RTC has no money for salaries - SPLessons

VUJJINI VVAMSHIDHARA || DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

The Telangana state gov-ernment and the Road Tra-nsport Corporation (RTC)management informed theHigh Court that they areunable to pay Septembersalaries to the RTC staff onstrike. The 49,000 strikingworkers salaries total near-ly `240 crore, while the RTChas only `7 crore.

TSRTC managing directorSunil Sharma said this inan affidavit before thebench led by JusticeAbhinand Kumar Shavili,dealing with two petitionsof the Telangana JathiyaMazdoor Union and TSRTCBahujana Karimika Unionpleading for a direction toTSRTC to pay the salariesfor September, 2019.

Asked for a response, MrSharma said the criticalfinancial position madeRTC unable to pay thesalaries on the first of everymonth from its ownresources. It depended ongovernment assistance topay staff wages.

RTC is left with only `7.49crore whereas `239.68 crorewas required to paySeptember salaries.

J. Ramchander Rao, addi-tional advocate general rep-resenting TSRTC, told thecourt that the strike pre-vented the RTC from realis-ing the money. More than`125 crore of revenue waslost during the Dasara festi-val season due to the strike.The RTC could not payworkers.

Chikkudu Prabhakar,counsel for the petitioners,informed the court thatemployees on strike havebeen on duty in Septemberin spite of which RTC is notpaying them, making themthe equivalent of bondedlabour.

He added that 75 per centof buses are being run, gen-erating revenue. He prayedfor a direction to RTC to payfrom that. Rao counteredthat it would be used to paypart-time employees whohave been working to pro-vide transport facilities asregular employees were onstrike. The case wasadjourned to 29 October.

c m y k c m y k

Max: 28.9OCMin: 22.2OC RH: 89%Rain: 2.2mm

Forecast: Cloudy sky.Thundershower, rain

likely. Max/Min 32/22ºC

WEATHER

DURGA PPRASAD SSUNKU || DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

A fire in the neonatal ICU(NICU) of Shine childrenhospital at LB Nagar earlyMonday killed an infantand injured five others. Thebabies were low birth-weight and being treatedfor pneumonia.

Out of a total 42 childrenat the hospital, six were inICU.

The fire started at theICU’s refrigerator. D.Manasa’s son, a pneumoniapatient, had burns all overhis body, which was cov-ered completely with soot.

The boy’s uncle, D.Sudershan, said his brotherNaresh and Manasa had

admitted their baby onThursday. “It is clearly thenegligence of the hospitalauthorities which causedmy nephew’s death,” hesaid.

According to Mr Suder-shan, there was a short cir-cuit in the NICU, duringwhich time the childrenwere brought out of ICUand kept outside withoutany incubator support oroxygen.

The hospital staff assuredhim there was nothing toworry about; when the fam-ily spoke of taking the babyaway the staff said it wasdangerous to shift an infant

in critical condition. “So wedropped the plan to take thebaby to another hospital,”he said.

The baby’s father lodged acomplaint with policeagainst the hospital’s man-aging director, SuneelKumar, as well as the on-duty Dr Mohan.

The ICU had no smokedetectors or fire alarms,fire officers said in theirpreliminary investigation.Other parents rushed outwith their babies in theirarms.

■ Page 44: HHospital llacks ffiresafety eequipment

Fire in Shine Hospital kills baby

RTC has no money for salariesTells Telangana High Court it has only `7.49 cr, requires `239.68 cr to pay September salaries

ADITYA CCHUNDURU || DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Hyderabadis reporting forwork on Monday morningwere in for a rude shock.Across the city, at severallocations, many foundthemselves stuck inbumper-to-bumper traffic.The traffic was largelycaused by shortage ofTSRTC buses and thereopening of schools andcolleges after prolongedDasara vacations.

The heaviest traffic wasreported on the Secund-erabad-Panjagutta stretch,where commutes gotextended by as much astwo hours in some cases.

Bikers were seen restingagainst cars for somereprieve. Commuterstweeted that the nine-km-long stretch took morethan an hour to cover, andthey were all in the dark asto why this was happening.Sai Kumar, commutingfrom A.S. Rao Nagar toAmeerpet, said he had seensuch traffic only duringheavy rains.

The jam here was theresult of protests by

Congress leaders, who hadtried to lay siege to theCM’s residence, PragathiBhavan, near Begumpet.Heavy security was deploy-ed along the road. As aresult, traffic crawled at anexcruciatingly slow pace.

Murali, a techie in HitecCity, said he left hisNeredmet home at 9.30 am.“I was stuck betweenParadise and Panjaguttafor nearly two hours. Ittook me another 45 min-utes to get to my office,” hesaid. The traffic, coupledwith the shortage ofTSRTC buses on the road,meant waiting times at busstops on this stretch goteven longer. One Twitteruser complained that hehad been stuck atRasoolpura waiting morethan an hour for a bus.

The Metro offered littlesolace. Cabins of trainsrunning on this stretchwere packed to the brim,with commuters jostlingfor space and bodiescrushed into the steelwalls.

■ Page 22: BBegumpet MMetrostation sshut ddown

Traffic on one of the busiest stretches — Secunderabad to Begumpet — came to a grind-ing halt on Monday following stepped up security at Pragathi Bhavan, the office-cum-residence of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, to thwart Congress dharna in supportof the striking RTC drivers. — S. SURENDER REDDY

S.N.C.N. AACHARYULU || DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

After promising through-out the campaign to be acliffhanger, the Huzur-nagar byelection finallyseems to have tilted onvoting day towards S.Saidi Reddy, the candidateof the ruling TelanganaRashtra Samiti (TRS).Despite political analystsportending a clean win forthe TRS, punters are stillable to inveigle hugeamounts on bets about thelikely winner of the politi-cally crucial bypoll battle.

According to sources,Mumbai-based bookiesare offering an incredibleequal amount to punterson their bets either side,be it the TRS or theCongress; with no takersor interest for other candi-dates, including the meekalso-rans of the BJP andTD. Bookies were report-edly offering 95 paisa perrupee to punters for a betin favour either TRS orCongress.

Estimates put the likelyamount of money put onbets only on Huzurnagarin Mumbai circles atabout `50 crore.

In addition to this, somelocal politicians and busi-nessmen were placinghuge bets amongst closecircles and personally

organised betting games.The Huzurnagar byelec-

tion had created an unusu-ally huge interest in polit-ical circles as both theTRS and the Congress hadmade it a battle of highstakes, making the resulta pointer to not only theiracceptance and strength,but also a crucial factor tofuture narrative.

Generally, most bookiesconduct their own surveysand base the calculation ofodds and the rewards theyoffer to punters based onthese survey findings.

■ Page 66: EExit ppolls ppredicta wwin ffor TTRS

Advantage TRSin HuzurnagarPunters strike it rich on bypoll

EXIT POLLS SEE BIGBIG WIN FOR BJP

● In Maharashtra,exit polls projectedup to 243 seats forthe BJP-Shiv Senaalliance and up to 90for the Congress-NCPin the 288-memberAssembly.

● In Haryana, theyprojected 75 seats forthe BJP and 15 forthe Congress in the90-member House.

Congress strikehits traffic hard

The infant victim

PAVAN RRAO KK. || DDCBENGALURU, OCT. 21

It has long been suspectedand now it is confirmedthat with life becomingincreasingly fast-paced inthe metropolitan cities, peo-ple are suffering from stre-ss during long commutes towork and are becomingprone to road rage.

An ‘Age of Rage’ nationalsurvey conducted by TataSalt Lite in 10 metros of thecountry in August this yearreveals that over half thepeople living in cities areprone to road rage due tocommuting in stressful traf-fic conditions.

As many as 56 per cent ofthe 2,500 respondents sur-veyed admitted they were

likely to exhibit road rage ifthey were held up in trafficand were getting late forwork and could over-reactin their responses to thetraffic police and other dri-vers. Exhibiting a greaterdegree of rancour, 16 percent of those surveyed saidthey “were more likely” tomisbehave with other dri-vers or traffic police anddisobey traffic laws.

While most people thinkof road rage as violentassault, it also includestailgating, abrupt lanechanges, speeding, and ver-bal threats, according to thesurvey, which covered Hyd-erabad, Bengaluru, Chen-nai, Ahmedabad, Delhi,Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandi-garh, Pune and Lucknow.

Going by the NationalCrime Records Bureau,4,255 incidents of road ragewere reported in Bengaluruin 2015 and 50.1 per cent ofthose involved wereinjured in such incidents.While the National FamilyHealth Survey — 4 makesno reference to traffic indu-ced stress, it says 10 percent of men in Bengalurubetween the ages of 15 and49 suffer from hypertensionand 5.6 per cent of womenin the same group sufferfrom the disease.

Emphasising that stress-related disorders due to dri-ving are a serious healthconcern, the survey lamen-ts there isn’t any focusedstudy in India to monitorcommuting stress affecting

an individual’s physiology.“It’s a serious concern, andmore people are succumb-ing to stress brought on bystaying in their vehicles fortoo long, leading to all sortsof trouble like depression,hypertension, anxiety,rage, diabetes, fatigue, andeven heart disease,” it adds.

Dr Aviva Pinto Rodrigues,fertility consultant, NovaIVF Fertility, who acknowl-edges that some day-to-daysituations in traffic can be acontributing cause forhypertension, warns thatthe condition in men canlead to poor semen qualityand in women, affect thelining of the uterus, whichcould potentially affect thehealthy implantation of theembryo.

Long commutes result in road rageStressful traffic conditions lead to diseasesNATIONAL | SURVEY

deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle Vol. 82 No. 292 Established 1938 | 32 PAGES | `4.00

TABLOIDWORLD|10 SPORTS|13Growing the fruitsof her labour

India 2 wickets awayfrom 3-0 sweep of SA

Boris denied newBrexit deal vote

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I TUESDAY I 22 OCTOBER 2019

MADDY DDEEKSHITH II DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Though the metro rushrecalled the days of over-crowded city RTC buses, itcaused severe inconven-ience to the 3.5 lakhpatrons during both peak-hour commutes onMonday. Unlike buses, thethree-car metro cannottravel an inch without theautomated doors closing.

Commuters were subjectto extreme discomfort.They jostled, pushed andcrowded each other in thejam. The ongoing RTC stirforced the school and col-lege going crowd to takethe metro, aggravating thecongestion. Metro author-ities were sanguine, focus-ing less on commuter com-fort and more on therecord footfall.

Nadella Bharat said com-muting to Rasoolpurafrom Miyapur at 9 am wasa nightmare. Every trainand station was a sea ofpeople. A few commuterstried clinging on the foot-board but the automateddoor was uncooperative.“The train was so congest-ed that we had a tough

time,” he said. “I reachedoffice filled with sweat.”

While office-goers andthe elderly shared theirdiscomfort, college-goerscomplained the crowdingprevented them fromsocializing. Also, theycould not “foot-board”.

"The metro was so jam-packed that I couldn’tupdate my Whatsapp sta-tus while travelling,” saidpoor K. Sharath Kumar.“My hand could not reachmy trouser to take a call.”He suffered this torturetill Dilsukhnagar from LB

Nagar station. I felt suffo-cated,” said Noufel, goingfrom Uppal to Secundera-bad for college.

“Though AC is availablein the metro, it hardlymade a difference in theextreme congestion. OnRTC buses, foot-boardingrescues us. Metro shouldincrease number of cars.”

HMRL managing direc-tor Mr N.V.S. Reddy saidthe rush was noticed frommorning. The train fre-quency was increased toevery 3.5 minutes from 4.5minutes during peak

hours and seven minutesduring non-peak hours.Additional trains weredeployed.

In order to cater theneeds of commuters, theHyderabad Metro RailLimited has run four addi-tional trains.

The managing directorsaid that the footfallcrossed four lakh whichhas been a new record.

He further said thatHMRL ran 120 additionaltrips on Monday and thetotal trip count was 830 forthe day.

PAGE

2CityTUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Big awardUoH scholar Seema Prasad selectedfor Women in Cognitive Science(WiCS) Travel and Networking award

It’s good there isa continuous effortto keep illicit liquor

away from the state— V. Srinivas Goud

Excise minister

SHORT TAKEMMTS HIT BY

EQUIPMENTFAILURE

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

MMTS commuters travellingthrough the Begumpet stationwere stranded for 95 minuteson Monday because 14 servic-es were disrupted followingpower supply failure.

The overhead equipment(OHE), the main source forpower to the trains, trippedbetween Hyderabad andHussainsagar junctions ataround 11.30 am. It was recti-fied by 1.05 pm. Three servic-es, one from Lingampally toHyderabad and two fromHyderabad to Lingampallywere cancelled while 10MMTS services were partiallycancelled following stoppageof services betweenFalaknuma andSecunderabad. A Falaknumato Hyderabad service wasdiverted to Lingampally.

Railway officials are investi-gating on why the supply hadtripped.

MBT DEMANDS`5L IN EX GRATIA

FOR HABEEBADC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Majlis Bachao Tahreekspokesperson AmjadullahKhan Khalid has demanded anex gratia of `5 lakh for familymembers of Habeeba Begum,who was killed on October 16near NTR statue in Nizamabadafter she was hit by an RTCbus.

The MBT leader, who visitedNizamabad and inquiredabout the incident, said thedeath was due to an unskilleddriver driving the bus that hitHabeeba Begum.

He pointed out that the gov-ernment has been hiring driv-ers who are not fully trainedto run TSRTC buses becauseregular RTC employees havebeen on an indefinite strikenow for more than a fortnight.

He said Habeeba Begumbelonged to a poor family andher husband is a daily wager.He also demanded that thegovernment provide a job to afamily member of thedeceased, besides a two-bed-room flat.

RTC adds to Monday blues for commutersReturning from Dasara holidays, students and parents found it hard to rely on the services of RTCADITYA CCHUNDURU II DDCHYDERABAD. OCT. 21

It was a chaotic Mondaymorning for many inHyderabad. Schools andcolleges opened afterDasara vacations, whichwere prolonged by a weekbecause of the ongoingTSRTC employees’ strike.People had to wait for along time at bus stops.

Confusion prevailed asmany students and theirparents did not know ifthey could depend on busservices. At Lakdikapul,students as well as office-

goers spent the better partof an hour craning theirnecks to see if any bus wasapproaching. Irshad, adegree college student inAmeerpet, had been wait-ing at the bus stop for 40minutes. “I started at Koti.On a normal day, there isnever any shortage ofbuses there. Today, therewere only a handful ofbuses and they were allpacked,” he said.

Kiran Kumar, an inter-mediate student, had comefrom Chikkadapally in ashare auto. “I didn’t find asingle bus on the RTC X

Roads-Indira Park route.Share autos never operatethere, but they did today; Ipaid `20 to get here,” hesaid.

Kumar, who works for aprivate company, said hehad been waiting for anhour for a bus to take himto Tolichowki.

To make things worse, abus stalled right in themiddle of the busyLakdikapul bus bay. Itsconductor politely askedsome young men standingon the footboard to getdown and push the bus.

There were large crowds

at Koti, but there were con-siderably fewer buses thanusual. Several commuterssaid they did not usuallyboard the bus at Koti andone of them, a mechanicliving in Chaderghat, saidhe thought he had a betterchance of getting a bushere. “There were very fewbuses in my locality. Ithought I had a betterchance of finding a busgoing to Secunderabadfrom here; I came in anauto,” he said.

Others who overheardthe conversation noddedin agreement; one of them

said he had come fromMalakpet for the same rea-son. As the day pro-gressed, however, thingsgot better. By late after-noon, far more buses werevisible on the road than inthe morning. Mr K.S.Khan, TSRTC regionalmanager for Hyderabad,said services were hit inthe morning due to unfore-seen circumstances. “Atsome depots, we had someemployees come in andconfront the management.Service was affected atUppal depot when anemployee and his family

tried to enter the premises.But by the afternoon,things became morestreamlined,” he said. MrKhan claimed that around54 per cent of its buseswere being operated.

A senior TSRTC officialfrom Secunderabad regionsaid around 49 per cent ofits buses had been operat-ed through the day. “Wesend a bus onto the routeas soon as a (private) driv-er turns up for duty. Weare struggling to findenough drivers,” he admit-ted. However, even in theevening, there were still

many commuters who hadtrouble finding a bus. AtKoti, Ms Archana pickedup her son from school andwaited for a bus for nearly30 minutes. “If a bus does-n’t come in another 10minutes, I will take anauto,” she said.

At Secunderabad, on theroad going towards ClockTower, Sai, a degree col-lege student, had waitedfor almost 40 minutes for abus that could take him toBowenpally. When onefinally came, it was packedto the brim and he had tostand on the footboard.

KANIZA GGARARI &&RAJESWARI PPARASA II DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Engineering colleges,most of which are situatedin the periphery of thecity, reported low atten-dance on Mondayalthough they werereopening after a gap of 22days. Many students couldnot make it to their respec-tive colleges, particularlythose having RTC passesas most temporary con-ductors refused to enter-tain passes of any kind.

While many students,worried about the travelpains, preferred to skipcollege, those who bravedand tried to make it did soby risking their very life.The daredevilry was suchthat many were seen hang-ing on one leg at the foot-boards of the overcrowdedbuses. To the passerby, thescene was scary, to say theleast.

Students who travel bycollege buses found, totheir dismay that the car-riers did not turn updespite waiting for close to45 minutes at the regularpick-up points.

Apparently, most collegebus drivers have been pro-vided temporary jobs inthe TSRTC as a means tokeep its show running inspite of the ongoing strikeby the regular drivers.The ‘hired’ drivers arepaid a handsome `1,750per shift.

Mr Srinadh C., whose sonis studying in a college atMedchal, observed, “Manyengineering colleges arearound 50 kilometres awayfrom the city. Some stu-dents have to travel a dis-tance on RTC buses toreach the pick-up points.The strike has adverselyaffected all of us. It isunfortunate that childrenare at home when theyhave to be engrossed incompleting their syllabus.”

Most engineering col-leges are located in andaround Uppal, Gandipet,Kompally and Medak andthere are no Metro Railservices on those routes.

On select routes aroundMedak and Ranga Reddydistricts, RTC buses ferryengineering students.

Some of those collegeshave an arrangement withthe Corporation, whichplies extra buses and

caters exclusively to stu-dents of those colleges.Unfortunately, these linkservices are not operatingfor the past three weeks.

Last month, irate stu-dents broke the windowpanes of a bus belongingto Uppal depot, which didnot operate too manybuses to their college. Toease their woes, TSRTCadded five more buses onthe Ghatkesar-Bogaramstretch. As things stand,with the non-availabilityof drivers, students aredeprived of transporta-tion facilities.

Mahesh Raju a thirdyear chemical engineeringstudent, explained, “Myteam had to submit a proj-ect and we had to hire pri-vate cabs to go to college.It is so expensive a propo-sition that we will run outof our pocket money bythe time the classes arefully regularised.”

Mr Shankar K., whoattends an engineeringcollege in Ghatkesar, said,“Most of the students,who cannot afford collegebus facility, depend onRTC services for which wehave taken annual passes.The strike is making it dif-ficult as we have to shellout extra money to attendclasses.”

The vicious circle issuch that the transportcontractor for privatebuses is facing problemsof his own, particularlyfrom the drivers, who arenow on contract withTSRTC. Mr NarsimhaChary, a contractor, said, “Ihave to send new driversfor college buses as the reg-ular ones have not reportedto work. They are notreturning saying they arein villages, although weknow that they are in thecity, taking advantage ofthe temporary employmentbeing provided by the cor-poration.”

These new drivers werehaving difficulty withroutes, recognising stu-dents and bus stops, whichis resulting in the studentsgoing late.

In a related development,around 60 engineering stu-dents were at PragathiBhavan, expressing soli-darity with the Congressleaders and demandingthe government to resolvethe RTC crisis, soonerthan later.

Students hangon footboards

A motorist fortunately escaped without any injuries after a TSRTC bus ferrying passengers hit the two wheeler inSecunderabad. The bus had women passenger on the footboard of the bus — S.SURENDER REDDY

Commuters rush to Metro


The call given by the stateCongress for a siege ofPragathi Bhavan, the offi-cial residence of ChiefMinister K. ChandrashekarRao in support of the strik-ing TSRTC employees, ledto some dramatic events onMonday. Some party lead-ers were put under housearrest and party workerswho came to protest weredetained by the large num-ber of policemen deployedat Pragathi Bhavan.

Tension prevailed in thesurrounding areas as partyworkers continued to flockin. Malkajgiri MP A.Revanth Reddy surprisedeveryone by evading thepolice and reachingPragathi Bhavan onMonday, where he wastaken into custody.

Police had been deployedaround the residence ofMr Reddy in Jubilee Hillson Sunday midnight but

they did not find him at hishome when they went inand checked. Yet onMonday afternoon, out ofthe blue, Mr Reddy cameout of his residence andsurprised the police.Before they could react, hegot on to his two- wheelerand reached PragathiBhavan in Begumpet alongwith other party workers.

The police deployed

around Pragathi Bhavanimmediately took him intocustody and shifted him toKamatipura police station.

As all this was going on,Sangareddy MLA T.Jayaprakash ‘Jagga’ Reddyemerged from an autorick-shaw and raised a protest.He too was detained by thepolice and with 35 otherstaken to the Shahi-nayathgunj police station.

Cops detain state Congress leaders for attempted siege BEGUMPET METRO STATION SHUT DOWN

COUNTER POINT

ASTROGUIDEVikari; Dakshinayana

Tithi: Ashwayuja Bahula Navami till3.30 am (Wednesday)

Star: Pushyami till 4.33 pmVarjyam: 4.36 am to

6.06 am (Wednesday)Durmuhurtam: 8.32 am

to 9.19 am and 10.46 am to 11.36 pm

Rahukalam: 3 pm to 4.30 pm

HIJRI CALENDARSafar 22,1441 AH

PRAYERSFajar: 5.09 am

Zohar: 12.11 pmAsar: 4.13 pm

Maghrib: 6.56 pmIsha: 7.03 pm

SUNSET TODAY 5.51 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 5.11 AM

MOONRISE --MOONSET TODAY 12.35 PM

IREDDY SSRINIVASREDDY || DCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Is an act of desperationseeping into the TRSleadership, compelling itto lure JAC leaders awayfrom the ongoing strikethat is spearheaded bythe Telangana StateRoad Transport Corpo-ration Workers andEmployees Joint ActionCommittee and help callit off, pronto?

Well that precisely iswhat is claimed by JACconvenor AshvatthamaReddy, who, on Monday,alleged that two rulingparty MLAs (he did notname them) were mak-ing telephonic calls toJAC leaders and offeringmoney to ensure that thestrike (which is into its23rd day) is called off.

He made these allega-tions while addressingthe media soon aftermeeting Governor DrTamilisai Soundararajanat Raj Bhavan urging herto impress upon the gov-ernment the need tocome forward for talkswith RTC unions inorder to resolve the issueamicably.

Stating that they wereopposed to the govern-ment’s move to call fortenders to hire more pri-vate buses for theCorporation, he said thatthe delegation hadbrought all the issues tothe notice of the Gover-nor, including the effortsof ruling party Legis-lators to lure Union lead-ers with money power toostensibly sabotage theirmovement.

Mr Reddy said that theyhad also pointed out tothe governor on how thestate government washoodwinking the HighCourt with regard to pay-ment of salaries. He saidthat although only `20crore was required toclear September salariesto workers, the govern-ment had lied to the courtabout the need for `239crore to pay salaries. Hepointed out that the RTCmanagement is notempowered to call for ten-ders or hire buses with-out the approval of theBoard. He charged thattenders were issued onlyunder pressure from theChief Minister.

TRS TRYING TO BUY OUT JAC LEADERS

Congress MP Revanth Reddy, who was staging a protest in support of striking RTC employees, was arrested after trying toenter Chief Ministers’ office on Monday. — DC

FROM PPAGE 11

To make things worse, theBegumpet Metro stationwas closed down by offi-cials due to ‘security rea-sons’. Trains did not stopat the station. Keerthi wasstuck at both Khairatabadand Road No. 2, BanjaraHills, during her commuteto her office in JubileeHills. Ranvir Deep fromHimayatnagar said he wasstuck at Mehdipatnam for

nearly an hour. He got tohis office in Raidurgamonly after another 30 min-utes. Many others report-ed they were upset withhaving to swipe in late atwork, that too on aMonday morning.

Traffic from Panjaguttato Kukatpully too wasaffected. This stretch isalmost always crowdeddue to highway traffic,and the city traffic onlymade things worse.

Things were just as badin other parts of the cityas well. Swetha, a residentof Pragathinagar nearKukatpally, said it tookher three hours to reachher office in Gachibowli.She tried to derive somehumour from her ordeal:“I listened to nine songswith a view of MalaysianTownship (near ForumMall) in my window. Imoved only a few metresin this time.”

CityTUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Striking backBJP leader D.K. Aruna demands thatgovernment resolve RTC strike, says‘self-dismissal’ only applies to KCR

It will be better toimpose President’s

rule in Telanganastate

— Konda Vishweshwar ReddyFormer MP

IN BRIEFSSC exam fee dates revised

Hyderabad: Dates for remit-tance of examination fee forSSC exams’ regular and pri-vate candidates, who failedonce, have been revised by

the Office of the Directorateof Government

Examinations. The exams aredue to be held in March. All

heads of recognised schoolshave to remit the fee in theprescribed treasury challanby enclosing the list of the

candidates to it.The last date for remittance

of exam fee by the candi-dates to the headmasters is

November 7, without anylate fee and the respective

headmasters have to submitthem in one lot by

November 11. With a late feeof `500, the students can

pay till December 23, where-as headmasters have toremit by December 27.

AI, ROBOTICS TOBE PROMOTED

IN DISTRICTS DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

The Telangana state govern-ment is setting up a technolo-gy centre (TC) and an exten-sion centre (EC) costing `300crore. This was announcedduring a review meetingbetween Telangana StatePlanning Board vice-chair-man B. Vinod Kumar andindustrial department officersand government officials athis residence on Monday.

Mr Vinod Kumar said thatsteps are being taken to set upnew centres to boost employ-ment opportunities to youthbesides giving them profes-sional exposure in ArtificialIntelligence (AI), robotic andemerging technologies.

He instructed the collectorsof Warangal, Karimnagar,Sangareddy and Khammamdistricts to complete the landacquisition process for theestablishments of the centresso that a large number of peo-ple could benefit.

Mr Kumar recalled that dur-ing his tenure as MP, he hadheld several consultationswith the Union industriesminister to set up an exten-sion centre in Karimnagar.

■ ■ PLANNING BBOARD vice-chairman B. Vinod Kumarsaid that steps are beingtaken to set up new centresto boost employmentopportunities.

