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VOL NO. XI ISSUE NO. 341 PAGES. 8+8 ` /- 4

HM SEEKS 3 MORE MONTHS TO FRAME CAA RULESTSIT BUREAU

New Delhi, Aug 2 : The Union Home Ministry has informed a department related Standing Commit-tee of Parliament that it needs three more months to frame the rules of the newly passed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). A senior official told that the Ministry had raised the issue before the Standing Committee in its recent meeting and said it was, however, not known whether the Ministry has got permission for exten-sion. The Parliament had passed the amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, in December, 2019, following which the Nar-endra Modi government notified it in January 2020. As per the amendment, India will grant citizen-ship to Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Christ , Jains and Buddhists from Mus-lim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on grounds of religious persecution. Rules for leg-islation should be framed within six months of the date of the President's assent or the standing committee on subordi-nate legislation should be approached for extension of time as per manual on Parliamentary Work.

MOTHER OF 3 STRANGULATED

TO DEATH

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) A 23-year-old woman, mother of three chil-dren, was strangulated to death allegedly by her husband in Outer North Delhi’s Narela. The accused is abscond-ing after the incident. The police received a call at around 9 a.m. on Sunday that the woman has been murdered. Af-ter the police reached the spot at DDA Janta flat in Pocket 11 Narela they found strangulation marks on the woman’s body. The forensic teams were called and the area secured for evidence col-lection. According to the police, the incident took place on Saturday night. “The couple went to meet the parents of the woman on the occasion for Eid at a nearby loca-tion on Saturday night. They left the children at their grandmother’s house and returned home. The incident hap-pened after that. Mul-tiple teams have been formed in search of the absconding man.

SHORT TAKES

MSME Minister approves scheme for 'agarbatti' production

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESYediyurappa

consolidates to stay the course in Karnataka

TSIT BUREAU

New Delhi, Aug 2 : Amid the rising tensions between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in East-ern Ladakh, armies of India and China are scheduled to hold the fifth round of Corps Commander-level talks at Moldo on the Chinese side on Sunday. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1100 hours, sources in the Indian Army said here on Sunday. The agenda of the meeting would be to press for com-plete disengagement in the Finger areas and Gogra near LAC in Eastern Ladakh, sourc-es said. In the Pangong Tso area in eastern Ladakh, the Chinese troops have strength-ened their positions between

Finger 5 and 8. India is likely to take this up at the 5th round of Corps Commander-level talks today. The previous talks took place on July 14. On July 30, India had said that the disengagement process has yet not been completed in Eastern Ladakh. However, China has claimed that the process is completed. “There has been some progress made

towards this objective but the disengagement process has as yet not been completed,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had said on Thurs-day during a virtual weekly press briefing here.

The MEA spokesperson had also said the senior com-manders of the two militaries will be meeting in the “near

future” to work out steps to-wards carrying forward the disengagement exercise.

Mr Srivastava had also noted that India expects that the Chinese troops will “sincerely” work with it for “complete disengagement and de-escalation” and “full restoration” of peace and tranquility in the border ar-eas at the “earliest” as agreed during talks between Na-tional Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. India and China have been engaged into border standoff since early May. It had also led to violent clashes between two forces in the Galwan Valley on June 15, killing 20 Indian Army personnel.

India-China 5th round of Corps Commander-level talks todayTSIT BUREAU

New Delhi, Aug 1 : Amid critique from certain quarters of the op-position, Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi on Saturday threw his weight behind the recently announced National Education Policy. Claiming that the NEP aims to increase enrollment ratio to 50 per cent by 2035, the Prime Minister said that it will turn job seekers into job creators. “It will work towards changing our mindsets and reform our approach,” Modi said during his interaction with the finalists of the Smart India Hackathon through a video con-ference. Asserting that the NEP aims at make the school, col-lege and university experience fruitful, Modi said, “It works on a new approach, the approach of the 21st century.” He also stressed on the flexibility aspect

which has been kept in mind while formulating the new poli-cy. From reusable sanitary nap-kins to real-time facial recogni-tion system, Modi listened to the many inventions of the students during his interaction. A student working on biodegradable sani-tary napkins spoke to the Prime Minister on the occasion. Modi said that the government is al-ready providing sanitary pad at Re 1 each. “The introduction of reusable sanitary napkins will

be of great help to the girls. I congratulate you for being so thoughtful,” Modi said. A stu-dent from the MLR Institute of Technology talked about real-time facial recognition. The stu-dent informed that even if one covers his or her face, Artificial Intelligence will recognise the eyes, the space between the eyes and the nose which does not change. Modi stressed on the need of AI in policing to make it more interactive. The Smart India Hackathon is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to solve some of the pressing problems faced daily. It inculcates a culture of product innovation and a mind-set of problem-solving, said the government. Union Educationa Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nis-hank announced that the win-ner of the hackathon.

NEP will turn ‘job seekers’ into ‘job creators’: PM

HM Shah tests +ve for COVID-19, admitted

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday tested positive for novel coro-navirus infection and was subsequently admitted to Medanta hospital in Guru-gram on doctors’ advice. The Home Minister made the announcement on Twit-ter saying he got tested after showing initial symptoms of COVID-19. “On getting the initial symptoms of Corona, I got the test done and the report came back positive. My health is fine, but I am being admitted to the hospi-tal on the advice of doctors”, Mr Shah said. Mr Shah also requested those who came in contact with him in the last few days to get tested for Coronavirus and isolate themselves. According to sources, Shah, 55, was hav-ing minor symptoms and was advised for hospitaliza-tion. As news of his contract-ing the disease spread, BJP leaders wished the Home Minister speedy recovery.

Expressing concern,

Bharaitya Janata Party Presi-dent J P Nadda said “News of Home Minister@AmitShah being infected with Corona was received. I pray to God for his speedy recovery.” Party Rajya Sabha MP Sub-ramanian Swamy tweeted “I am sorry to hear from news media that Amit Shah has to be admitted to hospital be-cause he has tested positive for Coronavirus.

I wish him a speedy re-covery and pray for his early discharge.” The Home Min-ister on Saturday addressed a webinar ‘Lokmanya Ti-lak: Swaraj to Atmanirbhar Bharat’ organised by ICCR Delhi on the 100th death an-niversary of Tilak.

New Delhi, Aug 1 (UNI) Even as the veterans vs Team Rahul war within the Congress is out in the open, former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor came to the res-cue of party colleagues Manish Tewari and Milind Deora, saying the UPA’s transformative 10 years were distorted and traduced by a motivated and malicious narrative.

Tharoor took to Twitter and wrote, “I agree with Manish Tewari and Milind Deora. UPA’s transfor-mative ten years were distorted and traduced by a motivated and malicious narrative. There’s plen-

ty to learn from our defeats and much to be done to revive Con-gress. But not by playing into the hands of our ideological enemies.”

His remarks came amid the row over a Congress meeting chaired by party interim chief So-nia Gandhi two days ago, which saw arguments and sharp criti-cism by younger leaders who ap-peared to blame the party’s last government for its downfall.

Amid the criticism of the senior leaders, a section of the party ral-lied behind former Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh on Twitter.

Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Tharoor, Tewari and former Mumbai Congress chief Deora - all ministers in Singh’s

cabinet at one point - defended the former Prime Minister, tag-ging criticism for him as “ill-informed” and part of a “moti-vated and malicious narrative”.

Earlier in the day, Deora re-sponding to a tweet of Tewari said, “Well said, Manish. “When demitting office in 2014, Man-mohan Singh said history will be kinder to me. Could he have ever imagined that some from his own party would dismiss his years of service to the na-tion and seek to destroy his leg-acy - that, too, in his presence.

Senior leaders rally behind Manmohan Singh over Cong legacy from 2004-14

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) President Ram Nath Kovind in his message on the eve of Rak-sha Bandhan on Sunday urged people to pledge to stand for the honour and dignity of women so that they can con-tribute their best for the na-tion and the society. “On the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan, I extend my warm greetings and good wishes

to all my fellow citizens,” the President said in his message.

He said that Rakhi is the sacred thread of love, affec-tion and trust that sisters tie on the wrists of their brothers, and that the unique festival strengthens our will to pro-tect the interests of women and work for their well-being. “On this day, let us all take a pledge to stand for the hon-

our and dignity of women so that they can contribute their best for the nation and society,” the President said.

Stand for honour of women: Presidenton Raksha Bandhan eve

Patna, Aug 2 (UNI) Se-nior Bihar Police officer, Vinay Tiwari was rushed to Mumbai on Sunday to speed up the probe into the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, amid a reported standoff between Mumbai and Bihar Police forces over the investigation.

Bihar’s Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey told that Tiwari, who is

the SP, City, Patna, would be joined by other senior officers, if the need arises.

A four-member Bihar Police team, currently in Mumbai, has claimed it is not getting cooperation from the Mumbai Police.

The actor was found hang-ing at his Bandra apartment in Mumbai on June 14 fol-lowing which Mumbai Po-lice began probing the case.

Sushant case: Top Bihar cop sent to Mumbai to help probe

Lucknow, Aug 2 (UNI) Ut-tar Pradesh Technical Edu-cation Minister Kamla Rani Varun, passed away due to coronavirus at the SGPGI su-per speciality hospital here on Sunday. She was 62. UP government has declared a day mourning on the demise of the minister and her cre-

mation which will be held in Kanpur this afternoon with strict Covid protocol and will be given state honours. State Chief Minister Yogi Ad-ityanath while expressing his condolence on the death of his ministerial colleague has cancelled his Ayodhya visit scheduled this afternoon. A BJP MLA from Ghatampur seat in Kanpur, Mrs Varun was two time Lok Sabha member from Ghatampur seat and a former MLC. According to Dr RK Dhiman Director SGPGI here, “Mrs Kamla Rani, state Cabinet Minister, 62-year-old female suffering with fever, cough and breathlessness.

UP minister dies of COVID-19; UP govt declare state mourning

Akhilesh Yadav condoles Amar Singh’s death, says ‘deprived of his affection’

LUCKNOW, Aug 2 (UNI) Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, who once wielded immense influence in power circles as a close aide of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, died on Satur-day in Singapore where he was undergoing treatment for kidney-related ailments. Singh, 64, had undergone a kidney transplant in 2011 and was not keeping well for a long time. He was admitted to a hospital in Singapore some eight months ago. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav expressed his condolences on the death of former party leader Amar Singh and said he had been deprived of his affection. The two had differences and rise of Akhilesh Yadav in the party was seen as a reason for Singh’s bitter parting of ways with Samajwadi party after he rejoined it in 2016. “On being de-prived of Amar Singhji’s affection-care, my heartfelt condolences and tributes,” Akhilesh said in a tweet. He also posted a picture of him, Singh and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.Singh was ex-pelled as a fallout of crisis in Samajwadi Party ahead of last as-sembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. In a veiled reference to Amar Singh, Akhilesh had blamed an ‘outsider’ for the crisis in the party that spilled into the open after he stripped his uncle Shivpal Yadav of key ministerial portfolios.

Markets to continue to remain volatile,

undecidedMarkets behaved on expected lines and were un-der pressure in the week gone by and lost some ground. BSESENSEX was down 522.01 points or 1.37 per cent to close at 37,606.89 points. NIFTY lost 120.70 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 11,073.45 points. The broader indices saw BSE100, BSE200 and BSE500 lose 0.65 per cent, 0.55 per cent and 0.48 per cent respectively. BSEMIDCAP was up 0.41 per cent, while BSESMALLCAP gained 0.43 per cent. In sectoral indices, BSEIT gained 5.02 per cent, while BSEBANKEX lost 4.22 per cent. The In-dian Rupee gained 2 paisa or 0.03 per cent to close at Rs 74.81 to the US dollar. Dow Jones lost 41.57 points or 0.16 per cent to close at 26,469.89 points. July futures expired on a positive note for the series but lost ground during the week. The series gained 813.25 points or 7.90 per cent to close at 11,102.15 points. In individual stocks, the top gainer was Dr Reddy's up Rs 458 or 11.27 per cent, while the top loser was HDFC Bank down Rs 86 or 7.69 per cent. Shares of Yes Bank issued through the mega follow on offer of Rs 15,000 crore were listed for trading on July 27. They settled down by the end of the week to trade at Rs 11.95, down Rs 1.70 or 12.45 per cent for the week. Compared to the issue price they are down Rs 0.05. Volumes have reduced signifi cantly and one should not be surprised if the share tends to make small gains from hereon in the coming week. Results season is on in full earnest and they are a mixed bag. Clearly the period for which re-sults are being declared April-June were the worst affected months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Banking results are under strain as there is morato-rium which has been provided during the period. Subsequently provisions have gone up and recov-eries from NPA's are ruled out in this period. While this is not indicative of the future, one hopes that life returns to near normalcy as early as possible.The public issue from Mindspace Business Parks Reit received excellent response and was over-subscribed just under 13 times. The QIB por-tion was subscribed 10.61 times while the non-institutional portion was subscribed 15.77 times. The issue received 51,749 applications and the average ticket size was 25.81 lacs. Retail investors who would get pro-rata application would be given a raw deal as there was no bucket for them nor would they get the typical one lot each and then prorata followed in equity issues. This is an area which needs urgent attention of the regula-tor who is looking to promote this as a product for investment by retail and has progressively cut the application size from Rs 10 lachs to Rs 50,000. The controversial up-front margin for trading in the equity segment of the capital markets as pro-posed by SEBI has been extended by one month to September. The rule seems quite misplaced and would cause great hardships to the small in-vestor. The idea that sale proceeds would not be available for purchase until the pay-out is done, will lead to cash volumes shrinking even further. The derivatives segment would remain unaffect-ed where margins are released on trade being squared up and does not have to wait for settle-ment. This will ensure that investors are pushed towards speculation which is not their forte or their capability. Most unfortunate but stark real-ity. Coming to COVID-19, the world saw 180.26 lakh patients, 6.89 lakh deaths.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020

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THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

A strategy to undermine China beyond recovery has been spelt out by the closest Sinologist in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, Ramdas Athawale, MP from Maharashtra and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment. He exhorted the nation on a current affairs show on Wednesday that restaurants must stop serving Chinese food.

The Minister's edict is at the moment redundant because, in deference to Coronavirus, all restaurants are in any case shut, including the ones notorious for Chinese cuisine. This begs the ques-tion: is the mushroom growth of Momo stalls to be checked too? Or, will a culi-nary inquiry have to determine whether Momos are Chinese, Tibetan or Ladakhi?

Levity apart, the standoff in Ladakh takes the mind back to then External Affairs Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 1979 visit to Beijing. That visit was con-ceived in a context. Until 1971, with the Cold War at full throttle, a tiresome par-ity existed between India and Pakistan. When Indira Gandhi intervened to help create Bangladesh, the geography on the sub-continent changed: India became a large country surrounded by a necklace of small countries.

To balance power, regional countries in concert began to fl ourish a China card -- classical balance of power politics. This was one dimension of SAARC's gen-esis. The other depended on what India made of the altered situation. It was both a challenge and an opportunity. What if Vajpayee moved towards some sort of an entente with Beijing?

Meanwhile, Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to Beijing had broken the bipolarity in the global power balance. Henry Kiss-inger had sketched a triangular balance of power -- Washington, Moscow and Beijing. Nixon fell, in disgrace. Subse-quently, the terms of Morarji Desai and Jimmy Carter coincided -- a twice born Prime Minister and a born again Presi-dent. Carter's National Security Advis-er, Zbigniew Brzezinski, began to alter Kissinger's design: he talked of regional infl uentials. Morarji's India and Shah's Iran had barely been fi tted into this frame when the Shah fell. Ayatollah Kho-meini was sliding into the frame when Vajpayee embarked on a brightly con-cave but poorly prepared visit to Beijing. The timing was bad.

Deng Xiaoping must have been a bit

distracted when Vajpayee arrived. The Supreme leader, who had just launched the four modernizations to strengthen agriculture, industry, defence, science and technology, had simultaneously taken upon himself the task of "teaching Vietnam a lesson".

Vajpayee was, according to his own lights, on an epoch making visit. But for Deng, the Vietnamese situation was high priority. India's Ambassador to Beijing Ram Sathe had a sense of what was to come. He had alerted New Delhi: the timing of the visit was, well, "chancy".

After a fruitful day at Hangzhou, one of China's cultural centres, we had re-tired to our hotel rooms, when a journal-ist accompanying the Indian delegation was asked by his editor to enquire about "some kind of an invasion."

He walked straight to Foreign Secre-tary Jagat Mehta's room, in his pajamas. The Foreign Secretary, also in his paja-mas, called Vajpayee.

