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HYDERABAD, SATURDAY, MAY 22, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

www.dailypioneer.com

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

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Noted environmentalistSunderlal Bahuguna

passes away

Noted environmentalist Sunderlal

Bahuguna died of Covid-19 atthe All India Institute of Medical

Sciences, Rishikesh on Friday.Bahuguna breathed his last at 12.05

pm, AIIMS Director Ravikant said. Heis survived by his wife Vimla, two

sons and a daughter. The 94-year-oldenvironmentalist known for his

pioneering role in the Chipkomovement was under treatment for

Covid-19 at the hospital for over aweek. Admitted at the hospital on

May 8 after testing positive for theinfection, Bahuguna had been criticalsince last night with his oxygen level

dropping drastically.

Mamata Banerjeeset to contest from

her earlier seat

Mamata Banerjee, who swept the

Bengal election but lost herown contest in Nandigram, is

set to return to the seat she gave upin favour of challenging her former

aide Suvendu Adhikari in hisstronghold. The Trinamool MLA whowon from Bhawanipore, Shobhandeb

Chattopadhyay, resigned from theBengal assembly this afternoon to

enable his party boss to contest fromthe seat. "Mamata Banerjee will fightfrom Bhawanipore in the coming six

months," Mr Chattopadhyay toldNDTV before handing in his

resignation to Assembly SpeakerBiman Bandopadhyay.

Tarun Tejpal,acquitted of rape,

recounts trauma

Journalist Tarun Tejpal, who was

acquitted of rape charges in a2013 case by court in Goa

today, said the last seven-and-a-halfyears had been traumatic for his

family as they dealt with thecatastrophic fallout of the false

allegations against him. The formerTehelka editor-in-chief also thanked

the court for a rigorous, impartial andfair trial in the case. A sessions court

acquitted Tarun Tejpal of sexuallyassaulting a woman, who was his

colleague at that time, in an elevatorof a five star resort in the state.

IMF offers $50 Bn planthat could vaccinate

everyone by mid-2022

About $50 billion may be all it takes

to vaccinate all eligible peoplearound the world by the middle of

next year, the International MonetaryFund or IMF has said, proposing an

investment programme that could havea global economic benefit of around $9

trillion. The detailed research pieceprepared by the IMF Chief Economist

Gita Gopinath and colleague RuchirAgarwal suggests that the goal is to

vaccinate 40 per cent of all countries by2021 and the remaining 60 per cent bythe first half of 2022. "Saving lives and

livelihoods should need no justification,but a faster end to the pandemic could

also inject the equivalent of $9 trillioninto the global economy by 2025 due to

a faster resumption of economicactivity," the agency said.

Jaishankar on afive-day visit to US

Sensex zooms 976 points as financial stocks pump market

Chiranjeevi starts

oxygen banksP5

P8

P11

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Current Weather ConditionsUpdated May 21, 2021 5:00 PM

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AALLMMAANNAACC

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Panchangam

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Nakshatram : Uttara Phalguni: 02:05 pm

Time to Avoid : (Bad time to start

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In brief

Dip in admissions at

Covid hospitals

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Desperate calls for oxygen, venti-lator or ICU beds have reduced inTelangana. Following a dip indaily cases and an increase inrecoveries, hospital admissionshave been coming down slowing.

This is evident from an analy-sis of data available on theTelangana government's website,which has inter alia real-timeupdates on vacant hospital bedsand ventilators.

According to doctors, the lock-

down imposed, along with a dip incases, has resulted in fewer admis-sions in hospitals, which no longerhave long queues of patients.

As of Friday, a total of 28,117hospital beds were available. Incomparison, on 10 May, 25,441beds were available. On May 10,28,920 beds were occupied in thestate. This figure came down to26,683 on Friday 7 pm.

Noticeably, the occupancy of

beds has increased in govern-ment hospitals and reduced signif-icantly in private hospitals.

On May 10, 20,314 personswere getting treated in hospitals;this figure came down to 18,478 onFriday. On the contrary, admis-sions in government hospitalsincreased from 7,976 on May 10to 8,205 on May 21.

Occupancy ingovernment

hospitals hasincreased

As of Friday, a total of 28,117hospital beds were available. In comparison, on 10 May,25,441 beds were available

KCR visit boosts Covidpatients’ confidence

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who visited MGM Hospital in Warangal onFriday, interacting with a patient there.

ML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

After his visit two days ago toGandhi Hospital, presently ear-marked for Covid-19 patients,Chief Minister K. ChandrasekharRao travelled to Warangal onFriday and visited the MGMHospital there. He interactedwith patients undergoing treat-ment in the hospital.

KCR, wearing two masks and aface shield, first went to the ICUward and enquired about the well-being of the patients and the lineof treatment being given to them.He spoke to the patients and askedthem to be confident. He advisedthem not to worry or entertain anyfear about Covid.

A patient Venkatachari, over-whelmed by the empathy withwhich KCR was enquiring about

patients' well-being, told him thathe was getting good medicaltreatment. In the next breath, hesurprised everyone by raising slo-gans 'KCR Zindabad' and 'KCR ismy life'. KCR went to each bed inthe ward and spoke to thepatients, trying to lift their down-cast spirits.

He later visited the Generalward and there also he interact-ed with patients. He then wentround the MGM Hospital toinspect the facilities availablethere.

The Chief Minister spoke withthe doctors and asked them aboutthe medical facilities available aswell as the line of treatment beinggiven to the patients. He alsoinquired about problems beingfaced by the medical staff.

PM pitchesfor ‘doorsteptreatment'PNS n VARANASI/LUCKNOW

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Friday urged bringing medicalservices closer to COVID-19patients, coming up with a newmantra –- Jahan bimaar, wahinupchaar –- at a video conferencewith doctors where he choked upwhile speaking of lives lost to thevirus.

“Though the attack of the pan-demic has been checked to anextent with the joint efforts of all,it is not the time to feel satisfied,”he told healthcare professionalsand other frontline workers in hisVaranasi constituency.

“We have to fight a long bat-tle,” he added.

He said health services need topay attention to the rural areas ofVaranasi and Purvanchal andpitched his new ‘mantra' of “treat-ment at the doorstep”.

SC grants bail to rebelYSRCP MP in sedition case PNS n HYDERABAD

The Supreme CourtFriday granted bail torebel YSR CongressMP K RaghuRamakrishna Raju,who was arrested in asedition case lodged byAndhra Pradesh Policeagainst him. A vacationbench of Justices Vineet Saranand B R Gavai, while referring toRaju's medical report received fromthe Army hospital at Secunderabad,said it cannot be ruled out that the

MP was “ill-treated” in the custody.The apex court imposed sev-

eral bail conditions onRaju, including that hewould not give anyinterview to the mediawith regard to the case.

On May 17, the topcourt had ordered forth-

with transfer of Raju tothe Army hospital at

Secunderabad in neighbouringTelangana for medical examinationand hospitalization till furtherorders.

AP HC sets aside SECnotification on pollsto local bodiesPNS n AMARAVATI

In a major setback to the state gov-ernment, a single judge bench of theAndhra Pradesh High Court onFriday cancelled the elections to theZPTCs and MPTCs on the groundthat the four-week model code ofconduct rule was not followed.

The bench, comprising JusticeSatyanarayana Murthy, said as pera Supreme Court order, thereshould be a gap of at least fourweeks between the election notifi-cation and the date of polling.“Therefore, the notification issuedby the State Election Commissioneron April 1 for the conduct of elec-tions on April 8 would be null andvoid,” the judge said,

13 Naxals killed in encounter in GadchiroliPNS n MUMBAI

At least 13 Naxals including sevenwomen cadres were killed in anencounter with police in Gadchirolidistrict of Maharashtra early onFriday, officials said.

The slain ultras belonged toKasunsur Dalam (squad) of theNaxals, police said. The encountertook place on a day the state homeminister was visiting the easternMaharashtra district, over 900 kmfrom Mumbai.

A release by Gadchiroli Policesaid they had received inputs thatNaxals had gathered in the Paidiforest area in Etapalli tehsil forextortion as auctions of Tenduleaves -- used for making bidis orleaf cigarettes -- were underway,hence a team of C-60 commandos,a special combat force of the dis-trict police, was sent to the area.

The encounter took place

between 6 am to 7.30 am as about60 to 70 Naxals opened fire on C-60 commandos and kept firingdespite an appeal to them to sur-render, it added.

After the Naxals fled into thedense forest, the bodies of six maleand seven female cadres were found,

while some more Naxals were pos-sibly injured in the encounter butmanaged to escape, the police said.One AK-47 rifle, an SLR, a carbine,a .303 rifle and explosives wererecovered from the spot.

HCs must avoid passingimpossible Covid orders: SCPNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court today said thatgiven the national and transnation-al ramification of Covid-related cases, High Courtsmust avoid passingorders that are impossi-ble to implement.

It stayed anAllahabad High Courtorder in a suo motucase in which the courtsaid that, within fourmonths, all nursing homebeds in Uttar Pradesh must haveoxygen facility. The High Court hadalso directed the Uttar Pradeshgovernment to ensure that within amonth every UP village had twoambulances with ICU facility.

"High Courts must pass orders

that are possible to implement," aSupreme Court bench of JusticesVineet Saran and BR Gavai saidtoday. The top court, however,

refused to cancel the HighCourt's "Ram Bharose"

comment, made onMonday, saying suchobservations need tobe treated as advice.

A two-judgeAllahabad High Court

bench of JusticesSiddharth Varma and Ajit

Kumar had earlier this weekused the popular Hindi phrase,meaning "at the mercy of God", torefer to entire Uttar Pradesh's med-ical system, especially in smallercities and villages.

Centre supplies over1,400 ventilators to TSPNS n HYDERABAD

The Centre has provided 1,405ventilators to various hospitals inTelangana under the PMCARESFund, Union Minister G KishanReddy said on Friday. Telanganais getting all sorts of aid and coop-eration by way ofoxygen cylin-ders, establishing oxygen plants,ventilators, vaccines, PPE kits, N-95 masks and ration to the poor,from the Centre in order tocon-tain the COVID pandemic, theMoS Home said in a press release.

ANUSHA PUPPALAn HYDERABAD

In a horrific act seen as plantingseeds of open defiance of a courtorder, branches of an 80-year-oldBanyan tree at Gandipet werelopped and its rump marked forfelling by the Road &BuildingsDepartment on Thursday, despitea stay order issued by the TelanganaHigh Court.

The Telangana High Court gavea stay order on May 13,2021 to save244 fully grown trees from beingfelled by the State government atGandipet for road-widening proj-

ects in Hyderabad. The dismem-bered banyan tree is among thetrees sought to be saved.

The Vata Foundation, which hasbeen trying to stop the tree fellingby the Road & BuildingsDepartment, is up in arms onceagain, disappointed at the choppingof the branches of the old banyantree.

The foundation had appealed tothe department to give it time untilthe onset of monsoon to shift thetrees as the present weather is notsuitable for translocation of trees.

However, R&B department wentahead with its plan to fell trees for

a road widening project at Gandipetarea, ignoring the foundation's

appeal as well as the court's stayorder. Immediately after observing

the lopped branches, Uday Krishna,founder of Vata Foundation, wroteto R&B department requestingthem to stop further chopping ofthe banyan tree.

Uday Krishna told The Pioneer:"While we are awaiting to hear fromR&B on the permissions fortranslocation, it is unfortunate thatthe R&B department has com-menced cutting activities even afterbeing advised against it onThursday morning and despite theHigh Court's stay order. It is real-ly sad that they had cut branches ofa very old banyan tree whosebranches could have been propagat-ed in dozens of new trees.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Reserve Bank on Fridaydecided to transfer Rs 99,122crore as surplus to the exchequer,a move that will help the govern-ment to channelise moreresources to combat the secondwave of COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision to transfer thesurplus amount for the account-ing period of nine months endedMarch 31, 2021 was taken at ameeting of the central board ofthe RBI, held through video con-ferencing,

Details on page 8

RBI transfers Rs99,122 crore asdividend to govt

TS after super spreaders nowPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana State governmenthas decided to conduct a specialCovid-19 vaccination drive forsuper spreaders i.e. individualswho are more likely to infect oth-ers, compared with other typical-ly infected people.

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao on Fridayinstructed the district collectors toprepare a list of potential superspreaders like RTC drivers, conduc-tors, sales personnel, and veg-etable vendors. He said that thestate government had decided toconduct a special drive for them.

Super spreaders are those whotransmit the infection to a largenumber of people and are thereforeof particular concern to the healthauthorities, particularly epidemiol-ogists. According to reports,youngsters in Telangana and else-where in the country form a large

chunk of Covid positive cases.They have also played a big role indriving up the ongoing secondwave of Covid-19 infections andperhaps quite unwittingly havebecome super-spreaders.

CM asks collectors toidentify super spreaders

RTC Drivers, Conductors,Sales personnel, andvegetable vendorsunder scanner

Branches of 80-yr-old banyan tree lopped, marked for fellingR&B Dept cocks a snook at Telangana HC order

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The remains of the 80-year-old Banyan treewhose branches werelopped off at Gandipet

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 22, 2021

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PNS n HYDERABAD

Molnupiravir Phase III clinicaltrials launched on Friday atYashoda hospitals inSomajigida in association withNatco Pharma, who receivedthe DCGI approval for con-ducting the Phase III clinicaltrials for oral administration ofMolnupiravir capsules forpatients with mild and moder-ate Covid symptoms.

The clinical trials at YashodaHospitals will entail the Covidpatient volunteers to take 400mg twice a day without beingadmitted to the hospital sinceit is an OPD (out-patientdepartment) based clinical trial,and have regular interactionswith their physicians on Day 5,Day 10 and Day 15 for their fol-low up cycle at the hospital.

Pre-clinical (animal) studieshave found that Molnupiravirhas remarkably reduced SARS-CoV-2 load and was found tohave completely suppressedthe spread of disease from ani-mal to animal, and the virusmultiplication development

had stopped.In a Phase-I clinical trial con-

ducted in the United Kingdom,Molnupiravir was deemed to besafe and well-tolerated up to800 mg twice a day for five daysin healthy trial subjects. In thePhase-II clinical trials con-ducted in the US, all patients,who received Molnupiravir forfive days were found to have anegative SARS-CoV-2 culture

after the five-day treatmentduration.

Announcing the commence-ment of the trials Dr LingaiahAmidalya, Medical Director ofYashoda Hospitals, said, “It is aprivilege to be the first hospi-tal in the country chosen for thePhase III of clinical trials. Wehope that the trial is a successproving itself to be a game-changer. If patients can be

treated with Molnupiravir inthe mild stage of the disease,the transmission of Covid canbe controlled and further wors-ening of the disease can be pre-vented at a large scale. Thus, thedisease burden on the health-care system, as well as thesociety, could well be reduced,with significant implications onthe financial burden of thecommon man and they are outof pocket expense.”

Molnupiravir is a prodrug ofthe active antiviral ribonucle-oside analog of ß-d-N4-hydroxycytidine. Its activityagainst SARS-CoV-2 is by inhi-bition of RNA-dependent-RNApolymerase. Molnupiravir leadsto errors in the viral RNAsequence, stopping viral repli-cation, shortening infection,and limiting disease transmis-sion. Scientists at GeorgiaUniversity USA have anticipat-ed the tablet to take effectwithin 24 hours of the dose andthat the oral administration ofthe tablet on Covid severepatients will help reduce theseverity of the symptoms.

Molnupiravir Phase IIIclinical trials begin

(Right) Dr Lingaiah Amidalya, Medical Director of Yashoda Hospitals, displays theMolnupiravir after announcing the commencement of trials in Hyderabad on Friday

COVID CRISIS

MEIL's round-the-clockproduction of oxygen beginsPNS n NEW DELHI

Megha Engineering andInfrastructures Ltd (MEIL)has begun round-the-clockproduction of oxygen at itsplant in Telangana to meet theshortage of the life-saving gasamid the second wave of theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The company has supplied2.2 crore litres of oxygen free-of-cost to over 17 governmentand private hospitals inTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,Hyderabad, and Odisha.

MEIL has started its 24-hourproduction plant (inTelangana) at 100 per centcapacity to accommodate theshortage of oxygen in thesouthern states, a companystatement said.

The company has alreadysupplied 21,460 MT (metrictonnes) of oxygen which is

equivalent to 2.2 crore litresfree of cost and is continuingto supply to over 17 govern-ment and private hospitals inTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,Hyderabad, and Odisha, itadded.

These hospitals includeOsmania General Hospital andprivate hospitals such as theSarojini Devi Hospital, ApolloHospitals, Medicity Hospitalsamong others.

"Within a short span oftime, MEIL set up an oxygenplant and put in place a specialteam to oversee the distribu-tion and supply of oxygenfree-of-cost to the govern-ment and private hospitals inthe two Telugu states ofTelangana and AndhraPradesh. Our plant is equippedto supply oxygen round-the-clock," MEIL General ManagerGovind K said.

There has been a sort oferuption of reciprocity and

trust during the present waveof the pandemic. Both thesereside in existing social net-works and form part of whatis called social capital.

During the pandemic, socialcapital has been createdbecause individuals have sub-sumed their self-interest andhave started to care moreabout the larger interest ofgroups and society.

Typically, social capital is ofthe individual type and basedon specific recipocityexchanges. This occurs due tothe obligations and the normsof reciprocity in the socialstructure that enforce therepayment of the obligations.For example, if A gives an oxy-gen cylinder to B, then B isobligated to A to repay theassistance. This also creates anexpectation in A that B willprovide assistance at a laterdate. Thus, A holds a sort of a"credit slip". If a society holdsmany credit slips, it has highlevels of social capital.

The pandemic, incontrast, has generated gener-alized reciprocity and socialtrust. Generalized reciprocityoccurs when all feel obliged tohelp everybody else, andeverybody expects everybodyto help.

In this sense it is also con-nected to altruism and solidar-ity existing in social networks.Most important, trust is gen-erated because people whohave been assisted feel anobligation to assist othersbeyond the people who gavethem the specific assistance.

This also shows the valuesembedded in social structuresof India and a sort of collec-tive action has been set inmotion, leading to a uniquekind of self-governance.

Collective action is aided bythe ubiquitious presence ofonline environments in theform of WhatsApp groups,

Facebook, LinkedIn and theGoogle search facility.

These online environmentshave connected hithertounconnected people andensured that informationreaches even those who are nota part of close networks, aswell as the people in positionsof power.

These are called horizontaland vertical networks, respec-tively. Today, cooperation isflowing both horizontally (e.g.friends, acquaintances) andvertically (e.g. government)and its benefits are accruing topeople who are not part of the

social network. This is the positive external-

ity of social capital and it hasacquired the characteristicsof a public good - freely avail-able and accessible to all.

The increase in general-ized reciprocity is facilitatingcooperation and giving rise totrust. This trust is spreadthroughout society and is thuscalled social trust. During thepresent wave of the pandem-ic, social trust is performingthe following crucial roles:(1) substituting for gaps ininstitutional performance, (2)performing the role of an

external monitor to enforceinformal agreements basedon word of mouth to, say,deliver things required duringthe pandemic, and (3) makingresponses of other groupmembers more predictable,leading to increased coopera-tion among group members.Thus, a virtuous cycle hasbeen set in motion where

cooperation is feeding upontrust and growing exponen-tially.

From the above, we noticethat the pandemic hasincreased the circle of peoplewho are willing to cooperate,called the "radius of trust" byFrancis Fukuyama, author ofthe book 'The End of Historyand the Last Man'.

For Fukuyama, modernsociety consists of a series ofconcentric and overlappingradii of trust ranging fromfriends, relatives, NGOs andreligious groups.

The size of the radii oftrust has several economicbenefits and one is a reduc-tion in transaction costsconnected to contracts, akey element of the Ease ofDoing Business (EoDB)Index.

Contracts, hierarchies,bureaucratic rules, and so on

require coordination andthere is a transaction costassociated with all these.

The transaction costs arisedue to costs of monitoring,negotiating, litigating, andenforcing formal agree-ments. Typically, administra-tors try to specify every con-tingency that may arise inagreements.

They overlook that eachcontract between parties pre-supposes a certain amount ofgoodwill that would preventparties from taking advan-tage of unforeseen loop-holes. As a result, contractsbecome voluminious andend up being very inflexibleand costly to enforce. A larg-er radius of trust reduces theneed to draw up huge con-tracts to cover all contingen-cies and then enforce them.This reduces transactioncosts.

Norms of reciprocity andtrust have induced coopera-tion among people duringpandemic times.

The value contained insocial ties can be used inCOVID-19 control opera-tions. For example, it couldbe rolling out a self-govern-ing system of supplying oxy-gen to hospitals, comple-menting the prevailing for-mal mechanisms.

In the medium run, poli-cy-makers can use theenlarged radii of trust inimaginative ways to bringabout economic benefits,say, in contract enforcement- a key component in theEase of Doing Index.

