United Nations, Sep 26 (UNI) Presenting India as a global power for univer-sal good, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his 'pharmadiplomacy', promising the world on Saturday that the nation's vaccine manufactur-ing capability will "help all humanity" in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic while assuring global lead-ers whose worries about its availability has been a dominant concern at the UN General Assembly.

"As the largest vaccine producing country of the world ... India's vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fight-ing this crisis," Modi said in his pre-recorded speech to the high-level meeting of the UN General Assem-bly. "India will also help all the countries in enhancing their cold chain and stor-age capacities for the de-

livery of the vaccines," he added offering help with a crucial aspect of its deliv-ery around the developing countries. As the world's pharmacy with a huge manufacturing capacity, India has a special role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic even though it is not at the forefront of developing an indigenous vaccine. It has supplied hy-droxychloroquine to coun-tries around the world, in-cluding the United States.

Vaccine manufactur-

ers like Serum Institute of India are manufacturing millions of doses of vac-cines ahead of the comple-tion of trials and approval process to be ready to ship at the green signal taking a huge financial risk. UN Secretary-General Anto-nio Guterres said at the opening of the high-level session, "Some countries are reportedly making side deals exclusively for their own populations. Such 'vaccinationalism' is not only unfair, it is self-

defeating." The availabil-ity of a vaccine has been worrying developing and developed countries alike. Several countries said they were concerned with vaccine hoarding and prof-iteering.

Australian Prime Min-ister Scott Morrision said on Friday, "Whoever finds the vaccine must share it. This is a global responsi-bility and it's a moral re-sponsibility for a vaccine to be shared far and wide." Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, who followed Modi, also agreed. Modi's message is to reassure everyone that vaccines will be available to them. India has a record of pharmadiplomacy as it has almost single-handed-ly helped African countries combat AIDS with afford-able medication. More than two-thirds of medica-tions to treat HIV are sup-plied by India.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESENGLISH DAILYENGLISH DAILY

VOL NO. XII ISSUE NO. 36 PAGES. 8+8 VOL NO. XII ISSUE NO. 36 PAGES. 8+8 /- 4/- 4`

PUBLISHED FROM: HYDERABAD, CHENNAI & BANGALORE EDITOR IN CHIEF: BUCHI BABU VUPPALA28 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 2020 www.thesouthindiatimes.com /facebook/thesouthindiatimes.yahoo.in / thesouthindiatimes.yahoo.in /////////////////

2 TERRORISTS KILLED IN KASHMIR

ENCOUNTER Srinagar, Sep 27 (UNI) Two terrorists have been killed in the ongoing encounter with security forces at Sam-boora area of Awantipore in south Kashmir’s Pul-wama district on Sunday, officials said. The firefight between terrorists and se-curity forces took place af-ter forces cordoned off the area and launced a search operation on the basis of specific information about presence of terrorists. As the security forces zeroed in on the spot where terror-ists were hiding they came under a heavy volume of fire that triggered the en-counter. “Two unidentified terrorists have been killed in the encounter at Awan-tipore. Search is going on,” police said.

J&K COURT SEN-TENCES RAPE ACCUSED TO 7 YRS IN JAIL

Jammu, Sep 27 (UNI) A court in Jammu & Kashmir has handed down a seven-year jail sentence to a rape accused. The accused Su-rinder Singh, a resident of Kotli Jija, Udhampur, was facing trial for rape of a girl. According to the police case, on December 7, 2011, the prosecutrix (name withheld) filed a written complaint in po-lice station Rehmbal that the accused who had called her and when she met him, he outraged her modesty. He also threatened her not to disclose any one about their relations. The ac-cused repeatedly raped her on promise of marriage. On the basis of the report, an FIR under section 376 RPC was registered and the accused was arrested after thorough investigation.Later, a challan was pre-sented in the court of Ad-ditional District and Ses-sions judge in Udhampur. After hearing additional public prosecutor for the state, and counsel for the accused and mate-rial on record, the court sentenced the accused to seven years’ imprison-ment. The court observed that a woman’s body is not a man’s plaything and he cannot take advantage of it in order to satisfy his lust and desires by fooling a woman into consenting to sexual intercourse sim-ply because he wants to indulge in it. “Keeping in mind the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of this case, it is ordered that for the commission of offence under Section 376 of RPC, the convict shall undergo rigorous impris-onment for 7 years and a fine of Rs 5,000.

SHORT TAKES

KEJRIWAL APPEALS TO RWAS TO JOIN ANTI-DENGUE

CAMPAIGN

TRUMP UNVEILS ‘AMERICA FIRST’

HEALTHCARE AGENDA

K’TAKA CM, OPPOSITION LEADER EXCHANGE HEATED

ARGUMENTS

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), the apex financing organisation of the Union Agriculture Ministry, has sanctioned as first tranche, funds amounting to Rs

19,444 crore to the states of Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Telangana for kharif paddy procurement in 2020-21 under Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations, said the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers

Welfare on Sunday in a statement. These amounts have been sanctioned to assist the states/State Marketing Federations in undertaking paddy procurement operations in a timely manner

through their respective cooperative organisations. Chhattisgarh gets the highest amount to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore, as per the statement. Haryana has been sanctioned Rs 5,444

crore and Telangana Rs 5,500 crore. This proactive step by NCDC during the COVID pandemic will give the much needed financial support to farmers of these three states who account

for nearly 75 per cent of production of paddy in the country, said the ministry. The timely step will help the state agencies start procurement operations immediately, said the statement. It will provide the much needed support to farmers to sell their produce at the government notified minimum support price,

said the ministry. Managing Director, NCDC, Sundeep Nayak said that in response to the clarion call given by the Prime Minister, NCDC was ready to assist more states in carrying out MSP operations for giving fair value to farmers in the light of historic farm-related legislations, as per the statement.

NCDC sanctions Rs , cr to states as first tranche for MSP operations

MODI'S 'PHARMADIPLOMACY': INDIA'S COVID VACCINES TO 'HELP ALL HUMANITY'

New Delhi, Sep 26 (UNI) While BJP's Team Nadda has given additional thrust to its Gen-Next, it has also meant making space for them by removing some veterans like Ram Madhav and Muralidhar Rao, pro-voking speculation whether some of them may find a space in the Cabinet in the much-speculated Cabinet reshuffle while entering through the Rajya Sabha. At least 4 big names were dropped as BJP national general secretaries in Team Nadda - Ram Madhav who has been taking care of the party's affairs in J&K, La-

dakh and the northeast, Muralidhar Rao, who has been spearheading its south India affairs under the aegis of B.L. Santosh, and Rajya Sabha members Anil Jain and Saroj Pandey. Shivraj Singh Chauhan who is now the Chief Minister of Mad-hya Pradesh is no longer BJP Vice President in the new

team. Uma Bharti, Prabhat Jha, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe are also dropped as vice presidents in Team Nadda while Om Mathur, Shyam Jaju, Avinash Rai Khanna and Dushyant Gautam are also out in the new scheme of things as far as BJP's Na-tional Vice Presidents are concerned. Significantly, Uma Bharti recently de-fended Sharad Pawar when she said that his statement was against Lord Ram and not against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the NCP supremo had said that some people think corona-virus can be eradicated.

Team Nadda: Why Ram Madhav, Muralidhar Rao, Uma Bharti were excluded

United Nations, Sep 26 (UNI) India turned the mir-ror on Pakistan after its Prime Minister Imran Khan delivered a speech at the UN dripping vitriol, and recalled its record of genocide in Ban-gladesh, being a haven for terrorists and suppression of minorities. Indian UN Mis-sion's First Secretary Mijito Vinito said on Friday: "The leader of Pakistan today called for those who incite hate and violence to be outlawed. But, as he went on, we were left wondering, was he referring to himself?" During his pre-recorded speech shown at the General Assembly earlier in

the day, Khan had repeated the same allegations about India as last year focused on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserting they and the government were persecuting minorities.

He also raised the Kash-mir issue, suggesting Security

Council action there with a peacekeeping force. Vinito, an Indian Foreign Service dip-lomat of the 2010 batch who had walked outduring Khan's speech, took him on exercis-ing New Delhi's right of reply.

He dismissed Khan's claims to Kashmir saying: "Let me assert here loud and clear. The Union Terri-tory of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India. The rules and legislations brought in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are strictly in-ternal affairs of India." The only dispute, he said, was Is-lamabad's illegal occupation.

Replying to Imran, India turns mirror on Pak's record of genocide, terrorism

Dhaka, Sep 27 (UNI) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday recalled India's contri-butions to her country's Liberation War in 1971, following which the then East Pakistan became an independent nation. She made the remarks as out-going Indian High Com-missioner Riva Ganguly Das called on her at her official residence 'Ganab-haban'. Ganguly also said the people of India and all political parties extended overwhelming support to Bangladesh's Liberation War, and in the same way, supported the historic land boundary agreement with the neighbouring country.

The Indian envoy also informed Hasina that the Foreign Ministers of the two countries are likely to hold talks virtually on Tuesday. She also handed over a letter by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting the Bangla-deshi leader on the occa-sion of her 74th birthday.

Hasina thanked Modi as well as Ganguly for greeting her. The Ban-gladeshi Prime Minister also stressed the need for better cooperation with

the neighbouring coun-tries for the development of the region.

She said the neighbour-ing countries can use Ban-gladesh's Chattogram, Syl-het and Syedpur Airports for their c onvenience. "Our foreign policy is 'friendship to all and mal-ice to none'. We always think that better coopera-tion with the neighbouring countries is firstly needed for the development of the people of the region," Ha-sina said.

The Prime Minister and Indian High Commissioner also discussed bilateral is-sues in the meeting where Hasina's Principal Secre-tary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus and Indian Deputy High Commissioner in Dhaka, Bishwadip Dey were pres-ent too. Briefing report-ers after the meeting, the PM's Press Secretary Ih-sanul Karim said that the Covid-19 situation and the protracted Rohingya crisis also came up.

HASINA RECALLS INDIA'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO 1971

LIBERATION WAR

Bengaluru, Sep 27 (UNI) Re-jecting the Opposition party’s allegations, Law and Parliamen-tary Affairs Minister J. C. Mad-huswamy on Saturday affirmed that Bengaluru riots were pre-planned and the police had not arrested any innocents till date in this case. Replying to a no-confidence motion here, Mad-huswamy asserted that though, Congress MLA Akhanda Srini-vasamurthy’s nephew B. Naveen Kumar posted derogatory mes-sage at 5.30 p.m. on his Face-book and deleted it at 7.30 p.m.

but prime accused Yakub Bashir sent out WhatsApp messages to gather in front of D. J. Halli po-

lice station after which violence erupted.

Madhuswamy added that it

was Bashir’s message which led to violence and arson of Congress MLAs residence. “Congress party should not take side of such people,” he maintained. He also added that the police had taken every possible evidence into account be it CCTV footage or various other evidences before arrest-ing as many as 400 persons in this connection. “This is mis-leading campaign against the government. I appeal the op-position not to fall prey to such machinations,” he said. Earlier

in the day, Karnataka Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah had appealed to the state gov-ernment to take immediate steps to release “innocents” who were arrested in connec-tions with the Bengaluru riots. Speaking after the Speaker al-lowed the discussion on the no-confidence motion here, Siddaramaiah asserted that the Bengaluru police have arrested more than 400 persons in this connection and all of us know that the police have picked up some innocents too.

B’luru riots pre-planned, no innocent held: K’taka govt

Patna, Sep 27 (UNI) Rashtri-ya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday promised that if his party returned to power after the Bihar Assem-bly elections, over 10 lakh government vacancies in dif-ferent departments would be filled within two months. He also accused the Nitish Kumar government of neglecting the youths of Bihar. “As a result, job scarcity is at its highest in state. He is unable to fill 4.5 lakh vacancies in different departments. Besides, vacant posts of supporting staffs are even more,” the Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly told the media here.

“If we calculate, over 10 lakh posts are lying vacant in various departments. Besides, opportunities to create jobs in industries and unorganised sectors are also possible,” Te-jashwi said. “As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), one doctor is required for ev-

ery 1,000 people. Accordingly, 1.25 lakh doctors are required for 12 crore people of the state.

Besides, around 2 lakh support staff like nurses, lab technic and Group D em-ployees are needed. As many as 50,000 posts of teachers and 75,000 Junior Engineers will be filled. In Bihar police, over 50,000 posts are vacant,” he added. He also claimed that law and order in Bihar was at its worse. “When the RJD was part of the state gov-ernment for 15 months, I was the Deputy CM... the crime

graph had gone down dur-ing that period.” Playing the regional card, Tejashwi said that he had earlier advocated the implementation of the domicile law in Bihar but the Chief Minister did not agree. “Neighbouring Jharkhand has a domicile law; Madhya Pradesh has 100 per cent do-micile law, and so do others. Why has he not implemented this law in Bihar? Does he have any explanation?”

The RJD leader also took a dig at Nitish Kumar’s claims on ‘sushasan’ (good governance), asking if he was denying that 60 scams had taken place dur-ing his rule. “Srijan scam, pad-dy scam, Saat Nischay scam etc took place... I want to ask Nitishji about the recovery of money from offenders. How much money did he manage to recover from scamsters? Does he have the guts to reveal the amount in public domain?” Tejashwi said.

Will fill 10 lakh vacancies soon after returning to

power: Tejashwi

2EDIT28 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

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THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES28 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 2020

Markets behaved on expected lines and fell on the first four trading days with a sell-off on expiry day. They recovered on Friday the first day of the new futures series which is of five weeks duration. BSESENSEX lost 1,457.16 points or 3.75 per cent to close at 37,388.66 points while NIFTY lost 454.70 points or 3.95 per cent to close at 11,050.25 points. The broader markets saw BSE100, BSE200 and BSE 500 lose 3.98 per cent, 4.14 per cent and 4.24 per cent respectively. BSEMIDCAP lost 4.73 per cent while BSESMALLCAP lost 5.26 per cent. There was panic across the board on Thursday and it was selling by FII’s and liquidation by momentum traders which led to the mayhem. The recovery on Friday was equally sharp and about a third of the losses of four days have been recovered. The Indian Rupee lost 17 paisa or 0.23 per cent to close at Rs 73.61 to the US Dollar. After a volatile week, Dow Jones closed with losses of 520.46 points or 1.88 per cent at 27,657.42 points. September series expired with losses of 753.70 points, or 6.52 per cent at 10,805.55 points. This was the lowest closing of NIFTY during the month. On an intra-day basis, the NIFTY on expiry day had touched a low of 10,790.20 points while the low on the BSESENSEX was 36,495.98 points. The week gone by was about the primary market with three issues opening and closing for subscription and one new listing. Shares of Route Mobile made their debut on Monday and closed at Rs 651.10, a gain of Rs 301.10 or 86.03 per cent. Shares were issued at Rs 350. The striking feature of the day’s trading was the delivery percentage of 97.74 per cent of the non-anchor portion. This effectively means that almost everybody who got allotment of shares, sold on day one. 25 per cent of these shares were bought by two institutional investors and this saw the share gaining further ground to close at Rs 938.60, a gain of Rs 168.17 per cent. Computer Age Management Services Limited which had tapped the capital markets with its offer for sale saw subscription of 46.99 times. The QIB portion was subscribed 73.18 times, HNI portion subscribed 111.85 times and Retail portion subscribed 46.99 times. The price band was Rs 1229-1230. Shares would list on 1st of October.The second issue was from Chemcon Speciality Chemicals Limited and shares were issued in a price band of Rs 338-340. The issue was subscribed 149.33 times overall. QIB portion was subscribed 113.54 times, HNI portion 449.14 times while Retail portion was subscribed 41.21 times. This issue would list on Thursday the 1st of October. The third issue was from Angel Broking Limited and was subscribed 3.94 times overall. Shares were issued in a price band of Rs 305-306. QIB portion was subscribed 5.74 times, HNI portion undersubscribed at 0.69 times and Retail portion subscribed 4.31 times. This issue would list on Monday 5th October. There are three issues opening next week on Tuesday the 29th of September and closing on Thursday the 1st of October. The first issue is from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited which is issuing shares in a price band of Rs 135-145. The issue is an offer for sale from the government of India for 3,05,99,017 equity shares. Being a government offer, there would be no anchor allocation. The EPS for the period ended March 2020 was Rs 21.36 and the PE multiple is 6.32 to 6.79. Mazagon Dock is into warships and submarine building and is the only shipyard in India with submarine making capability. There are two other defence PSU listed shipyard companies namely, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Cochin Shipyard. The issue is very attractively priced and offers ample scope for appreciation. However, allotment would be only by lottery. The second issue is from UTI Asset Management Company Limited which is through an offer for sale of 3,89,87,081 shares by NSE. The price band is Rs 552.-554. The company had earned an EPS of Rs 21.53 for the year ended March 2020. The PE multiple based on March 2020 numbers is 25.64-25.73. The net asset value or NAV is Rs 212.88 as on 31st March 2020. There are two listed peers for the company, HDFC AMC and Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited.

