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TTOODDAAYY

India abstains onUNSC resolutionPNS n UNITED NATIONS

India abstained on a US-sponsoredUN Security Council resolutionthat "deplores in the strongestterms" Russia's "aggression" againstUkraine, with New Delhi saying dia-logue is the only answer to settlingdifferences and disputes and voic-ing "regret" that the path of diplo-macy was given up.

The resolution did not pass sincepermanent member Russia, andPresident of the Security Council forthe month of February, used its veto.The resolution received 11 votes infavour and three abstentions, includ-ing by India, China and the UAE.

Needed to stand up,not stand aside: OppnS

everal opposition leaders criticisedthe government on Saturday after

India abstained from voting on a UNSecurity Council resolution on theRussian attack on Ukraine, saying itneeded to stand up against the wrongand not stand aside. Congressspokesperson Manish Tewari said"there comes a time when nations needto stand up and not stand aside." "Isincerely wish India had voted insolidarity with the people of Ukraine atUNSC who are facing anunprecedented and unjustifiedaggression. 'Friends' need to be toldwhen they are wrong," he said.

Nearly 120,000Ukrainians have fled

Page: 2

NEET, seat shortageforce students to go to UkrainePNS n HYDERABAD

The shortage of MBBS seatsand the difficulty of clearingNEET are the main reasons forIndian s tudents going toUkraine for medical educa-tion.

In India, if a student has topursue MBBS, he has to appearfor the National Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET) to gainadmission in medical colleges.

‘Steps apace for safe return of students’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Principal Secretary & Chairman ofthe Task Force Committee, MTKrishna Babu, has said that allefforts are being made to bring backthe stranded students from Ukrainesafely.

Addressing a media conferencehere on Saturday, Krishna Babusaid that various measures arebeing taken by the government tobring back the stranded students inUkraine. He said that about 22 stu-dents are returning from Ukraineto India on two different flights, onewith nine students will be landingin Mumbai at 6 pm on Saturdaywhile the other flight carrying 13students will land at New Delhi at2.30 am on Sunday.

The Principal Secretary said thathow many are from AP will be

known only after the arrival of theflights. He said that the ChiefMinister had directed the taskforce to set up receptions inMumbai and Delhi. He said thatCustoms Officer Ramakrishna will

monitor the arrangements andreceive students arriving at MumbaiAirport.

AP Bhavan Principal ResidentCommissioner Praveen Prakashand Additional ResidentCommissioner Himanshu Shuklawill make arrangements to receivestudents arriving at the DelhiAirport.

Krishna Babu said that the offi-cers holding AP government plac-ards will be ready at the airport.The AP officers will receive stu-dents even if their names are not onthe list and will provide accommo-dation at the AP Bhavan in Delhi,arrange accommodation inMumbai and then arrange forreturn to their hometowns. TheCM directed the officials that theybe brought to the State at theexpense of the government. "We

have made arrangements in Delhiand Mumbai accordingly," saidKrishna Babu.

The Principal Secretary saidthat the students should stay wherethey are and appealed to themreach the nearest neighboring bor-der countries as told earlier. Hesaid that the Russian military is nottargeting civilians so the studentsare advised to stay safe whereverthey are.Those in the bombing areas wereadvised to move to safety inbunkers and houses set up by theRed Cross. He said that aWhatsApp group was formed andabout 300 students joined thegroup and they are being updatedwith information, suggestions andadvice provided by the Ministry ofExternal Affairs.

n AP govt makes arrangments for reception of students upon arrival n Students advised to follow instructions of Indian Embassy

Principal Secretary & Chairman of the TaskForce CommitteeMT Krishna Babu,addressing a presss conference inAmaravati in Saturday

C PRADEEP KUMARn VIJAYAWADA

Even as the parents of Telugu stu-dents pursuing various courses inwar-torn Ukraine are in distress,their wards stranded at variousplaces in that country are in grip offear. The students at KharkivMedical University in EasternUkraine, just 25 km from theRussian border, are worried abouttheir safe return to India. due to thetense situation in Ukraine, the stu-dents are taking shelter in thebunkers and basements of the hos-tel buildings, near apartments andthe metro railway station. The stu-dents are eagerly waiting for help

from the Indian government toreturn to their native states.

It is learnt that around 30 stu-

dents from Telugu states are strand-ed at the Kharkiv MedicalUniversity. The situation in west-

ern Ukraine presents a differentscenario with students being ableto reach the border of the neigh-bouring countries like Poland andRomania. Kharkiv is located about500 km from Kiev, the capital ofUkraine. The stranded Telugu stu-dents at Kharkiv MedicalUniversity have to travel toBucharest, capital of Romania, toboard the flight to come back toIndia. Flight operations from Kievremain suspended since the Warbegan on February 24. The studentshave no option but to travel toPoland or Romania to board theflights.

Panic grips Telugu students stuck in Kharkiv

MILAN-22 gets underway in VizagPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The opening ceremony of thebiennial Multilateral NavalExercise, MILAN-22 was held atthe naval auditorium in the city onSaturday. Union Minister of Statefor Defence Ajay Bhatt attended aschief guest.

Chief of the Naval Staff, AdmiralR Hari Kumar, as well asAmbassadors, HighCommissioners, Chiefs of Navies,delegation heads of participatingcountries and the CommandingOfficers and crew of all participat- ing ships graced the occasion. A special day cover and a movie on

the MILAN exercise was releasedby the Chief Guest to mark theoccasion.

The 11th edition of MILAN isbeing hosted by the Eastern NavalCommand at the city for the firsttime. All previous editions havebeen held at Port Blair under theaegis of the Tri-Service Andamanand Nicobar Command. The par-ticipation from friendly foreigncountries includes 13 ships, 39 del-egations and one Maritime PatrolAircraft.

Class 9 girl delivers babyPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a sensational incident, a Class9 girl-student has given birth toa male baby in Bobbili town ofVizianagaram district.

Full details on Page 2 Come late, losepay: Special CS

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Special Chief Secretary (Finance)Shamsher Singh Rawat has saidthat since the Covid-19 restric-tions have been almost lifted, thehigher officials and the employ-ees who work in the FinanceDepartment must follow theoffice timings schedule of 10 amto 5.30 pm. He made it clear thatemployees who come late to theoffice will lose their pay on thatday.

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UNITED NATIONS: Russia has vetoeda U.N. Security Council resolutiondemanding that Moscow stop itsattack on Ukraine and withdraw alltroops. Friday's vote was 11-1, withChina, India and the United ArabEmirates abstaining. It showedsignificant but not total opposition toRussia's invasion of its smaller,militarily weaker neighbour. The UnitedStates and other supporters knew theresolution wouldn't pass but argued itwould highlight Russia's internationalisolation. The resolution's failure pavesthe way for backers to call for a swiftvote on a similar measure in the U.N.General Assembly.

Russia vetoes UN resolutionPNS n NEW DELHI

India on Saturday brought back thefirst batch of 219 of its citizens fromRomania after facilitating their exitfrom Ukraine and stepped up effortsto evacuate more people with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi taking upthe matter with Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy for the safeand expeditious return of the strand-ed Indians. External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar tweeted that the secondflight from Bucharest has taken offfor Delhi with 250 Indian nationalsas part of the evacuation mission,titled "Operation Ganga".

At the same time, it is learnt that

Indian officials in Ukraine are fac-ing growing complexities to evacu-ate the Indians to the neighbouringcountries with Russian forces clos-ing in on Ukrainian capital Kyiv and

targeting several other key cities byland and air.

India brings back 219citizens; 250 more on way

Ukraine President refuses to fleeUrges people to ‘stand firm’

2

Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine'scapital early Saturday as explosionsreverberated through the city and thepresident urged the country to stand firmagainst the siege that could determine itsfuture. He refused American help toevacuate, saying: The fight is here.

Zelenskyy speakswith Modi, seeksIndia’s support

Ukraine's President VolodymyrZelenskyy on Saturday spoke

with Prime Minister Narendra Modiand sought India's political supportat the UN Security Council to stopRussia's military offensive againsthis country. Zelenskyy also informedPrime Minister Modi of the courseof Ukraine repulsing the Russianaggression. "Spoke with IndianPrime Minister @narendramodi.Informed of the course of Ukrainerepulsing Russian aggression,"Zelenskuyy said in a tweet. 2

Kyiv appears quieto Russian troops advance further

PNS n KYIV

Kyiv residents braced Saturdayfor another night shelteringunderground, as Russ iantroops closed in on Ukraine'scapital and skirmishes were

reported on the outskirts.Ukraine's leader, meanwhile,claimed the country's forceshad repulsed the Russianassault and vowed to keep upthe struggle as he appealed formore outside help.

Indian students returning from Ukraine after the govt made arrangements to bring them back from the war torn Nation

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World Bank appointsits India head as VP,

Operations

The World Bank's India head,

Junaid Kamal Ahmad, hasbeen appointed as one of

the vice presidents of the globallending institution. Ahmad -- who

as Vice President, Operations wouldhead the Multilateral Investment

Guarantee Agency (MIGA) -- is thesecond Bangladeshi national to be

appointed to such a high position inthe history of the bank. Ahmad, 61,will assume his new role from April16, an official release said here on

Friday. Fayez Choudhury was thefirst Bangladeshi national who

became the vice president on theadministration side.

Onlooker runover byescort vehicles of

Prez convoy

An onlooker was accidentally

run over by three policeescort vehicles purpotedly

belonging to President Ram NathKovind's carcade at Bokakhat inGolaghat district of Assam and

died on the spot on Saturday.Police is, however, yet to confirmthe incident. Rameswar Rabidas,

who hails from Milanpur ofBokakhat, was waiting along NH-37 when Kovind's convoy was onway to Kohora range of Kaziranga

National Park from a temporaryhelipad at Bokakhat. Sources said

that one of the last three policeescort vehicles of the carcade hit

and ran over the person.

War via TikTok:Russia's new tool forpropaganda machine

The Russian TikTok video has it all:

a cat, puppies and a pulsingbackground beat. It's cute,

watchable and hardly seems the stuffof state propaganda. In 2014, Russia

flooded the internet with fake accountspushing disinformation about its

takeover of Crimea. Eight years later,experts say Russia is mounting a far

more sophisticated effort as it invadesUkraine. Armies of trolls and bots stir

up anti-Ukrainian sentiment. State-controlled media outlets look to divide

Western audiences. Clever TikTokvideos serve up Russian nationalism

with a side of humour. The effortamounts to an emerging part of

Russia's war arsenal with the shapingof opinion through orchestrated

disinformation fighting alongsideactual troops and weapons.

In brief

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VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2022 vijayawada 02

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(IN VIJAYAWADA

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Jana Sena Party (JSP) politi-cal affairs committee chair-man has alleged that a cur-few-like situation was creat-ed at the cinema theatres,where Pawan Kalyan-starrerBheemla Nayak is being ingexhibited, to damage theprospects and intimidate themovie buffs.

In a statement here onSaturday, he said that theentire world was shocked atthe incidents that took placeat the behest of the govern-ment, to hamper the exhibi-t ion of Bheemla Nayakmovies. The government

machinery was misusedbeyond imagination.

Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy, who promised

to encourage the film industryin the state by extendingincentives, used the govern-ment staff to intimidate peo-ple at the theatres, he lambast-ed.

"It is shameful to the gov-ernment to use the revenuestaff to intimidate audiencesat cinema theatres to damagethe success of BheemlaNayak. The revenue staff,who are to be used to issuepassbooks to the farmers andvarious certificates to the stu-dents, were sent to the cine-ma theatres where BheemlaNayak was being exhibited tointimidate everyone whocomes to watch the movie", he

slammed. Manohar said that in the

conflict between arroganceand self-respect, ultimatelyself-respect wins which wasshown in the Bheemla Nayakmovie. The Chief Minister isacting like a dictator andarbitrarily in a vindictivemanner. " I appeal to thosewho believe in democracy, tocome out of the YSRCP andjoin us. Let us demonstratehow to develop the State," hesaid.

Manohar thanked and con-gratulated the Janasenaactivists for exercising restraintwhen the police behavedexcessively.

Curfew-like situation createdat cinema theatres: Manohar

GO issued for allocation ofstaff to new districts in APPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment is speeding up theprocess of reorganisation ofdistricts by issuing orders onSaturday regarding the alloca-tion of employees for reorgan-isation of districts provisional-ly.

The government has decid-ed to allocate employees on atemporary basis under an'Order to Serve' basis to thenew districts which wouldstart functioning from Ugadi.Chief Secretary to govern-ment Dr. Sameer Sharmaissued GOMS: 31 for provi-sional allocation of posts andpersonnel in the restructuredDistrict /Division offices.

The AP government clari-fied in the order that anotherspecial GO would be issued inconnection with the finaltransfer. Further, the govern-ment lifted the ban on ordi-nary transfers and it was also

revealed that the TravelingAllowance will be given to thetemporarily transferredemployee in accordance withthe regulations.

The orders stated that theoffices at the State, Regional /Zonal, Mandal and Villagelevels shall not be consideredfor the purpose of the provi-sional allocation. The offices atthe District & Divisional levelshall be considered for the pur-pose of the provisional alloca-tion.

The government instructedthat the offices at theDistrict/Divisional level withlow cadre strength shall not betaken up for provisional allo-cation. The existing office shallcontinue to serve the jurisdic-tion of the erstwhiledistricts/divisions. The postsand personnel in existing dis-tricts/divisional offices shall beprovisionally allocatedamongst the restructured dis-tricts/ divisions, till such time

the final allocation of posts andpersonnel is completed.

Except for the district/divi-sion head, no new post shall becreated, as a result of the pro-visional allocation process.The Provisional Allocationthrough 'Order to Serve' isimplemented under which allthe personnel who are notsubjected to provisional alloca-tion, shall continue to serve intheir existing offices and postson and with effect from theAppointed Day and they shallbe deemed to be allotted pro-visionally to the respectivereorganized district/divisionoffices, pending final allocationas per the guidelines to beissued separately.

The allocation would be car-ried under the 'Order to Serve'provisionally in the reorganiseddistricts/divisions to whichtheir services are allocated ona tentative basis, pending finalallocation as per the guidelinesto be issued separately.

Class 9 girl delivers babyPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a sensational incident, aClass 9 girl-student has givenbirth to a male baby in Bobbilitown of Vizianagaram dis-trict. However, the officialshave not registered the inci-dent and lately started aninvestigation into it. Accordingto sources, the girl is a studentof a tribal welfare residentialschool but she has not beenattending the classes regular-ly.

The sources said that thegirl had an affair with a per-son familiar to her.

The parents admitted thegirl to a government hospitalafter she reported labourpains. The girl gave birth to amale baby and the hospitalmanagement discharged themother and the baby.Normally, in the governmenthospitals, after the delivery, themother and baby would besent home in 'Thalli-BiddaExpress' (government vehi-cle). However, the hospitalmanagement did not evenregister the incident.

The hospital staff said theyhad informed the DistrictMedical and Health Officer(DMHO) Dr. SV RamanaKumar about the incident.

When contacted, Dr.Ramana Kumari told ThePioneer that she had receivedinformation that a pregnantstudent was admitted withlabour pains. "I directed themedical officers to take care ofthe medical aid and also givea police complaint," she said.

Meanwhile, the TribalWelfare Department has alsostarted an investigation intothe incident.

"I also have informationthat the girl was studying inthe tribal welfare residentialschool but not attending class-es regularly. On information,I have directed my officials toprobe the incident. Afterreceiving information that thegirl gave birth in a governmenthospital, I have deployed mystaff to inquire into the inci-dent," Deputy Director, TribalWelfare, VizianagaramDistrict, P.Kiran Kumar toldThe Pioneer.

Nearly 120,000Ukrainians have fledPNS n WARSAW

The UN refugee agency saidon Saturday that nearly120,000 people have so far fledUkraine into neighbouringcountries in the wake ofRussian invasion.

The number was going upfast as Ukrainians grabbedtheir belongings and rushed toescape from a deadly Russianonslaught on their nation,including an attempt to takethe capital. Almost 116,000have crossed international bor-ders as of right now. This maygo up, it's changing everyminute, said Shabia Mantoo,the spokeswoman of the UNHigh Commissioner forRefugees.

It's very fluid and changingby the hour."

The agency expects up to 4million Ukrainians could fleeif the situation deterioratesfurther. Mantoo said mostwere heading to neighbouring

Poland, Moldova, Hungary,Romania and Slovakia, andeven some into Belarus fromwhich some Russian forcesentered Ukraine.

She did not immediatelyhave details on numbers bycountry, but by far the largestnumbers were arriving inPoland, where some 2 millionUkrainians have already settledto work in recent years, drivenaway by Russia's first incur-sions into Ukraine in 2014 andseeking opportunities in thebooming economy of theEuropean Union neighbour.

Poland's government saidSaturday morning that morethan 100,000 Ukrainians hadcrossed the Polish-Ukrainianborder in the past 48 hours.

At the Medyka border cross-ing, a line of vehicles waitingto enter Poland stretched 15kilometers (9 miles) intoUkraine, according to peoplecrossing the border, Polishbroadcaster TVN24 reported.

MILAN-22 gets underway in Vizag...Continued from page 1

This large congregation gives sig-nificance and potency to the word'MILAN' which means "meeting"or "confluence" in (Hindi).

MILAN endeavours to pro-mote "Camaraderie, Cohesion,Collaboration" between like-minded navies. This isachieved by professional inter-action and experience sharingat the harbour and enhancing

interoperability, includingmultilateral operations, at sea.The harbour phase of theexercise will culminate onFebruary 28, followed by thesea phase from March 1 to 4.

This edition of MILAN islarger and more complex thanall previous ones, reflectingIndia's growing stature as aresponsible and reliable part-ner in the maritime domain,underscoring the Indian

Navy's commitment to mar-itime security across the glob-al commons. The goals ofMILAN are aligned with theHon'ble Prime Minister'svision of Sagar- Security andGrowth for All in the Region.MILAN 22 would play a vitalrole in establishing regionalsynergy for achieving peaceand prosperity through coop-eration and collaboration.

As a part of the harbour

phase, a MILAN village hasbeen set up at the TarangNaval Institute. The villagewould provide a glimpse ofIndian culture to the visitors,showcasing Indian handi-crafts, cuisine and arts, espe-cially from Andhra Pradesh.The village would also providea venue for social interactionand cultural exchangebetween the participatingnavies.

