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Shah for a common language,says Hindi can unite country PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Saturday pitched for acommon language for the coun-try and said it is Hindi which isspoken the most and can unitethe whole country. The homeminister also said efforts will bemade to expand Hindi to dif-ferent parts of the country andasked everyone to use theirnative languages as much as pos-sible. "India has many languagesand every language has itsimportance. But it is absolutelynecessary that the entire coun-try should have one languagethat becomes India's identityglobally," he said in a series oftweets in Hindi.

Shah said that today, if anylanguage which can unite thecountry, it is Hindi that is spo-ken the most. "I want to appealto people to promote their nativelanguages but also use Hindi tomake the dream of Bapu(Mahatma Gandhi) and Sardar(Vallabhbhai) Patel of one lan-guage come true," he tweeted.Later, speaking at a 'Hindi Divas'function, Shah said Hindi shouldreach every individual and everyhome in the country. "Next yearwe will hold the Hindi Divasfunctions in different parts of thecountry. I appeal to every par-ents to speak to their children intheir own language and also withthe co-workers," he said.

He said when the country willface the next general election in2024, Hindi would haveachieved a monumental status.

The home minister saidsocialist leader Ram ManoharLohia had said in a democracy,

the language of the governmentshould be a language which peo-ple can understand.

"When I first took charge ofthe Home Ministry, in the first10 days, not a single file has cometo me with Hindi noting. Now,60 per cent files which come tome have Hindi notings," he said.Shah said a language can surviveonly if the new generation feelsproud in speaking in the lan-guage. "It is our strength that wehave many languages anddialects. We have to see that a for-eign language does not overtakea native language," he said.

The home minister also saidduring the freedom struggle, theCongress conventions used totake place in different parts of thecountry and such initiativesempowered Hindi in those areas.Shah said if a Hindi-medium stu-dent is asked to speak for 40 min-utes in Hindi, he won't be able todo so. "There is so much influ-ence of English on us that we can-not talk in Hindi without its help,"he said. Shah said Hindi shouldbe taken in areas like law, scienceand technology. He said theCentre will teach children innortheast states to read and writeHindi. "I was in Guwahati lastweek. I am told that many peo-ple are hiring private tutors toteach Hindi to their children. Wehave decided that we will teachthem Hindi, he said.

The home minister alsoreferred to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, former PrimeMinister Atal Bihar Vajpayee andlate External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj who deliveredtheir speeches in UN GeneralAssembly in Hindi.

MK Stalin, Asaduddin Owaisifume at Home Minister’s remarksDMK chief MK Stalin on Saturday raised his protest against "imposition

of Hindi". Referring to a remark by Union Home Minister Amit Shahwherein he advocated Hindi as India's national language, Stalin said thatthe statement would affect the unity of the country. However, WestBengal Chief Mamata Banerjee, who is a staunch opponent of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi-led NDA government, tweeted in support ofHindi Diwas, saying that while one might learn several languages, oneshould never forget their mother tongue. The DMK chief demanded thatAmit Shah must take his statement back, adding that the Tamil Naduparty would discuss the issue at its executive party meeting. "We havebeen continuously waging protest against imposition of Hindi. Today'sremarks made by Amit Shah gave us a jolt, it will affect the unity of thecountry. We demand that he takes his statement back," said Stalin. AllIndia Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisiquestioned the significance of Hindi Diwas saying it "isn't every Indian'smother tongue". "Hindi isn't every Indian's "mother tongue". Could you tryappreciating the diversity & beauty of the many mother tongues that dotthis land? Article 29 gives every Indian the right to a distinct language,script & culture," wrote Owaisi on Twitter, adding, "India's much biggerthan Hindi, Hindu, Hindutva."

FM announces Rs 70K crpackage to boost growthPNS n NEW DELHI

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Saturdayannounced an over Rs 70,000crore package for the exportsand real estate sectors, includ-ing setting up of a stressed assetfund, as the government con-tinued with firefighting mea-sures to pull the economy out ofa six-year low growth rate. A Rs20,000 crore fund, with gov-ernment putting in half of theamount, will be set up to pro-vide last-mile funding for hous-ing projects that are not in bank-ruptcy court or already taggedas bad debt, she said at a pressconference here to announcethe third set of measures toaddress stress in specific sectorsand boost the economy.