Markets not yet out of the woods

After retirement from the army, my fa-ther took up farming at Village Shahpur, on the Pinjore-Nalagarh Road, in Hary-ana. After every wheat harvest, my mother used to cart the wheat herself on the trac-tor to the Chandigarh mandi. She used to wait for hours, sitting in the tractor, in the hot sun at the mercy of the ‘Arthi-yas’ at the Mandi to purchase the wheat. It was harassment of the highest degree; the arthiyas would always blackmail the farmers. These arthiyas had converted the mandis into dens of monopoly. The mechanism which was created to protect the farmers ended up throttling them. Not much effort was made in developing any infrastructure for collection and the farm-ers were always at the receiving end.

With the passing of the momentous Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, the position will now change in favour of the farmers who will be no longer be at the mercy of the middle-men and arthiyas.

The Modi government is on the path of transforming farmers into entrepreneurs with better incomes and quality of life. These reforms will greatly benefi t farmers, processors and also the consumers. The reforms lay down stringent safeguards to protect the farmers from any blackmail or malpractices and will ensure competition and more effi ciency in the market system and also give the freedom of choice to the farmers to sell their produce any-where in the country, since the country will now be one market. There will be competition to arthiyas who will now be in no position to fl eece the farmers, who will now have sev-eral avenues to sell their produce. There will be backward linkages with the food processing industry. Farmers will now be able to plan their investments in the shape of contracts with companies for contract farming, providing crop adviso-ries and inputs with an assured buy back

at assured prices. The Modi Government had already enforced a Rs 6,685 crore scheme for creation of 10,000 Farmer Pro-ducer Organizations (FPO) and recently created a 1 lakh crore Agricultural Infra-structure Fund. Farmer Producer Orga-nizations will give bargaining powers to farmers and capacitate them to reap the economies of scale.

The Agricultural Infrastructure Fund will enable them to invest in farm infra-structure and acquire better equipment for achieving better yields. The Govern-ment will also assist in promotion and provision of technology and advice as per the market demand to achieve bet-ter quality, quantity and profi tability. With a large number of farmers registered under each FPO, farmers can enter in agreements with leading companies for better terms and conditions and, conse-quently, better incomes. The agricultural reforms,coupled with analyzing market trends and demands, will empower the farmers to shift to growing crops and fruits with increasing demand in lieu of or

in addition to what they are already pro-ducing -- a great step to achieve an Ata-manirbhar agriculture.

The farmers will also get an opportu-nity to link-up with agri-businesses who will procure directly from the farmers and be able to run their operations effec-tively, eliminate system ineffi ciencies and reduce costs which will further result in higher farmer income as also a concomi-tant development of agri-businesses. Greater diversifi cation and innovation in business models like farmer management services, digital market places, warehous-ing and quality centers will attract invest-ment and improve productivity, reduce costs and post-harvest wastages. Japan had, decades ago, treated agriculture like industry. Now we too shall be able to do likewise as market reforms will attract private capital infl ow to give a fi llip to the rural economy as also sectors like logistics service providers, warehouses operations and processing. Infusing technology in agriculture will lead to the much needed metamorphosis in Indian agriculture.

Hence, using international best practices, relevant to us, India will emerge as a key factor in global food supply chains and a food export reservoir of the world in the future - the success of PM Modi’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Even though just 6 to 8 per cent of farmers in India benefi t from the government minimum support price operations, the Prime Minister has reassured farmers that government pur-chase of their produce coupled with the Minimum Support Price mechanism will continue. The government has fi nally unshackled the clique of people exploit-ing the farmers.It is therefore clear that the so-called farmer agitations have been driven by vested interests; the gullible farmers are being misled by unholy alli-ances to agitate against these landmark reforms which are meant to benefi t them and propel them into a new era of agricul-tural development.

In fact, it is only after these historic re-forms come into play will the lives of the farmers see a new sunrise of moderniza-tion and prosperity in a New India.

There have been monumental reforms across sectors in the past six years by the Narendra ModiGovernment. They in-clude the elimination of interviews for jobs falling under Group-B or lower, re-pealing of over 1500 outdated laws, and permitting self-certifi cation. Now, with a focus to ease the lives of job seekers, they decided to bring about a change in the recruitment process. Every year, two to three crore aspirants appear for exami-nations conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS). It is disheart-ening to note that these aspirants have to travel long distances to appear for the exam. This long-standing plight is even-tually perceived by the government now. In a signifi cant move, the Union Cabinet approved the setting up of the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) on August 19, 2020. Registered under the Societies Reg-istration Act, the NRA is an independent, professional body, headed by a Chairman with the rank of Secretary. The multi-fac-

eted body includes representatives from the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Fi-nance, Department of Finance, SSC, RRB, and IBPS. Finance Minister Nirmala Sith-araman has earmarked Rs.1517.57 crores for the NRA in the 2020-21

budget and will mobilize them over three years.The National Recruitment Agency will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) twice a year for appointments in the Central Government and Public Sector Banks. It will be a tier-1 exam to select candidates for the jobs falling un-der Group-B or lower. In the fi rst phase, all the appointments made by SSC, RRB, and IBPS will be made by NRA through CET. Broadening the scope of the Na-tional Recruitment Agency, other Central Government agencies and companies can consider the CET score for their ap-pointments in the future. Private agen-cies can also select employees based on these marks. The qualifying test will be at three different levels- Graduate level, 12th qualifi ed and 10th qualifi ed. There shall be no limit on the number of attempts by

a candidate. SC, ST, and OBC candidates will be given age relaxation as per the ex-isting rules. CET will reduce the burden on aspirants, replacing the subsisting asym-metric syllabus, multiple exams, and fee structure with a standardized syllabus, online exam, and fee. It will also diminish the worry of writing two tests on the same day. Recruitment exams for Central Gov-ernment jobs are usually held only in Eng-lish and Hindi. Erasing inequalities and promoting a level playing fi eld CET will be conducted in 12 regional languages. The CET can be a game-changer in the Indian recruitment system.

The applicants will have to enrol in a portal to be launched and provide details including the choice of examination cen-tre. The government has decided to set up 1000 examination centres across the country, with at least 1 in each district, eliminating urban bias. This judicious decision can save time and money for the aspirants. It will also strengthen in-frastructure in 117 aspirational districts identifi ed by NITI Aayog.

The NRA will conduct online mock tests to assist the poor and rural youth. A 24/7 helpline and a web portal will be available to resolve the grievances from time to time. Only the best score of the candidates will be considered and is valid for three years from the date of release of the results. Aspirants can then apply for the tier-II exam of their choice, conducted by relevant boards. The Common Eligibility Test by the National Recruitment Agency will dis-mantle the need for multiple screening tests by fostering cutting-edge technol-ogy and following the best practices. It will bring uniformity in the recruitment pattern, expediting the cycle. Dwin-dling the recruitment costs for agencies, NRA-CET will be saving more than Rs. 600 crore to the exchequer. This Na-tional Recruitment Agency will contrib-ute immensely towards building a New and Self-Reliant

India.Rajiv Nitish Palagummi,

Public Policy Analyst.

River lovers and green activists in Agra on Sunday celebrated the World Rivers Day, at the Etmauddaula view-point park, by cleaning up a stretch of Yamuna bank and taking out a rally to demand a com-prehensive National Rivers policy along with constitution of a Central Rivers Au-thority to manage major rivers of India. Eminent environmentalist and member of the River Connect Campaign, Devash-ish Bhattacharya said “the world rivers day commemorates the many values of rivers and encourages river stewardship and conservational efforts around the world. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic public

participation in the annual event was restricted, but small groups joined river front activities and through web-seminars highlighted the pathetic plight of most riv-ers in India”.

In fact the pandemic had underlined the important contribution of healthy riv-ers to our well-being, he added.

“Most rivers are facing increasing pres-sures associated with climate change, in-dustrial pollution, fallouts of haphazard urbanization and population explosion. Even after seven decades of Indepen-dence India does not have a clear road map or a national rivers policy, resulting

in protracted wrangling among states over water-sharing and maintenance of water-ways,” Pramod Gautam, chairman of the Vedic Sutram, after the Yamuna March, told . This year’s theme is “waterways in our communities” to stress on the need for protecting and conserving urban wa-terways. “The importance of clean fresh water is essential to the fi ght against Co-vid-19 so World Rivers Day is a timely op-portunity for literally millions of people around the world to come together to commemorate the importance of healthy vibrant waterways,” said Mark Angelo, the founder and Chair of World Rivers Day, in his message to the river activists. “Rivers are integral to all life,” said Angelo, who has paddled more than 1,000 rivers in over 100 countries, perhaps more than any other. Angelo’s life-long commitment to

river conservation, including the found-ing of World Rivers Day, is also the subject of the upcoming feature length fi lm, “Last Paddle: 1,000 Rivers, One Life”. In the Braj Mandal, the River Connect Campaign has been actively involved in conservational efforts to save Yamuna river from further degradation.

“Though the river Yamuna is consid-ered sacred, being the beloved consort of Sri Krishna, the Brijbasis are pained to see the river choking to death due to pollution by industries and civic bodies that seem to have no control over sew-age discharge,” said Jagan Nath Poddar, convener of Friends of Vrindavan. Rivers are our life-lines and our future is intri-cately linked to the health of our holy rivers, added Vrindavan green activist Madhu Mangal.

Advantage agricultural reforms: A turning point for farmers

Right Step Towards Transforming Lives

Sad state of Yamuna pains green warriors

3NATION28 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESKejriwal appeals to RWAs to join anti-dengue campaign

Delhi riots: Dissent against use of violence was overruled in WA groups behind conspiracy

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday appealed to all Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to come forward and make the residents in their localities aware of the measures to be taken to prevent dengue.

Marking the fourth week of the ‘10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute Har Ravivaar Dengue Par Vaar’ campaign of the Delhi government, Kejriwal appealed to the RWAs to talk to people in their respective colonies and increase participation by motivating them to join hands in preventing dengue.

“I appeal to all the RWAs to talk to people in their societies as well and motivate them to join this campaign... we have to defeat dengue together,” the Chief Minister said after inspecting his house for signs of stagnant clean water at 10 a.m. for 10 minutes, draining and replacing accumulated water at various spots in his home and surroundings.

Taking to social media, Kejriwal tweeted: “Taking forward the campaign against dengue today on the fourth Sunday by replacing the water collected at home. In this way, we have to stop the breeding of dengue mosquitoes and protect our family and the entire Delhi from dengue.”

The Chief Minister sought the support of the RWAs in preventing the spread of dengue last year as well. He had introduced a five-point plan for

the RWAs to take measures to prevent the breeding of dengue mosquitoes in their areas.

Reiterating his appeal this year, Kejriwal said the participation from people from all walks of life and all organisations such as senior members of RWAs is necessary to prevent dengue. This year, the Delhi government has also launched a telephonic helpline - 01123300012 and WhatsApp helpline - 8595920530 to assist the general public for dengue.

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) An alleged conspiracy that resulted into full blown ri-ots in the national capital earlier this year is said to have been a co-ordinated effort of many, however, the charge sheet filed in the case also highlights the fact that there were at times voices of dissent within the groups. These voices against violence though were crushed then and there.

According to the state-ment of one of the accused in the charge sheet, on the intervening night of Feb-ruary 16-17, a secret meet-ing was called at Chand Bagh after it was con-firmed that US President Donald Trump was all set to come to India.

Apart from accused Athar, the meeting was also attended by Gulfisha, Natasha, Devangana, Sa-lim Malik and some oth-ers. Though Owais Sultan

was not called to the meet-ing, he still joined. Many of the attendees were col-lectively of the view that the government has to be brought down to its knees and for that they could do anything and everything, the charge sheet shows.

According to Athar’s statement in the charge sheet, while the meet-ing was on, Gulfisha said that it was the right time to take the protest to a

next level and the Chakka Jaam (road block) strategy shall be executed in the national capital. Gulfisha had said that first, Chakka Jaam would take place and then it would be taken to the next level i.e. violent protests. Opposing that, Owais Sultan had said that this would cause problem to the people and would also result in violence and riots but no one paid heed to Sultan’s words. In

fact, the other attendees supported the violence and had said “Thodi bo-hot hinsa (violence) toh chalti hai”. It was also de-cided that the protestors would be directed to keep red chilli powder, sticks, stones etc, in the tent so that it could be used later as weapons. Sultan again opposed these but was overruled again.

He had made his ob-jection public in the

DPSG WhatsApp group but again overruled, the charge sheet said. Ac-cording to the WhatsApp messages of the Delhi Protests Support Group (DPSG) mentioned in the charge sheet, on Febru-ary 17 afternoon, when Athar had posted about the meeting that took place the night before in Chand Bagh saying that it failed as some unin-vited guests too attended the meeting, Sultan had said that he attended the meeting and the idea of roadblock was opposed by him and many oth-ers. Another member of the group had supported the stand taken by Sul-tan and stated that “road block is the worst form of protest” and the same shall not be adopted. Following which Athar had deleted the message that talked about road block.

Guwahati, Sep 27 (UNI) Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel have seized Chinese electronic goods worth Rs 2.15 lakh at New Coochbehar in West Bengal, officials said on Sunday.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Subhanan Chanda said that RPF men led by Sub-Inspector BN Bhowmick seized 820 Chinese mobile phone batteries and 640 mobile LCD touch displays packed in six cartons on Saturday. No arrest was made though the goods were confiscated and handed over to the Cus-toms at Dinhata in north

Bengal.Chanda said that the RPF

deployed in the NFR de-tected more than 655 cases of smuggling of contraband goods and seized property

worth Rs 17.94 crore and arrested 185 persons be-tween 2017 and July this year. The NFR, one of the 17 railway zones in India, operates fully and partially

in six of the eight north-eastern states, excluding Meghalaya and Sikkim, and in seven districts of West Bengal and five districts of north Bihar.

Losing in Ludo game, made daughter

approach family court against father

Bhopal, Sep 27 (UNI) A 24-year-old woman has ap-proached a family court after she lost a Ludo game to her father. The matter came up before family court counsel-lor Sarita Rajani in the Mad-hya Pradesh capital here. The daughter has said that she has been experiencing alienation from her father ever since the outcome in the board game.

Rajani told reporters that the woman has told her she has lost respect for her father and even felt hesitation in call-ing him “father”. Rajani said the father-daughter relation was better earlier and only the board game defeat led to the crisis. The young woman has been crying and had expected the father to lose the game just to humour her, however, that did not happen. “I had four meetings with the girl and now some positive changes have started taking place,” said the counsellor. Rajani says there has been rapid changes in the society especially during the lockdown, where too much is being expected from everyone.

Chandigarh, Sep 27 (UNI) In a series of measures to check stubble burning in the ongoing kharif season, the Punjab government has ap-pointed 8,000 nodal officers in villages, besides giving 23,500 machines to farmers for management of paddy straw at the spot itself.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has also appealed to the farmers not to burn the crop residue, as it could aggravate Covid-19 condi-tions apart from leading to pollution. Seeking the sup-port and cooperation of the farmers in preventing stubble burning amid the pandemic, he said that ex-perts had warned it could have serious implications for the vulnerable people, already suffering from lung and other diseases.

Amarinder Singh said while he had been repeat-edly following up with the Prime Minister on com-pensation to the farmers for defraying the cost on man-

agement of paddy straw, the state was also taking various steps to educate the farm-ers about the problem. The state government has been seeking Rs 100 per quintal from the Centre as compen-sation to enable the farmers to manage the paddy straw without burning it. The nodal officers, who will be operating in the villages till November 15, will work in coordination with staff of the Cooperation, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayats, Agriculture, Horticulture and Soil Con-servation Departments, as well as the Punjab Pollution Control Board.

Armed with a super SMS system, these officers will also prepare lists of own-ers who have given their land on rent and then call each land owner on phone with the warning that a red entry shall be made in their land record if they fail to ensure that no paddy straw is burning. The Ag-

riculture Department has also deputed a dedicated team at the call centre on toll free number 1800-180-1551 for quick resolution of the queries of farmers about farm machinery for paddy straw management. The Chief Minister said as part of the state’s stubble management strategy, the Agriculture Department, which he heads, 23,500 more agri-machines are being provided this year to farmers, either individually or in groups or through co-operative societies at a sub-sidy ranging from 50 to 80 per cent.

This is in addition to 51,000 paddy straw in-situ management machines provided over the past two years. Paddy has been grown over 27 lakh hectares in Punjab this year. This includes cultivation of bas-mati on seven lakh hectares. Cumulatively, this is expect-ed to yield paddy residue of 16.50 million tonnes.

Punjab provides 23,500 machines for paddy straw management

CONGRESS NAMES TWO CANDIDATES FOR UP ASSEMBLY BYPOLLS

Railways generates over 10 lakh ‘man days’ of work under GKRA

RPF seize Chinese electronic items worth Rs 2.15 lakh

Lucknow, Sep 27 (UNI) The Congress has an-

nounced candidates for two of the total eight

Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats where by-elections

are due. The party has named Aarti Vajpayee as

its candidate from the

Bangarmau assembly seat. The seat fell vacant

following the disqualifica-tion of sitting BJP member Kuldeep Sengar who was convicted in a rape case

last year. The Congress has named Haider Ali Khan

on the Suar assembly seat

in Rampur district. This seat fell vacant following

the disqualification of Samajwadi Party’s sitting member Abdullah Azam who had allegedly forged

his birth documents.The Congress is the first

party to announce can-

didates on two assembly seats. The dates for the

by-elections to the eight assembly seats have not

yet been announced but it is believed that they would be held around the same

time as the Bihar Assembly elections.

