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THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I FRIDAY I 26 JUNE 2020

EDITDECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 26 JUNE 2020

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its two-month-old forecast to state that India’s economy would witness one of thesteepest contractions in its history. The global development lenderclaims that the size of the country’s economy would shrink by 4.5

per cent in the current financial year as compared to its earlier estimatethat it would post a growth of 1.9 per cent. It blamed the revision on the gov-ernment’s inability to contain the spread of Coronavirus infections asexpected and a slower pickup in economic activity of the country.

With this revision, the IMF joined the chorus of other financial institu-tions and economists who have been suggesting an unprecedented contrac-tion in the country’s economic activity. The World Bank and theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) havealready predicted an over three per cent contraction in the Indian economy.Indian rating firm Crisil predicted a contraction of five per cent. The worstassessment, however, comes from economists of state-owned lender StateBank of India, who forecast a contraction of 6.8 per cent. To put it in simpleterms, the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic in the financial year of 2020-21 would erode all the economic value that Indians have added in the last 16months — a full fiscal year of 2019-20 and the four preceding months. Itwould set the economy back by 28 months — the country has never seensuch unprecedented in its recent history.

The Great Contraction of the Indian economy would affect all productsand services which are not essential for a living. Government revenueswould decline because of lower consumption and the resultant lower prof-its. It would also impair the ability of state governments to spend on welfareschemes, which have mushroomed since the economy was liberalised in the1990s. Though agriculture remains more or less unaffected by theCoronavirus as on today, it cannot offset the slump in sectors like hospital-ity, travel, media and entertainment, real estate, wedding-related business-es, etc. There are two fears which caused the fall in demand — the fear ofCoronavirus infection and the fear of future financial security.

While the fear about Coronavirus will subside when people are confidentabout the availability and affordability of the treatment, the governmentcould at least give confidence to people about their future financial securi-ty. With no surety for their job or salary, people have almost stopped spend-ing on non-essential products, affecting the country’s industrial activity.This is where the government should step in, not merely by giving sermonsbut by releasing its dues to the private sector and increasing its spending onbig infrastructure projects. While the government has been hesitant aboutthe deficit financing option, there appears to be no option left other thanthis. Though various governments have been dipping into cash reserves ofpublic sector units (PSUs) to bail them out, this option may not be availablethis year because of the poor financial condition of PSUs. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, therefore, must shed his inhibitions and act with confi-dence to beat the economic contraction.

26 JUNE 2020

The champion tennis player Novak Djokovic finds himself in a pretty pick-le after his family’s well-intentioned charity event ran into an acrimo-nious link with the dreaded Coronavirus. Calls have been growing for

his resignation as president of the ATP Player Council whose 500 membershave been on tenterhooks regarding post-Covid resumption of their careers inthe US Open to be played in August. The all-time great may personally nursearcane beliefs like being an anti-vaxxer, as people who shun the science of vac-cination are called. But he had no business allowing conduct of the event with-out scientific protocols like testing of players on-site, masks for officials andspectators and strict social distancing among players.

As a non-contact sport, tennis should lend itself more readily to a near nor-mal comeback provided proper precautions are in place. On the contrary, inasinine defiance of science, the event helped spread the virus among key play-ers, including Djokovic himself and his wife. And not to mention kinky night-club celebrations with players dancing without their shirts on. The fallout ofthe competition staged in three Balkan nations represents a huge setback toquick return of major pro sport around the world. Just when other sports areplanning to emulate European soccer, which has made a successful comebackwithout spectators, this startling “Djoker” warning has come up.

Coronavirus cases are galloping globally at around a million a week now andeven asymptomatic people are disappearing in hours after falling sick.Sportsmen falling ill illustrates that fitness is no guarantee of virus immunityeither. It is against this backdrop that the attitude of prominent people likeDjokovic and Donald Trump, who are delusional in wishing away the virus,must be seen and condemned as a threat to society. As a great symbol of hope,sport must return, but must do so in a responsible manner.

Don’t ‘Djoke’ with Covid

Borrowing only optionafter decline warning

Can India challenge Chinesedominance in pharmaceuticalingredients? In normal times,this question wouldn’t be of

much interest to most Indians. Butthese aren’t normal times.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the ongo-ing India-China tensions following thedeadliest border clash in over half acentury, have pushed the dependenciesand inter-dependencies of globalisationout in the open. This is more so in thepharmaceutical industry, where thestakes are a matter of life and death.

Indians have woken up to the otherside of the “India as a pharmacy to thedeveloping world” narrative. India islegitimately lauded for its low-costgeneric drugs. Medicines made in Indiasave millions of lives within and out-side this country. But today, these med-icines depend hugely on importedactive pharmaceutical ingredients(APIs): the building blocks or key partsof a drug. Indian pharma firms importaround 70 per cent of APIs from China.

Worryingly, for decades now, thedependence has been on one country:China. The reasons India lost ground toChina are well-documented and knownto industry insiders. Over the years,there were several reports of India’sdangerous dependence on China forraw materials and low-cost ingredients

for its medicines.“The Indian pharmaceutical indus-

try, especially our bulk drug industry,was well ahead of China till the 1990s.Chinese pharmaceutical companiessupported by their government set uplarge fermentation units to mass-pro-duce bulk drugs and intermediates and,at the same time also established inter-mediates and bulk drug facilities formanufacturing by chemical synthesisroute,” says a 2014 white paper by theIndian Drug Manufacturers’Association (IDMA).

“At one point, India had achieved sig-nificant capacity of penicillin and itsderivatives (6-aminopenicillinic acid or6 APA),” it adds. “Indian pharma com-panies who were manufacturing peni-cillin and macrolides through the fer-mentation route have discontinued orshut down as they became unviableagainst same product line manufac-tured in China mainly as the plants inChina have huge capacity, are givenuninterrupted power and low-coststeam, cheap finance and conduciveinfrastructure, including land avail-ability at low cost.” The white paperadded: “Security of supply is a matter ofnational importance.”

There have been numerous sugges-tions from IDMA and IPA (IndianPharmaceutical Alliance) and others

on what must be done to counter theChinese advantages. Not much came ofthe recommendations. The Indianpharma industry continued to rely onlow-cost Chinese APIs and focusing onthe formulations market.

Then the pandemic started. The aver-age Indian woke up to the mayhem of aglobal pandemic with headlines like“Prices of Paracetamol, other bulkdrugs jump as Coronavirus crisisstokes fear of shortage”.

Arguably, India is not the only coun-try worried about being overly depen-dent on China for pharmaceuticalingredients. For over a decade now,China has been the largest producer ofAPIs in the world. “The US, Europe andJapan produced 90 per cent of theworld’s APIs until the mid-1990s. Butnow it is estimated Chinese manufac-turers make around 40 per cent of APIsused worldwide, and China and Indiaare the source of 75-80 per cent of theAPIs imported to the US,” wrote RoyHorner, senior lecturer at ManchesterUniversity’s Global DevelopmentInstitute, in an article this May in TheConversation.

In the past few months, there havebeen several high-level meetings, con-sultations, announcements and newgovernment initiatives to reduceIndia’s dependence on China for phar-

maceutical ingredients. In March, theCentre approved an investment of`9,940 crores to boost API production inthe country. Much of this — around`6,940 crores — is meant to be spentover the next eight years to incentiviseIndian industry produce 27 APIsthrough chemical synthesis and 26 viafermentation. The rest is for setting upthree “mega parks” to manufactureAPIs. This month, the department ofpharmaceuticals announced draftguidelines for the `6,940-crore produc-tion-linked incentive scheme to bolsterdomestic manufacturing of critical“key starting materials, drug interme-diates and APIs”.

Industry sources say things havestarted moving. Many Indian firms areplanning to tap into the new scheme.The department has given the go-aheadto Andhra Pradesh, Telangana andHimachal to develop mega parks.Several other states are keen to follow.

But environmental clearances andred tape remain matters of concern.Globally, the pharma industry’sdemand for less stringent environmen-tal regulations is a prickly issue.Industry insiders told this columnistmany pharma firms that wish to takeadvantage of the new initiatives haveinstalled modern effluent systems withzero liquid discharge and water recy-

cling. The question is: should these becleared and then checked by theauthorities?

China has stricter environmental reg-ulations now. “The Chinese environ-mental cleanup programme is shiftingthe corporate landscape in unexpectedways and stoking inflationary pressurein supply chains worldwide. The priceof key raw materials and excipients hasincreased by around 40 per cent in thelast four months,” says a 2019 report“The Impact of China’s EnvironmentalLaw on the Procurement of API andExcipients” by Beroe, a leadingprovider of procurement intelligenceand supplier compliance solutions.

Can India turn the world’s warinessof Chinese imports in strategic areas toits advantage?

We don’t know yet. It depends largelyon speedy implementation. In the caseof APIs, for example, it will depend onhow various measures that have beenannounced in recent weeks actuallypan out on the ground. Even in the best-case scenario, the results will be visibleonly in two or three years.

The writer focuses on developmentissues in India and emerging

economies. She can be reached atpatralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com.

Medicine andfrontiers: Thechallenge that

China poses

The ongoing cri-sis in Ladakh’sGalwan Valleyand the Covid-19 pandemic cri-

sis, both leading to theloss of precious Indianlives, have laid bare a crit-ical failure in India’ssecurity apparatus.

When the first reports ofthe Chinese intrusions inthe Galwan Valleyemerged in May this year,the immediate crisis over-shadowed a long-pendingcrisis in India’s security.What was also forgottenwas another ongoing cri-sis that is linked to thehappenings in Ladakh.

It is now clear that theGalwan Valley crisis andthe Covid-19 pandemicare threats to India’snational security andhave the same point oforigin — China. In bothcases, from the materialthat is now publicly avail-able, the two crises arejust months apart. TheChinese threat to Ladakhbegan soon after Augustlast year, when the Indiangovernment announcedthe abrogation of Article370 that gave a constitu-tionally mandated specialstatus to the erstwhilestate of Jammu andKashmir.

The first reports of theCovid-19 virus emergedas early as November lastyear from Wuhan.

In either case, it is perti-nent to note that India’sintelligence communityfailed to anticipate andmitigate either crisis. Thereasons for this are mani-fold, systemic and anational tragedy.Failed reforms: Fordecades India has beentrying to fix its intelli-gence apparatus and try-ing to make it relevant todeal with emergingthreats. Unfortunately,every attempt at reformhas been after a crisis,making them reactiverather than compre-hensive. After the humili-ating 1962 war defeat,

when India lost vastswathes of territory toChina, there was a majorattempt to reform India’sintelligence community.Between 1962 and 1968,the efforts of Ram NathKao, then head of theIntelligence Bureau’s for-eign division, led to thecreation of the Researchand Analysis Wing R.N.Kao was a visionary andhad a bold plan to changeIndia’s intelligence appa-ratus and give it a formand substance neverattempted before.However, his ideas wereborne out of the failuresof 1962 and failed to builda comprehensive app-roach that met the expec-tations and needs of allkey stakeholders.

The early success ofR&AW in the successfulcreation of Bangladeshbefore and after the 1971war with Pakistan andthe subsequent annexa-tion of Sikkim hid manygaps in Kao’s boldattempt to reform India’sintelligence community.

Similarly, the IB neverreally grew out of its colo-nial mindset. Created as atool to keep watch onIndian “natives” by acolonial power, itremained an integral toolof the Government ofIndia after Independence,shaped more by the per-sonal equation betweenits second director, B.N.Mullick, and PrimeMinister JawaharlalNehru. This is most visi-ble in the IB’s role in thegovernance of Jammuand Kashmir, where secu-rity and political ambi-tions intermixed to createan unhealthy nexus bet-ween the political masterand the intelligence pro-fessional. This problem ofattitude remains a majorbane in India’s intelli-gence community.

Naturally, several att-empts at reform havefailed. Be it the move tocreate a National Sec-urity Council and secre-

tariat in 1998-99, theKargil Review Committeein 1999-2000 followed bythe Group of Ministersreport or the NareshChandra task force fol-lowing the 26/11 attack onMumbai — they have allfailed to address coreissues that dog India’sintelligence community.Twin failures: Modernintelligence processes arebased on the twin pillarsof the collection of intelli-gence followed by arobust analysis process.In India, both continue tofail repeatedly.

As a result, while thereare elaborate intelligencestructures that couldhave anticipated China’snew aggression to changethe status quo in Ladakh,none of them worked toprevent the crisis. This isa political failure. No gov-ernment has ever wantedto plug the gaps and pro-fessionalise India’s intel-ligence community toensure that political inte-rests are served abovenational security objec-tives. As a result, not onlyhave successive govern-ments failed to assess thequality of the intelligencebeing collected externallyand internally, it hasnever looked at the ana-lytical processes either.For instance, both theGalwan Valley crisis andthe Covid-19 pandemicare failures of externaland internal intelligence.Not only did they fail toproduce any early warn-ings, they also failed toalert the country’s otherkey stakeholders whenthe crisis was emerging.

As a result, there weresystemic failures inanalysis. No one couldcomprehend what washappening as the Chineseintrusions deepened, orthe Covid-19 virus spreadrapidly through districtafter district. None of theagencies used any mod-ern methods for analysis,such as big data analyticsor even basic data visuali-

sation, which are nowcommon tools for the pri-vate sector and academiaacross the globe.

Since 2003, a pandemichas been formally recog-nised as a national securi-ty threat by the NationalSecurity Council and sub-sequently by the NationalDisaster ManagementAuthority. However,there are no dedicatedintelligence resourcesmade available in IB orRAW to actually dealwith it even today.

In the case of theChinese intrusions inLadakh, it is a traditionalthreat and thereforemakes the intelligencefailure even more alarm-ing. A quick reading ofthe Kargil ReviewCommittee and its chap-ter and recommendationon intelligence reform inIndia are shocking. Theyare shocking becauseeven 20 years after thereport, key reforms havefailed to take place.

In 1999, the committeehad noted: “The political,bureaucratic, militaryand intelligence estab-lishments appear to havedeveloped a vested inter-est in the status quo.National security man-agement recedes into thebackground at the time ofpeace and is consideredtoo delicate to be tam-pered with at the time ofwar and proxy war.” Italso noted: “There is noinstitutionalised mecha-nism for coordination orobjective-oriented inter-action between the agen-cies and consumers at dif-ferent levels. Similarly,there is no mechanism fortasking the agencies,monitoring their perfor-mance and reviewingtheir records to evaluatetheir quality. Nor is thereany oversight of the over-all functioning of theagencies.”

The Chinese intrusionsand the Covid-19 pandem-ic are urgent wake-upcalls to reform a brokenintelligence system.Unless India’s politicalmasters address this now,the country will continueto pay a very high price inblood.

The writer is a journal-ist based in New Delhi

and a founding partner ofCSDR Consulting

The Chinese intrusions and the

Covid-19 pandemicare urgent wake-up

calls to reform abroken intelligence

system

Subhani

India to pay high pricefor intelligence lapses

Saikat Datta

PatralekhaChatterjee

Dev 360

TOY MARKETIt is a surprising andpainful to note that Chinahas 70 to 72 per centshare in Indian toy market(Toy market: 70% Chinese,20% Indian, June 25). Thishas been the situationsince 30 years. The mainreasons are excise dutyand VAT imposed onIndian made toys whichalso resulting in attractiverates of China toys. Addedto this, the recent hike incustoms duty on finishedtoys, semi-finished onesand components went upto 60 per cent from 20 percent. They must go.

D.N. RaoHyderabad

NO TO WARIt’s glad that India and Chinaagreed to respect the agreements onborder issues and ensure peace.Both the countries don’t need warat this juncture. If war happens,both the countries will suffer, moreparticularly India. India is not in aposition to afford a war in the wakeof the Covid-19 which has dealt ablow to the Indian economy. A littleforbearance and diplomacy areneeded to come out of the situation.

M. Mohan RaoHyderabad

HYPOCRISYThis is heights of hypocrisy by theIPS officer (IPS officer resigns, DC,June 25). The officer finds faultwith the government’s workingafter enjoying the power andamenities for 33 years and resignsjust one month before retirement,that too because of non-promotion.If the IPS fraternity feels sidelinedfor a single promotion what aboutlower cadre who are denied promo-tions for 20 years and more.

Dilip KumarHyderabad

LETTERS

Maharahaj of Jaipur dead

CIRENCESTER, ENG., June 25The Maharajah of Jaipur, 58-year-old former Ambassador ofIndia to Spain, died yesterdayafter collapsing during theinterval of a polo match in thissouth west England town.

The Maharajah considered oneof the bestpolo play-ers of hisg e n e r a -tion, had

been playing in a country cupmatch at Cirencester Park here.

Born on August 21, 1911, asSawai Man Singh, the secondson of the Thaku of Isarda, anobleman, he was adopted atage 10 by the then Maharajah ofJaipur.

50 YEARS AGO IN

DECCAN CHRONICLE

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China amassing troops,weapons at LAC: IndiaSays no change on ground despite talks, ties will be affectedSRIDHARKUMARASWAMI | DCNEW DELHI, JUNE 25

Signalling that there hashardly been any de-escala-tion so far despite ongoingdiplomatic and militarytalks with Beijing, Indiaadmitted on Thursday thata large number of Chinesetroops remain deployed inborder areas along theLine of Actual Control.

In its hardest ever state-ment since the Ladakhstandoff began in May,New Delhi said, “Thedeployment of a large bodyof troops and changes inbehaviour (of PLA sol-diers) has also been aggra-vated by unjustified anduntenable claims.”

Releasing the govern-ment’s statement, externalaffairs ministry spokes-person Anurag Srivastavasaid that China has now“shifted its position” toclaim the Galwan Valley.

Several rounds of talkshave taken place betweenthe two countries’ seniormilitary and foreign min-istry officials and therehave been assurancesfrom the Chinese to carryout the mutually-agreedde-escalation, but therehas been no change on theground, New Delhi indi-cated, hinting at a disqui-eting level of distrust ofthe Chinese.

