New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) Se-nior Congress leader and for-mer Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said that he was “shocked” by the Kerala government’s move to issue an ordinance to ensure strin-gent punishment for those found guilty of offensive so-cial media posts.

“Shocked by the law made by the LDF government in Kerala, making so-called of-fensive posts on the social media punishable with 5 years in prison,” he tweeted.Kerala Governor Arif Mo-hammad Khan has given nod to the ordinance to amend the Kerala Police Act to provide for jail term for social media posts deemed offensive or threatening.

Section 118A incorporated in the Act says that anyone creating or sending offensive

message or that which is in-tended to offend or threaten another person, through any means of communication, is liable to face imprison-ment of five years or fine of Rs 10,000 or both.Chidam-baram also lashed out at the LDF government and said. : “Also shocked by the attempt to implicate Leader of Oppo-

sition Ramesh Chennithala in a case where the investigation agency had filed a closure re-port four times.” “How will my friend Sitaram Yechury and CPI-M defend these atro-cious decisions?” he added. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijay-an had okayed the investiga-tions against Chennithala in the bar scam case of 2015.

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) Navies of India, Singapore and Thailand commenced their 2nd edition of tri-lateral maritime exercise “SITMEX” in the Anda-man Sea on Saturday. The two-day naval drill would conclude on Sunday.

Indian Navy spokesper-son Commander Vivek Madhwal said here on Sunday. The first edition of SITMEX, hosted by In-

dian Navy, was conducted off Port Blair in September 2019. The SITMEX series of exercises are conducted to enhance mutual inter-operability and imbibing best practices between IN, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN).

The 2020 edition of the exercise is being hosted by RSN.RSN is being repre-sented by the ‘Formidable’ Class frigate ‘Intrepid’ and

‘Endurance’ Class Land-ing Ship Tank ‘Endeavour’ and RTN by the ‘Chao Phraya’ Class frigate ‘Kra-buri’ in the exercise. The exercise, being conducted as a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ exercise in view of COVID-19 pandemic, highlights growing syn-ergy, coordination and co-operation in the maritime domain between the three friendly navies and mari-time neighbours.

1 held with 4 kg marijuana in GurugramGurugram, Nov 22 (UNI) A crime branch unit of the Gu-rugram police arrested a drug peddler and seized 4 kilograms of marijuana estimated to cost Rs 35,000 in the market, the police said on Sunday. The accused reportedly brought the contraband from Taurau in Nuh district. The accused has been identified as Sunil of Alwar in Rajasthan. The police said that the accused had been involved in the trade of con-traband substances over the last six months. During ques-tioning, the culprit confessed that he bought the contraband from his aide for Rs 35,000 and sold it in Alwar after divid-ing it into small packets. "The police received a tip-off about the presence of the accused at Bilaspur Chowk on Saturday and arrested the culprit along with the contraband and mo-torcycle," said Subhash Boken, spokesperson of the Gurugram police. "A case under various sections of the IPC including NDPS Act has been registered against the arrested accused at Bilaspur police station and fur-ther probe is on," Boken said.

3 including a Maoist commander gunned

down in GayaPatna, Nov 22 (UNI) Three persons including a zonal commander gunned down in Maoist affected Barach-atti area in Gaya district early on Sunday morning. The Maoist Zonal com-mander is identified as Alok Yadav alias Gulshan. Beside him, two villagers including a brother in law of village head of Dewariya village also died in this incident. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Additional SP (Op-eration) of Gaya police confirms the incident. He said that the Alok Yadav was killed in retaliatory fir-ing of CRPF Cobra team. "A cultural event was organised at Mahuri vil-lage after Chhath Puja on Saturday night. Birendra Singh Yadav, the brother in law of adjoining Dewariya village head was invited as chief guest of the event in Mahuri village. Around midnight, a group of Mao-ists attacked at the event aiming Birendra Singh Yadav. They opened fire indiscriminately leading to another person come into firing range and died on the spot," Singh said. "The villagers immediately informed local police and the message was conveyed to CRPF Cobra team in the region. They immediately swang into action and started search operation in adjoining forest areas," the additional SP said. "Mao-ists felt that they were cornered by Cobra team. Hence, they fired at them. In retaliation, Cobra team also fired at them. The en-counter was continued for one hour.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESENGLISH DAILYENGLISH DAILY

VOL NO. XII ISSUE NO. 85 PAGES. 8+8 VOL NO. XII ISSUE NO. 85 PAGES. 8+8 /- 4/- 4`

PUBLISHED FROM: HYDERABAD, CHENNAI & BANGALORE EDITOR IN CHIEF: BUCHI BABU VUPPALA23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020www.thesouthindiatimes.com /facebook/thesouthindiatimes.yahoo.in / thesouthindiatimes.yahoo.in /@thesouthindiatimesw

SHORT TAKES

New amendment to Kerala Police Act to be not used against impartial

journalism: CMyogi adityanath to promote eco-tourism

in Sonbhadra, Mirzapur

PAG

E-3 PA

GE

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New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sun-day said over 2.6 crore families have been pro-vided with piped drink-ing water connection un-der Jal Jeevan Mission.

During the last one and half years from the start of Jal Je-evan Mission more than 2 crore 60 lakh families have been provided piped drink-ing water connection to their homes includ-ing lakhs of families in Uttar Pradesh as well, the Prime Minister said after laying the foun-dation stone of rural drinking water supply projects in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts of Vindhyachal region of Uttar Pradesh via video conference. The Prime

Minister also interacted with Village Water and Sanitation Committee/ Paani Samiti Members

during the event. Union Jal Shakti Minister Ga-jendra Singh Shekhawat, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Ut-tar Pradesh Chief Minis-ter Yogi Adityanath were present on the occasion. The projects, for which the foundation stones

were laid by the Prime Minister today will pro-vide household tap water connections in all rural households of 2,995 vil-

lages and will benefit about 42 lakh pop-

ulation of these districts. Village Water and Sani-tation Com-mittees/ Paani Samiti have

been consti-tuted in all these

villages, who will shoulder the respon-

sibility of operation and maintenance. The total estimated cost of the projects is Rs 5,555.38 crore. The projects are planned to be completed in 24 months.

‘Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the life of our mothers and sisters is getting easier due to

easy water access at the comfort of their homes,’ Mr Modi said. He said a major benefit of this has also been reduc-tion of many diseases like cholera, typhoid, encephalitis caused by dirty water. The Prime Minister lamented that despite having a lot of resources , Vindhyachal or Bundelkhand regions became regions of defi-ciencies.

New Delhi, November 22 : The government is explor-ing the modalities of emer-gency authorisation and usage of anti-coronavirus vaccines pending completion of phase-three clinical trial and regular licensure. The issue of advance purchase commitment for vac-cines, including pricing, was also discussed in a recent meet-ing attended by NITI Aayog Member (Health) Vinod Paul, Principal Scientific Adviser to

the government K Vijay Ragha-van and Union Health Secre-tary Rajesh Bhushan.

These developments assume significance against the back-drop of Pfizer seeking emer-gency use authorisation of its COVID-19 vaccine from the US regulators. Another US-based

biotechnology giant, Moderna, said it also intends to apply for an emergency use authorisa-tion (EUA) with the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) in the coming weeks.Meanwhile, five vaccines are under different phases of clinical trials in India. The Serum Institute of India

is conducting the phase-three trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, while Bharat Biotech and ICMR has already started the phase-three trial of the indigenously developed CO-VAXIN jab. An indigenously de-veloped vaccine by Zydus Cadila has completed.

Over 2.6 cr families provided with piped drinking water connection under Jal Jeevan Mission: PM Modi

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) India is not only meeting its Paris Agreement targets but has also been exceed-ing them, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the G20 summit held virtually on Sunday. In his address at the G-20 Summit side event, "Safeguarding the Planet - The Circular Carbon Econo-my Approach", he said that India has taken concrete ac-tion in many areas for clean climate.

"We have made LED lights popular. This saves 38 mil-lion tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Smoke free kitchens have been provided to over 80 million households through our Ujj-wala Scheme. This is among the largest clean energy drives globally," the Prime Minister told the member

countries. Climate change, he said, must be fought not in silos but in an integrated, comprehensive and holistic way. "Inspired by our tra-ditional ethos of living in harmony with the environ-ment, and the commitment of my government, India has adopted low-carbon and cli-mate-resilient development practices," Modi said.

Giving details about the efforts made by his govern-ment, he pointed out the campaign to eliminate sin-gle-use plastics.

India is exceeding Paris Agreement targets: PM Modi at G20

Navies of India, Singapore and Thailand commence SITMEX drill in Andaman Sea

India clocks fresh spike of 45,209 COVID cases, 501 deaths

New Delhi, Nov 22(UNI) India has registered a fresh spike of 45,209 nCoV cas-es in the past 24 hours, pushing the tally close to 91 lakh on Sunday, the Union Health Ministry said in its daily update here.

After adding the new cases, the nation’s over-all case count has now reached 90,95,807 till date. The active case load of CO-VID contagion has slightly increased by 1,215 since Saturday and presently there are 4,40,962 such cases across the coun-try. Talking of the COVID deaths , 501 more lives were claimed in the same duration by the virus, and

the toll has increased to 1,33,227. Meanwhile , 43,493 more recoveries recorded in the past one day , and the total recov-ery count has now reached 85,21,617 till date. In per-centage , active cases are 4.85 per cent, discharged 93.69 per cent and the deaths 1.46 per cent of the total case count till date.

Shocked by Kerala’s move against ‘offensive’ social media posts: Chidambaram

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party made it of-ficial on Sunday that BJP President J.P. Nadda will be on a nationwide tour where he will visit each and every state of India, something reporter earlier. The tour will be worked for nationwide organisation building effort, with an eye on the 2024 general elec-tions, which is still 3.5 years away. Address-ing a press conference, BJP leader Arun Singh told media person that it will be a 120-day-long tour which will be kicked off by visit-ing Uttarakhand in the first week of December.

"During his stays, there will be a meeting with each booth president and booth committees. There will also be meet-ings with the Mandal President and the Man-dal Committees," Singh said. He added that during his tour, Nadda will interact with intel-lectuals, beneficiaries of the PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana and other people in public life. "In the

states that have upcom-ing Assembly election, the National President will review what is the party's preparation and what strat-egy has been prepared," Singh said. He said, N a d d a will work to strengthen the booth mechanism of the party.

During these slew of state visits, one of the prime targets of the BJP President will be to evalu-ate those Lok Sabha con-stituencies where it or its allies lost in 2019 general election, reported earlier.This meeting

comes after Nadda, as the BJP President form-ing his new team and ap-pointing state in-charg-

es. While states are being divided

into multiple categories -- BJP-ruled, non-BJP ruled,

poll-bound etc., Nadda's

focus will be on each state. During Nad-da's 'Mission 2024', as it is unofficially referred to within the BJP by few leaders (though, offi-cially it's called 'prabas karyakram'), he will not only hold meetings, but also ask specific ques-tions to cadres.

Nadda to kick off 120-days India tour from Uttarakhand in Dec

‘UNDER THE JAL JEEVAN MISSION, THE LIFE OF OUR MOTHERS AND SISTERS IS GETTING EASIER DUE TO EASY WATER ACCESS AT THE COMFORT OF THEIR HOMES,’ MR MODI SAID.

HE SAID A MAJOR BENEFIT OF THIS HAS ALSO BEEN

REDUCTION OF MANY DISEASES LIKE CHOLERA, TYPHOID, ENCEPHALITIS

CAUSED BY DIRTY WATER.

“IT WAS DECIDED THAT THE PMO-CONSTITUTED VACCINE TASK FORCE (VTF) WILL LAY DOWN THE PRINCIPLES FOR EMERGENCY USE AUTHORISATION WHILE THE NATIONAL EXPERT GROUP ON VACCINE ADMINISTRATION FOR COVID-19 (NEGVAC) SHOULD TAKE THE LEAD IN SETTING

THE PRINCIPLES FOR ADVANCE MARKET COMMITMENT, INCLUDING VACCINE PRICING,”

Govt exploring modalities of emergency authorisation of COVID-19 vaccine

“Indian Navy (IN) Ships including

indigenously built ASW corvette Ka-morta and missile corvette Karmuk

are participating in the 2nd edition of SITMEX exercise in the Arabian Sea,”

ion

ouoouhouh

v 22 )

"During his stays, there will be a

meeting with each booth president and booth com-mittees. There will also be meetings with the Mandal

President and the Man-dal Committees,"

Printed, Published and Owned by Buchi Babu. Vuppala, Printed at. Meera Offset Printers. No. 104. V.R. Pallai Street. Triplicane, Chennai- 5, Published from: No. 31 (Old) No. 58 (New) Nagappa Mudali Street. Pudupet, Chennai-2.

Editor. Buchi Babu Vuppala.RNI.No.TNENG/26176/2008.Administration Office : No.18 B, Alikulam Shopping Complex, More Market, Chennai - 600 003.

Registered Office : No. 31 (Old) No. 58 (New) Nagappa Mudali Street. Pudupet, Chennai-600 002.

Hyderabad : 17-1-469/A/42/23,Adarsh Nagar, near Unique Grammar school, Saidabad, Hyderabad -500059, Telangana.Rni no. Teleng/2009/29225

Bangalore : 3rd Main Road- 4, L.N. Pura,bangalore- 560 021, karnataka.Rni no. Kareng/2012/43253

23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020

It is common knowledge that the Doha Round of trade negotiations has long been dead. Yet the fundamental basis of the Doha Round, namely, that the WTO must mainstream development in all its work is a sound one and worth pursuing. The WTO is on the verge of getting fresh top leadership which is a very good thing. The substantial challenge, however, is to build a consensus around a common work programme and a negotiating agenda. There is no gainsaying the fact that there is a backlash against globalisation, free trade and by extension, against international organisations such as WTO. People who have lost out from technological disruption, globalisation or free trade have found an important voice and have started asserting themselves through political choices made in national elections. These are subsequently refl ected in country negotiating positions in the WTO. This is hard to ignore anymore; on the other hand, it is for organisations such as WTO to demonstrate that it is on the side of the underdog and the vulnerable in this political battle that is being played out. What better way to do this than by announcing that the WTO’s future work programme and negotiating agenda will be based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) so painstakingly agreed upon by all UN members in 2015. A new SDG round of trade negotiations has numerous advantages for the WTO. First, it is hard to disagree with the SDGs themselves since all countries have publicly committed themselves to achieving it within a defi nite time frame; so, dubbed the Agenda 2030. Second, it will be a splendid opportunity for the much-maligned WTO to get its mojo back and secure endorsement for the principle of free trade. After all, it is a matter of consensus among economists of all hues that trade is indeed the best instrument for achieving many of the SDGs. Third, the WTO’s future work programme and negotiating agenda must be directly linked to the objectives of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO i.e. raising standards of living, ensuring full employment, expanding the production and trade in goods and services, the optimal use of resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development and fi nally to do this for all countries at different levels of economic development. This is very similar to SDG number eight which talks of promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth as well as full and productive employment and decent work for all. What would this entail in practical terms for the WTO? First, the WTO must carefully recalibrate the Special and Differential Treatment for countries that deserve it. Rather than junk the whole concept or excessively politicise it, there is a simple metric which can be used to redefi ne it. The SDG number one is described thus: to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. The best place to begin for achieving this goal is with the regions where “extreme poverty” is widely prevalent. The two geographical regions which display “extreme poverty” are: parts of Africa and South Asia. It goes without saying therefore that countries belonging to these two geographical regions must get Special and Differential Treatment without any question. Extreme poverty is now well defi ned and is backed by the Oxford Multidimensional Index of Poverty, so objective criteria may be utilised for deciding countries which are eligible. This automatically takes care of the American argument that countries such as Singapore and South Korea (or China for that matter) cannot lay automatic claim to Special and Differential Treatment. The multilateral negotiations on Fisheries Subsidies is proceeding apace and must be concluded by the next Ministerial Conference in June 2021. Again, these negotiations must be consistent with SDG number fourteen which is defi ned thus: Conserve and use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Developing countries and least-developed countries whose citizens depend on fi sheries for their livelihood must be treated appropriately in these negotiations. Agriculture has always been a contentious subject in past WTO negotiations. Again, the SDG number two provides suffi cient guidance in this critical area: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. The US, EU and other rich countries have long subsidised their agriculture, often with disastrous consequences for the economies of developing and least-developed countries. It is time to make amends.

WTO and SDG round of negotiations

2EDIT23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020

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

HARSH V PANT

The challenge for the Indo-Pacifi c is getting more acute

by the day. For all the ef-forts that China has made to ensure that the term Indo-Pacifi c gets a decent burial, it has failed miser-ably in ensuring such an outcome. From Australia, Japan, and India to the European Union (EU) and the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (Asean) member-states, the Indo-Pacifi c narrative is today widely accepted and refl ected in foreign policy outlooks. The idea is a structural imperative now for all regional stake-holders and this has been made possible due to Chi-na’s behaviour. The only thing left now for Beijing is to mobilise regional states through fear-mongering, something it is adept at.

