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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 19*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

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RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

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any important work)Rahukalam: 12:01 pm – 01:25 pmYamagandam: 07:50 am – 09:14 amVarjyam: 08-44 am - 10:15 am 07:00 pm - 05:03 amGulika: 10:37 am - 12:01 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In yet another major decision,the State government will bringdown the number of bars by 40per cent. On Tuesday, ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy had a meeting withExcise Department officials,along with Excise MinisterNarayana Swamy.

The decision came after adetailed discussion on theissue. All bars would be closedby January and new licenceswould be issued through adraw of lots.

Chief Minister Y SJaganmohan Reddy has direct-ed officials to reduce the num-ber of bars by 50 per cent. But,officials explained that already20 per cent of sales werereduced and reducing thenumber by 50 per cent at oncewill have more impact. Finally,the Chief Minister has direct-ed them to bring them downby 40 per cent.

The government is also con-templating increasing the

prices of liquor sold in bars.Strict penal action will betaken against those who com-mit adulteration, smugglingof alcohol and illegal brewingof country-made liquor. Penalaction would include imposinga fine, which is three times the

licence fee and imprisonmentof up to six months. The ChiefMinister has informed officialsthat the government will alsoamend the liquor policy legis-lation in the upcomingAssembly sessions.

Continued on Page 3

Allowed by law to intercept,monitor Data: GovtBLOOMBERG n NEW DELHI

The centre said on Tuesday it's“empowered” to inter-cept, monitor anddecrypt digital infor-mation in the publicinterest as long as itsagencies follow the law.

Laws allowed federaland state governments tointercept "any informationgenerated, transmitted,received or stored in any com-puter resource," G KishanReddy, junior minister for the

Ministry of Home Affairs toldparliament in a written replywhen asked by an opposition

lawmaker whether thegovernment hadsnooped onWhatsApp, FacebookMessenger, Viber, and

Google calls and mes-sages.

Information can only beintercepted by "authorizedagencies as per due process oflaw, and subject to safeguardsas provided in the rules," thestatement said.

File photo

Bars to come downby 40%; booze costly

VIZAG LAD IN PAK POLICE CUSTODY

SUMIT ONKAn VISAKHAPATNAM

A day after two Indians,including Vizag nativePrashant Maidam, who waslast seen in Hyderabad, werearrested by Pakistani Rangersfor 'illegally' entering theirsoil, Prashant's father M BabuRao said that his son is neithera traitor nor a terrorist, but avictim going through pangs ofdepression following a lovefailure.

Babu Rao, who saw thevideo in which Prashant lookscheerful and is seen seekingpermission from Pakistanpolice to record a message tohis parents in Telugu, statedthat they will meet the External

Affairs Minister, Embassy offi-cials and other influential peo-

ple in New Delhi seeking thatthey use their good offices toexpedite Prashant's release.

The aggrieved father, who isa native of Visakhapatnamwhere, incidentally, Prashantcompleted his B Tech, present-ly resides with his family atKukatpally in Hyderabad.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Education Department isconsidering the proposal forcompleting admissions in gov-ernment schools for the nextacademic year much inadvance just as in private andcorporate schools. As EnglishMedium is going to be intro-duced in these schools, thegovernment is expecting a risein demand for seats. So, thedepartment has already start-ed preparing the guidelines andthe schedule for admissions.

Normally, securing admis-sion for their wards in reput-ed schools is a big ordeal forparents. It is common for par-ents to seek the help of MPsand MLAs in this regard.Usually, admissions for privateschools will be open inDecember and closed within a

month.Now, the government

schools may experience thiskind of situation as EnglishMedium education from ClassI to VI will have a big impacton society. "People's represen-tatives may be under pressureto recommend seats for stu-dents in their respective con-

stituencies. 'Amma Vodi'scheme, too, may create a bigimpact, as it will give a big reliefto lower and middle-class par-ents from the burden of pay-ment of fee in private schools.Besides, they would get theannual financial assistancethrough the 'Amma Vodi'scheme. Many parents are

learnt to be planning to admittheir children in governmentschools in the next academicyear."

The Education Departmentis busy chalking out trainingprogrammes for governmentschool teachers in EnglishMedium. An official of theEducation Department said,"The government is takingfeedback from us on how tomanage admissions and start-ing the admissions processearly is a good decision.

Admissions in govt schools may startearly for next academic year

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Robotic avatar of police hastaken birth in a Vizag's policestation. To improve the effi-ciency in attending to thecomplaints, Visakhapatnampolice has inducted a cybersecurity interactive roboticagent called CYBIRA.

Developed by RobotCoupler Techno SolutionsPrivate Limited, CYBIRA is aspecially equipped police robotto decipher audio recordingsinto text messages.

The Virtual Assistant Robotwas launched by theVisakhapatnam PoliceCommissioner RK Meena at

the Maharanipeta PoliceStation. The PoliceCommissioner said that thepublic could stand in front ofthe robot and orally registertheir complaints. He further

added that those who wish tofile written complaints bythemselves could do thatthrough the tablet attached toCYBIRA. Earlier, similar mod-els of police robots were

deployed in Kerala andTelangana. Apart from receiv-ing complaints, these robotswere designed to detect bombsand identify suspects.

Continued on Page 3

Robo cop to take complaints from people

Case againstChandrababuposted to Nov25 for hearing PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu hasreceived a shock from theAnti-Corruption Bureaucourt in disproportionateassets case filed against himby NTR's widow LakshmiParvati as the designatedACB court posted the case toNovember 25 and directedauthorities to record LakshmiParvati's evidence in the case.

In a case that was filed in2005, N Chandrababu Naiduhad managed to obtain astay order from the HighCourt, stalling the trial in thecase. So, the case did notcome to trial all these 14 yearsbecause of the stay order.

Last year, the SupremeCourt ruled on stay ordersstating that the maximumduration of stay orders shouldnot exceed six months eitherin civil or criminal cases.Therefore, the High Courtdid not give any extension tothe stay order.

Continued on Page 3

Road accidentdeaths cross1.51 lakh in 2018NEW DELHI: Nov 19 (PTI)The number of people killedon Indian roads recorded arise of 2.37 per cent to 1.51lakh in 2018 and 70 per centof the victims fell in the agebracket of 18-45 years,according to a report releasedby the highways ministry onTuesday.

A total of 1.47 lakh peoplewere killed in road crashes in2017, according to the annu-al report 'Road Accidents inIndia, 2018' brought out bythe ministry's transportresearch wing.

"Road accidents in thecountry have increased mar-ginally by 0.46 per cent dur-ing 2018 with the year seeing4.67 lakh road accidents asagainst 4.64 lakh in 2017," theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways said.

RS chairmanorders reviewof new uniformof marshals NEW DELHI: Nov 19 (PTI)Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu on Tuesdayordered review of the newmilitary-style uniform ofmarshals in the House, amove which comes followingcriticism by some ex-Armyofficers and remarks of oppo-sition leaders. Uniforms ofRajya Sabha marshals wererestyled from traditionalIndian attire comprising tur-bans to dark navy blue andolive green military-style out-fits with caps. Naidu men-tioned in the House that theSecretariat of Rajya Sahbahad come out with a newdress code for marshals.

Cong-NCPmeet onalliance withSena called offNEW DELHI: Nov 19 (PTI)A meeting with the Congressscheduled on Tuesday to fur-ther discuss the possibility ofgovernment formation inMaharashtra was called off dueto pre-occupation of Congressleaders with Indira Gandhi'sbirth anniversary events, NCPleader Nawab Malik said. Hesaid Congress leaders request-ed that the meeting be post-poned to Wednesday. Thetwo sides have deputed lead-ers for holding talks on a pos-sible alliance. NCP PresidentSharad Pawar had a meetingwith Congress President SoniaGandhi on Monday. Pawarsaid if the NCP-Congress haveto take a view on governmentformation, they have to firstdiscuss it between themselves.

PSBs reportedfrauds of overRs 95,700 crin Apr-SepPNS n NEW DELHI

Government owned banksreported frauds of over Rs95,700 crore in the first sixmonths of the current fiscal,the Parliament was informedon Tuesday.

"According to ReserveBank of India (RBI), frauds asper year of reporting, asreported by Public SectorBanks (PSBs), during theperiod from April 1, 2019 toSeptember 30, 2019 is 5,743involving a total amount of Rs95,760.49 crore," FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamansaid in the Rajya Sabha.

In the written reply, theminister further said thatcomprehensive measureshave been taken to curb theincidence of frauds in banks,including freezing bankaccounts of 3.38 lakh inoper-ative companies.

Meanwhile in reply toanother question, Minister ofState for Finance AnuragThakur said with the increasein limit of withdrawal to Rs50,000 for customers ofPunjab and MaharashtraCooperative (PMC) Bank,78 per cent of depositors ofthe bank will be able to with-draw their entire accountbalance.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A couple has petitioned theGujarat High Court onMonday for help to get backtwo daughters who they allegehave been illegally confined atan ashram run by controversialself-styled godman SwamiNithyananda.

Petitioners JanardanaSharma and his wife told thecourt on Monday that they hadadmitted their four daugh-ters, from 7 to 15 years of age,to an educational institutionrun by Swami Nithyananda inBengaluru in 2013.

When they learnt that theirdaughters were this year shift-ed to another branch ofNithyananda Dhyanpeetham,

named YoginiSarvagyapeetham, situated onthe premises of Delhi PublicSchool in Ahmedabad, theytried to meet them.

However, officials of theinstitute refused to let themmeet their daughters, the peti-tioners alleged.

With help from the police,

the Sharmas visited the insti-tute and managed to bringback their two minor daugh-ters, but their elder daughters,Lopamudra JanardhanaSharma (21) and Nandhita(18), refused to accompanythem, according to the peti-tion.

Couple alleges daughters held at Nithyananda’s ashram

PNS n KOLKATA

A day after West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeewarned against "minorityextremism" in an obviousattack on the AIMIM, partychief Asaduddin Owaisi hitback on Tuesday, sayingMuslims in the TMC chief 'sstate are ranked "worst" ondevelopment indicators.

Marking a shift in herrhetoric on religious extrem-ism, Banerjee had, at an eventin Cooch Behar on Monday,asked people to refrain fromlistening to "minority extrem-ists" who have their base inHyderabad, apparently tar-

geting Owaisi, a Lok SabhaMP from that city.

Without naming the AllIndia Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM),Banerjee said, "There are someextremists among the minori-ties. They have their base inHyderabad. Don't listen tothem. Don't trust these forces".

Mamata warns againstminority extremism,Owaisi hits back When they learnt that

their daughters wereshifted to another branchof NithyanandaDhyanpeetham, situatedon the premises of DelhiPublic School inAhmedabad, they tried tomeet them.

n The government is contemplatingincreasing the prices of liquor sold inbars. Strict penal action will be takenagainst those who commit adulteration,smuggling of alcohol and illegal brewingof country-made liquor

n Developed by Robot CouplerTechno Solutions PrivateLimited, CYBIRA is a speciallyequipped police robot todecipher audio recordings intotext messages

n The Virtual Assistant Robot waslaunched by the VisakhapatnamPolice Commissioner RK Meenaat the Maharanipeta PoliceStation

n The Chief Minister has informed officials that the government will alsoamend the liquor policy legislation in the upcoming Assembly sessions

n Penal action wouldinclude imposing a fine,which is three times thelicence fee andimprisonment of up to sixmonths

The Educationdepartment is busychalking out trainingprogrammes forgovernment schoolteachers in EnglishMedium

My son Prashant is not aterrorist, says father Babu Rao

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Continuing the spree of welfareschemes, Andhra Pradesh'sJagan Mohan Reddy govern-ment on Tuesday enhanced thesubsidy for Muslim andChristian pilgrims.

The government issuedorders, hiking the subsidyamount for Muslims visitingthe holy places in Saudi Arabiafor annual Haj pilgrimage andalso for Christians going toJerusalem and other Biblicalplaces.

For those whose annualincome is less than Rs 3 lakh,the subsidy has been increasedfrom Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000.For those with annual incomeof more than Rs 3 lakh, thesubsidy has been increasedfrom Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.

The orders were issued pur-suant to the decision taken bythe state cabinet at its meetingon October 30.

The state has allocated anadditional amount of Rs 14.22crore for the hike in the sub-sidy amount for the pilgrim-ages.

The government, headed byY. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, a

Christian, came under criti-cism from Bharatiya JanataParty and right-wing groupsfor indulging in minorityappeasement by providingsubsidy to pilgrims.

Ruling YSR Congress Party(YSRCP), however, defendedits move and dismissed theallegations of minorityappeasement

It pointed out that the stategovernment has also allocatedfunds for the Dhupa, Deepa,Naivedyam to Hindu temples,thus giving due respect to allreligions.

"Giving subsidy to minori-ty pilgrims is an old policywhich was pursued by theprevious TDP government aswell, and the state has onlyincreased the quantum ofamount as there were requestsfrom the minorities," YSRCPsaid in a statement.

"This need not be seen as anappeasement and carry outuncalled for propaganda as itis an old policy which is beingcontinued by the State.

CM Jagan hikes subsidy forMuslim, Christian pilgrims

Jio raises call,data tariffsPNS n MUMBAI

A day after Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea announcedtheir decision to increase tar-iffs, Reliance Jio on Tuesdaysaid that it will increase tele-com service charges in thenext few weeks, among othermeasures.

The company in a statementsaid it would carry out an"appropriate" increase in tar-iffs which "does not adverse-ly impact data consumption orgrowth in digital adoptionand sustains investments".

"Like other operators, wewill take measures includingappropriate increase in tariffsin next few weeks in a mannerthat does not adversely impactdata consumption or growthin digital adoption and sus-tains investments," it said.

Police Commissioner RK Meena launching the Virtual Assistant Robot atMaharanipeta Police Station in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday

n “Prashant started his career as asoftware engineer with acompany in Bengaluru. There hefell in love with a colleague. Afterworking in Bengaluru for a year orso, he shifted to Hi-tech City,”Babu Rao recalled

M Babu Rao Prashant

The orders wereissued pursuant tothe decision taken bythe state cabinet atits meeting on Oct 30

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2019 vijayawada 02

SEELAM AROZIn VIJAYAWADA

Much debate has been generat-ed over introduction of Englishmedium at government schoolsin the State. Amid the cacopho-ny for and against English medi-um, reason is the casualty. Whilethe Jaganmohan Reddy govern-ment is keen on going ahead withhis English-only agenda, theOpposition parties have begun a'Save Telugu' campaign. Populistovertones of the State govern-ment's pitch for English educa-tion are clear and louder. Sadly,voices for alternatives like bilin-gual education drowned in thepolitical din. In fact, instructionin two languages has proved ben-eficial. For instance, in KendriyaVidyalayas have the option ofstudying Social Studies in Hindi.Students opting for Hindi inNorthern State have the benefitof understanding their tradi-tion and culture much betterthan those who opted for all sub-jects in English. They can acquireall productive skills like readingwriting and speaking much bet-ter than the other students.

The Chief Minister and hisCabinet colleagues as well asYSRCP leaders have raked up theneedless 'us and them' controver-sy by making personal com-ments against Vice-President MVenkaiah Naidu, TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu and JanaSena president Pawan Kalyanasking if they had sent their chil-dren to Telugu medium schoolsor English medium schools.With this, the Chief Minister has

succeeded in polarising societyinto two sections, endearing thedowntrodden sections, particu-larly SCs, STs and BCs, in theprocess. However, there seems tobe more to it than meets the eye.If the recent posturings ofYSRCP and its government areany indication, the party is aim-ing high.

On the one hand, the govern-ment says it does not havemoney for development, but it isliberally announcing cash ben-efits under its flagship pro-gramme 'Navaratnalu' only to

create vote bank. It is in this con-text that one has to evaluate theintent of the government's newof policy English education.

On the other hand, is theOpposition sincere in bashingthe government over Englishmedium schools? May be not.The votaries of Telugu mediumhave been shedding crocodiletears for the damage to be causedto Telugu by JaganmohanReddy's initiative. But, none ofthese high-profile kids send theirwards to Telugu MediumSchools.

Ptting politics apart, howabout teaching some subjects inEnglish and some others inTelugu? In fact, studies in the UShave revealed bilingual educationis beneficial for students in termsof employment in the globalmarket and understanding theirown society through the medi-um of their mother tongue.

KMP Latha, a senior aidedschool teacher in the city, saidbilingual education would makechildren sharper. "In my view,Mathematics, Science and Civicsshould be taught in English,while History and heritageshould be taught in Telugu.Mother tongue of the childshould be made mandatory.This will equip the studentswith analytical skills in Englishand an understanding of theirtradition and culture in themother tongue," she said.

Studies by UNESCO andother have proved that a childunderstands better in its moth-er tongue. Therefore, it mayprove counterproductive ifinstruction in foreign languageis forced upon children from theprimary level of education.

National President of TeluguBhashodyama Samakhya DrSamala Ramesh Babu said it isinhuman to impose foreign lan-guage instruction on childrenfrom the primary level. "The stu-dents should learn about theunknown language through theknown language (Telugu in thecontext of AP). Teaching of var-ious subjects can be done inEnglish only from Class VIII toX."

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In an effort to encourage chil-dren to showcase their talentand national culture, a megainternational children's festi-val of arts and culture will beorganised in the Port City. Thefestival will be organised by DLa Valentina, a renownedglobal fashion groomingagency in collaboration withthe AP Tourism Departmentfrom December 1 to 6.

The event 'Little ModelEarth- 2019', which is popu-lar amongst European coun-tries, is expected to have par-ticipation from at least 20countries across the globewith over 75 participants.

'Little Model Earth' is aninternational children's festi-val, which is found with theidea of popularisation of chil-dren's and teens talent andpresentation of national cul-ture on international plat-form.

The fourth edition of thischildren's festival, which orig-inates from South Africa wasfounded by Amanda Kriel of

Amone Modelling Academy,South Africa. ValentinaMishra, CEO of D LaValentina Academy, said, "Theaim of the festival is to bringtogether talented kids from allover the world to presenttheir national culture on aninternational platform. Thiswill also help in boosting

tourism of the State and thecountry." "The six-day eventwill commence on December1 and will consist of variousrounds, including interviewwith international jury, talentround and national day,"added Valentina stating thatthis is the first time that theevent is happening in India.

Thirumanjanamperformed atPadmavathitemplePNS n VIJAYAWADA

The holy ritual of Koil AlwarThirumanjanam was per-formed at the Sri PadmavathiAmmavari temple on Tuesdaymorning as part of the ensuingKartheeka AnnualBrahmotsavams beginning onNov 23. The temple wascleaned with traditional herbs,detergents and perfumedwaters since early hours andpublic darshan commencedlater. Temple deputy executiveofficer Jhansi Rani, VSOPrabhakar, AEOSubramanyam, superinten-dent Madhusudhan, AVSONandeeswara Rao, Arjitainspector Kola Srinivasulu,temple priests Pratap,Manikantaswamy and otherofficials participated. Details of Vahana Sevas of Brahmotsavamsn 23-11-2019, Dwajarohanam,Chinna Sesha Vahanamn 24-11-2019 Pedda SeshaHamsa Vahanamn 25-11-2019 Muthyapu Pandiriand Simha vahanamn 26-11-2019 Kalpavruksha andHanumanta vahanamn 27-11-2019 Pallaki utsava andGaja vahanamn 28-11-2019 Sarvabhoopala,Swarna ratham and Garudavahanamn 29-11-2019 Suryaprabha andChandraprabha vahanamn 30-11-2019 Rathitsavam andAswa Vahanamn 01-12-2019 Panchamitheertham and Dwajavarohanamn 02-12-2019 Pushpa Yagam

International ChildrenFestival of Arts & Culture

l The festival will beorganised by D La

Valentina, a renownedglobal fashion grooming

agency in collaborationwith the AP Tourism

Department fromDecember 1 to 6

l The event 'Little ModelEarth- 2019', which is

popular amongst Europeancountries, is expected to

have participation from atleast 20 countries across

the globe with over 75participants

l Valentina Mishra,CEO of D La ValentinaAcademy, said, "Theaim of the festival is tobring together talentedkids from all over theworld to present theirnational culture on aninternational platform.This will also help inboosting tourism ofthe State and thecountry"

How about bilingualeducation in AP schools?

l KMP Latha, a senioraided school teacher in the

city, said bilingual educationwould make childrensharper. "In my view,

Mathematics, Science andCivics should be taught inEnglish, while History and

heritage should be taught inTelugu"

l Mother tongue ofthe child should bemade mandatory. Thiswill equip the studentswith analytical skills inEnglish and anunderstanding of theirtradition and culture inthe mother tongue,she said

IANSn LONDON

To fight against malaria, home-made soups might help asresearchers have found that someof the soup recipes have anti-malarial properties.

