RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

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ANALYSIS 7TELANGANA’S RYTHU VEDIKASTRULY EMPOWERING FARMERS

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HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2022; PAGES 12 `3

LOOMING MUSK-TWITTER LEGAL BATTLEHAMMERS COMPANY SHARES

Shares of Twitter slid more than 11% in the first dayof trading after billionaire Elon Musk said that he wasabandoning his 44 billion bid for the company and

the social media platform vowed to challenge Musk incourt to uphold the agreement. Twitter is now preparingto sue Musk in Delaware where the company isincorporated. While the outcome is uncertain, both sidesare preparing for a long court battle. Musk alleged Fridaythat Twitter has failed to provide enough informationabout the number of fake accounts on its service.

VITAL ORGANS OF BRAIN DEADTEENAGER AT AIIMS SAVE THREE LIVES

The family of a 17-year-old girl who was declared braindead at AIIMS following a severe head injury has donatedher vital organs that gave a fresh lease of life to three

persons. Her liver was transplanted in a 39-year-old manadmitted at ILBS having chronic liver diseases, while a 35-year-old woman patient at AIIMS and 28-year-old man atSafdarjung got her kidneys, said Dr Deepak Gupta, Professorof Neurosurgery at AIIMS. Her heart was not found suitablefor transplantation on evaluation by cardiologists and CTVSsurgeons.

JILL BIDEN APOLOGIZES FOR SAYINGLATINOS ‘UNIQUE’ AS TACOS

Jill Biden apologised on Tuesday for saying Latinos are asunique" as San Antonio breakfast tacos during a speech tothe nation's largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy

organisation. The first lady apologises that her wordsconveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latinocommunity, tweeted Jill Biden's spokesperson, MichaelLaRosa. The first lady flew to San Antonio on Monday toaddress the annual conference of UnidosUS, a Latino civilrights and advocacy group formerly known as the NationalCouncil of La Raza.

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED TO PRODUCEHYDROGEN FROM BIOMASS

An innovative technology to produce hydrogen frombiomass has been developed by a team of researchersfrom the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The team was

led by S Dasappa, Professor at the Centre for SustainableTechnologies, and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Centre forEnergy Research at IISc. India uses nearly 50 lakh tonnes ofhydrogen for various processes in different sectors, and thehydrogen market is expected to grow substantially in thecoming years, says Dasappa in a statement issued byBengaluru-based IISc on Tuesday.

ALMANAC

Updated: JULY 12, 2022 5:00 PM

Forecast: Rain

Temp: 22oc

Humidity: 100%

Sunrise: 5:49 AM

Sunset: 6:54 PM

Month & Paksham:

Tithi: Purnima: Jul 13 04:01 AMto Jul 14 12:07 AM

Krishna Paksha Pratipada: Jul 14 12:07 AMto Jul 14 08:16 PM

Nakshatram: Purva Ashadha: Jul 13 02:21 AM

to Jul 13 11:18 PMUttara Ashadha: Jul 13 11:18 PM

to Jul 14 08:18 PM

Rahukalam 12:21 PM to 1:59 PM

Yamagandam: 7:30 AM to 9:07 AM

Varjyam: 06:18 AM to 07:42 AM

Gulika: 10:44 AM to 12:21 PM

Amritakalam: 07:07 PM to 08:31 PM

Abhijit Muhurtham: Nil

TTOODDAAYY

HYDERABAD WEATHER

PNS n NEW DELHI

Retail inflation, based on the con-sumer price index (CPI), stood at7.01 per cent in June, aboveReserve Bank of India's (RBI's) tol-erance limit for the sixth straightmonth, government data showedon Tuesday. The inflation numberwas at 7.04 per cent in May.

Surging global commodityprices due to the Russia-Ukrainewar and high crude oil prices havekept inflation above RBI's 6 percent upper tolerance range.

In June 2022, inflation in the foodbasket came at 7.75 per cent, com-pared to 7.97 per cent in the pre-ceding month, as per the NationalStatistical Office (NSO) data.

RBI has raised interest rates by90 basis points (bps) so far thisyear to 4.9 per cent and is set toadd more in the coming months.RBI Governor Shaktikanta Dassaid that inflation may not fallwithin the top end of its mandat-ed target band until December thisyear.

Above RBI'starget band for6

thstraight month

RETAIL INFLATION AT 7.01%

SNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD

In the presidential election, a rarescene is unfolding in both theTelugu states. Interestingly, both theruling and the main opposition par-ties are supporting the same candi-date. But in Telangana, the rulingTRS and the main opposition, theCongress, are supporting the oppo-sition’s common candidate YashwantSinha.

In Andhra Pradesh, the rulingYSR Congress and the main oppo-sition, the Telugu Desam Party(TDP), are supporting the BJP can-didate Draupadi Murmu.

Usually, in every issue in everystate or at the Centre the views of theruling and the main opposition par-ties will be different. The ruling andopposition parties never have the

same opinion on anything.But in politics, anything can hap-

pen. Sometimes thoughts aboutown gains may gain precedence overpolitical rivalry and both the rulingand opposition parties can have thesame opinion on some issues.

In Telangana, the TRS and theCongress are both against the BJP.At the same time at the state levelboth the TRS and the Congress arethe main political rivals.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Experian, the world’s leading data andanalytics company, announced theexpansion of the Experian GlobalInnovation Centre in Hyderabad.

The event held on Tuesday wasgraced by KT Rama Rao, the Ministerfor IT E&C, Neeraj Dhawan, theCountry Manager of Experian India,Jacky Simmonds, the Chief PeopleOfficer of Experian and other topglobal officials of Experian. Theguests emphasised the need for more

innovation centres offering world-class products and services that canhelp achieve financial inclusion faster.

This is another step in Experian’svision of enabling consumers andbusinesses to make prudent financialdecisions with the help of technolo-gy, analytics, and innovation. TheExperian GIC is a part of Experian’sglobal network of development cen-tres and works closely with Experianproduct teams globally.

PNS n DEOGHAR

Prime Minister Narendra Modi onTuesday cautioned against "short-cut politics" based on populistmeasures, which he said can leadto short-circuit of a nation.

Addressing a rally of the BJP hereafter inaugurating and laying foun-dation stones of projects worth overRs 16,800 crore, the PM said thereis no alternative for hard work andthose who indulge in short-cut pol-itics would not have got such proj-

ects done. Modi also said India isa land of faith and spirituality, andpilgrimages shaped us as a better

society and country , as he spoke atthe public meeting, held ahead ofthe auspicious Shravani Mela'.

"The government is makinginvestments to provide moderninfrastructure at the places associ-ated with faith, spirituality and his-torical importance," he said, refer-ring to Ayodhya, Kashi Vishawnathand Baba Baidyanath temple here.

Urging people to refrain frompolitics based on populist meas-ures, Modi said it is a challengebefore the country.

PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP MLAs Eatala Rajendar and M.Raghunandan Rao are excited tocontest against TRS supremo ChiefMinister K. Chandrasekhar Rao inthe next elections.

Interestingly both Eatala andRaghunandan Rao joined the BJPfrom the TRS and both had a longrelationship with the TRS. WhileRaghunandan was suspended fromthe TRS, Eatala was sacked from theKCR Cabinet. While Eatala Rajendarwants to contest against KCR in theAssembly elections, RaghunandanRao wants to contest against KCR inthe Lok Sabha elections. EatalaRajendar has openly said that he willcontest against KCR from Gajwel in

the next Assembly elections.Eatala created a record by winning

as an MLA seven consecutive timesfrom Huzurabad. He won six timesfrom the TRS and once from the BJP.Now, he wants to contest from Gajwelagainst KCR and defeat him.

Raghunandan was elected as anMLA for the first time from theDubbak Assembly constituency in a

by-election. The BJP thinks thatKCR is likely to contest from theMedak Lok Sabha constituency in thegeneral elections as he wants to enternational politics.

If KCR contests Raghunandanwants to contest against him and isconfident of defeating him.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Avoid Pani Puri as typhoid cases areincreasing in Telangana, the Directorof Public Health, Dr Srinivasa Rao,said on Tuesday. The state recorded2,797 cases in May and 2,752 casesfrom June 1 till July 10, Dr SrinivasaRao added.

The health department is on alertas seasonal diseases are likely to sur-face after the rains subside. Peopleshould not go out of their homesunless necessary. If they are comingout they should carry an umbrellaand a raincoat. We faced covid-19 inthe last two years. Now we have toface seasonal diseases, he added.

A total of 1,184 dengue cases havebeen recorded in 2022. Of this, 565cases were recorded in June 2022 and222 cases in the first 10 days of July.He said that 257 of the dengue cases

in June and 144 of the dengue casesin July were from Hyderabad.

“Dengue is a mosquito-borne dis-ease and typhoid is a water and food-borne disease. Typhoid can be pre-

vented if people take precautions andavoid contaminated water and food.

People should clean water tanksto prevent contamination.Consuming street food, especiallypani puri, and other similar thingscan prove to be a hazard. I requestall eatery owners to use only cleanwater and to serve only hot food,” theDPH said.

He also urged private hospitals notto fleece people suffering from sea-sonal diseases. They should also notcreate panic among patients aboutdecreasing blood platelets. Denguepatients with platelet counts of10,000 or 20,000 can also be treat-ed and saved with proper medicines,Dr Srinivasa Rao added.

nTRS, Congress join hands to oppose Murmun YSRCP, TDP support NDA presidential candidate

KTR opens ExperianGlobal Innovation Centre

AMARAVATI: NDA's presidentialcandidate Droupadi Murmu metMPs and MLAs of the ruling YSRCongress here on Tuesday as partof her election campaign andrequested them to "bless and sup-port her." Accompanied by UnionTourism and Culture Minister GKishan Reddy, Murmu arrived herein the afternoon and drove to ChiefMinister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy'sresidence at Tadepalli, where hehosted tea for her.

Bless and support me

Murmu requests AP parties

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana has asked the KRMBto restrain Andhra Pradeshfrom construc t ing theRajolibanda Diversion SchemeRight C anal (RDS RightCanal).

In a letter to KRMB, ENCMuralidhar said that despite aseries of letters AP is proceed-ing with the project.

The ENC said, “AndhraPradesh is going ahead with theproject in spite of clear instruc-tions from the KRMB to stopunapproved work.”

Telangana gave proof regard-ing excavation for civil worksfor the head regulator of thecanal and requested the KRMBto immediately stop the works.

“Unfortunately, the work hasnot been stopped and it is seenfrom recent photographs thatcivil works of the head regula-tor have been completed.

Telangana asksKRMB to stopAP’s RDS works

Short-cut politics can result inshort-circuit of nation: Modi

Eatala, Raghunandan excitedto contest against KCR

Differing scene in TS, APPRESIDENTIAL POLLS

Interestingly both Eatala andRaghunandan Rao joined theBJP from the TRS and bothhad a long relationship withthe TRS. While Raghunandanwas suspended from the TRS,Eatala was sacked from theKCR Cabinet PNS n HYDERABAD

The Congress is working againstthe State government as per thedirections of TRS supremo ChiefMinister K. Chandrasekhar Rao,Telangana BJP President BandiSanjay Kumar said here on Tuesday.Sanjay said that both the Congressand the TRS will contest the nextAssembly elections together.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The tables have been turned. TheBJP which used to target the TRSfor the inaccessibility of the ChiefMinister is at the receiving endnow after a marathon press meetby KCR.

The TRS has been targetingPrime Minister Narendra Modi’saversion to press conferences andhas failed to answer the questionsposed by Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao.

After a press conference byChief Minister K. ChandrasekharRao for 2 hours and 20 minutes on

Sunday, the TRS has been criticis-ing the PM for shying away fromthe media.

TRS leaders are asking if devel-opment has really happened whyis the PM shying away. TRS lead-ers are asking what is the use of theradio show ‘Mann ki Baat’ whichis one-sided. He should also listento ‘Jann ki Baat’ and start askingquestions. After entering office in2014, Modi has participated in justone press conference where he did-n’t answer a single question, insteadhe let Amit answer them.

Rythu Bandhustopped to ganja farmersPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar saidthat the benefits of the Rythu Bandhuscheme have been stopped for farmerswho are cultivating ganja. So far 63.86lakh farmers cultivating 35 lakh acreswere given Rs 6,764.94 crore under theRythu Bandhu Scheme. Chief SecretarySomesh Kumar chaired the state-levelNarcotics Co-ordination meeting at theBRKR Bhavan on Tuesday.

TRS trying to shed ‘CM inaccessible’ tagTargets PM’s one-sided communication

‘Typhoid cases increasing, avoid pani puri’Consuming street food,especially pani puri, andother similar things canprove to be a hazard. Irequest all eateryowners to use only cleanwater and to serve onlyhot food: DPH

TS spice exports upIncreased to 37% in 5 yearsPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana, the largest producer ofturmeric and the second-largestproducer of chillies in India,exported spices worth around USD200 mn in FY21. The exports ofspices from TS have registered aCAGR of 37 per cent in the last fiveyears till FY21. Interestingly, alongwith Andhra Pradesh, Telanganaaccounted for over 60 per cent ofIndia’s chilli exports in FY21, as pera report by Drip Capital Inc, a glob-al trade finance company.

The report is based on the latest

commodity analysis about India’s spiceexports. From analysing proprietaryand publicly available data to under-standing emerging market trends with-in the industry, the report discusses thedifferent spices exported by India.

BJP is the only national party: Nadda

PNS n JAIPUR

The BJP is the only national partyin India today as other parties havebeen reduced to just families andindividuals, BJP president JPNadda said Tuesday.

Being a national party,the BJP works on nation-al interests and fulfillinglocal aspirations, hetold the Rajasthan stateBJP training camp atMount Abu in Sirohidistrict.

He expressed confidencethat the party will form thegovernment in Rajasthan with athumping majority in the assem-bly polls next year.

"In India, the BJP is the onlynational party and the rest of theparties have been reduced to fam-ilies, dynasties and individuals. We

should not worry about what wegot from the party, but we shouldthink about what we have given tothe country, and to the party,"Nadda told BJP workers. He saidthe BJP is the only party which

gives priority to 'nation first'."Our resolve should be the

benefit of the countryand the party, which willlead to our betterment.Whatever work isundertaken, should be

completed on time."According to a

spokesperson of the party,Nadda asked public representa-

tives and workers to establish dia-logue with the public and makeefforts to solve their problems.

He said workers are very impor-tant for the party as due to theirhard work the BJP gets respect andtouches newer heights.

m Other parties reduced to families and individuals

Usually, in every issuein every state or at theCentre the views of theruling and the mainopposition parties willbe different. The rulingand opposition partiesnever have the sameopinion on anything.

TRS, Cong have secretdeal, will contest pollstogether: Sanjay

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 13, 2022

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RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀33..8855

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(IN HYDERABAD)

In a democracy, people expectthe functioning of politicalparties to be aboveboard.

The organizational struc-tures of the political partiesand the manner in whichthey are run have a bearingon the political system.

The process of organiza-tional elections of any polit-ical party, from the village level tothe state level, ought to be held inline with the guidelines of theElection Commission. However,these days political parties seemto be flouting norms and tradi-tions impinging on internaldemocracy.

At the just-concluded plenaryof the YSR Congress Party(YSRCP), a resolution was passedpaving the way for its presidentand Chief Minister of AndhraPradesh YS Jaganmohan Reddyto become lifetime president of theparty. This virtually brings the cur-tains down on the conduct oforganisational elections once intwo years. Of course, regional par-ties like Telugu Desam

Party(TDP), TelanganaRastra Samiti (TRS)

and YSRCP are headedby leaders who aresupreme with none tochallenge them within the

party. They do havecult following.

Still, given the outcome ofthe recent plenary of YSRCP, the

questions doing the roundsamong the public are: Where isthe need for Jaganmohan Reddyto make himself lifetime presidentof the party by amending ru esconcerning the organizationalWhy did he influence his moth-er and widow of Dr. YSRajasekhara Reddy to step downfrom the post of honorary presi-dent of the party? People arepointing out that only autocraticrulers proclaim themselves aslifetime presidents. At best, itsounds undemocratic in a coun-try like India, though JaganmohanReddy may be dreaming of rul-ing Andhra Pradesh for 30 moreyears. It is well-known that Jaganis facing several criminal cases

filed against him in CBI and EDcourts in disproportionate assetsand money laundering cases. Heis out on bail now.

Political circles believe that theBharatiya Janata Party wouldenlist the support of all politicalparties for the Presidential pollson July 18. YSRCP and TeluguDesam have offered their uncon-ditional support to NDA-backedcandidate Draupadi Murmu.After the Presidential polls, BJPwould review its relations withvarious parties to prepare for the2024 General Election. Jagan

himself may not be knowing howlong he would be in the goodbooks of BJP.

There is a view thatJagan's team had tried todownplay the contribution of YSVijayalakshmi and YS Sharmila tothe party when he was jailed for16 months. This was done byclaiming that there was no ‘trou-bled period’ for the party at all.This, some people believe, result-ed in the emotional exit ofparty's honorary presidentVijayalakshmi.

During his first stint, TDP

founder NT Rama Rao used toget elected unopposed to the postof party president in the mid. Hefondly named his farmhouse-likeashram on the outskirts ofHyderabad 'BhuvanaVijayam'(the name of RoyalCourt of Sri Krishnadevaraya ofthe Vijayanagara Empire thatflourished 500 years ago) and usedto conduct party meetings, includ-ing organisational elections, par-

ticularly election for the post ofpresident, there. NTR used tomake an ‘appeal' to partymen stating that he would stepdown if the party could findanother capable person for thepost of president. Then the entirerank and file of TDP assembledthere would utter a reverberating‘No’. The sentimental ones wouldshed tears after hearing suchselfless words from their supremeleader.

Then the election for the postof president would be conductedin a smooth manner. On oneoccasion, when such organisa-tional election for the post of pres-ident was taking place, one seniorMLA from Kovvur of WestGodavari district P. V. KrishnaRao came forward and asked fornomination paper to file statingthat he was interested to contestfor the party president'spost! Everybody, including NTR,was stunned. But persons taskedwith conducting the election forpresident's post did notrespond to Krishna Rao’s request.

He was made to leave the place.During the days of N.Chandrababu Naidu also, hiscoterie acted cautiously to avoidany such embarrassment.

In the case of TRS also, thesame scene is repeated whenev-er organisational elections are con-ducted for the post of president.This makes those parties assets ofthe families of respective presi-dents. Party office premises, worthcrores of rupees, are also under thedirect control of those presi-dents. NTR Trust building (TDPcentral office) in Banjara Hills ofHyderabad was initially underNTR trust. Later, it turned into anasset of Chandrababu Naidu.

TRS Bhavan, spread over oneacre land in Banjara Hills, is theparty's headquarters. It istotally under the control of theparty's leadership. This landwas allotted during the regime ofDr.YS Rajasekhara Reddy and thegovernment found fault with

TRS party for a portion of thepremises for commercial purpose.

In the case of YSRCP's

central office in Amaravati also,the same scene can be seen.Newly set up headquarters of theJana Sena Party (JSP) atAmaravati also falls under thesame category. In contrast, whenit comes to Gandhi Bhavan (PCChead quarters) and Shyam PrasadMukherjee Bhavan (BJP headquarters ) in Nampally, MaqdoomBhavan(Communist Party of

India) & MakineniB a s a v a p u n n i a hBhavan(Communist Party ofIndia -Marxist) in Himayat Nagarand Musheerabad respectively,they are fully controlled by therespective parties with collectiveresponsibility. Presidents ofCongress and BJP and secretariesof Left parties have nothing to dowith the management of partyoffice premises.

Conduct of organisational elec-tions and maintenance of partyheadquarters as per the whimsand fancies of the president reflectlack of internal democracy. Whatmessage are these party chiefs giv-ing to the future generations?

M D RATNA KUMAR

Senior Journalist

Political circles believe that the BharatiyaJanata Party would enlist the support ofall political parties for the Presidentialpolls on July 18. YSRCP and Telugu Desamhave offered their unconditional support toNDA-backed candidate Draupadi Murmu.After the Presidential polls, BJP wouldreview its relations with various parties toprepare for the 2024 General Election.

PIN

POINT

When regional parties wink at internal democracy

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC president RevanthReddy has demanded thatChie f Minis ter K .Chandrasekhar Rao shouldassess the crop loss causedby the heavy rains and paya comp ens at ion of Rs15,000 per acre immediate-ly to farmers.

Revanth asked the ChiefMinister to provide seeds,fertilizers and input subsi-dies to sow the crops again.