Also, housing finance com-panies have been allowed toborrow funds abroad at relaxedrules while interest rate onhousing building advance has

been lowered, benefiting gov-ernment servants who make upfor a major component ofdemand for houses.

The stressed asset fund willbenefit around 3.5 lakh home-buyers, Sitharaman said, addingthat buyers stuck in bankrupt-cy-bound projects will get reliefthrough the NCLT.

For exporters, a new schemefor reimbursement of taxes paid

on exports, called the Remissionof Duties or Taxes on ExportProduct (RoDTEP), will comeinto effect from January 2020 toreplace existing dispensations.

The new RoDTEP "will morethan adequately incentiviseexporters than existing schemesput together," she said, addingthe revenue government willforego on the scheme is pro-jected at Rs 50,000 crore.

A delegation of BJP leaders, led by party’s state unit chief K Laxman, met theGovernor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandumto her on Saturday

BJP steps up heat on‘TS Liberation Day’PNS n HYDERABAD

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leaders in Telangana onSaturday called on GovernorTamilisai Soundararajan anddemanded that the state gov-ernment officially celebrate

Telangana liberation day onSeptember 17.

A delegation of party lead-ers led by BJP's state unitchief K Laxman met the gov-ernor at Raj Bhavan and sub-mitted her a memorandum.

Continued on Page 4

Vet booked for death of pet dog at KCR’s housePNS n HYDERABAD

The Hyderabad police havebooked a veterinary doctor fornegligence that led to the deathof a pet dog belonging to PragatiBhavan, the official residence ofTelangana Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao.

A case under section 429 ofthe Indian Penal Code (IPC)and Section 11 (4) of ThePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals Act was booked

against Doctor Ranjit and thein-charge of a private veteri-nary clinic at Banjara HillsPolice Station, police said onSaturday. The 11-month-olddog, named 'Haski', diedallegedly after the veterinarianadministered an injection onSeptember 11.

On a complaint by Asif AliKhan, the handler of pet dogsat Pragati Bhavan, the policeregistered a case and took upinvestigations. The complainant

alleged that the dog died due tonegligence by the doctor and thein-charge of the clinic.

'Haski', one of the nine petdogs at the chief minister's res-idence, suddenly took ill onSeptember 10. It was not eatinganything. The next day, a vet-erinarian examined the pet,which was running high tem-perature. The same day it wastaken to a private clinic whereit died. The complaint waslodged the next day.

Kapil Dev isChancellor ofHaryana SportsUniversity

RSS plans firstoutreach toforeign pressNEW DELHI: RSS chiefMohan Bhagwat will interactwith members of foreignpress later this month, in firstsuch outreach by the Sangh"to clear misconceptions"about the outfit and its ide-ology, sources said here. ARashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) functionary,who is coordinating themeeting, said invitation isbeing extended to 70 foreignmedia organisations fromvarious countries barringPakistan.

Sangh's functionaries saidthe aim of the 'briefing' wasto discuss the RSS' views onvarious topics, as well as toaddress some "wrong narra-tives" about the organisationthat have developed over theyears.

CHANDIGARH: Cricketlegend Kapil Dev will be thefirst Chancellor of theHaryana Sports Universityat Rai in Sonipat district.

"Kapil Dev will be the firstChancellor of Haryana SportsUniversity at Rai, Sonipat,"Haryana Sports Minister AnilVij said in a tweet onSaturday. The SportsUniversity of Haryana will bethe third sports universityestablished by a state gov-ernment in the country afterSwarnim Gujarat SportsUniversity (Gandhinagar)and Tamil Nadu PhysicalEducation and SportsUniversity (Chennai).

PNS n HYDERABAD

IT Minister K T Rama Rao onSaturday asserted that, irre-spective of the Centre's stanceon the proposed InformationTechnology and InvestmentRegion (ITIR), Telangana is setto grow its investments in theIT sector. As part of ITIR, TShad proposed IT clusters.

"Neither UPA nor NDA(govt) gave even Rs 1 for ITIRproject. As for the new NDAgovernment, we asked 10 times— by meeting personally, writ-ing letters, and providing infor-mation. They clearly said thatthey had given up ITIR. Theysaid: "Our policy is not ITIRand it is not part of NDA."