"Malaria kills more than400,000 people every year andinfects more than 200 million, yetresistance to our frontline drugscontinues to emerge," said studylead researcher Jake Baum,Professor at Imperial CollegeLondon, the UK.

"We may have to look beyondthe chemistry shelf for newdrugs, and natural remediesshouldn't be off our watch list,"Baum added. For the study, pub-lished in the journal Archives ofDisease in Childhood,researchers from Imperial

College of London with school-children test their family soupbroths for activity against themalaria parasite. Several of thesoup broths, collected from tra-ditional family recipes that orig-inated around the world, showedactivity against the malaria par-asite Plasmodium falciparum,either by curbing its growth orpreventing it from maturing.

T h es o u precipes had

been passeddown through

the generations forthe treatment of fever. Five of thebroths were able to curb growthof the parasite in its disease-caus-ing stage by more than 50 per-cent. In two of these, the inhibito-

ry activity was comparable withthat of a leading anti-malarialdrug, dihydroartemisinin. Fourother broths were more than 50per cent effective at blocking theability of the parasites to matureto a form that infects mosquitoes,potentially blocking the processof transmission.

Dihydroarteminisin containsartemisinin, which was isolated

from a traditional Chinese herbalmedicine. According to theresearchers, the study was carriedout by students at Eden PrimarySchool in North London. Thepupils brought in samples ofhomemade clear soup brothsfrom family recipes from acrossEurope, North Africa, and theMiddle East. Filtered extracts ofthe broths were then tested

against two stages of the parasite:when it can infect mosquitoes,and when it can cause the diseasein humans. The recipes for eachof the broths varied.

They were vegetarian, chick-en, or beef based, with no partic-ular ingredient common to thosewith the strongest anti-malarialactivity. The active ingredients inthe broths studied are yet to beidentified and tested, the studysaid.

To move forwards, the activeingredients would need to be iso-lated, before tests of toxicologyand effectiveness, first in humancells and later preclinical trials.The researchers behind the studyhope that they may discover newanti-malarial compounds in asimilar way from the work look-ing at soup.

PNSn VISAKHAPATNAM

District Child Protection Unit,District Woman and ChildDevelopment Agency andSwanthana VoluntaryOrganisation jointly organised anawareness programme as part ofthe Child Rights Week at AS RajaWomen's College. Every year, theweek starting on November 14and going up until November 20is celebrated as the InternationalChild Rights Week. This week is

the run up to the UniversalChildren's Day (November 20).It was on November 20, 1989 thatthe United Nations Convention

on the Rights of Child (UNCRC)came into being.

Speaking at the programme, NSita Mahalakshmi, Project

Director, District Woman andChild Development Agency,Visakhapatnam, informed thatthere are toll free helpline num-bers '181' and '1098' for womenand children respectively.

"Everyone has a responsibil-ity to protect children. Girlsshould be promoted in educa-tion, employment, medical andother fields. Girls need to beaware of laws and be aware ofgood and bad touch. I aminformed that the government

has launched the YSR KishoreVikasam programme especiallyfor young girls," she stated.

Principal of AS Raja Women'sCollege Narayana Rao said thatthe college had set up a Women'sEmpowerment Cell to educatechildren on rights and laws. ASatyanarayana, District ChildProtection Officer, said that theprotection of the rights of thechildren should not be under anypressure, but to protect theirrights.

Everyone has aresponsibility toprotect kids. Girls

should be promoted ineducation, employment,says Project Director

SOUPS CAN HELP FIGHT MALARIA: STUDYl Several of the soup broths,collected from traditional familyrecipes that originated around theworld, showed activity against themalaria parasite Plasmodiumfalciparum, either by curbing itsgrowth or preventing it from maturing

l "Malaria kills more than 400,000people every year and infects morethan 200 million, yet resistance to

our frontline drugs continues toemerge," said study lead

researcher Jake Baum, Professorat Imperial College of London

Foreign delegateslaud Village SectPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Foreign delegates belongingto 19 Afro-Asian countriespaid a visit to ChodavaramGram Sachivalayam, as a partof international training pro-gramme under NationalInstitute of RuralDevelopment.

They expressed satisfac-tion and happiness towardsthe initiative taken up by the

Government of AndhraPradesh in rural develop-ment during the interactionwith villagers and VillageSecretariat employees.

They appreciated the gov-ernment, as it has taken upthe administration to thedoorsteps of the commonman. Furthermore, theyenquired about drinkingwater, street lights, and otherfacilities in the village.

Foreign delegates pay a visit to a field to know about natural farming inChodavaram village in Visakhapatnam district

Tinderintroduces‘FestivalMode' in IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

Location-based dating ser-vice major Tinder onTuesday announced thelaunch of a new unique in-app user experience ‘FestivalMode’ in India.

"We know our diversecommunity values connect-ing over shared interests,and with Festival Mode, weare introducing an innova-tive new way for Tinderusers to make IRL connec-tions," Taru Kapoor, GM,Tinder and Match Groupsaid in a statement.

"Tinder is a reflection ofits community, and as ourmembers seek new, variedexperiences, we are excitedto be there to enable moremeaningful connections,"she added.

Now, users can add abadge to their profile high-lighting their planned festi-val destination. From there,they have the ability tomatch and chat with otherusers attending the sameevent before they arrive.

After festivals, includingEDC Las Vegas, Bonnaroo,British Summer Time andEDC, Orlando, FestivalMode, will have its debut inIndia with Bacardi NH7Weekender in Pune.

School education in AndhraPradesh government hasbecome a 'burning' topic,

especially forthose whose

passions havebeen inflamed bythe recent replace-ment of the medi-

um ofinstruction.

The decision of thestate government to

replace Telugu with English asthe medium of instruction fromClass I to Class VIII with effectfrom academic year 2020-21 hasgenerated political heat. For theopposition parties, includingTelugu Desam Party, the prima-ry goal is to "protect Telugupride", which has been linked tothe medium of instruction formore than three decades.

The objective of theGovernment of AP is to begina new era in school education byintroducing English medium inall government schools acrossthe state. The idea is to enablestudents with poor financialbackground to compete withtheir affluent counterparts in

private schools, in which themedium of instruction isEnglish from Class I to Class X.

Why are opposition partiesaverse to the change in the sen-sitive sector of school education?Are they whole-heartedlyopposing the introduction ofEnglish in school? Why are theynot heeding the request of thegovernment in this regard? Arethey really against uplift of stu-dents belonging to poor families,irrespective of their caste, creedand religion?

Students from disadvantagedsections can certainly benefitfrom the government move.They can hope for maximumsupport from the government,including financial assistance inthe form of scholarships.

Hence, the AP governmenthas decided to go ahead with itsagenda of transforming school.The YS Jaganmohan Reddygovernment is trying hard tomake parents understand that

their children would eventual-ly be in a position to competeglobally in exploring job oppor-tunities.

The opposition parties, how-ever, are mobilising people totake on the government. Thishas led to concerns among a sec-tion of the parents. The oppo-sition leaders need to clarifywhether children in their respec-tive families are studying inEnglish medium. Emotionalbond with Telugu as mothertongue is one thing and oppo-sition to English as the mediumof instruction is quite another.

The unified state of AndhraPradesh was formed for Telugupeople on 1November, 1956. Itwas dream come true afternearly 150 years. People's agi-tation for separate Telugu stategot fulfilled and Telugu-speak-ing districts were separatedfrom the composite Madrasstate. As a result, the new stateof Andhra was carved out on 1October 1953 with Kurnool ascapital.

Against odds, then ChiefMinister of Hyderabad stateDr.Burgula Ramakrishna Raotook initiative and convinced

Nehru for the formation of theunified state of Andhra Pradesh.Subsequently Nehru announcedthe formation of AP in March1956.

In this backdrop, due toopposition parties' stance, theYSRCP government may haveto bulldoze its way to silencethem. Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy hit the nail

on the head when he sarcastical-ly questioned Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu whether hisgrand children studied in Telugumedium!

It is surprising to note thatthose persons who had pitchedfor the introduction of Telugumedium at school level are nowsupporting the government'sstand. Official LanguageCommission chairman Y.Lakshmi Prasad is one example.It is ridiculous on his part to saynow that he has to "supportwhatever decision the ChiefMinister takes". Where is theneed for his silence when he isworking as chairman of a lin-guistic body that is supposed topropagate the language? Thesame person lambasted the erst-while Chandrababu govern-ment for not bringing TeluguResearch Institute fromKarnataka to AP.

N. Lakshmi Parvathi, widowof TDP founder NT Ramarao,

too has become tight-lippedon this issue after being givenstewardship of the TeluguAcademy.

The AP government's deci-sion might prompt other statesto remove Telugu, which istaught as a subject in govern-ment schools there.

The agony of Telugu languageechoed in Parliament too withmembers from Andhra raisingthe issue on the first day of thecurrent session. They demand-ed three-language set up, withTelugu being continued as themedium of instruction.

Is it enough to meet theneeds of the rich Telugu lan-guage? Can English mediumcater to the real needs of stu-dents and address the originalproblem in embracing theEnglish medium? All teachersmay not have capabilities to dealwith English medium. Will ori-entation classes for teachersmake them perfect in acquiring

language skills? What about theage-old practice of havingTelugu medium at the primaryeducation level? What shouldthe government do to achievesuch goal of having English asthe medium of instruction?Can the government give guar-antee on one key issue: that therewill not be a single drop out casein the entire academic year dueto implementation of Englishmedium? These are some of thequestions that have remainedunaddressed.

All told, it would be patheticfor lovers of Telugu language tosee the possible disappearanceof Telugu medium in a stateformed on linguistic basis. Forthat matter, Andhra Pradeshwas the first state to be formedon linguistic lines in indepen-dent India. So, replacing Telugumedium with English mediumcould result in Telugu losingprominence on its own soil atthe behest of the government.At the end of the day, theJaganmohan Reddy govern-ment will be answerable to peo-ple on the repercussions of thedicey move in school education.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

The AP government has decided to goahead with its agenda of transformingschool. The YS Jaganmohan Reddygovernment is trying hard to make parentsunderstand that their children wouldeventually be in a position to competeglobally in exploring job opportunities

PINPOINT

Can English do justice to Telugu on its own soil?

‘Let's protect the rights of children'

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Painted stork wandering in the wetlands in Visakhapatnam Photo-Tirupathirao G

PAINTED SSTORKS WWANDERING

vijayawada 03

Selling of govt lands draws flakG RAVI KIRANn VIJAYAWADA

Selling the government lands toraise funds is drawing flakfrom the opposition parties.Implementing welfare schemesat the stake of the State's assetsis wrong, opined the oppositionleaders.

While some economists sup-ported the move stating that itis inevitable in the present sce-nario, as there is no supportfrom the Union government.

Mission Build AP wasannounced by the governmentand approved by the Cabinet.The mission was meant formobilising funds for the devel-opment of infrastructure inthe State. The government willhave a tie-up with the NationalBuilding ConstructionCorporation (NBCC) to devel-op the infrastructure. The gov-ernment will sell the vacantlands, which are not in use andwill propose constructions in afew lands in collaboration withthe NBCC.

But, it is being speculatedthat the government has intro-duced many welfare-schemes inthe name of 'Nava Ratnalu' andin order to meet the require-ment, the Mission Build APwas planned. The fundsmobilised through MissionBuild AP will go for 'NavaRatnalu' and other require-ments. But, officially this is forthe development of infrastruc-ture.

The CPM and the CPI lam-basted the government for its

proposal to sell the governmentlands. They stated that sellingthe government lands withoutusing them for a productivepurpose is not correct.

CPM State Secretary PMadhu said: "On one hand, thegovernment is stating that theland is being procured for thedistribution among the poorand on the other hand, it is say-ing that they will sell the lands,which is contradictory."

CPI State SecretaryRamakrishna said: "This will

lead to political corruption.Selling the land is not a gooddecision. Definitely, leadersand their followers of the rul-ing party will get benefit out ofit."

Already, the TDP has termedit as a quid-pro concept andalleged that the YSRCP leaderswill procure the governmentlands through this scheme.

But, economist D Papa Raosupported the move of thegovernment. He said: "Whenthere is no support from the

Union government, the Stategovernment has no other go,but to sell the lands.Implementation of welfareschemes in the present scenariois not an easy task. Moreover,it will collaborate with theNBCC, which is a governmentorganisation. Constructions incollaboration with the NBCCwill help the government insaving the budget. Instead ofkeeping vacant lands unused,using them for a purpose willbe better."

l CPM State SecretaryP Madhu said: "On onehand, the governmentis stating that the land

is being procured fordistribution among thepoor and on the otherhand, it is saying that

they will sell thelands, which is

contradictory"

l CPI State SecretaryRamakrishna said: "This will leadto political corruption. Sellingthe land is not a good decision.Definitely, ruling party leadersand their followers will getbenefit out of it"l Already, the TDP has termedit as a quid-pro concept andalleged that the YSRCP leaderswill procure the governmentlands through this scheme

Capsules

Four hurt as busoverturnsVIJAYAWADA: Four persons,including two Ayyappadevotees, were injured whenthe bus in which they weretravelling to Sabarimala fromRajahmahendravaramoverturned after hitting a roaddivider in Phirangapurammandal of Guntur district onTuesday. All the injured personswere rushed to the GunturGovernment General Hospital.They were identified as Sk Jani(29), Sk Khasim (65),Kannepalli Suri Babu (55) andand Erramsetti Ramu.

Tadikonda MLA todepose over her castestatus on Nov 26

Man held for bid to kill security guard, copVISAKHAPATNAM: The IIITown police arrested a 40-yearold person for allegedlyattempting to murder a securityguard and a constable atSiripuram in Visakhapatnamcity late Monday night. Thearrested was identified as PGowri Sai alias Gurrala Sai, anative of Gajuwaka and residentof Peda Gantyada area inVisakhapatnam. According toIII Town Inspector G RamaRao, the accused Gowri hasentered the VMRDA Children'sarena with a push cart onMonday night. When thesecurity guard asked him to goaway, he refused. After a minoraltercation, the security guardinformed Blue Colts.The security guard tried topush him out and beaten himup. Irked Gowri took a knifeand tried to eliminate him. BlueColts constable, who was at thespot recorded the chase. Afternoticing Blue Colts constable,Gowri tried to attack him too.However the accused wasnabbed and booked underSection 307 of IPC.

VIJAYAWADA: TadikondaYSRCP MLA Undavalli Srideviis going to face an inquiry toprove her caste on November26. Joint Collector of Gunturissued a notice to her to attendthe inquiry with necessaryevidence. Legal Rights Forumhas complained to thePresident against Sridevialleging that she does notbelong to SC category. Theprobe was initiated as per thePresident's orders. At the timeof Vinayaka Chaturthi, a disputearose at Anantavaram villageon September 3. Two groupshad quarrelled over the gueststo be invited to the 'puja'. Onegroup objected to the presenceof MLA Undavalli Sridevi.Associates of Sridevi allegedthat they had objected to heronly because of her caste. Shealso filed a counter complaint.At that time, she had explainedthat she belongs to the SCCommunity and her husband isof Kapu community.

PNSn VIJAYAWADA

Minister for Energy, Forest,Environment, Science andTechnology Balineni SrinivasaReddy has said that the State gov-ernment will ban plastic in allmunicipalities by 2020. Helaunched vehicles, which aremeant for shifting plastic wasteto cement companies here onTuesday. He has participated inthe programme conducted by theAndhra Pradesh PollutionControl Board and VijayawadaMunicipal Corporation jointly.

The minister stated that theState government is committedto removing single-use plasticmaterial across the State. By2020, all municipalities willimplement the ban on single-useplastic material, he said andadded that Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy wants toavoid plastic throughout theState by 2022.

After launching the vehicles,he inspected the waste manage-

ment plant at Singnagar. He saidthat the plants are working at 44municipalities and will bearranged in all the 110 munici-palities of the State very soon.

MLA Malladi Vishnu saidthat the dumping yard is causinginconvenience to the local peo-ple for a long time now. The firstpriority is to remove the dump-ing yard in the locality. The shift-ing of wastage to cement compa-

nies will bring temporary relief,he opined.

Commissioner of VMCPrasanna Venkatesh said that 250tonnes out of 500 tonnes ofgarbage generated daily is beingrecycled. As per the regulationsof the Union government, fiveper cent of the waste can be sentto cement companies. "As perthat regulation, we are sendingwaste to Ultratech Cement

All civic bodies to be ridof plastic by 2020

l The minister stated that theState government is committed

to removing single-useplastic material acrossthe State. By 2020, allmunicipalities willimplement the ban onsingle-use plasticmaterial, he said andadded that Chief

Minister YS JaganmohanReddy wants to avoid plasticthroughout the State by 2022.

l Minister for Energy,Forest, Environment,

Science andTechnology

BalineniSrinivasa

Reddylaunchedvehicles,

which aremeant for

shifting plastic waste tocement companies

PNSn VISAKHAPATNAM

At least six two-wheeler ridersand over two four-wheeler rid-ers die every day in the State fornot wearing helmets (headguards) and fastening their seatbelts.The Road TransportAuthority (RTA) officials saythat at least 40 to 50 per cent ofmotorists in the State ignore towear the safety devices despite theincreasing awareness drives byvarious agencies.

The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highway'sResearch Wing says that 3,164two-wheeler riders, including272 female two-wheeler riders,died in road accidents in the State

in 2018. The report also says thata total of 2,385 two-wheelers,including 678 pillion riders, diedfor not wearing head-guards.Apart from the deaths, a total of

3,674 riders and 2,538 pillion rid-ers suffered injuries in the acci-dents in the State in 2018.

A total of 846 persons, includ-ing 451 passengers died and over

3,000 people both drivers andpassengers, were injured for notfastening their seat belts in theState in 2018. In the State, 7,556people died and 23,456 people

suffered injuries in 24,475 roadaccidents in 2018. The numberof road accidents deathsdecreased from 8,060 in 2017 to7,556 deaths in 2018.

Deputy TransportCommissioner, Vizag, GC RajaRatnam said whenever theyembark a major drive against thetraffic violations, then only 70 percent of motorists follow the traf-fic. Raja Ratnam said that the useof helmets and seat belts hasalready been made compulsoryfor motorists in Andhra Pradeshfrom November 2015 by theRTA and Traffic Police. However,some motorists continue to floatthe norms and made the road notsafer for others, he added.

‘Ignoring helmet, seat-belt spiking fatalies ' The Ministry ofRoad Transport andHighway'sResearch Wingsays that 3,164two-wheeler riders,including 272female two-wheelerriders, died in roadaccidents in theState in 2018

Case againstChandrababu postedto Nov 25 for hearing Continued from Page 1

Consequently, the ACB courtjudge in a written order askedofficials to record witness ofLakshmi Parvati and postedhearing of the case toNovember 25.

Meanwhile, the YSRCP rankand file have been indulging inpropaganda that Chandrababuis sure to go to jail in the case.The YSRCP in its social mediaaccounts termed the ACB court

judge's decision as a rude shockto Naidu in its social mediapostings. Responding to this,Chandrababu said that hisadvocates would take care of thecase.

At a party programme heldin West Godavari, he addressedthe victims of the YSRCPactivists and told them that 26enquiries have been institutedagainst him and he came outunscathed in all these pro-ceedings.

Continued from Page 1

"My son Prashant started hiscareer as a software engineerwith a company in Bengaluru.There he fell in love with a col-league. After working inBengaluru for a year or so, heshifted to Shore Infotech at Hi-tech City," Babu Rao said.