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) In-dian Railways on Sunday said it has generated 10,66,246 man days of work till September 25 this year under Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) in six states to benefit migrant la-bourers. These states include Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where work opportunities are being gen-erated for migrant labourers who lost their jobs during the lockdown imposed across the country to contain Covid-19

pandemic. Around 164 Rail-way infrastructure projects are being executed in these states and Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry Piy-ush Goyal is closely monitor-ing the progress made in these projects, Indian Railways said in a statement. Till September 25, the statement said, 12,276 workers have been engaged in this Abhiyaan and the payment of Rs 2,190.7 crore has been re-leased to the contractors for the projects being implemented.

Railway has appointed nodal

officers in each district as well as in the states so that a close coordination is established with the State government. Railways has identified a num-ber of works which are being executed under this scheme. These works are related to construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings; development and cleaning of silted waterways, trenches and drains along the track; construction and main-tenance of approach road to railway stations; repair and

widening of existing railway embankments or cuttings; plantation of trees at extreme boundary of railway land; and protection works of existing embankments, cuttings and bridges. Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi had launched a mas-sive employment-cum-rural public works campaign named Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan to empower and provide live-lihood opportunities in areas, villages witnessing large num-ber of returnee migrant work-ers affected by the devastating .

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR CULTURE AND TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE), SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL VIRTUALLY ADDRESSING THE GATHERING AT AN EVENT ON THE OCCASION OF THE

WORLD TOURISM DAY-2020 CELEBRATIONS, IN NEW DELHI

4SOUTH28 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESK’taka CM, Opposition leader exchange heated arguments

AIADMK to hold Executive Committee meeting on Monday

Bengaluru, Sep 27 (UNI) Accept-ing the Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa’s challenge, the leader of the Opposition Siddara-maiah on Saturday asserted that if the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a Supreme Court judge fails to prove the charges, he would resign then.

Speaking during the no-confi-dence motion here, Siddaramaiah said that his demand is that the state government should order for the SIT and let the government agree for it. “If the SIT fails to prove allegations raised in these sting operations, then I will resign,” he declared. Siddaramaiah affirmed that he does not know who Vijay-endra is, or Shashidhar Maradi who frequently figure in the sting op-eration by TV. “Why are you (ruling party members) all getting agitated whenever I take Vijaynedra’s name?

Who is he,” he chided. He added that he had not made any deroga-tory or defamatory allegations or statements here. “I have not linked Vijayendra to Yediyurappa in my entire speech. Why are these ruling party members getting agitated?” he questioned.

Meanwhile, Law and Parliamen-tary Affairs Minister J. C. Madhus-wamy said that there is no ques-tion of allowing this debate to take

place. “As the opposition parties, you have all the authority to criti-cize and reprimand for our gov-ernment failures. The Opposition cannot waste the precious time of Assembly by raking up contents of a sting operation conducted by TV,” he argued. Earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister, B. S. Yediyurappa had dared Siddaramaiah to prove allegations against him or his fam-ily members by going to court or

Lokayukta. “If this agency upholds your (Siddaramaiah) allegations, I will resign from public life, if these agencies fail to prove, will you do the same?” he had challenged. In-tervening at this juncture, Siddara-maiah demanded a Special Inves-tigation Team (SIT) to probe into sting operations conducted by the TV and the SIT should be headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge.

Angered by charges, Yediyurap-pa had asserted that as the Oppo-sition leader, are you not aware of the rules? “One is not supposed to make allegations against a person, who is not a member of this house? This is a basic rule, which we our-selves have created. How can you being such a senior leader break this rule,” he questioned angrily.

When the ruling party members started raising slogans against Sid-daramaiah, Yediyurappa.

Amaravati, Sep 27 (UNI) Ten Andhra Pradesh districts have re-ceived excess rainfall in the past four months till September 26, barring Visakhapatnam and Viz-ianagaram with normal rainfall and Srikakulam being the lone deficient district. According to the Met de-partment’s cumulative data for the period June 1 to September 26, five districts in the southern state re-

ported rainfall beyond 60 per cent than the usual quantum they re-ceive. Kadapa lead the pack of those five southern districts with 115 per cent more rainfall, followed by An-

antapur (83 per cent), Chittoor and Kurnool (76 per cent each) and Nel-lore (66 per cent).

Five coastal districts registered 20 per cent to 59 per cent more rainfall than usual, Prakasam (44 per cent), Guntur (55 per cent), Krishna (26 per cent), West Goda-vari (41 per cent) and East Goda-vari (36 per cent). In north coastal Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam

and Vizianagaram registered nor-mal rainfall while Srikakulam is the lone district with a deficit rainfall of 25 per cent at a time when most of the state witnessed copious rains. In terms of actual rainfall in mil-limeter unit measurement, West Godavari district recorded 1,078 mm against a normal of 763 mm while Prakasam recorded 535.1 mm against a normal of 370.4 mm.

Chennai, Sep 27 (UNI) The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu will hold a meeting of its Ex-ecutive Committee on Monday morning here. Earlier, in a joint statement, party Coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and Joint Co-ordinator and Chief Minister K. Palaniswami said the Executive Committee meeting will be held at the party headquarters at 9.45 a.m. on September 28. According to party officials, the meeting is a routine one. As per norms the party’s Executive Committee and General Council meeting has to

be held every year. The Execu-tive Committee meeting might also decide on the date for hold-ing the General Council meeting. However various speculations

are being made about the topics that would be deliberated at the Executive Committee meeting like the Chief Ministerial candi-date for the next Assembly polls.

Chennai, Sep 27 (UNI) Con-demning the desecration of the statue of E.V. Ramasamy - popu-larly known as Periyar - in Trichy, Tamil Nadu BJP President L. Murugan on Sunday said there is a suspicion that the act could be part of a plot.

The statue was smeared with saffron colour paint and a gar-land of slippers was placed around it. Periyar was the founder of Dravida Kazhagam (DK) a rationalist movement. In a statement Murugan said the

police should nab the culprits and punish them. Referring to DMK MP Kanimozhi’s question Murugan said when the probe is on, her statement gives rise to the suspicion whether the act is part of a plot. He said the police should also question her. Con-demning the desecration of the statue Kanimozhi recalled Muru-gan’s earlier statement that the BJP has no reservation on wish-ing Periyar as he fought for social justice and added “Is this how they show respect to Periyar?”

She also said “is Periyar the answer for NEET, New Educa-tion Policy and farmers agita-tion?” Deputy Chief Minis-ter O. Panneerselvam also condemned the act and said the AIADMK government will take serious action against the anti-social elements. DMK President M.K.Stalin said Periyar was the leader for Tamil people and not just for a movement. Stalin said those who think they are insult-ing Periyar by such acts are in-sulting themselves.

TSIT Bureau :Warangal Urban, Septem-

ber-27 : Konda Lakshman Bapuji played a key role in the separate Telangana movement and strove hard for uplifting the weaker sec-tions of the people said the Dis-trict Revenue Officer Vasu Chan-dra. DRO paid rich floral tributes by garlanding to the photo of Acharya Konda Laxman Bapuji on the occasion of his 105th birth anniversary celebrations which are observed on a grand note here at the Collectorate in Wa-rangal Urban district on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, DRO Vasu Chandra said that Prof. Konda Laxman was called as a Bapuji as he played a key role in laying the firm foundation for the Telangana movement. In lat-er stages of the Telangana move-ment, he inspired many people and strived hard for social justice

and uplifting the weaker sections until his last breath.

DRO said that Konda Lax-man Bapuji sacrificed his minister post in the year 1969 for the sake of Telangana. He also strove hard for uplifting

the handloom community and other weaker sections. Taking him as an inspiration, the Chief Minister K Chan-drashekar Rao introduced sev-eral welfare schemes for the betterment of the weaker sec-

tions of the people present in the State, he added.

The administrative officer of the Collectorate Vijay Lakshmi, Superintendent Laxman and col-lectorate staff were present along with others.

Konda Laxman Bapuji remembered

Karnataka’s Congress MLA Gundu Rao tests corona positive

Bengaluru, Sep 27 (UNI) Kar-nataka’s Congress legislator Dinesh Gundu Rao tested coro-navirus positive and was sent in home isolation, an official said on Sunday.

“Rao’s swab sample result, which came earlier in the day, was positive. He is presently in isolation at his home in the city,” party spokesman Ravi Gowda told .

Rao, 50, is a fifth-time legisla-tor from Gandhinagar segment in Bengaluru central suburb. “I have tested crona positive today. Therefore, will be quarantin-ing myself for 10 days. I request all my primary contacts to get checked and take precautions,” Rao tweeted.

Rao attended the truncated 6-day Monsoon Session of the Assembly at Vidhana Soudha in the city centre till Saturday night. “Rao attended the Assembly ses-sion from September 21, after he tested negative in mandatory corona test he took along with

other lawmakers on September 18 and was well till yesterday (Saturday),” Gowda recalled.

Rao was the party’s state unit President till March and is the party’s Tamil Nadu unit incharge. He was a Minister in the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in 2015-16.

“Rao visited Chennai on Sep-tember 25 and met the party’s Tami Nadu unit members and DMK President MK Stalin before returning to the city on Saturday

morning,” Gowda added.As about 60 legislators and

scores of legislature Secretariat staff tested positive, the 8-day session was curtailed to 6 days and adjourned sine die on Satur-day night. Those infected include Deputy Chief Ministers Govind Karjol and CN Ashwath Narayan, Home Minister Basavarj Bom-mai, Food and Civil Supplies Minister K Gopalaiah, Urban De-velopment Minister Byrathi Ba-savaraj, and Animal Husbandry .

Probe inquiry on govt. hospital staff diverting patients-TDP

TSIT Staff Reporter :Karimnagar, September-27 : For the sake of commissions some of the persons by forming a group are trying to divert the poor patients visiting the government hospital to private hospitals. An inquiry must be probed against such persons along with taking immediate actions, demanded the Karimnagar parliament segment TRS president, Ambati Joji Reddy on Friday. Joji Reddy alleged that it is learnt that five persons who formed a racket are diverting the patients who are visiting the government hospital by threatening them that the doctors are not available and lack of facilities and the treatment would be like hell in the government hospital.

The hospital staff, some of the officials and doctors formed a racket and are looting the innocent poor patients visiting the government hospital. The authorities of the health

department along with the health minister, Etela Rajendar must probe an inquiry and must take immediate action against the responsible persons along with issuing suspension orders to them, he demanded. For the past several months, this business is going on in the government hospital and the management of the private hospitals are earning lakh of rupees by cheating the poor patients. Some of the doctors who are rendering services in the government hospital are running private hospitals and are responsible for such illegal business, he alleged.

Private hospitals are giving around 30 to 50 percent commissions for those who are

diverting the patients to their hospitals. The organisers of the ambulance are playing a key role in this business. Even though the issue was taken to the notice of the officials of the government hospital, they are not taking any action expecting commissions from the private hospital, he added. The hospital staff, some of the officials and doctors formed a racket and are looting the innocent poor patients visiting the government hospital. The authorities of the health department along with the health minister, Etela Rajendar must probe an inquiry and must take immediate action against the responsible persons along with issuing suspension orders to them, he demanded.

TSIT Staff Reporter :Khammam, September-27 : The Khammam Postal Divi-sion holds a rare national record. The Delhi National Postal Department (DNPD) announced that the Kham-mam Postal Division was ranked number one nation-ally in the Indian Postal Pay-ment Bank (IPPB) based system. The Superintendent of the Khammam Postal Divi-sion, Yalamandayya received the orders online to this ef-fect. At the national level, the Postal Department has been operating with IPPB branches since September 2018. The process of with-drawing cash through IPPB based on Aadhaar card is being implemented irrespec-tive of the bank. Under the

scheme, IPPB disbursed Rs 6,000 crore across the coun-try as on August 31. IPPB op-erates at 611 Postal Branches under Khammam Postal Di-vision (in the United Kham-mam District). From the time of inception of Aadhaar-based policy, it has handled Rs.106.15 crores through 2,76,288 transactions till 31st August 2020.

The DNPD Recognized three circles across the coun-try as top rankers which in-clude Uttar Pradesh, Telan-gana and Andhra Pradesh and the Khammam Gandhi Chowk Postal Branch (Kham-mam IPPB) secured number one ranked in these circles.

People have made good use of IPPB services due to irregular management of

banks at the time of lock-down due to corona. During the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic, the central gov-ernment has deposited Rs 500 in Jan Dhan accounts of women across the country.

While the state govern-ment has deposited Rs 1,500 crores in the bank accounts of the poor for the subsidy ra-tion. This amount was made available to the public by the Khammam IPPB through Aadhaar-based basis. The superintendent of the Kham-mam Division Postal Yala-mandayya said the with the collective efforts of all the employees the Khammam IPPB secured number one rank nationally and congrat-ulations the IPPB managers and employees.

Khammam postal division secured top rank in IPPB services

TN BJP says Periyar statue desecration may have been ‘planned’

10 Andhra districts register excess rainfall in 4 months

By Frank BruniToward the beginning of a wise and

beautifully stated essay about American partisanship and the response to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, lawyer and political commentator David French wrote, “I have never in my adult life seen such a deep shudder and sense of dread pass through the American political class.”

I don’t think the shudder was confined to the political class. And the day after Gins-burg died, I felt a shudder just as deep.

That was when Trump supporters de-scended on a polling location in Fairfax, Virginia, and sought to disrupt early vot-ing there by forming a line that voters had to circumvent and chanting, “Four more years!” This was no rogue group. This was no random occurrence. This was an omen — and a harrowing one at that.

Republicans are planning to have tens of thousands of volunteers fan out to vot-ing places in key states, ostensibly to guard against fraud but effectively to create a cli-mate of menace. President Donald Trump has not just blessed but encouraged this. On Fox News last month, he bragged to Sean Hannity about all the “sheriffs” and “law enforcement” who would monitor the polls on his behalf. At a rally in North Caro-lina, he told supporters: “Be poll watchers when you go there. Watch all the thieving and stealing and robbing they do.”

Color me alarmist, but that sounds like an invitation to do more than just watch. Trump put an exclamation point on it by exhorting those supporters to vote twice, once by mail and once in person, which is of course blatantly against the law.

Is a fair fight still imaginable in America? Do rules and standards of decency still ap-ply? For a metastasising segment of the population, no. That’s the toxic wellspring of the dread that French mentioned. That’s the moral of the madness in Virginia.

Right on cue, we commenced a fight over Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat that could become a protracted death match, with Mitch McConnell’s haste and unabashed hy-pocrisy potentially answered by court pack-ing, among other acts of vengeance, if Demo-crats win the presidency and the Senate.

That’s a big if, because we’re also hurtling toward an Election Day that may decide exactly nothing — and I don’t mean that night. I mean for months. I mean forever.

Talk about a shudder: On Wednesday, Trump was asked if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power in the event that he lost to Joe Biden. Shockingly but then not really, he wouldn’t. He prattled anew about mail-in ballots and voter fraud and, perhaps alluding to all of the election-relat-ed lawsuits that his minions have filed, said: “There won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation.”

We’re in terrible danger. Make no mis-

take. This country, already uncivil, is on the precipice of being ungovernable, because its institutions are being so profoundly degraded, because its partisanship is so all-consuming, and because Trump, who rode those trends to power, is now turbo-charging them to drive America into the ground. The Republican Party won’t apply the brakes.

The week since Ginsburg’s death has been the proof of that. Many of us dared to dream that a small but crucial clutch of Republican senators, putting patriotism above party, would realise that to endorse McConnell’s abandonment of his supposed principle about election-year Supreme Court appointments would be a straw too many, a stressor too much and a guarantee of endless, boundless recrimination and retribution. At some point, someone had to be honourable and say, “Enough.”

Hah. Only two Republican senators,

Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, broke with McConnell, and in Collins’ case, there were reelection considerations and hedged wording. All the others fell into line.

I don’t blame it on a lack of courage. I at-tribute it to something worse. Most politi-cians — and maybe most Americans — now look across the political divide and see a band of crooks who will pick your pocket if you’re meek and dumb enough not to pick theirs first. The person who leaves his or her wallet out in the open, as a gesture of good-will, can’t complain when he or she winds up broke.

“It’s the Wild West,” said a Republican strategist who is no fan of Trump’s but was using that metaphor to McConnell to me. I had reached out to the strategist to vent my disgust. “It’s all about situational power dynamics,” he continued. “If the situation were reversed, the Dems would be doing the same thing.” He argued that Chuck Schumer and McConnell “play the same game. McConnell just plays it a little bet-ter.”

So the lesson for Democrats should be to take all they can when they can? That’s what some prominent Democrats now pro-pose: As soon as their party is in charge, add enough seats to the Supreme Court to give Democrats the greater imprint on it. Make the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico states, so that Democrats have much bet-ter odds of controlling the Senate. Do away with the filibuster entirely. That could be just the start of the list.

