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BREAKING THE GLASS

CEILING

AP Govt takes back 20 acresencroached land from GITAMPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In an early-morning crack-down on Saturday, police andrevenue officials bulldozed theboundary walls of GITAM(Gandhi Institute ofTechnology and Management,a deemed to be university) andGITAM Institute of MedicalSciences and Research here,taking back 20 acres ofencroached land from theinstitution.

The GITAM Group ofEducational Institutions,founded by former TDP MPlate MVVS Murthy, is beingrun by his grandson, M SriBharat.

The sea-facing universitywhich earned a reputationover the years for ensuring ahigh percentage of placementhas campuses at Hyderabad

and Bengaluru. GITAM deemed to be the

university is said to be thelargest private university inAndhra Pradesh has been fac-ing massive land grabbing andencroachment charges for pastfew decades.

GITAM has been offeringover 100 programmes at

undergraduate, postgraduateand Doctoral levels inTechnology, Pharmacy,Science, Management,International Business,Architecture and Law but hasbeen accused of violating thelaws of the land as per Stategovernment officials.

Centre’s bid to set Polavaramcost at 20K-cr shocks JaganPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Expressing wonder at theMinistry of Finance approvingthe Revised Cost Estimate forthe irrigation component of thePolavaram Project at Rs20,398.61 crore, Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy point-ed out that the expenditureincurred on land acquisitionand resettlement and rehabil-itation itself was around Rs29,000 crore, as approved bythe Polavaram ProjectAuthority, the Central WaterCommission and the Ministryof Jal Shakti.

“It’s surprising that the

Finance Ministry can evenimagine that a project of sucha magnitude can be capped atRs 20,398.61 crore. It is impos-sible to complete the projectwith that cost,” the Chief

Minister said, at a review meet-ing on the project held onSaturday.

The Chief Ministerreviewed the latest develop-ments on the reimbursement

of balance expenditureincurred by State Governmentto the tune of Rs 4,013.65crore, out of which Rs2,234.288 crore was proposedfor Extra Budget Release by theFinance Ministry to theMinistry of Jal Shakti in whichit has been stated by the theFinance Ministry that the costof irrigation component inRevised Cost Estimate shall beconstrued as approved byPolavaram Project Authority atRs 2,0398.61 crore as on April1, 2014 which the FinanceMinistry asked PPA to confirm.

Govt releases pendingDA, DR for employeesPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment on Saturdayreleased theD e a r n e s sA l l o w a n c e(DA) andD e a r n e s sRelief (DR)for itsemployeesand pen-sioners.

An officialstatement saidthat ChiefMinister YSJaganmohan Reddy,duly considering the repre-sentations received fromemployees and employee asso-ciations, has agreed to releasethe pending DearnessAllowances (DAs) andDearness Reliefs (DRs) to theState Government employ-ees/pensioners and directed

the Finance Department toissue orders accordingly.

The decision will benefit4,49,000 government

employees and3,57,000 pension-

ers.The first

p e n d i n gDA/DR, duefrom July2018, will bepaid alongwith January

2021 salaries /p e n s i o n s

payable onFebruary 1, 2021.

Accordingly, theDA/DR is revised from July 1,2018.

The additional expenditureto be incurred by theGovernment for the revision isaround Rs 86.41 crore permonth and Rs 1,037 croreper annum.

DASARA BONANZA SEC office,AP Govt faceoff, again PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Even before the controversytriggered by Minister KodaliNani’s remarks against SECNimmagadda RameshKumar could die down, afresh row has eruptedbetween the office of theSEC and the State govern-ment.

Kodali Nani had observedthat Ramesh Kumar would beable to continue in the post ofthe SEC only for somemonths and not too long.According to him, the SEC issupposed to consult the gov-ernment on holding localbody elections.

In this backdrop, a messagewas sent to the SEC’s office byChief Secretary NilamShawney, asking RameshKumar to attend a meetingconvened by the PrincipalSecretary in the CMO onMonday.

Central teamto visit AP,assess raindamage PNS n VIJAYAWADA

A seven-member centralteam will visit AndhraPradesh for an on-the-spotassessment of the damagecaused by the recent heavyrains and floods in the state.

Based on the study, theinter-ministerial team, head-ed by Rakesh Kumar Singh,Joint Secretary in theMinistry of Home Affairs,will also recommend whetherthe disaster in the state couldbe considered to be of asevere nature.

AP readies buses on TS border PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The APSRTC has arrangedspecial services at all checkposts on the State’s borderwith Telangana for the conve-nience of people of Andhraorigin willing to visit theirnative places for the Dasarafestival, disclosed I&PRMinister PerniVenkataramaiah on Saturday.

Speaking to the media here,he said people can reach theborder check posts and take abus to their native place.

Justifying the heavy penal-

ties being levied by the APgovernment on traffic viola-tors, he said it was unfortunatethat the TDP leaders and a sec-

tion of the media were cryinghoarse against the move.

Anti-BJP, not anti-national,asserts Farooq AbdullahPNS n SRINAGAR

National Conference (NC)president Farooq Abdullah onSaturday said the Peoples'Alliance for GupkarDeclaration (PAGD), which isfighting for restoration of spe-cial status to Jammu andKashmir, is an anti-BJP plat-form but not an anti-national

amalgam."I want to tell you that this

false propaganda by the BJPthat the PAGD is anti-nation-al. I want to tell them that thisis not true. There is no doubtthat it is anti-BJP but it is notanti-national," he toldreporters here.

n CM tells officials to inform Finance Ministry that just 2 components of project cost much more

2 2

2

2 2

2

2

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is in charge of the party's Biharassembly election campaign, has tested positive for coronavirus. In

a tweet this afternoon, the ex-Maharashtra chief minister wrote: "Godwants me to stop for a while and take a break!" MrFadnavis had been overseeing the poll campaignalong with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister SushilKumar Modi, who also tested positive for Covidon Thursday. Mr Fadnavis today urged all thosewho have recently come in contact with him toget tested for coronavirus, which has affectedover 78 lakh people in India. He had beenholding at least three poll-related meetingseveryday.

FADNAVIS, BJP'S BIHAR POLL IN-CHARGE, TESTS COVID POSITIVE

BJP TERMS MEHBOOBA MUFTICOMMENTS AS ‘SEDITIOUS’

The Income Tax Department on Saturday extended the deadline forindividual assessees to file their returns for financial year 2019-20

(assessment year 2020-21) by a month, in a relief to taxpayers on accountof COVID-19. Taxpayers now have until December 31 to file their return ofincome earned between April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, instead ofNovember 30. For individuals required to gettheir accounts audited, a new deadline ofJanuary 31 is applicable, instead of December31. The last date for assessees required tofurnish audit reports on international orspecified domestic transactions has also beenextended to January 31, from November 30.

Report on Page 6

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has pledged that if elected asPresident in the November 3 election, he will ensure free Covid-19

vaccination for all Americans, laying out his pandemic response plan justdays before the US presidential polls. In a major policy speech on thecoronavirus in his home state of Delaware, Biden on Friday flayed USPresident Donald Trump for his policies to combat thecoronavirus pandemic that has killed over 220,000people and has had a devastating impact on thecountry's economy. "President Trump said we'rerounding the corner, it's going away, we're learning tolive with it. They are quotes. But as I told him lastnight, we're not learning to live with it. We'relearning to die with it.

Hours after Peoples' Democratic Party chief Mehooba Mufti spoke at herfirst press conference since being released from 14 months of detention,

the BJP on Friday accused her of making "seditious remarks". "We will raisethe national flag only once our state flag is back. The national flag is hereonly because of this (the Jammu and Kashmir) flag and constitution. Weare linked to the rest of the country because of this flag," Ms Mufti, formerJammu and Kashmir chief minister, said on Friday,prompting criticism from the BJP and the Congress.Hitting out at the PDP president over the comments, J&KBJP president Ravinder Raina told reporters: "I requestLieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to take note of (the)seditious remarks of Mehbooba Mufti, book her forthe seditious act and put her behind bars".

DEADLINE FOR FILING INCOME TAXRETURN EXTENDED TILL DEC 31

JOE BIDEN PROMISES FREE COVIDVACCINE IF ELECTED

The Pioneer wishes itsreaders, advertisers,suppliers and agents aHappy Dussehra. As ouroffices will remain closedtoday (25-10-2020), therewill be no issue of thenewspaper tomorrow (26-10-2020).

-Resident Editor

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VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 25, 2020 vijayawada 02

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AP completes 75 lakh sampletests, reports 3,342 cases PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh on Saturdaycompleted 75 lakh sample testsand so far detected a gross of8,04,026 positives, including3,342 in 24 hours, for coron-avirus.

The overall infection posi-tivity rate in the state touched10.72 per cent, three per centhigher than the national aver-

age, the latest bulletin said.In 24 hours ending 9 am on

Saturday, 3,572 patients hadgot cured, taking the overallrecoveries to 7,65,991, with theoverall recovery rate being95.3 per cent.

The state also reported 22more Covid-19 fatalities,increasing the toll to 6,566, thebulletin said. The number ofactive cases dropped to 31,469.

West Godavari district con-tinued to add the highest num-ber of fresh cases in the state,551, followed by EastGodavari, 445, and Chittoor,404.

Kurnool added just 60 newcases and SPS Nellore 98 in 24hours. Chittoor, Guntur andKrishna reported four moreCovid-19 deaths each, the bul-letin added.

Covid kills Dasara businessSUMIT ONKA

n VISAKHAPATNAM

Covid-19 pandemic has large-ly affected Dasara businessthis year with consumers inVizag skipping their shoppingplans.

So much so, the prime mar-kets in the city which used tobe jam-packed in much health-ier times are witnessing sparsecrowds this season.

“We see that people are try-ing to avoid crowded placesfearing the virus. Even, we arescared as many businessmenhave succumbed to the virus,”said M Krishna, a garmenttrader at Jagdamba junction.

With Dasara festival aroundthe corner (October 25), theprices of sheep, goat, and coun-try-chicken have gone throughthe roof. This is because sheep,goat and roosters are in highdemand as they are sacrificedduring the Ayudha puja onDasara day.

The price of sheep and goat,each weighing between 10 to12 kg, has already gone up toRs 16,000 per head in the run-up-to Dasara. Compare this to

the around Rs 10,000 duringthe normal days.

As the festival nears, theprices of these animals areexpected to go up to Rs 18, 000to Rs 20,000 per heard,depending on the demand.Similarly, roosters are beingsold at Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,000 andabove.

Animal sacrifice is a routineaffair during the Dasara festi-val. A majority of vehicle own-ers and people who runmachinery units in NorthAndhra Pradesh, comprisingVizag, Vizianagaram andSrikakulam districts ritualisti-cally perform animal (rooster

or sheep) sacrifice and offerthem to Goddes Durga onDasara day as part of Ayudhapuja hence the demand for thesheep or goat and rooster hasincreased said Rafi, a meattrader in Vizag city.

“Last year, we purchased asheep for Rs 10,000 but thisyear we had shell out Rs 14,000for a sheep and Rs 16,000 forone goat. The prices of the goatand sheep further shot up onSaturday and this has been adampener,” said N DeepakKumar, owner of a couple oflorries in Vizag city.

With the demand for thegoat and sheep increased in

Vizag region ahead of Dasarafestival, the traders have beenvisiting neighbouring Odishato purchase the animal tomeet the demand in theregion.

The meat businessmen haveincreased the prices of red-meat and country chickenmuch before the Dasara festi-val. The price of dressed coun-try chicken (big in size)touched Rs 750 a kg onWednesday from Rs 600 a kgin all the major markets in thecity following the demand forthe live country chicken hassoared due to DasaraCelebrations. Similarly, theprice of red-meat (sheep orgoat) touched Rs 800 onWednesday and it may furthersoar.

Dasara is a festival for food-ies (non-vegetarian lovers) inAndhra region. But, the pricesof the meat has gone up evenbefore the Dasara and themeat businessmen are cuttingour pockets citing that thedemand and supply gap hasdoubled during the Dasarasays K Prabhakar, a resident ofMVP Colony in Vizag city.

7-member Central team to visitAP, assess rain damage Continued from Page 1

An official memo issued bythe Disaster ManagementDivision of the Ministry onSaturday asked the team to visitthe state immediately andassess the damage and also therelief operations undertaken.

The team will comprise offi-cials from the Agriculture,Finance, Jal Shakti, Power,Road Transport and Highwaysand Rural Development min-istries.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy last weekwrote to Union Home MinisterAmit Shah, requesting thatthe Centre immediately grantRs 2,250 crore to the state thatwas battered by heavy rainsand floods this month.

The Chief Minister said asper preliminary estimates, thestate suffered damage to thetune of Rs 4,450 crore due to

the deluge from October 9 to13 and the consequent flood-ing.

Roads and power installa-tions suffered severe damage,while standing crops in thou-sands of acres were destroyed,the Chief Minister pointedout, adding that a total of 19people were killed in rain-relat-ed incidents.

"We have suffered badly due

to rains\floods in August andSeptember and the fresh spellcaused further damage.

In this situation, the Centreshould stand in support of thestate.

We urgently need at least Rs1,000 crore as advance to takeup relief works on a war-foot-ing and restore normalcy," theChief Minister said in theOctober 17 letter.

Centre bid to set Polavaramcost at 20K-cr shocks JaganContinued from Page 1

At the review meeting, theState Finance Minister,Minister for Water ResourcesDepartment and officials ofthese departments briefedJagan about their discussionswith the Union FinanceMinister on the issue.

They informed the ChiefMinister that the UnionFinance Minister was request-ed to release the funds forreimbursing the expenditureincurred by the StateGovernment at the earliest forspeedy completion of the pro-ject.

The team from AP also toldthe Finance Minister that theentire cost of the project wasestimated to be Rs 55,448.87crore at the 2017-18 price

level and this was accepted bythe CWC. The Revised CostCommittee (RCC) constitut-ed by the Union governmentapproved the cost of the pro-ject at Rs 47,725.74 crorewhich was accepted by theMinistry of Jal Shakti whichsubsequently recommendedto the Ministry of Finance forcompletion.

The Chief Minister stressedthat as the Polavaram projecthas been declared a Nationalproject, it is the responsibili-ty of the Centre to completethe project as per the APReorganisation Act, 2014 thatwas also approved by theUnion Cabinet.

Jagan reminded that theState Government is only theexecuting authority and theproject is monitored by PPA

under Government of India. It was also noted that land

acquisition, rehabilitation andresettlement, and works are tobe considered for payment atthe rates, rules and provisionsexisting on the date of execu-tion and also as recommend-ed by PPA, CWC and MOJS.

The Chief Minister direct-ed the officials to take up theissue immediately with theCentre in the interest of peo-ple of AP.

He said that it was surpris-ing that the previous govern-ment had remained silenteven after the Union Cabinethad approved the internalcorrespondence of September,2016 which was beingreferred now for capping theexpenditure of Polavaramproject.

Govt releases pendingDA, DR for employeesContinued from Page 1

The second pendingDA/DR, due from January2019, will be paid with the July2021 salaries / pensionspayable on August 1, 2021.The additional expenditureto be incurred by theGovernment towards thisrelease is around Rs 172.82(86.41+86.41) crore permonth and Rs 2,074 croreper annum.

The third pending DA/DR,due from July 2019, will bepaid with January 2022 salaries/ pensions payable onFebruary 1, 2022. The addi-tional expenditure to beincurred by the Governmenttowards this release is aroundRs 316.83 (86.41+86.41+144.01) crore per month andRs. 3,802 crore per annum.

The arrears for the firstDA/DR will be adjusted inthree instalments fromFebruary 2021 onwards to theGPF Account of the OPSemployees and will be paid incash in three instalments tothe CPS employees andPensioners from February2021 onwards.

The additional expenditureto be incurred by theGovernment towards thisrelease is around Rs 2,592crore

The arrears for the secondDA/DR will be adjusted inthree instalments from August

2021 onwards to the GPFAccounts of the OPS employ-ees & will be paid in cash inthree instalments to the CPSemployees and pensionersfrom August 2021 onwards.

The additional expenditureto be incurred by theGovernment towards thisrelease is around Rs 2,592crore

The arrears for the thirdDA/DR will be adjusted in fiveinstalments from February2022 onwards to the GPF ofthe OPS employees and will bepaid in cash in five instalmentsto the CPS employees andpensioners from February2022 onwards.

The additional expenditureto be incurred by theGovernment towards thisrelease is around Rs 4,320crore.

The total additional expen-diture to be incurred by theGovernment towards the threeDA/DR releases is around Rs3,802 crore per annum inaddition to the arrears pay-ment of Rs 9,504 crore.

AP takes back 20 acres...Continued from Page 1

A GITAM official said nonotice was served to thembefore demolishing the walls.

An official clarification is yetto be issued. Before carryingout the meticulously planned‘Operation Demolition’ theentire stretch of beach roadleading to the educationalInstitutions was barricaded.

The hospital attached to themedical college houses sever-al Covid patients.

Revenue Divisional OfficerP Kishore and his team con-ducted an inquiry and con-firmed that GITAM Universityencroached 40.51 acres of landat Rushikonda and Yendada ofVizag city.

The GITAM authoritiesconstructed compound wallsand some structures in theseencroached are worth crores ofrupees. Based on the RDOreport, a Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) of the CID is also

probing into the matter.The Revenue Department

officials said that the previousgovernment (TDP govern-ment) had biased transactionswith GITAM management,but did not take the lands backsince the university is veryinfluential and having con-nections with the TDP leadersand top officials.

The RDO said that in 1981,GITAM management appliedto the AP government forallotment of 71.15 acres of landat Rushikonda and Yendada inVizag city for setting up of edu-cational institutions.

Since the land was assignedfor landless poor and in somelegal dispute, the then govern-ment allotted the land toGITAM subject to certain con-ditions that it should purchasethe lands as per the price pre-scribed by the governmentafter settlement in the court.

But, GITAM violated therules and encroached over

40.51 acres of land, the officialssaid.

"GITAM has encroachedupon 40 acres of governmentland. So far we have retrieved20 acres of that land," a revenuedepartment official confirmed.

According to the official,there was resistance from themanagement of the college, butthe revenue department offi-cials convinced the GITAMofficials that the land had beenin encroachment for a longtime.

"We convinced and tookback our (government) land,"he pointed out.

He said the revenue depart-ment first noticed that theland was in illegal occupationin 2014, though it may havebeen encroached earlier.

"Five months back we camehere, surveyed and showedthe management where theyhad encroached the land. Wehave also done clear cut mark-ing. They know what is hap-

pening and we informed themearlier," observed the revenueofficial.

GITAM was set up in 1980by MVVS Murthi, who per-ished in a road accident in 2018in Alaska.

A senior TDP leader, Murthiwas elected to the Lok Sabhatwice (1991 and 1999).

GITAM group of institutionshave expanded widely withlarge campuses inVisakhapatnam, Hyderabadand Bengaluru, starting fromschools to post graduate cours-es.

Currently, GITAM is beingrun by Murthi's grandson M.Sri Bharat. Bharat is married tothe youngest daughter ofHindupur TDP MLA and NChandrababu Naidu's brother-in-law NandamuriBalakrishna.

Bharat unsuccessfully con-tested the Visakhapatnam LokSabha seat in the 2019 GeneralElections.