Prashant has been in depres-sion after the girl spurned hismoves. On April 11, 2017,Prashant told his parents thathe was going to the office, buthe neither went to office nordid he come home and wentmissing. The family had lodgeda missing complainant in 2017when Prashanth didn't return

home. Maidam Babu Rao toldthat police that, Prashanth hadleft his residence in Kukatpallyon April 11, 2017 to attend thejob at Shore Infotech,Madhapur, and did not turn.Searches across all possiblelocations went in vain.

However as time passed by,the family learnt that Prashanthon learning that his 'lady-love',who is native of MadhyaPradesh, went to Switzerland,the 31-year-old went toMadhya Pradesh and decidedto go Switzerland on foot. Hecrossed the Pakistan bordernear Sriganganagar inRajasthan and enteredCholistan desert and later land-

ed up in Pakistan police cus-tody. Prashant and anotherman Dari Lal from MadhyaPradesh were arrested byPakistan police on November14 when they were spotted atYahzaman Mandi inBahawalpur district. AlthoughMadhapur police registered amissing case in 2017 followingBabu Rao's complaint, theyfailed to trace him. Nor didthey know of his whereabouts.

"My son is innocent. Hedoes not have any links withanti-social elements. I do notknow this Dari Lal. I amrequesting the Union govern-ment to take immediate stepsto ensure my son's release," said

the teary-eyed Babu Rao, in anemotion-ridden chocked tone.

The Pakistan authoritieshave also released a one-minutevideo of Prashant to his parentsto whom he is saying "Mummyand daddy are you fine?Everything is fine here. Theybrought me to a court from thepolice station. Pakistan author-ities will coordinate with theIndian embassy. I might bereleased a month's time."

Babu Rao earlier workedwith a leading garments shop-ping mall in Vizag and stayedat Madhurawada up to 2013.Prashant is a B Tech (CSE)from Chaitanya EngineeringCollege.

My son Prashant is not a terrorist....

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

No evidence was found againstVizag-based BluefrogSolutions, said DSO of CIDChittibabu giving clean chit tothe mobile technology devel-oping firm accused of hackingthe State government's officialsite relating to disbursementand transaction of sand andtampering with the data.

The CID had conductedsearches on the premises ofBlue Frog following com-plaints lodged against the ITCompany. Searches had begunon Wednesday and ended onSunday night.

Bluefrog had launched anapplication, Mana Sand, whichgave details of availability ofsand at various reaches in theState. The new governmentcancelled the contract the

company had with the TDPgovernment.

The cops did not get anyevidence from seized docu-ments and devices to corrob-orate the accusation, hence, thecomplaint was a hoax andvindictive, said a companyspokesperson.

In a swift response to the

complaints that the IT firmhad hacked the State govern-ment's official site relating todisbursement and transactionof sand www.sand.ap.gov.inand tampered with the data,the Visakhapatnam wing of theCID led by DSP I Chittibabuhad searched on the premisesof the company on

Wednesday. Data related to thethen mines department andtheir source code, log files ofvarious programme applica-tions done by the companyand also data available in sys-tems within premises ofBluefrog Solutions in connec-tion with the sand relatedtransactions were verified.Some e-mails were also relat-ed to sand transactions andsecured the screenshots of thesame and also mentioned thatcloud data related to the appli-cations were yet to be verified.

The IT firm develops tailor-made applications on therequest of clients and at pre-sent the State/Central gov-ernments are their majorclients. So far, they have devel-oped close to 70 applicationsin different modules for gov-ernment schemes.

Bluefrog gets clean chit from CID

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A social service motto isneed of the hour from allsections of society to upliftthe lives of orphans andpoor children, stated dis-trict registrar ofRegistrations and StampsDepartment K ManmadhaRao at an orphanage hereon Monday.

As a part of Children'sRight Week, Child RightsProtection Forum distrib-uted basic need materialsat GnananandaRamananda Ashram fororphan children here atVenkojipalem.

‘Social serviceis need of the hour’

Continued from Page 1

Once the complaint is reg-istered, the complainant, aswell as the respective policeofficer, will be receiving acopy of the complaint in thewritten format. Reportedly,the officer concerned will haveto initiate the investigationwithin a day of receiving thecomplaint. Otherwise, therobot will automatically for-ward the status of the com-plaint to the senior officials.Furthermore, CYBIRA willfacilitate the complainant tocheck the complaint status aswell. Officially, the first robotcop inducted in Kerala, the

robot was assigned majorduties such as meeting andgreeting officers and visitorsthrough facial recognition,and also to guide visitors to theappropriate areas within theoffice.The robo cop wouldgive detailed and accurateinformation to the visitors onthe procedures and the ser-vices in the office verbally,which will be accompanied byinformation on the screen.This will also keep track of vis-itors in order to set upappointments and also to issuevisitors' ID. The robot will alsobe responsible for setting up ofcase files on complaint orpetition by the visitor.

Continued From Page 1

Speaking to themedia, Narayana Swamysaid it was decided toimpose time restrictionson bars. Now, the barswill be open from 11 amto 10 pm and foodwould be allowed till 11pm. Bars in star hotelswould be allowed toremain open from 11am to 11 pm. The gov-ernment also proposesto increase the rates ofliquor at bars, he said.

Bars tocome downby 40%;booze costly

Robo cop to takecomplaints from people

I was born a Hindu andwill die a Hindu: AvanthiPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for TourismAvanti Srinivasslammed the TDPactivists for mak-ing derogatoryremarks overhim wearingfootwear despitetaking theAyyappa Deekshaon Tuesday.

He clarified that hehad to wear shoes for healthreasons and not in violation

of the principles. He said thatthere is no one, who loves

Hinduism more than him-self. He stated that he

was born a Hinduand would die aHindu.

He said thateven when hewas a TDP MP,he wore slippers

and also recalledthat the TDP leader

and former MPMurali Mohan also wore

slippers when in Deeksha.

The minister lambastedTDP Chief N ChandrababuNaidu for using religion inpolitics. He said as long as hewas in the TDP, his Deekshawas pure, but just because hejoined the YSRCP, it does notmake him any less holy, hesaid.

Reacting to Naidu's criti-cism of the introduction of English medium in govern-ment schools, he said that itwas not proper for the TDP leader to make suchremarks.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

All private boats in the Stateshould have to take freshlicence, Minister for TourismAvanti Srinivasa Rao has clari-fied. Speaking to the media onTuesday at Tadepalli, he saidthat training session for driversand other staff would be com-pulsory to run any boat.

While there are 300 privateboats, 54 are under the APTourism DevelopmentCorporation (APTDC), theminister said and added that thedepartment had verified almost50% of the existing boats in theState. The training session forboat staff will be for 18 days andafter its completion, they will get

licences to work on boats, theminister clarified.

He said, "The governmenthas decided to arrange nineControl Rooms in the State.Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy will lay the founda-tion-stone for a Control Roomat Mummidivaram on

November 21. In the ControlRooms, officials from tourism,police, disaster managementand water resources depart-ments and an official of MROcadre will lead them." Theminister said that only aftertesting the boats," the licencewill be issued.

Fresh licences mandatoryfor boats: Tourism Minister

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2019 nation 04

A group of eightpersons, includingsix Army personnel,were struck by theavalanche at analtitude of 19,000 ftat around 3 pm onMonday. Rescueteams from nearbyposts were rushedto the location afterthe incident

Capsules

Maha: Two held forraping 17-yr-old girl,one abscondingPALGHAR: Two men werearrested and a juvenile accusedwas detained for allegedlyraping a 17-year-old girl atNalasopara in Maharashtra'sPalghar district, police said onTuesday. The police are on alookout for the fourth accusedin the case, public relationsofficer of Palghar policeHemant Karkar said.The incident took place on

November 16 at Vaitivadi,when the victim had gone for amorning walk with her friendsand the accused forcibly tookher away after threateningthose accompanying her, theofficial said. The accused tookthe victim to an isolated place,where they took turns rapingher, the official said. Thearrested accused have beenidentified as Kailas Veer (19)and Rohit alias MentalTanjotkar (20), he said,adding that the police havedetained a minor and the fourthaccused Amit Batla isabsconding. An offence hasbeen registered against theaccused under section 376(rape) and other relevantsections of the Indian PenalCode and Protection ofChildren from SexualOffences Act at Tulinj policestation, he added.

Akali leader shotdead, legs choppedoff after altercation

Police register FIR in JNU students'protest caseNEW DELHI: The Delhi Police onTuesday registered an FIR inconnection with the protests byJNU students over the hostel feehike, a senior police official said.He said the FIR has beenregistered under the relevantsections of the law but did notdivulge details. The protests byJNU students had rocked thenational capital on Mondaybringing several parts of thecity to a halt. According topolice, nearly 30 policepersonnel and 15 studentswere injured during the eight-hour long protest.

BATALA (PUNJAB): A localAkali leader was allegedly shotdead following an altercationover some issue with hisneighbour in Punjab'sGurdaspur district and later hislegs were chopped off, policesaid on Tuesday. Dalbir SinghDhilwan, 51, was a vicepresident of the Gurdaspur unitof the Shiromani Akali Dal andalso a two-time village head.The incident took place atDhilwan village in on Mondayevening, police said. The Batalasenior superintendent of policeruled out any political motivebehind the murder.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court onTuesday sought response of theCentre and the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) on a PIL claiming thatthe premier institution wasnot providing adequate reser-vation to persons with disabil-ities (PWD) in its post gradu-ate seats.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C HariShankar issued notice to theministries of Social Justice andHealth as well as AIIMS seek-ing their stand on the plea byan NGO which has alleged thatthere is "non-inclusiveness ofPWD" in the institute.

NGO Prhari SahyogAssociation, in its petitionfiled through advocate GauravKumar Bansal, has contendedthat AIIMS has failed to adoptthe principle of inclusive edu-cation as it provided only one

post graduation seat out oftotal 435, advertised in 2018-19, to persons with disabilitieswhen it was legally bound toreserve five per cent of the seatsfor PWD.

Bansal told the court that itamounted to violation of theRights of Persons withDisabilities (RPWD) Act of2016.

The petition has also

claimed that the United NationConvention on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities(UNCRPD) makes it manda-tory for their member States toadopt the principle of inclusiveeducation.

The NGO has urged thecourt to call for a status reportfrom AIIMS indicating theefforts made by it to provideinclusive education to PWD as

mandated under the Act. It hasalso sought directions to theinstitute to provide reservationto PWD in its post graduate(PG) sessions.

Additionally, it has alsosought directions to AIIMS toadvertise and fill up the PGseats reserved for PWD whichremained vacant in the January2018, July 2019 and January2019 sessions.

PIL claims AIIMS not providingadequate quota to differently abled

The NGO has urged the court tocall for a statusreport from AIIMSindicating theefforts made by itto provide inclusiveeducation to PWDas mandated under the Act

12-year-old barred from proceeding to Lord Ayyappa templePNS n SABARIMALA

A 12-year-old girl fromPuducherry, who had come fordarshan to Lord Ayyappa tem-ple here along with her father,was not allowed to proceed tothe shrine from Pamba onTuesday morning.

The age of the girl, with"irrumudikettu" (offerings toLord Ayyappa) had beenshown as 10 in the virtual Qbooking.

Women police examinedthe girl's aadhar card andfound that she was 12 years oldand refused to allow her toproceed further from Pamba tothe shrine complex, police

said.After those accompanying

the child were informed about

the current situation inSabarimala, her father andother relatives proceeded to the

temple. Supporting the shrine'stradition, a nine-year-oldKeralite girl, who came to thetemple complex fromKarnataka on Monday, had aplacard around her neckinscribed with the words"Ready to wait. Will visit theshrine after attaining 50 years."

Hailing from Thrissur,

Hridyakrishnan said she hadvisited the shrine thrice andwould have darshan of LordAyyappa only after she reach-es 50. Her father, Harikrishnanhad said devotees are thosewho protect traditions andbeliefs.

While two women in thebarred age group of 10-50

years had been stopped bypolice on Monday from visit-ing the hill shrine, on Saturday,when the temple opened, atleast 10 young women fromAndhra Pradesh had been sentback. The Pamba base camp isat the foothills of Sabarimala,about 5 km from the shrine.The Lord Ayyappa temple hadopened on November 16evening for the two monthlong Mandala-Makaravillakkupilgrimage season.

The state and templeprecincts had witnessedprotests by right wing outfitsand BJP workers last year afterthe LDF government decidedto implement the Supreme

court's verdict of September28, 2018 allowing women of allage groups to offer prayers atthe shrine. However, this year,even though the top courthad not stayed its verdict onentry of young women into theshrine while posting variouspetitions on the matter to alarger bench, the governmentwas exercising caution.

Devaswom MinisterKadakampally Surendran hasmade it clear that Sabarimalawas not a place for activists todisplay their activism and saidthe government would notencourage such women whowant to visit the shrine forpublicity.

After those accompanying the child were informed about the current situation in Sabarimala, her father and other relativesproceeded to the temple

PNS n NEW DELHI

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawaton Tuesday apprised DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh aboutthe ground situation onSiachen Glacier where anavalanche claimed the lives offour Army personnel and twoporters.

A group of eight persons,including six Army personnel,were struck by the avalanche atan altitude of 19,000 ft ataround 3 pm on Monday.Rescue teams from nearbyposts were rushed to the loca-tion after the incident.

Only two Army personnelsurvived the avalanche, anofficial said.

"Raksha Mantri Shri @raj-nathsingh spoke to the Chiefof Army Staff, General BipinRawat, regarding the tragedy inSiachen. CoAS has apprisedRM of the ground situation inSiachen," the DefenceMinister's office tweeted.

Singh also expressedanguish over the death of theArmy personnel and civilians.

"Deeply pained by thedemise of soldiers and porters

due to avalanche in Siachen. Isalute their courage and serviceto the nation. My heartfeltcondolences to their families,"Singh tweeted.

The Siachen Glacier at theheight of around 20,000 ft inthe Karakoram range is knownas the highest militarized zonein the world where soldiershave to battle frostbites andstrong winds in sub-zero tem-peratures.

Avalanches and landslidesare common at the glacierduring the winter and tem-peratures can drop to as low asminus 60 degrees Celsius.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A DMK MP in Lok Sabha onTuesday raised the issue ofyoga guru Ramdev allegedlycalling social reformer Periyara "Dalit terrorist" and saidimage of a reformist like himshould not be distorted.

S Senthilkumar raised theissue during the Zero Hourand expressed his condem-nation of Ramdev'sremarks.

Periyar fought forsocial equality and womanempowerment, he said.Among other issues, Congress'Gurjeet Aulja said the Uniongovernment should work toensure that pilgrims can visitGurdwara Kartarpur Sahib inPakistan without passportsand USD 20 fee.

Two BJP MPs from WestBengal, Arjun Singh andSaumitra Khan, attacked thestate's Trinamool Congressgovernment, saying their "con-stitutional rights" are in dan-

ger there. Singhsaid officials in

the state do notmeet BJP MPslike him, and

he cannot spend MPLADfunds because of lack of coop-eration from the Bengal gov-ernment.

Khan wondered if they wereMPs of India or some othercountry as the Centre'sschemes are not being imple-mented in the state.

TMC's Mimi Chakrabortydemanded a tough law to curbcruelty against animals.

Preneet Kaur of theCongress said farmers ofPunjab are being subjected to

harsh criticism and being pro-jected as "almost villains" forpollution in Delhi as rhetoricis getting better of sound ratio-nal thinking.

Tackling pollution requiresa well thought-out strategyand the debt the country owesto these farmers should not beforgotten. The burning ofpaddy straw by farmers is seenas one of the major reasons forhigh level of pollution in Delhiand surrounding areas in win-ters year after year.

Bhartruhari Mahtab of theBJD sought to know from thegovernment what benefitsIndia has got as a member ofBRICS.

DMK MP condemns Ramdev'sremarks against Periyar

S Senthilkumar raised the issueduring the Zero Hour and expressedhis condemnation of Ramdev'sremarks. Periyar fought for socialequality and woman empowerment

SIACHEN AVALANCHE

Army Chief apprises DefMin about ground situation

PNS n JAIPUR

The ruling Congress was lead-ing on Tuesday afternoon inmost of the 49 civic bodies inRajasthan where electionswere held last week to electmore than 2,000 councillors.

As per the state electiondepartment data available till1.30 pm, 753 candidates of theCongress have won, followedby 590 of the BJP, 14 of the BSPand 2 of the CPIM. As manyas 312 Independent candi-dates have also emerged win-ners. The counting of votesstarted at 8 am and completeresults are likely to come outby the evening. Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot said the resultswere up to the expectations.

"The results of the local

bodies seems to be coming asper expectations and hopes. Itis a matter of happiness thatpeople have given mandateconsidering the performanceof the government," Gehlottold reporters.

"I would like to say it to thepeople that they should relax...We would not leave any stoneunturned to do people's work,"the chief minister said.

The election for threemunicipal corporations, 18nagar parishads and 28 nagarpalikas were held on Saturday.

A total of 71.53 per cent vot-ers had exercised their fran-chise in the election. A total of7,942 candidates had testedelectoral waters in the elec-tions, including 2,832 womenand 5,109 men.

Cong leads in Rajasthancivic body elections

PNS n NEW DELHI

More than 20,000 volunteershave joined the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) through the 'AK'mobile application which waslaunched by Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal lastmonth, senior party leaderPankaj Gupta said on Tuesday.

Gupta said the app has beendownloaded about 50,000times and is helping the partyin reaching out directly to thepeople. "Earlier, just the BJP'spoint of view was cominginto media but through theapp, we are able to directlyreach out to people and tellour side of the story," he said.

"Even if these volunteersdevote one to two hours everyday to the party, it would bemore than enough," he added.

Ahead of assembly elec-tions next year, Kejriwal lastmonth launched his ownmobile app to stay in touchwith volunteers and people,and tackle fake news spreadagainst the AAP.

Commenting on the allegedfalse propaganda and misin-formation that is spread

against the party and the Delhigovernment, Kejriwal had saidthat through the app, the AAPwill reach out to public direct-ly against "fake news".

Kejriwal appealed to thepeople of India, and also peo-ple of Indian origin across theworld to download the 'AK'app and connect directly withhim and the AAP.

‘Over 20K volunteershave joined AAPthrough ‘AK' mobile app’

Gupta said the app has beendownloaded about50,000 times and ishelping the party inreaching outdirectly to thepeople

2 killed astrucks fallsinto gorge inJ-K's KishtwarPNS n JAMMU

A truck driver and his helperwere killed when their vehicleskidded off the road and fellinto a deep gorge in Kishtwardistrict of Jammu andKashmir, police said onTuesday.

The Jammu-bound truckplunged into the gorge nearDharmshalla on Kishtwar-Batote road around 10 pm onMonday, resulting in the deathof the driver Kewal Krishan ofUdhampur and helper GulzarAhmad of Nagrota, a policeofficer. He said the bodies wererecovered from the scene onTuesday morning and werehanded over to their families.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Opposition members in LokSabha on Tuesday describedas "suppression of voice" thealleged baton-charge bypolice on JNU studentsdemanding total rollback ofhostel fee hike.

Raising the issue duringZero Hour, Saugata Roy(TMC), T N Prathapan(Cong) and Danish Ali (BSP)accused the government ofusing force to suppress thevoice of students.

Roy dubbed as "unfortu-nate" the use of force on stu-dents, saying the hike shouldbe rolled back as poor stu-dents will find it difficult topay the amount.

Prathpan said the studentsare protesting for their rights."The government is unde-mocratically suppressingtheir voice against fee hike.The government is ruininghigher education institu-tions," he said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

BSP president Mayawati onTuesday said toxic air pollu-tion is a "dreaded problem"which is not only threateningDelhi but the entire countryespecially the densely popu-lated Uttar Pradesh.

There is a need to frame aconcrete policy to tackle pol-lution and ensure its strictimplementation in publicinterest, the former UttarPradesh chief minister said.

"Pollution is a dreadedproblem which is threateningnot only the national capitalbut the entire country espe-cially most cities of denselypopulated Uttar Pradesh,"Mayawati tweeted.

Urging those in power totake immediate steps to dealwith the menace, she said itwas important to understandthe root causes of pollution.