He also demanded thatthe government shouldimplement t he CropInsurance Scheme from thenext crop onwards by pay-

ing its premium.On Tuesday, Revanth

addressed a letter to ChiefMinister regarding this. Inhis letter, Revanth said thatthe state was receiving rainssince a week. Crops are now

submerged result ing infarmers suffering losses. Butthe government is silent.

More over, t he Chie fMinister has been playinggames with the lives offarmers by engaging in pol-itics. The farmers are con-cerned as there is no state-ment from the governmentas well as the agriculturedepar tment , he s a id .Revanth said that crops onaround five lakh acres aresubmerged in Adilabad,Nizamabad, Waranga l ,Jayashanakar Bhupalpally,Ma hbubab ad, andBhadradri Kothagudem dis-tricts.

He said the rains dam-aged cotton, maize, soyaand paddy and other crops.

He said the TRS govern-ment has stopped givinginput subsidies to farmers.The government is also notassessing crop losses.

The TRS governmenthas also backed out of theP r a d h a n Ma nt r i Fa s a lBima Yojana (PMFBY)scheme. But states, whichb a c k e d o ut f rom t h ePMFBY scheme have beenassisting farmers througha l t e r n at i v e i n s u r a n c eschemes. It is unfortunatethat there is no such sys-tem in TS, he said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Senior Congress leader V.Hanumantha Rao has soughtsecurity cover from the govern-ment as he fears attacks onhim. He submitted a letter toHome Minister MahamoodAli on Monday.

Speaking to ‘The Pioneer,’VH said that he had beenreceiving threatening callsfrom unidentified callers afterhe welcomed the oppositionpresidential candidateYashwanth Sinha.

“As per the advice of mywell-wishers, I submitted aletter seeking police security. Igot information that there is achance of attacks against me.The government is giving secu-rity to many unknown peoplebut not for me,” he said.

VH mentioned in his letterthat he had been receivingthreat calls since a few days. Hesaid the police had registeredcases at the Amberpet PoliceStation and at the RaidurgamPolice Station against the cul-prits earlier.

VH said that during hishectic tour of Telangana unto-ward incidents can occur andthat he sees a threat from thecadres of rival parties, politicalopponents and anti-social ele-ments.

“I am sensing danger. Irequest the Home Minister toprovide me security and deputepolice personnel in the 1+1pattern to prevent untowardincidents,” he said in the letter.

It may be recalled that VHhad received threatening callsand there were posts againsthim on social media in thepast. He had also raised thisissue at Congress meetingsseveral times. However, theystopped after some time. Butthe threat calls started onceagain after VH welcomedYashwanth Sinha.

Revanth asks CM to assesscrop loss, compensate farmers

VH seeks security cover, submitsletter to Home Minister

Congress workers confusedas senior leaders fightK VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

Congress cadres in Telanganaare discussing whether TPCCPresident Revanth Reddy,TPCC Star CampaignerKomatireddy Venkat Reddy,TPCC Working President T.Jagga Reddy and seniorleader V. Hanumantha Raoare fighting each other orwhether they have joinedhands.

Congress leaders have beenraising these doubts sayingthat Venkat Reddy andRevanth Reddy had shared adais in the US and had alsoattended get-togethers con-ducted by US-basedTelanganites. But VenkatReddy and Revanth have

been quarrelling sometimesand sometimes they meet attheir residences like Tom andJerry confusing others.

This has become a hottopic among Congress lead-ers after Telangana CongressAffairs in-charge ManickamTagore had a luncheon meet-ing with Venkat Reddy.

Congress leaders have beendiscussing what Manickamhas achieved after meetingVenkat Reddy. But VenkatReddy said that he has beenworking with Revanth.

In the same manner,Revanth and Jagga Reddyshared a dais during manyparty programmes, but some-times they criticised eachother.

Dif ferences erupted

between Revanth and JaggaReddy after Revanth warnedsenior leader V. HanumanthaRao for welcoming the oppo-sition’s presidential candi-date Yashwanth Sinha at theBegumpet Airport. JaggaReddy fired at Revanth crit-icising him left and right.However, Jagga Reddy is nowconfined to his constituencyand has also abstained fromattending the meetings calledby Manickam Tagore. He alsosaid that he will make a sen-sational statement on DasaraDay.

VH stayed away fromGandhi Bhavan whenManickam came and fromthe Sunday Dinner organisedby TPCC Working PresidentB. Mahesh Kumar Goud.

Muslims prayat Bijigiri SharifDargah to makeEatala the CMPNS n HYDERABAD

The Muslim fans ofHuzurabad MLA EatalaRajender prayed at the BijigiriSharif Dargah to make EatalaRajender the Chief Ministerof Telangana to ensure theState’s development.

The event happened onTuesday when Eatala Rajenderwas participating in the BijgirSharif Dargah Urus celebra-tions in his constituency.

Thousands of people fromall over South India andHuzurabad attend the BijigiriSharif Darga Urus celebra-tions. Recently, many donorshave contributed to theDarga’s development.

Continued from page 1

The aim of both the TRS and theCongress is to prevent the BJPfrom coming to power at theCentre after the next general elec-tions. But both parties will fighteach other in the TS Assemblyelections.

In Andhra Pradesh, the rulingYSR Congress and the mainopposition, TDP, are supportingthe BJP candidate DraupadiMurmu in the presidential elec-tions. At the state level, both theYSR Congress and the TDP arethe main political rivals.

The YSR Congress leadershipis maintaining cordial relationswith the BJP. The YSR Congresswill not support the Congressunder any circumstance. In viewof this, the YSR Congress hasdecided to support the BJP can-didate.

After its defeat in the lastAssembly elections, the TDPtried to revive ties with the BJP.But keeping in mind the previ-ous experience and the need forthe support of the YSR Congress

in Parliament, the BJP refused torevive ties with the TDP.Interestingly, the TDP has a his-tory of having an alliance withthe BJP as well as the Congress.The YSR Congress never had analliance either with the BJP or

with the Congress. In AP, theTDP badly needs an alliancewith the BJP. In the presidentialelection, no party including theBJP or any other party did notask the TDP to support theircandidate.

Continued from page 1

“Hyderabad is a centre of IT, aninnovation hub, and home tomany global IT giants. The stateis equipped with modern infra-structure, an abundance ofemployable talent, and a con-ducive environment for business-es. Organisations like Experianhelp in strengthening the technol-ogy sector and making Hyderabadan IT hub globally,” KTR said.Speaking on the expansion, NeerajDhawan, the Country Manager ofExperian India said, “Experian hasalways prioritised India as a keyfocus market, and this move

demonstrates Experian's dedica-tion. Our goal is to bring contin-uous innovation and drive finan-cial inclusion to give customersbetter access to credit. We aim todeliver cutting-edge solutionsthrough innovation, technology,and quality to serve businesses andcustomers better.” JackySimmonds, the Chief PeopleOfficer of Experian said, “This willassist Experian in advancing itsinnovation strategy and utilisingIndian talent. The years to comewill see India play a big part inExperian's growth story as a resultof our expansion over the past fewyears.”

Continued from page 1

Speaking on the occasion,the Chief Secretary said thatstrong measures have beentaken by the government tocontrol narcotic drug abuseand peddling in the state as perthe directions of Chief MinisterK. Chandrasekhar Rao.

The Chief Secretary saidthe Police department hasmodern equipment to detectthe illegal transportation ofdrugs from other states.

Differing scene in TS, APBless and support meContinued from page 1

Vedic priests from the Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada bestowed'Veda aasirvachanam' on Murmu on the occasion. She then went tothe CK Convention Centre at Mangalagiri for a meeting with the rulingparty parliamentarians and legislators. "Andariki namaskaraalu,"Murmu began her address in Telugu, greeting all those present. Shespoke about the "glorious history" of Andhra Pradesh, its poets, war-riors and freedom fighters and paid tributes to them. "AP has a glori-ous past and a promising present," she said. Murmu said a new erahas been ushered in in India under the leadership of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. Many novel features were added in every field ofdevelopment. The attitude and outlook of the world towards India hasalso undergone a sea change. Youth of the country developed confi-dence in themselves. "This year is very important in the history ofmodern India as we are celebrating the 75th year of independence. Onthis auspicious occasion, PM prepared a roadmap for development ofIndia in the coming 25 years and has sought active and positive coop-eration from all," she said.

TRS, Cong have secret deal...Continued from page 1

Already, a seat-sharingagreement has been reachedbetween the two parties secret-ly, he said.

Sanjay requested the pub-lic to check facts and tounderstand the conspiracybetween the TRS and theCongress and to teach thema fitting lesson.

He alleged that it is shame-ful on the part of the Congressas it has been launching pro-grammes when the BJP iswaging a fight against theState government.

In a statement issued onTuesday, Sanjay said that ChiefMinister K. ChandrasekharRao had planned to take upthe programmes of theCongress as KCR was not in aposition to digest the name theBJP is getting through itsmovements against the gov-ernment's anti-people poli-cies.

KCR has been conspiring tosabotage the increasing popu-larity of the BJP, he added.

Sanjay said the Congress tooconducted programmes onthe day the BJP staged theNirudyoga Deeksha.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) has expedited mon-soon works in lakes and nalasfor flood prevention in vari-ous areas of Tolichowki.

The work on a new outletat Jamali Kunta from the GolfCourse for free passage ofstorm water has been restoredto prevent water-logging invarious colonies ofTolichowki. The GHMC isexpeding works of thestormwater drain network toprovide relief to people whoare facing inundation in sev-eral parts of Tolichowki. Inorder to avoid floods due toheavy rains in various areas ofTolichowki, government offi-cials have planned for an addi-tional outlet for free passage ofstormwater via Jamali Kunta.

GHMC completesoutlet for stormwater in Tolichowki

Rythu Bandhustopped toganja farmers

Eatala ...Continued from page 1

The Medak Lok Sabhaconstituency is one of BJP’sstrong constituencies. Earlier,BJP candidate, the late A.Narendra won from this con-stituency in the 1999 LokSabha elections.

Raghunandan’s Assemblyconstituency Dubbak is alsoin the Medak Lok Sabhaconstituency. In the last LokSabha elections, the BJP camethird trailing by around twolakh votes in Medak.

Of the seven Assemblysegments in the Medak LokSabha constituency, the BJPgot a good number of votesin Dubbak, Sangareddy andPatancheru Assembly con-stituencies.

TS spice exports upContinued from page 1

India is the largestexporter of spices globally.The western plateau and thehil ls of Telangana,Maharashtra, and Karnatakaproduce around 60 per centof the country’s turmeric.But despite being the largest

producer of turmeric pro-ducing 30 per cent of thecommodity, TS barely con-tributes to exports.

Nevertheless, spice exportsfrom this region have beengrowing at a CAGR of 37 percent in the last five years tillFY21, perhaps because of itsextensive chilli exports.

TRS trying to shed ‘CM inaccessible’ tagContinued from page 1

Agriculture Minister Singireddy NiranjanReddy said, “Will Modi answer KCR's questions?KCR's questions have created tremors in the BJP.Modi who has failed in everything is shying awayfrom the media. Why is the Prime Minister notcoming before the media since eight years? If weask BJP leaders to talk about the development

and the schemes that have been put in place,except that they talk about everything. People willanswer the BJP during the next elections for itscover-up politics.” On Sunday, Industries MinisterKT Rama Rao tweeted, “You may agree or dis-agree with him but the CM’s press meets, and dis-courses are an excellent learning experience forevery student of political science. His marathonvideo today is a 2 1/2 hour press meet.

KTR opens Experian Global ...

Telangana asks...Continued from page 1

The unapproved and ille-gal construction of the RDSRight Canal by the AndhraPradesh Government vio-lates Section 85(8)(d) of theAndhra PradeshReorganization Act, 2014,”the ENC said.

Nine strandedfarmworkersrescued, reportermissingPNS n JAGTIAL

Nine agricultural labour-ers, including three womenand a boy, who were strand-ed on Kurru Vagu Guttaisland in the middle of theGodavari river, were res-cued.

The National DisasterForce (NDRF) team rescuedthem by deploying a heli-copter. Tribal farm labourersfrom Bornapalli of Raikalmandal went to the islandthree days ago to take up cot-ton plantation. DistrictCollector G Ravi rushed tothe place and is coordinatingthe rescue operations. A TVreporter, who went to coverthe news, has reportedlygone missing.

Govt trying to give 6,000 hoardingboards to 2 firms: KodandaramPNS n HYDERABAD

The TRS government is trying togive 6,000 advertisement boardslocated in Hyderabad city to twocompanies, TJS chief Prof.Kodandaram said here. He saidthat it will have an adverse effecton more than a lakh people.Speaking to the media onTuesday, Kodandaram explainedin detail about the adverse effects.

The hoarding advertisementindustry is around 60 years oldand it developed through its pro-moters without any help fromthe government or any otheragencies. The hoarding advertis-ing industry has some advan-tages. Many new companies aswell as established companiesadvertise through this staticmedia to build their brand 24/7,365 days at economical rates.

hyderabad 03HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 13, 2022

RAIN HHAVOC

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana government offi-cials have temporarilyremoved the national flagfrom the tall flagpole atSanjeevaiah Park in the heartof Hyderabad, amid heavywinds and rain across thecity.

As the MeteorologicalDepartment (Met) predictedstrong winds and heavy tovery heavy rains in the city,officials removed the flag toprevent damage.

On Tuesday, the SpecialChief Secretary of MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment DepartmentArvind Kumar said that thenational flag has been tem-porarily removed.

"Due to very high windvelocity & given the height,the flag was likely to be dam-aged and thus been takendown temporarily. Will beput up as soon as wind veloc-ity comes down," said Arvind

Kumar on Twitter. The national flag hoisted at

Sanjeevaiah Park inHyderabad on June 2, 2016 onthe occasion of the formationof the Telangana state is oneof the top 10 largest flags inthe country.

It is one of the tallest flag

posts in the country with aheight of 291 feet and impres-sive dimensions of 72 x 108feet height and width respec-tively.

The authorities haveremoved the flag for the firsttime since hoisting it due tohigh wind speed.

India’s largest flag temporarilytaken down due to wind

PNS n HYDERABAD

Covid has become a seasonal dis-ease as it is reaching the endem-ic stage. People should treatCovid just like any other season-al/infectious disease. The totalactive cases currently inTelangana are about 5,000, out ofwhich only 40-50 patients havebeen hospitalised. There is zeromortality due to Covid inTelangana, said TelanganaDirector of Public Health DrSrinivasa Rao on Tuesday.Thecurrent hospitalised patientsbelong to the vulnerable popu-lation and senior citizens whosuffer from co-morbidities likediabetes and hypertension. Thereis no need to worry about Coviduntil a new variant emerges, butpeople still need to mask up asit will protect them not only fromCovid but also other seasonal dis-eases which are as much conta-gious than Covid, he added.

Covid has becomea seasonal disease

NAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

Home buyers in Hyderabadhave gone into wait and watchmode due to the continuousincrease in prices.

This reflected in the sales inJune in the city and sur-rounding districts. Hyderabadwitnessed residential prop-erty registrations of 5,408units in June 2022. Sales reg-istration dipped by 25% YoYin June 2022 as the markettook a breather after observ-ing a continuous upswing, as

per report by Knight Frank. The total value of proper-

ties transacted in Q2 2022stood at Rs 8,685 crore, a 25%YoY rise indicating the factthat while lesser number ofhomes were registered, theaverage value of homes regis-tered in June was higher thanits corresponding period lastyear. The Hyderabad residen-tial market includes four dis-tricts namely Hyderabad,M e d c h a l - M a l k a j g i r i ,Rangareddy and Sangareddy.Despite the moderation insales in June 2022,

Hyderabad's overall outlookremained positive as 17,074properties were registered inHyderabad in Q2 2022, a9.1% YoY increase.

Shishir Baijal, Chairmanand Managing Director said,"Despite a downtrend in reg-istrations in June 2022,Hyderabad has had one of thestrongest demand trends inQ2 2022, beating externalfactors such as global eco-nomic slump and inflation.Therefore, we expect themomentum to maintain thepace without much variance

in the coming quarters. Theend-users in the Hyderabadmarket continue to be drawnto home purchases encour-aged by factors such as stableeconomic environment, risinghousehold income andamenable home-loan interestrates. While the rising con-struction cost has had animpact on the more pricesensitive categories, its influ-ence on the upper segmentswas limited, keeping the mar-ket robust. Hyderabadremains in the affordable zonedespite the rise in home loan

rates."Of all residential sales reg-

istered during June 2022,homes in the price band of Rs25 - 50 lakh constituted 53%,which is an increase from ashare of 35% in June 2021.Demand in the less than Rs 25Lakh ticket-size, howeverweakened with its share con-stituting 16% compared to40% a year ago.

Greater demand for largerticket size homes is evident asthe cumulative share of salesregistrations for propertieswith ticket-sizes of Rs 50 lakh

and above increased to 32% inJune 2022 from 25% in June2021.The share of sales inunit-sizes over 1,000 sq ftmaintained its share atapproximately 82% of allhome sales registrations inJune 2022. Homes in the sizeof 1,000 - 2,000 sq. ft. were71% of all sales registered dur-ing the period. The trend ofhomebuyers looking toupgrade and move into larg-er living quarters, that wassparked by the pandemic,continued to hold strong inJune 2022 as well.

Home buyers skeptical as prices increase in Hyderabad

SAITEJA BURRA

n HYDERABAD

Perki lake is posing environ-mental health hazards and cre-ating panic among people aschemical froth flows from thelake amid heavy downpour.Perki lake near Dharani Nagarin Kukatpally has been releas-ing pollutants every monsoonfor more than five years now.

Heavy rain on Tuesday hasleft the area covered with foamand foul smell. Due to this, thelake has been foaming foryears, but the GreaterHyderabad municipal author-ities have not taken up a per-manent solution, making theresidents face difficulties everyyear. With the heavy rainsacross the city, the real issue ofPerki lake has come out and iscausing concern among thepeople.

The water in the lake is cur-

rently highly polluted andemitting a foul smell. As thelake becomes miserable, peo-ple living near the lake areprone to skin diseases.According to experts, the algalbloom of foaming is caused byhigh concentration of chemi-cals like Nitrogen, Phosphoruspresent in household waste,detergents and industrial efflu-ents.

"Many lakes in the city areheavily polluted. The PollutionControl Board officials saidthat these pollutants are main-ly caused by detergents. But,this happened due to chemicalwaste from industries. I haveasked them to prove the evi-dence many times and still, Ihave not got any response byproving that it is caused bydetergents. When the govern-ment is not ready to accept themistake, how can they fix thesolution on how to prevent

foaming from the city lakes?"said Lubna Sarwath, aHyderabad-based environmen-talist.

It may be mentioned hereGHMC ensures continuousflow of water by enlargingnalas, construction of retaining

wall and reduction of culvertwithout foaming. Due to thelack of maintenance by theauthorities, the Perki gets pol-luted every year and createspanic among the local resi-dents.With this, the activistsand environmentalists are crit-

icising the government for fail-ing to decontaminate Perkilake.

Lubna further said that notonly the Perki lake but alsoHussain Sagar is frothing, dueto which heavily polluted watercomes from the Perki lake and

joins the Kukatpally channeland enters the Hussain Sagar.From the downstream of PerkiLake, it also joins the LowerYellamma lake. All these flowinto Kukatpally channel ofHussain Sagar.

From there it flows into theMusi river. Due to this, HussainSagar and Musi rivers arefoaming. She added that sci-ence and the law of the land donot support this prevention ofpollution.

"The three hospitals in thelocality have diverted surgicalwaste into Perki lake causingpollution. GHMC should stope-waste coming directly to thelake.

What measures have thegovernment officials takensince nine years? They wouldhave stopped these things whenthey had enough time thisyear," said Harish Daga,Hyderabad civic activist.

Chemicals from frothing Perki lake posing a health hazard

NIRDPR starts new training programmePNS n HYDERABAD

A national level Training ofTrainers (ToT) Programmefor Localization of SustainableDevelopment Goals (LSDG)has been inaugurated at theNational Institute of RuralDevelopment and PanchayatiRaj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad byDr Chandra Shekhar Kumar,Additional Secretary, Ministryof Panchayati Raj (MoPR)Government of India.

To deliver on SDGs at locallevel by the 2.54 lakh GramPanchayats in the country,the expert committee consti-tuted by the MoPR recom-mended nine thematic areasalong with 168 local targetsand 389 indicators. Now theGram Panchayats, while for-mulating the PanchayatDevelopment Plan (GPDP),will have to take into accountthe local contexts in theachievement of SDGs right

from setting targets to deter-mining the means of imple-mentation and using indica-tors to monitor the progress.

