, DelhiMCD, says that all possible effortsare being made to prevent anything that would disturb the com-munal harmony in the Capital.“First of all we strongly condemnsuch riots. It should have not hap-pened in the first place. But now, ourteam has been picking up all thestones that could possibly be usedfor pelting. We also organised aHindu-Muslim peace and harmonymeet day-before-yesterday(February 28, 2020) in Seelampurand received a positive responsefrom both sides. Every one cameforward to be a part of the meetingthat aimed to promote harmony,” hetells you.

Everything may have come tonormal by now but the damagedcause and the lives lost is disheart-ening. The scenes of the areas willcontinue to sadden anyone to thecore. Burnt vehicles andpetrolpumps, broken windows anddamaged houses continue to screamof the horror even after three-fourdays of the incident.

When the clashhappened I was

outside my homelike all the

others to stopthe attackers

and protect ourfamilies. Then

when a group ofpeople came, allof them known

to me. Theydragged me andtwo other boys,

they beat uswith iron rods.

We becameunconscious.

They leftbecause they

thought we weredead— Bhaisahab

aka Lala

Lala, a resident of Moonga Nagar who suffered injuries during the Delhi riots Photo: The Pioneer/Musba Hashmi

Raj Kumari, a resident of Kabir Nagar talksabout the horrors that visited her

TORN FABRICThe last time Delhi was witness to riots was back in 1984. The horrors revisited the Capital on February 23, 2020.It left 43 dead and scars that will take decades to heal. MUSBA HASHMI visits the riot affected places to dig deepinto the mores of the area, what the residents have to say and what caused it to begin with

Burnt building, street full of stones and damagedvehicles in violence-torn Chandbagh

Photos: The Pioneer/Ranjan Dimri

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | MARCH 1, 2020 money 06

SHORT READS

NTPC to startcommercial operationof Odisha unitNEW DELHI: State-run powerproducer NTPC on Saturdaysaid its 800 MW unit ofDarlipalli Super Thermal PowerStation in Odisha will startcommercial operation frommidnight. In a regulatory filing,NTPC said the 800 megawatt(mw) unit of Darlipalli SuperThermal Power Station Stage-I(2 x 800 MW) is declared oncommercial operation witheffect from 00:00 hrs, of Mar 1,this year. With this, thecommercial capacity of NTPCand NTPC group will become49,695 MW and 58,156 MWrespectively, the filing added.

Odisha govt approves investmentsworth Rs 563 crore

NABARD sanctions Rs400 cr for infrastructureprojects in J&KJAMMU: The National Bank forAgriculture and RuralDevelopment (NABARD) hassanctioned funds to the tune ofRs 400.64 crore to the unionterritory of Jammu andKashmir for the currentfinancial year, an officialspokesman said on Saturday.Against the normativeallocation of Rs 500 crore forthe current fiscal, Rs 400.64crore was sanctioned forvarious projects of PublicWorks Department (PWD),Public Health Engineering(PHE) and animal husbandry,thus registering a cumulativeachievement of 95.95 per cent,the spokesman said.

Allahabad Bank lowersexternal benchmark-linked loan pricingNEW DELHI: State-ownedAllahabad Bank on Saturdayannounced a cut of up to 40basis points in interest rate onexternal benchmark-linkedproducts. "...the Asset LiabilityManagement Committee(ALCO) of the Bank hasdecided to revise interest ratesfor the products linked toExternal Benchmark with effectfrom 1st March 2020," the banksaid in a regulatory filing. Whilethe RBI's repo rate remainsunchanged at 5.15 per cent, thethree-month MIBOR (Average)has reduced to 5.75 per centfrom 6.15 per cent.

BHUBANESWAR: The Odishagovernment has approved twoinvestment proposals worth Rs563 crore which will createemployment for 1,273 people,officials said. The projectproposals got the nod of thestate government at the StateLevel Single Window ClearanceAuthority (SLSWCA) meetingchaired by chief secretary A KTripathy on Friday, they said.The approved project includeda proposal of Glen IndustriesPrivate Limited which plannedto set up plastic foodcontainers and moulded paperproducts manufacturing unitwith an annual capacity of 9261MT. The company will invest Rs63 crore which will provideemployment to about 273people. The SLSWCA alsoapproved the proposal of JindalAluminum Limited to set up anexpansion for setting up 75,000MT per annum aluminiumextrusions plant with anadditional investment of Rs 500crore and it will provideemployment opportunities for1,000 people.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Hero MotoCorp Ltd onSaturday said it has inaugurat-ed the first-ever training cen-tre for women at IndustrialTraining Institute (ITI) atAmbala in Haryana.

The Centre of Excellence forWomen - at ITI Ambala inHaryana will build key skill-setamongst women.

Launched in associationwith the Skill Developmentand Industrial TrainingDepartment, Government ofHaryana and United NationsDevelopment Program(UNDP), the centre aims toenhance employment oppor-tunities for women in theautomotive industry.

The industrial training willbe imparted to women in afully functional techniciantraining labs set up under thisassociation, a company state-

ment said.Launched under Ek Pahal -

- a Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) initiativeof Hero MotoCorp -- the cen-tre will also have a two-wheel-er riding training facility forwomen.

The centre is equipped withconventional learning facili-ties, including a fully automat-ed technician training labswith pneumatic tools and pre-cision equipment, it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

SBI Cards and PaymentServices has raised Rs 2,769crore from 74 anchorinvestors, ahead of its initialshare sale starting on March 2.

Anchor investors are insti-tutional investors who areoffered shares in an initialpublic offering (IPO) ahead ofits opening.

Singapore government,Monetary Authority ofSingapore, HDFC MutualFund, Government PensionFund Global and Birla MutualFund, are among the anchorinvestors.

Shares have been allotted atthe offer's upper price band ofRs 755 apiece, as per a regu-latory filing.

There are 12 mutual fundsamong the 74 anchorinvestors, who have been allo-cated 3,66,69,589 shares and itsvalue stood at Rs 2,768.55crore.

The price band for the sharesale -- which would be openfrom March 2 to 5 -- has beenfixed at Rs 750-755 apiece.

SBI Cards expects to raisearound Rs 9,000 crore throughthe IPO.

As per draft paper for the

IPO, SBI Cards would offer upto 130,526,798 equity sharesthrough an offer-for-sale route.This would include offloadingof up to 37,293,371 shares bySBI and 93,233,427 scrips byCarlyle Group.

In addition, the companywould issue fresh equity sharesworth Rs 500 crore.

SBI holds 76 per cent in SBICards and the rest of the stakeis held by Carlyle Group.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A panel of top government offi-cials on Friday pored overoption to give subsidised loansto beleaguered telecom firmson condition that they upfrontpay a fifth of their dues but nodecision could be arrived at,sources said.

With Vodafone Idea Ltdexpressing inability to pay overRs 53,000 crore in dues, theDigital CommunicationsCommission (DCC) met onFriday to look at options for-warded by the industry includ-ing staggering payment ofthree-fourth of dues over 16years with a nominal interestrate, or the defaulting firmsissuing bonds and warrantsagainst the outstanding.

The Supreme Court earlierthis month directed telecom

firms to comply with itsOctober 24, 2019 judgmentupholding the Department ofTelecommunication's (DoT)definition of adjusted grossrevenues (AGR). Accordingly,statutory dues are to be paidafter including non-telecom

revenues and the DoT esti-mates this amount to be aboutRs 1.47 lakh crore, recoverablefrom 15 companies.

Any relief proposal can onlybe implemented with the con-sent of the apex court.Government officials said more

details are required for recon-ciliation of data on statutorydues.

In a day of hectic parleys atthe DoT, Vodafone Idea (VIL)CEO and MD Ravinder Takkaralso met Telecom SecretaryAnshu Prakash but refused tocomment on the details of hisdiscussion.

Telecom companies havebeen desperately waiting for abailout package from the gov-ernment after a Supreme Courtorder put their statutory liabil-ities at Rs 1.47 lakh crore, andall eyes were on the DCC meet

for the much-needed breatherto fix the AGR imbroglio.

In fact, just days ahead of theFriday meeting of DCC,Vodafone Idea - which is themost vulnerable of the lot - toldthe government that it wouldnot be able to pay the full duesunless state support is extend-ed to survive the crisis.

VIL had made a strong pleafor setting off Rs 8,000 crore ofGST credits, a three-year mora-torium on payment of theremaining amount whichshould be staggered over 15years at a simple interest rate of

6 per cent, drastic cut in licencefee and fixing of a minimumprice of calls and data.

While telecom departmentofficials insisted that DCCmeeting on Friday did notfocus on AGR issues but ratheron project implementation forPPP on Bharat Net project, asource present at the meetingsaid no decision on telecomrelief was taken at the meetingalthough discussion did takeplace.

DCC, the highest decision-making body of the govern-ment on telecom, discussed theissue and looked at options atthe meeting which lasted twohours. Further discussions areneeded, and the DCC is likelyto meet again in the comingdays but no date has beenfixed for the next meeting,they said.

AGR woes: No decision on relief to telcos at DCCmeet; DoT officials say more AGR-data needed

PNS n KOLKATA

Country's largest lender StateBank of India (SBI) said onSaturday that the gems andjewellery industry should haveinsurance cover for banks to"lend courageously" to thesector.

He said the presence of aninsurance cover will alsolower capital requirement ofthe industry for jewelleryexports.

"Absence of an insurancecover is hurting lending to thegems and jewellery industry bybanks. If there is an insurancecover, it will help the bank tolend courageously to the sec-tor," SBI deputy managingdirector (clients group-I) P NPrasad said here.

Speaking at an event, organ-ised by ICC here, he said theexposure of SBI to the jew-ellery industry is around Rs20,000 crore, adding that thelending growth to the sectorhas been muted at present.

The SBI official said the"trust of the bankers on thegems and jewellery industry isnot there" because of its prac-tices "which caused misery tothe banks".

Fugitive diamantaire NiravModi has allegedly defraudedstate-run Punjab NationalBank of over Rs 14,000 crore.

PNS n BEIJING

China's manufacturing activi-ty fell to its lowest level onrecord in February as officialdata on Saturday confirmedthe massive damage the dead-ly coronavirus epidemic hascaused to the world's second-largest economy.

The announcement comesas the epidemic has rapidlyspread to a growing number ofcountries, pushing stock mar-kets to their lowest levels sincethe 2008 global financial crisisover fears that the coronaviruscould wreak havoc on theworld economy.

Analysts have warned thatChina's economic growth willlikely take a major hit in thefirst quarter, and Saturday'sdata was the first glimpse at thedamage the virus has caused toindustries across the country.

The Purchasing Managers'Index (PMI), a key gauge ofactivity in China's factories,was at 35.7 points in February,well below the 50-point markthat separates growth and con-

traction every month.This was down from 50

points in January and the worstlevel since China began record-ing the figure in 2005.

It was also well below expec-tations of a smaller contraction,at 45.0, according to aBloomberg poll of analysts.