"Understanding the rootcauses of pollution andfocussing on solving them isnecessary. It would be better ifthe government pays imme-diate attention on this issue,"she said. In a related tweet, theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP)supremo said "Due to gov-ernment negligence, pollu-tion has become a widespreadproblem and people have beenforced to take to the streetsagainst it."

PNS n NEW DELHI

Please don't allow the nextDoklam in Arunachal Pradeshas China has encroached morethan 50 km of land of the state,BJP member Tapir Gao claimedin Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Whenever the president,prime minister, defence minis-ter or home minister visits thestate, objections are raised byChina, he said raising the issueduring Zero Hour.

He said China raised objec-tions by conducting an officialpress conference when DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh visitedTawang area of the state onNovember 14, 2019. "I requestthe House and media to voiceprotest against this," he said.

"If a repeat of Doklam takesplace, it will happen inArunachal Pradesh becauseChina has encroached 50-60 kmof the state," he claimed.

Troops of India and Chinawere locked in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam near Sikkim lastyear after the Indian side

stopped the building of a roadin the disputed area by theChinese Army.

Indian troops intervened tostop the road as it posed a secu-rity risk to Chicken Neck, thenarrow corridor connectingIndia with its north-easternstates

The standoff ended onAugust 28, 2017 following amutual agreement under whichChina stopped the constructionof the road and India withdrewits troops.

This is not the first time thatGao has made the claim. Earlierin September this year the MP

had claimed that the ChineseArmy intruded into ArunachalPradesh's remote Anjaw districtand constructed a bridge overa stream.

However, Union MinisterKiren Rijiju had later insistedthat there was absolute peace onthe Indo-China border along hishome state of ArunachalPradesh.

"There is absolutely no prob-lem. There is peace along theborder," he had said.

Explaining the circum-stances, Rijiju had said, "Whenthere is no demarcation ofboundary, so if their (Chinese)army comes in, we say intru-sion. When our forces go thatside, they call it intrusion."

Please don't allow nextDoklam in Arunachal: BJP MP

If a repeat of Doklamtakes place, it willhappen in Arunachal

Pradesh because China hasencroached 50-60 km of thestate

— TAPIR GAO, BJP MP

Oppn memberscondemn policeaction againstJNU students

Rogue drones:SOPs issued todefence forcesPNS n NEW DELHI

Standard OperatingProcedures (SOPs) on how tohandle threats of rogue droneswere issued to defence forcesand other security agencies,which are maintaining vigil onthe device, the LS wasinformed on Tuesday.

Union minister G KishanReddy said the Civil AviationMinistry on August 27, 2018,issued the civil aviationrequirement regarding'Requirements for Operationof Civil Remotely PilotedAircraft System(RPAs/Drones)' in order toregulate and monitor the oper-ation of the devices.

"However, in order to meetthe threat from hostile orrogue drones operated by ter-rorists and subversive ele-ments, the Ministry of HomeAffairs on May 10, 2019,issued comprehensive SOPsfor handling the threat fromdrones and other sub-con-ventional aerial platforms inthe country," he said.

Need concrete policy to tackle rising airpollution: Mayawati

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Creating excellencemore important thanmarks, says BhagwatNAGPUR: RSS chief MohanBhagwat on Tuesday askededucationists to createexcellence among studentsrather than having a classroomsystem geared towards scoringmarks in exams. He wasaddressing the 'InternationalPrincipals' EducationConference 2019' here."Classroom education is noteverything, though it has itsimportance. But the classroomis for real-time experience andhow it can be taken forward to aconclusion," Bhagwat said."Nowadays, marksheets andmarks have become moreimportant due to competition.Doing this (giving predominanceto marks) is not education. Weneed to create people throughexcellence," he said.

Maoists getting helpfrom Islamic militantorganisations: CPI(M) KOZHIKODE(KER): Days afterthe arrest of two CPI(M)student acivists under UAPA fortheir alleged maoist links, aSenior party leader has stirredup a controversy by stating thatthe ultras were receiving helpfrom Islamic militantorganisations based here.Maoists are being 'nurtured' byislamic militant organisationsbased in Kozhikode, CPI(M)district secretary, P Mohanan,said addressing a functionhere. "Some are encouragingthese maoists to take up armsagainst the government," healleged and asked thegovernment to look into it. TheIslamic militant organisationshere are the "strength" of theMaoists, he claimed. Twostudents-- Alain Shuhaib andTaha Fasal were arrested onNovember 1 after pro maoistspamphlets were seized fromthem. Meanwhile, police hassaid C P Usman (40), hailingfrom Malappuram, has beenidentified as the third suspectwho had absconded afterShuhaib and Taha had beenarrested. Describing UAPA as a'draconian' law, senior CPI-Mleader Prakash Karat had saidthe two arrested Left studentactivists have been 'wrongly'booked under it and had urgedthe party-led LDF governmentto intervene and "undo thismistake". Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan had informedthe state assembly that thegovernment would not allowthe 'misuse' of UAPA andwould look into the issueseriously.

Issue of withdrawal ofSPG cover for Gandhisraised in LSNEW DELHI: Congress leaderAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury onTuesday raised the issue ofwithdrawal of SPG securitycover to the Gandhi family, butthe government said he cannotraise the matter in Zero Hour ashe had not given a notice forthe same. After the notice ofadjournment motion given bythe party on the withdrawal ofSpecial Protection Group (SPG)cover to Congress chief SoniaGandhi and former partypresident Rahul Gandhi wasrejected by Speaker Om Birla,Chowdhury raised the issue inthe Zero Hour. Supporting thedemand of the Congress, DMKmember T R Baalu saidremoving the SPG cover fromthe Gandhis has put their livesunder threat. The governmentshould provide SPG protectionto them, Baalu said.Chowdhury said the familyfaces threat to life and thecover by the elite securityorganisation should not havebeenwithdrawn. The Congressleader said the previous NDAgovernment led by Atal BihariVajpayee also did not removethe SPG cover of the Gandhis.He wondered what is theconspiracy of the governmentin removing the SPG cover.Both Congress and DMKmembers walked out of theHouse on the issue ofremoving SPG cover fromGandhis. Minister of State forParliamentary Affairs ArjunRam Meghwal said Chowdhurycannot raise the issue in ZeroHour as he had not givennotice in this regard.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Taking note of Congressleader Rahul Gandhi'sabsence from the House, LokSabha Speaker Om Birla onTuesday said he had wantedto give a chance to the formerCongress president duringQuestion Hour.

"His (Rahul Gandhi's)question was listed for theQuestion Hour and I wantedto give him a chance had hebeen present," Birla remarkedwhen K Suresh got up tospeak during Zero Hour fromGandhi's seat.

The speaker asked Sureshto move to his designated seatand continue.

As per the Lok Sabhaschedule, question number28 was listed against thename of Gandhi. The ques-tion pertained to PradhanMantri Gram Sadak Yojanafor Kerala.

Question numbers 21 to 25were taken up during theQuestion Hour.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Stepping up pressure on theAAP government over thewater quality issue in thenational capital, Delhi BJP'sYuva Morcha activists stagedprotests across the city onTuesday. The protesters wereseen carrying "missing" postersof Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, who is also the chair-man of the Delhi Jal Board(DJB).

"Have you seen the DJBchairman, Arvind Kejriwal?,"read the posters.

Similar posters were put upin some parts of east Delhi.

Former Delhi BJP presidentSatish Upadhyay took part inthe protest near theMoolchand flyover.

Other senior leaders of thesaffron party, including itsnational vice-president ShyamJaju and Leader of Oppositionin the Delhi Assembly VijenderGupta, also participated in theprotests.

Kejriwal's "missing" posters

were put up after similar "miss-ing" posters were seen in thecity of East Delhi BJP MPGautam Gambhir, who facedflak from the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) over skipping akey parliamentary panel meet-ing on air pollution due to hiscricket commentary assign-ment.

The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) has been trying to cor-ner the Kejriwal government

over a Bureau of IndianStandards (BIS) study thatfound water samples fromDelhi failing on 10 of the 11quality parameters.

Protests were held across thecity on Monday also by the BJPand the Congress.

Kejriwal said according tothe DJB tests carried out in thelast nine months, 98.5 percent water samples were foundto be safe.

PNS n DEHRADUN

Massage facilities will beintroduced for pilgrims alongthe 16-km trek route fromGaurikund to Kedarnath inUttarakhand from next year,an official said.

"We have decided to set upseven massage centres alongthe uphill trek to the shrinefrom the next season to helppilgrims overcome fatigueduring the journey,"Rudraprayag DistrictMagistrate MangeshGhildiyal told PTI.

These centres, equippedwith massage chairs, will beset up at the main halts --Bheembali, Lincholi, Rudrapoint and Junglechatti --along the uphill trek to thefamed shrine, he said.

The decision is part of thestate government's efforts tointroduce additional facilitiesfor pilgrims en route toKedarnath and enrich theirexperience of visiting theshrine, Ghildiyal said.

It will also help to generateemployment opportunitiesfor local youths, he added.

Over 10 lakh pilgrims vis-ited Kedarnath this yearbefore it closed for the win-ter season on October 29,breaking all past records andthe credit goes to theimproved facilities on theroute, the District Magistratesaid.

He said the number of pil-grims is expected to go upfurther in the years to come.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Home Ministry onTuesday said security forceshave arrested 765 people inJammu and Kashmir sincethe abrogation of Article 370provisions for their allegedinvolvement in stone peltingincidents and multi-prongedpolicies were adopted to checkthe menace.

Union minister of state forhome G Kishan Reddy alsosaid there has been a declinein the incidents of stone pelt-

ing since August 5 when thecentral government hadannounced abrogation of thespecial status granted toJammu and Kashmir underArticle 370.

"Since August 5, 2019 toNovember 15, 2019, 765 peo-ple have been arrested in 190cases registered relating tostone pelting/law and order.From January 1, 2019 toAugust 4, 2019, 361 number ofsuch cases were registered," hesaid replying to a writtenquestion in the Lok Sabha.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways toldthe National Green Tribunal onTuesday that draft guidelinesfor setting up and operatingvehicle scrapping centres hasbeen prepared and uploadedon its website seeking publiccomments.

The Ministry told a benchheaded by NGT ChairpersonJustice Adarsh Kumar Goelthat it has also circulated a pol-icy paper on creation of an ecosystem for scrapping of oldvehicles for transition to envi-ronment-friendly new vehi-cles.

The tribunal was alsoinformed by the DelhiPollution Control Committeethat a special task force, con-stituted by the NGT, is keepingan active and regular watch inMayapuri area to take actionagainst those who are disman-tling vehicles on roads and

confiscate tools and vehicles ona weekly basis.

As per the draft authorisedvehicle scrapping facility(AVSF) guidelines, individuals,firms, societies or trusts will beallowed to set up scrappagefacilities subject to meetingthe eligibility criteria andreceiving authorisation fromthe licensing authority.

The authorisation will bevalid for 10 years and can berenewed for another 10 years.

Prospective scrappers musthave usable treatment facilitieswith a minimum area of 4,000sq metre for small vehicles and8,000 sq metres for all biggervehicles, as per the guidelines.

Vehicles which have notrenewed original registra-tion, not been granted fitnesscertificate and those auc-tioned, impounded and aban-doned by any enforcementagency, among others will beallowed to be offered for

scrapping, it said."DPCC has constituted 16

teams to carry out nightpatrolling of industrial areas ofDelhi to identify dumping andburning of any type of wasteapart from identifying theindustries emitting blacksmoke emissions ," DPCC said.

The tribunal was informedthat DPCC has already sanc-tioned Rs 61.5 lakhs to theDelhi State Industrial andInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation (DSIIDC) Ltd.for installation of CCTV cam-eras at vulnerable points out-side the Mayapuri Induatrial

Area where illegal dismantlingof vehicles was taking place.

"On the directions of thechief secretary, DSIIDC hasfloated tenders for upgradationof 20 kms of roads and 12 kmsof drains in both phases ofMayapuri industrial area withan estimated cost of Rs 66.59crore. AdditionalCommissioner of police hasinformed that motorcycleshave been engaged specifical-ly to take rounds and to keepcheck all over the area so thatno illegal vehicle dismantlingactivity takes place," DPCCsaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The CRPF has written to statesand UTs about the new pro-tocols for Congress presidentSonia Gandhi and her familymembers security and willsoon seek sanctions to raise atleast one more battalion forthe task, officials said onTuesday. The central govern-ment earlier this monthreplaced the Special ProtectionGroup (SPG) security covergiven to Sonia Gandhi, her sonRahul Gandhi and daughterPriyanka Gandhi Vadra bythe 'Z-plus' security of theCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF).

The paramilitary force willalso seek sanctions to procurespecialised armoured vehiclesin the light of these high-pro-file persons, along with formerprime minister ManmohanSingh, being sent under itssecurity cover, the officialssaid.

The CRPF, through theUnion home ministry, haswritten to state and union ter-ritory governments about thenew protocols that came intoforce after the Centre's deci-sion, they said.

It has also informed states

and UTs that the Gandhi fam-ily has been accorded anadvance security liaison (ASL)protocol and this will requirethe "support" of their intelli-gence, police and administra-tive machinery prior to any ofthe five new protectees --Sonia Gandhi, Rahul,Priyanka, Manmohan Singhand his wife Gursharan Kaur-- reaching their jurisdictionson official or personal tours.

The Singhs SPG cover waswithdrawn by the govern-ment in August.

The officials said a specialCRPF team will travel at least24 hours in advance to theselocations and liaise with localauthorities to sanitise thevenue and isolate the areas thatthe VVIPs will visit.

"They will need to be givenall administrative and policesupport along with route plansand travel maps. The CRPFwill now do what the SPGdid," a senior official said.

The states and UTs havebeen informed about the 'yel-low book' procedure in thiscontext and all the 28 VVIPsecurity bases of the CRPF inthe country will be used toexecute this job, the officialssaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

President Ram Nath Kovind onTuesday exuded confidencethat the IITs and NITs, withtheir specialisations, will beable to find solutions to addressthe problem of air pollution aswell as create sensitivity amongstudents and researchers.

Kovind made the commentsat the annual 'visitor's confer-ence' at the RashtrapatiBhawan, attended by directorsof 23 Indian Institutes ofTechnology (IITs), 31 NationalInstitutes of Technology (NITs)and Indian Institute ofEngineering Science AndTechnology (IIEST), Shibpur.

"This is that time of the yearwhen the air quality of thenational capital as well as ofmany other cities worsensbeyond all norms. Many sci-entists and futurologists havepainted doomsday scenarios.On days of smog and poor vis-ibility in our cities, we fear thefuture might already be here,"Kovind said.

"I am sure that your insti-tutes, with your various spe-cialisations, will find a solutionand take care to create a sen-sitivity and awareness amongstudents and researcherstowards our common future,"he added.

With the air quality levelstouching the "emergency"mark, various IITs have comeforward to work on solutionsto address the issue includingidentification of upwind dis-tricts in Punjab and Haryanafrom where crop burning con-tributes maximum to pollutionin Delhi-NCR and a study onidentification of brick kiln

clusters which contribute mostto pollution levels in Delhi-NCR.

"We are facing a kind ofchallenge here that we havenever faced before.Hydrocarbon energy changedthe face of the world in the lastcouple of centuries, but now itis threatening our very exis-tence. The challenge is com-pounded for nations battling tobring substantial sections ofpopulations out of poverty.Yet, we will have to find alter-natives," Kovind said.

The president said thatafter the government's effortsto improve India's ranking on

the Ease of Doing BusinessIndex, the aim is now toimprove the Ease of Living forall citizens.

"How can we move forwardin that direction, and make lifeeasier for all, especially thoseon the margins of society?Later this week, Governors ofstates will be here inRashtrapati Bhavan and thiswill be one of the major pointsof deliberation in their con-ference. I am sure there aresolutions in the area of gover-nance," he said.

President Ram Nath Kovind

PNS n NEW DELHI

Only Rajasthan and Manipurhave passed bills on action tobe taken against those involvedin lynching but the legislationsare yet to get the President'sconsent, the Lok Sabha wasinformed on Tuesday.

Union minister of state forhome Nityananda Rai said theCentre, following a SupremeCourt directive, has issuedtwo advisories to state gov-ernments to check incidents oflynching.

"In pursuance to the Hon'bleSupreme Court's judgment onJuly 17, 2018, two advisories -- on July 23, 2018, andSeptember 25, 2018, wereissued to the state govern-ments and union territoriesadministrations for takingmeasures to curb incidents ofmob lynching in the country,"he said replying to a writtenquestion.

On whether a number ofstates have enacted laws, mak-ing lynching a non-bailableoffence and recommendinglife imprisonment for thoseinvolved in such violence, theminister said as per informa-tion available, two bills on thesubject passed by state legisla-

tures of Manipur andRajasthan are reserved by thegovernor for consideration ofthe President have beenreceived.

"The bills so received areexamined in consultation withthe concerned central min-istries," he said.

Rai said the governmentthrough audio-visual mediahas also generated publicawareness to curb the menaceof lynching.

The government has alsosensitised service providers totake steps to check the propa-gation of false news andrumours having potential toincite mob violence and lynch-ing.

In its order, the SupremeCourt had said the state gov-ernments shall designate asenior police officer, not belowthe rank of Superintendent ofPolice, as nodal officer in eachdistrict.

Raj, Manipur only states to havepassed bills to check lynching

Union minister of state for homeNityananda Rai said the Centre, followinga Supreme Court directive, has issuedtwo advisories to state governments tocheck incidents of lynching

PNS n NOIDA (UP)

A fire broke out at the HomeGuards district commandant'soffice in Greater Noida, guttingattendance logs of all person-nel since 2014, police said onTuesday. The fire, which tookplace late Monday night andwas reported on Tuesdaymorning, comes at a timewhen an investigation is goingon into the fraudulent with-drawal of salaries of scores ofhome guards in the district,officials said. The fire wasreported in the DistrictCommandant Home GuardOffice in Surajpur, SeniorSuperintendent of Police,

Gautam Buddh Nagar, VaibhavKrishna said.

"Station House Officer(SHO) Surajpur and Fire SafetyOfficer in Surajpur found thata big box having salary musterrolls (attendance logs) of homeguards was in a burnt state with

all the muster rolls inside itcompletely burnt down,"Krishna said.

He said an FIR was beingregistered in the case and thor-ough investigation has beenordered.

A special investigation team

at district level, underSuperintendent of Police,Noida, Vineet Jaiswal, has beenconstituted to investigate thematter, he added.

"Prima facie it has come tolight that this box had salarymuster rolls of home guardsdeputed in different police sta-tions and government officesin the district since 2014,"Krishan said.

Earlier in July, it came tolight that salaries of scores ofhome guards deployed herewere withdrawn despite themshowing up for work only halfof the time during May andJune, prompting officials tolaunch a probe into the matter.

States, UTs briefedon Gandhis newsecurity protocols

Massagefacilities forpilgrims

Water quality: BJYM stages stirwith Kejriwal's ‘missing' posters

LS Speakertakes note ofRahul’s absence

765 arrested in J-K forstone pelting since till date

As per the draft authorised vehiclescrapping facility (AVSF) guidelines,individuals, firms, societies or trusts willbe allowed to set up scrappage facilitiessubject to meeting the eligibility criteriaand receiving authorisation from thelicensing authority

Confident that IITs, NITswill find solutions: Prez

AIR POLLUTION

ABROGATION OF ARTICLE 370

Fire guts attendance logs of home guards

Draft guidelines for vehicle scrappingcentres prepared, NGT told

Gotabaya (Gota) Rajapaksa’s deci-sive victory in the presidentialelection was not entirely surpris-ing though it has shocked theliberals in Colombo, becoming

the most ethnically polarised verdict. Gotahas shown that presidential elections can bewon without the ethnic minority vote. Eversince the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime wasvoted out of power in 2015 and followingthe passage of the 19th Amendment, Gota’schoice was natural as 19A had ruled out athird term for the President and raised thebar for age to 35 years, thus renderingMahinda and his son Namal Rajapaksa inel-igible for contesting the presidential election.