For capacity building andtraining of Panchayats forLSDGs, NIRDPR has devel-oped a training calendar totrain 200 State Level MasterTrainers (SLMT) in 40 batch-es with 50 persons per batch.

The first batch of ToT pro-gramme on Theme 1- PovertyFree and Enhanced

Livelihoods Villages is sched-uled from July 12 to 14. A totalnumber of 34 participantsfrom four states viz., AndhraPradesh, Karnataka, MadhyaPradesh and Maharashtra areattending this programme.Atthe outset, Dr Anjan KumarBhanja, Faculty and Head,CPRDP&SSD, NIRDPR, wel-comed the participants andexplained the background andobjectives of the training ofthe SLMTs.

Enforcement Wing nabs 5people, 36 gms MDMA seizedPNS n HYDERABAD

In a major haul, sleuths of theHyderabad NarcoticEnforcement Wing (H-NEW), along with SR Nagarpolice on Monday apprehend-ed a drug supplier and fourdrug peddlers. The policeseized 36 grams of MDMAdrug from them.

The prime accused has

been identified as Patta Josephof Bangalore.

He used to procure MDMAfrom a supplier in AnnaNagar, Chennai and sell it tofour peddlers in Hyderabad.The peddlers are BBalamanikanta, Samanth Rao,Sai Raghava and Akhil Kumar,residing in Gachibowli,Kondapur and SR Nagar lim-its of Hyderabad.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for IT Industries,MA&UD, KT Rama Rao, hasassured to provide funds for thequantum computing labs ofthe International Institute ofInformation Technology,Hyderabad (IIIT-H).

This he said in response to PJ Narayanan, Director of IIT-H,who claimed that the govern-ment was not providing fundsto the IIT-H. While speaking atthe launch of iRASTETelangana, Bodhyaan andMicro-labs under the INAI ini-tiative, the Minister also said,"We were ambitious when it wasannounced that 2020 is theyear of Artificial Intelligence. Asmanpower is essential for thisfield, Telangana Academy forSkill and Knowledge (TASK)

trained 2,5000 students, 4,500faculty in AI, ML deep learningdone in association with IBM,Intel and Microsoft. This year,1,000 more youth will be ben-efited with training for suchtechnology programmes."

On how technology is beingutilised by the government, theMinister said that TS hasbecome an interesting examplewith the implementation ofReal Time Digital

Authentication of IdentitySystem (RTDAI). "This is theonly state where you can renewa driver's licence sitting at homeon Sunday by authenticatingdigital identity in real time. Thissaves a lot of citizen's time," headded.

Three projects launched hadthe focus on applied research onmobility. iRASTE is about usingAI technology to reduce roadaccidents. They are partneringwith TSRTC.

Major focus vectors first oneis on drivers, where TSRTCbuses will be fixed with camerasthat are road facing and givealerts to the drivers before twoto three seconds of potentialaccidents. Second one is tocome up with solutions for fix-ing black spots of infrastructureon roads.

KTR assures funding for IIIT-H’squantum computing labs

PNS n HYDERABAD

Greater Hyderabad and itssuburbs continued to receiverain for the fifth consecutiveday on Tuesday, affecting nor-mal life and almost fillingHussain Sagar lake in the heartof the city.

Hussain Sagar has beenoverflowing with heavy rainsfor the past few days. Thevehicular traffic has come to astandstill in some areas asnalas have overflowed androads have become water-logged due to heavy rains. Theauthorities have already sound-ed an alert in areas abutting theouter channels which join theMusi river.

Due to incessant rainfall inits catchment area, HussainSagar lake has reached near fullcapacity. The lake was receiv-ing copious inflows throughvarious storm-water drainswhich join it. With the water

level reaching close to fulltank level of 514.75 meters, theauthorities are keeping a closewatch on the situation. If theinflows continue, water willhave to be released throughouter channels.Meanwhile,release of water from OsmanSagar and Himayat Sagar reser-voirs was continuing.Hyderabad Metropolitan

Water Supply and SewerageBoard (HMWS&SB) have keptopen two doors each of thereservoirs up to one feet to letout water into the Musi river.Both the reservoirs are receiv-ing huge inflows due to inces-sant rain in their catchmentareas.

The water level at HimayatSagar was recorded at 1,760.55

feet against the Full Tank Level(FTL) of 1,763.50 feet. Theinflow has increased to 500cusecs while 515 cusecs ofwater is being drained outinto the Musi river.On Tuesday,the water level at Osman Sagarreached 1,786 feet against theFTL of 1,790. The inflow intothe reservoir has increased to200 cusecs while authoritieswere releasing 208 cusecsthrough two gates. Meanwhile,the water level reached 1,760feet against the FTL of 1,763.The inflow into the reservoirhas increased to 325 cusecswhile authorities were releas-ing 340 cusecs through twogates. Officials of the WaterBoard said that due to reducedinflow to the Osmansagarreservoir, gate no 7 loweredfrom 2 feet to 1 foot height at5pm and the two gates ofHimayatsagar were lowered to6 inches at 5.30 pm due toreduced inflow.

Hussain Sagar almost full,low-lying areas alerted PNS n HYDERABAD

IIIT Hyderabad launched aninitiative namely ProjectiRASTE Telangana involv-ing intelligent solutions forroad safety through technol-ogy and engineering onTuesday. This aims to reduceaccidents on the highwaysthat constitute only 5 per centof the road network but con-tribute to 50 per cent of theaccidents.

Appreciating the launchingof such works to save the livesof common man, ExecutiveDirector of Telangana StateRoad Transport CorporationVinod Kumar, revealed thatan amount of Rs 50 crore wasspent on compensation foraccident victims involvingTSRTC buses and this finan-cial year over 151 RTC busaccidents wererecorded.Detailing about thenumber of buses plying, hesaid, "There are 9,376 busesfrom over 99 depots coveringalmost 32 lakh km per daywhile carrying 48 lakh pas-sengers every day.

151 RTC busaccidents recordedthis year till July

Heavy rainduring the pastthree days hasinundatedmany areas inHyderabadcausinghardship tocommuters aswell aspedestrians

photo SSV CChary

SCR formulates actionplans to tackle heavy rains PNS n HYDERABAD

In view of heavy rains, theSouth Central Railways hasfurther strengthened actionplans to tackle the situationduring the present monsoonseason.

In all, 87 vulnerable sec-tions and 915 bridges havebeen identified across thezone where precautionarymeasures have beenenhanced with round-the-clock surveillance. The fieldstaff is also fully equippedwith protective clothing anddevices to undertake uninter-rupted patrolling. An actionplan has been devised takinginto account inputs from allthe departments. Multi-disci-plinary teams have beenformed to monitor the trainoperations and infrastruc-ture maintenance.

Some of the major areasgiven importance as part ofthe SCR's monsoon actionplan include, RegularMonitoring of Track: The

zone has undertaken regularmonitoring of track duringthe monsoon period toensure working of pumpsand water drains to preventflooding and stopping oftrains. Patrolling at vulnera-ble locations or bridges: vul-nerable locations have beenidentified on tracks andbridges across the zone wherethe patrolling has beenenhanced and have been keptunder continual surveillanceduring the entire monsoonseason.

Posting of stationarywatchmen at critical loca-tions: stationary watchmenare posted at identified criti-cal locations such as bridgesand approach roads of newlyconstructed bridges.

Railway Affecting Tanks(RATs): Around 1,917Railway Affecting Tanks havebeen identified in the zonewhich are being jointlyinspected by the Railway andState Government officialsconcerned.

04HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 13, 2022

PNS n NAGARKURNOOL

Kollapur MunicipalCommissioner Sonte Rajaiahhas come down with an ironfist on those who carried outillegal constructions in thetown. He had imposed nearlyRs 50 lakh penalty on allegedunlawful construction in thetown.

The authorities, on theinstructions of theCommissioner, sent a notice tothe owner of the alleged illegalmulti-storeyed building.Rajaiah imposed Rs 14 lakhpenalty on a multi-storeyedshopping complex at NTR cir-cle. Penalties to the tune of Rs9 lakh on a building, and Rs 20lakh on some other construc-tions were imposed.

Rajaiah, in a statement on

Tuesday, warned of severeaction against those whowould encroach upon roads,government lands or play-grounds or parks. Severalunlawful constructions cameup in the town, he said, andadded that action would betaken against the owners of thestructures in accordance withlaw. He also said that actionwould also be taken against theofficials for failing to takeaction against those who car-ried out illegal constructions.He urged the builder to builda structure by strictly adheringto the plan approved by thecivic body.

Rajaiah cautioned peopleagainst buying housing plotswithout ascertaining whetherthey were approved layouts.Additional Collector Manu

Choudary had recentlyreviewed the functioning ofvarious departments in theMunicipality. He directed theofficials to impose 100 per centpenalty on unlawful construc-tions. An enforcement teamwas constituted in everymunicipality. Each team com-prised a Revenue official, a FireServices official, Roads andBuildings official and a police-man. The teams were meant toidentify the illegal structureand bring it to the notice of theauthorities, apart from carry-ing out the orders of the offi-cials.

The authorities said nomunicipal approval is neededfor construction of houses on75 sq. Yards. Those intendingto construct a house on 75 sq.yards can apply for approval

online. One need not go to themunicipal office for buildingconstruction permission upto 500 sq. yards. If they applyfor permission online, theapproval should be given in 21days, they said.

Civic chief cracks down on unscrupulous buildersThe Commissioner imposed nearly Rs 50 lakh penalty on a few ‘illegal’ constructions in the town

PNS n WARANGAL

Government Chief WhipDasyam Vinay Bhaskar,accompanied by city MayorSudharani and MunicipalCommissioner P Pravinya,visited rain-affected areas,such as Nayimnagar,Sammihnagar and other areason Tuesday.

He directed the officials tostay alert as heavy rains wereforecast for two more days.He asked the officials toensure that there is no loss oflife. He stressed the need toshift the people from low-lying to relief camps immedi-ately.

Municipal corporators andTRS leaders were present.

Govt chief whip visitsrain-affected areas

Government Chief Whip visiting rain-affected areas on Tuesday

PNS n JAGTIAL

An online game claimed thelife of a youth, Kottala Tarun,on Tuesday. The youth, whoconsumed pesticide in a bidto end his life on Sunday, diedin a Karimnagar hospital on

Tuesday. Tarunused to playonline gameson hism o b i l ephone. He

had reportedlylost Rs 1,80 lakh.

The online game organisershad allegedly withdrawn themoney from his account.Depressed over losing such ahuge amount of money, heconsumed pesticide in a bidto commit suicide. He wasadmitted to a hospital inKarimnagar where he died onTuesday, according to police.

The social activists point-ed out that experts have beencalling upon the governmentto ban online games, but invain.

Online game claimslife of youth in Jagtial

PNS n KAMAREDDY

Four of a family, including twochildren, were electrocuted atBeedi Workers Colony in thetown on Tuesday.

According to police, thedeceased were identified asAhmed (35), Parveen (30),Adanan (4) and Maheem (6).

The police said that thetwo children came in contactwith a live wire while playing.When the parents went to

their rescue, they were alsoelectrocuted. The tragedy hap-pened due to short-circuit.

Devanpally police shiftedthe bodies to Area Hospital forpost-mortem.

Meanwhile, Minister forRoads and Buildings VemulaPrashant Reddy announced exgratia Rs 3 lakh each to thedead.

He conveyed condolences tothe members of the bereavedfamily.

Four members of a familyelectrocuted in Kamareddy

Government Whip Gampa Goverdhan and Kamareddy Collector Jitesh V Patil atthe house in which four of a family were electrocuted in Kamareddy on Tuesday

PNS nNALGONDA

Braving the heavy rains,Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Tuesday vis-ited Chandupatla village inNalgonda district and paidtributes to the Kakatiyadynasty ruler Rani Rudrama.

The Governor visited therock inscription that carrieddetails about the martyrdom ofthe Kakatiya queen and offeredfloral tributes at the inscrip-tion.

Tamilisai Soundararajanalso garlanded the statue of theRani Rudrama Devi in the vil-lage.

Speaking on the occasion,the Governor pointed out thatRani Rudrama symbolises thebravery of women rulers in thecountry and inspired the lega-cy of women empowerment.

She called for the inclusionof Rani Rudrama's life anddeeds as lessons in the text-books to create better aware-ness among the younger gen-eration about the glorious his-

tory and legacy.'Rani Rudrama is the sym-

bol of courageous deeds ofwomen rulers in the country.Her achievements and braveryas the Kakatiya ruler inspiredwomen for many generations.It is our duty to perpetuate,popularise and promote hergreat legacy,' she added.

The Governor also suggest-ed the construction of a specialmonument and an arch in thevillage to perpetuate Kakatiya'shistory and transform the vil-

lage into a major tourist spot.Earlier, the Governor also

distributed hygiene kits, masks,and tarpaulin sheets to thewomen of the village and inter-acted with them.

Secretary to Governor KSurendra Mohan and othersenior officials were present.

Additional Collector VChandrasekhar, DistrictRevenue Officer O JagadishwarReddy, District Public RelationOfficer O Srinivas and otherswere present.

Governor pays tributesto Rani Rudrama Devi

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan paying tributes to Kakatiya dynasty ruler RaniRdurma at Chandupatla village in Nalgonda district on Tuesday

Mahabubnagar super-specialityhospital to be ready this year

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

BJP State unit president andLok Sabha member BandiSanjay Kumar on Tuesdayheld a meeting with DistrictCollector R V Karnan onTuesday to discuss the floodsituation in the district.

Sanjay Kumar urged theCollector to speed up reliefmeasures, particularly in low-lying areas. He visitedCharlabhutkur village andinteracted with people. He

requested the government toprovide all possible support tothe people affected by torren-tial rains. The meeting withthe Collector lasted half-anhour. The BJP leader enquiredabout the relief activities beingundertaken by the districtadministration. He said peo-ple faced untold problemsbecause of incessant rains forthe last five days, he said.

The Collector told the BJPleader that the situation wasunder control in the district.

PNS n SANGAREDDY

District Collector A Sharathas asked the Revenue offi-cials to alert the people to savethem from possible accidentsdue to incessant rains thathave been lashing the districtfor the last several days.

Addressing AdditionalDistrict Collectors via videoconference from theCollectorate here on Tuesday,he gave necessary directionsto district officials, divisional,mandal level officials on pre-cautions to be adopted.

Water bodies in the districtare full to the brim, heobserved and asked theauthorities to evacuate peopleliving in low-laying areas tosafer places in emergency sit-uations. He directed the offi-cials to monitor the water lev-els in the irrigation tanksfrom time to time. The tankswith a capacity of 75% havebeen overflowing their sluices,he said, asking Tahsildars,

police, irrigation and grampanchayat authorities andpanchayat secretary inspectthe other tanks jointly andsubmit him a report. He askedirrigation superintendingengineer to gather latest infor-mation about water levels inreservoirs. The MPDO,Panchayat secretary in vil-lages, municipal and revenueofficials in urban areas shouldimplement precautions, hesaid. All drinking water tanksin panchayats should be chlo-rinated. Maintenance of san-itation should be undertakenperiodically. Care should be

taken to ensure that drainwater is not accumulated indrainages, he said asking theauthorities to drop oil balls indrainages.

District Panchayat Officerhas been asked to sanitise allpublic institutions. The peo-ple living in dilapidated struc-tures should be relocated insafer areas duly identifying thedangerous structures. Watersamples in all villages shouldbe subjected to laboratorychecks. Sheep and goat rear-ers have been asked not totake out their goats and sheepsoutside for grazing.

Collector asks governmentofficials to swing into action

Sangareddy Collector A Sharat at a review meeting in Sangareddy on Tuesday

PNS n SURYAPET

Minister for Energy G JagadishReddy has appealed to thepeople of undivided Nalgondadistrict to stay alert in view ofincessant rains lashing the dis-trict for the past several days.

Reviewing the flood situa-tion with officials at a specialmeeting convened at his campoffice here on Tuesday, he saidthat out of 1,071 tanks, 359 areoverflowing their sluices, whileinflows are reaching into therest of the 712 tanks.

On the very first day ofrains starting lashing the dis-trict, Jagadish Reddy has beenmonitoring the flood situa-tion with officials of Suryapet,Nalgonda and Yadadri dis-tricts over phone. As the Metdepartment declared a highalert in Tungaturti, Suryapet,Nalgonda districts, ChiefMinister K Chandrashekar Raowas reported to have spokenwith Jagadish Reddy to gain

firsthand knowledge of theflood situation in the region.

On Tuesday, Jagadish Reddydiscussed the situation with theofficials of Nalgonda andYadadri districts officials overphone and reviewed the situa-tion in Suryapet district offi-cials, which included among ofthe high-alert districts.

He asked the officials tocontinue to keep the people ina state of alert and told them toensure that adequate personnelare positioned at the field level.

He asked them to take pre-cautions to check the spread ofepidemics. Energy departmentofficials have been asked tokeep ready electricity depart-ment personnel along withrescue teams. If the flood levelin River Musi increases, heasked the officials to releaseflood water into the irrigationcanals. In case of release of thewater into the canals, he want-ed the officials to alert the peo-ple living in villages located inlow-lying areas.

Heavy rains: Minister asks people,officials to remain on alert

Minister for Energy G Jagadish Reddy at a review meeting in Suryapet on Tuesday

Bandi urges Collector toprovide relief to people

BJP State unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar meeting with Karimnagar DistrictCollector R V Karnan in Karimnagar on Tuesday

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

Minister for Prohibition andExcise V Srinivas Goud onTuesday expressed happinessover the government's effortsto ensure quality healthcare topeople bearing fruit inMahabubnagar district. Herecalled that the poor health-care facilities in the unitedAndhra Pradesh used to causepain to him.

Participating as a chief guestat the meeting of the GeneralHospital DevelopmentCommittee here, SrinviasGoud said that theGovernment Hospital in thetown was upgraded. Now,quality healthcare facilities arebeing provided to the people,he said. He expressed his grat-itude to Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao for releas-ing funds for improvinghealthcare facilities in the dis-trict. The people were forced tovisit Hyderabad for treatmentearlier. Now, the situation hasimproved and quality health-care is provided to people in

the district, he said. The Minister said the gov-

ernment had sanctioned asuper-speciality hospital forMahabubnagar town. Thesuper-speciality hospital wouldbe built on the premises of theold District Collector at a costof Rs 400. The construction ofthe hospital would be complet-ed this year and the healthcarefacility on a par with the NIMSHospital in Hyderabad wouldbe made available to people, heasserted. He promised toensure that a nursing andpara-medical colleges would beestablished in the district.Apart from it, a dental college,too, would be set up soon, he

said. The Minister announcedthe release of Rs 50 lakh formodernisation of the GeneralHospital in the town. The MRIscan facility will be availableafter opening the super-specialhospital. Lok Sabha memberManne Srinivas Reddy, ZillaParishad Chairperson SwarnaSudhakar Reddy, DistrictCollector S Venkata Rao,Additional Collector TejasNandanlal Pawar, MunicipalChairman K C Narasimhulu,MUDA Chairman GandjiVenkanna Mudiraj, GeneralHospital Superintendent RamKishan, District Medical andHealth Officer Krishna andothers were present.

Minister for Excise V Srinivas Goud at a meeting in Mahabubnagar on Tuesday

NAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

With incessant rains in theupper basin of Godavari riverin Telangana State, all reser-voirs are filled to the brim.Water bodies are almost fullin the Godavari basin.

Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao reviewedthe situation at a high-levelmeeting on the flood positionin the State and instructedthe Irrigation officials con-cerned to stay alert.

As per the instructions ofthe Chief Minister, theIrrigation officials are nowfocusing on restoring thelevels and planning to releasewater depending on therequirements of farmers. Itwill enable farmers to take uphassle-free cultivation duringthe monsoon season.

With Sriram Sagar projectand Pocharam in Nizamabad,Swarna and Kadem projectsin Adilabad and Sripada

Yellampalli in Peddapallibrimming, officials are con-fident of fulfilling the waterrequirements of farmers.

The water levels in SRSPtouched 74.83 tmcft againstfull reservoir level of 90.31tmcft . At 12 noon onTuesday, the inflow into the

project as 81,730 cusecs andthe officials released 86,118cusecs of water by openingnine gates.

As seen in the reports offlood bulletin , the waterlevels in the Godavari basin,Singur project is 20.59 tmcft,Kadem project is 6.26 tmcft,

Sripada Yellampally project is13.24 tmcft.The IrrigationDepartment reports on waterlevels predicted that plenty ofwater may be available thisseason by the end of August.The farmers of the State willhave bright future in theVanakalam season.