“At the heart of the mat-ter,” Mr Srivastava said,“is that since early May,the Chinese side has beenamassing a large contin-gent of troops and arma-ments along the LAC. Thisis not in accordance withthe provisions of our vari-ous bilateral agreements...Both sides remaindeployed in large numbersin the region, while mili-tary and diplomatic con-tacts are continuing.”

Squarely putting theblame on Beijing for theJune 15 clash and risingtension between the twonations, India said that alarge number of its troopsare now positioned on theborder as a counter-deployment measure.

India’s statement comesa day after satelliteimages, taken by US satel-lite firm Maxar on June 22,emerged showing Chinesesoldiers near patrollingpoint 14 in Galwan rivervalley. The images, andreports of fresh Chineseincursions in Depsang andDaulat Beg Oldie areas,coincided with a meetingbetween diplomats of boththe countries onWednesday.

India warned that thecontinuation of the pre-sent situation would fur-ther vitiate the atmos-phere and severely dam-age bilateral ties.

Sources in the IndianArmy said that they arenot expecting disengage-ment with the ChineseArmy any time soon.“Disengagement will taketime,” a source said.

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, JUNE 25

Reacting to queries onreports that global anti-terror watchdog FinancialAction Task Force (FATF)has decided at its latestplenary meet that Pakis-tan should continue toremain in the “grey list”,India on Thursday said itwas a vindication of itsposition and pointed outhow Pakistan continues toremain a safe haven forterrorism.

The FATF’s “grey list”comprises nations likePakistan who are seen tohave failed to fulfil theirobligations to combat ter-ror-financing.

The ministry of externalaffairs also said Pakistanhad levelled “fictitiouscharges” on four Indiannationals whom Islama-bad has accused of terror-ism, and said Pakistan’sclaims have “no credibili-ty”. Islamabad had saidthe four Indian nationalsare now residing in India.

Asked about a meeting ofthe Organisation of Isla-mic Conference on theKashmir issue held atPakistan’s initiative, theMEA said the OIC has “nolocus standi” on India’sinternal matters and itshould avoid making “un-warranted references”.

PAK REMAINS INGREY LIST FORTERROR FUNDING

HARLEEN MINOCHA | DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

The remaining CBSE andthe ICSE examinations forclasses X and XII havebeen cancelled due to theCovid-19 pandemic, theSupreme Court wasinformed on Thursday.

Class XII students ofCBSE will have the optionof taking the exams lateror move ahead with theassessment based on theirperformance in the lastexams.

This option has createdconfusion among studentsand parents, as the degreeadmissions are scheduledto begin and centres likeDelhi see very keen com-petition with the cut-off atmore than 99 per cent.

Class XII students areunsure about their plans."My daughter Saaliha, ascience stream student,

has taken all her exams.With this decision, thereis a sense of unrestbecause colleges havestarted admissions and wedon’t know how to go for-ward,” said Serrin, moth-er of a student of GlendaleAcademy International,Hyderabad.

The option on conduct-ing the exams later, hasput the students in a spot.They are not sure if theyhave to rely on theirmarks secured so far, orattempt the exam again inlight of the competition.

There has been no clari-fication on conducting theexam again from theboard. Officials from theCBSE said the matter issub-judice and that theyare awaiting court orders.

“What we are doing istrying to calm the stu-dents and parents byassuring them that the

students with pendingexams will be accommo-dated as and when wereceive a notification. Butthe confusion and panicremain,” said Minu Salo-oja, associate director,Glendale Academy.

Tiya, student of Class XIIin St. Joseph’s Convent inChandigarh, said she waspreparing for herBusiness Studies exam. “Iam unsure how I feelabout this. There is a lot ofconfusion. With the condi-tions outside, it is goodthat the board took thisdecision, but what will bethe future course of actionis something we need tounderstand,” said Tiya.

In Jaipur, NaveenSharma said that hisdaughter was looking for-ward to her pending examin the commerce streambut now it seems she won’tbe able to take the exam.

CBSE cancels Board exams,option for Class 12 confuses

BALU PULIPAKA I DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

The special drive to con-duct 50,000 Coronavirusconfirmation tests in andaround Hyderabad cityhas hit a roadblock withthe health departmentannouncing that it wassuspending special campswhere it has been collect-ing samples from Covid-19suspect persons.

Chief Minister K. Chand-rashekar Rao had annou-nced on June 14 that 50,000tests would be conductedin 30 Assembly con-stituencies in the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation area andadjoining districts

An apparent lack of facil-

ities to store the collectedsamples as well as testingthem has put the brakeson the promise of 50,000tests in 10 days.

On Thursday, the healthdepartment announcedthat it was suspending col-lection of samples as partof the drive because of thepiling up of samples col-lected so far. In a state-ment, director of healthservices Dr G. SrinivasRao said beginning June16, 36,000 samples werecollected and 8,253 sam-ples were pending withvarious testing labs.

Every sample should betested within 48 hours andmust be stored at a desig-nated temperature till it istested. With a large num-

bers of samples collected,it has become difficult tomanage their storage andprocessing. If the samplesare kept longer, withouttesting, there is every pos-sibility that the testresults will be positive, DrSrinivas Rao said.

To bring up to speed thetesting at the labs andclear the backlog of accu-mulated samples, collec-tion of samples from sus-pected Covid-19 people atspecial camps has beensuspended for two days.“However, routine samplecollection from peoplewith symptoms as part ofthe regular health ser-vices at designated hospi-tals, will continue,” DrSrinivas Rao said.

Covid testing capacity hitslimit, TS stops special drive

ATHER MOIN I DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

The government showeredflower petals on medicalpersonnel to honour themfor their services in com-bating the Coronaviruspandemic, but it hasignored them when theyare affected by the pan-demic.

The family of a nursewho tested Covid positivewas forced to spend a fort-night in a locked house,unable to even dispose offtheir garbage during thecontainment period. After

neighbours intervened,GHMC officials unlockedthe house on Thursday.

The nurse was workingin the GovernmentNizamia General Hospital(Unani) at Charminar, andtested Covid positive a fort-night ago and went intoself-isolation at her homeat Golnaka in Amberpet,on the advice of the doc-tors. But GHMC authori-ties decided to lock herhouse from outside!

The nurse said that afterdoctors told her that shewas asymptomatic, shewent into home isolation

on their advice. The civicauthorities, however, liter-ally locked her down in herown house.

Relatives and neighbours

provided essential itemsfor us, the nurse said, butthe behaviour of theauthorities was inexpress-ible. She said that for thelast 15 days, there has beenno deterioration in herhealth and she and allmembers of her family arehealthy.

She said not one of theconcerned authorities con-tacted them personally.They did not even arrangedisposal of our garbage,she said. How can we askour relatives or neigh-bours to dispose of ourgarbage, she queried.

“When we tried to informthe officials, no one cameforward to help us. I haddecided to break the locktomorrow if the authori-ties did not unlock ourhouse. However, on theintervention of one of ourneighbours, GHMCauthorities unlocked thehouse in the evening,” shesaid.

Sources said that no onefrom the hospital, whereshe worked and attended tosuspect and asymptomaticpatients, came forward tohelp her during those harddays.

GHMC locks up Covid +ve nurseLock removed after nurse threatened to break open the doorSHOCKING | MOVE

DURGA PRASAD SUNKU | DCHYDERABAD JUNE 25

Telugu film producer andYSR Congress leaderPotluri Vara Prasad failedto present himself beforethe Banjara Hills policeon Thursday as directed,leaving the police to seeklegal opinion.

Mr Prasad was servedwith a notice on Wedne-sday asking him to appearon Thursday before theBanjara Hills police. Hewas questioned for morethan 12 hours on Wednes-day in a case relating to

his trespassing into thehome of his neighbourVikram Kailash alongwith 20 of his henchmenand demolishing a tempo-rary structure there, aswell as allegations of useof force.

As it was getting late,the police served him thenotice to appear the nextday and let him go.

Banjara Hills additionalinspector K Ravi Kumarsaid Mr Prasad didn’tappear and sought sometime.

■ Page 2: Police to takelegal opinion on PVP

PVP fails to turnup before police

Save environment

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao inaugurates the government’s Haritha Haramprogramme at the Narasapur forest in Medak district on Thursday. Finance minister T. Harish Rao (second from left), forest minister A. Indrakaran Reddy (right) and others are seen. ■ Another report on Page 3

Vol. 83 No. 177 Established 1938 | 16 PAGES | `6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle

SPORTS|6WORLD|6Someone to bank on

Japan scraps US missiledefence system

Clare Connor first femalepresident of MCC

TABLOID

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I FRIDAY I 26 JUNE 2020

VIKRAM SHARMA | DCHYDERABAD JUNE 25

At least 15 of the 20 sol-diers of the Indian Army,who were martyred in thefierce clashes with thePeople’s Liberation Army(PLA) at Galwan valley onthe night of June 15, suf-fered head injuries, fell ofthe ridge and drowned inthe icy waters of theGalwan river.

The remaining five, whowere found dead at differ-ent places in the valley,succumbed to deep headinjuries. A total of 76Indian soldiers wereinjured in the clashes.

Doctors at the Army hos-pital in Leh submitted thepostmortem reports of thesoldiers to the top Armyofficials on Thursday. Indue course, the reportswould be sent to the fami-lies of the soldiers, includ-ing that of Colonel B. San-tosh Babu of Suryapet.

Sources told DeccanChronicle that though theGalwan river is fast flow-ing, it is not very deep butwas freezing cold thatnight. “Hardly four peoplecan walk on the narrowridge where the clashes

took place. Imagine 100soldiers fighting on theridge for hours on a colddark night,” they said ofPatrolling Point 14, wheretroops were engaged in afierce hand-to-hand com-bat for close to five hours.

“Since they sufferedinjuries mostly on thehead, many of them hadlost consciousness as theyfell off the ridge. Somemay have fallen uncon-scious just seconds beforethey fell in the river. Evenif some were consciouswhile falling in the river,heavy bleeding from theinjuries and the freezingtemperatures might havekilled them. All gotwashed away as the riveris fast flowing,” sourcessaid.

Autopsy shows 15soldiers had headinjuries, drowned

● The Galwan riverwas freezing cold onthe night when theclash happened.With 100 soldiersfighting on the nar-row ridge, where noteven four people canwalk, many of themfell off the ridge

Artillery man was first totear down Chinese tentPAWAN BALI I DCNEW DELHI, MAY 25

The soldiers of 81 FieldRegiment, an artillery reg-iment of the Army, foughtferociously in hand-to-hand combat with Chinesesoldiers on June 15 atGalwan valley in Ladakhsector.

Havildar K. Palani, from81 Field Regiment, whohails from Tamil Nadu,was in the first party alongwith Col. B. Santosh Babuof 16 Bihar Regiment, anddismantled the Chinesetent from Patrolling Point14 in Galwan valley. “Hewas ahead of others in con-fronting the Chinese,”said a senior official.

“Havildar Palani was adaredevil and a very braveman. Despite being froman artillery unit, ColSantosh Babu used to takehim whenever he used togo out,” said the officer.

The troops of 81 FieldRegiment were part ofjoint patrol with 16 Biharon June 15. The Chinese

soldiers attacked Indiantroops with improvisedweapons including nail-studded iron rods andbatons. Hav. Palani wasfighting alongside SantoshBabu before making thesupreme sacrifice. He wasamong the first three casu-alties reported by theArmy on June 16.

The June 15 clash

involved personnel from16 Bihar, 3 Punjab and twoartillery units, the 81 FieldRegiment and 3 MediumRegiment. 81 FieldRegiment led by their COfought ferociously and hadmany soldiers woundedseriously. Hav Palani wasthe only soldier from 81Field Regiment who waskilled in the clash.

A file photo of Havildar K. Palani of the 81 FieldRegiment with his wife and children.

WHEN WE triedto inform the

officials, no one cameforward to help us. Ihad decided to breakthe lock tomorrow ifthe authorities did notunlock our house.

NURSE

Indian money inSwiss banks dips

New Delhi/Zurich: Fundsparked by Indian individuals

and enterprises in Swissbanks fell six per cent in

2019 to 899 million Swissfrancs (`6,625 crore), annu-

al data from Switzerland’scentral bank showed on

Thursday. This marks thesecond consecutive year ofdecline in aggregate funds

of Indian clients with allSwiss banks, taking the fig-ure to the third lowest level

since 1987 when the SwissNational Bank began com-

piling the data. — PTI

■ Another report on pg 5

Charges filed on Rana KapoorNew Delhi: The CBI filed a

chargesheet against YesBank founder Rana Kapoor,his wife Bindu and daughter

Roshini among others onThursday in connection withan alleged `600-crore bribereceived from scam-taintedDHFL promoter Kapil Wad-

hawan, officials said. Thechargesheet filed before a

special CBI court in Mumbaialso names Dewan Housing

Finance Ltd, Wadhawan, hisbrother Rajesh, Belief

Realtors Private Ltd, RKWDevelopers and DoIT Urban

Ventures.

IN BRIEF

CITY pg 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 26 JUNE 2020

SHORT TAKESCONGRESS TO PAY

TRIBUTE TO 20ARMY MARTYRS

IREDDY SRINIVAS REDDY I DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee president N. UttamKumar Reddy said party lead-ers and workers would paytribute to the 20 martyrs of theIndian Army who were killedin clashes with the ChineseArmy at the Galwan valley.The programme, Amaraveeru-laku Congress Salaam, will beorganised at 11 am on Friday.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, alongwith AICC incharge R.C.Khuntia, urged Congress lead-ers hold the programme at dis-trict and Assembly constituen-cy headquarters. They willcarry national flags and obse-rve an hour-long ‘mouna deek-sha’ (silent dharna) to conde-mn Chinese occupation of Ind-ian land and demand its rest-oration. He said that Congressworkers have to wear masks,maintain physical distanceand follow Covid-19 guidelines.

On June 29, the Congresswould organise a dharna atdistrict and Assembly head-quarters to protest the hike inthe prices of petrol and diesel.He said these two programmeswere being organised on theinstructions of AICC presi-dent Sonia Gandhi and seniorleader Rahul Gandhi.

REVANTH SLAMSKCR OVER SINGH’S

RETIREMENTDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

TS Congress working presi-dent A. Revanth Reddy onThursday accused Chief Mini-ster K. Chandrashekar Rao ofusing the police for politicalpurposes. He was speaking inthe context of senior IPS offi-cer V.K. Singh applying for vol-untary retirement.

Revanth Reddy said that itwas unfortunate that honestofficers were feeling a need toresign. He alleged that theChief Minister was appointingofficers belonging to his casteto key posts, who were thenmade responsible for intimi-dating Opposition parties andgrabbing their land to forcethem to join the TRS.

He said officers who hadretired 15 years ago were beingemployed as officers on specialduty in key organisations ofintelligence, vigilance andACB to tap phones and surveilOpposition leaders.

Two officers who are retiringthis month-end, IG PrabhakarRao and DIG VenkateswaraRao, are being appointed asOSDs, he alleged.

“When there are IPS officerssuch as V.K. Singh are theforce, why isn’t the CM givingthem good posts and insteadharassing them,” the MPasked.

HC QUESTIONSGOVT ON FINANCIAL

SUPPORT TO POORVUJJINI VAMSHIDHARA I DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

The Telangana High Courtasked the governmentwhether or not it will payCovid-19 financial assistanceto white ration card holderswho had not taken rice ontheir card for three monthsbefore the lockdown.

A division bench headed byChief Justice RaghavendraSingh Chauhan asked the gov-ernment to clarify on the issueby the next hearing in July.

The government had givenfinancial assistance of `1,500per month to white ration cardholders during April and Mayduring the lockdown. This wasdenied to those who had nottaken the rice on their cardsfor January, February andMarch.

Petitions were filed over theissue before the High Court. InMay, the court directed thegovernment to pay `1,500 permonth to all white ration cardholders, irrespective ofwhether or not they had takenthe rice.

Challenging the High Courtorder, the government hadapproached the SupremeCourt, which referred the caseback to the Telangana HighCourt.

Chief Justice Chauhanobserved that most ration cardholders might have migratedto other states for jobs, due towhich they could not take therice. With Coronavirus spread-ing, they may have lost theirjobs and returned to their ownplaces. How can the govern-ment deny financial assis-tance to those sufferingbecause of lockdown whenthey had no chance of earn-ing, he asked and said that thegovernment has the responsi-bility to take care of poor dur-ing a critical time.

Begum Bazaar, Lad Bazaarin shut mode as cases riseATHER MOIN I DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

With the spike in Covid-19cases, traders in BegumBazaar and Lad Bazaarhave decided to closetheir shops voluntarilyfor a week. Lad Bazaarwill close from Friday,while the kirana shops inBegum Bazaar will closefrom Sunday.

At a meeting of theHyderabad KiranaMerchants’ Association,the rising number ofCorona cases was dis-cussed and the membersdecided to close all shopsfrom June 28 to July 5.

President of theAssociation, Laxmi-narayan Rathi, annou-nced the closure of theshops in Begum Bazaarand Siddiamber Bazaar.There are 500 shops inthese two bazaars.

“Earlier, we had reducedbusiness hours from 9 amto 3 pm. The virus has

spread everywhere andwe do not know who isaffected by it. It hasbecome risky to do busi-ness in these conditions.We have advised all mer-chants who developedCovid-19 symptoms to gointo self-isolation andresume business onlywhen they recover fully,”Mr Rathi said.

Likewise, traders of LadBazaar, famous for ban-gles, have decided to downshutters for a week fromFriday. President of theLad Bazaar Merchants’Association, Mustafa AliMuzaffar, who is also theShalibanda corporator,said seven merchants haddied of Covid-19 and 20were affected. The mer-chants have decided toclose the shops in LadBazaar and Julu Khanafor a week.