For an Army Colonel, Gota’s decade asthe Defence Secretary to elder brother andformer President Mahinda Rajapaksa facil-itated the straightening of many wrinkles indefence and national security, though manyof his Army colleagues and friends hadturned adversaries. By the time Gota becamea presidential hopeful, he was accused of cor-ruption, human rights violations during thewar, “white van” disappearances, murder ofthe editor of a newspaper and linkages to aBuddhist extremist group targettingMuslims. But his image as a war heroendured.

Gota won exclusively on the plank ofnational security. The catastrophic EasterSunday bombings by radical Islamists linkedto Islamic State (IS) were the result of infi-nite bungling by an incumbent Governmentalready charged with lackadaisical perfor-mance. The clamour for return of theRajapaksas, who had ushered in a decade ofpeace, began to pick up. Gota sensed hismoment. He blamed the Government fordismantling the intelligence apparatus he hadestablished across the country for surveil-lance and early warning. The bombings werea clear systemic failure.

As President, Commander-in-Chief ofthe armed forces, Defence Minister orwhichever portfolio he assigns to himself,Gota’s first task will be to ginger up the intel-ligence network and reinstate the intelligencegrid and to eliminate the residual sleepercells of the IS linked to radicalised Muslimsin Sri Lanka. The reorganisation of higherdefence management, which had becomeesoteric under his predecessor, is bound tobe revamped. The post-Easter Sundayappointments of the chief of national intel-ligence, Inspector General of Police andDefence Secretary, who report directly to thePresident, will be reviewed.

Gen Shantha Kottegoda, whose term asArmy Commander was prematurely termi-nated in mid-2000 to accommodate GenSarath Fonseka, is current Defence Secretary.The extended term of Chief of Defence Staff,Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne, a war herowho had to go to jail, ends next month andhe may get an extension. Army Chief, Lt GenShavendra Silva, another war hero whose

appointment in August attract-ed Western criticism on accountof alleged human rights viola-tions, will certainly get an exten-sion beyond December.

As pledged, Gota will like-ly arrange the release from jailof military intelligence offi-cials under trial. Similarly, hewill end speculation over anydomestic or international inves-tigation about alleged warexcesses and also close theUnited Nations Human RightsCouncil (UNHRC) resolutiondated January 30, 2015, co-sponsored with the US —which has already quit thecouncil — on post-war transi-tional justice and reconciliation.Most of the military is jubilantabout Gota’s return. So excitedwas the Army that it reported-ly endorsed Gota’s presidentialcandidature in a newspaperadvertisement.

Simultaneous with alter-ations in defence and securityarchitecture, Gota will use hisexecutive and persuasive pow-ers to change the Governmentand make Mahinda the PrimeMinister. This can happen in twoways: First by Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe and hisCabinet resigning in the after-math of his party’s electoraldefeat. Ministers aligned withthe presidential loser SajithPremadasa have alreadyresigned and have urged

Wickremesinghe to quit, whosaid he will consider. A snapelection could follow.

Second, according to the19th Amendment, thePresident can dismiss theGovernment four-and-a-halfyears into its term, which issometime in February 2020 topave the way for a newParliament by August 2020.

Either way, Mahinda willnow certainly be the next PrimeMinister. And as he recently tolda Tamil newspaper: “PM is thereal power.” The last and onlytime two brothers have beenPresident and Prime Ministertogether was a decade ago inPoland with twins — theKaczynskis. By abolishing the19th Amendment with a two-thirds majority, the Rajapaksasand the Sri Lanka People’s Party(SLPP) may rule, preferably bytaking minorities along, tillkingdom come.

Gota must also attend tothe declining economy crippledby the IS-linked terroristattacks. Soon after the war, theeconomy was zipping at eightper cent growth. The centralbank bonds scam under theWickremesinghe Governmentwas the proverbial last strawthat broke the people’s confi-dence in the Government.

Multi-lateral financial agen-cies are uniformly predictingGDP slipping below the

International Monetary Fund’s(IMF) growth forecast of 3.5 percent for 2019.

The Governor of theCentral Bank of Sri Lanka haswarned of a Greece-like crisisunless deep structural reformsare implemented. Colombo’stotal indebtedness to Beijing isunknown but is estimated at 60per cent of all foreign borrow-ings. Mahinda had given verygenerous concessions to China,resulting in both Hambantotaand the Colombo Port City pro-jects being leased to Chinesecompanies for 99 years. Chinaand Sri Lanka decided lastmonth to establish an interna-tional financial centre — to rival India’s plannedinternational financial centre inGandhinagar — halfwaybetween Dubai and Singapore.Notwithstanding its viability,the financial centre will giveChina another foothold in SriLanka.

Where does the landmarkregime change in Sri Lankaleave India given that it wasinstrumental in dislodgingMahinda in 2015? This timearound, India’s non-interfer-ence is impeccable. With theRajapaksa redux, it is easy topaint doomsday scenarios. TheRajapaksa’s indebtedness toBeijing started during the warwhen New Delhi rejected sev-eral requests from Colombo for

military hardware to fight theLiberation Tigers of TamilEelam (LTTE). It was Chinaand Pakistan, who bailed themout. Upon which India hadmocked Lanka for approachingthese countries when it waswilling to supply only non-lethal stores in deference todomestic political compulsionsin Tamil Nadu. The strategiccost of India’s hedging lingersthough that constraint is gone.Gota famously described NewDelhi’s non-interference in thewar as “management” of India.China’s ingress in Sri Lanka pre-dates Rajapaksas. Hambantotawas offered twice to India. Therest is history.

It will be unwise to go bythe track record of a feistywartime defence secretary, whoas part of the famed troika withbrother Basil and Secretary toPresident Lalith Weeratunga,dealt with an intransigent India.Now President GotabayaRajapaksa, who has said he willbe “neutral but friendly” in for-eign relations, must be judgedby his deeds not words. LikeNepal, geography and historymilitate against Sri Lanka beinghostile to India.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

When the People’s Republic of China (PRC)took over the administration of Hong Kongin 1997, it laid to rest a painful chapter

of colonialism on the Chinese mainland. The UKhad sought and won certain rights for the citi-zens of Hong Kong. The Chinese Government hadpromised “One country, two systems” for the city-state, which still maintained its judicial, econom-ic and cultural identity. It even competes at glob-al sporting meets independent of the PRC. Initially,the system worked well. Officials in Beijing had

a tough time grasping the concepts of free speech and expression in HongKong. They realised that the city and its vibrant stock markets and access tothe Western capital allowed huge fund inflows into the PRC. Indeed, the PRC’smassive growth in the decade following Hong Kong’s return was fuelled bymoney that was routed through the city. However, things have taken a darkturn here under China’s new strongman Xi Jinping, who wants the “Sinification”of the city to progress much faster than the promised 50 years. Instead of HongKong hoping that some of its free and open culture will be imbibed by China,Xi wants it to be under his thumb. He wanted to achieve this by essentiallysubverting Hong Kong’s unique judicial system to that of China. Easy, peasyhe must have thought, but he had not accounted for the citizens, particularlythe students. They were loathe to give up the freedoms they have become accus-tomed to. Even under the heavy hand of the Hong Kong police, who used someof the latest facial recognition technology, the students have continued to resist.Xi’s predicament has worsened because of Hong Kong’s vibrant and free media,making the city’s crisis a public relations nightmare for Xi and his minions.

Letting the students have their way would be akin to admitting defeat byXi. However, he should learn that compromise is sometimes the best policyas is keeping one’s promises, no matter how much one may not like them.Hong Kongers are proud to be citizens of the PRC as well but they were promisedtwo systems and they want that much and no further. The sight of teargas shellsbeing lobbed at students will not serve Xi well in the long run and might evenmake his economic diplomacy goals such as the rehabilitation of Huawei andselling the Belt and Road Initiative much more difficult.

Student movements have had transformativeand revolutionary power in world history, from13th century Paris to the climate activism of

Greta Thunberg. That’s how our societal and edu-cation systems have raised our young to be, ques-tion the status quo if it is unjust, create a liberalorder, chase passions and ideals that are yet uncor-rupted by politics and do so with a “can do” spir-it that has not yet been bartered away to compro-mise. That’s why students have overturned

regimes across the world, because all they need is a generational contiguity tooverride everything else and generate a populist swell. At home, the Nirbhayaand Jessica Lal vigils, Dalit or gay rights would not have changed outcomes hadthe students not taken the lead. And they have all begun as non-violent, peace-ful sit-ins and marches till retaliation was forced by State repression. However,one must cite the college students versus Government protests in Iran of 1999during which Ayatollah Khamenei had to instruct the police to restrain itself evenif it meant that students burnt his posters or tore them apart. This was remark-able in a regime intolerant of any kind of alternative discourse or dissent butKhamenei was aware that student activism had freed itself from State fear andpolitics and in the long-term could be a challenge if not accommodated. Suppressionwould only beget harsher rejection and counter-reaction. Therefore, such prag-matism should have also dawned on authorities in New Delhi before they usedthe police to literally beat up protesting JNU students wanting to march to Parliamentand be heard on a surprise fee hike. Cracking down on them mercilessly hasnot only emboldened them further but shown up the Modi Government as a bull-dozer of what JNU stands for, an institution of excellence and learning that attemptsclasslessness in thought and action, encourages free and radical thinking and aconvergence of ideas fearlessly. The ostensible row over a fee hike has taken aback seat due to such mishandling. The Modi Government has clearly overlookedthe practicality of raising fees and used it as a ruse to suppress what it reallywants, take over and crush a seat of Left-leaning liberalism, one that its propo-nents dismiss as a despicable clan called “JNU type.” Particularly, malign a uni-versity that bears the name of India’s first Prime Minister. The Government is mak-ing a classic mistake of resorting to symbolism. Negotiations could have takencare of much of the problem. But the suddenness of the fee hike was clearlymeant to provoke students and make them look like perennial trouble-makerswho needed to be taught a lesson. The students’ angst over the almost 300 percent hike is understandable as it’s astronomical and insensitive, instead of beinggraded and phased out as all transitions to a new protocol should be. For long,JNU has been offering succour to the poorest of families, who could not afforda respectable education for their children due to the hefty fees charged by othereminent institutions. It is also a fact that JNU had been operating under a differ-ential fee regime compared to its counterparts. A room rent of just ̀ 20 per monthfor a single-seater or `10 per month for a double seater, that, too without anyutility or service charge, is a dream in the heart of Delhi. This is the reason whystudents prolonged their stay at the hostels, enrolling in course after course whileworking part-time. Old students overstaying led to a chronic hostel shortage fornewcomers. In this sense, it is welcome that the varsity has finally woken up tothe dangers of big subsidies. Yet it must be accepted that a steep hike, comingafter 19 years, is an injustice when not reasonably executed. No consultationswere made with the stakeholders or the management council to arrive at a com-mon ground. The partial rollback, again swiftly ordered, was cosmetic, accord-ing to students. And clamping them down with police action frankly gives morecredence to their story of persecution than issues that matter.

Going by the recent past, students have won — those at Jadavpur Universityforced their Vice-Chancellor to resign, FTII students challenged the appointmentof chairman Gajendra Chauhan and women students across the country beganthe Pinjra Tod movement when Jamia Millia Islamia cancelled late nights for itsgirl hostellers. The Government may want to compartmentalise every part of ourpublic life, saffronising education being a big part of it. Even if we were to fol-low the spirit of Vedanta truly as it wants, then we would realise that “each manis the power. There is no king. I see everybody equally the same.” That’s whyProfessor Firoz Khan of Banaras Hindu University may be a celebrated Sanskritist,who received awards in his subject, but is now considered untouchable.

What a U-turn?

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Dealing with a new Lanka”(November 19). In 2015, votersseemingly en masse voted todefeat a supposedly corruptRajapaksa regime, which wasblamed for many negatives,including nepotism of the high-est degree. This, with utter disre-gard to the fact that it was the verysame leader, who along with thedefence guidance of his ownbrother, had been responsible forthe defeat of the most feared ter-rorist organisation.

Five years on, people appar-ently sought the very people tosalvage the country from theabyss it is said to find itself in. SriLankans feel that GotabayaRajapaksa is their saviour and theypinned new hopes from the newPresident.

Jayatheertha SA Hyderabad

Tread with care

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Dealing with a new Lanka”(November 19). India’s relationswith neighbouring countries have

always remained wanting. Onecan understand the thorny histor-ical issues with those in the land-locked arc of the Northwest to theNortheast, the gateway of ourinvaders. There was no reason forthe recurrent indifferent ties withSri Lanka.

We were naive to be overinvolved in the Indian PeaceKeeping Force (IPKF) operation.This peace-keeping exercise notonly alienated our own Tamil sen-timent but also earned the dis-pleasure of the Sinhalese. FormerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi

paid the ultimate price.Things may look better today.

But in the election of GotabayaRajapaksa as the Sri LankanPresident, we have a proponent ofmajoritarianism, much like ourown present dispensation and,thus, they could vibe well.

That said, the dormantTamilian schism, both at homeand in Sri Lanka, may well findcause for resurgence. This iswhere we need to tread with carelest we repeat history.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

Troubling times ahead

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Dealing with a new Lanka”(November 19). The election ofGotabaya Rajapaksa as the SriLankan President will have seriousrepercussions back home. It is thepolitical shift that is a cause ofworry. If Mahinda Rajapaksabecomes the Prime Minister, theTamil and Muslim populationsover there will suffer the most.

But it will be better for theRajapaksa brothers to focus onissues plaguing the country, mostimportantly the economy. India,too, needs to pay close attention tothe developments in the islandnation and protect the interests ofthe Tamil population there.

ShivanshVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2019

06

Power shift in Colombo

ASHOK K MEHTA

Sri Lanka’s new President Gotabaya has vowed to maintain neutral but friendlyrelations with foreign powers. He must be judged by his deeds, not words

I am sure that IITs andNITs, with their specialisa-tions will be able to findsolutions to address the air pollution problem.

President—Ram Nath Kovind

I want to strike a balancebetween films and web. Ihaven’t given much thoughtabout working more onstreaming platforms.

Actor—Emraan Hashmi

The US is gravely concernedabout deepening unrest and vio-lence in Hong Kong. TheGovernment must take clearsteps to address public concern.

US Secretary of State—Mike Pompeo

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

A whiff of Assam movement

The Asom Songrami Mancha, a platform of civil soci-ety leaders and activists, has threatened the BJP thatit will launch a massive stir if it goes ahead with the

Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament. It has strict-ly warned the Centre of a great movement bigger thanthe 1980s’ Assam students’ agitation. The Bill propos-es to grant citizenship to refugees from minority com-munities like Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, andChristians. Muslims have been excluded from thescheme of things. This goes against the basic principlesof “secularism” as enshrined in the Constitution, partic-ularly Articles 14 and 15, which guarantee equality beforethe law and forbid discrimination on grounds of religion.

Indigenous people in the State are apprehensive andvociferous about granting citizenship to such a huge num-ber of migrant refugees because this may alter the State’sdemography. It is also a fact that India has always wel-comed and given asylum to all those who have been per-secuted. But considering the number of refugees andmigrants will be huge, it will send the already slowingeconomy into a tailspin. If the BJP is still adamant, theUnion Government must rehabilitate the migrants in otherStates, too. The All Assam Students Union (AASU)-led

agitation was a mass movement against the influx of for-eigners, especially from neighbouring Bangladesh. Itstarted in 1979 and ended with signing of the 1985Assam Accord. The Union Government must take stockof the situation and discern the consequences of theirzeal to legislate the Citizenship Bill instead of acting hasti-ly. It must refrain from introducing the CitizenshipAmendment Bill as it is bound to heap untold miserieson the people.

TK NandananChennai

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Hong Kong crisisEveryone knows that selfish-ness is a bad thing but veryfew people give up their selfish-ness. Take the example of thecountry or of individuals.

RSS chief—Mohan Bhagwat

The JNU fee hike could be reasonably negotiated but usingforce on students means undoing what we teach them to do

Protests here have intensified and most citizens are in support of the young activists. Beijing is in a quandary

Student uprising

op nion

A man-made crisis

ARVIND KEJRIWAL MUST NOMINATE A REPRESENTATIVETO TEST DELHI WATER SAMPLES AGAIN. WE CHOOSEPRAMOD TIWARI AND J ROYCHOWDHURY FROM BIS.

— CONSUMER AFFAIRS MINISTER RAM VILAS PASWAN

WE CAN GET WATER TESTED BY ANY INDEPENDENTAGENCY. STRANGELY, THE CONSUMER AFFAIRS REPORT BELIES THAT OF JAL SHAKTI MINISTRY.— AAP MP SANJAY SINGH

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The London smog of November 1952 isconsidered to be the worst-ever suchcase of environmental hazard which led

to the death of a few thousand people.Winston Churchill, who was the PrimeMinister at that time, himself suffered abronchial attack due to the toxic air. Eventhough the Clean Air Act came up only in1956, stringent action had been initiated bythe local authorities well before that, bring-ing in a dramatic improvement in the stateof the environment in the city.

Back home, even though the NationalGreen Tribunal (NGT), in the case of GangaLalwani vs Union of India (2015), had madeburning of crop stubble a penal offence andadditionally, formulated a National Policy forManagement of Crop Residue, the result ofthe enforcement effort has been rather half-hearted and its dismal and disastrous resultsare being experienced by all of us in the formof a health emergency being declared in theDelhi-National Capital Region (NCR).According to medical experts, air pollution inDelhi-NCR is no longer just a health risk, it hasbecome a hazard. Everyone in Delhi, particu-larly asthma patients, infants, children and theelderly are affected by this pollution. It doesn’tmatter whether a person is a smoker or not, thetoxic air people are breathing in is equivalent tosmoking 15 to 20 cigarettes a day.

Except for the States of Odisha , AndhraPradesh and Tamil Nadu, where some seri-ousness has been shown in combatting air pol-lution, the enforcement of the NGT’s ordersand follow-up on the policy in some of theother States, particularly in Punjab and tosome extent in Haryana, has been very poor.

However, according to an affidavit filedby the Central Government in the SupremeCourt (SC), stubble burning has gone up byseven per cent in Punjab and gone down by17 per cent in Haryana. In order to addressthis problem, a new Central scheme,“Promotion of Agricultural Mechanisation forIn-Situ Management of Crop Residue in theStates of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh andNCT of Delhi,” was approved in 2018.

This provided for subsidising machin-ery required for in-situ management of thebiomass, for which a sum of `1,151.80 crorehas been allocated for the period of 2018-2023. Out of this provision, Punjab has gotthe largest share. The objective of the schemewas to procure agricultural machinery andequipment for in-situ management of cropresidue, create farm machinery banks andconduct multi-media awareness campaigns.

Delhi, leading the NCR with a combi-nation of adverse factors, has already bro-ken the world record for Air Quality Index(AQI), making the headlines bold and telling.But perhaps waking up will take some time.There is no dearth of authorities who are,and were aware of the impending environ-mental hazard, but instead of a well thoughtout long-term strategy or some short-termrelief our approach appears to be a classiccase of ad-hocism. For instance, it is nowknown that the burning of stubble is respon-

sible for about 37 per cent of the pollution,which is more or less of a seasonal nature.For the remaining, it is understood that two-wheelers, whose number in Delhi alone is88 lakh, happen to be the source of about33 per cent of the pollutants, while four-wheelers, whose number is about 35 lakh areresponsible for just about 15 per cent of it.

In these circumstances, forcing somefour-wheelers to be off the roads is boundto have just a marginal impact.

On the other hand, as is well known,the two-stroke two-wheelers and three-wheel-ers emit a far more hazardous mixture ofhydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, some ofwhich like benzene are known to be car-cinogenic, but their numbers continue toincrease.

In respect of automobile emissions, com-plete combustion within the engine is essen-tial to reduce the extent of pollutants. Thefour-stroke engine is cleaner because it burnspure petrol; the two-stroke engine, on theother hand, burns a combination of lubri-cating oil and petrol and a fair amount ofthe oil is emitted as unburnt vapour.