Without as much as taking the visiting External Affairs Minister into confi dence, the Chinese had invaded Vietnam. Sino-Soviet differences, particularly after the

end of Vietnam's war with the US in 1975, had extended to their respective affi liates, in this case Moscow's friend Vietnam. A disgusted Vajpayee cancelled the last leg of the visit and returned to New Delhi. I stayed on with another journalist, having placed a request with the Chinese: we would like to visit the Sino-Vietnam front. Initially, the Chi-nese were enthusiastic. But after making us wait for two days, they came back with an offi cial response: the visit to the front was not possible. This was something of a giveaway. Were the Chinese making heavy weather of the confl ict? Instead of teaching Vietnam a lesson had they been taught one?

I found my way to Bangkok where Abid Hussain, who later became Ambassador to Washington, was on a spell with a UN agency. Always helpful, Abid Hussain in-troduced me to his colleague, a member of the Bao Dai family, one of Vietnam's aristocracies which were not in bad odour with the revolutionary govern-ment. Lo and behold I found myself in Hanoi, much to the astonishment of our ambassador, Sivaramakrishnan. Abid

Bhai's "Bao Dai" friend in Bangkok must have been a man of considerable reach. The day after my arrival, I was granted an interview by the Secretary General of Vietnam's Communist Party, Xuan Thuy. He opened the ultimate door for me. I became the only journalist to be driven to Lang Son where the decisive battle ended, in Vietnam's favour. I was wit-ness to much celebration and vast quan-tities of equipment being moved trium-phantly away from the battlefi eld. Two brief points before I exceed my wordage. It refl ected on the civil relations between the Press and South Block those days that Defence Secretary Sushital Banerjee requested me to be debriefed at Army headquarters about the rare ringside seat I had had on a crucial battle which pos-sibly changed global power equations. American journalists said nothing be-cause they were not there. In fact, photo-graphs of Hanoi I shot with my primitive camera were used by Time magazine. Moreover, Americans would be loath to play up the defeat of a friend they had just begun to cultivate and, that too at the hands of the old culprit, Vietnam.

As the Indian consumer market recov-ers from the Corona-induced lockdown and the ailing economy gradually heads back to normalcy, the spate of deal-making in the telecom sector has fi rmly brought the focus on the Indian con-sumer markets and the potential the consumer market holds in the foresee-able future For investors with a long-term view and using other markets as a template, the Indian consumer theme hinges upon the idea of gradually rising incomes for a signifi cant mass of people leading to higher demands creating op-portunities in satisfying the consequent consumer needs.

As investors and businesses assess the dynamics of the Indian consumer mar-kets, it would be prudent to be aware of a few important trends. In the context of the Indian consumer market, "premi-umisation" of product, the importance of both experience and product quality and market intricacies will be vital in this context. "Premiumisation" of a product refers to the need of the consumer that can be satisfi ed by products that climb up the value chain in terms of both qual-ity and the concomitant experience. For businesses across the board, a signifi cant opportunity will be to satisfy consumer needs that demand both higher quality and experience than what they are cur-rently consuming. This would span in-dustries from FMCG to apparel. While this trend isn't new, one would expect that as consumer wallets expand beyond the essentials for a signifi cant part of the population, the trend of premiumisation

will gather momentum.The premiumisation trend implies

that investors and businesses alike must focus even more on creating "premi-um" brands in the different consumer segments to fulfi l future consumption needs. Also, as the premiumisation theme gathers momentum, it is reiter-ated, a focus on both product quality and experience will be vital. One can al-most view the product experience as a subset of the entertainment business. Regarding the experience component of

the package, entertainment helps under-stand that the consumers will be looking for something beyond just the product quality. The "entertainment" aspect of satisfying consumer needs is especially crucial for physical retail businesses that will compete in what will be an om-nichannel world, as far as distribution is concerned. Mainly, the ability to highly differentiate the consumer experience will be a signifi cant driver of value cre-ation for consumers and therefore busi-nesses. Offering an exceptional premium

product will be one part of the business, but the capacity to deliver the experience will help brands differentiate, gain mar-ket share and eventually emerge as win-ners in their categories.

The last decade has seen signifi cant investments in the "pipelines" that reach the consumer. One can view e-commerce platforms, and telecom plays as the "carriage". While the carriage part of the businesses will continue to see signifi cant interest, the coming decade will also see increasing interest in the "content" part. Primarily, increased in-novation around the product and expe-rience delivered to the consumer. The increased focus on consumer products and the experience associated with the product is where the premiumisation theme will play out in India.

While premiumisation will be es-sential, in India, one will have to bear in mind that product designs for India will have to factor in the defi nition of "premium" in India and Indian tastes. Furthermore, as incomes rise in India, the premium product need not neces-sarily be the one considered premium in more developed economies. The ability to pick the point on the demand curve with signifi cant demand and yet create a premium offering will be a critical fac-tor for brands that eventually emerge as winners. Additionally, Indian tastes in a lot of segments are very well defi ned. For instance, Indian breakfast habits didn't budge much as certain people had ex-pected when breakfast cereals were in-troduced to India.

During standoff in Ladakh, remembering another China, India, Vietnam story

Premiumisation: Key play for India

3 NATION3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

Srinagar, Aug 2 (UNI) For-mer Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah on Sunday demand-ed a probe by a retired judge of the Supreme Court into the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in early 1990s.

At a webinar, the National Conference President blamed the then Governor, Jagmohan for engineering the exodus of the local Pandit community by promising to bring them back within three months after restoring peace in Kashmir. Kashmir was in the throes of a bloody insurgent violence in early 1990s. Some prominent members of the Pandit community, including state BJP chief Tika Lal Ta-ploo, retired judge Neelkant

Ganjoo - who had sentenced JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat to death, poet and activist Sarvanand Koul 'Premi' and many others were killed by militants at the beginning of separatist violence.

Abdullah claimed that the probe into the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits by an hon-est, retired Supreme Court judge would clear many mis-

conceptions about the exo-dus. Citing many examples of local Muslims standing alongside their Pandit broth-ers to dispel the impression that the community had conspired to throw the Pan-dits out of the Valley, he said: "Kashmir is never going to be complete unless the Kashmi-ri Pandits come back and live in peace with us.

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) As Union Home Minister Amit Shah was admitted to a hospital on Sunday following him testing positive for coronavirus, government sources say he was present in the last cabinet meeting. Howev-er, the same sources insist that social distancing was strictly followed, along with wearing of masks, at the cabinet meeting.

"There is a strict proto-col at the PM's residence in the last few months. Temperature checks, Aarogya Setu checks, no use of internal cars to ferry people are some of the measures adopted," the source added. The

source also stressed that most physical meetings are avoided and video conferences are, instead, preferred. Earlier in the day, Shah took to Twitter to announce his Covid results, urging all those who came in contact with him recently, to self-quarantine themselves and get tested. After the news spread, top politic

including BJP President J.P. Nadda, Union Minis-ter Ravi Shankar Prasad and BJP General Secre-tary Ram Madhav wished Shah a speedy recovery. Earlier, BJP leader Jyoti-raditya Scindia, and party spokesman Sambit Patra were also infected. Mad-hya Pradesh Chief Min-ister Shvraj Singh Chou-han, who tested positive .

New Delhi, 02 Au-gust-2020----- Vice-President of Action Committee, Unaided Private School, Delhi, V.P. Tan-don congratulated the Govern-ment of India and the Education Minister for making meaningful and realizing the long-awaited 'National Education Policy' as a milestone in line with the de-mand of this time and wishing its successful implementation, the Action Committee Assured of every possible cooperation. In a letter to the Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, he said with gratitude to CBSE to declare the exam results at the time required by overcoming various hurdles in this crisis period and tried to bring the focus on uncertainty

faced by the students placed under the CBSE Pre-board ex-amination category. Due to the catastrophe of Covid-19, the government has ordered to keep all the schools closed till 31 August 2020 and in view of the increasing outbreak of Co-rona, there is no possibility of opening of schools in the near future. Due to this terrible situ-ation, a question mark has been put on the conduct of supple-

mentary examination. Which has become a cause for concern for parents and children. With-out passing the supplementary examination, a child cannot even think of entering the next class. Mr. V.P. Tandon has sug-gested to the education minis-ter, requesting that the children placed under the Pre- Board ex-amination be declared success-ful on the basis of the average of marks allotted in other subjects or to allow the schools to con-duct supplementary examina-tion of their students in the near future. This should be done so that the supplementary exami-nation results are declared on time and the children can be given the opportunity to enter the next class.

MSME Minister approves scheme for

'agarbatti' production

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) Union Minister for Mi-cro, Small & Medium En-terprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari has approved a scheme to raise produc-tion of 'agarbatti' (incense sticks) and become self-reliant on that front.

The Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission, proposed by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), eyes employment generation as well as making India self-reliant in agarbatti production. A pilot project will be launched soon. On full-fl edged implementa-tion, thousands of jobs will be created in the sec-tor, according to an offi cial statement.

Under the public-pri-vate partnership involv-ing small investment, the scheme would help create sustainable employment and aid the private in-cense sticks makers scale up production without any capital investment by them, it said.

Under the scheme, the KVIC will provide au-tomatic incense sticks production and powder mixing machines to arti-sans by the private agar-batti manufacturers who will sign the agreement as business partners. The KVIC will procure only lo-cally made machines.

The KVIC will provide a 25 per cent subsidy and recover in easy instal-ments the rest cost of ma-chine from artisans every month. The business part-ner will provide raw mate-rial to artisans and will pay them wages on a job work basis. The cost of artisans' training will be shared by the KVIC and the private business partner on 75:25 per cent basis. A two-party agreement will be signed between the KVIC and the private agarbatti manu-facturer. The scheme had been designed following import restriction on raw agarbatti and increase in import duty on bamboo sticks, it said.

Digvijaya's advice to Rahul Gandhi irks young Cong leaders

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) Amid controversy between young and old guards during a meet of Congress Rajya Sabha MPs and chorus of bringing Ra-hul Gandhi back to the post of party president, senior leader Digvijaya Singh advised that Rahul Gandhi should be more active in Parliament.

"I agree. He is different and wants to do politics differently. We should allow him to do so but then we also would like him to be more active in Parliament and more accessible to people. As advised by Sharad Pawar he should go around India. 'Yatras' are important to connect," Singh said. Digvijaya Singh was com-menting on a video tweet posted by a party worker which said,

"As Rahul Gandhi reaches out, we must speak out!" Singh was underlining the former Congress president's inaccesibility which has been often talked by the party leaders and his absence in the Parliament on crucial issues.

But the advice of Singh has not gone down well as he got re-

sponse from the youngsters in the party particularly MPs close to Rahul Gandhi. One of the MPs considered close to Rahul Gan-dhi said in anonymity that Rahul Gandhi has already taken yatras and has been often taking on the government on important issues. The fresh controversy broke after

the younger lot questioned the UPA-2 rule, however, the person concerned Rajya Sabha MP Ra-jiv Satav came down heavily on the seniors for the malicious at-tempts. "The malicious attempt to draw Dr Manmohan Singh into this exchange is reprehen-sible. To say my observations cast a shadow over Dr Singh's leadership of UPA-2 is a lie, a to-tal misrepresentation of facts. I hold Dr Singh in high esteem. He is above reproach," he said. It is said that Rajya Sabha members close to Rahul Gandhi cornered the seniors about decimation of the party in two consecutive elec-tions, a charge countered by vet-erans who were ministers in the UPA regime. The party on Sun-day tried to intervene and asked

the leaders to stop this on Social media. Congress communica-tion department chief Randeep Surjewala responding to a ques-tion during a press conference on Sunday, said, "I will advise friends who are playing Twitter Twitter to stop making comments on social media. We have internal democ-racy and we are not forcing any-body to retire, so keep your views for appropriate party forums." In this time of crisis senior leaders who have worked in the govern-ment and organisation should stand shoulder to shoulder with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. "The respon-sibility of the senior leaders is to guide the youngsters and pro-mote them and also make way for them," said Surjewala.

SC judge should probe exodus of Kashmiri Pandits: Farooq Abdullah

'Shah present in last cabinet meet, but strict protocols followed'

Seeking to succeed on the average basis of marks allotted in CBSE Pre-Board

examination: V.P. Tandon

Covid-19 takes 100 lives in Agra, no early respite in sightAgra, Aug 2 (UNI) Agra

reported its 100th Covid-19 death on Saturday, while the total number of cases shot to 1,851 with 37 fresh additions to the tally till Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, the district authorities have scaled up testing in hot zones. A total of 87 teams surveyed homes while 23 camps were held in different localities in the last 24 hours.

Between March and June, a total of 22,751 samples were tested out of which 428 were found to be positive, while in

July the number of samples was 28,008, of which 677 were found positive. Health officials claim that an exami-nation of the available data suggests things were under control and there was no need for alarm.

The district health authori-ties said the medical infra-structure had been stream-lined and the response time significantly reduced to ad-dress critical cases. The lo-cal S.N. Medical College was fully equipped with required doses of medicines and ad-equate support services.

Meanwhile, the IMA sec-retariat released a detailed tariff plan for home quaran-tine facilities which would be available for as low as Rs 600 a day. IMA secretary Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi said: “A large number of people with affordability would be pro-vided professional services at their homes if the guide-lines were followed. A 10-day package would cost Rs 600. If necessary it could be extended by another week.” Meanwhile, the IMA sec-retariat released a detailed tariff plan for home quaran-

tine facilities which would be available for as low as Rs 600 a day. IMA secretary Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi said: “A large number of people with affordability would be pro-vided professional services at their homes if the guide-lines were followed. A 10-day package would cost Rs 600. If necessary it could be extend-ed by another week.”

On Saturday, local BJP leg-islator Yogendra Upadhyaya was home quarantined in his Lucknow residence after his Covid-19 test report came positive. Earlier his wife and

two sons were admitted to a private hospital here after they were tested positive for coronavirus. A fortnight ago, the MLA was appointed as the chief whip of the party by Chief Minister Yogi Ad-ityanath. A warm welcome was accorded to him by his admirers when he returned with a fleet of vehicles in a procession to Agra. On the other, keeping in view the Raksha Bandhan festival, the Agra District Magistrate late Saturday evening permitted the opening of Halwai shops on Sunday to prepare.

Chandigarh, Aug 2 (UNI) In a scathing counter to the Delhi Chief Minister’s demand for CBI probe into the hooch tragedy, Punjab Chief Min-ister Amarinder Singh, here on Sun-day, told Arvind Kejriwal to mind his own business and not to exploit the tragic event for reviving his defunct Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state.

Singh ticked off Kejriwal over the latter’s Twitter remark that the case should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

“So many people have died and all you are interested in is making a po-litical gain from it. Don’t you have any shame?” he asked Kejriwal and told him to concentrate on maintaining law and order in his own state, which was notorious for the brazen manner in which criminals and gangs were roaming the streets. Trashing Kejri-wal’s claim that “none of the recent illicit liquor cases has been solved

by the local police,” the Punjab Chief Minister asked the AAP leader to veri-fy his facts before shooting his mouth off. Citing the recent April 22 busting of an illicit liquor unit in the Khanna district, Singh said eight accused had been arrested and hunt to nab seven others was on.

In another case, the two kingpins of an illicit liquor unit in the Patiala district were arrested on May 22 and June 13, and on July 10, the challan was filed in the court.

Another case was unearthed in May with the arrest of a mafia leader. The police were waiting for chemi-cal analysis report to move forward, he added. Expressing full faith in the Punjab Police, which had taken quick action in all the recent illicit liquor cases, the Chief Minister said Kejriwal’s demand for the CBI probe was nothing but a political gimmick aimed at regaining foothold.

Mind your own business: Punjab CM to Kejriwal on

hooch tragedy

High time Mehbooba Mufti is released from detention: Rahul Gandhi to Centre

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (Au-gust 1) once again pitched for release of of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti who has been under home detention in Jammu and Kashmir since almost a year now under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

The former party presi-dent also accused the central government of undermining democracy by extending the deten-tion of the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Min-ister. “India’s democracy is damaged when GOI illegally detains politi-cal leaders. It’s high time

Mehbooba Mufti is re-leased,” the Congress leader tweeted. Earlier on Saturday, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that the extension of the detention of Mufti under the PSA is an abuse of law and an assault on the Constitutional rights guaranteed to every citi-zen. This is the second time Mufti’s detention has been extended. On July 31, the Jammu and

Kashmir authorities ex-tended Mehbooba Mufti’s detention under the PSA by three months even as it released People’s Con-ference chief Sajad Gani Lone in Srinagar. Prior to this, on May 5, her deten-tion was extended was three months. Under the PSA, a person can be kept under detention for al-most 2 years. Mufti along with 20 other leaders of Jammu and Kashmir con-tinue to remain under detention since August 4, a day before the Centre abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories.