(Author has a PhD fromUSA and a DLitt from

Kanchi University. The articleis based on his research andpractice and views are per-

sonal)

DR. SAMEER SHARMA

Pandemic times: the break out of reciprocity and trustDuring the pandemic, social capital hasbeen created because individuals havesubsumed their self-interest and havestarted to care more about the largerinterest of groups and society.

Continued from page 1

Ankit Goyal, Superintendentof Police, Gadchiroli said ata press conference that thethe encounter was a "tribute"to the 15 police personnelkilled in an ambush in thedistrict in 2019. As many as27 Naxals have been killed inthe district since September2020, he added.

Maharashtra HomeMinister Dilip Walse Patil,who was on his first visit toGadchiroli after taking overthe home portfolio followingthe resignation of AnilDeshmukh, praised thepolice for the operation.

"Naxals are trying toweaken our democracy. Iam proud that police officersand personnel are fightingthem ably," he told reporters.

Centre suppliesover 1,400ventilators to TSContinued from page 1

Since independence, untilthe past eight months thecountry had only 19,000 ven-tilators and depended onimports. As of now throughthe initiative of Make in IndiaGovernment hospitals acrossthe country have been pro-vided with 51,000ventilatorsfrom PMCARES Fund, headded.

SC grants bailto rebelYSRCP MP insedition case Continued from page 1

Raju, who is the Lok SabhaMP from Narsapuram parlia-mentary constituency inAndhra Pradesh, alleged thatthe sedition case has beenlodged against him by statepolice "because of politicalvendetta" as he has been crit-icizing "the action of his ownparty".

PM pitches for ‘doorstep treatment'Continued from page 1

“We shouldn't forget – Jahanbimaar, wahin upchaar”(treatment where the patientis located).”

“If the treatment is taken tothe sick, it will bring downthe pressure on the healthsystem,” Modi said. He talkedabout telemedicine andinvolving young and retiredmedical professionals in tack-ling the pandemic.

He lauded the efforts ofdoctors, nurses, technicians,ward boys and ambulancedrivers. “But this pandemic isso big that despite all theefforts we have not been ableto save the lives of our fami-ly members,” he added.

“This virus has snatched somany of our near ones,” Modisaid, choking with emotion.

There was a long pause,before the prime ministercontinued, “I pay my respectsto all these people and offercondolences to their nearand dear ones,” he said.

Modi called for specialefforts to save children fromcoronavirus. He also flaggedmucormycosis or black fun-gus as a “new challenge”.

He said the fight was onmany fronts in the secondwave of the pandemic.

The infection rate washigh, the patients had to behospitalised for longer andthere was “extreme pressure”on the health system.

Stressing the importance ofvaccination, he said frontlineworkers managed to servewithout worry because of it.This “suraksha kavach”(shield) should reach every-

one, he added.Just as the fight against

coronavirus has been a jointeffort, the vaccination shouldalso be a collective responsi-bility and everyone shouldtake the vaccine when theirturn comes, he said.

He said the work done inthe health sector over the pastseven years helped but undersuch extraordinary circum-stances, the situation wasbrought under controlbecause of the health workerswho worked round the clock.

He said yoga was criti-cised and a communal colourwas initially given to it whenthe government made effortsto help it get global recogni-tion.

But today Yoga has helpedin the fight against coron-avirus.

He said the battle is againstan “unseen” and “changing”enemy.

Modi said Varanasi benefit-ed from the strategy of hav-ing micro-containmentzones.

He also mentioned “KashiKavach” – a telemedicine ini-tiative involving doctors, lab-oratories and private compa-nies.

The PM Modi said thearrangements made to dealwith the second wave ofcoronavirus should be main-tained even when the casescome down.

He expressed satisfactionthat people's representativesremained connected to thedrive against the pandemicdespite facing "naraazgi", anindirect reference to hostilecomments.

13 Naxals killedin encounter...

AP HC sets aside...Continued from page 1

And ordered that the SEC toissue fresh notification for theconduct of the elections allover again.

The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment and the SEC are likely tomove the division bench of theHigh Court or the SupremeCourt challenging the singlejudge order.

The government has arguedthat the elections were alreadyover and only declaration of theresults was pending.

There are 660 ZPTCs and9,984 MPTCs in AndhraPradesh, of which 126 ZPTCsand 2,363 MPTCs were electedunanimously during the begin-ning of the election process inMarch 2020.

Elections to 534 ZPTCs and

7,621 MPTCs were held onApril 8, following an orderfrom a division bench of theHigh Court.

The division bench, on April7, gave the green signal to theSEC to hold the elections,ordered that the counting ofvotes should be put on hold andresults should not be declared.It referred the issue back to thesingle judge bench to settle theissue.

The SEC argued that thefour-week time for implemen-tation of model code of conductwas not made mandatory by theSupreme Court. It only gave asuggestion, while hearing thecase in a particular context.

If the code is implemented forfour weeks, all the ongoingdevelopmental works wouldcome to a halt, the SEC argued.

Dip in admissions...Continued from page 1

Especially the occupancy ofoxygen beds in governmenthospitals has increased. Yetonly 577 beds of the 2,143ICU beds are vacant in gov-ernment hospitals, indicatingthe persisting shortage ofventilator beds in the state.

In Gandhi Hospital, TIMS,NIMS, King Koti, ChestHospital, ESIC hospital, all ofthe ICU beds were occupiedas of Friday, with no vacan-cy. According to doctors, pri-vate hospitals are sending allserious cases to governmenthospitals.

On Friday, 68% of ICUbeds and 64% of oxygen bedswere occupied. This was sig-nificantly higher 20 days agowhen 74% of ICU beds and69% of oxygen beds wereoccupied on May 10.

HCs must...Continued from page 1

The bench was hearing a peti-tion demanding better care forCovid patients. It had also said:"So far as the medical infra-structure is concerned, inthese few months we haverealised that in the manner itstands today, it is very delicate,fragile, and debilitated."

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for UttarPradesh, told the SupremeCourt that observations like"Ram Bharose" demoralisehealth workers and create panic."These observations are made inanxiety and concern for gener-al public. UP can treat this as anobservation and advice and notdirection," The Supreme Court,however, said today. "We cannotpass sweeping orders for all highcourts as this appeal is againstAllahabad HC order."

Branches...Continued from page 1

On the one hand, the R&Bdepartment is chopping treesfor a road widening project,though we offered to translo-cate the trees free of cost onthe other side; and, on theother hand, through theTelangana Haritha Haramproject the government ispreaching to plant more trees.They should ideally practicewhat they are preaching bynot chopping fully growntrees which are equal to mil-lions of saplings".

He further added, "Werequest the R&B departmentto abide by the High Courtorder and refrain from cut-ting anything till properpaperwork is in place... Wewish the R&B departmentgives us some time as this isnot the right time for translo-cating trees.

TS after super spreaders...Continued from page 1

For instance, about 56.4 percent of the Covid positivecases in Telangana are aged upto 40. Senior health officials inHyderabad have gone onrecord that anywhere between80 per cent and 90 per cent ofthe younger population whohave tested positive are asymp-tomatic, which creates a lot ofdifficulty in early detection.

The Chief Minister wasaddressing collectors, superin-

tendents and commissionersof police through a video con-ference from Warangal onFriday. He instructed PrincipalSecretary Medical and HealthS.A.M. Rizvi to personallyvisit Yadadri, Nagar Kurnooland other districts, wherethere is no decrease of Covidcases, and review the situationthere. The CM also instruct-ed Collectors in districts bor-dering other States to payspecial attention to the con-tainment of Corona.

Shashi lobs verbalbouncer for KTR'stongue-in-cheek remarkPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress leader ShashiTharoor, known for throwingverbal bouncers at people inthe form of difficult-to-pro-nounce English words, onFriday lobbed floccinaucini-hilipilification at IT MinisterKT Rama Rao.

The word cropped up asTharoor engaged in friendlybanter with the TRS workingpresident, who is headingTelangana's task force onCovid, over the names ofCOVID-19 medicines.

It all started with KTR won-dering why names of medi-cines are so tough to pro-nounce.

"On a lighter note, any ideawho comes up with thisunpronounceable names formeds? - Posaconazole -Cresemba - Tocilzumab -Remdesivir - LiposomalAmphoterecin - Flavipiravir -

Molnupiravir - Baricitinib.And the list goes on…," hesaid on Thursday night.

He tagged the tweet andadded in another post, tonguefirmly in cheek, "I suspect@ShashiTharoor Ji Pakka hasa role to play in this."

Tharoor responded to KTRin the same spirit.

"Not guilty! How can youindulge in such floccinaucini-hilipilification, @KTRTRS?""Left to me I"d happily callthem "CoroNil", "CoroZero",& even "GoCoroNaGo!" Butthese pharmacists are moreprocrustean….," the MP fromThiruvnanthapuram tweeted.

The Oxford dictionarydescribes floccinaucinihilipil-ification as "the action or habitof estimating something asworthless". According to theCambridge dictionary, "Thehonour of being the longestnon-technical word goes tofloccinaucinihilipilification."

KCR visit...Continued from page 1

Later, he instructed Medicaland Health Department offi-cials to provide all facilitiesrequired by the patients, say-ing funds would not be a con-straint. The Chief Ministerwas accompanied by MinistersErrabelli Dayakar Rao,Satavathi Rathod, MLAs N.Ravinder, D.Vinay Bhaskar,Mayor Gundu Sudharani,Chief Secretary SomeshKumar, Principal Secretary -Health Rizvi, Director ofMedical Education RameshReddy and other officials,besides MGM HospitalS u p e r i n t e n d e n tChandrasekhar.

Visits Warangal Central JailKCR also visited the

Warangal Central Jail. Hespoke to the inmates, includ-ing convicts, and enquiredabout the amenities in the jail.

He saw various handicraftitems, handloom productsand other utilitarian productsmade by the inmates. Heenquired with the officials themeasures being taken to curbthe spread of corona in the jail.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 22, 2021hyderabad 03

Acyber criminal through anOTP fraud relieved aformer IPS officer to the

tune of Rs 2.45 lakh, accordingto a complaint lodged with theCyber Crime Cell by the officialon Thursday. The official wholives in Prasasan Nagar of thecity received a phone call froma person called Santosh twodays ago claiming to be aBSNL employee. He sought SIM card information on the pretext ofupdating it. The official told the caller that he had updated the SIMand also got it recharged. Santosh warned him that if the official didnot part with the details the BSNL services are likely to be affectedduring the current Covid period. Walking into the trap, the IPS officialdownloaded TEAM Viewer application and transferred some moneyas directed by Santosh. He told the IPS official that he would receive aunit transaction message reference to the effect that the money wascredited. Afterwards, he received message to the effect that the callerhad withdrawn Rs 2.45 lakh in five minutes in five transactions.

CITY LIGHTS

Cyber fraudster cons former IPSofficer to the tune of Rs 2.45-L

On a tip-off, the Anti-HumanTrafficking Unit team andChaitanyapuri police of

Rachakonda Commissionaratebusted an online inter-countryhuman and drugs traffickingracket. The five women traffickersbelong to Uganda. The accusedNassali Milly, Nakkazzi Florence Mariam, Sarah Namwanje, NalwogaOliver Hildah and Sharifah Nakabuubi came to India on a tourist Visa.After completion of their Visa period, they did not left for their country,but were involved in conducting illegal activities. ccused Nassali cameto Hyderabad and took a rented flat at Toli Chowki as she was sufferingfrom health issues, she decided to earn easy money way by indulgingin prostitution and started a online prostitution, along with her friendsby using "LOCANTO app, on the request of customers, they are usedto send the girls to the needy customers. As such the decoy teamcontacted the organiser in turn she replied and agreed to send threegirls. Therefore, the decoy customer sent location to her phonethrough WhatsApp. Later, the decoy team went near Rajadhani theatrein Dilsukhnagar, in the meantime the accused had came in taxi, alongwith women, immediately the decoy team apprehended the accusedtrafficker and seized banned drugs from their possession. The abovearrests were made under the supervision of Mahesh M Bhagwat, CP,Rachakonda Commissionerate, G Sudheer Babu, Addl CP under thedirect guidance of Sunpreet Singh, DCP, LB Nagar Zone, J SurenderReddy, DCP, SOT, and P .Sreedhar Reddy, ACP, LB Nagar division.

Cyberabad police bust onlinehuman trafficking racket

Police fume over man fortaking pet out during lockdown

PNS n HYDERABAD

The police appealed to peopleto be wary of fake sanitisersbeing pushed into the marketby vested interests passingthem off as branded product asthey are likely to affect the skinand cause potential damage toone's health. They point outhow a city-based racket sellingfake sanitisers was unearthedrecently leading to confiscationof thousands of litres of thesanitiser.

Recently, Shamshabad SOTinspector Venkat Reddy bust-ed a racket in MadhubanColony in Mylardevpalli villageand recovered at least 1,300litres of the sanitiser.

The fake product is beingsold at Rs 150 to Rs 200 a litreas against Rs 500 per litre of thebranded sanitiser in the market.The product is being sold inBegum Bazar, Koti, SultanBazar, Ameerpet, Bala Nagar,Kukatpalli, Secunderabad,Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda

districts. The gang used to move the

fake product in the fast movingmarkets in five litre cans. Thegangs print logos of popularMumbai brands. The whole-salers and retail traders of thefake sanitiser made millions asthe turnover of the product permonth is estimated to be insome crores.

The police suspect that theproduct might have been made

in the sick industrial units inindustrial estates at Jeedimetla,Bala Nagar, Charlapalli, IDABollarum. They point out thatthe fake sanitiser was sold lastyear when the virus was at itsvirulent form.

The police managed toobtain preliminary evidencelast year. The product wasmade without alcohol by mix-ing various chemicals. As theraw material used in making

them was available freely, thevested interests have beenmanufacturing them usingthe names of prominent per-sons and industries.

Cyberabad CommissionerVC Sajjanar said that thepolice have targeted such ille-gal activities under Cyberabadlimits.

Dr Surapaneni Sailaja, skinspecialist, has warned peopleagainst using duplicate sani-tisers as they cause skin-relat-ed problems. As per globalstandards the proportion ofethyl alcohol and ethanolshould be in the ratio of 62 percent to 90 per cent. Use of haz-ardous chemicals can causeskin damage on hands and canalso affect one's immunity.

If the fake sanitiser is notremoved from hands prop-erly, it can go into stomachand contaminate food. It islikely to affect hormonal bal-ance in some others. Hence,it is always useful to usebranded sanitisers.

Be wary of fake sanitisers,police caution people

PNS n NEW DELHI

P Charan Teja, husband ofArmed Reserve constable MSandhya Rani, was arrested bythe Jubilee Hills police onThursday on charges ofharassing and abusing her.According to the police,Sandhya Rani, who wasalready married with adaughter, had marriedCharan Teja in 2020.

A few months after theirmarriage, she was allegedlyabused in the name of casteand harassed by Charan Tejaand his family members, fol-lowing which she approachedthe police and lodged a com-plaint. A few days ago, CharanTeja also lodged a complaintsaying Sandhya Rani trappedhim in the name of love andmarried him at the AryaSamaj in Kukatpally.

He told the police that shethreatened to foist a caseagainst him if he did notmarry her and also publicisetheir selfies. Charan recordeda selfie video with all the alle-gations and sent it to theShamshabad DCP andShabad police seeking actionagainst his wife.

PNS n HYDERABAD

At a time the alarming incidenceof Mucomycosis or 'black fun-gus' cases raised a huge concernacross the State, LV Prasad EyeInstitute has introduced a hot-line number -18002002211 foreye related 'black fungus' issues.

Mucormycosis has beendeclared as an epidemic now.After Covid, it is the next fastemerging threat and the need ofthe hour is early diagnosis andtimely treatment, said Dr TarjaniVivek Dave, oculoplasty sur-

geon, LVPEI.People can call at any time on

hotline number between 9 amand 6 pm from Monday toSaturday for any queries regard-ing Mucormycosis.

In Telangana, LVPEI has aquaternary eye care centre andthree city centres at Hyderabad.Secondary centres were availableacross Adilabad, BhadradiKothagudem, Nagar Kurnool,Nirmal, Rangareddy, Kothurand Siddipet. In cases whereimmediate care is needed, hos-pital's counsellors will share

with the caller the contactaddress of the nearest LVPEIcentre in their vicinity. Thehospital is also offering tele-consultation services, who can-not travel, said Dr.Tarjani.

Mucormycosis is a fungalinfection of the sinuses, eyeand brain. Patients with uncon-trolled diabetes mellitus or thosethat have been treated withsteroids for Covid-19 infectionand those who required hospi-tal admission and oxygen treat-ment are at risk of gettingMucormycosis, she said.

LVPEI launches hotline forMucormycosis treatment

PNS n HYDERABAD

The greed of traders to ripen man-goes, which are flooding the citymarkets, artificially using chemicalshas been rendering the favouritefruit of people into a toxic product.The traders apply ethylene to ripenthe fruits, which is likely to causeulcers in the long run.

Though there is permission fromgovernment to apply the chemical,the traders are not using scientificmethods to apply the ripener.

Acting on directions from theInstitute of Preventive Medicinedirector, GHMC health depart-ment additional commissioner, theGHMC officials divided into threeteams and inspected various mar-kets in the city.

The teams inspected mangogodowns in Mozamjahi market,Malakpet f ruit market andDilsukhnagar areas. On seeing theofficials raiding on the godowns,

many traders downed their shuttersand left the place immediately.

The teams inspected 12 shops inMozamjahi market , f ive inMalakpet and four in Kothapetand fined four traders Rs 1000 eachfor keeping the artificial ripeneramong banana bunches and man-goes.

The raids would continue forthree more days. As a first offence,a fine of Rs 1,000 was imposed. Ifthe offence is repeated, the finewould go up to Rs 10,000.

The GHMC food inspector

Sudarsan Reddy told a section ofthe media that the traders and con-sumers would be sensitised onartificial ripeners and its ill-affects.

Earlier, the traders used to usecarbide to ripen the mangoes. Nowthey use, ethylene ripeners, whichare permitted by Food Safety andStandards Authority of India.

Instead of ripening the mangoesin three days using chemical ripen-ers, the traders have been ripeningthe fruits in one day. If people con-sume them, they would becomesick, the GHMC food inspector

said. Some traders have no concernfor public health and violatingrules to ripen the fruits quickly.They release ethylene gas into the

chambers where fruits are kept toripen them quickly. Therefore, citydwellers urge the authorities to takethe concerned individuals to task.

Artificial ripeners make mangoes the forbidden fruit

"The teams inspected mango godowns inMozamjahi market, Malakpet fruit marketand Dilsukhnagar areas. On seeing theofficials raiding on the godowns, manytraders downed their shutters and left theplace immediately

PNS n HYDERABAD

More than 16,000 cases arebooked so far against the lock-down violators, disclosed VCSajjanar, Commissioner of thePolice, Cyberabad.

There are almost 5,000 policeofficers from Cyberabad on theground monitoring the lock-down, he said. Speaking to themedia during his tour on Friday,Sajjanr said: "We will be morestringent hereafter. It is better fortheir safety no one ventures outunnecessarily."

"I advise people not to be care-less during this second wave ofthe pandemic. A lot of them suf-fering from mild symptoms ofCovid are taking it easy thinkingthat it might be some viral infec-tion. I request all of you not to

turn a blind eye towards anysymptoms and get yourselfchecked," he said.

Sajjanar announced thatCyberabad police in associationwith Society for CyberabadSecurity Council (SCSC) is goingset up an isolation ward.

The Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner touredBandlaguda Jagir,Balajinagar,Bandlaguda petrolBunk on Friday.

Lockdown is for the safety ofpeople, he said. To ensure lock-down orders are completely fol-lowed, the Commissioner tooka stock of lockdown implemen-tation on Friday. He spent timewith the field level police officers,interacted with them and super-vised their functioning at thecheck posts on roads.

Man held forharassing wife

P N S n H Y D E R A B A D

O ver 50 v ia l s of t heCovishield vaccine havereportedly went missingfrom the Rangareddy AreaHospital in Gachibowli.Hospital authorities sus-pect the role of some staffbehind the incident.

Sources said during arecent internal audit, thehospital authorities learntthat 50 vaccine vials, whichotherwise could be used tovaccinate 500 persons,were missing from thestock.

The audit staff informedhospital SuperintendentDr. Dasharath, who apartfrom launching an internalinquiry into the incident,lodged a complaint withthe Gachibowli police aswell on Thursday. TheGachibowli police bookeda case and took up inves-tigation.

PNS nMALKAJGIRI-MEDCHAL

Ten days after the lockdown wasimposed, the Rachakonda policebooked over 25,000 cases againstviolators. Rachakonda PoliceCommissioner Mahesh MBhagwat, who participated invehicle checking at ECILCrossroads, along withKushaiguda law and order andtraffic police officers, here onFriday, said that on Thursdayalone, police seized 1,579 vehi-cles for violating lockdown pro-tocol apart from booking 4,054cases. Officials said 25,537 caseswere booked since the imple-mentation of the lockdown from

May 12 till date. Of them, 17,360cases were booked for lock-down violation, 6,367 for notwearing or improper wearing ofmasks, 1,228 cases for notobserving social distance at pub-lic places, 337 cases for large pub-lic gatherings and 245 cases ofboozing at open places. "We haveset up 46 check posts. I call uponpeople to stay home and staysafe," he said.