Some 94 per cent of the two-and three-wheelers in India are powered by two-strokeengines that are simple and compact indesign, cheap and easy to maintain. But theconventionally-designed two-stroke enginesproduce high levels of hydrocarbons inexhaust emissions — 5,500 parts per million(ppm), compared to 850 ppm from four-stroke engines. According to a research atthe Indian Institute of Petroleum atDehradun, four-stroke engine-powered motorcycles have been observed to emit just one-sixth to one-tenth of the hydrocarbons emit-ted by two-stroke engines. In addition, theirfuel economy is better by 20 to 50 per cent.However, manufacturers prefer two-strokeengines because they are more powerful and

have greater pick-up. In the long run, elec-tricity-powered two-wheelers could be a suit-able alternative. The latest figures availablefor usage of public transport in Delhi indi-cate that the Delhi Transport Corporation(DTC) and Delhi Metro carry just 12 and10 per cent respectively of the entire com-muter traffic.

This is an extremely low proportion andobviously leading to a much greater usageof highly polluting two-wheelers. Obviously,we have to create conditions for encourag-ing greater ridership on public transport. Atthe same time we must ensure a larger num-ber of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuelstations so as to reduce the waiting time,since mostly these cater to public transportvehicles or taxis.

Last year a group of industries had con-ducted a pilot project in two districts ofPunjab covering an area of 16,000 acres offarm land, where 25,000 tonnes of rice strawwere processed and converted into fibre-basedcellulosic products. The details of the pro-ject need to be analysed to enlarge its scope.

The apex court has pulled up theGovernment of India as well as the DelhiGovernment for “passing the buck” even asDelhi and nearby areas face a public healthemergency due to the severe air pollution.

Further, the Centre has been asked tocall environmental experts including thosefrom the Indian Institutes of Technology sothat their views on the current situationcould be taken into account for suitabledirectives. It can thus be easily observed thata rational public policy based on scientificinputs needs to be operationalised whileensuring its stringent implementation andmonitoring.

(The author is a former Governor and aSenior Advisor at the Pranab MukherjeeFoundation)

Authorities were aware of the impending environmental hazard but instead of a well thought out long-term strategy to tackle air pollution, our approach appears to be a classic case of ad-hocism

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

Being systematichas its benefits

Putting in money regularly through SIPs ratherthan trying to time a lump sum investment canhelp one become a more disciplined investor

KK PAUL

ASystematic Investment Plan (SIP) is an investment optionoffered by mutual funds to people where they can put in smallamounts periodically instead of lump sums. They can do

this by directly debiting a fixed amount of money from their bankaccounts and investing in a specific mutual fund and allocatingseveral units according to the current Net Asset Value (NAV). Thefrequency of investment could be anywhere from weekly, to month-ly or quarterly.

There is no fixed period of investment in a SIP and it couldrange from as small as six months to forever. However, the short-er the investment period in equity mutual fund SIPs, the higherthe potential gain. However, this is not without a higher risk.Research shows that there is a 16 per cent chance of losing morethan 20 per cent in an equity mutual fund over a six-month hori-zon, whereas, there is a 90 per cent chance of positive returnsin an average equity fund SIP of three years or more, making long-term investments more desirable.

Although most investors associate SIPs with equity mutualfunds, investments into debt SIPs can be as effective. One of thefundamental principles of investing is to make money work assoon as possible. An investment needs time to grow, so the longerthe money is in the market, the more chance one has of achiev-ing one’s goals. An SIP is an option for small investors who wantto take advantage of investing for a longer-term but cannot putin a large amount or a lump sum. Surprisingly, sometimes mak-ing regular and small investments in the form of SIP can work inthe favour of small investors, because of a concept known as“Rupee Cost Averaging.”

Rupee Cost Averaging is an approach in which a personinvests a fixed amount of money at regular intervals. This, in turn,ensures that they buy more shares when the prices are low andless when they are high. Let’s take an example. Suppose Ramhas a lump sum of `10,000 that he wants to invest in a partic-ular stock or fund, valued at `100. He has two options: First, hecan invest the full ̀ 10,000 in one go, buying 100 shares, at ̀ 100each. But by doing this Ram is fully exposed to the movementsof the market and the value of his investment will rise and fall inline with any share price changes. His second option is to investhis money gradually and Ram may choose to invest `1,000 amonth over 10 months. If the stock price stays the same, he willbe able to buy 10 scrips each month at `100.

However, since share prices fluctuate frequently, regular invest-ments by Ram will increase his buying power when the share pricefalls and he ends up buying more stocks and vice versa. With adrop in the share price to `90, he can buy 11 shares, whereasif it rises to `110, Ram will end up with nine.

Hence, by regular, small and pre-determined value of invest-ments, Ram would be in a position to buy more shares when theprice falls, thereby bringing down the average cost of purchase.When the stock price recovers to `100 in the last month, Ram’soriginal investment would be worth `10,300. This means Ramwould be `300 richer by investing regularly, compared to a lumpsum investment in the first month by buying 100 shares.

However, there is a flip side to it as well. Ram could alsolose money if the share price moves up and he ends up purchas-ing at a higher price for most of the months. However, we all knowthat stock markets rarely move in a straight line and price fluc-tuations are the norm rather than an exception.

By systematic investments over some time, one can investacross a range of prices and effectively end up paying the aver-age price over a fixed period, which can help smooth out marketvolatility. Trying to buy an asset when it is considered cheap, whichis known as market timing, is tricky even for the most experiencedinvestors. Just because a share has already fallen steeply in value,doesn’t mean it won’t drop further. Because of many market forcesat play, nobody can predict perfectly how and when the price wouldchange.

The decision to invest should be based upon market con-ditions and putting in money regularly through SIPs rather thantrying to time a lump sum investment, can help one become amore disciplined investor and earn better returns in the long run.SIPs help in hedging the risk of getting the market timing wrong.They are also a good option for people with a regular income whowant to allocate a fixed amount for mutual funds every month.Further, the choice of mutual funds should be based on one’s riskappetite and investment objective.

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Amity University)

Sri Lankan People’s Front candi-date Gotabaya Rajapaksa,younger brother of former

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, hasnow taken over as the country’sPresident. A retired Lieutenant-Colonel, who presided over the coun-try’s Defence Ministry for a decadeduring his brother’s tenure (2005-2014), Gotabaya swept the polls in theSinhala-majority districts, while hismain opponent RanasinghePremadasa, garnered most of thevotes from the Tamil-dominatednorth and east of the country.

Gotabaya’s victory would meanthe return of the powerful Rajapaksafamily as he is expected to appoint hisbrother Mahinda as the Prime

Minister, sooner than later. The new Sri Lankan President,

known as “terminator” for his role inwiping out the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE) a decade ago, hasfaced lawsuits in Sri Lanka and in theUnited States (US) over allegations ofstaged killings of Tamil separatists, crit-ics and journalists during the civil war.

In a fascinating interview withthis journalist in 2014, Gotabayarevealed many things, including howhe the then government finished offthe LTTE. Giving a graphic descrip-tion of what happened in the last daysof the LTTE War IV, (the name givento the fourth phase of the armed con-flict between the Sri Lankan militaryand the separatists), he pointed outthat the biggest advantage was that hisbrother had full trust in him and thethen Army chief Sarath Fonseka.Mahinda had the political will to neu-tralise the LTTE.

Second, the leadership agreedwith the defence assessment that alarge-scale expansion was neededwithin a very short period. “Webriefed the President. It was not aneasy thing to achieve. You need torecruit people, train them and also

equip them. But, wedid it,” he said. Givingmore details,Gotabaya said thatthe President also cre-ated a core group tocut down red tape.

“From our side itwas Basil Rajapaksa,Lalith ChandrakumarWeeratunga, who wasthe President’sPermanent Secretaryand me. From theIndian side it wastheir National Security Advisor MKNarayanan, Foreign SecretaryShivshankar Menon and DefenceSecretary VJ Singh, who were in theloop. We coordinated everything. Wewent to India and they came to SriLanka. And we discussed everything,even the operational plan and intelli-gence inputs.”

Gotabaya also exposed the dou-ble face of the then Tamil NaduChief Minister M Karunanidhi, whoput tremendous pressure on theManmohan Singh Government tostop the war on the LTTE, while theruling DMK adopted a strategy of run-

ning with the hareand hunting with thehound.

S h i v s h a n k a rMenon in his book,titled Choices: Insidethe making of India’sForeign Policy, con-firms that New Delhiwas in “intense” and“constant” touch withColombo.

“I vividlyremember the atmos-phere of the crisis

that built up during that period andrepeated visits from and to Colomboin the first five months of 2009,”Menon notes in his book, adding thatby mid-January 2009, the Sri LankanArmy and leadership were convincedthat they had the measure of the LTTEand the victory would be theirs. As astrategy, the Sri Lankan Army strong-ly occupied the north and the southso that the Tigers were kept away andwere stopped from procuring militarysupplies.

As for the last phase of theEelam War IV, Gotabaya noted, thateven at the last minute

Thiruvenkadam VelupillaiPrabhakaran, the founder and leaderof the LTTE, broke from the line andwent into the small island with hisbodyguards.

“Kandasamy Pathmanabha, aSri Lankan Tamil rebel, founder of theEelam People’s RevolutionaryLiberation Front and the LTTE’sfinancier, spoke to Prabhakaran inJanuary 2009 over the phone askinghim to escape. We intercepted the con-versation. Prabhakaran refused tohide at that time. Two weeks before thewar ended KP spoke to him again andasked him to escape. The LTTE Tigeragain refused,” he said.

Gotabaya pointed out that, “Doyou think that such a person will comeout holding his hands up and surren-der?”

The then Army chief SarathFonseka, in an interview to this jour-nalist also observed that the strategywas to take on the LTTE in the jun-gles. “By May 17, 2009 the troops cor-nered the LTTE within an area of400X400 metres. That night when theytried to escape they were preventedfrom doing so, by all three lines ofdefence put up by the Army.

“On the night of May 18, the topLTTE leadership divided itself intothree groups. They attacked theArmy’s forward defence line along theNandikadal lagoon and did manage tobreak through. Jeyam, Pottu Ammanand Soosai led these three groups.Prabhakaran and his closest guardsthought they would manage to escapebut in reality all these LTTE fighters(around 250) had got trapped betweenthe Army’s first and second line ofdefence. “After fierce fighting thatnight, almost the entire leadership ofthe LTTE was eliminated in thatarea. “We discovered Prabhakaran’sbody on the morning of May 19. I gotthe news of his death around 11 AM.I got a phone call from theCommander who gave me the infor-mation. Looking back, I was confident.I said I would finish the LTTE in threeyears and I did it in two years and ninemonths,” Fonseka said.

Those were different times buttoday it is a time for peace and asPresident how will Gotabaya deal withthe Tamil minorities in Lanka now?The fact that the Tamils did not votefor him reveals their apprehensions.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

What lies ahead for Sri Lankan Tamils? The new President, known as ‘terminator’ for his role in wiping out the LTTE a decade ago, has faced lawsuits in Lanka

and in the US over allegations of staged killings of Tamil separatists, critics and journalists during the civil war

KALYANI SHANKAR

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Since 1989, when itcrushed the pro-reformprotests that began inTiananmen Square andwitnessed the beginning ofthe end for the SovietUnion, Beijing hascalculated that bloodysuppression should beavoided if possible — butnot by offeringconcessions. It will angrilydismiss any criticism, as ithas that from Britain. Ignored or not, foreignleaders have a duty toremind China that they arewatching the action in HongKong.

(The Guardian editorial)

THE WORLD ISWATCHING CHINA

EXCEPT FOR THE STATES OF ODISHA,

ANDHRA PRADESHAND TAMIL NADU,

WHERE SOMESERIOUSNESS HAS

BEEN SHOWN INCOMBATTING

AIR POLLUTION,THE ENFORCEMENT

OF THE NGT’SORDERS AND

FOLLOW-UP ONTHE POLICY INSOME OF THE

OTHER STATES,PARTICULARLY INPUNJAB AND TOSOME EXTENT IN HARYANA,

HAS BEEN VERY POOR

HIMA BINDU KOTA

VIJAYAWADA WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2019 money 08

CAPSULE

Passenger vehicleretail sales jump 11pc in Oct on festivedemand: FADANEW DELHI: Automobiledealers' body FADA onTuesday said retail sales ofpassenger vehicles in Octoberincreased 11 per cent to2,48,036 units against thesame period last year, drivenby festive demand during themonth. According toFederation of AutomobileDealers Associations (FADA),passenger vehicles (PV) salesstood at 2,23,498 units inOctober 2018. Two-wheelersales increased 5 per cent to13,34,941 units last month ascompared with 12,70,261units in the year-ago period.Commercial vehicle sales,

however, declined 23 per centto 67,060 units as comparedto 87,618 units in Octoberlast year. Three-wheeler salessaw an increase of 4 per centto 59,573 units last month.Total sales across categoriesrose 4 per cent to 17,09,610units in October, as against16,38,832 units in the samemonth last year.

Govt extends date tillNov 20 to registerwith SIMS to import NEW DELHI: The governmenthas extended the date fortraders till November 20 toregister themselves with SteelImport Monitoring System(SIMS) to import 215 iron andsteel products. "One timerelaxation till November 20,2019, for obtaining SIMSregistration is notified," theDirectorate General of ForeignTrade (DGFT) said in anotification. Earlier, the datewas November 1. InSeptember, the governmenthad made it mandatory fortraders to register themselveswith SIMS to import 215 ironand steel products. Theseitems include certain flat-rolledproducts, some stranded wire,ropes, cables; certain items ofsprings and leaves for springsof iron and steel, tubes, pipesand hollow profiles, diesel-electric locomotives, andsome parts of railways.

Traders to protestagainst Amazon,Flipkart on WednesdayNEW DELHI: Traders in morethan 700 cities will onWednesday protest against the"unethical and unfair businesspractices" of e-commerce firmsAmazon and Flipkart, CAIT said.The Confederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) has on multipleoccasions alleged that thesecompanies were circumventingthe law and abusing Press NoteNo 2 of the government's foreigndirect investment (FDI) policy.During the nationwide agitation,traders will observe November20 as 'National Protest Day' andhold 'dharna' in more than 700cities in different states, said thebody, which claims to represent7 crore traders.

Pvt traders placeonion import orders

1,000 TONNES EXPECTED BY MONTH-END: GOVT OFFICIAL

PNS n NEW DELHI

Private traders have placedorders for importing onionsand at least 1,000 tonnes areexpected by month end, whichwill help ease retail prices thatis still ruling high at over Rs60/kg, a senior governmentofficial said on Tuesday.

The retail prices of onionhad soared to Rs 100/kg a weekback in the national capital, butthe government's various inter-vention helped it to cool downa bit, but the rates are still rul-ing high at over Rs 60/kg inDelhi as well as other con-suming areas of the country.

"Private traders haveinformed the government thatthey have imported a smallquantity of onion. Traders areexpected to order further1,000 tonnes for delivery bymonth-end and another lot fornext month," a seniorConsumer Affairs Ministryofficial told PTI.

The shipments will comesmoothly as the governmenthas liberalised phytosanitaryand fumigation norms forimport of onion till December-end, the official added.

To improve domestic avail-ability and contain price rise,the government is facilitatingonion imports through privateas well as public trading agen-cies. The government hasdecided to import 1 lakhtonnes of onion through state-

run MMTC, which has alreadyinvited bids for import of4,000 tonnes.

Onion prices came underpressure due to 30-40 per centestimated fall in the kharif(summer) output this year onaccount of floods and drought.

The shipments will come smoothly asthe government has liberalisedphytosanitary and fumigation normsfor import of onion till December-end,the official added

Tata Steel confirms job cuts ofup to 3,000 across European ops PTI n LONDON

Tata Steel has confirmed cutsof up to 3,000 jobs across itsEuropean operations as part ofa wider restructuring and cost-cutting strategy to counterstagnant steel demand inEurope and global overcapac-ity.

The Indian steel giant said itplans to lower employmentcosts with the "estimatedreduction" in employee num-bers, about two-thirds of whichare expected to be office-basedwhite-collar roles – a majori-ty expected at its Netherlandsunit.

"The information sharedwith the European WorksCouncil select committee laysout the case for change,explains our transformationprogramme and gives a firstoverview of the organisation-al impact," a company state-ment said.

"A transformation is neededto mitigate the current struc-tural and cyclical headwindsand create the foundation forthe company's future success.Stagnant EU steel demandand global overcapacityhave been compound-ed by trade conflictswhich have turnedthe European marketinto a dumpingground for the world'sexcess steel capacity," itnoted.

Through its proposedtransformation programme,Tata Steel Europe said it is ini-tially targeting a positive cashflow by the end of its financialyear ending March 2021. It is

also aiming for an EBITDAmargin of around 10 per centthroughout the market cycle.

"We intend to align on ourapproach and the process goingforward and engage with var-

ious stakeholders todevelop the pro-

posed decisionsand ensure com-pliance with allEuropean andnational obliga-tions. Further

details will be pro-vided from this

point forward anddetailed proposals will bedeveloped from here," thecompany statement added.

The steel major, one ofEurope's leading steel produc-

ers, said the changes wereneeded to ensure the businesscan thrive despite severe mar-ket headwinds and also accel-erate innovation towards car-bon-neutral steelmaking.

"Today we are highlightingimportant proposals towardsbuilding a financially strongand sustainable European busi-ness," said Henrik Adam, CEOof Tata Steel in Europe, in astatement on Monday.

"We plan to change how wework together to enable bettercooperation and faster deci-sion-making. This will help usbecome self-sustaining andcash positive in the face ofunprecedented severe marketconditions, enabling us to leadthe way towards a carbon-

neutral future," he said.The programme is focused

on four areas to improve finan-cial performance – increasingsales of higher-value steels byimproving product mix andcustomer focus; efficiencygains by optimising productionprocesses, supported by theapplication of big data andadvanced analytics; loweringemployment costs; and reduc-tion of procurement coststhrough smarter sourcing andstrengthening cooperationwith companies within theTata Steel group.

The latest move comes a fewmonths after Tata Steel Europeannounced plans to close twoUK operations with the loss of400 jobs, after it failed to selloff its loss-making OrbElectrical Steels business inNewport, South Wales.

Tata Steel's struggles with itsEuropean operations follow aEuropean Union (EU) rulingto deny its joint venture planswith German giantThyssenKrupp on anti-com-petitive grounds.

The company said its questfor improved earnings andcash flows would help make ita financially self-sustainingbusiness able to invest in assetreliability and improvementswhile also servicing its finan-cial obligations to its lendersand shareholders.

According to the latest fig-ures, in the first six months ofits current financial year start-ing April 2019, Tata SteelEurope reported a drop of 90per cent in EBITDA to 31 mil-lion pounds and revenue stoodat 3.25 billion pounds.

The information shared with the European WorksCouncil select committee lays out the case forchange, explains our transformation programme and

gives a first overview of the organisational impact—TATA STEEL

India's first technical textile hackathon from Nov 22PNS n MUMBAI

India's first technical textilehackathon will be held here onFriday, with an aim to identi-fy solutions to the critical chal-lenges of sustainable urbanliving.

The hackathon aims topotentially build business mod-els that can be funded, scaled,and taken at a global level. It isexpected to bring the country'stop 10 technical textile start-upsunder one roof, a statementissued by the organisers MesseFrankfurt India said.

While the manufacturingside will be represented bycompanies of speciality fibres,yarns, textiles, fabrics, productsalong with brands and traders,

the entrepreneur side will coverSMEs, start-up ecosystems andaccelerators.

The hackathon will take uptopics centred around India'schallenges of sustainability such

as ocean littering, plastic recy-cling and waste disposal anddrive concepts for start-ups to

collaborate with industry stake-holders to develop focused solu-tions using technical textiles, thestatement said.

"While Techtextil India exhi-bition highlights innovations inthe sector, the Techtextil NEXTHackathon is a concerted effortto tackle today's urban livingchallenges with next-genera-tion solutions. The platform

has the potential to presenttransformative ideas," RajManek, executive director andboard member, MesseFrankfurt Asia Holdings said.

Technical textile is increas-ingly penetrating every aspectof our daily lives such as med-ical masks, car seats, trekkinggears, specialised sport-wearetc.

While the manufacturing side will berepresented by companies of specialityfibres, yarns, textiles, fabrics, productsalong with brands and traders, theentrepreneur side will cover SMEs,start-up ecosystems and accelerators

PNS n NEW DELHI

Housing sales of nine majorreal estate companies, whichare listed on stock exchanges,increased marginally 2 percent to Rs 5,520 crore duringthe second quarter of 2019-20, according to a researchreport.