It was the first official eco-nomic indicator published forthe month of February, show-ing the devastating impact ofthe epidemic on China's econ-

omy -- with fallout likely to beseen around the world.

The National Bureau ofStatistics said the auto and spe-cialised equipment industrieswere hit hard, but the effect was"more severe" in the non-man-ufacturing area.

"There was a plunge indemand for consumer indus-tries involving gatherings ofpeople, such as transporta-tion, accommodation, catering,tourism, and resident services,"

the NBS said in a statement.Non-manufacturing activity

was at an abysmal 29.6 pointsin February, down from 54.1points in January.

Authorities have taken dras-tic steps to contain the virus,curbing the movement of peo-ple, temporarily closing facto-ries across the country andquarantining central Hubeiprovince, a key industrialregion where the epidemicfirst appeared.

Reliance picks up 37.7 pcstake in Alok IndustriesPNS n NEW DELHI

Reliance Industries onSaturday said it has acquired37.7 per cent stake in textilemanufacturer Alok IndustriesLtd for Rs 250 crore.

Reliance had jointly with JMFinancial Asset ReconstructionCo Ltd bid for acquiring AlokIndustries that was auctionedunder the insolvency andbankruptcy law by lenders torecover their unpaid loans.

The Ahmedabad bench ofthe National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) had last yearapproved the joint bid.

"Please note that in accor-dance with the approvedResolution Plan, ALOK hastoday allotted 83.33 crore equi-ty shares of Re 1 each at a pre-mium of Rs 2 per equity sharefor cash at total considerationof Rs 250 crore to RIL,"Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)said in a regulatory filing.

Pursuant to this acquisi-

tion, RIL will hold 37.7 percent equity share capital ofAlok Industries, it added.

Also, in accordance withthe approved resolution plan,Alok Industries has allotted250 crore 9 per cent OptionallyConvertible Preference Shares(OCPS) of Re 1 each for cashat par, for a total considerationof Rs 250 crore to RIL.

In March 2019, theAhmedabad bench of theNCLT had approved the soleRIL-JM Financial ARC bidfor Alok for Rs 5,050 crore.

RIL had planned to raiseabout Rs 4,550 crore throughbank loans while infusing Rs500 crore equity in the compa-ny.

Alok Industries, incorpo-rated on March 12, 1986, is anintegrated textile manufactur-er headquartered in Mumbaiwith interests in the polyesterand cotton segments.

It has a product suite com-prising of cotton yarn, appar-el fabrics, bed linen, terry tow-els, embroidery, garments andpolyester yarn.

Sebi levies Rs 80 lakh fine on16 firms for fraudulent tradingPNS n NEW DELHI

Markets regulator Sebi onFriday imposed a total penal-ty of Rs 80 lakh on 16 entitiesfor conducting fraudulenttrading in the scrip of MaproIndustries Ltd.

The order follows a probe bySebi into the trading in thecompany shares between July2014 and November 2014.

Sebi, from the trading pat-tern of the entities, noted thatthe entities manipulated theshare price of the company bycontributing positively to theLTP (last traded price) whichconsequently led to the rise inthe price of the scrip.

Therefore, the entities havebeen fined Rs 5 lakh each forviolating Prohibition ofFraudulent and Unfair TradePractices norms.

Apart from nine individuals,the entities include CosmosDistributors, Bhargabi Trading,Jagsakti Tower, JahmanAgency, Ritudhan Marketing,Godavari Real Estate andV.S.G. Leasing and Finance Co.

In a separate order, Sebilevied a total fine of Rs 40 lakhon Midfield Industries Ltd its

chairman and managing direc-tor Madhu Mohan Reddy andexecutive director Ashok SagarMudumba for diverting thefunds raised from initial pub-lic offer (IPO) of the firm.

Out of Rs 59.85 crore of the

IPO proceeds, the firm utilizedRs 30.89 crore towards clear-ing its pre-existing overdraftbalance, which was not men-tioned in the prospectus.

"The Noticees had commit-ted a fraud in diverting thefunds raised through IPO andnot utilized the money inaccordance with the objects ofthe issue as stated in theprospectus," Sebi said.

Separately, Sebi slapped atotal fine of Rs 22 lakh on MPFSystems and its senior officials-- Kirti Salvi, Anil Kothari,Aakesh Chopra and AmbrishBarsati Pal for flouting variousmarket norms.

The NationalBureau ofStatistics said theauto andspecialisedequipmentindustries were hithard, but the effectwas "more severe"in the non-manufacturingarea.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The national pharmaceuticalregulator NPPA has exempteda new coronary stent developedby Meril Life Sciences fromprice control for five yearsunder a provision of the DrugPrice Control Order 2013.

The company has got exemp-tion for its productMeRes100TM BRS - Sirolimuseluting bioabsorbable vascularscaffold system from theNational Pharmaceutical PricingAuthority (NPPA), Meril LifeSciences said in a statement.

The company said it willstart commercial productionof the stent in a couple ofmonths.

After much deliberation, "theAuthority decided that exemp-tion may be granted to Meril

Life Sciences Pvt Ltd under para32 (ii) of DPCO 2013 for theircoronary stents 'MeRes 100 -Sirolimus eluting bioabsorbablevascular scaffold system' as perthe recommendation made bythe multidisciplinary committeeof experts," the NPPA said inminutes of its meeting.

The authority also directedthe Drug Controller General ofIndia (DCGI) to ensure closesafety monitoring of the coro-

nary stents that have beenexempted in public interest, asper the minutes of the meetingheld on February 25, 2020.

The government had in 2017had slashed the prices of life-sav-ing coronary stents by up to 85per cent.

Meril Life Sciences CorporateStrategy VP Sanjeev Bhatt toldPTI: "The positive decision byNPPA confirming non-applic-ability of DPCO 2013 underPara 32 for MeRes100 BRS,

made post an exhaustive multi-stakeholder review, demon-strates the commitment of theIndian Government to encour-age not only 'Make in India', butalso Research in India."

An extensively researchedinnovation, MeRes100 BRS isbacked by three-year efficacyand safety clinical trial data, andhas received eight patents world-wide, he added.

"We are committed to intro-ducing MeRes100 BRS in Indiaand the world responsibly byundertaking a range of measuresto ensure effective access andright use, including conductinga 2,000-patient large scale ran-domized study, building 1,000-patient Indian and global patientregistries and ongoing educationof interventional cardiologists,"Bhatt said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Telecom operator Bharti Airtelon Saturday said that it hasmade additional payment of Rs8,004 crore towards adjustedgross revenue dues to theDepartment of Telecom(DoT). The payment of Rs8,004 crore is in addition to Rs10,000 crore the company paidon February 17, 2020 in com-pliance to the Supreme Courtjudgement, it said in a regula-tory filing.

The company said it calcu-lated the liabilities on selfassessment basis till December31, 2019 and the payment

includes interest up toFebruary 29, 2020.

The company has carriedout self assessment from FY2006-07 up to December 31,2019 and interest thereon up toFebruary 29, 2020 in line withthe Adjusted Gross Revenue(AGR) judgement, BhartiAirtel said.

"Accordingly the company

paid an additional amount ofRs 3,004 crore towards the fulland final amounts due overand above ad-hoc amount ofRs 10,000 crore paid onFebruary 17, 2020 on behalf ofBharti Group of companies,"the filing said.

The payment included lia-bilities on Bharti Airtel, BhartiHexacom and Telenor India.

"We have also deposited anadditional amount of Rs 5,000crore, as an ad-hoc payment(subject to the subsequentrefund/adjustment to coverdifferences, if any arising fromthe reconciliation exercise withthe DoT," Airtel said.

AGR dues: Bharti Airtelpays additional Rs 8,004 cr

‘Slowdowntemporary,next decadepromising’ PNS n MUMBAI

The current economic slow-down is "temporary" andcaused by external turbu-lence, and the country hasreasons to be more opti-mistic for the next decade,richest Indian MukeshAmbani said on Friday.

The chairman and manag-ing director of RelianceIndustries said the comingdecade presents a "historicopportunity" for businesses toexcel and place India amongthe top three economies ofthe world.

"I think while we haveseen temporary pains, withthe leadership that thefinance minister providedwe're just going to get out ofit. External turbulence (has)hit us, but I am very veryoptimistic," Ambani said.

He was speaking afterbeing presented with the'Iconic Business Leader of theDecade' award by CNBC-TV18 here.

Hero MotoCorp openstraining centre for women

There are 12mutual fundsamong the 74anchor investors,who have beenallocated3,66,69,589 sharesand its valuestood at Rs2,768.55 crore.

Launched under EkPahal -- a CorporateSocial Responsibility(CSR) initiative ofHero MotoCorp -- thecentre will also havea two-wheeler ridingtraining facility forwomen.

In a day of hectic parleys at the DoT,Vodafone Idea (VIL) CEO and MDRavinder Takkar also met TelecomSecretary Anshu Prakash but refused tocomment on the details of his discussion

The company saidit will startcommercialproduction of thestent in a couple of months

The entities havebeen fined Rs 5lakh each forviolatingProhibition ofFraudulent andUnfair TradePractices norms.

SBI: Insurancecover key tojewellery industry

VIRUS HAMMERS CHINA'S FEBECONOMIC ACTIVITY: DATA

SBI Cards mops upRs 2,769 cr fromanchor investors

Meril's stent exempted from price curbs for 5 yrs

vivacity 07VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | MARCH 1, 2020

How do we expand the bou-quet of tourism experiencesto inspire the traveller tokeep coming back? Howdo we reintroduce favourites

and invest them with contemporarysensibilities? How do we customisetours to make new memories? How hastheme travel changed the way we live andthink? These were some of the questionsthat were answered by panellists AmanNath, Shilpa Sharma, Sumitra Senapaty,Anup Kutty and Samil Malhotra at thelast session of the Exotica TourismSummit.

DON’T LET HISTORY BECOME ABYGONE

Hotelier, architectural restorer andwriter Aman Nath is the co-founder andco-chairman of the Neemrana Hotelschain, along with Francis Wacziarg.Both are today credited for pioneeringthe heritage hotels movement in India,which they started in 1991. Since then,the Neemrana group has acquired 30heritage properties and converted theminto heritage hotels after restoration, par-ticularly developing unknown propertiesin Rajasthan and breaking stereotypes.

He said, “We have 30 properties in18 states of India. We started by lookingat restoring historical properties whichheld stories about the glorious past ofIndia. The architecture in every statevaries just like food. The idea was tomake a new blend of restoration, rebuild-ing and revitalisation of ruined architec-tural wonders and offer unique accom-modation options. It was to turn utterwaste into mainstream assets, whichnobody looked at and which could con-tribute to society. The term jungle meinmangal actually holds true in that youcan actually create a habitat in thewilderness. Neemranification means thatyou restore a place and you also use it ina way that it perpetuates itself. What youknow as the Neemrana Fort PalaceDelhi-Jaipur highway is actually a 15thcentury heritage hotel. We have a historic700-year-old property as the Hill Fort,Kesroli in Alwar. All efforts have beenmade to maintain the old charm of thefort while ensuring basic comforts thathave come to be associated with thechanges in lifestyle since the 14th cen-tury. Then we have the Bungalow on theBeach in Tranquebar, Tamil Nadu. Whenwe started doing this project, theGovernment said how dare you build aproperty so close to the sea? We toldthem, it was there since the 17th centu-ry. It was actually restored one day beforethe tsunami. The waves crashed the wallsand went over the whole building butnothing happened to it. It stayed intactbecause it was a hundred years old andsolidly built.”