I wouldn’t begrudge the Democrats any of it. The way I’m feeling right now, I’d cheer them on. But Republicans reach back to Harry Reid’s actions when he was the Democratic majority leader of the Senate to justify their wickedness now. Democrats will cite that wickedness to justify the shat-tering of precedents in the future. Ugliness begets ugliness until — what? The whole

thing collapses of its own ugly weight?And who the hell are we anymore? The

world’s richest and most powerful country has been brought pitifully and agonisingly low. On Tuesday, we passed the mark of 200,000 deaths related to the coronavirus, cementing our status as the global leader, by far, on that front. How’s that for excep-tionalism?

On Wednesday, The Atlantic rushed its November cover story onto the web with an explanatory, almost apocalyptic note by its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, that some journalism is too important to wait. The article is about the very real chance — es-sentially confirmed hours later by Trump’s “continuation” comment — that he might contest the election in a manner that keeps him in power regardless of what Americans really want.

“The coronavirus pandemic, a reckless incumbent, a deluge of mail-in ballots, a vandalised Postal Service, a resurgent ef-fort to suppress votes, and a trainload of lawsuits are bearing down on the nation’s creaky electoral machinery,” the article’s author, Barton Gellman, a Pulitzer winner, wrote. “The mechanisms of decision are at meaningful risk of breaking down. Close students of election law and procedure are warning that conditions are ripe for a con-stitutional crisis that would leave the nation without an authoritative result. We have no fail-safe against that calamity.”

Just a few days before those words screeched across the internet, The New Yorker published a similar, equally chilling opus by one of star writers, Jeffrey Toobin, who explained how this election might well degenerate into violence, as Democratic poll watchers clash with Republican poll watchers, and into chaos, as accusations of foul play delay the certification of state vote counts.

_GULF NEWS

WILL TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY EVER END

By Somshankar BandyopadhyayTwo seemingly unrelated news stories

piqued my interest recently. Earlier this month, the Guardian newspaper pub-lished an article written by a robot. And last week, the New York Times published the news of the first known death from a cyberattack in Dusseldorf, Germany, where a woman died while being trans-ferred to another hospital as a the facility she was taken to the first time was locked down due to a ransomware attack.

Are we becoming slaves to the techno-logical blitz we ourselves have unleashed onto the planet? Have we created our own Frankenstein’s monster, and now have no means to control it?

On the face of it, the benefits of the exponential growth of technological ad-vancement, especially in the last three decades, cannot be denied. Our world has become a much smaller place, where we communicate from the furthest corners of the earth with voice and video at the mere touch of a button. The information revolution has brought us closer to each other, and new breeds of businesses and career possibilities have opened up like never before. Driverless cars are no lon-ger in the realm of science-fiction, which drastically reduces the possibilities of

road deaths due to car crashes. McKinsey Global Institute research suggests that by 2030, AI could deliver additional global economic output of $13 trillion per year.

But will all this really benefit human-kind in the long-term? Prominent scien-tists like the late Stephen Hawking, and even tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, the owner of the electric-vehicle firm Tes-la, have spoken fervently about the dan-gers of relying too much on AI.

Even in our own lives, we are steadily fall-ing prey to technology. Let’s take a test — when was the last time you dialed a number of memory, instead of finding the contact’s name on the phone? When was the last time you drove to a place without using Google Maps? The answers to these will tell you that the average Homo Sapiens — literally, intelligent man — is perhaps getting a little less smart? So ironically, the smarter the world of machines are getting, we are losing the edge, it would seem.

Coming back to where we started from, with technology penetrating every aspect of our lives, the perils become far more obvious. Just suppose if a cybercriminal can hack into the electricity and water systems of a city. Not very difficult, it is, after all, a matter of tricking the computer systems that manage these facilities to

believe that the attacker is a bona fide person and has the right to access. That person can kill hundreds just by this ac-tion. Just as last week, cybercriminals invaded 30 servers at University Hospital Dusseldorf , crashing systems and forc-ing the hospital to turn away emergency patients. As a result, German authorities said, a woman in life-threatening condi-tion was sent to a hospital 20 miles away in Wuppertal and died from treatment de-lays, the New York Times reported.

The point is thus not whether AI is ben-eficial or not to mankind. The point is we

are getting so enamored with AI that we are stopping to think for ourselves.

For example, let us take the advent of 5G. This fifth generation of cellular tech-nology has very little to do with faster mobile phones and games, although that remains a part. The main growth in 5G is expected from what is called the ‘Internet of Things’ — smart appliances like refrig-erators, ovens, washing machines, driver-less cars etc. These gadgets will have the capability to sense, say when the milk is running out and thus place an order. Or to start washing clothes on its own, and the like.

Have we ever paused to ponder how much of this is necessary? Suppose the fridge orders the milk, but it may be that I was not feeling like having milk and that’s why I let the carton run empty and was planning to buy juice instead. The fridge does not have the requisite data to predict my eating habits — it will simply determine the shopping list based on past purchases.

Coming to driverless cars, a few experi-ments that have been done so far have not proved very successful precisely for this reason. Driverless cars engage in what we may call ‘rational behaviour’ — but human beings do not always behave ra-

tionally. Thus several crashes have taken place.

AI programs may also incorporate the prejudices of their programmers and the humans they interact with, the Council of Europe warns. The body points out how a Microsoft AI chatbot called Tay became racist, sexist and anti-Semitic within 24 hours of interactive learning with its hu-man audience. Another software (COM-PAS), which was developed to help US courts, predict the odds of defendants re-offending, was found to be biased against African-Americans.

On top all of this, our immediate sur-roundings are plagued by the likes of Siri, Alexa and other virtual assistants. Apolo-gies for the word ‘plague’, as tech puritans would surely troll me for this. Is it really necessary to depend on your computer/smartphone/tablet to book your salon ap-pointment, or to play your favourite songs?

These uses of AI is not only belittling the potential of this phenomenon, but dumbing us down in the process.

Let us unleash the power of the human mind for a broader impact. Let us cel-ebrate the explosion in technological ad-vancement to make our lives better, not easier.

_GULF NEWS

IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DUMBING US DOWN?

By Mohammed AlmezelFew outside America would typically care

about the United States Supreme Court, or its composition. It has always been a do-mestic affair. However, the recent death of a judge of this court has rattled global mar-kets and dominated the headlines across the world. And for good reason.

Until recently, the name of judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg meant little to those out-side the US. The death of the female asso-ciate justice of the US Supreme Court on September 18 at the age of 87 nevertheless raised questions over the future direction of the court and dominated the news as the US enters the last month before the presi-dential election. With the race to the White House becoming increasingly tighter than previously predicted, it is widely expected the apex court could somehow play a role in determining who is the next leader of the world superpower. That is, of course, not entirely a US domestic affair.

Impact beyond US bordersThere are decisions taken by the court

that affected the lives of millions outside the US. Most recently, the court upheld President Donald Trump’s travel ban on Muslims. In 2000, the court decided the outcome of the presidential election be-tween George W Bush and Al Gore — an-other decision that obviously changed the world forever. The impact of the war on terror, launched by the winner, George W Bush, is still being felt around the world to-day, especially in our region following the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

A similar decision, to determine the out-come of the 2020 elections, is what Trump

apparently counts on in case the November race goes to the wire. Thus, he is intent on nominating a replacement of Justice Gins-burg before the elections despite the op-position of many including members of his own Republican Party.

Conservatives vs liberalsThe US Supreme Court, created by the

Judiciary Act of 1789, is comprised of nine judges: one Chief Justice and eight associ-ate Justices. They are there for life and can-not be fired or replaced unless impeached by the Congress, thus, some say they wield power that overrides executive or legislative decisions and laws that are not in line with

the letter and spirit of the constitution. The court has always been divided on ideologi-cal line — the conservatives and the liber-als. Traditionally, Republican presidents appoint conservative judges while the Democrats appoint liberal ones. Currently, the court is stacked against the liberals, es-pecially after the death of the liberal Justice Ginsburg.

The conservative group includes Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, both appointed by George W. Bush, Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by George Bush the father, and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, both appointed by

Trump. The liberal group, until recently, included two Bill Clinton appointees, Jus-tices Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer and two Barack Obama appointees, Sonia Soto-mayor and Elena Kagan. The current court is one with the most conservative leaning in modern US history. With the death of Gins-burg, the conservatives now outnumber the liberals by five to three. If Trump is able to appoint the ninth justice, the conservatives will gain another seat, which will of course affect America for decades to come.

Republican aspirationA liberal leaning court has been key in

issuing and supporting civil rights laws, the rights of women to abortion and other progressive decision. A conservative court, such as the one Trump and the Republicans aspire to have, will help boost an America that is increasingly turning right. It is once in a lifetime chance for the American right establishment. And that absolutely is not a domestic affair.

In a widely circulated quote, Justice Ginsburg, on deathbed, reportedly told her granddaughter Clara Spera that her dying wish was that “I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” according to the National Public Radio.

She was referring to a precedent dur-ing Obama’s last year in office. In Febru-ary 2016, Associate Justice Antonin Sca-lia, a conservative, died. President Obama nominated liberal judge Merrick Garland to replace Scalia. However, the Republican-controlled Senate rejected the nomination, telling Obama that he shouldn’t do that in an election year and that the next president should appoint Scalia’s successor. Presi-

dent Trump, two days after moving into the White House, appointed the conservative Gorsuch.

Trump’s ployThe Democrats have been reminding

Trump and their Republican colleagues in the Senate of their opposition to Obama’s move. Trump, however, is not expected to change his mind. The polls keep giving his rival, former Vice-President Joe Biden, a decent lead in most states. Last year, it appeared that Trump was on his way to win another term. But the coronavirus pandemic and his widely-criticised poor response to the outbreak, the crumpling economy and the rising number of unem-ployed Americans, and finally the Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minne-sota in July, all seemed to have dramatically weakened Trump’s chances of winning the election.

That explains his refusal so far to commit to a peaceful transition of power in case he lost the race to Biden. In addition, there is the issue of mail-in-ballots, which will allow voters in some states to vote by mail, due to the coronavirus containment measures. Experts believe that most Biden supporters prefer the mail ballots. Trump’s support-ers meanwhile prefer going to the polling stations because generally they oppose the Covid-19 measures, including wearing the mask — they will make it a point to vote in person on November 3. Trump has been claiming for months that the mail voting is aimed at rigging the elections in favour of Biden.

_GULF NEWS

TRUMP VS BIDEN: WHY GINSBURG’S DEATH IS NOT A US DOMESTIC AFFAIR

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Tehran, Sep 27 (UNI) Irans President Hassan Rouhani has slammed the US over imposing “inhumane” sanctions, saying the White House is responsible for all the “hostile measures and crimes” against Tehran.Rouhani made the remarks on Saturday during a meeting of the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the

Covid-19 pandemic here, re-ports Press TV.

“The Americans stopped the entry of medicine and food to our country through illegal and inhumane sanctions as well as terrorist operations.

“We have never seen peo-ple with such level of bar-barism at the White House. They committed the worst

atrocities,” the President was quoted as saying.

He also condemned the US authorities for blocking a $5 billion loan from the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) in April to help Iran fi ght its battle against the ongo-ing pandemic which has so far infected 443,086 people and killed 25,394 others.Rou-

hani’s remarks came a week after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on September 19 said the sanctions against Iran were being re-imposed according to the “snapback” mechanism under UN Secu-rity Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action also known as the JCPOA, or

Iran nuclear deal.Pompeo also threatened consequences if other countries fail to imple-ment the sanctions.

The comprehensive nucle-ar deal was inked by Iran in July 2015 with the UK, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US, together with the EU.The US withdrew from it on May 8, 2018, and unilater-

ally reimposed sanctions on Tehran, despite objections from the international com-munity.

On August 20, the US had unilaterally invoked the “snap-back” after its failed and iso-lated attempt in the Security Council to extend the arms embargo against Tehran that expires on October 18.

White House responsible for crimes against Iran: Hassan Rouhani

London, Sep 27 (UNI) In his virtual address to thw 75th session of the UN General As-sembly (UNGA), UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told his foreign counterparts at the world body that the “notion of the international community looks tattered” after the global Covid-19 crisis.

In a pre-recorded speech on Saturday, Johnson said: “After nine months of fi ghting COV-ID-19, the very notion of the in-ternational community looks, frankly, pretty tattered. And we know that we simply can’t continue in this way.“Unless we get our act together. Un-less we unite and turn our fi re against our common foe, we

know that everyone will lose. The inevitable outcome would be to prolong this calamity and increase the risk of another.

“Now is the time, therefore, here at what I devoutly hope will be the fi rst and last ever Zoom UNGA, for humanity to reach across borders and re-pair these ugly rifts.”

In the address, he said that the UK will contribute 500 mil-lion pounds in aid funding to the Covax vaccines procure-ment pool, which aims to help poorer countries access a coronavirus jab when one is developed, the BBC reported.Johnson said that “we must never cut corners” or “sac-rifi ce safety to speed” in the

search for a vaccine.“Because it would be an absolute trage-dy if, in our eagerness, we were to boost the nut-jobs - the anti-vaxers, dangerous obses-sives who campaign against the whole concept of vacci-nation and who would risk further millions of lives,” he

added.During the pre-record-ed address, the Prime Minister also announced a plan, devel-oped with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Wellcome Trust, to help stop future pandemics.

It includes developing a global network of “zoonotic hubs” to identify dangerous pathogens before they jump from animals to humans, as well as improving manufac-turing capacity for treatments and vaccine.

He also promised 340 million pounds to the World Health Organization over the next four years - a 30 per cent increase on the previous period, making the UK one of its biggest donors.

Notion of int’l community looks tattered after Covid-19: UK Prime Minister

Kauala Lumpur, Sep 27 (UNI) Malaysia’s ruling co-alition has won a crucial snap election in the state of Sabah, the media reported.

In Saturday’s election, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) claimed victory af-ter unoffi cially winning 38 seats, reports The Star Ma-laysia newspaper.

The GRS comprises Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN), Barisan Nasional and Parti Bersatu Sabah.

It is an informal coalition and contested under three separate logos.

The GRS has also an-nounced that it will name its candidate for Sabah Chief Minister on Sunday, amid intense negotiation.

Before the election, Muhy-iddin had said that a win in Sabah, a previously opposi-tion-held state, could pave the way for early national polls aimed at ending un-certainty over the stability of his ruling alliance, which has a two-seat majority in Parliament.A former Home Affairs Minister Muhyid-din was offi cially sworn in

as Malaysia’s eighth Prime Minister on March 1 after forming an alliance with opposition parties follow-ing the shock resignation of his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad.

Muhyiddin was re-moved from the post of Deputy Prime Minister in 2015 when he fell out with then-leader Najib Razak over the handling of the 1MDB corruption scandal, which the latter is current-ly on trial for.

He later joined Ma-hathir’s Bersatu, which ousted Najib, his United Malays National Organisa-tion (UMNO) party and the Barisan Nasional coalition from power in the March 2018 elections.

Dhaka, Sep 27 (UNI) Ban-gladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reminded the international community that the fates of people across the globe were intertwined amid the Covid-19 pandemic, as she called on world lead-ers to ensure that any proven vaccine is made accessible to all at the same time.

She made the remarks dur-ing her address to the 75th UN General Assembly via vid-eo link on Saturday, reports bdnews24.

Expressing hope over the availability of a vaccine soon, Hasina said: “It is imperative to treat the vaccine as a ‘global public good’. We need to en-sure the timely availability of this vaccine to all countries at the same time.”Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry has

the capacity to mass-produce a vaccine, if given the “techni-cal know-how and patents”, she said.Describing the pan-demic as an “unprecedented crisis”, Hasina paid tribute to all frontline fi ghters, includ-ing health workers and pub-lic servants who are working tirelessly to ensure the safety of the affected countries and people.She also reiterated

Bangladesh’s ‘unfl inching commitment’ to multi-later-alism as embodied in the UN Charter.

“The pandemic has indeed aggravated existing global challenges. It has also rein-forced the indispensability of multi-lateralism,” bdnews24 quoted the Prime Minister as saying.With the assembly tak-ing place on a digital platform for the fi rst time in the UN’s history, Hasina also refl ected on her personal memories of the General Assembly Hall.

“This General Assembly Hall evokes deep emotions in me. From this very hall in 1974, my father Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered a speech for the fi rst time in Bangla as the head of government of a newly inde-pendent country.”

Malaysia’s ruling coaltion wins crucial state polls

Covid-19 vaccine is ‘global public good’, Hasina tells UNGA

Seoul, Sep 27 (UNI) Pyong-yang on Sunday warned Seoul against violating its western sea border as search continued for the body of a South Korean offi cial who was shot and killed in North Korean waters.

South Korea has contin-ued to locate the body of the 47-year-old fi sheries offi cial who was shot and killed by North Korean troops on Sep-tember 22 after he drifted into their waters near the Yellow Sea border between the two sides, reports Yon-hap News Agency.While the South has said that the troops burnt the offi cial’s

body, the North maintains that it was lost in the sea after he was shot.

In a report, Pyongyang’s offi cial Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said: “Ac-cording to a report by the western fl eet of our navy, the South side has mobilized many vessels including war-ships to an action presumed to be a search operation and let them intrude into our ter-

ritorial waters since Septem-ber 25. It arouses our due vigilance as it may lead to another awful incident.

