7HOXJX ILOP LQGXVWU\ WR JHW ODQG LQ 9L]DJ - Daily ...

12
While a new mathematical model that claims to correctly predict when a certain area will be free of Covid-19 emerges almost every day, there are some such models that have been on the dot with their pre- dictions thus far. According to one such model called the COV-IND Predictor, mid-July will see the virus peak in Telangana. Other experts also predict the virus peaking by mid-July, but their prediction is based on other factors. COV-IND Predictor’s pre- diction is being given some credence after going through the methodology adopted and how its others predictions have fared so far. This model, developed by researchers from Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), a deemed university aided by Department of Atomic Energy, is publicly available. The researchers developed this app, that would calculated data in realtime and named it COV-IND Predictor. The app synchronises with the latest data from the Covid- 19 dashboard in realtime and makes predictions. According to the COV-IND Predictor, Covid-19 cases will peak in Telangana State by mid- July and then gradually decline. Not only Telangana, the app also predicts the peak to be reached by each state and also the entire country. COV-IND Predictor had pre- dicted that Telangana would be recording 3,476 Covid-19 cases by June 6 (the number of cases on this date was 3,496). The Predictor says that the number of ACTIVE cases in India would be 1.7 lakh in July. The researchers calculated that the end time of the pandem- ic — when 99 percent of total expected cases of Covid-19 would be reached is around January 2021 when most of the infected per- sons would have recovered. Naidu vows to maul Jagan for ‘one year of misrule’ Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said that the TDP would expose the failures of YSRCP government during the Budget session of the Assembly that is likely to start from June 16. Naidu held a virtual con- ference with elected represen- tatives of the TDP, party in- charges and district party presidents. He called upon the TDP leaders and elected representatives to wage a relentless struggle against the YSRCP government and raise the problems of farmers and the poor in the Assembly thus exposing the misdeeds and failures of the one year of YSRCP rule. He said during the one- year YSRCP rule, the com- mon man has been put to misery and injustice because of the cancellations, atrocities and failures. He alleged that in the name of schemes, the ruling party was perpetrating one scam after another with- out least consideration for the lives of the people. The TDP supremo alleged that the unbridled corruption by the YSRCP was evident in the purchase of Coronavirus testing kits and bleaching powder. He said that TDP will focus on such corruption scams and irregularities in the scheduled Assembly session. At the meeting, the party leaders discussed various burning issues with Naidu. They stressed the need for taking their party charge sheet to the people all over the state and expose how the YSRCP has committed count- less misdeeds in the name of 'Navaratnalu'. BJP state vice president Vishnuvardhan Reddy on Tuesday disclosed that the party’s national general sec- retary V., Ram Madhav would head a virtual rally on Wednesday evening as part of the completion of the first year of the second term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday assured the Telugu film industry that land would be provided in Visakhapatnam region for carrying out cinema related activities. Representatives of the Telugu film industry met the Chief Minister to thank him for allowing resumption of film shooting in the state. A delegation from the film industry, comprising megastar Chiranjeevi, Akkineni Nagarjuna, SS Rajamouli, Dil Raju, Vijay Chander, Damodara Prasad, C Kalyan, PVP, and D Suresh Babu, met the Chief Minister at his official residence and thanked him for providing single window permission for shootings in the state and also presented their views for the devel- opment of the Telugu film industry in the state. Amaravati farmers try to get backing of Tollywood bigwigs F armers of Amaravati, who had been protesting against the decision of the YSRCP government to decen- tralise administration and shift the seat of gov- ernance to Vizag, on Tuesday demanded the representatives from the Telugu film industry extend solidarity with their agitation. Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has instructed officials to open all sand reaches and aim at stock- ing 70 lakh tonnes of sand before the onset of monsoon. The Chief Minister also said that hereafter, orders for sand can be booked at the village secretariats from June 11 onwards. The Chief Minister interact- ed with district collectors through videoconference dur- ing the Spandana meeting held here on Tuesday where he told them that all sand reach- es should be opened and enough stock should be piled before the monsoon becomes active. There is a need to increase the mining of sand in Srikakulam, East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Nellore districts and at least 3 lakh tonnes should be extracted, he said. The AP Government has written to the Centre asking it to blacklist 154 BS- 3 vehicles belonging to JC Diwakar Reddy and his rela- tives saying that these vehicles were registered in violation of rules. The State Government also sought permission for other States to seize the vehi- cles wherever they are plying. On its part, the AP Government ordered seizure of the vehicles being plied in violation of the rules. After plaints pile up, AP to stockpile sand Sri Kalahasti temple not to reopen as priest tests +ve A priest of the Sri Vaayulingeswra shrine at Sri Kalahasti, 40 km from here, on Tuesday tested positive for COVID-19, prompting temple authorities to postpone its reopening on June 12. Executive Officer of the ancient Saivite shrine, C Chandrasekhar Reddy told PTI tonight that the ongoing arrangements being made at the temple complex, following easing of COVID-19 lock- down norms to allow entry of devotees from this weekend, have now been suspended till further orders from the Andhra Pradesh government.

Transcript of 7HOXJX ILOP LQGXVWU\ WR JHW ODQG LQ 9L]DJ - Daily ...

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While a new mathematicalmodel that claims to correctlypredict when a certain area willbe free of Covid-19 emergesalmost every day, there aresome such models that havebeen on the dot with their pre-dictions thus far.

According to one such modelcalled the COV-IND Predictor,mid-July will see the virus peakin Telangana. Other experts alsopredict the virus peaking bymid-July, but their prediction isbased on other factors.

COV-IND Predictor’s pre-diction is being given somecredence after going through themethodology adopted and howits others predictions have faredso far. This model, developed byresearchers from Homi BhabhaNational Institute (HBNI), adeemed university aided byDepartment of Atomic Energy,is publicly available.

The researchers developedthis app, that would calculateddata in realtime and named itCOV-IND Predictor.

The app synchronises withthe latest data from the Covid-19 dashboard in realtime andmakes predictions.

According to the COV-IND

Predictor, Covid-19 cases willpeak in Telangana State by mid-July and then gradually decline.

Not only Telangana, the appalso predicts the peak to bereached by each state and alsothe entire country.

COV-IND Predictor had pre-dicted that Telangana would berecording 3,476 Covid-19 casesby June 6 (the number of caseson this date was 3,496). ThePredictor says that the number

of ACTIVE cases in India wouldbe 1.7 lakh in July.

The researchers calculatedthat the end time of the pandem-ic — when 99 percent of totalexpected cases of Covid-19would be reached isaround January2021 when most ofthe infected per-sons would haverecovered.

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Naidu vows to maul Jaganfor ‘one year of misrule’�� � ���� �����

Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu onTuesday said that the TDPwould expose the failures ofYSRCP government duringthe Budget session of theAssembly that is likely tostart from June 16.

Naidu held a virtual con-ference with elected represen-tatives of the TDP, party in-charges and district partypresidents. He called uponthe TDP leaders and electedrepresentatives to wage arelentless struggle against theYSRCP government and raisethe problems of farmers andthe poor in the Assemblythus exposing the misdeedsand failures of the one year ofYSRCP rule.

He said during the one-year YSRCP rule, the com-mon man has been put tomisery and injustice because

of the cancellations, atrocitiesand failures. He alleged thatin the name of schemes, theruling party was perpetratingone scam after another with-out least consideration for thelives of the people.

The TDP supremo allegedthat the unbridled corruptionby the YSRCP was evident inthe purchase of Coronavirustesting kits and bleaching

powder. He said that TDPwill focus on such corruptionscams and irregularities in the scheduled Assemblysession.

At the meeting, the partyleaders discussed variousburning issues with Naidu.They stressed the need fortaking their party chargesheet to the people all overthe state and expose how theYSRCP has committed count-less misdeeds in the name of'Navaratnalu'.

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BJP state vice presidentVishnuvardhan Reddy onTuesday disclosed that theparty’s national general sec-retary V., Ram Madhavwould head a virtual rally onWednesday evening as part ofthe completion of the firstyear of the second term ofPrime Minister NarendraModi.

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Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy onTuesday assured the Telugu film industrythat land would be provided inVisakhapatnam region for carrying outcinema related activities.

Representatives of the Telugu filmindustry met the Chief Minister to thankhim for allowing resumption of filmshooting in the state.

A delegation from the film industry,comprising megastar Chiranjeevi,Akkineni Nagarjuna, SS Rajamouli, DilRaju, Vijay Chander, Damodara Prasad, CKalyan, PVP, and D Suresh Babu, met theChief Minister at his official residence andthanked him for providing single windowpermission for shootings in the state andalso presented their views for the devel-opment of the Telugu film industry in the state.

Amaravati farmers try to getbacking of Tollywood bigwigsFarmers of Amaravati,

who had beenprotesting against thedecision of the YSRCPgovernment to decen-tralise administrationand shift the seat of gov-ernance to Vizag, onTuesday demanded therepresentatives from theTelugu film industryextend solidarity withtheir agitation.

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Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy hasinstructed officials to open allsand reaches and aim at stock-ing 70 lakh tonnes of sandbefore the onset of monsoon.The Chief Minister also saidthat hereafter, orders for sandcan be booked at the villagesecretariats from June 11onwards.

The Chief Minister interact-ed with district collectorsthrough videoconference dur-ing the Spandana meetingheld here on Tuesday where hetold them that all sand reach-es should be opened andenough stock should be piled

before the monsoon becomesactive. There is a need toincrease the mining of sand inSrikakulam, East and WestGodavari, Krishna, Gunturand Nellore districts and atleast 3 lakh tonnes should beextracted, he said.

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The APGovernmenthas written tothe Centreasking it toblacklist 154 BS-3 vehicles belonging to JCDiwakar Reddy and his rela-tives saying that these vehicleswere registered in violation ofrules. The State Governmentalso sought permission forother States to seize the vehi-cles wherever they are plying.

On its part, the APGovernment ordered seizureof the vehicles being plied inviolation of the rules.

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After plaints pile up,AP to stockpile sand

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Sri Kalahasti temple not toreopen as priest tests +ve�� � ������

A priest of the SriVaayulingeswra shrine at SriKalahasti, 40 km from here, onTuesday tested positive forCOVID-19, prompting temple

authorities to postpone itsreopening on June 12.

Executive Officer of theancient Saivite shrine, CChandrasekhar Reddy toldPTI tonight that the ongoingarrangements being made at

the temple complex, followingeasing of COVID-19 lock-down norms to allow entry ofdevotees from this weekend,have now been suspended tillfurther orders from theAndhra Pradesh government.

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Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Tuesday directed offi-cials to issue identity cards forvarious welfare schemes to ben-eficiaries in a time-bound man-ner.

He said as per the standardoperation procedure (SOP), riceand pension cards will be givenwithin 10 days of applying,Aarogyasri cards within 20 daysand house site pattas with regis-tration within 90 days.

"This is the commitment wehave given to the people and theSOP should be followed strictlyand the benefits should be givenon saturation method withoutany scope for corruption andshould be transparent," an offi-cial statement quoted the ChiefMinister having said in a digital'Spandana' meeting with districtcollectors.

“If the cards are not givenwithin the stipulated time for novalid reason, action will betaken,” Jagan said.

The Chief Minister said thatthe list of beneficiaries should bedisplayed at all village and wardsecretariats. The pension, riceand Aarogyasri cards should bedelivered to beneficiaries at theirdoorstep, he said.

On house site pattas, Jagansaid, "We have asked those whohave missed out house site pat-tas to apply. As of now 30.3 lakhis the likely figure and the listshould be displayed by June 12and by June 15, all formalities

should be completed.” The casesof those left out should be sort-ed out by June 15 and the housesite pattas should be distributedon July 8, he said.

Jagan said the Secretariatshould also display all importantand useful numbers and the cal-endar of welfare schemes and theservices available for people.

"If the work is not done ontime, paying compensation willalso take place," he said, andasked officers to focus on thehousing scheme which is near-ing the fag end of implementa-tion.

He also asked the collectors to

concentrate on the works in vil-lage secretariats, Rythu BharosaKendras (RBKs) and village clin-ics besides the work in progressunder the Nadu Nedu scheme invarious schools.

The mapping of YSR Clinicsin urban areas will be complet-ed by June 10 and land has to beidentified, Jagan said.

Noting that 31,000 of the55,000 anganwadis in the stateare in a bad shape, he said thatthere is need for new buildingsand asked a joint collector to takeup the responsibility of trainingstaff at village and ward secretari-ats and review their work.

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The construction of Gow-Mandiram and Go-TulabharaMandiram near Alipiri PadalaMandapam will be completedin two months, according toTTD Trust Board ChairmanYV Subba Reddy.

The TTD chairman, alongwith the TTD Board memberSekhar Reddy, inspected theprogress of construction worksof the twin buildings onTuesday.

Speaking to media personslater, the TTD Chairman saidthe works of the newMandiram and Bhavan havetaken up with the contributionfrom some donors and TTDBoard members but wasdelayed by three months dueto the Corona lockdown.

He said TTD is planning tomake arrangements for devo-tees to worship the holy cowsbefore going to Tirumala forSrivari darshan.

He said that in GowTulabharam Bhavan and devo-tees could donate feed andgrass as per the weight of acow to redeem their vow ofGodaanam.

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Researchers in the US haveidentified regions of the novelCoronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)to target with a vaccine byharnessing tools used for thedevelopment of cancerimmunetherapies.

Using this s trateg y,researchers believe a resultingvaccine would provide pro-tection across the humanpopulation and drive a long-term immune response, thestudy, published in the jour-nal Cell Reports Medicine,said.

In many ways, cancerbehaves like a virus, so theresearch team decided to usethe tools they developed toidentify unique aspects ofchildhood cancers that can be

targeted with immunothera-pies and apply those sametools to identify the right pro-tein sequences to target inSARS-CoV-2.

"By adapting the computa-tional tools developed, wecan now prioritise viral tar-

gets based on their ability tostimulate a lasting immuneresponse, predicted to be inthe vast majority of thehuman population," saidsenior author John M Marisf rom the University ofPennsylvania.

"We think our approachprovides a road map for avaccine that would be bothsafe and effective and couldbe produced on a scale,"Maris added. To increase thelikelihood that a vaccine isboth safe and effective, theresearch team prioritisedparameters in identifyingregions of the virus to target.

They looked for regions

that would stimulate a mem-ory T-cell response that whenpaired with the right B cellswould drive memory B cellformation and provide lastingimmunity and do so acrossthe major ity of humangenomes.

They targeted regions ofSARS-CoV-2 that are presentacross mult iple relatedCoronaviruses as well as new

mutations that increase infec-tivity, while also ensuringthat those regions were asdissimilar as possible fromsequences naturally occur-ring in humans to maximisesafety. Researchers propose alist of 65 peptide sequencesthat, when targeted, offer thegreatest probability of provid-ing population-scale immu-nity. As a next step, the teamis testing various combina-tions of a dozen or so of thesesequences in mouse modelsto assess their safety andeffectiveness.

"Our approach, if success-ful, could lead to protectionagainst not only SARS-CoV-2 but also other coronavirus-es that might emerge in thefuture," said study lead authorMark Yarmarkovich.

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, D.No. New 3-88, Old 3-22, Chandra Theatre, Gosala, Penamaluru Mandal, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh - 521 151, Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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Won't the easing oflockdown dis-turb rural areas

that are presently safe, toa large extent, from thedevastating impact ofCovid-19? Can Indiabeat the coronaviruspandemic effectively withits meagre weapons whensocial distancing goes for atoss? Isn't it abdication ofresponsibility on the part ofthe governments to virtuallyshepherd the virus by liftingrestrictions at a time whencases are exploding? India isheaded for the worst. The sit-uation, far from being 'con-trolled', will spin out of con-trol due to the opening ofshopping malls, markets,shrines and other publicplaces. Although social dis-tancing is considered a potent

weapon to tacklethe deadly virus, mostpeople are not adheringto its norms; or, like inDharavi slum in

Mumbai, theexisting situation, in terms

of density of populationand growth of urban areas,simply does not permit it.

It appears that only innations with largely disci-plined people things areunder control. In some of theso-called liberal societies,chaos is the norm, with peo-ple bent upon defying rulesand restrictions as if there isno tomorrow. In India too,people have no qualms aboutviolating rules and norms. Itgives bikers and others thrillto give a slip to the trafficpolice when they brazenlyviolate rules. Such an attitude

will not work when it comesto Covid-19.

The sickening pictures ofcrowds buying fish that themedia highlighted recently,with people packed like sar-dines in small spaces that goby the name of markets, sug-gest that there can be nocontrol whatsoever wheneveryone is a willing violatorof norms. One should notforget that in Suryapet near-ly 100 people got infected bya single fish vendor.

It appears that the govern-ments may not be in a posi-tion to effectively treat Covid-19 cases in the days ahead asthe existing facilities at gov-ernment hospitals are nomatch for the requirements,given the emerging situation.Increasing bed strength atshort notice is easier saidthan done. For instance, theDelhi government is lookingfor the availability of nearly16, 000 beds in private hospi-tals. The other states too are

more or less in a similar posi-tion.

It is ridiculous on part ofthe governments, which hadimplemented lockdown strict-ly when the death toll was just10 all over the country, to

relax rules and norms at atime when the nationwidedeath toll is nearing 70, 000.It is clear that the commit-ment shown initially to tack-le the corona situation hasgone for a toss now. Wherehas the dedication of the gov-ernment, 'revealed' on dailybasis by two officials of UnionHealth and Home ministriesLuv Agarwal and Punya SalilaSreevatsava respectively,gone?

