RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

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Rahul Gandhi rulesout alliance with TRSo ‘There is a secret pact between TRS and BJP’K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

The Congress will not enter into analliance with the TRS in Telangana,former AICC chief Rahul Gandhideclared on Friday. He was address-ing the Rythu Sangarshana Sabhameeting at Warangal.

Rahul also made it clear that theCongress will expel leaders whodemand an alliance with the TRS.“We don’t need such people,” he said.He said that Congress leaders whowant a tie-up with the TRS will haveto quit the party and join the TRS.

Rahul said that there is a secretdeal between the TRS and the BJP.The BJP wants a TRS governmentin Telangana as it knows that itcannot win in Telangana andwants to rule it through remotecontrol, he said.

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) and the Income Tax (IT)Department won’t come to

Telangana even though ChiefMinister K. Chandrasekhar Rao

has looted the state, Rahul added.“Who are the dacoits who looted

thousands of crores in Telangana?”The Congress will not have analliance with those who lootedTelangana, Rahul declared.

Where was the TRS when the Modi

government introduced farm

laws, he asked. Rahul said that

the TRS supported the BJP

when it introduced the

farm laws in Parliament.

TS honour killing: Arrested men sent tojudicial remand, Guv seeks report from govtPNS n HYDERABAD

The two persons arrested for the mur-der of a Hindu man here allegedlyover his interfaith marriage have been

sent to judicial remand even asTelangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Friday sought a"detailed report" from the state gov-ernment on the sensational incident.

The two persons -- Syed MobinAhmed and Mohammed MasoodAhmed -- were sent to judicialremand for 14 days by a localcourt on Thursday, police said.

Rajagopal keeps away

from Rahul’s meetingPNS n HYDERABAD

Munugode MLA KomatireddyRajagopal Reddy kept away fromformer AICC chief Rahul Gandhi’sRythu Sangarshana Sabha publicmeeting held at Warangal onFriday. It is learnt that Rajagopalhad abstained from the meeting ashe was unhappy with the party.

WARANGAL DECLARATION

Cong to waive farm loans upto Rs 2L, scrap Dharani portalPNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC Chief Revanth Reddyreleased the Warangal Declarationof the Congress on Friday at theRythu Sangarshana Sabha meetingheld at Warangal.

He said the Congress wouldwaive the loans of farmers amount-ing to Rs 2 lakh at one go if itcomes to power and added that theCongress will extend a subsidy ofRs 15,000 per acre to land-owningas well as tenant farmers and agrant of Rs 12,000 per year to thelandless who are registered underMGNREGA.

He said that the IndirammaRythu Barosa Scheme will beimplemented and support priceswill be provided.

Revanth said the Congress willscrap the Dharani Portal immedi-ately after coming to power.

He said that a crop insurancescheme will be implemented to paycompensation for crop losses anda Rythu Commission would alsobe set up.

The Congress will ensure speedyestimation of losses and quick dis-

bursal of compensation. Thescheme will cover tenant farmers aswell as landless labourers, he said.

21% of IAS officer posts vacant in TSNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Telangana is facing a 21% short-age of IAS officers, compared tothe national average of 22%. Of the

208 posts, 44 are vacant. There are145 posts allocated to Telanganaby direct recruitment, of which116 are filled. Another 63 are pro-moted posts allocated, of which 48are filled. A total of 180 Direct

Recruit officers were allocated toIAS on the basis of CSE-2020, ofwhich 7 IAS officers were allocat-ed to the Telangana cadre.

Revanth said the Congress willscrap the Dharani portalimmediately after coming topower. He said that a cropinsurance scheme will beimplemented to pay compensationfor crop losses and a RythuCommission would also be set up.

‘Bandi Sanjayextorting moneyduring Padayatra’PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State ExciseMinister Srinivas Goudwent ballistic against BJPTelangana State unit presi-dent Bandi Sanjay andobserved that BJP leadersspoke in Palamur onThursday "without shame oran ounce of embarrass-ment". He said, "Sanjayspeaks with stutter. Peopledo not understand what heis saying. He is speaking likea street rowdy, pshyco".

Goud criticised the per-son who gave him (Sanjay)the post of BJP TS unit pres-ident. He alleged that dur-ing the Padayatra Sanjaywas extorting money frompeople in the name ofPadayatra.

Goud said: "KCR is liketiger and brother forTelangana people. No onecan defeat KCR," theMinister warned BandiSanjay.

2

2

2

22

2

Leaving real enemy,Rahul trying to fight with

others elsewhere: TRSPage: 4

Who are the dacoits wholooted thousands of crores inTelangana?” The Congresswill not have an alliance with those who lootedTelangana, Rahul declared

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 7, 2022

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(IN HYDERABAD)

Amazed at NPA govt's audacity: KTRPNS n HYDERABAD

Even as Congress presidentRahul Gandhi was speakingelsewhere, TS Minister K TRama Rao took to Twitter andsaid, "Political tourists willcome and go. Only KCR garuis here to stay in Telangana".

Earlier in the day, taking pot-shots at BJP national presidentJ.P. Nadda's public address inMahabubnagar, KTR said hewas amazed at the audacity ofthe BJP-led government at theCentre and its leaders. Hebranded the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA) asNon-Performing Alliance(NPA).

"Amazed at the audacity ofNPA Govt & its chieftainswho've destroyed economy,led us to highest unemploy-ment in 45 years, highest infla-tion in 30 years & highestLPG rate in the world," tweet-ed KTR, as Rama Rao is pop-ularly known.

"Have been a colossal failurefor India/Telangana; yet come& lecture us on administra-tion," added KTR, who isMinister for Industries,Information Technology,Municipal Administration andUrban Development in theCabinet headed by his father K.Chandrasekhar Rao.

KTR's comments came a

day after Nadda attacked theTRS government, whileaddressing a public meeting atMahabubnagar.

Meanwhile KalvakuntlaKavitha asked Rahul, "Why isCongress party silent whileTRS was fighting with theUnion Government over theuniform paddy procurementpolicy, national project statusfor irrigation projects, dis-crimination in establishingeducational institutions, releaseof pending GST dues andgrants etc. As many as 11states are emulating Hon'bleCM Sri KCR schemes. You arewelcome to learn and under-stand from our state as well!!"

o Says KCR is here to stay in TS

o Political tourists will come and go

Jail dept denies nod toRahul to meet NSUI activistsPNS n HYDERABAD

Jail officials have denied permis-sion to former AICC chiefRahul Gandhi to meet the 18NSUI activists who were jailedon May 7 at the Chanchalgudaprison. Congress leaders hadsubmitted a memorandum tothe Chanchalguda JailSuperintendent, but he sug-gested that the Congress lead-ers should meet the JailDepartment DG to obtain per-mission for Rahul Gandhi tomeet the jailed NSUI activists.

Congress leaders led by

TPCC Chief Revanth Reddymet Jail Department DG DrJithender and submitted amemorandum on Thursdayseeking permission for Rahul tomeet NSUI activists. But the JailDepartment said on Friday thatthey will not give permission toRahul Gandhi to meet theNSUI activists. Meanwhile,NSUI activists including NSUIstate president Balmoor VenkatNarasimha Rao launched anindefinite hunger stir to protestthe decision of jail officials.

In a statement issued fromjail, Balmoor Venkat criticised

the jail officials saying thatRahul Gandhi and the NSUIactivists were not terrorists to berefused a chance to meet.

He said that they are stagingan indefinite hunger strike toprotest the jail authorities’ deci-sion to refuse permission toRahul to meet NSUI activists.

He alleged that the TRS gov-ernment had filed false casesand had jailed them for takingup the problems of students.

Venkat said that it is shock-ing that the jail authoritiestreated NSUI activists like ter-rorists.

Komatireddy Venkat targetsRevanth in Rahul’s presencePNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC Star CampaignerKomatireddy Venkat Reddytargeted none other thanTPCC chief Revanth Reddyin the presence of formerAICC chief Rahul Gandhi.

Komatireddy said that theparty will not win by saying,“I will ensure the victory ofthe party in the elections. Theparty will win only if leaderswork unitedly,” he said.

He urged Rahul to givetickets to leaders who arewith the people but not tothose sitting on the dais. He

said that leaders who workedfor the party for the last 20 to30 years had told him thatthe TPCC chief didn’t askthem to sit on the dais.

He urged Rahul Gandhi togive tickets to leaders whoworked hard for the partyand the people and not toleaders who wore whitedresses and is in touch withNew Delhi, he said.

He appealed to RahulGandhi to give party ticketsto candidates at least sixmonths ahead of elections.

Venkat Reddy said thatpositions were not important

for him and that he doesn’twant to become the ChiefMinister or a Minister or anMP or MLA.

He said that he is interestedonly in ensuring the welfareof the poor and Dalits.

Addressing the RythuSangarshana Sabha meetingheld on Friday at Warangal,Venkat Reddy said that theCongress lost the lastelections due to its allianceswith the TDP, the CPI andthe TJS. This time the partywill win as there it will not behaving an alliance with anyparty, Venkat Reddy said.

Scrap GOallowing to writeGroup-I examsin Urdu: BJYMPNS n HYDERABAD

Bharathiya Janatha YuvaMorcha (BJYM) statePresident A. Bhanu Prakashhas sent a letter to theHyderabad Collector ask-ing him to immediatelywithdraw the GO allowingcandidates to write Group-1 ser vices recruitmentexams in Urdu as it wouldadversely affect the interestsof candidates writ ingGroup-I examination inTelugu or English.

In his letter, Bhanu Prakashsaid that the TS governmenthad issued GO Ms: No: 55 onApril 4, 2022, for conductingexaminations for recruitmentto Group-I posts.

The government had per-mitted candidates who hadstudied in Urdu medium towrite answers in Urdu. As canbe seen, there is no precedentof allowing Urdu mediumcandidates to write answers inUrdu, he said.

Telugu is the official lan-guage of TS and English is theinternational link language.

Sanjay blasts

Ministers for objecting

to FCI raids on millsPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP leader Bandi SanjayKumar has lashed out at theFinance, Civil Supplies andother Ministers for criticisingthe Food Corporation ofIndia’s (FCI) raids on ricemills instead of thinking aboutthe farmers affected by theunseasonal rains.

Sanjay said that theMinisters’ behaviour indicat-ed that the rice millers andTRS leaders were jointlyengaging in irregularities.

“Why should the TRSMinisters object to the FCI raidsif they had not committed anyillegal acts?” he asked. Sanjayasked the ministers to explainwhy they were objecting to theFCI raids on rice mills.

“Rice millers are asking forcommissions even before theunloading of paddy. But theministers are saying that theunloading problem is due tothe FCI raids,” he said.

Sanjay asked the ministerswhether they were afraid thatthe issue of their commissions

would get exposed.He asked the TS govern-

ment to open IKP centresacross the state and to procurethe entire paddy produce. Healso demanded that the gov-ernment should procure therain-soaked paddy at theMinimum Support Price(MSP).

Sanjay had addressed a let-ter to Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao on Fridaydemanding that the govern-ment should pay ex-gratia tothe farmers affected by theunseasonal rains and procuretheir rain-soaked paddy.

Sanjay said that it is notproper to neglect the pro-curement of paddy. The TRSgovernment behaved negli-gently even though the weath-er department had warnedabout unseasonal rains.

He reminded the TRS gov-ernment that it had declaredthat it will procure 74 lakhtons of paddy through 7,500procurement centres. But thegovernment has opened only2,500 procurement centres.

Cong to waive farm loans up to...Continued from page 1

We will integrate agriculturalwork into the MGNREGA sys-tem, Revanth declared.

He said the Congress govern-ment will procure all cropsgrown by farmers includingpaddy, cotton, chilli, sugar-cane, turmeric and mango withbetter MSPs.

The Congress will alsoreopen the closed sugar facto-ries in Telangana and set up aTurmeric Board.

“We will provide title deedsto farmers who cultivate podulands. We will give them own-ership rights and sale-resalerights to the beneficiaries of allassigned lands,” Revanth said.

The Congress will introducenew laws to end the menace ofspurious seeds and pesticides.“We will provide compensationto affected farmers by seizingthe assets of the organisationsand persons involved, and bookthem under the PD Act,” hesaid.

Rahul rules out alliance...Continued from page 1

Congress tickets will be givento leaders who fought for farm-ers and not to leaders who failedto stand up for the people,Rahul said. He said that this isnot a fight by farmers alone buta fight of the Congress. “I am ready to fight forTelangana,” he said.

Where was the TRS whenthe Modi government intro-duced farm laws, he asked.Rahul said that the TRS sup-ported the BJP when it intro-duced the farm laws inParliament.

Rahul exuded confidencethat the Congress would defeatthe TRS in the next elections.

He said that the Congresswill never have an alliancewith the TRS which looted anddeceived the people ofTelangana.

He said that Telangana wasnot created by a single man. TheTRS has been deceiving the peo-ple of Telangana since the lasteight years. Only a single fam-ily has gained due to the creationof Telangana, Rahul said.

The Congress has alwayssupported public movements.The Telangana state was cre-ated by AICC chief Sonia

Gandhi to do justice to its peo-ple even though the partysuffered due to that. But KCRhas been ruling TS like a kinginstead of behaving like ademocratic leader, Rahul said.The Chief Minister will listento the people’s words, but aking will do what he likes, hesaid.

The Congress implementedtwo of its promises inChhattisgarh and gave toppriority to the farmers ofChhattisgarh.

Rahul said that theCongress would implementthe Rs 2 lakh loan waiverscheme at one go if it comes topower.

The Warangal Declarationis not just a statement, but isthe Congress party’s guarantee,he said. Rahul said that theimplementation of theWarangal Declaration is theresponsibility of the Congress.

He said that the party does-n’t want leaders who worksecretly for the TRS and theBJP.

Rahul exuded confidencethat the Congress will come topower after defeating the TRS.“We will not let go the leaderswho deceived the public comewhat may,” Rahul said.

‘Bandi Sanjay extorting money during Padayatra’Continued from page 1

He warned that should Sanjayspeak in a disrespectful toneabout the Chief Minister andMinisters, "his throat wouldbe slit".

TRSLP MLAs AllaVenkateshwar Reddy, AnjayyaYadav and Patnam NarenderReddy, along with MinisterSrinivas Goud, spoke to themedia. Goud said it was not

right to do politics in thename of religion and caste. Hewas outraged that the BJP hadcheated Telangana by not giv-ing it in the year 2000. "TheBJP has been discriminatingagainst the region since itsinception in Telangana", hesaid. The Minister remindedthat the BJP government hadgiven away seven mandals toPolavaram and the Sileruhydropower plant to Andhra

Pradesh when Telangana Statewas formed.

Srinivas Goud said that J PNadda had spoken withoutunderstanding anything aboutKaleshwaram at Palamuru onThursday. "Does Nadda notsee the praise coming to theTelangana government inParliament? Did Nadda forgetthat up to 10 Union Ministerscame and praised theTelangana schemes?"

Whimsical decision-making, coupledwith second rate

execution, has become thehallmark of KalavakuntlaChandrashekhar Rao's regimein Telangana.

The Intermediate resultsfiasco, chaos created by theDharani portal, and the mis-handling of the Covid pan-demic are but a few glaringexamples.

The latest in this series thatthoroughly exposes theincompetence and skulldug-gery of the KCR governmentis the havoc created by a sum-mer rain at Yadadri LakshmiNarasimha Swamy temple -known as 'Telangana Tirupati'- one of the popular spiritualcentres in India.

KCR had created muchhype, as usual, about the ren-ovation of the Yadadri templein his extravagant bid tomatch, if not outdo, the

Venkateswara Swamy templeat Tirumala -- India's richesttemple situated in neighbour-ing Andhra Pradesh. Whenthere was no need for drawingparallels between the cen-turies-old places of worship,KCR and his party tried tomake use of even this spiritu-al issue to play the sentimentcard.

The plan to renovate andexpand the temple from a2,500 sq. yd area into a 14-acretemple complex containingseven temple domes, includ-ing a 100-foot main dome,inner and outer prakarams(compound walls), adornedwith stone-carved pillars etc.,was welcomed by the devotees.

They contributed morethan 40 kg of gold to coat themain temple 'Vimana gopu-ram' along the lines of theTirumala shrine. It was theexecution that left much to bedesired, giving rise to ques-

tions around competence andcorruption of the regime.

Many modifications weremade to the original plansreportedly at the whims ofKCR, instead of experts'advice.

Nobody knows whyYadagirigutta was renamedYadadri or why modificationswere made thrice toPushkarini and twice to RathaMantapam, for instance. Atone point in time, KCR's faceand TRS schemes were chis-elled on the temple pillars,

which were removed owing topublic outcry.

The government took fivelong years to complete the pro-ject. To say the least, a "trialand error" method was adopt-ed by the administration muchto the chagrin of devotees.

Initially, the Chief Ministerscrupulously went by theadvice of Sri Tridandi ChinaJeeyar Swamy but later start-ed cold-shouldering him afterPrime Minister NarendraModi unveiled the 216-foot-tall statue of Sri

Ramanujacharya (SamathaMurthi) in February 2022 atthe Swamy's invitation. KCR,for reasons best known to himand his son, had even violat-ed protocol rules to stay awayfrom the programme spear-headed by Jeeyer Swamy.Following that, though KCRinaugurated Yadadri temple as

per the muhurtham fixed bythe Swamy, the latter was notinvited to the grand openingceremony.

The occasion was turnedinto a partisan political event,with only TRS leaders beingextended the invite. Not eventhe Governor nor the localMember of Parliament wereinvited for this auspiciousoccasion.

A summer rain lashedYadadri a few days ago andlaid bare the quality of reno-vation and rebuilding works.The entry point of the newly-constructed third ghat roadcaved in and a large hollowspace was on full display.Roads were inundated andrainwater reached the vicini-ty of the temple on the hill.

The entire administrativemachinery was pressed intoservice to ease out the drainwater that f lew fromPanchatala Rajagopuram to

Dwajasthambam. Rainwater also entered sev-

eral places in Ashtabuji man-dapam. The prasadam outletrooms and queue complexnext to the bus bay on the hillwere waterlogged, even as thefirst ghat road turned unbear-ably muddy.

Temple authorities, natural-ly, tried to cover it up by say-ing that all is well. But devo-tees, who were subjected tountold discomfort due to thepoor work, cursed the govern-ment on witnessing the chaosfirst-hand and took to socialmedia to express theiranguish.

As mentioned by a localleader in his tweet, it seemsGod's money has been giftedto contractors and govern-ment officers.

There were reports thatsome of the works were ear-marked for a company ownedby senior officials and their

relatives. Only a probe by ahigh-level committee canbring out the facts.

Even as the rain exposed thechinks thoroughly, the templeauthorities have issued ordersto collect an exorbitant fee forthe parking of vehicles.Devotees were in for a rudeshock to know that it has beendecided to collect Rs.500 pervehicle for the first hour. If thevehicle is parked for more thanone hour, an additional Rs.100per hour would be charged,further angering the devotees.

Sri Narasimha Swamy isbelieved to have taken on therole of a 'doctor' (VaidyaNarasimha) at Yadadri. Wecan only hope and pray that hewill set right the attitude of thisgovernment that is provingdetrimental to the people ofTelangana.

(The author is BJP TSspokesperson)

KISHORE POREDDY

The plan to renovate and expand the templefrom a 2,500 sq. yd area into a 14-acretemple complex containing seven templedomes, including a 100-foot main dome,inner and outer prakarams (compoundwalls), adorned with stone-carved pillarsetc., was welcomed by the devotees.

Rain at Yadadri lays bare quality of renovation works

Rajagopal keeps away from Rahul’s...Continued from page 1He didn’t attend the preparatory meeting also held inconnection with Rahul’s Warangal public meetingincluding the Nagarjuna Sagar meeting. Rajagopalalso stayed away from Rahul’s public meetingarrangements. It is learnt that he had replied that hehad medical problems and so was not coming toWarangal when party leaders asked him to attend theWarangal meeting. It may be recalled that Rajagopal

had criticised Rahul and had showered praises on theBJP after the last Lok Sabha elections as he didn’t getthe CLP leader’s post. From then onwards, Rajagopalhad been criticising his own party leaders and hintingthat he will join the BJP. Rajagopal had expressed hisunhappiness over CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarkasaying that as CLP leader Bhatti had failed to come tohis rescue when the TRS cornered him duringdebates in the TS Assembly’s 2022-budget session.

21% of IAS officer...Continued from page 1

For CSE-2021, a total of 180vacancies have been deter-mined to be filled for IAS andthe State Governments/Cadrehave been requested to sendrequisitions for allocating IASofficers.