POWER | SHUTDOWN10 am to 4 pm: Saidappahouse area, Ambedkarnagar,Gyani Zail Singh colony,Emergency colony; Jagga Raoarea, Sai Baba temple area,Water Works area, Rama NaiduFilm Chamber, Rama Naidufilm studio, Apollo Hospitalarea, Murali Mohan PT, TechMahindra area, N-TV area,Milan Tent House; BGR colony,Rama Naidu studio area,Padmalaya studio area, JubileeHills Road No. 78,Easwarawalli, Babu JagjivanRam colony, Padmalaya slumarea, areas around the housesof Pullela Gopichand, SaniaMirza, kabaddi team captainNihita Nethu, Bharani layout,Teacher Training Centre area,Nyaya Vihar; Aurunodayacolony, Hitech theatre area,Arjuna basti area; AyyappaSociety area, Arunodayacolony, Image Garden, SiliconValley, My Home apartmentarea fed by underground cable,Sainagar; Mega Hills, Sriramcolony, Guttala Begumpet,Ravindra Society, Kavuri HillsPhase-I, Harijana Basti,Andhra Basti, Doctors’ colony,Vemral Garden. 11 am to 3 pm: Pro AgroSeeds, Adityanagar,Suryanagar, Chabra Enclave,Meraj colony, Jhansi LaxmiBhai colony, Mahbub Garden,Jhansinagar, 7 Tombs area,Raghava colony.2 pm to 4 pm: Kakatiyanagar,Salarjung Colony, MoghalHeights, Al Karim colony,Virasatnagar colony, OwaisiPark.

Road repair delayed byprocedural speedbumpMADDY DDEEKSHITH || DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

The city road repair proj-ect has been moving onestep forward and two stepsback. Though officialsfrom the engineering winghave prepared a plan forannual road maintenance,it requires a governmentorder (GO) to start theproject. And that is notforthcoming.

This apart, the govern-ment has asked theHyderabad Road Develop-ment Corporation (HRD-CL), which was created asa special purpose vehicle

(SPV) to fund the roadrepair works, to knock onthe doors of financialinstitutions to obtain`1,500 crore in loans tocarry out the road repairs.

Though the governmenthas passed an oral orderregarding the handingover of the roads for annu-al maintenance, the engi-neers are firm about get-ting a government orderbefore the start the work.

According to highlyplaced sources in the cor-poration, the civic bodyhas prepared four propos-als pertaining to handingover road maintenance to

private players. Since therole and responsibilitiesof the private agencieshas been fixed in the pro-posals, the corporation’sofficials can float tendersfor approval.

A senior GHMC officialsaid that the corporationhas been doing the paper-work for the loan.

He said that 687 km out

of 709 km of maintenancework will be handed overto the private agenciesand the remaining will beexecuted by HRDCL.

He said that the HRDCLwill develop model corri-dors and lay roads on theoutskirts of the city. Thecivic body alone requires`1,300 crore and HRDCLhas the scope to borrow`200 crore.

“The entire fund raisingand tender invitationprocess will consume atleast one month if the gov-ernment approves one ofthe proposals and releasesthe GO,” he added.

Draft road upkeepplan: KTR to babusDC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Municipal administra-tion minister K.T. RamaRao on Monday askedGreater HyderabadMunicipal Corporationofficials to draft a com-prehensive road mainte-nance (CRM) programmeto improve the mainte-nance of roads in the city.

Mr Rao was speaking ata Cabinet subcommitteemeeting at the GHMCheadquarters. Heinstructed officials to pre-pare the CRM prior tohanding over not only themaintenance of roads,but also of greenery, pave-ments, and everythingpertaining to roads to pri-vate players.

Speaking during themeeting Mr Rao said lay-ing of new roads, identi-fying damaged roads, fill-ing of potholes, preparingestimates and allocatingworks was done by differ-ent wings of the GHMC,which has led to coordina-tion challenges.

He said to address thesechallenges the GHMC hasinitiated the CRM pro-gramme under which atotal of 709 km ofHyderabad roads will bemaintained. The CRMprogramme is aimed atproviding better qualityroads to citizens, headded. Explaining howthe CRM works, the min-ister said that the mainroads of Hyderabad willbe divided into eightunits for maintenancework on a war footing.

He said GHMC will callfor tenders for road main-tenance for a term of fiveyears. The responsibilityfor laying of roads, main-tenance, building foot-paths, cleaning, andmaintaining greenery,will be with the agencies

appointed. “The agencieswill also take up the nec-essary digging and re-lay-ing work, for which theywill take permissionsfrom HMWS&SB andTransco six months inadvance. This willimprove road infrastruc-ture maintenance andwork standards,” Mr Raosaid.

He said the GHMC willfrom time to time monitorthe quality of the workdone by the agencies.

JAYENDRA CCHAITHANYAT. || DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Failing to fasten the seatbelt proved fatal for threeyoungsters while theirtwo friends who followedthe rule survived withinjuries in a car crashlast week at Shadnagar,the Cyberabad police hasstated.

The police constituted ateam and analysed the

reasons for the freakmishap, where two of theinmates of the SUV wereflung out of the car to adistance of 30 feet.

The police said the driv-er lacked the adequateskills, and that the vehi-cle carrying eight passen-gers was speeding whenthe accident occurred.The SUV hit a rock on theroadside, spun in the air,overturned and landed inthe adjacent fields.

On October 11, eightyoungsters, employees ofan IT company in the city,started in a car (TS08 GQ4484) to Anantapur fromGachibowli, to attend awedding. The accidentoccurred near Jedcherla.

Following the incident,the Cyberabad trafficpolice constituted a teamto analyse the reasons forthe deaths of the threepassengers found thatexcept for the driver and

the passenger besidehim, none had fastenedtheir seatbelts.

The police found thatthe SUV was travelling at120 km per hour and thedriver of the vehicleLokesh lost control afterovertaking a lorry fromleft. “The driver and theperson in the passengerseat beside him survivedwith minor injuries. Thetwo persons sitting on therear seat were rammed

through the rear wind-shield and died,” saidCyberabad DCP (Traffic)S.M. Vijay Kumar.

The DCP said lack ofcontrol over the vehicle,lack of driving skills andspeeding were the causesof the accident. “All pas-sengers travelling in acar need to fasten theseatbelt for safety. Sadly,many do it only whenthey are under policeobservation,” he said.

Poor driving, speeding caused Shadnagar mishap

K.T. Rama Rao.

■ ■ THE MMINISTERinstructed the offi-cials to prepare theCRM prior to hand-ing over not only themaintenance ofroads, but also ofgreenery, pave-ments, and every-thing pertaining toroads to privateplayers.

■ ■ TO AADDRESS thechallenges, theGHMC has initiatedthe CRM programmeunder which 709 kmof Hyderabad roadswill be maintained,he said.

Celebrations

St Francis Girls High School headmistress Carmelita Thaniyath offers prayers with students as they celebrate theFeast of Our Lady of the Rosary in Secunderabad on Monday. — AFP

GUV LAYS STRESSON INNOVATIONIN AGRI SECTOR DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan onMonday inaugurated atwo-day regional work-shop, 'Youth as TorchBearers of BusinessOriented Agriculture inSouth India', organisedby Professor Jayashan-kar Telangana StateAgricultural University(PJTSAU) in collabora-tion with TAAS (Trustfor Advancement ofAgricultural Sciences),APAARI (Asia-PacificAssociation of Agricul-tural Research Insti-tutions) and ICAR-Naarm.

The Governor under-scored the importance ofinnovations to bolsterthe agriculture sectorand make it a profitablelivelihood.

“Indian youth mustutilize the opportunitiesavailable in the agricul-tural sector to, in courseof time, emerge as torch-bearers of business-ori-ented agriculture,” shesaid. Addressing thegathering, PJTSAU Vice-Chancellor PraveenKumar said “There areseveral corporate play-ers, community-basedorganizations, farmercooperatives and pro-cessing industries,which all can influencethe mindset of young-sters to make profits outof farming while ensur-ing welfare of communi-ties.”

“The linkages betweenthese change agents arelocalized, thereby deny-ing opportunities for alarger audience to learn,challenges and successstories of young menand women, who made aname for themselves inthe agri-businessdomain,” he said.

ADITYA CCHUNDURU IIDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

The state governmentannounced in May 2018that malls will not beallowed to collect park-ing fees from customerswho shop at outlets with-in their premises.Visitors could park theirvehicles for free for up to30 minutes. Above thatperiod, they need notpay any parking fee ifthey show a bill of pur-chase made at the mall.

Shoppers were delight-ed with this “people-friendly” move. Over thenext few weeks, mallowners came to termswith the fact that theyhad lost a revenuestream and there wasnothing they could doabout it. But was thegovernment’s moveright?

Many urban plannersfeel free parking at pub-lic or private spaces isagainst free economicsand good urban plan-ning. However, there areothers who contend pro-viding parking is publicgood and government isduty bound to provide it.

According to RutulJoshi, an associate pro-fessor at CEPTUniversity (formerlyCentre forE n v i r o n m e n t a lPlanning andTechnology) inAhmedabad, the movetowards free parking isindicative of public per-ception. “This is the con-ventional thought aboutparking. Even courtsthink the same way. But

as incomes increase, sodo number of vehicles.We cannot go on consid-ering parking as anassured and free service.We have to start puttinga price tag on it. The jobof the government is toprovide quality publictransit and not free park-ing,” Joshi observes. Hebelieves parking space isreal estate. How long canit be subsidised? A vehi-cle is a private commodi-ty. One cannot expectpublic entities to pro-vide free space to privategoods.

Mr Vijay Gopal, anactivist who had filed apublic interest litigationin the High Courtagainst malls collectingparking fee, contendsprivate establishmentscannot be allowed tocharge customers forparking when they aremaking purchases attheir premises. Hebelieves parking shouldbe free. But how aboutwhen space runs out?

“By law, the govern-ment has no other optionbut to provide parking tocitizens,” Mr Gopal saysbut concedes that whenspace runs out, the gov-ernment can charge afee. “However, the feeshould be economical,”he states while in thesame breath adding,“For some it could beeconomical, for others itmight not.”

It is this very attitudethat Mr Joshi resists. Hebelieves the idea of forc-ing businesses or evengovernment entities toprovide free services isagainst basic laws of

economics. He eluci-dates this with an exam-ple: “If I buy a diningtable, why should thegovernment give mespace to place it. Ideally,the government shouldcharge for parkingeverywhere. Let the mar-ket forces decide howexpensive parkingshould be. It must be leftto businesses to decidewhether or not theywant to provide freeparking service.”

Mr A.G. KrishnaMenon, a Delhi-basedarchitect and urbanplanner, believes theremust be a paradigm shiftin how one thinks aboutpublic spaces. “A car isnot conducive to goodcity life. Very few peoplehave them. Voices thatask for free parking arethose of the elite lookingfor their own benefit,”he remarks. He pointsout that most of the peo-ple who use roads arepedestrians. “Whyshouldn’t we spend moreon them? Why not spendenough on public trans-port that is used bymany people,” MrMenon asks.

The voices of MrMenon and Mr Gopal,however, are in a minori-ty. Most people have notyet given it a detailedthought. Mr SatishKumar Pendyala, whohad approached MrGopal to file his plea, isnot happy with the sta-tus quo. He believes peo-ple should be allowed topark their vehiclesinside commercial estab-lishments for at leastthree hours.

Free parking concernsfor motorists and govt

Experts want paid parkingSPACE | CRUNCH

■ The governmenthas given a verbalgo-ahead but offi-cials are waiting forgovernment order.

CityTUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Eyeing victoryKTR thanks TRS leaders and activistswho worked in Huzurnagar for the pastmonth, says confident of victory

AP failed to createassets, but is

damaging existingpublic assets

— N. Chandrababu NaiduTD president

IN BRIEF

23 INVOLVED INDARSHAN SCAM

ARRESTEDDC CCORRESPONDENTNELLORE, OCT. 21

Tirumala II Town policeapprehended 23 peopleinvolved in a scam pertainingto darshan, accommodationand ‘prasad’ distribution atTirumala on Monday.

II Town police, led by circleinspector Chandrasekhar,responded quickly when theycame to know about misuse ofa recommendation letter fordarshan issued by Gudur leg-islator V. Vara Prasada Rao.The scam came to light whenTTD employees, who weremanning Vaikuntam queuecomplex at Tirumala, came toknow on close questioningthat five persons who weregoing for darshan, with thetokens obtained through theMLA letter, said that they paid`21,000 to a broker for the spe-cial darshan tickets.

Police picked up and grilledthe broker in questionSrinivasulu Naidu and theinformation provided by himled the police team to detain asmany as 22 more brokersinvolved.

The police also found role oftwo regular employees of theTTD and an outsourcing staffbehind the illegal sale ofladdus.

Parents risk theirlives to save babiesDURGA PPRASAD SSUNKU IIDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Courageous parentsrisked their lives to savefive babies stuck in thesmoke-engulfed NeonatalICU (NICU) in ShineChildren Hospital at LBNagar early on Monday.

Parents sleeping in theground floor waiting hallwere woken by a blastand saw patients and oth-ers fleeing the hospital.Yet these parentsclimbed upstairs to thefourth floor to rescuetheir children.

Mr M. Naveen was thefirst one to enter theNICU. He told DC: “Thehospital staff stopped usfrom entering, sayingthat everything wasunder control. However Iforced my way in butcouldn’t see anythingthrough the smoke. I

went near the beds andhanded three childrenover to other parentsstanding behind me.”

Mr I. Giri, whose three-month son escaped withminor burns, said:

“Around 2:30 am we weresleeping when we heardthe blast and woke up.We enquired and heardthere was a fire on thefourth floor. We immedi-ately rushed upstairs.”

“The NICU was filledwith smoke and wecouldn’t see anything,”he added. “It became dif-ficult to identify ourchild. We risked our livesand rescued our child.”

DC CCORRESPONDENTKARIMNAGAR, OCT. 21

Three TRS leaders werekilled and four othersinjured when the vehiclein which they were travel-ling in rammed into a sta-tionary lorry on theHyderabad-Karimnagarnational highway nearGajwel in Siddipet district

during the early hours ofMonday.

The deceased have beenidentified as KanukuntlaMallesham (47), JangaPrabhakar Reddy (50) andJanardhan Reddy (40). Allthree were TRS leadersand residents ofManakondur mandal ofKarimnagar district.Mallesham was a former

vice-chairman ofManakondur AgricultureCommittee. Prabhakar

Reddy was an RMP doctorand a senior TRS leader,while Janardhan Reddywas a ward member ofVegurupalli village pan-chayat.

The TRS leaders, alongwith four others, werereturning after attendingthe pre-release function offilm Tupuki Ramudu atJRC convention hall in

Hyderabad. Police shiftedthe four inured to theGajwel GovernmentHospital. Bodies of thedeceased have been sentfor post mortem.

Health minister EtalaRajendar expressed hisgrief at the death of thethree TRS leaders andexpressed his condolencesto the bereaved families.

3 TRS leaders killed in Rahadari mishap

Itharaju Giri and Mamatha, parents of three-month-old baby, who escaped with burn injures and isundergoing treatment at Ankur hospital in Boduppal.

INFANTS SHIFTEDTO OTHER HOSPITALS

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 21: Aman travelling on a bike diedon the spot after being hit bya truck tyre. The incidenttook place in Kothavalasa inVizianagaram district onMonday. The victim was iden-tified as Pilla Achhibabufrom Mushiram village

under Kothavalasa mandal.According to Kothavalasapolice, a truck was on its wayfrom Visakhapatnam toKothavalasa. Suddenly thefront right tyre burst and therim hit Achhibabu, who iscoming from the oppositedirection.

They reached the 4th floor and rescued kids

MAN KILLED IN FREAK ACCIDENT

KANIZA GGARARI II DDCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

The staff was not awareof the safety drill and fireextinguisher and hosepipes were not in work-ing order at ShineHospital where a firebroke out in the neonatalICU on October 21. Therewere no smoke detectorsand parents and relativesof patients had to usetheir presence of mind toevacuate their sick chil-dren from the hospital.

The short circuit thatthe fire brigade suspectstriggered the fire couldbe due to power fluctua-

tions. A senior doctorwho owns a hospital inUppal said, on conditionof anonymity, “There arepower outages and thatcould also have led toextra load on the electri-cal systems resulting inthe short circuit.”

The presence of firesafety equipment but itsnon-functioning raisesissues of whether annualchecks are carried out.The fire safety depart-ment does not carry outchecks of buildings thatare less than 15 metreshigh. A governmentorder issued in 2016exempted these buildings

from the fire depart-ment’s purview and theyhave to be checked by thedisaster managementwing of the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation.

Dr Narender Reddy,joint secretary ofTelangana Hospitals andNursing HomesAssociation, says,"Regular checking of fireequipment is not done. The fire depart-ment does not have tocarry out checks of these(below 15 m) buildings.Fire certificates aretaken out by the smallhospitals too as it is a

requirement and also astandard of safety.Maintaining it is theduty of the hospital."

With more than 1000small hospitals in thecity, is their equipmentwell maintained? No,says the founder of theNursing Officers’Association LaxmanRudavath.

He says, “80 per cent ofhospitals have put in theequipment but whether itis working is a big ques-tion. The officials inspectwhen there is an incidentand after that forgetabout it. They have toannually check and

ensure that the protocolsare followed but that isnot happening.”

The disaster manage-ment wing of the GHMChas issued notice toShine Hospital and thereare rumours that check-ing of some 500 hospitalsin the city will be carriedout.

A senior doctor whoowns a hospital said hos-pitals that have come uparound the periphery ofthe GHMC must bechecked. Officials oftencheck hospitals that havesystems in place and sub-mit a report “which is ofno use.”

Fire safety equipment was defunct


A 12-day baby girl ofMattapally Suguna w/oMattapally Nagarajuage: 25 yrs, r/oUrumalla village,Chityal Mandal,Nalgonda, was shiftedto Disha Hospital, LBNagar.

Three-month baby boyof Itharaju Mamatha,w/o Itharaju Giri, r/oShivannaguda village,Marriguda Mandal,Nalgonda district shift-ed to Ankura Hospital,Boduppal.

45-day baby boy ofAbdulla, s/o Moham-med Khaleel, r/oPahadi Nagar, Bhongirshifted to Safe Hospital,Malakpet.

Baby girl about 37days old of Saritha, r/oChinthabavi village,Devarkonda, shifted toAnkur Hospital,Banjara Hills, Hyder-abad.

All the remaining 37new born babies werealso shifted to varioushospitals.

M Naveen, who firstentered the ICU and rescued three infants.

DESAM LEADERARRESTED FORFINANCIAL FRAUDKurnool: P. Tikka Reddy,the Telugu Desam inchargeof Mantralayam in AndhraPradesh, was arrested bythe Telangana state policeat Yemmiganur on Mondayover a financial dispute.Sources said, Tikka Reddywas a partner in a brewery,Paras Collins Pvt Ltd, nearShamshabad. The compa-ny purchased 1 lakh tonnesof paddy husk and owed`12 crore but defaulted.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finishedthe race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

CHARLOTTE MARY DARASlept in the Lord on 21.10.2019

in Melbourne, AustraliaW/o Mr. Samuel Dara

D/o Mr. Desmond Mcleod & Mrs. Marvis McleodCharlotte your life was a blessing,your memory a treasure. You areloved beyond words and missedbeyond measure. You’ve lived life tothe fullest and left a lasting impres-sion on everyone you met. We MissYou CHARLOTTE

Inserted by: Family Members(S/1920/D01094)

“Precious in the sight of the Lord, is thedeath of his Saints.” Psalms: 116:15

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

Late KALAPALA EDWIN WILSONDOB: 04.02.1964 DOD: 22.10.2017“A great soul serves every one all thetime, a great soul never dies, it bring

us together again and again.”Inserted by: Wife, Children & Family Members

SAM CATERERSGolnaka, Amberpet, Ph: 9989935378/ 9849896774

2nd DEATH ANNIVERSARY

RATAN HEERA GOPALDOB: 16.08.1966 DOD: 22.10.2018

S/o Late Ratan Babu Rao“You remain with us every moment,

guiding us in spirit & in action.”Inserted by: RATAN FAMILY

H.No. 3-5141/E2/A Eden GardenRamkoti, Hyderabad.

Ph: 8686441353, 9848764870

1st DEATH ANNIVERSARY

5th DEATH ANNIVERSARY

DASS ELIASWE MISS YOU APPA

Ever Loving: WIFE, CHILDREN &GRAND CHILDREN

(B/1920/D00122)

IN FOND REMEMBRANCE &LOVING MEMORY

5th ANNIVERSARY

RAJ CHATRUMAL BAJAJWith Love:

BAJAJ & VAZIR FAMILY(S/1920/D01087)

Mr. C.G. DEIVADHEENAMRetired Divisional Engineer (DPE) AP Transco“You remain with us every moment,

guiding us in spirit & in action.”On 22nd Oct. 2019 Memorial Servicewill start at 7 pm, Venue 16-2-148/C,Anand Nagar, New Malakpet.

Inserted by:M.M. CLARA SUSEELA (Wife) &

Sons. Grand Children.Ph: 8639833035


I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.Psalms 23:6

CHINDADA GABRIELDEIVADHEENAM

“Your memories remain inour hearts forever.”

On 22nd Oct. 2019 Memorial Servicewill start at 7 pm, Venue 16-2-148/C,Anand Nagar, New Malakpet.

C/o PETROS HIGH SCHOOL


CHINDADA GABRIELDEIVADHEENAM

Inserted by: Christopher RoyPaul Ratna Rao and

Family Members


MEMORIAL SERVICEDeath leaves a heartache no one can heal.

Love leaves a memory no one can steal

Mrs. WENDY CHAPMANMemorial Mass on 23.10.2019 atOur Lady of Lourdes Church, BandLines at 6 PM.

Inserted by: Brian Chapman(CA-3055)

OBITUARY

Alhaj Mohammed Abdul Rasheedalias Babu Sait

Managing Partner of Mysore-I-AgarbathiWorks (Mastana Durbar Agarbathi)

Expired on: 21st October 2019.Namaz-e-janaza at Jamia masjidSubhash Road, Secunderabad afterZohar prayers 1.30pm. 22nd October.Tuesday Tatfeen at Kavadiguda, Sec’bad.

Inserted by: FAMILY MEMBERSPh: 9391107196, 9396577196

Passenger killedas bus overturns

A private bus overturned at Laxminagaram inKhammam district in the wee hours of Monday. — DC

COLLEGE BUSRUNS OVER TWO SISTERSPILLALAMARRISRINIVAS II DDCADILABAD, OCT.21

Two sisters riding a two-wheeler were run overby a private college buswhile they were on theirway home at Ravindra-nagar Colony here onMonday. Their brotherwho was riding the two-wheeler survived.

The locals alleged thatthe accident took placedue to the negligence ofthe driver of the busbelonging to VidyarthiCollege. Police, however,said that the vehicleskidded and came underthe wheels of the bus.

The victims were iden-tified as Shaziya, 23, andShafiya, 21, of KhanapurColony in Adilabad.Shaziya died on the spotand Shafiya while under-going treatment at theRajiv Gandhi Institute ofMedical Sciences here.They were doing theirteacher training courseat a local DIET college.

The victims’ fatherSuban works as an atten-der at a DIET college. It issaid that the two girls hadgot a good rank in theDIET-CET and got seatsin the local DIET college.Their brother Wajid wasriding the bike and theincident took place a fewminutes just before theyreached home.

Locals complained thatroad accidents were fre-quently taking place atthe same spot.

The road was congest-ed and large vehicles likebuses find it difficult totraverse the section ofroad.

DC CCORRESPONDENTKHAMMAM, OCT. 21

A passenger travelling ina private bus died when itoverturned near Laxmi-nagaram in Konigerlamandal of Khammam dis-trict on Monday around4:30 a. m. Six other pas-sengers, who sustainedinjuries in the mishap,were shifted to theKhammam hospital.

The bus was going fromKukatpally HousingBoard in Hyderabad toBhadrachalam. It over-turned when the bus driv-er applied sudden braketo avoid hitting a vehiclecoming from the oppositeside. Doddi Chittibabu, aresident of Tegada villageunder Charla mandal, waskilled on the spot. Thoseinjured in the incident arestated to be out of danger.

Temporary RTCdriver hits vehicle

After colliding with the vehicle, the bus swerved anddrove into a roadside field. — DC


A TSRTC express service,being driven by a tempo-rary driver, reportedlycollided with a car nearBhongir on Mondayevening. Sub-inspector P.Anjaiah said that around15 of the 70 passengerstravelling in the bus wereinjured and taken to ahospital for treatment.

“The passengers are outof danger,” Mr Anjaiahsaid. It is learnt that fourpersons were kept at thehospital and the rest weresent home after first-aid.

The car was entering theroad when it was hit bythe bus. The bus thenswerved and drove into aroadside field. The carwas badly damaged.

The bus, belonging tothe Parkal depot inWarangal Rural district,was returning fromHyderabad. The depotmanager at Parkal said aconstable from Bhongirhad called to inform himof the accident.

“We have been unable tocontact the driver or theconductor. Both theirphones are switched off,”he said.

Hell on highway

■ ■ THEY WWEREreturning afterattending the pre-release function offilm Tupuki Ramuduin Hyderabad.

c m y k c m y k

PAGE

5TUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

Former minister MohammadAli Shabbir accused ChiefMinister K. ChandrasekharRao of suppressing all organsof democracy and stated thatthe state was heading to a seri-ous constitutional crisis.

Speaking to the media onMonday at his residence, MrShabbir Ali, a senior Congressleader, said Mr Rao had beentrying to supersede the legisla-ture, the executive and eventhe judiciary and was trying toimpose dictatorship where thepeople are not allowed to exer-cise their right to freedom ofspeech or express dissentagainst government’s wrongdecisions.

Mr Shabbir Ali was keptunder house arrest by thepolice since 6.30 am onMonday to prevent him fromparticipating in the party’sdharna in front of Mr Rao’scamp office Pragathi Bhavan.He strongly condemned thearrest of thousands of partyworkers and leaders across thestate to foil their attempt to laysiege to Pragathi Bhavan.

He said almost all Congressleaders were placed underhouse arrest early on Monday,and those who managed toleave their homes taken intocustody and shifted to variouspolice stations. He said thatthe Congress leaders wantedto assemble at PragathiBhavan to submit a memoran-dum to the Chief Ministerseeking immediate resolutionof the ongoing RTC strike.“KCR appears to be in no moodto even accept a memorandumon public issues,” he said.

The former leader of theOpposition in the Councilalleged that Mr Rao had usedthe police to foil a simpleprotest in such an aggressivemanner as if using the mili-tary to thwart a coup.

PAGE

6PoliticsTUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Water markMinister Indrakaran Reddy asks officialsto speed up Mission Bhagiratha worksand complete them at the earliest

AP is the first to give`5 lakh compensationto Home Guards who

die on duty— Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy

AP Chief Minister

IN BRIEFSHABBIR ALI:

KCR TRYING TOBE A DICTATOR

NARENDER PULLOOR | DCNIZAMABAD, OCT. 21

The gates of the Sriram-sagar project (SRSP) werelifted on Monday for thefirst time in three years,and water released into theriver Godavari. Of the 42gates on the project, offi-cials opened 16 andreleased around 75,000cusecs of water.

The SRSP reached its fullreservoir level of 1,091 feetand gross storage of 90 tmcft on Monday after itreceived heavy inflowsfrom Maharashtra andcatchment areas of thecomposite Nizamabad andAdilabad districts.