Lad Bazaar WelfareAssociation general sec-retary Mohammed Ayubsaid the government hadimposed the lockdown fortwo months when thenumber of deaths wassmall. “Nowadays, the tollhas increased manifold,but the government is notready to revoke Unlock 1.Our hospitals are not in aposition to providehealthcare. This initiativewill help in containingthe pandemic,” he said.

Following rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, General Bazaar Shop Owners’ Union closed all the shops inSecunderabad till July 5. — DEEPAK DESHPANDE

Safety first

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

For the third time, theCentre government hasdecided to depute a teamto help Telangana statestrengthen its effort tocontain the fast spreadingCoronavirus. Since thelifting of the lockdown,the state, and particularlyHyderabad, have witness-ed a huge jump with closeto a 1,000 new Covid-19cases being reported dailyover the past few days.

The Central team will beled by Lav Agarwal, jointsecretary, Union ministryof health. The team willalso visit Gujarat and Ma-harashtra between June26 and 29. They will inter-act with state officials andcoordinate with them infinding ways to strength-en ongoing efforts forCovid-19 management.

The Centre had earlierdeputed two teams to thestate — first in April withofficials from the NationalInstitute of Health andFamily Welfare in NewDelhi and another led bySanjay Jaju, joint secre-tary, ministry of defence.

Though the first teamvisited red zone areas andother hotspots, it did notappear to have done muchgood as far as containme-nt of Covid-19 in the stateis concerned. After thesecond team’s visit, thenumber of cases has wit-nessed a further jump.

3RD TIME, CENTRETO DEPUTE TEAMFOR TS OVER VIRUS

AFTER 2 CASES,GK APARTMENTLOCKS DOWNT.S.S. SIDDHARTH I DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

The managing committ-ee of GK’s Pride apartm-ents in Yapral has saidthat it was imposing alockdown of the compl-ex after two residentstesting virus positive.Three more residents ofthe complex are await-ing results of their tests.Apart from prohibitingvisitors, it has announ-ced that the lockdownwould be in place for 14days, after which itwould be reviewed.

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

Covid-19, which has beenaffecting lives across thespectrum of society, hasemerged as the reasonwhy a file related to pro-motions of governmentdoctors, has not been mov-ing for some time. It has

emerged that the file ispending with a govern-ment official at a seniorlevel, as he has beenstruck by theCoronavirus.

This information cameto light when a delegationof doctors met with healthminister Etala Rajendarhere on Thursday seeking

the allotment of a specialcare centre for Covid-19positive doctors and spe-cial incentives to doctorstreating Covid-19 patientsamong other things aswell as the issue of time-bound promotions.

The minister, the delega-tion comprising Dr LaluPrasad Rathod, Dr Pallam

Praveen, Dr Ranga and DrDeendayal, in a newsrelease said the ministerassured them that hewould look into theirdemands.

The minister assuredthat special treatment willbe provided for doctors atNIMS, TIMS and GandhiHospitals.

Covid-19 puts promotions on hold

SANJAY SAMUEL PAUL | DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

Medical staff at theemployee state insurancecorporation (ESIC) hospi-tal are amongst those whohave been exposed to theCovid-19 patients.

On Wednesday, five tech-nicians from the microbi-ology lab at the ESIC hos-pital tested positive, tak-ing the total number ofinfected personnel at the

hospital to 35. The staff isblaming the managementfor what they allege is acareless attitude.

Staff members saidCovid-19 tests were beingdelayed on suspected pati-ents from among the staff,leading to the spread of in-fection. The hospital adm-inistration reportedly war-ned the staff to keep quiet.

The ESIC hospital at San-atnagar also has a medicalcollege on its campuswhich functions under the

union ministry of labour.A senior nurse was

among the first to getexposed to a Covid-19patient in the oncologyward on June 8. She wasasked to stay in quaran-tine and tested on June 11.She was negative, and wasasked to return to work.She was tested again onJune 18 and she tested pos-itive this time. She wasshifted to an isolationward in the same hospital.

On June 24, the X-ray

report showed her condi-tion had worsened and shewas shifted to a privatecorporate hospital. Hosp-ital employees told DeccanChronicle that despiteawareness of the intensityof the outbreak, they werenot being provided withPPE kits initially. “Most ofus have already beenexposed to the virus,” anemployee said.

A senior male nurse saidthat a professor of gyne-cology from a city-based

government hospital wasinvited to inspect upcom-ing preparations for med-ical college admissions. Itlater emerged that the pro-fessor tested positive onJune 5. ESIC employeeswho had interacted withher were then sent intoquarantine.

The centre is constantlycriticising the Telanganastate government for badmanagement and notdoing tests on time to con-trol Covid-19.

ESIC hospital is Covid-19 hotbedDelay in tests of suspected patients led to spread of pandemic VIRUS | IMPACT

From Page 1

“We will take furtheraction in accordancewith the law after con-sulting with higher offi-cials and taking legalopinion,” he said.

Based on a complaintfrom Mr Kailash, policehad booked a case againstMr Prasad and his associ-ates on the charges oftrespass, causing dam-age, intentional insultwith intent to provokebreach of the peace,

criminal intimidation,rioting and unlawfulassembly.

According to the com-plainant, Mr Prasad livesright behind his villa atPrem Parvat. He allegedin his complaint that MrPrasad has been creatingobstacles for him todevelop a roof garden athis residence, threatenedhim and asked him todrop the idea because theroof garden obstructs theview from his own resi-dence.

Police to take legalopinion on PVP

BALU PULIPAKA | DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

Some persons in the statehave been getting theirown Covid-19 tests done,in private and in viola-tion of ICMR rules andguidelines, using illegal-ly procured antibodiestest kits.

Private individuals areprohibited from procur-ing or using antibodiestesting kits for Covid-19.Any such act is illegal, asenior Indian Council forMedical Research officialtold Deccan Chronicle.

However, this aspectappears to have not mat-tered for a good numberof individuals, typically‘well-connected’ and withthe ability to exert influ-ence on the powers-that-be, here and in someother parts of the state,from ‘stocking up’ anti-bodies test kits procuredthrough illegal meansand checking themselves.

While the gold standardfor Covid-19 testing, theRt-PCR (real time poly-merase chain reaction)tests can be performedonly in a lab equippedwith biohazard safetysystems, using an anti-body kit is a relativelysimple and safe affairand involves using a dropof blood on a speciallyprepared strip, It can,within about half anhour, indicate the pres-ence of antibodies toCoronavirus in the per-son’s system showing if aperson has been infectedor not.

Though not a very reli-able method, it is learntthat influential individu-als have managed to laytheir hands on such kits.“There are many who aredoing this, poking them-selves with a needle andtesting themselves,” asource in the know of thethings told DeccanChronicle.

When contacted, a sen-

ior ICMR official saidany Coronavirus testingkit, irrespective of thetype, can be procuredonly by state govern-ments and not by privateindividuals.

Antibody test kits areeither imported and aresupposed to be understrict scrutiny, or avail-able through ICMRwhich earlier this monthapproved a test kit devel-oped at the NationalInstitute of Virology inPune for manufactureand sale in thec o u n t r y. I n c i d e n t a l l y,even collection of sam-ples from people with

influence for the Rt-PCRtest occurs clandestinely.

This correspondent waswitness a few weeks agoto a technician from theGandhi Hospital, despa-tched post-haste to col-

lect samples from a sen-ior IAS officer, who wasmaking the rounds of thehealth departmentoffices, figuring a wayout to carry out instruc-tions given to him.

Many take Covid-19 test at their homesPeople are prohibited from procuring or using antibodies testing kits for Covid-19, any such act is illegal

KANIZA GARARI I DCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

Private hospitals aredemanding additionalcharges from Covid 19patients for possible com-plications. This moneyhas to be paid beforeadmission. Those whocannot pay are being toldthere are no beds.

Senior doctors who arereferring patients to hospi-tals are finding themselvesat the receiving end as thepatients in a severe condi-tion are having to go fromone hospital to another, ifthey are unable to makethe payment.

This has also put them ina fix as they are not surewhich hospitals they canrefer their family andfriends to.

A senior doctor, whofaced the predicament,told Deccan Chronicle,“The patient was short of`50,000 and I had to givemy word to the hospitalthat it will be paid.”

The deposits are said torange from `3 lakh to `5lakh. Some hospitals cha-rge `25,000 to `50,000 as de-posit. They state that theseamounts are collected inadvance for additional ex-penses for personal protec-tion equipment, isolationwards and disinfection.

Hospitals say this is oneof the prime reasons thatmild cases are urged to bemanaged at home forthose who have the facilityof an extra room and bath-room.

But those who do nothave the facility are in afix. A family of six or 14members when infectedtogether has no one to takecare of them. They all can-not be managed at home.All of them are rushing tohospitals. There is now acase in every lane and cor-ner of the city and as test-ing accelerates it is becom-ing more and more diffi-cult to manage.

Mujtaba Hasan Askari,president of Helping HandFoundation, said, “Homecare is possible for theupper middle class. Butthere are many who arenot able to understanddoctors instructions onvideo counselling. Theseare becoming a challengeto manage at home level.”

Meanwhile, an appealhas been made to ChiefMinister K. Chandr-ashekar Rao to imposecurfew in Old City as 15per cent symptomaticpatients are rushing tohospitals and five per centof them are turning criti-cal. Most of these patientsare not able to afford pri-vate hospitals and are try-ing for admission in gov-ernment hospitals.

Private hospitalsseek big advance

DC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, JUNE 25

With private hospitals cit-ing lack of beds, familyphysicians are once againin demand as they are act-ing as facilitators forpatients.

Dr Ashish Chauhan,senior general physician,said, families and friendswere approaching theirfamily doctors for advice.“That is the way forwardin these times due to thecurrent situation. It hasbecome important asmany people go to hospi-tals and find no beds.”

Family physicians findthat they can manage thepatients with basic coun-selling in terms of mildcases and that will go along way in controllingthe disease. With moreand more members in onefamily suffering it hasbecome a challenging sit-uation for many.

Dr Dilip P.S., familyphysician, said, “We arecarrying out video coun-selling and that is alsonow a mode of consultan-cy. People have to under-stand that online consul-tancy has to be paid and itis not for free.”

FAMILY DOCTORS ARE BACK INHIGH DEMAND

TS close to recording 1Kcases a day, records 920DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

Covid-19 cases appear tobe on their way to cross-ing the 1,000-a-day mark,with 920 fresh cases beingreported on Thursday. Thetotal number cases so faris 11,364. The GreaterHyderabad reported 737new cases.

Five more patients diedduring the day, taking thetoll to 230, the daily Covid-19 bulletin released by thehealth department said.While 327 persons weredischarged, the number ofactive cases stood at 6,446.

The health department,which had very reluctant-ly approved Covid-19 test-ing by private accreditedlaboratories, hinted thatthese permissions mayhave a very short shelflife following “serious”abnormalities in theresults uploaded by pri-vate labs on the designat-ed web portal. “This maybe due to technical issuesin the way of testing,” it

said.A team of specialists

inspected private labs tocheck the availability ofinfrastructure, trainedmanpower, procedure oftesting and quality con-trol. Based on the reports,an expert committee willevaluate whether the test-ing protocols in these labsare as per ICMR standardsor not. “Accordingly, aview will be taken on fur-ther course of action,” thedepartment said.

Meanwhile, at leastnearly 180 doctors work-ing in different govern-ment hospitals have con-tracted Covid-19. Thehighest number amongdoctors, post-graduatedoctors as well as medicalstudents working asinterns, around 85, arefrom the OsmaniaMedical College.Following closely are doc-tors from Nizam’s Insti-tute of Medical Scienceswith 75, even as another 16are reported to have beeninfected by the disease in

the Kakatiya MedicalCollege and MahatmaGandhi MemorialHospital in Warangal.

The number of media-persons affected by Covid-19 is nearing 100. Twelvejournalists tested positiveon Thursday, as per theTelangana State MediaAcademy that has beenhelping mediapersonswho caught Covid-19 withfinancial assistance of`20,000 to those admittedto hospitals and `10,000each to those in homequarantine.

Of the cases announcedon Thursday, 86 were fromRanga Reddy, 60 fromMedchal-Malkajgiri, 13from Karimangar, fourfrom Rajanna-Siricilla,three from Mahbubnagar,and Nalgonda, two eachfrom Mulugu, Medak andWarangal Urban, and oneeach from Warangal Ru-ral, Kamareddy, Siddipet,Vikarabad, Jangaon, Mah-bubabad, Adilabad, andKumrumbheem-Asifabaddistricts, the bulletin said.

●● AT A MEETING of theHyderabad KiranaMerchants’ Association,the rising number ofCorona cases was dis-cussed and the membersdecided to close all shopsfrom June 28 to July 5.

●● LAD BAZAAR WelfareAssociation general secre-tary Mohammed Ayubsaid the government hadimposed the lockdown fortwo months when thenumber of deaths wassmall.

●● HOSPITALS SAY thisis one of the prime rea-sons that mild cases areurged to be managed athome for those whohave the facility of anextra room and bathroom.

Hyderabad: Eight policepersonnel working in apolice station underRachakonda limits havereportedly tested positive.The tests were conducteda couple of days ago and

the results were out onThursday. The personnelare said to be asympto-matic and have beenasked to be in quarantine.The police station waslater disinfected.

8 RACHAKONDA POLICE PERSONNELTEST POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS

CITY pg 3DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 26 JUNE 2020

IN BRIEFObserve Juma as

‘prayer day’HHyyddeerraabbaadd:: Considering thedeteriorating Covid-19 situa-tion, Muslims were urged to

observe the Juma as the‘prayer day’. Moulana

Mohammed Anwar Ahmedappealed to the sermonisers

and imams to do a specialinvocation during for the

eradication of Covid-19 pandemic and early recovery

of all affected persons. Heasked them to maintain

Covid-19 protocols and pre-vent people from mingling.

60-yr-old abusesteen, booked

HHyyddeerraabbaadd:: A 60-year-oldman was booked for

allegedly misbehaving with aminor girl when she was

alone at her house inKhanapur under Chevella

mandal. The complaint wasreceived from the father ofthe victim, who is aged 14.Her parents were away at

work when the accused wentto her house and misbe-

haved with her. Locals whoheard the girl screaming

caught him and handed overto the police.

Cops seize seedsworth `10L, 3 heldHHyyddeerraabbaadd:: The North Zone

Task Force arrested threepersons and seized `10 lakh

worth of seeds that hadbeen illegally procured. The

accused, JogannagariNarvotham Reddy, VangalaSrinivas and Uppula Venu-

madhav, had smuggled theseeds from Gujarat withoutdocuments. The police in a

joint operation with agricul-ture officials intercepted a

car in Shahinayathgunj andfound the seeds. These werebeing sold as genuine seeds

to farmers, police said.

Faith has no barriers

Devotees make offerings at the gate of the Golconda fort inside which is the Mahankali temple where thestate annual festival Bonalu begins in the Ashada month. The devotees were denied entry on Thursday dueto Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. — P. SURENDRA

PHOTOGRAPHERKILLED DUE TOOLD RIVALRYJAYENDRA CHAITHANYA TT. || DDCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

A photographer from thecity was stabbed to deathby his rivals atSaroornagar early onThursday, reportedly overan old dispute about amobile phone. The accu-sed, B. Santosh Kumarand B. Sandeep Kumar,siblings from Rakshap-uram, are absconding.

At around 1 am onThursday, SandasariLalita, a social worker atAyodhyanagar, Gowl-ipura, received a phonecall on her phone that herson S. Vinay Kumar, 31,had been stabbed at P&TColony in Saroornagar.She informed her neigh-bour who called thepolice.

A patrol team went tothe spot and found Vinayinjured and took him tothe Osmania GeneralHospital where doctorsdeclared him broughtdead. Inquiries by thepolice revealed that theaccused had called Lalita.

Following a complaintfrom Lalita, a case ofmurder has been regis-tered and special partieshave been deputed toapprehend the accused.

● ● AA PPAATTRROOLL TTEEAAMMwent to the spot andfound Vinay injured andtook him to the OsmaniaGeneral Hospital wheredoctors declared himbrought dead. Inquiriesby the police revealedthat the accused hadcalled Lalita.

Strict action to be takenagainst smugglers: RaoSpecial cell officials to report of smuggling to forest deptS.A. IISHAQUI || DDCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao onThursday said sternaction will be takenagainst smugglers whoresort to illegal choppingand transport of wood.

Speaking at the inaugu-ration of the sixth phaseof Harithaharam inNarsapur, Medak dis-trict, Rao disclosed that aspecial cell has set up tokeep strict vigil on thesmuggling of forestproducts, particularlyteak and other costlywood.

Rao said that the spe-cial cell will be functionunder the direct supervi-sion of the secretary tothe forest department.Officials in the specialcell, which includes theforest and police depart-ments, will report to thesecretary on incidents ofsmuggling.

Rao assured them of allthe support from hisoffice. He appealed forpeople’s participation inreviving lost forest coverand asked people livingin the peripheries offorests to become watchdogs.

Rao said, “Smugglersused to have politicalbacking in the days of

combined AP. The indif-ferent attitude of thethen governmentsresulted in the vanishingof forests. Now no onecan save the culprits. Ihave already startedgathering informationand directed officials tospare no one.”

He said that the forestdepartment has beensanctioned 200 jobs andprovided with 2200 vehi-cles so that they canwork efficiently, Raoasked principal chief

conservator of forests(PCCF) R. Shobha toweed out elements in thedepartment who help thesmugglers.

“In addition to reviving95,000 acres of forest inMedak district, take upadditional greeningunder social forestry,”Rao said.

Reminiscing the dayswhen Naraspur had athick forest, Rao said“Movies used to be shotin the thick Narsapurforest as it is close to the

city. I used to drive myown Fiat through the for-est when I was a legisla-tor. What has happenedto that forest, where didit go?”

