VIJAYAWADA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2022; PAGES 12 `3

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ALMANAC

Updated: SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 5:00 PM

Forecast: Thunderstorm

Temp: 29oc

Humidity: 91%

Sunrise: 5:55 AM

Sunset: 6:14 PM

Month & Paksham:

Tithi: Chaturdashi: Sep 08 09:03 PMto Sep 09 06:08 PM

Purnima: Sep 09 06:08 PMto Sep 10 03:28 PM

Nakshatram: Dhanishta: 08 01:46 PM

to Sep 09 11:35 AM

Shatabhisha: Sep 09 11:35 AMto Sep 10 09:37 AM

Rahukalam: 10:41 AM to 12:13 PM

Yamagandam: 3:16 PM to 4:48 PM

Varjyam: 06:11 PM to 07:39 PM

Gulika: 7:38 AM to 9:10 AM

Amritakalam: 03:00 AM to 04:28 AM

Abhijit Muhurtham: 11:49 AM to 12:37 PM

TODAY

VIJAYAWADA WEATHER

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has warned thatheavy rain along with thunderstormsand lightning is likely across the Statefor the next two days. Low pressureis likely to form over the west-cen-tral Bay of Bengal and it would inten-sify into a depression. A cyclonic cir-culation is marked over the East-Central Bay of Bengal, extending upto the mid-tropospheric level, andthis could become more marked andshift to central parts of the Bay ofBengal in the next 24 hours.

Under the influence of thecyclonic circulation over centralparts of the Bay of Bengal, a low-pressure area has formed over WestCentral & adjoining East CentralBay of Bengal. It is very likely tobecome more marked over WestCentral and adjoining NorthwestBay of Bengal off north Andhra

Pradesh¬South Odisha coasts dur-ing the next 48 hours.

A trough runs from SouthKonkan to the low-pressure areaover West Central & adjoiningEast-central Bay of Bengal acrossNorth Interior Karnataka, southTelangana & north Coastal AndhraPradesh at 0.9 km above mean sealevel. The trough from cyclonic cir-culation over central parts of the Bayof Bengal to north Kerala is nowseen as a shear zone roughly alongLat.12°N between 4.5 km & 7.6 kmabove mean sea level.

PNS n AMARAVATI

Political circles in Andhra Pradeshare abuzz with speculation of areshuffle of the Jagan MohanReddy-led cabinet, with the rulingYSRCP and opposition TDP havinga go at each other over the issue.

Reddy was reportedly unhappyover his ministers' response to cer-tain charges by the opposition TDPinvolving his family and madeknown his displeasure to them at acabinet meeting on Thursday.

Information Minister Ch S VGopala Krishna is learnt to haveasked the InformationCommissioner T V K Reddy tohereafter send him cuttings of alladverse press reports daily morningso that he could issue a rebuttal.

Against this backdrop, talks aredoing the rounds that the CM mayrevamp his Cabinet in November, bydropping at least three or fourministers.

Earlier in April this year, the APCouncil of Ministers was reorgan-ised when about half the thenincumbents were dropped and freshfaces inducted.

TDP MLC and general secretaryNara Lokesh took to Twitter to takea dig at Reddy on the issue.

Why change them (ministers)that many times? It will be enoughif you are replaced, Lokesh com-mented.

YSRCP leader and formerIiformation minister PerniVenkataramaiah (Nani) hit back atLokesh over the tweet. "How didyou become a minister (in 2017)?Don't you remember that five min-isters had to be removed to accom-modate you in the Cabinet?" Naniasked Lokesh.

It would be better for Lokesh totweet that as well, the YSRCspokesman added.

Flood threat looms over AndhraKrishna,Penna rivers swell due to incessant rains in K’taka; Srisailam, NSP reservoirs up to brimPNS n AMARAVATI

Incessant rains for the past few daysin the upper catchment areas ofKarnataka have left the major riversin Andhra Pradesh swollen, causinga fresh round of floods in theKrishna and Penna basins.

With the two major reservoirs,Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar filledto the brim, over 3.67 lakh cusecs(cubic feet per second of water flow)of floodwater is being discharged inriver Krishna.

From the Dr. K L Rao SagarPulichintala project downstream,3.74 lakh cusecs of floodwater wasbeing let out further down to thePrakasam Barrage in Vijayawada.

While the current discharge atPrakasam Barrage stood at 1.93 lakhcusecs, the River Conservator saidthe flow could increase to four lakhcusecs because of the surplus dis-charge from Dr. K L Rao Sagar.

Officials of NTR, Krishna, andGuntur districts have been kept onalert to take precautionary measures,particularly downstream of the bar-rage, as the first warning signal is

expected to be raised by Friday.State Disaster Management

Authority Managing Director B RAmbedkar said in a release that peo-ple staying along the river banksshould remain cautious and not tryto cross the streams at any point.

On the other side of the State, thePenna river is in spate, resulting inheavy discharges in Anantapuramu,Sri Satya Sai and YSR Kadapa dis-tricts.

Ambedkar said two teams of the

National Disaster Response Forcehave been sent to Anantapuramudistrict for undertaking rescue andrelief operations where required.

According to the Water ResourcesDepartment data, 25,000 cusecs ofwater was being discharged from theChagallu reservoir inAnantapuramu district and theMylavaram reservoir in YSRKadapa.

Heavy rain forecast

PNS n AMARAVATI

Chief Minister YS Jagan MohanReddy has said that the entire datarelating to 'YSR Yantra Seva' shouldbe displayed at RBKs in the form ofposters in a way that farmers couldunderstand the availability and util-ity.

During a review meeting on agri-culture and allied fields held here onThursday, the Chief Minister said allthe implements to be made availableto farmers and their utility should bedisplayed comprehensively at allRBKs.

The implements should be dis-tributed taking RBK as a unit andthe State is spending Rs 910 crores.

Construction of collection centresand cold storage rooms within thevicinity of RBKs should be expedit-ed, the Chief Minister said addingthat construction of godowns atRBKs should also be speeded up.The Self Help schemes should becontinued for sustained economic

development under 'Cheyutha'. Bydistributing cattle, milk productionand economic activity wouldincrease which will lead to theempowerment of women, he saidadding that the officials shouldensure that women should be eco-nomically benefitted from the tie-up

with Amul and Allana. Reviewing the Amul project, he

said Amul had procured 419.51 lakhlitres of milk and paid Rs 179.65 coreto 2,34,548 women farmers whoreceived an additional amount of Rs179.65 crore. This made other dairiesto increase the procurement pricewhich translated into an additionalincome of Rs 2,020.46 crores tofarmers.

In the coming two months Amulwould start operations in 1359 morevillages. Amul has been procuring1.03 lakh litres of milk daily andChittoor Dairy should be revived atthe earliest, he said.

Display ‘YSR Yantra Seva’ data at RBKs: CM

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former minister and YSRCP MLAPerni Venkataramaiah (Nani) hassaid that there is nothing wrong inthe government giving lands to thepoor in Amaravati under variousgovernment schemes and allegedthat Telugu Desam Party (TDP)started a new drama in the name ofAmaravati Maha Padayatra 2.0 tocollect funds.

Addressing a press meet here onThursday, he recalled that theChandrababu Naidu governmentallotted lands to outsiders ofAmaravati but opposed lands to thepoor citing demographic imbalancewhich is severely objectionable. Hewelcomed the decision of the APCabinet, led by Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy, taken onWednesday to give lands to the poorin Amaravati under various govern-ment schemes.

Nani said that no land was givento anyone during ChandrababuNaidu's reign. He gave lands tomany people in Amaravati. Naidugave lands to his people belongingto Gannavaram in Amaravatiinstead of offering lands toGannavaram Airport. He said,"When there is no demographicimbalance in giving lands toGannavaram people then howwould it arise if lands were given tothe poor and homeless in Krishnaand Guntur districts?" This meansTDP does not want poor, SC, STs

and Minorities in Amaravati and itshows the feudal mentality of Naidu.

Perni Nani said that Naidu start-ed another new movie in the nameof Amaravati Maha Padayatra 2.0from Venkatayapalem to Arasavilliunder which TDP is doing realestate business to collect funds andto turn black money into white onein the name of Padayatra. He saidthat the devastation caused to AP’sfinances by Chandrababu Naidu ashe left only Rs 100 crore funds andthe financial crisis is creating hur-dles in the cancellation of CPS butCM Jagan is trying to provide a bet-ter alternative under GPS.

MLA Nani objected to thedemand of TDP for the cancellationof Bulk Drug Park and said that dur-ing TDP's government Divis’s phar-ma was started without any objec-tions. He affirmed that the Jagangovernment adheres to the threecapitals' decision and will imple-ment the same.

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Amaravati Municipality mooted with 22 villages PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State government has started anexercise for establishing AmaravatiMunicipality with 22 gram panchayats inThullur and Mangalagiri mandals.Panchayat and Rural DevelopmentCommissioner Kona Sashidhar hasissued orders to this effect to organiseGrama Sabhas in the respective villages.The Amaravati Municipality will beformed with 19 villages in Thullur man-dal and three in Mangalagiri mandal.

In January, Grama Sabhas were organ-ised in the capital region under theAmaravati Municipal Corporation andthe proposal for forming a corporationwith 19 villages was rejected by the peo-ple of all the villages.

Earlier, unanimous resolutions werepassed to form a corporation with 29 vil-lages under the CRDA Act. Putting thoseresolutions aside, the government hasnow taken steps towards a municipali-ty with 22 villages.

The Guntur District Collector orderedthat the objection process be complet-ed within 10 days of receiving thenotices. It was stated that if no reply isgiven within the stipulated time, it willbe treated as approval to AmaravatiMunicipality.

Previously, Pedaparimi, Vaddamanuand Harishchandrapuram villages ofTullur mandal were not within the cap-ital. Now, Amaravati Municipality willbe formed by combining these villagesas well.

In January, GramaSabhas were

organised in thecapital region under

the AmaravatiMunicipal

Corporation and theproposal for

forming acorporation with 19

villages wasrejected by the

people of all thevillages.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Thursday allegedthat the office of the gubernatorial postwas "humiliated" by the State govern-ment led by Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao and pointed todiscrimination meted out to her as a"woman Governor".

Soundararajan was interacting withthe media on completing three yearsin office. Reacting to Soundararajan'scomments, ruling TRS MLC KKavitha alleged that the office of theGovernor of Telangana has turned intoa "political stage" to defame the TRSgovernment.

The Governor, though, alleged that

she faced hurdles in taking forward herinitiatives for people's welfare.

"When I took charge as theGovernor of Telangana on the sameday three years back, I really thoughtthat I should be committed to thestate... But, whatever may be the ini-tiatives which I took forward to makeit possible, it was not an easy job. Eventhe highest office (in the state) faced

so many hurdles," Soundararajan said.She cited the example of travelling

by road for eight hours to attend thetribal festival of 'Sammakka-SarakkaJatara' when the state government didnot allegedly inform whether a heli-copter as sought by her office wouldbe provided or not.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India and the US on Thursday discussedways to further strengthen the strategicpartnership by launching the inaugu-ral emerging defence capabilities dia-logue later this year.

This was announced after the India-USA 2+2 Inter-sessional meeting andthe Maritime Security Dialogue onThursday. The Indian delegation for theinter-sessional meeting on Wednesdaywas led by Vani Rao, AdditionalSecretary (Americas) in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs and Donald Lu,Assistant Secretary of State (South andCentral Asian Affairs) and Ely Ratner,the Assistant Secretary of Defense(Indo-Pacific Security Affairs). They dis-cussed ways to further strengthen theMajor Defence Partnership, includingin new and emerging areas in thedefence domain such as space, AI andcyber, an External Affairs Ministry state-ment said.

In a separate statement, John Supple,the spokesman for the US Departmentof Defense said the officials of the twocountries also reviewed progress towardoperationalizing major bilateral initia-tives on information-sharing, defenseindustrial cooperation, and joint serv-ice engagements to support combined,multi-domain operations.

India, US discussways to furtherstrengthen ties

When II ttook ccharge aas tthe GGovernor oof TTelangana oon tthesame dday tthree yyears bback, II rreally tthought tthat II sshould

be ccommitted tto tthe sstate... BBut, wwhatever mmay bbe ttheinitiatives wwhich II ttook fforward tto mmake iit ppossible, iit wwas nnotan eeasy jjob. EEven tthe hhighest ooffice ((in tthe sstate) ffaced ssomany hhurdles.

“

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2

PNS n NEW DELHI

Corruption by a public servant is anoffence against the State and thesociety and courts cannot dealwith such cases as "suits for specif-ic performance", the SupremeCourt said on Thursday.

A bench of Justices S A Nazeer andV Ramasubramanian observed whilesetting aside an order of the Madrashigh court which quashed a criminalcomplaint in a cash-for-job scambased on a settlement between the par-ties. "It is needless to point out that cor-ruption by a public servant is an offenceagainst the State and the society at large.

Graft by public servant iscrime against state: SC

‘Unhappy’ Jagan mayrejig Cabinet in Nov

2

Perni defends allotting landsto the poor in Amaravati

Office of Guv ‘humiliated' by TS govt: TamilisaiQueen Elizabethpasses awayPNS n LONDON

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-serving monarch, hasdied after reigning for70 years. She was 96.“The Queen diedpeacefully at Balmoralthis afternoon,"Buckingham Palace

announced in a statement onThursday. "The King and the QueenConsort will remain at Balmoral thisevening and will return to Londontomorrow," the statement said. Withher death, her eldest son Charles, theformer Prince of Wales, will lead thecountry in mourning.

CASE FILED AGAINST FACEBOOK USERFOR ‘DEROGATORY' COMMENTS

NOT DELIVERING NEW CAR DESPITE FULLPAYMENT UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICE: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday said not delivering a new car ordelivering a defective vehicle despite full payment of saleconsideration can be said to be "unfair trade practice". The apex

court observed non-delivery of a new car despite full payment canalso be said to be dishonesty on the part of the dealer and againstmorality and ethics. The court's observations came on a case relatedto purchase of a car. The complainant had alleged the vehicle wasdelivered to him after one year of the deposit of the total amount.The complainant had claimed the car delivered to him was old andwas used by the dealer as 'demo-test drive vehicle'.

20 CHILDREN FROM UNDERPRIVILEGED

FAMILIES QUALIFY IN NEET

Amrita Sahu, daughter of a daily wage labourer and 19 otherchildren from underprivileged families in Odisha have crackedthe NEET examination with the help provided to them by a

charitable organisation in fulfilling their dreams to become doctorsOf the 20 successful students, 15 are set to get admission inMBBS course while five others will be eligible for BDS course.Amrita's father said he could not arrange medical coaching for herdue to economic hardship but Zindagi Foundation took fullresponsibility of her preparation of NEET. "It was difficult to evenmaintain the family.

WOMAN FIGHTS OFF SNATCHER IN DELHI'S

BADARPUR, POLICE APPREHENDS JUVENILE

Police here have registered a case against a Facebook user forposting a video containing `derogatory' comments aboutChhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and other

Congress leaders, an official said. No arrest has been made so far,he added. The video was posted by a Facebook ID in the name of`Vandana Rajput', the police official said. Based on a complaint by aNational Student Union of India (NSUI) worker, a case wasregistered at Civil Lines police station against the user under IndianPenal Code sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provokebreach of peace) and 505(1)(b) (provoking offence against state).

Ayoung woman fought off a man allegedly trying to snatchher mobile phone in southeast Delhi's Badarpur area, policesaid on Thursday. The incident of attempted snatching came

to light after a purported video of the episode surfaced on socialmedia, they said. A juvenile, a resident of Badarpur, has beenapprehended in connection with the incident, police said. In theclip, the woman can be seen fighting off the man trying tosnatch her mobile phone. She caught hold of the person by hisT-shirt and the phone fell to the ground. The miscreant then fledthe scene.

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vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

EGG

RATES

VIJAYAWADA 462

HYDERABAD 460

VISAKHAPATNAM 460

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀44..6622

`̀//110000

CHICKEN

RATES

Dressed/With Skin `205

Without Skin `215

Broiler at Farm `190

`̀//KKGG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

PNS n AMARAVATI

A delegation of BC leadersheaded by MP R Krishnaiahcalled on Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy at theCamp Office here onThursday.

The Chief Minister told thedelegation to propagate the

measures being taken by thegovernment for the welfare ofBCs. The MP told some of theissues of BCs to ChiefMinister, who responded pos-itively.

The delegation included APBC Welfare Association pres-ident, L Vengal Rao Yadav andGeneral Secretary Seshapani.

AMARAVATI BATTLE

BJP backs Maha Padayatra 2.0PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Amaravati-AravasavilliMaha Padayatra 2.0 demand-ing the continuation ofAmaravati as the only Capitalof Andhra Pradesh has got theBJP's support. Telugu Desamchief Nara ChandrababuNaidu, BJP former state pres-ident Kanna Lakshminarayana,CPI State secretaryRamakrishna, APCC vice-president Tulsi Reddy, JanaSena leader Bonaboina SrinivasYadav and others released'Amaravati Vivadalu-Vastavalu'book written by journalistKandula Ramesh inVijayawada on Thursday.

On the occasion,Lakshminarayana said that BJPis supporting Amaravati asthe only capital of AP. Heannounced that BJP is support-ing the Amaravati Padayatra2.0 and said that Amaravati isthe pride of Andhra.

Chandrababu Naidu defend-ed that Amaravati was selectedas the Capital as it is the centrepoint of AP State. He stated thathe planned to developAmaravati on par withHyderabad with internationalstandards. He claimed that ITwas developed due to his effortsand the development gave a lot

of employment opportunities toTelugu people. He said that inevery 100 NRIs working invarious countries includingAmerica, 30 people belong toAndhra. He claimed thatAmaravati is a self-financingproject and there is no need ofspending separate funds. Naiduaffirmed that TD will continue

its efforts to continue Amaravatias the Capital and furthertowards the development ofother areas of the State.

Book Author KandulaRamesh said that no state candevelop without cities. He saidthat even in 1953, manyattempts were made to preventthe capital from coming

between Vijayawada andGuntur. He recalled that sim-ilar politics existed during theformation of the Andhra state.K Mathews proposed Gunturas the capital as the first choice.In 1953, the Communistsinsisted on the capital betweenGuntur and Vijayawada.

Former chief minister and TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu and other leaders releasing ‘Amaravati -Vivadalu-

Vastavalu' , a book written by Kandula Ramesh, at a function in Vijayawada on Thursday. -Pic bby CCh VVijaya BBhaskar

Floodwater level rises in River KrishnaPrakasam Barrage may receive 5 lakh cusecs of inflows today

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

With heavy inflows comingfrom the upper catchmentareas, the Prakasam Barragewill receive about 5 lakh cusecsof floodwater on September 9(Friday). The Water ResourcesDepartment (WRD) officialshave been taking all measuresto avoid untoward incidentsbecause of the huge inflows.

According to irrigation offi-cials, with heavy rains in thecatchment areas, the Srisailamand Nagarjuna Sagar projectshave been receiving a hugeamount of floodwater. As theSrisailam project officials lift-ed all 10 gates by 12 feet and

released about 4.51 lakh cusecsof floodwater into RiverKrishna.

Also, the Nagarjuna SagarProject officials have dis-charged around 4.13 lakhcusecs of water and it would beincreased up to 5 lakh cusecs.With the increase in theinflows from the upper reach-es, the Pulichintala Projectofficials released 3.97 lakh

cusecs of floodwater from thedam upstream of the PrakasamBarrage. The floodwater mayreach the barrage in the earlyhours of Friday, saidVijayawada Irrigation CircleSuperintending EngineerSesham Tirumala Rao onThursday.

He further said that theflood discharge fromNagarjuna Sagar was 4.13 lakh

cusecs and from thePulichintala Project Dam it was3.97 lakh cusecs at 7 pm. Theflood inflows would increaseup to 5 lakh cusecs at thePrakasam Barrage, anytimenow, he said.

Based on the inflows fromPulichintala Project Dam andother tributaries upstream ofPrakasam Barrage, the sur-plus discharge from PrakasamBarrage will be up to 4 lakhcusecs to 5 lakh cusecs oreven more as per the presentrate of floodwater inflows.

He predicted that the firstwarning at the PrakasamBarrage could be issued byFriday morning. Hence, he

requested the officials con-cerned to take precautionarymeasures to avoid any unto-ward incidents along the river-bank both upstream anddownstream of the PrakasamBarrage, he said.

He said that all 70 gates ofthe Prakasam Barrage werelifted and about 2,88,750 cusecsof floodwater was dischargedinto the sea. Around 40 gateswere lifted to a height of 7 feetand the remaining 30 gateswere lifted toh a height of 6feet, he said. To maintain thebarrage crest level at 12 feet, thedepartment released 15,472cusecs of water into canals, headded.

Based on the inflows from Pulichintala Project Dam and other

tributaries upstream of Prakasam Barrage, the surplus discharge

from Prakasam Barrage will be up to 4 lakh cusecs to 5 lakh cusecs

or even more as per the present rate of floodwater inflows.

Flood threat looms...Continued from page 1

The Somasila reservoir onPenna river in SPS Nelloredistrict is also filling up fastwith an inflow of 11,893cusecs of floodwater.

For the f irst t ime indecades, the Vedavati river inthe Krishna basin, whichflows through Anantapuramuand Kurnool districts, hasreceived copious inflows dueto heavy downpours in neigh-

bouring Karnataka.A flood discharge of about

63,000 cusecs has beenrecorded on Thursday at themedium Bhairavanitippa pro-ject on the river, which theirrigation authorities say wasthe highest ever in manydecades. This project canhold just two thousand mil-lion cubic feet of water but isnow 66.35 per cent filled dueto the flood, the authoritiessaid.

