HC blames field staff for illegal buildings in city - Tenhard India

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Vol. 84 No. 63 Established 1938 | 24 PAGES | `6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I FRIDAY I 5 MARCH 2021

VUJJINI VAMSHIDHARA I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Taking note of the role ofjunior level officials of theGHMC’s town planningsection for the first time forthe rampant illegal con-structions in the city, theTelangana High Courtwarned that heads will rollat the higher echelonsdown to the field staff ifany delinquency is noticedamong in curbing illegalconstructions.

A division bench of ChiefJustice Hima Kohli andJustice B. Vijaysen Reddysaid that the court willmonitor all the recalcitrantofficers who are turning ablind eye to the rampantillegal and unauthorisedconstructions taking placeright under their nose.

CJ Kohli told GHMC staffthat bells were ringingaloud, and errant officialsmust get ready to be axed ifthey continued with thesame working style. “Ifthey do not pick up the

thread even now, they willface the consequences.”

The bench opined that thetown planning officerswere in connivance withbuilders of such buildings.

Justice Vijaysen Reddy,during the course of argu-ments, apprised ChiefJustice Kohli of the facts:“The officials on the one

hand threaten personsresorting to illegal con-structions that their con-structions will be demol-ished; and on the otherhand, they show them theway to approach the lowercourts and obtain a stay.”

■ Page 6: Give data of illegalconstruction, says HC

HC blames field staff forillegal buildings in cityOrders top GHMC officials to act against recalcitrant officials

BALU PULIPAKA I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Hyderabad, considered ahappening city, a hub ofresearch and a centre forexcellence for the IT indus-try, has found itself waydown a list of cities thatthe Centre has rankedwith respect to ease of liv-ing (EoL). To make mat-ters worse, it also did notfigure in the top 15 cities inthe Centre’s ranking ofcities under the municipalperformance index (MPI)for 2020.

In the EoL Index, Hyder-abad was placed 24th whileit came 17th in the MPI inthe million plus popula-tion category of cities.

The rankings for cities,divided by their popula-tion as less than a millionand more than a million,were announced by Hard-eep Singh Puri, minister ofstate for urban affairs, inNew Delhi on Thursday.

As many as 111 cities par-ticipated in the assess-ment. In addition to thepopulation criteria, citiesunder the Smart CitiesProgramme of the Centrewere considered for the

rankings. Bengaluru wasthe top performer in themillion+ category.

■ Page 6: Indore tops listof smaller cities

TS draws blankin top 15 city list

Chennai: EPFO has retained 8.5 per centinterest rates for EPF deposits for FY20-21despite the economic downturn. TheCentral Board of EPFO in its meeting inSrinagar has recommended 8.50 per centannual rate of interest to be credited ondeposit accounts of more than five croremembers for the financial year 2020-21.

■ Full report on 1

New Delhi/Agra: The Taj Mahal com-plex in Agra was vacated on Thursdaymorning following a hoax bomb call. Thecaller, identified as Vimal Kumar Singh,has been detained for questioning. Thepolice said Singh called the emergencyresponse number and claimed that abomb was kept inside the monument.

■ Full report on Page 7

KCR DATA: TSTOPPED HIRINGACROSS INDIA

STATE QUESTIONSCENTRE’S SURVEYMETRICS ON HYDDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Reacting to the survey of adepartment of the Centre,in which Hyderabad doesnot find a place in the toprankings, a high rankingofficial in the state govern-ment said, “(We are) total-ly baffled. We have beenranked number one inMercer’s Quality of LivingIndex in India since 2015till date for five years in arow. For us, not to findHyderabad even in the top10 feels weird. We couldhave understood if we we-re ranked as one of the topthree, or even top five.”


L. VENKAT RAMREDDY I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

TRS president and ChiefMinister K. Chandrash-ekar Rao has gathereddata from various stateson government job cre-ation between 2014 and2020 which shows that theTS Public Service Commi-ssion (TSPSC) tops in fill-ing up vacancies duringthe period.

Rao secured the data tonail criticism that theTRS government hadfailed to recruit staff inthe past six years.

The data obtained fromWest Bengal, Odisha,Chhattisgarh, Haryana,Tamil Nadu and Karna-taka shows that they alllag behind TS in provid-ing government jobs.

The data will be usedduring the ongoing MLCelection campaign wherethe entire pitch is revolv-ing around job creation.

Rao directed his partyleaders to publicise thedata among all graduatevoters during door-to-door canvassing.

■ Page 6: TS filled 1.26 lakhjobs in six years

N. VAMSI SRINIVAS I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

The Adani group is on anacquisition spree in theTelugu states and the lat-est target is a stake in thecity-based electric busmanufacturer Olectra.

The Adani group, whichmade a foray into the fast-growing segment of elec-tric vehicles a few yearsago, has set its eyes onOlectra Greentech, inwhich a majority stake isheld by the Megha group.

Sources told DeccanChronicle that the Adanigroup will take 10 percent equity in Olectra butthe deal value is yet to beknown.

Olectra was launched byGoldstone Infratech withtechnical collaborationfrom the BYD group ofChina. The name of thecompany was changed toOlectra Greentech and itsshare price closed at`177.90 on Thursday.

On Wednesday, theAdani group announcedthe purchase of 31.5 percent stake in Gangava-ram port. Though theAdani group made repeat-ed attempts to get into themost valuable project, itdid not materialise as thepromoters, D.V.S. Rajuand family, were said tohave fixed a higher value,`10,000 crore.

The Adanis realised itsdream, however, by buy-ing 31.5 per cent stakefrom global venture capi-talist Warb-urg Pincus for`1,954 crore, bringingdown the value of thecompany to about `5,000crore.

■ Page 6: Adanis keen onGangavaram port

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD. MARCH 4

Congress MP Komati-reddy Venkata Reddy onThursday took to Twitterto expose inaction againstan illegal structure atTurkayamjal on the cityoutskirts.

Apparently taking a cuefrom the Telangana HC’scrackdown against illegalstructures, the NalgondaMP is said to have written

a letter to Chief JusticeHima Kohli seeking herintervention in the mat-ter as the authorities con-cerned had failed to takeaction.


KOMATIREDDY PETITIONS CJ OVERSILENCE ON ILLEGAL STRUCTURE

TAJ MAHAL VACATED AFTERHOAX BOMB CALL, ONE HELD

EPFO RETAINS 8.5% FORPROVIDENT FUND DEPOSITS

ADANI GOES ONA BUYING SPREEIN TELUGU STATES

BELLS ARE ringing,errant officials

must getready to beaxed if theycontinue withthe sameworking style.If they do notpick up the thread evennow, they will face theconsequences.”

Chief Justice HIMA KOHLI

THE OFFICIALSthreaten persons

resorting to illegalconstructionsthat theirconstructionswill bedemolished;and on theother hand,they show them the wayto approach the lowercourts and obtain a stay.”

Justice VIJAYSEN REDDY

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pg 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

CITY pg 3DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

21,207 GET JAB IN 333 GOVT,

PVT FACILITIES

PGECET TO BEHELD FROM

JUNE 19 TO 22

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

A total of 21,207 beneficiarieswere vaccinated in 333 govern-ment and private healthcarefacilities on Thursday, thehealth department said.

In the government sector,8,986 beneficiaries of the 9,378who had enlisted for the shotsreceived the vaccine. In theprivate sector, 12.221 of the13,274 applicants took the vac-cine.

Besides, 917 healthcare work-ers took their first shot duringthe day, 3,452 got their secondvaccination. For frontlineworkers, the figures stood at536 and nine respectively.

So far, 5,05,542 have been vac-cinated in the state of whom49,762 are above 60 years ageand also those who are 45years old and suffering fromco-morbid conditions.

No Karachi biscuits forMumbaikars, shop shutManagement rules out politics, says lease period was overDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Karachi Bakery, the city’siconic biscuit-maker, hasshut its store in Mumbai.

Though it has broughtthe shutters down in thecountry’s financial capi-tal, the management’sRajesh Ramnani pointsout they would reopen inMumbai if suitable prem-ises can be found, in placeof the one in Bandra thathas been closed.

It may be recalled thatKarachi Bakery inMumbai was in the eye ofa nationalistic storm afterM a h a r a s h t r aNavanirmana Sena (MNS)protested against thename of the bakerydemanding that it bechanged as it had aPakistani ring to it. TheRamnani family, whichmigrated to India during

partition, and set up thebakery, originallybelonged to Karachi.

However, the MNS wouldnot hear anything of theemotional ties the familyhad with a city it leftbehind even as later gen-erations of the Ramnanis

began running the busi-ness. And the claims thatit was ‘successful’ in itscampaign against KarachiBakery, soon followed withMNS leader Haji SaifShaikh, who led the stir,taking credit on Twitterfor the closure of the bak-

ery in Mumbai.“Nothing could be far-

ther from the truth,”Rajesh Ramnani toldDeccan Chronicle here onThursday. “The lease peri-od was over and it couldnot be renewed due to costfactors. There is no otherreason for Karachi Bakeryclosing its operations inMumbai. We will continuelooking for appropriate pr-emises, and when it is fou-nd, we are willing to reo-pen there,” Ramnani said.

Though the MNS leadertweeted about KarachiBakery's closure inMumbai, there were sever-al others from that citywho mourned the shuttingdown. Several Mum-baikars took to Twitter toexpress their ‘grief ’ at itsclosure and recalled howthe outlet in Bandraremained an importantpart of their lives.

Delay hits pedestrians

Incomplete work of foot over bridge in Tarnaka causes inconvenience to passersby and shoppers, in Hyderabad onThursday. — S. SURENDER REDDY

Lab animals true heroesof Covid vaccine battle

Khammam traders offer cotton for `6,300/quintal

TALKS HELD OVER29 NATIONAL,STATE HIGHWAYSDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Senior officials of theforest department dis-cussed the constructionof 29 national and statehighways passingthrough forests, at areview meeting held atAranya Bhavan onThursday.

A.K. Jain, adviser tothe National HighwaysAuthority of India(NHAI), who was a partof the meeting, said thatthe work needed to beexpedited, with minimaldamage to flora andfauna.

“There were also discussions pertainingto greenery enhance-ment along the high-ways. It was decided toselect stretches of a fewkilometers along someroads and undertakemulti-level avenue plantation as part of thepilot project,” said anofficial.

BALU PULIPAKA | DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

First there were the mice,and some rats. Then cameSyrian hamsters and therabbits. And finally therewere the rhesus macaquemonkeys. The lakhs ofpeople receiving Covaxinto keep themselves safefrom Covid-19, and to helpstop the spread of the dis-ease in India and else-where in the world, havemuch to thank these ani-mals for.

Not just because theseanimals were the firstones to receive the jabs ofthe three vaccine candi-dates developed by scien-tists at the Bharat Biotech,along with Indian Councilfor Medical Research(ICMR).

Not just because the ani-mals were deliberatelyinjected with the SARS-CoV-2 to test the efficacy ofthe candidate vaccineswhile in their cages in ahigh security Level 4biosafety hazard lab at theNational Institute ofVirology (NIV) in Pune.

But because at the end ofthe study periods, each ofthem was put to sleep forever before necropsieswere performed on theirbodies by the scientistswho studied what thevirus did to the animalsand their organs, and howthe vaccine candidatesworked in controlling thevirus in their bodies.

All these animals,unknown to anyone out-side of the NIV lab or thescientists involved in thevaccine development — inhuman terms — made theultimate sacrifice of giv-ing up their lives so thevery humans who put

them through the trials,could keep themselvessafe from the virus thatprobably racked theirfragile bodies as the vac-cines and the virus battledit out in their organs.Inthree studies, scientistsfrom Bharat Biotech, NIVand ICMR provide greatdetail about how the trialwere conducted, and howthe immune response forthe candidate vaccines —three versions of the thenunder-development (dur-ing the peak of the lock-down in 2020) BharatBiotech’s vaccine — wasin these animals.

There is a reason whylab grown rats, mice,Syrian hamsters, and rab-bits are chosen for thestudies. As is also the casewith the rhesus macaques.The manner in which theimmune responses to avirus in these animalsdevelop, is very close tohow a human bodyresponds to a virus. Andtherein lies the value oftesting vaccine candidateson these animals even if itmeans injecting themwith the virus to studyhow their bodies respondand how the vaccineswork in controlling thevirus in them.

Once the trial is over,even if it is possible toextract tissue samplesfrom various organs with-out actually killing theanimals, their subsequent

upkeep and nursing them back to health is ahard task. Since these ani-mals are bred for theexpress purpose of testingin labs, with the exceptionof the monkeys, and once the tests are complet-ed they are of no furtheruse for any other tests, they are put to sleepin the most humane waypossible, according to asenior scientist wellversed with the strict pro-tocols that govern use ofanimals in labs for suchtests.

While the rats, mice, rab-bits and Syrian hamsterswere lab-bred, the rhesusmacaques that were usedin testing Covaxin candi-dates were caught in thewild in Maharashtra.

According to the studyon the tests conducted onthe monkeys, permissionfrom the Office ofPrincipal ChiefConservator of Forests(PCCF), Maharashtrastate, was obtained forcapturing 30 rhesusmacaques from the wild.Because a decline in themacaque population wasobserved in the permittedareas of Maharashtra dueto the habitat change“probably imposed by foodscarcity during the Covid-19 lockdown period ofIndia (March 25, 2020, tillMay 31, 2020),” 20 of them— 12 males and 8 females— “were captured usingexperienced monkey cat-chers,” the study reported.The research was conduct-ed in compliance with theguidelines laid down bythe Committee for the Pur-pose of Control And Sup-ervision of Experimentson Animals, Governmentof India, the study said.

DC CORRESPONDENTKHAMMAM, MARCH 4

Cotton farmers ofKhammam are happy overthe crossing the prices ofcotton more than its mini-mum support price of`5,820 per quintal.

The traders offered`6,300 per quintal cottonin the Khammam marketon Thursday. With this,the farmers showed inter-est to sell their produce inthe market instead of cot-ton lifting centres beingrun by the Cotton Corpo-ration of India. Nearly1500 bags of cotton havearrived on the market.

Gudavarti SrinivasaRao, a trader in theKhammam market, saidthat cotton production islessened by 25 per cent inIndia, which caused theincrease in cotton prices.The sudden jump of 356-kilo cotton bales jumpedto `43,000 from `40,000 inthe international market,

forcing the local traders tolift cotton at more price.The traders ofBangladesh, Pakistan,Vietnam and China arebuying cotton from India.The cloth-making compa-nies used to lift cottonevery year.

N. Nageswara Rao, afarmer from Mudigonda,said that the price wouldfetch their input costs.“We will come out fromour debts at this price”,

he said.On the other hand, the

chilli price touched`15,000 in the market, andthe traders offered `15,075initial price per quintalcotton. About 1900 bags ofchilli were sold inKhammam market onThursday. The farmersunions demanded the gov-ernment maintain theprice to bail out the chillifarmers who made cottonfarming debts.


The University ofHyderabad featured inthe 300-500 places inthe QS WorldUniversity SubjectRankings 2021 thatwere released byUnion education min-ister Dr RameshPokhriyal ‘Nishank’on Thursday.

The UoH depart-ment of English isnow in 251-300 ranks;the department ofchemistry is in the351-400 QS ranks.Closely followingthese are the life sci-ences department at501-550 and thephysics department at

551-600 ranks. The UoH also fea-

tured in 29 subjectsout of 51 narrow sub-jects under five broadsubject areas of artsand humanities, engi-neering and technolo-gy, life sciences andmedicine, natural sciences and socialsciences and management in theranking.

This year’s rankinganalysed nearly 14,000individual universityprogramme from 1,440

universities across 85locations around theworld. The universi-ties were assessedbased on four indica-tors of reputationamong academics,global employers, thenumber of researchcitations the universi-ty achieves per paperin that subject, andthe ‘H-index’, which measures theproductivity andimpact of each pub-lished scholar of theuniversity.

Karachi Bakery outlet in Hyderabad. — File Picture

● ● WHILE THE rats, mice,rabbits and Syrian ham-sters were lab-bred, therhesus macaques thatwere used in testingCovaxin candidates werecaught in the wild inMaharashtra.

● ● THE UNIVERSITIES were assessed basedon four indicators of reputation among aca-demics, global employers, the number ofresearch citations the university achievesper paper in that subject, and the ‘H-index’.

General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff, delivers the keynote address at thenational webinar, ‘Transformation Imperatives for the Indian Armed Forces’, at theCollege of Defence Management, Secunderabad on Thursday. — BY ARRANGEMENT

COUNTER POINT

Max: 35OCMin: 19OC RH: 31%Rainfall: Nil

Forecast: Partly cloudy sky.Maximum/Minimum

temp. 36/19ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDESarvari; Uttarayana

Tithi: Magha Bahula Saptami till7.57 pm

Star: Anuradha till 10.39 pmVarjyam: 4.01 to 5.33 (Saturday)

Durmuhurtam: 8.56 am to 9.43 am;12.51 pm to 1.38 pm

Rahukalam: 10.30 am to 12 noonHIJRI CALENDAR

Rajab 20, 1442 AHPRAYERS

Fajar: 5.32 amZohar: 12.38 pm

Asar: 4.44 pmMaghrib: 6.30 pm

Isha: 7.36 pmSUNSET TODAY 6.23 PM

SUNRISE TOMORROW 6.30 AMMOONRISE TODAY NA

MOONSET TODAY 11.05 AM

IN BRIEF

Hyderabad: The state record-ed 152 new Covid-19 cases

and two deaths from the dis-ease on Wednesday, a health

department bulletin said onThursday. The total numberof cases stands at 2,99,406

and the toll at 1,637. TheGHMC limits registered 25

new cases, Medchal-Malkajgiri 11 and Ranga

Reddy district 10. The totalactive cases stood at 1,948.

The bulletin said 41,201 sam-ples tested in the state.

State records 152 new Covid cases

Forces must transform toface new threats, says RawatDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

General Bipin Rawat,Chief of Defence Staff(CDS) underscored theimportance of transform-ing Indian armed forces inorder to stay relevant inthe fast-changing geopolit-ical environment. He alsopointed out that a keystrategic managementcompetence is the abilityto anticipate, prepare forand adapt to change.

He was delivering thekeynote address at thecommencement of thetwo-day national webinaron ‘Transformation: Impe-ratives for the IndianArmed Forces’, under theaegis of College ofDefence Management(CDM), Secunderabadhere on Thursday He stat-

ed that the country wasfacing a complex and chal-lenging security environ-ment, which dictatesenhancement of militarycapabilities and requiresaddressing voids in war-fighting abilities. He alsostressed the significanceof evolving doctrine, forcestructures, technology andsustenance to create afuture-ready military.

The webinar’s inauguralday had two major sessi-ons on ‘organisational im-peratives’ and ‘structuralimperatives’, which weredealt with by senior serv-ing and veteran officersfrom the three services.

As part of ‘organisation-al imperatives’ for trans-formation, several speak-ers laid stress on thechanges being sought inthe armed forces, through

the promotion of combi-ned approach in training,staffing and procurement.The importance of restru-cturing military comma-nds into joint theatre com-mands to achieve the desi-red level of joint opera-tions was also highlighted.Also discussed at lengthwere various models oftransformation to derivekey concepts as applicablein the Indian context.

The afternoon sessioncovered issues pertainingto ‘structural imperatives’highlighting a conceptualframework on theaterisa-tion for building future-ready force.

The final session con-cluded with deliberationson a suggested model forOceanic TheatreCommand (OTC), followedby an interactive session.

UoH features in QSworld varsity rankings


The TS Council of HigherEducation (TSCHE) onThursday said that the PGE-CET will be held from June 19to 22. The Post GraduateEngineering CommonEntrance Test will be conduct-ed in two sessions, from 10 amto 12 noon, and 2 pm to 4 pm, atHyderabad and Warangal.

The online application regis-tration process will begin onMarch 12, and the last date forsubmission without late fee isApril 30, whereas applicationswith late fee are allowed up toJune 15. The registration feefor application is set at `1,000,and `500 for candidates belong-ing to the Scheduled Caste andScheduled Tribes groups andpersons with disabilities.

The official notificationadded that the candidates willbe required to answer 120 ques-tions in two hours. Hall ticketswill be available to downloadfrom June 10 to June 18. Forfurther details, candidates canvisit pgecet.tsche.ac.in ortsche.ac.in.

Arrived cotton in Khammam market yard.


IN BRIEF

KCR FOR 7-DAYBUDGET SESSIONFROM MARCH 18


The budget session of theTelangana Legislature is like-ly to be held in the third weekof this month on the conclu-sion of the MLC elections.

It is believed that the govern-ment plans to cut short thesession to six or seven daysdue to the Coronavirus pan-demic. The original plan wasto hold the session in the sec-ond week of March.

Official sources said ChiefMinister K. ChandrashekarRao changed his decision inview of the MLC polls onMarch 14 as he is occupiedwith meetings to discuss pollstrategies. Moreover, he hasdeputed all the ministers aselection in-charges to work forthe victory of the party candi-dates and they would not beavailable for the session.

In this backdrop, it wasdecided to hold the budget ses-sion after the MLC elections,the results of which will bedeclared on March 17. Sourcessay that Rao is in favour of st-arting the budget session fromthe very next day.

Last year, it was decided tohave two-week budget sessionin March. However, it waseventually cut to nine days dueto Covid-19.

DASOJU ISSUESNEW CHALLENGE

TO KCR, KTRDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

AICC national spokespersonDr Sravan Dasoju onThursday challenged ChiefMinister K ChandrashekarRao and IT minister K.T. RamaRao to come up with concreteannouncements on ITIR proj-ect, job notification and regu-larisation of contract employ-ees. He said that the Congressparty candidates will with-draw from MLC elections, ifthe announcements are madein the form of GovernmentOrders (GOs).

Putting the ball in theircourt, Sravan demanded themto quit, if they failed to accepthis challenge.

He also said that the chal-lenge is also applicable to BJP,which is supposed to havegiven funds for the ITIR proj-ect. He wondered why neitherof the two had raised the ITIRissue in Parliament. Hedemanded leaders from TRSand BJP to persuade the mat-ter with Union IT MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad demand-ing its restoration or stage aprotest in front of the minis-ter’s residence in Delhi toprove their sincerity.

“I ask Chandrashekar Raoand Rama Rao to immediatelymake an announcement andissue GOs on implementingITIR project with state fundsirrespective of its estimatedbudget. They must issue anotification to fill up 1.93 lakhgovernment jobs and initiatethe process to regularise 1.20lakh contract employees,”Sravan said.

MLC meet

TRS Hyd-RR-Mbnr MLC graduates constituency candidate Surabhi Vani Devialong with home minister Mehmood Ali and minister, T. Srinivas Yadav at ameeting at Jalavihar in Hyderabad on Thursday. —P. SURENDRA

Where’s Kazipet coachfactory, KTR asks BJPSlams Centre for U-turn on setting up rly factoryDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

TRS working presidentand IT minister K.T.Rama Rao on Thursdaycame down heavilyagainst the Centre for itsfailure to set up a railcoach factory in Kazipetdespite an assurancemade in Parliament dur-ing the passage of APReorganisation Act,2014. Citing an RTI reply,Rama Rao slammed theCentre’s U-turn on theissue.

“A rail coach factory isthe constitutional rightof Telangana. BJP doesnot have any right toreject or make a U-turnon the promise made inParliament," the minis-ter said, adding that his

party MPs would fightfor it in the upcomingParliament sessions.“The BJP government atthe Centre has been tak-ing Telangana for a ride.It has exhibited its anti-Telangana stance by fail-ing to fulfill its promiseto set up a railway coachfactory,” he said.

He vehemently criti-cised the response givenby the Railway Minister,who, responding to a RTIpetition, said that therewas no need for a railcoach factory inTelangana.

Rama Rao said that theUnion Government,which had already can-celed the ITIR projectand curbed IT develop-ment in Hyderabad, hadmade it clear that there

was no need for the railcoach factory.