Commending the efforts ofpolice force performing lock-down enforcement duties round-the-lock, the Commissionerwarned erring citizens to strict-ly follow lockdown guidelines orto face legal consequences.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Mapmygenome, a Hyderabad-based genomics company,launched a drive-thru Covidtesting facility at CyientFoundation, MP Primary andZP High School at GachiBowli here.

People, who want to get aCovid test can enter the schoolpremises and follow the mark-ings for parking spots. Thereare standees with barcode tothe registration form, whichcan be filled online. Apartfrom names, contact detailsand age, this form alsorequires an individual's IDproof.

Sample collection execu-tives approach the car and col-lect oropharyngeal andnasopharyngeal swab sam-ples. There is also a closedbooth on the premises to col-lect samples, which can helppeople on bikes or peoplewho decide to walk in.

Payment can be made onlineor to the executive. At everystep, all Covid protocols andprecautions are being fol-lowed, and reports are sentonline, Mapmygenome said.

The company has twoCovid testing labs - one atRajiv Gandhi InternationalAirport and one at their cor-porate headquarters inMadhapur. Both the labs oper-ate 24/7. They also have abranch office and Covid sam-ple collection facility at

Kukatpally. People can visit thelab in Madhapur, the collec-tion facility at Kukatpally, orthe new drive thru facility atGachibowli for Covid testing.

Mapmygenome CEO AnuAcharya said, "We have alwaysbeen extra cautious aboutsafety and social distancingduring Covid sample collec-tion and processing. Wealready use CoviSafe VTMsthat neutralise the virus whileprotecting the molecularstructure."

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE)has invited students and teach-ers between the age group of 10and 30 to join the YoungWarrior movement to combatthe Covid. This engagementwill consist of a series of easyand real-life tasks with the#YoungWarrior earning cer-tificate for their actions.

These actions include pro-moting access to verifiedhealth and essential services,vaccine registration, Covidappropriate behaviours andmyth busting. These tasks willbe hosted in 10 regional lan-guages to protect themselves,their families and their neigh-bourhood against Covid. Thefirst is a technology-basedchat-bot platform called

UReport (WhatsApp YWA to+91 96504 14141).

The second is an Interactivevoice response (IVR)-basedplatform (missed call to08066019225) for young peo-ple who may not haveWhatsApp/internet and thethird is through communityradio for those who have noaccess to phones or internet.

The Central Board ofSecondary Education, togeth-

er with the Ministry of YouthAffairs and Sports, theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare, YuWaah-UNICEFand a multi-stakeholder con-sortium of over 950 partners,are activating the#YoungWarrior movement.#YoungWarrior is a nationwidemovement to engage five mil-lion young people to leadaction against Covid andimpact 50 million.

Students invited to joinYoung Warrior movement

COMBATING COVID

PNS n HYDERABAD

Miscreants murderedMohd Aijaz (18), listed asa rowdy sheeter, inBahadurpura around mid-night on Thursday.Previous enmity was sus-pected to have led to thekilling, according to police.

Aijaz was earlier involvedin the attempt to murder ofanother rowdy sheeterGaffar. Police said it wassuspected that Aijaz wascalled outside by the sus-pects and attacked at asecluded spot near VidyaBharathi School inBahadurpura. "Theassailants attacked him withiron rods and boulders. Hedied on the spot," said thepolice. The Bahadurpurapolice are examiningfootage from surveillancecameras in the surround-ings to identify the killers.

Rowdy sheetermurdered

16,000 cases filedagainst lockdownviolators: Sajjanar

Rachakonda police file 25,000 cases against lockdown violators

50 vials ofCovishield go missing

Police officer on patrolling duty during the lockdown has taken aserious view of a citizen, who was taking out his pet dog to seea vet after the lockdown relaxation period on Friday. Banjara

Hills Inspector Sivachandra asked a person driving a car where hewas going violating the lockdown, along with his pet dog? Theperson replied that the pet has fever and suffering from dehydrationand is shivering from Thursday night. He tried hard to fix anappointment with a veterinary doctor since morning and at lastsucceeded in getting the 12.30 pm appointment. He argued that itis inevitable for him to come out to save the life of the pet dog. Thepolice officer on duty told him that it is an offence to violate thelockdown. He sought to know whether the life of the dog is soprecious that of humans? He advised the person that he shouldhave consulted doctor through a video call instead of venturing out.The video became viral on social media. The animal lovers take tosocial media and are awed at this and questioned and pointed outthat the health of pets is also important. They vowed to take it to thenotice of Blue Cross.

Drive through Covid testingfacility starts at Gachi Bowli

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 22, 2021

PNS n HYDERABAD

Rich tributes were paid to for-mer Prime Minister RajivGandhi on his 30th deathanniversary on Friday by for-mer minister Mohammed AliShabbir and other leaders hereon Friday.

Speaking on the occasion atKamareddy, Shabbir Alirecalled the services renderedby Rajiv Gandhi and said thatthe former Prime Ministerhad left an indelible impressionof his regime. Terming him asthe architect of Digital Indiaand father of the InformationTechnology and TelecomRevolution of India, ShabbirAli said that the vision ofRajiv Gandhi was helping thecountry in fighting a waragainst the Coronavirus pan-demic. "The entire manage-ment of Covid pandemic,including tracking, testing andtreatment is being done usingIT and its applications whosefoundation was laid by the lateRajiv Gandhi," he claimed.

The Congress leaderridiculed BJP and TRS leaders,who questioned the contribu-tion of the Congress in nation-building. "Almost 100% ofhealth infrastructure, includinghospitals, research institutions,laboratories, drug manufactur-ing plants, etc, was built dur-ing Congress regimes. Neitherthe BJP government at theCentre nor the TRS govern-ment in Telangana has addedanything to the health infra-structure. Instead, they ruinedthe existing institutions andinfrastructure with poor man-agement," he said.

Shabbir Ali alleged that

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao hadfailed to prevent the damagecaused due to the Covid pan-demic in Telangana in the lastyear. "KCR acted like'Kumbhkaran' and did notwake up from slumber despitelakhs of people getting infect-ed with the virus and thou-sands losing their lives. As perthe official data, as many5,44,263 people got infectedso far and 3,060 lost their livesas of May 20. However, theactual number of deaths is atleast 4-5 times higher than theofficial figure.

Instead of taking measuresto save people's lives, KCRconcealed the real statistics ofCovid cases and deaths. He isnow trying to cover up hisfailures by misleading thepeople by making visits toGandhi Hospital inHyderabad and MGM hospi-tal in Warangal. Was he wait-ing for over 3,000 people(officially) to die due to Covidbefore visiting GandhiHospital?" he asked.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress leaders paid rich trib-utes to former Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi across the state tomark his 30th death anniversary.Congress leaders participated inphilanthropic activities by dis-tributing medical equipment,medicines, food and fruits onFriday. TPCC Chief N UttamKumar Reddy visited theHuzurnagar area hospital anddistributed fruits and dry fruitsand food to the Covid patients.

Speaking on the occasion,Uttam said that only eight doc-tors are working in Huzurnagarhospital instead of 49 doctors.There is no CT scan and thehospital has no gynecologist. Hedemanded that the governmentappoint a radiologist and set upan oxygen plant in the hospital.

Congress MP from BhongirKomatireddy Venkat Reddyhanded over 25 oxygen cylindersto Bhongir hospital and anoth-er 25 cylinders to AIIMS hospi-tal on the occasion.Komatireddy also allocated hisMPLAD funds for Corona treat-ment. Speaking on the occasion,Komatireddy vented his ire overthe state government’s policies.

He questioned the govern-ment as to why it is not includ-ing corona treatment in theAarogyasri scheme. The govern-ment is misleading people bygiving falsehood details onCorona. He said that the neigh-bouring state Andhra Pradeshhas been providing Coronatreatment freely, however, theTelangana government is allow-ing private hospitals to collecthefty bills.

TPCC working president and

Malkajgiri MP AnumulaRevanth Reddy, along with hiscolleagues and friends, donat-ed a generator, AC and refriger-ator and medical equipment toContainment at Bolarum here.

AICC official spokespersonDasoju Sravan paid tributes toRajiv Gandhi statue atKhairathabad division. Later,he distributed masks and fruitsto people. Rajiv GandhiSadbhavana YatraCommemoration Committeechairman G Niranjan said thatthe country will remember thechanges initiated by Rajiv dur-ing his tenure in politics for thedevelopment and to strengthenthe democratic fabric of thecountry.

PNS n JAYASHANKAR-BHUPALAPALLY

Manthani MLA DuddillaSridhar Babu demanded thatthe government take steps to setup a medical college in the dis-trict as people of the area haveto travel long distances to getmedical aid in the absence of amedical institution here.

Speaking in connection withtaking part in various pro-grammes in Kataram mandal ofthe district on Friday, he point-ed out that the government hassent proposals to the Centre toset up six medical colleges. Ifthere is a medical college in thedistrict, graduates of the college

can serve the local people bet-ter.

In connection with the 30thdeath anniversary of formerPM Rajiv Gandhi, the MLAdistributed essential commodi-ties among 268 Covid-affectedfamilies in Kataram mandal.The MLA distributed rice, puls-es, edible oils, vegetables andfruits required for them for the14 day quarantine period.

He praised Rajiv Gandhi forimplementing series of develop-ment measures like introducingIT to the country and also wasinstrumental in reducing theage of voting to 18 years andalso introduces several sweep-ing changes in the country.

Parties seek speedyprocurement of paddyPNS n HYDERABAD

Various political parties andpeople’s organisations haveexpressed their concern over theslow pace of paddy procure-ment in the State even as farm-ers were staring at a crisis.

Added to the slow pace ofpaddy procurement, unseason-al rains, rice millers, who wereunilaterally deciding the quali-ty of paddy and paying less thanMSP were adding to the woesof farmers, they said.

The State government shouldnot leave farmers at the mercyof rice millers and they shouldtake responsibility for paddyprocurement and open 5,000more procurement centresunder the aegis of Farmers

Cooperative

Societies, Farmers’ ProducersCompanies, they said.

The government should takemeasures to provide at least fivehamalis at every centre andmobilise them from cities andtowns and link paddy procure-ment to NREGS works in viewof the present circumstances.Urgent measures were neededto ensure there was no dearth ofhuman resources for complet-ing paddy procurement on awar-footing, they said. In sep-arate open letters to ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoon Friday, Telangana PradeshCongress Committee PresidentN Uttam Kumar Reddy, TDPpresident L Ramana, TelanganaJana Samithi president MKodandaram, CPI State secre-

tary ChadaV e n k a t a

Reddy , CPM (ML) StateSecretary S Venkateswara Raoand All India Kisan CongressNational president KodandaReddy, Rythu Swarajya VedikaState convener V.Kiran Kumar,Telangana Rythu JAC, conven-er KRavi and others said that theState government should makearrangements to completepaddy procurement by May31.

Farmers as per the govern-ment released data cultivatedpaddy in over 50 lakh acres inRabi, maize in 4.29 lakh acres,groundnut in 2.61 lakh acres,jowar in 1.16 lakh acres, Bengalgram in 3.43 lakh acres.Farmers, who suffered losses inKharif season, hoped that inRabi, they would recover, thanks

to the availability ofirrigation facilities.

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

The issue of high fees charged byprivate hospitals continued toplague the city as another instanceof a private hospital refusing topart with the body unless theunpaid bloated bill was fullypaid.

On May 12, the family ofRaavikanti Ganesh, 45, a residentof Vattemalla, Vemulawada man-dal, who died of Covid in theSunrise Hospital, Karimnagar,had to bargain with the manage-ment of the hospital to get thebody of Raavikanti.

Raavikanti Venkataiah, a retd.ZP CEO, had admitted hisnephew Raavikanti Ganesh to thehospital on April 29 after he wastested Covid positive. The hospi-

tal bill came to Rs 7 lakhs for 14days of hospitalisation. Anadvance of Rs 2.95 was deposit-ed by the deceased's father RajaYellaiah on April 29.

After a treatment of 13 days,when the deceased showed noimprovement, Dr Suresh and histeam of the hospital asked thepatient's family to take him homeas they were not paying the bill.

"We had paid an advance of Rs.2.95 lakh on Day one and onbeing asked to take away thepatient we cleared the pharma-cy bill of Rs 40,600 and pleadedwith the doctor to continue thetreatment. But, my nephew diedon May 12. The hospital refusedto hand over the body until thedue bill of Rs. 4.90 lakh wascleared. My brother, Raja Yellaiah,

had to go in search of money. I,on behalf of my brother wasforced to write a letter in order totake the body that the bills wouldbe paid as soon as the moneycould be arranged," saysVenkataiah, uncle of thedeceased.

Venkataiah had complainedabout this incident to AdditionalCollector Shyam Prasad Lal andalso to DMHO of Karimnagar.The Additional Collectorresponded and said he wouldinstruct the DMHO to inquireabout the incident. The DMHOhowever, did not respond to anyof the calls made by Venkataiah.

Over and above this thepatient party said that the hos-pital sold them three vials ofRemdesivir injections for Rs

30,000 per vial and anotherthree vials of the medicine wasbought from outside pharmacyfor Rs 40,000 per vial. The orig-inal price of a vial of the injec-tion is Rs 3,500. The hospital andthe pharmacy charged the exor-bitant high price showingunavailability of the medicine asthe prime reason.

The Pioneer had consultedPRO of Sunrise Hospital B AnilKumar in connection with thisissue and enquired about theexcess charges of Remdesivir.The PRO stated that nothing ofthis sort of has happened.Whereas the Rs 90,000 was paidfor three vials of Remdesivirthrough GPay showed the nameof Anil Kumar as the receiver ofthe money.

‘Bargaining to hand over body to kin’

· Congressleaders tookpart inphilanthropicactivities bydistributingmedicalequipment,medicines, foodand fruits tomark RajivGandhi’s deathanniversary

Include Corona treatment inAarogyasri, demands Cong

Set up medical college in

Bhupalapally dist: MLA

KCR should wake up fromslumber, says Shabbir Ali

PNS nMAHABUBNAGAR

Minister for Excise SrinivasGoud on Thursday asked offi-cials to make alternative arrange-ments to tide over the drinkingwater crisis in summer as theMission Bhagiratha schememotors would remain suspend-ed for a month for testing afterundertaking repairs to them.

Addressing the MissionBhagiratha officials from hiscamp office here on Friday, heasked them to prepare an actionplan to supply drinking waterthrough alternative methods.

It may be recalled that thetechnical sang in the MB motorsat Yelluru Reservoir forced the

engineers to take them off. Theengineering officials will testthem at a full level once again.

He was reviewing the situa-tion with officials, municipalcommissioners and public healthengineers at his camp office.

He asked public health exec-utive engineer VijayabhaskarReddy to inspect the intakewells in Koil Sagar, which sup-plies drinking water to the town.He asked officials to check thecondition of the pipelines andany inherent leakages in them.

He asked municipal com-missioners and engineeringauthorities to take steps to ruleout the drinking water problemin other municipal towns.

Every habitation in themunicipality should compulso-rily get drinking water throughalternative sources of water sup-ply.

He exhorted people to usewater sparingly without wastingit and advised them to storewater if necessary. He wantedthe municipal authorities togive publicity to this by beatingdrums.

Mahabubnagar municipalchairman KC Narsimhulu, com-missioner Pradeep Kumar, pub-lic health executive engineerVijaya Bhaskar Reddy, MissionBhagiradha engineering offi-cials, municipal engineers andothers were present.

New body of TSPSCassumeschargePNS n HYDERABAD

The new administra-tive body of TelanganaState Public ServiceCommission has beensworn in on Friday. BJanardhan Reddy tookthe oath of office first asthe chairman, followedby members KRavinder Reddy,Chandrasekhar Rao,Linga Reddy, KotlaAruna Kumari, SumitraAnand, RSatyanarayana and RAmavat Dhansingh.

Janardhan Reddytook charge from theIn-charge chairmanSailu. The newCommission disclosedthat the notification forrecruitment to f i l lvacant posts would beissued soon. Only a fewpeople were invited forthe swearing in in viewof Covid restrictions.

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

Minister for ExciseSrinivas Goud appealedto private hospitals toreserve 20 per cent ofthe beds to the poorCovid patients and pro-vide treatment to themwith a human face. If thehospitals cannot affordto offer free beds to thepoor, they are welcometo charge a nominal feefrom the poor.

In a statement here onFriday, he asked CT-Scan operators to scanCovid patients for Rs1,999 each. He warnedof taking stern actionagainst two or three pri-vate hospitals, which hesaid are collecting morefees. The private hospi-tal managements in thepresence of the Ministerdecided to offer a pack-age of Rs 30,000 withoutoxygen and Rs 60,000with oxygen per week inthe 20 per cent of thebeds reserved for poorCovid patients.

‘Reserve 20%beds for poorCovid patients’

‘Make alternative arrangementsto tide over drinking water crisis’

RaghunandanRao gets addlcharge of agriPNS n HYDERABAD

M Raghunandan Rao,Commissioner, PanchayatRaj and RuralDevelopment, has beengiven full additionalcharge of Secretary,Agriculture in place of BJanardhan Reddy afterhis appointment as theTSPSC chairman. Thegovernment issued ordersto this effect on Friday.Raghunandan Rao wouldalso discharge duties asC o m m i s s i o n e r ,Agriculture.

CM for strict enforcementof lockdown across State

F DISTRICT COLLECTORS, POLICE PERSONNEL SHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

F LOCKDOWN IMPOSED AS GOVT CHOSE PUBLIC HEALTH OVER REVENUE: KCR

ML MELLY MAITREYI

n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K ChandrasekharRao has instructed the DistrictCollectors , Director General ofPolice and other police person-nel to strictly implement thelockdown imposed for protect-ing people’s health.

The government has decidedon lockdown without botheringabout revenue loss as people’shealth is more important.Thusthe strict implementation of thelockdown is crucial to bring thepandemic under control, hesaid.

He also said that paddy pro-curement should be completedin a week to 10 days as Kharifagricultural operations wouldstart soon.

He later headed for theWarangal Collectorate and helda video conference with allDistrict Collectors and PoliceOfficials and Superintendents of

Police.He asked them about theCovid situation in their districts,the action plan being imple-mented to bring the pandemicunder control.

Lockdown should be enforcedstrictly as per the Disaster

Management Act and it was theresponsibility of the Collectorsalong with the DGP, he said.Except for four hour relaxationperiod, during the rest of thetime, no one except those withpasses should be allowed on the

roads, he said.The ChiefMinister asked the Collectorsabout the supply of medicines,oxygen and suggested that thefever survey should be contin-ued with the second phase.Even in second phase, door todoor fever survey should be car-ried out, he said.

Cleanliness in hospitalsshould get special focus and spe-cial drive should be taken up forlifting garbage immediately, heinstructed the GHMCCommissioner and all DistrictCollectors.

KCR said that a decisionwould be taken in the Cabinetmeeting on addressing the prob-lems of all kinds of outsourcedstaff in the hospitals. He calledupon the medical personnel towork with the same dedication.

He also discussed with peo-ple’s representatives about mea-sures to control Covid, paddyprocurement, lockdown imple-mentation.

NSUI launches free online yoga classesPNS n HYDERABAD

People are suffering not only from phys-ical but also from mental stress due to therise in Corona cases, opined NSUI statepresident Venkat Balmoor.

Speaking on the occasion after launch-ing of free online yoga and meditationclasses under the auspices of TelanganaNSUI, Venkat said that a person suffer-ing from Coronavirus infection, especial-

ly a lung infection, is also suffering frommental stress. To lend a helping hand tothe public in recovering mentally, NSUIlaunched free online yoga and meditationclasses in the memory of Rajiv Gandhiwith certified yoga trainer Bharat.

He further stated that Bharat will beconducting classes on Telangana NSUIand Venkat Balmoor Facebook &Instagram pages for an hour from 5.30pm to 6.30 pm every day. He appealed topeople to avail of the facility.

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABADCPI national secretary KNarayana in a video messagereleased recently praised theKerala model of contestingelection twice and consequent-ly adorning the ministerialberth for not more than twotimes in one’s political career.

Narayana said that the LeftDemocratic Front (LDF) cameto power in Kerala for the sec-ond time showing good per-formance in its first five yearsand it was good for all theother political parties to emu-late the CPI and CPM policiesof letting a person contestelections for only two timesand also taking ministerialpositions two times.

However, the Telangana CPIand CPM parties’ cadre andleaders, albeit not all, were sur-prised at the comments madeby Narayana. One of the CPMleaders, on condition ofanonymity, has stated that"both CPM and CPI wouldhave been in a better positionin Telangana if they had notrun around the ruling partiesfor alliances in elections.”Narayana will also have to takeresponsibility for the CPI’s

present condition in the state,he said.