Heavy rain forecast...Continued from page 1

A low-pressure area islikely to form over the WestCentral Bay of Bengal inthe subsequent 24 hours.Due to favourable environ-mental condit ions, theweather system will have thepotential to strengthen itselfinto a depression over thesame area before crossing thecoastline. The system isexpected to cross the northAndhra coast on September9, according to an IMDreport.

Between September 8 andSeptember 11, the depres-sion is likely to move west-ward, traversing acrossSouth Odisha, coasta lAndhra Pradesh, SouthChattisgarh, Vidarbha, andMarathwada.

Dr. BR Ambedkar, theDirector of DisasterManagement in anannouncement said thatthere will be light to moder-ate rainfall in coastal Andhraand fishermen are urged notto venture into the sea forfishing.

Display ‘YSR Yantra Seva’...Continued from page 1

*Paddy procurement*As per the instructions of

the Chief Minister to reducethe role of millers and bring intransparency to benefit thefarmers, the officials said theCivil Supplies Department hadframed the guidelines.Volunteers would take part inpaddy procurement and theywould be given incentives onthis count. The Chief Ministersaid that SOPs should be pre-pared flawlessly.

The officials gave the data

to the Chief Minister.Distribution of agricultureimplements in 6,525 of the10750 RBKs has been complet-ed. In 391of the 1615 clusterlevel CHCs harvesters andother implements were distrib-uted worth Rs 690.87 crores ofwhich Rs 240.67 is the subsidycomponent.

In the remaining RBKsaction plan is in place for2022-23 and about 7 lakh peo-ple will be getting implementsand other tools. About 80 per-cent of the beneficiaries are SC,ST BC, Minority farmers, and

in scheduled areas, ST farmersare being given priority.

The officials also said thatworks on Phase 1 ofJuvvaladinne, Machilipatnam,and Nizampatnam are goingon at a brisk pace.

Deputy Chief Minister BMuthyalanaidu, Ministers KNageshwara Rao, S Appalaraju,Chief Secretary SameerSharma, AgricultureDepartment Special ChiefSecretary PoonamMalakondaiah, and other offi-cials were present at the reviewmeeting.

Continued from page 1

"But, whenever we wanted toreach out to people I facedsome hurdles... Every statewrites its history. And (in thelast) three years, the state willwrite history on how a womanGovernor is discriminated. Butthat discrimination did nothalt this Governor," she said.

She said she does not wanthistory to be written in a "neg-ative way" about the Governorbeing treated badly.

Soundararajan emphasisedthat she would not like to seekher rights only because she isa woman.

Her idea is not to find faultwith anybody but the highoffice of the Governor shouldbe respected, she said, addingthat she should be informed ifthere is any problem.

She pointed to being deniedthe Governor's address to theassembly, hoisting the flag onRepublic Day and protocolnot being followed during herofficial visits.

Though she does not want totalk about these issues, the peo-ple of Telangana should know

the reality, Soundararajan said.Claiming that the

Governor's office was "humil-iated", she gave the example ofa customary 'At Home' recep-tion hosted by her at RajBhavan.

"If the highest elected repre-sentative is not coming, theyshould have informed us. First,they informed (that) they willcome and then there was nomessage from the office aboutwhether they are coming ornot. The system should be fol-lowed," she said.

She also spoke about theproblems faced by students atthe Rajiv Gandhi University ofKnowledge Technologies(RGUKT) which she had vis-ited.

Soundararajan has in thepast spoken about alleged pro-tocol violations during herofficial visits to the State.

Asked as to why she shouldnot assert her position con-cerning protocol violationsduring her official visits, theGovernor said if she concen-trates only on the protocolissue, her original purposewould be defeated.

"You cannot wake up a per-son who is pretending to besleeping," she said withoutelaborating.

On the allegation that theCentre has been discriminatingagainst Telangana and whethershe would make efforts toaddress the state's pendingissues, Soundararajan said therecent Southern Zonal Councilmeeting was presided by UnionHome Minister Amit Shahwho was there to address theseissues.

"The Home Minister wasthere to solve the problems. Ilauded the Home Minister formaking arrangements for sucha programme. All the ChiefMinisters were there. All theofficials were there. Why theChief Minister (of Telanganawas) not attending it," she said.

Soundararajan had attendedthe event in her capacity as theLieutenant Governor ofPuducherry.

Asked about the commentsthat the trigger for differenceswith the state governmentcame from her when she wentahead with the Republic Dayspeech which was not cleared

by the cabinet, she wonderedwhy the Governor was notallowed to hoist the NationalFlag and why there was noRepublic Day parade.

She claimed that a speechwas denied when her officeapproached the governmentfor it. "If they are not giving(providing the speech), shouldI shut my mouth? Don't I havea right to talk?" she asked.

The Governor also asked asto what prevented the MLAs,MPs and other leaders to notcome to the Raj Bhavan. "Is RajBhavan an untouchable place?"she questioned.

Asked about the debateabout September 17, the dayerstwhile Hyderabad Stateunder Nizam rule wasmerged with the IndianUnion, being celebrated as'Hyderabad Liberation Day'by the Centre, while the stategovernment decided toobserve the occasion as'Telangana NationalIntegrat ion Day' ,Soundararajan said she haslearnt about the history andthought that 'Liberation Day'would be correct.

Office of Guv 'humiliated' by TS govt: Tamilisai

Continued from page 1

They committed to launchingan inaugural Emerging DefenseCapabilities Dialogue later thisfall, as the two sides expandcooperation in new domainssuch as space, cyber, artificialintelligence, and other defensetechnology areas, Supple said.

At the 5th India-US MaritimeSecurity Dialogue (MSD), heldhere on Thursday, officials dis-cussed the developments in theglobal maritime domain, bilat-eral maritime cooperationendeavors, regional support ini-tiatives and collaborative effortssuch as Indo-Pacific Partnership

for Maritime DomainAwareness, the MEA statementsaid.

They affirmed their shareddesire to enhance maritimesecurity internationally andstrengthen cooperation towardsa free, open and inclusive mar-itime order that would supportsecurity, inclusive growth andprosperity, it said.

During the MSD, the US andIndian officials discussed waysto expand collaboration bothbilaterally and within multilat-eral networks, including withAustralia, Japan, and Europeanpartners, Supple said.

They identified new oppor-

tunities to coordinate capacity-building activities in South andSoutheast Asia, deepen logisticscooperation, and drive forwardhigh-end Navy-to-Navy coop-eration to address challenges,including in the underseadomain, Supple said,

The Indian delegation to theMSD comprised Sandeep Arya,Additional Secretary(Disarmament & InternationalSecurity Affairs), Vani Rao,Additional Secretary(Americas), Ministry ofExternal Affairs and DineshKumar, Joint Secretary(Maritime &Systems), Ministryof Defence.

India, US discuss ways to strengthen ties

Graft by publicservant is crimeagainst state: SC

Continued from page 1

The Court cannot dealwith cases involving abuseof official position andadoption of corrupt prac-tices, like suits for specificperformance, where therefund of the money paidmay also satisfy the agree-ment holder.

"Therefore we hold thatthe High Court was com-pletely in error in quashingthe criminal complaint,"the bench said.

The complainant in thecase had filed an affidavit inthe high court supportingthe accused and prayingfor quashing of the case onthe ground that what thevict ims had with theaccused was only a moneydispute and that the samehad been settled out ofcourt.

He contended that due topolitical rivalry betweenthe two groups, his com-plaint got converted into amore serious issue.

The victims, who origi-nally claimed to have paidmoney for procuringemployment, also filed indi-vidual affidavits supportingthe accused.

BC delegation meets CM

PNS n NEW YORK

Donald Trump has stronglyindicated that he might run forthe 2024 US presidential elec-tion, claiming that "everyone"wants him to contest the pollsonce again, a decision he saidwill make a "couple of peopleunhappy". The 76-year-oldRepublican leader who hasstill not conceded defeat in the2020 US presidential election tohis Democratic Party rival JoeBiden, asserted that "we didn'tlose".

In an interview to NDTVnews channel at the TrumpNational Golf Club inBedminster, New Jersey, theformer president said,"Everyone wants me to run, I'mleading in the polls...I'll decidethe very near future, I suspect.And I think that a lot of peo-ple are going to be very happy."

"I think so. A lot of peoplewill be (happy); and a couple ofpeople will be unhappy," he saidwithout naming those whowon't be pleased with his deci-sion to seek another term in theWhite House in 2024.

Trump hints hemight run for Prezpolls in 2024

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Government General Hospital’s(GGH) NATCO CancerCentre at Guntur on Thursdayannounced the installation ofDozee’s Contactless RemotePatient Monitoring (RPM) andEarly Warning System (EWS)at the hospital. GGH Guntur isthe first government hospital inAP to get ultramodern devicespowered by next-generation AIalgorithms to track vital para-meters of patients undergoingcancer treatment and helphealth care providers to iden-tify early clinical deteriorationof the patients for timely med-ical intervention. This solutionis provided to the hospitalunder the MillionICU initiativeof Dozee for transforming pub-lic healthcare in India.

GGH Guntur set tobe first govt hospitalto use RPM, EWS

PNS n MAHABUB NAGAR

Three labourers engaged inMahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment Scheme(MNREG) died in a roadaccident at Malleboinpapllyunder Jadcherla mandal onThursday. The officialsbrought labourers from Aluruvillage for the planting ofsaplings. Three labourers,while unloading the saplingsfrom a tractor, were killedwhen a container rammedinto it from behind.

Three MNREGS workersdie in accident

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

LV Prasad Eye Instituteorganised a series of activi-ties to raise awareness aboutthe importance of eye dona-tion. On the occasion of thecompletion of the obser-

vance of the ‘Eye DonationFortnight’ on Thursday, acommemorative ceremonywas organised.

The National EyeDonation Fortnight isobserved annually fromAugust 25 to September 8

‘Eye Donation Fortnight’ observed

TS and AP account for 40% ofUS student visas issued in IndiaPNS n HYDERABAD

The United States has issueda record of 82,000 studentvisas to Indians in 2022,highest than any country,the US Embassy in India hassaid.

Of these 82,000, nearly40% are reportedly fromTelangana and AndhraPradesh, who have reachedout to consulates in Chennaiand Mumbai as well due tothe unavailability of slots inthe Hyderabad Consulate.

"We are happy to see somany students were able toreceive visas and reach theiruniversities after the delayscaused in previous years bythe COVID-19 pandemic.We issued over 82,000 stu-dent visas this summer alone,more than in any previousyear.This shows that theUnited States remains formost Indian families themost sought-after countryfor higher educat ion,"Patricia Lacina, Charge d'af-faires of US Embassy in Indiasaid."It also highlights theimportant contributionsIndian students make to bothour countries as they buildlife-long connections withAmerican peers to maintain

and grow international part-nerships, working collective-ly to address current andfuture global challenges,"Lacina added.

Indian students comprisenearly 20 per cent of all inter-national students studying inthe United States, with theOpen Doors report in 2021,showing there were 1,67,582students from India in the2020-2021 academic year.

Minister Counsellor forConsular Affairs Don Heflinsaid, "We are thrilled to havedone our part to help Indianstudents pursue a top-notcheducation." "Hopefully, thereare a lot of happy studentsand parents out there.International student mobil-ity is central to US diploma-cy and nowhere is the contri-bution of students biggerthan in India," he said.

According to the embassystatement, the US embassy inNew Delhi and the con-

sulates in Chennai,Hyderabad, Kolkata andMumbai prioritised the pro-cessing of student visa appli-cations from May to Augustto ensure that as many qual-ified students as possiblemade it to their programmesof study in time for sched-uled start dates.

"The United States hasremained open and welcom-ing to international studentsthroughout the g lobalCOVID-19 pandemic.? In2020, the US governmentand US higher-educationinstitutions implementedmeasures to safely welcomeinternational students in per-son, online, and via hybridlearning methods, guarantee-ing that opportunities andresources to internationalstudents remained robust.

"Students seeking assis-tance about studying in theUnited States should down-load the EducationUSA Indiaapp, available for free oniOS and Android devices.

At the click of a button, theapp provides the latest infor-mation about the collegeapplication process and is aquick and easy first step toplanning higher education inthe United States," it said.

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

PNS n AMARAVATI

The Andhra PradeshIndustrial InfrastructureCorporation (APIIC) is swift-ly moving towards providingall its services online at a sin-gle click; without the industri-al representatives makingphysical visits to the govern-ment offices. Speaking aboutthe initiative, JVNSubramanyam, VC & MD –APIIC, said that, while 14 ser-vices are already being provid-ed online; plans are beingchalked to make all the servicesonline very soon. He also saidthat there is a good responsefrom the industry partnerswithin four months of theintroduction of online ser-vices. So far 389 applicationshave been received, out ofwhich 144 applications havealready been grantedapprovals.

The VC & MD clarifiedthat a few permits were sentback to the applicants owing tothe requirement for moreinformation and the remaining

applications are under consid-eration.

JVN Subramanyam men-tioned that services are cur-rently being provided throughthe web, and a mobile applica-tion is being developed tomake APIIC services moreaccessible.

According to the directivesof Hon’ble Chief Minister, ShriYS Jagan Mohan Reddy, theservices are being expandedfurther without the need forinvestors in the state to goaround the offices seekingpermissions. VC & MD statedthat; while services like changeof industry name, change inthe allotment, transfer of allot-

ment, reallocation, withdraw-al of allocation, change in theline of activity, change of con-stituency of the industry, addi-tional line activity, plot limitpermits, plot division, alter-ation of subdivisions, sale deedexecution within 5 acres,appeals for sale deed execu-tions over 5 acres, NOC (NoObjection Certificate) for theallotted plot, an extension ofthe deadline for the executionof the project, extension ofdeadline required for advancepayments are already accessi-ble online, several other ser-vices will also be broughtunder the online domain verysoon.

All APIIC services to go online

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

On the first day, the AndhraCricket Association (ACA)Central Zone Senior Men'sInter-District three-day crick-et tournament was interrupt-ed by rain and after a smallbreak, the matches continuedas usual. The multi-day crick-et tournament was started atthe ACA grounds at Mulapaduof Ibrahimpatnam mandal inthe NTR district, nearVijayawada on Thursday.

The first match betweenKrishna and Prakasam teamswas held at the DevineniVenkata Ramana grounds andsoon after the match startedrain interrupted the match.

Krishna bowler Ch Koushikexcelled in bowling and took

six wickets by giving 28 runsand restricting the Prakasamteam to a small score in its firstinnings. Prakasam fell for 56runs in the first innings in 20.1overs, G. Rohit of Prakasamscored 25 runs and the remain-ing batsmen failed to score. GKoushik took six wickets for 28runs and the other bowler ABrahma Taja took four wicketsfor 18 wickets and played a piv-

otal role in the match.Later, the Krishna district

team started its first inningsand it scored 12 runs in 3.2overs without loss of wicketsand Sk Khaza 11 (not out) atthe stumps. Due to rain, thematch was suspended for thefirst day.

In the second matchbetween Guntur and WestGodavari teams at theChukkapalli Pitchaiah ground,West Godavari scored 54 runsfor a loss of one wicket in 14overs. KSN Raju scored 18runs in 24 balls with threeboundaries, GS Swamy Naidu12 runs (not out), and BMunish Varma 23 (not out) atthe stumps. Due to rain, thesecond match was also sus-pended for the first day.

Rain plays spoilsport for firstmatch of ACA Sr Men's tourney

PNS n AMARAVATI

BJP Kisan Morcha State pres-ident Vangala ShasibhushanReddy has said that protests byfarmers across the State willbegin on October 2 and theplan of action is being preparedby the BJP activists.

Speaking to the media per-sons on Thursday, he said thatthey will support the farmersand fight against the anti-farmer government in AndhraPradesh.

The Kisan Morcha presidentquestioned what the ChiefMinister is doing despite theloss incurred by the farmers forthe last three years. He said thatthe state government is notpaying its share for central wel-fare schemes related to farm-ers. He said that the farmers arenot benefited from RythuBharosa Kendrams.

He said that the farmers lostconfidence in getting quality

seeds, fertilisers, and pesti-cides. He said that even thoughthe Centre has set up land test-ing centers, the state govern-ment is not using them. Heexpressed anger that the stategovernment is undermining

the schemes sanctioned by thecentre and the central funds arediverted by the state govern-ment.

He asked what the govern-ment was doing when the crestgates of the irrigation project

are swept away in the floodwaters.

He said that the governmentis clueless about the Polavaramproject and when it will becompleted. The state govern-ment is not caring about theirrigation projects inRayalaseema and NorthAndhra, he pointed out.

He said that the YSRC gov-ernment was not botheredabout dairy farmers and fur-ther pointed out that it is notin a position to give electrici-ty to borewells and drip irriga-tion in this state. There areabout 16 lakh tenant farmers,in AP and the government hasleft them to their fate.

Shasibhushan Reddyexpressed anger that the gov-ernment is not taking anymeasures to financially supportthe banana and sugarcanefarmers which will result in aprotest by the farmers in aphased manner.

BJP-led farmers’ protests from Oct 2

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for AgricultureKakani Govardhan Reddy hascome down heavily on TDPleader Nara Lokesh for abusivelanguage and terming ChiefMinister YS Jagan MohanReddy and the local ministerfake and warned Lokesh tokeep his tongue in control.Speaking to the media persons,the Minister said that the peo-ple of AP know who is fake andwhat is the credibility andcharacter of the ChandrababuNaidu family.

The minister said thatChandrababu Family has nocredibility to talk about CMJagan Mohan Reddy and hisfamily.

He criticised ChandrababuNaidu was a pickpocket in thepast and anyone will tell in thatdistrict. Chandrababu’s father

Kharjura Naidu used to stealthe groundnut sacks kept in thefields during the night. He saidthat Chandrababu has becomea curse for the state. He allegedthat Chandrababu and Lokeshare president and secretary ofthe All India BeggarsAssociation and not the Telugu

Desam Party.Responding to a question,

the minister said,"Who isLokesh? Did he win by thevotes of the people? Is he pop-ular? Was he involved in themovement? After all, who ishe? I consider him a good-for-nothing fellow."

The minister criticisedChandrababu for his cultureand the way he brought up hisson Lokesh who uses abusivelanguage for the State CM andanyone. That fellow Lokeshwas daydreaming aboutbecoming a CM who has nobasic culture and ethicalityand warned them to slip histongue.

Kakani Goverdhan Reddysaid that the Union HomeMinister Amit Shah held a con-ference with the Ministers ofthe Cooperation departmentacross the country. It was

thought that a policy should beformulated and implementedfor cooperative societies at thenational level. Amit Shah saidthat it would be better if onelaw and one system wereimplemented across the coun-try.

The DCCB (District Co-operative Central Bank) whichwas in a loss in the past, is backon track with profits after CMJagan Mohan Reddy took thereins by supporting them bygiving them funds. After JaganMohan Reddy became thechief minister, there is an addi-tional 14 lakh tonnes of grainproduced annually. We aregiving minimum supportprices for the farmers' produce.The government was providingfree nine hours of power to theagriculture sector without anycompromise, said the ministerKakani Govardhan Reddy.

Kakani slams Naidu, Lokeshfor remarks against CM

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for Social WelfareMerugu Nagarjuna has warnedthat Nara Lokesh's tongue willbe cut if he once again talksabout Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy. MinisterNagarjuna was furious overLokesh's allegations againstJagan Mohan Reddy.

The Minister criticisedLokesh, who has not even wonas a member of a panchayat inthe State, daydreams of becom-ing the chief minister, and wasstooping down by speaking theunparliamentary language. Hesaid that they too can speak, butthe culture prevents them fromspeaking like that. Lokesh, whobecame a minister through hisfather and looted crores ofrupees, has no moral right totalk about Jagan Mohan Reddy.

During ChandrababuNaidu's regime, there weremany attacks, rapes, and atroc-ities on the Dalits across thestate and there were alsoheinous incidents where theDalit women were exposed.He said that Vemula Rohit, aDalit intellectual at CentralUniversity committed suicidebecause of Chandrababu Naidu,

but Chandrababu did not visithis family at least. He recalledthat Jagan Mohan Reddy, whois the leader of the opposition,visited and consoled the fami-ly members.

The Minister criticizedChandrababu Naidu for sayingthat if land sites are given to

Dalits in Amaravati's capitalregion there will be a demo-graphic imbalance. He furthersaid that Chandrababu orderedthe closing down of the SC hos-tels during the TDP ruling.

Minister Nagarjuna said thatthe great leader YS RajasekharReddy had the ideology of DrBR Ambedkar. ButChandrababu's family hasalways been anti-Dalit and isready to prove it with evidenceand challenged Lokesh andChandrababu to come to anopen debate if they have theguts.

Hold your tongue, Nagarjunawarns TDP leader Lokesh

'85 SC Gurukul students qualify in NEET'PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister Nagarjuna said that students of SC Gurukuls excelled inNEET results. The minister said that 85 students from SC Gurukulshave qualified in the NEET examination. He said that 12 of theirstudents are likely to get MBBS and another 15 dental seats.In a statement, Nagarjuna said that there are NEET training centers ofSC Gurukuls in Edupugallu, Adju Thakkellapadu, and Chinnatekuru inthe state. He said that 111 people appeared for the NEET exams fromthese three centers and 85 of them qualified. He said that 27 studentshave secured medical and dental seats. Students from Chinna Tekur(Kurnool) secured a maximum of 9 medical and 9 dental seats, whilestudents from Edupugallu secured 7 seats and students from AdushiTakkellapadu secured 2 seats, he said. Nagarjuna congratulated thestudents who secured the medical seats on the occasion.