While recalling thedays when the rulers ofcombined AP used to saythat people of Telanganadid not know how to cul-tivate, Rao said “We willbe able to take upafforestation in a bigway with huge amountsof funds. Telangana is afinancially sound state.”

PLAINT AGAINSTPVT HOSPITAL

FOR WRONG INFO

MA&UD minister K.T. Rama Rao along with animal husbandry minister TalasaniSrinivas Yadav at the inauguration of the 6th phase of Haritha Haram programmein Sanathnagar Division on Thursday.

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan on Thursdayvisited the TridandiChinna Jeeyar Swami at MuchintalShamshabad on the cityoutskirts. He arrived atthe Shamshabad airportalong with his familymembers at 6 pm andreached the ashram totake the blessings ofthe seer.

Later, Chouhan andhis family offeredprayers at theKondarama Swamytemple on the premisesof the ashram in thepresence of ChinnaJeeyar Swami andindustrialists Dr J.Rameshwara Rao of MyHome and Megha

Krishna Reddy of Me-gha Engineering & In-frastructures Limited.

Chouhan who is on aspiritual tour will stayin the ashram onThursday night and willleave for Mysore from

Shamshabad airport onFriday morning.

Some BJP leaders saidit was a purely personalvisit of Chouhan andtherefore the local partyunit had not beeninformed.

1 MORE WHITETIGER DIES

OF TUMOURT.S.S. SSIDDHARTH || DDCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

First it was Rudra that died ofa neuroplastic tumour. Then itwas the turn of Badri, born toRudra, to lose his life to thesame ailment. On Thursday,Kiran, a third generation malewhite tiger at the NehruZoological Park, that was siredby Badri, lost its life because ofa similar tumour.

Nehru Zoological Parkauthorities who announcedeight-year-old Kiran’s deathsaid they had asked theLaboratory for Conservationof Endangered Species of theCentre for Cellular andMolecular Biology to study thephenomenon of neuroplastictumors affecting generationafter generation of white tigermales.

Kiran was under intensivecare and treatment byLaCONES at the zoo over thepast three weeks. A post-mortem revealed that thetumour was the cause of thedeath.

MP CM Shivraj visitsChinna Jeeyar Swami

45-YEAR-OLDBOOKED FORRAPING TEENDURGA PPRASAD SUNKU || DDCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

A 45-year-old person whoraped a 19-year-old wasbooked by Kachegudapolice. The teenager isnine months pregnant andthe accused is absconding.

Police said the accused,Ravi, 45, and the victimused to used to work in ahospital where they gotacquainted. Ravi allegedlylured the teen profferinglove. He used to make thevictim to drink lemonjuice laced with sleepingpills and assault her aftershe fell unconscious, saidKacheguda inspectorMohd. Habibullah Khan.

On Thursday when thevictim’s family membersstaged a protest in front ofthe hospital, Kachegudapolice intervened and registered a case.

Kiran, the white tiger

VUJJINI VAMSHIDHARA || DDCHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

The Telangana HighCourt directed the stategovernment and GHMCto keep a watch onslaughtering camels

The division benchcomprising ChiefJustice RaghvendraSingh Chauhan andJustice B. VijayasenReddy was dealing with apetition challenging the

illegal transport ofcamels from Rajasthaninto the state and theirslaughter, which, it said,was contrary to thePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals Act, 1960 and

rules under the GHMCAct. Petitioner DrShashikala Kopanti fromTrimulgherry com-plained of the inaction ofthe authorities

She submitted data toshow that the number ofcamels was dwindling inthe country. She saidIndia had 10 lakh camelsin 1992 which fell to 4.5lakh in 2012 and 2.5 lakhin 2019.

The Rajasthan Camel(Prohibition of Slau-

ghter and Regulation ofTemporary Migration orExport) Act andSupreme Court guide-lines stipulate againstslaughtering camels.

The Chief Justiceexpressed concern overthe reducing number ofcamels in Rajasthan anddirected the governmentauthorities and AnimalWelfare Board of India,Faridabad, Haryana, tofile their counter beforeJuly 15.

Check slaughter of camels, orders HC

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan with his family visits Chinna JeeyarSwami in the city on Thursday.

● ● DDRR SSHHAASSHHIIKKAALLAAKKOOPPAANNTTII from Trimulgherry submitted data to showthat the number of camels was dwindlingin the country.

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, JUNE 25

A woman from the city haslodged a complaint against aprivate hospital and a diagnos-tic centre at Vanasthalipuram,alleging that she was notinformed that the baby she wascarrying had a partially formedlimb.

According to Vanasthal-ipuram police, the woman, 22,underwent a Cesarean sectionat a maternity hospital on June22. The baby girl’s left hand wasnot fully formed. She said shehad undergone scanning sixtimes and was never informedabout the baby’s hand.

She alleged that she wasinformed that the delivery canbe done in July, but, when shewent for a check-up on Monday,the delivery was performedimmediately. Based on the com-plaint, a case has been regis-tered under the relevant sec-tions of IPC and the investiga-tion has been taken up, thepolice added.

NATION pg 4DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 26 JUNE 2020

SHORT TAKES

CONG ASKS PM TOCLARIFY CHINESEFORAY REPORTS

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, JUNE 25

Training guns at the Centreover China, the Congress onThursday said while the Modigovernment was repeatedlyinforming the country thattalks were being held withBeijing, satellite images showthat the Chinese side haveagain captured certain parts ofthe border with Ladakh.

Congress sought an explana-tion from Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on this andasked whether he had misledthe nation at the all partymeeting held recently.

“The government has main-tained that they are talking tocounterparts in China forrestoring the status quo anteat the Galwan Valley, PangongTso Lake and the area of HotSprings. This has been thePrime Minister’s consistentstand, but, if you read today’snewspapers, most of themcarry satellite images, quotesby former Generals of theArmy wherein we can veryclearly see that instead ofwithdrawing, the PLA has notonly come back but have start-ed making tents in GalwanValley again,” Congress spoke-sperson Pawan Khera said.

New Delhi, June 25: In amajor reform in the India’sspace arena, the private sectorwill now be allowed to carryout space activities like build-ing of rockets, satellites andproviding launch services,ISRO chief K. Sivan said onThursday.

Terming this a “majorreform,” Sivan said the privatesector can also be part of theinter-planetary missions ofthe Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO).

The Cabinet on Wednesdayapproved participation of theprivate sector in the entirerange of space activities,including planetary explo-ration missions.

“The private sector will beenabled to carry out spaceactivities like building ofrockets, satellites, providinglaunch services on a commer-cial basis. The private sectorcan also be part of interplane-tary missions of ISRO. This isbeing planned to be donethrough announcement ofopportunities,” Sivan said inan online briefing.

PVT SECTOR TO BEALLOWED TO

BUILD ROCKETS

NGT SLAMSINTERIM FINE OF`25 CR ON O.I.L.

New Delhi, June 25: TheNational Green Tribunal hasimposed an interim penalty of`25 crore on PSU major OilIndia over its failure to stopfire in Assam’s Baghjan oilwell resulting in damage to theenvironment.

Well number 5 at Baghjan inTinsukia district, has beenspewing gas uncontrollably forthe last 27 days and it caughtfire on June 9, killing two ofOIL’s firefighters at the site.

A bench comprising JusticeS.P. Wangdi and expert member Siddhanta Das consti-tuted a committee headed byformer high court judge B.P.Katakey to look into the mat-ter and submit a report in 30days.

“In view of the prima faciecase made out against OilIndia Ltd on the extent ofdamage caused to the environ-ment and biodiversity, damage to both human andwildlife, public health and,having regard to the financialworth of the Company and the extent of damage, wedirect the OIL to deposit aninitial amount of `25 crorewith Tinsukia DistrictMagistrate,” the bench said inits order.

The order came on a plea fil-ed by activist Bonani Kakkarand others alleging failure ofauthorities in preventing theblowout of Baghjan oil well.

Protecting borders

An Indian fighter jet flies over Leh, the capital of Union Territory of Ladakh on Thursday. Indian fighter jetsroared over a flashpoint Himalayan region on Wednesday. — AFP

India likely to cross 5 lakhmark in Covid cases today

Writes a four-page letter to CM questioning legitimacy of state machinery

VINEETA PANDEY | DCNEW DELHI, JUNE 25

India may cross the five-lakh mark in Covidcases on Friday. OnThursday, 17,895 wereregistered nationwide,taking the tally to4,90,880. A total of 401people died of the dis-ease, and the toll nowstands at 15,308.

According to the Unionhealth ministry, Indiarecorded 16,922 cases onWednesday, taking itsoverall tally to 4,73,105till Thursday morning.In the last 24 hours, 418new fatalities werereported taking the tollto 14,894.

The ministry said thatcases per lakh in Indiacurrently stand at 33.39against the world’s120.21 while death/lakhin the country isamongst the lowest inthe world at with 1.06against the world aver-age of 6.24.

The ministry addedthat so far 2,71,696patients have recovered,out of which 13,012 weredischarged in the last 24hours till Thursdaymorning, while 1,86,514are under treatment.The recovery rate is now57.43 per cent and Indiais globally ranked fourthin recovery rate as perJohns HopkinsUniversity.

India has tested morethan 75 lakh persons. Inthe last 24 hours, a littleover 2 lakh tests wereconducted.

Among those who havetested positive include 12Army personnel inKohima district ofNagaland. These person-nel were at JakhamaArmy camp quarantinecentre after reporting toduty.

Apart fromMaharashtra thatreported 1,42,900 totalcases so far out of which3,890 are new, and Delhithat has logged 70,390total cases with 3,788new ones, Tamil Nadu isfast reporting manycases.

According to econo-mist Prof Shamika Ravi,Tamil Nadu seems to bewitnessing a secondwave of cases since Mayend with higher numberof deaths.

“Tamil Nadu hadreported a large caseload from the beginningof the pandemic in Indiaand managed the firstwave remarkably well,with very few deaths”she said while addingthat such high numbersdaily could be due toineffective strategy ofcontact tracing, testingand isolation. She saidthere is a need for clus-ter analysis of testingdata at the earliest.

H-1B suspension toaffect professionalsSRIDHARKUMARASWAMI | DCNEW DELHI, JUNE 25

India on Thursday con-ceded that the recentdecision by the UnitedStates to suspend the H-1B visas till the end ofthe year is “likely toaffect movement ofIndian skilled profes-sionals”, but said it is“assessing the impact ofthe order on Indiannationals and industryin consultation withstakeholders”.

Pointing out that “theUS has always wel-comed talent, India alsosaid it “hopes” thatIndian professionalswill “continue to be wel-comed in the US in thefuture”.

Reminding the US that“high-skilled Indian pr-ofessionals bring im-portant skill sets, bridgetechnological gaps andimpart a competitive ed-ge to the US economy”,New Delhi said “theyhave also been a criticalcomponent of the work-force that is at the fore-front of providing Cov-id-19 related assistancein key sectors, includinghealth, information tec-hnology and financialservices”.

In a blow to Indiantechies, US PresidentDonald Trump had onTuesday suspended theH-1B visas till the end of

the year. The H-1B visais a non-immigrant visathat allows US compani-es to employ foreign wo-rkers in speciality occ-upations that require th-eoretical or technical e-xpertise.

The technology com-panies depend on it tohire tens of thousandsof employees each year.According to some esti-mates before theCoronavirus pandemichit the globe, the USissued 85,000 H-1B visasevery year out of whichIndians reportedly getabout 60,000 visas.Therefore, the US movecould now severelyaffect the Indian indus-try especially the IT sec-tor.

In a statement, theMEA said, “We haveseen the Proclamationissued by PresidentTrump on June 22 tem-porarily suspendingentry of certain cate-gories of non-immi-grant visa-holders &their family memberstill December 31, 2020.This is likely to affectmovement of Indianskilled professionalswho avail of these non-immigrant visa pro-grammes to work law-fully in the US. We areassessing the impact ofthe order on Indiannationals and industryin consultation withstakeholders.”

RATH YATRAPRIESTS TO GETCOVID-19 TESTS AKSHAYA KUMARSAHOO | DCBHUBANESWAR, JUNE 25

The SrimandirManaging Committee ofPuri in Odisha hasdecided that all thosewho participated in LordJagannath’s Rath Yatrawill be tested for Covid-19 while the servi-tors of the temple will betested twice for the virusbefore Bahuda Yatra orthe return journey ofdeity.

The committee’s vicechairman SureshMohapatra said thatCovid-19 test of around5,000 people, includingservitors and police per-sonnel, who took part inthe Rath Yatra, will beconducted.

“A massive testingdrive will be taken up.Testing of the servitors,who were and willremain directly involvedin the chariot pulling,will be done in two phas-es. Only those police per-sonnel, who will test neg-ative for Covid-19, can beallowed to take part inthe ‘Dakhina Moda’ ritu-al,” said Mohapatra.

Nagaland Gov. says law,order has deterioratedMANOJ ANAND | DCGUWAHATI, JUNE 25

In what has created asensation in political circles in the Northeast,Nagaland Governor R.N. Ravi has expresseddeep concern over the “precarious law andorder” situation in thestate since August.

In a four-page letter toChief Minister NeiphiuRio, a copy of which iswith this newspaper,Ravi said that over half adozen “armed gangs”have challenged the

legitimacy of the stategovernment on a dailybasis.

The June 16 letter saidthe state’s law and ordermachinery had created a“crisis of confidence”due to its unresponsive-ness.

Ravi wrote: “Law-abid-ing citizens — dailywage earners, petty vendors, businessmen,shopkeepers, owners of restaurants or govern-ment servants — aremade miserable by rampant extortion andviolence by armed

gangs.”Ravi, who earlier

served in the PMO asdeputy to NSA Ajit Dovalbefore becoming Governor in 2019, saidthe situation had

deteriorated and hecould no longer avoid hisconstitutional obliga-tions under Article371A(1)(b).

He proposed that keyfunctions like the trans-fer and posting of offi-cials be done only withhis approval.

Ravi also proposed toperiodically review thesituation and issue direc-tions if required.

The Governor’s letteralso highlighted that“armed gangs” appointtheir own “dealers” forevery commodity, from

salt to constructionmaterials, coming intoNagaland and also levyillegal taxes on everyitem.

“Transporters havecomplained to me thatthere is over 200 per centcost escalation in transportation themoment a goods-ladentruck enters Nagalanddue to gunpoint extor-tion by armed miscre-ants,” the Governor said, who is also theinterlocutor for the ongoing Naga peacetalks.

‘Won’t allow ‘spurious’ medicine sale in Maha’SONU SHRIVASTAVA | DCMUMBAI, JUNE 25

Maharashtra home minis-ter Anil Deshmukh onThursday said that legalaction will be takenagainst Baba Ramdev’scompany Patanjali, if itsells their anti-corona drugin the state. TermingCoronil, the drug launchedby Patanjali as anti-Coronavirus ayurvedicmedicine, Deshmukh said

that the National Instituteof Medical Sciences(NIMS) in Jaipur will findout whether proper clini-cal trials of Coronil weredone or not.

The home minister saidthat Patanjali’s medicineneeds a permission fromUnion AYUSH Ministryand Indian Council ofMedical Science.

“Despite not having anypermissions, if they try tosell the medicine in

Maharashtra or advertisethat Covid-19 can be curedwith it, an offence will beregistered against them,”he said.

The minister also postedon his twitter handle, “TheNational Institute ofMedical Sciences, Jaipurwill find out whether clini-cal trials of@PypAyurved’s ‘Coronil’were done at all. An abun-dant warning to @yogr-ishiramdev that

Maharashtra won’t allowsale of spurious medi-cines.”

Meanwhile, the BJP camein the support of BabaRamdev. BJP leader andlegislator Ram Kadam said that how canDeshmukh call the medi-cine spurious without anyinvestigation.

Responding to the homeminister on Twitter, theBJPlegislator posted a doc-ument claiming that it was

the approval of the NIMSfor the clinical trials ofCoronil.

“Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh’stweet on Patanjali’sCoronil medicine onCoronavirus calling it asspurious. He also said thatclinical trial approval fromNIMS will be awaited. Iwould like to inform theRespected Home Ministerthat clinical approval isthere,”Kadam tweeted.

New Delhi, June 25:Budget hotels, restau-rants and guest houses inthe national capital andholy town MathuraVrindavan have decidedthat they will boycottgoods from China and notprovide accommodationto its nationals amid bor-der standoff.

The Delhi Hotels andRestaurant Owners Asso-ciation, which has morethan 3,000 budget hotelsand restaurants as mem-bers in the national capi-tal, has written to theCAIT informing aboutthe decision and thegrouping’s full support toCAIT’s boycott Chinesegoods campaign.

Likewise, the MathuraVrindavan Hotel OwnersAssociation, with 125hotels and guest housesas its members, said itwill also boycott goodsfrom china and not allowaccommodation toChinese nationals.

The decision comes aga-inst the backdrop of vio-lent clashes earlier thismonth between India andChina in eastern Ladakh.

— PTI

DELHI HOTELSTO BOYCOTTCHINESE GOODS

LAW-ABIDINGcitizens like daily

wage earners, pettyvendors are mademiserable by rampantextortion and violenceby armed gangs.

R.N. RAVI, Nagaland Governor

19th DEATH ANNIVERSARYPassed from death in to life. John 5:24

Late MADDELA RATNAM Rtd. Sub-Inspector of Police

S/o Late Maddela EliasDOB: 16-6-1926 DOD: 26-6-2001

You will be dearly missedand we love you Daddy.

Inserted by:Wife: M. Shubhamani Ratnam

Cell: 9849702552

(S/2021/D00217)

HOMAGE

Smt. SNEHA PRABHA DHUPARW/o Late Chamanlal Dhupar

We will always rememberyou with love & respect.

