NATION pg 8DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2020

IAF aircraft takes off toChina with medical aid

Cabinet approvessurrogacy BillNew Delhi, Feb. 26: TheUnion Cabinet onWednesday approved theSurrogacy (Regulation)Bill, 2020, which allowsany “willing” woman tobe a surrogate motherand proposes that wid-ows and divorced womencan also benefit from itsprovisions, besides infer-tile Indian couples.

The bill incorporatesall recommendationsmade by a Rajya Sabhaselect committee, whichstudied an earlier ver-sion of the draft legisla-tion, and is aimed at ban-ning commercial surro-gacy and allowing altru-istic surrogacy, Unionminister PrakashJavadekar told reporters.

His cabinet colleagueSmriti Irani said the billproposes that onlyIndian couples, with bothpartners being of Indianorigins, can opt for surro-gacy in the country.

She asserted that Prime

Minister Narendra Modihas led from the frontwith a liberal view on theissues of reproductiverights of women, be itmedical termination ofpregnancy, the AssistedReproductive Techn-ology Regulation Bill orthe Surrogacy Bill.

The amended bill isreformed version of thedraft legislation whichwas passed by Lok Sabhain August 2019 but itsprovisions, includingthat only a close relativeof a couple can be a sur-rogate mother, had invit-ed criticism. The govern-ment then agreed to sendthe bill to a Rajya Sabhaselect committee, whichis headed by BJP MPBhupender Yadav, forholding wide consulta-tions with various stake-holders. The amendedbill is likely to be tabledin the second half of theBudget Session begin-ning next month. — PTI

DC CCORRESPONDENTTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,FEB. 26

Guruvayur Padma-nabhan, the celebrityelephant of Kerala, whocarried the “Thidambu”or idol of presidingdeity of Lord KrishnaGurvayur Temple, diedin Thrissur district onWednesday.

Officials of theGurvayur Devaswom,which control the tem-ple, said the 80 year oldelephant Padmanabhanwas undergoing treat-ment for past few weeksfollowing swelling on itsbody. The celebrity elep-hant of Kerala was alsoknown as“Gajaratnam.”

M.K. AASHOKA || DDCBENGALURU, FEB. 26

A transgender who isthe first child, shouldbe allowed to performthe final rites of his orher parents as othersdo, maintained JusticeH.L. Dattu, chairper-son of NationalHuman RightsCommission (NHRC).

He was addressing aconference on ‘HumanRights of LGBTQ:Challenges and WayForward’ organised byNHRC in collaborationwith National LawSchool of IndiaUniversity (NLSIU),Bengaluru.

Justice Dattu notedwith pain that as soonas parents come toknow that their child isa transgender, they are hesitant to evenintroduce them toguests. They forcethem into a corner andmake them find shelteroutside.

“The LGBTQ has suf-fered enough andmore. Let us say theyare also part of society,they are also kith andkin. It is possible only

after a change of mind-set,” he said.

Justice N Kumar,Professor, HumanRights Chair at NLSIUmaintained that it wasthe British whobrought in discrimina-tion of the transgendercommunity in India.

“Before the Britishcame they wererespected. With theadvent of the British,they were discriminat-ed. They introducedArticle 377,” he stated.

Transgenders mustbe aware of theirrights. Mere passing ofa law will not changethe minds of people, heelaborated.

Akai Padmashali, atransgender rightsactivist explained onthe sidelines that giv-ing an opportunity totransgenders to con-duct the funeral rites oftheir parents is a dis-tant dream.

DC CCORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, FEB. 26

Finally, after receiving thegreen signal from China,an “Indian Air Force (IAF)special flight carryingabout 15 tonnes of medicalassistance comprisingmasks, gloves and otheremergency medical equip-ment” left for theCoronoavirus-hit Wuhancity on Wednesday. The IAFaircraft will “also bringback Indian and foreignnationals, from some ofIndia’s neighbouring coun-tries who had sought assis-tance in travelling toIndia.”

This comes after Indiangovernment sources hadsaid that China was “delib-erately delaying grant of

clearance for the thirdevacuation flight” to evacu-ate Indian citizens fromWuhan. Beijing had thenswiftly denied the allega-tions.

“The IAF flight will alsobring back some Indianand foreign nationals fromsome of our neighbouringcountries who have soughtassistance in travelling toIndia in keeping withPrime Minister Modi’sneighbourhood first poli-cy,” the MEA said, in astatement.

“This assistance has beenprovided in the wake ofcoronavirus outbreak inChina and the request byChinese government toprovide supplies such asmasks and medical equip-ment,” the statement

added. Prime Minister Narendra

Modi had written toPresident Xi Jinping on 8February 2020 expressingsolidarity of the people ofIndia and the Indian gov-ernment with the peopleand government of China.Modi also offered assis-tance to China in this hourof need. The medical sup-plies will help augmentChina’s efforts to controlthe outbreak of the viruswhich has been declared asa Public Health emergencyby the World HealthOrganisation,” the MEAsaid. “The assistance beingsent today is also a mark offriendship and solidarityfrom the people of Indiatowards the people ofChina,” it added.

SC seeks J&K reply onMufti’s detention pleaIltija Mufti had filed a habeas corpus petition in the SCNew Delhi, Feb. 26: TheSupreme Court onWednesday soughtresponse of the Jammuand Kashmir administra-tion on a plea challengingformer J&K ChiefMinister MehboobaMufti’s detention underthe Public Safety Act.

A bench headed byJustice Arun Mishra alsoasked Iltija Mufti, daugh-ter of the PDP chief, togive an undertaking stat-ing that she has not filedany other petition beforeother judicial forum,including the high court,challenging the detentionof her mother.

Iltija had filed a habeascorpus (bring the person)petition in the apex courtchallenging the govern-ment’s order issued onFebruary 5 for invokingthe Public Safety Act pro-vision against MehboobaMufti to keep her indetention.

Habeas corpus is a writseeking production of aperson, who has allegedlybeen in illegal detention,before a court.

The bench has now post-ed the plea for hearing onMarch 18.

During the brief hear-ing, lawyer NityaRamakrishnan appearingfor Iltija, said theimpugned dossier, whichformed the basis for invo-cation of the PSA, was“manifestly biased slan-derous, libelous” againstthe former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister.

She also said that a per-son cannot be deprived offundamental freedomand personal liberty onthese grounds.

The bench asked thelawyer to give an affidavitas to whether Iltija orsomebody else has filedany other petition in thehigh court against thedetention order.

The lawyer replied innegative and undertookto file an affidavit in thisregard in a day or two.

She also said thatMehbooba Mufti has beenaccused of creating fearamong majority of thepopulation and playing“cheap politics”.

She said that not a sin-gle incident of incite-ment has been referred inthe dossier by the admin-istration and the PDPchief has been wronglyput under detentionunder the PSA.

Earlier, the same benchhad issued notice to theJammu and KashmirUnion Territory adminis-tration on a similar pleafiled against the govern-ment notification invok-ing the PSA against for-mer Jammu and KashmirChief Minister OmarAbdullah.

Mufti and Abdullah,besides two political lead-ers from the NationalConference and its arch-rival PDP were bookedunder the PSA by theadministration on Feb. 6,barely hours before theirsix-month-long “preven-

tive detention” was tocome to an end.

The grounds of deten-tion against Abdullahclaim that on the eve ofreorganisation of the

state, he had allegedlymade attempts to provokegeneral masses againstthe revocation of provi-sions of Articles 370 andArticle 35A. — PTI

Army chief praisessoldiers along LoCYUSUF JJAMEEL || DDCSRINAGAR FEB. 26

The security situationalong the Line of Control(LoC) and in the hinter-land came under thread-bare review at a series ofmeetings Army ChiefGeneral M.M. Naravanehad with local Army com-manders during hismaiden visit of KashmirValley.

A defence spokesmanhere said that the Armychief during his two-dayvisit of the Valley begin-ning on Tuesday, visitedthe formations and unitsdeployed along the defacto border.Accompanied by theNorthern ArmyCommander Lt. Gen. Y.K.Joshi and Srinagar-basedChinar (15) CorpsCommander Lt. Gen.Kanwal Jeet SinghDhillon, the Army chiefwas briefed by the localcommanders on the situa-tion prevailing along theLoC, alleged ceasefire

violations, Indian “retali-ations”, counter-infiltra-tion operations and oper-ational preparedness ofthe Indian troops, thespokesman said.

“During his interactionwith the soldiers on snowclad heights, he wasappreciative of the sharpvigil and alertness alongthe LoC and high moraleof the troops,” thespokesman ColonelRajesh Kalia said.

He added that Gen.Naravane “exhorted thesoldiers to remain alertfor any eventuality andfurther reinforced theneed to be prepared tomeet emerging securitychallenges effectively atall times.”

Earlier, on Tuesday, theArmy chief was briefedby the Chinar CorpsCommander Lt. Gen.Dhillon in Srinagar’sBadami BaghCantonment on the over-all situation prevailingalong the LoC and thehinterland.

25 dead in bus mishap

Volunteers engage in rescue of possible survivors after a bus carrying a marriage party fell into a river on Kota-Dausa highway, in Bundi district, on Wednesday. At least 25 people died and three others sustained injuries inthe accident. — PTI

SHORT TAKESRAPE VICTIM

SUCCUMBS TOBURNS

CISF COVER FORJAMMU, SRINAGAR

AIRPORTS

DC CCORRESPONDENTBHOPAL, FEB. 26

A tribal girl of Betul inMadhya Pradesh who immo-lated herself for being ‘fre-quently harassed’ by threeyouths, who had allegedlygang raped her three monthsago, succumbed to burninjuries early on Wednesdaymorning.

The 14-year-old girl set her-self on fire after pouringkerosene on her on Tuesdayevening, police said.

She suffered 95 per centburns and was rushed to dis-trict hospital in Betul. She waslater shifted to a hospital inNagpur in Maharashtra whereshe died early on Wednesday,police said.

In her purported suicidenote, she said she was raped byone Sandeep Hasane and twoof his friends three monthsago and was being frequentlythreatened by them that theywould kill her if she reportedthe matter to the police,according to the police.

All the three accused werearrested, police said.

MP TO BRINGSEPARATE

CHILD BUDGETRABINDRA NNATHCHOUDHURY || DDCBHOPAL, FEB. 26

Kamal Nath government isplanning to table a separatechild budget in the forthcom-ing assembly session inMadhya Pradesh. This wouldbe the first such move by astate in the country.

The annual budget for 2020-21 to be tabled in the ensuingbudget session of state assem-bly, commencing on March 16,will have a separate childbudget, sources in statefinance department disclosedto this newspaper here onWednesday.

“Chief Minister Kamal Nathhas directed the state financedepartment to prepare a sepa-rate child budget to be present-ed along with the annual budg-et for the state for 2020-21, indi-cating that his governmentseeks to give priority to devel-opment of children,” a seniorstate government officer saidrequesting not to be quoted.

AZAM KHAN,WIFE, SON SENT

TO CUSTODYLucknow, Feb. 26: SamajwadiParty MP Azam Khan, his leg-islator wife Tanzin Fatima andMLA son Abdullah Azam wereon Wednesday sent to judicialcustody for allegedly fakingAbdullah’s birth certificate.

They have been sent to judi-cial custody till March 2, Ram-pur Superintendent of PoliceSantosh Kumar Mishra said.

The case relates to a forgedbirth certificate for Azam’sson Abdullah, who allegedlygave a wrong date of birthwhile filing his nominationpapers for the assembly elec-tions. The SP indirectlyblamed the ruling BJP for thecase against Azam Khan, sug-gesting that it was vendetta.

The Samajwadi Party doesn’tconsider any action taken inrevenge appropriate.Governments can’t run onbias, the party tweeted inHindi.

“The Samajwadi Party alsotrusts the judicial process. Wehave faith in court, we will getjustice, it added.

Jammu, Feb. 26: The securityof the Srinagar and theJammu airports has beenhanded over to the CISF andall police personnel postedthere have been called backwith immediate effect, offi-cials said on Wednesday.

All police personnel of exec-utive and armed wings postedat the Jammu and theSrinagar airports are trans-ferred to their respectivewings and parent departmentsimmediately, a order issued byADGP S.J.M. Geelani said.

The order stated thatgazetted officers who wereposted at the twin airportsshould report to the policeheadquarters. However, heli-pads at Sanjichat and Katra,used for ferrying pilgrims tothe cave shrine ofVaishnodevi, would be guard-ed by police personnel only.For security reasons, 10 policepersonnel shall remainattached with the Jammu air-port and 14 with the Srinagarairport, the order said.