Reservoirs in Godavari basinbrimming, gates lifted

Minister for Endowments A Indrakaran Reddy visited the Sri Ram Sagar project

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) issued anorange alert for Wednesdayand a Yellow alert for Thursdayin Telangana. According to theIMD, the low pressure area hasturned into a well-marked lowpressure area and the associat-ed cyclonic circulation extendsupto 7.6 km above mean sealevel tilting southwards withheight.

The IMD said that heavy tovery heavy rain is likely tooccur on Wednesday at isolat-ed places in Adilabad,Kumaram Bheem, Mancherial,Nirmal, Jagtial, Karimnagar,Peddapalli, Nizamabad, Medakand Kamareddy districts. Asfor Hyderabad, it will be gen-erally cloudy sky, light to mod-erate rain or thunderstormsand at times very heavy spellsare very likely to occur in thecity. Water-logging in manyparts of low-lying areas in dif-ferent districts is expected.There may be disruption ofrail/road transport for a fewhours.

IMD issues orange alert for

today, yellow alert for

tomorrow in Telangana

No panels forroad contractssince 2003: RTIPNS n HYDERABAD

Since 2003, the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation has not constitut-ed a committee to ensure allo-cation of road contracts, despitethe G.O Ms 94 rule issued bythe Telangana Irrigation andCommand Area Development(CAD).

An RTI filed by activist VijayGopal, sought information onthe confirmation of the com-mittee as required for "workallocation" under rule 14 of thesaid G.O.Ms 94 of 2003 byI&CAD department. The replyrevealed by the Deputy ChiefEngineer official of GHMC isthat no committee has beenformed in GHMC since 2003."Who decides? No will or inter-est shown in quality control,budget or even constitution ofcommittee to overlooksafety/allocation of work. Howmany more years do you allneed? The road is laid, no tracks(white markings) for weeks, noquality check, no penalties,nothing. No one knows if thebudget for training is set aside.

PNS n KUMARAM BHEEM

ASIFABAD

The wife Rebeena sub-inspector P V S Bhavani Senon Tuesday allegedly attempt-ed to commit suicide by con-suming sanitiser as the policeofficer faced sexual harass-ment charges. She was at

first takento the

primaryhea lthcentreand she

w a sadmitted

to theHeadquarters GovernmentHospital in the district head-quarters. The doctors saidthat her condition is stable.

Bhavani Seni, followingthe allegations of sexuallyharassing a woman aspirantfor a police job, was trans-ferred and placed in vacancyreserve (VR) wing.Ramagundam PoliceCommissioner SChandrasekhar Reddy issuedorders to this effect.

Tainted’ SI’s wifeattempts suicide

nation 05HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 13, 2022

IND

IA C

OR

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R Udaipur tailor's murder: Three sent to police, four to judicial custody

An NIA court here on Tuesday sent three of the accused in Udaipur tailor KanhaiyaLal's murder case to police custody till July 16 while the other four were remandedin judicial custody till August 1. All of them were produced in the court separately.

The court had earlier remanded the accused into the National Investigation Agency (NIA)custody until July 12, Special Public Prosecutor T P Sharma said. The court sent threeof them--Riaz Akhtari, Ghouse Mohammadand Farhad Mohammad Sheikh--to policecustody till July 16, Sharma said. The fourothers, identified as Mohmamad Mohsin,Wasim Ali, Asif and Mohsin were sent tojudicial custody till August 1, he added.Kanhaiya Lal was killed by cleaver-wieldingRiaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad athis shop on June 28 in the Udaipur's DhanMandi police station area over acontroversial post on social media. Theaccused had posted a grisly video of thecrime online.

J'khand will become leading state if Centre's support continues: Soren

Chief Minister Hemant Soren said on Tuesday that Jharkhand would be one of the leadingstates in the next five to seven years if support from the Union government continued.In a veiled attack at the same time, Soren, often critical of the NDA government for not

paying a huge sum of Rs 1.36 lakh crore for coal and others, reminded that the state's con-tribution should not be forgotten. "We have seen that the labourers who construct a buildingare often forgotten," he said at the inaugura-tion of Deoghar airport by the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. "Jharkhand has been con-tributing to nation building for years throughits minerals, including coal and iron," Sorensaid. The chief minister expressed hope thatthe airport would contribute to the state'sdevelopment as he thanked over 300 familieswho have given their land for the project.Soren hoped the air routes and airports thathave been promised by Civil Aviation MinisterJyotiraditya Scindia, who is accompanyingModi, would be fulfilled soon.

Shiv Sena to support Murmu:Uddhav Thackeray

Shiv Sena will support NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, party presidentUddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday. Thackeray said the Sena is announcing support toMurmu without any pressure. Nobody pressured me in the meeting of Sena MPs, he

added. "Tribal leaders of my party told me that this was the first time that a tribal woman isgetting the chance to become the President, hesaid. Actually, going by the present politicalatmosphere, I should not have backed her. Butwe are not narrow minded, he said. Sena MPSanjay Raut said Shiv Sena had earlier backedUPA presidential nominees like Pratibha Patiland Pranab Mukherjee. The Sena has thetradition of going beyond politics. We believe inbacking people in the national interest, he said.After getting the support of some regionalparties like BJD, YSR-CP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP,JDS, Shiromani Akali Dal and now Shiv Sena,the vote-share of NDA nominee DroupadiMurmu has already crossed 60 per cent.

Heavy showers inundate parts of MumbaiPNS n MUMBAI

Heavy rains and strong winds lashedMumbai and suburbs on Tuesdaymorning and flooded many parts of thecity within a couple of hours, throwingroad traffic out of gear at some places,officials said.

A tree fell near a petrol pump closeto the Dockyard railway station of theHarbour Line, due to which trafficmovement was affected. The tree waslater moved aside and the trafficresumed but it was slow, a police offi-cial said.

Some commuters claimed that thelocal trains, considered as the lifeline ofMumbai, were running late by five to

10 minutes.But, officials of the Western Railway

and the Central Railway said the ser-vices were running normally.

There was water-logging up to two

feet at some places and vehicularmovement was slow in some of thewestern suburbs, according to theMumbai police.

After light showers for a couple ofdays, heavy rains made a comeback tothe metropolis from Monday night. Thecity and suburbs witnessed incessantshowers on Tuesday morning.

There was water-logging up to twofeet at the Andheri subway, and trafficfrom there was divert to the S V Road,a police official said.

Some areas near the south-boundend of the Bandra-Worli sea link,Mahalaxmi junction, Gamadia junc-tion, Tardeo were also inundated up to0.5 feet.

A similar water-logging was wit-nessed at the Hindmata junction due towhich the south-bound traffic wasmoving slow.

Traffic movement was also slow inPratap Nagar, Jogeshwari in the west-ern suburbs, at some spots on theWestern Express Highway, Netaji PalkarChowk, Everard Nagar and near a fam-ily court in the Bandra-Kurla Complex,the official said.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has predicted mod-erate to heavy rain in the city and sub-urbs with a possibility of very heavydownpour at isolated places and occa-sional gusty winds reaching 40-50kmph over the next 24 hours.

‘Criticism of national emblemon new Par building political’PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Tuesday assertedthat the national emblemunveiled by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Parliament'snew building was an exactreplica of the one in Sarnathand accused the Opposition ofdeliberately trying to create onecontroversy after another forpolitical reasons.

Opposition members andactivists have accused the gov-ernment of distorting thenational emblem by replacingthe "graceful and regally con-fident" Ashoka lions with thosehaving menacing and aggres-sive posture and sought imme-diate change.

BJP chief spokesperson andRajya Sabha member AnilBaluni said the real reasonbehind the Opposition's alle-gation is its frustration overIndia creating its ownParliament building underPrime Minister NarendraModi-led government, replac-ing the one created by theBritish over 150 years back.

"The opposition is totallydue to political reasons.Opposition parties want totarget Modi for one reason oranother. It is just a conspiracyto vitiate the atmosphere bymisleading people," he said.

Critics are comparing thenational emblem inauguratedon Monday with the one inSarnath, considered the inspi-ration behind the nationalinsignia, by producing pic-tures taken from differentangles, Baluni said.

This also must be noted thatthe emblem over theParliament building is 6.5

metre high, almost three timesthe one in Sarnath, he said.

The state emblem of India isan adaptation from the SarnathLion Capital of EmperorAshoka which is preserved inthe Sarnath Museum. TheLion Capital has four lionsmounted back to back on a cir-cular abacus.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had on Monday unveiledthe cast of the national emblematop the new Parliament build-ing in the presence of LokSabha Speaker Om Birla andRajya Sabha Deputy ChairmanHarivansh.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onTuesday said it will hearBhima Koregaon case accusedP Varavara Rao's plea for per-manent medical bail on July19 and extended his interimprotection till further orders.

The 83-year-old, who haschallenged the Bombay HighCourt order rejecting his peti-tion for permanent medicalbail, is currently on bail on

medical grounds and was tosurrender today.

"At the joint request made

by the counsel appearing forthe parties, this matter beposted as first item on July 19,"a bench headed by Justice U ULalit said.

"The interim protectionenjoyed by the petitioner shallcontinue... till further orders,"it said.

Solicitor General TusharMehta had requested thebench that the matter be takenup for hearing on Wednesdayor Thursday.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onTuesday agreed to set up a five-judge Constitution bench tohear the legal issue concerningthe scope of legislative andexecutive powers of the Centreand National Capital Territorygovernment over control ofservices in Delhi for an author-itative pronouncement .

A bench comprising ChiefJustice N V Ramana andJustices Krishna Murari andHima Kohli was urged bysenior advocate A M Singhvi,

appearing for the AAP govern-ment, that the issue needed anurgent hearing. It is veryurgent. Please list it, Singhvisaid. The CJI responded, Wewill".

On May 6, the top court hadreferred to a five-judgeConstitution bench the issue ofcontrol of services in Delhi.

In a relief to the Centre,which was seeking the issue ofcontrol of services in Delhi toa larger bench, the apex courthad said the limited issue ofcontrol over services was notdealt by the Constitution

bench which elaborately dealtwith'' all legal questions.

The limited issue that hasbeen referred to this Bench,relates to the scope of legisla-tive and executive powers ofthe Centre and NCT Delhiwith respect to the term ser-vices'. The Constitution Benchof this court, while interpret-ing Article 239AA(3)(a) ofthe Constitution, did not findany occasion to specificallyinterpret the impact of thewordings of the same withrespect to Entry 41 in the StateList.

‘Unilateral attempts to changeLine of Actual Control won't do’

Online test fornon-gazettedposts PNS n BENGALURU

U n i o nMinister ofState forP e r s o n n e lJ i t e n d r aSingh onTuesday said

the online test for recruitmentto non-gazetted posts in thecentral government is likelyto be conducted by this yearend.

He said to begin with, thetest will be conducted in 12languages and gradually itwill include all the 22 lan-guages mentioned in the 8thSchedule of the Constitution,which will overcome thecomplaints of language biascoming from some southernstates.

Singh was delivering thevaledictory address at thetwo-day regional conferenceon governance in Bengaluruorganised by the Departmentof Administrative Reformsand Public Grievances(DARPG) and Karnatakagovernment.

Attempts on to ‘dissolve' states:Sharad Pawar's swipe at CentrePNS n MUMBAI

Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) chief Sharad Pawar onTuesday took a swipe at theUnion government by claim-ing attempts were being madeto "dissolve" governments inseveral states.

He said people would do thesame with those in power.

Speaking at a meeting ofNCP workers here, Pawar alsosaid the ruling Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) was "attackingParliamentary democracy inthe country".

"There are attempts to dis-solve several states. However,people will do the same withthose in power. People arewatching," the former Unionminister said without namingany dispensation or state in

particular.However, he named the BJP

while talking about recentdevelopments in Maharashtra,where the Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) government collapsedfollowing a rebellion by theEknath Shinde faction ofMLAs against the Shiv Senaleadership.

"The BJP is attacking parlia-mentary democracy in thecountry. What happened in

Madhya Pradesh and now inMaharashtra is known toeveryone. It is because poweris concentrated in a few hands,"he said.

Queried on allegations thatthe BJP-led Centre was misus-ing probe agencies to targetOpposition leaders, Pawar saidthe Congress never did sowhen it was in power.

"The Congress never mis-used probe agencies like theEnforcement Directorate (ED)but power is massively misusedto create political threats. It isa time for the struggle foreveryone," he claimed.

Pawar referred to theEmergency imposed in thecountry between 1975 and1977 and said the then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi lost thepolls after it was lifted.

Modi offers prayers at BabaBaidyanath templePNS n DEOGHAR

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday offeredprayers at Baba Baidyanathtemple here, one of the 12Jyotirlingas in the country,amid chants of vedic mantras.The temple has beenbedecked with lights andflowers for PM's visit. Theshrine, around 270-km fromthe Jharkhand capital, attractsthousands of pilgrims everyyear on the occasion ofShravani Mela, set to com-mence on July 14. Earlier inthe day, he had laid founda-

tion stones of projects andinaugurated development ini-tiatives totaling Rs 16,800crore. "As soon as the primeminister reached the VIPdoor of the shrine, he wasgreeted with flowers amidsounds of conch-shell blow-ing by a group of 11 priests.He was then escorted to'Sammukh door' (the frontdoor) for Ganesh puja," anofficial of the temple commit-tee, Kartik Nath Thakur, toldPTI. He paid obeisance toLord Shiva at the sanctumsanctorum of the temple, headded.

Idgah Maidan issue:Mixed response toChamarajpet bandh

BJP has nothing todo with ‘rebellion'in Goa Congress:CM PramodPNS n PANAJI

Goa Chief Minister PramodSawant on Tuesday said theBJP has nothing to do with the"rebellion" in the stateCongress Legislature Party.

On Sunday, five of the total11 Congress MLAs in Goawent incommunicado, fuellingspeculations about a split inthe party.

But, they attended the mon-soon session of the stateAssembly which began onMonday and claimed therewas "nothing wrong" in theopposition party. Ten of theCongress MLAs also attendeda meeting chaired by seniorparty leader Mukul Wasnik inPanaji on Monday night.

Some reporters outside theAssembly complex on Tuesdayasked CM and senior BJPleader Sawant about develop-ments in the state Congress.

Let me reiterate that the BJPhas nothing to do with therebellion in the CongressLegislature Party, Sawant saidbefore walking away withoutanswering any further ques-tions.

SC agrees to hear plea related to Delhi-Centre row over control of services

SC extends Varavara's protection,to hear his bail plea on July 19

PNS n BENGALURU

The bandh called by the citi-zens forum and other organi-sations in the city'sChamarajpet, demanding todeclare 2.10 acre 'IdgahMaidan' as a property of thecivic body and to save it as aplayground, evoked a mixedresponse on Tuesday.

Most of the shops surround-ing Idgah Maidan remainedclosed, except for a few oneslike those involved in medicaland other emergency services.Closed shops had a sticker sup-porting the bandh on theirdoors or shutters.

However, shops and estab-lishments in Chamarajpet,beyond the close vicinity of theIdgah Maidan by and largefunctioned as usual and vehi-cles were also plying on theroad normally.

Many schools and educa-tional institutions in the vicin-ity were shut.

There was heavy deploy-

ment of police in the area toprevent any untoward inci-dents. Police intervened whensome people tried to forceful-ly shut shops.

The 'Chamarajpet Bandh'was called by 'ChamarajpetNagareekara Okkuta Vedike'demanding to declare theIdgah Maidan as the civicbody Bruhat BengaluruMahanagara Palike (BBMP)'sproperty and not go to theKarnataka State Board of Wakf.

They are also demanding tosave the playground there,allowing celebration of Hinduand national festivals thereand that it be renamed afterJayachamaraja Wadiyar, thelast Maharaja of Mysuru.

Recently, the BBMP initial-ly claimed the ownership of theIdgah Maidan, but subsequent-ly made a U-turn, stating thatthe property does not belongto it. It has stated that the ambi-guity over the ownership wasdue to city survey records of1974.

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Tuesday took astrong stance on the Indo-China border issue by sayingthat any unilateral attempt tochange the Line of ActualControl (LAC) will not be"countenanced" by India.

Jaishankar said efforts wereon to resolve the boundaryissues between the two coun-tries through discussionsinvolving their military com-manders and diplomats.

The Union minister'sresponse came while answer-ing a query seeking the Indiangovernment's official positionwith regard to formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhi'stweet claiming that there was"increasing Chinese infiltra-tion" into Indian territory.

"As to what has happened inthe last two years, we havebeen very clear and very effec-tive in ensuring that no

attempt to change the statusquo unilaterally on the Line ofActual Control will be coun-tenanced by us," Jaishankarsaid.

He said the problems in theboundary with China waslargely due to the Chineseoccupying large parts of India,including Ladakh, in 1962 --during Congress rule -- andmany of these are strategicareas that create a challenge forIndian border forces.

Taking a dig at Gandhi, theUnion minister said, "I did notsee anything particularly newin what his tweet said, becauseyou all know that a large partof the problem we have on theboundary is because in 1962,the Chinese came and occu-pied large areas, includingLadakh."

"Many of these are strategicareas which obviously createchallenges for our borderforces," Jaishankar added.

The minister said that at themoment discussions weregoing on between the twosides involving military com-manders and also diplomats.

"These (discussions) relateto friction points where we arevery very closely deployedvis-a-vis each other and thefocus is to see whether disen-gagement at these frictionpoints was possible.

"In the last year there hasbeen very substantial disen-gagement. There are still someissues... There are ongoingdiscussions. I have myselfraised the issue with theChinese Foreign Ministerwhen I met him in Bali (G20Foreign Ministers' Meeting),"Jaishankar said.

"So, I think we have beenvery clear and very open aboutit. So, I really don't knowwhat the confusion is," headded while responding tothe query regarding Gandhi'stweet.

I haven’t spent thelast few turbulentyears plotting orbriefing against thePrime Minister.

Boris Johnson loyalist—Grant Shapps

I am open todoing many dif-ferent things inmy career, whichis possible inBollywood.

Actor

—Emily Shah

The election of Edappadi Palaniswami as the interim general secretary of the AIADMKand expulsion of O Panneerselvam along with four associates are on expected lines.Panneerselvam, who had been the coordinator of the party steering committee since

September 2017, wanted to seize the party apparatus despite losing hold over the 1.5crore-strong cadre. His rival Palaniswami was working overtime winning friends andinfluencing people by hard work. Panneerselvam’s fate was sealed the day he approachedthe courts with complaints against Palaniswami and his associates for taking controlof the party. The AIADMK bylaw states that no member should challenge the party dik-tats in courts. Though Panneerselvam tried to stall the general council meeting, the MadrasHigh Court made it unequivocally clear that it cannot interfere in inner-party squabbles.Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, who were in opposite camps, came together inSeptember 2017 to preempt the move by VK Sasikala and her family to hijack the AIADMK.

The cadre stood behind Panneerselvam andPalaniswami because of their strong reservationsagainst Sasikala and company, who were trying to con-vert the AIADMK into a family-run enterprise.

The ‘Mannargudi Mafia’, as the Sasikala clan isknown, had usurped control of Jaya TV and NamathuMGR, much to the cadres’ chagrin. Had it not beenthe Supreme Court verdict of February 2017 whichupheld the sentencing of Sasikala, her relationsElavarasi and Sudhakaran, Tamil Nadu would have seenPuratchithai Chinnamma (as Sasikala describes her-self) subverting the popular mandate received byJayalalithaa, and anointing herself the Chief Minister.

Despite the party’s general council easing her out, Sasikala moves around claiming tobe the AIADMK general secretary. If it was servility that elevated Panneerselvam to theChief Minister’s chair thrice, Sasikala succeeded to a great extent in annexing the partystructure through palace coup. Palaniswamy, who became Chief Minister by default inFebruary 2017, proved to be a good administrator and tactician. His candidness wonmany a heart. Though the AIADMK did not win the 2021 Assembly election, it put upa commendable performance under his leadership and endeared Palaniswami to peo-ple. The AIADMK developments prove that the days of dynasty politics are coming toan end in India. If the cadres understand the emergence of Panneerslvam-Sasikala-Stalinaxis to speed up the AIADMK’s disintegration, it might survive longer.

