PNS n DUBAI

Mumbai Indians (MI) onTuesday cruised to theirfifth Indian Premier League(IPL) title with a five-wick-et win over Delhi Capitals(DC) in the final at theDubai InternationalStadium. MI have becomethe first team in nine yearsto win back-to-back titlesafter Chennai Super Kingsdid it in 2010 and 2011.

Captain Rohit Sharmascored his first half-centurysince October 1 as MIchased down a target of 157with nine balls to spare.

Earlier, DC recoveredfrom losing three wicketsin the first four overs topost 156/7 wickets. Bycontrast, MI were ontop from the first overwith a 45-run partnershipbetween openers Sharma andQuinton de Kock.

HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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PNS n HYDERABAD

The Bharatiya JanataParty scripted historyin Telangana onTuesday by winningthe Dubbak Assemblybypoll, with the rul-ing TRS losing itsbastion by a whisker.

In the triangularcontest, which sawTRS, BJP and theCongress play forhigh stakes, the BJPpulled off a victory bya wafer-thin marginof 1,079 votes overthe ruling TRS in thecounting held till thelast 25th round.

Interestingly, BJPwas leading by 1,431votes till the end of23rd round. However,counting had to bestopped after theremaining fourEVMs, in which 1,669votes had beenpolled, faced glitches.Later, officials count-ed VVAT slips in twoof the EVMs in 24thand 25th rounds,after which BJP'smajority was 1,079.Thereafter, officials

stopped counting ofvotes in the remain-ing two EVMs sincethere were only 897votes polled in themand the BJP candidatehad by then secured amajority of 1,079votes. They declaredBJP candidate MRaghunandan Rao asthe winner.

While the initialrounds clearly wentin favor of the saffron

party, the TRS nar-rowed the gap by

gaining momen-tum in the laterrounds -- from13th to 17th.Till the finalresults wereannounced,anxiety grippedboth TRS andBJP camps asthe votingcould have tilt-ed either way.

NDA RETAINS BIHAR, CONGSPOILS TEJASHWI’S PARTYPNS n NEW DELHI

The National DemocraticAlliance looked all set to retainBihar after a spirited fight putup by the Mahagatbandhan thatwas bogged down by theCongress, even as counting ofvotes continued well intoTuesday night.

As of 11:00 pm on Tuesday,the ruling NDA maintaining aslender edge over the RJD-ledGrand alliance, winning orleading in 122 seats, the exactnumber needed to retain power,while the RJD, the oppositionalliance's spearhead, in 114seats.

Leading theMahagatbandhan fight,Tejashwi Yadav’s RashtriyaJanata Dal looked to havebagged 77, the most number ofseats while the Congress aheadin 19 seats.

The lacklustre show by theCongress in Bihar seems tohave proven costly for theMahagatbandhan, as it draggeddown the RJD too from thegovernment formation in theHindi heartland state.

While the Congress lostground in Bihar, it also sufferedsignificant electoral losses inMadhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradeshand Gujarat, losing a majorityof bypolls in key states that sawthe BJP surging ahead.

In Bihar, the Congress's tallydropped from 27 in 2015 to

nearly 20 as per the latest trendsavailable that saw the RJD-ledgrand alliance narrowly lagbehind the BJP-led NDA.

Though theCongressimproved itsvote share from6.66 per cent in2015 to 9.46 per centin this election, itsstrike rate this timewas less than 30per cent as against66 percent last time.

The grand oldparty had contestedin 70 seats this timewith its ally RJD con-testing in themajority seats. In2015, theCongresshad con-tested in41 seats.

NDApartnerJD(U) haswon fourseats and isleading in 37 places, in amajor slide for the partythat had won 71 seatswhen it fought the 2015assembly polls inalliance with theRJD. The VIP haswon two seatsand its candi-dates areleading in

two more, while the HAM haswon the Imamganj seat and isleading in two constituencies.

The NDA has won or is lead-ing in 122 seats, just seven morethan the Grand Alliance.

If the current trend contin-ues, the NDA could end up

with the 122 seatsrequired for

a simple

majority, but there could bemany a slip between the cupand the lip with the oppositionalliance rapidly closing the gap.

Not only has the RJD edgedpast the BJP in terms of num-bers but also garnered morevotes. While the saffron partyhas polled 19.39 per cent votes,the RJD clinched 23.43 percent.

Overconfidence proved tobe nemesis of TRS partyL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

In a nail-biting finish to afiercely fought by-polls inwhich the stakes were unusu-ally high, the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) wrested theDubbak Assembly seat inTelangana by defeating theruling Telangana RashtraSamithi albeit with a slendermargin.

After a lot of breath-takingfluctuations till the completionof 23 rounds of counting in theevening, the see-saw battlecame to a close, with BJP can-didate M Raghunandan Raodefeating TRS candidateSolipeta Sujatha. Rao secured62,772 votes, while Sujatha

ended up with 61,302 votes.Congress candidate CherukuSrinivas Reddy finished a poorthird with 21,819 votes.

DUBBAK DEBACLE

Wake-up callfor us: KTR

The Telangana RashtraSamiti's defeat in the

Dubbak by-elections, albeitwith a slender margin ofnearly 1,500 votes, hasterribly upset the party,though its leadership has putup a brave front, assertingthat the debacle would notmake much difference to theparty. At a presser after theresult of the bypoll wasdeclared on Tuesday,

Congress requiresoverhaul not repairPNS n HYDERABAD

Given the outcome of theDubbak bypolls, the TelanganaPradesh Congress Committee(TPCC), which once againfailed to make animpact, requires anoverhaul. Mere rit-ualistic reshuffle isnot enough. Thisis the gut feelingof TPCC-watch-ers, consideringthat top party lead-ers, in spite of camp-ing in Dubbak, could notinfluence the poll outcome. Instark contrast, the BharatiyaJanata Party, despite having asmall force at the ground level,could stop the TRS in its

tracks, say some insiders in theCongress.

The Congress seems to bedrifting with no clear goal. Theparty has nothing to claim,except the fact that it hap-

pened to be instrumen-tal in the grant of

statehood toTelangana. It is notable to have anyd e m o n s t r a b l eimpact in politics.

Whatever be theelection, the party

has been tasting defeatafter defeat.

The TPCC had shifted gearsfollowing the appointment ofManickam Tagore as theTPCC in-charge.

Target: 122

NDA 124 -1

ALLIANCE RESULTS CHANGE

MGB 111 +1

LJP 1 -1

243 / 243

BIHA

R

ASSEMBLYELECTIONS

n WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump willpush ahead on Tuesday withlongshot legal challenges tohis loss to DemocraticPresident-elect Joe Biden inlast week’s election, asRepublican officials at thestate and federal level lined upbehind him. PennsylvaniaRepublican state lawmakersplan to call for an audit of theresults in the state that gaveBiden enough electoral votesto win, the day after U.S.Attorney General WilliamBarr told federal prosecutors

to look into “substantial” alle-gations of irregularities.

1.1 lakh property tax payers used OTSPNS|HyderabadNearly 1, 10 000 citizens

have so far paid their proper-ty tax arrears under the OneTime Scheme. According toGHMC Commissioner D SLokesh Kumar, there are onlyfive more days left to pay prop-erty tax arrears under the

One Time Scheme, whichwaives up to 90 per cent of theinterest component on prop-erty tax arrears up to the2019-20 financial year. OTSscheme for pending arrears ofproperty tax and water bills isopen up to November 15.

DUBBAK EFFECT

KCR's 'federal front' may be the victimPNS n HYDERABAD

One of the unintended conse-quences of the Dubbak bypolloutcome is that TRS chief andChief Minister K ChandrasekharRao's plan to take forward hisidea of a non-BJP non-CongressFederal Front, conceived beforethe 2019 Lok Sabha polls,remains a non-starter.

Until Tuesday morning, itwas widely expected in politi-cal circles that KCR would takea decisive plunge into nation-al politics, riding on the crestof a RJD-led Grand Alliancewave in Bihar. He had report-

edly even made plans to be inNew Delhi post-results.However, with the "BJP wave"

showing in the election resultsannounced in various States,including Telangana, by after-noon on Tuseday KCR's hopeswere dashed.

According to party insiders,KCR had planned to revive his

Federal Front (or 'Third Front'as some prefer to call it) bybringing regional partiestogether against BJP after theBihar Assembly polls. For, hewas anticipating that the BJP-led NDA would suffer defeatand the regional party RJDwould come to power in Bihar.

There was intense debate inTRS circles that KCR hadalmost decided to hand overreins to his son and partyworking president K T RamaRao so as to be in a position tofocus more on national politicsafter the Bihar Assembly polls.

Pawan hailsDubbak win,says peoplewith BJPPNS n HYDERABAD

Extending congratulationsto Raghunandan Rao andTelangana BJP leadershipfor registering victory inDubbak, Jana Sena ChiefPawan Kalyan said thatDubbak victory is evidencethat the people have confi-dence in BJP leadership.Bandi Sanjay leadershipqualities paved the way tothe victory of the party can-didate.

Raghunandan Rao’s char-acter and commitmentensured victory to him. Hethanked one and all whocontributed their part inthe victory of the BJP can-didate.

Red flag flieshigh in BiharCPI(ML) wins 5 seatsPNS n NEW DELHI

With a win in five seats andleads in 11 others, theCPI(ML) is all set for animpressive performance in theBihar Assembly electionswhose results will be declaredlate on Tuesday.

Inarguably the biggest gain-er in the Grand Alliance, theCommunist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist), often work-ing in the margins of main-stream politics, had 19 candi-dates in the fray, most of themstudents and youth leaders.

According to the trends at

8.30 pm on Tuesday, the Leftparties -- CPI(ML) has wonfive of the 19 seats they foughton and is leading in sevenseats; CPI(M) which compet-ed on four seats has won oneand is leading in one seat; andthe CPI which contested in sixseats has won one seat and isleading in two others.

In the 2015 Assembly elec-tion, the CPI(ML) had baggedthree seats. It had won sevenseats in the 2005 polls. Theparty secured six seats in the2000 election and in 2010, itfailed to get any seat.

AW

AIT

ED

0

OTH 7 +1

With the "BJPwave" showing inthe election results,by afternoon onTuseday KCR'shopes were dashed

Dubbak debacle casts shadowon TRS’s GHMC poll plansPNS n HYDERABAD

The defeat of the ruling TRS inthe Dubbak Assembly bypollat the hands of BJP has cast ashadow on the upcomingGHMC polls. The term of thepresent GHMC Council willend on February 10, 2021.

The TRS had previouslyplanned to advance theGHMC polls to November/December 2020 to take advan-tage of a weak Opposition in

Telangana. However, theOctober heavy rains and con-sequent floods in Hyderabadand elsewhere in the state,causing huge distress to peo-ple and heavy property loss,threw cold water on its plansto go for early polls.

Sensing public mood, theTRS government later changedits plans. It was widely expect-ed that GHMC polls would beheld latest by Sankranthi(January 2021).

However, the Dubbak out-come has forced TRS chief andChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, his sonand party working president torethink on the desirability ofholding GHMC polls inJanuary/February. The viewthat delaying GHMC polls bya few more months i.e. till TRSfeels comfortable, is gainingground because of the politi-cal implications.

Trump challenges Bidenvictory, AG okays probe

There isGHMC

Harish owns upresponsibilityfor Dubbakdefeat P:2

Mumbai Indiansclinch fifth IPL title

TRS lost its bastion by a whisker

2

2 2 2 2

2

2

2 2

2

PNS n NEW DELHI

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, whichwas given tags like 'vote cut-ter' and spoiler in the BiharAssembly polls, appeared setto win five Muslim-dominat-ed seats on Tuesday and saidits critics have got a befittingreply from the people.

With the election resultson a knife's edge, AIMIMcould play a key role in theformation of the next gov-ernment in case there is ahung Assembly, having cap-tured a sizeable number ofseats in the Seemanchalregion, which was seen as astronghold of the grandopposition alliance.

Our critics gota strong reply,AIMIM chief

BJP blooms in Dubbak

BJP candidate Raghunandan Rao sprang asurprise victory with 1079 votes majority

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Irrespective of the outcomeof the DubbakAssembly bypoll, it

is clear that more chal-lenges from the BJPawait TRS president K.Chandrasekhar Raoin the days to come.

Suffice to say, thissituation is of KCR’sown making —he was theone who wilfully allowed theBJP to expand its base inTelangana by systematicallyweakening the Congress soonafter taking over reins of thenew state.

Not satisfied with a totter-ing Congress, KCR continuedhis ‘mission’ in his secondterm, unwittingly creatingspace for the BJP to grow andemerge as a viable force. Thiswas clear from its victory infour Lok Sabha seats in 2019.

Unlike the Congress, theBJP is an ideology-based polit-ical outfit that has very suc-cessfully made inroads in state

after state by creating areligious ‘vote bank’ —

polarisation of votes onthe lines of religion.

The BJP draws people toit by way of taking up issues

and giving them areligious touch. The

Ram Janmabhoomi move-ment, considered the biggest-ever religiously motivated pro-gramme, gathered steam onlyafter the BJP took it up.Religious fervour and an ‘eas-ier to influence’ populacemakes making inroads intoTelangana easier for the BJPthan in Andhra region. Thiswas true even when the statewas undivided.

Jana Sangh, the earlieravatar of the BJP, had legisla-tors in the Assembly of theundivided state half a centuryago — in 1967, C. Janga Reddywon from Parakala inWarangal district. The sameJanga Reddy defeated formerPrime Minister PV Narasimha

Rao (then member of theRajiv Gandhi Cabinet) fromthe Hanamkonda Lok Sabhaseat in 1984.

While the downfall of theCongress has much to do withthe BJP’s rise in Telangana, itis not the only reason. The BJPhas painstakingly worked hardto implement its plans to growpolitically in south India, andits backing of the separateTelangana agitation was onesuch move.

The BJP national leadershipplayed a role in Parliament ingetting the AP ReorganisationAct-2014 passed by voice vote.Thereon, it began seekingvotes by projecting itself as acrucial player in getting thedream of separate Telanganarealised. To buttress this claim,it began saying that a separateTelangana state wouldn't havebeen possible without its sup-port in Parliament.

Prominent BJP leader

Sushma Swaraj began describ-ing herself as 'Chinnamma'and started comparing herselfwith UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi whom Congress cadreaddressed as 'Amma' who gaveT-state.

The separate Telanganamovement came in handy forthe BJP to expand its base in

Telangana since the party stateunit had unanimously resolvedfor bifurcation of AP at its July13, 1997 state-level meeting inKakinada.

While the BJP has alwayslooked at the separateTelangana issue from a polit-ical mileage angle, the partyhad no hesitation to dump theissue for the support of TDPthat won 29 Lok Sabha seats inthe 1999 General Election.Vajpayee’s Premiership hingedon TDP’s political supportand since Chandrababu Naiduwas an integrationist, the BJPwillingly agreed to put the sep-arate Telangana issue on theback-burner.

Subsequently, it had to facesevere criticism of double-standard on the issue, butthen again, public memory isshort.

After bifurcation, the TRSopted to contest the 2014alone, instead of the much-expected alliance with the

Congress. To justify this, KCRclaimed that he was ill-treatedby the Congress.

The TRS got a simplemajority in the Assembly butnot satisfied with his party'svictory over the Congress,KCR set out to weaken the lat-ter. With almost single-mind-ed dedication, KCR has almostemptied the CongressLegislature Party. This ulti-mately led to the Congress los-ing the status of principalopposition in the Assembly.

This was the opening theBJP needed, and it set out toimplement its strategy of reli-gious polarisation to get votesin its favour.

The reason behind BJP'shopes is the considerable pres-ence of the AIMIM inTelangana, and Hyderabad inparticular, that has been win-ning the Hyderabad Lok Sabhaseat since 1984. The BJP realis-es that there is much scope forit to polarise Hindu votes in

places where Muslims havesome political influence.

In fact, many leaders hadopposed separate Telangana,saying that they feared anypossible upsurge of BJP wouldlead to religious polarisationand ultimately Muslimsbecoming the target forHindutva forces. With the for-mation of Telangana, BJP'splans are being implementedon these lines slowly, butsteadily. This is evident fromthe political atmosphere thatprevailed in the run-up to theDubbak Assembly bypoll.

It may be safe to say that thepolitical situation would havebeen different had KCR notwilfully weakened theCongress. Resultantly, the TRSnow faces a political rival thatit would not be able to tackleas easily as the Congress. Thiswould ultimately leave KCRrepenting his concentratedefforts of weakening theCongress.

M D RATNA KUMAR

Senior Journalist

PIN

POINT

Dubbak result leaves KCR repenting for weakening Congress It may be safe to say that thepolitical situation would have beendifferent had KCR not wilfullyweakened the Congress. Resultantly,the TRS now faces a political rivalthat it would not be able to tackle aseasily as the Congress. This wouldultimately leave KCR repenting hisefforts of weakening the Congress

Dynamism helps BJP win Dubbak K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

Dynamism displayed by theleaders while campaigninghelped BJP to register a sensa-tional victory in Dubbak by-elections over the ruling TRSparty.

In general, TRS showsdynamism in elections.However, the adoption of samedynamism helped the BJP can-didate MadhavaneniRaghunandan Rao defeat theTRS nominee Solipeta Sujatha.The BJP leaders' rigorous cam-paign and scathing attackagainst the ruling TRS partyhelped their party's candidatein a big way. The BJP leadersin their campaign emphasisedthat the Centre's contributionwas more in the schemesimplemented by the TRS gov-ernment. The BJP leaders hadnever gone back in terms ofcampaign strategy and aremaking allegations against theruling TRS party.

Moreover, the police raidsagainst and attack onTelangana BJP Chief BandiSanjay Kumar in Siddipet hadbecome a big turning point inthis by-election and that final-ly paved the victory of BJP.Raghunandan Rao got sympa-thy votes because of the policeraids against and attack onBandi Sanjay Kumar.

On the other hand, BandiSanjay Kumar kept up thetempo by staging flash dharnaat Karimnagar protesting

against the attack by the policeon him. The seizure of moneyat the house of RaghunandanRao's brother-in-law by thepolice also boomeranged andhelped the BJP candidate gar-ner more sympathy votes.

Another incident that helpedBJP gain public sympathy wasthe fight at night between theactivists of TRS and BJP a daybefore the polling, in a privatelodge in Siddipet in whichTRS MLA Kranthi Kumar gotinjured.

One of the political analystsstated that Bandi Sanjay's'offence is the best defense'strategy helped the BJP a lot.He said on condition ofanonymity that the previousTelangana BJP Chief Dr KLaxman was never arrestedby the police. However, arrestsby the police have become aregular feature in case of thenew Telangana BJP ChiefBandi Sanjay Kumar.

People in general think thata leader should be like that andsuch leaders would take risksfor the sake of the people. Theanalyst further said that BandiSanjay received punches fromthe police in Karimnagar dur-ing RTC strike and in Siddipetduring Dubbak elections inspite of the fact he is the stateBJP chief and an MP of theparty that rules the country.People tend to consider every-thing, he said.

According to the analyst, theDharani website and unem-ployment allowance scheme

also went against the rulingTRS party, though Harish Raoput in his sincere efforts inDubbak.

Compared to BJP'sdynamism and team work theCongress had always appearedto be a house divided.

The Congress activists inMadikonda in Warangal dis-trict burnt the effigy of theTPCC Chief N Uttam KumarReddy alleging that the partystood in third place in theDubbak election just because ofhis failed leadership.

The other party leadersadmitted that Congress had topay the price because of thedelay in the announcement ofparty candidate.

The new AICC in-chargegeneral secretary ManickamTagore made the leaders par-ticipate in Dubbak by-elec-tions.

However, according tosources, only a few leadersput in their sincere efforts inDubbak.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State BJP Presidentand MP Bandi Sanjay said thatthe people of Dubbak havedelivered a historic verdict inthe by-election.

BJP candidate Raghunan-dan Rao has won the seat inthe by-poll by defeating hisnearest rival Solipeta Sujathaof the ruling TRS by a marginof 1,470 votes. The BJP wrest-ed Dubbak seat from the TRS.Talking to reporters after pay-ing tributes to Sardar Patel andmartyrs at the Gun Park here,Sanjay claimed that theDubbak people have taught alesson to Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao for hisarrogance and over his dicta-torship rule in the state.