4 SOUTH3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in (H.O) Hyderabad

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THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

World Auto drivers day celebrated on a grand note

I AM HERE

Amaravati, August 2 (Correspondent ap news):State Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Nani was angry with TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. He reacted sharply to Chandrababu's remarks after the governor's seal of approval on the Capital Decentralization Bill.Speaking to the media on Saturday.With the approval of the state governor, the will of the people of Andhra Pradesh has been fulfilled. All parts of the state should be developed. Governments should not have the notion that one area is more and the other is less.There is also a responsibility to develop the backward areas of Uttaranchal and Rayalaseema. Dissatisfaction with the rest will increase if all development is concentrated in one area.Whether

the government cares about the backward areasThe trend is likely to germinate state division again. No one wanted Chandrababu to dream. Subsequent governments are talking about fulfilling Chandrababu's dreams if he dreams, lays the foundation and shows off the graphics.In today’s economic climate all areas of the state need to be taken into consideration.

Amravati, August, 2 (Correspondent apnews ); Industries Minister Mekapati Gautam Reddy has said that an MoU between the ISB and the Andhra Pradesh government will be signed on Wednesday, August 5. He clarified that for the first time in the country, ISB will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government. Minister Gautam Reddy mainly discussed the MOU with ISB representatives through video conference on Saturday. The minister said the Andhra Pradesh government is sure to pick up speed in the administration with the participation of ISB. Minister Mekapati said that the courtesy of ISB would also help in attracting investment, setting up of heavy industries and IT companies based in Visakhapatnam and Rayalaseema.

MNC will bring companies to AP in partnership with ISB and pay special attention to solving the unemployment problem. The minister commented that Amazon, along with ISB, would join

hands with the government in its efforts to further empower women, especially rural youth, to find employment locally.ISB representatives made it clear on the occasion that Amazon had no objection to working with the government. Chatrey, an ISB spokesman, said working together would lead to more effective results. DNV Kumara Guru, Director, External Relations, told the Minister that other governments in the country were also in talks with the AP in the wake of its first partnership.he ISB representatives assured the minister that their capacity would be further strengthened by partnering with the Andhra Pradesh government for the first time and that they would work fully for the development of the state under the three-year agreement.

Why was Chandrababu beaten ?: Minister Kodali Nani MoU between the ISB and the A P

government will be signed

Railways played an integral role in shaping the nation right from pre-Independence. Railway Museums set up at many impor-tant places in India aim to collect, preserve, and display objects of heritage value and presenting items of technical significance for appreciation of visitors. Railway Mu-seum at Hubballi is first of its kind in North Karnataka and second in South Western Railway after historic Mysuru Rail Museum at Mysuru. It is centrally located next to second entry of Hubballi Railway Station on Gadag Road opposite to Central Rail-way Hospital. This museum is commis-sioned on 31 st July, 2020 and will be open to visitors from 5 th Aug. Wednesday. This museum is set to enthral the visitors with its beautiful surroundings. The citizens in Hubbali - Dharwad and also visitors

from all over the country and abroad can have a treat of Railway Heritage items of yester years at Railway Museum at Hub-balli. The museum aims at preserving and portraying the glorious heritage of various branches of Railways and the displaying the gradual evolution of advanced systems in all spheres of Railway working. At Hubballi Museum the artefacts are broadly arranged in three sections i.e., at the two cottages named Malaprabha and Ghataprabha and the outdoor section.

The Highlights of the Museum:1.Galaxy of Rolling Stock2.Malaprabha and Ghataprabha cottages3.Theatre Coach4.Suruchi Cafeteria5.Toy Train

6.Memorabilia Shop7.Ticket Printing Machine8.Model train run9.Children’s Activity RoomA grand arch at the entrance welcomes

one to the bygone era. Embellished with emblems of forerunners of South Western Railway, that served this region which is Southern Mahratta Railway, Mysore and Southern Mahratta Railway etc., The wel-come arch beckons visitors to explore the world of Railways. Outdoor landscape: Two narrow gauge locomotives (train Engines) are the prime attraction in the Museum. All the exhibits that run on track and are related to track such as Rolling

Stock (engines), Coach, wagon, tanker, Permanent way material like Rails, sleep-ers, Level crossing gate, signals etc are pro-

vided in the galleries setup amidst soothing greenery of the Museum. A narrow gauge coach which depicts “Unity in diversity with life size statues of passengers from var-ious parts of the country is an added attrac-tion for the visitors. Two beautiful cottages constructed in 1907, are converted to two parts of museum named as Malaprabha and Ghataprabha after the two rivers of the region. Ghataprabha cottage: The cottages define quintessential old age charm, house collection of indoor artifacts. Ghataprabha cottage features a model room with run-ning train, signal instruments etc. His-tory of Locomotives, wagons, coaches is presented along with antique Books and Plants. Glimpses of working of Railway in Medical and security fronts can be seen. A colourful children activity room with fun

facts is also part of Ghatprabha. A memo-rabilia counter where souvenirs can be bought and a history corner where history of Railway companies is covered in the cot-tage. Malaprabha Cottage: A series of beau-tiful charcoal sketches constitute art gallery at the entrance of Malaprabha. Booking office with ticket counter, printed tickets,

iron cash chests reflect reminiscences of the ticketing of a few decades back. A sta-tion master room is simulated with Panel, all the apparatus, registers, furniture and even life size statues of station master and Points man. The adjacent room is designed on theme of waiting roomwith antique furniture. A parcel office setup is also rec-

reated with 150 year old parcel weighing machine. The evolution and progress on of Permanent way, rails, sleepers, track fitting, telecommunication, electrical. Shri Neeraj Jain, Chief Workshop Manager, Hubballi has ensured that Heritage materials are restored for display for the public In view of the precautions to be taken in wake of COVID pandemic, entry for visitors to the museum is restricted to only 30 members at a time. Visitors will be requested to sanitize their hands frequently using Sanitizer dis-pensers provided, compulsorily wear face mask and maintain social distancing when visiting the Museum. Theatre coach will re-main closed until complete relaxation lock down and return of normalcy.

The Museum will be opened to the Pub-lic from 5th August 2020 and entry will be free for the first 5 days i.e. up to 9 th August with timings from 4 pm to 7 pm.

Bengaluru, Aug 2 (UNI) With-in a year of returning to power for the fourth time as Chief Min-ister in Karnataka, septuagenar-ian B.S. Yediyurappa has consol-idated his position in the ruling BJP to stay the course till the next Assembly elections in mid-2023. "A combination of factors helped Yediyurappa to consoli-date and stay the course for the remaining term of his office to ensure the saffron party retains power in the state though he is unlikely to stake claim for the chief minister's post again as he would be 80 years old by 2023," a party source told here.

Since the 77-year-old sea-soned politician assumed office

on July 26, 2019, the first year has been tumultuous for him, as he had go through a "trial by fire" what with the party's mighty high command and detractors testing his patience in the face of natural calamities like drought, floods and the Covid pandemic.

The first 7-8 months of the term were spent in tackling

drought and floods, winning 12 of the 15 by-elections in Decem-ber to secure a majority for the ruling party in the lower house and expanding the cabinet in February. Even as Yediyurappa was settling down to seriously govern after presenting the state budget for fiscal 2020-21 in early March, the coronavirus out-break overwhelmed him, as the pandemic spread and wreaked havoc, disrupting life, liveli-hood, economic growth and de-velopment. "While the emphatic victory in the by-elections en-sured the government's stabil-ity till the assembly term up to mid-2023, the second cabinet expansion on February 6 posed

a challenge to Yediyurappa, as he could induct only 10 of the 12 MLAs who defected from the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and won the by-elections, triggering a revolt in the party by the loyalists left out of the ministry," the source recalled. Though Yeddiyurappa has been leading the battle against the virus from day 1 and initially succeeded in control-ling it from spreading during the extended lockdown till May 31, reopening the state under Unlock since June has undone the gains, as positive cases shot up to 1,29,287 so far, including 73,219 in Bengaluru after 53,648 recovered.

RAILWAY MUSEUM AT HUBBALLI TO BE OPENED TO PUBLIC

Yediyurappa consolidates to stay the course in Karnataka

Warangal, August-02 : Auto drivers played a key role in the separate Telangana movement, especially during Sakala Janula Samme, said the Government Chief whip and Warangal West MLA, Dasyam Vinjay Bhaskar participating in the World Auto Drivers Day celebrations held here in Hanamkonda of Warangal urban district on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, MLA Vinay Bhaskar said that the lives of the thousands of auto drivers working in unorganised sector in the district can be improved by bringing them under organized sector with perfect planning.

Saving some amount of their earnings every month, auto drivers can attain economical sustainability. For the welfare of the auto drivers and to make them self sufficient and economically strong a ‘Thrift and Credit Society’ was established in the

Warangal district, he informed.MLA Vinay Bhaskar said that

from the past 30 years he was attached with the auto drivers and resolved several issues pertaining to them by conducting the programmes in the name of ‘Adda Mulaqat’ on a number of occasions.

In the united Andhra Pradesh, the cooperative societies system was totally ruined. But, after the formation of separate statehood of Telangana, the TRS government

is trying to bring the past glory to the Cooperative system.

By taking Kalpalatha Super Bazaar as an example, auto drivers must save some of their earnings every month in the society that was established for their welfare and announced that he would contribute Rs. One lakh per every month for six months from his pocket and handed over Rs.One lakh to concern members of the society.

Amaravati, Aug 2 (UNI) Even as Andhra Pradesh witnessed a slight dip in its day count, the overall Covid tally breached the 1.5 lakh-mark on Satur-day. State health officials said that 9,276 cases, and 58 deaths were recorded in the 24 hours ending 9 a.m. on Saturday. With the latest update, the overall Covid tally now stands at 1,50,209 cases. In all, 60,797 tests, in-cluding 35,024 rapid anti-gen tests were conducted in the latest update cycle reported on Saturday.

Saturday's dip in num-bers comes after three consecutive days of ris-ing record numbers. On Friday, the state had re-ported an all-time high of 10,376 cases, while the Covid count on Thursday was 10,167 and 10,093 Covid cases and 65 deaths had been reported on Wednesday.

On Saturday too, three districts reported fresh cases in four-digit figures, while the remaining ten districts reported three-digit Covid numbers. Kurnool topped the list with 1,234 new cases fol-lowed by Anantapur with 1,128 cases, and Guntur with 1,001 cases. Viz-ianagaram reported the lowest tally of 119 cases during the past 24 hours. Saturday also witnessed a substantial dip in the death count with 58 per-sons reported dead due to coronavirus. Deaths

were reported from all 13 districts of the state. The overall death toll now stands at 1,407. A record high of 12,750 persons were reported cured and discharged from hospi-tals and Covid treatment centres on Saturday. As on date, there are 72,188 active cases in the state, while 76,614 persons have been declared as cured and discharged. Meanwhile, all the Covid patients belonging to the categories of returnees from other states and countries.

Slight dip in day count but Andhra Covid tally crosses 1.5L

Provide Kovid Patients

Data Every Day: Kurnool

CollectorKurnool, August 2 (Corre-spondent ap news) : In the wake of increasing corona cases, full details of Kovid Patients in Home Isolation are collected daily by the Medical Officers, Village and Ward Secretariat staff in the proforma given by him on zonal and municipality wise basis and uploaded in the online portal To do, to moni-tor their health status on a daily basis and to make sure data entryHome Isolation

Nodal Team Officers were directed by Kurnool District Collector G. Veerapandian. Collector Veerapandian also directed Additional DMHO Dr Venkataramana and DPO Prabhakar Rao to further coordinate and effectively manage the day-to-day data

collection of home isolation patients, updates and moni-toring in the online portal.Additional DMHO, DMOO, should collect the data of Home Isolation Patients on daily basis with the Vil-lage and Ward Secretariat staff, Asha workers, ANMs, EORDs and Municipal Com-missioners and monitor the health condition of Home Isolation Patients through medical officers. Prabhakar Rao was ordered by Col-lector Veerapandian in a teleconference.As well as every positive case that the Duma PD sends every day Considering it as a home isolation case, local Asha workers, secretariat secre-taries, volunteers and ANMs should not be sent outside the patient's home order.

Warangal, August-02: The people are living under a panic situation with the Corona virus spreading at an alarming rate ringing danger bells of community transmission both in the towns and villages with registering a total of 3,780 positive cases of Covid-19 till date in the united Warangal district.For the past four days, more than 200 positive cases of Covid-19 recording every day, the Corona virus is spreading at an alarm rate ringing danger bells in the district.Many people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent times in the united Warangal district have a travel history of either Maharashtra or Hyderabad and some are foreign returnees. The virus is especially spreading at an alarming rate in the Warangal Urban district. Out of 3,780 cases which were registered in the united Warangal district, around half of the cases nearly 1,894 were registered positive for Covid-19 in

the Warangal urban district alone.In Warangal urban district, a total of around 1,894 cases were registered till date out of which around 138 cases were registered on Sunday, resulting in the death of three members till date.While in Warangal rural district, a total of around 532 cases were registered, out of which 22 cases were registered on Sunday, resulting in the death of two members till date.In Mahabubabad district, a total of around 475 cases were registered, out of which 24 persons were registered positive on Sunday, resulting in the death of two members.Whereas, in Jangaon district, a total of around 342 cases were registered, out of which 15 positive cases were registered on Sunday, resulting in the death of one member till date.In Mulugu district, a total of around 244 cases were registered, out of which 11 persons were registered positive on Sunday, with no casualties reported till date.

People fear of community transmission in united Warangal

67 more succumb to

Covid-19 in APAmaravati, Aug 2

(UNI) The death toll due to Covid-19 in

Andhra Pradesh rose to 1,474 with 67 more

succumbing to the infection, health officials

said on Sunday.

The state's tally of Covid-19 positive cases

crossed the 1.58 lakh mark on Sunday with the

detection of 8,555 new infections. According to

the Health Department's bulletin, the overall case

tally reached 1,58,764. While 11 people died

in Krishna district, eight died in Guntur.

East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts

accounted for seven deaths each, and Kurnool

and Nellore districts six each. Five people died in Srikakulam, four in

Prakasam, three each in Kadapa, Vizianagaram and Chittoor and two

each in Anantapur and East Godavari districts.

5OP-ED3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

COVID-19: Looking at bright side of the pandemicBy Mohamed Abdel RaoufThere is a lot of fear and panic, per-

haps rightly, about COVID-19. But I would like to draw your attention to the bright side of the coronavirus.

Firstly, I am sure that we all know the famous Arabic proverb: “Maybe a harmful thing is beneficial.” This prov-erb is usually uses when a bad circum-stance bothers a person, a group or a town. But we should not be alarmed by Allah’s mercy. God has great wisdom in every matter, even if its appearance is bad.

So, if you take a closer look, one can clearly realise that the coronavirus has helped us (humanity) in many ways. But how?

On the social side, the virus gave us an opportunity to reconnect with fam-ily, as we spend more time at home, especially with schools off, in addition to working from home for many profes-sions.

Deep meditationIt is an opportunity for deep medi-

tation. Here, I remember a nice Face-book post I received recently from a colleague stating that he was sitting at home now without electricity and in-ternet. So it became a great opportu-nity for him to communicate with his wife, and this brought them closer!

On the environmental side, the bene-

fits are many and great. Limiting travel gives a break to the environment, sky, air, our lungs, etc. Parts of China man-aged to see a blue sky for the first time in years, with factories closing there.

Italy also joined China, where satel-lite imagery revealed that air pollution in the northern part of the country fell sharply after the virus forced authori-ties to close factories and ban travel, and several areas, usually packed with cars, turned into ghost cities.

In addition to that, working from home instead of commuting to work reduces crowding and pollution and saves time and income. That is a great help for the fight against climate change; something that the global com-munity had not manage to achieve af-ter many years of climate negotiations.

When facing the coronavirus, there is a chance to take decisions and poli-cies to decarbonise the economy i.e. an economy based on low carbon green-house gas (GHG) emissions into the at-mosphere.

There are threats to the climate if decisions focus only on boosting eco-nomic activity, but there are also op-portunities to fund green investment and infrastructure, to boost incomes for the poorest, and also to strengthen health care systems, clean water and sanitation.

Importance of intuitive thingsOn the health side, the virus re-

minded us again of the importance of intuitive things that perhaps some of us neglected, despite the fact that it is a mandatory part of Islamic religion — such as personal hygiene, sterilisation, disinfectants and healthy eating.

On the technological front, the changes are enormous, as distance education has become a tangible re-ality. The technological boom is truly amazing in dealing with the virus, as the Internet of Things (IoT), which is all devices connected to the internet such as smart watches, phones, TVs,

and robots (that provide a network of interconnected and advanced systems in data analysis and artificial intelli-gence) can help in limiting the spread of the virus and help control it.

The data that these devices send pe-riodically is harvested as “big data”, and helps to provide an early warning system to reduce the spread of infec-tious diseases. Also, seeing a mega and smart city, with millions of people exposed to smart devices, as in many Chinese cities now, would be one of the most important human quality leaps.