“We can never overlook any intrusion into our ter-ritorial waters and we seri-ously warn the south side against it. We urge the South side to immediately halt the intrusion across the military demarcation line in the west sea that may lead to escala-

Pyongyang warns S.Korea against violating sea border

London, Sep 27 (UNI) At least 16 people were arrested and nine police offi cers sustained injuries after violence erupted at an anti-lockdown protest in London's Trafalgar Square.

Thousand of people gathered in Trafl -agar Square on Saturday carrying a variety of signs, fl ags and placards to take partici-pate in the "we do not consent" protest, the Metro newspaper reported.

Those in attendance were not wearing or were taking social distancing measures.While some protesters accused the govern-ment of "tyranny" for implementing wide ranging restrictions in an effort to curb the virus spread, while others compared a po-tential Covid-19 vaccine to "cyanide".Some even held placards with a quote by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, that said: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, eventually people will believe it.

16 arrested, 9 policemen hurt in London anti-

lockdown protest

TRUMP, BIDEN WON’T SHAKE HANDS AT 1ST DEBATESAUDI TO REOPEN MECCA facilities for visitors

in OctoberWashington, Sep 27

(UNI) US President Don-ald Trump and Democrat-ic presidential nominee Joe Biden will neither shake hands or do an elbow bump due to the Co-vid-19 pandemic when the two

rivals come face-to-face during their fi rst debate on Tuesday, according to informed

sources.The 90-minute debate will be on the cam-pus of the Cleveland C l i n i c

and Case Western Reserve University in Iowa.The sourc-es told Politco news that Trump, Biden and debate moderator, Fox News host

Chris Wallace, will not wear masks.According to the sources, the de-bate will see the par-ticipation of only 75

to 80 people who will be test-ed for the virus prior to them attending the event.The fi rst question will go to Trump, who will be standing to the right, while the former Vice President will be to the left.In March, Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders had partici-pated in a Democratic party

Riyadh, Sep 27 (UNI) Authori-ties in Saudi Arabia have allowed facilities in Mecca to reopen for visitors starting from next month after months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the media reported. President- General for Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque Abdulrah-man Al Sudais has directed the gradual reopening of the King Abdulaziz Complex for the Kaaba Kiswa, the Exhibition of the Two Holy Mosques’ Architecture and the Grand Mosque Library, Gulf News reported on Saturday citing state-media.Al Sudais underlined the necessity of complying with

precautionary measures recom-mended by health authorities to protect visitors’ safety.Saudi Ara-bia has recently eased several vi-rus-related restrictions.

Last week, authorities unveiled a plan for gradual resumption of Um-rah (Islamic pilgrimage) and visits to the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina, starting from next month.

Saudis and foreign residents in the Kingdom will be allowed in the fi rst phase beginning October 4 to perform Umrah at a capacity of 30 per cent amid health precautions.

Foreigners will be allowed to visit Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah from November 1.

Imran Khan warns against hasty int'l withdrawal from Afghanistan

Islamabad, Sep 27 (UNI) Paki-stan Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned against hasty with-drawal of foreign powers from Afghanistan, according to media reports."All those who have in-vested in the Afghan peace pro-cess should resist the temptation for setting unrealistic timelines. A hasty international withdrawal from Afghanistan would be un-wise," The Express Tribune quot-ed Khan as saying in an opinion piece published in The Washing-ton Post on Saturday."We should also guard against regional spoil-ers who are not invested in peace and see instability in Afghanistan

as advantageous for their own geopolitical ends," he added.The premier said the rare mo-ment of hope for Afghanistan and the entire region has arrived, recalling that on September 12, delegations from the Afghan government and the Taliban fi -nally held talks in Doha to bring

the war in Afghanistan to an end.With the exception of the resilient Afghans themselves, no people have paid a higher price for the confl ict in Afghanistan than the people of Pakistan, he said in the article."Through decades of confl ict, Pakistan has dealt with the responsibility of taking care of more than four million Afghan refugees. Guns and drugs have also fl owed into our country.

"The wars have disrupted our economic trajectory and radi-calised fringes of our own soci-ety...," he added.Khan further said that "only an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led reconciliation.

Washington, Sep 27 (UNI) One person was killed and several oth-ers were injured after a shooting at a biker event in the US state of Iowa, officials said.

The incident took place on Saturday in Waterloo where about 100 people had gathered for the event, The Hill news web-

site reported.Addressing the media, Waterloo Po-lice Chief Joel Fitzgerald said what appeared to be "some kind of confronta-tion" at the location had escalated into a shooting.While eight of the injured suffered gunshot wounds, four other were injured by debris and glass as they fl ed the scene, he added.

1 KILLED AT BIKER EVENT SHOOTING IN

US STATE

7SPORTS28 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

Dubai, Sep 27 (UNI) Prithvi Shaw’s 64 off 43 balls helped Delhi Capitals set up a 44-run win over Chennai Super Kings here on Friday. Shaw hit nine fours and a six and was adjugded the Man of the Match for his performance.

“In the start you have to see how the wicket is, playing along the ground is more important. I was striking the ball well last year as well, but I was making silly mistakes,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Shaw managed just five runs in his previous match. He was dismissed while trying a big shot off Mohammed Shami in the previous match and ended up getting caught at mid-on. He said that he tried to keep the ball down more often this time, something he says he is trying to do this season, which helped him build a long innings.“This year I am going to try and play my strokes but more along the ground. I would like to see the highlights of

my knock and see what I did well to get to the 50. We had a bit of a slow start in the powerplay and but we knew if we didn’t lose a wicket in the powerplay it will go well later,” he said.

Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), Sep 27 (UNI) India’s Anirban Lahiri and Arjun Atwal made the cut at the Corales Puntacana Championship by producing contrasting performances in the second round of the tournament.

Lahiri, 33, made a good start and was 3-under through 12 holes.

However, he dropped a lot of shots in the remainder to finish even par.Despite that, he squeezed inside the cut line of 3-under 141 as 74 professionals made it to the weekend.Forty-seven year-old Atwal, who was playing the same group as Lahiri, birdied

two of his last three holes and somehow managed to make the cut.Akshay Bhatia (69-73) and Daniel Chopra (75-80), meanwhile, missed the cut.

Hudson Swafford led the field with 12-under total, while Sean O’Hair (67-67), Luke List (69-65) and Justin Suh (67-67) were Tied-second at 10-under.

Lewis Hamilton takes pole in Sochi as he eyes Schumacher’s record

Trying to play along the ground more

LACKING A BIT OF STEAM IN THE BATTING: DHONI

Corales Puntacana Championship: Lahiri, Atwal make cut

Expecting tough match against KXIP, Rahul will be key wicket: Jos Buttler

NBA: Celtics coach hails defensive display against Heat

New York, Sep 27 (UNI) Boston Celtics fought back to clinch Game 5 against Miami Heat 121-108 in the Eastern Conference Finals of the ongoing NBA season. The Celtics now have a chance to draw level in Game 6 on Monday after making it 2-3 in the best-of-seven Conference finals. On Friday, Jayson Tatum (31 points) and Jaylen Brown (28 points) starred for the winning team, while Heat had six players in double figures with Goran Dragic leading the pack with 23 points. After leading through the first half, Heat found the going tough in the third quarter after some fine defensive display from the Celtics. From there on, the Celtics maintained the

lead and closed the game in their favour. Celtics head coach Brad Stevens hailed his team’s defensive display. “I thought we played with great tenacity defensively in the third quarter and our offense followed suit. They are a heck of an offensive team, a heck of a well-coached team and are hard to guard,” said Stevens. The 43-year-old coach also praised center Daniel Theis who was the

third highest scorer for the Celtics with 15 points and 13 rebounds to his name. “I thought he was pretty good all night. He started the game with good energy and defensively I felt he was one of our bright spots in the first half but then in the second half he was excellent. We need him to provide what he provides. He was great in the middle and he was great on the glass at both ends,” added Stevens. Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra felt his team did not compete hard enough. “We are not getting caught up in all the nerves. Boston deserved and earned what they got. We did not compete hard enough defensively and we paid the price for that,” said Spoelstra.

WORLD TABLE TENNIS ANNOUNCES EVENT ‘HUBS’

PV Sindhu to present web series titled ‘The A-Game’

I-League Qualifier: Strongly believe in my team, says Garhwal FC skipperNew Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) With

14 points in seven matches, Garhwal FC stood atop the 2nd Division League last season and their captain Bala Alhassan Dahir is confident about team’s chances in the I-League Qualifier 2020, which will see the side from Delhi face off against four other teams - Mohammedan SC, Bhawanipore FC, ARA FC and

FC Bengaluru United - for a direct place in the I-League 2020-21.

“I strongly believe in our team and in our coach. The way we have been training, we can get what we want in this tournament. We have to make the most of the capabilities of our team. We are confident of qualifying,” Bala told www.i-league.org. The veteran

midfielder, who hails from Nigeria, had played in all of his team’s matches in last season’s 2nd Division League.“We are working very hard in our preparation. We are more or less the same team from last season. Since we resumed training, the coach has worked hard on our fitness and the boys are getting in shape. The team is shaping up well and

preparing for the fight,” he quipped.

With the team consisting of a number of young players, Bala spoke about his responsibility of “motivating” the boys and instilling a sense of confidence in them, while focussing on the team’s “understanding”.“As captain, I motivate and push the boys. This club is like my home and I firmly believe in

my boys.They are young players but

there is not much difference from the others.

It is the understanding in the team that matters most and I feel we understand each other well. We are ready to go there and fight. It’s a great chance and we can’t afford to miss it!” he said.

PRITHVI SHAW :Dubai, Sep 27 (UNI) Slow

starts have hurt Chennai Super Kings in both their defeats, skipper MS Dhoni said on Friday after CSK faced a second consecutive loss while chasing a target of 176 set by the Delhi Capitals. CSK were restricted to 131/7 as they struggled to keep up with the required run rate."We are lacking a bit of

steam in the batting and that hurts," said Dhoni on Star Sports after the match."The run rate keeps on mounting after such slow starts and adds pressure, we need to figure that out.We need to come back with a clearer picture, looking at the combination."On Friday, openers Shane Watson and Murali Vijay both only

managed to score 23 runs in the first four overs.The run rate never climbed and CSK found themselves 95/3 at the start of the 15th over.Dhoni said that the return of Ambati Rayudu, who was unfit for the match on Friday, would help with the team balance."That will give us the room to experiment with an extra bowler perhaps.There

are quite a few things we can think about. We are one batter extra to start off, so the players need to step up. We need to get better with our lengths, lines and pace. I think the spinners have not come to the party yet.We are bowling good deliveries, but we are giving away the boundary deliveries bit too often," he said.

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) World Table Tennis (WTT) has announced the first half of the 2021 WTT calendar, including three separate “Hubs” to be staged in the Middle East, China and Europe.

According to the calendar, the first Hub will be staged between March 17 and April 3

next year in the Middle East, followed by those in China from April 13 to May 16 and in Europe from May 27 to June 20.

“The Hubs will showcase the new WTT event structure and the China Hub will feature the very first Grand Smash, the top tier in professional table tennis,” WTT said in a statement on Friday.It said that the proposed Hub format would create the best possible environment for WTT events to

be held, ensure better logistics for meeting Covid-19 health and safety guidelines and a manageable travel schedule for players.Following the three Hubs, the WTT calendar will take a break to accommodate the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games to be held between July 23 and August 8.

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) After the success of their first two digital media properties, 'Double Trouble' and 'The Finish Line', Baseline Ventures is back with its third series titled 'The A-Game'. The show will be presented by Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu and would

feature five athletes across episodes."I would like to congratulate Baseline on conceptualising shows that allow athletes to go back in time and relive those monumental moments that shaped their careers," said Sindhu as per a media release."I am honoured to present

their latest show called 'The A-Game' which will take a deep dive into how elite athletes think and react in high pressure situations," she added.The series will document five Indian athletes who brought out their a-game at very important moments in the history

of Indian sport.Each episode will capture the narrative of a particular athlete's a-game moment through pictures, video footage and stories from the athlete, and help the audience relate to how they brought out their a-game at crucial moments.

Sochi, Sep 27 (UNI) Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton on Saturday took his 96th pole position ahead of the Russian Grand Prix, coming back to being within two seconds of being knocked out of Q2 in a dramatic qualifying session at the Sochi Autodrom which saw Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel crash heavily. Hamilton is looking to equal German Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher's record of 91 race wins.

Hamilton's Q2 times were deleted due to track limits infringement which put him in the drop zone. Vettel's crash at Turn 4, however,

brought out the red flag and on restart, Hamilton crossed the line with less than two seconds to spare to make his flying lap. He posted the

fourth quickest time to make it to Q3 in which a stunning first lap of 1m 31.391s helped him break the track record and take pole.His team

mate Valterri Bottas, who led Q1, ended up taking P3 while second placed Max Verstappen of Red Bull was as much as 0.563s behind Hamilton.

Behind the top three, an excellent effort from Sergio Perez of Racing Point saw him claim fourth on the grid, ahead of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo in fifth.

Perez's team mate Lance Stroll was unable to show what he could do after a mechanical issue saw him drop out in Q2.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz took P6, ahead of Renault's Esteban Ocon and his teammmate Lando Norris.Pierre Gasly took P9 in his AlphaTauri while Red Bull's Alex Albon finishes the top 10.

Sharjah, Sep 27 (UNI) Rajasthan Royals will be looking to make it two out of two when they face Kings XI Punjab in their next IPL encounter and wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler is expecting a tough fight from the KL Rahul side at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Buttler, who had missed the first game, said his team came out with a great performance against Chennai Super Kings in their opening Indian Premier League 2020 encounter on Tuesday. "Great to get a win on the board, the team played fantastically well in the first game. It was an outstanding batting performance and a fantastic bowling performance in

tough bowling conditions," said Buttler as per a release shared by the Royals."I am really excited to play my first game, it was great to be back in training with the boys.

There's a great vibe around the team, so I'm really looking forward to taking the field. The atmosphere and energy around the squad is fantastic. Obviously,

(there's) lots of confidence after that first game," he added. The England batsman also hailed Rahul who scored a brilliant 132 not out against Royal Challengers Bangalore, a game which Kings XI won by 97 runs. "The training has been very energetic, guys are lively and enjoying each other's company. So yeah (it's a) good atmosphere around (and we are) expecting a really tough match against Kings XI," said Buttler. "Obviously a fantastic team, KL Rahul was in exceptional form the other night against RCB, so he will be a key wicket as always and I think we'll see another potentially high-scoring game at Sharjah with small boundaries and the dew factor coming in," he added.

8ENTERTAINMENRT28 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

Actress Adah Sharma wants her characters to be of importance

in a script, even if she plays a demure girl running around

the trees."I would love to be running around trees and I love to play the demure girl, which I have played in a few of my south fi lms. My point

was even if I am a demure girl or running around trees, I want that to be important in the script," Adah told ."Whatever I am doing I want

that to be important to the script. So, for me picking a role is not (about) sweet girl or bad girl," she explained.What does she for while tak-

ing up a script? "I want it (the character) to be important to the plot. If you take away the character from the story, will the story still work? Some-

times I do movies where, yes, if you remove the character the story would still work. but take the effort to make my character a memorable one.

DEEPIKA, SARA,

SHRADDHA IN NCB

NET, BEING QUESTIONED

IN DRUGS CASE

Hours after Bollywood ac-tor Deepika Padukone appeared before the Nar-

cotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drugs case, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan also arrived at the offi ce of the drug law en-forcement agency for questioning here, on Saturday.

Shraddha arrived at the NCB of-fi ce here around 11.45 a.m. while Sara came at 12.15 p.m. at the NCB offi ce in Ballard Pier area here.

Deepika's former manager Karishma Prakash also joined the probe at the NCB guest house in Colaba area here for the second day.

According to NCB sources, Shraddha is likely to be quizzed if she allegedly procured drugs from Saha or some other sources.The NCB will also ask for whom she procured the CBD oil and who the 'SLB' in her alleged chat was.

Shraddha, who starred in "Chichhore" with Sushant may also be queried on how long she knew the late actor and whether they reportedly joined any party or gatherings where drugs were con-sumed.

She may be asked to throw light on whether she ever went to the Pawna Resort where the alleged parties were said to be hosted by Sushant.Besides, the NCB had last Wednesday also sent summons to Sara for questioning.The NCB sources said that Sara will be asked about the drug consumption by her, where and how she allegedly procured it, etc.Earlier this morn-

ing, Deepika Pahukone arrived at the NCB guest house for question-ing after she was summoned for questioning on Wednesday. Deep-ika is the daughter of badminton icon Prakash Padukone and is married to actor Ranveer Singh. She has been asked to join the probe as her alleged chats with her former manager Karishma Prakash discussing drugs came to the fore.Deepika will be quizzed why she asked Karishma to bring drugs at the Koko Club in October 2017 and for how long she was consuming the drugs.

Actress Pre-ity Zinta is in Dubai

for the ongoing Indian Premier League, and the high tempera-ture of the place makes her miss her ski trips.Preity shared a picture on Instagram, where she is seen dressed in skiing gear and carrying the equipment.

"This crazy heat is making me miss my ski trips. Can-not wait for winter #fl ashbackfriday #snow #ski#smile #ting," she wrote alongside the im-age. Preity, who co-owns the Kings XI Punjab team, recently shared a video and pictures of her getting her Covid test done before the IPL commenced on September 19.