Specialbuses for ...Continued from Page 1

“The Centre had amended31 Sections of the MotorVehicles Act which givessome discretionary powers tothe States, including penal-ties. Will the governmentever penalise those followingthe rules?” he asked.Venkataramaiah added that itwas unfortunate that a sec-tion of the media was tryingto make an issue out of it andwrite against the govern-ment.

The Minister recalled howsome people were makingposts on Facebook to first fillthe potholes on the roads andthen think of penalising thetraffic violators. “What dopotholes on roads got to dowith traffic violations?” heasked.

SEC office, APGovt face off,again Continued from Page 1

Responding to the mes-sage, the SEC’s assistant sec-retary contended that theSEC holds the rank of a HighCourt judge and hence issu-ing orders to him and send-ing messages was illegal. Theassistant secretary said thatthe issue would be taken tothe notice of the judicial offi-cers.

Meanwhile, RameshKumar asked his secretarynot to attend any meetingswithout his knowledge. Heconveyed to his secretarythat he will be available inVijayawada from October 26.

The SEC is supposed to filean affidavit in the High Courtbefore November 4 on thelocal body elections. To gath-er opinion of all politicalparties, he has convened anall-party meeting on October28.

Political outfits, other thanthe ruling YSRCP, are likelyto question the SEC on theirregularities that allegedlytook place in the recent localbody elections.

The Opposition partieshave been insisting that theSEC cancel the notificationissued earlier for the localbody elections and issue afresh one.

The state government pro-mulgated another ordinanceas the one promulgated withregard to sarpanch electionsin February has lapsed. TheGovernment moved a Bill inthe last Assembly sessiongiving the ordinance theshape of law.

The Assembly approvedthe Bill, but it failed to get theapproval in the Upper House.

In this backdrop, the stategovernment promulgated theordinance again.

However, constitutionalexperts, citing a SupremeCourt order, say that an ordi-nance should be promulgat-ed only once and not twice.

We are anti-BJP,not anti-...Continued from Page 1

The Lok Sabha memberfrom Srinagar was electedchairman of the PAGD afterthe first meeting of the amal-gam at the residence of PDPpresident Mehbooba Mufti.

Abdullah said the BJP hastried to break the federalstructure through acts likeabrogation of Article 370 anddividing Jammu and Kashmirinto two union territories.

"They have tried to destroythe Constitution of the coun-try, they have tried to dividethe nation, to break the fed-eral structure which we sawwhat they did on August 5last year,” the NC presidentsaid.

"I want to tell them thatthis (PAGD) is not an anti-national jamaat. Our aim isthat people of JammuKashmir, and Ladakh shouldget their rights back. That'swhere our battle is, our bat-tle is not for more than that,"he said.

Abdullah said the BJP wasdoing propaganda againstthe constituents of the PAGDin Jammu and elsewhere inthe country.

"They are trying to divideus (people of JammuKashmir and Ladakh) in thename of religion. Thisattempt will not succeed.This is not a religious battle,this is a fight for our identi-ty and for that identity, we arestanding together," he said.

The Telangana RashtraSamiti's ultimate promise

of creating `BangaruTelangana' was almost synony-mous with transformingHyderabad into a virtual par-adise. This made sense becauseamong the key planks onwhich the separate Statehoodstruggle was based, creation ofjobs and wealth could berealised mainly in Hyderabad.

Distressing images of suffer-ing emerging from the flood-ravaged areas hardly give animpression that prosperity isround the corner. Hyderabadas a world-class city remains aUtopian concept because long-term urban planning is unap-

preciated or, at least, out of stepwith government policies.

The neglect of basic infra-structure was attributed toAndhra rulers, either ofCongress or of Telugu Desamstock. They were accused offeathering their own nests atthe cost of Hyderabad's future.Besides, non-natives wereallotted land at throwawayprices for building film indus-try infrastructure and privatehospitals or they had pur-chased prime land for profi-teering and, in at least oneinstance, an actor had evenencroached on a lake.

The pace of developmentwitnessed since the mid-90swas unmatched by cities ofequivalent size or populationlike Ahmedabad, Lucknowand Bhubaneswar. Bengaluruwas the only comparable citythat surpassed Hyderabad.Until then, the city rested on

its past glory. Post-Independence, the

Congress remained unchal-lenged till N. T. Rama Raoemerged on the political firma-ment in 1982. Its leadersmilked its mineral resources,its land and bagged mega-con-tracts. They paid scarce atten-tion to the needs of the city'sfast-growing population thatwas putting pressure on land,water, drainage, and roadsleading to haphazard growth.

An individual or institution

was scared of buying land inHyderabad out of apprehen-sions about the genuineness ofthe registration papers orthreat of encroachment. ATelugu film, "Ammo OkatoTareeku" has a comedy sceneshowing a conman sellingaway the Charminar to agullible villager.

In real life, Hyderabad hasa historical baggage of landrecords that were never scru-tinised or filtered until 1936.When TS Chief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao decided togive input subsidy of Rs. 4,000to each farmer, he found to hisdismay that the data of theAgriculture Department didnot match with the revenuerecords. Besides, there weremultiple categories of land.

Nizam's lands were known asSarf-e-khas, while makhta andbanjars were lands given awayfor services rendered to him.These lands were grabbedwith the connivance of thehigh and mighty in the nameof building huts for the poor.

Ibrahim Khan, who came tobe known as the "king of land-grabbers", named then ChiefMinister T. Anjaiah and for-mer Ministers G.Venkataswamy and M. M.Hashim as his partners in1982.

This was the kind of nexusthat the TRS was expected tobreak and usher in BangaruHyderabad. But, what reallyhappened has turned out to bequite different. In these manyyears, land grabbing has beenovershadowed by encroach-ment on lakes.

A concerted effort has notbeen made to punish

encroachers, though theiridentity is well-known to thelocal communities. They enjoypolitical patronage of the par-ties in power, apart fromwielding money and musclepower.

Now is the time to hold thegovernment accountable fortrying to dilute GO 111, anexecutive order issued wayback in March 1996 to protectthe Osmansagar andHimayatsagar lakes. The orderprohibits polluting industries,hotels, residential colonies andother establishments up to 10kms of their full tank level.Farmers, realtors and bigbuilders, some of whom areclose to top TRS leaders, wouldlike it scrapped as they havealready encroached on thecatchment areas.

After six and a half years inpower, the TRS cannot indulgein the luxury of laying the

blame for the city floods at itspredecessors' doorsteps.Protecting lakes and mainte-nance of sluice gates is routineactivity. The sluice gates of FoxSagar lake in Secunderabadhad not been opened for twodecades and were so jammedthat even engineers wereunable to open them. It wasleft to a nearby automobilemechanic to open the gates,indicating official lethargy.

The Telangana High Courtobserved that only 10 per centof around 3,000 lakes in andaround Hyderabad had beennotified. The Court's viewsmust be taken seriously andthe audit of all lakes speedilycompleted.

Special courts must beestablished for punishing thosewho had encroached on waterbodies to prevent recurrence oftragedies of the kind we wit-nessed last fortnight.

S NAGESH KUMARFormer Resident Editor,

The Hindu

The pace of development witnessed since

the mid-90s was unmatched by cities of

equivalent size or population like

Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar.

Bengaluru was the only comparable city that

surpassed Hyderabad. Until then, the city

rested on its past glory

‘ALL ANDSUNDRY’

FROM GRABBING LANDS TO ENCROACHING LAKES

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 25, 2020 vijayawada 03

Goddess Kanakadurga is adorned as Sri Durga Devi on the eighth day ofNavaratri fete atop Indrakeeladri in Vijayawada on Saturday

GODDESS KANAKADURGA IN SRI DURGA DEVI ALANKARAMGODDESS KANAKADURGA IN SRI DURGA DEVI ALANKARAM Naidu decries demolitions at GITAMPNS n AMARAVATHI

TDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu condemned the demoli-tions taken up by the govern-ment at the GITAM Universityin Visakhapatnam saying that itwas a clear act of vengeanceagainst the political opponentsin the State.

Naidu said that GITAMstood out as a glorious templeof learning, which had shapedthe lives of thousands of stu-dents, provided jobs to youthand helped in providing med-ical services. The matter was inthe court but the demolitionswere initiated without waitingfor the final verdict.

In a statement here onSaturday, the TDP chief saidthat the destructive attack on anoted educational institutionwould be a big threat to thefuture progress and prosperityof the State as a whole.

Only recently, former MayorSabbam Hari's house was

demolished and now GITAMUniversity was targeted. Thiswas nothing but the political

vengeance of the ruling party.The government was takingrevenge out of jealousy and vin-

dictiveness against opposingparties and persons.

Naidu expressed concern thatalready, educational and med-ical institutions and industrieswere afraid of coming to theState due to the governmentonslaught against the oppositionparties. Many companies wereshifting to neighbouring Statesafter seeing the State trans-forming into 'Bihar of SouthIndia' in a short period becauseof its violence and destruction,he alleged.

Stating that GITAM was anidealistic institution, Naidu saidthat the university had lived upto its social service motto pro-viding medical help to 2,590Covid-19 patients by bearingcrores of rupees losses. Such anoble educational institutionbecame witness to thoughtlessdemolitions overnight by over200 personnel. The one, whocannot build, has no right todemolish. Already, most of thepeople were going to neigh-

bouring States for educational,employment and medical facil-ities.

The TDP chief termed it asyet another thoughtless Tughlaqact on the part of the govern-ment to take political vengeanceagainst GITAM, which was asymbol of pride for the entireState in general and for northAndhra in particular.

In a separate statement, TDPNational General SecretaryNara Lokesh said that thedemolitions and diabolical actsof Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy were goingout of control. GITAM, whichhas a long history in giving goodeducational services, cameunder a meaningless attackalong political lines.

Jagan knows only how todemolish but not to construct.The CM's modus operandi wasto create terror in the minds ofall the people in Visakhapatnamand perpetrated his ruthlessrule there.

The TDP chief said that GITAM stood out as aglorious temple of learning, which had shapedthe lives of thousands of students, providedjobs to youth and helped in providing medicalservices. The matter was in the court but thedemolitions were initiated without waiting for the final verdict

CM extendsVijayadasamigreetingsPNS n AMARAVATHI

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy greetedthe people on the eve ofVijayadasami. He said the fes-tival marks the triumph ofgood over evil and victory ofGods over evil forces. Thefestival conveyed to the worldthe final victory ofJaganmatha overMahishasura, the embodi-ment of evil. He wished thatDurga Matha would blesspeople of the State to usher inpeace and prosperity.

Battle lines drawn for Tirupati LS bypollPNS n TIRUPATI

The Tirupati by-election issue hasbeen gathering momentum witheach passing day. All political par-ties have been conducting anexercise to identify suitable can-didates to field from Tirupati LokSabha seat where by-electionswould be held soon.

The by-elections have beennecessitated following the deathof sitting MP Balli DurgaprasadRao. The YSRCP is learnt to haveidentified a family member of thedeceased MP as its candidate tocash in on the sympathy factor.

The Jana Sena-BJP combineis also busy in choosing suitablecandidate. The Telugu DesamParty, which tasted debacle in thelast Assembly and Lok Sabhaelections, is not unnerved to fieldits candidate from Tirupati andexuding confidence of winningthe seat.

The BJP in-charge for AndhraPradesh Sunil Deodhar onSaturday held a crucial closeddoor meeting with key leaders ofthe party. He is understood tohave asked the party leaders towork for victory of BJP-Jana Senacombine candidate if the ticket is

allotted to either the BJP, or theJana Sena candidate. He isunderstood to have asked theparty leaders to encourage defec-tion of leaders and cadre fromother parties. He is learnt to haveentrusted responsibilities to partyleaders to speak to YSRCP lead-

ers and TDP leaders to bringthem into the BJP-Jana Sena fold.He asked the party leaders to usethe by-elections as an opportu-nity. He said that he would bestaying in Tirupati for about sixmonths to ensure the party nom-inee's victory.

Ministers offer prayers for well-being of peoplePNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Goddess Durga in a rareoccurrence gave darshan in twoavatars on Saturday underwhich the deity appeared in heroriginal Sri Durga Devi avatarin the morning and inMahishasuramardhini avatarin the evening.

The meaning of the Durga inSanskrit is a fort, or a place,which is very difficult to reach.And one more meaning ofDurga is 'Durgatinashini' isthe one who removes suffering.Hindus believe that DurgaDevi protects Her devoteesfrom the evils of the world andremoves their sorrows.

During the day, thousands ofdevotees, including many VIPsvisited the temple, for darshan.Home Minister MekathotiSucharitha, Minister forAgriculture K Kanna Babu,Minister for Social Welfare PViswaroop, DGP Gautham DSawang, MLA VidadhalaRajini, people representativesand officials had darshan ofGoddess.

Speaking to the media,Home Minister Sucharitha saidshe offered prayers for thewell-being of people. She saidmore awareness should be cre-ated among women in societyabout laws like Disha intro-duced by the government in

order to reduce the crime in theState.

Kanna Babu said that heprayed to the Goddess for theprosperity of farmers and dairyin the State. He said that ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy has allocated large fundsfor the development of thetemple.

The traditional Teppotsavam(float festival) under whichDurga and Malleswara Swamywould take a ride in the Krishnariver on Vijayadasami (Dasara)day was cancelled and has beenrestricted to formal pujas on thebanks of Krishna river to beheld on Sunday.

Krishna district CollectorMd Imtiaz and VijayawadaPolice Commissioner Battina

Srinivasulu conducted a meet-ing with temple officials andother departments on Saturdayabout Teppotsavam.

The Collector said that therewere huge inflows to Krishnariver from upland areas and thehuge floodwater is gushinginto Prakasam Barrage reser-voir. He said that theTeppotsavam is not possibledue to huge inflows, hence,pujas would be performed tothe celestial deities in a boat onthe banks by the temple priestson Sunday. He said that thePrakasam Barrage and Durgaflyover would be closed onSunday evening for traffic inview of limited Teppotsavamand no one would be allowedon the bridges

Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharitha at the Durga temple in Vijayawada onSaturday

n The by-elections have been necessitated following thedeath of sitting MP Balli Durgaprasad Rao. The YSRCP islearnt to have identified a family member of the deceasedMP as its candidate to cash in on the sympathy factor.

n The Jana Sena-BJP combine is also busy in choosing suitablecandidate. While the TDP, which tasted debacle in the lastAssembly and Lok Sabha elections, is not unnerved to fieldits candidate from Tirupati and exuding confidence ofwinning the seat

Grand finale to Navaratri BrahmotsavamsPNS n TIRUMALA

Marking the finale on theninth day of the SrivariNavaratri Brahmotsavams onSaturday, Sri MalayappaSwamy blessed devotees onPallaki Vahanam. Thereafterthe most revered phase ofSrivari Brahmotsavams,Chakrasnanam was performed.Priests dipped Sri SudarshanChakrathalwar for a holy bathin the newly built Pushkarininear Ayina Mahal inside Srivaritemple.

In the early hours, PallakiVahana Seva was conductedat the KalyanotsavaMandapam with the majesti-cally decorated Utsava idols ofSri Malayappa and His con-sorts. Speaking on the occa-sion, TTD Executive OfficerKS Jawahar Reddy said SrivariNavaratri Brahmotsavamsconcluded with theChakrasnanam for the utsa-va idols of Sri Malayappaand His consorts besides theSri Sudarshan Chakrathalwar.

He said earlier as perAgama traditions, SnapanaThirumanjanam was per-formed to the utsava idols.The TTD Executive Officerlauded the Tirumala pontif-fs Jeeyangar Swamis, templepriests, TTD officials and

other staff, who made the fes-tival a grand success.

As the last but one event ofthe Srivari Navaratr iBrahmotsavams, grandSnapana Thirumanjanam wasconducted at the Ayina MahalMandapam. The Snapanam is

part of Agama traditions as arevered practice ahead ofChakrasnanam. The SnapanaTirumanjanam to SriMalayppa Swamy, Sridevi,Bhudevi and Sri SudarshanaChakrattalwar was performed

on a grand manner amidstchanting of Vedic hymns.Panchabhisheka Snanam withmilk, curd, honey, turmericand sandal paste was con-ducted to deities.

The holy tradition, herald-ing the conclusion of thenine-day long, was performedon a religious note inside theSrivari temple on Saturday.According to legends,Sudarshana Chakra is a spin-ning, disk-like weapon ofLord Maha Vishnu with 108serrated edges. The Chakra isoften depicted as anA y u d h a p u r u s h a(Anthropomorphic form).

Sudarshana Chakrattalwarwas brought ceremoniously tothe temple tank andimmersed in the holy watersin the sacred muhurtam.

In the night, BangaruTiruchi Utsavam was per-formed in which the utsavaidols of Lord Malayappa andHis consorts were taken outin a procession inside theSrivari temple.

Priests perform Chakrasnanam to utsava idols Sri Malayappa and His consortsbesides Sri Sudarshan Chakrathalwar in Tirumala on Saturday, marking the grandfinale to Navaratri Brahomotsavams

In the early hours,Pallaki Vahana Sevawas conducted at theKalyanotsavaMandapam with themajestically decoratedUtsava idols of SriMalayappa and His consorts

Ryots equipped with crop advanceregister to remove middlemenPNS n AMARAVATHI

To protect farmers from mid-dlemen, the government hasenabled them to register theiragricultural produce inadvance to sell it atProcurement Centres, so thatthe support price can be cred-ited directly into the farmers'accounts.

In all, 75,805 farmers havealready registered their cropson the ComprehensiveMonitoring of AgriculturePrices and Procurement(CMAPP) portal for this kharifseason. Six crops such as maize,bajra, ragi, korra, cotton andonion have been registered forcrop procurement throughMarketing Federation Limited(MARKFED).

"Due to heavy rains andfloods, farmers are concen-trating on safeguarding their

crops, considering which thegovernment extended regis-tration date till October 26,"said a senior AgricultureMarketing department official.The government expects moreregistrations from farmers bythe end of the registration date,he added.

He said, "To enable farmers tosell their agriculture produce attheir village level, theAgricultural Marketing depart-

ment is taking measures to setup more Procurement Centresacross the State." According tohim, for the first time in theState, 8,256 ProcurementCentres have been set up in link-age with Rythu Bharosa Kendras(RBKs) across the State to pro-cure crops in the current kharifseason. Farmers are required toregister their details at RBKsbefore selling their produce atthe Procurement Centres.

Once the registration is done, farmers' detailswill be fed into the Procurement Centre'sonline database, following which farmers willdirectly start receiving information on theirmobile phones. Payments will be credited tofarmers' accounts within 10 days ofprocurement

Vja Railway Dvn loadsmaize rake from OngolePNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Vijayawada RailwayDivision commenced theloading of the first ever maizerake from Ongole toChavadipalayam in TamilNadu on Saturday. With this,the Vijayawada Division hascaptured a new traffic of maizefrom Ongole section and alsothe first ever rake of maizebeing loaded through railfrom Prakasam district toTamil Nadu under theBusiness Development Unit

(BDU) initiative. IndianRailways is mainly focusing onfreight transport to boost rev-enue generation from goodsby offering various freightconcessions, rebates and cus-tomer friendly policies. Withthe support being extended byrailways, Vijayawada Divisionhas set up a BusinessDevelopment Unit to boostthe freight transport of theDivision and capture new traf-fic and new commoditiesespecially with short lead dis-tances.