Last but not least, no doubt that the economic repercussions of the corona-virus on the local and global economy are serious and the various decisions taken by the governments are impor-tant to alleviate these effects and over-come the crisis. But the virus, surpris-ingly, gave us many positives that can be summarised by “it jumped us into the future!”

Yes, where the individual is connect-ed, maybe we need to think of lives in a simpler, less polluting way in order to achieve a smart, healthy and sustain-able society. While there is no doubt that we need to defeat COVID-19, there is perhaps a silver lining in the way we will see the world now.

Gulf News

By Abdul Aziz Al GhurairIn an early attempt to contain the

spread of COVID-19, the UAE Ministry of Education closed schools, colleges and universities in early March.

When the decision was made, only 16 other global leaders made the decision to implement countrywide closures of schools and universities. That first week, UAE students were among about 400 million affected learners globally. To-

day, with over 150 countrywide closures, they are among over 1.4 billion learners affected globally.

The early decision to shut down cam-puses and move learning online during these unprecedented times of uncer-tainty was necessary to ensure that stu-dents’ learning was not disrupted as the country worked to contain COVID-19.

This placed a demand on UAE tertiary institutions that called for adaptability

from the administration, professors and students. The universities that found the transition the least stressful were those with plans on the shelf for blended and fully online learning programs.

Benefit of the studentsThe reality is that in all the UAE uni-

versities, there are a group of profession-als who have been pushing an agenda to move learning online for years. The ap-prehension in making this hope a reality for the benefit of the students and com-munity, has been administrative and bu-reaucratic resistance.

The rapid response from universities and students in the UAE has a lot to do with the values that the UAE embodies. Values that were articulated in the steps His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid, Vice President and Prime Minis-ter of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, laid out in the road map for the future success of the nation, under the directives of Presi-dent His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Specifically, that the UAE society has a unique personality that perseveres in dealing with challenges, that the UAE re-lies on nurturing the brightest minds to generate innovative ideas, and that the UAE is focused on ensuring the prosper-ity of future generations.

The reality is that the universities in

the UAE have the infrastructure, the knowledge, the talent, the technology, the network, and the necessary inven-tive drive to offer online programs and degrees. So why did it take a global pan-demic to offer fully online university-level programs in the UAE?

Improving the capacityOver the past four years, the Abdulla

Al Ghurair Foundation for Education has been working to support and pro-mote high-quality online programs in the UAE and across the Arab world. We have funded over 200 scholarships and helped regional universities improve their capacity to offer educational cours-es and programs online.

We have been working with multilat-eral agencies and government leaders to better understand why the Arab world is lagging in the provision of high-quality accredited online learning opportuni-ties, and how we can better support a positive shift.

This is a concern because our research has shown that online learning evolved at a much faster pace than traditional learning. It offers personalised flexible education and training opportunities to growing numbers of youth and profes-sionals in the region and globally.

Online learning is already part of the normal reality for many, not a mere

stopgap. There are governments, uni-versities and students around the world who already fully appreciate how online learning addresses the demands of to-morrow’s market and have embraced that challenge. The challenge of assur-ing the best combination of high-qual-ity teaching, learning, assessment and technology to engage learners.

For example, today, a learner can earn a Master of Science Degree from the Stanford School of Engineering, Geor-gia Tech’s College of Computing, or a Master of Leadership at University of Queensland’s Business School without ever stepping foot on campus.

Platforms that they use are similar and, in some cases, the same as the ones that we find at universities in the UAE. These online learning systems allow for the immediate feedback and support, the detection of cheating, the promo-tion of collaboration and the motivation of students. We are now amid a global crisis. A crisis that has driven learners, parents, universities and governments to take on the challenges of online learning to embrace its potential. But we need more than reactive measures to break the misconceptions and lower the barriers around high-quality online learning in this country.

Gulf News

By Pam MooreIf your image of someone doing a squat

is a weightlifter sitting on an invisible chair with a loaded barbell on their shoulder, think again.

By strengthening your legs, glutes and core, squats help develop and maintain lifelong functional fitness — and you can perform them whether you have gym equip-ment or not. Here is some information about why everyone should do squats and how to get started.

Squats are a compound movement, mean-ing they engage more than one muscle group — which translates into a lot of bang for your buck. It doesn’t take many squats to raise your heart rate and fatigue your muscles.

Not only that, but the strength you de-velop while squatting will also keep you in shape for virtually any outdoor sport you’re itching to get back to. Squats serve as excel-lent cross-training for activities such as run-ning, cycling, hiking and rowing.

Squats also prevent the loss of bone and muscle that can lead to falls and fractures. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falls are the leading cause of death and injury-related death in Americans ages 65 and older.

Falls often result in broken bones, because an estimated 43.9 per cent of older adults

have low bone density, and another 10.3 per cent have osteoporosis. The surgeon general named osteoporosis, which literally means “porous bone,” one of the most signifi-cant contributors to bone fractures in older adults.

When it comes to falls, prevention is the best cure. Trainers and physical therapists tell their older clients that it’s important to perform strength training, and squats in par-ticular, to keep their bones, ligaments and tendons as strong as possible.

Making bones strongAs Nina Geromel, a Milwaukee physical

therapist, explains, “Our bones get denser when we use the muscles that pull on the bones.”

Building strong muscles increases your chance of catching yourself if you stumble. And if you do fall, strong bones are less likely to break.

Squats also make you more stable. “The more strong you are in your core, your hips [and] your quads, the more stable you’re go-ing to be walking around on your feet,” says Kristin Oja, an Atlanta-based nurse practitio-ner and certified personal trainer.

The move, which uses the hips, knees, ankles, glutes, quads and core, supports all kinds of functional fitness. Strengthening the lower body cannot only prevent falls but also

make it easier and safer to perform activities of daily living, such as playing with grand-children, bending down to pick up a basket of laundry, using the toilet, and getting into and out of chairs and cars.

Oja also notes that squats can strengthen the pelvic floor, thereby helping with urinary incontinence and urinary frequency.

Geromel advises people who are unfamil-iar with squatting to “think like you’re sitting in a chair.”

Begin by standing with your feet about hip-width apart and bending forward from the hips while keeping your shoulders back and your chest up.

While leaning forward, bend your knees while keeping them over your toes. Keeping your knees aligned with your toes prevents them from falling inward, which can put un-due strain on your knees.

It’s also important to keep most of your weight in your heels, as opposed to the balls of your feet. Having trouble keeping your heels on the ground?

First, make sure you’re really hinging at your hips, Geromel says. If your heels are still coming up, she suggests seeing a physi-cal therapist to address the culprit (typically tightness in the calf, Achilles’ tendon or an-kle joint).

Although you’ll feel the burn mostly in

your glutes and quads, if you feel it in your abdominals as well, Oja says, that’s a sign that you’re doing it right.

Many people “have a tendency to let their core just kind of hang out and roll their shoulders forward,” Oja says. She says to “roll those shoulders back” before initiating the squat and to keep the core tight through-out.

If you have never performed a squat or have any safety concerns, Geromel and Oja

recommend squatting in front of a counter top that you can hold onto with a sturdy chair behind you, particularly if you live alone. That way, if you do fall, you will fall onto a chair.

That said, if dizziness or a tendency to fall interfere with your ability to squat safely, you should address those issues with your medi-cal provider before beginning to add squats to your workout routine.

Gulf News

UAE must lead online learning in Middle East

COVID-19: Best exercise you should be doing while at home

We need to defeat coronavirus but it has helped us change many things about ourselves

6INTERNATIONAL3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020

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Owner Publisher Printed by Buchi Babu, Vuppala, Printed by. Thanmayee Printers #17-1-469/A/42/23, Adarsh Nagar, Saidabad, Hyderabad-59, Published from: #17-1-469/A/42/23,Adarsh Nagar, Near Unique Grammer School, Saidabad, Hyderabad-59, T.S.Editor. Buchi Babu Vuppala. RNI.No.APENG/29225/2009. E-mail: thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in

GLOBAL COVID 19 CASES

TOP 17.7MN

Washington, Aug 2 (UNI) The overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 17.5 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 683,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Sunday morning, the total number of cases stood at 17,791,377 and the fatalities rose to 683,988, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world’s highest number of infections and fatalities at 4,620,182 and 154,360, respec-tively, according to the CSSE.Brazil came in the second place with 2,707,877 infections and 93,563 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (1,695,988), and is followed by Russia (843,890), South Africa (503,290), Mexico (434,193), Peru (407,492), Chile (357,658), Iran (306,752), Colombia (306,181), the UK (305,572), Spain (288,522), Pakistan (278,305), Saudi Ara-bia (277,478), Italy (247,832), Bangladesh (239,860), Turkey (231,869), France (225,197), Germany (211,005), Argentina (196,543), Iraq (126,704), Can-ada (118,523), Qatar (110,911) and Indonesia (109,936), the CSSE fi gures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the Mexico (47,472), UK (46,278), India (36,511), Italy (35,146), France (30,268), Spain (28,445), Peru (19,021), Iran (16,982), Russia (14,034) and Colombia (10,330).

IRAN URGES REGIONAL

COOPERATION FOR SECURITY,

STABILITY

Abu Dhabi, Aug 2 (UNI) Indian expats in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can now get their passports renewed in two days after submitting their applications, Consul General Aman Puri said.

Also, the Indian Consulate in Dubai will accept pass-port applications from ex-pats living across the UAE, irrespective of their place

of residence or the emirate that issued their visas, he announced, Puri told Gulf News on Friday.

Earlier, the centres of BLS International — the out-sourced service provider for Indian passport and visa ap-plications — under the mis-sion were only accepting passport applications from Indian expats with their vi-

sas issued from Dubai and the northern Emirates.Now onwards, Puri said all the BLS centres in Dubai and the northern Emirates will ac-cept passport applications from expats living or working in Abu Dhabi as well.

The passport renewal ap-plications will be processed by the mission on the same day it receives them from

the BLS centres.Puri told the Gulf News that almost 95 per cent of the passport applica-tions are now expected to be processed the very next day after submission.During the pre-pandemic days, the mis-sion used to receive about 850 passport applications daily.

Last year, the Consul-ate had issued more than 200,000 passports.

Tehran, Aug 2 (UNI) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said regional security can be at-tained through regional coop-eration, semi-offi cial Fars news agency reported.

“Regional security and stabil-ity can be achieved only within the framework of regional co-operation,” Rouhani said in a phone conversation with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Iranian president also called for development of rela-tions with Qatar without any limits.

He expressed the hope that the joint Iran-Qatar economic commission will convene again after the decline of the novel coronavirus pandemic, leading to further promotion of bilat-

Ind in UAE can get passports renewed in 2 days

PUTIN DISCUSSES RUSS ’ DETENTION IN BELARUS WITH SECURITY COUNCIL

Moscow, Aug 2 (UNI) Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin discussed during an online meeting with the country’s Se-curity Council the detention of Russian citizens in Belarus, the Kremlin said in a statement.

“Hope was expressed that in the near future this situation will be clarifi ed and the unrea-sonably detained Russian citi-zens will be released,” the state-ment said on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Currently, the Russian Min-istry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy in Minsk are work-ing on it, with the necessary

contacts being made, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Moscow is con-cerned that consular access to the detainees has not yet been granted and hoped it will hap-pen soon.On Wednesday night, 32 militants from the private

Russian military contractor Wagner Group were detained near Minsk, with another found and detained in the south of the country, the Belarusian state news agency Belta reported.

“Information was received about the arrival of more than 200 militants in Belarusian ter-ritory to destabilize the situa-tion during the election cam-paign,” Belta said, citing law enforcement agencies.

Peskov denied that the de-tainees intended to disrupt the presidential election in Belarus that are slated to take place on August 9.

London, Aug 2 (UNI) The case of Shamima Begum, a British resident who ran away in 2015 to become an Islamic State (IS) jihadi bride and is now fighting to return to the UK from Syr-ia, will go to the Supreme Court, it was reported.

On Friday, the Court of Appeal decided that the case raised a point of law of public importance that only the Supreme Court can re-solve, reports the BBC.

The court also revealed that the Sun newspaper will be referred to the Attorney General after it obtained a copy of the Court of Ap-peal’s draft judgement - or its “essential contents” - in advance of it being handed down on July 16.Judge Elea-

nor Warwick King, the head of the panel of three judges, said they were referring the newspaper to the Attorney General because of a po-tential contempt of court in publishing a story about the judgement, seemingly leaked from government, before it was announced in court.

This development comes after the three Court of Appeal judges last month ruled that Begum should be allowed back to London to fight for the return of her citizenship, said the BBC reported.

But the government said that decision was deeply flawed.In 2015, Begum, then aged 15, was one of three schoolgirls from Beth-

nal Green Academy who left their homes and families to join the IS.

Kadiza Sultana, then 16, and Amira Abase, then 15, and Begum boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport to Is-tanbul, Turkey, on Febru-ary 17, 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria.

Sultana was reportedly killed in an air strike in 2016, while Abase’s current whereabouts remain un-known.

After Begum was found in a refugee camp in 2019, her British citizenship was re-voked by former Home Sec-retary Sajid Javid on security grounds.

Case of IS bride’s UK citizenship

goes to SC

Washington, Aug 2 (UNI) The Republican Party's vote to nominate President Don-ald Trump as its candidate for the November elections will be held in private, with-out press in attendance, the media reported on Sunday.

A Republican National Convention spokeswoman gave coronavirus health guidelines as the reason, the BBC reported.The party was

"working within the param-eters set before us by state and local guidelines regard-ing the number of people who can attend events", the spokeswoman said on Saturday.

The 336 party delegates will meet on August 24 in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina to for-mally renominate Trump.They will cast

proxy votes for some

2 , 5 0 0 o f f i -

c i a l d e l -

egates.Trump is the party's sole remaining nominee, and his renomination will officially launch his re-elec-tion bid.

Saturday's decision marks a significant change for the

convention, which historically has

worked to draw media attention to spread party

messaging to the public, said the BBC report.Trump had switched the location of the convention to Jacksonville, Florida, after the Democratic governor of North Carolina insisted in May on limiting the crowd size at the con-vention, on the grounds of social distancing.But he later scrapped the Florida con-vention, blaming the state's coronavirus "flare-up". Only

34 per cent of Americans ap-prove of US President Don-ald Trump’s handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll, whose results were released on Friday, also found that the US public broadly dis-approves of the President’s handling of other recent crises such as the nation-wide protests.

MEDIA TO BE BARRED FROM TRUMP ELECTION NOMINATION

Shamima Begum

Duterte approves proposed $91bn budget for 2021

Manila, Aug 2 (UNI) Philip-pine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the proposed 4.506-trillion-peso ($91 billion) national budget for 2021, the De-partment of Budget and Manage-ment (DBM) said on Sunday.In a statement, the DBM said Duterte approved the budget during a special meeting with the Devel-opment Budget Coordination

Committee (DBCC) on July 30, reports Xinhua news agency."The proposed fi scal year 2021 budget aims to sustain government ef-forts towards effectively respond-ing to the coronavirus pandemic by focusing government spend-ing on improving our healthcare systems, ensuring food security, increasing investments in public and digital infrastructure, and

helping communities cope and prevail in these trying times," the statement said.

The DBM said the theme "Reset, Rebound and Recover: Investing for resiliency and sustainability" this year is consistent with the Duterte administration's goal of saving lives and protecting communities while making different sectors of the economy stronger and more agile.

Geneva, Aug 2 (UNI) The ongoing COVID-19 pandem-ic still constitutes a public health emergency of interna-tional concern (PHEIC), and long-term response efforts are needed given an anticipated lengthy duration of the pan-demic, the World Health Orga-nization (WHO) said.

The WHO Emergency Committee on COVID-19, convened by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus under the In-ternational Health Regula-tions (IHR), held its fourth meeting on Friday (July 31), WHO said in an online state-ment released on Saturday,

Xinhua news agency reported.

The committee unanimously agreed that the outbreak still constitutes a PHEIC, and noted the importance of "sus-tained community, national, regional, and global response efforts," said the statement.

Tedros had declared a PHE-IC, WHO's highest level of alarm under IHR, on Jan. 30 at

a time when there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside China. He issued the committee's advice to States Parties as Temporary Recom-mendations under the IHR, ac-cording to the statement.

"The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come," Tedros told the committee in his opening remarks on Friday.

“Many countries that be-lieved they were past the worst are now grappling with new outbreaks. Some that were less affected in the earliest weeks are now seeing escalating numbers of cases and deaths.

WHO expects long-term response efforts against COVID-19

IS INTEL CHIEF KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN UAE announces operation of 1st Arab nuclear plant

Dubai, Aug 2 (UNI) The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced the start-up operations of its fi rst nu-clear power plant in capital Abu Dhabi.