EO presentssilk robes toKanipakamtemplePNS n VIJAYAWADA

In connection with the ongo-ing annual 'Brahmotsvams' atVarasiddhi Vinayaka Swamytemple at Kanipakam, TTDEO AV Dharma Reddy pre-sented silk robes to the deity onThursday. Earlier, on hisarrival, he was received byPutalapattu legislator MS Babu,temple Chairman MohanReddy, EO Suresh Babu, andSarpanch Shanti Sagar Reddy.

After presenting the 'vas-trams', the EO offered prayersto the presiding deity on theoccasion. Later,Vedasirvachanam was heldfollowed by an offering ofTheertha Prasadams to theTTD EO by Kanipakam tem-ple authorities.

Tirumala templeParupattedar Uma MaheshwarReddy and Veda Parayanamdarswere also present.

Banks urged to offer loansto unemployed youth

MP Balashowry, Collector Dilli Rao distribute loans totaling Rs.117 crore to beneficiaries

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Machilipatnam MPVallabhaneni Balashowry hassuggested that all banks shouldprovide loans to the unem-ployed youth so that they cansettle in their lives. Most impor-tantly, banks should sanctionloans to farmers, fishermenand handloom weavers, hesaid.

Vallabhaneni Balashowry,NTR District Collector S DilliRao and others attended theBank of India (BOI)’s 117thfoundation day celebrationsheld at the TummalapalliKalakshetram in Vijayawadaon Thursday. Both the MPand the Collector Rao distrib-

uted loans to the tune of Rs.117crore to the beneficiaries.

Speaking on the occasion,MP Balashowry said that banksgot an identity after theirnationalisation by the thenPrime Minister Indira Gandhiin 1969. Later, all banks playeda crucial role in the develop-ment of the country, besides theagriculture and industrial sec-tors, he added.

"There is no scarcity of talentamong the Indian youth. Indianstudents have been working asChief Executive Officers (CEO)for prominent companies inforeign countries," he said.Banks should give loans to thestudents and the youth forpursuing studies or to set up

businesses, he said.Collector S Dilli Rao said that

the Bank of India was givingloans for the welfare schemesand that there had been nocomplaints from the beneficia-ries against the bank officials.Besides providing better ser-vices to the customers, thebank is participating in theCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR) activities, he lauded. Heappealed to the bank officials toprovide loans to Self HelpGroups, apart from housing,agricultural and educationalloans. Bank of India ZonalManager VV Somasekhar,Deputy Zonal Manager DRama Prasada Rao, and bankstaff were present.

Mental hosp beingbuilt at Kadapa withRs 50 cr outlayPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Deputy Chief Minister andMinister for Minorities WelfareSB Amzath Basha has said thatChief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy included treat-ment of mental diseases in theAarogyasri which has provedto be beneficial to many peo-ple. He said that a new men-tal hospital is under construc-tion at Kadapa forRayalaseema people whichwill be completed by March2023. Amzath Basha visitedIndlas hospital of Dr. I, RamaSubba Reddy, here onThursday and interacted withthe patients.

Amzath Basha said that the

mental hospital atVisakhapatnam is very far fromthe people of Rayalaseema.Hence, the Jagan governmentis constructing a new mentalhospital with Rs 50 crore ofexpenditure on RIMS Hospitalpremises at Kadapa to serve theRayalaseema people. He saidthat Dr. Rama Subba Reddybelongs to their area and wasrendering good services forthe past 40 years by treatingpeople suffering from mentaldiseases.

Basha enquired about thetreatment and facilities andinteracted with the patients. Dr.Rama Subba Reddy presentedhis book to Deputy CM Basahon the occasion.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Telugu Desam Party(TDP) leaders of combinedKrishna district organised anagitation in front of PatamaPolice Station in Vijayawada onThursday, demanding thearrest of those who attackedparty State secretary andVijayawada former corporatorChennupati Gandhi. Theywore black ribbons and burnedthe FIR copies of the attack casein front of the police stationand raised slogans against thepolice and the State govern-ment.

Chennupati Gandhi's righteyesight was lost permanentlyas a result of an attack byYSRCP followers at PatamataLanka in Vijayawada a few daysago. He is taking medical treat-ment at LV Prasad Eye Hospitalin Hyderabad. TDP nationalpresident and former Chief

Minister Nara ChandrababuNaidu was irate over theresponse of the Krishna districtleaders to the attack onChennupati Gandhi.

As per the direction of TDPchief Chandrababu Naidu,Krishna district leaders stageda protest in front of Patamatapolice station and demanded

that an attempt-to-murder casebe filed against the attackers.Party politburo members VarlaRamaiah, Kollu Ravindra,Vijayawada Parliament presi-dent and former ministerNettem Raghu Ram,Machilipatnam Parliamentpresident and former MPKonakall Narayana Rao, MLC

Batchula Arjunudu,Vijayawada East MLA GaddeRama Mohan, former MLCBudha Venkanna, formerMLAs Sriram Rajagopal, BodePrasad, Mandali BuddhaPrasad, Police HousingCorporation former chairmanNagul Meera and others partic-ipated in the protest.

Earlier, the party leaders con-ducted a meeting at the TDPVijayawada office and con-demned the attack. They alsocondemned the behavior of thepolice. Contradictory statementswere made by NTR VijayawadaPolice Commissioner KanthiRana Tata and VijayawadaCentral Zone ACP KhadarBasha, the TDP leaders alleged.It would send the wrong mes-sage to the public and theYSRCP leaders may carry outmore attacks on the Oppositionparty leaders, they said.

Later, the leaders conducted

a rally from the party office toPatamata Police station andstaged a protest there. Speakingon the occasion, TDP politburomember Varla Ramaiah allegedthat his party would file a pri-vate case against the station SI,who submitted a wrong FIRcopy to the High Court. Hedemanded that the SI shouldbe suspended and actionshould be taken against himand also the attackers ofChennupati Gandhi.

Former minister KolluRavindra said that unfortunate-ly, IPS officers were imple-menting the Jagan Penal Codeinstead of the India PenalCode. "We will fight on behalfof people and will come intothe ruling, then the police willbe punished," he said. Therewere contradicting statementsof attack on ChennupatiGandhi from the police offi-cers, he added.

Attack case: TDP stages protest in front of PS

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Sri Durga Malleswara SwamyVarla Devasthanams ExecutiveOfficer D Bhramaramba hasreleased the details of thegoddess Durga Devi's'Avatars', who will give dar-shan to the devotees duringthe Dasara Sarannavaratri cel-ebrations scheduled fromSeptember 26 to October 5. Asper the decision taken by theVedic committee, the nine-dayDasara Sarannavaratri celebra-tions would be conducted for10 days this year, she said.

She said that on the first dayof the Dasara festival onSeptember 26, Durga Deviwould give darshan as 'SriSwarna Kavachalakruta DurgaDevi'. On September 27, shewill be 'Sri Bala TripuraSundari Devi' avatar, onSeptember 28 'Sri GayatriDevi', on September 28 'SriGayatri Devi' avatar and onSeptember 29, 'Sri AnnapurnaDevi' avatar, on September 30,the goddess Durga Devi wouldgive darshan to the devotees as'Sri Lalitha Tripura SundariDevi,' she added.

Similarly, on October 1,Durga Devi would give dar-shan in the avatar of 'Sri

Mahalakshmi Devi'. Also, onthe auspicious day of MoolaNakshatram, on October 2Durga Devi would give dar-shan as 'Sri Saraswathi Devi'avatar, she added. OnOctober 3 the avatar wouldbe 'Sri Durga Devi', onOctober 4 'Sri MahishasuraMardini Devi' avatar, onOctober 5, and on the last dayof the Dasara festival thedeity would be darshan as 'SriRaja Rajeswari Devi', EOBramaramba said.

Further, she informed devo-tees that 'Sri Sivakami SundariDevi' ammavaru (Upalayam)would also give darshan on thelines of Durga Devi avatars.During the DasaraSarannavaratri celebrations,there are several special puja'sto the Durga Devi, and EOBhramaramba has releasedthe special 'Puja's and theirfares. Pratyeka'Kumkumarchana', special 'SriChakra Archana', 'SpecialChandi Yagam', 'SpecialKhadgamala Archana' wouldbe performed and all these'puja' would be conductedindirectly, she added. Aftercompletion of the 'puja's,'Prasadam' would be sentthrough by post, she said.

EO releases KanakaDurga avatars

EO inspects arrangementsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanams Executive OfficerD Bhramaramba has instructed the officers concerned to speed upthe arrangements for Dasara Sarannavaratri celebrations that wouldbe scheduled from September 26 to October 5 atop Indrakeeladri.She inspected several arrangements such as queue lines, tonsurecenters, parking places, 'annadanam', and others in Vijayawada onThursday. Speaking on the occasion, EO Bhramaramba said thatthere should not be any untoward incidents during the 10-dayfestival. All officers would cooperate with other departments andensure smooth conduct of the celebrations, she added.

DASARA CELEBRATIONS

There is a good response from theindustry partners within four monthsof the introduction of online services.So far 389 applications have beenreceived, out of which 144applications have already beengranted approvals.

04VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

PNS n ANANTAPUR

Heavy rains in Karnataka statehave triggered floods in thedrought-prone Anantapur dis-trict as all rivers, canals,streams, and 'nalas' are inspate.

The Vedavati and Hagiririvers which have not receivedheavy flows during the last fivedecades are in spate now. Theheavy inflows into the Vedavatiand Hagiri rivers have result-ed in breaches to the embank-ments at some places.

The residents of Kalyandurgand Gummagatta villages arein fear of flood threat as theBairavanitippa stream is receiv-ing heavy inflows fromKarnataka. The Bairavanitipparivulet is in spate after a longgap of 30 years. The Chitravati

river is also in a spate withheavy inflows. Vehicular traf-fic to several villages was cut offdue to the overflowing of wateron roads.

The water levels in the reser-voirs in Anantapur and SriSatya Sai districts have reachedmaximum levels. All the crestgates of the BT project werelifted to release 66,000 cusecsof water to downstream. The

Chitravati river is also in aspate with heavy flows and theflood water is being releaseddownstream by lifting all crestgates of the Balancing reservoirto the YSR district.

Meanwhile, the river Pennais also in spate. The UpperPenna project located inRamagiri mandal crest gateswas lifted to release the floodwater downstream resulting

in the PABR, MPR, andChagallu reservoirs receivingheavy inflows. The farmers ofthe areas alleged that the offi-cials released them from thereservoirs without alertingthem. The farmers said thatcrops on hundreds of acreswere submerged in the floodwater. Former Minister KalvaSrinivasulu visited some ofthe flood-hit villages and tookthe difficulties of victims to thenotice of the District Collector.

The Jammalamadugu-Muddanur road washed awayin the flood water of the Pennariver for about 50 metres in theKadapa district. The road con-nectivity to 16 villages in thetwo mandals was disrupted.The police set up a policepicket at Penna Bridge as a pre-cautionary measure.

Heavy rains in K'taka triggerfloods in Anantapur district

The Vedavati and Hagiri rivers are in spate after five decadesMaoist dumpunearthedPNS n PADERU

The police unearthed a Moistdump containing explosivesand detonators at the Jakkamhill area in Alluri SitaramaRaju district.

SP Satish Kumar told themedia here on Thursday thata CRPP police team that wascombing the area uneartheda huge dump of Maoists.

The dump contained 21objects including detonators,gun power, iron rods, andrevolutionary literature. Asper the preliminary investiga-tion, the dump was set byPedabayalu, Korukonda, andGalikonda dalams of Maoists.With the unearthing of ahuge dump, the combining inthe area intensified, the SPsaid.

PNS n GUNTUR

MLC Lella Appireddy here onThursday inaugurated a digi-tal lab at Andhra ChristianCollege. The virtual, digital labwas set up at Rs 60 lakh on theAC College campus.

Speaking on the occasion,Appreddy said that AC Collegehad produced several IAS, IPSofficers, and political leaders.AC college has been providingeducation for the last 137years. He recalled that when hewas studying, it was difficult toget a seat in the AC College inthose days. “I wish that the ACCollege will gain the past gloryand earn reputation,”Appreddy said.

The then chief minister Y SRajasekhara Reddy took onestep forward to improve theeducation system in the Statethrough fee reimbursement,his son, the present ChiefMinister Y S Jagan MohanReddy had taken four steps for-ward and initiated revolution-ary reforms in the educationsector. The ruling party MLCsaid that Jagan Mohan Reddyis the only Chief Minister whohad recognized that educationshould be accessible to all toeradicate poverty.

Apart from that, the ChiefMinister was a visionary whoalso launched the foreign edu-cation scheme to provide anopportunity to pursue highereducation abroad, Appireddyclaimed. He promised toextend his cooperation for thedevelopment of AC College.

On the occasion, manyproblems being faced by theAC College non-teaching staffwere brought to the notice ofMLC Appireddy whopromised to take steps toresolve them if they come upwith an action plan.

AC College CorrespondentK F Pardesi Babu said that thecollege had emerged as one ofthe top educational institutionsin the State with the efforts ofmany prominent persons.Hyer of the USA establishedAC College to provide educa-tion to the children of under-privileged and downtroddensections.

AC College is providingeducation not only to childrenbelonging to the Christiancommunity but also non-

Christians. “If we go anywherein the world, we can see somepeople there who have studiedat AC College,” he claimed.

The setting up of virtual anddigital labs at AC College isanother milestone in the 137years history of the College, hesaid. “With the efforts ofCollege Principal Moses andMLC Appireddy, AC Collegewill gain the past glory soon”Paradishe Babu hoped.

College principal K Mosesurged MLC Appreddy toensure that Chief Minister Y SJagan Mohan Reddy visits ACCollege. AC College vice prin-cipals Dr. GA Pritam Prakash,Dr. M Kusuma Kumari, Dr. BVijay Kumar, Dr. K Joseph, andPG dean Dr. M Sridhar wereamong those who were present.

MLA Appireddy inaugurates digital lab at AC College

PNS n GUNTUR

Municipal CommissionerKeerthi Chekuri expressedanger over the poor sanitationand ordered to sack sanitationsupervisor and issue a showcause notice to the secretary.

The municipal commission-er inspected sanitation atSitanagar, Arundati Nagar,Israilpet, Manipuram, andBrodipet. She also inspectedthe quality of the newly con-structed CC roads and drains.During her inspection of theareas, she noticed poor sanita-tion. She also noticed the useof banned plastic covers. Shedirected the officials concernedto sack the sanitation supervi-sor of the area and issue showcause notice to the secretary ofthe ward secretariat.

She spoke with the sanitarystaff at Sitanagar and enquiredwith them at what time theycollected garbage from house-holds and collected drygarbage and wet garbage. She

asked them to create awarenessamong people about drygarbage and wet garbage anda ban on plastic covers.

The Civic Chief inspectedthe quality of CC roads anddrains with a rebound ham-mer. She instructed the offi-cials to register the qualitydetails in the ‘M-Book” andenclose photos.

Keerthi Chekuri amenityward secretaries oversee thequality of the works alongwith the engineering officialsand send the report to her. Theconstruction of buildingsshould be carried out as per theplan's approval. SE Bhaskar, EESundaramireddy, and DEERamesh Babu were amongthose who accompanied her.

Civic chief directs officials tosack supervisor for negligence

CRIME

Murder accused arrested within 24 hoursPNS n BHIMAVARAM

The police arrested the threeaccused of murder within 24hours.

Talking to the media hereon Thursday, Superintendentof Police U Ravi Prakash saidthat on September 7 night, analtercation took place betweenthe deceased Karuku Santosh(26) and the accusedDeepakoti Balaji, SarapuVenkatapathi Raju and

Kokkili Durga Prasad duringthe Ganesh idol immersion.

On September 7,Venkatapathi Raju picked upan argument with thedeceased Santhosh. DurgaPrasad hit the deceasedSantosh with a bucket. LaterDevakoti Baliji stabbed thedeceased Santosh indiscrim-inately in the neck, chest, andstomach killing him instan-taneously.

The police arrested all

three accused and seized theknife which they used tostab the deceased and thetwo-wheeler.

The SP appreciated thepolice officials for arrestingthe accused within 24 hoursof committing the crime.Additional SP ATVRavikumar, One Town CIAdabala Srinivas, and SIVenkateswara Rao wereamong those who were pre-sent.

49 RED SANDERS LOGS SEIZED, 9 ARRESTED

PNS n KADAPA

The police seized 49 redsanders logs and arrestednine smugglers at theLankamala forest area inVontimitta mandal.

SP KKN Anburajan toldthe media here on Thursdaythat a police team led bytask force inspector BNagabhusanam and CI RajaPrabhakar conducted a raidat a forest area nearNarvakatapalli village inVontimitta mandal andfound 49 red sanders logsweighing 1 tonne. The redsanders logs were kept readyto be transported.

The police seized the redsanders logs, two cars, two

motorcycles, and sevenmobile phones and arrested9 red sanders smugglers.

Speaking on the occasion,the SP said that stringentaction would be takenagainst the red sandersmugglers. He warned thatthe PD Act would beinvoked and a history sheetwould also be openedagainst those who indulgein red sander smugglingoften.

The SP called upon peo-ple to inform him about thered sander activity in theirlocalities. The SP appreciat-ed the police team for seiz-ing the red sander logs andarresting the nine smug-glers.

PNS n ONGOLE

The police seized 60 kg ofganja worth Rs 20 lakh in theopen market while beingtransported illegally at a tollplaza near Tangutur.

SI Khadir Basha said hereon Thursday that a policeteam led by him conducted achecking of vehicles at the tollplaza. The police team found60 kg of ganja neatly packedand taken in a car. The 60 kgganja was worth Rs 20 lakh.The police arrested the driverof the car and another person.

The arrested persons toldthe police that Eeshwar

belonging to Narsipatnamplayed a key role in the ille-gal transport of ganja. SIKhadir Basha said that two

police teams were formedand they were sent toNarsipatnam and Sullurpet toarrest the kingpins.

60 KG GANJA SEIZED, 2 ARRESTED

PNS n ELURU

The police seized 12 tonnes of rice meantfor the Public Distribution System(PDS) at Dharmaraopet village inKoyyalagudem mandal and arrestedfive persons. CSDT Srinivasa Rao toldthe media on Thursday that 12-tonnerice was being transported illegally in atruck. On a tip-off, the police seized 12tonnes of rice worth 2.27 lakh. The policealso seized Rs 11 lakh worth 2 transportvehicles. A case was registered against thevehicle owners under section 6A, 7(1),Srinivasa Rao said.

12 tonnes ration of rice seized

PNS n NEW DELHI

The famed canopy of IndiaGate where a grand statue offreedom fighter SubhasChandra Bose was on Thursdayunveiled marked a milestonetransition in the history ofIndia, as 'Netaji' was accordeda place that was once occupiedby an imposing marble statueof British monarch KingGeorge V.

The canopy, standing onfour columns of the DelhiOrder devised by Sir EdwinLutyens, had been lying emptysince the statue of the king wasremoved in 1968.

Prime Minister NaredraModi on Thursday unveiled the28-ft-tall statue of Bose, andalso inaugurated the newly-christened Kartavya Path', thestretch of road fromRashtrapati Bhavan to IndiaGate, earlier known as Rajpath.

Kingsway or Rajpath, was a"symbol of slavery", and it hasnow been consigned to histo-ry, Modi said after inaugurat-ing the Kartavya Path, andalso mentioned the king's stat-ue that had occupied thecanopy.

Official sources had earliersaid that the installation of thestatue would be a case of India"reclaiming" its history andshedding a part of its colonial

past.Before the 'monarch' was

relegated to the grounds of theCoronation Park in northwestDelhi -- the site of the 1911coronation durbar, till 1968, hestood under the canopy watch-ing the India Gate, Kingsway -- the ceremonial boulevardthat ran up to the Raisina Hillon which the president's houseis built.

Soon after Independence,Kingsway was renamed Rajpath

and Queensway running per-pendicular to it was rechris-tened Janpath. Rajpath onWednesday was officiallyrenamed Kartavya Path.

The statue of George V wasunveiled in 1939 by the thenViceroy Lord Linlithgow as amemorial to the British monarchunder whose reign 'New Delhi'was built as the British Raj's cap-ital, according to archival records.Born in 1865 in London, GeorgeV was crowned as king in 1910,

and the next year, he travelledalong with his consort QueenMary to India to attend thefamous 1911 Delhi Durbar,where he had also announced theshifting of the capital to Delhifrom Calcutta.

King George ruled until hisdeath in January 1936, afterwhich memorials were built andstatues erected in various citiesunder the British Empire, themost notable among them beingNew Delhi -- the administrative

seat of a country, which was heldas the 'Jewel in the Crown'.

The statue, crafted out ofwhite marble, was designed byfamous British sculptor CharlesSargeant Jagger, and its modelswere exhibited in 1933 and 1935at the Royal Academy, accordingto victorianweb.org, a scholarlyresource. Jagger died in 1934before he could complete hiswork, which was then complet-ed by other artists, it says.According to the archives, thestatue of George V beneath thecanopy, endowed with royalmotifs and surrounded by apool of water, was unveiled by thethen viceroy on November 14,1939.