The ruling TRS failed in allits conspiracies against theBJP during the Dubbak cam-paign, he said. He said theDubbak victory would be ded-icated to BJP slain leader

Srinivas, who set himself onfire outside the party's ana unitoffice here over Sanjay's arrestin Dubbak, succumbing toinjuries recently. The verdictshows people want a change,he said the BJP will build onthis success to win the comingelectoral battles.

Celebrations broke out atthe BJP state headquarters asthe party claimed victory inthe by-election. The partyworkers burst firecrackers,distributed sweets and dancedin gay abandon to celebrate thevictory in the bitterly contest-ed bypolls. Meanwhile, in apress conference at the partyoffice here, TRS working pres-ident and IT Minister KTRama Rao said the partyaccepts the verdict of the peo-ple in favour of the BJP in theDubbak by-election. We willanalyse the reasons for theparty's failure at the hustingsand take corrective measures,he said.

Continued from Page 1

While the BJP may gloat overyet another surprise victory inTelangana, where it has beentrying hard to position itself asan alternative to the TRS, theresult in Dubbak is no doubta big setback to the pink party,which, otherwise, has beenon a winning streak since theformation of Telangana.

In the last elections, held inDecember 2018, the TRS wonthe Dubbak seat with a massivemajority. Now, the party couldnot record this figure even asthe total number of polled byit. If at all anyone has to beblamed for TRS' defeat inDubbak bypolls, it should benone other than TRS presidentand Chief Minister. They sayKCR's overconfidence hurt theparty. For, despite strong resis-tance from party leaders,including his nephew andMinister T Harish Rao, as wellas cadre in Dubbak, KCRchose to field Solipeta Sujatha,widow of former MLA SolipetaRamachandra Reddy, whosedeath necessitated the by-elec-tions.

Continued from Page 1

Arvind Kumar, PrincipalSecretary, previously statedthat the deadline would not beextended any further. Thereare 5.64 lakh property taxassessments with accumulat-

ed property tax arrearsamounting to Rs 1,477.86crore over the past twodecades.

The interest amount againstthe same was around Rs1,017.76 crore till the financialyear 2019-20.

Continued from Page 1

However, all these plans ofKCR received a jolt with ashocking result on his own turf,let alone Bihar and other States.

Sources say KCR will nowhave to focus on strengtheningTRS in Telangana so as tocheck the growth of BJP inTelangana. This is far moreimportant than removing therump of the Congress, if TRShas to retain power in the2023 Assembly polls. Thismeans KCR will not be left withtime to dabble in national pol-itics. All of this translates toputting the 'pattabhishekam' ofKTR on hold once again. TheTRS now has to make sure thatthe surprise win of the saffronparty in Dubbak does nosound like the distinct 'arrival'of an alternative to the pink

party in Telangana - a claimlong-ridiculed by the TRS dueto its winning streak tillTuesday.

The first and foremost taskof KCR will be to anchor theparty for the upcoming crucialGHMC polls, scheduled inJanuary 2021. Although therewas talk of KCR advancingGHMC polls to December,party sources ruled out thispossibility in the wake ofDubbak debacle as BJP, reinvig-orated by its victory in Dubbak,could pose a tough challenge toTRS.

Sources indicate that KCRmay not hesitate to even post-pone GHMC polls by a fewmore months if he thinks thattime is not ripe for TRS tomake the most of it. In sucheventuality, he could alwayspush GHMC under a 'special

officer rule', with an electedbody hanging fire until hedecides to change status quo.

KCR also has the task ofgearing up party for polls toWarangal and KhammamMunicipal corporations, sched-uled in March 2021, apartfrom polls to two MLC seats,also scheduled in March 2021.

Ensuring victory for TRS inall these upcoming elections isall the more important forKCR to establish that there isno alternative to TRS inTelangana.

For KCR, New Year 2021polls are the only means to dis-play TRS' political dominanceas they will be the last and finalpolls before the 2023 DecemberAssembly polls, with all theother elections in Telangana -from galli-level to Delhi-level- being completed.

Continued from Page 1

TRS leadership now believesthat BJP, flush with its victo-ry in Dubbak, might pose abig threat to TRS in GHMCpolls if they are held in thenext two months.

Moreover, TRS suspectsthat BJP would again resort to'Operation Akarsh" to attractdisgruntled TRS leaders to itsfold by showcasing Dubbakvictory and projecting itself asan emerging alternative toTRS.

TRS suspects that a fewdisgruntled leaders inGHMC limits like TeegalaKrishna Reddy, apart fromTRS corporators, couldswitch sides. TRS leadershipfeels that the Dubbaka dustwill settle down in the nextfive or six months and itwould be apt to hold pollsthereafter. In the eventualityof postponement of polls,the GHMC could be broughtunder 'special officer rule'.Traditionally, GHMC elec-tions have never been held onschedule.

Continued from Page 1

Trump for months beforethe election made repeatedclaims without providingevidence that results wouldbe marred by fraud and haskept up those unfoundedallegations over the pastweek.

Judges have tossed outlawsuits in Michigan andGeorgia, and experts sayTrump’s legal efforts have lit-tle chance of changing theelection result.

But Congress’s topRepublican, Senate MajorityLeader Mitch McConnell, onMonday lined up behindTrump, saying that he was“100% within his rights tolook into allegations of irreg-ularities,” without citing anyevidence.

KCR's 'federal front' may be the victim Trump...

Continued from Page 1

“The leads so far are onexpected lines and we hope tocatch up in three more seats.This was a different kind ofelection. This was more apeople's movement. Webanked on young candidateslike student leaders, candi-dates who were part of farmerstruggles and working classpeople. That seemed to haveworked,” party general secre-tary said. Party leaders high-light how cadres workedamong the poor, became firstresponders in crisis amongtheir constituents and ledmovements against unem-ployment, corruption in edu-cation and farm rights to gainthe trust of the voters.

Red flag flieshigh in Bihar

Dubbakdebacle...

Overconfidence...Wake-up callfor us: KTRContinued from Page 1

TRS working president andState IT Minister K T Rama Raosaid that the pink party wouldhonour people's verdict and doa thorough introspection ofwhat had gone wrong inDubbak. "We are neither upsetwith defeats nor do we feeljubilant with victories. We thank62,000-odd voters who votedfor the TRS in Dubbak. Thanksalso to all party cadre andleaders, for their efforts," hesaid. He conceded that hisparty did not expect this resultin Dubbak. "We thought weshall win the seat. We had wonseveral victories in the last sixyears. It is a wake-up call forour party leaders and cadre," hesaid. "We shall also analyse thereasons and introspect ourse-lves. We shall go ahead withwelfare and developmentalactivities and win the confiden-ce of people. We shall work outthe future course of action."

BJP blooms in...Continued from Page 1

In the final tally, SolipetaSujatha polled 61,553 votes,while Raghunandan won theseat by securing 62,984 votes.Congress secured only 22,054votes.

The BJP had pinned highhopes on Raghunandan Raoalthough he had lost the 2018Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabhaelections. The Congress hadfielded Cheruku SrinivasReddy (son of late formerminister Cheruku MuthyamReddy), who polled 22,054votes. Raghunandan's victoryclearly showed that the sym-pathy factor did not work infavour of Sujatha.

TRS appeared to be confi-dent of retaining the seat byfielding Solipeta Sujatha, wifeof Ramalinga Reddy, whosedeath in August necessitatedthe bypoll. The BJP's campaignwas led by Minister of State forHome Kishan Reddy, whileTRS deployed its masterstrategist and Finance MinisterT Harish Rao to retain the seatin a fiercely fought battle.

Days before polling, thepolice raided the residences ofRaghunandan Rao and hisrelatives and seized Rs 18.67lakh in cash. The BJP thencried foul and alleged that theTRS government had usedthe police machinery to 'plant'cash.

1.1 lakh property tax payers ...

NDA retains...Continued from Page 1

Hyderabad-based AIMIMis emerging as a surprise pack-age, winning four seats andleading in one other.

It had won a seat in a by-election in Bihar earlier, butappears to be making signifi-cant inroads in theSeemanchal region which hasa large presence of Muslimvoters.

Given his pathological aver-sion to the BJP, AIMIM pres-ident Asaduddin Owaisi couldbe more than willing to lenda helping hand to the GrandAlliance if it falls short of amajority by a few seats.

The LJP, down in the dumpsitself, appeared to have con-tributed its bit to the unim-pressive showing of the JD(U),damaging its prospects in atleast 30 seats, according to thelatest trends.

Chirag Paswan's party,which walked out of the NDAin Bihar just ahead of the poll,is set to fare abysmally as it has

won just one seat despitepolling 5.63 per cent of the2.70 crore votes counted so far.

JD(U) spokesperson K CTyagi told PTI in New Delhithat a "sinister" campaign wasrun against Nitish Kumar aspart of a "conspiracy".

"Apne bhi shamil the aurbegane bhi (Our own alsoharmed us along with theoutsiders)," he said, withouttaking any names.

He, however, expressed con-fidence that Kumar willbecome the Chief Ministeragain, noting that top BJPleaders including PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shahhave made it clear that he willhead the government if theruling NDA retains power.

Bihar BJP president SanjayJaiswal voiced similar views inPatna when he said in Patna"the issue has been cleared byPrime Minister NarendraModi and party chief J PNadda much before the elec-tions".

Harish owns upresponsibility forDubbak defeatPNS n HYDERABAD

TRS Dubbak by-elections in-charge and Finance MinisterT Harish Rao, who was vir-tually the party's one-manarmy campaigning in theconstituency, on Tuesdayowned up responsibility fordefeat of the party's candidateSolipeta Sujatha.

Sujatha was expected towin on the back of sympathyfactor and the slew of welfareschemes launched by theTRS government.

Harish said that he wouldaccept people's verdict inDubbak.

The party would take cor-rective measures at a reviewmeeting; he told media per-sons after the Dubbak elec-tion results were announced.Finance Minister Harish Raosaid that he would still beavailable to Dubbak peoplealways.

Cong requiresoverhaul not...Continued from Page 1

However, the outcome of theDubbak by-elections is sureto put chest-thumpingCongress leaders and cadre inself-defensive mode.

Manickam Tagore hadentrusted responsibilities toparty leaders. These leaderscamped in their allotted areasand campaigned vigorouslyfor the party candidate. Yet,the poll outcome has beenhopeless for the grand oldparty.

The results have shockedthe Congress cadre too. For,compared to the Congress,the cadre and leaders of thesaffron party are far less.

In spite of it, the BJP dis-played a fighting spirit that isabsent among the Congressleaders.

In the last minute, theCongress had allotted theparty ticket to late Congressleader Cheruku MutyamReddy's son CherukuSrinivasa Reddy; yet, hisentry did not have any impacton the electorate.

Sanjay dedicates Dubbakvictory to slain activist

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 11, 2020 hyderabad 03

Municipal Administration andUrban Develop-mentMinister KT Rama Rao will

inaugurate the CyberabadCommand Control and Data Centreat the Cyberabad Police Commiss-ionerate in Gachibowli here onWednesday. As survei-llancecameras are playing a key role incrime detection, the new facility willhelp the police in viewing 5,000cameras at a time on a gigantic screen at the command controlcentre. The cameras that will be installed in the limits of Hyderabad,Cyberabad and Rachakonda Police Commissionerates as part of theSafe City project can be monitored from the new facility. This apart,cameras installed elsewhere in the State can also be linked to thecentre apart from viewing CCTVs installed in colonies as part of the‘Nenu Saitham’ initiative. The L&T has installed as many as 10,000high-end cameras across the three Police Commissionerates toenable the police examine and trace routes used by suspects toescape after a crime, according to a press release.

The IndustrialTraining Institute(ITI), Hyderabad,

Maulana Azad NationalUrdu University(MANUU) isconducting the thirdphase counselling foradmissions into ITITrades on November19. The counseling willstart at 9.30 am at ITI,MANUU Campus, Gachibowli. The MANUU has invited applicationsfrom candidates to fill up vacant seats in different ITI trades. Theapplication form can be obtained from MANUU – ITI Hyderabad orcan be downloaded from university website manuu.edu.in and thelast date for submission of filled-in application form at MANUU ITI isNovember 18. For details, contact the ITI Hyderabad office in personor at telephone: 040-23008413, 7032623941.

Minister to launch command control and data centre today

MANUU invites applications to fill vacant seats in ITI trades

In view of theensuing Diwalifestive season, SCR

is undertaking checksto prevent carriage offire crackers in trainsand railway premises.Carrying of such itemsin trains or at stationsposes grave risk tosafety and it creates a highly unsafe situation for all the passengersaround, a press release said. The rail passengers were advised not tocarry Inflammable/explosive materials/fire crackers in trainsendangering the safety of passengers and railway assets. Carriage ofdangerous and offensive goods is prohibited under section 67 ofRailways Act-1989 and punishable under section 164 and 165 ofRailways Act-1989, it said. To prevent the carrying of fire crackersand inflammable articles, Railway Protection Force has formedspecial teams/ quick reaction teams at all important stations to keep awatch on defaulting passengers and parcel carrying persons dulyutilising the services of sniffer dogs and plain cloth staff.

SCR issues travel advisory to passengers in view of Diwali

CITY LIGHTS

There will be traffic diversionsbetween Chanchalguda to YadagiriTheatre in the southeast part of the

city in view of the construction of anelevated corridor for a period of threemonths from Wednesday. Thoseintending to go via Nalgonda Crossroadstowards IS Sadan and from IS Sadan to Nalgonda Crossroads willhave to take alternate routes. Heavy vehicles from NalgondaCrossroads towards DMRL should take a diversion at Nalgondacrossroads towards Dilsukhnagar, LB Nagar, Sagar Ring Road andDMRL. Vehicles coming from DMRL towards Nalgonda crossroadsshould take a diversion at DMRL crossroads. Motorists from Nalgondacrossroads towards IS Sadan can go via Malakpet Fire Station,Akberbagh Road, while traffic from DMRL crossroads towardsNalgonda crossroads have to go via IS Sadan, Champapet Road,Singareni Colony, Shankeshwar Bazar towards Gaddiannaram road orSaidabad Colony, Akbarbagh and Malakpet Fire Station.

Traffic to be diverted for 90 dayson Chanchalguda-IS Sadan route

Coronavirus pandemic no bar forstudents wanting to study abroadNAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

The rising number of Covid-19cases and the fact that severalcountries are reeling under asecond wave of the infection isno dampener on the enthusi-asm of students from theTelugu speaking states whoplan to study abroad.

Several students have alreadytaken admissions and arestudying online, while manyare waiting for their interviewslots for visa.

Sanjay Gupta, head of a con-sultancy that provides servicesfor students who wish to studyabroad said, "There was certain-ly a dip when the pandemicbroke. However, things areback to 'normal' the situation issimilar to every year. There area few who are having secondthoughts, but most still want togo." Sanjay said that colleges insome European countries are

taking online classes alreadyand the UK is the favourite ofmany students.

"The universities in the UKhave very reasonable tuitionfees and also allow the students

to work legally," he said, indi-cating the reason for theirbeing the favourite destina-tion.

The USA remains as attrac-tive as it has been for genera-

tions of students. In fact, the USConsulate in Hyderabad is alsogiving preference to studentsover others while booking theslots. Although a limited num-ber of slots are opened, the

authorities are consideringurgent visa applications of stu-dents, based on priority.

Earlier, for the convenienceof students, the US Consulateshad also asked them to sched-ule an appointment no morethan three weeks prior to theirclass start date.

Interestingly, many are nowalso looking at New Zealandand Australia for education.

Says Sanjay Gupta, "NewZealand seems to be the newfavourite. It's not like everyonewants to go there, but there iscertainly a curiosity about NewZealand Universities.

One major reason for that isthe way that country tackledCovid. Many are considering itsafer than the other countriesgiven the current world sce-nario. Also, it is easier tobecome a permanent residentof New Zealand and Australia.Canada is also high on the listof students."

More vehicles on Hyderabadroads than on pre-Covid daysPNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad roads are witness-ing more traffic volumes nowthan before the outbreak ofCovid-19 pandemic.

The vehicle volume dataanalysis on Mondays of pre-Covid, lockdown and postlockdown shows that trafficvolume has increased morethan pre-Covid days.

On November 2, there were1,24,528 vehicles at seven busytraffic intersections in the city.The number was 1,10,478 onFebruary 3 before Covid.

The pre-lockdown volumeon March 2 was 1,02,119.

The data of April 6 duringthe lockdown period shows thenumber of vehicles was 34,739.

"Good sign for economy. Atthe same time need to take allCovid related precautions,"tweeted Additional

Commissioner of Police,Traffic, Anil Kumar.

The data was based on vol-ume of traffic at Chaderghatcrossroads, CTO Junction,Nalgonda crossroads,Rasoolpura, Ravindra BharathiJunction and Sagar SocietyJunction. The traffic volumehas surpassed pre-Covid leveleven before the re-opening of

schools, colleges, other educa-tional institutions and cinematheatres.

The state government hasnot yet taken a decision onreopening of educational insti-tutions and theatres.The state-owned Telangana State RoadTransport Corporation(TSRTC) is also yet to fullyrestore its city bus services.

SBI Abids branch finedRs 50,000 for illegal adPNS n HYDERABAD

The Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on State Bank of India,Abids branch, for erectingillegal advertisements.

The EV&DM wing of theGHMC fined the establish-ment for unauthorised use offlashing lights which comeunder the non-static illumina-tions section of advertise-ments.

This is in response to atweet that the EV&DM teamreceived on 7 November aboutthe erection of the illegal ban-ner.

The EV&DM team regis-tered the complaint and gen-erated an e-challan on thesame day while imposing afine.

According to the EV&DM,the outlet had erected illegaladvertisements without per-mission from authorities con-cerned which is an offenceunder Sections 420 and 421 of

the GHMC Act and as per agovernment order issued on20 April 2020. According tothe directorate of EV&DM,erecting advertisements, dis-playing painted advertise-ments, use of flashing lights ornon-static illumination inadvertisements, flouting rulesregarding the size of advertise-ments or using name boardsexceeding 15 per cent of thefrontage of the building, use ofmoving, rotating, or variablemessage advertising devicesinvites penalties from theauthorities.

Similarly, operating anadvertisement element with-out the valid structural stabil-ity certificate, placing anadvertisement on any addi-tional board, structure, orprojection on the body of avehicle, and use of illuminat-ed advertisements with bright-ness more than the allowedlimit without any written per-mission from the authorityconcerned are offences underthe GHMC Act.

Six killed after car overturnsPNS n HYDERABAD

Six migrant workers fromnorth India were killed andthree others were injured onTuesday morning after the carthey were travelling in over-turned after hitting anunknown vehicle on the OuterRing Road (ORR) Expresswaynear Hyderabad.

The police said the roadaccident occurred at Pati vil-lage in Patancheru mandal ofSangareddy district.

The migrant workers werein a Xylo car travelling fromBengaluru to Nagpur.

The deceased were identi-fied as Pramod Bhuher, VinodBhuher, Kamlesh Lohare, HariLohare and Pavan Kumar. Thebody of the sixth person is yet

to be identified. Three othermigrants identified as ChandraVamsi, Anand Kumar andPramod Kumar were injuredand have been shifted to anearby hospital where theircondition is reported stable.

The police suspect that thecar in which the migrant work-

ers were onboard overturnedafter colliding with anothervehicle while trying to overtakeit. The Xylo car rolled overtwice and crashed on the road.

The driver of the Xylo carallegedly fled the spot while thepolice were trying to trace theother damaged vehicle.

Hyd student dies in Canada after ‘falling’ from 27

th

floor of buildingPNS n HYDERABAD

A 19-year-old student fromHyderabad is alleged to havebeen killed after falling froma high-rise building inToronto, Canada.

Panyam Akhil, a residentof Vanasthalipuram inHyderabad, allegedly felldown while talking on hismobile phone from the 27thfloor of the building where hewas staying.

According to the infor-mation reaching his familyhere the incident occurred onNovember 8. He fell downfrom balcony of his apart-ment while allegedly speak-ing over phone. His friends inCanada informed his familyabout the incident.

Akhil's family has appealedto Minister KT Rama Rao tohelp in bringing the body toHyderabad. His uncle Babjitweeted Rama Rao for help."My brother's son PanyamAkhil met with an accidentalfall in Toronto, Canada. Weare clueless how to go aboutbringing the body toHyderabad. Request help inbringing the body toHyderabad. Kindly help us inthis moment of grief, sir,"Babji wrote.