The sales booking data forJuly-September of nine com-panies -- DLF, GodrejProperties, MahindraLifespace, Oberoi Realty,Prestige, Sobha, Puravankara,Brigade and Kolte-Patil -- hasbeen compiled by propertyconsultant Anarock.

the organised housing bro-kerage business, Noida-basedInvestors Clinic, Anarock,New Corp-backed PropTiger,Anil Ambani led Reliancegroup-backed Square Yards,Quikr Realty and Gurugram-based 360 Realtors are theleading players.

"While housing sales inoverall residential market

recorded a decline in Q2FY20, the housing sales valueof India's top 9 listed devel-opers remained steady duringthe quarter," said Anuj Puri,Chairman, Anarock.

On quarterly basis, theirhousing sales value increased5 per cent from Rs 5,250crore in the first quarter of2019-20 to nearly Rs 5,520crore in the second quarter.

"On yearly basis, these list-ed developers collectively sawtheir housing sales value riseby a meagre 2 per cent fromRs 5,390 crore in Q2 FY19,"Puri said.

While housing sales inoverall residentialmarket recorded a

decline in Q2 FY20, the housingsales value of India's top 9 listeddevelopers remained steadyduring the quarter

ANUJ PURIChairman, Anarock

TCS launchesMicrosoft BusinessUnit for enterprisesleveraging AI, MLPNS n NEW DELHI

IT services major TataConsultancy Services (TCS)on Tuesday said it is settingup a new Microsoft BusinessUnit (MBU) that will helpenterprises to better leveragetechnologies like artificialintelligence, automation andcloud.

"The new unit will lever-age TCS' deep domainknowledge across industriesand global talent pool ofnearly 50,000 engineerstrained on Microsoft tech-nologies, to help customersleverage the power of AI,automation and cloud toenhance customer experi-ence, re-imagine employeeempowerment, optimizeoperations and spur innova-tion," a statement said.

The MBU will be led bySiva Ganesan, who has beenwith TCS for over 29 yearsand held various global lead-ership roles, it added.

"Entire industries aretransforming, and todayevery company is becominga software company.Through this expanded part-nership with TCS, we are sig-nificantly increasing our abil-ity to enable our customersto take advantage of theopportunities to transformand accelerate into the digi-tal era," Jean-PhilippeCourtois, Executive VicePresident and President,Global Sales, Marketing &Operations at MicrosoftCorp, said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Google has acquired US-basedCloudSimple for an undis-closed amount, a move thatwill help the tech giant furtherstrengthen its cloud business.

CloudSimple, whichallows companies to runcomputing workloads thatare based on VMware's serv-er virtualisation technology,is headquartered in SantaClara, US. Founded in 2016,it has offices in Ukraine andIndia (Bengaluru, Gurugramand Pune), and its investorsinclude Mayfield, Redpointand M12 (Microsoft's venturefund).

"This acquisition builds onour existing partnership withCloudSimple that weannounced earlier this year,allowing us to accelerate afully integrated VMwaremigration solution withimproved support for our cus-tomers," Google Vice-President(Engineering) Rich Sanzi saidin a blogpost.

He added that many enter-prises are using VMware intheir on-premises environ-ments to run a variety ofworkloads: business applica-tions such as ERP and CRM;databases such as Oracle andSQL Server; development andtest environments; virtualdesktops; and reporting andanalytics systems.

Terms of the deal were notdisclosed.

"As part of their IT mod-ernisation initia-tives, we hear fre-quent ly f romenterprise cus-tomers that theyneed a simple wayto migrate thoseworkloads to thecloud. To put itsimply: they want to be ableto run what they want, wherethey want, and how they

want - so they can leverageexisting investments with aslittle toil as possible," he

said.CloudSimple co-

founder and CEOGuru Pangal said thecompany is "incrediblyexcited to be part ofGoogle Cloud andlook forward to accel-erating our ability to

help customers easily movetheir enterprise workloads tothe cloud".

Google acquires CloudSimple

CloudSimple, which allows companiesto run computing workloads that arebased on VMware's servervirtualisation technology, isheadquartered in Santa Clara, US

Sundaram BNPParibas HF isnow SundaramHome FinancePNS n CHENNAI

The subsidiaryof non-bank-ing financec o m p a n yS u n d a r a mFinance Ltd -Sundaram BNP ParibasHome Finance - has beenchanged to Sundaram HomeFinance with immediateeffect. The move to change thename follows the receipt ofregulatory approvals relatingto the acquisition bySundaram Finance of BNPParibas Personal Finance'sstake in Sundaram BNPParibas Home Finance Ltd.

In June, Sundaram Financeand BNP Paribas PersonalFinance had reached anagreement whereby BNPParibas Personal Financeagreed to sell its 49.9 per centequity stake in Sundaram BNPParibas Home Finance Ltd toSundaram Finance Ltd subjectto the regulatory approvals.

"The transaction wascompleted on September 30after receiving all regulatoryapprovals. The name changeis consequent to this," acompany statement said onTuesday.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The commerce ministry hasasked Cashew ExportPromotion Council to file anapplication with DirectorateGeneral of Trade Remedies(DGTR) to probe dumping ofthe commodity into India,which is impacting domesticplayers, an official has said.

In a meeting last month onexport performance of thecountry, the council had raisedthe matter of dumping of bro-ken cashew into India.

Cashew Export PromotionCouncil of India was asked tofile an anti-dumping investi-gation request with the DGTR,the official said.

The directorate is an arm ofthe ministry which conductsprobe related to dumping andsignificant increase in importof a product.

If it establishes in its probethat dumping and increase inimports are impacting domes-tic players, DGTR recom-mends anti-dumping and safe-guard duties, respectively. Thefinance ministry takes the

final call to impose theseduties.

The council's chairman R KBhoodes said large volumes ofsemi-finished kernels are beingdumped in India from Africancountries including Guyana,Mozambique, Tanzania andIvory Coast.

The African nations haveformed 'African CashewAlliance' to boost the industryin that continent.

The government in Juneincreased sharply the mini-mum import price for wholeand broken cashew, makinginbound shipments of thecommodity costlier.

Comm min asks cashewindustry to file applicationfor probe into dumping

Sebi bans Capital Heed proprietor from taking fresh clients PNS n NEW DELHI

Sebi has barred Capital HeedFinancial Research's proprietorShailendra Sen from taking anyfresh clients for investment advi-sory services as he provided falseinformation to the regulator inhis application for registration asinvestment adviser. Besides, themarkets regulator prima facie,

found that Sen, as one of thepartner of Cash Cow Broking &Advisory Solution, was carryingout investment advisory ser-vices from August 2014 tillOctober 2017 without obtain-ing the necessary registration asmandated under the InvestmentAdviser (IA) Regulations.

A Sebi probe also found thatSen, at the time of seeking reg-

istration as an investment advis-er with the regulator, has declaredthat he was not engaged in

investment advisory servicesprior to making this application.Also, he did not disclose his activ-ities as the partner in the part-nership firm Cash Cow to Sebi.

On the basis of submittingfalse declaration and other doc-uments for registration, Sebigranted registration to Sen.

"...prima facie, by knowing-ly providing false information

to Sebi in his application for reg-istration as IA, the noticee(Sen) has, prima facie, violated...the IA Regulations," Sebi saidin an order passed on Monday.

Besides, Sen misrepresentedinvestors that he can provideportfolio management services(PMS), although he does nothold the certificate of registra-tion from Sebi to do so.

Housing sales of 9 listedplayers up 2 pc

WednesdayNovember 20, 2019

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

THE THREE-DAYFESTIVAL STARTINGFROM DECEMBER 8WILL FEATURE 10FEATURE FILMS,EIGHT SHORT FILMSAND THREE FOREIGNFILMS

rachi Tehlan, theDelhi-basedsportsperson-turned-actress is all set to testher luck with theTelugu audience with

her latest film in Malayalam,Mamangam, which has beendubbed into Hindi, Tamiland Telugu. Prachi is alsoa successful sportswomanwho represented India innetball and basketballcompetitions, national-ly and internationally.

“I was working forAccenture as a consul-tant when ShashiSummet Productionsapproached me withan acting offer. I tookit as an opportunityto try somethingnew and I am gladit worked for me. Istarted enjoying itand I can seemyself doing morein the future.Arjan was myfirst movie and itwas directed byManduip Singhin which I lovedgiving a power-

ful performanceas Nimmi(Nimrat Kaur),”says Prachi whomade her acting

debut with the TVseries Diya Aur Baati

Hum in 2016.Speaking about her role

in the Mammootty-starrerMamangam, she shares,“Mamangam is a perioddrama. I play Unnimaya whois an entertainer and a warrior.I also feature in fight scenes. I

have considerable screenspace with all major charac-ters in the film since themajor part of the film wasshot at Unnimaya’s palace.To play the role to my best Ilearnt Mohiniyattam andMalayalam.” She said thatworking with legendary actorMammootty is an honour for her andhe was helpful and kind in everyway.

Her love for movies equals her loveand dedication for sports where shehas excelled before becoming anactress. Prachi was the former captainof the Indian netball team which rep-resented India at the 2010Commonwealth Games and in othermajor Asian championships in 2010-11.

“Sports will always be my first loveand it was a wonderful experience. Iplayed both basketball and netball for10 years for Delhi and India and Ilearnt a lot and developed a personal-ity that has helped me in almost everyprofession I have worked in,” she tellsThe Pioneer.

Prachi, who has been into sportsprofessionally for a decade now feelsteam sports in India still have a longway to go for people to make it into aprofession with lucrative jobs andsalaries. “I have enjoyed playingsports and I was very passionateabout it. Now I am in a differentphase of my life and I have beenblessed to experiment with careers. Ienjoy being an actor today,” she says.

According to her, the status of net-ball in India is not up to the mark.She says, “Netball should have pickedafter performing on an internationalplatform such as the Commonwealthgames (CWG) 2010 for the first time.But, we couldn’t make use of it.Players were not provided anygrounds to play and I remember, dur-ing the last tournament I played forIndia, we used to practise outdoors

on the grass and played the tourna-ment on a wooden court. It doesn’twork like that. Players should berespected and given facilities theydeserve.”

Prachi says that even the sportsdramas that have become so commonin mainstream movies can’t reallyinspire the youth to play unless fol-lowed up with proper infrastructure.“It (the movies) definitely bringawareness in people about sports andthe journey of sportspersons. But, Iam not too sure how they can moti-vate people to play sports. For thatthere should be good infrastructure,motivation to join sports and goodjob opportunities. There should be astructure in place to give childrenoptions from a younger age to choosewhichever sports they would want tochoose professionally,” says Prachiexpressing her interest in starring insports biopics along with romanticand action movies.

About her Hyderabad connection,she recollects, “I remember playing asports tournament in Hyderabadwhen I was in Class 9 and I alsoremember seeing Kal Ho Naa Hohere. And my childhood memories ofthis place definitely includes Biriyani.”Prachi has also acted in her firstTelugu film Trishanku which will bereleased soon.

Reacting to whether she is thinkingof moving to another career, she says,“God knows. I am just going with theflow. I don’t know where life takesme. I am just utilising the opportuni-ties that come my way to the best ofmy capabilities.”

STAR IN SPORTSSHINES ON SCREEN

STAR IN SPORTSSHINES ON SCREEN

Actress PrachiTehlan, who is all setto test her luck inTelugu film industrywith her latest flickMamangam, sharesher journey frombeing the captain ofthe Indian netballteam to becoming anactor with V SATEESHREDDY

Netball should have picked afterperforming on an internationalplatform such as the Commonwealthgames 2010 for the first time. But, wecouldn’t make use of it. Players werenot provided any grounds to play andI remember, during the lasttournament I played for India, we usedto practise outdoors on the grass andplayed the tournament on a woodencourt. It doesn’t work like that. Playersshould be respected and givenfacilities they deserve.

P

Everybodymust watchGeorgeReddy: Chiru

eorge Reddy hasgained consider-able attentionfrom all sectionsof society evenbefore its release.

It even attracted the atten-tion of Megastar Chiranjeeviwho recollected the timefrom his college days, whenhe first heard about the stu-dent leader, George Reddy.

“The first time I heardabout George Reddy I wasstudying Intermediate inOngole. After that it is onlynow I am hearing his namebecause of this movie. It is

surprising that no movieshave been made on this rev-olutionary student leaderwho questioned injusticeand wrong doings. I wish towatch more such movies,”Megastar said while releas-ing the song Adugu Adugu...of the film.

“Everybody must watchthis film,” Chiru said enthu-siastically and congratulatedthe movies team includingthe lead actor SandeepMadhav and writer-directorB. Jeevan Reddy. The moviewill hit screens onNovember 22.

G

Bengali movies to enthral cityengali cinema, inthe 1950s, hasbrought in a waveof parallel cinemathat not only putIndian cinema on

the world map but also influ-enced the next generation offilmmakers across the coun-try. To celebrate this rich cul-ture of Bengali cinema, theHyderabad Bangalee Samithi,in association with theTourism and CultureGovernment of Telangana,Moving Images and UtsabCultural Association is all set

to present the 3rd edition ofTelangana Bengali FilmFestival in the city.

Spanning three days, thefestival, that will be held fromDecember 6 to 8, at thePrasad Preview Theatre atBanjara Hills, will feature 10feature films, eight short filmsand three foreign films.

Apart from movie screen-ings, the film festival willunfold a variety of strikingactivities like acting work-shop by Mohammad Ali Baig,prominent theatre personali-ty, Debasish Sen Sharma, an

independent filmmaker, aphoto exhibition by RitwikGhatak and a cooking com-petition by Goutam Ghose.

“Eight lakh Bengalis residein the twin cities ofHyderabad andSecunderabad, who areparched for cultural shows ormovie screenings in Bengali.TBFF — Aayna, 2019 willagain look to unite the hugeBengali diaspora living inHyderabad and beyond andhelp them connect with theartistic, social, cultural andpolitical ethos of their roots,”

said Ranjan Kumar RoyChoudhury, Chairman,Hyderabad Bangalee Samithi.B

CITY ENJOYSMUMBAI FLAVOURS

mbience is oftenthe most impor-tant aspect of arestaurant that isoverlooked bymany. But, when

it comes to Soda BottleOpener Wala, a Parsi cafénear Jubilee check-post, youare left in awe, as soon asyou enter the restaurant, atthe amount of care taken increating a pleasant atmos-phere.

The restaurant chain,

which is renowned through-out the country, recentlylaunched a new menu at itsHyderabad branch that aimsto cater to the local palettewithout compromising ontaste.

Everyone knows about theaffinity Hyderabadis havefor their food. But, there arecertain items like the tasteand aroma of a hot cuppaIrani Chai that turn usfinicky and write lengthyblogs. The restaurant, in

tune with this requirement,offers a plethora of itemscatering to the local taste,which goes beyond the clas-sic Bombay and Parsiflavours, encompassing dish-es that are inspired fromother communities living inMumbai. For instance, theMutton Pepper Fry and theEgg Wrapped Kheema Pulaothat Soda Bottle OpenerWala caters to city residentsare from the local bars ofMumbai. There are also a

few innovative additions likeKundapuri Prawn, MeatlessBaida Roti and Chickenghee roast, which will leaveyou wanting for more.

If you’re on the lookoutfor a cafe to visit this week-end, do remember to checkout Soda Bottle OpenerWala and enjoy a satisfyingexperience that will lingeron for days.

A Chef Irfan

runal Thakur will star alongsideShahid Kapoor in the remake ofTelugu hit, Jersey.The Hindi version will bedirected by GowtamTinnanauri, who also helmed

the 2019 Telugu original, starring Nani inlead role.

Mrunal’s character has been described asan “anchor to Shahid’s, who goes on anemotional journey against all odds to playcricket for the country in his mid 30’s,when it's time for most people to retirefrom competitive sports”.

The actor is excited to come aboard thefilm.

“When I saw the original film, I wasbowled over by its passionate emotionaljourney. It felt like I had lived a full life-time of experiences in those two plushours.”

“So deep was the affect of the film onme that I couldn’t get it out of my

heart the whole night, so I immedi-ately watched it again the next day. Ican’t wait for Hindi audiences to

experience a similar impact,”Mrunal said in a statement.

The actor was last seen oppo-site John Abraham in BatlaHouse and Hrithik Roshan inSuper 30.

Tinnanuri said Mrunal was thefirst choice for the female lead

part and he is happy that sheagreed to do the film.“After Shahid came on board, I only

had Mrunal on my mind for the leadopposite him. I loved her performance andconfidence in Super 30 opposite Hrithik

and felt she’s perfectly fit for the part inJersey and will do full justice to the role,”he said.

Produced by Allu Aravind, Aman Gill,Dil Raju, the film has a release date ofAugust 28, 2020.

ctress Kubbra Sait willsoon head to NewYork to represent hershow Sacred Games atInternational Emmys.

The Netflix series isnominated in the Best Dramasection at the 2019 InternationalEmmy Award, which will takeplace on November 25.

“I am putting it out there inthe universe everyday that we arecoming back with the winningtrophy. For me it is the excite-ment of representing a show thathas created a universal reach.Everybody has been moved, hasbeen touched, and felt the exhila-ration of being part of thisincredible show across theworld,” Kubbra said.

She added, “And just to repre-sent that at an international leveland be with the entire crew andrelive the moments is an award initself and I am looking forward tothe reward as well.”

Kubbra played the role of trans-gender character Cuckoo in theshow. She received huge praise forher performance. And she isgrateful for all the love.

“You work your entire life that one fine day you will reachthat moment of culmination and everyday will make sense.

So I think my nine years of working, my nine years of learn-ing and hustling and all thosewonderful moments I have livedmakes me feel that all of that hascome through and makes sense.”

“Cuckoo has been a characterthat finally portrays the third gen-der with respect, with love, withpride and I don’t think that’s anordinary feat at all. I am indebtedto the writer who made the char-acter standout so beautifully. Itwouldn’t have been possible with-out the writing. The incredibleteam and the way Anurag believedthat a girl could play it just amaz-ing,” she added.

She also shared how her lifechanged after Sacred Games.

“Up until July 2018 it wouldhave been fair to say am ananchor. But July 2018 onward it’sfair to say I have flipped theswitch and become and an actor. I have had the most fruitfulbusiest and exciting year.”

“As a performer, I worked with so many different pool ofdirectors. Had the chance to audition more. Read more. Learn more. Last one year hastaught me more than all the yearsI’ve lived through. I am gratefuland will be grateful for a longtime,” she said.

10

Vijayawada Wednesday November 20, 2019 what’s brewing?

M

A

KUBBRASAIT TO REPRESENT

SACRED GAMESAT INTERNATIONAL EMMYS

MRUNAL TOCAST ALONGSIDESHAHID IN JERSEY

FUN TIME

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

ctor Nikhil Siddhartha, who admitted to being in a relationshipwith a doctor, said he will be announcing his marriage detailsafter the release of his next Arjun Suravaram. Interacting with his

fans as a part of promoting his November 29release, he spilled the beans about his mar-riage. “Hari bro, I will answer your ques-tion post the film’s release,” was the actor’s

reply when a fan asked about his marriage.He also said that he would love to team

up with Pawan Kalyan — even if it meanssideling his present venture. “I will bear thelosses of my current film and will do a film

with Pawan Kalyan if an opportu-nity presents itself,” he insisted.

On Arjun Suravaram’srelease woes, he clarified

that the delay has noth-ing to do with finan-

cial problems.“Hmmm can’t

explain in aTweet.. butit was notbecause ofFinancials

as everyonethought.. it

was of a smalldispute which is

resolved and every-thing smooth now. all

happies now (sic),” hewrote when a fan quizzed

about the film’s multiple post-ponements.

He further said that he willbe teaming up with EkkadikiPothavu Chinnavada directorVi Anand for a new film nextyear.

ctor Sumanth’snext withTamil film-maker PradeepKrishnaMoorthy has

been titled Kapatadhaari.The actor’s superstar uncleNagarjuna unveiled thetitle on his Twitter pageon Monday evening.