The minister demand-ed that the Centre shouldimmediately change itsdecision and come clearon the coach factory inKazipet. He recalled thatChief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao hadpersonally appealed toPrime MinisterNarendra Modi on thisissue.

He said that the stategovernment was makingefforts to realise thisdream.

As part of this, theyhad already procuredspace for the railwaycoach factory. He saidthat 150 acres of landhad been speciallyacquired and handedover to the Railways for

setting up the coach fac-tory.

Rama Rao said thatdespite repeated consul-tations on projects per-taining to Telangana,nothing worthwhile wascoming in from theCentre.

There is no response onthe State’s demands foreight pending railwaylines, two new lines,Kazipet wagon factory,Kazipet railway division,and setting up of a rail-way university.

The minister lamentedthat there was a big zerofor Telangana in theUnion budget. He saidthat even in the latestbudget, not a singlerupee has been allocatedfor railway projects inTelangana.


Governor Dr TamilisaiSoundararajan has beenselected for the prestigiousTop-20 Global Women ofExcellence award for 2020.

The international awardis given by the MultiEthnic Advisory TaskForce, Illinois headed byUS Congressman Danny K.Davis.

The jury, in a congratula-tory letter to DrSoundararajan, said: “Youhave been chosen to behonoured as you are anardent advocate ofwomen’s rights, gender

parity, and women’s equali-ty and your outstandingcontribution to the society.”

The award jury appreci-ated the efforts of DrSoundararajan in makinga difference to societythrough her efforts infighting for the women’srights and gender-equality

and empowerment.The award will be pre-

sented during the 9thCongressional Inter-national Women’s DayGala at Naperville, Illinois,the USA, on March 7.

Dr Soundararajan, whois currently holding addi-tional charge as Lt.Governor of Puducherry,will accept the honourthrough a virtual modefrom Puducherry.

Among the 19 otherawardees of this year’sawards included US Vice-President Kamala Harris.The other 18 awardees arefrom different countriesacross the globe. The

awardees were selectedfrom a host of nomina-tions all over the world.

The annual Con-gressional InternationalWomen’s Day celebrationsare aimed at celebratingthe social, economic, polit-ical, and cultural achieve-ments of women.

Dr Soundararajan hasbeen in public service forthe past four decades. Shestarted fighting for thewomen rights and genderparity since her medicalcollege days. Womenempowerment, besides thetribal welfare, health andeducation, is her subject ofspecial interest.

Gov. global woman of excellenceTamilisai to accept honour through virtual modeU.S. | AWARD

KAVITHA: KURUMACOMMUNITY WASGIVEN PRIORITYDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

TRS MLC KalvakuntlaKavitha on Thursday saidthat TRS had given morepriority to the Kuruma com-munity and Chief MinisterK. Chandrashekar Rao hadimplemented the sheep dis-tribution scheme for them.

Kavitha said the CM wasimplementing welfare pro-grammes for the GollaKuruma community, whichhad not been done by anygovernment in the past.

Kavitha was speaking tocommunity leaders fromNizamabad and Kamareddydistricts here. She saidsheep distribution, whichwas stopped due to the pan-demic, will be restartedsoon.

HC JUDGE ASKSACB TO REPLY ONREVANTH’S PLEA


Justice K. Lakshman ofthe Telangana High Courtasked the ACB to reply to acriminal revision petitionfiled by A. Revanth Reddy,working president of thestate Congress, in which hechallenged the ACB courtruling which had rejectedhis argument that thecash-for-vote case did notcome under its purview.The special court for ACBcases had dismissed thepetition filed by RevanthReddy.

● ● THE AWARD will bepresented during the 9thCongressionalInternational Women’sDay Gala at Naperville,Illinois, the USA, onMarch 7.

Uttam: KCR opposedairport for Warangal DC CORRESPONDENTWARANGAL, MARCH 4

Telangana PradeshCongress Committee(TPCC) president N.Uttam Kumar Reddy onThursday alleged thatChief Minister K. Ch-andrashekar Rao hadopposed the establish-ment of the airport atMamnoor in Warangal.He also slammed theBJP government at theCentre for not estab-lishing the RailwayCoach Factory at Kaz-ipet which was prom-ised in the AndhraPradesh Reorga-nisation Act, 2014.

He said these projectscould have created hun-dreds of jobs for thelocal youth. He criti-cised the TRS for notasking for those proj-ects and the BJP for notsanctioning them

The TPCC chief saidit Chandrashekar Raowas obstructing devel-opment work in thestate including the ITInvestment Region,Kazipet Coach Factoryand Bayyaram SteelFactory among others.He alleged that the TRSgovernment is interest-ed only in projects thatbring commissions toChandrashekar Rao.

During a meeting aspart of the campaignfor the Nalgonda-War-angal-Khammam grad-uates’ Legislative Cou-ncil constituency elec-tion at Kakatiya Univ-ersity, Uttam KumarReddy, along with Con-gress candidate Ram-ulu Naik, interactedwith the students. TheTPCC chief recalledthe role played by stu-dents of KakatiyaUniversity during theTelangana movement.

However, he said noneof the students, whomade huge sacrificesand risked theircareers, benefited fromthe formation of thestate.

The ChandrashekarRao family had grabbedall the benefits andencroached uponresources. He said thatthe TRS governmentdelayed the withdrawalof cases registered dur-ing the Telangana agi-tation which preventedthousands of studentsfrom applying for gov-ernment jobs. Further,he said. no specialexemption was given inrecruitment drives forthose who participatedin the statehood move-ment.

Uttam Kumar Reddysaid that the TRS gov-ernment reduced theoverall budget for theeducation sector anddid not appoint a singleteacher or non-teach-ing staff in the lastseven years.

District CongressCommittee president N.Rajender Reddy, NorthTelangana districtincharge EnagalaVenkatram Reddy,TPCC members B.Srinivas Rao were pres-ent among others.

● ● UTTAM SAID thatthe TRS governmentreduced the overallbudget for the educa-tion sector and didnot appoint a singleteacher or non-teach-ing staff in the lastseven years.

● ● REVANTH HAD chal-lenged the ACB court rul-ing which had rejected hisargument that the cash-for-vote case did notcome under its purview.

N. Uttam Kumar Reddy

Hyderabad: The DirectorGeneral of Defence Estates

(DGDE) on Wednesdaywrote to the heads of 56

Cantonment boards askingthem to nominate one mem-

ber for those boards whichdo not have an elected body

or whose term has lapsed.This should be completed by

March 19. It might berecalled that the term of the

elected representatives ofthe Secunderabad

Cantonment Board hadended on February 10.

SCB asked fornominations

SHRADHANJALI

Late Shri T. SAMBIAH GOUD’S51st ANNIVERSARY

DOB: 1928 DOD: 05-03-1970Inserted by:

Meoan Organics - Shamshabad

51st ANNIVERSARY



Meoan Natural & Healthy Products

REMEMBRANCE



Varasilia Estates - Shamshabad

51st ANNIVERSARY



Venkateswara Filling StationsKushaiguda

REMEMBRANCE



Tripura Vijayee ConstructionsSec’bad

IN LOVING MEMORY OF


DOB: 1928 DOD: 05-03-1970“You are always in our hearts”

- Mr. & Mrs. Shiva - Parvathi GoudAnd all Family Members

IN LOVING MEMORY



Sai Pushpa Restaurant & BarBoiguda, Tadi Society

REMEMBRANCE



Uma Maheswara TalkiesSrisailam

IN MEMORIAM



TPS HOUSING PVT. LTD. - Sec’bad

“...and the dead in Christ will rise first.”1Thessalonians 4:16

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

EDWARD P.Y.S. VINAYASAGARD.O.B: 06-06-1938 D.O.D: 05-03-2020Unwavering grit and astute morality

made you untouchablePeerless skill and drive for

excellence made you inimitableYour departure left us with an

immeasurable voidCherishing sweet memories we bide

time and tideTill we meet again...

Inserted by: Wife, Children &Grand Children.

(S/2021/D01306)

1st DEATH ANNIVERSARYIN LOVING MEMORY OF

Late PAMELA TULLYW/o Late Gregory Tully

DOB: 29-07-1954 DOD: 05-03-2020Miss you Mummy!!!

From: Leonard, Amber,Gregory Keanu & Tamara

Cell: 8978553581, 7032736855,7396393887

(S/2021/D01301)

7th DEATH ANNIVERSARYIN LOVING MEMORY OF

VATTI LOURDU REDDYA day never passes without your Memory.

You live in our hearts forever.With Love - Wife: Y. Aruna

Daughter: ShravyaSon-in-law: Mohit Krishna

(S/2021/D01302)

10th ANNIVERSARY

B. DEBORAH ELIAS“I am the Resurrectoin and the Life. Theone believes in me will live, even thoughthey die.” John 14:27.

Inserted by Husband: B. EliasSons: Mintu & Rinku,

Father: V.A. Levi, Sisters & Brothers(S/2021/D01303)

1st ANNIVERSARY

CANJEEVARAMARUNACHALAM MUDILIAR

DOB: 17-09-1921 DOD: 12-02-2020Your life is an inspiration to all of us.

Your memories will be always in our hearts.Inserted by: Great Grand Children,

Sons, Daughters, Sons-in-law,Daughters-in-law, Grand Daughters,Grand Sons & Rao Saheb Families.

(S/2021/D01307)

OBITUARY

Sri KOSHETTY ASHOKDOB: 24th June 1956 DOD: 04-03-2021

Your sweet memories are foreverin our hearts....

Inserted by:Ganga Vijay Kumar, Kusuma &

Sons: G. Rakesh, G. Nagaraju &Daughters: N. Manjula & B. Laxmi &

Grand ChildrenPh.No. 9849668544

BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE

FREDERICK D’SOUZAWe miss you

By Wife: EvelynBrother: Mario, Synora & Family

Children: John & VictoriaMelisa & Leonard Marilyn

Grand Children: Mikyle Frederick,Rafael & Rudolph


SHORT TAKESSTATE PERMITS

MEET FOR REDDYCOMMUNITY


The state government onThursday informed theTelangana High Court that thepolice had given permission tosome associations belongingto the Reddy community tohold their meeting at PetBasheerbad of Medchal dis-trict on March 7.

In a petition, the ReddySanghala Ikya Vedika com-plained of a delay in the policesanctioning permission andsought the court’s interven-tion. Government pleader forthe home departmentinformed the court that per-mission had been accorded.

KCR hints at Yadadritemple opening in May

GHMC REMOVESHIMMATPURAENCROACHMENTDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

GHMC officials removed anencroachment atHimmatpura following theintervention of CharminarMLA Mumtaz Ahmed Khan.The civic body had acquiredthe land for widening of toadon the Shalibanda-ChandulalBaradari stretch. However,some landowners tried tograb the acquired land evenafter receiving the compen-sation amount.

About 165 properties on thestretch were fully or partial-ly razed to widen the stretchto 80 feet. The demolition hadstarted in 2018 and almost allproperties that were affectedhad been acquired except fortwo or three. However, someowners were trying to grab10-20 feet of the land that washanded over by installingkiosks and sheets. MumtazAhmed Khan andShalibanda corporatorMustafa Ali Muzaffarinspected the stretch alongwith GHMC officials andremoved the encroachments.He said that as part of PhaseI of the Strategic RoadDevelopment Programme(SRDP), the road waswidened and compensationwas awarded as per the pre-vailing market rates. It is notfair to encroach after receiv-ing compensation.

Meanwhile, the MLAinstructed officials to startlaying CC road to check fur-ther encroachments.

HC pulls up state fordelay in PPs postingsDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

The Telangana HighCourt on Thursday obs-erved that the governm-ent must be held respon-sible for the delay in jus-tice dispensation in thestate’s criminal courts.

Citing informationthat only 212 public pro-secutors (PPs) wereappointed to the 570criminal courts in thestate, the court askedhow speedy justice waspossible. A division ben-ch comprising Chief Ju-stice Hima Kohli andJustice B. Vijaysen Red-dy expressed serious co-ncern over the unduedelay in appointment ofthe PPs and sought imm-ediate action to fill theposts.

The bench also askedthe government to makesure that the post ofdirector of prosecutionsis filled by the govern-ment and a compliancereport to that effect isfiled before the court byApril 1.

The bench said it wasnot impressed by thesubmissions made bythe government pleader

for home department,Srikanth Reddy, on theappointment of PPs. Hehad informed the courtthat the government hastaken the initiative inappointing 212 publicprosecutors against 414vacancies.

“Advocate General B.S.Prasad had held elabo-rate discussions withthe home secretary andother officials, due towhich the appointmentshave materialised andefforts are being made tofill up the remainingvacancies,” SrikanthReddy had said.

Reacting to this, ChiefJustice Hima Kohli exp-ressed surprise that sixmonths were “not eno-ugh” for the governmentto complete the processof appointment of PPs.The last such order wasissued in September2020 and now the gov-ernment came beforethe court and soughtmore time for makingfresh appointments.

“Such undue delaywill deprive the needy ofjustice as public prose-cutors formed the back-bone of the criminal jus-tice system and the

entire trial of criminalcases depended on theassistance rendered bythe PPs to the court.Non-appointment ofPPs delays justice. Howlong will deliberationsgo on? We want results,not the meetings,” CJmade it clear.

Not satisfied with thecontention of the gov-ernment pleader that212 public prosecutorshave been appointed asof now and only 200 po-sts remained to be filled,CJ Kohli observed that50 per cent of vacanciesremaining vacant wasno small matter. Itmeant one pubic prose-cutor managing twocourts. “There are 570criminal courts inTelangana,” the CJnoted and pointed outthat the present situa-tion delayed trials andjustice too is delayed.

The court directed thegovernment to providethe infrastructure likelaptop and proper train-ing to public prosecu-tors as to how prosecu-tion is done and theinvestigation processtaken forward whenthey are appointed.

KANIZA GARARI | DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Around 54 per cent of peo-ple living in the GHMClimits have developedantibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caus-es Covid-19, and a majori-ty of them are asympto-matic carriers.

Nearly 9,000 sampleswere collected in the firsttwo weeks of January in30 wards of the GHMCbefore the launch of thevaccine to estimate theprevalence of antibodies.

The Centre for Cellularand Molecular Biology(CCMB) and the NationalInstitute of Nutrition(NIN) along with a phar-maceutical company part-nered for the project.Samples of 300 people,aged between 10 and 90years, were collected fromeach ward.

While one ward showed40 per cent of respondentshad developed antibodies,it was 70 per cent inanother. It was found thatwomen had higher anti-bodies at 56 per cent thanmen at 53 per cent. Thoseaged above 70 years hadonly 49 per cent antibod-ies indicating that theyhave taken maximum pro-tection and have not beenexposed to theCoronavirus.

Dr Rakesh Mishra,director of CCMB, said,“Antibody creation in thepeople of the city indi-cates that a natural pro-tection is created by theimmune system. Manypeople said that they hadno symptoms of the dis-ease implying that theywere asymptomatic. Tokill the disease, it isimportant that the nextstep of vaccination is car-ried out as it will givecomplete protection fromthe virus, which is stillaround. If we let ourguard down, then it will

pose a big challenge.”With another lockdown

not affordable for peopleand the economy, scien-tists urge that the levels ofantibodies are showing apositive trend in fightingthe pandemic, which hasto be scaled further.

Dr A. Laxmaiah, a scien-tist at National Institute ofNutrition (NIN), pointsout “We carried out sur-veys for antibodies in 2020and it started with 0.3 percent and was scaled to 25per cent. This is the firstcity in the country whoseantibody levels have beensampled and studied. Ifwe continue in this man-ner we will be close toachieving herd immunityfor Hyderabad.”

Households with Covid-19 positive cases were alsosampled and it was foundthat they had the maxi-mum antibodies at 78 percent. Testing of sampleswas also carried out insewage treatment plants.It showed that virus pres-ence had declined.

Meanwhile, samples arebeing collected forgenome sequencing tocheck for new variants.The threat of new vari-ants is constant and scien-tists state that they willhave to continue checkingsamples to quickly identi-fy new ones before theyspread further.

CM says temple renovation works nearing completionDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao onThursday hinted at thepossibility of reopeningthe renovated Yadadritemple complex in May.

He said that the renova-tion works have almostcome to an end and stepsshould to be taken tocomplete them beforeMay so that temple couldbe inaugurated.

Rao was speaking afterinspecting the works atthe Sri LakshmiNarasimha Swamy tem-ple atop Yadadri hill forclose to six hours.

He went around themain complex, mada

streets, way to queue,mandapam, exhibitioncomplexes, Brahmo-tsavam mandapam,queue line facilities,Rajagopuram, construc-tion progress ofShivalayam, SwamiPushkarini, constructionof bathing ghats and con-struction of staircases,among other areas.

The Chief Ministersaid that the compoundwall of the temple shouldlook appealing and be

dotted with paintingsfrom ancient scriptures.He suggested the use ofbras. He wanted sculp-tures at the temple com-plex depicting PrahladaCharitam andNarasimha Charithamand the queue line com-plex moved closer to thecompound wall. Hedirected that roads lead-ing to the queue linesshould be wide and on ahigher elevation.

Rao said that thereshould not be anyobstructions at the mainentrance so that devotescan view the abhishekaand other pujas in thesanctum sanctorum evenfrom a distance. Heexamined the dwaja

sthamba, idol of LordHanuman and Tanjorepaintings displayedthere, Andal Alwar tem-ple, and Parakamani.

He said after a darshanof the main deity, dar-shan of Kshetra Palakashould be done as per thetraditional practices.

The Chief Minister ins-pected the completed off-ice of the executive offi-cer, deities’ palanquinand mirror mandapam,and was very impressedwith the railing work.

Rao said that if a needarises, officials under theleadership of CM’s spe-cial secretary BhoopalReddy should visit thespecial mall constructedwith lights.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao takes stock of the works at the Lakshminarasimha Swamy Temple inYadadri on Thursday. — BY ARRANGEMENT

D. SIVA RAMI REDDI | DCKURNOOL, MARCH 4

The Sanghameswara tem-ple at the confluence ofseven rivers in Kurnool dis-trict is becoming visible asthe water in the Krishnariver and Srisailam damrecedes.

The temple remains underwater for about 222 daysevery year when theKrishna river is in full flow.Devotees can enter the tem-ple and offer prayers to theShivalinga only for aboutfour months in a year.

Temple priest TelakapalliRaghunatha Sarma said

that water needs to recedeby another eight feet beforepeople can enter the temple.“I am hopeful we can enterthe temple in the 10 days.The sludge will have to becleaned up,” he said.

Right now, only the gopu-ram of the temple is visible.

The temple began gettingsubmerged after the con-struction of the Srisailamdam in 1980. It was not relo-cated like many other tem-

ples in the area. It remainedhidden under water formore than 20 years andresurfaced in 2003.

The temple priest saidthat the Linga, made ofneem wood, was installedby the Pandavas after theyvisited the Srisailam Mall-ikarjuna temple. The Shivalinga is said to havebeen brought from Kashiand consecrated at the confluence of the Krishnaand Tungabhadra and otherfive tributaries. The idol was named Sangam-eshwaram after theSangama or confluence ofrivers.

Temple in Kurnool resurfacesSanghameswara temple remains under water for 222 daysANNUAL | EVENT

COPS RECOVER 58LOST, MISPLACED

MOBILE PHONES

GOVT CHILDREN’SHOME GOES OUT

OF REACHANUDEEP CEREMILLA | DCWARANGAL, MARCH 4

The Government Children’sHome for Boys located inAutonagar in Warangal hasbeen shifted to Mahbubabaddistrict after three inmates es-caped. It had been pointed outthat the children’s home waslocated in the same building asthe juvenile home linked to theWarangal Central Prison.

As a result, the departmentfor women, children shifted theinmates of the children’s hometo Hyderabad and recently tooka decision to place them tem-porarily in the governmentchildren’s home inMahbubabad until a perma-nent building is constructedfor the juvenile home.

The government observationhome building meant for chil-dren in conflict with the law isin a dilapidated condition. Thegovernment children’s homewas temporarily shifted outfive years ago. Since then, bothsets of children have beensharing the building.

While the latest decisionaddressed the issue of both thehomes being run on the samecampus, the officials workingunder various departmentsdealing with children’s issuesincluding child protection,child welfare, ChildLine, pol-ice, and NGOs complained thatshifting the home toMahbubabad would cause inc-onvenience as Warangal is theheadquarters for 16 districts.They asked why the juvenilehome could not be shifted tothe rented accommodation.

They call it unjustified totake away the children’s hometo the remote Mahbubabad dis-trict as access is not as easy asin Warangal. Sources who didnot wish to be named said thedecision was made after someofficials contended that thereare many children rescued bythe railway and civil police inMahbubabad who needed careand protection.


The crime team of theAmberpet police recovered 58mobile phones that were lostor misplaced at various places.The value of the phones wasplaced at `9.5 lakh. Among the58 complainants who had losttheir cell phones, 10 came for-ward to claim property onThursday in the presence ofcity police commissionerAnjanu Kumar. The remainingphones would be handed overto the Amberpet police stationfor their owners to claimthem. Under the supervisionof Amberpet inspector B.Mohan Kumar, the team wasled by additional inspector D.Bikshapathi and G. Shiva-nandam, deputy sub-inspector.

TENSION LOOMSAS STUDENTSTEST COVID +VEIN KARIMNAGARDC CORRESPONDENTKARIMNAGAR, MARCH 4

After 10 months of shut-down due to the Covid-19pandemic, the govern-ment took the decision toreopen schools and col-leges last month.However, with some stu-dents testing positive forthe Coronavirus in someschools, the parents,school staff and studentsare worried.

A ninth class student ofthe Zilla Parishad HighSchool of Jammikuntatested positive onThursday. The teachersnoticed the student suf-fering from cold andcough and took him to thegovernment hospital andconducted the rapid anti-gen test.

When the test was posi-tive, they shifted four stu-dents who sat with him inthe class for tests but allthe four tested negative.

Around 277 students arestudying in the school,about 160 of them inClasses 6 to 10. Out of 70students studying inClass 9, 50 are attendingschool. Some of them arestaying at BC and SC gov-ernment hostels.

Coming to know aboutthat a students tested pos-itive, health officialsrushed to the schools andconducted a temporaryhealth camp and tested allthe students and schoolstaff. The results were yetto be announced.

Elsewhere, officials ofthe education departmentclosed the governmentschool in Ailapur villageof Korutla mandal inJagtial district when aClass 9 student, the headmaster and a teacher test-ed positive for Covid-19 onWednesday.

One of the teachersworking in a governmentschool told DeccanChronicle that the man-agement of the schoolswere following Covid-19guidelines, allowing 20students in a classroom,sanitising the rooms,insisting that studentswear face masks andmaintain physical dis-tancing.

Study: Over halfof city residents are asymptomatic

Says, govt responsible for delay in justice

● ● NEARLY 9,000 sampleswere collected in the firsttwo weeks of January in 30wards of the GHMC beforethe launch of the vaccineto estimate the prevalenceof antibodies.

● ● WITH ANOTHER lockdo-wn not affordable for peo-ple and the economy, sci-entists urge that the levelsof antibodies are showinga positive trend in fightingthe pandemic, which hasto be scaled further.

● ● THE DEMOLITION hadstarted in 2018 and almostall properties that wereaffected had beenacquired except for two orthree.

● ● THE CM said that thecompound wall of thetemple should lookappealing and be dottedwith paintings fromancient scriptures.

Sanghameswara temple at the confluence of seven riversin Kurnool district.


Give data of illegalconstruction: HC

Indore tops the list ofsmaller cities in India

ADANIS KEEN ONGANGAVARAMPORT

From Page 1

Among the cities with onemillion population, Punecame second followed byAhmedabad, Chennai, Su-rat, Navi Mumbai, Coimb-atore, Vadodara, Indore,and Greater Mumbai. Inthe less than a million po-pulation category, Shimlawas ranked the highest inEoLI, followed by Bhuba-neshwar, Silvassa, Kaki-nada, Salem, Vellore, Gan-dhinagar, Gurugram, Dav-angere, and Tiruchi-rappalli. Under the MPI,in the million+ category,Indore was ranked at thetop followed by Surat andBhopal. In the less than amillion category, NewDelhi Municipal Councilhas emerged as the leader,followed by Tirupati inAndhra Pradesh, andGandhinagar.