Steps for mitigatingjumbo-human conflictPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Movement of wild elephants inSrikakulam and Vizianagaramdistricts has become a cause forconcern. A meeting was con-vened with forest officials underthe leadership of ChiefConservator of Forests (wildlife)Rahul Pandey in Vizianagaramon Saturday on measures to betaken to protect human lives andcrops. The meeting also dis-cussed the creation of an emer-gency rescue and rehabilitationfacility for elephants.

P Rammohan Rao,Conservator of Forests,Visakhapatnam, district forestofficers of Srikakulam andVizianagaram, Divisional ForestOfficers of Social Forestry,Vizianagaram, Sub-DivisionalForest Officer, Parvathipuram,Forest Range Officers,Pathapatnam, Palakonda,Parvathipuram, Kurupam andfield staff concerned attended

the meeting. Addressing theofficers, Rahul Pandey provid-ed guidance on the movementof elephants in Srikakulam andVizianagaram districts and theirprotection and also how to pro-tect the humans and the farm-ers' crops by following certaindo's and don'ts by the staff aswell as the people in the sur-rounding villages.

Since the vast forest areaexists in Srikakulam district, theelephants are spending most ofthe time in forest areas and therest of time they are moving innon-forest areas. But inVizianagaram district, the ele-phants are spending most of thetime in farmers' fields and rela-tively spending very less time inthe forest area. To keep the ele-phants in forest area only it isnecessary to take up regenera-tion of bamboo works for pro-viding food and water sources toavoid the elephants movingtowards farmers' fields.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

As many as nine persons, whowere involved in IPL cricketbetting, were nabbed by theTask Force sleuths on Saturday.On a tip off, the Task Forcepolice nabbed the organisers ofthe cricket betting racket at ahouse in Murali Nagar underPenamaluru Police Station lim-its.

Task Force ADCP KVSrinivas Rao said that a gang ofnine persons, who were organ-ising the cricket betting throughCricket Maja 11 app, werenabbed and Rs 7.5 lakh, a com-municator box, a television set,a laptop and 13 mobile phoneswere recovered from their pos-

session. The ADCP said that thekey culprits in the cricket bet-ting racket have been identifiedas Veerapaneni KalyanChakravarthy and KambapatiRavi Kiran. While the other per-sons involved in the bettingracket were identified as Keshav

Reddy, Koduru Chandrasehkar,Revala Srinivas Rao, PatamataSudhakar, Poteneni KutumbaRao, Md Khaleelullah and PilliSivashankar.

The gang was organising thecricket betting on the DelhiCapitals vs Kolkata KnightRiders match on October 23.The police said that more peo-ple were involved in the bettingracket and will be arrestedsoon. A case was registered bythe police and the gang mem-bers were taken into custody.City Police Commissioner BSrinivasulu appreciated ACPVSN Varma, Inspector PKrishnamohan and the team fornabbing the betting gang mem-bers.

Seized material from the cricketbetting racket being displayed to themedia at a press conference inVijayawada on Saturday

Cricket betting racket busted in Vja

PMK leaderRamadosslauds CMPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

PMK (Pattali MakkalKatchi) leader S Ramadosshas congratulated ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy for his initiatives touplift the weaker sectionsand hailed the decision ofsett ing up of 56 BCCorporations.

In a letter addressed to theChief Minister, the TamilNadu PMK leader said: "Iextend my congratulationsto you on behalf of my party(Pattali Makkal Katchi), asthe Government of AndhraPradesh, under your leader-ship, has successfullyannounced the establish-ment of 56 Corporationsfor BCs for their uplift.

" I appreciate the fact thatyou have taken this rightdecision, at the right time, touphold social justice andensure social development,"he said.

GITAM DEMOLITIONS

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Brushing aside the allegationsof opposition leaders, MLAGudivada Amarnath said thatthere is no need for the gov-ernment to be vindictivetowards the TDP and statedthat officials have taken appro-priate action against GITAMUniversity for encroachinggovernment lands.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Saturday, theMLA said that GITAMUniversity, which belongs tothe son-in-law of TDP MLAand film actor NandamuriBalakrishna, has encroachedupon the government lands toan extent of 40 acres worth Rs800 crore. During the TDPterm, Naidu gave away valu-able lands in Visakhapatnamto his dear ones and oneamong them was GITAMUniversity.

It was revealed in a prelim-inary inquiry by revenue offi-cials that the university hasencroached government landsand the officials took appropri-ate action.

While the government is

responsible for safeguardingthe lands and taking actionagainst illegal encroachments,the opposition leaders arespreading false propagandastating that the government isvindictive.

The previous governmenthad failed to take action onland encroachments inVisakhapatnam and didn’tmake the SIT report public.Unlike the TDP government,Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy has constituted SIT toinvestigate the land scams inVisakhapatnam and will takeaction based on the report.

MLA Amarnath said that allthose in the TDP politburowere highly corrupt and thatthe TDP had given the presi-dent post to Atchannaidu, whowas involved in the ESI scam.He said that only those whohad encroached lands werebeing given posts in the TDP.

Speaking at the same pressconference, Pendurthi MLAAdeep Raj criticised that theGITAM Institute, which wasnamed after Mahatma Gandhiis indeed going in Godse's way,by involving in illegal activities.

YSRCP MLAbrushes asideOppn allegations

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 25, 2020 telangana 04

Women playing Bathukamma in Kukatpally on Saturday — SSV CChary

FESTIVAL OOF FFLOWERS

As we commemorate the75th anniversary, we

ought to be grateful to manyunsung heroes for their collec-tive efforts and commitment tomultilateralism in the creationof the United Nations.

Until the 18th century, theDutch, French, Portugueseand British were engaged inexpanding their empire. The19th century shook the worldwith the outbreak of pan-demics such as smallpox,influenza, plague, andpoliovirus.

The Industrial Revolutionbrought economic growth butthe world was not prepared forenvironmental disasters.

At the dawn of the 20th cen-tury, World War I destabilisedmost of the world. While theworld was recovering from theGreat Depression, Hitler,Mussolini, and Hirohito laidthe groundwork for WorldWar II.

"The League of Nations",

which came into existence asan international peacekeepingorganisation at the end of theWorld War I proved ineffectivein preventing the World WarII.

In 1942, the heads and del-egates of 26 allied nationsresolved to create a neutralorganisation that would helpbuild peace for a better world.President Franklin DRoosevelt not only rallied forthe creation but also coined thename "United Nations".

On June 26, 1945, thefounding nations signed theagenda, objectives and goals ofthe foundational treaty of theUnited Nations known as'United Nations Charter'. TheUNC eventually led to thebirth of the United NationsOrganisation on October 24,1945. The intergovernmental

organisation has ever sincechanged the world as we knowit. Unlike its predecessor, theUN succeeded in accomplish-ing its objectives and goals.

The building of the UnitedNations Headquarters in NewYork, which is consideredinternational territory, wasdesigned by the architect trio,Wallace K. Harrison, LeCorbusier, and OscarNiemeyer.

Oliver Lincoln Lundquist,the legendary architect, creat-ed the United Nations logo. OnOctober 24, 1945, acclaimedBritish actor Sir LaurenceOlivier read the Preamble tothe Charter of the UnitedNations in the UN Assembly.Business tycoon John D.Rockefeller Jr donated $8.5million used to acquire 17acres for the UN Headquartersin New York.

The United Nations tookbirth with the principal aim ofbringing countries together,preserving peace and securityto help build a better world.This includes, inter alia, send-ing peacekeeping forces todeal with wars, conflicts, actsof terrorism, monitoringceasefires, and assisting therefugees. The UN's role iscommendable in promotionand enhancing human rights.

The Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights of 1948 broughthuman rights into the purviewof international law.

Efforts in prevention andcontrol of pandemics, eradica-tion of poverty and hunger,reduction of inequalities, pro-motion of primary education,prevention of female genitalmutilation and child mar-riages, encouraging gender

equality and various initiativesfor the empowerment ofwomen by the United Nationswould not go amiss.

The United NationsFoundation, through its'Shot@Life' campaign, is notonly fighting dreaded diseasesbut is also bankrolling thecause of expanding access tolifesaving vaccines for childrenin developing countries.

To arrest hunger, UN'sWorld Food Programme catersto 138 million famished.Additionally, the UN, throughits Population Fund, helpsmillions of women overcomepregnancy complications everyyear. The vital role of UNagencies in providing vaccina-tion to half of the children inthe world deserves an hon-ourable mention. The UN alsocomes to the rescue of refugees

and forcibly displaced people. Since the UN's first mission

in Arab-Israeli War in 1948,more than 70 peacekeepingoperations have beendeployed. Thousands of peace-keeping personnel have losttheir lives to acts of violence,accidents or disease. Peacebuilding involves action by awide array of organisations ofthe UN system, diplomats,conflict resolution experts,civil society groups and count-less others.

In 1989, another importantstep forward was made by theUN to provide civil, cultural,economic, and social rights tochildren with adoption of theConvention on the Rights ofthe Child.

In 1995 the UN adopted atransdisciplinary project,'Towards a Culture of Peace."

Besides the Treaty on theProhibition of NuclearWeapons and United NationsFramework Convention onClimate Change, the UN iscommitted to the 2030Agenda, that is "17 SustainableDevelopment Goals" and"Leave No One Behind", thetransformative promise.

Since the emergence of theUN, the threat of globalnuclear war has been removedto a greater extent.

Intriguingly, the UN drewflak for being edentulous andbecoming a 'Cold War' battle-ground as the US and USSRheld vetoes limiting theSecurity Council's powers. Notwo ways about it - the UN isthe only legitimate internation-al organisation, yet it has toearn the unprejudiced andunbiased tag.

Pratyush Vishnu Dhavala(The author is founder of

The Environoholics)

On June 26, 1945, the founding nations

signed the agenda, objectives and goals of

the foundational treaty of the United Nations

known as 'United Nations Charter'.

The UNC eventually led to the birth of the

United Nations Organisation on October 24,

1945.

THE FUTURE WE WANT, THE UN WE NEED

No stopping Harish in Dubbak K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

Finance Minister T HarishRao is leading the party fromthe front in Dubbak by-elec-tions. The Siddipet MLA, dur-ing the campaign, is taking nochances in targeting theOpposition parties - Congressand BJP. The TRS party in-charge for Dubbak by-elec-tions, Harish Rao, has beenappealing voters not to fall preyto the promises of the opposi-tion parties.

The Siddipet MLA is reach-ing out to the voters with theslogan 'Motors and Meters'.Harish Rao alleged that that theCentre was trying to burdenfarmers by asking them to fixelectricity meters for their borewells and pump sets. In everyroad show or rally, Harish Raois raising this issue. He allegedthat the agriculture motors(pump sets) were burnt duringCongress regime and the pre-sent BJP-led Central govern-ment is trying to burden thefarmers by instaling metersfor their bore wells. He stated

that Dubbak by-election isbetween 'motors and meters'and 'free power'.

This is not for the first timeHarish Rao took the task of

leading the party from thefront in elections.

In 2016, Harish Rao playeda crucial role in ensuring thevictory of TRS candidate M

Bhupal Reddy inNarayanakhede by-election.The TRS candidate defeateddeceased sitting Congress MLAP Kishta Reddy's son PSanjeeva Reddy with a hugemajority. Narayanakhede con-stituency was known forCongress bastion as the GrandOld Party won the seat in1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 elec-tions. During these elections,the TRS failed to get minimumvotes. However, Harish Raowrote a new history inNarayanakhede by ensuringthe victory of TRS candidate.

This time too, the TRS chiefand Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao gaveresponsibility of Dubbak by-elections to Harish Rao. On theother hand, the Congress andthe BJP took by-election on aprestigious note. However,trouble shooter Harish Rao isleading from the front and ismaking all efforts to ensure thevictory of TRS candidate.

Harish Rao is reaching out tothe voters by highlighting TRSgovernment schemes such asRythu Bandhu, Rythu Bhima,

Kalyana Laxmi, 2BHK scheme,Mission Bhagiratha, MissionKakathiya, KCR Kit and others.He is mainly targeting Centralgovernment's farm laws andNew Electricity AmendmentBill-2020. He alleged that theBJP's Electricity Bill will trou-ble farmers. At the same time,Harish Rao is not sparingCongress party. He allegedthat during Congress regime,motors at agricultural wellswere burnt due to bad powersupply.

Also, Harish Rao is not giv-ing any chance for theCongress and BJP. He took up'Operation Akarsh' immediate-ly after launching his campaignand successfully inducted lead-ers from of Congress, TJS andLeft parties. He also succeed-ed in inducting seniorCongress leaders, who aspiredfor Congress party ticket fromDubbak. Recently, Harish Raoalso threw a challenge at BJPChief Bandi Sanjay Kumar tocome to Dubbak for an opendebate on the contribution ofthe Centre to pensions given bythe state government.

Siddipet MLA Harish Rao reaches out to Dubbak voters targeting CentralGovt led BJP for allegedly trying toburden farmers by asking them to fix electricity meters for theirborewells and pump sets

By-polls forced CM to buymaize at MSP, says UttamPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) presidentN Uttam Kumar Reddy onSaturday said that the upcom-ing Dubbak Assembly by-elec-tions have forced ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao to purchase maize atMinimum Support Price of Rs1,850 per quintal. Similarly, theChief Minister agreed torelease one DearnessAllowance for governmentemployees only due to thefear of defeat in Dubbak by-polls.

Uttam, in a media statementon Saturday, welcomed thedecisions and described it as amoral victory of the people ofDubbak. He said that the ChiefMinister had expressed angerover farmers who cultivatedmaize and claimed that it wasbeing sold for Rs 1,200 perquintal. However, he wasforced to announce the settingup of procurement centres inall villages to purchase themaize at the MSP of Rs 1,850

fearing backlash of people inthe by-elections.

"If one by-election couldbring the Chief Minister on hisknees, people could imaginehis reaction if TRS losesDubbak seat. Therefore, peo-ple of Dubbak should defeatTRS in the by-elections if theywant CM to fulfill all the elec-toral promises, especially thosemade with the farmers andemployees," he said. The TPCCchief reminded that KCR hadonce compared the employeeswith a dog's tail by saying "Is

it the dog that wags the tail orthe tail that wags the dog?" Butthe fear of defeat in Dubbakby-polls transformed him intoa 'pro-employee' CM whocleared one of three pendingDAs. Uttam said that the peo-ple of Telangana would remainindebted to Dubbak voters ifthey defeat TRS in the by-elec-tions as it would force TRSgovernment to honour all thepromises made in the lastseven years.

If one by-election couldbring the ChiefMinister on hisknees, peoplecould imaginehis reaction ifTRS losesDubbak seat,said TPCCpresident Uttam

GHMC misled Central team, alleges CongPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Congress leaderson Saturday alleged that theTRS government is giving Rs10,000 ex-gratia only to theTRS activists but not to flood-affected people in GHMC.They also alleged that theCentral team didn't conductsurveys scientifically in flood-hit areas. The party demand-ed the Centre to send anotherteam to assess the loss incurredby the people and farmers dueto heavy rains and floods.

Addressing the media onSaturday, former MPs MadhuYashki, Anjan Kumar Yadav,AICC official spokespersonDasoju Sravan and YouthCongress state president Anil

Kumar Yadav slammed theChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao for notcoming out from the PragathiBhavan. The farmers lost theircrops and low level areasinundated in flood waters,

they alleged. Madhu YashkiGoud blamed the state gov-ernment for the floods inHyderabad. "Though theWeather Department gaveprior information on rains, thestate government failed to act

on time. The state governmentdidn't conduct a scientificsurvey on how many peopledied and how loss incurreddue to heavy rains. The stategovernment is extendingfinancial assistance keepingGHMC elections in view," healleged.

Dasoju Sravan alleged thatthe Central team, which cameto assess the impact of thefloods, didn't act scientifical-ly. "How come two days isenough to inspect the flood-hit areas?" he asked allegingthat the Centre is deceivingthe flood affected people. Healleged that the GHMC offi-cials are enacting dramas giv-ing misinformation to theCentral government.

None benefittedfrom RythuBandhu: TTDPPNS n HYDERABAD

TTDP Chief L Ramana onSaturday alleged that thefarmers lost in two ways asthe TRS government didn’tpay Fasal Bima Yojana premi-um and is not giving ex gra-tia to the farmers who suf-fered losses due to heavyrains. Ramana consoled thefarmers who set their paddycrop on fire in Gambiraopetmandal. Speaking on theoccasion, Ramana allegedthat the farmers lost severe-ly due to cultivation ofsuperfine type paddy. Noone benefitted with RythuBandu scheme, he alleged.

PNS n HYDERABAD

In view of continuing inflows,authorities lifted 12 crestgates of Nagarjuna SagarProject (NSP) by 10 feet onSaturday to release waterdownstream. According tothe figures obtained fromNSP officials, inflows to theproject was 3, 40,761 cusecsand outflow was reported as2,19,277 cusecs. The waterlevel in the project reached589.60 feet as against FullReservoir Level of 590 feet.The present storage of waterin the project is 312.04 TMCs

as against gross storagecapacity of 310.84 TMCs.Also, 8 crest gates ofPulichintala Project were alsolifted to release water toPrakasham Barrage. Thewater level in PulichintalaProject touched 174.01 feet asagainst 175.89 feet. With thelifting of NSP gates, inflow toPulichintala Project wasincreased to 1,88.1010 cusecsand outflow is 1,74,480cusecs. The present waterstorage in the project was44.23 TMCs as against grossstorage capacity of 45.77TMCs.

Bandi: Regulatedfarmingconfusing ryots

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP Chief BandiSanjay Kumar on Saturdaytook potshots at ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao and alleged that the lat-ter is behaving like a dicta-tor.

"Like a dictator, KCR isimposing regulated cultiva-tion on farmers without con-ducting soil tests. Agriculture,which is already in crisis, isfacing more troubles becauseof regulated farming," healleged. In a statement, BandiSanjay said that the stategovernment is creating con-fusion among the farmers inregard to procurement ofmaize. Bandi Sanjay Kumarquestioned the Chief Ministerto reveal if speaking on behalfof farmers is considered ascheap politics.

Kavitha extendsBathukammagreetingsPNS n HYDERABAD

Nizamabad MLC andTelangana Jagruthi founderpresident K Kavitha onSaturday extended greetingsto people of Telangana Stateon the festive occasion ofBathukamma. She expressedhappiness over the prideand excitement with whichBathukamma was being cel-ebrated with friends andfamily despite the Covidpandemic. She urged peopleto the State to remain cau-tious during the celebra-tions in the wake of thepandemic.

In a video message,Kavitha said the recent floodsin the State have left manypeople in distress even as theCoronavirus threat has beenlooming large posing chal-lenges to people during thesetimes of crisis. She lauded thespirit of humanity in theState and urged all to standby each other during thesedifficult times. TRS leaderand MLC Kavitha thankedChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao forreleasing Rs 550 crore toensure immediate relief tothose affected by the floods.

Covid is a ‘syndemic' forpatients with chronic diseasesPNS n NEW DELHI

Scientists have assessed thesynergistic impact of Covid-19on people with non-communi-cable diseases (NCDs) likediabetes in low and middle-income countries such asIndia, and found that there hasnever been a more dangeroustime for them than the ongo-ing pandemic.