KTR pointed out that despiterepeated requests during meet-ings with then IT MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad andFinance Minister Arun Jaitleyand though several letters weresent by the State, the Centre didnot provide any funds.

Prasad went to the extent ofsaying that the governmenthad shelved ITIRs. KTR thenobserved: "Even if they didn'tgive anything, nothing stopped.Because of ecosystem-centricpolicies of the Telangana gov-ernment, IT growth is 17 per-cent, unlike national average of

8-9percent." Dismissing claimsof the Congress over not doingenough to get ITIR grounded,KTR said: "Bengaluru andHyderabad never got Rs 1 forITIR. Did Congress govt evenput one brick for ITIR in

Bengaluru?" The Governmentis taking steps to encourage theestablishment of IT companiesin the eastern and southernregions of the city, KTR said.

Addressing concerns raisedby some members that the ITindustry was currently con-centrated in just the westernpart of the city, putting increas-ing pressure on infrastructurein the area, the Minister saidthe Government had alreadyapproved Maheshwaram andRaviryal areas for develop-ment of electronic industryclusters.

Continued on Page 4

No more waiting for ITIR, TSgovt going ahead in IT : KTR

Even if they didn't giveanything, nothing

stopped. Because of ecosystem-centric policies of the Telanganagovernment, IT growth is 17percent, unlike national averageof 8-9percent

— KTR, IT Minister

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

In order to move existing pol-luting industries to locationsbeyond the Outer Ring Road(ORR), the Telangana govern-ment is looking at replicatingthe strategy that was adoptedfor relocating Mumbai's textilemills.

In growing cities,change in land useand developmentsaround industrialunits take placeautomat ica l ly.Officials said thatthe Telangana gov-ernment would offerincentives for relo-cating industriesalong the lines ofwhat Mumbai hadoffered to its textilemills.

An official said, "Even inMumbai, earlier there were alot of textile mills on the out-skirts. The city grew so muchthat the textile mills becameheart of Mumbai. The govern-ment gave incentives to convertthis land into residential-cum-

non-polluting industries. Eventhe Telangana governmentwants to offer similar incen-tives to units in Uppal,Nacharam, Jeedimetla andother industrial areas whichhave now become a part of thecity". The plan is to remove

these polluting units andslowly convert

these areas intores ident ia l -cum non-pol-luting industri-

al areas.Officials said thatthe governmentis mulling togive some con-

cessions in con-struction for the

industries to bemoved out andallow them toswitch to non-pol-

luting business-

es like IT, and eventually a partof it could be converted intoresidential areas as well.

In Nacharam, alreadyRahejas have set up residentialkind of unit. This strategy willbe adopted for relocating all themajor polluting units of indus-trial corridors within the city.

About 500 polluting unitswere identified to be shifted to14 locations outside ORR; yet,not a single one has moved sofar. This initiative was startedin 2013. Still, not muchprogress has been made tilldate. Officials said that there

would be resistance as theseindustries were operating onthin margins and moving thembeyond ORR would requirefresh capital infusion. In orderto create a win-win situation,the government would beoffering incentives to theseunits to move out.

Concentration of industriesinside ORR had begun to shownegative effects like pollutionand congestion; so, there wasdemand for moving the pol-luting units to outer areas.

Continued on Page 4

Hyd to take Mumbai route for relocating polluting unitsFor the industries to be moved beyond ORR; thegovernment is likely to give concessions inconstruction and allow them to switch to non-polluting businesses like IT for eventualconversion into residential areas as well

9

A TOUGH COP WITH A TENDER HEART

Govt announcesRs 20K cr fundfor stalledhousing projectsl 3.5 lakh buyers

to benefitPNS n NEW DELHI

Coming to rescue of an esti-mated 3.5 lakh distressedmiddle class home-buyers,the government on Saturdayannounced Rs 20,000 crorefund to help real estate devel-opers complete projects thatare stuck on account of "lastmile" cash shortage.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said a "specialwindow" will be set up to"provide last mile fundingfor housing projects which arenon-NPA and non-NCLTprojects and are net worthpositive in affordable andmiddle income category".