It is now clear that 90% ofthe total cases of corona arefrom just 10 states, with Delhi,Maharashtra, Gujarat andTamil Nadu being amongstates that are badly affected.Free movement of people dueto lifting of curbs and open-ing of places of mass gather-ings like shopping malls andrestaurants will simply pave

the way for further spread ofthe virus. Due to lack ofawareness or sheer irrespon-sibility, people are jeopardis-ing their own lives as well asthose of fellow citizens by notfollowing at least social dis-tancing. Further, it hasbecome an uphill task for thegovernment to tackle asymp-tomatic cases of Covid-19.People have been asked not toallow their children to playoutside; still, they are leastbothered about their chil-dren's movements and play inthe open.

The Telangana governmenthas cancelled SSC publicexamination and promoted all5.34 lakh students across thestate. Similar decisions shouldbe taken for Intermediate anddegree exams also. It is a dif-ferent matter that the students

of 2020 will be called 'Coronabatch'. In the late sixties, justto increase the pass percent-age in Class X, the then gov-ernment of undivided AndhraPradesh headed by KasuBrahmananda Reddy hadgranted 10 additional marksto students who could notattain the pass mark of 35 outof 100. Thus, students whogot just 25 marks in the finalexamination were deemed tohave passed. Of course, thosestudents carried a tag:'Brahmananda Reddy pass'.

In view of worsening situ-ation across the country, thegovernments should firstensure that people followsocial distancing and wearmasks. Shrines need not opennow. Can't people pray athome? Cinema theatres tooshould remain closed.

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A five-year-old toddler BKarthikeya got a new lease oflife after the doctors success-fully removing a button batterythat was struck in his esoph-agus at Manipal Hospitalshere.

A team of doctors led by DrRavi Shankar Tata, medicalgastroenterologist and DrVVK Sandeep, ConsultantENT, successfully removedthe battery within two hoursof presentation and saved thechild from further harm.

The child, after ingesting thebattery was finding it extreme-ly difficult to breathe andcould not swallow anything.Post the incident at home, hewas immediately taken to alocal doctor, who referred thiscase to Manipal Hospital forimmediate treatment.

Sharing details about thecase, Dr Ravi Shankar Tata,consultant medical gastroen-terology, said: “When the bat-tery did not come out, thechild was brought to ManipalHospitals. He was unable toswallow anything solid or liq-uid for the past two days. Ourteam of doctors were able toremove the battery successful-ly within two hours of hisarrival to the hospital. Duringthe procedure, we observedthat because of the ingestion ofthe battery, its content leakedinside the esophagus and itwas burnt up to seven cm forwhich the doctors had to putin a Ryles tube for a few daysuntil recovery. Patient wasdoing well.

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To wipe out the sale ofbanned gutka and ganjasmuggling, the city policeunder the directive of PoliceCommissioner Ch DwarakaTirumala Rao conducted sur-prise checks on the high-ways. On a tip-off, theVijayawada Task Force sleuthsarrested eight persons andrecovered 100 kgs of ganjaworth Rs 5 lakh and seizedtwo cars and a motorbike onTuesday underSatyanarayanapuram policestation limits.

The arrested were identi-fied as N Vamsikrishna (41),P Ravindra Babu (32), NSambasiva Rao (47), ShaikGouse Basha, M PrabhuKumar (29), V Hemanth SaiRam (23), S Praveen Kumar(23) and P Sambasiva Rao(49) all residents ofVijayawada.

During the interrogation,they said that Vamsikrishna,Shaik Gouse Basha andPrabhu Kumar were involvedin ganja smuggling. Themodus operandi of the ganja

smugglers was to buy thematerial from Narsipatnamand Chintapalli inVisakhapatnam district andwith the help of RavindraBabu, Sambasiva Rao,Hemanth Sai Ram, PraveenKumar and Sambasiva Rao,the material is being trans-ported to Vijayawada by road.

The Task Force policeseized two cars bearing num-bers AP 16 FF 6868, AP 39 W0148 and a Pulsar motorbikebearing number AP 39 AC4013. A case was registeredand man-hunt has beenlaunched to nab othersinvolved in the smuggling,according to Task Force

ADCP KV Srinivas Ro.ACPs T Kanaka Raju, VSN

Sarma, Inspector KKrishnamohan, SIs AbdulSalam, Sesha Reddy and theteam nabbed the ganja ped-dlers at a house oppositeChandra hotel,Poornanandapet underSatyanarayanapuram policestation limits.

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The government has decidedto impart teaching to studentsof Class I to X throughDoordarshan Saptagiri channelfrom Wednesday onwards dueto Corona outbreak. TheBridge course lessons would betaught I to V grade studentsand subject lessons to VI to IXgrade students.

It is learnt that teacherswould come to schools once aweek to clarify students’ doubtswhere the latter could seekhelp from the former.Meanwhile, Bridge coursebooks designed specificallyfor I to V grade students weredistributed to students on

Tuesday.According to schedule,

Classes for I and II will be heldfrom 11 am to 11.30 am, whilefor III, IV and V will be con-

ducted from 11.30 am to 12pm and classes for VI and VIIgrades will be telecast from 2pm to 3 pm, for VIII and IXfrom 3 pm to 4 pm.

The classes will be held tillthe end of June. On the otherhand, the two-hour pro-gramme, which is currentlyunderway for X studentswould be continued. As per theeducation department, teach-ers, who teach lessons forgrades I to V, should attend theschool every Tuesday fromJune 16 to clarify the doubts of

Students, while teachers, whoteach VI and VII grade stu-dents, should go to schoolsevery Wednesday from June17, followed by teachers, whoteach lessons for VIII and IXgrade students should attendschool every Friday from June19. While X grade teachers arerequired to go to schools everyWednesday and Friday.

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As the country begins to easeout of the lockdown, HDFCBank launched ‘SummerTreats’, which has excitingoffers to meet the chang-ing needs of mer-chants, as well assalaried ands e l f -e m p l o y e dcustomers.

Efforts tocurb thespread ofC o v i d - 1 9have changedc o n s u m e rlifestyles anddemands. Work from homeand school from home haveresulted in increased demandfor phones, tablets, computersand related accessories.Demand for safe digital pay-ments and private transport is

also rising. Similarly, as shopsand businesses begin toreopen, they have require-ments for business finance.

Speaking about ‘SummerTreats’, Parag Rao, CountryHead – Payments, Consumer

Finance, DigitalBanking, said the

lockdown has creat-ed new consumerhabits. Workfrom home andlearn from homehave become areality and will

remain so for thenear future. “We are

seeing increaseddemand for electronic

devices, appliances, and edu-cational, entertainment andfitness subscriptions.”

“There’s also rising demandfor finance from auto loansand personal loans to businessfinance schemes.

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“Reiterating his view that wehave to live with Covid-19 asthe pandemic wouldn’t simplyvanish in the days to come,”Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Tuesday empha-sised the need for creatingawareness among people overCoronavirus and the need toovercome the fear of contract-ing it. He pointed out that therecovery rate is high while themortality rate in the State is justone per cent.

Addressing a video conferencewith District Collectors as part ofthe Spandana programme, theChief Minister directed officialsto educate people about themeasures that need to be takento protect themselves and forremoving the stigma surround-ing the infection.

The Chief Minister instruct-ed officials of the HealthDepartment and all DistrictCollectors to focus on creating

awareness among people tomake sure they identify thesymptoms and get tested vol-untarily.

“People shouldn’t feel anystigma or fear for getting test-ed. If they don’t come forwardand get treated, it may eventu-ally leads to death, hiking themortality rate. So far, the pos-itive rate in the State is only oneper cent while it is six per centin the country. Nearly, 85 percent of the cases can be cured

with simple medications bystaying at home,” Jagan said.

He also acknowledged theservices of village volunteers,Asha workers, doctors, labtechnicians and sanitationworkers during the fightagainst the pandemic. Withregard to the Nadu-Nedudevelopment activity, the ChiefMinister instructed the JointCollectors to monitor theworks on a daily basis and toldthem to identify suitable lands

for the establishment of 15 newmedical colleges, with 50 acresof land for each college. He toldthe officials to complete theland identification process atthe earliest.

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During the review meetingwith District Collectors andJoint Collectors on house siteslayouts works, Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy compli-mented District Collector MDImtiaz and the authorities forcompleting 100 per cent layoutsworks in Krishna district.

District Collector Imtiaz,Joint Collectors KMadhavilatha, L Sivashankarand K Mohan Kumar took partin the video conference onTuesday.

The Chief Minister haslaunched a portal from thecamp office through videoconference for the beneficiariesto apply for various welfareschemes introduced by thegovernment. Later, hereviewed the works on housesites, sand, YSR Village Clinic,Rythu Barosa centres, Nadu-Nedu, e-Crop booking, Covidand others.

He appreciated the Collectorfor completing the layoutworks for house sites and theinitiative shown for medicalcollege land in Machilipatnamand instructed officials to pre-pare and display the final list

of house site beneficiaries byJune 12.

For the old house site ben-eficiary applicants, the processshall be completed by June 15,he said that by July 8 every-thing should be in place for thedistribution of house sites tothe beneficiaries.

District Collector Imtiaz

said that 1,397 layouts werecompleted with 100 per centdemarcation with surveystones.

About 92,000 new applica-tions received from new appli-cants. Land for all the benefi-ciaries in the district will beready by June 30, said theCollector.

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Acting on a tip off, theCyberabad Special OperationsTeam (SOT), officials of theSOT, LB Nagar Zone, alongwith the Hayathnagar policeand agriculture departmentofficials, conducted a raid andnabbed four persons in agodown located on the out-skirts of Brahmanapally whilethey were mixing and packingspurious cotton seeds in orderto sell them to gullible farmers.

Officials seized 2.8 tonnes ofspurious cotton seeds, alongwith processing and packingequipment and other evidence,all worth Rs 50 lakh from theirpossession.

The arrested persons havebeen identified as ChinthalaVenkateshwarlu (30), PuttaVenkata Ramana (46), NomulaVenkanna (32) and VagalagaaniAshok (32). Another personinvolved in the racket,Pathlavath Krishna Naik (42),is absconding, said the Police.

“Chinthala Venkateshwarlu,came to Hyderabad 10 yearsago and was working as a cableoperator. Pathlavath KrishnaNaik and Putta VenkataRamana, who are in the seedsbusiness from Nandyal, arewell known to Venkateshwarlu.

Venkateshwarlu andVenkata Ramana planned toearn easy money by sellingspurious seeds to gullible farm-ers in the surrounding areas of

Hyderabad city by mixing spu-rious seeds with seed chemi-cals and packing them in cov-ers of various brands like‘BILLA & PAVANI’, whichalready exist in the market. Asper their plan, Venkateshwarlulooks after the entire mainte-nance of their illegal activity,while Naik and Ramana haveto supply the seeds and otherequipment required for themixing and packing of the spu-rious seeds” according toRachakonda police.

Venkateshwarlu took agodown for lease on the out-skirts of Brahmanapally village.Helping the group was a mar-keting agent, VagalagaaniAshok. All the accused start-ed mixing the spurious seedswith red colour seed mixingchemical and packed the samein labelled covers of otherbrands, including‘SARPANCH GOLD’ to sellthem to farmers. They told the

farmers that they were sellingbranded seed at a lower pricethan the government approvedseeds.

Three days ago, the accusedalready sold spurious seedpackets to a couple of innocentfarmers in the surroundingareas of Shadnagar town.While the actual price of thebranded and governmentapproved seed packet weighing450 grams is Rs 730, theaccused sold a spurious seedpacket of the same quantity forRs 500, cheating the farmers.

On Tuesday morning, whileVenkateshwarlu, VenkataRamana, Nomula Venkannaand Vagalagaani Ashok weremixing and packing the spuri-ous cotton seeds in theirgodown, police and officials ofthe agricultural departmentraided and caught them in pos-session of the spurious cottonseeds and other equipmentused in the process.

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The youth wing of the rulingparty Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS) lodged a com-plaint with the police againsta Facebook user, who hadposted fake news on socialmedia that Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao hadsuccumbed to Covid-19.

The complaint was lodgedagainst the user ‘PanyalaRaju’ on Facebook. Raju post-ed on his Facebook page thatthe Chief Minister died ofCoronavirus and that he hadcontracted the virus throughhis nose, as confirmed by thedoctors at Gandhi Hospital.

In the complaint, the lead-ers alleged that the personhad been posting derogatorycomments and fake news onsocial media and abusing theChief Minister.

The Bowenpally police reg-istered a case and took upinvestigation. The post hassince been removed with thehelp of the Cyber CrimePolice.

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The Telangana government istaking up construction of 4,696smart toilets on a war footingbasis. According to PrincipalSecretary Arvind Kumar,“Telangana recognising theimportance of public, commu-nity, ‘She’ toilets (one per 1,000commuters) has, on the directiveof Minister K T Rama Rao,authorised District Collectors tofinalise designs, SSR unit ratesand empanel agencies to speedup construction without delay oftendering process”.

The design of such toiletswhether standalone or commu-nity toilets (having more thanone seat), including She toiletswill be finalised by the DistrictCollector with the assistance ofthe Municipal Commissionersof the ULBs. Some designs arealready shared by the CDMAand Collectors to finalise a par-

ticular design depending uponparticular location.

As per the GO Rt. No. 231issued by the Secretary, “Thiswill obviate the need to go fortender every time and a lot oftime can be saved in the process”.

The GO reads that each ofthese toilets should beequipped with proper ventila-tion, proper water supply andhaving electrical connectionwherever needed. Toilets onimportant commercial areascan be taken up on self sustain-able Public Private Partnership(PPP) mode on the lines ofLoo Café in Hyderabad where-in it will be designed, con-structed and maintained by theagency at their own cost.

It is clarified that all such toi-lets constructed in institutionalpremises, etc., shall be open togeneral public and usage shallunder no circumstances, berestricted.

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Parents of a 20-year-old womanallegedly killed her for falling inlove with a man, who belongsto the OBC community, afterthey found that she was preg-nant.

The incident occurred onSunday morning at Kalakuntlavillage in Manavapadu mandalof Jogulamba-Gadwal district.

According to the local oolice,Bhaskaraiah Vuppala andVeeramma, have three daugh-ters and the deceased Divya wasone of them.

"She was pursuing herundergraduation from a privatecollege in Kurnool districtwhere she met her beau, whowas also studying in the sameclass. Divya, who belongs to theupper caste Vaishya communi-ty, had not disclosed her rela-tionship to her parents fearingbacklash as her boyfriendbelongs to the Boya communi-ty. When she fell sick and didnot menstruate since her returnfrom college, her father took herto a private hospital in Kurnoolon Saturday where they wereinformed that she is pregnant,"said the police.

Her parents allegedly want-ed Divya to abort her pregnan-cy but she allegedly refused todo so. Police said that her par-ents reportedly threatened herto abort the baby by stating thatnews of her pregnancy would“bring disrepute” to the family.

After returning from the

hospital, Divya went to sleep inher room. At around 4 am onSunday, Bhaskaraiah andVeeramma allegedly strangledher to death.

"Early on Sunday morning,Divya’s parents informed herneighbours and relatives thatshe died of cardiac arrest.However, Divya’s neighbours,who grew suspicious, informedthe village secretary. The ShantiNagar police subsequentlydetained Bhaskaraiah andVeeramma on Sunday after-noon and began questioningthem. After her parents foundout that she was pregnant andthat she had fallen in love witha person from a lower caste, herparents assumed it would tar-nish their reputation in the vil-lage. On Sunday, her fatherstrangled her, while her moth-er covered her face with a pil-low,” said the Sub-Inspector ofShanti Nagar Police StationSreehari.

Village panchayat secretary

filed a complaint with policeafter Divya’s neighbours tippedhim off.

On Sunday, an FIR was reg-istered under Section 174 (pro-cedure to follow in case ofunnatural death, where thepolice are empowered to under-take an investigation) of theCrPC after the complaint wasfiled stating that Divya diedunder suspicious circum-stances.

"When we examined herbody, she had injuries on herneck and other minor injuriesdue to the struggle. During thecourse of interrogation both theparents confessed to the crime,”SI Sreehari added.

After the confession, a caseof murder was registered underSection 302 of the Indian PenalCode.

Shantinagar Circle InspectorK Venkateshwarlu said thatthe accused were remanded injudicial custody after they for-mally arrested the couple.

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Continued from Page 1

Others, including epidemi-ologist Giridhara R Babu, cal-culate the virus to peak in mid-July based on when the lock-down was lifted.

“If the lockdown is lifted byMay end, then we will havepeak around mid-July becauseif you take three incubationperiods, which is one-and-halfmonths, that will be enough foryou to know how the diseasespreads when nothing is con-trolled,” Prof Babu said.

However, it may be notedthat these calculations arebased on estimated reaction ofthe people after lifting of thelockdown.

Like all estimates, these pre-dictions would hold good tillsuch time the people continueto be alert and continue to takeprecautions while going abouttheir day to day lives. Also, itmust be remembered that so

far, urban areas have been theworst-hit by the contagion; if

it spreads to rural areas, thepredictions would go awry.

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Continued from Page 1

Mr Baijal refused to recon-sider his decision and it wasnot taken up in the meeting,he said. Assessing a steepcurve for Delhi's virus casesin the coming weeks, MrSisodia said 50 per cent of allbeds in Delhi were generallyoccupied by those who camefor treatment from outside.

"Now we see that theremight be a situation that80,000 beds would be need-ed by end of July - that tooonly for residents of Delhi, notoutsiders... so where will this

come from? What is beingdone about it," the DeputyChief Minister questioned.