In Andhra Pradesh, theshortage is 19%, with 45 postsvacant. Of the sanctionedstrength of 239, 194 are filled.There are 167 posts allocated toAndhra by direct recruitment,of which 133 are filled. Another72 are promoted posts allocat-ed, of which 61 are filled.

This is as per data from the112th report of the Parliament'sStanding Committee onPersonnel, Public Grievances,Law and Justice presented inParliament a month ago.

The shortage of IAS officersacross the country is 1,515. Ofthe 6,746 posts, 5,231 are filledand the remaining posts arevacant. The intake of IAS offi-cers is currently restricted at 180per year.

The Committee has recom-

mended to the Department ofPersonnel and Training toincrease the annual number ofIAS officers.

Highest vacancies are inJammu Kashmir, where 57%seats are vacant, followed by40% in Tripura, 37.2% inNagaland, 32% in Kerala and31% in Jharkhand. However, asper the total available vacancies,Uttar Pradesh tops the list with104 vacancies, followed by 94 inBihar, 87 in AGMUT cadre, 80in West Bengal, 78 in Jammu &Kashmir, 77 in Maharashtra,among others.

The states with the lowestpercentage of vacant IAS postsare Tamil Nadu (14.3 % of theauthorized strength), MadhyaPradesh (14.7%), Haryana(15.8%) and Uttar Pradesh(15.9%). The Department ofPersonnel and Training (DoPT)has been mulling on the possi-ble ways to increase the annu-al intake of IndianAdministrative Service (IAS)officers in view of a huge short-age of 1,500 officers in thecountry.

TS honour killing: Arrested men sent tojudicial remand, Guv seeks report...Continued from page 1

Only the arrested duo werefound involved in the murder asper available evidence, they said.

Meanwhile, the wife of thedeceased expressed anguish thatno one came forward to save thelife of her husband though acrowd gathered when the grue-some murder took place atSaroornagar on Wednesdaynight.

Those who gathered at thespot could have collectivelytried to drive away the assailants,if not an individual, when theattack occurred, the womantold regional channels.

The funeral of Nagaraju washeld at his native village inneighbouring Vikarabad districton Thursday and the womanwas staying with her in-laws,police said.

Some community outfits alsoparticipated in the funeral

expressing solidarity with thedeceased, they said.

Meanwhile, TelanganaGovernor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Friday soughta "detailed report" from the stategovernment on the murder ofNagaraju.

The National Commissionfor Scheduled Castes (NCSC)sought a report from theHyderabad police on the actiontaken by it in the case.

B Nagaraju (25) was brutal-ly killed in public view hereallegedly by his Muslim wife'sbrother and another person ina case of suspected honourkilling, with the incident send-ing shockwaves after the gorymurder that was caught oncamera went viral.

According to a Raj Bhavanpress communique, "GovernorTamilisai Soundararajan havinggone through various mediareports on the gruesome mur-

der of B Nagaraju on 04-05-2022 night at Saroornagar inGHMC area, alleged to havebeen killed due to his interfaithmarriage sought a detailedreport on the murder from thegovernment".

The incident happened onWednesday night atSaroornagar when the victim, aDalit, was travelling on a motor-bike with his wife and wasconfronted by his attackers --Syed Mobin Ahmed andMohammed Masood Ahmed -- who came on a scooter,stopped the couple on the roadand attacked the man in fullpublic view with an iron rodbefore stabbing him with aknife, killing him on the spot,police said.

Police had said Syed MobinAhmed was opposed to his sis-ter's relationship with Nagaraju,and had even warned heragainst it.

hyderabad 03HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 7, 2022

PNS n HYDERABAD

There is a need to educate andremove the negative appre-hensions and concerns of thefarmers about the technology,says Hanumanthu, SpecialCommissioner for Departmentof Agriculture

The Agri Commissionerparticipated as chief guest in aworkshop on ̀ Genome editingfor crop improvement:Potential land policy. Theworkshop was conducted bythe Biotech Consortium IndiaLimited (BCIL), New Delhiand Professor JayashankarTelangana State Agricultural

University (PJTSAU) at theuniversity auditorium inRajendranagar on Friday.

K Hanumanthu said that itis very much essential to adoptimproved technologies toensure the nutritional and foodsecurity for growing popula-

tion. He pointed, agriculture ispotential area to demonstrateand implement the genomeediting technology in agricul-ture sector. Dr V Praveen Rao,Vice Chancellor, PJTSAU hassaid that the new agriculturaltechnologies which have the

uniqueness must be madeavailable to the large number ofcommon people and it enablesthe enhancement of thefarmer's income.

He advised the BCIL to putefforts to incorporate thegenome technology educationin the middle school level cur-riculum. Dr R M Sundaram,Director, Indian Institute ofRice Research (IIRR) hasexplained the main advantagesof using genome editing. Hesaid that it can accelerate thedelivery of improved crop vari-eties. He stated Genome edit-ing technology is relativelyinexpensive to implement and

has widespread accessibility inboth private and public sectorresearch institutions andorganisations.

It can be used in almost allcrop plants, for which partial orcomplete genome sequence isavailable and is being appliedto more than 40 crops across 25countries, mostly addressingvarious agronomic importanttraits like, yield improvement,nutritional enhancement foodand feed quality.

During this workshop PJT-SAU had entered into aMemorandum of Under stand-ing (MoU) with Rasi Seeds,Tamil Nadu.

USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE

Need to allay apprehensions of farmers stressed

Hanumanthu, Special Commissioner for Department of Agriculture and others at aworkshop in Hyderabad on Friday

PNS n HYDERABAD

To make drug addicts free fromthe menace of organised crime,Hyderabad City PoliceCommissioner CV Anand onFriday exchanged Memo ran-dum of Understanding (MoU)with 3 organisations to providerehabilitation facilities to thedrug addicts. The organisationsare The Asha Group Hospitals,Phoenix Rehab Services andAmrita Foundation. The citypolice are also liaisoning withInstitute of Mental Health,Erragadda to facilitate the de-

addiction treatment. Speakingto the media, Hyderabad CP CVAnand said, "These organisa-tions will treat drug addicts on alllevels for a period of 8 weeks in12 sessions and further subjectthem to undergo urine and bloodtests at least 3 times in the spanof 8 weeks to monitor their activ-ities." The Commissioner alsopointed out that Hyderabad citypolice from the beginning ofthis year till now has caught atotal of 377 drug peddlers, con-sumers and transporters and thisrehab process will help them toget out of it.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Intermediate Public Examinations for first years have begunacross the state on Friday. Thestudents who have appearedfor exams have expressed hap-piness over the language ques-tion paper and for followingsocial distancing norms.

One of the students said, "Iwas more tense this timebecause due to Covid most ofthe exams were not conduct-ed and I was nervous about thequestions. We were able towrite language examinationsatisfactorily and there were noout of syllabus questions. "

Other students added thatthey had no worries as everyprocedure is followed as usualand only protocol is frequent-ly sanitising our hands andwearing masks all through ourexams.

Lecturers and invigilatorssaid, "All of us were also a bitworried because we observedthat students were in dilemmaand tensed as exams were notconducted last two years. Wecould finally relax as our stu-

dents were able to write exam-ination well. The new choicebased system helped studentsand covering only 70 per centof the syllabus added morerelief to most of the students."

The officials of the interme-diate board pointed out that allthe examination centers hadno issues and necessary facil-ities were provided to stu-dents as the weather was toohot.

The Telangana State Boardof Intermediate Education saidthat on the first exam of firstyear, the number of studentspresent were 4,42,546 and the

number of absentees were22,210 among 4,64,756 regis-tered students. The officialsalso noted that there was onemalpractice. It is also statedthat observers were sent toNizamabad, Kamareddy,Siddipet, Karimnagar,Peddapally, Yadadri, Janagon,Warangal, Suryapet, andMahabubnagar Districts fromBoard to the Examination cen-ters and found smooth andpeaceful

conduct of examinationswithout any untoward inci-dents except one malpracticecase at Nizamabad District.

Hyderabad Commissioner of Police C V Anand and others during the exchangeof MoUs with rehab centres on Friday

Hyd police nab 4; seize heroin,ganja all worth Rs 23.6 lakh

Sleuths of the West ZoneCommissioner's Task Forcebusted an inter-state drug

peddlers gang and apprehended 4persons. The accused were foundin possession of 225 gms ofheroin and 28 kg of ganja, allworth Rs 23.61 lakhs. The primaryaccused CS Sayyyed is a native ofDharavi, Mumbai. He was arrested by the Narcotics ControlBureau in 2010. The second accused, Shaik Abdul is a native ofHyderabad and was arrested by the DRI in 2018 for transportingforeign currency into India. The third accused, Shaik Khasim, is anative of Prakasam district in AP and was arrested in 2018 underthe NDPS Act at Uppal Excise PS. The fourth accused ShahedKamal is a native of Hyderabad who was into real estate businessand later started peddling drugs. According to the police, all theaccused started the business of selling ganja in Mumbai. One ofthe accused would procure ganja from a cultivator inVisakhapatnam at Rs 8,000 per kg. They would then trade ganja inexchange of brown sugar (heroin) for Rs 1,100 per gram inMumbai. The heroin would be brought to Hyderabad and was soldat Rs 2,500 per gram. Based on a tip off, on Thursday the westzone task force team apprehended all the accused persons inKalapathar PS limits. Police seized the narcotics from theirpossession. The main supplier of ganja, V Ramesh fromVisakhapatnam and Mahesh, the Drug peddler from Mumbai arestill absconding, said Hyderabad Police Commissioner, CV Anand.

A60-year-old man committed suicide by jumping from the 6thfloor of Gandhi Hospital in city on Friday. The deceased wasidentified as Komaraiah. The hospital staff stated that

Komaraiah had come to hospital as an attendant to his wife. It isto be stated here that Komaraiah's wife was admitted in GandhiHospital after she complained of severe stomach ache. The reasonbehind the old man's suicide was said to be dispute within thefamily members. The body of the deceased person was shifted toautopsy department for post-mortem. Police have registered acase and are investigating.

City Police sign MoUs with rehabcentres to reform drug addicts

INTERMEDIATE FIRST YEAR EXAM

‘Lesser syllabus, more choicemade language paper easy’

KTR launches drip irrigation system forplants along 158 km stretch on ORRPNS n HYDERABAD

Minister of MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment K T Rama Raohas commissioned the dripirrigation system along the158-kms stretch of ORR. It is9 lines of drip irrigation pipes,managed through SCADA andsaves 6 lakh litres of water(compared to conventionaltanker based) and saves Rs 6crores annum and providesgreenery 365 days.

The project of DripIrrigation is taken up in fivepackages and 62 blocks withproject cost of Rs 47.00 croreswhich includes seven yearsmaintenance.

In the entire ORR, so far63,13,503 plants were planted.All these days, the plantationsare maintained by wateringmanually through tankers, butwatering through tankers wascostly and not safe to wateringworkers on ORR and also leadsto wastage of water. Hencewatering through Drip Systemhas been proposed, he said.

For effective watering, altogeth-er, 94 bore wells and 92 sumpsare required. Water is pumpedand discharged through a net-work of pipes and to the rootof plants directly by drips con-nected on pipes. Total 3 +3 +3drip lines are provided each onleft side, median and rightside of ORR including inter-changes covering Hedge, shrub

and avenue plantation totalingto approx 1,500 kms of driplines. A sprinkler system is alsoprovided at Nanakramgudacentral median and otherpockets.

Cost saving: The averagemaintenance cost for providingwater to plants through tankerswas Rs 20 crore per annum.Now due to introduction of

Drip system average expendi-ture per year including main-tenance is estimated as Rs14.00 cr. Hence there is costsaving of approx Rs 6.00 cr peryear.

Water saving: For manualwatering by tankers total 107.6ML of water per month wasused (4,304 tankers). Now bydrip system a total 89.3 ML of

water per month is used(equivalent to 3,572 tankers).Hence there is a saving of 18.3ML of water per month whichis 731 tankers per month.

Greenery throughout theyear: Apart from above mon-etary benefits and water saving,Drip system also provides min-imal manual intervention, uni-form distribution of waterthroughout the year, sustain-able and environment friend-ly and timely and Effectivewatering to plants whichensures greenery rejuvenationand fast growth.

The project of Drip

Irrigation is taken

up in five packages

and 62 blocks with

project cost of Rs

47.00 crores which

includes seven

years maintenance.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment KT Rama Raoon Friday welcomedInnovators from all states ofIndia to Telangana. KTR saidto the exhibitors at the thirdedition of INK@WASH sum-mit said that Telangana gov-ernment will be their first cus-tomer.

KTR while speaking at theevent said, "Today I saw theyoung faces of India offeringWater, Sanitation and Hygiene(WASH) solutions and I amimpressed by the range ofinnovative products beingshowcased at the summit.

Innovators from all states arewelcome to Telangana to inno-vate, incubate and incorporatetheir innovations inHyderabad." He also said that70% of India even today livesin villages, but India is run byits cities and towns. He furthersaid, "Telangana is 46% urban.

In the next 50 years, we will seeurbanisation like never before,but while development isimportant, it cannot be at thecost of the environment. Thisis where all the young innova-tors come in to help make theworld a better place."

Announcing his plan forthe next edition of the summit,KTR asked the management ofINK@WASH to invite interna-tional participants and alsoinnovators from across thecountry.

Organisations like CovestroIndia Private Limited andDaiki Axis India were felicitat-ed with the WASHStewardship award by KTR atthe summit. Covestro was

awarded for its contributiontowards providing solutionsfor safe sludge disposal where-as Daiki Axis was awarded forsupporting innovation andefforts of the government ofTelangana to develop the waterand sanitation sector.

INK@WASH is an initiativeof Telangana MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment (MAUD) inpartnership with theAdministrative Staff College ofIndia (ASCI). The summit washeld on May 5 and 6 whichspotlighted many panel discus-sions, exhibitions and net-working sessions betweeninnovators, policymakers, gov-ernment officials and funders.

TS will be your first customer: KTR to innovatorsHe also said that 70%of India even todaylives in villages, butIndia is run by itscities and towns. Hefurther said,"Telangana is 46%urban.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State RoadTransport Corporation(TSRTC), while extendingMother's Day greetings to allmothers, has announced aspecial offer of free travel in allthe bus services, including ACservices. Mothers travellingwith children below five yearscan avail the offer on 8thMay, 2022 (Sunday).

TSRTC Chairman BajireddyGovardhan, MLA and Vice-Chairman and ManagingDirector VC Sajjanar, saidMother's Day is the specialtime of year when we get tocelebrate our first Best Friendand the person we always turnto when in need. Mother'sDay is also a great time toshower our love and respect forall the wonderful women whobrought us into this world. Thecorporation has also to exercise

to increase occupancy in ACPushpak buses. The plan is todouble the number of passen-gers with an increase in pick-up points. To provide conve-nience to all women, so thatthey can travel without fear,even at night.

VC, MD VC Sajjanar saidTSRTC is working to increasethe number of passengers onPushpak buses plying to RajivGandhi International Airportfrom various parts of the city.

Originally during the summerthe strategy was to make themfully accessible in view of thetendency of passengers to trav-el in AC buses.

It is already known thatPushpak runs buses from JBS,Secunderabad, Miyapur CrossRoad, Lingampally, Gachibowli, various places to RGIA.The fare is lower as comparedto outside private cabs. RTCPushpak buses are popularamong commuters. In view ofthis, the authorities are payingspecial attention to the routeson which the AP Pushpakbuses are running as part of thecompany's new plans to fur-ther increase the number ofpassengers.

He also added that thesebuses are available on the mainroutes to reach the airportand AC buses ply to the airportevery day from different partsof the city.

Mothers with kids below 5 yrs cantravel free in RTC buses on May 8

TSRTC MD VC Sajjanar

PNS n HYDERABAD

A four member Singaporearmed forces delegation, ledby Colonel Pang Lead Shuan,visited the Military College ofElectronics and MechanicalEngineering (MCEME) atSecunderabad on Thursday.The Singapore army delega-tion's visit was a part of 12th

Singapore Army to ArmyStaff Talks (AAST). The talkwas aimed at enhancingdefence cooperation betweenthe two countries. The armydelegation of Singapore wasbriefed on the various train-ing activities being undertak-en at MCEME including thebest practices being followedat the institution. The delega-

tion also visited the SimulatorDevelop ment Division(SDD) where various projectsand simulators developed bySDD were displayed. Thedelegation interacted withLieutenant Colonel JS SIdana,Commandant MCE ME andColonel Commandant of theCorps of EME and othersenior officers at the college.

Singapore armed forces’ delegation visits MCEME

PNS n HYDERABAD

Finance and Health Minister HarishRao on Friday said that super special-ty hospitals in the state are beingdeveloped for the future ofTelangana's Healthcare.

While speaking at Koti ENT hos-pital, Harish Rao said, "The super-specialty hospitals are being devel-oped for the future of Telangana. NewICU beds, labour rooms have beenestablished in the maternity hospital.The CM has placed a special focus onsanitation. Previously each bed wasallotted Rs 5,000 per month, that hasbeen increased to Rs 7,500 permonth. The older sanitation con-tracts have been cancelled and newcontracts will be announced by theend of the month." The minister also

said that private doctors should stopperforming unnecessary surgeries.Harish Rao on Friday inauguratedCT Scan machine worth Rs 2.15crore at Government Chest Hospitalin Erragadda. Then he laid the foun-dation stone for construction of anintegrated building complex at KotiENT Hospital where he also inaugu-rated a CT Scan Machine. Later hevisited Sultan Bazaar maternity hos-pital and inaugurated vital surgicalequipment in operation theatres ofthe hospital. Harish Rao while layingthe foundation stone at Koti ENThospital was accompanied by RajaSingh, BJP MLA from Goshamahalconstituency. Raja SIngh interactedwith the patients who appreciated thefacilities available at the hospital towhich Harish Rao humorously

Minister T Harish Rao and MLA Raja Singh at ENT Hospital in Koti

‘SS hospitals being developed for future of TS healthcare’

responded "Raja Singh always takes the opportunity tocriticise the health sector of the state, Today you heardthe praise from patients, now you must also praise thehealthcare of the state in the legislative Assembly".

Govt neglectingrural healthcare,alleges HRDAPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana HealthcareReforms Doctors Association(HRDA) on Friday flayed theHealth Minister saying thatthe Telangana government isunnecessarily concentratingon building medical collegesand neglecting primary andsecondary healthcare of thestate. Dr Mahesh from theHRDA said "The rural healthstatistics 2020-21 show thatthe healthcare in Telanganahas completely been neglect-ed. The government is notincreasing the number ofPHCs and CHCs. It is notmaking recruitments whichin turn is leading to commonpeople visiting quacks. Thereis a total deficit of 85 PHCsand 95 CHCs in Telanganawhile there is a 200% increasein the same in states likeKerala and Tamil Nadu. "

Medical PG courses: Dateextended for filling infoPNS n HYDERABAD

The National MedicalCommission (NMC) onThursday issued a publicnotice asking the students foronline filing of Informationrelated to admissions for PGmedical courses for the acad-emic year 2021-22. The notice

said, "The last date for filing ofinformation was2 days afterthe admission; however, due topersistent change in the lastdate of admission, collegesare not able to fill up all thefinal details. The last date forfiling of information on theNMC Portal has been extend-ed upto May 9"

Old man jumps from 6th floor of

Gandhi Hospital, dies

4 IICT scientists

inducted as

Fellows of TASPNS n HYDERABAD

Four senior scientists fromthe Indian Institute ofChemical Technology (IICT)in the city have been admittedas Fellow of TelanganaAcademy of Sciences (TAS)and one scientist was induct-ed as an Associate Fellow tothe Academy. In an inductionprogramme held at NationalInstitute of Nutrition (NIN),Dr Praveen Rao, ViceChancellor of Prof.Jayashankar Telangana StateAgricultural University induct-ed the scientists to the TAS.

Hyderabad should be readyto face heavy rains: KTRPNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment KT RamaRao on Friday held areview meeting atthe office ofHyderabad GrowthCorridor Limited(HGCL) inNanakramguda.

The minister advisedauthorities to complete themonsoon season plan assoon as possible so that thecity can withstand heavyrains during this year's mon-soon. The minister suggest-ed that the Greater

Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) andthe water board will have towork together on flood pre-

vention programs. KTRenquired about the

status of variousdevelopment pro-jects undertaken bythe water board,

especially the infra-structure development

projects. The Minister also briefly

discussed the status of con-struction of link roads, strate-gic canal development sys-tem and the construction ofroads in the city with therespective authorities.

04HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 7, 2022

PNS n NAGARKURNOOL

District Collector P UdayKumar on Friday expressed hishappiness over the State gov-ernment establishing a medicalcollege in Nagarkurnool. TheCollector was inspecting themedical college building worksnear Uyyalawada in the district.Speaking on the occasion,Uday Kumar directed the offi-cials to ensure that the build-ings works, taken up at a costof Rs 38.4 crore, are complet-

ed by May 24. The Collectorinspected the bio-chemistryand physiology laboratories,and classrooms. The Collectorinstructed the officials toensure that all the works arecompleted by May 24 when theMedical Council of India teamvisited to inspect the medicalcollege. So far, not less than 90per cent of works had beencompleted. The engineers havebeen working round-the-clockto complete the remaining 10per cent of works, he said.

MCI team to inspect medicalcollege building on May 24

PNS n KAMAREDDY

Roads and Buildings MinisterVemula Prashant Reddy onFriday inaugurated Kalabharatiauditorium and expressed thehope that the auditoriumshould serve as a forum to pro-mote creativity.

The people of the town arelucky to have leaders likeGampa Goverdhan who hasbeen striving hard to beautifyKamareddy town. Goverdhan,Government whip, has beenpersonally supervising everydevelopment activity careful-ly rather than monitoring it asa matter of ritual. He has beenstriving hard for developmentof Kamareddy Assembly con-stituency, he said offering hisfull support to the governmentwhip.

He thanked the ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao and Minister K T RamaRao9 for their cooperation ingetting funds released to theauditorium in the town.Goverdhan, District CollectorJitesh V Patil, AdditionalCollector Venkatesh Dhotre,Municipal Chairperson NittuJahnavi, vice-chairperson InduPriya, Zilla GrandhalayaSamstha chairman RajeswaraRao, Municipal officials, elect-ed people's representatives,TRS leaders and activists tookpart in the programme.

R and B MinisterinauguratesKalabharati auditorium

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

District Collector S VenkataRao has asked gynaecologistsworking in government andprivate hospitals to conductnormal deliveries only andasked them not to conductdeliveries through C-Section.

He warned the RMPs ofaction if they were foundperforming caesarean opera-tions. He said criminal caseswould be registered the RMPswho violated his orders.

He was addressing a meet-ing of gynaecologists at hischambers at Collectorate onFriday.

Condemning planning C-section deliveries throughfixing Muhurats by near anddear, he said it was not a goodpractice. He called upon thedoctors to counsel them, ifnecessary.

Expectant mothers shouldbe encouraged to do smallchores so that they would beable to deliver healthy babies.

He suggested conductingtraining for doctors and paramedical staff and nurses onthe adverse impact ofCaesarean deliveries beforeMay 15. The SHGs shouldgather details of pregnantwomen for about a week ineach mandal from May 20

and conduct them awarenesscampaign on bad impact ofCaesarean operations.

He asked government andprivate hospitals to submithim a report on weekly basison the Caesarean surgeries.To check C-section deliveries,a district-level task force teamwould be constituted. It willconduct surprise visits onhospitals study the circum-stances leading to conduct theC-section deliveries and sub-mit a report. Gynaecologistsare required to submit areport explaining the circum-stances leading to conductingsuch deliveries.

District Medical andHealth Department officials

have been asked to explainthe adverse impact ofCaesarean section deliveriesthrough media and socialmedia to parents, in-laws andothers. Additional Collectorof Local Bodies Tejas NandlalPawar received suggestionsfrom gynaecologists forreduction of the C-sectiondeliveries.

District Medical andHealth officer Dr Krishna,District Head QuartersGovernment HospitalSuperintendent Dr Ramesh,IMA president DrRammohan, gynaecologistsworking in government andprivate hospitals attended themeeting.

RMPs conducting C-sectiondeliveries to face criminal cases

Mahabubnagar District Collector S Venkat Rao holding a meeting withgynaecologists in Mahabubnagar on Friday

PNS n SIDDIPET

A man attempted to commit sui-cide by slitting his throat atGuruvannapet underKomuravelly mandal in the dis-trict as his wife refused to livewith him. He has been rushedto District Government Hospitalin Siddipet. His condition is stat-ed to be critical. The man, whoslit his throat, was identified asButchelly Kumar (40). He wasmarried to Manjula, who hailedfrom Venkatapuram villageunder Rajapet mandal inYadadri Bhongiri district about15 years ago. The couple havethree daughters. As differencescropped up between the couple,Manjula decided to end her rela-tionship with her husband.

Man slits his throat

as wife refuses to

live with him

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

BJP State unit presidentBandi Sanjay Kumar onFriday called upon the peo-ple to throw off the 'shacklesof slavery' and fight for jus-tice.

Addressing a meeting,organised by Mudiraj com-munity at Bhavani templehere, Sanja Kumar allegedthat the TRS leaders havebeen denying benefits of wel-fare schemes to the peoplebelonging to Mudiraj com-munity. There are 12 lakhpeople belonging to Mudirajcommunity in the undividedPalamuru district, he said.

The BJP leader alleged thatMinister for Prohibition andExcise V Srinivas Goud hasbeen increasingly unleashingrepressive measures againstpeople, belonging to Mudirajcommunity. He was exertingpressure on the police tofoist false cases on innocentpeople. The Mudiraj commu-

nity was lagging behind eco-nomically though it wasnumerical ly strong. Hedemanded that the Mudirajcommunity categorise as BC'B.'

Alleging that the TRS haddestroyed caste-based profes-sions in the State, SanjaKumar appealed to the peo-ple, belonging to Mudirajcommunity, not to despair.

He accused the followers ofthe Minister of encroachingupon the endowment landsbelonging to Bhavani temple.He threatened to expose the'corruption' of Minister forProhibition and Excise VSrinivas Goud and distributethe 'illegal wealth' to thepeople. The TRS cannot scarethe BJP leaders by issuingthreats, he said.

Throw off shackles of slavery: Bandi to people

BJP State unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar speaking at a meeting, organisedby the Mudiraj community, in Mahabubnagar on Friday

DEEPIKA PASHAM

n HYDERABAD

A beautiful temple belongingto the Kakatiya period hasbeen discovered in the thickjungle at Kusumanchi inKhammam district.

Based on information givenby Katta Srinivas, thePresident of TORCH and theCo-Convenor of the KothaTelangana Charitra Brindam,the CEO of Pleach IndiaFoundation, Dr E.Sivanagireddy, anArchaeologist, visited thetemple on Friday with thehelp of Sarpanch ChennaMohan and some local teach-ers.

The temple whose entrancealone was visible and wascompletely covered by creep-ers comprised a garbhagriha,arthamandapa and a ranga

(dance) mandapa supportedby 16 pillars. The temple'sceiling and flooring had gotdislocated due to negligenceand lack of maintenance.

He added that the brick

superstructure on the sanc-tum sanctorum had collapsedand that the insides of thegarbhagriha was dug out bytreasure hunters long agoresulting in the piling up of a

heap of stones in front of thearthamanadapa.

The doorways, pillars, slabsand the basement reflectedthe architectural grandeur ofthe Kakatiyas of the 13th

century and were similar tothe local Ganapeswara tem-ple, Dr Reddy said.

There was a beautifulsculpture of Val l i andSubrahmanya mounted on apeacock carved out of blackgranite on a stone bench atthe entrance of the temple.

He said that the stonebench above the basementand a stone window thatallowed light inside the tem-ple ran al l around theRangamandapa, a unique fea-ture of Kakatiya temple archi-tecture.

Dr Sivanagireddy assuredthe Sarpanch that he wouldrender his services to restorethe temple under the'Preser ve Heritage forPosterity' campaign launchedby the Pleach IndiaFoundation provided thelocal community supports it.

13th-century Kakatiya Temple found at Kusumanchi

PNS n SANGAREDDY

A remand prisoner NeelRamulu (42) died of a heart inMedak sub-jail on Friday.

According to jail authorities,Ramulu had complained ofchest pain on Friday morning.The jai staff had ferried him toGovernment Hospital wherehe was declared brought dead.

The kin of the deceasedalleged that Ramulu had diedbecause he was tortured by thepolice during interrogation.Medak police registered acase.

Ramulu was arrested on acharge of stabbing a womanon May 2. He was remandedin judicial custody at Medaksub-jail.

Ramulu's wife Sandhyaaccused a policeman ofresponsible for the death of herhusband. At the instance of thepoliceman, she complainedto the District Superintendentof Police, he was tortured bythe police.

Remand prisoner diesin Medak sub-jail

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Twitter war between theTRS and the Congress hasresulted in the blocking of theTwitter handle of the TelanganaCongress by the TRS WorkingPresident MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment Minister, K TRamarao.

The Twitter war on Fridaywas started by the TRS. But theCongress launched a scathingcounterattack on the TRS byraising issues like unemploy-ment, the Kaleshwaram projectfunds, GO No: 111, the injus-tices meted out to farmers, andother issues.

KTR gave counters throughhis Twitter handle, but at onepoint in time KTR blocked theTelangana Congress Twitterhandle as he could not stom-ach the questions of theCongress.

Reacting to KTR's blockingof the Congress' Twitter han-

dle, the Congress Tweeted say-ing, "Twitter quail has goneaway. He shivered after seeingthe questions. KTR blockedTelangana Congress Twitterhandle after failing to answerthe questions asked on behalfof the public. Blocking anational party's Twitter handlereflects the mental condition ofKTR." Earlier, KTR hadTweeted saying, "We are wel-coming Rahul's tour. Rahulmust study the developmentprojects taken up by the farm-ers' government here and

implement them in Congress-ruled states."

Reacting to KTR's tweet,TPCC chief Revanth Reddyasked KTR to explain what isthere to study about TRS rule.

"Is it how to avoid imple-mentation of the loan waiverscheme or how to avoid thefree distribution of fertilizers orhow to hang farmers by bow-ing before Prime MinisterNarendra Modi or how tomislead paddy, mirchi, andcotton farmers? These are factsand Rahul Gandhi is visitingTS to speak about them. The

TRS government destroyedTelangana by joining handswith the BJP. The TRS govern-ment failed to bring the coachfactory, the Bayyaram steelfactory, the tribal universityand other projects mentionedin the State Division Act. Aren'tyou ashamed of criticisingRahul Gandhi who gaveTelangana?" Revanth asked.

Congress blasts KTR forblocking its Twitter handle

KTR gave counters

through his Twitter

handle, but at one

point in time KTR

blocked the

Telangana Congress

Twitter handle as

he could not

stomach the

questions of the

Congress.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The National Commissionfor Scheduled Castes(NCSC) on Friday took suomotu cognizance of thealleged honour killing here.The NCSC sought from theChief Secretary, HyderabadPolice Commissioner andHyderabad Distr ic tCollector 'an action takenreport.' The NSCS referredto the reports of brutalmurder of B Nagaraju, aDalit. He was murdered after hehad married a girl belong toMinority Communityagainst the wishes of the lat-ter ' s family members .Nagaraju was murdered onWednesday night atSaroornagar area here.

NSCS takes suo

motu cognisance of‘honour killing'

CM condoles demise of BojjalaPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao hasmourned the demise of formerMinister in united AndhraPradesh Bojjala Gopala

Krishna Reddy. The ChiefMinister expressed his griefover losing a close friend andpolitical colleague. Heexpressed deep sympathies tothe bereaved family membersof the senior leader.

Nagarkurnool District Collector P Uday Kumar inspecting the medical collegebuilding works near Uyyalawada in Nagarkurnool district on Friday

Woman finds secret camera at changing roomPNS n SURYAPET

One of the employees of a pri-vate swimming pool here isalleged to have placed a secretmobile phone camera in thebathroom to capture nude orsemi-nude photos of women,according to delayed reportsreaching here on Friday

A youth capturing images ofwomen with a mobile phonewith a cell phone camera wasdetected by a woman memberof the swimming pool andlodged a complaint with thepolice with the help of her par-ents. According to the police,a youth called GugulothuMahesh is working in SivamSwimming pool in Kudakudavillage of Chivvemlamandal ofthe district. On May 3, 2022, he

switched on his mobile cameraand hid in the bathroom. Thepolice are investigating the

case. In fact, the swimmingpool being run in the townapparently did not have police

permission. Moreover, thepolice did not focus on theswimming pool activities.

PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP MLA from GoshamahalRaja Singh has alleged thatthe TRS government's deci-sion to give option of writ-ing Group-I examinationeven in Urdu is intended tomake AIMIM happy.

He said that the SC, ST,BCs, who are from poorfamilies, would be subjectedto injustice if option is givento write Group-I examina-tion in Urdu.

While speaking to themedia on Friday, Raja Singhsaid that Telangana was cre-ated with the sacrifices ofyouth.

However, Telanganabetrayers became Ministersnow. A leader, who had crit-icised KCR in the past, wasnow sitting beside him, hepointed out.

He alleged that the TRSactivists had been makingallegations against MinisterV Srinivas Goud. Theyaccused Srinivas Goud ofland grabbing.

BJP MLA objectsto 'Urdu option' inGroup-1 exams

PNS n HYDERABAD

TRS leaders reacted sharplyto Rahul Gandhi's publicmeeting in Warangal. StateAgriculture MinisterSingireddy Niranjan Reddy ,responding to Rahul Gandhi'sWarangal declaration, said, ‘Ifpeople believe that theCongress party gaveTelangana, why did the peopledefeated the Congress party in2014 and 2018. The peopleof Telangana achievedthe state of Telanganawith innumerable sac-rifices. There is no giveror taker’. He said, "Youcan never be made afarmer king, but if youhave guts Rahul first, getready for war against BJP.There is no sense in leavingthe real enemy and battlingand boasting elsewhere".

"Congress has promised adebt waiver of Rs 2 lakh in the2018 elections . But the peo-ple have rejected it. Now it issinging the same old songagain. It boasts of providinginput subsidy of Rs 15,000, butfirst it should implement itimmediately in the stateswhere Congress is currently inpower," Niranjan said.

The Minister said, ‘TheUPA government has set upthe SwaminathanCommission to determine theremunerative price for farm-

ers. But the government hasignored the committee's rec-ommendations. Let alonereopening closed industries.Rahul should note that thoseindustries were closed duringyour tenure and now the samepolicy of closing the units iscontinued by BJP govern-ment.’

Niranjan asked Rahul tofirst implement his assurances

in Congress ruled states.Agriculture Minister

released the state-ment in the wake ofthe CongressW a r a n g a lD e c l a r a t i o n .Minister Jagadish

Reddy said, ‘The peo-ple of Telangana are

not innocent enough tobelieve whatever the Congresssay. Rahul Gandhi did notutter a word except the pre-written script.

In what capacity did RahulGandhi speak? Whether hespoke as an AICC spokesper-son or as a PCC spokesper-son?. Is this declaration ofAICC or TPCC?. Will theentire Congress party adoptthe same for the country?.Does the Congress party havea national policy?’ The peopleof Telangana are having noillusion that any AICC leaderwill come and do something.The same assurances weregiven in the 2018 elections."

‘Leaving real enemy, Rahul tryingto fight with others elsewhere’

PRIVATE SWIMMING POOL

PNS n HYDERABAD

Krishna River ManagementBoard meeting was held on theshare of Krishna river water atJalasoudha in Hyderabad onFriday. The KRMB said that thewater allocation will be done in66:34 ratio as has been donesince 2015.

Telangana demanded thatthe water sharing should bedone in 50:50.

Special Chief Secretary RajatKumar said, 'Until last yearwater allocation was done in theratio of 66:34 and now underno circumstances Telanganawas ready to admit it.' 'Someprojects have been in use evenbefore bifurcation. There aremany projects undertaken onTelangana flood water. On-going projects require 225 tmcftof water. The KRMB chairman

said that there is no authorityfor water allocations,' IrrigationSecretary said. Rajat said thatTelangana agreed conditional-ly with the thought of report-ing to the tribunal.

Rajat said, 'The KrishnaBoard has no decision-makingpower without coming to con-sensus. The temporary waterallocations should be includedequal. If we are not given a 50per cent stake, we will report tothe Kal Shakti department.'

He said the works sanc-tioned for RDS repairs beforebifurcation were not done. Aconsensus was reached at theboard meeting that repairsshould be undertaken.

The meeting decided to setup a sub-committee to studyflood water. Issues related togazette notification were dis-cussed during the meeting.

Rajat said,Telangana neededhydropower generation a lot.'We informed that there was nomismanagement in Srisailamand there was crisis manage-ment. It has been clarified thathydropower will be generatedin Srisailam as per the direc-tions of the tribunal.'

The meeting took a decisionto set up a committee on powergeneration in Srisailam.

'We have said that DPRswill be submitted after report-ing to the tribunal on waterallocations as these are floodwater dependent projects. Wehave given GO to Srisailam,Nagarjuna Sagar and Spillwayrepairs. We will complete it.'

The meeting also discussedthe repairs to the Pulichintalaproject. As much as Rs800crore is required for Srisailamrepairs.

KRMB rejects TS demand on water allocation

nation 05HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 7, 2022

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In a veiled attack on Raj Thackeray who has raised the issue of loudspeakers atop mosques,Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday said the agitations held by the MNSchief over various issues have adversely impacted the state and the society, and claimed that

none of his protests have gained success so far. Pawar was speaking to reporters here amid arow over Raj Thackeray's call to play Hanuman Chalisa if mosques are found broadcasting'azaan' on loudspeakers. "The personwho brought up the issue ofloudspeakers had once announced anagitation against toll tax on highways andsaid the toll collection would be stopped.A protest to that effect was held on thePune-Mumbai highway, but nothingmaterialised out of it. It went on for acouple of days, but nothing happened,"Pawar said without naming RajThackeray. The agitations carried out bythis person have adversely impacted thestate and the society, he said.

Raj Thackeray’s agitations on variousissues unsuccessful, alleges Ajit Pawar

Demanding a CBI probe into the death of BJYM worker Arjun Chowrasia in Kolkata'sKashipur, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said a culture of violence anda fear psychosis was prevalent in Bengal. Shah who is on a two-day visit to the

state today visited Chowrasia's home after news broke that the worker had been foundhanging in an abandoned building in the area in mysterious circumstances. The BJPleader who had crossed swords withWest Bengal's chief minister MamataBanerjee last year during a campaignfor the elections to the state assembly,said the BJP party will demand “thestrictest punishment” from the courtsof law for “whoever is guilty of thegruesome crime”. “Yesterday TMCcelebrated one year of its third term inoffice and now we have this case ofChowrasia being `killed',” the homeminister said to reporters aftermeeting the worker's family members.

Amit Shah demands CBI probe intodeath of BJYM worker in Kolkata

The BJP on Friday accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of doing politics overCOVID-19 deaths, alleging that the WHO's data and Congress' "beta" (son) are wrong.At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the World Health

Organisation's (WHO) methodology to calculate estimated deaths in India due to the virusis "flawed" and "imaginary" and theIndian government had conveyed itsobjections to the organisation.Gandhi has tried repeatedly to lowerPrime Minister Narendra Modi'simage since 2014 and has in theprocess lowered India's image, Patrasaid. India has a robust mechanismfor birth and death registration underthe Registrar General of India, headded. "The WHO's data and theCongress' beta are wrong," healleged, saying Gandhi should not"demoralise" India.

Rahul Gandhi doing politics over

COVID-19 deaths: BJP spokesperson

Good quality education must beaffordable, accessible: NaiduPNS n CHANDIGARH

Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Friday said goodquality education must beaffordable and accessible to all,and stressed that education isthe most powerful catalyst tospeed up a country's develop-ment.

Naidu was addressing agathering on the 69th convo-cation of the Panjab Universityhere.

"Education of good qualitymust become accessible to all,be affordable and should leadto a positive transformation inan individual's outlook, societalcohesion and inclusive nation-al development," the vice pres-ident said.

"There has to be cohesion inthe society. This should betaught to students from thebeginning itself," he added,asserting, "We must alwaysharness the power of educationand unleash the creative ener-gies of young minds."

Punjab Governor Banwarilal

Purohit, Haryana GovernorBandaru Dattareya, PunjabChief Minister BhagwantMann and his Haryana coun-terpart Manohar Lal Khattarwere present on the occasion.

Naidu said education is trulythe most powerful catalyst thatcan change the pace of a coun-try's development.

"If you really want fast-paced development, you needto educate the country," he said.

Naidu noted that 65 percent of the country's popula-

tion was below 35 years and 50per cent below 25 years.

