3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

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COUNTER POINT M a x : 33 O C M i n : 23 O C R H : 79% R a i n f a l l : Nil F o r e c a s t : Generally cloudy sky. Max/Min temp. 33/34ºC WEATHER ASTROGUIDE Vikari; Dakshinayana Tithi: Kartika Shudda Navami till 7.21 am Star: Satabhisham Varjyam: 2.20 pm to 4.08 pm Durmuhurtam: 11.37 am to 12.22 pm Rahukalam: 12 noon to 1.30 pm HIJRI CALENDAR Rabbi-ul-Awwal 8, 1441 AH PRAYERS(SHAHI MASJID) Fajar: 5.40 am Zohar: 1.30 pm Asar: 4.30 pm Maghrib: 5.44 pm Isha: 8.15 pm SUNSET TODAY 5.35 PM SUNRISE TOMORROW 6.06 AM MOONSET TOMORROW 1.44 AM MOONRISE TODAY 1.44 PM CM writes to PM for coal block V i j a y a w a d a : Chief Minis- ter Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Naren- dra Modi, requesting him to allocate a Mandakani coal block in Odisha to APGenco thermal power plants. In his letter, Mr Jagan wrote: “Prior to state bifurcation, the linkage quantities partic- ularly the supplies from SCCL were being adjust- ed between all the ther- mal stations of erstwhile AP. After the state was split, the SCCL mines were given to Telangana and new AP was not given a share in the coal reserves.” Deekshitulu returns to TTD T i r u m a l a : The TTD Board has appointed former Tirumala temple chief priest, Dr A.V. Ramana Deekshitulu, as Agama adviser. He was forced to retire as the chief priest during the Telugu Desam regime after he accused the temple administra- tors of being corrupt. Dr Deekshitulu has been given additional respon- sibility to train the young archakas. The TTD board has also reinstated his two sons as archakas of the Tirumala temple. During the TD rule, they were transferred to Govindaraja Swamy tem- ple in downhill Tirupati. PILOTS REJECT AI STAKE SALE, PLAN STRIKE N e w D e l h i : Opposing the privatisation of Air India, an airline pilots’ union has threatened to go on strike unless their long- pending demands relat- ed to salaries are addressed, according to a communication. The nearly 800-member strong Indian Comme- rcial Pilots’ Association (ICPA), whose members fly narrow-body planes, has decided to work towards bringing all the unions at the airline under a common plat- form to oppose the pri- vatisation of the airline. The government is work- ing on the final contours of disinvestment of loss- making Air India, which has a debt worth over 58,000 crore. Vol. 31 No. 156 Established 1938 | 32 PAGES | 6.00 deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle TABLOID SPORTS| 16 WORLD | 10 THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIA VIJAYAWADA I WEDNESDAY I 6 NOVEMBER 2019 Tahsildar’s driver too dies of severe burns J A Y E N D R A T . C H A I T H A N Y A | D C HYDERABAD, NOV. 5 Kamalla Gurunatham, the 27-year-old private driver of Abdullapurmet tahsil- dar, Ch Vijaya Reddy, who suffered burn injuries in his valiant attempt to res- cue her, also got engulfed in flames, succumbed after battling for 20 hours at the Apollo DRDO Hospital in Kanchanbagh on Tuesday. Gurunatham, a native of Velidanda village in Suryapet district, was the eldest of three sons of K. Brahmaiah. Gurunatham discontinued education while pursuing gradua- tion. After quitting col- lege, he moved to Hyde- rabad and started working as a driver with Tahsildar Ch Vijaya Reddy. He was residing in a rented house at the Weaker Section Colony in Mansoorabad of LB Nagar for last nine years. Three years ago, he got married to Soundarya. The couple was blessed with a boy, who is around one-and-a-half years. Soundarya is currently eight months pregnant. On Monday, K. Suresh set Vijaya Reddy ablaze inside her chamber. Sure- sh, who also suffered burn injuries, ran away, leav- ing behind Vijaya, who was engulfed in flames. Hearing her screams, Gur- unatham tried to rescue her, but the fire enfulged him too. He suffered about 80 per cent burn injuries. Brahmaiah, deceased man’s father, said, “My son was working with the Tahsildar for last nine years. He was hopeful of getting a government job. He told us there were chances of his job may get permanent as government had plans to provide a dri- ver for Tahsildars.” “He came home last time to cast his vote during Huzunagar by-poll. My son tried to rescue his employer and died in the act,” a sobbing Brahmaiah said. Abdullapurmet revenue assistant, M Prabhakar, said, “Though he received severe burn injuries, Gur- unatham did not bother about himself and asked me to arrange an ambu- lance for the tahsildar. We had lost her by then. We have lost him too, now.” Prabhakar handed `1 lakh cash on behalf of rev- enue department officials as an immediate relief for the family to perform final rites. “He died while unde- rgoing treatment at Apollo DRDO Hospital at about 10.27 am. After autopsy at the Osmania General Hospital, the body was handed over to family members,” said S Devender, Abdullapurmet inspector. Meanwhile, the accused, Kura Suresh, continues to be in a critical condition at the OGH. Two others who sustained minor burns and are being treat- ed at different hospitals. Claims tough stand of former CS against evangelism could have earned him transfer P A T H R I R A J A S E K H A R | D C NELLORE, NOV. 5 The Bharatiya Janata Party state spokesperson K. Anjaneya Reddy alleged that the Jerusalem mafia — a euphemism for the alleged communal slant of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in favour of fellow Christ- ians — is behind the sud- den transfer of chief secre- tary L.V. Subhramanyam. Speaking to mediaper- sons at Nellore on Tuesday, Anjaneya Reddy said that steps taken by Mr Subhramanyam agai- nst people from other reli- gions working in the TTD and other Hindu temples, and his tough stand against evangelism, was the probable reason for his being shunted out. Commending the senior- most IAS officer for taking steps to protect the sancti- ty of Hindu temples, Mr Reddy expressed doubts over the intentions of the YSRC government. Referring to the row between former chief sec- retary LV Subhramanyam and principal secretary Praveen Prakash, he ques- tioned the rationale behind taking action against the CS. He also said that RSS and VHP cadres were warned by the Visakapatnam police recently over some baseless allegations over communal issues. Protectors seek protection in Delhi Police personnel gather outside the Delhi police headquarters to protest against the repeated incidents of violence against them by lawyers at the Tis Hazari court complex in New Delhi on Tuesday. After 11 hours of a virtual revolt, the police personnel ended their protest following an assurance by senior officers that their grievances would be addressed. ■ R e p o r t o n P a g e 7 — PTI DESAM CHIEF TO PROTEST AGAINST SAND POLICY M D I L Y A S | D C VIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5 Telugu Desam supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday announced his decision to conduct a deeksha against sand cri- sis for 12 hours on November 14. Earlier, his son and TD national secretary, N Lokesh, conducted a half-day deeksha at Guntur on October 30. Speaking on the issue of sand scarcity, Vakati Narayana Reddy, MLC, alleged that all develop- ment activities in Andhra Pradesh had come to a standstill, fol- lowing sand scarcity. Demanding that the Jagan Mohan Reddy gov- ernment disclose its plans to overcome the situation, he underlined need to ensure supply of sand without hassles. Later, the Jana Sena party led by actor Pawan Kalyan conducted a long march on November 3 at Visakhapatnam, while the BJP conducted a satyagraha against sand crisis on November 4 at Vijayawada. After the success of the Jana Sena long march, TD has decided to con- duct deeksha from led by Mr Naidu, in which TD leaders and cadres will participate. Mr Naidu said that Jana Sena asked for TD support, hence their party had joined the protest. He said the TD would give its support to everyone fighting for the public’s welfare. Mr Naidu said that 40 people had committed suicides in 10 days in AP due to sand crisis but the YSRC government was non-responsive. This shows the inhuman atti- tude of the YSRC govern- ment, he said. He said that his party had first started protests against sand crisis on August 30 and had con- tinued state-wide protests till October 25. Mr Naidu said that if the YSRC government cannot dig out sand with- in reach, it is surely incapable of ruling the state. He said that revert- ing to the free sand poli- cy of his government was the resolution possible here. He demanded a compensation of `10,000 for every construction worker who lost work and `25 lakh ex gratia to kin. Revenue staff flay CM during funeral D C C O R R E S P O N D E N T HYDERABAD, NOV. 5 The final rites of Ch. Vijaya Reddy, the woman tahsildar who was mur- dered in her office in Abdullapurmet, were per- formed with state hon- ours, watched mournfully by scores of her colleagues from the revenue depart- ment, family and friends at Nagole on Tuesday. The 37-year-old woman was set ablaze in her office in Abdullapurmet by Kura Suresh on Monday. She died on the spot. She was posted as the first tahsil- dar after the Abdullapur- met mandal was formed in 2016. Huge numbers of revenue department employees visited her house and bid her a tear- ful adieu. Employees, who participated in the funeral procession from her house to the crematorium at Nagole, raised slogans hailing her, and then, as the sad mood turned into anger, slogans were raised against Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. The employees con- demned the policies intro- duced by the CM, alleging that he was responsible for instigating public’s anger against revenue employees. ■ P a g e 5 : E m p l o y e e s s t a g e r a s t a r o k o a t N a g o l e D C C O R R E S P O N D E N T VIJAYWADA, NOV. 5 After facing pressure from various quarters, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday ordered his offi- cials to revoke a GO issued by the education department re-naming the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Prathibha Awards after the late Chief Minister and Mr Reddy's father Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. Later in the evening, the government issued an order restoring the name of the former President to the awards. The government’s move to rename awards given to meritorious school children had drawn flak from various quarters. The erstwhile Chandrababu Naidu gov- ernment in 2017 that had named the Prathibha awards after Abdul Kalam. While a GO renaming the awards was issued on Monday night, it is learnt that the Chief Minister was miffed with officials on Tuesday issu- ing it without his clear- ance. He ordered them to withdraw the GO. “The government here- by order to re-designate the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kal- am Pratibha Puraskar Awards' as the 'Y.S.R. Vidya Puraskars' from 2019 onwards for distrib- ution on the occasion of birth anniversary of Ma- ulana Abul Kalam Azad as National Education Day on 11th November,” said GO N. 78. To this, Mr Naidu said on Twitter: “Dr Kalam has accomplished much for the nation with his inspiring life. @ysjagan's govt changing "APJ Abdul Kalam Pratibha Puraskar" to "YSR Vidya Puraskar" is a shocking method of self-aggrandis- ement (sic).” V A D R E V U S R I N I V A S I D C KAKINADA, NOV. 5 West Godavari police nabbed one Vellanki Simhadri alias Siva, 38, of Venkatapuram Panchayat in Eluru, who in the past 20 months allegedly robbed and killed 10 persons. He offered his victims what he called prasadam and Ayur- vedic medicine, but which was actually cyanide. The police also arrested Sheik Ameenullah alias Babu alias Shankar, 60, of Vijayawada who supplied the cyanide to the killer. Mr Grawel said that Siva would tell his victims that he would arrange for “rice pulling coins”, which is touted to bring the owner great wealth and told them to get money for the same. He would then take them to an isolated place, give them cyanide by claiming it was prasadam. He would then rob them of any cash, gold or silver jewellery. He would even tell the credulous persons that he would double their money by performing a pooja and the cyanide was administered in the prasadam. Sometimes the cyanide was administered in what he called Ayurvedic medicine. He eluded the police because there were no injuries on the bodies and as death was instantaneous. The cyanide was obtained by Babu, whose elder brother Asad ran an electro nickel plating unit for nickel-coat polishing of motorcycle spare parts. Cyanide was one of the ingredients used in this process and was obtained together with the other ingredients from the licensed shop of one T.S. Selvem of Venkatachalam Modiliar Street in Chennai. Babu would accompany his brother Asad when he went to purchase the items but he bought the cyanide himself, without the knowledge of his brother, and supplied to Siva for a huge sum of money. The crime came to light after the killing of 49-year- old teacher Kati Nagaraju in Eluru on October 16. West Godavari superin- tendent of police Navdeep Singh Grawel told reporters on Tuesday that around 5.50 pm on October 16, Nagaraju received a call from his killer to say he had arranged for the 'rice pulling coin', and left home with `2 lakh in cash, and gold ornaments, informing his wife that he was going on some bank work and was showing the gold ornaments to an LIC agent. He was found unconscious by the road- side at Mini Bypass road near CRR Polytechnic College and taken to Andhra Hospital in Eluru, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Nagaraju's brother Kati Venkata Ramana suspect- ed two persons who were the last to be contacted by his brother on his mobile - Siva and Babu. Altogether, Siva robbed `24.60 lakh in cash and 35.25 sovereigns of gold ornaments from the 10 deceased persons. The police recovered `1,63,400 and 23.1/4 sovereigns of gold ornaments and also a plastic tin containing a small quantity of cyanide. Robber uses cyanide to turn serial killer ■ The accused used to buy the chemical from Chennai pretending as bike repairer MONEY | POWER Ayodhya is tense but remains calm V I K R A M S H A R M A | D C AYODHYA, NOV. 5 Temple spires, masjid domes and billboards with photographs of a smiling Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adit- yanath, are what domi- nate the 11-km stretch fr- om Faizabad to Ayodhya. With drones above, armed policemen on flag marches, barricades, checkposts and CCTVs everywhere, the twin towns are bracing for judgment day. Ahead of the Ayodhya title suit judgment by the Supreme Court this epi- centre is full chatter about peace and harmony by both communities. But that does little to alleviate the tension in the air engulfing the twin towns. Entering Faizabad, it seems to be business as usual. Though section 144 is in place, the town is abuzz with activity and the rush at markets. A majority of the crowd are policemen. Though sloganeering is banned, some groups were seen randomly chanting “Jai Shri Ram” but went silent the moment they spotted policemen around. “The massive security does bother us,” says Muhammed Adil, 48, of Ghosiana. ■ P a g e 6 : I t ’ s g o o d t h e i s s u e i s e n d i n g n o w : L o c a l s STATE REVOKES G.O. TO RENAME KALAM AWARDS ■ ■ D I S T R I C T administra- tion has created nearly 60 WhatsApp groups involv- ing police, locals, social media watchers, religious leaders etc. ■ ■ A Q U I C K Reaction Team comprising armed women police is formed. ■ ■ T H E 3 , 0 0 0 -strong Ayodhya police force is deployed with the Rapid Action Force. A large paramilitary contingent will arrive soon. ■ ■ T H E A C C U S E D used to lure credulous persons by promising to double their money by performing a pooja. ■ ■ A F T E R G A I N I N G their trust, he would take the victim to an isolated place and administer cyanide in the prasadam. RELIANCE TO BACK OUT OF EMC IN TIRUPATI A V I N A S H P . S U B R A M A N Y A M | D C TIRUPATI, NOV. 5 The Reliance group, wh- ich had proposed setting up an electronics manu- facturing facility at the Electronic Manufactur- ing Cluster near the tem- ple city of Tirupati, is reportedly backing out of the proposal due to alleged delay in handing over the land promised by the state government. The Reliance group had entered into an agree- ment with the state gov- ernment in February last to invest around `15,000 crore in an electronics manufacturing facility near Tirupati to manufa- cture Jio phones, TVs, and set-top boxes among others. The manufactur- ing plant was to be devel- oped in two phases — one on around 125 acres and the second on 50 acres. The company had ente- red into an MoU with the then Telugu Desam gov- ernment which reported- ly promised to allot near- ly 150 acres to the Reliance group in 2018. Sources said that, so far, only 75 acres have been cleared by the present state government. The deal became con- troversial after 15 farm- ers, who together held nearly 50 acres of land, reportedly approached the AP High Court and got a stay on the govern- ment buying their land. Since then, the procure- ment of land for the pro- ject has hit a road block. However, after the land procurement faced legal hurdles in the middle of the project, the company is learnt to have with- drawn from EMC project in Tirupati, sources say.

Transcript of 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

Page 1: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

New Delhi:

Guntur:

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MOSES KONDETY | DC

|

Below:

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Bayern vs Olympiacos

Lokomotiv Moscow vs Juventus

Crvena Zvezda vs Tottenham

Bayer vs Atletico Madrid

PSG vs Club Brugge

Atalanta vs Man City

Real Madrid vs Galatasaray

COUNTER POINT

Max: 33OCMin: 23OC RH: 79%Rainfall: Nil

Forecast: Generallycloudy sky. Max/Min

temp. 33/34ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDEVikari; Dakshinayana

Tithi: Kartika Shudda Navami till7.21 am

Star: Satabhisham Varjyam: 2.20 pm to 4.08 pm

Durmuhurtam: 11.37 am to 12.22 pm

Rahukalam: 12 noon to 1.30 pmHIJRI CALENDAR

Rabbi-ul-Awwal 8, 1441 AHPRAYERS(SHAHI MASJID)

Fajar: 5.40 amZohar: 1.30 pmAsar: 4.30 pm

Maghrib: 5.44 pmIsha: 8.15 pm

SUNSET TODAY 5.35 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.06 AMMOONSET TOMORROW 1.44 AM

MOONRISE TODAY 1.44 PM

CM writes to PMfor coal block

Vijayawada: Chief Minis-ter Y.S. Jagan Mohan

Reddy on Tuesday wroteto Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi, requesting him

to allocate a Mandakanicoal block in Odisha to

APGenco thermal powerplants. In his letter, MrJagan wrote: “Prior to

state bifurcation, thelinkage quantities partic-

ularly the supplies fromSCCL were being adjust-ed between all the ther-mal stations of erstwhile

AP. After the state wassplit, the SCCL mines

were given to Telanganaand new AP was not

given a share in the coalreserves.”

Deekshitulu returns to TTD

Tirumala: The TTD Boardhas appointed formerTirumala temple chief

priest, Dr A.V. RamanaDeekshitulu, as Agama

adviser. He was forced toretire as the chief priest

during the Telugu Desamregime after he accused

the temple administra-tors of being corrupt.

Dr Deekshitulu has beengiven additional respon-

sibility to train the youngarchakas. The TTD board

has also reinstated histwo sons as archakas of

the Tirumala temple.During the TD rule, they

were transferred toGovindaraja Swamy tem-

ple in downhill Tirupati.

PILOTS REJECTAI STAKE SALE,

PLAN STRIKENew Delhi: Opposing theprivatisation of Air India,

an airline pilots’ unionhas threatened to go onstrike unless their long-pending demands relat-

ed to salaries areaddressed, according to

a communication. Thenearly 800-member

strong Indian Comme-rcial Pilots’ Association

(ICPA), whose membersfly narrow-body planes,

has decided to worktowards bringing all the

unions at the airlineunder a common plat-

form to oppose the pri-vatisation of the airline.

The government is work-ing on the final contoursof disinvestment of loss-making Air India, which

has a debt worth over58,000 crore.

Vol. 31 No. 156 Established 1938 | 32 PAGES | 6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle

TABLOIDSPORTS|16WORLD|10

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAVIJAYAWADA I WEDNESDAY I 6 NOVEMBER 2019

Tahsildar’s driver toodies of severe burnsJAYENDRA T.CHAITHANYA | DCHYDERABAD, NOV. 5

Kamalla Gurunatham, the27-year-old private driverof Abdullapurmet tahsil-dar, Ch Vijaya Reddy, whosuffered burn injuries inhis valiant attempt to res-cue her, also got engulfedin flames, succumbedafter battling for 20 hoursat the Apollo DRDOHospital in Kanchanbaghon Tuesday.

Gurunatham, a native ofVelidanda village inSuryapet district, was theeldest of three sons of K.Brahmaiah. Gurunathamdiscontinued educationwhile pursuing gradua-tion. After quitting col-lege, he moved to Hyde-rabad and started workingas a driver with TahsildarCh Vijaya Reddy. He wasresiding in a rented houseat the Weaker SectionColony in Mansoorabad ofLB Nagar for last nineyears.

Three years ago, he gotmarried to Soundarya.The couple was blessedwith a boy, who is aroundone-and-a-half years.Soundarya is currentlyeight months pregnant.

On Monday, K. Sureshset Vijaya Reddy ablazeinside her chamber. Sure-sh, who also suffered burninjuries, ran away, leav-ing behind Vijaya, whowas engulfed in flames.Hearing her screams, Gur-unatham tried to rescueher, but the fire enfulgedhim too. He suffered about80 per cent burn injuries.

Brahmaiah, deceasedman’s father, said, “Myson was working with theTahsildar for last nine

years. He was hopeful ofgetting a government job.He told us there werechances of his job may getpermanent as governmenthad plans to provide a dri-ver for Tahsildars.”

“He came home last timeto cast his vote duringHuzunagar by-poll. Myson tried to rescue hisemployer and died in theact,” a sobbing Brahmaiahsaid.

Abdullapurmet revenueassistant, M Prabhakar,said, “Though he receivedsevere burn injuries, Gur-unatham did not botherabout himself and askedme to arrange an ambu-lance for the tahsildar. Wehad lost her by then. We

have lost him too, now.”Prabhakar handed `1

lakh cash on behalf of rev-enue department officialsas an immediate relief forthe family to perform finalrites. “He died while unde-rgoing treatment at ApolloDRDO Hospital at about10.27 am. After autopsy atthe Osmania GeneralHospital, the body washanded over to familymembers,” said SDevender, Abdullapurmetinspector.

Meanwhile, the accused,Kura Suresh, continues tobe in a critical conditionat the OGH. Two otherswho sustained minorburns and are being treat-ed at different hospitals.

Claims tough stand of former CS againstevangelism could have earned him transferPATHRI RAJASEKHAR |DC NELLORE, NOV. 5

The Bharatiya JanataParty state spokespersonK. Anjaneya Reddyalleged that the Jerusalemmafia — a euphemism forthe alleged communalslant of Chief Minister Y SJagan Mohan Reddy infavour of fellow Christ-ians — is behind the sud-den transfer of chief secre-tary L.V. Subhramanyam.

Speaking to mediaper-sons at Nellore onTuesday, Anjaneya Reddysaid that steps taken byMr Subhramanyam agai-nst people from other reli-gions working in the TTDand other Hindu temples,and his tough standagainst evangelism, wasthe probable reason forhis being shunted out.Commending the senior-most IAS officer for takingsteps to protect the sancti-ty of Hindu temples, MrReddy expressed doubtsover the intentions of theYSRC government.

Referring to the rowbetween former chief sec-retary LV Subhramanyamand principal secretaryPraveen Prakash, he ques-tioned the rationalebehind taking actionagainst the CS.

He also said that RSS andVHP cadres were warnedby the Visakapatnampolice recently over somebaseless allegations overcommunal issues.

Protectors seek protection in Delhi

Police personnel gather outside the Delhi police headquarters to protest against the repeated incidents of violenceagainst them by lawyers at the Tis Hazari court complex in New Delhi on Tuesday. After 11 hours of a virtual revolt,the police personnel ended their protest following an assurance by senior officers that their grievances would beaddressed. ■ Report on Page 7 — PTI

DESAM CHIEF TO PROTESTAGAINST SAND POLICYMD ILYAS | DC VIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Telugu Desam supremoN Chandrababu Naiduon Tuesday announcedhis decision to conduct adeeksha against sand cri-sis for 12 hours onNovember 14.

Earlier, his son and TDnational secretary, NLokesh, conducted ahalf-day deeksha atGuntur on October 30.

Speaking on the issueof sand scarcity, VakatiNarayana Reddy, MLC,alleged that all develop-ment activities inAndhra Pradesh hadcome to a standstill, fol-lowing sand scarcity.Demanding that theJagan Mohan Reddy gov-ernment disclose itsplans to overcome thesituation, he underlinedneed to ensure supply ofsand without hassles.

Later, the Jana Senaparty led by actor PawanKalyan conducted a longmarch on November 3 atVisakhapatnam, whilethe BJP conducted asatyagraha against sandcrisis on November 4 atVijayawada.

After the success of theJana Sena long march,TD has decided to con-

duct deeksha from led byMr Naidu, in which TDleaders and cadres willparticipate. Mr Naidusaid that Jana Senaasked for TD support,hence their party hadjoined the protest. Hesaid the TD would giveits support to everyonefighting for the public’swelfare.

Mr Naidu said that 40people had committedsuicides in 10 days in APdue to sand crisis but theYSRC government wasnon-responsive. Thisshows the inhuman atti-tude of the YSRC govern-ment, he said.

He said that his partyhad first started protestsagainst sand crisis onAugust 30 and had con-tinued state-wideprotests till October 25.

Mr Naidu said that ifthe YSRC governmentcannot dig out sand with-in reach, it is surelyincapable of ruling thestate. He said that revert-ing to the free sand poli-cy of his government wasthe resolution possiblehere. He demanded acompensation of `10,000for every constructionworker who lost workand `25 lakh ex gratia tokin.

Revenue staff flayCM during funeralDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 5

The final rites of Ch.Vijaya Reddy, the womantahsildar who was mur-dered in her office inAbdullapurmet, were per-formed with state hon-ours, watched mournfullyby scores of her colleaguesfrom the revenue depart-ment, family and friendsat Nagole on Tuesday.

The 37-year-old womanwas set ablaze in her officein Abdullapurmet by KuraSuresh on Monday. Shedied on the spot. She wasposted as the first tahsil-dar after the Abdullapur-met mandal was formed in2016. Huge numbers of

revenue departmentemployees visited herhouse and bid her a tear-ful adieu. Employees, whoparticipated in the funeralprocession from her houseto the crematorium atNagole, raised sloganshailing her, and then, asthe sad mood turned intoanger, slogans were raisedagainst Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao.

The employees con-demned the policies intro-duced by the CM, allegingthat he was responsiblefor instigating public’sanger against revenueemployees.

■ Page 5: Employees stagerasta roko at Nagole

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYWADA, NOV. 5

After facing pressurefrom various quarters,Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy onTuesday ordered his offi-cials to revoke a GOissued by the educationdepartment re-namingthe A.P.J. Abdul KalamPrathibha Awards afterthe late Chief Ministerand Mr Reddy's fatherY.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

Later in the evening,the government issuedan order restoring thename of the formerPresident to the awards.

The government’smove to rename awardsgiven to meritoriousschool children haddrawn flak from variousquarters. The erstwhileChandrababu Naidu gov-ernment in 2017 that hadnamed the Prathibhaawards after AbdulKalam.

While a GO renamingthe awards was issued onMonday night, it islearnt that the ChiefMinister was miffed withofficials on Tuesday issu-ing it without his clear-ance. He ordered them towithdraw the GO.

“The government here-by order to re-designatethe Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kal-am Pratibha PuraskarAwards' as the 'Y.S.R.Vidya Puraskars' from2019 onwards for distrib-ution on the occasion ofbirth anniversary of Ma-ulana Abul Kalam Azadas National EducationDay on 11th November,”said GO N. 78.

To this, Mr Naidu saidon Twitter: “Dr Kalamhas accomplished muchfor the nation with hisinspiring life. @ysjagan'sgovt changing "APJAbdul Kalam PratibhaPuraskar" to "YSR VidyaPuraskar" is a shockingmethod of self-aggrandis-ement (sic).”

VADREVU SRINIVAS I DCKAKINADA, NOV. 5

West Godavari policenabbed one VellankiSimhadri alias Siva, 38, ofVenkatapuram Panchayatin Eluru, who in the past 20months allegedly robbedand killed 10 persons. Heoffered his victims what hecalled prasadam and Ayur-vedic medicine, but whichwas actually cyanide.

The police also arrestedSheik Ameenullah aliasBabu alias Shankar, 60, ofVijayawada who suppliedthe cyanide to the killer.

Mr Grawel said that Sivawould tell his victims that

he would arrange for “ricepulling coins”, which istouted to bring the ownergreat wealth and told themto get money for the same.

He would then take themto an isolated place, givethem cyanide by claimingit was prasadam.

He would then rob themof any cash, gold or silverjewellery. He would eventell the credulous personsthat he would double theirmoney by performing apooja and the cyanide wasadministered in theprasadam. Sometimes thecyanide was administeredin what he calledAyurvedic medicine. He

eluded the police becausethere were no injuries onthe bodies and as deathwas instantaneous.

The cyanide wasobtained by Babu, whoseelder brother Asad ran an

electro nickel plating unitfor nickel-coat polishing ofmotorcycle spare parts.

Cyanide was one of theingredients used in thisprocess and was obtainedtogether with the otheringredients from thelicensed shop of one T.S.Selvem of VenkatachalamModiliar Street inChennai.

Babu would accompanyhis brother Asad when hewent to purchase the itemsbut he bought the cyanidehimself, without theknowledge of his brother,and supplied to Siva for ahuge sum of money.

The crime came to light

after the killing of 49-year-old teacher Kati Nagarajuin Eluru on October 16.

West Godavari superin-tendent of police NavdeepSingh Grawel toldreporters on Tuesday thataround 5.50 pm on October16, Nagaraju received acall from his killer to sayhe had arranged for the'rice pulling coin', and lefthome with `2 lakh in cash,and gold ornaments,informing his wife that hewas going on some bankwork and was showing thegold ornaments to an LICagent. He was foundunconscious by the road-side at Mini Bypass road

near CRR PolytechnicCollege and taken toAndhra Hospital in Eluru,where doctors declaredhim dead on arrival.

Nagaraju's brother KatiVenkata Ramana suspect-ed two persons who werethe last to be contacted byhis brother on his mobile -Siva and Babu.

Altogether, Siva robbed`24.60 lakh in cash and35.25 sovereigns of goldornaments from the 10deceased persons. Thepolice recovered `1,63,400and 23.1/4 sovereigns ofgold ornaments and also aplastic tin containing asmall quantity of cyanide.

Robber uses cyanide to turn serial killer■The accused used to buy the chemical from Chennai pretending as bike repairerMONEY | POWER

Ayodhya is tensebut remains calmVIKRAM SHARMA | DCAYODHYA, NOV. 5

Temple spires, masjiddomes and billboardswith photographs of asmiling Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adit-yanath, are what domi-nate the 11-km stretch fr-om Faizabad to Ayodhya.

With drones above,armed policemen on flagmarches, barricades,checkposts and CCTVseverywhere, the twintowns are bracing forjudgment day.

Ahead of the Ayodhyatitle suit judgment by theSupreme Court this epi-centre is full chatterabout peace and harmonyby both communities. Butthat does little to alleviatethe tension in the airengulfing the twin towns.

Entering Faizabad, itseems to be business asusual. Though section 144is in place, the town isabuzz with activity andthe rush at markets. Amajority of the crowd are

policemen.Though sloganeering is

banned, some groupswere seen randomlychanting “Jai Shri Ram”but went silent themoment they spottedpolicemen around.

“The massive securitydoes bother us,” saysMuhammed Adil, 48, ofGhosiana.

■ Page 6: It’s good theissue is ending now: Locals

STATE REVOKESG.O. TO RENAMEKALAM AWARDS

■ ■ DISTRICT administra-tion has created nearly 60WhatsApp groups involv-ing police, locals, socialmedia watchers, religiousleaders etc.

■ ■ A QUICK ReactionTeam comprising armedwomen police is formed.

■ ■ THE 3,000-strongAyodhya police force isdeployed with the RapidAction Force. A largeparamilitary contingentwill arrive soon.

■ ■ THE ACCUSED used tolure credulous persons bypromising to double theirmoney by performing apooja.

■ ■ AFTER GAINING theirtrust, he would take thevictim to an isolated placeand administer cyanide inthe prasadam.

RELIANCE TOBACK OUT OFEMC IN TIRUPATIAVINASH P.SUBRAMANYAM | DC TIRUPATI, NOV. 5

The Reliance group, wh-ich had proposed settingup an electronics manu-facturing facility at theElectronic Manufactur-ing Cluster near the tem-ple city of Tirupati, isreportedly backing out ofthe proposal due toalleged delay in handingover the land promisedby the state government.

The Reliance group hadentered into an agree-ment with the state gov-ernment in February lastto invest around `15,000crore in an electronicsmanufacturing facilitynear Tirupati to manufa-cture Jio phones, TVs,and set-top boxes amongothers. The manufactur-ing plant was to be devel-oped in two phases — oneon around 125 acres andthe second on 50 acres.

The company had ente-red into an MoU with thethen Telugu Desam gov-ernment which reported-ly promised to allot near-ly 150 acres to theReliance group in 2018.Sources said that, so far,only 75 acres have beencleared by the presentstate government.

The deal became con-troversial after 15 farm-ers, who together heldnearly 50 acres of land,reportedly approachedthe AP High Court andgot a stay on the govern-ment buying their land.Since then, the procure-ment of land for the pro-ject has hit a road block.

However, after the landprocurement faced legalhurdles in the middle ofthe project, the companyis learnt to have with-drawn from EMC projectin Tirupati, sources say.

Page 2: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

Poisoning of PET master got accused caught by copsVADREVU SRINIVAS | DC ELURU, NOV. 5

Serial killer VellankiSimhadri alias Siva metSheik Ameenullaha aliasBabu alias Shankar inVijayawada and discu-ssed his idea for makingmoney by feeding cyani-de to his victims pretend-ing it was sacred food,leaving behind no trace.Babu agreed to supplythe cyanide to Siva for alarge sum of money.

Siva’s first victim wasVallabhaneni Uma Mahe-swara Rao of Nuzvidwhom he persuaded intobelieving that he willarrange supply of ‘ricepulling coin’ and tookhim to a garden where hegave him cyanide asprasadam and robbedhim of `4 lakh and a sil-ver ring.

He trapped PulapaTavitaiah of Marri-bandam village, tellinghim he could double whatmoney he had, poisonedhim and took `8 lakhfrom him.

Gandikota BhaskaraRao of Agiripalli (SinghRoad) of Vijayawada waskilled and robbed of `1.7lakh in the same way.Chodavarapu Suryanara-yana alias Suribabu, aclerk in Manikanta Fi-nance Company in Eluruin Vangayagudem villagewas also given the poi-soned prasadam androbbed of `5 lakh andtwo gold rings.

Siva killed Swamiji SriSri Sri Ramakrishnana-nda of PurushotapatnamAshram in Rajahmundryby giving him ‘ayurvedicmedicine’ but did not su-cceed in getting any cashor gold from him.

In the same manner hetrapped his relativeKothapalli Rahavammaand robbed her of a goldchain.

He also killed and ro-bbed his distant relativeSamantakurthi Nagam-

ani, after promising todouble her money.

His ninth victim washis landlady Ramula-mma at Hanuma Nagarin Eluru.

It was his poisoning ofNagaraju, a PET master,that got him caught bythe Three Town Police ofEluru in October thisyear.

PAGE

2StateWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

Pointing fingersNaidu says the YSRC government treatedformer chief secretary L.V.Subrahmanyam worse than a clerk

L.V. Subrahmanyamwas transferred for

administrativepurposes

— Botsa SatyanarayanaAP minister

OTHER STORIES

Dengue deaths unreported in VizagVacant lands become breeding grounds for dengue-carrying mosquitoesVIRAL | DISEASE

N.S. CHOWDARY | DC VISAKHAPATNAM, NOV. 5

A young mother who diedat King George Hospital(KGH) on Tuesday was yetanother victim of dengue.