"We brought up this sce-nario during today's meetingbut nothing was discussed.We feel the only way bedsmay be available is if allother planned medical pro-cedures can be put on holdfor a later date and the focusis on COVID-19... we are stillthinking what needs to bedone." Mr Sisodia also toldreporters that according tocentral officials, Delhi wasnot in the community trans-mission stage.

Continued from Page 1

Responding to the industry’sneeds, the Chief Minister told thedelegation to set up studios andother production facilities inVisakhapatnam city, as the Stategovernment was going to extendsupport by all means.

“Chief Minister assured toprovide lands in Vizag for theFilm Industry, for setting up ofstudios and other productionfacilities working from AP. Thegovernment also agreed to pro-vide land for housing plots forthe celebrities who wish to set-tle in Vizag", said TransportMinister Perni Venkataramaiah.

Addressing media after themeeting, Chiranjeevi said thatthe Chief Minister has agreed toallow shootings in the state fromJuly 15 and responded positive-ly over the issues related toTollywood.

He stated that Jagan assuredfor reconsidering to allot 300

acres in Visakhapatnam to theTollywood which was already

allotted by former Chief MinisterYS Rajasekhara Reddy.

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Representatives of the Telugufilm industry, including actors KChiranjeevi and AkkineniNagarjuna, directors Trivikram,Rajamouli, producers DaggubatiSuresh Babu, Dil Raju, Venkatram Reddy and DamodarPrasad were in the state Capitalregion to meet Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy. Afterreaching Vijayawada airport,the film personalities came toBJP leader Gokaraju Gangaraju’sguesthouse on the UndavalliKarakatta for visit.

Getting a whiff about thearrival of Chiranjeevi, Nagarjunaand others, Amaravati farmers

rushed to the spot and staged aprotest in front of the guesthousedemanding the actors declaretheir support to their protest thathas been going on for the 175days demanding continuation ofAmaravati as the only Capital ofthe State. The farmers said thatthe film personalities usuallycome out in support of variousmovements but failed to supportthe residents of despite theirnumerous appeals. They saidthat the success of Telugu filmsdepends only on the viewers inAndhra Pradesh, but when itcomes to backing the people, thefilm personalities convenientlyforget the people who helpthem amass huge money.

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Addressing the media hereon Tuesday, VishnuvardhanReddy said that virtual ralliesare being organised across thecountry on account of Covid-19 pandemic. Three rallies areplanned for Andhra Pradesh— Costal Andhra, NorthAndhra and Rayalaseemaregion.

The virtual rally would beinaugurated by Ram Madhavon Wednesday at coastalAndhra and development andwelfare activities carried out

by the Modi government willbe highlighted,Vishnuvardhan Reddy said.

Speaking about local issues,the BJP leader said that manyletters were written to ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy on the “anti-people”decisions and problems beingfaced by the people in thestate. “However, there was noresponse from the CM. Thegovernment does not careabout the frontline workers orjournalists,” VishnuvardhanReddy said.

He alleged that all Central

Government schemes werebeing rebranded as StateGovernment schemes.

“ The AP Governmentpromised to pay Rs 12,000 toeach farmer under YSR RythuBarosa and had paid Rs 7,500only. The State Governmentis paying farmers Rs 13,500by including the Central gov-ernment Kisan SammanYojana scheme funds of Rs6,000, he said.

Vishnuvardhan Reddyalleged that both the rulingparty and the previous TDPgovernment looted the state.

He recalled that the YSRCPhad promised to send the cor-rupt TDP leaders behind barsbut did not send even oneOpposition leader to jail dur-ing its one year rule.

“The state will flourishonly if the Saturn effect ofYSRCP and TDP arerelieved,” he said and addedthat parties which praisedJana Sena are finding faultwith it . VishnuvardhanReddy challenged both theruling party and the TDP toan open debate on corrup-tion.

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Continued from Page 1

“Under the the pretext of these promises,the ruling party resorted to betrayals, cancel-lations, tariff increases and needless financialburdens,” the TDP chief said, asking his partyleaders to fight relentlessly till the Governmentsteps down. "At the same time, the partymembers should remain cautious aboutthose who will betray us and maintain dis-tance from them.

The betrayers will remain condemnedbecause of their collusion with the chaoticforces,” Naidu said. The TDP leaders accusedJagan rule of making poor people's lives mis-erable by hiking power tariffs.

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Continued from Page 1

RTA Joint CommissionerPrasada Rao on Tuesday saidthat 50 buses were registered onJatadhara Industries, while 104are registered in the name of CGopal Reddy.

He said that 33 vehicles wereregistered in Karnataka, 15 inTelangana and 101 in AP,adding that 27 FIRs were reg-istered in Anantapur and threein Kurnool against these vehi-cles. The Joint Commissionersaid that he had written to theCentre to blacklist these vehi-cles in its database.

Prasada Rao said that he alsoasked insurance companies toupdate the national data base.

Registration of 80 vehicleswas cancelled in Anantapur, fiveeach in Kurnool and Chittoorand three in Kadapa, he said,adding that six vehicles that are

plying in Nellore are locked incourt cases. “Therefore, cancel-lation of their registration hasbeen postponed,” Prasada Raosaid.

The RTA official said that sofar, 62 vehicles of JC Travelshave been seized and another39 were yet to be seized. Asmany as 12 buses plying inTelangana have been identifiedand the Government of thatstate has been given informa-tion so that suitable action istaken, he said.

Moreover, those intending tobuy vehicles from JC Travelshave been forewarned. Also, theofficials have identified 71 fakeinsurance policies pertaining tothe buses, he said.

JC Uma Reddy and JCAsmit Reddy are functioningas directors of Jatadhara indus-tries, the RTA joint commis-sioner said.

3���������� �������444Continued from Page 1

Activity at sand reach-es should be stepped upand sand mining shouldbe escalated inSrikakulam, East andWest Godavari, Krishna,Guntur, Nellore andKadapa districts wherethe number of reachesare more in number, theChief Minister said. Newsources should also beidentified and reachesshould be set up, he said.

From June 11, people

can book sand at VillageSecretariats as well. TheJoint Collector shouldtake full responsibility andthe Collectors shouldsupervise the transactions.

People with smallerneeds can draw sand fromany source within 5 kmand the matter should beinformed to the VillageSecretariat, he said.

Bulk orders should bedealt by the JointCollector and theStandard OperatingProcedure (SOP) will

come into force from June10, he said and askedthem to maintain trans-parency in all deals.

Referring to the liquorpolicy, the Chief Ministersaid “We have taken effec-tive steps to bring downthe consumption of alco-hol. We have closed down43,000 belt shops andreduced the number ofliquor shops by 33 percent besides cutting downthe number of workinghours after taking over theliquor trade.”

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Opposition Samajwadi Partyand Bahujan Samaj Party onTuesday said the "encroach-ment" of Indian territory byChina is unacceptable and thatthey are with the government butother parties should rise abovepolitics on the issue of nationalinterest. "In East Ladakh, theencroachment of Chinese forcesfor past one month is unaccept-able to the country. The govern-ment should initiate strict stepsto raise the morale of our forces.As BJP takes 'akadhikari' deci-sion, it's feeling itself weak eventhough the people and opposi-tion are with them on this issue,"SP national president AkhileshYadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

BSP chief Mayawati attackedthe BJP and the Congress onplaying "dirty politics" on thisissue when the people are facinghardships due to coronaviruspandemic. "It's unfortunate thatat time when people are facingdifficult times due to the pan-demic, the BJP and Congress areplaying dirty politics and allega-tions and counter allegations onthe border dispute with China.This is not in the nation interest,"she said. "The dispute withChina and also Nepal is becom-ing very serious. In such a situ-ation all parties should riseabove party politics and think innation interest. In such a matter,it would be better if the Centretakes all in confidence," shesaid in another tweet.

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The UP government onTuesday hit out at the opposi-tion accusing it of trying to‘derail' the appointment of69,000 basic teachers, even asBSP chief Mayawati sought aCBI inquiry and Congressleader Priyanka Gandhi Vadrabacked the aspirants.

On June 3, the Lucknowbench of the Allahabad HighCourt had stayed the appoint-ment process, after which theUP government challenged theinterim order. The court onMonday reserved its order onthe state government pleas.

"A number of allegationswere levelled by the oppositionagainst the UP government over

the recruitment of 69,000 teach-ers in Basic EducationDepartment. This is an attemptto derail the entire appointmentprocess. We will abide by thecourt decisions in the matter,"UP Basic Education MinisterSatish Dwivedi said on Tuesday.

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JD(S) patriarch H D DeveGowda on Tuesday filed hisnomination as party's candi-date for June 19 Rajya Sabhaelections from Karnataka.

The former Prime Ministerwas accompanied by his sonsformer Chief Minister H DKumaraswamy and formerMinister H D Revanna, stateJD(S) chief H K Kumaraswamyand others, as he filed his papersat the office of LegislativeAssembly Secretary M KVishalakshi, who is the return-ing officer for the polls.

JD(S) on Monday hadannounced that Gowda will becontesting the Rajya Sabha polls.

Announcing the decision,Kumaraswamy had said Gowdadecided to contest following the

request of Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi, several nationalleaders and party legislators,and it was not an easy task to"persuade" him to enter theRajya Sabha. The JD(S), whichhas 34 seats in the assembly, isnot in a position to win a seat inRajya Sabha on its own and willneed support from the Congresswith its surplus votes.

A minimum of 45 votes arerequired for a candidate to win.

If he wins, this will be the sec-ond Rajya Sabha entry for 87-year-old Gowda, the first timebeing in 1996 as the PrimeMinister. Gowda was defeated inTumkur constituency by BJP's GS Basavaraj by over 13,000 votesin the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

As joint candidate of the thenruling Congress-JDS coalition,Gowda had chosen to contestfrom Tumkur at the last minuteafter vacating Hassan-his hometurf, to grandson PrajwalRevanna. Election is scheduledon June 19 to fill four RajyaSabha seats from Karnataka,represented by Rajeev Gowdaand BK Hari prasad of Congress,Prabhakar Kore of the BJP andD Kupendra Reddy of JD(S) thatwill fall vacant on June 25.

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In the wake of several minorearthquakes in and around thenational capital in since April, theDelhi High Court asked theAAP government and civicauthorities on Tuesday as to howwell prepared they are if a majortremor hits the city.

A bench of Justices VipinSanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagarasked the Delhi government, thethree municipal corporations,cantonment board, DDA andNew Delhi Municipal Council tofile affidavits explaining stepstaken or proposed to be taken toensure safety of people in theevent of a major earthquake.

The bench gave the Delhi gov-ernment and the civic authori-ties one week to file their affi-davits and listed the matter forhearing on June 15.

The court also directed theauthorities to make the publicaware about the action plan inplace, if any, for their safety in theevent of a major tremor inDelhi. A detailed order of thecourt is awaited.

The order came on a applica-tion moved by advocates ArpitBhargava and D K Sharmaclaiming that the authoritiesand Delhi government have notdone anything despite severaldirections by the court to devel-op an action plan.

In their application, they havesought directions to the Delhigovernment and civic bodies toput in place an action plan in atime bound manner.

The application was filed inBhargava's main petition filed in2015 claiming that the seismic

stability of buildings in Delhi waspoor and in case of a majorearthquake there could be largenumber of casualties.

The petition is still pendingbefore the high court which fromtime to time has directed theDelhi government and civicauthorities to develop an actionplan. In the application, Bhargavahas contended that around 11earthquakes have struck Delhisince April 12 and according toexperts a big one was imminentwhich is why he has moved thecourt now for urgent directions.

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Officials from the Centre saythere is no community transmis-sion of COVID-19 in Delhi,Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia asserted on Tuesday, andestimated that there might be 5.5lakh coronavirus cases in the cityby July 31. Delhi will need80,000 beds by July end, he toldreporters after a meeting of theDelhi Disaster ManagementAuthority (DDMA).

The meeting was chaired by LtGovernor Anil Baijal who is alsochairperson of the Delhi DisasterManagement Authority."Officials from the Centre said atthe meeting that there is no com-munity transmission of COVID-19 virus in Delhi," Sisodia toldthe media after meeting. Thelieutenant governor has refusedto reconsider his decision to

overrule the Delhi government'sorder reserving state-run and pri-vate hospitals for Delhiites, thedeputy chief minister said.

He said that the national cap-ital may record 44,000 COVID-19 cases by June 15 and it wouldneed 6,600 beds in hospitals. "ByJune 30, there would be one lakh

cases of coronavirus in Delhi andwe will need 15,000 beds.

"It is estimated that Delhi willrecord 2.15 lakh cases by July 15and 33,000 beds would berequired. There might be 5.5 lakhcases by July 31 and Delhi wouldneed 80,000 beds," Sisodia said.Based on doubling rate, 5.5 lakh

cases are expected to be report-ed in Delhi by July 31, he said.

He said that people living inDelhi also need beds duringCOVID-19 pandemic and inview of this, the Delhi Cabinethad recently taken the decisionto reserve state-run and privatehospitals for Delhiites.

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Driving licence, fitness certifi-cate, permits and all suchmotor vehicle documents willremain valid till September 30even if people have failed torenew them since February, thegovernment said on Tuesday inview of the COVID-19 situa-tion.

In March, the governmentsaid these documents wouldremain valid till June 30.

"Given the current circum-stances to avoid hardshipsbeing faced by transportersand citizens, state govern-ments are further advised thatthese documents be consid-ered valid till September 30,2020 for enforcement pur-pose," Road Transport andHighway Minister NitinGadkari said.

In a notification issued onTuesday, the ministry advised

that validity of the documentsthat have expired sinceFebruary 1 or would expire bySeptember 30, 2020, be treat-ed as valid till September 30.

The ministry's decisioncame after taking into consid-eration the grim situation stillcontinuing due to conditionsfor prevention of spread ofCOVID-19 across the country.

The extension of validity

would be applicable on "fitness,permit (all types), learner'slicence, driving license, registra-tion or any other concerned doc-ument", as per the notification.

To facilitate citizens duringthe period and conditions forprevention for COVID–19, theministry had relaxed fees valid-ity and /or additional fee underthe Central Motor VehiclesRules, 1989, till July 31.

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Lufthansa group has offered tofly empty planes to India andcarry passengers only on itsoutbound flights to destina-tions in Europe, senior govern-ment officials said on Tuesday.

Scheduled international pas-senger flights have been sus-pended in India since March23 due to the coronavirus pan-demic. Therefore, there is apent up demand for outboundinternational travel, especiallyamong non-resident Indians(NRIs) who are in a hurry togo back either for personal orprofessional reasons.

"Lufthansa group (whichoperates airline brands likeLufthansa, SWISS, etc) haveoffered to fly ferry (empty)flights to India and carry pas-sengers only on its outboundflights to destinations inEurope. A decision is yet to betaken on this matter," said thesenior government official.

The Civil Aviation Ministry

started Vande Bharat Missionon May 7 to bring back strand-ed Indians from abroad onflights operated by Air Indiagroup amid the coronaviruslockdown. Air India grouphas been taking bookings on itsoutbound flights too, and forsome destinations the demandhas been huge.

Since March 23, foreign air-lines have operated non-sched-uled repatriation flights to taketheir stranded citizens backhome. The offer from the

German airlines groupLufthansa has come at a timewhen the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise inIndia, especially in metro citiesthat have the country's largestairports like Delhi and Mumbai.

State governments in thepast have expressed reluctanceto deal with large numbers ofincoming flyers as their healthinfrastructure has beenswamped with a huge numberof COVID-19 cases.

For example, when sched-

uled domestic passenger flightsstarted operating on May 25,Mumbai airport was permittedto handle only 50 flights perday as per the request ofMaharashtra government.

Similarly, Kolkata airportwas permitted to handle just 20flights per day from May 28onwards, as per the request ofthe West Bengal government.More than 2.46 lakh peoplehave been infected and around7,400 people have died due toCOVID-19 in India till now.

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A head constable was killed andtwo other policemen sustainedbullet injuries when a manopened fire at a police team inPunjab's Moga district, officialssaid on Tuesday. The incidenttook place at Khosa Pando vil-lage in Moga late Mondaynight. A team of policemenwent to Gurwinder's house toquestion him after a complaintwas lodged by his uncle forallegedly burning wheat straw,the officials said. When thepolice team reached his house,he misbehaved with the police-men and hurled abuses at them,Moga DSP Barjinder Singh.When more police officialswere called in to nab him, theaccused opened fire with a 12-bore rifle from the roof of hishouse, the DSP said. Headconstable Jagmohan Singh waskilled while inspector TarlochanSingh and constable RidhamSingh sustained bullet injuriesin the attack, he said.

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Madhya Pradesh GovernorLalji Tandon has left on 10-day leave till June 19 to visithis hometown Lucknow inUttar Pradesh, officials saidon Tuesday.

The Rajya Sabha polls forthree seats from MP will beheld on June 19, with theCongress fielding former chiefminister Digvijay Singh andPhool Singh Barraiya, and BJPfielding Jyotiraditya Scindiaand Sumer Singh Solanki. Amuch-awaited expansion ofthe Shivraj Singh Chouhangovernment, which came topower on March 23, will haveto wait till Tandon is back.

A mini-expansion of thecabinet took place in April inwhich five ministers wereinducted, among them Scindialoyalists Tulsi Silawat andGovind Singh Rajput. Politicalactivity in MP, as in moststates, has come to a standstillsince March when a lock-down was imposed to fight thecoronavirus outbreak.

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Elections to seven seats of theKarnataka LegislativeCouncil will be held on June29, the poll panel announcedon Tuesday.The seven seats are fallingvacant on June 30, accord-ing to an Elect ionCommission statement.Members of the KarnatakaLegislative Assembly willvote on June 29 to elect theseven new MLCs.