"If we empower, educate,enlighten, and encourage them,they will excel in their lives andmake the country excel in theworld," he said.

Universities must be at theforefront of the knowledgerevolution through path-break-ing innovations and cutting-edge research, Naidu said.

"The ultimate aim ofresearch is to make peoples'lives better, to make their lives

happier. That should be theobjective for taking up anyresearch," he said.

Naidu further said that thereshould be closer interactionbetween universities and gov-ernments so that robust poli-cies can be formulated.

India was once known as'Viswaguru', he said, adding:"Students from across the globeused to come and study here.Because of the colonial rule, welost our momentum, and weare taught in an educational

system which is more influ-enced by colonial rule."

"Our own contribution,civilisation, traditions and cul-ture have not been given ade-quate importance in our edu-cation," Naidu stated.

He said the new educationpolicy would take into consid-eration the need for reallymaking the education systemIndian.

"The new education policyhas to be understood in itsproper spirit, and it should beimplemented in letter and spir-it. This is the duty of one andall," the vice president added.

Naidu also emphasized thatpeace is a prerequisite forprogress, and appealed to allthe universities in the countryto ensure peace is maintained.

"Educational institutions areknowledge-givers, educationis not only for a degree, educa-tion is for enlightenment, edu-cation is for empowerment," hesaid, asking the universities notto divert their attention toother issues.

Three Hizb terrorists killed inencounter in J-K's AnantnagPNS n SRINAGAR

Three Hizbul Mujahideen ter-rorists were killed in anencounter with security forcesin Anantnag district of Jammuand Kashmir on Friday, policesaid.

Based on specific inputsabout the presence of terror-ists in the Srichand Top forestarea in Pahalgam, Anantnag,security forces launched acordon and search operationthere, a police official said.

He said the search opera-tion turned into an encounterafter the hiding terroristsfired at the security forces Inretaliation, three terroristswere killed, the official said.

The ultras belonged to theHizbul Mujahideen outfitand their identity is beingascertained, he said. In atweet, the Kashmir ZonePolice said, “#Anantnag

Encounter Update: 01 more#terrorist killed (Total 03).Retrieval and identification ofthe killed #terrorists yet to bedone. Further details shallfollow.”.

‘200 terrorists ready to be launched into J&K’PNS n UDHAMPUR

Northern army commanderLieutenant General UpendraDwivedi on Friday said thatinfiltration is drastically down,yet currently there are 200 ter-rorists staged across borderready to be launched intoJammu and Kashmir.

The ceasefire along Indo-Pak border is working 'well'since February 2021 agree-ment, he asserted.

He said that the number oftrained terrorists in Jammuand Kashmir is dwindlingwith each passing as 21 for-eign terrorists have been elim-inated this year so far inabsence of local shelter andsupport.

"The number of terroristsstaged across the Indo-Pakborder are approximately 200.They are waiting across (LoC)to be launched to this side,”Dwivedi said in reply to aquestion about the securitysituation along the Line ofControl (LoC) and across theJ-K border. He said thatcounter infiltration grid is

very fool-proof. “We havemade sure that all reservetroops were put in the secondtier of defence so that no infil-tration takes place,” he said.“In the last twelve months, tosay so, the number of cease-fire violations has been verylimited -- only one to threeCFVs took place,” he said.

He maintained that terrorinfrastructure, however, seemsto be intact across the border."There are six major terroristcamps and 29 minor camps.There are temporary launch-ing pads located close to var-ious military establishments,”he said. He blamed Pakistanarmy for sustaining the terror

infrastructure and said that“the complicity of Pakistanarmy and its agencies cannotbe denied”. He said that infil-tration not only takes placesvia mountainous areas andforests but also throughInternational Border viaJammu and also Punjab andNepal. "Our aim is to identi-fy these people and neutralizethem at the earliest possibletime", he said.

The Army commander saidthat there are 40 to 50 localterrorists currently operatingin the hinterland besides for-eign terrorists, whose numbercannot be determined.

"But we have neutralized 21foreign terrorists till now. Itshows that support for shelter-ing terrorists is dwindlingwith each passing day,” hesaid. Dwivedi said local terror-ists who were neutralizedwere very poorly trained andarmed with just pistols.

Expressing concern overradicalisation, he said thatteenagers are being recruitedincreasingly and it is matter ofconcern for all.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The AAP on Friday claimedTajinder Pal Singh Bagga hasbeen arrested from Delhi by thePunjab Police for trying to stokecommunal tension and violencein the border state and rejectedthe BJP's charge of vendetta.

Though AAP chief spokesper-son Saurabh Bharadwaj referredto the clashes in Patiala on April29, the Punjab Police said itarrested the Delhi BJPspokesperson from his residencein the national capital in connec-tion with a case registered inMohali on April 1. The April 1FIR referred to Bagga's remarkson March 30, when he was part

of a BJP youth wing protest out-side the Delhi chief minister'sresidence. Defending the PunjabPolice's action, Bharadwaj told apress conference that the statepolice registered a case against

Bagga last month after the BJPleader, through his social mediaposts, "tried to create communaltension and incite violence in thestate". "Because of such state-ments, the Punjab Police lodged

an FIR and now arrested Bagga.His statements were communalin nature. A lot of BJP-linkedpeople were instigating the vio-lence in Patiala," Bhardwajalleged. The April 1 FIR was reg-istered under relevant IPC sec-tions, including 153-A (promot-ing enmity between differentgroups on grounds of religion,race, place, etc.), 505 (whoevermakes, publishes or circulatesany statement, rumour or report)and 506 (criminal intimidation).Bagga had come under fire fromthe AAP, which is ruling bothDelhi and Punjab, for his tweetagainst Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal over 'TheKashmir Files' movie.

AAP: Bagga held for stoking communal tension

PNS n MUMBAI

Renowned actor Sayaji Shindeon Friday opposed the cuttingof 158 trees for the construc-tion of a hostel in the premis-es of the civic-run LokmanyaTilak Municipal GeneralHospital, popularly known asSion Hospital.

Releasing a Twitter video forthe hospital management,Shinde asked how a health

facility that saves lives canallow "158 deaths", adding thatthe numbering of trees hadbegun and two had alreadybeen cut. "I expect the hospi-tal to reverse its decision to cutdown trees for the new hostel.It is going to be like a bomb-shell on these trees. The worldof birds and animals on thesetrees will be destroyed," he said,and asked if there was noother way for the hostel to be

built. When contacted, a Sionhospital official confirmed theplan to cut trees, but added thatit was a necessity for the futureexpansion of the hospital froma 1200-bed facility to a 3000-bed one in two phases.

The hospital's InfrastructureCell has taken formal permis-sion from the Tree Authorityfor the work, an official whodid not wish to be namedsaid.

Shinde decries plan to cut 158 trees for hostel"I expect the

hospital to reverse

its decision to cut

down trees for the

new hostel. It is

going to be like a

bombshell on these

trees.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Researchers at the Jamia MilliaIslamia (JMI) here in collabo-ration with the US NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH) havedeveloped an optogenetic toolwhich can help understandbrain disorders likeAlzheimer's disease, depressionand schizophrenia.

In a statement, the JMI saidthat the tool can study molec-ular trafficking in neurons andhas been developed by DrTanveer Ahmad, who did hispostdoctoral training at NIH,before joining theMultidisciplinary Centre forAdvanced Research andStudies (MCARS) at the varsi-ty as an assistant professor.

"Understanding the molec-ular details of these diseaseswill help to develop targetedtherapies, in particular viral

and mRNA-based methods,which are specific to a partic-ular target molecule in thecells," Ahmad said.

The tool can be applied toaddress other biological ques-tions like memory formation,and for the development ofinducible light-activated ther-

apies for the treatment of can-cer and neurodegeneration,he said. Leveraging the poten-tial of phototropic receptorsknown as light-oxygen-volt-age-sensing domains derivedfrom the plant Avena Sativa(oats) and abbreviated asAsLOV2, the researchers gen-

erated innovative chimericmolecular designs by conjugat-ing a light-sensitive domain ofLOV2 with a protein calledneuregulin3 (NRG3). Further,Alzheimer's, schizophrenia,and depression have geneticpolymorphisms in NRG3 dueto which it is considered as asusceptible gene for these dis-eases, according to the state-ment. Using this innovativetool, the researchers discovereda new mechanism of proteintrafficking in hippocampalneurons of the brain whichthey termed as “trans-synapticretention”, it said.

Professor Mohd. Zulfequar,Director of MCARS, said thesenovel futuristic optogenetictechniques will provideunprecedented ease to under-stand human diseases andfinding innovative treatmentsolutions.

Researchers from India, US developoptogenetic tool for neurological disorders

HP: Written exam to recruit PCs deferredPNS n SHIMLA

Amid reports of a questionpaper leak, Himachal PradeshChief Minister Jai Ram Thakuron Friday said the written testconducted to recruit police con-stables in March has been coun-termanded. This is for the sec-ond time within three yearsthat the state government hasnullified the examination toselect constables. In August2019, the examination was held

invalid after six men were caughtimpersonating as candidates.The written examination this

time to recruit 1,700 constableswas held on March 27 after thecandidates cleared their fitnesstest. The investigation of the casehas been entrusted to the state'sCrime Investigation Department(CID), and a five-member spe-cial investigation team (SIT)headed by Deputy InspectorGeneral of Police Madhu Sudanhas been constituted, the chiefminister said. A fresh writtenexamination will be held laterthis month, he added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi government hasdecided to set up a 'world-class' medical college inDwarka to boost the health-care workforce, and its admis-sion process will start from2025, the city health depart-ment said on Friday.

Besides, a 600-bed maternaland child care hospitalequipped with state-of-the-art facilities will be built on thecampus of the Indira GandhiHospital in Dwarka Sector-9to ensure better infant care, itsaid.

Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain said the ArvindKejriwal government is work-ing continuously to providebetter health facilities to citi-zens and reinforce the publichealth infrastructure.

"The number of beds ingovernment hospitals will beincreased rapidly during thenext few years. We are also

working to expand the capac-ity of various hospitals. TheKejriwal government is com-mitted to its goal and is dedi-cated to serving the people,which is why affordable andquality healthcare is beingprovided to people of Delhi,"he said in a statement issuedby the health department.

The Delhi government hasdecided to set up a medicalcollege with the Indira GandhiHospital.

Delhi govt to set up medical college in

Dwarka; admissions to start from 2025

PSI JOB SCAM

PNS n KALABURAGI

Karnataka Home MinisterAraga Jnanendra on Fridaysaid the opposition is desper-ately trying to mislead theinvestigation into the policesub-inspector recruitmentscam with their statements as"their involvement is coming tothe fore".

He was replying to a queryon Congress leader Siddaramaiah's allegation at a pressconference on Thursday thatthe size of the scam was aroundRs 300 crore.

"Former chief ministerSiddaramaiah has got the free-dom of speech. He can say Rs200 crore, Rs 300 crore or Rs3,000 crore but he runs awaywhen we ask him to furnish theproof he has. Priyank Kharge(Congress MLA) doesn't comeeven after a notice was servedto him (to appear before the

CID)," Jnanendra told reportershere. The Congress stalwarthad also demanded a judicialprobe saying that the CriminalInvestigation Department(CID) was not competent toinvestigate the matter giventhe alleged involvement ofpolice officers, ministers andtop politicians in the scam.

Jnanendra charged that theCongress leaders were onlytrying to mislead the investiga-tion. "In the given circum-stances, the only thing theyknow is to mislead the directionof the investigation. It's noth-ing but some Congress leaderswho are trapped. Their involve-ment is coming to fore, due towhich they are giving suchstatements," the Home Ministersaid. He charged that Congressleaders have also resorted todefaming "our upright (HigherEducation) minister Dr C NAshwath Narayan".

PNS n BETUL

Over 150 people fell ill afterhaving dinner at an engage-ment function in a village inMadhya Pradesh's Betul dis-trict, an official said onFriday. The incident tookplace on Thursday night atPindrai village in Multaipolice station area, about 90km from the district head-quarters, district collectorAmanveer Singh Bains said.More than 150 people,including the woman whogot engaged, fell ill.

MP: 150 peoplefall sick aftereating at function

Opposition misleading probe,alleges K’taka Home Minister

“Good qualityeducation mustbe affordable,accessible”.

Vice President of India— M Venkaiah Naidu

Aashwasan (SUMAN) forwomen, by creating a respon-sive health-care system thatstrives to achieve zero pre-ventable maternal andneonatal deaths.

The timing could not bemore opportune as theLaQshya certification wasalready set in motion, andpublic health giants in Indiapursue quality-of-care andrespectful maternity care(RMC) during childbirth. Itwas clearly understood thatwhile a standardised labourroom, as per quality assur-ance model, is pivotal toreduce maternal mortality,conducive birth environmentenhances positive birthingexperience. At this juncture,midwives have a potentialrole to play in dealing withthe shortage of trainedhuman resource.

It is imperative to notethat the success of the initia-tive depends on the qualityand competencies of the mid-wifery educators.Importantly, midwives mustbe from within an appropri-ate framework of our currenthealth-care system to ensurethat the investment is cost-effective. In order to traindomestic midwifery educa-tors (MEs), the countryopened the doors to

International MEs who havenow started midwifery edu-cators’ training. This impor-tant step ensures that mid-wifery educators’ training iscompliant with InternationalConfederation of Midwives(ICM) standards. The firstbatch of MEs was completedin December and the secondone is already running fromApril 2022.

Secondly, based on criti-cal parameters, 16 NursingColleges have been identified,evaluated and notified asNational Midwifery TrainingInstitutes, where MEs willstart midwifery education.Simultaneously, States areencouraged to identify andstrengthen State MidwiferyTraining Institutes throughNHM. These SMTIs areexpected to train and institu-tionalise 86,000 NursePractitioners in Midwifery(NPM).

A substantial portion ofthe technical and financialinvestment through the 18-month residential NPMtraining programme hasgone into curriculum devel-opment, practice and recruit-ment, and training of theexisting in-service nursingcadre in midwifery.

It is important to notethat NPM can have a huge

impact on women of child-bearing age and their families– an impact often passed onfrom one generation to thenext. NPM will not onlyattend births, as they grow innumbers, they will also pro-vide antenatal and postnatalcare and a range of sexualand reproductive health ser-vices as per the scope of prac-tice laid down by ICM andthe Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare.

On a larger front, underthe dynamic leadership ofPrime Minister Modi, theGovernment took monu-mental steps towards provid-ing accessible and affordablehealth-care by setting upAyushman Bharat-Healthand Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) to deliver a widerange of services, includingcare in pregnancy and child-birth, and Pradhan MantriJan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)to eliminate out-of-pocketexpenditure in health-care.The concerted and collabora-tive efforts of the States/UTsand Centre has resulted in1,17,440 AB-HWCs beingoperationalised across thecountry by the end of March2022.

As India gears up toimplement midwifery, ourjourney is no less challeng-ing. Nevertheless, the com-mitment of the Governmentof India for midwifery-led-services is unwavering.Nurses and midwives play akey role in caring for peopleeverywhere, including in themost difficult humanitarianor fragile settings.Furthermore, consideringfuture exigencies in the formof a disaster or a pandemic,a dedicated cadre of mid-wives for essential maternaland newborn health serviceswill be a long-term healthsystem approach that willspecifically take care of theneeds of women and chil-dren.

(The writer is Minister ofState, Health & FamilyWelfare, Government of India.The views expressed are personal.)

PUNISH RAPIST COPSSir — I hang my head in shame after read-ing a report in The Pioneer about a 13 year-old rape survivor being raped by StationHouse Officer (SHO) Tilakdhari Saroj ofLalitpur police station in Uttar Pradesh,where she had gone to register a complaintagainst her rapists. Though all cops,including the SHO, posted at the police sta-tion, where the heart-wrenching incidenttook place, have been removed from theduty, the case raises some very seriousquestions about policing in the country,including UP.

Is the incident the result of the “thokdo” policy of the Yogi Government?Instead of being a law enforcing agency, theUP Police has become a law unto itself. Itappears the cops have started applying“thok do” policy meant for mafias andgangsters on the general public. And thishas emerged as the main reason forwomen fearing to visit a police station inUP to report about rape and other anti-women exploitations. It is high time the UPGovernment woke up and took control ofthe situation before it gets too late. Copsand officials involved in harassing and mis-treating women visiting police stationsdeserve exemplary punishment.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee | Faridabad

LYNCHING FOR COWSSir — One again lumpen elements of theBajrang Dal and the BJP have lynched twotribal men on suspicion of cow slaughter.Another person, who sustained life-threat-ening injuries in the attack, is on death bed.Lynching has become a common thingever since the BJP came to power at theCentre. Shockingly, these radical elementscommit these inhuman acts with tacit sup-port from the powers that be.

Isn’t it a shame that we are lynchingpeople in the garb of protecting the cows?Does it mean that the life of a human beingis nothing when compared to that of a cow?Even if cow slaughter is banned in a Statelike Madhya Pradesh, who are thesebrutes to take law unto their hands andlynch those suspected of cow slaughterwhen there are other legal options to decide

on such matters?I only wonder what reply our Prime

Minister Narendra Modi, who is alwayson foreign tours and who speaks high ofthe values of our nation seeking moreinvestments into our country, would giveif any of the foreign press raises the ques-tion of such highly condemnable, horren-dous and heinous crimes frequently com-mitted in the name of cow by these reli-gious fanatics?

Tharcius S Fernando | Chennai

JOBLESSNESS CRISISSir — Dealing with joblessness in the coun-try is the biggest challenge for theGovernment, as COVID-19 has aggravat-ed the employment situation. Since thepandemic hit India in 2020, the joblessnesshas soared to 10 million. There are manypeople who are running after jobs and attimes they are falling into depression. Thebest solution for them is to become entre-preneurs. Also, the Government shouldadopt policies that encourage decentrali-sation of industrial activities.

Manufacturing sector’s share in the GDPfell from 17 per cent in 2016 to 15 per centin 2020 to further down to 13 per cent in2020 despite “Make in India” initiative.

Anuskha Panwar | Ujjain

TN’S POWER TANTRUMSSir — Power cuts are a perennial problemin Tamil Nadu and this year'sscorching summer season is no exception.This obviously creates nuisance andmakes public life more difficult. Whateverhappens in TN, one thing is to play theblame game and the TN public has to suf-fer the consequences. But, the general pub-lic did not forget that nightmare of powercuts between 2006 and 2011 when thesame DMK Government was sucking thelife of the common man. We thought andhoped that at least this time they wouldrule better, but the signs so far are alarm-ingly scary.

CK Subramaniam | New Delhi

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

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HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 7, 2022

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Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Keeping in view the needs of the future, a dedicated cadre of midwiveswould be a long-term health system approach for any exigencies

IT WAS CLEARLYUNDERSTOODTHAT WHILE A

STANDARDISEDLABOUR ROOM, AS

PER QUALITYASSURANCE

MODEL, IS PIVOTALTO REDUCEMATERNAL

MORTALITY,CONDUCIVE BIRTH

ENVIRONMENTENHANCES

POSITIVE BIRTHINGEXPERIENCE.

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

DR BHARATI PRAVINPAWAR

The press is said to be the fourth pillarof democracy, but its position in Indiahas been worrying in the past few years,

as the 2021 World Press Freedom Indexshows the country slipped to 150th posi-tion from 142nd last year. After theBJP's thumping victory in the 2019general elections, the mainstream media has

largely become a PR firm of the ruling party.Smaller media outlets and feisty jour-

nalists are particularly vulnerable to harass-ment and threats, and in some cases, evenmurder. A report by Paris-based organisa-tion 'Reporters Without Borders'or 'Reporters Sans Frontieres'(RSF) alleged that under the guise of Covid-19 pandemic, the ruling BJP unleashed sev-eral lawsuits against media outlets whichcontradicted the officialnumbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths.

Physical attacks on journalists andarrests under often-outdated laws, interpret-ed beyond their legitimate scope to crackdown on journalists, have become a strat-egy by the current ruling Government tosilence writers. But every attack on the fun-damental right to freedom of speech andexpression only adds to the strength of theFourth Estate in our country.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

Media in fetters

India’s blueprint towomen-centered care

Improving the health ofmothers and newbornremains an important pri-ority and there has been

greater acknowledgement,recognition and awareness ofthe role of midwives in meetingthis need. Over the past decade,India has been a remarkablesuccess story for safe birth, andreducing maternal mortalityrates across the country.