Gantyada Sindhu Priya,29, a resident of Doggava-nipalem Colony, was adm-itted to a private hospitalwith symptoms of fever.She was later shifted toKGH where she gave birthto a baby boy, but died dueto dengue fever-inducedcomplications.

District medical andhealth officials have notconfirmed it as a denguedeath. Though the viraldisease has claimed many

lives across the city, theauthorities have not repor-ted all such cases. Rece-ntly, Emandi Vandana, 52,an assistant professor ofmicrobiology at KGH diedof dengue but it was notregistered as a denguedeath.

According to districtmedical and health officer(DMHO) S. Tirupathi Rao,the blood samples of dece-ased patients are sent forthe confirmatory Elisa(enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay) test. Boththe above cases tested pos-itive for dengue in the El-isa test. The prevalence ofchronic comorbid conditi-ons could have resulted in

their death, Mr Rao said.Dengue cases proliferate

after the monsoon seasonaccording to some experts.With continuous rains inthe city, open lands wherewater collects have beco-me breeding places for dis-ease-carrying mosquitoes,causing mosquito-transm-itted diseases such as den-gue, malaria and chikung-unya to proliferate in the

city. Citizens are doingwhat they can to increasepublic awareness aboutkeeping one's environme-nt clean and free of stag-nant water but there's notmuch they can do aboutvacant public sites, whichGVMC must attend to.

Himani Bhatt, a residentof Panorama Hills and br-and ambassador of Swa-chta Abhiyaan, said: “Wehave educated fellow peo-ple on the measures to betaken in every home to pr-event the breeding of theAedes mosquito, which isthe carrier of dengue. Butin spite of repeated com-plaints, civic officials havenot cleared stagnant water

in open lands.”Asked to comment on

this, GVMC chief medicalofficer Dr A Hemanthclaims the municipalityhas been draining out rainwater from vacant govern-ment and private land.

“We have hired 5-10 vacu-um tankers to suck rainwater from vacant sites ona monthly basis. However,the efficiency may not be100 per cent,” he says.

The fact is that theGVMC is draining out rai-nwater in selected areas ofZone-4, Zone-5 and Zone-6.As a result, dengue-carry-ing mosquitoes are spread-ing viral diseases in Zone-1 and other areas of city.

Indo-US forcesexercise betweenVizag & KakinadaDC CORRESPONDENTVISAKHAPATNAM, NOV. 5

A first-ever tri-services India-US amphibious exercise, TigerTriumph, will be held fromNovember 13 to 21 in the areabetween Visakhapatnam andKakinada. The exercise willinclude field training that sim-ulates the shifting of humani-tarian assistance and disasterrelief force from ship to shore.This exercise helps build thecapacity of the participantswhile improving their ability tooperate together.

About 1,200 Indian soldiers,sailors and airmen and 500 USmarines, armymen and airmenwill participate in the exercisewhere members of the partici-pants would exchange knowl-edge and learn from each otherwhile establishing personaland professional relationships.

Indian and US forces will bec-ome familiar with each other’saviation support capabilitieswhile conducting cross deck la-ndings by Indian Air Force onUSS Germantown’s flight deck.

‘Tiger Triumph’ training per-tains to developing counterter-rorism or humanitarian assis-tance and disaster relief capa-bilities. The training incorpor-ates surface movements fromship-to-shore where US and In-dian forces will demonstratenaval integration, advance in-teroperability and exchangebest practices. UNS Jalashwa,USS Germantown, INS Airavatand a survey vessel in a hospi-tal ship role will participate in‘Tiger Triumph.’

CM urged to curbgraft, protect

Wakf landsDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Members of Muslim United Fr-ont (MUF)and Muslim WelfareJoint Action Committee(MWJIC) demanded ChiefMinister Y.S. Jagan MohanReddy to initiate measures toelimination corruption and toprotect the land under WakfBoard control.

The MUF and MWJAC allegedthat majority of Wakf landswere in the clutches ofencroachers and sought actionfrom the Chief Minister to ini-tiate measures to get backthose lands.

MWJAC chairman Md Kale-em stated that recently the st-ate government ordered aprobe into the corruption andanomalies at the Urdu Acade-my which shows the need ofreform the minority institu-tions.

He alleged that thousands ofacres of Wakf land in Reddy-palem, Guntur, Nellore, Vijaya-wada and other areas of thestate were in the clutches ofencroachers for years but therehas been no action from thegovernment to get them back.

He claimed that according tonorms, Wakf lands should beused for the welfare of theminorities but some officialsand Mutawallis violate the nor-ms and give the lands on leaseand are silent on encroach-ments. He and other leaders ofMUF and MWJAC sought app-ointing of an officer to WakfBoard, the formation of a spe-cial commissionerate to protectWakf lands and appointment ofState Haj Committee.

Treasure hunters gangheld for triple murdersNAGABHUSHANHOSKOTE I DCANANTAPUR, NOV. 5

Police arrested five per-sons of a gang of treasurehunters for the murders ofthree aged persons at aShiva temple on Korthi-kota hill four months agounder the Tanakal policestation limits in the dis-trict on Tuesday. Anotherperson related to the gangis absconding.

A police official said thegang believed that therewere precious stones hid-den in the Shiva lingamand that it was protectedby snakes. They used blo-od to ostensibly preventthe snake snakes fromentering the temple whenthey dug up the place.

Kadiri Rural circle ins-pector Thammisetty Ma-dhu and his team said th-ey had travelled 7,000 kilo-metres since the murderstook place on July 14 andinterrogated 300 suspectsincluding those belongingto 30 treasure huntinggangs from AP, Telanganastate, Karnataka, TamilNadu and Kerala beforethey made the arrests.

The victims were S.Shivarami Reddy, 66, ofKondakinda Mekalavar-ipalle in Tamballapalli inChittoor district, a retiredemployee who had spenthis own money to main-tain the temple and wasserving as the priest, de-votees Vankadara Satyala-kshmamma, 70, of Andra-halli in Bengaluru, andKadapala Kamalamma,75, of Uppuravandlapalliin Tanakal mandal inAnantapur district. Theirblood was smeared on asnake pit.

The culprits killed thethree at the temple anddoused their blood at thesnake pit. The gang thentried to remove the Shivalingam which theybelieved contained pre-cious stones.

Police registered a casebased on a complaint byShivarami Reddy's wifePrabhavati. The murderswere a challenge for thepolice because there waslittle by way of evidence.

“Our teams coveredmore than 7,000 kilome-tres and questioned 300persons who wereinvolved in treasure-hunt-ing and locally from

Tamballapalle after we gotreports that ShivaramiReddy had lent money tolocals,” superintendent ofpolice Satya Esubabusaid. They also investigat-ed in nearby villages sur-rounding the temple.

The police finally zeroedin upon the five-membergang of treasure huntersfor involvement in thetriple murder. Mr Esuba-bu said that the accusedSrikanth Naik, Hanuma-ntha Naik, C. Ganesh ofPuttaparthi, MusalikuntaSrinivasulu and VasudevaReddy, a real estate traderof Puttaparthi werefriends. All these five havebeen arrested. Their asso-ciate, Subramanyam, isabsconding.

Srinivasulu told his frie-nds about precious stoneshidden in the Korthikotatemple Shiva lingam, andabout his guru Subraman-yam Naidu's claims aboutdiamonds being there.

Hanumantha Naik, Sri-kanth Naik and Ganeshconducted a recce of thetemple on March 17 andfirmed up their plan thenext day. They collectedthe required material, in-cluding a knife along withthe blood of an animal.The trio attacked the tem-ple and killed ShivaramiReddy and two women bystabbing and hitting themwith hammers on July 14.Their bodies were foundthe next day.

Soon after killing thetrio, they sprinkled bloodin the temple surround-ings to prevent snakesfrom coming there. Theytried to break the Shivalingam but fled in the darkafter failing to do so, MrEasbabu said.

■ The culprits killedthe three at the tem-ple and doused theirblood at the snakepit. The gang thentried to remove theShiva lingam whichthey believed con-tained preciousstones.

■ Kadiri Rural circleinspectorThammisetty Madhuand his team saidthey had travelled7,000 km since themurders took placeon July 14 and inter-rogated 300 suspectsincluding thosebelonging to 30 treas-ure hunting gangsfrom AP, Telanganastate, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu andKerala before theymade the arrests.

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

A Special InvestigationTeam has found that ex-cess nitrate had causedthe death of 86 cows inthe gosala at KothuruTadepalli in Krishnadistrict on August 10.

The cows had died af-ter eating grass and dri-nking water at the gos-ala.

Following protests andallegations that the cowsmay have been poisoned,the state governmentappointed an SIT toprobe the incident.

The SIT was headed byCCS ACP P. SrinivasaRao.

Investigators collectedsamples of grass andwater, as also viscera ofthe dead cows and sentthem to a forensic labo-ratory for tests. Forensicexamination revealed notraces of poison, wheth-er in the grass, water orthe viscera samples. Ho-wever, the nitrate cont-ent in the grass was fo-und to be between 3.79per cent and 4.47 per ce-nt, when it should actu-ally be below 1.6 percent.

Investigators thus det-ermined that excess nit-rate content was the ca-use for death of the 86cows. The grass that wassupplied is stated tocome from Prakasam,Guntur and Krishna dis-tricts.

The SIT report hasbeen submitted to thestate government forfurther action.

EXCESS NITRATECAUSED DEATHS OF86 COWS, SAYS SIT

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 5

Bengaluru-based writerand artist Prashant Par-vataneni has been awar-ded the 11th Srinivas Ra-yaprol Poetry Prize for2019. He was chosen fr-om a field of 170 fromaround the country.

The award, consistingof a citation and a cashprize of `15,000 will bepresented at a literaryevent to be held here.

Mr Parvataneni is partof a collective called Br-own Study which workstowards developing for-ms of thinking and exp-erimenting with artistictexts and experiences.As a researcher and tra-nslator, he works withthe Kabir Project at theSrishti Institute of Arton an online archive ofpoems from sufi andbhakti traditions. Theprize was instituted byHyderabad-based Srini-vas Rayaprol LiteraryTrust to recognise excel-lence in poetry writtenin English by poets inage group of 20-40 years.

BENGALURU POETWINS RAYAPROLPRIZE FOR 2019

Lizbeth Karoline Joseph of Kerala leaps to a distance of12.99 metres to win the event in the Under-19 Girls TripleJump final on the fourth day of 35th National JuniorAthletics Championships 2019 at Acharya NagarjunaUniversity, Guntur city, on Tuesday. — TEJO ROY ELETI

National Jr Athletics: Day-2

DC CORRESPONDENTTIRUMALA, NOV. 5

The Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanam (TTD Boa-rd as decided to appointretired chief priest DrA.V. Ramana Deekshituluas Agama adviser and hasallowed him to re-enterthe shrine along with thethree other hereditarypriests who were retiredfrom service last year asthey had crossed the ageof superannuation.

In a press release, thetemple management saidit decided to take Dr Ram-ana Deekshitulu backinto service by appoint-ing him Agama adviser.He has been given addi-tional responsibility totrain the young archakas.

The TTD also announ-ced that the retired chiefpriests can enter the tem-ple at any time on parwith the regular archa-kas. The release by theTTD stated that the temp-le management has decid-ed to reinstate as archa-kas in the Tirumala tem-ple the two sons of DrDeekshitulu who weretransferred to Lord Govi-ndaraja Swamy temple inTirupati last year.

The previous TTD boardset up by the then TeluguDesam government hadtaken a decision to retireDr Deekshutulu and threehereditary chief priests,

Narasimha Deekshitulu,Srinivas Deekshithuluand Seshachala Deekshu-tulu. Later, the board reti-red three more priests wo-rking in the Sri Padmav-athi Ammavari temple inTiruchanoor who hadattained 65 years of age.

The YSRC, which was inthe Opposition at thattime, opposed the deci-sion and demanded thereinstatement of the reti-red priests. Party presi-dent and Chief MinisterY.S. Jagan Mohan Reddyin his election campaignhad declared that the par-ty will restore the rightsof hereditary priestsafter coming to power.

Following developme-nts, TTD chairman Y.V.Subba Reddy after the sec-ond board meeting heldrecently announced that acommittee will be consti-tuted to decide the guide-lines on the hereditarypriests’ issue. TTD is lear-nt to have received direc-tions from the state gov-ernment and the commit-tee that led to the appoint-ment of Dr RamanaDeekshithulu as agamaadviser, it is learnt.

Ramana Deekshithuluback as Agama adviser

Srivani trust goes online;VIP tickets for donationDC CORRESPONDENTTIRUMALA, NOV. 5

In order to make it easyfor donors from all over,Tirumala Tirupati Deva-sthanams (TTD) has laun-ched an online applica-tion platform for SriVenkateswara AlayaNirmana (Srivani) Trust.

Devotees will be able tomake donations online.They will be entitled toVIP break darshan ticketsby donating in multiplesof `10,000 (one ticket) upto `99,000 (nine tickets).

The Srivani trust hasbeen established to takecare of construction andmaintenance of LordVenkateswara SwamyTemples across the coun-try, providing amenitiesfor performing religiousrituals, functions and fes-tivals at the temples. Italso has to renovate, pro-tect, preserve and main-tain gopurams andarchaeological structures.

For each donation of`10,000, one VIP ticketwill be allotted and thedonor is entitled for proto-

col darshan as a one-timegrant with a ceiling limitof nine tickets. However,if donations exceed `1lakh, the privileges exist-ing for other trusts willremain same to SRIVANIdonors.

“An exclusive counterhas been in place at Gok-ulam Rest House in Tiru-mala, where donations toSrivani trust were beingreceived and VIP ticketsissued. The donors canavail darshan on the nextday and redeem the privi-leges of VIP beginningwith the break darshan bypaying `500 per ticket. Ina bid to take this initiativefurther, we have launchedthe online application forSRIVANI trust,” said MrA.V. Dharma Reddy, TTD’sadditional executive offi-cer.

He said, so far 1,109donors have contributedto the Srivani trust off-line from October 21 toNovember 4 and the accu-mulated amount isaround `1.10 crore.

“We have released quotaof darshan tickets tillDecember 31. Each day itwill be around 200 to 500online while on Fridays itis restricted to 200. Thedevotees can directly bookon online and come fordarshan on the dottedhour," he said.

The Additional EO alsosaid that they were con-templating to link accom-modation services underthis trust in a couple ofmonths and added thatrooms in Vakulamata RestHouse could also bebooked online underSrivani trust quota.

■ RamanaDeekshitulu has alsobeen given addition-al responsibility totrain the youngarchakas.

DC CORRESPONDENTELURU, NOV. 5

Kati Nagaraju, the tenthvictim of VellankiSimhadri alias Siva, wasacquainted known to hisalleged killer, Siva.

West Godavari superin-tendent of police Navd-eep Singh Grawel said th-at the two were involvedin searching for ‘ricepulling coins’ which aretouted to bring wealth totheir owners. In this way,Siva got acquainted withsome others who werecrazy about the Rice Pull-ing Coins and dreamed ofbecoming rich overnight.

Besides, Siva investedin gupta nidhulu (secret

treasuer) and rangu rallu(precious stones) andfancy schemes to doublehis wealth but lostmoney. He was in the realestate business but lostmoney and was in debt.The plan to murder androb people was a way torecoup his losses.

Mr Grawel said thatafter Nagaraju’s death,CCTV footage along theroute taken by the dece-ased prior to his death,traced him to theentrance of SiddharthaCollege, where he wasseen conversing withSiva. The footage showshe was followed by Sivaat some distance.

After he was arrested

Siva confessed that hehad killed 10 persons androbbed them of cash andgold to sustain his luxuri-ous life and expenses.

Mr Grawel said thatSiva had used some ofthe money to purchase ahouse site at NTR Colonyin Eluru, constructed ahouse on it and movedhis family into the newhouse two months ago.

Eluru DSP O. DilipKiran, circle inspectorsA. Srinivasa Rao, sub-inspector Ch. Suresh,assistant sub-inspectorB. Purnachandra Raowere among the officerswho investigated thecrime.

Siva became a killerto recoup his losses

■ Devotees can now make donations online.

■ The donors of this trust are entitled forVIP break darshan tickets that will be pro-portionate to their donations.

■ 1,109 donors have contributed 1.10 crorefrom October 21 to November 4 off-line.

Raghava ReddyTTD panel V-P

Tirupati: Mr Konda RaghavaReddy has been appointedvice-president for the localadvisory committee (LAC)

for the Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams (TTD) temple

and information centre inHyderabad for two years. Mr

Raghava Reddy and MrPrabhakar Reddy of Chennai

had been earlier appointedas members of the LAC andwere on Tuesday upgradedas vice-presidents. The TTD

cancelled the appointment ofSubhash Naidu in

Bhubaneshwar and replacedhim with Mr Venkateswara

Rao.

Disease No of cases upto Oct

Malaria 1,058

Chikungunya 21

Dengue 681

SIERIALKILLER’S VICTIMS

■ ■ Siva also killed androbbed his distant rela-

tive SamantakurthiNagamani, after prom-

ising to double hermoney.

■ ■ His ninth victim washis landlady

Ramulamma at HanumaNagar in Eluru.

■ ■ SIVA'S FIRST victim was Vallabhaneni UmaMaheswara Rao of Nuzvid whom he persuaded intobelieving that he will arrange supply of ‘rice pullingcoin’ and took him to a garden where he gave himcyanide as prasadam and robbed him of 4 lakh anda silver ring.

■ ■ HE TRAPPED Pulapa Tavitaiah of Marribandamvillage, telling him he could double what money hehad, poisoned him and took 8 lakh from him.

■ ■ GANDIKOTA BHASKARA Rao of Agiripalli (SinghRoad) of Vijayawada was killed and robbed of 1.7lakh in the same way. Chodavarapu Suryanarayanaalias Suribabu, a clerk in Manikanta Finance Comp-any in Eluru in Vangayagudem village was also giventhe poisoned prasadam and robbed of 5 lakh.

■ ■ SIVA KILLED Swami Sri Sri Sri Ramakrishnananda of PurushotapatnamAshram in Rajahmundry by giving him ‘ayurvedic medicine’ but did not succeedin getting any cash or gold from him.

■ ■ KILLER Siva alsotrapped his relativeKothapalli Rahavammaand robbed her of agold chain.

Page 3: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

Washington:

Amsterdam:

ANTETOKOUNMPO LEADSMILWAUKEE CHARGE

HOUSTON ROCKETS FLYPAST MEMPHIS

PASCHALL PROPELSWARRIORS TO WIN

Taipei:

|

Antonio Giovinazzi

●

●

IN BRIEF

PAGE

3CityWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

More agitation

Everyone shouldcooperate to build

a society that iswithout pollution

— Biswa Bhushan HarichandanGovernor

DC CORRESPONDENTKURNOOL, NOV. 5

YSR Rythu Bharosa schemeintended to provide input sub-sidy of Rs 13,500, a promisemade by Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy duringhis Padayatra, turns out to be amere promise for most ofthose who were eliminatedfrom being beneficiaries citingseveral reasons.

Kurnool district has 6,94,410farmers including lease hold-ers. Proposals were sent to thegovernment in respect of 5.09lakhs farmers. Of these, a listof 4,15,000 farmers was read-ied. Some were eliminated byadministrators because theydid not have a passbook.

Rayalaseema SaguneetiSadhana Samithi (RSSS)President Bojja DasarathReddy said that Rythu Bharosaunder Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy is ascheme of elimination thatwas confined to a miniscule ofSCs/STs and other minorities.

Reeling out the pathetic con-dition of farmers, he said thatfarmers in Kurnool demandminimum support price (MSP)to their produce.

RYTHU BHAROSASCHEME FAILS TOPLEASE FARMERS

POLICE NAB TWOCHAIN SNATCHERS, RECOVER BOOTYDC CORRESPONDENTNELLORE, NOV. 5

Gudur police along withCentral Crime Stationsleuths nabbed two chainsnatchers and recoveredproperty worth `2 lakhfrom them. The accusedhave been identified asM. Sai Krishna, 20, and K.Avinash, 23, of Bitragun-ta mandal in Nellore.

According to the CCScircle inspector Sk BajiJon Syeda, the duo areinvolved in two chain sn-atching offences in thedistrict. Their first vic-tim was an elderly wom-an from Kavali town.

They grabbed her goldchain and fled while thewoman was walkingalone to her home onSeptember 21. The sameday, the duo managed tosnatch a gold chain fromanother woman in Gudur.Police nabbed the twoaccused at Gudur onTuesday and recoveredproperty from them.

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Vijayawada MunicipalCorporation Commissio-ner Prasanna Venkateshstated that VMC is plann-ing to begin an aromaticindustry to make gooduse of waste flowers und-er the zero-waste conceptof the city.

The United Nations De-velopment Organisation(UNIDO) conducted a se-minar on Sustainable cit-ies at the VMC office inVijayawada on Tuesday.

Prasanna Venkatesh sa-id that the VMC is recycl-ing dry and wet waste co-llected from every houseand targets to turn thecity as zero waste in thecoming days by using allthe waste in compost.

Prasanna Venkatesh sa-id that the VMC is super-vising administration th-rough three offices in thecity and has been givinggood results to offer goodgovernance to citizens.He said that VMC hasbeen collecting dry andwet waste from everyhouse every day and seg-

regating the waste intodry and waste during col-lection. He said that theVMC has been recyclingthe waste through wind-ow compost and vermincompost where all segre-gated waste like plasticand others would be recy-cled to achieve zero was-te in the city.

Prasanna Venkatesh st-ated that further, VMChas been using CNG elec-trical vehicles to reducepollution and workingfor the promotion ofmass transportation bythe public. He mentionedthat the biggest flowermarket in the state is inVijayawada. Hence, VMChas proposed to begin anaromatic industry bymaking good use offlower waste.

The UNIDO representa-tives explained about ur-ban planning and manag-ement, investment proje-cts and technology demo-nstration, partnershipsand knowledge manage-ment platform, monitor-ing and evaluation sub-jects to the officials con-cerned on the occasion.

Officials plan to set up aromatic industry under zero waste concept

Aquaculture skill centrein AU to train fishermen DC CORRESPONDENTVISAKHAPATNAM, NOV 5

Andhra University andAvanthi Aqua CultureFoundation (AACF) willjointly set up aquacul-ture skill developmentcentre to train thousan-ds of fishermen in aqua-culture and shrimp far-ming, a first of its kindin the country.

AU registrar Prof V.Krishnamohan andAACF joint managing

director C. Ramachan-dra Rao exchanged me-morandum of understa-nding in the presence ofAU vice-chancellor ProfP.V.G.D. Prasad Reddy onTuesday.

Prof. Prasada Reddysaid that the proposedaquaculture skill devel-opment centre to beestablished at AU wouldcost `2.34 crore. It wouldhelp in training fisher-men and students of de-partment marine living

resources. In addition tothis, Avanthi foundationwill spend `35 lakh ev-ery year on the trainingprogrammes.

He said that the skillcentre would provide tr-aining to thousands offishermen from AP coa-st. The centre would pro-vide employment oppor-tunities to students ofmarine living resourcesfrom AU through cam-pus placements by Avan-thi foundation.

Vizag gears up forNavy MarathonDC CORRESPONDENTVISAKHAPATNAM, NOV. 5

Eco-friendly Vizag NavyMarathon is all set to ha-ppen at Beach Road onNovember 17.

The event is an initiativeby the Eastern NavalCommand and promotedby Sports Arena with amotto ‘Reduce-Reuse-Rec-ycle’, thereby reducing thecarbon footprint generat-ed during the event.

The organisers pledgedto reuse and recycle anyelements used for the eve-nt to ensure that no harmwill be done to BeachRoad. Thrust will be to useenvironmentally-friendlyalternatives along withnew initiatives such as thedistribution of race T-shirt, without plasticcover, and banning use ofany pollutants.

The finisher's medal hasbeen inspired by the steer-ing wheel of the ships.

Registrations for the ma-rathon can be done onlineand offline. The sixth edi-tion of Vizag Navy Marat-hon is being conducted infour categories – CourageRun (Full Marathon), Dest-iny Run (Half Marathon),Friendship Run (10 km)and Run for Fun (5 km).

Over 18,000 runners ofvarious nationalities anddifferent states are expect-ed to participate in the ma-rathon, which is a qualify-ing race for ‘World MajorMarathons’.

All runs will be flaggedoff and finished nearVishwapriya Hall at BeachRoad with the race routerunning parallel to the sce-nic seashore of the citytowards Gitam Universityand beyond.

ASSISTANT BC WELFARE OFFICER IN ACB NETDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

ACB sleuths on Tuesday ar-rested a BC welfare officerand his assistant for accept-ing bribe at Repalle inGuntur district.

ACB informed that SyedShajahan, assistant welfareofficer working at Repalle,demanded `60,000 bribe tosanction diet bills of BCboys hostel of Pallepalemfrom the hostel welfare offi-cer P. Prabhakar Reddy whosubmitted bills of August,September and October.

The hostel official expre-ssed his inability to pay theamount but the accused offi-cer was adamant.

The victim lodged com-plaint with ACB and on thedirection of ACB officials,he gave `60,000 bribe toShajahan in his office andaccused handed over theamount to his attender MdRafi for safe custody.

The ACB officials caughtthe duo red-handed whiletaking the money from thehostel welfare officer andregistered cases against theduo.

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Freedom fighterKarnati Narasaiahpasses away at 95DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Freedom fighter and famous folk artistKarnati Lakshmi Narasaiah passedaway at the age 95 years in his house atVijayawada on Tuesday.

Lakshmi Narasaiah was a native ofTunikipadu village of Gampalagudemof Krishna district.

Lakshmi Narasaiah actively particip-ated in various protests in the freedomstruggle. Later he joined Burrakathatroupe of famous Burrakatha artist S.Nazar and got accolades for his Burr-akatha narration. He further acted invarious plays.

Lakshmi Narasaiah acted in variousTelugu films and got several awards forhis performance. He started folk artscenter at Vijayawada. Leaders of vario-us political parties and cultural organ-izations paid tributes the folk artist.

DC CORRESPONDENTTIRUPATI, NOV. 5

A woman shepherd suffer-ed injuries when a leopardcub attacked her in the for-est area near Vengampallivillage in Thavanampallimandal of Chittoor distr-ict on Tuesday.

According to the sources,Saraswathamma, 55, fromthis village took her sheep

and goats into the fieldsnear the forest area outsi-de the village. A leopardcub came to the field in se-arch of prey and attackedher when she went to col-lect water from a pond.

She screamed for helpand the villagers immedi-ately gathered in largewithin no time. In the att-ack, she sustained deepscratches on her body.

LEOPARD CUB ATTACKS WOMAN

Page 4: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

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4PoliticsWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

TD role in JanaSena stir trolled

PK remarks on HC shiftingchurlish: BotsaDC CORRESPONDENTKURNOOL, NOV. 5

Disparaging remarksmade by Jana Sena chiefPawan Kalyan on theproposed move to shiftAP High Court toKurnool that “it is onlyto facilitate AP ChiefMinister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy to makehis appearances in HighCourt easy fromPulivendula” evokedstrong reaction fromleaders and advocates.

Municipal adminstra-tion minister BotsaSatyanarayana termedPawan Kalyan’s remarksas childish, churlish andunbecoming of a leaderwho wants to be in pub-lic life.

Reacting on thedemand of advocates toshift AP High Court toKurnool, Mr Kalyan saidthat it would help ChiefMinister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy to travelfrom his home townPulivendula as Kurnoolis nearer to his home.

Finance ministerBuggana RajendranathReddy took seriousobjection to Mr Kalyan’scomments on KurnoolHigh Court proposal andsaid, “It is not befittingon Pawan Kalyan whoheads a political party.”

Vishnu complains offake social media posts

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Netizens trolled JanaSena chief K. PawanKalyan for his threat tolodge complaints withPrime Minister NarendraModi against the YSRCgovernment on the sandcrisis. They said hisactions pointed to a tie-upbetween the BJP and theTelugu Desam.

JS supporters and fol-lowers also took to theInternet to express fearthat the involvement ofthe Telugu Desam in JSmeetings could damagethe party reputation. Itwoould create the wrongimage that the Jana Senawas the ‘B’ team of theTD. Many Jana Senaactivists wanted the TD tobe kept away from theJana Sena meetings.

Users on Twitter,Facebook, Instagram,Telegram, WhatsApp,WeChat and other socialmedia platforms askedwhy Mr Kalyan was silenton the other issues facingAndhra Pradesh, includ-ing Amaravati not beingnotified as capital for thepast five years despitehaving access to Mr Modiand other leaders atDelhi.

They stated that despite

losing elections YSRCleader Y.S. Jagan MohanReddy did not strikealliances with other polit-ical parties and stayed inthe public and fought onpeople’s issues after 2014.This helped him winpower, they said.

They opined that MrKalyan should similarlystand with the public ontheir issues and mingle inthe masses and shunningcinematic strategies.

R. Uday, K. Bhaskar, J.Parthu and P. Raju saidthat the people had reject-ed the TD due to its cor-ruption and the partyhad also failed to gatherthe support of the public.

Those supporting MrKalyan said that the JShad first started a proteston the sand shortage. Hehad conducted meetingswith construction work-ers who announced theirsupport and made longmarch successful.

They claimed that afterthe success of long marchMr Reddy conducted areview meeting on the cri-sis and officials startedmeasures to increasesand supply and the cred-it goes to Mr Kalyan.

In this scenario, theinvolvement of Mr Naiduwould only serve to stealthe credit.

IN BRIEF

LOKESH: MYTEAM DIDN’TCAUSE LOSS

DC CORRESPONDENTKAKINADA, NOV 5

TD leader Nara Lokesh criti-cized Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy on thesudden transfer of Mr L.V.Subrahmanyam as ChiefSecretary. He told the mediathat the transfer was “verystrange”. He asked if it waspossible to make a special sec-retary order the transfer of theChief Secretary.

Asked whether his team wasthe reason for the TD’s MrLokesh said, “It’s not true.”The TD state president K. KalaVenkat Rao, Kakinada MayorSunkara Pavani, MandapetMLA V. Jogeswara Rao, formerMLAs Jyothula Nehru, V.Venkateswara Rao, S.V.S.N.Varma, N. Ramakrishna Reddyand others were at present.

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

The Brahmana ChaitanyaVedika (BCV) objected to thetransfer of Mr L.V.Subrahmanyam from the postof Chief Secretary to an unim-portant post and alleged thatChief Minister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy had insulted theBrahmin community with thetransfer.

BCV state co-convener S.Sridhar Sarma alleged that MrReddy had conspired to givetemple lands to his supportersunder the AP Buildup pro-gramme but Mr Subrah-manyam had objected and MrReddy had transferred him inan objectionable manner.

He warned that selling oftemple lands is against normsand Brahmins of AP wouldgherao the CM’s office if MrReddy failed to cancel the pro-posal. Mr Sarma and otherleaders of BCV said that theYSRC government will sufferdue to the ill-treatment of MrSubrahmanyam and demand-ed Mr Reddy express uncondi-tional apology to the Brahmincommunity for insulting anhonest Brahmin IAS officer.

DC CORRESPONDENTVISAKHAPATNAM, NOV 5

The number of petitions relat-ed to the land irregularities,land grabbing cases, changingof survey numbers withoutintimating to the concernedlandowners and tampering ofthe land records increasing.

The Special InvestigatingTeam (SIT) constituted toprobe allegations levelled onvarious people has received 131the petitions from November 1.

It was alleged during the TDgovernment that politiciansand officials had benefitedfrom land deals. The govern-ment appointed the SIT toprobe into the allegations. Itreceived 500 petitions and sub-mitted a report which has beenkept under wraps.

CM says next stage to cover all colleges and hospitals DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

After schools, hospitals,intermediate and degreecolleges, ITIs andGurukul schools wouldbe taken up for renova-tion under ‘Nadu Nedu’which begins onNovember 14.

During a review meet-ing on Tuesday, ChiefMinister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy said thataround 45,000 schools arebeing renovated underthe ‘Nadu-Nedu’ pro-gramme.

“In the next stage, wewill renovate junior col-leges, degree colleges,polytechnics, ITIs,Gurukul schools and hos-tels spending a largeamount on it. Everyschool in the state will beprovided with therequired infrastructure,including toilets, com-pound walls, furniture,fans and blackboards,”the CM said.

He instructed the offi-cials concerned to pre-pare a checklist for the

works to be done in everyschool. Around ninetypes of works are beingundertaken under thisprogramme.

Jagan said that the‘Nadu-Nedu’ programmewill be partnered withthe educational commit-tees and it will includeparents not only fromacademic-related issuesbut also from the man-agement.

“Next year, we willimplement English medi-um from Class I to VIII,”the Chief Minister saidand asked to prepare anacademic curriculum forthe same.

He instructed the offi-cials concerned to giveuniforms, shoes, andbooks to children at thebeginning of the academ-ic year. The CM instruct-

ed the officials that thereshould be no instance ofchildren not receivingbooks until September orOctober. “Next year,English medium will beintroduced in Class IX,”the Chief Minister said.

Under ‘Nadu-Nedu’ thegovernment is reno-vatinge all governmenthospitals. sub-centres,PHCs, CHCs, area hospi-tals, district hospitals,and teaching hospitals.All these will be renovat-ed. There should be noshortage of drugs in hos-pitals. More than 510medicines will be avail-able in hospitals fromDecember 15,” he added.

The AP CM said thatNetwork Hospitals andGovernment Hospitalsmust be equal in qualitystandards.

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Chief Minister, Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy, on Tuesdaywrote a letter to PrimeMinister, Narendra Modi,requesting the allocationof the Mandakani coalblock in Odisha toAPGenco thermal powerplants.

In his letter to PrimeMinister, Mr Reddy alsorequested that the coalblocks, preferably in thestates of Chhattisgarh and

Odisha with combinedannual capacity of at least50 MMTA, be allocated toAPMDC and APGenco,partly in the 6” and 9”tranches of coal block allo-cation announced by theministry of coal and part-ly in future allocations.

In his letter, Mr Reddywrote: “Prior to statebifurcation, the linkagequantities particularly thesupplies from M/s SCCLwere being adjustedbetween all the thermalstations of erstwhile

Andhra Pradesh to runthe units as per therequirement. After statebifurcation, the SCCLmines were entirely givento Telangana state andnew state of AndhraPradesh was not given ashare in the coal reserves.It is entirely dependent oncoal linkages from otherstates. This has compro-mised the energy securityof the new state of AP andthe 24x7 power supply.”

Mr Reddy added that theAndhra Pradesh mineral

development corporation(APMDC) is given one coalblock in the state ofMadhya Pradesh and onein Chhattisgarh of 5MMTA each for commer-cial purposes. The logisti-cal costs from these blocksmake the coal cost unvi-able for use by AP.