"The King was everybody'sKing. More particularly can wewho are gathered here be sen-sible of this personal relation-ship with the Sovereign, who 28years ago announced his deci-sion to restore Delhi to itsancient birthright and wholaid the first stones of hisImperial Capital," Viceroy hadsaid in his speech, according tothe Indian Information pub-lished in 1939.

According to archivalrecords and old books, the'George V Memorial' was orig-

inally planned to be erectednext to the All-India WarMemorial Arch (now calledIndia Gate).

Lutyens, the chief architect ofNew Delhi, designed thecanopy and the layout of thememorial.

Bose's statue is part of theCentre's Rs 13,450-croreCentral Vista project, whichwill have a new Parliamentbuilding, new office and resi-dences for the prime ministerand vice-president, and newministry buildings.

The North and South Blocks,the secretariat buildings flank-ing Rashtrapati Bhavan, will beconverted into museums.

A team of sculptors spent26,000 man-hours of "intenseartistic endeavour" to carve agrand statue of Bose weighing65 metric ton from a monolith-ic block of granite, weighing280 metric ton, the CultureMinistry said on Wednesday.

A 100-ft-long truck with140 wheels was speciallydesigned to bring the giantgranite statue to New Delhifrom from Khammam inTelangana, travelling 1,665 km,it said.

The statue is completely"hand sculpted using tradi-tional techniques and moderntools". The team of sculptorswas led by Arun Yogiraj.

‘Netaji' sits in India Gate canopy vacated by King George V in 1968PM Modi unveils the statue of Bose and inuagrates Kartavya Path

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh Badmintonsenior and junior teams baggedrunner-up titles at the SouthZone Inter-State BadmintonChampionship held at Kochi in

Kerala. AP Senior team wasdefeated by Karnataka 0-3 inthe final match and securedsecond place. Also, the juniorteam lost to Tamil Nadu 1-3 inthe final match and stood insecond place.

NAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

Governor Dr TamilisaiSounderrajan has respondedto the controversy overSeptember 17 regardingwhether the day has to beobserved as ‘TelanganaLiberation Day’ as theCentral Governmentsays or asT e l a n g a n aIntegration Dayas the TS gov-ernment says.

“After cominghere, I readabout theTelangana agitation,the revolution whichtook place and the public spir-it which was taken forward toget a new state and what polit-ical leaders were saying aboutSeptember 17. First, theyaccepted that it was liberation.I am not speaking withoutknowing history. I have stud-ied history. After knowing thehistory and learning it somepeople want to rename it

knowing well that it was liber-ation. It is only taking a differ-ent stand due to political rea-sons. But I think using theterm Liberation Day will beappropriate,” she said.

Dr Tamilisai was interactingwith the media after complet-ing three years as Governor atthe Raj Bhavan which was built

during the reign of thelast Nizam, Mir

Osman Ali Khan,and was the officialresidence of thePrime Minister ofthe princely state ofHyderabad.

When told that theNizam was the consti-

tutional president ofHyderabad till 1956 and howcan it be termed as liberated,the Governor said, “I am notgoing for a debate, the way Iperceived it, I have someknowledge.

The way I have perceived,the way I have learnt and theway some of the leaders haveprojected September 17 isLiberation Day.”

‘Liberation Day’ is appropriateGuv Tamilisai endorses Centre’s stand, saysshe is not speaking without knowing history

AndraPradeshteams bag

runner-up titles

nation 05VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

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R Internet, technology cannot replace books, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that although internet serves as animportant source of information, it cannot replace books. In his video-recordedmessage played at the inauguration of 'Kalamano Carnival' book fair organised by

Navbharat Sahitya Mandir here, Modi also said that in today's rapidly changing world, itwas extremely important to nurture the habit of reading books - be it printed or digital."Our forefathers insisted that one shouldstudy the scriptures, texts and booksagain and again so that knowledgeremains effective and useful. In today'sage, people think that they can alwaystake the help of internet. Technology isundoubtedly an important source ofinformation for us, but it is not the way toreplace books and learning throughbooks," Modi said. "When information isin our mind, the brain processes thatinformation deeply, which creates newdimensions.

Bernard Shaw, CNN's 1st chief anchor, dies at 82

Bernard Shaw, CNN's chief anchor for two decades and a pioneering Black broadcastjournalist best remembered for calmly reporting the beginning of the Gulf War in1991 as missiles flew around him in Baghdad, has died. He was 82. He died of

pneumonia on Wednesday at a hospital in Washington, according to Tom Johnson,CNN's former chief executive. Shaw was at CNN for 20 years and was known for remain-ing cool under pressure. That was ahallmark of his Baghdad coveragewhen the US led its invasion of Iraq in1991 to liberate Kuwait, with CNN air-ing stunning footage of airstrikes andanti-aircraft fire in the capital city. In allof the years of preparing to beinganchor, one of the things I strove forwas to be able to control my emotionsin the midst of hell breaking out, Shawsaid in a 2014 interview with NPR.And I personally feel that I passed mystringent test for that in Baghdad.

Neeta Bhushan appointed India's new envoy to New Zealand

Senior IFS officer Neeta Bhushan was on Thursday named as the HighCommissioner of India to New Zealand. Bhushan, a 1994 batch officer, is currentlyAdditional Secretary in-charge of Central Europe in the Ministry of External Affairs

(MEA). Bhushan succeeds Muktesh Pardeshi, who was promoted to the rank ofsecretary in the External Affairs Ministry last month and is tasked with India's G-20Secretariat. A career diplomat,Bhushan's overseas assignmentsinclude Head of the Press, Cultureand Information Wing in Indian HighCommission in Dhaka (Bangladesh),and Head of the Economic andCommercial Wing in the IndianEmbassy in Berlin (Germany). Shealso worked as director in theDepartment of Economic Affairs,Ministry of Finance and as jointsecretary (parliament &coordination) in the MEA.

India, Japan agree to enhancemilitary drills and defence tiesPNS n TOKYO

India and Japan on Thursdayagreed to step up bilateraldefence cooperation and engagein more military exercises,including holding the first jointfighter jet drills, as they empha-sised that their special strategicties played a crucial role inensuring a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific, amidstChina's aggressive behaviour inthe region.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh met his Japanese counter-part Yasukazu Hamada here onthe first day of his official visitto Japan and the two leadersreviewed various aspects ofbilateral defence cooperationand regional affairs.

During the 90-minute-longmeeting, the two ministers alsoagreed to hold military drillsaimed at boosting co-ordina-tion between the air forces ofthe two nations.

"Reviewed various aspectsof bilateral defence cooperationand regional affairs during thebilateral meeting with Japan'sMinister of Defence, MrYasukazu Hamada in Tokyotoday. This year marks 70 yearsof diplomatic relations betweenthe two countries," Singh tweet-ed.

Noting that India and Japanpursue a Special Strategic andGlobal Partnership, Singh saidIndia's defence partnership withJapan will play a crucial role inensuring a free, open and rules-based Indo Pacific region.

India's defence ministry later

issued a statement in which itsaid that the two ministersacknowledged the importanceof India-Japan defence partner-ship and the critical role it willplay in ensuring a free, openand rules-based Indo-Pacificregion."

The two ministers alsoagreed that the early conduct ofthe inaugural fighter exercisewill pave the way for muchgreater cooperation and inter-operability between the AirForces of the two countries.

"We are happy to note thatour Air Forces are workingclosely for early conduct of the

inaugural Air Force fighterexercise," defence ministerSingh said after second India-Japan 2+2 Ministerial Dialogueheld here along with ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarand their Japanese counter-parts.

In a separate statement, theJapanese defence ministry saidthe two leaders affirmed thatthey would continue to vigor-ously promote defence cooper-ation and exchanges, for furtherenhancing Japan-India SpecialStrategic and GlobalPartnership, to uphold andreinforce the free and openIndo-Pacific while maintainingclose communication betweenrespective defence authorities.

Besides, the ministers wel-comed the progress being madein coordination for the firstJapan-India joint fighter aircraftexercise with a view to furtherstrengthen bilateral coopera-tion, it said.

Army's best friend on the LoC in KashmirPNS n KERAN SECTOR/LOC

Unskilled and untrained butsharp like pro, the local caninesknown as Gaddi' dogs are a sol-dier's best friends and the firstresponders along the Line ofControl (LoC) in Kashmir asthey do a fantastic job of detect-ing any suspicious activity andalerting the troops of possibleinfiltration attempts.

Named after the nomadicGaddi' shepherds who rearthem as guard dogs accompany-ing flocks of sheep and goats,this canine breed is a Himalayansheepdog, also known by vari-ous other names includingBhotia' or Bangara' and some-times called the Himalayanmastiff.

This local canine is native tothe Himalayan foothills in east-ern Nepal and Kashmir. Thebreed is primarily used as a live-stock guardian, protecting flocks

from various predators and as aproperty guard. They are alsoused to assist while hunting.

These are local, but not straydogs, an army official said at oneof the forward posts on themighty Shamsabari range inKeran sector in Jammu andKashmir's northern district ofKupwara, as a black caninekept pacing along the fence, thefirst tier of the anti-infiltrationobstacle system (AIOS).

The official said while the

Army uses hi-tech equipmentfor the round-the-clock surveil-lance of the fence with thecombination of men andmachinery, the Gaddi' dogs areinvaluable to the soldiers in thefight against infiltration.

They pick even the slightestof the movements. They cansniff or hear in case there is anymovement. They promptly raisethe alarm and alert the troops,he said.

The officer, who cannot benamed for strategic reasons,said the canine breed are the sol-diers' eyes and ears and live withthem like a family.

They work with the troopsand practically are a part of thefamily. They are their bestfriends, he added.

The dogs live with the troopsat the posts even during the win-ter when, at most places, theweather is harsh with around 20feet of snow.

While the dogs are withoutany formal training, their abil-ities are unmatched, anotherofficial said. They are not prop-erly trained but they live withthe troopers on the posts and assuch, they are fully aware of thepeople around and the move-ments which take place. Theycan sense anyone who is notsupposed to be there. Theyrecognise troops and local civil-ians and start barking whenev-er there is a movement ofstrangers, he said.

The officer said the Gaddi'dogs keep a watch when secu-rity forces are resting or walkwith soldiers while moving onpatrol or on tracks that couldhave been mined by the terror-ists.

Besides assisting the forces incounter-infiltration operations,they also act as stress-busters' forthe troops who like to play withthem.

Centre for boosting vax process57,000 CATTLE DIED SO FAR FROM LUMPY SKIN DISEASE

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Thursday saidthat about 57,000 cattle havedied so far due to 'lumpy skindisease' across various parts ofthe country and asked affect-ed states to boost the vaccina-tion process to control the dis-ease.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) isa contagious viral disease thataffects cattle and causes fever,nodules on the skin and canalso lead to death. The diseasegets spread by mosquitoes,flies, lice, and wasps by directcontact among the cattle, andthrough contaminated foodand water.

The main symptoms arefever in animals, dischargefrom the eyes and nose, saliva-tion from the mouth, soft blis-ters like nodules all over thebody, reduced milk produc-tion, and difficulty in eating,which sometimes lead to theanimal's death.

"Lumpy skin disease hasspread in 6-7 states, includ-ing Gujarat , Rajasthan,Punjab, Haryana and UttarPradesh. In Andhra Pradesh,some cases have been report-ed," Union Minister forFisheries, Animal Husbandryand Dairying ParshottamRupala told reporters here ata press conference toannounce IDF World DaySummit being organised inIndia during September 12-15.

Rupala said he has visitedfive states to assess the situa-tion and oversee containmentoperations. The ministry ismonitoring the situation daily.

The minister asserted that'Goat Pox Vaccine' is "veryeffective" and available, andasked state governments tospeed up the vaccinationprocess.

Rupala said the situation inGujarat has improved, whilethe disease is under control inPunjab and Haryana. In

Rajasthan, the disease hasspread.

The minister said there hasnot been any impact on milkproduction so far.

Rupala said the disease canbe controlled with an increasein vaccination and followingthe protocol for controllingand containing the disease.

The minister told states tofollow the protocol of buryingdead cattle.

Jatindra Nath Swain,Secretary, department of ani-mal husbandry and dairying,said 57,000 cattle have died sofar and out of that, around37,000 are in Rajasthan.

He said the Centre has beenregularly sending the advi-sories to the states.

One ml of the vaccine hasbeen advised, which is goodenough, Swain said, addingthat in high-risk 3ml vaccineis being given.

LSD has recently spread inAsia following outbreaks inthe Middle East and Europe.The disease emerged inBangladesh in July 2019. Indiatoo saw the first case of LSDin the same year, 2019, in east-ern states, especially West

Bengal and Odisha. But thisyear, the disease has beenreported in western andnorthern states as well as inAndaman Nicobar.

India, the world's largestmilk producer, had a cattlepopulation of 192.5 million in2019, as per the 19th Livestockcensus.

In a major breakthrough,two institutes of agri-researchbody ICAR have recentlydeveloped an indigenous vac-cine for Lumpy Skin Disease incattle, which has spread acrossmany states in the last fewmonths.

The Centre plans to com-mercialise this vaccine, devel-oped by the two institutes ofthe Indian Council ofAgricultural Research (ICAR)at the earliest to control theLSD.

ICAR-National ResearchCentre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE), Hisar (Haryana), incollaboration with ICAR-Indian Veterinary ResearchInstitute (IVRI), Izatnagar,Uttar Pradesh, has developeda homologous live-attenuatedLSD vaccine "Lumpi-ProVacInd".

Prez Murmuto launch anti-TB driveon FridayPNS n NEW DELHI

To achieve the goal oftuberculosis elimination by2025, the government willlaunch the Pradhan MantriTB Mukt Bharat Abhiyanon Friday, which is aimed atproviding community sup-port to those suffering fromthe disease.

Under the campaign,people and institutions canadopt blocks, districts oreven an individual patientand provide nutritional andtreatment support.

In l ine with Pr imeMinister Narendra Modi'sclarion call given at theDelhi End TB Summit inMarch 2018 to eliminatethe disease from the coun-try five years ahead of theSD G (SustainableDevelopment Goal) targetof 2030, Pres identDroupadi Murmu will vir-tually launch the campaignon Friday.

Shah urges states to jointlyhelp develop coop sectorPNS n NEW DELHI

Cooperation Minister AmitShah on Thursday exhortedstates to work together for theholistic development of coop-erative sector so that it cancontribute significantly inmaking India a USD 5 trillioneconomy.

Addressing a two-dayNational Conference of StateCooperation Ministers here,Shah asserted that effortsshould be made to ensure thatcooperative movement run atthe same speed in every stateof India, a statement said.

"In those states where theactivities have stopped orslowed down, the effort shouldbe to accelerate. For that, weneed a new national coopera-tive policy," Shah, who is alsothe Union Home Minister,said.

The new policy should beframed to ensure all rounddevelopment of cooperativesector in all states and UnionTerritories, and also identify

new areas, he added.Shah pointed out that coop-

erative movement is strong inWest and South India, but indeveloping stage in north andcentral India while least devel-oped in east and north-easternstates.

He asserted that the cooper-ative departments of all thestates should follow the samepath of development and adoptuniform policies.

Earlier this week, the gov-ernment announced consti-tution of a 47-member com-

mittee, headed by formerunion cabinet minister SureshPrabhu, to draft a new nation-al cooperation policy docu-ment that will promote coop-erative-based economic devel-opment model.

The new NationalCooperative Policy is beingformulated to realise the visionof 'Sahakar Se Samriddhi'.

"All the states will have towork together in the spirit ofTeam India for the develop-ment of the cooperative sector.Our target should be that in100 years, cooperatives becomea strong pillar of the country'seconomy," Shah said, addingthat cooperatives should playa major role in taking thecountry's economy to USD 5trillion.

He highlighted the stepstaken by the ministry for thegrowth of cooperative sector.

Shah said the number ofPACS will be increased tothree lakhs in five years besidescreation of a national databaseof the cooperative sector.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Actors and singers from theHindi film industry onThursday sent their best wish-es to legendary singer AshaBhosle on the occasion of her89th birthday.

The singer, who began herplayback singing career in theshadow of eldersister LataMangeshkar inthe late 1940s,has given Hindicinema some ofits most memo-rable songsi n c l u d i n g"Jhumka GiraRe", "Raat AkeliHain", "AajaAaja", "DumMaro Dum","Dil Cheez Kya Hain", amongothers. Union minister KirenRijiju were among those whocongratulated Bhosle on herbirthday.

"Happy birthday to everyouthful and magical @ashab-hosle ji. We are very lucky tohave such a unique & giftedvoice in India. Vivacious andversatile, Asha Bhosle ji isrespected & admired world-

wide. I pray for her long andhealthy life," the union minis-ter tweeted alongside photos ofhis with the music veteran.

From the music fraternity,Adnan Sami, Bhajan singerAnup Jalota and PalakMuchhal wished Bhosle on herbirthday.

Sami tweeted, "Wishing myMusical Mother'a very HAPPYB I RT H DAY ! !Dearest Asha ji, Iadore & respectyou beyondwords! Lots oflove & duas for agreat year ahead!@ashabhosle."

"Wishing youa ver y happyand healthyHappy Birthday

Asha didi #AshaBhosle Ji#HBDAshaBhosle Ji" wroteJalota on Twitter. Muchhalthanked the veteran singerfor "inspiring and blessing"the new generat ion ofsingers.

Sarod maestro Amjad AliKhan shared his photos withBhosle on Twitter. "Wishingthe iconic Asha Bhosle ji a veryHappy Birthday!!" he wrote.

Delhi to become ‘City of lakes', will act as tourist spotsPNS n NEW DELHI

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal onThursday said Delhi would soon becomea city of lakes, which would act as touristspots.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia,who took stock of the work at SannothLake in Bawana in northwest Delhi, saidthe government was undertaking reju-

venation and beautification of 50 lakesin the capital.

The Sannoth lake is spread over sixacres and will have facilities like a play-ground for children, a picnic garden, awalkway, Chhath Puja Ghat, and a gymfor the general public.

"In order to make Arvind Kejriwal'sDelhi a city of lakes, I took stock of thework being done to restore and beauti-

fy Sannoth Lake. With lakhs of litres oftreated water daily, the dried up SannothLake is being transformed into one of themost beautiful picnic spots of Delhi,"Sisodia said in a tweet in Hindi.

He added that this project would alsoaddress Delhi's water shortage issue.

"Fifty such lakes that have lost theiridentity are being restored and this willenable recharge of groundwater and also

address the problem of water shortage.Once this project is completed, Delhiiteswill be able to come here with their fam-ilies and marvel at the beauty," Sisodiatweeted.

Quote-tweeting Sisodia's tweet,Kejriwal said, "After becoming 'city oftirangas', Delhi is set to become 'city oflakes'. Soon, we will have so manybeautiful lakes across Delhi.

PNS n KANYAKUMARI

About 230 Congress 'padyatris'participating in the party'sambitious 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'will spend their nights in 60containers mounted on trucksthat will be moved daily fromone place to another, partygeneral secretary JairamRamesh said on Thursday.

As former Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi and scoresof party workers began the3,570-km campaign fromKanyakumari to Kashmir,Ramesh told reporters after themorning session of the Yatrathat in the containers, whichwill be stationed every night at

temporary campsites of abouttwo acres, there is no facilityfor having food or meetings.

There is no TV inside, thereis a fan, he said, adding that thefacilities of having food areprovided in campsites.

The 119 "Bharat Yatris",including Rahul Gandhi, whowill walk the entire distance of

3,570 km, along with someAtithi Yatris , will be staying inthe containers, Ramesh said.

We are staying in the con-tainers since yesterday. Thereare 60 containers in whichabout 230 people stay. Everyday the containers will move toa new site mounted on trucks.Some are two-bed containers,some are four-bed, some six-bed and some 12-bed, Rameshsaid.

Rahul Gandhi is also stayingin the container sinceWednesday night, he said.

Bharat Jodo Yatra organisingpanel chief Digvijaya Singhsaid the containers are like rail-way sleeper compartment.

Film industry paysglowing tributes

ASHA BHOSLE TURNS 89

Rahul among 230 Cong padyatristo spend nights in 60 containers

BHARAT JODO YATRA

BJP takes swipeat oppositionpartiesPNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Thursdaymocked the Congress'"Bharat Jodo Yatra" and BiharChief Minister NitishKumar's unity pitch for theOpposition as attempts tobuild their own political pro-files, and said it is basically aninternal affair of its rivals.

These parties and leadersbe it Mamata Banerjee, NitishKumar or K ChandrashekarRao or the Congress have nei-ther capability nor strength toform government, BJPspokesperson SudhanshuTrivedi said, adding that theirefforts are entirely aimed atbuilding their own politicalprofiles. "As part of theseefforts, the Congress has alsostarted to build its own polit-ical profile. It has nothing todo with the BJP.

GADDI' DOGS!

Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra started yesterday down south. It started inKanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the country, and would end after fivemonths in Jammu & Kashmir. It would pass through 12 States and two Union

Territories and cover a distance of 3,500 kilometres in five months. It is one of thebiggest public outreach programmes being undertaken by the Congress party, whichis passing through an existential crisis. Not only has the party shrunk in Parliament,but its vote share has shrunk too. Besides, even senior party leaders are desertingit. In this background, the Bharat Jodo Yatra becomes crucial. It would be an exer-cise not only to unite the country but also to unite the party. The Congress has indeedlost touch with the people and is confined to drawing room politics. But of late, espe-cially after the Jodhpur convention, the party is making efforts to reach out to peo-

ple and raise issues of unemployment, price hikeand social fragmentation. Five months and 3,500kilometres give Rahul Gandhi a golden chance to con-nect with people. The yatra is designed in such away that it would have local participation at all timesas Pradesh yatris would join it when it passesthrough. At any given point, 300 yatris would be therein the yatra. Rahul Gandhi would be accompaniedby 118 Congress leaders. Kanhaiya Kumar, ChandyOommen, Pawan Khera and Vijay Inder Singla areamong prominent leaders to go on the yatra.