This was what China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, tried to do during his trip last week to Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Thailand, and Singapore. Calling on Asian countries to remain vigilant over the United States (US)’ plans in the region, Wang described Washington’s Indo-Pacif-ic strategy as a “security risk” for East Asia. With-out any hint of irony, he argued that “what it (the US) pursues is to trumpet the old-fashioned Cold War mentality and start up confrontation among different groups and blocks, and stoke geopo-litical competition”. For Southeast Asian nations, his message was that Bei-jing and Asean should work together to remove

“external disruption” in the South China Sea.

Amid deteriorating Sino-US ties and Wash-ington’s resolve to emerge as a credible partner in the region, Wang Yi was underscoring the choices facing the region. This was happening even as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to To-kyo for a meeting of the Quad had already raised the stakes for geopolitical competition in the region.

The very resurrection of this Quad grouping in 2017, involving the US, Japan, Australia and India is a function of China’s growing assertiveness and a deepening suspicion of Beijing’s intentions about its power. As regional stakeholders search for a new, more stable balance of power in the region, they are working with each other in ways that could not have been vi-sualised even a few years ago. The new geometries dotting the regional land-scape of the Indo-Pacifi c

underscore this newfound conviction among the regional actors that old structures are just not ef-fective enough anymore.

If the Quad meeting saw calls for deeper coop-eration among major re-gional players, the various bilaterals and trilaterals embedded within it have been stronger in articulat-ing the need for greater coordination among the stakeholders. There is a growing regional consen-sus that despite China’s attempts to discredit the idea, a free and open Indo-Pacifi c remains the only viable basis for en-gendering regional peace and stability. For the US, Pompeo’s visit during a high-stakes electoral con-test in the US is an impor-tant signal to the region that the Indo-Pacifi c is now the central theatre in its geopolitical contes-tation with China. It also suggests that Washington will fi ght hard to retain its credibility. It was for this reason that Pompeo was

categorical in underlin-ing that “it is more criti-cal now than ever that we collaborate to protect our people and partners from the CCP’s exploitation, corruption and coercion”.

The other regional pow-ers might be more re-strained in their remarks but their emphasis was clear — with Japan talk-ing of advancing practi-cal talks on issues such as infrastructure and cyber-security, Australia talk-ing of human rights and India underscoring the need to respect territorial sovereignty. Bilateral ties are gathering pace with India-Japan, Australia-Japan and India-Australia reassessing the need for building cooperation on issues including mari-time security, emerging strategic technologies, infrastructure and coun-terterrorism. The Malabar exercises and Australia’s participation must be seen within this context.

While it might be pre-mature to talk of a “Quad

plus” at this stage, major powers, at an individual level, and, in coordination with other like-minded countries, are serious about building coalitions.

Japan will be signing an agreemen t with Viet-nam to allow it to export defence equipment and technology to the coun-try during Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s visit to Vietnam this week. Japan will be seeking to strengthen security ties with Indonesia too.

But it is India that is the critical anchor in making the idea of Indo-Pacifi c a viable strategic geogra-phy. While Japan may have given the idea its original push, Australia may have given it intellectual bal-last and Washington may have led the way in its op-erationalisation, it is New Delhi’s proactive foreign policy outlook that made it possible for others to buy into the concept and incor-porate it in their security outlooks. No other country has done more than In-

dia in making the regional stakeholders believe that there is an alternative to just acquiescing to a China-led Asian order. Whether it was publicly challenging President Xi Jinping’s vanity project, the Belt and Road Initiative, or standing up to China militarily at Doklam despite being the weaker State, whether it was giving a push to the idea of issue-based coalitions in the mar-itime sphere or rejecting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership pact, much before other nations were talking about econom-ic decoupling from China — New Delhi made it possible to envision an Indo-Pacifi c order which is not domi-nated by China. As China galvanises its diplomacy to manage the negative exter-nalities emerging out of this Indo-Pacifi c vision, which, despite Beijing’s best ef-forts, is going from strength to strength, the challenge for India is to sustain the momentum of showcasing the Indo-Pacifi c vision and its operational realities.

Real anchor of the Indo-Pacific plan

RAVINDER KAUR

India’s global brand has long relied on its secular demo-

cratic credentials: as the “world’s largest democra-cy”. These political values have not only shaped the internal political order of the postcolonial nation, but also accrued strate-gic and economic value when post-1990s India “opened up” its markets to global investors. In the highly competitive world of emerging markets, In-dia’s democracy served as more than a lofty ideal cherished by misty-eyed idealists. It offered a stra-tegic advantage as India projected itself as a dem-ocratic alternative to an authoritarian China.

But here’s the paradox: under Narendra Modi, the very democratic ad-vantage that shaped Brand India’s image in the world is being steadily hollowed-out at home. The rise of hyper-nation-alist Hindutva politics is framed precisely within this contradiction: it cashes on India’s demo-cratic credentials to gain external recognition even as it weakens those insti-tutions and values within. Yet this barefaced oppor-

tunism is duly noticed, and increasingly refl ected in how Modi’s India is described as an “illib-eral democracy” in the world. In short, India’s democratic advantage is fast corroding just when it might need it the most – in the post-pandemic world where geopolitical alliances are being forged along the fault lines of lib-eralism/illiberalism.

Recall that India’s democratic advantage is what gained it an edge over China in the ‘Asian century’ rivalry the past decades. When India en-tered the highly competi-tive arena of emerging markets on the back of the 1990s economic reforms, it could position itself as a large profi table market like China albeit with a crucial difference: its lib-eral, moral-political Con-stitution. If Mao defi ned a rising China, the ‘India Story’ had Gandhi as its global mascot: a valuable moral currency of ‘soft power’ in the postcolo-nial world. This is what earned India the bragging rights, the claim to be the “world’s fastest growing, free-market democracy” year after year at Davos under the United Pro-

gressive Alliance (UPA) government. Yet India’s democracy, its calling card in the world, is hol-lowing-out in plain sight. Consider the unabashed implementation of the hardline Hindutva agen-da in Modi’s second term – from the revocation of the special status of Kash-mir in August 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that excluded Muslims to the founda-tion of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.What char-acterises this moment of majoritarian muscle fl ex-ing is the heavy-handed suppression of demo-cratic dissent (the crux of democracy) especially in university spaces, or how the act of protest itself has been criminalised by the State. This down-ward descent is refl ected in India’s lowered global ranking on the 2019 De-mocracy Index. Classi-fi ed as a “fl awed democ-racy,” it slipped a further ten places due to “ero-sion of civil liberties” in the country.

India’s turn to “illib-eral democracy” has laid bare the ruptures inside Prime Minister Modi’s majoritarian politics. The very lifeblood of his

political constituency is the activation of a mus-cular Hindu identity, an identity shaped in stark opposition to Nehru-vian India in more ways than one. Forged as a battle against “pseudo-secularism”, “dynastic rule” or corruption, it seeks to dismantle the institutional framework that strived to create a secular, democratic na-tion. The point is not that Nehruvian India was devoid of fl aws, but that it aspired to shape an inclusive nation that could home a multitude of differences. In con-trast, in Modi’s India, the space for containing dif-ferences has been con-stantly shrinking. This shift was best captured earlier this month on Gandhi’s birth anniver-sary on 2 October. While the Indian State was of-fi cially celebrating Gan-dhi, the loyal foot sol-diers of Hindutva were celebrating Gandhi’s assassin with a hashtag #Godse_Zindabad on so-cial media. Gandhi was exhibited in the world while his assassin was celebrated at home. It’s hardly a surprise, then, that the realm of politics

itself is imagined in un-forgiving, oppositional terms of Hindus vs non-Hindus, Indic vs non-Indic, or nationalists vs anti-nationals. What emerges is an India that celebrates its muscular “action-oriented” politi-cal leaders who, in turn, continue to feed the ma-joritarian impulse. Put simply, the landscape of politics in Modi’s India is being constantly rear-ranged as a majoritarian Hindu homeland in all but name. This internal reconfi guration of India is at odds with its ex-ternal projection as the torchbearer of liberal democracy.In the time of the coronavirus pan-demic, the paradox has become even more jar-ring. Consider the irony that the cloak of democ-racy is what has opened possibilities for Brand India: to capitalise its democratic credentials to draw global capital – manufacturing and in-frastructure investments – away from China. The past few months have seen a rise in anti-China sentiments as the coun-try became associated with the deadly virus across the globe. For

many emerging markets, this has opened an op-portunity to divert capi-tal fl ows to their own ter-ritories.

The pandemic has also become the pivot upon which the strategic al-liance of democracies called the ‘Quad’ — com-prising India, the US, Ja-pan, and Australia — has taken shape to counter China’s infl uence. In this still-evolving geopoliti-cal context, the invoca-tion of “democracy” has almost become shorthand for nations or alliances that do not share political values with China.Thus, in a strange twist, what has earned India a greater role in the post-pandemic world is the semblance of its old Nehruvian self, one that Modi’s India is bitter-ly opposed to. For those who measure the worth of a brand purely in eco-nomic terms, the brand does its work as long as investments keep pouring in. Yet, this transactional view barely captures the logic of the brand – what truly brings the brand alive is the desire for af-fection and devotion, the emotional investment of its consumers beyond the realm of economy.

Govt hindutva politics completely robs brand India of its democracy bonus

3NATION23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020

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

Panaji, Nov 22 (UNI) Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar can impress upon Con-gress President Sonia Gan-dhi and Rahul Gandhi, to replicate the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance ex-periment in Goa during the 2022 polls, Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and former Minister Deepak Kesarkar said on Sunday. Kesarkar, who was here to inaugurate the Shiv Sena's state offi ce also said it was necessary to stem the Bharatiya Janata Party's political tide, ac-

cusing the ruling party of fi nishing off regional politi-cal parties by fi rst aligning with them. "Sharad Pawar is a senior leader who has taken the initiative to cob-ble together the alliance in Maharashtra.

Pawar can replicate Maha Vikas Aghadi experiment in Goa: Sena MLA

Lucknow, Nov 22 (UNI) The Uttar Pradesh tourism de-partment has decided to de-velop Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Chandauli and adjoining areas as eco-tourism destinations.

A tourist bungalow will be constructed in an area of fi ve acres in Sonbhadra and ac-tivities like water sports, rock climbing, trekking, etc., have also been started there to pro-mote eco-tourism and provide adventure sports options to the tourists.Kirtimaan Srivastava, tourism offi cer of the Mirza-pur division, said, "We hope to initiate the construction of the tourist bungalow in the next six

months and the district magis-trate of Sonbhadra already held a discussion on the detailed action plan with the members of the Tourism Welfare Asso-ciation. Bio toilets will also be constructed at various tourist spots."

Besides this, Rs 281.37 lakh have also been sanctioned for the Way Finding Traffi c Solu-tion (WFTS). Under this, sign-boards having details of the tourist spot are being set at up at various tourist spots and des-tinations and till date, works of Rs 25 lakh has also been com-pleted. Tour operators have also been engaged to promote

fi lm tourism, he added."Beautifi cation work is being

carried out at the tourist spots like Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary, Salkhan Fossil Park, Vijaygarh Fort, Agori Fort and Mukha Waterfall so that they can reg-ister a prominent presence on the tourist map of the country", Srivastava said. In September, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced to convert the airstrip in Sonbhadra into an airport. Besides opening new vistas of development and generating employments in the region, the airport will also give a boost to the tourism ac-tivities.

Yogi to promote eco-tourism in Sonbhadra, Mirzapur

Chandigarh, Nov 22 (UNI) With the sudden spoke in coronavirus cases in the state, Haryana Chief Minis-ter Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday warned the people to use face masks to contain the virus and said the gov-ernment would distribute one crore masks among the public.

Ruling out the imposition of the state lockdown again, Khattar, in a televised ad-dress, said a fi ne of Rs 500 would be enforced strictly on those who were found violating safety norms in public places.

Requesting the public

to keep six-seven masks in their pockets, he said: "One should offer a mask to those who are not wearing it."

He said the second round of sero survey to assess the spread of the virus has re-

vealed that 14 per cent of the state's population has already been infected. "This means more than 37 lakh people having gone unde-tected for the disease," the Chief Minister added.

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) India reported less than 50,000 new single-day coronavirus cases for the 15th consecutive day on Sunday as its total tally reached 90,95,806.

With 45,209 new cases and 43,493 more pa-tients discharged in last 24 hours, the country's active cases totalled 4,40,962, Ministry of Health and Family Wel-fare data said. As many as 85,21,617 persons have recovered so far from the disease. In all 501 more fatalities in the last 24 hours took its death toll to 1,33,227.

The last time the daily new cases crossed the 50,000-mark was No-vember 7. While India's recovery rate is 93.69 per cent, the fatality

rate is 1.46 per cent, the data said. Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state with 80,878 active cases and 46,573 deaths so far. The recoveries in the state total 16,47,004. Andhra Pradesh and Kar-nataka also reported high number of cases, while states like Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West

Bengal witnessed a surge in infection too.

According Indian Council of Medical Re-search data, 10,75,326 more samples were tested on Saturday. So far, 13,17,33,134 samples have been tested across the country.

For the second day in a row, recovered patients

outnumbered new infec-tions by 1,084 in Delhi, yet the number of fatali-ties remained a cause of worry. The national capital reported 5,879 new infections and 6,963 more recoveries in the last 24 hours. However, Delhi's fatalities totalled 111, Delhi government data showed. Across the world, 5,80,95,887 per-sons were infected across 191 nations, of which the maximum numbers were in the US. The global coronavirus death toll totalled 13,79,839, with maximum reported in the US (2,55,830). TUS remains the worst-hit country with 1,20,88,409 corona cases, followed by India, Brazil, France and Russia.

India reports less than 50K new corona cases for 15 straight days

Haryana to distribute 1 crore face masks: Khattar

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) A joint rally of the Congress and CPI-M slated to be held on Monday in Kolkata on Monday is a step towards an alliance ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections as informal talks on the issue are on, Congress sources said on Sunday. The West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) and the Communist Party of In-dia- Marxist (CPI-M) will rally on November 23 to protest against the alleged 'anti-people' policies of the National Democratic Alli-ance (NDA) government at the Centre.

The BJP has already start-ed preparation to take on the ruling Trinamool Congress. The Congress and the Left will face challenges from the TMC, BJP and AIMIM in the state polls.

Party insiders said that both parties will chalk out joint political programmes across various Bengal dis-tricts to emerge as a third political alternative in the Assembly polls. "Both the parties met to prepare the road map for the coming As-sembly polls," the sources said. CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury has said that de-feating the TMC and the BJP is a priority for his party as he blames the TMC for BJP

inroads in the eastern state. The West Bengal could see three-cornered contest with AIMIM giving an edge to the BJP, as was seen in Bihar As-sembly polls.

All India Majlis-e-Itte-hadul Muslimeen has re-portedly offered an alliance with TMC and awaiting a re-sponse. Howver, it's unlikely that the TMC will join hands with AIMIM, considering it will give the BJP an advan-tage, the sources pointed

out. As many as 90 seats in the 294-member West Ben-gal Assembly have sizeable Muslim voters, who can be a deciding factor in any poll battle. Even if the AIMIM may not win many seats in Bengal, it can surely play a Bihar-like spoilsport for the TMC and the Congress.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has ac-cused AIMIM leader Asa-duddin Owaisi of trying to benefi t the BJP. Owaisi has denied the charge and maintained that he was run-ning a political party and contest elections wherever the party wishes. Muslims in West Bengal account for 27 per cent of the total voters, a majority of them going along with the TMC and the Con-gress in the past. The BJP won 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections.

CPI-M and Cong holding talks, to rally in Kolkata on Nov 23

Gambhir inaugurates 3rd giant air purifi er at Krishna Nagar marketNew Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI)

BJP MP from East Delhi Gau-tam Gambhir inaugurated the third giant air purifi er in his constituency with the latest being in Krishna Nagar mar-ket. Similar purifi ers were be-ing installed at Lajpat Nagar and Gandhi Nagar markets earlier through his initiatives.

These air purifi ers are ap-proximately 12 feet in size and cover an area of 1,000 sq m. As the national capital battles air pollution, these fully automatic machines deliver two lakh m3 of clean air every day and the sched-ule for these machines can be pre-determined. "This

will not solve the problem of pollution completely but as someone who has been born and brought up in this city, I can't just sit at home and let things worsen," Gambhir said. Taking a jibe at Arvind Kejriwal Government, he added, "Allowing people to breathe clean air should be at the top of the priority list for the Government but sadly neither the Chief Minister nor any of his colleagues are con-cerned about this." The BJP MP alleged that, be it COVID situation, pollution or even water logging, the Aam Aadmi Party government's approach to every issue is ad hoc.

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) The Central government on Sunday sent high-level teams to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh to support these states in their Co-vid-19 response and management.

These states have been either re-porting a rise in the number of active cases or demonstrating a rise in the daily new cases. These three-mem-ber teams will visit the districts re-porting high number of Covid cases and support the state efforts towards strengthening containment, surveil-lance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and effi cient clinical management of the positive cases, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Central teams shall also guide the states in effectively managing

the challenges related to timely di-agnosis and follow-up. Earlier, the Centre sent fi ve high-level teams to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Ma-nipur, and Chhattisgarh. India's present active caseload (4,40,962) has further declined to 4.85 per cent of the total positive cases, and has been sustained below the 5 per cent mark. The recovery rate has improved to 93.69 per cent on Sun-

day as the country registered 43,493 new recoveries in the last 24 hours taking the total recovered cases to 85,21,617. The gap between recov-ered cases and active cases is steadi-ly increasing and presently stands at 80,80,655.