By: Babani Family(S/2021/D00215)

OBITUARYHe lived like one and left usfighting till the end.

May your soul rest in peaceMy Tiger

SREERAM PATHRUDUDOB: 16-07-1939

Expired: 25-06-2020(S/2021/D00216)

57th BIRTHDAY

Late L.L. RAVI SHANKERDOB: 26.6.1963 DOD: 06.5.2019“Death leaves a heartache, no onecan heal love leaves a memory,no one can steal.”

Inserted by:Your Loving Friends and

their Families.(S/2021/D00214)

7th ANNIVERSARYREMEMBRANCE

GELLI NARAYANA CHETTYI.A.S. (Retd.)

DOB: 20-03-1908 DOD: 26-06-2013A DISTINGUISHEDADMINISTRATOR

(Recognised and Rewarded)GREAT PHILANTHROPIST

(Donated all his pensionof 42 years)

Devoted Social Activist,Avowed Institution BuilderA Committed Mentor andA Human Par Excellence

FAMILY MEMBERSPh: 040-23233208

OBITUARY

Al Haaj M.B. Zainulabedeen Retired Deputy Director Of Agriculture

Agriculture Staff Training Institute Retired On 28/02/2000

(Hyderabad).DOB: 25/02/1942 DOE: 24/06/2020

From: Wife : Shafia SultanaDaughter : Dr Ayesha

Son : ArshadAll Family Members

4th DEATH ANNIVERSARY

G.S. ELISHA D.O.D: 26.06.2016

“For to me to live is christ and todie is gain” Phil. 1:21

(Wife - Daughter)

CALLED TO GLORY“The eternal God is your refuge, and Hiseverlasting arms are under you.”

— Deuteronomy 33:27

S. BHASKARDOB:10.4.1973 DOD:25.6.2020

Funeral at NarayanagudaCemetery on 26.6.2020 at 1 pm.

Wife and DaughtersContact: 9848449751

9391197801

Firm aims for inclusive vision of beauty

HUL removes ‘Fair’from Fair & Lovely

pg 5HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 26 JUNE 2020

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, JUNE 25

While China is graduallyexiting the footwear busi-ness due to rising labourcost, India is unable to takeadvantage of it, as theindustry is still dependenton China for components.Large footwear companiescollaborating with smallcomponent suppliers andcreating an ecosystem canhelp in large-scale manu-facturing, finds industry.

Increasing factory wageshas seen footwear manu-facturing gradually shift-ing from China to coun-tries like Vietnam,Indonesia and Cambodia.Post-Covid-19, internation-al brands will further lookat diversifying productionto avoid risk of concentra-tion.

Though Indian footwearindustry has naturaladvantages like availabili-ty of leather and cheaplabour, it could not convertthem into a comparativeadvantage in production.While China produces 13.5billion pairs of footwear,India’s production is just 2billion pairs.

India still imports compo-nents and finished goodsfrom overseas. Chinaaccounts for nearly 70 per

cent of the footwear andfootwear componentimports by India followedby Vietnam, Hong Kong,Cambodia and Indonesia.

"International brandsprefer China as it has thescale of manufacturing

and the entire ecosystem tosupport footwear produc-tion, including compo-nents, leather as well asskilled labour. Even thosewho buy processed leatherfrom us, want it to be sentto China for production offootwear and other arti-cles," said Rafeeq Ahmed,president of All-India Skinand Hide Tanners andMerchants Associa-tion.Further, India is still lag-ging behind in ladiesfootwear and high fashionleather products.

The components keepchanging in footwear man-ufacturing and the indus-try has to be in tune withthe changing trends in thefashion world. The govern-ment is working on aPhased ManufacturingProgramme to build anecosystem of componentsfor footwear and leatherproducts to curb imports.

"Generally, the govern-ment increases duties tocurb imports and to pro-mote domestic manufac-turing. In the case offootwear, a sudden hike induties of components willbe counter-productive. Weneed to build the ecosys-tem gradually and till itfully develops, duties haveto be retained at currentlevels,” he said.

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, JUNE 25

Faced with surplus pro-duction of personal pro-tective equipment (PPE)kits, apparel exportershave asked the govern-ment to permit exports ofthe much sough afterkits. Some competitors ofIndian apparel exportershave already started tap-ping the $60 billion globalPPE market.

In less than fourmonths, the apparelindustry has scaled upthe production of PPEkits from zero to 8 lakhunits per day. There areover 500 units that manu-facture PPE kits.

“The industry hasdemonstrated extraordi-nary enterprise and nim-bleness through its abili-ty to rejig large produc-tion facilities to manufac-ture PPEs by re-purpos-ing their production linesamidst a nationwide lock-down that disruptedmaterial, labour and sup-ply chains,” ApparelExport Promotion Coun-cil (AEPC) chairman A.Sakthivel said.

According to him, thegovernment used to pro-cure 4 to 4.5 lakh units aday earlier. Now, its pro-

curement has come downand the industry has sur-plus quantity of around 5lakh units per day. Hencethe industry has askedthe government to lift theban on exports of PPEkits, which was enforcedwhen there was scarcity.

The industry says it canplay a key role in the glob-al market of PPEs, whichis estimated to be morethan $60 billion over thenext five years.

The apparel exportershave already shipped Rs750-800 crore worth non-surgical masks.

“Countries likeBangladesh, Indonesia,Pakistan and others havelifted the ban on PPEexports and are receivinghuge orders. We areafraid of losing exportopportunities to our com-peting countries,’ he said.

Pakistan received $100million export orders lastweek.

Footwear needs ecosystemto scale up, reduce imports

DOUGLAS BUSVINE,JÖRN POLTZ & ARNO SCHUETZEBERLIN/MUNICH/FRANKFURT, JUNE 25

Wirecard collapsed onThursday owing credi-tors almost $4 billionafter disclosing a gap-ing hole in its books inGermany’s worstaccounting scandal.

The implosion of thepayments firm came aweek after auditor EYrefused to sign off its2019 accounts, forcingout CEO Markus Braunand leading Wirecard toadmit that $2.1 billion ofits cash probably didn’texist.

Wirecard is the firstmember of Germany’sprestigious DAX stockindex to go bust, lessthan two years after itcommanded a spotamong the country’sbiggest 30 listed compa-nies with a market valu-ation of $28 billion.

Its demise leaves cred-itors with scant hope ofgetting back the 3.5 bil-lion euros ($3.9 billion)they are owed, a sourceclose to to the mattersaid. — Reuters

PPE kits hit 8L fromzero, now face glut

FALAKNAAZ SYEDMUMBAI, JUNE 25

Though some quarters areprojecting a drastic fall inthe rupee, currencyexperts largely expect thedollar-rupee to move inrange of 74 to 77.5 forremainder of the year,with a bias towards rupeeappreciation due to lowercurrent account deficitand higher capital inflows. They say the rupee’s per-

formance will be caughtbetween contrary pulls,like improving externalterms of trade and domes-tic fiscal fragilities, andworsening credit condi-tions and the centralbank’s stance on therupee.

On Thursday, the rupeeerased its initial lossesand closed higher at 75.65against the dollar. Itopened at 75.75 against thedollar and traded in therange of 75.57 to 75.78.

The US dollar has beenunder pressure since allcountries went in for alockdown starting fromMarch. The confidence inthe US economy has beenlower as growth is expect-ed to decline by 6.5 percent in 2020 and unem-ployment is set to increaseto 9.3 per cent.

The Commerce Depart-ment reported Thursdaythat the US economyshrank at a 5 per cent ratein the first quarter with amuch worse declineexpected in the currentthree-month economicperiod.

The 5 per cent drop wasthe sharpest quarterlydecline since an 8.4 percent fall in the fourthquarter of 2008 during thedepths of the financial cri-

sis.The Fed also acknowl-

edged the sustained weak-ness and promised toincrease its holding ofcommercial mortgagebacked securities besidesincreasing overnight andterm repo operations.

In addition, uncertaintyon the US-China front andthe upcoming US electionsin November continue topervade sentiment andmake the market volatile.As a result, most of thecurrencies have strength-ened against the dollar.

According to a CareRatings study based onweekly averages for weekending June 17 over weekending March 25, the eurois up by almost 3 per centwhile the pound gained byaround 4 per cent and theAustralian dollar 13 percent. In comparision, therupee has fallen by 0.6 percent during this perioddespite the forex reserveswith the RBI touching arecord high of $500 billion.The other two currencieswhich depreciated werethe Brazilian real (3.8 percent) and the Turkish lira(6.4 per cent). Expertspoint out that the dollar

purchases by the RBI havebeen ensuring that theexcess dollar inflows donot lead to rapid apprecia-tion in the rupee.

“We may expect therupee to be in the range ofRs 75.5-76.5 for the nextthree months tillSeptember as the funda-mentals will continue toremain firm. The risk fac-tor is once again crude oilprice going up and exert-ing pressure on the CAD,which can weaken funda-mentals,” said MadanSabnavis, chief economistat Care Ratings.

Foreign investors havebought domestic stocksworth Rs 31,100 crore thisquarter.

“Overall, INR perform-ance will be caughtbetween improving exter-nal terms of trade andhome-grown issues of fis-cal fragilities and worsen-ing credit conditions andRBI stance on INR. Webelieve there may be fur-ther INR weakness beforeit eventually stabilises asglobal calm returns onceCovid impact peaks andglobal coordinated policymeasures start to kick ingrowth. On global front,we are closely monitoring(1) second wave of Covid,(2) sustainability of globalrisk-on mood, (3) geopoliti-cal tension globallyfocussed on US-China, (4)US elections in Novemberand Trump rhetorics aselection time nears. Wethink USD-INR couldrange between 74.00-77.5for remainder of the yearwith a bias towards INRappreciation as we nearthe end of the year,” wroteMadhavi Arora fromEdelweiss Forex and Ratesin a report.

Rupee seen stayingrange-bound this year

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, JUNE 25

After Johnson & Johnsonwithdrew a few fairnessproduct brands, HindustanUnilever has decided todrop ‘Fair’ from its popularbrand ‘Fair & Lovely.’ TheFMCG companies decisionto be more sensitive aboutracial stereotypes come ata time when the ‘BlackLives Matter’ campaignhas spread globally andstarted raising awarenessabout skin colour-relateddiscrimination in India.The move is likely to see amajor churn in the $450million fairness productsmarket in India.

"Taking forward thebrand’s journey towards amore inclusive vision ofbeauty, the company willstop using the word ‘fair’ inthe brand name ‘Fair andLovely’. The new name isawaiting regulatory appro-vals and we expect tochange the name in thenext few months," HULsaid.

The brand’s vision is toadopt a holistic approachto beauty that cares forpeople and that must beinclusive and diverse’—foreveryone, everywhere. Thebrand, valued more thanRs 2,000 crore, is commit-ted to celebrating all skintones, the company said.

In early 2019, the brand’scommunication movedaway from the benefits offairness, whitening andskin lightening, towardsglow, even tone, skin clari-ty and radiance, which areholistic measures of ahealthy skin. HUL also

removed from Fair andLovely packaging wordssuch as ‘fair/fairness’,‘white/whitening’, and‘light/lightening’ thatcould indicate a fairness-led transformation.

"We are making our skincare portfolio more inclu-sive and want to lead thecelebration of a morediverse portrayal of beau-ty. In 2019, we removed thecameo with two faces aswell as the shade guidesfrom the packaging of Fairand Lovely and the brandcommunication pro-gressed from fairness toglow, which is a more holis-tic and inclusive measureof healthy skin. Thesechanges were very wellreceived by our con-sumers," Sanjiv Mehta,chairman and managingdirector, HUL said.

HUL continue to evolveits advertising to featurewomen of different skintones, representative of thevariety of beauty acrossIndia.

Last week, Johnson &Johnson stopped selling itsskin whitening productrange under the Clean &Clear brand in India. It has

stopped shipping the prod-ucts to retail stores. J&Jhad also pulled out theNeutrogena Fine Fairnessline in from the Indianmarket.

The Indian fairnesscream market, valued $450million, is dominated byHUL, Procter & Gambleand Garnier. There are alsocompanies like Emami,Lotus Herbals, Himalaya,among others, who havebeen tapping into this mar-ket ‘promising fairness’.

"HUL has been chasingthe "fairness" opportunityin the market for 45 years.Promoting fair skin ispolitically incorrect andsocially misplaced. The catwas let loose among thepigeons by a smaller playerlike Johnson & Johnsonand this forced even thebigger player to change. Sowe will see other brandsalso rebranding them-selves in the near future,"said brand expert HarishBijoor.

The fairness market itselfis set to see a lot of churn.According to Bijoor, thebrands will not lose any-thing, provided the reposi-tioning is done well.

Wirecard drowns with

$4 billion

SUDARSHAN VARADHAN& NIDHI VERMACHENNAI/NEW DELHI, JUNE 25

The government is con-sidering imposing animport tax of 20-25 percent on solar modulesand 15 per cent on solarcells for a year begin-ning in August, powerminister R.K. Singhsaid on Thursday.

Currently, there is nocustoms duty on impo-rts of solar cells andmodules, but there’s asafeguard duty to pro-tect local industrywhich expires in July.

“In the second year,we are looking toimpose a 40 per cent taxon solar modules,”Singh said in a virtualnews conference onThursday, adding thatcells will be taxed at 25per cent in the secondyear.

India imports most ofits solar cells and mod-ules from China,.

Electricity generationfrom non-fossil fuelsources has been steadi-ly rising and is expectedto reach 40 per cent by2022, and over half oftotal output by 2030,Singh said.

Singh also said thatthere was a “good case”to extend a deadline foremissions standards,which involve instal-ling Flue Gas Desul-phurization (FGD)units that cut emissionsof sulphur dioxide—known to cause lungdiseases.

— Reuters

Govt mulls 20-25% duty

on solarmodules

FUMBUKA NG’WANAKILALAJUNE 25

A Tanzanian hand-minerbecame an instant mil-lionaire after selling thetwo of the largest-tanzan-ite gems ever discoveredto the government.

The East Africannation’s central bank paidSaniniu Laizer 7.7 billionshillings ($3.3 million) forthe stones, which weighed9.2 kg and 5.8 kg. Laizerreceived the payment atan award ceremony in thenortheastern Manyararegion and broadcast onnational television onWednesday.

President John Magu-fuli said the purchasefrom Laizer was vindica-tion of mining reformsthat the government hasimplemented since hecame to power in 2015.The changes include theintroduction of centreswhere small-scale minerscan trade their finds.

Tanzania is the world’sonly source of tanzanite,a blue-purple gem that’sfound at the foot of MountKilimanjaro.

— Bloomberg

Tanzanianhand-miner

becomesmillionaire

KEITH NAUGHTONJUNE 25

Ford Motor Co has a lotriding on the overhauledF-150 pickup it's unveilingThursday night. Ratherthan shy away from thestakes, the automaker hasgiven a look under thehood of its cash-cow truckfranchise.

The almost 900,000 F-Series pickups sold lastyear generated about $42billion in revenue, accord-ing to a study Ford com-missioned from theBoston Consulting Group.That ranks near AppleInc's iPhone among thebiggest US consumerproducts. On its own, F-Series is larger than

McDonald's Corp, NikeInc, Coca-Cola Co andStarbucks Corp.

"It's the crown jewels ofthe business," Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's product

development chief, said inan interview. The revenuefigure BCG cites is almost30 per cent of the totalFord reported for its auto-motive business last year."There's no product moreimportant for us, andwhen the F-150 chief engi-neer calls, he usually getsall the help he needs."

The F-Series line oftrucks supports roughlyhalf a million jobs and

contributes $49 billionannually to US GDP, thestudy found. BCG comput-ed the truck's economicimpact by looking at howmuch employment andrevenue is tied directly toFord and indirectly to itssuppliers, dealers and em-ployees' tertiary spending.

"The F-Series stands outbecause it has a muchhigher price point thanmost other products," saidMichael Book, a seniorpartner at BCG.

In the new F-150 beingunveiled, the automakerwill offer a much largertouch screen to counter apopular option on FiatChrysler AutomobilesNV's ascendant Ram pick-up models. —Bloomberg

Ford’s F-Series pick-up ranksnext to iPhone in revenue

Sebi relaxes pricing norms forpreferential issues till Dec. 31ASHWIN J PUNNENMUMBAI, JUNE 25

Markets regulator Sebi onThursday decided to tem-porarily ease pricingframework for preferen-tial allotment as part ofefforts to liberalise normsfor raising funds in viewof the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Sebi boardapproved a proposal toprovide an additionaloption to the existing pric-ing methodology for pref-erential issuances.

In case of frequentlytraded shares, the price ofthe equity shares to beallotted pursuant to thepreferential issue shouldnot be less than higher of"the average of the weekly

high and low of the vol-ume weighted averageprice of the related equityshares" during the 12weeks preceding the rele-vant date, according to arelease issued by Sebi.

Further, companies canconsider "the average ofthe weekly high and low ofthe volume weighted aver-age prices of the relatedequity shares quoted on a

recognised stockexchange during the twoweeks preceding the rele-vant date" for pricingguideline for preferentialissue.

The specified securitiesallotted on preferentialbasis using the new pric-ing formula would belocked-in for a period ofthree years.

The option in pricingshall be available for thepreferential issues madebetween July 1 andDecember 31, 2020.

Besides, the watchdogsaid acquisition of sharesby way of stock exchangesettlement processthrough bulk and/or blockdeals would be permittedduring the open offer.

New Delhi, June 25:Some exporters haveraised concerns overconsignments beingheld back by Hong Kongand Chinese customs inresponse to a similaraction allegedly beingtaken by Indian author-ities at Chennai port,exporters body Fieosaid on Thursday.