Before embarking on the journey, Rahul Gandhihad mentioned in a speech the rationale for under-

taking the yatra. He said that all avenues were closed for the Opposition; it had beenblacked out in Parliament and outside and all institutions have been compromised;so the only option he had was to go to the public and make them aware. The threebasic issues on which the yatra would focus are economic disparities, social polar-isation and pressing issues of stripping away of States’ power and concentration ofpower at the Centre. The yatra would create awareness that social polarisation is hap-pening in the name of caste, religion, language, food, dress and misuse of Governmentagencies like the ED and CBI. Such political yatras are not new to our country andwe have seen several of them: The most noticeable was LK Advani’s Rath Yatra in1991 and former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar’s ‘pad yatra’ in 1983. Both of themwere well received and were quite effective in mobilising the masses.

The revamped Central Vista Avenue, which was inaugurated by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursday, is emblematic of an India, which is aspirationalas well as vivacious. Modi also unveiled a jet black granite 28-feet statue of

Subhas Chandra Bose, which is placed under the canopy near India Gate. Netaji’sstatue is said to be one of the tallest, most realistic, monolithic, handmade sculp-tures in India. Arun Yogiraj led the team of sculptors who made it using traditionaltechniques and modern tools. It has been carved from a monolithic 280-tonne block.For the PM, the Netaji statue was kind of undoing a wrong — of ignoring the greatfreedom fighter after Independence. “If, after Independence, India followed the pathof Subhas Babu, what heights would the country be at today! But unfortunately, thisgreat hero of ours was forgotten after Independence. His views, even the symbolsassociated with him, were ignored,” Modi said. He pointed out that Netaji was the

first Prime Minister of Akhand Bharat who had lib-erated Andaman even before 1947 and unfurled theTricolour. Netaji’s statue at such a prominent placewill surely remind people visiting it of the sacrificesmade by the innumerable freedom fighters. It willalso inspire them to take the challenges the nationis facing today head on, so that the tryst with des-tiny is redeemed.

Being the most popular public space in theCapital, the Central Vista will indeed become the vistawhere people and the Indian State would commin-gle. Stretching from Vijay Chowk to the iconic IndiaGate, the Vista has red granite walkways covering

about 1.1 lakh square metres, surrounded by greenery. Over 133 light poles, 4,087trees, 114 signage posts and stepped gardens adorn the Kartavya Path, earlier knownas Rajpath. In his speech, Modi justified the renaming, saying that the term ‘Rajpath’smacked of a colonial mindset, not in tune with the duties of those who serve thenation. Before the inauguration of the Vista, the PM interacted with the workers whobuilt it. He not only lauded them in his speech but also announced that he wouldthem for the next Republic Day parade. Modi rightly said that the Kartavya Path isnot just a road made of bricks and stones; “it is the vibrant path of India’s democ-ratic past and eternal values.” He underlined how the ugly vestiges of our colonialpast have been discarded; hundreds of British-era laws have been done away with.Further, the National Education Policy is also trying to shake off the yoke of the for-eign language, just as the Central Vista has given up several colonial signs. The verydesign of the Central Vista brings people and Government functionaries closer. Onehopes that this proximity will reflect in the Government’s functioning, that the aspi-rations of people will resonate in Parliament and reflect in policy- and decision mak-ing. Only this will open new vistas in governance.

New vistas

SAVE BRAND BENGALURUSir — This refers to the news report, ‘Takenup as challenge to restore rain-ruinedBengaluru, says CM’ (September 7). It’s notjust “nature’s fury” but rampant corruption,indiscriminate construction and disastrousengineering that has left Bengaluru todrown. Overnight rains in the past weekhave once again left India’s technology hubexposed and crumbling, with its 12 mil-lion residents left at the mercy of civic apa-thy. Corruption is deeply rooted in the sys-tem. There are MLAs who extort moneyfrom real estate builders, the rajakaluves(storm water drains) are all blocked andthe BBMP cannot handle the situation.

With boats hitting the streets insteadof vehicles, the IT capital of the countryis on the verge of sinking as a secondcloudburst in a week has flooded the city.Any city in the world would be proud tohost companies that provide employ-ment to lakhs and contribute high revenueto the State exchequer, but Bengaluru istreating them unfairly. However, it ishigh time that the State Government wokeup to the grim situation and fixed the civicissues to retain the IT companies andattract new investments.

N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru

TRUSS BRINGS GLAD TIDINGSSir — Policy experts in India have reasonto be happy that Liz Truss is now in powersince there is scope for increasing tradevolume to mutual advantage. In the last 20years, the UK has invested over £20 billionin India. Our reciprocal investment sup-ports over half a million jobs in both coun-tries, which has led to Indian companies’revenues growing by nearly 90 per cent infive years. As the Secretary of State forForeign, Commonwealth and Develop-ment Affairs, Truss often held forth on herviews about strengthening the UK-Indiarelationship.

She knows India well and has visitedhere three times in 18 months. Our trade

negotiations, which were re-kickstarted byher, are now in full swing. She has alsobeen in favour of liberalising the visaregime, especially to make it more attrac-tive for Indians, especially the profession-al class. All this bodes well for better bilat-eral relations. India ought to take advan-tage of this chance but it shouldn’t forgetto remind the UK that it shouldn’t be a safehaven for fugitives from other nations,even if it is a matter for the courts and notthe UK Government.

KV Chandra Mouli | Mysuru

TEAM INDIA IN TRAUMASir — The game of cricket is played to aplan and odds are high as each and everyteam vies for the top honours. But theIndian team took everything for grantedand paid a high price for this attitude. Afterlosing to Pakistan in a cliffhanger, wethought it was easy to break the Sri Lankanchallenge. But our plans went awry and we

lost both the games and were just lookingfor a consolation win against Hong Kong.The main culprit for the disaster is theselection panel.

The selectors’ whims and fancybrought down the latent talent available inthe country. We took the game till the lastover. It was just a fight for survival, think-ing that our death bowlers are really cre-ating a magical spell. But the ploy came tonaught and the opposition had full mea-sure of our tired bowlers. Why was sucha lethargic approach applied in a do-or-diematch? Rohit Sharma was solely respon-sible as he failed to give senior Ashwin hisrightful place in the team. The shift in cap-taincy from Dhawan, Pandya, Rahul andRohit also proved costly. Team India wasin total trauma.

Akhila Gopalan | Mumbai

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

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VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

06

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Cong begins yatra!The 3,500-km journey is the Congress’ mega

plan to reach out to the nation’s people

PICTALK

Prisoners in Naini Central Jail attend an open classroom on September 8, the International Literacy Day, in Prayagraj PTI

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

The revamped Central Vista is grand; hopefully, it willbring the aspirations of people closer to policy makers

The most daunting task and difficult ques-tion regarding the Kashmir imbroglio is thedignified return and rehabilitation of the

Kashmiri Pandit community — the originalinhabitants of the Valley. Unarguably, it can besaid that this hapless community, which washounded out by terrorists during the 1990s,continues to live in exile for 33 years now.However, an economic package in the shapeof 6,000 jobs for Kashmiri migrants was

announced by the Congress Government in2008. Various Governments expressed theirintent to bring the Pandits back without any tan-gible plan and dialogue on the issue.

Now, amid targeted and selective killingsof the minority Hindus in Kashmir, the PM pack-age Kashmiri Pandit employees have fled theValley and are agitating for their survival forthe last 116 days. It is very strange that dayin and day out, threats are issued on varioussocial media platforms and the Pandits as wellas other non-locals are being targeted and killedonly because they do not subscribe to the think-ing and destructive philosophy of the crusadersof Jihad. This is a testimony that the PM pack-age KP employees can’t perform their dutiesin such a surcharged atmosphere and are thusrightly demanding relocation to Jammu. TheCentre must take corrective measures in thisregard and transfer all KP package employeesto the Jammu division

Vivek Koul | New Delhi

Pandits at the receiving end

SOUNDBITE

place a piece of cyber-warmachinery employing thebest talent from across theworld working in their ownlocations and collaboratingon a project. Though havinga protocol in place and lawsto deal with data protectiondo help in a way but theyhave limitations. The dataprotection bill was a step inthis direction. Though thereis nothing wrong with it butit must be made more robustelse it will not serve its pur-pose. We replicate and useEuropean standards as a ref-erence while making suchlaws but that does not alwayswork. General data protec-tion regulation GDPR in thewestern world and GDPRhere are poles apart. Our billwas a copy-past of GDPRwithout taking into accountour specifics.

Theoretically, we can saythat government agenciesmust add filters to ensure datasecurity. But that is easier saidthan done. And will not hap-pen unless we have bilateralcontracts across the globebecause data doesn't remainstatic, it travels and traversesnational boundaries. Your lawis not enforceable there. untilyou have a bilateral. So an eco-system has to be developed

where data is safe. This is thefirst step we must take. Ourconditions are different fromtheirs, the character of dataand stakeholders are differentso are the conditions. Heresheer volume of data is mind-boggling; which is next toimpossible to keep track of.They can do it there but notpossible here until we have ahuge infrastructure in place.For instance, whenever databe it voice text or video etc.reaches European Union it isscrutinized on their parame-ters. They can track and fetchdata legally from the signato-ry countries. India is not evenpart of the Budapest conven-tion. So the biggest challengeis to integrate our systemwith the rest of the world. Ina digital terms, the wholeworld is your playground andif you don't cover it therewould always be grey areaswhere cyber criminals wouldtake refuge.

Our data protection, aswell as cyber war prepared-ness, leaves much to bedesired. Interestingly enoughwe have even failed to screenthe data thugs operating inbroad daylight. A seminar isorganized in India, dulycleared by the government.Many experts participate and

get access to data to preparea report. Turns out that theinstitute that organized itwas a front for Beijing'scyber warfare.

The new technologies andAI makes the task easier andmore difficult at the same timewhen employed to counterdata theft it can be effectivebut when used by data thievesit becomes near impossible toeven detect the crime let alonestop it. To ensure data protec-tion and protect the countrywe need to have a two-pronged approach; first, estab-lish a robust ecosystem inwhich we have tie-ups acrossthe world and protocols are inplace to follow in wake of datatheft, and second of coursebuilding the technical capabil-ities which would give us thecapacity to counter such inci-dents. Both would need polit-ical will and resources. Thework must start now it mightbe too late to catch up!

This is second part of theseries on cyber crime.

(Concluded.)(Author is Chief Strategic

officer and aerospace security. He is an eminent

expert for counter-terrorismfor West Asia & Middle East

countries. The viewsexpressed are personal)

Data pilferage is a big issue in the cyber world; to contain it, acomposite approach with technical and political acumen is called for

MY DATA IS MYDATA AND NOBODY

HAS ANYBUSINESS TO USE

IT IN ANOTHERWAY THAN THE

INTENDEDPURPOSE. IF YOU

GO INTO THE DARKAND DEEP WEB, A

LOT OF DATA ISSOLD FREELY

NISHAKANT OJHA

Data, the new oilof the 21st century

Data is the new oil. Ifrefined like oil, it canbe put to various uses.A valuable resource

then that will and is alreadydeciding the fate of individuals,organizations, corporates, andeven countries. But till it is inthe right hands it is innocuousand an asset but the momentmiscreants get access to it, databecomes one of the biggestnightmares. Imagine an oil rigat the fire that becomes uncon-trollable!

My data is my data andnobody has any business to useit in another way than theintended purpose. If you go intothe dark and deep web, a lot ofdata is sold freely. And we arenot even talking about sensitiveinformation which is also avail-able for a price. Anybody therecan buy credit card info, get anAadhar card, and even sensitiveinformation of an individualwhich is bought and sold likeveggies in the market. Chancesare your credit card is alreadythere for sale and you mightnever know about it. Ever won-dered how cold marketingcallers have precise info onyour requirements? But theproblem is nobody controlsthe internet and controllingthe dark and deep web is almostimpossible.

Cyber experts often saythat you are secure till you arecompromised. Everything issecure and nothing is secure.Sounds funny but that is areality. No one can guaranteethat its data cannot be stolen.All you need is a committedhacker with enormousresources and voila your data isgone. I have come across theAadhar cards of foreign nation-als. These Ids are created tosnoop into systems, createtelegram accounts for recruit-ing individuals for anti-nation-al activities, and even inciteriots and spread fake news.

The most dangerous war isnot the one fought withweapons but waged clandes-tinely. Indeed we are vulnera-ble to cyber-attacks from allhostile players and countries.All you need is a will to do itand you can quickly put in

Holding back themunicipal funds isadversely impact-ing primary educa-tion and healthfacilities in Delhi.

Delhi L-G—VK Saxena

This (Bharat JodoYatra) is a land-mark occasion forour great partywith such a glori-ous legacy.

Congress president—Sonia Gandhi

The (knee) surgerywas successful. Iwill start my rehabsoon and try to getback to cricket assoon as I can.

Cricketer—Ravindra Jadeja

People are makingfilms that they andtheir friends like towatch. Most audi-ences can’t relateto them.

Filmmaker—Rakesh Roshan

It wasn’t us whostarted the militaryaction; we are try-ing to put an endto it.

Russian President—Vladimir Putin

Vaping ban is myopic,must be reconsidered

THE AAP CAME TO POWER BY RAISING THE

SLOGAN OF ‘WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION’. NOW

IT’S COMPLETELY IMMERSED IN CORRUPTION.

—LEADER OF OPPOSITION IN DELHI ASSEMBLY

RAMVIR SINGH BIDHURI

I HAVE WORKED WITH HONESTY. EVEN IF

ED RAIDS MY HOUSE, ALL THEY MAY FIND

IS BUILDING PLANS FOR SOME SCHOOLS.

—DELHI DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER

MANISH SISODIA

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was on a four-day visitto New Delhi, this week, along with several senior ministers of hergovernment. India and Bangladesh are now in the ‘Shonali Adhyay’

(literally translated golden phase) of their bilateral relationship, and thisvisit’s outcome will decide the onward journey.

India and Bangladesh bilateral relationship is of significant politicalinterest in Dhaka, where Sheikh Hasina will be looking at re-election forthe fourth time. Sheikh Hasina personally has an affinity for India, asshe had sought refuge in Delhi after her father Sheikh Mujibur Rehmanwas assassinated in a military coup. It is here that she found the latepresident of India Pranab Mukherjee take her under his wings and actas her guardian.

The sense of bonhomie continues with Sheikh Hasina maturing intoan astute leader in the past nearly two decades of her being at the topleadership position in Bangladesh. Her continued leadership inBangladesh would be in best interests for India due to her efforts to stallextremist Islamist militancy and her government’s denial to provide shel-ter to anti-India elements.

It assumes more significance given the geopolitical headwinds andthe evolving threats from China emerging in the region. Last week theChinese foreign minister in Dhaka had placed itself as the key strategicpartner for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has recently sought a $4.5 billion loan from the inter-national monetary fund (IMF) to manage its economy. China has a hugesay in the way the IMF approves these loans. Unofficially, IMF encour-ages its key members such as China to settle terms of the loan, bilat-erally with countries concerned before providing an approval. This canpotentially limit Bangladesh’s hand, while dealing with China, even thoughthey have maintained that they will be cautious while taking loans fromChina. It is in India’s interests to quickly move in and deepen the India-Bangladesh relationship further. In March this year, speaking at the India-Bangladesh stakeholder meet, Commerce minister Piyush Goyal said,“India is looking to advance the Comprehensive Economic PartnershipAgreement (CEPA) with Bangladesh”.

CEPA is the new age tool for advancing bilateral relationshipsbetween two countries. As opposed to a free trade agreement, whichgenerally has been more concentrated on trade in goods and has toclear a threshold defined by WTO, a CEPA is a more comprehensiveeconomic framework. A CEPA has mechanisms to address issues relat-ed to trade in services, mutual recognition of standards in each other’smarkets, government procurement and connectivity relatedchallenges.India has recently signed a CEPA with the UAE, while ear-lier it has entered into similar agreements with Japan and South Korea.One of the top exports from Bangladesh is textile and apparels, main-ly shipped to Western nations. However, due to the geographic prox-imity and historic reasons most of Bangladesh’s raw materials areshipped from India. Proposed road and railway routes from India’sNortheast, passing through Bangladesh, can provide the much need-ed alternative connectivity for NE with Indian mainland.

The second pillar of the CEPA is joint production of defence equip-ment. Even though India has extended a $500 million line of credit towardsthis, it hasn’t really taken off. The third aspect of the relationship is todiversify the mutual trade relationship and look at potential investmentsin areas such as edtech, digital health, services, electronics and greenenergy. It is understood Bangladesh has already given a green signal tothe CEPA text, the ball is in India’s court to play now.

(The author is a foreign affairs commentator)

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

07

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FIRSTCOLUMNCEPA WILL BE A FILLIP TOINDO-BANGLADESH TIES

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

SHANTANU GUHA RAY

CEPA is the new-age tool for advancing bilateral relations

IN COUNTRIESSUCH AS THE UK,

VAPING ISADVISED TO

SMOKERS. THENATIONAL HEALTH

SERVICE IN THEUK HAS SAID

THAT MOSTSMOKERS AREMISINFORMED

ABOUT THELOWER RISKS OF

VAPINGCOMPARED TO

SMOKING

The fundamental archi-tecture of good gover-nance in any society has

a special space for quality ofmedical and health infrastruc-ture apart from good education,housing and of course an ambi-ence of an excellent law andorder machinery. The coron-avirus pandemic has badlyexposed India’s health infra-structure, as people died ofshortage of oxygen and venti-lators even in the best hospitalsin Delhi and other Metro cities.

Uttarakhand sufferedheavily in terms of Covid-19deaths, though the state boastsof an All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) atRishikesh, which also cateredfor the patients of UttarPradesh. Delhi has always beenthe destination for all Indianswho throng to the AIIMS and

other hospitals like RML andSafdarjang until recently whenseveral AIIMS like institutionswere set up. However, consid-ering the lack of focus in themanagement of these AIIMs,the health services in them arefar from satisfactory.

Take the human resourcesdevelopment policy of recruit-ment of all group B and C posts,including the posts of multi taskemployees like helpers and dri-vers, etc., through a commonentry examination conducted atthe all-India level. This has cre-ated more problems than sort-ing out the manpower engage-ment. The Ministry of healthshould have identified a certaincategory of lower posts forwhich the entrance examina-tion should have been conduct-ed on the state basis where theAIIMS are situated.

The private hospitalsinfrastructures have prolifer-ated all over India, but theyare criticized for their avariceand fleecing people with a lotof unnecessary proceduresthey inflict upon the unsus-pecting patients, who are likesitting ducks.

However, this writer hascome across a hospital inUttarakhand the functioning ofwhich he has reviewed afterassessing that the implementa-tion of Covid-19 protocol by thestate health department in thestate was more in breach as thecases were being completelyneglected by the Chief MedicalOfficer of Dehradun.

This writer became Covidpositive on 16th August andonly on 18th one doctor fromDoon Medical College tele-phoned who was requested to

follow the protocol but afterthat there was no contact andsupport not only in this case butseveral other cases. When thedisease became serious, I hadno alternative to choose from aprivate hospital which has areputation of providing afford-able health care to the people ofthis hilly state. I got admitted tothe Sri Ram HimalayanInstitute of Medical ScienceJolly Grant which works on theline of AIIMS.

This institution was set upby Swami Ram in 1995 with theaim of providing ethicallysound medical services. Itadmits 150 MBBS and 120MD/MS students annually witha 1200-bedded HimalayanHospital equipped with 950hostel rooms and excellent fac-ulty accommodation with allultra-modern medical facili-

ties being provided includingfour oxygen plants. The insti-tute offers super specialty pro-grams in Surgical Oncology,Cardiology, Neurosurgery andin Neurology, PhD pro-grammes, FellowshipProgrammes and ParamedicalProgrammes. The institution isadopting a competency basedcurriculum for under graduatesand postgraduate departments.

The institution is set up ina 200-acre beautifully land-scaped green area in thefoothills of Himalaya and itsclean and lean ambience givesthis institution a beautiful lookwhere the patients are treated ina caring manner and the treat-ment procedures are affordableand reasonably priced. In themidst of other private hospitalsthis place is an “oasis in desert”so to say and any one can visit

here to see how silently its 3500strong faculty and support staffis treating more than 5.5 lakhout patients and 60,000 in-house patients annually.

In any learning institute ofhigher education, the library isthe key to judge its efficacy ofthe learning process. Thelibrary is open on all workingdays with access to the latest19,000 books, 191 journals,and 1,671 e-journals. The insti-tution has a state of the art audi-torium, lecture theatres, labsand demonstration rooms.Considering the quality of fac-ulty the National MedicalCommission has recognizedthis institution to train medicalfaculty of 19 Medical Collegesof Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradeshand Himachal Pradesh. It hasinternational research collabo-rations with nine Institutions

like Rock stock University ofGermany, IBC Denmark,Wisconsin University of USAand other AIIMS and everyyear more than 150 researchpapers are published in journalsof repute.

The monthly bills amount-ing to Rs 17 crore are based onself-generated revenue andwithout any recourse toloans/grants, etc. It shows theobjectives of Swami Ram inproviding affordable and ethi-cally defined medical servicesto the underprivileged sectionsof people by creating a self-sus-tained international standardhealth care for the people ofUttarakhand has been achieved.The hospital has been adjudgedas first in the country for treat-ing the highest number ofpatients under Ayushmanscheme.