The project also generat-ed 22.8 MW power as thewater released into theKakatiya canal. Visitorsthronged the project to seethe water gushing out of

the flood gates. SRSP offi-cials restricted entry ofvisitors at the spillway as asecurity measure.

The officials firstreleased water at the rateof 25,000 cusecs and gradu-ally increased the outflowto 75,000 cusecs. In view offlood water release, SRSPofficials alerted the admin-istration of Nizamabad,

Nirmal and Jagtial dis-tricts. Villagers, fishermenand cattle grazers wereadvised not to venture intothe river due to the swiftflow of flood water.Officials released 5,000cusecs of water into theKakatiya canal.

Speaking to DeccanChronicle, SRSP executiveengineer P. Rama Rao saidthat the Vishnupuri andBalegaon project gates inMaharashtra were shut onMonday evening and theinflow into SRSP maydecrease. “We will reducethe outflow on Mondaynight,” he said.

The project did notreceive inflows during Julyand August but receivedfloodwater in September.Heavy rain in Maharashtrafilled up the local projectsand water was releaseddownstream.

For first time this season,Sriramsagar full to brim

Water gushes out of the Sriramsagar project in Nizamabad district on Monday. Officialsopened 16 of the project’s 42 gates to let out excess water. This is for the first time thatwater was released from the dam this season.

Remembering the martyrs

Home minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali along with Telangana DGP M. Mahendar Reddy and city police com-missioner Anjani Kumar (left) and IGP Swati Lakra salute martyrs to mark the Police Commemoration Day atthe Goshamahal stadium in Hyderabad on Monday. — P. SURENDRA

DC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, OCT. 21

MIM president Asadu-ddin Owaisi on Mondaytweeted that a wholegeneration of Indianshad grown up in theshadow of the BabriMasjid’s occupation anddemolition. A judgmentthat upholds justice willreinforce the rule of lawand deter those whowant to distort it to ruleof majority.

Mr Owaisi urged theSupreme Court to go byvalues laid down in theConstitution as genera-tions would feel itsimpact.

The Supreme Court onMonday had allowedMuslim parties, includ-ing Uttar Pradesh SunniWakf Board, to file theirwritten note in thedecades-old Ram Jan-mabhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute case, inwhich they have submit-ted that the verdict willhave “consequences”for the future polity ofthe country.

OWAISI: GO BYVALUES OF THECONSTITUTION

IREDDY SRINIVASREDDY I DCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

TRS and OppositionMLAs have been strug-gling to fulfil their pollpromises in their con-stituencies due to thenon-allocation of theConstituency Develop-ment Fund (CDF) by thegovernment for 2019-20.

The CDF was `1 crorein the undivided AndhraPradesh and wasincreased to `1.5 crore in2014-15 financial year,and again to `3 crore in2016-17 by the Telanganastate government. In thepresent year, the govern-ment did not take anysteps to allocate the CDFto the MLAs. As a result,they are worried abouthow to fulfil their prom-ises to the public.

There are 120 MLAs,including one nominatedMLA, and 40 MLCs in thestate. The governmentallocated `362 crore tothe CDF in 2017-18Budget. After that, the

government revised theallocation to `298 crore.

According to the MLAs,the actual amountrequired for allocationsunder the CDF was `480crore but, for one or theother reason, the govern-ment kept reducing theamount and so as far thecurrent financial is con-cerned, there is no clari-ty on the allocation ofthe budget for the CDFscheme.

However, financedepartment officials saidthat in view of the finan-cial crunch, the govern-

ment is taking steps toarrange alternativefunds for the MLAs totake up their constituen-cy development activi-ties.

The officials disclosedthat the state govern-ment had allocated`10,000 crore in theBudget in the name ofspecial developmentfunds and these wouldlikely be released to thembased on recommenda-tions by MLAs andMLCs.

The MLAs are sayingthat they would have tosend proposals to thechief minister (CM) forthe sanction of specialdevelopment funds butthey did not know whenthe green signal wouldcome from the CM officefor their proposals.

Meanwhile, CongressLegislature Party leaderMallu Bhatti Vikra-marka said that the K.Chandrasekhar Rao gov-ernment had spent thou-sands of crores on adver-tising projects but did

not allocate the fundsunder the CDF scheme.

He said that the fundsunder the CDF are cru-cial for MLAs solve thedrainage, roads prob-lems and also to developanganwadi centres.

He alleged that theChief Minister has notbeen respecting electedpublic representatives.

BJP MLC, N.Ramachandra, said thatthe CM has promised theopposition and rulingparty MLCs that hewould allocate funds totake up micro-level devel-opment works in theirconstituencies but thegovernment stopped thefunds suddenly and thisimpacts the pace ofdevelopment.

Maintaining that everyMLC is facing this issue,he said “We requestedthe finance minister inthe recent budget ses-sion to allocate the CDFand also asked that theCM consider the issue’sgravity and serious-ness.”

MLAs, MLCs wait for money to develop their constituencies

KTR sees win, 85.7%of Huzurngar votes S.N.C.N. ACHARYULU I DCHYDERABAD, OCT. 21

An overwhelming 84.75 percent of polling was recordedin the prestigious Huzur-nagar Assembly byelectionon Monday.

Although this was 1.62percentage points less thanin the 2018 Assembly elec-tions, it was significantlyhigher than the 81.18 percent polled in 2014.

The administrationheaved a sigh of relief, aspolling was completed with-out any untoward incidents.

Both the Congress and theTRS expressed confidenceabout coming up trumps.Counting of votes is sched-uled for October 24 and theresult is expected by noonthe same day.

A total of 28 candidatesare in the fray, includingthose fielded by the BJP andthe Telugu Desam.

Since its creation, theHuzurnagar seat has been avirtual citadel of TPCCpresident N. Uttam KumarReddy as he was elected

thrice in succession.The ruling party is deter-

mined to wrest it from theCongress, this time around.

The byelection was neces-sitated after Mr UttamKumar Reddy vacated theseat, upon his election asNalgonda MP. This now pitsMr S. Saidi Reddy (TRS), N.Padmavathi Reddy(Congress), Mr Kota RamaRao (BJP) and the TD’sChava Kiranmayi.

TRS working presidentK.T. Rama Rao predicted abig win for his party nomi-nee. He said that accordingto information availablewith him, Mr Saidi Reddywas poised to win with amassive margin.

On his part, TPCC treasur-er Gudur Narayana Reddypointed out that exit pollsmay favour the TRS, but theeventual outcome would bein favour of the Congress,whose candidatePadmavathi Reddy, heaverred, will uphold theparty’s track record inHuzurnagar Assembly con-stituency.

From Page 1

With bookies offering thesame amount of money onTRS and Congress shouldindicate that whoever winsin Huzurnagar may get asmall majority and the fightwould be close. However,most political and mediaexit polls, besides profes-sional surveys conductedby some agencies predict abig victory for the TRS.

In the December elections,the bookies had favouredthe TRS retaining power, Inthe byelections, they areunable to predict a winner.

As a Congress inside said,“till last evening, it felt wewe were heading for a bigwin. But the money pumpedin the last few hours seemto have swung the battletowards the TRS.”

A TRS leader said, “Weare headed for a huge win,as expected.”

EXIT POLLS SHOWBIG WIN FOR TRS

■ According toMLAs, theConstituencyDevelopment Fundrequires `480 crorebut the governmentpared down theamount to `298crore in 2018-19.They do not knowwhat they will getnow.

■ The Sriramsagarproject reached itsfull level of 1,091feet and gross stor-age of 90 tmc ft onMonday after itreceived heavyinflows fromMaharashtra andcatchment areas inNizamabad andAdilabad districts.

NationTUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Verdict todayThe SC on Tuesday will pronounce judg-ment on Chidambaram’s plea challengingthe Delhi HC verdict denying him bail

Pakistan is not onlyIndia’s problem, it is a

challenge for entireworld

— Ram Madhav BJP leader

IN BRIEF

‘Goa cattle haveturned non-veg’

Kartarpur fee fixed at US $20

Explosion atHubballi station

Bengaluru: One person wasinjured in an explosion at

the Hubballi Railway Stationin north Karnataka on

Monday when he lifted oneof the small plastic boxes

found in an unclaimed buck-et on a platform, police said.Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLAPrakash Rao Abitkar’s name

handwritten on a corrugatedsheet was found pasted on

the bucket along with someaddress and slogans “No

BJP, no NSUI, only ShivSena”, a police officer said.

Police said it was not amajor explosion and investi-

gations were on.

TIWARI MURDER: 1

HELD IN MAHA

Panaji: Stray cattle broughtto a cow shelter in Goa arefound to have turned non-vegetarian, state minister

Michael Lobo has claimed.The animals developed this

habit by feasting on leftoverchicken and fried fish

dumped in garbage, he said.“We brought 76 cattle from

Calangute area to thegaushala where they are

being looked after. Werealised that they have

turned non-vegetarian,”Lobo said. “These stray cat-

tle do not eat grass. Theyneither eat gram nor the

special feed given to them,”he said.

New Delhi: India on Mondaysaid it is ready to sign an

agreement with Pakistan onOctober 23 for the opera-

tionalisation of the KartarpurCorridor, even as it

expressed “disappointment”over Islamabad’s insistenceon levying USD 20 service

fee per pilgrim and asked itto reconsider its decision.

New Delhi: The winter ses-sion of Parliament will be

held from November 18 to December 13.

Sources said that the decision was conveyed to

the secretariats of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya

Sabha by the parliamentaryaffairs ministry.

The government is likely tointroduce several major bills,

including the CitizenshipAmendment Bill, nullifying

the National Registrar ofCitizens to a considerable

extent. This, however, will bea very short session, com-

pared to the last few years,when winter sessions wereconvened on November 21

and ended in the first weekof January.

New Delhi, Oct. 21: Theinternet has emerged as apotent tool to cause“unimaginable disrup-tion” to democratic polity,the Centre told theSupreme Court onMonday, while seekingthree more months forfinalising and notifyingthe rules that would regu-late the functioning ofsocial media intermedi-aries in the country.

The ministry of electron-ics and information tech-nology (MeitY) told the topcourt that though technol-ogy had led to economicgrowth and societal devel-opment, there was also an

exponential rise in hatespeech, fake news andanti-national activities.

A bench of justicesDeepak Gupta and SuryaKant took the affidavit onrecord after advocateRajat Nair, appearing forthe Centre, mentioned thematter and said they hadsought three months’ timefor finalisation of theInformation TechnologyIntermediaries Guidelines(Amendment) Rules, 2018.

The affidavit was filed ina transfer petition movedby Facebook Inc., seekingtransfer of cases filed inthree high courts, relatingto linking of social media

profiles with Aadhaar.The affidavit filed by

Pankaj Kumar, additionalsecretary, MeitY, said, “Asthe internet has emergedas a potent tool to causeunimaginable disruption

to the democratic polity, itwas felt that the extantrules be revised for effec-tive regulation of interme-diaries, keeping in viewthe ever-growing threatsto individual rights andthe nation’s integrity, sov-ereignty, and security.”

“In view of the complexi-ty involved in the matterand the significant impactit entails on the function-ing of all stakeholders,including netizens, vari-ous government depart-ments/ministries, socialmedia platforms, messag-ing platforms, websitesand mobile apps etc., aconscious and bona fide

decision was taken by therespondent ministry tocall for further inter-min-isterial consultation sothat effective, robust andcomprehensive rules, cov-ering all aspects of thematter, can be framed,”the affidavit said.

“If on one hand technolo-gy has led to economicgrowth and societal devel-opment, on the otherhand, there has been anexponential rise in hatespeech, fake news, anti-national activities, defam-atory postings and otherunlawful activities usinginternet/social mediaplatforms,” it said.

Net can cause disruption: Centre■ Norms to regulate social media to be firmed up in 3 monthsNEW | RULES

DC CCORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, OCT. 21

The Anti-Terrorism Squad(ATS) on Monday claimed thatthe 29-year-old man arrestedfrom Nagpur in connectionwith last week’s murder ofHindutva leader KamleshTiwari in Lucknow, was incontinuous touch with otherpersons held in the case.

Meanwhile, the UP police hasannounced a reward of `2.5lakh each for the arrests oftwo more suspects.

A senior ATS officer said thatthe probe agency suspectedthat Sayyed Asim Ali, who wasapprehended by theMaharashtra ATS fromMominpura area in Nagpur onOctober 19, had played a “veryimportant” role in the crime.

The Maharashtra ATS, onthe basis of leads provided bythe UP police, on Saturdayarrested Ali. Tiwari (45), a for-mer leader of the Hindu SamajParty, was killed at his housein Naka Hindola area ofLucknow on October 18.

VINEETA PPANDEY || DDC NEW DELHI, OCT. 21

The exit polls have predict-ed a landslide victory forthe BJP-led NationalDemocratic Alliance inboth the Maharashtra andHaryana Assembly pollsheld on Monday. Whilemost exit polls predicted asaffron tsunami, the TV9Bharatvarsh poll indicat-ed a hung Assembly inHaryana.

Going by the exit polls,the BJP-Shiv Sena allianceis expected to form thegovernment inMaharashtra again, whilein Haryana incumbent CMManohar Lal Khattar willget a second term. Onceelected, Shiv Sena’s AdityaThackeray, who made hispolitical debut by contest-ing his first election, islikely to get a major port-folio as he makes a start ingovernance.

In Maharashtra, the“Poll of Exit Polls”showed that the BJP-Senaalliance had a clear edgeover their rivals Congressand Nationalist CongressParty, with 218 seats pre-dicted for the rulingalliance in the 288-memberAssembly.

The Congress-NCP isexpected to get 57 seats,while others may get 13.

Interestingly, the BJP-Sena had contested the2014 Assembly polls sepa-rately and later cametogether to form the gov-ernment. But this timethey had decided to betogether from the begin-ning itself to avoid split-ting of votes and givingthe Congress-NCP alliancean advantage.

In Haryana too, the “Pollof Exit Polls” gave the BJP66 seats in the Assembly of90, while giving 14 to theCongress, two to the INLDand Akali Dal alliance andeight to others.

The results of these exitpolls are a major blow tothe Congress, which washoping to revive its for-tunes in the two states.

The party had hoped toencash on the brewing dis-sent among people overthe economic slowdownand loss of jobs. However,while the BJP juggernautapparently rolled on

unhindered in both states,the Congress was boggeddown by internal strifeand factionalism.

The day started with alukewarm response by vot-ers with only 37.64 per centturnout by 2 pm inHaryana and 30.91 per centin Maharashtra. While itpicked up marginally afterlunch, the final voterturnout in Maharashtraremained at 55.45 per centand in Haryana it was61.92 per cent.

Besides the Assemblypolls in the two states,there were bypolls in 51Assembly and two LokSabha seats in 18 states,where the overall voter

turnout was close to 57 percent. The bypolls to thefive Assembly constituen-cies in Kerala weremarred by heavy rains,especially in Ernakulam,as voters waded throughwater-logged roads to exer-cise their franchise.

High voter turnout wasreported in Khonsa Westseat in Arunachal Pradesh(90 per cent), Naxal-hitChitrakot in Chhattisgarh(74 per cent), HuzurnagarTelangana (84 per cent)and Jhabua in MadhyaPradesh (62 pet cent) percent and Shella inMeghalaya (84.56 per cent).

The votes will be countedon October 24.

Saffron tsunami likely in Maha, HaryanaExit polls forecast a facile victory for the BJP in the two states, rout for its rivals led by the Congress

AKSHAYA KKUMARSAHOO || DDC BERHAMPUR, OCT. 21

A young couple inOdisha has set an exam-ple by solemnising theirmarriage in a novel way.They did not take help ofany priest nor anyhymns were chanted.

They took oath on theConstitution declaringthem as life partners.Biplab and Anita, thecouple, kept their mar-riage a low-key affair.

Reports on Mondaysaid Biplab Kumar andAnita got married in thepresence of guests andtheir relatives. A blood

donation camp was alsoorganised to mark theoccasion.

Including the newly-wed couple, the inviteesparticipated in the vol-untary blood donationwhere as many as 36units were collected.

“I am a rationalist anddo not believe in age oldreligious practices. Wekept it simple and gotthe marriage solem-nised in a unique way,”said Biplab’s father,Mohan Rao.

Biplab (31) works for apharmaceutical firmand Anita (23) isengaged as an auxiliarynurse midwife.

PAWAN BBALI || DDC NEW DELHI, OCT. 21

Siachen glacier, world’shighest battlefield knowfor extreme cold weatherand tough mountaineer-ing terrain has beenthrown open to tourists.

“The Siachen area isnow open for tourists andtourism. From SiachenBase Camp to KumarPost, the entire area hasbeen opened for tourismpurposes,” said defenceminister Rajnath Singhin eastern Ladakh.

He was addressing afunction to inaugurateCol Chewang RinchinBridge on Shyok river,located about 45 km fromthe county’s border withChina.

He indicated that thisstep will make peopleappreciate the efforts putin by jawans, engineersand other workers whoare deployed at such a dif-ficult environment.

Defence minister saidthat Ladakh has tremen-

dous potential in tourismand better connectivity inthe newly created UnionTerritory would bringtourists in large numbers.

The Siachen Base Campis at around 10,000 feetabove sea level. Fromthere, people will be ableto trek on to Kumar Campwhich is at 16,000 feet, thedistance of the trek being60 kilometers across 8-9days.

The post is named afterColonel Narendra ‘Bull’Kumar, who was one ofthe first officers who didextensive expedition ofthe Siachen helping Indiato launch OperationMeghdoot to secure theglacier in 1984.

YUSUF JJAMEEL || DDC SRINAGAR, OCT. 21

Jammu and KashmirGovernor, Satya PalMalik, on Monday warnedPakistan of stern militaryaction if it continued topush in militants and ter-rorists to foment troublein the state.

“We will dismantle ter-rorist camps. If they don’tdesist we will go inside( P a k i s t a n - o c c u p i e d -Kashmir),” he said whiletalking to reporters on thesidelines of a functionorganised by the police topay tribute to its ‘martyrs’at Zewan on the outskirtsof Srinagar.

The Governor also said,“War is bad and Pakistanshould behave. If theydon’t mend their ways,what will happen in futurewill be worse than whathappened on Sunday.”

Malik in his message tothe people of the Valleyparticularly its youth said“there will be a newKashmir from November1...participate in it andtake it ahead. I would liketo ask the boys here whatdid they achieve, so far(through confrontation)?”

The Army had onSunday said that itdestroyed three terrorcamps and damaged afourth one just across theLine of Control (LoC) in

PoK’s Neelam Valley,killing six to ten Pakistanisoldiers. Army chiefGeneral Bipin Rawat hadsaid that the Indian actionwas in retaliation to an

“unprovoked ceasefireviolation” by thePakistani troops in whichtwo Army jawans and acivilian died and threeothers were injured andseveral houses damagedin Tanghdhar sector ofJ&K on Saturday.

The Army had claimedthat it used artillery gunsto target terrorist campsin PoK where from terror-ists were being pushedinto J&K.

Pakistan had said that,at least, six civilians and aPakistani soldier werekilled and nine other civil-ians were injured asIndian troops resorted to“indiscriminate and ruth-less” shelling from acrossthe LoC. It claimed that 43shops, 53 houses, six vehi-cles and three motorcycleshad been damaged byIndian shelling.

Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Public Relationshad also claimed that inresponse to “unprovokedceasefire violations” byIndia in Jura, Shahkotand Nauseri sectors nineIndian soldiers werekilled and several otherswounded and that twobunkers were destroyed.

DC CCORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, OCT. 21

Wading into the ongoingdebate over a BharatRatna for V.D. Savarkar,senior Congress leaderAbhishek “Manu”Singhvi on Mondaypraised the Hindutvaideologue and said hewas an “accomplished”man who fought forDalit rights and hadtaken part in the free-dom struggle.

Singhvi’s commentscame days after theBJP’s Maharashtra unithad proposed a BharatRatna for Savarkar.

After this, former PMManmohan Singh toohad toned down theCongress’ stand againstSavarkar.

Singhvi added, howev-er, that he does not sub-scribe to Savarkar’s ide-ology. “I personally don’tsubscribe to Savarkar’sideology but that doesn’ttake away the fact thathe was an accomplishedman” who played a partin the freedom struggle.”

SAVARKAR AN ACCOMPLISHEDMAN: SINGHVI

PAWAN BBALI || DDC NEW DELHI, OCT. 21

The Army is expectingmore infiltrationattempts by terrorists innext one-and-a-halfmonths despite destruc-tion of launch pads inPakistan OccupiedKashmir (PoK) throughtargeted shelling.

“Before snow closes thepaths in mountainsalong the Line ofControl (LoC) we areexpecting more attemptsby terrorists to intrudeinto India,” said a seniorArmy official.

“We were expectingPakistan trying to up theterrorist flow after the

Financial Action TaskForce (FATF) meetingearly this month. Nowwith Pakistan gettingtime from FATF, it willgo back to its old game,”said sources. Pakistanhas got reprieve fromFinancial Action TaskForce till February 2020.

Sources said that thereare still six to seven ter-ror launch pads in thePoK along the LoC northof the Pir Panjal range.

“The number oflaunch pads is dynamic.These are makeshiftstructures where 10-15terrorists are kept bytheir handlers beforetrying to push them intoIndia,” said a source.

We will go inside PoK: J&K GuvArmy says moreinfiltration likely

Siachen thrownopen to tourists

ODISHA COUPLE TAKES OATH ONCONSTITUTION TO GET MARRIED

DC CCORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, OCT. 21

It was the same old storyin Mumbai, with less than50 per cent voters exercis-ing their franchise till 6pm in many constituen-cies.

Navi Mumbai andKalyan-Dombivali record-ed the poorest turnout,according to the ElectionCommission.

The overall voterturnout for Mumbai citywas recorded at 44.4 per

cent, while the suburbsrecorded a voter turnoutof 46.92 per cent till thesame time.

In areas like Colaba andBandra west, where thereis a significant elite popu-lation, the voter turnoutwas recorded at 37.43 percent and 38.13 per cent,respectively — less thaneven 40 per cent. Versova,too, recorded a voterturnout of 39.47 per cent.

There are 36 Assemblyconstituencies in Mumbai.

At 53.04 per cent, the

highest voter turnout wasrecorded in Bhandup westconstituency, which has alarge Gujarati andMarathi-speaking popula-tion.

This was followed byAnushakti Nagar nearTrombay (50.84 per cent),Ghatkopar west (50.49 percent), Dindoshi (50.2 percent), Ghatkopar east(50.11 per cent) andVikhroli (50.01 per cent).

Meanwhile, the remain-ing constituencies faredbetween 40 and 50 per cent.

The overall voterturnout for the Assemblyelections this year wascomparatively less thanthe turnout observed dur-ing the Lok Sabha elec-tions this year.

A nonagenarian was thecynosure of all eyes as heaccompanied Union min-ister Smriti Irani outside apolling booth in Mumbai.“Today’s hero is Khannasahab, who served in theArmy. At 93, he came outto vote. It is an inspira-tion,” Ms Irani said.

Less than 50% voting in Mumbai

● Congress MP H.Vasanthakumar was detainedon Monday for allegedly stay-ing in Nanguneri Assemblyconstituency in TN where abypoll was under way

● A woman was injured asclashes took place betweentwo groups outside a pollingbooth in Malaaka village inNuh district in Haryana’sMewat region

● JJP leader DushyantChautala levelled allegation of“bogus voting” in connivancewith a police official at a boothin Dumerkha Kalan village ofthe Uchana Kalan Assemblyconstituency

● Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar onMonday travelled by train fromChandigarh to Karnal and thenrode a bicycle to reach apolling booth to cast his vote.

● In a bid to make the pollingprocess convenient for womenvoters, temporary creches fortheir children were set up forthe first time in someAssembly segments ofMaharashtra

● A 62-year-old man faintedwhile standing in the queueoutside a polling station inadjoining Pimpri-Chinchwadand later died of brain hemor-rhage in a hospital

59Voter Verifiable PaperAudit Trail units and 19EVMs were replaced in

Nagpur district due to glitches.Faulty EVMs delayed polling atsome booths in Ratnagiri andBhandara districts as well

Three motorcycle-bornemasked men fired at a candi-date of pro-farmer outfitSwabhimani Paksha on Mondaywhen he was going in a car,and also beat him up afterpulling him out of the vehicle inAmravati district

Sunil Khambe, a BSP leader,threw ink on the EVM in apolling booth situated in ThaneHead Post Office

77.46%percentwas

recorded in the bypoll to theNaxal-hit Chitrakot Assemblyconstituency in Chhattisgarh tillthe scheduled deadline of 5 pm

Heavy rains affected voting inErnakulam Assembly constituency in the initial hoursas voters waded throughwaterlogged roads to exercisetheir franchise

It may be recalled that theElection Commission had earli-er announced bypolls to 15Assembly seats in Karnatakatoo. But they will be now beheld in December.

EVM GLITCHES, RAINS MAR POLLING

JAN KI BAAT

NEWS18-IPSOS

ABP-C VOTER

BJP-Shiv Sena

Arunachal Pradesh 92.94%

Uttar Pradesh 47.66%

216-230 52-59

243 42

204 69

Cong+ NCP

MAHARASHTRA — 288

BYPOLLS VOTING PERCENTAGE

HARYANA — 90BJP

52-63 15-19

75 10

72 08

Congress

TIMES NOW 230 48 71 11

NEWSX-POLSTART 188-200 74-89 75-80 9-12

A voter aftercasting voteat a waterloggedpolling sta-tion in Kochi.

– ARUNCHANDRA-

BOSE

IT IIS AA reiteration and reaffirmationof the credibility of the leadership of

Modi in terms of his positive agenda ofchange that focuses on development andbuilding a new India.

NALIN KOHLI, BJP

The Siachen BaseCamp is at around10,000 feet abovesea level. Fromthere, will be ableto trek on to KumarCamp which is at16,000 feet

The Centre hasexpressed concernon exponential risein hate speech, fakenews, anti-nationalactivities, defamato-ry postings and otherunlawful activitiesusing internet/socialmedia platforms.

CAB may be tabled in Winter Session

Though many ceasefire violations, some quite serious, haveoccurred since 2003, when Pakistan signed an agreement withIndia to not allow this, transgressions were sorted out by invokingthis deal. By and large, the spirit of the ceasefire was not thought

to be dead. The events across the Line of Control last weekend, when Indiasaid it retaliated hard as Pakistan violated the ceasefire in Tangdhar areato give covering fire to infiltrating terrorists from launchpads across theLoC, will guide us in understanding whether even the spirit of the agree-ment between Gen. Pervez Musharraf, as President, and then PM AtalBehari Vajpayee, now survives.

India had prided itself on its troops not violating the LoC, rightly hold-ing violations were done by Pakistan to aid infiltration. This was neededto persuade the world of Islamabad’s use of terrorism as an instrument ofpolicy in Kashmir and elsewhere.