The Minister assured helpto the family. "Sorry for yourloss brother, Will do our best@KTRoffice please assist,"KTR responded. IndianConsulate General in Torontohas informed the student's fa-mily that all efforts were bei-ng made to expedite process.

One CCTV is equalto 100 cops: SabithaPNS n HYDERABAD

As a part of expanding theCommunity CCTV camerasnetwork across RachakondaPolice Commissionerate,Education Minister P SabithaIndra Reddy, RachakondaPolice Commissioner, MaheshBhagwat, on Tuesday inaugu-rated 100 CCTV Camerasinstalled in the three coloniesof Badangpet MuncipalCorporation. The network atGayatri Hills community hall,Badangpet was set up at a costof Rs 14.50 lakh.

Speaking on the occasion,the Minister said that CCTVsplay a key role in catching theoffenders and helps speed upthe investigation process. Theyhelp in identifying thoseinvolved in crimes and their

modus operandi that aids theinvestigation, she said adding,"One CCTV is equal to 100police officers".

She applauded the initiativeof installing CCTV camerasunder Badangpet municipal-ity and appealed to public tojoin hands for a SaferRachakonda. The Ministerurged public representatives toensure installation of morecameras in the remainingcolonies of the municipality.

Mahesh Bhagwat pointedout that CCTV cameras havebecame an important aspect ofmodern day policing andalmost 67 per cent of thecrimes were being detected.He urged the citizens andpublic representatives to comeforward and install more num-ber of cameras.

City gets waste to energy plant at JawaharnagarPNS n HYDERABAD

Minister KT Rama on Tuesdayinaugurated waste to energypower plants with capacity of19.8 MW at Jawaharnagar.

Later, the Minister who laidthe foundation stone for 28MW power plant, said that with1 crore population Hyderabadcity generates nearly 6,000 tonsof garbage daily.

In order to dispose of thegarbage in a scientific way it isproposed to generate power byprocessing a total of 3,200 met-ric tons of garbage with anoth-er 28MW plant coming upwithin 18 months.

Apart from this anotherplant with 15 MW waste toenergy power plant is comingup at Dundigul, which is suffi-cient to dispose of the garbage

for next coming 10 years, hesaid.

As a long term plan and todecentralize waste manage-ment in a scientific way in

Hyderabad, the governmenthas identified two places atLakdaram and Pyarenagar,which is far away from humanhabitations, KTR said.

To contain foul smell it isproposed to treat leech with Rs250 crores, the Minister assuredto provide medical and educa-tional facilities to the residentsof Jawaharnagar.

KTR said that the TelanganaGovernment was committed inissuing ownership rights to alleligible low and middle classincome groups across the statewithout collecting any fee.

Towards this initiative, theGovernment already launchedDharani portal, citing the exa-mple of 15 to 16 colonies inUppal, the Minister said the res-idents in these colonies wereissued ownership rights. Withthis the residents can availloans for business purpose andeducation purpose etc. Acrossthe state over 70 percent of peo-ple own pattas and few areas

like Jawaharnagar, residents inthese colonies were to get thepattas, he said.

The Minister assured that the40,000 residents of Jawahar-nagar and neighboring areasthat the pattas will be issued. Aspecial programme will beorganized and Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao will beissuing the pattas.

Labour and EmploymentMinister Malla Reddy requestedthe minister to provide drinkingwater tap connection to the res-idents and also to provide roadsand street lights.

Hyderabad, Mayor Dr BonthuRammohan, Rajya Sabha MP,Ramkay Chairman Adho-yaRamreddy, Commissi-onerGHMC Lokesh Kumar andamong others participated in theprogramme.

33-year-old man gets 2-year RI forcheating woman

PNS n HYDERABAD

A 33-year-old man was sen-tenced to two years imprison-ment by local court for cheat-ing a woman and sexuallyexploiting her in the name ofmarriage under Chaderghatpolice station limits onTuesday.

The accused identified asBudavarapu Sravan Kumar,33, cheated a 25-year-oldwoman and sexually exploit-ed her for five years under thepretext of marrying her. Later,the accused started avoidingher and switched off hismobile when the victiminsisted to marry her.

Woman ‘throws' 3 daughters into lake, ends life PNS n HYDERABAD

A 32-year-old womanallegedly killed her threedaughters by throwing theminto a lake in JogulambaGadwal district on Tuesdayand then ended her life byjumping into the water body,police said. The incident hap-pened in Mallapur village ofKT Doddi mandal, they saidadding the girls were aged 10years, three years and 11months old.

Betting racket busted, Rs 9 L seizedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Rachakonda police offi-cials seized Rs 9 lakh andnabbed two persons involvedin organising betting on theday of IPL finals.

The arrested persons wereidentified as MustigollaMallesh, 33, working as a dri-ver and Koterla Satyanarayana,31, working for a private com-pany. Searches were held inMailardevpally on Tuesdayand cops found cash and otherelectronic gadgets.

Based on credible informa-tion about a cricket racketinvolving huge amounts on theIPL final T20 match,Mailardevpally police officials

raided a flat at Nethaji Nagar,located near Budvel Railwaystation and arrested two per-sons.

Police found that the duowere organising cricket bettingvia phone with their friendscum clients Venkat Reddy,

Venkat Naidu and Narsing. It was also found that Venkat

Reddy who hails from Chittoordistrict of Andhra Pradeshwas the key organiser and theother two are his friends how-ever Reddy ran the entire show.

During questioning, accusedMallesh also told police that hisshare was Rs 4.90 lakh, whileSatyanarayana was promisedRs 2.50 lakh, Narsingi had Rs1.10 lakh and Venkat Naiduhad Rs 50,000 share.

The entire amount has sup-posed to be deposited intoVenkat Reddy's account. TheRachakonda cops have bookedthe two under gaming act.Further investigation is under-way.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 11, 2020 hyderabad 04

Sales of dry fruits, gifts see boom PNS n HYDERABAD

With the festival of lights arou-nd the corner, citizens pick upthe most impressive hampersfor their near and dear ones.

From dry fruits, chocolatesto creative festive hamper con-cepts, the seasonal Diwali giftshave garnered much attention.

The culture of giving giftboxes to friends, relatives, fam-ily members and emplo.yees onthe occasion of Diwali hasbeen going on for some years.Gift boxes are sent to them aweek before the festival.

This led to a surge in sales ofdry fruits boxes in the BegumBazaar wholesale market.Designed in beautiful packsand sold in packs of 250, 500,750 grams. Prices range fromRs 250 to Rs 3,000.

Particular attention is paid topacking due to the Coronavirussituation. Shop owners areallowing the employees only

after sanitising and thermalscreening.

"In the northern states thereis a culture of giving gifts dur-ing the festival. Even in the cityright now, employees and mer-chants are giving gifts. Wedesign and sell attractive pack-aging in various sizes to meetthe demand of the people incity. Already sales are booming.

People are carrying gift boxesin bulk," says Rajkumar, ownerof Kashmir House.

Gifts with personalisedtwists give in a different glitterto the Diwali hampers. "It givesa very unique look and the giftsstand apart when you add in alittle creative touch," says AnitaGupta, who makes her person-alised gifting ideas for festive

hampers with her own themesfor family and friends. Thisyear she has simple themes tolight up the hampers. "I am

planning to keep the dry fruitsin two small crystal glasses andpresent it along with a scentedcandle. My idea is to wrap the

gift with handmade paper andpaste two sparklers and a tealight on it, which are symbol-ic for Diwali," says Anita.

Dos and don'ts for DiwaliHyderabad: With the cloud of Covid-19 pandemic hanging over Diwali celebrations, ophthalmologists inHyderabad have urged families to be cautious if they decide to celebrate by lighting firecrackers.

The eye-care specialists said that taking basic safety measures will go a long way in avoiding serious damageto eyes during lighting of the firecrackers. Dr Muralidhar Ramappa, senior cornea specialist, LVPEI said thatchildren must be supervised by adults when lighting firecrackers. Apart from urging people to avoid massgatherings, public health officials have urged families to continue to take precautions like wearing masks, handhygiene and maintaining physical distancing.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

Do's: n Buy fireworks only from authorised manufacturers.Dry them in the sun for 2 days.n Never leave children alone while playing withfirecrackers.n Only one person should light a firecracker at atime; others should watch from a safe distance.n Light crackers in an open area.n Always use a long candle for lighting crackers.n Keep two buckets of water handy. In case of burns,pour lots of water on the affected area.

Don'ts:n Light crackers while holding them in your hand.n Bend over the crackers while lighting them.n Light crackers inside a container, like a bottle, tincan or overturned pot. This can be very dangerous.n Wait for a while before approaching crackers thatdo not light immediately.n Store them near burning candles, diyas or agarbathis.n Wear synthetic clothes; wear only thick cottonclothes, when lighting crackers.

Covid recoveries outnumber new cases, tally up to 2.52 LPNS n HYDERABAD

The number of Covid recover-ies in Telangana outnumberednew cases in the last 24 hoursas the state's overall tallyincreased to 2,52,455.

A day after the weekly dropin daily count of infections dueto fewer tests, the numberssurged again on Tuesday.

According to Director ofPublic Health and FamilyWelfare, 1,267 new cases weredetected. In the last 24 hoursending 8 pm on Monday, 1,831patients recovered, taking thetotal such cases to 2,32,489.

Four more patients suc-cumbed to the virus, taking thestate's death toll to 1,385.

The state's fatality ratestands at 0.54 per cent asagainst the national average of1.5 per cent. Health officialssaid 44.96 per cent deathswere due to Covid and 55.04per cent due to comorbidities.

The recovery rate nowstands at 92.09 per cent, slight-ly lower than the nationalaverage of 92.5 per cent.

Of the new cases, GreaterHyderabad accounted forhighest 201, followed by

Medchal Malkajgiri (109),Rangareddy (104), Nalgonda(89), Bhadradri Kothagudem(85), Khammam (62), Karim-nagar (53), Warangal Urban(45), Suryapet (42) and Niza-mabad (40).

According to HealthDepartment bulletin, 42,490more samples were tested dur-ing the last 24 hours, of which41,004 were conducted in gov-ernment-run laboratories.

There are 18 governmentand 47 private laboratoriesconducting RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TRUENATtests. There are also 1,076Rapid Antigen testing centresrun by government.

The cumulative number oftests rose to 46,84,766. Samplestested per million populationsurged to 1,25,866.

Out of total 2,50,331 positivecases so far, 70 per cent(1,76,719) were asymptomaticand 30 per cent (75,736) symp-tomatic. The data shows that63.92 per cent of total caseswere aged between 21-50,22.91 per cent aged above 51,while 13.18 per cent werebelow 20. The bed status in 61government-run hospitalstreating Covid patients showsthat 7,398 out of 8,561 beds arevacant. In 225 private hospitals,6,963 out of 8,587 beds arevacant.

‘Form sub-committee tofocus on women safety'PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary SomeshKumar,IAS., presided overmeeting of Committee onSafety and Security of Womenand Girl Children at BRKRBhavan on Wednesday. TheCommittee was constitutedas per the instructions ofChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao.

The women officersexplained various issues facedby women and proposed cer-tain actions for addressingthem. They also recommend-ed forming certain sub-com-

mittee to focus on specificareas such safety of women athome, work place, travel andothers. The Chief Secretaryagreed to the same and askedthem to come up with theirrecommendations.

Secretary to Chief MinisterSmita Sabharwal, Secretary toSC Development Yogita Rana,Secretary to Tribal WelfareChristina Z Chongthu,Commissioner of FamilyWelfare Karuna, Secretary toWomen & Child WelfareDivya, OSD to Chief MinisterPriyanka Verghese and DCPSumathi attended the meeting.

KCR announces Rs 50L financial aid, job to kin of slain soldier PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Rao onTuesday announced Rs 50lakh financial assistance tothe family of an army jawanfrom Nizamabad district,who was killed in an anti-ter-ror operation in Jammu andKashmir.

Expressing shock over RMahesh's death, KCR said hewould be remembered inhistory as the one who sacri-ficed his life for the countryand the state governmentwould stand by and supportthe family.

In an official release, KCRsaid one member of the fam-ily would be offered a govern-ment job, based on the qual-ification, besides a house siteto the kin. Besides, Mahesh,three security force person-nel, including an Army offi-cer, and three militants werekilled during a failed infiltra-tion bid by the ultras alongthe Line of Control (LoC) inMachil sector of Jammu andKashmir on Sunday.

Dalit activists disappointedover the high-level meetingDURGA PRASAD SUNKUn HYDERABAD

Dalit activtists are not happywith the state level high powervigilance and monitoring com-mittee meeting which was heldfour days ago. They allege thatit didn't serve the purpose forwhich it has been constituted.Importantly the state govern-ment bypassed the SC/STPrevention of Atrocities Actand the meeting which had tobe held twice a year was heldafter four years after the firstmeeting in 2016 allegedactivists.

According to the SC/STPrevention Act, Chief MinisterK Chandrashekar Rao had topreside the state level highpower vigilance and monitor-ing committee meeting as its

chairman. In 2016, the govern-ment brought out a GO con-stituting adhoc state level highpower vigilance and monitor-ing committee.

Speaking the gross injusticeto dalits, Batthula Ram Prasad,an activist said, "Although thepolitical members were elect-ed, twice the government did-n't get the time to appoint theChief Minister as chairman ofthe committee. This amountsto bypassing the SC/St actprovision and shows negli-gence towards the SC/ST. Sixyears after the formation of theTelangana state, the meetingwas held only twice. Accordingto the Act, meetings should beheld twice a year, by now itshould have completed 12meetings." He further addedthat review on the implemen-

tation of provisions of the Actand schemes of the rights andentitlements of the victimsand witness in accessing jus-tice, relief and rehabilitationfacilities provided to the vic-tims, prosecution of aces underthe act and review of variousreports received by the stategovernment should be dis-cussed. But, during the meet-ing various other matters werediscussed which are of no use.It was held to boast aboutachievements rather than dis-cussing the solutions to bestrictly implemented for vic-tims. The meeting was held forname sake.

An NGO, which works forsocial and ecological justicesaid, "In the last six years var-ious atrocities happened ondalits and tribals."

‘Be prepared for timely fire fighting measures'PNS n HYDERABAD

The Principal Chief Conser-vator of Forests R Sobha onTuesday released a new dedi-cated helpline number9803338666 on which infor-mation pertaining to forestfires can be reported.

This is in addition to regu-lar forest crime control toll freehelp number 18004255364which also can be used by thepublic to provide any informa-tion including complaints.Public can use either numberto intimate any incident offires and other forest offencesat any time.

The state level monitoringcommittee on forest fire pre-vention held in AranyaBhavan discussed the modal-

ities and preparedness of fireprevention for the 2020-21 fireseason in the state. The com-mittee also discussed the pre-paredness of field staff to tack-le high and medium fire proneareas in the state for necessaryaction after receiving fire alertsfrom Forest Survey of India.

Since majority of fires occurfrom January onwards, thestaff was directed to be pre-pared to take timely fire-fight-ing measures, and to deployquick response teams in vul-nerable areas. All fire preven-tion activities like creationand maintenance of fire lines,removal of hazardous mater-ial, intensive patrolling bystaff and base camp watchersinvolving local villagers are tobe taken up on priority.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Yadadri bus stand will beconstructed in such a way thatthe spiritual aesthetics will beseen. At the same time for thepilgrims who are coming fromdifferent parts of our countryand also from foreign coun-tries to visit Yadadri temple,transportation will bearranged with shuttle servicesin coordination with YTDA,said Transport MinisterPuvvada Ajay Kumar onTuesday.

Ajay Kumar along withMinister for Roads andBuildings Vemula PrashanthReddy, Government whipGongidi Sunitha, TSRTCmanaging director SunilSharma inspected the YadadriBus Station and took someconstructive and immediate

decisions to modernise in aspiritual sense.

Speaking on the occasion,Ajay Kumar said that as perthe vision of the ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao, Yadadri temple is beingrenovated in a magnificentand holistic way and withthat apt facility are being pro-vided.

He also said that the infra-structure will be developed insuch a way that there will benight halts for 150 buses whichcomes to Yadadri depot.

FIREFIGHT ON BORDER

Army pays tributes to martyrsn SRINAGAR

The Army on Tuesday paidfloral tributes to three soldiers,including a Captain, who werekilled as troops foiled an infil-tration attempt by militantsalong the Line of Control(LoC) in Keran sector ofJammu and Kashmir.

A BSF jawan and three mil-itants were also killed in thefirefight on Sunday.

Tributes were paid toCaptain Ashutosh Kumar,Havildar CH Parveen Kumarand Sepoy Ryada Maheshwarof 'The Madras Regiment' wholaid down their lives in theoperation in Keran sector innorth Kashmir's Kupwara dis-trict, an Army spokespersonsaid.

"In a solemn ceremony atBadami Bagh Cantonment, LtGen BS Raju, Chinar Corps

Commander, and all rankspaid homage to the gallant sol-diers on behalf of the proudand grateful nation," he said.

Captain Kumar (24) wascommissioned into the Armyin June 2018. He was an alum-nus of Sanik School,Bhubaneshwar and the presti-gious National DefenceAcademy, Khadakwasla.

He hailed from Parmanpurvillage in Bihar's Madhepuradistrict and is survived by hisparents, the spokesperson said.

Havildar CH Kumar (36)

hailed from Reddivari Palle vil-lage in Andhra Pradesh'sChittor district and had joinedthe Army in 2003. He is sur-vived by his wife, son anddaughter, he said.

Sepoy Maheshwar (25)joined the Army in 2014 andbelonged to Komanpalle vil-lage in Telangana's Nizamabaddistrict. He is survived by hiswife, he added.

The spokesperson said theChinar Corps, headquarters ofthe Srinagar-based 15 Corps ofthe Army, also acknowledgesthe sacrifice of Constable SudipSarkar of Border SecurityForce (BSF), who laid down hislife in the same operation.

"The mortal remains of thebravehearts were taken for lastrites to their native places,where they would be laid torest with full military honours,"he said.

Ajay Kumar: Yadadri busstation to be modernised

The mortal remains ofthe bravehearts weretaken for last rites totheir native places,where they would belaid to rest

Devout take part in Laksha Kumkumarchana virtuallyPNS n VIJAYAWADA

As the annual KarthikaBrahmotsvams are set to beperformed in Ekantam atTiruchanoor temple fromNovember 11 to 19, LakshaKumkumarchana has beenperformed in the temple onTuesday.

A total of 603 devoteestook part in this ritual via vir-tual platform. The Grihasthadevotees who took part in thisfete will beget one blousepiece, uttariyam, vermilion,turmeric sachets, two holythreads, sugar candy packetand sacred rice Akshatathrough the postal depart-ment as 'Prasadam'.

The utsava murty of

Goddess Sri Padmavathi seat-ed in Sri Krishna MukhaMandapam and Lakshakumkumarchana has beenperformed chanting thedivine namas of Goddess byarchakas from 8am ti l l12noon.

According to the acharya

purushas, this fete is usuallyobserved to appease MotherGoddess to bless and carryforward the annual mega fetein a smooth manner.

TTD EO Dr KS JawaharReddy, JEO P Basanth Kumar,DyEO Jhansi Rani and othersalso participated.

Cops exchange fire with Maoists in TSPNS n HYDERABAD

An exchange of fire took placebetween a group of Maoistsand police personnel in a for-est area of JayashankarBhupalpally district ofTelangana on Tuesday, policesaid.

According to a senior policeofficial, based on informa-tion on presence of Maoists inPedhampet forest area, policeparties were combing theregion when members of thebanned outfit CPI (Maoist)fired on the personnel, who

retaliated. Following the firing,the ultras escaped, the officialsaid, adding no casualtiesoccurred on both sides.

Police searched the area fol-lowing information thatMaoists with an intention tocreate law and order problemsby threatening and extortingmoney from businessmen andcontractors, was moving in theforest area, the official said.

Police seized one .303 rifle,eight kit bags, kitchen items andother articles from the scene.Asmany as 20 police parties weresearching for the escaped Maoists.

How Amazon picked Hyd for data center?NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Amazon web services set asideTamil Nadu while consideringto set up an AWS Region inHyderabad. Highly placedsources said that the cloudcomputing firm's top choicewas reportedly Tamil Nadu.Sources indicated that beforefinalising Hyderabad, the firmscouted other places as welland have possibly evaluatedMaharashtra and Karnataka.