He further wrote: “Theministry of coal, GOI hasnotified coal blocksTranche VI for allotmentof coal mines to govern-ment companies for thepurpose of consumption

for the generation ofpower under the CoalMines Act, 2015. APGencois adding an additionalcapacity of 1600 MW fromMarch 2020.”

Mr Reddy made clear thatAPGenco had submitted anapplication to the nominat-ed authority, ministry ofcoal, for allotment ofMandakini-A coal block,Talcher Coal field, Angul,Odisha for the upcomingprojects with an annualcapacity of 7.5 MMTA andthis should be granted.

Jagan writes to PM seeking coal block

JAGAN TO GIVECHEQUES TO A-G VICTIMSDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Welcoming the decisionof Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy torepay AgriGold victimssome of their deposits,those affected hailed theleader by cleaning hisphoto at a park hereusing milk.

The state governmentdecided to repay depositamounts of `10,000 tothe victims. The ChiefMinister will start therepayment process inGuntur on November 7.AgriGold victims hailedthe decision when theygathered at the YSRmemorial park inVijayawada on Tuesday.They cleaned the photoof CM Jagan with milk.

They recalled that amajority of the cus-tomers of AgriGoldwere poor who paidtheir hard-earnedmoney hoping for thebest in the future. Thecompany, however,cheated them. They saidthat YSRC governmentled by Jagan took a swiftdecision of paying backdeposits hence theycleansed photo of Jaganand statue of YSR withmilk.

Meanwhile, ministerMopidevi VenkataRamana and Agri Goldvictims committee statecoordinator Lella AppiReddy held a meetingwith the victims at theGuntur ConventionCenter on Tuesday.

The minister said thatthe previous TeluguDesam government triedto take over the assets ofAgriGold company buthad denied justice to thevictims. Jagan, adheringto his promise of doingjustice, would repaydeposit amounts ofbelow `10,000 to the vic-tims. He said that theChief Minister will dis-tribute cheques to thevictims at a programmeon November 7 inGuntur.

He added that pay-ments would also be ini-tiated for victims.

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 5

An off-the-cuff remark by sen-ior BJP leader Ch VidyasagarRao is likely to become a hottopic in political circles.

Participating in a bookrelease function late onMonday night, the formerGovernor of Maharashtraobserved, :Hyderabad maybecome the second capital ofthe country as espoused by theFather of Indian ConstitutionDr B.R. Ambedkar.”

Women’s ire

Pawan Kalyan hasnot stopped acting

even afterleaving films

— K. KannababuAP minister

Party leaders blame Jagan forconstruction worker’s deathDC CORRESPONDENTKAKINADA, NOV 5

The suicide of a con-struction worker, KoyyaVeerababu of Kakinada,has generated a politicalstorm in the state asamong all political partiesincluding Telugu Desam,CPM and Jana Sena.

Their leaders visited thedeceased’s house to con-sole the family members.They blamed the state gov-ernment led by ChiefMinister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy, allegingthat he created artificialscarcity of sand.

TD leader Nara Lokeshvisited Kakinada and con-soled the family membersof Veerababu. He said thatsuicide of constructionworkers should be treatedas ‘murder’ by the govern-ment and demanded thegovernment to provide exgratia of `25 lakh to thedeceased’s family and alsogive `50,000 to construc-tion workers who have

lost their livelihood forthe past five months. Hesaid that the governmentpolicy of supplying sandfree of cost should beimplemented for welfareof the people.

He said that the TDwould raise the issue dur-ing the coming Assemblysession.

He questioned Jaganhow the government canorganize sand week cele-brations without avail-ability of sand. He saidthat the YSRC looted sandon the lines of bandicoots.

He said that 38 construc-tion workers have com-mitted suicide due to lackof work but the ChiefMinister has not respond-ed properly and providejustice to workers. He said

that floods were reportednot only in AndhraPradesh but also in manyother states in the country.These states, however,states have no scarcity ofsand.

The Jana Sena leaderPantham VenkateswaraRao (Nanaji) visited thefamily of KoyyaVeerababu and allegedthat Jagan should takeresponsibility for the inci-dent. He urged the govern-ment to save the lives ofconstruction workers.

He gave `10,000 for thedeceased’s family mem-bers on behalf of JanaSena leadership.

The CITU staged dharnain front of Collector’soffice, demanding `25lakhs compensation to theVeerababu’s family mem-bers and provide employ-ment to his wife and giveeducation to his children.CITU leaders D. SeshuBabji, P.Ramkrishna,P.Veerababu and otherswere at present.

ENGLISH MEDIUMSCHOOLS FROMNEXT YEARDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV 5

The YSRC governmenton Tuesday issued ordersto convert all govern-ment, MPP schools andZilla Parishad schoolsinto English mediumfrom Classes I to VIIIfrom the academic year2020-21 and for Classes IX& X from academic year2021-22.

As per the GO, requiredteachers should bedeployed in school as perthe staffing pattern pre-scribed by the govern-ment from time to timeand as per pupil teacherratio for single medium.

SCERT will take neces-sary action to trainteachers in Englishmedium teaching skillsand knowledge of thesame.

APOLOGY TOBRAHMINSDEMANDED

VIZAG LANDSIT GETS 101

PETITIONS

HYD TO BE2ND CAPITAL:VIDYASAGAR

■ EACH SCHOOL will be given 15,000 permonth for three months starting fromDecember. The amount will be used tospruce up the schools. The required fundsare expected to be released a day beforethe launch of the programme

Eluru MP meetsUS delegationDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Eluru MP SridharKotagiri and StateGovernment’s SpecialRepresentative to NorthAmerica RathnakarPandugayala met a dele-gation of Alliance for USIndia Business (AUSIB)in Washington to developprolific relations withindustry and businessleaders in the UnitedStates and to invite themto invest in AndhraPradesh.

AUSIB is a leading non-profit trade associationfounded in 2004 wheregovernments and compa-nies meet to take care ofbusiness.

AUSIB president andFounder Sanjay Purihosted the delegation.“Andhra Pradesh holdsgreat business potential.Right collaboration withUS business and investorscan put the state on theglobal business map.AUSIB is committed towork closely with the APChief Minister to makethis happen, and channelbusiness leaders in thestate as well,” Sanjay Purisaid.

The Eluru MP empha-sised on the potential forindustrial sectors such asinfrastructure, technolo-gy, Defence and smartcities.

Andhra Pradesh hasalready announced theSmart City initiatives forVijayawada, Visakha-patanam, Kakinada,

Tirupati and Amaravati,he added.

Rathnakar Pandugayalastressed on the invest-ment priorities in agri-culture, fisheries, smartcities, renewable energy,and healthcare sectors.

AUSIB COO ManishChauhan presented thepotential opportunities inhigh-technology DefenceExports, Commercial andDefence unmanned vehi-cles and education.AUSIB Senior ConsultantJeremy Spaulding elabo-rated how India is viewedas a priority market inview of its emergence asone of the fastest-growingeconomies in the world.

AUSIB presented theindustry collaborationpotential and laid outplans for a roadmap to putAndhra Pradesh on theinternational businessmap. The two partieswould work towards aprogramme that wouldcreate an example fromAndhra Pradesh for otherIndian states to follow,Rathnakar said.

AUSIB offers a pathwayto help business initia-tives succeed in the USand India and continuesto be instrumental inbuilding bridges of busi-ness and educationalcooperation. AUSIB hasplayed a key role inexpanding bilateral tradein InformationTechnology, pharmaceuti-cals and life sciences,media and entertain-ment, and renewableenergy.

DC CORRESPONDENTANANTAPUR, NOV. 5

AP BJP vice-president S.Vishnuvardhan Reddy onTuesday complained toUnion minister of statefor home G. Kishan Reddythat morphed picturesand content were beingcirculated on social mediain his name to createsocial disharmony.

Mr Reddy, who is alsovice-chairman of NehruYuva Kendra Sangathan,stated that he is in no wayconnected to these mediaposts, which were aimedat creating disharmonybetween two groups ofpeople.

In the process, attemptswere being made todefame him as also theNYKS.

In his complaint to MrKishan Reddy, the BJPleader demanded thataction be initiated againsttwitter accounts –@ T e l u g 3 6 0 ,@ A n d h r a p o l i t i c a ,@ThenameIsBalu, @dora-

gaaru, @AjayThonti,@ N a n i 7 7 8 2 4 5 4 3 , @ t e hS A T H Y A G R A H I ,@ U n d e r t a k e 4 9 9 9 ,@ H i m a k a r k o n d a 3 ,@lakki_tweets and alsowww.Telug360.com web-site and Take One Mediayoutube.

Vishnuvardhan Reddy

told Deccan Chronicle,“The twitter handles, web-site and youtube channelare creating and circulat-ing morphed pictures andnews in my name to pro-mote enmity between dif-ferent groups in the socie-ty and disturb harmonywithin the country.”

AP BJP vice-president S. Vishnuvardhan Reddy com-plains to Union minister of state for home G. KishanReddy about social media posts on Tuesday.

■ Leaders from dif-ferent political par-ties visit the familymembers of KoyyaVeerababu, demandcompensation.

Botsa blames Naidu for capital issueDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Minister for municipaladministration BotsaSatyanarana blamedOpposition leader N.Chandrababu Naidu forAndhra Pradesh beingdepicted without a capitalcity in the map publishedby Survey of India.

Speaking to mediaper-sons here on Tuesday, theminister said that MrNaidu is responsible forthe state not having a cap-ital city as no gazette noti-fication was issued duringhis five-year term whichwas wasted on unproduc-tive things.

The minister asked whyMr Naidu did not issue agazette notification to theCentre during his tenurethat Amaravati is theCapital of the state. Hesaid that even Mr Naidu’sconfidants, includingSujana Chowdhary, who is

in the BJP did not bringup the issue of the Capitalof the state.

He asked how such peo-ple can blame the presentChief Minister on theissue. He said that thepresent state of the econo-my is in doldrums becauseMr Naidu and his hench-men had plundered thestate’s economy.

The minister wonderedwhether Mr Naidu hadlost his mind to announcethat he would go on a faston November 14 in sup-port of the constructionworkers.

Botsa Satyanarana saidit is foolish of Mr Naidu tochoose an auspicious daylike the Children’s Day togo on a fast. He said that in2004, the then ChiefMinister Y.S. RajasekharReddy took up a pro-gramme for distributionof 40,000 houses in com-bined Andhra Pradesh. Hesaid that several construc-

tion workers were benefit-ed at that time.

The minister said that hedo not have to boast likeChandrababu Naidu thathe had constructed theInternational Airport andthe Outer Ring Road. Hesaid that the schemesbeing implemented by

Jagan Mohan ReddyGovernment are testimo-ny to the work being doneby the government. Not asingle work was taken upduring Mr Naidu’s regimefrom 2014 to 2019 and now,Naidu is shedding croco-dile tears for the construc-tion workers, he said.

AGRICULTURE MINISTERMOCKS JANA SENA CHIEFDC CORRESPONDENTKAKINADA, NOV. 5

Agricultural ministerKurasala Kannababulashed out at Jana SenaChief Pawan Kalyan at aPress Meet on Tuesday.

“Pawan Kalyan seemsto be a hysterical patientas he is shivering at themeetings without anystability for even twominutes also. Pawan has

lost all sense of balanceand proportion and isindulging in a vilifica-tion campaign againstthe YSRC Government atthe behest of formerChief MinisterN.Chandrababu Naidu,’’alleged MinisterKurasala Kannababu.

He said that PawanKalyan is becoming hys-terical and talking non-sense.

Page 5: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

IN BRIEF

PAGE

5RegionWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

Future positiveEducation minister Adimulam Suresh saysmodernisation of schools willbe taken up in three phases

Pawan Kalyanis carrying onthe agenda of

Naidu— Ambati Rambabu

YSRC MLA

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5:

Andhra Pradesh Agricultu-ral Commission Vice-Chai-rman M.V.S. Nagi Reddysaid that agriculture is astate subject while agricul-ture-related policies fallunder the Centre’s jurisdic-tion and welcomed India’sexit from Regional Compr-ehensive Economic Partne-rship (RCEP).

Speaking at the YSRCongress party’s centraloffice in Tadepalli onTuesday, he said that mini-mum support price for agri-cultural produce, agricul-tural loans, imports andexports and other impor-tant issues fall under thejurisdiction of the Centre.

Subabul farmers and oth-ers cultivating pulses arefacing a crisis due to bulkimports. Groundnut crop isthe largest cultivated cropin the state after paddy. Sothere is a crisis in theoilseeds sector too due toimports, he said.

Nagi Reddy said thatRCEP was formed in 2012.

The final meeting of all theFree Trade Agreement(FTA) member countrieswas held on November 4, inwhich our country exitedfrom the trade forum of theRECP, without entering intoan agreement, taking thestand that an indigenousfarmer should not face cri-sis due to imports.

“We congratulate PrimeMinister Narendra Modiand the Central Governm-ent for the move,” he said.Indian agricultural sectorwould face severe crisis ifthe country allows importof processed foods, pulsesand other agricultural prod-ucts from countries such asChina.

The aim of the Free TradeAgreement is to impose notax on any export or importbetween the countries.

Hence, it is right on thepart the Centre to step outof the agreement, NagiReddy said and added thatthe Centre should considerthe views of the states whensuch major decisions aretaken, regarding agricul-ture and trade.

AP AGRICULTURAL COMMISSIONLAUDS CENTRE’S MOVE ON RCEP

400 KG GANJAIN CAR, DRIVERFOUND DEADDC CORRESPONDENT KHAMMAM, NOV. 5

A car carrying ganjaoverturned at Manchu-konda under Raghnatha-palem on Tuesday. Policewho reached the spot onreceiving informationrecovered four bags ofganja from the vehicle.Car driver BanothuSurender was founddead in the vehicle.There is no other personin the car when thepolice reached there, anofficial said.

SUVIDHA SPLTRAINS TOCLEAR RUSHDCCORRESPONDENT VISAKHAPATNAM,

NOV. 5

With a view to clearextra rush of pass-engers, Railway hasdecided to run week-ly Suvidha specialtrains for four tripsbetween Santragac-hi and Coimbatorefrom Wednesday toNovember-end.

The train no 80823Santragachi-Coim-batore Suvidha spe-cial will leave Santr-agachi at 9.50 pmevery Wednesday toreach Duvvada onThursday at 4.03 pm.

It will depart at4.05 pm to reachCoimbatore at 2.25pm on Friday.

In return directi-on, the train no80824 Coimbatore-Santragachi WeeklySuvidha special lea-ve Coimbatore at9.45 pm every Fri-day to reach Duvva-da on Saturday at6.03 pm. It willdepart at 6.05 pmand arrive Santra-gachi at 8.45 am onSunday.

The special trainsconsist of twelveAC-3 tier and foursleeper class coach-es.

It will stop atKharagpur, Balaso-re, Bhadrak, NarajMarthapur, Bhuban-eswar, Khurda Road,Brahmapur, Sompe-ta, Palasa, Srikakul-am Road, Viziana-garam, Kottavalasa,Simhachalam Nor-th, Duvvada, Tuni,Samalkot, Rajahmu-ndry, Eluru, Vijaya-wada, Tenali, Ongo-le, Nellore, Gudur,Sullurupeta, Peram-bur, Katpadi, Salem,Erode and Tiruppurstations in enroute.

EMPLOYEES STAGERASTA ROKO ATNAGOLE CIRCLE

FROM PAGE 1

The revenue departmentemployees who participated inthe funeral procession staged aroad block on the Nagole mainroad, demanding an assurancefrom the state government toprovide a safe working envi-ronment. However, the policeintervened and brought the sit-uation under control andended the rasta roko.

Before the funeral processionstarted, a group of employeesgathered at a neighbouringbuilding to discuss the issuesto be raised before the govern-ment and seeking an immedi-ate resolution.

Subhash Reddy, Vijaya’s hus-band, opined that revenueemployees have been sufferingdue to policies implemented bythe TRS government.

Speaking to media, Mr Reddysaid, “My wife was a worka-holic and committed. I demandan in-depth investigation intothe incident by central agen-cies to establish facts. We wereplanning to seek a transferaway from here.”

“Politicians of the rulingparty are taking bribes andbuilding pressure on employ-ees to get work done. Ifemployees act against interestsof the politicos, they are madeto suffer,” said A. RevanthReddy, Congress MP,Malkajgiri who is also workingpresident of TS Congress.

KANIZA GARARI I DCHYDERABAD, NOV 5

Illegal supply of sleepingpills and other narcoticdrugs to drug addicts wasdetected by the Task Forcepolice in the city. Policenabbbed MohammedOsman, 23, ofBhavaninagar with 5,400Nitravet 10 mg tablets.

Nitravet is a Schedule Hdrug which can be givenunder prescription only.The police found that

Osman got these tabletsfrom a person namedDastagir from Karnatakaat `40 for 10 tablets. Hewould then sell it to theaddicts at `400 per strip.

A tip-off to the TaskForce helped them nabhim. The abuse of sleep-ing pills is highly docu-mented and for that rea-son these are to be givenunder prescription only.These medicines are usedfor treating insomnia.

Telangana Pharma-cists

Association presidentSanjaya Reddy explained,“Nitravet belongs to agroup of medicines calledbenzodiazepine. Theabuse of these group ofmedicines is estimated tobe 8 per cent. It is commonamongst teenagers andwomen.”

Studies in various hospi-tals have found that peo-ple who have a history ofdrug and alcohol abuseare most likely to developaddiction to these drugs.

Peddler nabbed with4.5K sleeping tablets

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5

Findings of the IndiaHeart Study (IHS) showthat 27.8 per cent ofrespondents from APwere ‘white coat hyper-tensive’, meaning thattheir BP increased inhospital surroundings.

Another 14.4 per centwere found to havemasked hypertension,thereby putting almost42.2 per cent people at therisk of misdiagnosis and‘missed’ diagnosis. Therewere 769 participantsfrom the state, with 542men and 227 women.

Masked hypertension isa phenomenon when anindividual’s blood pres-sure reading is normal atthe doctor’s office buthigh at home and whitecoat hypertension isdefined as a condition inwhich people exhibit a

blood pressure-levelabove the normal rangein a clinical setting only.White coat hyperten-sives, who are misdiag-nosed and put on drugs,have to take unnecessarymedication. Maskedhypertensive may goundiagnosed, runningthe risk of complicationsof the heart, kidneys,and the brain.

The IHS findings high-light a high prevalence ofmasked hypertensionand white coat hyperten-sion in Indians at 42 percent on first office visit(doctor’s clinic). It wasalso found that Indians

have an average restingheart rate of 80 beats perminute, higher than thedesired rate of 72 beatsper minute.

Another striking find-ing is that unlike in othercountries, Indians havehigher BP in theevenings than in morn-ings which should guidedoctors to rethink thetiming of drug dosage.

According to Dr A.Purnanand, cardiologistfrom the city who waspart of HIS: “High rest-ing heart rate, along withhigh blood pressure-lev-els, badly affects keyorgans of our body lead-

ing to heart and kidneydamage. Since hyperten-sion doesn’t have anysymptoms, the only wayto keep it under checkand for timely diagnosisis by monitoring thepressure regularly andseeking a doctor’s advice.Add to these, healthy eat-ing, sleeping and exercis-ing habits to mitigate therisks associated withhypertension.”

He added that what setsthis study apart is that itwas conducted on ‘drug-naive’ set — people noton anti-BP drug.

The investigators exam-ined the blood pressureof 18,918 participants(male and female)through 1,233 doctors,across 15 states, overnine months. The partici-pants’ blood pressurewas monitored at homefour times in a day forseven consecutive days.

White coat and masked BP give different data: Study■ ■ Indians have high-er BP in theevenings than in themornings. This mayaffect the way medi-cines are given.

■ ■ Indians have anaverage restingheart rate of 80beats per minute,higher than thedesired 72 beats.

DC CORRESPONDENTKOTHAGUDEM, NOV. 5

A man killed his wife andcommitted suicide by hang-ing himself inManchikantinagar, inPaloncha on Tuesday fol-lowing a quarrel.

Police said KollipakaAshok, 45, argued with hiswife Rajeswari and hit heron the head with an iron rodon Monday night. She fellunconscious and laterrecovered.

On Tuesday, Rajeswari’ssister Sumalatha, who livesin Mahbubabad, called inthe morning on the phone.Rajeswari invited her sisteralong with her husband todiscuss the quarrel and

resolve matters.Sumalatha later told the

police that she calledRajeswari again but therewas no response.Suspecting somethingamiss, she called the neigh-bours to check onRajeswari.

The people who went tothe house, noticedRajeswari lying in a pool ofblood and the body ofAshok hanging from a fan.They informed Sumalathawho called the police.

Rajeswari was foundbreathing and was shifted tohospital where she wasdeclared dead while under-going treatment. The couplehad two sons one 13 year oldand the other 12,

Man kills wifeand ends life

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6NationWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

Don’t budgePuducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi saidthat Delhi police must remain firm on its standon police-lawyers clash at Tis Hazari court

Ayodhya to get Black Catsnipers to shoot terroristsThreat from terror module that sneaked in from Nepal the reasonVIKRAM SHARMA I DCAYODHYA, NOV. 5

Snipers from the eliteNational Security Guard(NSG) are being deployedat vantage points in thetemple town of Ayodhyato prevent terror attacks— the threat of which arelooming large ahead ofthe Supreme Court ver-dict in the Ayodhya titlesuit.

The decision to havesnipers was taken at thelast minute in view of theinputs trickling in abouta terror module which isbelieved to have sneakedin from Nepal. Sources inUttar Pradesh police con-firmed to DeccanChronicle that a sniperteam from NSG will bearriving here shortly.Though the sources didnot give the exact num-ber of snipers, therecould be at least fivesnipers who will keep aneye on the ground fromatop rooftops.

Over the past two years,the NSG has procurednew sniping weapons andhave trained their menwho are now part of‘sniper squads.’

This is perhaps the firsttime that snipers fromthe force are beingdeployed in a situationlike this in Uttar Pradeshand sources say that spe-cific inputs about a ter-ror module is whatprompted them torequire the NSG snipers.Till now, a sniper squadwas reportedly stationedonly in the Kashmir val-ley. Sources said that aterror module compris-ing seven Pakistaninationals had sneakedinto UP from Nepal sometime ago. Five of theseven terrorists have alsobeen identified —Muhammed Shahbaz,Nisar Ahmed, AbuHamza, MuhammedYakub and MuhammedQami. Senior officers inUP police said that it wasan ‘old input’ and was notactionable. “However, theAyodhya police is work-ing in close coordinationwith the anti-terrorismsquad,” a senior officialsaid.

In 2005, a group of fiveheavily armed Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorists hadstormed the makeshift

Ram temple. They wereall shot dead. Sources

added that besides thesniper squad, another

team of NSG commandosis also being stationed in

the temple town, as partof security measures.

It is good that the issue isending finally, say localsFrom Page 1

“But for us locals, Hindusor Muslims, no one wantstrouble. All want to carryon with our lives. It doesnot matter whether atemple is built there or amosque. It’s good that thematter is finally comingto an end.”

Adil was witness to theviolence on December 6,1992. “It was a nightmareand both communitiessuffered. But times havechanged and so have peo-ple’s mindsets. The onlyproblem now could beprovocative statementsfrom politicians,” hesmiles. “People of allcommunities talk only ofdevelopment and jobs,”says Ramnath Pandey,priest at a local temple.

“In the end, politicians

will try to make the mostof it.”

For the administration,it is not the locals but out-siders who might enterthe temple town tofoment trouble.

“We have had meetingswith community mem-bers and religious lead-ers,” assures Ayodhyasenior superintendent ofpolice (SSP), AshishTiwari.

Mosques across UPhave called for peace andbrotherhood, and forrespecting the judgment.Both communities havealso asked people not tocelebrate or raise slo-gans, whatever the judg-ment. Similarly, there aresocial media curbs inplace. People have beenasked not to defame anygod.

The district administra-tion has deployed socialmedia monitoring teams. Though Ayodhyahas remained peacefulfor the last couple ofyears, it was in 2012 thatlarge-scale clashes tookplace between two groupsduring Durga puja.

For the administrationthough, it is not the ver-dict alone that has forcedmassive security meas-ures. Just today, about 25lakh participated in the‘chaudah kosi parikra-ma,’ an annual event.

On November 7 and 8,there is the ‘panchkosiparikrama’ which willsee lakhs on the streets.

Thereafter is Milad UnNabi on November 10. OnNovember 11 and 12, itwill be ‘Kartik poornimasnan,’’ a grand affair.

SHIFT MOM TO GUEST HOUSE INHARSH WINTER: MUFTI’S DAUGHTER

We are looking atsupport mechanismto revive real estate

sector.— Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance minister

IN BRIEF

SC REFUSES TOPASS ORDER

ON BSY VIDEONew Delhi, Nov. 5: TheSupreme Court on Tuesdayrefused to pass order on therequest of KarnatakaCongress regarding a freshaudio clip in which state ChiefMinister B.S. Yediyurappa ispurportedly referring to the 17rebel Cong-JDS MLAs whowere disqualified as Assemblymembers.

A 3-judge bench headed byJustice N.V. Ramana said thatsince it has already reservedits verdict on a batch of peti-tions, filed by the MLAs chal-lenging the decision of thethen Assembly Speaker, K.R.Ramesh Kumar to disqualifythem, no further order wasrequired to be passed at pres-ent.

“As judgment in these mat-ters has already been reservedon October 25, 2019, no furtherorders are required at pres-ent,” said the bench, also com-prising justices SanjivKhanna and Krishna Murari.

The apex court said the issueraised regarding hospitalityprovided to the rebel MLAs inMumbai, allegedly by the BJP,was already brought before itduring the hearing on thepleas filed by these disquali-fied lawmakers.

A purported audio clip ofYediyurappa, expressinganguish against his partyleaders at a recent party meet-ing in Hubballi over theiropposition to giving tickets tothe disqualified MLAs for theby-polls, had surfaced lastFriday. In the audio, he is pur-portedly saying that the MLAswere kept in Mumbai underBJP national president, AmitShah’s watch.

PASWAN Jr.TAKES OVER

FROM FATHERDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Marking yet another genera-tional shift and dynastic suc-cession in a regional party,Chirag Paswan on Tuesdaytook over the reigns of the LokJanashakti Party (LJP) fromhis father and union minister,Ram Vilas Paswan.

The senior Paswan said thedecision was taken at themeeting of the national execu-tive in Delhi held on Tuesday.

“Chirag Paswan was unani-mously elected as LJP presi-dent by the party’s nationalexecutive,” the senior Paswansaid.

The LJP, one of the offshootsof the erstwhile socialistJanata Dal, primarily drawsits support from a section ofDalits in Bihar. It was foundedby Ram Vilas Paswan in 2000.Along with Paswan, his broth-er, late Ram Chandra Paswan,Capt. Jai Narain PrasadNishad and RameshJigajinagi had also joined theparty.

The first polls contested bythe LJP was in alliance withthe Congress and theRashtriya Janata Dal and itwon four Lok Sabha seatsfrom Bihar. Ram Vilas Paswanis currently with the NDA.

DC CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, NOV. 5

In a U-turn from its earlierstand that it will sit in theOpposition, the NCP has saidthat it might think of an alter-native if the BJP-Shiv Senaalliance fails to form the gov-ernment. However, the party islearned to have asked the Senato snap its ties with the BJP-led NDA, including forfeitingthe minister’s post in theUnion cabinet. Jayant Patil,who is also the NCP statechief, said, “The NCP will be

forced to think about an alter-native if the BJP-Shiv Senacombine fails to form the gov-ernment in the state. There was no need to imposePresident’s rule in the state, aspeople will not tolerate it. Wewill be forced to think serious-ly about an alternative if theBJP and Shiv Sena fail to offerany solution together,” hesaid.

Mr Patil said that for theNCP, there is no question ofsupporting the BJP-Shiv Sena.

He also said that the partydoes not have the numbers to

put up a candidate for theAssembly speaker’s post.

The NCP had earlier saidthat it will sit in theOpposition as it did not havethe required numbers to formthe government.

However, with the deadlockbetween the BJP and Senashowing no signs of ending,there is a possibility thatPresident’s Rule may beimposed in the state.

This has forced the party torethink its stand on govern-ment formation.

According to sources, the

NCP will join hands with theSena to form the governmentwith outside support from theCongress. In the Vidhan Sabhapolls, the Sena won 56 seats,whereas the NCP andCongress won 54 and 44 seats,respectively.

The BJP and Shiv Sena havebeen bickering over sharingthe chief minister’s post.

The Uddhav Thackeray-ledparty wants the CM’s post tobe shared for two-and-halfyears on a rotational basis, butthe BJP has rejected such anarrangement.

Senior BJP leader SudhirMungantiwar recently saidthat the state may seePresident’s Rule if there is nogovernment in place byNovember 7. The totalstrength of these partiesbecomes 154.

However, for the alliancewith the Sena to happen, theNCP is learned to have askedthe Sena to snap its ties withthe BJP-led NDA, includingforfeiting the minister’s postin the Union cabinet.

Jayant Patil says people of the state won’t tolerate President’s ruleMAHA | TUSSLE

SC SEEKS FRESHREPORT ON CHILDDETENTION IN J&KPARMOD KUMAR | DCNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

The Supreme Court on Tuesdaysought an elaborate report bythe Jammu and Kashmir HighCourt juvenile justice commit-tee on the veracity of the allega-tions relating to the detention ofchildren by the state police fol-lowing the abrogation of Article370 and the bifurcation of thestate into two union territories.

The bench sought a freshreport from the J&K HighCourt’s JJ committee compris-ing four judges of the high courtas it noted that the earlier reportwas not entirely in consonancewith the spirit of the September20, 2019 order of the top court.

“As the issues highlighted per-tain to alleged detention of chil-dren, we direct the juvenile jus-tice committee of the HighCourt to undertake an exercisewith regard to the facts stated inthe writ petition and get back tous within a week from today,”said the top court.

Promoters falsified recordsto avail credit, says CBIFrom Page 1

Singh, Gagan Sharma andJijo John for allegedlycheating State Bank ofIndia, Bhopal, by falsifyingrecords to avail credit facil-ities of `6,000 crore. Thecompany involved in bulktrading of agro commodi-ties defaulted on paymentscausing a loss of `1,266crore to the bank, sourcessaid.

A separate case has beenregistered against EnergoEngineering Projects Ltdand its directors — chair-man Sujit Das, Dinesh VSingh managing directorJaya Singh — for availingcredit facilities to the tuneof `1,290 crore on forgeddocuments. Later paymentdefaults caused a loss of`1,266 crore to the bank.Surana Industries inChennai and its directorsDinesh Chand Surana,Shanti Lal Surana,

Gautham Lal Surana,Vijayraj Surana, and oth-ers have been named inCBI FIR for allegedly caus-ing a loss of `1,083 crore toa consortium of 12 banksled by IDBI, sources said. Itis alleged that they utilisedcredit facilities, books ofaccounts and diverted loanfunds to different accounts,they said.

Varanasi-based JBL AgroIndustries, its chairmanD.N. Jhunjhunwala anddirectors SN Jhunjhun-wala, Adarsh Jhunjh-unwala and Anju Jhun-jhunwala had allegedlysubmitted forged stockstatements and balancesheets to induce Bank ofBaroda and PunjabNational Bank by taking`518 crore worth of creditfacilities from each ofthem which turned intolosses for the PSBs. Delhi-based Lal Sons Jewellers inKarol Bagh and its direc-

tors allegedly caused a lossof `222.96 crore to OrientalBank of Commerce, theysaid. The directors RajivPaul Singh Verma, SanjayPaul Verma and PoonamVerma allegedly entered incriminal conspiracy toavail credit facilities. Theirimport letters of creditstarted devolving as com-pany failed to receive pay-ments from Dubai-basedPassi Jewellers LLC, theofficials said. The companyallegedly diverted funds byfraudulent activities andfalsification of records ofpayment to creditors with-out any genuine businesstransaction, they said. Theagency also booked ShreeNathjee Roller Flour Millsand its directorsAmarchand Gupta, RamlalGupta, Rajkumar Guptaand Shakuntala Devi forallegedly misappropriating`149.76 crore of loan fundsfrom Andhra Bank.

Amid security measures being taken ahead of the Ayodhya verdict, police officerscheck a drone, in Faizabad on Tuesday. — DC

NCP asks Sena to snap ties with NDA

DC CORRESPONDENTSRINAGAR, NOV. 5

Former Jammu andKashmir chief ministerMehbooba Mufti’s daughterhas asked the administra-tion to shift her mother,under detention at a guest-house here for the last threemonths, to a place equipped

to deal with the valley’sharsh winter.

The centre will be respon-sible if anything happens toMehbooba, the president ofthe PDP, Iltija Mufti haswritten in a letter to theSrinagar deputy commis-sioner. I’ve repeatedly raisedconcerns about the wellbeing of my mother.

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Ahead of the SupremeCourt’s impending ver-dict on the sensitive RamMandir-Babri Masjid titlesuit, the RSS roped inMuslim religious leaders,scholars, intellectualsand influencers in itsefforts to maintain peaceand social harmony overthe verdict.

At a meeting at minori-ty affairs ministerMukhtar Abbas Naqvi’sresidence here, Muslimcommunity leadersstressed that ‘unity indiversity’ is India’s ‘cul-tural commitment’ and itis the responsibility of allsections of society to pre-serve this.

The RSS has said thatwhatever the verdict, itshould be “acceptedwholeheartedly by every-one.”

The RSS also issued‘do’s and don’ts’ to itspracharaks and office-bearers over the impend-ing verdict.

From the RSS, its lead-ers Krishna Gopal andRam Lal attended themeeting with Muslimreligious leaders, schol-ars, intellectuals andinfluencers.

Last week, the RSS topbrass, including chiefMohan Bhagwat, hadheld a meeting with rep-resentatives of theSangh’s affiliates, includ-ing the VHP and BJP, onthe issue.

The BJP top brass,including president AmitShah, working presidentJ.P. Nadda and generalsecretary (organisation)B.L. Santosh attended themeet.

The RSS leaders alsoheld a separate meetingwith Naqvi, after whichthe RSS reached out toMuslim religious leadersand others. BJP nationals p o k e s p e r s o n ,Shahnawaz Hussain alsoattended the meeting.

RSS APPEALSFOR PEACE OVER SC RULING

Hyderabad, Nov. 5:Senior Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad onTuesday slammed theBJP-led NDA govern-ment's handling of theJammu and Kashmirissue saying even nowpolitical leaders andMPS and media werenot allowed to visit thenewly created unionterritory.

Mr Azad, a formerChief Minister ofJammu and Kashmir,said even he could visitJ-K only with the per-mission of SupremeCourt, recalling his firstvisit after the Centrescrapped special statusto it under Art 370.