According to the study, pub-lished in the journal Frontiersin Public Health, people withNCDs are more vulnerable tocatching and dying fromCovid-19, while their exposureto NCD risk factors — such assubstance abuse, social isola-tion and unhealthy diets — hasincreased during the pandem-ic.

The researchers, includingShradha S Parsekar from theManipal Academy of HigherEducation in Karnataka, alsofound that Covid-19 disrupt-ed essential public health ser-vices which people with NCDsrely on to manage their condi-tions.

In the study, the scientistsreviewed almost 50 studies onthe synergistic impact ofCovid-19 on people withNCDs in low and middle-income countries such asBrazil, India, Bangladesh,Nepal, Pakistan and Nigeria.

According to the study leadauthor Uday Yadav from theUniversity of New South Wales(UNSW) in Australia, theinteraction between NCDs andCovid-19 was important to

study because global datashowed Covid-19-relateddeaths were disproportionate-ly high among people withNCDs.

"This illustrates the negativeeffect of the Covid-19 'syn-demic' — also known as a 'syn-ergistic epidemic' — a termcoined by medical anthropol-ogist Merrill Singer in the1990s to describe the relation-ship between HIV/AIDS, sub-stance abuse and violence,"Yadav said.

"People are familiar withCovid-19 as a pandemic, butwe analysed it through a syn-demic lens in order to deter-mine the impact of bothCovid-19 and future pan-demics on people with NCDs,"he added.

Donations pour in for CMRFPNS n HYDERABAD

Several organisations andindividuals contributed to theCMRF towards supportingthe State government in itsendeavours towards relief andrehabilitation of the flood vic-tims in Hyderabad and otherUrban Local Bodies in the

State. The donations are beingreceived following a clarioncall given by Chief Minister toall, to contribute their mightfor supporting the floodaffected families.

Pharma company Divi’sLaboratories contributed Rs 5crore to the CMRF and hand-ed over a cheque to Municipal

Administration Minister KTRama Rao at Pragathi Bhavanhere on Friday. GMRHyderabad InternationalAirport too contributed Rs 2.5crore to the CMRF, while Rs1 crore each was donated byTelangana Poultry BreedersAssociation, TelanganaPoultry Federation, Sneha

Foundation of Sneha PoultryFarms, and SrichaitanyaStudents Facility ManagementPrivate Limited. The PoultryBreeders Association presi-dent and MP G Ranjith Reddyas well as the PoultryFederation president ErrabelliPradeep Rao among othershanded over cheques to KTR.

Govt giving aid only to TRSactivists: BJPPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP MLA Raja Singh onSaturday alleged that the rul-ing TRS party leaders arecashing in on the situationwhen the people ofHyderabad are suffering dueto floods. “The GHMC offi-cials are distributing Rs10,000 financial assistanceonly to TRS activists insteadof people who were affecteddue to floods,” he alleged.

As inflows rise, NSP gates lifted

AICC official spokesperson Dasoju Sravan addressing the media on Saturday

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 25, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

ADistrict Reserve Guard (DRG) jawan was killed and anotherinjured in a gunfight with Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpurdistrict on Saturday, police said. The skirmish took place around

10 am near Tadur village under Orchha police station limits, where ateam from the DRG was out on a counter-insurgency operation,Narayanpur superintendent of police Mohit Garg said. A group ofultras ambushed the patrolling team when it was on its way back afterthe operation, which led to the gun-battle betweenthe two sides, he said. As the security personnelstarted zeroing on them, the ultras escaped fromthe scene, he said."DRG personnel Santu Vadde was killedin the gunfight, while constable BajjuRam Kachlam sustained minorinjuries," Garg said.The deceased jawan and the injured personnelwere evacuated to Narayanpur and shifted to ahospital there, he said."Blood stains at the spot indicate that some Naxalswere also injured in the face-off," the SP said,adding that search operation was still underway inthe area.

DRG jawan killed, another hurtin face-off with Naxals

More than three monthssince the Bikru villageambush, in which eight

policemen including a deputy SPwere killed, the Kanpur police hasinvoked the Gangsters Actagainst 30 of slain gangster VikasDubey's aides arrested inconnection with the case.Kanpur's Deputy InspectorGeneral (DIG) of PolicePreetinder Singh said on Saturday that the Gangsters Act has beenslapped against the 30 accused. A separate FIR under the relevantsections of the Gangsters Act has been lodged against the jailedaccused, the DIG added. The investigation has been handed over toStation House Officer (Billhaur) PN Bajpai, who has been asked toprobe the case properly. Earlier this month, a chargesheet in the Bikruambush case was submitted in the court concerned. Eight policemen,including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru when theywere going to arrest Dubey, a dreaded gangster, and fell to bullets firedfrom rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3.

Gangsters Act invoked against30 aides of Vikas Dubey

Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh has been caught oncamera showering flower petals on the party's Bairia MLASurendra Singh, days after serving him a notice for his

statements supporting the main accused in the firing incident atDurjanpur village here. The video which went viral on Saturday showsSwatantra Dev Singh participating in a 'bhumi pujan' programme of aKrishna temple at Kathauda village in Sikanderpur area. Both theleaders are seen sitting side by side in the footage. The state BJP chiefis seen showering flower petals on Surendra Singh, who acknowledgesit with folded hands. On being asked about the video, BJP's SalempurMP Ravindra Kushwaha, who was also present at the event on Friday,told reporters that only Swatantra Dev Singh can elaborate on hisactions. Earlier this week, the state unit of the BJP had issued a showcause notice to MLA Surendra Singh for issuing statements in supportof Dhirendra Pratap Singh, a local party leader who has been arrestedfor allegedly killing a man. The legislator was given a week's time torespond to the notice. Surendra Singh had come out in open supportof Dhirendra Pratap Singh, who allegedly shot dead a 46-year-old manin Ballia's Durjanpur village following a quarrel over the allotment ofration shops on October 15. The Bairia MLA had defended theaccused, saying that the latter “opened fire in self-defence” as “it was a do-or-die situation for him”. He had also accused theadministration of bias and demanded that action be taken against theother side.

Caught on camera: UP BJP chiefshowers flower petals on Bairia MLA

Farm sector changes in line with changing times, says Modi PNS n AHMEDABAD

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday said his govern-ment is taking initiatives tostrengthen the agriculture sec-tor in the country so thatfarmers do not have to face anytrouble.

His statement comes amidopposition to the new farmlaws by farmers' groups andpolitical parties.

Modi was speaking afterinaugurating three projects inGujarat- one each related toagriculture, healthcare andtourism development- viavideo conference from NewDelhi.

"In order to double the farm-ers' income and to reduce theproduction cost and their trou-bles, we will have to increaseour efforts with the changingtimes," he said.

"Whether granting freedomto farmers to sell their produceanywhere in the country or cre-ating thousands of farmer pro-ducer organisations, whethercompleting stalled irrigationprojects or improving cropinsurance scheme or 100 percent neem-coating of urea orsoil health card...the aim is tostrengthen the agriculture sec-tor so that farmers do not havetrouble in farming. Initiativeslike these are being taken con-tinuously for it," he said.

He launched the state gov-ernment's Kisan SuryodayYojana (KSY) aimed at provid-ing day-time electricity to thefarmers in the state for irriga-tion and farming purposes.

The PM also inauguratedPaediatric Heart Hospital at the

U N Mehta Institute ofCardiology and ResearchCentre in Ahmedabad, devel-oped at a cost of Rs 470 croreby the state's health and fami-ly welfare department.

Besides, he launched therecently-completed ropewayproject on Mount Girnar, amajor tourist and pilgrim sitenear Junagadh city in the state.The 2.3-km long ropeway isbeing touted as the longesttemple ropeway in Asia.

Modi held the oppositionresponsible for the delay incompletion of the Girnar rope-way project.

The project was proposed in1983, and was delayed due tovarious reasons, most impor-tantly due to the environmen-tal concerns, before the UPAgovernment granted it condi-tional approval in 2011.

"Had they not created hur-dles in the Girnar ropeway pro-ject, it would not have gotstalled for so many years.

People and tourists shouldhave got its benefit a longback," he said.

"As a nation, we all shouldthink of the loss caused to thepeople and the country whensuch projects (Girnar ropeway)of public importance are stalledfor a long time," he said, addingthat the new project will facil-itate the pilgrims and tourists,and create job opportunities forthe locals.

"More people will visit (aplace) only when modern facil-ities are provided to tourists.Tourists want ease of living,ease of travelling," he said.

Modi said the world's tallestStatue of Unity attracted morethan 45 lakh tourists before thepandemic.

"Look at the Statue of Unitydedicated to Sardar Saheb(Vallabhbhai Patel). Theworld's tallest statue is becom-ing a huge tourist attraction.Before the coronavirus out-break, over 45 lakh people

had visited it. It is a big achieve-ment in such a short time. Ithas been reopened (recently),and the number (of tourists) isincreasing fast," he said.

The Statue of Unity wasinaugurated in October 2018.

Lauding the state govern-ment over the Kisan SuryodayYojana (KSY), Modi said Indiahas become a leading countryin both solar production andconsumption.

"Gujarat was the first state inthe country that framed adetailed policy for solar ener-gy a decade ago. In 2010, whena solar power plant was inau-gurated in Patan, nobody hadimagined that one day Indiawill show the way to the worldfor 'One Sun, One World, OneGrid'," he said.

"Today, India is a leadingcountry in both solar produc-tion and its use. In the last sixyears, the country has becomethe fifth-ranking nation in theworld in solar energy produc-

tion," the PM added.He said the KSY will change

the lives of lakhs of farmers ina few years by providing themelectricity for irrigation fromdawn to 9.30 pm.

He also talked about 'KusumYojana' that aims to help farm-ers, cooperatives and panchay-ats in setting up small solarplants on barren lands, and linksolar pumps to the grid, hesaid.

Modi lauded the state's ini-tiative in taking water to house-holds under the 'Nal Se Jal'scheme.

Urging the farmers to savewater, he said, "As the KSY hasbeen launched, all have torepeat the mantra- 'Per drop,more crop'."

"As farmers will get electric-ity during the day, they shouldalso focus in saving morewater," he said, adding that day-time power supply will makethings easier for farmers to setup micro-irrigation.

Changing lifestyle is increas-ing heart complications, Modisaid, adding that the hearthospital will provide facilitiesto the people of Gujarat andothers.

In his address, ChiefMinister Rupani targeted the"anti-Gujarat people" forstalling the Girnar ropewayand the Sardar Sarovar project.

"We all know that in the past,anti-Gujarat people tried tocreate hurdles in many project-slike Narmada and Girnarropeway so that Gujarat, Modiand BJP do not get the credit.But luckily for us, when Modibecame the PM, both the pro-jects were realised," he said.

In order to doublethe farmers'income and toreduce theproduction costand their troubles,we will have toincrease ourefforts with thechanging times,said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi

BJP questions ‘silence’ ofCongress over girl's ‘rape'PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP hit out at Congressleaders Rahul Gandhi andPriyanka Gandhi Vadra onSaturday for their "selectiveoutrage" in cases of atrocitiesagainst women as it ques-tioned their "silence" over thealleged rape and killing of asix-year-old girl in Punjab.

Noting that the young girlbelonged to a Dalit migrantfamily from Bihar, FinanceMinister and senior BJP leaderNirmala Sitharaman also tooka swipe at Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav,questioning if he had askedRahul Gandhi about the issuewhile holding a joint poll cam-paign with him in the state.

Attacking Yadav, shereferred to a news report of2008 to talk about the "allega-tions of eve-teasing and misbe-haviour with women againstthe RJD brothers", a referenceto him and his elder brotherTej Pratap. "It (the Punjabincident) may not hurt the RJDbecause that is how thingswere when they were inpower," Sitharaman toldreporters while flaying LaluPrasad Yadav's party for the"jungle raj" during its rule inBihar during 1990-2005.

Hitting out at the Congress,she said, "The pretentiousCongress has not said a word.The tweet-friendly Rahul

Gandhi has not tweeted on theHoshiarpur incident. Therehas been no outrage. And nopicnic either."

Her "picnic" jibe was in ref-erence to Rahul Gandhi andhis sister Priyanka Gandhi'svisit to Hathras in BJP-ruledUttar Pradesh following thealleged gangrape of a Dalit girl,who died in a Delhi hospitalsubsequently.

The BJP had accused RahulGandhi and Priyanka Gandhiof practising "politicaltourism". "The Congress party

should stand up and answer.Does this kind of selective out-rage suit the stature of theirparty? "Why is the brother-sis-ter pair not going and voicinghorror in Hoshiarpur? Whynot in Rajasthan? The selectivecry of outrage that theCongress wants to show whenit is elsewhere but not in statesgoverned by it is completelyexposed," Sitharaman said.

Stating that crimes like rapeshould not be politicised, shesaid certain political parties areselective in voicing horror.

Kejriwal forfree vaccinethroughoutIndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Saturday saidthe COVID-19 vaccineshould be made availablethroughout the country forfree, saying all the peoplewere troubled by the coron-avirus.

A debate has started onwhether the COVID-19 vac-cine, which is yet to materi-alise, should be made avail-able to people for free, withthe Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) promising free doses ofthe vaccine in its manifestofor the Bihar polls.

"The whole country shouldget free COVID-19 vaccine.It is a right of the entire coun-try. All the people are trou-bled by the coronavirus, sothe vaccine should be free forthe country," Kejriwal toldreporters after inauguratingtwo flyovers in northeastDelhi.

The coronavirus vaccine,once available, will be distrib-uted under a special COVID-19 immunisation programmewith the Centre procuring thedoses directly and making itavailable for priority groups,official sources have said.

Covid: 31% adolescents battled extreme anxietyPNS n NEW DELHI

About 31 per cent surveyedadolescents battled extremeanxiety in the past few monthsworrying about the impact ofcoronavirus pandemic on theirfamily's financial status,according to a survey of over7,300 adolescents from fourstates of Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh, Bihar andOdisha. The survey on 'Whatdo the Adolescents have to say?COVID-19 and its Impact' byNGO Centre for CatalysingChange was conducted in tworounds in the months of April,July and August.

Out of the 7,324 adoles-

cents surveyed, 31 per centadmitted to battling extremeanxiety worrying about thepandemic's impact on their

family's financial status. The survey also found that

adolescent girls faced signifi-cant gender discrimination in

these months due to the pan-demic. "Only 12 per cent ofsurveyed adolescent girls hadaccess to their own mobilephones to be able to attendonline classes, while 35 per centboys had access to their ownmobile phones," the surveyfound. "Further, 51 per cent ofthe adolescent girls surveyedlacked access to essential text-books in comparison to boys,highlighting how the pandem-ic had jeopardized girls' accessto education," it said.

About 39 per cent of the girlswere found to be contributingto housework as opposed to thenumber of boys at 35 per cent,it said. Under the survey, the

adolescent girls also statedhow their mobility has beencurbed, with only 39 per centgirls saying they were allowedto go out alone in comparisonto 62 per cent boys of the sameage who were allowed to go outalone. "At the same time, only36 per cent adolescents knewthe correct helpline numbers,while awareness about the useof the helplines was even lower.Only 18 per cent was awarethat the helplines could beused in reporting domesticviolence and only 22-23 percent knew that it could be usedin reporting child labour andchild trafficking cases," itadded.

Bihar polls: RJD promises 10 lakh jobs, farm loan waiverPNS n PATNA

Rashtriya Janata Dal, whichheads the opposition GrandAlliance coalition in the Biharelections, released poll mani-festo Saturday reiterating itspromise of 10 lakh jobs andloan waiver for the farmers.

The manifesto was releasedby Tejashwi Yadav at a pressconference in the party officehere.

The cover page of the man-ifesto displays photographs ofMahatama Gandhi, Dalits iconB R Ambedkar, freedom fight-er Maulana Abul Kalam Azad,socialist veterans-RamManohar Lohia and KarpooriThakur- Loknayak JayprakashNarayan among others, but itdoes not have photo of theparty's founder and its charis-matic leader Lalu Prasad.

Tejshwi Yadav's photo findsa prominent space on thecover page. There is a messagefrom Prasad in the documentin which he highlighted how

his party government in thepast fought the battle to ensuresocial justice for the downtrod-dens and brought Bihar backon the path of development.

Prasad, who is in jail inRanchi after his conviction infour cases of multi-crorerupees fodder scam, also madea scathing attack on rival NDAgovernment in the state, saying"there is no jobs, atrocitiesagainst women have increasedand happiness is missing fromthe face of farmers".

While, emphasising on itsfuture plans for the state ifvoted to power, the RJD visiondocument also hit out at theBharatiya Janata Party for try-ing to "fool people" byannouncing 19 lakh jobs in thestate.

"Chief Minister NitishKumar has been raising doubtson our promise of providing 10lakh jobs, so how his futuregovernment will fulfill allyBJP's declaration of 19 lakhjobs?" Tejashwi asked.

FM: ‘Free vaccine’perfectly in orderPNS n NEW DELHI

Amid the opposition's criti-cism of the BJP's Bihar pollpromise of free COVID vac-cines, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman assertedon Saturday that theannouncement was perfectlyin order and a party canannounce what it wants to dowhen it comes to power.

Sitharaman had releasedthe Bharatiya Janata Party's(BJP) manifesto for the Biharpolls on Thursday. A highlightof the promises made in thedocument was free COVIDvaccines for the state's peopleif the saffron party comesback to power.

Opposition parties had

slammed the BJP for thepromise and demanded actionby the Election Commission(EC), while alleging that theruling party was using thepandemic for political gains.

Speaking to reporters here,Sitharaman, a senior BJPleader, said, "It is a manifestoannouncement. A party canannounce what it wants to dowhen it comes to power. Thatis exactly what is announced.Health is a state subject. It isperfectly in order."

Every party in its manifestostates what it wants to do whenit comes to power, she added.

The Bihar Assembly pollsare scheduled to be held inthree phases, starting October28.

States, UTs told to ensure thereis no wastage of groundwaterPNS n NEW DELHI

The Central Ground WaterBoard (CGWB) has asked thestate agencies dealing withwater supply to ensure thatthere is no wastage or misuseof potable underground waterand evolve compliance withcoercive action.

An order dated October 8was issued to the states andUnion territories following adirective from the NationalGreen Tribunal, an officialfrom the CGWB said.

Another CGWB officialsaid the action is to be taken

under the Environment(Protection) Act, 1986.

" ...the concerned civicbodies dealing with water sup-ply network in the states/unionterritories, Water WorksDepartment, MunicipalCorporation, Municipal

Council, DevelopmentAuthority, Panchayat or byany other name, shall ensurethat there is no wastage or mis-use of potable water tappedfrom underground and evolvecompliance mechanism withcoercive measures for viola-tion," the CGWB order said.

The CGWB also mentionedthe NGT directive issued inOctober 2019 which said thatin order to control wastage ofwater, there has to be specifictime-bound action plan andmonitoring which shouldinclude coercive measures forenforcement.

BSY: Rs 25k aid forevery flood-hit familyPNS n BENGALURU

Karnataka Chief Minister B SYediyurappa on Saturdayannounced a compensation ofRs 25,000 for every familyaffected by flooding causeddue to torrential rains in sev-eral parts of the city.