Andhra Pradesh was report-edly never taken into consid-eration for setting up a datacenter. However, the overallatmosphere and offerings weremore conducive for biggestever FDI investment inHyderabad than any otherstate.

Being a power surplus statewas one of the key reasons

apart from availability of landand customer base.

Data centers are powerintensive and need continuouspower supply. In a bid toensure the investment comes toTelangana, the governmentwas reportedly open to reim-burse the costs the company

would incur if they have to usebackup power supply ever.

Highly placed sources saidthat the Telangana govern-ment was willing to getpenalised if the company facedpower cuts apart from reim-bursing the outage costs. Whilethis reflects the confidence of

the government, there was nosuch mention in the finalagreement.

Another brownie point forthe state was availability of landbanks. The land parcels wereidentified and finalized with-in just two weeks, which isnearly impossible in otherstates where land acquisition isoften disputed. The three datacentres will come up on 132acres on the outskirts ofHyderabad.

Digital Telangana initiativeapart from flourishing e-com-merce and BFSI sector arealso reasons.

According to official releaseAWS chose Hyderabad becauseof the support provided by thegovernment of Telangana,robust policy framework, andbecause it best met the rigor-ous requirements for an AWSRegion.

Couple held for cheating publicPNS n HYDERABAD

A couple was arrested onTuesday for allegedly cheat-ing the public under theguise of operating a chit fundbusiness in Srirampur. Threemore accused are still atlarge.

Police said the accusedwere Mutyam Sudhakar, anemployee of SCCL, and hiswife Sulochana, residents ofCCC in Naspur mandal.Their sons, Prithviraj, SaiMadan and Akhil, who werealso booked in the offence,are still at large.

Sudhakar and Sulochanaconfessed to collecting Rs 3crore from 85 personsbelonging to CCC and differ-ent parts of Naspur under theguise of running chit fundbusiness.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 11, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

BJP candidate Oinam LukhoiSingh won the by-election to

the Wangoi seat, while Y AntasKhan, an Independent candidatesupported by the saffron partybagged the Lilong seat inManipur, officials said Tuesday.BJP candidates Paonam BrojenSingh and Ngamthang Haokipwere leading from WangjingTentha and Saitu seats respectively, they said. Oinam Lukhoi Singhwon the Wangoi seat by defeating his nearest rival Khuraijam LokenSingh of the National People's Party by 257 votes, as per the ECIwebsite. In the Lilong seat, Y Antas Khan won by defeating hisnearest rival Mohd Abdul Nasir by 3,078 votes. Paonam BrojenSingh was leading over his nearest rival Moirangthem HemantaSingh of the Congress by over 1,560 seats in the Wangjin Tenthaseat. In Saitu constituency, Ngamthang Haokip was ahead ofhis Congress rival Lamtinthang Haokip by 4,297 votes.

After the ruling NDA took an initiallead from the grand alliance in poll

trends for Bihar, Congress leader UditRaj on Tuesday raised questions onthe reliability of EVMs asking whythey cannot be hacked if satellites canbe controlled from the earth. He alsoasked if Donald Trump could havelost in the US elections had EVMsbeen used. "If the direction of satellites to Mars and Moon can becontrolled from the earth, then why can't EVM be hacked," Udit Rajsaid in a tweet in Hindi. "If elections were held in America with EVMs,could Trump have lost," he asked. Dalit leader Udit Raj is theCongress party's national spokesperson. He was a former BJP MPfrom Delhi. In another tweet, he took a swipe at the BJP, saying it hasbeen able to sideline Nitish Kumar with its performance in Bihar.Initial trends in Bihar showed the NDA taking the lead in the electionto the 243-member assembly. The BJP appeared set to outperformits senior alliance partner JD(U) headed by Chief Minister NitishKumar, according to trends available so far.

Tragedy struck a 28-year oldman and his fiancee when

they drowned in Cauvery riverfollowing a mishap during a pre-wedding photoshoot in Talakad inMysuru district in Karnataka,police said. The mishap occurredas the 20-year old woman lostbalance and fell into the riverwhile posing for a photo on a

coracle and the man attempted to rescue her on Monday.According to police, civil contractor Chandru and Shashikala, whosewedding was fixed for this month end, went to Mallikarjuna Swamytemple at Mudukuthore for a pre-wedding photoshoot with theirrelatives and photographers. On their way back, they decided to takesome photos in Cauvery river at Talakadu on a boat. Since the boatwas not there, they opted for a coracle ride, accompanied byChandru's friend. In the middle of the river, Shashikala reportedlystood up on the coracle. As she lost balance and fell into theriver, Chandru jumped in to save her. Both did not know swimmingand drowned even as the coracle capsized in the melee, police said.

Pre-wed photoshoot goes awryas couple meets watery grave

PNS n NEW DELHI

In a stern message to Chinaand Pakistan, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Tuesdaysaid all member nations of theSCO should respect each oth-ers' sovereignty and territorialintegrity.

The remarks by Modi at avirtual summit of the eight-member SCO came in thebackdrop of the Sino-Indiaborder row in eastern Ladakh,as also Islamabad's attempt tointernationalise Kashmir issueand indulge in cross-borderterrorism against India.

The Prime Minister deliv-ered the message in the pres-ence of Chinese President XiJinping, and Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan, who

were among the heads of gov-ernments attending the sum-mit, chaired by RussianPresident Vladimir Putin.

Referring to India's partici-pation in strengthening con-nectivity among nations, Modisaid,"India believes that to

enhance connectivity it isimportant that we move for-ward while respecting oneanother's sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity."

The PM also hit out at thosemaking repeated attempts to"unnecessarily" bring bilateral

issues to the SCO in violationof the grouping's foundation-al principles, in an oblique ref-erence to Pakistan.

"India has always been res-olute in working in sync withprinciples laid out in the SCOcharter. But it is unfortunatethat there have been repeatedefforts to unnecessarily bringbilateral issues in the SCOagenda which is in violation of

the SCO spirit," Modi said.Referring to COVID-19,

Modi said India will use itscapacity in production anddistribution of vaccines to helpthe entire humanity in fightingthe pandemic.

In this difficult time ofunprecedented epidemic,India's pharma industry sentessential medicines to over150 countries, he said.

We should respect sovereignty,territorial integrity: PM at SCO

The PM also hit out at those makingrepeated attempts to "unnecessarily"bring bilateral issues to the SCO inviolation of the grouping'sfoundational principles, in an oblique reference to Pakistan

PNS n BENGALURU

Indian Institute of Scienceclaimed on Tuesday thatresearchers led by RaghavanVaradarajan, Professor at IISc'sMolecular Biophysics Unit,are working towards develop-ing effective vaccine strategiesagainst two viruses: SARS-CoV-2 and HIV.

In two studies published inthe past week, they reportedthedesign of a 'heat-tolerant'COVID-19 vaccine candidateand a rapid method to identi-fy specific regions on the HIV

envelopeprotein that are tar-gete by antibodies, which canhelp design effective vaccines,an IISc press release said.

The studies were publishedin the Journal of Biological

Chemistry and theProceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences respec-tively, according to Bengaluru-based IISc.

The COVID-19 vaccinecandidate contains a part of thespike protein of the novelcoronavirus called the

Receptor Binding Domain(RBD) - the region that helpsthe virus stick to the hosts cell.

It is being developed byVaradarajans lab in collabora-tion with Mynvax, a startup co-founded by him and incubat-ed at IISc, as well as severalother institutes.

"When tested in guineapig models, the vaccine candi-date triggered a strongimmune response", the state-ment said.

"Surprisingly, it alsoremained stable for a month at

37C, and freeze-dried ver-sions could tolerate tempera-

tures as high as 100C.Such 'warm' vaccines can

be stored and transportedwithout expensive coolingequipment to remote areas formass vaccination - most vac-cines need to be storedbetween 2-8C or even coolertemperatures to avoid losingtheir potency", it said.

Compared to newer typessuch as mRNA vaccines, mak-ing a protein-based vaccinelike this can also be scaled upeasily n India where manufac-turers have been making sim-ilar vaccines for decades, IIScsaid.

Indian researchers workingtowards developing vaccine

Dare Devils Captain Dishant Kataria attempts to set the world record for the longest ramp jump with a motorbike by jumpingover 65 people, in Jabalpur on Tuesday

SETTING NNEW RRECORDS

PNS n NEW DELHI

Fifteen members of a gangwere arrested for allegedlystealing two-wheelers and laterusing it to commit robberiesand snatchings across Delhi,officials said on Tuesday.

The arrests were done afterit was observed that there wasa nexus between auto-liftersand snatchers, who were usingstolen motorcycles to commitcrime in Outer District area. Atotal of 125 stolen two-wheel-ers and six mobile phones havebeen recovered from differentlocations, police said.

The auto-lifters providedstolen bikes to snatchers onrent or commission basis,police said.

The team apprehendedthree persons, riding on amotorcycle at Old MacchiChowk in Sultanpuri, whenthey tried to flee during check-ing. They were identified asSumit, Ajay and Vikas, and thetwo-wheeler seized from them

was found to be stolen fromSultanpuri area, Koan said.

They stole motorcycles fromSultanpuri and adjoiningareas, and used these for com-mitting snatching or robberies.They also lend these vehiclesto other criminals involved instealing of two wheelers,snatching and robberies.

They disclosed that theyhad parked many stolen vehi-cles at different locations inSultanpur. They revealed thatthey are members of a syndi-cate headed by one Sagar,who is involved in 33 cases oftheft, snatching and auto-lift-ing, the DCP said.

Congress candidate Indu RajNarwal on Tuesday defeated

his nearest rival and BJPnominee Yogeshwar Dutt inthe Baroda assembly seat ofHaryana with a margin of over10,000 votes, said officials.Theopposition Congress hasretained the Baroda seat. This

is the second time that Olympian wrestler Dutt has lost the pollsfrom this constituency. Dutt had lost the 2019 assembly poll byabout 4,800 votes to Congress candidate Krishan Hooda.The Barodaassembly seat fell vacant in April following the death of Hooda, whohad won it thrice in the 2009, 2014 and 2019 assembly pollsHaryana Congress chief Kumari Selja said with their decision, thepeople of Baroda have given a “befitting reply” to “anti-farmers andanti-labour forces”. “The victory of Indu Raj Narwal is a win offarmers and labourers. I assure residents of Baroda that theCongress will live up to their expectations,” tweeted Selja.

Baroda: BJP's Yogeshwar Duttdefeated by Congress nominee

PNS n PATNA

The Congress today looked likethe weak link as the TejashwiYadav-led Mahagathbandhanseemed set for second place inthe Bihar election despite exitpolls predicting an oppositionvictory.

Did Tejashwi Yadav mess upseat-sharing and end up givingthe Congress more than itdeserved?

The Congress contested 70seats, the most after theRashtriya Janata Dal (144). Asfor the Left parties, CPM wasgiven four seats, the CPI sixand the CPI (ML), 19.

Every party showed a betterstrike rate than the Congress.Among the major players, thegrand old party was set to belimited to the fourth place.

Congress leader RahulGandhi campaigned in Biharbut it was not a patch onTejashwi Yadav's massive ral-lies.

Last year, their partnershipflopped in the national electiontoo - the NDA swept the polls,

winning 39 of 40 seats, and theCongress got one. The RJDscored a duck.

"We have to acknowledgethat the Congress is the small-er party in the state. RahulGandhi ji did his bit by cam-paigning across the state, but

yes, there are things that needto be done to strengthen ourorganizational machinery," saidthe party's Rajya Sabha mem-ber Nasir Hussain.

Prominent Congress candi-dates, including Sharad Yadav'sdaughter Subhashini SharadYadav and actor-politicianShatrughan Sinha's son LuvSinha, were trailing in count-ing. "It is clear that there is justno alternative to (Prime

Minister) Narendra Modi. TheCongress is in no position tocreate any sort of dent to himand the BJP. In fact, we knowthat RJD, after much push-and-pull, agreed to give theCongress a maximum of 48seats, but then political arm-twisting got them more. We allcan see what Congress hasdone about it," said formerJanata Dal United leader PavanVarma.

Cong flop show spoils Tejashwi-led alliance's chancesThe Congress contested 70 seats, themost after the Rashtriya Janata Dal(144). As for the Left parties, CPM wasgiven four seats, the CPI six and theCPI (ML), 19. Every party showed abetter strike rate than the Congress

PNS n BENGALURU

BJP candidate N Munirathnaon Tuesday won the byelec-tion to Rajarajeshwari Nagarassembly constituency inKarnataka, officials said.

Munirathna, who joinedBJP last year, defeated hisclosest rival Kusuma H of theCongress by a margin of over57,000 votes, they said.

JD(S) ended up distantthird. The bypoll for RRNagar, held on November 3,was necessitated after theseat fell vacant due to disqual-ification of the then CongressMLA Munirathna underanti-defection law.

This is the third consecu-tive victory for Munirathnasince 2013 and his first as theBJP candidate.

BJP candidate NMunirathna winsRR Nagar bypollin Karnataka

PNS n NANDIGRAM (WB),

Amid speculation over hisfuture political move, WestBengal minister SuvenduAdhikari on Tuesday took adig at the ruling TMC fororganising simultaneous rallyhere to mark "NandigramDiwas", saying that a few peo-ple are visiting the area after13 years as the assembly elec-tions are approaching.

Adhikari, who has beenmaintaining a distance fromthe party's top leadership forthe last few months, wasaddressing a rally to payrespects to martyrs of BhumiUchhed Pratirodh Committee(Land Eviction ResistanceCommittee), who died onthis day in 2007 during theanti-land acquisition move-ment, and said he wouldannounce his next course ofaction from apolitical plat-form. The minister also saidhe would never use the BUPCplatform for "vested politicalinterests". "The Nandigrammovement was a people'smovement. It was not of anyparticular individual. I have

been with the people ofNandigram. After 13 years, afew people are now cominghere as the elections areapproaching.

"I want to tell them if theyare coming before polls, theywill have to come after elec-tions too," Adhikari said at theBUPC rally that did not haveposters of Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee or the TMCflags. The minister did nottake names of the party andits supremo, and said he"never believed in using theplatform of BUPC for hispolitical gains". "I used tocome alone during those daysand stood by the people," hesaid.

His comments came in the

backdrop of the TMC'sannouncement that it is

going to hold a rally here tomark "Nandigram Divas".

Posters of the chief minis-ter and the party's flag wereseen at the ground where theTMC is scheduled to holdarally later in the day to markthe 13th "Nandigram Diwas".

"Whatever I will have to sayregarding my next course ofaction, I will say from a polit-ical platform," he said.

West Bengal minister andsenior TMC leader FirhadHakim, who is scheduled toaddress the party's rally heresaid, "It would have beengood had Suvendu addressedthe rally under the banner ofthe TMC."

TMC: After years, some nowstarted visiting Nandigram

15 of gang held overauto-lifting racket

PNS n NEW DELHI

Republic TV Editor-in-ChiefArnab Goswami moved theSupreme Court Tuesday seek-ing interim bail in the 2018case of alleged abetment tosuicide of an interior design-er. The Bombay High Courthad refused to grant interimbail to Goswami and two oth-ers on Monday and askedthem to move to the localcourt for the relief.

The appeal against the highcourt order has been filed inthe top court through lawyerNirnimesh Dubey.

Besides the Maharashtragovernment, Goswami who isin Taloja jail, has made theCentre, the SHO of Alibaug

police station, Mumbai PoliceCommissioner Param BirSingh and Akshyata AnvayNaik as parties to his appeal.

The state government,through advocate Sachin Patil,has also filed a caveat in thetop court to ensure that noorder is passed on Goswami'splea without it being heard inthe case.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Former union minister M JAkbar Tuesday told a Delhicourt that journalist PriyaRamani did not make “defam-atory” statements for the pub-lic good but out of vengeance.

Akbar made the statementbefore Additional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate(ACMM) Vishal Pahujathrough his lawyer during thefinal arguments in a criminaldefamation complaint filed byhim against Ramani.

In the wake of #MeToo

movement, Ramani in 2018accused Akbar of sexual mis-conduct around 20 years agowhen he was a journalist.

Senior advocate GeetaLuthra, appearing for Akbar,told the court that, “Ramanididn't make these statements(termed by Akbar as defama-tory) for the public good, shemade them out of vengeance.She didn't even apologise for afactually incorrect statement.”

“Ramani didn't produce anylandline records, parkingreceipts, no CCTV footage,nothing. She didn't produce

any evidence to prove herstory,” the counsel said.

The counsel claimed thatRamani wrote a fictitious piecein the magazine -- Vogue -- incontext of #MeToo move-ment with a mala fide inten-tion as she “intended to tarnishthe reputation of Akbar.”

“Wreckless statementsagainst Akbar were put in apublic place without any careor caution... The per se effectof Ramani's statements wasdefamatory, damaging the rep-utation of Akbar,” the counselsaid.

‘Priya Ramani made ‘defamatory'statement out of vengeance’

PNS n PATNA,

With the NDA leading in 128of the 243 seats in Biharassembly, BJP state chiefSanjay Jaiswal said there is nodispute regarding who willlead the government if thealliance returns to power inthe state. A party or a coali-tion requires 122 seats toform the government inBihar.

"The issue has been clearedby Prime Minister and partychief J P Nadda much beforethe elections," he said, whileresponding to a query wh-ether CM Nitish Kumar willlead the NDA government ifthe alliance secures a major-ity in the assembly.

Without naming RJDleader and Grand Alliancechief ministerial candidateTejashwi Yadav, Jaiswal tooka swipe at him, saying,"People are intelligent enougho distinguish between truthand falsehood."

Earlier in the day, theJD(U) exuded confidencethat the NDA will again forma government in Bihar underKumar. "I have been sayingthis for a long time that theNDA will form the govern-ment under the leadership ofCM Nitish

No disputeregarding NDAleader inBihar: Sanjay

BJP wins 1 seat, Independentbacked by BJP wins 1 in Manipur

Congress leader Udit Rajquestions reliability of EVMs

Arnab Goswamimoves SC for bail

The minister also said he would neveruse the BUPC platform for "vestedpolitical interests". "The Nandigrammovement was a people's movement.I have been with the people ofNandigram. After 13 years, a fewpeople are now coming here as theelections are approaching.

The sight of a rattledNitish Kumar inhis public appear-ances during therecently held

Assembly election campaignsin Bihar intrigued manyobservers because of hisimage of a cool, suave andwell-mannered politician,who hardly ever breached thedecorum of public life. But inhis speeches, he not onlylost his poise but also becamepersonal in his commentsagainst his adversaries. Thismade people wonder as towhat went wrong with him,given his reputation as a sea-soned and confident leader.These days though, the par-ties and leaders actually getto know the real mood of thepeople only during election-eering due to defunct organ-isational networks and, there-fore, the sight of leaders los-ing balance during the elec-tion should not surprise us.

So, when post-COVID tra-vails of the people startedunravelling themselves in themidst of an election in Bihar,Nitish would have definitelysensed the slide of his popu-larity, the erosion and limita-tion of his brand of social jus-tice politics. Political analystsbelieved that it was LokJanshakti Party (LJP) leaderChirag Paswan, who wasseen by many as the BJP’sproxy to keep him in checkand Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav’spopulist job promise thatunsettled him. But thingsappear much deeper and tounderstand the whole gamutof it, one needs to take asnapshot of Bihar politics,particularly the period inwhich the game of socialjustice got played out.

Ironically, Nitish seems tobe both a beneficiary and vic-tim of social justice politics.He and RJD chief LaluPrasad Yadav have been itsarchitects for the last threedecades. Together, they haveevenly shared the rulingyears, setting the politicalnarrative and even forcingthe national parties like theCongress and the BJP tobend backwards and playsecond fiddle to them in

order to survive in the State.They rode on the high tideof Mandal politics withfinesse and dismantled thecultural-political hegemo-ny of the upper castes inBihar’s social fabric.

Since Bihar had not wit-nessed a social reformmovement like some otherregions of India during thecolonial period, their politicsstruck a responsive chordwith the backward castes.The social justice politics,which they spearheaded,resulted in the much-await-ed course correction in theState and they became therecipient of its political div-idends. But one day thispolitics had to hit its deadend and if the people’s ireagainst Nitish, and this notgoing out rightly in favour ofTejashwi in the currentAssembly election, is anyindication, then it seems tohave already reached thatmoment. The COVID crisisonly precipitated thisprocess by exposing theunderbelly of the State, withthe sight of lakhs of belea-guered migrant workersparading and dying on thehighways and their imagesgoing viral through socialand electronic media.