“This government hasi n t e r n a t i o n a l i s e dKashmir issue, theydon't allow their ownMPs, media and NGOsand tell MPs of foreigncountries to go. Thattoo, right wing MPs...,"he told reporters here.

If someone still saysthat situation in J-Kwas alright, then "treat-ment is required" forsuch a person, he saidasking the media to bealert about such people.

“As long as BJP isthere (in power), the sit-uation would notimprove," he claimed.

Mr Azad said thenation-wide protestsannounced by theCongress fromNovember 5 to 15 wereagainst the 'wrong' poli-cies of NDA govern-ment and its 'failures'.After the protests, theCongress was thinkingof organising a bigmeeting at the nationallevel next month, he

added.The NDA government

had failed to realisepromises, includingbringing back blackmoney from foreigncountries, creating twocrore jobs every yearand providing mini-mum support price andensuring 50 per centprofit to the farmers,made by the BJP andPrime MinisterNarendra Modi, healleged.

Accusing the govern-ment of suppressing thereport on unemploy-ment by the NationalSample SurveyOrganisation duringparliament election, hesaid the country's econ-

omy was in a poor shapeas seen in the sharp fallin GDP, among otherparametres.

Other economic,including growth inm a n u f a c t u r i n g ,exports, sales of passen-ger vehicles, have alsowitnessed a downwardtrend, he said.

The NDA governmentturned out to be anti-poor and anti-develop-ment and the formerended up hurting people instead ofbenefiting them, heclaimed.

The BJP was always inelection mode, fightingvarious polls and "mak-ing people fight amongthemselves", hecharged.

Asked if the Congresswas in favour of explor-ing the possibility ofgovernment formationin Maharashtra, he said:"I am not in it. That'sbetween the local lead-ers. It's not somethingwe were very keen...".

The Congress leadercondemned the ghastlykilling of a womanTahsildar who wasburnt alive here onMonday and said toughpunishment should behanded out to the cul-prit.

He favoured enactinga law to deal with suchincidents.

On the ongoing strikeby transport corpora-tion employees inTelangana, he claimedChief Minister KChandrasekhar Raohad promised that theywould be treated as gov-ernment staff andshould honour it.

— PTI

‘Modi govt allowed EU MPs,internationalised J&K issue’

Ghulam Nabi Azad

■ ■ Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azadsaid the nation-wideprotests announcedby the Congressfrom November 5 to15 were against the'wrong' policies ofNDA governmentand its 'failures.'

DHFL crisis spreads,UP discom’s ex-MD heldLucknow, Nov. 5: Formermanaging director of UttarPradesh Power CorporationLimited A.P. Mishra wasarrested on Tuesday in con-nection with the investmentof over `2,600 crore of thestate power employees’ prov-ident fund in the scam-hitDHFL.

His arrest came days afterthe state government recom-mended a CBI probe into thematter and Uttar Pradeshchief minister YogiAdityanath directed thedirector general of the eco-nomic offences wing toinvestigate the case till theCBI took over the matter.“Mr Mishra has been arrest-ed.

The economic offenceswing of the state police isprobing the matter andstrict action will be takenagainst those involved inthis case,” Uttar Pradeshdirector general of policeO.P. Singh told PTI.

An official spokesman saidMr Mishra, who was close toformer CM Akhilesh Yadavand known as “arab patiMishra”, was “sacked” fromhis post on March 24, 2017,after the Yogi Adityanathgovernment came to power.“Apprehending his termina-tion, Mr Mishra took awaymany important files.

He was the first engineerto be promoted as the MD ofthe UPPCL and was givenextension thrice byAkhilesh after his retire-ment,” he said, alleging thatMr Mishra had sought theSamajwadi ticket to contestthe Lok Sabha polls and wasinvolved in scams duringthe previous regime.

Reacting to the allegations,Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav held chiefminister Yogi Adityanathresponsible for the transferof the employees’ providentfund to scam-hit DewanHousing FinanceCorporation Limited anddemanded his resignation.

At a hurriedly convenedpress conference here, theformer CM trashed the alle-gations that the EPF wastransferred to the DHFL

during his regime anddemanded a probe by a sit-ting Supreme Court or highcourt judge.

“No EPF money of poweremployees was transferredto the DHFL during the pre-vious SP regime,” he assert-ed.

The state government hadon Sunday claimed that the“dubious” decision wastaken by the previousSamajwadi Party govern-ment headed by AkhileshYadav in April 2014 and theprocess of investment wasfurther carried forward in2016.

“Adityanath should stepdown. The CM is so weakthat he cannot even ask statepower minister ShrikantSharma to resign,” MrYadav said.

The SP chief claimed,“The government is afraidand hiding the truth. Thereis infighting within the gov-ernment...Over 300 MLAs (of BJP) do not likethe CM”.

Terming the presentregime “nathuram raj”,Yadav claimed that in histenure, maximum powerwas generated in the statewhereas consumers werenow paying high power bills.

“No new transmission linewas started in this regime.The present government isruining the power depart-ment,” he alleged.

On the other hand, thechief minister’s officeattacked the SamajwadiParty chief on Twitter.

“The attack on corruptionby zero tolerance sword ofYogi Adityanath has madethose involved in corruptpractices run for a cover.Former UPPCL MD APMishra, the blue-eyed boy ofAkhilesh Yadav, has beentaken into custody,” it tweet-ed, claiming that the presentgovernment was committedto ensure the security of theemployees’ money.

“Apki baar bhrashtar parprahar (this time, an attackon corruption),” it said.

— PTI

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RestraintSpiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar calls for restraint ahead of Ayodhya verdict

100 days in office as CM

were like trial by fire

— B.S. Yediyurappa

Karnataka CM

IN BRIEFMentally challengedperson kills mother

Bhubaneswar: A mentallychallenged man on Tuesday

allegedly thrashed his mother to death at

Makuakateni village underKankadahada police limits in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.

The deceased was identifiedas Baidei Sahu (75). The eld-erly woman tried to stop his

son Bishnuprasad Sahuwhen he was attempting to

leave the house around 3AM. Bishnuprasad thrashedhis mother with a stick, fol-

lowing which the womandied on the spot. On beinginformed by villagers, who

detained Bishnuprasad,police reached the spot

and started investigation.

PM REVIEWSPOLLUTION SITUATION

New Delhi, Nov. 5: With theair quality in Delhi and sur-rounding areas hovering inthe ‘severe’ and ‘very poor’categories, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi chaired ameeting on Tuesday to discussthe pollution situation innorthern India.

“PM Narendra Modi chaireda meeting in which the situa-tion arising due to pollution invarious parts of northernIndia was discussed,” thePrime Minister’s office tweet-ed. The Prime Minister alsoreviewed the situation arisingdue to cyclone conditions inparts of western India.

The meet on pollution comesafter back-to-back reviewmeetings held by P.K. Mishra,the principal secretary to thePM, with top officials of Delhi,Punjab and Haryana onSunday and Monday.

According to the CentralPollution Control Board,Delhi’s air quality indexdropped from 365 at 9.45 am to331 at 3.45 pm on Tuesday. Inthe National Capital Region,Greater Noida (348), Noida(358), Ghaziabad (351),Faridabad (311) and Gurgaon(328) also recorded improve-ment in air quality. An AQIbetween 0-50 is considered‘good,’ 51-100 ‘satisfactory,’ 101-200 ‘moderate,’ 201-300 ‘poor,’301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401-500‘severe.’

PMC depositorsprotest, 9 detainedMumbai: At least nine depos-

itors of the Punjab andMaharashtra Cooperative

(PMC) Bank were detainedon Tuesday when they tried

to meet finance minister,Nirmala Sitharaman, in

Mumbai. Protesters gatheredat the Bandra Kurla Complex

at 11 am and started raisingslogans demanding they beallowed to withdraw money

from their accounts abovethe limit prescribed by the

RBI, an official said. “As theywere trying to meet the

finance minister without per-mission, police detained at

least nine of them on thespot under section 68 of theMumbai Police Act,” the offi-

cial said.

Agitating Delhi cops end protest after assurancesReview petition in High Court in today; injured cops to get ex gratiaBHASKAR HARI SHAR-MA & SANJAY KAW | DCNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

For the first time ever,the national capital onTuesday witnessed thewrath of police person-nel, who took to thestreets to protest againsttwo attacks on their col-leagues by lawyers,throwing the city’s traf-fic out of gear.

Their rage was notmerely confined tolawyers but was alsodirected at the apathy ofthe government and thetop echelons of the force,including police commis-sioner, Amulya Patnaik,who had taken actionagainst some police per-sonnel on the directionsof a court.

The surging crowd ofprotesting cops, some inuniform and others in

civvies, had gatheredoutside PoliceHeadquarters in themorning and were unre-lenting in their demandthat the licences oflawyers who assaultedtheir colleagues berevoked and the transferof police officersinvolved in the TisHazari clash last week berescinded.

Picking the BJP gov-ernment’s cheery rhetor-ical question, “How’s theJosh?” they held up plac-ards that read: “How’sthe Josh? It’s low, Sir.”

The 11-hour long agita-tion, mostly by consta-bles, assistant sub-inspectors and inspec-tors, was called off lateevening after some oftheir demands were met.While LieutenantGovernor, Anil Baijal,assured action, special

commissioner of police(crime) Satish Golchaassured them that areview petition will befiled against the DelhiHigh Court order in con-nection with the clashbetween cops andlawyers at the Tis HazariCourts Complex. MrGolcha also said that theinjured policemen willget an ex-gratia of atleast `25,000.

The unprecedentedprotest also had the cen-tre on its toes, especiallyafter police fromHaryana and Biharextended support to theircolleagues in Delhi. Areview petition was filed

and the Delhi High Courtissued a notice to the toplawyers’ body — the BarCouncils of India. Thehome ministry alsocalled for a report on theTis Hazari incident.

The virtual revolt byDelhi Police’s foot sol-diers was triggered bytwo sucessive attacks oncops.

On Saturday, a parkingdispute between an on-duty policeman and alawyer at the Tis HazariCourt complex flared upinto a clash in whichpolice opened fire andordered lathi-charge onlawyers. Two lawyersreceived bullet injuries,while several otherswere injured. At least 20police personnel alsoreceived injuries.

The heightened tensionbetween Delhi cops andlawyers led to another

shocking incident a daylater. On Monday, at theSaket district court,some lawyers beat up apolice officer.

The incident, caught onvideo, showed onelawyer elbowing a police-man on a bike as he wastrying to leave the spot.The lawyer then slappedthe policeman a fewtimes and threw a helmetat the bike before the offi-cer disappeared.

Taking suo motu cogni-sance of media reportson the incident, the HighCourt at a special sittingon Sunday ordered aninquiry by one of itsretired judges into theNovember 3 clash, andasked the police commis-sioner to suspend apolice official and trans-fer two other seniorpolice officials pendinginquiry.

Delhi Police personnel shout slogans during a protest against the alleged incidents of violence, in New Delhi, on Tuesday. — PTI

‘Great Wall of India’cries for attention’

Uncertainty over Kartarpur piligrimage

PIL on entry of women intomosques adjourned in SC

‘No deadline set forNaga peace process’

VINEETA PANDEY | DCNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Confusion and lack of coor-dination between India andPakistan is evident fivedays before the inaugura-tion of the KartarpurCorridor, with sources inthe Indian governmentclaiming Pakistan hasn’tlet any Indian advanceteam visit Kartarpur Sahibto confirm the arrange-ments made.

Islamabad also hasn’t sentany confirmation on thelist of dignitaries sent byNew Delhi, they said.

“India has all alongremained strongly commit-ted to expeditiously realise

the Kartarpur Corridor ontime, keeping in mind thesentiments of pilgrims.The infrastructure work onour side has been complet-ed on time.

We even agreed to goahead with the MoU despitePakistan’s insistence onlevying a $20 service fee onpilgrims,” the sources said.

They added that despiteIndia’s commitment andefforts, “Pakistan refuses toextend full cooperation,which is against the spiritof the pilgrimage.”

India is also upset asPakistan has not yetresponded to the list ofprominent Sikh leaders

and other dignitaries whowill be part of the inaugu-ral jatha to Kartarpur

Sahib on November 9. Sources said the list was

sent much in advance to

Pakistan, but no confirma-tion has been received onthat front.

Former Prime Minister,Manmohan Singh, PunjabChief Minister, AmarinderSingh, and union minis-ters, Harsimrat Kaur Badaland Hardeep Singh Puriare among the dignitarieswho will be travellingthrough the KartarpurCorridor on the day ofinauguration.

It has been made clearthat Dr Manmohan Singhand others accompanyinghim will travel as pilgrimsand not as invitees for the inauguration plannedby the Pakistan govern-ment.

MANOJ ANAND | DCGUWAHATI, NOV. 05

Prime Minister’s envoyfor Naga talks, Mr R.N.Ravi, has made it clearthat there is no time-frame or deadline set toconclude the ongoingNaga peace-process.

Pointing out thatOctober 31 was the dead-line to conclude thenegotiation on con-tentious issues betweenthe government of Indiaand Naga rebel groups— NSCN (I-M) and work-ing committee ofNNPGs — Mr Ravi how-ever said that theywould strive to concludethe entire peace-processat the earliest.

Admitting that therehas been an attempt tocreate confusion onmany contentiousissues, Mr Ravi clarifiedthat Centre was notgoing to sign any peace-accord or agreement

with Naga people in iso-lation.

Mr Ravi, who is alsothe Governor ofNagaland, reiteratedthat solution to the Nagaissue will not affect theterritorial integrity ofany north-easternstates.

“Before the final settle-ment, we need to allaythe apprehensions of theneighbours, includingthe legitimate concernsof the neighbouringstates,” said Mr Ravi,pointing out that hisfocus would be now totake the neighbouringstates and other stake-holders on board in thepeace-process.

Pointing out that allmajor contentiousissues between theCentre and Naga nego-tiators have beenresolved, the Governorattributed it to the maturity of Naga lead-ers.

PARMOD KUMAR | DCNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

The Supreme Court onTuesday adjourned forten days hearing on apublic interest suit seek-ing declaration that theprohibition on the entryof women in mosqueswas illegal and unconsti-tutional.

A Bench comprisingChief Justice designateJustice S.A. Bobde,Justice S. Abdul Nazeerand Justice KrishnaMurari adjourned thehearing for ten days, say-ing, “We are adjourningit for 10 days for a differ-ent reason.”

Even as parties to thecase sought four weeksto file their responses onthe plea but court postedit after 10 days.

The court had in anearlier hearing said thatit would be hearing theplea for the entry ofwomen in mosques only

because of its judgmentin Sabarimala temple. Inthe last hearing of thematter on October 25,2019, the top court hadgiven a week’s time tothe Centre, NationalCommission for Women(NCW), Central WaqfCouncil, and All IndiaMuslim Personal LawBoard (AIMPLB) to filetheir response.

A petitioner, YasmeenZuber Ahmed Peerzade,who had moved the topcourt seeking the decla-ration that prohibitionwas illegal and discrimi-natory has contendedthat women are permit-

ted in Mecca but not inmosques in India.

The congregation ofmen and women inMecca are separate. Asthe petitioner in the firsthearing of the matter onApril 16 this year hadargued that the practiceof not letting womenenter the mosques wasviolative of Article 14 ofthe constitution guaran-teeing equality beforelaw, the top court hadasked if it could beinvoked by an individualagainst another individ-ual — a non-state actor.

Pointing out that a vio-lation of Article 14 couldonly be invoked againstthe state, Justice Bobdein the first hearing hadquestioned, “All thosepresent in the mosqueare individuals and theyare not cast in concrete.Where does the statecome here. Is mosque astate, is temple a state, isChurch a state?”

RABINDRA NATHCHOUDHURY I DCBHOPAL, NOV. 5

An 80km-long fortificationthat criss-crosses the amaz-ing teakwood forests and thepicturesque Vindhyachalmountain range in MadhyaPradesh’s Raisen districthas remained an enigma forarchaeologists and histori-ans, who seem oblivious ofthe resplendence.

Unfortunately, with theiraloofness, they are denyingthe ancient gigantic wall aworthy place among promi-nent heritage sites.

Originating at a forest nearGorakhpur village, around150 kms from Bhopal, andending at Chowkigarh, thefortification stands at aheight of 15 feet at someplaces while, in a deplorablecontrast, it lies in ruins inother places. A more sombrereality is that a stretch ofthe wall remains incomplete.

The wall is made of evenlycut sandstones that areinterlocked.

“Physical verification ofthe fortification clearlyestablishes that at the plan-ning level, it was supposed tobe a continuous structure. Avast stretch of wall is visibleprominently, while a portionof it lies in tatters. There areheaps of evenly cut stonebricks at some places along

the route indicating that theparticular stretch could notbe completed due to unfath-omable reasons”, conserva-tion enthusiastic RajivChoubey told this correspon-dent on Tuesday.

Mr Choubey recently com-pleted physical verificationof the fortification alongwith former archaeologist ofArchaeological Survey ofIndia (ASI), Narayan Vyasand historian, Vinod Tiwari.They literally made physicalverification of ‘every inch’of the ‘ancient’ fortification.

This is probably thelongest wall in India afterthe 36 kms long one atKumbalgarh in Rajasthan,he said.

“Preliminary examinationof the structure suggeststhat the fortification may be1,000-year-old and perhapsbuilt by the Parmar dynastythat ruled west-Central Indiafrom 9th-13th century. But,more archaeological studiesare needed to ascertain theexact period when it wasbuilt,” Mr Vyas said.

Sikh devotees leave for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur,at Attari about 35km from Amritsar on Tuesday. — PTI

■ ■ Archaeologists whoexamined the structuresuggest that the fortifica-tion may be 1,000-year-oldand perhaps built by theParmar dynasty that ruledwest-Central India from9th-13th century.

Centre recasts Nehrumemorial societyNew Delhi, Nov. 5: The gov-ernment has reconstitutedthe NMML society removingCongressmen MallikarjunKharge, Jairam Ramesh andKaran Singh as its membersand inducting televisionjournalist Rajat Sharma andadman Prasoon Joshi amongothers.

According to an orderissued on Tuesday, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isthe president of the societyand Defence MinisterRajnath Singh its vice presi-dent.

“The central governmenthas reconstituted the NehruMemorial Museum andLibrary (NMML) Societyunder rule 3 of the memoran-dum of association and rulesand regulations of NMMLsociety with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi as the presi-dent and Defence MinisterRajnath Singh as vice presi-dent of the society,” the ordersaid.

Union ministers AmitShah, Nirmala Sithara-man,Ramesh Pokhriyal, PrakashJavadekar, V. Muraleedharanand Prahl-ad Singh Patel,ICCR chairman VinaySahsrabudhhe, Prasar Bhartichairman A Surya Prakash,secretaries of Expenditure,Culture and Housing andUrban Affairs, are its mem-bers.

Besides, the chairman ofthe UGC, representative ofJawaharlal Nehru Memor-ial

fund, Raghvendra Singh,director of NMML and jour-nalist Sharma are also thenew members.

According to the order, theother members includeAnirban Ganguly, policyresearcher and author,Sachchinanda Joshi,Member Secretary, IGNCA,academic Kapil Kapoor,Lokesh Chandra, Vedic andBuddhist scholar, MakarandPranjpe, academic, writer,Kishore Makwana, academicKamlesh Joshipura,researcher Rizwan Kadrialong with Sahasrabuddheand Rai. “The term of themembers is for a period offive years or until furtherorders, whichever is earlier,”the order further said.

Earlier, the Centre hadappointed television journal-ist Arnab Goswami, formerforeign secretary SJaishankar, BJP lawmakerVinay Sahasrabuddhe andIGNCA chairman RamBahadur Rai as members ofNMML Society, replacingfour members who hadopposed the move to build amuseum for all PMs. — PTI

■ ■ The centre has reconsti-tuted the Nehru MemorialMuseum and LibrarySociety under rule 3 of thememorandum of associa-tion and rules and regula-tions of NMML society withPM as the president.

SC seeks report onRajiv assassinationDC CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, NOV. 5

The Supreme Court onTuesday sought a statusreport on the investigationby the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) headedMulti-Disciplinary Monitor-ing Agency (MDMA) into thelarger conspiracy behind theassassination of formerPrime Minister RajivGandhi.

Pointing out that the laststatus report by the MDMAwas year old and at that timethe agency was awaitingresponse to LetterRogatories that were sent toseveral countries includingSri Lanka, and Thailand, abench of Justice L.Nageswara Rao and JusticeHemant Gupta sought thestatus of the Letter Rogatorythat were sent overseas.

The MDMA comprising theofficials of IntelligenceBureau, RAW, RevenueIntelligence and other agen-cies are headed by the CBI.The MDMA was set up in1998 on the recommendationof Justice M.C. JainCommission of Inquirywhich had probed the con-spiracy aspect of Gandhi’sassassination.

The top court gave fourweeks to MDMA to file thereport. Besides the largerconspiracy behind the assas-sination of Rajiv Gandhi, the

MDMA was to investigatethe origin and make of theIED that was used in theassassination.

One of the accused in RajivGandhi assassination con-spiracy case A.G.Perarivalan had moved thetop court in 2016 seeking thesuspension of his sentencecontending that investiga-tion into the origin and mak-ing of IED has yet to con-clude. Perarivalan was con-victed for supplying two 9volts batteries that were usedto for the making of the IEDfor the assassination of theformer Prime Minister onMay 21, 1991, atSriperumbudur by a humanbomb Dhanu. He has con-tended that one of the pri-mary purposes of constitut-ing the MDMA was to inves-tigate the larger conspiracy,trace the origin and make ofthe IED, but even after 18years, CBI has not been ableto conclude its investigation.Perarivalan has alreadyspent 26 years in jail. He wasawarded death sentencewhich was commuted by thetop court on February 18,2014, on the grounds of thelong delay in deciding hisand other death row convictsmercy petition by thePresident. Rajiv Gandhi wasassassinated on the night ofMay 21, 1991 atSriperumbudur in TamilNadu.

■ ■ The 11-hour longagitation involvedmostly constables,assistant sub-inspec-tors and inspectors.

■ ■ Earlier, the courtsaid that it would behearing the plea forthe entry of women inmosques only becauseof its judgment inSabarimala temple.

NADDA MEETSPARTY’S BIHARUNIT LEADERSNAYEAR AZAD | DCPATNA, NOV. 5

Ahead of BiharAssembly polls, BJPnational working presi-dent J.P. Nadda held-meetings with theparty’s state unit leadershere on Tuesday.

Mr Nadda was in thecity to attend the seventhdeath anniversary of for-mer Gujarat Governorlate Kailashp-ati Mishra.Addressing the event, hecriticized the Congressparty for its policies.

Page 8: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

The debate between free trade and protection for the domestic econo-my is not a new one. Its shadow loomed over India as it declined atthe last minute to become a party to the Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership agreement, which 15 other leading nations

subscribed to on Monday. India participated in the negotiation, but PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, who was at the regional summit in Bangkokwhere the RCEP was deliberated, pulled out at the last minute, arguing thatIndia’s concerns had not been met.

Signatures are to be affixed to the agreement in 2020 and many among theparticipants, notably Australia, expressed the hope that when India comeson board, the RCEP will be a richer partnership.

There is a lurking fear among many of the “10 plus 6” — the 10 Asean coun-tries and six of their partners — that China will seek to dominate RCEP.With the burgeoning trade dispute between the United States and China,there is concern that China would try to cut itself some slack by seeking totake advantage of RCEP to the detriment of others. If India were in, it mighthelp balance the equation.

The discussions around globalisation at the turn of the century broughthome the reality that if a developing nation opted for globalisation, itshould prepare itself by improving its export capacity and infrastructure,else it will suffer over balance of payments, and this will have a wideningnegative impact, hurting domestic producers and consumers. Such a situa-tion would be readymade for political discontent.

After dithering, it’s just as well that India chose to stay out of RCEP, billedas the world’s most significant trade deal. The 16 participating nationsmade up nearly half the world’s population and 30 per cent of its GDP. Sucha large free trade area is likely to confer economic benefits all around, pro-vided the participants export with as much vigour as they import to meetthe requirements of an expanding economy.

However, the picture the Indian economy now, following a series of mis-conceived policy steps in the past five years, didn’t place it in the rightframe to take advantage of the free trade area. Manufacturing and exportdata have been plunging for two years. The banking sector is in turmoil.Agricultural productivity and wages are down. At such a time, joining afree trade area comprising some of the world’s boldest economies is toinvite trouble.

No wonder, the Congress campaigned against India’s entry into RCEP,and rallied other parties which had planned a nationwide campaign againstthe economic situation from Tuesday. A PMO statement Monday morningsaid the PM “sought to dispel the notion that India is reluctant to join theRCEP trade deal”. Two days earlier, commerce minister Piyush Goyal tar-geted Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Twitter for opposing India join-ing RCEP. Just as well, though, that bravado took a backseat.

6 NOVEMBER 2019

Prudence wins as govtstays out of RCEP

Welfare is bad is because it is at odds with theway human beings come to live satisfying lives

Love is what you’ve been through with somebody

CHARLES MURRAYMIND POWER

JAMES THURBER PAGE

8EditWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

The dharna began and seemsto be ending just as inexplica-bly if maulana’s garbledSunday night speech is any

indication. The ‘long march’ or dhar-na has now become a part of post-2008 politics. From the PPP govern-ment in 2009 to the PML-N in 2014and now the PTI, each governmenthas faced an onslaught of protestersroughly a year after coming intobeing.

Each dharna, sadly, is triggered bya false sense of overconfidence on thepart of the newly elected; the PPPwent back on its promise to restorethe judiciary and aggravated theproblem by sacking the PML-N gov-ernment in Punjab; the PML-Nignored the PTI’s rona dhona (lamen-tations) over the four constituenciesand the PTI’s short-sightedness hasbeen its unwarranted aggressiontowards the opposition. If it wasn’tenough to imprison the major leader-ship, it added to the problem byname-calling, threatening to with-draw facilities in jail, refusing to

issue production orders, etc.Of course, it has to be said that a

march is also triggered by what ishappening behind the scenes — forinstance, it is now widely believedthat the 2014 march/dharna wasused to pressure the then PML-Ngovernment and weaken its resolveto try Gen Musharraf. The dharnaended in the beginning of 2015, and ayear later, the former dictator left thecountry. Similarly, the 2009 marchalso weakened the PPP governmentconsiderably and there are chancesthe fate of the present governmentwill be no different.

But despite the behind-the-scenesmachinations, one is tempted toask if each government wouldhave faced a less uncomfortableposition if it had not been so dis-missive of other political partiesand opponents initially. But, onealso needs to see the other side.Compared to 2009 and 2014, there isdefinitely less uncertainty andpanic in the air. Fewer people arepredicting the end of a govern-

ment. Indeed, glancing back, itseems as if the uncertainty was atits height in 2009 when the marchwas about to begin. Back then, itwasn’t just Islamabad but alsoLahore which was under siege andthe government did its best to stopthe charge on Islamabad. The fearof the government being sent homewas palpable.

In 2014, there was a similar senseof uncertainty but it was less sothan in 2009. In contrast to the PPPcase, however, the PML-N govern-ment seemed to have learnt from2009 and didn’t put up much resis-tance. Protesters from Lahore aswell as Khyber Pakhtunkhwareached Islamabad quite smoothly.There was fear of the governmentbeing sent packing but somehow itseemed less probable than in 2009.

This time around, the uncertain-ty is even less so. Partly, this is dueto smoother civil-military ties —hence some are arguing that theuncertainty was higher in 2009 and2014 because the civilian govern-

ment wasn’t facing an invisibleenemy. However, it is also becauseit is now easier to assume that gov-ernments will complete theirterms. This could not be said withany certainty back in 2008. It is theproverbial silver lining.

But this is not to say that we, as asociety, should now consider routineprotesters demanding a govern-ment’s end. Apart from being wrongin principle, this should be a reasonfor worry, regardless of the crowdsor the government. Accidents canhappen and any government shouldbe wary of loss of life or injuries tothe innocent, which are possible ifthe state has to control or stop acrowd. It should never come to this.After Sunday night, it seems it will not.

Perhaps the maulana blinked onSunday because he is a politician;and politicians, however much theymay rant and threaten, will alwaysfind a way out. Politics is aboutcompromise and not a war to an end.

Despite his thundering, no politi-cian with stakes in the electoral sys-tem can blithely lead his supporterstowards a confrontation which cancost lives. Every voter matters;every life matters. And similarly, agovernment (even if it is led by aseemingly uncompromising ImranKhan) will opt for negotiations andhopefully provide face-saving to theprotesters. Indeed, we should neverunderestimate the innate commonsense of our politicians, howevermuch they may disappoint us. Andthere has been much to disappointus in the recent past.

Postscript: In all the chaos of thepast few days, the maulana may haveimpressed many with his politicalacumen but he has also revealed hisbigoted views on religion and gen-der, which prove why he will neverbe a mainstream leader. Such viewsdo not gel with the idea of democra-cy, however, much one harps oncivilian supremacy.

By arrangement with Dawn

Dharna politics:Push come to

shove, politicoscertain to blink

Toxic air, hungry kids:Divisive politics rules

Delhi hasrecently had aburst of unsea-sonal rain – abig relief amid

the dangerous air pollu-tion, officially labelled apublic health emergency.Perhaps, folks in othercities with blue skies willtake a temporary breakfrom trolling its resi-dents. The real worry isthat despite all the hand-wringing and non-stopcoughing, Delhiites andresidents of all the othercities in the country withdangerous levels of airpollution will settledown once again to afamiliar angst-laced res-ignation.

The story is the sameevery year.

Malnutrition and airpollution are among thetop health risks facingIndia. But in this coun-try, sadly, both are atrisk of being turned intosectarian, “us andthem”, either/or, binaryissues.

Listening to some of thepublic discourse aroundthese issues, you wouldnot think that they posesuch a grave threat toIndia’s present andfuture.

Take air pollution,which has been a topheadline grabber. Indiahas some of the world’smost polluted cities butevery Diwali, in recentyears, there is a templateresponse from a sectionof the populace who seebursting crackers as anessential part of being agood Hindu. This yearwas no different, despitethe Supreme Court’s rul-ing about “green fire-crackers” and mandatedtimes for bursting them.

Many people violatedthe rules. Some wereeven triumphalist. Theargument is that it is notonly firecrackers thatcontribute to poisonousair. The problem withthis argument is that noone ever said firecrack-ers alone were responsi-ble for foul air.

Different factors at dif-ferent times of the year

cumulatively contributeto making Delhi and somany other Indian citiessmokestacks, shaving offyears of the lives of theirresidents. There is cropburning, currently a keyreason for the noxiousair in much of northIndia; there is vehicularemission, road dust, andother factors. Togetherthey make life and theair we breathe hellish.

There has been endlessdiscussion on whatshould be done but thediscussions come tonothing because eachcontributory factor is pit-ted against the other, andin the politicallypolarised milieu in Indiatoday, this also meansthat the Central govern-ment and governmentsof the affected states areunable to brainstormtogether meaningfully.

Polluted air has wide-ranging health impacts— an elevated risk forheart attacks andstrokes, a higher risk ofasthma, reduced foetalgrowth, stunted develop-ment of children’s lungs,and cognitive impair-ment which can impactone’s life chances.

Twenty-two of world's30 most polluted citiesare in India, according toa recent report byGreenpeace.

“In 2016, a WorldHealth Organisation(WHO) study found that14 of the 20 world’s mostpolluted cities belongedto India. Kanpur, inUttar Pradesh, emergedas the city with the high-est PM2.5 level, standingat 173 (17 times higherthan the limit set for safe-ty). It is estimated that in2016, over nine lakhdeaths were caused dueto air pollution in India.Some other cities withhigh PM 2.5 levelsinclude Faridabad,Varanasi, Gaya, Patna,Delhi, Lucknow andAgra. Delhi, as the capi-tal of the country, toogained notorious reputa-tion as a result of itsseverely poor air quali-ty,” a report by Observer

Research Foundation, athink tank, noted.

Delhi grabs the head-lines but the poor airquality affects residentsof the other cities just asmuch.

The other big issuewhich is critical toIndia’s future is childunder-nutrition.

The latest GlobalHunger Index rankedIndia at the 102nd posi-tion, trailing its SouthAsian neighbours. Theindex is a weighted aver-age of stunting and wast-ing rate, and the indexnoted that the percentageof wasted children inIndia increased from 16.5to 20.8 between 2008-12and 2014-18.

Poor nutrition in earlylife is extremely damag-ing and leads to stuntingand loss of IQ, which hasconsequences for theindividual, the commu-nity and the country. Arecent nutrition surveyby the health and familywelfare ministry has alsofound that 35 per cent ofchildren under the age offive years in India arestunted, while 17 per centare wasted and 33 percent are underweight.

But guess what is thebig controversy inMadhya Pradesh, whichhas a large number ofundernourished chil-dren, especially in thetribal areas?

The Madhya Pradeshgovernment’s plan toprovide eggs to childrenin anganwadis is beingslammed by theBharatiya Janata Party(BJP), currently in theOpposition in the state.

Madhya Pradesh BJPleader Gopal Bhargava isin the news for his state-ment that making chil-dren eat eggs and meatcan turn them into “can-nibals later in life”. MrBhargava also says eat-ing non-vegetarian foodis against Indian culture,a statement that is both absurd and totally

inaccurate.“What else can you

expect from this mal-nourished government?They are now feedingchildren eggs… forcethem to eat chicken, mut-ton. Indian culture does-n’t allow eating non-veg-etarian food. If theybegin to eat eggs andmeat from childhood…they may become canni-bals later,” Mr Bhargavatold reporters.

Eggs are universallyrecognised as a source ofcheap protein. How doeggs in the diet of chil-dren at anganwadisbecome a political issue?Once again, it is the sametemplate — a seriousissue being framed as asectarian one, stokingdivisive passions.

Unsurprisingly, thosepitching politics againstnutrition and rooting foronly vegetarian fooddon’t actually go downand see the quality ofvegetarian food that thepoor children typicallyeat. More often than not,they don’t get the neces-sary nutrients.

The losers are the chil-dren.

The BJP state unit hasdescribed the MP gov-ernment’s move as“interfering with thefaith and religiousbeliefs of the people” andhas sworn to oppose theproposal.

Under the previousBJP government, a simi-lar scheme was proposedin 2015. But ShivrajSingh Chouhan, the thenchief minister, junked it.

Which brings me to themoot point.

In which other countrydo polluted air and eggsbecome polarising issueswith political parties andinterest groups engagedin perennial finger-point-ing at each other whilethe people continue tosuffer?

It’s time to say “stop”and not let anyone getaway with a diversion-ary narrative or withthwarting public healthgoals in the name of reli-gion and culture andparty politics. Our livesand livelihoods are atstake.

The writer focuses ondevelopment issues in

India and emergingeconomies. She can be

reached atpatralekha.chatterjee

@gmail.com.

How do eggs in thediet of children at

anganwadisbecome a politicalissue? Once again,

it is the same template — a seri-

ous issue beingframed as a sectar-

ian one, stokingdivisive passions.