On the act-ing front, Preity was last seen on screen in the 2018 fi lm, "Bhaiaji Su-perhit".

PREITY ZINTA MISSES SKI TRIPS AMID

'CRAZY' DUBAI HEAT

Maharashtra gov-ernment has eased lockdown

restrictions in the state and allowed fi lms and television shoots with precautionary guidelines.

Now many fi lmmakers, production houses have resumed their fi lm work.On Monday, Milap Zaveri unveiled the new poster of 'Satyameva Jayate 2' showing John Abraham in a macho, farmer ava-tar with tricolor-colored blood dripping from his body. Along with the poster, the maker has also announced the fi lm release date which is Eid

2021, 12 May.On the other side, Salman Khan's 'Rad-he: Your Most Wanted Bhai' was supposed to hit the theatres this year but due to the COVID-19

pandemic, it couldn't be possible and accord-ing to the buzz, the fi lm is set to release directly next year on Eid.Although Radhe's makers haven't

announced anything yet on this matter. But if it will be true then there will surely be a face-off be-tween John Abraham and Salman Khan.On the box-offi ce clash with another fi lm on Eid, Milap Zaveri said, `Satyameva Jayate 2 will 100% be released on Eid, irrespective of which-ever other fi lm releases on the same day.

In the event of a clash happening on Eid, I hope the other fi lm also does well and so does our fi lm.` He also added, "By next Eid, I expect cinemas to be packed and fully op-erational.

JOHN ABRAHAM'S 'SATYAMEVA JAYATE ' TO CLASH WITH SALMAN KHAN'S 'RADHE' ON EID !

ADAH SHARMA ON WHAT SHE LOOKS FOR IN ROLES

SHE SIGNS

AKSHAY KUMAR TURNS RESCUER FOR PRODUCERS, BREAKS HIS 'IDEAL RULE OF WORK'!

Akshay Kumar is current-ly shooting in the high-lands of Scotland for his

forthcoming fi lm 'Bell Bottom' along with the whole team of the fi lm.The actor has now turned rescuer for the produc-ers as he has decided to break his ideal rule of working 8 hours a day after 18 years only for 'Bell Bottom'.The disci-plined actor shocked everyone with his recommendation of

taking double shifts,two simultaneous units shooting to ensure that the shoot goes on a fast pace and help the producers save their money in this lockdown.Talking about this plan of Akshay, Jackky Bhagnani said, `Ak-shay sir is truly a producer's actor and it has been a privilege to work with him. He is con-stantly thinking about everyone and every-thing. From safety measures for the entire unit to shooting schedules to the challenges faced by producers - the man is pure gold. Akshay sir is doing a double shift for the fi rst time in 18 years.

DIANA PENTY SHARES A GLIMPSE OF HER COMMUNICATION WITH HER PET!

Diana Penty is one of

the most beau-tiful actresses and models in the fi lm in-dustry, she has won the hearts of countless audiences with her perfor-mance in fi lms like "Cocktail" and "Parmanu: the story of Pokhran". Besides act-ing skills, her fashion sense is one thing that the fans adore her for, and she never fails to make a fashionable splash on social media.On Friday, Diana posted a picture on Instagram where she can be seen reading a book to her pet, Vicky, while it is relaxing on the sofa. This picture shows how close Diana is with Vicky, but her caption states that she still she misreads

Vicky's mind, she writes, ".On the work front, Diana Penty will next be seen in Kunal Deshmukh's directed romantic drama fi lm "Shiddat: journey beyond love". The fi lm also features Radhika Madan, Sunny Kaushal,

and Mohit Raina. The fi lm is now said to have a digital release on Disney+Hotstar owing to the CO-VID-19 pandemic. However, there is no offi cial confi rmation from the makers or the OTT platform.

AAMIR KHAN SPOTTED SHOOTING FOR 'LAAL SINGH CHADDHA' IN DELHI

Superstar Aamir Khan is currently shooting for his film "Laal Singh

Chaddha" in Delhi, and pic-tures and videos from the set are doing the rounds on the internet.

In the viral images and clips, Aamir is seen talk-

ing to his crew during an outdoor stint. He

wears seen a bright orange T-shirt and

a pair of blue jeans.Aamir's look has impressed his fans."He looks so young," a user commented, seeing the pcitues and videos. Another useer wrote: "Amazing. Ea-gerly waiting for his movie." "Laal Singh Chaddha" is an adaptation of Tom Hanks' movie "Forrest Gump". The film also features Kareena Kapoor Khan, who is also currently in Delhi.

BHUMI PEDNEKAR'S 'DURGAVATI' TO

RELEASE DIRECTLY ON AMAZON PRIME?Following the ongoing

trend of digital streaming, producer Vikram Mal-

hotra of Abundantia Enter-tainment has also decided to follow the footsteps of other producers and has opted OTT release for one of his production.

It has been recently learned that Bhumi Ped-neker's 'Durgavati' produced by Vikram, along with Akshay Kumar and Bhushan Kumar will be directly released on Amazon Prime Video.

After 'Dolly Kitti Aur Woh Chamakte Sita-re', Bhumi Pedneker is all set to be back on the digital screen with 'Durgavati'. Durgavati is an of-ficial remake of Anushka Shetty's 2018 Telugu film, 'Bhaagamathie'.

Directed by G. Ashok , its a horror thriller that tells a sto-ry of a woman stucked in a haunted place while being in-

terrogated in a corruption case. Bhumi will be seen playing the role of an IAS

officer.The film also stars Arshad Warsi, Jisshu Sengupta and Ma-

hie Gill in pivotal roles. Akshay Kumar can be seen in a cameo

role in the film.The film’s prin-cipal shooting is almost done

and a two-days shoot will be wrapped up in Mum-bai very soon. Actress and environmentalist Bhumi Pednekar feels education is the signifi-cant channel to raise

awareness on climate conservation. "The changes we are ob-serving are real and are

an undeniable threat to our civilisation.

This year we have wit-nessed the Australian bush-

fires burning 18 million hect-are of land. One billion animals

were killed and many endan-gered species in the country were driven to extinction," Bhumi said.

Akshay Kumar can be seen in a cameo role in the film.The film's

principal shooting is almost done and a two-days shoot will be wrapped up in Mumbai very soon.

Replacement ofBridges having steel girder of span with PSC slab in Br. No. 138 B (2 x 9.14m) in Arsikere-Birur (Total-2 Spans).

PUB/148/AASP/PRB/SWR/2020-2021

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESGreater Hyderabad

28 Monday, SepteMber, 2020 pageS-8

Take on opposition for MLC polls: KTRHyderabad, Sept.27 (UNI):

TRS working president and Municipal minister, K T Rama Rao today called upon party leadership to take on the opposition parties for their continuous rhetoric on the state government.

During a television con-ference with the in-charg-es of the TRS for gradu-ate MLC polls, KTR asked them to turn down strategi-cally the comments being made by the congress and the BJP leaders. The TRS re-gime has been successfully coordinating welfare and development programs with coordination. He asked to get voter enroll-ment from October 1 with family members for gradu-ate MLC polls. Despite our programs are getting ap-plause at national level for

long time the opposition parties are resorting to mud slinging, KTR fumed. Fight the polls and rebut the opposition parties stra-tegically, he added.

He expressed displeasure

that the opposition parties are not able to digest fast de-velopment and continuous improvement facilities in the state. Ahead of the MLC and other polls, the rank and file of the TRS has to up its ante

on the opposition parties, he directed. He exuded con-fidence of repeating victory as it has been accustomed to in previous polls in the state. Make wide ranging campaign and take welfare

schemes to people to get their support, KTR asked. He said that active coordi-nation by the leaders and activists will get us victory. The minister has sought the ruling party leaders not to spare the Congress and BJP leaders for vague com-ments. We have offered 1.5 lakh jobs and provided 15 lakh employment opportu-nities through TSiPASS, KTR claimed. Just for political mileage these parties trying to blame us and will be of no

use in the polls, he averred . The people are with us and gave mandate to the TRS for second time for welfare, he claimed.

He exuded confidence of repeating victory as it has been accustomed to in pre-vious polls in the state. Make wide ranging campaign and take welfare schemes to people to get their support, KTR asked. He said that active coordination by the leaders and activists will get us victory.

TRS woRking pReSidenT and Mu-nicipal MiniSTeR, k T RaMa Rao Today

called upon paRTy leadeRShip To Take on The oppoSiTion paRTieS foR TheiR conTinuouS RheToRic on The

STaTe goveRnMenT.

GHMC preparatory MeetinG at GandHi BHavanhydeRabad 27 SepTeMbeR. uTTaM kuMaR Reddy, pcc

pReSidenT, ShRi ManickaM TagoRe, aicc inchaRge

Telangana, ShRi nS boSe Raju, ShRi SReenivaSan kRiShnan, aicc SecReTaRieS, ShRi bhaTTi

vikRaMaRka, clp leadeR, ShRi a RevanTh Reddy, ShRi ponnaM pRabhakaR, ShRi jeTTi kuSuM kuMaR, ShRi v

hanuManTha Rao, ShRi MaRRi ShaShidhaR Reddy, ShRi

anjan kuMaR yadav, ShRi c naRaSiMha Reddy, ShRi

kuna SRiSailaM goud, ShRi guduR naRayana Reddy,

ShRi abdullah Sohail weRe paRTicipaTed in The MeeTing.

//p anil kuMaR, phoTo jouRnaliST.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 228 Monday, SepteMber, 2020

CongRess sLaMs CM KCR foR noT inCLuding Covid TReaTMenT in aaRogyasRi

Hyderabad, September 24: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gu-dur Narayana Reddy has strongly condemned Chief Minister K. Chandrashek-har Rao for not including treatment of Coronavirus under Aarogyasri Scheme. Narayana Reddy, in a me-dia statement on Thurs-day, said that the Chief Minister had given an assurance on the floor of Telangana Legislative As-sembly on September 9 that he would consider including Covid-19 treat-ment under Aarogyasri scheme. He said that the Chief Minister did nothing in this regard in the last 15 days. “Covid-19 cases in Telangana have touched 1.80 lakh mark today and so far, as many as 1,070 people lost their lives. When will KCR react? Is he waiting for the Covid cases figure to touch one million mark or is he wait-ing for the death toll to cross one lakh?” he asked. The Congress leader said that the Covid-19 pan-demic has apparently reached Stage-3 in Telan-

gana State. Even after six months, there are no signs of any slowdown in Covid-19 cases despite manipulation of real fig-ures by the State Govern-ment. He said many mid-dle-class and poor people were not coming forwards to test themselves for Co-vid-19 with the fear of how they would manage treatment if found posi-tive. He said the fear of lack of facilities in public hospitals and exorbitant bills in private hospi-tals were keeping away a majority of people from getting themselves test-ed for Covid-19 despite them having mild symp-toms. “This behaviour will change if the State Government offers free

treatment for Covid-19 by including under Aaro-gyasri scheme,” he said. Narayana Reddy point-ed out that as many as 1,79,246 cases of Covid-19 were registered in Telan-gana as on September 23 (till 8 pm). Of them, as per official figures, as many as 1,48,139 patients have recovered. “On an aver-age, if each patient had spent Rs. 1 lakh for his/her treatment, then com-mon people had spent at least Rs. 1500 Crore for their purse,” he said add-ing that the real amount was much higher as private hospitals have charged Rs. 5-10 lakh for treatment of each patient. The Congress leader said thousands of families

have lost all their savings, sold properties and jew-ellery and fell into huge debts to arrange money for Covid-19 treatment. “The State Government could have saved these families from financial trouble if it would have included Covid-19 treat-ment under Aarogyasri in the beginning itself,” he said and added that thousands of other fami-lies would face a similar fate if CM KCR further delays the inclusion of Coronavirus treatment. Narayana Reddy said that the State Government was boasting of having a high recovery rate of 82.64%. While making such claims, the State Government should also give a thought to the fact that most of the patients paid a heavy price in getting cured from the deadly disease. He demanded that the Chief Minister immedi-ately issue orders to in-clude Covid-19 treatment under Aarogyasri. Else, he warned that the Congress party would a massive agitation to siege Pragathi Bhavan.

THe ReaL esTaTe BooM is onLy in HydeRaBad says MinisTeR TaLasani sRinivas yadav

PaRaMesHWaR Reddy addRess THe sW dRain

& undeRgRound dRainage issues

TSIT BUREAUTelangana state Minister of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Cinematog-raphy Talsani Srinivas Yadav said there was a good demand for Real estate lands in Hyderabad in the entire coun-try. Fusion Holidays was launched un-der the auspices of NNR Infra in Upp-al, Hyderabad on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, he said that Hyderabad has a good demand for open plots due to good weather and all the amenities. After the Telangana government came into power taken all necessary steps to develop the Hyderabad brand image, the people’s passion for Hyderabad has further increased. Hospitality and connectivity are all positive. People are hoping to go on a holiday trip, Going abroad is difficult in the current circumstances. For that, they want to select pilgrimage places in the state

of Telangana. After discussing with Manohar, the managing director of tourism, and make arrangements to visit the famous places. You can also

visit temple tourism, eco-tourism and natural sites in Telangana. Kuntala waterfall, lakkaram and other places are said to be delightful. There are fa-mous temples and famous churches in Telangana. He welcomed FUSION HOLIDAYS a Division of NNR INFRA & HOLIDAYS to Real Estate, Holiday Trips. Fusion Holidays aspires to be appreciated by the poor and middle class. He said that the company will provide the nec-essary support and appropriate assis-tance to make further progress. Fusion Holidays office was inaugurated by Minister Talsani Srinivas Yadav, Uppal MLA Beti Subhash Reddy and former MLC Pula Ravinder.in this program Fusion Holidays Managing Director G. NAGI REDDY, CEO MOGHAL AZHAR ALI BAIG and other TRS leaders and NRR Infra staff were present.

TSIT BUREAU Uppal constitutency se-nior leader Ex corporator M. Parameshwar Reddy on Sunday visited Bharath Nagar in Ramanthapur Di-vision and address the SW DRAIN and underground drainage issues,colony people brought their problems to MPR notice,

he given assurance that drainage problems will be solved at earliest , with PARAMESHWAR REDDY Colony President Laxman Mohan Reddy , Arvind Swamy, Hanumant Reddy , Venkatesh, Ravinder , Taufeeq, Prashant Reddy , and Upender Reddy vis-ited .

TSIT BUREAU On Sunday BOSANI PAVAN KUMAR with other leaders met Telangana new incharge Manikyam Tagore in Gandhi Bhavan and felici-tated him and asked him to give chance in coming GHMC elec-tions in YOUTH CONGRESS quota, on this occasion PAVAN KUMAR said from many years

he is doing lot of agitations against Trs government and fought for the welfare of the people if he would get a chance as a corporator he said he will win with good majority and serve the people, in this meet BANDI SHYAM Goud parlia-ment president Malkajgiri Bosani PAVAN Kumar Telan-gana state secretary.

on the occasion of the 105th birth anniversary of Kondabapuji Laxman at Rabindrabharati in

Hyderabad, Ministers v. srinivas goud and gangula Kamalakar laid flowers and paid tributes.

BoSani pavan KUMar reQUeStS ConGreSS inCHarGe ManiKyaM taGore For Corporator

tiCKet in GHMC eLeCtionS

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 328 Monday, SepteMber, 2020

Huge ResPonse To BLood donaTion CaMP oRganiZed By uPPaL Zone

CHeMisT & dRuggisT assoCiaTionTSIT BUREAUThe blood donation camp set up at Uppal Bank Colony under the leadership of Up-pal Zone Chemist and Drug-gist was a grand success. The chemist brothers volunteered came forward and donated blood. More than three hun-dred people donated blood and stood for the ideal cause, The Uppal Zone Chemist and Druggist Association has come forward to fulfill this social responsibility, knowing that many people in Telangana may have difficulty in getting the required blood supply for emergency medical services or in a timely manner. Special congratulations to DCA Assis-tant Director Medchal District K ANIL KUMAR for helping in setting up the blood do-nation camp considering the great massive social respon-sibility of blood donation as a duty. Anil Kumar applauded the Association He formally launched the program. In this program Muralikrishna Drug Inspector Uppal Zone, Ra-jireddy DI Medchal Zone, for-mer corporator Mandamulla Parameswara Reddy, Uppal Chemist and Druggist Asso-

ciation Uppal Zone President Gonguluri Venugopal Sharma, General Secretary Ashok and association members Ra-jender siddhi, Bikkumulla RAVI GUPTHA, SURESH ,KIRAN KUMAR, Rajeshwar Rao, Bhaskar Reddy, Ramak-rishna Reddy, Haripal Reddy, Vijay, Bank Colony Associa-tion President Ramesh, Gen-

eral Secretary Merey Shekhar, Leaders Gonguluri Srinivasa Sharma, Ravula Balakrishna Gowd, Bazaar Jagannath Goud, Lion. Krishna Prasad and prajadarbar staff mem-bers MADIRAJU SURESH , DASA RAJU, D. NAVEEN REDDY,RAVIKANTH, K.L.N. NARSIMHA RAO and others were present.