But does this mean thatthe politics of social justice,which promised both digni-ty and livelihood to theunder-privileged, has out-lived its utility and has comeof age in Bihar? And towhat extent is Nitish culpa-ble in the derailment of thisproject of social justice?

Why did this discourse fal-ter in adding economic con-tent to the rhetoric of reser-vation and representation?

It would be unfair to saythat the second generationsocial justice politics basedon economic agenda didnot take off at all in Bihar.Lalu, no doubt, will be fault-ed for squandering theopportunity. But this maynot apply to Nitish. He start-ed his innings with apromise to take the politicsof social justice to a higherpedestal and add the miss-ing economic content to it,without abandoning theprocess of political empow-erment of the backwardcastes, which had been set inmotion. Rather, he tried tomake political empower-ment more institutionalisedand broad-based, comparedto the Lalu era.

He not only made thelocal bodies as new sites ofempowerment by reservingpolitical posts for extremelybackward castes, women,Mahadalits but also deftlydovetailed the agenda ofdevelopment and good gov-ernance with caste arith-metic.

Therefore, his first five-year tenure definitely heldout hope for all and sundrywith the law and orderimproving in the State andthe GDP hovering above thenational average. He evenlowered the anti-upper castetirade of Lalu’s regime. Andthis was not an ordinaryachievement, given his con-straints, which included the

loss of mineral-richJharkhand, empty coffersand the tattered administra-tion bequeathed by his pre-decessor.

The much hyped econom-ic growth of his era was notgoing to last long, with con-struction activities contribut-ing substantially to thisgrowth story without addingmuch in the manufacturing,agriculture and other keysectors of the economy. Theresult was that Nitish’s goodgovernance agenda floun-dered on generating employ-ment, arresting migrationof workers and turningaround agriculture and alliedactivities, which could haveacted as the engine foremployment and economicgrowth. The infrastructuredefinitely improved, partic-ularly the roads and electric-ity. But this was not enoughfor the new aspirational class,which was in the makingamong the backward castes,in particular, due to severalfactors, including the affir-mative action programme.

Problems for Nitish fur-ther got compounded whenhe started vacillating politi-cally in the aftermath ofNarendra Modi’s rise to thenational scene. This took aheavy toll on his politicalcredibility and severely con-strained his manoeuvrabili-ty. The astute politician inhim must have sensed thatsomewhere along the way hehad lost the plot, with peo-ple restive about unemploy-ment in a resource-starvedState, the populist andmajoritarian politics stackedagainst him and his advanc-ing age not on his side.

Does this mean that Biharis heading for a post-socialjustice era in politics?Though, looking at the cur-rent election result, it is tooearly to write an obituary ofsocial justice politics in theState. But in search of a newmeaning, the old style poli-tics based on pure castearithmetic of the Mandalera will not work. Tejashwi’sfailure to cash in on Nitish’ssliding popularity, largelydue to his father’s legacy andRJD’s poor track record ondevelopment and economicjustice, is indicative of thatfact. Therefore, one can saythat an add-on to the iden-tity politics in economicterms and a credible politi-cal face to deliver it areimportant takeaways fromthis election in Bihar.

(The writer is AssociateProfessor in Political Science,Aryabhatta College,University of Delhi)

The vaccine that was supposed to hand a beleaguered USPresident Donald Trump his second term in office is finally herebut it is a tad too late to be of any help to him. Pfizer and German

biotechnology company BioNTech have announced that theirCoronavirus vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective in phasethree large-scale clinical trials. It has been developed outside theWhite House’s Operation Warp Speed programme, although theTrump administration placed an initial order for 100 million of thefirm’s vaccine doses for $1.95 billion in July. Operation Warp Speedpumped billions of dollars into six other pharmaceutical companiesintended to accelerate vaccine development. Even as there was apolitical storm over the timing of the announcement, President-elect

Joe Biden, who made his criticism of Trump’s handling of the pandemic a centrepiece of his elec-tion campaign, congratulated the “brilliant women and men” involved in the research. But he didn’tgo overboard and urged the nation to continue wearing masks and maintaining protocols as it wouldbe “many more months before there is widespread vaccination.” Biden’s appeal assumes signifi-cance because Trump had repeatedly mocked the former for wearing the face cover during electioncampaigns. Many Conservatives even contended that masks infringed on their individual freedom.This stubbornness to ignore the advice of experts on Corona protocols has been widely blamed forthe fact that the US remains the worst-hit country in the world.

Coming close on the heels of the mandate, the US President, who will be legally challengingthe vote count on the grounds of it being a fraud, will also be using the vaccine claim as part of aconspiracy theory. In a renewed push to justify his victimhood, he felt that the US Food and DrugAdministration (USFDA) was politically motivated and should have announced it earlier to save lives.Of course, he disregarded the fact that the scientific community across the world had sworn thatthey would not be compromised by political arm-twisting and would declare results after they wereabsolutely sure of trials. The findings may have come in the natural and ethical course of proto-cols but Trump is not going to let go of the opportunity to claim he fast-tracked them and nowwas being cheated out of the credit due to him. Vice-President Mike Pence, too, was quick to pointout that the vaccine was a result of the Trump administration’s “public-private partnership” initia-tive. Be that as it may, the fact remains that Trump and Co are responsible for the Corona soupthe US is in today and the verdict of the people was against that and the divisive policies basedon ethno-nationalism. As far as Biden is concerned, the vaccine will be the cherry on the cake.But will he get rid of “Trumpism” that will dog every move he makes?

Call him an upstart, a late bloomer and a maverick but he hasindeed been, to borrow an often used punchline, “sabse Tej.”And as the cliffhanger called the Bihar election plays out,

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav has single-han-dledly and valiantly taken on the heft of the BJP and effected a changein Bihar’s political landscape. One that has made RJD the prime chal-lenger of the BJP, sweating it out to the wire, squeezing victory mar-gins to less than a thousand in some seats. But in the end, therewill be the wistfulness of an “if only.” What would the result havebeen if only Tejashwi had gone it alone than allocate 70 seats to theCongress, which has been nothing short of a drag on their alliance?Could Tejashwi, as the face of anger against the establishment, indeed

have led a raging revolution if the negative vote against the BJP-Janata Dal (United) combine had notbeen fragmented by smaller, like-minded parties working at cross-purposes with each other? But asthings stand now, he has more than a pop-up value; he has created his space on his terms. Thoughhe is blessed with the mantle of legacy and the ear-to-the-ground wisdom of his father and social jus-tice patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav, he has also been aware of the costly burden of the latter’s incarcer-ation over corruption. Which is why he smartly played down the social justice card, acutely awarethat those it empowered, namely the Muslims and Yadavs, would not turn back on Lalu. And he triedto dissociate himself from the inherited legacy of “jungle raj” by promising economic justice to thejobless youth, pledging 10 lakh jobs. In fact, he described his “economic justice” plank as a version2.0 of “social justice,” at once disconnecting himself from his father’s legacy while staying connect-ed to the movement he espoused. He swung the youth along, tried a rainbow umbrella by bringing inupper caste candidates, brought in the Left parties to the forefront and made the elections about theright of all Biharis to aspire for their El Dorado. But he just needed to punch a bit more above his weightto cruise past the finish line. Or may be voters wanted someone with a clean slate, not weighed downby questions of credibility.

The BJP, which has had a good day at the office, considering it is likely to form the Governmentin Bihar and has mopped up most of the byelection seats to its satisfaction, had a decelerator thanksto its ally and chief ministerial candidate Nitish Kumar. The anti-incumbency was so strong againsthim that the BJP was worried at one time. But the biggest takeaway for the party is that of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi emerging to be some sort of faith icon for voters in the heartland at least, managingto cast a spell similar to 2019 despite the challenges thrown up by the pandemic. For all the fury overthe reverse migration, the tyranny of the lockdown, the insufficient economic relief and a tanking GDP,issues which hurt the voters the most, he still was trusted to steer the State out of its morass withCentral inventions and packages. It means that the common voter has by and large endorsed his larg-er economic relief packages and bought into his populism. Modi further seems to have supplantedthe need for a federal leader, shrinking the JD(U) and making its leader Nitish Kumar more dependenton him. Bihar seems to be okay with the idea of becoming an extension counter of the Central Governmentand being ruled by anybody it chooses, even if it is Nitish, as long as he is a BJP tag-along. The otherbig story of the election concerns the spoilers, the smaller parties that got about 18 per cent of thevote and ended fragmenting the negative vote significantly to the BJP’s advantage, notable among thembeing the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which hurt both the JD(U) and the RJD. If the BJP indeed usedLJP and its young Dalit leader Chirag Paswan to undercut JD(U) and make the latter beholden to it, asis being speculated, then the strategy has worked. The AIMIM, led by Asauddin Owaisi, has similarlychipped away the Muslim vote to the RJD’s disadvantage. The biggest loser has got be the Congress,which has had the worst strike rate in converting seats contested to wins, with the Left stealing a marchover it while contesting in far lesser seats. One cannot discount the X-factor, the women, who turnedout more than men, by five per cent, and along with Nitish’s prohibition may have been swayed byCentral schemes to swing the arc for the BJP-led combine.

Does the verdict mean the end of the social justice era in Bihar where the BJP typifies changedaspirations across classes and a stability that have taken the voters out of silos? Caste is still impor-tant but, as Tejashwi understood rather late in the day, it needed to graduate to the next level of eco-nomic empowerment. Hence he made the unconditional offer of 10 lakh jobs. The BJP, while lettingthe public discourse be determined by what Nitish did or did not do, had worked armada-like on arith-metic and last mile conversion. Significantly, it worked silently on increasing its own presence, lettingthe social justice forces battle it among themselves. It improved its prospects in areas like West Champaranand Seemanchal, while in Kosi, Mithila and Tirhut regions, it counter-polarised the votes. True, it didneed Nitish at one time to widen its span across social and caste groups and win acceptability throughthem but now seems to have achieved some unanimity of appeal. But though it may harbour ambi-tions of assuming chief ministership, it won’t hasten its run, being careful not to appear as an oppor-tunist. Unless Nitish wants to step down on his own. For Tejashwi, who has attempted to cross thecomfort of RJD bastions and venture into the rural belt, the job is cut out. He started rather late in theday but now needs to take his appeal deep into the soil and invest time and effort to convert the mag-netism of optics to a bonafide verdict next time round. As for Nitish, this could be his last tenure ofchief ministership given his age and perhaps that’s one of the reasons that the BJP may indulge himawhile. Besides, Nitish’s soft image can act as a buffer for its ambitions.

Bihar tug of war

ISRO launches EOS-01Sir — The Indian SpaceResearch Organisation(ISRO) has launched anearth observation satellite,EOS-01, along with ninecustomer satellites onboardits polar rocket from theSatish Dhawan Space Centrein Sriharikota. This is India’sfirst space mission in almosta year.

With this, ISRO has suc-cessfully overcome manyconstraints to meet thedeadline during the ongoingCOVID-19 crisis.

EOS-01 is a RadarImaging Satellite (RISAT)that will work together withRISAT-2B and RISAT-2BR1launched last year and isintended for applications inagriculture, forestry and dis-aster management support.It will aid in providing all-weather surveillance usingSynthetic Aperture Radar(SAR).

Also, there are indica-tions that ISRO could belaunching ten such satel-lites in this series in quicksuccession.

M PradyuKannur

Diwali gloom Sir — The decision to ban fire-crackers during Diwali byseveral State Governments isa welcome step. However, thisshould have been done muchearlier as across the country,thousands of families dependon this seasonal business fortheir livelihood and in placeslike Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, it

is the mainstay of the econo-my. Prior to the ban, productshad already been shipped todifferent States but paymentswere yet to be made. Now,with the ban being imple-mented, they would notreceive the due credit amountand the workers will be left ina lurch. Keeping in view therising number of COVID-19cases and the high level of air

pollution across India, theState Governments shouldhave taken the decision beforethe stocks even arrived in themarket.

M Raghuraman Mumbai

Farmer-friendly projectsSir — The UnionGovernment is workingtowards boosting the food

processing industries byapproving 21 projects, lever-aging investment worth ̀ 443crore supported with a grantof `189 crore under thescheme for Integrated ColdChain and Value Addition.Also, eight projects, leverag-ing investment worth `62crore with a grant of ̀ 15 croreunder the scheme forCreation of Backward andForward Linkages, wereapproved. These are likely togenerate employment fornearly 12,600 people and ben-efit around 2,00,592 farmers.The projects are spread across10 States — Punjab, AndhraPradesh, Gujarat, Jammu andKashmir, Himachal Pradesh,Nagaland, Kerala, Punjab,Uttarakhand, Telangana,Nagaland.

These will provide effec-tive and seamless backwardand forward integration forthe processed food industryby plugging the gaps in thesupply chain in terms of avail-ability of raw material andlinkages with the market.

Amit Singh KushwahaSatna

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

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 11, 2020

Social justice & moreAn add-on to the identity politics in economic terms and a credible political

face to deliver it are important takeaways from the Bihar elections

The BJP is a disciplined party,functioning on the support of itsworkers. The Congress is a partyrun by leaders. In the comingdays, the Congress is going todisintegrate more and more.

BJP parliamentarian—Narhari Amin

Battleground Bengal

The Assembly election in West Bengal, scheduledto be held in 2021, is going to be a fierce bat-tle between the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool

Congress (TMC) and the BJP. The current politicalsituation indicates that the Left parties, which haveruled the State for about three decades before theTMC dislodged them, have lost the political ground.And the Indian National Congress party's conditionis no better. This has fuelled BJP's ambitions to occu-py the political space against the ruling TMC.

Buoyed by its impressive performance in 2019general elections, winning 18 Lok Sabha seats andsecuring 40.64 per cent votes, which were just threeper cent less than TMC, BJP is high on hopes to con-quer the politically significant State in eastern India.On the other hand, Banerjee's rule hasn't lived upto the expectations of the people. The catchy TMCslogan “Parivartan” (change) in 2011 Assembly elec-tions, promising a turnaround in the State, has provedhollow. Bengal hasn't witnessed substantial changes

in terms of rate of development, law and order, cor-ruption, political murders and other key parameters.The legacy left behind by the Left parties has beencontinued by the Banerjee Government. In this con-text, West Bengal, which has a huge potential to grow,needs a change of Government.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Vaccine politics

Tejashwi chases BJP and Nitish to the finish line and proves he is here to stay. BJP scores with Modi magic

Trump is challenging the timing of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine aspolitically motivated, says he is being robbed of credit due to him

SATISH K JHA

I will leave the presidentialpalace and go to myhome. History and thePeruvian people will judgethe decisions that eachone of us makes.

Peruvian President —Martin Vizcarra

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

S O U N D B I T EWe have to respect the fact he(Virat Kohli) wants to be there forthe birth of his first child. We'relooking forward to seeing himhere (in Australia) for seven out of the 10 matches.

Cricket Australia CEO—Nick Hockley

NITISH SEEMS TOBE BOTH A

BENEFICIARY ANDVICTIM OF SOCIAL

JUSTICEPOLITICS. HE AND

LALU PRASADYADAV HAVE

BEEN ITSARCHITECTS.

TOGETHER, THEYHAVE EVENLYSHARED THE

RULING YEARS,SETTING THE

POLITICALNARRATIVE AND

EVEN FORCINGTHE NATIONAL

PARTIES TO PLAYSECOND FIDDLE

TO THEM

op nion 06

Biden’s Bharat policy

IF THE DIRECTION OF SATELLITES TO MARS AND

MOON CAN BE CONTROLLED FROM THE EARTH, THEN

WHY CAN’T EVM BE HACKED?

—CONGRESS LEADER

UDIT RAJ

TIME TO STOP BLAMING EVMS. THERE HAVE BEEN

DOUBTERS IN ALL PARTIES, PARTICULARLY WHEN

THE RESULTS DON’T GO IN THEIR FAVOUR.

—CONGRESS LEADER

KARTI CHIDAMBARAM

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

If all goes well and President Donald Trump doesnot have his way in the courts, then on January20, 2021 the White House would have a new

occupant. President Trump will vacate the same towelcome President-elect Democrat Joe Biden as the46th President of the United States of America(POTUS). The US elections this time were followedworldwide because of the impact incumbentPresident Trump had over global geopolitics withhis peculiar style of functioning.

Though Biden defeated him with a convinc-ing majority, Trump is unhappy and making wildaccusations of electoral fraud has approached thecourts. In all fairness, Biden will succeed and Trumpwill have to concede. In the process Trump will beremembered as the first sitting POTUS who failedto secure a second term apart from his numerouscontroversial decisions. Biden will inherit anextremely divided US, a fallout of the “America First”policy of Trump. Soon, the process of transition willbegin when the outgoing administration will handover power to the transition team of Biden, who, too,will commence the process of announcing his trust-ed colleagues. The choice of members of his teamwill be the first indication of the mindset of the newPOTUS with relation to burning domestic and glob-al issues. Biden, more than experienced at 77, willnot only decide the future of US citizens but wouldalso have the capacity, capability, authority andresponsibility to shape global destiny. It is no won-der then that in India as well the election was fol-lowed very closely as it has traditionally enjoyed abipartisan relationship with the US.

Though change of presidency in the US has notmade much of a difference in the past irrespectiveof the party in power, this time the situation is dif-ferent because of the ongoing stand-off with anexpansionist and aggressive China as well as certaincontroversies at home leading to polarisation.

The nomination of Senator Kamala Harris asa running mate by Biden created a concern in thepower corridors in India due to her perceived anti-India stance and critical statements relating to abro-gation of Article 370 and the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA). Incidentally, both Bidenand Harris have a connection with India but it ishighly unlikely that it would have any effect on theirpolicy-making or relations with us. However, onething is certain, Biden is a friend of India and histrack record from his early days as a Senator till hisVice- Presidency under Barack Obama bears testi-mony to this fact.

Trump has left many problems for the newGovernment and naturally, Biden will prioritise thesequence and manner in which he decides to resolvethem. Going by the Democratic Party Platform (adocument akin to manifesto) India is not in the pri-ority list of the party. It refers to China, North Korea,Iran, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific but doesnot mention India specifically. However, theDemocrats realised soon that ignoring India maycause them loss of critical Indian-American votesand the Biden campaign released a separate policypaper on Indo-US relations. Considering India’sstrategic location dominating the Indian Ocean, itssize and economy, no Government can afford toignore it.

Significantly, Biden has always espoused India’scause in the US and lobbied for its interests as anadmirer of the world’s largest democracy. He has alsobeen an advocate of deepening strategic engagement

with India, cooperating with New Delhion meeting global challenges as well asenhancing trade relations. He hasremained a strong believer of the fact thatIndia and the US are natural partners andhad a stellar role to play in approving theUS-India civil nuclear deal in 2008. It wasduring the Obama-Biden administra-tion that the US, for the first time,declared its support for the permanentmembership of India in an expanded andreformed United Nations SecurityCouncil. During the same administration,India was named as a “major defence part-ner,” making it eligible to be treated at parwith closest US allies as regards advancedand sensitive technologies needed tostrengthen our armed forces. There arefears that since more than 80 per centAmerican-Muslims voted in his favour,Biden’s policies may be pro-Muslim.However, any apprehension of the USinterfering in Kashmir is highly unfound-ed as Biden and Harris have both spokenout against human rights violations andthe Democrats have always been support-ive of India on Kashmir. Though in hisAgenda for Muslim-AmericanCommunities, Biden had condemned theNarendra Modi Government’s new citi-zenship Act and a separate attempt to builda population register that could providefuture justification to expel or target for-eigners, at the same time he had also com-mitted to strengthening Indo-US ties.

“The US and India will stand togeth-er against terrorism in all its forms andwork together to promote a region ofpeace and stability, where neither Chinanor any other country threatens its neigh-bours,” he wrote in an op-ed in anIndian-American newspaper in October.He is unlikely to change the Americanstance on Al Qaeda, the ISIS and other

radical jihadi organisations. Significantly,the Modi Government’s action againstmany foreign-funded NGOs and banningof Amnesty International has not gonedown well with many Democrats. Thereare bound to be differences of opinion onmany issues just like during the TrumpAdministration, but mutual discussionswould ensure that these do not affect thecooperation between the two nations onmany critical issues of mutual importance.