Sri Ram Himalayan Institute of Medical Science Jolly Grant shows that it remains second to none in quality healthcare

Amid stressed healthcare system, a shining example

(The author is formerDirector-General in the

Ministry of Environment,Forest and Climate Change,Government of India. Views

expressed are personal)

VK BAHUGUNA

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

Next month, it will be three yearsto India’s knee-jerk and myopicban on vaping that continues toremain ineffective, anti-people

and, actually, does more harm than good.For a billion-plus nation like India, theMinistry of Health and Family Welfareshould have found ways to minimize thishuman and economic loss by lowering risksfrom tobacco use.

The mandarins in the ministry’s cor-ridors of power should have realised thatthe ban is useless, and its reversal is anurgent necessity. It can and should neverbe considered an indulgence. India, in fact,must consider humane, risk-proportion-ate regulations, while incorporating safe-guards to prevent uptake. But it has nothappened for the last three years despitethe world taking the right kind of steps.

India, sadly, has not changed, notbudged. So what is happening? The fig-ures are not encouraging at all. Indiansbear an enormous tobacco burden.Worse, nearly a third of the populationis dependent on some form of tobacco.This, in turn, leads to nearly 14 lakhdeaths, almost the total population ofRanchi or Jabalpur. And then, the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) says thewhopping loss of $27.5 billion annuallyis due to diseases related to tobacco usefor persons aged 35 and above.

There are countless laws that theMinistry of Health has initiated to preventor dissuade people from smoking. But themost controversial one is the irrationaldecision it took on the vaping industry.

So, there is a growing need for Indiato understand where it is going wrongdespite some solid, established and grow-ing scientific evidence across the worldthat says vaping is significantly lessharmful than smoking, in essence,because it eliminates combustion, the pri-mary driver of the harmful impact on thehealth conditions.

Vaping involves using a device thatvaporizes a nicotine-containing liquidthat the user inhales. Now, it is not with-out a risk, the evidence for vaping does notsay that. It merely says cigarette smokerswho switch would suffer from far fewernegative effects and live relatively longer,healthier lives.

This is a very vital, scientific evidenceIndia continues to ignore at its own riskand prefers to remain in this clutter of mis-information. Consider the landmarkreview by the Society for Research onNicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), the world’sleading body on tobacco research, whichhas categorically said vaping is a less harm-ful alternative to smoking, and also aneffective cessation tool. The review, whichfollowed a comprehensive analysis of thescientific data available across the world,had the buy-ins of 15 past presidents ofSRNT, who all are eminent scientists. Youcannot brush them away, saying that theyknow nothing of the subject. The review

India must realise relative harm reduction is a worthwhilegoal to pursue, and it must be done at all costs

(The author is a seniorjournalist)

said that encouraging currentsmokers to switch should be partof any sensible mix of policiesadopted to control tobacco preva-lence across the world.

The real advantage of vaping, asclinical trials across the worldshow, is that it encourages smok-ing cessation at almost twice therates over traditional nicotinereplacement therapies such as gumsand patches. This is not all. Vaping- across the globe - has also beenlinked to a decline in the sale ofcombustible cigarettes. In short, itmeans it is effective as a smokingcessation tool.

In countries such as the UK,vaping is advised to smokers. TheNational Health Service (NHS) inthe UK has said in clear terms thatmost smokers are misinformedabout the lower risks of vapingcompared to smoking.

Hence, India must follow whatis considered scientifically soundpublic health communication. Buthere, the big tobacco debate in Indiagets lost between effective commu-nication and ineffective non-com-munication. So let’s write the ruleshere once again. If you are a non-smoker, avoid any nicotine-con-taining product. It is as simple as itcan get. And if you are trying to quitsmoking, but struggling to give upon nicotine use, you can easilyreduce harm by switching to theleast harmful options availablesuch as vaping, snus or heatedtobacco.

Hence, the need of the hour isto decouple combustible tobaccofrom nicotine that does not causecancer contrary to prevailing myth.India, like other nations, must go

beyond framing tobacco use as amoral problem. It needs to under-stand it and study it within theframework of dependence.

The big tobacco debate in Indianeeds a dispassionate, scientificapproach. The bureaucrats mustunderstand it. India is still notunderstanding. The world’s second-most populous nation has adopteda top-down intervention that push-es behavioral change though regu-lations.

It is not working; it will notwork. And actually, it will end updoing more harm, ostensiblybecause people would try their bestas people try to circumvent the banby adopting even more risky behav-iors such as buying cheaper prod-ucts or goods sold in black-market.

Bureaucrats of the HealthMinistry must understand that theneed of the hour is to put smokersat the center of policy making. Indiaenacted the ban without interact-ing with the stakeholders. Theinteractions should have happened,only then the vaping industrycould have told bureaucrats of theHealth Ministry what they aredoing to help smokers make saferchoices.

India must initiate its ownstudies, especially into vaping e-liq-uids to ascertain possible harmsand to guide policy making, andsupport the framing of standardsthat, sadly, do not exist for Indiansmokeless tobacco.

So what is the argument here?It is that the mere presence of ele-ments cannot be an indicator ofharm. After all, everyday goods,including medicines, also containmany toxic compounds but under

the prescribed threshold. And then,is India aware of a study thatfound toxic exposure from vapingcomparable to environmental air,and poses significantly lower pas-sive risk. Well, second-hand smok-ing kills 800,000 people every year.And then, vaping technology isimproving rapidly and wouldbecome more safe in future, pre-venting and even reversing harmfrom smoking.

But the debate on nicotine andtoxicity remains high in India. Noone knows why in India, medicalprofessionals are ill-informed ofnicotine despite its global impact.Physicians - studies have provedacross the world - have mistaken-ly believed nicotine leads to cancerand heart and respiratory diseases.

So let’s be clear here. Nicotineis not a carcinogen, though it canbe said to be a habit forming exer-cise. So India needs to decouplenicotine from smoking, as bothpose significantly different levels ofrisk. Nicotine is also part of phar-maceutical cessation therapieswhich the WHO wants to includein the list of essential medicines andhas also approved of their long-term use.

India must realise relativeharm reduction is a worthwhilegoal to pursue. And it must bedone at all costs. Why? Global evi-dence suggests e-cigarette use canincrease the odds of quitting smok-ing and that vaping has the poten-tial to reduce adult smoking-attributable mortality.

This means this can be a hugedifference between longer life andnear-certain death for millions ofIndian smokers.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2022 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal willattend the Indo-Pacific

Economic Forum (IPEF)ministerial meeting in LosAngeles tomorrow and discussways to promote open trade inthe region.Goyal said thatdiscussions at IPEF will focuson opening opportunities forthe member nations and ensure

that during challenging times, supply chains remain open andbusinesses do not suffer because of chaotic conditions like COVID andconflicts."IPEF would work to ensure that the Indo-Pacific Region wouldremain secure and open for business," he told reporters here.The IPEFwas launched jointly by the US and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on May 23 in Tokyo.It seeks to strengthen economicpartnership among participating countries with the objective ofenhancing resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth,fairness and competitiveness in the region.The 14 members of the IPEFare -- Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and theUS."IPEF would work to ensure that the Indo-Pacific Region wouldremain secure and open for business," the minister said, addingdiscussions would also focus on facilitating open trade, and ways tokeep supply chains smooth.Meanwhile, the minister also engaged withtop companies and labs of semiconductor manufacturing and researchto explore greater collaboration with Indian companies.

Goyal to attend Indo-Pacific EconomicForum ministerial meet today

Benchmark BSE Sensexrebounded by over 1per cent on Thursday

following value buying inbanking, IT and autoshares after two days oflosses and a largelypositive trend in globalmarkets.

The 30-share BSE barometer climbed 659.31 points or 1.12 per centto settle at 59,688.22 as 24 of its constituents advanced. During theday, it jumped 683.05 points or 1.15 per cent to 59,711.96.Thebroader NSE Nifty also bounced back by 174.35 points or 0.99 percent to close at 17,798.75 with 33 stocks closing with gains.Foreignfund inflows and cooling crude oil prices bolstered the investorsentiment, analysts said.Tech Mahindra rose the most by 3.23 percent among Sensex shares. Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Mahindra &Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, BajajFinserv, IndusInd Bank and Asian Paints emerged as the biggestgainers among Sensex shares.Tata Steel, NTPC, Titan, Nestle andPower Grid were the laggards."The domestic financial marketsexperienced a wave of optimism tracking strength across globalmarkets as oil prices eased, cooling investor concerns about risinginflation.

Sensex, Nifty rebound around 1pc on cooling crude, global cues

Industry leaders and expertswill unveil a white paper onthe status, opportunities and

challenges in renewable energyin India at the 15th Crystaledition of Renewable EnergyIndia Expo 2022 thismonth.Exhibitions organiserInforma Markets will host the15th Crystal edition of Asia'slargest and most prestigious

expo in the RE space -- Renewable Energy India Expo 2022 -- fromSeptember 28 to 30 at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida.The white paperon the renewable energy sector assumes significance in view of India'sambitious target to have 500 GW of RE by 2030, which would requirehuge investments in the next eight years."We will unveil a white paper onthe renewable energy sector during Renewable Energy India Expo (REI)2022. We will also provide it to various centre and state governments aswell as stakeholders to use it for efficient policy and decision making,"Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, Informa Markets in India, said.Healso said that renewable energy generation has increased at the rate of16 per cent (compounded average growth rate) since 2015.Theinvestment in renewable energy is estimated by the industry at aroundUSD 13 billion during the current fiscal and therefore, a white paper onRE is required in view of the huge potential of capacity addition in thenext eight years (till 2030), he also opined.The REI 2022 is coming backwith a renewed focus on enhancing the growth perimeters of the REsector in India.New launches, product demos, and free trainingprograms are also being lined up at the expo. It will also host a two-daytraining workshop pertaining to the current trending topic - GreenHydrogen by Steinbeis University, Berlin.

White paper on renewable energyto be unveiled at REI Expo 2022

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Power Minister R KSingh on Thursday urged theEuropean Union (EU) to keepits green hydrogen marketopen for competition to getsupplies at the lowest rate andavoid any accusation of protec-tionism.

Speaking at the First EU-India Green Hydrogen Forum,Singh stated that India wouldproduce large quantities ofgreen hydrogen at the lowestprice and would need electrol-ysers for producing 50GWhydrogen initially.

Singh showcased a hugeopportunity for the EU to getsupplies of green hydrogenfrom India which could alsohelp it to diversify its energysourcing.

"As far as our cooperationwith the EU, I think it has afuture. Of course it depends onpolicies and standards. Wewould be producing greenhydrogen at lowest prices.China's price is opaque. I don'tknow how they price it," Singhsaid.

India has a transparent bidssystem, dispute resolutionmechanism which promotesevery fund to be invested here,he stated.

He was of the view thatIndia is the best place to pro-duce and supply green hydro-gen for the EU but its marketshould be open and competi-tive.

He urged the EU represen-tative, "have an open market.We shall compete. It will ben-efit you. You will have the (sup-

ply of) green hydrogen andgreen ammonia at the lowestprices. Open it (your market)for competition. If you don'tthen I will sort of accuse youfor protectionism."

The minister also highlight-ed that the manufacturing

capacity of electrolysers is notsufficient (in the world).

"It is not more than fourgigawatt. I myself (India) needmore than 50GW of electroly-sers. So I am going to put (elec-trolyser) manufacturing facil-ity," he stated.

The electrolyser is an appa-ratus that produces hydrogenthrough a chemical process(electrolysis) capable of sepa-rating the hydrogen and oxy-gen molecules of which wateris composed using electricity.

Singh also pointed out thatthe electrolyser is expensiveand it cannot be used (for out-put) for just one shift.

"The price of green hydrogenwill go through the roof. Yoursteel will not be viable. Youhave to use it for two or threeshifts," he suggested.

The minister said thathydrogen is not viable for stor-age as on conversion fromelectricity to green hydrogen,the energy loss is 30 per cent.He is also of the view thathydrogen will also not be viablefor transport except for long-

range heavy duty transportvehicles.

For four-wheelers and two-wheelers, the battery is a bet-ter solution, he held.

Talking on the sideline of theForum, he told reporters thatfor cement and steel sectors, thehydrogen purchase obligationis still at an experimental stage.

"We cannot put an obligationthere (in steel and cement). butin other sectors (fertilizer andrefineries) where use of hydro-gen is well established, myproposal is that we shouldhave an obligation (to usegreen hydrogen) there. Forexample fertilizer," he stated.

The minister also talkedabout the policy of offshorewind energy saying that "Wehave worked out the parame-ters for bids for offshore.

‘EU should keep its green hydrogen market open’

Govt to acquire Vodafone Idea stake aftershare price stabilises at Rs 10 or above

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee appreciated 23paise to close at 79.72 (provi-sional) against the US dollaron Thursday amid easingcrude oil prices and a firmtrend in domestic equities.

At the interbank forex mar-ket, the local unit opened at79.72 against the greenback.Itwitnessed an intra-day high of79.65 and a low of 79.83 dur-ing the session.

It finally ended at 79.72, up23 paise from its previousclose of 79.72.The dollarindex, which measures thegreenback's strength against abasket of six currencies, fell0.11 per cent to 109.72.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, fell 0.60per cent to USD 87.47 per bar-rel. On the domestic equitymarket front, the BSE Sensexended 659.31 points or 1.12per cent higher at 59,688.22,while the broader NSE Niftygained 174.35 points or 0.99per cent to 17,798.75.

Rupee rises 23 paiseto close at 79.72against US dollar

PNS n NEW DELHI

Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina has urgedIndian businesses to invest inher country's infrastructureprojects, manufacturing, ener-gy and transport sectors.

During her four-day statevisit to India, Hasina made thepitch to attract Indianinvestors to Bangladesh at abusiness event organised bythe Confederation of IndianIndustries (CII) onWednesday.

Bangladesh is uniquelylocated to export its productsto North East India, Bhutanand South East Asian coun-tries and several initiativeshave been taken to increaseconnectivity," she said.

Speaking at the meeting ofselect CEOs organized by CII,the Bangladesh PrimeMinister said, I would urgeIndian investors to considerpossible investments in infra-structure projects, manufac-turing, in energy and transportsectors. Indian investors andbusiness houses can set upindustries in Bangladeshthrough Buy-Back arrange-ments by reducing time, costand resources.

She further highlighted,Bangladesh is uniquely locat-

ed to enable Indian investorsto export their products to notonly the Northeastern states ofIndia, but also to Nepal,Bhutan, and to South EastAsian countries".

Hasina stressed thatBangladesh has the most lib-eral investment regime in theregion with a wide array offacilities, attractive incentivepolicies, and consistentreforms.

Presently, 100 SpecialEconomic Zones and 28 High-Tech Parks are being estab-lished for diversity of industry,employment, production andexport, she said.

She noted that for theIndian investors, two dedicat-ed Special Economic Zones at

Mongla and Mirsarai werebeing developed.

I would urge the businesshouses present here today toinvest there. It would furtherpave the way to harness thegoodwill of the two friendlycountries, and bring econom-ic prosperity to the region, shestressed.

G Kishan Reddy, Ministerfor Development of NorthEastern Region, Tourism andCulture, said bilateral trade inthe recent past has witnesseda quantum jump.

"Exports from Bangladesh,for the first time, have touchedUSD 2 billion this year. Indiais now the largest export des-tination for Bangladesh inAsia, he added.

Hasina urges Indian businessesto invest in Bangladesh

Bangladesh isuniquely located toexport its products toNorth East India,Bhutan and SouthEast Asian countriesand several initiativeshave been taken toincreaseconnectivity," shesaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has reducedthe rate of interest levied ondelayed payment of royalty,rent and fee from coal mines,a move that would give a fil-lip to ease of doing business.

The coal ministry hasamended the MineralConcession Rules, 1960(MCR) aimed at decriminal-ising its provisions.

The Centre has been takingaction in a bid to reduce com-pliances for business and cit-izens, the coal ministry said ina statement."To further pro-mote and boost the 'Ease of

doing business' policy of thegovernment, the amendmentin MCR decriminalised 68provisions whereas penaltyhas been reduced for 10 pro-visions of MCR," it said.

MCR relates to the applica-tion and grant of mineral con-cessions such as reconnais-sance permit, prospectinglicense, and mining lease.

These concessions are pre-condition for developmentand operationalisation ofmines, necessitating manycompliances.For adjustingadditional or shortfall royalty,express provision has beenbrought in.

Coal Ministry slashes intereston late payment of royalty, rent

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government will acquire astake in debt-ridden VodafoneIdea after the stock price of thecompany stabilises at Rs 10 orabove, according to an officialsource.

Vodafone Idea (VIL) boardhas offered a stake to the govern-ment at a par value of Rs 10 pershare."There is a SEBI norm thatthe acquisition should take placeat par value. DoT will clear theacquisition after VIL shares sta-bilise at Rs 10 or above," an offi-cial source told PTI.VIL sharesare trading below Rs 10 sinceApril 19. The stock declined by1.02 per cent to trade atRs 9.68on BSE on Thursday.

The finance ministry hadcleared the proposal to acquirestake in VIL in July.

Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea(VIL) has decided to opt for con-verting about Rs 16,000 crore ofinterest liability payable to thegovernment into equity whichwill amount to around 33 per

cent stake in the company whilepromoters' holding will comedown from 74.99 per cent to 50per cent.

The government has giventelecom operators an option ofpaying the interest for fouryears of deferment on thedeferred spectrum instalmentsand AGR (adjusted gross rev-enue) dues by way of conversioninto equity of the NPV of suchinterest amount.

The company's total gross

debt, excluding lease liabilitiesand including interest accruedbut not due, as of September 30,2021, stood at Rs 1,94,780crore.The amount comprisesdeferred spectrum paymentobligations of Rs 1,08,610 crore,AGR liability of Rs 63,400 crorethat is due to the governmentand debt from banks and finan-cial institutions of Rs 22,770crore as of January 11, 2022--when it offered conversion ofinterest liability into equity.

PNS n MUMBAI

Even as the economic recov-ery gains momentum, dwin-dling wage growth is emergingas a bigger worry as this leadsto tepid demand and resultantunder-utilisation of capacity,further elongating the already-large output gap, according toa report.

The households, whichaccount for 44-45 per cent ofthe GVA, have witnessed theirnominal wage growth declin-ing to 5.7 per cent duringFY17-FY21 from a high of 8.2per cent during FY12-16. Thismeans wage growth in realterms is close to just about 1per cent, India Ratings said ina note on Thursday.

This is in spite of the over-all economy growing at 13.5per cent, much lower thanconsensus estimates, in thefirst quarter of the current fis-cal.Even the recent trend in

wage growth at the rural andurban levels alludes to an ero-sion of the purchasing powerof households. At the nominallevel, wage growth in urbanand rural areas was 2.8 percent and 5.5 per cent year-on-year, respectively, but in realterms, which means adjustedfor inflation, was a negative 3.7per cent and negative 1.6 percent in June 2022, as per thereport.Since much of con-sumption demand is driven bywage growth of the householdsector, a recovery in theirwage growth is going to becritical for a sustainable anddurable recovery in privatefinal consumption expenditureand overall GDP growth inFY23, the report added.

Since the pandemic hasinflicted irreparable loss togrowth, annualised growthdoes not provide a true pictureof the recovery due to the lowbase of FY21 and FY22.

Dwindling wage growth emergingas bigger worry: Report

Indian Railways expects Rs 30,000 cr incrementalrevenue with development of 300 cargo terminalsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Railways expects anincremental revenue of atleast Rs 30,000 crore perannum from freight serviceswhen 300 Gati Shakti cargoterminals will be operational,senior of f icials said onThursday.

The Union cabinet onWednesday approved a poli-cy on long-term leasing ofRailways' land as well as aproposal to develop 300 GatiShakti cargo terminals overthe next five years.

The setting up of these 300terminals is expected to gen-erate employment for 30,000people directly and 90,000indirect jobs.

"We will start getting incre-mental freight revenues as theterminals are developed...Once all 300 are completed,Railways will get additionalrevenues of at least Rs 30,000

crore. This estimate is veryconservative," the officialsaid.Briefing reporters on theCabinet decisions, Unionminister Ashwini Vaishnawon Thursday said that theministry has got a very goodresponse after the launch ofthe Gati Shakti Multi-ModalCargo Terminal (GCT)' pol-icy in December last year.

The approved policy willhelp provide land leases for a

longer period of up to 35years as against five years atpresent. It is expected to gen-erate about 1.25 lakh jobs.

"The target of 300 termi-nals is a very achievable tar-get. We already have 150firm proposals -- about 93applicat ions have beenreceived to build terminalsand about 65 entities haveexpressed their interest, theminister said.

PNS n AGARTALA

The ONGC Tripura PowerCorporation Ltd (OTPC) hasplanned to establish one more360 MW power unit at itsPalatana plant in Tripura'sGomati district, a top compa-ny official said on Thursday.

Currently, the OTPC, one ofthe subsidiary companies ofONGC is successfully runningtwo power generation unitswith a combined capacity of726 MW. Seven Northeasternstates are receiving power fromthe OTPC's Palatana plant.

"We have a plan to add onemore power generation unit atPalatana plant with an installedcapacity of 360 MW power.The OTPC has already securedenvironmental clearance forthe proposed unit and requiredland", OTPC ManagingDirector (MD), Sanil CNamboodiripad told PTI onFriday.