Aman summed up by saying thatwhen you see ruins like these, you don’thave the courage to attempt a new con-struction. “What we actually did wasrestoration-for-reuse,” he said.

LET THE SEA SET YOU FREESamil Malhotra, head of sales at

TIRUN, brings 33 years of experienceduring which he has worked across var-ious sectors with established brands. Asthe exclusive India representative forRoyal Caribbean Cruises, a global cruise-liner with four cruise brands — RoyalCaribbean International, CelebrityCruises, Azamara Club Cruises andSilversea Cruises — he highlighted howvoyages have made slow travel fashion-able again.

He said, “Today, Antarctica is the newAlaska. So in 2020, if you think you cantake a cruise, you could go to Antarctica.There are so many misconceptions andmyths about cruising. The very first is thatcruises are expensive. People tend to thinkit’s too crowded, too confining or too bor-ing. But that’s hardly the reality of mod-ern-day vessels. There are so many argu-ments favouring why you should not gocruising rather than why you should. Theword “cruise” in itself personifies what itdoes. A ship can go at 40 knots but itchooses to go at 10 knots. It’s because itlets you enjoy the sea. If you would liketo have a relaxing holiday, if you don’t wantto pack and repack, if you want to get upin a new country everyday and have 30restaurants to eat, a casino to gamble in,a health club and spa to enjoy andimmerse yourself in, watch Broadwaymusicals and shows at night, listen to BobMarley and Bob Dylan during the day, youshould be taking a cruise.”

Samil concluded his talk by saying,“To demystify all this, Royal Caribbean

Cruises sells at approximately 10,000 perperson, per night. So if you take a threenight package, you are just spending`30,000. And you are getting everything— stay, food, alcoholic beverages (attimes), entertainment, shore excursionsand so on in comparison to a hotel, wherejust your breakfast is included. When I tellpeople the rates, they are just shocked. Ifyou haven’t seen the cruise, you haven’tseen the world.”

THE BUZZWORD IS SOLO TRAVEL Sumitra Senapaty, known as a

women’s travel expert, has logged thou-sands of miles around the world as a wan-derer, culminating with the creation of the

WOW Club travel and social platform forwomen 15 years ago. This has developedinto an active community for women.Sumitra believes that travel brings alonga sense of empowerment and a feeling ofpersonal freedom. The WOW communi-ty also meets up for a number of socialevents organised exclusively for women bythe club — like heritage walks, wine tast-ings, lunches and movie evenings as well.Sumitra has just returned from Antarctica,her second time to this part of the world.

She said, “It was a dream that I had15 summers ago. I really wanted womento be independent and empowered. Italked to a lot of people and realised thatwomen were more interested in travelling

and adventure and a passion that bringsall this alive. There are times in life whenyou are over with your friends, relativesand colleagues. You want to go beyond thatand have a different social circle. So howdo you make friends later in life? One wayis travel. It gives you me-time, makes youindependent and you feel empowered. Itgives you an opportunity to talk to otherpeople, locals of various countries andother states in India. It gives you time tothink on your feet, to act for yourself, too.Well, I give them the opportunity for solotravel. It’s so comforting because being ina group gives you a sense of safety. We do150 trips every year over 52 destinations.These destinations range from Rishikeshto Antartika and beyond. Future plansinclude the Arctic circle, Greenland andFalkland islands. The change has come forsure. Initially, when I started out, therewere women who called me and said ‘wowit’s such a lovely concept! But we will getback to you after the weekend. I would liketo discuss it with my family and see whathappens’. Invariably, they never got backbecause their family said why are yougoing with them? Why not with us?However, later, women did come back.And how.”

BEYOND THE BROCHURESince 2011, Shilpa Sharma, founder of

Breakaway Travels, has been curating andexecuting bespoke, beyond-the-brochureexperiential journeys around India for solotravellers. Her trips are immersions incrafts, textiles, culinary and social enter-prise interactions. She co-founded Jaypore,

an online retail portal for Indian hand-made and high on design products and isconstantly travelling to find the next expe-riential to curate.

She wanted to do something for herown, something that hadn’t been done byanyone. Said Shilpa, “In 2011, when I setup the company, the whole idea was tofind parts of the country through travelexperiences. There was a lot happening inthe mainstream tourism space. Peoplewere going to Goa, Mumbai, Kerala butI wanted to present a beyond-the-brochure approach to India. I wanted tohave a representation of interactions cen-tred around crafts and textiles becausethat’s where I have spent 12 years of mycareer. I have travelled the length andbreadth of the country and realised thatall the beautiful products come from India.There’s an opportunity to actually travelinto some of the far flung clusters, com-munities and interact with them at theirhometowns. In those interactions you alsoget to experience them, their culture, foodand just every aspect of their lifestyle. I feelfood is our identity. Through my travels,I have figured, regional cuisine in ourcountry is severely underrated. This is alsoone of the reasons which led to my thirdventure — a restaurant called Mustard inGoa and Mumbai.”

Shilpa added that she is now workingto explore another facet of Kutch. It is asso-ciated with textiles and crafts and the greatRann of Kutch but the truth is that it isalso about extinct volcanoes, rock forma-tions, dinosaurs and fossils. “Nobody talksabout these things. There is a Rajasthanthat everybody knows and then there isa Rajasthan that nobody knows.” For her,it’s all about finding that needle in ahaystack.

TO NORTHEAST, WITH LOVEFormer journalist and musician Anup

Kutty, made the rice fields of Ziro inArunachal Pradesh a must-stop simply byhosting a music festival there. Now in itsninth year, he has pioneered the idea of amusical quest in the Northeast, one whichadds to the felt experience.

Said he, “My love story with theNortheast is just 10 years old. I am a musi-cian, so my band was touring theNortheast in 2011. One of the promoterswas from Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. Wehad a show there. Unfortunately, there wassome political unrest and the show gotpostponed. The promoter suggested,‘Why don’t you just come to my home-town, Ziro Valley, and relax?’ We saw theplace, met beautiful people and had greatfood. Over a couple of rice beers, we dis-cussed how we should invite some moreartistes and do a show here. Even aftermoving back to Delhi, the idea stuck in ourheads. So we decided to do it. Our first edi-tion was a huge mess because there weretorrential rains for two days. But on theday of the fest, sun showed up, everybodylanded and the show happened. That was10 years ago. Now we have 6,000 peoplecoming from across the world. It’s like awedding that happens in the village,where everybody comes together and putsin his/her best efforts. The locals open uptheir homes for visitors. When we start-ed, we had couple of home stays. But now,pretty much every home is open for us.The local economy has perked up too.”

The Pioneer group is expanding its umbrella of connecting with thinking minds through live talks. CalledThe Pioneer Agenda series, we hope to generate awareness on ideas that will shape India in 2030 andcould be a template for policy-making. The first such dialogue, Exotica Tourism Summit, Exotica being thegroup's travel and wellness magazine, was held at Shangri-La hotel, New Delhi on February 26. Sincetourism is poised to become a major growth driver and employment generator of the economy, the day-long event had interactive sessions with Union Ministers, industry experts, travel operators, tourismboards, the hospitality sector and brand creators

Left to right: Shilpa Sharma, Aman Nath, Sumitra Senapaty, Anup Kutty and Samil Malhotra

LIVING HERITAGE

WHEN RECALLINSPIRES NEW IDEAS

Minister of Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel at the Exotica Tourism Summit

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | MARCH 1, 2020 vivacity {48 hours} 08

With so many images, trav-ellers’ tales and food storieson our palmtops, how do

we decide what works best for uswhile planning a holiday? How do weget to the must-knows beyond thephoto-shopped fantasy? Simple, livethe felt experiences with somebodywhom you can trust and somebodywho is like you. Nobody can estab-lish this believability about themselvesthan Rocky Singh and MayurSharma, who have added a wholenew layering to highway travel byexploring dhabas and elevating streetfood as a must-do option. So has chefZorawar Kalra, who has used someof our known street foods to createelegant fusion fare. They were speak-ing at the session Seeing is Believingat the Exotica Tourism Summit.

Rocky and Mayur, who have bro-ken barriers, hit the road, built per-sonal stories and digital highwaysthrough their television showHighway on My Plate, shared theirjourney of bringing the regionalIndian cuisine food to the forefront.“Our life has always been about pro-moting food. We started in 2007 withthe emphasis to focus upon theIndian food as we have the richestfood culture in the world,” saidRocky.

He then talked about weaving inhis experiences as a birder with hisfood journeys on his Instagramaccount. “There are eight million reg-istered birders in the UK and possi-bly more in the US. If you want tolook at birding opportunities inIndia, we have over 1,200 species ofbirds, including the ones who migrate

during the winters. We have some ofthe most phenomenal birds in theworld. Everywhere you go, fromRann of Kutch to the Northeast toKerala to Kashmir, you will find thou-sands of birders looking for exoticspecies. It is a huge business.”

Through the show, Rocky andMayur seem to have enjoyed thediversity of the country as they trav-el and review dhabas on their wayevery 48 hours. “We have had 7,000dishes in 12 years and still have a lotmore to explore. Believe me, 100 mil-lion people would come to India if wewere proud of our food culture andshowed the world the richness of ourcuisine,” added Rocky.

The two were running theirbusiness till they decided that theyhad to make their passion their liv-ing. That happened through theshow, which has several avatars now.Mayur being a vegetarian onlyreviews one end of the spectrum ofdishes. So how many of his fans haveturned vegetarian? “I have no idea.Around 25 to 28 per cent Indians arevegetarian. The rest have sea food,fish and non-vegetarian dishes.Though it is a small number but nowwith the health tag attached to it, thenumbers are growing,” said Mayur.Rocky added that as ones goestowards the coastal areas, there arehardly any vegetarians.

With food being a passion withthe duo, the obvious question was ifthey were planning a restaurant oftheir own? “There’s so much of hardwork and passion involved in it thatI feel, probably never. But whoknows? Never say, never!” said Rocky.

Another panelist Zorawar, whohas nine successful outposts acrossIndia and Dubai, quipped that he wasglad that Rocky and Mayur were notplanning to set up one as it wouldmean competition for him. He talkedabout fusion and his experimentalapproach to food. His London out-post, Farzi Cafe, has been credited forchanging the perception of Indiancuisine because of the use of molec-ular gastronomy and food theatre.“We have been experimenting withkhichdi, which according to me is themost vibrant, versatile and comfort-ing Indian dish. We have experiment-ed and created Dal chawal aracini outof it. It is coated with bread crumbs,has a papad on top and a tomatosalsa. As soon as you take a bite, youwill instantly understand that it is therecreation of khichdi,” said he. Thebest part about papad and khichdi isthe fact that every Indian State has itsown version, said the restaurateurwho loves playing with regionalfood to make it more innovative asit represents the culture of the coun-try. It also gives him a chance to trynew forms of the cuisine.