The milestone achieve-ment was announced through a tweet by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE prime min-ister on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We announce the UAE’s success in operating the fi rst peaceful nuclear ener-gy reactor in the Arab world ... the work teams suc-ceeded in loading nuclear fuel packages, carrying out comprehensive tests and successfully completing the

operation,” tweeted Sheikh Mohammed on Saturday.He added the future goal is to provide a quarter of the state’s electricity in a safe, reliable and emission-free way.Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, also congratulated the plant’s opening.“We proudly wit-ness the start of Barakah

nuclear power plant opera-tions, in alignment with the highest international safety standards,” he tweeted.Mo-hamed Al Hammadi, chief executive offi cer of Emir-ates Nuclear Energy Corpo-ration, said the plant is “the culmination of more than a decade of vision, strategic planning and robust pro-gram management.”

Situated 280 km away from Abu Dhabi, the proj-ect is expected to cover 25 percent of the country’s energy needs, and prevent 21 million tons of carbon emissions each year. When completed, it will consist of four units with a total of 5,600 megawatts.

Kabul, Aug 2 (UNI) Afghani-stan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) has said that it killed Assadullah Orakzai, the intelligence head for the Is-lamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), it was reported.

The NDS told TOLO News that the IS commander was

killed on Saturday during an operation near Jalalabad city, the capial of Nangarhar province."The Special Units of the NDS have eliminated Zi-aurrahman known as Assadul-lah Orakzai, the native of Akhel Orakzai agency of Pakistan during a targeted operation,"

the agency said in a statement late Saturday night.Accord-ing to the NDS, Orakzai was involved in plotting deadly at-tacks on a number of military and civilian targets in Afghani-stan.The group carried out the March 25 Kabul gurdwara at-tack in which at least 25.

Brasilia, Aug 2 (UNI) Offi cial fi gures from Brazil have shown a big increase in the number of fi res in the Amazon region in July compared with the same month last year, it was report-ed on Sunday.Satellite images compiled by Brazil's National Space Agency revealed on Satur-day that there were 6,803 - a rise of 28 per cent, the BBC reported.

The latest fi gures raise concerns about a repeat of the huge wild-fi res that shocked the world in August and September last year.

President Jair Bolsonaro has en-couraged agricultural and min-ing activities in the Amazon.

But under pressure from inter-national investors in early July his government banned starting fi res in the region.Bolsonaro has criticised Brazil's environmental enforcement agency, Ibama, for what he describes as excessive fi nes.

BIG INCREASE RECORDED IN AMAZON FIRES

7SPORTS3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

Silverstone (UK), Aug 2 (UNI) Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole in a two-way battle with teammate Valterri Bottas as Mercedes proved to be in a class of their own once again in the qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Saturday.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished a full second behind Bottas for third while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fifth. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished the top five of the grid.

Hamilton had not finished first in any of the previous sessions throughout the grid, even spinning out during Q2. He went through the track in impeccable fashion in the first run in the final session.

He managed a time of 1:24.303 while Bottas did his lap in 1:24.616. Hamilton has become the first driver to take seven poles at his home event.Both the Mercedes were 0.7s quicker than 2019, whereas Red Bull and Ferrari are both slower than they were in Q3 this time last year.

PLAYERS WILL GET USED TO COVID RULES IN DAYS, SAYS RAHANENew Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) Delhi

Capitals’ (DC) cricketer Ajinkya Rahane feels players will get used to the Covid-19 protocols in 2-3 days once they touchdown in the UAE for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).The 2020 edition of the IPL has been shifted to UAE in the wake of rising coronavirus cases in the country and Rahane conceded the players will miss playing in India,

in front of their own fans.“We will definitely miss our fans. Fans are everything to us. When they come out and support us in the stadiums, it feels really good, inspires us to do well,” Rahane said during a TV show.

“Again, you got to think about their health and safety as well. We will miss them in the stadium.We are going to play for them, for our fans. I am sure they will enjoy watching

us on TV,” he added.The players and officials will have to remain in a bio-secure bubble to keep everyone involved with the tournament safe.The recently-concluded #raisethebat series between England and West Indies saw players following the protocols sincerely, with the minor exclusion of fast-bowler Jofra Archer, who was banned from the second Test for breaking the bubble after first Test

ENG V IRE, ND ODI: BILLINGS, WILLEY TAKE HOSTS HOME AFTER BAIRSTOW SHOW

Brief Scores: Ireland 212/9 in 50 overs (Campher 68, Tector 28; Rashid 3/34) vs England 216/6 in 32.3 overs (Bairstow 82, Willey 47; Little 3/60)

Southampton, Aug 2 (UNI) Jonny Bairstow hammered 82 off just 41 deliveries as England beat Ireland

by four wickets in the second ODI between the two sides to claim victory in the series at the Ageas

Bowl in Southampton.England chased down a target of 213 with four wickets and nearly 20 overs to spare. The hosts now lead the three-match series 2-0, after their six-wicket win in the first match.

Bairstow’s efforts ensured that England crossed the 130-run mark within the first 16 overs of the match, although his innings also did not last longer than that. His opening partner Jason Roy went for a third-ball duck.

Bairstow went on to share a 71-run stand with James Vince, which came off just 49 balls, most of it courtesy the England wicketkeeper-batsman. He however got a nick off Josh Little that flew straight into the hands of Lorcan Tucker behind the stumps to be dismissed on 82 off 41 balls.

in Southampton.“Talking about the bubble, it’s important, we follow all the protocols. We were actually not sure when we were in New Zealand in Feb-March as to what is going to happen next,” Rahane said.

“But now in August and September, we are in a situation where we should be realistic and be disciplined.

“I don’t think it will take too much time to adjust. It’s just a matter of 2-3 days being with the team to get used to the rules,” he added.

BRITISH GP:

Hamilton storms to

pole, Bottas second

BAJRANG TIPS INDIAN WRESTLERS TO WIN MEDALS

AT TOKYO OLYMPICSMumbai, Aug 2 (UNI) Asian

Games gold medalist Bajrang Punia is confident of Indian wrestlers performing well and winning medals at the Tokyo Olympics next year.

The star grappler believes

India's performances at the World Championship shows they are in good form.

"I think we will win three to four medals from wrestling in the Tokyo Olympics. The World Championship is a tougher tournament than the Olympics but we performed well there.

So I think Indian wrestlers are in top form which makes them strong contenders for a medal haul in Tokyo," Punia said during the 17th episode of budding international paddler Mudit Dani's online live chat show 'In The Sportlight' on Saturday night.

The Olympic Games, which were initially scheduled to take place in 2020, have been postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with Punia (bronze, 65kg), Deepak Punia (silver, 86kg), Vinesh Phogat (bronze, 53kg) and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (bronze, 57kg) also won medals at the 2019 World Wrestling Championship in Kazakhstan and secured an Olympic berth in the process.

During a freewheeling chat with Dani, 26-year-old Punia said he would have lived a normal village life if he had not pursued wrestling. He also rated his first World Championship medal as the most memorable accolade of his career so far.

Sydney, Aug 2 (UNI) Tennis star Nick Kyrgios on Sunday pulled out of this year's US Open, saying his decision was made keeping in mind "the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have lost their lives". "Dear Tennis, I will not be playing this year at the US Open. It hurts me at my core," Kyrgios said in a video posted on Twitter.

"But I'm sitting out for the people, for my Aussies, for the hundreds of

thousands of Americans who have lost their lives, for all of you." Earlier, World No. 1 women's tennis player Ashleigh Barty also pulled out of this year's US Open due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic."My team and I have decided that we won't be travelling to the US and Western and Southern Open and the US Open this year," Barty was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun newspaper."

KYRGIOS PULLS OUT OF US OPEN DUE TO

COVID FEARS

Ronaldo ends Serie A campaign as second-highest scorer

Turin, Aug 2 (UNI) Juventus hostshot striker Cristiano Ronaldo saw his dreams of winning the golden boot end on Saturday after it was announced that he won't take part in the team's final Serie A match.

Recently-crowned league champions Juventus will take

on Roma in their final clash of the season and the Turin giants announced

the squad on their social media handle, which didn't include Ronaldo.This means Ronaldo will end the season with 31 goals, four behind Lazio's Ciro Immobile, who has a chance to extend his lead in his team's final league game against Napoli. "Immobile, meanwhile,

also topped the European charts as no one in the big four leagues scored more than him this term. Robert Lewandowski scored 34 goals this Bundesliga campaign while Jamie Vardy and Lionel Messi scored 23 and 25 goals in Premier League and LaLiga respectively. Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri had already hinted at resting Ronaldo for the final league clash with an eye on their Round of 16 Champions

League second leg clash against Lyon."We'll assess [who will play] today and tomorrow morning, depending on who needs to rest and who is fit to play," Sarri told reporters on Friday as per Goal.com."Between tomorrow and next Friday there will be a big difference in terms of mentality. We'll need to be good at recovering all energies possible."Let's see how Cristiano feels for tomorrow

(Saturday), he's one of the players that played the most in the entire season.

"Immobile, meanwhile, also topped the European charts as no one in the big four leagues scored more than him this term. Robert Lewandowski scored 34 goals this Bundesliga campaign while Jamie Vardy and Lionel Messi scored 23 and 25 goals in Premier League and LaLiga respectively.

Lucknow, Aug 2 (UNI) The story of young Mumtaz Khan, who plays as a forward for the Indian junior women's hockey team, is one of hardships, grit, determination and great potential.

The 17-year-old who hails from the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, happened to choose hockey only by coincidence, but has become one of the brightest prospects for the country after putting in impressive performances in the last couple of years.

"I believe it was in the year 2011 that I was spotted at one of the races I was participating in for my school. It was Neelam Siddiqui who was present

on the occasion and told my father that he should put me into the sport of hockey.

"I didn't really know much about the sport back then because I was s o

young, b u t

as I

started watching and playing it, I started developing a real interest," said the teenager who was eventually enrolled

into the Lucknow hostel in 2014 and started training

under Siddiqui."I feel it was just a coincidence that coach (Siddiqui) found me there in Agra, and the rest that has

followed has been due to the hard

work that I have

p u t in," she added.Mumtaz, whose father and mother work as vegetable vendors in Lucknow, has many goals in

mind and one of them is to help her family.

"I do come from a very humble background so one of the factors in me playing hockey was that I might be able to help my parents.

I have been fortunate enough to have represented the Indian junior women's team and have always aimed at giving my all on the pitch, and I am hoping that it can translate into a bright future for us off the field," expressed the 17-year-old.

“I know that whatever I have done so far is nothing as compared to what I want to achieve in my career, so I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. I want to ensure I am taking small baby steps.

Want to help India win medals at Asian Games, Olympics: Mumtaz Khan

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) Women's cricket star Mithali Raj has said that women's cricket in the country should have come under the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) earlier. Mithali believes that this would have given more financial security to the players because of which many wouldn't have had to leave the sport at the age

of 23 or 24.Women's cricket was governed by the Women's Cricket Association of India until 2006 when it was merged with the BCCI. "I feel if it had happened 5 years before, it would have been better," Mithali said while speaking on Star Sports 1 Telugu show Girl Power-Sarileru Manakevvaru."Many talented players at that time, because of

lack of money, lack of financial stability through this game, they had to shift to different fields. After turning 23-24, parents will ask what is next? So, being a women cricketer what can you tell parents? I don't earn money, I am playing for passion? Nobody will buy it."Because of that reason, a lot of talented people, they had to let go of their profession

(cricket). So, at that time if BCCI was there, they would have added an extended career and we would have more pool of players in women's cricket."The 37-year-old, widely regarded as the greatest female cricketer the country has produced, said that as a child she wanted to become an IAS officer. "Honestly cricket happened to me.

WOMEN'S CRICKET SHOULD HAVE COME UNDER BCCI EARLIER, FEELS MITHALI

8ENTERTAINMENT3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020

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BIRTHDAY KIARA ADVANI

TRENDS ON TWITTER!

KARISMA KAPOOR :

HARSHVARDHAN RANE REALISES HOW LIFE COMES FULL CIRCLE

Marathi actor Ashutosh Bhakre commits suicide

Kiara Advani, one of the glamour-ous queens of

Bollywood, celebrates her birthday today. Fans and other ce-lebrities are wishing the actress on social media. Kiara started her journey in Bol-lywood with 'Fugly' and became one of the most popular actresses today who got her breakthrough with her role of 'Pre-eti' in Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Kabir Singh. The film received an insane amount of love from the audience and as Kiara turns 28 today, #HappyBirth-dayKiaraAdvani is trending on Twitter as fans are wishing the actress.Meanwhile, on the work front, Kiara was last seen in Ruchi Narain's Guilty (2020), a drama film that was released on Netflix. Kiara's upcoming projects include Raghava Lawerence's 'Laxmmi Bomb', Vishnuvardhan's 'Shershaah', Anees Baz-mee's 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2' and Abir Sengupta's 'Indoo Ki Jawani'.

Actor Harshvard-han Rane recently realised how life

comes full circle.The actor, a biking afi -

cionado, was shooting for a commercial when he re-membered how, a decade ago when he had shot for

a commercial, his face was not shown."This is how life comes full circle, I guess. I shot for an ad 10 years ago, where my face wasn't even visible. Now, I shot an ad as a leading man for one of the big-gest motorcycle brands

in the country," Harsh-vardhan said."It's noth-ing less than surreal."The "Paltan" actor shot for the advertisement in Mumbai during a three-day sched-ule.He said: "These are tough times and every-one is extra careful while venturing out of their homes. I'm glad that all the necessary precautions regarding sanitisation and social distancing were taken on the set. It was a smooth and refreshing experience.In Bollywood, Harshvardhan will soon be seen in "Taish" and "Haseen Dillruba".

Actor Bobby Deol is all set to enter the digital world

in August with his upcoming film, "Class of 83"."Class of ‘83" is backed by superstar Shah Rukh Khan's banner

Red Chillies Entertain-ment. On Friday, it was announced that the film will release on Netflix next month. The film is directed by Atul Sabhar-wal.That apart, "Masaba Masaba" is also slated

to release in August.The scripted series is based on real-life moments from fashion designer Masaba Gupta's life.

It follows her back-ground, her fashion world, family and her foray back into the dat-ing world. It will also fea-ture her mother, actress Neena Gupta. The series is written and directed by Sonam Nair.Meanwhile, the Janhvi Kapoor-starrer "Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl" is also slated to premiere on Netflix on August 12.

BOBBY DEOL'S DIGITAL DEBUT PROJECT TO RELEASE IN AUGUST

Bollywood actress Preity Zinta is excited about her organic farming harvest,

fresh capsicums.The actress has shared a note

of gratitude for her mother, who taught her how to grow vegeta-bles at home.

On Thursday, Preity took to her verifi ed Twitter account to share a video where she can be seen plucking a few homegrown capsicums."Ghar ki kheti. How

awesome to grow our own veg-etables at home. Thank you Ma. for teaching me and for inspir-ing me to grow our own veg-etables.

I'm on top of the world right now, yet I've never felt so close to Mother Earth #Jaimatadi #organicgardening #shimlamirchi #Ting," captioned the actress.Preity is among the early actors who have resumed shooting after the COVID- 19 pandemic-in-duced lockdown. The actress is hav-

ing mixed feelings about resuming shoot amid the pandemic."It's reliev-ing and fun to get back to work after staying home for 6 months - It's also scary to be out there without a mask on your face all the time.So many mixed emotions - Fear, Excitement

and Nervousness all rolled into one.Makes one appreciate a breath of fresh air and all simple things we

took for granted in the past," Preity recently shared on her

verifi ed Instagram account.

PREITY ZINTA ENJOYS ORGANIC FARMING, PLUCKS HOMEGROWN CAPSICUM

I almost miss waiting

on a fl ight

Travelling is a rare activity in the ongoing pandemic season, and Karisma Ka-

poor misses waiting on a fl ight.Karisma took to Instagram and shared a boomerang video of her-self sitting in a fl ight and pouting. "I almost miss waiting on a fl ight #travelgram," wrote Karisma.On Wednesday, Karisma shared a picture of herself at a restaurant. In the image, she is seen holding chopsticks. She wrote: "I miss eat-ing out." Karisma was last seen in Ekta Kapoor's digital show "Men-talhood", which explores the mul-titasking nature of different types of mothers, and their efforts to en-sure the best upbringing for their children.

Marathi actor Ashutosh Bhakre has allegedly committed uicide. He

was 32.Ashutosh was the hus-band of Marathi actress Mayuri Deshmukh.

As per reports, Ashutosh committed suicide by hang-ing himself at his residence in Nanded town's Ganesh Nagar in the Marathwada region ended his life on Wednesday evening. The actor was found hanging in his apartment by his parents, sources said.

Ashutosh had featured in Marathi fi lms like "Bhakar" and "Ichar Tharla Pakka". The po-lice is investigating the death, and thereason of suicide is yet to be ascertained. A case of accidental death has been registered with Shivaji Nagar

Police Station in Nanded.Un-confi rmed reports claim the actor was battling depression and just a few days ago, he had

shared a video on social media in which he can be seen trying to fi nd out the reasons why a person commits suicide.