Leave the Kerala model,the two Left parties herewould have to move on theirfeet instead of rushing foralliances with other parties, heopined. He said that most ofthe party leaders hadexpressed their reluctanceabout supporting the TRS inthe by-election toNagarjunasagar. The supportof the Left parties to the TRScandidate in Nagarjunasagarby-elections was the latestworst example of how theyhave degraded themselves.

On the other hand, theparty leaders were continuingin their positions for the thirdterm, too, by not giving any

chance to others in both theCPI and the CPM, the leadersaid.

CPM State secretaryTammineni Veerabhadramwas continuing in the Statesecretary position for the thirdterm, he said. First of all, theState secretaries were not fol-lowing the rules established bythe Kerala model, thereforehow it would be possible forthem to gain popularityamong people.

Another leader said thatcontinuing in positions for thethird time was not a big thingbut the leader had to inspirethe party leaders and cadre tomove forward.

He also said, "Leave theKerala model, there is no dis-cipline among the party lead-ers in the State. The leadersbehave respectfully to eachother publicly but they don’thave the same attitude in pri-vate”. He hoped that the party’snational leadership wouldimplement successful andgood policies to develop theparty in the states and thenonly the Left parties would gettheir due respect from thepeople. Or else, the Left par-ties would lose their base inthe States also, he said.

Narayana asks leaders toemulate Kerala model

HOSPITALS FLEECING COVID PATIENTS

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 22, 2021 nation 05

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) hasbegun positioning its teams inWest Bengal and Odisha asCyclone Yaas is likely to hitthese states on the easterncoast of the country aroundMay 26-27, officials said onFriday.

Some of the teams dis-patched to undertake evacua-tion, rescue and restorationwork in states affected byCyclone Tauktae on the west-ern coast are being calledback, they said.

NDRF Director General S NPradhan tweeted that the forcehas decided to "airlift" WestBengal and Odisha-basedteams of the force in view ofCyclone Yaas and its "possibleimpact" in the coastal dis-tricts of the two states.

The exact number of NDRFteams to be earmarked for thelatest cyclone will be decidedas per inputs received from theIndia Meteorological

Department. The situation isdeveloping, the officials said.

The central force had ear-marked a total of 101 teams forthe extremely severe cyclonicstorm Tauktae that developedin the Arabian Sea and main-ly affected the costal areas ofGujarat and states like

Maharashtra and Goa, apartfrom a few others on the west-ern coastline of the country.

Tauktae made landfall onMonday night near Una townin Gir Somnath district ofGujarat and wreaked havoc foraround 28 hours before itweakened into a depression.

Each NDRF team has 47personnel who are equippedwith tree and pole cutters,communication gadgets,inflatable boats and basic med-ical aid.

Due to the COVID-19spread, these teams have beenprovided orange-coloured full-

bodied personal protectiongear that includes a face shieldfor each rescuer.

The NDRF has earlier saidthat most of its troopsdeployed for these operationshave been vaccinated for coro-navirus.

Talking about Yaas, the IMDhad on Thursday said that alow pressure area is very like-ly to form over northAndaman Sea and adjoiningeast-central Bay of Bengalaround May 22.

"It is very likely to intensifygradually into a cyclonic stormduring the subsequent 72hours. It is very likely to movenorthwestwards and reachWest Bengal-Odisha coastsaround 26th May evening," theCyclone Warning Division ofthe IMD had said.

The name Yaas has beengiven to the potential cycloneby Oman, as per a standardprotocol of naming suchcyclonic storms in rotation byaffected countries in the samearea.

Delhi recorded 3,009COVID-19 casesand 252 fatalities on

Friday, with the city'spositivity rate slipping to4.76 per cent, datashared by the healthdepartment showed.Asper the latest healthbulletin, these newfatalities pushed theCOVID-19 death toll inthe national capital to22,831. This is the third consecutive day when Delhi's count of dailynew cases has remained below 4,000. The positivity rate in the citystood at 5.5 per cent on Thursday. Medical experts have held thelockdown as the main factor behind the dip in the daily cases amidthe second wave of the pandemic. On Wednesday, Delhi hadrecorded 3,846 cases of the infection and 235 deaths.

Accusing the Karnatakagovernment of being lethargictowards managing epidemic

diseases, JD(S) leader H DKumaraswamy on Friday urged itto immediately declare "blackfungus" as an epidemic. Theformer Chief Minister in a seriesof tweets, warned that there isdanger of Karnataka witnessinghigher number of black fungus infections as according to expertsthose recovered from COVID are getting infected by the disease, andthe state has a big number of coronavirus cases. "Telangana, TamilNadu, Rajasthan, Odisha, Gujarat and Chandighad have declaredblack fungus (Mucormycosis) as an epidemic. The Centre has alsoasked the states to declare an epidemic. The state should alsodeclare it as an epidemic immediately," Kumaraswamy tweeted.

INDIA CORNER

The Supreme Court onFriday upheld thevalidity of the Centre's

notification allowingbanks to proceed againstpersonal guarantors forrecovery of loans given toa company under theInsolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC). Abench comprising justicesL Nageswara Rao and SRavindra Bhat held that approval of resolution plan under the IBCdoes not discharge personal guarantors of their liability towards thebanks. "In the judgment, we have upheld the notification," JusticeBhat said while reading out the conclusion of the judgement whichdecided as many as 75 petitions pertaining to the validity of thenotification. Petitioners had challenged the November 15, 2019notification issued under the IBC and other provisions in as far asthey relate to personal guarantors to corporate debtors.

Delhi records 3,009 Covid cases, 252deaths; positivity rate dips to 4.76 pc

SC agrees with Centre, allowsbanks to act on guarantors

Police have registered an FIRagainst the captain of bargeP-305 and some other

persons after it sank in the ArabianSea five days ago during cycloneTauktae, in which at least 49 of itspersonnel were killed, an officialsaid on Friday. The case wasregistered under section 304 (2)(culpable homicide not amountingto murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt to any person throughrash or negligent act) and 34 (common intention) at the YellowGate police station here. Rakesh Ballav, the captain of thebarge, and others have been named in the FIR, a Mumbai Policespokesperson said. The case was registered on the basis of thecomplaint lodged by Rahman Hussain Shaikh, the chief engineerof the barge who was among the survivors in the incident, hesaid. Of the 261 personnel who were on the barge that sank onMonday, 186 had been rescued till Thursday, officials had said.Bodies of 49 persons have been recovered and the Navy and theCoast Guard have been carrying out a search for the 26personnel missing from the barge and 11 from anchor boatVaraprada, they had said.

Barge tragedy: FIR against itscaptain, others

K'taka govt accused of ‘lethargy'in managing epidemic cases

PNS n NEW DELHI

To address the shortage ofCOVID-19 jabs in the country,the government is exploringthe possibility of boosting pro-duction of vaccines, includingidentifying manufacturing sitesfor indigenously developedCovaxin outside India, sourcessaid.

The government alsointends to take up the matterwith the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) to stepup Covaxin production.

It will also take up withModerna, Johnson andJohnson and other vaccinemakers the issue of grantingvoluntary licence to third-party manufacturers in Indiaon transfer of technology basis.

These issues were discussedin an inter-ministerial meetingon May 18 to deliberate uponthe options, including volun-tary licence, compulsorylicence and government useauthorisation under thePatents Act, 1970, available toincrease the availability ofdrugs and vaccines used fortreatment of COVID-19.

The Ministry of External

Affairs has also been asked totake up the matter withAstraZeneca, the maker ofCovishield, to encourage themto grant more voluntarylicences in India.

The MEA and theDepartment of Biotechnology(DBT) will also prepare aroadmap to address raw mate-rial supply constraints forCovishield and identify thesources of raw material,sources said.

As for Pfizer vaccine, theDepartment for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade(DPIIT) to take up the matterwith MEA, Niti Aayog andLaw Secretary to prepare a sta-tus report on issue of indem-nity and liability agreement

being proposed by vaccinemanufacturer, they added.

Many states have com-plained about the shortage ofvaccines. To address the issue,the government has been tak-ing measures to ramp up theproduction of Covaxin.

Last week, V K Paul,Member (Health) in the NitiAayog said Covaxin requires aBiosafety Laboratory-3, a facil-ity which is not available withall.

The DBT and the DrugController General of India(DCGI) have been asked toidentify manufacturers havingBSL-3 facility as well as thosewho can establish such a facil-ity to increase manufacturingsites in India, sources said.

Govt exploring possibility ofCovaxin production outside India

PNS n NEW DELHI

The novel coronavirus respon-sible for COVID-19 could causeno more than common cold-like coughs and sniffles withinthe next decade, according to astudy.

The research, published in thejournal Viruses, makes this like-ly prediction based on mathe-matical models that incorporatelessons learned from the currentpandemic on how our body'simmunity changes over time.

"This shows a possible futurethat has not yet been fullyaddressed," said Fred Adler, aprofessor of mathematics andbiological sciences at theUniversity of Utah in the US.

"Over the next decade, theseverity of COVID-19 maydecrease as populations collec-tively develop immunity," Adlersaid.

The study suggests thatchanges in the disease could bedriven by adaptations of ourimmune response rather than bychanges in the virus itself.

Although the SARS-CoV-2virus is the best-known mem-ber of the family, other season-al coronaviruses circulate inthe human population, andthey are less dangerous.

The researchers noted that

some evidence indicates thatone of these cold-causing rela-tives might have once beensevere, giving rise to the"Russian flu" pandemic in thelate 19th century.

The parallels led the scientiststo wonder whether the severi-ty of SARS-CoV-2 could simi-larly lessen over time.

They built mathematicalmodels incorporating evidence

on the body's immune responseto SARS-CoV-2.

Analysing several scenariosand their versions set up a sit-uation where an increasingproportion of the populationwill become predisposed tomild disease over the longterm.

"In the beginning of the pan-demic, no one had seen thevirus before. Our immune sys-tem was not prepared," Adlerexplained.

The models show that asmore adults become partiallyimmune, whether throughprior infection or vaccination,severe infections all but disap-pear over the next decade, theresearchers said.

Eventually, the only peoplewho will be exposed to the virusfor the first time will be childrenwho are naturally less prone tosevere disease, they said.

‘Covid will not pose a threat in future’

PNS n PANAJI

Goa Chief Minister PramodSawant on Friday said thestate government will chal-lenge in the high court jour-nalist Tarun Tejpal's acquittalin a 2013 rape case by a dis-trict court here.

A sessions court at Mapusaon Friday acquitted Tejpal ofsexually assaulting his formerfemale colleague in an eleva-tor of a five star resort in Goa.

Talking to reporters,Sawant said, “We will nottolerate any injustice to bemeted out to the women inGoa. We will challenge thedistrict court's order beforethe high court soon in thiscase."

He said he has personallydiscussed the issue with thepublic prosecutor and theinvestigating officer in thecase about challenging theverdict in the high court.

Sawant claimed that therewas enough evidence againstthe accused.

The Goa police had regis-tered an FIR against Tejpal inNovember 2013, followingwhich he was arrested.

The Goa crime branch hadfiled a charge sheet againstTejpal, who has been out onbail since May 2014.

He faced the trial underIPC sections 341 (wrongfulrestraint), 342 (wrongful con-

finement), 354 (assault orcriminal force with intent tooutrage modesty), 354-A(sexual harassment), 354-B(assault or use of criminalforce to woman with intent todisrobe), 376(2)(f) (person ina position of authority overwomen, committing rape)and 376(2)k) (rape by a per-son in a position of control).

Goa govt to move HCagainst Tejpal's acquittal

PNS n NEW DELHI

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar will begin a five-dayvisit to the United States fromMonday with a focus on pro-curement of coronavirus vac-cines from American compa-nies as well as explore the pos-sibility of their joint produc-tion.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs said Jaishankar willhold discussions with USSecretary of State AntonyBlinken besides meetingsenior officials of the Bidenadministration during his visitfrom May 24 to 28.

In New York, Jaishankar isexpected to meet UNSecretary-General AntonioGuterres.

"In Washington DC, theExternal Affairs Minister willhold discussions with hiscounterpart Secretary of StateAntony Blinken. He will alsobe meeting Cabinet membersand Senior Officials of theAdministration dealing withthe bilateral relationship," theMEA said in a statement.

It said he will have twointeractions with businessforums on economic andCOVID-related cooperationbetween the two countries.

Jaishankar on a five-day visit to US

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPUAM

Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan will retain key portfo-lios including Home in thesuccesive LDF government inthe state while his son-in-law PA Mohamed Riyas andVeena George, both first timeministers, will handle PWDand Health, respectively.George, a former journalistand Aranmula MLA, will suc-ceed the popular KK Shailaja,who played a leading role inthe state's fight against Covid-19, and whose omission in thenew cabinet had created aflutter.

Vijayan will retain Home,Vigilance and IT portfoliosamong others while his confi-dant and first-time legislator KN Balagopal will helm theFinance Department, replac-

ing the high-profile T MThomas Isaac as the portfoliosof the new ministers wereannounced here on Friday.

Besides health and familyaffairs, George is also entrust-ed with the women and childwelfare department.

After taking oath for thesecond time as CM onThursday, Vijayan handedover the portfolios of respec-tive ministers to Governor

Arif Mohammed Khan andthe government order in thisconnection was issued latelast night.

It was released to the mediaon Friday.

The 21-member-strongCPI(M)-led ministry wassworn in at the central stadi-um here on Thursday eveningin a low-key ceremony inview of the COVID-19 pan-demic.

Barring Vijayan, all 11CPI(M) ministers are newfaces.

It was almost certain thatBalagopal, a former RajyaSabha MP and a CPI(M) statecommittee member, would beentrusted with the all impor-tant finance portfolio and thetough task of infusing freshenergy to Kerala's cash-strapped exchequer.

Vijayan retains Home & IT,Veena is new Health Minister

PNS nMUMBAI

Mumbai, May 21 (PTI) MylabDiscovery Solutions, which hasdeveloped a do-it-yourselfCOVID-19 testing kit for symp-tomatic patients, is building astock of one crore units of therecently-approved home test kitsbefore a national rollout on June1, a top official said on Friday.

The Pune-based company,which is also credited with mak-ing the first indigeneous RT-PCR kit last year, is developingan integrated molecular testingproduct which focused onautomation, as its next big pro-ject, the official said. The home

test kit christened 'COVISELF',which produces a result in 15minutes for symptomaticpatients, was cleared by theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) late onWednesday evening.

The product priced at Rs250 per unit is aimed at quickturnarounds in testing and willalso ensure that a patient startsquarantining quickly and desistsfrom spreading the virus further.

"We are manufacturing 10lakh units a day at our facility inLonavala. Over the next 10days, we will be stocking up 1crore units and then launchnationally by June 1.

Mylab to make1 crore Covidhome test kits

PNS n NEW DELHI

Health Minister SatyendarJain on Friday said there were197 cases of black fungus inhospitals across Delhi tillWednesday night, includingnon-residents who have cometo the city for treatment.

The minister also saidmany inoculation centres forthe 18-44 age group are beingshut in Delhi from Friday asthe city has run out of vaccinefor this age group.

“Delhi had exhausted itsCovaxin stock many daysago. Covishield doses, too,have been consumed. Manycentres are being shut today,”

Jain said. “There were 197cases of black fungus acrossall hospitals in Delhi tillWednesday night. Theseincluded patients who havecome from other states fortreatment,” he told reporters.

Jain said there is an acuteshortage of Amphotericin-Binjections used in the treat-ment of black fungus ormucormycosis in the entirecountry. The Centre is likelyto provide 2,000 injections toDelhi, which will then begiven to hospitals.

He cautioned COVID-19patients against takingsteroids without doctor'sadvice.

200 cases of Blackfungus reported in Delhi hospitals PNS n NEW DELHI

Vice-Pres ident MVenkaiah Naidu onFriday condoled thedemise of noted envi-ronmentalist SunderlalBahuguna, saying hisefforts to preserve theecosystem will alwaysbe remembered.

The Chipko move-ment pioneerBahuguna died at theAll India Institute ofMedical S c iences ,Rishikesh on Fridayafter battling COVID-19 for several days.

He was 94."Pained toknow that Shr iSunderlal Bahuguna jihas passed away.

V-P condolesdemise ofBahuguna

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union home ministry hasasked states and union territo-ries to strengthen facilities forvulnerable groups, especiallychildren, who have beenorphaned in the second waveof the COVID-19 pandemic inorder to check human traffick-ing, a government statementsaid on Friday.

The Centre said it is givinghigh priority to prevent andcombat crime against women,children, senior citizens andscheduled castes/ scheduledtribes, and is putting in placeinstitutional mechanisms forpreventing and counteringhuman trafficking."Taking intoaccount the impact of the sec-ond wave of the COVID-19pandemic, particularly on vul-nerable groups, the MHA hasagain reiterated.

States, UTstold tostrengthenfacilities forCovid-hit

NDRF prepares for ‘Cyclone Yaas',positions teams in Bengal, Odisha

account of the eccentricitiesand perturbations of the orbitsof Moon around Earth andEarth around the Sun, informslate Sir Harold Spencer Jones,former Astronomer Royal ofBritain. The total range of vari-ation is about 13 hours.

Qureshi’s dissertationinforms that the earliest math-ematical model of lunar cres-cent visibility was worked outby Muslim astronomers at theAbbasid court of Al-Mamumin the ninth century. Amongthose astronomers was Al-Battani. In modern times,Schmidt, Fortheringham,Maunder, Bruin, Schaefer, Ilyasand Odeh, among others, havecontributed to better pre-dictability.

The Hindu religious cal-endar is also based on lunarmonths. The months are,however, determined by calcu-lations rather than observa-tions. It is based on the con-cept of tithis, where each tithiin the series represents 12degrees of progressive angularseparation of the Moon fromthe Sun. Every tithi, beginningfrom Shukla Pratipada toAmavasya, could have reli-gious significance for theHindus. It is surprising whymedieval Muslim mathemati-cians/astronomers failed to

develop a lunar calendar basedon calculation to simplifythings. They rather went in forcomplicated models merely topredict the crude principle oflunar sightings, which remainat the mercy of several mete-orological factors. Betweenthe eighth and 19th century,well over 200 location-specif-ic zijs (astronomical hand-books) were complied in theIslamic world, informsStephen P Blake in Time inEarly Modern Islam.

The lunar crescent (Hilal)could not be visible beforeShukla Tritiya, if not Chaturthi,on account of its faintness andslenderness. In the 21st centu-ry, we have apps likeMoonCalc, which provide loca-tion-based information on thetiming and trajectory of themoon. Yet, the Muslim worldinsists on the naked eye sight-ing (Ruya), which now includestelescoping sighting, wheresplit verdicts are common.

The most disadvantageousaspect of the Hijri calendar isits purely lunar character. Theyear comprises 354 days (12lunar cycles of 29½ days each).The intercalation used by thepagan Arabs, to keep the yearabreast of the seasons, wasprohibited by ProphetMohammed as per a command

in the Quran (9:36-37). So, thecalendar became out of syncwith the seasons. The religiousausterities/festivities freely wan-der through the year, advanc-ing by 11 days vis-à-vis theGregorian calendar every year.

Islamic civilisations, how-ever, could not live by religionalone. While the Hijri calendarsatisfied liturgical purposes, itcould not sustain the agrarian,revenue and administrativework. Blake, in his study ofSafavid, Ottoman and MughalEmpires in Iran, Turkey andIndia, found that each oneused solar calendars whetherZoroastrian, Julian or Indic(Saka Samvat) sometimesmodifying it to their needs.

Seljuk ruler Jalal al-DinMalik Shah (1055-92), who setup Islam’s first astronomicalobservatory at Isfahan, used theservices of famous astronomerand poet Omar Khayyam(1048-1132) to devise a solarcalendar. He established a newera Tarikh-i-Jalali that began onVernal Equinox (coincidingwith Zoroastrian festival NauRoz) on March 21, 1079. TheEra was used in Iran until theIslamic revolution in 1979.

(The writer is an authorand independent researcherbased in New Delhi. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

Another unsavoury episode of calling each other names has erupted between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Thoughthe Prime Minister displayed dignity in not responding directly to Mamata’s dia-

tribe, his aides didn’t let go of the chance to take on the feisty Chief Minister. The issuesnowballed from a recent meeting that Modi had called with the District Magistrates of10 States, including the ones not ruled by the BJP. Soon after the meeting ended, a furi-ous Mamata launched a frontal attack on Modi, alleging that she was not allowed to

speak and that the 24 Pargana’s District Magistratewas given precedence over him. Claiming that she andthe other Chief Ministers attending the meeting feltinsulted, Mamata wondered why they were even invit-ed to the meeting if the Prime Minister wasn’t willingto listen to their problems. While the BJP may have apoint in its claim that Mamata had sought to interruptthe meeting, the fact still remains that “glorified clerks”like the District Magistrates cannot substitute people’selected representatives. While the Government’sappointees derive their power from the official rule-book, the elected representatives are directly reflec-tive of the people’s wishes.