Subhani

Arifa Noor

Patralekha ChatterjeeDev 360

View from Pakistan

LETTERSTAHSILDAR’S DEATHThe brutal killing of tahsil-dar Ms Ch. Vijaya Reddy isa barbaric act (Tahsildarburnt alive in office, Nov.5). It is the first-ever suchact in Telangana, designedto create fear in minds ofemployees as well as citi-zens. The culprit must begiven capital punishment.Though Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao hadearlier labelled the revenuedepartment and itsemployees as “most cor-rupt”, no action was takenagainst them. VijayaReddy’s death reflects truthof real governance of cur-rent regime.

S. BhavaniHyderabad

Chief Minister K. ChandrasekharRao should take moral responsibil-ity for the murder of Ms Ch. VijayaReddy as he did nothing to free therevenue department of corruption.Expressing condolences to the fam-ily of the deceased tahsildar wouldnot suffice. He is unfit to be CM ascorruption has become rampant inevery department under his watch.

Dinesh JoshiHyderabad

I wonder how the attacker couldenter the office of a tahsildar withso much fuel in the first place. Thisis a big lapse on part of security atthe office. The defunct closed-cir-cuit cameras reveal the real state ofgolden Telangana.

Mohammed Wasif AliSecunderabad

Though it is a heinous crime, weshould try to find out the reasonbehind the man killing the tahsil-dar. When the Telangana RashtraSamiti was elected to office for thefirst time in 2014, Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao asked peopleto complain to him against any offi-cial. Though he received com-plaints, there was no action againstany government official. Peoplewrite to newspapers about theircomplaints, but very few aresolved, forcing people resort to vio-lence.

Gregory PradeepHyderabad

Government employees havebecome easy targets these days.The governments — both at theCentre and in the state — shouldstart ‘24-hour solution services’ toaddress people’s issues. In absenceof such a service, governmentemployees will continue to becomescapegoats.

P.V.M. RaoSecunderabad

Every Monday the best letter of theweek wins `300. Email your letters

to [email protected], [email protected]. You canalso send them to Editor, DeccanChronicle, 36, Sarojini Devi Road,

Secunderabad-500 003.

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One of the biggest continuous concerns of most citizens of Indiaacross all regions, strata and political inclinations has been corrup-tion. Seasons of sudden hope for a fightback came sporadically,

turning an unknown person into an icon, but they faded without deliver-ing much. Institutionalised corruption only became stronger, rent seek-ing a given.

In Telangana, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, emerging strongerfrom his stern, no-nonsense response, airing a politically incorrect replyto the arm-twisting tactics of RTC trade unions, is now on the cusp of mak-ing history by seeming firmly to go ahead and break the most corrupt ofsystems in any state government — land revenue.

The tragic incident, in which Ch. Vijaya Reddy, mandal revenue officerof Abdullapurmet in Telangana, was burnt to death in her office onMonday, has our heartfelt condolences, but the accused, who suffered par-tial burns, was apprehended by police within less than an hour. The three-day bandh call by revenue officials is prompted not by any love for thememory of their colleague but is a disguised resort to putting pressure onthe government to not bring in the new Land Revenue Act.

No citizen has yet recorded her or his name in history for having gotland registered, bought or sold it, or had grievances settled, without hav-ing to pay a bribe. Let an inhuman murder not distract us from thetragedy that is corruption by MROs, VROs and the like.

Mr Rao, who has long ago etched history by successfully leading an agi-tation for a separate Telangana, must now storm ahead and stamp out cor-ruption in revenue. Mr Rao can, and should, revolutionise our revenuesystem; land records must be digitised, buying, selling, managing, owningand renting land or property in Telangana must be made a 21st centuryexperience. We can learn from the Indian passport issuance experience.

“Kill Corruption in Revenue” — that should be the new identity for KCR.Other Indian states would be grateful to Telangana for leading the way.

Can KCR kill revenue graft?

LETTERSSHIFTING OF LVIt may be recalled how MrL.V. Subramanyam becameCS in AP. In April 2019,before Assembly polls, dueto accusations against thethen CS Mr Punetha, whowas removed by theElection Commission andMr Subramanyam was post-ed in his place. But the N.Chandrababu Naidu gov-ernment found fault withhis appointment accusinghim of being co-accused inquid pro quo case Mr Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy. Later,when Mr Jagan MohanReddy became CM, he con-tinued the services of MrSubrahmanyam as CS.Normally, the CS will bechanged when new partyand CM assumes politicalpower. But this was notdone due to Mr JaganMohan Reddy’s intimacy. Inspite of this, it is nowembarrassing as to why heas shifted?

P. KoormaraoVisakhaptnam

TSRTC STRIKE

The Telangana government is inhot waters. Even as the burningproblem of RTC is not dousedanother dreadful problem has beencreated by the ghastly murder of awoman tahsildar. (Revenue employ-ees on warpath, to boycott work forthree days. Nov. 5) There is arumour that Singareni employeesare preparing themselves to revoltagainst the government. The posi-tion of Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao is like caughtbetween devil and deep sea.

S.A. NabiGiddalur, Prakasam

Chief Minister K. ChandrasekharRao should take moral responsibil-ity for the murder of Ms Ch. VijayaReddy as he did nothing to free therevenue department of corruption.Expressing condolences to the fam-ily of the deceased tahsildar wouldnot suffice. He is unfit to be CM ascorruption has become rampant.

Dinesh JoshiHyderabad

I wonder how the attacker couldenter the office of a tahsildar withso much fuel in the first place. Thisis a big lapse on part of security atthe office. The defunct closed-cir-cuit cameras reveal the real state ofgolden Telangana.

Mohammed Wasif AliSecunderabad

Every Monday the best letter of theweek wins `300. Email your letters

to [email protected], [email protected]. You canalso send them to Editor, DeccanChronicle, 36, Sarojini Devi Road,

Secunderabad-500 003.

Page 9: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

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9OpedWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

CRY-IT-OUTER INSOMNIA IDENTITYWord SPY

A person who practises or advocatesletting babies cry themselves to sleep

The erroneous belief that one has trouble sleeping, whichleads to symptoms experienced by true insomniacs

America’s waron Iraq sig-nalled theend of theUnited Na-tions as themain inter-n a t i o n a l

peacekeeping mechanism. It’snot that nations have not defiedthe United Nations before.Israel has been doing it fordecades. Even India has, fromtime to time, cocked a snook atthe UN. But this was the firsttime that a permanent memberof the UN Security Council hadso blatantly and wantonly dis-regarded the prevailing worldsentiment and opinion.

Even though the UN was fash-ioned by the victors of WorldWar II, its birth had its originsin the darkest days of that peri-od when leaders of nine occu-pied countries in Europe —Belgium, Czechoslovakia,France, Greece, Luxembourg,Holland, Norway, Poland, andYugoslavia — met representa-tives of Britain and theCommonwealth nations inLondon on June 12, 1941, andsigned a declaration pledging towork for a free world, where allnations could live in peace andsecurity. This was called theInter-Allied Declaration andwas the first step towards theestablishment of the UN. Two

months later, US PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt andBritish Prime MinisterWinston Churchill announcedthe Atlantic Charter, not onlyexpressing similar hopes, butalso eventual disarmament andfull economic cooperation. OnJanuary 1, 1942 they signedwhat came to be known as theDeclaration of the UnitedNations, approving the aims ofthe Atlantic Charter.

More interestingly, this wasthe first time the phrase“United Nations” was used. Butthe creation of the UnitedNations Organisation for pre-serving world peace had to waittill October 30, 1943, whenBritain, China, the SovietUnion and the United Statessigned the Moscow Declarationon General Security. The signa-tories to the MoscowDeclaration then met continu-ously from August to October1944 in Washington D.C. andfashioned a basic plan for aninternational peace-keepingorganisation. The centrepieceof this plan was a SecurityCouncil, in which the US, theSoviet Union, Britain, Chinaand France would be perma-nent members. Fifty nationsthen met in San Francisco onApril 25, 1945, 12 days beforeGermany surrendered and fourmonths before Japan was

defeated, to consider this plan.After much deliberation the dif-ferences, mostly over the vetopower demanded by the BigThree — US, USSR and UK —were papered over and on June26, 1945 all the 50 nations pre-sent signed the charter and theUN formally came into being.

The UN has grown muchsince then, reflecting thechanges in the world mostlydue to decolonisation, fragmen-tation of the USSR, and the divi-sion of some founder memberstates like Yugoslavia. The UNnow has 191 members, andSwitzerland was the last to joinon September 10, 2002. Theworld has also changed in othersignificant ways. But most sig-nificant of all was the demise ofthe USSR and the end of theCold War. The Cold War andthe balance of power betweenthe two super-powers ironicallyenough served as a guarantor ofthe peace and security ofnations that came under accept-ed spheres of influence. Withthe world poised a button pushaway from Armageddon, theUN, and especially the SecurityCouncil, became a ready forumto facilitate constant dialoguebetween the superpowers, andit admirably served this pur-pose.

True, it did not preventregional wars from eruptingconstantly, but it did prevent ageneral war of ruinous dimen-sions. Both superpowers usual-ly heeded the UN because theother was there. The veto pow-ers ensured that one bloc couldnot override the interests of theother one. The veto thus cameto be used 252 times since 1946.It was used the maximum in thefirst decade of the UN, between

1946 and 1955, when it was exer-cised 83 times, with the USSRalone using it 80 times. Thisdropped off to 31 and 26 respec-tively between 1956-65. TheWest, led by the US, came to usethe veto more often since 1966,using it 115 times as opposed to15 by the USSR. Since 1996,Russia has not exercised theveto even once, while the UShas used it six times and Chinatwice. This presumably reflectsthe shape of the world order tocome!

As an immediate response to adestructive world war, the UNreflected the reality and ethosof that age. Nothing reflectedthis more than the compositionof the permanent members ofthe Security Council. Four outof the five were “white”nations. Two, China andFrance, were defeated nations.Two, Britain and France, werecolonial powers. The other 10members of the SecurityCouncil are elected membersfrom the various regions. Theseare members are without theveto and with little voice orclout. Their plight is best illus-trated by the admission of theColombian representative,Ambassador Jaramillo, that

even as president of theSecurity Council he was“forced to stand outside thechamber where the PermanentFive were meeting, and beg forpieces of information as a per-sonal favour from the perma-nent representatives as theywere leaving”.

Thus, it is very ironical thatwhile the Cold War assured rel-evance of the UN and maskedthe basically flawed nature ofthe Security Council, its endseems to have made the UNincreasingly irrelevant. Thelatest decision of the US andBritain to bypass the SecurityCouncil and seek the disarma-ment of Iraq on their ownunderscores this irrelevance. Itis even more ironic thatFrance’s threat to use its vetohas forced the US and Britain tobypass the Security Council,where it is most likely that theUS even now has majority sup-port for its increasingly unpop-ular course of action.

Most members of the UN,including long-time Americanhangers-on like Australia andNew Zealand, would like to seethe veto go. On the other hand,by doing so and by equatingtiny countries like Seychelles(pop. 79,000) with India (pop.1.03 billion), it will end up mak-ing the unequal equal, which isas undesirable as making theequal unequal. While the singleveto does not reflect a desirabledemocratisation, to have aSecurity Council of electedequals will only render it moreineffective and irrelevant. Thericher countries, for one, willfind themselves even more rep-resented than now. A few yearsago, Japan defeated India’s bidto become an elected member of

the Security Council by offer-ing Toyota limousines to for-eign ministers and ambas-sadors of voting countries.Many accepted. Even withinthe Security Council, the abili-ty of some countries to havetheir way will make it vulnera-ble to unwise choices. Morerecently, the US ambassador tothe UN snarled over an openmike to the Yemeni ambas-sador that his vote just cost thatcountry $100 million. The fol-lowing week the US suspendedits aid package to Yemen.

Thus, while a SecurityCouncil of a smaller number ofcountries is desirable to makethe UN effective, it must alsoreflect world realities and bemore representative of itsdiversity. For instance, Africaand Latin America are not rep-resented in the PermanentFive. Likewise, the Islamicworld does not find a place.India, which has a fifth of theworld’s population, does notfind a place. The biggest econo-my in Europe, Germany, doesnot find a place. On the otherhand, with two members,Britain and France, WesternEurope is over-represented.With Russia added, Europe hasthree members. Clearly this isnot a satisfactory arrangement.

Indian diplomacy in the pastfew years has centred more onsecuring the permanent mem-bership of the UN SecurityCouncil. Partly in response tothis and similar pressures fromJapan, Brazil and Germany, weoften hear of a proposal to makesome larger nations permanentmembers, but without vetopowers. It seems that our lead-ers are so desperate for someinternational recognition that

they are quite willing to accepteven a second-class permanentmembership. This would beunfortunate, as rather thanmaking the UN more democrat-ic; it will make it even morestratified. What we need to seekis the reform of the UN, by elim-inating the single veto, while atthe same time ensuring that theSecurity Council does notbecome victim to the tyranny ofa simple majority.

The first step will be to makethe Security Council more rep-resentative by accommodatingnations, reflecting the econom-ic, geographical and culturaldiversity of the United Nations,as well as relative power andsize. Thus, major political andeconomic groupings such as theEuropean Union, the NorthAmerican Free TradeAssociation (NAFTA), theAssociation of Southeast AsianNations (Asean), South AsianAssociation for RegionalCooperation (Saarc), theOrganisation of AmericanStates (OAS), the Organisationof African Unity (OAU) or AsiaPacific Union (APU) could eachchose a member in the SecurityCouncil. Instead of a single vetobeing able to derail its inten-tions, a certain minimumthreshold, say of three or fourmembers, should only thwartthe Security Council’s majori-ty. This will prevent thePermanent Five from insistingthat world affairs are shapedonly according to their wishes.

The writer, a policy analyststudying economic and security

issues, held senior positions ingovernment and industry. Healso specialises in the Chinese

economy.

Wait, this does notrefer to any con-fusion enter-tained by meover my identity

but that which has followed meliterally like a shadow for thegreater part of my life. Yes, thisrefers to the perplexed impres-sion entertained by most per-sons over the information theygather from me, regarding A toZ about me, after literally bom-barding me with series of ques-tions. The only issue whichthey don’t refer to is gender.Nowadays, most have ceasedposing questions about age. Iguess the trend is not to do so,lest their own is asked. Ofcourse, this scribe has learntthrough the experience of tak-ing interviews of elderlyIndian generation is that yes,there is a set of questions onemust be prepared to answerbefore posing those that one isall prepared to ask the intervie-wee. Well, this refers to one-to-one interviews and not press-conferences or other gather-ings. But that era of refined,homely interviews of thosegentlemen, posing questionswith a fatherly air, seems tohave been lost to history. Now,

these carry a little professionaland also commercial air aboutthem. Not all, but the business-like air about them, despitetheir appearing not to be so,cannot be missed.

Well, here, my concern is notprofessional interviews but theapparently socio-friendly ones,with the put-on, half or literal-ly frozen smiles. Of course,memories of a few still bring agenuine smile, but most stillleave me fairly perplexed. One,which still leaves me laughing,is the awed expression on theface of a computer-techie. I hadtaken his services for thendesk-tops in use, when laptopshad not entered the field. Theyoung man was fairly delight-ed to have come across, in hisopinion, such a “high-casteBrahmin”. His understandingwas based on his pronuncia-tion of my surname. Hethought of it as not Dwedi,Trivedi, Chaturvedi but asSolavedi. Oh dear, he tookquite some time in understand-ing and accepting thatSuhrawardy was not Solavedi.He assumed Solavedi to be aBrahminical caste nominally linked with 16 Vedas as Dwedis are with two,

Trivedi three and Chaturvediwith four.

My parents and sister raninto a similar experience dur-ing their brief visit to Odisha.The religious priests assumedthat they were there for reli-gious purposes and not fortourism. Oh dear, they refusedto believe that they wereMuslims. The priests claimedthat they had all “records” oftheir religious background. Inthose priests’ opinion, my fam-ily was “hiding” its religiousidentity to avoid paying them any money for religiouspurposes.

Interestingly, this scribe hasalso come across persons,largely from semi-literateclasses, who view Muslims asanother caste withinHinduism. Of course, in thepresent phase, this confusionhas been considerably erodedowing to anti-Muslim phobiaraised by right-wing elements.This has, incidentally,enhanced not mine, but others’confusion about my “identity.”Now and then, we do have

bearded men coming to ourhomes. But down four genera-tions, from my grandfather,father, brother to his son,nobody has kept a beard. Ofcourse, we are in touch withquite a few veiled ladies butagain, for several generations,the veil and/or burkha has notbeen the dress-code of ladies inour family. Of course, we allare as religious as we can be,but the dress and appearancecan hardly be viewed as reflec-tive of most Indians’ religiousidentity in general, at least inthe present era.

It is possible, not having acommon Muslim surname hasmade most confused about myreligious identity, at least theones not familiar with thisname’s linkage with a Sufiorder. Nevertheless, one doesremain perplexed about peopledeliberating on my religiousidentity, posing questions onits linkage with Pakistan,Kashmir, Bangladesh, all theplaces but to my native roots,that is Uttar Pradesh. Of late,fear is being spread question-ing national identity of IndianMuslims and their patriotism.There is sudden increase innature of communal “mes-sages” being spread throughWhatsApp and other outlets ofcommunication blamingMuslims for plundering thecountry, increasing their popu-lation to become majority here,not paying income tax and soforth. I presume, other IndianMuslims are facing a similarsituation.

Being a journalist, at times, I

have also had to answer for-eign media for communal mis-siles targeting Indian Muslims.Let others be as perplexed asthey wish to be about my iden-tity. I am not. I was and Iremain an Indian Muslim.With respect to communal“messages,” rather thanremain quiet, I have respondedpolitely by asking for names of“Muslims” assumed to be“plundering” the country sothat action is taken againstthem. I don’t need to explainmy patriotism to any person. Iam descendents of those whopreferred partition of theirfamilies to stay behind here asIndian Muslims. Wherein for-eign media is concerned, myanswer is, each and everyHindu cannot be blamed forbeing anti-Muslim and/or par-ticipating in anti-Muslim activ-ities. If he/she were, my fami-ly, me and other Muslimswould not have been livinghere amidst a secular atmos-phere. Secular Hindus outnum-ber Muslims in demonstra-tions against anti-Muslim com-munal activities. Yes, secular-ism still retains its roots here.Besides, bias of some nature israising its head in other partsof the world too. Let the worldremain perplexed about myidentity. I am doing my job asan Indian Muslim and soshould every Indian!

The writer is a journalist withspecialisation in communica-

tion studies and nuclear diplomacy. She is also the

author of several books.

Have you ever looked aroundand wondered why everyindividual is glued to hissocial gadget? You may dis-

miss it as a normal routine, but it sig-nifies a great behavioural aberration.We’re all missing out on a life that isunfolding in front of us, one that is sowonderful and yet won’t be there lateron. Life’s gifts are precious and abun-dant — but we are too heedless ofthem. In the bustle of our everydaystrife, we fail to understand the worldwhen it beckons us to savour its won-ders. Referring to the whole paradox,Thomas Merton describes the rushand pressure of modern life as a formof contemporary violence. He says,“… to be surrendering to too manydemands, too many concerns, is to

succumb to the violence.”At times likes this we

must remember this oldadvice: Never be too busyto deprive yourself of thewonder and the awe of life.The next time you’re on abus, try watching peoplewho are sitting beside youon your commute. Strikeup a conversation withthem. Who knows — they might saysomething that you’ll remember forthe rest of your life.

Don’t cocoon yourself like mostvanilla people. Develop diversity infeelings and emotions. Don’t spendyour time double tapping a picture offriends laughing together when youcould be laughing with someone inreal life. It’s not that we prefer to lookdown at a three-inch screen instead ofat the world around us. It’s just thatthe compulsion to stay connected is ahabit that’s become hard!

Life is pulsating all around you.Don’t look down — you might miss it.And remember, you will never get itback. Don’t allow our life to get auto-mated through chips and controlled

by bits and bytes.Pause for a moment

beside a tree and savourits verdant leafy munifi-cence. Look at the humbleserenity of a flower, thevibrant rainbow of a but-terfly. Spare them somemoments of silentthought. Try to be in lovewith your life and with the

present moment so deeply that youmake complete peace with whateveris unfolding. Open your heart sodeeply to where you are that you trulyfeel you don’t want to be anywhere buthere. This is true living. This is whereyou find all you are seeking. Thesemoments reassure us that the world isin harmony with its denizens. It isonly humans who have lost theirrhythm. As the Buddha proclaimed,“As you walk and eat and travel, bewhere you are. Otherwise, you willmiss most of your life.”.

Moin Qazi is a well-known banker,author and Islamic researcher. He can

be reached [email protected].

Savour life, relish the moments

Ionce had a flatmate calledTom, who behaved veryoddly when our cleanercame round. On mornings

when she was due he’d becomestrangely excited, like a manwaiting for a date, thoughMadge (70) seemed an unlikelytarget. I would leave the flat sothat Madge could get on with it,but Tom would insist onstaying. He’d settle himself intoan armchair, close his eyes andsit there, still as a toad, as shehoovered and dusted aroundhim. Eventually I asked himabout it, and he confessed.Listening to Madge, he said,“makes my brain feel nice”. Ashe explained it, the sounds ofcleaning, sweeping and bus-ying about sent deliciousshivers running across hisscalp. “It’s blissful — like atingling feeling. But it’s not atall sexy,” he was keen to stress.I said: “Don’t fret, Tom. That allsounds… normal.” I had noidea then just how very normalTom was.

This was in 2007 and, as ithappens, that very year a groupof people gathered in an onlinechatroom to discuss that veryfeeling. They didn’t all dependon cleaning noises: the soundsthat set it off were many andvaried. For some it was a whis-pering voice, for others a tap-ping sound or the crinkling ofpaper, though everyone agreedthat a feeling of being given per-sonal attention and cared forhelped. One of the chatters con-cocted a plausible-sounding bitof jargon: autonomous sensorymeridian response, ASMR forshort, and that was what stuck.And that’s what has, more thana decade later, become an inter-net phenomenon.

Any discussion of what exact-ly ASMR is usually comes tothe same conclusion: that itevolved as a response to pri-mate grooming. Chimps andgorillas, it’s said, fall into thesort of ecstatic state Tomdescribes when they nit-pickand pair-bond, and somehumans, like Tom, retain theability. I like to imagine theToms of the past: the groups ofshifty hominids who sat a littleapart, listening to the drip ofice-age melt-water; theVictorians who hurried homewhen the chimney sweep wasdue. I like to think back towhen ASMR was a privateaffair. Because it sure isn’tnow. Once it had a name itbecame searchable, and once itbecame searchable it becamemonetisable, and now all man-ner of people make a livingmaking videos that triggerASMR — ASMRtists they call

themselves. If you get it justright, if the timbre of yourwhisper does it for the ASMRgang, you can make a verydecent living.

Most ASMRtists are them-selves members of what theysometimes call the ‘tingletribe’. WhispersRed, for inst-ance, is a nice-looking Britishgirl, real name Emma Smith,who videos herself speaking ina quiet, breathy voice — slowlyand dreamily, but with greatfocus like a very attentivenurse, or a psychopath. To me,WhispersRed sounds as relax-ing as Hannibal Lecter. Butwhen I played a video to Tom,that familiar blissed-out smilecrept over his face. Americanteens, the beadiest of entrepre-neurial groups, cottoned onearly to the profit potential. Is itwrong for children to makevideos for adults to get off on?It’s such a recent phenomenonthat no one knows. One 13-year-old ASMRtist called Makennafrom Colorado hit the big timelast year with a video entitled“Eating raw honeycomb —EXTREMELY sticky mouthsounds”. More than 12 millionhave watched it, and Mak andher manager mom make $1,000a day in advertising revenue.Eating sounds are extremelypopular amongst the ASMRgang. And if, like me, you don’tget tingles from the videos,they’re likely to be among themost disgusting things you’veever seen. One Canadian girl,ASMR SAS, eats to order forcash. I might never forget theclip of her dipping king prawnsin melted cheese and eatingthem right up against the cam-era lens. It was the squelching,crunching sound — and whodips prawns in cheese?

Of course there’s somethingtouching about all those lonelytinglers finally getting togeth-er. But there’s also somethingtroubling about ASMR, espe-cially the rate at which it’sspreading across the web.

More and more companies aremaking adverts designed toactivate ASMR. If you can givesome of your audience an actu-al high, why wouldn’t you? Inthis year’s Super Bowl, therewas an ASMR commercial forMichelob Ultra Pure Gold beer.Model Zoë Kravitz (daughter ofLenny) whispered and tappedon the bottle like a pro. Ikea,Taco Bell and KFC have alldone ASMR ads. Google’sbrand-consulting service rec-ommends it. ASMR and junkfood are a perfect fit, says KFC’smarketing boss. “There’s a lotof comfort associated withASMR, and that’s what our fooddelivers.” How much comfortdo 21st-century adults need?

By arrangement with the Spectator

Our leaders are so des-perate for some interna-tional recognition thatthey are willing to accepteven a second-class permanent membership.This would be unfortu-nate, as rather thanmaking the UN moredemocratic; it will makeit even more stratified.

The young man was fairly delighted to havecome across, in his opin-ion, such a ‘high-casteBrahmin’. His under-standing was based onhis pronunciation of mysurname. He thought ofit as not Dwedi, Trivedi,Chaturvedi but asSolavedi.

Mary Wakefield

MoinQazi

Nilofar Suhrawardy

Mohan Guruswamy

Tingle-minded,are we? The rapid

rise of ASMR

Don’t question my identity! Setting the record straight in dismal times

NEW DELHI, November 5

DESPITE an unprecedentedly long five-hourdiscussion, at time acrimonious, the ExecutiveCommittee of the Congress ParliamentaryParty today neither endorsed nor censured

Government’s partic-ipation in the RabatSummit.

The ExternalAffairs Minister Mr.Dinesh Singh defend-

ed India’s participation in the Summit andrejected allegations of an unseemly effort bythe Government to get an invitation to it.

But critics of the Prime Minister in theExecutive maintained that they stood by theresolution adopted by the Working Committeepresided over by Mr. Nijalingappa last Sundaycensuring Government.

The Party Secretary, Mr. S. D. Mishra, whobriefed pressmen in the presence of theMinister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. K.Raghuramaiah, said since there was no provi-sion for voting in the Executive the mattercould be said to have been talked out.

Mr Raghuramaiah, who is also the ChiefWhip, said members wanted to have certainclarifications.

50 YEARS AGO IN

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10WorldWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

Goodbye

— Xi Jinpingafter meeting Carrie Lam

IN BRIEF

MEXICO: FIVEOF FAMILYSHOT DEAD

Mexico, Nov. 5: At least fivemembers of a family in north-ern Mexico, including twoinfants, were killed in anattack by unknown gunmen,in the latest case of grisly vio-lence to hit the country.

Mexican media reported thatthe victims belonged to theLeBaron family, associatedwith a break-away Mormoncommunity that settled innorthern Mexico decades ago,and that the dead as well asadditional missing familymembers may all be US citi-zens. The governments ofChihuahua and Sonora states,both of which border theUnited States, issued a brief,joint statement saying aninvestigation into the incidenthad been launched and thatsome people were presumeddead and others missing.

The statement, which notedthat additional federal andlocal security forces werebeing sent into the area nearthe border between the twoMexican states, did not pro-vide further details.

Local TV showed images of aburnt vehicle that may havebelonged to the family, andlocal activist and family mem-ber Julian LeBaron was quot-ed as describing the incidentas a “massacre.”

Johnson daresCorbyn on Brexit

Russian smugglesgold in shoes, held

Moscow: Russian customsofficers have detained a

woman at the Chinese bor-der with nearly 2kg of gold

in her shoes after sheappeared to be walking

strangely, authorities said.The Russian was detained at

a customs post in easternSiberia after officials noticed

that she “was nervous andacted in a suspicous man-ner,” said Marina Boiko, a

spokeswoman for theregional customs authorities.“The young woman unnatu-

rally placed one foot in frontof the other,” she said. A

search led to the discoveryof eight pieces of gold

weighing a total of nearly1.9kg. “The ingots had been

attached to the insoles ofher shoes with duct tape,” it

said, putting the value of thefind at US$79,000.

London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson,

pressed opposition LabourParty leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

on Tuesday to tell voters innext month’s election

whether he backs leavingthe EU. Johnson’s main rival

in the snap December 12 pollhas struggled with defining

his position on Brexit eversince Britons narrowly trig-gered the divorce in a 2016

referendum. Labour’s newofficial stance is to negotiate

a more EU-friendly with-drawal agreement with

Brussels and then let votersdecide whether to back it or

simply stay in the EU.But Corbyn refuses to say

whether he would then cam-paign for his own deal.

‘Baghdadi’s sisterheld in Syria’

Beirut: Turkey captured theelder sister of the slain

leader of the Islamic State innorthwestern Syria, accord-ing to a senior Turkish offi-

cial, who called the arrest anintelligence ‘gold mine’.

Little is known about the sis-ter of Al-Baghdadi. The offi-cial said the woman, known

as Rasmiya Awad, is suspect-ed of being affiliated with

the extremist group. He didnot elaborate. Awad was

captured in a raid on a trailercontainer she was living in

with her family near thetown of Azaz in Aleppo. The

area is part of the regionadministered by Turkey after

it carried out a militaryincursion to chase away IS

militants and Kurdish fight-ers starting 2016.

A demonstrator jumps over a barricade during a protest against the economic policies of the government of presi-dent Sebastian Pinera, in Santiago, Chile. — AFP

Washington, Nov. 5:House investigatorsreleased the first tran-scripts from the closed-door impeachment hear-ings into President DonaldTrump, providing newdetails about events at thecentre of the inquiry.

In hundreds of pages,Marie Yovanovitch, theousted US ambassador toUkraine, and MichaelMcKinley, a former topaide to secretary of stateMike Pompeo, recountedmounting concerns aboutthe administration’sactions toward Ukraine,including Trump’s callwith President VoldymyrZelenskiy. Democrats planto release more tran-scripts in the coming days.

Yovanovitch told investi-gators she first becameaware of Rudy Giuliani’sinvolvement in Ukraine inDecember 2018. Theambassador knew thepresident’s personallawyer was interested ininvestigating Burisma andJoe Biden, but “it wasn’tentirely clear to me whatwas going on.”

In the months that fol-lowed, she began to under-stand Giuliani’s work out-side official diplomaticchannels with YuriyLutsenko, who at the timewas Ukraine’s prosecutorgeneral.

The core of Giuliani’sinvolvement appears torevolve around his workwith two businessmen,

Lev Parnas and IgorFruman, arrested andcharged last month withmaking improper US cam-paign contributions. Shetestified that she wasinformed by an official inUkraine that Giuliani andLutsenko were planning to“do things, including tome.” The businessmen,she came to understand,“needed a better ambassa-dor” to facilitate theirinterests.

She was told Lutsenko“was looking to hurt me inthe US,” adding, “I could-n’t imagine what thatwas.”

Yovanovitch said sheraised concerns about theTrump administration’sactions in Ukraine and themedia reports against herwith Gordon Sondland,the US ambassador to theEU. In response, heencouraged her to tweether support for Trump.“He said, ‘You know, youneed to go big or gohome,’” she recalled. “Youneed to, you know, tweetout there that you supportthe president.” It was

advice, she said, as a non-partisan ambassador, “Idid not see how I couldimplement.”

At the time, some conser-vatives were saying thatYovanovitch had been bad-mouthing Trump inUkraine, which sheemphatically denied.“That allegation is false,”she testified.

The career diplomat saidshe doesn’t, ‘so far’, fearfor her safety. But she saidshe has been ‘shocked’ bythe administration’sapproach to Ukraine andwas ‘surprised and dis-mayed’ by what shelearned from the tran-script of Trump’s call withZelenskiy that sparked theimpeachment probe.

On that call, Trumpcalled Yovanovitch ‘badnews’ and said she was‘going to go through somethings’.

McKinley, the former topaide to Pompeo, detailedhis frustration withYovanovitch’s ouster andhis concerns about theeffect that it could have onmorale in the department.

He said the silence fromtop leaders was ‘puzzlingand baffling’.

So McKinley pushed forthe department to put outa statement in support ofYovanovitch. Althoughseveral other top officialsagreed that it should bedone, he was eventuallytold that Pompeo haddecided against it. — AP

Washington, Nov. 5:The United States hasbegun the process ofpulling out of the land-mark 2015 Paris climateagreement.

Secretary of state MikePompeo said that he sub-mitted a formal notice tothe United Nations. Thatstarts a withdrawalprocess that does notbecome official for ayear. His statement tout-ed America’s carbon pol-lution cuts and calledthe Paris deal an ‘unfaireconomic burden’ to theUS economy.

Nearly 200 nationssigned the climate dealin which each countryprovides its own goals tocurb emissions of heat-trapping gases that leadto climate change.

In international cli-mate discussions, wewill continue to offer arealistic and pragmaticmodel — backed by arecord of real worldresults — showing inno-vation and open marketslead to greater prosperi-ty, fewer emissions, andmore secure sources ofenergy, Pompeo said in astatement.

The US started theprocess with a hand-delivered letter, becom-ing the only country towithdraw. The UnitedNations will soon set outprocedural details forwhat happens next, UNdeputy spokesmanFarhan Haq said. — AP

Pak asks clericto end protestsIslamabad, Nov. 5: ThePakistan government hasreached out to firebrandcleric-cum-politician,Maulana Fazlur Rehman,who is leading the firstmajor bid to oust PrimeMinister Imran Khan, toend the massive protest,which entered the fifthday on Tuesday.

The right-wing JamiatUlema-e-Islam Fazl leaderis leading the protest,dubbed as ‘Azadi March’,in Islamabad, demandingKhan’s resignation,accusing him of “rig-ging” the 2018 generalelections. Opposition par-ties, including PakistanMuslim League-Nawazand Pakistan PeoplesParty have also throwntheir weight behind theanti-government rally.

Two different negotiat-ing teams of the govern-ment reached out to theJUI-F in Islamabad.

A delegation led by for-mer prime ministerChaudhry Shujaat Hus-sain met the cleric, hours

after the government’snegotiating team led bydefence minister, PervaizKhattak, held talks withthe Rehbar Committeeheaded by JUI-F leader,Akram Khan Durrani,and discussed theirdemands, it said.

However, neither of thesides showed any sign ofconceding any ground,the report said. Khattakand the Rahbar Commi-ttee will resume talks.Rehman asked his sup-porters to continue theiranti-government protestwith perseverance andcourage, after the 48-hourdeadline set by him forPM Khan’s resignationexpired. — PTI

Iran uranium move worries EUTehran, Nov. 5: PresidentHassan Rouhani said onTuesday that Iran wouldresume uranium enrich-ment at an undergroundplant south of Tehran inits latest step back from atroubled 2015 agreementwith major powers.