Come late...Continued from page 1

He said that all employeesshould be in the office by 10am, or latest by 10.10 am, andstart doing their assignedwork. Employees who attendthe office between 10.10 amand 11 am will only havethree days of exemption in amonth. To consider a half-day, an employee needs towork from 10 am to 1.30 pm.Half-day will be marked foran employee who comes at 11am and leaves the office by 1pm or comes at the scheduledtime and left the office before1 pm.

Rawat further said that if anemployee comes to the officeafter 1 pm, it will be markedas leave or absent for the day.Full-day attendance will bemarked if an employee comesto the office at 10 am andleaves after 5.30 pm. Takingleave without approval fromthe authority concerned dis-rupts the work. Henceforth, itis mandatory to seek approvalfor any leave. Taking leavewithout approval will bemarked as absent.

‘Steps apace for...Continued from page 1

Krishna Babu appealed tothe students in Ukraine tofollow the instructions of theMinistry of External Affairsand not to do take anyadventurous steps to comeback to India. He said thatthe Government of India ismaking all arrangements tobring back the students safe-ly. There is information thatstudents from the State arepursuing courses in sevenuniversities close toRomania. The students whohave registered their nameson the Indian Embassy web-site will get informationabout how to come back,said Krishna Babu.

NEET, seat shortage force...Continued from page 1

In 2021, around 16 lakh stu-dents registered for the exambut the total number of seatswas only around 83,000.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday while speak-ing at a webinar on the UnionBudget’s impact on the healthsector asked, “Why are Indianstudents going to small coun-tries for medical education inspite of the language barrier.”

The Prime Minister alsosaid that when Indian studentsgo abroad for medical educa-tion the nation loses hundredsof billions of rupees. The PMurged states and the privatesector to formulate sound poli-

cies for medical education inIndia.

Dr Naveen from theGovernment Hospital atKorutla said “Cracking NEETis very difficult. A lot of stu-dents miss the mark by a verysmall margin as there are veryfew seats here.

There is no such exam inUkraine. In Ukraine, aftergraduation, it is very easy to geta PG degree but that is notvalid in India. They will haveto clear an exam here to prac-tice medicine.”

A recently graduated MBBSstudent from the city said,“The main thing why studentsgo to Ukraine for medicalstudies is expense. In India if

they don’t get a seat throughNEET and if they want tostudy in a private medical col-lege, it will cost them Rs 70 to90 lakh while in Ukraine itcosts less than half of that. Thenext advantage is that the lan-guage used in Ukraine formedical education is Englishwhich is familiar to Indian stu-dents.

Ukraine also opens the gate-way to Europe. This can also bethe reason why people want togo there to study.”

There are 20,000 Indiansstranded in Ukraine, most ofwhom are students. The Indiangovernment has been trying toevacuate all Indians as soon aspossible.

India abstains on UNSC...Continued from page 1

"India is deeply disturbed bythe recent turn of develop-ments in Ukraine. We urge thatall efforts are made for theimmediate cessation of vio-lence and hostilities," India'sPermanent Representative tothe UN Ambassador T STirumurti said in India's expla-nation of vote in the Council.

"Dialogue is the only answerto settling differences and dis-putes, however daunting thatmay appear at this moment. Itis a matter of regret that thepath of diplomacy was givenup. We must return to it. Forall these reasons, India haschosen to abstain on this res-olution," Tirumurti said.

The UN Security Councilon Friday voted on the draftresolution by the US andAlbania and co-sponsored byseveral other nations includingAustralia, Estonia, Finland,Georgia, Germany, Italy,Liechtenstein, Lithuania,Luxembourg, New Zealand,Norway, Poland, Romania and

the United Kingdom.Russia, a permanent mem-

ber of the 15-member power-ful Security Council, used itsveto power and the resolutionfailed, as expected, but Westernnations said the resolutionseeks to show Moscow's isola-tion on the global stage for itsinvasion and actions againstUkraine.

All eyes were on how Indiawill cast its vote on the resolu-tion given that New Delhi hasstrong defence ties withMoscow.

The Council resolution reaf-firms its commitment to thesovereignty, independence,unity and territorial integrityof Ukraine within its interna-tionally recognised borders.

The resolution "deplores inthe strongest terms" Russia'saggression against Ukraine"and decides that Russia "shallimmediately cease its use offorce against Ukraine and shallrefrain from any furtherunlawful threat or use of forceagainst any UN member state."

The resolution also said that

Russia "shall immediately,completely, and uncondition-ally withdraw all of its militaryforces from the territory ofUkraine within its interna-tionally recognised borders."

The resolution saidMoscow "shall immediatelyand unconditionally reversethe decision related to the sta-tus of certain areas ofDonetsk and Luhansk regionsof Ukraine."

During a telephone con-versat ion with RussianPresident Vladimir Putin onThursday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi "appealed foran immediate cessation ofviolence, and called for con-certed efforts from all sides toreturn to the path of diplo-matic negotiations and dia-logue."

US Secretary of StateAntony Blinken spoke withExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar to discuss Russia's"premeditated, unprovoked,and unjustified attack onUkraine", the StateDepartment said.

Needed to stand up,not stand aside...Continued from page 1

Echoing his view, Congressleader Shashi Tharoor saidin an article: "Invasion isInvasion; we should tell ourfriend Russia."

"...if 'friends' can't speakhonestly to each other, whatis the friendship worth,"Tharoor asked.

"India 's decis ion toabstain in the UnitedNations Security Councilvote on Friday night, on aresolution that would havedeplored Moscow's inva-sion of Ukraine, did notreally come as a surprise,"the former Minister of Statefor External Affairs said.

Tharoor also said, "Afterour abstention, manyregretted that India hadplaced itself on the 'wrongside of history'."

Shiv Sena leader PriyankaChaturvedi accused thegovernment of hypocrisyand said, "Interestinglythose who can't stop abus-ing and criticising India'sfirst PM, Nehru, are usingthe non-alignment policy tojustify their position in theUN."

"Abstain from votingagainst a war doesn't makeyour relationship better butmakes your pr inciplesweaker against violence andhuman rights violations,"the Rajya Sabha membersaid.

"Tomorrow it could be usnot getting support againstChina. Today we stood onthe same side as China,that speaks loads about ourforeign policy.

Panic grips Telugustudents stuck in...

India brings back 219 citizens...Continued from page 1

In a telephonic conversationwith Zelenskyy, Modi con-veyed India's deep concernfor the safety and security ofits nationals in Ukraine andsought faci l itat ion byUkrainian authorities to"expeditiously and safely"evacuate the Indians, thePrime Minister 's Off ice(PMO) said in a statement.

Currently, nearly 16,000Indians are stranded inUkraine.

As gunfire, bombings andmissile attacks continued torock various parts of Ukraine,the Indian embassy in Kyivon Saturday asked its nation-

als to exercise caution at alltimes and not move towardsany border post to exit thecountry without prior coor-dination with its officials.

It particularly advised theIndians staying in the easternparts of Ukraine to remain intheir current places of resi-dence and stay indoors or inshelters as much as possible.

"All those currently in theEastern sector are requestedto continue to remain in theircurrent places of residenceuntil further instructions,maintain calm and stayindoors or in shelters as muchas possible, with whateverfood, water and amenitiesavailable and remain patient,"

the embassy said."Avoid unnecessary move-

ment. We once again remindyou to exercise caution at alltimes, be aware of your sur-roundings and the recentdevelopments," it added.

It also asked all Indians notto move to any border pointwithout prior coordinationwith Indian officials.

"All Indian citizens inUkraine are advised to notmove to any of the borderposts without prior coordina-tion with the government ofIndia officials at the borderposts and the emergencynumbers of the embassy ofIndia in Kyiv," the embassysaid.

It said the situation at var-ious border checkpoints issensitive and the embassy isworking continuously withthe Indian missions in theneighbouring countries for acoordinated evacuation ofthe citizens.

"Embassy is finding itincreasingly difficult to helpthe crossing of those Indiannationals who reach bordercheckpoint without prior inti-mation," it said.

India on Friday managedto set up camp offices inLviv and Chernivtsi towns inwestern Ukraine to facilitatethe transit of Indians toHungar y, Romania andPoland.

Zelenskyyspeaks withModi, seeksIndia’s...Continued from page 1

"More than 100,000 invadersare on our land. They insid-iously fire on residentialbuildings. Urged India togive us political support inUN Security Council. Stopthe aggressor together!" hesaid. India abstained on aUN Security Council resolu-tion by the US that "deploresin the strongest terms"Russia's "aggression" againstUkraine, as New Delhi calledfor the immediate cessationof violence and hostilitiesand asserted that dialogue isthe "only answer" to settlingdisputes.

UkrainePresident...Continued from page 1

Hundreds of casualties werereported in the fighting,which included shelling thatsliced through a Kyiv apart-ment building and pum-meled bridges and schools.There also were growingsigns that Russia may beseeking to overthrowUkraine's government, whichU.S. officials have describedas Russian PresidentVladimir Putin's ultimateobjective.

The assault representedPutin's boldest effort yet toredraw the world map andrevive Moscow's Cold War-era influence. It triggerednew international efforts toend the invasion, includingdirect sanctions on Putin.

Continued from page 1

Seelam Radhika, a studentfrom Vijayawada, studyingthird year MBBS in KharkivMedical University, sharedher saga to The Pioneer inthe backdrop of intense bat-tle in Kharkiv city. She saidthat the local governmentauthorities are asking thestudents and local residentsnot to come out of bunkersand basements.

She said that till February23 it was a smooth sailingfor them at the college but,the Russian invasion ofUkraine on February 24had created panic amongthe students. She said thatthey are left with breadthat will last for two days.

She said they are takingshelter at a metro rail sta-tion and visiting the hostelto get food.

Radhika said that thereare no basic amenities likewashrooms in the under-ground metro rail station.She said a large number oflocal residents are takingshelter in metro rail sta-tion.

The stranded studentsare in touch with their par-ents in two Telugu Statesand informing them abouttheir plight and war-relat-ed information.

The local residents areliving in panic with loude x p l o s i o n s h ap p e n i n gmany times in a day, saidRadhika.

Continued from page 1

The real fighting for Kyiv isongoing, President VolodymyrZelenskyy said in a video mes-sage in which he accusedRussia of hitting infrastructureand civilian targets.

We will win, he said.Central Kyiv appeared quiet

on Saturday, though sporadicgunfire could be heard. Andfighting on the city's outskirtssuggested that small Russianunits were trying to clear apath for the main forces.Britain and the U.S. said thebulk of Russian forces were 19miles (30 kilometers) fromthe center of the city.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschkoextended an overnight curfewto run from 5 p.m. until 8 a.m.He said "all civilians on thestreet during the curfew will beconsidered members of theenemy's sabotage and recon-naissance groups. Russiaclaims its assault on Ukraine isaimed only at military targets,

but bridges, schools and resi-dential neighbourhoods havebeen hit since the invasionbegan Thursday with air andmissile strikes and Russiantroops entering Ukraine fromthe north, east and south.

Ukraine's health ministerreported Saturday that 198people, including three chil-dren, had been killed andmore than 1,000 others hadbeen wounded during Europe'slargest land war since WorldWar II.

It was unclear whether thosefigures included both mili-tary and civilian casualties.

In Kyiv, a missile struck ahigh-rise apartment buildingin the southwestern outskirtsnear one of the city's two pas-senger airports, leaving ajagged hole of ravaged apart-ments over several floors. Arescue worker said six civilianswere injured.

The conflict has driventhousands of Ukrainians fromtheir homes in search of safe-

ty. U.N. officials said more than120,000 Ukrainians had left thecountry for Poland, Moldovaand other neighboring nations.

Russian President VladimirPutin sent troops into Ukraineafter he spent weeks denyingthat's what he intended, all thewhile building up a force ofalmost 200,000 troops alongthe countries' borders.

He claims the West hasfailed to take seriously Russia'ssecurity concerns aboutNATO, the Western militaryalliance that Ukraine aspires tojoin. But he has also expressedscorn about Ukraine's right toexist as an independent state.

Putin has has not disclosedhis ultimate plans for Ukraineor said how long the Russianmilitary operation could last.Western officials believe he isdetermined to overthrowUkraine's government andreplace it with a regime of hisown, redrawing the map ofEurope and reviving Moscow'sCold War-era influence.

Kyiv appears quiet...

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The APSRTC will operate3,225 special buses services to96 Siva shrines from variousplaces on the occasion of theSivaratri festival on March 1,2022.

APSRTC MD Ch DTirumala Rao said that anestimated 21 lakh people arelikely to visit various Sivashrines across the State. Hesaid that they will operate 410buses to Guntur district -Kotappakonda for 2.75 lakhpassengers and 390 buses toKurnool district – Srisailamfor 1.25 lakh passengers.Besides, buses would also beoperated to Kadapa district -Polatala, Nithya Puja Kona,West Godavari district -Balive, Pattiseema and otherfamous Siva shrines acrossthe State.

The RTC will provide facil-ities like drinking water, tents,enquiry centres, temporarybus stations and other infra-structural facilities for thepassengers. The buses will beoperated following Covidregulations. The devoteeswho wish to go to the shrinesin large numbers can contactthe depot managers con-cerned who will arrange thebuses accordingly.

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2022 vijayawada 03

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former minister and TDPleader N Amarnath Reddy onSaturday advised PanchayatRaj Minister PeddireddyRamachandra Reddy to stophis misinformation campaignagainst the previous TDPregime with regard to theNREGS works.

Amarnath Reddy demand-ed that the Minister explainwhy their government couldnot prove any of its corruptioncharges against the TDPdespite having power in thepast three years. Peddireddyshould check the facts beforemaking baseless allegationsfor deriving political mileage.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, the TDP leaderdared the minister to order aninquiry by a sitting judge of theHigh Court into frauds thattook place in the Jaganannacolonies all over the State.Multi-crore NREGS fundswere looted in the name of lev-elling the sites and layingroads. In place of manuallabour, machines were usedovernight and false bills wereclaimed during the day.

Amarnath Reddy deploredthat the funds meant for ruralemployment generation had

eventually gone into the pock-ets of the ruling party MLAsand leaders. "CouldPeddireddy give correctaccounts for the Rs 26,000crore NREGS funds given bythe Centre to AP in the pastthree years? How many roadswere laid? Why could not 300km roads be laid despite beingsanctioned?" he asked

The TDP leader asserted thatthe Central government hadtaken control of spendingthe NREGS funds inAP because of ram-pant YSRCP cor-r u p t i o n .Whereas, theprevious TDPregime broughtover 100 nation-al awards byimplement ingprogrammes in aneffective and transpar-ent manner under the pan-chayat raj sector.

Amarnath Reddy remindedPeddireddy of records as prooffor 24,000 km of cement roadslaid under NREGS during thefive-year term of the TDP.During this period, 14,000 kmof BT roads were laid, 38 lakhtoilets were constructed and 21lakh LED bulbs were arranged.Over 4,950 panchayat build-

ings were constructed. TheJaganmohan Reddy rule did nosuch development but onlystarted painting its party'sthree colours to all buildingsand even cremation groundsconstructed during the TDPrule.

The TDP leader refuted theallegations about corruption inNeeru Chettu during the pre-vious regime, saying thou-sands of tanks and check dams

were constructed. As aresult, the groundwa-

ter table rose by 3to 3.5 meters.This was as perthe records. Thefarmers reapedhuge benefits asover 7 lakh acres

were stabilised.A m a r n a t h

Reddy accused theruling YSRCP MLAs

and leaders of looting overRs. 7,000 Cr in the JaganannaColonies. The YSRCP wasundermining all systemsincluding the audit section. IfPeddireddy stood by his alle-gations, he should use hispower to prove corruptionduring the TDP rule. The rul-ing party leaders had lootedeven the funds meant for ruralcoolies.

Get your facts right before levelling charges, TDP tells Peddireddy

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP State off icialspokesman Moka AnandSagar on Saturday demand-ed that the Jagan MohanReddy government stopmeddling with the cinematicket rates in the interests ofone and all.

Anand Sagar asserted thatthe cheap tricks of the rulingYSRCP leaders had miser-ably failed to work before theAkhanda and BheemlaNayak movies. The politicalgimmicks of CM JaganMohan Reddy turned into anutter flop show in front ofthe star image of PawanKalyan.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, the TDP leader saidthe YCP regime was apparent-ly trying to destroy theprospects of the famous filmpersonalities by increasingticket rates irrationally. NoChief Minister anywhere in

the country had interferedwith the cinema ticket rates tillnow. Jagan Reddy was the onlyexception in this issue and hewould pay heavily for it.

Anand Sagar said the rul-ing YSRCP leaders should atleast realise now that theywould not be able to usetheir brute force to suppressthe voices of everyone. Thefabricated cases, i l legalarrests and midnight raidswould not frighten anybodyin the State. The CM and hisMLAs were only busy withfilling their personal trea-suries rather than developingthe overall State.

The TDP leader askedwhat good all those 79 advi-sors of Jagan Reddy weredoing to the people. Croresof money was being spent onthem every month but to noadvantage for the State in anymanner. The YSRCP govern-ment got the dubious dis-tinction of making big stars

run around and wait in frontof their offices. This wouldnot bring any good to theState in the future.

Anand Sagar asked whythe Government was out-sourcing sand, colours andTTD tickets when it wanteda controlling power over thecinema ticket rates. The APpeople would get a betterdeal if the CM's post wouldalso be outsourced. Thecheap political tricks werebeing used as they wereunable to provide good gov-ernance in any sector.

The TDP leader accusedthe YCP regime of bringingmassive destruction to theState with its illegalities,irregularities, and misdeeds.AP has turned into a debt-ridden, bankrupt State inthe eyes of the country. Itbecame known as a Statedevoid of income, develop-ment project,s and jobopportunities.