ELEPHANTPADMANABHANDIES AT 80

Transgender canperform finalrites: NHRC chief

● ● JUSTICE NN KKUMAR,said that it was theBritish who brought indiscrimination of thetransgender community in India.

NATION pg 9DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2020

SHORT TAKESPolice to identify

‘think tank’behind Amulya

M.K. AASHOKA || DDCBENGALURU, FEB. 26

The Special InvestigatingTeam (SIT) probing the case ofactivist Amulya Leona, whowas arrested on charges ofsedition for shouting ‘PakistanZindabad’ during an anti-CAAprogramme in Bengaluru, hastaken her into police custodyfor further interrogation.

Amulya was produced beforethe court where the investigat-ing officers sought her custodybased on the investigation inthe case so far. The SIT hasquestioned her friends andgathered information from hernative Chikkamagalur dis-trict.

Sources explained thatAmulya shared a room withArudra, another girl arrestedfor holding a poster asking forliberation of Kashmir duringan anti-CAA function. Amulyaand Arudra have reportedlydenied any connectionbetween them to the police sofar. Nor have the police beenable to secure any informationor photos of them when theirmobiles were seized. It is saidthat recently, they moved toseparate rooms.

Police sources say that aftercorroborating the evidence,they will start zeroing in onthe persons who are allegedlybehind these young women.They maintained that it is this‘think tank’ which embold-ened the young girls to makeseditious statements and cre-ate disturbance in society.

Rajini condemnsCentre over Delhi

violence Chennai, Feb. 26: SuperstarRajinikanth on Wednesdaylashed out at the Central gov-ernment over the violence inDelhi that left 24 people dead,saying the riots should havebeen dealt with an iron fist.

In a rare sharp attack on theBJP-led Centre, Rajinikanthalso asked those in power to“resign and go” if the violencecould not be crushed with aniron fist.

However, he did not nameanyone.

“Definitely it is Central gov-ernment’s Intelligence failure.I strongly condemn theCentral government,” he toldreporters here when askedabout the violence in north-east Delhi.

“They should have been socareful when the US President(Donald) Trump had visited(the country). The Intelligencedidn’t do its job properly. It(violence) should have beencompletely crushed with aniron fist. We expect them to becareful at least from now on,”he added.

To a question, he saidIntelligence failure meant fail-ure of the Union home min-istry.

Streets litteredwith mangled

remains of vehicles From Page 1

Frightened residents peepedfrom behind half-closed doorsand windows. Shops, schools,and business establishmentsthat had been spared remainshut.

Streets were littered withmangled remains of burntvehicles, bricks and burnttires, mute testimony to theviolence and bloodshed thatcontinued for nearly threedays while the Central andDelhi administration failed toact.

After over 72 hours of riotingthat began on Sunday nighthours, lathi-wielding and gun-totting CRPF and SaharshaSeema Bal (SSB) jawansmarched through the entirestretches of Jaffrabad Road.

They rained blows on anyonestepping out of their homes.“Curfew hai, bhag andar,” theyscreamed while swinging theirlong lathis at those who ven-tured out.

In the Hindu-dominatedpockets of Chand Bagh andKarawal Nagar many Muslimfamilies left their homes forsafer places under police pro-tection.

In Karawal Nagar, at least 60Muslim houses lay abandoned.

Carrying a child in her arms,Rukhsana of Karawal Nagar,looked completely lost. She hasbeen staying in a Hindu-domi-nated pocket for decades, buttoday police personnel were“urging” Muslims in the areato move to a safer place “tillthe situation improves.”

“I have not seen anythinglike this in the last 40 years,”said 65-year-old RajendraKumar Mishra. “We lived inperfect harmony till the BJPleader Kapil Mishra beganprovoking people,” he said.

If God wills, there will be peace: NSA106 people arrested, 18 FIRs lodged; Prime Minister appeals for brotherhood

Ravi says post-CAA, those who desired for inequality in past now want equalityNEW | ISSUE

Time ripe for Uniform Civil Code: K’taka mantri Bengaluru, Feb. 26:Karnataka minister C.T.Ravi on Wednesday said“time is ripe” for bringingin Uniform Civil Code(UCC) in the country, asthere was demand for“equality” from across theboard now.

Pointing at Oppositionparties and those opposingCitizenship AmendmentAct and National Registerof Citizens (NRC) seekingequality, he said, as thosewho desired for inequalityin the past are now seek-ing equality, the time wasright to bring in UCC now.

“As a BJP spokespersonif I have to say- time is ripeto bring in Uniform CivilCode, why because, every-one is speaking aboutequality; there is no time

ripe than this to bring inUCC,” Ravi said.

Speaking to reportershere, he said, “There issome kind of acceptancynow, all these days thosewho were opposing arenow asking for equality.

Those who were feelingthat BJP had the lease onchanting Bharat Mata kiJai are now saying BharatMata ki Jai and are alsochanting Vande Mataram.

They are holding nation-al flag and roamingaround, so the time is ripe.

This is my opinion hold-ing a responsible positionin the party, he added.

Responding to a query onwhether there have beendiscussions on bringing inUCC in party forums andwill they be sending any

recommendations in thisregard to the Centre, theKannada and culture min-ister said, UCC has beenpart of party’s agendasince the time when BJPwas born in 1980.

He said, “it continued toremain part of BJP’s agen-da in 2014 and 2019 (LokSabha polls), we have beensaying it since the begin-

ning, at that time no onewas speaking about UCC,now everyone is speakingabout equality, so the timeis ripe.”

When pointed out thatnone of the Oppositionparties or those opposingCAA and NRC are speak-ing about UCC, Ravi said,they are asking for equali-ty.

“Noting that the laws(CAA/NRC) were againstequality, they are demand-ing for equality. Theirdemand is equality andour demand is also equali-ty..”

Asked why BJP was notimplementing UCC,despite coming to powerfor second time at theCentre, Ravi said, “wedon’t have any fear, we

have fulfilled the promiseslike — Article 370, on RamMandir issue SupremeCourt itself has given averdict that majority ofthe people in the countryaccepts, so at the righttime we have been doingwhat is right”.

“I’m saying the time isright now for UCC, aseveryone is speakingabout equality, those whowere desiring for inequali-ty are now wishing forequality,” he added.

Condemning violenceduring anti-CAA protestsin Delhi, the Minister said,despite Prime Ministerand home minister reiter-ating that the law won’ttake away anyone's citi-zenship, rather it will begiven to those coming as

refugees after facing reli-gious persecution, the agi-tations are happening aspart of a larger conspira-cy.

He claimed that therewas a conspiracy to createanarchy in the country inthe name of CAA.

It might be recalled thatrecently, BJP MP KirodiLal Meena’s private mem-bers Bill in Rajya Sabhaseeking to kickstart theprocess of Uniform CivilCode could not be intro-duced as he remainedabsent when his name wascalled out.

Later, the Congress hadsaid that such a con-tentious measure “cannotbe thrust on people, buthas to be done through aconsensus”. — PTI

● ● RESPONDING TTO aquery on whether therehave been discussions onbringing in UCC in partyforums and will they besending any recommenda-tions in this regard to theCentre, the minister said,UCC has been part ofparty’s agenda since thetime when BJP was born.

A family member pays her last respects to the mortal remains of slain Delhi policehead constable Ratan Lal, who was killed during communal riots over the amendedcitizenship law in east Delhi area, in Sikar district of Rajasthan on Wednesday. — PTI

GILVESTER AASSARY || DDC THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,FEB. 26

Kerala High Court onWednesday bannedstrikes, gherao, marches,demonstrations andprotests that adverselyaffect “academic atmos-phere” in educationalcampuses.

The high court directivecame after hearing about20 petitions that werefiled by a cross section ofcollege managements inKerala over a period ofthree years.

The petitioners hadpointed out the vitiatingatmosphere in the cam-puses and disruption ofacademic activities due tofrequent student agita-tions.

The high court whileacknowledging the problems raised by thecollege managements,said in its verdict,“Learning is the funda-mental right of students.Campuses are places forcreating dialogues anddiscussions. They shouldnot become venues ofprotests.”

“Education and politicsshould not go together.Strikes and satyagrahasshould not be allowed.Those who organisestrikes should beexpelled,” the benchheaded by Chief JusticeNavaniti Prasad saidafter considering a peti-tion filed by MES Collegein Ponnani.

The high court decisionto ban campus politicshas been in for wide criticism from studentsorganisations cuttingacross ideological lines.

The CPM-led StudentFederation of Indiawhich has a strong pres-ence in Kerala campuses,said the court verdictagainst the rights guaran-

teed to citizens under theconstitution.

In a joint statement, SFIstate president and secre-tary V.A. Vineesh and K.M. Sachin Dev said, “Theright to dissent forms thebasis of Indian democra-cy and the court order isagainst the right of free-dom of speech andexpression granted byArticle 19(A) and theright to assemble peace-fully and without armsgranted by Article 19(B)of Constitution.

The Congress-led KSUopposed the court verdict.KSU state president K.M.Abhijith said the govern-ment should challengethe high court verdict asit curbs the rights of stu-dents.

Opposition leaderRamesh Chennithala saidthough violence needs tobe curbed in campuses, itdoes not mean that organ-isational activities andfreedom to functionshould also be banned.

CPI state secretaryKanam Rajendran saidsimilar judgments hadbeen passed by the courtsin the past to curb activi-ties of student organisa-tions.

He hoped the govern-ment will look into theissue and take steps toappeal against the ver-dict.

It may be recalled thatthe high court had issuedan interim order in 2017banning politics andprotests in college cam-puses.

Kerala HC banscampus politics

DC CCORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, FEB. 26

In a strongly-worded mes-sage to the government —both at the Centre and inDelhi — to work togetherto combat the unrelentingviolence that hit parts ofthe nation’s capital for thefourth consecutive day,the Delhi high court onWednesday said it “cannotlet another 1984-like riotto happen” in the country.

The court also expressed“anguish” over the DelhiPolice’s failure to registerFIRs against alleged hatespeeches by three BJPleaders on the CAA-linkedviolence, asking the policecommissioner to take a“conscious decision” on itby Thursday.

The court asked the spe-cial commissioner ofpolice, who was present atthe hearing, to forthwithconvey its “anguish” tothe commissioner andobserved that the city hadseen enough violence andit should not see another1984-type anti-Sikh riots-like situation.

“We can’t let another1984 scenario happen inthis city; not under thewatch of this court,”Justice S. Muralidharobserved, adding: “Weheard that one IB officerhas been attacked. Thesethings should be immedi-ately looked into.”

The court was referringto the anti-Sikh riots thatkilled over 3,000 people in

Delhi alone.A bench of Justices

Muralidhar and TalwantSingh said when thepolice can register 11 FIRsin incidents like arson,looting and stone-pelting,why did it not showalacrity when it came toalleged hate speeches bythree BJP leaders —Anurag Thakur (also aUnion minister), MPParvesh Verma and for-mer Delhi minister KapilMishra.

The bench said: “Whyare you not showingalacrity when it comes toregistration of FIR inthese cases?... We wantpeace to prevail. We do notwant the city to witnessanother 1984 riots. Thiscity has seen enough vio-lence and anguish. Let itnot repeat 1984.”

The court’s commentcame after it watched avideo of Mishra, who hasa history of making hate-filled communal rants,make yet another incendi-ary speech in northeastDelhi’s Maujpur neigh-bourhood on Sundayafternoon, after whichmajor violence erupted inthe area.

The court noted in itsorder that special com-missioner Praveer Ranjanhas assured he will sit

with the police commis-sioner on Wednesdayitself and view all videoclips and take a consciousdecision on the issue oflodging of FIRs and con-vey it to the court onThursday.

It made it clear it wasnot confining the proceed-ings to the video clips ofthese three BJP leaders,and the court will lookinto other clips as well.

In a local court, theDelhi Police said onWednesday that primafacie no cognisableoffence was found forlodging FIRs againstThakur and Verma fortheir alleged hate speechin relation to the anti-CAA protests at ShaheenBagh.

The submissions weremade in an action takenreport, filed before addi-tional chief metropolitanmagistrate Vishal Pahuja,who was hearing a com-plaint by CPI(M) leaderBrinda Karat seekingFIRs against Thakur andVerma.