As per the Ministry's latest fi g-ure, 26 states and Union Territo-ries (UTs) have less than 20,000 active cases, as on date. However, seven states and UTs have active cases between 20,000 and 50,000 whereas Maharashtra (80,878) and Kerala (66,982) have a caseload more than 50,000. The seven states/UTs are Haryana (20,325), Chhat-tisgarh (20,659), Rajasthan (21,951), Uttar Pradesh (23,471), Karnataka (24,733), West Bengal (25,391) and Delhi (39,741).

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) To improve the national capi-tal's air quality, the Delhi gov-ernment on Sunday said it has installed 23 anti-smog guns at key intersections and con-struction sites across the city, and assured that this number will be increased, if necessary.

Delhi Environment Min-ister Gopal Rai said that the Public Works Department (PWD) has installed these 23 anti-smog guns.He also said that PWD offi cials have also been instructed to sprinkle water on trees, roads and on the construction sites to combat dust pollution. "A to-tal of 150 water tankers have

been deployed for sprinkling water," Rai said."I have also instructed the PWD offi cials to increase the number of tankers further so that all the key roads of Delhi can be cov-ered. If necessary, we will in-stall more anti-smog guns as well at the key intersections

of Delhi."The Delhi govern-ment this year has launched a massive anti-pollution cam-paign - 'Yuddh Pradushan Ke Viruddh' - which is being led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Rai. However, pollution levels breached the emergency threshold twice

this month here with a grey apocalyptic smog envelop-ing the city for days, blotting out the sun and obsuring landmarks. To curb increas-ing pollution, the Delhi gov-ernment had on November 5 also banned the sale and use of all kinds of fi recrackers in the city till November 30. The National Green Tribunal had also imposed a total ban on sale or use of all kinds of fi re-crackers in the National Capi-tal Region from November 9 midnight to November 30 midnight.Sources in the gov-ernment said that over 70 lakh litres of water was sprinkled at 13 pollution hotspots.

Centre teams rushed to UP, Punjab, Himachal for Covid management

23 anti-smog guns across Delhi to combat dust pollution

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) Several BJP leaders have come out strongly against the Odisha government af-ter the Odisha TV promot-ers have alleged that the BJD government is harass-ing them since Baijant 'Jay' Panda joined the opposi-tion BJP after "exposing the corruption in the state gov-ernment". BJP leader Ram Madhav has equated it as the recent "harassment" of Republic TV and it's man-agement. He tweeted, "Oris-sa Govt is doing to OTV what Maharashtra did to Repub-lic. Promoter of the chan-nel and wife of BJP leader Jay Panda, Jagi Panda and

her staff at OTV are facing harassment from the police clearly because of political vendetta. CM Naveen as a progressive leader should not allow this in his state."

In a statement issued on Saturday, the BJP leader's wife Jagi Mangat Panda said: "In the past two months, Odisha police has registered 20 false cases against OTV and its sister companies, employees and family members, includ-ing my 84-year-father." Meanwhile, BJP's national IT Cell head Amit Malviya alleged, "Electronic media continues to face the brunt in opposition ruled states. If

it the Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance in Maharash-tra targeted Arnab and the Republic network, Odisha's BJD is hounding OTV." Jagi Panda has alleged that fi ve employees have been ar-rested and two forced to resign by the police. She alleged that it is "personal vendetta" wreaked by the Chief Minister since BJ Pan-da joined the BJP and OTV started exposing the cor-ruption in the state. "Biju Janata Dal is angry against OTV for repeatedly expos-ing widespread corruption in Odisha, including mas-sive corruption in Covid funds."

BJP leaders equate 'harassment' of OTV management with Republic TV

Hubballi, 22 Nov (UNI) The Hubballi Division of the South Western Railway (SWR) has success-fully Exported a total of 4961 Tonnes of Maize to Bangladesh from Bagalkot and Vijayapura Stations during the last Three days, according to a press release issued by the Headquar-ters of the SWR here today.The Export, achieved by running Two Freight Trains containing 42 BCN Wagons Each has opened up a New Avenue for Export of Agricultural Produce from North Kar-nataka Region and helped Farmers and merchants to market their produces be-

yond the country’s border. The Export also generated a to-tal revenue of Ru-pees 1.52 Crores to the Indian railways, the press release added. Mr. Ajay Kumar Singh, Gen-eral Manager, SWR said that the cost of Transportation of Goods by the Rail-ways is Cheap and Economical as com-pared to other modes of Transport. Appre-ciating the Success-ful Marketing efforts and Initiatives of the relevant Hubballi Di-vision Team led by Divisional Manager, Mr. Singh said that the efforts mutually benefited the Rail users, Especially, the Farmers.

4SOUTH23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESNew amendment to Kerala Police Act to be not used against impartial journalism: CM

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22 (UNI) The new amendment made to the Kerala Police Act will in no way be used against free speech or impartial journalism, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Sunday.

In the name of the freedom of press, individual freedom can-not be violated and similarly, in the name of individual freedom, the freedom of the press can-not be violated, the CM said in a press release. "The government is duty bound to protect both. It is in this context that even at the international level measures are being put in place against the in-fringement of personal dignity. The amendment in the Kerala Police Act are only those that are in tune with such measures," he added. Along with ensuring the freedom of press, the Govern-ment also has the responsibility of upholding a citizen’s individ-ual freedom and his/her dignity

as enshrined in the Constitution, he said.

"The popular idea that one’s freedom ends where the other’s nose begins needs to be respect-ed. One has the liberty to swing one’s fist, but it ends where the other’s nose begins. However, there have been instances of this idea being repeatedly violated," he added. The State Government was repeatedly receiving com-plaints against the wide misuse of social media, especially by

certain online channels. Even prominent public and cultural figures had made such com-plaints. "They have brought to the notice of the Government in-stances where inhuman and vile cyber attacks were carried out by some in the guise of journalism and how it even harmed the fam-ily lives of many," he said.

"It has often turned into tar-geted attacks using untruths and even sleazy content. Many fami-lies are bearing the consequenc-

es of such attacks," he added."The use of personal likes or

dislikes, political or non po-litical interests and so on to un-settle the peaceful atmosphere of families so as to settle scores arising out of revenge cannot be allowed. In several instances such cyber attacks have resulted in heart wrenching tragedies," he said. "Such attacks which are carried out without hearing the side of those who are being attacked do not fall under the category of journalism. They are simply personal vendetta in action. Many a time, mon-etary interests are behind such devious designs," he added. A person’s respect and dignity are essential in a modern society. It has constitutional validation as well. The government has the responsibility to ensure it. In general, traditional media functions within these constitu-tional limits.

Tirupati, Nov 22 (UNI) Communist Party of India (CPI) national secretary Dr K Narayana on Sunday alleged that the BJP was ready with Rs 6 lakh crore ( illegal funds) to fight the upcoming assem-bly elections in four states in 2021. Addressing a media conference at the Tirupati party office on Sunday, the CPI national secretary said that BJP and NDA had re-sorted to the cheapest trick of using the names of martyred soldiers like Santosh Kumar of Suryapet (Telangana) and others who sacrificed their lives recently in the China and Pak birders in their Bihar poll campaign. He blasted the Modi government for destroying constitutional system in India in its drive to privatise the BSNL, Defence Services, LIC, Educational institutions and the Indian

Railways. He said while a hue and cry is made about some bank defaults during the UPA regime, there is no voice or action against 32 industrial-ists of the BJP brand who fled from the country and whose dues to nationalised banks are worth lakhs of crores.

He said CPI had begun fresh efforts to bring all anti-NDA forces and parties un-der one platform to stop the splitting of the opposition votes. He said that the time is ripe for all communist par-ties to come under one um-brella to fight the fascist and rightist forces in the country.

The veteran CPI leader said the government at the Centre had a vice grip upon the election machinery, the CBI, ED etc and has used them to harassed everyone who questioned its authority with false cases and raids. He

said the NDA was protecting and favouring big business like Reliance for its future gains. He said the BJP also supported the draconian rule of YSRCP under Chief Min-ister S Jaganmohan Reddy just because it supported the Centre on its electricity policy. The centre also failed to assist the divided AP gov-ernment on Polavaram and capital buildings programs.

The CPI national secretary said the AP government had used highhanded methods to arrest left leaders when they were on their way to inspect the ongoing works of the Polavaram project. The left leaders staged a protest at the Ambedkar statue on the-ses illegal arrests. He said the party had not taken a final decision on a left candidate for the Tirupati Lok Sabha by-elections.

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22 (UNI) Contributing to North Kerala’s IT sector’s accelerated growth, six more companies are starting their operations in the UL Cyber Park in Kozhikode and nine startups will also be settling in this state-of-the-art IT space soon, officials said on Sunday.

Currently, UL Cyber Park houses 78 firms comprising 42 companies, including the new 6 entrants, and 36 startups, a press release said here on Sunday. "The nine new startups will bring the total number to 87. The new com-panies have also got the approval to operate in the UL Cyber Park which has special economic zone (SEZ) status," it added.

New companies include Hy-perblox India Private Limited, Telestation Private Limited, Palmtrix Technologies, IOCOD Infotech Private Limited, TECH-

TADD Private Limited and Aeth Analytica Ltd.

These companies focus on the latest digital and disrup-tive technologies operating in Telecom Services, E-Commerce, Mobile Application, Digital Mar-keting, Fleet Management, Soft-ware Development, Education, Healthcare, Employment Sector, Hospitality, Retail, Media, Trans-portation and Engineering.

All of them have their entire customer base located in the US, Europe and the Gulf countries.ly. Presently, there are 2,046 em-ployees working in UL Cyber Park. This includes 46 appoint-ments by Action FI Technologies and 40 by Gritstone Technologies made during the Covid 19 pan-demic.

In addition, the new compa-nies have announced hiring of 475 more IT employees within

a year. They have good growth plans, matching with the consis-tent growth marked by the exist-ing companies.

The UL CyberPark is a subsid-iary of the Uralungal Labor Con-tract Society (ULCCS - https://ulccsltd.com/home), which is one of Asia’s largest labour con-tract cooperatives with an annual turnover of Rs 1,400 crores, which also made headlines for creating hundreds of jobs during the pe-riod of the COVID lockdown. The UL Cyber Park, the only IT Park in the world under the ownership of the member-labourers of a so-ciety, led Kozhikode to the third rank in Kerala’s IT infrastructure and made it the first IT city in the Malabar region of the state. The park is strategically located on the NH 17 bypass road connect-ing Kochi to Mumbai, with all the transport facilities close by.

CPI alleges that BJP is ready with crores of illegal cash to fight upcoming

assembly elections in 4 states

Six new companies at UL Cyber Park in Kozhikode, nine startups to

start functioning soon

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22 (UNI) Kerala Finance Minister Dr Thomas Isaac on Sunday al-leged that the probe by the En-forcement Directorate (ED) into the KIIFB Masala Bond is part of a conspiracy to topple the CPI(M)-led Left government in the State. Talking to mediaper-sons here, the minister asked how the ED obtained the Comp-troller Auditor General (CAG) re-port on KIIFB (Kerala Infrastruc-ture Investment Fund Board) before placing the report in the

state assembly. "The CAG leaked the report to the ED to topple the Left Government," he alleged.

Meanwhile, based on the CAG finding that KIIFB had caused a liability of Rs 3,100 crore to the state government, the ED sent a letter to the Reserve Bank of In-dia (RBI) seeking the details of the Masala Bond.

The ED will also probe wheth-er the Foreign Exchange Man-agement Act (FEMA) was violat-ed by the KIIFB. The issue came to the light after the CAG found

that KIIFB was raising loans un-constitutionally. According to the KIIFB balance sheet for the year 2019-20, it records a net loss of Rs 171.1 crore. The KIIFB re-corded the loss first time after its revamp in 2016.

Pointing out faults in its meth-od of availing foreign loans, the CAG reported serious lapses in its report in 2018-19 also. In 2019-20, it paid Rs 401.12 crore as interest for Masala bonds, guarantee commission and oth-er loans availed from NABARD,

SBI, Union Bank, Indian Bank, Syndicate Bank, KSFE bond.

The KIIFB raised Rs 2,150 through the Masala Bonds listed at the London Stock Exchange at a high interest rate of 9.72 per cent. This is also to be noted that interest rate was less than 9.72 per cent in the case of domestic bonds. Other states like Andhra Pradesh and Punjab had float-ed Statutory Liquidity Reserve Bonds (SLRB) at cheaper rates (7.5 to 8 per cent) through the Andhra Pradesh Industrial.

ED probe into KIIFB conspiracy to topple Left Govt in Kerala: Dr Isaac

Chennai, Nov 22 (UNI) The well marked low pressure area over the bay would concentrate into a depression and intensify further into a cyclonic storm and cross the coast between Ma-habalipuram, about 55 km from here, and Karaikal in Puducherry on November 25. The Met office has issued a Red Alert for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal on November 25.

A bulletin issued by the In-dian Meteorological Depart-ment (IMD) on Sunday said the well marked lower pressure area over the southwest and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal persists over the same region. ''It is very

likely to concentrate into a de-pression over Southwest Bay of Bengal during next 24 hours and intensify further into cyclonic storm during the subsequent 24 hours'', it said. It is very likely to move northwestwards and cross the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Ma-habalipuram around November 25 noon/afternoon, the IMD said.

Under its influence, the rain-fall activity is likely to increase over south peninsular India from November 23 onwards with fairly widespread to widespread rain-fall, besides thunderstorm activ-ity over Tamilnadu, Puducherry andKaraikal from November 24

to 26 and over south Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Telangana on November 25 and 26.Isolated extremely heavy rainfall is also very likely over Tamilnadu and Puducherry on November 24 and 25 and over south Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalseema on November 25 and 26. and over Telangana on November 26. Squally weather with wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph and gusting to 60 kmph is likely to prevail over equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining cen-tral parts of South Bay of Bengal. It is likely to increase with wind speed of the order of 45-55 kmph and gusting to 65 kmph.

Low pressure to intensify as Cyclonic storm, to cross TN/Pondy coast on Nov 25

Bengaluru, Nov 22 (UNI) The Karnataka government has named the medical college and research institute in the city's Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpay-ee. "The state-run medical col-lege opened in 2018-19 has been renamed Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College and Research In-stitute," Health and Medical Edu-cation Minister K Sudhakar said here on Sunday.

Located in Shivajinagar in the

city's central business district, the 152-year-old hospital has also been teaching students pursuing medical degrees since

late 19th century during the British Raj.

Deemed an autonomous uni-versity, the institute was named Lady Curzon Hospital by then Mysore Commissioner Lewin Ben-thon Bowring when he opened it in 1868 with 104 beds, including 24 for women patients. "The college-cum-hospital has been in the fore-front of fighting the coronavirus pandemic along with the state-run Victoria Hospital in the city market area," said Sudhakar.

Bengaluru medical college named after Vajpayee

Puducherry, Nov 22 (UNI) Puducherry Chief Minister V narayanasamy on Sunday said that political vendetta led to the attack on congress general secre-tary A K D Arumugham here two days back.

In a virtual press conference, the Chief Minister said Arumu-gham was a frontline worker for the congress in the alst few elections and there is a political conspiracy to get rid of him.He said eventhough,the real culprits in a murder case was arresred a few people are spreading rumors connecting Arumugham with that murder and trying to kill him.Police are takeing steps in the case and news paper reports were there that a few persons were arrested in connection with the crime.Adequate security ahs been given to mr.Arumugham,he added. The chief minister charged that political parties are

instigating murder and robber-ies in Puducherry.The culprits in Arumugham’s case might not have come out bravely if no political background was there ,he said.he charged that several murders happened in the re-gime of N Rangasamy and some murder cases his governemtn failed to resovle wwre resolved

after the congress came to power here.Alleging that Rangasamy al-lowed the rowdies to grow in the union territory,the CM said that the rowdies were in assembly in his regime.Police was directed to find out those behind the attempt,he said and added that stringent action will be initated who ever it may be.

Political vendetta led to attack on Arumugham: Narayanasamy

Maize export to Bangladesh

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22 (UNI) Kerala registered 5,254 news cases of COVID-19 on Sunday even as 6,227 patients recovered from the disease, Health Minister KK Shailaja said. The Minister in a press release said "Of the positive cases reported on Sunday, 4,445 were cases of local transmission and the source of infection for 662 was unknown. There were 53 medical personnel among those infected on Sunday."

Meanwhile, 27 COVID deaths were also confirmed on Sunday taking the death toll from the vi-

rus in the state to 2,049. She said 48,015 samples were tested during the last 24 hours and the test posi-tivity rate is 10.94%. So far, a total of 58,57,241 samples have been sent for testing. The district-wise numbers for those who tested pos-itive on Monday for coronavirus are Malappuram 796, Kozhikode

612, Thrissur 543, Ernakulam 494, Palakkad 468, Alappuzha 433, Thiruvananthapuram 383, Kotta-yam 355, Kollam 314, Kannur 233, Idukki 220, Pathanamthitta 169, Wayanad 153 and Kasaragod 81. Of those diagnosed, 94 have come to the state from outside.