The rapid decline in mater-nal mortality rate can be attrib-uted to the efforts of ourGovernment since 2014, polit-ical commitment, strategic andinclusive policies and significantinvestment in the NationalHealth Mission (NHM) underthe visionary leadership of ourPrime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a significant achieve-ment, the Maternal MortalityRatio (MMR) of India has comedown by 10 points as per theSpecial Bulletin on MMR issuedby the Registrar General ofIndia. The ratio has declinedfrom 113 in 2016-18 to 103 in2017-19 (8.8 per cent decline).With this steady decline, Indiais on course to achieve theNational Health Policy (NHP)target of 100/lakh live births by2020 and certainly the SDG tar-get of 70/lakh live births by2030. The fifth round ofNational Family Health Survey(NFHS) has reported someencouraging results like 89 percent institutional deliveries andefficient birth attendance inthe country.

It is pertinent to state thatstrategic investments under theNational Health Mission(NHM) through variousschemes are paying increasingdividends. Significant gainshave been made under quality-of-care (QoC) efforts by theGovernment of India such asPradhan Mantri SurakshaMatritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)and Labour Room QualityImprovement Initiative(LaQshya) in combination withexisting schemes like JananiShishu Suraksha Karyakram(JSSK) and Janani SurakshaYojana (JSY). This achievementalso strengthens theGovernment of India's resolvefor Surakshit Matritva

The sedition law is not bad, Attorney General KK Venugopal tells the SupremeCourt in his personal capacity. He suggests the court need not re-visit itsjudgment in the Kedarnath Singh case that upheld the constitutional validi-

ty of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. His argument seemslogical whenhe means to say why to blame the law if it is misused by the executive agencies,likethe police. His logiccan also apply to Section 66A of the Information Technology

Act, 2000 which was related to restrictions ononline speech. Arrests continued to be made underthat section even after the Supreme Court quashedit on grounds of violating the freedom of speech.However, we are dealing with sedition here. Thelearned Attorney General may need to look beyondmere misuse of this particular law. The colonialsinserted the section in 1870 because they brookedno dissent from us natives. They tried to silenceMahatma Gandhi too. We are no longer in 1870.We are now an established democracy. We havea rule of law, but we give utmost importance topeople's rights; not just to freedom of speech and

expression but the right to life and personal liber ty and equality before the law.When someone is charged with sedition, the debate is not whether its applica-tion is genuine or false. The debate is should that section exist at all.

India's highest judicial officer, Chief Justice N V Ramana, came out with a force-ful observation last July. Is the law “meant to suppress the freedom movement”still necessary “after 75 years of Independence”? Justice Ramana was concernedabout the “misuse of law and no accountability of executive agencies” and remarkedthat the situation is so grim that the law can be used against anyone if certaininterests wish to suppress any speech. Inciting violence and public disorder arealso dealt with by other laws like the Unlawful Activities Act, National SecurityAct and the Public Safety Act. It is not necessary to resort to Section 124(A) atall. When the clause of sedition is used to get back at genuine critics of theGovernment, preserving people's rights becomes more important than preserv-ing that law. Having more guidelines to prevent misuse of Section 124(A) is sim-ply ducking the issue. Sedition in the statute books only wounds democracy.

The World Health organization’s count of 4.7 million COVID-19 death in India,the highest in the world, has, expectedly, caused an uproar. The govern-ment has stoutly rejected the WHO report and questioned its mathematical

model for projecting excess mortality estimates. The centre may have its reasonto question the WHO figure given the fact that the world health body invited glob-al outrage for underestimating the spread and aftermath of Covid when the pan-demic first struck more than two years ago. Still, the WHO report has raised seri-ous concerns back home. While the exact death count put up by the Who can'tbe assumed to be sacrosanct, there are reasons to believe that India’s death tallywill exceed the official count of 5.2 lakh. It is well known that the bodies of thou-sands of Covid victims were buried and flown in the rivers without figuring in theofficial data. The horrifying images of burial grounds and cremation centre over-flowing with bodies of Covid victims will forever remain alive as a scorching mem-ory of these difficult times. It has also been widely reported that on any givenday during the first and second COVID-19 wave, the count of bodies landing for

burial or cremation was far higher than the hospi-tal records or data put out by the State Governmentfor the day.

India’s Covid death stands nearly 1.2 percentof the total infection. As against 4.3 cr Covid pos-itive cases so far, there are around 5.2 Covid deaths.This is the official figure, which gives a death per-centage of nearly 1.2. Now let’s take the seropos-itivity rate of different cities and states. The sixthserological survey carried out in Delhi in October2021 showed that the national capital had a seropos-itivity rate of 97 percent. At the national level, India’s

fourth “serosurvey” in July 2021 showed the presence of neutralising antibod-ies to the novel coronavirus in 67.6% of people aged over 6. This means morethan two in three people were already exposed to the virus or a vaccine one yearago. Since the seropositivity can exist due to vaccination also, it's no definite evi-dence to pinpoint the actual infection count. But a deeper analysis of this figureand incorporating the result of the serosurvey prior to the launch of the country-wide vaccination drive could throw some interesting light on the extent of the spreadof COVID-19 in India. The estimate of the total number of infections is a must toarrive at a real death count. It is well known that tens of thousands of people diedof COVID-19 but families cremated or buried them as normal death, afraid thatCovid death would be an enduring stigma for them. While the state governmentand the centre must be far more transparent on this count, the WHO must comeout with a detailed explanation to address the questions raised by India.

Need for transparency

Off with seditionOther laws are available to deal with public

disorder and inciting violence

PICTALK

Devotees during the opening of the doors of the Kedarnath Temple in Rudraprayag PTI

India and WHO together must end COVID death count row

I just told Pant totrust me at No.5, give me achance to start,to bat first 15-20balls and then I'lltry to maximise.

Jamaican cricketer— Rovman Powell

For me the goosebumpsmoment in a waywas at Tel Avivwhen the PM visited Israel inJuly 2017.

External Affairs Minister— S Jaishankar

SOUNDBITE

Death of BJYMworker ArjunChowrasia inKolkata's Kashipuris a “political murder”.

Home Minister— Amit Shah

“I give 'noimportance' toPK's assessmentof his perfor-mance”.

Bihar Chief Minister—Nitish Kumar,

ematical modelling process hasbeen adopted. The governmenthas said that no justification hasbeen given for dividing the coun-tries into different categories. Thegovernment has further said thatif the mathematical model that hasbeen adopted for the second typeof countries, it needs to be authen-ticated by applying the samemodel to the Tier-1 countries aswell, which the World HealthOrganization has failed to do. TheGovernment has said that it haswritten six letters to the WorldHealth Organization and lodgedits objection regarding this processfive times in virtual meetings, towhich the WHO did not give anysatisfactory answer. “They havelooked at numbers from 18 statesto arrive at the figure. They havenot revealed the sources of thedata used to compute the finalestimate. We do not even knowwhich states these are,” a govern-ment source has said.

It is expected of WHO, in caseof a health disaster, to take appro-priate stepsand advise the govern-ments on suitable appropriatemeasures.Perhaps citing this, theWHO argues that the correctassessment of deaths duringCOVID will help in making theright policies in the context of suchpandemics in the future. Althoughthere is no fault in this argument,the World Health Organizationhas actually lost trust of the world,because the same been miredwith controversies due to its mis-actions during the pandemic itself.

IN the first instance, there wasa lack of honesty on the part of

WHO in the assessment of thecause of infection. Significantly, onJanuary 14, 2020, it said in a tweetthat there is no evidence ofhuman-to-human transmissionof this infection. However, thisinfection was spreading sinceSeptember 2019. This tweet byWHO misled countries aroundthe world that it will not spreadfrom humans to humans. Allcountries continued with theirinternational passenger flights.Due to this negligence on the partof WHO, this virus of Wuhan,China became the cause of greatdevastation all over the world.After a long time, testing was start-ed at international airports, and aprocess of quarantine was alsoadopted.

Not only this, the WHO alsotried to hide that the infectionoriginated from China’s WuhanLaboratory, and against a strongopinion around the world, keptarguing that it originated from theanimal market of China. Most ofthe experts around the worldrejected this claim. It is stronglybelieved thatTedros becameDirector General of WHO onlythrough the support of China. Insuch a situation, he could notafford to displease China.

Realizing this mess, the thenUS President Donald Trumpdecided to stop the contributionof $0.4 billion being given byAmerica to this organization. It isworth noting that the WHOreceives predetermined contribu-tions from countries around theworld, as well as many types ofvoluntary contributions. Major

contributions to the voluntaryfunding of the WHO come fromthe Bill Melenda GatesFoundation, other so-called phil-anthropy organizations, and theUnited States, China, and manyother developed countries. Variousorganizations, including GatesFoundation, have influence overthe functioning of the WHO.

It is worth noting that whenIndia was moving fast towardsmanufacturing a vaccine on itsown, the top officials of the WHOwere dismissing our efforts as ‘vac-cine nationalism’ saying that it willdelay the development of vaccineand therefore elimination of infec-tion. Not only this, Bill Gates washeard saying that he is not in favorof sharing the vaccine formula tocountries like India, because it willaffect the quality of the vaccine.Under pressure from ‘Gavi’, anaffiliate of the Gates Foundation,the World Health Organizationwas also pressuring India to makea binding commitment to buy thevaccine being made by large multi-national companies, under Covaxfacility.

Today, when India is not onlysuccessful in manufacturing vac-cines and has vaccinated almost itsentire population, is dealing withpandemic much better than mostof the other countries of theworld, becoming almost self-reliant in medicine and equip-ment, the WHO is trying todefame India by questioning thestatistics of COVID related deaths.The Government of India shouldgive a befitting reply to theseattempts.

WHO, Covid deathfigures, and India

“WE…MET THE LOCAL PEOPLE…THEY WERE SOENTHUSIASTIC. WE REALLY ADMIRE THE WAY THEYCAME TO US AND TOLD US THEIR DIFFICULTIES…”— DELIMITATION COMMISSION CHIEFJUSTICE (RETD) RANJANA DESAI

“THE EXERCISE (J&K DELIMITATION) IS BOUND TO DISEMPOWER THE PEOPLE OF

J&K IN THE LONG RUN.” — CPI(M) LEADER

MOHAMMAD YOUSUF TARIGAMI

Everything alive needs some ground rules. A living creaturewhether it be of a single cell or a conglomerate of millions ofcells will need to nourish oneself and expel the waste from the

body. This itself requires a routine. The ground rules of each speciesof a living entity define how long it will live. The same applies tohuman beings. To move away from the gross level of activity: rest,sleeping, awaking, breathing, eating and whatever else, will haveto fall into a pattern. If there is no routine the organs of the bodystart malfunctioning and some form of illness takes over. Illness hasits own issues and has spawned multiple breeds of doctors, vari-ously clubbed under the title of allopaths, homoeopaths, unani spe-cialists, ayurveda acharyas, naturopaths and whatever else. Noneof these schools of medicine or health claim to be complete or have

all the answers. Very often their assumptions are so widely differ-ent that they seem to be at war with each other. The basic need isto have a system and a logic or an experiential guideline as the basisfor action. This is needed for life itself, social existence, mutual inter-action and indeed is the basis of civil society. A basic act like walk-ing on the road requires observance of certain well understood pro-tocols. It is important to emphasise this because there is a grow-ing crescendo in favour of ‘do what you want, when you want with-out a care and concern’. The principle is interesting and perhapseven enticing. Whereas such ‘letting down of the hair’ is desirableat times, even the location for doing so and certainly the time fordoing so has to be carefully thought through. So, there is a casefor freedom with thought. All group living requires some ‘discipline’.‘Discipline’ is resented by some and many advocate a ‘Bohemianfreedom’. This can be dangerous if the freedom is exercised by peo-ple of poor judgement. Net, the matter becomes also of orientationand maturity of individuals. It is at the level of dyadic relationshipsat the level of group functioning and larger conglomerates of organ-ised existence like the state or a nation. The matter is also of thethreshold where freedom can become excessive and discipline, anoverbearing phenomenon. The relationship between freedom and dis-cipline can be subtle and yet critical for organised life. A compara-ble example can be when to persuade with judgement and gentle-ness and when to use emphasis and assertiveness. There are noeasy answers.

In all this, the role of a leadership becomes critical. How a leadermarshals his argument, organises his data and makes a presenta-tion becomes an essential part of not only creating norms but thefunctioning of a civil society. Those who had the occasion to listento the Prime Minister’s address of May 3 to an Indian audience inBerlin would have seen an example of selection of facts, piecingtogether of an argument and backing it up with appropriate intona-tion and emphasis. It creates an impact and could produce results.Most of us would not have that podium for making that presenta-tion. However, all of us will have occasion, in one way or another,to marshal facts, organise our thoughts in a disciplined manner andcommunicate to someone in an acceptable idiom. This is also whatlife is about. Freedom and discipline have to walk hand in hand. Ittouches all aspects of life just as it touches all aspects of existence.In all manners judgement is the key and constant practice and aware-ness is the path.

(The writer is an acclaimed management consultant. Theviews expressed are personal.)

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 7, 2022

07

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

FIRSTCOLUMNLIVING LIFE BETWEEN

FREEDOM AND DISCIPLINE

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

ASHWANI MAHAJAN

Judgement is the key and awareness is the path

WHO TRIED TO HIDE THAT

THE INFECTIONORIGINATED

FROM CHINA’SWUHAN

LABORATORY,AND EVEN IN

THE FACE OF ASTRONGOPINION

AROUND THEWORLD IT KEPTARGUING THAT

THE VIRUSORIGINATED

FROM ANANIMAL

MARKET INCHINA

(The writer is Professor,Department of

Economics,P.G.D.A.V.College, University of

Delhi. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

Even the Pope claims to beinfallible only on mattersof faith and doctrine.

On the chance of rain or thespeed of a racehorse he willfreely admit that he is just asfallible as you and I. Whereassecular dictators, and especial-ly ones who are building a per-sonality cult, are implicitlyclaiming to be infallible abouteverything.

This is quite a burden,although it helps that dictatorscan deny things have gonewrong, and punish anybodywho says otherwise. Never theless, sooner or later people arebound to notice that thingsreally have gone wrong. Thatis President Xi Jinping’s mainproblem at the moment, but itis also China’s.

For more than two yearsnow, Xi has loudly proclaimed

that China’s zero-Covid policyhas been a brilliant success thatdemonstrates the superiority ofthe Chinese system and of hisown leadership. And for awhile there, the evidence wason his side.

The Covid death toll inChina is still under 6,000,while Covid fatalities in theUnited States, with only aquarter of China’s population,are nearing the million mark.However, China achieved thismiracle only by almost com-pletely shutting its bordersand imposing draconian shut-downs on entire cities at thefirst sign of an infection.

That succeeded for a while,just as it did in Australia andNew Zealand, two geographi-cally isolated countries that fol-lowed essentially the samepolicy. But their governments

knew that this could not be apermanent policy, and as soonas the great majority of theirpopulations were fully vacci-nated they began to release therestrictions.

Happily, by then theOmicron variant was takingover, making Covid even moreinfectious but far less lethal,especially for vaccinated peo-ple. Xi Jinping seems to havemissed that memo, and has

pressed on with the zero-Covid policy even at greatcost to the Chinese economyand in the face of growingresentment among ordinaryChinese people.

At the moment, 340 mil-lion people, around one-quar-ter of the population, are underfull or partial lockdown in 46different cities. The 25 millionresidents of Shanghai, China’scommercial capital, are in theirfifth week of lockdown.

Guangzhou, the south-ern industr ial hub, hasordered the mass testing of5.6 million people after thedetection of one suspectedCovid case. Even Beijing isteetering on the brink of lock-down, with schools alreadyclosed and people panic-buy-ing provisions for what couldbe another long confinement

to their homes.Given the huge infection

rate of Omicron - in both theUnited States and the UnitedKingdom around 70% of thepopulation have had Covid atleast once - this policy cannotlogically have a long-termfuture.

The ceaseless lockdownsare hitting China so hard thatsecond-quarter growth in aneconomy that used to boast of10%+ growth rates is forecastto be only 1.8%. This meansnot only unemployment andpotential unrest, but Chinesecustomers elsewhere are shift-ing away from dependence onsupply chains originating inChina. The shift could be per-manent.

And yet Xi Jinping perse-veres with the policy. Hisregime has not even speeded

up vaccinations in China,although fewer than half theover 60s have even had onebooster shot. Nothing must beallowed to suggest that thezero-Covid policy is failing.Why?

Because an absolute dicta-tor must appear infallible. Xihas boasted so much of the‘success’ of his victory overCovid, made it so much hisown signature achievement,that no doubt can be admitted- especially at a time when heis planning to make his dicta-tor-for-life status official.

This autumn marks theend of the two five-year termsthat Xi would have been per-mitted under the CommunistParty’s post-Mao rules, whichwere designed precisely tothwart other would-be absolutedictators from gaining powers.

His plan was to be electedto a rule-breaking third termat the 20th National Congressof the Chinese CommunistParty next October orNovember, and even a year agohe looked like a shoo-in.

Xi has purged and/or jaileda great many senior officials oncorruption charges, and thosewho were still in office seemedthoroughly cowed.Nevertheless, there are still alot of senior Party people whothink that one-man rule isalways a mistake.

You’d still be unwise to betagainst Xi’s chances of a thirdterm (and as many more as hislifespan allows), but he himselfis now running scared. Whichprobably means that there willbe no change in the current,crazy Covid policy at leastuntil the end of the year.

The current, crazy Covid policy is going to stay, linked as it is to Xi Jinping’s quest for a third term in October

China and Covid: The Cost of Infallibility

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is‘The Shortest History of

War’. The views expressedare personal.)

GWYNNE DYER

VINAYSHIL GAUTAM Areport published recently in theNew York Times quoted theWorld Health Organization assaying that India is hindering its

effort to accurately assess the deaths dueto COVID infection. On the basis of thatreport, opposition leader Rahul Gandhisaid that whereas 40 lakh deaths haveoccurred in the country due to COVID,the Government has reported only 5 lakhdeaths.

The Government of India has regis-tered a strong objection to this report. Itsaid that while NYT has not been able toget data for other countries, it is selective-ly quoting data for India on behalf ofWHO. It seems that the ‘cooked up’ dataof WHO is being used mischievously withthe intention of defaming India.

Today, while the whole world isappreciating India’s vaccination program,with more than 90 percent of eligible pop-ulation already vaccinated, it seems thatthe WHO officials are deliberately tryingto undermine India’s outstanding perfor-mance and achievement by questioningthe government’s published figures ofdeaths due to COVID in India.

WHO is re-estimating the death tolldue to COVID in the whole world, andhas concluded that actually many moredeaths have occurred during pandemic,as compared to what various govern-ments have declared. However, the majorcause of concern is that WHO, while giv-ing estimates of 0.9 million extra deaths,over and above earlier figures, of 0.6 mil-lion; more than one third of the differ-ence between the two estimates is beingreported from India. It is worth notingthat the NYT quoted the WHO as say-ing that while it was being reported byall countries that 60 lakh people died dueto COVID, in reality this figure is 150lakh. This figure is more than twice whathas been reported by different countries.But out of the 90 lakh additional deathsthat are being reported, 35 lakh are saidto be from India. That is, the WHO is try-ing to say that 40 lakh people died dueto COVID in India instead of 5.2 lakhdeclared by the government.

WHO is being quoted as saying thatthis figure of deaths is not only of directdeaths from COVID, but it also includesthe deaths of those who were sufferingfrom other illnesses and who died dur-ing the period as they couldnot get med-ical aid due to the lockdown duringCOVID. However, the big difference inthe figures comes from direct deaths dueto COVID only.

Concerns have been raised by theGovernment of India over this act of theWHO. The Government of India has saidthat the World Health Organization hasadopted double standards to estimate thefigures of deaths. For ‘Tier-1 nations’,under which sources say about 80-90countries have been counted, WHO hasaccepted official estimates as authentic;for other types of countries (Tier-2countries), which include India, a math-

India dismisses the WHO report and says the figure is exaggerated andwonders why it adopted double standards for estimating the death figure

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 7, 2022 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

The rupee slumped 57paise to close at 76.92(provisional) against the

US dollar on Friday, weigheddown by a strong Americancurrency overseas and firmcrude oil prices.At the interbank foreignexchange market, the rupeeopened lower at 76.61against the greenback, andfinally settled for the day at

76.92, down 57 paise over its previous close. During the tradingsession, the rupee witnessed an intra-day high of 76.56 and a low of76.96. On Thursday, the rupee had closed at 76.35.The dollar index,which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of sixcurrencies, was trading 0.30 per cent lower at 103.44.Global oilbenchmark Brent crude futures advanced 2.31 per cent to USD113.46 per barrel. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 866.65 points or1.56 per cent lower at 54,835.58, while the broader NSE Nifty fell271.40 points or 1.63 per cent to 16,411.25."Rupee had a swelteringtime today as it plunged around a percentage point following risk-offmoods and surge in crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar, ResearchAnalyst, HDFC Securities. The dollar index touched a two-decadehigh of 104.06 and headed for the sixth consecutive weekly declineas market participants, pricing-in hawkish Federal Reserves, dumpedequities and rushed for US Treasuries, Parmar added.