The court, whichreserved orders for March2 on whether to direct thepolice to lodge FIRs, hadon February 5 directed itto file an ATR.

In the ATR filedWednesday, the police saidlegal opinion had beensought in the matter andrequested the court togrant more time to file thefinal report, court sourcessaid.

Delhi HC says we cannotlet another 1984-like riots

DC CCORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, FEB. 26

Horror was witnessedon Wednesday after abody of an officer of theIntelligence Bureau wasfound in a drain inChandbagh, one of theareas worst hit by theviolence that has sweptnortheast Delhi.

The officer, identifiedas Ankit Sharma, a resi-dent of the area wasworking as a securityassistant with theIntelligence Bureau.

According to sources,on Tuesday at around5.30 pm when he left hishome, he was allegedlyattacked by a mob at theChandbagh bridge andbeaten to death beforehis body was throwninto a drain.

Family members ofAnkit Sharma hadalleged that a few peoplewho were pelting stonesfrom the buildingbelonging to AAP leaderand municipal council-lor Tahir Hussain inChand Bagh, had killedSharma.

Ankit’s father Ravi-nder Kumar has statedthat Ankit was attackedwhile he was returningfrom his duty.

“Ankit went at the site(ChandBagh) wherestone-pelting was takingplace. Around 15-20 peo-ple came from Tahir’sbuilding and dragged 5-6people inside. They alsofired at other people whotried to save those takeninside the building,”Kumar said.

“Tahir is an anti-national person. Peoplewere pelting stones fromthat building. Ankit wasattacked with knife. Onemore body was recov-ered from there. Ankit’sbody has been sent toGTB Hospital for post-mortem,” he added.

DC CCORRESPONDENTwith aagency iinputsNEW DELHI, FEB. 26

The Delhi Police hasarrested 106 people fortheir alleged involve-ment in the northeastDelhi violence and regis-tered 18 FIRs, a seniorpolice officer said onWednesday.

“No untoward incidentwas reported onWednesday and PCRcalls from northeastDelhi have reduced,”additional commission-er of police (Crime)Mandeep SinghRandhawa told repor-ters.

Police also releasedtwo helpline numbers —011-22829334, 22829335 —for people to reach outduring distress.

Meanwhile, Nationalsecurity advisor (NSA)Ajit Doval onWednesday visited theviolence-hit areas ofNortheast Delhi. This ishis second visit to theriot-hit areas in lessthan 24 hours.

The NSA also briefedUnion home ministerAmit Shah about theprevailing situation inDelhi where clashes overthe contentious citizen-ship law have so farclaimed 24 lives.

Immediately after vis-iting US PresidentDonald Trumpembarked on his returnflight, 75-year-old Dovalundertook a late nighttour of the riot-hit areason Tuesday accompa-nied by Delhi policecommissioner AmulyaPatnaik, newly-appoint-ed special commissionerS.N. Shrivastava andother senior officers,they said.

“The situation is undercontrol and people aresatisfied. We have confi-dence in law enforce-ment agencies. Thepolice is doing their joband is alert. Only somecriminals were involvedin this. One should tryresolving issues and notincreasing them. Therewere incidents earlierbut today (Wednesday) itis calm. Locals wantpeace. We have full faiththere will be peace,” theNSA told reportersthere.

Doval visited Maujpur,Jaffrabad and someother affected areasafter holding a meetingwith senior officials ofthe Delhi police at theoffice of DCP Northeast.The NSA said he wasthere as per the instruc-tions of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi andShah.

“If God wills, therewill be peace and harmo-ny here (Inshallahyahan par bilkul amanhoga),” said Doval.

In his first reaction toincidents of violence inDelhi, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi onWednesday appealed forpeace and brotherhood,and said he has held anextensive review of theprevailing situation invarious parts of thenational capital.

He said it was impor-tant that calm and nor-malcy was restored atthe earliest.

“Had an extensivereview on the situationprevailing in variousparts of Delhi. Policeand other agencies areworking on the groundto ensure peace and nor-malcy,” Modi tweeted.

IB OFFICER KILLED IN STONE-PELTING

From Page 1

She also attacked the AamAadmi Party (AAP)asserting that ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwaland his government are“equally responsible fornot activating the admin-istration” to reach out tothe people to maintainpeace and harmony.

“It is the collective fail-ure of the two govern-ments that has resulted ina great tragedy in the cap-ital city which threatensto become worse by theday,” she read out from theCWC resolution.

Mrs Gandhi also calledout BJP leader KapilMishra for his statementwhich she claimed incitedthe violence in the city.

“The conspiracy waswitnessed during Delhipolls and BJP leaders gavehate speeches creating anatmosphere of fear andhatred. On Sunday, a BJPleader has given inflam-matory speech by giving athree-day ultimatum toDelhi Police,” she said.

The BJP hit back. It

accused the Congresspresident of “dirty poli-tics” by targeting theModi government overviolence in Delhi.

Union minister PrakashJavadekar said MrsGandhi was politicisingthe violence.

He also took a swipe atthe Congress saying thosewhose hands are “taintedwith the bloods of inno-cent Sikhs” are now talk-ing about checking vio-lence, a reference to the

1984 anti-Sikh riots.Addressing Congress

workers while she sat ondharna, Priyanka GandhiVadra accused the Centreof having failed to main-tain peace in the nationalcapital.

She also accused the gov-ernment of having“destroyed” Delhi, wherepeople from across thecountry come to seekemployment.

The CPI (M) demandedthat the Army be immedi-ately be called in to con-tain the situation.

“There is nothing spon-taneous about the vio-lence. On Sunday, localBJP leader, Kapil Mishra,made a provocativespeech in the presence ofa senior police officer atJaffarabad, threatening toremove anti-CAA protest-ers. Yet, the police wasunprepared to meet thesituation,” the CPI(M)Polit Bureau said in astatement.

CPI General Secretary DRaja said: “The line of“Raj Dharma” is beingviolated in Delhi now”.

BJP hits back at Sonia,recalls anti-Sikh riots

New Delhi, Feb. 26:Senior AAP leadersSanjay Singh and GopalRai on Wednesday urgedthe Centre to deploy theArmy in the violence-hitnortheast Delhi, as iturged Union HomeMinister Amit Shah totake action and not justhold meetings for “for-mality”.

Singh alleged that onone hand, Shah washolding meetings and onthe other hand, BJPleaders were makingprovocative statements.

Both Singh and Raiasked the Centre whythe borders areas werenot sealed despiterepeated requests byChief Minister ArvindKejriwal. — PTI

AAP URGESCENTRE TODEPLOY ARMY

● ● THE CCOURT was referring to the anti-Sikhriots that killed over 3,000people in Delhi alone.

● ● ADDRESSINGCONGRESS workers whileshe sat on dharna,Priyanka Gandhi Vadraaccused the Centre ofhaving failed to maintainpeace in the national capi-tal.

● ● SHE AACCUSED the gov-ernment of having“destroyed” Delhi.

● ● THE CCPI(M) demandedthat the Army be immedi-ately be called in to con-tain the situation.

● ● THE HHIGH CCOURTdirective came afterhearing about 20 peti-tions that were filed by across section of collegemanagements in Keralaover a period of threeyears.

WORLD pg 10DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2020

IN BRIEF

Strong quake hitseastern IndonesiaJakarta: A strong 5.9 magni-

tude earthquake hit a rem-ote part of eastern Indonesia

on Wednesday, the UnitedStates Geological Survey

said, but there was no tsuna-mi warning. The undersea

quake struck at a depth ofsome 61 kilometres, about

280 kilometres southwest ofthe city of Tual in the archi-

pelago’s Maluku province.The Southeast Asian country

is one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth. In

2018, a 7.5-magnitude quakeand a subsequent tsunami in

Palu on Sulawesi island leftmore than 4,300 people

dead or missing.

The tiny, less than 10-celled parasite lives in salmon muscleNEW | FINDING

Jerusalem, Feb. 26: Sci-entists have discovered ananimal that does not needoxygen to produce energyneeded for its survival, afinding that changes oneof science's assumptionsabout the animal world.The tiny, less than 10-cell-ed parasite Henneguya sa-lminicola lives in salmonmuscle, according to the fi-nding published in thejournal PNAS.

As it evolved, the animal,which is a relative of jelly-fish and corals, gave upbreathing and consumingoxygen — or became anae-robic — to produce energy.“Aerobic respiration wasthought to be ubiquitousin animals, but now weconfirmed that this is notthe case,” said DorotheeHuchon, a professor at TelAviv University (TAU) inIsrael. “Our discoveryshows that evolution cango in strange directions.Aerobic respiration is amajor source of energy,

and yet we found an anim-al that gave up this criticalpathway,” Huchon said.

Some other organismslike fungi, amoebas or cili-ate lineages in anaerobicenvironments have lostthe ability to breathe overtime, the researchers said.The new study demonstra-tes that the same can hap-pen to an animal — possi-bly because the parasitehappens to live in an anae-robic environment, theysaid. The researchers not-ed that the parasite’s anae-robic nature was an acci-dental discovery.

While assembling theHenneguya genome, Huc-hon found that it did notinclude a mitochondrialgenome. The mitochondr-ia is the powerhouse ofthe cell where oxygen iscaptured to make energy,so its absence indicatedthat the animal was not br-eathing oxygen. Until thenew discovery, there wasdebate regarding the pos-

sibility that organisms be-longing to the animal kin-gdom could survive in an-aerobic environments, theresearchers said.

The assumption that allanimals are breathing ox-ygen was based, among

other things, on the factthat animals are multicel-lular, highly developed or-ganisms, which first appe-ared on the Earth whenoxygen levels rose, theysaid. “It’s not yet clear tous how the parasite gener-

ates energy,” Huchon said.“It may be drawing it fromthe surrounding fish cells,or it may have a differenttype of respiration such asoxygen-free breathing, wh-ich typically characterisesanaerobic non-animal org-anisms,” she said.

According to Huchon,the discovery bears enor-mous significance for evol-utionary research. “It isgenerally thought that du-ring evolution, organismsbecome more and morecomplex, and that simplesingle-celled or few-celledorganisms are the ancesto-rs of complex organisms,”she said.

“But here, right beforeus, is an animal whose ev-olutionary process is theopposite. Living in an oxy-gen-free environment, ithas shed unnecessary gen-es responsible for aerobicrespiration and become aneven simpler organism,Huchon added.

— PTI

Jakarta floods: 5dead, 3 missingJakarta: Five people were

killed, three more are missingand thousands are unable toreturn to their waterlogged

homes after floods submerg-ed parts of Indonesia’s capi-tal, officials said on Wednes-day. The muddy deluge inun-

dated the presidential pala-ce, a major hospital and ent-

ire neighbourhoods acrossJakarta on Tuesday, only we-eks after 70 residents of the

low-lying megacity died insome of the deadliest floo-

ding in memory. Two teenag-ers were among the five peo-ple drowned or electrocuted

in hard-hit parts of the city,Indonesia’s national disasteragency said. “The joint res-cue team is still searching”

for three other possible vict-ims, agency spokesman Agus

Wibowo told AFP, addingthat nearly 20,000 peoplewere staying in emergency

shelters. Floodwaters reach-ed more than a metre in

some parts of the capital butwere receding by Wednesd-

ay, a day after rescuers com-bed drenched districts in po-ntoon boats to locate vulner-

able residents.

‘No-contact’ AshWednesday

Manila: Filipinos bowed theirheads to be sprinkled instead

of having a cross drawn ontheir foreheads to mark Ash

Wednesday, as Asia’s bastionof Catholicism guarded agai-

nst the spread of Covid-19.Leaders of the Philippine ch-

urch urged priests to adaptthe rite to reduce the risk of

fanning a contagion. Sincethe outbreak, which has resu-lted in three confirmed casesand one death in the Philipp-ines, churches have also disc-

ouraged worshippers fromholding hands during mass.

“It makes me feel safe,” saidWendy Tamidles, a 19-year-

old student. She was amongthousands of people, some

wearing surgical masks, wholined up at Baclaran church

in Manila for services on We-dnesday. Ash Wednesday

marks the beginning of Lent,the run-up to Easter, and inc-ludes Catholics having cross-es drawn in ash on their fore-heads. The Philippines is ove-

rwhelmingly Catholic, withsome 80 percent of its peo-

ple said to be believers. Loc-al church officials have also

“strongly recommended”that Catholics do not kiss ortouch the cross during GoodFriday services, which is usu-

ally common practice. “Weare being cautious so that

the Covid-19 won't spread,”said Victorino Cueto, rector

of Baclaran church.