The MPI rankings weredetermined through thestudy of services, finance,policy, technology andgovernance, offered by themunicipal bodies govern-ing the cities. The EoL,according to the Centre, isan assessment tool thatevaluates the quality oflife and the impact of var-ious initiatives for urban

development. It provides a comprehen-

sive understanding of pa-rticipating cities acrossIndia based on quality oflife, economic-ability of acity, and its sustainability

and resilience, and seeksto simplify and evaluatethe complexities in localgovernance practices andpromote the ethos of tran-sparency and accountability.

From Page 1

“After obtaining the stay,they would complete theconstruction. Later, thebuilders would apply forBRS and get their con-structions regularised.They never file vacatestay petitions against theprotection being given tothe violators. This is prac-tice going on,” JusticeVijaysen Reddy told ChiefJustice Kohli.

Justice Reddy explainedto the CJ that the fieldstaff at the GHMC doesnot come into the pictureeven as their role is piv-otal in restraining per-sons from resorting to ille-gal constructions. Rather,on the negative side, theyalert violators as to whenthe inspection would beconducted and who com-plained against the ongo-ing illegal construction.These persons are so cru-cial that they too shouldbe made accountable,Justice Reddy told to theChief Justice.

Taking note, JusticeKohli inquired about thevigilance department ofthe GHMC and asked wh-ether the GHMC ever tookthe action against the st-aff and tried to prosecutethe violators or any penalaction was initiated. TheCJ asked for the details.

Stressing that ultimatelythe buck should stop atthe table of the senior offi-cers, the CJ said delega-tion of authority does notmean abrogation of auth-ority, and she directed thezonal commissioners tofile their individual affi-davits in a tabulated form with all the informa-tion.

The directions are thatall the six zonal commis-sioners in the GHMC,responsible for 30 circlesand 150 wards, file theirindividual affidavits, dulyfurnishing the details ofhow many illegal con-structions they had iden-tified under their jurisdic-

tion till the end of 2019.They must state the

number of cases of viola-tions they booked in eachcircle and how many ille-gal constructions havebeen demolished and thenumber and details of theprosecution initiated inthose circles.

They must also statehow many personsapproached the courtsand obtained a stay ondemolition orders andwhat steps the officialstook to vacate such stayorders. The court directedthem to file their affidav-its furnishing these det-ails in a tabulated form.

The court also directed

the municipal commis-sioner of Peddamberpetmunicipality of RangaReddy district to submitthe details of that munici-pality. These directionshave been issued by thedivision bench in a peti-tion filed by one Gottim-ukula Nageshwar Raoseeking a prayer not todemolish the unautho-rised structure he had rai-sed on a house in Kuk-atpally mandal. The courthas converted the petitionas a PIL.

Data should be submit-ted to the court withinfour weeks and the nexthearing was fixed forApril 15.

From Page 1

“There is every reasonfor the original promot-ers to keep the companyat a higher value,”sources in the port sec-tor pointed out. Ganga-varam with its location-al advantage and deeperlevels is considered to bethe least expensive onmaintenance.

On the financial front,the port is debt-free andearned a net profit of`516 crore in 2019-20 fis-cal against a turnover of`1,082 crore. The compa-ny also has cash reser-ves of nearly `500 crore.

Earlier, the Adanigroup had bought a 75per cent stake inKrishnapatnam port.

STATE QUESTIONS CENTRE’S SURVEY METRICS ON HYD


Reacting to the survey ofa department of theCentre, in whichHyderabad does not find aplace in the top rankings,a high ranking official inthe state government said,“(We are) totally baffled.We have been rankednumber one in Mercer’sQuality of Living Index inIndia since 2015 till datefor five years in a row. Forus, not to find Hyderabadeven in the top 10 feelsweird. We could haveunderstood if we wereranked as one of the topthree, or even top five.”

The official, scanningthe entire list, said,“Looking at cities which

have been rated above usin this survey, we can sayit is almost bordering onbeing ridiculous as far asrankings go.”

“We were ranked num-ber one amongst all themetros in the last fewyears in the Swacch rank-ings conducted and relea-sed by the Central govern-ment. It, therefore, comesas a rude shock. There issurely more to the motiva-tions behind the surveythan meets the eye. It can-not be taken at facevalue,” the bureaucratsaid.

“We feel it is very unfor-tunate that such rankingsare not based on transpar-ent criteria and are donealways in a subjective ma-nner,” the officer added.

Komatireddy pointsto an illegal buildingDC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD. MARCH 4

Congress MPKomatireddy VenkataReddy on Thursday tookto Twitter to expose inac-tion against an illegalstructure at Turkayamjalon the city outskirts.

Apparently taking a cuefrom the Telangana HighCourt’s crackdownagainst illegal structures,the Nalgonda MP is saidto have written a letter toChief Justice Hima Kohliseeking her interventionin the matter as theauthorities concernedhad failed to take action.

Maintaining that HotelTulip Grand was an ille-gal structure and builtwithout valid permissionfrom the municipal andfire authorities, VenkataReddy said that no one,from the commissioner oflocal municipality to min-ister K.T. Rama Rao, hadacted on his complaintsfor the past six months.

He drew the attention of

the highest judicial bodyin the state to a minister(Sabita Indra Reddy) andan MLA (ManchireddyKishan Reddy) attendingthe inaugural function ofthe hotel housed in anunauthorised building.

The senior Congressleader in several Tweetshighlighted what healleged was discrimina-tion of the governmentagainst the poor.Referring to a December,2020, incident in Sircillamunicipality, he said thata farmer died by suicideafter local authoritiesdemolished the founda-tions of a structure hewas trying to build on hisown after repeatedattempts to obtain a per-mission to build a smallhouse on 200 squareyardds of land had failed.“While a poor farmercommitted suicide, therich will be celebratingthe inauguration of anillegal structure in agrand way,” VenkataReddy said.

From Page 1

A comparison of PublicService Commissions ofdifferent states obtainedby the Chief Ministerrevealed that TSPSCstood at the top by fillingup 30,594 vacancies in sixyears. West Bengal PSCcould fill only 13,262vacancies during thesame period, while thefigure in Odisha is 9,591and that of Chhattisgarhat 7,553.

In terms of governmentjobs that have been pro-vided, the Telangana gov-ernment tops havingfilled 1,26,641 posts from2014 to 2020. Incidentally,none of the other states

managed to touch the six-digit mark. Next in lineHaryana governmentfilled 85,100 vacancies,Tamil Nadu 55,863 whileKarnataka governmentrecruited a mere 40,009personnel in six years.

Armed with the data,TRS leaders and cadrewill undertake door-to-door campaign in thenext two weeks with apromise to fill another50,000 vacancies in vari-ous government depart-ments soon after MLCelections.

TS filled 1.26Ljobs in six years

● ● TELANGANA GOVERN-MENT tops having filled1,26,641 posts from 2014to 2020.

NATION pg 7DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

SHORT TAKES

SINHA’S APPOINTMENT

CHALLENGED

BOMB SCARE ATTAJ MAHAL;

CALLER DETAINED

VIRTUAL SUMMITWITH SWEDEN

TODAYDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 4

Prime Minister NarendraModi will hold a virtual sum-mit with his Swedish counter-part Stefan Lofven on Fridayduring which the two leaders“will hold comprehensive dis-cussions on the entire spec-trum of the bilateral relationsand exchange views on region-al and global issues includingfurther strengthening of coop-eration in the post-Covid era”.

Around 250 Swedish compa-nies are “actively operating inIndia in various sectors suchas defence, health and life sci-ences, auto industry, cleantechnology, heavy machineryand equipment”.

In a statement, the MEA said,“This will be the fifth interac-tion between the two leaderssince 2015. Prime MinisterShri Narendra Modi had visit-ed Stockholm in April 2018 forthe First India NordicSummit. (Swedish) PrimeMinister Stefan Löfven hadvisited India in February 2016for the special Make in Indiaweek. Earlier, the two leadershad met on the sidelines of theUN General Assembly inSeptember, 2015. In April 2020,the two Prime Ministers had atelephonic conversation to dis-cuss the situation arising outof the Covid-19 pandemic.”

New Delhi/Agra, Mar 4: TheTaj Mahal complex in Agrawas vacated on Thursdaymorning following a hoaxbomb call, police said.

The caller, identified asVimal Kumar Singh, has beendetained for questioning inFirozabad, AdditionalDirector General (ADG) ofPolice, Agra zone, A SatishGanesh said.

Singh called the 112 emer-gency response number of theUttar Pradesh police at around9 am and claimed that a bombwas kept inside the monumentthat is conserved by theArchaeological Survey ofIndia (ASI) and protected byarmed personnel of theCentral Industrial SecurityForce (CISF).

The police immediatelyinformed the CISF personnel,who asked the visitors tovacate the premises of theiconic 17th-century monumentand launched anti-sabotagechecks around 9:15 am.

Nothing suspicious wasfound during the checks at themonument, a CISF officer saidin Delhi.

An initial probe revealedthat Singh is a resident ofPatiyali in Kasganj and waspresently staying in his mater-nal grandmother’s house inOkhra village in the Narkhiarea of Firozabad, the ADGsaid. “Prima facie it seemsthat he (Singh) is mentallyunstable and is probablyunder treatment. We are prob-ing why he made such a call.The Taj Mahal was reopenedfor visitors after about an hourand 45 minutes,” he added.

PARMOD KUMAR | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 4

The NGO Common Cause onThursday moved the SupremeCourt challenging the appoint-ment of Praveen Sinha, aGujarat cadre IPS officer, as aninterim Director of theCentral Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI). Sinha isalready working in the investi-gating agency as AdditionalDirector – a number two posi-tion in the organizational hier-archy.

The office of the CBIDirector fell vacant upon theretirement of Rishi KumarShukla on February 2.

Seeking an urgent directionto the Centre to complete theprocess of selection of a regu-lar CBI Director, the NGOCommon Cause has contendedthat the appointment of inter-im Director was contrary tothe provision of the bypassingthe Delhi Special PoliceEstablishment Act underwhich the CBI functions,

The NGO has challenged thegovernment’s February 3 deci-sion to appoint Praveen Sinhaas interim Director till theappointment of a new Directoror until further orders,

In its petition, the NGO saysthat the unwillingness of thegovernment to institute atransparent and accountablesystem impairs the right ofthe people since the CBI is cur-rently probing cases involvingrampant corruption in highplaces in the country.

PARMOD KUMAR | DCwith agency inputsNEW DELHI, MARCH 4

The Supreme Court onThursday favoured thescreening of programmson over-the-top (OTT) plat-forms like Amazon Primeand Netflix while express-ing concern that at timesprogrammes are withporn contents.

“We are of the view thatthere should be somescreening of such pro-grams. At times they areshowing pornographytoo”, said a bench compris-ing Justice AshokBhushan and Justice R.Subhash Reddy.

Solicitor General TusharMehta appearing for theCentre told the court that“They are showing filthythings with abuses too.”

The top court’s observa-tion came in the course ofthe hearing of a plea byAparna Purohit, the com-mercial head of AmazonPrime Video in India,seeking anticipatory bailin a case filed by the UttarPradesh government root-ed in the web seriesTandav.

Aparna Purohit hasmoved the top courtagainst Allahabad HighCourt’s order refusing herthe anticipatory bail in thecase.

Having expressed its dis-pleasure over the wayobjectionable contentincluding pornographywas being shown on OTTplatforms without priorscreening, the court askedthe Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta appearingfor the Centre to placebefore it the recently noti-fied InformationTechnology Rules, whichprovide for regulation ofcontent on OTT platforms.

While senior lawyerMukul Rohatgi appearingfor Aparna Purohit,argued that it was about“freedom of speech andexpression”, the benchcountered that it was

about “creating balance”.Tandav, a political

thriller starring Saif AliKhan, Dimple Kapadiaand Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub,was launched as anAmazon exclusive inJanuary and all its nineepisodes have been com-pleted since there was nocourt stay against itsstreaming.

Unlike the movies, pro-duced in India or abroad,require the censor board’sclearance before release tothe theatres, but the OTTthat was evolved in thewake of the complete lock-down due to the pandemic,there is no control on thecontents of the pro-

grammes shown on them.It was in the wake of this

that the governmentframed regulations to reg-ulate them.

Meanwhile, Informationand BroadcastingMinister PrakashJavadekar on Thursdaymet representatives fromthe Over the Top (OTT)industry and said theyhave welcomed the gov-ernment's new guidelines.

He also said that the OTTindustry will partner withthe ministry towards mak-ing the experience on theplatform better for audi-ence.

“Had a fruitful meetingwith representatives from

OTT industry andexplained the provisionsof the OTT rules. All rep-resentatives have wel-comed the new guidelines.The ministry and industrywill partner together tomake the OTT experiencebetter for all audience,”Javadekar tweeted.However, more detailsabout the meeting werenot available immediately.

The government had onFebruary 25 notified newrules and guidelines forOTT platforms and digitalnews media, requiringthem to make public theirdetails and having a griev-ance redressal system inplace.

SC favours screening of shows on OTT platformsOTT platforms are showing filthy things with abuses, Centre tells top courtCONTENT | CURBS

GILVESTER ASSARY | DC THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MAR. 4

The state unit of BJP onThursday announced thatMetroman E. Sreedharanwould be the party’s chiefministerial face in theforthcoming assemblyelections in the state to beheld on April 6.

BJP state president Mr KSurendran made theannouncement whileaddressing a public meet-ing in Pathanamthitta dis-trict on Thursday in con-nection with his VijayYatra.

“If given a chance, underMetroman, Kerala will seea development culture likenever before,” he said.

He said that a sizable sec-tion of people in Keralawant a personality like ESreedharan to become thechief minister of the state.

“In the present circum-stances when corruptionis rampant and develop-ment projects have hit aroadblock, a person ofSreedharan’s stature isneeded at the helm. Werequested him to join theBJP with a clear purposeof utilising his servicesfor the state and the coun-try,” he said.

The BJP leader saidSreedharan is known forcompleting the projects ina cost effective manner,without corruption and ina time bound manner.

“In Kerala we know proj-ects have been moving at asnail’s pace. Alappuzhabypass took 45 years,Kollam bypass nearly fivedecades, “ he said.

S i g n i f i c a n t l ySurendran’s announce-ment came on a day whenSreedharan inspected thePalarivattom flyover inKochi and announced thatit was ready for trafficmovement.

He was entrusted withthe task of repair andmaintenance of the fly-over which had beenclosed for vehicular traffic because of majordefects.

Though the flyover wasto be completed within 16

months, Sreedharan gotthe work finished withinsix months.

The Palarivattom flyoverhad triggered a majorpolitical storm in Keralalast year with a formerPWD minister and MuslimLeague leader beingarrested in connectionwith the corruption inconstruction of fly over. Itis alleged that low qualitymaterial was used for theconstruction which led tomajor defects.

“Yes the flyover is readyfor being handed over tothe state government in aday or two. It is for the gov-ernment to reopen it fortraffic,” Sreedharan saidafter inspecting the fly-over.

Earlier, even the metro-man had very clearlyexpressed his desire tolead the state if given achance as a chief minister.

Church mouthpiecesnubs BJP: In anotherdevelopment, the BJPwhich was trying to woothe Christian communityin Kerala received a snubfrom Syro MalabarChurch.

The mouthpiece of theChurch Sathya Deepamunleashed a scathingattack on the BJP govern-ment at the Centre for thehike in LPG Petrol prices.

In an article, the Churchsaid questions need to beasked to the BJP on vari-ous issues. It took a dig atthe BJP “Vijay Yatra”. Arethey celebrating the 100scored by petrol prices or`225 increased in LPGprices during the lastthree months.

The Church mouthpiecesought to know as to whyStan Swami was in the jailand why justice was beingdelayed to Kandhamal vic-tims.

The BJP leaders includ-ing state president KSurendran, KarnatakaDeputy Chief MinisterAshwath Narayan hadcalled on Syro MalabarChurch archbishop MarGeorge Alanchery inKochi recently to seek hissupport for the party.

DC CORRESPONDENTTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MAR. 4

Five top ministers inPinarayi Vijayan Cabinetmay not contest assemblyelections this time if thedeliberation held duringthe state leadership meetin Thiruvananthapuramis any indication.

The state secretariatmeeting held at the partyheadquarters AKG Centrehere was of the opinionthat the two-term normneeds to be complied withstrictly while finalisingthe candidates.

According to partysources, if the norm isenforced strictly thenIndustries Minister E PJayarajan, finance minis-ter T M Thomas Isaac,PWD minister GSudhakaran, Law-SC/STWelfare Minister A KBalan and education min-ister C Raveendranathwill not be in the fray.

Other MLAs who havecompleted three or fourterms would also be keptout.

The district leadershipof the party in Alappuzhahad earlier recommendedthat ministersSudhakaran, Isaac shouldbe given exemption andfielded considering theirhigh prospects ofvictory. However, this rec-ommendation has nowbeen turned down.

But party sources saidthat the final word is yetto be spoken on the issue.The secretariat opinionwill be presented beforethe state committee andtaken back to theAssembly committees. Incase if the assembly com-mittee unanimouslydecides to recommend thenames of ministers again,then the state leadershipwill be forced to reconsid-er it.

G BABU JAYAKUMAR & DSEKAR | DCCHENNAI, MARCH 4

The VCK agreed to con-test in six seats, four inthe reserved category andtwo general constituen-cies, in the April 6 elec-tions to the StateAssembly on Thursdayeven as the DMK waswaiting for the rest of itsallies, particularly theCongress, to return to thenegotiating table and signpacts in the next two orthree days.

After signing the pollagreement with DMKPresident MK Stalin, VCKgeneral secretary TholThirumavalavan saidtheir priority was tothwart the BJP’s plan tocapture the State andhence they did not wantto haggle over the numberof seats.

It is in the same spirit,other allies – theCongress, CPM, CPI andMDMK – would agree forthe seats offered to them,sources in the DMK said.However, the mood in theother party offices wasdifferent.

While Congress sourcessaid that talks with theDMK were deadlocked asthe final offer they hadbeen given was 20 seatsagainst their demand of35 but hoped that every-thing would be solvedamicably in a day or two.

AICC’s Tamil Nadu in-charge Dinesh GundaRao, who is in Chennai tohandle the negotiationsfor seats, had a meetingwith the TNCC func-tionaries and the generalperception was that theparty should not acceptthe low offer.

Though the cadre, ingeneral, felt the need foran alliance with the DMKto defeat the BJP in theState, there were somevoices favouring theparty going it alone in thepolls. Senior TNCC lead-ers, however, clarifiedthat the negotiationswould yield positiveresults in a day or two.

Since the VCK, whichwas given 2 MP seats inthe Lok Sabha elections,was given six seats, theCongress leaders feel thatthey were entitled for 27seats, given the fact that

they contested from nineconstituencies for the LokSabha in 2019.

So, the general hope isthat they would settle fora round figure of 25 andthe pact would be signedin the next two days.Similarly the other DMKallies too are asking formore seats, while thereseemed to be no threat tothe alliance.

While CPM leaderSitaram Yechury indicat-ed that the alliance withthe DMK was intact, atthe local level the partywas demanding morethan the eight seats it hadbeen offered. The CPM’sState executive meeting,scheduled for March 6,would take a final call onthe alliance, sources said.

The TNCC is also hold-ing its extended executivemeeting on Friday whenthe seat-sharingimbroglio may again fig-ure and the leaders maybe able to take a finaldecision on it.

DMK signs dealwith VCK, waitsfor Congress

Metroman E. Sreedharan visits Palarivattom Bridge in Kochi on Thursday. - PTI

Metroman Sreedharan madeBJP CM face for Kerala pollsSyro Malabar Church mouthpiece snubs BJP, asks tough questions

FIVE TOP CPMMINISTERS MAYNOT CONTEST

BJP says Cong.used wrong teagarden pictureMANOJ ANAND | DCGUWAHATI, MAR. 4

In what has caught theCongress campaign man-agers on the wrong foot,Assam minister HimantaBiswa Sarma onThursday attacked theopposition Congress overusing photos of a Taiwantea garden in their cam-paign saying Congressleaders couldn’t evenrecognise Assam.

The mistake, he said,was an insult to the peopleof Assam and the tea gar-den workers of the state.

The problem startedover a photograph of aTaiwan tea garden tweet-ed by the official twitterhandle of the Congressparty which has launchedan aggressive campaign towhat they said - AssamBachao (Save Assam)campaign.

Mr Sarma who is camp-ing in New Delhi tofinalise the seat sharingarrangement of the partyfor the state in New Delhitook to Twitter saying,“Official Congress cam-paign page is using aphoto of tea garden fromTaiwan to say “AssamBachao”. Congress lead-ers can’t even recogniseAssam? This is an insultof Assam and tea gardenworkers of our state.#CongressInsultsAssam”

Mr Sarma who is lead-ing the campaign of theparty in the state alsoshared a photograph thatthe Congress used fortheir ‘Assam Bachao (saveAssam)’ campaign, along-side another screenshotthat said it was a tea gar-den in Taiwan. It was ascreenshot from

Fotosearch that said itwas a photo from theNantou Tea garden inTaiwan. The issue of teagarden workers is one ofthe major ones in theupcoming assembly elec-tions.

While the Congress hasbeen relentlessly cam-paigning in Assam andearlier this weekCongress general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi wasseen interacting and danc-ing with tea garden work-ers in the state. She wasalso seen plucking tealeaves at the Sadhuru teagarden in central Assam.

“The life of tea gardenworkers is full of truthand simplicity and theirlabour is valuable for thecountry. Today, I sat withthem and inquired abouttheir work, family and theproblems they face whileworking. I will not forgetthe love and warmth theyshowed to me,” she saidwhile concluding her twodays visit to Assam. Shealso announced that if herparty voted to power inAssam, the minimumwage of the tea gardenworkers would be hiked to`365.

● ● THE PROBLEM startedover a photograph of aTaiwan tea garden tweet-ed by the official twitterhandle of the Congressparty which has launchedan aggressive campaignto what they said - AssamBachao (Save Assam)campaign.

● ● THE MISTAKE, Sarmasaid, was an insult to thepeople of Assam and thetea garden workers.

JAWAN KILLEDIN NAXALATTACKRABINDRA NATHCHOUDHURY | DCBHOPAL, MAR 4

A security personnelwas on Thursday killedwhen the improvisedexplosive device, plantedby Maoists, went off inChhattisgarh’s southBastar district ofDantewada.

The incident took placewhen the jawan ofChhattisgarh armedforce was taking hislunch under a tree. Hewas part of a joint teamof security forces com-prising personnel ofCAF and district reservegroup.

TN BJP SEEKSBAN ON RAHUL’SCAMPAIGNDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, MARCH 4

The State BJP has urgedthe Election Commissionto restrain Congressleader Rahul Gandhifrom campaigning in theState as he has reportedlycompared the situation inthe country to that whichprevailed under imperialrule before independ-ence.

In a letter to theElection Commission,State President LMurugan and VBalachandran, who isstate in-charge for elec-tion liaison committee,also demanded the filingof an FIR under Section124 A of the IPC.

They alleged that RahulGandhi was inciting andabetting the youth foranother freedom struggleand that it was done withan intent to cause hatred,contempt and excite dis-satisfaction towards thegovernment establishedby law.

PRANMOY BRAH-MACHARI | DC BERHAMPORE, MARCH 4

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) has finalised it’scandidates for 13 out of 22seats in Murshidabad,one of the four key dis-tricts, it will contest inthe ensuing West BengalAssembly Election.

AIMIM Murshidabaddistrict convener AsadulSheikh said, “Our partywill contest several seatsin minority dominateddistricts Murshidabad,Malda, South Dinajpurand North Dinajpur. Ourparty chief AsaduddinOwaisi will kickstart theparty’s poll campaign on

March 13 fromSagardighi. We havealready selected eligiblecandidates for 13 seats.