KATIE HOLMES:

'L'Lockdown hhas had a

lotlot of silver lilinings'

Actress Katie Holmes has learned sev-

eral lessons amid the Covid pandemic.In an interaction with etonline.com, Katie spoke about her quarantine life with her 14-year-old daughter, Suri.

"This lockdown has had a lot of sil-

ver linings. I've been taking time to Face-

Time and really be

This year has also been a reminder that the simple things are really beautiful and that is, those are the gifts of life," she said.

Katie is all set to fea-ture in the fi lm, "The Secret: Dare To Dream". She portrays Miranda Wells, a widow with three children who is struggling to be there for her family.

"The narrative is a good accompaniment to the book.She's really struggling to provide fi -nancially and emotion-ally, and you just see her exhausted and really not surrendering to any-thing, just kind of fi ght-ing it all. That's taking its toll on her children and her relationships and she's just not being true to herself," Katie shared.

SELENA GOMEZ BACK

ON SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER WEEK LONG

HIATUS

Pop star Selena Gomez took a break from social media because she felt

insensitive while posting any-thing too joyful.However, after a week-long hiatus post her 28th birthday last week, Go-mez has returned to Instagram with a message to her fans.The

actress shared the video on Instagram with a simple cap-tion, "a message from me", and a heart emoji, reports dai-lymail.co.uk."Hey! I wanted to take some time to do a quick message for you guys because I haven't been posting that much. I just wanted to let you

know that I love you guys and I miss you and there's so many exciting things coming up that I can't wait to share with all of you," she began."I just think at the beginning of this year, with everything going on, it felt a little insensitive to post things that may be a little just... joy-

ful or celebratory, it was really hard for me," added the star.The singer shared she will in-teract more with her fans and followers.She continued: "And, I've taken the time to learn, truly learn about what's go-ing on and I continue to make that my priority.But, just letting

you know that I'm going to be a little bit more involved and I'm just sending more love and gonna show you some more of my personal stuff and what I have been doing. But, thank you for being here, and thank you for supporting me always and I will talk to you soon."

Chunky Panday wrapped up the shoot of a web series this

week, and the actor says it felt surreal to be back on the sets.Recalling the experience of shooting for the second season of the web-series "Ab-hay", he said: "It felt surreal to be back on the sets after this entire time of preven-tion during the pandemic.

This web series has been an exciting project for me. We had shot a portion of it earlier and then the lockdown got in-stated. Now, that we got back, the shooting process was a new experience," Chunky said."Abhay 2" stars Kunal Kemmu and Ram Kapoor.The eight-episode series marks the return of Kunal Kemmu as an investigative offi cer.

CHUNKY PANDEY: FELT SURREAL TO BE

BACK ON SETS

ED fi les money laundering case in Sushant case

In a major development, the En-forcement Directorate (ED) has fi led a case of money laundering

over transactions worth Rs 15 crore related to the alleged suicide of Bol-lywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. A top ED source said that it has reg-istered a criminal case under Pre-vention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The development comes amid the complaint of K.K. Singh, father of Sushant Singh Rajput to Bihar Police against ac-

Actress Madhurima Roy of Mafi a fame will be seen playing a bar danc-er in a web series. After featuring in web series like "Little Things 3", "Inside Edge 2", "Four More Shots" and "Code M", she will be seen in "Mumbhai". "I've had the opportu-

nity of playing many versatile char-acters in all of my projects so far and this is yet another one. I'm playing a bar dancer, very crucial to the con-text of the story," she said.

"She is forthright and knows what she wants. It's very different from

all the roles I've played so far, defi -nitely something very challenging," she added. Talking about the se-ries, she said: "'Mumbhai' is a crime drama which deep dives into the Mumbai underworld and the nar-rative revolves around the loyalty

and friendship between a cop and an underworld don." "It's been an exciting shoot so far, hope the audi-ence appreciates the show and enjoy this crime drama," she added. It also stars Angad Bedi, Sikandar Kher and Sandeepa Dhar.

tress Rhea two companies owned by Sushant Singh Rajput and Rhea's family from the banks.The ED has also sought details of the fi nancial transactions of the Vividrage Rheal-ityx, in which she is a director, and Front In-dia For World, in which her brother Showik is a director, the source added. Sushant's father lodged an FIR against Rhea in Patna, accusing her of cheating and threatening his son.Su-shant and Rhea were in a relationship before the actor's death. Sushant's father has levelled various allegations against Rhea, including taking money from his son.

Chakraborty.The ED on Thursday sought de-tails of the FIR registered against Rhea by the Bihar Police and the details

Madhurima Roy to play bar dancer in web series

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020 PAGES-8

Greater HyderabadGreater Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Aug 2 (UNI) Amid large-scale com-plaints of private hospitals fleecing Covid-19 patients, Telangana Health Minis-ter E. Rajender on Sunday said a patient can be treat-ed for Rs 10,000. The min-ister told reporters that the treatment for corona-virus is not costly. “If we keep aside medicines like Remdesivir, Tosilizumab and Favipiravir, the treat-ment of Covid-19 is pos-sible within Rs 10,000 with medicines and oxygen and if advanced treatment is required, it can cost a max-imum of Rs 1 lakh. It does not require a daily Rs 1 lakh or Rs 2 lakh,” he said.

Rajender said since peo-ple were scared, private hospitals were making them pay in advance for allocation of beds and Rs 1 lakh daily for treatment. “It’s unfortunate that they

are charging Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh,” he said and warned that action would be taken against hospitals which were acting irre-sponsibly and burdening people with inflated bills.

The government has been receiving several complaints against private hospitals that they were overcharging and also resorting to harassment. “We have received many complaints like creating artificial shortage of beds, demanding Rs 3-4 lakh as

advance, charging Rs 1-2 lakh per day for treatment, not releasing the body unless bills are cleared, treating asymptomatic cases, inflating their medi-cal bills and dumping patients in government hospitals once their con-ditions turn serious,” the minister had said at a re-view meeting on Saturday. The minister on Sunday also advised people not to rush to private hospitals in panic, but seek treatment in government hospitals

which were providing bet-ter treatment both in dis-tricts and in Hyderabad.

He said beds were available in sufficient numbers at government hospitals like the Gan-dhi Hospital, the Chest Hospital, the King Koti Hospital, the Fever Hos-pital and the Telangana Institute of Medical Sci-ences (TIMS). Rajender was talking to reporters after a visit to the TIMS, a newly-established hospi-tal and a dedicated Covid facility. Wearing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and accompanied by top officials, he went around the premises, including the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and interacted with Covid patients and enquired about their problems, treatment and the facili-ties available.

Covid can be treated for Rs K, says Health Minister E. Rajender

Rs. to the party activists who have taken TRS party membership. Premium total Rs. 2 lakhs for risk insurance. Party working president KTR has handed over 16 crores 11 lakhs (16,11,19,119) cheque to the insurance company.

Hyderabad, Aug.2 (UNI): Agriculture Minister, Singireddy Niranjan Reddy today said that crisis Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has turned state into green with irrigation systems and increase in agriculture production in Telangana. Telangana was achieved for waters and funds which are now bring realised in TRS government, he claimed. He released waters from Gudipally in Nagar Kurnool district to main canals of Kalwakurty and Achampet.

Later he told media persons that Telangana has suffered a loss of Rs 50000 cr due to Corona pandemic and treatment. In just six years the chief Minister has achieved the set targets of completing projects and implementing several welfare schemes for poor, he said. Niranjan Reddy hoped of increase in agriculture production as the state received good rainfall.

The minister asked the farmers not to dig holes on canals as we will get you waters at any place of crops in the farm field. Despite Corona crisis Chief Minister K Chandra sekhar Rao offered Rs 7253 cr to farmers under Rythu Bandhu, the minister said. We have spent Rs 30000 cr to procure grains and maze from the farmers. KCR government is for protecting interests of farmers who are 60 percent he said. Niranjan Reddy hit out at the Congress, BJP without naming them for unnecessary criticism on agriculture irrigation, and urea and other issues.

KCR realises agriculture production dream:

Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad 2 Aug. Telangana Governor, DrTamilisai Soundararajan. Distribution of kits on occasion of Breast Feeding week at Near Raj Bhavan Dispensary on Sunday

Covid-19: 8,555 new cases reported, 67 more patients die in APVijayawada, Aug 2 (UNI) The spike

of Coronavirus positive cases con-tinued in Andhra Pradesh as 8,555 new cases were reported in a period of 24 hours taking the total cases to 1,58,764 while 67 more patients died taking the death toll to 1474. A health bulletin said here on Sunday that 52,834 swab samples were tested from 9 am on Saturday to 9 am today of which 8,555 were tested positive for coronavirus taking the total cases to 1,58,764. As many as 67 patients died in a period of 24 hours taking the death toll to 1,474. Most of the

deaths have taken place in Kurnool district (120), Krishna district (175), East Godavari district (179), Gun-tur district (149), Anantapur district (122), Chittoor district (117) and West Godavari district (99). Out of the 1,58,764 positive cases, 22,201 positive cases were registered in East Godavari district, 19,077 cases were registered in Kurnool dis-trict, 16,523 cases were registered in Anantapur district, 16,308 cases were registered in Guntur district, 13,147 cases were registered in Vi-sakhapatnam district, 13,354 cases.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 223 MONDAY, 3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020 AUGUST, 2020

Bandulal asks CM KCR, Etala to stop politicising Covid-19 situationTSIT BUREAUHyderabad, Aug 2::TPCC sec-retary and congress leader-Saturday asked Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and Health Minister Etala Rajen-der to stop politicising the Co-vid-19 situation just to evade criticism and hide failures. "CM KCR had given a state-ment on March 7 denying the prevalence of Covid-19 in Telangana and describing it as a common fl u which can be treat-ed with a Paracetamol tablet. Despite the fact that thousands (or may be lakhs of people) got infected with the deadly virus while over 500 people lost their lives, the Chief Minister did not change his attitude and ap-proach towards the pandemic. Instead of attending to the is-sues related to Covid-19, the Chief Minister is still busy do-ing reviews on subjects of less importance in the present cir-

cumstances," Jamalpur Bandu-lalsaid in a media statement. Bandulal said that the TRS was in power for the last six-and-a-half years and KCR Govt did nothing either to upgrade the health infrastructure in the State or at least maintain what existed at the time of Telangana formation. Therefore, he alleged that TRS leaders, especially the Health Minister should stop

blaming the Congress party to cover up their own ineffi ciency in handling the Covid-19 situa-tion. "On June 28, CM KCR gave a hint in the offi cial press release that another lockdown may be imposed for 15-days in view of the rising number of cases. He created confusion among the people and himself went into hiding for almost 15 days. He is yet to hold a detailed review meeting on the Covid-19 situa-tion. He must order a probe on the huge increase in the number of cases in the recent past and the causes of death. The gov-ernment must study the pattern of how the virus has spread and why so many people were killed. Such studies always prove help-ful in handling similar pan-demics in future. However, CM KCR lack of seriousness and is waiting for the pandemic to end on its own," he said. "If the claims being made by

the Health Minister with regard to handling Covid-19 situation were true, then why are we still getting reports of patients being denied admission citing lack of beds as an excuse? Why did hundreds of nursing staff, Class IV employees and sanitation staff in various hospitals and municipalities were still holding protests demanding payment of salaries for the last two months? If all hospitals are up to the mark, why are some patients still making selfi e videos complain-ing of negligence?" he asked. Bandulal said that Chief Sec-retary Somesh Kumar has ad-mitted in the High Court that more than 750 complaints were received against the private hospitals for charging exorbi-tant bills from the Covid-19 patients. "In that case, why has no action been taken on a single complaint so far?" he asked. Stating that many doctors,

para-medical staff, police per-sonnel, sanitation staff and journalists, who were catego-rised as frontline warriors in the combat against Covid-19, have succumbed to Coronavirus, he said that the State Government did not pay the demanded ex-gratia of Rs. 50 lakh to their fam-ilies. He said that many States have paid Rs. 1 crore ex-gratia to frontline warriors. How-ever, KCR Govt is not willing to emulate others in good things. Bandulal Said that the Chief Minister and Health Minister should stop politicising the Co-vid-19 situation by targeting the opposition parties in their state-ments. "Instead of condemning the criticism, they should fi nd out why they were being criti-cised. They should learn to re-spond to positive suggestions given by the Congress party if they are genuine towards serv-ing people," he said.

TSIT BUREAU Hyderabad, Aug2::senior Congress leader and former MP V Hanumantha Rao visited the Narsimhalu family of a farmer who committed suicide after he was aware that he was trying to build a 13-guntas fi eld of land belong-ing to Bagari Narsimhalu of Vellore village in Vargal zone of Gajwel, which is represented by Chief Minister KCRC o n s t i t u e n c y .VH on the occasion said he strongly condemned the government’s action.

KCR promised to give 3 acres of land to dalits and now it is a sad thing to grab land belonging to poor dalits. VH demanded that the govern-ment take legal action against those responsible for the incident, as well as give the Narsingh family 3 acres of land and double bedroom house.On this occasion, VH donated Rs 10,000 to the Narsimha family as his contribution. State Kisan Cell presi-dent Anvesh and local leaders were present in this consoling programme.

TSIT BUREAUHyderabad, August 2::Yen-nam Srinivas Reddy con-veyed heartily thank to Shri.Bandi Sanjay, BJP Telangana State unit Presi-dent, and all his senior party colleagues and the state party, for apponit-ing him as the vice presi-dent of the party State

unit through the newly an-nounced state committee. He said that he also con-gratulate all newly ap-pointed state committee members. He extends His complete support and co-operation in their pursuit of success in the new roles. Mr.yennam for-mer MLA he got

Victory in 2012 by election at thePeak juncture of Telan-gana movement. In neck to neck fi ghtHe got victory with good marginDue to Telangana sep-arate state hood he fought relentlessly andHe quiits his buerocray.

Yennam appointed as vice president of newly announced State committee

VH donated Rs 10,000 to the Narsimha family as

his contribution.

Hyderabad, Aug 2 (UNI) Telangana re-ceived 18 per cent more rainfall as compared to normal annual rainfall up to July 31.

In a statement here on Sunday, Ground Water Department said, during the Water Year 2020-21, the state received actual rainfall of 439.8 mm as against 373.4 mm of nor-mal rainfall up to July 31, 2020 and it ranges from 263.5 mm (Nal-

gonda Dist) to 621.5 mm (Mulugu) and thus there is a 18 per cent more rainfall during this pe-riod in the state as com-pared to normal annual rainfall up to July 2020.

Sixteen districts-- Bhadradri, Hyder-abad, Mahabubabad, Warangal(U), Sircilla, Medak, Khammam, Ran-gareddy, Nagarkurnool, Jangaon, Vikarabad, Sid-dipet, Mahabubnagar, Narayanpet, Wanapar-

thy, Jogulamba(Gadwal) received excess rainfall than normal rainfall (+22 pc to 161 pc ) and two districts --Nizamabad and Nirmal received deficit rainfall (-24 to -30 pc). The statement said the Average ground-water level in the State during July-2020 is 9.26 meters below ground level (m bgl) and it varies from 4.13 m bgl (Kham-mam) to 20.77 m bgl (Sangareddy). A net rise

in Groundwater level of 4.86 m is observed dur-ing July 2020 as com-pared to July 2019 and the rise is observed in all the districts. A minimum rise of 0.56 m is observed in Komaram Bheem and maximum rise of 10.09 meters in Jangaon dis-trict. A net average rise in groundwater levels of 2.02 meters is observed during July 2020 as com-pared to May 2020 and the fall.

Telangana receives 18 pc more rainfall as compared to normal annual rainfall up to Jul 31

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 333 MONDAY, 3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020 AUGUST, 2020

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) International trav-ellers will be exempted from institutional quar-antine on submitting a negative RT-PCR test report on their arrival in India, according to the latest guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

However, "this test should have been con-ducted within 96 hrs prior to undertaking the journey. The test report should be uploaded on the portal for consider-ation", the guidelines say. Also, a self-decla-ration needs to be fur-nished, vouching for the authenticity of the test report.

All others need to give an undertaking on the portal that they would undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days (7 days paid institution-al quarantine at their own cost, followed by 7 days isolation at home with self-monitoring of health). All travellers are also required to submit a self-declaration form on the online portal at

least 72 hours before the scheduled travel, according to the new guidelines for inbound international passen-gers. Before boarding a flight to India, not only is downloading Arogya Setu app on their mo-bile devices mandatory but at the time of board-ing, only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after thermal screening. The same set of rules will also apply to those crossing through land borders.