The Commission hasdirected the Karnataka chiefsecretary to depute a seniorofficer to ensure that theinstructions regardingCOVID-19 containmentmeasures are complied withduring the elections.

The counting of votes willbe held on the evening ofJune 29 after completion ofpolls, as per practice

The notification for theelections will be issued onJune 11, the statement said.

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A Delhi government panel hassuggested using PragatiMaidan, Talkatora IndoorStadium, Indira Gandhi IndoorStadium and JLN Stadium asmakeshift COVID-19 facility todeal with the surge in numberof cases, an official saidTuesday. The official said thatthe panel, constituted by LtGovernor Anil Baijal, has alsosuggested using ThyagarajIndoor Stadium andDhyanchand National Stadiumfor the purpose. Earlier in theday, Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said that theremight be 5.5 lakh COVID-19cases in the city by July 31 and80,000 beds would be needed.

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Fearing the spread of COVID-19 through electronic votingmachines (EVMs), the MadhyaPradesh Congress on Tuesdaydemanded that the upcomingbypolls for 24 state Assemblyseats be conducted using ballotpapers. The bypolls for 24Assembly seats was necessitat-ed following the resignations of22 Congress MLAs and death oftwo other legislators. However,the dates for the same are yet tobe announced.

State Congress on Tuesdaysubmitted a memorandum tothe Madhya Pradesh's ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO), saidstate Congress leader J PDhanopia, who is in-charge ofpartys poll-related affairs.

"On an average, 1,000 to 1,200citizens cast their votes in everybooth. So, voters will have torepeatedly press buttons onEVMs. With the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state, the possi-ble spread of the infectionthrough EVMs cannot be ruledout," he said. The Congress

leader further said the stateparty unit has demanded the useof ballot papers for the by-elec-tions instead. Moreover,Dhanopia said the state Congresshas also submitted anothermemorandum to the EC seekinginformation about the electionsto two of the 24 seats Jaura andAgar Malwa where the sittinglegislators have died.

Jaura Assembly seat has beenlying vacant since December 21,2019, while Agar Malwa seat fellvacant on January 31, he said.

As per provisions of thePeople's Representation Act1951, elections to vacant seatsshould be conducted within sixmonths, which is ending inJuly for these two seats, he said.

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A cloth merchant here hasbeen duped of sarees and'gamchas' worth Rs 1.51 lakhby two men who posed as rel-atives of the Uttar PradeshSocial Welfare minister, policesaid on Tuesday.

Superintendent of PoliceDev Ranjan Verma said thecloth merchant, TarachandJain, lodged a police complainta couple of days ago.

In his complaint he statedthat the accused, AshokKumar Baudh and ChandrikaChauhan, had visited his shopon February 24.

They introduced themselvesas relatives of UP SocialWelfare Minister RamapatiShastri and asked for sareesand 'gamchas', which theyclaimed were to be distributedamong the poor, the SP said.

He said the duo got awaywith clothes worth Rs 1.51lakh, promising that the stateSocial Welfare Departmentwill pay for them.

When he did not receive thepayment, the cloth merchantapproached local officials onlyto learn that no such distrib-ution programme was held.

The SP said Baudh wasarrested on Monday night andefforts are on to nab the otheraccused.

'Gamcha' or traditionalcloth towel is also being usedas a face cover to prevent thespread of COVID-19.

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The World Health Organizationsaid Monday that the coron-avirus pandemic situation wasworsening around the globe, asit warned against complacency.

The WHO said it hadrecorded its highest daily tallyof new infections, withCOVID-19 raging in theAmericas.

And as mass protests forracial justice sweep across theUnited States and beyond, theUnited Nations' health agencyurged anyone demonstrating todo so safely.

The novel coronavirus haskilled more than 403,000 peo-ple out of at least seven millioninfected since the outbreakemerged in China lastDecember, according to a tallyfrom official sources compiledby AFP.

After East Asia, Europebecame the epicentre of thedisease, but has now beenovertaken by the Americas.

"Although the situation inEurope is improving, globallyit is worsening," WHO chiefTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

told a virtual news conferencein Geneva.

"More than 100,000 caseshave been reported on nine ofthe past 10 days. Yesterday,more than 136,000 cases werereported -- the most in a sin-gle day so far.

He said that almost 75 per-cent of Sunday's cases camefrom 10 countries -- mostly inthe Americas and South Asia.

Tedros said that in countrieswhere the situation wasimproving, "the biggest threatis now complacency", addingthat "most people globally arestill susceptible to infection".

"More than six months intothis pandemic, this is not thetime for any country to take itsfoot off the pedal," he said.

Turning to the wave ofprotests sparked by killing ofGeorge Floyd on May 25, Tedrosencouraged active surveillanceof the virus to ensure it does notrebound, especially in the con-text of mass gatherings. "WHOfully supports equality and theglobal movement againstracism. We reject discriminationof all kinds," he said.

"We encourage all thoseprotesting around the world todo so safely. "As much as pos-

sible, keep at least one metrefrom others, clean your hands,cover your cough and wear amask if you attend a protest."

"Stay home if you are sickand contact a health careprovider," he added.

The WHO has continuallystressed the importance oftracing those who may havecome into sustained, close con-tact with an infected person.

The WHO's emergenciesdirector Michael Ryan saidsomeone who had been at amass protest did not necessar-ily meet the technical defini-tion of a contact.

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A record rise in COVID-19cases in India for the seventhconsecutive day has pushed thetally to over 2.6 lakh onTuesday, with the daily nation-wide spike in coronavirus casesinching close to 10,000.

The rise in cases comes at atime when the country hasstepped out of a 75-day coron-avirus lockdown with malls,religious places and offices open-ing in several parts of the coun-try under strict conditions.

Since the onset of June, thecountry has also been witness-ing over 200 COVID-19 fatal-ities each day that has taken thecountry's death toll to 7,466.

India is the fifth worst-hitnation by the COVID-19 pan-demic after the US, Brazil,Russia and the UK, accordingto the Johns Hopkins Universitydata. Several states likeHaryana, Jammu and Kashmir,Assam, Haryana, Karnataka,Chhattisgarh and Tripuraamong others have been show-ing a spurt in cases.

A total 266 new COVID-19fatalities and 9,987 cases havebeen reported in the last 24hours till Tuesday 8 am,according to the Union Health

Ministry data. The countryhas registered over 9,000 coro-navirus infection cases for thesixth day in a row taking thecountry tally to 2,66,598.

The number of active novelcoronavirus cases stands at1,29,917, while 1,29,214 peoplehave recovered and one patienthas migrated, according to theHealth Ministry data updatedtill 8 am. "Thus, 48.47 per centpatients have recovered so far,"a ministry official said.

According to the ICMR, atotal of 49,16,116 samples havebeen tested as on 9 am,Tuesday, with 1,41,682 samplesbeen tested in the last 24 hours.

Out of the total 7,466 fatal-ities reported till Tuesday 8 am,

Maharashtra tops the tallywith 3,169 deaths followed byGujarat with 1,280 deaths,Delhi with 874, MadhyaPradesh with 414, West Bengalwith 405, Tamil Nadu with286, Uttar Pradesh with 283,Rajasthan with 246 andTelangana with 137 deaths.

The death toll reached 75 inAndhra Pradesh, 64 inKarnataka and 53 in Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir hasreported 45 fatalities due to thecoronavirus disease, while 39deaths have been reportedfrom Haryana, 31 from Bihar,16 from Kerala, 13 fromUttarakhand, nine fromOdisha and seven fromJharkhand.

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NCP president Sharad Pawaron Tuesday visited Raigaddistrict in Maharashtra to takestock of the damage caused bycyclone 'Nisarga' last week.

Pawar interacted with localsat a market in Mangaon wheredistrict guardian ministerAditi Tatkare and Raigad LokSabha MP Sunil Tatkare werealso present. The cyclone hadcaused huge devastation inparts of the coastal district,about 115 kms away fromMumbai, on June 3 after mak-ing landfall near Shrivardhan.

Chief Minister UddhavThackeray had announced animmediate relief of Rs 100crore for Raigad.

Pawar's party is a key con-stituent in the tripartite Maha

Vikas Aghadi governmentheaded by the Shiv Sena.

Pawar tweeted that he hadbegun his tour of coastalKonkan region to review thecyclone damage. A close aideof Pawar said that the NCPchief would visit areas affect-ed by the cyclone in Ratnagiridistrict on Wednesday.

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Union minister Smriti Iraniwill address BJP's first virtualrally in the national capital onJune 13, highlighting theachievements of the Modi gov-ernment in the last one year,party's Delhi unit chief AdeshGupta said on Tuesday.

The 'Delhi Jan Samvad' rallywill be addressed virtually byIrani from the Delhi BJP office.This rally will reach out toaround 25 lakh people throughsocial media and cable opera-tors, he said.

In view of the coronaviruspandemic, senior party lead-ers, including MPs, MLAs,Delhi BJP office bearers,councilors and others willattend the rally along with20-50 people at 2,000 placesacross the city, maintaining

social distance, he said.Delhi BJP will launch its

campaign to take PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'smessage and his government'sachievements in last one yearto around 15 lakh householdsin Delhi on Wednesday, theDelhi BJP president said at apress conference.

"Two workers each from a

booth wearing face masks willvisit households carryingprime minister's letter to thecitizens and highlight Modigovernment's achievement'sin last one year. Eminent citi-zens, including doctors, advo-cates among others, will also becontacted through the cam-paign," he said.

In another event, the DelhiBJP will hold two video con-ferences in each of the 70assembly constituencies in thecoming days to interact withlocal party leaders and work-ers, he said.

Continuing Delhi BJP'sinitiatives to help peopleduring the pandemic, frontalorganisations will distribute15 lakh face masks and 7.5lakh sanitisers among peoplein the city, in next few days,he added.

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National Commission forWomen (NCW) ChairpersonRekha Sharma has written toUnion Health Minister HarshVardhan on the plight of preg-nant women and alleged denialof treatment to them duringthe COVID-19 pandemic.

In the letter, Sharma said thatit has come across many caseswhere non-availability of ade-quate ambulances for materni-ty services and denial of admis-sion in hospitals led to delay inreaching the heath facility,whereas in some cases it hasalso resulted in the death of themother and the newborn baby,according to a statement issuedby the NCW on Tuesday.

The Commission said that itis a matter of "great concern"

and a note has been takenregarding the lapse on thepart of hospitals and authori-ties in these crucial times.

The statement said theNCW chief mentioned that ithad earlier written to all statesand union territories regarding

proper implementation of pro-grammes and schemes forinstitutional delivery mecha-nism to control maternal andinfant mortality rate in India.

The Commission has urgedthe health minister to inter-vene in the matter.

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Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Tuesday said the spread ofCOVID-19 is under effectivecontrol in Uttar Pradesh despiteit being the most populous state,and emphasised that preventionis the only cure for the virus untila vaccine is found.

Addressing a review meeting,the chief minister also men-tioned his visits to Basti,Gorakhpur, Azamgarh andVaranasi divisions in the past twodays. He said the coronavirus sit-uation in Uttar Pradesh is in abetter position as "good work"has been done in all areas.

"Despite being the most pop-ulous state, the spread ofCOVID-19 is under effectivecontrol. Till a vaccine for thecoronavirus is found, preventionis the only cure," Adityanath was

quoted as having said in a state-ment issued here. "A small mis-take can be dangerous. The ini-tiative to provide relief to poorand check spread of the virus hasgiven good results," he said.

He said that relaxations havebeen given under 'Unlock-1'but precautions should be taken.

He said that attempts are on

to provide jobs to people in theMSME sector and directed todevelop a software to find howmany are given jobs and alsothose who are left without one.The government will provide"Bharan-Poshan Bhatta"(allowance for food) to streetvendors, the chief ministeradded.

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Indian and Chinese troops havebegun mutual disengagement insome parts of eastern Ladakhahead of the next round of mil-itary talks scheduled tomor-row, government sources said onTuesday.

Top military talks are to beheld in the 'Hot Springs' area ofeastern Ladakh on Wednesday.

Sources say ahead of thetalks, a "significant" number ofChinese troops has withdrawn.Except the Finger region inPangong Tso, Chinese troopshave started pulling back two tothree km, they say. To recipro-cate, the Indian side has alsobrought back some of its troopsand vehicles from these areas,said top sources.

Talks between the two armiesare to be held this week at mul-tiple locations including

Patroling point 14 (Galwanarea), Patrolling point 15, andHot Springs, ANI quoted gov-ernment sources as saying.

Indian military teams are inChushul for talks with theChinese soldiers. On Monday,Defence Minister Rajnath Singhsaid India wants a resolution ofthe decades-old border issuewith China "as soon as possible".He described as "positive" lastweek's high-level military dia-logue between the two sides onthe face-off in eastern Ladakh.

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The Delhi High Court Tuesdayasked the Delhi government totreat as representation a peti-tion seeking direction to it forcapping or fixing rates to becharged by private hospitals fortreating COVID-19 patientsand to prominently displayavailability of beds for them.

The plea, filed by VineetKumar Wadhwa, throughlawyer Praveen Chauhan,sought direction to the Delhigovernment to develop amechanism whereby the hos-pitals here display availabilityof COVID 19 beds at a promi-nent place in the hospital andon their websites.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice PrateekJalan, conducting the hearingthrough video conferencing,also asked the Delhi govern-

ment to treat as representationanother petition by a two-year-old boy highlighting theconsiderable risk faced by himand many other minors due tothe Delhi government's deci-sion to lift the restrictionsimposed to contain the spreadof COVID 19. The governmentwill consider the representa-tions and decide accordingly,the court said.

The child, in his plea filedthrough his father, said he

resides in a joint family com-prising working members whowould be resuming work/ reg-ular office pursuant to the“Unlockdown” as announcedby the Delhi government witheffect from June 8 and he is atconsiderable risk of contactingCOVID-19 through thesemembers due to lifting ofrestriction on movements.

The plea, filed through advo-cate Arjun Syal, said the situ-ation has been further aggra-

vated due to shortage of requi-site healthcare infrastructuresuch as hospital beds and ven-tilators.

It highlighted the hardshipand challenges faced by the res-idents of Delhi in gettingadmitted in hospitals despitehaving the patient testing pos-itive for COVID-19 or showingsymptoms and being a high-risk category patient, facing dif-ficulty in breathing and inurgent need of getting medicalassistance.

Meanwhile, the court dis-posed of a batch of petitions

challenging the Delhi govern-ment's June 7 order directingall its hospitals and also the pri-vate hospital and nursinghomes to admit only “bonafide” residents of the nationalcapital for treatment.

The court was informed bythe counsel for Delhi govern-ment that the LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal has over-ruled the decision of ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal thattreatment for COVID 19 wouldonly be provided to bona fideresidents of the national capi-tal in state-run hospitals.

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Scientists have identifiedregions of the SARS-CoV-2virus that causes COVID-19 totarget with a vaccine, by har-nessing tools used for thedevelopment of cancerimmunotherapies.

The researchers atChildren's Hospital ofPhiladelphia (CHOP) in theUS employed the sameapproach used to elicit animmune response against can-cer cells to stimulate animmune response against thenovel coronavirus. Using thisstrategy, the researchers believea resulting vaccine would pro-vide protection across thehuman population and drive along-term immune response.

"In many ways, cancerbehaves like a virus, so ourteam decided to use the toolswe developed to identifyunique aspects of childhood

cancers that can be targetedwith immunotherapies andapply those same tools to iden-tify the right protein sequencesto target in SARS-CoV-2," saidJohn M Maris, a pediatriconcologist at CHOP, and a pro-fessor at the University ofPennsylvania.

"We think our approachprovides a roadmap for a vac-cine that would be both safe

and effective and could beproduced at scale," said Maris,senior author of the researchpublished in the journal CellReports Medicine.

The COVID-19 pandemichas led to an urgent need forthe development of a safe andeffective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causesthe COVID-19 disease, theresearchers said.

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The chardham yatra willnot be started till June 30.The Devasthanam Boardtook the decis ion onMonday, its CEO RavinathRaman said.

The priests, stakehold-ers and hak-hakookdharisof the four Himalayan tem-ples — Badrinath,Kedarnath, Gangotri andYamunotri — also known as"chardham", had urged theauthorities not to start thepilgrimage till June 30 inview of the rising number ofCOVID-19 cases.

The four temples in theGarhwal Himalayas are open but devotees arenot being allowed to visitthem.

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The violent protests thathave engulfed the US inthe aftermath of the bru-tal murder of a Blackman, George Floyd, by a

White Minneapolis police officer,Derek Chauvin, were marked bysome extraordinary visuals. Ofcourse, some malevolent forcestrickled into the protests, drivingboth the looters and criminals. It isextremely likely that the sight oflooting and the viral videos onsocial media of high-end storesbeing vandalised and looted will bebeneficial for US President DonaldTrump in the presidential electionscheduled later this year. However,Trump’s penchant for making wild-ly inappropriate comments, coupledwith Democratic contender JoeBiden maintaining a relatively stu-dious silence, may still change theoutcome.

But sitting in India, withoutmuch knowledge about contempo-rary American history, it is difficultto know about institutionalisedracism and how poor race relationsremain over there. The fact is thatmost Indians, indeed most globaltourists and business persons whotravel to the US, usually visit cos-mopolitan cities, the likes of NewYork, Boston, Los Angeles, SanFrancisco and Chicago. For a casu-al observer, seeing the tremendoussuccess of some African-Americans— from former US President BarackObama to the many, many such peo-ple who dominate professionalsports such as basketball star LeBronJames and the many actors likeMorgan Freeman with an omnipo-tent voice, Beyonce’s dulcet tones andthe scientific genius of Neil deGrasseTyson — one would wonder whyBlack men and women do notreceive acceptance across the nation.Popular culture would make an out-sider believe so.