The 27th edition of the United Nations’ World Population Prospects 2022, whichprojects India to become the most populous country surpassing China in 2023,brings focus on the subject in the country. Population has been a major issue in

India. Children were taught in schools that rising population was a big, if not the biggest,problem. Successive Governments carried out programmes to check its growth, whichbecame coercive during the Emergency in the mid-1970s; the infamous vasectomy driveplayed a role in the fall of the Indira Gandhi Government in 1977. After liberalisation in1991, however, the population issue receded from public discourse as well as politicaldebate, though politicians, mainly from the Bharatiya Janata Party, intermittently raisedthe issue. In fact, top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have even talked

about ‘demographic dividend’. One reason for thedeclining importance of population as a political andpublic issue has been the progress made by our coun-try in checking its growth. The total fertility rate (TFR)— or the average number of children born to anywoman in her lifetime — declined to two in 2019-21from 2.2 in 2015-16, as per the fifth round of theNational Family Health Survey, or NFHS-5. Since thereplacement level of fertility (suggesting no popula-tion growth) is 2.1, a TRF of 2 indicates a decline inpopulation in the future. In other words, population isno longer a threat to prosperity as it was decades agowhen rapid rise in numbers was eroding the gains ofeconomic growth and development.

Indeed it was growth and development that made population a non-problem, thussuggesting a great national feat: India has managed to escape the vicious circle ofextreme poverty and fast-growing population. So, the report by the population divi-sion of the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, saying that both Chinaand India would have over 1.4 billion people in 2022 doesn’t ring any alarm bells.India’s feat is more impressive than China’s, which also succeeded in controlling itspopulation, because it was done by persuasion, the excesses during the Emergencybeing an exception. India should stay the course and not come with a law to controlpopulation, which the Government may be planning, as a Union Minister said a fewweeks ago. Such an endeavour would be worse than unnecessary, for discussionabout population in our country often turns divisive; Muslims are accused of beingcareless about the number of children. While it is true that the population growth rateamong them is higher than that of the national rate, it is declining, which is a goodsign. At the same time, the Government has to ensure that the demographic dividenddoesn’t become a liability. It must strive harder to do away with the supply-side con-straints which are impeding economic growth. For only growth can generate the con-ditions to make the dividend to work for national advantage.

Dividend, not a curse

IGNORING THE COMMON CITIZENSir – In the furore over the Maharashtrarevolt, Nupur Sharma’s controversial com-ments on the Prophet, the gruesome retal-iatory killings, arrests over tweets, bulldoz-er actions and so on, the bread-and-but-ter issues that trouble the beleagueredcommon man have been pushed to thesidelines. And whenever the issues oflivelihood flare up, people’s emotions arestirred up by invoking the ‘wrongs’ in his-tory and cruelties of Muslim rulers!Sadly, the strategy causes more problemsthan it solves. Yet, it is necessary to talkaloud about the current state of India’seconomy. Gross Domestic Product at con-stant prices, which was `140 lakh crore in2018-19, increased marginally to `146lakh crore in 2019-20 and stayed flat at`147 lakh crore in 2021-22.

Also, data show that the growth hasnot been even across India, with the south-ern States constantly increasing theirshare in the GDP. Inflation continues tobe above seven per cent. A LPG cylinderweighing 14.2 kg now costs anywherebetween `1,000 and `1,092 after the lat-est hike, against `417 and `452 in 2014.The exchange rate of rupee is inchingtowards `80 a dollar, the lowest ever. It isnot the time to ruminate on the perceivedwrongs in history.

Haridasan Rajan | Kozhikode

TACKLE NARCO-TERROR EXPEDITIOUSLYSir – The effects of Pakistan’s narco-terror-ism in Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa, Punjaband Jammu & Kashmir have been cata-strophic. Without action, India's bordervulnerability is costing the nation a lot. Thenumber of drugs traded and ingested inIndia has dramatically increased duringseveral years. With rising heroin, marijua-na and brown sugar consumption, the for-merly chronic problem of drug misuse hasnow reached epidemic proportions.Trafficking and usage like this have detri-mental effects on border terrorism. Drugterrorism is a long-standing issue. It is wellknown that Pakistani factions have histor-

ically given separatists money obtainedthrough the drug trade.

Former Pakistani PMs have acceptedthat the country’s security service sellsheroin, marijuana and brown sugar to fundclandestine military operations. Largedrug shipments with militants are seenoften in Kashmir and other border Statesof India. However, the trend has changedand drugs are now being transmitted rightacross the Line of Control. The currenttrend is for militants from Pakistan totransport drugs directly in addition toweapons and ammunition. Terrorists fromPakistan are engaging in the same nefar-ious behaviour in India that they did inPunjab, where they first provided weaponstraining before drugging the youth.

Vijaykumar HK | Raichur

POPULATION EXPLOSION IS A THREATSir – I wish to draw the attention of theauthorities concerned about the popula-tion explosion in India. Every day, theglobal population is increasing rapidly andthe rate of increase is alarming. Humanity

is now confronted with this critical prob-lem. This population explosion is swiftlyincreasing the strain on Earth’s population.If the prevailing rate of birth boom goeson unchecked, the global population willtouch an extreme figure and it will createan acute problem. The growing pressureon land will create serious instability in theeconomy, political and environment fromwhich no one will get rid of.

The trouble might lead to invasion ofagricultural land and forests for construc-tion of new townships, resulting in muchless food manufacturing and ecologicaldisturbances. As a result, scarcity of foodand dwelling places will occur. Variouspandemic diseases will spread across theworld. In view of all this, I think that theGovernment should take necessary stepsand introduce family planning as a strictlaw as early as possible to solve this prob-lem, else the public grievance at any timemay lead to dire consequences.

Divyansha Sharma | Ujjain

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

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HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 13, 2022

06

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At a crossroadsUnder EPS, the AIADMK stands stronger

but it must proceed with caution

PICTALK

Children play in a waterlogged street after monsoon rains, in Rajkot PTI

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

That India may become the most populous country in 2023 isn’t necessarily bad news

Eventually, the long-ruled empire ofPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Sri Lankahas been toppled by the exasperated citi-

zens because they were left with no option butto resort to rampage and arson of royal presi-dential building and office after being fed upwith anarchy, deep financial blunders and cor-ruptible dynastic leadership which was goingon for several generations. It has now landedthe island nation on the cusp of an unprece-dented future without an able and competentpolitical leadership. However, there’s hope thatthe interim Government formed by all the

Opposition parties could make headway fromthe scratch for the goodwill of people and tamethe runaway economic crisis and inflation,which doomed the Rajapaksa Government,including the citizens.

Although the gutted Sri Lankan public hasfinally shown the exit door to its long-servingincompetent rulers and leaders, and possiblyspent their anger and frustration, but how willthings improve when the country is alreadyenmeshed in a deep debt trap and surviving onbailout packages from the IMF, besides Indiaand Japan. It’s time that the improbable func-tional Government as directed by the ChiefJustice and Central bank’s chief must come upwith rather convincing and monumentalreforms to tide over the political crisis. Also, itmust woo the investors and IMF and take thenation ahead on the path to prosperity..

Janga Bahadur Sunuwar | Jalpaiguri

Lanka must turn over a new leaf

SOUNDBITE

becoming collateral damage.Like Mahinda, Gotabaya waswhisked off to a military basefrom where he announced hewould step down as Presidenttoday, a full moon day consid-ered auspicious for Buddhists.BBC reported that Gotabayaand Mahinda were on two SriLankan Navy ships, ready toflee but the army reported theyare in Sri Lankan territorialwaters and Gotabaya willreturn on July 13. DefenceSecretary former Maj GenKamal Gunaratne had earliersaid, according toConstitution, it was the duty ofthe military to protect a formerPresident. More than six weeksafter Wickremesinghe tookover, he too will resign for fail-ing to evolve an economicrecovery plan. AnotherRajapaksa, former FinanceMinister Basil, was preventedfrom flying out.

Last month, NGOs likeProposal for Change by BarAssociation Sri Lanka, March12 Movement, NationalMovement for Social Justice,Direction Sri Lanka, WayForward for Young Leaders —altogether some 12 entitiesmet with parliamentarians.The expectation of a watereddown 21st Amendment thatwould have allowed Gotabayato continue in office all pow-ers intact, forced the exit ofGotabaya and Ranil.

Parliament Speaker MahindaYapa Abeywardene is likely tobecome the interim President.His term will run 30 days untila new President is elected. Hewill ask Parliament to elect anew Prime Minister. But achange of guard alone will notlower the mercury asWickremesinghe on July 5announced that the countrywas bankrupt and economy ina hole.

There is little clarity onhow the collapsed economywill be rebuilt. Foreignexchange is needed immedi-ately. The two biggest crises arefuel and food shortages. OnJuly 6, Colombo announced itwas suspending interest pay-ment on $175mn sovereignguaranteed bonds of Sri LankaAirlines and would be unableto pay interest on loans takento build a China-backed air-port and expand a runway.Foreign residents and touristshave been asked to fill outforms for fuel. Most petrol sta-tions are dry as the countryawaited a fuel tanker on July10. Critical surgery is on holdas hospitals are facing longpower cuts.

Tamils did not take partin these protests but Muslimsdid. This is a turning point inSri Lanka’s history. The debatefrom the start was: Whatshould take priority — eco-nomics or politics? The mes-

sage from Aragalaya protes-tors is: fix politics first. Soonafter the 2006 Maoist revolu-tion, Mahinda visitedKathmandu. Nepalese fearedthat he had come to save KingGyanendra and monarchy asRajapaksa, translated inNepali, means “Raja kopaksa” — in favour of King.Mahinda did not know heand his clan would shortlymeet a similar fate.Thankfully SLA has stayedout of politics. Its loyalty tothe Rajapaksas had beenoverestimated. Gota wasalways a reluctant politicianand ran for President due to20th Amendment which pre-vented Mahinda from a thirdterm. The political demise ofthe Rajapaksas will make agood study on the rise and fallof political dynasties.

India must play its cardscautiously. It has reiterated itspolicy is dictated by interestsof Sri Lankan people andhumanitarian concerns. Thereis no quick fix to the nationalcrisis but for India, while it istime to wait, certainly not justto watch.

(The writer, a retired Lt Gen, was Commander,

IPKF South, Sri Lanka, andfounder member of theDefence Planning Staff, currently the Integrated

Defence Staff. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

The debate in Sri Lanka was: What should take priority — economics orpolitics? The message from Aragalaya protestors is: fix politics first

THERE IS LITTLECLARITY ON HOW

SRI LANKA’SCOLLAPSED

ECONOMY WILL BEREBUILT. FOREIGN

EXCHANGE IS NEEDED

IMMEDIATELY. THETWO BIGGEST

CRISES ARE FUELAND FOOD

SHORTAGES

ASHOK K MEHTA

The rise and fall ofpolitical dynasties

Sri Lanka has witnessed itsArab Spring moment.Accused of enjoying extra-constitutional authority

and with 27 military-led taskforces in governance, the SriLankan Army (SLA) has steeredclear of intervention in support ofRajapaksas. The writing was onthe wall…literally.

What we’ve seen happen inSri Lanka on July 9 is nothingshort of revolution but protestorshave targeted only corrupt politi-cians. Street power on this scalehas not been witnessed in SouthAsia. After the economic melt-down, the aim of leaderless mobswas removal of Rajapaksa clan.Both brothers, the heroes of thewar against Prabhakaran’s TamilTigers, were in the dock sinceMarch for political and econom-ic mismanagement. Elder broth-er, Prime Minister MahindaRajapaksa, was forced to resign inMay, replaced by RanilWickremesinghe whose UnitedNational Party had been decimat-ed in the elections. The protestorshad continued their ‘Gota GoHome’ campaign on the iconicGalle Face Green. Ignoring theirvoices, Gotabaya, a formerColonel, began consolidating hispower with the help ofWickremesinghe.

Gotabaya had promised toinstall an all-party interimGovernment, order fresh elec-tions and curb powers of thePresident with the 21st amend-ment. In an interview, he said hewill not go as “a failed President,run his full term but not stand fora second term”. He admitted hehad made mistakes over tax cuts,chemical fertiliser ban and delayin approaching IMF. He pointed-ly mentioned that as part of anyausterity programme, he willnot cut defence spending butreduce only recruitment. TheRajapaksas put the military on apedestal after the 2009 war vic-tory when there were calls todownsize the army. The 100,000army can be reduced by half.Facing no threats, military expen-diture at 1.93 per cent GDP is oneof the highest in south Asia.

July 9 saw the biggest coun-trywide protests with peoplestorming presidential palace andWickremesinghe’s private home

This mass move-ment (naturalfarming) will alsobe widely success-ful in the comingyears

Prime Minister—Narendra Modi

We’ve stood with

Sri Lankan people

as they try to

overcome this

difficult period.

MEA spokesperson

—Arindam Bagchi

Every single time,it gets more andmore meaningfuland special.

Wimbledon champion—Novak Djokovic

HE IS FREE TO MAKE HIS OWN DECISION (TOJOIN THE BJP), BUT HE SHOULD RESIGN FROMTHE POST OF MLA BEFORE DOING SO. —HARYANA EX-CHIEF MINISTERBHUPINDER SINGH HOODA

IT’S A REAL HONOUR AND PLEASURE TO MEET AMIT SHAH. A TRUE STATESMAN…

HIS VISION FOR INDIA IS AWE-INSPIRING.—HARYANA CONGRESS MLA

KULDEEP BISHNOI

Healthy kidneys in a human body are responsible for filtering ofexcess fluid and waste from blood. But conditions of diabetesand high blood pressure can affect functioning of kidneys, and

cause loss of function over time. This medical condition is referred toas Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).

If left unchecked, the disease can progress further and may even-tually lead to kidney failure. In such events when the functioning of thekidney is compromised, processing of waste gets affected. This leadsto the conditions where the patients require extrinsic support to facil-itate cleansing of the blood via a recurring therapy termed as dialysis.This makes it evident that kidneys are critical body parts. The wellbe-ing of the people is incumbent upon maintaining healthy kidneys.

The interplay of diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney diseasesis at times hard for people to understand. This interplay is a viciouscycle. Diabetes and high blood pressure are both to a large extent lifestylediseases and directly cause kidney malfunction. This in a time spancauses progressive worsening of kidney disease.

Yet, it must be understood that this vicious circle doesn’t take shapein a human body overnight, and rather the process is slow and most-ly taking place without the understanding of the patients. It is a slow-paced deterioration, which may go undetected for a long time as thedisease manifests itself at quite an advanced stage for most individu-als, making it difficult to treat the disease.

The symptoms of CKD include loss of weight, poor appetite, fatigue,swollen ankles, hands and feet, blood in urine, insomnia, itchy skin,muscle cramps, and headache.

Accounting for 17 per cent of the total global diabetic burden, Indiais referred to as the ‘diabetic capital of the world’. The country has around80 million diabetic people and the number is likely to increase to 135million in the next 25 years.

High blood pressure is also not far behind, which has been rankedthe third-highest health risk factor in Asia. In India, about 33 per centof the urban population and 25 per cent of those in the rural areas aresaid to be suffering from the conditions of high blood pressure.

Additionally, the burden of such non-communicable diseases hasbeen rising in India. This is evident from a growing incidence of highblood pressure and diabetes and the resultant kidney diseases due totheir interplay. According to a report, more than three per cent of thetotal deaths in India between the age group of 15-69 occur every yeardue to renal failure or kidney diseases. In addition, around 1.5 lakh newcases of kidney failure are reported in India each year and a lot of themsuccumb to the disease either due to the lack of awareness or due tothe shortage of dialysis units. This rate is only going to further increasewith the increasing number of patients suffering from diabetes and highblood pressure.

If detected timely, the progression of kidney disease can be sloweddown. Symptoms of the disease can be managed through medicationsand regular consultations with a nephrologist.

Yet, most important is to make lifestyle changes, including main-taining an optimum weight, exercising, meditating, consuming less saltand alcohol, and quitting smoking. This is indeed key to maintaining ahealthy lifestyle. It must be noted that regular exercise is advised to stayaway from most of the ailments.

For the diabetic, monitoring blood glucose level regularly and con-trolling it with medicines as well as following a diet chart recommend-ed by a nutritionist is essential.

(The author is Co-founder, VitusCare Dialysis Centres)

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 13, 2022

07

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FIRSTCOLUMN

DIABETES, HIGH BP CANCAUSE KIDNEY FAILURES

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Diabetes and high BP mostlycause kidney disease

How did you go bank-rupt?” Bill asked (inErnest Hemingway’s

1926 novel The Sun AlsoRises). “Two ways,” Mike said.“Gradually and then suddenly.”Sri Lanka is much the same.

The James Brothers robbedbanks. The Marx brothersmade people laugh. TheRajapaksa brothers wreckcountries. Well, only one coun-try, actually, but they havedone a spectacular job on it.

After twenty years withthe Rajapaksa brothers inpower most of the time, SriLanka today is bankrupt. Thereis no money left to import food,fuel, or medicines. There aredaily power outages, and theeconomy has ground to a halt.Even domestic food productionhas crashed, and the poor arestarting to starve.

At the time of writing themiddle brother, GotabayaRajapaksa, is still president, butafter months of mostly peace-ful mass protests huge mobsoccupied the presidentialpalace on Saturday. The‘Terminator’, as he used to becalled, has reportedly takenrefuge on a naval vessel in SriLanka’s coastal waters for safe-ty, and promises to resign onWednesday.

Not everybody is con-vinced that ‘Gota’ will keep hisword, for he is a former gener-al who still has great influencein senior military circles, buteven if he does quit he leavesthe country in ruins. Andalthough corruption played abig part in the disaster, the realcauses were arrogance andignorance.

Five years ago, Sri Lanka

was the most prosperous anddeveloped part of South Asia:almost twice the per capitaGDP of India, only one-fifth ofIndia’s infant mortality rate, thesame average lifespan as theUnited States—and cleanstreets. Then, in 2019,Gotabaya Rajapaksa won thepresidential election.

He made his elder brotherMahinda prime minister, hisother brothers Basil andChamal ministers of financeand irrigation, respectively, andgave Mahinda’s sons Namaland Yoshitha other ministries.But apart from Mahinda (whohad been president twicealready), they collectively knewas much about running a coun-try as the average traffic cop.

“Monetary policy underRakapaksa and his band ofjokers was completely irre-

sponsible,” said economist andopposition member of parlia-ment Harsha De Silva in April,when the crisis was just get-ting underway. “It was drivenby stupidity and arrogant idio-cy.”

“If you rob a man and takehis car or his money, the policewill throw you in jail for twen-ty years. But this man robbedevery person in Sri Lanka ofhalf their wealth and he’s stillthe president.”

How did these clowns getto run an entire country?Because there was a long civilwar, and they got the credit forwinning it.

The war was about ethnic-ity and religion. Most of SriLanka’s people are Buddhistand speak Sinhala, but a 30 percent minority, concentrated inthe north and east, speak Tamil

and are mostly Hindu in reli-gion (with significant Christianand Muslim minorities).

Tamils have been in SriLanka for at least 2,000 years,but the Buddhist majority seesthem as alien and even as new-comers. The Tamils did wellunder British colonial rule,when most Buddhist Sinhaleserefused to collaborate withtheir new political masters, sothere was revenge-taking afterindependence in 1948.

Buddhist-dominated gov-ernments removed the officialstatus of the Tamil languageand imposed restrictions onhigher education for Tamils.There were even anti-Tamilpogroms, and in 1987 theTamil minority started to fightback in a guerilla and terroristwar that sought an independentTamil state.

Up to 100,000 people diedin the war, which ended with anorgy of killing in the final fivemonths of battles in 2009.Mahinda Rajapaksa was thepresident who directed thosebattles, and he emerged fromthe war as a national hero.

Even after the Tamil sur-render, Mahinda’s governmentwent on torturing and ‘disap-pearing’ opponents, and hisfamily grew rich from corruptdeals. (His youngest brotherBasil was known as ‘Mr. TenPercent’.) By 2015 it got so badthat they lost the election.

When the brothers (allnow in their 70s) won powerback on an even more extremeethno-populist platform in the2019 election, it was GotabayaRajapaksa who became presi-dent, but it was actually Basilwho ran the economy. Almost

completely ignorant of financialmatters, he ran it into theground.

The Rajapaksa governmentran up $61 billion in foreigndebt, stole some, and wastedmuch of the rest on enormouswhite-elephant projects. It cuttaxes and printed money tocover the shortfall. It evenbanned artificial fertilisers onthe advice of Indian eco-evan-gelist Vandana Shiva, where-upon food production col-lapsed.

The bill came due a fewmonths ago, and Sri Lankadefaulted. The Rajapaksas willprobably flee abroad, and SriLanka will be able to borrowsome money and start torebuild. But it may be the endof the decade or longer beforethe population sees its old liv-ing standards again.