“We have also sent partyleadership a list of candi-dates for the remainingnine seats for approval.They are yet to take a callon it. We are optimisticthat all the right candi-dates will be chosen verysoon,” he said. Heinformed that he himselfwould contest fromJangipur in the district.

However, AIMIM insid-ers indicated that theparty, despite a desperatehunt, was not getting pop-ular and eligible candi-dates which has caused adelay in starting the pollcampaign.

Owaisi to startWB campaignfrom March 13

EDIT pg 8DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

In a ringing endorsement of a universal democratic view that voicinganti-government views is not sedition, the Supreme Court shot down aso-called public interest litigation by a couple of individuals againstFarooq Abdullah, the senior Kashmiri leader and former chief minister

of J&K. Regardless of whether the litigation was inspired or not by the forcesthat be, the truth is freedom of speech in a democracy is being challengedevery day. There is a clear pattern to be seen behind offence being taken atevery turn at any view expressed that runs contrary to the rigid opinions ofthe majoritarians who are quite willing to be at odds with India’s traditionof tolerance and pluralism.

The criminalising of dissent is the clearest sign of an authoritarian gov-ernment. There was a stinging lesson for the authorities in the Disha Ravicase when a learned judge, quoting the Rig Veda, said — “Let noble thoughtscome to me from all directions” — to uphold the right of the activist to inter-nationalise the farmers’ stir issue. The cause of action was described asintent “to wage economic, social, culture and regional war against India”.

How very conveniently the political is cov-ered into an issue for patriotism is revealingof how any deviation from the State’s view onan issue as humongous as the farmers’ agita-tion involving a very sizeable section of thepopulation was viewed as that of a hereticwho had to be punished.

There is little reason to suspect that theincome tax raids on certain Bollywood per-sonalities this week were not inspired by peo-ple in power who are trying to throttle celebri-ties expressing views that are not in conso-nance with the inflexible opinion of the lead-ers of the majoritarians. Glib explanations ofthere being a logical cause for action againsttax avoidance do not cut ice. The action, infact, is suggestive of intimidating tacticsagainst dissent that has been occurring in apattern of retribution in keeping with a largermodus operandi of making criminals of dis-

senters through persecution using official India machinery like I-T, ED andthe police to register FIRs and foist cases.

Events are all too suggestive of a democracy in decay. Our worst fears wereconfirmed when India was downgraded to “partly free” for the first timesince 1997 in the annual ranking of democracies by the US-government fund-ed research group Freedom House, which cited worsening civil rights underPrime Minister Narendra Modi. As the world’s largest democracy, in whicha variety of opinions including dissenting ones must coexist in diverse peo-ple who are thought of as conscience keepers of the nation, India can illafford to drop the safeguards against making criminals out of dissenters.

Mercifully, the courts have not shied away from not only enlarging thoseaccused of high crimes like sedition by using arcane laws out of the Britishcolonial era but rapping the State agencies in presenting instruments ofoppression as legitimate criminal and civil charges. Everyone holding anopinion different from the views of official India or the central ruling partyis not an inducer of violence or intent on waging a war against the State. Itis a blessing that courts are alive to the rule of law and is dismissive of “ruleby law”as a wise judge put it while granting bail in one case.

5 MARCH 2021

Dissent not sedition: SCsends govt clear signal

There is little reasonto suspect that the

income tax raids oncertain Bollywoodpersonalities this

week were notinspired by people inpower who are tryingto throttle celebritiesexpressing views not

in consonance withthe inflexible opinionof the leaders of the

majoritarians

Sh a k e s p e a r e ’ stragedies haveheroes, but theyare not heroic.As the plays

unfold you witness theircrumbling. In fact, theydestroy themselvesbecause the flaw isembedded deep in theircharacter. It’s aninevitable and irre-sistible process. It’s anoutcome that cannot beprevented. That’s whyit’s tragic.

I think that could alsobe true of Aung San SuuKyi. I’ve known hersince I was five. At thetime, her mother wasthe Burmese ambas-sador in India, and Suu,as I have always calledher, was an undergradu-ate at New Delhi’s LadyShri Ram College. Ourparents became friendsand Suu and my sisterKiran would often drivetogether to college.

Even as a teenager,Suu was drawn to poli-tics. She sensed herfuture would ultimatelylie in ruling Burma (thename she prefers forMyanmar) and didn’thide it even if she onlyspoke jocularly. A pen-cil-drawn portrait thatshe made of my sisterKiran, dated October 11,1962, has inscribed at thebottom: “Kiran Thaparmay be allowed entryinto Burma at anytime”. Suu was only 17at the time.

Years later her hus-band Michael told me atOxford that when theymarried — and Suu was27 at the time — she fore-warned him that ifBurma calls it wouldalways be her priority.In fact, he sensed whenshe returned home in1988 it was unlikely thatshe would come back.She didn’t. They livedseparately till he died.She was also cut off fromher two young sons. Ofthe next 21 years, shespent 15 either in jail orunder house arrest.

No doubt this hurt, andshe suffered, but politicsand the determination tocome to power in Burmawas more than a mis-sion. It was a calling. It

defined Suu. Perhaps itwas also her way of ful-filling her father’sdream, which was cruel-ly aborted when he wasassassinated monthsbefore Burma’s indepen-dence.

When I last inter-viewed her, inSeptember 2015, justbefore the election thatbrought her to power,the Rohingya issue wasalready a challenge sheknew she would have toface if she won. At thetime she was unable orunwilling to expressconcern and sympathy. Iquestioned her silence.Her explanation wasthat this was the onlyway of ensuring shewould be seen as impar-tial by both sides.Silence would give herthe opportunity andcredibility to act impar-tially when she came topower. Her aim was toreconcile, and condem-nation would get in theway. It would fan theflames, not douse them.

I had no reason todoubt her. It was alsoalready clear she wouldnever be President andinternal security wouldlie with the Army,which had successfullythwarted her claim tothe top job. Criticisingthem could endanger thelimited power that shehoped to exercise. Shehad to tread carefullyand speak cautiously.She had to compromiseto survive. All of thatwas understandable.

What wasn’t was howterrible that compro-mise turned out to be. Itonly became clear aftershe won. Not for amoment did I think itwould be tilted in favourof retaining power andinfluence whilst forsak-ing her own principles.Yet that was the undeni-able outcome.

As State Counsellor ifshe spoke about theRohingyas it was only interms of terrorism andthe killing of securitypersonnel. She had noth-ing to say of the inno-cent men, women andchildren, killed in theirhundreds and renderedhomeless in their hun-dreds of thousands. Itseemed political expedi-ency dominated herprinciples completely.She would not expresscompassion. I didn’texpect her to defy theArmy or endangerBurma’s fledglingdemocracy, but I alsodid not expect her lips toremain so firmly sealed.

This raised a disturb-ing question — was hersilence on the Rohingyaissue before the elec-tions impartiality, asshe had claimed, or seek-ing favour with theBurmese majoritywhose support shewould need? Was it prag-matism or opportunism?Initially I thought it wasboth. Today I feel it washer instinctive responseto an unforeseen hurdlethat could have obstruct-ed the fulfilment of herambition to rule Burma.Just as separation fromher husband and chil-dren and a decade and ahalf in detention did notdeter her, nor wouldthis.

The reaction happenedinternationally, not athome. The world viewedher attitude to the

Rohingyas as a demean-ing compromise. Herearlier reputation forvaliant sacrifice was for-gotten. That placed heron a high pedestal. Thisthrew her down. Onceadmired, she was nowreviled. Outside Burmashe became a fallenangel.

At home it was verydifferent. Reverentiallycalled “The Lady” and“Mother Suu”, themajority she won in the2020 elections was evengreater than the land-slide five years ago. Andafter the military threwout her government andput her under arrest, theadmiration her peoplehave for her seems toknow no limits. But,alas, it’s also likely toensure that the generalsdo not change theirmind and restore her topower.

So, like Shakespeare’stragic heroes, she maywell ask if the price shepaid for achieving herambition was worth it?If it turns out to be onlyfive years in power, withno credible possibility ofrestoration, did she com-promise her principlesand her internationalreputation for an officethat was so easilysnatched away and forauthority that was nevercomplete, often checkedand so easily revoked?

Shakespeare’s tragicheroes face similardilemmas. But rarely dothey live to address oranswer them. With theirdenouement there isalso usually death. Suu,however, is alive to facehers, even if in incarcer-ation. She will have allthe time she needs toreflect, and it won’t beeasy.

In that interview in2015 she described her-self as “a pragmaticleader”. At the time, theadjective conveyed asense of careful balance.Today it suggests acover for unbecomingcompromise. When Iasked if she was readyfor the challenge of rul-ing Burma, sheanswered: “It’s a daunt-ing challenge… I hope itbrings out the best inme”. Sadly, it did not.But as Shakespearemight add, that wasinevitable. Suu wouldnot be Suu if it couldhave been otherwise.

The writer is a television commentator

and anchor

Was her silence onthe Rohingyas

before electionsimpartiality, as she

had claimed, orseeking favour with

the Burmesemajority? Today I

feel it was herinstinctive

response to anunforeseen hurdle

that could haveobstructed the

fulfilment of herambition

The reaction happened internationally, not at home. Theworld viewed herattitude to theRohingyas as ademeaning compromise. Herearlier reputationfor valiant sacrificewas forgotten. That placed her on a high pedestal.This threw herdown.

The tragedy of Suu Kyi:Almost Shakespearean

For all those who were expecting political fireworks in Tamil Naduwhen V.K. Sasikala, the erstwhile confidante of late J. Jayalalithaa,drove down to Chennai on February 8, it was a damp squib when she

suddenly called it quits on Wednesday night. There was speculation thatshe would make a political impact. She, too, was trying to live up to thatimage by making statements, addressing cadre and even celebratingJayalalithaa’s birth anniversary with pomp and fanfare.

So, coming like a bolt from the blue, her decision triggered a whole rangeof conjectures since people saw in it a conjuncture of two political events.One, the BJP desperately trying to force the AIADMK to patch up with MsSasikala, and AIADMK leaders digging in their heels refusing to let her orher nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran into their fold. Since the BJP’s intelligencewas that Ms Sasikala and Mr Dhinakaran could take away some votes thatwould otherwise come to its coalition, it first put pressure on AIADMKand then on Ms Sasikala, asking her to scoot. Why this supposition foundmore takers in the state was because the people know Ms Sasikala as apower-hungry, diabolic operator who would not easily let go any opportu-nity to rule.

Also, when it is known that she cannot stand for election for another sixyears, what was the need to announce that she was leaving the turf?Besides, since her landing in Chennai, she had not made any significantbreakthrough politically, other than having a few guests like actorSeeman, actor Sarathkumar and his wife Radhika and film directorBharathiraja. So, why should she say that she will pray and not play poli-tics? Because the powers that be want her to not even be seen in the reck-oning. It’s a different matter that Bharathiraja spotted in her a “braveTamil woman” not ashamed of going to jail and facing party cadre with fortitude.

Damp squib Sasikala

The ministry of externalaffairs (MEA) has beenquite keen to add more jointsecretaries to the diplomat-

ic pool to staff new embassies andconsulates being set up in variouscountries. Now, after some wait,headway has been made in thisdirection with the governmentplanning to empanel eight IFS offi-cers of the 2003 batch as joint secre-taries.

According to sources, the cadrecontrolling authority of the IFS wasready with its list in December lastyear but was asked to wait sincethe government was about toempanel 41 IAS officers from the2003 batch. The department of per-sonnel and training (DoPT) report-edly informed MEA that thereshould be a gap of one month in theempanelment process between theIAS and IFS. It is further learnt

that, except for Devesh Uttam whois posted in the country, theremaining seven IFS officers areposted abroad.

It is a known fact that India’s for-eign service is woefully under-staffed, with most Indian missionsabroad having too few diplomats.This could be a small step towardsaddressing this grievance.

SREEDHARAN PADS UP FORANOTHER INNINGS

The BJP wants to be a seriouscontender in Kerala and is hopingthat “Metro Man” E. Sreedharan’sinduction in the party will help itmake inroads in the impendingAssembly elections. Will the gam-ble pay off?

Mr Sreedharan has enjoyed a fullinnings in his illustrious career,immense credibility with the aamaadmi as an honest and efficient

technocrat as well as respectamong politicians across partylines, and picked up a Padma Shri,Padma Vibhushan and a host ofother national and internationalhonours.

Why would the man who shot tofame with the Delhi Metro projectand who advised the Kerala gov-ernment on Metro projects in thestate and who is also involved inthe other Metro projects in Jaipurand Lucknow want a stab at poli-tics (and chief ministership, noless!) at the ripe age of 88 years?

Clearly, he enjoys wearing manyhats. And a politician’s topi wouldbe the crowning glory of his careerif he can manage the challenge oftransforming from technocrat intoa neta. His future progress will bewatched closely by not just politicians but also bureaucratswho may be nurturing similar

ambitions themselves.

MP CHIEF MINISTER FINDS HIS MOJO

The usually affable and soft-spokenMadhya Pradesh chief ministerShivraj Singh Chouhan is a differ-ent man in his fourth term, accord-ing to the babus in the state. Bysome accounts, he seems to haveset the proverbial cat among thepigeons! Mr Chouhan, it appears, isattempting an image makeover.The soft-spoken veneer has beenreplaced by a hard-nosed leader in“full action” mode.

The result of this transformationhas been directed at the babus who,sources say, have begun to dreadthe CM’s new-found penchant toorder the transfer of officers, some-times during a meeting itself.According to sources, Mr Chouhanhas unceremoniously transferred

more than six district magistratesand SPs so far and seems to be in anunrelenting mood. One IPS officer,Vahini Singh, the SP of Niwari dis-trict, was transferred during ameeting by Mr Chouhan, who alsotold the gathered officials in asmany words that he was keeping aclose tab on them. Other officerstransferred in this period are theSP of Guna Rajesh Singh, and theDMs of Neemuch and Betul, J.S.Raje and Rakesh Singh.

Those in the know say that thechief minister is using the monthlymeetings with state officials toscare them into submissionthrough these tactics. Mr Chouhanmeans business is the unmistakenmessage and it seems to be hittingits mark quite effectively!

Share a babu experience! [email protected]. Let’s

Dilip Cherian

Diplomatic poolto get eight newjoint secys soon

Subhani

Karan Thapar

Dilli Ka Babu

As I See It

FIRST DOSEI salute Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the med-ical staff, scientists andthose concerned associat-ed with the countrywidevaccination drive againstthe Covid-19 pandemic.We had gone to a hospitalin New Bowenpally,Secunderabad, for our firstdose of vaccination at 2pm and returned home by3.30 pm. We had to givedetails of the ID card etc.,and the rest was takencare of by the healthcareworkers. While these pro-cedures took half-an-hourthe injection took aboutfive seconds after whichwe were made to wait for30 minutes.

G. Murali Mohan RaoSecunderabad

SASIKALA’S EXITTamil Nadu politics revolve roundthe DMK and the AIADMK whichare sailing with the Congress andthe BJP respectively (Sasikalaquits politics ahead of TN elections,March 4). The DMK seems to bereturning to power in the ensuingelections, going by the proven the-ory that these regional parties arevoted to power alternatively. TheAIADMK split followingJayalalithaa’s death. Against sucha backdrop, Sasikala’s decision toquit politics is not her own but theidea of the BJP to avoid split ofvotes.

Kshirasagara Balaji RaoHyderabad

Stalls that stall yourpuff

HYDERABAD, March. 4Whether we have budget or not

it is the annual feature to experi-ence shortage of essentials andthen as we stampede for them wecould somehow acquire them at aheavy price.

As was won’t, cigarettes werethe first that went underground atrend knwon as “common man’scigarette”, has suddenly become ascarce commodity. As was put outby the manufacturers thereseemed to be low production ofthese cigarettes for want of cer-tain materials. But why these cig-arettes should be made availableat stalls at 45 paise instead of thefixed rate of 33 paise nobodyunderstands.

If the slave for the DameNicotine tries to bargain heknows he knows he would have tosuffer from starvation of his bliss-ful smoke. While man suffersfrom this, his mate at homeis notspared.

50 YEARS AGO IN

LETTERS

DECCAN CHRONICLE

KAUSHIK MITTER K. SUDHAKAREditor Printer & Publisher

DECCAN CHRONICLE offices are located at:

Hyderabad: 36, Sarojini Devi Road, Secunderabad - 500 003, Ph: 040-27803930-4; Fax : 040-27805256Vijayawada: No.C-3 & 4 Patamata, Industrial Estate, Auto Nagar, Vijayawada (A.P.), Ph: 0866-2555284/2555287; Telefax: 0866-2555234Visakhapatnam: Survey No.1/3A Beach Road, Near Kailasagiri Ropeway, Sector-9 MVP Colony,Visakhapatnam - 530 017 (A.P), Ph: 0891-2552333/2552334; Fax: 0891-2755285Rajahmundry: Vemagiri, Dhawaleswaram Rd, Rajahmundry, Ph: 0883-2417618/2417208; Telefax: 0883-2417208Anantapur: Thapovan colony, Bangalore By-Pass Road, Anantapur - 515004, Ph: 08554-276903; Fax:08554-276904Karimnagar: Survey No.1341, Vavilalapally Colony, Jagityala Road, Karimnagar - 505 001, Ph: 0878-2228908; Telefax: 0878-2220433Nellore: Survey No.527/2, Burranpur Village, Venkatachalam (M), Chemmudugunta Panchayat, Nellore,Ph: 0861-2348581/82; Telefax: 0861-2348580Chennai: SP-3 Developed Plot, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032, Ph: 044-22254747/ 48/50/51;Advt Fax: 22254765/22254766/42305325Coimbatore: 77, Vivekananda Road, Ramnagar, Coimbatore - 641 009, Ph : 0422 2231255Gram: CHRONICLE Postal registration no: No. H/SD-348/2006-08

NATION pg 9DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

IN BRIEF

POLICE SUBMITREPORT IN

KANGANA CASE

‘555’ AIRLIFTEDFOR NEHRU, SAYS

MP MANTRIRABINDRA NATHCHOUDHURY | DCBHOPAL, MAR 4

A packet of ‘555’ was flown bystate plane from Bhopal toIndore to ensure that formerprime minister JawaharlalNehru enjoyed a few puffs ofhis favourite cigarette brandafter his meals.

The anecdote, recorded inthe archives of Raj Bhavanhere, throws light on thesophisticated lifestyle of thefirst prime minister of thecountry, MP higher educationminister Viswas Sarang saidon Thursday.

“We had only heard aboutNehru’s dresses used to besent to France for dry clean-ing. But, the reference to air-lifting of a cigarette packet bystate plane for Nehru in theRaj Bhavan archive is a revela-tion on his extravagantlifestyle”, Mr Sarang said.

The official website of RajBhavan mentions how thestate plane was sent to Indoreto get his favorite pack of ciga-rettes when H VinayakPataskar was the governor ofMadhya Pradesh. Mr Pataskarhad served as governor ofMadhya Pradesh from June 14,1957 to February 10, 1965.

“On a visit of JawaharlalNehru to Bhopal, the RajBhavan staff realized that thefavourite cigarette brand ofNehruji ‘555’ was not availableat Raj Bhavan. Nehru used tohave a cigarette after hismeals. The staff immediatelysent a plane to Indore for air-lifting the cigarette pack thatwas kept ready at Indore air-port”, the anecdote mentionedin the Raj Bhavan websitereads.

“This is a reflection of theautocratic mindset of Nehru”,Mr Sarang said.

Congress has slammed MrSarang for trying to portraythe first prime minister of thecountry poorly by making ref-erence to an anecdote ‘whichis not trustworthy’. “Thesource of the anecdote is notmentioned in the websitewhich raises questions on itsauthenticity. Besides, the anec-dote did not mention thatNehru had ordered the stateplane to be sent to get ciga-rettes”, Congress spokesmanhere Bhupendra Gupta said.

SHAHAB ANSARI | DCMUMBAI, MARCH 4

Mumbai Police on Thursdaysubmitted their report oninquiry against actor KanganaRanaut and her sister before amagistrate court.

The police are investigatingallegations of posting hatefulmessages on social media.After receiving the policereport on Thursday, the magis-trate heard arguments fromthe parties and posted the mat-ter for passing order on April5.

The magistrate in Octoberlast had ordered police to con-duct an inquiry into the pri-vate complaint filed by advo-cate Ali Kashif KhanDeshmukh who alleged thatRanaut’s sister RangoliChandel had posted an objec-tionable message on Twitter inApril last year, targeting a par-ticular community, followingwhich her Twitter account wassuspended.

According to the complaint,later Ranaut posted a video insupport of her sister.

DC CORRESPONDENTSwith agencies inputNEW DELHI, MARCH 4

Maharashtra, Kerala,Punjab, Tamil Nadu,Gujarat and Karnatakacontinue to report a surgein the Covid-19 daily newcases and they cumula-tively account for 85.51per cent of the new casesreported in the past 24hours.

The daily new cases ofin India were recordedabove 17,000 after over amonth.

On Thursday, 17,407 newinfections were reportedin a day with 89 dailynew fatalities.

The active caseload hasincreased to 1,73,413which comprises 1.55 percent of the total infec-tions, as per UnionHealth Ministry data.

At the same time, thetotal number of caseswith UK, South Africaand Brazil variants of theCovid virus in India hasnow reached 242.

Maharashtra hasreported the highestdaily new cases at 9,855.This is the highest num-ber recorded inMaharashtra sinceOctober 18 when 10,259new cases were reported.

It is followed by Keralawith 2,765 while Punjabreported 772 new cases.

On the other hand,Kerala, Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand, Bihar andAssam have shown areduction in the activecases in the last 24 hours.

As many as 23States/UTs have notreported any Covid19deaths in the last 24hours.

Meanwhile, a studyfrom the Indian Instituteof Science (IISc) has iden-tified multiple mutationsand unique proteins inisolates of SARS-CoV-2,the virus that causesCovid-19.

The study, published inthe Journal of ProteomeResearch, has also shownthat the host producesseveral proteins of theirown as their body launch-es an immunologicaldefence in response to the

viral attack.Meanwhile, Home

Ministry has once againreiterated to all Statesand Union Territories

that it was willing to pro-vide “all possible assis-tance and help” to ensurea smooth rollout ofPhase-II of Corona vacci-

nation which started onMarch 1in the country.The Ministry onThursday asked theStates that they can seek

any possible help fromthe Centre is they faceproblems in smoothimplementation of thevaccination programme.

A week ago HomeMinister Amit Shah hadchaired a high level meet-ing to review the rolloutof phase-II Corona vac-cine and had instructedhis officials to maintainclose co-ordination withall States and provide allpossible assistance tothem.

Now with some statesreporting a sharpincrease in Corona cases,Home Ministry whichhas been working as themain central or nodalagency, on Thursdayasked different states ifthey required any help orassistance to ensuresmooth implementationof the vaccinationprocess. In the secondphase of vaccination allthose above 60 years ofage or those above 45 butwith any history of a seri-ous disease.

“The Home Ministrycontrol room is workinground the clock andmaintaining close con-tact with all states andUTs keeping a closewatch on vaccinationprocess. At the same timethe sudden increase inCorona cases is also caus-ing some concern so wehave asked states thatwhatever assistance isrequired Centre is willingto provide all possiblehelp,” a senior Ministryofficial said.

Home Minister AmitShah is expected to chairanother high level meet-ing next week which willdiscuss and review thenationwide implementa-tion of the vaccine.Depending on the feed-back from states themeeting will also suggestany changes if requiredin the vaccinationprocess.

After one month, dailyCovid cases cross 17,000After Oct. 18, Maha records highest daily new cases at 9,855

A medic administers the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,in New Delhi on Thursday. - PTI

Elderly facing difficultyin getting vaccinatedGILVESTER ASSARY | DC THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MAR. 4

Senior citizens visitinghospitals for takingCovid vaccination shotsare having a difficulttime across Kerala.