The figures of the people infected through contact in the districts are Malappuram 762, Kozhikode 565, Thrissur 522, Ernakulam 381, Palak-kad 275, Alappuzha 409, Thiruvanan-thapuram 277, Kottayam 353, Kollam 308, Kannur 148, Idukki 199, Pathana-mthitta 28, Wayanad 142 and Kasar-

god 76. The count of the infected healthcare workers from the districts are Ernakulam 12, Thiruvanantha-puram 10, Kannur 6, Kozhikode 5, Thrissur & Wayanad 4 each, Palakkad & Malappuram 3 each, and Kollam, Pathanamthitta & Idukki 2 each. The district-wise numbers for the patients whose test results were negative on Sunday are Thiruvananthapuram 546, Kollam 526, Pathanamthitta 198, Alappuzha 383, Kottayam 528, Idukki 77, Ernakulam 953, Thrissur 417, Palakkad 426, Malappuram 785, Kozhikode 828, Wayanad 121, Kannur 351 and Kasaragod 88.

Kerala reports 5,254 new COVID cases, 6,227 recoveries: Health Minister

5OP-ED23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESUS Elections 2020: Trump’s only normal is chaos

By Maureen DowdDuring the Barack Obama

comet streak in 2008, a lot of Americans were electrified by the idea of leaping into moder-nity with a brainy, young, Black man. Now a lot of Americans seem resigned yet relieved to step back in time with a sen-timental old-school Irish pol who was born the year Bing Crosby topped the charts with “White Christmas.”

Back to a time when the president did not rubbish peo-ple like an insult comic. Back to a time when the president did not peddle his own lethal reality. Back to a time when the president cared about the whole country, not just the part that voted for him. Back to a time when the president didn’t dismiss science, treat the Justice Department like his personal legal defence firm, besmirch the intelli-gence community, and deni-grate the FBI for not doing his bidding. Back to a time when the president behaved like an

adult, not a delinquent. You can only let King Kong, as Don McGahn, Donald Trump’s first White House counsel, dubbed his former boss, smash up the metropolis for so long. Trump does have a gift for symmetry, though, you must admit. He began his presidency with an epic tantrum about pictures showing that his inaugural crowd could not compare with Obama’s.

Trump’s epic tantrumsAnd now he could be ending

his presidency with another epic tantrum about crowd size. After Lesley Stahl trolled him during a “60 Minutes” taping, saying, “You used to have big-ger rallies,” you could almost see steam pouring out of the president’s ears. He stormed out of the interview a short while later.

He may be finishing right where he started, focused on himself. Whatever Joe Biden’s shortcomings, he is genuine when he says he will make his presidency about help-

ing others. As the former vice president vowed in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, “I’ll listen to the American people, no matter what their politics.” Biden’s appeal comes from his own struggles. He was a work-ing-class kid who stuttered. He was an adult who suffered terrible losses. He was not cod-dled by a rich father who was always there to bail him out of a jam. Biden is an empath.

Somehow Trump grew ag-grieved buoyed by family mon-ey in a Fifth Avenue penthouse, while Biden remained optimis-

tic despite the fates throwing down one lightning bolt after another.

“Biden feels others’ pain,’’ said Trump biographer Mi-chael D’Antonio. “Trump doesn’t even feel his own.” D’Antonio pointed out that Trump’s more modulated de-bate performance was disturb-ing, in that it proved “that be-ing horrible has been a choice all along. “He had the capacity to be normal,” D’Antonio said. “He just prefers being the bad boy, the out-of-control deviant member of society who says

the things that no one else will say. He’s just performing. He needs the adoration of the mob more than he needs the accep-tance of normal people.’’

Trump would rather be bitchy than boring. He loves being a gaper’s delight. That’s why that long-yearned-for piv-ot never came. Biden’s debate performance wasn’t scintillat-ing. He let some balls get past him. He did not word his com-ment about transitioning from oil dependence artfully. But he checked the boxes he needed to check and he successfully presented himself as the anti-venom to Trump’s venomous attempts to divide the country for personal gain. Trump calls Biden gloomy but he’s the one threatening the apocalypse if he loses — low-income hordes overrunning pristine suburbs, scary immigrants streaming north, a stock market crash and a cadaverous New York City.

Turning America into a sort of dystopia

“Wave bye-bye to your

401(k), cause it’s going down the tubes,” he said at a rally Friday in The Villages in Flor-ida, warning that Biden’s cli-mate aims might somehow deprive Floridians of air condi-tioning. Isolated in his shrink-wrap, Fox-speak bubble in the debate, he ignored the fact that he has already turned America into a sort of dystopia by bun-gling and dissimulating on the virus.

He didn’t even seem to know how he sounded when he bragged that unauthorised im-migrant children separated from their parents and held in cages are being “so well taken care of.” When asked about families living under the polluted clouds of oil refineries and chemical plants — made worse by his administra-tion’s incessant rollback of regu-lations — the president intoned that, actually, all that smog is a small price to pay because the families “are employed heav-ily and they are making a lot of money.”

Gulf News

By Fawaz TurkiAmericans go to the polls next Tues-

day to cast their votes in the presiden-tial election, a birthright first granted in 1776 only to White, male property owners, and in later decades to wom-en, Blacks and Native Americans.

Meanwhile, people around the world will be watching, knowing that what happens in America often always reverberates globally, willy-nilly affecting their own individual destinies. Ya, we all catch cold when America sneezes, though, having

lived in its own political bubble over the last four years, this new America has lost its shimmer as “leader of the free world”.

President Trump, evidently, is bet-ting on a replay of 2016, when, after igniting a populist surge in the coun-try, he defied the odds and scored a win. We all remember those rum-bustious rallies that year where he worked the crowds, lambasting Nato allies for not paying their share, slan-dering Mexicans as “criminals” and “rapists”, reviling Muslims as the oth-

er to be barred from entering the US and demanding that America come first. This year, the packed rallies are the same, as are the tattooed, red-hatted and, yes, mostly unmasked crowds (seemingly unperturbed by a harrowing new surge of Covid cases across the country) where Trump has hurled unsubstantiated accusations against Joe Biden, his Democratic ri-val, who he claims had, while in office as Barack Obama’s right hand man, “spied” on his first presidential cam-paign. At a rally in Ohio on Saturday, for example, his frenzied supporters began a “lock him up” chant, an echo of “lock her up” calls about Hillary Clinton.

Well, looks like the more things change around here, the more they stay the same. The important ques-tion now — and not important just to those who care about or are en-gaged in interpreting the Constitu-tion of the United States — is what happens if Donald Trump, were he to lose the election, cries fraud and re-fuses to concede defeat, which he has repeatedly threatened to do in recent months? Will torch-holding villagers from the red states march on Wash-ington wielding pitchforks?

Turbulence and controversyBarton Gellman, best-selling author

and journalist who in 2013 led the Washington Post’s coverage of the

US National Security Agency (NSA), based on top-secret documents provided him by Edward Snowden, wrote a lengthy article in Atlantic last month in which he said this: “This is not going to be a normal election ... The danger is not that [it] will just bring discord. Those who fear some-thing worse take turbulence and controversy for granted. Students of election law and procedure are warn-ing that conditions are ripe for a con-stitutional crisis that would leave the nation without an authoritative re-sult. We have no fail-safe against this calamity”.

Less than a week before election day and the red lights are still blinking ...And it is not just Trump supporters who may march in the streets and raise hell. Anti-Trump activists are also ready to “stand back and stand by”, a colloquialism given a menacing edge by Donald Trump during that night of bluster, insults and hectoring on September 29 that passed for the first presidential debate. A coalition called Stand Up America, for exam-ple, has been preparing its members to take to the streets if Trump were to contest the election results.

These are tactics that sound straight out of a lawless police state rather than a democratic country like the United States, accustomed to seeing social change, such as civil rights,

women’s rights, minority rights and the like, adjudicated in the courts or debated by the legislative branch of government. But in a now polarised America, that’s where you go today to be heard — all the way, as recent events attest, from Portland, Oregon to Washington, DC.

Totally unqualified for the jobImagine, the New Yorker — like the

New York Times a revered and always cautious publication — last week had an article, by Lizzi Widdicombe, a level-headed and respected jour-nalist, that carried the provocative title “What If Donald Trump Stages a Coup?”

But what do you do when an in-cumbent chief executive in the White House — who by all accounts has shown himself to be totally unquali-fied for the job — tells reporters, as Donald Trump has been telling re-porters for months, that he effectively will not concede defeat were he to lose in November nor commit to a peaceful transfer of power! “There won’t be a transfer, frankly”, he said. “There will be a continuation”.

Never before in American history has one president enabled such low-brow, pedestrian and anti-intellec-tualist impulses to insinuate them-selves into the very soul of America’s political culture.

Gulf News

By Asma Al BlooshiWe live in an era where we are dis-

tracted more than ever before, and it happens through our smart gadgets such as cell phones, TV, social media, and internet. You are already disrupted at this moment while you are read-ing this article either by text messages, emails, phone calls or notifications. It becomes challenging to find some soli-tude without getting bombarded with advertisement or people trying to get hold of our attention.

It is time to start shutting down all of it and learn how to focus. Focus is de-fined as the act of giving full attention to one particular thing. Subject matter experts like Robin Sharma, the author of The 5am Club, defines focus as giving special attention on priorities and be-ing superb at what we tend to achieve. The author outlined the formula of fo-cus which is (Focus + Time = Mastery).

Let us imagine that we are driving a vehicle, but unable to control it. The car drives randomly and does not fol-low the instructions. If we want to go in the left direction, it takes us to the right

direction and if we want it to speed up, it starts to slow down. We start to feel powerless and unable to rely on it to take us anywhere safely.

It is the same thing when we cannot focus on our life goals and tasks. Our mind keeps speeding and engaging with unrelated thoughts, pulling us to a different direction. Reaching our desti-nation requires us to be able to control our attention and guide it towards our goals.

The author Daniel Goleman describes focus as a muscle, which requires simi-lar tactics as building body muscles. We work on it gradually every day to strengthen our ability to focus, and it is vital to have the willpower to do it every day till it forms as a habit. He described three types of focus, and there are techniques we can follow to improve them. The first type is the inner focus is the ability to monitor our own feel-ings, thoughts, emotions, and we can improve our inner focus by practising mindfulness and being fully present in what is going on in the mind.

The second type is the ability to un-

derstand and sympathise with others by knowing their feelings and thoughts and being able to assist them if they need our help. Enhancing our other focus requires us to be a good listener and willing to ask for feedback. The third type is the outer focus which is

the ability to understand larger systems that are at work. It includes organisa-tions and societies that require from us to think strategically and seek guidance from people who have the experience and are willing to mentor.

Anxiety and stress of the unknown

Many people have lost their focus during the COVID-19 pandemic for many reasons — anxiety and stress of the unknown, juggling between work, family and feeling unproductive. This is totally normal as many research stud-ies show that the focus of human be-ings suffers when they are under stress, and that’s exactly what we are all going through for many months now.

COVID-19 pandemic is a historic global crisis, and it is not likely to be-come the most productive period of our lives, so there is no need to feel pres-sured. It is a good time for self-compas-sion and self-care by leaning on basics such as eating healthy, sleeping well and exercising because everyone is do-ing the best they can.

To sum up, it is very easy to get dis-tracted because distraction gadgets are everywhere. The focus is not about do-ing the most work, it is about doing the most critical work at the highest stan-dard. We produce incredible work and end up with positive results when our focus is aligned with our actions.

Gulf News

US Elections 2020: A polarised America goes to the polls

COVID-19: Don’t lose your focus in these stressful times

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6INTERNATIONAL23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020

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

Moscow, Nov 22 (UNI) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has rejected doubts over a trilateral ceasefire statement centred around the disputed Nago-rno-Karabakh region.

On Saturday, Lavrov said during a briefing that issues related to the implementa-tion of the ceasefire state-ment were fully discussed at the meeting with the Arme-nian leadership, including ensuring the operation of the Russian peacekeeping mission and conducting hu-manitarian actions, reports Xinhua news agency.

"All accepted that this statement is the only means for the settlement of the situation, which was very tough several weeks ago. "It was stated that all attempts

both within the country and abroad at questioning that statement are unaccept-able," Lavrov said, adding that Russia and Armenia had confirmed their deter-mination to do everything to keep the statement in force. The ceasefire statement was signed by Azerbaijani Presi-dent Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pash-

inyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 9, in which the three sides agreed on a complete cease-fire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone starting from November 10. As agreed, Russia has deployed a peace-keeping contingent consist-ing of 1,960 servicemen with small arms, 90 armoured personnel carriers, and 380

vehicles to the region. Rus-sian peacekeepers will set up 16 observation posts to monitor the ceasefire along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the cor-ridor connecting the region with Armenia.

This is the fourth cease-fire since last month. The three other ceasefires -- two brokered by Russia (Octo-ber 10, 17) and one by the US (October 26) -- collapsed after Armenia and Azer-baijan traded accusations and attacks. A new round of armed conflict broke out on September 27 along the contact line of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is internationally rec-ognized as part of Azerbai-jan but mostly governed by the Republic of Artsakh.

Russian FM rejects questioning of Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire statement

Dhaka, Nov 22 (UNI) Two separate photos of Bangla-desh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have gone viral on the social media, giving people a glimpse of the leader's daily life, the media reported on Sunday. In one photo, Hasina is seen working on a sewing machine while donning a tra-ditional Bengali attire, while is the other the leader was snapped while she was look-ing at catch after fishing at the Ganabhaban lake, reports bdnews24.

The Prime Minister had ear-lier described in Parliament

how she slightly tweaked her routine amid the coronavirus pandemic, enjoying the thrill of fishing during her morn-ing stroll. Top Awami League leaders and the party's offi-

cial account have shared the photos on Facebook.Salman F Rahman, the premier's adviser for private industry and investment, shared the photos and wrote: "Hon'ble

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is a complete human being. She has successfully trans-formed the fortune of 170 mil-lion Bangladeshis, has given refuge to over a million Ro-hingya Muslims, but still finds the time to enjoy cooking, fishing and sewing." "I don't have the knowledge to put a caption," wrote State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shah-riar Alam in a post sharing the photo of the Prime Minister fishing.State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak shared both photos and wrote: "Our honourable prime minister.

Hasina's photos of her sewing, fishing go viral

Washington, Nov 22 (UNI) The re-election cam-paign of US President Don-ald Trump has announced that it would seek an expe-dited appeal after a federal judge in the state of Penn-sylvania dismissed a law-suit which sought to block millions of mail-in ballots cast in the November 3 presidential election.

In a joint statement late Saturday, Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani and the campaign's senior le-gal adviser Jenna Ellis said that they would seek an expedited appeal to the US Third Circuit Court of Ap-peals, reports Xinhua news agency. They said the lat-est development will help quicken their effort to push the case to the US Supreme Court. The lawsuit claimed that some counties in

Pennsylvania allowed mail-in voters to fix problems with the ballots by casting provisional ballots, which the campaign said were cast illegally for Democrat Joe Biden. Saturday's ruling by US District Court Judge Matthew Brann was made on the grounds that the lawsuit provided "strained legal arguments without merit and speculative ac-cusations, unpled in the

operative complaint and unsupported by evidence".

"In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state," wrote the judge, who was appointed by former Democratic Pres-ident Barack Obama.

US media have projected that Biden has won 306 Electoral College votes, sur-

passing the 270 votes need-ed to clinch the presidency.

The watershed mo-ment came on November 7, when Pennsylvania was called for Biden, who now leads Trump in the state by over 81,000 votes, a margin believed to be insurmount-able even if those errone-ously cast ballots were excluded. For the Trump campaign, time is tick-ing away as Pennsylvania is scheduled to certify its election results on Mon-day, all but certain to grant its 20 Electoral College votes to Biden.

While Biden has claimed victory, Trump launched a slew of litigations chal-lenging the results in states that, in addition to Pennsylvania, also in-clude Michigan, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.

Trump campaign to seek expedited appeal of ruling on mail-in ballots

Singapore, Nov 22 (UNI) In his address to the ongo-ing 12th G20 Summit, Sin-gaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has put forward two suggestions on what member countries could do together, the me-dia reported on Sunday. The first suggestion is to ensure affordable and eq-uitable access to vaccines, Xinhua news agency quot-ed The Straits Times report as saying.

Lee said that he was glad the G20 had advanced vac-cine multi-lateralism by

backing global initiatives such as the Access to Co-vid-19 Tools Accelerator and the Covid-19 Vaccine

Global Access Facility.He also said that Sin-

gapore will continue to work closely with the

World Health Organiza-tion (WHO) and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to accelerate vaccine development and enhance long-term pan-demic preparedness. The second suggestion is to strengthen global disease surveillance networks so that the world will be bet-ter prepared for the next pandemic.Lee said that the effectiveness of such networks depends on countries investing in their domestic surveillance and response capabilities.