The suspension of allenrichment at the Fordowplant in the mountainsnear the Shiite holy city ofQom was one of therestrictions on its nuclearactivities that Iran accept-ed in return for the liftingof international sanc-tions.

But Washington’s aban-

donment of the deal inMay last year followed byits re-imposition of crip-pling sanctions promptedIran to begin a phased sus-pension of its own com-mitments in May this year.

Rouhani recalled thatunder the terms of theagreement Iran hadretained more than 1,000centrifuges at the plantwhich had been runningempty since it went intoeffect.

“Starting from tomor-row (Wednesday), we willbegin injecting (uraniumhexafluoride) gas atFordo,” Rouhani said.

Iran said the wholeprocess would be carriedout transparently, wit-nessed by inspectors fromthe UN nuclear watchdog,the International AtomicEnergy Agency.

The move is the fourthannounced by Iran since itbegan responding toWashington’s abandon-ment of its commitments.

Iran has repeatedlywarned the remainingparties to the deal —Britain, China, France,Germany and Russia —that the agreement canonly be rescued if theyhelp it circumvent USsanctions.

Meanwhile, theEuropean Union voicedconcern at Iran’sannouncement that itwould resume uraniumenrichment. — AP

The movementto oust the

prime minister “willcontinue to moveahead and will neverbe on the back foot.”

– MAULANA REHMAN, Pakistan cleric

First transcript of Trump impeachment provides interesting insights into inquiry

U.S. PULLING OUT OF PARISCLIMATE DEAL

Mike Pompeo

Hassan Rouhani

Scribe sues Trump for defamationWashington, Nov. 5: Awoman who accusesDonald Trump of rapingher more than 23 years agoin a New York departmentstore sued the US presi-dent over statements hemade in June denying thatthe attack occurred andcriticising her for comingforward.

E. Jean Carroll, a long-time Elle magazine advicecolumnist, said in a com-plaint filed in a New Yorkstate court in Manhattanthat Trump lied aboutattacking her, and“smeared integrity, hon-esty, and dignity” by con-cocting a “swarm of relat-ed lies” to explain why shewould make the incidentup.

White House PressSecretary, StephanieGrisham, said that “thelawsuit is frivolous andthe story is a fraud — just

like the author.”Carroll’s account of the

alleged rape at BergdorfGoodman on Fifth Avenue,which she said occurredbetween the autumn of1995 and spring of 1996,had been published in NewYork magazine in June,

excerpted from her mem-oir released the nextmonth.

After the account waspublished, Trump madestatements that he did notrape Carroll and hadnever met her. He said shewas ‘totally lying’ as partof an effort to boost booksales. “I’ll say it with greatrespect: Number one, she’snot my type. Number two,it never happened. It neverhappened, OK?” he toldThe Hill newspaper.

In her complaint, Carrollsaid the attack lasted twoto three minutes, beforeshe ran out of the dressingroom and onto FifthAvenue. Carroll said in thelawsuit she soon confidedin two friends, author LisaBirnbach and formerWCBS news anchor, CarolMartin, about the allegedattack, but did not reportTrump to authorities

because she feared retri-bution.

She said she went publicafter accounts in 2017 ofalleged sexual misconductby Hollywood producerHarvey Weinstein, whichhe has denied, spawnedthe #MeToo movement.

“No person in this coun-try should be above thelaw — including thePresident,” Carroll said ina statement provided byher lawyers.

Trump has denied accu-sations by more than onedozen women who said hemade unwanted sexualadvances against themyears before he enteredpolitics. He also faces adefamation lawsuit bySummer Zervos, whoclaimed he kissed heragainst her will in 2007 inNew York and later gropedher at a Beverly Hillshotel. — Reuters

XI MEETS LAMOVER PROTESTSIN HONG KONGHong Kong. Nov. 5:Chinese President XiJinping’s surprise meet-ing with Hong Kongleader, Carrie Lam, wasa ‘vote of confidence’ inher government’s abilityto tackle five months ofa n t i - g o v e r n m e n tprotests that haverocked the semi-autonomous Chineseterritory, a senior offi-cial said on Tuesday.

Xi met Lam on the side-lines of a trade event inShanghai amid signalsfrom China’s centralgovernment that it maytighten its grip on HongKong to quell the unrestthat has at times chal-lenged Chinese rule.

When asked if themeeting reflected Xi’sworry about Lam’s han-dling of the unrest,Hong Kong ChiefSecretary, MatthewCheung, said: “Thereverse is true.”

“The very fact that heis so busy, but he foundtime to meet, really is avote of confidence inourselves” and under-lined the importancethat Beijing attaches toHong Kong, Cheungsaid.

Xi “has a high degreeof confidence in thechief executive and alsocertainly the work of thepresent government andthe political team, so allthese are pretty reassur-ing to us,” he added.

— AP

E. Jean Carroll

Flirting with danger

New York, Nov. 5:Workplace couples areoften romanticised —think Bill and MelindaGates or Michelle andBarack Obama. But whenthe relationship involvestwo people with unequalpower, it can also befraught with peril, espe-cially in the #MeToo era.

McDonald’s CEO, SteveEasterbrook, is only thelatest chief executive to beousted over a consensualrelationship with anemployee. Increasingly, UScompanies are adoptingpolicies addressing work-place romances, a trend

that began well before the#MeToo movement galva-nized a national conversa-tion surrounding sexualmisconduct.

Addressing workplaceromance can be complicat-ed, but many companiesremove any grey areas byforbidding managers,especially C-suite execu-tives, from having rela-tionships with subordi-nates given the potentialfor favouritism or lawsuitsif the relationship sours.

There are questionsabout whether consent istruly possible when thepower imbalance is espe-

cially great. Many womenwho have come forward toshare their #MeToo sto-ries have said they fearedthe consequences of say-ing no to a powerful per-son who could influence

their careers. “That powerdifference can create adynamic where the rela-tionship can never trulybe consensual,” saidDebra Katz, a founderpartner of the law firm

Katz Marshall & Bankswho has representedwomen in several promi-nent sexual harassmentcases. “The #MeToo move-ment has shown howquickly it can go from con-sensual in the beginningto a huge problem whenthe relationship goesawry.”

Easterbrook’s departurecomes as McDonald’s stepsup its efforts to stop sexualharassment after dozens ofemployee complaints.

Over the last three years,more than 50 McDonald’semployees have filed casesalleging sexual harass-

ment with the US EqualEmployment OpportunityCommission or in statecourts, according to Fightfor $15, a labour advocacygroup. The hamburgerchain unveiled a pro-gramme to teach its8,50,000 US employees howto recognise and reportharassment and bullying.Franchisees aren’t req-uired to offer the training,but the company expectsthem to provide it.

McDonald’s said Easter-brook violated companypolicy forbidding man-agers from having roman-tic relationships with

direct or indirect subordi-nates. In an email toemployees, Easterbrooksaid the relationship was amistake and he agreed “itis time for me to move on.”He was replaced by ChrisKempczinski, who recent-ly served as president ofMcDonald’s USA.

Easterbrook followed inthe footsteps of Intel ChiefExecutive, BrianKrzanich, who resignedlast year after the chip-maker found he engagedin a relationship that, vio-lated a ‘non-fraternisation’policy that applies to allmanagers. — AP

■ Company policy forbids managers from having romantic relationships with subordinatesWRONG | MOVE

As McD CEO learnt, office romance is perilous

SCIENTISTS TO STUDY FRENCHWINE AGEING AT SPACE STATIONCape Canaveral, Nov. 5:A dozen bottles of fineFrench wine arrived atthe space station, not forthe astronauts, but forscience.

The red Bordeaux winewill age for a year upthere before returning toearth. Researchers willstudy how weightless-ness and space radiationaffect the ageing process.The goal is to developnew flavours and proper-ties for the food industry.

The bottles flew up

aboard a NorthropGrumman capsule thatlaunched from Virginiaand arrived at the inter-national space station.Each bottle was packedin a metal canister to pre-vent breakage.

Wine-making uses bothyeast and bacteria, andinvolves chemical pro-cesses, making wine ide-al for space study, saidUniversity of Erlangen-Nuremberg’s MichaelLebert, the experiment’sscientific director. — AP

AT THE TIME,some conservativeswere saying thatYovanovitch hadbeen badmouthingTrump in Ukraine,which she emphati-cally denied.

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Genuine dataAdobe, Twitter, and The New York Times have announceda new system for adding attribution to photos, which provides for verifying authenticity online

SHORT TAKES

GOOGLERS CALLFOR CLIMATE

CHANGE ACTIONSan Fransico, Nov. 5: Googleemployees are demanding thecompany issue a climate planthat commits it to zero emis-sions by 2030.

An online petition bears sig-natures from more than athousand Google employees. Italso calls on Google to declinecontracts that would supportthe extraction of fossil fuelsand to avoid collaboratingwith organisations involvedwith the oppression ofrefugees.

Amazon and Microsoftemployees have similarlycalled on their employers totake steps for climate changeaction. Workers from bothcompanies joined climatemarches in September.

Google employees have beenespecially vocal in issuingdemands and calling forchange within the company.Employees have protested sex-ual misconduct and forcedarbitration practices withinthe company and Google’streatment of contract work-ers. — AP

PHOTOSHOPRELEASES AI

SELECTION TOOLWashington, Nov. 5: The lat-est Photoshop Creative Cloudupdate is expected to haveexciting new features. Adobeis likely to release a new sub-ject selection tool which nowtakes the top spot under themagic wand tool, lets you draga box around an object, andPhotoshop will automaticallycreate a selection around theborders of the object it thinksyou're highlighting.

The tool will be of great helpas users won't have to spendtime mousing around theedges of an object.

Another highlight of the lat-est update is that the homescreen will get faster.

The gradients and pre-setsinterface wears a completelynew look, with dozens of newpre-set gradients. The app alsosupports live previews of pre-sets, which let you quicklyapply a number of coloradjustments to a photo.

Photoshop for iPad is finallyreleased. The tablet app is farfrom complete but it includesmany of the core features onwhich users rely.

The iPad app also introducescloud PSD files, which syncbetween the tablet and desk-top. This updated version ofPhotoshop includes supportfor those too. Users can sync aPSD file between multipledesktops in the same CreativeCloud account, making work-ing across multiple devicessimpler. — Agencies

FACEBOOKLAUNCHES NEWCOMPANY LOGO

Washington, Nov. 5: FacebookInc unveiled a new logo for thecompany to distinguish itfrom its apps.

The social media companysaid it would start using thenew brand within its productsand marketing materials andwould update the Facebookfor Business website over thecoming weeks.

In June, the company beganincluding ‘from Facebook’within its apps that includesMessenger, Instagram andWhatsApp. — Reuters

Bengaluru, Nov. 5: By2024, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) willidentify online shoppingas an addictive disorder, asmillions abuse digitalcommerce and encounterfinancial stress, predictsresearch firm Gartner.

Consumer spending viadigital commerce plat-forms will continue togrow over 10 per cent yearafter year through 2022,according to its top strate-gic predictions for 2020and beyond.

The ease of online shop-ping will cause financialstress for millions of peo-ple, as online retailersincreasingly use artificialintelligence (AI) and per-sonalisation to effectively

target consumers andprompt them to spend dis-cretionary income thatthey do not have, it said.

The resulting debt andpersonal bankruptcieswill cause depression andother health concernscaused by stress, which iscapturing the attention ofthe WHO, Gartner said.

By 2023, the number ofpeople with disabilitiesemployed will triple due toAI and emerging technolo-gies, reducing barriers toaccess, Gartner predicted.

“People with disabilitiesconstitute an untappedpool of critically skilledtalent,” said distinguishedvice-president andGartner Fellow, DarylPlummer.

“AI, augmented reality(AR), virtual reality (VR)and other emerging tech-nologies have made workmore accessible foremployees with disabili-ties. For example, select

restaurants are starting topilot AI robotics technolo-gy that enables paralysedemployees to controlrobotic waiters remotely,”he said.

By 2024, AI identification

of emotions will influencemore than half of theonline advertisements yousee.

Artificial emotionalintelligence (AEI) is thenext frontier for AI devel-

opment, especially forcompanies hoping todetect emotions in order toinfluence buying deci-sions. By 2025, 50 per centof people with a smart-phone but without a bankaccount will use a mobile-accessible cryptocurrencyaccount, and by 2023, aself-regulating associationfor oversight of AI andmachine learning design-ers will be established inat least four of the G7countries, Gartner said.

By 2023, up to 30 per centof world news and videocontent will be authenti-cated as real byblockchain, counteringdeep fake technology.

By 2023, individual activ-ities will be tracked digi-

tally by an ‘Internet ofBehaviour’ to influencebenefit and service eligi-bility for 40 per cent ofpeople worldwide.

Through facial recogni-tion, location tracking andbig data, organisations arestarting to monitor indi-vidual behaviour and linkthat behavior to other digi-tal actions, like buying atrain ticket, the firm said.

The Internet of Things(IoT), where physicalthings are directed to do acertain thing based on aset of observed operatingparameters relative to adesired set of operatingparameters, is nowbeing extended to people,known as the Internet ofBehaviour (IoB). — PTI

Online shopping may be an addictive disorderEase of online shopping will cause financial stress for millions of people, suggests researchDIGITAL | ABUSE

Mumbai, Nov. 5: Colu-mbia Global Centres,Mumbai announces thelaunch of the Urban Wo-rks Innovation Challenge2019-2020 for transform-ing India’s cities into safeand sustainable placesthrough technical innova-tion.

The challenge, which ispart of a three-year pro-gram the inaugurated in2018 and supported by theRMZ Foundation, givesyoung innovators a glob-ally competitive opportu-nity to receive mentor-ship from faculty andalumni of ColumbiaUniversity’s prestigiousFu Foundation School ofEngineering and AppliedScience as well as fromdistinguished entrepre-neurs and academics inIndia.

Winning teams can alsoavail of unrestricted capi-tal from a total annualfund of `1.2 crores, andpeer networks and infra-structural support from atech-first collaborativeworkspace at The CoWrksFoundry for a six-monthperiod.

Patricia J. Culligan, pro-fessor of civil engineer-ing at ColumbiaUniversity, noted, “Thereis a huge opportunity in

this country to harnessthe imagination, invigor-ation, and forward-look-ing vision of the youth inIndia to think about howIndian cities can be at thefoundation of a globaleconomy that advanceshuman development.”

Almost 600 millionIndians will live in citiesby 2030. Rapid urbanisa-tion poses serious envi-ronmental and societalchallenges, includingdegrading air quality, ris-ing plastic waste, hin-dered mobility, mentalhealth problems, andreduced safety forwomen.

In this evolving land-scape, there is growingrecognition that the coun-try’s urban workforcerequires workplaces andcity-wide ecosystems to become more produc-tive, innovative, andinclusive.

According to Dr. RavinaAggarwal, Director ofColumbia’s MumbaiCentre, solutions makinguse of contemporarytechnology can play acritical role in addressingthese needs, making ourcities and work environ-ments sustainable andsafe for all.

— PTI

Samsung US CPUR&D to close downSeoul, Nov. 5: SamsungElectronics Co. Ltd. saidon Tuesday that it willshut down a CPUresearch division at oneof its US facilities, a movethat analysts saiddimmed prospects for thetech giant’s Exynos-branded mobile chips.

Exynos mobile proces-sor chips are considered ahallmark of the SouthKorean firm’s attempts toreduce its reliance onmemory chips andincrease sales of logicchips used to powermobile devices andautonomous vehicles.

But the proprietarychips, found in Samsung’sflagship Galaxy seriessmartphones and compet-ing against QualcommInc’s (QCOM.O) marqueemobile processors, havestruggled to find externalcustomers.

The decision to shutdown the division, whichwill make some 300 jobsredundant, point to chal-lenges Samsung faces inpromoting Exynos chips,analysts said.

“(Exynos) chips are notreally used anywhere elseand continue to loseground in the mobileprocessor market, raisingconcerns about the com-pany’s competitiveness,”said Park Sung-soon, ananalyst at CapeInvestment & Securities.

The move has led tospeculation that Samsungwill use core designs fromARM or semi-customdesigns. Park added thatSamsung is not likely togive up the Exynos busi-ness entirely.

Samsung said it willcontinue to develop andproduce Exynos chips

regardless of the termi-nation of CPU (centralprocessing unit) coreprojects, and some of the300 affected employeescould be relocated to dif-ferent projects.

“Based upon a thoroughassessment of our SystemLSI business and the needto stay competitive in theglobal market, Samsunghas decided to transitionpart of our US-based R&Dteams,” it said, referringto its logic chip business.

Affected employees willmostly come from itsAustin R&D Centre,which had been research-ing CPU core since 2010,while a small number ofemployees at its CPU proj-ect team at AdvancedComputing Lab in SanJose will be let go or relo-cated to other divisions, acompany spokeswomansaid.

“Core research broughtless value than expectedto Samsung’s entire logicchip business,” said asource with direct knowl-edge of the matter whowas not authorised tospeak to the media.

The termination of itsCPU core projects comesafter Samsung, theworld’s largest memorychipmaker, said in Aprilthat it plans to invest $116billion in logic chipsthrough 2030. — Reuters

SoftBank to pay a pricefor betting on startupsTokyo, Nov. 5: SoftBankGroup Corp and itsfounder, Masayoshi Son,face a day of reckoningwhen the investment jug-gernaut is likely to postweak quarterly results,hit by hefty falls in thevaluation of some of itsbiggest tech bets.

SoftBank has comeunder renewed investorscrutiny after it wasforced to bail out one ofits best known portfoliocompanies — the cash-burning, office-sharingfirm WeWork — for $10billion.

That has deepened con-cern about Son’s strategyof pouring billions of dol-lars into unproven,money-losing startups at atime it is getting squeezedby a sell-off in most of itslisted bets.

Uber Technologies Inc.posted a wide quarterlyloss, sending its sharessliding in after-hourstrading. SoftBank’s $100billion Vision Fund has a$7.7 billion investment inthe US ride-hailing firm.

SoftBank’s quarterlyresults come at a crucialtime for Son, when he istrying to raise capital fora successor to the SaudiArabia-backed Vision

Fund. SoftBank is expect-ed to post an operatingloss of 48 billion yen ($442million) for the July-September quarter onWednesday, according tothe average forecast offour analyst estimatescompiled by Refinitiv.

That would be its firstquarterly loss in 14 years,Refinitiv data shows, andcompares with an operat-ing profit of 706 billionyen a year earlier.

SoftBank has deliveredmultiple quarters of sec-tor-beating gains, drivenby internal revaluationsof tech bets by the VisionFund, which had its first

major close in May 2017.Analysts estimates vary

widely, in part becauseSoftBank provides littledetail on how it accountsfor those gains or losseson its books.

A further lack of disclo-sure over valuationswould “risk losing thetrust of investors,” saidAmir Anvarzadeh, marketstrategist at AsymmetricAdvisors.

Given its falling shareprice — down around 30%since July — the conglom-erate may unveil a sharebuyback of around 500 bil-lion yen to try and stemthe slide, Anvarzadehsaid. SoftBank announceda 600 billion yen buybackin February.

Investors will be lookingclosely at how SoftBankaccounts for the value ofits stake in WeWork, intowhich it has poured $13billion to take a majoritystake. WeWork was valuedby SoftBank as high as $47billion as recently asJanuary but is currentlyvalued at just $8 billion.

The Japanese companyis expected to announce awritedown of at least $5billion due to a slump inthe values of WeWork andothers. — Reuters

Columbia launchesurban works event

San Francisco, Nov. 5:Researchers at theUniversity of Michigan andJapan’s University ofElectro-Communicationshave discovered they canuse lasers to silently ‘speak’to any computer thatreceives voice commands,which included smart-phones, smart speakers likeAmazon Echo, and GoogleHome, and Facebook’sPortal video chat devices,according to media reports.Revealing results of a shock-ing experiment, theresearchers noted it waspossible to make micro-phones respond to light as ifit were sound, which essen-tially means that anythingthat acts on sound com-mands will act on light com-mands.

Cybersecurity researcher,Takeshi Sugawara, visitingfrom the Tokyo-basedUniversity of Electro-

Communications, alongwith Kevin Fuand, fromUniversity of Michigan havefound a spy trick lets themsend light commands fromhundreds of feet away; theycan open garages, makeonline purchases, and causeall manner of mischief ormalevolence.

The attack can easily passthrough a window, when thedevice’s owner isn’t home tonotice a telltale flashingspeck of light or the targetdevice’s responses, Wiredreported on Monday.

According to theresearchers, the experimentwas conducted on GoogleHome, Google Nest Cam IQ,multiple Amazon Echo,Echo Dot, and Echo Showdevices, Facebook’s PortalMini, the iPhone XR, and thesixth-generation iPad, andthe mentioned devices werefound to be vulnerable too.

— Agencies

Harvard researchers have developed a tiny robotic flier that uses soft, arti-ficial muscles to fly without getting damaged.

Lasers can hack Amazon Echo, Google Home Researchers observed that it was possible to make microphones respond to light as if it were sound

AMID RISING CONCERNS OVER DATA SECURITY AND USAGE OFPERSONAL DATA BY TECH COMPANIES, THE NEWS OF GOOGLE’SACQUISITION OF FITBIT HAS BECOME A CAUSE OF WORRY FORUSERS OF THE FITNESS TRACKING DEVICE.

FITBIT ACQUISITION WORRIES USERS

However, Google is making all efforts toallay fears of data misuse even as scores ofFitbit users are planning to move to AppleWatch, which comes across as one of themost reliable products in the health moni-toring range.

Experts say it is highly advisable to deleteFitbit accounts to erase their data beforemoving on to another health tracker.

It is always a good idea to downloadexisting data before deleting accounts. The‘Data Export’ option in Settings on the Fitbitdesktop dashboard allows users to down-load fitness data.

We will neversell personal

information toanyone. Fitbit healthand wellness datawill not be used forGoogle ads. And wewill give Fitbit usersthe choice to review,move, or delete theirdata

RICK OSTERLOH,Google’s senior V-P,

devices & services

TINY ROBOT CAN FLY WITHOUT DAMAGE

■ ■ SOFTBANK is setto book a massivewritedown onWeWork, Uber

■ ■ Masayoshi Son’sfortune is down 30%from July to about$13.8 billion

■ ■ Investors are wondering if WeWorkis just the tip of the iceberg forSoftBank’s trouble

A team ofengineers fromMIT and FordMotor Companyhave created atechnique thatallows robots tonavigate viaclues, ratherthan maps.

The technique resolves the challenge in large-scalemonitoring of robots amid privacy concerns.

The clues address small details like navigating therobots through directions within a house, like frontdoor and living room.

Even if a robot is delivering a package to anenvironment it's never been to, there might be cluesthat will be the same as other places it's seen, MIT’sresearchers say.

The robot can smack into walls, crash-landor even collide with a fellow flier withoutgetting hurt.

Soft-muscle fliers have existed before, butthis is the first with enough power densityand control to hover — that is, it's not justflying wildly.

Harvard wants to use therobots for search-and-rescue missions, where arobot might have tonavigate dangerous rubblelooking for survivors.

ROBOTS TO NAVIGATE USING CLUES

THE MOVE, analysts say, dimsprospects for thetech giant’s Exynos-brandedmobile chips

■ ■ THE resulting debt andpersonal bankruptcies willcause depression and otherhealth concerns caused bystress, which is capturing theattention of the WHO

■ ■ Consumer spending viadigital commerce platformswill continue to grow over 10 per cent year after year through 2022

Page 12: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADA

Goyal says India hasn’t got credible assurance on mkt access, barriers

FC BUREAUNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal saidon Tuesday hinted thatIndia could re-consider itsdecision to keep off theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership(RCEP) trade deal in thefuture if its demands are'suitably accommodated.''

Briefing the press hereabout India's participationin the three-day trade talksin Bangkok that concludedon Monday, Goyal said, "Atthe moment, our decisionto not join (the RCEP) isfinal. However, in interna-tional negotiations, younever close the door. Ifother countries suitablyaccommodate ourdemands, then we will con-sider it in consultationwith the stakeholders."

He said India was firm onits stand in the RCEP nego-tiations not to join theChina-led mega trade dealin the national interest.

The minister also saidIndia did not receive anycredible assurance on mar-ket access and non-tariffbarriers.

Goyal said PrimeMinister Narendra Moditook a tough stand to pro-tect the interest of thedairy sector, farmers anddomestic industry.

The minister dismissedapprehensions that keep-ing off the RCEP wouldjeopardise the country'sgrowth prospects. He saidthe previous ManmohanSingh government had ini-tiated the discussions formaking India a part of theRCEP grouping, ignoringthe fact that the country

had huge trade deficit withthe member nations.

The trade deficit with theRCEP grouping soaredfrom $7 billion in 2004 to$78 billion in 2014.

He also said the Modi gov-ernment was reviewingvarious free trade agree-ments (FTAs) signed by theUPA government withSouth Korea and the Aseanwith a view to safeguardthe interest of nation andpave the way for makingIndia a $5-trillion economy.

The government's deci-sion to skip the mega tradedeal has been lauded byfarmers and businesses.

In a tweet late Monday,the country's largest dairyproducer, Amul, applaudedModi's "exemplary leader-ship and support" to dairyfarmers, who would havebeen exposed to more com-petition under the RCEP.

"Your vision of support-ing their livelihood willhelp (in) doubling theirincomes and make Indiastronger," it said.

Praveen Khandelwal,Secretary General of the

Confederation of All IndiaTraders (Cait), said a dealwould have allowedChinese manufacturers tooverwhelm "the Indianmarket with Made InChina products at very lowprices... Thereby creating adisequilibrium".

B. M. Singh, Convenor ofthe All-India KisanSangharsh CoordinationCommittee, said the rejec-tion of the deal was "a hugevictory for farmers",according to an AFPreport.

"We should not go for anopen agreement like theRCEP simply because wecan't compete with otherbig countries," Singh said.

"It's like throwing some-one who is 25 KG into a box-ing ring and asking him tocompete with an opponentweighing 100 KG."

Some small businessowners welcomed the movebut said it would not beenough to sustain theirindustries or make themcompetitive.

Experts were divided onModi's decision, with some

warning that New Delhimay lose out as it tries tobecome a more globallycompetitive economy.

"In an era in which manu-facturing requires the abil-ity to become more -- notless -- integrated into globalsupply chains, this deci-sion appears for themoment to make it harderto boost manufacturing inIndia," Council on ForeignRelations' senior fellowAlyssa Ayres wrote.

Others cautioned thatIndia was not ready to copewith the influx of cheaperproducts amid the down-turn.

"India's economy is cur-rently reeling under somestress and it wouldn't havebeen the right time to takea decision which possiblycould have had a largeimpact on various sectorsof the economy," DripCapital Co-FounderPushkar Mukewar said.

FALAKNAAZ SYEDMUMBAI, NOV. 5

The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) on Tuesdayraised the withdrawallimit for account hold-ers of crisis-hit Punjaband Maharashtra Co-Operative Bank (PMCBank) to Rs 50,000 fromthe earlier limit of Rs40,000. With the higherlimit, more than 78 percent of the depositors ofthe bank will be able towithdraw their entireaccount balance, theRBI said in a statement.

“The RBI after review-ing the bank’s liquidityposition and its abilityto pay its depositors hasdecided to furtherenhance the limit forwithdrawal to Rs 50,000inclusive of Rs 40,000allowed earlier,” the RBIsaid in a statement.

The RBI has alsoallowed PMC Bankaccount holders to with-draw money from thebank's own ATMs with-in the prescribed limitof Rs 50,000. “This isexpected to ease theprocess of with-drawals,” RBI added.

This is the fourth timethat the regulator hasincreased the withdraw-al limits since itclamped down on thebank on September 23and capped withdrawallimit at Rs 1,000 per cus-tomer for six months.

Meanwhile, angryPMC Bank accountholders held a dharnaoutside the centralbank’s office at BandraKurla Complex inMumbai asking it toapprise them on a dailybasis on the develop-ments taking place inthe PMC Bank case.

RAGINI SAXENAMUMBAI, NOV. 5

India won’t back downfrom collecting $13 billionof past dues from debt-laden telecom carriersbecause the industry is notunder stress, a govern-ment official with knowl-edge of the matter said, amove that could deepenBharti Airtel andVodafone Idea’s financialwoes.

India expects the carriersto pay up within 90 days asordered by the SupremeCourt last month, the offi-cial said, asking not tobe identified, as thediscussions areprivate. A panelof top bureau-crats couldlook atdeferred pay-ment plan forsome of the dues,the person said.

The government’sstand about the health ofthe industry mirrors com-ments made by billionaireMukesh Ambani’sReliance Jio Infocomm,which has said it has a“divergent view” from itsrivals. High fees, frequentflip-flops and endless taxdemands over the yearshave driven most opera-tors aground. From over 10operators few years ago,India has just three non-state players left with twoof them saddled with amountain of debt.

Vodafone Group Plc’sIndian venture has $14 bil-lion worth of obligations,while Bharti Airtel is ratedjunk by Moody’s InvestorsService. “All telecom oper-ators have asked for requi-site help in reducing” thefinancial stress, VodafoneIdea said last month.

The “extraordinary sce-nario” being shown is“just a machination to

extract relief,” RelianceJio said in a letter to theminister of communica-tions on October 31.

In the latest instance, thecourt ordered operators topay dues using a disputedmethod for calculating theannual adjusted gross rev-enue, a share of which ispaid as license and spec-trum fees. It upheld thegovernment’s method thatincludes income from non-telecom businesses likedividend from income andcapital gains from the saleof assets while rejecting aplea to exclude them.

Still, the official saidthe government is

working on aplan to reducethe licence feeand providinga two-yearmoratorium onpending spec-

trum payments.The proposal will

be sent to theFinance Ministry before itis taken up by the Cabinet,the official said, addingthat this may happen inthe current financial year.

The Telecom Ministryspokesman didn’t respondto requests for a comment.

A panel of officials isexamining feasibility ofdeferring payment for air-waves that are due byMarch 2021 and March2022 as demanded by com-panies, a government offi-cial told reporters lastweek. It will also considerthe demand for reductionin spectrum usage leviesand the Universal ServiceObligation Fund charge.

On the introduction of5G airwaves, the officialsaid there will be no delayin auction, which is duethis financial year, andthat the government isn’tpresuming the telecom sec-tor is under stress.

—Bloomberg

Over 1,300start ups, 7unicornsadded in2019

PMC Bank:Withdrawallimit raisedto 50,000

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, NOV. 5

Annual gold demand islikely to fall to 2016 levelsas the consumption in Q3dipped by 32 per cent. TheWorld Gold Council hasrevised down its demandprojection for the year byaround 100 tonnes.

At the end of June quar-ter, WGC had projected theannual demand to be in therange of 750 to 850 tonnes.However, by Q3 the opti-mism diminished andWGC has brought the pro-jection down to the rangeof 700-750 tonnes.

In Q3, the demand wasdown by 32 per cent at 123.9tonnes and with this the

total demand for the threequarters of 2019 stood at498 tonnes. “Even if youpresume the Q4 demand tobe around last year levelsof 236 tonnes, the totaldemand would be in thevicinity of 735 tonnes,’ saidSomasundaram P.R., MD,India, World Gold Council.

“Our full year golddemand estimate is 700-750tonnes, although more like-ly at the lower end of therange. This will be a littleabove the 2016 level, whichfaced disruptions due tojewellers’ strikes, the intro-duction of PAN anddemonetisation,” he said.

According to him, Q3demand weakened due toweak consumer sentiment

and high prices. Theincrease in custom duty inthe July budget from 10 percent to 12.5 per cent alsoadded to the prices.

Rally in gold prices madecustomers postpone theirpurchases. Gold pricesbreached the Rs 35,000/10glevel in mid-July and con-tinued to climb to Rs38,795/10g by the end ofAugust. It further movedabove Rs 39,000 levels inSeptember. Q3 demanddrop this year has been sig-nificant, making it one ofthe lowest third quarterssince 2005. Overall jew-ellery demand fell by 32 percent to 101.6 tonnes andbars and coins by 35 percent to 22.3 tonnes.

Annual gold demand set to dipMICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, NOV. 5

With its single productcalled Kia Seltos, a com-pact SUV, the new entrantKia Motors has become thefifth largest car maker in afiercely competitive carmarket in the country. Itsold 12,850 cars last month.

The first biggest carmaker by sakes is MarutiSuzuki which sold 1,39,121units last month, followedby Hyundai 50,010 units,Mahindra 18,460 units andTata Motors 13,169 units.

With robust sales KiaSeltos is poised to takecompeition to MarutiVitara Brezza and theHyundai Venue, the top

two SUVs in the best-sell-ers’ list.

What is helping the BS VI-ready Kia Seltosmake headway in the com-petitive SUV market is itsvery aggressive pricing.

The Korean carmaker'spricing strategy for all of16 variants covers virtuallyevery price point and startsfrom Rs 9.69 lakh for theentry level petrol modeland goes up to Rs 15.99 lakhfor the diesel.

With this, it takes onrivals like the HyundaiCreta, MG Hector, NissanKicks, Mahindra XUV500and the Renault Captur inIndia.

Now to meet the growingdemand, Kia Motor has

started the second shift toramp up production at itsfactory in Anantapur inAndhra Pradesh. It has aninstalled production capac-ity of 3 lakh units annually.

The world's 8th largestKorean car maker sold12,850 cars last month butaveraged 8,880 units amonth since August in aprolonged slowing market.

Cumulative sales for theAugust-October 2019 periodadd up to 26,640 units,which constitutes a month-ly average of 8,880 units.

"There is a great demandfor our single productcalled Kia Seltos,” saidManohar Bhat, Head,Marketing and Sales at KiaMotors India.

Kia moves to 5th slot

ANIRBAN NAGNOV. 5

India’s main servicesindex signaled a contrac-tion for a second straightmonth, the weakest stretchsince 2017, amid a pro-longed economic slow-down.

The IHS Markit IndiaServices Index rose to 49.2in October from 48.7 inSeptember, but still belowthe 50 reading that indi-cates a contraction. Theindustry accounts formore than half of thenation’s gross domesticproduct. The compositePMI fell to 49.6 from 49.8,weighed by slowing facto-ry output.

“Anecdotal evidencehighlighted subdueddemand conditions, com-petitive pressures and afragile economic situa-tion,” IHS Markit econo-mists led by Pollyanna deLima said in a statement.

The weak reading inOctober belies any hopefor signs of recovery inIndia after high-frequencyindicators in Q2 suggesteda continued lack of growthmomentum.

“It’s somewhat worryingto see the Indian servicesector stuck in contrac-tion, as firms react tomuted demand by lower-ing business activity,” saidLima, Principal Economistat IHS Markit. “Perhaps

even more concerning wasthe downward revision tofuture expectations, giventhe possible detrimentalimpact of subdued busi-ness confidence on invest-ment and job.”