China’s expansionist policies, tradeand certain global problems like terrorismand climate change are the issues of con-cern for India. There is no doubt that onthese issues the Biden administration andIndia will have convergence. It is unlike-ly that Biden will release the pressure builton China by the Trump Administration.But he favours a consensus-basedapproach in dealing with Beijing as com-pared to the confrontationist stanceadopted by Trump.

Biden is in favour of strengtheningthe QUAD, the Indo-Pacific policy as wellas providing support to Taiwan andHong Kong. He wants to strengthen tieswith US allies, too, meaning the NATOand countries like Australia, Japan, thePhilippines and South Korea, proposinga grand Indo-Pacific Alliance. He has alsocommitted to strengthening militarycooperation between the US and India. Itis important to note that both nations hadsigned three agreements for closer mili-tary cooperation in the backdrop of thegrowing tension with China under Trump.Biden has a very different approach to cli-mate change which is likely to benefit Indiain terms of green funding.

As far as trade is concerned, Biden isgoing to be less obtrusive than Trump.India already enjoys a trade surplus withthe US. It accounts for nearly five per cent

of US’ services imports from the world,too. The US is the fifth-largest source ofForeign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indiaand the Indian stock market is alreadyshowing a positive impact like the WallStreet.

There may not be much change in theH1-B visa regime but the informationtechnology industry is likely to benefit.Despite good personal relations betweenTrump and Modi, the much-awaitedtrade deal between the two countries couldnot be finalised. Keeping in view thepromised focus of Biden on rebuilding theCOVID-hit economy of the US, chancesof expecting any concessions appear dim.

Biden, however, had been an advocateof strengthening trade relations and Indiawould expect restoration of theGeneralised System of Preferences (GSP)benefits from his Government. However,it remains to be seen if the new adminis-tration uses the same as a leverage for itsdifferences on certain issues with the ModiGovernment. Even Modi expressed thesame hope in his congratulatory messageto the President-elect. He tweeted, “As the(Vice President), your contribution tostrengthening Indo-US relations was crit-ical and invaluable. I look forward toworking closely together once again to takeIndia-US relations to greater heights.”

India has embarked on the path ofAtmanirbhar Bharat to meet the challengesof a post-COVID era. Despite temptationsand provocations, our nation has so farresisted joining any camp but instead hascontinued with its strategy of need-basedbilateral or multilateral agreements inkeeping with its national interests. Wemust continue on the same path.

(The author is a Jammu-based veter-an, political commentator, columnist, secu-rity and strategic analyst)

The President-elect has always espoused India's cause in the US and lobbied for Indianinterests as an admirer of the world's largest democracy

07F I R S T C O L U M N

A fine mess inEthiopia again

GWYNNE DYER

In only a week, it has worked its way up from localclashes to air strikes. This is so reckless that itmakes US politics look demure by comparison

ANIL GUPTA

DESPITETEMPTATIONS

ANDPROVOCATIONS,

INDIA HAS SO FAR

RESISTEDJOINING ANY

CAMP BUTINSTEAD HAS

CONTINUED WITH ITS

STRATEGY OFNEED-BASED

BILATERAL ORMULTILATERAL

AGREEMENTS INKEEPING WITH ITS

NATIONALINTERESTS.

WE MUSTCONTINUE

ON THE SAME PATH

Americans should congratulate themselves. Their election sys-tem is definitely better than Ethiopia’s. In fact, it works sowell that there’s unlikely to be another American civil war.

The US, a federal country with a complex and decrepit voting sys-tem, has nevertheless just held a national election despite abouta quarter-million of COVID-19 deaths. President Donald Trump isfinding it hard to process his defeat, but the system itself workedfine despite the pandemic.

Ethiopia, another federal country with one-third of America’spopulation but less than one-hundredth of the US’ COVID deathrate, should have held its scheduled election this autumn too, butPrime Minister Abiy Ahmed postponed it “because of theCoronavirus pandemic.” That was a very serious mistake.

The Government of the Tigray region of Ethiopia accused Abiyof needless delay, and when he refused to change his mind, it wentahead and held the election in Tigray anyway. Abiy said the newly-elected Government of Tigray (same as the old Government) wasillegal because he had postponed the elections. On its part, Tigraysaid the Federal Government was illegal because it had unilater-ally extended its mandate instead of holding the elections, and bothsides went to war.

In only a week, they’ve worked their way up from local clash-es to air strikes. This is so stupid and reckless that it makes USpolitics look positively demure by comparison. To be fair, though,Ethiopia has only recently emerged from 45 years of revolution,White and Red terror, renewed tyranny, more revolution, and prac-tically non-stop civil and international war. Ethiopia is a really hardplace to govern. When Abiy Ahmed was appointed Prime Ministertwo years ago by the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People’sRevolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), he was the first Oromoever to govern the country, even though the Oromo are the largestof Ethiopia’s many ethnic groups (a third of the population). Theyhave been unhappy for a long time, so that was a plus.

So was the fact that he was the son of a Christian-Muslimmarriage, useful in a country that is two-thirds Christian, one-thirdMuslim. And Abiy’s intentions were good: He immediately set aboutto dismantle the stranglehold on power of the various ethnic mili-tias that had fought and won the long war against the Derg, theprevious Communist dictatorship. The most powerful of those mili-tias is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Tigray, the country’s northernmost province, has only six mil-lion people, a mere five per cent of Ethiopia’s population, but Tigrayansoldiers and politicians have dominated the EPRDF coalition andGovernment for most of the last 30 years because of their his-toric role in the war against the Derg.

The Tigrayan political elite’s privilege was widely resented, andit was time for it to end. Last year Abiy tried to do that by merg-ing all the ethnic militia-based parties into a single Prosperity Party,but the TPLF leadership wouldn’t play ball. They had always livedin the castle, and nobody was going to make them go and livewith the commoners. It is, alas, as simple as that, and perhaps amore accomplished civilian politician could have finessed it: Cabinetposts, ambassadorships and/or fat lifetime pensions for the moreflexible Tigrayan leaders, discreet but massive bribes for the greed-ier ones, and a couple of fatal “accidents” for the hardest nuts tocrack.

Abiy Ahmed, despite a background in Intelligence work thatshould have given him good political skills, is inflexible and con-frontational. The cascade of threats, counter-threats and ultima-tums between him and the TPLF leadership is now culminatingin what amounts to a Tigrayan war of secession. It could be a longfight because Tigrayans are over-represented in the armed forcesand much of the army’s heavy weapons and equipment, whichwere based in Tigray because of the border war with Eritrea, hasfallen into the TPLF’s hands. The TPLF has no air force, but it canmatch the federal army in everything, up to and including mech-anised divisions.

Ethiopia is Africa’s second-biggest country, very poor but witha fast-growing economy. The very last thing it needs is yet anoth-er civil war, which in current circumstances could also lead to otherregions trying to secede. Even if the TPLF was trying to provokea war (which looks quite likely), Abiy Ahmed’s first duty was toavoid it at all costs. They gave Abiy Ahmed the Nobel Peace Prizelast year for bringing Ethiopia’s 22-year border war with Eritrea toa formal end but that award has been going downhill ever sinceHenry Kissinger got one. They even gave one to Myanmar leaderAung San Suu Kyi, who now goes around condoning genocide.Maybe we also need a Nobel Booby Prize.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’)

For those of us living in metropo-lises and other urban areas, weath-er forecasts are mostly a dreary

flow of information on temperature,humidity levels and possibilities of rain-fall. Urban dwellers are more worriedabout pollution levels, the ambient AirQuality Index (AQI) and whether thenext few days will see the cityenveloped in choking smog. Keepingabreast of the smog quotient is vital forurban dwellers as it not only impactstheir health and outdoor activities butwould also mean kicking in of theGraded Response Action Plan (GRAP),which includes measures such as pro-hibition on entry of trucks, ban on con-struction activities, introduction ofodd and even scheme for private vehi-cles, shutting of schools, closure of brickkilns, hot mix plants and stone crush-

ers, shutting down of power plants, banon diesel generator sets, bonfires andgarbage burning in landfills and so on.But apart from concerns about smogand the AQI in the winter months,weather forecasts are not so vital for citydwellers. In fact, during the monsoonseason they are a butt of jokes owingto the inaccuracy of predictions.

But in other parts of India, awayfrom the towering skyscrapers and pol-lution, where the highest landmarks areeither trees or mountains, weatherforecasts are a vital source of informa-tion. The farming community of Indiarelies heavily on weather inputs andgrowers plan their crop cycles, rotationpatterns, pesticide use and so on,based on them. Thankfully, over thedecades, the dissemination of weather-related information has made majorprogress. And owing to vast cellular net-works and affordable smartphone tech-nologies, farmers in many remoteparts of India have weather data liter-ally on their fingertips.

However, these conditions, asheartening as they may seem, do notexist uniformly throughout the realmof Indian agriculture and some seriousanomalies exist in the form of stark eco-nomic disparities within the agricultur-

al community. Even as farmers withsizeable land holdings, access to funds,quality seeds, livestock and farm equip-ment struggle to make a profit, the con-dition of small and marginal farmersremains abominable and seems to getworse with each passing year. Evendecades of economic progress of thenation do not seem to have improvedthe lot of these underprivileged farm-ers whose fragmented landholdings areunable to produce bumper crops.

This ensures that the farmerkeeps getting deeply entangled in thecomplex web of debt and falling pro-duce. Knee-jerk policies, such as therecent farm Acts, that raise doubtsabout the welfare of the growers, make

matters worse. Given these trying con-ditions, information on what the weath-er will bring in coming days is truly aGod-sent facility for all farmers.Particularly given the fact that climatechange-related disasters are wreakinghavoc on the farm sector. In 2019-20,extreme weather events adverselyimpacted 14 million hectares of farm-land in India. A recent survey by theNational Council of Applied EconomicResearch (NCAER) underscored theimportance of timely delivery of weath-er-related information to growers andconcluded that it had a significantlypositive impact on their income.

The survey, based on interviewswith nearly 4,000 agriculturalists,

helped gauge the economic impact ofIndia’s investments in the NationalMonsoon Mission (NMM) and High-Performance Computing (HPC) facil-ities. The findings showed that mitiga-tion, risk-avoidance and precautionaryactivities undertaken on the basis ofweather information paid off for thefarmers.

Similarly, the IndianMeteorological Department (IMD) inassociation with the Indian Council forAgricultural Research (ICAR) sentAgrometeorological Advisories to 22million farmers, through a network of130 agro-met field units. It was foundthat 80 per cent of the farmers who hadutilised these advisories could avoidsevere crop-related losses. However, theflow of information through theseadvisories is also not without problems.

In February 2018, the IMD issuedstorm and thundershower warnings forMaharashtra’s Nashik belt, which is tra-ditionally a grape-growing region withnearly 1,00,000 tonnes of grape exportto its credit each year. The advisorycompelled the grape farmers to advancetheir harvest process to escape theweather event. But soon, the IMD with-drew its forecast, resulting in prematuregrape harvest in the region and heavy

expenses were incurred by the farmerson labour for the same. These instancesspoil the credibility of the IMD andalienate farmers. In order to avoid theseconditions, the department must workon firming up its forecast ability andensure that retractions are not com-monplace as they play havoc with thefarming community’s fortunes.

Additionally, weather advisories aresometimes generic and lack district-level specifications, leaving the grow-ers confused whether or not to takeaction to protect their crop. The IMDmust overcome this flaw so that agri-culturalists are able to derive full ben-efit of a properly-issued forecast that ishigh on both minutiae details and accu-racy. There is information available onhow farmers are gaining because ofweather data availability but there is nocomprehensive data on how much theyhave lost due to a hastily-issued andretracted weather forecast or other fore-cast-related negligence. No informationdoes not mean that it has not happened.The Government must compile authen-tic data in this regard so that the extentof the problem is realised and counter-measures are taken.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

Accurate weather forecast a mustThere is information on how farmers gain because of data availability but there is no data on how much they have lost due to a wrong forecast

KOTA SRIRAJ

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 11, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

TV viewing has remainedpopular due to its ability tocreate a communityexperience when we areisolated at home.“Escapism” is a word oftenused pejoratively, but smalldoses are necessary; theymake the larger bleaknesseasier to face. It is worthnoting that a fifth of the UKbarely uses the internet. Forthem, the BBC and Channel

4 are essential companions.What we are seeing may bea redefinition of publicservice broadcasting.

(The Guardian editorial)

TV VIEWING ISCHANGING

analysis

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 11, 2020 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Gold prices tanked Rs 662to Rs 50,338 per 10 gram

in the national capital onTuesday, according to HDFCSecurities. In the previoustrade, the precious metal hadclosed at Rs 51,000 per 10gram. Silver prices alsotumbled Rs 1,431 to Rs62,217 per kilogram from Rs63,648 per kilogram in the previous trade. "Correction in gold pricesin India may attract festival buying ahead of auspicious'Dhanteras'," HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) TapanPatel said. In the international market, gold was trading in thegreen at USD 1,886 per ounce, while silver was quoting flat at USD24.31 per ounce. "Gold prices earlier witnessed sell-off on vaccinehopes. However, prices recovered today on supportivefundamentals with dovish stance from central banks amid slowereconomic growth and ongoing lockdown in Europe," Patel added.

Gold tanks Rs 662, silver tumbles Rs 1,431

PNS n NEW DELHI

Impacted by the COVID-19pandemic states are likely to cutcapital outlay on infrastructureby up to 40 per cent, ratingagency ICRA said on Tuesday.

States account for 37-40 percent of the total infrastructurecapital expenditure, it said.

The rating agency said majorstates together had a budgetedcapital outlay of over Rs 5.7lakh crore for 2020-21 asagainst revised estimate of Rs5.1 lakh crore in 2019-20.

"However, with COVID-19severely impacting revenuesof state governments, and addi-tional expenditure towardshealthcare and public welfare,the capital outlay on infrastruc-ture by states could decline 10-40 per cent in FY2021," ICRAsaid in a statement.

It said some states could wit-ness a steeper decline depend-

ing on the extent of addition-al borrowings, which is availed.

With COVID-19 and therelated slowdown in the eco-nomic activities, states are star-ing at a significant decline intheir revenues, which in turncould push them to cut downon discretionary expenditureincluding deferment of capitaloutlay.

"Furthermore, of the Rs 111trillion worth infrastructureinvestments planned underthe National InfrastructurePipeline (NIP), about 40 percent is from state governments.

"NIP envisages the state'sbudgetary outlay on capitalinvestments to be around 1.7per cent of GDP and states areexpected to fund 24-26 per

cent of the total expenditureunder NIP," the statement said.

Shubham Jain, Senior Vice-President and Group Head,Corporate Ratings, ICRA saidwhile on one hand states willgenerate lower revenues, theywould also need to increaseexpenditure towards healthcareand social welfare.

Various policy measures inresponse to COVID-19 couldcost over 0.3 per cent of GDP.

"Hence, to reduce the impactstates are likely to curtail somerevenue expenditure as well ascapital expenditure. In the

past, states had cut their capi-tal expenditure by an averageof 0.5 per cent of GDP to meetfiscal deficit targets.

"Given the current fiscalposition, it is likely that stateswould cut the capex by a high-er proportion in FY2021.However, capex in health andeducation sectors couldincrease,” Jain said.

To bridge the shortfall, states'unconditional borrowing limithas been raised from 3 per centof gross state domestic product(GSDP) to 4 per cent of GSDPfor 2020-21, the statement said.

States likely to cut capital outlayon infra due to pandemic: ICRA

With Covid and the related slowdownin the economic activities, states arestaring at a significant decline, whichin turn could push them to cut down ondiscretionary expenditure includingdeferment of capital outlay

PNS n MUMBAI

Extending its winning streakfor the seventh straight session,equity benchmark Sensexsoared 680 points to scaleanother lifetime high onTuesday, tracking a globalmarket rally driven by Pfizer'sCOVID-19 vaccine trials data.

After touching its lifetimepeak of 43,316.44 during theday, the 30-share BSE indexended 680.22 points or 1.60per cent higher at 43,277.65.

The broader NSE Nifty tootouched a fresh intra-day highof 12,643.90. It ended at12,631.10, up 170.05 points or1.36 per cent.

Bajaj Finance was the topgainer in the Sensex pack,surging around 9 per cent, fol-lowed by IndusInd Bank, L&T,Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, SBI,ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank,ONGC and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, TechMahindra, HCL Tech, Infosys,Nestle India, Sun Pharma and

TCS closed in the red. "Announcements by

BioNTech and Pfizer aboutsuccessful phase 3 trial ofCOVID-19 vaccine instilledconfidence among investorsand possibility of sustainedeconomic recovery led sharpbuying in beaten down stocks,"said Arjun Yash Mahajan,Head Institutional Business atReliance Securities.

Favourable global marketsand NDA's surprising lead inBihar assembly elections also

supported the rally, he added.However, champions that

emerged during pandemic likeIT and pharma stocks wit-nessed sharp profit booking, henoted.

Pfizer and BioNTech onMonday said their vaccinecandidate was found to bemore than 90 per cent effectivein preventing COVID-19.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Hong Kong, Seoul andTokyo ended with gains, whileShanghai settled lower.

Sensex hits 43,000-mark forfirst time; Nifty tops 12,600

Procter & Gamble Hygiene andHealth Care on Tuesday

reported a 85.51 per cent jump inprofit at Rs 253.86 crore for thefirst quarter ended September.The company had posted a profitof Rs 136.84 crore in the year-agoperiod, it said in a regulatoryfiling. The company follows July-

June financial year. Total income during the quarter under reviewstood at Rs 1,019.01 crore as compared to Rs 863.16 crore in theyear-ago period, a growth of 18.05 per cent. The companyattributed the increase in profit to "focus on productivity, one-timehurt in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, and a one-time help in the current quarter". Madhusudan Gopalan, ManagingDirector, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd said: “Wedelivered strong top and bottom-line results in a challenging marketenvironment. With the easing of the lockdown, we are witnessinggradual market recovery in the health and hygiene categories."Shares of the company settled 10.91 per cent higher at Rs11,344.20 apiece on BSE.

The Uttar PradeshCommercial Taxes

Department has unearthedthree shell firms involved inbogus sale of mentha oil, anofficial said on Tuesday.Of these three bogus firms,two were from Bareilly andone from Shahjahanpur, theofficial said. AdditionalCommissioner of

enforcement team RK Pandey said 18 firms in Shahjahanpur andBareilly were probed by the department. "Two bogus firms in Bareily-- MS Enetrprises and Shyam Traders -- and Hindustan Traders ofShahjahanpur, existed only on papers. All the documents of thethese firms relating to sale and purchase are being probed," Pandeysaid.

Three shell firms detected in UP

TVS Supply Chain Solutions onTuesday said Japan-based Mitsubishi

Corporation has made investments foran 'undisclosed sum', picking upminority stakes in the company. Theinvestment in TVS Group company byMitsubishi Corporation is through asecondary market transaction allowingTata Opportunities Fund to secure a'partial exit,' a company statement said.The Tata Opportunities Fundwhich came on board as a minority partner in TVS in 2015, hasmade multiple rounds of further investments in TVS Supply ChainSolutions to further its growth. With the investment by MitsubishiCorporation, Tata Opportunities Fund would continue to hold a'residual stake' besides remaining a 'key strategic investmentpartner' for TVSSupply Chain Solutions. "TVS SCS has successfullypivoted into new segments and addressed opportunities arising outof COVID through customer-focused offerings...," companymanaging director R Dinesh said. "Our innovative solutions anddifferentiated approach make TVS Supply Chain Solutions apreferred supply chain partner to our clients. Through ourpartnership with Mitsubishi Corporation, we aim to accelerate ourgrowth in the years to come," he added. The latest round ofinvestment (by Mitsubishi Corporation) would further strengthenTVS Supply Chain Solutions' leadership position to a much largerfootprint, extending the complete suite of digital supply chainsolutions and value added services, the statement said.

Mitsubishi picks up minority stakein TVS Supply Chain Solutions

PNS n NEW DELHI

Gold exchange-traded funds(ETFs) witnessed an inflow ofRs 384 crore in October, a dropof 35 per cent from the preced-ing month, as investors are opt-ing to invest money directlyinto equities.

This also marked uninter-rupted inflow for the seventhconsecutive month, althoughthe pace of investment intogold ETFs have been trendingdownwards since July.

Such instruments saw aninflow of Rs 922 crore in July,Rs 908 crore in August, Rs 597crore in September and Rs384 crore in October, datawith the Association of MutualFunds in India (Amfi) showed.