One could rightly wonder whyis it that at a time when America issending astronauts into space innearly a decade, other parts of thenation are burning? Comparisonsbetween happenings in the late1960s, when the American Apollomission was in full swing and whenracial riots broke during the civilrights movement, with that of the“crew dragon” mission and race riotshappening today are telling. The onlything missing today is high-profilepolitical assassinations; Black civilrights leader Martin Luther King, Jrand Democratic presidential con-tender Robert F Kennedy were shotdead during that time frame. We

should be grateful that thingshave not become so bad this timearound.

Now, I must clarify, I havespent a lot of time in the US(indeed the last country visited byme before the virus shut downeverything) as a traveller, visitingvarious parts of that great andvast nation, both along the coastsand even the interiors, includingthe “Deep South.” I haven’t stud-ied there. However, I have astrange and fascinating interest in“American” football. Being a bitof a war nerd, I spent a lot of timereading about some of the battlesof the US Civil War that tookplace between the Northern“Union” States and the Southern“Confederate” States. This was afascinating war, the first mecha-nised one of sorts that gave por-tends to the tactics used in thekilling fields of World War-I.However, this is my perspective.It might seem infantile to somebut this is what I believe sittinghalf a world away.

In India, what we learnabout the US Civil War — witha few sentences being accordedto it in our school textbooks —is that it was fought between theprogressive “North”, which wasagainst slavery, and the pro-slav-ery “Southern” States. The“North” found a great politicalleader in Abraham Lincoln,who signed the emancipationdeclaration, thus freeing all theslaves. After much bloodshed,the “North” finally won and allwas well with the world. This isthe end. Go through the histo-ry textbooks, I’m sure this is abetter explanation than manyothers.

Wars, in general, are too

complex, not just because of thefighting but on account of thecauses, too. Occasionally, therecan be an overall societal accep-tance that one side had a com-pletely horrible cause; WorldWar-II and Nazi Germany beingexamples. Now, modernGermany has eviscerated Nazisymbols. One can be charged forcelebrating Nazi leaders or sell-ing Nazi memorabilia inGermany today. In general, theGerman political leadership hasaccepted that their predecessorsbetween 1930 and 1945 didsomething terrible even beforethe Jewish Holocaust. It is not asif the Germans have forgottenabout the war. Indeed, some oftheir Generals, such as ErwinRommel, famously known as the“Desert Fox,” are fondly remem-bered, partially because of theiropposition to Adolf Hitler.

It would, therefore, seemlogical to believe that the side thatprecipitated, fought and lost a warover the cause of keeping humanbeings enslaved should have suf-fered the same fate as NaziGermany. Of course, one canmake arguments like “degrees ofevil” and all that but as an out-side observer, it is extremelypuzzling that instead of that, theUS celebrates the rebels. It cele-brates the Confederate Flag inpopular culture. Television showsand subsequent movies like TheDukes of Hazzard had a DodgeCharger, the “General Lee”, withthe Confederate Flag painted onits roof. Even a cursory car fanwould have heard of this car.

Talking about “General Lee”,Robert Edward Lee, the manwho led the Confederate Armyof Northern Virginia, is remem-

bered in America as a hero eventhough he defended a lost cause.Lee was a great tactician but hedid lead his army to a devastat-ing loss at Gettysburg. The manwho beat him, General UlyssesS Grant, one who became the USPresident soon after and one whois as brilliant a tactician andleader as Lee, is not rememberedfondly. Thankfully this is chang-ing today.

A lot of this has happeneddue to a number of reasons.Many Americans, particularlyfrom the former ConfederateStates, remember the war as oneabout “States’ Rights” in a feder-al structure. And not as a war thathad as its underlying cause thedefence of basic human dignity,the fact that no man should beowned by anyone else.Something that one hopes that nomatter what your current polit-ical affiliation today, you canagree with.

Although when one delvesinto it at a deeper level, he/shewould realise the complexitiesand contradictions that hap-pened on both sides many yearsago. In today’s increasing simplis-tic age where nuanced argumentshave withered away, it is easier toremember this as a war where the“rights” of States were trampledupon rather than rememberingit as a war of conscience becauseit makes some Americans feelnicer about their forefathers.

There is no doubt that theUS has made some great stridesbut one can easily questionwhether a person of colour couldbecome the top elected official inany other Western nation. Yes, tothis day, there are doubts whetherObama could have won if he did

not have a White mother and wasraised by his White mid-westernmaternal grandparents but hewas a two-term President. Eventhen, the killings of BlackAmericans by White police offi-cers or even White civilians,who saw the Blacks as a threat,continued with little or no judi-cial prosecution. Take the case ofTrayvon Martin, a 17-year-oldBlack school student, who wasshot dead by a White man,George Zimmerman, in “selfdefence”, an argument that waseven accepted by the court.

The sad fact is that there arecountless other such incidents —the famous Rodney King case inLos Angeles where nothing hap-pened to the police officers whobrutally beat the eponymousBlack man.

Sure, the police in Americais a highly militarised and trigger-happy force. It does have the rightto defend itself in violent situa-tions. That said, there are a dis-proportionate number of Blackmen, who are killed by the policein America. It is also a fact thatwithin the police forces, there’s aninadequate representation ofBlack people. Institutionalisedand accepted racism in the policeforces, for the reasons outlinedabove, too, exists.

However, do not think thatthe irony of someone fromIndia talking about police “bru-tality” is lost on this writer. Thisis a country where State-sanc-tioned “encounter killing” iscelebrated by many with evi-dence that such “encounters”have been biased against minor-ity communities for decades.This is a country where extra-judicial murder of rape-murdersuspects in Hyderabad just a fewmonths ago was celebrated by alland sundry on social media.This is also a country, wheremuch like the US, the poor andthose from the minority com-munity are often jailed for yearsby a slow, inefficient and corruptcriminal justice system. Theneed for police and criminal jus-tice reforms have been felt foryears. One should not use theshield of what is happening inthe US to pretend that India isany better.

As long as the US continuesto celebrate the Civil War as onewhere States fought for their“rights” rather than uphold anabhorrent system, things willreally not change. Having spenttime in both Georgia and SouthCarolina, it is painfully clear to anoutside observer, a man of colourlike myself, that things are unlike-ly to change anytime soon. Nomatter how much people protest,casual discrimination is ingrainedin the minds of many, just like itis back home.

(The writer is ManagingEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — It is a proud moment forthe country that noted lyricistand screenwriter Javed Akhtarhas become the first Indian toreceive the Richard DawkinsAward for advancing humanprogress, critical thinking andhumanist value. After hearingthe news of the prestigiousaward, Akhtar said that he neverlooked for validation because hedid not doubt his views but it iscertainly special that a hugeinstitution noticed his writings.

Akhtar’s wife and notedactor, social activist and formerparliamentarian Shabana Azmisaid the win matters especiallyin the current times where “sec-ularism is being attacked by reli-gious fundamentalists.” Akhtaris known for voicing his opin-ion on a range of socio-politicalissues, including CAA, publicpolicy, secularism and commu-nism in society. Already a recip-ient of the Sahitya AkademiAward, Padma Shri and PadmaBhushan, the present achieve-ment is another feather inAkhtar’s well-decorated cap.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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Sir — That the Supreme Courthad to intervene to direct theGovernment to safely transportthe migrants to their Statesconfirms the fact that the latterfailed in handling the situation.

Numerous stories about thetravails of workers and theGovernment’s claim that noone died for want of food andwater are half-truths. This is anational crisis that should betop priority.

Priyank DesaiVia email

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Sir — The opening up of malls,hotels and places of worshipeven as the country has seen atremendous spike in the num-ber of cases is an indication thatwe are coming to terms with liv-

ing with the virus. Standing atthe crossroads, we have todecide between lives and liveli-hoods. Both can be ensured,provided social distancing andpersonal hygiene protocols arefaithfully complied with.

Satparna BhattacharyaVia email

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Sir — The Supreme Court’sorder asking the Centre andStates to transport the migrantworkers to their homes in 15days has come as a big relief forlabourers. But beyond this,there’s much in store for them.Millions of workers have alreadygone back to their villages,acute labour shortages are beingfelt across industries. Findingworkers will be a tough task inthe near future. Operationalcosts of businesses will likely seea spike. Firms may have to shellout higher wages to make themstick around. This should helpraise their welfare levels.

PrathnaVia email

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While the rest of India and its neighbourBangladesh might enjoy a full moon,the night of the poornima (full moon)

with a luminescent lunar sky full of romanticfantasies in the Sunderbans, on both sides of theborder, spells doom, death and destruction thesedays. After the fierce cyclone Amphan hit WestBengal, Odisha and Bangladesh on May 20, thehuge delta region and the largest mangrove areain the world was hit the hardest, putting morethan four million human lives on the edge yetagain.

The West Bengal Government alone esti-mated that the damages caused by the cyclonewere to the tune of �1 lakh crore. And inBangladesh, there were reports of tens of thou-sands of homes damaged or destroyed and manyvillages submerged by storm surges in low-lyingcoastal areas like Khulna and Satkhira.

Most of the people in the Sunderbans liveon the abysmal margins of the economy in con-gested ghettos across this beautiful landscapesurrounded by water and dense green forests,with the man-eating Royal Bengal Tiger andcrocodiles a constant threat, even in the so-calledbuffer zones. Every time a destructive cycloneor storm begins to form in the turbulentwaters of the Bay of Bengal, due to the increas-ing high surface temperature of the sea, it trig-gers fierce cyclones, often catastrophic, like thecyclone Aila, which hit Bengal and theSunderbans earlier. Despite the ravages beingwitnessed in the destruction of water bodies,forests and the expanse of the mangrove greenbelt due to man-made construction and appro-priation of forest land, it is the Sunderbans whichbears the brunt of these fast-moving, high-speedcyclones, mostly protecting the mainland andthe plains in the rest of Bengal and Bangladeshby assimilating the wind and stopping itsspeed.

Repeated appeals by environmentalists andexperts to stop big thermal power projects andother forms of construction activity have fall-en on deaf ears. Protests in Bangladesh againsta recent coal-based thermal power project withIndian assistance in the Sunderbans, and thattoo almost in the core area, have not yielded anyresults as yet. Protests have been literallybanned in Bangladesh and activists in Khulnatold this reporter two years ago that even peace-ful demonstrations or pamphlet-distribution arenot allowed by the Bangladesh Government.

This is despite the fact that top professorsand eminent citizens in Khulna and DhakaUniversity have repeatedly given evidence to theGovernment that the entire green zone of thisecological hotspot and a world heritage locationis being seriously threatened, so much so thateven the Royal Bengal Tiger will be forced intodisplacement. Even journalists are not allowedto enter the area and report, close to Khulna.

Indeed, the tide is a regular feature in thisundulating expanse of backwaters, rivers andwater bodies across the cluster of many islands,some doomed to disappear and some whichreappear as new, tentative spaces of human civil-isation. This is almost like the areas close to theBrahmaputra river in Assam after the annualfloods, which destroys and submerges vast tractsof land and forests, numerous villages andhuman habitations.

Now, locals say, when the tide arrives on afull moon night, those who are living in tarpau-lins under makeshift shelters surrounded bywater, will yet again be doomed as the waters

will rise, submerging their fragilehomes.

Volunteers and journalists, howev-er, say that the West BengalGovernment and the local administra-tion, after initial lethargy, have movedin with great speed to undertake reliefoperations in the aftermath of thecyclone Amphan and the destructionit left behind as thousands of trees wereuprooted in the gales and electricityand telephone lines brought down andhouses flattened. Many of Kolkata’sroads are flooded and its 14 millionpeople were left without power for daysafter the cyclone.

But after the initial hiccups, theentire Public Distribution System(PDS) has been effectively activatedand rice, pulses and other essentialcommodities are being given in theration shops. Several independentdoctors and health workers havemoved in from Kolkata to help thelocals, as they did after Cyclone Ailahit the Sunderbans.

Besides, the Government, stu-dents, young professionals, voluntarygroups and others have collected food,medicines, torches and so on and arereaching out to areas where relief hasnot reached. Anustup Roy, a youngfreelance photographer in Kolkata,for instance, organised all his friendsand well-wishers and moved intomany areas like Mohanpur andSandeshkhali with relief material.

The Jadavpur Commune of theJadavpur University in Kolkata, whichhas been relentlessly working in themost remote parts of Kolkata provid-ing dry rations, cooked food, sanitis-ers and medicines to cops, slumdwellers, homeless people, vendors andothers since the lockdown, moved infrom day one and travelled toSunderbans to provide relief.

The Bengal Relief Committee, in

the first instance, almost immediate-ly called for relief materials, such as tar-paulins, clothes, sanitary napkins, dryfood, bottles of Zeoline, camphor,torches with batteries and so on.

They clearly stated that they want-ed 10x12 feet tarpaulin sheets as a basicrequirement. Several national andinternational NGOs have joined thiseffort by the Bengal Relief Collective,which also comprises students andteachers, including from JNU andother campuses. They used local fish-ermen, boatmen and others to moveinto north and eastern Sunderbans.They used launch boats while initial-ly stocking the relief material atHasnabad and Kwakdip.

It has been weeks since cycloneAmphan ravaged the Sundarbans, andyet the trail of destruction it leftbehind is stark. Many islands, wherepeople subsist on fishing, farmingand catching crabs, are still submergedunder saline water, which rises andrecedes with every tide, finding its wayinland through broken embankments.Where flood waters have evaporated,tall trees with decaying leaves and rav-aged farms and fields stand testimonyto the excessive salt which has left largeswathes of land barren, unfit for agri-culture for at least the next few years.

Almost all mud houses are broken— some have only a section of a wall,some just the pillars, and some, noth-ing at all except for a few broken, bat-tered pieces of wood from frames.People in Sagar and Patharpratimaislands said the fury of the storm wasso massive, asbestos sheets and tiles ofroofs were flying like birds.

Almost all of the Sundarbans is stillunder complete darkness. Electricpoles and wires lie strewn around arte-rial roads, making movement of traf-fic difficult. Repair work began thisweek but electricity workers on ground

said many of their colleagues have trav-elled back home during the lock-down, resulting in labour shortage,which would certainly delay restorationof power.

Almost everywhere, panchayatpradhans and politicians are missingin action — people in several islandssaid they have not seen them even oncesince the lockdown began. In some vil-lages, panchayat members have beguncollecting identity documents frompeople who have lost homes andfarms, so that they can be paid thecompensation announced by the StateGovernment. But allegations of corrup-tion have also begun to surface at thesame time.

In some cases, ruling party cadresare accused of allegedly threateningOpposition party supporters who tryto access relief or speak about corrup-tion in relief disbursal. The BJP hasdone little on the ground except spreaddiscontent against the StateGovernment.

Several civil society groups likeBangla Sansktiti Mancha and AmphanRelief Network, NGOs like Mukti,Prameya and Praajak and individualswith near and dear ones in theSundarbans have been working tireless-ly through these last two weeks, distrib-uting dry ration, tarpaulins, water,medicines and cooked food throughcommunity kitchens in numerousislands. “The big relief is that theGovernment is moving in with thepublic distribution system, distribut-ing rice and basic food to themarooned locals. One hopes that thisrelief moves at a war-footing in the daysto come,” said a journalist reportingfrom 24 Parganas.

(Sengupta is a senior journalist. Thearticle is co-authored by AritraBhattacharya reporting from theSunderbans)

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Elections for 24 Rajya Sabhaseats, spread across 10 States,will be held on June 19. These

biennial polls are crucial for both theBJP and the Opposition. RajyaSabha members are indirectly elect-ed by MLAs of State Assemblies andthe political parties win seats accord-ing to their strength in the Assembly.

The BJP is moving towards aworkable majority in the RajyaSabha where the Congress-ledOpposition had an upper hand tillnow, owing to its numerical strength.

Because of this, it was able to blocka number of Bills and controversiallaws that the Government wanted topass.

Dominating both the Houses isessential for the Narendra ModiGovernment to complete its coreagenda. While the Prime Ministerhas strengthened himself by winninga larger number of seats in the 2019Lok Sabha polls than it did in the2014 elections, the majority is stilleluding the BJP in the House ofElders.

Emboldened by hisGovernment’s success in the secondterm, the Prime Minister would havepushed through his party’s agendalike the Uniform Civil Code, popu-lation regulation measures and so onhad not the deadly Coronavirus hitthe country and the world.

The NDA needs 122 for a major-ity in a 245-member House and cur-rently the ruling party is function-

ing with the support of regional par-ties from the South and EasternIndia. Fearing the Government’sinvestigating agencies, vulnerableleaders facing cases like MulayamSingh, Mayawati and so on, havealso reluctantly supported contro-versial Bills like the Triple Talaaq,repeal of Article 370 and so on in thepast. The BJP’s game of “divide theOpposition” has worked well for theGovernment. Most crucial Bills werepassed in the last one year due to lackof Opposition unity. So, why arethese biennial elections important?It is the Upper House that enablesthe Government to get smoothtransaction of business done if it hasthe majority. Every new seat counts.The BJP is very close to the goal ofobtaining majority but the pace isquite slow. In the forthcoming polls,both the Congress and the BJP maywin some seats and lose others.

Smaller parties like the

Samajwadi Party (SP), the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) and the Left out-fits are slowly fading away in theRajya Sabha.

Other regional parties like theAam Aadmi Party (AAP), YSRCP(Yuvajana Sramika Rythu CongressParty), the Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS) and others havegained more ground.