Gota made elder brother Mahinda Prime Minister, his other brothers Basil and Chamal Ministers of Finance and Irrigation

How a band of brothers destroyed Sri Lanka

(The author’s new book isThe Shortest History of War)

GWYNNE DYER

SAURABH PAUKHARIYAL

Telangana’s Rythu Vedikastruly empowering farmers VANAM JWALA

NARASIMHA RAO

CHIEFMINISTER RAOHAS UNVEILED

HIS VISIONFOR THE

RYTHUVEDIKAS’ ROLEIN TELANGANABY ASSERTING

THAT THEYSHOULD

BECOME AFORMIDABLE

FORCE NOTONLY IN

AGRICULTUREBUT ALSO

FOCALCENTERS TODETERMINECHANGE IN

GOVERNANCE

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao had con-ceived and inaugurated the first ofthe 2,601 Rythu Vedikas (Farmers’

Platforms) in the state two years ago in 2020.They are now yielding desired results. Theinitiative is proving to be a path-breakingrole model in the areas of agriculture, whilebeing hailed by many for being a revolu-tionary step that would change the contoursof the farming sector.

Agriculture is a way of life and tradi-tion that has shaped the culture and eco-nomic life of the people of Telangana. It con-tinues to be the focal point to all the strate-gies for planned socio-economic develop-ment of Telangana. Agriculture plays animportant role in the economy of Telanganaand its better performance is vital for inclu-sive growth. For boosting agriculture pro-duction, Telangana Government deployedone Agriculture Extension Officer (AEO)for every 5,000 acres (Cluster) and then feltthe need to create a platform for the farm-ers to assemble, share their ideas and expe-riences, while also assimilating knowledgeon latest technologies.

Accordingly, the Government ofTelangana decided to construct 2,601Rythu Vedikas (2,462 in rural areas and 139in urban parts of the state) in all theAgriculture Extension Officer’s clusters.Government earmarked an amount of Rs22 Lakhs for each Rythu Vedika towards theconstruction cost. Rythu Vedikas are thefirst of its kind in India where a platformis created for the farmers to organize them-selves in groups for attaining their ultimateobjectives to get the remunerative prices fortheir crops, better marketing facilities,higher productivity and ultimately makingthe agriculture profitable. They will also helpthe farmers to organize themselves into aformidable group to protect their rights. Ason date construction of all the RythuVedikas has been completed.

The Rythu Vedikas are provided withtap water, electricity, furniture, while thestate government also bears the mainte-nance costs. The Government of Telanganaproposes to connect all Rythu Vedikasacross the state through the optical fiber net-work of T-Fiber by ITE&C department. TheAEOs are working from the Rythu Vedikasand are utilizing the Rythu Vedikas as AEOsoffice. Rythu Bandhu Samithi members arealso working from Rythu Vedikas. RythuVedikas function through three verticalsmanned by qualified staff. They are --Delivery of Services, Capacity Building andKnowledge Dissemination. They also getfarmer advisories, besides linkages with ser-vice centers for all the Governmentschemes.

Delivery of services include: CropBooking, Enrolment of farmers underRythu Bandhu, Rythu Bhima, PM Kisan,etc., and implementation of various stateand centrally sponsored schemes by selec-tion of farmers. Capacity building includesregion specific and crop oriented training

Telangana’s Rythu Vedikas are helping the collective might of

farmers; delivery of support is streamlined with better outcomes

The author is ChiefPublic Relations Officer

to Chief Minister,Telangana

programs to create awarenessamong the farmers. Also, trainingof the farmers on identification,advantages of natural risks andtimely application of inputs to har-ness the higher yields are provided.The emphasis is to empower thefarmers by adopting good agricul-tural practices, duly emphasizingthe critical stages of a crop and deci-sion making in his own field, andalso helping to minimise the pesti-cide and insecticide usage. As partof knowledge dissemination, train-ing and field diagnostic visits anddemonstrations take place.

Besides, timely farm advisoriesto farmers on pests and disease out-break, weather updates, marketprices, availability of seeds, fertiliz-ers, etc., at Rythu Vedikas inCoordination with AgricultureUniversity, IMD, TSDPS, etc., areprovided to the farmers. RythuVedikas are serving as service cen-ters for all Government schemes atcluster level by disseminating thelatest guidelines, feedback of farm-ers and for making the schemesmore reachable to the farmersthereby achieving the ultimateobjective of making Rythe Raju(Farmer the King).

Agriculture and HorticultureUniversities, National level instituteslike WALAMTARI, DRR, DOR aswell as State and National Instituteson Agriculture and allied depart-ments are utilizing the RythuVedikas for their programs.

The formal inauguration of theinitiative was accompanied withpassion, courage, vision, determina-tion and devotion of CM KCR tousher in a qualitative, quantitativeand expressive farm policy thatwould eradicate all problems, adver-saries and ill effects of the farm sec-

tor and make it a profitable sectorforever. More than the stated aimsand objectives, the Rythu Vedikasably supported by the governmentpolicies would become instrumen-tal to bring in a transparent, peo-ple-friendly and progressive changein the governments to come.

Chief Minister Rao has unveiledhis vision for the Rythu Vedikas’ rolein Telangana by asserting that theyshould become a formidable forcenot only in agriculture but also focalcenters to determine change in gov-ernance. He also wanted farmers toutilize the Rythu Vedikas to stallattempts by the Centre to thrustupon the anti-farmer and pro-cor-porate Farm Acts that were broughtin forcibly and later withdrawn bythe union government.

Inaugurating Rythu Vedika, theChief Minister made a passionateplea to farmers to utilize the RythuVedika and the opportunity provid-ed by the government to become aunited force and charter the courseof their profession in the way it isprofitable and comfortable. Heenvisaged that through RythuVedikas, farmers at a later stagewould be able to determine whichcrops they should cultivate, whatprice they should fix for their pro-duce and how to market them forgreater profitability.

Referring to the concept ofRythu Vedika, CM KCR said thatnowhere in the world or in thecountry, farmers were organizedand this Telangana Model is the firstof its kind step to make farmersunited and a formidable force sincethe farmers by and large in ourcountry and worldwide were left tothemselves.

He compared the situation ofagriculture before and after the

formation of the state. Apart froman increase in the extent of culti-vation by leaps and bounds, theoutput also reached dizzy heights.He also said that no other state inthe country, not even the Centre,is implementing a slew of pro-grams, projects, policies andschemes for the agriculture sectorand farmers as was being done inthe State. In fact, the pro-farmerand pro-agriculture schemes likeRythu Bandhu, Rythu Bhima,Rythu Vedikas, and 24-hour freepower supply and host of otherschemes were initiated by KCRgovernment without any one ask-ing for it or making a demand forthem.

KCR’s vision and dream was tosee that one day the Rythu Vedikasshould become catalysts for a bet-ter change. The Chief Ministermade it abundantly clear that hewanted every farmer in the statewith the extraordinary supportprovided by the government to riseto the occasion, and reach a stagewhere he should be able to clear allhis dues and have about Rs 2 to 3lakh with him as savings to investinto his cultivation on his own with-out taking any external financialsupport. “It is then that the realBangaru Telangana is achieved,” theCM remarked.

No doubt, the Rythu Vedikas inthe days to come will become a hubfor all the farmer related activities,Agriculture Knowledge Sharingand Dissemination Centers at clus-ter level duly serving the objectiveof the Government to provide ser-vices at doorsteps of the farmers tomake farming sustainable and prof-itable. Why aren't these replicatedall over the country to benefitfarmers?

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 13, 2022 Money 08

MO

NE

Y M

AT

TE

RS

The country's largest iron ore producer NMDC has slashed the prices of lump oreand fines by Rs 500 a tonne each.The prices are effective from Tuesday, thecompany which is also the largest seller of the mineral said in a regulatory

filing.Iron ore is one of the key raw materials used in the manufacturing of steel, andany movement in the prices of the mineral has a direct impact on the rates of steel,which has been a matter of concern for theuser industries for past couple of months.According to the filing, the company hasfixed the prices of per tonne lump ore at Rs3,900 and that of fines at Rs 2,810 a tonne.While lump is high-grade iron ore havingFe (iron) content above 65 per cent, fine isinferior grade ore which needsbeneficiation.The revised prices areeffective from July 12 , 2022, and excluderoyalty, District Mineral Fund (DMF),National Mineral Exploration Trust (DMET),cess, forest permit fee and other taxes, thecompany said.

The country's renewable energy sector has potential to employ 10 lakh individuals by 2030,IREDA Chairman & Managing Director Pradip Kumar Das said on Tuesday."India'sRenewable Energy (RE) sector could potentially employ around 10 lakh people by 2030,

which would be ten times more than the existing workforce of an estimated 1.1 lakh employed bythe sector," he said delivering the keynote address at an event on Renewable Energy Managementfor Cooperatives.More than 90 per cent ofRE projects have come up in rural areas,resulting in development of the ruraleconomy, he said in a statement.Theprogramme is being organised by the Centrefor International Cooperation and Training inAgriculture Banking (CICTAB) under thesponsorship of Ministry of Cooperation atVAMINICOM, Pune, Maharashtra.Dasstressed on the need to enhance capabilitiesof cooperative groups to understand theeffects of climate change and environmentaldegradation, for them to play an importantrole in making India green through RE.

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday imposed a penalty of over Rs 1.67 crore on OlaFinancial Services for non-compliance with certain provisions related to pre-paidpayment instruments and Know Your Customer norms.

Ola Financial Services Private Limited, a subsidiary of ride-hailing app Ola, offers financialservices such as lending for two-wheelers, four-wheelers, personal loans and insuranceproducts."It was observed that the entitywas non-compliant with the directionsissued by RBI on KYC requirements," thecentral bank said in a statement.A notice was issued to the entity advisingit to show cause as to why penaltyshould not be imposed for non-compliance with the directions, itadded."After considering the entity'sresponse, RBI concluded that theaforesaid charge of non-compliance withRBI directions was substantiated andwarranted imposition of monetarypenalty," the RBI said.

NMDC cuts prices of lump ore, finesby Rs 500 per tonne each

RE sector has potential to employ 10lakh individuals by 2030: IREDA

RBI imposes Rs 1.67 cr penalty onOla Financial Services

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari on Tuesday saidthe government will raise fundsfrom capital markets for roadprojects.

The minister further saiddespite fears of global reces-sion, there is no problem infunding infrastructure sectorprojects.

"Now I am going to the cap-ital market. I don't have finan-cial resources problems.

"But, I don't want to use thefinances of rich people. I amgoing to share market, andthere I am going to take invest-ments from small people -- Rs1 lakh, Rs 2 lakh, where I amgiving them a guaranteedreturn of 8 per cent," Gadkarisaid while addressing an eventhere.Thus, I will get tremen-dous money from the market,he added.The minister said theconstruction equipment indus-

try's size is Rs 50,000 crore, butdue to the rise in crude oilprices the sector is facing aproblem."Because of highdiesel prices, we are facing aneconomic viable problem...asearly as, get rid of diesel, it isa hazardous fuel," he urged theconstruction equipment man-ufacturers.

The minister pointed outthat the government's policy isto encourage alternative fuelslike methanol, ethanol andgreen hydrogen.Noting thatelectric mobility is the future,he said the market share ofIndian automobile companieshas increased and the share offoreign automobile companies

has decreased because someIndian firms have started mak-ing electric vehicles.

Pointing out that despitehaving sufficient coal reserves,India is importing coal,Gadkari said the governmenthas decided to privatise 60 coalmines to increase productivi-ty.

Govt will tap capital marketsto fund road projects: Gadkari

PNS n MUMBAI

Rising bond yields will forcebanks to report mark-to-mar-ket losses of up to Rs 13,000crore on their investment port-folios in the April-June quarter,a report said on Tuesday.

Profits will moderate for thequarter, but improved loangrowth and operating profitswill ensure that the banks' bot-tom lines remain "steady" forFY23, the report by domesticrating agency Icra said.

The agency estimated thesystem will report an incre-mental credit growth of 10.1-11 per cent or Rs 12-13 lakhcrore in FY23.

The banks have a higherholding of government securi-ties, especially the ones with

longer tenors, in their invest-ment portfolios due to whichthe rising bond yields poseheadwinds from a profitabili-ty perspective.

The MTM (Mark-To-Market) losses on bond port-folios will come at Rs 8,000-10,000 crore for public sectorbanks and Rs 2,400-3,000 crorefor private banks in Q1 FY23,the report said.

"Despite these expectedMTM losses, we expect the netprofits of the banks to remainsteady, given the expectedgrowth of 11-12 per cent intheir core operating profits inFY23, which will more thanoffset the MTM losses," Icravice president Anil Gupta said.

Gupta, however, added thatif the yields harden substantial-

ly going forward, there could bea sequential moderation in thenet profits in FY23.

The incremental creditgrowth for banks has remainedsignificantly positive in Q1FY23, contrary to the usual

trend of negative incrementalcredit during that period in thepast, it said, adding that growthwas supported across all seg-ments.

With rising bond yields andreducing investor appetite for

corporate bonds, corporatebond issuances stood at thelowest level in four years in Q1FY23, prompting large borrow-ers to shift from debt capitalmarket to banks for their fund-ing requirements, it said.

The agency admitted thatrising interest rates may mod-erate credit demand going for-ward, but expects the system toclose FY23 with a credit growthof up to 11 per cent as against9.7 per cent in FY22.

Rate transmission is expect-ed to be faster in this cycle forbanks as 43 per cent of thefloating rate loans of banks arelinked to external benchmarks,it said, adding that 77 per centof loans are floating for banks.

This, coupled with the lag inthe upward repricing of

deposits and improved creditgrowth, will aid the improve-ment in the operating profits ofbanks, it said.

Slippages could continue tomoderate and remain at 2.5-2.7per cent of standard advancesin FY23 on reducing bouncerates and overdue loans acrossmost banks, the agency said,adding the gross Non-Performing Asset (NPA) ratiowill improve further to 5.2-5.3per cent by the end of March2023."Notwithstanding theimproving headline asset qual-ity numbers, the stressed assets(net NPAs and standardrestructured loans) stood at 3.8per cent of standard advancesas on March 31, 2022, higherthan the pre-Covid level of 3.1per cent," Gupta said.

Banks to report mark-to-market losses of Rs 13,000 crore

PNS n NEW DELHI

Billionaire Gautam Adani-ledAdani Data Networks,Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea have applied toparticipate in the upcoming 5Gauction, according to a listissued by the Department ofTelecom on Tuesday.

The spectrum auction,scheduled to start on July 26,may see aggressive bids forsome frequency bands, withthe entry of Adani DataNetworks and established play-ers Reliance Jio and BhartiAirtel looking to strengthentheir hold in the industry.

"...applications have beenreceived from the...applicantsfor participation in the 2022Auction for rights to useSpectrum in 600 MHz, 700MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz,1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHzand 26 GHz Bands," theDepartment of Telecom (DoT)said.Applicants have time till

July 19 to withdraw their appli-cations.

Adani Group on Saturdaysaid it is in the race to acquirespectrum, which it said will beused to create a private net-work to support its business-es from airports to power aswell as data centres.

A total of 72,097.85 MHz ofspectrum worth at least Rs 4.3lakh crore will be put on theblock during the auction, set tocommence on July 26, 2022.

The auction will be held forspectrum in various low (600MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900

MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz,2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz)and high (26 GHz) frequencybands.on Monday, BofASecurities in a note on theAdani Group's plans to bid in5G auctions said: "We consid-er this news flow negative forincumbent telcos as it increas-es competition in upcomingauction bidding as well as inthe long-term opportunity totarget the enterprise space".

Brokerage CLSA wonderedwhy would Adani bid in auc-tion versus awaiting a directspectrum assignment.

Adani Data Networks, Jio, Airtel,Vodafone Idea to bid for spectrum

PNS n NEW DELHI

Housing prices increased in 41cities during 2021-22, while therates of residential units fell in fivecities and remained stable in fourcities, according to price indexRESIDEX released by NationalHousing Bank (NHB).All of theeight major metros of the coun-try viz., Ahmedabad (13.8 percent), Bengaluru (2.5 per cent),Chennai (7.7 per cent), Delhi (3.2per cent), Hyderabad (11 percent), Kolkata (2.6 per cent),Mumbai (1.9 per cent) and Pune(0.9 per cent) recorded increasein the index on an annual basis,NHB RESIDEX said.The annual change varied wide-ly across the cities, ranging from

an increase of 13.8 per cent(Ahmedabad andBhubaneshwar) to a decline of 5.9per cent (Navi Mumbai), it said.On a sequential (quarter-on-

quarter) basis, the 50-city indexregistered an expansion of 2.6 percent in January-March 2022 asagainst 1.7 per cent in the previ-ous quarter.

Housing prices rise in41 cities in FY22: NHB

PNS n NEW DELHI

Ola Electric on Tuesdayunveiled the country's firstindigenously developed lithi-um ion cell.

The Bengaluru-based two-wheeler maker said it willbegin the mass production ofthe cell -- NMC 2170, from itsChennai-based Gigafactoryby 2023.

The use of specific chem-istry and materials enables thecell to pack more energy in agiven space and also improvesthe overall life cycle of the cell,the company said in a state-ment.

The cell has been developed

keeping the indigenous con-ditions at the core, it added.

"A cell is the heart of the EVrevolution. Ola is buildingthe world's most advanced cellresearch center that willenable us to scale and inno-vate faster, and build the mostadvanced and affordable EVproducts in the world with

speed," Ola Electric Founderand CEO Bhavish Aggarwalnoted.

The first indigenously madeLi-ion cell is also the first ofmany in the company's celltechnology roadmap, headded.

"Having a robust local EVecosystem is important forIndia to become a global EVhub," Aggarwal said.

Ola Electric noted that it iscommitted to invest in coreR&D to create indigenousadvanced cell technologies,strengthen manufacturingcapabilities and create an inte-grated Ola Electric vehicleshub.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's exports are like-ly to register a "reasonablelevel" of growth in the currentfinancial year despite the glob-al uncertainties on the tradefront, Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal has said.

Clearly, there are signs of aglobal slowdown in interna-tional trade and India is keep-ing a "watchful" eye on thedevelopments by talking to allthe export promotion councilsand large exporters, and engag-ing with the Indian missionsabroad, he said.

In the current global situa-tion, "our exports will stand onthe basis of price competitive-ness and quality We will cali-brate the expectations ofexports based on the groundreality," the minister told PTI.

When asked if figures likeUSD 450 billion or USD 500billion worth of goods exportsin 2022-23 look ambitious inthis situation, he said the min-istry has not yet come to anyfinal figure or an export targetfor the current year, and it is inconsultations with all the stake-holders on that."The whole

world is facing severe chal-lenges, Covid is not yet overThere is a geopolitical situation,which is not conducive, infla-tion worldwide is (a matter) ofconcern, petroleum productsare still at high prices, foodsecurity concerns also arebefore us, and fertiliser short-ages in many parts of the world

are reported."In these challenging times,

the fact that India prepareditself structurally and strength-ened our basic readiness andcapability to expand exports.Therefore a reasonable level ofgrowth from last year can stillbe expected," Goyal said.

India's merchandise exportsin June rose by 16.78 per centyear-on-year to USD 37.94 bil-lion while the trade deficit bal-looned to a new high of USD25.63 billion on account of asteep increase in gold andcrude oil imports, as per thegovernment's preliminary data.

The export growth in Junemoderated from 20.55 per centin May and 48.34 per cent inJune 2021. In 2021-22, thecountry's merchandise and ser-vices exports touched USD420 billion and USD 254 bil-lion, respectively.

Exports likely to record reasonable level of growth

PNS n NEW DELHI

Gold in the national capitalon Tuesday rose by Rs 15 toRs 50,581 per 10 grams,according to HDFCSecurities.In the previoustrade, the yellow metal settledat Rs 50,566 per 10 grams.

Silver, however, declined byRs 648 to Rs 56,120 per kgfrom Rs 56,768 per kg in theprevious trade.

In the international mar-ket, both gold and silver weretrading flat at USD 1,734 perounce and USD 18.90 perounce, respectively."Goldprices traded firm cappingupside as the dollar index hitfresh 20 years high," saidTapan Patel, Senior Analyst(Commodities) at HDFCSecurities.

Gold gains Rs 15;silver falls Rs 648

Ola Electric unveils indigenously made Li-ion cell

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity indices nursed lossesfor the second consecutivesession on Tuesday asinvestors continued to dumpIT, banking and FMCGstocks amid a bearish trendin global markets.

Unabated foreign fundoutflows and the rupee drop-ping to another record lowagainst the US dollar addedto the woes, traders said.Participants were also inwait-and watch mode aheadof release of retail inflationand factory output data.

The 30-share BSE Sensexopened on a weak note andfell 508.62 points or 0.94per cent to end at 53,886.61.The broader NSE Niftydeclined 157.70 points or0.97 per cent to settle at16,058.30.