The Chief Minister alsoassured a permanent solutionto ensure that such incidentsdon't repeat as he announcedthat all encroachments alongthe storm water drains in thecity will be cleared merciless-ly. "To all those who have faced

destruction to their foodgrains, cloths and other thingsbecause of water enteringhouses due to flooding andrain, we have decided to givea compensation of Rs 25,000per family through cheque...we are taking all the precau-tionary measures if there arerains today or in coming days,"Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters aftervisiting affected Hosakerehalliand near by areas, he said fromthis evening itself cheque willbe distributed to every affect-ed house.

Uphill task for ECto enforce Covidguidelines, feelformer CECsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Election Commissionhas the requisite powers totake strict measures like ban-ning rallies and counter-manding polls for violation ofCOVID-19 guidelines duringcampaigning, but it will be anuphill task to ensure compli-ance, according to formerchief election commissioners.

Campaigning is on forBihar assembly polls as wellas for by-elections in otherstates, and the EC has alreadycautioned parties that penalprovisions can be invokedagainst them by districtauthorities for violations.

While most of the formerCECs said implementinghealth guidelines duringcampaigning is not easy giventhe number of candidates,parties and voters involved,two of them said the ECcould take "demonstrativeaction" such as postponingpolls in a few constituenciesand banning rallies to showthat it means business.

The Election Commissionhas taken a serious view of"utter violation" of social dis-tancing norms during pollcampaigning and leadersaddressing public meetingswithout wearing masks incomplete disregard of itsguidelines.

Attacking Yadav, Nirmala Sitharamanreferred to a news report of 2008 totalk about the "allegations of eve-teasing and misbehaviour with womenagainst the RJD brothers", a referenceto him and his elder brother Tej Pratap

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 25, 2020 money 06

MONEY MATTERS

Capital markets regulatorSebi on Friday grantedexemption to state-run

NTPC from certain buybacknorms for the proposedmerger of wholly-ownedsubsidiaries with the parentcompany. In October, NTPChad filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Board ofIndia (Sebi) to seek exemption from the strict enforcement of thebuyback norms. The application had been necessitated on accountof a scheme of amalgamation providing for the merger of NTPC'swholly-owned subsidiaries with itself, a Sebi order said. InNovember 2019, NTPC's board of directors had approved a schemeof amalgamation entailing the merger of Nabinagar PowerGenerating Company Ltd and Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Ltd withNTPC. The provision of buy-back norms, for which exemption issought "prohibits the Company from making any publicannouncement of buy-back during the pendency of any scheme ofamalgamation pursuant to the provisions of the Companies Act,2013," Sebi noted.

Sebi grants exemption to NTPC forbuy-back programme

ICICI Lombard GeneralInsurance on Fridayreported a 35 per cent

growth in September quarternet profit at Rs 415.74 crore,despite the losses due tonatural calamities andmounting claims from theCOVID-19 pandemic. Totalincome rose to Rs 2,883.40crore during the quarter from Rs 2,739.67 crore a year ago, thecompany said. Net premium earned during the quarter grew to Rs2,462.52 crore from Rs 2,356.92 crore, while gross direct premiumincome rose 8 per cent to Rs 3,189 crore, the company said.Addressing the media during a conference call, ICICI Lombard MDand CEO Bhargav Dasgupta said profitability rose due to betterunderwriting and prudential cost management. "We had losses tothe tune of Rs 77 crore in the first half of the year due to massivefloods in many parts of the county as well as the cyclone. In thesame period last fiscal, our loss from the same head was only Rs61 crore.

ICICI Lombard Q2 net profit jumps35 pc to Rs 416 crore

FMCG major Nestle India onFriday announced its plansto invest Rs 2,600 crore

over the next three to fouryears to augment itsmanufacturing capacity in thecountry, terming the move as"vindication of confidence andtrust" the company has in itsIndia journey. The company, which saw a robust 10.23 per centgrowth in its domestic sales in the July-September quarter, said itsproduction units have returned to "normal output" post lockdown.As per Nestle's plan, the new investments are aimed at expansionactivities of the existing units and towards the construction of itsnew upcoming unit in Sanand, Gujarat. Meanwhile, the FMCG major-- which follows January-December financial year -- posted amarginal 1.37 per cent drop in its net profit at Rs 587.09 crore inthe third quarter ended September 30, 2020. Its net sales, however,were up 10.19 per cent at Rs 3,525.41 crore during the periodunder review, the company said. Domestic sales in July-September moved up 10.23 per cent to Rs 3,350.10 crore asagainst Rs 3,039.09 crore in the year-ago period. Nestle, whichpresently operates eight production units in India, said its factorieshave returned to normal output and witnessed growth driven by animproved supply situation."Total sales and domestic sales bothincreased by 10.2 per cent driven by volume and mix," Nestle Indiasaid in a post earnings statement.

Nestle India clocks double-digitsales growth in Q3

Punjab and SindBank on Friday saidit has reported to

the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) the accountof IL&FS FinancialServices (IFIN) as fraudwith outstanding duesof over Rs 561 crore.The NPA account,IL&FS FinancialServices, with outstanding dues of Rs 561.13 crore has beendeclared as fraud and reported to the RBI as per the regulatoryrequirement, the bank said in a regulatory filing. "Further, the bankhas already made 100 per cent provisioning as per the prescribedprudential norms and the account is technically written off," itadded. The scam at the IL&FS group came to light in September2018 after several group entities defaulted on repayments due tosevere liquidity problems. Later, the government superseded theboard of directors to revive the ailing group. IFIN, which has beenfound to be funding its own revenues for several years, was themain source of funds for the IL&FS group entities.

Punjab and Sind Bank reports IFIN as fraud account to RBI

Second wave of Covid couldhamper nascent recovery: RBIPNS n MUMBAI

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Dashas said the risk of a secondwave of COVID-19 could putsand in the wheels of thenascent recovery while hisdeputy M D Patra opined thatit might take years to regain theoutput lost on account of thepandemic.

These views were expressedby them during the meeting ofthe newly constitutedMonetary Policy Committee(MPC) held from October 7 to9. The newly appointed inde-pendent member of the rate-setting panel Shashanka Bhidesaid uncertainties relating toCOVID-19 pandemic willimpact growth and inflationscenarios in the next two tothree quarters. Das also saidthe decision to cut benchmarkrepo rate would depend uponthe evolving situation withregard to inflation which iscurrently above the tolerancelevel of the central bank,according to the minutes of themeeting released by RBI on

Friday. "I recognise that thereexists space for future ratecuts if the inflation evolves inline with our expectations.This space needs to be usedjudiciously to support recoveryin growth," Das said.

As per the central bank'sassessment, headline inflationwould moderate in the secondhalf of the current financialyear and further in the firstquarter of the next fiscal.

Inflation remained abovethe upper tolerance thresholdof 6 per cent since June, with

signs of aggravation of pricepressures. The government hasasked RBI to keep inflation at4 per cent (+, - 2 per cent).

Speaking about the risks togrowth, Das said there aredownside uncertainties thatcould put sand in the wheels ofthis nascent recovery. "Primaryamong them is the risk of a sec-ond wave of COVID-19.Private investment activity islikely to be subdued, even asdomestic financial conditionshave eased significantly," henoted. In the first quarter of

this fiscal, India's GDP con-tracted 23.9 per cent.

Deputy Governor Patra saidthat India has entered a tech-nical recession in the first halfof the year for the first time inits history.

"GDP is an aggregative indi-cator of economic activity andhides the extent of humanmisery and the loss of socialand human capital caused bythe health crisis.

"Nonetheless, if the projec-tions hold, the level of GDPwould have fallen approxi-mately 6 per cent below its pre-COVID level by the end of2020-21 and it may take yearsto regain this lost output," hesaid.

While voting for keeping theinterest rate unchanged, RBIExecutive Director Mridul KSaggar expressed concern thatif current real negative interestrates fall further, it may gener-ate significant distortions thatcould adversely affect aggregatesavings, current account andmedium-term growth in theeconomy.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The government is left withabout 25,000 tonnes of onionstock in its buffer that will getexhausted in the first week ofNovember, cooperative NafedManaging Director SanjeevKumar Chadha said on Friday.

Currently, Nafed is offload-ing onion buffer stock in themarket to boost domesticavailability and check onionprices which surpassed Rs 75per kg in some parts of thecountry in the last few weeks.

This buffer stock of onion iscreated and maintained byNafed on behalf of the govern-ment to be used for interven-tions in times of onion crisis.For the current year, the coop-erative purchased about 1 lakhtonnes of onion for the bufferand the same is beingoffloaded now. "So far, 43,000tonnes of onion has been dis-posed of from the buffer stock.After some wastage, about25,000 tonnes onion is leftwhich will be available till thefirst week of November,"Chadha said in a press confer-ence where the governmentannounced stock limits on

onion traders to check pricerise. Presently, Nafed isoffloading onion from thebuffer stock in both wholesaleand retail markets across thecountry. It is also offeringstates at Rs 26 per kg plustransportation charges forretail intervention, he said.

Chadha said the cooperativeis maintaining the onionbuffer stock in Maharashtra,Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

The government has takena series of measures to checkrising prices of onion.

‘Left with 25k tonnesbuffer stock onion’

Nafed is offloadingonion buffer stock inthe market to boostdomestic availabilityand check onion prices

Yes Bank posts Rs 129 cr net profitin Q2 on reduction in op expensesPTI n NEW DELHI

Yes Bank on Friday reported anet profit of Rs 129.37 crore,helped by a decrease in oper-ational expenses and wideningof margins on a much lowerloan book.

The private sector lenderhad posted a net loss of Rs 600crore in the correspondingquarter of previous fiscal.

The bank's core net interestincome declined 10 per cent toRs 1,973 crore, majorly becausethe loan book was 28 per centlower, but was helped by a 0.34per cent expansion in netinterest margin at 3.1 per cent.

The non-interest incomedeclined by a fourth to Rs 707crore, but the management ofthe bank, which was bailed outby SBI earlier this year, said theperformance on the front wasbetter than the year-ago peri-od on excluding a one-timesale.

Its managing director andchief executive PrashantKumar, who joined the bankfrom SBI, attributed the 21 percent decrease in operationalexpenses at Rs 1,320 crore to

branch and ATM rationaliza-tion, and re-negotiating withvendors and landlords forrents.

Non-performing assets(NPAs), a surge in which hadled the bank to report recordlosses a few quarters ago,improved marginally, but werestill high at 16.90 per cent ona gross basis.

The overall quantum ofNPAs came down during thequarter.

Kumar said Rs 2,391 croreof advances, which would haveslipped to NPAs, were helpedby the Supreme Court dispen-sation on asset recognition.

Apart from this, the banksaid total exposure overdue for

over 30 days stood at Rs 6,716crore, which took the overallstressed pool of advances to Rs9,000 crore.

On the provision front, thebank set aside over Rs 1,100crore in Q2 to take the overallCOVID-related provisions toRs 1,900 crore which will cush-ion the impact of the pandem-ic on the loan portfolio, Kumarsaid.

He said loans to sectorssuch as hospitality and realtyare showing stress at present.

In an investor presentation,the bank said 3.8 per cent of itsadvances are to the travel,tourism and hospitality sectors,while for real estate it is at 1.5per cent.

Kumar said the bank is"very careful" on the advancesfront and is avoiding corporatesegment. It is primarily lend-ing to retail and small businessborrowers.

The bank is targeting to lendRs 10,000 crore in Decemberquarter to retail segment (Rs6,000 crore) and micro, smalland medium enterprises (Rs4,000 crore) segment, headded.

Kharif onion outputlikely to drop 14%PTI n NEW DELHI

The country's kharif onionproduction is estimated todecline by 14 per cent to 37lakh tonnes this year on like-ly damage to the crop due torecent heavy rainfall in keygrowing states, Food SecretarySudhanshu Pandey said onFriday.

"This year due to rains inMaharashtra, Karnataka andMadhya Pradesh, onion pro-duction which was initiallyestimated at 43 lakh tonne islikely to be 37 lakh tonnes, ashort of about 6 lakh tonnes,"Pandey said at a press confer-ence on onion.

The central government isin touch with states and close-ly watching the supply,demand and price situation, hesaid, adding that accordinglytaking measures.

Pandey is chairman of theinter ministerial committeeon food and consumer affairsthat has recommended variousmeasures to check prices ofonion from ban on export toimposition of stock limits on

traders.The government has taken

several steps to increasedomestic availability and keepprices under control till arrivalof fresh kharif crop from thesecond fortnight of November.

Onion is grown in both rabi(winter) and kharif (summer)seasons. Onion grown in therabi season has a long shelf lifeand therefore stored for use inlean periods.

Retail onion prices are rul-ing over Rs 75 per kg in someplaces at present. In somecities, rates have gone up ashigh as Rs 100 per kg, as perthe government data.

Price monitoringand resourceunit set up inGoa: Govt PTI n NEW DELHI

A price monitoring andresource unit has been set upin Goa under the aegis of theNational PharmaceuticalPricing Authority (NPPA),the government said onSaturday. The price monitor-ing and resource unit(PMRU) will function at thestate level under the directsupervision of the state drugcontroller for increasing out-reach of the NPPA, theMinistry of Chemicals andFertilizers said in a statement.

The NPPA, under itsConsumer Awareness,Publicity and PriceMonitoring (CAPPM)scheme, has already set upPMRUs in 15 states/ UTs, itadded. The national pharmapricing regulator plans toset up PMRUs in all the 36states/ UTs in the country.The expenses of PMRUs,both recurring and non-recurring, are borne by theNPPA under the scheme.

IL&FS misses debt resolutiontarget by Rs 7,300 cr in Sep qtrPTI n NEW DELHI

Debt-laden InfrastructureLeasing and Financial Services(IL&FS) Group, which hadearlier estimated to addressdebt of around Rs 8,800 crorein the second quarter of FY21,on Saturday said it has beenable to address debt of justaround Rs 1,460 crore duringthe period due to COVID-19related delays.

The group said the Rs7,300-crore shortfall in theSeptember target has beenrolled over for achievement insubsequent quarters.

The cash-strapped grouphas, however, maintained itsearlier estimates of addressingmore than 50 per cent of the

overall debt of over Rs 99,000crore as of October 2018.

"As compared to the previ-ous update, the Rs 7,300-croreshortfall in target for debtaddressed by September 2020is being rolled over forachievement in subsequentquarters," the group said in arelease.

"The delay has been main-ly caused on account of signif-icant impact of COVID-19,which has added time andlogistical complexities in theprocess of completing discus-sions with stakeholders and inobtaining approvals fromlenders, regulators and judicialauthorities," it said.

Of the Rs 7,300 crore ofshortfall in the target of Q2

FY21, around Rs 4,200 crore ofdebt will be addressed in Q3FY21 and Rs 3,100 crore in Q4FY21, the group said.

In July, the group had esti-mated to address close to Rs50,500 crore of its debt byMarch 2021 and an addition-al debt of Rs 6,500 crorebeyond FY21.

The Uday Kotak-led boardhad also shared a quarterlyestimates of addressing addi-tional debt of Rs 8,800 crore byQ2 FY21; Rs 18,000 crore byQ3 FY21 and over Rs 6,000crore by the end of Q4 FY21 -- aggregating to Rs 50,500crore by the end of FY2021.

As of June 30, 2020, it hadaddressed debt of Rs 17,640crore.

FB: India's data protection law haspotential to propel digital economyPTI n NEW DELHI

Social media giant Facebookon Friday said that the dataprotection law in progress haspotential to propel the coun-try's digital economy and glob-al digital trade.

The company's commentcame following a hearing by aJoint Committee of Parliamenton Data Protection Bill, 2019,chaired by BJP MP MeenakshiLekhi.

"We deeply appreciate theopportunity to discuss dataregulation issues with theHon'ble Members of JointCommittee on the PersonalData Protection Bill. Webelieve that India's data protec-

tion law has the potential topropel the country's digitaleconomy and global digitaltrade, and we wholeheartedlysupport this effort," a Facebookcompany spokesperson said.

The parliamentary panel onFriday quizzed social mediagiant Facebook about thequantum of their revenue,profit and tax payouts in Indiaand asked what portion oftheir earnings were being usedfor data security in the coun-try, sources said.

Facebook India's policy headAnkhi Das appeared before theJoint Committee of Parliament.

"That is why we deeplyappreciate to be a part of thisdiscussion and will continue towork alongside governmentsand regulators to find the rightsolutions which not only pro-tect users' privacy but are alsointeroperable with other majorglobal privacy regulations" the

company spokesperson said.Das was questioned for two

hours and asked some toughand searching questions bythe panel members from acrossthe political spectrum, sourcessaid.

During the meeting, a mem-ber suggested that the socialmedia platform should notdraw inferences from the dataof its users for commercial ben-efits of its advertisers or forelectoral purposes, they said.

The MPs also sought toknow the revenue Facebookgenerates from India and whatpercentage of the revenue isspent on safeguards for dataprotection, according tosources.

Deadline for filing FY19 GSTannual returns extended till Dec 31PTI n NEW DELHI

The government on Saturdayextended the deadline for fur-nishing GST annual returns forFY 2018-19 by two months tillDecember 31.

The government had lastmonth extended the last datefor filing GST annual returnand audit report for the 2018-19 fiscal by a month tillOctober 31, 2020.

In a statement, the CentralBoard of Indirect Taxes andCustoms (CBIC) said the gov-ernment has been receiving anumber of representationsregarding need to extend duedate for filing Annual Return(Form GSTR-9) andReconciliation Statement

(Form GSTR-9C) for FY 2018-19.

The representations havebeen made on the grounds thatdue to the COVID-19 pan-demic related lockdown andrestrictions, normal businessoperations have still not beenpossible in several parts of thecountry, it said.

The statement said it hasbeen requested that the duedates for the same be extend-ed beyond October 31, 2020 toenable the businesses and audi-tors to comply in this regard.

"In view of the same, on therecommendations of the GSTCouncil, it has been decidedto extend the due date for fil-ing Annual Return (FormGSTR-9/GSTR-9A) and

Reconciliation Statement(FORM GSTR-9C) forFinancial Year 2018-19 fromOctober 31, 2020 to December31, 2020," the CBIC said.

GSTR 9 is an annual returnto be filed yearly by taxpayersregistered under the Goodsand Services Tax (GST). It con-sists of details regarding theoutward and inward suppliesmade or received under differ-ent tax heads.

Furnishing of the annualreturn is mandatory only fortaxpayers with aggregate annu-al turnover of above Rs 2 crorewhile reconciliation statementis to be furnished only by theregistered persons havingaggregate turnover above Rs 5crore.

Tech Mahindra toacquire Tenzing PTI n NEW DELHI

IT company Tech Mahindraon Friday said it will acquirecomplete stake in NewZealand-based Tenzing Groupand Australian IT firmMomenton for a cumulativeamount of around Rs 293crore.

The company will acquireAuckland-headquartered con-sulting firm Tenzing Group forabout Rs 218 crore andMelbourne-based cloud andengineering services firmMomenton for about Rs 75crore. "The acquisition ofMomenton and Tenzing is inline with our strategy tostrengthen our digital capabil-ities, and offer our clients

end-to-end transformationservices," Vivek Agarwal, head(corporate development) andglobal head (healthcare andfinancial services) at TechMahindra, told PTI.

He added that the entireteam of both the companieswill join Tech Mahindra.

Tenzing Group will bring inaround 145 employees to TechMahindra and Momenton PtyLtd, 55 employees.