Fieo urged the com-merce ministry to takeup the matter withCBIC to see if any offi-cial communication hasbeen sent to customsregarding scrutiny ofChinese consignmentshere. —PTI

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 34,842.10 -0.08Nifty 50 10,288.90 -0.16S&P 500* 3,038.90 -0.37Dollar (`) 75.65 0.09Pound Sterling (`) 94.13 0.40Euro (`) 85.04 0.58Gold (10gm)* (`) 49,072▼293 0.59Brent crude ($/bbl)* 40.75 0.44IN 10-Yr bond yield 5.891 -0.027US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 0.663 -0.021

* As of 9:30 PM IST

Accenture beatsquarterly incomeestimatesIT consulting firm Accenturebeat analysts’ estimates forthird-quarter revenue, as invest-ments in growing digital andcloud services businesses paidoff. Revenue was down nearly 1per cent to $10.99 billion, edg-ing past average analysts’ esti-mate of $10.87 bn, according toIBES data from Refinitiv. Netincome attributable to the com-pany fell to $1.23 bn, or $1.90per share, in the quarter endedMay 31, from $1.25 billion.

Indian money inSwiss banksdown 6% in 2019

Funds parked by Indian indi-viduals and enterprises inSwiss banks, including throughIndia-based branches, fell near-ly 6 per cent in 2019 to 899million Swiss francs (Rs 6,625crore), annual data from theSwiss National Bank (SNB)showed. The total amount ofCHF 899.46 mn, included CHF550 mn (over Rs 4,000 cr) ofcustomer deposits and CHF 88mn (Rs 650 cr) held throughother banks.

Google to startpaying somepublishersGoogle says it will start payingsome publishers for their newscontent. The company said itplans to launch this year alicensing programme to paypublishers for high-qualitycontent. The programme willstart with local and nationalpublications in Germany,Australia and Brazil, "withmore to come soon," BradBender, vice president of product management, said in a blog post.

Bank of IndiaQ4 net loss at`3,571 croreBank of India reported a stand-alone net loss of Rs 3,571.41crore for the March quarter dueto higher provisions. The bankhad a profit of Rs 251.79 crore inQ4FY19. In the December quar-ter also, there was a profit of Rs105.52 crore. "Because of higherprovisions on bad debts, fromRs 1,503 crore during Q4 FY19to Rs 7,316 crore during Q4FY20, net profit stood at (-) Rs3,571 crore as against Rs 252crore during Q4 FY19," BoI said.

EXPORTERS FEARBACKLASH

F-series ranks among the largestUS consumer products by revenue

Source: Boston Consulting Group/Bloomberg

Big bucks

Apple iPhone

Ford F-series

US refrigerators

Android OS

AB InBev’s Budweiser

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 $ billion

TAMINGthe Dragon

(Inverted scale) Source: KBK Infographics

Rupee vs Dollar75.66+0.37

75.65+0.07

75.72-0.0676.14

+0.0276.03+0.17

76.20-0.06

` per US $

18 19 22 23 24 25June 2020

We are making ourskin care portfoliomore inclusive and

want to lead the celebration of a morediverse portrayal ofbeauty”

— Sanjiv Mehta, CMD, HUL

Printed & Published by K. Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Limited, Printed atDeccan Chronicle Press at Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Ltd. #563/9/D&9/E,Behind Andhra Bank Pet Basheerbagh,

Kompally, Ranga Reddy Dist. Editor:T.Venkatram Reddy, RNI Reg

No.APENG/2008/24282. © All rightsreserved. Reproduction in whole or in partwithout written permission of The Editor,

Financial Chronicle ® is prohibited.

WORLD pg 6DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 26 JUNE 2020

IN BRIEFUS doubles new

IS chief’s bountyWashington: The United Stat-es has doubled the bounty to$10 million for information le-

ading to the capture of theIslamic State’s new leader

Amir Muhammad Sa’id Ab-dal-Rahma al-Mawla. Al-Ma-

wla, who is also known asHajji Abdallah and Abu-‘Umar

al-Turkmani, had succeededAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi follow-ing the latter’s death in a US

military operation in October2019. Born in Mosul, Iraq, in1976, al-Mawla was a seniorterrorist leader in IS’ prede-

cessor organisation, al-Qaedain Iraq. Al-Mawla steadilyrose through the ranks to

assume a senior leadershiprole as the deputy leader of

the militant group. On March18, 2020, the State Depar-

tment designated al-Mawlaas a Specially Designated

Global Terrorist.

Assange facesnew U.S. chargeWashington: WikiLeaks fou-nder Julian Assange sought

to recruit hackers at confere-nces in Europe and Asia whocould provide his anti-secre-

cy website with classified inf-ormation, and conspired withmembers of hacking organis-

ations, according to a newJustice Department indictm-

ent. It does not contain addi-tional charges beyond the 18

counts the Justice Departme-nt unsealed last year. But pr-osecutors say it underscoresAssange’s efforts to procureand release classified infor-

mation, allegations that formthe basis of criminal charges

he already faces. Beyond rec-ruiting hackers at conferenc-es, it accuses him of conspir-ing with members of hackinggroups known as LulzSec and

Anonymous. He also workedwith a 17-year-old hacker

who gave him informationstolen from a bank and

directed the teenager tosteal additional material,

prosecutors say.

Pompeo threatens UNsanctions against IranUnited Nations, June 25:US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo threatenedto seek to reimpose UNsanctions on Iran if theUN Security Council doesnot approve a resolutionthat would indefinitelyextend the arms embargoon Tehran, which is set toexpire in October.

Pompeo told a news conf-erence at the State Depar-tment in Washington onWednesday that withoutextending the arms emb-argo, “Iran will be able topurchase advanced weap-ons systems and becomean arms dealer of choicefor terrorists and rogueregimes all throughout theworld. This is unaccept-able.” He spoke ahead of aclosed video briefing toSecurity Council membersWednesday afternoon onthe US draft resolution tomaintain the arms embar-go by US Special Represe-ntative for Iran BrianHook and US AmbassadorKelly Craft.

Tensions between Iranand the US have escalatedsince the Trump administ-ration withdrew from the2015 nuclear deal betweenTehran and six major pow-ers in 2018 and reimposedcrippling US sanctions.

A year ago, the US sentthousands more troops,long-range bombers andan aircraft carrier to theMiddle East in response towhat it called a growingthreat of Iranian attackson US interests in theregion. The five other pow-ers that signed the nucleardeal — Russia, China, UK,France and Germany —remain committed to it,saying the agreement iskey to continuing inspec-tions by the IAEA and pre-venting Iran from pursu-ing nuclear weapons.

— AP

Japan confirms it’s scrappingUS missile defence system

Islamabad, June 25: Pa-kistan on Thursday expre-ssed its disappointmentover the US State Depart-ment’s report which desc-ribed the country as a “sa-fe harbour” for regionally-focused terrorist groups.

The State Department,in its Congressional-man-dated 2019 Country Repo-rts on Terrorism, said onWednesday that Pakistanremained a “safe harbo-ur” for regionally-focusedterrorist groups and thatthe suspension of US aidto the country remainedin effect throughout 2019.

“Pakistan is fully awareof its responsibilities as asovereign state. We rejectany insinuation about any

safe haven. Pakistan willnot allow any group orentity to use its territoryagainst any country," theForeign Office said, com-menting on the report.

— PTI

‘Haven for ultras’ USreport annoys Pak

Tokyo, June 25: Japan’sNational Security Councilhas endorsed plans to can-cel the deployment of twocostly land-based US miss-ile defence systems aimedat bolstering the country’scapability against threatsfrom North Korea, the co-untry’s defence ministersaid Thursday.

Defence Minister TaroKono said the country willnow revise its missile def-ence programme and scaleup its entire defence post-ure. The council made itsdecision on Wednesday,and now the government

will need to enter negotia-tions with the US aboutwhat to do with paymentsand the purchase contractalready made for theAegis Ashore systems.

Kono announced theplan to scrap the systemsearlier this month after itwas found that the safetyof one of the two plannedhost communities couldnot be ensured without ahardware redesign thatwould be too time consum-ing and costly.

“We couldn’t move forw-ard with this project, butstill there are threats from

North Korea,” Kono said.Japan will discuss ways tobetter protect the countryfrom the North’s missilesand other threats, he said.

Prime Minister ShinzoAbe said the governmentwould consider the possi-bility of acquiring pre-emptive strike capability,a controversial plan thatcritics say would violateJapan’s war-renouncingConstitution. Kono onThursday also raised con-cern about China’s incr-easingly assertive activityin regional seas and skies.

— AP

BLACK MAN’SKILLING: THREEMEN INDICTEDAtlanta, June 25: A pros-ecutor on Wednesday ann-ounced that three menhave been indicted on mu-rder charges in the killingof Ahmaud Arbery onFebruary 23 in Georgia.

Prosecutor Joyette Holm-es said a Glynn Countygrand jury has indictedTravis McMichael, GregMcMichael and William“Roddie” Bryan Jr. on cha-rges — including maliceand felony murder — inthe death of the AfricanAmerican man.

Greg McMichael toldpolice that he had suspect-ed Arbery was a burglarand that Arbery attackedhis son before being shot.

— AP

● ● UN SECRETARY-GEN-ERAL Antonio Guterresexpects all member stat-es to “live up” to theirobligations under Secu-rity Council resolutions,after a US report notedthat Pakistan remains asafe haven for terroristsas it did not take actionsagainst JeM founderMasood Azhar.

‘Sea’ of humanity

Beachgoers enjoy the sunshine as they sunbathe and play in the sea on Boscombebeach in Bournemouth, southern England, on Thursday. — AFP

Paris, June 25: Touristsand Parisians gathered atthe Eiffel Tower on Thurs-day as the iron monumentreopened after its longestclosure since World War II,a highly symbolic move as

France emerges from itsCovid-19 lockdown.

Journalists outnumber-ed about 50 people, whobegan the steep climb bystairs to the first two lev-els, as elevators and the

top observation deck willremain closed. PatrickBranco Ruivo, directorgeneral of the site’s oper-ating company SETE, saidthe top would reopen onJuly 15. — AFP

EIFFEL TOWER OPENS AFTER 104-DAY VIRUS LOCKDOWN

GAMESSHORT TAKES

Regd. No. H/SD/509/2018-20Printed and Published by

K. Sudhakar on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited. Printed atDeccan Chronicle Press situated at

Plot No. 9 Alwal Village, VallabhNagar Taluk, Medchal Malkajgiri Dist.Telangana and Published at 36, S.D.

Road, Secunderabad-3.RNI Registration No. 3081/1957.

Editor: Aditya Sinha

Connor takes centrestageClare first female president of MCC in 233-year historyLondon, June 25:Former England captainClare Connor is set tobecome the first femalepresident of theMarylebone Cricket Club(MCC), guardian of thelaws of the game, in its233-year history.

The 43-year-old was onWednesday named as thesuccessor to current chiefKumar Sangakkara, whosteps down from the postnext year.

The nomination ofConnor, who is currentlythe ECB’s managingdirector of women’s crick-et, was made bySangakkara himself dur-ing Wednesday’s AnnualGeneral Meeting.

Connor will take up thepost on October 1 nextyear, pending approval bythe club’s members, asSangakkara has beeninvited to remain in therole for a second twelve-month tenure due to theimpact of Covid-19 on thecricketing landscape.

“I am deeply honouredto be named the nextPresident of MCC. Crickethas enriched my life sodeeply already, and now ithands me this wonderfulprivilege,” said Connor,who was made anHonorary Life Member ofMCC in 2009.

“We often need to lookback to see how far we’vecome. I made my first visitto Lord’s as a starry-eyed,cricket-obsessed nine-year-old girl at a timewhen women were notwelcome in the LongRoom. Times have

changed,” the formerEngland captain added.

“Now I find myselfentrustesd with thisremarkable opportunity.The opportunity to play apart in helping MCC,cricket’s most influentialclub, to thrive and grow inan even more modern andinclusive future,” Clarefurther added.

Connor made herEngland debut in 1995 atthe age of 19, and tookover the captaincy in 2000,leading England at Lord’s

against Australia a yearlater. An allrounder whobowled left-arm spin,Connor led Englandwomen to their first Ashestriumph in 42 years, over-seeing a 1-0 series win in2005.

The Ashes win was theculmination of her six-year stint as captain ofher country. She retiredfrom the game thereafter.

She was appointed as theECB’s head of women’scricket in 2007, havingpreviously taught English

Literature and been headof PR at Brighton Collegealongside her cricketingcareer.

Aside from her ECBduties, Connor has beenChair of the ICC Women’sCricket Committee since2011. She has also servedas a director on the boardof Sussex Cricket andSport England.

“I am thrilled that Clarehas accepted the invita-tion to become the nextPresident of MCC. Theclub has a significant role

to play in cricket’s globalappeal and with her influ-ence, I am sure she willmake a considerable con-tribution to MCC,” saidSangakkara.

“With the extended lead-in time until she takesoffice, she will have animportant part to play aspresident designate,”added the former SriLanka captain, whobecame the club’s firstnon-British presidentwhen he assumed office inOctober 2019. — PTI

Former England captain Clare Connor, who is all set to become the first female presi-dent of the Marylebone Cricket Club, poses in the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)Member’s Stand at the Lord’s Cricket Ground pavilion in this file photo.

We often need to lookback to see how farwe’ve come. I made myfirst visit to Lord’s as astarry-eyed, cricket-obsessed nine-year-oldgirl at a time whenwomen were not wel-come in the Long Room.Times have changed.

●Now I find myselfentrusted with thisremarkable opportunity.The opportunity to playa part in helping MCC,cricket’s most influentialclub, to thrive and growin an even more modernand inclusive future.

●I am deeply honoured tobe named the nextPresident of MCC.Cricket has enriched mylife so deeply already,and now it hands methis wonderful privilege.

— CLARE CONNOR

Ex-England captain New Delhi, June 25:Cleared of the dope taint,two-time CommonwealthGames gold-winningweightlifter Sanjita Chanuwill finally get the covetedArjuna award which hasbeen on hold since 2018.

A Sports Ministry sourceconfirmed that Chanu willbe conferred with theArjuna award as per a 2018Delhi High Court order,which directed the selec-tion committee to considerher and keep the decisionin a sealed cover to be dis-closed only if she wasabsolved of the dopingcharges.

“Sanjita (Chanu) isabsolved of all the dopingcharges by the internation-al federation, so we willhave to abide by the DelhiHigh Court order and con-sider her for the Arjunaaward,” the ministrysource confirmed.

After she was ignored forthe 2017 Arjuna Awards,Chanu had filed a writ peti-tion before the Delhi HCchallenging the decision toexclude her from the list ofthose recommended for thecoveted honour. During thependency of the case, shetested positive for a bannedsubstance in May 2018.

But the High Court, in itsorder in August that year,directed the committee toconsider her for the award

and keep its decision in asealed cover, pending adecision on her appealagainst dope charges.

The InternationalWeightlifting Federation(IWF) dropped the dopingcharge against Chanu dueto “non-conformities” inthe handling of her samplelast month. The Manipuriplans to seek compensa-tion from the IWF for the“trauma” she endured.

The IWF cleared herbased on a recommenda-tion from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA),following which thenational federation wroteto the Sports Ministry tocomply with the HighCourt order.

Indian WeightliftingFederation secretary gen-eral also confirmed thedevelopment. — PTI

Sanjita to finallyget Arjuna award

Liverpool run over PalaceLiverpool, June 25:Liverpool is on the vergeof ending its 30-yearleague title drought aftercruising to a 4-0 victoryover Crystal Palace withan attacking display thatexemplified a dominantcampaign.

Trent Alexander-Arnold curled in a freekick to start the routagainst Palace andMohamed Salah swept inthe second before halftime from Fabinho’sdinked ball.

Fabinho powered in thethird from distance inthe 55th minute andSadio Mane raced ontoSalah’s throughball tocomplete a counterat-tack in the 69th to makeit 16 wins in 16 homegames in the league thisseason.

Meanwhile, convertingfrom a winger to a cen-tral striker is bringingthe best out of AnthonyMartial at ManchesterUnited this season.

The French forward

scored his first hat-trickfor United in the 3-0 winover Sheffield United inthe Premier League onWednesday, taking histally in all competitionsto 19 goals.

— AgenciesLIVE ON TV

Italian League: Juventusvs Lecce from 1.15 am(Saturday) on Sony Ten 2.Spanish League: Sevilla vsReal Valladolid from 1.30am (Saturday) on LaLigapage on Facebook.

FAN FRAME

Rajat Singh and Arunimaa Kaur took this picture withWest Indian cricket captain Jason Holder at the RajivGandhi International Cricket Stadium during an IPLmatch in Hyderabad.

Sanjita Chanu

Chennai: Former India cricketerRobin Singh was on Thursday

fined `500 and his car impound-ed for allegedly violating lock-

down rules in the city, policesaid.

The 56-year-old former TamilNadu player had gone by car to

purchase vegetables and wascaught by police personnel for

the violation, police sources said.He was fined `500 for the vio-

lation, they added.Chennai and three adjoining

districts are under intense lock-down from June 19 to 30 as partof steps to contain the Covid-19

spread.According to lockdown rules,

people are advised to move onlywithin two km of their residencesto buy essential items and asked

not to use their vehicles.The car has been seized and

taken to the Shastri Nagar policestation in the city, the sources

said.Robin Singh was an integral

part of the Indian one-day teamin the 1990s. — PTI

Robin flouts lockrules, is rapped

Chennai: Young IndianGrandmaster R. Vaishali pulled

off an upset win over formerworld champion Antaoneta

Stefanova in first leg of FIDEchess.com Women Speed Chess

Championships but the country’stop player Koneru Humpy bowed

out in the opener.The Chennai-based Vaishali will

take on International MasterMunkhzul Turmunkh of Mongolia

in the quarterfinals.Vaishali registered a 6-5 win

over Bulgarian opponent late onWednesday after having beaten

strong players like ValentinaGunina and Alina Kashlinskaya in

the qualifying stages.Reigning world rapid champion

Humpy meanwhile went down4.5-5.5 to her Vietnamese rival in

the first round. — PTI

Vaishali wins,Humpy bows out

Madrid, June 25: Real Mallorca’s Luka Romero madehistory on Wednesday by becoming the youngest play-er ever to play in Spanish league, aged 15 years and 219days. Romero, who plays as an attacking midfielder,came on as a substitute in the 83rd minute of histeam’s 0-2 loss at Real Madrid.