Stop meddling with film ticket prices, govt told

RTC to run 3,225 Sivaratri specials REGION WISE DETAILS OF HOLY SHRINES OF LORD SIVA

SL.No Region No Places

1 NEC 6 Gumpa, Paramakonda, Punyagiri, Ramateerdhalu, Ravivalasa, Sabakota

2 VSP 5 Appikonda, Dharamattam, Kalyanapu Lova, Mathsyagundam, R.K Beach

3 EG 10 Addatigala, G.Mulapalem, GBS, Jaggampeta, Kotapadu, Kotipalli, Patapatnam, Rajavommangi, Rampa, Pithapuram,

4 WG 4 Balive, Pattiseema, Taduvai, Veerampalem

5 KRI 7 Ferry, Guttapadu, Iluru, Mukthayala, Neeladri, Pedakallepalli, Sangameswaram KRI

6 GNT 11 Kotappakonda, Amaravati, Aravapalli, Daida, Govada, Mannepalli, Quarry, Satrasala, Terala, Tripurantakam, Tsunduru

7 PKSM 3 Mogilicherla & Sangameswaram, Bramha Kona & Punugodu, Ramateerdham

8 NLR 7 Bhiravakona, Ekasani tippa, Gandavaram, Kotithhertham, Mogilicherla, Mypadu, Pantragam

9 CTR 14 Avanthi Kona, Gudimallam, Gudiyatham, Jhari, Kailasakona, Mallayyakonda, Mallappakonda, Mogili, Peddathirdamkona, Sadasivakona, Siddeswarakona, Srikalahasthi, Talakona, Tavalam

10 KDP 14 Polatala, Lankamala, B.Matam, K.Teedham, S.Devalalu, Jyothi, N.P.Kona, B.Kota, Talakona, G.Kona, Haritala, M.Konda, N.S.Matam, A.Kona,

11 KRNL 11 Srisailam Bhogeswaram, Brahmagundam, Jagannatha gattu, Kolanu Bharathi, Mahanandi, Omkaram, Rudra kodu, Sangameswaram,, Venkatapuram, Yaganti

12 ATP 3 Polathala, Timmama Marrimanu, Hemavati

Total 96PLAN OF SPL. BUSES OPERATIONS FOR MAHASIVARATHRI 2022

(01.03.2022-02.03.2022)

Sl No Region No of Shrines Buses

1 NEC 6 175

2 VSP 6 250

3 EG 10 100

4 WG 4 175

5 KRI 7 225

6 GNT 11 800

7 PKSM 3 275

8 NLR 7 75

9 CTR 14 350

10 KDP 14 325

11 KRNL 11 450

12 ATP 3 25

Total 96 3225

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP national president andformer chief minister NChandrababu Naidu held aZoom conference with thestranded Telugu students inUkraine and the rescue coor-dinators in Europe for the sec-ond consecutive day onSaturday.

The students expressed con-cerns over escalating tensionsamidst the absence of concreteassurance from any side fortheir immediate evacuationfrom Kyiv, Kharkov and othercities to the borders. Over 300Telugu students reached theborder with Hungary but theygot stuck there due to the lackof permission for passage fromthe Ukrainian army there.

Considering the uncertain-ties, Naidu advised the studentsto stay in their current loca-tions and pool their resourcesamong themselves for the sakeof their immediate safety andsecurity. They should be incontact with the rescue coor-dinators through WhatsAppgroups or mail to get help forfood and accommodation.

Chandrababu Naidu cau-tioned the students once againnot to pick up arguments oversensitive issues like visa hurdlesand international diplomacy.They should not take sides andshould maintain a stand that

they came to that country asstudents and would like to goback home safely. Utmost cau-tion would be required to getthe required 'safe passage' forall the stranded Telugus there.

Naidu asked the TDP NRICell and Europe coordinatorsto get round-the-clock feed-back from the students as aconfidence-building measure.As per the latest reports, thepassage was permitted on theUkraine-Romania border.Once the safe evacuation chan-nels would open up, helpwould be extended to thestranded Telugus. This issuewould be taken up once againwith the External AffairsMinistry and Indian Embassy.

The TDP chief said five tosix special trains would berequired to rush all the strand-

ed Indians in differentUkrainian cities to the borders.It would ensure safe return ofall the 4,000 stranded Telugu aswell. The issue would be takenup with the Indian govern-ment. The students should notget involved in sensitive mat-ters at the borders. They shouldfocus only on crossing theUkrainian border safely fromwhere their safe return to Indiawould not be a problem.

Naidu asked rescue coordi-nators in Kyiv to rush help tostranded girl students inKharkov as they ran out ofmoney and food supplies. Hethanked the Telugu people liv-ing in European countries forcoming forward to coordinatethe evacuation.

A Visakhapatnam-basedgirl, stranded in Kyiv, narrat-ed their problems after gettingstuck in a basement. Therewere bombings and deafening

sounds outside. The embassyofficials, who promised toevacuate them two days ago,were now saying they wouldhave to travel to the borders attheir own risk.

Naidu advised the studentsstuck in sensitive locationslike Kyiv and Kharkov not toventure out till reliable helpwould come. They should becool and bold without givingany panic reactions. Any deci-sion taken in fear and panicwould only throw them atgreater risk. For financial assis-tance, the TDP NRI Cell coor-dinators would respond.

The TDP chief asked someIndian students stranded in aKyiv hotel to get financial helpfor food and accommodationlocally. The TDP would reim-burse them back home inIndia. The mobilisation ofresources from all corners wasthe need of the hour.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Demanding that West Krishnadistrict be named afterVangaveeti Mohana RangaRao, Radha-Ranga MitraMandali president VangaveetiNarendra took part in ahunger strike from10 am to 5 pm hereon Saturday. Rangafans from differentregions supportedNarendra.

On the occasion,he said thatVangaveeti Rangawas not just anindividual but aforce and earned aplace in the heartsof all, transcendingthe barriers ofcaste and religion.He recalled that 30years ago Ranga’sdeath was a sensa-tion and was cov-ered by the BBCacross the world."We demand thatthe district benamed after thegreat leader," he added.

He further said that politi-cians use Ranga’s name and hisportrait for votes during elec-tions and asked them to

demand Ranga's name for theproposed district. He said thatthe Ranga fans who are in theruling YSRCP should take theissue to the notice of the ChiefMinister.

Narendra recalled that Dr.YS Rajasekhara Reddy and

Vangaveeti MohanaRanga were goodfriends and hadworked for theCongress party. AsYSR's name wasgiven to Kadapa dis-trict, West Krishnadistrict should alsobe named afterRanga district, hedemanded.

"One will remem-ber VangaveetiMohana Rangawhen they talkabout Vijayawadaand the ChiefMinister shouldrespond positivelyon this issue. EastKrishna should benamed NTR districtand West Krishnaafter Vangaveeti

Mohana Ranga Rao. If thegovernment does not respondpositively, we will stageprotests across the State," saidNarendra.

Pool own resources, Naidutells stranded Telugu students

‘AP govt attitude allowedHetero Drugs unit toimperil lives of workers’PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Former Union secretary EASSarma has said that from thepoint of view of safety, as wellas pollution, the Hetero Drugsunit at Nakkapalli in the dis-trict presents a standing exam-ple of how the State govern-ment has shamefully allowedit to endanger the workers'lives and imperil the health ofthe people.

Recalling the latest fire acci-dent in the company, Sarmawrote a letter to AP ChiefSecretary Sameer Sharma stat-ing that in the past there weretwo major accidents in thecompany in which five work-ers died. The latest incident inthe unit is an accident thattook place on February 23, inwhich one person died andfour others were grievouslyinjured. The incident showshow the promoters of theindustry, who seem to be inclose nexus with the successivepolitical leaderships, have cal-lously been maintaining andrunning the unit, directly orindirectly responsible forkilling the innocent workersand disrupting the livelihoodsof their families, the formerIAS officer told the ChiefSecretary.

He said every time there isan accident, the State industri-al directorates dealing withfactory and boiler safety, comeup with their postmortem

accident investigation reportsto mislead the people andforget about them within days,till the next accident takesplace. The police too registerFIRs but no one knows howand why the cases are closed,once public memory fades.The district administrationtoo washes its hands of theaccidents, as they lack anyvision on tightening industri-al safety in the district.

Taking into account theseries of accidents that tookplace at Hetero Drugs, PharmaCity and other areas in the dis-trict, the total number hasexceeded 40 and the lives losthas exceeded 40-50, Sarmalashed out on the administra-tion.

Till date, the promoters ofHetero Drugs have beenallowed to go scot-free. Not asingle one was put behind thebars, compared to hundreds ofundertrials accused of com-mitting lesser crimes, areforced to languish in the jailsfor years togerther.

He further said it is equal-ly distressing to find that nota single senior officer of theDirectorates of Factories andBoilers nor any senior officerof the APPCB has proceededagainst the unit.

"Are we living in a jungleraj, where laws can be wanton-ly flouted and innocent per-sons callously killed?" Sarmawondered.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The fans of actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena Party(JSP) chief Pawan Kalyanerected a f lex praisingTelangana State Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao inVijayawada for giving permis-sion for extra shows for hisfilm Bheemla Nayak that wentviral. A big photo of the TSCM with the caption ‘Hatsoff '

CM Sir’ was displayed on thebanner.

The massive flex, put upnear Krishnalanka fire station,went viral on Saturday throughvarious social media platforms.It generated enough publiccuriosity in the city.

The flex also bears the pic-tures of KCR’s son and ITMinister KT Rama Rao andcinematography ministerTalasani Srinivasa Yadav,

besides those of prominentKapu leader late VangaveetiMohana Ranga, former MLAVangaveeti Radhakrishna andformer Speaker and Jana Senaleader Nadendla Manohar.

According to sources, angryYSRCP leaders took the issue tothe notice of the officials andsought its removal.

Later, the VMC officialsrushed to the spot and removedthe flex banner.

Flex with images of Pawan, KCR in city goes viral

Naidu asked the TDP NRI Cell andEurope coordinators to get round-the-clock feedback from thestudents as a confidence-buildingmeasure. As per the latest reports,the passage was permitted on theUkraine-Romania border.

Naming of WestKrishna dist afterRanga demanded

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The South Central RailwayWomen Welfare Organisation(SCRWWO), Vijayawada,organised a 'Well-Being PopUp Fest' here on Saturday. Dr.Vandana Srivastava, President,SCRWWO, South CentralRailway, inaugurated the fes-tival. The objective of the Pop-Up Feest was to raise awarenessregarding the importance ofemotional intelligence amongchildren and adults.

SCRWWO Vijayawadaorganised this fun-filled carni-

val with a lot of activities thatwill give children opportunitiesto explore. Around 500 stu-dents from various schoolstook part in the fest with greatenthusiasm.

Speaking on the occasion,Dr Jaya Mohan, PresidentSCRWWO, Vijayawada saidthat the activities conductedhere are in line with the UnitedNations SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs).She said that this is a one-of-its-kind Well-Being Fest whichis based on the thinking thatemotions give energy and

insight and children learnthrough play. She said, "Oureffort will be to strike a perfectbalance between IntelligenceQuotient (IQ) and EmotionalQuotient (EQ) through funactivities."

Along with the above activ-ities, there was an elocutioncompetition, on-the-spot talentshow and many other activitiesto engage the young minds.She said that not only children,but many women entrepre-neurs have also come up vol-untarily to showcase their art,handloom work which is a sign

of women empowerment.The highlights of the fest are

EQ activities, science exhibi-tion, elocution competition,talent show, food stalls, potter’swheel, puppet show fromKakinada and many moreactivities were conducted.

Dr. K Sarada & D Sridevi,vice presidents, SCRWWO,Usha, secretary, SCRWWO, RVidya Manoj, treasurer SCR-RWWO, M Bala Muralidhar,Sr DPO Nusrat MMandrupkar, PRO, VijayawadaDivision other Branch Officersand staff took part.

‘Well-Being Pop Up' fest held

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Aadigyan, the flagship initia-tive of the InternationalRelations and Higher Studiesoffice at SRM University waslaunched on Saturday.

Chief guest G KishanReddy, Minister for Tourism,Culture and Development ofthe North Eastern Region ofIndia, said that it is hearteningto launch Aadigyan whichembarks on the beginning ofsharing Indian values, cul-ture, heritage and art to a glob-al level. “I wish Aadigyan agrand success and congratulateSRM University-AP for pro-viding this wonderful oppor-tunity to the world” he added.

Prof VS Rao, Vice-Chancellor, launched thepromo video of Aadigyan andremarked that Aadigyan aimsto integrate education with theart and culture of India. DrNaga Swetha Pasupuleti,Associate Director -International Relations andHigher Studies introduced thepartnering institutions-ISKCON, Vijayawada; TheArt of Living; The TempleDance; Nrityanjali; IshaFoundation; RajyogaEducation & ResearchFoundation, Brahma Kumaris;and Vivekananda Institute ofHuman Excellence,Ramakrishna Math,Hyderabad.

‘Aadigyan' launchedat SRM-AP University

‘As YSR's namewas given toKadapa district,West Krishnadistrict shouldalso be namedafter Rangadistrict’

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2022 04

Vehicle lifter arrested, 10 bikes seizedKADAPA: The police arrested a notorious bike lifter and seized 10 two-wheelers from him at Almaspet here. DSP B Venkata Shiva Reddy toldthe media here on Saturday that Pathan Sadiq, a lorry driver, parkedhis bike on the premises of his house on February 15. On February22, he found that his bike was missing and he lodged a complaintwith the Two Town police. The police formed a special team to nab thebike lifter. following which checking of vehicles was conducted inAlmaspet. Noticing the police, the accused Madamshetti VenkataRamesh Babu tried to flee the place. The police chased and arrestedhim. The accused later confessed to the crime and 10 bikes worth Rs6 lakh were seized from his possession. He committed bike thefts atvarious places in the district. SP KKN Anburajan appreciated SDOP BVenkata Shiva Reddy, Kadapa Urban CI S M Ali, SIs P Tulasi NagaPrasad, R Raghavendra Reddy and ASI P Bhaskar for arresting thenotorious bike lifter.

Take steps to resolve pending cases: JudgeONGOLE: District Principal Judge P V Jyotirmai has asked CollectorPravin Kumar, SP Malika Garg, and the District Prison Superintendentto take steps to resolve the pending cases at the earliest. The coordi-nation committee meeting was held in the chamber of the districtprincipal judge here on Saturday. The coordination members includ-ing the District Collector, SP, and district prison superintendent attend-ed the meeting. They discussed various issues including how manyundertrials are in the prison, how long they have been in the prison,the possibility of their release, non-bailable cases, their status, nego-tiable instrument act cases, land acquisition cases and money recov-ery cases were discussed at the meeting. They also discussed the set-tlement of auto insurance compensation cases, cheque bounce casesand E.P. cases pending in the court by taking loans from variousfinancial institutions with the approval of both parties. It was decidedin the meeting to see to it that these cases were settled expeditiously.

Name of graveyard must for death certificate: CSHYDERABAD: Citizens applying for death certificates will have toinclude the name of the graveyard also in their applications.Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar held a review meeting on Saturdayat the BRKR Bhavan on issue of Birth and Death Certificates byurban local bodies and gram panchayats, implementation of SmartCity projects and TS BPass. He directed officers to ensure 100 percent registrations of all births and deaths in the state. He asked theGHMC Commissioner, CDMA and HMFW Department to see that notonly all hospitals but also all graveyards and cremation grounds areenrolled on the birth and death registration platform for onlinenotifications of births and deaths. He asked the officers to ensurethat the platforms of GHMC/other ULBs and GPs for birth and deathregistration are integrated for the seamless flow of information.

PNS n NELLORE

In a bizarre incident, two fakedoctors performed a ‘sex-change’ operation in a hotelroom, leading to the patient'sdeath. Incidentally, both thefake doctors are B. Pharm stu-dents of a private Pharmacycollege in the district.

The police said that the fakedoctors rented a room in alocal hotel, converted it into anoperation theatre and per-formed a ‘sex-change’ surgeryon one B Srikanth aliasAmulya, belonging toKamepalli village inJarrugumalli mandal ofPrakasam district.

As the operation went awry,the patient died due to loss ofblood.

Police said that the deceasedgot married to a girl in 2019and he divorced her in 2020

and had been living in Ongolesince then. Srikanth befriend-ed a transgender Monalisaalias G Ashok. The fake doc-tors A Mastan and Jeeva, whoare pursuing B.Pharm course ata private college, made friends

with Srikanth and Monalisathrough social media.

Srikanth alias Amulya toldthe accused that he was goingto Mumbai for a sex-changeoperation. Claiming that theywere doctors, the accused

offered to perform the opera-tion at a price cheaper than thatis charged in Mumbai to whichthe deceased had agreed. Thefake doctors checked into alodge located at GandhiBomma Centre in Nellore andon February 24 they performeda sex-change operation onSrikanth alias Amulya. As partof the operation, they amputat-ed his penis.

With the deceased bleedingprofusely after the operation,the accused students adminis-tered him a heavy dose of med-icines resulting in his BP com-ing down which led to hisdeath.

The lodge managementinformed the police of theincident. The police arrestedthe two accused and shifted thebody to the GovernmentGeneral Hospital for post-mortem.

Patient dies as fake docsdo ‘sex-change’ operation

SHORT TAKES

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The APCRDA demolished anillegal layout at Nara Kodur inGuntur district on Saturday.APCRDA Commissioner KVijaya Krishnan said that theurban planning wing officialsof the organisation demol-ished the basic amenitiesdeveloped in the place withearthmovers. She said that noillegal layout in the Capitalregion would be spared.

The APCRDACommissioner said that thegovernment was incurringhuge revenue losses due to ille-gal layouts and that the unau-thorised layouts would not begood for the people.

She warned that APCRDAwould not only demolish theillegal layouts but also register

criminal cases according to thelaw.

Vijaya Krishnan warned thatAPCRDA would initiate mea-sures for the registration of ille-

gal layouts as prohibited landsin the Revenue andRegistration departments. Sheinstructed developers and real-tors to follow the norms.

PNS n GUNTUR

Guntur District Collector VivekYadav and SP Vishal Gunni,along with MLA GopireddySrinivasa Reddy and other offi-cials, inspected the arrange-ments being made for the megaspiritual event of Mahasivaratriat the famous hill shrineTrikoteswara Swamy templeatop the Kotappakonda hill onSaturday. They directed all theofficials to work in a coordinat-ed manner to make the megaevent a big success on March 2.

The Collector said thatwidening of roads, setting upqueue lines had almost beencompleted and other pendingworks to be carried out at the

temple. He directed the officialsto complete the works at the ear-liest. The Collector said that thestaff was assigned zone-wiseduties and they should workcontinuously so that no sanita-tion problem would arise. Hedirected the officials to take stepsto supply drinking water, butter-milk, and milk for the childrenwho stand in the queue lines inthe temple premises.

Vivek Yadav said a specialintegrated control room shouldbe set up with the police and rev-enue officers to monitor andcoordinate the officers on dutyin different areas from there. Hesaid that even a small incidentcould have a serious impact onthe functioning of the district

administration as lakhs of devo-tees are likely to throng the tem-ple on the occasion ofMahashivaratri Day. Theauthorities should carry outtheir duties vigilantly and effi-ciently without neglecting thefield level staff, he told the offi-cials.

Rural District SP Vishal

Gunni said that as the MahaShivaratri festival atKotappakonda is being held asa state festival, a strong securi-ty force is being set up with 2700police personnel. The SP saidthat without traffic jams, checkposts would be set up at allimportant places for the safetyof the devotees and would be

constantly monitored. He saidspecial teams would be set upwith the SEB and police to con-duct inspections to prevent alco-hol and other illicit activitiesduring the festivities.