Rocky and Mayur are pushingnew frontiers on the digital plane asthey felt that television is no moreappealing. “It is boring for people tosee someone sitting on a chair in astudio every day. It is not catchy. Thetelevision is just shooting itself in thehead. Unless it has a hint of creativ-ity it will not be able to sustain itself,”said Rocky. “TV is unidirectional,”added Mayur. As the digital space ismaking waves and their programmesare showcased regularly there, they

shared how this media had helpedthem promote their food journey. “Itis a space to enable conversations andgenerate ideas. The platform givesyou the chance to talk about Beera’schicken and at the same time, sharedetails about an idli from Gujarat.Now Indians are using it as a spaceto put their passion forward,” saidRocky. Mayur laid stress on the factthat the platform enables conversa-tions. One can cater to a specificgroup of people and build a commu-nity with common thoughts. “Ourfocus is simple — be consistent, fre-quent and do things in such a waythat you can defend yourself ineverything you do,” added Mayur.

Having become a part of the pro-fession accidentally, Rocky andMayur realised that documentingIndia’s street food delicacies wassomething they had always wantedto do. But everything comes with itsown risks and challenges. Sinceburgers, pastas and pizzas had firm-ly established their hold on everyonewhen they started, it was challengingto put back Indian food on the plat-ter. But they eventually changedhow people perceived a dhaba andmade it a new trend. “Youngstersstarted looking at dhabas as a coolplace. They wanted to go there andexplore them,” said Mayur.

When asked if there was pressureto reinvent themselves, Rocky replied,“I believe that if you want to be inter-esting, just keep learning, raising yourperformance and reinventing thewheel. It is very important to addmore skills to your existing ones andget more layered.” They even talkedabout travel being a teacher. Themore you travel, the more you getexposed to various cultures andmeet new people.

People usually decide destina-tions first and then look for their spe-ciality in food. But it is the other wayround for Zorawar. “All my travel hasbeen based on food. I first decidewhich destination has good food andthen look for other things. I planeverything on the basis of food. Mymost memorable trip was to Japan.After India, it has the most advancedfood culture,” said he. He evenshared that the first time he had areally high end meal was on his hon-eymoon.

For Mayur, even after 12 years,the joy for this profession remainsintact. It is all about perspective. “Ifevery morning you are excited to goto your work, just continue with it.It is all about having fun in life,” saidhe. This is his mantra in life. Don’ttake yourself too seriously! Rockysummed up the session with RudyardKipling’s poem, If:

“If you can make one heap of allyour winnings

And risk it in one turn of pitch-and-toss

And lose and start again at yourbeginnings

And never breathe a word aboutyour loss....”

Our heritage sites not onlyconnect us to our civilisa-

tional past but play a major rolein attracting tourists. So thequestion that lies here is: How todevelop the heritage infrastruc-ture and increase access to thesesites? Patiala Foundation chiefRavee Singh Ahluwalia, who hasdone pilot projects like introduc-ing E-cabs to encourage footfalls,has an answer. At the ExoticaTourism Summit organised byThe Pioneer media group hesaid, “We need to work on sus-tainable development goals intourism. That is the key to reviv-ing interest in our heritage struc-tures.”

iHeritage is an initiative takenby the Patiala Foundation toexplore and recognise the her-itage of the city on foot. He hadorganised a world event ofGoUNESCO in September, 2016where more than 500 residents ofthe city participated. TheHeritage Walk was led by thethen Hon’ble DeputyCommissioner Patiala and otherdignitaries of the city. It was wellreceived by the citizens. Thesecond heritage walk was organ-ised at Bahadurgarh Fort inMarch, 2018, led by IG RangePatiala. The third heritage walkwas organised at Ghuram villagein September, 2018. It was led byChief Secretary to Punjab’s ChiefMinister.

“When we went to variousmonuments, we saw that some ofthese sites were not even con-served properly. That would needa lot of investment. So wethought of taking this initiativeof revival forward by generatinga local economy around the site,”

said he. The foundation conducted

heritage walks at unexploredsites of Punjab and have exploredaround seven sites till date.Ahluwalia proudly shared,“Patiala, from where I come, is257 years old. We have sites likeSangol which date back to firstcentury, they are there from thetime of the Harappan civilisation.We also have Sultanpur Lodhiwhere the first guru of Sikhsspent his 14 years. We recentlydid a heritage walk there in col-laboration with the PunjabGovernment. The infrastructureof these sites can only developwhen the governments recognisetheir potential and more peoplevisit.”

Through the project, thefoundation takes school kids tothese sites. Till date they havetaken around 5,000 students sothat people become aware aboutit.

He has pioneered the PatialaGreenCABS, an environment-friendly project by starting E-rickshaws on speed dial. “We didan experiment in 2014. We con-ducted personality developmentclasses for auto-rickshaw dri-vers and trained them as tourist-guides of Patiala. We took thisinitiative so that on the way to thesites, the rickshaw drivers couldtell people about the backgroundand history of the place,” said he.It acts as a skill enhancement forthem. They can now double theirincome within the same time. Ina small city, where Ola and Ubercan’t operate, auto-rickshawsserve as a good means of trans-port. If we upgrade them, theycan come into the mainstream.

“Instead of motivating thecorporates to allocate CSR funds,it’s better to widen the scope byasking them to give protection toa particular heritage site undertheir CSR initiative,” added he.

Roma Gupta from TRAC Rajini Hasija, Director, IRCTC Aman Nath speaks to Union Minister of Railways and Commerce Piyush Goyal

Nitin Tripathi, Media Advisor at Ministry of Culture and TourismR Nandkummar, Director SRM Institute of Science and Technology Dr Savita Mehta, VP, Amity UniversityDr CB Sharma, Chairman of NIOS

FILLING THE GAPS

While ROCKY SINGH and MAYUR SHARMA spoke about theirjourney and building personal stories, ZORAWAR KALRAdivulged that he decides his next destination on the basis of food

WORLD ON A PLATTER

It is time you believed in yourself and your talents. Youwill work towards a disease-free happy family. On thecareer front, you are positive and will try to bring loveand compassion in your work. Your intuitive nature willbe at play and people would be amazed to see this sideof your personality. This is the time to focus on yourgoals and targets. Avoid being sensitive and emotional,as it will not sort out any problem. Be firm anddetermined in your approach. Those in business needto be careful while conducting financial deals.Relationship wise, there are chances of deception inlove. Be cautious. Those in a committed relationshipmay face confusion. Make sure to clear the doubts toavoid misunderstandings.

Lucky number 11Lucky colour WhiteLucky day Monday

ARIES March 21-April 19

This week you need to balance your health efforts withyour personal and professional responsibilities. Prioritiseyour life and take rest to heal yourself. Career-wise, thoselooking for a job may have to wait for some time. Thisweek is not the best time. Don’t dwell on failures andreward yourself for your successes. Accept that everyonehas limits and cannot succeed at everything. This is thetime to reflect on what you have achieved. If there is noroom for a raise or promotion where you are now, giveserious thought to finding something where there isscope. Those who are already committed should nothesitate to speak their mind to their partner. Stand withpride and express your feelings. This is the time whenyou can strengthen your bonding with your loved one.

Lucky number 6Lucky colour PinkLucky day Friday

TAURUS April 20-May 20

Managing your stress is important in order to stayhealthy. It is better to face any problems that comeyour way, instead of avoiding them. Ensure that you getenough rest. If you require healing, ask for it at boththe literal and the spiritual levels. On the career front,other people may not understand or support your newideas or proposals, but if you know that you are right,go ahead. You are enthusiastic, full of energy and wantto put out your best, but others are not taking itpositively. Leave your simplicity behind, be smart andexpressive. Rest of the things are manageable, you willhandle them well. In love, you are mellow. Romance isin the air. Love at first sight or one-sided love mayprove to be a waste of time.

Lucky number 22Lucky colour RedLucky day Wednesday

GEMINI May 21-June 20

Suppressing your emotions will impact your healthnegatively. You need to be careful about how, when,and where you vent your feelings. Anything thatreduces your stress level will be helpful now, it couldbe a five-minute walk. Maintain a positive outlooktowards life and stay calm and connected. On thecareer front, tension is foreseen. If experiencing stress,reaching out to a friend or a work colleague will provehelpful. Those trying for a job change, this is the righttime. Making plans will not help, you need to get upand execute them. This week, you may acquire theposition you were aiming for a long time. It is a verypositive time for you, as well an excellent opportunityto strengthen relationships of all kinds.

Lucky number 13Lucky colour BlueLucky day Thursday

CANCER June 21-July 22

You may change your mind radically about something. Aword of caution. Do not ignore everything that yourdoctor has told you. Rather, give it a good thought.Those suffering from serious ailments need to be underthe constant observation of doctors. Make sure you havea healthy diet and adequate sleep. Avoid stimulants asmuch as possible. On the work front, you need to bequick with decisions. Make sure your intelligence andlogic are used for the good cause. Don’t waste your timein conflicts. Long-distance travel for business is on thecards. There is hope and happiness at an emotional level,along with a new sense of security, protection andrecovery. This week you will enjoy the warmth, affectionand togetherness with the old friend/lover.

Lucky number 20Lucky colour IndigoLucky day Tuesday

VIRGO Aug 23-Sep 22

Tension, worry and depression might take a toll on yourhealth, leaving you exhausted. Learn to say no. Consciousrelaxation is important for your body and mind. It will helpyou to deal with the stress. On the career front, you will beappreciated for your skills. Your communication skills aregood. Those in business may acquire a secure position interms of wealth and property. This is the right time toinvest in real estate. Those in service or a job, are likely towin support of their seniors, which will prove to be astepping stone in their career. On the personal front, youwill reflect charm and positivity and will win the heart ofyour partner. A new beginning on terms of a relationship ison the cards. You may set fresh expectations. This is agood time for lovers.

Lucky number 10Lucky colour BrownLucky day Tuesday

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 22

Take a break from your routine. Just slow down andrelax. There is no point in pushing yourself when you aretired, it may cause illness and injury. Meditation is bestfor rejuvenation and will help you recharge your energy.Take a short break. It will do wonders for your physicaland mental well-being. On the career front, investmentdone in the past will bring good returns this week. Youare in the good books of your seniors and soon there willbe rewards. You need to have patience. On the personalfront, you seem to be a confused and double-mindedover something. Those looking for love, need to analysetheir emotional issues and sort them out. Yourrelationship will move into an easier and more balancedphase when you are sure of yourself.