H. salminicola is a fairly common parasite, causing‘milky flesh’ or ‘tapioca’ disease in salmon that resultsin unsightly but harmless cysts on its flesh. — Agencies

This animal doesn’t need oxygen

4 die in Iran as France has 1st casualtyOne more succumbs in Italy, Greece gets first infection while S Korea reports 169 new Covid-19 casesTehran, Feb. 26: Iran onWednesday reported fourmore novel Covid-19 deat-hs among 44 new cases inthe past 24 hours, takingthe total number of fatali-ties to 19 and infections to139. Fifteen new Covid-19cases surfaced in city ofQom, nine in Gilan, four inTehran, three in Khuzes-tan, two each in Sistan andBaluchistan, Kohgiluyehand Boyerahmad, andFars, and one in Markazi,Kermanshah, Ardebil, Ma-zandaran, Lorestan, Semn-an and Hormozgan.

Rouhani slams US forfear-mongeringTehran, Feb. 26: Preside-nt Hassan Rouhani onWednesday accused theUnited States of trying tospread “fear” in Iran overa deadly outbreak of thenovel Covid-19.

Covid-19 has claimed thelives of 19 people among139 infections in Iran,including the deputyhealth minister — makingit the deadliest outbreakoutside China.

“We shouldn’t let Ameri-ca mount a new virus ontop of Covid-19 that is call-ed... extreme fear,” Rouha-ni told a weekly cabinetmeeting, a day after US Se-cretary of State Mike Pom-peo accused Iran of suppr-essing information aboutthe outbreak. The Americ-ans “themselves are strug-gling with Covid-19. Sixte-en thousand people havedied of influenza there butthey don’t talk about theirown (dead),” Rouhani said.

Iran has been scramblingto contain Covid-19 sinceWednesday last weekwhen it announced thefirst two deaths in Qom, acentre for Islamic studiesand pilgrims that attractsscholars from abroad. Itsauthorities have closed sc-hools, universities, cultur-al centres, sporting eventsand deployed teams of sa-nitary workers to disinfectbuses, trains and publicspaces. On Tuesday, Pom-peo accused the IslamicRepublic of concealing thetrue extent of the outbre-ak. “The United States isdeeply concerned by infor-mation indicating the Ira-nian regime may have sup-pressed vital details aboutthe outbreak,” he told rep-orters in Washington.

He said Iran had beenmaking progress in the fi-ght against the virus as“we witness fewer (hospi-tal) visits and progress intreatment”. “If 100 peoplewere hospitalised in theearly days, seven to eightcould have died, but thisnumber has dropped verymuch today,” he said. Thepresident also vowed to betransparent about the nu-mber of deaths and infec-tions. Iran has reported atleast one death and two ca-ses every day since Febr-uary 19. — AFP

Passengers wearing protective face masks arrive at the Hongqiao railway station in Shanghai on Wednesday. — AFP

Tokyo, Feb. 26: Dozens ofpassengers allowed off aCovid-19-hit ship have dev-eloped symptoms, includi-ng fever, and will be askedto take tests for the virus,Japan’s health ministersaid on Wednesday. Thenews came as another dea-th linked to the virus inJapan was reported andthe government urged org-anisers of major events inthe next fortnight to consi-der cancelling or downsi-zing them to help curb thespread of infections.

The government has con-tacted 813 former passeng-ers of the Diamond Princ-ess cruise ship and found“45 people had certain sy-mptoms”, Health MinisterKatsunobu Kato told Parli-ament. “We asked them(with symptoms) to see adoctor and to take tests.”

Around 970 people were

allowed off the boat lastweek after testing negati-ve for the virus, but sever-al have subsequently beendiagnosed with the illness.Japan has come under inc-reasing pressure over itshandling of the crisis onthe vessel. Those allowedoff the ship after a 14-dayquarantine were asked tostay inside, but no formalmeasures restricting theirmovement were imposed.

Opposition lawmakers

have blamed the governm-ent for failing to impleme-nt a fresh 14-day quaranti-ne after the passengers leftthe cruise ship — as wasrequired by countries thatrepatriated citizens fromthe boat. Infections havealso continued to rise insi-de Japan, and Prime Mini-ster Shinzo Abe on Wedne-sday said hosting large ev-ents should be reconsider-ed. “In light of the signifi-cant infection risks, wewill ask that national spor-ting or cultural events thatwill attract large crowdsbe either cancelled, postp-oned or downsized for thenext two weeks,” Abe tolda cabinet task force meet-ing on the outbreak.

The government has rep-eatedly said that the comi-ng weeks will be critical inlimiting the spread of thevirus in Japan. — AFP

60-year-old man isfirst French victimParis, Feb. 26: A 60-year-old man has become the fi-rst French victim of Cov-id-19 in the country, thehealth ministry announc-ed on Wednesday. The mandied overnight after beingrushed to a Paris hospitalin serious condition onTuesday evening, bringingthe death toll in the count-ry to two, said the minis-try’s deputy head JeromeSalomon. The first victimwas an 80-year-old Chinesetourist, who died in hospi-tal in mid-February.

France has reported fourother new cases in the past24 hours, including tworeturning from Italy, brin-ging the total number ofinfections to 17. Elevenothers have recovered.

One of the four peoplebeing treated in hospital, a55-year-old man is listed incritical condition in Ami-ens. Two of the four hadrecently returned from theLombardy region of Italy.

The French governmenthas asked citizens returni-ng from Lombardy and theneighbouring Veneto regi-on to avoid “all non-essen-tial outings” and keep the-ir children at home andaway from school.

The same recommenda-tions have been issued forpeople returning from ma-inland China, Hong Kong,Macau, Singapore and So-uth Korea. — AFP

1st US soldier basedin S Korea infected

S’PORE CHARGESMAN FOR LYINGTO HEALTH STAFFSingapore, Feb. 26: AChinese man infectedwith Covid-19 and his wifehave been charged in Sin-gapore for lying to healthauthorities investigatingwhether they had passedthe illness to others, offic-ials said Wednesday.

With nearly 2,800 confir-med deaths and more than81,000 cases worldwide, Si-ngapore has banned theentry of visitors who havetravelled through Chinaor parts of South Koreawithin two weeks of theirarrival. Hu Jun, original-ly from Wuhan, arrived inSingapore on January 22and later tested positivefor the illness. The 38-year-old has since recov-ered and been dischargedfrom hospital. His Chine-se wife, a resident of thecity-state, was issued a qu-arantine order.

Singapore’s health min-istry said the couple “hadgiven false information...about their movementsand whereabouts” to offic-ials investigating whetherthey could have passed theinfection on to others.

They were charged beca-use of the potentially seri-ous risk their actions hadposed to public health, theministry added. The pairface a fine of up to $7,150and six-month imprison-ment if convicted.

In a separate case, immi-gration officials said theyhad withdrawn an unna-med foreigner’s perma-nent resident status forviolating an order to stayat home in self-quarantineafter his recent travel toChina. — AFP

GERMAN MANWITH VIRUS IN ACRITICAL STATEBerlin, Feb. 26: Authorit-ies in Germany said Wed-nesday that a man whocontracted Covid-19 is incritical condition and hasbeen taken to a hospital inDuesseldorf. The healthministry of North Rhine-Westphalia state said theman was first hospitalisedMonday with serious pne-umonia in Erkelenz. Hewas then diagnosed withthe new virus and isolatedin an intensive care unitbefore being transportedto Dusseldorf ’s UniversityHospital.

The man’s wife was alsoisolated on suspicion ofcontracting the virus aftershowing symptoms. Germ-an news agency reportedthat the man was in his 40sand had a pre-existing con-dition. Dutch health offici-als were tracing the move-ments of a German manwho tested positive for thenew virus after learningthat he visited Limburglast week. The national pu-blic heath institute tweet-ed that the local health au-thority is trying to traceanybody who came intocontact with him. — AP

Seoul, Feb. 26: The num-ber of new virus infecti-ons in South Korea jumpedagain Wednesday and theUS military reported its fi-rst case among its soldiersbased in the Asian count-ry, with his case and manyothers connected to asoutheastern city with anillness cluster.

South Korea's Centers forDisease Control and Preve-ntion said 134 of the 169new cases were confirmedin Daegu, where the gover-nment has been mobilis-ing public health tools tocontain the virus. Another19 cases were in neighbo-uring North Gyeongsangprovince towns.

A US military statementsaid the 23-year-old soldierwas in self-quarantine athis off-base residence. Hehad been based in CampCarroll in a town near Da-egu, and visited both Carr-oll and nearby Camp Wal-ker in recent days, accord-ing to the statement. SouthKorean authorities and USmilitary health profession-als were tracing his conta-cts to determine if otherpeople may have been exp-osed. About 28,500 US tro-ops are stationed in SouthKorea as deterrence again-st potential aggressionfrom North Korea.

United States Forces Ko-rea previously said a wido-wed dependent had the vi-rus, the first case involvi-ng a USFK-related individ-ual. South Korea’s 600,000-

member military hasreported 18 cases andplaced thousands of sol-diers in quarantine as aprecaution. Col. EdwardBallanco, commander ofthe US Army GarrisonDaegu, said two bowlingalleys at Camp Walker andCamp Carroll and a golfcourse at Camp Walkerwere closed after the sol-dier’s case was confirmed.

All restaurants at the ba-ses, and also Camp Henryand Camp George in Dae-gu, could now provide onlytakeout meals with soldie-rs and family members pr-ohibited from dining the-re, he said. South Koreanow has 1,146 confirmedinfections of the virus and11 fatalities.

The national governmenthas been channelling med-ical personnel, protectivesuits and other supplies toDaegu, and there are con-cerns the local hospitalsare being overwhelmedand fatigued doctors arebecoming vulnerable toinfections. — AP

Dozens allowed off shiphave symptoms: Minister

Air Canada extends suspensionMontreal, Feb. 26: AirCanada announced Tuesd-ay it is extending its susp-ension of flights betweenCanada and the Chinesecities of Beijing and Shan-ghai until April 10 due tothe new Covid-19 epidem-ic. Flights from Canada tothe two cities had been te-mporarily suspended fromJanuary 30 to the end ofFebruary after the foreignministry advised Canadia-ns against non-essentialtravel to China in light ofthe virus’s rapid spreadthere. The Air Canada we-

bsite says the companyand health authorities“will continue to monitorthis evolving situation clo-sely” and “will adjust itsschedule as appropriate”.

The airline usually offe-rs direct flights from Toro-nto, Montreal and Vancou-ver to Beijing and Shangh-ai. And the company alsoextended the suspensionof daily flights to HongKong from Toronto untilApril 30, citing “reducedmarket demand”. Flightsto and from Taipei “re-main unaffected”. — AFP

● ● ITALY SSAW a freshjump in the number of

cases of the new Covid-19outbreak Wednesday,

with another death alsoreported to bring the total

to 12 and 374 infections.The new toll is a jump

from the 322 cases and 10deaths recorded on

Tuesday evening.

● ● GREECE OON Wednesday reported its first Covid-19case, a 38-year-old woman who had recently travelledto northern Italy. A health ministry spokesman said shewas in a Thessaloniki hospital and in good condition.

● ● COL. EEDWARD Ballan-co, commander of the USArmy Garrison Daegu, saidall restaurants at thebases, and also CampHenry and Camp George inDaegu, could now provideonly takeout meals withsoldiers and family mem-bers prohibited from din-ing there.

● ● SPAIN TTRIED Wednesday to prevent the spread of theCovid-19 from Italy after eight cases were detectedwithin a 24-hour period. Hundreds of tourists remainedconfined to a Tenerife hotel Wednesday for a secondstraight day as a precaution after a an Italian and hiswife tested positive for the disease.