Therefore, the BJP’s argument that the West Bengal Chief Minister had soughtto derail the meeting is weak in that it is based on the assumption that a DM knowsbetter than a Chief Minister. What actually is the point of the State leaders attendingsuch meetings if they are not allowed to broach the relevant matters with the PrimeMinister? At a time when the country is reeling under the second wave of the per-nicious virus and the fears of a third wave unleashing itself on humankind are wellnigh, the Central and the State Governments must stand united in tackling the COVID-19 crisis. Ironically, the meeting had been called to discuss COVID preparedness.As the unitary authority, the Centre is vested with enormous powers; it should exer-cise these with responsibility; it should not rely on these or invoke these to bypasselected State Governments to have its way. What has been called “cooperative fed-eralism” is what is best suited to our vast and diverse county. The object of the exer-cise of this power, in fact all the cumulative power at the command of the authori-ties, should be public service and not personal aggrandisement.

The financial lenders have got relief with the Supreme Court upholding a Governmentnotification for invoking personal guarantees of promoters whose companies havedefaulted on bank loans. The banks can now file for personal bankruptcies against

promoters whose companies are facing debt resolution from the National Company LawTribunal (NCLT). The Government enacted the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in 2016to deal with the inability of banks to get back defaulting loans. Within a few months,over 50 companies ended up with the NCLT and personal guarantees given by the default-ing promoters were sought to be invoked. At that point, several promoters moved theHigh Courts and finally the Supreme Court transferred the cases to itself. In 2019, the

Government amended the Code by bringing in theInsolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (InsolvencyResolution Process for Personal Guarantors toCorporate Debtors) Regulations, 2019. The notifica-tion empowered the lenders to invoke the defaulters’personal guarantees. The apex court clubbed all the70-odd petitions that challenged the “personal guar-antors” clause of the notification. The Supreme Courtnot only upheld the constitutional validity of the noti-fication, it also held that even after a resolution for-mula is worked out for the corporate debtor, the per-sonal guarantor continues to be liable for any bal-ance amount remaining. This ensures that the lia-

bility of the personal guarantor does not end even after a resolution formula is workedout for the corporate debtor and proceedings can be initiated against the promoter andpersonal guarantor and co-guarantors, if any, as well.

The Supreme Court’s decision has now provided teeth to the banks’ recovery process-es. They can pursue both the personal guarantors and the corporate debtors simulta-neously. The banks or other lenders can directly invoke the personal guarantees of thepromoters even as the bankruptcy proceedings against the promoters’ companies goahead. In technical parlance, the promoters who give personal guarantees will have todeal with their insolvency on their own, even by selling their private assets, if they haveto, and will not hamper the insolvency cases against the corporate debtors. The pro-moters will now be made to reach a settlement with the banks in the form of a one-time settlement or a repayment plan and give an undertaking that they will not impedethe resolution process of the corporate debtor. It gives a fillip to the banks’ attempts toclean up the huge amount of bad loans without writing them off as NPAs. The apexcourt dismissed without costs all the petitions by, among others, Anil Ambani of R-Com,Sanjay Singhal of Bhushan Power and Steel, Videocon’s Venugopal Dhoot and KapilWadhawan of Dewan Housing Finance Limited, all of whom have stood personal guar-antees for loans and were then found defaulting. The decision plugs a major loopholein the bankruptcy law and acts as a powerful deterrent against the defaulters.

SC to lenders’ aid

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

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HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 22, 2021

06

Face-offThe bad blood on display during the PM’s recentmeeting with the DMs leaves much to be desired

The strictly lunar character of the Hijri calendar renders it unsuitablefor civil use; the Empires had to depend upon solar calendars

PICTALK

Devotees at a newly built temple, dedicated to ‘Corona Devi’, at Irugar in Coimbatore PTI

PRIYADARSHI DUTTA

The apex court’s ruling gives teeth to the banks’ recovery process against the defaulters

When the calendardoesn’t go full circle

The switchover fromRamadan (or Ramzan),the ninth month of theIslamic Hijri calendar, to

Shawwal on the 29th, abounds inuncertainty and excitement. Thesighting of the lunar crescent(Hilal in Arabic) on the westernhorizon — in a slender time-frame between sunset and moon-rise — would herald the newmonth. The first day of Shawwalis celebrated as Eid-ul-Fitr. Anon-sighting could merelyextend the Ramadan by anoth-er day. On the 30th day, the moonsighting becomes redundant asno Hijri month could be longer.It would automatically lead toShawwal and, therefore, the Eid.This phenomenon of reckoningis not specific to Ramadan andShawwal but applies to all 12 Hijrimonths. However, moon sight-ings keep in news only for thecommencement of Ramadan,Shawwal and Dhu-al-Hijjah fortheir religious significance.

Moon sighting is a big gamein Pakistan. Disproportionateamounts of resources are allocat-ed for it. The Ruet-e-Hilal com-mittee announces the beginningof every Hijri month based onintelligence received from varioussources. The principal source isPakistan’s meteorological depart-ment, which maintains 288observation centres across thenation. They even employtheodolites, a precision instru-ment with movable telescopes.

“The problem of determiningthe day when the new lunar cres-cent can be seen first at any siteof observation has remained anopen problem since antiquity. Thephenomenon remains impor-tant for beginning a lunar monthin a purely observational lunarcalendar,” observes MuhammedShahid Qureshi. Qureshi com-pleted his PhD on the compara-tive study of mathematical mod-els for earliest visibility of the cres-cent moon from the University ofKarachi in 2007.

Why have lunar observationsremained a thorny issue sinceancient times? This is becausethe mean value of the moon’ssynodic revolution around Earthis 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutesand 2.87 seconds. Still, significantvariations are possible on

SOUNDBITETHE MENACE OF MUCORMYCOSIS Sir — As our country unitedly fights the sec-ond wave of the deadly COVID-19 virus,another worry, the black fungus, is creatinghavoc and causing concern. The CentralGovernment has even advised the States todeclare mucormycosis as an epidemic. Thiswould mean that the health facilities will haveto screen for the fungal infection and reportit to the Government.

Mucormycosis or the black fungusinfection is a rare but highly dangerous dis-ease that is now increasing among theCOVID-19 positive patients in India. The dis-ease is caused by one’s exposure to themucormycetes mould and has a high mor-tality rate. It affects the ear, nose, throat andmouth, particularly in people with diabetesissues or whose immunity is compromised.

The use of steroids in COVID-19 treat-ment is being cited as a reason for the increasein its cases. Steroids help in fighting COVID-19 but could lead to higher sugar levels, mak-ing the patients vulnerable to mucormyco-sis. The mucormycosis menace is a new threatand the healthcare centres should spot outthe disease at an early stage and nip it in thebud with the state-of-the-art medicines.

CKR Nathan | Ghaziabad

THE RHYTHM OF RELIGIONSir — As temples in India are intermittent-ly being closed during the pandemic, we allare very eager to visit the places of worshipafter a long gap. The accursed Coronavirushas kept us away from our respective placesof worship and from reaching out to thedivine over the last nearly 14 months.

However, we very keenly wait for thereopening of the religious places so that wecan once again worship God there. As soonas we enter a temple, its bells provide us solaceand the will to worship the Almighty in a sat-isfying way. The sound of the bell has alwaysbeen considered auspicious, which wel-comes divinity and dispels evil.

The sound of a bell is said to disengagethe mind from the ongoing thoughts, thusmaking it more receptive. Ringing a bell dur-ing prayers is said to help control the ever-wandering mind and focus on the deity.

There lies a real and inherent value to thetemple bells that are used during householdpujas during the pandemic.

CK Subramaniam | Chennai

MAHARASHTRA LOCKDOWN MAY BE EASED

Sir — As per reports, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Government may lift thelockdown restrictions gradually owing to adecline in the number of COVID-19 casesin the State. After weeks of continuing strug-gle, the signs of the ebbing of the secondCOVID-19 wave in Maharashtra are appar-ent as the positivity rate and the number ofactive cases have dropped by almost half ina month. Rajesh Tope, the State HealthMinister, has indicated that the lockdownrestrictions, extended till June 1, could beeased to some extent. The lockdown-like

curbs were first imposed in the State on April5. The curbs were further tightened on April15 with Section 144 of the CrPc, banning theassembly of five or more people at one place.

A week later, on April 22, the ChiefMinister announced a complete lockdownto control the deteriorating situation. OnMay 20, the daily positivity rate in the Statewas 10.6 per cent, the lowest in months.It was 9.3 per cent in mid-February, whenthe second wave began, and rose to 29 percent by April 4. With the increase in test-ing, it has been steadily declining since.With this, there is good chance of the lock-down getting lifted.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left him-self open to the charge of bypassing theState Governments by the manner in

which he held virtual meetings with the dis-trict magistrates (DMs) and State officials toreview the COVID-19 situation.

West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) MamataBanerjee has taken great exception to the factthat she and her counterparts were denied achance to speak at the meeting. For the rea-sons best known to him, Modi restricted hisinteraction to a few handpicked collectors fromthe BJP-ruled States.

The BJP’s argument that Mamata tried toderail the meeting is weak in that it is basedon the false assumption that a DM knows bet-ter than a CM. What is the point of the CMsattending such meetings if they are not

allowed to broach the relevant matters with thePM? This is the time for the Central and StateGovernments to be united in tackling theCOVID-19 crisis. Right now, it is of the utmostimportance that all the tiers of administrationwork in unison to achieve the common pur-pose of defeating the Coronavirus.

The realisation that we are all of the samekind — the humankind — rather than claim-ing or establishing superiority must dawn onall, including the tribe of our politicians. Whatis called “cooperative federalism” is what isbest suited to our vast and diverse county. Theobject of the exercise of power should be pub-lic service and not personal aggrandisement.All those who fall in the national power struc-ture — from the panchayat councillor to theChief Ministers to the Prime Minister — areimportant in their own ways and responsibleat their levels of governance, if not all of themin equal measure, and have their individuallysignificant roles to play. The subservience ofone to the other, or an expectation that this ishow it should happen, is antithetical todemocracy. The view of society as an organ-ic whole is worth embracing.

G David Milton | Kanyakumari

Need to work in unison

To protect yourhealth and limit thespread of COVID-19,we’re extendingtravel restrictionsbetween Canada

and the US until June 21.

Canadian Prime Minister— Justin Trudeau

The special taskforce (to deal withthe third COVID-19wave) has beenformed under mychairmanship. It willcontain 15 members.

Goa Chief Minister— Pramod Sawant

Both the mediums(TV and OTT) havetheir share ofchallenges. As actors,our job is to act inany medium.

Actor— Sidharth Shukla

Getting the IPrights waiver forvaccines will notbe enough. Weshould expandCOVID-19 vaccineproduction andend export restrictions.

WTO director-general

—Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Anil Kumble hasgiven me a few

sleepless nights as abatsman. He was not

your orthodox leg-spinner.

Former Sri Lanka captain

— Kumar Sangakkara

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

IT IS SURPRISINGWHY MEDIEVAL

MUSLIMMATHEMATICIANS/

ASTRONOMERSFAILED TO DEVELOP A

LUNAR CALENDARBASED ON

CALCULATION TOSIMPLIFY THINGS.

THEY RATHER WENTIN FOR COMPLICATEDMODELS MERELY TOPREDICT THE CRUDE

PRINCIPLE OF LUNAR SIGHTINGS

Decoding the complexelectoral regionalism

IN 2019, I BEGAN & ENDED MY ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN

PUNJAB SEEKING PUNISHMENT FOR THE 2015 SACRILEGE

ISSUE CULPRITS & THE ONE SHIELDING THEM.

— CRICKETER-TURNED-POLITICIAN

NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU

IT IS AN ORGANISATIONAL ISSUE. WE ARE WATCHING

IT AND WILL TAKE A CALL ON IT (WHEN THE RIGHT

TIME COMES).

— CONGRESS GENERAL SECRETARY

KC VENUGOPAL

The Bharatiya Janata Party's loss of an over-hyped West Bengal election only createdconfusion about the best electoral strategyof its victory machine. While it brought the

hound of 'Sonar Bangla', it failed to run with thehare of Bengali nationalism. Its image of a prosper-ous future 'Bangal' lost to the Bengali intellect-dri-ven, genteel and even maternal nationalism.Thehyped 'Sonar Bangla' and 'asolporiborton' of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi met the firewall ofBengali nationalism. Bengal sidestepped them byreviving a kind of 'Bengal first and Bengali first' nar-rative, instead of BJP's thrust on 'Let's makeBengal great again'. The irony of Bengal's electionresult was so sharp on the BJP that Prime Minister'sallusion to Gopal Krishna Gokhale's dictum,"What Bengal thinks today, India will think tomor-row"got rephrased as "what Bengal thinks in 2021,India will think in 2024". On the flipside, the BJPheld onto its project of a unitary powerful centreagainst Bengal's indivisible Bengali identity.

While the BJP in Bengal did not or rather pre-ferred not to come to terms with Bengali nation-alism and its sensitivities, the case of Assam is justthe opposite. Like Congress of yore, BJP inAssam came to terms with indigenous ethnicnationalism of various communities and tried toarraign them against a common enemy of 'illegalimmigrants'. In the case of Bengal, the BJP'semphasis on changed demography in border areasdue to illegal immigration from Bangladesh cou-pled with Mamata Banerjee's appeasement ofMuslims and neglect of Hindus to become a two-pronged campaign aimed at altering the settledcontours of Bengali nationalism. The BJP want-ed to create a segment of Bengalis buying ideas ofanti-Muslim Hindu nationalism, who would alsobuy into the perception of an incoming corporate-business nexus that BJP's Hindi-Hindu national-ism might facilitate. To counter this mismatch,Mamata just had to allude to Bengal's traditionof social harmony and her robust social securityprogrammes as being the core of her philosophyof governance. In effect, nothing such as appease-ment theory, illegal immigrants, Hindu victimiza-tion, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh models ofVikascould stand upto her play of Bengali nation-alism. A nationalism that includes all with theirdistinctive linguistic and cultural traits broughttogether under Mamata's social security pro-grammes covering women, SCs, STs and minori-ties in areas of employment, education, healthcareand housing. Her campaign drew more resonancethan the BJP's identity-based nationalism.

This contest between regional nationalism andcentrist nationalism in Assam assumes a very dif-ferent shape. Assamese middle class and elite-dri-ven nationalism always constructed an outer limitof Bengalis of East Bengal origin, who are often cat-egorized as Bangladeshis. Based on this perception,the BJP could successfully turn upper rungs ofAssamese society against main opponent Congress'dalliance with All India United DemocraticFront(AIUDF) of Maulana Badruddin Ajmal aspartnering with a party of illegal immigrants. Theincumbent chief minister Himanta Biswa Sharmatermed 'Miyas' or so called illegal immigrants as athreat to AsomiyaVaishnavite culture and toAsomiya identity at large.It created a toxic mixtureof anti-immigrant sentiments with pro-Asomiya

native identity, which can act as themain plank of Assamese ethno-nationalism. It is here that Hindutvanationalism gelled with Assamesenationalism to present itself as anopen ally of the latter. This strategyof not pursuing a Centrist Hindunationalism in Assam, in contrast toBJP's Bengal strategy, gave it thebiggest electoral benefit. It stoppedtheCongress-led alliance in establishinga larger alliance with Assamesenationalist political outfits like theAssam Jatiyo Parishad(AJP) led byerstwhile student leader LurinjyotiGogoi and also with Raijor Dol (RD)led by Akhil Gogoi. Anti-BJP votessuffered a split between Congress andthese regionalist outfitsin crucialseats of upper Assam. This successstory scripted singlehandedly byBJP's new Chief Minister of AssamHimanta Biswa Sharma has catapult-ed Assamese regional nationalism asan indispensibleally of BJP's centristHindutva nationalism.

In Bengal, Hindutva national-ism's projection of Hindi as its lingomet its toughest political resistancein Bengali linguistic nationalism thatabhorred undue dominance byHindi in the state. This emerged asthe most important strand of cultur-al resistance that could makeMamata label BJP campaigners as'outsiders'. In electoral terms, thisresistance left Bengal's native Hindispeakers in a dilemma, as their voteslosttheir counterweight to Bengalivoters. Further, BJP's projection ofMuslims as illegal immigrants andas tormentors of Bengali Hindus inthe partition days and later in EastBengal stirred the dormant Bengaliimagination of a unified Bengalinational identity that already rosemuch above such narratives of vio-

lence and division of countries. BJP'smouthing of Bengal-turning-into-Bangladesh internally rewired thehistoric bond between Bengal andBangladesh. Prime Minister Modi'svisit to Bangladesh to offer prayersatOrakandi temple of the Guru ofMotuacommunity only substantiat-ed existence of suchan umbilicalemotional bond. In effect, the PrimeMinister stirred that strand ofBengali nationalist sentiment whichrises above territorial and politicaldivisions and finds its 'roots' in larg-er history, for example, in theepisode when Jogen Mandal, theDalit Bengali leader ceded Dalitsfrom upper caste dominated'bhadralok' Bengali society.Mamata's outsider jibe at suchpolitically pregnant acts ofBJP'scampaign to win over Bengal'sDalits pointed out exclusivismplayed by outsiders within Bengalilinguistic and cultural identity.BJP's attemptedexclusivism create-da furore when the image of KaziNazrul Islam, the quintessentialrebel Bengali bard and musician,was removed from campaign stageof the Prime Minister even as he wasdelivering a campaign speech bare-ly a kilometer away from poetNazrul's birthplace. Bengali firewallagainst exclusivism and outsiderstrying to take over Bengal onlygotvindicated when Central forcesfired at Sitalkuchi, leaving fourBengali Muslims dead.

BJP's electoral play of religiouscard only stifled its headway into thestate. By pitching NRC and CAA,the BJP created an impressionamong Bengalis that it wants to playwith their 'citizenship'. BJPfuelledanti-CAA sentiments inAssam were muchrestrained this

time. It could just wade throughbecause the opposition lacked unityin Assam. In Bengal, the BJP want-ed to gain advantage by division ofminority votes after a prominentMuslim cleric floated the IndianSecular Front(ISF). Alreadyincensed by politics of polarization,the ordinary Bengali voter couldrealize the danger of division ofminority votes by Left-Congress-ISFcombine.The fear of common manin Bengal precipitated further as theLeft alliance inched towards a pol-icy of 'enemy's enemy is my friend'in relation to TMC and BJP. As aresult, Left-Congress-IndianSecularFront might have increasedits vote share to nearly 10 per cent,but it won just one seat in Muslimmajority constituencies. The Leftand the Congress drew a totalblank. The common Bengali voterswere made aware of the fact thatBJP's plank of conducting NRC inAssam has got a large number ofBengali Hindus excluded fromit.Hence, It will now be a difficultproposition for Assam's HimantaBiswa Sharma to maintain a balancebetween BJP's core Bengali Hinduvoters and Assamese nationalistswho aim to turn away HinduBangladeshis from Assam. The thinelectoral marriage between BJP'scentrist Hindutva nationalism andAssamese nationalism can breakanytime because of BJP's mis-matched game of NRC and CAA.

Theelection results showed theelectoral efficacy of regional nation-alism. Whether BJP can make itselfa part of this regionalism, or anewalignment of regional partiesshall emerge as a winning combina-tion is a matter to be keenly watchednow.

The West Bengal Assembly election results have left several political pundits,including those within the BJP itself, scratching their heads in wonder

UTTAM GUPTA

THE BJP WANTEDTO CREATE ASEGMENT OF

BENGALIS BUYINGTHE IDEA OF

ANTI-MUSLIMHINDU

NATIONALISM, WHOWOULD ALSO BUY

INTO THEPERCEPTION OF

AN INCOMINGCORPORATE-

BUSINESS NEXUSTHAT THE BJP'S

HINDI-HINDUNATIONALISM

MIGHT FACILITATE.TO COUNTER THIS

MISMATCH,MAMATA JUST HAD

TO ALLUDE TOBENGAL'S

TRADITION OFSOCIAL HARMONYAND HER ROBUSTSOCIAL SECURITY

PROGRAMMES

One of my close friends called up a few days back to dis-cuss renovation of his Amidst exponential increase indemand for vaccination, Indian policy makers are looking

for all possible options to ramp up supplies. A major hindrancein the way is the intellectual property rights (IPRs) associatedwith new drugs which are mostly discovered and developed bymultinational pharmaceutical companies. For instance, Covishieldwas discovered and developed by Astra-Zeneca in collaborationwith Oxford University; a license for its manufacture has beengiven to Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).

The most crucial of these rights relates to patent. The patentgranted to an innovator company for a new drug gives a peri-od of 'market exclusivity' during which no other firm can man-ufacture and sell the said drug unless it has prior consent of the

patent holder. For Covishield, only SII has the license to pro-duce and royalty is also pretty high. There are three waysto over-come these barriers. First,a compulsory license (CL) — a flex-ibility available to developing countries under the TRIPs agree-ment — authorizes a generic firm to manufacture and marketa patented product without prior consent of the patent holder.A CL under Indian Patent (Amendment) Act, 2005 can be issuedfor “private commercial use" if the patent holder has not takensteps to make the product available in "sufficient" quantities orprice charged is "unaffordable.” Thegovernment can also issuethe CL citing circumstances of "national emergency or for pub-lic non-commercial use." But, this by itselfdoes not assure thatthey will be able to produce. Unlike generic medicine, vaccineis an organic entity and making it is a different ball game alto-gether. Even an easy protein (AstraZeneca vaccineis much morecomplex containing a bio-engineered adenovirus that express-es the Sars-Cov-2's spike protein) is far more advanced and com-plex than a drug like, say, paracetamol.