Lucky number 3Lucky colour PeachLucky day Wednesday

SCORPIO Oct 23-Nov 21

Focus on balancing your chakras or your body, mind,and spirit. Meditation, Pranayam and walk workwonderfully well. The benefits are far greater than anyeffort you can put in. At work, networking with newpeople especially foreigners will be beneficial. This isthe time to crack business deals, sign new projects andassignments. Your work will be recognised andappreciated. Those in service may expect araise/promotion. On the personal front, new ideas andplans will help you renew your relations with the lovedones. Love is in the air and you are in full mood toexpress your feelings to the one you like. Singles mayfind an opportunity to meet their sweetheart at one ofthe social gatherings.

Lucky number 9Lucky colour OrangeLucky day Saturday

AQUARIUS Jan 20-Feb 18

You will experience a wave of positivity and creativity thisweek. It is an excellent time to flaunt your charm andenjoy the path of personal development. Thecompleteness, sense of vitality and peace of mind willmake you a very efficient person. On the career front, youare confident and ready to face any challenges. You maygain success and win accolades for your performance.Those in the field of politics will have a good time.Acceptance and implementation of their views is likely. Onthe personal front, mind, heart and emotions are going indifferent ways. This is a highly emotional time in loverelationships. Situations can quickly become heated. Takea break and give space to your partner. Don’t be in ahurry to end or to begin a relationship.

Lucky number 19Lucky colour Sky BlueLucky day Friday

PISCES Feb 19-March 20

Don’t try to deal with the problems alone. Sharing themwith someone may help you offload your stress. Takegood care of yourself, and the people you are concernedwith. You have a generous and nurturing personality andin taking care of others, you often tend to neglect yourhealth. Bring balance in your work and relations. Career-wise, you cannot make up your mind whether to stick toyour job or start a business. You need to have a clearvision about your goals for the future. Constant changingof field is a sign of instability and often gets younowhere. Explore your interest and potentials. In love life,think with a cool mind than the raging heart. Singles, it’snot the time to take a hasty decision. Judge the personand take your own time.

Lucky number 21Lucky colour MagentaLucky day Wednesday

CAPRICORN Dec 22-Jan 19

This week you are overworked and exhausted. Reduce theintake of nicotine or caffeine, as it is harmful. Take timeout for yourself and your health will show a positivechange. Observe the situations that stress you. It will helpyou figure how to deal with them in the future. Learningrituals from the past will deepen your spiritualunderstanding and practice and help you to bring aboutbalance. Career-wise, your focus on finances will keepyou busy. Travel is on the cards. Keep a check on yourbehaviour. Exchange of harsh words may create a hostilesituation around you. Those looking for work, anassignment or a job may come your way. Those in acommitted relationship may work towards taking therelationship to the next level.

Lucky number 18Lucky colour GreenLucky day Friday

LEO July 23-Aug 22

Listen to your body and give it due care and attention.Over-eating or to starve, both the conditions are bad forhealth. Bringing balance in food habits will not only helpyou maintain your weight but also boost your morale. Asense of calm will prevail. Results of competitive examsmay not be encouraging. On the work front, it is best notkeep high expectations, as your stars are not reallyfavourable at this point in time. You may face conflictsand confrontations in trivial matters and this may causeyou to lose your calm. It is best to follow the disciplineand rules of the organisation. Else you may invite thedispleasure of your seniors. Love and emotions will takea back seat. You may prefer isolation over being with thewrong crowd or partner.

Lucky number 12Lucky colour GoldenLucky day Sunday

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22-Dec 21

YYOOUURRWWEEEEKK

AHEADMADHU KOTIYA

sundaymagazine

tarot 09SOMETIMES YOUR JOY IS THESOURCE OF YOUR SMILE, BUTSOMETIMES YOUR SMILE CANBE THE SOURCE OF YOUR JOY

— THICH NHAT HANH Vijayawada, March 1, 2020

Picking up threads from the previousissue, it is now time to see how cre-ation moved forward on to the

earth plane. Moon plays from the front asthe carrier of cosmic energies, serving asthe interface between the cosmic worldabove and life mechanism on earth plane.Thus, comes into place a life cycle, whichruns in succession, as would runningwater of the perennial river Ganges origi-nating from Lord Shiva’s hair locks imply.Travelling from the source to the sea,water extends life all through its run.Remember, but for water there would beno live form-existence. Even sciencebelieves that the first live existenceemerged in water. Water running downthe river stream as also in the sea evapo-rates, leaving behind all impurities, takesthe form of cloud, and again rains back torecharge the water bodies on earth.Similarly, all forms of life run in succes-sion in a cyclic order.

Coming back to Lord Shiva’sentourage, it exemplifies multitude ofexistence forming this world. The divinebeings are personification of the cosmicforces, vital to creation, sustenance, andrecycling of existential order. Humanbeings armed with intelligence and

awareness level, higher than other crea-tures, the onus lies on them to worktowards qualitative existence of the livingorder. Devilish existence imply ignorantpeople with lower intelligence level andprimarily driven by animalistic instincts.They, therefore, are not expected to beconscious about their collective obliga-tions. It also implies all negative orienta-tion of mind that may prove detrimentalto harmonious and peaceful coexistence.

The presence of invisible existencesuch as ghosts, make out a purposefulreference. These unseen creatures sym-bolise invisible existence in the interven-ing period between two successive form-existence, reflecting upon continuumbetween successive lives. Lord Shiva’sentourage, thus, presents a picture of allseen and unseen existence forming thisliving world.

Lord Shiva, despite evolutionary bar-rier of incommunicability amongst thevaried creatures forming His entourage,through His selfless force of love, remainsin accord with all of them. Overlookingtheir individualistic vagaries, as His eyes,half open and half closed would signify,He carries them all along. Purposely so,because He knows that all creatures, by

themselves, are imperfect, and incapableof meeting existential needs by them-selves. But all put together, complementand supplement each other. Their limita-tions apart, each is simultaneously alsoarmed with such virtues, as would benecessary to nourish and sustain the col-lective existence.

Take the case of termite, which other-wise spoils wood, paper, and if left unat-tended even crops. But then, they dighole deep inside the soil structure tofacilitate entry of oxygen and activate cre-ative potential of the earth mass. In theprocess, the termite eats earth mass. Todigest it, its body releases necessaryenzymes. Having consumed a small partfor its own sustenance, it excretes the rest,and that being rich in enzyme, furtheradd to the fertility of the soil. The termitehas to however meet its end before thecrop comes up, but not before serving thecause of larger existence. It, thus, comesout that there is nothing in existence,without a specific assignment in supportof the collective existence.

Lord Shiva, therefore, in order to getthe best out of one and all and facilitatesmooth run of the worldly order, purpose-ly ignores their individual limitations. Butit doesn’t come about easy. He has toabsorb all the negatives appearing as by-

product during the run of the worldprocess, as would His poison fed blue neckimply. He does that in the larger interest ofthe existential order, but for which thevery existence may become questionable.

Serving as provider, He nourishes thewhole living order with all His resourcesin hand — the cosmic energy drawnthrough lunar crescent, water stream ofriver Ganges. Lord Shiva enjoys the confi-dence of all, as He selflessly serves themall without any sense of differentiation,with the sole noble objective to ensure asmooth run of the existential order. Hisselflessness is exemplified by being barebodied, despite being the source andeffective cause of creation.

To sum up, there is a system in place,which includes the primal source; themanifest plural world; and with lot ofintervening dynamism playing inbetween, which drives us all individuallyand collectively. The existence as such issymbolised by Lord Shiva, who deservesbeing termed as God.

The wwriter iis aan aastrologer, vvastu cconsultant and sspiritual ccounsellor. WWrite tto hhim aat

G-1102, BBharat NNagar, NNew FFriends CColony, New DDelhi-1110 0025

Tel: 991-111-449848475/9818037273 Email: bbharatbhushanpadmadeo@gmail.com

ASTROTURFBHARAT BHUSHAN PADMADEO

Madhu Kotiya is a tarot card reader, spiritual healer, and Founder, MShezaim Institute of Tarot and Divination. Contact details: madhu@indiatarot.com, www.indiatarot.com, M: 9873283331

Decoding Shiva: Existence is God

TEAM AGENDA DESK > NAVNEET MENDIRATTA, CONSULTING EDITOR | H LAYOUT AND DESIGN > SATISH CHANDRA JAKHMOLA, SENIOR EDITOR (CREATIVE)

NNooww yyoouu ccaann wwrriittee ttoo uuss aatt aaggeennddaappiioonneeeerr@@ggmmaaiill..ccoomm

The demand for recognising issuesrelated to sustainability in highereducation is slated to growexponentially the world over.Educational leaders have a unique

opportunity to lead the creation of a newinstitutional consciousness on sustainability. It iseducational leadership that will lead in enablinga new consciousness and intellectual orientationfor a sustainable world.

The leading universities of the world havedemonstrated a deep, persistent and sustainedcommitment to interdisciplinarity. Theimportance of crossing disciplinary boundariesin teaching, learning and research is yet to befully realised within the Indian higher educationsystem. Institutional mechanisms need to beestablished within universities to enable studentsto learn across schools, departments andprogrammes across the entire university. Thebig debates of our time will not be addressed byknowledge and understanding of singlediscipline, but our ability to drawn upon theexpertise from many disciplines with a view toproducing solutions.

At the Caspian Week — World EconomicForum 2020 sessions at Davos, the two keypanels: “Education & Leadership for SustainableWorld” focussed on educational leadership,sustainability, inclusive development,institutional cultural change, and pedagogies ofsustainability. The second panel was on “TheRole of Global Universities in PromotingSustainable Futures”, where the discussionfocussed on challenges that universities areconfronted with today and that globaluniversities can play a specific role in advancingthe cause of sustainable development.

Higher education institutions in particularhave a central role to play in achieving a newsense of individual consciousness andintellectual orientation towards creating asustainable future. Institutional leaders have theopportunity to intervene and addresssustainability issues in multiple forms. They canfoster new institutional consciousness towards asustainable world; there are some key steps thatneed to be initiated. Universities can be crucialpartners in the initiation of dialogue betweenregional scholars, academics, policymakers,researchers and relevant state-level agencies.International collaborations between academics,researchers, international institutions and non-profit foundations engaged in the study andpractice on related areas can increase potentialto study previously unexplored approaches andpotential funding sources for research andinitiatives related to sustainability.

Universities can affect deep and meaningfulchange in local communities and can shape as

to how they respond to sustainability issues overthe long-term. Adopting approaches to addresssustainability and sustainable futures incurriculum, research agendas, infrastructure(energy/water conservation and wastemanagement), campus engagement, publicinstitutional engagement, diversity andaccessibility indicators, and institutionalenvironmental footprint are some example ofthis initiative.

There is more. Specific initiatives are neededat the institutional level. Investing in researchthat is valuable to local communities will leadthe way to an intellectual consciousness. Thisincludes developing research networks with(in)local communities. Relevant disciplinary areasthat could lead and contribute to such networksinclude public policy, law, architecture,journalism, management, environmentalstudies, and liberal arts. Working incollaboration with local governments is anotherarea for greater exploration by universities andinstitutional leaders.

We need to develop interdisciplinary globalnetworks focused on sustainable development.These could include research partnerships onexchanging institutional and pedagogical bestpractices, and transnational dialogues andforums to deliberate and explore newapproaches to institutional governance thatbetter address sustainability concerns.