Vishal Gunni asked thelocal police to coordinate withthe authorities of electricityand ensure that there wouldbe no interruption to thepower supply at the temple.He asked the police officials towork with the official’s rev-enue and other departmentsin coordination.

MLA Gopireddy SrinivasaReddy said that the devotionalevent would be successful if theevent was organised withouttraffic jams. He directed the

Police, Revenue, Panchayat Rajand Endowment officials to bevigilant and alert during theMahasivaratri day, adding thatfrom 5 am to evening 2 pm arecrucial hours as lakhs of devo-tees throng the temple to havedarshan of the deity.

Later, they inspected the roadwidening works of Narasaraopetto Yalamanda and Sagar branchcanal works. Joint Collectors KSridhar Reddy, AssistantCollector Subham Bhansal, tem-ple trustee Kondala Rao,ZPCEO Srinivasa Reddy andNarasaraopet municipal com-missioner Ramachandra Reddyand temple EO Ramakoti Reddywere among those who werepresent.

Sivaratri arrangements at Kotappakonda inspected

Illegal layout demolished PNS n ONGOLE

Endowments MinisterVellampalli Srinivas has facedthe heat of separateMarkapuram district agitationas his convoy was blocked inMarkapuram on Saturday.

The minister reachedMarkapuram while going toSrisailam to participate in aprogramme. He went to MLAKandur Nagarjuna Reddy’shouse. When he was going toSri Lakshmi ChennakesavaSwamy temple, theMarkapuram district SadhanaSamiti activists blocked hisconvoy at the RDO office.Though the police set up apolice picket they obstructedthe minister's convoy.

The minister got down fromthe car and spoke with the agi-

tators and took the memoran-dum from them. He assuredthem to do justice. Theyexplained to the minister thenecessity of creating a separateMarkapuram district.

Meanwhile, the ministerperformed special pooja at

the Sri Lakshmi ChennakesavaSwamy temple. He was accord-ed a warm welcome by MLAKP Nagarjuna Reddy templetrustees board chairman PKeshavarao and Municipalchairman ChBalamualikrishna.

Minister blocked at M’puram stir

PNS n ELURU

Reiterating that the govern-ment is committed to encour-aging sportsmen, Minister forSports and TourismMuttamsetti Srinivasa Rao hasunderlined the need of explor-ing rural talent in sports.

The minister inauguratedthe CM cup sports meet inTanuku in ZP high school onSaturday in which DeputyChief Minister AllaKalikrishna Srinivas, MPKotagiri Sridhar, Councilchairman Moshenraju andMLAs were present.

Speaking on the occasion,the Sports Minister said thatChief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy had givenpatronage to PV Sindhu,Kidambi Srikanth and Rashid,who had brought laurels to thecountry. He said that therewere many players in the statewho excelled in sports. “Thegovernment’s intention is to

explore the talent from theplayers of rural areas”, he said.

The Sports Minister saidthat sports competitions werebeing organised in 175 con-stituencies. He said that thegovernment is encouragingsports by using the Khel India,state government funds andprivate sponsorships. Statingthat sports bring confidence,physical and mental fitness, hedirected the officials authori-ties to take steps to ensure thatsports are also conducted inprivate schools.

The Sports minister felt sui-cides could be preventedthrough sports and parentsshould encourage their chil-dren to participate in sports.Taking part in sports wouldalso prevent addiction to vices.As many as 3000 players gotjobs in the secretariat systemin sports quota, he informed.

Deputy Chief MinisterKalikrishna Srinivas said thatthe youth could also create a

bright future for themselvesthrough sports and the ChiefMinister is creating all oppor-tunities for them in this regard.

MLA Karumuri VenkataNageswara Rao welcomed thedistribution of cricket and vol-leyball kits. He said that ChiefMinister YS Jagan MohanReddy had extended Rs 8 croreto 76 players who played ininternational tournaments andRs 4 crore to 1500 players whohad taken part in the nation-al tournaments. He said thatreservation was providedunder sports quota.

Council chairman KMoshen Raju, CollectorPrasanna Venkatesh, ZP chair-man K Srinivas, MP KotagiriSridhar, MLAs SrinivasaNaidu, M Nagaraju,Varaparasad Raju, P SrinivasaRao T Venkata Rao U Elija andstate Sahitya Academy chair-man M Srilakshmi wereamong those who were pre-sent.

Minister underlines need for tapping rural talent in sports

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Vizianagaram policesolved a jewellery store theftcase in a swift move. Thepolice arrested a personLokesh Srivas and recovered6.18 kg of gold ornaments, 90gms of silver ornaments andRs15,000 cash from theaccused.

Superintendent of police,Vizianagaram, Deepika Patilon Saturday said that they hadreceived a complaint fromKota Rammohan, owner ofRavi Jewellery store inVizianagaram town, saidunidentified persons had bro-ken the locks of the shuttersand taken away 8 kg of gold

ornaments on February 21night.

The police registered a caseand the clues team collectedmaterial evidence and alsoexamined the CCTV footage.

During the investigation,the police got informationthat an inter-state gang wasinvolved in the crime, sheadded.

A special team was sent toChhattisgarh and nabbed theaccused Lokesh Srivas. Theaccused confessed to the crimeand two more offences thatwere reported in the district."We have recovered 6.18 kg ofgold, some silver and cashfrom the accused," the SPsaid.

Vizianagaram goldheist case cracked

Woman traineepilot dies asaircraft crashes PNS n HYDERABAD

A woman trainee pilot diedwhen an aircraft belonging toa private aviation academycrashed in Nalgonda district ofTelangana on Saturday, policesaid.

Aviation MinisterJyotiraditya Scindia said hewas shocked. A team of inves-tigators is on its way to themishap site.

Mahima (28), who has beentraining for the past fourmonths, took off on theCessna 152 aircraft at about10.25 AM and it was flyingover Tungaturthi village inthe district, a police officialtold PTI. An eye-witness sawthe plane crashing down on afield and breaking into pieces.There was no fire after thecrash, the official said.

By the time the eye-witnessreached the plane, its pilot wasdead.

She was only occupant onthe aircraft.

PNS n GUNTUR

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) leader Ram Madhav hasmade it clear that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willbe on the side of justice.

Addressing a programmehere on Saturday, he said thatthe US is supporting Ukraineand China is supportingRussia. Some leaders are ask-ing for the support of NarendraModi. “Narendra Modi willstand on the side of justice. Hewill not support any of them,”he clarified.

He said that SwabhimanBharat could be built whenthere was no caste and reli-gion-based division and selfishpolitics. “We should create anIndia devoid of religioushatred,” he said.

Referring to the hijab issue,the RSS leader said, “It is notproper to say that if they wearhijab, we wear saffron.” Theeducational institutions should

take a decision on the uniformissue," he felt.

He said the poverty of mil-lions of people in seven lakhvillages should be eradicated."That is the real indepen-dence," he said.

The RSS leader said that

elaborate security was provid-ed at the border areas of thecountry.

Terrorism and religious illfeelings must be eradicated, hesaid. He said that three of the12 big IT companies were ledby Indians.

Steps for Vice President’svisit to Eluru reviewed

Modi will be on the side of justice: Ram Madhav

PNS n ELURU

Superintendent of Police RahulDev Sharma, Joint Collector BR Ambedkar and other offi-cials inspected the arrange-ments being made for the visitof Vice-President of India MVenkaiah Naidu.

The Vice-President is toparticipate in the PlatinumJubilee celebrations of CRREducational Institutions to beheld here on March 2. The SPand other officials inspectedthe venue, seating arrange-ments and other security

arrangements in the Collegepremises. The officials alsospoke with the secretary of theinstitutions Dr. MBSV Prasadand correspondent KHariramakrishnam Raju andreviewed the arrangements.

They also inspected theroad from the Kalaparru tollgate to the venue. They direct-ed the R&B officials to com-plete the repairs to the road atthe earliest.

They directed the officialsto install a generator at thevenue and also take steps toensure that there would be no

interruption to the powersupply during the pro-gramme.

The officials directed theDMHO Dr.B Ravi to keepready medical exports and anambulance at the venue. TheJoint Collector directed themunicipal commissioner tobeautify the road divider.Assistant Collector RahulKumar Reddy, In-charge RDOB Raju, municipal commis-sioner Chandrasekhar andTransco SE Janardhan Raoamong those who were pre-sent.

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2022 nation 05

Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) will

become a part of India "at anappropriate time" as thecountry is bound by itsParliamentary resolution tothis effect, LieutenantGeneral KJS Dhillon (retired)said here on Saturday.

Dhillon, who commanded XV Corps of the Army when the 2019Pulwama attack took place, was here to speak at the AhmedabadDesign Week event organised at Karnavati University. He had takenover the command at a crucial time when the Centre executed itsplan of abrogation of the special status of Jammu-Kashmir and hadbifurcated the state into two Union Territories, namely Ladakh andJammu and Kashmir. "Lots of people in this country thought Article370 would never go. Article 370 went when the time came. PoK willcome (to India) when the time comes.

‘POK will be part of India atappropriate time’

BSP Lok Sabha memberDanish Ali on Saturday

accused the central govern-ment of failing to give a "satis-factory answer" to his demandfor making a law on MinimumSupport Price in the WinterSession of Parliament. Healso claimed that UnionAgriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar is "simply tryingto avoid the real issue by justexplaining the process of

MSP". The Lower House member from Uttar Pradesh, where elec-tions are underway, shared a letter from Tomar on Twitter to drivehome his point.Ali had raised the issue of a legislation on MSP dur-ing the Zero Hour on December 1 last year. Responding to the issue,the Union minister wrote to the BSP MP on February 21.

‘Govt not giving satisfactoryreply on law on MSP’

The guidelines issued by theMinistry of Jal Shakti to

regulate and control groundwater extraction in the coun-try is only a new cover pro-vided to the old scheme withminor variations, alterationsand modifications, theNational Green Tribunal hassaid. A bench headed by NGT

Chairperson Justice A K Goel said the 2020 guidelines broadly donot satisfy directions given by it repeatedly and persistently. We donot find much improvement in Guidelines 2020. Virtually, it is only anew cover provided to the old scheme with minor variations, alter-ations and modifications, here and there, but having no substantialconsequences to the root cause and central issue, i.e. protection andpreservation of ground water, prevention of, not only further deple-tion, but a serious and effective attempt for recharge and restoration,the bench said.

NGT decries Centre's fiat onregulation of ground water

Karnataka Chief MinisterBasavaraj Bommai on Saturday

said he has spoken to the ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar tobring back Kannadigas back toBengaluru, who are stranded in thewar-torn Ukraine once they reachDelhi or Mumbai. Stating that theIndian government is in touch with

the Ukrainian and Russian authorities besides the countries neigh-bouring Ukraine, Bommai said he has also spoken to many strandedpeople. "We will provide every assistance to bring Kannadigas toBengaluru who land from Ukraine to India at Delhi and Mumbai. Ihave spoken to the External Affairs Minister. He told me that sincethe war is on, many of the arrangements are not in place anymore,"Bommai told reporters.Stating that many Indians are trapped in theregions where Russia has entered, the Chief Minister said no casual-ties have taken place.

‘Spoke to Jaishankar to bringback Kannadigas in Ukraine’

INDIA CORNER

PNS n JAIPUR

Amid chaos and confusion, 21-year-old medical studentMehul Rathore and his eldersister Meghna travelled in a busfor 200 kilometres from theUkrainian city of Ternopil andwalked for around 20 kilome-tres at night in freezing cold toreach the Ukraine-Poland bor-der to seek safe shelter inPoland, but they have nooption other than waiting in along queue, that too in uncer-tainty.

This is the situation of a fewhundred others who are some-how reaching the Shehyni-Medyka border, only to facechaos and get stranded as theyare not being allowed to crossthe border, which is witnessinghuge gatherings of peoplewanting safe shelter.

At a distance of 630 kilome-tres from this border, AyushiVishnoi, her friends and manyothers are stuck in a hostelbuilding in Kyiv, witnessingbombing, hearing frequentsirens and switching betweenthe rooms and the under-ground bunkers, silently pray-ing to god to keep them safe.

While the Poland border is

comparatively safe from bomb-ing, the situation in Kyiv is hor-rific with rocket strikes andbombing.

Like Mehul, Meghna andAyushi, there are thousands ofIndian students, including hun-dreds from Rajasthan, who arepanic-stricken, worried andfacing difficulties in evacua-tion.

"We are in the age group of18-21 years. We came here justtwo months ago.... We are notprepared to face this...not at all.We are worried, our parents areworried, we want to go backhome, anyhow," Ayushi, who isfrom Jodhpur, told PTI over thephone.

On the verge of bursting outin tears, she said five explosionswere heard on Friday night anda rocket struck very close to thehostel building.

"Many students have reachedthe Poland border, but there isno advisory for the studentsstuck in Kyiv. We want a safepassage to the border and theIndian embassy should arrangethis. I have tried so manytimes but could not get throughthe helpline number providedby the embassy. I shared mydetails and explained the situ-

ation on a WhatsApp number.The message was seen, butthere was no reply," the studentof the National MedicalUniversity in Kyiv said.

"We are getting regularupdates from friends and oth-ers in WhatsApp groups. Ourfamily members are tryingtheir level best to coordinatewith us and the authorities forensuring our safe return.

"This is worse than the situ-ation we faced during the ini-tial days of the coronaviruspandemic. It is a bigger night-mare," she added.

Mehul said amid uncertain-ty, they left Ternopil at 3 pm onFriday and managed to get abus to the border, but due to amassive traffic jam, they had towalk for around 20 kilometresto reach near the border, wherethere were long queues.

"We were informed thatPoland will allow us to enter, sowe rushed. We paid fares thatwere seven to eight times high-er. Some even paid 20 timeshigher fares to reach the bor-der. Since there was a long traf-fic jam, we had to walk for 20kilometres. Somehow wereached a place near the bor-der at 3 am (local time) onSaturday. Since then, we havebeen standing in a queue. Weare not being allowed to crossthe border," he said, adding thatthey are stranded at a distanceof nearly three kilometres fromthe border.

Meanwhile, in Rajasthan,the family members of hun-dreds of students are contact-ing the Centre as well as thestate government, requestingthem to make arrangements fortheir children to return home.

Ukraine’s envoy onties with Russia, USPNS n KOLKATA

Honorary Consul of Ukrainein India Kamal K Singh onSaturday said it would be atightrope walk' for New Delhito maintain diplomatic rela-tions with Russia and the US,following Russia's invasion ofUkraine.

It is an unfortunate andblatant aggression by theRussians, challenging the sov-ereignty of a country. But, forIndia it is a tightrope walk asthe challenge is to maintaindiplomatic relations withboth Russia and the US,Singh, who is based inMumbai, told PTI overphone.

He said there was nothingwrong in India's stand ofurging for a peaceful resolu-tion of the Russia-Ukrainestand-off, as New Delhi hasto maintain a diplomatic bal-

ance with an old friend andthe West 's superpowereconomies .

India had on Fridayabstained on a UN SecurityCouncil resolution by theUS that deplores in thestrongest terms Russia'saggression" against Ukraine,and called for immediate ces-sation of hostilities, assertingthat dialogue is the onlyanswer to settling the dispute.

Russian President VladimirPutin announced a specialmilitary operation in Ukraineon Thursday, launching mul-tiple attacks on several areasin central and easternUkraine, drawing widespreadcondemnation and sanctionsfrom several countries,including the US.

Singh, however, expresseddoubt over the efficacy of thesanctions, contending thatRussia is a strong country .

‘TIGHTROPE WALK’ FOR INDIA

PNS n NEW DELHI

Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana on Saturday ruedthe lack of basic minimumstandards of judicial infra-structure in the country andstressed the need of not onlyfilling the existing vacanciesbut also raising the number ofjudges in high courts to effi-ciently deal with intellectualproperty litigations.

The CJI was speaking as thechief guest at the 'NationalSeminar on Adjudication ofIPR Disputes in India' hereorganised by the Delhi HighCourt and attended by manyjudges from across the coun-try and Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman,who said India is at a stagewhere growth and focus ondevelopment has got to bestrengthened from every sideand intellectual property rights(IPR) play a very importantrole in it.

"Judicial infrastructureneeds to be improved.Unfortunately, we are not even

meeting the basic minimumstandards in this area. Ithas been my endeav-our since assumingthe office of ChiefJustice of India,to put in place ani n s t i t u t i o n a lmechanism tocoordinate andoversee the improve-ment of judicial infra-structure.

"Mere allocation of funds isnot enough. The challenge is toput the available resources tooptimum use. I have beenpursuing the government forsetting up of statutory author-ities, both at the Centre and atthe states. I am hoping for apositive response soon," JusticeRamana said.

He reiterated his message tooffshore investors that theIndian judicial system isinvestor friendly and absolute-ly independent to impart jus-tice to all.

"When I visited Japan in2016 to attend a conference onIPR, I was repeatedly asked by

entrepreneurs as to howinvestor friendly the

Indian judicial systemis. In fact, wheneverI travel abroad,from a cross sec-tion of hosts, I keepgetting similar

queries. My answerhas always remained

the same; that theIndian judiciary is absolute-

ly independent and it alwaystreats all the parties equally andequitably," he said. The unionminister also stated that thecentral government encour-aged start-ups while protectingtheir IPR as the boost wouldnot have been possible withonly giving up restrictions .

Sitharaman said 28,000patents were registered lastyear as opposed to 4,000 in2013-2014, and that the lastyear also witnessed 2.5 lakhtrademark and over 16,000copyright registrations, whichwill have a very strong rippleeffect when scaled up as theygenerate its own ecosystemand revenues.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India is strongly poised toimplement the framework of"Total Health and One Health"through its focussed, integra-tive and holistic policies, UnionHealth Minister MansukhMandaviya said on Saturday.

In his valedictory address atthe post-Union Budget webi-nar of the Ministry of Health,Mandaviya said telemedicineand the Ayushman BharatDigital Mission will rightlypropel India towards a revolu-tion in the healthcare sector.

Today, India is the leadingcountry in the world to havecreated more than 17 crorehealth IDs, the highest numberglobally, he stated.

Teleconsultation is a revolu-tion and it is providing experthealthcare services even in theremotest of the areas, the min-ister said.

He noted that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'svision for a holistic healthcare

has guided the integration ofvarious healthcare platforms.

"Today's brainstormingsessions with all stakeholderswill help to create a well-defined blueprint for timelyaction for citizen-centricpolicies and output-basedprogrammes," Mandaviyasaid.