This is a situation ofconcern but we must

not give in to panic. We mustalso be vigilant when itcomes to misinformation aswell as xenophobic state-ments which are putting inquestion the work of publicauthorities

— STELLA KYRIAKIDESEU Health Commissioner

A picture shows a canoe outside a flooded home in Ironbridge, Shropshire, in central Englandafter further rain pushed already high water levels following Storms Ciara and Dennis evenhigher and caused the river Severn to breach emergency defences. — AFP

River breach floods England homes

WE SSHOULDN’T letAmerica mount a

new virus on top ofCovid-19 that is called...extreme fear. TheAmericans themselvesare struggling withCovid-19. Sixteenthousand people havedied of influenza therebut they don’t talk abouttheir own (dead)

— HASSAN ROUHANIIranian President

Katsunobu Kato

RUSSIA’S TRAVELADVISORY FORVIRUS-HIT NATIONSMoscow, Feb. 26: Notingthe rise in Covid-19 casesin Italy, South Korea andIran, Russia’s consumersafety regulator Rospotre-bnadzor urged Russiansagainst travelling to thethree nations “until theepidemiological situationstabilised”. — AFP

WORLD pg 11DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | THURSADY| 27 FEBRUARY 2020

Self-charging Hybrid EV

New Delhi, Feb. 26: A glob-al recession is likely if coro-navirus becomes a pandem-ic, and the odds of that areuncomfortably high and ris-ing with infections surgingin Italy and Korea, Moody’sAnalytics said onWednesday.

“The coronavirus has beena body blow to the Chineseeconomy, which now threat-ens to take out the entireglobal economy,” ChiefEconomist at Moody’sAnalytics Mark Zandi said.

The outbreak of the virus,officially called COVID-19,was first detected in Wuhanin China in December andhas since affected thousandsof people across the globe.

“COVID-19 is battering theglobal economy in numerousways. Chinese business trav-el and tourism has all butstopped; global airlines arenot going to China andcruise lines are cancellingmost Asia-Pacific itiner-aries. This is a huge problemfor major travel destinations,including in the US, wheresome 3 million Chinesetourists visit each year,”Moody’s Analytics said.

Chinese tourists to the USare among the biggestspenders of any foreigntourists. Travel in Europe isalso sure to be severelyimpacted as Milan, Italy, thecentre of the new infectionsin that country, is a majortravel hub for the Continent.

Shuttered Chinese facto-ries are also a problem forcountries and companies fas-tened into China’s manufac-turing supply chain. Apple,Nike and General Motors aresome prominent Americanexamples.

Shortages of some goodswill likely result this spring,meaning higher prices for

things we buy at Walmartand on Amazon, it said.

“US exports to China willsuffer given slumpingChinese demand. China issupposed to ramp up itsimports of US products aspart of the Phase One tradedeal signed by the two coun-tries late last year.

“How much the Chinesewould actually purchasefrom the U.S. was already anopen question. Given COVID-19, it is even more question-able. President Trump hassuggested that the federalgovernment will cut anothercheck to hard-pressed USfarmers to make up for the

losses,” it said.Because China is the

biggest buyer of many of theworld’s commodities, includ-ing oil, copper, soybeans andpork, and will be buying a lotless of these and many otherthings, prices are slumping.

Americans will pay less atthe gas pump, which is aplus, but it will be hard onthe energy, mining and agri-cultural industries.Emerging economies, espe-cially in Latin America andAfrica, that rely on commod-ity production for theirlivelihoods will be slammed.

“Global businesses can’tseem to catch a break. They

have been grappling with thetrade war, the Brexit transi-tion, and the economic poli-cy implications of the fast-approaching US presidentialelection,” it said.

“COVID-19 is now anotheron this lengthening list ofconcerns, making it evenmore likely that already-cau-tious business executiveswill continue to sit on newinvestment and expansionplans. Moreover, they willlikely be slow to ramp uptheir operations, fearful ofthe implications if theymove too quickly and theirworkers get sick,” it said.

— PTI

Moody’s warns of globalrecession due to Covid-19Chinese business travel and tourism has all but stopped

RAVI RRANJAN PPRASADMUMBAI, FEB. 26

A fall in the overnight USmarkets on Tuesday and weakAsian markets triggered fur-ther slide in the Indian equitymarket as investors weighedthe impact on the global econ-omy as coronavirus continueto spread rapidly.

While France reported itsfirst death from the epidemic,Spain confirmed eight newcases in the past 24 hours.New infections have beenreported in Croatia, Austriaand Switzerland, reports said.

Although China announceda decline in new confirmedcases on Wednesday, numberssoared in South Korea to over1,200. Heavy selling by theFPIs led to one per cent drop

in Sensex and Nifty-50 indicesand over total three per centfall since Monday.

On Tuesday, US marketbenchmark Dow JonesIndustrial Averages had fall-en 879.44 points or 3.15 percent on coronavirus’ rapidspread, which led to panic selloff in other markets onWednesday.

The Sensex closed below40,000 levels at 39,888.96 losing392.24 points or 0.97 per centafter a gap down openingwhile Nifty-50 closed at 11,678down 1.01 per cent or 119.40points. Benchmark indicesfell to one-month low levelsseen on February 1, when theUnion Budget had triggered asell off. FPIs sold equityshares worth `3,336.60 croreas per provisional data. FPIs

have sold share worth over`6,800 crore since Monday.

All sectoral indices barringBSE Telecom index closed inthe red, chemicals manufac-turing firms also bucked thetrend. Analysts said the mar-ket was waiting for policymeasures to be announced bythe government that wouldprovide some relief to theimpacted sectors. “The newsthat is affecting the market isthe ebb and flow of the newson the spread of COVID-19.We have yet to get the engage-ment of policy makers to sig-nificantly ease policy apartfrom Singapore. These meas-ures will provide some shortterm relief to the markets,”said Gary Dugan, chiefinvestment officer, SanctumWealth Management.

Heavy selling due to virusdrags Sensex below 40,000

ATMs starts disposing moreof `500 notes than `2000New Delhi, Feb. 26:Banks have started dis-pensing more of `500notes than `2,000 denomi-nation notes, a move seenas gradual phasing out ofthe high denominationcurrency note.

The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) in an RTIresponse last year hadsaid that the central bankhad stopped printing`2,000 denomination cur-rency notes.

Although there has beenno dictate from thefinance ministry, banks ontheir own have decided tofill their ATMs with small-er denomination notes forthe convenience of cus-tomers, sources said.

Some banks havealready started recaliber-ation of their ATMs andother banks will also fol-low the suit, sources said.

State-owned Indian Bankhas already announcedthat its has decided to stopusing `2,000 notes in theirATMs.

When asked if thefinance ministry has askedbanks not to push `2,000notes via ATMs, NirmalaSitharaman said the min-istry has not issued anyinstruction to banks in thisregard.

“As far as I know, no suchinstruction has beengiven,” the finance minis-ter said on the sidelines ofan event here.

Getting change for a`2,000 note has become anissue and due to that somebanks have stopped using`2,000 notes in theirATMs, sources said.

According to the RBI'sRTI reply, 3,542.991 mil-lion notes of `2,000denomination were print-

ed during 2016-17.However, 2017-18 saw a

substantial reduction inprinting and only 111.507million notes were pro-duced, which furtherreduced to 46.690 millionnotes in 2018-19.

This indicates that whilethese high denominationnotes would continue tobe a legal tender but willbe phased out eventually.

The move is seen as anattempt to prevent hoard-ing of the high-value cur-rency and thus, curb blackmoney. The governmenthad in November 2016demonetised `1,000 and`500 denominations notes.

Replying to a question inParliament, MoS (finance)Anurag Singh Thakur inDecember said there is noproposal to withdraw`2,000 denominationnotes.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor MD Mr. Masakazu Yoshimura along with vice chairmanVikram Kirloskar at the launch of the New Vellfire in Hyderabad on Wednesday — DC

FALAKNAAZ SSYEDMUMBAI, FEB. 26

The government’s pro-posed Initial PublicOffer (IPO) of publicsector behemoth LICmay get delayed be-yond the government'starget deadline of end-March 2021 said FitchRatings on Wednesday.

The delay could bedue to the proceduraland legal bottlenecksin terms of amendingcertain sections of theLIC Act, conductingindependent valua-tions as well as obtain-ing regulatory appro-vals, it said.

However, the ratingsagency said that theIPO would improvethe accountability andtransparency of LICand benefit the insur-ance industry.

The benefits of list-ing could also trickledown to the entiredomestic insuranceindustry in terms ofattracting more for-eign interest, whichcould result in anincrease in foreigncapital inflows into theindustry.

The IPO once execut-ed, may also encouragesome of the other pri-vate sector insurancecompanies to list someof their shares in thestock market over themedium term,although the currentinsurance regulationdoes not require allinsurers to be listedpublicly. The govern-ment had proposed toissue shares in LIC viaan IPO to meet its high-est ever disinvestmenttarget.

LIC IPO maybe delayed,warns Fitch

Washington, Feb. 26:The US is ready to consid-er an agreement with theTaliban after they haveagreed to dramaticallyreduce violence across thewar-torn Afghanistan, USDefence Secretary MarkEsper told lawmakers onWednesday.

The US plans to sign anagreement with theTaliban on Saturday inQatar. The historic dealwould see the US with-draw thousands of troops,winding down America'slongest war which waslaunched after theSeptember 11, 2001 attacksbut has grown increasing-ly unpopular at home. “Ifthe Taliban demonstratethe willingness and capa-bility to do so, the US is

prepared to consider anagreement that advancesthe peace process,” Espertold members of theHouse Armed ServicesCommittee ahead of ahearing on defence pos-ture statement.

“Should, intra-Afghanpeace dialogues progress,the US will reduce ourforce posture as appropri-ate, based on conditionson the ground,” Espersaid. In Afghanistan, hesaid, the US remain com-mitted to ending the warthrough a political agree-ment that ensuresAfghanistan cannot beused as a safe haven forterrorist groups to attackthe United States.

“As we have previouslynotified members of

Congress, our negotia-tions with the Talibanhave advanced, and theyhave agreed to dramatical-ly reduce violence acrossthe country,” he said.

On Saturday, the US andthe Afghan Taliban start-ed a seven-day partialtruce ahead of a possiblepeace deal to end morethan 18-year-long war,raising hopes for a resolu-tion to America’s longestwar.

The agreement struckduring negotiationsbetween the US and theTaliban, if maintained,may secure a peace dealthat would lead to a with-drawal of Americantroops from Afghanistan.In November, USPresident Donald Trump

announced the resump-tion of peace talks withthe Taliban, but refused togive a timeline for thedrawdown of the UStroops from Afghanistan,as he made an unan-nounced visit to Americansoldiers stationed in thewar-torn country.

After nine rounds ofnegotiations with theTaliban, Trumpanno[unced in Septemberthat he was calling thepeace talks off after a USservice member waskilled in a suicide attackin Afghanistan's capital,Kabul. The US currentlyhas less than 14,000 troopsin Afghanistan, but mili-tary officials would notconfirm the exact number.

—PTI

US ready to sign dealwith Taliban: Def secy US to withdraw troops, winding down America’s longest war

Islamabad, Feb. 26:Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on Wedn-esday warned that any-one targeting minoritiesin the country would bedealt with strictly, as hecondemned the ongoingviolence in India.

At least 20 people havebeen killed since Sundayin violence in NortheastDelhi, triggered afterclashes between pro andanti-protestors over theCitizenship AmendmentAct (CAA).

“I want to warn our peo-ple that anyone in Pak-istan targeting our non-Muslim citizens or theirplaces of worship will bedealt with strictly. Ourminorities are equal citi-zens of this country,” hesaid. Khan also condem-ned the violence in Indiaand said the world com-munity “must act” now.

“Now 200 millionMuslims in India arebeing targeted. The worldcommunity must actnow,” he tweeted. “Whe-never a racist ideologybased on hatred takesover, it leads to blood-shed,” he said. Khan alsoreferred to his address tothe UN General Assembly

last year in which hewarned the internationalcommunity againstignoring the situation inKashmir after the abroga-tion of Article 370 inAugust last. India hasdefended its move onKashmir in August, say-ing the special status pro-visions only gave rise toterrorism in Jammu andKashmir.

Pakistan has been try-ing to internationalisethe Kashmir issue butIndia has asserted thatthe abrogation of Article370 was its “internal mat-ter”. New Delhi has alsoasked Islamabad to acceptthe reality and stop itsanti-India rhetoric. —PTI

Imran: Do notharm minorities

Bail violation: Pak callsex-PM Sharif ‘absconder’ Islamabad, Feb. 26:Pakistan’s former primeminister Nawaz Sharifhas been declared an “abs-conder” by the govern-ment for violating the bailrequirements by not pre-senting his medicalreport from his doctors inLondon, according to amedia report onWednesday.Sharif, 70, left for London

in November last fortreatment after theLahore High Courtallowed him to go abroad

on medical grounds forfour weeks.

According to Sharif ’sphysician, the three-timeprime minister is suffer-ing from complex multi-vessel coronary arterydisease and substantialischemic and threatenedmyocardium for which heis due to undergo surgery.