Rupee plummets 57 paise toclose at 76.92 against US dollar

Private sector lenderFederal Bank onFriday reported a

13.2 per cent rise in itsstandalone net profit toRs 541 crore in theMarch 2022 quarter.The bank had posted anet profit of Rs 478crore in the same

quarter previous fiscal. The total income during the January-Marchquarter of 2021-22 increased to Rs 3,948.24 crore against Rs3,843.87 crore in the same period of the preceding fiscal, Federal Banksaid in a regulatory filing. For the entire FY22, the net profit(standalone) surged by 18.8 per cent to Rs 1,889.82 crore, comparedto Rs 1,590.30 crore in FY21. The total income in FY22 rose slightly toRs 15,749.85 crore from Rs 15,716.61 crore. On the front of assetquality, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) improved to 2.80 percent of the gross advances as of March 31, 2022, from 3.41 per cent ayear ago. In value terms, the gross NPAs stood at Rs 4,136.74 crore,down from Rs 4,602.39 crore. Likewise, the net NPAs too declined to0.96 per cent (Rs 1,392.62 crore) from 1.19 per cent (Rs 1,569.28crore). Thus, the provisions for bad loans and contingencies fellsharply to Rs 75.24 crore for Q4 FY22 against Rs 254.49 crore parkedaside for the year-ago quarter. Shares of Federal Bank were trading atRs 91.55 apiece on BSE, down 2.71 per cent from the previous close.

Federal Bank net profit rises13 pc to Rs 541 cr in Mar qtr

CSB Bank on Friday reported a multi-fold jump in its net profitat Rs 130.67 crore in the quarter ended March 2022.Theprivate sector lender had posted a net profit of Rs 43 crore in

the same quarter a year ago. Total income during March quarter ofFY22 rose to Rs 583.17 crore, as against Rs 560.87 crore in theyear-ago period, CSB Bank said in a regulatory filing.

CSB Bank net profit jumps to Rs 130.67 cr in March quarter

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmarks nosedivedon Friday, with the Sensexcrashing 866.65 points toclose below the 55,000-markamid a sell-off in global mar-kets.

Unabated foreign fund out-flows and firm crude oilprices also weighed on senti-ment.

The 30-share BSE Sensexdived 866.65 points or 1.56per cent to finish at 54,835.58.During the day, it tanked1,115.48 points or 2 per centto 54,586.75.

Similarly, the NSE Niftytumbled 271.40 points or 1.63per cent to settle at 16,411.25.

From the Sensex pack,Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank,Bajaj Finserv, Nestle, Wipro,HDFC, Infosys, HDFC Bankand UltraTech Cement werethe major laggards.

In contrast, TechMahindra, PowerGrid, ITC,SBI and NTPC were amongthe gainers.

Elsewhere in Asia, marketsin Hong Kong, Shanghai andKorea settled significantlylower, while Tokyo endedhigher. Exchanges in Europewere trading in the negativezone in the afternoon session.

Stock exchanges in the UShad fal len sharply in

overnight trade on Thursday."US markets witnessed a

relief rally on Wednesdayafter FOMC meeting but ittumbled on Thursday due tomore anxiety over risinginterest rates," said MohitNigam, Head - PMS, HemSecurities.The Bank ofEngland raised its key inter-est rate to the highest level in13 years on Thursday.

"A steep crash in the USstocks as the market evaluat-ed the need for a higher ratehike to tame elevated inflationlevels wounded global mar-

kets with heavy selling. TheBank of England while raisingits interest rates, warnedabout a possible risk of reces-sion, aggravating investorfears," said Vinod Nair, Headof Research at GeojitFinancial Services.

Meanwhile, internationaloil benchmark Brent crudejumped 2.20 per cent to USD113.3 per barrel.

Foreign institutionalinvestors offloaded sharesworth a net Rs 2,074.74 croreon Thursday, according tostock exchange data.

Markets crash amid globalrout; Sensex dives 867 points

PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned Oil and NaturalGas Corporation (ONGC)has won 18 out of the 21 areasoffered for finding and pro-ducing oil and gas in thesixth bid round under OpenAcreage Licensing Policy,according to the upstreamregulator DGH.

Oil India Ltd (OIL)walked away with two blocksand Sun Petrochemicals PvtLtd got one block, theDirectorate General ofHydrocarbons said announc-ing the winners of the OALP-VI round.

The 21 blocks or areasoffered for exploration andproduction of oil and gas inOpen Acreage LicensingPolicy (OALP) Bid Round-VIattracted just 3 bidders at the

close of bidding on October 6,2021. Of the 21 blocks onoffer, 18 got a single bid andthe remaining 3 blocks hadtwo bidders. ONGC, India'slargest oil producer, had bidfor 19 blocks while OIL bid fortwo. ONGC was the sole bid-der in 16 blocks and OIL wasthe only bidder in the twoareas it sought for.

Sun Petrochemicals bid forthree blocks, where it is lockedin competition with ONGC.

Vedanta Ltd and Reliance-BP combine, which had bid inprevious rounds of OALP, didnot bid in the current round.

The government has beenhoping that opening up ofmore acreage for explorationwill help boost India's oil andgas production, helping cutdown the USD 119 billion oilimport bill.

In 2016, it brought in anopen acreage policy whichmoved away from the previ-ous practice of governmentidentifying and bidding outblocks to one where explorerswere allowed the freedom toidentify any area outside of theones that are already withsome company or other, forprospecting of oil and gas.

The areas identified are tobe clubbed twice a year andoffered for bidding. The firmidentifying the area gets a 5-point advantage.

But except for the firstround, private sector partici-pation has been scant. Miningmogul Anil Agarwal's VedantaLtd walked away with 41blocks out of the 55 blocks onoffer in the very first roundand got another 10 areas intwo subsequent rounds.

ONGC wins 18 out of 21 oil, gas blocksin OALP-VI bid round, OIL gets 2

The 30-share

BSE Sensex

dived 866.65

points or 1.56

per cent to

finish at

54,835.58.

During the day,

it tanked

1,115.48 points

or 2 per cent to

54,586.75.

PNS n MUMBAI

India needs to increasedomestic coal production inorder to fulfil the ever-grow-ing demand for fuel andreduce import dependency,Union Coal and MinesMinister Pralhad Joshi said onFriday.

"The need for coal is goingto be double by 2040 with therise in electric vehicles and theincreased demand for electric-ity. Therefore, we need toramp up our coal productionto meet this growing energyrequirement," Joshi said at aninvestors' meet here.

He said the target of thecoal ministry is to minimisethe import of thermal coaland to make the country'Aatmanirbhar' in the sector.

Highlighting the opportu-nities to the investors presentat the session, Joshi said, "Notlong ago, people used to saythe need for coal is going toreduce but we are currentlywitnessing surge in coalrequirements".

He noted that "extractablereserve in the closed or aban-doned coal mines is around380 million tonne, 30-40 mil-lion tonne of coal can be eas-ily extracted from thesemines".

The continuation of miningactivities will help in increas-ing coal supply while creatingemployment opportunities forthe locals, he said.

"While we are stressing ondeveloping renewable sourcesof energy, coal is still going tobe one of major contributorsin the energy production,"he added. For this purpose,Coal India Ltd (CIL) is plan-

ning to offer its 20 closed orabandoned underground coalmines to the private sector toreopen and bring into produc-tion on revenue sharingmodel, he said. "The coalrequirement has gone up bymore than 43 per cent since2014 to 818 million tonne tillMarch 2022. It was 570 mil-lion tonne in 2014. Thisrequirement will further growand is likely to double by 2040.

"The commercial miningwill help fulfil the ever-grow-ing demand for fuel in theIndian economy and also helpreduce dependency on coalimports.

PNS n LONDON

Indian-owned companiesoperating in the UK have mul-tiplied in the past year, up from850 to 900, with a correspond-ing hike in revenues and jobcreation figures, according tolatest research released here.

The 2022 ‘India MeetsBritain Tracker', launched onThursday, revealed these com-panies employed 141,005 peo-ple, up from 116,046 in 2021,and had combined revenues of54.4 billion pounds, also upfrom 50.8 billion pounds lastyear.

“India is a very spe-cial place, and its growth hasbeen nothing short of remark-able,” said Lord GerryGrimstone, Minister for

Investment in the UK'sDepartment for InternationalTrade (DIT).

“This growing, confident,outward looking India hasbenefited the world and cer-tainly benefited the UK. Ourrelationship is defined by ourpeoples, our mutual invest-ment and mutual trade. In thelast five years, Indian invest-ment into the UK has morethan quadrupled and we calcu-late that it supports almost halfa million jobs on our shores,”he said, pointing to the ongo-ing India-UK free trade agree-ment (FTA) negotiation as the“biggest deal yet to come''.

The Tracker, released annu-ally by professional servicesfirm Grant Thornton and theConfederation of Indian

Industry (CII) to analyse thecontribution of Indian busi-nesses to the UK economy, isnow in its ninth edition.

“The pandemic hascreated uniquely challengingeconomic circumstances overthe past two years. Despite this,Indian businesses in the UK

have succeeded in expandingtheir combined turnover andincreasing the number of jobsthey support,” said Gaitri IssarKumar, Indian HighCommissioner to the UK.

The Tracker also identifiesthe fastest growing Indiancompanies in Britain, mea-

sured by those with a turnoverof more than 5 million pounds,year-on-year revenue growth ofat least 10 per cent and a min-imum two-year track record inthe UK.

For 2022, 37 companies metthe qualifying criteria, achiev-ing an average growth rate ofover 38 per cent. The fastestgrowth among these was reg-istered by MSSL (GB) Ltd,part of the Motherson Sumigroup, which bagged theTracker Award of the year forits 248 per cent growth. Theother companies to bag theawards for their fast growthincluded tech firm Prodapt(UK) Ltd, which grew 114 percent, and Route Mobile (UK)Ltd with 98 per cent.

“Despite ongoing challenges

faced by all companies over thepast 12 months, our latestresearch finds that the numberof Indian companies operatingin the UK has increased andthat many continue to grow ata rapid rate, with some record-ing triple digit growth,” saidAnuj Chande, Partner andHead of South Asia BusinessGroup, Grant Thornton UK.

The majority of the fastestgrowing companies included inthe 2022 Tracker are based inLondon (46 per cent), contin-uing the trend seen in recentyears.

For the ninth year in a row,technology and telecoms com-panies dominate the Tracker,accounting for 35 per cent ofthose who qualified for inclu-sion this year.

Indian firms register revenue and job growth in UK

PNS n BUDAPEST

A European Union embargoon Russian oil would beequivalent to dropping an“atomic bomb” on Hungary'seconomy and could thus notbe accepted, the country'snationalist prime ministersaid on Friday.

Viktor Orban reiterated ear-lier statements fromHungarian officials thatHungary would not support anew round of proposed EUsanctions against Russia ifthey included a ban onRussian oil exports.

Orban said that while hisgovernment is willing to nego-tiate on any EU proposals thatare in Hungary's interests,the country's geography andexisting energy infrastructuremake a shutdown of Russianoil unfeasible.

“We cannot accept a pro-

posal that ignores this circum-stance because in its currentform it is equivalent to anatomic bomb dropped on theHungarian economy,” Orbansaid. Hungary's governmenthas firmly opposed EU plansto include Russian energyexports in its sanctions againstMoscow, arguing that 85 per

cent of Hungary's gas andmore than 60 per cent of its oilcomes from Russia.

On Friday, Orban said thatconverting Hungary's oilrefineries and pipelines to beable to process oil from differ-ent sources would take fiveyears and require massiveinvestment.

Hungary's Orban rejects EU ban on Russian oil

PNS n KOLKATA

Tea Board is finalising its rec-ommendations to the com-merce ministry on the indus-try's demand for a specialfinancial package for retainingthe viability of this sectorwhich is claimed to be underthreat, an official said onFriday.

Tea industry repre-sentatives had metthe ParliamentaryStanding Committeeon commerce inMarch and submitteda memorandum on thechallenges faced by thesector, particularly inDarjeeling where productionlevels have decreased by sixmillion kilograms at presentfrom 12 million kilogramsearlier."We are in the processof finalising our recommenda-tions on the industry demandfor a special financial package,"Tea Board Deputy ChairmanSaurav Pahari told PTI.

He said the industry had notmentioned the quantum offinancial assistance needed.

Pahari said that in order toraise the declining export lev-els, Tea Board is engaged inpromotional activity in collab-oration with the industry totap new potential markets.

So far, the CIS block andIran had been the majorimporters of Indian tea.

Asked whether the eco-nomic crisis in Sri Lanka willhelp Indian tea exporters, sec-retary-general of the TeaAssociation of India (TAI)PK Bhattacharya said that theisland nation mostly producesthe orthodox variety whilethe majority portion of Indian

produce is CTC."Sri Lanka is pri-

marily an ortho-dox tea produc-er. India'sorthodox com-ponent is only

10 per cent oftotal production.

Unless India increas-es its orthodox produc-

tion, it will be difficult to takebenefit of the Lankan crisis tocapture export markets in a bigway," he said.

India's tea production isaround 1200 million kilo-grams, while Sri Lanka's vol-umes are around 300 millionkilograms.

"Demand and prices oforthodox variety are muchbetter now due to the SriLanka crisis. Indian orthodoxvariety is getting traction inthe export market and it isexpected that producers willnow gradually shift to manu-facturing of this particularvariety", chairman of IndianTea Exporters Association(ITEA) Anshuman Kanoriasaid.

Tea Board finalising recommendationson industry demand for package

PNS n NEW DELHI

Online food delivery platformZomato's Founder and CEODeepinder Goyal will bedonating around USD 90 mil-lion (nearly Rs 700 crore)from vested ESOPs to ZomatoFuture Foundation to helpfund the education of childrenof its delivery partners.

In an internal memo sharedwith the employees of thecompany, Goyal said beforeZomato went public, he wasgranted some ESOPs(Employee Stock OwnershipPlan) by the investors andboard on the basis of his pastperformance and some of theESOPs vested last monthbecause there is a minimumone year vesting required asper law.

"At the average share priceover the last month, theseESOPs are worth (around)USD 90 million (around Rs700 crore)," he wrote.

Sharing how he planned toutilise the ESOPs, Goyal said,"I am donating all the proceedsfrom these ESOPs (net oftaxes) towards the ZomatoFuture Foundation (ZFF). The

ZFF will cover education of upto two children of all Zomatodelivery partners, up to Rs50,000 per child per annum onactuals (above a certain servicequality benchmark) who havebeen on our fleet for more thanfive years."

He further said the amountwill go up to Rs 1 lakh perchild per annum if the deliv-ery partner completes 10 yearswith the company.

However, "Service thresh-olds of 5/10 years will be lowerfor women delivery partners.We will also have special pro-grammes for girl children andintroduce 'prize money' if a girlcompletes 12th grade, as wellas her graduation," he added.

When contacted, Zomatospokesperson declined to com-ment.

Need to ramp up coal production,become self-reliant: Joshi

Deepinder Goyal to donate $90 mn foreducation of delivery partners' children

PNS n LONDON

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson led ConservativeParty on Friday sufferedsome key losses in the localelections after the OppositionLabour won some of the tra-ditional Tory strongholds inLondon.

Labour leader Sir KeirStarmer said the party hadreached a "turning point"and was "back on track" tosucceed at the next GeneralElection after grabbing thecouncils of Westminster,Wandsworth and Barnet inLondon.

The Tories had held theWestminster council in theheart of London since its cre-ation in 1964 andWandsworth in southLondon since 1978.

"This is a big turning point.From the depths of the 2019general election, we're backon track. We've sent a mes-sage to the Prime Minister:Britain deserves better,"Starmer said, during a visit toBarnet on Thursday.However, according to earlyresults and trends, the picture

looks mixed for the rest ofEngland.

“We've had some difficultresults and we can see that inLondon… but it does notdemonstrate that Labour hasthe momentum to form thenext government,"Conservative Party co-chairOliver Dowden told the BBC.

The partygate scandal ofJohnson and his close aidesbeing found in breach ofCOVID-19 lockdown mea-sures as well as the rising costof living crisis are being seenas impacting the local elec-tions for councils and bor-oughs across England,Scotland and Wales. Theelections, held on Thursdayfor 140 England councils, 32in Scotland and 22 in Wales,are mostly about local issuesbut UK government politicsat Westminster does havesome bearing on voters'choice.

Councillors are elected torepresent the views of thelocal community and makedecisions on delivering ser-vices such as local transport,health and construction plan-ning.

UK PM Johnson's Conservativeslose key seats in London polls

PNS n NEW DELHI

Government-owned SJVNon Friday said it won a con-tract worth Rs 195 crore forsetting up of its maiden wind-solar hybrid project with 30MW generation capacity.

"Company has bagged itsfirst ever 30 MW wind-solarhybrid project through a ten-der floated by Solar EnergyCorporation of India Ltd(SECI)," SJVN said in a BSEfiling.

The project was baggedthrough a tariff-based com-petitive bidding process forproviding electricity at therate of Rs 2.54 per unit onbuild, own and operate basis,the company said, addingthat the tentative cost for con-struction and development ofproject is Rs 195 crore.

The project is expected togenerate 79 MUs (MillionUnits) in the first year, and oncumulative basis, approxi-mately 1,860 MUs would begenerated over a period of 25years.

SJVN bags contractfor 30 MW wind-solar hybrid projectworth Rs 195 cr

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SaturdayMay 7, 2022

etal braces have been aroundfor decades and historically, ithas been the go-to option forstraightening teeth. With theadvancement in technology,clear aligner therapy has

emerged as the modern alternative, pro-viding more comfort and conveniencecompared to metal braces.

Clear aligner therapyinvolves using a series ofcustomized, clear plasticaligners to gently straight-en your teeth which doesnot interrupt yourlifestyle and, as the namesuggests, they are almostinvisible, removable, andmost importantly, so con-venient.

Dr. Kirubaharan, an ortho-dontist shares his experience toshed some light on a few facts thatone needs to consider before choosingthe right treatment option.

Many prospective patients are not surehow to get started. While the technologyhas evolved, the underlying concepts andrisks associated with the treatmentremain. It’s a medical procedure, afterall, hence, doctor supervision for safetyand best results is crucial.

The first step is to start the conversa-tion with an Orthodontist of yourchoice. If clear aligners are what you pre-fer, then choose an Orthodontist whohas been trained or has treated patientswith clear aligners.

Most Orthodontists would include thisinformation on their website.

Then comes the first consultation, foryou and your doctor to acquaint your-selves better. In your initial consultation,your Orthodontist will ask for your chiefconcerns, evaluate your suitability forteeth straightening by checking yourdental x-rays or scans, and check for anyother underlying issues you may havelike gum infection.

Depending on your preferences, theywill provide you with options to discussthe pros and cons of various types oftreatment, reputable brands with the best

efficacy for your situation, any discom-fort you might experience, cost, andexpected outcomes. They will also talkyou through their treatment approach,final expectations, number of doctor vis-its, and duration of the treatment.

You will be in treatment for months,so this is an important aspect of your

teeth straightening journey.There are many new playersin the market offering clear

aligners, some sell themonline too without theneed for an in-personappointment with anOrthodontist beforestarting teeth straighten-ing. It’s important that

you choose theOrthodontist who will be

involved in your treatment.Make sure to ask key questions

like, who is responsible for your treat-ment? How will they check on yourprogress? Who will fit your first aligner?Who to reach out to in case of any emer-gencies or if you are experiencing exces-sive discomfort or pain?

The American Associa-tion ofOrthodontists provides a series of ques-tions you may want to think about whenlooking for orthodontic treatment. Beloware a few questions you must consider:

Before the treatment begins, are there anycomprehensive diagnostic records like x-rays, photographs, digital scans that will betaken?

Does your treatment fee include anyin-person visits to a dentist’s or ortho-dontist’s office?

Is your Orthodontist’s name listed onthe company’s website or elsewhere? Likeany treatment, it helps to know who iscaring for you.