During travel, those who have not filled in the self-declaration form on the portal shall fill the same in duplicate in the flight or ship and a copy of it will be given to Health and Immigra-tion officials present at the airport, seaport or landport. "Alternatively, such travellers may sub-mit a self-declaration form on the online por-tal at arriving airport/seaport/landport as per the directions of the concerned authorities, if such facility is avail-able," reads the new

guidelines.While announcements

informing about the pandemic need to be made at airports, sea-ports or landports, pre-cautions such as wear-ing masks are a must, says the Union Health Ministry. Upon arrival, thermal screening would be carried out in respect of all the passengers by the health officials present. Thereafter, the self-declaration form filled online will need to be shown to the airport health staff. However, the passengers found to be symptomatic during screening will be imme-diately isolated and tak-en to a medical facility as per health protocols.

Post thermal screen-ing, the passengers who have been exempt-ed from institutional quarantine will need to show this exemption to the respective state counters on their cell phones/other mode before being allowed home quarantine for 14 days. The rest will be taken to "suitable

institutional quaran-tine facilities", which will be arranged by the respective state and UT Governments. These sets of passengers will be kept under institu-tional quarantine for a minimum period of 7 days and they shall be tested as per the ICMR protocol. "If they are assessed as asymptom-atic/pre-symptomatic/very mild cases, they will be allowed home isolation or isolated in the Covid Care Centre (both public & private facilities) as appropri-ate," says the guide-line. But, those having mild/ moderate/se-vere symptoms will be admitted to dedicated Covid Health facilities.

Meanwhile, if found negative, they will be advised to further isolate themselves at home and self-monitor their health for 7 days. "In case any symptoms develop they shall inform the district surveillance officer or the state/national call centre (1075)," it states.

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday conducted searches at the residential premises of an accused in Noi-da in Uttar Pradesh, the adjoin-ing city of the national capital, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case.

The raids were conducted at the residence of DU professor Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil who was found to be a co-conspirator along with other accused persons propagating Maoist activities and ideology, and was placed under arrest on July 28 this year, the NIA said.

Further, the investigation also revealed that accused Hany Babu was in contact with Paik-homba Meitei, Secretary Infor-mation and Publicity, Military

Affairs, Kangkeipak Communist Party (MC), an organisation banned under Unlawful Activi-ties (Prevention) Act. An inter-

view of Ganapathy, General Secretary of CPI (Maoist) was shared by Paikhomba Meitei with the accused Hany Babu.

"Communications of Hany Babu with other Maoists of Ma-nipur have also been retrieved," the NIA said.

The investigation also re-vealed that after the release of CPI (Maoist) leader Pallath Go-vindankutty, Hany Babu, along with co-accused Rona Wilson, took the initiative to help him financially by raising funds.

Hany Babu, along with other accused persons identified as Rona Wilson, Anand Tel-tumbde, P. Varavara Rao and Surendra Gadling formed a Committee for the release of former DU professor G.N. Saib-aba who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his links with CPI (Maoist). During the search of accused Hany Babu's house, NIA seized one account ledger,

one receipt book of the Com-mittee for the Defence and Re-lease of Dr G.N. Saibaba, several documents as well as electronic items such as Hard Disk and USB pen drive.

The case pertains to organ-isation of Elgar Parishad at Pune, Maharashtra on Decem-ber 12, 2017 which promoted enmity between various caste groups and led to violence re-sulting in loss of life and prop-erty and state-wide agitation in Maharashtra. The investigation revealed that the Elgar Pari-shad along with Maoist leaders used the incident to spread the ideology of Maoism and en-courage unlawful activities on the instructions of the leaders of CPI (Maoist), a banned or-ganisation.

Want to avoid institutional quarantine? Get a -ve RT-PCR report

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) The Central Bureau of Investiga-tion (CBI) has started prelimi-nary enquiry into allotment of a Rs 9,000 crore hydro power project in J&K, allegedly done by flouting all central govern-ment guidelines governing such allotments, according to top sources.

The proposed 1,540 MW Kiru hydro power project is to be completed in two stag-es, with stage one costing Rs 4,948.26 crore and stage two Rs 4,287.59 crore.

The complaint being probed by the CBI alleged that the Chenab Valley Power Projects (CVPPL) allotted the project in grave violation of rules and guidelines, and was done under the influence of some top bureaucrats, top sources told .

The CVPPL allotted the proj-ect for execution to a joint venture company and the al-lotment violated the central government's guidelines, set out in Goland CVC guidelines, it was alleged in the com-plaint.

The CVPPL board of direc-tors had cancelled the tender process with specific reasons.

"A powerful lobby within the J&K administration forced the corporation for re-allotment of the cancelled tender after over-ruling resistance from within the board. A senior bureaucrat who recorded his dissenting note against re-allotment was transferred on January 3, 2020," said the complaint.

After cancelling the tender process, the board had no le-gal authority to re-allot it and that too through a manual process, it has been alleged.

"Even when the process of re-allotment of cancelled ten-der was marred by violations and irregularities, the authori-ties released a huge amount as mobilisation advance to the beneficiary company," says the complaint.

The CBI has been requested in the complaint to seize re-cords with regard to the tender evaluation and re-allotment to prevent those involved from tampering or destroying them.

It's believed once the CBI in-vestigation reaches its logical conclusion, many skeletons could tumble out of the cup-board of the Union Territory's administration.

CBI begins preliminary probe into Rs 9,000 cr

J&K project

Bhima Koregaon: NIA raids Noida residence of Hany Babu

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 443 MONDAY, 3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020 AUGUST, 2020

Visakhapatnam, Aug 2 (UNI) Tragedy struck a family for second time in 24 hours, as three persons were killed in an accident in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district on Sunday while they were on their way to Visakhapatnam to attend the last rites of a relative who was killed in crane crash at the Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) on Saturday.

The car in which they were travelling rammed into a sta-tionary truck at Kanchili in Srikakulam district. Nagamani (48), who was coming to Vi-sakhapatnam to see for the last time her son-in-law P. Bhaskar Rao died in the road accident

along with her daughter-in-law Lavanya (23) and driver Routu Dwaraka (23). Police said the accident occurred when the car rammed into the stationary truck from behind. Nagamani’s sons Ishwar Rao and Rajasekhar and another daughter-in-law Pytili were injured and were initially shifted to government hospi-tal at Sompeta and later to Sri-kakulam. The condition of Ish-war Rao is stated to be critical. The family had started from Kharagpur in West Bengal after learning that their son-in-law was killed in the crane crash at HSL. Eleven people were crushed to death when

a giant crane came crashing down at HSL on Saturday. Four regular employees of

HSL and seven contract work-ers were among the deceased.

Bhaskar Rao (35) was work-

ing for Lead Engineers, which was one of the two firms hired by Greenfield company, to

3 killed on wawy to Vizag to attend funeral of crane crash victim

which HSL had out-sourced the crane operations. Mean-while, two commit-tees were consti-tuted to probe crane crash. While one committee was set up under the Direc-tor of Shipyard and another commit-tee was constituted by the Department of Engineering, Andhra University. They have been asked to submit a detailed report over the crane crash within a week.

Hyderabad, Aug 2 (UNI) Telangana re-ceived 18 per cent more rainfall as compared to normal annual rainfall up to July 31.

In a statement here on Sunday, Ground Water Department said, dur-ing the Water Year 2020-21, the state received actual rainfall of 439.8 mm as against 373.4 mm of normal rainfall up to July 31, 2020 and it ranges from 263.5 mm (Nalgonda Dist) to 621.5 mm (Mulugu) and thus there is a 18 per cent more rainfall during this period in the state as compared to normal annual rainfall up to July 2020. Sixteen dis-tricts-- Bhadradri, Hy-derabad, Mahabubabad, Warangal(U), Sircilla, Medak, Khammam, Ran-gareddy, Nagarkurnool, Jangaon, Vikarabad, Sid-dipet, Mahabubnagar, Narayanpet, Wanapar-

thy, Jogulamba(Gadwal) received excess rainfall than normal rainfall (+22 pc to 161 pc ) and two districts --Nizamabad and Nirmal received deficit rainfall (-24 to -30 pc). The statement said the Average ground-water level in the State during July-2020 is 9.26 meters below ground level (m bgl) and it varies from 4.13 m bgl (Kham-mam) to 20.77 m bgl (Sangareddy).

A net rise in Ground-water level of 4.86 m is observed during July

2020 as compared to July 2019 and the rise is ob-served in all the districts. A minimum rise of 0.56 m is observed in Koma-ram Bheem and maxi-mum rise of 10.09 meters in Jangaon district. A net average rise in ground-water levels of 2.02 me-ters is observed during July 2020 as compared to May 2020 and the fall is observed in one district (-0.33 Nizamabad) and rise is observed in 32 dis-tricts (0.17 Wanaparthy to 4.84 in Hyderabad), the statement added.

Telangana receives 18 pc more rainfall as compared to normal

annual rainfall up to Jul 31

Hyderabad airport gets mass fever screening system

Hyderabad, Aug 2 (UNI) Hyder-abad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has received a Unicef-funded mass fever screening system to further enhance the efficacy of screening of passengers in view of Co-vid-19 pandemic, the airport operator announced on Sunday. The Central government’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in coordination with Asian Development Bank, has pro-vided state-of-the-art thermal scanner funded by the United Nations Chil-dren’s Fund (Unicef). The system will be used by the officials of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the airport. The new thermal scanner is a ceiling mounted mass fever screening system capable of scanning, detecting and tracking febrile persons with el-evated skin temperature. The system automatically adjusts and adapts to the surrounding ambient temperature without any human intervention. With its Intuitive User Interface and Dual-Displays (day camera + infra-red) it provides easy identification of passen-gers with elevated temperature, while simplifying operations and minimiz-ing handling. The new thermal scan-ner imparts more control to the Hy-derabad Airport Health Organization, along with the existing thermal scan-ners at the international arrivals, said GMR Hyderabad International Airport

Limited (GHIAL). RGIA continues to handle the international relief flights under the government of India’s larg-est offshore evacuation programme of Vande Bharat Mission (VBM). All in-ternational arrival passengers and air-line crew undergo mandatory health screening by the airport health officers to identify symptomatic passengers to contain the spread of Covid-19 and provide necessary medical assistance to such passengers. “We are thankful to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in having this modern equip-ment installed at the Hyderabad In-ternational Airport. We are grateful to the sponsors ADB and Unicef for this humane gesture. With this facility, it makes the task of the health officials who serve at the airport round the clock, a little more easy,” said Pradeep Panicker, CEO, GHIAL. “The new top-end mass fever scanner at Hyderabad

International Airport enhances our efficiency multi-fold. With the help of the intuitive technology we are able to screen passengers effectively. The system alerts us if any passenger is found with high temperature, without disturbing passenger movement and throughput,” said Dr. Anuradha Me-doju, Senior Regional Director, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Health and Family Welfare of the Central govern-ment. The airport has handled about 40,000 international arrivals passen-gers during the Covid-19 pandemic from May till date. To facilitate the arriving international passengers, the airport has kept the international ar-rivals and the entire stretch right from the aerobridge to the arrivals ramp fully sanitized and fumigated. This includes -- sanitization of every nook and corner of building and public ar-eas including aerobridges.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 553 MONDAY, 3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020 AUGUST, 2020

Low-key Bakrid celebrations in Telangana, AndhraHyderabad, Aug 2 (UNI) Eid

ul-Adha was celebrated in Hy-derabad and other parts of Telangana and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Saturday on a low-key note in view of the coronavirus crisis, as Muslims offered prayers in mosques and sacrificed animals. Namaz-e-Eid was offered in mosques as worshippers maintained social distance and took other precau-tions as per the COVID-19 pro-tocols.

There were no prayers in Ei-dgahs or open grounds which otherwise witness large congre-gations of Muslims twice a year. Like Eid ul-Fitr, which was cele-brated in May, the prayers were not held in Eidgahs.

However, this time, the con-gregational prayers were al-lowed in mosques but subject to certain restrictions. Most of the mosques saw prayers in two spells to ensure social distanc-ing among the worshippers. Historic Mecca Masjid and Sha-hi Masjid in Hyderabad saw no congregational prayers as the two mosques remained closed for worshippers as a precau-tionary measure. Historic Mir Alam Eidgah and Mecca Masjid, near Charminar, used to witness biggest gatherings on Eid.

However, prayers were con-

ducted in hundreds of mosques in Hyderabad, its twin city Secunderabad and other towns and villages in both the Telugu states.

In most of the mosques, peo-ple who offered a ‘Fajr’ or pre-dawn prayers stayed back for Namaz-e-Eid held half-an-hour to one hour after the sunrise.

Eid ul-Adha or Bakrid is the second major Muslim festival celebrated to commemorate the sacrifice by Prophet Ibrahim, who offered to sacrifice his son Ismail on Allah’s command. The Almighty, however, replaced

Prophet Ismail with a lamb just as Prophet Ibrahim was about to slit his son’s throat. Imams, in their sermons on the occasion of Eid prayers, called upon the devout to imbibe Prophet Ibra-him’s spirit of sacrifice and said the Eid’s message is that they should always be ready to sur-render to Allah’s will.

Moulana Abdullah Qasmi, who led the prayers and deliv-ered the sermons at Masjid-e-Sufha in Toli Chowki area of Hyderabad, said the success in this world and hereafter lies in surrendering oneself to Allah as

a true servant.There was no traditional

handshake and hugs after the prayers as people restricted themselves to ‘salam’ and greet-ing each other orally. After the prayers, Muslims offered sac-rifice of ‘halal’ animals to Al-lah. Sacrificing is obligatory for adult Muslims who are ‘sa-heb-e-nisab’ or possess wealth equivalent to 87.48 gram gold or 612.35 gram silver. An individu-al can sacrifice a sheep or goat or may join six other persons to sacrifice a big animal. The meat of the sacrificed animal is dis-tributed equally in three parts. The person making the sacri-fice keeps one part for his fam-ily while the other two parts are distributed among relatives and the poor.

This year, the number of people offering sacrifice at their homes came down in view of COVID-19. Avoiding the risk while buying the animals or hiring services of butchers for slaughter, many either out-sourced the job to traders or socio-religious organisations. Instead of sacrificing goats or sheep, many people preferred taking a ‘hissa’ or share in the cattle with the individuals and groups who organise a ‘ijtemai qurbani’ or collective sacrifice

every year. Some groups offered their services even for slaughter of goats or sheep.

Community leaders say many people entrusted the task of distribution of meat among the poor to the groups arrang-ing collective sacrifice. They wanted to avoid visits to rela-tives, friends and others to dis-tribute meat in view of the CO-VID-19 situation. Meanwhile, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Chief Minis-ter K Chandrashekhar Rao con-veyed greetings to the Muslims on the occasion of Eid. “Bakrid symbolises the spirit of sharing and charity with great reverence and supreme devotion to the Almighty. Wish you all a happy Bakrid and appeal all to cele-brate with COVID precautions,” the Governor tweeted.

Rao, in his message, said that it’s a festival of sacrifice and reminds everyone to follow the noble teachings of the Prophet and imbibe the spirit of sacri-fice, compassion and tolerance for fellow beings during these times. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy extended his greetings to the Muslims and said: “May this auspicious day further the spirit of compassion, devotion and faith amongst all of us.”

Memories of the immortal President Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam Online Global Tribute

Hyderabad, Aug.2 (UNI): Pink Jaguars Entertainment (Hollywood Media & Film Production Company) Los Angeles, USA successfully organised the 1st session of “MISSION KALAM”, an online zoom convention to pay tribute to Dr. Kalam. It is organised today . Eminent personalities from various fields shared windows with those who travelled with Dr. Kalam for decades. JagadeeshDaneti (JD), Holywood Film Director who is holding the megaphone for the biopic of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam announced that they wish to bring millions of Dr. Kalam’s fans & followers together to perform “KALAM ANTHEM” online on October 15, by involving dignitaries from India and USA. He appealed to all Kalam fans to spread word

about MISSION KALAM as a responsibility to spread Dr. Kalam’s legacy.

The Online Session had a good number of speakers representing all over the globe who shared inspiring stories about Dr. Kalam. The list included Dr. Hari Eppanapalley, Chairman, Mission Kalaam (USA), Justice Shri. V. ESWARAIAH, Former AP Chief Justice, Dr Subrahmanyeswar Rao, Chief of Indo-American Cancer Research

Institute (Hyderabad), Md Kalequr Rehman, Agriculturist and Social Worker and many more.. All the speakers said that Dr. Kalam is immortal and shared their personal experiences with Dr. Kalam. Suvarna Pappu, Managing Director, Pink Jaguars Entertainment (USA) invited all the Indian as well as non-Indian socio-cultural organisations to take part in the grand day celebration on October 15th (Dr Kalam’s Birthday), 2020. Padmini ‘Kacchapi’ (Director, Festival Films, USA) mentioned the need for good films to the society. Justice V. Eswaraiah recollected the great changes initiated by Dr. Kalam to various sectors of India. Md. Kalequr Rehnam recollected his memories with Dr. Kalam at the airport, where Dr. Kalam refused.