The minister said Rs 10,000crore towards the special win-dow will come from the gov-ernment and "roughly sameamount" from other investors,like LIC and sovereign funds.She also announced that gov-ernment servants, who con-tribute big time in housingdemand, will get home loanat lower rates.

Five of afamily killedin car crashAMARAVATI: Five mem-bers of a family were killedand another injured as a carin which they were travellingcaught fire after it over-turned in Andhra Pradesh'sChittoor district onSaturday, police said.

The victims comprisedthree children and twowomen. The ghastly tragedyoccurred near Mamuduguvillage when the family wason its way from Tirupati toBengaluru. The driver,Vishnu, apparently lost con-trol of the car, which over-turned and fell off the road.Under the impact of thecrash, the vehicle caughtfire, trapping the occupants.

Governor’s praise ofAyushman Bharatleaves Etela red-facedMAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

Although Telangana State haschosen not to implement theUnion government'sAyushman Bharat because ofthe wider reach and efficacy ofits own Aaroyasri scheme,Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Saturdaydeeply embarrassed StateHealth Minister Etela Rajenderat an international conferenceby highlighting the Centre'shealth scheme as "the world'slargest government-funded

healthcare scheme… grow-ing from success to success infulfillment of theGovernment's commitmentto make healthcare accessibleto all the Indian citizens."

Around 20 states haveimplemented AyushmanBharat - Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojana (PMJAY),intended to provide healthinsurance to 10.74 crorehouseholds in the country.Telangana is among the half adozen States that have notsigned on the dotted line.

Continued on Page 4

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan being presented memento by Apollo HospitalsGroup Chairman Prathap C Reddy in Hyderabad on Saturday. Health MinisterEtela Rajender also seen

Trump confirmsdeath ofLaden's sonPNS nWASHINGTON

US President Donald Trumpon Saturday confirmed thatHamza bin Laden, the sonand designated heir of Al-Qaeda founder Osama binLaden, was killed in acounter-terrorism operationalong the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

US media reported in lateJuly and early August, citingintelligence officials, that theyounger Bin Laden had beenkilled sometime in the lasttwo years in an operation thatinvolved the United States.

Secretary of Defense MarkEsper confirmed the deathlast month, saying it was "hisunderstanding" that BinLaden was dead, but Trumpand other senior officials hadnot publicly confirmed thenews.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has chal-lenged the CongressLegislature Party (CLP) leader,Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka say-ing that the latter has to provehis allegations that the statehad Rs 3 lakh crore debts.

"The opposition can criticisethe government if it wants, butit is spreading false news. It istrue that the governmentreduced the Budget, but at thesame time we explained as towhy we reduced the Budget. Itis not correct on the part ofBhatti to speak in a mannerthat we reduced the Budgeteven after having money. It isnot correct to say that not a sin-gle project is visible. MissionBhagiratha is not a project?" heslammed Congress.

On Saturday, a heated argu-ment took place between ChiefMinister and CLP leader MalluBhatti Vikramarka during dis-cussion on Budget. Whilespeaking on Budget, Bhattisaid that there is no compari-son between the reality and thestatements of state govern-ment on Budget. He ridiculedthe state government allegingthat the government got acredit of introducing vote-on-account budget for six monthsand so that the full-fledgedBudget experienced cutting.

He alleged that the TRSgovernment is throwing thestate into debt trap. It alreadybrought Rs 3 lakh crore debts.The TRS government still bor-rowing loans even in this bud-get, he said. Interfering Bhatti,KCR said that the TRS gov-ernment opposed thePolavaram project, which willsubmerge Telangana and it is inrecords.

The Chief Minister slammedBhatti saying that the Congressdid injustice while proposingPolavaram in the name of

Indira Sagar project. KCR saidthat the credit of allocating 100TMCs of water to Khammamdistrict goes to TRS while con-structing Seetharama project.At one point of time, ChiefMinister seriously counteredBhatti saying "We will notkeep quiet if opposition speaksas it wished. Are they not in aposition to see Kaleswaramand Bhaktharamadas projects?

We filled 27,000 tanks with theMission Kakatiya scheme. TheCongress leaders are not in aposition to learnt lesson eventhey defeated in elections".