Who is responsible for detecting anyissues that may occur during your ortho-dontic treatment?

If a doctor is involved with yourorthodontic treatment, how can you con-tact him or her over the course of yourtreatment?

How can you contact him or her if anemergency arises?

geing well is animportant pre-requi-site for improvinghealth and well-beingin order to increaseyour quality of life.

Ageing gracefully does not onlymean looking young in your 50sbut it also means maintaining ahealthy lifestyle and prioritisingwellbeing as you get older.

The first and most importantstep is to understand the idea ofinsulin resistance, which impairsour ageing process. “Insulin resis-tance occurs when cells in ourbody fail to respond to insulinand are unable to utilise glucosefrom your blood for energy,” saysLavleen Kaur, Co-Founder andHead Dietitian, Diet Insight.

She adds that to compensate,your pancreas produces extrainsulin, causing your blood sugarlevels to rise over time. Thisaccumulation of extra insulin inyour blood, with no pathway to

go towards the cells, leads tohealth issues. Your pancreas willeventually be unable to keep upand your blood sugar levels willgrow until you have prediabetesand have a consequential impacton your skin as well.

So, what can be done to avoidinsulin resistance and create anobstacle-free pathway for gracefulageing?

Making healthy lifestyle choic-es is the most effective strategy tokeep your blood glucose levelswithin the normal range. Thegreatest thing you can do is avoidsitting for lengthy periods andmove every 30-45 minutes if pos-sible.

“According to research, it'sfound that serotonin (happy hor-mone) naturally decreases as youage resulting in anxiety, depres-sion, prolonged sadness, or evenhardening of arteries,” Kaur tellsus.

Well, exercising proves to be an

excellent way to not only avoidinsulin resistance but also giveyour serotonin levels a boost.Therefore, make it a part of yourdaily routine to go for a quickwalk or exercise to keep yourarteries healthy and to relievedepression, self-doubt, andlethargy.

Fats are not your enemyWhen it comes to ageing grace-

fully, eating healthy foods is theonly way to go. “It's a popular mis-conception that eating fats causesweight growth, however, this is nottrue. Fats contain cholesterol,which is required in sufficient

amounts to help hormone trans-portation in the body, bile diges-tion, and the absorption of fat-sol-uble vitamins such as Vitamin A,E, and K, as well as for beautifulskin,” she says.

We're told not to consumecoconuts or oily meals, but it'simportant to remember that it'sunsaturated fats, not saturated fats,that cause our skin to age.Moreover, processed foods, refinedcarbohydrates, and excessive fatsshould be avoided along with saltintake kept to a minimum.

Kaur says, “Focus on saturatedfats, which can be found in foodslike ghee, coconut, nuts like

cashew, pistachios, and walnuts,and seeds like pumpkin, sun-flower, and sesame seeds, to haveradiant skin.” As a result, fats, ingeneral, are not your enemy, andgood fats are what you need toincorporate in your diet foryouthful, healthy skin, even asyou become older.

Get your fix of Vitamin AVitamin A plays a number of

critical roles in the ageingprocess, including immune func-tion and oxidative processes, aswell as collagen production. Alack of Vitamin A has beenshown to affect vision and cause

skin abnormalities.As a result, if you haven't paid

attention to Vitamin A, now isthe time. However, Kaur suggeststhat getting Vitamin A in itsactive form, known as retinol(bete) is the best. This means thatif you eat carrots, for example,and they aren't well absorbed, it'spointless, because the main layerof our cell membrane is largelymade up of Vitamin A. “Eatingretinol-rich foods including forti-fied foods carrots, cheese, eggs,fish oil, milk, and yoghurt is vitalfor skin to remain tightened aswe age,” she says.

Soak in Vitamin EWe all realise the need for

Vitamin E as we get older, and weattempt to get it either naturallyvia our meals or through VitaminE capsules. “Natural vitamin Ecompounds can help prevent col-lagen crosslinking and lipid per-oxidation, both of which areassociated with skin ageing,”Kaur tells us.

For beautiful skin, you can getVitamin E directly by mixingVitamin E capsules in aloe veragel and applying the mixture toyour skin once a day. Otherwise,Vitamin E is also abundantlyfound in nuts and seeds; especial-ly almonds, peanuts, sunflowerseeds, pumpkin, or vegetablessuch as spinach and beet greens.

Check Vitamin B3 (Niacin)consumption

“People that have Vitamin B3deficiency suffer through pellagra,which can cause pigmentation,skin dryness, pale or scaly skin.

The main cause of Vitamin B3deficiency is inadequate absorp-tion of all B vitamins, which iscaused by excessive consumptionof refined foods, such as iodizedsalt, sugar, and filtered oils likevegetable and palm oil,” says Kaur.Therefore, stay away from refinedand filtered foods in preference fororganic or handmade alternativessuch as salt rock or brown sugar.

Reject AGEAvoid AGE as much as possi-

ble if you want to age gracefully.No, this does not mean not cele-brating your birthday in order tostay the same age. AGE stands foradvanced glycation end products,which once consumed creates asticky substance in our bodiesthat interferes and clogs our cellscausing our skin to loosen andform wrinkles.

“When we consume proteinwith sugar or fat, AGE is generat-ed, which is not the healthiest wayto consume protein. Bakery foodslike cakes, for example, containeggs (protein) as well as sugar,which is not ideal, or even mayon-naise and cheese items combinedwith eggs or any sort of protein arealso not recommended,” she tellsus. Thus, as you become older, tryto avoid bakery items, deep-friedfoods, and refined foods to keepyour skin tight and wrinkle-free.

In a nutshell, some of the mostimportant aspects of healthy age-ing are within your control. Keeptargeted blood pressure, controlyour cholesterol, eat healthily,exercise regularly, drink alcohol inmoderation, and avoid smoking toextend your youth.

BECAUSE

NUMBERage is just a

a

A dive into clearALIGNER THERAPY

m

yderabad is already a behe-moth in the medical world.Thanks to the sheer vol-ume of vaccines it producesin comparison to the rest ofthe city's numbers, and it’s

not just because of the populationproportion either.

However, if you dig deeper,Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao laid the founda-tion for three super specialty hospitalsto be constructed at a cost of Rs 2,679crore. The City of Pearls always had aleading reputation in the field of med-icine. It recognised the use of medi-cines for diseases far before anyoneelse in the country. Even today, thebasis of most modern medicines stillboils down to the wisdom of Indianmedical practices of years gone by, ifyou look at it from a different perspec-tive.

With this, let us reveal to you,Telangana doctor and researcher, Dr.Vityala Yethindra discovered the firstcase of mirror writing in a patientwith frontal-lobe epilepsy. In a newresearch study titled 'Mirror writing ina patient with frontal-lobe epilepsy'published in a peer-reviewed journal,Clinical Case Reports (Wiley), Dr.Vityala Yethindra and his team report-

ed a veryunusual caseof a 36-year-old right-handed malepatient per-formingunconscious 'mirror-writing' with hisleft hand during the epileptic seizures.

“Mirror writing is defined as thewriting of letters, words, and sentencesin the direction opposite to that ofnormal writing and with the lettersreversed. It is most commonlyobserved in individuals writing with

their non-dominanthand andafter afocalbraininjury.

However, mirror writing in patientswith epilepsy has not been reportedpreviously,” he informed.

Dr. Yethindra is the world’syoungest scientist in medicine andalso, the first to report and publishnew and rare case reports on otherdiseases such as neurofibromatosis,

hereditary sensory and autonomicneuropathy, and ischemic stroke.

“This rare case involved a 36-year-old male with non-lesional refractoryfrontal-lobe epilepsy, diagnosed at 16years of age, and with a history of fourhospitalizations for refractory statusepilepticus and admitted to the inten-sive care unit with focal seizures,” headded. The patient was diagnosedwith convulsive status epilepticus andtreated with intravenous lacosamide(200 mg), levetiracetam (1.5 g),diazepam (40 mg), and phenytoin (1g) but the episodic seizures continued.

“The patient had a spontaneous 4-min-long episode of mirror writingwith his left hand, after regaining con-sciousness following a seizure, he didnot remember these events. Duringthe episode of mirror writing, hewrote ‘I want to go home’. Anestheticinduction and deep sedation wereused to treat the status epilepticus asthe patient was not responsive to thetreatment. Under deep sedation withpropofol infusion, the patient recov-ered with a good neurological out-come and no sequelae. Doctors shouldeven concentrate on rare and newcases as it is important for the earlyrecovery of the patients withoutsequelae,” he ended.

City doctor discovers first case of mirrorwriting on patient with frontal-lobe epilepsy

Dr. Vityala Yethindra discovered thefirst case of mirror writing in a patient

with frontal-lobe epilepsy. In a newresearch study titled 'Mirror writing ina patient with frontal-lobe epilepsy'

published in a peer-reviewed journal,Clinical Case Reports (Wiley),

Dr. Vityala Yethindra and his teamreported a very unusual case of a

36-year-old right-handed male patientperforming unconscious

‘mirror-writing' with his left handduring the epileptic seizures

h

other’s Day is celebratedevery second Sunday inMay as a reminder for peo-ple across the world tothink about and do some-thing special for their

mothers. This year the date forMother’s Day in 2022 is May 8, 2022.

Mother's day has become a globalphenomena for people across theworld to show love and affectiontowards their mothers. It is a hugeopportunity for big and small corpo-rate houses, especially in the giftingsector to ride the wave and earn big onthe occasion that is lately picking pacein India as well.

“Mother's Day is a big occasion thatis only becoming bigger and morescaled as we have new waves of youngconsumers entering the economy.From inventory, stock managementand design planning perspective weare seeing a big uptick even in themore classic design and gold ledadornment market,” says, SameerNanda, CEO-Merchandising, KD Goldand Diamonds Pvt Ltd (known asKhimji Jewels to the public). Sameeradds that they are seeing a steadydemand for occasions that were hith-erto not really so relevant for pure goldjewelers, where they play. He furtheradds, “However, now we are seeingstrong inquiries before occasionswhere young people are planning ongifting and purchasing in advance.”Nishit Nanda, CEO of youlry.com alsobelieves that Mother's Day is becomingthe gold standard for gifting and cele-brating.

“What is really interesting and apositive development is that in theB2C space, these were more or lessrestricted to diamonds. However, nowwe are seeing young audiences check-

ing our gold jewelry and design ledjewelry out and also, planning pur-chases via a whole host of interestingoptions like BNPL (buy now, paylater), credit card sharing, andzero/low interest EMI splits, etc. Myteam and I are looking forward to

Mother's Day as a big sale day as well.Our products are designed for impulsepurchase as well, even though thequality is such that people will plantheir occasions and celebrationsaround them,” he adds.

Mother’s Day, after two years of

mostly incarcerated or unnatural cele-bration, has all the signs of becoming abig bang occasion this year. AmbarishRay, CEO - Digital Dogs Content andMedia, has observed most of his clientcohorts looking to capitalize on this.

He adds, “From BFSI where we lookafter both assets and liabilities to ser-vices like wealth management, FMCGlike personal care and skin care andeven real estate, we are seeing action inall these segments. We seem to havemore kids than mothers, the way thebrand advertising is reflected in themedia. Digital marketing mandates arealso evolving with the times, where weset targets for recall, association andconversion as well as direct sales.”

MOTHER’S DAY;opportunity for gold business

m

In the B2C space, these weremore or less restricted to

diamonds. However, now youngaudiences have been checking

out gold jewelry and design,and planning purchases via a

whole host of interestingoptions like BNPL (buy now, paylater), credit card sharing, and

zero/low interest EMI splits

10

Hyderabad Saturday May 7, 2022

PARTY

l Bhaskara Bhatla Ravi Kumar l Ramajogayya Sastry l Suddala Ashok Teja l R P Patnaik

l Paruchuri Gopala Krishna

l Rumpa Banerjee l Aditya Gupta

l Chandra Bose

Dr. Hipno Padma Kamalakar, president, ProgressivePsychologists Association of India and Dr. SwaroopaRani, eminent educationist and Socialite submitted amemorandum on women's issues on Friday. Minister ofTourism of India, G Kishan Reddy had assured that hewould extend the maximum possible support to dealwith the women's social issues on behalf of the centralgovernment.

IPRS has decided to start a series of workshops for itsmembers. The pan-India workshops was an eye-openerfor IPRS members, benefitting their creative journeyand career. The Knowledge Workshop titled ‘Learn andEarn' was conducted in Hyderabad. The focal point ofdiscussion at the workshop centered around copyrightin music and related areas like licensing emergingtrends and technological advancements in the digitalera, and the role of the IPRS in protecting creators'rights and their rightful dues.

what’s brewing?

l Monika

lA

mar

Pre

et

l Rakesh Nigam & Sahithi

Photos by SV Chary

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

11

Hyderabad | Saturday May 7, 2022 tollywood

TEJAL SINHA

orking on somethingthat is away from yourcomfort zone is always atask. So was the same forthe Gaalivaana actress

Nandini Rai, who was seen playingthe role of an IPS officer. NandiniRai was last seen in series like Inthe name of God, Metro Kathaluamong others.

In an exclusive interview withthe actress, The Pioneer speaks toher about the challenges that shehad faced to play the role. Apartfrom this, she had also shared withus her experience of working withsuperstars Raadhika Sarathkumarand Sai Kumar, and how OTTplatforms have been a boon forher.

On sharing about the film, theactress shares, “While shootingGaalivaana, we had a great vibethat this series was definitely notsomething that would be a flop. Beit while talking about the scenes inthe set, practicing or sitting forlunch, we had a completely differ-ent vibe that we are making a goodseries. But we did not expect thatpeople would accept it or like theseries so much. We thought thiswould be a decent hit, a familyentertainer. I feel lucky to be a partof the series.”

Nandini was seen playing thecharacter of a cop in the series, acompletely different role thanwhat she is generally seen in.

“Playing the character of a copNandini which was very challeng-ing because I have never played acop ever before. I’ve done manyother roles including glamour oreven the role of a cancer patient.However, playing the character ofan inspector was a different taskaltogether. Right from the bodylanguage to my hair, everythingportrayed how a strictwomen inspector lookslike.

I have a habit to chilland act and be natur-al. That's what I'velearnt to which thecharacter was quiteopposite. In theentire series, I hadto keep my backstiff, while walking,talking my backwould be absolutelystraight. I had tobecome plastic inorder to show thestrictness that awomen officer wouldhave,” shares the

actress. Who wouldn’t like working

with superstars in a film? ForNandini, Gaalivaana was a greatopportunity to work with super-stars Raadhika Sarathkumar andSai Kumar. Telling us more aboutthis, the Astakarmma actressshares, “There was this day whenI got a call saying the directorwants to talk to you related to thischaracter. At first, I said a Nobecause I was already shooting foranother web series in Bangalore. Ithen thought of meeting thedirector. I did not have the avail-able dates, so as soon as I cameback from Bangalore, I metSharan Koppisetty and the team.When the director said Raadhikaand Sai Kumar are also in it, I waslike Oh my god! That's an amaz-ing opportunity to work withthem. Especially with Raadhika. Ihave watched her movies sincechildhood with Chiranjeevi. Herdance moves were amazing.Radhika is a pure beauty and avery positive person. As soon asshe puts onmakeup, sheis complete-ly into thecharac-ter. I

have learned a lot from her. Assoon as the director said action,you had to see her eyes. She getsthat fire in her eyes.When itcomes to Saikumar, he has manycop characters and he is alsoknown for those characters.While I used to play the characterof the cop, he used to constantlycompliment me saying the char-acter suited you really well andsometimes said ‘Pakka cop laagaunnavu’ (You look like a cop).Things coming from him meant alot to me which also helped meboost my acting skills on the set.They are legends.”

Coming to the responses thatshe had received from the audi-ence for her role, Nandini hadreceived mixed responses. Whilesome had appreciated her, a fewstated that she could do a littlebetter. Gaalivaana had openedthe gates of more opportunitiesfor the actress.

She says, “I have got many callsfrom the industry. Couple of bigdirectors had called me, congratu-

lated me for the seriesand said nobody

knew you wouldpull the characterso well. Youknow that's sucha huge compli-ment for anactor. As anactor, I've seenmyself grow alittle bit com-

pared to the pre-vious one.

Everyone, evenmy schoolfriends, had

watched andappreciated me. I

even cried after theseries was released.

Even when zee5 hadinformed us that

afteraround

24 to48

hours they told us that the serieswas a hit. It was also the same daywhen KGF chapter 2 released andwe did not know if people wouldeven watch the web series.”

For Nandini, OTT was a plat-form that had led her to groweven more in her career. She con-tinues saying, “Be it the OTT orin the theaters, the making ofthese films are exactly the same.With the web, people havebecome more open to their ideas,they are more practical in OTT inshowing the reality. Cinema mak-ing is more practical, you havenew concepts. No-one knew OTTwould be such a boom. Big actorsare also doing OTT. I have beenmaking a mark right from myfirst web series Metro Kathalu forAha, High Priestess for zee5,Shootout at Alair zee5, In thename of god for Aha and nowGaalivaana. I am doing a fewmore with director Teja andSatish Vegasena director anddirector Krish. Opportunitieshave opened up in OTT and I'menjoying a lot with the successI've got. People who didn't dowell in theaters like me in 2015and 2016 including my debut,nobody knew me, my movieswere not a hit.

For actresses like me who areone movie, two movies old andcouldnt to well in theaters, OTThas actually given us a platformand a beautiful golden opportuni-ty. I am personally very happywith OTT being a boom andshould really thank our teluguott’s like Zee5 and Aha they’vecome up for telugu people. Noweven other platforms like Amazonhas come up with Telugu webseries, Netflix has also done manytelugu web series. It's a greatopportunity for actors who werenot able to do well in theaters toshowcase their talent.” Looks likeNandini has a packed up schedule forthe year 2022. Currently, she is work-ing with a few directors includingAnand Ranga, Teja, and SatishVagesna. She will also be working on aBilingual Tamil project, and will startthe shooting from May 12. The actressshares that the role in this Tamil film isa very challenging role again. She isgoing to play the role of a singer

with an orchestra group. Apartfrom this, she also has 3 to 4

other projects and a fewreleases also in theaters. “I

think I'll have a blockbuster2022 year and I'm look-

ing forward to manymore years like

this,” ends theactress.

Making a mark from myfirst series: Nandini Rai

w

story has its ownadventure and a lot ofobstacles. However,creating a marvel outof a story is often the

handy work of a film directorwho plays a pivotal role in bring-ing the narrative to life.

After the success of his firstfilm, Rocky, Director ArunMatheeswaran is back with agripping plot line, SaaniKaayidham, that was released onMay 6.

Before the creation of any film,it is the vision that makes a dif-ference. The journey of SaaniKaayidham also began with avision that found its way onto thepapers only in a matter of fourdays. The core essence of the filmwas the basic understanding ofhuman nature. ArunMatheswaran from the inceptionof Rocky, a revenge drama want-ed to make a trilogy on the same,

and keeping the momentum hepaved the way for SaaniKaayidham.

“Revenge genre is not new inthe film Industry and has alreadybeen explored a million times.However, the aspect of harshrealism shown in SaaniKaayidham and my previousfilm, Rocky, is kind of new forthe audience.

The violence in other similargenre films is usually very styl-ized. With Saani Kaayidham, Iwanted to bring in a raw differen-tiating flavor and the writingcame naturally to me; be it thecharacter in the intense situationsor the way they react to it.However, the idea is not to show-case violence but stay true to theaction drama,” shares the director.

With Saani Kaayidham, ArunMatheswaran’s attempt is to createa movie inspired from old Britishgangster films from the 1980s like

Get Carter and QuentinTarantino’s Kill Bill. The powerfulimagery showcased in them,influenced Arun to incorporatesimilar elements in it where thevictim fights back.

“There are a couple of film-makers that I look up to, rightfrom my first film.

For example, Jim Jarmusch isone such filmmaker whose worksI love. Seijun Suzuki and AkiraKurosawa are two Japanese film-makers who are my inspirationsto name a few. In a broadersense, I wanted to bring in thenuances of these films and direc-tor, and thus retorted to creatingSaani Kaayidham,” he said.

Furthermore, with Arun look-ing up to renowned filmmakerslike Jim Jarmusch, Seijun Suzuki,and Akira Kurosawa, audienceswill get to witness certain facets oftheir works in this film as well,making it an interesting watch.

DirectorArun's

attempt to createan old Britishgangsta film

a

runal Thakur hasopened up aboutthe failure of Jerseyat the box office.The film, which

also starred Shahid Kapoorand Pankaj Kapur, was madeon a budget of Rs 80 crore.