S'pore PM urges affordable vaccine access, better disease surveillance

United Nations, Nov 22 (UNI) Public international finance must be allocated to countries and sectors most in need amid the Covid-19 andemic, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his video message to the International Finance Forum 2020 Annual Meet-ing. "As a formidable coun-tercyclical force, public international finance must focus on two key priorities. First, it must be allocated to countries and sectors most in need, including health, education and social protec-tion, in the short term, and

all facets of sustainable de-velopment in the long term," Xinhua news agency quoted the UN chief as saying on Saturday. "Secondly, it must be used to leverage private and domestic financing by

enhancing tax systems and through specific tools such as incentives and guaran-tees," Guterres added.

For the time being, the Secretary-General said that a Covid-19 vaccine is a

global public good, which needs strong international financial support. "We must ensure it is available and af-fordable for everyone," he said, noting that the ACT-Accelerator is a global solu-tion that will help meet this goal. The UN chief called on the international commu-nity to help meet the need of 35 billion U.S. dollars for the ACT-Accelerator "to scale up for impact". The Covid-19 pandemic "has exposed the fragility not just of our health systems, but also of our glob-al institutions and multilat-eral efforts", said the top UN

official. "We must address the immediate crisis and build back better," Guterres added. The UN chief's state-ment comes as the overall number of global coronavi-rus cases has surpassed the 58 million mark, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.37 million, according to the Johns Hopkins Uni-versity. In its latest update on Sunday, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 58,035,296 and 1,379,508, respectively.

'Public int'l finance must be allocated to countries, sectors most in need'

New York, Nov 22 (UNI) Analys-ing data collected by NASA's Curios-ity rover, scientists have found that floods of unimaginable magnitude once washed through Gale Crater on Mars' equator around four billion years ago. The finding, published in the journal Scientific Reports, hints at the possibility that life may have existed on the Red Planet.

The raging megaflood -- likely touched off by the heat of a mete-oritic impact, which unleashed ice stored on the Martian surface -- set up gigantic ripples that are tell-tale geologic structures familiar to scien-tists on Earth. "We identified mega-floods for the first time using detailed sedimentological data observed by

the rover Curiosity," said co-author Alberto Fairen, a visiting astrobi-ologist at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. "Deposits left behind by

megafloods had not been previously identified with orbiter data."

As is the case on Earth, geological features, including the work of water

and wind have been frozen in time on Mars for about four billion years. These features convey processes that shaped the surface of both planets in the past. This case includes the oc-currence of giant wave-shaped fea-tures in sedimentary layers of Gale crater, often called "megaripples" or antidunes that are about 30-feet high and spaced about 450 feet apart, ac-cording to study lead author Ezat Heydari, Professor of Physics at Jack-son State University in Mississippi, US. The antidunes are indicative of flowing megafloods at the bottom of Mars' Gale Crater about four billion years ago, which are identical to the features formed by melting ice on Earth about two million years ago.

NASA rover helps scientists find signs of megafloods on Mars

Peshawar, Nov 22 (UNI) The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alli-ance comprising 11 of the country's opposition par-ties, will stage it fourth pow-er show on Sunday in Pesha-war despite being denied permission by the city ad-ministration to hold the the public rally due to a surge in new Covid-19 cases. The rally will be addressed by Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) Vice Presi-dent Maryam Nawaz, Jamiat Ulema Islam–Fazl (JUI-F) and PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Cchair-man Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, as well as other opposition leaders, reports The Express Tribune.

Maryam Nawaz has con-firmed that her father and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will not ad-dress the Peshawar rally, apparently due to severe kidney pain.

Spokesperson for the PML-N's Khyber Pakh-tunkhwa chapter, Ikhtiar Wali, while denouncing the roadblocks allegedly put in place on the way to the ven-ue, said that Prime Minister Imran Khan's government has become scared of the PDM's rallies.

He added that Sunday's rally will be a referendum against the incumbent gov-ernment, warning it to not "instigate violence" or it will be the one responsible.

On Friday, Peshawar's

Deputy Commissioner had denied permission, saying the Covid-19 posi-tivity rate in the provin-cial capital is currently "alarmingly high" and has exceeded 13 per cent, The Express Tribune reported. Any large public gather-ing is likely to increase the spread of deadly virus, the Commissioner added. Fri-day's development came after Prime Minister Imran Khan in a televised address to the nation announced on Monday .

PDM to hold Peshawar rally despite permission row

Tougher tier system curbs for England

after lockdown

London, Nov 22 (UNI) A tougher three-tiered system of local restrictions against the Covid-19 pandemic will come into force in England when the ongoing lockdown ends on December 2, Downing Street said on Sunday.In a statement, Downing Street

said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to set out his "Covid winter plan", including families' movement during at Christmas, to MPs on Monday, the BBC re-ported. The statement added that addition-al areas willbe placed into the higher tiers to keep the virus under control, adding that some curbs will be further strengthened to safeguard lockdown progress. It was not yet clear exactly how restrictions could change, but the 10 p.m. night curfew on pubs and restaurants will be extended.

7SPORTS23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020

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

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (UNI) Hyderabad tennis player Yadlapalli Pranjala recorded the biggest victory in her career by defeating the former World no. 20 player Daria Gavrilova at the UTR Melbourne Series, hosted by Tennis Australia.

Pranjala has been in Australia since February this year for a rehabilitation programme and since been stuck there because of the coronavirus pandemic. She returned to court after her rehabilitation and defeated Daria 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 in a closely-fought contest. Daria reached the fourth round of Australian Open

in 2016 and 17 and entered the third round in French

Open and Wimbledon in 2018. However, she is currently ranked 445.Speaking after the victory, Pranjala said the victory will boost her morale.

“I am coming from an injury and defeating a player of that calibre is a great morale-booster.

The game was a close one. I was leading 3-0 in the first set but lost it. But came back to win the match,” she said from M e l b o u r n e . P r a n j a l a ’ s previous best victory against a higher-ranked player was in 2018 when she defeated Conny Perrin, who was then ranked in the 130s.

Melbourne, Nov 22 (UNI) Tickets for five of the upcoming six limited-overs fixtures between Australia and India beginning next week, have been sold out in less than a day after being released, Cricket Australia informed on Friday.

The limited-overs series will begin with the three ODIs from November 27. Limited tickets to the first ODI at the SCG, however, remain with approximately 1,900 public seats left.

Tickets for the four matches at the Sydney Cricket and two at Canberra’s Manuka Oval went on sale to the general public on Friday morning and by midday the only seats up for grabs were for the first ODI at the SCG.

It should be noted that both SCG and Manuka Oval will be at 50 per cent capacity for the series due to restrictions put in place amid Covid-19 pandemic.

“The second and third ODIs at the SCG and Manuka Oval respectively have been exhausted while the Manuka Oval T20I and two SCG T20Is are sold out,” Cricket Australia

TICKET FRENZY FOR AUS-IND TIES: 2 ODIS & 3 T20IS SOLD OUT IN ONE-DAY

Medvedev beats Schwartzman in ATP finals, to face Nadal in semis

FIRST WOMEN’S FOOTBALL CAMP SINCE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

FROM TUESDAY

Prajnesh Gunneswaran beats Popko, enters semis of Orlando Open

FC Goa begin campaign against Chhetri-led Bengaluru

Pranjala defeats Daria Gavrilova at UTR Melbourne Series

Four more cricketers test positive in Bengal

India pacer Mohammed Siraj’s father no more, Ganguly offers condolences

Orlando (USA), Nov 22 (UNI) India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran defeated Dmitri Popko of Kazakhstan in straight sets to enter the semi-finals of Orlando Open tennis.The fourth-seeded player turned in a dominating 6-0, 6-3 performance, earning

six breaks along the way against a weary sixth-seeded Popko, who had spent more than four hours on court the day before between singles and doubles.Gunneswaran will now face Christopher Eubanks of the United States in the last four.The

31-year-old Indian smashed two aces against none by his Kazakh opponent.Gunneswaran won 61% of the first-serve points and 58% of the second service points. He also saved 67% of the break points.The world No. 137 was clearly the more dominant

of the two in winning the service points (60% against 30%), return points (70% against 40%) as well as the total points (64% against 36%).Eubanks, on the other hand, smashed 17 aces but was also forced to overcome 10 double faults to knock out No. 2

seed and fellow American Denis Kudla. Eubanks and Kudla each won 128 points for the match, but Kudla’s 2-of-18 conversion rate on break chances proved the difference in the 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-3 marathon that could have gone either way.

said in a release.“Both the SCG and Manuka Oval will be at 50 per cent capacity for series, with fans voting with their feet after ticket prices were frozen from the last time India came to Australia in 2018/19,” it added.

Following the limited-overs leg, the two teams will contest in the much-anticipated four-Test series beginning December 17 at the Adelaide Oval.

Mumbai, Nov 22 (UNI) Thirty women footballers have been called up for a national camp that will start from Tuesday in Goa, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said in a statement on Saturday.

This is the first senior national women's camp after coronavirus-induced lockdown.A detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been prepared for the resumption of the team training.

Prescribed by senior national team doctor Shervin Sheriff, the SOP mandates that incoming players and support staff must get a Covid test (RT-PCR) done from an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) accredited laboratory three days before departure from their hometowns.

"After reaching Goa, a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) has to be done and if the result is negative, they can proceed to their respective rooms for seven days of room quarantine. After successful quarantine without any signs or symptoms of COVID-19, they have to be tested for RT-PCR on Day 8 following their arrival before joining the training," the AIFF said.

TIGER WOODS TO TEAM UP WITH SON CHARLIE IN DECEMBER TOURNAMENT

Orlando (US), Nov 22 (UNI) Tiger Woods has said he will team up with son Charlie and compete in the PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando (Grande Lakes) from December 17-20.

Formerly known as the Father/Son Challenge, the PNC Championship brings together top PGA Tour and LPGA major-winning talent and a family member to compete as a team.

Woods, the 82-time winner on the Tour, will make his tournament debut with Charlie, his 11-year-old son who has already established

himself as an accomplished junior golfer in Florida."I can't tell you how excited I am to be playing with Charlie in our first official tournament together.

It's been great watching him progress as a junior golfer and it will be incredible playing as a team together in the PNC Championship," Woods said in

a statement.The 44-year-old Woods has been spotted at various junior tournaments acting as Charlie's caddie.

Outside of the odd sighting on social media videos, this will be the first time fans will see the young Woods in action.

This is in direct contrast to the profile the elder Woods had at the same age. Taught by his father Earl, Woods had made numerous appearances on television as a prodigy from as early as age two.Earlier this year, Woods spoke of his son's game with GOLFTV."I'm still winning...

for now," Woods said. "He's starting to get into it. He's starting to understand how to play. He's asking me the right questions.

I've kept it competitive with his par, so it's been just an absolute blast to go out there and just be with him. It reminds me so much of me and my dad."

Asked if Charlie is as good as him, Woods replied, "I don't know. It depends how bad he wants it. It's all on him. I wanted it at a very, very early age. I wanted to compete and play in this game. That's on him - whether he wants it or not."

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) Pace bowler Mohammed Siraj's father passed away on Friday with the pacer on international duty with the Indian team in Australia.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly offered condolences on Twitter."May Mohammed

Siraj have a lot of strength to overcome this loss..lots of good wishes for his success in this trip.. tremendous character @bcci," he tweeted on Saturday.

His Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) too offered condolences."Our heartfelt

prayers and condolences go out to Mohammed Siraj and his family, on the loss of his father.The entire RCB family is with you during this difficult time. Stay strong, Miyan," tweeted the official handle of RCB.Siraj is part of India's Test squad and is in the Sydney quarantine hub. He will not be able to return

to India for his father's burial due to the Covid-19 restrictions.Although the 26-year-old has played in ODIs (1) and T20Is (3), this has been his maiden entry into the Test squad.

Siraj had been among the wickets in first-class cricket at home, leading his team Hyderabad's pace attack in Ranji Trophy and also featuring with wickets for India A. He took an eight-wicket haul against Australia A in Bengaluru in 2018 to come into national contention. The haul, a record for India A, followed a few fifers and four-wicket hauls against South Africa A and West Indies A that year.

London, Nov 22 (UNI) Daniil Medvedev defeated tournament debutant Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-3 to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Rafael Nadal in the ATP Finals at the O2 Arena here.

The win over Schwartzmann enabled him to complete 3-0 run in Group Tokyo 1970. It is a massive improvement from last year when he went winless. The Russian's match against Nadal will take place in the early hours of Sunday (India time)."I was playing great in the

two previous matches. I think it is always good to stay undefeated for the confidence.I wanted to win the match, so I am really happy that I have done it," said Medvedev

after the match. "I was serving really well today, so that helped me a lot throughout all the match."Nadal leads their career head-to-head series 3-0, including

a stunning comeback from 5-1 down in the third set of their clash at last year's Nitto ATP Finals."I like playing all of the (Big) Three.

When I was so young, starting to hold the racquet and just started to be interested in tennis... I started to see Grand Slams," Medvedev said.

"First it was Roger winning everything, then Rafa came and started to make his mark and then it was Novak. It is a great pleasure to play against all of them and I am really looking forward to tomorrow."

FC Goa have never won the coveted ISL trophy and would be hoping that this time around they go one step forward than 2018

and 2015 seasons, when they emerged as runners-up

Pranjala has been in Australia since February this year for a rehabilitation programme and since been stuck there because

of the coronavirus pandemic

Margao, Nov 22 (UNI) A new-look FC Goa, strengthened by the addition of fresh foreign players and a new head coach, will begin their Indian Super League campaign with renewed vigour when they clash with formidable Bengaluru FC here on Sunday.

FC Goa have never won the coveted ISL trophy and would be hoping that this time around they go one step forward than 2018 and 2015 seasons, when they emerged as runners-up. But it won’t be an easy task for coach Juan Ferrando, who wants the club to continue playing attacking brand of football, which they also displayed under their previous coach Sergio Lobera.

FC Goa, who won the League Winners Shield last season to

become the first side from India to qualify for the group stage of the AFC Champions League, have parted ways with the likes of star forwards Ferran Corominas and Hugo Boumous, who have established themselves as feared goal scorers in the ISL over the years.They have added a few quality players, both domestic and foreign, and their familiarity with the home conditions will come in handy in their bid to at least reach the play-offs.

Kolkata, Nov 22 (UNI) Four cricketers have returned positive results for Covid out of 142 players who were tested, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) announced on Friday. A couple of days ago, Bengal cricket captain

Abhimanyu Easwaran had tested positive. These cases are a setback for the CAB's Bengal T20 Challenge, which is scheduled to begin on November 24, and could have potentially put the competition in jeopardy.

PUBLIC NOTICEWe, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, (KMBL), for our Banking and other related business including setting up Automated Teller Machine (ATM) desire to take on Lease for the Period of 15 (Fifteen) Years, the property, more particularly described in the schedule hereunder written, owned by Sri. M. Shanmugam, son of Mayandi, residing at No.22, 3rd Cross Street, V.O.C. Nagar, Muthialpet, Pondicherry - 605 003.People at large and all the concerned, private individuals, government/ semi-government institutions / bodies / authorities, if has got any right, title, interest, or share in properties herein mentioned or anybody who has objection for the aforesaid transaction are herewith publicly informed to raise their objection/s in writing with copies of all the supportive documents to the undersigned within 7 days from publication of this public notice. If the objections are not received by the undersigned in writing along with copies of all supportive documents within 7 (Seven) days from publication of this public notice, then it will be construed that the title to the said properties are clear and that all such concerned have waived their rights and all such concerned shall be estopped from raising any objections thereafter and that we shall proceed thereafter further in the execution of the Lease Deed or such agreements and all such persons shall be estopped from raising any objections to such transaction thereinafter.

Schedule of the PropertyALL THAT piece or parcel of commercial property being office premise admeasuring about 944 square feet carpet area (approx.) on the Ground Floor, bearing Door No.84, situated at Gayathri Nagar, Rajendra Prasad Road, Hasthinapuram, Chengulpet Taluk, Kancheepuram District, Chennai - 600 064 and property bounded on the : East by :- Property bearing Plot No.5; West by :- Property bearing Plot No.3; North by :- Rajendra Prasad Road; and South by :- Property bearing Plot Nos.15 & 16;

Legal Department Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited.

Kotak Infinity, 5th Floor, Building No.21, Infiniti Park, off Western Express Highway, General A K Vaidya Marg, Malad (East), Mumbai 400 097

Ph. Nos.: +91 22 6605 5570 / 5550 Rajarshi.chatterjee@kotak.com

Sathishs.kumar@kotak.com

8ENTERTAINMENRT23 MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 2020

Email : thesouthindiatimes@yahoo.in / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESAnushka Sharma is enjoying her pregnancy period while sitting at home and sharing her new pictures with fans on social media. Recently, the actress shared an adorable can-did picture of herself clicked by her father on the photo-sharing app. Anushka looks stunning in the pink

ensembled suit. Now, the actress is back on work mode although it doesn't seem like she is shooting for any new fi lm project.Anushka Sharma shared a BTS picture on In-stagram story as she is speculated to be shooting for an advertising com-mercial. In the picture, her staff has

been seen wearing PPF kits and face masks. While taking a jibe at their PPF kits, the actress wrote, "Looks like there's a dress code on set today." On her fi lm front, Aanand L. Rai`s `Zero`, co-starring Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif, remains Anushka Sharma's last project. It has also been

stated that she will portray the role of Jhulan Goswami in the biopic but the actress hasn't announced any state-ment of it. Well, for now the actress is shooting for commercials and fol-lowing the footsteps of Kareena Ka-poor Khan who is also shooting for ads while sitting at her home.