With problems in regis-tration and token systemcontinuing, the elderly(60+) and 45+ people withchronic ailments, arebeing given fresh dates atmany places after beingmade to wait in the queuefor hours.

The 60+ people and 45+with chronic illnesses arefinding it difficult toenter the portal which isresulting in the delay inallotting vaccination date

and time. Since the vacci-nation of over 3.5 lakhgovernment staff whichhas been deputed for elec-tion duty has to be com-pleted by March 6, thereis additional burden onthe hospitals.

In this round, the healthauthorities have alsotaken up the task of vac-cinating health workerswho could not registerearlier besides the front-line workers waiting forthe second dose. With thenumber of people await-ing vaccination increas-ing, there is additionalburden on the portal andsince the elderly and peo-ple with chronic ailmentshave to register alongwith them, they are the

worst affected.The health authorities

said that steps are beingtaken to sort out the prob-lem. More vaccinationcentres would be openedin the government andprivate hospital soon asper the direction of thecentral government.

Meanwhile, chief min-ister Pinarayi Vijayan onThursday said that theCovid cases in the statehad dropped significant-ly.

Over the last one week,the number of cases havecome down by 13 per cent.On Thursday, Keralarecorded 2,616 new casesof Covid while 4,156 peo-ple recovered from theinfection.

PAWAN BALI | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 4

At a time when India isfacing serious securitychallenge from China,country’s top command-ers from Army, Navy andAir Force are meeting forthree-day CombinedC o m m a n d e r s ’Conference fromThursday in Kevadia inGujarat to brainstormand strategize an effec-tive response to currentand future threats.

Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is expect-ed to address the confer-ence on Saturday wherehe will lay down hisstrategic vision for the

defence forces. Defenceminister Rajnath Singhwill also address the con-ference on Friday.

The last CombinedC o m m a n d e r s ’Conference was held inJodhpur in 2018.

Theaterisation ofarmed forces, self-reliance in defence sec-tor, and emerging threats

in the cyberspace and inthe form of drones willalso be discussed.

The Commanders'Conference is crucial asit will be attended by theCommander- in -Chiefrank officers of the threeservices and the tri-serv-ices organisations suchas the Integrated DefenceStaff Headquarters,Strategic ForcesCommand and the PortBlair-based Andamanand Nicobar Command.

The Chief of DefenceStaff Gen Bipin Rawatwill also be attending themeeting.

Mr Modi is expected tobe given a briefing on theprogress made in the

field of the creation oftheatre commands. Of allthe theatre commandsunder plan, Air DefenceCommand is likely to beimplemented first.

The Prime Ministerwill be given a detailedpresentation on therestructuring of theArmy formations in viewof the recent Chineseaggression in the Ladakhsector.

During the Combinedconference held inJodhpur, the governmenthad cleared the creationof the Defence CyberAgency and DefenceSpace Agency along withtheir research compo-nents.

PM to address Commanders’conference in Guj. tomorrow

DC CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, MARCH 4

A day after Income Taxsearches on celebrities likeAnurag Kashyap and TapseePannu, Congress leader Mr.Rahul Gandhi hit out at theCenter over making agen-cies ‘dance to their tune’.

Mr. Gandhi took to Twitterand said the government ismaking its departments likeIncome Tax, Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI),Enforcement Directorate(ED) etc., dance to its tuneswhile “friendly media” cowsdown before the governmentand the government mean-while takes out its anger onpeople who are supportingthe farmers’ protest.

He tweeted in Hindi,“Three idioms. Makingsomeone dance to your tune- this is what the govern-ment does with ED, CBI, ITetc. To bow down - that’swhat friendly media does tothe government. Irritatedcat scratches the lamp post -that’s how the governmenttakes out its anger on peoplesupposed farmers.”

The raids have drawnsharp reaction from severalopposition leaders and min-isters of the MaharashtraVikas Aghadi government.Maharashtra state ministerand NCP leader NawabMalik described the search-es as an attempt to suppressthe voices of those whospeak against the NarendraModi-led government.

Though Mr. Gandhi did notname Anurag Kashyap andTapsee Pannu but his tweetwas clear. In the last coupleof months Mr. Gandhi hasbeen targeting the Centerover ‘muzzling dissent’.

He also stated that the cen-tral government is onlyinterested managing head-lines rather than addressingserious issues that are fac-ing the country. TheCongress has also allegedthat the government hasbeen ‘misusing institutions’for its political gains.

A few days back an inde-pendent MLA from Haryanawas raided by the IncomeTax department after hewithdrew support to theBJP led state government.

Rahul hits out atCentre after I-Traids on celebs

AGRICULTURECENSUS TO BECONDUCTED

AZMI ASKSMUSLIM MANTRISTO QUIT MAHA CABINET SONU SHRIVASTAVAMUMBAI, MARCH 4

A day after Maharashtrachief minister UddhavThackeray claimed hisfather BalasahebThackeray was proud ofBabri mosque demoli-tion, Samajawadi Partylegislator and Abu AsimAzmi asked the Muslimcabinet ministers to stepdown from the cabinet.

Replying to the gover-nor’s address onWednesday, Mr.Thackeray, who is alsoSena president, had said,“Everyone else ran awayafter Babri demolition,but it was Shiv Senasupremo BalasahebThackeray who ownedup the responsibility say-ing that if my ShivSainiks have done this, Iam proud of them.”

Mr Thackeray’s state-ment did not go downwell with the Samajwadiparty, which extended itssupport to the MVA gov-ernment.

Speaking with thereporters on Thursday,Mr. Azmi said that hisparty supported theThackeray governmentin order to keep the BJPout of power.

The SP has two MLAsand have extended sup-port to Thackeray gov-ernment. “The Congressand NCP had supportedthis government on thecommon minimum pro-gramme. UddhavThackerayji has forgot-ten that he is a chiefminister (of Maha-rash-tra). The Supreme Courthad mentioned in itsjudgement that keepingan idol in Babri Masjidand demolition of BabriMasjid are ‘criminalactivities’,” he said.

It is unfortunate thatthe chief minister spokeso proudly about crimi-nal acts, Mr Azmi added.

Gandhinagar, Mar 4:An agriculture censuswill be conducted inGujarat this year as partof a pan-India exercise tocollect various datarelated to the key sector,Agriculture Minister RCFaldu informed the leg-islative Assembly hereon Thursday.

Faldu said data regard-ing farmers’ land hold-ings, collected from theperiodic exercise, is cru-cial for formulating poli-cies for the agriculturesector.

- PTI

SRIDHAR KUMARASWAMI| DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 4

External Affairs Minister(EAM) S. Jaishankar onThursday said killingsreported on the “border”with Bangladesh werebecause of criminal activi-ties and actually took placedeep inside Indian territo-ry, even as pitched for a“shared objective” of a “nocrime, no death” borderwith Bangladesh.

The remarks in responseto queries from theBangladesh media weremade during his day-longvisit to Dhaka in the pres-ence of his counterpartthere A. K. Abdul Momen.

The two foreign ministersalso discussed inclusion ofJapan for trilateral connec-tivity projects in the Bay ofBengal, the EAM said.

The Teesta river-watersharing issue also came up

for discussions, with theWater ResourcesSecretaries of the twonations scheduled to meetsoon.

Jaishankar also said thatIndia had so far dispatcheda whopping nine milliondoses of India-manufac-tured Covid vaccine toBangladesh out of whichtwo million doses were a“gift”, even as Mr. Momenexpressed “happiness” atthe despatch of so manyvaccine doses from India tohis country.

The EAM’s visit wasessentially a preparatoryone ahead of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’svisit to Bangladesh at theend of this month.

Bangladesh is celebrating50 years of its existencethis year and both coun-tries are also celebrating 50years of establishment ofdiplomatic relations witheach other this year. The

Indian armed forces’ victo-ry over Pakistan in the warin December 1971, had ledto the liberation of the erst-while East Pakistan and thebirth of Bangladesh as anIndependent nation.

In his remarks, the EAMsaid, As all of you know, weare working to prepare forthe planned visit of ourPrime Minister. It will sure-ly be a very memorablevisit. If I recall right itwould be his first visit out-side India since theCoronavirus pandemic andhis second as Prime

Minister to Bangladesh.” Praising the leadership of

Bangladesh PM SheikhHasina, the EAM said “Iwould also like to expressour admiration and pride,as your closest neighbourand friend, at Bangladesh’sgraduation from (LeastDeveloped Country) LDCstatus. It is truly a tributeto your miraculous socio-economic progress, and areflection of the statesman-ship and leadership ofPrime Minister SheikhHasina.”

Jaishankar added, “Wesee Bangladesh as a keyneighbour and a valuedpartner not only in SouthAsia but also in the broaderIndo-Pacific region. It is nosecret that we cite it to oth-ers as an example for emu-lation. And that is why weare working so hard toexpand our relationship inall dimensions, rangingfrom security, trade, trans-

port and connectivity, cul-ture, people to people ties,energy, joint developmentof our shared resourcesand defence. Our comfortlevels are now so high thatwe have shown that there isno issue that we cannot dis-cuss and resolve throughamicable dialogue.”

He further said, “Ourrecent activities go beyondconsultations and gestures,however important theymight be. We have madepractical progress on theground. Conducting a trialrun of container cargothrough Chattogram Portto Agartala, adding twonew Protocol routes toinland waterways connect-ing Tripura to your nation-al waterways, handing over10 BG locomotives, com-mencing movement of con-tainer and parcel trains andforming a JV in the energysector. These are but somerecent examples.”

India for no crime, no death borderJaishankar visits Dhaka ahead of Prime Minister’s visit DIPLOMATIC | POWER

● ● JAISHANKAR SAID thatIndia had so far dispatcheda whopping nine milliondoses of India-manufac-tured Covid vaccine toBangladesh out of whichtwo million doses were a“gift”, even as Mr. Momenexpressed “happiness” atthe despatch.

● ● THE LAST CombinedCommanders’Conference was held inJodhpur in 2018.

● ● DEFENCE ministerRajnath Singh willaddress the conferenceon Friday.

● ● HOME MINISTER isexpected to chair anothermeeting next week whichwill discuss and reviewthe nationwide imple-mentation of the vaccine.

pg 10WORLDDECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY| 5 MARCH 2021

Islamabad, March 4: Undermounting pressure to resign,Pakistan PM Imran Khan onThursday lashed out at thegrand Opposition alliance for"making a mockery ofdemocracy" and said that hewill never let the corrupt offthe hook. Khan made theremarks during an address tothe nation ahead of seeking avote of confidence in a bid torestore the legitimacy of hisgovernment in the wake ofthe defeat of finance minis-ter Abdul Hafeez Shaikh inhotly-contested Senate elec-tions on Wednesday.

Pakistan Democratic Mov-ement (PDM) candidate and

former prime minister YusufRaza Gilani defeated Pakist-an Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) can-didate Shaikh, giving a majorblow to Prime Minister Khanwho had personally campaig-ned for his Cabinet colleague.The PDM is an 11-party alli-ance set up in September lastyear to topple the governme-nt of Khan which it allegedcame after rigging of electi-ons in 2018. "I will take a voteof confidence the day aftertomorrow (Saturday). I willask my members to show ifthey have confidence in me. Ifthey say they have no confi-dence, I will sit on Oppositionbenches," the 68-year-old cric-

keter-turned politician said. "If I am out of the govern-

ment, I will go to the peopleand bring them out to contin-ue my struggle for the coun-try. I will not let these traitors(who plundered the country)sit in peace. I call them trai-tors because they are loot-ers,” Khan said. Khan's partyhas 157 members in the 342-member National Assembly.Opposition PML-N and PPPhave 84 and 54 members,respectively. Khan said thatthe problems in Pakistan canbe understood through thekind of election that hap-pened. The country's leader-ship comes from within the

members of parliament "andhere you have people becom-ing Senators after bribingothers," he said.

"The one who becomes asenator and wants to becomeone uses money and who dothey buy? Members ofParliament… What joke ishappening with our democ-racy? What kind of democra-cy is this?" a visibly upsetKhan said. Khan recalledthat in the 2018 Senate elec-tions, his party's 20 lawmak-ers had sold their votes afteraccepting money.

"We expelled them but thenI saw that it wasn't just mesaying this, but the two main

parties that signed the Char-ter of Democracy — the PML-N and PPP — had agreed thatthere should be an open bal-lot because money isexchanged in the Senate elec-tions," he added.

"I now ask you. Why do youthink the same parties whowanted an open ballot nowgeared all their efforts tohave a secret ballot?" Khansaid, attacking the Opposit-ion parties which demandeda secret ballot during Senateelections. Khan also lashedout at the Election Comm-ission of Pakistan which hesaid failed to stop corruptionin the elections. — PTI

SHORT TAKESARMY HELICOPTER CRASH

IN TURKEY KILLS NINEAnkara, March 4: A military helicoptercrashed in eastern Turkey on Thursday, killingnine soldiers on board and injuring four oth-ers, the Defence Ministry said. The helicoptercrashed in the town of Tatvan, in the Kurdish-populated Bitlis province. It wasn't immediate-ly clear what caused the crash. The Cougartype helicopter was on its way to Tatvan fromthe nearby province of Bingol.

Imran lashes out at Opposition BANGLA GOVTTO DECIDE ONWAIVING ZIA’SSENTENCESDhaka, March 4: Bang-ladesh will decide on rel-axing the bail conditionsand waiving the 17-yearsentence of former pri-me minister Khaleda Ziadue to her failing healthafter discussion with theLaw Ministry, media re-ports quoted the count-ry's home minister assaying.

The government inMarch, 2020 released the74-year-old leader for sixmonths on conditionthat she would stay athome amid the Corona-virus outbreak in thecountry, receive treatm-ent and not travel abro-ad. Her release was laterextended by another sixmonths last September.

The BangladeshNationalist Party (BNP)chief is serving a 17-yearprison term in two graftcases since February 8,2018.

Home MinisterAsaduzzaman Khan Ka-mal on Wednesday saidthat the decision ofreleasing BNP chairper-son Zia by suspendingher sentence would betaken after discussionswith the Law Ministry,the Dhaka Tribunereported.

— PTI

ISLET RESIDENTSPROTEST PLANTO BURY MUSLIMCOVID VICTIMSColombo, March 4:Residents of a remoteislet, dominated by theTamil community, innorth eastern Sri lankaare protesting againstthe government's deci-sion to bury the MuslimCovid-19 victims there.

The government onTuesday said that theCovid-19 fatalities fromthe Muslim minority co-mmunity would be tran-sported at governmentcost to be buried at theIranathivu island in theMannar region.

Residents of the isla-nd, which is dominatedby the country's Tamilminority, protested onWednesday against thegovernment's decision.They claim that theirisland would be destro-yed if the Covid-19 vic-tims are buried there.

They said that it takesnearly 90 minutes byboat from the mainlandto reach Iranathivu andwhen the sea is rough inunfavourable weather,the travel becomes impo-ssible. Therefore, it isnot practicable to trans-port a virus infectedbody safely by boat andcross 20 kms distance inthe sea, they said.

— PTI

SEVEN-YEAR-OLDALABAMA GIRLHELPS FUND OWNBRAIN SURGERYHomewood (Alabama),March 4: Liza Scott, 7,started a lemonade sta-nd at her mom's bakerylast summer so she cou-ld buy some frills liketoys and sequined high-heel shoes. The bouncylittle girl is still in busi-ness months later, yetthe money is going tow-ard something entirelydifferent: Surgery onher brain.

Last month, doctorsdetermined a series ofseizures that Liza begansuffering were caused bycerebral malformationsthat needed repair, saidher mother, ElizabethScott. Always eager tohelp out and with an eyetoward entrepreneursh-ip after a childhood sp-ent around a small busi-ness, the little girl volun-teered to help raise mo-ney for her upcomingoperation. Located nearthe cash register of Sav-age's Bakery in suburb-an Birmingham, her sta-nd of bright pink and ye-llow wooden crates offe-rs lemonade for a quar-ter, plus other treats. Butpeople are putting in alot more as word spreadsof her medical conditi-on. “I've got a $20 bill, a$50 bill and a $10 bill anda $5 bill and a $100 bill,”Liza said. — AP

CINE

AM

c m y k c m y k


WORLD pg 12DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

SHORT TAKESGUNMEN KILL 7 WORKERS,

BOMB KILLS DOCKabul, March 4: At least se-ven Afghan civilians were shotand killed by a group of gun-men in the country's east and aphysician died when a bombattached to her rickshawexploded on Thursday.

The Islamic State group clai-med responsibility for the bo-mbing, saying its fighters haddetonated a so-called stickybomb placed on the vehicle ofa woman. They claimed sheworked for the Afghan intellig-ence service in Jalalabad. Gen.Juma Gul Hemat, provincialpolice chief in Nangarhar,said the attack victims wereworkers at a plaster factory inthe Sorkh Rod district. Policearrested four suspects.

HK COURT KEEPS47 ACTIVISTS

IN CUSTODY Hong Kong, March 4: A HongKong court on Thursday orde-red all 47 pro-democracy activ-ists charged under a Beijing-imposed national security lawto be kept in custody after theDepartment of Justice appeal-ed an initial decision to grantbail to 15 of them. Thirty-twoof the activists were deniedbail outright. The next courthearing is on May 31.

The activists were chargedwith conspiracy to commit su-bversion under the securitylaw and detained over theirinvolvement in an unofficialprimary election last year thatauthorities said was a plot toparalyze Hong Kong's govern-ment. The charges against theactivists were the most sweep-ing action taken against thecity's pro-democracy camp.

INDIAN IN UAEWINS `24 CR IN

LUCKY DRAWDubai, March 4: An Indianman, living in the UAE for thelast 15 years, has won a whop-ping 12 million dirhams (`24crore) in a raffle, the latestaddition to the long list of luc-ky winners from India, a med-ia report said on Thursday.

Shivamurthy Krishnappa,who is a mechanical engineerand hails from Shimoga dis-trict of Karnataka, has beenliving in the UAE for the last15 years. He bought the winn-ing ticket number 202511 onFebruary 17 this year, the GulfNews reported. Krishnappawas excited as he watched thedraw live from home. Whenthe host Richard called him onhis mobile, Krishnappa said:“I am watching the live draw.Thank you so much. I cannotbelieve I have won.”

TOSSED INTO SEAOFF YEMEN, 20MIGRANTS DIE

Nairobi, March 4: The Inter-national Organisation for Mig-ration says at least 20 migran-ts are dead after smugglersthrew 80 overboard during avoyage from Djibouti in EastAfrica to Yemen.

A statement says “smugglersstarted shouting there weretoo many on board” after theboat with 200 migrants, includ-ing children under 18, set offon Wednesday. The IOM saysfive bodies have been recover-ed, and survivors are beingtreated in Djibouti. This hashappened before as thousandsof migrants continue to try tomake their way from the Hornof Africa to Yemen and thenon to rich Gulf countries.

The Coronavirus pandemicand the resulting closed bor-ders have slowed but notstopped the flow of migrants.

SHEIKH HASINA’SPOLITICAL

ADVISER DIESDhaka, March 4: HT Imam,the political adviser to Bangla-deshi Prime Minister SheikhHasina, died on Thursday at amilitary hospital here.

Imam, 81, breathed his last at1.15 am. He was undergoingtreatment at the CombinedMilitary Hospital in Dhaka,Awami League Office Secret-ary Biplab Barua said in asocial media post. Imam, whowas the cabinet secretary tothe 1971 wartime government,was hospitalised with variousage-related problems, DhakaTribune reported. After theAwami League headed byHasina formed the govern-ment following the 2008 elec-tion, Imam was appointed asthe public administrationaffairs adviser to the primeminister. Following the 2014elections, he was made thepolitical affairs adviser.

SUPARNA SHARMA | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 4

Romanian writer-director RaduJude’s Bad LuckBanging or LoonyPorn opens with a

naughty, kinky pornogra-phic scene. Emi (KatiaPascariu), a school teac-her, is having sex with herhusband and they arerecording the proceedingsfor a bit of extra thrill.

But somehow the sextape leaks and is soonmaking the rounds of gig-gly WhatsApp groups ofher students and their par-ents. Some download it,purportedly as evidence tobeat Emi with. The fact

that the sex is consensual,between a husband andwife is irrelevant. There isoutrage, and it's mostlyabout how could a middle-aged, married woman beso raunchy.

Radu Jude’s film, whichpremiered in the mainCompetition section at the71st International FilmFestival of Berlin, usesthis porn clip and the sub-sequent "trial" of Emi inthe school’s yard to drawcircles around a society'shypocrisy.

The film is split in threeparts. In the first, LoonyPorn walks with Emi asshe visits her school prin-cipal, goes to a book storeand a pharmacy. Shot dur-

ing the Coronavirus pand-emic, this segment has vis-uals of a city all maskedup and wary of social int-eractions. But it's also acity busy consuming, enr-aging, eradicating thepast. We watch argumentsand fights in a supermar-ket, with owners of big

cars who block the side-walk as a matter of theirright. Each clash is anassertion of the entitle-ment of the rich and mar-ginalisation of others.

The film’s second part ispolyphonic and here, thro-ugh commentary, archivalfootage, statistics, words,nudes in newspapers, bui-lding rising and in ruins,Loony Porn tells the storyof Romania — about itsrole in the Holocaust, itsattitude to Jews, Romas,love for dictators, attitudeto sex and children. It alsotells us that in Romania, 6out of 10 kids are subject-ed to family violence.

This fact hovers over thefilm's last segment — the

meeting called by theschool principal and par-ents to interrogate andthen vote on Emi’s future.It is kicked off by a parentwho insists on playing thesex clip for the benefit ofall those gathered.

This scene, framed likean inquisition — the "acc-used" is in the middle,flanked by a judge whowill rule based on themood of the people and theenforcer of morality — isboth dark and funny.Though allegations, tan-gential discussions, innu-endoes, inappropriate re-marks, shrill sanctimonyand, finally, the judgment,Loony Porn lays bare anation that has revised its

history to legitimise itspast and current criminalacts and feels emboldenedto air its prejudice, bigotryand misplaced rage. Beca-use many speak in thesame tongue, collective hy-pocrisy gets elevated to a

sanctimonious, narcissis-tic chorus.

What's striking is howfamiliar it all feels. Thissearing portrait of anation and its people couldwell be a day in the life ofIndia.

Radu Jude’s ‘Loony Porn’ lays bare a country that has revised its history to legitimise its pastFILM | FEST

A teacher, a porn clip and the hypocrisy of a nation

Law on H-1B visasin US CongressWashington, March 4:Three Republican US law-makers have introduced alegislation in Congress tobar American employersfrom hiring H-1B workers,who are mostly highly-skilled Indian IT profes-sionals, if they have rece-ntly, or plan to fire theirlocal workers, seeking toput an end to the allure ofcheap foreign labour.

Introduced in the Houseof Representatives byRepublican congressmenMo Brooks, Matt Gaetzand Lance Gooden, theAmerican Jobs First Actproposes to overhaul theH-1B visa programme bymaking necessary chang-es in the Immigration andNationality Act.

The H-1B visa, most-sou-ght after among Indian ITprofessionals, is a non-im-migrant visa that allowsUS companies to employforeign workers in specia-lity occupations that req-uire theoretical or techni-cal expertise.

Technology companiesdepend on it to hire tens ofthousands of employeeseach year from countrieslike India and China.

According to its text rel-eased on Wednesday, a for-eign guest worker may notbe admitted or providedstatus as an H-1B non-im-migrant in an occupation-al classification unless thepetitioner employer hasfiled with the Secretary ofLabour an application sta-ting the employer is offeri-ng an annual wage to theH-1B non-immigrant thatis the greater of the annu-al wage paid to the US citi-zen or lawful permanentresident employee whodid identical or similarwork during the two yearsbefore the petitioner emp-loyer filed such applica-

tion; or $110.The petitioner employer

also needs to file with theSecretary of Labour anapplication stating theemployer will not requirean H-1B non-immigrant topay a penalty for ceasingemployment with the peti-tioner employer beforethe date agreed to by theH-1B non-immigrant andthe petitioner employer.