Currently, the BJP is the single-largest party in the Rajya Sabha with75 seats, followed by 39 of theCongress, 13 of the TrinamoolCongress (TMC), nine each of theAll-India Anna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK) and BijuJanata Dal (BJD), eight of the SP,seven each of the TRS and theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK), five each of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) the Communist Partyof India-Marxist (CPI-M), theRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), foureach of the BSP and Nationalist

Congress Party (NCP), three each ofthe Shiv Sena, the Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) and so on. With allies, theAIADMK, the JD (U), SAD, AsomGana Parishad (AGP), the BodolandPeople’s Front (BDF), SikkimDemocratic Front (SDF) and theRepublican Party of India (A), theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA) is at 104, including threenominated MPs and fourIndependents, which support it.

The BJP has also made someartificial gains by luring Congressleaders like Sanjay Singh and NeerajShekhar, thereby reducing thestrength of the Congress in theUpper House. The real challenge forthe Opposition is the lack of floorcoordination to take on the TreasuryBenches.

What is worrying is the trend ofusing defection for winning theRajya Sabha seats. Look at what ishappening in Gujarat. Close to the

polls last week, three CongressMLAs resigned even as the Congressaccused the BJP of poaching on itslegislators.

The Congress has taken them toresorts and kept them in a camp.After the resignation of the threeMLAs, the Congress Party’s strengthin the 182-member Assembly is nowonly 65. The resignations will hurtthe Congress’ prospects of winningthe second seat. Unfortunately, thisdefection game has become thenorm in the last few years with leg-islators. This is not the spirit of theConstitution or the anti-defectionlaws passed by the Parliament. Infact, the law came about in order toput an end to the “aya Ram, gayaRam” (here today, gone tomorrow)culture and to preserve the party sys-tem. But in practice it is misused.

The MPs themselves make lawsand then defy them as per their con-venience, as we have seen many

times. People elect MPs to representthem in Parliament but after gettingchosen they try to change parties forpersonal gains. This defection gameis played out often and this time, too,there will be no exceptions.

The electorate needs to checkthis kind of political culture.Legislators, who act in unscrupulousways, should be voted out in subse-quent elections. The anti-defectionlaw needs to be looked into again bythe lawmakers and reformed. Thereshould be a provision to recall theelected representatives.

In short, there is need for elec-toral reforms on many things includ-ing transparency in funding and soon. There are many reports on elec-toral reforms that are lying with theGovernment and these must beimplemented. But for this, a strongpolitical will is needed.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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With the steel demand expect-ed to decline by 13-15 per centduring this fiscal, major indus-try players have decided toeither delay or altogether shelvetheir capex plans, rating agencyCrisil said. According to a sur-vey by the ratings agency, weakfinancial health and gloomydemand are expected to weighon capex plans, with majorindustry players delaying theircapex plans for more than a year.

The demand for steel in thefirst quarter of the fiscal isexpected to fall by 60-65 per centas the extended lockdown tocontain COVID-19 pandemicand the migration of labour haveimpacted construction andmanufacturing sectors. "Steelmanufacturers are focussing onmanaging liquidity and cashflows in the near term to tideover an estimated contraction of60-65 per cent demand in the

first quarter of fiscal 2021. Whilesome may delay their capexplans, some envisage shelving ofthe plans altogether," the agencysaid. In the near-term, steelmanufacturers are expected tofocus on managing liquidity,alongside augmenting sales vol-ume and liquidating inventory

through domestic sales orexports, it added.

The agency further said thateven though the demand recov-ery is expected in the third quar-ter, it is expected to decline by13-15 per cent for the fiscal. "Theprospects of the constructionsector, which accounts for over

65 per cent of steel demand inIndia, have dimmed consider-ably with the onset of the pan-demic.

"Most of the infrastructureprojects will be deferred evenafter the lockdown is liftedmainly on the back of labourshortage due to reverse migra-tion, and lower infrastructurespending due to funding con-straints of central and state gov-ernments on account of lowertax collections and focus onsocial sectors," it said.

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Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel on Tuesdaydemanded that the Centreallow state governments toavail the additional borrowinglimit of 2 per cent of GSDPwithout any conditions to tideover the COVID-19 crisis.

In a letter to FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman,Baghel requested the Centre toreconsider its decision to linkthe increased borrowing limitof states to specific reforms, anofficial statement said. He alsostated that economic packagesannounced by the Centre todeal with the COVID-19 sit-uation and ensuing lockdownare insufficient to revive theeconomy.

Considering the demandof states, the Centre hasallowed an additional bor-rowing limit of 2 per cent ofGSDP (Gross State DomesticProduct), but state govern-ments are unable to avail thisbenefit due to non-fulfillmentof the set criteria, the CM stat-ed. States be allowed to availthe additional borrowing limitof 2 per cent without any

conditions so that they canenhance their resources, itsaid.

Baghel further said thatautomation of fair price shops,including installation of POSmachines in remote and for-est areas, is a difficult target toachieve for Chhattisgarh, as 14districts of the state are affect-ed by Left Wing Extremismactivities.

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Markets regulator Sebi onTuesday eased norms relatedto fast track further publicoffers, including reducingthe minimum aver-age market capital-isation of publics h a r e h o l d i n grequirement, tillMarch next year.

In the wake ofthe coronaviruspandemic, thewatchdog has alreadyrelaxed eligibility condi-tions related to Fast TrackRights Issue.

The temporary relaxationswould be applicable forFurther Public Offer (FPO)

that open on or before March31, 2021, Sebi said in a circu-lar on Tuesday.

Now, the required averagemarket capitalisation of pub-

lic shareholding of thecompany concerned

has been reduced toRs 500 crore fromRs 1,000 crore.

Further, eligi-bility conditionsfor fast track FPO

pertaining to peri-od of compliance

with the provisions ofthe listing regulations,

ongoing action initiated bySebi against the issuer/ pro-moters/ directors and settle-ment of violation of securitieslaws have been relaxed.

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Cayman Islands has emergedas the fifth largest investor inIndia, with foreign directinvestment from the nationincreasing over three-fold toUSD 3.7 billion in 2019-20,according to the Departmentfor Promotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT).

India had received FDIworth USD one billion in2018-19 and USD 1.23 billionin 2017-18 from CaymanIslands, which is UK OverseasTerritory.

Similarly, FDI from Cyprustoo increased by about three-times to USD 879 million inthe last financial year fromUSD 296 million in 2018-19.It was USD 417 million in2017-18, the DPIIT datashowed.

Experts have stated thatover time, Cayman Islandshas become one of the mostpreferred jurisdictions for rout-ing investments due to theabsence of direct taxes costsand is one of most significantreasons why developedeconomies like UK, France,and Germany are now fallingbehind.

"In fact, three times year-on-year leap in FDI inflows fromCayman Islands must be

viewed as an indicator of howthis small offshore tax havenhas emerged as a favouriteintermediate investment hold-ing jurisdiction by investorsacross the world rather thanIndia gaining higher popular-ity as an Investment destina-tion," Nischal Arora, Partner-Regulatory, Nangia & Co LLPsaid.

However, such rapid pace ofinvestments is also bound toworry the Indian regulatorsdue to lack of substancerequirements and perceivedlack of transparency obliga-tions by the investment hold-

ing jurisdiction, he said."Additionally, investments

from tax havens do carry acomparatively higher per-ceived risk of launderedmoney, round tripping issuesetc, again, which is bound tomake the regulators wary ofthis new trend...In light of(certain) gaps in ascertainingcomplete beneficiary details,one may expect the govern-ment to come out with mea-sures relating to carrying outadditional scrutiny or monitor-ing of investments from suchtax neutral jurisdictions,"Arora added.

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The rupee pared initial gainsto close 6 paise lower at75.61 (provisional) againstthe US dollar on Tuesdaytracking muted domesticequities and strengtheningAmerican currency in theoverseas market. Forextraders said persistent foreignfund flows and the revival ofbusiness activity supportedthe rupee, but strong USdollar weighed on thedomestic unit. The rupeeopened at 75.53 against theUS dollar, but pared thegains to settle at 75.61 againstthe US dollar, down 6 paiseover its previous close. It hadsettled at 75.55 against thegreenback on Monday.During the four-hour tradingsession, the domestic unitsaw an intra-day high of75.43 and a low of 75.61.Meanwhile, the 30-share BSEbenchmark Sensex was trad-ing 164.73 points lower at34,205.85 and broader NSENifty fell 47.30 points to10,120.15.

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CredR, a used two-wheelersales platform, on Tuesdayannounced its foray into theon-demand doorstep bikeservice segment with the roll-out of 'CredR Care'.

Under the CredR Care'service, users can book aservice package as per theirbike model from their homeor office. The new service hasbeen launched in four cities,Bengaluru, Delhi NCR,Jaipur and Pune, CredR saidin a release.

The service of the vehiclewill be carried out by trainedauto experts while followingall social distancing normsand sanitisation protocols, itsaid, adding, the full-stackbrand, which offers refur-bished used two-wheelers tothe consumers, aims to caterto the servicing segment aswell. "From being a full-stackused two-wheeler brand, themove into two-wheeler ser-vicing was a natural pro-gression for us. Our expertisein the domain of bike refur-bishment and maintenancemakes us fully equipped tomake this move," saidSasidhar Nandigam, ChiefStrategy Officer, CredR.

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Realtors' body Naredcoon Tuesday said it hasapproached 2.85 lakh dis-placed labourers in UttarPradesh and 75,000 ofthem have so far agreedto work in various realestate projects in the state.The state unit of theNational Real EstateDevelopment Council(Naredco), anautonomous self-regula-tory body under theMinistry of Housing andUrban Affairs, said it hadentered a memorandumof understanding withthe Uttar Pradesh govern-ment for engaging 2.50lakh displaced labourersin the sector.

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An association of mining engi-neers of Goa on Tuesday saidit has appealed to the state gov-ernment to take immediatesteps for resuming operations.

"Polytechnic MiningAlumni Association of Goa(PolyMAAG), the pre-emi-nent body of mining engineersin the state, has appealed toPramod Sawant, ChiefMinister of Goa, to take imme-diate steps to ensure resump-tion of mining operations inthe state of Goa," it said in astatement.

PolyMAAG said that it hasalso made a request to Sawantto take up the matter withPrime Minister NarendraModi. In the economic devel-opment of any nation, sustain-able exploration and mining ofminerals plays a vital role, itsaid, adding that in India,the mining industry is thethird largest in terms of gen-erating jobs per unit increasein the sectoral GDP.

The iron ore mining indus-try in the state supports morethan 60,000 direct and indirectjobs with more than threelakh people in the state depen-dent upon the mining indus-try for their livelihoods gener-ation and fulfilment, the body

said.In the wake of coronavirus

pandemic, the tourism sectorwhich is one of Goa's biggestrevenue-earner and employ-ment generator has totallystopped, it noted.

Considering the nature ofthe pandemic, the tourismindustry in the state is unlike-ly to pick-up for at least 12-15months, resulting in wide-spread job loss and loss to staterevenue during this period, thebody of mining engineers said.

The mining industry in thestate due to its unique charac-teristics of being self-reliant interms of local employees and

machinery among others isbest placed to step into thisvacuum and give much need-ed relief to the state exchequer.

The present COVID-19pandemic has created a greaterchallenge for the state of Goawhich was already staring at aneconomic downturn due toabrupt stoppage of miningactivities from March 16, 2018,it said.

People impacted by the sud-den stoppage of mining activ-ities are still yet to find an alter-native source of livelihoodand their future is lookingbleak with each passing day,the body said.

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State-owned NTPC onTuesday said its Darlipali SuperThermal Power Station inOdisha has achieved 100 percent plant load factor (PLF)with a generation of 19.342MU on June 5.

The generation of power onJune 5 amounted to 100.74 percent of the PLF, the MaharatnaPSU said.

The Unit 1 of Darlipali plantlocated in Sundargarh districtwith 800 MW capacity, whichstarted commercial operationfrom March 1, had earlier cre-ated a record among the NTPCstations for continuous opera-tion for 76 days without trip-

ping since COD (CommercialOperation Declaration), it saidin a statement.

The company is construct-ing another unit of 800 MWcapacity at Darlipali and it is

expected to be completed with-in this financial year.

Coal for unit 1 is broughtfrom NTPC-owned DulangaCoal Mining Project inSundargarh district, which is

around 13 km from the plant,and water is drawn from make-up water pump house installedat Chhadarama, near HirakudReservoir in Jharsuguda dis-trict, through pipelines ofabout 40 km length.

Fifty per cent of the powergenerated from the plant goesto Odisha and rest is suppliedto neighbouring states ofJharkhand, Bihar and WestBengal, besides Sikkim.

Speaking on the occasion,NTPC-Darlipali Chief GeneralManager Sunil Kumar Satyasaid that the plant couldachieve the milestone becauseof the untiring efforts ofemployees and all other stake-holders.

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Sectors expected to lead the jobmarket in the third quarter(July-August-September 2020)of the current calendar year aremining & construction, finance,insurance and real estate, a sur-vey of employers released onTuesday said. Those showingweakest trend are manufactur-ing and services, said theemployment outlook survey of695 employers across India byManpowerGroup, which addedthat these employers indicatedcautious hiring plans for thecoming three months.Wholesale & retail trade indus-try was affected the most as 88

per cent of them reported theirbusinesses facing the brunt ofthe COVID-19-induced lock-down, a ManpowerGroup state-ment said. From a region per-

spective, North and South indi-cate a more positive hiring out-look compared to the West andEast, it added. India featuresamong the top four countries

out of 44 that projected a posi-tive hiring trend.

Group Managing Director ofManpowerGroup India,Sandeep Gulati said corporateIndia was rationalising its work-force in response to the econom-ic slowdown.

It is indeed a "wait and watch"game as organisations weregearing up for the post lock-down era where they

anticipate an upsurge indemand, he said. "India is opti-mistic and the Government'sstimulus economy package mayboost the economic activitiesacross sectors. The governmentdoes have its focus on theemployment ratio of the coun-try. Both these elements maybring a fresh ray of hope for theJob seekers before the end of thisfinancial year," Gulati said.

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Crude oil futures on Tuesdaydropped 0.31 per cent to Rs2,873 per barrel as partici-pants trimmed their posi-tions on weak global cues. Onthe Multi CommodityExchange, crude oil for Junedelivery fell by Rs 9, or 0.31per cent, to Rs 2,873 per bar-rel with a business volume of4,865 lots.

Crude oil for July deliverywas quoting lower by Rs 32, or1.1 per cent, at Rs 2,890 perbarrel with an open interest of337 lots.

Globally, West TexasIntermediate crude oil was

trading down by 1.15 percent at USD 37.76 per barrel.

Meanwhile, Brent crude

futures was trading 0.83 percent lower at USD 40.46 perbarrel in New York.

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WednesdayJune 10, 2020

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

"���%����

@"������$$$#$?Yes! We still need to be

at home. Because this isthe only precaution wecan maintain to keepourselves safe.Restaurants should notbe open as it raisesthe risk keepinghygiene stan-dards in mind.But to cope upand managethe economy,shoppingmalls shouldbe permittedto start theirbusi-ness.

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@&���������Coronavirus prevalence in

the country varies fromregion to region & there aredifferences in the spread ofthe virus in urban & ruralareas. On a daily basis, thecases are doubling more inurban areas rather than therural ones. Public has totake up #SelfResponsibilitywith #Masks #sanitizing andtake care of their immunity.

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@�2������������AWhat I feel is people are

frustrated about being athome for a long period, whichforces them to be out onroads. That is only when wegive them a chance to go out.Lockdown 1.0 and its ruleswere very strict and enough toslow down the pace of thesudden spike in cases. 376active cases were the least wecould go down to, since thenit's just rising up.

5��������

@�!���������AFirst of all, isn’t it our mis-

take? Nobody pointed thatout! Is it only the onus of thegovernment? Although wemust and should follow theprecautions especially don’ttouch your mouth and nose.Also, try to step out only ifessential.

5�/�%�����!��

@��������!��>Yes, @TelanganaCMO

should shut down for a weekand observe . This may alsohelp the citizens to considerthe matters seriously hence-forth.

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@��������2��Now everything is

Bhagwan bharose. Lockdownhas become irrelevant nowand re-imposing is an impos-sible task for the state gov-ernment. Agree or disagree,these are the facts.#LockdownFailed

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No other option left for amiddle class to survive. We

have to live with it!

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@/������#Question is how many

months a lock down is need-ed? Are we expecting vaccinesany time soon? Now coron-avirus have many strains, willthe vaccine be effective? Willour economy survive if lockdown is imposed again? If incase, restaurants are shut againmany entrepreneurs haveinvested in restaurant chains aswell, they will suffer losses too.

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@�����2��8#State government wasted the #lock-

down period by not testing enough.Only after 22K testing data, it openedthe state from 17th May in a stag-gered manner and declaredentire state green zone apartfrom containment zones. Now,all of us facing the conse-quences.

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I had my dad’s business I waslooking into. I come from a well-settled family. I always had thepassion of getting into acting but I

never knew how to pursue it. I had noprior experience. All I wanted to do wasbecome an actor but I never knew theroute. About five years ago, I was goingthrough a downtime in my personallife. It was then that I wanted to make aname for myself. I was very determinedand found out where auditions happenregularly, from a couple of friends.

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I attended many auditions before Ilanded my first role. The worst part isthat I never got to audition for any roleas I was always turned down because ofmy colour. I was extremely fair and thecasting director would say I didn’t havethe appeal of a south Indian. One day, Igot to audition for a role for ZeeKannada’s Gruha Lakshmi and gotthrough. There was no looking backever since.