Hyderabad, July 31 (UNI): JITO Hyderabad Chapter turns Hotel Manasarovar The Fern, Chiraan Fort Club, Begumpet, here into “JITO Covid Care Center, offers services for isolation and treat-ment for asymptomatic & mild Covid- 19 Patients. The package offered is the most affordable for any, purely with a service mo-tive. Offers COVID Recovery 7 day package for just Rs 28,000 to Rs 35,000- depending on single and double sharing occupancy., a statement here said today.

The Centre is permitted and approved by the Telangana State Health department COVID-19 has turned the world upside down. First with lockdown, job, busi-ness loss and now probability of hospitalization. All these are put together are taking the toll on the people. JITO Hyderabad Chapter

decided to set up this facility on humanitarian ground in associa-tion with Mahavir Hospital & Re-search Center. JITO COVID CARE CENTER’ (JITO-CCC) will be for-mally functional from on August 3, after a formally inauguration.

The JITO-CCC will function strictly adhering to ICMR Guide-lines. It will only admit strictly Asymptomatic & Mild Covid Pa-tients between the age of 15-55 years on the basis of current Covid

Positive Test Report. It will have an Emergency Backup arrangement with Super Specialty Hospital. It is equipped with Oxygen Facility for emergency usage. Personal & Medical Kit will be provided on Admission. Round the clock Doc-tors / Nurses / Ambulance services will be made available. All Day – In house Healthy Vegetarian Meals, Includes Breakfast, Lunch, Hitea & Dinner will be provided. In case if some need Jain food.

JITO-Hyderabad Chapter turns Hotel into JITO COVID CARE CENTER

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 663 MONDAY, 3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020 AUGUST, 2020

KCR Govt must increase hospitals, not crematoria for Covid patients: Gudur

Hyderabad, Aug.2 (UNI):Telangana Pradesh Con-gress Committee (TPCC) Trea-surer Gudur Narayana Reddy expressed deep concern over re-ports of State Government setting up five new LPG-based cremato-ria in Hyderabad in view of rising number of Coronavirus cases in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

As per media reports, the LPG-fuelled crematoria are likely to be installed at Hindu cremation grounds in the Charminar, Khair-tabad, Secunderabad, Uppal and Kukatpally zones in the next 15 days with each having a capacity of cremating 12 bodies every day. “The Covid-19 death toll in Telan-gana, as being shown in official Media Bulletin never exceeded 15 on any given day. If the official figures are genuine, then why the State Government is making ar-rangements to cremate 60 more bodies in addition to the existing crematoria. Are the authorities expecting the situation to worsen further or are they hiding an al-ready worsened condition from the people?” he asked in a media statement on Sunday.

“Governments which do not establish hospitals for common

people, end up building crema-toria. Chief Minister K. Chan-drashekhar Rao will be remem-bered in history as the leader who did nothing to save people’s lives, but made arrangements for their last rites. KCR Govt has wasted a lot of precious time to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. It miser-ably failed to trace and test the suspects. Consequently, the in-fected people moved freely in the society while spreading the virus among the rest of the population. Further, hospitals were not up-graded on time which increased

the death toll,” he alleged.Narayana Reddy said that the

Chief Minister should’ve dedi-cated all resources to handle the Covid-19 situation in the initial stages. However, KCR focussed on diverting people’s attention and hiding real numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths. Despite a rise in both the number of positive cases and deaths, the State Government is not upgrading the hospitals by ensuring supply of quality oxygen and required medicines. He said several deaths have been reported in the last few days where patients

in government hospitals died due to non-availability of oxygen.

The Congress leader also al-leged that the details of infra-structure and bed occupancy in government hospitals being provided by the Director of Pub-lic Health in the daily Media Bulletin was incorrect and mis-leading. “As per the Media Bul-letin, of 18,547 Active Cases (as on 1st August till 8 pm), as many as 12,001 were getting treatment in Home/Institutional Isolation. It means that a total of 6,546 are admitted in hospitals. The bul-letin says that a total of 2,397 beds including 829 Isolation; 1,298 Oxygen and 270 ICU beds in government hospitals were occupied. This means that the remaining 4,149 patients are getting treatment in 94 private hospitals. The Health Minister should clarify as to why a major-ity of patients were preferring treatment in private hospitals if the government hospitals have good facilities?” he asked. “Although the government is claiming that 15,810 beds in government hospitals are va-cant, many patients were be-ing denied admission or being subjected to mental harassment

which is forcing the relatives to approach private hospitals,” he alleged. Reddy said as per the of-ficial figures provided in the Me-dia Bulletin, presently there are 15,810 beds vacant in govern-ment hospitals which include 3,365 Oxygen and 1,346 ICU beds. Similarly, as many 2,420 beds, including 780 oxygen and 421 ICU beds (Ventilator/CPAP) are vacant in 94 private hospi-tals. This clearly means that the Telangana Government was not equipped to handle the situation if the Covid-19 cases increase at the same pace. “The number of Covid-19 cases have doubled in the last 20 days. There were 33,402 cases on 12th July and they’ve in-creased to 66,667 on 1st August with 18,547 Active Cases. There-fore, how would the government handle the situation if Active Cases gets doubled in the next 15-20 days?” he said. The Congress leader said that instead of finding means to tamper with the data of Covid cases and deaths and exploring means for fast crema-tion of bodies, KCR Government should focus on strengthening the health infrastructure so as to save as many lives as possible, he demanded.

Hyderabad, Aug.2 (UNI): The transport operators of Telangana have strongly condemned the State Gov-ernment for not responding to the grievances expressed by the industry seeking relief in view of lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is highly unfortunate that the Government of Telangana is not willing to resolve the problems being faced by transport opera-tors in the State. Our indus-try contributes nearly Rs. 2,500 crore of revenues to the State while providing nearly 5-6 lakh jobs, directly and indirectly. But for Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, our industry appar-

ently doesn’t exist. He did not even respond to various representations submitted seeking waiver of Advance Motor Vehicle Tax for the lockdown period for con-tract carriage vehicles and Maxi cabs. Transport Min-ister Ajay Kumar is not ac-cessible and all top officials including Principal Secre-tary and Transport Commis-sioner have expressed their inability to help the industry in this hour of crisis,” Telan-gana State Cabs and Bus Op-erators (TSCBOA) President Syed Nizamuddin said in a media statement on Sunday.

The TSCBOA President said that the travel operators did no business ever since

the imposition of lockdown on March 22. “Our vehicles have remained parked in ga-rages in the last four months. But the State Government is asking us to pay Advance Tax although we did not earn a single rupee of revenue. While we are making desper-ate attempts to get the MV Tax waived, the Transport Department has imposed heavy penalties for Tax Ar-rears. For instance, for those having Tax Arrears of Rs. 42,840 are now being asked to pay Rs. 117,860 including Penalty. Despite a case go-ing on in the High Court, the Transport Department has sent notices asking us to pay the arrears and a huge pen-

alty,” he said.Nizamuddin alleged that

the State Government has adopted an inhuman treat-ment towards the transport operators. “We’ve made multiple representations to the top officials and even held symbolic protests. We’ve also approached the High Court seeking justice. We are expecting the State Government to provide us some relief to help us overcome the crisis that oc-curred due to lockdown.

The transport industry has already lost its business due to the closure of IT and tourism industries. It will take more than a year for us to recover from the losses.

In this scenario, instead of helping, the State Govern-ment is penalising the travel industry. This attitude will not only crush the entire in-dustry, but it will also have an impact on the revenues of the State Government. If the travel operators are forced to shut down their businesses, then they won’t be paying MV and other taxes to the government. Consequently, the government will regis-ter a huge dip in revenues from the transport depart-ment. Further, at least five lakh people would lose jobs if the travel industry fails to emerge out of crisis,” he said. The TSCBOA President said that the attitude of the

State Government towards the transport operators clearly shows that Telanga-na doesn’t deserve to be on top in the list of States with ‘Ease of Doing Business’. While it may be easier for a company to start business in Telangana, it is highly dif-ficult to run your business as the State Government will not respond if you have any grievances. He said that the State Government was try-ing to woo foreign investors, but neglecting the existing industry in Telangana. He threatened that the travel operators would write to ranking agencies to remove Telangana from the top in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’.

Telangana unfit for top rank in ‘Ease of Doing Business’: Travel operators

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 773 MONDAY, 3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020 AUGUST, 2020

Ananya Pandey shares

glamorous pictures with bae Shanaya

Kapoor!

Ananya Pandey and Shanaya Kapoor denote each other with words like soulmate and best friends forever and their friendship is considered one of the best B-town friendships. Ananya al-ways keeps on sharing her pictures with Shanaya. Recently she also shared throwback pictures, in which she is seen with her best friend Shanaya Ka-poor. In the picture, both are seen in a very glamor-ous look. Ananya Pandey shared the pictures with the caption, "We'll be best friends forever... because you already know too much ". The pictures of these two have received more than 1.7 million likes, while fans are prais-ing them by commenting. Their childhood friend Su-hana Khan has also com-mented on the pictures, "Wow u really brought that caption back". Take a look on her Insta post- Ananya Pandey, who de-buted in Bollywood with the fi lm 'Student of the Year 2' and was later seen in 'Pati, Patni Aur Woh' has become the heart-beat of millions. She has done only two fi lms, and her huge fan following of more than 12 million.

Singer Akriti Kakar faced harassment over mis-placed baggage at the airport while travelling to Del-hi from Mumbai on Tuesday. The singer complained against Indigo airlines on Twitter alleging that they have left one of her bags in Mumbai, while she landed in Delhi. She further claimed that the baggage which was marked 'fast forward', was stacked with warm clothes while she was shivering in Delhi's freezing cold. Akriti tweeted: "Jet has shut, Air India is no good .. indigo also totally acting irresponsible! Left my Fast Forward marked baggage in Mumbai and telling me after i land in Delhi that the bag wasn't loaded in the flight! GREAT JOB @IndiGo6E." In a separate tweet, the singer complained: "Get me luggage ASAP to Del-hi @IndiGo6E! This is just ridiculous.

Akriti Kakar's baggage misplaced, airline apologises

We have been hearing reports for quite some time now that a third part of Shah

Rukh Khan's "Don" franchise is being considered. Actor Kunal Kapoor, who

played a significant role in the 2011 film "Don 2", is not sure about "Don 3", but he

recalls being a part of the second film with fondness. "Nobody has gotten in

touch with me, so I don't know if the film ('Don 3') is happening. But 'Don' was an incredible part to be in. We had such a good time making the film. And if there is an opportunity to be a part of it again,

it would be very exciting," Kunal told. Directed by Farhan Akhtar, "Don 2" also starred Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra. Kunal's next film is "Koi Jaane

Na". "It is a unique film and a role I haven't done before. It is basically a thriller-meets-comicbook and it is in a space I have been wanting to explore for a long time. I was

thrilled on reading the script because no one had offered me such a part. I am

excited to know what people would think of the film," said the actor.

Kunal Kapoor: 'Don' was

an incredible film to be in

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 883 MONDAY, 3 MONDAY, AUGUST, 2020 AUGUST, 2020

Breast feeding week will be celebrated from 1st to 7th August every year by Twice Cities Branch of In-dian Academy of Pediat-rics to encourage Breast feeding and improve the health of babies.Breast milk must be initiated as soon af-ter birth as possible because it is best for physical,mental develop-ment of the baby and for emotional bonding be-tween mother and child.For the fi rst six months of age the child doesn't need anything besides breast mil, not even water.Bottle feeding leads to loose motions, ear, throat, lung infections, dental caries etc. Always avoid bottle feeding, nipples and pacifi ers.After six months of age in additions to breast milk your baby needs other foods like Rice water,Ragi malted, Banana, coocked and mashed Vegetables

along with boiled and cooled water. Never include commercially available baby foods.Breast milk is safe and non allergic contains

I m m u n o g l o b u l i n s and cellular elements which will increase Im-munity and protects baby against infections.In this pandamic of CO-

VID19 breast feeding will increases the immu-nity in the children and protects agaisnt Corona infection.So mothers are advised to continue breastfeeding beyond two years of age if possible till the end of Pandamic.Early initiation of breastfeeding with in 1st hour could prevent upto 20% of Neonatal deaths from all causes.BREASTFEEDING 1.Prevents 13% of all deaths of children under fi ve2.Redce 1/3 of Acute re-spiratory infections3.Reduce half of all diar-rhea episodes.4.Reduce 156000 child deaths in our countryImproved health and well being of mothers5.Reduce obesity by 26%6.Prevent extra 20000 deaths from breast cancer each year Globally7.Potential to reduce type 2 Diabetes by 35%

BREASTFEEDING WEEK IS THE BEST FEEDING FOR YOUR CHILD

GOVERNER HAS CALLED FOR BESTOWING SPECIAL CARE UPON THE ELDERS DURING THE COVID-19 CONDITIONS

Hyderabad 2 Aug. Gover-nor Dr. Tamilisai Sounda-rarajan has called for bestowing special care upon the elders during the Covid-19 conditions. “They took care of us with a lot of affection and love. It is now our responsibil-ity to serve them with special care and atten-tion to enable them to cope up with the pan-demic conditions,” she added.Participating as the chief guest at the semi-annual virtual summit of the Metropolitan Asian Family Services (MAFS), Chicago, USA, from the Raj Bhavan, here, she stated that with the co-morbid conditions, elders are at a greater risk and we all need to give them special attention and care for their protection.Terming the senior citi-

zens as our treasure houses of knowledge and wisdom, the Gover-nor called for creation of decent and dignifi ed liv-ing conditions for them.“We need to listen to them, not because they are aged and are always right, but because they have successfully came over many diffi cult situa-tion in the past and have the rich experience ,” Dr. Soundararajan added.Re-ferring to some instances, where the senior citi-

zens are kept away from families in the miscon-strued practice of social distance, the Governor advised against any such social isolation of elders.Stressing on the need to create better understand-ing about the Covid-19 and the pandemic condi-tions among the senior citizens, she said that this would help them to come out of depression and face it with a right approach. “It is high time that we shall extend bet-

ter medical care, com-munication, motivation and psychological and emotional support to our elders,” she exhorted the people.Dr. Soundararajan also called for increased importance to geriatric studies and care on a par with paediatric care so as to give better care to the elders in their twilight years.The Governor ap-preciated the efforts of MAFS founder Ms Santosh Kumar for her dedicated service to the elders in the USA for the past 28 years. The US Congressman Danny K Devis, MAFS president Firdaus Jafri, Sher-e-Kashmir Agricul-tural Science and Tech-nology vice-chancellor Prof. J P Sharma, Dr. Vijay Prabhakar, Dr. Srinivas Reddy and others spoke during the virtual summit.

Telangana registers 10 new COVID-19 deaths, 1,891 cases

Hyderabad, Aug 2 (UNI) Telan-gana registered 10 new COVID-19 deaths and 1,891 confirmed cases during the last 24 hours, officials said on Sunday. he fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 540, while the overall caseload rose to 66,677. The state on Saturday had recorded the highest-ever spike of 2,083 cases.

According to the director of pub-lic health and family welfare, 517 of the new cases were detected in Greater Hyderabad. Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri, bordering Greater Hyderabad, continued to be the other worst affected districts with 181 and 146 cases respectively. Sangareddy, another district which

shares its border with Greater Hyder-abad, reported 111 new infections. The surge in towns and districts con-tinued to be a matter of concern for health authorities. Warangal Urban and Nizamabad districts saw a big spike with 111 new positive cases and 138 cases respectively. Officials said 93 people tested positive in Karim-nagar district. Out of 66,677 cases in the state so far, 18,547 were active cases. As many as 12,001 individuals were in home/institutional isolation. More than 84 per cent of those under home isolation were asymptomatic. The state also has a high recovery rate of 71.3 per cent against the na-tional average of 64.53 per cent.

GHMC FACILITATES ONLINE PAYMENT FOR OTS PROPERTY TAX

Hyderabad Aug 2: With the State gov-ernment offering a waiver of 90 per cent tax for accumulated arrears of the inter-est component on property tax under One Time Scheme (OTS) till Septem-ber 15, the GHMC is sending SMSs to property owners, besides facilitating online payment.

The municipal corporation has

upgraded its soft-ware accordingly. Taxpayers can avail the waiver, only if, they clear the total amount of property tax dues till 2019-20 along with 10 per cent interest. GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar stat-ed that there were 5.64 lakh property tax assessments with an accumula-tion of property tax arrears amounting

to Rs 1,477.86 crore from the past two decades. The inter-est amount against for the same was around Rs 1,017.76 crore till the fi nan-cial year 2019-20. Property owners can pay tax at GHMC Citizen Service Centers, Meeseva or make payment online through MyGHMC app or log onto GHMC website.