Without giving thought to the larger picture, the Narendra Modi gov-ernment adopted the “surgical strike” posture in 2016 to look valiant. Thiswas for electoral reasons. In doing so, it turned its back on the long-heldview that violating the truce and crossing the LoC was a Pakistani spe-ciality. In response to the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, the Balakotattack in late February, in which Indian fighter jets crossed the LoC to hittargets inside Pakistan, effectively put a seal of finality on a new tacticalline regarding Pakistan. This renders the 2003 pact on not violating theceasefire wholly irrelevant. The new mantra is — if Pakistan violates thetruce, India reserves the right to reply in kind.

What this does, in turn, is to allow the theoretical possibility of thingsgetting out of hand — a strategic miscalculation by either side, quite byaccident. This bespeaks a parlous state in policy terms.

Whether this derives from poverty of thinking, or a display of pseudo-nationalistic fervour in which the readiness to go to any military lengthto appear bold (to intimidate the foe) is paramount, is not easily dis-cernible. Nobody outside India is impressed, of course. Within the coun-try, it’s those in the top tiers of government who are the most impressed.

There is a case for dispelling this air of self-congratulation in the aftermathof the August 5 move on Kashmir, which appears to have had a negativeeffect on the internal security situation in the Valley despite the greatlyenhanced force levels. Resort to diplomacy is always available to persuadePakistan that a show of belligerence on the LoC is in no one’s interest. It’salso time our military leaders lowered their own decibel levels.

22 OCTOBER 2019

Love aaj kal is blossoming. Specifically, and quite spectacularly, onTwitter, where Bollywood biggies have been tweeting selfies withNarendra Modi. Appended to these smile please photos are mushy

messages about the honour of posing with the honourable PM. Karan Johan, Salman Khan, Kangana Ranaut and Akshay Kumar have

been among Modiji’s happy and regular Bollywood posers for long. Butthere are some Johnny-come-latelys to this selfie lovefest that’s known torestore stars’ self worth.

In 2015, Aamir Khan talked about rising intolerance in Bharat.Incredible India frowned and dropped his mug. Modiji has since been theface of InIn, and Khan a regular at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, to pose and postselfies. Last Saturday it was the turn of Shah Rukh Khan, who too, in 2015,was all negative and anti-national when he spoke of religious intolerancetaking us away from achche din. A month later, his film flopped and hequickly went on to make serious amends. First he said, I never said. Thenhe said, I am a proud Indian. And then he almost made Rajat Sharmajiweep on TV by saying, kabhi kabhi I feel like crying when the likes ofKailash Vijayvargiya, BJP general secretary, say my heart lies on thewrong side of the LoC. But now that he has tweeted his first selfie withPMji, and has been given homework to complete and submit soon, thingsshould look up. But it seems PMji’s love for Bollywood is making southernstars suffer acute bouts of FOMO. Upasana Konedelaji, daughter ofChiranjeevi and missus of Telugu star Ram Charan, got her langa voni ina twist over this northern bias and cutely complained to Modiji, suggest-ing that he look at stars beyond the Vindhyas.

Given that Modiji is so busy, it’s not easy to take time out for selfies withall stars. He does so only to keep up the nation’s josh and everyone in theservice of Bharat Mata. Yet, we believe, Modiji listens to everyone’s mannki baat and tries to adjust.

The lawns of the PM’s bungalow will soon be lit up for stars from theunconquered South. So all Tollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood worthiesmust keep their kanjivarams and crisp mundus ready for an outing withPMji, to pose, praise and post.

The politics of selfie love

Pact to end ceasefireviolations now dead

c m y k c m y k

A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there

A well-instructed people alone can bepermanently a free people

SPIKE LEEMIND POWER

JAMES MADISON PAGE

8EditTUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Arecent BBC investigationrevealed the use of socialmedia bots to promote apro-government agenda in

Papua, Indonesia, where the mili-tary has played a controversialrole in cracking down on a sepa-ratist movement. The social mediabots have been deployed in a well-coordinated campaign to skew per-spectives.

Modern tech gives us great rea-son for optimism about the future,with its potential to solve so manyof our greatest challenges. At thesame time, it appears to bring usever closer to a dystopian night-mare. As Don DeLillo describes inhis novel White Noise, “This is thewhole point of technology. It cre-ates an appetite for immortality onthe one hand. It threatens univer-sal extinction on the other.”

A bot is an automated pro-gramme designed to run simpleand repetitive tasks. Bots are notalways bad. For example, customerservice is a popular application ofbots where they can carry basicconversation and assist with spe-

cific tasks such as food delivery ortechnical support. If you have chat-ted with a customer service repre-sentative on a website, chances areyou were chatting with a bot.

Social media bots, however, areoften designed for nefarious goals— censorship, propaganda, surveil-lance and/or bullying. They takeon fake personas and advocate cer-tain ideas, observe activity andamass followers. These bots mayspread misinformation, create theillusion of mass support for certainideas, bully dissidents and engagein innovative techniques such as“hashtag hijacking”.

A recent study by the OxfordInternet Institute found evidenceof organised social media manipu-lation campaigns conducted bystate actors in 70 countries in 2019,up from 48 in 2018 and 28 in 2017.Social media in these countries hasbeen co-opted to crush dissent, con-duct smear campaigns againstopponents, and suppress politicalparticipation and freedom.

In many other countries aroundthe world, including Pakistan, we

see a growing militarisation ofcyberspaces, with the systematiccreation of disinformation to mis-lead citizens, including memes,videos, fake news and manipulatedmedia. The presence of state actorsis prevalent across platforms —Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,WhatsApp — with online spacesbeing usurped by bot accounts aswell as human-run accounts.

Significant resources appear tohave been allocated towards suchcampaigns in Pakistan — teamsworking year-round, with strate-gies around social media controland manipulation. Data-drivenstrategies are also employed tomaximise the impact of disinfor-mation campaigns by profiling citi-zens and targeting specific groups.

This is just one symptom of thecorruption at the heart of the tech-nology sector. The dirty littlesecret, which leaders in this spacenow take great pains to hide, is thatdefence work has been in theirDNA throughout history.

The companies that we haveincreasingly come to rely on for

technology needs are at the fore-front of the relationship betweentechnology, defence and increasing-ly sophisticated warfare tech-niques. Many technologies we nowuse, such as GPS, have their originsin military-funded research. Thiscenturies’ old affinity lends itselfwell to the use of modern technolo-gy in the state’s war against its citi-zens. Globally, information warfareand psychological operations (psy-chological techniques used to alterthe state of mind and behaviour)have been in military playbooksthroughout history. While they arenot new concepts, the scale andimpact are unprecedented with theadvent of social media, algorithmsand automation.

Social media was once seen as ademocratising force, giving peopleaccess to more information thanever before, as well as a space to con-nect and debate. It has now beenweaponised, and the digital space isthe new battlefield where state agen-cies wage war and exert control.

Access to private online spaces isa fundamental right in a democrat-

ic society. There is a lack of trans-parency on how much of our datais being collected, by whom and forwhat purposes, and what surveil-lance techniques are being usedagainst us. The legal system is cur-rently inadequate to deal withsocial media and data-drivenmanipulation campaigns. Techno-logy companies are unwilling toopen up their business models andalgorithms to scrutiny, and govern-ments are unwilling to reveal theextent of their use of our data andsocial media.

While these are greater chal-lenges to resolve, on an individuallevel, it is crucial to be wary ofwhom one follows and befriends onsocial media, and to be critical ofthe information one consumes. AsIndonesian human rights lawyerVeronica Koman told the BBC, “Weare fighting machines, the onlything individuals like me can do isremain hopeful that the truth willbe stronger than any kind of propa-ganda.”

By arrangement with Dawn

Weaponisationof social media:

Defence in DNAof tech sector

Amid Brexit furore, willBoris have to eat his hat?

If a politician has toeat today what hesaid yesterday,Britain’s ebullientPrime Minister

might suffer acute indi-gestion from too heartya repast. First, BorisJohnson announced thathe would “rather bedead in a ditch” than askfor the “do or die”October 31 Brexit dead-line to be postponed.Then, after Saturday’shumiliating defeat inthe House of Commons,he proclaimed: “I willnot negotiate delay”.Yet, with prosecutionand even jail loomingahead for defying thelaw, he sent not one butthree letters to theEuropean Union askingfor precisely that, andthen telephoned DonaldTusk, the EU Councilpresident, and otherEuropean leaders, plead-ing that the request wasfrom Parliament and nothim.

“Super Saturday”, asit’s called, made history.It was the House ofCommons’ firstSaturday sitting in 37years. It was democracyin action of a vibrantkind never seen in India,for all that 900 millionvoters queue up in theheat and rain to maketheir mark against a pic-ture. That is why itwould have been educa-tive for Narendra Modi,Amit Shah, RajnathSingh, Rahul Gandhiand all our rumbustiousMPs to watch the day-long session with proba-bly every one of nearly650 British members ofParliament popping upto catch the Speaker’seye. A large screen inthe Central Hall project-ing the BBC’s live cover-age of the momentousoccasion would havegiven them a glimpse ofthe difference betweengovernance and tub-thumping.

Not that the question-and-answer parryingresolved the dilemma of

a country that havinglost an empire, is stillseeking a role, as DeanAcheson put it. Britainremains poised in theuncertainty of no-man’s-land. But Saturday’s ses-sion ventilated publicconcerns and regionalanxieties. The millionmassed protesterschanting outside thePalace of Westminsterdemonstrated popularsupport for not leavingthe EU now that there isbetter understanding ofthe costs involved. JohnBercow, the Speaker,was at his best as a larg-er-than-life version ofWest Bengal’s valiantBijay Kumar Banerjeewho in 1967 — when therule of law was muchstronger in India —thunderingly denouncedthe governor, DharamVira, as another EnglishKing Charles I. To noone’s surprise, MrJohnson tried to slipdextrously through loop-holes that lesser mortalsdidn’t even know exist-ed, recalling that anoth-er Tory Prime Minister,fellow Etonian DavidCameron, had accusedhim of “sharp prac-tices.”

Gordon Brown, the lastLabour Prime Minister,once predicted that MrJohnson would be thelast Prime Minister ofthe United Kingdom.The cracks began toappear on Saturdaywhen 322 MPs voted for(with 306 against) anamendment moved bySir Oliver Letwin, one ofMr Johnson’s 21 rebel

Tories. The purpose wasto compel the PrimeMinister to obey the sim-ilarly defiant Benn Act— the European Union(Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act2019 — requiring him toseek an extension toavoid a no-deal crashouton October 31, therebydelaying Brexit wellbeyond the deadline.Neither law may havebeen thought necessaryif parliamentarians hadtrusted Mr Johnson. Theabsence of trust washighlighted when IanBlackford, the ScottishNational Party’s rhetori-cally aggressive leaderin the Commons, saidbluntly that he wouldn’tbuy a house from “thisPrime Minister”.Earlier, he had calledMr Johnson “racist”and, referring to hisjournalism, accused himof making a career out oflying.

More important, hecomplained that the dealMr Johnson had negoti-ated with Brussels“shafted” Scotlandwhere 62 per cent of vot-ers want to remain in theEU. The Scottish govern-ment, which failed topush independencethrough in theSeptember 2014 referen-dum, is now demandinganother vote on secedingfrom the UK. It feels thatthe fear of a separatistScotland not havingenough clout in the EU ifBritain withdrewexplained the anti-inde-pendence sentiment in2014. That argument hasgone. Wales, which votedLeave three years ago,“is now a Remain nationagain”, says Adam Price,leader of the pro-inde-pendence party, PlaidCymru, and wants a sec-ond referendum on theEU. Northern Ireland’sdiscontent was evidentfrom the refusal of theprovince’s 10 DemocraticUnionist Party MPs, on

whom Mr Johnson reliedfor support to vote forhim, although he boastsof having worked out acompromise that givesthe British province thebest of both worlds.

It soon became clearthat Mr Johnson wasindulging in tortuousmanipulation to wriggleout of his legal obliga-tion under the Benn andLetwin Acts to informBrussels of the outcomeof Saturday’s debate andask for more time. Hesent an apology of a let-ter by ordering a seniordiplomat to email anunsigned photocopy ofthe request by MPs setout in the Benn Act —the Labour Party’s SirKeith Starmer, responsi-ble for Brexit, called thedeception “childish” and“silly”. A second letter,which Mr Johnsonsigned, warned of the“corrosive impact” ofdelay, blamedParliament for “missingthe opportunity to injectmomentum into the rati-fication process”, andsaid “a further exten-sion would damage theinterests” of both partiesand UK-EU relations.There was a third cover-ing letter from theBritish ambassador inBrussels.

Ignoring the sub-terfuge, Mr Tuskresponded exactly as ifMr Johnson had made astraightforward requestfor more time withoutany pussyfooting or pre-varication. In conse-quence, the British aretrying desperately hardthis week to rushthrough in 10 days theprocedural require-ments under the Letwinamendment to keep tothe deadline.

Meanwhile, the PrimeMinister might take atip from the politicianwho had a hat made ofbarley sugar for justsuch contingencies.Indian politicians ofcourse never face thissituation, not becausethey don’t wear hatsthey might have to eatbut because they neveradmit to being in thewrong. No wonder MrJohnson claims kinshipwith India.

The writer is a seniorjournalist, columnist

and author

The million massedprotesters chantingoutside the Palace

of Westminsterdemonstrated

popular support for not leaving the

EU now that there is better

understanding ofthe costs involved

If a politician has to eat today what he said yesterday, Britain’sebullient PrimeMinister might suffer acute indigestion fromtoo hearty a repast

LETTERSNAME AREA MLADC’s initiative to startSpeak Out pages is a verygood one. It will be moreimpactful if names of thearea legislator and corpora-tor are mentioned so thatvoters can see their perfor-mance and decide whetherto vote for them or not inthe next elections.

Mohammed Abdul JaleelHyderabad

I am thankful to DC for Speak Outpages. They should be an eye-open-er for Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao and urbanaffairs minister K.T. Rama Rao.With every passing day, civic con-ditions in the city are deteriorat-ing. Travelling has become a night-mare. Where would all this lead to,God alone knows.

S. LaxmiramHyderabad

SACK RTC STAFFKudos to DC for highlighting theplight of commuters during andbecause of the RTC strike under-way. The government should haveinvoked the Essential ServicesMaintenance Act (ESMA), which isa legal tool, and then sacked theRTC employees. The governmenthad given a 45 per cent hike insalaries to the staff of a loss-makingorganisation but employees werehell bent on causing more losses.

Laxmi NarayanHyderabad

SAD DIWALII think the state government can-not remain a silent spectator to theplight of the striking RTC employ-ees. It must invite union leaders toreach an amicable understanding.With Diwali around the corner,RTC employees will have a toughtime if their salaries are not paid.Is this the Golden Telangana thatwe had dreamed of and fought for?

Mohammed Wasif AliSecunderabad

BJP’S VICTORYThe BJP deserves to be given onemore term in Maharashtra andHaryana (12 cr to cast vote today,Oct. 21). The Fadnavis governmenthas been clean and largely withoutcontroversy. In Haryana, MrKhattar too seems likely to be re-elected, largely on account of con-fusion in the opposition ranks. Onehas to appreciate the spirit of PMNarendra Modi and BJP presidentand home minister Amit Shah fornot leaving anything to chance

Phani MarurHyderabad

Subhani

AnumMalkani

Sunanda K.Datta-RayReflections

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BHAG IDEA HAMSTERWord SPY

An ambitious or difficult plan or goal

A person with a creative, inventive mind who is constantly churning out new ideas

To look too farinto the futureis speculative:2025 is a betterh o r i z o n ;P r e s i d e n tDonald Trumpwill have fin-

ished a possible second term;Prime Minister NarendraModi will have finished hissecond term, and China’s tar-gets set by President XiJinping can be assessed.

In many countries, populist-nationalist parties havesqueezed traditional politicalparties; only they seem to fireup enthusiasm among voters.The public is abandoningmainstream political partiesbecause the social contractthat promised equal opportuni-ty and rising incomes for boththe elites and the masses is dis-credited. Financial corporatesmade profits in globalisationwhile the working class lostjobs; in the United States, theaverage income of the top oneper cent is 138 times higherthan the bottom 50 per cent.The Western flagship model ofdemocracy and free market

prolonged itself throughwidening the franchise, butvoters everywhere distrustelected representatives anddemocracy looks headed for along drawn out decline.

Liberalism is used in Indiatoday to attack the governmentand by the government againstits detractors. Russia andChina are not the only coun-tries to believe they have a dif-ferent kind of civilisationwhere sovereignty trumpsdemocracy and stabilitytrumps human rights. India,Turkey, Iran and many othersfeel they present an alternativemodel to Western-style liberal-ism.

The desire for freedom is uni-versal, but freedom to shatterthe economy in protests as inHong Kong, or freedom to blas-pheme as in the FrenchCharlie Hebdo or RussianPussy Riot cases, or freedom tobear arms as enshrined in theAmerican Constitution, areexamples that show that liber-ty has limitations, even if self-imposed. The relative successof street protests in Algeria,Sudan, Iraq, France, Ecuador,

Catalonia and Hong Kong areindications that this trend willcontinue, driven by the socialmedia. No country will find thegolden mean between free-range liberalism and statism.

In international relations,the centre ground for conceptslike strategic autonomy willshrink with polarisation, andaffect countries like India,which has already, with a waryeye on China and Pakistan,moved towards a more alignedposition with all the liabilitiesthat this entails.

Mr Trump’s foreign policiesare more popular than com-monly perceived, with supportfor isolationist and protection-ist policies. So, whether or notMr Trump is re-elected, theAmerica First doctrine willendure. This makes US foreignpolicy essentially bilateral,generating less chance for theexpansion of permanent mem-bership of the UN SecurityCouncil to which India aspires.

Leaks are a feature ofAmerican politics ever sincethe founding fathers and willgrow apace. Impeachment willbe on the agenda if Mr Trumpwins a second term. TheZelensky telephone scandalwill make every foreign leadercautious in talking to the USPresident.

America perceives China asits greatest threat. China isregarded as an affront, sincethe presumption is that beingAmerican implies NumberOne status. China’s rise is

something that the world hasto adjust to. Despite the slow-down, China grows at aroundsix per cent and will overtakeAmerica’s GDP before 2030.The Belt and Road Initiativewill succeed in bringingCentral Asia, Eurasia andWest Europe into greater eco-nomic cooperation andenabling China’s reach intoLatin America and Africa.Connectivities are never exclu-sive but the political implica-tions are clear when Chinabecomes lender of first resortrather than the World Bankand the Asian DevelopmentBank put together. PresidentXi Jinping has set 10 objectivesfor global leadership for Chinaby 2025; among them, ArtificialIntelligence, driverless cars,robotics, and quantum engi-neering.

There is unlikely to be aChina-US war other than byaccident. Iran and the SouthChina Sea are unlikely to causeaccidents, but North Korea

may. India’s efforts to nor-malise relations with Chinawill flounder because ofPakistan. An India-China waris also unlikely, but China willuse Pakistan as a proxy to hin-der India’s rise. The growth ofIndia’s economy and the demo-cratic system remains our bestinsurance policy. India is oneof the world’s big economies,but big-player status is difficultwithout being pivotal in SouthAsia where India’s leadershipis insufficiently credible.

Multilateralism is the answerto managing China’s rise. TheWest will regret their refusal togrant China its rightful shareof control in the multilateralfinancial institutions.Multilateralism is also themeans to counter trendstowards unilateralism, ethno-centrism, protectionism andracial intolerance.

On the “frozen” disputes ofCyprus, Palestine, Ukraineand North Korea, littleprogress is possible unlessWashington’s position changeson the last three. If the situa-tion in Kashmir deteriorates,the issue may be revived ininternational forums, althoughno third party has enthusiasmfor India-Pakistan disputes.Kashmir cannot be solvedbilaterally except on the basisof the status quo.

Eighteen years after the TwinTowers fell, 75 per cent ofAmericans call terrorism anational priority and 50 percent prioritise security over

civil liberties, but the numberof fatalities directly attributedto terror is microscopic com-pared to the 700 killings a yearby so-called law enforcementagencies. The same is the casewith India, where the numberof road deaths is 364 timeshigher than terrorism casual-ties. The ability of intelligenceagencies worldwide againstterrorism has enormouslyincreased.

The race is on for supremacyin artificial intelligence and5G. Cyber attacks will prolifer-ate. The role of the intelligenceagencies will grow with tech-nological capability; govern-ments will increasingly rely onthem and eventually be inthrall to them. It will be impos-sible to distinguish betweenthe role of intelligence organi-sations and conventional diplo-macy.

The quality of democraticdebate will plummet.Opponents will be regarded asenemies. Interference in elec-tions by the US, Russia, Chinaand smaller fry will increase.The green movement will con-tinue to grow, but remain onthe political fringes for want ofcorporate financing.

Muslim grievances, whichcan take extremist form, willremain as long as the Kashmirand Palestine issues remainunresolved and the Shiasbelieve the West is hostile. Iranwill continue to be a stone inthe throat of the West. So tooTurkey, to a lesser extent. The

oil monopoly of the MiddleEast and its political influencewill diminish sharply.

The West will attempt todrive a wedge between Russiaand China, but the price to payfor this will be high.

The World TradeOrganisation will fall into dis-use, unable to engineer globalagreements. It is arguable thatChina and India no longerdeserve special differentiatedstatus as developing nations.

In the US, Europe and every-where, it will be harder for theminorities, refugees, economicmigrants and asylum seekers.

The mainstream media willbe on the defensive to showaccuracy as it scrambles tocompete with an ever-growingnumber of news sources.

The Responsibility to Protectdoctrine will be back on theshelf where it belongs. As forhumanitarian arguments, suchreasoning has been appropriat-ed by Russia in Georgia andUkraine. The InternationalCriminal Court will remainwithout credibility.

The time has come for a newGeneva Convention to replacethe existing four, a new globalagreement to replace the WTO,and treaties on the use of plas-tics and ocean sanctuaries.Action to protect the environ-ment against global warming,despite US opposition, has agreater chance of success.

The writer is a former Indian foreign secretary

While Americantroops were hur-riedly leavingnorth-easternSyria, a young

female Kurdish politiciancalled Hervin Khalaf waspulled from her car and exe-cuted by the side of the road.Actually, the Kurdish mediasaid she was raped and thenstoned to death. They blamedone of the Arab militias beingused by Turkey in its invasion.A grim video posted onlineshows a man holding aKalashnikov nudging herbody with the tip of his boot, asyou would a dead animal. Thevideo has not been authenti-cated and the militia accusedof doing this says it was milesaway at the time. But in Khalafthe Syrian Kurds have found amartyr to the American“betrayal”. She was a humanrights activist who formed herown political party to bringArabs and Kurds together.Foreign diplomats would visitto talk about her quixoticdream of a secular, multi-eth-nic Syrian democracy. Herdeath is a symbol of every-thing that has gone wrong inthe past week.

To recap: President Trumptold the Turks they could comein and he ordered his owntroops out. The Kurds stoppedfighting Isis, or even guardingthem in the jails and camps ontheir territory. Invoking theirfear of a “genocide”, the Kurdsturned for protection to theSyrian regime and to Russia.Kurdish civilians are dyingunder Turkish bombing; Arabcivilians are dying underKurdish shelling. And IslamistArab militias are bloodily set-tling scores with the Kurds.This was entirely predictableand was predicted by Trump’sformer special envoy fordefeating Isis, Brett McGurk.He tweeted: “Did Trump notunderstand the well-knownnature and makeup of theforces Turkey would be bring-ing into NE Syria?… Clearlynot.” McGurk resigned sixmonths ago, when Trump firstannounced — by tweet — thatthe US would abandon Syria’sKurds. He wrote then that the

Arab militias allied to Turkeywere “marbled with extrem-ists” and that letting them intonorth-eastern Syria would“precipitate chaos”. So it hasproved.

In another video on thesocial media, a bearded Arabfighter carves the air with hishand and tells the Kurds: “Ifthe Turkish Army gives us theorder, we will slit yourthroats… In the name of GodAlmighty, we will butcher youwith swords!” He adds: “And Idon’t want anybody telling methat in Islam you can’t do this.The Prophet had a sword —you think he used it to ticklepeople?” One militia shot deada Kurdish prisoner as he saton the ground, his handsbound behind his back.Inevitably, the militia postedthe video online (promptingthe Turkish military to arrestthe men responsible). Many ofthe Arab fighters were armedand trained by the CIA; theman they killed was part of aforce armed and trained by thePentagon. America has beenwaging a proxy war againstitself in northern Syria, back-ing both sides in the conflict.And of course, Turkey is aNato ally. This was the inco-herent, strategically impossi-ble situation that DonaldTrump inherited.

So it’s unfair to blame theSyria mess entirely onTrump’s impulsiveness, igno-rance and general imbecility,as much of the Americanmedia do. They are helped inthat by Trump’s crass reactionto criticism of his decision:where were the Kurds in 1944?he asked. Why didn’t they helpwith the Normandy landings?(The answer is that the Kurdshad no state and no military tojoin World War II, though afew Kurds did fight with theSoviets against NaziGermany.) More recently —only last week in fact —Syria’s Kurds were in a mili-tary alliance with the USagainst Isis, losing 11,000 sonsand daughters to that fight.They were doing this for them-selves as much as for theUnited States, certainly. Butonly weeks ago, they took

down their defences on theTurkish border because theUS asked them to and guaran-teed their security. Theybelieved American promisesthat turned out to be worth-less. One retreating Americansoldier said he felt ashamed ofhis uniform.

Why did Trump do it? SomeAmerican commentators sayit’s because there are twoTrump Towers in Istanbul andhe will lose money if he upsetsthe Turkish leader, RecepTayyip Erdogan. But Trumpprobably doesn’t make thatmuch money from those build-ings and wasn’t swayed whenErdogan threatened to take hisname off them after the“Muslim ban” (the short-livedban on immigration to the USfrom some Muslim countries).I heard an extraordinary storyfrom an informant close to theQatari royal family — Qatarbeing Turkey’s most impor-tant Arab ally — that Erdogangot Trump to roll over so easi-ly because he had dirt on him.That claim follows anothermade to me by a source in theUS that an intelligencewhistleblower had reportedconcerns about a call Trumpmade to the Middle East, sup-posedly about this “dirt”. Forthose keeping count, thiswould be the third US intelli-gence whistleblower, the othertwo coming forward aboutUkraine.

Here we go again, down theTrump conspiracy rabbit hole.Trump’s erratic behaviourseems to invite these kinds offar-fetched theories. Usuallythey’re fantasy but occasional-ly you are left with the suspi-cion that they might just becorrect. With Syria, however,an elaborate explanation is notrequired. Trump has alwayssaid he wants to get Americaout of foreign wars. He is beingas good as his word. The tim-ing may be awful, but when isthere a good time to betrayyour allies?