Sify Q2 netprofit up 35 pcto Rs 26 crorePTI n NEW DELHI

IT company Sify on Fridayposted a 35 per centincrease in net profit at Rs25.7 crore in the secondquarter ended September30, 2020.

The company, in a state-ment, said it had posted anet profit of Rs 19.1 crore inthe same period a year ago.

"During the quarter, wehave witnessed the urgencyamong clients to adopt ITinfrastructure models whichwould provide them theagility and flexibility to runtheir businesses remotelyduring the crisis," Sify CEOKamal Nath said in thestatement.

Income tax returnfiling deadline forFY20 extendedtill Dec 31PTI n NEW DELHI

The deadline for filingreturns by individual tax-payers for FY 2019-20 hasbeen extended by a month tillDecember 31, the financeministry said on Saturday.

For those taxpayers whoseaccounts need to be audited,the Income-Tax Return filingdeadline has been extendedby two months till January 31,2021.

The government had inMay extended the date for fil-ing ITR for FY2019-20 fromJuly 31 to November 30, togive compliance relief to tax-payers.

special 07VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 25, 2020

Roopa is not anexception here. A3 0 - y e a r - o l dMangalore-basedManjula too has to

go through the same situationin life. But unlike Roopa, shehas been into this profession formore than three years now.

“It was when our familywas going through financialcrisis that I started collectingwaste from the landfill. A fewof my neighbours used to gothere to earn a living and that’show I began as well, since Ithought it’d be a good source ofincome,” Manjula, who liveswith her husband and a 14-year-old daughter, tells you.

Since most of her commu-nity is involved in the samekind of work, Manjula haven’tfaced any real indifference inthe society. “However, while Iused to collect waste from thelandfill many would show sym-pathy towards me and ques-tioned why I hadn’t tried outsome other profession, since Iwas educated till PUC,” shesays.

Like Roopa, her lifechanged and for the betterwhen Jayanthi, a member ofPlastics For Change reachedout to offered a job to her. “I amextremely grateful to Jayanthi

ma’am who gave me the oppor-tunity to work as a QualityEngineer. The job not onlysolved my financial worries butalso saved me from workinglong hours at the landfill,” shetells you.

Getting a role as a QualityEngineer has definitely causeda major positive difference inher life.

“The tuition classes and thenutritional food that they pro-vide to my daughter is anoth-er major help for my family. I’malso grateful to see the numberof other social schemes thatPlastics For Change and TheBody Shop is bringing to mycommunity,” she adds.

Only if one could imaginethe ordeal of these womenwaste pickers who spend morethan half of their day at thelandfill collecting all types ofwaste and then return homeonly to cook for their family.

“There is no chance thatanyone could like this work.But it was not as if we have anoption. It makes us feel likepuking. The smell sometimesbecome unbearable, especial-ly during the monsoon. If Iwould go on to describe thescenario, one would be left dis-gusted,” she explains and tellsyou that she used to spend

nothing less than five to sixhours daily at the landfill whilecollecting waste.

It goes without saying thatmany a times, Manjula thoughtof quitting this work, but it wasnot easy. “Like I said, I have afamily to take care of. Therewere times when I made up mymind that I would leave thiswork, but then I realised thatI couldn’t afford to. The rainyseason is the most hazardousfor us, not only because it is anuncomfortable time to work,but also because there are somany other risks involved.One can also meet with anaccident. Even when I recallthat time, a tear or two won’tstop from falling down myeyes,” Manjula, who earned`4000 a week, tells you.

She says that she was wellaware about all the risksinvolved at the landfill andhence, she took all the neces-sary precautions while work-ing. “I was aware of the risksthat collecting waste involved,and so I would be very cau-tious and ensure I wore bootsand gloves. I’d also take a bathand wash my clothes as soonas I returned from the landfill,”she tells you.

To be able to live a digni-fied life, she says, is the every-one’s right and women wastepickers should be no excep-tion. “Everyone should be ableto live a dignified life. I hopethat those who are still work-ing in landfills would be ableto gain better livelihood forthemselves and respect in thesociety,” she says.

While having a home tolive, clean water to drink andelectricity are nothing but ourdaily needs, for these wastepickers it is nothing less thana luxury that they have to askfrom the Government. “I hopethe Government can providesome support in helping mebuild a house for my family.And for my community it’d begreat if the Government couldset up public washrooms andtoilets, since there aren’t any, aswell as a stable power supply,”she tells you.

It shows how one of themost important part of oursociety are struggling hard tolive a normal life, which isobviously not so normal for them.

Plastic is merely a matter ofwaste for us, but to them it isas precious as it can be. Meet a23-year-old Mangalore-basedwoman waste picker, Roopa

who has been collecting waste from alandfill in Pachanady for about a yearnow.

A mother to a young daughter andhaving a big family to take care of, Roopahad no option but to join her mother inthe profession after her husband metwith an accident, that left him bed-rid-den.

“Collecting waste at the landfill isvery much a part of my family’s history— my grandparents used to do it, thenmy parents and finally I got into it aswell,” she says.

Fortunately, Roopa doesn’t have to gothrough a lot of indifferent behaviourfrom the society and doesn’t hold anygrudges against anyone, but there are afew incidents that did bother her at somepoint.

“I didn’t face any real issue from mycommunity, but when I would visit mygrandparents — during the time I usedto collect waste from the landfill — theirneighbours used to insult me. They calledme names. They asked me if I didn’t havea better job to do. Some even behavedlike we were untouchables. But I stoodstrong and doesn’t let their taunts makemuch difference in my life. I bravelystood my ground and told them thatwhat we were doing was honest labourand that there is nothing to feel ashamedabout. What kept me going all this whilewas the belief that no job is big or smalland every occupation deserves equalrespect,” Roopa tells you.

Spending atleast seven hours at thelandfills, surrounded by every kind ofwaste, under the scorching sun, earnedRoopa, not more than `500 a day. Onlyif we would be able to imagine the ordealshe had to go through

“All what we could do with thismoney was to eat food and cover our-selves,” she says.

During COVID, she says, the pricesof the material we would collect fromlandfills and sell to scrap shops plum-meted and so our income reduced dra-matically. We didn’t even have properrations at home.

Though there were a lot of appre-hensions in Roopa’s mind when she tookup the job, she never had any fear ofcatching infections. “Before COVID-19,it didn’t hit our mind that we could fallsick. It was only when the pandemic hitthat we realised about the danger that liesahead of us,” she explains.

Not that she never felt like quitting.There were a dozen times when shethought of giving up the job and dosomething else.

“Since I had completed my PUC, Ihad initially refused to go to the landfillbecause I wanted to get a better job, butbecause of our family’s financial cir-cumstances I was forced to help supportmy mother and start collecting wastealong with her. I did it with a heavy heart.There were quite a few times in betweenwhen I wanted to give up this job, butthen I was laid back each and every timebecause of these financial issues,” she tellsyou.

However, not all is lost in Roopa’sstory. Her life changed when Plastic forChange identified her and extended ahelping hand to her and family. “Plastic

For Change reached out to me andoffered me a job role as a QualityEngineer at their factory. Ever since Ihave started working with them, all theinsults that I had received in my life,stopped right then and there. I love mynew job and I couldn’t have asked formore. It gives me a feeling of pride thatI am able to do something different in lifenow and can make way for a bright futureof my children,” she tells you with a smile.

She adds that the initiative by TheBody Shop and Plastic For Change hashelped her in many ways. “Whether itwas the new jobs we were offered or thePPE kits we received and the installa-tion of the water supply — the inter-vention of these brands is making a dif-ference in our community,” she tells you.

Having seen all the hardships in herlives at an early age, Roopa feels thateveryone should be treated equally,regardless of their background. “I hopethat my children doesn’t have to gothrough all that I had to endure whilegrowing up. It is disturbing. It torns ourconfidence into shreds. I wish my chil-dren get best of the education and growup to do a job that they like. I just wantthem to make and earn a better life forthemselves with all the respect from thesociety and passion towards their work,”she says.

She has a request to make to theGovernment. “It’d be great if theGovernment recognise our work andcould provide some support in helpingme build a house for my family,” she says.

DAUNTLESS PICKSDAUNTLESS PICKSThere are many workers who risk their lives just so that we can keep going. They are mostly never noticed. Womenwaste pickers are among one of them. The Body Shop and Plastic For Change have launched Project NARI whichaims at making a difference in their lives. MUSBA HASHMI speaks to these frontline workers to bring you a report

I DID NOT FACE ANY REALISSUE FROM MY

COMMUNITY, BUT WHEN IWOULD VISIT MY

GRANDPARENTS, THEIRNEIGHBOURS USED TO

INSULT ME. THEY CALLEDME NAMES. I STOOD

STRONG AND DID NOT LETTHEIR TAUNTS BOTHER ME

— ROOPA

THERE WERE TIMESWHEN I MADE UPMY MIND THAT I

WOULD LEAVE THISWORK BUT THEN IREALISED THAT I

COULDN'T AFFORDTO. THE RAINY

SEASON IS MOSTHAZARDOUS FOR

US, NOT JUSTBECAUSE IT IS ANUNCOMFORTABLE

TIME TO WORKOUTSIDE BUT ALSO

BECAUSE THEREARE SO MANYOTHER RISKS

INVOLVED— MANJULA

Monsoons laden one dangerAt 23. She has seen the worst

Roopa, a 23-year-old waste picker, who is now working as a Quality Engineer with Plastic For Change Manjula, a 30-year-old Mangalore-based waste picker, is happy that her life has changed for the better

Some negative forces are at play and you must fightwith them this week. Seasonal ailments might makeyou inactive and dull. Proper diet, exercise and rest isthe mantra of a healthy life. If you compromise onthese basics for longer, you may face the repercussionof it. The working environment is not favourable andmay frustrate you at times. Don’t waste your time andprecious energy plotting revenge. Just get on with thenext phase of your life. If you are looking for work, apotential position that you’d pinned your hopes on maynot come through. On the relationship front, this weekyou can be the master and a mentor in your relations.You are attracted to people who are very creative andmaybe more than usually focused on your career now.

Lucky number 13Lucky colour YellowLucky day Thursday

ARIES March 21-April 19

This week confusion will prevail. Several issues ofconcern might appear with regard to health this week.You may have some hidden matters to deal with. ENTproblem may surface too, that will make you run to thedoctor and might occupy most of your time. You need tolearn to prioritise things. On the career front, you share agood bonding with your colleagues and the people atwork. This is the right time to participate in conferencesand negotiations. Your compromising attitude will gainyou a good opportunity. This is a good week forrelationships. You will learn a whole lot about how youcan take your relationship further. You will be able tomake room for new people and new experiences. Makethe most of this period.

Lucky number 20Lucky colour WhiteLucky day Friday

TAURUS April 20-May 20

This week you will feel renewed energy and charm inyour life. The care and attention you have beenproviding to your body will leave you in high spirits.You experience the cheerful and happy state of mind. Itis also the time to rely on divine faith. New directionand protection infuse trust in you that the divine spiritis working in your best interest. Professionally, you feela new spark, a new sense of creativity within yourself.You are more confident and aggressive in yourapproach and decision making now. Recognition,praise from friends and authorities, promotion are likelyto take place. On the personal front, limited conditionsfrom the past might have made you detached from theworld. You feel cheated and deceived in a relationship.

Lucky number 15Lucky colour GreyLucky day Tuesday

GEMINI May 21-June 20

This week you will feel fresh, rejuvenated, and inspiredto move ahead. The health remains good, and you are inthe process of making it even better. A good diet,nutrition, exercise, and living life natural are a part ofyour resolution. Spiritually and emotionally you will feelfulfilled. Your enthusiasm and charm is increasing by theday, making others envious of you. On the career front,you may find that the situations are not favourable foryou at the workplace and you may make up your mindfor a change. You may be holding yourself back becauseyou fear to move into the future. Seek newopportunities, for a better future. On the personal front,you should be flexible and go with the flow right now.Stick to your principles and at the same time honourothers’ intelligence as well.

Lucky number 28Lucky colour Sky BlueLucky day Saturday

CANCER June 21-July 22

Your physical well-being depends on your mental well-being. This is a time when you need to be very consciousof your intuitive urges and reactions and bring them intobalance with the greater good and meaning in life. This isnot a time to act out in rage or hatred but instead to lookat the situation from a place of love and compassion.Career-wise, pay more attention to what people aroundyou are doing. Be cautious of politics at the workplace.Some negative forces are at play at your workplace to putyou down. Avoid making important decisions now. Youwill have delays and overdue/pending problems in allyour works. And this will affect your relationships aswell. Be practical and try to bring balance in life. Thatmust be your priority.

Lucky number 21Lucky colour PinkLucky day Wednesday

VIRGO Aug 23-Sep 22

You are working hard day and night to meet the challengesof life. Slow down the speed and look after your health,which is prime of importance at this time. Your enormousefforts give you what you want in life. Overall, your vitalityfactor is strongly reflected at this point in time and youmay be on the move. This is an excellent time to begin orincrease a fitness plan. At work, you are bold andcourageous in your undertakings and actions. Yourcreative energies are high, and you have a good sense ofdirection in life. You may head a meeting, conference, orjust lead a project which requires group activities andhandle it with command. Things are not so good on thelove front. You may face disappointments and depression.Research before you get into personal relationships.

Lucky number 25Lucky colour BrownLucky day Sunday

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 22

This week you grow even stronger and are ready to faceany obstacle in your life. Even when facing serious healthchallenges, a positive attitude can work wonders. Yourfirm stand and taking care of your health will work inyour favour. On the professional front, a good news is onthe cards. Your connections with people will grow. Youare an expert in fitting things together in new or unusualways and that makes the work a lot smoother. If you arelooking for a job, you are about to find the right fit. Youare very balanced and organised workwise than youthink. On the relationship front, co-operation andharmony will be your major concern this week. Be agood listener, trust your instincts, and connect with yourinnermost desires.

Lucky number 10Lucky colour MustardLucky day Tuesday

SCORPIO Oct 23-Nov 21

You are mentally strong this week. Your open-mindedness and straightforwardness will help yougrow more if you add generosity and pinch of kindnessin your attitude. Showing your authority is important asis gentleness. On the professional front, you are givingmore in terms of time and energy to the organisationyou are working for. A powerful person is likely tosupport you. Overall, your career is looking up. On thepersonal front, you may be a little detached. This weekromance and close personal relationships are not thebrightest for you. Listen to what your inner voice tellsyou. Stress levels need to be taken into consideration.This is a temporary phase, you will be on the righttrack soon.

Lucky number 18Lucky colour BlackLucky day Saturday

AQUARIUS Jan 20-Feb 18

This week you are focussed on being disciplined andknow the needs of your body, mind, and spirit. You have aclear vision with regard to your values. Yourconcentration during this time is commendable. Yourcreativity will make you move constantly. You should useyour positive energy in creative works, as an inner senseof satisfaction will give you more confidence. On thecareer front, other people may not understand or supportyour new ideas or proposals, but if you know that you areright, go ahead, and try to make them understand whatyour point of view is. Love relation is under question. It isimportant to give your partner time and space. You needto share your feelings with the one who you trust and findout the possible solution.

Lucky number 30Lucky colour PeachLucky day Saturday

PISCES Feb 19-March 20

Health is likely to suffer this week. Consider a seconddiagnosis. Get another health professional’s opinionbefore you take any final decision. Be open to spiritualhealing. Those who are struggling with a serious illness,know that a cure is not always linked with healing. Youmay require some therapy or surgery. On the careerfront, businesspersons will make a considerable stand.Hold your head up high and know that you have a lot thatyou are bringing to the table. Financially too, you may dobetter than you had ever dreamt of. You need to betrustworthy and reliable otherwise a rise in mentaldistress and misunderstanding with the family isindicated during this time. You have to be extra carefuland avoid arguments.

Lucky number 19Lucky colour PurpleLucky day Tuesday

CAPRICORN Dec 22-Jan 19

You need to be cautious regarding your health. You arelikely to be under stress from a combination of factors, soit is particularly important to be gentle with yourself. Ifyou are angry, vent it out. Release your anxiety ratherthan turning your anger and sorrow upon yourself.Professionally, things are not in your favour. You mightface some false allegations, interference from higherauthorities, and interrogations this week. You may needsome assistance to find a better approach to work. Don’thesitate to ask. If you are looking for work, this too mayshow a need to look in a different way or a different fieldthan the one you have been pursuing. Love and maritalaffairs occupy your mind but you are unable to find asmooth going.

Lucky number 12Lucky colour MaroonLucky day Wednesday

LEO July 23-Aug 22

Your health will require your attention as you are proneto illness. A family member’s health needs your attentiontoo, do not neglect it. You need to let go of old wrongsand wounds to move forward. Help your loved ones tosee the truth. Learn to express yourself; don’t suppressyour feelings and requirements. This a good week career-wise. Businesspersons will see financial stability andgains in financial ventures. People will respect you moreand your popularity will increase. Your social status shallenhance. Those who are in a job, favour from the boss islikely, your works and endeavours are taken intoconsideration and appreciated. You may sense somerestlessness in your relationship. Make sincere efforts tomake your partner happy.

Lucky number 11Lucky colour SilverLucky day Monday

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22-Dec 21

YYOOUURR

WWEEEEKKAHEAD

MADHU KOTIYA

sundaymagazine

tarot 8WHEN YOU ARE ENTHUSIASTICABOUT WHAT YOU DO, YOU FEEL THISPOSITIVE ENERGY. IT’S VERY SIMPLE

— PAULO COELHO VIJAYAWADA, October 25, 2020

At the outset, I greet the valuablereaders on the solemn occasion ofShardeya Navaratri, which ends

today, following a nine days of intenseprayer regime. The beauty of this particu-lar festivity is that after spiritedly pursu-ing prayers, it ends in a celebratory modeon Vijaya Dashami — the day markedwith Lord Shri Ram’s victory overdemonic Ravana and freeing Sita fromhis captivity. The question now is: Is itjust remembrance of that singular auspi-cious event, or that it is supposed to offersomething relevant in today’s terms? If ithas some lessons for us in immediateterms, then it is time to assess, what wehave gained during the process.

Symbolically speaking, what does Sitabeing freed from captivity mean for us incontemporary terms? It needs to beremembered that potentially we are bornwith immense powers — in fact, divine.That however, doesn’t involuntarily playout, and mostly remains hidden within.We need to explore, identify, acknowl-edge, hone and then bring them out ofcaptivity of ignorance.

The process as such is not easy. Thechallenges are many. Remember, MotherGoddess Durga is visualised having 10

hands. In eight, she carries armouriesmade available by different Devtas, so asto combat evil forces coming from asmany directions. Only two hands carryaccessories marked with creative poten-tial — Conch shell in one and Lotusflower in the other. Conch shell whenblown gets tu ned to cosmic forces. Lotusflower marked with its beauty and splen-dour is symbolic of creativity. But whatare those evil forces expectedly comingfrom eight different directions? Are theynegative forces thrust by external factors,or are they within us? Of course, we shallhave to combat challenges thrown byexternal factors. But they can be spottedand countered, if we pool in all resourcesin hand and efficiently use them.

More challenging, however, are theevil forces playing from within — ourpreconditioned mind marked by ourunending cravings and temptations oflife, negative thought trends, lack of alert-ness necessary for timely initiatives andresponses, and habit tendencies. All themore because they stand in way of posi-tives within coming out in full play.Caught up in the usual flow of life, weseldom care to identify, acknowledge andaddress them within time. That makes it

incumbent upon us to first address theevil forces playing from within.