The bill referred to theCommittee on the Judicia-ry, and in addition to theCommittee on Educationand Labour among otherthings suspends the F-1Optional Practical Train-ing programme, whichgrants all foreign studentsextendable work permitsand exacerbates job mar-ket competition amongAmerican graduates.

It ends the diversity visalottery programme, whichthe lawmakers alleged fai-ls to serve US interests byissuing 50,000 green cardsto foreigners from aroundthe world regardless oftheir qualifications. Giventhat the Democrats have amajority in the House ofRepresentatives, the billhas little chance to be pas-sed. “My American JobsFirst Act will bring muchneeded reform and over-sight to the H-1B visa pro-gramme to ensure that USworkers are no longer dis-advantaged in their owncountry. To end the allureof cheap foreign labour,the bill will require empl-oyers to pay any H-1B wo-rkers a minimum amountof $110,000,” Congress-man Brooks said. — PTI

Legislation to end allure of cheap foreign labour

Farmers demonstrate in France

French farmers stand behind a banner reading “Our job: feed you well. No more denigration and misinformation”as they take part in a demonstration to alert about their financial situation and a large number of suicides in theirprofession, in Paris, on Thursday. — AFP

China may disrupt5G network: USWashington, March 4:Observing that the Bidenadministration views 5Gas a high priority, the USon Wednesday expressedconcern about the dan-gers of installing net-works with equipmentthat can be manipulated,disrupted, or even con-trolled by China which italleged has no regard forhuman rights or privacy.

“The Biden administra-tion views 5G as a highpriority, of course. Weadvocate for a vibrant dig-ital economy that enablesall citizens to benefit fromthe promise of 5G wire-less networks. We alsoknow that the stakes forsecuring these networks

could not be any higher,”State Department Spoke-sperson Ned Price said.

He said 5G, of course, istransformative and willtouch every aspect oflives, and this is criticalfor infrastructure sectors:transportation, electricaldistribution, healthcare,public health, and manymore. “And so that is whywe are concerned aboutthe dangers of installingnetworks with equipmentthat can be manipulated,disrupted, or even con-trolled by the People'sRepublic of China, whichas we know, of course, hasno regard for humanrights or privacy,” Pricesaid. — PTI Did Markle bully staff as a

royal Palace to investigateLondon, March 4: Bucki-ngham Palace has launc-hed an investigation intoallegations that MeghanMarkle, the Duchess ofSussex, bullied staff duri-ng her time as a frontlineroyal with Prince Harryin Britain. Markle, 39, liv-ed at Kensington Palacefor nearly a year after hermarriage to Prince Harry,36, the Duke of Sussex, inMay 2018.

The probe comes as TheTimes published a leakedemail on Wednesday froma staff member allegingthat the former Americanactress drove two personalassistants out of the hous-ehold and undermined theconfidence of a third me-mber of staff. "We are cle-arly very concerned aboutallegations in the ‘Times'following claims made byformer staff of the Dukeand Duchess of Sussex,”Buckingham Palace, whi-ch is responsible for allRoyal Household staff,said in a statement.

"Accordingly, our HRteam will look into the cir-cumstances outlined inthe article. Members ofstaff involved at the time,including those who have

left the Household, will beinvited to participate tosee if lessons can be lear-ned,” it said. "The RoyalHousehold has had aDignity at Work policy inplace for a number ofyears and does not andwill not tolerate bullyingor harassment in theworkplace," it said.

Past and present royalemployees are to be invit-

ed to speak in confidenceabout their experiences ofworking for the Duchessas part of the investiga-tion. Lawyers for the cou-ple, who stepped back asfrontline royals last year,have said they are the vic-tims of a calculated smearcampaign based on "mis-leading and harmful mis-information".

— PTI

Palace perpetuatingfalsehoods: MeghanLos Angeles, March 4:Meghan Markle says Buc-kingham Palace is “perpe-tuating falsehoods” abouther and her husband Pri-nce Harry, according topart of an interview shehas done with Oprah Win-frey.

The explosive claim isthe latest salvo in anincreasingly heated pub-lic relations battle betwe-en the British royal fami-ly and the US-based cou-ple. The clip, released

Wednesday, came hoursafter Buckingham Palacesaid it was investigatingclaims Markle had bulliedhousehold staff in themonths after her fairytalewedding to the prince.

“I don't know how theycould expect that after allof this time we would stilljust be silent if there's anactive role that The Firmis playing in perpetuatingfalsehoods about us,”Markle told Winfrey.

— AFPSweden axe attack: 3 grievously injuredStockholm, March 4:Hospital officials say thr-ee people wounded in anassault by a man using anaxe in southern Swedenare in life-threateningcondition and police havereduced the overall num-ber of victims to seven.

The suspected assailant,a man in his 20s, was shot,arrested and is being tre-ated in a hospital, policesaid.

A press conference wasexpected later Thursdayon the attack. The othervictims of Wednesday'sassault in the small townof Vetlanda, 190 kilome-tres southeast ofGoteborg, Sweden's sec-ond-largest city, includetwo seriously injured peo-ple, two with moderateinjuries and one who isslightly injured, the Jon-koping region said in astatement late Wednesd-ay. The attack took placein the afternoon andpolice say there are fivecrime scenes in Vetlanda,a town of 13,000.

The man's motive wasnot immediately known.Police said the man, whothey would not identify inline with Swedish policy,is known to them for pettycrimes. Overnight, offi-cers raided an apartmentwhere he was reportedlystaying.

The Expressen tabloidsaid the suspect was a 22-

year-old man fromAfghanistan.

Sweden's Home AffairsMinister Mikael Dambergtold broadcaster SVT onThursday that the casewas being investigated asattempted murder but allaspects would be consid-ered, including whether itwas a terror attack.

"It is obvious that youlook at whether there areterrorist motives behindit, you have to get to thebottom of it,” he said.Regional police chiefMalena Grann said policewere investigatingwhether there were anyterrorist motives in thecase.

— AP

Houthi rebels: Missile hitsSaudi oil facility in JiddahDubai, March 4: Yemen'sHouthi rebels said theystruck a Saudi oil facilityin the port city of Jiddahon Thursday, the latest ina series of cross-borderattacks the group hasclaimed against the king-dom amid the grindingwar in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia's state-owned media did notimmediately acknowledgeany incident in Jiddah.Brig. Gen. Yehia Sarie, aHouthi military spokesm-an, tweeted that the rebelsfired a new Quds-2 cruisemissile at the facility. Heposted a satellite imageonline that matched Ara-mco's North Jiddah BulkPlant, where oil productsare stored in tanks.

The rebels claimed they

hit the same facility lastNovember, an attack theSaudi-led coalition lateradmitted had sparked afire at the plant. The facil-ity sits just southeast ofJiddah's King AbdulazizInternational Airport, amajor airfield that han-dles Muslim pilgrims hea-ding to Mecca.

Flights coming into air-port diverted or otherwiseflew in circles earlyThursday morning with-out explanation, accord-

ing to tracking data fromwebsite FlightRadar24.-com. Since 2015, the Hout-his battling the Saudi-ledmilitary coalition in Yem-en have targeted interna-tional airports, along withmilitary installations andcritical oil infrastructure,within Saudi Arabia. Inrecent weeks the grouphas stepped up its attacks,repeatedly crashing dron-es and missiles into thekingdom's Patriot missilebatteries. A Saudi-led mil-itary coalition intervenedin Yemen after the rebelsseized the country's capi-tal, Sanaa. The war hassettled into a bloody stale-mate, with Saudi Arabiafacing international criti-cism for its airstrikeskilling civilians. — AP

PRINCE PHILIP HADSUCCESSFUL HEARTPROCEDURELondon, March 4: Britai-n's Prince Philip, the Dukeof Edinburgh, has had a“successful procedure”for a pre-existing heartcondition at a London hos-pital where he was movedearlier this week, Buckin-gham Palace said onThursday.

The 99-year-old husbandof Queen Elizabeth II hasnow spent 16 nights inhospital first at the pri-vate King Edward VII'sHospital and now at St.Bartholomew's Hospitalwhere he was transferredfor further tests andobservation for a pre-existing heart condition.

“The Duke of Edinburghyesterday [Wednesday]underwent a successfulprocedure for a pre-exist-ing heart condition at St.Bartholomew's Hospital,”Buckingham Palace saidin a statement aboutPrince Philip.

— AP

NEPAL SIGNSPEACE DEALWITH REBELSKathmandu, March 4:Nepal's government sig-ned a peace agreementThursday with a smallcommunist rebel groupwidely feared becausethey were known for vio-lent attacks, extortionand bombings.

The government agre-ed to lift a ban on the gr-oup, release all their me-mbers and supporters injail and drop all legal ca-ses against them, whilethe group agreed to giveup all violence and reso-lve any issues throughpeaceful dialogue. Detai-ls of the agreement wou-ld be made public at ajoint ceremony Fridaywith PM K.P Oli and theleader of the rebel groupNetra Bikram Chand.

— AP

PROTESTERSMARCH AGAININ MYANMAR Nay Pyi Taw, March 4:Demonstrators in Myan-mar protesting last mon-th's military coup retur-ned to the streetsThursday, undaunted bythe killing of at least 38people the previous dayby security forces.

New protests were heldin at least three areas ofYangon, the country'slargest city, that havebeen scenes of violencefor the past few days.Police again used forceto try to disperse thecrowds, according tosocial media accounts.Protests also continuedIn Mandalay, the second-biggest city. A formationof five fighter planesflew over the city onThursday morning inwhat appeared to be athreatening show offorce. The UN specialenvoy for Myanmar,Christine Schraner Bur-gener, said 38 peoplewere killed Wednesday, afigure consistent withother reports.

The death toll was thehighest since the Feb. 1takeover, when the mili-tary ousted the electedgovernment of leaderAung San Suu Kyi. Morethan 50 civilians, mostlypeaceful protesters, areconfirmed to have beenkilled by police and sol-diers since then.

— AP

● ● ALTHOUGH MINIMUMThe attack took place inthe afternoon and policesay there are five crimescenes in Vetlanda, atown of 13,000.

● ● THE SUSPECTEDassailant, a man in his20s, was shot, arrestedand is being treated in ahospital.

● ● THE MAN'S motivewas not immediatelyknown. Police said theman, who they would notidentify in line withSwedish policy, is knownto them for petty crimes.

● ● IN RECENT weeks thegroup has stepped up itsattacks, repeatedly crash-ing drones and missilesinto the kingdom's Patriotmissile batteries.

● ● RADU JUDE’S film,which premiered in themain Competition sectionat the 71st InternationalFilm Festival of Berlin,uses this porn clip and thesubsequent "trial" of Emiin the school’s yard todraw circles around asociety's hypocrisy.

May seek $35 bn valuation in blank-cheque deal

Flipkart weighs US listingby merging with a Spac

pg 13HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

FC BUREAUMUMBAI, MARCH 4

NSE's technical glitch onFebruary 24 could havebeen due to a cyber attackand not telecom serviceprovider's failure, giventhe way the system cameto a halt slowly, accordingto a report published byMoneylife Foundation, anNGO, engaged in spread-ing financial literacy andconsumer awareness.

The manner in whichNSE's operations shutdown have all signs of acyber attack, rather than atelecom failure, accordingto the report.

The problem onFebruary 24 began around9.54 am when traderscouldn't place orders orexit and the trades seemedto have frozen. By 10.06the problem had affected

other parts of the systemand indices were not get-ting updated. But therewas no announcement nora closure by the NSE till11.11 am. The exchangeclosed the derivativesmarket at 11.40 am and thecash market at 11.43 am.This slow shutdown maybe due to hacking ratherthan a telecom issue, thereport said.

The NSE is yet to namewhich telecom service-provider failed though it

said that it has multipletelecom links with twoservice providers, thereport said.

"Communication failurewould have brought trad-ing to a halt immediately,"the report said.

The NSE not able torestart operations fromdisaster recovery sitedespite testing it everyquarter under a Sebi man-date also could have beenfor some other reasons, asit would have hinderedlarge traders, who investheavily in NSE's coloca-tion servers placed insideNSE building and mayhave lost their advantage aday before options expiry.

"5 per cent of all ordersand 95 per cent of alltrades come from the co-location servers withinthe NSE building," thereport said.

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, MARCH 4

At 6.9 per cent, theunemployment ratehas recovered to itspre-lock-down levels.However, the labourparticipation rate(LPR) and employmentrate continue to beweak.

In February 2021, theunemployment ratestood at 6.9 per cent,lower than theFebruary 2020 unem-ployment rate of 7.8per cent. The unem-ployment rate hadranged from 6.5 percent to 9 per cent in thepost-lock-down periodsince July 2021, accord-ing to the Centre forMonitoring IndianEconomy.

“The return of theunemployment rate topre-lockdown times isnot worth celebratingbecause it is more areflection of a shrink-ing labour force than adecline in the count ofthe unemployed.” saidMahesh Vyas, CEO andMD of CMIE.

Meanwhile, theNaukri JobSpeak Indexshows hiring in the IT-software/software serv-ices industry registereda record growth of over33 per cent in Februarycompared to Januarybecause of the increa-sed adoption of digitaltechnologies in India.

The index witnessedan uptick of over 22 percent in hiring activityin February at 2,356 joblistings compared to1,925 in January.

It said most indus-tries saw a positivesequential uptick inrecruitment activitiesafter a long gap.

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, MARCH 4

Giving a much-neededrelief to the employedclass worried about thefalling interest regime,the Employees ProvidentFund Organisation hasretained the interest rateon EPF deposits at 8.5 percent for the current fiscal(FY20-21).

The EPFO had to liqui-date investment in equi-ties to maintain the rate atthe current level, but itwould still be making aprofit this year. Thoughthe EPFO's Central Boardhas recommended 8.50 percent rate, the final call onthe rate is taken by thefinance ministry.

At 8.5 per cent, the EPFrate is better than mostgovernment small savingsscheme rates, rangingfrom 6.9 per cent to 8.4 percent, and bank fixeddeposit rates of 5.5 to 6.3per cent.

A government releaseon Thursday said theCentral Board of theEPFO has recommendedan annual interest rate of8.5 per cent to be creditedon deposit accounts ofmore than five crore mem-bers for the financial year2020-21. The decision oninterest rate would besend to the finance min-istry for concurrence andlater notified in thegazette, after which inter-est will be credited intothe subscribers' accounts.

For FY21, EPFO decidedto liquidate investment inequity and the interestrate recommended is aresult of combined inco-me from interest receivedfrom debt investment aswell as income realisedfrom equity investment.

As per reports, EPFOhad an income of Rs70,500 crore for distribu-

tion and even after keep-ing interest rates for cur-rent year at 8.5 per cent, itwould have a surplus ofaround Rs 300 crore.

From 2015-16, the EPFOhad started investing inequity through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) basedon the NSE-50 and BSE-30indices. The investment inequity assets started from5 per cent for FY15 and isnow at 15 per cent of theincremental portfolio.

The EPFO's decisioncomes amidst specula-tions that the interestrates would be lowered forFY21 due to the pandemicimpact. In FY20, the EPFOhad cut the interest rateon PF deposits to a seven-year low of 8.5 per cent.The rate of interest was8.8 per cent in 2015-16,which came down to 8.65per cent in FY19.

In the last budget,finance minister NirmalaSitharaman had announ-ced that the depositorsinvesting more than Rs 2.5lakh in EPF in a yearwould not enjoy taxexemption. This restric-tion is applicable for con-tribution made on or afterApril 1, 2021.

"The interest rateoffered by EPF is betterthan most of the smallsavings schemes. So, evenif you have 8.5 per centwith tax exemption till acontribution of Rs 2.5lakh and 8.5 per cent forthe remaining portionwith tax, it remains a goodoption. It is a risk-freeinvestment and is betterthan the bank fixeddeposit rates rangingbetween 5.5 per cent and6.3 per cent," said SureshSadagopan, founder ofLadder7 FinancialAdvisories.

The current interest rateon EPF is higher thanmost of the small savingsscheme rates. PublicProvident Fund andNational SavingsCertificate provide 7.9 percent interest rate. KisanVikas Patra offers 7.6 percent and SukanyaSamriddhi Yojana 8.4 percent. The five-year PostOffice Monthly IncomeScheme offers 7.6 per centinterest rate and postoffice term deposits of 1-3years offer interest rate of6.9 per cent. Post office 5-year recurring depositsoffer 7.2 per cent.

BAIJU KALESH & ANTO ANTONYMARCH 4

Walmart Inc's Flipkart isexploring going public inthe US through a mergerwith a blank-cheque com-pany as it seeks to quickenits listing process, accord-ing to people familiar withthe matter.

The Bengaluru-basedonline retailer has beenweighing a US initial pub-lic offering and it's nowalso looking at otheroptions, the people said.Flipkart's advisers haveapproached several Spacs,said one of the people, whoasked not to be identifiedas the information is notpublic. Flipkart could seeka valuation of at least $35billion in a blank-chequetransaction, the peoplesaid.

Deliberations are at anearly stage and Flipkartcould still explore otheroptions, the people said. Arepresentative for Flipkarthad no immediate com-ment.

The e-commerce firm isjoining other Indian firmslike online grocer Grofersin exploring a US listingthrough Spac deals. ReNewPower last week agreed tomerge with a US-listed spe-cial purpose acquisitioncompany (Spac) in a dealthat will give India'sbiggest renewable powerproducer an enterprisevalue of $8 billion.

Merging with Spacs willallow Walmart to take itsIndia unit to market at afaster pace than the usualIPO route. As many as 10

Indian companies could gopublic through Spac dealsbefore the end of the year,according to NomuraHoldings Inc.

Flipkart, which is bat-

tling with e-commercearch-rival Amazon.com Incand Mukesh Ambani'sretail venture for marketshare in India, startedoperations in 2007 and now

sells 80 million products onits platforms. Walmartacquired a majority stakein Flipkart in a $16 billiondeal in 2018.

—Bloomberg

AOIFE WHITEMARCH 4

Employers may be pre-vented from quizzing jobcandidates on their cur-rent earnings underEuropean Union rulesthat aim to help womensecure higher pay, EUEquality CommissionerHelena Dalli said.

"If it happens, it wouldbe a form of discrimina-tion. We are saying itshouldn't happen. Thecandidate can reportthis," she told reportersahead of the Thursdaypublication of draft ruleson pay transparency."Previous pay has nobearing on skills and theabilities of the applicantfor work and that's whywe believe this must notbe revealed if the employ-ee does not want to."

The European Commi-ssion is proposing bind-ing pay transparency leg-islation to help close apay gap that sees womenpaid 14.1 per cent lessthan men across the 27-nation bloc. The propos-als are subject to poten-tial amendments andapproval by EU govern-ments and the European

Parliament before theybecome law applyingthroughout the EU.

Candidates should havethe right to ask prospec-tive employers for payinformation under theproposal "which aims atempowering workers inthe negotiations on pay,"Dalli told reporters.Exposing pay informa-tion will help women seeif they are being paidfairly for the same work,regulators say, and mayhelp equality advocatesand trade unions seekcompensation for pay dis-crimination.

Women have been hitbadly by the pandemic,she said, since many arein precarious employ-ment. The pay transparen-

cy rules are only "one tinymove" in larger efforts tohelp women gain equalpay, including efforts formen to take more leave forchild-rearing. Women'sreduced hours or materni-ty leave can hit their pen-sion contributions.Women receive pensionsthat are 30 per cent loweron average.

The EU's proposalrequires governments toset penalties, includingfines, at a level they thinkwill be effective, if com-panies aren't supplyinginformation on potentialpay gaps. Large firmswith more than 250employees should pub-lish information on thepay to female and maleworkers and supply moredetailed information totheir staff. Smaller firmswill be required to supplypay information at aworker's request.

The rules cover basicsalary, bonuses, overtime,pensions and travel andhousing allowances. Theproposal isn't asking forwomen to be paid thesame as men but that anypay differences must bebased on clear criteria.

— Bloomberg

EU to bar employers fromasking candidates’ pay

Cyber attack behind NSE glitch?

New Delhi, March 4: ITservices major Wipro onThursday said it hassigned an agreement toacquire London-head-quartered Capco, a globalmanagement and technol-ogy consultancy, in a $1.45-billion (over Rs 10,500crore) deal.

This will be the biggestever acquisition by Wipro.

In a regulatory filing,Wipro said the acquisitionwill strengthen its posi-tion as a consulting and ITservices provider to thebanking, financial servic-es and insurance (BFSI)sector, provide access tomarquee BFSI clients andcreate a large global finan-cial services practice forthe company with a strongconsulting footprint.

Clients will benefit froma combination of Wipro'scapabilities in strategicdesign, domain and con-sulting, digital transfor-mation, cloud, cybersecu-rity, data and IT serviceswith Capco's deep domainand consulting capabili-ties across banking, pay-ments, capital markets,insurance, risk and regu-latory offerings, it added.

The transaction isexpected to be completedduring the quarter endingJune 30, subject to requi-

site regulatory approvalsand customary closingconditions.

Founded in 1998, Capcoworks with more than 100clients and has many long-standing relationshipswith the world's leadingfinancial institutions. Ithas over 5,000 consultantsbased in more than 30global locations across 16countries. The company'sconsolidated revenues forthe year ended December2020 was $720 million.

"We are very excited towelcome Capco'sadmirable leadershipteam and employees, and

global clients, to Wipro.Together, we can deliverhigh-end consulting andtechnology transforma-tions, and operationsofferings to our clients.

"Wipro and Capco sharecomplementary businessmodels and core guidingvalues, and I am certainthat our new Capco col-leagues will be proud tocall Wipro home," WiproCEO and managing direc-tor Thierry Delaportesaid.

Capco CEO Lance Levysaid the companies willtogether offer bespoketransformational end-to-end solutions, now pow-ered by innovative technol-ogy at scale, to create a newleading partner to thefinancial services industry.

"We look forward toleveraging the comple-mentary capabilities andsimilar cultures of bothcompanies to drive indus-try change and offer excit-ing opportunities for bothour clients, and our peo-ple," Levy said.

The deal will requireanti-trust approvals underthe competition laws ofthe US, Germany, Canada,Brazil and Austria alongwith other regulatoryapprovals, the filing said.

—PTI

Mumbai, March 4: JustState Bank of India,HDFC and ICICI Bankwill have to offload equityworth Rs 1.21 lakh crore ifthe central bank goesahead with its reportedplan to restrict banks’stake in insurance armsat 20 per cent, says areport.

Quoting unnamed RBIofficials, a media reportearlier this week said themonetary authority is notcomfortable with banksowning controlling stakein non-core businesseslike insurance ventures,which are capital guzzlersand wants banks to capownership in insurancearms/companies at amaximum of 20 per cent.

It was also reported thatthe RBI recently approved

Axis Bank's plan to buyMax Life only after itagreed to directly holdonly 10 per cent and alsocapped the overall holdingat 20 per cent.

Current regulationsallow banks to own over50 per cent stake in insur-ance arms.

If the RBI forces promot-er banks/NBFCs to lowertheir stakes to 20 per cent,this can significantlyincrease free float in thefour listed insurancearms of HDFC, ICICIBank and SBI worth Rs 1.2lakh crore alone, KotakSecurities said in a repor.

HDFC owns 50 per centin HDFC Life while ICICIBank owns 51 per cent ofICICI Prudential Life. SBIowns 55 per cent in SBILife. —PTI

PVT BANKS TO SELL 1̀.2 L CR EQUITIESIF RBI CAPS INSURANCE ARMS STAKE

EPF rate retained at 8.5%

New Delhi, March 4:WhatsApp on Thursdaysaid it has rolled out one-to-one voice and videocalls on its desktop app, amove that will now allowusers to make callsthrough their laptops ordesktop PCs.

The Facebook-ownedfirm said voice and videocalls on the platform areend-to-end encrypted, andso WhatsApp can't hear orsee them whether the callis made from phones orcomputers.