)���!��������Before becoming an actor, I was into

ad modeling. I did a lot of print andvideo ads for many designer-wearlabels. I have worked for Weekenderamong many others. I also took part ina lot of dramas and plays during mycollege days.

;�������&�����2������The project I was doing in Colours

Kannada went on for about four yearsand my character was a huge hit. Afterthat serial was wound up, I wanted toact for the Tamil industry. Meanwhile,someone sent my profile to Telugu pro-ducers here. They called me up for anaudition. I flew from Bengaluru toHyderabad and cameto know that I wasauditioning for a serialbeing produced byAnnapurna Studios and Iconsider myself luckyfor being a part ofsuch a big produc-tion house for myfirst serial in Telugu.Once I heard thestory of Trinayani, Ifelt this is what Iwanted to do andimmediately gave mynod.

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Since I’m from Bengaluru, I did havesome problem speaking and under-standing the language here. But eventu-ally, I managed to pick up the language.I consider myself a learning cub. I try tograsp the words and learn the meaningof it. I want to learn to speak fluentTelugu as soon as possible.

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Initially, I was very skeptical aboutacting here. I wasn’t sure how peoplewould accept me but was quite shockedby the response from the people ofTelugu states. Within a few weeks ofserial being telecast, people started torecognise me and showered a lot of loveon me. One good thing about the peo-ple here is that they don’t differentiate ifthe actor is from the Telugu states ornot. They support talent and accept youas one of their family members.

)�������������������$���!����I have also been doing movies in

Kannada. I have done four of them todate. Three movies were supposed torelease this year, but all of them gotdelayed because of the ongoing pandem-ic. I donned the role of a cop in one ofthe movies Jackpot and I loved that role.I’m looking forward to the release of thefilm. I always wanted to play a split-per-sonality role. That’s my dream role to playon the large screen. I was approached bya few filmmakers from Telugu industrytoo, if everything goes well, I would loveto see myself on the large screen here.

.�!��!��������������������Nobody from my family comes from a

film background. My dad was alwaysagainst my choice of getting into acting.He would say that this is not my cup oftea or this is not what he wanted me todo. He wanted me to get into the familybusiness. My mum, on the other hand,has been very supportive. She has been

my pillar of support. She alwaysencouraged me to do what I

love. Everyone knowsme by my dad’sname. I wantedpeople to know meby name.Touchwood, every-thing went fine andmy dad is alsohappy that I finallyestablished a namefor myself.

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have isolated #covid19 affect-ed people long back amidfirst lockdown. But wemissed that chance. Now ifwe have to isolate, then weshould be ready for rapidtesting with a short period ofa lockdown.

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Even if there is no lockdownany more, everyone must taketheir own precautions whilebeing outside the house...Don’t be reckless... Don’t putyourself and others in danger.

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FUN

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Yesterday’s solution

op starBeyonceKnowlessays theentertain-ment busi-

ness is still very sexistand male-dominated.

The icon made apowerful statement onsexism in the industryand the Black LivesMatter movement dur-ing YouTube’s DearClass of 2020 virtualgraduation, reportsvariety.com.

She said she had tocarve her path to suc-cess. She said theprocess was “terrify-ing”, but building herown company was amajor turning point inher life. “I know howhard it is to step outand bet on yourself,”she pointed out.

“The entertainmentbusiness is still verysexist. It’s still verymale-dominated andas a woman, I did notsee enough female rolemodels given theopportunity to what Iknew I had to do — torun my label, andmanagement company,to direct my films andproduce my tours thatmeant ownership,owning my masters,owning my art, owningmy future and writingmy own story. Notenough Black womenhad a seat at the table.So I had to go andchop down that woodand build my owntable. Then I had toinvite the best therewas to have a seat.That meant hiringwomen, men outsiders,underdogs, people thatwere overlook andwaiting to be seen,” shesaid.

She explained howrace and gender play abig role in the indus-

try.“Many of the best

creatives and businesspeople, who althoughsupremely qualifiedand talented, wereturned down over andover as executives atmajor corporationsbecause they werefemale or because ofracial disparity. AndI’ve been very proud toprovide them with aplace at my table. Oneof the main purposesof my art for manyyears has been dedicat-ed to showing thebeauty of Black peopleto the world, our histo-ry, our profundity andthe value of Black lives.I've tried my best topull down the veil ofappeasement to thosewho may feel uncom-fortable with our excel-lence,” she said.

The star continued:“To the young women,our future leaders,know that you’re aboutto make the worldturn. I see you. You areeverything the worldneeds. Make thosepower moves. Be excel-lent. And to the youngkings, lean into yourvulnerability and rede-fine masculinity. Leadwith heart. There’s somany different ways tobe brilliant. I believeyou and every humanbeing is born with amasterful gift. Don’t letthe world make youfeel that you have tolook a certain way tobe brilliant. And noyou don’t have to speaka certain way to bebrilliant. But you dohave to spread yourgift around the planetin a way that is authen-tically you.”

“To all those whofeel different. If you’repart of a group that’scalled ‘other’, a group

that does not get thechance to be centerstage, build your ownstage and make themsee you. Your queer-ness is beautiful, yourblackness is beautiful.Your compassion, yourunderstanding, yourfight for people whomay be different fromyou, is beautiful. Ihope you continue togo into the world andshow them that youwill never stop beingyourself. That it’s yourtime now, make themsee you,” she added.

Addressing the pan-demic and the ongoingunrest in the US, shesaid, “Congratulationsto the class of 2020,you have arrived herein the middle of aglobal crisis, a racialpandemic and world-wide expression of out-rage at the senselesskilling of yet anotherunarmed Black humanbeing. And you stillmade it, we’re so proudof you.”

She went on to high-light the importance ofBlack Lives Matterprotests.

“Thank you forusing your collectivevoice and letting theworlds know thatBlack lives matter. Thekillings of GeorgeFloyd, AhmaudArbery, BreonnaTaylor and so manyothers have left us allbroken. It has left theentire country search-ing for answers. We'veseen that our collectivehearts, when put topositive action, couldstart the wheels ofchange. Real changehas started with you,this new generation ofhigh school and col-lege graduates who wecelebrate today,” shesaid.

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ctor HartleySawyer has beenfired from popularshow The Flashafter a collection ofracist and misogy-

nistic past tweets by him start-ed circulating online, leadingto widespread backlash.

The tweets, all from beforehe joined series, make refer-ences to sexual assault andcontain racist and homopho-bic language. Sawyer’s Twitteraccount has been deleted, butscreenshots of the old postswere circulating online overthe past two weeks.

Through a statement, thenetwork announced Sawyer’sremoval from the series, inwhich he featured as RalphDibny since 2017, reports hol-lywoodreporter.com.

“Hartley Sawyer will not bereturning for season seven ofThe Flash,” read a statementfrom The CW, producersWarner Bros. TV and BerlantiProductions and executiveproducer Eric Wallace.

“In regards to Mr Sawyer’sposts on social media, we donot tolerate derogatoryremarks that target any race,ethnicity, national origin, gen-der, or sexual orientation.

Such remarks are antitheticalto our values and police,which strive and evolve topromote a safe, inclusive andproductive environment forour workforce,” it added.

The news of his firingcomes as the people in the UScontinue to protest againstsystemic racism in the wake ofGeorge Floyd’s death inMinneapolis.

Showrunner Eric Wallacealso tweeted: “This morning,many of you learned thatHartley Sawyer will not bereturning for season seven ofThe Flash. Concerning hissocial media tweets, theybroke my heart and made memad as hell. And they’reindicative of the larger prob-

lem in our country.”Lead actor Grant Gustin

reposted Wallace’s statement,writing that he was “shocked,saddened and angry when Isaw the tweets. Words matter”.

In a 2012 tweet, whichrecently surfaced, Sawyerwrote: “The only thing keep-ing me from doing mildlyracist tweets is the knowledgethat Al Sharpton would neverstop complaining about me.”

In 2014, he wrote: “Enjoyeda secret boob viewing at anaudition today.”

Several tweets refer toassaulting women, and onereads, “Date rape myself so Idon’t have to masturbate”.

After facing flak, Sawyeralso issued an apology onInstagram.

“My words, irrelevant ofbeing meant with an intent ofhumor, were hurtful, andunacceptable. I am ashamed Iwas capable of these reallyhorrible attempts to get atten-tion at that time. I regret themdeeply. This was not accept-able behaviour. These werewords I threw out at the timewith no thought or recogni-tion of the harm my wordscould do, and now have donetoday,” he said.

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itching traditionaltheatrical releaseamid the COVID-19 crisis, the JanhviKapoor-starrerGunjan Saxena:

The Kargil Girl will be gettinga direct-to-OTT release. Thenews was officially confirmedby the makers and the stream-ing platform Netflix onTuesday.

No release date has beenannounced yet.

Gunjan Saxena: The KargilGirl is inspired by the life ofIndian Air Force combat pilotGunjan Saxena, and starsJanhvi in the titular role.Saxena entered the war zoneduring the 1999 Kargil War.

The makers have shared a

short video showcasing thejourney of the real-life GunjanSaxena with an introductionby Janhvi to her character inthe film.

“Gunjan Saxena is a defin-

ing film based on a true storyabout a woman who showedunparalleled courage, andinspiration to many in thecoming years. We are excitedto share this fearless storyabout following your heartand your dreams with millionsaround the world,” said KaranJohar, who has backed the filmthrough his production house,Dharma Productions.

Directed by Sharan Sharma,the cast also features PankajTripathi, Angad Bedi, ViineetKumar, Manav Vij and AyeshaRaza.

“Gunjan Saxena: The KargilGirl is a story of pure courageand determination and wecan’t wait to premiere it,” saidMonika Shergill, VP.

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An old social media post byIndia pacer Ishant Sharma

lent credence to former WestIndies captain DarrenSammy’s allegation that aracist nickname was used toaddress him during his IPLstint with Sunrisers Hyderabadfor which he is now demand-ing an apology.

The two-time T20 WorldCup-winning captain, whilecommenting on the protestsover African-American GeorgeFloyd’s death in the US, hadspoken about being called Kaluwhile he was in India. Kalu is aderogatory word to describeblack people.

Sammy said having under-stood the meaning only now, hefeels disappointed with histeammates, who addressed himby that nickname during his2013-2014 stint with SRH.

One of them could beIshant, who had shared a grouppicture also featuring Sammy,on May 14, 2014, using Kalu toidentify the West Indian in it.The same year, even Sammycalled himself Kalu in a socialmedia post to offer birthdaywishes to VVS Laxman — theSRH mentor at that time.

“I was listening to HasanMinhaj (Indian-Americancomedian and actor) talkingabout how some of the peoplein his culture view or describeblack people,” Sammy said inhis latest Instagram post.

“...I was angry after listen-ing to him describing a wordthat they use to describe blackpeople, which he was saying isnot in a good way and it wasdegrading.

“Instantly I rememberedwhen I played for SunrisersHyderabad in 2013 and 2014,I was being called the exactsame word that he described,”he added.

Sammy demanded an apol-ogy from his teammates, asking

them to reach out to him.“All those who used to call

me that, you guys know your-selves... Reach out to me, let’shave a conversation. Because, ifit was in any way, shape or formwhat Minhaj said it meant, I’mvery disappointed,” he said.

“I will be messaging thosepeople. You guys know whoyou are. I must admit, at thetime in which I was beingcalled that, I did not know whatit meant,” he added.

“I thought it meant strongstallion or whatever it is, and Isaw no problems with itbecause I was ignorant to thefact of what it meant, I thoughtit meant something else, some-thing uplifting.”

Sammy, who now plies histrade in the Pakistan SuperLeague, said he distinctlyremembers laughter at the verymention of the word.

“Me being a team man, Ithought, hey, team-mates arehappy, it must be somethingfunny. You can understand myfrustration and my anger whenit was pointed out to me that itwasn’t funny at all, it wasdegrading,” he said.

“I’ve had great memories inall the dressing rooms I’vebeen in, as a T20 player, as aleader in a dressing room, as acaptain, I’ve always been one tobuild up a relationship or buildup a team, not bring it down.

“So, all those who used tocall me that, you guys knowyourselves, some of you havemy numbers, you have me onInstagram, on Twitter, wherev-er. Reach out to me, let’s havea conversation,” he added.

Sammy reiterated that heis very disappointed as hethought of his teammates asfamily.

“...I’ll still be angry, anddeserve an apology from youguys, because I saw all of youguys as my brothers. So, talk tome, reach out to me, pleaseclear the air,” he said.

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The International CricketCouncil (ICC) onTuesday approved Covid-

19 replacements in Test crick-et, banned the use of saliva toshine the ball and re-introducednon-neutral umpires for bilat-eral series as part of its inter-im playing regulations to tack-le the threat posed by theCovid-19 pandemic.

In the five new regula-tions, recommended by theAnil Kumble-chaired CricketCommittee, and ratified bythe Chief ExecutivesCommittee (CEC), the teamswill also be allowed an addi-tional DRS call as homeumpires will now be officiatingin bilateral Test series.

Also, a 32-inch additionallogo would be permitted on theplayers’ jerseys, which will helpteams make commercial gainsas Boards battle the pandemic’sfinancial blow.

“Teams will be allowed toreplace players displayingsymptoms of Covid-19 duringa Test match. In line with con-cussion replacements, theMatch Referee will approve thenearest like-for-like replace-ment,” the ICC stated in apress release.

“However, the regulationfor Covid-19 replacements willnot be applicable in ODIs andT20Is,” it added.

The CEC predictably rat-ified the ban on use of saliva,which is considered to be atransmitter of novel coron-avirus unlike sweat which will

still be allowed to shine theball. Repeated violation of theban would at first invite awarning before a five-runpenalty is imposed.

“Players will not be permit-ted to use saliva to shine theball. If a player does apply sali-va to the ball, the umpires willmanage the situation with someleniency during an initial peri-od of adjustment for the play-ers, but subsequent instanceswill result in the team receivinga warning,” the ICC said.

“A team can be issued upto two warnings per inningsbut repeated use of saliva onthe ball will result in a 5-runpenalty to the batting side.Whenever saliva is applied tothe ball, the umpires will beinstructed to clean the ball

before play recommences,” theparent body stated.

The introduction of twohome team umpires for bilater-als after nearly two decades ispurely due to the logisticalchallenges of travelling giventhe flight restrictions in placeglobally.

“The requirement toappoint neutral match offi-cials will be temporarilyremoved from the playing con-ditions for all internationalformats owing to the currentlogistical challenges with inter-national travel.

“The ICC will be able toappoint locally based matchofficials from the Emirates ICCElite Panel of Match Officialsand the Emirates ICCInternational Panel of Match

Officials,” the ICC said.This means India’s C

Shamshuddin, Anil Chaudharyand Nitin Menon will be seenofficiating during the homeseries against England nextyear with Javagal Srinath beingthe match referee.

Due to the lack of experi-ence of a lot of these umpires,who are not a part of the ICCElite Panel, an additional DRSreview has been allotted to theteams in each innings.

“...Keeping in mind thatthere may be less experiencedumpires on duty at times. Thiswill increase the number ofunsuccessful appeals perinnings for each team to threefor Tests and two for the white-ball formats.”

The ICC Cricket

Operations team will also sup-port local match referees whenprocessing code of conductbreaches, and a neutral ElitePanel match referee will con-duct any hearing remotely viavideo link.

The ICC also relaxed theapparel rules by allowing alogo on the chest of Test

match jersey. “A logo, not exceeding 32

square inches in size, may beplaced on the chest of the Testmatch shirt and sweater inaddition to the three otherlogos allowed as per regulations.As of now, logos on chests areonly allowed in ODIs andT20Is.”

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The executive board of theAsian Cricket Council

(ACC) has deferred its deci-sion on the fate of this year’s Asia Cup T20with Sri Lanka offering to host the event,claiming that original hosts Pakistanhave agreed to the proposal.

Sri Lanka cricket chief Shammi Silvahas claimed that the Pakistan CricketBoard as well as the ACC are in agreementthat the island nation can host the tour-nament.

The event is scheduled in Septemberand while it is the PCB’s turn to host, shift-ing it to another country seems inevitableconsidering that India would not travel toPakistan.

“We had a discussion with PakistanCricket Board (PCB) and they havealready agreed to our hosting this editiondue to the present world situation,”Shammi Silva was quoted as saying by SriLankan media outlet Ceylon Today.

“We had an online ACC meeting andthey basically gave us the green light tohost the tournament,” he added.

It is understood that the ACC willwait for the ICC’s decision on the T20World Cup in Australia (October-November) before taking a call on theAsia Cup.

“...The Board emphasised on theimportance of holding the Asia Cup2020. In light of the impact and conse-quences of the Covid-19 pandemic, pos-sible venue options for the Asia Cup 2020were discussed and it was decided to takethe final decision in due course,” an ACCpress release stated after the meeting onMonday.

A senior ACC official privy to devel-opments said there were discussionsregarding postponement but no consen-sus could be reached as far as alternatedates of holding the tournament in SriLanka were concerned.

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Pakistan on Tuesday appointed formercaptain Younis Khan as national

team’s batting coach and also roped inMushtaq Ahmed as spin bowling coachfor the upcoming tour of England.

The 42-year-old Younis had scored10,099 runs in 118 Tests, including acareer-best 313 in a successful career dur-ing which he also became world numberone batsman in the ICC rankings.

Pakistan are scheduled to take onEngland in a three-Test series from July30 and then the two teams will clash ina three-match T20 series from August 29.