One account published by a

Turkish journalist says thatwhen Erdogan called Trump,he told him to either helpTurkish troops or “get out ofthe way”. Some have saidTrump should have calledErdogan’s bluff and refused.That might not have worked.According to the US military,Turkish artillery fired 155 mmshells near an AmericanSpecial Forces base, apparent-ly to encourage them to leave.Yavuz Baydar, a Turkish jour-nalist in exile, told me hethought Erdogan would havegone into Syria regardless. Notbecause there was a real mili-tary threat from the SyrianKurds to Turkey, or becausethere was a serious prospect ofthe Kurds getting an indepen-dent state. (For one thing, theSyrian Kurds and the IraqiKurds don’t get on.) No, hesaid, Erdogan had politicalproblems, “bleeding massive-ly” in the local elections. LikeTrump, he didn’t do “nuance”,was completely obstinate andgoverned by “reflex” and by“daredevil acts”. He needed asmall, victorious war to satisfythe ultra-nationalists and thegenerals in the “deep state”coalition around him.“Erdogan is a natural gam-bler,” said Baydar. “His pathhas always been jumping fromcrisis to crisis, or expandingthe crisis. He’s hoping toemerge as the national hero byteaching a lesson to theKurds.”

If successful, Erdogan can beexpected to send back a largepart of the almost four millionSyrian refugees that Turkeyhas been hosting for years.The Kurds are afraid this willchange the ethnic balance ofnorth-east Syria and rob themof the territory forever. Mostof the Arabs in the bordertown of Tell Abyad fled whenthe Kurds arrived. They saythat young men who returnedwere forcibly conscripted intothe Kurdish forces. So theywait, their bags packed, in thetown of Akcakale, a few hun-dred yards away, but inTurkey. Someone told me, byphone, that they could seeplumes of smoke: the Kurdsburning their homes.

The temporary beneficiariesof all this are Isis, who are nolonger facing a Kurdish enemyon the battlefield. The perma-nent beneficiary is VladimirPutin. A former Russian intel-ligence officer I know said thatPutin and Erdogan conferredbefore Erdogan spoke toTrump. If true, that isn’t as

surprising as it once wouldhave been. Turkey and Russiaare increasingly close. Turkey— once again, a Nato member— has just bought Russian S-400 missiles. The two govern-ments seem to have had cor-dial discussions over thefuture of Idlib, the last Syrianprovince in rebel hands. Thereare reports of Russian merce-naries massing to attack Idlib.They are said to be from theWagner group, which is runby a Russian oligarch knownas “Putin’s chef”. If so, thistells us something importantabout what’s happening inSyria.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, to usehis real name, is a billionairewhose spectacular rise sym-bolises Russia’s brand of out-law capitalism. Russian news-papers reported that when hewas a young man he was givena 12-year jail sentence for rob-bery and pimping. But afterstarting out with a hot dogstand in St Petersburg, heopened a luxury restaurantthat became one of Putin’sfavourites. Putin is his krysha— his “roof”, or protection —and in return Prigozhin handsover a share of the profits. InSyria, these are profits fromoil, where Wagner mercenar-ies have taken over oil fieldsand pipelines. There are bothin Kurdish territory. Moreimportantly, the Syrianregime is back in charge undera deal brokered by Russia andcan be expected to show appro-priate gratitude to Wagner andto Putin.

As the last Americans leftnorth-eastern Syria, PresidentPutin was on an official visit toRiyadh. The Saudi royalslooked relieved to have a for-eign visitor who would not lec-ture them on the killing anddismemberment of their dissi-dent journalist JamalKhashoggi. Putin’s visit — thefirst by a Russian leader for 12years — was a sign of the newrealities. For 50 years, it hasbeen the goal of American pol-icy to keep Russia out of theMiddle East. President Trumpmay be right that he has deftlydumped the terrible problemof Syria on to the Kremlin —or this could be a moral, secu-rity and strategic disaster, asone prominent Western sup-porter of the Kurds put it. ButRussia is now the indispens-able power in the Middle East:Pax Russica.

By arrangement with the Spectator

Pax Russica: As Trump ditches Syria’sKurds, Russia set to expand empire

2025: A glimpse of the geopolitical future

Fruitless in Kashmir,no sign of Pak hand

Srinagar/Baramulla/Shopian: Says a 30-year-old, a minorgovernment functionary inBaramulla, in an uncomplicat-ed way, “Aap apne Pakistan kagussa Kashmir par nikal rahehain!” (You are taking it out onus in Kashmir because you areangry with Pakistan!)

He is angry. “Look at whatModi has done. Militancy hadtapered off, but you scrappedArticle 370 on the pretext ofstopping terrorism. Life wasrunning quite smoothly untilthe Burhan Wani killing. Andthen, after an interruption, itwas back to normal again.”

“New Delhi has cooked up thefear of terrorism,” says theyoung man. After this, whoknows what will happen?Militants are gatheringalready. The Army says hun-dreds have crossed over fromPakistan. Young men here can’tbe unaffected. They are hurtand angry. The government hascut our mobile phones. So nowthe militants can go aboutorganising, and no one canknow.” (This was the daybefore the embargo on post-paidconnections ended after 70days.)

One morning, I rise early andrush to get to the famous appletrade mart — the apple “mandi”at Sopore in northern Kashmir,the biggest in India after NewDelhi’s Azadpur mandi, byabout eight in order to get thereahead of the closing timeimposed by the “people’sresistance”. These days shopsin Kashmir, other than thelocal vegetable seller orbutcher, don’t stay open beyond9-9.30 in the morning, if theyopen at all.

The place is practicallyempty. It is supposed to be sopacked with trucks on a normalday around this time of the yearthat visitors must park theircars more than 2 km away andwalk. But we drive right in.There are no more than a dozentrucks and a few tempos andtractors scattered about, andthis is peak season. On a nor-mal working day, around 1,400trucks laden with the lushapple crop start revving out ofSopore for destinations as faraway as Bangladesh.

But this year the fruit econo-my is in shambles, badly dent-ing the incomes of practicallyevery single Kashmiri homesince nearly everyone owns afew apple trees, or is connectedwith the fruit trade in someway — as financier, trans-porter, commission agent,loader, push-cart apple seller,labourer, the dhaba people whofeed the thousands who come tothe mandi every day.

I accost a couple of commis-sion agents, who are just hang-ing around, not having much todo. Both have very sad faces.They explain the trading mech-

anism — the orchard-gate-to-loading-the-trucks process tome, and fall silent. One of thembegins again, and asks: “Whatwas wrong with the way theCongress used to do things inDelhi? Why have these peopleended 370 and ended everythingthat was normal?”

I shrug this off and ask, “So,when will the people’s protestend — why not lift the self-imposed embargo and get onwith it?” Hearing this, the otherman comes to life, “No! Wemust carry on with our strike.Why does the governmentthink it can do anything it likesand get away with it?”

Shopian in the south producesKashmir’s best apples and hasthe second-most importantapple mandi after Sopore. It toois shut, I find two days later.Completely shut. Since all com-mercial establishments areclosed in Kashmir these days, afew trucks show up in the vil-lages to load the fruit. In a nor-mal year, about 800-1,000 trucksleave Shopian every day, ladenwith the apple. Business worthcrores of rupees is transacted.In the current season, localtraders say, only around 20trucks go out every day.

According to a high-rankingdistrict official in northernKashmir, apple could accountfor about 25 to 30 per cent ofKashmir’s GDP. The season ispractically over but apple grow-ers have no interest in selling toNafed, the government marketintervention agency. The openmarket is a well-oiled systemand offers a much better pricethan the government’s fixedrate.

The growers won’t mind sell-ing to Nafed the apples that falloff trees and get somewhat dam-aged but would still be first ratefor juice and jams. But Nafedhas shown no interest.

Since all the phones weredead until a few days ago, theapple grower and trader couldnot be in touch with their desti-nation markets in farawayplaces and gain access to mar-ket intelligence, which usuallyhelped them regulate daily sup-plies. This too has led to a dropin earnings.

Apparently, in order to keepmarkets shut, suspected mili-tants have killed an apple trad-er in Sopore, and last week hitat a transporter from Punjaband a trader from Rajasthan inShopian and Pulwama respec-tively. In September, a shop-keeper was killed in Srinagar.Plain murder is naturally cul-pable, but the militants’ gamealso seems foolish since anangry Kashmir appears to seekto press on with the peacefulstrike anyway — at least fornow. There appears to be noPakistani hand in this.

(To be concluded)

The growth of India’seconomy and thedemocratic systemremains our best insurance policy. India is one of theworld’s big economies,but big-player status is difficult withoutbeing pivotal in South Asia.

Trump may be rightthat he has dumpedthe terrible problem ofSyria on to theKremlin, or this couldbe a moral, securityand strategic disaster... But Russia is nowthe indispensablepower in the MiddleEast: Pax Russica.

Krishnan Srinivasan

Anand K. Sahay

TROUBLE IN PARADISE-2Paul Wood

Former ministers denounce EMS’ leadershipTRIVANDRUM, October, 21

THE ultimate fate of the attenuatedUnited Front Cabinet of Keralaheaded by Mr. E. M. S.Namboodiripad stood postponed toFriday when the Assemblyadjourned at midday today to meetagain tomorrow to take up a motion

introduced by Mr. T.A. Majid (CPI)to discuss the Chief Minister’s state-ment of October 17 with particularreference to the steps initiated todeal with the corruption charges lev-elled against four ministers.

As a strong police force stoodguard outside a packed House in

which RSP, the CPI, the ISP and theMuslim League had moved awayfrom the treasury benches, heardseven out of eight ministers whotendered their resignations mount-ed a vigorous attack on the CPI,Marxist and particularly on Mr.Namboodiripad.

50 YEARS AGO IN

WorldTUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Protest mattersHong Kong leader Carrie Lam apologisesafter a mosque was hit by blue dye from awater cannon in recent protests in the city

Reunification ofTaiwan with mainland

China is somethingno force can stop

— Gen. Wei FengheChinese defence minister

IN BRIEFPolls predict

Trudeau’s defeatToronto: Canadian Prime

Minister Justin Trudeau facedthe threat of being knocked

from power after one termas the nation held parliamen-

tary elections on Monday.The 47-year-old Trudeau

channelled the star power ofhis father, the liberal icon

and late Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau, when he wonin 2015 but a combination of

scandal and high expecta-tions have damaged his

prospects. Polls indicatePrime Minister Justin

Trudeau’s Liberal Party couldlose to the rival

Conservatives, or perhapswin but still fail to get a

majority of seats inParliament and have to rely

on an opposition party toremain in power.

No pullout fromAfghanistan: US

Kabul: Afghans should notmisconstrue America’s sud-den, contentious and near-total withdrawal from partsof Syria as a precursor to a

similar move in Afghanistan,US defense secretary MarkEsper said on Monday. “All

these things should reassureour Afghan allies and others

that they should not misin-terpret our actions in the

recent week or so withregard to Syria and contrast

that with Afghanistan,” hesaid.

Czech cops bustRussian espionage

Prague: Czech police andintelligence services said on

Monday they had busted aRussian espionage network

operating through its Pragueembassy. It was allegedly set

up to attack Czech and for-eign targets through com-

puter servers. “The networkwas completely destroyed

and decimated,” MichalKoudelka, head of the Czech

Republic’s BIS intelligenceservice, said in parliament,quoted by the Czech CTK

news agency. He said it waspart of another chain creat-

ed by Russia in otherEuropean countries, without

naming them.

NK hits out atSouth , US

Beijing: The United Statesand South Korea must pro-duce new solutions for the

current standoff on theKorean Peninsula, a senior

North Korean official said onMonday, warning that hostilepolicies towards Pyongyang

would lead to serious conse-quences. The remarks add to

recent comments fromPyongyang expressing dis-

content at the lack ofprogress in its negotiations

with Washington.

STATUESROBBED AMID

AMAZON MEETVatican City, Oct. 21: PopeFrancis’ controversial meet-ing on the Amazon took acriminal twist on Mondayafter thieves stole indigenousfertility statues from aVatican-area church andtossed them into the Tiberriver.

Video of the pre-dawn theftfrom the Santa Maria inTraspontina church wasshared and celebrated on con-servative social media. TheVatican’s communicationsczar, Paolo Ruffini, termed it a“stunt” that violated the ideaof dialogue.

Even before the three-weekAmazon synod opened onOctober 6, conservative andtraditionalist Catholics hadblasted its agenda as a hereti-cal celebration of paganism,given its deference to indige-nous cultures and spirituality.

Their criticism reached afever pitch at the synod open-ing, when Francis presidedover a prayer service featur-ing the statues of naked preg-nant women.

B’desh MP hires lookalikes for BA examsLeader caught after news channel entered exam hallSAD | CHAPTER

Tornado churns through Dallas

A man looks at his missing roof after his home was hit by a tornado in Richardson, Texas on Monday. A tornado tore homes and businesses apartin a densely populated areas of Dallas, where only minor injuries were reported, but a person was killed by a falling tree in northwest Arkansasas a series of storms caused chaos in several US states. — AP

Fresh Brexit dealvote disallowedLondon, Oct. 21: PrimeMinister Boris Johnsonfaces a potentially per-ilous ratification of hisBrexit divorce deal in theBritish parliament afterthe Speaker refused toallow a vote on it onMonday.

With just 10 days leftuntil the United Kingdomis due to leave the EU onOctober 31, the divorce isagain in disarray asBritain’s politiciansargue over whether toleave with a deal, exitwithout a deal or holdanother referendum.

House of CommonsSpeaker John Bercowsaid a vote should not beallowed on Monday as thesame issue had been dis-cussed on Saturday whenopponents turnedJohnson’s big Brexit dayinto a humiliation.

“In summary, Monday’smotion is in substancethe same as Saturday’smotion and the House (ofCommons) has decidedthe matter,” Bercow toldparliament.

“My ruling is thereforethat the motion will notbe debated Monday as itwould be repetitive anddisorderly to do so,”Bercow said, provokingthe ire of Brexit support-ing lawmakers who saidthey had been refused achance to vote onJohnson’s deal.

Bercow said the govern-ment could still secureratification for the Brexitdeal by October 31 if ithad the numbers in par-liament. Johnson was dis-appointed by the deci-sion, a spokesman said.

But the Speaker’s deci-sion means that the gov-ernment will have to tryto push on with the legis-lation needed for ratifica-tion, a process opponentsare plotting to wreck withamendments that woulddestroy Johnson’s deal.

Johnson was ambushedin parliament onSaturday by opponentswho demanded a changeto the sequencing of theratification of the deal,exposing the prime min-

ister to a law which forcedhim to request a delayuntil January 31.

He sent the note to theEuropean Unionunsigned — and addedanother signed letterarguing against what hesaid was a deeply corro-sive delay.

Brexit secretary SteveBarclay said EuropeanCouncil President DonaldTusk had accepted thedelay request as valid andwas considering it.

The European Union,which has grappled withthe Brexit crisis sinceBritons voted 52 per cent -48 per cent to leave in a2016 referendum, decidedon Sunday to play fortime rather than rush todecide on Johnson’srequest for a delay.

From the bloc’s point ofview, extension optionsrange from just an addi-tional month until theend of November to halfa year or longer.

The government insistsBritain will leave the EUon October 31. Parliamentwill vote in the secondreading on legislationknown as the WithdrawalAgreement Bill onTuesday, after whichamendments can be pro-posed to it.

Johnson’s ministerssaid they were confidentthey had the numbers topush a deal through par-liament, though therewas concern that amend-ments could wreckJohnson’s deal. — Reuters

HOW BREXIT NUMBERS ADD UP

Dhaka, Oct. 21: ABangladeshi lawmakerhas been expelled fromuniversity after allegedlyhiring as many as eightlookalikes to take examsin her place, officials saidon Monday.

Tamanna Nusrat, fromthe ruling Awami Leagueparty, is accused of payingthe lookalikes to pretendto be her in at least 13tests.

The scandal emergedafter private broadcasterNagorik TV entered a test

hall and confronted one ofthe women posing asNusrat, in a video thatwent viral.

Nusrat, who was electedto parliament last year,was studying for aBachelor of Arts degreewith the Bangladesh OpenUniversity (BOU).

“We expelled herbecause she has commit-ted a crime. A crime is acrime,” BOU head M.A.Mannan said.

“We have cancelled herenrolment. She will never

be able to get admittedhere again.”

“The proxy studentswere protected by the MP’s

musclemen when they satfor the tests. Everybodyknew it but nobodyuttered a word because

she is from a very influen-tial family,” a college offi-cial said.

Nusrat could not bereached for comment.

Test fraud, cheating andleaking of question papersahead of exams are com-mon in Bangladesh,prompting authorities fre-quently to cancel results.

As per media reports,she had been in Dhaka butsent the lookalikes to eightexams as proxy candi-dates, one of whom wascaught in the act. — AFP

Tamanna Nusrat

TAMANNA NNUSRAT,who was studying for aBachelor of Arts degreewith the BangladeshOpen University, had senteight of her lookalikes totake the tests as proxycandidates and one ofthem was caught

Prince Harry opensup on rift with brother

Emergency extended inChile, death toll at 11Santiago, Oct. 21:Chilean authoritiesextended a curfew for asecond consecutive nighton Monday after two peo-ple died in a torchedsupermarket amid a waveof unrest over price hikesand social inequality.

Chile is “at war”,President SebastianPinera said, as the coun-try reels from three daysof violent demonstrationsand looting that have left11 dead and almost 1,500detained in the worst out-break of social unrest indecades.

“We are at war against apowerful, implacableenemy, who does not

respect anything or any-one and is willing to useviolence and crime with-out any limits,” Pineratold reporters after anemergency meeting witharmy general JavierIturriaga, who has beenplaced in charge of orderand security in the

capital. Santiago and nine other

of Chile’s 16 regions wereunder a state of emer-gency, Pinera confirmedlate on Monday, withtroops deployed onto thestreets for the first timesince Augusto Pinochet’smilitary dictatorshipbetween 1973-1990.

The clashes, which haveseen some 9,500 police andmilitary fire tear gas and water cannonagainst protesters whohave set fire to buses,smashed up metro sta-tions and ransackedshops, were sparked byanger over price hikes andsocial inequality. — AFP

London, Oct. 21: PrinceHarry has admitted heand his brother are now‘on different paths’ andhave good days and baddays in their relationship.

The Duke of Sussex hasbeen plagued by rumoursin recent months of a riftbetween him and PrinceWilliam, and in an inter-view with ITV heacknowledged that“inevitably stuff hap-pens” given their high-profile role and the pres-sure the family faces.

Speaking during hisrecent tour of southernAfrica with his wifeMeghan Markle, he said:“We are brothers. We willalways be brothers.

“We are certainly on dif-ferent paths at themoment but I will alwaysbe there for him as I knowhe will always be there forme.

“We don’t see each otheras much as we used tobecause we are so busybut I love him dearly.

“The majority of thestuff is created out ofnothing but as brothers,you know, you have gooddays, you have bad days.”

Meghan, who has alsobeen rumoured to havefeuded with KateMiddleton, described thepast year as ‘hard’ andsaid her British friendswarned her not to marryHarry.

Meghan, 38, has had toface an increasingly hos-tile press since she mar-ried into the Royal Family

last year, with thetabloids luxuriating instories about her frac-tured family and therumours of palace rifts.The couple launchedlegal action this monthagainst British tabloidThe Mail for invasion ofprivacy. The formeractress said she had triedto cope by putting on astiff upper lip but she wasnot prepared for theintensity of tabloid inter-est.

Meghan said: “When Ifirst met my now-hus-band my friends werereally happy because Iwas so happy, but myBritish friends said to me,‘I’m sure he’s great butyou shouldn’t do itbecause the Britishtabloids will destroy yourlife’.” Asked whether shecan cope, Meghan said:“In all honesty I have saidfor a long time to H — thatis what I call him — it’snot enough to just survivesomething, that's not thepoint of life. You have gotto thrive.” — AFP

Turkish PM accuses West ofstanding by terrorists in SyriaDeadline for withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from Syria expires todayIstanbul, Oct. 21:President Recep TayyipErdogan on Mondaylashed out at the Westernstates, accusing them of‘standing by terrorists’ infailing to support Turkey’soperation against SyrianKurdish fighters.

“Can you imagine thewhole West stood by theterrorists and all attackedus, including Nato member states andEuropean Union coun-tries?” Erdogan said inIstanbul.

“Since when did youstart to side with terror?Did PYD-YPG (SyrianKurdish forces) join Natoand we do not know aboutit?” he asked.

Ankara says the YPG is a‘terrorist’ offshoot of theoutlawed KurdistanWorkers’ Party (PKK),which has been waging aninsurgency inside Turkeysince 1984.

The PKK is blacklistedas a terror group byAnkara, the US and theEU.

Ankara’s military actionagainst Kurdish forceswho played a key role inthe fight against theIslamic State group has

drawn widespread inter-national criticism andprompted some Nato coun-

tries to suspend new armssales.

Nato secretary general

Jens Stoltenberg hasrepeatedly voiced seriousconcerns about the mili-tary operation launchedon October 9 to pushSyrian Kurdish forcesback from the border.

Erdogan denied any ter-ritorial ambition saying:“Turkey does not have aneye on any country’s terri-tory. We consider such anaccusation as the biggestinsult directed to us.”

Turkey has announced a120-hour suspension ofthe offensive following adeal with US Vice-President Mike Pence,under which Kurdishfighters were to withdrawto allow a ‘safe zone’ to beset up along the border.

Erdogan was to meetRussian PresidentVladimir Putin onTuesday in the Black Searesort of Sochi.

The deadline for thewithdrawal of Kurdishfighters from areas innortheastern Syriaexpires at 1900 GMT onTuesday, a Turkish mili-tary source said.

“It started at 10 pm onThursday, so it finishes at10 pm on Tuesday,” thesource said. — AFP

PRESIDENTERDOGAN says thecountry does nothave an eye on anyother country’s ter-ritory and thatTurkey considerssuch an accusationas the biggestinsult directed at it

HILLARY POSTSLETTER MOCKINGTRUMPWashington, Oct. 21:Hillary Clinton onMonday posted a joke let-ter on Twitter supposedlysent by John F. Kennedyduring the 1962 Cubanmissile crisis, written inthe excitable style of USPresident Donald Trump’srecent letter to Turkey.

The parody letter isaddressed to Russia’s thenleader Nikita Khrushchev.

“Don’t be a dick, ok? Getyour missiles out ofCuba,” starts the letterpretending to be frompresident Kennedy.

“Everybody will say'Yay! Khrushchev! You’rethe best!' But if you don’teverybody will be like‘what an asshole’ and callyour garbage country‘The Soviet Bunion’.” Theletter echoes the bizarretone of Trump’s October 9letter to Erdogan, inwhich he warned that hewould wreck Turkey’seconomy if its invasion ofSyria went too far. — AFP

US may retain sometroops near oilfieldsDohuk/Kabul, Oct. 21:The Pentagon is consid-ering keeping some U.S.troops near oilfields innortheastern Syriaalongside Kurdish-ledSyrian DemocraticForces to help deny oil toIslamic State militants,defense secretary MarkEsper said on Monday.

US troops are crossinginto Iraq as part of abroader withdrawalfrom Syria ordered byTrump, a decision thatallowed Turkey tolaunch an offensiveagainst the SDF whichfor years was a U.S. allybattling Islamic State.

— Reuters

Prince Harry

Sebastian Pinera

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Of the 650 MPs in the UKHouse of Commons, withseven non-sitting Sinn Féinrepresentatives, as well as theSpeaker and his two deputiesnot taking part in votes, themagic number for any victorycomes down to 320

Johnson’sConservativeParty nowhas 288seats, afterrecent lossof strengthin the formof byelectionlosses,expulsionsand resigna-tions. Even if(althoughthere is noteven slight-est chance)the 10DemocraticUnionistparty mem-bers supportthe UK PrimeMinister, hefalls short of22 votes

Magic Figure320

Conservatives

288 However, thanks to certainfactions in the Labour Party,a fraction of 35 independentMPs may favour the Brexitdivorce deal. They hold thekey to the crucial Brexit votethat may take place soon, inthe lead up to the Oct. 31deadline

As many as six Labour PartyMPs — Kevin Barron, RonnieCampbell, Jim Fitzpatrick,Caroline Flint, Kate Hoey andJohn Mann — voted forJohnson’s Brexit proposal andare expected to back him allthrough. How many otherlabour MPs would follow suitis the question of the hour

Also, Johnson’s conservativeparty enjoys the support of 20former Tories who now areindependent MPs. Variousother independents may alsolean towards Johnson's side

SPEAKER JJOHNBERCOW said a voteshould not beallowed sayingMonday’s motion isin substance thesame as Saturday’smotion

The Speaker saidthe governmentcould still secureratification for theBrexit deal byOctober 31 if it hadthe numbers in par-liament

TechnomicsDECCAN CHRONICLE

Russian hackers hijackedIranian spying operationsLondon, Oct. 21: Russianhackers piggy-backed onan Iranian cyber-espi-onage operation to attackgovernment and industryorganizations in dozens ofcountries while mas-querading as attackersfrom the Islamic Republic,British and US officialssaid on Monday.

The Russian group,known as “Turla” andaccused by Estonian andCzech authorities of oper-ating on behalf of Russia’sFSB security service, hasused Iranian tools andcomputer infrastructureto successfully hack in toorganizations in at least 20different countries overthe last 18 months, Britishsecurity officials said.

The hacking campaign,the extent of which hasnot been previouslyrevealed, was most activein the Middle East but alsotargeted organizations inBritain, they said.

Paul Chichester, a seniorofficial at Britain’s GCHQintelligence agency, saidthe operation shows state-backed hackers are work-ing in a “very crowdedspace” and developing newattacks and methods tobetter cover their tracks.

In a statement accompa-nying a joint advisory withthe US National SecurityAgency, GCHQ’s NationalCyber Security Centre saidit wanted to raise industryawareness about the activi-ty and make attacks moredifficult for its adversaries.

“We want to send a clearmessage that even whencyber actors seek to masktheir identity, our capabili-ties will ultimately identi-fy them,” said Chichester,who serves as the NCSC’sdirector of operations.

Officials in Russia andIran did not immediatelyrespond to requests forcomment sent on Sunday.Moscow and Tehran haveboth repeatedly deniedWestern allegations overhacking.

GLOBAL HACKINGCAMPAIGNS

Western officials rankRussia and Iran as two ofthe most dangerous threatsin cyberspace, alongsideChina and North Korea,with both governmentsaccused of conductinghacking operations againstcountries around the

world. Intelligence officialssaid there was no evidenceof collusion between Turlaand its Iranian victim, ahacking group known as“APT34” which cybersecu-rity researchers at firmsincluding FireEye FEYE.Osay works for the Iraniangovernment.

Rather, the Russian hack-ers infiltrated the Iraniangroup’s infrastructure inorder to “masquerade asan adversary which vic-tims would expect to targetthem,” said GCHQ’sChichester.

Turla’s actions show thedangers of wrongly attri-buting cyberattacks,British officials said, butadded that they were notaware of any public inci-dents that had been incor-rectly blamed on Iran as aresult of the Russian oper-ation. The US and its

Western allies have alsoused foreign cyberattacksto facilitate their own spy-ing operations, a practicereferred to as “fourth partycollection,” according todocuments released by for-mer US intelligence con-tractor Edward Snowdenand reporting by Germanmagazine Der Spiegel.

GCHQ declined to com-ment on Western opera-tions. By gaining access tothe Iranian infrastructure,Turla was able to useAPT34’s “command andcontrol” systems to deployits own malicious code,GCHQ and the NSA said ina public advisory.