As for the power of copying the product or the method, thegeneric manufacturer can't get a clue merely by studying a patentas it does not divulge the specifics. By issuing CL, the govern-ment may cross the patent barrier but for access to know-how,the generic manufacturer will still have to go to the innovator. Addto this, the problem of sourcing raw materials and other com-ponents needed for making the vaccine. We have already seenhow in case of Covishield, in the initial stage, the production washamstrung due to issues in importing raw material. This is whenthe SII has a license from AstraZeneca. What would happen ifwe go into confrontation mode - inevitable when CL is issued?

A second option is to seek temporary waiver of TRIPS pro-visions to deal with public health emergencies. India along withSouth Africa had submitted a proposal in October, 2020 and hasalready received support of majority of members including USA.If approved, this will give global legitimacy to several companiesfor producing the vaccine without having to seek nod of the inno-vator. But, the big question for now is whether the proposal willbe cleared at all. A third option is 'voluntary license' (VL), an autho-rization given by the patent holder to a generic company allow-ing it to produce the patented drug. The license sets quality require-ments and defines the markets in which the licensee can sell theproduct. In the present crisis situation VL offers the best bettheIndian company need not worry about technical knowhow andraw materials.

(The writer is a policy analyst. The views expressed arepersonal.)

Iwent to my village inMeerut district of UttarPradesh during Holi

( March 2021) and found thatno one was wearing a mask oradopting prescribed COVID-appropriate norms. I was toldthat villagers had naturalimmunity due to their hardworking lifestyle inthe fields,ahealthy environment andsimple eating habits. Theyfirmly believed that Covidwas mainly restricted to theurban areas.Even the admin-istration implicitly acceptedthisand no efforts were madeto educate or improve healthinfrastructure in rural areas.

However, the secondwave of COVID has beendevastating. Everyone iscaught unawares. Even nowthe perception is that thevillagers will be all right ifthey get infected becausetheir life style will protectthem. There is still resis-

tance in rural India for get-ting vaccination which isnow identified as one of thebest ways for dealing withcovid and as a long-term, sus-tainable solution.The chal-lenges for addressing thepandemic in rural Indianeeds a different approach.

Advocacy about follow-ing the prescribed norms ,dealing with misconception,and convincing for vaccina-tion for all eligible personneed to be factored in anyapproach designed for deal-ing with covid pandemic forRural India . Utilisation ofASHA (Accredited socialhealth activist ), Anganwariworkers, Auxiliary NursingMidwives, Self Help Groupsand Panchayat functionariesare important for a sustainedcampaign to create awarenessand influence villagers forvaccination. Local level'Covid prevention champions'

need to be designatedin everypanchayatto motivate andeducate the community.Vaccination camps in vil-lageswill help in makingaccess easy and affordable.Fully vaccinated Panchayatscan be rewarded, same fordistricts too, to encouragecompetition.

The government can alsoutilise the Common ServiceCentres across the country for

this rural initiative. There areCSCs in almost all the 2.54lakh Panchayats in the coun-try. The village-level entrepre-neurs who operate the CSCscan help in registration of vil-lagers for vaccination. Theycan also be effectivelocallevel influencers as they arealready involved in mobilisingthe community for variousgovernment schemes andprograms. More than 70,000

CSCs are operated and man-aged by women and theircredibility within the commu-nity is higher. Most CSCs arenow extending banking ser-vices to rural population dur-ing the pandemic, specially-farmers who get the PMKisan Samman Nidhi fund,Jan Dhan Account holders,Ujjwala beneficiaries and pen-sioners under various govtschemes. They even visithomes to extend the bankingservices for the old, infirmand sick. With such a largecustomer base and local influ-ence. CSEs withan appropri-ate incentive can play a sig-nificant role in extendingsupport to government fordealing with the COVID pan-demic in rural areas.

CSC telemedicine serviceis also very popular in ruralIndia. It helps connect a per-son to through video linkwith doctors of allopathy,

ayurveda and homoeopathymedicine. Medicine too isdispensed online through theCSCs. Citizen consultationwith doctors during the pan-demic through CSC can ben-efit a large section of therural population, particular-ly in cases of people with mildinfection.

CSC has also providedmobile vans to 29 district-level Virtual LearningEnvironment (VLE) societies.They have computers andconnectivity and are used forcreating awareness, vaccineregistration and teleconsulta-tion. In some places with thesupport of the district admin-istration, CSC vans are alsobeing used for antigen tests.Surveys, testing and onlinedata entry work can be effec-tively taken up as well. Withthe CSCs conductingthe sev-enth economic census digital-ly (more than 40 cr house-

holds surveyed),each villagenow has a trained person forwhose services can be utilisedfor epidemiological studiesonvirus behaviour patterns atthe local level. As thesereports will be availableonline and instantly, anystrange patterns can be imme-diately noticed and diag-nosed.

The villagers can also usethe CSC Grameen e-stores -the hyper local e-commerceplatform was launched lastyear - to place orders foressential items online withouthaving to go out to shop. TheCSCs are in an advancedstage of enabling delivery ofmedicine to villagers and sup-portive roles in conductingdiagnostic tests. Rural India iscomplex and has uniquebehaviour norms and, there-fore, needs an innovativeapproach to deal with theCOVID pandemic.

Most habitants of the hinterland believe that COVID is restricted to the urban areas; they are immune to it owing to a healthy lifestyle

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 22, 2021

07

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FIRSTCOLUMN

PATENT WAIVERALONE WON'T HELP

There are three ways to overcome theissues facing us in our anti-COVID fight

PRASENJIT BISWAS

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The author is aphilosopher and an

independent politicalanalyst based in

Shillong. The viewsexpressed are personal.

Rural India needs new approach to tackle the pandemic

DINESH KUMAR TYAGI

(The author is ManagingDirector, Common Service

Centre (CSC) e- Governance. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 22, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Electric two-wheeler makerNexzu Mobility on Fridaysaid it has launched a

cargo version of its long-rangee-bicycle model Roadlark withprice starting at Rs 42,000.The 'Roadlark Cargo' comeswith a payload capacity of upto 50 kgs and is capable ofrunning at a speed of up to 25km/hr. It has been designed for meeting the bulk last-mile deliveryneeds of e-commerce businesses across India, the company said ina statement. The target customers include restaurants, cloudkitchens, supermarkets, retail outlets, industrial parks, essentialservice suppliers, service & maintenance companies, and garages,among others, it added."Roadlark Cargo is built with superiorstrength steel, which gives durable rides on difficult roads. Equippedwith high safety features such as dual disc brakes, it also comeswith advanced features of IoT-connectivity, designed and developedby Nexzu," Nexzu Mobility COO Rahul Shonak said.

Diversified group GreavesCotton on Friday said it hasseen an exponential growth

in its non-automotive business,with revenue from the segmentjumping 76 per cent in the fourthquarter of last fiscal despite thepandemic. The growth is a resultof the group's diversificationstrategy to venture into newer andless explored non-automotive business segments, which haveemerged as the key growth driver for the company, Greaves Cottonsaid in a release. The company's non-automotive business includesnon-auto small engine, industrial engines, smart gensets as well aslight equipment such as pumpset, light-agri and constructionequipment, and industrial equipment. The company accelerated thenon-automotive business and has seen impressive growth year-on-year. As per the Q4-FY21 results, the non-auto small enginebusiness grew by 32 per cent and genset business by 49 per centover the year-ago period, the release said.

Greaves Cotton recordsgrowth in non-auto biz

MG Motor India on Fridaylaunched a platform forfree online medical

consultation with doctors for itscustomers as part of its COVID-19 relief initiatives. Through MGHealthline, MG customers canavail of free consultation withhighly qualified doctors forthemselves or their family members, the company said in a statement.To avail of the 24x7 service, customers have to register themselves onthe carmaker's website or through the MY MG APP, it added. MGMotor India Chief Commercial Officer and Senior Vice PresidentGaurav Gupta said, "This initiative under our overall community serviceumbrella MG Sewa is to support and provide a helping hand to ourcustomers in these challenging times." The services are beingprovided in partnership with the 'Doctor 24*7 platform'. The medicalteam of experts will also follow up with MG customers within 72hours of the first consultation, the statement added.

MG Motor launches free onlinemedical consultation

India's natural gas productionjumped 22.7 per cent in Aprilafter Reliance Industries Ltd

and its partner BP Plc rampedup output from their easternoffshore KG-D6 block,government data released onFriday showed. India produced2.65 billion cubic meters ofnatural gas in April, up from2.16 bcm in the same month last year, as per the data released bythe Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. While state-owned Oiland Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) production was flat at 1.72bcm, output from fields operated by the private sector and jointventures tripled to 710.86 million standard cubic meters. The bulkof this came from 409.12 mmcm output from eastern offshorefields.The data did not give individual field productions.Reliance-BP,which in December last year started putting the second wave of gasdiscoveries in KG-D6 block to production, last month started outputfrom the Satellite Cluster fields.

India's gas output rises 23 pcas RIL-BP start production

Nexzu Mobility launchescargo version of e-bicycle

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensex sky-rocketed 976 points on Friday,led by gains in index heavy-weights HDFC twins, ICICIBank and SBI as steady earn-ings reported by key financialstocks lifted investor senti-ment.

The 30-share BSE indexended 975.62 points or 1.97per cent higher at 50,540.48,and the broader NSE Niftysoared 269.25 points or 1.81per cent to 15,175.30.

HDFC Bank was the topgainer in the Sensex pack, ral-lying over 4 per cent, followedby SBI which zoomed after thelender posted robust quarter-ly earnings.

The country's largest lenderreported an 80 per cent surgein standalone net profit at Rs6.450.75 crore for the fourthquarter ended March 2021,aided by decline in bad loans.

IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank,Axis Bank and HDFC werealso among the gainers.

On the other hand,PowerGrid and Dr Reddy'swere the laggards.

Binod Modi Head-Strategyat Reliance Securities, saiddomestic equities recoveredsharply mainly led by strongrebound in financials.

"Steady earnings reportedby BFSIs including SBI andemerging clarity about assetquality in the backdrop ofreceding daily caseload in sec-ond wave aided financials torebound. Barring pharma,buying momentum was seenacross all sectors," he said.

Further, assumption of sec-ond wave of COVID-19 topeak by the end of May or midof June holds true and adverseimpact of second wave shouldnot be felt beyond Q1 FY22, henoted, adding that a visibledecline in daily caseload hasoffered comfort to investors.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Shanghai and Seoul endedon a negative note, whileTokyo and Hong Kong closedwith gains.

Sensex zooms 976 points asfinancial stocks pump market

PNS n MUMBAI

The Reserve Bank on Fridayapproved the transfer of Rs99,122 crore as surplus to thecentral government for theaccounting period of ninemonths ended March 31.

The decision to transfer thesurplus to the central govern-ment was taken at the meetingof the Central Board ofDirectors of RBI. The meetingwas held through video confer-encing.

The RBI Board, according toa release, also reviewed thecurrent economic situation,global and domestic challengesand recent policy measurestaken by the Reserve Bank tomitigate the adverse impact ofthe second wave of COVID-19on the economy.

With the change in theReserve Bank's accountingyear to April-March (earlierJuly-June), the Board discussedthe working of the RBI duringthe transition period of ninemonths (July 2020-March2021).

During the meeting, the

board, headed by GovernorShaktikanta Das, "approvedthe Annual Report andaccounts of the Reserve Bankfor the transition period.

"The Board also approvedthe transfer of Rs 99,122 croreas surplus to the central gov-ernment for the accountingperiod of nine months endedMarch 31, 2021 (July 2020-March 2021), while deciding tomaintain the Contingency RiskBuffer at 5.50 per cent."

Deputy governors MaheshKumar Jain, Michael

Debabrata Patra, M RajeshwarRao, T Rabi Sankar attendedthe meeting.

Other directors of theCentral Board, NChandrasekaran, Satish KMarathe, S Gurumurthy,Revathy Iyer and SachinChaturvedi also attended themeeting.

Debasish Panda Secretary,Department of FinancialServices and Ajay Seth,Secretary, Department ofEconomic Affairs too attend-ed the meeting.

RBI Board approves transfer of Rs 99,122 cr as surplus to Govt

PNS n NEW DELHI

Megha Engineering andInfrastructures Ltd (MEIL)has begun round-the-clockproduction of oxygen at itsplant in Telangana to meet theshortage of the life-saving gasamid the second wave of theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The company has supplied2.2 crore litres of oxygen free-of-cost to over 17 governmentand private hospitals inTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,Hyderabad, and Odisha.

MEIL has started its 24-hourproduction plant (inTelangana) at 100 per centcapacity to accommodate theshortage of oxygen in thesouthern states, a companystatement said.

The company has alreadysupplied 21,460 MT (metrictonnes) of oxygen which isequivalent to 2.2 crore litresfree of cost and is continuing

to supply to over 17 govern-ment and private hospitals inTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,Hyderabad, and Odisha, itadded.

Covid crisis: MEIL begins24/7 oxygen production

PNS n WASHINGTON

Microsoft has said that it isretiring its long-standingbrowser Internet Explorer onJune 15 next year after servingthe netizens for over 25 years.

The veteran web browserwas released with Windows 95,the tech giant said in a blogpost on Wednesday.

“The Internet Explorer 11desktop application will beretired and go out of supporton June 15, 2022, for certainversions of Windows 10.” SeanLyndersay, a Microsoft Edgeprogramme manager saidwhile commenting on the deci-sion.

"The future of InternetExplorer on Windows 10 is inMicrosoft Edge. Not only isMicrosoft Edge a faster, moresecure and more modern

browsing experience thanInternet Explorer, but it isalso able to address a key con-cern: compatibility for older,legacy websites and applica-

tions. "Microsoft Edge has Internet

Explorer mode (“IE mode”)built in, so you can accessthose legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and applica-tions straight from MicrosoftEdge," Lyndersay said.

Internet Explorer mode inMicrosoft Edge will be sup-ported through at least 2029,the blog post said.

Internet Explorer debuted in1995 as part of Windows 95and became an instant hit. Itsuccessfully killed off NetscapeNavigator, and it achieved avirtual monopoly in the early2000s. At its 2002 peak,Internet Explorer commanded

95 per cent of the browsermarket, CNN reported.

Once the most-used webbrowser, Internet Explorer hadbeen on a steady downwardtrajectory for nearly twodecades. Its share of the brows-er market fell below the 50 percent threshold in 2010 andnow sits at about 5 per cent,the report said. Google'sChrome is the browser leader,commanding a 69 per centshare of the market.

The tech giant has beenphasing out the old browser forseveral years - but in 2019 ithad to issue an emergencypatch for it, for security rea-sons, the BBC reported.

Internet Explorer to retire on June 15, 2022: Microsoft

PNS n NEW DELHI

Hyundai Motor India onFriday said it has created arelief task force to supportcustomers affected by theCyclone Tauktae in Gujarat,Goa, parts of Maharashtraand Rajasthan.

To ensure uninterruptedmobility, the company saidit is extending emergencyroadside assistance serviceto support the customersfor hassle-free and peace ofmind experience.

"As a responsible andcaring brand, Hyundaiaims to provide the best ofservice assistance to cus-tomers even during stren-uous t imes . CycloneTauktae has once againtested the resiliency ofIndian people.

Hyundai taskforce to supportcyclone-hitcustomers

PNS n WASHINGTON

The US Treasury Departmentsaid Thursday that it supportsa global minimum corporatetax rate of at least 15 per cent— below the 21 per cent min-imum it has been seeking toimpose on the foreign prof-its of US-based companies.

The offer comes as theOrganisation for EconomicCooperation andDevelopment and the Groupof 20 major economies seekan agreement on a mini-mum corporate tax rate.

It is part of an effort toend what Treasury calls “arace to the bottom'' as coun-tries compete with eachother to cut corporate taxrates and lure multination-al companies.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Hindalco Industries, theAditya Birla Group metalsflagship company, on Fridayreported nearly three-fold risein its consolidated profit-after-tax (PAT) at Rs 1,928 crore forthe quarter to March 2021,mainly on account of highervolumes and lower input costs.

The company had posted aconsolidated PAT of Rs 668crore in the year-ago period,Hindalco India said in a filingto the BSE.

Its consolidated revenuefrom operations in theJanuary-March 2021 periodincreased to Rs 40,507 crore,over Rs 29,318 crore in theyear-ago period.

In a statement, HindalcoIndustries said that the "com-

pany reported its best quarter-ly performance with consoli-dated PAT up 189 per cent atRs 1,928 crore, a nearly three-fold increase YoY".

The results were driven bya strong performance byNovelis and India AluminiumBusiness, supported by high-er volumes and better productmix, lower input costs, stabil-ity in operations and cost sav-ing actions, it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Drug firm Morepen Laborat-ories on Friday said its share-holders have approved to raiseRs 433 crore through the allot-ment of shares.

The company's shareholdersin an Extra-Ordinary GeneralMeeting (EGM) of the compa-ny on May 20, approved the issueand allotment of 58.50 millionshares for cash to Switzerland-based Corinth InvestmentHoldings AG at Rs 41.60 pershare aggregating to Rs 243.36crore, Morepen Laboratoriessaid in a regulatory filing.

The shareholders alsoapproved the allotment of 50 mil-lion fully-convertible warrants toa promoter group company,Liquid Holdings, at Rs 38 perwarrant/share aggregating up toRs 190 crore for cash to be con-verted into equity within 18months, within the limits pre-scribed in SEBI (SAST) regula-tions, it added.

"The investment by Corinthfurther bolsters our position as amarket leader in Indian health-care, it also endorses ourapproach in the self-diagnostictools category along with the scaleand potential of the API market.

PNS n NEW DELHI

South Indian Bank (SIB) onFriday reported a net profit of Rs6.79 crore in last quarter of thefinancial year ended March2021.

The private sector lender hadposted a net loss of Rs 143.69crore in the same period of thepreceding fiscal year. On asequential basis also, the bankhad reported a net loss of Rs 91.62crore in the third quarter endedDecember 2020. Its total incomeduring January-March 2021 fell10.4 per cent to Rs 2,098.25 croreas against Rs 2,341.88 crore in theyear-ago period, SIB said in a reg-ulatory filing.

The bank's asset qualityshowed worsening with thegross non-performing assets(NPAs) spiking to 6.97 per cent

of the gross advances as ofMarch 31, 2021, against 4.98 percent by the end of March 2020.In value terms, the gross NPAswere worth Rs 4,143.24 crore,higher than Rs 3,261.77 crore ayear ago.

Net NPAs or bad loans alsomoved up at 4.71 per cent (Rs2,734.52 crore), from 3.34 percent (Rs 2,150.78 crore).

However, provisions for badloans and contingenices in lastquarter of 2020-21 were broughtdown to Rs 412.29 crore, againstRs 723.80 crore put aside for theyear-ago period.

PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned power producerSJVN Ltd on Friday said it hasbagged a 75 megawatt (MW)grid-connected solar project inJalaun, Uttar Pradesh.

The power generated fromthe project will be procured byUttar Pradesh New andRenewal DevelopmentAgency (UPNEDA) for 25years at a quoted tariff of Rs2.68/KWh, SJVN said in astatement.

SJVN said it has received aletter of intent (LoI) for a 75MW grid-connected solarpower project at Parasan inJalaun district of Uttar Pradeshthrough tariff-based compet-itive bidding by UPNEDA.

PNS n MUMBAI

Italian premium scooter makerPiaggio on Friday said it willextend service and warrantyperiod for its Vespa and Apriliabrand of scooters till July 31 dueto the lockdown and similarrestrictions in several states todeal with the pandemic.

Considering the current trav-el restrictions imposed in many

states of India to prevent thespread of the virus, customerswould be unable to avail the ben-efits of warranty or get their vehi-cles serviced, Piaggio Vehicles PvtLtd (PVPL) said in a statement.

In view of this, Piaggio willprovide its customers with anextension of warranty and freeservice period for a span of one-month or maximum up to July31, the company said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Petrol price on Friday inched clos-er to the Rs 100-a-litre mark inMumbai while diesel crossed theRs 91 mark after oil companiesraised rates again.

Petrol price was increased by 19paise per litre and diesel by 29 paisea litre, according to a price notifica-tion by state-owned fuel retailers.

The hike -- 11th this month -- pushed petrol and diesel pricesto all-time high levels across thecountry. In Delhi, petrol ratesclimbed to Rs 93.04 a litre anddiesel rose to Rs 83.80. Rates hadalready crossed the Rs 100-markin several cities in Rajasthan, MPand Maharashtra and with the lat-est increase, the price in Mumbaitoo was inching towards that

level. A litre of petrol in Mumbainow comes for Rs 99.32 and dieselis priced at Rs 91.01 per litre.