Nine days of prayer regime is stipu-lated with the above end in view. In theprocess, the primary focus is on MotherGoddess Durga, the epitome of Shakti.For, all aspects of our dynamic existenceare primarily driven by nature drivenenergy-orchestra (Shakti). And energyremains a double edged weapon. Whenjudiciously used for productive ends, it isrewarding and fulfilling. If, however,knowingly or unknowingly it gets misdi-rected — put to unbecoming acts — itcan prove self-defeating. How we applyour energies in real terms, depends onour unique character — positively or neg-atively oriented. We need to be on fullalert to consciously use our powertowards well-meaning purposes. Theirony, however, is that ordinarily, our flir-tatious mind remains caught up in thetempting influences of the glare and glit-ters of the seeming world. We keep pas-sionately chasing what lies at the surfacelevel, randomly jumping from one desiretrend to the other. In the process, we sel-dom remain alert enough to use ourpower base in a reasoned way, and withobvious consequences.

From the fourth day, we simultane-

ously pay attention to Mother GoddessLaxmi marked with our creative aspira-tions. This reminds us to remain focusedto our need based requirements. Nothing,however, would come through, if we don’tuse our resources intelligently. So, duringthe last three days, Mother GoddessSaraswati, the epitome of knowledge andwisdom is pursued. All through theprocess, our indwelling negatives willkeep playing from within, which wecould identify and acknowledge. We aresupposed to make offerings of suchunseemly tendencies at the altar ofMother trinity, so as to purify our mind.Following which, we gain access to fulllandscape of mind to come out with ourbest. We then look at the issues in hand,the aspirational urges, and challengescoming our way in right perspective due.That paves the way to negotiate with thecallings of life as an informed and wideawake person with ease and comfort,which may lead us to a better tomorrow.

Navaratri, thus, provides us with anoccasion to get periodically geared up totake on life ahead in all strength.

The wwriter iis aan aastrologer, vvastu cconsultant and sspiritual ccounsellor. CConnect wwith hhim aat

Tel: 991-111-99818037273/9871037272Email: 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

Season of empowerment

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

sundaymagazine

1110Dussehra at Kulasekaranpatinam

A sleepy coastal village deep in theheart of South India (Tamil Nadu)

gives Dussehra its own twist

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

Your regrets aren’twhat you did, but

what you didn’t do.So I take every

opportunity— Cameron Diaz

Mirzapur 2as good orbad as 1

VIJAYAWADA, October 25, 2020

Ablanket of haze has been shroudingthe National Capital for some daysnow: the smog season is back. TheAQI has crossed 300, pushing airquality to ‘very poor’ level, which was

last witnessed in February. NASA images showclusters of fire in Punjab and Haryana, as thepost-harvest paddy stubble burning has started inthe farms.

Last year towards October end, the DelhiGovernment had to declare a ‘public health emer-gency’ for nine days, as Delhi experienced itslongest period of hazardous air pollution. Thisyear, as the world battles a pandemic, the smogsituation can wreak a havoc on the public health.The health experts warn that smog can increasethe time the virus can stay in the environment,increasing the infection rate. The increased num-ber of Covid cases in Delhi and Mumbai arealready being linked to the higher pollution levelof these cities. Pollution also affects immunity andlungs, thus placing the Delhi residents at higherCorona susceptibility and fatality risk.

WHAT’S BEHIND THE DELHI SMOG?The trough like topography of North India

and meteorological conditions set by winter sea-son makes the pollution linger over it, creating thecondition for Delhi smog. With the onset of thewinter season, weather condition becomes con-ducive to pollution, as cold settles air closer to thesurface (inversion), wind speed drops and mois-ture goes up — so the pollution is not dispersed.Diwali firecrackers and stubble burning whichalso occur in the months of October-November,become contributory factors to the smog, as theyadd on to Delhi’s pre-existing air pollution. Asaround this time the wind direction also changesto north-westerly, the stubble burning pollution iscarried towards Delhi from its neighbouringstates.

CONTRIBUTION OF STUBBLE BURNINGTO DELHI SMOG

As the Government of Delhi, Punjab and atCentre, squabble over the contribution of stubbleburning to Delhi’s smog — while the Punjab CMcited the findings of IISER, to state that stubbleburning is not responsible for most of the Delhi’spollution — a look at other studies on the matteris merited.

A recent study undertaken by IIT Kanpur andDelhi Pollution Control Board links contributionof PM 2.5 as 38% to road dust, 20% to vehicularemission, 11% to industries etc; with stubbleburning merely adding on to the current load.Council of Energy, Environment and Water, aDelhi based think tank, which also arrives at simi-lar figures, agrees that local sources andunfavourable meteorological conditions are themain factors behind Delhi’s air pollution woes;with transportation and road dusts as the biggestculprits. Massive Earth Foundation, another thinktank, also undertook a research to find the impactof stubble burning, thermal power plants, Diwalicrackers and broken transportation of the air pol-lution; and found vehicular traffic as the biggestculprit, which has shifted base line of air pollutionin India from a desirable 60 AQI to unhealthy200.

According to Government’s analysis of Delhi

smog during 2019, the contribution of stubbleburning was variable, only peaking at 44% once.

However, it will be pertinent to quoteSupreme Court mandated agency, EnvironmentPollution (Prevention and Control) Authority(EPCA) on the issue, “even if it is not the onlycause of pollution in the region, there is no doubtthat the transportation of pollutants from burningfields is the tipping point that makes winter’salready unhealthy air quality into a public healthemergency.”

CASE OF STUBBLE BURNINGThe whole issue of stubble burning is based in

structural fault in the Indian agriculture system,which promotes wheat and rice crops throughassured MSP — even though India is the secondlargest producer of rice and wheat in the world,and a foodgrain surplus state. This is creatingmany ecological problems for Delhi’s neighbours— the erstwhile Green Revolution states, Punjab,Haryana and Western UP — like alarming rate ofground water depletion due to excessive waterintensive crop of paddy and stubble burning. Theuse of combined harvesters for paddy which iscommon in these states, leaves behind a nine-inchstubble in the farm. Moved by the Governmentassured economic returns, farmers in these statessow wheat after paddy harvesting — the timeduration between the two is a month or less; notenough for the stubble to decompose naturally,thus stubble burning, the cheapest option, isresorted to.

Not just is the stubble burning polluting, it isequally harmful for the soil itself, which losesmost essential nutrients like organic carbon,nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur withthe burning of the stubble. The heat destroys thebeneficial microflora and fauna from the soil andhardens it; thus affecting physical, chemical andbiological attributes of soil making it less fertileand vulnerable to weed and drought.

The long term solution to the problem lies incrop diversification: a move towards less waterintensive crops like soyabeans, pulses, corn —which are harvested by hand or can be harvestingmechanically earlier on, providing sufficient win-dow for the residue to decompose before the nextsowing. For the time being, the in-situ and ex-situsustainable management techniques for cropresidue are an alternative.

SUPREME COURT IN ACTIONThe Supreme Court (SC) has been quite

proactive on the issue of air pollution in Delhi;closely monitoring the situation since last year,when it criticised Punjab, Haryana and UPGovernments for failing to control stubble burn-ing. In February, SC directed Central and DelhiGovernment to take strong measure for stoppingstubble burning; and approved an action plan onthe matter, based on the affidavit of Ministry ofAgriculture — which included steps like settingup smog towers, smog guns in Delhi, and imple-menting other in-situ and ex-situ stubble manage-ment techniques which will be funded by CentralGovernment and implemented by the StateGovernments of Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi.In September, the SC had rebuked the Delhi andCentral Government for delay in setting up of theSmog Towers in Delhi. A few days back SC

appointed former judge, Justice Lokur as one mancommittee to monitor stubble burning in Delhi,and its neighbourhood, and report to SC directlyin 15 days.

ACTION BY EPCA, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT ANDNEIGHBOURING STATES

EPCA is monitoring the implementation ofthe SC approved Action Plan, by the Centre andthe States. It also suggests other measures to theStates like setting up control room, obtainingundertakings from big construction projects andred and orange category industries on pollution.Central Government is experimenting with PUSAdecomposer in farms in Delhi, Punjab, Haryanaand UP. It is also funding Smog Towers, in-situstubble management machines, farmer awarenesscampaigns and has set off 50 teams of CentralPollution Control Board for monitoring the situa-tion in Delhi and its neighbourhood.

The steps taken by Punjab, Haryana and UPas reported to EPCA, mentioned in its lastmonth’s report are: making in-situ stubble man-agement machines available to farmers at highlysubsidised rates through purchase by farmerdirectly, or on rental through village panchayatsand Farmer Producer Organisations by setting upCustom Hire Centres. A mobile app is also beinglaunched for creating awareness in the farmersabout the scheme. Ex-Situ management steps arealso being taken for converting stubble into bio-energy and power plants are being set up for thepurpose.

Despite of these steps by the CentralGovernment and the States, farmers especially ofPunjab and Haryana are complaining about notreceiving any help from the Governments, thusbeing forced to burn the stubble. Hence, theimplementation of these schemes seems to berather thin on the ground, also its being reportedthat the action against stubble fires has not beenas widespread this year, as before.

TOWARDS A SMOG FREE DELHIDelhi needs 65% reduction in PM 2.5 to meet

the desirable national standard. The strategy forthat has to be comprehensive and multi-pronged.First, adopting crop diversification, proper imple-mentation of in-situ and ex-situ residue manage-ment policies by States, creating a market for cropresidue, setting up crop residue collection systembased on municipal solid waste collection system— thus giving alternative options to farmers toopt out of stubble burning.

Second, to fix Delhi’s broken public transportinfrastructure. There has been four-fold increasein vehicles in Delhi between 2000-2018. The pan-demic has further aggravated this trend, pushingup the purchase and plying of private vehicles onthe road. Number of public buses in Delhi need tobe ramped up, while creating smooth connectivitywith the metro. Emission testing, which is only25%, must be pushed up. More incentives on e-vehicles like waiver of road fee and low interestloans must be provided. Third, controlling theroad dust by intensive roadside plantation of bigcrown trees, planting grass on the sideways andimproved solid waste management.

The writer is a public policy analyst,and a lawyer, an alumnus of National

Law University, Jodhpur

THE LONG TERMSOLUTION TO THE

PROBLEM LIES IN CROPDIVERSIFICATION: A

MOVE TOWARDS LESSWATER INTENSIVE

CROPS LIKESOYABEANS, PULSES,CORN — WHICH ARE

HARVESTED BY HANDOR CAN BE HARVESTINGMECHANICALLY EARLIER

ON, PROVIDINGSUFFICIENT WINDOWFOR THE RESIDUE TODECOMPOSE BEFORE

THE NEXT SOWING. FORTHE TIME BEING, THE IN-

SITU AND EX-SITUSUSTAINABLE

MANAGEMENTTECHNIQUES FOR CROP

RESIDUE ARE ANALTERNATIVE

THE

SMOG OF DELHIRETURNTHE

SMOG OF DELHIRETURN

As the world battles a pandemic this year, the smog situation in Delhican wreak havoc on public health, writes SONAL SHUKLA, as shedetails the factors and challenges before the concerned governmentsin handling the perennial hazard

STEPS TAKEN BYDELHI GOVERNMENTl Campaign called ‘Yuddh Pradhushan ke

Viruddh’

l Green War Room for monitoring,enforcement compliance, complaintredressal

l Green Mobile app for launching com-plaints

l Spraying PUSA decomposer for free infields for composting of stubble

l Smog towers to come up in ConnaughtPlace and Anand Vihar in few months

l Strict anti-dust policy for constructionand demolition sites

l Smog guns for hotspots

l Transplantation policy for projects

l Campaign ‘Red light on, Gaddi off ’

l E-vehicle policy — by 2024, 25% newvehicles be electric

WHAT’S GRAP(GRADED RESPONSEACTION PLAN)l Comes into effect in Delhi and its

neighbouring towns based on theseverity of pollution

l Put in effect from October 15, byEPCA as AQI turned ‘very poor’

l Banning of electricity generators apartfrom essential and emergency services,was ordered under it

l Other measures include increasing busand metro services and raising theparking fee

l Steps when situation turns ‘severe’: clo-sure of brick kilns, water sprinkling,frequent mechanised cleaning of roads,maximisation of power from naturalgas

l ‘Emergency situation’ measures:odd/even scheme, banning construc-tion activity and entry of trucks inDelhi

sundaymagazine

Impressions 10VIJAYAWADA, October 25, 2020

IT'S NOT THAT GOODDOESN'T TRIUMPH OVEREVIL, IT'S THAT THE POINTSPREAD IS TOO SMALL

— BOB THAVES

Signifying the triumph of good over evil, Dussehrais celebrated with much gusto and fanfare and inseveral forms and almost all parts of India. The most interesting place to observe this epic

festival is at Kulasekaranpatinam, near Madurai. Asleepy coastal village deep in the heart of South India-Kulasekaranpatinam, near Madurai, in Tamil Nadu,gives it its own twist. Devotees converge inKulasekaranpatinam from all parts of Tamil Nadu asthey take to the streets in the village dressed asGoddess Kali and various other mythologicalcharacters.

The 12-day celebrations begin on the starting ofthe lunar cycle, and culminate on the day Dussehra iscelebrated. The events take place in and around the300-year-old MutharammanTemple in the village,which is an important part of the town's history. Thebeginnings of the festival was much more humble,but over the years the participation of many morevillages and towns have given it a deeper significanceand fervor. The vast stretch of seashore along thearea plays a gentle host during the occasion and ageneral air of gaiety, excitement and festivity hangs inthe air...

Excerpted with permission from AbhishekHajela’s India: East Meets West. A recipient of

International Nikon Award, Hajela is a passionatetravel photographer, who loves to capture people in

their environment and likes to tell life storiesthrough visual imagery

DUSSEHRAOF KULASEKARANPATINAM, TUTICORIN

Devotees carry fire in earthenware pots and bowls, as fire is considered holy in Hindu mythology and is used during the festival to signify purity and the new beginnings that it brings

A number of villages and towns in Tamil Nadu field participants during the festivalwho divide themselves into groups of 6-10 people. These people dress up asmythological characters, saints and Goddess Kali. An accompanying orchestra teamthat loudly announces their arrival and presence further enhances this procession

The trident represents the three supreme beings of Hindu Mythology, which are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. It is also said to represent the past, present and the future, the seven chakras and the three energychannels of Ida, Pingala and Sushmana

Once a person wears the Kali outfit, they go into a state of trance and start dancing almost maniacally. It is said that the GoddessKali possesses whoever wears the Kali outfit and those people become manifestations of her divine form

nWhat is your role in the show?The show represents three

generations — grandfather, father andson. I play Pratap Ratan Bansal who is theeldest in the family. He lives his lifeaccording to what he thinks is right. Hedoesn’t belong to the era where the fatheris not a friend but someone who neededto be heard when he spoke without beingquestioned. According to him eachrelationship is defined and need not bemerged.nWhat is the best thing about yourcharacter?

It is his quirkiness that isinteresting. It is not as if he is in afoul mood all the time. However,the other person may thinkotherwise. He is a fun person tobe with. He has fun with thisgrandson. But he has a grudge.He wanted his grandson to bea cricketer but he could be one.So, Bansal keeps taunting himabout this. But he loves his family.nWas it tough to go back toshooting after the lockdownopened?

Yes, definitely. Before the showstarted its shoot, we had a virtualmeeting with a doctor. He told us thatwhile on the sets, we must alwaysthink that the person in front of usis asymptomatic. He told us thatdespite all the precautions theproduction house takes, we mustnot let our guard down. But doingthis was so tough and scary. Whenwe reached the set, the normal wasto hug and greet each other. But onthe first day, nobody exchangedmore than two lines. Each one ofus was scared that more conversationwill mean a hand on the shoulderand we had to maintain distance. Weavoided talking to each other. It willtake time to get things back tonormal.nYou have played the role of afather a few times, how is thisdifferent?

The first thing is that I havenever played a father who isfrom the 40s and the 50s. Tillnow, I had played the role of aprogressive father. Here I play atraditional father which is interesting.Also, the way I deliver the dialogues isdifferent, language here is different. Thecharacter is Marwari. I don’t knowanything about the accent or how theybehave.nYou have been in the industry for overtwo decades now. How have thingschanged?

Back then there were fewer people inthe industry but we managed to getthings done. Now, there are a lot morepeople and jobs are defined. Earlier, a

verbal agreement was enough. Noweverything has to be done viaemails — it has become a corporateset-up now. This could be because

there is far more work involved.nDoes this mean that competition

has increased?Yes, there is competition. But it also

means that there is much more work inthe industry. Many youngsters now don’thave to struggle for work. There istheatre, there is TV, there is web and filmsthat offer all kinds of diverse work.There is no dearth of work today. Thismeans one gets to do varied work. Evencinema has changed. This is because theyounger generation has access to moreinformation.nYou have done TV shows and films.How are the two different when it comesto acting?

There is no difference. For eachplatform, be it theatre, TV or films, I

have always done my work honestly. Theonly difference is that in cinema, one getsmore time to prepare for the character.The director has time to pay attention tohow the character needs to go forward.In TV, this is not possible since thedirector has little time. So here, I haveto be prepared 90 per cent before I reachthe set.nHow did your acting career begin?

It began with Marathi theatre. I metSatish Kaushik and ended up doing moretheatre. In time, I ended up with a

Marathi serial. Since I didn’t have anyGodfather my previous work propelled mefurther. Wherever I am today, is due to thepeople I met in my work and I am gratefulto them for it.nWhat are your future plans?

I am working on two shows. One, ofcourse, Tera Yaar Hoon Main and the otheris Mere Dad Ki Dulhan on SonyEntertainment Television. In between, if Iget a film, I will do that as well. Also, I loveto work with newage directors. Working onweb series doesn’t involve too much timesince they are finite.

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 25, 2020 films & tv 11

‘Interesting to play traditional father’KULFI TURNS HOST

Popular child artist Aakriti Sharma akaKulfi is all set to co-host Star Plus'upcoming singing reality show TaareZameen Par alongside ace comedianSugandha Mishra. The talented duo willenthrall viewers with various performanceson stage, enabling a fun-viewing experience.Premiering on Monday, November 2, theshow will highlight the musical journey of 20children who will be nurtured, supported andencouraged by 3 celebrated mentorsShankar Mahadevan, Tony Kakkar and JonitaGandhi.

Little Kullfi aka Aakriti Sharma has wonmany hearts with her innocence in her earliershow Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala and she is apro at portraying emotions with much easeand perfection.

Kulfi Kumar Bajewala fame AakritiSharma embarks on a new journey and shesays: “I am happy and excited tohost/anchor my first show on television. Theentire team has been kind and helpful

especially Sugandha didi, she has been thebest partner to me. I get to learn so manythings while shooting for this show sincesinging is my favorite hobby. In the comingdays, I wish to learn the music from ShankarSir who is the mentor on our show.”

Gear up to watch a unique show whichexplores the talent, personality and goofinessof young singing wonders.