"We're starting with one-to-one calls on theWhatsApp desktop app sowe make sure we can giveyou a reliable and high-quality experience. Wewill be expanding this fea-ture,” it added. —PTI

BAIJU KALESHMARCH 4

Blank-cheque companiesare increasingly lookingto India for acquisitiontargets, which will keepthe country's recent deal-making streak going,according to NomuraHoldings Inc.

"Spac-led transactionsare expected to increasein the coming years inIndia," Utpal Oza, head ofinvestment banking forIndia at Nomura, said in aphone interview."Wherever you've gotbusinesses which havecaught the fancy of inter-national investors espe-cially in sectors such asrenewables, tech or e-com-merce, where the corpo-rate structure enables it tobe merged quite easily,you will see Spac activity."

A blank-cheque compa-ny is a shell company thatraises money from publicinvestors with the goal ofacquiring a business with-in two years. These deals--some sponsored by the

rich and famous includingHong Kong billionaireRichard Li and ex-CreditSuisse chief TidjaneThiam--have raised morethan $66 billion in the USalone just this year,according to data com-piled by Bloomberg.

Singapore could join thebandwagon soon. Thecountry's exchange is con-sulting the market onallowing Spacs to go pub-lic, and could see its firstsuch listing this year if itgets enough support. Asmany as 10 Indian compa-nies could go publicthrough Spac deals beforethe end of the year andthe trend could accelerateif Singapore's blank-cheque firm listings arepermitted, Oza said.

In India, Nomuraexpects equal revenuecontributions from equitycapital markets, mergers& acquisitions as well asfinancing, Oza added. In afurther boost to its busi-ness, the Japanese bankplans to hire four bankersacross debt origination,

corporate finance and sec-tor coverage, he said.

Nomura also expectsmore initial public offer-ings in India this year,with sentiment buoyed bythe post-debut perform-ance of recently listedcompanies, said MangeshGhogre, its head of equitycapital markets for India.

In 2020, companiesraised about $4.6 billionthrough first-time sharesales in the South Asiannation and their sharesare now trading morethan 50 per cent abovetheir IPO prices on aver-age, data compiled byBloomberg show. Nomuraranked second as IPOarranger in India lastyear, just behind KotakMahindra Bank Ltd,according to theBloomberg league table.

About $1.7 billion hasbeen raised so far thisyear, while State Bank ofIndia is preparing itsmutual fund joint venturefor an offering that couldraise $1 billion.

—Bloomberg

Spacs look to India for nextwave of targets: Nomura

Wipro to buy UK’sCapco for $1.45 bn

WHATSAPP LETSVIDEO CALLINGVIA DESKTOP

UNEMPLOYMENTRATE RETURNS TOPRE-LOCKDOWNLEVELS IN FEB.

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 50,846.08 1.16Nifty 50 15,080.80 1.08S&P 500* 3,827.09 0.19Dollar (`) 72.83 -0.15Pound Sterling (`) 101.45 0.22Euro (`) 87.63 0.41Gold (10gm)* (`) 44,372▼217 0.48Brent crude ($/bbl)* 65.79 2.68IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.212 0.00US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 1.481 0.011

* As of 8:30 PM IST

FDI equity flowrises 40% inApril-Dec: GovtForeign direct investment grew40 per cent to $51.47 billionduring April-Dec. 2020-21. Indiahas attracted 22 per cent higherFDI inflow (including re-invest-ed earnings) of $67.54 billionduring the first nine months ofFY21 against $55.14 billion inthe same period of FY20. "FDIequity inflow grew by 40 percent in the first nine months of2020-21 ($51.47 billion) com-pared to the year ago period($36.77 billion)," the govt said.

Arcelor Nipponinks pact for`50K cr plant

ArcelorMittal Nippon SteelIndia (AM/NS India) inked anMoU with the Odisha govern-ment for setting up a 12 mtpaintegrated steel plant inKendrapada district with aninvestment of Rs 50,000 crore,officials said. Steel tycoonLakshmi N. Mittal met chiefminister Naveen Patnaik at hisresidence Naveen Niwas earlierin the day and discussedArcelorMittal's projects in thestate, an official said.

Companiesgarner `9,100 crvia NCD issuesAs many as eight companiesraised over Rs 9,118 crorethrough retail issuance of non-convertible debentures in thefirst ten months of the ongoingfiscal. In comparison, firms hadgarnered Rs 14,161 crorethrough this route in the April-January period of 2019-20.Most of the funds have beenmobilised to support lendingactivities, working capitalrequirements and other generalcorporate purposes.

Kabira electricbikes sells 6,100units in 96 hoursKabira Mobility, the Goa-basedEV startup and manufacturer oftwo electric model bikes, saidit had reached a total bookingsof 6,100 electric bikes onFebruary 28 with a down pay-ment of Rs 3,000. Delivery ofthe bikes will start from thefirst week of May. The companyhad launched India’s fastestelectric bikes called KM3000and KM4000 on February 25priced at Rs 1.27 lakh and Rs1.37 lakh, respectively.

Women in the EU earned on average14.15% less per hour than men.Difference in hourly earnings

Source: Eurostat, data refer to 2018/Bloomberg

20

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Germ

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Aust

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Fran

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UNEQUAL PAY

EmployeesProvident Fundinterest rates

Figures in %

Capco works withmore than 100

clients. It has over5,000 consultantsbased in 30 global

locations in 16countries

Thierry Delaporte

Printed & Published by K. Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Limited, Printed atDeccan Chronicle Press at Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Ltd. #563/9/D&9/E,Behind Andhra Bank Pet Basheerbagh,

Kompally, Ranga Reddy Dist. Editor:T.Venkatram Reddy, RNI Reg

No.APENG/2008/24282. © All rightsreserved. Reproduction in whole or in

part without written permission of TheEditor, Financial Chronicle ® is

prohibited.

GAMES pg 14DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

SHORT TAKES

MMaarrggaaoo:: One of the most con-sistent teams in the history of

the tournament, FC Goa willlook to take a step closer to

their maiden ISL title when theyface table-toppers Mumbai Cityin the first leg of their semifinal

fixture here on Friday.Goa have secured playoff quali-

fication a record six times butthey could never manage to lift

the ISL trophy, having lost thefinals on two occasions.

Come Friday, the Gaurs willlook to put it past League

Shield winners Mumbai City FCto inch closer to the dream of

lifting their first-ever trophy.Having qualified for the play-

offs for the fourth-straight time,Goa are only behind Mumbai in

terms of goals scored, along-side NorthEast United.

They have form backing themtoo, having been unbeaten in 13

games now — a feat no otherside has managed in Hero ISL

history. — PTI

LLoonnddoonn:: Manchester Unitedwere left a huge 14 points

behind Premier League leadersManchester City as Crystal

Palace held them to yet anothergoalless draw on Wednesday.

The stalemate at a foggySelhurst Park was United’s third

successive goalless draw in allcompetitions ahead of Sunday’s

Manchester derby against City,who are on a record-breaking

21-game winning streak.Elsewhere, third-placed

Leicester had captain KasperSchmeichel to thank for a point

in a 1-1 draw at Burnley.Aston Villa missed the chance

to move to within two points ofthe top four as they suffered a

shock 1-0 loss to bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United, who

held on for the final half anhour with 10 men.

A point in south London leftsecond-placed Man United just

one ahead of Leicester.— AFP

Goa gear up forMumbai in semis

Man United fireblanks at Palace

RR teams forthrowball tourney

HHyyddeerraabbaadd:: Hemanth andVaishnavi will lead the Ranga

Reddy district men’s andwomen’s throwball teams

respectively in the 7thTelangana State Sub-Junior

Inter-District ThrowballChampionship to be held at

Sanghamitra School inNizamabad on March 6 and 7.

TTHHEE TTEEAAMMSS■■ BBooyyss:: Hemanth (captain), Sai

Ram, Chaitanya, Sai Harish,Revanth, Dhoneshwar, Akhul,

Raghu, Lokesh, Narsing, Nidith,Sushanth, Kaushik, Tagore,

Manish Charith. CCooaacchh:: GangaSagar, MMaannaaggeerr:: Sai Teja.

■■ GGiirrllss:: Vaishnavi (captain), SiriSri, Nandini, Dhamanika,

Vishrutha, Pradeepa, Rajashri,Tanvi, Greeshma, Yashaswini,

Shreshta, Srinuja, Varshini, SaiEsha, Nethra Sri. CCooaacchh::

Spoorthy, MMaannaaggeerr:: Srivali.

Shamith to leadTS dueball side

HHyyddeerraabbaadd:: Shamith Goud willlead the Telangana men’s due-ball team in the 1st South ZoneDueball National Championship

to be held at Madurai in TamilNadu on March 6 and 7.

TThhee tteeaamm:: Shamith Goud(captain), Reeshank Reddy,

Dhara Kunal, Goverdan Srinivas,P. B. Dhananjay, A. B. Vinay

Kumar, K. Mukti Ram, AakashKandi, Varun Raj, Anand Kumar.CCooaacchh:: Praveen Tony. MMaannaaggeerr::

Sharath Kumar Reddy.

MMiillaann:: Franck Kessie scored a97th-minute penalty to rescue a

1-1 draw for AC Milan at hometo Udinese on Wednesday, giv-ing Serie ‘A’ leaders Inter Milan

the chance to pull six pointsclear at the top.

Rodrigo Becao’s second-halfheader at the San Siro com-pletely deceived Milan goal-

keeper Gianluigi Donnarummaand Stefano Pioli’s faltering

side looked destined for a thirddefeat in four games.

But a needless handball fromUdinese substitute Jens Stryger

Larsen offered Milan a lifeline,with Ivorian international Kessieconverting the penalty with the

final kick of the match.“Penalties are not easy,” Kessie

told broadcaster DAZN.“When you get there, you have

two choices: you mustn’t feelfear or uncertainty, otherwise

you will get it wrong,” headded.

Milan struggled to create manygenuine chances in the absence

of top scorer ZlatanIbrahimovic, the Swede side-lined by a groin injury picked

up in last weekend’s victoryover Roma. — AFP

Milan salvage adraw at Udinese

Madrid, March 4:Barcelona needed extra-time to reach the Copa delRey final on Wednesday,with a 3-2 aggregate winover Sevilla coming justtwo days after a policeraid on the club and thearrest of their formerpresident.

Having trailed 0-2 fromthe first leg, Danish inter-national MartinBraithwaite hit the cru-cial goal in the fifthminute of extra-time witha diving header off a JordiAlba cross.

Gerard Pique hadequalised in the fourthminute of stoppage timewith virtually the lastplay of the game to saveBarca.

The veteran internation-al headed in at the nearpost after a fine cross fromthe astute AntoineGriezmann.

That was after OusmaneDembele, who scored inthe 2-0 win at Sevilla in LaLiga at the weekend, hadgiven the 30-time SpanishCup winners a 12th-minute lead in the secondleg with a right-foot drivefrom outside the area.

Sevilla could have killedthe game off in the 73rdminute to deny Barcatheir place in the final fora 42nd time.

They were awarded apenalty when LucasOcampos was broughtdown by Oscar Mingueza.

However, Ocampos sawhis tame right-foot effortfrom the spot saved byMarc-Andre ter Stegen.

Flagging Sevilla werethen reduced to 10 men ininjury time whenBrazilian Fernando wasred-carded for a foul onFrancisco Trincao.

“The team deserved toqualify,” said Barca coachRonald Koeman.

“For their work and hon-esty. We are more aggres-sive, we’ve always createdchances, the team hasimproved enormously,” headded.

It was a much-neededwin for Barcelona afterformer president Josep

Maria Bartomeu, currentchief executive OscarGrau, head of legal servic-es Roma Gomez Ponti andBartomeu’s advisorJaume Masferrer werearrested by Catalanpolice, who searched theclub’s offices on Monday

morning.They were all questioned

in relation to last year’s“Barcagate” scandal.

The club holds its presi-dential elections later thisweek.

The search ofBarcelona’s stadium waspart of a probe into allega-tions the club carried outa defamation campaignagainst current and for-mer players who werecritical of Bartomeu.

Spanish radio stationCadena Ser claimed inFebruary 2020 that Barcacovered up inflated pay-ments to a company calledI3 Ventures which it hadhired to boost the image ofthe club on the socialmedia.

Part of the social mediacampaign included criti-cising current and formerplayers like Lionel Messiand Xavi Hernandez, andiconic coach PepGuardiola.

Barcelona will faceeither Athletic Bilbao orLevante, who are 1-1 intheir semifinal, in thefinal on April 17 in Seville.

Before that, however,Barcelona will attemptanother comeback effortwhen they take on ParisSaint-Germain in the sec-ond leg of theirChampions League last 16tie next week.

Barca trail 4-1 from thefirst leg.

Sevilla coach JulenLopetegui admittedWednesday’s defeat was a“bitter pill to swallow”.

— AFP

Barca barge into finalExtra time goal takes big guns to Spanish Cup title round

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Mohammed Nazeeruddin,Brandon, Bharath and Syed Ahmedsailed into the quarterfinals of thesenior snooker category at theTelangana State Ranking Snooker& Billiards Championship beingplayed at the Telangana Cue SportsAssociation premises at Khajagudaon Thursday.

Nazeeruddin was too good forClinton as he clipped him 4-0 — 88-

12, 59-20, 59-47, 87-1 while Brandonprevailed over D. Aravind, takinghim out at 4-1 — 74-68, 62-35, 42-65,59-14, 65-60.

Bharath had a bit of a strugglebefore overcoming Ranjit 4-3 — 68-43, 37-45, 50-45, 51-62, 48-61, 37-25, 75-49 while Syed Ahmed was a littlebetter as he rallied past Rizwan 4-2— 77-48, 73-43, 38-58, 76-56, 38-78, 63-45. TTHHEE RREESSUULLTTSS

■■ SSeenniioorr SSnnooookkeerr pprree--qquuaarrtteerrffiinnaallss::Himanshu bt John Bosco 4-1 (23-76,

80-8, 69-0, 52-26, 64-46); MdNazeeruddin bt Clinton 4-0 (88-12,59-20, 59-47, 87-1); Ajay Bhushan btFaizan Khan 4-1 (50-26, 69-31, 50-60,59-48, 81-7); Brandon bt D. Aravind 4-1 (74-68, 62-35, 42-65, 59-14, 65-60);Mushtaq bt Nabil 4-1 (49-25, 60-49,54-35, 30-64, 55-48); Bharath btRanjit 4-3 (68-43, 37-45, 50-45, 51-62, 48-61, 37-25, 75-49); Syed Ahmedbt Rizwan 4-2 (77-48, 73-43, 38-58,76-56, 38-78, 63-45); P. Arvind Goudbt Vishwanath Reddy 4-3 (14-66, 19-73, 54-41, 71-10, 63-18, 29-60, 70-34).

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Laxmi Siri Dandu willclash with M. Manognya inthe girls singles finals ofthe Under-16 AITAChampionship series beingplayed at Sania MirzaTennis Academy inMurtuzaguda.

In the semifinals onThursday, sixth seed Laxmidefeated Kavya Sakineni instraight sets at 6-1, 6-2 whileManognya was too good forHansika Reddy as she beather 6-1, 6-0.

In the boys section,unseeded G. Chaitra Reddytoppled top seed NaishikReddy in the semifinals,with a dominant 6-0, 6-1scoreline to set up the finalwith sixth seed ChandanShivraj who tamed No.7seed Trishant Reddy 6-2, 6-0.

Meanwhile, P. RiddhiChowdary & Sama Chevikaand Soma Suhas &Chandan Shivraj won thegirls and boys doubles titlesrespectively.

TTHHEE RREESSUULLTTSS■■ GGiirrllss ssiinngglleess sseemmiiffiinnaallss::Laxmi Siri Dandu (6) btKavya Sakineni 6-1, 6-2; M.Manognya bt Hansika Reddy6-1, 6-0.■■ BBooyyss ssiinngglleess sseemmiiffiinnaallss:: G.Chaitra Reddy bt NaishikReddy (1) 6-0, 6-1; ChandanShivraj (6) bt Trishant Reddy

D (7) 6-2, 6-0.■■ GGiirrllss ddoouubblleess ffiinnaall:: P.Riddhi Chowdary/ SamaChevika (1) bt DiyaMalik/Apara Khandare 3-6, 6-1, 12-10.■■ BBooyyss ddoouubblleess ffiinnaall:: SomaSuhas/ Chandan Shivraj btTrishant Reddy D/ V SahanReddy (4) 6-1, 6-2.


Aditya Mangat and AdnanAhmed were the only perform-ers in the Hyderabad CricketAssociation’s three-day leaguematches played on Thursday.

Aditya (105) smashed a centu-ry while Adnan (5/40) baggedfabulous fifer but unfortunatelycouldn’t save Charminar fromgoing down to SecunderabadNawabs.

Sai Prachotan led the per-formers in the two-day section.He smashed an unbeaten 208 tolead Secunderabad Gymkhanato a gigantic score of 525 for 7against Mayura. Prachotan’s259-ball knock was decoratedwith 25 boundaries.

G. Rithvik of S. K. Blues wasanother good show. He took 6/49to rip through HyderabadAcademy, for whom AnvithReddy scored a brilliant 130.Meanwhile, Bharat’s LakshanShiva Keerth (6/127) rockedAdams XI. for whom M. Balajiscored 146 that included 25fours and four sixes.

Shanti XI’s Mehul Dayani(187), Sunil Sirvi (152) ofRushiraj and CCOB’s AbdulKhaliq Khan (149) were the nextbest on the show with their stu-pendous knocks.

Meanwhile, Elegant’sYuganand Sree (132), CheerfulChums’ Yash Satwalekar, (117),Jayant Reddy (114) of Lords andShalimar’s Rohit V (111) also hit

centuries.In other matches,

Manikumar’s Praveen Kumar(5/16) & P. Dinesh (5/89), SaiKrishna (5/54) of WMCC andAcrylic’s Sankeerth Dhatrak(5/84) also did well with theball.

BBrriieeff ssccoorreess::TTHHRREEEE--DDAAYY LLEEAAGGUUEE

DDaayy--33■ Secunderabad Nawabs 472 in89.2 overs & 223 in 38.1 overs (T.Harish Singh 72, Pramod Mahajan46, AAddnnaann AAhhmmeedd 55//4400) btCharminar 225 in 72 overs &326/6 in 40 overs (AAddiittyyaa MMaannggaatt110055 —— 9999bb,, 1122xx44,, 11xx66, N. SathwikReddy 87, Omer Rizwan 47).PPooiinnttss:: Secunderabad Nawabs 6,Charminar 0.■ Sportive CC 418/8 in 90 overs &292/9 in 40 overs (BenjaminThomas 86, C. H. Chandrasekhar48, Shaik Sameer 75, PrithviReddy 3/60) bt Khalsa 383 in 90overs & 225/8 in 40 overs(Sarthak Bharadwaj 60, Harshith65, C. P. Venkatesh 32, AbhishekMurugan 3/30). PPooiinnttss:: Sportive

6, Khalsa 0.■ Sri Chakra 423/6 in 83 overs btJai Bhagwathi 188 in 71.5 overs &193/9 in 36.3 overs (AbrarMohiuddin 53, Zafarullah Khan4/45). PPooiinnttss:: Sri Chakra 6+2, JaiBhagwathi 0.

TTWWOO--DDAAYY LLEEAAGGUUEE

■ Secunderabad Gymkhana 525/7in 90 overs (Sai Prachotan 208n.o — 259b, 25x4, Md Adil 45,Sourab 68, Rohit Reddy 65) vsMayura.■ Shanti XI 357 in 89 overs (MMeehhuullDDaayyaannii 118877 —— 224477bb,, 3333xx44, NandaKishore 43) vs HyderabadPanthers.■ Rushiraj CC 371/9 in 90 overs(PP.. SSuunniill SSiirrvvii 115522 —— 224455bb,, 1155xx44, V.Sai Chandra 67, Jiten Rahul 45,AAbbhhiisshheekk 55//8877) bt Greenlands 95in 54.5 overs (MMiihhiirr DDaannggee 55//1166 ——1100--66--1166--55). PPooiinnttss:: Rushiraj 5,Greenlands 0.■ CCOB 339 in 66.4 overs (AAbbdduullKKhhaalliiqq KKhhaann 114499 —— 114433bb,, 2233xx44,,22xx66, Basheeruddin 42, Dhanush4/89, Manish 3/85) vs Ours 92/4in 31 overs (Gowtham 34).■ Adams XI 362 in 54.4 overs (MM..

BBaallaajjii 114466 —— 112266bb,, 2255xx44,,44xx66, LLaakksshhaann SShhiivvaa KKeeeerrtthh 66//112277—— 1177--11--112277--66) vs Bharat 90/1 in 21overs (Bhargav 54 batting).■ Hyderabad Academy 277 in70.5 overs (AAnnvviitthh RReeddddyy 113300 ——113344bb,, 2211xx44,, 33xx66, Sahil Parakh 46,Keerthi Pranav 34, GG.. RRiitthhvviikk 66//4499—— 1166..55--66--4499--66)) vs SK Blues 109/5in 25 overs (Md Afzal Ali 38,Zaheer Abbas 3/21).■ Elegant 258 in 51.1 overs(YYuuggaannaanndd SSrreeee 113322 —— 112211bb,, 2288xx44,Syed Rehman 64, Abdul Abid Ali4/99) vs Adilabad Dist 130/1 in22.2 overs (Mahesh 74 batting,Srinivas 40 batting).■ Cheerful Chums 260 in 73 overs(Mannaus 59, YYaasshh SSaattwwaalleekkaarr 111177—— 220022bb,, 1166xx44, Vamshi Acharya4/58) vs Rakesh XI 46/4 in 18.4overs (Kotesh 4/16).■ Lords CC 267 in 53.1 overs lostto Tirumala CC 271/4 in 76.5 overs(JJaayyaanntt RReeddddyy 111144 nn..oo —— 119944bb,,99xx44, Krishnag Rao 84). PPooiinnttss::Tirumala 5, Lords 0.■ Shalimar 317 in 62.5 overs(RRoohhiitt VV 111111 —— 9944bb,, 1199xx44,, 11xx66,Fardeem Umani 56, Advaith Pillai50, Ronit Singh 37, Azharuddin

3/29) vs HUCC 73/2 in 19 overs.■ Abhinav Colts 218 in 39.5 overs(M. Varun Tej 31, Sachit Naidu30, PP.. DDiinneesshh 55//8899 —— 1166--11--8899--55,,PPrraavveeeenn KKuummaarr 55//1166—— 66..55--11--1166--55)) lost to Manikumar 149 in 39overs (Praveen Kumar 45, VinodYadav 36, Sachit Naidu 3/30, NaraSunder 3/35). PPooiinnttss:: AbhinavColts CC 5, Manikumar CC 0.■ National 106 in 28.2 overs(Praneeth 31, SSaaii KKrriisshhnnaa 55//5544 ——1122--00--5544--55) lost to WMCC 107/1 in23 overs (S. V. Adithya 52, N.Anish 35). PPooiinnttss:: WMCC 5,National 0.■ Acrylic 185 in 55.3 overs (Aamer74, Naga Charan Chary 42,Saurish Yadav 3/8) lost to XIMasters 186/9 in 27.1 overs (S.Prajwal Rao 75, Kalyan Mani 50,M. Sai Prateek 4/60, SSaannkkeeeerrtthhDDhhaattrraakk 55//8844). PPooiinnttss:: XI Master5, Acrylic 0.■ Team Speed 236 in 67.3 overs(PP.. AArrvviinndd 9988, Deepansh Chowhan50, S. Dixit 36, Abdul Nayeem4/35, J. Rohit Kumar 3/49) vsNizamabad 46/3 in 17 overs.■ Venus Cybertech vs PKMCC242/9 in 90 overs (Raj Navneeth

64, M. Rusheel 45, Aditya Singal42, B Srujan Kumar 35, SrunothRao 4/27, Rishith Reddy 3/48) vsVenus Cybertech.■ Noble 196 in 63.1 overs (AshwinSuraj 60, Ansh Nayan Gupta 44, P.Praveen 4/52) lost to KarimnagarDist 200/4 in 35 overs (RishwanthGoud 87). PPooiinnttss:: Karimnagar 5,Noble 0.■ Warangal 281 in 69.4 overs (B.Kumar 30, A. Ganesh 43, K.Sukruth 80, Ayub Khan 3/61,Chandralok 3/12) vs VijaypuriWillowmen 33/0 in 12 overs.■ Crown 220 in 65.2 overs (P.Tarun Sai Krishnamurthy 51, D.Shrank 34, Apratim Pandey 3/40,Yash Dubey 3/59) vs HBCC 136/4in 27 overs.■ Saint Sai 56 in 25.5 overs(Chakravarthy 3/14) lost toVijayanand 57/0 in 7.5 overs(Aryan Raj 31 n.o). PPooiinnttss::Vijayanand 5, Saint Sai 0.■ Victoria 63 in 28.1 overs (M. A.Jaweed 4/28, Dheeraj 3/17,Srinivas 3/12) lost to Canara Bank66/2 in 17.3 overs (Arvind Shetty45 n.o). PPooiinnttss:: Canara Bank 5,Victoria 0.