PREGNANT ANUSHKA SHARMA IS BACK TO WORK MODE, SHARES A BTS PICTURE!

PREITY RECALLS SHOOTING FOR 'SOLDIER' IN FREEZING COLD

KIARA ADVANI STARRER 'INDOO KI

JAWANI' TO HIT THEATRES ON

THIS DATE!

The Bobby Deol and Preity Zinta-starrer Soldier has turned

22. Reminiscing about

shooting the fi lm, Preity took to Insta-gram and shared a funny amnecdote.She recalled how Bobby would shiver while

shooting in the freezing cold.

"Remember-ing 'Soldier' my

super hot and super cool

movie. So many things to be grateful for. My warm clothes for starters. It was freezing cold and so windy when we were shooting. On the other side poor Bobby was feeling so cold and shivering. I'm also grate-ful that my fi rst feature as a lead had an unbelievable soundtrack," she wrote.Along with her post, Preity uploaded a video of the hit title song of the fi lm.

In October, Kiara Advani starrer 'Indoo Ki Jawani' fi nished its last shooting

schedules and wrapped up all the remaining leftover patchworks.

Just like other fi lms are taking the OTT route it was also speculated that Indoo Ki Jawani would also release di-rectly on the digital platform.

But now all the fl oating ru-mors have been cleared now and it is offi cially announced that the fi lm will release in theatres only.Earlier the fi lm was scheduled to be released theatrically on June 5th but the lockdown thwarted the release. So now it will release theatrically on December 11th, 2020 amid the 50% oc-

cupancy theatrical guideline owing to the COVID-19 pan-demic.Indoo Ki Jawani is the second fi lm to hit the cinema halls. Earlier Diljit Dosanjh, Manoj Bajpayee starrer 'Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari' also released on Diwali and doing decent business at box-offi ce. Trade Analyst and critic Taran Adarsh took to his Twitter to

make the announcement and tweeted, "#BreakingNews... ALL SET FOR THEATRICAL RELEASE IN DEC 2020... #IndooKiJawani - starring #KiaraAdvani and #AdityaS-eal - to release in *cinemas* on 11 Dec 2020... Directed by Abir Sengupta... Produced by TSeries, Emmay Entertain-ment and Electric Apples."

TARA SUTARIA AND THE 'SWEETNESS OF DOING NOTHING'

BOLLYWOOD EXPLORES HORROR COMEDY WITH NEW-AGE SPIN

starrer 'Indoo Ki

Jawani' to hit theatres on

this date!

Basu worked with Ad-itya on his latest fi lm "Ludo". In the fi lm,

Aditya plays the character of Akash, a ventriloquist.

"Aditya is a perfectionist when it comes to act-ing. There were multiple instances when I was good with a particular scene and he wanted to do another two takes because he wanted to give a bet-ter performance," Basu

Filmmaker Anurag Basu feels actor Aditya Roy Kapur is a perfectionist when it comes to acting.

Anurag Basu: Aditya Roy Kapur never takes shortcuts

said."Regarding ventriloquism, I had offered him to use a dub artist but instead he decided to learn the art himself, which is not an easy task.

He trained against a third generation ven-triloquist, one of the famous ones in the country and is now a trained ven-triloquist himself!

There were times in the shoot where I had to tell him to tone it down a little bit, otherwise it would seem like a dub artist had done it.

Aditya Roy Ka-pur is the kind of person that never takes shortcuts and works towards what he wants," he added.Basu's mul-tistarrer "Ludo" also features Abhishek Bach-chan, Rajkummar

Rao, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra. It is a dark comedy drama about four people whose lives collide.

The fi lm released on Netfl ix on No-vember 12.After a box offi ce success like ‘Malang’, Ad-itya Roy Kapur has once again proved his versatility with ‘Ludo’.

Portraying the role of Akash Chauhan in the dark comedy, Ad-itya has perfectly nailed his act of a ventriloquist, packaging it with his spot on comic timing.

In one of the scenes Aditya re-enacts Am-itabh Bachchan’s iconic dialogue from ‘Deewar’ and the sequence has been widely shared on social media.

Tara Sutaria tastes the sweetness of doing nothing in

her new post on social media.Tara posted a picture on Instagram that has her flaunting her perfect skin in a white tank top. "The sweetness of doing nothing," she captioned the selfie.

Tara is currently in the Maldives with rumoured beau Aadar Jain.

Tara and Aadar were first linked after they made an appearance at Malaika Arora's party last

year, and then at Am-itabh Bachchan's Diwali party in 2019. They also reportedly celebrated New Year in London together.In August, Tara penned a birthday wish for Aadar. Calling Aadar her favourite person, Tara wrote on Insta-gram: "Ever thine, ever mine, ever ours! Happy Birthday to my favourite person @aadarjain."

On the work front, Aa-dar, who made his Bolly-wood debut in 2017 with "Qaidi Band", will next be seen in " Hello Char-lie". Tara has "Tadap" and "Ek Villain 2" coming up.

TAAPSEE PANNU SHARES

RECIPE TO BURN FAT

Bollywood actress Taapsee Pannu on Friday shared the

recipe to a drink that helps burn fat. She

calls it her exotic sunset drink.

M y exotic sunset drink! Coz when @m u n m u n . G a n e r i -

wal plans my meals no meal on the menu can be just an ordinary one.This fat-burning powerhouse of a drink has raw, unfil-tered Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother. Along with it are fenugreek (me-thi), turmeric, and gin-

ger," Taapsee wrote on Instagram."Turmeric and ginger are powerful inflam-mation-fighting agents so instead of going for pills, it helps to combat the pain and infl ammation in muscles caused by my tough athletic training. Talk about being natural and exotic!" she added.The actress has started shooting for her up-

coming fi lm Rashmi Rocket, which casts her as a runner from the Rann of Kutch who fi ghts for her identity and be-comes an athlete.Actor Pri-yanshu Painyuli will be seen playing Taapsee's husband in the fi lm helmed by Akarsh Khurana.Apart from Rashmi Rocket, Taapsee will also be seen in Shabaash Mithu and Haseen Dillruba.

KAJOL WANTS TO GIVE TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARD TO COVID 19

VAANI KAPOOR : AKSHAY KUMAR IS A SUPERSTAR IN EVERY

POSSIBLE WAY

Kajol wants to give the Teacher of the Year award to the Covid-19

pandemic, she expressed on Friday."Teacher of the year award goes to COVID- 19," wrote Kajol on Instagram Story. The actress also

explained why she wants to confer the award to the pandemic."Taught us what life is about, simplicity and spiritu-ality plus uncertainty," wrote the actress, who often takes to social media to share words of wisdom for her fans and fol-lowers.

On the work front, Kajol is all set to enter the digital space with "Tribhanga", a drama set in Mumbai.

The OTT fi lm will weave a complex story of a family while going back and forth through three

generations, from the late 1980s to present day.

Moving away from regu-lar horror,

Bollywood is lately warm-ing up to the idea of serving scares with a spot of humour. The horror comedy as a genre is suddenly in vogue among mainstream Hindi fi lmmakers.

The genre existed in the Hindi fi lm industry for ages -- the old classic "Bhoot Ban-

gla" and recent releases such as "Bhul Bhulaiyaa", "Bhoot-nath", "Go Goa Gone" and "Stree" come to mind.

These fi lms, however, were one-off cases. What is happen-ing now is that Bollywood fi lm-makers have suddenly taken interest in the genre of horror comedy in a way that it seems like the genre is here to stay.

Importantly, the new crop

of fi lms serve the funny scares with a new-age spin and a mes-sage. looks at a few hor-ror comedy fi lms that are all set to hit the screens.The fi lm stars Saif Ali Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Yami Gautam and Arjun Kapoor.The fi lm, which sees the cast share screen space for the fi rst time, is helmed by Pawan Kripalani, who is known for directing thrillers.

'He is such an enthralling actor and I am only grateful to be sharing screen space with him,' said Vaani.

Actress Vaani Kapoor, who will share screen space with Akshay Kumar in

the upcoming fi lm Bell Bottom, says Bollywood superstar Ak-shay can pull off any role in any genre with utmost ease."For me, Akshay sir is a superstar in every possible way. He is such an enthralling actor and I am only grateful to be sharing

screen space with him. He is so fascinating as an actor. He can pull off ac-tion, comedy, romance, thriller, and be the best in everything," Vaani said.

She added: "Akshay Kumar can ace any genre! He is so talented and experienced and one can only observe and learn from him all the time."

On sharing screen space with Akshay, Vaani said: "The experi-ence has been so lovely. He couldn't have been kinder and more won-derful than he was. He is somebody who is very friendly on set.

I am someone who would otherwise go back to my hotel room and not interact too much because I like being in my own space. But he is someone who ensured that we all sat together and have lunches/din-ners and got to know each other and be involved like a close-knit family."

Pooja Hegde has opened up on why the 2018 Telugu

action movie Aravinda Sa-metha Veera Raghava will always be special for her. She says the fi lm helped her explore a new side of her, and ace the art of dubbing."‘Aravinda Sametha' is and will always be a very special fi lm for me. This was my fi rst fi lm with Jr. NTR and I had a great time working with him. Person-ally, this fi lm was an enriching experi-ence both on-screen and off-screen," Pooja said."My character allowed me to explore a new

side of me in terms of dubbing for myself, and I am beyond grateful that (director) Trivikram sir helped me explore such an amazing opportunity. Needless to say, work-ing with the man of the

masses, Jr. NTR was great, we had a great blend of energies and

that resulted in won-derful chemistry on-screen," she added.The

film is about a young man whose life changes after

engaging in a violent fight with henchmen from the rival village. The film will air on the small screen on Zee Cinema on November 21.Pooja will next be seen opposite Telugu superstar Prabhas in the upcom-ing fi lm "Radhe Shyam".

Pooja Hegde: 'Aravinda Sametha' will always be a special film for me

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESGreater Hyderabad

23 Monday, noveMber, 2020 Pages-8

KCR promises all help to Telugu film industry

The SouTh IndIa TImeS Bureau

Hyderabad, Nov 22 : Telan-gana Chief Minister K. Chan-drasekhar Rao on Sunday as-sured the Telugu film industry that the state government will take all the measures need-ed to protect and support it in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. He promised con-cessions and exemptions to support the film industry and the workers as they suffered losses due to stoppage of film shootings and closure of the theatres due to the pandemic.

The Chief Minister said what the government intends to do to help the industry will be included in the manifesto of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

He gave the assurance when a delegation of film person-

alities called on him at his official residence ‘Pragathi Bhavan’ here on Sunday. They explained to the CM the losses incurred by the industry due to the pandemic and urged him to extend support.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, positive-ly responded to their request. “The state government has taken several measures to attract industries into the state. In such a case will the government keep quiet when an existing industry is in trouble? Hyderabad is the centre of a very large film in-dustry like in Chennai. Lakhs of people get employment in the industry and they are dependent on it. Covid has caused damage to the film industry as it did to other sectors. The responsibility to save and protect the film in-

dustry is everyone’s respon-sibility,” he said. “Both the government and film per-sonalities should make joint attempts at this. On behalf of the government, we will take all the necessary measures, We will include in the TRS GHMC poll manifesto about the measures we will take for the benefit of the film indus-try,” the CM assured.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Telugu Film Cham-ber President Narayan Das Narang, secretary K.L. Damodar Prasad, Producers’ Council President C. Kalyan, distributor Sudhakar Reddy, producer Niranjan Reddy and others participated in the meeting. It was decided that shortly a meeting would be held at actor Chiranjeevi’s house to discuss the matter threadbare.

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (UNI) In a boost to the BJP’s campaign for the Greater Hyderabad Mu-nicipal Corporation (GHMC) elections, Union Minister for Environment and Forest, Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar released the par-ty’s ‘charge sheet’ against Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government.

“Aarop Patra” as the document is named, lists 60 failures of the state gov-ernment during the last six years and the plight of Greater Hyderabad un-der the Telangana Rash-tra Samithi (TRS). It also mentions the unfulfilled promises made by the rul-ing party in the previous elections.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Javadekar exuded confidence that the BJP will repeat Dubbak in GHMC elections. He was referring to the party’s victory in the recent by-election to the Dubbaka Assembly seat.

“BJP is going to repeat in Hyderabad what happened

in the Dubbak bypoll,”he said. The Central minister also slammed the TRS for colluding with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Musli-meen (AIMIM).

“People have to decide whether they want a may-or of BJP or AIMIM. Voting for the Congress and the TRS means voting for the AIMIM and voting for the AIMIM means voting for division, “ he said.

He claimed that the peo-ple of Hyderabad have de-cided to have a BJP leader as the city mayor. The elec-tions to the 150-member GHMC are scheduled on December 1. He alleged that both Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and AIMIM president Asa-duddin Owaisi are trying to perpetuate the ‘family rule’.

“The assets of KCR and his friends are increasing, but the assets of the people of Telangana are decreas-ing,” he said. Stating that the BJP also played a key role in the formation of Telangana state, he said

the statehood was not achieved for family rule.

He also remarked that the TRS promised to devel-op Hyderabad as a global city, but made it a ‘flood city’. Stating the city was in flood water for 15 days, he alleged that the TRS government failed to even provide a proper drain-age system in the city. He also alleged that half of the flood relief money went into the pockets of the TRS leaders. Javadekar wanted to know what happened to the TRS’ promises of one lakh jobs and two lakh double bed-room houses. “They promised two lakh houses but did not build even a thousand houses. The Narendra Modi gov-ernment has built two-and-a-half crore houses,” he said. Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, BJP’s Telangana unit president Bandi San-jay Kumar, party’s national vice president D.K. Aruna, BJP OBC Morcha president K. Laxman and other lead-ers were present.

Hyd municipal polls: Javadekar gives boost to BJP campaign

Hyderabad, Nov.22 (UNI): The voters of Malkajgiri assembly con-stituency today cornered their MLA Mynampally Hanmantha Rao and demanded him to build roads for them immediately. They held a massive rally for two kilo meters with placards containing slogans like ‘NO Roads; No votes. Shocked

at the sudden protest program, Rao tried to convince the voters to with-draw their agitation and promised to fulfill their demands. However, the voters did not budge and de-manded a written promise from the MLA. Left with a no option, the MLA has made a written promise on his letter head stating that he would

build the roads with is own money and handed over to the voters after signing on it. However, the voters told the MLA that they did not the money of the MLA and asked him to build the roads by spending money from GHMC funds. The MLA agreed to do so prompting the voters to withdraw their agitation.

Malkajgiri voters corner TRS MLA Mynampally

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 223 Monday, noveMber, 2020

Top Bureaucrat Going Eco Friendly Way for his marriage VC Sajjanar CP Cyberabad appreciate’sSharilingampy corespondent

November 22 In what could be called education combined with innovation, Shashikant Korravath an Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) Officer of 2018 batch, a native of Shad-nagar Telangana came up with an Eco friendly wedding card for his personal marriage. He invited VC Sajjanar, IPS for his wedding which is scheduled to take place on November 28th in Shadnagar near Hyder-abad. He explained about his Eco Friendly Marriage Card. He stated the most interesting aspect about the card is that it’s a plantable seed card. It has to be torn in to pieces and sow them to grow in to plants. The card grows in to 3 varieties of flower plants. The envelope grows in to 3 different vegetable plants. Further explaining the concept Shashikanth said, “Pa-

pers when disposed cause pol-lution and also the depletion of green cover from earth, so, it is high time now that we embark on Eco friendly way of living.” He believed in Gandhiji’s idea of ‘’ You must be the Change you want to see in the world’’. Marriage being a new begin-ning of life, he wanted to en-sure it as a Green Beginning. The couple is planning to get married in a eco friendly man-ner with minimal use of plastic. Commissioner Of Police, Cyber-abad VC Sajjanar, IPS amazed by the initiative appreciated the thought process of the young bu-reaucrat. He stated by this Initia-tive Shashikanth has become a role model to all bureaucrat’s & also an inspiration to all.He also appealed the others to follow Eco Friendly methods for everything they do to reduce pollution in the environ-ment & safeguard the earth.

Scouts and Guides Organisation members serve devotees at Alampur

The SouTh IndIa TImeS Bureau

Gadwal (Alampur), November 22: The Scouts Guides Organi-zation (SGO) members are serv-ing at the Tungabhadra Push-karas at Alampur in Jogulamba Gadwal district as a part of the Pushkar service on the temple premises, at Pushkara Ghat and at the Montessori School. They are helping the police personnel, temple staff and people, said Telangana SGO Assistant Commissioner Raj Kumar, while speaking to the media here on Sunday. He said that the SGO members are tak-ing part in the service activi-ties at the Pushkaras as per the directions of the SGO national president Sandeep Marwah and national commissioner Raj KP Simha. “Our aim is to make good citizens by inculcating the service attitude and courage among the children from the student stage,” Raj Kumar said. Gadwal District SGO Commis-sioner Anil Kumar and Wa-naparthi District Commissioner Shiva Prasad are overseeing the duties as part of the service.