THE UNBREAKABLE JODI

Sony SAB’s widely acclaimed historicalfiction show, Tenali Rama, continues to winviewers’ hearts by reviving the ancient talesand anecdotes of the legendary scholar andpoet Tenali Rama and taking them right intothe heart of Raja Krishnadevaraya’sVijayanagar. The show continues to gainimmense love and support for its engagingand values driven storyline that offersentertainment across all ages in a family.

Talking about the glorious success ontelevision and sharing their experience so far,Krishna Bharadwaj — everyone’s belovedPandit Rama Krishna and Tarun Khanna —

the celebrated king Krishnadevaraya, getcandid about their journey so far as artistesand a lot more.

Krishna Bharadwaj, better known asPandit Rama Krishna since past three and ahalf years shared key highlights of thejourney so far: “I have lived this character forso long that I do not even remember my lifebefore Tenali Rama. Pandit Rama Krishna isa part of me, and I am so glad that I havehad the opportunity to adopt all thenoteworthy qualities of Rama. This show hasgiven me immense love and support fromthe fans, and it is indeed a heartwarmingfeeling when a character succeeds increating a positive change in someone’s life.A lot of fans reach out to me talking abouthow the show made them smile or helpedthem cope with difficult times. As an actor, itis really fulfilling.”

Tarun, while sharing his views on thereasons behind the success of this show,said: “Since my childhood till now, I havenever come across a show that is a totalfamily entertainer and at the same time highon values. Tenali Rama is a show thatfamiliarizes the audience with our Indianculture. In my family my six-year-old sonand my 75-year-old father-in-law watch thisshow together. There are hardly any showsthat can bring such distinct age groupstogether. The characters have been sobeautifully and cleverly designed that even acharacter like Amma who has no dialoguesin the show has been loved. The charactersare so well rounded and unique that makeshim stand out in any situation. This isimmense hard work and dedication that hasdetermined the success of this show.

Sharing about their experience ofworking with one another, Krishna said: “Ifeel Rama and Krishnadevaraya’s characterare like Lord Krishna and Sudama. Ramapractically worships Krishnadevaraya andwould do anything for him. So, thechemistry between these two characters arereally important for the show. After Tarun’sarrival on the show, we never lacked thechemistry. It was there since day one.”Adding further, Tarun said, “I was thrilled tobe a part of this show as it is fulfilled mychildhood dream of being a part of the worldof Tenali Rama. Before joining the show, Ihad not watched any of the episodes and Igot the glimpse of Krishna’s talent on myfirst day of the shoot. I have rarely seenartists who have such a stronghold on their

language and Krishna is certainly one ofthose few actors.”

BEATING THE BLUES AWAY

Given the tough past six months that wehave spent during the lockdown, the currentfestive season is giving a whole lot ofpositive energy to everyone! Last year duringthis time, we all were excited and in a festivemood spreading cheer all around. In thesame way, Sayantani Ghosh who is currentlyseen as Rasiya in Colors' Barrister Babu &will also be seen in Colors ShandaarRavivaar, misses being in Kolkata for DuraPuja. The actress says she feels nostalgicabout being away from all the festivities inKolkota. However, the popular showBarrister Babu and the upcoming two-hourlong special segment Shandaar Ravivaar arehelping the actress cope up! Sayantani willbe seen celebrating Durga Pooja and doing

the traditional dance in both the shows.Commenting about the same Sayantani

Ghosh said: “The ambience during DurgaPuja in Kolkata is totally different. Thefestival fever is unmatched and everyone isgripped by the festive fervour. I miss thenoise of the dhak (drums) and wearing newclothes. These were yearly rituals for mewherein there used to be one pandal in everysingle lane in Kolkata! This year, I am feelinga bit sad as I will not be able to go due toCOVID-19. Although the flights are opennow, I do not want to risk travellingespecially because of the current situationas my parents are senior citizens and I donot want to risk their health. In our show thecurrent track is around Durga puja and so ismy performance in Shandaar Ravivaar andthe atmosphere around is really making mefeel more nostalgic. Hopefully next year, bythe blessings of Maa Durga, I'll be able togo there!”

T E L L Y T A L E

Short & sweetHOME THEATRE

MIRZAPUR 2 Amazon Prime Video*ing: Pankaj Tripathi, DivyennduSharmaa, Ali Fazal, ShwetaTripathi, Harshita Gaur, RasikaDugal, Rajesh Tailang, SheebaChadha, Anjum Sharma, VijayVarma and others Rated: 6/10

First things first. Mirzapur has notreformed itself from beingperhaps one of the most violent,

sleazy, abusive and yet unashamedlyluring. Season 2 is even more so, atleast in the first three mentioned traits.

The disclaimer at the beginningattempts to assuage your alarm bysaying totally fictitious and the like.However, the knowledge of this sortof a scenario being a reality in the cowbelt of the nation, the unabatedgoondaism, the police criminal nexus,the impunity and violence with whichcriminals conduct their businesskeeps you on the hook all through the10 episodes of Season 2, which, by theway, has set itself up for a third season.

Personally, I eschew and cringe atpronounced screen violence and inthis one the bloodbaths are whatmakes for the story.

Mirzapur is India’s Game of

Thrones with just a tad less history toit. The man who will be King ofMirzapur has to be powerful, with nochinks of vulnerability in hisdemeanour. He should be able to killat will even if it is his favourite andloyal servant for decades or his ownfather! Corruption of the systemmatches up with the corruption of themind, boy and soul of all its maincharacters who have, come to think ofit, done a pretty good job if you hatethem all in equal measure.

Will not be able to call Mirzapurriveting but yes it draws your bloodto your temples, makes you curdle infear and cringe in disgust with suchpointed venom and force that itautomatically qualifies for a bingewatch.

The end is predictable and similarto the first season, the characters havematured and the violence here prevailsonly to push the story into a state ofno repair and the climax sets up thewindow for the next season with thepolish of a veteran.

Mirzapur will be watched in thethird season too. How watch-worthyis such content can be a topic fordebate on another platform.

Meanwhile waiting avidly for thesequel of The Family Man.

LAGHUSHANKASonyLivShort film, 14 minutes*ing: Sanjay Mishra, RaghavJuyal, Abhishek Chauhan Rated: 8/10

The thing about short filmsis that they are fullyloaded second to second

to tell a story. In this format thestory has to be short but havethe potential of leaving a longterm impact. Stunning climax,an ending you may not havefathomed, and every framemeant to tell the story, orshould one say race to finish thestory because the director hasjust 14 minutes to leave a narkon you.

Laghushanka is of that

potent, telling and interestingcategory. It deals with the issueof bedwetting by an adult girlwho has a marriage staringdown her face, a hystericalfamily and the prospect of itcoming out in the open in hersasural.

The film has been treatedwith a lot of acumen, tenderloving care and slick productionwhich keeps you hooked fromthe beginning to the end.

It also delivers a powerfulmessage on human weaknessand ailments that are oftentreated with insensitivity andindifference.

This head turner film isneither insensitive norindifferent to the issue it has atand must watch.

A SUITABLE BOYNetflix*ing: Tabu, Ishaan Khatter, TanyaManiktala, Rasika Dugal, RamKapoor, Mikhail Sen, Namit Das Rated: 6/10

Many of us over the last 27 yearswould have tried to reach outto a copy of A Suitable Boy

only to baulk at the sheer size of thenovel — 1349 pages. Thisalone was a good enough fora large number of people tostay away from one of thelongest novels published in asingle volume.

But thanks to Mira Nair,one can now find out why thebook had created quite a stirwhen the book was out in1993. The subject was enoughto make it the talk of the town— a mother’s quest to look fora suitable boy for her youngestdaughter.

Even though there are a fewmisrepresentations of how womenbehaved back then and what they wore,one can give them a miss and insteadconcentrate on how Nair has broughtthe 1951s era alive once again on thescreen. The six-episode limited seriestakes one on a journey on what it waslike to live in a post-Independent India.A few clippings give us a sneak peekof what it was like when people votedfor the very first time. But the mini-series and the book is not about post-Independent India but the lives ofpeople in that time and how a mother

goes about choosing a husband for herdaughter and rejecting many becausethey are — of course — not suitable.A mother knows best the adage whichcomes across loud and clear.

Despite the fact that TanyaManiktala’s character keeps smilingeven though there is an internalturmoil, she does a great job as thedaughter who has to do the choosing.Tabu, Ishaan Khatter and Ram Kapoor

do a brilliant job in supporting roles.In fact, they are the backbone of thismini-series.

While many may not agree withthe whole concept with a motherlooking for a suitable boy given that weare living in the 21 st Century. But thetruth remains that arranged marriagesand a parent choosing husband/wifeis not such an alien concept even today.

Overall, the mini-series isentertaining and keeps you gluedwanting to know what comes next andwho is finally the suitable one.

— Shalini Sakesna

Worth a watchREBECCANetflix*ing: Lily James, Armie Hammer,Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam RileyRated: 5.5/10

Many of us have either seen orread Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier. Hence, there are no

surprises when it comes to the climaxor what is to come next. What isdifferent here than the 1940psychological thriller directed by AlfredHitchcock is of course the way the twofilms have dealt with the same story.Then there is the whole black and whiteas opposed to colour. The chilliness andthe cold reserve that played out sobrilliantly in the Hitchcock version istotally missing here. There is LaurenceOlivier and Joan Fontaine as opposedto Lily James and Armie Hammer.

This Rebecca leaves you cold,unmoved and somewhat disconnected.Though it is never right nor fair tocompare two movies with the samestory as a viewer it is difficult to lookat this film without doing theunforgivable. However, for those whohave not seen the Hitchcock version, itwill be a treat to watch the book comealive.

While there is no way one can evencompare Laurence Olivier and JoanFontaine characters to Lily James andArmie Hammer’s, the latter manage tohold their ground well. James, who hasdone movies like Mama Mia, Here WeGo Again! and Cinderella, plays Mrs deWinter well. But instead of coming offas somebody who is naïve and innocent,she comes across as a person who ismore curious and we know where thatleads. Still one can’t ignore herperformance here which is deliveredwell. One however, finds it difficult tounderstand what her motive is especiallywhen she realises that her husband didkill albeit an accident and covered it up— is it because she realises that she isthe only woman her husband loved orit is something entirely different? ThisRebecca leaves the viewer to interpret thelast look of the second Mrs de Winter.

A movie to watch if not seenHitchcock’s version.

— Shalini Sakesna

Retelling aclassical tale

Of magic and life lessonsOVER THE MOONNetflix*ing: Cathy Ang, John Cho,Ruthie Ann Miles, Sandra Oh,Phillipa Soo, Robert G Chiu Rated: 6.5/10

There is something so sweetand cute about watchinganimation especially if it is a

fairy tale. There is a reason whyeven adults love watching them.

The whole idea of seeing a kidbelieve in fairy tales and living it,makes us relive the same and takeus back to times when we were kidsand believed in Santa Claus and theidea of an old lady who lives on theMoon and keeps herself busy byspinning. But as adults, we doknow that the dark patches on thisnatural satellite are actually deepcraters on its surface.

Over The Moon, is one suchsweet fairy tale even though it doesborrow a lot from Disney — acastle, a princess, a side kick andneon colours that covers the entirecanvas. But then Disney is thebenchmark when it comes toanimation and it is no wonder thatthe makers would want to be asclose as they can get to perfection.

This lunar adventure has

magical locations, fantasticanimation, good music and sweetcharacters. The stark contrastwhen the protagonist lands onMoon, makes one feel a bitdisconcerting but the vibrancyand positive life lesson — family iswhat matters the most — makesthis a must watch especially if onehas kids.

— Shalini Sakesna

Mirzapur 2 as good or bad as 1

Before the shootstarted, we had avirtual meeting

with a doctor. Hetold us that whileon the sets, we

must always thinkthat the person in

front of us isasymptomatic

RAJENDRA CHAWLA, who plays Pratap Ratan Bansal in TeraYaar Hoon Main on Sony SAB, speaks with SHALINI SAKSENAabout how tough it was to shoot under the new normal, how thisrole is different and upcoming projects

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 25, 2020 12

UpasanaKamineniKonidela is notsomeone whowould rest on herlaurels, nor on thefact that she wasborn with theproverbial silverspoon. Being thedaughter of well-knownbusinessman AnilKamineni andwife of superstarRam Charan is

only one facet of Upasana's life; she isone of the most successfulbusinesswomen of India today.Having had the opportunity to look atlife from a perspective different fromthat of the average Indian, by virtueof studying at different places,Upasana believes that if one is bornin a privileged family, it is importantthat one gives back to society. In acandid chat with The Pioneer,Upasana talks to Namrata Srivastava

about herupbringing,

education,family,RamCharanandmuchmore...

Best possible anchors

I was born to two very amazing people.My father, Anil Kamineni, is one of thecalmest people that one can meet.Whenever I faced a crisis in my life, myfather was the first person I would go to.I remember even when I was a kid; hewould be my go-to person, whenever Ifaced any challenge. He listens carefully tothe issue at hand and always gives very pre-cise answers.

My mother, on the other hand, is fierce-ly protective of me and my sister. She isalways looking out for us, making sure thatwe are fine.

First-hand experienceI remember that I was still in school

when the Apollo, Delhi, was being built.That meant that we had to move across thecountry quite a bit. I feel really blessed thatit happened because I got to learn so muchfrom this. I studied for a while in Jaipur,and though I couldn't keep in touch withmy friends from there back then, the expe-rience taught me immensely about dealingwith people and understanding them.

Family kept me groundedI come from an elite background, but my

family always kept me grounded. When Iwas a child, I remember my grandfatherteaching me and my sister how importantit is to value money and understand howit impacts people's lives.

He taught me many things, but the onething that he said that remains with mealways is:"Upasana, you were born in thisfamily for a reason. And that reason is notto enjoy the luxuries of life alone. Youshould work hard to be able to give backto society. Do something that will help peo-ple always". I made his words my mantra.

Money-wiseNot many know that while growing up,

I was kept on a monthly budget. Peopleassume that since I was from a well-to-dofamily, I was given everything. But that isnot the case. Yes, both of us - I and my sis-ter - were pampered. But we were far frombeing spoilt. In fact, till I was in school Iwasn't given any pocket money. My moth-er would pack lunch for me. My fatherowns Prime Time, a gaming parlour. So,when we wanted to, he would take us there.But, we never got any pocket money till thetime we were in college.

And frankly, even when I went abroadto study, my father kept me on a strictmonthly budget and there was no extramoney if I wanted to buy somethingexpensive.

My father once told me that moneyremains with people who value it. Theimpact of it is that even today, I think twicebefore splurging, because the wealth mightbe mine, but the resources are not.

Always been very ambitiousTo be honest, I wasn't very good at stud-

ies. In fact, I could never understand whywe were asked to mug up the answers. Iwould only write what I believed in. Inschool, when teachers would ask mequestions, my answers wouldn't be book-ish as I would say what I saw and under-stand from what's happening around us.Many didn't like that. But I guess I wasalways a person of my own mind andlearnt quickly from what's happeningaround me, rather than from books.

However, I was very ambitious. Infact, I started working even before I fin-ished my education. But my dad wantedme to give importance to my educationfirst.

I remember, when I was studyingabroad, I just wanted to finish my cours-es as soon as possible so that I could comeback home and start working here.

Special connection with London

After I finished my schooling fromHyderabad Public School and MayoCollege Girls' School, Jaipur I came backto Hyderabad and completed myIntermediate at the Villa Marie College.

I then moved to the USA, where I pur-sued my Bachelor of Arts from theUniversity of Pennsylvania. But that was atough phase for me. I had grown up in acity and to be in a town was something ofa challenge. I didn't like being there at all.

So, I pursued my Master's in GlobalMarketing and Management from Regent'sUniversity, London. I just fell in love withLondon. It is one of the most beautifulplaces in the world, and to my good for-

tune, I even stayed at this amazing placein Central London.

But, what truly makes London special forme is that it was the starting point of mytransformative journey. I started beingmore fitness conscious and living a health-ier life. When I started exercising and out-door activities, I could have hired any topfitness trainer as I came from a well-to-dofamily. But, like I mentioned, since child-hood I was kept on a strict monthly bud-get.

Even when I was in London, I had a setamount of money each month that Icould spend the way I wanted to live. So,making sure that I never overspent, I did-n't hire an expensive trainer. That was alearning experience, to live a good life ona budget. And London helped me under-

stand how in practicality I can make thebest out of the resources available to me.

Social media impactMy work and life are really fun, so I don't

as such have any hobbies. But of late, I thinkI have made social media my hobby. It's allabout following the right people. I havebeen following some really interesting peo-ple and that helps me improve the kind oflifestyle that I have and stay positive.

For example, some time back, while I wason Instagram, I got inspired how to disposeof the trash I generate in a correct way soit doesn't harm the environment. There aremany who are talking about eating healthy,so that's another thing that I have startedfollowing.

In fact, some time back I was editing anarticle for Samantha and that inspired meto reduce my meat intake. That had a hugeimpact on my food budget for the month,and also my health.

Charming Charan I and Charan have been friends for a long

time. When I came back to Hyderabad afterstudying at so many places across the globe,it was refreshing to meet someone who wasso forward thinking. He was very respect-ful and dignified, and I liked that the most.

I am a very private person, and don'treveal much about my personal life. But Iwould like to share that what I really adoreabout Charan is the fact that he pays atten-tion to the smaller details and leaves a bigimpact. He is very sensitive about every-one.

A big foodieI am in a beautiful relation with

food now, not just a foodie. Myweight fluctuation shows howmuch I love food. In fact, I wasearlier in an abusive relationwith food, where I would eatwhenever I was upset. But Ihave made peace with it. So,I eat in moderation. I am notso much into heavy dishes likebiryani any more, since I amvery keen on my fitness. HoweverI love to eat healthy.

For me cooking is a stressbuster; I cook every day. Ikeep trying newer,healthier recipes. LikeI make burgers athome, but insteadof breads, I use let-tuce leaves.

Charan has avery different rela-tionship withfood. He loves toeat predomi-nantly Indianfood; it's onlywhen he isshooting thathe eats a localgrown salador some-thing. Hecooks aswell, but hisfocus is allabout howthe food ispresent-ed. Heeats withall hiss e ns e sso forhim thef o o dhas tot a s t e ,s m e l l ,look, feeland touchamazing.

Young UUpasana wwith hher aaunt

Upasana wwith hher ggrandfather

Favourite colour: Presently,

white!

Comfort food: I love nachos

Favourite actor: Mindy Kylie. I

really love her, she is absolutely

amazing. I actually enjoy watching

Trump on TV too. I can't vote or

do anything, but I enjoy his talks.

Favourite movie: I like a lot of

movies. But since the pandemic, I

have started watching a lot of

these web series. Currently I am

hooked to Ramanand Sagar's

Ramayan, which brings back a lot

of childhood memories.

Favourite holiday destination: Of

course I love England, so vacation

there anytime is fun. But one

place that I haven't visited and

would want to go is Araku Valley.

One mantra for a successful

business: If you are sure about

your ideas, go ahead. Be confident

and prepared for any eventuality.

RAPID FIRE

From left to right: Shobana Kamineni, Preetha Reddy, Upasana Kamineni, Dr Prathap Reddy, Sindoori Reddy, SuneetaReddy and Sangita Reddy

Upasana with her parents Shobana Kamineni and Anil Kamineni

Chiranjeevi, Surekha Konidala, Upasana and Ram Charan

With her gradparents

Ram Charan and UpasanaUpasana during a vacation