With the latest inflow, net

infusion in a gold exchange-traded fund or ETF categoryhas reached to Rs 6,341 crorein the first eight months(January-October) of the year.

"Though the net inflowscontinue to remain positive, the

pace has decreased consider-ably. This trend can be corre-lated with the trends in equi-ties. Increasing economic activ-ity, buoyant equity markets,uncertainty ending with USpresidential elections, hopes of

a coronavirus vaccine are push-ing investors to opt for riskierinvestments, through directequities," said GopalKavalireddi, head of research atFYERS.

Gold, considered a safehaven and a hedge againstother riskier asset classes, hastaken a back seat at the currenttime.

"After an excellent year in2019 and in the first half of2020, capital flows have shift-

ed into equities," he added.Harshad Chetanwala of

MyWealthGrowth.com said thecontinuous surge in gold pricescame to a halt in the first weekof August. From there on, goldprices started receding andlater remained range-boundfor a couple of months.

"In the last six months,August had seen the highestinflows in gold ETF as a dropin the gold price was lookedupon as an opportunity by

investors because they antici-pated gold prices to increase infuture," he said.

However, in subsequentmonths the prices haveremained between Rs 50,000and Rs 52,000. This hasimpacted the inflows asinvestors have witnessed surge,drop and volatility in gold,which is very much like howgold prices have behaved in thepast, he added.

old has the tendency to dowell during the crisis and thenremain flattish for quite sometime.

The inflows meant assetsunder management (AUM) ofgold ETFs climbed to Rs 13,862crore at the end of October,from Rs 13,622 crore atSeptember-end.

Inflow in gold ETF’s drops 35 pc to Rs 384 cr in Oct

PNS n NEW DELHI

Suitors for the troubled non-banking finance companyDewan Housing FinanceCorporation (DHFL) haveraised their offer price in therevised bids submitted for thecompany, sources said.

Adani Group, PiramalEnterprises, US-based Oaktreeand Hong Kong-based SCLowy have submitted 10-70 percent higher price for either astake in the company or buy-ing out some of its assets.

Oaktree Capital has raised itsbid price for the entire portfo-lio to Rs 33,000 crore from Rs27,800 crore earlier, sourceswith knowledge of the develop-ment said.

Piramal has significantlyrevised its bid for the retailbook to Rs 26,500 crore fromRs 15,000 crore offered earlier.

Adani Properties has alsoraised its bid for the wholesaleand Slum RehabilitationAuthority (SRA) assets to Rs3,000 crore from Rs 2,200crore earlier. It has also offered

Rs 50 crore for the slum rede-velopment book, they said.

SC Lowy has upped its bidfor the non-SRA book to Rs2,300 crore from Rs 1,550crore earlier. he new bids havebeen submitted after thelenders asked the bidders torevise their offer.

DHFL promoter KapilWadhawan had proposed totransfer the rights, title andinterest in at least 10 projectsvalued at Rs 43,879 crore and

settle the dues with banks.Wadhawan has written to theReserve Bank of India-appoint-ed administrator Subraman-iakumar saying that their offerwould ensure maximum valuefor the assets that have beenput on the block.

Promoters hold about 39.21per cent stake in DHFL.Bankers want promoters' staketo fall below 10 per cent afterthe stake sale as part of the res-olution plan.

A Committee of Creditors,overseeing the resolution plan,is expected to meet next weekto finalise the bidder.

The CoC was hoping tofinalise the resolution plan byNovember 16 before it couldsend it to the RBI for review.

ast month, the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT) had allowed 90 daysextension for the resolutionprocess till January 5.

ources said both OaktreeCapital and the PiramalGroup's offers factor in a littleunder Rs 10,000 crore cashfrom DHFL's books.

Currently, DHFL has cash ofalmost Rs 8,000 crore on itsbooks, which is expected to riseto Rs 10,000 crore by March -and this entire amount wouldbe used to repay lenders as perthe plans submitted so far.

DHFL's liquidation value isexpected to be around Rs25,000 crore, and the earlieroffers were not significantlyhigher than the amount,prompting lenders to call forrevised bids.

Adani, Piramal revise offers for DHFL

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee depreciated 3 paiseto close at 74.18 (provisional)against the US dollar onTuesday, as higher crude oilprices and stronger dollaragainst key global currenciesweighed on sentiment.

The rise in crude oil priceshad a negative impact on thedomestic unit, but robustdomestic equities supportedthe rupee and restricted thefall, experts said.

At the interbank foreignexchange (forex), the domes-tic currency opened higher at74.04 a dollar, but could nothold the momentum andfinally settled 3 paise lower at74.18 against the greenback.

uring the session, thedomestic unit reached a highof 74.02 and touched 74.30 atthe lower end.

On Monday, the rupee hadlost 7 paise to close at 74.15

against the US dollar.The dollar index, which

gauges the greenback'sstrength against a basket of sixcurrencies, strengthened 0.17per cent to 92.87.

Meanwhile, Brent crudefutures, the global oil bench-mark, rose 1.34 per cent toUSD 42.97 per barrel.

In the equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended680.22 points or 1.60 per centhigher at 43,277.65. It touchedits lifetime peak of 43,316.44during the day.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty too hit a fresh intra-dayhigh of 12,643.90. It ended at12,631.10, up 170.05 points or1.36 per cent.

"Rupee traded weak afterthe Reserve Bank of India(RBI) intervened in spot andthen paid in forward to neu-tralise liquidity a kind of swapseen when market needs tobalanced.

Rupee falls 3 paiseagainst US dollar

PNS n NEW DELHI

Gonuts, a celebrity commerceplatform, on Tuesday said ithas raised Rs 3.5 crore in seedfunding led by marqueeinvestors, Sweta Rau andArchana Priyadarshini.

9Unicorns, AngelList, LetsVenture, Pankaj Chaddah(Zomato co-founder)Ramakant Sharma, (LivSpaceco-founder), IIM IndoreAlumni Fund, Harshal Morde(Morde Foods) and other mar-quee angels and founders alsoparticipated in this round, astatement said.

Founded by VinamraPandiya, Mayank Gupta andJoji George in March this year,GoNuts aims to bridge the gapbetween celebrities and theirfans, and democratise talent tothe Indian and expatriateIndian diaspora.

Gonuts has a long termvision of creating India's largestcelebrity experience e-com-merce platform. It has a port-folio of over 700 celebritiesacross categories like films,television, sports and music.

his includes names likeShankar Mahadevan, Hans RajHans, Shaan, Kailash Kher,Sukhbir, Talat Aziz, ShibaniKashyap, Hariharan, Sivamani,Shivin Narang, Jonty Rhodes,Sumeet Verma, Ranveer BrarAshish Vidyarthi and Vicky

Ratnani. This gives users adiverse range of celebrities tochoose from to convey person-alised messages to their lovedones. he plan is to strengthenmarket leadership and followthrough on Gonuts' vision tobe Asia's largest and mostinfluential celebrity commerceplatform, Gonuts founderVinamra Pandiya said. We aimto on-board over 5,000 of themost influential and celebritiesby the next financial year andbe the unicorn out of India inthis category for the rest of theworld," Pandiya added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Markets regulator Sebi hasset up an expert group toreview the framework ofshare-based employee benefitand issue of sweat equity.

The seven-member expertgroup would be chaired bySandip Bhagat Partner at S&RAssociates, an update withthe Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) showed.

he expert group wouldrevisit the framework of share-based employee benefit andsuggest policy changes.

urther, the panel has beenmandated to revisit the frame-work of sweat equity regula-tions vis-a-vis the CompaniesAct, and recommend any pol-icy changes.

They have to suggestwhether it is advisable to com-bine both the regulations. Incase, these norms can be com-bined, the panel would providedraft rules in this regard.

Sweat equity shares, gener-ally, issued by a company to itsemployees at a discount or forconsideration other than cash.

Other members of the panelare Santosh Haldankar, com-pany secretary of HDFC Bank;Vikram Shroff of NishithDesai Associates and NarayanShankar, company secretary ofMahindra & Mahindra.

Further, Pavan Vijay,founder of CorporateProfessionals; M SanaullaKhan, company secretary ofWipro; and Sebi's ChiefGeneral Manager JeevanSonparote are also members ofthe panel.

PNS n NEW DELHI

IDFC Ltd on Tuesday report-ed narrowing of its consoli-dated net loss to Rs 146.68crore in the second quarterended September 30.

It had posted a net loss ofRs 407 crore in the corre-sponding quarter of the pre-vious financial year.Sequentially, the losseswidened against Rs 26.46crore in the first quarterended June 30.

However, Its total incomeduring July-September 2020grew 41.39 per cent to Rs91.54 crore as compared withRs 64.74 crore in the year-agoperiod, IDFC Ltd said in aregulatory filing.

Expenses during the sec-ond quarter of 2020-21 stoodat Rs 55.70 crore, against Rs65.95 crore a year ago.

On November 7, 2019, thegroup executed definitiveagreements with DharmeshMehta and other investors forthe sale of its entire invest-ment in IDFC Securities Ltd.

Gonuts raises Rs 3.5 cr fundingfrom Sweta Rau and 9Unicorns

IDFC net lossnarrows to Rs 147 cr inSept quarter

Gonuts has a longterm vision of creatingIndia's largestcelebrity experiencee-commerce platform

Sebi forms groupto review norms

Procter & Gamble and Health Q1net up 85.51 pc to Rs 254 crore

Instruments saw an inflow of Rs 922crore in July, Rs 908 crore in August,Rs 597 crore in September and Rs384 crore in October, data with theAmfi showed

alki, who grabbedeveryone’s atten-tion with the roleshe plays on screenand rose to never-before fame with

his comic-romantic role inGundamma Katha, is allpepped and excited aboutplaying a contradictory roleas a Nagin in Nagabhairavi.The urge to see himself onscreen has made him quit hiswell-paid job and join an act-ing school. Taking usthrough his journey, Kalkishares, “After I finished myMA, I worked for ICICI.Despite having a well-paidjob, my heart was alwaysbeating for acting. After Isaved some money, I joined afilm institute run by lateDevadas Kanakala garu.After undergoing training fora month, I gave an auditionfor a serial. I got a call fromthe director of the serial say-ing, ‘Your audition is Ok, butI found your features andexpressions suitable for ahero’s role.’ He said he wouldgive me a month’s time andwould hire me in the leadrole if he finds any improve-

ment in my acting skills.That’s how I bagged my firstserial Kranthi. Later, I wenton to do many serials.”

Sharing one of the encoun-ters with a fan of his recently,the actor says, “I bumpedinto a woman recently andshe called me Cherry. Cherryis the name of the character Iplayed in Muddhu Bidda,many years ago. She said shenamed her son after my char-acter. It was overwhelming toreceive such love fromthe audience. In fact,I almost forgot thename of my char-acter until shereminded me.”

For Kalki,Gundamma Katharemains to be hisbest project so far.It’s one of the top-rated serials inthe afternoonslots currently.The actor saysthe characterhe plays, Ram,is so close tohim as it sym-bolises himoff-screen.

Kalki who plays a comic andromantic role in GundammaKatha is seen in an extremelyserious role, a Nagin’s charac-ter, in Nagabhairavi. Howdifficult was it for him toshift to a role that’s polesapart from the ones heplayed before? He tells us,“Even I wasn’t sure how wellI was faring. But, I have done

my homework. I watchedfilms like Punnami

Nagu andlearnt about

the expres-sions of a

Nagin,andthedirec-

torof

Nagabhairavi gets the bestout of someone. We did dothe groundwork for each andevery character before gettinginto this. I’m so immersed inthis character now thatsometimes even the peoplearound me are terrified bymy looks and remind me thatI’m Kalki and not a Nagin.”

For most of the actors, see-ing themselves on the silverscreen is an ultimate dream.Did Kalki too have any suchdream? He tells us, “AfterMudhu Bidda, I took a two-year break and made my tri-als to get into the film indus-try. But somewhere I felt Icouldn’t succeed there andreturned with GundammaKatha to the small screen. Igot a lead role in one of thefilms and 60 per cent of thefilm was done. Because ofdemonetisation, the film wasshelved. You need to get abreak to succeed in films. Ialso missed out on a fewgood films because of dateclashes with on-going serials.I don’t care if it’s a hero’scharacter or that of a villain,I will definitely give the audi-ence a good ride with myfilm in the future.”

Speaking about OTTbecoming new theatres, Kalkisays, “OTTs have openeddoors to many actors whocouldn’t succeed on the bigscreen. It gave employmentto many people and became ahaven for young directorsand actors. Even the serialsthat we miss on Televisioncan be watched there. Serialsaired on OTTs are also gain-ing good viewership now.”

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WednesdayNovember 11, 2020

IS REFINED OIL REALLY FINE?

oo One of the reasons for the extensive increaseof cancer in the body can be attributed toover-heated refined oil.

oo Preservatives added during the refiningprocess are bad for our digestive system andcan potentially cause ulcers, gastricproblems and tumours.

oo Increased oxidation and rancidity in edibleoil can affect our respiratory system.

oo The high temperature involved in the refiningprocess removes all the natural andbeneficial substances from it increasing thetrans-fats which is detrimental to yourheart's health.

Now you know what to look for, when buyingedible oils, one of them being, to definitely ruleout refined ones!

hen it comes to eat-ing healthy, it startswith what are you’recooking with. Withendless choicesstored in shelves, it’s

hard to figure what tochoose. Butter, extra virginolive oils or refined oilslike canola and vegetableand what not! It’s a knownfact that heating vegetableoils lead to oxidation,which in turn forms intotrans fats or mega transfats. These two fats areresponsible for the genera-tion of free radicals thatare pro-inflammatory asthese fats are unsaturated.

When it comes to havinga healthy diet the first andforemost healthy transfor-mation is done by chang-ing the type of oil you usefor cooking. Normally,where you start talkingabout cooking oils,whether it is refined orunrefined, most peoplereact like it’s no big deal as

most see every oil in themarket as edible and harm-less. We are bombardedwith different kind ofadvertisements regardingedible vegetable oils. Farfrom educating us, they doa really good job at confus-ing us! The expectations ofmost customers these daysare a specific goldencolour, odour-free andflavour-free oil, which hasa long shelf life. But is thatall? Are these preferenceseven right?

“When free-floatingfatty acids increase in ourbody, they distort manycells and one such vitalfunction triggers dysfunc-tion of the muscle cell.When fatty acids interferewith the formation ofsomething called the‘microtubule’, they areresponsible for musclecontraction. When micro-tubules are not built ade-quately inside the cell andfat build-up increases,

then the cell enters a stateof decay called ‘lipo-apop-tosis’. This leads to inflam-mation and cell death,which is extremely danger-ous! It’s important to strikethe right balance betweenyour real food mission andreality,” enlightens DrHaseeb Jafferi, a pharma-cognosist, who helps usunderstand the dangersand side effects of con-suming refined oil.

The market is full of refined oilstelling you they’re good for yourgut. You also hear that unrefinedoils are the best. But what's thetruth? Dr Haseeb Jafferi, apharmacognosist, in conversationwith The Pioneer’s SHIKHADUGGAL, answers them all

W

Smooth shift from boy-next-door to a Nagin

Raja, popularly known as Kalki Raja, synonymous with playing boy-next-door and soft characters, has now taken up the challenge of playing a male-Nagin , acharacter he has never done before. Kalki, who also turned producer with ZeeTelugu’s Nagabhairavi, talks to The Pioneer’s K RAMYA SREE about his roles,wanting to get into the film industry, the OTT platforms and more

K

out of the

BOX

ANAYA SHAH IN AROMANTIC TRACK

naya Shah,who was lastseen inFikraan, will befeaturing in asong sung by

popular playback singerAnkit Tiwari. No matterhow hard we try to definethe word ‘love’, it's justwon’t suffice. More impor-tantly, saying ‘I Love You’to the one we want to, getseven tougher, so thanks tothe thousands of romanticsongs that make it easierto express what we can’tput into words.

Sometimes, all we needis that right romantictrack to connect with ourheart and Anaya Shah’snew song could be just theone for you. The song isgoing to take you to azone of two parallel emo-tions — romance-cum-tragedy. It is currentlybeing shot at GoraiBeach, Maharashtra.The song also featuresrenowned YouTuberMahesh Keshwala,who has been

making

headlines for his spoofcontent online.

Anaya shares, “I amvery excited about thisopportunity. Featuring ina song sung by Ankit sir isa dream come true. Hehas a beautiful voice andthe song is even morebeautiful. It will take lis-teners on a nostalgia tripand probably even makesome of them shed crazytears. It’s going to be out

reallysoon

and it’s getting tougher bythe day for me to holdthese butterflies insideme.”

The pain, the love andthe feeling of wantingsomeone is sure to makelisteners realise the beautyof this track. Anaya Shah,who has a huge socialmedia fandom, looksextremely gorgeous in thestills released from thevideo. The music videowill be directed by acedirector Sidhaant Sachdevand is produced by VoilaDigi. Only a song createdby such maestros can dowonders, adding that extraessence to it!

A

PAR

TY

l Jenny Honey

l Venugopal l Vakshika l Pooja

l Laya

l Simran

l Y

asha

svi

l Sashi Nahata

l Suzee Reddyl Sneha

Ph

oto

s b

y S

V C

ha

ry

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

10

Hyderabad Wednesday November 11 2020 what’s brewing?

WEDDINGFERVOUR

Actress Mannara Chopra graced the launch

of wedding special sarees collection, atSri Krishna Silks, Banjara Hills on

Monday. Dressed in an exclusive saree bySri Krishna Silks, the actress said she

found it tough to pick a favourite.Visitors had a gala time at

the launch.

l J

heel

l A

poor

va

lM

anna

ra C

hopr

a

USHERING IN DIWALI

Those looking for the latest designs to ring in Diwali this year,shopped to their heart’s content during Aakriti’s 2-dayLifestyle Exhibition at Taj Krishna, Hyderabad on November 9

and 10. Women shopped for exquisite designer wear, jewellery,home décor, and fashion accessories.

ashmika Mandanna, whounveiled the trailer of AnandDeverakonda and VarshaBollamma-starrer MiddleClass Melodies along withVijay Deverakonda on

Tuesday, sang praises about the film.Taking to Twitter, she expressed her lovefor the lead characters and congratulateddirector Vinod Anantoju on a winner. “Iloved it.. Best wishes to the team from thebottom of my heart. @ananddeverkon-daand @varshabollammaI love your film.I love your characters. I love you both.And I'm confident that the audiencewill do too. Congratulations directoron this winner.. God bless! Sic),” shewrote. In another tweet, she said thatshe laughed a lot and the narrationhad all her attention. “I watched it..Laughed a lot.. Was gripped by thefilm.. Couldn’t believe two of myfriends were actually on that bigscreen.. Watching them do theircraft made me feel happy, protec-

tive and loved (sic),” she posted.Set in Guntur and pro-duced by Bhavya Creations,

Middle Class Melodies is aslice of life drama surround-

ing a multitude of charac-ters, their dreams,struggles and hopesnarrated through alight-hearted lens.

11

Hyderabad Wednesday November 11 2020tollywood

rowing up, movieson TV had a lot ofinfluence onAditya Mandala,the director ofSiddhu

Jonnalagadda and SeeratKapoor-fronted Maa VinthaGaadha Vinuma (MVGV),who’s recently released teaserpacked quite a punch onYouTube. The fact that hisfamily would visit cinemahalls in Visakhapatnam everyweek to catch a new releasemeant that Aditya was “quitefascinated” with the world ofcinema. “Slowly, the seedstarted growing inside meand I wanted to tell stories. Imet Ravikanth Perepu whenI was 15. We both shared asimilar passion for filmmak-ing and storytelling, becom-ing friends quickly. After Ifinished my fourth year engi-neering in 2012, I packed mybags to Hyderabad alongwith him to realise our film-making dreams,” he remi-nisces fondly in a conversa-tion with The Pioneer.

The duo started to grabany opportunity that cametheir way by staying inMadhapur. And once Perepuwas offered to directKshanam, headlined by AdiviSesh, Aditya joined the teamas an associate director andlater doubled up as a setdesigner as well.“Kshanam gave mea full-fledgedopportunity towork on a film.As it was shoton a shoe-string budget,

everyone had their task cut-out. It was an importantlearning curve. Among manyother things, the experiencehelped me a lot to under-stand work management,how to discharge duties as ahead of a department andhow to tell a story grandlyunder a compact budget,”Aditya informs, adding thathe even chipped in on thesets of the recent hit Krishnaand his Leela whenever

Perepu needed moremanpower.