Infosys was the top laggardin the Sensex pack, slipping2.33 per cent, followed byNestle India, PowerGrid,HUL, M&M, HCL Tech andKotak Mahindra Bank.

Only three counters closedin the green -- NTPC, BhartiAirtel and Bajaj Finance, ris-ing up to 1.87 per cent.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The hotel industry's revenuesand margins are expected toreturn to pre-COVID levels in2022-23 despite potential impacton demand in case of furtherwaves of the pandemic, accord-ing to ratings agency ICRA.

Domestic leisure and tran-sient travel will be the maindemand drivers, although therewill be a gradual recovery inbusiness travel and foreigntourist arrivals (FTAs), ICRAsaid in a statement.Pan-Indiapremium hotel occupancy isexpected to be at 68-70 per centfor FY2023, it said adding theaverage room rate (ARR) isexpected to hover around Rs5,600-5,800."The improvedoperating leverage along withsustenance of cost-optimisationmeasures will support marginsand accruals for hotels," it said.

Notwithstanding the potential

impact on demand with furtherCOVID waves, if any, ICRA saidit expects the industry's revenuesand margins to return to pre-COVID levels in FY2023.

ICRA Vice President andSector Head Vinutaa S said thehotels industry witnessed ahealthy start to FY2023, with 56-58 per cent occupancy in premi-um hotels in the first quarter ofFY23.It was up from 40-42 percent in FY2022 and closer to pre-COVID occupancy of 60-62 percent in Q1 FY20, sheadded."Pan-India ARR stood ataround Rs 4,600-4,800 in Q1FY2023, as against Rs 4,200-4,400 in FY2022. It still remainsat a 16-18 per cent discount topre-COVID levels on an aver-age, although a few high-endhotels and leisure destinationswitnessed ARRs spike to high-er than pre-COVID levels in thelast few months," Vinutaa Ssaid.

ICRA expects hotel industry revenues,margins to return to pre-COVID levels

Sensex tumbles for 2nd day as techselloff deepens; Infy top drag

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee declined 15 paise toclose at a new lifetime low of79.60 (provisional) against theUS dollar on Tuesday as astrong greenback overseas andweakness in domestic equitiescontinued to weigh on investorsentiments.At the interbankforex market, the local unitopened weak at 79.55 againstthe greenback and witnessedan intra-day high of 79.53 anda low of 79.66.It finally settledat 79.60 (provisional), down 15paise over its previous close of79.45.The dollar index, whichmeasures the greenback'sstrength against a basket of sixcurrencies, advanced 0.48 percent to 108.54.

Rupee down 15paise to all-timelow of 79.60against US dollar

PNS n NEW DELHI

Global investment groupCDPQ will buy additional 10per cent stake of CLP Groupin Apraava Energy for Rs 660crore which will raise its sharein the company to 50 per cent.According to a statement,CDPQ first became a strate-gic shareholder in ApraavaEnergy in 2018 throughacquiring a stake of 40 percent. Since then, Apraava hassuccessfully undertaken anumber of energy transitionrelated investments.

CDPQ to buy 10 pcmore stake in ApraavaEnergy for Rs 660 cr1

"In thesechallengingtimes, the factthat Indiaprepared itselfstructurally andstrengthened ourbasic readinessand capability toexpand exports .

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

WednesdayJuly 13, 2022

SHIKHA DUGGAL

he city's crowd-pleaser, historicfilms are undergoing a radicalshift and becoming cinema’smost boundary-pushing genrethese days. Scriptwriter AkshatGupta knows how our land has

always been replenished with richnessand ethnicity.

Hinduism is said to be the oldest reli-gion, dating back more than 4000 years,no wonder why the massive industrycalled is so inquisitive about it that theyare making films on it now, he says, con-tinuing, “With films like Brahmastra andAdipurush coming into the picture, sto-ries and films based

on mythology will undoubtedly get aboost and the right push they need.Personally, being a writer and an enthu-siast of Hindu mythology, I think thatthe word mythology is inaccurate and itshould be called history because mythol-ogy means myths and our rich Indianpast is not a myth.”

The period piece, the most fossilizedof genres, is evolving.

Journalist Dilip Thakur opines, “Thesuccess of Bajirao Mastani andPadmaavat has fuelled this success trailfor historical films as the audiences liketo see such magnum opuses on the bigscreens of the multiplexes. Even SohrabModi and Bhalji Pendharkar made his-toricals in the earlier days of cinema setin the Mughal period, Maratha periodand as people already know such storiesthey are eager to see such new cinema inan evolved stage. That I feel is the reasonfor the success of such historicals andthe forthcoming Tanhaji will be certainlya blockbuster.”

This new breed of period-piece has aGen Z sensibility styled through a mil-lennial’s attention to aesthetic. Itexplodes the white model of the perioddramas of centuries back and embracescynicism.

The mythology fanatic mentions,“India has seen and crafted the epicssuch as Mahabharata and Ramayanawritten by the legends of Hindu mythol-ogy. Even the unfinished stories in theera of Ramayana have been given closurein the era of Mahabharata. The charac-ters and stories that one flips throughfrom the past are immense and leg-endary. From satyuga to kalyuga, fromLord Vishnu’s avatars, and from LordRam to Lord Krishna, the tales just goon and on. Films in Bollywood such asRaajneeti, Raavan, and many more havealready been a part of the epic genredepicting many character roles from therich history. We carry incarnation storiesof people and gods who took avatars todemolish the evil and make the earth ajoyous place to live for the people, theDashavtaras for example. Even the fore-most surrogacy story comes from Hinduscriptures. From love stories to war, timetravel, twist and turns, parallel worlds,the butterfly effect, and women empow-

erment, there’s nothing that we haven’tinsulated in our ancient Hindu scrip-tures. Weapons, superhumans, immor-tals, you name it and we already have it.In case we need good stories, we knowwhere to find them.”

The period film is the industry's stal-wart. Successful iterations usually tell afamiliar story, such as a literary adapta-tion or historical biopic leaving the audi-ence free to focus on things like setdesign and costume.

A trade analyst says, “It’s the advent oftechnology that has made these filmsfinancially viable as the huge setsrequired for such films can be createdwith VFX technology and the budgetscan be brought down to a viable percent-age. Even Panipat had a good openingand did fairly well in spite of oppositionfrom Pati Patni Aur Woh.”

At the heart of the period appeal lies acertain nostalgia for a way of life thatfeels simpler than our own. Reachingnew heights, Akshat who is also anauthor of a mythological book tells,“Hindu mythology and scriptures havegot all the stories of the world in them ifyou skim through the vast variety ofinformation and intel. When you comeacross genres in filmmaking, there’s nogenre abandoned that you cannot findstories of in Hindu history. Action andadventure stories can be found in epicssuch as Ramayana and Mahabharataitself. From an impactful inciting start toa fascinating victory and not to forgetthe course of the journey which shapedtheir people. Women empowerment, aterm that is defined as promotingwomen's sense of self-worth was the wayhow the world worked in the past. Whenthe world was in terror of the demonRakhtbeej and nothing was effectiveagainst him, goddess Kali emerged vic-

toriously and beheaded thedemon.”

When homosexual relation-ships do appear in mainstreamperiod cinema, they are oftenaddressed obliquely or serve astragic B-plots to the heterosexu-al main line.

But then Akshat contests,“The most delightful love storiescome from the Hindu scriptures. Wehave the greatest married love story inthe form of Lord Ram and Sita, alongwith the tales of Shri Krishna andRadha, whose love had no bounds, stilldidn’t marry each other but their lovestory still is narrated all over the countrywith a smile on their faces.”

The industry has always been and willbe one of the biggest entertainment plat-forms for the people of India and thiswill give light to the stories and filmswritten on mythology. The only thing hewishes for is that we could have done

this 50 years ago because we for epochshad bigger and more promising super-heroes than any Hollywood or otherscripts and stories. We could have beenbetter than DC or The Marvel universe ifwe had used the resources to educateour generation! Yet he knows that won'tbe the same anymore and this will bemassive. In a nutshell, when we talkabout any story in the contemporaryworld we can find a relation or connec-tion to it with mythology, in some orother manner, already written and toldin its own form.

Mythological featuresgaining prominence

Be it Raajneetior Raavan, or

the upcomingfilms

Brahmastra andAdipurush,

mythologicalfeatures have

set a new trend.To know more,

The Pioneer

connects with afew people

from theentertainment world,

who share theiropinion on the same.

tPNS | HYDERABAD

In today’s gadget-riddenworld, where we striveto give our children the

best of everything, is itincreasingly becomingchallenging to raise chil-dren who love to read?Ones who take to readingand treat it like joyousactivity and not a chor orpunishment? Many par-ents would say yes, while alucky few would happilysay No to this question.

So what does it take toraise kids to read? MansiZaveri, founder ofKidsstoppress says, “As anavid book reader, when Istarted Kidsstoppress, Ifounded our reading com-munity- KSP Book Club,where we share book rec-cos for kids, reviews ofnew releases, and inter-views with celebrated chil-dren’s book authors, story-telling sessions for kids,etc. From starting as anonline community of fewmoms, it is now evolvedinto an Annual ReadingSubscription Programmethat has thousands ofhappy readers (and happyparents).”

Mansi also answerssome of the commonquestions she hascome across:

I am not a reader.Will that stop mychild from being one?

No. It will not. A lot ofparents from our genera-tion were not avid readersbut I know so many chil-dren who love reading.Your interest is not anecessity, but I must say, isa definite impetus to helpsee the child the value ofreading.

Is there a limit or cut-off of books to readfor each age?

Please steer clear ofonline challenges or con-tests or deadlines thatforce your kids to read Xnumber of books in a stip-ulated time. They mightseem interesting initially,but all your child sees isthe end target and doesn’tenjoy the journey.

How to choose theright books for mychild?

It is important we dothis step right. It deter-mines whether they willgrow to like/dislike thehabit of reading. There arevarious techniques thatexperts use, like theGoldilocks rule, the 5 fin-ger rule etc to help findout if the book is right forthe child. Have elaboratedon these in detail in aninteractive video onKidsstoppress.com

My child likes onlyfiction. Is that okay?

This is common amongmost kids, so that is fine.But toss in a few comics,encyclopedias, autobiogra-phies, and others on yourchild’s bookshelf once in awhile. When they see it,they will automaticallywant to pick up one andread.

My child can nowread on her own.Should I continuereading to them?

Absolutely YES! A lot ofus are guilty of this mis-take. Once the childstarters to read sentencesand assumes an under-standing of the storyline,we remove ourselves fromthe picture. It is okay, wedon’t need to spend moretime as we did earlier, butensure you DO spendsome part of the day read-ing to them. It instils con-fidence in the child, helpsyou bond better with themand they will start lookingforward to reading time.Win-win!

How does not readingimpact my child’sfuture?

We covered this recentlyon our Instagram page.Authors and experts whowe have spoken to on KSPBook Club plus statisticshave shown

that children who areregular readers are knownto have a better vocabu-lary, have a stronger per-sonality, are more confi-dent, are more empathetic,and excel

at creative thinking.Incentivise them, followup a reading session with a

similar craft session, askthe older kids to do a bookreview, and have a conver-sation with them aboutwhat they read.

new-age readers

PNS | HYDERABAD

ctor AadilKhan, whohas beengrabbingeyeballs forhis outstand-

ing choice of projects inthe industry currentlyis a part of the upcom-ing war drama webseries titled, Shoorveer.Aadil plays the role ofmilitary personnel andreveals the intense prepregime that wentbehind portraying hischaracter in this much-awaited series. Apartfrom the vigoroustraining Aadil under-went, he also shuttledthrough cities andcountries to completethe shoot for the show.

Aadil traveled acrossSerbia, Delhi, Mumbai,and Kashmir, to com-plete the shoot of theseries and also hasundergone a massivebody transformationfor the same. The actorunderwent training foraction sequences forseveral months in orderto maintain the bodypostures of an airforcepilot to ace his role.Sharing his experienceAadil reveals, “I thor-oughly enjoyed theprep that went behindShoorveer. Apart fromthe physical transfor-mation, I got to interactwith real-life heroes forthe role and thosemoments were veryspecial as I learned a lotfrom those interactions.Traveling to different

locations was againquite fun and to perfectmy body postures Itrained with my trainerextensively for a fewmonths. I went throughmonths of training forthe action sequences inShoorveer. Actually, Ihave been trained byCyril Raffaelli foraction before Shoorveerstarted and I continuedthat training along withmy trainer here inIndia.” Aadil has someinteresting projects thatare yet to beannounced, and hismuch-awaited wardrama Shoorveer is allset to release on July15. Hard work, sweat,tears, and a whole lot ofprep, that’s what gets usexcited to see Aadil inShoorveer.

A

Was trained for months foraction sequences: Aadil Khan

Watchsuper-stars

Ariana Grandeand JenniferHudsonbrought thehouse down inthis stunningproduction

HairsprayLive revisits theBaltimore ofthe 60s wherewe meet TracyTurnblad, asmall-town girlwho becomesan overnightsuccess afterappearing on aTV danceshow. Thestory goes onto show howshe deals withher suddenpopularity andthe inequality

she sees in theentertainmentworld.

Directed byKenny Leonand with ascore by MarcShaiman andScott Wittman,the musicalboasts a dreamcast includingmarqueenames likesuperstarAriana Grandeand EGOTwinnerJenniferHudson.Date: July 17,

2022Time: 2pm

and 6pmWhere: Airtel

Spotlightand Dishand D2HRangmanch

EMMY-WINNING HAIRSPRAY LIVE

GRACES INDIAN TELEVISION SCREENS

LIS

TIN

G

Raising

10

Hyderabad Wednesday July 13, 2022 what’s brewing?

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City-based NMDC Ltd.takes up the titlesponsorship of the

Hyderabad Marathon forthe next three years. TheNMDC HyderabadMarathon 2022, poweredby IDFC FIRST Bank Ltdwill be held on August27 and August 28, withthe active participation ofover 15,000 runnersfrom across the city,country, and overseas.

Raghuram, Regional Manager of SBI Bank, along with Maj. P.T. Choudary (Retd.), among the rest, graced the launch of MarutiSuzuki’s all-new SUV-Brezza. The All-New Hot and Techy Brezza offers a stylish and exciting new design, and powerfulperformance and is packed with advanced safety and hi-tech features with a hot new exterior design.

Bollywood

actressAditi

Rao Hydarigraced the launch

of Shyamal andBhumika’s

Hyderabad store.She also unveiled

The WeddingCouture

Collection 2022,on Tuesday.

A3-daydesignerexhibition was

launched at Hotel TajKrishna. Renowneddesigners and artisansfrom across the countryparticipated in theexhibition, which willcontinue till July 14.

DE

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l Madhuri

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l Disha l Monikal Kushboo

Bigbasket enteredTirupati markets

in March 2022and has rapidly

gained acceptanceby the local people.

In a very short span,it has become themost loved online

grocery store in the city.

FUN

ARCHIE

GARFIELDREALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

SUDOKU

Rulesl Each row and column can

contain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

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

Director Bala's eager-ly-awaited film withactor Suriya has

been titled Vanangaan, itsmakers have announced.

Taking to Twitter tomake the announcementon director Bala's birthday,actor Suriya, whose 2DEntertainment is produc-ing the film, said, “Veryhappy to have been able toassociate with you againanna. Birthday wishes toyou anna” and shared a poster of thefilm which disclosed the title asVanangaan.

Until now, the film had beenreferred to as #Suriya 41. The filmhas raised a lot of expectations asSuriya and director Bala is workingtogether after a gap of almost 18years.

One of Tollywood's top heroines,Krithi Shetty, is playing the female

lead opposite Suriya in thisfilm. She plays Suriya'sromantic interest for thefirst time. Actress Mamithawill make her debut as thesecond female lead.

The film, which is beingmade on a big budget, hascinematography byBalasubramaniam andmusic by G V Prakash.

Art direction is by MayaPandi and editing is bySathish Surya. The first

schedule of the film, which lasted 34days, was completed successfully inKanniyakumari, and the secondschedule of 15 days was shot in Goa.Sources close to the unit say the film'splot will be completely different fromthe plots of films like Suriya's Nandhaand Pithamagan and that Suriya'scharacter in this film will be one thathasn't been witnessed in Tamil cine-ma before.

Actor NikhilSiddharthahas con-

firmed the post-ponement ofKarthikeya 2, one ofthe most anticipat-ed Telugu films inrecent times.

With a fewamendments to therelease dates ofother movies in thesame timeline, themakers of the filmhad to postpone it.The movie’s releasecan happen in thefirst week ofAugust.

In answer to oneof his Twitter fol-lowers, Nikhil stat-ed that the film willnot be released onJuly 22, but ratherin the first week ofAugust.

He also apolo-gised to those whohad purchased tick-ets to watch theticket in the UnitedKingdom andassured them that

the money will berepaid. “But sorry..the movie is notreleasing on July 22but In August 1stweek Apologies tothe Amazing pplwho booked ticketsfor the premiereshow.. will get itrefunded”, NikhilSiddhartha’s tweetreads.

Nikhil Siddharthand AnupamaParameswaran starin the filmKarthikeya 2, whichis directed byChandoo Mondeti.

Anupam Kherhas a key part inthis film, whichalso stars AdityaMenon, SrinivasaReddy, HarshaChemudu, and oth-ers.

Produced byPeople MediaFactory andAbhishek AgarwalArts, the movie hasKaala Bhairava’smusic.

Karthikeya 2postponed!

confirms the actor

11

Hyderabad | Wednesday July 13, 2022 tollywoodThis is MY VOICE and I am not

trying to be my father: SP CharanThe makers of Sita Ramam are all set for its theatrical

release on August 5. In fact, the film has got somereally melodious songs, sung by the talented SP

Charan. The singer, who has been super excited to bagthe opportunity to sing for the film, shares some

interesting tidbits about his singing career.

K. RAMYA SREE

alayalam superstarDulquer Salmaan,who slowly gainedhuge fandom evenin Tollywood, is

now playing the lead role inSita Ramam, an ambitiousfilm being produced byAshwini Dutt under the ban-ner of Swapna Cinema.

Directed by director HanuRaghavapudi, the filmunfolds as a beautiful lovestory against the backdrop ofwar. The icing on the cake forthis film is its music byVishal Chandrasekhar, whosetwo songs from the film, OhSita and Intandam, sung bypopular singer SP Charan,have become chartbustershits. Ahead of the film’srelease on August 5, SPCharan interacted with themedia and shared why SitaRamam is very special tohim.

The singer is super happyto bag this opportunity, butthese songs have thrownmore light on the singer asthey came after his father, thelegendary SPBalasubramaniam’s demise.

His voice is now beingcompared to his father’s earlydays’ voice, to which he says,“I have been in the industry

for over 25 years with overthousand songs to my credit.I have been singing like thisfor a long time but seems likethe audience is focused onmy voice only now. Everyonesays that my voice comes outlike that of my father’s initialdays. However, I would liketo clarify that this is my voiceand I am not trying to be myfather.”

Calling his music directorfor the film VishalChandrasekhar, a man withmany sensibilities in terms ofcinema and storytelling, hesaid, “Vishal is an accom-plished music director. Hisprogramming is amazing. Ilove his passion for livemusic. I wish him more suc-cess.”

Lately, Telugu melodysongs are in the focus and thetrend for fast-beat songs istaking the backseat. ButCharan feels melodies arealways there. “Fast beats dis-appear between the songs.Melodies last longer. Fast-beat songs can be forgottenafter the release of the movie.But songs that are remem-bered and sung are melodiesonly. It is believed that in thecoming days there will befilms with full melody songs.My approach to the song as asinger has not changed. Newmusic directors are also pay-

ing more attention to melody.Very sensible and knowl-edgeable. It is a pleasure torecognise new music direc-tors and give them opportu-nities.”

Charan has seen manyhighs and lows in his life.Although he has to his creditmany hit songs, he failed toget good opportunities lateron in life and this remains amillion-dollar question evenfor Charan. He shares, “Thesongs I have sung with all themusic directors like ManiSharma, Keeravani, Devisree,RP Patnaik were big hits. ButI don't know why I didn't getopportunities later. I neversaid that I can't sing becauseI am busy with production. Iam always just a phone callaway.”

He is however continuingproduction in Tamil and isyet to enter the Telugu pro-duction market.

His father is known tointroduce hoards of new tal-ent to the industry throughhis TV shows and followinghis footsteps is his sonCharan too. “There is noshortage of talent. Nowopportunities are also com-ing. There are many plat-forms to showcase their tal-ent. I hope that more talentedsingers will enter the indus-try in the future,” he said.

m

PNS | HYDERABAD

The Warriorr is all set to hitthe cinemas on July 14. Inthis interview, actor Ram

Pothineni talks about whatinspired him to do a cop-actiondrama and more.