OTPC plans to add onemore 360 MW powerunit at Palatana

PNS n NEW DELHI

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday saidinflation management cannotbe "singularly" left to the mon-etary policy as a majority ofactivities are outside itspurview in the current context.

Speaking at a seminarorganised by economic think-tank Icrier, the finance minis-ter said that both the fiscal pol-icy and the monetary policyhave to work together to con-tain inflation.

Consumer price index (CPI)based inflation or retail infla-tion is ruling above the ReserveBank's comfort level of 6 percent since January. The centralbank, which has been tasked bythe government to keep infla-tion within 2-4 per cent range,has hiked the key policy rate by140 basis points since May withan aim to check the rate ofprice rise.

Inflation management can-not be singularly left to mon-etary policy, which has provedtotally ineffective in manycountries, she said.

"The RBI will have to syn-chronise somewhat, maybenot as much synchronised as

other western developed coun-tries would do. I am not pre-scribing anything to theReserve Bank...

"I am not giving any forwarddirection to the RBI but it is thetruth that India's solution tohandling the economy, part ofwhich is handling inflationalso is an exercise where the fis-cal policy, together with themonetary policy has to work,"she said.

The minister further saidthere are economies wherepolicy is designed in such away that the monetary policyand the interest rate manage-ment is the one and the onlytool to handle inflation, shesaid.

"I would say India's inflationmanagement, the word 'taminginflation' or the word 'keepingit within the tolerance limit', isan exercise of so many differ-ent activities and a majority ofwhich is outside the monetarypolicy in today's circum-stances," Sitharaman said.

There could have been atime when people would havethought this is sacrilegious forthe finance minister of a coun-try to say so, she added.

As part of inflation manage-ment, she said, India increasedthe import of crude oil fromRussia at discounted pricesdespite sanctions imposed onMoscow due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

In a couple of months, shesaid, India ramped up itsimport from Russia from about2 per cent of the total shipmentof petroleum products to 12-13per cent as part of inflationmanagement.

I give credit to the states-manship of the Prime Ministerto make sure that we did keepour relationship with all coun-tries but yet manage to get theRussian crude...Sanctions,sanctions but countries(including Japan and Italy,among others) are findingtheir own way to get thatRussian fuel (crude, gas) Thatalso is a part of inflation man-agement," she said.

Inflation management linked tofiscal and monetary policies : FM

Inflation

management

cannot be

singularly left to

monetary policy,

which has proved

totally ineffective

in many countries,

she said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A 41-year-old director of a realestate company was arrestedfor allegedly duping more than150 people to the tune of Rs 30crore by inducing them toinvest in his commercial pro-ject, police said on Thursday.

Accused Deep KanwarSingh Walia, resident ofChandigarh, was nabbed bythe Economic Offences Wingon Monday in connectionwith a 2018 case of cheatingregistered against him, theysaid.Police said the case wasregistered against him on acomplaint by the victim J PKakkar and others allegingthat in the year 2012-13,accused invited investorsthrough advertisements toinvest in his project.

According to the com-plainant, initially the companyhad claimed that it will build33 floors in 99 days, and col-lected money with malafideintention to dupe and cheat theallotees. Apart from that, theykept raising multiple fraudu-lent demands without under-taking construction and evenlevied interest on the amountwhich was not due at that timeon the part of the complainantsand other allotees, it said.

Company directorarrested forduping over 150people of Rs 30 cr

9

Vijayawada | Friday September 9, 2022 what’s brewing?

Actor BhumiPednekarhas had a

packed year withher back to backshooting sched-ules and she hasno plans to slowdown. She saysthat it is therevenge work thatshe is doing tomake up for allthe time lost dur-ing the pandemicinduced shut-downs.

“I have recentlyworked onAfwaah, whichstars NawazuddinSiddiqui sir and isdirected by SudhirMishra. It is sucha wonderful pro-ject. It is actuallymy fourth filmthis year. I havealready finishedLady Killer andBhakshak. Myyear started with abang with BadhaiDo,” she says,adding, “The sec-ond half of theyear is going to be

super packed. Ihave back to backshooting sched-ules as I startshooting for twonew projects”.

The 33-year-oldis enjoying thehigh speed, andwill slow downwhen her bodytells her to.

“I feel me-timeis extremelyimportant. Thisyear, I have nothad a lot of me-time. It is alsokind of like therevenge work thatI’m doing for thetime that we lostin COVID. I’venot had a lot ofme-time and Imiss it. But I’msuch a worka-holic,” says theactor, who waslast seen inRaksha Bandhan.

She continues,“I’m so grateful for all the oppor-tunities that Ihave that I don’tfeel like slowing

down at themoment. Whennaturally my bodywill tell me, thatokay, slow down alittle. I think I willonly then slowdown. But at themoment, I’m on ahigh. I’m having ablast”.

You love thecinema world somuch, has thethought ofexpanding yourhorizons in thisindustry crossedyour mind?

“I don’t feel theneed for it rightnow. Because myhands are so fullat the moment.But because Ilove cinema somuch, I’msure I willdiversify atsome point,and that couldbe directing,producing orsinging,” shesays whilewrappingup.

I’VE NOT HADA LOT OFME-TIME

AND I MISSIT: BHUMI

The versatile BobbyDeol had takenaudiences by storm

after his impressive actingin the Ashram series andgarnered appreciationsand accolades. Now thehandsome actor is all setto kickstart the shoot ofhis next project titledShlok - The Desi Sherlock,which also marks thedebut of Ananya Birla andwill be directed by KunalKohli.

The film is a spy thrillerand Bobby will be taking

the audiences by surpriseas this is the first time wewill see him on screen inthis avatar. Bobby hasmade headlines for hisstellar performance inAshram and his characterwill be iconic forever.

The actor took to hisInstagram to share thehappy news and shared apicture of the script andcaptioned it as “Day 1”

Well, we are supremelyexcited to see Bobby tosee in this new role andcast his spell as always.

Bobby Deol announces his nextproject Shlok - The Desi Sherlock!

Hugh Jackman and LauraDern devastated theVenice Film Festival with

the world premiere of FlorianZeller’s The Son, which earned a10-minute standing ovation.Jackman appeared visibly movedduring the film’s reception, asdid the audience. Jackmanhugged his young co-star ZenMcGrath amid the ovation. Thefilm, which centers on a gut-wrenching family tragedy, led toaudible gasps from viewers dur-ing one dramatic scene. Basedon this rapturous reception, Zellermight be back for more Oscar glorywith The Son.

The Son centers on “a family as itfalls apart and tries to come backtogether again,” according to SonyPictures Classics’ official synopsis.Jackman stars as a father whose 17-year-old son comes to live with himafter deciding he can no longer staywith his mother (Dern) years afterhis parents’ divorce. Jackson’s char-acter, Peter, has a new partner,Vanessa Kirby’s Beth. Peter overex-tends himself to give his son a bet-ter life.

Jackman and Dern were both inattendance at the Venice premierealongside Vanessa Kirby. AnthonyHopkins — who won an Oscar forhis turn in Zeller’s last film, TheFather — didn’t make it all the wayto Venice, but he has a spiritedcameo in the film, playingJackman’s distant yet very outspo-ken father. Sarah Ferguson walkedthe film’s red carpet, while SteveBuscemi was spotted in the cinema.He’s currently in Venice with hisdirectorial outing The Listener.

In his review of The Son out ofVenice, Variety film critic Peter

Debruge wrote, “Instead ofmerely wrenching us emotional-ly — which The Son willinevitably succeed in doing any-way — it wants to get audiencesthinking…in watching The Sonplay out, this family’s tragedybecomes our own, and Zeller’swarning becomes impossible toignore.”

Variety awards editor ClaytonDavis wrote in his analysis ofThe Son, that the film is a certi-fied Oscar contender, adding,“It’s a film that puts Hugh

Jackman at the forefront of the bestactor race for his remarkable per-formance as a father struggling tohelp his troubled teenage son.”

Playwright Zeller became abreakout directing talent with TheFather, which earned six AcademyAward nominations, including bestpicture, and won Oscars for bestactor (Anthony Hopkins, who has asmall role in The Son) and bestadapted screenplay, which Zellershared with co-writer ChristopherHampton. The duo worked together again to adapt The Son intoa film.

Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern give Venice an emotional gutpunch as The Son earns 10-minute standing ovation

Kate Walsh is set to recur in theupcoming 19th season of Grey’sAnatomy, returning as Dr. Addison

Montgomery, the character she’s playedsince the Season 1 finale of the medicaldrama in 2005. Walsh’s Addison was alsothe central character on Private Practice— the first Grey’s spinoff — which ran forsix seasons on ABC, from 2007 to 2013.

Walsh appeared on Grey’s last season ina multi-episode arc, in which Addison

returned to Grey Sloan Memorial in orderto perform a uterine transplant on apatient, who later miscarried. During herSeason 18 appearances, Addison grievedthe death of her ex-husband Derek(Patrick Dempsey) with his sister Amelia(Caterina Scorsone) and his widowMeredith (Ellen Pompeo).

In an interview last year, Walsh wasenthusiastic about returning to Grey’s toplay Addison for the first time since

Private Practice had ended, saying “I wasvery satisfied and delighted by it.” She alsoleft the door open for more. “Nobodyknows what the future holds,” Walsh saidat the time. “But for now, this is whatwe’ve got planned: just to have Addisonpop in and we’ll see what happens, whattranspires.”

Addison will indeed be popping backin: Her first appearance will be in thethird episode of the new season.

Season 19 of Grey’s Anatomy premiereson ABC on Oct. 6, and Pompeo —around whom the show has revolvedsince its 2005 premiere — will for the firsttime have a reduced role as Meredith. Aswas announced in August, thoughMeredith’s narration will continue tobegin and end every episode, Pompeo(also an executive producer) will appearin only eight episodes this season. Underher Calamity Jane production company,

she is producing and starring in anupcoming untitled limited series for Hulu.Pompeo is irreplacable, of course, but aslew of cast members have been added to“Grey’s” to play the new surgical interns atthe hospital, including Harry Shum Jr.,Adelaide Kane, Alexis Floyd, Niko Terhoand Midori Francis. “Grey’s” — created byShonda Rhimes, and run by executiveproducer Krista Vernoff — continues tobe ABC’s No. 1 scripted series.

Kate Walsh’s Addison returns to Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 in recurring role

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.

In anincreas-

ingly digitalworld, coding has

become a criticalskill. This is because

code is the language thatthe computers understand.

By learning to code, we cangive computers instructions to

carry out specific tasks. This can beeverything, right from powering a

website to running an app or even flyinga drone. As our world gets more and more

reliant on technology, being able to code isbecoming increasingly important.A few people might argue saying that coding is

simply a way of telling a computer what to do.However, it is something beyond that. Coding entails

problem-solving and logical reasoning. To create a code,you must be able to deconstruct a difficult problem into

smaller, more manageable pieces. This necessitates excellentanalytical and creative abilities. In many ways, coding resem-bles an art form more than a science. It is continually changing,and there’s always gonna be new problems to face.

Girish Singhania, CEO, EduBridge explains, “Coding is

becoming an increasingly important ability as we head towardsthe 2030’s. Coding is one of the most significant skills that indi-viduals may use to connect with computers in an increasinglydigital environment. People who learn to code can create web-sites, apps, software, and even video games. Coding willbecome increasingly crucial as our world gets more reliant ontechnology. If you want to keep ahead of the curve, learning tocode is an excellent method to do it. Java, Python, C/C++/C#,PHP, Ruby, SQL are some of the top languages in demand asper recent trends.”

Skills coders need to practice to crack interviewsEvery tech job has a technical round and aptitude round in

the interview that one needs to be prepared for. If you’re acoder who’s looking to crack the interview process, there are afew skills you’ll need to practice.

Sharpen your problem-solving skills: Many coding interviewswill involve solving complex algorithms, and the better you areat solving problems, the better your chances of impressingpotential employers.

Well-versed in data structures and algorithms: Companieswant to see that you know how to use different data structuresefficiently and that you’re familiar with a variety of algorithms.

Strong communication skills: You’ll need to be able toexplain your code clearly and concisely, as well as listen to andunderstand feedback from your interviewer. This is the reasonwhy it is essential to be well versed and build on fluid commu-nication skills

Coding programs are tailor-made to align with industrydemands. These courses will cover a lot of avenues that includedomain skills, soft skills, and practical application of imbibedknowledge in a real life scenario. This practice will help stu-dents, upgrade their knowledge as per industry standards andmake them more employable once graduated.

TEJAL SINHA

Trolling is something that has noend. Ever since social media hasgained immense popularity over

the past decades, sliding into some-one’s comments or even in the com-ment section with hatred and negativi-ty has not been anything new.

Today with us, we have one suchactress, Sikander Shama, who has beentrolled for anything and everything shedoes, and boom! Does she even care?Not at all!

Sikander has been a part of severalfilms like Dhoom, Dhadaka, and BypassRoad, to name a few. Sikander beginssharing that her journey in the industryhas been fantastic, but not to forget,with several ups and downs, failures andmind-blowing success too.

While in conversation with us, sherevealed her major turning point in life.

“The biggest turning point of my lifehas been my near-to-death experience,after I went through major depressionand bipolar, I saw life differently. Itmade me fearless. It introduced me tothe true me. It changed my worldviewso drastically that it manifests itself inme in every way. I don’t even know theearlier me. I don’t recognise that soul. Itwas like it was a guest living in me, andI didn’t like her way of living much. Itwas totally brainwashed and condi-tioned in a particular way that was notauthentic,” she said adding, how muchthe industry has taught her in life. “Itgave me so much. I don’t think I wouldhave gotten much in the outside world.This industry made me appreciate theoutside world so much. The lives of nor-mal people and what really matters inlife.”

Sometimes, it seems that trolls arejust waiting for her to post something,so that they can just slide into her DM’sor into the comment section. Peoplehave their own ways of handling them.And for Shama, it is by sending themlove and peace. She says it’s because theyreally need it.

As a public figure, how does she tryto keep her mind calm and avoid nega-tive comments? She informed us, “Well,I spent a lot of time getting to know thereal me. Like most of my life, I’m veryconscious and concerned about know-ing myself. And now that I know myselfso much, it really doesn’t matter whatanyone else thinks of me. Really, I reallydidn’t care much earlier either, but nowit doesn’t even touch me. I’ve gonethrough so much in my journey ofknowing myself and unlearning all thethings and qualities that made me unau-thentic. I don't expect everybody to feelthat and respect that. They have theirown mind and their own way of lookingat life. I cannot change that, and Iwouldn’t want to take them off of theirpath. If they’re meant to know medeeply, then they will. If they're not,then it doesn’t matter anyway. I’m hereto live my life on my terms and enjoy itfor myself.”

On the other hand, these days, we seemany actors coming forward and talk-ing about body shaming, which hasn’tnecessarily gone away, even if peopledeny it. Shama has got a message with adifferent perspective for those who areconstantly body shamed irrespective ofwhether they are skinny or healthy. “Ijust feel like people really need to chillabout what other people think aboutthem in any way. Whether it’s bodyshaming or character shaming, I mean,you cannot really stop anyone fromthinking other than what they want tothink. We all have a brain and its func-tion is to judge. Now, of course, this

judgement is better kept containedwithin you rather than spitting it out onsocial media, but thatrequires a lot of posi-tive conditioning.Like from birth,Often, peoplewho shameother people arefilled withshame of theirown. So youknow, it’sbetter to notgive anyenergy at allto suchcomments,and you'll seethat they’lljust dis-perse. Theygrow onlywhen youfeed themwith yourenergy. I’velearnt it withtime.”

However,it’s easiersaid thandone. “Wearehumansand wematter toeach other alot. That’s whywe have so much

toshare

the energy of everything positiveand negative. So the easiest wayis to not give energy to suchcomments. Because whateverthey say, it's their judgment,mind you, it doesn’t or shouldn’tchange the way you look at your-self,” she said.

The Bypass Road actress issomeone who comes out boldand confident — be it in termsof fashion or even in the roles or

characters she plays. To this, the actresssigned off this interview, saying, “I am avery confident person. I’m also madly inlove with myself, so that gives me

power, which then transfers intoeverything I do. So everythingcomes out of a deep passion formyself. I breathe, walk, andthink about everything that I

really, really like and that sat-isfies my soul. As I said , Ispend a lot of time under-standing my emotions, andthat sort of makes life easier

for me and makes it easy tobe myself with confidenceand truth. I guess that's

what makesme bold

and fear-less andlimit-

less.”

SHIKHA DUGGAL

here was a music director, whohad carved a name for himselfand gave us humongous tracksthat made Shahrukh Khan a startoo and he is none other thanLalit Pandit, who is now reunit-

ing with his old mates from the industry tocelebrate his popular journey throughmusic. For the unknown, the legendarymusic director has already completedtwenty-five years in this industry! And, weare all still so familiar with his old songs,particularly hits like Pehla Nasha, whichspeaks a lot about his work. In an exclusiveconversation with us, the eminent person-ality, who saw the advent of CDS and isnow tracing the voyage of music apps,spoke to us, “I was waiting for this timelineand now when it’s here — it’s time for cele-brations. I come from a musical familyfrom a village in Haryana and then made itbig in Bollywood. Earlier, we were knownas the popular Jatin-Lalit duo.Nevertheless, even after the split, I contin-ued to give superhit tracks, includingtracks from Dabangg. Although the cre-ation of the pair Jatin–Lalit was by acci-dent, My track Munni Badnaam, essayedby Malaika Arora, went on to become achartbuster hit once! After the celebration,we have decided to give some of the pro-ceeds to the musicians and my close associ-ates. You can call it a social cause too,simultaneously.”

Related to the legendary Pandit Jasraj,the classical vocalist, who introducedHaveli Sangeet and Mewati Gharana intoour musical culture, it’s an honour for Lalitto belong to such a legacy himself. He con-tinued, “Be it Shaan or Alka Yagnik, all ofthem received prestigious awards for thetracks that I composed. My independenttrack, as mentioned earlier, MunniBadnaam won 48 accolades in total makingMalaika even more distinguished. Oursongs haven’t faded away till now. That’sthe beauty of it. My brother and I beganour career in 1991, composing music forthe movie Yaara Dildara, and the rest ishistory.”

They were first noticed for their work onthe soundtrack of the movie Khiladi star-ring Akshay Kumar, which was the actor'sbiggest commercial hit. “We were workingwith the biggest Khans — we had to be onaccount of what we were giving the Khans.We took the background score to a levelwhere we are remembered until today. Wewill feel relevant in 2022 too. We are not

forgotten. Our other film score of 1992,Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, was also verysuccessful because our compositions arestrongly influenced by R. D. Burman’s styleof music-making,” informed the musician.

In 1994, they composed the successfulsoundtrack to the Shahrukh Khan starrerKabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. Jatin–Lalit’s scorefor the cult classic Dilwale Dulhania LeJayenge was a massive success, and isremembered as one of the all-time bestBollywood soundtracks, earning themanother nomination at the Filmfare.

It is the fifth-highest selling Bollywoodsoundtrack of all time. Today, Lalit begs todiffer. “Nowadays the composers from theyounger lot aren’t finding the rightinspiration — they are insecure. Inthis pursuit, they end up givingany old massy song or doingremixes. Where’s the original-ity? Neither of them areworking on makingalbums, but only sin-gle tracks. In ourtime, even if thefilms didn’twork bychance,

the songs are still memorable! Shahrukh’ssongs aren’t catchy anymore. His last wasZero, but we don’t remember any of thosesongs. Do you? This is called a career highor low! Tracks take you back to the movies;it's a proven fact. Jatin–Lalit’s next big suc-cess came with Karan Johar’s debut directo-rial, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which sold 8.5million copies and won a nomination forbest music at the Filmfare Awards.”

So, he informed us, “What makes us dis-tinct is one thing: we never lifted songsfrom South India. This isn’t a new trend;it’s continuing from the 90s when singersused to take ‘mukhdas’ from Pakistan.Nobody had a song like Pehla Nasha untiltoday! Second, we used to leave ourmark.Shahrukh had the best songs in the90s, not anymore!” They have composed atotal of 473 songs for 72 films. They wereamong the first composers to write songsthat were performed by Bollywood filmstars rather than playback singers. The spe-cially composed Aati Kya Khandala in thefilm Ghulam is for the lead actor, AamirKhan. Sharing his golden memories, heconcluded, “My friends’ legacy is continu-ing for more than thirty years. They gavepowerful melodies! Abhijeet credits us withthe success of his career.” Don’t forget tocatch the music composer performing atMumbai’s Shanmukhananda Hall onSeptember 23. The concert will fea-ture Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik,Shaan, Babul Supriyo, SadhnaSargam, Vijayta Pandit, andMamta Sharma, who willperform some of Lalit’severgreen hit songs.We can’t waiteither!

Celebrating the fulfilling

career of Lalit Pandit

We still enjoyLalit Pandit, theman behindsome of themost iconicmusic tracks, aswe earlier did.The Pioneerconnects withthe legend foran exclusiveinterview, whichmade us gonostalgic and sowill you.

t

In an exclusiveinterview with ThePioneer, actressSikander Shama opensup about her near-deathexperience, dealing withtrolls and negativity,among others.

‘I’m here to live my

life on my terms’

Coding; entailingproblem solving

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FridaySeptember 9, 2022

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sports 11VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

PTI n CHENNAI

Prithvi Shaw hammered anunbeaten 61 off 66 balls

and put on a century standwith Yashasvi Jaiswal as WestZone raced to 116 for no losson a rain-hit opening day oftheir Duleep Trophy matchagainst North East Zone hereon Thursday.