Aditya, Adnan shine; Prachotan slams double tonMehul, Sunil, Abdul, Balaji, Anvith, Rithvik, Lakshan, Yuganand, Yash, Jayant, Rohit, Praveen, Dinesh, Sai, Sankeerth also do well

Chaitra topples top seed;it’s Laxmi vs Manognya

SSaannkkeeeerrtthhSSaaii PPrraacchhoottaann MMiihhiirr DDaannggeeAAddiittyyaa MMaannggaatt SSuunniill SSiirrvvii GG.. RRiitthhvviikk YYuuggaannaanndd SSrreeee AAnnvviitthh RReeddddyy YYaasshh SSaattwwaalleekkaarr JJaayyaanntt RReeddddyy

Nazeer, Brandon, Bharath advanceMohammed Nazeeruddin plays a shot during his senior snooker pre-quarterfinal match in the Telangana StateRanking Snooker & Billiards Championship at the Telangana Cue Sports Association in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Girls doubles winners P. Riddhi Chowdary and SamaChevika (left) and boys doubles champions Soma Suhasand Chandan Shivraj (right) pose with their trophies.

Barcelona’s Martin Braithwaite (center) celebrates after scoring his side’s third goalduring the the Copa del Rey semifinal, second leg, against Sevilla at the Camp Noustadium in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday. — AP

Former Davis Cup player, captain and selector S. P. Misratook the Covishield vaccine at the Yashoda Hospital inSecunderabad on Thursday. “Proper vaccination is thebest way to fight with Covid-19,” the 79-year-oldHyderabad tennis great said after getting his shot.

Drop shot

HCA’s 2nd level fitness testHHyyddeerraabbaadd,, MMaarrcchh 44:: The Hyderabad Cricket Association isconducting the second phase of the Fitness Test for thosewho cleared the first, on Saturday at 7.30 am at the RajivGandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal.

Players should bring along a copy of the birth certificate aswell as carry a digital version. The list of players who clearedthe first test held on February 28 and March 1 will be dis-played at the notice boards of RGICS as well as GymkhanaGrounds, a release read.

GAMES pg 15DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | 5 MARCH 2021

SHORT TAKES

DDoohhaa:: Sania Mirza’s first tourna-ment in more than a year ended

with a semifinal defeat as shewas ousted from the Qatar

Total Open along with her part-ner Andreja Klepac, here on

Thursday. Sania and herSlovenian partner lost 5-7, 6-2,

5-10 to America’s NicoleMelichar and Dutch player Demi

Schuurs in one hour and 28minutes.

Playing against players, whoare ranked 11 and 12 in the

world was tough but it was adecent outing for Sania, who

recovered from Covid-19recently, and her partner.

It was first tournament for theIndian since last February.

Sania and Klepac split $10000and earned 185 ranking points

each. Since Sania was notdefending much points, it willhelp her improve her ranking.

Sania will break back into top-200 and is expected to climb tothe 177th spot from the current

254. — PTI

BBuueennooss AAiirreess:: India’s SumitNagal registered the biggest

win of his career when hestunned second seed Cristian

Garin of Chile in straight sets toenter the quarterfinals of the

Argentina Open ATP 250 tour-nament here.

Nagal, ranked 150,produced high-class tennis on

Wednesday to reg-ister an impressive

6-4, 6-3 secondround win over hisChilean rival, who

is ranked wayabove at the 22nd

spot in the ATPchart.

Nagal will play Spain’s AlbertRamos-Vinolas, in what will bethe Indian’s maiden quarterfi-

nal appearance at the ATP Tourlevel.

Ramos-Vinolas had defeatedDomnik Koepfer of Germany 7-

5 6-4. — PTI

Sania bows outof Qatar semis

Nagal posts bestwin of ATP career

DDoohhaa:: Indian challenge at theWorld Table Tennis Contender

series ended after veteranSharath Kamal suffered a loss

to world no 7 Lin Yun-Ju ofChinese Taipei in the men’s sin-

gles pre-quarterfinals here onThursday. The 38-year-old

Indian suffered a 6-11, 4-11, 8-11defeat against Lin.

The World No. 32 Sharath, whowas playing his first internation-

al tournament after a year’sbreak due to the pandemic,

couldn’t gain momentumdespite showing good resist-ance in the latter part of the

match against the higher-ranked Yun-Ju.

Earlier, Manika Batra and SreejaAkula also lost their respectivefinal qualifying round matches

in the women’s singles catego-ry. While Batra lost to World

No. 69 Ganna Gaponova 5-11, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11, Akula went downfighting 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11

to Russia’s Mariia Tailkova.

Sharath loses in pre-quarters

NNeeww DDeellhhii:: Asian championPooja Rani (75kg) entered the

semifinals to secure a medalbut two-time world bronze-win-

ner Lovlina Borgohain (69kg)bowed out after a quarterfinal

loss at the 35th BoxamInternational Boxing

Tournament in Castellon, Spain.In late night bouts on

Wednesday, Olympic-boundRani defeated Italian AssuntaCanfora to join the seasoned

M.C. Mary Kom (51kg), SimranjitKaur (60kg) and debutant

Jasmine (57kg) in the last-fourstage. The three had won theirquarterfinals earlier in the day.

Rani is a three-time Asianmedallist and also a 2014 Asian

Games bronze-winner. However, Borgohain, who has

also qualified for the TokyoGames, lost 0-5 to Russia’s

Saadat Dalgatova to make asurprisingly early exit from thetournament. Asian bronze-win-

ner Manisha Moun (57kg) wasanother Indian to be ousted

from contention when she wasdefeated 0-5 by Italian Irma

Testa in the quarterfinals. — PTI

Rani rules insemis, Lovlina out

St. John’s (Antigua andBarbuda), March 4:West Indies captainKieron Pollard onWednesday became onlythe third man to hit sixsixes in an internationalover in his team’s four-wicket Twenty20 victoryover Sri Lanka.

The feat came in thesixth over of a bizarreWest Indies innings,bowled by off-spinnerAkila Dananjaya whomoments earlier in hisprevious over had beencelebrating taking a hat-trick. Pollard followed inthe footsteps of SouthAfrica’s Herschelle Gibbsagainst the Netherlandsin the 2007 World Cup andIndia’s Yuvraj Singh, whoalso achieved the feat inthe 2007 Twenty20 WorldCup against England.

Pollard was eventuallyout for 38 off 11 balls asthe West Indies chased 132to win at the CoolidgeCricket Ground, reachingtheir target in the 14thover when Jason Holderclobbered his side’s 13thsix. “I felt I could hit sixsixes after the third one,”said 33-year-old Pollard.

“Once I had five sixes Iknew I had the bowler onthe back foot. He wasgoing around the wicketand it was difficult forhim. I just told myself: ‘Gofor it’.”

Sri Lanka skipperAngelo Mathews hailedhis opposite number.

“Pollard as we know isvery destructive,”Mathews told the post-match presentation.

“What I told Akila was togo for his wicket even ifhe gets hit for six sixes. Ifhe miscued one we couldhave got him out.

Unfortunately it didn’thappen.”

Only eight men have hitsix sixes in an over in allforms of cricket with fel-low West Indian GarfieldSobers the first to do so inan English county gamein 1968.

West Indies’ openers

Evin Lewis and LendlSimmons bludgeoned 52off the first 20 balls as thetwo-time T20 World Cupwinners looked comfort-ably on course.

However, having hitthree sixes off three ballsoff Mathews’ openingover, Lewis was caught by

Danushka Gunathilaka inthe deep off Dananjaya fora brisk 28. That brought41-year-old Chris Gayle tothe crease for his firstinternational appearancein two years. But he lastedjust one ball when he wasplumb lbw to Dananjayawho then completed his

hat-trick by havingNicholas Pooran caughtbehind by NiroshanDickwella. — AFP

BBrriieeff ssccoorreess:: Sri Lanka 131/9 in20 overs (Nissanka 39, Dickwella33, McCoy 2/25) lost to WestIndies 134/6 in 13.1 overs (Pollard38, Holder 29 n.o, Hasaranga3/12, Dhananjaya 3/62)

POLLARD 6x6 PACK Kieron hits 6 sixes in an over off hat-trick man Dananjaya

Basel, March 4: Indianshuttlers P.V. Sindhu,Kidambi Srikanth andAjay Jayaram had a goodday in office as theyadvanced to the quarterfi-nals of singles competitionat the Swiss Open Super300 badminton tournamenthere on Thursday.

Indian mixed doublespair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and AshwiniPonnappa also progressedto the quarterfinals, con-tinuing their recent goodrun in international bad-minton.

World champion Sindhuhardly broke any sweat,beating USA’s Iris Wang 21-13, 21-14 in the women’ssingles competition, whileformer world no. 1Srikanth notched up a 21-10, 14-21, 21-14 victory overworld no. 50 ThomasRouxel of France andJayaram eked out a hard-fought 21-18, 17-21, 21-13against third seeded DaneRasmus Gemke in theirrespective men’s singlessecond round matches.

Satwik and Ashwini, whoreached the semifinals atToyota Thailand OpenSuper 1000 in January,defeated the Indonesiancombination of RinovRivaldy and PithaHaningtyas Mentari 21-18,21-16 in a mixed doublessecond-round match.

While second seedSindhu meets fifth seededThai BusananOngbamrungphan next,

while fourth seedSrikanth, who had won thetitle in 2015, will face sixthseeded Thai KantaphonWangcharoen and Jayaramwill be up against anotherThai Kunlavut Vitidsarn,seeded eighth, in the last-eight stage.

However, Sourabh Vermalost 17-21, 14-21 to eighthseeded Thai KunlavutVitidsarn to crash out ofthe men’s singles event.

Earlier, two-time formerchampion Saina Nehwalbowed out of the tourna-ment after a hard-foughtfirst-round loss in thewomen’s singles openinground on Wednesday night.

The London Olympicbronze-medallist battledfor 58 minutes before goingdown 16-21, 21-17, 21-23 toPhittayaporn Chaiwan ofThailand.

Saina’s husband and fel-low shuttler ParupalliKashyap too went down 15-21 10-21 to Spain’s PabloAbian, while youngLakshya Sen lost 16-21 12-21to Victor Svendsen in themen’s singles first round.

— PTI

Karachi, March 4: ThePakistan Super Leaguewas on Thursday post-poned with immediateeffect after three morecricketers tested positivefor Covid-19, taking thetotal number of cases inthe T20 event to seven andprompting the cricketboard to announce aninquiry into the fiasco.

Out of the seven cases,six are players while oneis a support staff member.

“Following a meetingwith the team owners andconsidering the healthand wellbeing of all par-ticipants is paramount,the Pakistan CricketBoard has decided to post-pone the HBL PakistanSuper League 6 with

immediate effect,” thePakistan Cricket Board(PCB) said in a statement.

“The decision was madeafter seven cases werereported in the competi-tion, which had started on20 February.”

PCB CEO Wasim Khansaid an inquiry will beconducted to understandwhat went wrong.

“It is a great disappoint-ment for us and we findourselves in a situationwhere we questionwhether we can providefull protection for playersas their health and wellbeing comes above every-thing else,” Wasim Khantold a press conferencehere.

“We looked at the option

of halting proceedings fora few days but in the lastfew days there was hugeconcern even among thefranchises and players.

“Collectively we couldhave done a lot of thingsbetter and this is not a

blame game but we haveto look with a microscopeat what went wrong andwe have to provide confi-dence and assurance inthe future to touringteams and players,” headded.

Khan said the priority ofthe board right now is toensure that players areable safely travel back totheir respective destina-tions.

“...We all had a responsi-bility for self-policing andunfortunately we were notable to do that.”

The three players, whohave tested positive mostrecently, were not part ofthe sides that featured inWednesday’s double-head-er, and had been tested in

the afternoon after show-ing symptoms.

Only 14 games could becompleted in the 34-matchtournament.

The PCB said it “willfocus on the safe andsecure passage of all par-ticipants, and arrangerepeat PCR tests, vaccinesand isolation facilities tothe six participatingsides.”

The board was apparent-ly forced to take the deci-sion after some of the for-eign players and few localteam officials expressedtheir concern over the sit-uation and Australian all-rounder, Dan Christiandecided to fly home imme-diately.

— PTI

Ahmedabad, March 4:England’s batsmen lostthe battle of both mindand skills in yet anothershoddy performance tosurrender the momentumto India with Axar Pateland RavichandranAshwin calling the shotson the opening day of thefourth and final Test hereon Thursday.

After five innings,England crossed the 200-run mark but a total of205 in 75.5 overs was cer-tainly not what Joe Roothad expected when hecalled it right at the tosson a day which wouldhave ideally been best forbatting.

There was turn andbounce but the pitch wasfar from being a mine-field that some of theEngland batsmen saveBen Stokes (55, 121 balls)made it out to be.

For India, spinnersAxar Patel (26-7-68-4),Ravichandran Ashwin(19.5-4-47-3) andWashington Sundar (7-1-14-1) toyed with thealready messed up minds,clueless on how to dealwith the conditions.

Mohammed Siraj (14-2-45-2) also played his partto perfection with thesemi-new and old ball,hurrying the batsmenwith sheer pace as he didwith Jonny Bairstow.

India ended the day at 24for 1 with wily old JamesAnderson (5-5-0-1)accounting for an out-of-form Shubman Gill (0).Rohit Sharma (8 batting)and Cheteshwar Pujara(15 batting) were holdingfort for the home side.

A cursory look at theEngland line-up, loaded

with an extra batsman,will reveal that four —Stokes, Bairstow (28, 67balls), Dan Lawrence (46off 74 balls) and OlliePope (29 off 87 balls) gotstarts but failed miser-ably on the conversionpart. The others came inand went without break-ing a bead of sweat. It wasas if already in theirminds, they were playingon a track they thoughtwould turn square.

Stokes was a cut abovethe rest both in defenceand offence before amoment’s indecision costhim his wicket. — PTI

Ahmedabad, March 4:India pacer MohammadSiraj on Thursday saidEngland all-rounder BenStokes swore at him onthe opening day of thefourth and final Test here,an incident “handledwell” by skipper ViratKohli during an on-fieldshowdown with the visit-ing player.

Kohli was seen havingan animated discussionwith Stokes after the all-rounder allegedly sworeat Siraj. Umpire NitinMenon had to intervenefor play to resume afterEngland were reeling at32 for three.

“He was swearing at me,so Virat bhai intervenedand handled that well.These things happen atground,” Siraj said at thepost-match press confer-ence.

Stokes, on his part,played down the incident.

“Pretty animated wasthat (the conversation)?...Look at it from a differ-ent way, you know, two-three guys who care aboutwhat they are doing, careabout representing andplayed against each otherand you know, why wouldthey not be competitive?”he asked.

“So we are not going toback down to anyone...For me that is what it wascompetitive guys tryingto get over each other,” headded.

Siraj was also at the cen-tre of the controversyduring the Test series inAustralia where he wasracially abused by a sec-tion of the crowd. — PTI

Live on TVCCRRIICCKKEETT

IInnddiiaa vvss EEnnggllaanndd:: Fourth Test, Day2 from 9.30 am on Star Sports 1

FFOOOOTTBBAALLLLIInnddiiaann SSuuppeerr LLeeaagguuee:: First

Semifinal, 1st leg — Goa vs Mumbaifrom 7.20 pm on Star Sports 2, HD

WWWWEESSmmaacckkDDoowwnn:: Bouts from 6.30 am

(Saturday) on Sony Ten 1, HD

Axar, Ashwin put Eng in spinFFIIVVEE LLEEGG BBEEFFOORREE IINNEENNGGLLAANNDD’’SS 11SSTT IINNNNIINNGGSS● Five batsmen were dis-missed leg before wicket inEngland’s first innings onthe opening day of thefourth and final Test matchagainst India at Ahmedabadon Thursday (March 4).● It was fifth instance inIndia and seventh overallwhen five England batsmenwere dismissed in this man-ner in an innings againstIndia.● Shubman Gill’s duck washis second in 13th innings ofseventh Test match.● England scored 205 runsin 75.5 overs without a duckin their first innings. Theymanaged to creep past 200for the first time in sixinnings.● The highest partnership ofthe innings was 48 runs forthe fourth wicket betweenBen Stokes and JonnyBairstow. Since piling up 578in benign conditions at theoutset of the series inChennai, England’s batsmenhave yet to produce anotherfifty stand.

—— SS.. PPEERRVVEEZZ QQAAIISSEERR

NUMBERS GAME

EEnnggllaanndd 11sstt IInnnniinnggss:: Zak Crawley c M. Siraj b A. Patel 9,Dom Sibley b A Patel 2, Jonny Bairstow lbw b M. Siraj 28,Joe Root lbw b M. Siraj 5, Ben Stokes lbw b W Sundar 55,Ollie Pope c S. Gill b R. Ashwin 29, Dan Lawrence st R Pantb A Patel 46, Ben Foakes c A Rahane b R. Ashwin 1, DomBess lbw b A Patel 3, Jack Leach lbw b R. Ashwin 7, JamesAnderson not out 10. Extras (b-3, lb-5, nb-1, wd-1) 10. TToottaall::((aallll oouutt iinn 7755..55 oovveerrss)) 220055..FFooWW:: 1-10, 2-15, 3-30, 4-78, 5-121, 6-166, 7-170, 8-188, 9-189. BBoowwlliinngg:: Ishant Sharma 9-2-23-0, Mohammed Siraj 14-2-45-2, Axar Patel 26-7-68-4, Ravichandran Ashwin 19.5-4-47-3, Washington Sundar 7-1-14-1.IInnddiiaa 11sstt iinnnniinnggss:: Shubhman Gill b J. Anderson 0, RohitSharma (batting) 8, Cheteshwar Pujara (batting) 15. Extras(nb-1) 1. TToottaall ((ffoorr oonnee wwiicckkeett iinn 1122 oovveerrss)) 2244..FFooWW:: 1-0.BBoowwlliinngg:: James Anderson 5-5-0-1, Ben Stokes 2-1-4-0,Jack Leach 4-0-16-0, Dom Bess 1-0-4-0.

SCORECARD

Axar Patel (right) celebrates the dismissal ofEngland’s Dom Bess with Virat Kohli on the first day ofthe fourth Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday. — BCCI

STOKES WASSWEARING ATME, SAYS SIRAJ

ABHIJEET KKUMAR SSINGH || DDCHYDERABAD, MARCH 4

Boxer Nikhat Zareen,squash star Dipika Pallikalalong with Miss World 2017Manushi Chhillar punchedone for the women, talkingtheir hearts out to depicttheir inspiring journeys onThursday.

In a virtual meet toannounce the launch of‘Watch Us Move,’ a cam-paign by Adidas to cele-brate womanhood andtheir freedom of move-ment, the three spoke oftheir personal strugglesagainst the backdrop ofunrealistic stereotypes andhow they battled throughthem to inspire young girlswho aspire to emulatethem.

“I still remember myfather’s words when hesaid beta ladkiyo me itnadam nahi hota boxingkarne ke liye (girls don’thave the strength to box)and that actually chal-lenged me to pursue box-ing and change the societalmentality that girls aregeek and can’t punch,”Nikhat, the Nizamabad-based amateur womanboxer, said.

“I took the move andstarted it off. Fortunatelyin 2011, when I won theJunior Championship gold

medal, everyone wasshocked. I was elated whilemy father was very proudof my achievement,” thetoughie added.

“Eventually, I started get-ting calls from young girlswho too wanted to take upboxing as a career whichreally motivated me. Ifinally proved my pointand opened the doors formany more budding tal-ents,” she added.

Record breaking squashplayer Dipika Pallikal saidit’s time for women to takethe centrestage and shine.“I think we as a womenhave really broken thestereotypical barriers andcarved out our own paths,”she said.

Model Manushi felt“Watch Us Move celebrateswomen, their achieve-ments and inspires us toadopt a positive approachto life.”

Moves that madeNikhat & Dipika

Nikhat ZZareen

Sindhu, Srikanthshuttle into last 8

●● Two-time formerchampion SainaNehwal bowed out of the tournamentafter a hard-foughtfirst-round loss inthe women’s singlesopening round of the Swiss Open.

Pak league put off after Covid outbreakFollowing a meetingwith the team ownersand considering thehealth and well-beingof all participants isparamount, thePakistan Cricket Boardhas decided to post-pone the HBL PakistanSuper League 6 withimmediate effect.

— PAKISTANCRICKET BOARD

SumitNagal

Kieron Pollard celebrates hitting 6 sixes offAkila Dananjaya of Sri Lanka during a T20match at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Osbourn,Antigua and Barbuda, on Wednesday. — AFP

I felt I could hit six sixesafter the third one. Once Ihad five sixes I knew I hadthe bowler on the backfoot. He was going aroundthe wicket and it wasdifficult for him. I just toldmyself: ‘Go for it’.— KIERON POLLARD

West Indies captainafter hitting 6 sixes

Regd. No. HQ/SD/509/2021-23Printed and Published by K. Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Limited. Printed at Deccan Chronicle Presssituated at Plot No. 9 Alwal Village, Vallabh Nagar Taluk, Medchal

Malkajgiri Dist. Telangana and Published at 36, S.D. Road,Secunderabad-3. RNI Registration No. 3081/1957.

Editor: Kaushik Mitter

Los Angeles, March 4:James Harden returnedto Houston for the firsttime since his tumul-tuous departure from theRockets on Wednesday,posting a triple-double tolead the Brooklyn Nets toa 132-114 victory over hisformer NBA team.

Harden, greeted by afirst-quarter video trib-ute, cheers and a smatter-ing of boos, delivered 29points, 10 rebounds and14 assists to fuelBrooklyn, where he final-ly landed in January afterdemanding a trade.

Harden was grateful forthe tribute video thatshowcased his accom-plishments in Houston,including the 2018 NBAMost Valuable Playeraward and the leaguescoring title the pastthree seasons.

He became just the sixthplayer in NBA history torecord a triple-double inhis first game against his

former team, ably helpingthe Nets overcome thecontinued absence ofKevin Durant.

In Philadelphia, JoelEmbiid scored 40 pointsand pulled down 19rebounds to lead the 76ersto a 131-123 overtime vic-tory over the Utah Jazz ina clash of the top teams inthe East and West.

The Cameroonian cen-ter drained a three-point-er to knot the score at 118-118 with 6.5 seconds left inregulation and TobiasHarris scored 11 of his 22points in overtime to liftthe Sixers to victory overthe league-leading Jazz.

Utah star DonovanMitchell finished with 33points.

Two West Coast gamescame down to the wire, asthe Portland TrailBlazers edged the GoldenState Warriors 108-106and the SacramentoKings beat Los AngelesLakers 123-120. — AFP

HARDEN SOARS HIGH TOSINK EX-TEAM ROCKETS

c m y k c m y k


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