(TSIT bureau) Hyderabad, September 27: The Congress party on Sunday demanded that the Telangana Government constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a girl by a local TRS leader. Hyderabad City Congress Committee (HCCC) Minorities Department Chairman Sameer Waliullah, along with TPCC Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin, ex-Corporator Shaik Shareef, Youth Congress leaders Shahbaz Khan, Mohd Inram Khan, Mohd Mohsin and other leaders, met the family members of the victim, Nazia Begum, at their residence in Moinabad on Sunday. Speaking to media persons later, Sameer Waliullah said that the statements of family members clearly suggest that the girl was sexually abused by the TRS leader Madhu Yadav for over a year and he allegedly murdered her on September 25. However, he said that the police was trying to show girl’s death as suicide. He said that the police have registered a case of rape and abetment to commit suicide case

against TRS leader Madhu Yadav. He said that the police had earlier registered a case under IPC section 354 (Outraging Modesty of a woman) and 306 (Abetment to commit suicide). But after investigation, the police have altered the section 376 (Rape) from 354. Similarly, he said that the Section 306 should be altered to Section 302 as the girl was allegedly murdered and she did not commit suicide. Sameer Waliullah alleged that some ruling TRS party leaders were reportedly trying to pressurise the local police to hush up the case. Therefore, he demanded that the State Government constitute

a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the matter in a fair manner. He said that the culprit should be punished by conducting the trial in a Fast Track Court. The Congress leader said that the victim, Nazim Begum, was the bread earner for her family and she used to look after her mother and a younger sister. Therefore, he demanded that the State Government pay adequate compensation to the family. He warned that the Congress party would launch agitation if TRS Government tries to dilute the case to protect the leader of the ruling party. (Ends)

Congress demands SIT probe into rape and murder

of a girl in Moinabad

aicc naTional geneRal SecReTaRy in chaRge of Telangana congReSS paRTy affaiRS ManikaM TagoRe waS coRdially gReeTed by Tpcc SpokeSpeRSon dR. SaTyaM SRiRangaM. on Sunday aT gandhi bhavan pReMiSeS SRiRangaM Said ThaT in The foRTh coMing dayS congReSS bRighTfuTuRe. undeR The leadeR Ship of ManikaM TagoRe To bRing The paRTy poweR will woRk RelenTleSS effoRTS will keep Ruling paRTy failuReS in fRonT of The

people he Said in a Media STaTeMenT .

( sadBHavna )Humanity is the only service of human being the nizamabad district Jamat- e- islami Hind shaik Hussain today organized a programme at

Limra garden function Hall Bodhan Road.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 428 Monday, SepteMber, 2020

niZaMaBad BJp MLC Candidate SUBMitted a petition to eLeCtion oFFiCer

TSIT BUREAU Nizamabad Sep 27 ; Today, BJP MLC candidate Potanakar Lak-shmi Narayana along with BJP district general secretary Ny-alam Raju submitted a petition to the district election officer collector asking him to allot 50 booths to 824 voters in the MLC polls. BJP MLC candidate Potanakar Lakshmi Narayana told Collector Electoral Officer that there was more.

Hyderabad 27 ; Today at Hyderabad under the leadership of Roads and Building Hon’ble Min-ister Prashant Reddy and Nizamabad ( Urban ) MLA Begala Ganesh Gupta , the BJP 37 Division Corporator Uma Rani joined TRS Party . After the Municipal Corporation Elections which was Conducted in the month of February 2020 the BJP Party got 27 seats , among them so far 5 members of the BJP Corporator Joined TRS Party with in eight months. He who ever joined TRS party told to Media that because of the Telangana Hon’ble Chief Minister K.Chandra Shaker Rao’s develop-ment and Welfare Programmes appreciated the people and the Corporators of the ruling govern-ment of TRS Party . The event was attended by Nizamabad (Rural) MLA Bajireddy Govardhan, Armoor MLA Jeevan Reddy , and DCCB Chairman Bhaskar Reddy.

Hyderabad, Sep 25 (UNI) In a shocking case of hon-our killing, a youth from Hyderabad was kidnapped and murdered by the fam-ily members of his wife for marrying her against their wish. The body of Hemant Kumar, 28, was found in Sangareddy district near Hyderabad early Friday.

Hemant and his wife Avanti were kidnapped by a group of people from their house in TNGO colony in Gachibowli area around 3 p.m. on Thursday.

While Avanti managed to escape from their clutches by jumping out of a car, they took her husband to the city outskirts and mur-dered him. Cyberabad po-lice have reportedly arrest-ed 12 people in connection with the kidnap and mur-der. They include Avanti’s maternal uncle, cousins and hired killers. Hemant and Avanti, who were neighbours, fell in love about eight years ago and wanted to marry. However, the girl’s family, belonging to an upper caste, was op-posed to the marriage.

parents locked her in home in November last year and were looking for

another alliance. She later managed to escape and on June 10 this year, Hemant and Avanti entered into the wedlock at a temple in BHEL. As the couple faced threat from Avanti’s family, they approached Cyber-abad Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar, who referred the matter to Chandanagar

police station. Both sides were called to the police station and Avanti’s family was told not to trouble the couple.

However, on Thursday a group of more than 10 peo-ple in three cars reached Hemant’s house and asked the couple to come with them. “We were told that

they want to discuss the issue and we boarded the cars. After a few minutes I realized that we have been kidnapped and I jumped out of the car,” Avanti told reporters.

However, the car carrying Hemant sped away towards Outer Ring Road. Though Avanti and Hemant’s par-ents alerted police, the ve-hicle could not be traced and the youth’s family was informed by police early Friday that his body was found in a field near Pa-tancheru in Sangareddy district.

This is the second such sensational case of honour killing in the state in two years. Earlier, Pranay, (24), a Dalit youth was hacked to death by a hired killer in full public view when he along with his wife Am-rutha and mother were coming out of a private hospital in Miryalaguda on September 14, 2018. The sensational murder was caught on CCTV camera. Amrutha’s father Maruthi Rao, who was against the marriage, had struck the deal to kill Pranay for Rs one crore.

Hyderabad youth kidnapped, killed over inter-caste marriage

TSIT BUREAU Nizamabad Sep 27 ; District Collector C Narayana Reddy paid rich tributes to Lakshman Bapuji on the occasion of his 105th birth anniversary. On Sunday, the District Collector participated in a function organized by the BC Welfare Department at the Pragati Bhavan Confer-ence Hall and paid hom-age to Konda Lakshman Bapuji by lighting a torch and placing a garland of flowers to illuminate the Jayanti function. Later, the District Collector said

that Konda Lakshman Bapu was an active par-ticipant in self-help and co-operative movements,

a man who worked for handicrafts, agro-based occupations, subsidies, occupational develop-

ment and moderniza-tion, a leader who bravely fought for the achievement of Telan-gana state, before the Harijan uprising and against the Patel and Patwari exploita-tion system. Said to be an ideal leader. The event was at-tended by Additional Collector Lata, Dis-trict BC Develop-ment Officer Ramesh,

DWO Sandhyarani, DPO Jayasudha, officers of various departments and others.

niZaMaBad disTRiCT CoLLeCToR Paid TRiBuTe To LaXMan BaPuJi on His 105TH BiRTH anniveRsaRy

one More niZaMaBad UrBan MUniCipaL BJp Corporator

diviSion 37 Joined trS

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 528 Monday, SepteMber, 2020

Two women from Telugu states make it to Nadda’s team

Hyderabad, Sep 27 (UNI) Two wom-en leaders from the Telugu states who had crossed over to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Congress have found place in the list of new office bearers announced on Saturday. Former union minister Daggubati Purandeswari from Andhra Pradesh and D. K. Aruna from Telangana have been appar-ently rewarded for switching loyalties. Purandeswari, who had quit Congress over bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to join the BJP in 2014, has been ap-pointed as the general secretary while D. K. Aruna, who had crossed over on the eve of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, has been named as the national vice-president of the party.

Purandeswari, who served as the minister in Congress-led United Pro-gressive Alliance (UPA) government, is the daughter of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder late N. T. Rama Rao. The 61-year-old con-tested unsuccessfully for Lok Sabha on BJP ticket from Rajampet in 2014 and Visakhapatnam in 2019. She en-tered electoral politics in 2004 by join-ing Congress party following differ-ences with her sister’s husband and then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Purandeswari’s husband D. Venkateswara Rao had backed Naidu

in the revolt against their father-in-law N. T. Rama Rao in August 1995. However, he later joined Congress as Naidu had started sidelining him. She was elected to Lok Sabha from Bapatla in 2004 when Congress party led by Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy stormed to power in then undi-vided Andhra Pradesh. In 2006 she became a minister at the Centre. A gemology graduate from Chennai’s South Indian Educational Trust and Women’s College and a Kuchipudi dancer, Purandeswari was elected to Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam in 2009 and again became a minister as UPA retained power. D. K. Aruna, one of the prominent women lead-ers of Congress in Telangana, joined

BJP after she was assured a Lok Sabha ticket from Mahabubnagar. She, how-ever, lost the election to M. Srinivas Reddy of TRS. The 60-year-old served as the minister in the cabinets of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and K. Rosaiah in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2004-2010. Elected from Gadwal Assembly constituency in 2004, 2009 and 2014, Aruna lost the 2018 elections. Former president of BJP’s Telangana unit K. Laxman has also found a place in J. P. Nadda’s team. Laxman, a former legislator, has been appointed OBC Morcha president. Satya Kumar from Andhra Pradesh has retained his po-sition as the national secretary. How-ever, three prominent BJP faces from Telugu states were dropped.

Hyderabad, Sep 27 (UNI) Maulana Azad National Urdu

University (MANUU) will conduct entrance tests for admission into

its regular courses on Septem-ber 28, 29 and 30. According to

Prof Siddiqui Mohd. Mahmood, Registrar in-charge, around

10,000 candidates are expected to attend the entrance test at 16 Examination Centres across the

country. The university has taken all precautionary measures at

the exam centers in view of the Covid 19 pandemic. Candidates

were also given an additional op-portunity to choose their nearest

exam center. The entrance test will be conducted in two ses-

sions- - Morning 9.30 to 11.30 am and Afternoon 2.30 to 4.30 pm. In the morning session of September

28 entrance test for PhD (Urdu, English, Hindi, Arabic, Persian,

Public Administration,Social Ex-clusion and Inclusive Policy , Mass Communication and Journalism),

M.Tech and D.EL.Ed are sched-uled whereas in afternoon session PhD (Education, Islamic Studies,

Social Work, History, Economics), M.Ed and MCA entrance tests will

be conducted. The entrance for PhD (Manage-

ment, Sociology, Political Science, Translation Studies), B.Tech,

MBA, B.Ed (Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences) will be con-

ducted in the morning session of September 29 and in the after-

noon session the entrance for PhD (Computer Science, Commerce,

Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology) and Polytechnic

will be held. On September 30, in morning session the entrance for B.Ed (Social Studies), B.Ed (Math-

ematics) and in the afternoon session entrance for B.Ed (Urdu)

and Ph.D (Women Studies) will be conducted. Apart from University

headquarters Hyderabad, the entrance tests will also be con-ducted at Asansol, Aurangabad, Azamgarh, Bengaluru, Bhopal,

Bidar, Cuttack, Darbhanga, Delhi, Kadapa, Kishanganj, Lucknow, Patna, Sanbhal and Srinagar.

All the candidates have to mandatorily submit a copy of

“No-Covid-19 Self Declaration” at the ET Examination centre in

the format available on University website. For a detailed entrance schedule visit university website

manuu.edu.in.

10,000 candidaTeS To appeaR foR Manuu enTRance TeST fRoM Sep 28

NIZAMABAD BJP LEADERS CELEBRATED BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF FREEDOM FIGHTERKONDA LAXMAN BAPUJI

Nizamabad Sep 27 ; on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Telanga-na freedom fighter Konda Lakshman Bapuji, district president Baswa Lak-shmi Narsaiah garlanded to his statue and paid homage and he said that Konda Lakshman Bapuji had played a key role in the struggle for inde-pendence and the Telangana movement. He was a committed politician who reluctantly left the post of minister for Telangana in 1969. The event was attended by corporators and several BJP leaders and party followers. by the police. Even the people’s rights organisations have also failed to condemn the encounters, he added.

Hyderabad, sep 27 (uni) authori-ties have sounded flood alert in Musi river here as the water levels in the two reservoirs upstream have reached to the brim following heavy rains in catchment areas. With huge inflows into Himayat sagar and osman sagar, the authorities are likely to release the excess flood water into Musi, which passes through the city. officials said saturday night that osman sagar is full and it is receiving an inflow of 20,000 cusecs. “gates may be opened any time,” they said.

greater Hyderabad Municipal Cor-poration (gHMC) has asked all dep-uty commissioners and zonal com-missioners of golconda, asif nagar, Bahadurpura, nampally, Charminar, aHimayath nagar and saidabad to be on high alert for inundation and evac-uation if need arises. full Tank Level

(fTL) of osman sagar is 1,753 feet. The iconic reservoir has been dead for the last few years. Meanwhile, the gates of Himayat sagar are also likely to be opened saturday night as the reservoir is receiving huge inflows due to heavy rainfall in the catchment areas. The water level at Himayat sagar reached 1756 feet against its full tank level of 1763.50 feet. flood gates will be opened once the water level reaches 1760 feet. Hyderabad Police Commissioner anjani Kumar advised people in areas on the banks of the river to be alert. “due to heavy rains in the catchment areas of Musi River, flash floods may come after midnight. it is better to be alert in the low lying areas on Musi Bank like Kishanbagh, Ziaguda, Puranapul, MgBs, Chad-erghat, golnaka,” he said. Heavy rains have been pounding Hyderabad.

Flood alert sounded for Hyderabad’s Musi river

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 628 Monday, SepteMber, 2020

vijayawada, sep 27 (uni) Telugu desam Party na-tional President and former Chief Minister n Chan-drababu naidu on sunday appealed to the y s Jagan Mohan Reddy headed gov-ernment to set up a Music university in memory of renowned singer late sP Balasubrahmanyam in nel-lore town. Mr.naidu wrote a letter to Chief Minister ys Ja-ganmohan Reddy, underlin-ing the need for preserving the legendary singer’s mem-ory by setting up a sangeeta Kala Khetra.

Through this, music and fine arts may be encouraged in the state. stating that Balasubrahmanyam made the Telugu people across the globe proud with his out-standing contributions, the TdP chief said that a bronze statue of the singer should be erected by the govern-

ment in the music univer-sity.

already, over 7 academies have been set up to promote and preserve culture and arts in the state. of this, the music academy should be named after sP Balasubrah-manyam, he said. Mr. naidu recalled how the aP gov-ernment set up the Telugu university and also erected 33 statues of Telugu stal-warts in different fields on the Tank Bund in Hyderabad city. also, the TdP regime initiated efforts to keep the memory of the contribu-

tions of film director Bapu and writer Ramana by de-veloping a Kalakshetra and a museum.

also, an annual national award was instituted in memory of renowned musi-cian and vocalist Mangalam-palli Balamuralikirshna. The TdP chief asked the andhra Pradesh Chief Minister to start annual state official celebrations on the birthday of sP Balu. a national award should be instituted in his name and Rs.10 lakh should be presented to the recipient every year.

naidu appeals govt to set up sPB Memorial Music university

Vijayawada, Spt 27 (UNI) Telugu Desam party, as part of efforts to revamp and rejuve-nate the party across the state, announced the names of presidents for 25 Parliament constitu-encies on Sunday. TDP National President and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu an-nounced the names of presidents for 25 Parlia-mentary constituencies on Sunday.

After suffering a de-bacle in the 2019 elec-

tions, the TDP started revamping the party in the State. Speculation is that Chandrababu Naidu has decided to appoint K Atchannaidu, MLA and deputy Floor leader in the Legislative Assembly, as Andhra Pradesh State TDP president.

The following is the names of newly ap-pointed presidents for 25 Parliamentary constitu-encies. Mr Kunra Ravi Kumar was appointed as president for Srikakulam Parliamentary, constitu-

ency, Kimidi Nagarjuna for Vizainagarm, Buddha Naga Jagadeshara Rao for Anakapalli, Srinivasa Rao for Visakhapatnam, Gummadi Sandhya Rani for Araku, Jyotula Navin for Kakinada, K S Jawahar for Rajahmundry, Ananta-kumari for Amalapuram, Thota Sita Rama Lakshmi for Narasapuram, Ganni Veerajaneyulu for Eluru, Nettam Raghuram for Vijayawada, Konakalla Narayana Rao for Machil-ipatnam, T Shravan Kumar for Guntur, Ye-

luru Sambhashiva Rao for Bapatla, G V Anjaneyulu for NarasaraoPet, Balaji for Ongole, Abdul Ajeej for Nellore, Narasimha Ya-dav for Tirupati, Kulavarti Nani for Chittoor, M Linga Reddy for Kadapa, R Srini-vasa Reddy for Rajampet, Somisetti Venkateswa-rulu for Kurnool, Gouru Venkata Reddy for Nan-dyala, B K Parthasarathi for Hindupur and Kalava Srinivasulu was appoint-ed as president for Anan-tapur Parliamentary con-stituency.

TDP appoints Parliament constituency presidents

Hyderabad Sep 27: Travel plans to the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh may have to wait longer with a stand-off between the Telangana State Road Transport Cor-poration (TSRTC) and its AP counterpart over resumption of inter-state services is con-tinuing.