AfterKshanam,

Perepu andAditya

werework-ing on

something when Siddhupitched them the story ofMVGV to seek their feed-back. “Siddhu is a good nar-rator and his story cast a spellon me. It occupied my headspace for the next two days,driving me to dial him andtell the impact it had on me.Back then, he already narrat-ed it to a producer. However,10 days later, he phoned meand said, ‘Rey, I’m searchingfor a director, will you directit?’ I immediately jumped atthe opportunity,” he recallsgleefully.

Interestingly, while mostyoung filmmakers tend todebut with their own stories inTelugu cinema, Aditya choseto translate someone else’svision. Is he following the

career trajectory of Perepu,who directed Kshanam from ascript by Sesh? Smiling, hemaintains, “It’s a crazy coinci-dence. Ravikanth always want-ed to debut with a romantic-comedy as romance is hisforte, whereas I wanted todebut with a dark and grittythriller. It happened that hedebuted with a dark and grittythriller and me with an easy-breezy rom-com.”

Continuing in the samebreath, he goes on to explain,“When something good ishappening, you let it happen,right? During the process ofdirecting MVGV, I realisedthat story writing is a differ-ent role to that of direction.To write a new story isextremely difficult, let me behonest. Now, if someonecomes up with a good story, Iwill not hesitate to take it up.It will make my life easier onsets. That aside, it gives me afresh perspective towards thestory. Instead of attachingmyself to the story that I’vewritten, emotionally, I cansee the story from the lens ofexecution. A great directorlike Steven Spielberg hasnever directed his own storyin his storied career. On topof it, the joy in directing oth-ers stories is immense.”

The best part of MVGV, heasserts, is its simplicity.“From day one, our intentionwas to make an entertainingfilm with which people canescape from their reality for acouple of hours. It is about anengineering guy Siddhu(played by Siddhu) who fallsin love with Vinitha (Seerat)

of the same classroom. Ittakes nearly three years forhim to convince her to getinto a relationship with him.Any class has that one girlwho is unapproachable forboys and she is Vinitha in thefilm. He does manage to wooher but then an impulsiveand emotional decision bythem leads to a screw up thataffects their lives. There’s alsoa social media angle we cov-ered,” he shares.

While he has a fetish fordark thrillers, Aditya hastremendous respect for thework of Jandhyala andadmits to have the legendarywriter-director’s influence onhim. He particularly is a fanof how Jandhyala coated hisfilms with a social message ordiscussed a taboo withoutgoing preachy. “In Aha Naa-Pellanta, he demonstratedhow greed for money cantake over a person, subtly.There is a line that when youlaugh, you can learn. He usedit on the audience. Throughthat film, he told the audi-ence that there is more to lifethan money.”

Another filmmaker whohad an influence on him isSingeetham Srinivasa Rao.“In fact, I’m named after histime-travel adventure Aditya369. I’m a big fan of hisother works like MichaelMadhana Kama Raju andPushpaka Vimanamu. OnceI was exposed to westerncinema, I was attracted tothe dark thriller space. Theblame goes to QuentinTarantino for it,” he con-cludes, smiling.

The best part of MVGVis its simplicity: Aditya

The debutant director spoketo NAGARAJ GOUD on

how his fascination for filmsbegan, bonding with

Ravikanth Perepu,experience on Kshanam,

landing Maa Vintha GaadhaVinuma and influences

G

Rajasekhar dischargedfrom hospital

ctor Rajasekhar, who has beenbattling COVID-19 for the pastone month at Citi NeuroCentre, Hyderabad, has beendischarged from the hospital onMonday after his latest test

proved to be negative. The actor’s wifeJeevitha extended her sincere thanks to thehospital for the care they’ve shown intreating Rajasekhar. “The hospital ensuredthat as a family we could monitorRajasekhar garu round the clock. I extendmy thanks to Krishna garu and the groupof doctors who worked with him to helpus facilitate it. We are leaving the hospitalafter a month of joining. In fact,Rajasekhar garu said that he will missKrishna garu and other doctors,” she said.

She added, “The hospital treated us likefamily. Rajasekhar garu is out of thebiggest crisis and it was possible because ofthe hospital.” She also thanked fans, well-wishers, colleagues who prayed for theactor’s recovery.

Post his complete recovery, the actor isset to start the filming of Joseph Teluguremake under Neelakanta’s direction. Thefilm will tell the story of a retired cop whois unexpectedly pulled into a criminal caseinvolving organ harvesting. He is knownfor his investigative prowess.

A

he suspense surroundingthe leading lady ofNandamuri Balakrishna’snext with Boyapati Sreenuwas finally answered onTuesday. Malayalam

actress Prayaga Rose Martin, whowas the initial choice to play thefemale lead, has been replaced withSayyeshaa Saigal. While PragyaJaiswal was rumoured to be thereplacement, Boyapati seems to havepreferred Sayyeshaa, who after herTelugu debut, Akhil, failed to landother projects in spite of her poten-tial as an actor and dancer.According to the grapevine, she willbe seen as a mother to a toddler inthe film, which is on sets inHyderabad right now.

An action-entertainerwith an underlying

social message,the film, an MRavinder pro-duction, willsee Balayya indual roles- ofwhich one roleis that of anaghora.

Thaman isthe music

director.

Sayyeshaa'scomeback withBalayya's next

T

KIE Gaming, aMumbai basedonline gamingplatform, is all setto receive invest-ment muscle and

celebrity star power as it wel-comes on board actress KajalAggarwal as a strategic part-ner. While the amount of theinvestment is not disclosed,she will be joining OKIEGaming as a board memberand 15% equity stake in thecompany.

Founded by Jitin Masand,OKIE Gaming is a self-fund-ed company under OKIE.Working in line with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sappeal to create gamesinspired by Indian culture,the platform has unveiled afirst of its kind ‘Desi SportsLeague’ for the Indian audi-ences.

Commenting on the part-nership, Kajal Aggarwal, said,“I am thrilled to have comeaboard OKIE Gaming. Thegaming industry is boomingat this time, this is the rightmoment to be part of it. Apassionate gamer myself, wehope to bring the finest userexperience with our innova-tive and quirky games. WithOKIE Gaming, I also hope toinfluence and open newavenues for women gamers inIndia.”

The app will soon be avail-able for download from theGoogle Play Store forAndroid devices and AppleStore for iOS devices.

O

Kajal invests

in gaming app

RASHMIKA sings praises about Middle Class Melodies

R

KL Rahul 670 runs

Kagiso Rabada 29 wickets

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 11, 2020

12

It feels great to pick a fifer, but isn't niceto not be on the winning side. I workedvery hard on my bowling and I think itshows was playing consistently even inthe lockdown and I was in touch

I just told the girls that these arethe last 20 overs of thetournament. Because of theCOVID-19 situation we don'tknow when we'll come out next,so we wanted to give it our all

The injury isn't that bad. It wasreally tough for me; whilefielding only I got hurt but youhave got to be there for theteam. I tried my best butcouldn't win it for the team

PTI n MUMBAI

Amazon Prime Video on Tuesdayannounced its debut into live sports in

India by acquiring the India territory rights forthe New Zealand Cricket through 2025-2026.

With this announcement, Amazon PrimeVideo becomes the first Indian streaming ser-vice to secure exclusive live cricket rights froma major cricketing board.

The multi-year deal between Amazonand the New Zealand Cricket Board will givePrime Video the right to stream all internation-al cricket matches to be played in NewZealand for both men's and women’s cricket,across ODI, T20 and Tests formats starting late2021.

The deal also includes Team India’s tour ofNew Zealand in early 2022, and a second tour,the dates for which will be announced later. Therights for 2020-2021 season starting later thismonth is intended to be syndicated by Amazon.

Gaurav Gandhi, Director & CountryGeneral Manager, Amazon Prime Video saidthe team is looking forward to bringing India’sfavourite game to the streamer.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Kings XI Punjab are likely tocontinue with the captain

and coach combine of K LRahul and Anil Kumble evenafter finishing sixth in a close-ly-contested 2020 IndianPremier League.

A team source told PTI thatthe owners want Rahul andKumble take the team forwardin the 2021 edition, scheduledin less than six months.

Rahul, who captained theteam for the first team this sea-son, had another stellar seasonwith the bat, amassing 670runs at an average of 55.83. Itwas Kumble’s first season withthe franchise.

KXIP, who have never hada settled unit, have finallyfound a core group of playersaround whom a team can bebuilt.

That group includes Rahul,Mayank Agarwal, NicholasPooran, Mohammad Shami,Chris Gayle and youngsterslike Ravi Bishnoi and ArshdeepSingh.

The management wants toplug the gaps in the middleorder and bowling department,which has been an issue for anumber of years.

“The owners are happywith captain and coach. Rahulwas exceptional with the batand team scripted a remarkablecomeback in the second half ofthe season. Had that short runnot being called in the firstgame (against DC), the team

would have been in play-offs.“The good thing is a core

group has been identified. Gapsneed to be plugged in the mid-dle-order where the team needsa power hitter and also a worldclass fast bowler to supportShami,” the source said.

After losing the six out oftheir first seven games, KXIPwon five in a row to find them-selves in contention for a play-off spot but lost their lastleague game against CSK tobow out of the competition.The last time KXIP made theplay-offs was in 2014.

Maxwell, Cottrell likely tobe released

KXIP had paid big moneyfor the likes of Glenn Maxwell(10.75 crore) and SheldonCottrell (8.5 crore) but both didnot do much to write to homeabout, especially the Australianwho made 108 runs in 13games at 15.42. The team hadbought back Maxwell after let-ting him go following the 2017season.

“Their performance wasnot on expected lines and it willbe tough to continue withthem,” the source added.

A call on their future willbe taken at the team’s reviewmeeting.

A lot also depends on thesize of the auction ahead of the2021 edition if it is held at all.If not a mega auction, KXIPwould like to have a mini auc-tion where they can solidifytheir middle-order and deathbowling.

PTI n SHARJAH

Trailblazers’ skipperSmriti Mandhana says

she always believed in herteam’s potent spin attack todefend a low total in theWomen’s T20 Challengefinal, which her side won by16 runs against Supernovashere.

Despite a fiery start,Trailblazers could post onlya modest 118 for eight onMonday but Mandhanasaid she knew the slownature of the surface wouldhelp her side.

“t was an amazing per-formance. We tried to get to130-140 but somewhere welost track. Wicket wastough to bat so I knew anytotal around 120 would bea fighting total. We havegood spin attack and I wasreally positive from firstball,”said a beamingMandhana at the postmatch press conference.

Off-spinner SalmaKhatun took three wicketsin the penultimate over,dismissing rival skipperHarmanpreet Kaur in theprocess and Mandhanaacknowledged her effort.

“She was brilliant.Those spells win youmatches. She is anexperienced campaign-er. I just told her tobelieve in herselfand she deliv-ered. Herspell was thew i n n i n gspell,” shesaid.

Thai cricketerN a t t h a k a nC h a n t h a mimpressed one andall with her agilityon the field and itwasn’t a surprisethat Mandhanapicked her for spe-cial praise.

C h a n t h a mwas a live-wire onthe field. Theboundary shesaved with her

acrobatic effort was a goodadvertisement for women’scricket. She also took astunning catch in the coverregion.

“There were 2-3 bril-liant fielding efforts, espe-cially Chantham. I havenot seen a girl field likethat.”

Mandhana herself wasplayed a key role in herside's total as she strokedher way to a brilliant 68.

Talking about her owninnings, the captain saidshe was in good rhythmand all she needed was tofind the gaps.

“I was timing the ballwell (even) in the last matchbut unfortunately I wasfinding the fielders buttoday it was a consciouseffort to hit the ball in thegaps. That was the onlything I was thinking.”

Playing cricket after along seven-month gapobviously made the playershappy, she said.

“We were looking toplay and meet everyone.We did not meet for 7months, that is very rare.Last six months were toughfor whole world. It wasworth to come and play. Ithank BCCI for organis-ing this. Hopefully we(will) keep playing, it

keeps us happy,” shesaid.

Sup ernovas’senior playerShashi ka laSiriwardene

also thankedthe BCCI for conduct-ing the event in chal-lenging times andsaid the tournamentwas a great platform

for tthe youngsters.“We can play and

watch in bio bubble,they have planned it, soI thank BCCI. We haveto do some sacrificedue to COVID-19. Girlswill be motivated tocome to sport and itimpacts women’s cricket.”

PTI n MELBOURNE

CCricket Australia chief executiveNick Hockley is not surprised by

Virat Kohli's withdrawal from threeTest matches here as he prepares forfatherhood in January, taking solacefrom the fact that the superstar willbe there for a major part of theeagerly-awaited showdown acrossformats.

Kohli and his actor wifeAnushka Sharma are expecting theirfirst child in January. The BCCI hasgranted Kohli a paternity leave andhe will return to India after theopening Test, scheduled fromDecember 17 in Adelaide.

Hockley, who is CA's interimchief executive, said that Kohli miss-ing a major part of the Test serieswas expected but he is glad that thestylish batter will be available forthree T20 Internationals and asmany ODIs starting November 27.

"When they announced theirpregnancy earlier, I think it was

always on the cards," Hockley toldSydney radio station SEN.

"We're thrilled Virat is coming

out for three ODIs, three T20s, thefirst ever day-night Test againstIndia and we have to respect the fact

he wants to be there for the birth ofhis first child."

"Clearly, (he is) one of thegame's absolute superstars. We'relooking forward to seeing him herefor seven out of the 10 matches," hesaid.

Hockley said both teams haveenough stars to ensure that cricketfans will be hooked to the series.

"You've got a good number ofplayers from both sides who playedthe last series in Australia whichIndia won. There'll be a hugeamount to play for ... It will be fas-cinating series."

Hockley said it looks highlyunlikely that Kohli could get back toAustralia to play the latter part of theseries.

"I think it's pretty challenged (forhim to return). Obviously a manda-tory 14-day quarantine period," hesaid.

"Logistically it's very much morecomplicated and being brutal it'smuch harder than normal."

AP n RAWALPINDI

Pakistan thumpedZimbabwe by eight wickets inElton Chigumbura’s farewellinternational match andswept the Twenty20 series 3-0 on Tuesday.

The 34-year-oldChigumbura received a guardof honor from the Pakistanplayers when he came out tobat for the last time. The vet-eran Zimbabwe batsman last-ed four balls before he wascaught behind for just 2 runsin a below-par total of 129-9.

Legspinner Usman Qadirstunted Zimbabwe hopes of achallenging total by taking 4-

13 and finishing his debutT20 series with eight wickets.

Pakistan raced to 130-2 inonly 15.2 overs against a list-less Zimbabwe bowlingattack.

Abdullah Shafiq, promot-ed on debut as an openerahead of captain Babar Azam,went 41 not out, andKhushdil Shah, playing inhis fourth T20, smashed 30not out off 15 balls with threefours and three sixes.

Zimbabwe captainChamu Chibhabha achievedhis top score in the series of31, but his teammates wereoutfoxed by Qadir’s googliesand sharp legspin.

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan Cricket Board onTuesday sacked Azhar Ali as

captain of the Test team, replacingthe experienced player with white-ball skipper Babar Azam ahead ofthe upcoming tour of NewZealand.

PCB confirmed the develop-ment in a statement.

Babar, 26, is now Pakistan cap-tain across all three formats and hisfirst assignment will be the ICCWorld Test Championship fixturesagainst New Zealand, which willbe played in Mount Maunganuiand Christchurch from December26-30 and January 3-7.

Azhar has been replaceddespite PCB in May backing himas Test captain for the entire2020-21 international season.

Azhar, 35 and Pakistan’s mostexperienced Test player in the cur-rent side with 81 appearances, hasalways been seen as the fall-guy inPakistan cricket and he wasinformed about the PCB’s decisionafter meeting with chairmanEhsan Mani on Tuesday in Lahore.

Azhar also led Pakistan in

ODIs from 2015-2017 beforedeciding to step down due to poorresults.

His removal came after he wasappointed as Test captain lastyear and Babar captain in white

ball formats in October followingthe decision by the board to sackwicketkeeper-batsman SarfarazAhmed from all formats.

Azhar led Pakistan in eightTests since last year but losing theseries in England this summer ledto his sacking although he scoreda captain's century in the final Test.

"I want to thank Azhar Ali forstepping up last year by captain-ing the side in what was a historicfirst home Test series in over adecade.

“I believe Azhar still has a lotof cricket left in him and Pakistancricket can continue to make thebest use of his experience andknowledge as a specialist top-orderbatsman moving forward,” saidMani in a statement.

Talking about Babar, he said:“Babar Azam was identified at avery young age as a future leaderand as part of his progression anddevelopment, he was appointedwhite-ball captain last year.

“With his consistent perfor-mance and leadership skills, he hasdemonstrated that he is ready totake on the additional responsibil-ities of a captain.”

PTI n DUBAI

Apeerless Rohit Sharma led defendingchampions Mumbai Indians to an unpar-alleled fifth IPL title here on Tuesday, dis-

mantling Delhi Capitals in the summit clash withhis famously elegant batting and tactical shrewd-ness.

If last year's one-run win over ChennaiSuper Kings was an absolute cliffhanger,Rohit's aristocratic 68 off 51 balls made it ananti-climax with Mumbai Indians chasing thetarget of 157 in 18.4 overs. "We know it's a dif-ficult time, everyone is stuck at home. We'relucky that we could come to work and enter-tain people watching at home," said MI's starpacer Jasprit Bumrah, who went wicket-less onTuesday but snared 27 overall this season.

Five IPL titles are certain to make Rohit theundisputed 'Numero Uno' player-cum-leaderin the IPL Universe. This edition was mademore challenging by the COVID-19 pandem-ic and the bio-bubbles that players had toendure.

He has played way better knocks than thisin the past and will play a few more special onesin the future.

But he might never play a more significantone considering the little whirlpool of contro-versy that his "once damaged and now on themend hamstring" created.

The 'Hit-Man' has given an altogether newmeaning to what has one known till now aboutcrushing pain barriers.

A hamstring injury can be very painful butthe manner in which India's regular white-ball

skipper exploded inside the'Ring of Fire' at the DubaiInternational Stadium, he wasfighting a battle of his own.

The cover drive was about his class, thewhiplash behind square was his swagger andthe so very familiar "Rohit Sharma pull shot"was an assurance to BCCI president SouravGanguly that "All Is Well".

And to prove a point, he fetched those dou-bles, tap and run singles including a misjudgedone that saw Suryakumar Yadav (19) sacrific-ing his wicket for his skipper and rightly so.

The carrom ball bowled by Ashwin wasdeposited to point fence with a crackingsquare cut and the straight six off leg spinnerPraveen Dubey was "Boss Man" written all overit. There has never been an edition where ateam has looked in a different league compared

to seven others.As Rohit had said earlier, it's not rocket sci-

ence but investing in pure match-winners thathas given Mumbai Indians such a menacinglook.

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither achampion outfit that has now won five titlesout of the six finals it has played.

If Jasprit Bumrah wreaked havoc in theQualifier one, Trent Boult (3/30) decided thatfinal was his turn to inflict the damage and hedid it with a first ball beauty that Marcus Stoiniswill remember for years to come.

Rohit's batting only finished what lookedinevitable but it was his captaincy that set it up.

Mumbai Indians came out with a dominating showto win the IPL as the Rohit Sharma-led side beat DC

1. Marcus Stoinis first ball duck off Boult.

2. Trent Boult picks wickets in first two overs and then in last over.

3. Jayant Yadav inclusion inplace of Rahul Chahar inplaying XI, and he justifiedby packing in-formDhawan's bag in 4th overof the powerplay.

4. Pant back in form finally with a well deserved fifty

5. Nathan Coulter Nile's breakthrough to discuss Pantafter fifty and then Axar in the final over.

6. Jasprit Bumrah wicketless.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Khatun’s spell won

the game: MandhanaAmazon Prime bagsIndia right for NZ cricket

Kohli's absence from Tests was expected: Hockley

Pak whitewash Zimbabwe

Babar replaces Azhar as Test captain

KXIP likely to stick with

KL-Kumble combo

Babar, 26, isnow Pakistan

captain acrossall three

formats and his first

assignment will be the ICC

World TestChampionship

fixtures againstNew Zealand

Mighty MI win 5th title