Continuing his speech,Bhatti said that they have noenmity against government tospeak like that. "We are speak-ing on the priorities of thestate", he said. Bhatti said thatalready 35 lakh acres of land is

being irrigated if the statewould have moved with perfectplan in regard to irrigation pro-jects. He said that already pre-vious governments spent someamounts on Pranahitha,Devadula and Dummugudemprojects. He said that the gov-ernment spent nearly one Rs50,000 crore on Kaleswaramproject but not yet released sin-gle drop of water to fields.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MLC Jeevan Reddyand TRS Finance Minister THarish Rao on Saturday lockedinto a wordy duel in the StateLegislative Council on nation-

al project status forKaleswaram project.

Raking up theissue in the Upper

House, JeevanReddy said thatU n i o nMinister whilereplying to aquestion inthe Rajya

Sabha went inrecord that the

government didnot receive any rep-

resentation seekingnational project status for

Kaleswaram. He questionedthe ruling TRS on the nation-al project status whose versionis at fault - the Center's or thatof the TRS version.

Replying to the question,Harish Rao put the blame onCongress for denying nation-al project status forKaleswaram project. He turnedtables on the Congress ques-tioning why it refused thenational project status forPranahita-Chevella LI Schemewhile it accorded the status tothe Polavaram project.

Chief Minister called on PmNarendra Modi and appealedto him on State's irrigation pro-jects. On a number of times,the Government of Telanganahad written letters to theCenter, he said questioningthe Opposition party whatmore evidence does it requireon Kaleswaram project.

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KCR, Bhatti face-off over ‘debt’nCM has put state in debt trap, says Congress; KCR challenges Oppn to prove claims

Harish, JeevanReddy lockhorns over KLIS

PNS n HYDERABAD

Animal Husbandry MinisterTalasani Srinivas Yadav hasmade it clear that he will notspeak with scribes as the sit-uation is not good outside.During a chitchat with thejournalists in Assembly lob-bies on Saturday, Talasanisaid that there are morechances that the GHMC elec-tions will be held as perschedule. He exuded confi-dence that the TRS will wintwo more seats additionallythan previous GHMC elec-tions. The TRS will show its'hawa' even in Cantonment

elections. He said that there is no dis-

cussion and idea on divisionof GHMC. He made it clearthat the BJP has no strengthat ground level as was shownin the media. He said thatthere is no dissent in the TRSparty and dismissed therumours about theissue. He asked thescribes to question theleaders, who areunhappy with theparty leadership,directly.

W h e nasked asto why he

d i s -cussedwith theMalkajgiriM L AMynampallyHanmantha Raofor two to three hours,Talasani said that he spoke to

Mynampally causually."I had that freedom asa Minister in TDP. Ihave same freedom

even in TRS", he said.There is nothing to

speak on AP politics.They are doing

their works, hesaid.

‘HEATEDARGUMENTS’

“Can you prove that Telangana has Rs3 lakh crore in debts. If you can’t, take

back your words,” Chandrashekhar Raodemanded Vikramarka during the discussion

on Budget in the State Assembly. The dis-cussion on the Budget got off on a

stormy note with the Congress leaderspicking up arguments with TRS MLAs over

the Budget

‘MIM is TRS' friendly party not Oppn’K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

For the first time in theAssembly history, the AIMIMhas initiated debate on theBudget on Saturday as it hasgot opposition party statuswith seven MLAs in its kitty.The AIMIM Legislature Partyleader Akbaruddin Owaisi hasinitiated the debate on Budgetfor the year 2019-20.

On the other hand, theCongress Legislature Party(CLP), which lost main oppo-sition party status in Assemblyas its 12 MLAs have mergedwith ruling TRS, met theSpeaker Pocharam SrinivasReddy at latter's Chamber andsubmitted a memorandum. Inthe memorandum, the CLPleader Mallu BhattiVikramarka has mentionedthat the august House is notgiving its due position to thevoice of dissent by changingseats of CLP leader and itsmembers and allotting thesame to AIMIM.