Fuel prices differ from state tostate depending on the incidenceof local taxes such as VAT andfreight charges. Rajasthan leviesthe highest value-added tax (VAT)on petrol in the country, followedby Madhya Pradesh andMaharashtra.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Drug major Sun Pharma isrecalling 50,868 bottles ofdiabetes drug MetforminHCl extended-releasetablets in the US market,according to the US Foodand Drug Administration(USFDA).

The US-based arm of thedrug firm is recalling theaffected lot of 500 mg tablets(in 500 count bottles) due to"presence of foreign sub-stance identified as activat-ed carbon", as per the latestEnforcement Report issuedby the US health regulator.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Singapore's CapitaLand'sphilanthropic arm has com-mitted Rs 15.7 crore for pro-viding healthcare supportacross various states in Indiato fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The donation will be usedto procure more than 1,200emergency medical suppliessuch as intensive care unit(ICU) beds, oxygen concen-trators, pulse oximeters, ven-tilators, personal protectionequipment (PPE), and surgi-cal face masks.

A COVID Care Centre atCapitaLand's InternationalTech Park will also be set up.

"CapitaLand HopeFoundation is committingabout Rs 157 million to pro-vide India with immediatemedical and healthcare sup-port as the country fightsagainst the second wave ofCOVID-19," the companysaid in a statement.

CapitaLand said it willalso support the installationand maintenance of a 60-metric tonne oxygen-gener-at ing plant at StanleyGovernment Hospital inChennai.

"Till date, CapitaLand hascommitted about Rs 179 mil-lion in support of COVID-19relief efforts in India," thestatement said.

US to impose15% tax oncorporate profits

Hindalco IndustriesQ4 profit zooms

South Indian Bank posts netprofit of Rs 7 cr for Mar quarter

SJVN wins 75MW solarproject in UP

Morepen getsshareholder nodto raise Rs433 cr

Piaggio to extend service, warrantyfor Vespa, Aprilia brands till July 31

Sun Pharmarecallsdiabetes drugin US

Covid-relief: CLH todonate Rs 15.7 cr

Petrol inches towards Rs 100 per litre mark in Mumbai

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SaturdayMay 22, 2021

n 8-year old fromHyderabad is liv-ing and thriving inthe city by choiceand not chance!Saurav Devulapalli

brought about a drasticchange in his life, leaving allexcuses behind and emergingas the National Prodigy,2021. He’s excelling, listeningto his inner voice and notjumbling on the opinions ofanyone else — he competedwith 27,000 kids from twentyIndian states to emerge asone of the 17 NationalChampions from across Indiaat the largest online abacuscompetition.

This is the way to inspire

people! This is how he’s let-ting the children ofHyderabad also grow intotheir best version of them-selves. Understanding whatinspires us is the key tolearning how to inspire oth-ers. “My parents told me thatif I perform well in the SIPProdigy 2021, we could

throw Covid out of our cityand we could go back toschool and play with myfriends. So I practiced a lot tosend Corona into the forest,”says the innocent little boySaurav! This reflected thediverse moods and how evenkids are frustrated withCovid because they have to

stay away from school forsuch a long time. “At a timewhen the whole country isreeling under the dangeroussecond wave, we need to bepositive in our thoughts andCovid negative. We are happyabout Saurav’s performance!Though our child is confinedto online learning fromhome, his spirits are alwayshigh. We encourage him toexperiment or try out newsubjects constantly,” saidSaurav’s father Sai Kumar,who works as a lead securityconsultant and motherSridevi, a computer teacherby profession!

Some people have moremental power than theyknow what to do with anextraordinary ability doesn’talways show up where you’dexpect. Like the world’sfastest human calculator,Bhanu Prakash, for whomthe BBC said thatNeelakantha Bhanu Prakashis to Maths what Usain Boltis to running! He was thechief guest at the announce-ment program. “If you lovesomething you can achieveanything. Participating in anonline competition in thesedifficult times is very appre-ciable. Especially where chil-dren are staying away fromclassrooms might be leadingto feeling depressed. Coviddid this to kids, it is not so

kind to their minds. Butcompetitions like these keepchildren engaged and occu-pied constructively,” recol-lects the child’s father aboutwhat Bhanu Prakash said atthe online event.

“The competition wastough where the kids had tosolve 200 mathematical sumsin just eleven minutes. Theyhad to work faster than thecalculator! Those who solvedthe maximum correct sumsbecame the champions. It has17 levels and so we have 17Champions. 200 million kidsin India are very badly affect-ed! But, quite a large numberof kids undeterred by thestress, fear, isolation, depres-sion, hopelessness, anduncertainty are quick enoughto adapt and embrace tech-nology, study well fromhome, have been provingtheir mettle and now theyalso started excelling. Andthese winners are the testi-mony for their positive spir-its,” explained Dinesh Victor,MD of SIP Academy. Theacademy which runs world-class skill development pro-grams has been making a sig-nificant impact on the mentalpotential of children! It isalso widely known for creat-ing child prodigies withrazor-sharp intellect whileholding five Limca Book ofRecords.

HYDERABAD'SFLAG FLYING HIGHCity's 8-year-old boy in his4th grade,SauravDevulapalli,emergedNationalChampion (oneof the 17), aftercompeting with27,000 kidsfrom acrossIndia at thejust-concludedIndia’s largestOnline AbacusCompetitionNationalProdigy 2021.He talks toThe Pioneer'sSHIKHADUGGALabout his feat,being aHyderabadiachieving that,and more.

A

hile the firstcase of thenovelCoronavirusin India wasdetected on

January 27, 2020, it didnot affect the commoncitizens until the end ofMarch, when a three-week nationwide lock-down was announced.And then there weredrastic changes in ourlives, the way we knew it.Exams were indefinitelypostponed. The academiccalendar has been in adisarray since last year.For many students,online classes were a lux-ury because they did nothave access to devices ora data connection.Offices encouragedemployees to work fromhome, some of them evenproviding the equipmentneeded to facilitate such achange. Domestic helpswere out of a job formonths on end. Butthings gradually slippedinto a routine. Families,which stayed apart for ahuge portion of the day,have since gotten usedto being aroundeach other forextended peri-ods. The maidsare back atwork.Children havesettled intoonline classeseven thoughthey mightnot be com-pletely happywith them.

If we say thingshave changed inthese 14 months, itwould be an understate-ment. Besides observableevents, other incidentshave been happening inthe background whichare just as noteworthy, ifnot more. While, on thesurface, children andadults have got used tobeing away from theirpeers and colleagues,there are other issueschipping away at theirmental health. Accordingto psychiatrist andFounder and Director ofThe Happy Tree, De-addiction, and MentalHealth Hospital, Dr.Anuneet Sabharwal, “Itcan be easily observedthat lack of structure androutine is causing signifi-cant stress among chil-dren. College studentsand school-going chil-dren are experiencingincreased levels of anxi-ety because they of notbeing able to meet theirfriends and attend classesphysically. Similarly,working from home(WFH) has created manymental health challengesfor the working class as ithas been observed thatthe eponymous modelhas led to greater emo-tional exhaustion andcognitive distress. Thelack of physical connec-tion and social supportthat one requires fromone's colleagues is lead-ing to more stress. Settingboundaries happen to bean integral part of theWFH model, the lack ofwhich results in an

increasing urge to workfor longer periods leadingto rising levels of stressand anxiety impactingthe long term productivi-ty of the employees.”

However, clinical psy-chologist, author, andHarvard alumni, Dr.Rajat Mitra, approaches itfrom a different perspec-tive and believes that ithas its share of positivesas well. He shared thatone prominent benefitwhich cannot be deniedhappens to revolvearound families, whichwould spend most of theday away from eachother. “While parents arestill engrossed with work,they now have a chanceto observe their childrenthe entire day, whereasearlier, they would be tootired to interact withthem after getting homefrom work on weekdays.The lockdown has pre-sented working parentswith the opportunity toconnect and engage withtheir children. Many par-

entswho consult me rue thefact that their childrendon’t experience child-hood the way they did.While that is unavoidablein these times, I recom-mend they have a conver-sation with their kids andtake a break from thedigital world. Simpleactivities such as beinginvolved in indoor games— carrom or ludo — go along way in dissipatingwhile encouraging unfil-tered interaction,” hesaid.

Dr. Mitra also feels thatthere is a good possibilitywe have developed somenew neural circuits sincewe have to adapt to theneeds of these times. “Ican’t remember the lasttime I met my students ina classroom. Ever sincethe world has been madedigital, I have realisedthat I have subconscious-ly learnt to recognise mystudents based on theirrespective voices. Evenwhen I step out, justabout everyone has amask on and my psychehas been forced to adjust.While earlier one’s facewas their most dominantidentifier, I now recog-nise people by theirvoice,” Dr. Mitra said.

Moreover, sitting athome in these dystopiantimes is underlined byconfusion and disorderdue to information over-load. Simply put, infor-

mation overload (alsoknown as infobesity,infoxication, informationanxiety, and informationexplosion) is the difficul-ty in understanding anissue and effectively mak-ing decisions when onehas too much informa-tion about that issue. Anauthor and clinical psy-chologist, Pulkit Sharma,said, “A lot of informa-tion is easily accessible inthese digital times. Mostof it related to the pan-demic might be true, buttrust me, a lot of fakenews is being circulated.Is it all relevant? Ofcourse not. While thisdigital age has its boons,having access to unlimit-ed information is turningout to be a major disad-vantage. This has led to agrowing sense of fatigueand pessimism amongthe masses. There is noneed to drown yourself inthe news or social mediawhich will only lead youto worry and panic.Reports have determinedthat of all those who wereafflicted with Covid-19,

98 per cent survived.Yes, the reality is that

the pandemic has amortality rate of

just two percent but we areblowing thingsout of propor-tion. In thesetimes, Ibelieve, ourfocus shouldbe on ourselves

and how we canmake this gift of

life meaningful,”he added.Both psychologists

agreed on the fact that itultimately comes down tohow one perceives things.“For a long time, every-one in the urban junglefelt that there was notime to do things thatthey wanted to do. Nowthat time is abundant,one should be thankfulfor it and make use of thesame. For the workingclass following the WFHmodel, it is very impor-tant to make a scheduleand stick by it. The sim-ple act of making orplanning a schedule is anexercise in being the rightframe of mind in theimmediate future. Thisenables one to be presentand constructively makeuse of time,” expressedDr. Sharma.

Additionally, Dr.Sabharwal provided aconcise guide on how tokeep one’s self groundedin these uncertain times.He said, “Try to focus onthings you can controlinstead of focussing toomuch on things you can’tcontrol. Check-in onyour loved ones as oftenas you can. Try to regu-larly engage in some lightexercises such as stretch-ing, walking as theymight help you feel betterand will allow you to stayactive. Don’t forget totake a break from socialmedia and news channelsnow and then as listeningand watching about thepandemic might beupsetting and over-whelming.”

Pandemic-inducedlockdowns havebecome a way oflife. After talkingto a few clinicalpsychologists, The

Pioneer tells youhow important it isto change ourresponse to realitywhen we cannotchange our reality

PANDEMIC ANDOUR PSYCHE

ecovering from thevirus is no easyfeat and accordingto recent reports,the after-effects ofCovid-19 may con-

tinue to linger on in somepatients after recovery. This isphenomenon is being called‘Long Covid.’ Dr Farah Ingale,director-internal medicine,Hiranandani Hospital says,“Most common symptoms of‘Long Covid’ include fatigue,breathlessness on leastamount of exertion, persistentcough, muscular and jointpain, drop or inaccuracy inhearing and sight, persistentloss of smell and taste. Manypatients with ‘Long Covid’ arealso noted to have mentalhealth problems, includinganxiety and depression.”

Dr Ingale also points outthat the ‘Long Covid’ can alsobe seen in patients who hadmild coronavirus symptomsand may or may not haveneeded hospitalisation. Even

though studies are being con-ducted worldwide to under-stand the long-term impact ofthis virus, there are increasingconcerns that even after mak-

ing a complete recovery, asection of patients may facelifelong implications. TheNational Health Service, sug-gests following a 3-P planguideline for recoveredpatients to help them handletheir symptoms.

Pace:

Take your own time to getback to normal life after mak-ing recovery. Do not forceyour body or yourself to get

back to normal workschedules immediately.While you plan your dailychores, also factor in smallbreaks – rest between twotasks.

Plan:

Spread our chores acrossthe week. You could alsolook at re-arranging yourhome in a way that youreveryday use items areclose and easily accessible.

Prioritise:Split your to-do list into

chores that you can do your-self and those you need helpwith, which means runningoutdoor errands or caring fora pet, or kids and elderly fam-ily members, etc.

It would be ideal to dele-gate your outdoor work toanother family member, ifpossible.

Dr Ingale concludes, “Youmust continue consultingyour doctors regularly andupdate them about yourvitals. Your doctor will alsobe able to indicate if you needto undergo any tests, makeany lifestyle changes, or recal-ibrate medication. Ensuremedication adherence forcomplete recovery. Don’t missyour doctor appointments,eat healthy, sleep well, andstay positive.”

The post-Covid-19

syndrome!R

W

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

10

Hyderabad Saturday May 22, 2021what’s brewing?

FUN

enopause symptomsare well known, howev-er most women areunaware of a stageprior to menopauseknown as peri-

menopause. The condition andrelated symptoms are not com-mon knowledge.

Perimenopause — The termmeans “around menopause”when a woman’s body preparesfor menopause. There is a deple-tion of estrogen or female hor-mone levels and women may nothave monthly menstruation andthus cannot ovulate.

Dr Kavya Krishnakumar,Consultant Obstetrics andGynaecology at MotherhoodHospital, Chennai says that peri-menopausal symptoms typicallyappear in women in their mid-forties. It is also possible that awoman would skip this stageentirely and go straight tomenopause.

Heavy bleeding

It’s likely that your cycles areheavier because the lining of youruterus is thicker before beingshed, says the expert. “A reduc-tion in the hormone proges-terone triggers this. It can alsoworsen other problems, such asfibroids (uterine wall growths). Ifoestrogen production is abnor-mal, small quantities of the uter-ine lining or endometrium canbe shed, resulting in irregularvaginal bleeding. The timebetween ovulatory events cangrow longer. The endometriumbegins to grow throughout thisperiod and can become verydense.”

Changes in your cycle

The first symptoms ofmenopause are typically shifts inone’s period. Your time, forexample, may begin to occurevery six to eight weeks. You mayhave to wait a few months beforeit reappears. From time to time,you can experience a heavier orlighter flow. It’s important tonote, however, that you can stillbecome pregnant during peri-menopause, the doctor pointsout.

“As a result, continue to usebirth control as normal in themonths leading up tomenopause. Also, if you haven’thad your period in a while andaren’t sure if perimenopause has

begun, a pregnancy test is a goodplace to start”

Hot flashes

You become flushed and beginto sweat for 5 to 10 minutes.Some women become slightlywet, while others becomeabsolutely saturated in sweat.When you are awakened in theearly hours of the morning, youcan experience night sweats, shesays.

Dr Krishnakumar suggests:“Deep breathing exercises can behelpful. It’s also a good idea tostay away from things like hotweather, hot drinks, and spicyfoods. As a natural source ofoestrogen, try black cohosh oradd soy to your diet. For moder-ate-to-severe symptoms, consultyour doctor about drugs.”

Vaginal Dryness

The vaginal canal is an estro-gen-responsive organ. The vagi-nal lining is usually made up ofcells that contain water, allowingit to expand properly. Therefore,it leads to the vaginal wallsbecoming flexible and expand-able thus facilitating intercourse.

“However, with estrogen levelsfalling the condition is reversedwhere the tissues become thinnerthus causing dryness. This canresult in itchiness, soreness, anddiscomfort during sex, all ofwhich can make you feel lessecstatic. Standard sex can helppreserve the tone and health ofthe tissue. Other drug choicesshould be explored with yourdoctor.”

Sleep problems anddecreased fertility

Perimenopause is known to

disrupt natural sleeping patterns;depriving women of the deeprestorative sleep they require toface the day.

It can make you feel exhaustedand exacerbate the other peri-menopause symptoms.Hormonal shifts and night sweatswill wreak havoc on your sleep.Good habits like maintaining adaily schedule and havingenough time to fall asleep willhelp. Consult your doctor aboutmedical options if your symp-toms are serious. Since the ovula-tion is not regular conception canbe nearly impossible.

Loss of bone density

Estrogen plays an importantrole in bone metabolism.Calcium in the bones is normallyin a state of equilibrium, withcalcium leaving the bone beingreplaced by calcium entering thebone at any given time. “Thisequilibrium is disrupted asoestrogen production declinesand becomes more erratic, result-ing in a net calcium outflow frombone. Osteoporosis, or reducedbone density, is a common disor-der caused by a significant loss ofbone calcium over time.”

SIGNS THAT SHOW YOU ARE APPROACHING

PERIMENOPAUSEM

nushka Ranjan, who was lastseen in Gulabi Lens and Fittrathas urged all of her fans andaudiences to follow lockdownprotocols! The situation isextremely alarming with thou-

sands losing their lives and livelihoodseach day. The death toll has been rising inour country and the virus is at its ugliestself. We as a country will have to fightthis pandemic and we can do that bymaintaining all the SOPs.

“Let’s all stay strong in this! We have adifficult situation at hand and we have tofollow all the protocols with extreme seri-ousness. If possible let’s double maskwhen we go out if at all we go out. Wehave to sanitize and maintain social dis-tancing. Let’s get vaccinated whenever theslots are open and do help the right foun-dations and be accountable that ourdonations are used for the right purposes.We have no choice but to defeat thisvirus. It can'’t get the better of us at anycost. My prayers and love to all. Let’s staysafe and healthy,” shares the Batti GulMeter Chaalu actress.

Anushka Ranjan was recently in Goafor a music video shoot which was movedto Goa since Mumbai was under lock-down. The actress’ timely message, wehope, will help educate her followers to bemindful amid these trying times. Theactress’ post comes not long after herboyfriend Aditya Seal of Student Of TheYear fame tested recovered from Covid.

Anushka Ranjan urgesfans to be responsible

ne of the decade’sfavourite pop icons,BTS released their newsingle Butter on Friday!It is a dance-pop trackthat easily becomes lis-

teners’ favourite earworm with itsdistinctive baseline and crispsynth sounds. Sometimes smoothand at times charismatic, theduality of BTS they claim to ‘owe[it all] to [my] mother’ will meltlisteners’ hearts. The fun andwitty lyrics brimming with posi-tive and bright energy willinstantly uplift moods.

A range of musicians includingRob Grimaldi, Stephen Kirk, RonPerry, Jenna Andrews, AlexBilowitz, and Sebastian Garcia

have lent their hands in writingthe song. Leader RM also par-took in the making of the trackto add in the signature BTS style.

The electric performanceamplifies the song’s energy. Thechoreography is a combination ofgroup and unit dances executedin razor-sharp precision, yetwithout losing its cooldemeanour. Stroking their hair,then blowing a kiss and walkingon their tiptoes, the performancedrizzles with BTS’ charms andversatility.

This is only the beginning. Theband will perform it for the firsttime at the upcoming BillboardMusic Awards on May 23! Theyhave been nominated for four

categories at this year’s awards -Top Duo/Group, Top Song SalesArtist, Top Social Artist, and TopSelling Song. BTS is also kickingoff Good Morning America’sSummer Concert Series on May28. Recently, they were also onthe cover of Rolling Stone,dubbed the ‘biggest band in theworld.’

BTS, an acronym of BangtanSonyeondan or Beyond the Sceneis a Grammy-nominated SouthKorean group that has been cap-turing the hearts of millions offans globally since its debut inJune 2013

BTS MELTSFANS WITHBUTTER

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tollywoodHyderabad Saturday May 22, 2021

atural star Nani, who is on a win-ning spree after back-to-backblockbusters, even in pro-duction, is currently busywith Shyam Singha Roy.Now, according to the latest buzz

in the film industry, Nani is all set to play thelead role in an upcoming sport-based drama.

It is known that Nani has already played therole of a cricketer in Gautham Tinnauri’sdirectorial venture Jersey in which he sharedthe screen space with Kannada U-Turn fameShraddha Srinath. Reports are coming in thatthis time, Nani will be seen playing football inhis upcoming sport-based drama.

Discussions for the same have alreadystarted but Gentleman and V fameNani is maintaining utmostsecrecy about the story and thedirector.

Insiders say that it will beon the lines of Ajay Devgn’s

upcoming Hindi filmMaidaan’ which is direct-ed by Amit Sharma.

Maidaan is the biopic offootball coach SyedAbdul Rahim.

Apart from this,Nani is currentlywaiting for thearrival of familyentertainer TuckJagadish and he isalso working forfantasy dramaShyam Singha Roywhich has SaiPallavi and KrithiShetty in thefemale leads.

ctress Radhika Apte, who isone of the finest stars in theIndian film industry,recently opened up abouther bitter times on the setsof Rakta Charitra.

During the media interaction, sherevealed that she was exploited on thesets of Rakta Charitra, which washelmed by Ram Gopal Varma akaRGV.

To play the role of a village belle,the actress de-glammed herself.