The Russian group wasalso able to access the net-works of existing APT34victims and even access thecode needed to build itsown “Iranian” hackingtools. — Reuters

In the past, Moscow, Tehran denied Western allegations

Washington, Oct. 21:Facebook, facing growingskepticism about its digi-tal currency projectLibra, on Sunday said theinitiative could use cryp-tocurrencies based onnational currencies suchas the dollar, instead ofthe synthetic one it ini-tially proposed.

David Marcus, whoheads the Libra projectfor Facebook, told a bank-ing seminar the group’smain goal remained tocreate a more efficientpayments system, but itwas open to looking atalternative approaches forthe currency token itwould use.

“We could do it different-ly,” he said. “Instead ofhaving a synthetic unit ...we could have a series ofstablecoins, a dollar sta-blecoin, a euro stablecoin,a sterling pound stablecoin, etc,” Marcus told thepanel.

“We could definitelyapproach this with havinga multitude of stablecoinsthat represent nationalcurrencies in a tokenizeddigital form,” he said.“That is one of theoptions that should beconsidered.”

Marcus said he was notsuggesting currency-pegged stablecoins werethe group’s new preferred

option. “What we careabout is the mission andthere are a number waysto go about this,” Marcustold Reuters after thepanel, adding that theLibra needed to “demon-

strate a lot of agility.”The Facebook-led proj-

ect suffered severe set-backs earlier this month,as major payment compa-nies Mastercard and Visabecame the latest part-

ners to quit the groupbehind the project.

Other key members thathave pulled out includedStripe, eBay and BookingHoldings and PayPal.

Global policymakersand regulators have alsoworry that creation of anew synthetic global cur-rency could upend theglobal financial system,threaten users’ privacy,and facilitate money laun-dering.

Group of 20 finance lead-ers on Friday agreed to setstrict regulations on cryp-tocurrencies and saidsuch stablecoins shouldnot be issued until vari-ous global risks were

addressed. Marcus told Reuters that

Facebook was still aimingfor a June 2020 launch ofLibra, but acknowledgedit could miss that targetdue to regulatory hurdles.

“We’ll see. That’s stillthe goal,” Marcus toldReuters when asked if therecent departure of sever-al major partners fromthe project would delaythe planned 2020 launch.

“We’ve always said thatwe wouldn’t go forwardunless we have addressedall legitimate concernsand get proper regulatoryapproval. So it’s notentirely up to us,” he said.

— Reuters

New artificial skin willhelp devices feel ticklishLondon, Oct. 21:Scientists have devel-oped an artificial skinthat allows devicessuch as smartphonesand computers to 'feel'the user's grasp, pres-sure and location, andcan even detect interac-tions such as tickling,caressing, twisting andpinching.

The Skin-On inter-face, developed byresearchers at theUniversity of Bristol inthe UK in partnershipwith TelecommParisTech andSorbonne University inFrance, mimics humanskin in appearance as

well as sensing resolu-tion.

The researchersadopted a bio-drivenapproach to developinga multi-layer, siliconemembrane that mimicsthe layers present inhuman skin. This ismade up of a surfacetextured layer, an elec-trode layer of conduc-tive threads and ahypodermis layer, theresearchers said.

Not only is the inter-face more natural thana rigid casing, it canalso detect a plethoraof gestures made bythe end-users, theysaid. — PTI

Washington, Oct. 21:Scientists have developeda flexible lithium-ion bat-tery that can not onlyoperate under extremeconditions — includingcutting, submersion, andsimulated ballistic impact— but also does not catchfire.

Current Li-ion batteriesare susceptible to cata-strophic fire and explosionincidents — most of whicharrive without any dis-cernible warning —because they are built withflammable and com-bustible materials, accord-ing to researchers fromJohns Hopkins AppliedPhysics Laboratory in theUnited States.

They noted that somephones were banned fromairlines as a result of thisdanger, and the US Navy'sprohibition of e-cigaretteson ships and submarinesis a direct response to theneed to reduce the flam-mability of such devices.

With these batteriesemerging as the energystorage vehicle of choicefor portable electronics,electric vehicles, and grid

storage, these safetyadvancements mark a sig-nificant step forward intransforming the way Li-ion batteries are manufac-tured and used in elec-tronic devices, theresearchers said.

In the research publishedin the journal ChemicalCommunications, the teamdescribed a new class of“water-in-salt” and “water-in-bisalt” electrolytes —referred to as WiS andWiBS, respectively.

These electrolytes, whenincorporated in a polymermatrix, reduce wateractivity and elevate thebattery's energy capabili-ties and life cycle whileridding it of the flamma-ble, toxic, and highly reac-tive solvents present incurrent Li-ion batteries.

It’s a safe, powerful alter-native, the researcherssaid.

“Li-ion batteries arealready a constant pres-ence in our daily lives,from our phones to ourcars, and continuing toimprove their safety isparamount to furtheradvancing energy storage

technology,” said Konstan-tinos Gerasopoulos, a sen-ior research scientist andprincipal investigator atAPL.

“Li-ion battery form fac-tors have not changedmuch since their commer-cialisation in the early1990s; we still use thesame cylindrical or pris-matic cell types. The liq-uid electrolyte andrequired hermetic pack-aging have a lot to do withthat,” Gerasopoulos said.

“Our team’s efforts havegenerally been focused onreplacing the flammableliquid with a polymer thatimproves safety and formfactor. We are excitedabout where we aretoday,” he said.

Additionally, the damagetolerance initially demon-strated with the team'sflexible battery in 2017 isfurther improved in thisnew approach to creatingLi-ion batteries.

“The first generation offlexible batteries were notas dimensionally stable asthose we are makingtoday,” Gerasopoulos said.

— PTI

New lithium-ion batterywon’t catch fire: Scientists

2nd attackCzech antivirus maker discloses secondattack aimed at compromisingCCleaner releases.

SHORT TAKES

New Delhi, Oct. 21: DigitalIndia initiative should be lever-aged to transform rural Indiaand create avenues for those insmaller towns and cities, ITminister Ravi Shankar Prasadsaid on Monday.

The minister said DigitalIndia should become a beaconfor inclusion, healthcare, edu-cation and entrepreneurship.

He launched the next versionof the government's mobilepayment app Bharat Interfacefor Money (BHIM) called BHIM2.0 that is packed with new fea-tures and capabilities. Theminister also launched anIndian software products reg-istry, which will act as a singlewindow portal to collate Indiansoftware product database.

Speaking at the 'Ministry ofElectronics and IT (MeitY)StartUp Summit' here, Prasadsaid there is compelling casefor social startups and thatthese should be encouraged sothey unleash their power inIndia's changing digital narra-tive. “I want Digital India plat-form to transform rural Indiaand create aspirations in tier 3and tier 4 cities and towns,”the Minister said. Citing suc-cess stories of technologyplatforms Unified PaymentsInterface (UPI) and GSTN(GST-Network), the Ministersaid government entities suchas NIC, STPI should alsobecome competitive.

“For Digital India to succeed,the government entities mustalso become competitive. I havetold National InformaticsCentre (NIC) that your peoplehave to become competitiveand innovative...they havechanged. Software TechnologyParks of India (STPI) also mustchange,” the Minister said.

— PTI

INDIAN DESIGNSHIGH-RES SATELLITE IMAGINGNew Delhi, Oct. 21: AnIndian researcher inIsrael has designed anovel telescope system —consisting of nanosatel-lites the size of milk car-tons — that can lead tolow-cost, high-resolutionimages taken by camerasin space.

The resolution of ima-ging by space and Earth-based telescopes is oftenlimited by the finiteaperture of the opticalsystems. The technologycould revolutionise theeconomics and imageryavailable from space-based cameras and evenEarth-based telescopes,said Angika Bulbul, aPhD candidate at Ben-Gurion University.

“This is an inventionthat completely changesthe costs of space explo-ration, astronomy, aerialphotography, and more,”said Bulbul, who hailsfrom Bhagalpur in Bihar.“Our system is only 0.5per cent of the total areaof existing telescopicsystem, using advancetechnique,” she told PTI.

The research demon-strates that nanosatel-lites arranged in a spher-ical configuration wereable to capture imagesthat match the resolutionof the full-frame, lens-based or concave mirrorsystems used on today’stelescopes. “Several pre-vious assumptions aboutlong-range photographywere incorrect,” saidBulbul, who workedunder the supervision ofProfessor Joseph Rosenin the BGU Departmentof Electrical and Compu-ter Engineering. — PTI

COMPANIES LEAKING DATA TOVIRUS SCANNERSan Francisco, Oct. 21:Despite the growingmainstream focus ondata security, companiesare still being quite care-less about sensitive databeing uploaded online,according to a report onBloomberg.

Citing cybersecurityfirm Otorio, Bloombergreported that companiesusing Alphabet’s virusscanner and similarproducts are unwittinglyleaking sensitive datasuch as blueprints tointellectual propertyonline.

The report further stat-est that the firm has dis-covered thousands ofunprotected files fromfirms in the pharmaceu-tical, industrial, automo-tive and food industriesas part of a project toresearch the malwarelogged by VirusTotal,which is owned byAlphabet cyber securitysubsidiary Chronicle.“From what we found, wecould design a very con-structive hack. We foundfiles that gave us a blue-print of how to infiltratethe production floor,”said Otorio CEO DanielBren. — Agencies

Facebook open to currency-pegged stablecoinsDue to scepticism, FB said Libra could use cryptocurrencies based on fiat currencies

BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE — THE NEXT BIG THING?

GOOGLE TO FIX‘BUG’ FOR

IPHONE PICS DC CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, OCT. 21

Google is soon going to patch abug in its Photos app thatallowed iPhone devices freeservices of the Google Photosbackup feature that allowedusers to a backup an unlimit-ed number of photos at itsoriginal resolutions. OnAndroid, users could eitherchoose between 15GB of back-up for original resolution pho-tos and videos or unlimitedbackup at a lower resolution.Getting both features wouldrequire a fee.

As Apple’s HEIC file formatis more efficient than Google’sreduced quality JPEG files,the app would simply take theoriginal pictures, but thiswould not add up in the limit-ed 15GB storage.

While the solution is not yetclear, it would be easy toassume that the patch wouldin some way make it mandato-ry for the HEIC files to be firstconverted to JPEG for freeusers. This would mean iOSusers not paying for servicewould actually end up lettingthe app use more of thephone’s resources to convertand upload the ‘lower quality’images.

ANDROID GETSTWITTER’S

‘LIGHTS OUT’DC CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, OCT. 21

Months after having rolled outa dark mode for Twitter’s iOSusers, the social media compa-ny has finally done the samefor its android app users.Rolled out only for its selectgroup of invitation admitted‘alpha’ users, the mode iscalled the ‘Lights Out Mode’.While twitter’s android usershad already received a versionof a dark mode for its applica-tion, this still had a bluish-grey background. Dark modesare known to provide batteryconservation with pitch blackUIs, where OLED screens areknown to be able to switch offsome parts of the screen.

This flaw reportedly gets cor-rected within the new update,according to reports sayingthat, the pitch-black interfacewould be available upon opt-ing for the ‘lights out’ mode.Thus, the new version willalso retain the older, bluish-grey coloured background inthe interface under the name‘dim’ mode. If you are a mem-ber of the ‘Alpha’ group ofusers, you can check the avail-ability of this version 8.19.0through by going through theSettings and privacy menu.

● While Elon Musk’s Neuralink may be one of thebest-known brain-computer interface (BCI) com-panies in the world right now, Facebook recent-ly acquired CTRL-labs thus officially kicking offthe race among the big tech giants.

● However, like every new big technologicaladvances, BCI, which allows us to connect ourbrains to computers for some limited purpos-es, comes with its own set of challenges andnightmares.

● Neural interfaces are devices implanted in thebody, or worn externally, which are capable ofrecording or stimulating activity in the brain. The ideaof such technology, also known as brain-computer interfaces (BCI), isn't allthat new. Currently, there are two options available to all users who are look-ing at this new technology — Invasive and non-invasive

● While invasive systems will continue to be used by those with the greatest amountto gain from BCIs, such as people with spinal injuries or neurological conditions likeParkinson's disease, broader uptake among consumers is likely to be concentrated onnon-invasive systems.

● Once the data is collected by BCI and passed on toother software, it's just as secure as any other set of

information.

● However, in the wake of recent data breachesit's clear there are no guarantees that sensitiveinformation is better protected than others.

● Areportfrom theRoyal

Society –the UK’s

national sci-ence academy

– said the gov-ernment should

launch an investiga-tion into neural inter-face technologies,including looking at reg-ulations around theirdevelopment and theethics of using them.

● The Royal Society warned that ifdevelopments are dictated by ahandful of companies then lesscommercial applications could besidelined. It said regulation shouldnot be so onerous, complicatedand expensive that it allows ‘bigtech’ to dominate the emergingfield.

● The Royal Society said that thegovernment needs to investigatethe ethical issues presented byneural interfaces, to address ques-tions of what data should be col-lected, how it is kept safe, and theacceptability of enhancements.

Currently,BCIs can gather

data that is more basedaround measuring the physical

movements people want to makeor their emotional state. But, as

machine-learningalgorithms becomemore sophisticated andBCI hardware becomesmore capable, it maybe possible to readthoughts with

greater preci-sion.

TUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABAD

● Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a tech-nology that is more accurate at tracking com-plex facial expressions such as awkward gig-gles, nervousness or confusion.

● Whether the tool can achieve a high level ofaccuracy, however, is likely to be a topic ofdebate for psychologists, who argue that AUsdo not on their own reflect emotion.

● The company's lab-oratories have comeup with an AI-basedtechnology that cantrack subtle changesof expression such asnervousness or con-fusion. Companieslike Microsoft arealready using emo-tion tools to recog-nise facial expression,but they are limitedto eight "core" states:anger, contempt,fear, disgust, happi-ness, sadness, sur-prise or neutral.

● Fujitsu mentionedvarious potentialapplications for itsnew technology,which include push-ing the uncanny val-ley by making robotsthat are capable ofboth recognising ourmost subtle changesof humour, and ofrecreating thoseshifts themselves. Itcould also improveroad safety bydetecting even smallchanges in drivers'concentration.

AI CAN DETECT NERVOUSNESS

PRASAD: USEDIGITAL INDIA FOR

RURAL AREAS

FB ROLLS OUT DARK MODE ■ Facebook has

begun rolling outa new interface

for desktopusers, with anoptional dark

mode in additionto the traditional

white design.

■ When they log intothe desktop site, someusers have reportedseeing a pop-up askingwhether they wouldlike to try the newdesign, which isreferred to as'Facebook Beta'.

■ Chinese cyberspies have developed mal-ware that alters Microsoft SQL Server(MSSQL) databases and creates a backdoormechanism that can let hackers connect toany account by using a "magic password."

■ Furthermore, the backdooralso hides user sessions insidethe database's connection logsevery time the "magic pass-word" is used, helping hackersremain undetected even whenadministrators may suspectsomething is wrong.

■ In areportpublishedtoday,ESET said hackers deployed thebackdoor as a post-infection tool,after compromising networksthrough other methods.

MSSQL SERVER BACKDOOR FOUND


■ NBFCs, HFCs still rely heavily on securitisation

FALAKNAAZ SSYEDMUMBAI, OCT. 21

Funds raised through thesecuritisation route haveseen an unprecedented risein the last one year as non-banking finance compa-nies (NBFCs) and housingfinance companies (HFCs)facing a shortage of fundssince the IL&FS crisis inSeptember 2018 haveresorted significantly tothis route for raising funds.

The HFCs and NBFCshave raised as much as Rs2.36 lakh crore over the lastone year (October 2018 toSeptember 2019) throughsell down of their loanassets under either thesecuritisation or directassignment route. Thisunprecedented increase insell down volumes reflectsthe choking up of tradi-tional borrowing channelssuch as loans, bonds andcommercial paperissuances. As per Icra, thedomestic securitisationmarket is expected toremain robust and FY2020is poised to be another goodyear in terms of issuancevolumes.

Securitisation involvescreating a financial instru-

ment by pooling togetherloans such as home mort-gages, automobile loans orcredit card debt obligationsand future receivable andthen selling them toinvestors as securities.

Abhishek Dafria, Vice-President and Head ofStructured Finance at Icra,“NBFCs and HFCs contin-ue to rely heavily on securi-tisation as a tool for raisingfunds, manage liquidityand to correct any ALMmismatch. In addition tothis, the partial credit guar-antee scheme (PCG) of thegovernment will also addbulk to the overall marketvolumes. With the publicsector banks directed todisburse funding of Rs 1

lakh crore under the PCGscheme by February 2020,we believe that the size ofthe securitisation marketwould be at an all-timehigh, in excess of Rs 2 lakhcrore for FY2020.”

“Growth rode on both,established and new origi-nators entering the marketto augment their resourcesprofile in a challengingfinancing environment.The number of active orig-inators was close to 100 inthe first half of this fiscal,compared with 70 in thecorresponding period oflast fiscal. Overall, growthwas broad-based with bothmortgage backed securiti-sation (MBS) and asset-backed securitisation

(ABS) logging healthyuptick in volume,” saidRohit Inamdar, SeniorDirector at Crisil.

A bigger boost, however,is expected from regulato-ry interventions, say ana-lysts. Among recent regu-latory interventions, theReserve Bank has relaxedthe guidelines on mini-mum holding period insecuritisation transactionsbacked by long-tenureloans till December 31,2019. This would ensureincreased supply of eligi-ble assets available forMBS transactions.

Krishnan Sitaraman,Senior Director, CrisilRatings said, “The partialcredit guarantee schemelaunched by the Ministryof Finance is expected tofurther lift demand forsecuritisation from publicsector banks. Many ofthese banks have alreadysanctioned loans under thescheme and disbursementsare expected over the nextfew months.”

Securitisation of goldloan receivables, personalloan receivables, two-wheeler loan receivablesand lease rental receiv-ables are now mainstream.

Bengaluru, Oct. 21: Ananonymous group claim-ing to be employees of ITmajor Infosys has writtento the company’s boardaccusing CEO SalilParekh and CFO NilanjanRoy of indulging in“unethical practices” toboost short-term revenueand profits.

“We have high respectfor all of you and bring toyour notice the unethicalpractices of CEO inrecent quarters. Samemeasures are taken up inthe current quarter alsoto boost short term rev-enue and profits,” the let-ter addressed to theBoard of Directors datedSeptember 20, read.

Calling themselves as“ethical employees”, the“whistleblowers” havesaid that they have emailsand voice recordings onthese matters.

“We hope the Board willconduct immediate inves-tigation and take action,”they added.

The Bengaluru-basedInfosys said the whistle-blower complaint hasbeen placed before theAudit Committee as perthe company’s practice.

“The whistleblowercomplaint has beenplaced before the AuditCommittee as per theCompany’s practice andwill be dealt with inaccordance with theCompany’s whistleblow-ers policy,” it said in astatement.

The whistleblowershave also written to theUS-based office of theWhistleblower ProtectionProgramme on October 3,alleging willful misstate-ment and accountingirregularities for the lasttwo quarters.

Stating that in the lastquarter, they were askednot to fully recognisecosts like visa costs toimprove profits, thewhistleblowers haveclaimed: “We have voicerecordings of these con-versations. When auditoropposed, the issue waspostponed.”

“This quarter, there islot of pressure to not

recognise reversals of $50mn of upfront payment inFDR contract, which isagainst accounting prac-tice. As this will reduceprofits for the quarterand negative for stockprice, they are puttingpressure not to take thecharge,” they claimed.

Alleging that “criticalinformation” is hiddenfrom the auditors andBoard, the letter claimedthat in large contractslike Verizon, Intel andJVs in Japan, ABN Amroacquisition, “revenuerecognition matters areforced which are not asper accounting stan-dards”.

“We have emails andvoice recordings and wewill share when investi-gators ask us. We areasked not to share largedeal information withauditors,” they said.

“Large deal approvals

have irregularities. TheCEO is bypassing reviewsand approvals andinstructing sales not tosend mails for approval.He directs them to makewrong assumptions toshow margins. CFO iscompliant and he pre-vents us from showing inboard presentations largedeal issues,” they furtheralleged.

“The CEO told us, noone in the Board under-stands these things, theyare happy as long as shareprice is up...”, the groupalleged.

Claiming that severalbillion dollar deals of lastfew quarters have nilmargin, the whistleblow-ers have urged the Boardto ask auditors to checkdeal proposals, margins,undisclosed upfront com-mitments made and rev-enue recognition.

“All information is notshared with auditors.”

“In board meetings, weare told not to presentdata on large deals andimportant financialmeasures as it will getboard attention. The CEOand CFO are asking us toshow more profits intreasury by taking uprisks and make changesto policies. This will pro-vide short term profits.They ask us not to makekey disclosures in 20Fand annual report and toshare only good andincomplete informationwith investors and ana-lysts,” they wrote.

“Whoever, disagrees issidelined and many ofthem leave,” they claimed.

—PTI

Worldeconomy isstumblingtowardsdisaster

UltraTechCement netup 62% to`578 crorein Q2

Securitisation marketto cross `2L cr in FY20

SANGEETHA GGCHENNAI, OCT. 21

Unorganised traders, whohave alleging that e-com-merce companies havebeen grabbing away theirbusiness, anticipate a dropof 50 to 60 per cent of salesduring the festive seasonthis year.

With a week more to gofor Diwali, the commercialmarkets in different cities,comprising of small andmedium traders, are wit-

nessing a slump in busi-ness. Usually, the retailtrade in India does anannual business of aboutRs 45 lakh crore of whichfestive season aloneaccounts for about Rs 6lakh crore.

According to theConfederation of All-IndiaTraders (Cait), traders arewitnessing around 60 percent drop in business as amajor chunk of the saleshas shifted online.

The mobile phone catego-

ry is witnessing a slump of60 per cent. Sales of FMCGgoods, consumer durablesand electronics goods havedropped 35 per cent andelectrical appliances, 30 percent, Cait said. In apparels,which is a major categoryfor Diwali season, a 25 percent drop is expected. A 20per cent fall is expected infootwear and watches and30 per cent in beauty andcosmetics and bags.

Festival-specific items tooare seeing a slump—35 per

cent in gift items, 25 percent in furnishing goodsand 25 per cent in decora-tive items.

Building hardware is see-ing a 15 per cent decline insales, 30 per cent in kitchenequipment. 30 per cent incomputer and computergoods and 30 per cent in fit-ness and sports goods,finds Cait.

There are about sevencrore small businesses inthe country, generatingabout 45 crore jobs, it said.

Unorganised trade sees muted sales

Mumbai, Oct. 21: Busi-ness tycoons like RatanTata, N. Chandrasekaran,the Ambani brothers,Sajjan Jindal and so onwere conspicuous bytheir absence at thepolling booths forAssembly elections thatrecorded 63 percentturnout on Monday.

Their spokespersonssaid these leaders hadunavoidable prior com-mitments, forcing them tostay out of the city on theimportant day. The islandcity alone sends as manyas 38 legislators to the288-member house.

Those who did cast theirvotes included Mahindragroup Chairman AnandMahindra, HDFC ChiefExecutive Keki Mistry,Marico Chairman Harsh

Mariwala, and M&MManaging DirectorPawan Goenka who alsoappealed to citizens tocast exercise their domes-tic right.

The polls saw a voterturnout of around 63 percent, almost matching the63.38 per cent pollingrecorded in the last elec-tions held in 2014.

According to officialsources, Tata andChandrasekaran andJindal were not in town.

Jindal, however, took toTwitter to appeal to vot-ers to exercise theirrights saying, "I urgeeach and every one of youto exercise your dutytowards our democracy."

The Ambani brotherMukesh and Anil, whonormally come out with

their families on thepolling day, did not casttheir votes this timearound.

Why they did not makeit this time around is notknown yet.

After casting his vote,Mahindra tweeted:"Casting your vote is oneof the most empoweringexperiences in life. Andit's the privilege of livingin a democracy-a privi-lege we often take forgranted."

As many as 3,237 candi-dates, including 235women, are in the fray forthe 288-member house.Their fate will be knownon October 24.

Due to the polls, majormarkets like equities, cur-rency and debt were shut.

—PTI

Bigwigs give polls a miss

YOOLIM LLEE && VIRIYA SSINGGIHOCT. 21

Indonesian PresidentJoko Widodo has offeredthe 35-year-old co-founderof the country’s biggeststartup, Gojek, a positionin his new cabinet, affirm-ing the importance of theinternet sector in pro-pelling Southeast Asia’slargest economy.

Nadiem Makarim onMonday told reporters hehas accepted a cabinetpost after resigning withimmediate effect as chiefexecutive officer of the

ride-hailing giant he start-ed nine years ago. Thatleaves the $10 billion start-up, one of SoutheastAsia’s largest, without itsmost visible leader at atime it’s pursuing fundingto compete with arch-rivalGrab Holdings Inc. Gojeksaid President AndreSoelistyo and co-founderKevin Aluwi will take thehelm as co-CEOs. Thecompany will outline itsnext steps in the comingdays, Gojek said in anemailed statement.

Widodo, commonlyknown as Jokowi, willspecify the role to be

taken up by Makarim in alater announcement.Makarim’s appointment— in line with theIndonesian president’sstated desire to includeprofessionals and millen-

nials in his second-termteam — shouldn’t disruptoperations at Gojek givenits deep bench of experi-enced managers.

“This means PresidentJokowi’s new cabinet willbe filled with young peo-ple with ability to exe-cute,” said Willson Cuaca,Managing Partner of EastVentures, one of the mostactive Indonesian-focusedventure capital firms. “Itshows that Indonesiaappreciates what they’vedone for the country. ForGojek, it’s reached a pointthat even if Nadiemresigns, it’s business as

usual.”The Gojek co-founder

hails from a prominentIndonesian family. Hisgrandfather was part ofthe delegation that wonthe country’s independ-ence from theNetherlands in a 1949 con-ference at The Hague.

“Since the beginning,my mission in Gojek hasbeen to display Indonesiaon the world’s stage,”Makarim told reporterswhen he announced hisresignation in Jakarta onMonday. “So, this is a con-tinuation of that mission,but this is certainly for

the state and within a big-ger scale.”

Gojek is the largest play-er in an Indonesian inter-net industry that’s boom-ing as smartphone adop-tion there explodes. Theworld’s fourth most popu-lous country with 264 mil-lion people has producedother unicorns includingTokopedia andBukalapak, which aredriving e-commerce andthe digital economy moregenerally.

Makarim started Gojekin 2010 as a call centerarranging couriers inJakarta. At that early

stage, everything wasdone manually — employ-ees called motorbike driv-ers one by one until some-one accepted an order —and Makarim had to workat other startups in orderto sustain Gojek.

It was only in 2014 thatthe Gojek chief decided tointroduce a mobile app,with backing from privateequity investor NorthstarGroup. When that debutedin January 2015, the serv-ice was so popular thatGojek couldn’t cope withdemand, Makarim said inan interview in 2016.

— Bloomberg

Start-up founder to join Indonesia’s new cabinet


Amidst the economic slow-down, India’s householdwealth grew 5.2 per cent to$12.6 trillion in 2019. But itshousehold debt grew fasterat 11.5 per cent, says areport.