—Bloomberg

Govt may not waive$13 bn telecom dues

Services index contracts in Oct. Mumbai, Nov. 5: FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitha-raman on Tuesday said thegovernment and RBI areworking to resolve theissues being faced by realtysector.

Admitting that realty sec-tor has been left out of thebooster measures, she saidthe sector has a spillovereffect on many sectors,especially the core sector.

"The government is verykeen and is working very

clearly together with theRBI to see how best we can,where necessary, tweak theexisting norms to help thepeople who are affected inthe realty sector," she saidat an NSE event.

After the July budget, thegovernment has rolledback many of the tax meas-ures and also drasticallycut corporate tax to 22 percent. Admitting that themeasures have not helpedrevive the sentiment in the

real estate, she said "oneparticular sector which Ihave not touched, butwhich has a lot of positiveimpact and also can effectan impact for the stockmarket, is the real estatesector."

"There are many alterna-tive funds which are nowapproaching us saying wewould like to do somethingwith you all so long as thereis some supporting mecha-nism,” she said. —PTI

FM hints at realty booster

FIONA MACDONALD &LAYAN ODEHNOV. 5

Qatar Airways is planninga code-share partnershipwith IndiGo, a move thatwill funnel more trafficfrom the fast-growingIndian air-travel market tothe Gulf carrier’s net-work.

“It is not something aboutbuying a stake, it’s com-mercial,” Chief ExecutiveOfficer Akbar Al Baker

said in an interview inKuwait on Tuesday, refer-ring to an announcementplanned for Nov. 7.

Qatar Airways has beenlooking to expand in thefast-growing Indian mar-ket, yet plans to start a newcarrier there have beenfrustrated over rules sur-rounding foreign owner-ship. Instead, the airlinehas asked local authoritiesto temporarily allow it toadd more seats on high-vol-ume routes to fill the gap

left by Jet Airways, a part-ner of rival EtihadAirways, which went bustin April.

Indigo has emerged as thebiggest Indian airline fol-lowing the collapse of JetAirways.

Qatar Airways couldbreak even within the nexttwo years, the CEO said,even after full-year lossesincreased by near ten-foldon higher fuel costs and aweaker regional economy.

—Bloomberg

Qatar Air teams up with IndiGo

quickINDICATORS %Sensex 40,248.23 -0.13Nifty 50 11,917.20 -0.20S&P 500 3,073.84 -0.14Dollar ( 70.69 -0.11Pound Sterling ( ) 91.14 -0.05Euro ( 78.51 -0.32Gold (10gm)* ( ) 39,213▼101 -0.25Brent crude ($/bbl)* 62.91 +1.26IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.514 +0.665US 10-Yr T-bill yield 1.818 +1.678

* As of 9:30 pm IST

Sugar output is estimated tobe at a three-year low of 26million tonnes in the ongoingmarketing year on account ofpossible fall in cane acreage inMaharashtra and Karnataka aswell as diversion to ethanolmanufacturing, according toindustry body Isma. The outputprojected for current year islower by 21.5 per cent from33.16 mt achieved in 2018-19.

Around 2,500 contractualworkers at Honda Motorcycle &Scooter India's (HMSI) Manesarplant observed a tool-downstrike against retrenchment ofaround 400 contract workers.HMSI Employee Union leadersalleged that the company hasreduced production of thefacility by 50 per cent and is inthe process of retrenchingmore contractual workers.

The Ministry of Statistics andProgramme Implementationwill decide on a new base yearfor the GDP series in a fewmonths, a senior official said.The ministry is working tobring in a new series of nation-al accounts, which would resultin change in the existing baseyear of 2011-12. The ministry isconsidering 2017-18 as the newbase year.

Overleaf

Chhattisgarh State PowerGeneration Company ChairmanShailendra Shukla said thestate, which contributes 12-13%to the national power pool, istaking shape as a power hub.When the state came into exis-tence 19 years ago, the genera-tion capacity was mere 1360MW, which has now reached3424.7 MW. Shukla said surpluspower availability helped agri-cultural and industrial sectors.

Beijing, Nov. 5: Chinasaid on Tuesday that itwill follow the principle of"mutual understandingand accommodation" toresolve the outstandingissues raised by India fornot joining the Beijing-backed RCEP.

China also said it wouldwelcome India joining thedeal at an early date.

Chinese Foreign Mini-

stry Spokesman GengShuang told the mediathat China welcomesIndia. "The RCEP is open.We will follow the princi-ple of mutual understand-ing and accommodationto negotiate and resolvethose outstanding prob-lems raised by India andwe welcome an early join-ing by India," he said.

—PTI

Will resolve issues: ChinaISABEL REYNOLDS &EMI NOBUHIRONOV. 5

India's exit from RCEPtrade talks appeared toleave China and Japan atodds over whether topress ahead with theremaining members, orto try to find aworkaround that includesPrime Minister NarendraModi's government.

Japanese Trade Minis-ter Hiroshi Kajiyama saidon Tuesday that Tokyowould work toward a dealincluding India. Thiswould keep India withinthe RCEP framework andbe in line with PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe'spolicy of bolstering tieswith India to balanceBeijing's growing power.

"Our country wants toplay a leading role towardreaching an early agree-ment between all 16 coun-tries, including India,with the aim of signing itin 2020," said Kajiyama,

who wasn't present at thelatest negotiations inBangkok, told reportersin Tokyo.

India's exit from negoti-ations coincided with themost recent meeting ofofficials from the so-called Quad: Japan,Australia, the US andIndia, a security-focusedgrouping seen as a count-er to China that hasdrawn Beijing's ire. Thegroup was upgraded toministerial level inSeptember.

China has sought toaccelerate the RCEP dealas it faces slowing growthfrom a trade war with theUS. A China-led pushwould not necessarily sat-isfy the Japanese, whoinvited India to be a partof the negotiations.

"It's not desirable tohave an agreement thatsuits China's purposes,"former Japanese DefenceMinister Takeshi Iwayasaid in an interview.

—Bloomberg

Japan seeks to get India in

Mumbai, Nov. 5: Almostall domestic companiesare optimistic abouttheir growth next year,claims a report.Companies are buoyantabout the prospect ofentering new markets,getting high-quality sup-pliers and plans to investin technologies that willpave the way for newproducts and services,says an HSBC reportreleased on Tuesday.

The report also claimsthat nearly all of thosepolled—as much as 96percent—are expectinghigher growth next year,markedly higher thanglobal and Asian peers(79 per cent and 77 per

cent, respectively).The report, based on a

survey of business lead-ers from over 9,100 com-panies across 35 marketsglobally, gauges businesssentiment and growthprospects.

Over the next fiveyears, half of the compa-nies surveyed in thecountry are expectingsales growth of 15 percent or more. This opti-mism extends to exportprojections as well, withnearly 98 per cent ofthem with overseas oper-ations expect exports togrow over the next twoyears, higher than globalpeers (81 per cent).

— PTI

Firms see growth in 2020

Green shootsvisible incommercialvehicles

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WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADA

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, NOV. 5

VE Commercial Vehicles,India’s third big player, isupbeat with overall sales im-proving this festive season,saying that the green shootsin the market are visible.

“We have seen some uptickin sales this festival seasonand the green shoots in themarket are now showing,”Vinod Aggarwal, MD & CEOat VE Commercial Vehiclestold Financial Chronicle.

He said Q3 and Q4 of thisfiscal would be certainly bet-ter compared to the sales inthe Q1 and Q2.

VE Commercial is a jointventure between the VolvoGroup and Eicher Motors.

The slowdown blues hadhit hard the commercialvehicle industry, the barom-eter of economic activity inthe country, as a whole drag-ged down by Tata Motors,the top player, and AshokLeyland, the second biggest,which together commandabout 70 per cent of market.

Overall, sales of the com-mercial vehicles, the barom-eter of economic activity, inthe 5-tonne and above rangein the first six months ofthis fiscal had dropped 36per cent, while VE Comme-rcial Vehicles was better offat 30 per cent decline.

“We have performed betterthan the industry. With salesnow picking up from Sept-ember right from Navratri,

Dussera and Diwali, weexpect that Q3 and Q4 willbe better than Q1 and Q2,”Aggarwal pointed out.

According to him saleswould also pick up becauseof the pre-buying of the BS-IV vehicles would have to besold before the March 31,2020 deadline. These vehi-cles cannot be sold in Indiaonce the stringent BS-VIfuel emission norm kicks infrom April 1, 2020.

The major differencebetween the existing BS-IVand forthcoming BS-VInorm is the presence of sul-phur in the fuel. These emis-sion standards were set bythe government to keep acheck on the pollutant levelsemitted by vehicles that usecombustion engines.

The BS-VI compliant vehi-cles are expected to reducepollution in the air by 80-90per cent.

“We expect pre-buying ofBS-IV vehicles by fleet own-

ers and other to pick up asBS-VI compliant commer-cial vehicles will cost morein the range of 7-15 per centof the cost of the vehicledepending on the tonnagemodel,” Aggarwal said.

Also, there are other posi-tives in the market like inte-rest on loans going down, li-quidity being available andan excess monsoon rains byover 10 per cent whichwould lift up market senti-ment and boost sales even asfloods had impacted miningactivity at present, he said.

“Though transportation isidle at about 35 per cent, weexpect gradual pick up as e-commerce, FMCG, steel andcement industry was pick-ing up boosting sales ofcommercial vehicles,”Aggarwal said. However, carand two-wheeler transporta-tion was down by about 20per cent, he said.

Aggarwal said his compa-ny’s experience in supply-

ing Euro-VI engines manuf-actured at its factory in Pith-ampur, near Indore to theVolvo Group in Europe andAsia would come in handywhile producing BS-VI vehi-cles for the local market.

“As far as BS-VI is con-cerned, we are in an advan-tageous position comparedto rivals,” he said, addingthat the company had pro-duced and delivered morethan 1 lakh Euro-VI enginesto Volvo globally for morethan six years.

“We understand the nuan-ces of the BS-VI technology.We have a lot of learningand experience from theVolvo Group and those havebeen incorporated in our de-velopment for BS-VI inIndia,” Aggarwal said.

He said VE CommercialVehicles was the first com-pany in India to unveilIndia’s first BS-VI compli-ant CV range, in June thisyear, with the introductionof Pro2000 series trucks.

The company is alreadytesting these vehicles acrossthe country.

“Once the BS-VI fuel ismade available, we are allready to sell these vehicles,”Aggarwal said.

While this fuel is availablein Delhi from Oct 1 to curbpollution, Union MinisterPrakash Javadekar hadannounced in Septemberthat the BS-VI fuel will bemade available in the coun-try from April 1 next year.

OPENING

PROJECTION FOR TODAY

The benchmark Sensexsnapped its longest win-ning streak sinceMarch as someinvestors gauged theindex has gained toomuch, too quickly afterit closed at a recordhigh on Monday.

The Sensex fell 53.73points, or 0.13 per cent,to 40,248.23 after swing-ing between gains andlosses at least four timesfollowing a seven-daywinning streak. TheNifty 50 slipped 24.10points, or l 0.2 per cent,to close at 11,917.20.

On the Sensex chart,top losers includedIndusInd Bank, SunPharma, Infosys, TataSteel and M&M, shed-ding up to 2.40 per cent.

Globally, bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong,Tokyo and Seoul settledhigher on optimism overthe US-China trade deal.

The Sensex’s 14-dayRelative Strength Indexrose to 71, above thelevel of 70 that someinvestors read as a sig-nal to sell.

The earnings seasonis turning out to begood, with 20 out of 31Nifty firms reportingquarterly earnings thathave either beaten ormatched the averageanalyst estimates.

Technical View

“The ongoing corporate-earnings season andglobal developments arelikely to dictate the mar-ket trend in the comingsessions,” said AjitMishra, Vice Presidentof Research at ReligareBroking Ltd. “After adecent run-up over thelast few sessions, someconsolidation cannot beruled out in the near-term,” he said.

Analysts see animportant support levelfor the Nifty at 11,859.73points, after which11,802.27 could be anoth-er support zone. Keyresistance levels seenare 11,976.83 and12,036.47 points.

Market View

Shrikant Chouhan,Senior Vice-President,Equity Technical Rese-arch, Kotak Securities,said: “The market hastaken a breather andthis happens wheneverwe see profit-taking inauto stocks. In fact it'smost sensitive sector forany economy and now adays along with marketexperts even retailersare tracking it closely.”

He said that excite-ment is missing in themarket as majority ofthe index participantshave already declaredtheir Q2 numbers andnow traders will waitfor either domesticdevelopments or globaldevelopment on thetrade tariff front.

Market consolidationlikely near-term

■ VE Commercial Vehicles chief says Q3 & Q4 would be better

FC BUREAUCHENNAI, NOV. 5

Around 1,300 startups wereadded to the tech startupecosystem so far in 2019.India also witnessed emer-gence of seven unicorns thisyear.

With the addition of 1,300ventures, the total numberof tech startups in the coun-try has grown to 8,900-9,300.By the emergence of 7 uni-corns, India now has a totalof 24 unicorns. In terms ofstartups as well as unicorns,India continued to hold thethird position in the globe,according to Nasscom. The-se startups have created anestimated 60,000 direct jobsand 1.3-1.8 lakh indirect jobs.

Around 450 startupsreceived investments valued$4.4 billion betweenJanuary-September thisyear — up 5 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Early stage fund-ing saw 70 per cent spike to$1.6 billion. This year,investments have been flow-ing largely into B2B spaceand almost half of the coun-

try’s start-ups are offeringenterprise focused services,it said.

Over 18 per cent or 1,600startups are now leveragingdeep-tech and this hasgrown from 8 per cent in2014 and has seen a 40 percent CAGR over the past fiveyears, the report said.

According to NasscomPresident Debjani Ghosh,the start-up ecosystem isinnovating and bringing outsolutions for locally relevantissues. “However, to simu-late innovation, governmentand corporates need to focuson increasing their role asprominent stakeholdersplaying the part of venturecapitalists and providing theappropriate market access,funding, and guidance toseed stage start-ups,” shesaid.

Nasscom aims to acceler-ate the startup ecosystem inIndia significantly by 2025.This includes increasing thenumber of unicorns to 95-105 potentially and thecumulative valuation to$350-390 billion.

Over 1,300 startups, 7 unicornsadded in 2019

MATTHEW TOSTEVINBANGKOK, NOV. 5

Although India pulled out atthe last minute, China and14 other countries agreed inBangkok this week on plansfor what could become theworld’s biggest trade agree-ment — the RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP).

They aim to sign it nextyear to start freeing up tradebetween mem-bers that incl-ude the 10-me-mber Associa-tion of South-east Asian Nations (Asean),Japan, South Korea,Australia and New Zealand.

What will RCEP do?Exact details have yet to bereleased, but it will progres-sively lower tariffs acrossmany areas.

Its backers say that just asimportantly it will let com-panies export the sameproduct anywhere withinthe bloc without having tomeet separate requirementsand fill out separate paper-work for each country.

“For a goods producer it’shuge,” said Deborah Elms ofthe Asian Trade Centre.“What we don’t have now isa lot of Asian trade for finalmarkets in Asia. This sets

that up.”It gives an incentive for

companies to build supplychains within the regioneven if they export outside.

The agreement also touch-es on services and on pro-tecting intellectual property.

What doesn’t it do?RCEP is not seen as such a“high quality” trade agree-ment as the Comprehensiveand Progressive Agreement

for Trans-Pa-cific Partner-ship, among11 Asia-Paci-fic countries,

because it does not cover orharmonise as much.

Tariffs are agreed betweencountries rather than acrossthe board. For some coun-tries, sensitive issues suchas agriculture won’t betouched. It lacks provisionsfor liberalising state enter-prises or protecting workersand the environment.

What economic impactwill it have?Even once signed, imple-mentation would takemonths to start and years tocomplete. The complexitymakes precise calculationshard, economists say.

The 15 participating coun-tries make up nearly a thirdof the world’s people (it

would have been nearly halfwith India). RCEP membersaccount for nearly a third ofglobal domestic product,with India’s departure mak-ing less of a difference.

What does India’sabsence mean?India can join later andother countries — notablyIndonesia and Japan — havebeen lobbying it hard to stay.But Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi was emphaticabout rejecting terms theother members agreed.

“While India’s exit deval-ues the pact, it also removesthe single biggest obstacle toits completion,” saidAnthony Nelson of consul-tancy Albright Stonebridge.

India’s biggest concern isa wave of cheap goods fromChina and elsewhere. Forother countries, losing Indiameans they won’t access amarket that is notoriouslyhard to get into, but alsothey won’t be able to includeIndia as easily in supplychains. Supporters of thedeal argue that India willlose investment while itsconsumers will pay morethan they should.

Southeast Asian countriesalso see India as a counter-weight to China’s growingdominance.

— Reuters

RCEP pact shapes up without India

DAVID FICKLING

From a political perspec-tive, India’s decisionovernight to walk awayfrom immediate involve-ment in a trade zoneencompassing half theworld’s population and athird of its economy isgood for almost everyone.

The Prime MinisterNarendra Modi govern-ment no longer needs tomake difficult concessionson agricultural trade.Other members of theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnershipgroup, or RCEP, won’t needto open their home mar-kets to India’s thriving,and low-cost, services sec-tor. China, the linchpin ofa zone that also includesthe Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations,Japan, South Korea,Australia and New

Zealand, will be able tomove forward faster withan agreement that was atrisk of being jeopardizedby India’s foot-dragging.

The US, meanwhile, cantake satisfaction from thefact that its key regionalally in New Delhi isremaining outside ofBeijing’s orbit. A strongerRCEP that included Indiawould almost certainlyhave revived politicallyfraught question ofwhether Washingtonshould rejoin the rivalTrans-Pacific Partnershipagreement or TPP, whichdied in Congress under theObama administration andwas formally killed off byPresident Donald Trump.

That’s precisely the prob-lem, though. Trade agree-ments are hard preciselybecause deals that areworthwhile economicallytend to be politically haz-

ardous, and vice versa.India’s pause on the RCEPisn’t the cause of the par-lous state of internationalcommerce in 2019, but it’sanother telling symptom ofa global trading systemwhere volumes are nowfalling at the fastest pacesince the 2009 financial cri-sis.

Both the RCEP and thepared-down, US-free ver- sion of the TPP are better

understood as attempts toharmonize trading stan-dards than reduce tariffbarriers.

In part this is a result ofthe success ofprevious tradea g r e e m e n t s ,which have low-ered borderlevies to the point wherethe more potent restrainton commerce is often non-tariff barriers, governingareas such as food safety,licensing, and rules of ori-gin. Even within the moreprotectionist RCEP zone,the median trade-weightedtariff had fallen in 2017 toabout 5.15 per cent, a loweraverage rate thanAustralia or Canadaimposed in the mid-1990s.

Still, the effect of harmo-nizing standards at theregional-agreement ratherthan global level is theopposite of an opening of

trade. The objection to theoriginal TPP - that itresulted in the US impos-ing its standards on othereconomies within the bloc -

comes with theterritory insuch deals.The standardsthat are estab-

lished across the zoneinevitably resemble thoseof its largest member. Thatwould be fine in a globalagreement, but in a region-al deal the effect is to raisebarriers to nations outsidethe bloc with differentrules.

In the case of RCEP, thatmeans smaller and lower-income countries inSoutheast Asia are likelyto become more closelyentwined with China,while their links withpotential partners outsidethe zone will fall behind.The reformed TPP, like-

wise, will bind thosenations closer to eachother than to the rest ofthe world. Only the hand-ful of countries in bothblocs - Japan, Australia,New Zealand andSingapore - stand a chanceof benefiting as much asChina.

The result suggests thattrade is moving in a simi-lar direction to tech, withthe world bifurcating intoseparate zones as tensionsbetween China and the USforce nations to take sides.It’s a path that’s grimlyreminiscent of the after-math of World War II,when the US-led MarshallPlan and Soviet-centeredComecon developed intorival trading blocs. Thatdivision split the globaleconomy for the durationof the Cold War. We should-n’t welcome its revival.

— Bloomberg

Asia’s big trade pact will hurt the global economy

PAGE

13

—FC BUREAU

Apollo Tyresnet falls 43%

Divi’s Lab Q2 net dips12% to 357 crore

Suzuki Motor Q2 operating profit down 32%

Apollo Tyres reported43.15 per cent decline in itsconsolidated net profit atRs 83 crore for the secondquarter ended September30, hit by weak performan-ce in the domestic market.

The company had posteda net profit of Rs 146 crorefor Q2 of 2018-19. Net salesdeclined to Rs 3,926 croreas against Rs 4,192 crore in2018, Apollo Tyres said.

The tyre major said itsEuropean operations repo-rted single-digit growth inrevenue, both in the sec-ond quarter and in firsthalf of the fiscal.

TechM Q2 netrises 5.6%Tech Mahindra posted 5.6per cent increase in consol-idated net profit at Rs 1,124crore for the Septemberquarter, and said it willacquire US-based Born Gr-oup at an enterprise valueof $95 million (approxi-mately Rs 671 crore).

The company had regis-tered a net profit of Rs1,064.3 crore in the July-September 2018 quarter,Tech Mahindra said.

Its revenue from opera-tions grew 5.1 per cent toRs 9,070 crore from Rs8,629.8 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

Divi’s Laboratories reported an 11.62 percent dip in its consolidated net profit at Rs356.78 crore for the second quarter versusRs 403.72 crore a year ago. Revenue fromoperations rose to Rs 1,445.57 crore ascompared with Rs 1,323.93 in the year-agoperiod. The firm said its capex pro-grammes in Hyderabad and Visakha-pat-nam were going as per schedule.

Japanese auto majorSuzuki Motor Corporationreported 31.83 per centdecline in operating profitat 55.90 billion yen (aroundRs 3,630 crore) in the sec-ond quarter ended Septem-ber 30, mainly hit by slow-down in India.

The company had postedan operating profit of 82billion yen (around Rs 5,330

crore) in the same periodlast fiscal. Net sales stoodat 847.9 billion (around Rs55,110 crore) yen as against941.9 billion yen (about Rs94,190 crore) in the year-agoperiod.

“Slowdown since 2Q ofFY2018, owing to producti-on decrease in Japan, in ad-dition to slowdown in Indi-an automobile (is) continu-

ing from previous year,”the company said in a pres-entation on its website.

SMC said its global salesdeclined 17.2 per cent to14.08 lakh units owing todecrease in India andJapan.

Sales in India, where MSIhas nearly 50 per cent mar-ket share, were down 26.5per cent at 6.75 lakh units.

Godrej Properties reported a 66 per centincrease in its consolidated net profit at Rs34.19 crore for the second quarter of thisfiscal. Its net profit stood at Rs 20.57 crorein the year-ago period, the company said.

Total income declined to Rs 395.11 crorein the July-September period of this fiscalfrom Rs 487.07 crore in the correspondingquarter of the previous year.

Godrej Properties Q2profit up 66% to 34 cr

Tata Group firm Titanposted a 3.5 per centincrease in its consolidatednet profit at Rs 311.65 crorefor the second quarter com-pared to Rs 301.11 crore forthe July-September periodof 2018-19. Its total incomerose to Rs 4,693.34 crorefrom Rs 4,595.13 crore.

“The company has donewell across all its business-es in the second quartergiven the subdued marketand consumer sentiments.The jewellery business hasdone better than most play-ers in the industry," MDC. K. Venkataraman said.

Titan Q2 netrises to 312 cr

PERFORMANCE STREET

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, NOV. 5

Merger and acquisitiondeals have witnessed sig-nificant erosion of valuethis year. Deal value willfurther shrink in 2020 asglobal deal space willcontinue to slowdown.

In 2018, M&A deals hadtouched a high of $81.6billion. Global law firmBaker McKenzie expectsthe deal value to comedown to $52.1 billion bythe end of 2019. Even inSeptember quarter, thedeal value had droppedby half against the year-ago quarter.

By 2020, the total dealvalue can further comedown to $44.6 billion asthe global deal makingwill continue to slowdown because of ongoingworldwide economicuncertainty and the riskof global recession. M&Awill decline globally from$2.8 trillion in 2019 to $2.1trillion in 2020, findsBaker McKenzie.

In India, domestic dealswill dip from $36.4 billionin 2019 to $29.4 billion in2020. In 2018, domesticdeals accounted for $37.2billion. Cross-border dea-ls will continue to be sub-dued.

M&A deals toshrink furtherin 2020

Mumbai, Nov. 5: Twodays before the deadline,the Adani Group on Tue-sday sought the BombayHigh Court’s nod to com-plete its offer to buy the13.5 per cent stake heldby South African compa-ny Bidvest in Mumbaiairport, saying the GVKGroup has failed to depo-sit the money in the cou-rt-ordered escrow accou-nt on time.

With the third exten-sion, the GVK group hastime till on November 7to pay Bidvest and com-plete the deal.

The Adanis’s bid toenter the country’s sec-ond busiest airport bybuying out Bid ServicesDivision Mauritius fromthe MIAL was stalledafter the airport operatorMIAL controlled by theGVK Group chose to exe-rcise its first right of ref-usal, and matched the Rs1,248-crore or Rs 77 a sha-re, offer that Adanis ma-de to the South Africancompany in March, valu-ing MIAL at Rs 9,500crore. According to theagreement, the final pay-ment and transfer of sha-res was September 30which was later extendedtwice by consent to Nove-mber 7. — PTI

Adani seeks HCnod to closeBidvest deal

RITWIK MUKHERJEEKOLKATA, NOV. 5

Godrej Ex-pert RichCreme, fr-om the sta-ble of God-rej Consu-mer Produ-cts (GCPL),one of Ind-ia’s largestselling hair colour, hasroped in Bollywood divaAnushka Sharma as thenew face for the brand.This move is in line withmaking the brand morecontemporary and rele-vant in consonance withtoday’s lifestyle whileinfusing a youthfulappeal. With $23.4 mil-lion brand value as perCelebrity BrandValuation 2018 Rankingsby Duff & Phelps (D&P),Anushka is one of themost celebrated actress-es in the country.

Sunil Kataria CEO —India and SAARC, Godr-ej Consumer Products,said Godrej Expert RichCreme has been an expe-rt of accessible hair tran-sformation. They are thr-illed to partner with theleading superstar Anush-ka Sharma to chart ourfuture growth roadmap.

Anushka toendorse Godrejhair colour

Global trade volumes have beenin the most pronounced downturnsince 2009

Note: Shows rolling three-monthaverage volumes compared to theaverage three months earlier.Source: Bloomberg

Tariffs among members of Asia’s new trade blocsare already relatively low

Note: Shows average trade-weighted tariffs.

Source: Bloomberg

■ RCEP ■ Revived TPP ■ Both ■ NeitherIndia

CambodiaSouth Korea

LaosChile

PhilippinesIndonesia

ThailandVietnam

MyanmarChina

MexicoAustraliaMalaysia

CanadaNew Zealand

JapanUS

BruneiSingapore

Sep2009 11 13 15 17 19

0 2 4 6 8 10 12%

6% q/q420

-2Column

Explainer

—AGENCIES

PNB clocks 507-cr net profit in Q2New Delhi, Nov. 5: State-owned Punjab NationalBank (PNB) on Tuesdayreported a profit of Rs 507.06crore for the second quarterended September 30 aidedby substantial reduction inprovisioning for bad loans.

The bank had posted a lossof Rs 4,532.35 crore in thecorresponding quarter last

year.During the quarter, provi-

sions for bad loans sharplydeclined to Rs 3,253.32 croreagainst Rs 7,733.27 crore.

The provisions during theyear-ago period included theamount for the Rs 14,000-crore fraud committed byjeweller duo Nirav Modi andMehul Choksi.

Gross non-performingassets (NPAs) amounted to16.76 per cent of the grossadvances at the end ofSeptember, lower than 17.16per cent a year ago.

Net NPAs or bad loans alsocame down to 7.65 per centas against 8.90 per cent inthe year-ago period.

— PTI

AnushkaSharma

Vinod Aggarwal

Page 14: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

London, Nov. 5: GarethBale, who is strugglingwith a calf problem, hasbeen included by RyanGiggs in the Wales squadfor their must-win finaltwo Euro 2020 qualifiersagainst Azerbaijan andHungary.

The 30-year-old RealMadrid star — who has notplayed since scoring forWales in their 1-1 drawwith World Cup finalistsCroatia on October 13 — isnevertheless considered adoubt for both the game inAzerbaijan on November16 and at home to Hungaryon the 19.

The Welsh — surprisesemifinalists at Euro 2016— are presently fourth intheir group, six pointsadrift of table-toppingCroatia and four shy ofsecond-placed Hungary.

Both Croatia andHungary have just onegame remaining.

Bale returned to lighttraining with Real Madridlast week after a visit toLondon sparked more spec-ulation about his future.

This accelerated onMonday with claims RealMadrid were preparing a£70m illion ($90 million)bid plus Bale to lureEngland striker RaheemSterling away fromManchester City.

Giggs has also called upJuventus midfielder AaronRamsey, who could makehis first appearance in thequalifiers after recoveringfrom a thigh injury.

Another midfielder JoeAllen, like Bale andRamsey a pivotal figure inthe 2016 team, is named inthe squad.

The 29-year-old -- present-ly playing for second tierstrugglers Stoke City -- willreturn for the Hungarygame in Cardiff.

— AFP

Phoenix Suns too hot

PAGE

14WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

SHORT TAKESHurdler Dawn

eyes Tokyo returnWashington: American 100mhurdler Dawn Harper-Nelson,the 2008 Olympic championand 2012 Olympic runner-up

who retired to have a baby, saidon Monday that she is training

for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.The 35-year-old was second

to Australia's Sally Pearson atthe 2017 World Championships

but missed this year’s meetafter giving birth to a baby girl

last April.Harper Nelson stepped awayfrom the sport in September

2018 but worked out during herpregnancy and returned to the

track a month after giving birth.“I still think I have it and I cankill it,” Harper Nelson said in a

posting on the US Olympicwebsite.

“All the women in my life hadsaid when they were moms

they stopped their dream. OnceI had my daughter, I looked at

her and I remember thinking, ‘Istill have this yearn to run.’ AndI refuse for her to say, when she

looked at my career, ‘My momalways said she wanted to keep

running, but she stoppedbecause she had me.’” she

added. — AFP

Olympian jailed fordrug-trafficking

Amsterdam: Dutch Olympicathlete Madiea Ghafoor has

been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail after 2 million

pounds ($2.58 million) worth ofecstasy tablets and crystal

meth were found in the boot ofher car in Germany, as per

reports.Ghafoor, 27, was stopped at aborder check in Elten in June

where 50kg of ecstasy, 2kg ofcrystal meth and 11,950 euros incash were seized by police, the

report said.The athlete, who ran for theNetherlands in the 4x400m

relay at the 2016 OlympicGames, pleaded not guilty tothe charges at Kleve District

Court and said she thought shewas carrying doping materials,the German news agency said.

The Dutch Athletics Unionsaid it was shocked by the case

and would investigateGhafoorâ’s claim concerning

doping materials to ascertainwho else might have been

involved.“We are stunned by the

judgement. With the ruling ofthe German court, the Athletics

Union rejects the actions ofGhafoor,” a statement on theorganisationâ’s website said.

— Reuters

One swallow doesnot make a spring.

It’s a win that re-ignites our

season.— Claudio Ranieri, Sampdoria

coach, after his first win

Lucky Neymar Neymar escapes prosecution for an altercation withan opposition supporter after Paris Saint-Germain’ssurprise defeat in the French Cup final in April

GamesVerona plans tosue Balotelli

Wales name Balein Euro qualifier

Milan, Nov. 5: Verona’scity government has beenasked by a group of localcouncillors to take actionagainst footballer MarioBalotelli after he com-plained about racistinsults from the crowd dur-ing a match at theBentegodi stadium onSunday.

Balotelli, playing for vis-iting side Brescia, kickedthe ball into the crowd andthreatened to walk off thepitch early in the secondhalf because he said somefans were making monkeynoises. The referee stoppedplay for around five min-utes while announcementswere made to the crowd.

The 29-year-old, who wasborn in Sicily to Ghanaianparents and given up foradoption when he wasthree, has faced racistabuse throughout hiscareer in Italy. He wasbacked by Napoli coachCarlo Ancelotti and byrival club AS Roma, amongothers, for his action onSunday.

But the Verona club andthe city’s mayor FedericoSboarina, who said he wasat the game, denied theracist insults took place.

On Tuesday, the Gazzettadello Sport published amotion sent to the Veronacouncil by four councillors

proposing that “the mayorand the legal offices of themunicipality should takelegal action against thefootballer and all thosewho attack Verona byunjustly defaming it.”

The motion added: “It isno longer fair that Veronais put in the dock when, asin this case, nothing hap-pened.”

Italian League’s discipli-nary tribunal was due toannounce its decision —the latest in a long line ofalleged racist incidents tomar Italian football — lateron Tuesday. — Reuters

New York, Nov. 5:Phoenix’s Devin Bookerscored 40 points to leadthe Suns over visitingPhiladelphia 114-109 onMonday, delivering thefirst loss of the season tothe NBA’s last unbeatenteam.

Spanish guard RickyRubio added 21 points and10 assists for the Sunswhile Phoenix poured in23 points off 20Philadelphia turnovers.

Booker, who turned 23last week, became theeighth-youngest player inNBA history to crack the6,000 career points mark.The fifth-season guardwas greeted by chants of“M-V-P” for Most ValuablePlayer as he walked offthe court.

The Suns, who haven’tmade the playoffs since2010, improved to 5-2 whilethe 76ers slid to 5-1. It tookPhoenix 29 games last sea-son to reach a fifth victory.

“You can play with any-body in the freakingleague. Great job guys,”Suns coach MontyWilliams told his teamafter the game.

Al Horford led the 76erswith 32 points whileTobias Harris added 24points and 10 rebounds.

The Sixers played with-out Cameroon star bigman Joel Embiid, whowas serving the secondgame of a two-game banafter a brawl withMinnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns, also sus-pended for two games.

ANTETOKOUNMPO LEADSMILWAUKEE CHARGE

Greek star GiannisAntetokounmpo scored 34points and grabbed 15rebounds to powerMilwaukee over hostMinnesota 134-106 after a49-minute delay at thestart to fix a faulty basket.

Khris Middleton added26 points and Eric Bledsoe22 for the Bucks (5-2) whileAndrew Wiggins ledMinnesota (4-2) for 25points.

HOUSTON ROCKETS FLYPAST MEMPHIS

Houston’s James Hardenand Brooklyn’s KyrieIrving had big nights inwins.

One night after anembarrassing 29-pointloss at Miami, theHouston Rockets bouncedback to beat host Memphis

107-100 behind NBA scor-ing leader Harden's 44points on 12-of-28 shootingand 10 rebounds in a gamewhere Russell Westbrookwas benched for a rest.

It was Harden’s 80thcareer game with 40 ormore points.