The consultation with pri-vate companies and non-

government organisations,including experts and healthsector stakeholders, throughdeep discussions is a step inenriching the policies, initia-tives and actions of the min-istry, he added.

"India is strongly poised toimplement the framework of'Total Health and One Health'through its focussed, integra-tive and holistic policies,"

Mandaviya said.Ayur veda and mental

health form a vital part of"total health" and should beextended through telemedi-cine services, he added.

With the new approach toearly Union Budget presenta-tion, funds allocation andprogramme implementationcan now be started in a muchtimely manner, leading to atimely spending of the allo-cated funds, he stressed.

Reforms in a timely man-ner have ensured that Indiais not left behind on theglobal platform, the ministersaid, adding that "our strate-gic pol ic ies of vaccineresearch and manufacturingare in sync with the emerg-ing developments globally".

Highlighting the role oftechnology and research anddevelopment, Mandaviyasaid India is now at par withthe global leaders in vaccineresearch due to its focus onindigenisation.

Russia-Ukraine war willaffect poor sections: FarooqPNS n SRINAGAR

National Conference presi-dent Farooq Abdullah onSaturday said the Russia-Ukraine war will affect theentire world including India,causing spike in inflation thatwill severely hit the poor sec-tions and remote areas of thecountry.

"The situation in Ukraine isnot going to affect only Indiabut it will affect the entireworld. As soon as the electionswill be over, you will see pricesof oil will increase because theprices of crude is going toincrease rapidly. And that willaffect prices of all commodi-ties.

"Those who live in far flungareas will be affected far more,inflation will increase and itwill be difficult for the poorman to sustain it in honourand in dignity. In Jammu andKashmir, it is going to adverse-ly affect us.. Even survival will

be difficult," Abdullah toldreporters here.

He said India wants peace toreturn to the region at the ear-liest.

"Therefore we wouldwant peace to emergeas soon as possibleand we wantpeace to berestored in theregion," headded.

A b d u l l a h ,however, said theRussia has its ownjustification for itsactions in Ukraine.

"Russia has also it's ownclaim because it does not wantNATO around them as theythink it affects their sovereign-ty. It is therefore for the worldto realise, as Russia has said,how would the US feel if mis-siles are put as before in Cuba,"he added.

Abdullah said New Delhihad it's own outlook about the

situation and how to survive it."Foreign minister of India is

trying his best for somethingto emerge but India does nothave the capacity to pull these

people apart," he said.The Lok Sabhamember from

Srinagar said theimpact of the warwill be immenseon global econo-my includingthat of India.

"The financeminister has said

recently it willadversely affect our econ-

omy. Our development willfall. This is something we all,the world, should have real-ized... It is going to affectEurope very badly," he added.

Asked about India's absten-tion in the UNSC vote,Abdullah said it was for theCentre to answer. "I am notpart of Government of India,"he added.

Govt's duty to protect taxpayer, says GadkariPNS n NEW DELHI

Terming the taxpayer's con-tribution to the country'sreconstruction 'remarkable'and 'historical', Union min-ister Nitin Gadkari onSaturday said it is the duty ofthe government to protectthe honest taxpayer.

Addressing the '2nd TIOLNational Taxation Awards2021', Gadkari further saidthe government is constant-ly bringing reforms in the taxsector.

"Today, the taxpayer's con-tribution to the country'snational reconstruction isvery, very remarkable andhistorical," he said. The RoadTransport & HighwaysMinister noted that taxpay-ers are basically the mostimportant stakeholders whocontribute to the nationbuilding. "And that is one ofthe reasons that it is theduty of the government toprotect the honest taxpayer."

Only Saifai family flourishesin SP, says Yogi AdityanathPNS n AMBEDKAR NAGAR

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath on Saturdayhit out at the opposition SP,saying they call themselves associalists but only the Saifaifamily flourishes in the party.

Saifai is the native place ofAkhilesh Yadav, who heads theparty.

Addressing a series of ralliesin Ambedkar Nagar, CM Yogisaid Dr Ram Manohar Lohiaused to say that a true social-ist must "stay away from prop-erty and progeny".

"But the slogan of these so-called socialists is 'sabka saath,Saifai parivar ka vikas' (supportof all and development ofSaifai family)," Adityanath saidattacking the Samajwadi Party.

He said in 1960, Dr Lohiastarted the Ramayana Mela.

"Now, his present followersshoot Ram bhakts," he said,apparently referring to policefiring at "kar sevaks" in

Ayodhya when MulayamSingh Yadav was the chiefminister of the state.

Adityanath alleged that pre-vious governments in the statepilfered the ration meant forthe poor.

"For those who ate thepoor's ration, we've bulldozers.The power of a bulldozer issuch that it is used for the con-struction of the Purvanchalexpressway as well as to raze

properties of dishonest andcorrupt leaders," he said.

The CM also invoked thelegacy of Maharaja Suheldev,who he said had defeated andkilled invader Ghazi SaiyyadSalar Masood in a battle atBahraich.

"People doing politics inthe name of MaharajaSuheldev are working againsthis ideology today. I believefollowers of Suheldev cannotstand with Ghori andGhaznavi," he said, addingthat for them nationalism issupreme, not the caste, creedor religion.

Adityanath also claimed thatthe BJP will get absolute major-ity in the UP Assembly pollsand the party has swept thefirst four phases of the elec-tions.

"Once again, the BJP willcross 300-seat mark," he said.He appealed to voters to votefor the BJP for a riot-freestate.

‘Yogi lied on oxygen shortageduring Covid pandemic’PNS n JAUNPUR

Samajwadi Party leader andformer MP Dimple Yadav onSaturday targeted UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, saying a largenumber of people died due tooxygen shortage during thecoronavirus pandemic but hehad no "regret".

"He told a lie when he saidthat there was no shortage ofoxygen in UP," said DimpleYadav, who is the wife ofSamajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav.

"How can those who haveno family understand thepain of those who lost theirfamily members in the pan-demic," she asked.

The SP leader also saidshe is proud of the Samajwadifamily as well as the alliancepartners, who are all set towrite a new history in UttarPradesh in the Assemblypolls.

"We are proud of ourSamajwadi Party family andour alliance partners, who are

all together fighting theseelections and are all set towrite a new history," She saidaddressing an election meet-ing in the MadiyahonAssembly segment for partycandidate Sushma Patel.

The SP leader's statementwas in reference to the con-tinuous attacks by BJP lead-ers over dynasty politics inher party.

Taking potshots at the UPCM's statement on "takingout the heat", Dimple Yadavsaid perhaps he has failed tounderstand that the weatherhas changed.

"Seeing your attitude, itseems BJP people will have tobe put in the cold storage," shesaid.

Terming her party's candi-date Sushma Patel heryounger sister, Dimpleappealed to people to ensureher victory with a big margin.

Sushma Patel had won the2017 Assembly elections fromthe seat on the BSP symbolbut joined the SamajwadiParty last year.

Pak securityagenciesarrest fourISIS terroristsPNS n LAHORE

Law enforcement agencies inPakistan's Punjab provinceon Saturday arrested fourterrorists of the banned mil-itant group ISIS in separateraids and recovered weaponsand explosives from them,police said.

According to the CounterTerrorism Department(CTD) of Punjab police,three terrorists of Daesh(ISIS) were arrested during araid by CTD officials inGujranwala, about 100kmsfrom Lahore.

The terrorists were identi-fied as Muhammad Yousaf,Ashraf Kamboh and HabiburRehman.

Three detonators, 2500gmexplosives and 11 ft safetyfuse were recovered fromthem.

Centre set to implement‘Total Health and One Health'

CJI rues lack of basicjudicial infrastructure

No curbs onstudents wearing‘religious attire'in SDMC schoolsPNS n NEWDELHI

Off icia ls of SDMC'sEducation Department onSaturday said they have notissued any order prohibitingstudents from wearing "reli-gious attire" in schools.

The remarks came a dayafter the chairperson of theSDMC education panelasked officials to ensurethat students do not cometo school in "religiousattire". A senior official of theSouth Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) saidon the condition of anonymi-ty that the education depart-ment of the civic body has notissued any such order.

He said the instructionsissued in the letter are theopinions of an individual andnot of the department.

"We have not issued anyorder about not allowing stu-dents to wear religious attirein schools.

Indian students at Ukraine-Poland border see only long queues

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2022 money 06

MONEY MATTERS

Commerce and Industry MinisterPiyush Goyal on Saturdayappealed to the spices industry

to focus on the quality of productsand aspire to double exports to USD10 billion in the next five years.In the last fiscal, the country exportedspices and spices products worthabout USD 5 billion.

He also called for focus on packaging and branding of Indian spices asit would help in further pushing the exports.The minister said thatinstead of targeting USD 10 billion of exports by 2030, "let us aspire todouble our exports to USD 10 billion in the next five years by 2027 andthen further double our exports" by 2032, he said while interacting withfarmers and exporters at an event organised for marking the foundationday of the Spices Board.Goyal said that though India is a global leaderin spices, it is facing certain challenges when it comes to exports in thewhole raw form."We do not currently enjoy a cost advantage againstmany countries of Asia and Africa, which means we should focus onincreasing the exports of value-added spices products," he said.Headded that India is also facing a challenge in preparing its productionand manufacturing system to meet the stringent quality and food safetystandards prescribed by countries across the world."Therefore our aimshould be to sustain the competitive edge of the Indian spice industryand give added thrust to meet stringent quality and food safetystandards," the minister said, adding all trade barriers that are recentlyimposed against domestic products are around the quality.

Aspire to double spices exportsto US$ 10 bn in 5 yrs

With an aim to enhance theease of accessibility andusability of data

disseminated in public by variousdata sources in securities market,Sebi has asked marketintermediaries to make availablesuch data to users, 'free of charge'both for 'viewing' and fordownload.Financial markets aretraditionally data-rich and data-driven and with ever growingfinancial markets, the volume andvariety of data have also increasedmanifold over the years and will

continue to do so."With increasing size and complexity of financialmarkets, addressing information asymmetry and having adequatelyinformed investors and multiple stakeholders in the market cannotbe overemphasised," Sebi said in a circular on Friday.Further, giventhe large variety and volume of information in the markets, the value-added service providers also have a crucial role to play in makingsuch information available to the stakeholders in a morecomprehendible form.Therefore, in order to further enhance thequantum as well as the ease of accessibility and usability of datadisseminated in public by various data sources in Indian securitiesmarket, including market infrastructure institutions (MIIs), Sebi,through its Market Data Advisory Committee, reviewed the extent offree access and usage of data being provided in the public domain.Inthis regard, the regulatory intent behind public dissemination of datain a disclosure based regulatory regime was deliberated in detail byMarket Data Advisory Committee (MDAC).

Sebi comes out with terms ofusage of market data

The conflict between Russia andUkraine is expected to hit"badly" the Indian economy and

the trade to a significant extent,domestic traders' body CAIT saidon Friday.The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) said theimpact will jeopardise efforts torecover the domestic trade from the

COVID-19 pandemic.The expected rise in crude oil will be the crucialand critical factor, which will force the prices to go upward, whereasthe expected rise in gold prices will also participate in a hike in theprices of the commodities, it added."The war between Russia andUkraine is expected to hit badly the Indian economy and the trade to asignificant extent," it said in a statement.It added that a hike in crudeoil will lead to further inflation in petrol and diesel prices, which willlead to overall inflation as the manufacturing and transportation costof the goods will become more costly.On Thursday, Russia launcheda major military offensive in Ukraine, targeting various cities andmilitary installations that had left the world stunned.

‘Russia, Ukraine conflict mayhit Indian economy badly’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani'sReliance Industries Ltd hastaken over the operations of atleast 200 stores of Future Retailand has offered jobs to itsemployees after the KishoreBiyani-led group failed tomake lease payments to land-lords, sources said on Saturday.

Reliance Retail, the retailarm of the oil-to-telecom con-glomerate, had in August 2020agreed to take over the retailand logistics business of theFuture Group for Rs 24,713crore but the deal couldnt beclosed as Future's warringpartner Amazon went tocourts citing violation of somecontracts. Future denies anywrongdoing.

Sources said several land-lords had approached Relianceas Future Retail Ltd (FRL),which is neck deep in losses,was unable to pay rent.

Future has more than 1,700outlets, including the popular

Big Bazaar stories, and has notmade lease payments for someof its outlets. Facing closure,Reliance transferred the leas-es of some stores to its step-down subsidiary, RRVL andsublet them to Future to oper-ate the stores, the sources said.

It has since started rebrand-ing the stores and offered totake all employees employedthere on its payroll, they added.

In addition, a majority ofinventory at these stores was

being supplied by RelianceJiomart as a cash-strappedFRL could not clear dues toexisting suppliers. Reliancewill likely replace Big Bazaarsignages and branding fromthese stores with its own brand.

Amazon has argued thatFuture violated the terms of a2019 deal the companiessigned when the US e-com-merce giant invested USD 200million in a Future Groupunit.

Reliance takes control of around200 Future Retail stores, offers jobs

India watching global energy markets to track supply issues

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Saturdaypermitted up to 20 per centforeign direct investment(FDI) under automatic routein IPO-bound LIC with anaim to facilitate disinvest-ment of the country's largestinsurer, sources said.

The decision in this regardwas taken by the UnionCabinet, chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

The government hasapproved listing of shares ofLIC on the stock marketthrough an IPO by part-saleof its stake in the insurer andraising fresh equity capital.

Foreign investors may bedesirous of participating inthe mega IPO. However, theexisting FDI policy did notprescribe any specific provi-sion for foreign investment inLIC, which is a statutory cor-poration established underthe LIC Act, 1956.

Since as per the presentFDI policy, the foreigninflows ceiling for public sec-tor banks is 20 per cent undergovernment approval route, ithas been decided to allow for-

eign investment of up to 20per cent for LIC and suchother corporate bodies.

Further, in order to expe-dite the capital raisingprocess, such FDI has beenkept under the automaticroute, as in the case of the restof the insurance sector, one ofthe sources said.

Increased FDI inflows willsupplement domestic capital,technology transfer, skilldevelopment for accelerated

economic growth and devel-opment across sectors.

Sources said other minorenhancements in the existingFDI policy have also beencarried out in order to pro-vide an updated, consistentand easily comprehensibleFDI framework.

The FDI policy currentlyl ists only ' InsuranceCompany' and'Intermediaries or InsuranceIntermediaries' under the

insurance sector.LIC being a statutory cor-

poration, is not coveredunder either insurance com-pany or intermediaries orinsurance intermediaries andno limit was prescribed forforeign investment in LICunder the LIC Act, 1956; theInsurance Act, 1938; theInsurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority Act,1999 or regulations madeunder the respective laws.

Further, with an intent toimprove the overall FDI pol-icy, certain changes and align-ments under various provi-sions of the policy have beencarried out.

"The reform in the FDIpolicy will have several ben-efits. It would facilitate for-eign investment in LIC andsuch other corporate bodies,for which the governmentmay have a requirement fordisinvestment purposes.

"The reform will facilitateease of doing business andlead to greater FDI inflows,and at the same time, ensurealignment with the overallintent/objective of FDI poli-cy," a source said.

Cabinet allows up to 20pc FDI in IPO-bound LIC PNS nMUMBAI

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on Fridayunderlined the need forstrengthening relationsbetween the Centre and statesto achieve developmental aspi-rations.

Sitharaman said there arethree pillars that will take Indiato its 100 years a transition togreen energy; soft and hardinfrastructure; and a healthyand educated population.

These three pillars will beriveted to a ground made of thefederal structure, she said.

"The most important spiritwhich will come is the Centreand state working together.India after all is a large state, somany provinces, each of whichhave their own Assembliesinto which elected people aresitting and governing that par-ticular region, and that regionhas its autonomy to do somany different things with thelanguage, with the culture thatis unique to them," Sitharamansaid, speaking at a summitorganised by PIC.

She added that the three pil-lars to hold up for India at 100will have to be grounded in thisspirit of Centre-state rela-tions."These three pillars can-not float. They will have to be

riveted to the ground and theriveting will happen in thisspace," she added.

"The strengthening of theground means that the Centreand states will have to worktogether to have these three pil-lars held in such firmness thatIndia at 100 will be able tostrongly build on its strength,"the finance minister said.

The comments come at atime when some states, espe-cially those ruled by non-BJPparties, seem to be evokingsome concerns about federal-ism. Telangana Chief MinisterK C Rao has also sought adebate on the need for a new

Constitution itself and hasstarted to meet chief ministersof other states to rally support.

Some states frequentlyexpress reservations about thepromised GST payouts fromthe Centre or aspects like theterms of reference of thefinance commission whichdivides the revenue betweenthe Centre and the states, tocomplain about a weakening ofthe structures.

There is also a frequentcomplaint, especially fromthose down south, aboutattempts at creating a culturalhomogeneity with what theyallege as a push for Hindi.

FM bats for strongCenter-states relations

PNS n NEW DELHI

India, the world's third largestenergy importing and con-suming nation, on Saturdaysaid it is closely monitoringthe global energy markets totrack any supply disruptionsfollowing the Russia-Ukraineconflict, and will supportrelease of oil from strategicstorages to cool prices.

International oil pricesclimbed to an over seven-year high of USD 105.58 onFebruary 24 over concerns ofsupplies being disrupted as aresult of Russia attackingUkraine. The rates have cooledto below USD 100 as western

sanctions against Russia keptout energy supplies.

"The Government of Indiais closely monitoring globalenergy markets as well aspotential energy supply dis-ruptions as a fall out of theevolving geopolitical situa-tion," an oil ministry statementsaid.

While supply routes remainopen, prices are likely to pinch.Petrol, diesel and cooking gas(LPG) rates continue to be onthe election-related freeze fornearly four months now butPSU oil firms are expected topass on the elevated global oilprices to consumers soon afterelections in Uttar Pradesh end

next month."With a view to ensuring

energy justice for its citizens

and for just energy transitiontowards a net zero future,India stands ready to take

appropriate action for ensur-ing ongoing supplies at stableprices," the statement said

without elaborating.It did not make any direct

reference to consumer pricesfollowing the spike in interna-tional rates.

"India is also committed tosupporting initiatives forreleases from StrategicPetroleum Reserves, for mit-igating market volatility andcalming the rise in crude oilprices," it added.

Asia's third largest economyhad in November last yearagreed to release about 5 mil-lion barrels of crude oil fromits emergency stockpile intandem with the US, Japanand other major economies tocool international oil prices.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Saturdayapproved offering of dry-fuelby coal companies, includingstate-owned CIL, through acommon e-auction windowinstead of sector specific auc-tions.