The government onTuesday decided not toextend the bail of Sharifand declared him anabsconder for violatingthe bail requirements by

not presenting his med-ical report before a boardformed on the order ofthe Islamabad HighCourt.

The decisions were tak-en at a meeting of the fed-eral Cabinet presided byPrime Minister ImranKhan. “After Nawaz Sha-rif failed to submit hismedical report of anyhospital in London, themedical board rejected amedical certificate sentby him and govt declaredhim an absconder. —PTI

SC: ADMISSIONS AT HARVARD‘RACE-CONSCIOUS’ Washington, Feb. 26:The “expansive use ofrace” in the admissionprocess of the presti-gious Harvard Unive-rsity violates the civilrights law, the Trumpadministration has toldthe US Supreme Court asthe justice departmentcontinues its probe intothe allegations that theIvy League college dis-criminated againstAsian-Americans.

The US Department ofJustice (DOJ) in 2017launched an investiga-tion into Harvard’s adm-ission process after acomplaint of discrimina-tion was filed by morethan 60 Asian-Americanorganisations.

Indian-Americans feelthat they get discrimi-nated by the Massac-husetts-based universityunder its current admis-sion policy. The investi-gation remains under-way. Assistant AttorneyGeneral Eric Dreibandfor the Civil Rights Div-ision said that racediscrimination hurts pe-ople and is never benignafter the DOJ on Mondayfiled an amicus brief inStudents for Fair Ad-missions, Inc. — PTI

Afghan security personnel gather at the site of a bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan officials say thebomb placed in a motorbike wounded nine people. —AFP

Imran Khan

IN BRIEF

Attack plot: TwoRussian teens held

Moscow: Russia’s securityservice on Wednesday said ithad detained two teenagers

on suspicion of plotting adeadly attack on a schoolwith weapons and home-

made explosives. The pair —both born in 2005 and

Russian citizens — had beenactive on websites where

they propagated an ideologyof mass murder and suicide,

the FSB security service saidin a statement. It said they

had been planning an attackon an “educational institu-

tion” in the Volga River cityof Saratov. They were arrest-

ed in a hideout where theywere keeping a sawn-off

shotgun and had alsoplanned to use homemadeexplosives, the instructions

for which they had found onthe internet, it said.

STATE FUNERALFOR HOSNIMUBARAK

Cairo, Feb. 26: Egypt washolding a full-honours militaryfuneral on Wednesday for thecountry’s former autocraticPresident Hosni Mubarak,who was for decades the face ofstability in the Middle East butwho was ousted from power inthe 2011 Arab Spring uprisingthat swept much of the region.

A few dozen Mubarak sup-porters, clad in black and car-rying posters of the formerpresident, had gathered sincemorning hours at a mosquecomplex in an eastern NewCairo neighborhood, whereMubarak’s body was broughtfor the funeral service.

Military pallbearers carriedMubarak’s casket wrapped inthe Egyptian flag into the mos-que for prayers. Outside thesprawling mosque, a militaryphalanx waited to receive hiscoffin for burial. The 91-year-old Mubarak died on Tuesdayfrom heart and kidney compli-cations, according to medicaldocuments obtained.

He was admitted to hospitalon Jan. 21 with intestinal obs-truction and underwent surge-ry, after which he was treatedin intensive care.

Canberra: CaptainHeather Knight’s maiden

T20 International centuryhelped England notch upa record-breaking 98-run

victory over debutantsThailand in the Women’sT20 World Cup here on

Wednesday. Knight blast-ed a majestic 108 not outfrom 66 balls to become

the fourth batter to makea hundred at the eventand send records tum-

bling. Both Englandopeners were dismissed

for ducks for just the sec-ond time in T20Is. — PTI

Melbourne, Feb. 26: Shehas been the backbone ofIndian women’s cricketteam’s batting but swash-buckling India openerSmriti Mandhana isdelighted that teen prodi-gy Shafali Verma is steal-ing her thunder at theongoing Women’s T20

World Cup as it takesthe pressure off her.

The 23-year-oldMandhana, who hasbeen a key player forthe Indian team in thelast two-three years,said Verma is show-ing she is capable offilling her boots. “Iused to score a lot ofour runs in the lasttwo of three years,especially in thePowerplay, but nowwith Shafali com-ing in, she’s gettingthe runs in the wayI do. It makes theteam more bal-anced,” Mandhanasaid.

“Shafali has beena huge positivecoming into the T20

side. The way she’sgoing about her batting,it’s so easy to bat along-

side her,” she said on theeve of India’s matchagainst New Zealand onThursday.

Verma has alreadyannounced her emer-gence on the global stage.The 16-year-old hasscored 68 runs across twogames in this World Cup,including five sixes andseven fours, at an impres-sive strike rate of 212.

The teenager, who ismaking her ICC Women’sT20 World Cup debut inAustralia, picked up thePlayer of the Matchaward for her 39 runsagainst Bangladesh, agame which Mandhanamissed after picking upviral fever.

“I used to have a majorrole in Powerplays, butShafali is getting thequick runs in those firstovers now too. She’s madea huge impact and theteam has become morebalanced thanks to her,”said Mandhana.

She said Verma’s bestattribute is the “routineshe likes to follow and noone has gone in and toldher she has to changethat”. — PTI

Christchurch, Feb. 26:Trent Boult and TimSouthee have exposed thechinks in Prithvi Shaw’sarmour but India skipperVirat Kohli is ready towait and watch before anycorrective analysis as hedoes not see a pattern inthe young opener’s dis-missals so far.

There are a few short-comings that experts havenoticed in Shaw’s battingafter the 20-year-old right-handed batsman scoredjust 16 and 14 in the twoinnings of the first Testagainst New Zealand inWellington, which Indialost by 10 wickets.

“I think we can sit downand analyse, maybe after 8or 10 similar dismissals. Idon’t think (it’s fair to theguy), who is playing awayfrom home for the firsttime and is probably expe-riencing different kind ofbowling attack at interna-tional level compared toplaying at home,” Kohlihad said, when askedabout Shaw’s dismissalsat the end of the first Test.

“I don’t think at thisstage, we need to sit downand discuss what’s goingwrong because I don’t seeanything wrong. It’s theexecution of things whichwas not there.”

Shaw has, probably, thebiggest back-lift in thiscurrent crop of top-orderbatsmen and often whenthe New Zealand bowlersare employing the shortball tactic, his bat facetends to close by the timethe delivery reaches him.

Scott Kuggeleijn got himout in the first innings inthe warm-up game in

H a m i l t o n

and Trent Boult also usedthe tactic successfully inthe second innings. “Ithink as a batsman untilyou are committing thesame mistake about sevenor eight times, you can’treally sit down and worryabout things too much,”Kohli said.

International cricket isabout finding one’s ownstraps and Shaw also willwork out what is best forhim, feels the captain whohas 70 hundreds to hiscredit in all formats. “He(Shaw) will figure out. Hewill find ways to scoreruns because he is a natu-

ral stroke-player and he

scores runs. It is not thathe gets small runs (whenhe gets them). He gets bigruns and knows how toget runs.”

The reason why Shawfaltered could be due tothe lack of understandingof the pace of the BasinReserve track but the for-mer U-19 World Cup-win-ning skipper was notalone as some of theteam’s other big namesalso failed to gauge thenature of the pitch.

“It is just a matter ofunderstanding the pace ofthe wicket and conditionsas soon as possible.”

— PTI

CRICKET pg 12DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2020

SHORT TAKESDu Plessis out of

SA’s ODI squadJohannesburg: Former captainFaf du Plessis will not play forSouth Africa in a three-match

one-day international seriesagainst Australia but remains

part of the country’s futureplans, Cricket South Africa

(CSA) announced onWednesday. Du Plessis, who

stepped down from the captain-cy in all forms of the game ear-lier this month, is being restedalong with recent regular play-

ers in Rassie van der Dussenand Dwaine Pretorius, according

to a CSA statement. The firstmatch in the series will be in

Paarl on Saturday, following theconclusion of a Twenty20 series

in Cape Town on Wednesday.Test left-arm spinner Keshav

Maharaj has been rewarded forgood form in a domestic one-day tournament with his firstone-day international call-up

since 2018. Coach Mark Bouchersaid the squad was picked with

an eye to the future with thenext World Cup still three years

away. — AFP

Hambantota: Sri Lankacrushed West Indies by 161 runsin the second one-day interna-

tional to clinch the series inHambantota on Wednesday.

Chasing 346 for victory, WestIndies were bowled out for 184

in 39.1 overs with wrist spinnersWanindu Hasaranga and

Lakshan Sandakan taking threewickets each. Avishka Fernando,

who blasted 127, and KusalMendis, who made 119, put on239 runs in Sri Lanka’s highestthird-wicket stand as the hosts

amassed 345 for eight afterbeing put into bat. Skipper

Dimuth Karunaratne went forone and Kusal Perera fell for

nought in his 100th ODI beforeMendis denied Cottrell a hat-

trick and combined withFernando to thwart the

opposition bowling. Sri Lanka took an unbeatable

2-0 lead in the three-matchseries after edging the first

game by one wicket. The thirdmatch is in Kandy on Sunday.

— AFP

Fernando, Mendishelp SL win series

London: Steve Smith will skip-per Welsh Fire in English crick-et’s new Hundred competitiontwo years after being strippedof the Australia captaincy for

his role in a ball-tamperingscandal. Smith will lead a side

that includes Australia fastbowler Mitchell Starc as well as

England World Cup-winnersJonny Bairstow and Liam

Plunkett, together with risingstar Tom Banton and West

Indies paceman Ravi Rampaul.Smith lost the Australia captain-cy for his role in a ball-tamper-

ing scandal in 2018 during aTest in Cape Town and was

given a year-long ban byCricket Australia. Wednesday's

announcement came with Smithand David Warner, his then vice-

captain who was also bannedfor 12 months for his part in theincident, back at the Newlands

ground in Cape Town for aseries-deciding third Twenty20

international against SouthAfrica. — AFP

Smith will leadWelsh in Hundred

Christchurch, Feb. 26:Indian batsmen will geta liberal dose of “chinmusic” in the secondTest at the seamer-friendly Hagley Oval,senior New Zealandpacer Neil Wagnerdeclared on Wednesday,harping on the visitors’struggles when facedwith pace and bounce.

Wagner pulled out ofthe first Test to be withhis wife for the birth oftheir first child, daugh-ter Olivia. With Indiatroubled by short ballsbowled from round thewicket, the 33-year-oldWagner promised thatthey will employ thesame strategy duringthe second match start-ing Saturday.

“It’s obviously toughfor them to come hereand play where there isobviously a bit morebounce and pace,” saidWagner.

“Obviously, playing inIndia where there is notthat much bounce andpace around and so it issomething new for themto adapt to,” he added.

Wagner, just like hiscoach Gary Stead,believes that Indianswill be better but heexpects the home side tobe relentless in itsendeavour to compoundthe agony for the visi-tors.

“Hopefully, we cankeep the squeeze on andbowl the way the boysbowled in Wellingtonand if we can keep pil-ing the pressure on, wewill make the job a loteasier for ourselves,” hesaid.

The series is a shortone and that’s why it’staking time for theIndians to get used to theTest match conditions.

“...sometimes whenyou tour overseas, ittakes a match or two toget used to the condi-tions and adapt fromthere. No doubt they willbe better and they willcome back stronger.”

— PTI

Christchurch, Feb. 26: Aspecialist batsman duringhis formative years beforeshifting to fast bowling,New Zealand’s imposingpacer Kyle Jamiesonwants to transform intoan allrounder going for-ward.

The 25-year-old, whomade a dream debutagainst India in the firstTest, played as a batsman

in his younger days, and itwasn’t until he met thethen New Zealand U-19coach Dayle Hadlee thathe was asked to seriouslyconsider focusing on fastbowling as a primaryskill.

“I was pretty much a bat-ter all through high schooland then made the NewZealand U-19s, and DayleHadlee got a hold of me

and told me to run in,which kind of shifted metowards becoming more ofa bowler,” Jamieson wasquoted as saying by theICC’s official website.

“I always liked batting, itwas probably what I grewup admiring the most -whilst I did bowl, I did notthink of that as my careeroption growing up. NowI’m a bowler who can bat,

trying to get to the all-rounder stage, that’swhere I ideally want tobe,” the 6-ft-8-inch tall fastbowler said.