“It was an unforgettable moment. Thank you toeveryone on the technical staff and at Real Mallorcafor giving me this opportunity. I will never forget thisday. It was a shame to lose but we keep believing,”Romero wrote on Twitter after the game.

Romero beat the record held for 81 years byFrancisco Bao Rodriguez who played on December 31,1939 aged 15 and 255 days for Celta Vigo. — AFP

AT 15, ROMERO YOUNGESTTO PLAY SPANISH LEAGUE

NEIL PATE

DECCAN CHRONICLE

Be it a soiree in London or aboard meeting in Switzerland,all heads turn and conversations

stop mid-sentence when KaramHinduja (29) walks in. The suave anddebonair CEO of the Hinduja Bank,Geneva tries to stay away from flash-bulbs, but the peeping paparazzi will doanything to ‘capture’ him.A patron of art, culture and a firmbeliever in the power of storytelling,Karam grew up in a household wherehe was encouraged to constantly broad-en his horizons, read widely and seekout new experiences.

A SCION & STORYTELLERLittle wonder that the Hinduja scionfeels storytelling today must stand for

much more than just entertainment – itmust set the tone for social discourse.“Storytelling is how we open people’sminds and create deeper human con-

nection that cuts through the superfi-cial differences of people. It has thepower to reach the core of what makeseach of us human — the love, fear andhope that we all experience regardlessof where we come from. Through mywork with Hinduja Bank, I want to tell anew story about the meaning of wealthfor the next generation – that true valuelies not just in financial returns, but inprotecting people and our planet,” saysKaram, sitting in front of an iconic M.F.Husain painting. Not many know thatin a friendship spanning severaldecades, M.F. Husain and Karam’s 84-year-old grandfather Srichand Hinduja(aka SP) collaborated to bring out someof Husain’s best works that the artworld has ever seen — a series of paint-ings capturing the essence of variousreligions.

TURN TO PAGE 3

tollywood

2 >>

c m y k c m y k

hyderabadFilmmakersterrified by COVIDat TV shootings

FRIDAY | 26 JUNE 2020

CHRONICLEglam sham

8 >>

‘I want storytellingthat celebrateswomen’

‘Sometimes it’s ok towait for the opportunity’

PG | 8 GLAM SHAM

Someone to bank on

My grandfather’s belief that ourdharma is to advance the cause of

humankind is deeply ingrained inme. His philosophy of ‘I work sothat I can give’ has coloured my

own approach to the bankKaram Hinduja,

CEO Hinduja Bank, Geneva

The Upper Crust● According to the Sunday Times RichList, the Hinduja family is worth £16 billion

● The Hindujas are a permanent featurein the global list of rich families

● Karam is the grandson of SP Hinduja,chairman of Hinduja Group

● He is a voracious reader, music buff andCEO of Hinduja Bank, Geneva

● A series of M.F. Husain paintings adornthe walls of family’s Swiss bank

● The Hindujas’ Carlton Terraces mansionoverlooks St. James Park outsideBuckingham Palace

He’s suave, debonair and a recluse, but when he speakseverybody listens; Hinduja scion Karam Hinduja speaks

exclusively to Deccan Chronicle about the future of banking,family legacy, climate change, racism and LGBT rights...

EXCLUSIVE

Just a few days ago, the Telugu FilmIndustry was raring to resumeshootings, and had even got

Government permission for the same. Butthe situation has now totally changed —people are afraid to even to come out oftheir homes. The trigger for this was oneperson from the office of a top distributor-cum-producer testing COVID-19 positive.Most film offices have since been closed.

“We can’t say when we will start shoot-ing,” says producer Tagore Madhu, addingthat the way the COVID-19 cases were ris-ing, he wouldn’t be surprised if they hadto wait for the rest of the year.

“Even if some producers dare to startshooting, crew members, including assis-tant directors and technical assistants, arescared to come to work. We have to waituntil the number of cases come down,” he

said.

Stakeholders gointo a huddle todiscuss whether

to strengthenprecautions and

carry on with theshoots or cancel

them B.V.S. PRAKASH

Reports that 3 crewmembers involved inthe shooting of a TV

serial have tested positive forCOVID-19 have sent shock-waves through the TeluguFilm and Television industry

Two production boys andone light-man tested positivein the last one week, but theissue came to light only onTuesday, when a voice mes-sage by a small screen actor,who said he had also testedpositive, went viral.

TV actors, producers andothers are meeting to furtherstrengthen safety measuresto prevent recurrence ofsuch incidents. “It is truethat actors are a bit appre-hensive about shooting afterlearning that our colleaguetested positive. We are follow-ing all protocols laid down bythe authorities like disinfec-tant tunnels, PPE kits andreducing personal staff,”says popular TV actor LohitKumar, vice-president,Artistes Association ofTelugu Television (AATT).

“In fact, when we have totouch a heroine, both of ususe sanitisers before andafter,” he adds. “We startedshootings a week ago but weintend to strengthen our safe-ty measures further,” LohitKumar stresses. However,when asked to comment onthe three crew members test-ing positive last week, hisonly response is “I don’tknow about it.”

Nonetheless, the impact ofthis news is bound to impactthe film industry as well. “Iread about COVID-19-positivecases in TV shootings and itis unfortunate. It is true thatbig budget filmmakers areobserving the shootingschedules of a few moviesand TV serials to study thesafety precautions and thenintroduce more fool-proofmeasures,” says leading pro-ducer Sravanthi RaviKishore, a prominent mem-ber of the Active Telugu FilmProducers Guild. He alsorules out differences betweenfilmmakers over commence-ment of shootings. “Thereare no differences and all big

producers are united.Actually, filmmakers of star-studded movies are not in ahurry to start shooting. Ofcourse, permissions havebeen given, but we are wor-ried about maintaining themost difficult guideline —social distancing — on thesets. Also, we can’t force starsto come to the sets in thisdicey situation, so it will take

more time for big stars to dongrease paint once again,” headds. Director Teja says“Pampering” of big stars andtheir personal staff willmake things difficult for film-makers. “It is bound to ham-per safety measures on thesets,” he points out. “In fact,personal staff of each bigstar often behave as ifthey’re much bigger than the

star himself,” he alleges.”According to Teja,

“Probably, the film industryheld back information aboutpeople testing positive at TVshootings because it couldlead to cancellation of per-missions. I am not againstshootings per se, but I wantfilmmakers to strictly followguidelines,” he stresses.

With stars are reluctant tojoin the sets, producerLagadapati Sridhar, who ismaking an entertainerwith his son Vikram,is also holding hishorses. “ThoughVikram is raringto resumeshooting, Idon’t want totake anyc h a n c e ssince mostof my teamm e m b e r sare youngand aspir-ing. I don’tmind los-ing somemoney, buttheir safetycomes first,though just20 days ofwork isremaining,” heconcludes.

2Friday 26 June 2020

Deccan Chronicletollywood

The latest buzz is that ace director S.S. Rajamouli, who was reportedly planning a testshoot of his much-anticipated film RRR, has now dropped this plan after hearing a tele-

vision actor had tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus after shooting schedules forthe small screen were resumed. The rising number of people getting COVID-19 inHyderabad must have been a factor in the decision too.

Filmmakers terrified byCOVID at TV shootings

BANDLA GANESHON THE MEND

Producer BandlaGanesh, who testedCOVID-19 positive, is

recovering. “I am taking themedicines and also main-taining quarantine at myhouse. I spend most of mytime listening to musicand doing meditation,”says the producer.“I learnt a big lesson –

that money and fame arenot permanent and health is

very important. My lifestylehas completely changed,” he

says. This is the first time in the 46years of his life that he has been scared, he confesses.He also realized the importance of doing away with

negativity, he said, adding that he is confident ofmaking a full recovery.

— Snippets by Suresh Kavirayani

“There are no differences among us producers.We are united. Actually, filmmakers of star-studded movies are not in a hurry to startshooting. Of course, permissions have beengiven, but we are worried about maintaining themost difficult guideline — social distancing —on the sets.”

SRAVANTHI RAVI KISHORE, Producer a prominent memberof the Active Telugu Film Producers Guild

“Pampering of big stars and their personal staffwill make things difficult for filmmakers. It isbound to hamper safety measures on the sets.The personal staff of each big star often behaveas if they’re much bigger than the star himself”

Teja, Director

“Though my son Vikram wants to resume shoot-ing, I don’t want to take any chances since mostof my team members are young and aspiring. Idon’t mind losing some money, but their safetycomes first, though just 20 days of work isremaining”

Lagadapati Sridhar, Producer

Sombre moodin the FilmIndustryOne person from theoffice of a top distributor-cum-producer testedCOVID-19 positive. Mostfilm offices have sincebeen closed

RAJAMOULI CANCELS RRR TEST SHOOT?Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Jr NTR and Rajamouli on the sets of RRR

CORONA SCARE

Friday 26 June 2020 3

Deccan Chroniclethe buzzCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

They have adorned the walls ofthe family’s Swiss bank since1994. “You can see the originals(paintings) when you come here,”he says.

SIMPLE LIVING, HIGH THINKING

The Hindujas are a permanentfeature in the global list of richfamilies. Neighbours to theQueen, they are a stone’s throwfrom Buckingham Palace. Theirannual Diwali party at AlexandraPalace has become part ofLondon’s social calendar. Not toforget the birthday bash atHarrods or the big fat wedding inMumbai. But despite all themoney and luxuries, the Hindujasare all teetotallers and humilitypersonified.

Even today, if one were to visitthe family’s Carlton Terrace man-sion in London, SP and his daugh-ter Vinoo will greet you with awarm smile and a firm handshake.And as you crane your neck to seethe royal palace, a plate of roastedpapad, pakoras, Sindhi kadhi-chawal and masala chai is servedbefore you. “My grandfather’sbelief that our dharma is toadvance the cause of humankindis deeply ingrained in me. His phi-losophy of ‘I work so that I can give’has coloured my own approach tothe bank. He has always placed histrust in the next generation todrive this vision forward and solvefuture challenges – I am trying todo the same,” he says.

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

But how does one carry forwardthe family legacy, especially inthese Covid-19 times, when theeconomy is in doldrums and thereis upheaval in the banking sector?“We are living through the mostchallenging cocktail of crises. Myheart goes out to all those who aresuffering financially or have lostloved ones,” he says, adding,“When the time for rebuildingcomes, we must create a better,more caring world – the privatesector must place the concerns ofpeople at their heart.”

Needless to say, it is a busy peri-od for all banks as they implementnew strategies to help clients nav-igate through the Covid-19 crisis.The Hinduja Bank is the firstIndian-owned Swiss bank whichhas acted as a bridge betweenEast and West, active acrossEurope, the Middle East andIndia. Karam believes that think-ing positively and creatively iswhat drives the world forward. Hewants to redefine what it means tobe a private bank. “That meanslooking towards the next genera-tion of investors, who understandthat wealth is more than merelyfinancial returns – that true valueis rooted in adherence to socialand environmental principlesthat enhance the state of peopleand planet. It also means partner-ing with our clients as fellow cre-ative entrepreneurs,” he says.

STRIVING FOR A BETTER WORLD

The Hindujas have an incredibleability to forge friendships withpeople from all walks of life, right

from the Shah of Iran to HerMajesty, from prime ministers topop stars, from hospital doctors toneedy patients. “In my view, suc-cess can only be defined collec-tively and by the impact we haveon other people and the world,”says Karam. A forward-thinkingLibran, he meditates and gymsregularly to keep fit.

However, he is rattled by therecent racist attacks. “We have tocreate harmonious societies,where diversity is celebrated andthe rights of all minorities arerespected. It is not just a moralimperative – it’s an economicnecessity. For India, a countrywhose rich diversity is almostunparalleled, tackling socialinjustices – racism, casteism, sex-ism, homophobia – will unlock abright future. It’s up to theyounger generations to lead theway,” Karam says.

Not someone who minces words,he adds, “We’ve seen with the

recent protests in the US andEurope, combating prejudice is aconstant battle – even for the mostdeveloped nations. India’s historyis bittersweet – we have stories ofharmony in diversity as well asdeep-rooted injustice. But I havefaith in this generation that is dri-ving the future of India to createan example for other nations bydrawing on the multi-culturalunderstanding that has definedour ancient history and values,rather than the patterns of therecent past.”

According to him, businessesand entrepreneurs are in a primeposition to spur technologicalinnovation and protect the envi-ronment. “We want to help envi-ronmentally conscious investorsdirect their resources to the mostinnovative, impactful projects.Managing wealth is no longersimply a question of financialreturns – it’s about creating truevalue for the world,” he says.

Perhaps it is this now-you-see-him-now-you-don’t attitude ofKaram, which makes him a sightfor jaded eyes. He has among themost coveted mentors in the busi-ness world (grandfather SP andmother Shanu Hinduja) and afleet of admirers, both womenand men. His concerns towardsclimate change and CSR are gen-uine.

The other plus point – Karam isopen to all questions. So I ask himabout his idea of an ideal date.The only minus point – He useshis cute smile to ignore the ques-tion! Kutch toh bol dete yaar.

For India, a country whoserich diversity is almost unpar-alleled, tackling social injus-tices – racism, casteism, sex-ism, homophobia – will unlocka bright future. It’s up to theyounger generations to lead

the way— KARAM HINDUJA,

CEO Hinduja Bank, Geneva

Someone to bank on

Birthday wishespour in for LoloKarisma’s girl gang and familyshowers the birthday girl withlots of love on social mediaDC CORRESPONDENT

Kareena and Karisma Kapoor’s birthdays have alwaysbeen special days, calling for special celebrations.Whether it is about travelling to some exotic location

or a small get-together at Pataudi Palace, the Kapoor sistershave a lot of fun. However, with the on-going pandemic andpartial lockdown, Karisma Kapoor’s birthday celebration onJune 25 this year was low-key, involving just her girl squad,including Kareena as well as Malaika and Amrita Arora.

Although, Karisma couldn’t be with them for a formal cele-bration on her birth-day, her girl gangensured that the daywas special for her.

As the Zubaidaactress turned 46,Kareena shared anadorable video collageof Lolo’s childhoodimages and stills fromher films like Dil ToPagal Hain, RajaHindustani and HumSaath Saath Hain. “Tothe most purest, mostprecious love ever! Mysister, my secondmother and my bestfriend...To the ulti-mate Diva... Happybirthday Lolo @there-alkarismakapoor! <3May our morning

phone chats last forever.,” Kareena wrote.Malaika Arora did a live chat on video call with Karisma on

the eve of her birthday and later shared some unseen pictureson her Instagram stories. In one picture, Karisma is seen pos-ing with the entire girl gang. “We love you Lolo.,” Malaikacaptioned the picture.

Later, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja took to Instagram and shared alovely message for Karisma and thanked her for paving theway for the Kapoor girls in movies. Sharing some throwbackpictures of Lolo with her and husband Anand Ahuja at theirwedding, she penned an emotional note. “Happy happy birth-day @therealkarismakapoor. You are our inspiration for hardwork determination and doing things no matter the chal-lenges…also thanks for paving the way for the Kapoor girls inmovies... if it weren’t for you we all wouldn’t be here... loveyou <3,” wrote the Neerja actress.

Karisma Kapoor celebrated her birthday with her gang of girls

Kareena shared an adorable videocollage of Lolo’s childhood imagesand stills from her films like Dil To

Pagal Hain, Raja Hindustani andHum Saath Saath Hain

NAYARE ALI

Tanaz Bhathena’s Hunted by TheSky is a lyrical narrative, a histor-ical fantasy saga that touches upon

age old issues like untouchability and thecaste divide in a mythical world. Theheroines are the female Robinhoods, whowanted to protect the underprivileged, inthis case the non-magus from the royalmagis. Like all fairy tales, there is an evilKing Lohar, who fears his death by aprophecy which claims he will die at thehands of a female star.

The Sisterhood of The Golden Lotuscomprises strong, spirited and fierywomen who are bound together by a com-mon goal to avenge justice and protectthe kingdom from downfall. From therunaway Queen Juhi (One of Lohar’smany wives) to the feisty females Kaliand Ambar (women whose journeys havebeen intertwined after their personalsagas of torture) or the sharp andspunky Gul, who is the main protagonist.The fairy tale must have an evil femininecharacter: in this case it is Major Shyla,who is vicious and abuses her power fear-lessly. “Suffering is different for differentpeople. The gods never give you morethan you can bear at a certain time inyour life. Perhaps they have other testsplanned for you. Other challenges thatthey might only re-veal in the future,”Juhi, wisely reveals.

The theme is simple. A girl with magi-cal powers symbolised by a star on herbody has been destined with a secret mis-sion — to kill the king. In order to protecthim, the hunt is on for all females withstars on their body. These young girls arecruelly dragged from their homes andbrutally killed. But, the real one withmagical powers alludes the King’s power-ful henchmen that include GeneralTahmasp and Major Shyla, who in a subplot are competing with each other.

“The prophecy never mentioned if thegirl would also be from Ambar, so he decid-ed to hunt for her across Svapnalok, send-

ing his Sky Warriors to the other threekingdoms as well. Naturally, this madethe rulers of Jwala, Prithvi, andSamudra furious. They called Lohar’sactions a blatant abuse of power. Theyalso feared a rebellion from within theirkingdoms as more girls began disappear-ing.”