Sharilingam-pally corespon-dent November 22 chandhan-agar PS limits Missing woman petition from Smt. Allam-paka Lalitha W/o A Amar, age:45yrs, occ: GHMC Labour, R/o Room No. 22, Block No. 11, Papireddy Colony, Chan-danagar, Seril-ingampally, ln which she stated that complainant having progeny three daughters and one son. Six years ago her second daughter A. Bhagya’s mar-riage performed with one person namely A Raju and they having progeny one daughter and one son. All are staying together at Papireddy Colony. On 17.11.2020 at about 0600 hours A. Bhagya dis-appeared from the house. She didn’t return to home since far. Complainant’s daughter gave a petition in Chandanagar PS mentioning her hus-band harassing her. In the presence of elders that matter was compromised and promised not to meet each other. She along with her family mem-bers searched for her daughter at the relatives and known person’s houses, but could not trace her. Missing woman husband informed to complain-ant, that the missing woman used to move one man freely and she usually busy with phone, she may felt in love with him and they are suspecting that she eloped with him. Hence she requested to take necessary action.

KARTHIKA VANA-BHOJANAM HELD

AT TIRUMALATirumala, Nov.22 (UNI): The

annual Karthika Vanabhojanam programme held in the lush green woods at Paruveta Manda-pam in Tirumala on Sunday with religious fervor. Earlier the ut-sava murthies of Sri Malayappa along with Sridevi and Bhudevi were brought to the manda-pam in a colourful procession and snapana tirumanjanam was performed amidst the rhythmic chanting of Purusha, Narayana, Sri, Bhu, and Neela Sooktams by Vedic pundits. Later the artists of Annamacharya Project present-ed some melodious sankeertans followed by the instrumental rendition of some more kritis while Harikatha Parayanam on Garudadri Vaibhavam was an added attraction to the event. Speaking on this occasion, the Additional EO AV Dharma Reddy said, usually tens of thousands of devotees converge in the green woods for this most important community dining program.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 323 Monday, noveMber, 2020

Former BJP MLA NVSS Prabhakar’s Door to Door campaign in support of Chilkanagar Division BJP

TSIT BUREAU On Sunday Former BJP MLA NVSS Prabhakar done Door to Door campaign in support of Chilkanagar Division BJP corporator candidate Gone Shailaja Srikanth mudiraj , speaking on the occasion EX MLA NVSS PRABHAKAR Said during his tenure lot of de-velopment works had done in chilkanagar division, in-cluding laying of CC roads, and underground drainage construction of parks and community halls, Nvss asked voters to caste their vote to BJP Corporate GONE SAI-LAJA SRIKANTH and give her bumper victory. In this campaign BJP senior lead-ers Gonguluri Vijayalakshmi,

Devasani Balachander, Gon-guluri Srinivas Sharma, Gone Anjayya Mudiraj, Suman Sharma, Pitla Ramchander, Palvancha Vithal, Tammala Ramesh, Sanghi Swamy Ya-dav, Hari Prasad Gupta, Tiru-pati Satyanarayana, women

president Venkateshwari and BC Morcha members were present on the occasion. Pradeep Kumar, Dalit Mor-cha president Dasari Yadagiri, Tota Sammayya BJP, leaders and a large number of women were participated.

TSIT BUREAU In the wake of GHMC elections, Hab-siguda BJP Corporator candidate CHET-HANA HARISH conducted door-to-door campaign on Sunday in several colonies of habsiguda division. Appealing to the voters, she said that development would only be possible with the BJP party , She

requested voters to exercise their Votes in her favour. CHETHANA HARISH was ac-companied by BJP leaders Kailashpathi goud, Venkanna Somasekhar, Srinivasa-chari ,Ragi Lata Venkatereddy, sumanrao , praveen yellachary ,sanjay patel ,ravindar reddy Venkatesh gupta, Raghupati reddy and others.

CHETHANA HARISH starts door to door campaign at Habsiguda Division.

TSIT BUREAU Kutch Chief Minister KCR led by Municipal Minister KTR with the co-operation of the develop-ment and welfare of the Kutch constituency, 126 Jagadgirigutta Division senior Congress lead-ers Laxman and Naveen with about 200 activists, senior CPI leader Venkat Swamy with 100 minis-ters in Rajiv Grihakal-pa Mallareddy, MLC Shambhipur Raju, Divi-sion Election In-Charge MLC Paddy Sudarshan Reddy, joined the TRS party in the presence of MLC KP Vivekanand. The minister, who was invited to the party wear-ing a scarf, said the TRS was looking towards the entire state of Telangana

with TRS government welfare schemes and development programs, adding that it was a mat-ter of pride that many states were taking as an ideal the many welfare schemes introduced by the poor Chief Minis-ter KCR. State executive

president and municipal minister KTR said the party would be strength-ened at the field level with special attention. Those who joined the party with confidence were assured that the supremacy would be up-held in all respects.

Attracted for development, 300 people from Congress and CPI join TRS.

COLLECTOR LAUDS ROTARY CLUB SERVICES

The SouTh IndIa TImeS Bureau

Nizamabad, November 22 ; “Service to the people is a service to God,” said Dis-trict Collector C.Narayana Reddy. Participating as the chief guest at a programme organized by the Rotary Club here on Sunday, Dis-trict Collector C.Narayana Reddy appreciated the ser-vices rendered by the Rotary

Club. Describing the service of providing artificial legs as a divine act, the District Col-lector said that man would overcome difficulties in life only when he would con-front them with confidence. “Rotary Club is instilling in them confidence in the form of donating artificial legs,” he added. He further wished Rotary Club should go ahead

with many more such social service activities making the lives of many meaningful. About 150 people were given artificial limbs on the occa-sion, according to President of the Rotary Club Darshan Singh Sokhi. Rotary Club Secretary Babu Rao, Chair-man Srinivasa Rao, Adv Ra-jkumar Subedar and others were present.

Ministers start Thungabhadra

PushkaraluHyderabad, Nov.20 (UNI): Ministers Indra-karan Reddy, Niranjan Reddy and Srinivas Goud today started Thungabhadra Push-karalu at Jogulamba Gadwal district here.The three ministers have taken a holy dip at the pushkar ghats near the temple. They

offered special pujas to mark the occasion amid chanting of vedic hymns by priests and pujaris. The festival of Thungabhadra Push-karalu will be continued till December 1.The officials have made all required arrange-ments for the same amid corona pandemic following protocols. Security, facilities are made available at the pushkar ghats and the temples nearby. The ministers asked devo-tees to participate in the pushkar even by following Corona protocols. They instructed the officials to provide hassle free facilities and to take bathing and darshan of the deity.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 423 Monday, noveMber, 2020

GovT. ChIef WhIp and WaranGal WeST mla daSyam vInay BhaSkar performInG SpeCIal puja WITh hIS famIly memBerS aT hISTorICa BhadrakalI Temple In Waran-

Gal on Sunday on The oCCaSIon of hIS BIrThday.

Hyderabad, Nov.22 (UNI): The Chief Minis-ter of the state K Chan-drashekhar Rao today has instructed the officials concerned to start the process of registration of non-agriculture proper-ties once the Stay order is vacated by Telangana High Court. He said the government was abso-lutely ready to start the process.

He also said that the government had already given explanation on the issues raised by the apex court of the state. ‘Since the case comes up for hearing on November 23 (tomorrow), the state administration should be ready to start the regis-tration process from No-vember 25,” the CM said.

The officials have al-ready fixed the price of properties in Villages,

towns and urban areas in the State and nobody has any discretionary powers to change them. It may be noted here that the state government had earlier decided to launch the registration process of the non-agriculture properties from Novem-ber 23 of this month. The

CM KCR had even asked the chief secretary of the state Somesh Kumar to formally launch the registration process. Ar-rangements have been made by the authorities concerned to launch the registration services from Chikkadapally Sub Regis-trar Office.

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (UNI) A con-man, who impersonated as an Army Major to dupe 17 prospective brides to the tune of Rs 6.61 crore, was run-ning an organised racket by convert-ing a rented room in Hyderabad as an ‘Army office’. In addition to dress-ing as an Army officer, he had decked

up the room in such a manner that the brides and their family members never had any doubt about his cre-dentials during video conferences he used to have with them from the ‘office’. After having a free run for six years during which he cheated 17 prospective brides, he was finally

caught on Saturday when he was trying to dupe another woman. The police investigations revealed that Srinivas Chowhan, whose real name is Mudavath Srinu Naik, had used the money to buy a duplex house in Hyderabad and three cars, including a Mercedes Benz.

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (UNI) Renowned surgeon Profes-sor Dr. P.V. Chalapathi Rao passed away on Sunday at the age of 92 A doyen in the field of surgery from the Telugu states, he was con-ferred the prestigious Dr. B. C. Roy National Award in 1995 for his yeomen con-tribution towards improv-ing surgical education in the country. Born in 1928, he was one of the most re-nowned and distinguished surgeons in India.

Fondly referred to as ‘Dr PVC Rao, he was the first surgeon from Telugu States to be elected President of the Association of Surgeons of India (ASI) in 1994.

His son, Dr. P. Raghu Ram, a distinguished surgeon and Padma Shri awardee, is the current President ASI for 2020. In 2009, Dr. Rao

achieved the unique dis-tinction to become the first and the only surgeon from Telugu States to have been conferred Fellowship Ad hominum, the highest rec-ognition bestowed by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, which is the oldest Surgical College in the world for his outstanding contribution towards im-proving the art & science of

surgery in India for well over five decades.He was one of the youngest professors of surgery appointed during Government service at the age of 38 years. He worked as Professor of Surgery in Government of the undi-vided Andhra Pradesh for well over 15 years He retired from Government service in 1983 after having served as Head of Department of Surgery at Osmania Medical College. He later worked as Chief Surgeon in Abha (Sau-di Arabia) for six years and as Chairman of the Durgabhai Deshmukh Hospital for well over a decade (1991 - 2002). He later served as a Direc-tor of Medical Education at KIMS Hospitals since its in-ception since 2004.A philan-thropist par excellence, all through his life Dr Rao along gave back to the society.

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (UNI) Telangana logged 873 new Covid-19 cases during the last 24 hours, pushing the state’s tally to 2,63,526 while the cumula-tive number of recoveries crossed 2.50 lakh, health officials said on Sunday.

Four more persons suc-cumbed to the virus taking the death toll to 1,430.

The fatality rate remains at 0.54 per cent against the national average of 1.5 per cent. According to the director of public health and family welfare, 44.96 per cent of the deaths were due to Covid while the re-maining 55.04 were on ac-count of comorbidities.

Greater Hyderabad con-tinues to report a daily count of less than 200 positive cases. During the last 24 hours ending

8 p.m. Saturday, the state capital added 152 new cases. Medchal Malkaj-giri reported the second highest number at 78 fol-lowed by Rangareddy (71), Warangal Urban (56) and Bhadradri Kothagudem (54). Health officials said 1,296 people recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours, taking the

cumulative number of re-coveries to 2,50,453. The recovery rate stands at 94.03 per cent against the national average of 93.7 per cent. According to the daily media bulletin re-leased by the office of the director of public health and family welfare, the to-tal number of active cases stands at 11,643.

Renowned surgeon Dr Chalapathi Rao passes away

Launch the non-agriculture properties registration from

November 25:CM KCR

Fake army major dupes 17 prospective brides of Rs 6.61 cr

Telangana’s Covid recoveries cross 2.50 lakh-mark

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 523 Monday, noveMber, 2020

‘Love jihad’ laws attempt to divert public attention: Owaisi

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (UNI) AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday that the laws planned to be brought by BJP-ruled states to check the so-called ‘love jihad’ are an attempt by the BJP to divert people’s attention from real issues faced by the country. He alleged that unable to solve the problem of growing unemployment, arrest joblessness and economic cri-sis due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the BJP was resorting to theatrics. The Hyderabad MP told reporters that such laws would be a violation of Ar-ticle 14 and Article 21 of the Consti-tution of India. “They (the BJP-ruled state) should read the Constitution. They are going far ahead in their ha-tred. This won’t work,” said Owaisi.

The MP pointed out that choice is a fundamental right under Article 21 and as ruled by the Supreme Court. He wanted to know if the government would repeal the Special Marriages Act.“Crores of people have lost jobs due to coronavirus. The government can’t give jobs. The GDP has become zero and the government is unable to do anything about it. The country requires jobs. Migrant labourers are facing severe hardships, the economy is down and children are slipping into child labour, but to divert issues from all this, they are resorting to drama-bazi,” he said. Owaisi reiterated that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)

Act is a draconian Act and both the Congress and the BJP are responsible for it. Noting that no country in the world has a law which provides for detention for 120 days, he alleged that such draconian laws are made to target minorities, Dalits, tribals and those who are against the govern-ment. There is empirical evidence that in 70 per cent of the cases, the accused are exonerated but only af-ter they had languished in jail for 5-6 years, he said.

On reports that the government plans to go for de-radicalisation, Owaisi wanted to know if this will be only for one community or all. He wanted that the BJP to clarify if two MPs calling Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse a great patriot is not radicalisation. He said the BJP MPs felicitated the killers of Akhlaq and Aleemuddin and the party linked coronavirus with Islam. Asked if AIMIM will join hands with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress to

contest ensuing elections in West Bengal, he said the party would take a decision on contesting the polls after deliberations with the state unit. “We are going to meet and after discussion arrive at a considered decision and let you know,” he said. Owaisi was con-fident that the AIMIM will do well in the December 1 election to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). He clarified that it has no alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. “AIMIM is the only party in Telangana which works round the year. Its style of functioning is differ-ent from other parties. All these par-ties become active only at the time of elections but we work among people throughout the year,” he said.

The MP pointed out that in many wards, AIMIM candidates are pitted against that of the TRS. He said the TRS, the Congress and the BJP all were targeting his party. On the BJP calling GHMC polls a fight between patriots and traitors, Owaisi said this was an old habit of the BJP.“If you wake up a BJP leader at night and ask him to give some names, he will first say Owaisi, then traitor, terror-ism and Pakistan.” He said since the BJP government had done nothing for Telangana and flood-affected Hy-derabad, it is trying to give communal colour to the elections. “I don’t know if they will take B party”, Owaisi.

Hyderabad, Nov.22 (UNI): For-mer Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir has accused TRS Working President & Municipal Adminis-tration Minister K. Tarakarama Rao of misleading the people by making false claims on the devel-opment of Hyderabad, especially on Hyderabad Metro Rail Project.

Speaking to media persons on Sunday, Shabbir Ali said that the foundation stone for HMRL was laid in October 2005 when he was Hyderabad District Incharge Minister in Dr. Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy’s cabinet. “KTR has made a false claim in the Hyderabad Development Report, which he released in Telangana Bhavan on November 20, saying that the TRS Govt has spent Rs. 17,290.31 Crore on the project. This claim is not only false but insane and totally misleading. The State Gov-ernment holds only 10% stake in the project and it has no financial

commitment. Its only job is to pro-cure land for the Metro Stations and track. Since the beginning of the project in 2005, the State Gov-ernment has spent about Rs. 2,700 crore. The Central Government was to bear 10% of the project cost and as against the revised project cost of Rs. 18,800 crore, the Centre has only paid Rs. 1200 Crore and the remaining Rs. 600 crore are yet to be released,” he said.

Shabbir said that the original estimated cost of the project was Rs. 14,500 Crore and it was revised to Rs. 18,800 Crore in November 2017. He said that the delay caused due to objections raised by the TRS Government on route align-ment has escalated the project cost by over Rs. 3,000 crore. “The contribution of TRS Govt in Metro Rail Project is nil. However, KTR is shamelessly making false claims to mislead the voters,” he said. He challenged KTR for an open debate

on Hyderabad Metro Rail Project and offered to quit politics if KTR proves that the TRS Govt has spent Rs. 17,290 Crore on the project.Ali also ridiculed KTR’s claim on TRS Government’s contribution in bringing Krishna and Godavari River water supply to Hyderabad. He pointed out that the Godavari Drinking Water Supply Project was started in December 2008 at a cost of Rs. 3,375 crore to bring

10 TMC of water to Hyderabad and its peripheral areas. Similarly, the Krishna Water Supply Project was conceptualised during Dr. M. Chenna Reddy’s regime and the foundation stone was laid by the then CM Kotla Vijayabhas-kar Reddy in 1994. It was target-ted to bring 16.5 TMC of water to Hyderabad from Nagarjunasagar in three phases of 90 MGD or 5.5 TMC in each phase. Phase I was completed in 2004; Phase II was completed in 2008 and the founda-tion stone for Phase III was laid on June 1, 2013. I was the Hyderabad District Incharge Minister when Phase II and Phase III were initiat-ed. Therefore, there is no question of any contribution of TRS Govt in resolving drinking water crisis of Hyderabad,” he said. Speaking about Basti Dawakhanas, Shab-bir Ali said that the concept was borrowed from some other State and poorly executed. “Existing

Primary Health Centres in Hyder-abad were completely ignored. Most of the Basti Dawakhanas don’t have staff, medicines, equip-ment and other facilities. Why the conditions in Osmania, Gandhi and other government hospitals were not improved? What hap-pened to the promised funds of Rs. 100 Crore for Osmania and Gandhi Hospitals? Where are the multi-specialty hospitals prom-ised by the TRS Govt?” he asked. He said that the entire Health Sec-tor remained neglected under the TRS regime and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao did not visit any of the hospitals despite nearly 1500 people losing their lives due to Coronavirus and nearly 2.5 lakh people getting infected with the disease. As a cover-up, a fake Co-vid hospital (TIMS), with just beds and no medical facilities or staff, was created at Gachibowli to cheat the people.