Sent in to bat by the NorthEast skipper Hokaito Zhimomiafter a long delay, Shaw madehis intentions clear right fromthe start.

He was not afraid to goaerial as well, smacking foursixes apart from hitting fiveboundaries. Shaw reached hisfifty in style, hoisting twosixes on the leg-side off RexRajkumar's bowling.

Jaiswal (55 batting), whowas watchful, however didnot miss out when opportuni-ties presented themselves. Heemployed the cut shot to goodeffect.

The right-left batter com-bination of Shaw and Jaiswaldid not have much trouble andit appeared as if the duo washaving batting practice againstan inexperienced North Eastattack.

Bad light halted proceed-ings after 25 overs and subse-quently play was called off.Brief scores: West zone 116for no loss on 25 overs (PrithviShaw 61 batting,YashasviJaiswal 55 batting) Vs North

East Zone.

NORTH ZONE MAKES 179/3 In Puducherry, East Zone

reached 179 for 3 in 54 oversagainst North Zone in theother quarterfinal on a rain-hitopening day.

The highly rated RiyanParag,who was sent as theopener, fell to Navdeep Sainifor 8 in the fourth over after adelayed start.

Fellow opener SudipKumar Gharami (68, 137 balls,10 fours) and AnustupMajumdar (47) ensured thatthe North bowlers did notcause any more damage withthe new ball.

They batted with cautionand put on 79 runs for the sec-ond wicket before Majumdarfell to medium pacerSiddharth Jail.

Vice captain Virat Singh(43 batting) settled in for a halfcentury stand with Gharamibefore the latter fell toHimanshu Rana.

Skipper Manoj Tiwary,who joined his deputy in themiddle, ensured that therewere no further setbacks forEast.

Earlier, North zone cap-tain Mandeep Singh won thetoss and invited East to batfirst.Brief scores: East Zone 179 for3 (Sudip Kumar Gharami 68)Vs North zone.

AP n CAIRNS

Adam Zampa took his firstfive-wicket haul in ODI

cricket as Australia clinched theseries against New Zealandafter a 113-run victory onThursday.

Australia's top order strug-gled and slumped to 54-5 afterbeing sent in, but the hometeam rallied to post 195-9.Steve Smith scored 61 and last-wicket pair of Mitchell Starc(38) and Josh Hazlewood (23)combined for an unbeaten 47.

New Zealand was skittledfor 82 in reply, with legspinnerZampa returning 5-35 fromnine overs, including three lbwdecisions.

“Didn't bowl my best to behonest, but sometimes it's like

that,” Zampa said. "It feels good.To win any series, but particu-larly against the No. 1 team inthe world, they're the bench-mark at the moment.”

Australia won the seriesopener by two wickets despitebeing in serious trouble at 44-5 chasing 233 for victory lastweekend.

Pitch conditions in Cairnswere tricky, with the ball notcoming onto the bat as quick-ly.

“It's been hard. The first 40overs of our batting wereincredibly difficult,” Australiacaptain Aaron Finch said. "Weknew we'd got to a total wecould defend (but) we knew wehad to be ultra-disciplined withthe ball, and we did that. Greatwin.”

Starc made instant inroadswith the fifth ball of NewZealand's reply, when MartinGuptill chased a full, away

swinging delivery and edged toFinch at slip.

Starc and new-ball partnerHazlewood kept up the pressure

until a change in bowling whenSean Abbott opened hisaccount with a double-wicketmaiden in the ninth over.

Abbott enticed DevonConway (5) into a legside chipto Zampa at fine leg with hissecond delivery from aroundthe wicket, and then had TomLatham (0) out edging to Finchat slip three balls later. NewZealand slumped to 14-3.

Kane Williamson, who hada reprieve in the first overwhen he was lucky not to berun out, dug in for 17 from 58deliveries before he was trappedlbw by Zampa in the 19th overand New Zealand was 33-4.

The visitors' trouble deep-ened when Daryl Mitchell (10)was out with the addition of fiveto the total after he was

adjudged lbw attempting areverse sweep against Zampa,and Jimmy Neesham (2) went inthe next over to make it 45-6.

Starc removed MichaelBracewell (12) and Zampapicked off Tim Southee, MattHenry and Trent Boult (9) towrap it up.

"Australia were outstand-ing with the ball and gave usnothing,” New Zealand cap-tain Williamson said. “Thesurface was a challenge, and180 was going to be a lot ofhard work. Fair play toAustralia. They outplayed ustoday.” The New Zealandershad the right to be confidentafter Boult took 4-38 andheld the catch to removeSmith to keep the Australiatotal under 200.

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan Cricket Board chair-man Ramiz Raja on Thursday

said there is no place for hooligan-ism in the gentleman's game andblamed Afghanistan fans for theoff-field brawl between support-ers of both the nations after a nail-bitting Asia Cup match in Sharjah.

Fans of Pakistan andAfghanistan literally came toblows following the former's one-wicket win in the Super 4 matchon Wednesday.

The trigger for the brawl onWednesday was fuelled byPakistan batter Asif Ali getterrather physical with FareedAhmed after the pacer's in yourface celebrations following theformer's dismissal.

An angry PCB chief said theywould be lodging a protest overthe events to the ICC and Asiancricket bodies, including EmiratesCricket Board.

"There is no place for hooli-ganism in cricket. Afghanistan asa nation, team have to control theiremotions if they are to progressfurther. It was a great match bothteams fought hard but there was

no need for such scenes after thematch," Ramiz said at a press con-ference.

It was not the first time suchan incident happened. The pas-sionate fans of both teams hadcome to blows even during theT20 World Cup last year and the

2019 ODI World Cup."The visuals we saw after the

match in particular are not goodadvertisement for cricket at all. Ithas happened before also not thefirst time it happened and that issomething all cricket nations haveto look at," Ramiz said.

PTI n DUBAI

India will face reigning championsAustralia and New Zealand in their ICC

T20 World Cup warm-up games onOctober 17 and October 19 respectively.

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian side willplay both their warm-up games at theGabba in Brisbane.

The International Cricket Council(ICC) on Thursday announced the warm-up fixtures of the 16 teams taking part inthe showpiece event.

While the iconic Melbourne CricketGround will host the first-round teams fortheir practice matches from October 10-13, Brisbane's Gabba and Allan BorderField will be home to the Super 12 stageteams from October 17-19.

The first warm-up fixture will featuretwo-time champions West Indies (2012and 2016) taking on United Arab Emiratesat Junction Oval on October 10, with eachof the first round teams to play two warm-up matches.

Pakistan and England, winners of the2009 and 2010 editions respectively, willcross swords at the Gabba on October 18.

Sri Lanka, who won the T20 WorldCup in 2014, will play their two warm-up

games against Zimbabwe and Ireland onOctober 10 and October 13 respectively atthe MCG.

The ICC said that spectators will notbe allowed to attend the warm-up fixturesthat will take place over a period of ninedays.

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup beginson October 16 when Sri Lanka faceNamibia at Kardinia Park Stadium inGeelong.

PTI n DUBAI

The long wait for a ViratKohli hundred, 989 daysto be precise, ended on

Thursday when he struck ahigh-quality 122 to take India to212 for two against Afghanistanand lighten up the dead rubberof the Asia Cup here.

His unbeaten effort off 61balls got him his first hundredsince November 2019 and 71stoverall, equalling RickyPonting's tally of internationalhundreds. He is now onlybehind Sachin Tendulkar in theall-time list.

With Rohit Sharma beingrested for India's final game ofthe tournament, stand-in skip-per K L Rahul (62 off 41) andKohli shared an entertaining119 off 76 balls for the openingwicket.

Kohli started toying withthe field and bowlers towardsthe end of the innings, enoughindication that he was back tohis best. The knock from Rahulwas his most confident oneever since he came back frominjury.

The openers played bril-liantly against the spinners,including Rashid Khan (0-33),an area they needed to addressheading into the T20 WorldCup.

It was vintage Kohli on dis-

play as he stepped out to thespinners, pierced the field per-fectly and even played a raresweep shot.

That sweep shot came in thesixth over bowled by Mujeeb UrRehman. The next ball he camedown the track to hit a straightsix. The former India captainalso got lucky on his way to a

memorable hundred as he wasdropped in the deep offMohammad Nabi in the eightover.

With India at 87 for no lossin 10 overs and Kohli on song,India looked set for a massivetotal.

It was raining boundaries inthe last five overs as Kohli

reached the elusive three figuremark with a crisp pull shot offpacer Fareed Ahmed. He tookhis helmet off and smiled beforekissing his necklace as part hiscelebration.

He ended the innings instyle by smashing two sixesand a four off Fazalhaq Farooqito push India past 200.

PTI n BHUBANESWAR

India have been drawnwith England, Spain and

Wales in Pool D of the FIHMen's Hockey World Cup,to be held in Bhubaneswarand Rourkela in Januarynext year.

The draw of the 16-team tournament was heldhere on Thursday, with fourteams making up four pools.The World Cup will be heldfrom January 13 to 29.

Hosts India -- worldNo. 5 -- are the highestranked side in Pool D. Theywill face world No.6England, whom they haverecently met at theB i r m i n g h a mCommonwealth Games,two-time silver medallistsSpain and Wales.

Spain are ranked eighthin the world while world

No.16 Wales are playing intheir maiden World Cup.

Pool A is headed up byworld number oneAustralia, who got bronze

medal at the last World Cupin 2018. They were drawnalong with 2016 Olympicchampions Argentina,France and African champi-ons South Africa.

Reigning world champi-ons Belgium are the topseed and they were drawn inPool B along with 2006 win-ners Germany, Korea andJapan. Belgium are rankedsecond while Germany arefourth.

Pool C will feature lastedition finalists theNetherlands, ranked third inthe world, along withOceania representative NewZealand, Malaysia -- playingtheir ninth World Cup --and debutants Chile.

During the draw, India,Australia, Belgium andNetherlands were placed onthe first row of their corre-sponding pools based on

FIH World Rankings of June1.

Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik, FIH ActingPresident Seif Ahmed, statesports minister TusharkantiBehera, Committee ofAdministrators (CoA)members S Y Quraishi andZafar Iqbal were also pres-ent on the occasion.

“We are always veryproud to welcoming thebest hockey teams and play-ers of the world for such anoutstanding event," Patnaiksaid.

FIH Acting PresidentSeif Ahmed said: “We can'twait to see the best teams inthe world in action in thenew 'jewel' of hockey, theBirsa Munda HockeyStadium in Rourkela, along-side the iconic KalingaHockey Stadium inBhubaneswar."

PTI n SHARJAH

Pakistan tail-ender Naseem Shah creditedself-belief and practice sessions in the nets

for his final over heroics against Afghanistanin the Asia Cup.

Naseem struck two consecutive sixes inthe last over of the game to help his side beatAfghanistan and qualify for the final.

The 22-year-old who has alreadyimpressed with his fast bowling in the tour-nament, changed roles on Wednesday as histwo stunning sixes not only sealed Pakistan'sone wicket win in a tense Super 4 match butalso threw arch-rivals India out of the tour-nament.

"When I went in to bat I had the beliefto hit the sixes. I practice (hitting sixes) andI knew they would bowl yorkers as they hadthe field up. I just tried and I executed,"Naseem said after the match.

"We need to have the belief, we can hit,we keep practicing in the nets and I alsochanged my bat, it worked.

"When you lose the ninth wicket, no oneexpects you to win, but I had belief that I can.I practice hitting a lot. This will be a memo-rable game for me. Everyone's forgotten I ama bowler."

Pakistan needed 20 off 10 balls with two

wickets in hand when Naseem came in. Theno. 10 batter had only faced one ball in T20Isbefore that. Panic set in when Asif Ali was dis-missed on the fifth ball of the penultimate over.

Pakistan needed 11 from the final overbut Naseem decided to take it upon himselfand finish off the match.

"Asif was batting when I came in and myjob was to give him strike but when he gotout, I thought it was all on me."

Pakistan captain Babar Azam said he wasreminded of batting great Javed Miandad hit-ting that famous last ball six off ChetanSharma to beat India in Sharjah in 1986.Azam wasn't even born when Miandad'sheroics helped Pakistan clinch the Austral-Asia Cup.

"I was in the dressing room (during lastover). But at the back of the mind, I thoughtit is cricket, and I have seen Naseem bat likethis, so I had a little bit of belief.

"This reminded me of Javed Miandad's sixin Sharjah," he said.

"To be honest, it was quite a tense envi-ronment in the dressing room. We couldn'tbuild partnerships like last few games, but theway Naseem finished it, you could see themahaul (vibe) after that."

Pakistan play Sri Lanka in the summitclash on Sunday.

VIRAT’S CENTURY DROUGHT IS OVER

I had self-belief to hit sixes: Naseem India drawn with England, Spain &Wales in Pool D of FIH World Cup

India to face Oz, New Zealandin warm-up fixtures of T20 WC

No place for hooliganism in cricket: PCB chief Duleep Trophy: Shawsmashes fifty on Day 1

Australia win ODI series after thrashing Kiwis by 113 runs

12

Vijayawada | Friday September 9, 2022 tollywood

AMARTYA SMARAN

The makers of Captain haveindeed taken a big risk byreleasing the film this week,

given the much hyped Brahmastrareleasing on Friday. Perhaps, theythought the film had all the poten-tial to stand up to the mighty Astra.

The film helmed by DirectorShakti Soundar Rajan in its trailer,promises an exhilarating creatureinvasion sci-fi thriller. Captain,starring Arya, Aishwarya Lekshmi,Raj Bharath,Harish Uthaman,Gokul Nath, Kavya Shetty in thelead roles and Simran Bagga,Adithya Menon and, others in thesupporting roles fails to deliver onmultiple fronts of filmmaking.

The plot follows Captain VijayKumar, and his team taking up animpossible task of wiping out thepresence of mysterious cold blood-ed creatures in sector 42 of theNorth East Forest Area, Sikkim,with the help of research specialistSimran Bagga of the GLO-LABS.However, the film merely gropeswith the idea of coming close to itsoriginal theme.

These mysterious creatures arecalled Minotaurs, named after amythical creature with the sametitle in Greek Mythology. VijayKumar played by Arya is the per-fect military man who has theability to fathom almost anythingremotely fishy. The rest of the char-acters in the movie play his shrink.

As the story unfolds we discoverthat the higher authorities deploythe team to uncover the unsolvablemission. This is the first time theteam encounters the ugly lookingcreature that ruthlessly attacks thesquad. This beastly creature is in

turn

weirdly controlled by a spider-likeinsect in appearance, it has thepower to control people themoment it comes in contact.

Karthi (Harish Uthaman), fallsprey to the insect and kills himselfand harms the squad in theprocess which leads to the discipli-nary committee taking strict actionagainst our Protagonist as he takesthe blame on himself and refuses tospill out the truth to the committee.This is where it all gets sloppy,Capt. Vijay Kumar who is on hispunishment posting teaching, visitshis Major played by MalavikaAvinash.

When asked about when his

punishment period is going to end,she says, “No man can ever livealone. It is high time for you tolook out for someone,” and just likethat she sets our Captain withKavya (Aishwarya Lekshmi). Whatis surprising is that in a song thatcaptures the bond between the two,Kavya just loiters around the Armybase camp like it is a park. It makesyou wonder if it is a base camp orTinder Headquarters.

The BGM scored by D. Immanis good but it doesn’t sit well withthe pace of the scenes. The story isat best half cooked, no amount ofspice would kill its blandness. Allthe actors in the film looked out of

the place and so did the VFX. Aryawho killed it with his performancein Sarpatta Parambarai seems likean actor with a wooden face. TheMinotaurs look half done; especial-ly the biggest of all, the QueenMinotaur. All these elements makeCaptain a strenuous film to watchin the theatres.

The makers have their heart inthe right place though; the filmtakes inspiration from theHollywood film, Predator (1987). Itis so disappointing to think thedirector hasn’t bothered to pay aniota of attention to the numerousloopholes in the movie.

The overall screenplay and direc-tion is outright dull and flawed as itmoves away from the film’s motiva-tion at different points; DirectorShakti Soundar Rajan’s famous forintroducing fresh concepts to theTamil audience. In this film he failsto create that conflict despite hav-ing a story with immense poten-tial. If there is something goodabout the film, it is theCinematography of S.Yuva, is a per-fect blend of the right tones thatwere essential to create the mood ofthe film. Simran Bagga’s actingprowess was not put to good use,and we don’t understand whySimran and Aishwarya are there inthe film.

With an unnecessary love track,below average writing, shabbydirection , and okayish acting per-formances, Captain is sure to makeyou question your choices regard-ing your taste in films. After beingshot by his teammate Karthi in theshoulder, our Captain takesMorphine pills to dampen theexcruciating pain throughout thefilm; if only the audience would’vegotten a chance to gulp on some ofthose pills it’d have been a comfort-ing watch in the theater. This filmis going to be synonymous with theterm ‘No-Man’s’ show for a verylong time.

Captain turns to be a

No-man’s show

MegastarChiranjeevi’sGodFather is one

of the craziest projectsarriving this year for vari-ous reasons. Bollywoodsuperstar Salman Khan isplaying a mighty role inthis mass action entertainerthat will feature manynoted actors in prominentroles. Chiranjeevi for thefirst-time sports salt andpepper look. The glimpseto introduce Chiranjeevi’s

character and then theteaser got an overwhelmingresponse.

Today, Nayanthara’scharacter from the moviewas revealed. She plays therole of Sathyapriya Jaidev.Nayanthara looks tradi-tional in a cotton linencheckered saree. Sheappears a bit intense as sheis busy preparing a letteron the typewriter.

Puri Jagannadh andSatya Dev are the other

prominent cast. MohanRaja is directing the movie,while RB Choudary andNV Prasad are producingit, while Konidela Surekhais presenting it. The film isbeing mounted on a lavishscale.

Master cinematographerNirav Shah handles thecamera, while SureshSelvarajan is the art direc-tor. GodFather will bereleased during Dasara onOctober 5, this year.

Nayanthara’s firstlook as SathyapriyaJaidev in GodFather

Fahadh Faasil’s Top Gearregular shoot from tomorrowP

owerhousetalentFahadh

Faasil made agrand entry inTollywood withPushpa and he isall set to workunder the popu-lar productionhouse SuperGood Films forhis next movie.It’s productionNo 96 for theproductionhouse. The mak-ers haveannounced TopGear as the titlefor the movie tobe directed bySudheeshSankar.

The titleposter seeslungi-clad

Fahadh Faasilstanding on ajeep and wavingto the public. Asthe poster sug-gests, Top Gear isgoing to be amass and actionentertainer. Themakers haveinformed us tobegin the regularshoot of themovie fromtomorrow.

RB Choudarypresents themovie that willbe made on ahigh budget withrich productionvalues. The mak-ers will soonannounce othercast and techni-cal crew of themovie.

Ajay Katurwar,who recentlymade an

impression withVishwak, is all set toexcite the audiencewith his upcomingfilm. He has recentlyshared informationabout his upcomingfilm on social media.

The much awaitedfirst look of the filmwas released onThursday. Talentedyoung hero Satya Dev

unveiled the first lookand title of the film,and wished the entireteam.

The title Ajay Gaduhas always impressedeveryone. AjayKaturwar has nowgrabbed everyone'sattention with his firstlook. The makers areplanning to releasethe fire teaser soon.

This exciting pro-ject is directed byAjay Karturwar and

produced by himselfunder the banner ofAjay KumarProductions in col-laboration withChandanaKoppishetty. AndalaBhamalu Bhanu Sriand Shweta Mehta areplaying the lead roles.

Cinematography ishandled by Ajay Nagand Harsha Hari Jasti.Karthik Kodakondala,Manijena, SumanthBabu and Prateek

have composed themusic for this film,while SiddharthShivani has composedthe backgroundmusic. Meanwhile,Prithvi staged theaction sequences.

After appearing inimportant roles infilms like Raagala 24Hour, Sitra and manyothers, he will beback in front of theaudience with thisfilm.

AJAY GADU FIRSTLOOK LAUNCHED

BY SATYA DEV

SupermodelJaswanthaka Jessie,

rose to fameafter his stint inBigg BossTelugu. He hasnow slowlypaved his wayin Tollywood,and has a fewTollywood pro-jects in hiskitty.

The modelcum actor, whoalso has aknack for writ-ing, seems tohave his next

big projectlined up. Guesswhat, it is withnone otherthan the leg-endary director,RaghavendraRao, who isalso lookingforward to amuch neededbox office hit.

ThePioneer’sreporter stum-bled uponJessie, and welearnt that theactor was thereto hear a script

for a web-series, to betentativelydirected or pro-duced byRaghavendraRao. However,no official con-firmation hasbeen maderegarding thesame.

It is to beseen if this filmworks outbetween theduo, givingJessie the need-ed break in theindustry.

Jessie to team up with

Raghavendra Rao?

After the great suc-cess of AlluArjun’s starrer,

Pushpa: The Rise, themovie lovers have beeneagerly waiting for itssequel.

Finally, here’s somegood news for Allu’sfans. The film’s regular

shoot will begin fromthe last week ofSeptember. “I am goingto start working onPushpa 2 in a couple ofweeks,” Rashmikainformed Bollywoodmedia. She reprisesSrivalli’s role in the sec-ond part as well. The

regular shoot will beginin Hyderabad. A specialset is being erected.

Director Sukumar willbe making it on a biggerscale. He has alsobecome a partner in theproduction. He is co-producing along withMythri Movie Makers.

Pushpa 2 shooting tobegin in Hyderabad