Bhatti mentioned in his let-ter that "on many occasionsboth AIMIM Chief AsaduddinOwaisi and TRS Chief KChandrasekhar Rao have

declared that they are friend-ly parties. How a friendly partyis treated as an oppositionparty? I feel personally thatallotting Opposition Blockwhere Congress party mem-bers were sitting, to a friendlyparty MIM is nothing but sup-pressing opposition party inthe House. Congress is the onlyopposition partywhich is hav-ing more number of legislatorsamong opposition parties inthis House. i.e. SecondTelangana Legislative

Assembly". Reacting on the memoran-

dum, the Speaker said thatboth Bhatti and D SridharBabu knows the proceedingsof the House very well as theyworked as Deputy Speakerand Legislative AffairsMinister respectively, it islearnt. Bhatti requestedSpeaker in his letter to re-allotthe Opposition Block to theCongress party members, atonce in the best interest if theDemocracy and Parliamentary

practices. It may be recalledthat the Speaker allotted mainopposition seats to AIMIMand shifted the CongressMLAs to AIMIM seats, whichare next to main oppositionseats, in the LegislativeAssembly.

In the House on Saturday,Bhatti also commented sever-al times during his speech onbudget that AIMIM is rulingparty's friendly party and allotmore time to them to speak onthe budget when the Speakerasked Bhatti to conclude hisspeech as he has given muchtime.

However, Bhatti continuedhis speech almost one and halfhour saying time and againthat "we are from oppositionparty and we have the respon-sibility to speak on publicissues in the House".

‘No rumblings in TRS’

Cong to govt: Declarehealth emergency in TSPNS n WARANGAL

All-India Congress Committee(AICC) spokesperson DrDasoju Sravan has demandedthe state government to declarehealth emergency in Telanganato check spread of viral dis-eases.

Addressing the Congressindefinite strike camp at MGMHospital here on Saturday, hecharged the Government withfailing to respond promptly toprevent spread of dengue,malaria and other viral feversin spite of deaths reporteddue to them across the State.

Alleging complete neglect ofhealth sector by the govern-ment, he said the outlay forhealth sector in the Rs 1.82-lakh crore Vote-on-Accountbudget for 2019-20 was only Rs5,536 crore, which correspondsto only 3 per cent of funds.Whereas other states, on anaverage, have been spending4.8 per cent of the budgetedfunds under the head of pub-lic health, he compared.

On the other hand, alloca-tions to Kaleshwaram andother irrigation projects wereastronomical since the ChiefMinister, with an eye on receiv-ing kickbacks, he alleged. Livesof people in the new stateremained unaltered, whereasbenefits of statehood toTelangana are being enjoyedonly by KCR and his family, he

lamented. A criminal case was lodged

with Banjara Hills policeagainst a veterinary doctorsince the dog of PragatiBhavan, CM's official resi-dence, he was treating died, hesaid quoting a news report.

Surprisingly, no action wastaken against authorities whensix children died of dengue inGandhi Hospital on a singleday, he said. Whether or notcriminal cases for negligenceshould be booked against CMKCR and Health Minister EtelaRajender, he questioned.

KCR was keen on buildingSecretariat and Assemblybuildings, but not keen onimproving facilities in govern-ment hospitals, he said point-ing out the plight of tribal andAgency areas where medicalfacilities are still a far cry.What happened to the CM'spromise to provide air ambu-lance by deploying helicoptersin tribal areas, he questioned.

Even after five-and-half years,the promise to build a 1000-bedhospital in district headquartersand a 100-bed hospital in man-

dal headquarters, made byTRS in its 2014 election mani-festo, still remained unfulfilled,he pointed out.

He was quick to point outthat it was the previous Dr YSRregime that upgraded theMGM Hospital in Warangal toa 1,000-bed facility. Hecharged the TRS Governmentwith completely neglecting thehospital development anddepriving funds to it.

Also, Osmania GeneralHospital, Gandhi Hospital andNiloufer Hospital in Hyderabadlacked in proper facilities andinfrastructure. He remindedhow 21 patients died on a a sin-gle day in Gandhi Hospitalwhen ventilators went offbecause of power cut as therewas no back-up facility. Theprevious Congress regime hadplanned to execute Pranahita-Chevella LI Scheme to irrigate16 lakh acres at a cost of Rs.35,000 crore, while the KCRescalated the cost of the schemeto Rs 80,000 on the pretext ofproject's re-design to cultivateonly 18-lakh acres, he com-pared.