Jamieson impressedwith his bounce and abili-ty to extract movement inthe first innings of theWellington Test againstIndia, where he picked upfour wickets.

— PTI

Mumbai, Feb. 26:Australian pace legendGlenn McGrath onWednesday said India’sbowling attack remains a“world class” one despitethe recent debaclesagainst New Zealand andblamed the under-whelm-ing performance on fac-tors such as injury layoffsand toss. India lost by 10wickets in the openingTest against New Zealandin Wellington.

While Ishant Sharmareturned with a five-wick-et haul, his pace col-leagues Jasprit Bumrahand Mohammed Shamimanaged just one wicketeach as New Zealand post-ed a match-deciding firstinnings score of 348despite being 216 for six atone stage.

“I still have total faith inthe Indian (bowling) line-up. They had a fewinjuries of late. Sharmais coming back and he didget five wickets. Bumrahhad a couple of injuriesand he is coming back,”McGrath said.

“So, yeah, I think theIndian bowling attack isworld class and there isno doubt about that,” headded.

“I don’t have any issueswith the bowling attack,you don’t lose formovernight. It was just oneof those things where thetoss made a huge differ-ence. (in the first Test inNew Zealand), but youstill got to get and scoreruns.” McGrath praisedIshant for “reinventing”himself and also laudedShami and Bumrah.

“...the way he’s (Ishant)comeback in the last cou-ple years, it’s beenimpressive. I thought hiscareer might have beenfinished at internationallevel, but he has reinvent-ed himself and he is bowl-ing well,” said the 50-year-old, who is in the city fora Tourism Australiaevent.

“Jasprit is unique withthe way he goes about itshort run up, powersthrough the crease, canswing the ball, good con-trol and good pace (in)second third spells. And

then on top of that theother quicks and spin-ner.”‘INDIA WILL FACE THEHEAT IN AUSTRALIA’

Pace great GlennMcGrath believes thatwith the explosive duo ofDavid Warner and SteveSmith back in theAustralian team, Indiaare in for a tough timeduring their tour DownUnder later this year.

“Australia are playinggood cricket. Steve Smithand David Warner — bothare playing well and wesaw what Warner is capa-ble of in the Australiansummer. Having a bats-man like Warner back,and a quality batsmanlike Steve Smith, it’s atotally different game,”McGrath said.

India are set to tourAustralia later this yearfor four Tests.

“...it’s gonna be tougherfor India. That’s not to saythey they can’t performwell. They have got confi-dence of playing inAustralian conditionsnow and they know howto do it.”

MCGRATH BACKS DAY NIGHT TESTS

McGrath said the grow-ing popularity of the T20cricket is good forthe sport and probablythe new fans withembrace the challengingTest format.

“I am a big fan of Testcricket. To me, Test crick-et is still the ultimate andwe got to keep the gamefresh, people enjoying it.T20 has taken the worldby storm, it is bringing alot more people to cricketand that is brilliant andhopefully that will filterinto Test cricket.” — PTI

Melbourne, Feb. 26: On ahigh after two easy victorieson the trot, including oneagainst defending championAustralia, the Indianwomen’s cricket team willaim to inch closer to a semi-final berth when it takes onNew Zealand in the ICCWomen’s T20 World Cup hereon Thursday.

The Indians have hardlybroke a sweat in their 17-runand 18-run wins over hostsAustralia and Bangladesh intheir previous two matches,and they are perched at thetop of five-team Group Astandings with four pointsfrom two matches.

A win against New Zealandon Thursday will take theHarmanpreet Kaur-led sideon the threshold of a knock-out stage spot, to be compet-ed among top two teams fromGroup A and B.

In the two matches so far,the Indian team has beenimpressive both in battingand bowling.

The 16-year-old sensationShafali Verma has been thestandout batter with a whirl-wind 17-ball 39 againstBangladesh, following her 29against Australia. One-downJemmiah Rodrigues has alsobeen among the runs with 26and 34 in the two matches sofar.

Only captain Harmanpreet,among the top order batters,has not scored big and she isdue a big innings. India is

also likely to be bolstered bythe return of star openerSmriti Mandhana whomissed the match againstBangladesh due to fever.

The middle-order hasalso done its bit withDeepti Sharmaplaying a majorrole againstAustralia withan unbeaten 49while VedaK r i s h n a -murthy hit amatch-defining11-ball 20 not outfor a late flourisha g a i n s t

Bangladesh. The bowling department

has been led admirably byseasoned leg-spinnerPoonam Yadav — sevenwickets in the first twomatches — with pacerShikha Pandey ably support-ing her with five scalps sofar. New Zealand, though,have a better head-to-headrecord against India inrecent years, having won the

last three match-es between thetwo sides.

Exactly ayear back,

they had beat-en the Indianteam 3-0 in at h r e e - m a t c hT 2 0Internationalhome series.

India will,h o w e v e r ,

remember their massive 34-run win against NewZealand in the previous edi-tion of the T20 World Cup in2018 in the West Indies.

Harmanpreet had struck amemorable 103 to lead herside to victory. New Zealandhave some top class playersin their ranks in the form ofcaptain and all-rounderSophie Devine and top-orderbatswoman Suzie Bateswhile pacer Lea Tahuhu andleg-spinner Amelia Kerr willlead the bowling depart-ment. They will go intothis match on a highafter an easy seven-wicket win over SriLanka on Saturday.

Devine had led herside from the frontwith an unbeaten 75off 55 balls at the topof the order in thatwin. — PTI

McGrath backsBumrah & Co.

Skipper Kohli throws his weight behind misfiring PrithviShaw must go on?

India strugglingto counter pace &bounce: Wagner

Jamieson wants to turn into allrounder

Kohli losestop spot inTest rankingsDubai, Feb. 26: Indiaskipper Virat Kohli lostthe top spot in the ICCTest Player Rankingsafter managing only 21runs in the first Testwhich his side lost toNew Zealand by 10 wick-ets in Wellington.

Kohli, who has 906points, slipped to the sec-ond position in the listwhich also featuresAjinkya Rahane, Pujaraand Mayank Agarwl atthe eighth, ninth and10th place respectively.While Rahane, returnedto a career-best 10thposition. — PTI

Shaw will figure out. He will find ways toscore runs because he is a natural

stroke-player and he scores runs. — VIRAT KOHLI

India women eye hat-trick of wins as they meet KiwisLIVE on TV

India vs New Zealandon STAR Sports 2, 2HD

FROM 9.30 AM

Smriti doesn’t mind sharinglimelight with young Shafali

Prithvi Shaw (left) and Rishabh Pant in this file photo. — AFP

England’s Heather Knight with her Player of the Matchaward after scoring an unbeaten 108 against Thailandin the Women’s T20 World Cup.

KNIGHT HITS TONAS ENGLAND WIN

Canberra: Skipper BismahMaroof anchored thechase with an unbeaten38-run knock as Pakistanthumped former champi-ons West Indies by eightwickets in their openingmatch of the ICCWomen’s T20 World Cup,here on Wednesday.Diana Baig’s fierce spellof fast bowling exposed astruggling Windies toporder as they posted 124for seven, courtesyStafanie Taylor (43) andShemaine Campbelle(43). — PTI

PAKISTAN BEGINWITH A BANG!

Smriti Mandhana

Glenn MMcGrath

A file photo of Jasprit Bumrah (left) and IshantSharma. — ICC

Neil WWagner

London, Feb. 26: SergeGnabry fired BayernMunich to the brink ofthe Champions Leaguequarterfinals as theGerman’s double inspireda superb 3-0 rout ofChelsea in the last-16 firstleg at Stamford Bridge.

Gnabry had tormentedTottenham Hotspur withfour goals in Bayern’s 7-2victory in north Londonearlier this season and theformer Arsenal wingerreturned to the Englishcapital to push Chelsea tothe brink of elimination.

The 24-year-old’s timewith Arsenal was a disap-pointment and he evenflopped during a loan spellat West Bromwich Albion.

But he has been rebornwith Bayern and his twogoals in the space of threeminutes left Hansi Flick’sside within touching dis-tance of the last eight.

Robert Lewandowski gotBayern’s third beforeChelsea defender MarcosAlonso was sent off in the83rd minute on Tuesday.

Chelsea will need anoth-er Munich miracle in thesecond leg on March 18 tooverturn the deficit at theAllianz Arena, where theyfamously beat theGerman club in the 2012Champions League final.

Bayern’s pressure wasmounting and Muellerdrifted onto Gnabry’scross to flick a back head-er against the bar.

Lampard had kept faithwith Olivier Giroud afterthe 33-year-old marked hisfirst start since Novemberwith a goal in Saturday’swin against Tottenham.

But retaining Giroud atthe expense of TammyAbraham was a big gam-ble and the Chelsea strik-er’s muscular but immo-bile presence offered littleto unsettle Bayern.

Bayern deservedly tookthe lead in the 51st minutewith a superbly craftedgoal. Gnabry’s deft controland pass sentLewandowski into theChelsea area and when hecut the ball back, histeammate made a perfect-ly-timed run to fire lowpast Caballero.

INSPIRED NAPOLI HOLDBARCELONA AT HOME

Antoine Griezmann res-cued a 1-1 draw forBarcelona at Napoli in thefirst leg of theirChampions League last-16tie.

Frenchman Griezmannstruck just before thehour mark in Naples afterDries Mertens had put thehosts ahead in the 30thminute with his 121stNapoli goal, drawing levelwith Marek Hamsik as theclub’s all-time top scorer.

Barcelona ended thegame with 10 men afterArturo Vidal was sent offwith two minutes to goafter picking up two yel-low cards, following anangry clash with Napolidefender Mario Rui.

The clash was the firstbetween the two teamsand also a ChampionsLeague debut for bothSetien and Napoli coun-terpart Gennaro Gattuso,who took over after thegroup stage.

Messi failed to score onhis first appearance at theStadio San Paolo, whereNapoli legend DiegoMaradona reignedsupreme three decadesago. The 32-year-old Messiscored four goals at theweekend in Barcelona’s 5-0 win over Eibar.

— AFP

London still redGAMES pg 13DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2020

City file appeal with CAS

Yufei, Axelsen to play India OpenNew Delhi, Feb. 26:World No.1 Chen Yufeiand defending men’s sin-gles champion ViktorAxelsen will headline astar-studded internation-al contingent when the10th edition of the IndiaOpen Super 500 tourna-ment will begin here onMarch 24.

With the Olympic quali-fication cut-off set to endon April 26, the $400,000event will see a galaxy ofstars, including eight ofthe world’s top 10 womensingles and three of top10 men singles players,descending at the Indiancapital.

A number of topChinese players, who

were cleared to partici-pate in upcoming BWFWorld Tour tournamentsin Europe, are expected toparticipate in the USD400,000 event, despite thefears surrounding thedeadly coronavirus,which began spreadingfrom Wuhan, China.

Besides Yufei, worldnumber eight He Bingjiaoand former All Englandchampion Shi Yu Qi arethe other stars of theChinese squad who areexpected to compete atthe Indira GandhiInternational Stadium.

Yufei will be leadingeight of the world’s top 10women’s singles shuttlerswith the others being

Japan’s AkaneYamaguchi, China’s HeBingjiao, Spain’sCarolina Marin, Korea’sAn Se Young, Canada’sMichelle Li, three-timechampion RatchanokIntanon of Thailand andIndia’s very own worldchampion P. V. Sindhu,besides former WorldNo.1 Saina Nehwal.

Among the men, whileAxelsen will be gunningfor his third title, he willhave to contend with fel-low top-10 players, India’sB Sai Praneeth and 2018winner Shi Yuqi ofChina.

Korea’s Son Wan Ho, a2012 champion and for-mer World No. 1, will be

another of the star shut-tlers vying for the title.

Three-time world juniorchampion KunlavutVitidsarn, who reachedthe Barcelona SpainMasters final this month,will be one of the youngguns capable of causingan upset.

For Saina Nehwal thetournament will be cru-cial as she would look tobag some valuable rank-ing points.

Former CommonwealthGames gold medallistParupalli Kashyap, HSPrannoy, Sourabh Verma,Sameer Verma andLakshya Sen are theother Indians to competeat the event. — PTI

Lausanne, Feb. 26:Manchester City’s appealagainst their two-yearEuropean ban for breach-es of financial regula-tions has been officiallyregistered by the Court ofArbitration for Sport,CAS announced onWednesday.