KTR’s claim on Metro Rail spending is a blatant lie: Congress

Hyderabad, Nov.22 (UNI): Union Minister of State for Home affairs G. Kishan Reddy today said that the BJP would work with all sections of society if it came to power in the up-coming local body elections. He made it clear that the party had an inevitable bond with Hyder-abad city. He claimed that the party ‘s election campaign was receiving great response from the people of the corporation.

Speaking to media persons in the city, Kishan Reddy lashed out at ruling TRS party and its lead-ers. He alleged that the ruling party had failed to fulfill its poll promises made during the 2016 GHMC elections. He said that the poll promise of the TRS party to build double bed room houses

to all the homeless poor families of the state capital was not ful-filled even after five years of rul-ing the GHMC. He claimed that the ruling party had not given a single house in any of the as-sembly constituency of the cor-poration. He said that the ruling party leaders who had promise to make the city into an Istanbul city, managed to transform it into a flood hit city.

He said that the promises of the chief minister of the state KCR to beautify Musi river and Hussain Sagar lake had not been fulfilled so far while not-ing that the Musi river continues to be encroached upon by land sharks. . Rebutting the claims of Hyderabad Metro Rail, Kishan Reddy made it clear that the project was not the achievement of the TRS party. He alleged that the ruling party leaders had oc-cupied all the hoardings in the city and were carrying out the campaign for their party and added that the ruling party lead-ers were not allowing other po-litical parties to carry out their publicity campaign. Referring to CM KCR’s family and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi’s family , He made it clear that the Telangana state was not formed only to be ruled by two families of the state.

We will work with all sections of Hyderabad: Kishan Reddy

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 623 Monday, noveMber, 2020

BJP govt failed to help flood victims :

Srinivas GoudHyderabad, Nov.22 (UNI): Minister T Srinivas Yadav today said that Rs 67,000 cr were spent for development of the city af-ter TRS Government came to power. The minister accused the opposition BJP and the Congress of creating communal hatred and confusion for GHMC polls. The peo-ple are aware of development being done by the ruling party he, said. He conducted a house to house campaign at Bansilalpet for TRS candidate Hemalatha along with local leaders Chinnaiah and others. Srini-vas Yadav has asked the BJP to stop hatred and emotions among people for the civic body polls. Like never before the govern-ment and minister KTR gave Rs 800 cr for Santh Nagar segment. Flyovers, bypasses, roads, parks and development programs are on under KCR government he said. The BJP government has offered nothing for the city development during floods he charged. The TRS will win majority seats and retain Mayor seat he expressed con-fidence. Despite false and communal ha-tred campaign by the BJP the city people are to support the TRS in the polls he add-ed. The minister asked as to why they come to seeking votes when they do not bring funds and help develop the city. The KCR government offered 85 seats to women more than 50 percent of 150 GHMC divi-sions. The people should give votes to the TRS candidates for continuous growth and more development he said.

KARTHIKA VANAB-HOJANAM HELD AT

TIRUMALATirumala, Nov.22 (UNI): The annual Karthika Vanabhojanam programme held in the lush green woods at Paruveta Manda-pam in Tirumala on Sunday with religious fervor. Earlier the utsava murthies of Sri Malayappa along with Sridevi and Bhudevi were brought to the mandapam in a colour-ful procession and snapana tirumanjanam was performed amidst the rhythmic chant-ing of Purusha, Narayana, Sri, Bhu, and Neela Sooktams by Vedic pundits. Later the artists of Annamacharya Project presented some melodious sankeertans followed by the instrumental rendition of some more kritis while Harikatha Parayanam on Garu-dadri Vaibhavam was an added attraction to the event. Speaking on this occasion, the Additional EO AV Dharma Reddy said, usu-ally tens of thousands of devotees converge in the green woods for this most important community dining program. But due to Co-vid restrictions, we have limited this num-ber to just a couple of hundreds.

Jayesh Ranjan flags off the first-ever walk, jog and run for 5kms for Corona

Hyderabad, Nov.22 (UNI): Corona has not gone. There is a surge of new cases. The whole world is talking about ‘Second Wave”. Media reports indi-cate that Delhi has witnessed a sharp surge in patients requir-ing hospitalization and critical care. The second wave is prov-ing so far to be more danger-ous. I learnt from the reports from Delhi that 30% of the new cases are going straight to ICUs(Intensive Care Units). We don’t know if that surge is part of the ‘second wave’. Whatever it maybe we need to be caution and more alert than ever before. Protect yourself and your near and dear said Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, IT, Govern-ment of Telangana while ad-dressing a gathering of 250 run-ners gathered for a 5kms walk,

jog and run organised by Hetch Foundation on Sunday morn-ing on ISB Road, Gachibowli Financial District.

The top bureaucrat was the Chief Guest at the event orga-nized by Hetch Foundation. He flagged it off on Sunday morn-ing. The objective of it was to create awareness about Corona, the importance of wearing a face mask and maintaining a safe physical distance.

Talking to the gathering Jayesh Ranjan said the event was the need of the hour as people have remained indoors for so long time. And this was an event to extend solidarity to those who are distressed staying indoors. It shows that you care for them. A run emphasizing on the importance of Mask and Physical Distance is very impor-

tant he said.Further, I am happy to note

that through this event, the or-ganizers, Hetch Foundation are supporting Grace Children Home financially, Jayesh said. He presented Carona Personal Care products and toiletries to the few girls from the Grace Children Home.

The 5kms Walk, Jog and Run was organised by Hetch Foun-dation in partnership with Care Hospitals Gachibowli, Fitness Gurukul and GSR Constructions

Dipali Mehta, CEO of Hetch Foundation and Syed Fazal Ali from GSR Constructions, sever-al fitness freaks, trainers, staff of Care Gachibowli, Fitness Guru-kul, IT Professionals, Financial Professionals from many finan-cial institutions in Gachibowli have participated in the event.

Dr. Rajetha Danisetty, Der-matologist and Medical Direc-tor of Oliva Chain of Clinics, she herself a runner said it was nice to be amongst the commu-nity of runners. This gives hope. Physical fitness goes a long way in checking depression away.

Gayatri Mehta was happy to get out of home finally and to be able to meet friends and spend some time outdoors. Staying indoors for so long was suffo-cating she added. She has also invited some friends to join in the event.

Dr Pradeep, CEO of an IT Company participating along with his wife Puja said, people are more conscious about their fitness because of the COVID. This was his first attempt to par-ticipate in any event after the COVID.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (UNI) Wid-ening its reach, Jnanpith Award winner Amitav Ghosh’s master-ful novel, “Gun Island”, which seamlessly brings together a man’s self-discovery, the fading folklore of the Sundarbans and the most pressing malaises of our times will now be available in its Hindi, Marathi and Malay-alam translations, enabling writ-ers to cross the linguistic barriers they were born into.

“It is a matter of the great-est pleasure and pride for me that ‘Gun Island’ is appearing in Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam. India is a richly multilingual country, where every language, including English, has absorbed a wide range of influences. Translations therefore play a very important role in Indian lit-erary life,” Ghosh said.

“Through translations it some-times happens that a writer can cross linguistic boundaries and become a homegrown writer in literary cultures other than those that they were born into. I was living in Kerala in 1983, when I started writing my first novel.

“I was delighted to discover

then that many Keralans thought of Sarat Chandra as a writer who had written in Malayalam. I have since discovered that this is true also of many people who read Saratbabu in Hindi and Marathi. This is, I think, the greatest trib-ute that can be paid to a writer,” he added. He also thanked the translators, Maneesha Taneja, Ashlesha Gore and K. T. Rad-hakrishnan “for the painstaking work they have put in”, saying the translations “are all of the highest quality”.

“Adeptly connecting a for-gotten folktale of Bengal with present-day events whose rever-berations can be felt across con-tinents, this riveting tale is sure

to appeal to a wide spectrum of readers, no matter which lan-guage they read it in,” Minakshi Thakur, Publisher, Eka, an im-print of Westland Publications, said. “Bundook” or Gun is a com-mon word, but one which turns Deen Datta’s world upside down. A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs be-gin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way.

There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in

motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen’s eyes to the realities of growing up in today’s world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help some-one in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the miss-ing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey which will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood and about the world around him.

“Gun Island” is a beautifully realised novel which effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women. Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956. He grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. He studied at the universities of Delhi and Oxford and published the first of eight novels, “The Circle of Reason”, in 1986. The first novel in his Ibis trilogy, “Sea of Pop-pies”, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Gun Island’ now in Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 723 Monday, noveMber, 2020

London, Nov 21 (UNI) Re-searchers have found that obese patients over the age of 60 can lose an equivalent amount of weight as younger people using only lifestyle changes.

The findings, published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology, will help to correct prevailing societal misconceptions about the effectiveness of weight loss programmes in older people, as well dispel myths about the po-tential benefits of older people trying to reduce their weight.

“Weight loss is important at any age, but as we get older, we’re more likely to develop the weight-related co-mor-bidities of obesity,” said study lead author Thomas Barber from the University of War-wick in the UK.

“Many of these are similar to the effects of aging, so you could argue that the relevance of weight loss becomes height-ened as we get older, and this is something that we should embrace,” Barber added. The researchers randomly selected 242 patients who attended the WISDEM-based obesity service between 2005 and 2016 and compared two groups (those

aged under 60 years and those aged between 60 and 78 years) for the weight loss that they

achieved during their time within the service. All patients had their body weight mea-

sured both before and after lifestyle interventions admin-istered and coordinated within

the WISDEM-based obesity ser-vice, and the percentage reduc-tion in body weight calculated across both groups.

When compared, the two groups were equivalent statisti-cally, with those aged 60 years and over on average reducing their body weight by 7.3 per cent compared with a body-weight reduction of 6.9 per cent in those aged under 60 years.

Both groups spent a simi-lar amount of time within the obesity service, on average 33.6 months for those 60 years and over, and 41.5 months for those younger than 60 years.

The hospital-based pro-gramme used only lifestyle-based changes tailored to each individual patient, focusing on dietary changes, psychological support and encouragement of physical activity. Older people may feel that hospital-based obesity services are not for them. “Service providers and policymakers should appreci-ate the importance of weight loss in older people with obe-sity, for the maintenance of health and wellbeing, and the facilitation of healthy ageing,” the study authors wrote.

As policy makers aim to plant more trees to increase shade on warming city streets globally, Google has launched Tree Canopy Lab that combines Artificial Intel-ligence (AI) and aerial imagery.

The platform will help cities see their current tree canopy cover-age and plan future tree planting projects, starting with Los Ange-les. “Trees are increasingly seen as a solution to both lowering street-level temperatures while improv-ing quality of life. Yet many cit-ies may not have the budget or resources to locate where every tree in town is, or where new tree-planting efforts are most needed,” Google said in a statement.

“With the Tree Canopy Lab, you can see Los Angeles’s trees with local context, like what per-centage of a neighbourhood has

leafy cover, an area’s population density, what areas are vulner-able to extreme heat, and which neighbourhood councils can help get new roots in the ground,” the

company informed.Tree Canopy lab is part of the

Environmental Insights Explorer platform, a tool that makes it easier for cities to measure, plan

and reduce carbon emissions and pollution. “With aerial imagery collected from planes during the spring, summer and fall seasons, as well as Google AI and Google

Earth Engine’s data analysis ca-pabilities, we can now pinpoint all the trees in a city and measure their density,” Google said.

Google uses a specialized tree-detection AI that automatically scans the images, detects the presence of trees and then pro-duces a map that shows the den-sity of tree cover, also known as “tree canopy.” The lab can help anyone identify residential blocks with high tree planting potential and locate sidewalks that are vul-nerable to higher temperatures due to low canopy coverage.

“With Tree Canopy Lab we’ve found that more than 50 per cent of Angelenos live in areas with less than 10 per cent tree canopy coverage and 44 per cent of An-gelenos live in areas with extreme heat risk,” Google said.

Study reveals why age is no barrier to successful weight loss

Google launches AI platform to help cities plant more trees

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 823 Monday, noveMber, 2020

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (UNI) Telangana’s Industry and Infor-mation Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Sunday said that attempts to disturb the commu-nal harmony of Hyderabad for an election is a cardinal sin. Rama Rao made the comments amid the ongoing war of words between his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the run-up to December 1 elec-tions for Greater Hyderabad Mu-nicipal Corporation.

The TRS Working President shared his thoughts on Hyder-abad’s global image, inclusive growth, IT ecosystem and future plans for the city with Bharani Aroll, President, Hyderabad Soft-ware Enterprises Association (HYSEA), at Brand Hyderabad Future Ready session. “Elections will come and go but what culture we are promoting is important. Trying to disturb the communal harmony of Hyderabad for an election is a cardinal sin. To stall the growth trajectory of the city is idiocy,” he said.

KTR, as the minister is popular-ly known, said that the TRS gov-ernment treats everyone equally. Noting great cities are built with great governance, he said that de-livering promises without any dis-

crimination helped Hyderabad to remain as an investment magnet.

He stated that Telangana is In-dia’s most successful startup state. We fought hard for the state and have delivered on many counts,

he said. “Hyderabad continues to attract people from across the world. Blessed with some natu-ral advantages to it, the city just needs a progressive government as the enabler.” He highlighted

that top five most valued compa-nies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft have made Hyderabad their second home. “The government has been an en-abler and facilitator. Also, credit to the young talent pool available here,” he said. KTR stated that other than IT and life sciences in which Telangana will continue to be leader, “we are excited and looking forward to the electronics, E-vehicles, textiles and logistics sector in the next decade”.

Talking about various de-velopment works in Hyder-abad, KTR said with Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP), link roads, Compre-hensive Road Management Pro-gramme, city’s road infra has been improving. Referring to the last month’s floods, he said the city’s sewerage system couldn’t handle the cloudburst, which was the highest since 1916. He promised that with Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP), such a situation won’t occur in Hyderabad again.

attempt to disturb hyderabad’s communal harmony a cardinal sin: kTr

Take steps to keep covid 19 second wave at bay in Telangana, CM KCR asks officials

Hyderabad, Nov.22 (UNI): The Chief Minister of the state K Chandrashekhar Rao has instructed the officials to take all the preventive mea-sures needed as the number of Covid-19 virus cases is on the increase in some states of the country. He said that all the required actions and measures should be taken to withstand even emergence of the second wave of the Covid virus in the State. He urged the people to be cautious and observe self-restraint guide-lines. “Maintaining personal safety is the best medicine for preventing the Covid-19 virus,” the CM said. Speaking on the occasion the CM said, “Situation is coming back to normalcy in the State. Covid cases are on the decrease in the Telangana State. Despite high increase in the number of tests conducted, the posi-tive cases are less than 10 per cent. The recovery rate is 94.5

per cent. Though people with Covid 19 virus are suffering a bit but, he mortality rate is very low. But yet the govern-ment is on high alert and tak-ing all the necessary precau-tions. All over the State, 10000 beds with Oxygen facility are kept ready. We can increase their number. As on date, the situation is very much under control.”The CM held a review

meeting on Covid 19 vrius in the state on Sunday at his camp office Pragathi Bhavan here. The Chief Secretary of the state Somesh Kumar, the Principal Secretary of Medical and Health department Alii Murtuza Rizvi, the Principal Secretary of CMO S Narsing Rao, Secretary Ms Smita Sab-harwal, Principal Secretary (Finance) Ramakrishna Rao.

Revanth Reddy demands explanation from union minister Prakash Javadekar

Hyderabad, Nov.22 (UNI): Congress party MP from Mal-kajgiri seat A. Revanth Reddy today demanded an expla-nation from union minister Prakash Javadekar on Srisail-am hydel power project ac-cident incident. He said that the pregnant women resid-ing in and around the power project were having abor-tions due to the impact of the pollution following the fire accident.

He said that the union minister had not taken any action on the issue although he submitted a personal rep-resentation to Javdekar and urged him to initiate action on the issue. He also said that the union minister had not taken any action on the issue of the construction of state secretariat by violating existing environmental laws. He said that the permission of union environment min-istry was mandatory to take

up any kind of construction in and around Hussain Sagar lake area. He said that the supreme court of India had also given clear orders to not build any kind of permanent constructions in and around the lake. He said that he had lodged a complaint with the Union Minister Prakash Ja-vadekar on the issue of the construction of the state secretariat complex and sub-

mitted all kinds of evidences. Reddy said that the union minister had not taken any action on the issue so far and added that the union minister was dodging the matter as he scared of being caught before the National Green Tribunal, which had asked the union environment ministry to file its counter in the issue while responding to a petition filed by the MP.