AICC spokesperson Dasoju Sravancharged the TS government with failing to respond promptly toprevent spread of dengue, malariaand other viral fevers

Ideas of start-ups toimprove AB-PMJAYPNS n HYDERABAD

A Grand Challenge, an initia-tive of inviting start-ups andother companies to provideideas on expanding coverageand improving the AyushmanBharat - PradhanMantri Jan ArogyaYojana (AB-PMJAY) is to belaunched onOctober 10.

Announcingthis on Saturday,chief executiveofficer (CEO) ofA B - P M J A YandNational Health Authority,Indu Bhushan told reportershere that the "Grand Challengeis, we are inviting the start-upsand companies which haveinnovations to support us andprovide ideas in terms of howwe can expand our coverage,how can (we) improve quali-ty (under Ayushman Bharat),reduce costs, and we will select

top seven innovations. Wewill reward them, and also usetheir innovations and ideas inour scheme, he told reportershere. Prime Minister NarendraModi was expected to launchthe initiative in Delhi.

Indu Bhushan was speak-ing on the sidelines of

'8th InternationalPatient SafetyConference 2019'organised by ApolloHospitals here. Hesaid 18,000 hospi-

tals have beenempanelled so far and

the effort was to get25,000 on board. Right now,we want to stabilise thescheme and ensure that morehospitals come onboard.

At present, we have 18,000.We want to bring it to 25,000.We also want to ensure thequality of services. What Imentioned about standardtreatment protocols, and ensur-ing that we can enforce them.

‘Focus on Engmedium ingovt schools’PNS n HYDERABAD

With an increasing numberof parents preferring toadmit their children inEnglish medium schools,the State government hadinitiated measures to focuson English medium educa-tion in its governmentschools across the State. Atpresent, English is themedium of instruction inabout 8,000 governmentschools in the State.

Replying to a questionraised in the StateLegislative Council onSaturday, EducationMinister P Sabitha IndraReddy said the State gov-ernment will roll out newinitiatives over next a cou-ple of years to retain stu-dents in governmentschools. "In associationwith Child Welfare depart-ment, we have attached11,000 Anganwadi centresto about 11,000 primaryschools in the State,” shesaid.

Venkaiah Naidu bats for changes in governance PNS n HYDERABAD

Urging sweeping changes inthe manner in which Indiagoverns itself, Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu said the state,the legislature, the executiveand the judiciary should worktogether and inspire synergy toensure all-round developmentof the nation.

He laid special emphasis onexpanding the Supreme Courtand the establishment of morebenches in different parts ofthe country, as recommendedby a parliamentary committee,to end the inconveniencecaused to litigants who travellong distances and spend ahuge amount of money andenergy to access justice.

Election petitions and crim-inal cases against political lead-ers must be decided quickly byspecial benches of higher

courts in a time-bound mannerof six months to a year, he saidafter launching the book"Rethinking GoodGovernance" by former CAGVinod Rai. “Through his astutecommentary presented in thebook, Shri Rai has focused oninstitutions such as the

Parliament, the Supreme Court,Election Commission,Comptroller and AuditorGeneral, Central VigilanceCommission and the CentralInformation Commission,among others. “Leveraging hislong and distinguished inningsin public life, he has done a

commendable job of proposinga reform agenda, suggestinghow the credibility of theseinstitutions, once eroded, canbe restored,” Naidu maintained.

Opining that the welfare ofthe common man must be theenduring theme of our visionfor transforming India, he saidthat it was the pious responsi-bility of all to ensure that thefruits of democratic good gov-ernance reaches everyone,especially the ones who were at

the farthest end of the devel-opment spectrum.

"Today, India is surging for-ward, fuelled by its vibranteconomy, supported by its sci-entific and technologicalprogress, aided and abetted bythe energy of its burgeoningyouth population and helmedby a stable and progressive gov-ernment.

"The Prime Minister's zealfor reforms, reflected in hismantra of Reform, Performand Transform, has given anew impetus to the transfor-mational development of ourcountry. "Today we dream ofbeing a $5 trillion economy by2024-25. "Reaching this lucra-tive goal would call for noth-ing short of the combined andunited efforts of the govern-ment, the public institutionsand the civil society," Naiducontended.