As per the Global WealthReport by Swiss bankCredit Suisse, Indianhouseholds added $625 bil-lion by mid-2019 from mid-2018 levels, taking theirtotal wealth to $12.6 tril-lion. The country recorded5.2 per cent growth inhousehold wealth, whichwas higher than the globalgrowth of 2.6 per cent.Total wealth in Indiaincreased four-foldbetween 2000 and 2019.

Credit Suisse finds thatpersonal wealth in India isdominated by property and

other real assets, whichmake up the bulk of house-hold assets.

Growing by 6.9 per centor $708 billion in absoluteterms, non-financial assetshad a higher share in thewealth of households. Thisincluded real estate andgold. Financial assets grewby $37 billion, or by 1.4 percent, in 2019.

Much of the year-on-yearvariation in wealth levelsis due to changes in assetprices and exchange rates.

Exchange-rate fluctuationsbetween the dollar and thelocal currency are mostlythe source of the biggestgains and losses, finds thestudy. Further, India with 6per cent and China with 9per cent rise in prices wereamong the nations experi-encing a robust housingmarket. Gold too has appre-ciated significantly thisyear.

Wealth per adult grew abit slower in India at 3.3 percent to $14,569 in 2019. Butthis was higher than theglobal growth of 1.2 percent. Wealth per adult grewby an average of 11 per centannually over the period2000-2019. Prior to 2008,wealth rose strongly, from$2,127 in 2000 to $6,378 in2007. After falling 29 percent in 2008, it reboundedand grew at an average rateof 12 per cent up to 2019.

Whistleblowers allege window-dressing by Infosysquick

BITESINDICATORS %Sensex 39,298.38 +0.63Nifty 50 11,661.85 +0.65S&P 500 3,002.29 +0.54Dollar (`) 71.14 0.00Pound Sterling (`) 92.05 +0.21Euro (`) 79.09 -0.16Gold (10gm)* (`) 38,955▼30 -0.07Brent crude ($/bbl)* 58.65 -1.30IN 10-Yr bond yield +6.692 -0.008US 10-Yr T-bill yield +1.778 +0.028

* As of 9:30 pm IST

Gold bondsprice fixed at`3,835 a gramThe government on Mondayrolled out the sixth tranche ofsovereign gold bonds. TheSovereign Gold Bond (SGB)Scheme 2019-20 - Series VI willclose for subscription on theday of Dhanteras, on Oct. 25.The issue price has been fixedat Rs 3,835 per gram with set-tlement date as Oct. 30. A dis-count of Rs 50 per gram isavailable for digital buyers.

Banking staff to strike worktoday

Services in state-owned banksmay be affected as someemployees unions will observea nation-wide strike onTuesday to protest againstbank mergers and the fall indeposit rates. But officers andprivate sector banks are notpart of the strike call given bythe All India Bank EmployeesAssociation and the BankEmployees Federation of India.

YuppTV, BSNLjoin hands forenhance techYuppTV on Monday announcedthat it has have entered into atriple play partnership for videoand broadband technologyservices for mobile and fixedline with BSNL. As the largestbroadband provider in thecountry, the fiber network byBSNL has covered every nookand corner in the country andenjoys an equally ferventmobile base. It has the poten-tial of providing Triple playservices to any corner in thecountry, including India’s veryhinterlands. YuppTV offers anextensive and exclusive contentlibrary with Live TV channelsand catch-up, movies andexclusive originals. For YuppTVOriginals, the brand has part-nered with renowned namesfrom the South Indian film fra-ternity and has been one of thefirsts to produce the biggesthits of Web Series, down South.

Printed & Published by T Venkateswarlu on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited, Printed at

Deccan Chronicle Press at DeccanChronicle Holdings Ltd. #563/9/D&9/E,Behind Andhra Bank Pet Basheerbagh,

Kompally, Ranga Reddy Dist. Editor:T.Venkatram RReddy, RNI Reg

No.APENG/2008/24282. © All rightsreserved. Reproduction in whole or in partwithout written permission of The Editor,

Financial Chronicle ® is prohibited.

Overleaf

Amid economic gloom, householdwealth grows 5.2%, debt 11.5%

New Delhi,Oct. 21: Strin-gent commit-ment of the gov-ernment to lowinflation is hurt-ing the agricul-ture sector andhas resulted infarm distress,Nobel laureate AbhijitBanerjee said here.

He also said disinvest-ment is not a long-termsolution for bridging fiscaldeficit. Attributing farmdistress to the govern-ment's commitment to lowinflation, winner of NobelPrize for Economics said ithas affected support price.

On banking sector stress,he said part of the problemis that decision-making isabsolutely frozen. He saidprobably the moderationin direct tax could push thegrowth northward. — PTI

‘Low inflationfocus hurtingfarm sector’

Nadiem Makarim

◗ Whistleblowerssay they were askednot to fully recognisecosts like visa coststo improve profits inlast quarter◗ “This quarter, thereis lot of pressure tonot recognise rever-sals of $50 mn ofupfront payment inFDR contract"◗ Infosys said thecomplaint has beenplaced before theAudit Committee

CASTING DOUBT

AbhijitBanerjee


New Delhi, Oct. 21:UltraTech Cement onMonday reported a 62.59per cent increase in consol-idated net profit at Rs578.55 crore in the secondquarter ended September2019.

The company had record-ed a net profit of Rs 355.82crore in the July-September quarter a yearago, the Aditya Birla Groupfirm said.

Its revenue from opera-tions rose 4.01 per cent toRs 9,620.47 crore as againstRs 9,249.26 crore in the cor-responding quarter of pre-vious fiscal.

UltraTech Cement’s totalexpenses rose marginallyto Rs 8,877.92 crore asagainst Rs 8,868.43 crore inthe year ago period.

The consolidated resultsalso include the cementbusiness of CenturyTextiles, whose acquisitionprocess was completed byUltraTech Cement onOctober 1, 2019.

On a standalone basis,Century Textiles had netsales of Rs 746 crore inJuly-September quarter.

“UltraTech completed theacquisition of CenturyTextile’s cement business,with the Scheme ofDemerger becoming effec-tive from 1st October, 2019.

With this acquisition,UltraTech’s cement manu-facturing capacity standsaugmented to 117.4 mtpa,including its overseascapacity,” the companysaid.

“This makes UltraTechthe 3rd largest cement com-pany in the world, outsideof China. It is also the onlycompany in the world tohave a capacity of over 100million tonnes in a singlecountry, outside of China,”it added.

However, UltraTechCement’s domestic salesfell 1.20 per cent to 17.19million tonnes in July-September as against 17.40million tonnes in the corre-sponding quarter last year.

“Monsoon quarter resultsin lower volumes,” the com-pany said in its investorpresentation.

During the first half(April-September) of thisfiscal, Ultratech Cement’snet profit almost doubled toRs 1,859.82 crore from Rs940.84 crore in the corre-sponding period of previ-ous fiscal.

Revenue from operationsrose 11.87 per cent to Rs21,025.41 crore in the firsthalf as against Rs 18,794.11crore in the correspondingperiod of 2018-19.

— PTI

Financial

OPENING

PROJECTION FOR TODAYBELL

Market may see a lot of ac-tion this week in the runup to Diwali on Sunday aspeople buy gold and stockson this occasion.

The market would alsotrack busy earnings sea-son in progress, results tobe declared on October 24for the assembly electionsin Maharashtra andHaryana as well as othervacant Lok Sabha andAssembly seats that wentfor polling. Attack on ter-rorist camps in PakistanOccupied Kashmir andglobal cues like US-Chinatrade negotiations andEU, UK Brexit deal in thefinal phase of Parliamentapproval would come intoplay as market opens onTuesday after.

BSE and NSE will condu-ct one-hour special muhu-rat trading session on theoccasion of Diwali onSunday, October 27 maki-ng it an extended week forthe market.

Since Monday was a hol-iday, second quarter resul-ts declared by RelianceIndustries, HDFC Bank,LIC Housing Financeamong others would boostmarket sentiments withrobust performances.

Ajit Mishra, Vice Presid-ent — Research, ReligareBroking said, “It’s going tobe an important week onthe earnings front as bignames like HDFC Bank,Axis Bank, SBI, ITC, BajajAuto, Hero Motocorp, L&Tand HCL Technologieswill announce their num-bers along with severalothers. Participants willfirst react to the Relianceresults and minutes ofRBI’s MPC’s meet whichcame in after the markethours on Friday.”

“Technically, Nifty looksbuoyant for further surgebut 11,800 would be toughto cross. In case of profit-taking, 11,540-11,370 zonewould provide the neededsupport. The underperfor-mance of the banking ind-ex is still a concern and pe-rhaps the upcoming resul-ts from the banking majo-rs may help in triggering asustainable move ahead.Amid all, we do not seeeasing in volatility,”Mishra said.

Buying in equities by theforeign portfolio investorslast week was quite encou-raging for the market asboth Sensex and Nifty-50indices rose for the sixthconsecutive session. It willbe interesting to see whenthe profit booking comesin the market this week astraders would like to booksome profit before Diwaliwhile institutions likemutual funds would takeadvantage of sharp fall inprices of the Mid-Cap andSmall-Cap stocks and gofor buying before theprices soar on account ofFPIs buying. FPIs are netbuyers by Rs 4,790 crore inOctober so far.

How the overnight USmarket performs andopening of Asian marketswould also define Indianmarkets performance onTuesday.

Q2 resultsto drivemarketsentiments

UltraTech Cement net up62% to `578 crore in Q2


Top seven cities have a totalof 81,300 ready-to-move-inunsold units, which is 12 percent of the total unsoldstock. Their share has risenfrom 11 per cent or 77,100 inQ2, despite demand pickingup for affordable and mid-segment units.

The top cities had a totalof 6.56 lakh unsold units atthe end of September quar-ter. Of this 12 per cent of81,300 were ready-to-move-in units.

According to Anuj Puri,Chairman, AnarockProperty Consultants, theshare of ready homesamong overall unsold stockhas seen a quarterly rise.“Out of the overall unsoldstock in Q2 2019, readyhomes were more than77,100 units across the topseven cities comprisingnearly 11 per cent share. Asmany as 4,200 units sincethen completed in one quar-ter, thereby increasingunsold ready stock to 81,300units as on Q3 2019 withoverall share of readyhomes increasing to 12 percent in Q3 2019,” he said.

Nearly 35 per cent orapproximately 28,830 unitsare in the affordable brack-et and 32 per cent or 26,180units in the mid-segment -

homes priced within Rs 45-80 lakh- are ready-to-move-in.

Recent governmentannouncements, includingtax benefits and interestrate deduction for afford-able housing to a largeextent will attract first-timehomebuyers. As readyhomes are in demand andproperty prices are at theirlowest best, those homebuy-ers waiting to take theplunge will come forward,finds Puri.

Trends also suggest thatthe sops for affordable seg-ment are beginning to showsome positive signs asready inventory of afford-able homes has declined bynearly 3 per cent on quar-terly basis while mid seg-ment saw it fall by 2 percent. However, with newready inventory gettingadded, their share willremain higher in the nearfuture as well.

Mumbai has 21,000,National Capital Region16,800 and Pune 14,260ready-to-move-in units.However, Chennai with10,640 units, has the highestshare of ready-to-move-inunits among its total unsoldstock. While Bangalore’s 17per cent unsold stock areready homes this is just 9per cent in Mumbai andNCR.

Share of readyhousing units risesto 12% in Sept qtr

RITWIK MMUKHERJEEKOLKATA, OCT. 21

In a curious turn of events,two ministries of theMamata Banerjee govern-ment seem to have lockedhorns over a policy relatedissue pertaining to the realestate sector. While onedepartment prefers takingthe sides of the consumers,that is home or propertybuyers, the other seemsmore concerned about exp-anding the state’s coffers.

Quite significantly, theissue also leads to a muchbigger question of whethertwo separate Acts on thesubject of regulation of thereal estate sector — oneenacted by the Centre(RERA) and the other by aparticular state (HIRA) —can coexist. The matterrelates to the existence ofReal Estate (Regulation &Development) Act, 2016(RERA), which is a centralgovernment legislation, andthe Housing & IndustrialRegulation Act, 2017 (HIRA),which was enacted by theWest Bengal government.RERA had been fully noti-fied in 2017 and states weregiven powers to notify theirrespective rules and appointregulatory authorities.

While this is applicableacross the country, except inJ&K, the West Bengal gov-ernment is the only one thathas come out with its sepa-rate legislation, HIRA.

Interestingly now, one ofthe departments of Bengalgovernment is neither fol-lowing RERA. Nor is it com-plying with the provisionsof WBHIRA.

West Bengal consumeraffairs minister, SadhanPande, in a letter(MIC/432/2019), datedAugust 21, addressed toOnkar Singh Meena, secre-tary, housing departmentand designated authority,WBHIRA, unequivocallysaid, “WBHIRA came intoforce in the year 2017 andaccording to the Act ofHIRA it was decided that acustomer will only pay for

the carpet area of the apart-ment or property, whichhe/she is buying. This hasenabled to develop moretransparency between thebuilder and the customer.But to my surprise, we cameto know that still the direc-torate of registration andstamp revenue is conduct-ing the registration processin super built-up area, thusforcing a customer to paymuch more stamp duty andregistration cost thanhe/she should have actuallypaid if the registration hadbeen conducted on the car-pet area of the property.”

“As a consumer protectionminister, I have receivedseveral complaints from theconsumers regarding thiscontradiction in the rules ofWBHIRA and directorate ofregistration and stamp rev-enue. So please rectify thisproblem as soon as possibleand charge the stamp dutyand registration cost on thebasis of carpet area as perthe rules of WBHIRA,” theletter from the ministeradded.

The letter from the con-sumer affairs and protec-tion minister, however, is yetto elicit any response fromthe other department, thatis housing.

It’s neither RERA norHIRA in Bengal realty

New Delhi, Oct. 21: Indiaand the US have almostresolved broad issues of theproposed trade package andan announcement is expect-ed soon, Commerce andIndustry Minister PiyushGoyal said on Monday.

He said that the two coun-tries should look at a muchlarger engagement in thedays ahead, possibly evenleading to an announce-ment for a bilateral agree-ment which will go beyondnear tinkering which “weare doing at present”.

The minister said thattrade negotiations are com-plex in nature but thingsare going smoothly betweenthe two countries.

“We have almost resolvedthe broad contours of whatwe are going to announce. Ido not see any great difficul-ty in closing the gap on thefirst announcement,” hesaid here at a USISPF pro-gramme.

He said that probably bynow, both the sides couldhave announced something,but certain other engage-ments including the UStalks with Japan and Chinadelayed the announcement.

“Both I and US TradeRepresentative RobertLighthizer have understood

that we have huge potentialwhich we still need to tap...We will hopefully come outwith a first set of agree-ments soon”.

“But we both believe thatIndia and the US shouldlook at a much largerengagement in the daysahead, possibly even lead-ing to an announcement fora bilateral agreement whichwill go beyond near tinker-ing which we are doing at

present,” Goyal added.When asked about the

visit of USTR here, he saidas soon as both the sides arein a position to come to areasonable conclusion,USTR would visit India.

The minister said thingsare on the right track andIndia is looking to the USfor technology, innovation,skills and quality educa-tion.

— PTI

Almost resolved broad issues inIndia-US trade package: Goyal

BLOOMBERG EEDITORIALBOARD

The world’s finance minis-ters and central-bank gover-nors gathered this pastweekend in Washington andlooked out at a global econo-my badly in need of treat-ment. Most say they under-stand the dangers, but thatseems open to question.With the facts in plain sightand the need for policychanges all too apparent,they've shown little sense ofurgency, and even less signof action. Prodded by anunhinged US administra-tion, the world could bestumbling into the nextglobal recession.

The InternationalMonetary Fund has loweredits growth forecasts yetagain. Global output is pro-jected to rise by just 3 percent this year (down from

the 3.3 per cent predicted inthe spring) and by a still-sluggish 3.4 per cent (downfrom 3.6 per cent) in 2020.Economic momentum isfading almost everywhere— the IMF calls it a “syn-chronized slowdown.” Therevised outlook is alreadythe weakest since the crash10 years ago, and the risksin the forecast are verymuch, as economists say, tothe downside.

This would be concerningunder any circumstances,but the prospect of reces-sion under current condi-tions is truly alarming. Thehesitant recovery of thepast decade has depleted theconventional tools ofmacroeconomic policy. Inmany countries — not leastthe US — fiscal stimulusand persistent budgetdeficits have boosted ratiosof public debt to national

income. Next time, govern-ments will be reluctant tolean as heavily on extra pub-lic borrowing to raisedemand, rightly or wronglyfearing lack of fiscal space.Monetary policy is all butexhausted too, with interestrates either close to theireffective lower bound (as inthe US) or slammed downagainst it (as inthe EuropeanUnion).

Another lega-cy of that previ-ous recession, and theextraordinary measurestaken to contain it, is height-ened financial fragility.With abundant quantitativeeasing and super-low inter-est rates, financial condi-tions have been kept loose tosupport asset prices, pressdown on yields andstrengthen demand. Themeasures were necessary,

but the result is outlandishasset valuations and height-ened credit risk. Recklesslyinflated house prices were amain cause of the crash; inmany countries, they’vesoared again on the back ofcheap credit. Banks haveadded capital since 2009, butnot enough to make themsafe in another big down-

turn. The noto-rious “doomloop” of riskysovereign debtand bank insol-

vency — recognized as amajor risk after 2008 —remains substantially unad-dressed in Italy and othercountries.

With all these vulnerabili-ties to the fore, and with fewif any policy options fordealing with the crash theymight cause, US PresidentDonald Trump chose toembark on his trade war

with China, and threatenedany other country thatcaught his attention withthe same. This astoundingrecklessness, unaccount-ably tolerated by Congress,has already caused enor-mous economic damage, notleast in the US. Should thesynchronized slowdownbecome an outright world-wide recession, the US gov-ernment will get, anddeserve, much of the blame.

But the responsibility goeswider. Other countriescould be doing far more toguard against these height-ened risks.

China, for instance, hasbeen too slow to address itsfinancial imbalances. Nodoubt, Trump’s trade warhas made this harder, butthe Beijing government hasmade little progress inrepairing its credit-alloca-tion system. Under pres-

sure, the resulting financialvulnerabilities could sur-face abruptly, with conse-quences not just for China.The UK has lately seemedintent on wrecking its econ-omy and system of govern-ment in pursuit of Brexit.The EU has had years toequip the euro area withtwo basic necessities of asingle-currency area — acommon budget to mitigaterecessions and a function-ing banking union — andhas provided neither. Inevery part of the world, gov-ernments have ditheredover reforms that wouldmake their economies moreproductive and robust. Withrisks mounting almostwherever you look, politicaldysfunction has conspiredto make things worse.

Given the will, all of theseproblems are fixable. Some,to be sure, could be solved at

a stroke. The risks posed byTrump’s trade wars, forinstance, would evaporate ifhe merely refrained fromstirring pointless conflict.Others are much more com-plex. Reducing fragilityrequires smarter regula-tion, to recognize the risksthat arise from constantlyevolving financial systems.Reviving macroeconomicpolicy in a world of persist-ently low interest ratesdemands fresh thinking onboth monetary and fiscalfronts. Answers will befound and are starting toemerge, but governmentsshould step up the pace.

These questions can’t waitany longer. The world econo-my is at a dangerous junc-ture, and stands desperatelyin need of wiser and moreeffective leadership. Until itgets some, the risks areunlikely to subside.

World economy is stumbling towards disaster

PAGE

13

—RAVI RRANJAN PPRASAD

London, Oct. 21: Thepound hit a five-monthpeak above $1.30 Mondayon renewed Brexit optim-ism after Prime MinisterBoris Johnson requestedanother extension to Bri-tain’s scheduled departu-re from the EuropeanUnion. At about 0830GMT, the pound reachedthe highest level sinceMay at $1.3012, up from$1.2984 late in New Yorkon Friday. The euro stea-died at about 86 pence.

“Markets (are) startingto price in a best case sce-nario in terms of the de-al getting passed this we-ek and then a short exte-nsion to pass any neces-sary legislation,” CMCMarkets analyst MichaelHewson told AFP.

“Whether that opti-mism turns out to be pre-mature is another mat-ter; only time will tell.”

Johnson was on Mond-ay attempting again topush his EU divorce dealthrough parliament andavoid the political dama-ge of delaying Brexitbeyond next week.

Lawmakers on Saturd-ay mandated the primePM to break his promiseand send a letter to Brus-sels asking for more time.

— AFP

Beijing, Oct. 21:China’s base rate fornew corporate loansstayed unchanged inOctober, defying expec-tations of a reduction asthe economy sees itsslowest pace of growthsince 1990s.

The one-year loan pri-me rate was kept at 4.2per cent, according to aPeople’s Bank of China.That compares to the 4.15per cent median estimatecompiled by Bloomberg.The five-year tenor wasalso kept unchanged at4.85 per cent.

The LPR is a revampedmarket indicator of theprice that lenderscharge clients for newloans, and is linked tothe rate at which thecentral bank will lendfinancial institutionscash for a year. It’s madeup of submissions froma panel of 18 banks,though Beijing has arole in setting the level.The rate is releasedmonthly.

A static 1-year rate sh-ows China “may be tr-ying to balance the shri-nking margins of bankswith support to theeconomy,” said ZhouHao, Economist atCommerzbank AG.

China Bankskeep prime loanrate at 4.2%

New Delhi, Oct. 21:The closure ofVedanta’s coppersmelter plant atTuticorin in TamilNadu has led to a rise inimports of the metal,making the country anet importer of refinedcopper after 18 years,Care Ratings has said.

“India used to be a netexporter of copper cath-odes till FY18. Now withthe closure of theTuticorin smelter, thedrop in domestic pro-duction has led to thedomino effect ofincreasing the country’simports and decreasingits exports. India hasbecome a net importerof refined copper after18 years,” Care Ratingshas said.

During FY2018-19,exports fell by 87.4 percent, whereas importsincreased by 131.2 percent, it said.

India imported refinedcopper from, Japan,Congo, Singapore,Chile, Tanzania, theUAE and South Africawhile exported refinedcopper to China,Taiwan, Malaysia,South Korea andBangladesh during 2018-19.

India to importrefined copperafter 18 yrs: Care

Column

New Delhi, Oct. 21:Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyalsaid on Monday that thegovernment will protectthe interest of domesticindustry before enteringinto the proposed megafree-trade pact RCEP,which is in the last phaseof negotiations.

The RCEP (RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership) agreement isbeing negotiated among 10ASEAN members (Brunei,Cambodia, Indonesia,Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,the Philippines,Singapore, Thailand, and

Vietnam) and their sixfree-trade pact partnersAustralia, China, India,Japan, South Korea andNew Zealand.

“Every interest ofdomestic industry and thepeople of India has to beprotected before we exe-cute any free-trade agree-ment,” he told reporterswhen asked whetherRCEP negotiations wouldbe concluded next month.The member countrieshave fixed a target to con-clude the talks inNovember and sign theagreement in June 2020.

— PTI

‘Will protect interest of industry’

Sterling hits 5-month peakabove $1.30

New Delhi, Oct. 21:Bharti Infratel posted 61per cent jump in consoli-dated net profit at Rs 964crore for the secondquarter endedSeptember 30, 2019.

The mobile tower armof Bharti Airtel hadrecorded a profit of Rs600 crore in the samequarter a year ago.

“We continue to believethat there is a stronggrowth potential in tele-com passive infrastruc-ture in the country astelecom networks keeppace with the continuingexponential data con-sumption growth,”Akhil Gupta, Chairman,Bharti Infratel, said.

The company reporteda marginal dip in rev-enue to Rs 3,638 crorefrom Rs 3,668 crore in theyear-ago period.

— PTI

Infratel profitup 61% to`964 crore

New Delhi, Oct. 21:Ujjivan Financial Servi-ces reported over two-foldjump in consolidated netprofit to Rs 93 crore forthe second quarter endedSeptember 30.

The company had regis-tered a profit of Rs 44.3crore in July-September2018-19.

Total income increased55 per cent to Rs 710 crorein the quarter underreview as against Rs459.04 crore in the year-ago period, UjjivanFinancial Services said ina release.

The company’s sub-sidiary Ujjivan SmallFinance Bank has filed itsDRHP with SEBI inAugust 2019 and is com-mitted to complying withthe listing condition with-in the stipulated time-lines, it said.

— PTI

Ujjivan Finprofit doublesto `93 crore

New Delhi, Oct. 21:Diversified business groupPiramal Enterprises onMonday reported 15.33 percent increase in its consol-idated net profit at Rs554.08 crore for the secondquarter ended September,2019.

The company had report-ed a net profit of Rs 480.42crore for the July-Septem-ber quarter a year-ago,

Piramal Enterprises said.Its total income was up

14.55 per cent to Rs 3,666.24crore as against Rs 3,200.41crore in the correspondingquarter of the previous fis-cal.

Piramal Enterprises’total expenses was at Rs2,934.29 crore as against Rs2,630.60 crore, up 11.54 percent.

— PTI

Piramal Q2 net up 15% to `554 cr

■Revenue from ops rises 4% to `9,620 cr, domestic sales fall 1.2%

GamesTUESDAY | 22 OCTOBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Not quite championsManchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes his sideare still not strong enough to count themselves as realisticcontenders to win the Champions League for the first time

SHORT TAKES

There was clearcontact and Divock

Origi goes down.They carried on and

counter-attacked.— Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager

cries foul over draw with Man U

Federer set for1,500th match

Basel: Roger Federer will checkoff another landmark when hestarts his bid for a 10th Basel

title by playing the 1,500thmatch of his career. The 38-

year-old begins his bid for his103rd title against German qual-

ifier Peter Gojowczyk.The 20-time Grand Slam cham-

pion has beaten the Germantwice — including at Indian

Wells last March.“My preparation had to be a lit-tle faster than usual since I have

to start Monday,” said Federerahead of the Swiss Indoorstournament, which he first

attended as a ballboy.Federer, who has made the

Basel final on all of his last 12visits, owns ATP titles this sea-son in Dubai, Miami and Halle.Despite not adding to his tally

of majors, he still stands at 47-8for the year, a record bettered

only by eternal rival RafaelNadal, whose triumphs at

Roland Garros and the US Openhave taken the Spaniard to 19

Grand Slams.— AFP

Murray wins firsttitle after surgeryAntwerp, Belgium: Andy Murray

said he was “very proud” afterearning his first ATP title since

March 2017 on Sunday with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over fellow

three-time Grand Slam champi-on Stan Wawrinka in the

Antwerp final.Former world number oneMurray, who contemplatedretirement earlier this year

before undergoing career-sav-ing hip surgery, fought back

from a set and 1-3 down toclaim his 46th career title.