Kapatadhaari is an offi-cial remake of this year’sKannada hit Kavuladaari,a political crime thriller. Ithas gone to floors onNovember 1 in Chennaiand the makers are plan-ning to wrap it up byJanuary-end. The makersare keen on releasing it inMarch. The likes ofNasser, Nandita, PoojaKumar, Jayaprakash andSampath are playing sup-porting roles, whilenational award winningproducer Dr G.Dhananjayan is produc-ing it under hisCreative Entertainers& Distributors ban-ner.

Rajasekhar wasinitially supposedto headlineKapatadhaaribut due to rea-sons guarded,he left the pro-ject. Afterwrapping upthis film,Sumanth willshift atten-tion to Teluguremake ofMalayalam hitPadayottam.

Vijayawada Wednesday November 20, 2019

AA

11

tollywood

ilmmaker Ravi KiranKola wasn’t preparedfor the response theteaser of his maidenfeature film, RajaVaaru Rani Gaaru, has

received after it was releasedonline last month. FromSukumar, Sreekanth Addala toAdivi Sesh and Bunny Vaas,everybody rang him up andshowered praises. “It was a greatwelcome gesture for sure.Impressed by the teaser, producerSuresh Babu told me that hewould love to support the film inevery way possible. He watched itin a special screening and decidedto give it a release under theSuresh Productions banner. Whatmore can a team of youngstersask for?” he tells us in an exclusiveconversation.

Ravi, a native of Bhadravaramvillage, East Godavari was drawnto films in school, courtesyMegastar Chiranjeevi. So eager toget into the industry that helanded in Hyderabad after com-pleting his intermediate. Hisfather was staunchly opposed tothe idea, while his mother sup-ported his dream. “My father wasthe one who challenged me that Iwill not become a director. Hewas of the belief that since Iknew no one in the industry andthat I had no monetary support,it would be impossible for me tobecome a director,” Ravi recalls.

After receiving some goodcounsel, days after he reachedHyderabad, he decided to goback to his hometown, get agraduation degree before tryinghis luck in the film world again.While pursuing engineering, hemade a short film which waspicked for a festival inHyderabad. It helped him grabthe attention of a prominentfilmmaker, who asked him topen a screenplay for his film.“After completing my last examin engineering, I straightawaytook a bus and reachedHyderabad. I was with the direc-tor for a year but as the filmcouldn’t move to floors, I laterdirected a short film on SwachhBharat with anchor Ravi in 2016.It was a period of boom for shortfilms back then and I thoughtthings would change for me, butthat wasn’t meant to be,” he remi-nisces.

Later, he started penning thescript of Raja Vaaru Rani Gaaruand things started falling intoplace. “With the film I wanted toconnect to my roots and tell atale honestly. I’ve seen a lot ofTelugu films where some charac-ters spoke in a East Godavariaccent which is different fromhow it actually is. Maybe thatwas needed to generate comedybut Rangasthalam managed tobreak that. All the characters inmy film speak in a slang that is

native to East Godavari. The filmdeals with fear of rejection. I’veseen many late adolescentsspeaking to other girls from theirclass with relative ease but whenit comes to speaking to their firstlove, they get nervous. The filmfollows Raja who fight to mustercourage to tell how much he likesRani. However, the story is notconfined to them. There is awhole world around them and Ifocused on it as well,” he informs.

While casting his male lead,Kiran Abbavaram, was uncom-plicated, finding Rani proved tobe easier said than done. Raviwas keen on a Telugu girl doingthe part. “I went through almost2,000 profiles for nearly fourmonths, before zeroing in onHyderabad-based RahasyaGhorak. For the supporting partsof Raja’s friends, Chowdary andNaidu, I’ve chosen my childhoodbuddies Rajkumar and Yajurved.We later conducted a workshopwith almost all the cast membersfor 25 days. The film was shot in40 villages around Ravulapalemfor over 60 days,” he says.

One of the challenges he facedon sets was to draw natural per-formances from his actors.

“I understood that they wereused to a certain kind of style,acting-wise, because of the filmsthey grew up watching. Oncethey got a wind of what I expect-ed from them, it became easier.

Also, I like Malayalam films a lotand I wanted a similar colourtone for my film as well.However, weather in EastGodavari is different to that ofKerala, so we waited for specifictime periods in a day to shootsome portions to get the desiredoutput. As we were not bound bytime to complete the shoot, wecould get what we want withoutany pressure. In fact, we waitedthree months for the monsoon tofilm some portions. DirectorTharun Bhascker recently toldme that I transported him to aPremam kind of world with thefilm,” he informs, adding that heis writing on a political dramafor his next. “It will have a mix oflocal and state politics,” he says.

CONNECTINGTO ROOTS

Director Ravi Kiran speaks toNAGARAJ GOUD about hisbumpy ride from receiving nosupport for choosing a career infilms to the praises he has beenreceiving for his maiden filmRaja Vaaru Rani Gaaru

F

MAY DAYRELEASE FORSAI TEJ’S NEXT

aunched last month, the filming of Sai Dharam Tej-starrerSolo Brathuke So Better kicked off in Hyderabad on Tuesday.A popcorn entertainer, the film will mark the directorialdebut of Subbu and sees Nabha Natesh alongside Tej. Withthe summer of 2020 ready to witness the release of manyanticipated films, producer B.V.S.N. Prasad has decided to

lock May 1 as the release date for Solo Brathuke So Better. Technicianslike S.S. Thaman (for music) and Venkat C. Dilip (cinematography) areassociating with the film.

L

Megastar andMani Sharma again

he suspense sur-rounding whowould composemusic forMegastarChiranjeevi’s next

with Koratala Siva seems to havereached a conclusion, at last!While famed Bollywood musi-cians’ duo Ajay-Atul who werecomposing music for anticipatedperiod flicks like Taanaji, Panipat,Shamshera and Sardar UdhamSingh were frontrunners to bag theproject, allegedly their jam-packedschedule has caused Koratala to

look for other options. It isunderstood that Ajay-Atul

told Siva that they will beavailable from January butwith the latter keen onbeginning the shoot with a

song shortly, he has initiateddiscussions with other composers.Also, the fact that most Bollywoodcomposers refrain from composingbackground score, Koratala is

favouring Mani Sharma for thejob. There’s also buzz about S.S.Thaman’s name in the talks butsources confirm that ManiSharma, who is back in the spot-light after iSmart Shankar, is likelyto walk away with the job. Thecomposer also has multiple pro-jects in his kitty but it’s likely hemight overlook some of them towork with Megastar, with whomhe has done films like ChoodalaniVundhi, Bavagaru Bagunnara,Annaya and Indra among others.

T

Kavuladaari turnsKAPATADHAARI

Nikhil to marrypost film’s release?

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2019 sport 12

PTI n NEW DELHI

Dismissing Pakistan’s reviewappeal, the International Tennis

Federation (ITF) on Tuesdayannounced Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan as the neutral venue for theupcoming Davis Cup tie betweenIndia and Pakistan.

Pakistan Tennis Federation(PTF) had filed an appeal contestingthe ITF Davis Cup Committee’sNovember 4 decision to shift theNovember 29-30 tie to a neutralvenue.

PTF had argued that if Indian pil-grims can visit Pakistan without anysecurity threat, why can’t the Indianteam play matches in Islamabad, butthe Independent Tribunal of theworld governing body kept the gamesat a neutral venue.

“The Pakistan Tennis Federation(PTF) appealed the Davis CupCommittee decision to move the tiefrom Islamabad. The appeal wasdismissed by an independent tribunalon Monday 18 November,” ITF saidin a statement.

“Further to the decision of thePTF not to nominate a neutral venue,in accordance with Davis Cup regu-lations, the Davis Cup Committee hasvoted in favour of the tie being host-ed by the ITF on neutral ground atthe National Tennis Centre in Nur-Sultan (previously Astana),Kazakhstan on 29-30 November,” thestatement added.

The matches will be played onindoor courts since extreme cold con-ditions there won’t allow them to bestaged outside.

“Playing indoor suits our players.It will work in our favour, not that ourplayers can’t play on grass but they alot more comfortable on hard courts.The weather conditions are harsh andthough we are playing indoors, it stillaffects the body,” India coach ZeeshanAli said.

“The quality of tennis is betterplaying indoors because factors likesun and wind do not affect thematches.” The tie was scheduled to beheld in Islamabad in September butwas pushed to November 29-30 afterIndia expressed concerns about thesafety of their players due to diplo-matic tensions between the twonations.

AFP n MOUNT MAUNGANUI

New Zealand and England will taketheir cricketing rivalry into the Test

arena on Thursday after finding them-selves evenly matched in recent limited-overs thrillers.

England have bragging rights afterwinning a rollercoaster World Cupfinal in July, then edging the Black Caps3-2 in a desperately close Twenty20series completed earlier this month.

Both the one-day decider and T20series needed tie-breakers to find a win-ner and there will be no shortage ofmutual respect when the rivals face offagain on Thursday in the First Test atMount Maunganui.

On paper, there again appears to belittle to separate the teams, with NewZealand second in the Test rankings andEngland third.

But England skipper Joe Root ispainfully aware that his team underper-formed when it lost a two-Test series inNew Zealand last year after underesti-mating the Black Caps’ bowlers on theirhome turf.

Pacemen Trent Boult and TimSouthee bundled the tourists out for 58in the first innings of the opening Testas England tried to play what Rootdescribed as “fast forward” cricket.

England’s skipper said his teamwould be taking a more measured

approach this time, with batsmen plac-ing an emphasis on protecting theirwickets.

“We have to be prepared to playsome attritional cricket at times,” he said.

“We have to try to bat longer... itwould be nice to get used to batting for120 overs more regularly, especially inthe first innings.”

The series will not count towards theWorld Test Championship, giving newEngland coach Chris Silverwood roomto experiment in his first Test series in

charge.He is expected to hand opening

batsman Dom Sibley his debut, partner-ing Rory Burns, with Root moving downto fourth in the order.

New Zealand will take the oppor-tunity to blood speedster LockieFerguson, who has already excelled inlimited overs internationals and wasdescribed as “an extreme talent” byshort-ball specialist Neil Wagner.

“I know he’s raring to go. If he getsthe opportunity he’ll make the most of

it,” Wagner said.New Zealand will also be bolstered

by the return of captain KaneWilliamson, who sat out the T20 serieswith a nagging hip injury.

It will be the first Test match everstaged at Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval,which has been hosting limited-oversinternationals since 2014.

The beachside venue is Wagner’shome ground and he said the wicketcould take time to get used to.

“It’s been a pretty good wicket that’stended to be on the flatter side but there’salways pace and bounce that you canwork with,” he said.

“It’s also got it’s own unique chal-lenges with wind that swirls around abit.”

SQUADSNew Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt),Todd Astle, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult,Colin de Grandhomme, LockieFerguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham,Henry Nicholls, Jeet Raval, MitchellSantner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, NeilWagner, BJ WatlingEngland: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer,Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, RoryBurns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, SamCurran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, SaqibMahmood, Matthew Parkinson, OlliePope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, ChrisWoakes.

IANS n BRISBANE

With Pakistan set to chal-lenge Australia in a two-

Tests series starting Thursday,former Australia skipper RickyPonting believes that BabarAzam could be a threat for thehome team as the World Cup-winning skipper feels thatBabar is yet to play to potential.

“We haven’t seen the bestof him yet,” Ponting told crick-et.com.au. “Twenty-odd Testsfor an average of 35 — he’s bet-ter than that. He averages 54 inone-day cricket at a strike-rateof about 90. He’s a very, veryclassy player.

“He’s a really exciting tal-ent and probably the guy I’mlooking forward to seeing themost this summer. I’ve seen theAussies a lot and I’ve seen a lotof the Kiwis, but I’m reallyexcited to see him. He could beanything,” he added.

IANS n BRISBANE

Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq said that pitching the

ball consistently on the blindspot or near the top of the offstump would be key to dismiss-ing Australian stalwart SteveSmith.

Smith returned to Testcricket by taking the Ashes bystorm earlier in the year. In thefive-match series that was heldacross August and September inEngland, Smith scored a whop-ping 774 runs at an average of110.57. He carried the goodform into the recently conclud-ed T20I series against Pakistanat home.

“As far as Steve Smith goes,there’s a blind spot for every topbatsman in the world; as abowler you’re always interestedin pitching the ball there,”Misbah is quoted as say-ing by ESPNCricinfo.

“It’s importantthat we bowl withconsistency there.Our bowlers are

executing the plans very wellright now, and hopefully we’ll beable to build that kind of a pres-sure, and stay disciplined espe-cially early in the innings. Nomatter how good a batsman isbatting, it’s about consistencyand bowling the maximum ballsin those areas that build pressureand the batsman respects you,and you force him to make a

mistake.”Pakistan are going into the

series with a pace attack thatconsists of Mohammad Abbas,Shaheen Afridi, MuhammadMusa and the 16-year-oldNaseem Shah.

“All the batsmen you talk to,any batsman in the world, that’sthe area where you have todefend a ball, and that is a six toeight metre spot where youhave to play the top of offstump,” he said. “That’s the areafrom where if it’s happening thenthat creates a great chance. Evenif it’s not happening, you haveless chances to do anythingwith the ball.

“So it’s about consistency,and top players in the world, ifyou miss those areas, that spe-cial length and line, then they are

good enough to just cash inon that. So you have to

be very, very disci-plined, just keep

the ball there, andif it’s happeningyou are already

in the game.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

At the floodlit Eden Gardens,wrist spinners landing thepink ball with scrambled

seam will be far more difficult topick than finger spinners, feelssenior off-spinner HarbhajanSingh.

India will be playing its much-awaited first Day/Night Test againstBangladesh at the Eden Gardensfrom Saturday and there is a lot ofcuriosity regarding how the pinkball would behave.

"Wrist spinners will have oneadvantage if you see because it'sgoing to be very difficult to pick theseam (with black stitches) of pinkball," Harbhajan told PTI during aninteraction.

India has a wrist spinner inKuldeep Yadav but Harbhajan did-n't want to talk on selection mat-ters.

"Well, that's the team manage-ment's call and I can't comment.But then Bangladesh need to playthe Indian pacers on the seamerfriendly track before spinners arefully operational," he said, referringto their performance against MohdShami and Co. In the first Test.

"And also between 3.30 and4.30 pm, the time of sunset inKolkata where seamers are knownto do maximum damage. But yeswe need to figure out more aboutspinners if we want to play moreD/N Tests in future."

He reminded how Kuldeepturned out to be lethal during the2016 Duleep Trophy, played withthe pink ball.

"If you remember DuleepTrophy, no one could effectivelyread Kuldeep from his wrists. Legspinners got lot of wickets duringthat edition," Harbhajan said.

He explained why wrist spin-ners are more effective.

"When a finger spinner bowls,the ball is released with seam sothat there is turn and bounce.When you are bowling the googly,the seam will be scrambled andvery difficult to pick," he explained.

However, someone like aMuttiah Muralitharan might just bevery effective.

"But there are exceptions likeMuttiah Muralitharan, who couldhave been a killer with the pink balldespite being a finger spinner

because unlike other finger spin-ners, both his off break and doos-ra were released with scrambledseam," said one of India's greatestspinners.

However, the pink SG in gen-eral will be a challenge for the spin-ners with the extra lacquer that willbe applied to keep its colour intactunder lights.

"More lacquer means that youwill not have a good grip on theball, especially finger spinners.And the ball starts skidding fromthe hand."

He then went on to explain thefundamental difference betweenbowling with white ball and pinkball when the dew sets in.

"A lot of people think that theball will be like a slippery soap baras it happens with white ball inD/N games. It's not the same. Thewhite ball becomes slipperybecause the white lacquer goes offthe skin of the ball gets wet.

"With extra lacquer, pink ball'sskin wont get wet but the stitcheswill be very soggy. And therein liesproblem with finger spinners.

Also the format of the gamemakes it difficult.

"In 50 overs or 20 over crick-et, whenever the ball gets wet, youcan just alter the length a bit andlet the batsmen play on backfootgetting those singles.

"But in a Test match, you willnot have a field setting like that.You have to pitch it up. Now land-ing six deliveries on one spotwhile trying to grip a wet seam canbe a challenge because trying theODI length will be easy meat forbatsmen."

For spinners to be more effec-tive, they have to play more gamesat the domestic level.

"If BCCI creates a window sothat all top national players areavailable for a couple of specificrounds in Ranji Trophy, then youcan learn more.

"Even Duleep can go back topink ball but only if stars play. Withno disrespect to any player, if topplayers dont play here, the purposeis lost and no advantage gainedwhile playing next pink Test," heconcluded.

PTI n NEW DELHI

India speedster MohammedShami said altering length to

keep the batsmen guessing wouldbe key when India take onBangladesh in their maiden Pink-ball Test.

Shami, who has been in terrif-ic form, returned with the figuresof 3/27 and 4/31 in the first Test atIndore to achieve his career-bestranking, said he intends on keep-ing things simple for the historicTest.

“What one thing bowlersshould do is keep an eye on thewicket and how is it behaving, sowhat I do is as the pitch gets slow-er I keep pushing myself andwhen I notice that the batsman isuncomfortable I go over the top...So the length has to keep chang-ing,” Shami said on Nerolac CricketLive on Star Sports.

Meanwhile, former India cap-

tain Sunil Gavaskar cautionedMayank Agarwal, who scored adouble century in the Indore Test,saying opposition would be better-prepared to counter him in futurematches.

“He is enjoying Test cricket,this is his first year and hopefullyhe keeps scoring on the secondyear also because in the second sea-

son there is a lot more data avail-able of you to the opposition.

“But he has been batting beau-tifully, the way he balances himselfwithout falling on the offside as heplays so straight and his movementof the front and back foot has beenfantastic making him the man inform who is full of confidence,”Gavaskar said.

Former India opener GautamGambhir said the Men in Blue havea complete bowling unit withquality spinners and pacers in theirranks.

“If you see other oppositions,some teams have got quality fastbowling attacks, some have qual-ity spinners but if you look at thisIndian side, they’ve got two qual-ity spinners, three quality seamersplus Jasprit Bumrah andBhuvneshwar Kumar who are notin the playing 11.

“So they’ve got proper 5 seam-ers plus Kuldeep Yadav.”

IANS n BRISBANE

Australia coach Justin Langer has reck-oned opener David Warner will put his

bad form in the Ashes this year behind himin the upcoming Test series against Pakistan.Warner had a horrible outing during theAshes campaign this year as he managed just95 runs at an average of 9.5 from five games.

“I cannot wait to see him play well.

When he simplifies the game, stays still andwatches the ball, keeps his mind clear, weknow there’s no more destructive player inthe world, probably,” Langer was quoted sasaying by cricket.com.au.

“He loves batting in Australia, he lovesbatting, basically. We are looking forward tohim having a great summer. I know howimportant he is to our team, that’s why I hadno doubt after the Ashes that he’d be in thefirst Test of the summer,” he added.

When Pakistan last toured Australia,Warner averaged 71.20 across three Testmatches.

Earlier, Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon feltthat Warner would come out all guns blaz-ing in the two-Test series against Pakistan.

“Dave is a world-class player. I’m expect-ing him to come out here and play excep-tionally well,” Lyon had told reporters onSaturday.

“No doubt, he would have been downand disappointed about the Ashes that hehad. But he was still part of the side to goover there and retain the Ashes, which ispretty bloody special, if you ask me,” headded.

Wrist spinners difficult to pick with Pink ball: Harbhajan Nur-Sultan tohost Ind-PakDavis Cup tie

Ravichandran Ashwin, center without cap, celebrates with teammates the dismissal o Bangladesh's Liton Das during the third day of first Test between India and Bangladesh in Indore AP

When a fingerspinner bowls, the

ball is released withseam so that thereis turn and bounce.

When you arebowling the googly,

the seam will bescrambled and very

difficult to pick

Shami alters length tokeep batsmen guessing

Kiwis & Eng put rivalry to Test

New Zealand and England players watch as local maori perform a haka during an official welcome AP

Misbah working onplans to shut Smith

Coach Langer throwsweight behind Warner

Babar’s best yetto come: Ponting

Babar Azam in a file picture PCB