“I am delighted that someone of thestature and incredible batting record ofYounis Khan has agreed to join thePakistan cricket set-up as national men’steam batting coach,” PCB Chief ExecutiveWasim Khan said.

“Younis’ work ethics, commitment tomatch preparation, game awareness andtactics in the English conditions will beinvaluable.”

Former leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed,who took 185 wickets in 52 Tests forPakistan, will also be mentor of side. Hehas guided both England and the WestIndies in the past as spin bowling coach.

“Mushtaq knows the English condi-tions as well as anyone, having spent a lot

of time playing County cricket andworking with the England cricket team,”said Wasim.

“Apart from guiding the spinners andplaying a mentor’s role, Mushtaq can behelpful to Misbah in match planning and

preparations.“It is crucial that the side understands

the conditions that they will encounterin the upcoming series and so having theexperience of the likes of Younis Khanand Mushtaq Ahmed to complimenthead coach Misbah-ul-Haq and fastbowling coach Waqar Younis will beinvaluable.”

Younis said he feels “privileged tohave been again offered the opportuni-ty to serve Pakistan for a challenging butexciting tour of England.”

“The Pakistan side includes someimmensely talented cricketers who havethe potential to achieve greater heights.Together with Misbah-ul-Haq, MushtaqAhmed and Waqar Younis, we will try tomake them better and prepare them asbest as we can with on and off fieldcoaching and guidance,” Younis said ina PCB release.

Head coach and chief selectorMisbah-ul-Haq also welcomed Younisand Mushtaq on the coaching panel.

“Due to events beyond human con-trol, the series in England will be one ofthe most challenging and difficult and,as such, we need to have the best talentand brains on our side. Younis as well asMushtaq clearly tick all these and addi-tional boxes, which will assist us inachieving our targets,” he said.

(��)��' The mayor ofMadrid has said the city isbeing considered as a poten-tial host of this year’sChampions League final andhas given the idea his “totaland absolute support”.

The fixture was due to beplayed at the AtaturkOlympic Stadium in Istanbulon May 30 before theChampions League was post-poned in March with onlyhalf of the last 16 completed.

The final last seasonbetween Liverpool andTottenham was held atAtletico Madrid’s WandaMetropolitano while RealMadrid’s Santiago Bernabeuhosted the 2010 deciderbetween Inter Milan and

Bayern Munich.“I know steps are being

taken in this regard and onbehalf of the city council, Iwant to show my total andabsolute support for theChampions League finalbeing held in Madrid,”Madrid mayor Jose Luis

Martinez-Almeida said onMonday night to Spanishtelevision channel Trece.

Spain has been able tobring coronavirus under con-trol in recent weeks andMadrid moved into phasetwo, the penultimate stage ofthe Government’s de-escala-

tion programme, onMonday.

“I think hosting an inter-national event like theChampions League final isvery important but especial-ly in these circumstances,”Almeida added.

“What it would demon-strate is Madrid’s ability torecover in a very short timefrom the dramatic situationwe have been through.”

Almeida added that“adequate security condi-tions exist, we have the infra-structures and public servicesto host it and it would senda message to the world thatMadrid, despite what wehave experienced, does notgive up and is back.” AFP

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England manager GarethSouthgate believes a year-

long delay to the EuropeanChampionship could benefithis side as key players will befit and rising stars will mature.

Euro 2020, which wasdue to begin on Friday,was moved back 12months because of thecoronavirus pandemic.

England captainHarry Kane andManchester United strikerMarcus Rashford would havebeen major doubts for the ini-tial dates due to injury.

Rashford, 22, was one offour English players namedamong the top five most high-ly valued players in the worldby the CIES FootballObservatory on Monday.

The others are RaheemSterling, 25, Trent Alexander-Arnold, 21, and Jadon Sancho,20. “At one point we were pos-sibly looking at being withoutMarcus Rashford and HarryKane, or at the very best both

of those not having a lot offootball,” Southgate told SkySports.

“The age of the team youwould hope would be better ina year’s time but we have to goand prove that on the pitch.”

If the tournament remainsin the same format across12 cities in 12 differentcountries, England wouldplay all of their groupgames at Wembley andthen the semi-final andfinal there if they get that

far.Southgate, who has experi-

ence of playing in a hometournament at Euro 96, is hop-ing his side will benefit.

“We have an advantage inour group matches,” he said.“But so do Italy, who play theirgames in Rome, Spain play inBilbao, Holland (Netherlands)play in Amsterdam.

“It’s only a true advantagein the latter stages of the com-petition, semi-final, final, if weare good enough to get to thatpoint. But without doubt wehave to view it positively.”

%,��,�' Chelsea midfielderN’Golo Kante has returned tocontact training ahead of thePremier League’s comeback nextweek, the Blues confirmed onTuesday. The French WorldCup winner had been allowed tocontinue training at home whenhis teammates returned to train-ing last month due to fears overcoronavirus.

The 29-year-old is notexpected to be match fit intime for Chelseas opening gameof Project Restart against AstonVilla on June 21.

However, Kante could nowplay an important role in therun-in as Chelsea aim to holdonto a place in the PremierLeague’s top four. AFP

�����%&�' Indian football’s domes-tic season will begin from August 1when the transfer window opens, twomonths later than normal times dueto the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a circular sent on Tuesday toall the state units, the AIFF said it hasgot clearance from the world bodyFIFA to hold the season from August1, 2020 to May 31, 2021.

The summer transfer windowwill run from August 1 to October 31.

While the domestic transfer win-dow normally begins in the first weekof June to continue till August end,it has been pushed back to Augustthis year due to the global health cri-sis.

But there was no change in thenormal May 31 season ending date

and thus the 2020-2021 season willbe shortened by two months in viewof the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Yes, we have received the circu-lar from the AIFF stating that thedomestic season will begin fromAugust 1, 2020 and run to May 31,2021 and it will open the summertransfer window from August 1 tillOctober 20,” the head of a state asso-ciation said.

“....We are pleased to informyou that FIFA has approved theamendment in All India FootballFederation’s season dates and regis-tration period (transfer window) for2020-21,” the circular from AIFF said.

The second transfer windowwill be from January 1, 2021 toJanuary 31, 2021. PTI

(�%-,�)��'Australian wicket-keep-er batsman Matthew Wade onTuesday said he would not sledgeIndian cricketers during this year’shome Test series as Virat Kohli’s menthrive on verbal duels and use it totheir advantage.

Wade has used sharp words toget into the skin of his opponents inthe past, especially in the 2017 IndiaODI series and also during lastyear’s Ashes.

However, the 32-year-old said hewould not want confrontations withIndian players during the much-anticipated four-Test engagementlater this year.

“They’re a hard team, they useit (sledging) to their advantage verywell. Virat is very clever the way he

uses his words or his body language.So they use it as an advantage now.To be honest, I don’t really want toengage too much into that,” Wadetold reporters.

“I know that they thrive off thatenergy that comes between twoplayers. They’re probably as good atdoing that as anyone in the world atthe moment, so it’s something I mightstay away from this time.” PTI

+,%+�*�' Young batsmanRishabh Pant has every shot inthe book and it’s difficult to con-tain him when he gets going,says star Afghanistan spinnerRashid Khan.

The Afghan spinner hadfaced Pant in an U-19 tri-seriesin 2015 ahead of U-19 WorldCup in Bangladesh in 2016.

“He hit three sixes in a rowand in the fourth ball he mis-timed but only to be dropped atshort midwicket. Our bowlerlooked helpless and put hishands on his head, yelling inPashto, ‘now what do I do gethim out?’” Khan recalled theincident in an Instagram chatwith Indian legspinnerYuzvendra Chahal.

Despite getting manychances, the Delhi left-handerstill has not been able to cementhis place since MS Dhoni side-lined himself post the 2019World Cup semifinal exit.

“He has every shot in thebook and is one batsman who isvery tough to bowl to. I remem-ber bowling to him at a ground

in Kolkata in the U-19 Triseries,”Rashid said.

Talking about the art ofbowling, Khan said the key totackle the big-hitting batsmen,like the Caribbean, is to confusethem.

“Never pitch the ball up;they would clear boundarieswith ease. It’s about playingthem on the backfoot and con-fuse them with the wrong oneand leg spin. I always try to mixit up,” Rashid, who is known forbig-spinning googly, said. PTI

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The International CricketCouncil (ICC) will be hop-

ing to end the impasse sur-rounding the future of thisyear’s T20 World Cup inAustralia and sort the nomina-tion process for its next chair-man when the board membersmeet virtually onWednesday.

The last ICC boardmeet was a damp squibwith leaks of classified e-mails gaining precedenceover the agenda. And theboard members would expectsome concrete decisions toend the logjam over this year’sT20 World Cup Down Under,which looks increasinglyimprobable due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

So would the BCCI agreeto push their edition (2021) to2022 if Cricket Australiarequests?

“Let ICC first announcewhat they intend to do with

this year’s World T20. Therehas been no formal announce-ment with regards to this year’sedition,” BCCI treasurer ArunDhumal said.

“Either India hold theiredition as per schedule in2021 with Australia organisingtheirs in 2022 or vice versa. Inany case, a decision needs to be

taken considering themembers will need toplan their bilateralengagements,” a seniorofficial privy to ICCboard room politicssaid.

The other aspect will bebroadcaster, Star India, whichhas invested heavily in both theIPL as well as ICC events.

“Star is a stakeholder.Their opinion will also matter,”the official said.

There is speculation thatthe October-November win-dow for the T20 World cupwould be taken up by the IPLif the ICC announces a post-ponement or cancellation.

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est remembered forhis turns in Sri SitaRamula KalyanamChootamuRaarandi, Annaya,Yuvaraju, and

Anandam among others, actorVenkat has staged a comebackwith Aha’s Run — more thanfive years after his last AaAiduguru released. He pointsout that he couldn’t help buttake a break after his last. “Ididn’t want to spoil my hard-earned reputation by doingjust any other role. Peopleknew me as hero Venkat,which was fine. I was sure thatif I didn’t do films, it’s ok. Ihad other businesses, takingcare of my finances. So, it wasa risk I could afford. Yes, I didmiss the camera but I was nothappy with the roles beingoffered,” he tells us in an inter-view.

So when the offer to featurein Run came by way, he didn’tthink twice. Besides hisprominent role, the fact that itwas backed by Allu Aravindand Krish meant that he hadto “give it a shot”. “Initially wefilmed it as a series but due tosome reasons it was piecedtogether as a movie. Somehowit didn’t turn out as we expect-ed. I couldn’t even dub for itbecause of the lockdown.Nonetheless, I got goodreviews for my role, withmany commenting that Ilooked fit and was tailor-made,” he states, quick toinform that even when wasnot doing movies, he made ita point to hit the gym andremain fit.

He believes OTT platformswill help the actors and direc-tors to experiment more. Plus,

he adds, “For an actor, thebiggest advantage with anOTT platform is that he canrule out box-office pressure.Dynamics of film business toohas undergone a metamor-phosis. Back in 1999, whenthe film opened to 50 per centoccupancy, it would have thelegs to run for another four-five weeks uninterrupted. Butif a film opens to 50 per centthese days, it would bereplaced by evening itself.OTT is a boon for the indus-try, which is why most bigplayers are entering into it. Itwill respect you as an actorand land you many opportu-nities.”

Venkat has completedshooting for The Beauty andthe Baker Telugu remake,which Annapurna Studios isproducing. The show followsthe love story between a sim-ple baker and an internationalsuperstar. After a chanceencounter, it explores whethertheir relationship can surviveher jet-setting lifestyle, heroverbearing agent, their differ-ent socio-economic back-grounds and both their exesand the media. In many ways,it’s back to where it all beganfor Venkat, whose debut filmSri Sita Ramula KalyanamChootamu Raarandi (1999)was produced by superstarNagarjuna under AnnapurnaStudios. He will be seen as thefemale lead’s mentor andmanager in the remake. “It’san interesting role and has alot of Venkat for all of its 10episodes. I’m excited and con-fident about it. I was undersome pressure to portray itbecause the original actornailed it,” he mentions,

adding: “The makers audi-tioned many actors for thepart but none fit their vision.One fine day, I met Supriya ata party and she asked me togive the role a thought. I sawthe original and was con-vinced to it. After all, it’sAnnapurna Studios which isproducing.”

Venkat is also playing a keyrole in Ichhata VahanamuluNilaparadu, spearheaded bySushanth and newbieMeenakshi Chaudhary. “It’s arole like what Srihari garuplayed in some films lastdecade. It has its own impor-tance as the story commences

and concludes with it. Thefilm is 80 per cent wrapped upand I need to shoot for fourmore days. I have also signedup to do a Tamil-Telugu bilin-gual, which will be helmed bya Tamil director. It’s a two-hero film and I play one hero.It will have a sensational starcast,” he shares.

Venkat is happy to don thegreasepaint again, saying thatthe industry is where healways wanted to be. “For meas an actor, it’s an interestingphase to be around, especiallywith the OTT boom. When Imade my debut it wasn’t aninteresting phase,” he signs off.

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Vijayawada Wednesday June 10 2020���������

ith the Telanganagovernment giv-ing its consent torestart shootingson Monday, theindustry got the

list of standard practicesthat it should follow while itlimps back to normalcyslowly. While advocating theregular practices of socialdistancing, avoiding hand-shakes, wearing non-med-ical grade masks, daily fumi-gation of locations and pro-viding hand cleaning facili-ties at entry and exit pointsstrongly, the governmenthas asked the producers to

check cast and crew for mildcough or low-grade feverusing infrared thermometer.It also made it compulsorythat producers will beresponsible for obtainingself-declaration forms onhistory of ailments like dia-betes, hypertension, cardiacissues etc including recentbouts of cough, sore throat,fever from cast and crew onsets. Only personnelscreened and cleared for thework can go about theirbusiness. While encouragingthe use of Arogya Setu app,the government advised theproducers that cast and crew

members less than 10 yearsof age and above 60 yearsshould not be allowed onsets without medical clear-ance. It has also asked to cutdown the crew to less than40 persons. The guidelinesalso asked the industry toshoot primarily in studioenvironments, avoidingexternal locations. Contain-ment zones will not be con-sidered for shooting.

Guidelines to be emulat-ed on the hair and make-upfront, catering services, artdepartment and for post-production works too havebeen issued.

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eading producer DilRaju’s former partnerLaxman, who tookcare of the distribu-tion wing of SriVenkateswara

Creations, has decided to gosolo. While there have beenreports that he bagged distribu-tion rights of some anticipatedprojects earlier this year, it hasnow emerged that Laxman willalso be venturing into film pro-duction. Apparently, he wantedto announce a slate of filmsunder his production houseBridge Productions but Covid-19 outbreak thwarted his plans.It is believed that he will firstannounce his big-ticket filmbefore announcing next set ofventures shortly.

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ctress Pooja Hegde hasshared how she spenttime amid lockdown in ahilarious new post.

Pooja shared twomonochrome pho-

tographs on Instagram, whereshe is seen sleeping in bed.

Describing her life amidself-isolation due to the out-break of coronavirus in thecountry, Pooja captioned it:“My entire quarantine in anutshell... #quaranti-nelife.”

She then shared aphotograph of herselfdoing yoga. In theimage, the actress isseen balancing herbody on one leg andperforming the “ready-to-fly pose”.

“Next up.. take theother foot off the groundand fly off into the sun-set.. #yogadreams #virab-hadrasana3,” she cap-tioned the image.

On the acting front,Pooja was last seenonscreen in the Teluguaction drama AlaVaikunthapurramuloostarring Allu Arjun.

Directed by TrivikramSrinivas, the film also fea-tures Tabu, Jayaram,Sushanth, Navdeep, NivethaPethuraj, Samuthirakani,Murali Sharma, Sunil, Sachin Khedekar, and Harsha Vardhan.

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fter statingthat he wasn’tcalled for theseries of meet-ings that theindustry held

with government author-ities last month, stirringa hornet’s nest,Nandamuri Balakrishnahas dropped anotherbomb. As a part of his60th birthday onWednesday, the actor hasbeen giving series ofinterviews to variousmedia outlets over thepast one week. In one his

latest interactions to TopTelugu TV, the actor saidhe wasn’t even invited to10th annual reunion of1980s actors held lastNovember. “The 80sactors meet happen regu-larly. Recently it was heldat Chiranjeevi residence,Hyderabad but I wasn’textended an invitationfor it. I believe in givingrespect and taking it. Ifyou are not inviting me,its better you avoid mecompletely. I will go myown way,” the actor stat-ed.

Jaya Prada, Jayasudha,Jackie Shroff, Sumalatha,Radhikaa Sarathkumarand her husband SarathKumar, Poonam Dhillon,Suhasini Maniratnam,Nagarjuna with wifeAmala, Venkatesh,Ramesh Aravind,Sobhana, Jagapathi Babu,Nadiya, Radha, Jayaram,Prabhu, Suman, Lizzy,Naresh VK, Rahman andBhagyaraja were among ahost of others whograced the reunion atnewly renovated house ofChiranjeevi.

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ith many rumours swirling aroundthat he is not in the pink of health,composer Sashi Pritam of Gulabi andSamudram fame on Tuesday clarifiedthat he has undergone Angioplastyearlier this month and now is doing

fine. “I suffered a heart attack on June 4 and myfriend Raju admitted me to Century Hospital inBanjara Hills immediately. The doctors diag-nosed that there was a block in my heart, follow-ing which they performed Angioplasty. Theyhave placed a stent in my heart and saved mefrom a massive heart attack. I thank my familymembers, friends and well-wishers for prayingfor my speedy recovery,” the talented musicdirector, who was discharged on Tuesdayevening, said in a statement.

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