For universities to play an effective role inadvancing sustainable local, national, regionaland global development, students must be madeactive stakeholders in existing and futureapproaches to sustainability. A primary mode ofcultivating sustainability consciousness is bygrounding relevant themes, issues, challengesand concerns within the curricula whilefocussing on experiential learning, clinicalprogrammes, capstone projects and communitylevel engagement.

Of particular focus must be those that relateto the most critical local, national and regionalissues. A greater range of relevant pedagogicalinterventions is then made possible throughcurricula that are aligned towards addressingthe challenges of sustainable development. Asecondary focus area is to orient facultymembers to design and teach courses that aremore closely aligned with institutional, nationaland global sustainability agendas.

While research funding for related areas isimportant, institutional incentive structures forresearchers can go a long way in encouraginggreater research on sustainable developmentthemes. One way to address this is for insti-tutional leaders to prioritise research sub-themesthat may contribute directly to sustainable localand national developmental concerns. This

prioritisation could imply not only activelysetting institutional research agendas on aperiodic basis, but also incentivising researcherswho choose to work on these areas throughgreater research support, more accessibledispensing of available institutional funding,adjusting institutional teaching and researchresponsibilities, and making available necessaryinfrastructure for such research. All of this has tohappen in recognition of the extended timehorizons, longer study periods and lack ofimmediate and demonstrable outcomes thatsuch research may require.

Locally, Fostering community networks willencourage exchange of ideas. These couldinclude networks for institutional, research,teaching and student related initiatives thatencourage greater transnational exchange ofcurrent practices, ideas, and problem-solvingapproaches. Of crucial importance will be therole that universities play in not onlyencouraging and nurturing greater participationof young students in such networks, but alsocreating opportunities for greater cross-borderinteractions with peers and enabling students toundertake leadership roles in exploring newapproaches to sustainable futures.

Then, institutions adopting interdisciplinaryapproaches in research, teaching, learning,policy and practice will be key to actingprogressively on sustainability issues. Foruniversities, this means that investing increating opportunities and pathways forinterdisciplinary interactions will be essential.One approach to this is to institutionaliseinterdisciplinarity across core functions. Forinstance, in course offerings, the availability ofinterdisciplinary, cross-listed electives is a usefulway to encourage students to think and learnoutside their own subject areas. Universitiescould also enable greater interdisciplinaryinteractions within their campuses, for instancethrough conscious and deliberate design of theirphysical infrastructure and facilities, andoffering greater support for teachers andresearchers who undertake interdisciplinaryinitiatives and projects.

Higher education institutions necessarilyneed to be as representative as possible of theirhost communities and regions in order tosurvive and thrive. Universities have a greaterobligation to accomplish such representationgiven the public character of their mission andpurpose, and the broad societal goals theycommit to achieve. These aims take on greatersignificance in developing economies, and giventhe value that a robust higher education systemcan add to achieving national developmentalgoals. These include providing adequatelyrepresentative access, particularly to

marginalised groups of citizens; balancing suchaccess with the provision of universityenvironments that are of global standards;helping our students bridge gaps incommunication and thinking skills that canmeet the requirements of globalised careers androles; and perhaps most importantly,institutionalising efforts to identify and correctdisparities in diversity and inclusion indicators.

Universities are confronted with thechallenge of embracing globalised modes offunctioning and expansion while simultaneouslyremaining rooted, mindful and responsive tolocal, national and regional developmental andsustainability concerns.

Eventually, the role that academic leadershipplays in creating a beneficial environment willbe key to creating a systematic process forsustainability. Approaches to creatinginstitutional environments that are conducive tothe study and practice of sustainabilitynecessarily need to be whole-system oriented.

Such approaches could take the form ofmaking sustainability a lived experience withincampus environments and spaces. Hencesustainability as a concept is then not farremoved from the everyday experience ofteaching, learning, working and residing withincampus environments.

There is a need to build an attitude ofconservation of natural and other resources.Institutions need to move towards adoption ofalternate technologies, increasing green cover,water and energy conservation, reducing waste,and increasing intra-campus awareness of itscarbon footprint within host regions.

Leaders must bring greater awareness ofadverse impacts of developmental trajectorieson local/host communities while, interweavingsustainable objectives into all aspects ofuniversity activities including administration,pedagogy, and residential life.

While 21st century universities must serveas bastions for academic and scholarly work,they must also serve as models of organisationalinnovation, agility in a complex world, creativenegotiation with change, and representative indemographic, identity and design with local andnational communities. These are key elementsthat will determine the preparedness ofuniversities to contribute to building moresustainable futures while preparing studentsmore adequately to intervene in sustainabledevelopment efforts.

Prof C Raj Kumar, a Rhodes Scholar is theFounding Vice Chancellor of OP Jindal Global

University. He was the only VC from India to beinvited to speak at the WEF, 2020 at Davos,

Switzerland

sundaymagazine

11The Karmic ConnectionEvery action and thought that crosses your mind leaves an

imprint on your destiny, to be fructified at a later point

F R O M T H E I N S I D E

Vijyawada, March 1, 2020

If you’re performingmusic that is not who

you are or where you’reat, it is painful. It’s

painful for the performerand for the audience

— Rihanna

UNIVERSITIES ARECONFRONTED WITHTHE CHALLENGE OF

EMBRACINGGLOBALISED MODES

OF FUNCTIONINGAND EXPANSION

WHILESIMULTANEOUSLY

REMAINING ROOTED,MINDFUL AND

RESPONSIVE TOLOCAL, NATIONAL

AND REGIONALDEVELOPMENTAL

AND SUSTAINABILITYCONCERNS

Higher education institutions have acentral role to play in achieving a newsense of individual consciousness andintellectual orientation towards creatinga sustainable future, writes PROF C RAJ KUMAR

BUILDINGSUSTAINABLE,GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS

sundaymagazine

spirituality 11Vijayawada, March 1, 2020

MANY ROADS LEAD TO THE PATH,BUT BASICALLY THERE ARE ONLY

TWO: REASON AND PRACTICE— BODHIDHARMA

HIDDENSOULSPRAMOD PATHAK

Defining justice has never been easy as there is alwaysan element of subjectivity in the concept.Understanding the idea of justice may be only a lit-

tle less daunting than verifying the number of stars in ourgalaxy. If the latter ranges from 100 to 400 billion, the num-ber of definitions of justice are only slightly less astronom-ical as they, too, range from 7 to 8 billion. Every individualhas at least one definition of justice, depending on his orher experience and interpretation of that experience.Sometime, the same person can have a different idea in dif-ferent situation. The one thing that can be said about theidea of justice is that it is continuously evolving. Naturally,the law must also change to keep pace with the changingconnotations of justice. Law is the tool that the society hasdeveloped to dispense justice. However, the pace of changeof law is not in tandem with the changing idea of justice.One case in point is the proposed change in the law to tryminors as adults. It is only after the serious public outcrythat a change in Juvenile Justice Law is being felt. It wasalways evident that heinous and serious crimes committedby technically Juvenile offenders needed to be treated as adultcrimes. The rising number of cases involving juveniles inpremeditated heinous crimes were alarming, hence the pun-ishment needed to be the same as that given to an adult.However, there are many other issues involving the ques-tion of law, justice and fairness which need serious consid-eration. The one, and most rampant, issue is the act of insti-tuting false criminal cases on innocent people to harass,intimidate or sometimes even force compliance for achiev-ing wrong ends. The key issue in these cases is the overreliance on eye witnesses. Any person with criminal intentcan find out two or three witnesses and file a case againstany unsuspecting person in order to gain unlawful advan-tage. There is an ancient Indian village proverb saying thatto settle scores don’t go for a civil suit or “Diwani”. Rather,go far a criminal case, which is termed “Faujdari”. The unfor-tunate part is that even in this technology driven 21st cen-tury the trick works. The courts are aware of this hard real-ity, but precious little has been achieved. It is time to makeamends. For some five centuries the Lady Justice has beenstanding as a blind-folded statuette with a balance in onehand and sword in the other. It is time the blindfold isremoved. The allegorical personification of the moral forcein the judicial system needs a rethink as justice is beingderailed by the unscrupulous who have the wherewithal.Justice can certainly be more impartial if Lady Justice cansee the faces of evil with her own eyes. From King Solomonto Suddhodana to Vikramaditya to Ranjit Singh history hasmany examples. They relied more on wisdom, conscienceand judgment rather than evidences of witnesses of doubt-ful virtue and were able to dispense justice. Atop the oldBailey Courthouse of London the Lady Justice stands with-out blindfold, perhaps to suggest this. The crowding at topcourts is more due to motivated concoctions rather thanany genuine grouse. Public opinion as John Galsworthy saidis always in advance of law. Public is now feeling the pinch.

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com

Our thoughts are dominated bylust, greed, anger, hate, etc. In oldage, our thoughts turn towards

our aging bodies. If we allow thesethoughts to linger, we are in serioustrouble. Because they reinforce “tamo-guna” — the mode of darkness.

There are three modes, which con-stitute our bodies. These are: the modeof goodness, the mode of passion andthe mode of darkness. The mode ofgoodness is the most desirable, becausethis is illuminating and free from dis-eases on account of purity. The modeof passion suffers from the fault ofattachment because of our faulty desires.Normally, this mode dominates the psy-che of most people. The mode of dark-ness causes delusion, because it is bornof ignorance. These modes exist in dif-ferent percentages in us. Ideally, themode of goodness should have the high-est percentage, followed by the mode ofpassion and we should have the leastpercentage of the mode of darkness.

The wise try to reinforce the high-er modes and reduce the percentages ofthe lower modes by their thoughts,deeds, etc. The secret to managing thesemodes within us lies in the way wethink. To work on ourselves, we needto reform our thinking. Because ourthoughts cause the most damage, thatis, they have a large share in changingthe relative proportions of the threemodes. Thoughts of love, compassion,cooperation, forgiveness, etc. increasethe percentage of the mode of goodness,which benefits us immensely. On theother hand, if we reinforce the mode ofdarkness by our impure and negativethoughts, this gives rise to fears, anxi-eties, depression, etc. This mode canbecome so potent that it can even kill,as happens in suicides. There is no out-

side force involved in such deeds; the selfcommits this senseless act.

Let us understand how this danger-ous mode establishes its control in us.Lust thoughts appear in the mind at acertain age. If we allow these thoughtsto rule, we end up causing harm to our-selves without realising. Lord Krishnahas warned of this enemy in severalverses of the Gita. The lust may exist formany things, of which lust for tasty foodand illicit sex are the most damaging.

It is said that lust leads to the doorsto hell. Greed and its related thoughtsare common and not far behind in hurt-ing us. The same is true of angrythoughts. Hate takes us to an entirelylow level. One may even end up beingborn in lower species in the next birth!