The approval was givenduring a meeting of theCabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA)chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

In a statement, the coalministry said CCEA hasapproved "offering of all thenon-linkage coal by coal com-panies through one e-auctionwindow of CIL(CIL)/Singareni CollieriesCompany Ltd (SCCL)."

Due to the move, marketdistortions would be removedand single rate for all the con-sumers will evolve in the e-auction market. It will increaseoperational efficiencies andlead to an increase in domes-tic coal demand.Besides, thediscretion presently vested incoal companies for allocatingcoal to different end use sec-tors will be eliminated.Further, the coal companieswill be able to establish coalgasification plants by availingcoal from their own mines.

Cabinet approvesoffering of coalvia common e-auction window

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Export Credit GuaranteeCorporation (ECGC) hasdecided to withdraw coveragefor shipments to Russia witheffect from February 25, whichis a huge setback for exporters,industry body FIEO said onSaturday.

Amid the ongoing conflictbetween Russia and Ukraine,ECGC in a communicationsaid "based on the near-termcommercial outlook, it hasbeen decided to modify thecountry risk classification ofRussia under the short-termand medium-and-long termwith effect from February 25."

Revising its underwritingpolicy on Russia, ECGC, agovernment-owned entity, hasnow put that country in theRestricted Cover Category(RCC-I) from the earlier 'opencover' category.

Open cover categories enablepolicyholders to obtain coveron a more liberalised basis.

Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations (FIEO) Director

General Ajay Sahai said thatECGC has "suddenly" with-drawn the coverage to ship-ments for Russia with effectfrom February 25.

"Such action is a huge set-back to the exporting fraterni-ty as the fate of cargoes whichare at various Indian ports,some after customs clearance,for shipments will not be cov-ered as ECGC has mandatedBill of Lading cut off date tillFebruary 25.

"Secondly, policies in force

hold no good as risks are with-drawn. This immediate act ofECGC is a setback forexporters as political risks areone of the major componentswhich ECGC covers," Sahaisaid.

ECGC Ltd, wholly owned bythe Government of India, wasset up in 1957 with the objec-tive of promoting exports fromthe country by providing cred-it risk insurance and relatedservices.Over the years, it hasdesigned different export cred-

it risk insurance products tosuit the requirements of Indianexporters and commercialbanks extending export cred-it.Sharing similar views, HandTools Association President SC Ralhan said now ECGCwould not cover export ship-ments meant for Russia and itis a major setback for theexporting community.

In the present crisis betweenRussia and Ukraine, the pay-ments against exports made byIndian exporters are at riskbecause Russian importerscannot make the payments inUS dollars, Ralhan said.

If an importer in Russia iswilling to pay the outstandingexport bills in Indian rupees orRussian ruble, the Indian gov-ernment should allow the real-isation of export bills in Indianrupees or ruble, he added.

"In such cases the exportincentives should not bedenied as the payment is beingreceived in Indian rupees orRussian Ruble due a crisisbetween two countries," hesaid.

ECGC withdraws coverage for shipments to Russia

PNS n NEW DELHI

Businesses with turnover ofover Rs 20 crore will have togenerate electronic invoice forB2B transactions from April 1,the Central Board of IndirectTaxes and Customs has said.

Under Goods and ServicesTax (GST) law, e-invoicingfor business-to-business (B2B)transactions was mademandatory for companies withturnover of over Rs 500 crorefrom October 1, 2020, whichwas then extended to those

with turnover of over Rs 100crore from January 1, 2021.

From April 1 last year, com-panies with turnover of morethan Rs 50 crore were gener-ating B2B e-invoices. This isnow being extended to com-panies with turnover of overRs 20 crore.With this, moresuppliers would be required toraise e-invoices with effectfrom April 1, 2022. If theinvoice is not valid, input taxcredit on the same cannot beavailed by the recipient besideapplicable penalties.

Electronic invoice must for bizwith over Rs 20 cr turnover

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has estimatedprocurement of a record 444lakh tonnes of wheat in the2022-23 marketing year start-ing April.

According to an official state-ment, Union Food Secretarychaired a meeting of state foodsecretaries and FoodCorporation of India (FCI)through video conference todiscuss the procurementarrangements for ensuing RabiMarketing Season (RMS) 2022-23 and Rabi crop of KharifMarketing Season (KMS) 2021-22.The rabi marketing season(RMS) runs from April toMarch. The 2021-22 KharifMarketing Season started inOctober 2021 and will run tillSeptember this year.

"A quantity of 444 lakhtonnes of wheat has been esti-mated for procurement duringthe forthcoming RMS 2022-23,which is more than procure-

ment estimate of previous yearRMS 2021-22," the statementsaid.During the Rabi MarketingSeason 2021-22, FCI procuredan all-time high 433.44 lakhtonnes of wheat, an 11 per centincrease over the previousyear.The government has alsoestimated that 42.92 lakhtonnes of rice (rabi crop) maybe procured during the forth-coming rabi crop of currentKMS 2021-22 from sevenstates.The estimate of procure-ment of rice (rabi crop) fromstate governments ofMaharashtra, Tamil Nadu andTelangana is awaited.Duringthe meeting, promotion ofcoarse grains, implementationof minimum threshold para-meters for online procurementoperations, supply of jute bagsand packaging material, storagespace, improving efficiencyand transparency in procure-ment operations and onlinesettlement of food subsidyclaims were also discussed.

Wheat procurementpegged at record level

Brakes India unveilshigh performancefriction brake padsPNS nCHENNAI

Brakes India, engaged in themanufacturing of brakingequipment for automotiveand non-automotive applica-tions, recently unveiled high-performance braking padsthat offer enhanced brakingat high speeds and in hillytrain regions, the companysaid on Saturday.

The new 'Elite' brake pads,launched under the TVSApache brand are stripe coat-ed with the ABRACOATtechnology, a unique abrasivefilm providing improved ini-tial friction performance, acompany statement said.Thepads are distinctly painted ina superior red colour and areeasily distinguishable by thestripes on pad surface, thecity-based company said."Wehave leveraged or in-houseresearch and developmentand state-of-the-art manu-facturing facility to developthese Elite brake pads.

sundaymagazine

books 07VIJAYAWADA, February 27, 2022

THE BOOKS THAT THEWORLD CALLS IMMORAL

ARE BOOKS THAT SHOW THEWORLD ITS OWN SHAME

— OSCAR WILDE

Gayatri Mehra is tired ofher parents trying to findher a suitable husband.She would much ratherfocus on the historyjournal she edits and leavethe happily-ever-after toNandini and Amar, hernewly married sister and brother-in-law.But when the journal faces pressure to fallin line from the right-wing SSP, headed bya corrupt godman, Gayatri is forced to seekhelp from Akshay Grewal, Amar's brotherand elder son of lawyer-turned-politicianGyan Singh Grewal. Gayatri finds Akshayarrogant and unprincipled; he thinks she isnaive and self-righteous. Enter VikramGera, a self-made banker willing to go toany lengths to break into Delhi's elitecircles, even if it means stringing Gayatrialong. As Gayatri and Akshay cometogether to salvage the situation at thejournal, they realise that their siblings'marriage is coming undone. Politics,ambition and hard truths collide, andfamilial bonds are tested.Best Intentions is a sharply observed andcompulsively readable novel of mannersmarking the arrival of a new voice.

NEWARRIVALS

BEST INTENTIONS

Simran Dhir

HarperCollins, `399

How easy or difficult is it tobe a single father in India?How does the world reactwhen a Bollywood celebritybecomes the first man tohave a child via surrogacy?Written in a frank, fun, no-holds-barred and incisivefirst-person narrative, Bachelor Dad: MyJourney to Fatherhood and More byTusshar Kapoor reveals interestingchildhood anecdotes, the process of raisinga child as a single man in India, how thesearch for the perfect soulmate doesn'tstop after having a child and finally how,his son, Laksshya, changed his life forever.

BACHELOR DAD: MYJOURNEY TO

FATHERHOOD AND MORE

Tusshar Kapoor

Penguin, `299

In Absentia is a moving collection ofpoems that anyone who has experi-enced the loss of a loved one can relate

to. The poet’s powerful response toabsence and memory derives from the per-sonal tragedy of losing her child and com-ing to terms with the worst pain possiblefor a mother. The book is an act of immor-talising a very special young man whotakes shape before the readers’ eyes inabsentia. His lingering presence in eachline, image and metaphor becomes a tes-timony to the power of human love andits ability to live eternally.

All cultures have practices to help theliving cope with the absence of thedeparted. In the Renaissance elegies, ele-ments of lament, consolation, praise andmemorialising were common. When thatoutpouring and ode comes from a griev-ing mother, it takes on a markedpoignance, such as when the poet says:

And the breaththat catches in my throatIn my striving to forget the nightmareI have seen.And no parentEver should (Thy Kingdom Come)This poem uses Christian metaphors

like the rib and the crown in novel ways.“On Seeing Three Roses Bloom Together”speaks of the son as being akin to the “gar-den of Eden”, and his loss “is Paradise Lost.”The child emerges as both a Christ like fig-ure and Paradise, but so is the poet Christlike in the crown of suffering that she bearsand the images of bleeding: “then every cutyou bear/ I bleed” is a line that most moth-ers can relate to.

Some other poems draw their imagesfrom nature and the rhythm and the toneare reminiscent of Romantic verse espe-cially of Blake and Wordsworth but at thesame time are very contemporary and per-sonal. As for instance, in ‘Then and Now’,the poet contrasts the past and the present.When the child was present, the poet couldget on seamlessly with her work and rou-tine: “and you my boy/were not always/on my mind”, but the grief of absence isall consuming:

For you my boyNow fill my thoughtsEvery single moment of

Night or Day (Then and Now)The poems are a testimony to the

intensity of the love of a mother and intheir expression of searing pain, they offercatharsis:

My screams Have become selvesThey clamber over furnitureClimb wallsCrawl on the floorAnd hang from roofs…I hear them All the timeAnd that’s allI hear…We are lovers Stroking each other. (Till Death do Us

Part)The personification of screams as a

lover is novel, dramatic and gives the read-ers goose bumps. At the same time, in itscelebration of nature and everyday won-ders, it teaches the heart to treasureevery moment of life. “A Mommy in aTree” celebrates a barren, stoic tree thatremains “forever shorn”, “wistful”, “yearn-ing”, but in the eyes of the poet and her

son, it is full of “sombre beauty” and hencenamed “Mommy”. The owl and the mul-berry tree, the cats and dogs on the cam-pus, the bench and the night garden: allof these everyday fixtures are rendered spe-cial and haunting in the poems

The poems offer a meditation on thenature of love itself and its power to dev-astate as well as resurrect. There is anacceptance of its all-pervasive, all-consum-ing power:

You cannot Capture itOr own itIt ownsYouThe poems record the poet’s longing

to communicate with her son, with whomshe was able to share everything. Shepleads: “Can we just talk/A little” and thenconcludes, “Or maybe /We need not /Saya word/And yet say it all” (“Are you TellingMe Something”).

The poems also speak of the chal-lenges of communicating with otherswhen one’s world is ripped apart by over-whelming grief. She speaks of putting a

mask in place to be able to get on withwork life and resume a normal routineduring daytime, when every night seemsto confront one with “darkness”.

She is aware that “Many/Avoid those/who dwell/On memory” for it is an“uncomfortable space”. At the same time,she reminds the readers of our sharedmortality: “One day/We will all /Becomea/ Memory” (On Becoming a Memory).The discomfort of listeners reveals theirinability to accept the inevitable truth oflife and the human impulse to shrink awayfrom the thought of any pain.

Though the emotions seem tempes-tuous, the verse is well crafted. The bina-ries of past and present, absence versuseternal presence and eternal memory,speech and silence, light and darkness,power and helplessness, appearance andreality, the living and the ones on the otherside: all these give structure to the poems.

One interesting feature of the anthol-ogy is the last poem, which is by DivakarSinha and shows great promise. It was dis-covered by the author at the back of oneof her son’s registers. In bringing togeth-

er the poems by the mother and son, theanthology becomes a celebration of poet-ry and creativity, which outlive mortals,and thus becomes an act of commemo-ration in the tradition of Renaissance ele-gies.

Pal’s writing is extremely powerful andnot for the faint of heart. It looks with greatcourage at all aspects of grieving andattempting to manage anguish that isbeyond one’s control. In its celebration ofnature and acceptance of the masks wewear to cope with life, it inspires hope andwill strike a chord with every reader.Evocative poetry of this kind offerscatharsis and the appreciation of thehuman heart and its ability to love eter-nally. The poems of Pal, in their emotion-al intensity, exemplify what Wordsworthsaid: Thanks to the human heart by whichwe live; Thanks to its tenderness, its joys,and its fears; To me the meanest flower thatblows can give; Thoughts that do often lietoo deep for tears.

Dr Namita Sethi is an AssociateProfessor in the Department of English at

Janki Devi Memorial College, DU

KK Srivastava, a formerAdditional Deputy Comptrollerand Auditor General of India, isan accomplished poet, writerand columnist for almost twen-

ty years now. The Descent: Essays andCritiques (2010-2021) is his fifth book: a col-lection of eighteen essays and twelve cri-tiques of books. Essays are on topics that“irked” Srivastava’s “conscience” and“jerked” his “perception”. Critiques are ofbooks by persons of stature like PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, Regis Bonvicino,Kurt F Svatek, Abhay K, Ajay Man Singh,Raj Kamal Jha, Sitakanta Mahapatra, ZafarAnjum and a few more.

In prologue, one notes early onSrivastava’s scholarship where he bemoaned“literary and artistic privation” in places andamid people he grew up with. His literaryjourney has been a search “for unwalkedpath” and The Descent is a step forward.

Out of eighteen essays, five: Mann KiBaat: Esthetic Blend of Flames of the Minds;Covid and Opportunities for Rebirth ofHumanism; Modi, Public Will andIntellectuals’ Club; Women and a JustSociety; In Relentless Solemn Pursuit of GoodGovernance and India no more ‘soft state’under Modi’s Leadership are engrossingcommentaries, through the brooding anderudite mind of Srivastava, on PrimeMinister Modi’s personality, psychology andapproach. Any review merits a good cov-erage of these, though coverage of otheressays and books will also be made.

Prime Minister Modi is a poet.Srivastava found Modi’s poetry book aJourney, (reviewed in the book) “evocativeand poignant... and awakens the mind tobloom, expand and glow”. Akin to thatMann Ki Baat: a totally apolitical move, ismass experimentation with the thought-sharing process of 138 crore Indians.Srivastava refers to works of psychologistsJohn Radford and Andrew Burton onthinking where they deal with three activ-ities (i) self observation (ii) self-reports (iii)thinking aloud, and links all these threeactivities to “Mann Ki Baat”, equating it with“introspective contemplation”. In his essay,Srivastava puts forth a few illustrativeaspects of Mann Ki Baat by culling out somematerial from selected months.

Modi, Public Will and Intellectuals’Club is a uniquely written essay in as muchas it enjoins a responsibility on anti-Modiintellectuals. These intellectuals must appre-

ciate voting behaviour of voters in2014/2019 elections revealing collectivedesire for a change and continuance. Inpower in 2014, Prime Minister Modimeant “change”, a shift. The manifesto of theparty set the ball rolling. Modi believed inexperimenting with growth agents. Heknew the behaviour of markets, producersand consumers. He had guts as he startedtaking macro socio-economic decisions inoverall national interest. He knew people’sdisillusionment with previous regimes andthe reasons for the disillusionment. “Gujaratmodel of economic development showeda pious path. It was a clean path too.’

Criticising intellectuals’ intolerance ofModi and the BJP, Srivastava focuses on thecrucial role assigned by the rulers in post-Independence India to members of thecoterie or “elite group” that were fiercely dri-ven by what John Kenneth Galbraith called“vested interests”. People have an enduring

tendency to protect what they have, justifywhat they want to have. And their tenden-cy is to see as right the ideas that serve sucha purpose. They don’t accept today’s NewIndia where there is no space for the“coterie”, “elite group” or “vested interests”.“True democracy nestles not in clubs of ‘elitegroups’ and ‘coteries’, with a sense of kin-ship, but inside the ordinary person whois a voter.” Fortunately, elite groups of intel-lectuals don’t represent the mean of democ-racy. The “mean” of democracy is not mere-ly a numeric figure implying the numberof votes fetched in an election but a trustthat the average Indian reposes in the leaderand the party he leads. Indian society thatis governed by democracy moves by andlarge on the principles of trust. Voting sys-tem implies trust and reciprocal faith.

In Women and a just Society, theauthor analyses philosopher Onora O’Neill thesis on status of women in devel-

oping societies and reaches a conclusion,“An emerging NEW INDIA” of Modi verywell addresses the issue raised by Onora ONeill. The concept of a just Society is firm-ly embedded in the multi-peaked idea of aNEW INDIA.

Other essays on Prime Minister Modiare intellectually engrossing and pragmat-ically crucial.

In Dissent, Disagreement and DavusComplex, he dilates the importance ofHinduism as a philosophy and a way of lifewhich tolerated many onslaughts during itslong, vast, varied and peaceful existence,particularly during medieval and modernperiods, and while keeping its homogene-ity intact, it continues to flourish amid theheterodoxy of co-existence — the greatestsymbol of its grandeur.

There are thought provoking essays onNaipaul and Nirad C Chaudhuri with thelatter being sad as he noticed no emerging

hands to arrest the unbridled progress ofCirce. Srivastava skillfully links Chaudhuri’sdisenchantment with the India of his timeswith the current one where massiveattempts are being undertaken to clean thesystem, and evolve a better, matured soci-ety through special programmes likeSwachchh Bharat Abhiyan, aimed at clean-ing roads, streets and infrastructure cou-pled with fast spreading adoption andabsorption of yoga to enhance our mental,physical and spiritual capabilities holistical-ly and a host of other measures. Srivastavaoptimistically concludes “Had Chaudhuribeen alive today and writing The Continentof Circe, he would have definitely been over-whelmed by the presence of a society oftrust, wisdom and confidence and wouldhave written a superior, more positive ver-sion certainly not with the title — TheContinent of Circe. Fortunately now, “thegreat sorceress” will not be able “to see the

completeness of her handiwork”.Coming to critiques of books, the

author has done justice to books. Books cri-tiqued are A Journey by Narendra Modi,Beyond The Wall by Brazilian poet RegisBonvicino, Austrian’s Kurt F Svatek’s Don’tCome Too Close To The Shore, FiraqGorakhpuri The Poet of pain and Ecstasy byAjai Man Singh, She will build him A Cityby Indian Express Editor-in-Chief RajKamal Jha, etc.