The Premier Leagueclub, who were also fined30 million euros ($32.5million) by European foot-ball's governing bodyUEFA earlier this month,had immediately contest-ed the “flawed” processand stated their intentionto appeal.

CAS said in a statementon Wednesday: “The

Court of Arbitration forSport (CAS) has regis-tered an appeal filed byManchester City footballclub against the Union ofEuropean FootballAssociations (UEFA).

“The appeal is directedagainst the decision ofthe adjudicatory chamberof the UEFA ClubFinancial Control Body(CFCB) dated 14 February2020 in which ManchesterCity was deemed to havecontravened UEFA's ClubLicensing and FinancialFair Play Regulations.”

CAS said it was not pos-sible to say when the mat-ter would be resolved butit is expected to take sev-

eral months.The adjudicatory cham-

ber said on February 14City had broken the rulesby “overstating its spon-sorship revenue in itsaccounts and in the break-even information submit-ted to UEFA between 2012and 2016.”

Pep Guardiola’s Cityface losing hundreds ofmillions of pounds inprize money, TV revenue,gate receipts and sponsor-ship income should theirappeal fail.

Last week, City FootballGroup CEO FerranSoriano said the clubhoped to have their appealheard by CAS. — AFP

SARRI CALLS FORCALM AMIDSTVIRUS THREATLyon, Feb. 26: Juventuscoach Maurizio Sarrirejected suggestions thatsupporters of his sideshould not be allowed toattend Wednesday’sChampions League clashwith Lyon in France dueto the coronavirus out-break in Italy.

The virus had claimed11 lives in Italy byTuesday evening, with 322confirmed infections, andauthorities have saidupcoming matches in

Italian league will beplayed behind closed

doors to combatits spread, aswell as

Thursday’s EuropaLeague game betweenInter Milan andLudogorets of Bulgaria.

The mayors of the twotowns in the Lyon sub-urbs across which theGroupama Stadium, thevenue for Wednesday'sgame, is situated havecalled for away fans to bebanned from attending asa result. However, close to3,000 fans from Italy areexpected at the game.

“In my opinion it is aEuropean problem, not anItalian problem,” saidSarri, as the first questionat Tuesday's press confer-ence before theChampions League last16, first leg focused on thecoronavirus outbreak.

“In Italy we have done3,500 tests and we have acertain number of posi-tive cases. In Franceabout 300 tests have beendone, so probably if theyhad done as many tests asus there would be asmany positive cases.

JAPAN CALLS OFFLEAGUE GAMESDUE TO CORONA

SHUTTLERS RAVI,RITHVIK WIN ATDUTCH TOURNEYHaarlem (the Nether-lands), Feb. 26: YoungIndian shuttlers Ravi andRithvik Sanjeevi SatishKumar registeredstraight-game victories inthe U-19 men’s singlesopening round at theDutch JuniorInternational tourna-ment here on Wednesday.

While Ravi fromHaryana wrapped up thematch 21-11 21-8 comfort-ably against hisIndonesian opponentMade Deco Setya Atmaja,Tamil Nadu’s Rithvikthrashed Zhiyuan Lee 21-12, 21-11. — PTI

Tokyo, Feb. 26: Japansuspended its footballleague on Tuesday, mak-ing it the latest sportingvictim of the deadly coro-navirus with just fivemonths to go before theTokyo Olympics.

All J-League and cupgames were postponeduntil mid-March as Japanjoined China and SouthKorea in putting domesticfootball on hold in a bid tostem the outbreak.

“J-League made a bigdecision over the spreadof infections of the newcoronavirus,” the league’schairman Mitsuru Muraitold a news conference.

“We have decided topostpone Levain Cupgames scheduled fortomorrow and all the offi-cial games... scheduleduntil March 15.”

On Monday, a medicalpanel advising Japan’sgovernment warned thecoming weeks will be“critical” in preventingthe outbreak from spread-ing out of control.

At least 156 people havetested positive for thevirus in Japan, alongwith nearly 700 on acruise ship that was quar-antined. Four people whofell ill on the ship havedied. Domestically, Japanhas reported one fatalitylinked to the virus.

— AFP

Sonam defeatsSakshi againLucknow, Feb. 26:Proving her mettle yetagain, young Sonam Malikdowned Sakshi Malik forthe second time in a row,this time by pinning theOlympic medallist, tomake it to the Indian teamfor next month’s OlympicQualifiers here onWednesday.

Asked to re-appear in tri-als after not-so-strong per-formance at the RomeRanking series event andthe recently-concludedAsian Championships, the18-year-old Sonam toreapart the challenge ofestablished seniors in the62kg competition.

She first got past Radhikaand then caring little forreputations, Sonam beatthe Asian Championship59kg gold medallist SaritaMor (3-1) in the semifinalsbefore winning by fallagainst Rio Olympicsbronze medallist Sakshi inthe final.

She pinned Sakshi in thesecond period when shewas trailing 1-2 and oneminute left in the bout.

Nine wrestlers appearedin the 62kg trials, PoojaDhanda and a few fromupper weight categories.

“There was no nervous-ness before the bouts. I was

determined to competehard. I have fought againstthem before and I knew Ihad to battle it out. So I wasprepared,” Sonam said.

“And I have alreadyfought with Sarita inBawana in 2018 during a‘Dangal’. I had to fighthard, you can’t say it’s easyfor me. The competitionwas definitely better at theAsian Championships butour wrestlers are also get-ting better.”

Sonam said she needs tohone her style before theBishkek Qualifiers.

“I will try my best. I needto work on my leg defenceand ground attack beforethe Bishkek Qualifiers,”she added. Sonam also saidthat she will seek guidancefrom seniors, includingSakshi and Sarita, beforethe qualifiers. — PTI

Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal duringtheir UEFA Champions League prequaertfinal first leg match against Chelsea at theStamford Bridge in London on Tuesday. Bayern won 3-0. — AFP

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (centre) fouls Napoli’s goalkeeper David Ospina (right) dur-ing their UEFA Champions League pre-quarterfinal first-leg match at the San PaoloStadium in Naples on Tuesday. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. — AFP

Gnabry tweets post Bayern’s win over Blues Diva announces retirement

Goodbye tennis,says SharapovaParis, Feb. 26: Five-timeGrand Slam winner MariaSharapova, one of theworld’s most recognisablesportswomen, onWednesday announced herretirement at the age of 32.

“Tennis — I’m sayinggoodbye. After 28 years andfive Grand Slam titles,though, I’m ready to scaleanother mountain — tocompete on a different typeof terrain,” Sharapovasaid in an article for Vogueand Vanity Fair maga-zines.

Sharapova burst onto thescene as a supremely giftedteenager and won herGrand Slams before serv-ing a 15-month ban for fail-ing a drugs test at the 2016Australian Open. Whenshe did play she lost asmany matches as she wonand was dumped out in thefirst rounds at Wimbledon,the US Open and, mostrecently, the AustralianOpen in Melbourne.

Sharapova shot to fameas a 17-year-old Wimbledonwinner in 2004, the third-youngest player to conquerthe All England Club’s hal-lowed grass courts.

She became world num-ber one in 2005 and won theUS Open the next year.

“One of the keys to mysuccess was that I neverlooked back and I neverlooked forward,”Sharapova said onWednesday. “I believed thatif I kept grinding andgrinding, I could pushmyself to an incredibleplace,” Maria added.

But in 2007 Sharapovabegan her long on-off bat-tle with shoulder trouble.She would win the 2008

Australian Open before asecond shoulder injurykept her off tour for thesecond half of the season.

In 2012, the Siberian-bornSharapova captured theFrench Open to become the10th woman to complete acareer Grand Slam. Sheadded Olympic silver toher resume that year.

More fitness troubles fol-lowed before the bombshellannouncement of her posi-tive test for the bannedheart drug meldonium.

“In giving my life to ten-nis, tennis gave me a life,”Sharapova said in herretirement missive.

“I’ll miss it everyday. I’llmiss the training and mydaily routine: Waking up atdawn, lacing my left shoebefore my right, and clos-ing the court’s gate before Ihit my first ball of the day.I’ll miss my team, mycoaches. I’ll miss themoments sitting with myfather on the practice courtbench. The handshakes —win or lose — and the ath-letes, whether they knew itor not, who pushed me tobe my best,” she added.

— AFP

Maria Sharapova in this file photo.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

2004: Wimbledon win-ner.

2008: Tour Finals winner.

2006: US Open winner.2008: Australian Open

winner.2008: Fed Cup winner.2012 & 2014: French

Open winner.2012: Olympics silver

medallist.

SHORT

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, FEB. 26

Head Quarters and North Zonewon their respective matches inthe Food Corporation of India’s

All-India Inter-zonal CricketTournament being played at the

Gymkhana Grounds here onTuesday.

In the first match, SumitMathur (43) and Rajinder Bist

(41) helped Head Quarters posta mammoth total of 186/2 in

their stipulated 20 overs on aflat batting strip.

Chasing 187 for a win, SouthZone (138/9) lost the match by

48 runs. Vishnu was the lonebright star for South Zone as he

made 48 while Chevron D.Selva contributed 45 to his

team’s score. Rajinder snared four wickets

for just nine runs.In the other match, riding on

Nitin Saini’s 94 and S.Yatharth's 50, North zone

(184/5) defeated East Zone(167/4) by 17 runs.

Karan Lal remained unbeatenon 69, Sudeep G. added 31 to

the team’s tally and Indranil B.played his part with a brilliant

24 for East Zone.

BRIEF SCORES

Head Quarters 186/2 in 20overs (Sumit Mathur 43,

Rajinder Bist 41, Subham C 33,Chetan Sharma 26) bt South

Zone 138/9 in 20 overs (Vishnu48, Chevron D Selva 45).

North Zone 184/5 in 20 overs(Nitin Saini 94, Yatharth S. 50,Nilava Debnath 2/24) bt Eastzone 167/4 in 20 overs (Karan

Lal 69 n. o. , Sudeep G. 31,Indranil B. 24 n. o. , Mayank M.

2/22).

TAKES

Head Quartersbeat South Zone

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, FEB. 26

Uttar Pradesh’s decision to batfirst backfired as they lost toHyderabad by two wicktes in

their BCCI Women’s Senior OneDay Trophy tournament played

at the Lalbhai ContractorStadium in Surat on

Wednesday.Electing to bat first, Uttar

Pradesh posted 147/10 in 48.overs. Aditi top-scored with 35while V. Kavya Mahesh picked

3/27.Chasing 148 for a win,

Hyderabad won the match inthe last ball of the innings and

with two wickets to spare.For Hyderabad, Mamatha

Kanojia impressed with 67.

BRIEF SCORES

Uttar Pradesh 147 in 48.4 overs(Aditi 35, V. Kavya Mahesh 3/27,

Bhogi Shravani 2 /38) lost toHyderabad 148/8 in 50 overs

(Mamtha Kanojia 67, RashiKanojiya 3/22, Kajal 3/27).Points: Hyderabad 4, Uttar

Pradesh 0.

Mamtha shinesas city side win

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, FEB. 26

The State Bank of India,Hyderabad blanked SBI,

Ahmedabad, 3-0 at the StateBank of India Inter-Circle

Football Tournament beingplayed in Visakhapatnam.

Mohd Fareed found the backof the twice while Mohd Qiazr

scored a goal to helpHyderabad triumph.

SBI, Hyderabad, whoremained unbeaten in the

league state have directly quali-fied for the semifinal stage of

the tournament and will take onSBI, North East, for a place in

the final.

SBI Hyderabadmake semifinal

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, FEB. 26

The Hyderabad DistrictAthletics Association is goingto organise selection trials for

both the under-20 boys andgirls at the Nizam College

Grounds on March 2. Selected athletes will repre-

sent Hyderabad at theFederation Cup Telangana State

Athletics Championship to beheld on March 11 and 12 in

Warangal.Interested athletes must

report to K. M. Chisty,Organising Secretary at venue

along with date of birth certifi-cates by 7.30 am.

Athletics trials incity on March 2

Regd. No. H/SD/509/2018-20Printed and Published by

T. Venkateswarlu on behalf ofDeccan Chronicle Holdings Limited.Printed at Deccan Chronicle Presssituated at Plot No. 9 Alwal Village,

Vallabh Nagar Taluk, MedchalMalkajgiri Dist. Telangana andPublished at 36, S.D. Road,

Secunderabad-3.RNI Registration No. 3081/1957.

Editor: Aditya Sinha

Sonam MMalik

c m y k c m y k

pg 14DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2020