Focusing our attention to our bod-ies, we only harm ourselves; we don’tallow our bodies to perform their func-tions, which they do quite well. Thishuman body is a thing of marvel.Normal care by eating, sleeping, beingactive and entertaining the self appro-

priately is what we really need to do; ourmiseries will be reduced drastically.(Bhagawad Gita, 6.17)

So what should we do? As soon asharmful thoughts appear in the mind, weneed to seek help from God. By ourselves,we may be helpless in controlling them.Saintly persons go a step further; theythink of God a lot. God is prepared tohelp and guide. This is the cosmic design.When we do that our lives take an about-turn. Not only do we get the perfect guid-ance and requisite help, we also get theelusive peace. This in turn leads to ‘sukha’or the real happiness, which is differentfrom transitory sense pleasures. However,this practice is not easy. Because we haveto act on two fronts. One, we must desireto shun bad thoughts and two, weshould desire to have God-relatedthoughts. This is ‘tapasysa’. Either we con-vince ourselves of the right way or thetamoguna will create havoc in our lives.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reachedat spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com

You suffer countless losses,diseases, heartbreaks inlife and feel sorry for your-self. And here, oscillatesthe pendulum — good,

bad, right, and wrong. One momentyou like yourself, the other you donot. Duality has its day. Delusion hasits way!

At times such as these, the firstquestion that comes to your mind is— “Why me? What did I do deservethis?” The answer to this lies inunderstanding the concept of sam-skars.

Every action and thought thatcrosses your mind leaves an imprinton your destiny, it gets stored in thekarmashaya, an ethereal hard disk soto say, to be fructified at a later pointin this life or future lives. This storeddata is called samskars.

These samskars fructify, decidingthe course of your life because inattaching emotions to your actionsyou gain a sense of ownership towardsthese actions. When your destiny ispaired with the data stored in yourethereal hard disk, those stored sam-skars, fructify in congruence with the

rays of the planets. So, if at a particular time your

destiny is meant to provide you withwealth, good looks, luxury, goodtimes, the stored samskars that matchyour destiny at the time will fructi-fy.

On the other hand, if physicalpain, loss in business, difficult days,are a part of your destiny at a partic-ular time, then the karmas matchingthis negative period will come to foreand fructify. And what you receive inthe fructification of these past karmas,you take ownership of and begin thecycle all over again, reloading yourkarmic matrix instead of exhaustingit.

You have thoughts all day, everyday. You think about your thoughts,about why you have these thoughts,feel good about some and chastiseyourself for some. Of course you do,they are your thoughts, right? Wrong!They are thoughts that you receive,which come and go through yourmind.

Our minds should be open vesselsallowing these thoughts to enter

and leave, watching them from a dis-tance, in third person. Instead we lidthe vessel as soon as a thought comesfloating in, paint it in emotion andmake it ours. It then adds to ourkarma, positive or negative depend-ing on the thought. And before youknow it, one thought links to anoth-er and you gain ownership of a longchain of thoughts.

The positive samskars will be con-verted in the future into Bhog (plea-sure and riches). The negative sam-skars into Rog (debt, disease, and mis-fortune). And divine deeds will getconverted into Yog (spiritual evolu-tion).

One can extend this point to thefate of countries as a whole too.Countries can be divided into thosethat offer lesser comforts and luxu-ries called Tapo Bhoomi, where peo-ple exhaust more of their negativekarmas and also practice penance andausterity. And other countries thatfulfill the Rajasic experience calledRajo Bhoomi, are where people enjoyand exhaust their positive karmas, bygetting consumed by luxury, comfortand wealth.

Spiritually evolved people knowhow to re-balance their karma and

negate samskars through the practiceof recitation of advanced mantras andperforming a lot of seva, thereby tilt-ing the balance in favour of perceivedpositivity.

When your thoughts, which arenot really your own, lead you to per-form actions you consider worthy ofpride, you take ownership of theseactions and add to your samskars. Itcould be something as simple as help-ing an elderly cross a road to some-thing as large as donating a large sumof money to charity. You feel goodabout yourself and add to your pos-itive karma.

When positive samskars fructify,rewarding you with good days, pros-perity, health, you tend to spend it inindulging your whims and fancies.Some become vain, some abuse thisreward and eventually end up with amassive karmic negative tilt.

It is important to realise thatwhile it is your past actions that haveearned you such luxuries, it is yourdestiny that lead you to earn themand you as an individual have no rolein it.

Credit for the good deeds orblame for the bad, neither is yours totake. These rewards are automatical-ly fructified to balance the karmic bal-ance sheet thereby leading to auto-matic exhaustion and redemption ofstored samskars.

Knowledge or gyan helps peopleto re-examine the above principlesand use them for personal evolution.

There are essentially 3 types of peo-ple:

l The astute, who understand thissubject and try to improve their bal-ance sheet by simply reducing theirdesires, thereby spending less of theirpositive karmas.

l The more astute, who practicetapasya including voluntary suffering,for example fasting, long hours ofmeditation and spiritual sadhana.

l The most astute, who understandthe only way to transcend karma is tonot take ownership of their actions,thereby exhausting the all kinds ofsamskars and karmas and eventuallyfreeing themselves from the shacklesof karmic connections.

It takes a certain level of spiritu-al evolution to be the third type ofperson but that is the ultimate goal.

May this dawn upon you and mayyou succeed in your endeavour.

The writer is the author of Hingori Sutrasseries of spiritual books

Blindfold ofLady Justice

THE KARMIC CONNECTION

Reform your thinkingThe secret to managing anger and hatred lies in your thought. Changethe way you think to fix these negativities, says AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

Every action and thought that crosses your mind leaves an imprint on your destiny, to befructified at a later point in this life or future lives. These are samskars, writes HINGORI

THE POSITIVESAMSKARS WILL BECONVERTED IN THEFUTURE INTO BHOG

(PLEASURE ANDRICHES). THE

NEGATIVESAMSKARS INTO

ROG (DEBT, DISEASE,AND MISFORTUNE).AND DIVINE DEEDS

WILL GETCONVERTED INTOYOG (SPIRITUAL

EVOLUTION)

If you want your crystals to help you, allow them to thrive, says SUMIRANANNAMARIA KASHYAP in part three of the ‘Cosmic heirloom’ series

Crystals are conductors of healing,uplifting energies. Sometimes, youmight find that you don’t ‘feel’ the

same way around them, as you did before.Nothing has changed in those crystals, but,as ‘mood mirrors,’ they’re trying to show youthat, possibly, something has changed withinyou — for worse, or, for better.

Should you be willing to treat this in aintrospective manner, you might allow yourcrystals to become trustworthy guides, thathelp you understand your day-on-day trig-gers. Eventually, you’ll know when to bringwhich crystal to the forefront, and witheveryday that passes by, you will find thissmall team of guides to be indispensable.The energy exchange can be quite intense,so, like you, crystals need time and space todetox and recharge. While some identify asubtle, but significant difference between theidea of cleansing, clearing and chargingcrystals, I personally find that these termsare largely interchangeable.

METHODS FOR CHARGING CRYSTALSSome do well under clean, pure, run-

ning water, or sunlight. Others aren’t meantfor water, or the sun at all — they may dis-solve, or fade. Take note of specific dos anddon’ts from your vendor, depending on thecrystal you get. If sunlight works for yourchosen crystal, opt for the gentle warmth ofthe early morning, or late evening sun.

Charging under the full moon, withdirect exposure, is popular. I quite like bury-ing my crystals in the earth, the mud of mypotted rose plants. Most crystals come fromthe Earth’s bedrock, so I feel they would liketo hibernate there. The rose is the flower ofthe heart and resonates personally, but youcan go with whichever one is your favourite.

If you have singing bowls for medita-tion, you can charge your crystals to theirsounds, too. And, if you want somethingeven simpler, then, just the warmth of your(clean) hands, moisturised with something

gentle, so as to not disturb the compositionof the crystal. If you are unsure, use an oilthat complements the crystal and rub a fewdrops into your palms. I personally findfrankincense, myrrh, cedar, sandalwood,moringa and jojoba work with most.Otherwise, think of why you’re using a crys-tal, find an essential oil that serves the samepurpose; and add a few drops to a carrier oilthat suits your skin, before application.

CREATING A SACRED SPACEStoring your crystals properly is a funda-

mental step. And, if you like to wear them asyou are going about your day, they will stillcomfort and support you. But, when you sitdown to work with them in a meditative orprayerful way, it helps to designate a specialspace to do so. It doesn’t matter if this space isa small corner, where you can sit on a matand work with your crystals, or a full-fledgedaltar. What you don’t need is external cacoph-ony, your phone ringing constantly, and dirtysheets, mat, clothes, or hands. If you practice

other methods of divination, you can keepthe associated material in this space. Even ifyou don’t, you can just keep symbolic talis-mans, that represent your hobbies, work,family, personal beliefs and so on. You canadd your favourite flowers, or decorate thisspace with the colours that uplift your spirits.

As an extension of the ‘mood-mirror’thought, sometimes, try including colours,or souvenirs that you tend to avoid. See howthey make you feel in the presence of yourcrystals, and think about why you avoidthem. The avoidance could be a nudgetowards an energy block, one that could layall your diligent efforts to waste if you ignoreit. This is probably what needs the mostwork. Remember, while ‘out of sight, out ofmind’ makes convenient sense, it doesn’t talkabout what may have left sight and mind, tolodge itself deep into the soul.

The writer is a content creator (freelance) withdeep interest in metaphysical healing and communica-

tion, divination tools and flower therapies

Energising your crystals

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | MARCH 01, 2020 vijayawada 12

Birthwas

cinematicMy birth was

truly cinematic; it wasprecipitated labour. I

was born in a rickshaw inwhich my mother,

accompanied by my futuremother-in-law, was on the

way to hospital. There washeavy downpour and power

had gone. The tyre of the rick-shaw burst and it stopped. I was

born in the dark.My life as a child was fun-filled;

but I was not naughty per se. I usedto have lot of fun as child and I was

very expressive. I was studious untilClass X and was also involved in activ-

ities like sports, elocution etc. – it was amultifaceted childhood.

White coatfascin-

ationI had a

fascina-tion forthe whitecoat, Iwanted tobecome adoctor right

from my

childhood;my mother too

wanted me tobecome one. Icouldn’t get aseat in medi-cine in myfirst threeattempts. I was

simultaneouslydoing B.Sc

Agriculture in col-lege where my father

was a professor. I got 4/4 GPA and was a top-per, but I wanted to do MBBS. After my thirdattempt, I was asked not to try and my fatherwas against it. My father went abroad for hisPhD and got me M.Sc seat in Kansas state.The road for me to go to America for PG

was nicely laid, but my desire to be adoctor was undiminished.

In Bapatla I used to hide theMBBS books under thehaystack on the terrace. Ifixed a bulb there and Iwould tell anyone whoasked that I was studyingfor B.Sc but would study

for MBBS entrance. Ihid my preparation. My

father was surprised whenI was going to give my med-ical entrance. He asked mehow I could write the examwhen I hadn’t studied. Thatwas the year that I got the seat.