“It means a lot. The last fewyears have been extremely diffi-

cult,” Murray, who broke downin tears at the end, told

Amazon Prime.“Both me and Stan have had a

lot of injury problems in the lastcouple of years. It’s amazing tobe back, playing against him inthe final like that. I think it was

a great match. I didn’t expectto be in this position at all. I’m

happy, very happy,” addedMurray, who became the low-

est-ranked ATP champion sinceNo. 355 Pablo Andujar tri-

umphed at the 2018 MarrakechOpen. — AFP

SHOOTERS INUGLY SPAT AT

THE RANGESNew Delhi: The National Rifle

Association of India’s AthletesCommission on Monday

launched an inquiry into thescuffle involving two marksmen

inside the Dr Karni SinghShooting Range here, promis-ing appropriate action at the

earliest.The Sports Authority of India(SAI) has cancelled the mem-

bership of the two marksmen —Babar Khan and Yoginder Pal

Singh — while the national fed-eration referred the matter to

its Athletes Commission, head-ed by former international

shooter Morad Ali Khan.Ugly scenes were witnessed

at the range on Sunday whenthe two errant shooters got into

a fight after an argumentregarding the scheduling of

rounds.“The process of inquiry has

started and we will come outwith the findings as soon as

possible, and then pass our rec-ommendation to the NRAI pres-

ident for appropriate action. Iwill call not just the two shoot-ers involved but all those pres-

ent there at the time of inci-dent, the inquiry will be very

detailed,” Morad said.Earlier, the breach of disci-

pline had forced the NationalRifle Association of India(NRAI) to act against theshooters. “The NRAI has

referred the matter to theAthletes Commission and askedthem to look into it, send thema notice and launch an inquiry.Meanwhile, their ‘pay and play’scheme membership has been

cancelled by SAI,” an official ofthe federation had said. — PTI

IT’S A RED LIGHTManchester, Oct. 21:Liverpool failed to recorda record-equalling 18thstraight Premier Leaguewin, but Adam Lallana’slate equaliser saved theEuropean championsfrom a shock defeat atManchester United in a 1-1draw on Sunday.

Marcus Rashford’s con-troversial goal handed OleGunnar Solskjaer’s strug-gling Red Devils a 1-0 half-time lead, but they couldnot hold out for a much-needed victory as they leftsubstitute Lallanaunmarked at the back postto level with five minutesto play.

Liverpool move sixpoints clear ofManchester City at the topof the table, but will stillfeel this was a missedopportunity to inflictmore pain on a Unitedside sitting 13th in thePremier League, just twopoints off the relegationzone.

The two most successfulsides in English footballcould not have come intothe game in more con-trasting form.

However, Unitedanswered Solskjaer’s callsto rise to the occasion instyle.

Liverpool were withoutMohamed Salah throughinjury and the Egyptian’space and trickery wasbadly missed.

The visitors were able towelcome back goalkeeperAlisson Becker for thefirst time in two monthsafter a calf injury, but theBrazilian was rarely test-ed as United were happyto sit back and counter-attack.

Solskjaer changed hisformation to a 3-5-2 in anattempt to limitLiverpool’s flying full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and AndyRobertson and it waslargely effective as thehosts restricted the leagueleaders to precious fewchances.

Liverpool’s best openingbefore the break camewhen Sadio Mane finallyfound some space tocounter-attack, but fromhis cut-back RobertoFirmino fired too close toDavid de Gea.

United had not scored intheir two previous match-es prior to the internation-al break, but finally pro-duced a moment of quali-ty going forward to takethe lead, even if fortunewas also on their side forthe goal to stand.

Victor Lindelof lookedto have upended DivockOrigi on halfway, but nofoul was given by MartinAtkinson and as Unitedbroke forward, DanielJames’s cross perfectlypicked out Rashford toprod past Alisson.

Liverpool managerJurgen Klopp was furiouson the touchline evenbefore a VAR review failedto overturn the decision.

— AFP

Liverpool’s unbeaten run halted by Manchester United

Rome, Oct. 21: Juventusforward CristianoRonaldo gave coachMaurizio Sarri a vote ofconfidence on Mondaywhen he said he washappy with the “moreattacking” approach theclub had adopted sinceSarri came on board inthe summer.

“I think the team is get-ting better,” said Ronaldoon the eve of Juve’sChampions LeagueGroup ‘D’ meeting withLokomotiv Moscow.

“We are getting moreand more confident. Weare playing a differentbrand of football, moreattacking. I like the wayhe (Sarri) wants theteam to play. We are cre-ating more opportuni-ties, we have more confi-dence in ourselves, I'mhappy with thesechanges,” Ronaldo said.

“Maybe we could scorea little more but I'mproud of what we aredoing,” he added.

So far this season,Ronaldo has scored fivegoals in nine games andwas on target at the

weekend when Juventusbeat Bologna 2-1 to con-solidate top spot in Serie‘A’.

“My role hasn'tchanged, perhaps I havea bit more freedom,” hesaid.

“I am happy because,bit by bit, we are gettingto where Juventus oughtto be. We have a differ-ence coach, a differentsystem, new players. Wechanged in order toimprove,” he said.

Last week, the five-timeBallon d’Or winnerscored his 700th career

goal while playing forPortugal. “That’s alreadyin the past. I want tomove on, reach newheights to help the team.I want to play and helpthe team win trophies. Ofcourse I am proud of theindividual records butthe priority is to wingames for Juventus andPortugal,” Ronaldo said.

The Italian championstop Group ‘D’ in theChampions League hav-ing drawn with AtleticoMadrid and beaten BayerLeverkusen 3-0 in the lastround of games. — AFP

Milan, Oct. 21: InterMilan held off a lateSassuolo surge to win 4-3and keep pace with lead-ers Juventus in Serie ‘A’on Sunday as ClaudioRanieri settled for a goal-less draw against formerclub Roma in his firstgame as Sampdoria coach.

Romelu Lukaku andLautaro Martinez eachbagged a brace for Inter ina seven-goal thriller tokeep Antonio Conte’s sidesecond, a point behindJuventus who beatBologna 2-1 on Saturday.

The match at Sassuolo’sMapei Stadium wasbriefly interrupted beforethe break after a para-chutist inexplicably land-ed on the pitch just asLukaku was about to takea penalty.

The man was quickly ledoff by security agents asplayers and fans looked onbewildered. Then the for-mer Manchester Unitedstriker slotted in to giveInter a 3-1 lead.

Martinez had opened thescoring after two minutes.He added a penalty after

71 minute, followingLukaku’s quick-fire dou-ble on 38 and 45 minutes.

Inter were in control 4-1with 20 minutes to go,when Antonio Contebrought on winger MatteoPolitano and midfielderValentino Lazaro for theirfirst appearances this sea-son.

Then Filip Djuricic (74)and Jeremie Boga (81) hitback for the hosts to add toDomenic Berardi’s first-half goal.

Inter held on for a winafter consecutive defeats

against Barcelona in theChampions League andJuventus in Serie A.

“Once it goes to 3-1 and 4-1, it should be over,” saidLukaku who has nowscored five Serie ‘A’ goalsin eight games.

“In the first half, we dideverything well. However,we should have scored inthe first 15 minutes afterthe restart to really kill offthe match. The positive wetake is that we got thethree points, but we needto defend better thanthat,” he said. — AFP

Inter close gap at the topManchester United’s Scott McTominay (left) vies for the ball with Sadio Mane of Liverpool during their EnglishPremier League match at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester on Sunday. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. — AP

Tottenham Hotspur’s English defender Eric Dier takespart in a drill during a training session at Tottenham’sEnfield Training Centre in north London on Monday,ahead of their UEFA Champions League Group ‘B’ matchagainst Crvena Zvezda. — AFP

French toast onSindhu’s mindParis, Oct. 21: Worldchampion P. V. Sindhuwould look to snap herrecent run of early exitswhen she begins herwomen’s singles campaignat the $750,000 FrenchOpen badminton tourna-ment, beginning here onTuesday.

Since claiming her maid-en World Championshipstitle in August, Sindhu haslooked awfully out-of-formas she had failed to crossthe second round in threetournaments.

She faltered in the secondand first rounds at theChina Open and KoreaOpen respectively lastmonth. Sindhu again exit-ed in the second round instraight games againstKorea’s An Se Young inDenmark Open last week.

The Olympic silvermedallist looked a tad slowin her movement in thelast three tournaments,showing signs of dip in herform.

Seeded fifth in the tour-nament, Sindhu, a 2017semifinalist, will be upagainst Canada’s worldnumber 9 Michelle Li, whohas beaten the Indian inthe past twice.

If Sindhu gets past theearly rounds, the worldnumber 6 Indian is likelyto face top seed Tai TzuYing of Chinese Taipei inthe quarterfinals.

World number 8 SainaNehwal, who is also takingpart in this BWF WorldTour Super 750 event, hasalso been struggling withher fitness and has madethree first-round exits inher last three tourna-ments.

The 29-year-old, who hadfinished runner-up at the2012 edition, will meetHong Kong’s Cheung NganYi in the opening round.

In the men’s singles, 2017champion KidambiSrikanth too will be des-perate to turn around hispoor run in form when hesteps out at the StadePierre de Coubertin here.

However, it will not be aneasy outing for the worldnumber 9 Indian as heopens his campaignagainst second seedChinese Taipei’s ChouTien Chen.

Parupalli Kashyap wouldlook to prove that the first-round exit last week atDenmark Open was anaberration when he lockhorns with Hong Kong’sNG Ka Long Angus.

Sameer Verma, who hadreached the semifinals ofthe World Tour Finals lastDecember, will meetJapan’s Kenta Nishimotoin the opening round.

World number 12 B. SaiPraneeth, who had claimeda bronze at the WorldChampionships, will onceagain face the legendaryLin Dan of China in theopening round.

In the doubles, thewomen’s pair of AshwiniPonnappa and N. SikkiReddy will square offagainst fifth seeded Koreanduo of Lee So Hee and ShinSeung Chan.

The men’s doubles pair ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddyand Chirag Shetty face theDutch combination of JelleMaas and Robin Tabeling.Another men’s doublespair of Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy and themixed duo of Satwiksairajand Ashwini are also in thefray. — PTI

Gritty NorthEasthold BengaluruSUMIT SSINGH || DDCBENGALURU, OCT. 21

Bengaluru FC andNorthEast United playedout a goalless draw in thesecond match of the IndianSuper League at the SreeKanteereva Stadium onMonday amidst relentlessrain. This was the firsttime a game ended in astalemate since the Bluesentered the ISL.

Coach Carles Cuadratopted for a 4-3-3 line upwith a three-man midfieldwith Dimas Delgado,Harmanjot Khabra andRaphael Augusto whileNorth East startedAsomah Gyan as a lonestriker in a 4-2-3-1 forma-tion.

BFC started on the rightnote maintaining posses-sion that restricted theHighlanders to playing onthe break and the firstchance came from the newsigning Ashique Kurinyan.The former Pune City FCplayer deployed as a left-back picked the ball nearthe halfway mark andsprinted down the left,bypassing the North East

United defence and drilleda shot across the goal.

Another chance wentbegging as the Blues couldnot divert one on target asSunil Chhetri drove a looseball that evaded the nearpost.

Udanta Singh thenmissed a glorious chanceafter being played byRaphael Augusto. The BFCwinger shot wide of thetarget with only the goal-keeper to beat.

NorthEast got into thegroove as Martin Chaveshad the first sight on goalafter linking up with Gyan.Gurpreet Sandhu made aroutine save. Gyan thenput the ball in the net buthis position was ruled off-side.

A defensive error almostgifted North East the open-ing goal late in the firsthalf after Rahul Bhekeheaded a ball back toSandhu only for it to beintercepted by Chaves whopulled it wide. Gyan rattledthe goal post in the secondhalf with his left foot, afterbeing played in by Chavesbut once again was ruledoffside.

● Seeded fifth in thetournament, Sindhuwill be up againstCanada’s worldnumber 9 MichelleLi, who has beatenthe Indian in thepast twice. Theworld champion haslooked a tad slow inher movement in thelast threetournaments,showing signs of dipin her form.

Ronaldo’s Juve ready toattack left, right, centre

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 21: Midfielder Sushila Chanu isconfident of the Indian women’s hockey team qualify-ing for the Tokyo Olympics as she feels the country hasmade a lot of improvement in the last three years.

The Indian team, which returned to the Olympic foldin Rio in 2016 after a gap of 36 years, plays againstUnited States here on November 1 and 2 for a berth innext year’s Tokyo Games.

“We know how it felt representing India at Olympicswhen we qualified for it after a 36-year gap in Rio.However, when we came back from that outing, therewas a unanimous feeling around the group that weneed to push ourselves and make sure we consistentlyput in the performances which will help us in qualify-ing for the next edition,” Sushila said.

“We have made huge strides from the previousOlympics, and now we are all very determined tosecure our place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said the26-year-old Sushila who captained the side in 2016 RioOlympics.

“We have 10 players in this current side who werethere in Rio as well, and all of us collectively want toexperience that feeling again. Not just that, we want towin a medal for the country this time in Tokyo,” saidthe midfielder from Manipur.

— PTI

SUSHILA SURE HOCKEYSIDE WILL MAKE TOKYO

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Ranchi, Oct.21: India’s pace

prowess came to the foreyet again as MohammadShami and Umesh Yadavbossed over a fragile SouthAfrican batting line-up toput the hosts on the cusp ofa 3-0 whitewash here onMonday.

As many as 16 SouthAfrican wickets fell on daythree of the third and finalTest with Shami andUmesh doing the bulk ofthe damage. The duobowled with fiery pace andwere also rewarded for con-sistently attacking thestumps.

Staring at another mas-sive defeat, South Africawere 132 for eight in theirsecond innings at stumpswith India needing to turnup on day four to completeformalities. It has proved tobe another dismal tour ofIndia for the South Africanbatsmen and notwithstand-ing the high quality of fastbowling, they looked likesitting ducks on Monday.

Resuming the day at ninefor two in their firstinnings, South Africa werebowled out for 162 beforeIndia enforced the follow-on. Umesh set the tone ofthe day by clean bowlingSouth African skipper Fafdu Plessis with anunplayable late outswinger.

If Umesh was lethal in thefirst innings, Shami uppedhis game in the second. Theleft-arm spinners, debutantShahbaz Nadeem andRavindra Jadeja, too didtheir bit as India steam-rolled the opposition. Likehe had done in the firstinnings, Umesh gave thefirst breakthrough in SouthAfrica’s second essay whenhe cleaned up Quinton deKock (5) with a perfectlength delivery that angledacross the left-hander.

Then Shami rippedthrough the middle-order,first castling ZubayrHamza for a duck with afull length delivery beforegetting rid of Faf DuPlessis (4) and TembaBavuma (0) in successiveovers to leave them gaspingat 22 four in their second

innings. An early tea wastaken as both the teamswere left shaken after open-er Dean Elgar was hit onthe helmet by a 145kmphbouncer from Yadav.

The batsman took apause, sat on the groundbefore going off the field.India wrapped up the South

African first innings for 162in 56.2 overs in yet anothermeek batting surrenderthat lasted less than twosessions after the visitorsresumed the day at nine fortwo in five overs. Local ladNadeem cleaned up the tailby trapping Anrich Nortjein front to make it a memo-rable debut, returning withfigures of 11.2-4-22-2.

Nadeem had his “bigmoment” when he dis-missed Temba Bavuma (32)for his first wicket in inter-national cricket. He foxedBavuma with his flight asthe batsman stepped out ofthe crease, leavingWriddhiman Saha to do therest. Nadeem’s first inter-national wicket incidental-ly came even before anybatsman could score runagainst him. South Africabegan the second sessionstaring at an imminent fol-low-on as they lost theirseventh wicket on thefourth ball after the lunch-break when a hapless DanePiedt was beaten byShami’s raw pace as it cutback in to trap him in front.What followed was a bodyblow in 39th over whereShami made Nortje hop allover with his sharp incom-ing bouncers though thetail-ender managed to sur-vive the hostile spell.

— PTI

PAGE


SHORT TAKES

Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals onMonday appointed former

Australian cricketer AndrewMcDonald as their new headcoach for a three-year term.

McDonald has been a part ofthe Indian Premier League, hav-ing played for Delhi Daredevils

in the 2009 season beforebeing signed up by RoyalChallengers Bangalore in

2012–2013. He was also thebowling coach of Royal

Challengers Bangalore. The 38-year-old former Australian all-

rounder has coachedLeicestershire, Victoria and the

Melbourne Renegades.McDonald, who played four

Tests for Australia, had guidedVictoria to the title win in

Sheffield Shield in his first yearas senior coach. The Victorian

then moved the Renegadesfrom 7th position to winning

the Big Bash this year. “We aredelighted to appoint Andrew as

our head coach. He shares ourbelief of discovering potential

and championing dreams and isaligned with our vision to con-tinue to drive innovation in the

IPL,” said Ranjit Barthakur,Executive Chairman, Rajasthan

Royals in a team statement. — PTI

Kolkata: BCCI president-electSourav Ganguly on Monday left

it to skipper Virat Kohli to takea call on his availability for

the upcoming three-match T20 series

against Bangladesh,starting November 3.

There is a specula-tion that Kohli, who

has played 48 of the last56 international games

across formats, will take restfor the T20s but come back forthe two Test matches in Indore

and Kolkata. “I will meet him onOctober 24. I will talk to himlike a BCCI president talks tothe captain. He is the captain

and he can take a call,"Ganguly told reporters at theCAB headquarters. He was allpraise for Rohit Sharma, who

has been a smash-hit with 529runs in his kitty, including a

maiden double hundred. — PTI

I don’t thinkplaying the

Hundred will diluteour chances of

winning the nextWorld Cup.

— Joe Root, England Testcaptain

Cricket

McDonald namedRR head coach

I’ll meet Kohli onOct. 24: Ganguly

Andrew MMcDonald

Fitness battleLimited-overs captain Aaron Finch is battlingto be fit for Australia’s opening Twenty20against Sri Lanka after suffering a side strain

■ Pacers Shami and Yadav let itrip as India on brink of 3-0 Testseries sweep over South Africa

Dhaka/ Kolkata, Oct. 21:Bangladesh’s upcomingtour of India was onMonday thrown into jeop-ardy after their nationalteam players refused to par-ticipate in any cricketingactivity until theirdemands, including a hikein salary, are met.

The boycott plan wasannounced by the country’stop players such as Test andT20 captain Shakib AlHasan, Mahmudullah andMushfiqur Rahim at a pressconference here.

Nearly 50 players are partof the protest. A boycott ofany cricket activity for theforeseeable future will havean immediate impact on theNational Cricket League,currently in progress.

The action could also jeop-ardise the training camp fornext month’s tour of Indiaand possibly the tour itself.During the tour startingNovember 3, Bangladeshare scheduled to play threeT20 Internationals and twoTest matches as part of theWorld Championship.

“We have to respect thelocal coaches, physios,trainers and groundsman.They get really a littleamount of salary at the endof the month,” senior open-er Tamim Iqbal said onbehalf of the players at thepress conference.

The camp was supposed tostart this week with theteam’s spin consultantDaniel Vettori in atten-dance. BCCI president-electSourav Ganguly said inKolkata that he was confi-dent that Bangladesh willnot call-off the series. “It isthe internal matter of BCBbut it’s not under mypurview,” Ganguly said.

However, many in the

Indian Cricket Board feelthat Ganguly’s cordial rela-tions with both players andofficials in Bangladeshcricket might help in sal-vaging the situation.

“There is a Test match inKolkata, which will certain-ly generate a lot of interestamong the Bangladesh fanskeeping the local connect inmind. A lot of fans areexpected to travel from

Dhaka and it’s surroundingtowns to watch the match, afirst in Kolkata. I believethat they will pay heed toour president’s request ifthe situation demands,”another BCCI official said.

One of the major pointsraised by the players wasbetter remuneration forthose competing at the first-class level. “Match fee forthe first-class cricket

should be increased to onelakh (Bangladesh Taka),which is now 35 thousandonly. At the same time, thesalary of first-class crick-eters also should beincreased by 50 per cent,”said their most decoratedplayer Shakib.

“A first-class cricketergets only 1500 taka as thedaily allowance. I don’tthink this is enough for acricketer in order to get ahealthy lifestyle. At thesame time, we are demand-ing to increase the travelallowance. We will be happyif BCB ensures the air tick-ets for travelling for thefirst-class cricketersaround the country.”

Some of the players’ maindemands are: BangladeshPremier League (BPL) mustgo back to franchise model,Dhaka Premier League(their domestic first-classcompetition) must go backto open market transfers,central contract salaryshould be higher, andinclude more players, high-er first class match fees,players association to nolonger have conflict ofinterest. “We just came toknow about it we will dis-cuss it in the board and tryto resolve it as soon as pos-sible,” BCB CEONizamudin Chowdhurysaid. — PTI

Bangladesh cricketers go on strike

Flanked by his teammates Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan (centre) addresses themedia at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka on Monday. — AFP

Bengaluru, Oct. 21: Rainended Mumbai’s VijayHazare Trophy campaignhere on Monday asChhattisgarh made it to thesemi-finals on the basis ofmore wins against theirquarterfinal opponents inthe league phase.

Tamil Nadu also reachedthe semi-finals on the basisof more wins than Punjabin the league stage aftertheir quarter-final gamewas cut short by rain.Tamil Nadu had won nineout of nine matches inGroup C, whileChhattisgarh emerged vic-torious in five out of eightgames in Group A.

Mumbai won four. WhileTamil Nadu will take onGujarat in the semifinalson Wednesday, hostsKarnataka will clash withChhattisgarh on the sameday. In pursuit of a revisedtarget of 195 from 39 overs,Mumbai were cruising at 95for no loss in 11.3 overswith young YashasviJaiswal batting on 60 (38balls, 5 fours, 5 sixes) and

Aditya Tare on 31. However,the skies opened up and thematch was abandoned, end-ing Mumbai’s topsy-turvycampaign.

As per rules, Mumbaineeded to bat a minimum of20 overs to get a result inthis game. But as the gamewas abandoned,Chhattisgarh qualified. Putinto bat at the Alur cricketstadium III, Mumbaibowlers did well to restrictChhattisgarh to 190 for sixin 45.4 overs, when playwas halted due to rain.

Experienced medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarnisent Chhattisgarh openerJiwanjyot Singh Chauhan(0) back after he edged tokeeper Tare. Shardul

Thakur got rid offShashank Chandrakar toleave Chhattisgarh in trou-ble at 3 for 2. AshutoshPratap Singh (27), whocame in at one drop, wasunable to convert his startas Chhattisgarh slipped to40 for 3. Skipper HarpreetSingh Bhatia (83) andAmandeep Khare (59 notout) led the recovery with a135-run stand.

In the other last eightgame, Punjab restrictedTamil Nadu to 174 for six in39 overs when rain stoppedplay. Tamil Nadu had ashaky start after openersMurali Vijay (22) andAbhinav Mukund (17)failed to convert starts.

— PTI

Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadumake semis; Mumbai out

VIJAY HAZARE BRIEF SCORES■ Chhattisgarh 190 for 6 in 45.4 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 83,Amandeep Khare 59 not out, Dhawal Kulkarni 2 for 9) vs Mumbai 95for no loss in 11.3 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 60 not out, Aditya Tare 31not out).■ Tamil Nadu 174 for 6 in 39 overs (Baba Aparajith 56, WashingtonSundar 35 not out, Gurkeerat Singh 2 for 25) vs Punjab 52 for 2 in12.2 overs.

(Note: Both matches were abandoned due to rain)

Fast & furious

Ranchi, Oct. 21: SouthAfrica opener DeanElgar was on Mondayruled out of the thirdTest against India as hesuffered concussionafter being hit by abouncer from pacerUmesh Yadav.

Minutes before the teabreak, Elgar tried toduck a short delivery

from Yadav, who was inthe middle of a hostilespell of short-pitchedbowling. Elgar was hitjust above the ear andimmediately fell on theground, calling for med-ical help.

He was batting on 16 off29 balls when Umeshbouncer struck him.“Dean Elgar is still being

assessed and we are fol-lowing the standard ICCconcussion protocol. Iwill send an update assoon as there is one tosend.

The Match Referee hasapproved Theunis deBruyn as Dean Elgar’sreplacement as result ofconcussion,” SouthAfrica media manager

issued a statement onbehalf of the team. Elgaris the third concussionsubstitute after MarnusLabuschagne ofAustralia (in place ofSteve Smith duringAshes Test at Lord’s) andJermaine Blackwood (vsIndia replacing DarrenBravo).

— PTI

SCORECARDIndia (1st innings): 497-9 decl. South Africa (1st innings): D. Elgar c Saha b Shami 0, Q.de Kock c Saha b Yadav 4, Z. Hamza b Jadeja 62, F. duPlessis b Yadav 1, T. Bavuma st Saha b Nadeem 32, H.Klaasen b Jadeja 6, G. Linde c Rohit b Yadav 37, D. Piedtlbw b Shami 4, K. Rabada run out (Yadav) 0, A. Nortjelbw b Nadeem 4, L. Ngidi (not out) 0. Extras (b8, lb3,nb1) 12. Total (in 56.2 overs)) 162.FoW: 1-4, 2-8, 3-16, 4-107, 5-107, 6-119, 7-129, 8-130, 9-162.Bowling: Shami 10-4-22-2, Yadav 9-1-40-3, Nadeem11.2-4-22-2, Jadeja 14-3-19-2, Ashwin 12-1-48-0.South Africa (2nd innings, following-on): Q. de Kock bYadav 5, D. Elgar (retired hurt) 16, Z. Hamza b Shami 0,F. du Plessis lbw b Shami 4, T. Bavuma c Saha b Shami0, H. Klaasen lbw b Yadav 5, G. Linde run out (Nadeem)27, D. Piedt b Jadeja 23, T. de Bruyn (batting) 30, K.Rabada c Jadeja b Ashwin 12, A. Nortje (batting) 5.Extras (b5) 5. Total (for 8 wwickets in 46 overs) 132.FoW: 1-5, 2-10, 3-18, 4-22, 4-26 (Elgar retired), 5-36, 6-67, 7-98, 8-121.Bowling: Shami 9-5-10-3, Yadav 9-1-35-2, Jadeja 13-5-36-1, Nadeem 5-0-18-0, Ashwin 10-3-28-1.

Elgar suffers concussion after being hit by bouncer

Ranchi, Oct. 21: India’s first-choice Test wicketkeeperWriddhiman Saha sufferedan injury on his right ringfinger during the SouthAfrican second innings asRishabh Pant kept wickets inthe final hour. The 35-year-old Saha, who was phenom-enal behind the stumps inthe second Test in Pune, washurt in the 27th over, whilekeeping to off-spinnerRavichandran Ashwin. Thelatest injury adds to thelong list of on-field setbacksthat the Bengal stumper hadsuffered in his career includ-ing a career-threateningshoulder injury for which hehad to undergo surgerywhich forced him out ofnational team for 20months. — PTI

Saha injured,Pant keepswickets

MohammedShami

Umesh YYadavcelebrates aaSouth AAfricanwicket.

— AAP

South AAfrica’sDean EElgar iisfelled bby aanUmesh YYadavbouncer. — AAP

>>

>

Regd. No. H/SD/509/2018-20Printed and Published by T. Venkateswarlu on behalf of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited. Printed at

Deccan Chronicle Press situated at Plot No. 9 Alwal Village, Vallabh Nagar Taluk, Medchal Malkajgiri Dist.Telangana and Published at 36, S.D. Road, Secunderabad-3. RNI Registration No. 3081/1957.

Editor: Aditya Sinha

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