Despite several meetings between the two corpora-tions on the issue, no deci-sion has been taken so far to operate inter-state buses in both the States. Recently, the TSRTC officials made proposals on operating an

equal number of buses on select routes so that there would not be a difference in daily revenue. Since bi-furcation, APSRTC has been operating buses on 2.5 lakh route kilometres in Telan-

gana while TSRTC used to run buses on 1.5 lakh route km in AP. This prompted the TSRTC to bring down the AP-SRTC route km in Telangana, since the higher route km by APSRTC was affecting the

TSRTC revenue, apart from asserting that inter-state ser-vices will be operated only if APSRTC accepted Telanga-na’s proposals. TSRTC chief manager Muni Shekar said the decision was left to the APSRTC to take a final call on reducing the route km. “The inter-state buses from Telan-gana to AP are 750 while APSRTC runs 1,006 buses in Telangana. At the end of the day, we want both corpora-tions to generate equal rev-enue,” he said. During the last week’s meeting, APSRTC officials were asked to bring

Ts, aP at impasse over inter-state bus services their operations on par with that of TSRTC. However, they were yet to decide on this, which was de-laying inter-state services, he said.

Thousands of passengers used to travel by bus between Hyder-abad and Vijayawada route, one of the busiest routes in both the States. Now, passengers are rely-ing on their own vehicles or pri-vate transportation since there have been no passenger trains to Vijayawada except a couple of special trains. The inter-state bus services between TS and AP were suspended when the lockdown began in late March. Though TSRTC resumed inter-district ser-vices in May, it is yet to begin both city and inter-state services.

Inter-state services to K’taka,

Maha from Friday Meanwhile, the inter-state bus services from Hyderabad to Karnataka and Maharashtra will be restored on Friday following a clearance given by the State government. TSRTC will operate around 400 buses to these two States while waiting for a clearer picture to emerge on services to AP, where it runs nearly 750 buses. According to RTC authorities, the road transport corporations of Karnataka and Maharash-tra States will also restore their operations to Telangana. The important routes in these states are Raichur, Bidar, Nanded, Mumbai, Pune, Gulbarga, Nag-pur and Chandrapur, officials added.

Covid-19 recoveries in Telangana

outnumber new cases

Hyderabad, Sep 27 (UNI) Telangana on Sunday reported more recoveries from Covid-19 than the new cases during the last 24 hours. The state added 1,967 cases, taking the overall tally to 1,85,833.

Nine more people succumbed to the virus during the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,100. The fatality rate in the state remains at 0.59 per cent against the national average of 1.57 per cent. With 2,058 recoveries, the cumulative number has gone up to 1,54,499. The recovery rate has gone up further to 83.13 per cent against the national average of 82.39 per cent.

The number of active cases in the state stands at 30,234 includ-ing 24,607 in home/institutional isolation. According to a media bulletin released from the office of the director of public health and family welfare, 50,108 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours ending 8 p.m. Saturday. These include 22,047 primary contacts. With this the state has

so far tested 28,50,869 samples. Samples tested per million population improved further to 76,788. Officials say the daily testing target for the state is 5,600 per day as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmark of 140 per million per day. A total of 17 government-run laborato-ries, 43 private laboratories and 1,076 rapid antigen test centres are conducting the tests.

The district wise daily count of cases shows that state capital Hyderabad continues to top the list. It reported 297, a drop from 316 new cases the previous day. The spike in districts continued. Karimnagar recorded second highest number of cases at 152 followed by Rangareddy (147), Medchal Malkajgiri (137), Na-lgonda (105), Bhadradri Koth-agudem (91), Warangal Urban (89) and Khammam (78). The bed status in 62 government hospitals treating Covid patients shows that 6,535 out of 8,840 beds are vacant. A total of 225 private hospitals treating.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 728 Monday, SepteMber, 2020

From the time the first Coronavirus case was recorded in China, to India’s numbers crossing four million, CO-VID-19 has millions of lives under its ambit. Now, for a country like India, where the cardiovascular disease bur-den is already at an alarming high, these are threatening facts. Moreover, pandemic-induced lockdowns have also raised stress levels which can in-duce heart related ailments.

On this World Heart Day, here are some thoughts by Dr Viveka Kumar on the importance of understanding cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), what they mean today, how we can protect ourselves, and the technologies that help us significantly improve patient outcomes.

A Closer Look at Heart Diseases

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “CVDs are the number one cause of death glob-ally: more people die annually from CVDs than from any other cause. In 2016, CVDs took approximately 17.9 million lives, out of which 85 percent were due to stroke and heart attack.” Now, let’s understand what CVDs constitute. CVDs are a group of dis-orders of the heart and blood vessels. According to statistics, four out of five deaths caused by CVDs happen due to strokes or heart attacks.

The most common cause of heart attacks and strokes is a sedentary lifestyle. Alcohol consumption, un-healthy diet, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity are contributing factors. Heart attacks and strokes are also

caused due to a blockage that inter-feres with the blood flowing to the brain or heart. These blockages are caused by the build-up of fatty depos-its on the walls of blood vessels that carry blood to the two organs. In some cases, internal bleeding in the brain or blood clots can also cause strokes.

Fighting Against the CVD Burdensimplest way to tackle the CVD

burden is to create awareness about its most common symptoms and not ignoring them. For instance, keep a check on your diabetes levels, choles-terol intake, watch out for symptoms like frequent chest pain, irregular heartbeat, pain in the elbows, left shoulder, or discomfort in the arms or back. The most common symptoms of a stroke are numbness in arms

or legs, especially on one side of the body, dizziness, difficulty in speaking, loss of balance, or severe headache with an unknown cause.

Since these are common symptoms that are often ignored by patients, it is advisable to consult a doctor if

they are regular. Taking measures like maintaining proper weight, keeping regular check on diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure at home is imper-ative, but we must not forget the im-portance of regular health check-ups. If you have symptoms.

With demand for Indian ani-mated content growing among global audiences, especially with children who are a significant consumer group for animations like cartoon shows, a home-grown animation brand Cosmos Maya, the creator of popular children’s show ‘Motu Patlu’, shares that it is an exciting time to be in the animation business.

The animation studio and Ar-baaz Khan Productions have recently come together to adapt the blockbuster franchise ‘Da-bangg’ into an animated series. This news comes right in line with the tenth anniversary cel-ebration of the film franchise that introduced the character of Chulbul ‘Robin Hood’ Pan-dey for the first time in 2010. The show will feature animated avatars of all of the franchise’s characters. Targeted at kids and family audiences, Season 1 will be launching in summer 2021.

Anish Mehta, the CEO of Cosmos Maya - whose content is airing or streaming in over 150 countries on major OTT or TV platforms in 18 languages, speaks to life about Indian animation and how promising its future is, globally. Excerpts:

Q: Tell us about the making of some of your most popular IPs.

A: Our idea behind most of our content output is to ensure familiarity with novelty. Imple-menting insights, we derive from

everyday familial and social life that are relevant for kids in a package that adapts to chang-ing sensibilities and require-ments of our young audience. For example, naughtiness and clumsy behaviour is something which many kids expect to be reprimanded for and is often the subject of most kids’ animation, so ‘Motu Patlu’, showing on Nick and Voot Kids, subverted the trope by providing a set of adults indulging in such behaviour in-stead.

‘Selfie with Bajrangi’ stream-ing on Disney TV and Disney+ Hotstar takes the fantastical power of invisibility and shape-shifting and provides the lead character a friend in Bajrangi, a junior version of a revered god who is known for such powers. We largely credit our business spread and market share of over 60 percent to this core philoso-phy. We are always looking out for arenas where we can be first innovators, such as the Dabangg animated series coming out on Disney+ Hotstar soon, which will be one of our first projects and a step for the Indian animation business towards working with established Bollywood IPs and provide them a creative and lu-crative extension.

Q: How exciting is it to be in the animation business right now? How has it picked up over the years?

A: Our company is in the re-markable position where we have only witnessed but been a significant catalyst to the growth of the animation and post-pro-duction industry in India. We have seen the transition of this market from a solely outsourc-ing-based service provider sub to and IP-rich industry. Additional-ly, more and more media outlets and business entities have come to realise that this medium helps them accomplish greater story-telling and advertising potential, as it works perfectly for the zani-est of narratives and visual man-dates.

Animation is simply fun, being one of the first visual interfaces a child has for the world, and it is a sector that has proved resil-ient in the face of global calami-ties, which reflects in the perfor-mance of the industry despite an entire locational shift in the workspace of people involved. The projected growth of the sec-tor is expected to reach almost $26 billion in FY21, and we strive to make the most of it.

Q: Children are huge consum-ers of animated content. How do you create content around them?

A: We have a think tank com-prising of people from the cre-ative, business, sales and execu-tive departments and concept artists, who come together to discuss and derive actionable insights from everyday life and

how kids are adapting with the times. How life reflects in their worldview and behaviour, and what kind of ideals their parents as the content moderators want to inculcate in them. Our show ‘Titoo’ on Pogo takes the story of an everyday boy akin to ‘Dennis the Menace’, and delivering it in a tone and language relevant to kids today in a slice-of-life nar-rative. ‘Bapu’ and ‘Gadget Guru Ganesha’ take a similar setup as ‘Selfie with Bajrangi’ to provide known and respected figures as best friends/role models to the lead characters and helping them navigate through, discuss-ing relevant topics such as social responsibility in a non-pedagog-ical manner.

Q: Please tell us about anima-tion as an art form.

A: Two things render anima-tion its artistic status - that it adapts to nearly every creative requirement that a content cre-ator may have of its narrative, and that it’s limited only by their imagination. Animation lends it-self to the most randomly imagi-native narratives and visual detail and nearly every genre of storytelling in a manner that is adaptive, conducive and cost-effective.

Q: What’s the global appeal of Indian animated content as of now? Animation is mostly thought of as Japanese or Ko-rean. A: Our show ‘Eena Meena

Deeka’ can be called to the stand to answer this. A non-dialogue show about three chickens and their battle of wits with a hungry fox, is one of our best perform-ing shows in over 80 countries, and is one of the most highly viewed shows in Europe and Lat-in America. ‘Vir: The Robot Boy’ has nearly 11 billion views glob-ally on our YouTube multi-chan-nel brand WowKidz. From long-format to short-format content, Indian animation is catering to audiences across the world and is steadily creating its own niche. If the demand for Indian anima-tion is going anywhere, it’s up.

Q: Some new trends you may be observing in the industry or consumer group?

A: Thanks to the near simulta-neous growth of video-sharing websites, OTT streaming and e-commerce, the issue of piracy is very nearly taken off, with fi-nancial losses on that front re-ducing significantly. Moreover the Indian industry is moving fast to make a foothold in the licencing and merchandising market which is the largest profit driver for the global animation industry. Cosmos-Maya is tak-ing active steps in that direction as well, with advertising-funded modules being discussed with brands. Animation is being ex-plored in detail as an effective communication touch point for business consumers.

treatinG tHe Heart witH SCientiFiC BreaKtHroUGHS, LiFeStyLe CHanGeS

‘if the demand for indian animation is going anywhere, it’s up’

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 828 Monday, SepteMber, 2020

Hyderabad, Sept.27 (UNI): Con-gress party MP from Malkajgiri seat A.Revanth Reddy today lashed out at rival and state municipal admin-istration and urban development minister KTR and alleged that the minister was ignoring the prob-lems being faced by the residents

of GHMC. He made these remarks after inspecting the flood affected areas of LB Nagar assembly constit-uency. Speaking on the occasion, he alleged that the residents of the con-stituency were facing the problems as local MLA d. Sudheer Reddy and his supporters and henchmen had encroached upon shikam lands and tank lands. He said that none of the state ministers including KTR were caring for the problems faced by the residents. Targeting minister KTR, he asked the minister he was not being seen anywhere except on his twitter account and video confer-ence meetings.

Hyderabad, Sept.27 (UNI): Newly elected Na-tional Vice President of the BJP, D K Aruna today made visit to the famous Chilkur Venkateshwara Swamy Temple near Hy-derabad city.

Aruna, the former min-ister, has got the blessings from main priest of Dr M V Soundararajan. The BJP leader has performed spe-cial pujas on the occasion. Dr M V Soundararajan blessed Aruna with all suc-cess. He also requested her to support the deity rights movement of Chilkur Ba-laji and get an official noti-fication. The Deity Rights proposed notification is expected to provide con-stitutional protection for the pious purpose of Deity and Devotees constituting Hindu Temple Worship Sampradaya (“Hindu pub-lic having belief in God. It is a faith in temple worship is a religious denomina-

tion” as defined by Kerala High Court full bench) in the legal personality of the Deity under Art 26 from both internal and external threats. The operative part of the draft notification is as follows :-(1)As per Art 363 read with Art 5 from the commencement of the Constitution, that is as from 26-1-1950 Shri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Deity as Ruler of Hindu Temple worship sampradaya enjoys Art 26 Rights along with all fundamental rights enjoyed by Citizens.

(2) By operation of Art 14

the pious purpose of incar-nation of all Hindu Deities is equally protected under Art 26 and other fundamen-tal rights enjoyed by Shri Anantha Padmanabha Swa-my Deity. While clearly the basis of Sabarimala judge-ment against which crores of women devotees agitated for protecting rights of their Deity will go enabling vic-tory of Dharma; The impact of this simple one-page no-tification with above opera-tive part will be profound and we look at some of the other Top 5 immediate ef-fects of this notification

Temples currently ad-ministered by the Secular Govts will come under an autonomous Dharmika Parishad with eminent devotees representing Hindu Temple Worship Sampradaya as our Acha-ryas have desired as per the 2010 resolution of Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha with Pujya Swami Day-ananda Saraswati as the convener and in line with recent Palani temple case judgement ratio “Acharyas discussed and resolved to form a Rajya Dharmika Parishad in order to pre-serve autonomy of Hindu religious institutions and curtail the interference of the Govt...the members..should be appointed after taking suggestions and ad-vice from all the Acharyas” Deity Rights movement will result in the formation of dharmika Parishad to over-see the temple administra-tion in the entire country.

MP Revanth Reddy lashes out at minister KTR

BJP national vP dK aruna visits Chilkur Balaji Temple, vows for rights notification

Srinivas goud starts tourism day bike rally

Hyderabad, Sept.27 (UNI): On the occasion of World Tour-ism Day, Confederation of In-dian Industry in association with Government of Telangana organized a “TRAVEL AGAIN : Bike Ride to Ananthagiri Hills” with the theme ‘Encouraging Weekend Tourism hangouts for Rural Development’ on Sun-day from Taramati Baradari to Anantagiri Hills. The objective of this ride was to encourage Weekend Tourism hangouts so that people RESTART living these trends.

While participating in the Bike ride, Chief Guest V Srini-vas Goud, Minister Youth Ser-vices, Tourism & Culture and Archaeology, Government of Telangana appreciated the ef-forts of CII for promoting tour-ism in the state, He also said that under the dynamic leader-ship of Chief Minister and KT Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister

for Industries several measures were taken to strengthen tour-ism eco-system in the state. He also that Durgam Cheruvu is being developed with world class infrastructure. Telangana government has taken initia-tive for tourism development and to attract tourists from other states and countries he maintained. Earlier tourists used to places like Singapore, Dubai and others. Now with corona pandemic there is no such situation, he said. The minister said that a plan of ac-

tion is being g implemented to ensure tourism development. Telangana capital Hyderabad is favourite tourism destina-tion and several other places are to be developed as tourist spots. Budhavanam in Nagar-juna Sagar area Phanigiri, Kotii Lingala will attract more tour-ists. He said that several water projects are being developed as the tourism spits like -- Kalesh-waram, Mid Maner, Lakna-varam, Annaram, Medigadda, Karivena, Udhandapur, Koil-sagar, and others.

Hyderabad, sep 27 (uni) after a delay of six months, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daugh-ter K. Kavitha finally appears set to enter the state Legisla-tive Council. With the election Commission announcing oc-tober 9 as the date of polling for the by-election for the post of MLC from nizamabad Lo-cal authorities Constituency, Kavitha’s election seems to be only a formality given the huge majority the ruling Telangana Rashtra samithi (TRs) enjoys in local bodies in nizamabad.

as the TRs has 598 out of total 824 voters, Kavitha’s elec-tion is being seen as a foregone conclusion. However, the TRs leadership has cautioned the party leaders against compla-cency and overconfidence. Chandrasekhar Rao has di-rected the party leaders to en-

sure her victory with a huge margin. Congress had just 140 seats while the Bharatiya Jana-ta Party (BJP) is at distant third place with 84. However, the TRs leaders are not taking any chances. Kavitha had received a shock defeat at the hands of BJP’s d. arvind in nizamabad Lok sabha constituency last year. it was a big blow for the Chief Minister’s daughter who was elected from the same

constituency in 2014. since then, Kavitha had gone into hibernation and was hardly making public appearances. The vacancy in the Council caused by disqualification of incumbent R. Bhupathi Reddy provided an opportunity to the TRs leaders to push for Kavitha’s candidature. at the request of party leaders from nizamabad, KCR agreed to field his daughter.

KCR’s daughter Kavitha appears set to enter Legislative Council