Father said MBBS wasridiculous

My father was not at all happywhen I got the MBBS seat. He askedme why I wanted to waste three yearsagain and then study for another 5-6 years.He said it was ridiculous and didn’t allow meto join MBBS. I waited for 10 days. I had totake transfer certificate to join the medicalcollege and time was running out. So, I putmy foot down and told my father that I want-ed to do medicine and if he did not allow meto do so, I would not do B.Sc. Since I was hell-

bent on doing MBBS despite thecounselling sessions, he gave in.

This was in 1977. Now he acknowl-edges that it was a good decision. I wasnever a rebel but I was also not sub-

servient to my father’s dictum.

Failed in pre-clinicaltests

In Guntur MedicalCollege, I did everything,

except study. I wasinto sports, debat-

ing, and wasinvolved in

literary activi-ties, ragging, hang-ing out with girls. Thecollege had such a niceatmosphere; I felt it was forenjoyment and not studying. As aresult, I failed in Biochemistry in my pre-clinical tests. I was never a student whofailed and had this innate ability to absorbknowledge very easily. It was a shock to meand one of the most depressing academicmoments of my life. Eventually, I startedwandering on roads with people below me

academically. I used to sit in GunturShankar Vilas, and would pass

comments on girls. Afterabout a month, people

who noticed mew h i l i n g

away my time informedmy father. My father gave me a dressing downand lectured me on how I was wasting myselfcoming from a socially respectable family. Irealised my mistake, had I not done so, mylife would not be what it is now. This was in1978. After 6 months I could re-write the test.During those 6 months, I taught English ina tutorial and was paid Rs 700 as salary. It gaveme a purpose in life.

Sold fridge for ticket to EnglandDr Satish Kutty took me to England in 1989,

a move that was to have the biggest influenceon my life. The stint in England set a higheryardstick and changed my outlook towards life.I was in Sancheti Hospital and Dr Kutty was

my boss. I

thought hewas joking when he saidhe would to take me to England. One day I gota letter inviting me to join the course based onDr Kutty’s reference. There was no exam, notest, it was a bolt from the blue. Two monthslater, I sold my fridge and scooter and pur-chased the air ticket. I didn’t want to takemoney from anyone.

Killed one patientIn my profession, everyone faces a time

where there is an error of judgment. Onesuch incident that

a l w a y shaunts me is thatof a 63-year-old womansuffering from acute arthritis.She was literally on her knees,crawling. One of my other patientstook me to her home. She didn’t want tobe operated and said she was able to man-age. I convinced her and her children thatI would make her life better. We broughther to hospital and one week later we per-formed surgery, but she died on the oper-ation table. She had blood clots in her leg.For eight years, she had been crawling andhad developed blood clots. During thesurgery, the blood clots moved to her heartand she died. I was 100 per cent respon-sible for her death as I failed to order aDoppler test before the surgery. It wasvery sad and painful moment for me.I was in depression for about 3

months and couldn’t face thechildren or talk to anyone.

Felt like quittingprofession

Even till five years ago, Iused to feel like quitting theprofession whenever we losta patient, even if it was not myfault. However, this is not so sincethe past five years; I have thou-sands of pleasant memories of thepatients whom I treated successful-

ly. There was one girl with rheuma-toid arthritis with both knees and

hips completely damaged and inwheelchair for 10 years. She was from

a very poor family and couldn’t afford topay the bills. We charged the bare mini-

mum for her treatment. Some patients callme “Devudu” and give me much happiness.I feel very humble; I tell them I am God’s ser-vant. The day I fell I am God, it will be theend of me. I am not religious man, but I dopray and I believe that there is some super-

natural force.

Ortho because of accidents After MBBS, I wanted

to do PG and assessed theoptions. There were somany accidents and frac-tures I heard about and Irealized that someonewith a broken bonewill invariably goto anorthopaedicsurgeon.

Ir e a l i s e d

that it was agood career

option. The fact isthat orthopedics is

very uninspiring and avery poor cousin of general

surgery. Orthopedics in itselfwas unglamorous as at that time,

there was no concept of joint replacements.Pure practical calculations made me takeortho in DNB. At the age of 40, I got FRCS.After MBBS, I went to Pune where DrSancheti was kind enough to give meseat. My operation theaters arenamed after these people.

KIMStoSunshine

Lot of peoplespeculate aboutBhaskar, my co-brother, and why Iparted ways withKIMS Hospital.Basically, I was verypassionate about devel-oping a focused orthope-dic hospital which was notpossible under umbrella of KIMSbecause it is a multispecialty hos-pital. So I thought if I have my own

hospital, I can do it. It was just athought processes. I didn’t have money,but others trusted me. These hospitalswould never be possible with my incomeand balance sheet. When I startedSunshine ten years back, my bank balancewas less than Rs 1 lakh. I started a hospi-tal which is now worth almost Rs 600 crore.It was because of people who trusted me andtheir goodwill that created this tremendousopportunity. They just sent me check of Rs1 crore without any questions. I keep tellingyoungsters that goodwill is an intangible assetand not the balance sheet.

Bommarillu fatherI am the coolest father and very liberal. My

son Adarsh is an orthopaedic surgeon andmy daughter Kavya is still studying. My sonalways says that I am ‘Bommarillu father’,but that’s the way I am. My life revolvesaround family and friends and the best Ican do for them. My son never puts hissurgical coat on to hanger, and I pick itup and tidy up. He doesn’t change, andI don’t change. Every day, it’s a ritual.My daughter got the President’s goldmedal for the best child artiste in amovie ‘Little Soldiers’.

More than their achievements,their outlook towards life, their

temperament and respect towardselders, their humility please me.A lot of people compliment mefor my children. My wife has amajor influence on them.Their behavior and etiquettemakes me proud. Neverhave I got a negativeremark about my chil-dren who areso unlikeme.

In Bapatla Elementary School, they used togive full piece of chalk, if you came first in

class. Getting the chalk piece was the ultimate gift. Iused to compete for that. My toughest competitor was a girl,Mayuravalli, she is now a scientist in Canada. Invariably, thechalk was won by either one of us. Once, when she won it, Igot so upset that I literally pounced on her and broke it. Shecried the entire day and headmaster was very upset and I gotpunishment. From then on, I resolved that I would do no suchthing anymore.

Cinematicdisparity in love

My wife Bhavani and I are related so I know her fromchildhood. She was studying in Siddharatha Medical

College. She is the daughter of Bhavanam Venkatrami Reddy whowas a minister at the time, and became the Chief Minister. We didn’t even

have a fridge at home while she used to travel by car. There was totalcinematic disparity economically. I took almost a year to agree to her proposalbecause of our economic disparity. She won’t go out without car and we didn’t

even have a scooter. When she used to visit Guntur, I took her in city bus to a movie.Generally, the inter-city buses in Guntur are packed with people and I used to take her,

just to gauge her reaction. I was testing her, and she came out with flying colours,never expressing any irritation or dissatisfaction. We dated for about 5-6 years andour parents accepted our relationship. She wrote to her father “I like Gurvi, thoughhe is at the starting point of his career, I am confident that he will make it in life”.

I remember the letter very well. I was pleased with her confidence in myability. We got married in 1984.Bhavani did DGO in AFMC

when I was in Pune.Adarsh was born in

1986.

ARE YOU ACTING IN RAJAMOULI’SMOVIE: It might happen, may be in RRRor somewhere he could fit me in a roleACTING AS CAREER: no, but I want totry anchoring as a career. Whoevercelebrity comes to me, I takeinterviews for consultationMY FAVOURITE FOOD: JunnuFITNESS REGIME: Every morningfrom 6 am to 7 am, I play tennis withmy wife; we have a tennis court in our

homeFAVORITE SPORTSPERSON: RogerFederer for his tenacity and talentIRRITATED BY: Ill treating of a patientand those who don’t respect elders orare not faithfulSCARED OF: water and heightsFAVOURITE MOVIE: Mayabazar,Gundamma katha, Sitaramayya garimanavaravlu, The Day of the Jackal.

FAVOURITE ACTORS: Many, but at themoment, Pooja HegdeFAVOURITE COLOR: PurpleWEIRD HABIT: snoring, I ask aquestion and don’t wait for the answerTHING YOU WANT TO CHANGE INYOURSELF – getting irritated orsnappingCOUNTRIES YOU TRAVELLED- 95,last year alone I travelled 11 countires

WEAKNESS – Sweets. I love junnu somuch that I call my grandson ‘Junnu’.His name is Arjun.FAVOURITE SONG – Aradhana moviesong Vennelaloni vikasameveligincheda nee kanulaa. I am sort ofpianist and songs are important part ofmy lifeFAVOURITE SINGER – Kishore Kumar,Md. Rafi, SP Balasubramanyam

THINGS TO DO AFTER RETIREMENT– travel, cook, gardening andphotographyWHAT IMPRESSES YOU MOST –honestyADVICE GIVEN TO YOU – treateveryone as your family memberDESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THREEWORDS – honest, fun loving andoutspoken

Brokechalk

Nobody believes I am doctor

Even though I do about 20 surgeries a day, I am into multiplethings. I manage this as every minute is a celebration for

me. I am blessed with this attitude. I always try to maketime for people who try to reach out. I don’t seewhat I can get out of every minute, if I getsomething, it’s a gift. I write books, docomedy, do interviews and have my ownYouTube channel. Sometimes if yousee me in social gatherings, youwon’t believe I am a doctor. Iplay pranks, crack silly jokesand dance like a child. Idon’t have any hangups. Some criticiseme, but I am notpretentious. I stillstand behind thedoor and scarepeople with a‘boo’.

Fatherbeat mewith belt

W hile my father was very strict,my mother was stereotypical

mom. As a child I did lot of naughty stuff. Wehad a drumstick tree in our backyard; I was

forbidden to climb it as the wood is quite fragile. Oneday, when my mother gave me rava laddu, I picked four

and climbed the tree to hide the three extra laddus. My father sawme when I was climbing down. He thrashed me with a belt for my two

mistakes –climbing the tree, and stealing more than my share of rava laddu. Hetied my hands to window with a string for 4-5 hours. Despite the

beatings, I was naughty. I have two brothers who are quitestudious -- one studied in IIM Ahmedabad and has his

own consultancy while the other studied in IIT-Kharagpur and is a dean at a

university in Texas.

FAVOURITE BOOKS – Theworld in my pocket andEnlightenment now. Iintend to bring second partof my book Gurvayanam

From a truant medic who failed in preclinicals to one who hasestablished a chain of world-class hospitals to spread 'sunshine' amongpeople having mobility problems, Dr A.V. Gurava Reddy has come along way in life. In an interview to THE PIONEER, he shares the secretof his joie de vivre so much so that he continues to yell ‘boo' just toscare people even now! He reveals to thedaily's correspondent Naveena Ghanatehow he became a doctor overriding hisfather's decision to send him to theUS for M Sc, his love marriage andhis indiscretions as a youth.

Live as if you were to die

tomorrow.Learn as if

you were tolive forever

-- byMahatma

Gandhi

As a child

With father DrSatyanarayanaand sonDr.Adarsh

With wife Bhavani