Srivastava lauds, “metaphysical conno-tations, fabulously peaked imaginations andzenith of emotional intensity” in NarendraModi’s book of poetry A Journey. Bonvicinoquestions, “What age am I in?” The authorinterprets it, Bonvicino’s world is a lostworld, its retrieval an ongoing enterprise...“The moot question raised in book on Firaqis “Only time will tell, how long Firaq Sahibwill live in fast changing society?” Srivastavacompares Raj Kamal Jha’s book She willBuild Him a City with Edward Albee’s TheZoo Story and concludes “the book showsfuture a reality, a path”.

In short, The Descent: Essay andCritiques 2010-2021, serious one at that,restores a sense of wonder, joy and fulfill-ment. A literary treat. A highly recommend-ed book.

A poignant collection of love, loss

FFRROOMM AA CCRRIITTIICC’’SS DDEESSKKKK Srivastava's fifth book, The Descent: Essay and Critiques 2010-2021, is a perceptual collectionof eighteen essays and twelve critiques of books. A must read, writes SWARN KUMAR ANAND

Swati Pal’s new book (a collection of poems), titled In Absentia, is a moving collection of poemsthat anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one can relate to, writes NAMITA SETHI

THE DESCENT: ESSAY ANDCRITIQUES 2010-2021

KK Srivastava

Authors Press, `295

IN ABSENTIA

Swati Pal

Hawakal, `350

sundaymagazine

97From a critic’s desk

VIJAYAWADA, February 27, 2022

More children in India are read-ing books for fun, than everbefore. It is heartening to seethis steady increase given thatexcessive screen time has

become a grave concern for most parents,more so ever since the pandemic began. Butwhat is young India reading and how has chil-dren’s literature in English changed over thelast few years to foster this habit.

OF FAIRY TALES, MYTHS AND FABLESOver the course of many generations,

thanks in part to convent education, Indianchildren, especially in their formative years,have been exposed to a staple reading dietthat has primarily comprised of translatedWestern classics, such as English, German,Russian, and Greek fairy tales, myths andfables. These are coupled with Indian folktales, epics and myths in regional languages,translated into English, such as thePanchatantras and the Jataka tales.

However, the format, language, tone andpresentation style of these books was rathersimplistic and dated. The production quality,inexpensive and basic. The illustrations werevivid and colourful but straight forward andunimaginative. And the language was stilted:the tone was instructional and direct. It leftno room for interpretation. Quite unremark-ably, even today, such books continue to beproduced, bought and read to very youngchildren. They mainly cater to parents look-ing for a tried and tested way to inculcatebasic values; impart moral and religious edu-cation to their children.

However, more recently, there haveemerged a niche crop of parents, who are avidreaders themselves. Increasingly parents, withdisposable incomes, primarily in urban cen-tres are viewing reading as less to do with theschool’s curriculum and more to do with achild’s cognitive development. The moraldidacticism seen earlier, has today given wayto a brave new voice in children’s writing: onewhich is experimenting with genre, form andlanguage.

BRAVE NEW WORDSlowly but surely, the quality of books

published in India is beginning to rival inter-nationally produced ones; not only in termsof form, but content as well. The paper andprint quality is improving to give the books apremium feel. The font and illustrations andpictures are getting more vividly hued and

aesthetically pleasing. The language employedis pedagogically sound and less didactic. It’sdescriptive without being intellectually unde-manding. More importantly, while being edu-cational such books stimulate and ignite theimagination, especially for little children whoaren’t reading independently just yet. Forinstance, in a bid to produce books that areengaging and more culturally rooted, a clutchof authors, illustrators and publishers aredrawing on our collective Indian-ness. Theydo this by creating characters with names andphysical features set in a milieu that is relat-able. The creatives feature and showcaseindigenous folk art styles. Likewise, the sto-ries incorporate regionalisms despite beingnarrated mainly in the English language. Allthis lends the artwork and stories a distinctlyIndian flavour.

LACKING COMIC SENSE Apart from story books, another form of

storytelling and presentation that continues tobe rather popular amongst children, who areindependent readers, are comic books.However, aside from the Amar Chitra Kathaseries that sought to package Indian mytholo-gy, and later history, in the comic format tomake these themes accessible to a youngeraudience, there’s scant little India can boast of.Similarly, while there are others, such asTinkle, through evergreen characters such asSuppandi and Shikhari Shambu, and ChachaChaudhary, that entertained and educated inequal measure, little noteworthy has hap-pened in this space ever since their creation.

Likewise, a large vacuum remains to befilled in the superhero adventure fictiongenre. While Indian graphic artists have inthe past by way of characters, such as Nagraj,Commando Dhruva, Doga and Parmanu triedto create an alternative, indigenously devel-oped superhero franchise to match the likes ofMarvel and DC, they haven’t made the kind ofsustained impact their foreign counterpartscontinue to make in India. Same is the casewith graphic novels.

RECLAIMING THE MOTHER TONGUE But there is some good news. We are

beginning to realise the value of stories writ-ten in the mother tongue. And slowly butsurely, children’s literature in regional lan-guages, by way of translations, is beginning tomake its presence felt at the national level.However, much remains to be done in thissegment and publishers need to focus on cre-

ating more children’s literature in regionallanguages as well as bi-lingual books.

WAY BEHIND, WAY FORWARDDespite having the largest English-lan-

guage readership in the world, children’s liter-ature in English from India has a meagrepresence on the international stage. Mostagree that the flow of children’s books hasalways been from west to east. For instance,my 8-year-old used to be more familiar withDoctor Seuss (a book last published in 1998!)and Julia Donaldson’s books, over some of thebooks published in India today. The lyricalquality of the texts, lend themselves to repeti-tion and retention; imaginative illustrationsand subtle colouring make them children’sfavourites.

Is this because most publishers, editors,educationists and parents view children’sbooks as essential for acquiring mere readingand writing skills? Is reading for leisure stillan alien concept in a country that boasts avibrant and ancient oral tradition of story-telling? Or is this possibly connected to thestatus of children’s literature: That nothingreally incentivises stakeholders to providechildren with books that challenge them?

SLOW CHURNHowever, headwinds in the children’s pub-

lishing industry are moving in a favourabledirection, one that warrants our attention. A

host of multinational firms have shifted theirfocus to the South Asian market. They are notonly looking to market their internationaltitles, and competitively pricing them, but arealso actively looking at publishing booksspecifically for South Asia. This, one canhope, will force local players to step up andimprove both production and content.

Established publishing houses in India,including Penguin and Harper Collins, havebegun concentrating their efforts on children’sliterature. However, the biggest game changerhas been the rise of small independent publi-cations in the last decade. Indie publisherssuch as Tulika, Tara, Pickle Yolk Books andAdiDev Press are entering the market withhigh quality content.

There’s some solace to be sought. I believeIndia and other South Asian countries have somuch to offer to the world of children’s litera-ture. And owing to these small but meaning-ful changes, going forward, English writingfor children, I feel, will see more content fromSouth Asia to the rest of the world.

The writer is the Founder of AdiDev Press,an independent publishing company based in

India. She has recently authored and published6 children’s picture books, and is committed to

creating high-quality books, encouragingengagement and diversity, value-oriented edu-cation and bi-lingual learning with a focus on

South Asian culture

The Descent: Essay and Critiques 2010-2021 is a perceptual collection of 18

essays and 12 critiques of books

Learning is the mostimportant thing, no

mater how you do it,or where you do it, or

who you do it with— Saoirse Ronan

F R O M T H E I N S I D E

Ukraine a scapegoat in Russia-West warWith shock and awe, the world is witnessing theworst ever war crisis in Europe since the end of theSecond World War as Russian President Vladimir

ESTABLISHEDPUBLISHING HOUSES IN

INDIA, INCLUDINGPENGUIN AND HARPERCOLLINS, HAVE BEGUN

CONCENTRATING THEIREFFORTS ONCHILDREN'S

LITERATURE. HOWEVER,THE BIGGEST GAME

CHANGER HAS BEENTHE RISE OF SMALL

INDEPENDENTPUBLICATIONS IN THE

LAST DECADE. INDIEPUBLISHERS SUCH ASTULIKA, TARA, PICKLE

YOLK BOOKS ANDADIDEV PRESS ARE

ENTERING THE MARKETWITH HIGH QUALITY

CONTENT

THE NEW AGE OF

LITERATURE IN INDIACHILDREN’STHE NEW AGE OF

LITERATURE IN INDIACHILDREN’S

The quality of books published in India is beginning to rival internationally produced ones; not only in terms of form, butcontent as well. And, while being educational, such books stimulate and ignite the imagination, writes CHITWAN MITTAL

sundaymagazine

opinion 09VIJAYAWADA, February 27, 2022

MAKHAN SSAIKIA

PERSPECTIVE

Though the

invading Russian

Army seems to be

capturing Ukraine,

the real war is

between the US-led

West and Russia,

not between

Ukraine and

Russia. Also as

Russia has vetoed

a UNSC resolution

that demanded

that Moscow

immediately stop

its attack on

Ukraine and

withdraw all

troops, the only

possible way out

now is an urgent

dialogue between

Russia and the

West

SUSHIL KKUMAR SSINGLA

ADITYA SSINGLA

At 75th year of Independence, we are still following age-old practice of selecting bureaucrats. It needs to be overhauled

Ukraine a scapegoat in Russia-West war

Reform babus’ selection & rope in pensioners

Going by the definitioninscribed in the Indian

Penal Code 1860, a “public ser-vant” is defined as a govern-ment employee, an officer inthe military, navy, air force,police, court of law or any localauthority established by aCentral or State Act, whereaspoliticians are public repre-sentatives.

The idea behind spellingout the definition of a “publicservant” is to talk about themuch-needed reforms in thebureaucracy and switchingover to the system being fol-lowed in armed forces, reflect-ed in the correspondencebetween India’s first PrimeMinister and the first HomeMinister.

As the literal meaning of“reform” is to change the exist-ing system for the bettermentof society, the need for thereform in bureaucracy was feltsoon after India became anindependent country. Catchthem young was the thrust inletter so that the selectedbureaucrats can be moulded byway of training to inculcate inthem the right and meaningfulethos of serving the generalpublic following the philosophyof Antyodaya in true sense.

It’s a general practice thataspirants start preparing for the“glamorous” civil services aftercompleting their graduationor post-graduation at the age of21 years to 23 years. The medi-an age of clearing the exam isabout 26.5 years. So ideally 3 to5 years are spent on prepara-tions for civil services. Basically,

one wastes these precious yearsof life in most unproductiveway that turns out to be a kindof burden on the parents, thesociety and the nation at large.So there is an urgent need toexplore the ways and means toreduce this drudgery.

Prestigious educationalinstitutions like Indian Instituteof Management, which haveearned name across the globe,give due weightage to the workexperience gathered afterattaining the requisite educa-tional qualifications. So there isa case for consideration thatpeople aiming to join the civilservices gain professional expe-rience after attaining the edu-cational qualifications for atleast 3 years rather than simplypreparing for this innocuousexam where success rate isless than one per cent. Theunsuccessful candidates arenever satisfied in their lateryears and always have unfath-omable grudge towards thesystem and society at largeabout their non-selection.However, Department ofPersonnel and Training’s nobleinitiative of sharing the list ofinterviewed candidates is anaffirmative step to assuagethose feelings.

Less than 1/3rd of selectedcandidates get service of theirchoice and the rest of themkeep appearing in the subse-quent examinations till theexhaustion of chance or allot-ted service of choice, whichev-er is earlier. So it is not only dif-ficult but impossible to comeout of this vicious cycle.

If one doesn’t get the ser-vice allocation of one’s choice,s/he takes the test again in thesubsequent years — defeatingand nullifying the whole year-long procedure and recruit-ment process followed by theUPSC. Is there a need to reducethe recruitment age or reducethe number of attempts sothat millions of cumulativeyears wasted by the unsuc-cessful candidates are savedand utilised in the service of thenation? Is joining the civil ser-vices is the only option left withthe aspirants to serve the nationand masses? If yes, then whathappens to those who unsuc-cessfully make attempts forfour to seven years?

Judiciary selection at mid-level: The alternative systemcould be that the governmentcan adopt the judges’ selectionprocess followed by judiciary inthe direct recruitment at thelevel of Additional Districtand Sessions Judges. Thebiggest advantage is that theselected candidates would haveattained at least the workabledomain expertise and sectoralknowledge in the relevant area.

Lateral Entry: The historicdecision of the CentralGovernment to hire officials atthe level of joint secretary,director, etc, needs to be repli-cated and adopted in States.

Use of technology: Day isnot far off when posting of offi-cers manning the technicalministries in the Central orState governments would bedone by following unscrupu-lously a nameless and faceless

methodology. The countryruns from the collection ofdirect and indirect taxes. Thefirst one is where assessmenthas been made faceless and thesecond one is soon to followthe suit. Can we think of mak-ing use of artificial intelligencein facilitating selection body inselecting right kind of bureau-crats who are really interestedin public service and considerpublic as their master?

Member of Parliament orMember of LegislativeAssembly, who is placed abovethe secretary in the order ofprecedence, can be of 25 yearsof age and legislate Acts andpolicies then why a secretaryhas necessarily to be in therange of 55- 60 years of age ornear retirement? Why secretarycan’t be in the lower age brack-et. Should we strive for an idealmix of experience and youth?

Has the time come that thepublic representatives need tohave major say in selecting thepublic servants? This has beensuccessfully executed in thePublic Sector EnterprisesBoard which now is headed bya person of stature from outsidethe set system.

Rranscendence: After suc-cessfully passing the exam, thecandidate joins the foundationcourse for 3.5 months. There isan abrupt transition from anaspirant and a student to offi-cer. After completion of pro-fessional training, the officersare posted in the State at head-quarters or district or subdivi-sion level or block level or inthe secretariat. In next two

years, they are supposed tolearn all intricacies of field,block, subdivision, district andstate working. After the com-pletion of 4 years of service,including training period orsometimes earlier, they aremade in-charge of a district.For SP or DM/DC, the dutiesare mainly supervisory innature. Since, the real actionhappens at the level of subdi-vision or block, it would beworthwhile to make officersundergo adequate grindingfield experience at that level atleast for 4-5 years to under-stand the nuances before beingassigned district duties.

Does it make a case tooverhaul the training patternand the whole system so thatwe have a product called “pub-lic servant” and not an officerwhen he steps out of theprecincts of the academy. Isthere a need to bring back theold age Gurukul culture in theacademy for the training peri-od since they are enteringnew/second phase of life asphilosophised in our scrip-tures? So that the “public ser-vants” are habituated and stepout with the sole motto to servethe public for whom they havebeen selected.

Another major reform thatcan be initiated is doing awaywith archaic system of provid-ing the domestic helps in thedisguise of dak runners, tele-phone attendants, helpers,buddy, etc, to the officers. Eventhe officers retiring from var-ious positions do not sendback these helpers. The recent

commendable action of theDelhi Police in this regardmust be imitated by differentagencies and departments atthe national and State levels.There ought to be an immedi-ate serious review as the trainedhuman resources are used fordog walking, house cleaningand washing of utensils, etc.This practice of English Rajneeds to be abrogated.

The officers need to knowthe problems that commonpeople are facing in meetingtheir day to day needs. It is hardto find “public servants” fromelite services standing in thequeue for ticket, buying veg-etables, ration or milk. So thiscreates a big disconnect withthe public.

The biggest and most ardu-ous task with our legislativemachinery is to develop amechanism where the officerswith real intent of serving thenation and common people areselected. Should service allo-cation be made on the basis ofrank that one gets in the over-all merit or the interests andcapability of the candidate forthat particular service?

Civil employees of Centralgovernment and state govern-ments are entitled for pensionafter their superannuation,who had joined governmentservice prior to January 1,2004. There are more than 6.8million pensioners at nationallevel and manifold at theprovincial level. Can we makeuse of expertise of these pen-sioners?

The pensioners can be

effectively engaged in areas oftheir choice and expertise inthe localities of their residencewithout paying any remuner-ation because otherwise alsothey are getting pension whichis 50 per cent of their lastdrawn salary. This will help theretirees in keeping them phys-ically fit, socially acceptable andmentally agile.

At a time when the coun-try is commemorating its 75thyear of Independence, we arestill following age-old practiceof selecting bureaucrats, whichneeds to be overhauled.

Every organisation oughtto bring in efficiency in itsoperations, efficacy in itsapproach, understanding peo-ple’s means to evaluate and findout their aspirations and usingthem to achieve organisationgoals and objectives.

The prestigious three letterword assigned to premier ser-vices gives each service aunique and distinct identitythat in turn creates vanity andmakes the members of theservice egoistic to the core. Hasthe time come to rechristen theexisting service by calling eachservice as Indian Public Servicefollowed by subject area andeach member of service asIndian Public Servant to makethe bureaucracy realise andinternalize of their position inthe system?

(Sushil Singla is PrincipalResident Commissioner,Himachal Pradesh & AdityaSingla is a research scholar atJNU. Views a personal.)

With shock and awe, theworld is witnessing the

worst ever war crisis in Europesince the end of the SecondWorld War as RussianPresident Vladimir Putin ishell-bent on punishing Ukrainefor refusing to dance to histune. On Saturday, the invad-ing Russian Army movedtoward Ukraine’s capital. Also,Russia vetoed a UN SecurityCouncil resolution demandingthat Moscow immediately stopits attack on Ukraine and with-draw all troops.

Earlier in the week, Putinordered the movement ofSpecial Forces to easternUkraine. According to him,these forces are sent to thisregion as “peacekeeping forces”.After concluding a talk withFrench President EmmanuelMacron and GermanChancellor Olaf Scholz, Putinsimply declared the recognitionof the independence of theLuhansk People’s Republic andDonetsk People’s Republic ineastern Ukraine. Interestinglythese areas, together known asthe Donbass region, have beenunder the control of theMoscow-backed separatistssince early 2014.

However, the entireDonbass is not occupied by therebel forces. Thus, the constantskirmishes have been a regularaffair between the Ukrainianmilitary and the separatistsfor the last eight long years.

Today, eastern Ukraine is atthe centre of the controversy.The majority of the people ofUkraine have centuries oldcultural and historical ties withthe people of the old RussianEmpire. And today, many ineastern Ukraine are ethnicRussians and they speak theRussian language. Interestingly,Donbass region has the largestcoal reserves in Ukraine.