Did you know he started outwith the desire to do a cop story?After listening to 4-5 scriptswhere the male protagonist is apoliceman, he just lost interest inthe sub-genre because they wereall routine. It's then that he stum-bled across N Lingusamy's script.The minute he listened to thescript, he knew that it was thestory he needed. “All cop storiesmight look the same from theoutside. But some of them have adistinct soul. Lingusamy's scriptis refreshing. The emotionalfoundation is strong because a lotof incidents narrated in the filmhave been inspired by real-lifehappenings. Some cops are likemy character in the film in reallife. The emotions delineated inthe film are genuine,” heexplained.

The Warriorr is the firstscript that inspired him towrite a tweet after listeningto the narration. He did amass commercial film likeiSmart Shankar con-sciously after doingmany romantic movies.Both Puri Jagannadhand N Lingusamy aretrend-setters. Both thedirector and he were onthe same page for pro-jects like iSmartShankar and TheWarriorr.

He continued, “WhenLingusamy narrated Guru thecharacter, I wondered whowould play it. Aadhi Pinisettyis the ideal choice. I wassuper-excited when the directorpitched his name. The energy Iexude on screen owes its originto the script. A cop story thatestablishes an emotional con-

nection will go a long way. Inevery hero's film, a cop film isalways special.”

He felt strongly people have tolove something to flock to the-atres. The industry has madeRRR, KGF 2 and SarileruNeekevvaru and a few othermovies big hits in recent weeks.The Telugu audience can't bestopped if they believe a film hasto be watched only in a theatre.During the pandemic, the onlyaudience who patronized moviesare our audience. He added,“The title The Warriorr is derivedfrom covid-time frontline war-riors like doctors, nurses, cops,etc. We haveseen many copcharacterson the bigscreen. Inmy film,the cop-protagonistis differentbecause hehas beendrawnfrom

real life.” Sharing his camaraderie with

co-star Krithi Shetty, he stated,“Krithi Shetty is dedicated. Sherespects her work a lot. Aftereach song was composed, wemooted how it would feel in atheatre. Simbu has 'Bullet Song'.When DSP proposed his name, Iwas reminded of one of his popu-lar songs in Tamil. The songcouldn't have become this big ahit but for his rendition. Like me,DSP was excited after listening tothe script. He called me by him-self and asked me what kind ofBGM he was expecting fromhim.”

He expresses, "My directorsdon't ask me to do risky takes. I

do them of my own volition.When I stand in front of thecamera, I feel that I should give

my all. I express my views onnon-film issues on social mediawhen I feel strongly about some-

thing.” Talking about the web space,

he felt, “It's true that OTTs havechanged the audience's tastes andpreferences. Audiences are liking

some trailers but are waitingfor the OTT release to

catch the film. We needto make big-screenexperiences for them.”So, what really sug-gests his future to belike, well he seems likea workaholic. “It's tooearly to discuss what Iwill do after BoyapatiSrinu's movie, whichis a pan-India flick. Afilm with Harish

Shankar might ormight not happen

immediately. SinceCovid-19 resulted in a gap

in my career, I am notintending to take breaks now. Iwill do films back to back. Weshouldn't do a pan-India filmto impress pan-India audi-

ences from word go. We haveto do what we can do and seewhether it will impress the pan-India audience.”

‘Will be doingfilms back to back’O

ne of theseasons thatwe wait for

all year long isthe monsoon.

The suddenchange in

the envi-ronmentbrings acalming

feel to uswith the sound of

raindrops tickling oursenses to utmost joy. When

it comes to

Mumbaikars, they look for-ward to enjoying this sea-son to the fullest. Talenteddiva Seerat Kapoor whohails from Mumbai is also acomplete sucker of thememory lanes. She takes usdown to the best way shewould like to enjoy spend-ing her monsoon weather.

“Monsoons, I love themost. The weather and thepeace allow one to feelimmensely connected with-in. It carries a sense ofcalmness and sheer joy.This season makes me feelkind of cosy and nostalgicfrom time to time. Allthrough school and college,I would eagerly look for-ward to the monsoons. My

most memorable memorywas relishing a plate ofhomemade, hot crispymalpuas and ginger chaiwith my family during therains. Dad was always sucha mood lifter. Of course, hewould initiate the plan. Ideeply cherish those yearswe spent together as a fami-ly.” On being asked further,the actress also reveals thatan ideal romantic date isnever a bad idea this sea-son. She says, “My idea of aperfect romantic date wouldbe a long drive on a rainyday with my favourite per-son, followed by a candle-light dinner overlooking awater body. Or else, sur-prise me.”

Seerat Kapoor recalls herfavourite monsoon memory

Suriya's next titled Vanangaan

Laththi, Vishal'smuch-anticipatedfilm has been pushed

to a further date. The filmwhich was supposed to bereleased on August 12 hasbeen delayed as Vishalreceived many injurieswhile filming, and theaction scenes requiredextensive VFX. There isstill post-production workto be done on the movie.The producers declaredthat Laththi will nowdebut on September 15.The final schedule, which

was supposed to finish upin the second week of Julyitself, was unexpectedlyinterrupted due toVishal's back-to-backinjuries while filming, andwith post-productionwork yet to be done, theproducers chose to delaythe release date even fur-ther. On September 15,Laththi will compete atthe box office alongsideSilambarasan TR'sVendhu ThanindhathuKaadu and Agilan, direct-ed by Jayaram Ravi.

Vishal’s Laththi locksnew release date

sports 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 13, 2022

AP n LOS ANGELES

Gareth Bale wants theworld to know Los

Angeles FC is not the 18thhole of his football career.

The golf-loving Welsh for-ward intends to keep playingfor club and country for sev-eral more seasons, and hehopes to fill those years win-ning trophies with his newstateside team.

"I'm up for everythinghere," Bale said on Monday.

"I still have many years tocome. I haven't come here tojust be here for six months, 12months. I've come here to tryand be here for as long as pos-sible. I want to do as well as I

can. I want to try to make mymark on this league, on thisteam. I look forward to thefuture."

Bale's declaration of hislong-term intentionsundoubtedly will please hisnew Los Angeles FootballClub (LSFC) fans, who werehoping the longtime RealMadrid forward wasn't simplyusing the team atop the MajorLeague Soccer standings as aplace to get fit for Wales'landmark return to the WorldCup in Qatar this fall after a64-year absence.

The 32-year-old Bale alsogave a thrill to his homenation when he confirmed hisintention to play in the 2024

European Championships,keeping his place among thegreatest group of Welsh foot-ball talent in decades.

"It's not just a short-termthing," Bale said.

"(LAFC) also gives methe best opportunity to go tothe next Euros, maybe further.So my plan is to really workhard. ... We've got a great plangoing forward to get me up tospeed, and hopefully it lasts aslong as possible."

LAFC formally intro-duced Bale to an extensivemedia gathering inside Bancof California Stadium, butthe club's fans already metBale outside on the field threedays earlier.

AP n LONDON

Olympic great Mo Farah wasillegally trafficked to Britain

at the age of nine from Djiboutiand forced to work as a childservant, he has revealed, sayinghis real name is Hussein AbdiKahin.

The distance runner wasflown to the UK from the eastAfrican country aged eight ornine by a woman he had nevermet, given the nameMohammed Farah, and thenmade to look after anotherfamily's children, he tells a BBCTV documentary "The RealMo Farah" to be aired

Wednesday.Farah, who completed the

5,000m-10,000m double at boththe London 2012 and Rio 2016Olympics, has previously said hecame to the UK as a refugeefrom Somalia with his parents.

But in stunning revelationsthe 39-year-old now says hisparents have never been to theUK — his father was killed incivil unrest in Somalia whenFarah was four years old and hismother and two brothers live inthe breakaway state ofSomaliland, which is not inter-nationally recognised.

"The truth is I'm not whoyou think I am," says Farah.

"Most people know me as MoFarah, but it's not my name orit's not the reality."

The woman who flew withhim to the UK told him he wasbeing taken to live with relativesand to say his name wasMohamed as she had fake trav-el documents that showed hisphoto next to the name"Mohamed Farah".

"I've been keeping it for solong, it's been difficult becauseyou don't want to face it andoften my kids ask questions,'Dad, how come this?' Andyou've always got an answer foreverything, but you haven't gotan answer for that," he said.

AP n BIRGHTON

England recorded the biggest win in EuropeanChampionship histor\y as Beth Mead's hat-trick inspired

an 8-0 demolition of Norway that booked the hosts' quar-terfinal place on Monday.

Sarina Wiegman's side scored six in the first half on routeto smashing their own women's Euro record margin of vic-tory set when they beat Scotland 6-0 in 2017.

No team, either male or female, had ever scored eightat a European Championship until England's incredible goalspree against the overwhelmed Norwegians in Brighton.

Georgia Stanway's 12th-minute penalty opened the flood-gates and Lauren Hemp struck three minutes later.

Ellen White and Mead both netted twice in the first halfto leave Norway reeling.

Underling their status as leading contenders to win thetournament on home soil, England showed no mercy afterthe interval.

Alessia Russo bagged the record-breaking seventh goaland Mead completed her hat-trick to cap an astonishing per-formance from the Lionesses.

England's win guaranteed they will finish top of GroupA with one match still to play.

They face Northern Ireland in Southampton on Fridayin a dead rubber before returning to Brighton a week onWednesday to play the runners-up in Group B, which fea-tures Germany and Spain, in the quarterfinals.

A crowd of 28,847 lapped up the blistering display, chant-ing "Football's Coming Home" as England's unbeaten rununder Wiegman extended to a 16th match, including 14 vic-tories.

Northern Ireland, who lost 2-0 against Austria earlier onMonday, have now been eliminated.

Third-placed Norway, expected to be among the title con-tenders, and second-placed Austria both have three pointsafter two games.

They will meet on Friday in a shootout to decide the otherquarterfinal qualifier from the group.

AP n MUNICH

Robert Lewandowski arrived for his pre-season medical at a Munich hospital

along with other Bayern stars on Tuesday,even as Barcelona continued to be linkedto the Polish striker.

At the end of May, Lewandowski said"it is certain that my story with Bayern hascome to an end."

Barcelona have expressed an interestin the 34-year-old striker, twice voted FIFAmen's player of the year.

"We have made an offer for the play-er, we are waiting for the response, we willsee if it is positive," Barcelona presidentJoan Laporta said on July 7.

According to German media,Barcelona made an initial offer worth aguaranteed 40 million euros but have sinceincreased it.

On Tuesday, Lewandowski arrived bycar at the city's Barmherzige Brueder hos-pital, preceded by German internationalsManuel Neuer, Thomas Mueller and LeroySane.

The medical preceded the start of pre-season training in the afternoon.

He joined Bayern in 2014, He has

scored 344 goals in 375 competitivematches and broke the Bundesliga single-season scoring record.

Lewandowski won the Bundesliga ineach of his eight seasons with the club aswell as the Champions League, the ClubWorld Cup and three German Cups.

He has one year left on his Bayern con-

tract."A contract is a contract," Bayern pres-

ident Herbert Hainer said.On Saturday, the German champions

will hold the official presentation of theirsquad at their Allianz Arena.

NANI JOINS MELBOURNE VICTORY Former Portugal and Manchester

United winger Luis Nani has signed forAustralian side Melbourne Victory inone of the A-League's biggest coups inyears.

The 35-year-old will join on a two-yeardeal from Italian club Venezia, followingstints in the United States, Spain andTurkey since he left United in 2015.

Nani, who was capped 112 times forPortugal and won the Premier League fourtimes with Manchester United after join-ing the Old Trafford club in 2007, isarguably the biggest name to playAustralian club football since AlessandroDel Piero in 2012.

"I'm excited to be coming to the A-League with Melbourne Victory and I'mlooking forward to the challenge ahead,"said Nani, who was part of Portugal's Euro2016 winning side.

PTI n CHANGWON

The mixed team pair of MehuliGhosh and Shahu Tushar

Mane sealed India's second medalat the ISSF Shooting World Cup,here on Tuesday, by setting up theGold medal match againstHungary.

In-form Mehuli and Shahutopped the 10m Air Rifle MixedTeam qualifiers with a score of634.4 after 60 shots to finish wellahead of the strong Hungarian pairof Istvan Peni and Eszter Meszaros,who finished second with 630.3.

India and Hungary will lockhorns on Wednesday to decide the

winner.Meanwhile, in the 10m Air

Pistol mixed team event, Shiva andPalak shot 574 and qualified for theBronze medal match.

Shiva and Palak finishedbehind the Greek pairing of AnnaKorakaki and Dionysios Korakakis,who scored 579.

The top spot was claimed byOlympic champion ZoranaArunovic and Damir Mikec ofSerbia, who shot 584.

India will take on Kazakhstan'sin the bronze play-off.

Two other Indian pairs —Naveen and Rhythm Sangwan in10m air pistol mixed team and

Arjun Babuta and ElavenilValarivan in the correspondingrifle competition — could notmake the grade after both theteams scored 570 and 627.8 respec-tively to finish in the eighth posi-tion.

Earlier in the day, India missedout on about five medals as noneof the top qualifiers in men's andwomen's 10m Air Pistol as well asin the men's trap, could make theiropportunities count.

In the men's 10m Air Pistoldiscipline, India had three quali-fiers in the top eight rankinground but Naveen finished fourthwith an effort of 250.7. Shiva

Narwal was fifth with 199.7 andwas followed by Sagar Dangi(199.2).

In the women's 10m Air Pistolevent, India's lone ranking roundqualifier Yuvika Tomar ended sev-enth with 147.1 points.

In the men's trap event, youngVivaan Kapoor shot a brilliant 122out of 125 to qualify third amongeight qualifiers but ended fourth inhis match to miss out on themedals.

India has won one Goldthrough Arjun Babuta (10m AirRifle) so far in the tournament andis currently placed fourth on themedal tally.

PTI n TERASSA

Skipper Savita starred in front ofthe goal as India defeated Canada3-2 in the shootout after both

teams were tied 1-1 at the end of reg-ulation time in their classificationmatch of the FIH Women's HockeyWorld Cup here on Tuesday.

Madeline Secco (11th) handedCanada the lead before Salima Tete(58th) left it late to equalise for India.But it was Savita's heroics in front ofthe goal that gave India their first winof the tournament.

The Indian captain led from thefront and pulled off as many as sixsaves in the shootout, while NavneetKaur, Sonika and Neha converted theirchances in the ninth to 16th place clas-sification match.

Smarting from their disappointingloss to Spain, India started the matchon an attacking note.

After soaking up the initial pres-sure from the Indians, Canada man-aged to put the ball into the India net,but it was disallowed as the refereeawarded a penalty corner and NatalieSourisseau's attempt was off target.

Canada went one better a fewminutes later as they won anotherpenalty corner. This time the variationcreated confusion in the India defence,and Kathleen Leahy passed it to Seccofor the final touch to stun the Indians.

India once again came outstronger in the second quarter andpenetrated the Canadian defence onnumerous occasions.

Monika, in particular, used herarray of 3D skills to get past theCanada defence as goalkeeper RowanHarris urged her team to maintainfocus.

As the game moved towards half-time, India upped the ante.

Navneet Kaur, Neha and VandanaKatariya moved with freedom asCanada looked very much on the backfoot.

In the 25th minute, Navneet andVandana combined to create a finechance but the shot was kept out byCanadian goalie Harris, as Indiatrailed by a goal at half-time.

After the change of ends, Indiacontinued to pile on the pressure, withLalremsiami making some speedyforays into the Canada circle.

But Canada held firm, with Sara

McManus and Hannah Haughn dis-playing stellar performance at thebackline to break down the Indiaattacks.

India had a glorious opportunityto level the score just minutes into thethird quarter but Navjot Kaur's shotfrom inside the circle went over thebar.

Minutes later, Savita was called tothe action as she made a brilliant savefrom a penalty corner to deny a sec-ond goal to the Canadians.

As has been the case in the tour-nament so far, India yet again cut asorry figure with penalty corners.

They earned back-to-back penaltycorners in the dying minutes of thethird quarter but failed to utilise thechances.

In the final minute of the thirdquarter, Lalremsiami's diving attemptoff Salima Tete's pass from the rightflank missed the target by a whisker.

Barring the early goal,Canada did not have

much to show for inthe match as the

Indians completelydominated the pro-

c e e d i n g s ,mounting

a t t a c k sa f t e r

attacks.T h e

Canadian defence wasmade to toil as India

continued their relentlessraids in the fourth and final

quarter in search of the equalis-er.

The Indians created numerouschances in the form of penalty cornersbut Gurjit Kaur failed to convert aseries of set pieces. The shots had theusual power but they flew either wideor were chased down by Canada'snumber one runner Sourisseau.

India's persistence finally paid offwhen Salima Tete punched home arebound after Gurjit's flick from apenalty corner was saved by theCandian goalie.

Karli Johansen had one morechance to regain lead for Canada buther penalty corner shot went wide andthe game went to shoot-out.

India will play Japan in the ninth-12th place play-off match onWednesday.

PTI n CHENNAI

India's top woman squashplayer Joshna Chinappa on

Tuesday said the country has agreat chance of winning a medalin doubles at the upcomingCommonwealth Games inBirmingham.

"This is one of the bestIndian teams. Saurav Ghosaland myself have been playing onthe pro tours for a number ofyears. We are still in the top-20in the world. We (India) defi-nitely have a great chance ofwinning a medal in doubles,"Chinappa told reporters.

"This time, we are also try-ing to push for a medal in sin-gles as well."

While Chinappa is ranked17 among women, Ghosal is No15 among men.

The 35-year squash ace,who recently won the women's

doubles title at the WorldDoubles championship inGlasgow, also said she andDipika Pallikal Karthik (withwhom she triumphed in theworlds) were a very strongteam.

"To be honest, she (Dipika)has had one of the greatestcomebacks. When we startedplaying after a gap of three years,I was quite surprised that shewas playing really well. I expect-ed her to be a little rusty. She hasbeen putting in a lot of effortinto her training. We are a verystrong team. Hopefully, we canshow that on court." Chinappasaid. India have won a Gold inwomen's doubles at theCommonwealth Games inGlasgow in 2014 apart from twoSilvers (in women's doublesand mixed doubles) in the pre-vious Games in Gold Coast in2018.

BAI to organise weeklong practice camp forCWG-bound shuttlersPTI n NEW DELHI

The CommonwealthGames-bound Indian

shuttlers will take part in aweek-long practice camp inHyderabad from July 18, theBadminton Association ofIndia (BAI) said on Tuesday.

The strong 10-memberIndian contingent will departfor CWG on July 25.

The 22nd edition ofCWG will take place inBirmingham from July 28 toAugust 8.

"It's very important tobring together all the playersahead of the CommonwealthGames. Such training ses-sions always help teams to getinto the rhythm before anybig event and also plan andwork on various strategies asa team," said BAI secretarySanjay Mishra in a release.

In the last CWG held inGold Coast, India clinched amaiden mixed team gold andfinished at the top with sixmedals — two Gold, three sil-

ver and one bronze. Itincludes a historic men'sdoubles Silver by ChiragShetty and SatwiksairajRankireddy.

"We are the defendingchampions and our objectivewill be to continue to playwith the same zeal andmomentum in Birmingham.We have a very strong teamand the players have experi-ence and ability. I'm confi-dent they will put on theirbest show in Birmingham,"Mishra added.

Two-time Olympicsmedallist PV Sindhu willlead the Indian women's sidethat consist of the likes ofAakarshi Kashyap, TreesaJolly, Gayatri Gopichand andAshwini Ponappa.

The men's team will fea-ture the likes of 2021 WorldChampionships Silver medal-list Kidambi Srikanth, Bronzemedallist Lakshya Sen, BSumeeth Reddy and the stardoubles pair of Shetty andRankireddy.

CAPTAIN FANTASTICSavita's heroics hand India first win in Women's Hockey World Cup

England reach Euroquarters with 8-0 win

Mehuli Ghosh & Tushar Mane ensuresecond medal for India in ISSF WC

Farah was trafficked to UK,forced to be child servant

Bale at LAFC ‘to win trophies, not to retire’

We have great chance ofwinning medal in doublesat CWG: Chinappa

Lewa arrives for pre-seasonBayern Munich medical

THE INDIAN CAPTAIN LED

FROM THE FRONT AND

PULLED OFF AS MANY AS

SIX SAVES IN THE

SHOOTOUT, WHILE

NAVNEET KAUR, SONIKA

AND NEHA CONVERTED

THEIR CHANCES IN THE

NINTH TO 16TH PLACE

CLASSIFICATION MATCH