However, despite positivereviews, the movie failed toreach even Rs 20 crore in itscollection.

Mrunal recently discussedthe reasons the film mighthave not worked at the boxoffice. The actor said thatshe thinks the originalTelugu version of the film ofthe same name, whichstarred Nani in ShahidKapoor’s role, could havebeen one of the reasonsthat affected its earnings.Ronit Kamra, whoappeared as Nani's son,played the same role inShahid’s film. Both thefilms were directed byGowtam Tinnanuri.

Mrunal recently saidabout the collectionsat the box office, “It isdisappointing. Apartfrom performances,there are a numberof other factorsthat make a filmwork like posi-tioning, market-ing, etc. Wespared no effort.

Maybe it's a phase. Maybethere’re so many external

reasons. I have no clue what is hap-

pening. But obviously, youfeel a little bummed, and alittle low, that maybe itcould’ve done better becauseit's a good film.

Honestly, I was a littlelow. We will work harderfor the next film.”

Jersey collected justunder Rs 14 crores in

its first weekend. Thefilm starred Shahid

as Arjun Talwar, atalented but

failed crick-eter who

decides toreturn to crick-et at the age of36 to provehis abilityand fulfill

his son'swish for ajersey as agift.

m

We spared no effort;says Mrunal on Jersey’s

box office failure

My role in Saani Kaayidhamdemanded me to be mean: Keerthy

riti Sanon leads theindustry today as one ofthe most talented, gor-geous actresses with amassive lineup that

extends genres. The actress who hasonly recently returned from a shootschedule in Mauritius for Shehzada,has been busy shooting one filmafter the other from her lineup andis now all set to jet off for yet anoth-er long schedule of her next.

A source close to the actressrevealed, “Kriti will be going foralmost half a month to Ladakh toshoot for Ganapath. This will alsobe the first time she is ever going

to the union territory soshe is really lookingforward to theschedule there.”

Ganapathwill show theactress in anout and outaction rolewhich is reallyexciting for herfans. She is beingtrained by HarshVerma, the first Indian to be partof the Shaolin performing monk’steam and he was all praises for theactress in a recent interview with a

leading paper. The source had further said,"Kriti is a good listener; she

grasps things very quickly.The kind of martial arts shehad performed in this film,will change her imagetotally and the audience,she will be called ‘action

queen’ hereafter." Besides her action flick,

Ganapath, Kriti also has theromantic comedy, Shehzada, hor-

ror comedy, Bhediya, the mytholog-ical drama, Adipurush along withthe unannounced project byAnurag Kashyap.

K

Kriti Sanon now hops to Ladakh forher upcoming action flick, Ganapath

SHIKHA DUGGAL

The realness that KeerthySuresh brings about is notonly endearing but alsoexactly what makes her akick-ass heroine. You'll seeher starring in ArunMatheswaran’s sophomorefilm Saani Kaayidham,astraightforward revengethriller in which a constable,along with her step-brotherfrom an oppressed caste, goafter the men from the dom-inant caste who not onlyraped her but also killed herfamily.

What's Keerthy Sureshdoing in it? Let's ask her. Shereplied, "Having neverattempted a revenge-dramagenre before, I play Ponni, aconstable in the film.Portraying a raw charactermakes my film an elevatedexperience for me. Initialscript narrations fascinatedme, owing to the concept anddistinct variables it held.Nevertheless, filled withskepticism and cluelessness,

I also wondered why Iwas chosen in the first place.But never having portrayeda character like Ponni before,I decided to give it a shotwhile also letting the audi-ences see me in a new light."

This shows she's out thereto take on the risks thisshowbiz brings with it andtry to shine on, no matterwhat. But then like they say,what is meant to happenwill always find its way. Whatreally sets apart Keerthy’sfilm from a regular tale ofrevenge is in the way it treatsviolence with so much flair,almost making it a cathartic

process that one doesn’tmind cherishing as a viewer.

The Sarkari Vaaru Paataactress continued, “As soonas Arun finished narratingthe script I asked him, whyme? I don't know how heimagined me in this scriptbecause this is not the kindof character I have ever donebefore. So, I was wonderinghow he arrived at this deci-sion and what could be hisvision. He replied saying hewanted me in the film sinceI had not done somethinglike this before. His approachwas very different, I wantedto do this film. I loved work-ing with everyone in thisfilm. I have always had a mis-conception that nobody cando such intense characters,especially me where I neverthought I would explore suchgenres. Thanks to thedirector who brokethat for me whenhe made me dosomething likethis.”

H a i l i n gf r o mChennaiwith ah e a r tfull ofaspi -

rations, actress Keerthy is aquintessential example ofhow dreams do turn intoreality. Time and again she'scalling her role to be afierce one, so howdid she prepareat all? Well,she throwssome lighton it too,“With pre-v i o u s l yportray-i n gchar-

acters that were sweet,charming, and bubbly. Ponnihas a fresh, raw, and rugged

role in thisf i l m

demanding her to be leanand mean. In terms of prep,I didn’t do anything really. Ithink the minute I got intothose clothes, put that make-up on and went on the set,stood by the Matador van,watched Arun and Selva, Iwas ready. I had never imag-ined myself in such anintense film, and thus ini-tially the task seemed daunt-ing. But as the story pro-gressed, it became easy forme to don the character ofPonni, also owing to theeasy atmosphere on sets andthe freedom to improviseand experiment.”

Even though this hard-hit-ting tale of vengeance doesfeel indulgent at times, it’s stilla film that’s worth a lot ofpraise for its exquisite visu-als and top-notch perfor-mances from actors.

The National award win-ning actress continues, “Iam passionate about bringingsomething new every day tothe table and I have strived todo the same with this film,hoping the audience willaccept my raw and intensecharacter. I believe in thebeauty of my character’s painand hardships, and I am cer-tain that the audiences willresonate with Ponni witheach progressing scene

because at the end of theday, a woman loses every-

thing, her dignity andher family.”

So get ready to wit-ness Keerthy Sureshas Ponni, fightingto avenge what shehas lost, in theupcoming revenge-drama movie that is

Saani Kaayidham.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 7, 2022

The IIPL hhas cchanged mmy llife iin aan aamazing wway. II hhave bbeen aable tto mmeet ssome oof mmy hheroes, ssome oof tthe ppeople II hhave aadmired, pplaying ffor, aagainst, oor uunder tthem. — GLENN MAXWELL

AP n MADRID

Novak Djokovic reached hisseventh Madrid semi-final on

Friday, easing past Poland's HubertHurkacz 6-3, 6-4 to record a 30thcareer victory in the Spanish capi-tal.

The world number one awaitsone of two Spaniards, Rafael Nadaland Carlos Alcaraz, in what will bea highly-anticipated last-four show-down.

"I don't really care who is on theopposite side of the net to be hon-est. I just want to be playing betterand better each day. For me this isthe most important thing right now,my focus and my intention is real-ly focusing on myself," saidDjokovic.

Djokovic started with a breakand it was all he needed to grab theopening set in 33 minutes.

Hurkacz dropped serve ingame five of the second set asDjokovic once again charged to acommanding lead.

The Polish 12th seed saved twomatch points on his own serve at 5-3, forcing Djokovic to serve out the

win. And the 34-year-old Serb hadno trouble closing, moving into thefinal four with an 81-minute suc-cess.

Djokovic has not competedmuch in 2022 due to his vaccina-tion status that has prevented him

from playing in Australia or enter-ing the United States.

His win on Friday was just hisseventh of the year and he'll be try-ing to make a second final of theseason, having placed runner-up inBelgrade last month.

PTI n NEW DELHI

England captain Heather Knight,world number one bowler

Sophie Ecclestone and Australianleg-spinner Alana King are among12 foreign players who are set to takepart in the Women's T20Challenge from May 23 in Pune.

Alana, who impressed inthe recent World Cup in NewZealand, is the only cricketeravailable from Australia for theexhibition event comprisingthree teams and fourmatches.

Besides Knightand Ecclestone,Sophia Dunkley andDanni Wyatt are theother English crick-eters who havesigned up for thecompetition.

South Africa'sstar opener LauraWolvaardt andMarizanne Kappwill also be part of

the event alongside West IndiansDeandra Dottin and HayleyMatthews.

The Women's Challenge didnot take place last year and theupcoming edition is expected to be

the last one with the BCCIplanning a full f ledgedWomen's IPL from nextyear. "Heather Knight hasconfirmed her presence.Alana has also confirmed

and is the only Australian. Atotal of 12 overseas play-

ers are available," aBCCI source said.

The Englandcaptain, who ledher team to theWorld Cup finallast month, is cur-rently in the UAE

for the FairBreakInvitational T20

event alongside the restof the players boundfor Women's T20Challenge.

AP n GENEVA

US Open champion DaniilMedvedev will return from

hernia surgery to play at theGeneva Open after getting awild card from tournamentorganisers said on Friday.

The second-ranked Russianwill use the clay-court event,which runs from May 14-21, toprepare for the French Open. Thetournament at Roland Garrosstarts on May 22.

During his injury absence,Medvedev and all other playersfrom Russia and Belarus were

banned from Wimbledon by theorganisers of the grass-courtGrand Slam. The decision citedthe countries' "unjustified andunprecedented military aggres-sion" in Ukraine.

Medvedev held the No 1ranking in February and March,becoming the first player otherthan Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal,Novak Djokovic or Andy Murrayto be at the top in the last 18years.

Dominic Thiem and defend-ing champion Casper Ruud willalso play at the tournament inGeneva.

AP n LONDON

Ben Stokes smashed 34 runs in an overto reach a 64-ball century for county side

Durham on Friday — his first innings sincebeing appointed as England Test captain.

The big-hitting all-rounder, who wasannounced as Joe Root's successor last week,is making his first appearance in this sea-son's County Championship following aknee injury on the tour of the West Indies.

He walked to the crease with Durhamon 360-4 on the second morning of theirfour-day match against Worcestershire andlaunched a boundary barrage.

The left-hander took just 47 balls toreach his half-century but then went intooverdrive, with his second 50 taking just 17deliveries.

Teenage slow left-armer Josh Baker tookheavy punishment.

The first five deliveries of Baker's 20thover were muscled over the boundaryrope by Stokes, who raised his bat after thefifth to celebrate reaching three figures, hav-ing clubbed 10 sixes in total.

Stokes was one blow away from emu-lating West Indies great Garfield Sobers, theonly batsman in Championship history tohit six sixes in an over, having done so forNottinghamshire in 1968.

But he was ultimately left thumping hispads with his bat in frustration after mere-ly hitting a four, sparing Baker from join-

ing ex-Glamorgan seamer Malcolm Nash inan undesirable club.

Baker was taken out of the attack butStokes' freewheeling batting continued as hewent to lunch on 147 not out from 82 balls-- including 15 sixes -- to help Durham toa mammoth 549-4.

Stokes is due to start his England reignin the first Test against New Zealand fromJune 2 at Lord's.

PTI nMUMBAI

Rajasthan Royals will look to sortout their batting woes and bring

their campaign back on track, whilean inconsistent Punjab Kings will beeager to keep the winning momentumgoing in their IPL game here onSaturday.

The Royals were at one point giv-ing Gujarat Titans a strong fight for thetop position but the former champi-ons have recently faced minor hiccups.They enter the upcoming fixture withback-to-back losses including toeighth-place Kolkata Knight Ridersand laggards Mumbai Indians.

Punjab Kings, on the other hand,will be high on confidence afterinflicting a morale-boosting eight-wicket defeat on table toppers GT. TheMayank Agarwal-led side will beeager to keep the winning momentumgoing as they try to get out of the midtable logjam an inch closer to seal-ing a playoff spot.

Rajasthan are third on thepoints table, and it is mostlybecause of the flamboyant JosButtler. The Englishman is cur-rently the league's leading scor-er with 588 runs. AgainstMumbai he waged a lonebattle with the bat whilehe failed to capitaliseon his start againstKKR. Rajasthan lostboth games.

The two othermen at the top --skipper SanjuSamson andDevdutt Padikkal-- have been goodin patches andneed to shoul-der moreresponsibility,especially withthe team shufflingthe number four

spot. If they get going alongside thebig-hitting Shimron Hetymar, thetrio can tear apart any bowling attack.

The inaugural edition winnersalso need to step up their game whilebatting first, three of Rajasthan's fourlosses have come while setting a total.

The Royals have one of the best,if not the best, bowling attacks this sea-son but the bowlers failed to defend158 and 152 in their previous twogames.

They definitely have the chops todefend below-par totals. YuzvendraChahal leads the bowling charts thisseason with 19 wickets, while the likesof Trent Boult, Kuldeep Sen andPrasidh Krishna have also done well.

It will therefore be a tall task forthe Punjab batters to tackle the Royals

bowling.The Punjab bating unit has

been plagued by inconsisten-cies. The likes of ShikharDhawan, who has been the

side's best batter, LiamLivinstone and

B h a n u k aRajapaksa cantonk the ball, but

they need to fire inunison to buildor defend a hugetotal. JonnyBairstow hasfailed to play the

explosive inningshe is known for, while skip-per Mayank Agarwal hasalso looked off colourand will be eager to beback among runs.

The bowling attackwas right on the moneyin the win againstTitans, restrictingthem to below 150.

PTI n PUNE

Aresurgent Kolkata KnightRiders will be wary of the

threat posed by Lucknow SuperGiants' in-from skipper KL Rahulwhen the two sides face off in theIPL here on Saturday.

LSG are sitting in secondplace with 14 points and are oncourse to secure a play-offs berth,thanks to a stupendous show byRahul, who has been their battingmainstay.

Former champions KKR arelanguishing in eighth spot witheight points and after four winsfrom 10 games, a positive resultwould help them stay afloat in therace for a play-offs spot.

Rahul has led LSG from thefront, amassing a staggering 451runs from 10 matches, with twohundreds and as many fifties tobe the second highest run-getterthis season.

He came up with a vitalknock of 77 in their narrow six-run win against Delhi Capitals,which was their third on thebounce. Thus KKR's variedattack, comprising Umesh Yadav,Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi andSunil Narine, would be keen toput the brakes on Rahul.

It is high time LSG's others

batters like Quinton de Kock,Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hoodaand Krunal Pandya start takinggreater responsibility and deliv-er.

De Kock got a start againstDelhi, but needs to convert theminto a big knock. Hooda chippedin with quick-fire 52 against DC,but he has to be more consistent.

A lot will also depend onhow hard-hitting all-roundersMarcus Stoinis and Jason Holderperform.

Pacer Mohsin Khan, who

snared four wickets in their lastgame, is getting better with everyouting, but DushmanthaChameera and Holder wouldneed to forget their hammeringby Delhi. Ditto for Pandya.

The four overs each by spin-ners Ravi Bishnoi and KGowtham can have a bearing onthe match's outcome.

Meanwhile for KKR, the

biggest worry has been their outof form openers. They have trieddifferent combinations, but nonehas worked so far.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer, who hasscored 324 runs from 10 match-es, has had a subdued season byhis standards. Just two fifties donot justify his talent and the KKRcaptain needs to get going if theteam has to chase or post a bigtotal.

The KKR managementwould be pleased that their mid-dle-order clicked againstRajasthan, with Nitish Rana andRinku Singh playing match-win-ning knocks. The duo, alongwith the swashbuckling AndreRussell, can trouble the Lucknowbowling attack and KKR wouldhope that their top and middle-order fire.

KKR dished out a clinicalshow when they restrictedRajasthan Royals to a modest152. While Umesh and Narinewere right on the money,Southee, who bled 46 runs, willneed to forget the hammeringand look ahead.

KKR may also continue withspinner Anukul Roy, who faredwell in the last game, which theywon to snap their five-match los-ing streak.

PTI n MUMBAI

Having batted at variouspositions so far in IPL-15,

Rovman Powell was back to hispreferred slot for DelhiCapitals' match againstSunrisers Hyderabad, days afterhe had convinced his skipperRishabh Pant to "trust me atNo. 5."

Powell, who hit a breath-taking 67 not out off 35 balls inDC's 21-run win here onThursday, also spoke about hischat with teammate DavidWarner, who was closing in ona century, in the innings' 20thover.

"I just told him (Pant) totrust me at No 5, give me achance to start, to bat the first15-20 balls, that's how I wantto bat, and then (after) 20balls I'll try to maximise,"Powell told host broadcasterStar Sports.

"I came to the IPL knowingthat I'm in good form, know-ing that I've done a lot ofwork," he said later at the post-match press conference.

The 28-year-old Powellhad started IPL-15 at No 6,then batted at No 5 twice, waspushed down to No 6 again,and was then sent to bat at aslow as No 8, leaving him dis-appointed.

"At the start of the IPL, itwas a little bit tough for me. Ijust keep believing in myself. Ihad a conversation withRishabh, explaining to himthat I was a little bit disappoint-ed to bat at No 8 in that game.

"But it is the nature of thegame, whatever the situationyou have been placed in, youhave to do your best. Rishabhand the coach (Ricky Ponting),they came up with a conclusionand plan and let me bat a littlebit earlier now."

Lucknow vs KolkataLive from 7:30pm ISTSTAR SPORTS 1 NETWORK

PTI n MUMBAI

Rohit Sharma and IshanKishan produced the earlyfireworks while Tim David

provided the late flourish asMumbai Indians posted 177 for 6against Gujarat Titans in their IPLmatch here on Friday.

Invited to bat, Rohit (43 off 28balls) and Ishan Kishan (45 off 29balls) gave Mumbai a rollickingstart but the five-time championslost three quick wickets beforeDavid (44 not out off 21 balls) lift-ed the team to a competitive total.

Rashid Khan was the mostsuccessful bowler for the Titanswith his two wickets for 24, whilePradeep Sangwan and LockieFerguson got one each. AlzarriJoseph also took a wicket but hebled 41 runs in his four overs.

After a series of low scores,Rohit seemed to be in good touchas he took the early initiative,dominating the proceedings withhis strokeplay as Kishan played thesecond fiddle

The MI skipper was particu-larly harsh on Alzarri Joseph as hesmashed the bowler for fourboundaries and a six, while Kishanjoined the party in the fifth over,slamming Rashid Khan for a cou-ple of fours to bring up their 50-run partnership.

Rohit then hit LockieFerguson for a four as MI posted63 for no loss in the powerplay.

Rashid produced the break-through in the eighth over, remov-ing the dangerous Rohit, whowas trapped in front while look-ing to play a reverse shot.

Kishan then took over, danc-ing down the pitch to send Rahul

Tewatia over mid-wicket.Suryakumar Yadav produced

his trademark whip for a maxi-mum but perished in his nextattempt off Pradeep Sangwan.

Back into the attack, Josephthen struck with a slower deliverywhich Kishan ended up sending toRashid at mid-wicket as MIslipped to 111 for 3 in 12 overs.

Kieron Pollard lived danger-ously with Sangwan and Fergusonbowling two quiet overs and waseventually cleaned up by Rashid,who set up the West Indian withtwo googlies.

Tilak Verma (21) and TimDavid then tried to put together apartnership with the latter launch-ing Mohammed Shami for twofours at mid-off and long legrespectively.

David next sent one overJoseph's head for his first maxi-mum before depositing a no-ballfrom Ferguson for another six inthe 19th over.

Varma was run-out withHardik Pandya producing a directthrow, while Daniel Sams tooperished with a second-ball duck.

However, David smackedShami for two maximums in thelast over to take the team past 170-run mark.

Punjab vs RajasthanLive from 3:30pm ISTSTAR SPORTS 1 NETWORK

Royals aim to return towinning ways againstinconsistent PBKS

Stokes celebrates Poms Testcaptaincy call with 64-ball ton

Knight Riders come up against LSG

I just told Rishabhto trust me at No5: Powell

Djokovic cruises into Madrid semisMedvedev to return fromsurgery at Geneva Open

Knight, Sophie among 12 foreignersfor Women's T20 Challenge

TIM TAKES

MI TO 177-6

Po. TEAM M W L NR Pts NRR

1. GT 10 8 2 0 16 0.158

2. LSG 10 7 3 0 14 0.397

3. RR 10 6 4 0 12 0.340

4. RCB 11 6 5 0 12 -0.444

5. DC 10 5 5 0 10 0.641

6. SRH 10 5 5 0 10 0.325

7. PBKS 10 5 5 0 10 -0.229

8. KKR 10 4 6 0 8 0.060

9. CSK 10 3 7 0 6 -0.431

10. MI 9 1 8 0 2 -0.836

pointstable

4s 1398

6s 734

boundarymeter