Almost all the formerRussian republics and WarsawPact nations have either joinedthe NATO or the EuropeanUnion after the dissolution ofthe USSR. So, Ukraine slippingaway from the Russian orbitand moving into any of thesealliances is detrimental to theinterest of Moscow under thePutin regime.

For the US and the EU,

Ukraine though is not a formalmember of the NATO, yet it islike a buffer zone between theNATO alliance partners and anaggressive Russia under Putin.Hence, both Russia and theUS-led West have left no stoneunturned to hold back Ukraineunder their influence.

Why Nord Stream-2 is sovital to Putin and Europe?Russian economy is primarilydependent on massive exportsof oil and gas in which Europeis the biggest buyer. And of allthe European nations,Germany has remained as thelargest consumer.

In this regard, Germany’spermission to pass throughthe Nord Stream-2 pipeline isvery crucial both for Russia andfor the rest of Europe, includ-ing Germany. This war couldspoil business worth billions ofdollar for Russia as Scholz hassuspended the certificationprocess for the Nord Stream-2.If this happens for the rest ofEurope, then Putin will have torethink his Ukraine strategy.

Since the end of the ColdWar, the US-led NATO is on anexpansionist move. The pri-mary reason for such a move isto quickly fill the security vac-uum created by breakdown ofthe USSR in eastern Europe.Also, the Western allies thoughtthat it could be really good towelcome these states into theirsecurity network as fast aspossible because Russia mayreassert its military power overthem once its economic andpolitical restructuring comesback to normalcy.

The West also sincerelywants to clip the influence ofnewly emerged RussianFederation under Boris Yeltsin.

Can sanctions stop Putinfrom further invasions? Trulythe kind of sanctions imposedby the US, the EU, and Britainfor now will have strong impacton the Russian elite, particu-larly the members of the Dumawho approved the indepen-dence of the People’s Republicof Luhansk and the People’sRepublic of Donetsk this week.Last few days, we have also seenJapan, Canada and Australiajoining the US-led westernsanctions against Russia. Whatsurprises the international

community is that no singlemeasure of sanctions is direct-ly aimed at Putin. When welook back, we can rightly saythat such sanctions will not beable to deter Putin from anyfurther invasions in Europe.

The fact is that after theoccupation of the CrimeanPeninsula in 2014, sanctionswere imposed on Russia, but itcould hardly prevent the cur-rent devastating attack on east-ern Ukraine. Of course, sanc-tions and freezing of assets ofthe Russian elite and inner cir-cles of Putin are a strong stepfrom the West, but those arenot sufficient to avert war.

Now the question iswhether the Ukrainian militarycan fight the Russian forces ornot. Precisely, Ukraine willfind it difficult to face themighty Russian forces. But fornow, the Ukrainian PresidentZelensky is defiant.

On February 26, he soughtto dispel rumours that he hadcalled upon the army to laydown arms. “This is our land,our country, our children. Andwe will defend all of that,” hesaid in a short video.

But it is to be noted thatmilitary power is relative, notabsolute in any case. Franklyspeaking what Ukrainian forcesand Russian forces used to be

during the Crimean War of2014 is not the same today.

Both the armies haveundergone significant changes.Over the past seven years,Putin has invested relentlesslyin a slew of advanced militarycapabilities to strengthen hismilitary to face any Westernthreat. These include a sophis-ticated air and missile defencenetwork, some of the latestfighter jets and a number ofultra-modern infantry fightingvehicles and main battle tanks.

On the other hand, themilitary in Ukraine too hasevolved into a modern fightingforce in Europe as of today. Ina recent speech delivered atUkraine’s Combat TrainingCentre in Yavoriv, US Chargede Affairs in Ukraine KristineKvien said, “Against the back-drop of Russia’s provocations,it is important to rememberthat the Ukraine of 2021 andthe Ukrainian forces of 2021are vastly different than thoseof 2014. To better addressexternal threats, the Ukrainianarmed forces have becomemore capable, more profes-sional fighting force, one of themost capable battle-ready inEurope today, and the UnitedStates is proud that our coop-erative security efforts havesupported this impressive

development.” It is clear how for years the

American security agents andadvisers built up the Ukrainianmilitary to face any onslaughtfrom the Russian military.

At the moment war is on.Still, it is not clear whether itcould turn into a full-scale mil-itary conflict involvingUkrainian forces, backed by theNATO and the Russian mili-tary. The direct participation ofthe NATO military against theRussian Federation will turnthe war into the Third WorldWar within days. It is widelybelieved that the MinskProtocol is still relevant to haltthe Ukraine war. It was initial-ly signed between the membersof the Trilateral Group, includ-ing Russia, Ukraine and theorganisation for security andCooperation in Europe(OSCE) in Minsk in February2015 to stop the hostilities inthe Donbass region.

And today, France andGermany are trying to initiatenew tools with Russia to bringdown the crisis which is knownas ‘Normandy Format’. So evenat this moment diplomatictalks are on, so Minsk Protocolhas not become fully irrelevant.

The most pertinent ques-tion at this eleventh hour iswhat the UNSC could do? At

the moment, Russia is thechairperson of the UNSC on arotational role and it has thepre-eminent role of setting theagenda of the body. Beyondthis, Russia being a permanentmember of the UNSC wieldsthe precious veto power. Chinais lambasting at the West fordeclaring sanctions againstRussia. Beijing clearly sayssanctions were unlikely to solvethe crisis.

Also, Beijing feels thatthese severe sanctions have allthe potentials to harm theinterests of average Ukrainians.This brings home the fact thatChina is in support of Russia.This is an opportune momentfor Beijing’s communists tolash out at Washington. Nowthe new generation Chinesepolicy makers have made it apoint to give sermons toAmericans whenever they getthe opportunity. And this iswhat once America and the restof the West used to do to thewhole world.

Thus, in a way, the UNSCis fully divided. The Big-5 willnot be able to solve theimbroglio in eastern Ukraine.The UK urges Russia to stepback as Putin violates the prin-ciples of international law.

Meanwhile, UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres

urged Putin to stop the war inthe name of humanity. He alsosaid earlier that Russia’s deci-sions are a violation of the ter-ritorial integrity and sover-eignty of Ukraine and incon-sistent with the principles of theUN Charter. Again, the bel-ligerence of Putin is a completemockery of Russian commit-ment to the BudapestMemorandum of 1994 andMinsk Agreement of 2015.Finally, Putin is forcefully try-ing to redraw the boundaries ofUkraine at his own conve-nience.

India is walking a diplo-matic tightrope at the momentthough Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has alreadyspoken to President Putin.India is concerned with the riseof hostilities in eastern Ukraineand urged Russia to bring backpeace to the region. Today,India could neither side withthe US-led West to saveUkraine nor fully supportRussian actions over Ukraine.Its better Delhi maintains acautious move as opposingPutin may jeopardise a decadesold ties with Moscow.

The way out today seemsan urgent dialogue betweenRussia and the West. Today, itlooks like as if the war isbetween the US and Russia, notbetween Ukraine and Russia.Ukraine has become a scape-goat in the big fight for domi-nance in eastern Europebetween Russia and the US-ledWest. But it would be purely amisguided narrative in theWestern capitals if it is per-ceived that Putin’s Ukraineinvasion is a pell-mell one. Hehas been planning it for a longtime. Hence, Biden and hiscounterparts in the West mustbe careful about any futuremisadventures of Putin.

(Dr Makhan Saikia hastaught political science andinternational relations for overa decade in institutions ofnational and internationalrepute after specialisation inglobalisation and governancefrom Tata Institute of SocialSciences, Mumbai. He is thechief editor of the Journal ofGlobal Studies, an internation-al research journal)

Ukrainian soldiers take positions outside a military facility as two cars burn, in a street in Kyiv on February 26 AP

Of the 61 convicts who were released on parole fromGoa's prison in May last year to prevent overcrowdingin view of the coronavirus pandemic, 18 have returned

to the jail on their own although they had freedom to bewith their families, while 43 others are still at home, asenior official said. The convicts who have returned to thejail have done so due to different factors, including socialpressure and financial constraints, he said. "In May 2021,when COVID-19 started wreaking havoc once again, morethan half the number of convicts in the central jail atColvale in North Goa, the only prison in the state, wereallowed to go back home on parole to avoid overcrowdingamid the pandemic," the official attached to the jail said. "Asmany as 61 convicts, out of the total 110, were grantedparole based on their conduct in the prison. Of them, 18have returned to the jail so far even though they had aliberty to remain outside jail on parole," he said, adding thatthe remaining ones continue to be with their families. Theperiod of parole granted to the convicts was extendedseveral times, he said. "These convicts returned tothe jail due to social pressure, financial constraintsand some other factors," the prison officialadded. A high-powered committee, whichcomprises Inspector General of Prisons,would soon hold a meeting to decide onthe parole as the COVID-19 situation isunder control, he said. "It may beextended for another one monthmaximum and once that periodgets over, the convicts will haveto return to the jail," he added.The freedom was not grantedto undertrials, although inmany cases the court hadissued interim bail to themallowing them to be outfor a month or twodepending on theorders, he said. Theprison managementhas stopped thepractice of allowingrelatives of theprisoners to visitthem twice a weekdue to COVID-19restrictions. Theofficial said thatthe high-poweredcommittee mightalso look intorestarting thepractice.

Where 18 out of 61 convicts onparole returned to jail on their own

ISS may fall on India, ChinaRUSSIAN SPACE AGENCY CHIEF WARNS

PNS n MOSCOW

Russia's space agency chief haswarned the US that the slew of sanc-tions imposed on Moscow can"destroy our cooperation" on theInternational Space Station (ISS)and asked Washington if it wants tothreaten India and China with the"possibility of a 500-tonne structurefalling" on them.

Russia and the US are the majorpartners in the ISS programme,which also includes Canada, Japan

and several European nationslike France, Italy and Spain.

The US and its allies havedecided to block assets of fourlarge Russian banks, impose

export controls and sanction oli-garchs close to Russian PresidentVladimir Putin after he ordered a"special military operation" againstUkraine on Thursday.

Following US President JoeBiden's announcement of new sanc-tions on Thursday that "will

degrade" Russia's "aerospace indus-try, including their space pro-gramme", Roscosmos DirectorGeneral Dmitry Rogozin on Fridaytweeted that ISS orbit and locationin space are controlled by Russianengines, the CNN reported. "If youblock cooperation with us, who will

save the International Space Station(ISS) from an uncontrolled deorbitand fall into the United Statesor...Europe?" Rogozin tweeted inRussian. He said there is also the"possibility of a 500-tonne structurefalling on India and China".

"Do you want to threaten themwith such a prospect? The ISS doesnot fly over Russia, therefore all therisks are yours. Are you ready forthem?," the Russian space agencychief asked. One of his tweets read,"Do you want to destroy our coop-eration on the ISS?," according toNew York-based astronomy newswebsite space.com. The Russian seg-ment of the ISS is responsible forguidance, navigation and control for

the entire complex. And RussianProgress cargo craft provide period-ic orbit-raising boosts for the ISS,to ensure that it doesn't sink too lowinto Earth's atmosphere, it said.

NASA has not responded direct-ly to Rogozin's remarks, but itnotes that the US space agency"continues working withRoscosmos and our other interna-tional partners in Canada, Europe,and Japan to maintain safe and con-tinuous ISS operations", the CNNreport said on Friday. There are cur-rently four NASA astronauts, twoRussian cosmonauts and oneEuropean astronaut living andworking on board the orbiting out-post, it said.

scopekaleid backpage VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2022

"If you block cooperation with us, who will save the

International Space Station (ISS) from an

uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States

or...Europe?" Rogozin tweeted in Russian. He said

there is also the "possibility of a 500-tonne structure

falling on India and China".

Agroup of eunuchs hasadopted an aganwadi centre - achild care facility - in Panna

district of Madhya Pradesh, earningpraise from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan. "Some eunuchs have adoptedaganwadi centre number 17 in Panna district of

impoverished Bundelkhand region of the state," an official of the MP publicrelations department said. "Kinnar samaj's (eunuchs') step to adopt anaganwadi is praiseworthy and wonderful," Chouhan said in a statement.Thanking them for their noble gesture, the chief minister said their

endeavour would help improve the facility. Last month, whileaddressing a function here, Chouhan had made an appeal to the

affluent people in the society to come forward and adoptanganwadi centres."A person who is well-off should adopt

an anganwadi and help in providing nutritious diet tochildren. I have adopted two such facilities,"

Chouhan had said.

Eunuchs adopt aganwadi centre inMP's Panna, earn praise from CM

Fresh snowfall, landslides prompt closure

of Jammu-Srinagar national highway

The founder of cryptocurrency investmentplatform BitConnect, an Indian national,has been indicted on charges of

orchestrating a global Ponzi scheme worthUSD 2.4 billion, federal prosecutors said.According to court documents, SatishKumbhani (36) of Hemal in Gujarat misledinvestors aboutBitConnect's"LendingProgram."BitConnectreached a peakmarketcapitalisation ofUSD 3.4 billion,the Departmentof Justice said."This indictmentalleges a massivecryptocurrencyscheme thatdefraudedinvestors of morethan USD 2 billion," U.S. Attorney RandyGrossman for the Southern District ofCalifornia said on Friday. Kumbhani ischarged with conspiracy to commit wirefraud and price manipulation, operation of anunlicensed money transmitting business andconspiracy to commit international moneylaundering. If convicted of all counts, hefaces a maximum total penalty of 70 years

in prison.Under the "LendingProgram", Kumbhani, who is

at large, and his co-conspirators

touted

BitConnect's purported proprietarytechnology, "BitConnect Trading Bot" and"Volatility Software", as being able togenerate substantial profits. They guaranteedreturns by using investors' money to tradeon the volatility of cryptocurrency exchangemarkets. As alleged in the indictment,

BitConnectoperated as aPonzi scheme bypaying earlierBitConnectinvestors withmoney from laterinvestors. Intotal, Kumbhaniand his co-conspiratorsobtainedapproximatelyUSD 2.4 billionfrom investors.The indictment,which was

returned by a federal grand jury in SanDiego, alleges that after operating forapproximately one year, Kumbhani abruptlyshut down the "Lending Program". He thendirected his network of promoters tofraudulently manipulate and prop up theprice of BitConnect's digital currency,BitConnect Coin (BCC), to create the falseappearance of legitimate market demand forit. Kumbhani and his co-conspirators alsoconcealed the location and control of thefraud proceeds obtained from investors bycommingling, cycling, and exchanging thefunds through BitConnect's cluster ofcryptocurrency wallets and variousinternationally based cryptocurrencyexchanges, the Department of Justicealleged. Kumbhani further evaded US

regulations governing the financialindustry, including those enforced by

the Financial Crimes EnforcementNetwork (FinCEN). For example,

although BitConnect operated amoney transmitting business

through its digitalcurrency exchange,

BitConnect neverregistered with

FinCEN, asrequired under

the BankSecrecy Act.

Fresh snowfall and multiple landslides at different places on Saturday forcedthe closure of the 270 km Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, officials said. The

Banihal-Qazigund sector of the highway experienced overnight snowfall while landslidesand shooting of stones from the hillocks were triggered by heavy rains at Rompadi-Banihal,

Shalgardh-Wagan, Moumpassi-Ramsu, Panthiyal, Digdole, Maroog, Monkey Morh, CafeteriaMorh and Mehar in Raman district, the officials said. They said a truck driver Waseem Ahmad

Dar of Baramulla was injured when his vehicle was hit by a rolling boulder at Mehar around 4.30am. Dar was en route to Kashmir from Jammu and was rescued by a joint team of the police and civil

volunteers, the officials said, adding his condition is stated to be stable . The closure of the highway leftdozens of trucks stranded at different places, the officials said. With the improvement in weather, they said

the road-clearance agencies have pressed men and machinery to clear the debris off the highway. Reports ofsnowfall ranging between a few inches to over one feet were also received from the high altitude areas of

Kishtwar, Reasi, Doda, Poonch, Rajouri and Kathua district of Jammu region. The Trikuta hills, housing the famouscave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi, have turned white after the fresh snowfall but the pilgrimage was going on

smoothly, the officials said.

Indian founder of cryptocurrencyfirm indicted for US$ 2.4 bn

Aforestpest thatbedevils

Maine residents andtourists with hairs that cause

an itchy rash appears to bespreading due to warming

temperatures, a group of scientists hasfound. The browntail moth is a scourge in

America's most forested state, where itdefoliates trees and causes a rash in humans

that resembles poison ivy. The hairs of thecaterpillars, which have been the subject of an

outbreak in the state for about seven years, can alsocause respiratory trouble. The growth and spread of the

moth is tied to increasingly warm weather, especially in thefall, the scientists wrote recently in the journal Environmental

Entomology. And, unfortunately, climate trends suggestupcoming years could be even worse, they wrote. Warmer fall

temperatures are especially beneficial to the pesky bugs becausethat allows them to get fatter before they hibernate for the winter,

said Eleanor Groden, professor emerita of entomology at Universityof Maine and the principal investigator on the study. If they come out

of those webs as hearty individuals, older individuals maturity wise,then they are better able to withstand that period and you get higher

populations, Groden said. And you get defoliation that spring, andpopulations are raising havoc for anyone who has them in their yards. The

browntail moth is native to Europe and neighboring countries in Asia andAfrica. It was accidentally introduced in Massachusetts in the late 19th

century and is now found in coastal Maine and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Thecaterpillars become active from April to June and

have been identified as an insect of both forest and human healthconcern by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Thepopulation of the moths has ebbed and flowed in the decades since it firstarrived in Maine in 1904. But the outbreak has been steadily worsening in Mainein recent years, and entomologists said last year was the worst year forbrowntail moth infestations in state history. The bugs have been growing inboth number and territory, as the Maine Forest Service said they've spread intonorthern and western areas of the state in the last two years. The study foundearly fall temperatures are a key determinant of population levels the followingyear, and that climate trends indicate continued increases in falltemperatures since the moth's resurgence in the state. It's anotherexample of how climate change can aggravate pest problems andjeopardise human health, said David Wagner, a professor ofecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticutwho was not involved in the study. Climate change hasalready exacerbated problems with disease-causing pestssuch as mosquitoes and ticks, he said. Climate changeappears to be an important driver in this system,Wagner said. So this outbreak can continue toincrease, and it could come at great expense toland owners and great nuisance forlandowners. Maine communities havetried numerous strategies to try to slowthe spread of the moth, includinginforming residents about how tosafely remove their nests. TheMaine Legislature isconsidering creating a specialgrant fund to pay for mitigationmeasures. They're a toughspecies to manage because they'respreading fast and not native to theecosystem, Groden said.

Rash-causing moth spreadingdue to warming, say scientists