Irving scored 39 pointson 13-of-21 shooting andadded nine assists to leadthe Brooklyn Nets overvisiting New Orleans 135-125.

“This is my playgroundout here. I just love to beplaying basketball andplaying aggressive,”Irving said.

A 14-6 run to end thegame lifted the Nets overthe Pelicans, who were ledby Brandon Ingram'scareer-high 40 points on

17-of-24 shooting.Caris LeVert added 23

points, Joe Harris scored19 and Jarrett Allen had 18points and 10 rebounds forthe Nets.

PASCHALL PROPELSWARRIORS TO WIN

Rookie forward EricPaschall scored 36 pointsand grabbed 13 reboundson his 23rd birthday tolead injury-hit GoldenState over Portland 127-118for the Warriors' first winat their new $1 billionhome arena in SanFrancisco.

“Great birthday gift. Wedid a hell of a job with thegroup of guys we have. Wedidn’t back down. This isspecial. We did a greatjob,” Paschall said. — AFP

Taipei: Chou Tien-chen is takingthe unusual step of gearing upfor the 2020 Olympics without

a coach, with his longtimephysio and confidante shep-

herding him towards Tokyogold.

The soft-spoken and boyish29-year-old, known for pointing

to heaven to thank God at theend of a match, parted ways

with his trainer early this year.Since then the world number

two has been on a hot streak,winning the men’s singles at

July’s Indonesia Open to claimhis first title in a Super 1000

level event.“I do a lot of homework a

coach does before a game andspend more time analysing

opponents and what I shoulddo under what circumstances,”he said after a practice session

in Taipei.Cheering him on from the

sidelines has been physiothera-pist Victoria Kao, who has

shouldered some of the tradi-tional roles of a coach by act-

ing as Chou’s mentor, cheer-leader and chief critic.

Kao accompanies her chargeon and off the court, handing

him drinks during match inter-vals and chaperoning him at

charity events.She says her main job is to

“maintain his health and char-acter” in a training regimen.

— AFP

SHUTTLER ONCOURSE FOR

OLYMPICS

Eric Paschall (right) of the Golden State Warriors is guarded by Anthony Tolliver of the Portland Trail Blazers dur-ing their NBA game at the Chase Centre in San Francisco, California, on Monday. The Warriors won 127-118. — AFP

Matthew McConaughey (from left), Anthony Hamilton and Lewis Hamilton celebrate Hamilton’s sixth F1 worldtitle following the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. — AFP

Austin, Nov. 5: LewisHamilton was still cele-brating with family andfriends in New York onMonday after clinchinghis sixth Formula Oneworld title and openinghis heart at the UnitedStates Grand Prix.

The 34-year-old Briton,now the second most suc-cessful driver of all timebehind seven-time cham-pion MichaelSchumacher, flew to NewYork with his party afterSunday’s race and anadmission that he hadbeen ‘battling certaindemons’.

“Each and every singleone of us is strugglingwith something in life. I

try to show people that,from the outside, thingsalways look great, but it’snot always the case,” hesaid.

“I am struggling withlots of different thingsand battling certaindemons. When you lookin the mirror each day,whether you feel good oryou feel bad, there isalways the darker sidethat’s trying to pull you

down — and you constant-ly have to wake up.

“I look in the mirroreach morning and I’m try-ing to lift myself up andsay ‘you can do it. Yes, youare great’,” he added.

In the aftermath of win-ning his fifth title in sixyears with Mercedes,Hamilton also revealedhow much he missed hisfriend and mentor NikiLauda, the three-time

champion who wasMercedes non-executivechairman and died inMay.

“I would say that I didn’tthink it would hit me sohard, losing Niki. I misshim dearly. I didn’t realisehow much I loved theguy,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton, now withinreach of Schumacher’srecords of seven champi-onship wins and 91 GrandPrix victories, is due backin Britain for a team cele-bration at Mercedes head-quarters at Brackley onWednesday. The team thisyear won a record sixthconsecutive drivers’ andconstructors’ champi-onship double. — AFP

Happy Hamilton clan on roll

New York, Nov. 5: Cleveland Cavaliers guard KevinPorter Jr. Was suspended one game without pay bythe NBA on Monday for improperly making contactwith a game official, the league announced.

The incident took place at the end of the third quar-ter of Sunday’s 131-111 victory by the DallasMavericks at Cleveland. Porter will miss theCavaliers’ Tuesday home game against Boston.

The Cavaliers are off to a 2-4 start to the 2019-20campaign while the Mavericks are 4-2.

Porter, a 19-year-old guard, was the 30th and finalpick of the first round in this year's NBA Draft byMilwaukee but was traded to Cleveland via Detroit.

The Seattle left-hander made his NBA debut in astart 12 days ago in a loss to Orlando. Porter’s fatherwas fatally shot in July 2004 while trying to helpsomeone being attacked. Kevin Jr., only four at thetime, was raised by his mother. — AFP

ONE MATCH SUSPENSIONFOR CLEVELAND GUARD

London, Nov. 5: Rafael Nadal has said he will travel tothe ATP finals in London after undergoing a scan onan abdominal injury that forced him to retire from lastweek's Paris Masters at the semi-final stage.

“Yesterday I had a scan in Mallorca and despite hav-ing a small strain in my right abdominal, I will travelto London,” the world number one said in a statementon his official Twitter account on Tuesday.

“On Thursday or Friday I will start training on myserve and my aim is to be able to play the ATP Finalsin London. Thanks for your support,” he added.

The ATP finals take place between Nov. 10-17. Nadalhas never won the tournament, losing in the final toRoger Federer in 2010 and Djokovic in 2013, when itwas known as the ATP World Tour finals.

— Reuters

INJURY-HIT NADAL WILLTRAVEL FOR ATP FINALS

Hosts halt Philadelphia’s unbeaten run this NBA season

RACISM | ROW

Women’s tennis player Ashleigh Barty poses with theyear-ending Chris Evert WTA World No.1 Trophy. — WTA

GIOVINAZZI WILLRETURN TO ALFAROMEO IN 2020Austin, Nov. 5: Italiandriver AntonioGiovinazzi will be back inthe Alfa Romeo cockpitfor the 2020 season, theFormula One outfitrevealed on Monday.

The 25-year-old has col-lected just four points sofar in 2019 but his maturi-ty, enthusiasm and poten-tial have convinced theteam to extend his deal.

“We learned a lot thisyear and I am confidentwe can make a big stepforward next season. Iwon’t be a rookie any-more so there won’t beany excuses for me,” saidGiovinazzi.

“I want to be competi-tive right from the start ofthe championship andrepay the confidence theteam has shown inme.”Team principalFrederic Vasseur said hewas extremely pleasedwith Giovinazzi, whom hedescribed as a very fastdriver.

“The way he has inte-grated into the team andhas consistentlyimproved throughout hisfirst full season in thesport are very promis-ing,” Vasseur said.

— AFP

I am struggling with lots of different things. Whenyou look in the mirror each day, whether you feelgood or you feel bad, there is always the darkerside that’s trying to pull you down — and you con-stantly have to wake up.

— LEWIS HAMILTONsix-time F1 champion

Antonio GGiovinazzi

● The Verona cluband the city’s mayorFederico Sboarina,who said he was atthe game, deniedany racist insultsagainst MarioBalotelli in theirBrescia game.

● The mayor and thelegal offices of themunicipality arecontemplating legalaction against thefootballer and allthose who attackVerona by unjustlydefaming it.

Alluring Ashleigh

Page 15: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

New Delhi, Nov. 5: Goingback in time on his 31stbirthday, Virat Kohli toldhis 15-year-old self to show-er his late dad with lots oflove, giving his warm hugsprecedence over his refusalto buy the dreamy-eyed sona pair of shoes.

And Kohli also tells thesame West Delhi boy tosavour those “parathas”,for he knows they willbecome “quite a luxury” inthe years to come. And lux-ury they did become. Thesewere among a plethora ofthoughts that crossed hismind as Kohli turned 31 onTuesday.

The batting maestropenned a letter addressedto his 15-year-old version,dedicating quite a bit of itscontent to his late fatherPrem Kohli. “I know you

are thinking about thoseshoes dad did not give youtoday. They mean nothingwhen compared to the hugthis morning or the joke hecracked about your height.Cherish this,” Kohli wrotein the letter he shared on

his social media page. On his father, the India

captain continued, “I knowhe can seem strict at times.But that’s because he wantsthe best for you. “Tell Dadyou love him. A lot. Tellhim today. Tell him tomor-row. Tell him more often.”

Prem Kohli was 54 whenhe died following a stroke,and his son, who would oneday become the world’s bestbatsman, was 18. It is welldocumented that a dayafter performing the lastrites, Kohli turned up toscore 90 odd runs and savehis state team Delhi in aRanji Trophy game.

“You will fail. Everyonedoes. Just promise yourselfthat you will never forget torise. And if at first youdon’t, try again.”

— PTI

Virat, 31, pens a letterto a 15-year-old Chiku

Unbeaten Smith drivesOz to win over Pakistan

Rajkot ,Nov. 5:E x p e c -

tations willbe high

from young-sters ahead of

next year’s T20World Cup but

India leg-spinnerYuzvendra Chahal

on Tuesday saidthere is no pressure

from the manage-ment and they just

need to ensure thatmistakes are not repeat-

ed.India have a fielded a lot

of youngsters for the T20series against Bangladeshkeeping in mind the WorldT20 in Australia. “The 11

that is playing now, andthe players who are

there in the 15-membersquad they know theirroles, it is not like someoneis going out after playingone or two matches,”Chahal told reportersahead of the second T20International againstBangladesh.

“A couple of matches cango wrong but there is nopressure from the manage-ment. The only thing isthat we shouldn’t repeatthe mistakes that we com-mit in any particularmatch.”

India suffered a seven-wicket loss against a new-look Bangladesh in theopening match of thethree-game T20I series inNew Delhi on Sunday andChahal insisted that theteam will look to start

afresh. “I think we are positive. It

is not like we haven’t lostthe first match of anyseries and didn’t go on towin the series. The first

match is done, if you thinkabout last match then neg-atives will come intomind,” Chahal said.

“Before we came here, wehave forgotten about thatloss and we are making afresh start and the entire15 are focussed and posi-tive, and hopefully, we willwin tomorrow,” he added.The victory wasBangladesh’s first overIndia in the shortest for-mat.

Asked if there was pres-sure on the team ahead ofthe second T20I, Chahalsaid: “It is not about pres-sure. It is a three-gameseries, not a knockoutgame, so obviously one willwin one will loss, and thatday they played better thanus.” — PTI

SHORT TAKESExclusive ‘no ball

umpire’ for IPLMumbai: The IPL Governing

Council is planning to have anumpire assigned specifically to

check “no balls” after a numberof howlers in the past few sea-

sons led to heightened con-cerns about quality of Indian

match officials. It was alsolearnt that the much-hyped

‘Power Player’ concept of sub-stitutions during IPL games was

shelved for the time being asthe project can’t be piloted

during upcoming Syed MushtaqAli Trophy (National T20), start-

ing later this week. The GCchaired by former Test batsmanBrijesh Patel met at the cricketheadquarters to discuss a slew

of issues including FTP window,availability of foreign players,FTP of Indian team and possi-

bility of franchises playingfriendlies abroad. However the

talking point was having anexclusive umpire to check on

the contentious front-foot andheight no balls. “If all goes well,

during the next Indian PremierLeague, you could see anotherumpire apart from the regularumpires just to “observe” no-

balls. The concept soundsweird, but this was among the

issues discussed in the first IPLGoverning Council meeting

which was held here,” a seniorGC member told reporters after

the meet. “We are havinganother umpire for only observ-

ing no-balls. There will be anumpire, who will be focused on

no-balls only. And he will notbe third or fourth umpire," theinfluential member said. — PTI

Kolkata to hostIPL auction in Dec.

Mumbai: The players’ auctionfor the next Indian Premier

League (IPL) will be held onDecember 19 in Kolkata, the

event’s Governing Councildecided in a meeting here onTuesday. The glitzy league is

usually held in April-May everyyear and players’ auction is

being conducted in Kolkata forthe first time. The city is the

home ground of the Shah RukhKhan co-owned Kolkata Knight

Riders franchise. “The IPL auction will be in

Kolkata on December 19. It’s adeparture from the traditional

venue of Bengaluru,” an IPLGoverning Council member said

on conditions of anonymityafter the meeting here. Whilethe franchises were allotted `

82 crore each for IPL 2019, ` 85crore per team has been ear-marked for the 2020 season.Every franchise will also have

an additional purse of ` 3 crorein addition to the balance in

their kitties from the last auc-tion. Delhi Capitals have the

biggest balance — ` 8.2 crore,followed by Rajasthan Royals at` 7.15 crore and Kolkata Knight

Riders at ` 6.05 crore. This year's auction is the last

one before the franchises dis-band and prepare to assemble

fresh squads from 2021 at amega auction.

— PTI

PM Modi, pleasegive your time tothis and guide us

how we can makeIndia clean as well

as healthy.— Harbhajan Singh, former India

cricketer on pollution

Past & presentFormer India batsman Yuvraj Singh will be among a hostsof past and present stars who will feature in the ‘UltimateKricket Challenge’ tournament in February next year

PAGE

15WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADA

CricketDECCAN CHRONICLE

Rajkot, Nov 5: After asmog-hit series openerin Delhi, there is acyclonic threat to thesecond T20International betweenIndia and Bangladeshhere on Thursday.

The cyclone Maha isexpected to make a land-fall on the Gujarat coaston the day of the match,which could lead toheavy rains. As per theIndia MeteorologicalDepartment’s (IMD) lat-est forecast, Maha wouldhit the Gujarat coast as a‘cyclonic storm’ betweenPorbandar and Diu dur-ing the early hours ofThursday.

The match isscheduled to com-mence at 7 pm at theSaurashtra CricketAssociation Stadium onthe outskirts of the city.As of now, Maha is a an‘extremely severecyclonic storm’ over theArabian sea and situat-ed around 660 kilome-tres away fromPorbandar. It is predict-ed that it would weakeninto a cyclonic stormbefore hitting theGujarat coast.

The IMD, in a release,stated that light to mod-erate rain or thunder-showers would occur“at most places in alldistricts of Gujarat”,including Rajkot, onNovember 6 and 7. TheSaurashtra CricketAssociation is keeping atab on the weather fore-

casts.“We are fully pre-

pared to host the gamebut at the same time weare keeping a close tabon the weather. It isexpected that itmay rain inthe morn-ing onthe 7thbut thegame isin the

evening,” asenior Saura shtraCricket Asso ciationofficial said fromRajkot. There was sun-shine on Tuesday morn-ing in the city. The twoteams had reached hereon Monday. The first T20international wasplayed despite smog andair pollution in thenational capital,prompting BCCI presi-dent Sourav Ganguly tothank both the teams.

Bangladesh, who beatIndia by seven wickets,lead the three matchseries 1-0. The finalmatch of the series willbe played in Nagpur onSunday, November 10.

— PTI

New Delhi, Nov. 5:Australian wicket-keepinggreat Adam Gilchrist onTuesday had just oneadvice for the embattledRishabh Pant — don’t try tobe the next MahendraSingh Dhoni just as he did-n’t try to be Ian Healy 2.0.

Pant has been strugglingto hold on to his place inthe Indian team despite aresounding start to hiscareer with Test hundredson debut in England andAustralia.

In Sunday’s T20 matchagainst Bangladesh, Pantalso coped criticism for badDRS calls, something thatDhoni had mastered at hispeak. Glichrist reiteratedthat the 22-year-old Pantshould only focus on beinghis own best versioninstead of trying to ape theiconic former captain, whois on a sabbatical.

“My number one sugges-tion to Indian fans andjournalists would be: Don’tattempt to compare himwith MS Dhoni. The mouldthat they used to makeDhoni, they have mashed itup once he was made. Sothat they make sure thatthere is not another one,”he quipped.

“I know from personalexperience, I went after IanHealy, who was picked in

the best ever Test cricketteam in Australia. I justdidn’t want to try to be IanHealy. I wanted to learnfrom him but I wanted to beAdam Gilchrist and thatwould be my advice toRishabh,” he said.

Gilchrist, however, didurge the youngster to learnfrom Dhoni’s phenomenalcareer during which he ledIndia to two world titles.

— PTI

New Delhi, Nov. 5: AdamGilchrist is hopeful ofIndia agreeing to play aDay/Night Test in his coun-try next year after ViratKohli and his men wereconvinced to compete intheir maiden pink ballmatch by new BCCI chiefSourav Ganguly.

India were requested toplay a Day/Night Test inAustralia during the 2018-19 tour but the visitors had

declined the offer. A yearlater, India will be playingtheir maiden Test withpink ball againstBangladesh fromNovember 22 in Kolkata.

“They would be here nextsummer after the T20World Cup. I expect therewill be a Day/Night Testthere. I haven’t heard fromCricket Australia but Iexpect there would be one,”Glichrist said. — PTI

Cyclone threat to T20Don’t be the next Dhoni,be yourself, advises Gilly

Expect India to take on Oz in aDay/Night Test, says Gilchrist

I just didn't want to try to be Ian Healy.I wanted to learn from him but I wantedto be Adam Gilchrist and that would be

my advice to Rishabh.—ADAM GILCHRIST,

former Australia wicketkeeper

No pressure from management: Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal duringthe first T20 againstBangladesh on Sunday.

Indian skipper Virat Kohlicelebrated his birthdaywith wife Anushka Sharma.

Nelson, Nov. 5: A dra-matic England collapsewhich saw five wicketsfall for only 10 runsallowed New Zealand tosnatch a 14-run victory intheir Twenty20 interna-tional in Nelson Tuesday.

It also put New Zealand2-1 ahead in the serieswith two games to play.

England were on trackto overhaul NewZealand’s 180 when theyreached 139 for two in the15th over, with captainEoin Morgan in full flightas he cracked sixes offconsecutive MitchellSantner deliveries.

But with England need-ing 42 off the remaining31 deliveries Santnerturned the match whenhe had Morgan caught byColin Munro off the finalball of the over.

Dawid Malan (55) andJames Vince (49) had laid

a solid foundation forEngland at the top of theinnings.

But Morgan’s dismissalstarted a collapse whichsaw Munro run out SamBillings for one in the fol-lowing over before BlairTickner removed Vince.

In the space of twodeliveries LockieFerguson bowled LewisGregory without scoringand had Sam Currancaught for two leavingTom Curran and SaqibMahmood to strugglethrough to the end.

“That’s one that gotaway,” England captainMorgan said, pointing tothe lack of experience inhis squad.

“We were in control forthe whole chase until wewere three or four down,probably that’s a lack ofexperience,” he added.

— AFP

Santner spells England collapse, NZ go 2-1 up

Canberra, Nov. 5: Masterbatsman Steve Smithstroked a faultless unbeat-en 80 as Australia edgedPakistan by seven wicketsin Canberra to go 1-0 up intheir three-matchTwenty20 series.

Top-ranked Pakistan set acompetitive 150 for six offtheir 20 overs, with skipperBabar Azam hitting his sec-ond consecutivehalf-century andIftikhar Ahmedclubbing a quick-fire 62.

But their bowlingattack was no matchfor Smith, who broughtup his fourth 50 in theshort format off 36 balls,with six fours and one bigsix, as Australia reached151 for three with nineballs to spare.

It put them 1-0 up after the

opening match in Sydneyon Sunday was abandoneddue to rain. The final gameis in Perth on Friday.

“Very pleasing. I thoughtwe were pretty good allday,” said skipper Finch.

“To get wickets consis-tently was key.Everyone is play-ing their rolesr e a l l ywell, andwe’ve got guyslike Steve,who doeswhat hed o e sbest.”

Australia is on a hot T20streak, having not beenbeaten in their last sevenmatches.

“Credit goes to Smith,”said Azam. “He took thegame away with a magnifi-cent innings. We are verydisappointed.”

David Warner had been infantastic touch after scor-ing 219 without losing hiswicket in four previousinnings, and he ominously

smashed 16 off ImadWasim’s opening over.However, the explo-

sive opener wasclean bowled byMohammad Amir

for 20, missing adrive, and whenFinch fell for 17 toveteran Irfan,

Pakistan's hopeswere up.

— AFP

SCA stadium Rajkot is scheduled to host the second T20 on Thursday. — BCCI

Rishabh Pant in this file photo.— AFP

>>>

Cyclone Maha isexpected to make alandfall on Thursday,match day in Rajkot

Steve Smith

Page 16: 3 Tahsildar's driver too dies of severe burns - SPLessons

PAGE

16GamesWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | VIJAYAWADADECCAN CHRONICLE

Future planningBayern Munich president Uli Hoeness says the German giants willtake their time to find Niko Kovac’s (in pic) successor, expectsthem to be able to name a new head coach within three weeks

It’s a tightturnaround, butwe’ll prepare as

best we can.— Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta

boss ahead of their ChampionsLeague clash with Manchester City

New Delhi: CommonwealthGames weightlifting gold medal

winner Ravi Kumar Katulu hasbeen banned for four years

after failing a drug test, a topanti-doping official said on

Tuesday.The 31-year-old Kumar, who

won the 69kg title at the 2010Commonwealth Games and a

silver in 2014 (77kg), testedpositive for Ostarine, media

reports said.Ostarine helps increase musclemass though is not available to

the public.“Ravi Kumar has been suspend-

ed for four years,” NationalAnti-Doping Agency (NADA)

director general Navin Agarwalsaid without naming the sub-

stance involved.Ostarine is a “selective andro-

gen receptor modulator”, orSARM, which doping experts

say has been increasingly usedas an alternative to steroids. Nocountry has yet allowed its use

as a medicine but it is widelyavailable on the black market.

The ban is a new blow for scan-dal-tainted Indian weightlifting,

which has been restricted toonly four Olympic places — two

men and two women — inTokyo next year because of itshigh number of doping cases.

— AFP

Lifter Ravi handedfour-year ban

Guntur: Haryana’s Rachnamarked her shift from being asingle-lapper to 800m with a

memorable victory in the 35thNational Junior Athletic

Championships, breaking TintuLuka’s 11-year-old under-20meet record with a 2:06.12

effort here on Tuesday.Luka had set the meet mark

at 2:07.48 in Mysuru in 2008.With a bit more challenge and

effort, Rachna could have madea crack at Luka’s national U-20

record (2:05.21, also set in2008) but the Haryana girl had

to be content. There were two national

marks rewritten in the under-16age-group. Haryana’s Parvej

Khan secured the boys 800mrecord while Uttarkhand’s

Reshma Patel earned the girls3000m Race Walk record with

gritty efforts.Parvej Khan tackled the two-

lap event with confidence andpoise, his time of 1:54.78

improving upon Biren Gogoi’srecord of 1:55.70. — PTI

Rachna smashesLuka’s jr record

SHORT TAKES

ASIAN SHOOTING

Munich (Germany),Nov. 5: Interim bossHansi Flick says ThomasMueller and JaviMartinez will start forBayern Munich inWednesday’s ChampionsLeague tie againstOlympiakos as he ringsthe changes for his firstgame in charge followingNiko Kovac’s sacking.

Kovac was dismissed ashead coach on Sunday inthe wake of Bayern’s 5-1drubbing at EintrachtFrankfurt.

His assistant Flick hasbeen appointed interimcoach for Wednesday’sEuropean tie at home toOlympiakos andSaturday’s league gameagainst Dortmund.

Flick, 54, was called to anemergency meeting byBayern’s bosses onSunday night and was“honoured” to be asked totake temporary charge.

Now the formerGermany assistant coachwants an immediateresponse from Bayern’sstars against Olympiakos.

Both Mueller, 30, andMartinez, 31, mainly start-ed on the bench underKovac, but Flick wants toutilise the experience ofthe veterans, who helpedBayern win the 2013 trebleof Champions League,Bundesliga and GermanCup titles.

Group ‘B’ leadersBayern host bottom sideOlympiakos at the AllianzArena with a fourthstraight ChampionsLeague win in their sightsafter beating the Greekside 3-2 in Piraeus a fort-night ago.

Bayern already have onefoot in the knock-outphase as they currently sitfive-points clear of sec-ond-placed Tottenham.

— AFP

Fuzhou (China), Nov. 5:World Champion P.V.Sindhu suffered a shockdefeat to lower-ranked PaiYu Po of Chinese Taipei inthe opening round to beousted but India’s doublescampaign was off to a goodstart in the $700,000 ChinaOpen here on Tuesday.

World No.6 Sindhu, whomade early exits in China,Korea and Denmark, lost13-21, 21-18, 19-21 to worldNo. 42 Pai in a 74-minutewomen’s singles matchhere.

However, SatwiksairajRankireddy gave theIndian camp reason to becheerful with twin victo-ries in the men’s andmixed doubles categories.

Thailand Open champi-ons Satwik and ChiragShetty, who had reachedthe French Open finals lastmonth, defeated theAmerican pair of PhillipChew and Ryan Chew 21-9,21-15 to set up a second-round meeting with sixthseeds Japanese HiroyukiEndo and Yuta Watanabe.

Earlier, Satwik andAshwini Ponnappa, ranked30th, defeated Canada’sJoshua Hurlburt-Yu andJosephine Wu 21-19, 21-19to make a positive start inthe mixed doubles competi-tion.

They will face fifth-seed-ed Korean pair of SeoSeung Jae and ChaeYujung next.

In the men’s singles, H.S.Prannoy, who has recently

recovered from dengue, fal-tered in the opening round,losing 17-21, 18-21 toDenmark’s RasmusGemke.

The women’s doublespair of Ashwini Ponnappaand N Sikki Reddy wasblown away 9-21, 8-21 byworld No.10 Chinese pair ofLi Wen Mei and Zheng Yuin 30 minutes.

In the women’s singlesmatch, Sindhu, who hadreached the quarterfinalsat French Open in her lastouting, came into thematch with a 3-0 head-to-head record against Paibut it was the 28-year-oldTaiwanese, who took theinitiative early, opening upa 3-0 lead in the openinggame.

Though Sindhu made it 4-4, Pai was 8-4 ahead beforemaking it 11-5 at the break.The Taiwanese didn’t takeher foot off the pedal andmoved to 12-8 before reel-ing off eighth straightpoints to zoom to 20-8.

Sindhu saved five gamepoints before Pai earnedthe bragging rights aftersealing the opening game.

— PTI

Doha, Nov. 5: Birthdayboy Deepak Kumarsecured India’s 10thOlympic quota in shootingwhile Manu Bhakerclaimed the women’s 10mair pistol gold medal in the14th Asian Championshiphere on Tuesday.

Deepak gifted himself abronze medal in men’s 10mair rifle on the opening dayof the championship.

The Jakarta AsianGames silver medallistshot 227.8 in the eight-manfinal to finish third on thepodium and add to India’squotas for the 2020 TokyoOlympics.

Later in the day, 17-year-old Bhaker shot 244.3 towin the top prize in herevent. The Haryana sensa-tion, though, had alreadysecured an Olympic quotaat the Munich World Cupin May.

China’s Qian wang andRanxin Jiang won the sil-ver and bronze respective-ly in Bhaker’s event.

The other Indian compet-ing in the event,Yashaswini Singh Deshwalfinished sixth in the final.

The third Indian in thefray, Annu Raj Singh shot569 for a 20th place finish.

The Indian trio claimedthe team bronze with atotal of 1731, behind Koreaand China respectively.

Deepak, who turned 32 onTuesday, qualified for thefinal in third place afterregistering a sequence ofscores that read 103.1 104.8104.6 105.0 105.6 103.7, giv-ing him an aggregate of626.8.

Deepak is the secondIndian shooter to earn anOlympic quota in the

men’s 10m air rifle eventafter Divyansh SinghPanwar, who secured it inApril.

In the women’s 10m AirRifle, the Indian trio ofElavenil Valarivan, AnjumMoudgil and ApurviChandela won the team sil-ver with a combined effortof 1883.2, finishing behindKorea (1891.7). Iran wonthe bronze.

The tournament is thelast chance for shooters toearn quotas for the TokyoOlympics, slated for nextJuly-August. — PTI

Sindhu makes afirst round exit

Deepak takes Olyquota, Manu wins

Bayern interim boss to ring in changes

New Delhi, Nov. 5: Theshift in venue for thePakistan tie has broughtrelief as well asheadache for the nation-al tennis federation(AITA), the officials ofwhich are now scratch-ing their heads on teamselection.

The dynamics of theencounter has changedafter the InternationalTennis Federation shift-ed the tie out ofIslamabad as top Indianplayers, who had refusedto travel to Pakistan, arenow interested to com-pete in the November 29-30 tie.

The All India TennisAssociation officialsspent the day discussingwhether top playersshould be asked for theiravailability or notbecause if they do so, itwill amount to dumpingthe players, who showedtheir willingness to trav-el to Pakistan despitesafety concerns. The newcaptain Rohit Rajpal is

keen to have a strongside at his disposal butdoes not want the play-ers, who expressed theirwillingness to travel toIslamabad, to miss out.

Veteran Leander Paes,Saketh Myneni, JeevanNedunchezhiyan and N.Sriram Balaji had allmade themselves avail-able for selection.

Save Paes, none ofthese players would beable to make it to theteam because of theirlow ranking if top playerRohan Bopanna comes inthe fray for selection.

Paes is ranked 96th inthe world and Bopanna,who refused the trip toPakistan, is placed 39th.

Even if Bopanna andPaes are picked as a spe-

cialist pair as DivijSharan (47) is taking abreak, Jeevan (ranked110) and Balaji (137) willmiss out.

The Aita selection com-mittee largely goes by therankings while pickingthe Davis Cup squad, soignoring Bopanna wouldbe tough if he is willingto play.

“It’s a tricky situation.It does not feel good toditch players who werewilling to risk lives andtravel to Pakistan. Howdo you leave them out?But if top players areavailable, India shouldfield a strong team, so it’sa catch 22 situation forAita,” an official, closelymonitoring the develop-ment, said. — PTI

AITA on sticky wicketafter a shift in venue

● However,RankireddySatwiksairaj gavethe Indian camp rea-son to be cheerfulwith twin victories inthe men’s and mixeddoubles categories.

● The dynamics of the encounter havechanged after the ITF moved the tie outof Islamabad as top Indian players — whohad refused to travel to Pakistan — arenow interested to compete in the tie.

MOSES KKONDETY || DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 5

Two matches into the IndianSuper League. HyderabadFootball Club appearedbattered and bruised. Afterthe first game at home,they’re full of beans.

Understandably, after talis-manic Brazilian Marceloturned their fortunes aroundwith a jaw-dropping freekickthat sank into the Kerala netand soared host spirits in acome-from behind 2-1 win.

On Wednesday, manger PhilBrown will look to a similarshow from his boys as theytake on nippy NorthEastUnited in the second game atthe Gachibowli Stadium, avenue where they found fren-zied fans, with whom theteam want to build a rela-tionship via powerful per-formances on the field.

A second win will even outthe two losses but Brown stilldoes not have a full squad tochoose from — Bobo, RafaelGomez and Giles Barnes areinjured and Nestor Gordillois serving a ban. “I don’tthink we have moved past allthe injuries, there are fourbig players still injured butwe will focus on what we

have,” he said.NorthEast have a big one in

their ranks — World CupperAsamoah Gyan of Ghana.“We know we are up againsta very strong team that hasGyan who is capable of win-ning a game on his own butwe have a team which hascharacter,” said Brown.

NorthEast manager Robert

Jarni is cautious. “You neverknow how they (Hyderabad)are going to play. They wonthe last game, are full of con-fidence,” he said.

NorthEast United areunbeaten in three matchesand sit fourth on the tablewhile Hyderabad are ninthwith a lone win in three... butthey know it’s a new game.

HFC LOOK TO EXTEND MOMENTUM

CHINA OPEN | BADMINTON

INDIA VS PAK DAVIS CUP TIE

Milan, Nov. 5: Gian PieroGasperini warned that psy-

chology will be key as Italiannewcomers Atalanta look toavoid another huge defeat at thehands of Champions Leaguerivals Manchester City in Milanon Wednesday.

The Premier League champi-ons can seal their ticket to theknockout rounds with a winover Atalanta, who have lost allthree Group C games in theirfirst ever foray into the eliteEuropean competition.

Man City are top of theirgroup with maximum ninepoints and 10 goals scored, withthe Bergamo side bottom afterconceding 11 goals conceded andscoring just two.

Five of those came last timeout, when an 11-minute RaheemSterling hat-trick helped City toa 5-1 win in Manchester.

“The psychological aspect willbe fundamental,” saidGasperini.

“It’s a tight turnaround, butwe’ll prepare as best we can.”

Atalanta hit back in Serie Adays later with a 7-1 demolitionof lowly Udinese, but they havefelt the absence of starColombian striker DuvanZapata, who has been out with athigh injury picked up on inter-national duty last month.

Without him Atalanta haveslipped from third to fifth inSerie A, eight points behindleaders Juventus after a 2-0defeat to Cagliari at the week-end.

Juventus, Inter Milan andNapoli are used to measuringthemselves against theEuropean elite, but Atalanta’sonly trophy was the Italian Cup

back in 1963.The turn around in their for-

tunes has been orchestrated byformer Genoa and Palermo bossGasperini who took over in 2016.

The 61-year-old’s success atAtalanta came eight years afterbeing sacked by Inter Milanafter just three months.

The northeners sprinted tothird in Serie A last seasonahead of Inter Milan, their bestever finish, with the most goalsscored, and reached the ItalianCup final. This season they havecontinued on the same pathleading the way in the scoringcharts with 30 goals scored after11 rounds. — AFP

Hyderabad’s RobinSingh at a trainingsession on Tuesday.

ManchesterCity’s Raheem

Sterling (left) attendsa team training session

in Manchester onTuesday, the eve of their

Champions LeagueGroup ‘C’ matchagainst Atalanta.

— AFP

Real Madrid players at a training session in Madrid on Tuesday. — AP

Manu Bhaker poses withher gold medal. Below:Deepak Kumar with hisbronze medal.

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

Venkateswarlu on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited. Printedat Deccan Chronicle Press situatedat 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

City look to seal theirticket to knockouts

with win over Atalanta

David vsGoliath

Live on TVCHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Bayern vs Olympiacosfrom 11.25pm on SONY ESPN, HD

Lokomotiv Moscow vs Juventusfrom 11.25pm on SONY TEN 2, HD

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haryana - SPLessons

haryana - SPLessons

MAJOR AUCTION BAYSWATER, VIC - Burns & Co Mildura

MAJOR AUCTION BAYSWATER, VIC - Burns & Co Mildura

Burns Chronicle 1960

Burns Chronicle 1960

“Streets of Fire” revisited: contact burns

“Streets of Fire” revisited: contact burns

Black Friday for markets - SPLessons

Black Friday for markets - SPLessons

Barney McKenna, last of original Dubliners, dies - Internet ...

Barney McKenna, last of original Dubliners, dies - Internet ...