The setting is obviously Indian with alot of colloquial terms being used to iden-tify traditions, objects and even weapons.This fictional narrative constructivelyuses its story telling format to teachwomen the art of learning self-defencetactics, in this case Yudhnatam to notjust empower themselves but also protectthe weak. The conversations between thefemale characters highlights the impor-tance of reigning in one’s emotions whileusing the powers of focus and innerstrength to defeat the enemy. This novelhas a very desi Harry Potter kind of vibe,where the language is just as compellingand the visual imagery created throughthe author’s word is simply enchanting.

“I drew inspiration from two differentperiods of Indian history while writingthis story: the intellectual brilliance ofVedic India and the splendour of themedieval courts. Mythology also plays arole in this series, and I havedrawn on both parts ofmy heritage-Indianand Persian-to con-ceive my ownm y t h s , ”T a n a ze x p l a i n sin a noteat theend oft h ebook.

Friday 26 June 2020 4

Deccan Chroniclebooks

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD | By HarperLee

This Pulitzerprize win-ning novel

from 1960 takesyou on a journeyinto Alabama inthe 1930.s Theauthor, revisitsher childhoodwhen she was a10-year-old andobserves the

world around her. In her characteristicstyle that is a healthy mix of warmth andhumour, the book addresses social issueslike rape and inequality. In fact, the pro-tagonist, Atticus Finch has become a sym-bol of racial heroism. In fact, it isbelieved that his character was inspiredher Lee’s father Amasa Coleman, whowas also a lawyer

The Corfu Trilogy(My Family andOther Animals,Beasts andRelatives and TheGardens of theGod) | by GeraldDurrell

Many hard-core fansof this

author simplerevel the crazyand fun lifestylein this trilogy,

where each of the books is based in thethree Corfu villas where the author and hisfamily comprising his mum and siblingsstayed. There are various other charactersthat flit in and out of this Trilogy. Gerald’slove for animals and his zoo makes it fasci-nating read not just for children but foradults too.

REBECCA | byDaphne DuMaurier

This is a grip-ping Gothicnovel that

plunges into thelive of anunnamed younglady, who marriesa wealthy widow-er, only to discov-er that he is stillin love with hisex-wife Rebecca.

In fact, even the house they stay in, ishaunted by her memories. This woman,who is in her late 20s is married off to anEnglishman Maxim De Winter, who istwice her age. Her marriage alters her lifefor ever when she begins her new weddedlife, dealing with resistance and unpleas-ant situations at every stage.

CLASSIC MEMORIESTimeless novels you can

revisit and read at leisure

Cast in amagical spellA brilliantly woven fantasy novel that takes

you on a spectacular journey into the afictious world inspired by Vedic India

The theme issimple. A girl with

magical powerssymbolised by astar on her body

has been destinedwith a secret

mission — to killthe king. In order

to protect him, thehunt is on for all

females with starson their body.

These young girlsare cruelly

dragged from theirhomes and

brutally killed. But,the real one withmagical powers

alludes the King’spowerful

henchmen

The setting is obviously Indian with a lot ofcolloquial terms being used to identifytraditions, objects and even weapons. Thisfictional narrative constructively uses itsstory telling format to teach women the artof learning self-defence tactics. This novelhas a very desi Harry Potter kind of vibe,where the language is just as compellingand the visual imagery created through theauthor’s word is simply enchanting

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POULTRY

CONSULTANCY Sagar Chandra todirect a multi-starrerAyyappanum Koshiyumgathers steam

Looks like thedecks have been

cleared for the Teluguversion of Malayalamhit AyyappanumKoshiyum. While RanaDaggubati and RaviTeja are to star in theaction thriller, wehave learnt that SagarChandra of AppatloOkadundevadu famewill wield the mega-phone for the movie.

Apparently, producerSuryadevara NagaVamsi was impressedwith Sagar’s directori-al skills in his debutfilm. Although therewere a couple of otherdirectors who were inthe running, Sagar’scommand of the craftand storytelling knackproved clinchers.

“Producer Vamsi feltsince Sagar is a youngdirector, he can bringa fresh breath of life tothe script. He hasgiven the nod for Sagar to helm the remake version,”says a source.

What started aspreparation for a role

in a film eventuallyturned out to be a seriouspursuit. Priyadarshi, whounderwent a one-monthtraining in shooting forhis role as rifle shooter inthe film Loser, directed byAbhilash Reddy, becameso enamoured of the sportthat he started pursuing itseriously.

Recently, hecompleted abeginners’course in rifleshooting.

“I joined rifleshooting to under-stand nuanceslike holdingthe gun cor-rectly tomake myrole lookauthen-tic. Butas Ikept ont r a i n -ing, myc o a c hNilkanthM a n esaid that Ihave theability tocomplete a

certification course inrifle shooting. It was thenthat I realised that I want-ed to take it up seriously,”the actor explains. TheMallesam star says thecertification course hasbrought a sea-change inhis personality.

“To hold the gun ina certain position andconcentrate on thebreath while looking at

the bulls-eye requires adifferent level of

courage and skill. Thesport mellowed me as

a person; it has hada calming effect on my

personality, andmade me more

disciplined.In fact, rifleshooting isall aboutdiscover-

ing thei n n e rs p a c e

in themind; so

it is likem e d i a t i o n , ”shares the JaatiRatnalu actor.

— Snippets bySashidhar

Adivi

Priyadarshi picksup rifle shootingIt’s like meditation, feels the actor

6

Deccan Chronicle

Friday 26 June 2020

coffee-break

scrabble brand | G2 R1 As Ms S1

DIRECTIONS: Make a 2 to 7-letter word fromthe letters in each row. Add points of eachword, using scoring directions at right. 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks”used as any letter have no point value. AllJudd’s words are in the Official ScrabblePlayers Dictionary (Merriam-Webster) andOSW Official Scrabble words (Chambers).JUDD’S Solution Tomorrow

TODAY’S RATINGS: 15 AVERAGE; 17 GOOD; 19 OUTSTANDING

Word Mine

How many words of four or more letterscan you make from the letters shown intoday’s puzzle? In making a word, each

letter may be used once only. Each wordmust contain the letter at the top of thepyramid. There should be at least one

nine letter word. Plurals, foreign wordsand proper names are not allowed.

FU U R

F D L N E

ANSWERS:duff, duffel, duffer, fend, fern, feud, fled, flue, fuel, fund, furl, furled,refund, rueful, ruffle, ruffled, unfurl, unfurled, UNRUFFLED

WHAT TO DO

Fill in the gridso that every

row, everycolumn, and

every 3x3 boxcontains thedigits 1 to 9.Every puzzlehas only one

correctsolution.

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

SU◆DO◆KU

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

SU◆DO◆KU 2

Did you think the

SU◆DO◆KUon the left was easy?

Try this. Check the solution tomorrow.

Tips available at www.sudoku-xls.com

DC-AGE SU DO KUFORUM: Discuss theSU DO KU puzzlesprinted and con-

tribute mind teasersof your own at

www.sudexel.com/forum

Taurus: Travel brings joy andexpands your business. The daybrings new business opportunitiesand hectic socialising with people

of influence.

Gemini: Children bring laurels.Speculative deals may seem lucra-tive, but may not prove so.Property disputes will go in your

favour. Financial stress will fade away.

Leo: You will re-look at yourstrengths and weakness. You’ll beon the look-out for more work andstart focusing on a larger gamut of

activities.

Virgo: You will pursue hobbies.You will avoid getting into a seri-ous relationship. Do test thewaters before taking the final

plunge. You will be realistic about chal-lenges on the work front.

Cancer: Old friends return, bringingback memories. Good advice andsupport will pour in from all quar-ters, helping you move ahead with

pending plans.

Capricorn: There will be peace atwork and at home. Your work loadwill ease. Old contacts and associa-tions will bring the peace and har-

mony you crave.

Aquarius: Avoid unnecessary ten-sions. Your extra sensory per-ception may reveal thingsbefore they actually take place.

You feel relate better.

Pisces: Social relations willstrengthen you. Your concentra-tion is on people, but financesand work are important too. Love

and adventure are on cards, and parties aswell. You will feel neglected and over-sensi-tive about an issue though.

Scorpio: You are on the right track.You may feel exploited. However,your fortitude comes to your rescueand you win. Prayers, the occult

and the metaphysical draw your attention.

Libra: You will exercise skill andtact to balance income and expen-diture. Quick gains are unlikely.Conflicts and showdowns are like-

ly at work, but you will settle mostamicably.

Sagittarius: Money matters are inthe forefront. Deals, partnershipsand negotiations will proceed asanticipated. Some shifts are likely.

You tend to be in a spiritual mode.

Aries: A spiritual awakening is indi-cated for some. Time to take abreak, relax with your family,before stress pulls you down. Help

from friends will infuse extra energy.

Your day today

By Dr C.V.B. Subrahmanyam

Arjun kapoor is aBollyood actor. He

initially worked as anassistant director on hisfather’s productions No

Entry and made hisacting debut in

Ishaqzaade in 2012. He isknown for his roles in 2States, Gunday, Finding

Fanny, Ki and Ka.

You share your b’day with

Usually, when youcome to a road junc-tion, you know

whether to turn left orright. Your GPS will berepeatedly telling you.Also, if you disobey theGPS, you will be told howto rectify your error.

At the bridge table,sometimes GPS won'thelp, because the way youwill go in one suit may bedecided by what happensin another suit. In today'sdeal, South pushedaggressively into sixspades. What should hehave done after West led aheart?

When North rebid oneno-trump, showing a bal-anced 12-14 points, Southused the Gerber ace-ask-ing convention.

If you are going to bidup, you have to play wellor get lucky -- or both.

Here, South had a possi-

ble club loser, but perhapsthe finesse would work.He also had two or threepossible spade losers -- heneeded some luck there,but how much?

There was more thanone way to play the trumpsuit, depending upon howmany losers could be tol-erated. Before touchingthat suit, declarer neededto know about clubs. So,he took the first trick onthe board and immediate-ly played a club to hisqueen.

If the finesse had lost,South could not haveafforded a trump loser. Hewould have hoped thatEast held exactly king-doubleton.

Here, though, the clubfinesse won. Now declar-er could afford one trumploser, but not two. So, hecashed the spade ace.When the king dropped,

South claimed. But if hehad not seen the king, hewould have returned tothe board and played atrump toward his queen.

Copyright UnitedFeature Syndicate

(Asia Features)

bridge

PHILLIP ALDER

DO YOU TURN LEFT ORRIGHT?

Across1.Fit and muscular (8)7. Rule as monarch (5)8. Scrounge (5)9. Expressed in words

(6)10.Skater's jump (4)12.Thread (4)14.Rank (6)17.Theatrical entertain-

ment (5)18.Dog breed (5)19.Scholarly, bookish

(8)Down1. Defence of being

elsewhere (5)2. Need for food (6)

3. Engrave with acid(4)

4. Alphabetical refer-ence (5)

5. Cemetery (9)6. True-to-life (9)

11.Plaster wall coating(6)

13.Metal joiner (5)15.Provisos (5)16.Nourish (4)

QUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

Across: 1. Wriggled, 6. Epee, 7. Picnic,9. Talon, 11. Radar, 12. Impel, 13.Meant, 16. Geyser, 18. Wick,19. Engineer.

Down: 1. Wrestling, 2. Ideal, 3. Lips, 4.Declare, 5. Ski, 8. Caretaker, 10.Oversee, 14. Alice, 15. Drug, 17.Elm.

hocus focus

C A L V I N A N D H O B B E S | B i l l W a t t e r s o n

25

coffee-break7Friday 26 June 2020

Deccan Chronicle

jumble

Dennis the Menace

B L O N D I E | D e a n Y o u n g a n d J o h n M a r s h a l l

A N D Y C A P P | R e g S m y t h e

T A R Z A N | E d g a r R i c e B u r r o u g h s

T H E W I Z A R D O F I D | P a r k e r a n d H a r t s d

A R C H I E | B i l l H e n r y S c a r p e l l i & c r a i g b o l d m a n

LIPIKA VARMA

Sushmita Sen, who was missing from the cel-luloid scene for many years now, is back withthe crime drama Aarya. This show has

brought her right back into the limelight. Whenasked why she stayed away from acting all theseyears, with a light signature chuckle, she says,“Because nobody was offering me Aarya, baby.” Aftera tiny pause, however, she elaborates. “I needed thisto come back, and how! I chose this not because it’s anauthor packed role but because we have a fantasticteam and a platform like Disney Hotstar. It was allfabulous — the director and co-stars and all of that.So to answer your question, it takes a lot for an actorto get an opportunity like this one, so sometimes, it isokay if you just have to wait for it.” Did the insecuri-ty of “out of sight, out of mind” ever bother her?

Sushmita simply laughs in her mesmerising style.“For me, it is the other way around because I alwaysthink distance makes the heart grow founder,” sheputs in. “So no, staying away from the camera was notsomething that brought any sense of insecurities inme. Even as I was waiting for a good film or work tocome by, my life has so many other purposes. I havebeen working on multiple things. Yes, it took me awhile to come back, because of which I even lostmany people who managed me who probably thought‘out of sight is out of mind’, but this comeback wasworth all of it. I really think people should stop wor-rying whether your time isgone or it hasn’t come yetbecause all said and done,

these are just perceptions.”

MUSICALLY INCLINED

Not many know thatSushmita is also amusic lover. “I thrive onmusic. Music inspiresme through everymoment of my life, nomatter what emotion. Ilove any music, be it jazzor pop or any genre. I

enjoy listening to anysong and music from any-

where around the world.Whenever the unit peoplecame to me to narrate thescene in the van or on thesets, there was music playing. When I was busy doingmy hair and makeup, there was music playing. So,yes, in short, I am a music buff.”

FINDING HERSELF IN HER CHARACTER

So what are the two aspects of Aarya, the characterSushmita portray in the series, she would imbibe inher real life, we ask her.

“When one considers the pain and sorrow and theethos of loss, which shatter a world, one would

expect women to break down and breakthings and not get out of her bed. Aarya’s char-

acter, on the other hand, is internalized becauseshe remains in the roughest of moments think-ing she doesn’t want to shove her baggage ofpain on others. Then again, not carryingthe baggage also becomes overwhelming

to everyone around you, that is. You cancontain the pain and deal with it andnot just suffer. That aspect of her

rang deep in me,” she articulates.The second aspect of the character

was about being a great mother,she tells us. “Being a goodmother doesn’t mean youhave to mollycoddle your kids

(or for that your family mem-bers),” she explains. “Sometimes, you

need to leave your sick child to do whatyou need to do to keep them alive. As a sin-

gle mom, even I had to handle my child tellingme not to leave her and go. I had to do that with-out feeling sorry or apologetic. And Aarya’scharacter is such, one that tells you not to apolo-gize. No one understands your situation. You arethe only one in that situation and so you have todo your best to get out of there. So the twoaspects of Aarya were like a progression forme, into reality more than anything else.”

Friday 26 June 2020 8

Deccan Chronicle

‘Sometimesit’s ok to

wait for theopportunity’

Says Sushmita Sen whenasked why it took her so many

years to get back to acting

glam sham

“Staying away from the camera was not something thatbrought any sense of insecurities in me. My life has so many

other purposes. Yes, it took me a while to come back,because of which I even lost many people who managed mewho probably thought ‘out of sight is out of mind’, but this

comeback was worth all of it.”

‘Wanted to showstrong femaleprotagonist’The actress is elated by thepositive response to her latestOTT offering titled Bulbbul

After the massive success of Pataal Lok,the producer-duo of Anushka Sharma and

brother Karnesh Sharma have recently comeout with their next OTT offering Bulbbul.Anushka, who turned producer at 25 with theNH10, created a sub-genre of supernatural-fem-inist films like Pari, Phillauri and nowBulbbul, which have pushed the envelope andbecome success stories.

“It wasn’t intentional to create a genre of ourown. We, however, always wanted to create astyle of story-telling that celebrates women andtheir spirit,” says the actress-producer, addingthat she did want to contribute to a strongfemale protagonist narrative. “We always want-ed to show strong, independent women to audi-ences through cinema and Bulbbul is our newoffering in this regard. The portrayal of womenin our cinema has always been skewed and lop-sided. I felt that as an actress and I decided thatI will correct this as much as I can through myproductions,” she says.

Anushka is kicked that the audience ishooked on to the OTT platforms and the film aswell. “We are really proud that Bulbbul is beingloved by audiences because Karnesh and I real-ly put our necks on the line to make projectsthat we hope will be clutter-breaking. The factthat people have called each and every attemptof ours as daring and adventurous is validationenough for us, because Clean Slate Films hasreally tried to give something new to peoplewith each attempt.”

It is the urge to experiment, says Anushka, thathas propelled the siblings to try out fresh ideas.“Karnesh and I aren’t scared storytellers. Wemake each project thinking we have nothing tolose. We are non-conformists and that’s what has

really helped us to explore and create. It is ahuge milestone moment for us at

Clean Slate Films because bothPataal Lok and now Bulbbul

has got great reviews andjanta ka appreciation.”

The actress creditsnames like Anvita Dutt,Sudip Sharma, Prosit Roy,Avinash Arun andAnshai Lal for helmingthese projects. “They havemade both (Bulbbul andPaatal Lok) these pro-jects successful. CleanSlate Films has always

been home to reallytalented first timewriters, directors,musicians and actorslooking to make amark in clutteredBollywood, and wehave tried to do ourbest to bring theirgeniuses on screenwith every single pro-ject,” she says in con-clusion.

— Sanskriti Media

The portrayal of womenin our cinema has always

been skewed and lopsided soI decided to correct this

“Being a goodmother doesn’t

mean you have to molly-coddle your kids (or forthat your family mem-bers). Sometimes, youneed to leave your sickchild to do what youneed to do to keep themalive. As a single mom,even I had to handle mychild telling me not toleave her and go. I had todo that without feelingsorry or apologetic. AndAarya’s character issuch, one that tells younot to apologize.”