Radhika Apte said, “I was exploitedon the sets of Rakta Charitra since Iwasn’t getting paid much for the film.They told me I’d be doing one film butthen they made me shout in Teluguand Tamil as well. Rakta Charitra hadbig actors and the shoots would neverstart on time. I have never been des-perate for work. So, I didn’t feel like Ineeded to endure long hours on thesets when my time and talent were notbeing optimised.”

Ram Gopal Varma’ Rakta Charitra

is a political action thriller dramastarring Vivek Oberai, Sudeep,Shatrughan Sinha, and others.

The movie is based on the life ofpolitician Paritala Ravindra.

On the work front, Radhika Aptewill be seen in and as Mrs Undercoverwhere she plays an undercover agent.

Meanwhile, the Kabali andAndhadhun fame actress iscurrently in London withher husband due to thelockdown in India.

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Kalyan Dev’s nextgoes the OTT way?

ega StarChiranjeevi’sson-in-law actorKalyan Dev, whomade his debutwith Vijeta,

failed to impress the audi-ence despite naming thefilm after Chiranjeevi’sblockbuster film’s title.

He is currently busywith his upcoming enter-tainer Super Machi. Thefilm which was supposedto release a long time backgot delayed due to coron-avirus. Now the produceraccording to sources isplanning to release thefilm on OTT as soon aspossible. They are looking

for a good offer and anofficial announcement isexpected sooner thanlater.

Kalyan Dev is also star-ring in Kinnerasaaniunder the direction ofRamana Teja. This isRamana Teja’s first afterhis Aswathama. Nowreports are coming thatKalyan Dev is lining uphis next. He is in talkswith Uppena directorBuchichibabu Sana.Kalyan Dev is keen to starin the direction ofBuchichibabu Sana as hepresented a hit likeUppena to Vaishnav Tej onhis debut.

ctor Allu Sirish hadrecently shared pho-tographs of himselfwhere is seen workingout in the gym. Theactor who is known

for his lean look has now built amuscular body. Allu Sirish,sports a new fitness avatar in thelatest pictures and gives us all

major fitness goals.It is being heard that recently

Allu Sirish signed a film and theofficial announcement regardinghis project will be made on May30, on the occasion of the actor’sbirthday.

Currently, Allu Sirish is work-ing on a romantic entertainerwhich is being directed by Vijeta

director Rakesh Sasi.After the series of duds like

ABCD, Okka Kshana and 1971,Sirish, the son of Allu Aravind isbelieved to realise that serioussubjects don’t suit him.

He is now said to be thinkingof starring in an entertainer toscore a hit and emerge success-ful.

Chiranjeevi startsoxygen banks

ega Star Chiranjeevi during the ongoing covid crisis turned the saviorfor many. Chiranjeevi has been help-ing the poor and needy with finan-cial aid and other support throughCorona Crisis Fund.

He helped the families of many people wholost their lives due to covid with financial aidand promised full support in future. Now in themeantime, with the country facing shortage ofoxygen cylinders, Chiranjeevi who first startedBlood Bank and inspired many, now decided tostart oxygen banks.

Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan will be over-seeing its operations. His charitable trustrevealed: ‘In the current covid situation to pre-vent deaths from lack of Oxygen supply,Chiranjeevi has decided to start Chiranjeevioxygen banks at district level. Efforts are on tomake these operational with in a week’s time.”

ani’s upcoming entertainerShyam Singha Roy is thecynosure of all eyes. Thefilm is directed by RahulSankartiyan who shot tofame with Vijay

Devarakonda’s Taxiwala, a supernat-ular comedy thriller.

Shyam Singha Roy is also a super-natural thriller and has reincarna-tion theme set in the backdrop ofKolkota. The makers planned toshoot the film in Kolkota but coronavirus stalled their plans. They erect-ed an extravagant Kolkota Kali tem-

ple in Hyderabad outskirts spendinga whopping Rs 6 crores.

However the makers got a hugeshock when incessant rains andwinds due to Tautkae storm dam-aged major part of the set. With fewimportant scenes and an actionepisode to be shot, the art directorhas to erect the set once again. Thiswill cost the makers another Rs 2crores. Shyam Singha Roy stars SaiPallavi, Kriti Shetty and MadonnaSebastian in important roles and themusic is composed by Mickey JMeyer.

Shyam Singha Roy set damaged

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sport 12HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 22, 2021

shortpasses

PTI n SOUTHAMPTON

Senior New Zealand pacerTim Southee believes thatthe upcoming two-Test

series against England wouldserve as “great preparation”for his team as it gears up forthe marquee World TestChampionship final againstIndia here.

New Zealand are playingtwo Tests against England atthe Lord’s (June 2-6) andBirmingham (June 10-14). TheWTC final final is scheduledfrom June 18.

Asked if the focus will beon the WTC final, Southeesaid: “Anytime you get to playa Test match for New Zealand,it’s an amazing opportunityand I don’t think you treat themas warm-ups. Our focus is firstand foremost on the two matchseries against England.”

But the 32-year-old with302 Test wickets didn’t denythat it is indeed a great oppor-tunity to gear up for the big bat-tle against India.

“....But great to have thosematches leading to the final. Sofor us, it’s great preparation forthat final but we are looking attwo-match series against aquality English side in theirconditions,” Southee said.

Southee also didn’t feelthat three Tests in three weekswill be much of a workloadafter a welcome break for many.

“It’s exciting to play threeTest matches in a short space oftime,” Southee said after his

first training session at theAgeas Bowl following a three-day hard quarantine.

“It is something that theteam doesn’t get to do thatoften. We’ve come off a bit ofa break, which has been nice,and (we have) been able to getsome conditioning into ourbodies...,” Southee said.

He believes that they willbe ready to cope with therigours with some quality train-ing sessions in the next twoweeks.

“So, the guys are refreshedin some sort of way, using thenext couple of weeks to get our-selves prepared and ready toplay three Test matches. Theyare in quick succession but wehave had a chance to preparephysically leading into thiswith some strength and condi-tioning stuff.

“Now, it’s just getting ourloads to a point over the com-ing weeks so that we can rockon to those three Test match-es.”

He said stepping in to theLord’s ground will be emotion-al for them remembering theWorld Cup final which theylost on boundary countback.

“It’s tough being emotion-al and caught up with it, youlook at it as an amazing gameof cricket, which did wondersfor the one day game, from theplayers that were involved in it.

“It’s one of those matchesyou relive and relive for the restof your lives. When we turn upat Lord’s there will be few guys

who will have mixed emo-tions,” Southee said.

The post-quarantine train-ing in Southampton is also veryhelpful as they would playIndia at the same venue.

“I imagine we’ll probablybe in the same room when wecome back and it’s nice for the

guys who haven’t been here tobe able to come here and expe-rience it,” he said.

“And when you come backfor the final, you’re a little bitmore comfortable having spentsome time here.”

At 32, Southee believesthat he has many more years of

Test cricket left in him with arole model like JamesAnderson to emulate.

“Age is just a number and it’sgreat to see guys like Jimmy bowlat 38, and it’s a dream playing foryour country and I would like todo it for many more years tocome,” he signed off.

Eng Tests ‘great preparation’ for WTC final: Southee

New Zealand pacer Tim Southee, right, chats with teammate Tom Latham, left, and Henry Nicholls, center, before the start ofteam’s indoor training session in Southampton on Thursday blackcapsnz/Instagram

PTI n NEW DELHI

The BCCI has not madeany official request to alter

the schedule for India’s five-Test series against England forcompleting the postponedIPL, the England and WalesCricket Board (ECB) said onFriday.

British media had report-ed about a possible approachfrom the BCCI to advance thefirst Test, starting August 4, bya week so that the remaining31 matches of the Leaguecould be held.

However, the ECB saidthey plan to follow the origi-nal schedule since their Indiancounterparts have not yetmade any official request fora change.

“We talk to the BCCI ona regular basis about a widerange of issues especially as weaddress the challenges ofCovid-19 but have had noofficial request to change datesand are continuing to plan forthe five Test series as sched-uled,” an ECB spokespersontold PTI when asked about thepossible change in the sched-ule.

The BCCI stands to loserevenues to the tune of ̀ 2500

crore if the 2021 edition ofIndian Premier League (IPL)is not completed.

Former England captainand renowned cricket writerMichael Atherton wrore in hiscolumn for The Times that theBCCI has enquired about thepossibility of moving the finalTest of the English summer tomake room to complete thepostponed IPL.

When approached, aBCCI source said the Board iscertainly exploring optionsbut the ECB has not beenapproached officially.

“The situation is prettyfluid now. There are optionsthat are being explored but noofficial request has yet beensent. Obviously as Athertonwrote in his column, there aresome specific enquiries being

made. Who said thatenquiries mean official com-munications,” a BCCI sourcesaid.

The Test series as of nowis scheduled to conclude at theOld Trafford. The fifth Testwill begin on September 10.The game match is expectedto attract big crowd and theLancashire county has alreadystarted selling the tickets.

If India make a formalrequest, the ECB will have totweak the window for theirambitious project TheHundred along with limitedovers series against Pakistan.

Pakistan will play threeODIs and as many Twenty20Internationals between July 8and 20. The Hundred will beplayed between July 23 andAugust 22.

ECB denies receiving BCCIrequest to tweak schedule

PTI n COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s leading cricketersled by Test captain Dimuth

Karunaratne along with host ofsenior players, includingDinesh Chandimal and AngeloMathews have refused to signthe central contracts offered bythe board which they believe isfar less compared to othercountries.

If the dispute is not sortedin due course of time, it couldwell affect Sri Lanka’s bilateralseries with India in July, wheresix white ball matches isexpected to fill the coffers of acash-strapped cricket board ofthe island nation.

A statement from the attor-ney representing almost alltop players including the Testskipper Karunaratne, Mathewsand others said remunerationproposed to players are onethird compared to some othercricket playing nations.

The SLC this week said that24 of the leading players hadbeen offered contracts under 4categories and they had beengiven a deadline until June 3 tosign on dotted lines.

In the categories releasedonly six players are in the cat-egory A and their annual payranges between $70,000 to100,000. Batsman Dhananjayade Silva draws highest —100,000 with the rest of themwere to receive $70-80,000.

Just for comparative analy-sis, India’s group C (lowestcategory) centrally contractedplayers annually earn a retain-ership fee of `1 crore($137,000).

The Sri Lankan players

said in a joint statement thatthey were “shocked and dis-mayed” by SLC’s decision to gopublic with specific paymentdetails of players.

They feel that public dis-closure has affected their peaceof mind.

“These disclosures amountto a grave security concern toeach and every player,” it stat-ed.

The chairman of theCricket Advisory Committee(CAC) of the SLC Aravinda deSilva told reporters that theywere forced to make harshdecision based on the pastperformances of the players.

The players howeverrefused to take the entire blamefor Sri Lanka’s shoddy perfor-mances over the years.

They maintain the admin-istrators and the local structurewere contributory factors to SriLanka’s decline in Internationalrankings.

SL players refuseto sign contracts

AFP n MANCHESTER

Manchester United captain HarryMaguire is unlikely to be fit for

next week’s Europa League final againstVillarreal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said onFriday.

The 28-year-old central defender ismaking progress in recovering from anankle injury he suffered against AstonVilla earlier this month and was pic-tured walking without crutches onThursday.

However, Solskjaer was downbeatabout his chances of being fit for thematch against the Spanish side in thePolish city of Gdansk on Wednesday.

“He’s walking but it’s a long wayfrom walking to running so, to be hon-est, I don’t think we’ll see him inGdansk, no,” the Norwegian said.

“But, as I’ve said so many times, I’mgoing to give him until Tuesday night,the last training session, and see if hecan try to be out there.

“Steadily but surely he’s improvingbut ligaments, they take time to heal.”

United’s defence has looked shaky

in Maguire’s absence — they have losttwo and drawn one of their past threePremier League games.

Solskjaer will give Maguire up to thelast minute to prove his fitness andexpects the defender to play an impor-tant role off the field if, as expected, hedoes not make it.

GRAB CHANCE OF TOP FINISHJurgen Klopp says Liverpool have

their destiny “in our hands” as they seekto end a disappointing season on a highby finishing in the top four of thePremier League.

The deposed champions are battlingwith Chelsea and Leicester for the tworemaining slots in next season’sChampions League.

Klopp’s men are level on points withLeicester but their goal difference is supe-rior, meaning all the Reds have to do athome to Crystal Palace is match theFoxes’ result against Tottenham.

Third-placed Chelsea, one pointclear of Liverpool and Leicester, travel toface mid-table Aston Villa.

“We just found stability, createdconfidence again or got it back, andscored goals in the right moments andconceded less, let me say it like this,”Klopp said on Friday.

“It was a strange season, nothing willchange that,” he added. “It was an incred-ibly intense season, nothing will changethat. But we have it now in our hands tomake a top, top finish of the season.”

AFP n LONDON

Tottenham forwardHarry Kane has hinted

at a move toManchester City ass p e c u l a t i o nmounts over hisfuture, callingthe champi-ons’ star mid-fielder Kevin DeBruyne a “striker’sdream”.

Kane has reported-ly told Spurs he wantsto leave at the end ofthe season and theEngland captain hasbeen linked with City,Manchester Unitedand Chelsea.

Kane has nowraised the prospect ofa move to PepGuardiola’s title win-ners, naming City’sDe Bruyne as a perfectteam-mate.

City are reported to beinterested in signing the27-year-old, but Spurs willnot let their talisman go

without a fight, especial-ly as he is under con-tract for the next threeyears.

Kane is deter-mined to stay in thePremier League andwhen asked by for-

mer ManchesterUnited defender Gary

Neville which playerwould help him scoremore goals he said: “DeBruyne for sure.

“When I watch DeBruyne play he’s a spe-

cial, special player andsome of the balls I see himput in for City are just astriker’s dream if I’m hon-est.”

Kane has scored 165Premier League goals, 95

behind all-time top scor-er Alan Shearer, and

he wants to topple the formerBlackburn and Newcastlestriker.

The forward, who has 22top-flight goals this season,told Neville’s YouTube channelThe Overlap that injuries werethe main threat to his ambitionto break the record.

“Of course there’s alwaysthe option of maybe movingabroad one day but I don’tthink that really interests mein the near future,” he added.

Kane has been involved intwo Premier League title raceswith Spurs, has lost twoLeague Cup finals, and was onthe defeated side in the 2019Champions League final.

The forward admits theclub missed opportunities towin silverware under formerboss Mauricio Pochettino,who is now in charge at ParisSaint-Germain, and chal-lenged Spurs chairman DanielLevy to deliver quality addi-tions to help rebuild.

Maguire likely to miss Europa League final

London: Wolves boss Nuno EspiritoSanto will leave the club after Sunday’sfinal game of the season, the PremierLeague team announced on Friday.

Nuno led Wolves to promotionfrom the Championship and estab-lished them in the top-flight duringhis four seasons at Molineux.

With Tottenham still lookingfor a new manager after JoseMourinho’s sacking in April, it hasbeen reported that Nuno is amongthe contenders to take charge of thenorth London side. AFP

Kane hints at Man City move

WES MORGAN TO RETIRE LEICESTER: Leicester's Premier League title-winning captain Wes Morgan will retire whenthe final whistle blows on the season, the clubannounced on Friday. Morgan has made 324appearances and scored 14 goals for Leicester.

HALEP OUT OF FRENCH OPEN PARIS: Simona Halep, the 2018 French Openchampion, announced Friday she haswithdrawn from this year's tourney becauseshe has failed to recover from a calf injury.

DEPAY WILL LEAVE FOR FREELYON: Memphis Depay will leave Lyon at theend of the season when his contract expires,the Dutch international striker told L'Equipein an interview published on Friday.

MESSI TO MISS LAST MATCH BARCELONA: Lionel Messi will miss Barca'sfinal La Liga game of the season against Eibaron Saturday in order to “enjoy a rest” beforethe Copa America, the club announced.

FLICK TO BE GERMAN COACHBERLIN: Hansi Flick admitted there are only“minor details” left to finalise with the out-going Bayern boss is poised to take charge ofGermany after the Euro 2020 finals.

BUFFON LINKED WITH MONZAMILAN: Gianluigi Buffon has been linked witha move to Monza when the Italiangoalkeeping great leaves Juventus at the endof the season, according to reports in Italy.

RANIERI TO LEAVE SAMPDORIA MILAN: Claudio Ranieri will leave Sampdoriadespite coaching the team to a top-half finishin Serie A this season and helping the squadavoid relegation last year.

BOYD RANKIN RETIRESLONDON: England & Ireland pacer BoydRankin, the only cricketer to have played fortwo countries in all three formats, hasannounced his retirement from Int’l cricket.

TAYLOR TEARS ACHILLESNEW YORK: Two-time Olympic triple-jumpchampion Christian Taylor underwent surgeryto repair a torn Achilles and will miss theTokyo Games. Agencies

AFP n BOGOTA

Colombia will no longer co-host this year’s Copa

America after street protestsand social unrest swept thecountry.

South American football’sgoverning body CONMEBOLon Thursday rejected a plea byColombia to postpone the June13-July 10 tournament that itwas to share with Argentina.

The ColombianGovernment had pleaded withCONMEBOL to postpone thetournament until Novemberbut the federation refused.

Argentinian PresidentAlberto Fernandez said his

country would be ready to hostall of the matches.

CONMEBOL said it wouldnow decide where the gameswhich were due to be held inColombia will be played, withbarely three weeks to go until the

tournament is due to kick off.Colombia is in the midst of

a wave of protests and socialunrest that has resulted in 42deaths. Covid-19 cases havealso shot up in the last fewweeks.

Demonstrators initially tookto the streets to protest a pro-posed tax reform. The plan wasquickly shelved, but protestshave since morphed into abroader manifestation of anti-Government sentiment.

Large and sometimes vio-lent demonstrations have beentaking place in Bogota, Medellinand Cali — cities where CopaAmerica games were to beplayed.

Colombia removed as Copa America co-host

New Delhi: The U-17women’s World Cup will beheld in India from October11 to 30 next year, FifaCouncil said on Thursday.

India were earlierscheduled to host the 2020U-17 World Cup but it waspostponed to 2021 beforebeing cancelled due to theCovid-19 pandemic.

The governing bodythen handed the hostingrights of the 2022 edition toIndia last November.

On the eve of the 71stFIFA Congress, the FIFA

Council approved key datesfor the International matchcalendars, including thedates of the 2022 U-17world Cup in India.

“The Council alsoapproved dates for the FIFAU-17 Women’s World CupIndia 2022 (11-30 October2022), FIFA U-20 Women’sWorld Cup Costa Rica 2022(10-28 August 2022), aswell as a 14-team playoff forthe FIFA Arab Cup 2021,taking place between 19and 25 June this year,” thegoverning body said. PNS

Fifa U-17 women’s WCin India in October 2022

PTI n NEW DELHI

India’s women cricketers are not asathletic and strong as their foreign

counterparts when it comes to run-ning around the park and that issomething fielding coach AbhaySharma will work on extensivelywith them during the upcoming UKtour.

Sharma, who has worked a lotwith the men’s India U-19 team, waswith the national women’s team forthe first time during the home seriesagainst South Africa in March.

Since the series was organised lastminute, Sharma did not get a lot oftime with the players but he is look-ing forward to working with them onan individual basis during the UKtour, starting June 16.

The Indian team is scheduled toplay a Test, three ODIs and as manyT20s against the hosts.

“Overall development is neededas far as fielding is concerned. Thegame is changing, you have to bemore athletic. Technically, work needs

to be done. What I observed is thata lot of girls are struggling with theirthrowing techniques.

“If you develop wrong techniquein your early days then it troubles youwith injuries. Once the technicalside is taken care of, then you canbuild on the strength part,” Sharmasaid before entering the bio-bubble inMumbai ahead of the UK tour.

In the home series against SouthAfrica, Sharma observed that theopposition players were much fasterin the field.

“This time I will interact withmore on a one to one basis rather thangroup and assess what they feel aboutthe game and then try and match upto my expectations.

“But as of now technically theyreally need to work hard. What I havenoticed in women’s cricket is that a lotof U-19 players are going on to playfor the senior team. Workload is moreon their shoulders and they are notthat strong.”

It was India’s first series in 12months and the players looked under

prepared. South Africa ended up win-ning both T20s and ODIs.

“We have to accept that there isa huge difference between foreignteams and our girls. The SouthAfrican girls were more athletic,they cover the ground quicker andthey are little stronger also,” saidSharma.

“What I see that we are standingon technique, we are not standing onstrength. We need to be strong onboth fronts,” he said.

Improvement is also needed oncatching and running between thewickets, he said.

“Last series what I saw was therewas a lapse in judgement in somecases, may be because they were play-ing after a long time. A lot dependson the frame of of mind. We will worksincerely on that front.

“The running between wickets isa huge part of the game. If the teamis having good coordination then youcan convert those singles into twosand that is one area where we can addpressure on the opposition.”

Players need to be more athletic: India W fielding coach

Nuno to leave Wolves

Indian opening batswoman Shafali Verma inaction against South Africa @BCCIWomen