Election petitions andcriminal casesagainst political

leaders must be decidedquickly by special benches ofhigher courts in a time-boundmanner

—M VENKAIAH NAIDUVice President of India

The CLP hadlost mainopposition partystatus as its 12 MLAs havemerged with the ruling TRS What’s wrong

in meetingArvind?: ShakilPNS n HYDERABAD

TRS MLA from BodhanShakil Aamir Mohammedhas said that he will announceopenly if he wanted to shifthis loyalties to other party.Reacting on the rumoursthat he is going to join theBJP on September 17, Shakilsaid “I am not afraid of any-one. I worked as a BJPNizamabad district presidentearlier. MP Arvind's resi-dence is next to my house.What is wrong in meetingArvind. His father, D Srinivasused to come to my resi-dence. Some TRS leaderswould have felt happy if Ichanged party”.

State creates history in importing ureaPNS n HYDERABAD

The Agriculture Ministry hasannounced in a statement thatthe Telangana government hascreated history by importing12,000 tonnes of urea per daysince September 1 to till date.It further announced that thegovernment received 1,28,277tonnes of urea till date fromSeptember 1 onwards.

The state received 6,000tonnes of urea from KribhcoHazira plant, Gujarat within 36hours as it usually takes threedays times. The state received5,700 tonnes of urea throughroad, it said.

In a statement, theAgriculture Ministry statedthat 18,200 metric tonnes ofurea is getting ready for load-ing in various ports.

ASSEMBLY BUDGET SESSION

PNS n HYDERABAD

At a time when imposition ofheavy fines for violation of traf-fic rules is evoking publicanger in parts of the country,Rachakonda police commis-sionerate in Greater Hyderabadis trying an innovative methodto make the motorists followthe rules.

Instead of imposing fines forviolations, the traffic police isfacilitating the violators to buythe helmet or obtain necessarydocuments so that the nexttime, they don't repeat theviolations.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (traffic) Divya CharanRao launched the innovativedrive on Saturday.

Those found without helmetwere helped to buy the same onthe spot while those not hav-

ing documents like pollutionchecked or insurance wereassisted to get the same fromauthorities concerned on thespot.

For the violators found dri-ving without license, the traf-fic police got the slots booked

online with the Road TransportAuthority (RTA) to obtain thelicense.

The initiative byRachakonda police won appre-ciation from people. Netizenshailed the move, saying impos-ing penalties is not the only

solution to deal with violations.Telangana's minister for

urban development andmunicipal administration K. T.Rama Rao also patted thepolice for the innovative move.Rachakonda is one of the threepolice commissionerates inGreater Hyderabad and coversthe suburbs.

Hyderabad and Cyberabadare the two other police com-missionerates in the city.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Trade unions TMU along withTSRTC trade union NMUserved strike notice on thetransport corporation to pushfor its many demands. TheRTC employees' union, TJMU,had served its own noticesome time ago.

The TMU leadersAswaththama Reddy, ThomasReddy and others handed overthe notice letter to in-chargeMD Sunil Sarma at BusBhavan. The NMU leadersalso served the notice on thein-charge MD in the presenceof newly-appointed transportminister Puvvada AjayKumar.

Soon thereafter, theMinister called an emergencymeeting at Bus Bhavan. RTCofficials, however, called it aroutine meeting of interactionbetween the newly appointedminister and officials of thepublic transport undertaking.

The meeting is said to havediscussed the financial posi-tion of RTC, its total borrow-ings, debt servicing, wage billarrears etc. The officialsbrought to the notice of theminister that the strike wouldcause severe problems to the

people. The minister is said tohave assured the officials thathe would take up the issueswith Chief Minister, andassured them of recovering thedues from the GHMC.

Prior to the meeting, NMUleader Nageswara Rao stageda dharna in front of BusBhavan. He called the Rs550-crore allocation for RTCas meager, and demandedthe management to clear duesup to Rs 800 crore andincrease allocations to Rs3,000 crore.

The trade unionsserved the strikenotice on thetransportcorporation topush for its manydemands

Instead of imposingfines for violations,the traffic police isfacilitating theviolators to buy thehelmet or obtaindocuments

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 hyderabad 03

RIMEORNERC

50-year-old killed in road mishap HYDERABAD: A 50-year-old manwas killed in a road accidentwhen a lorry rammed his mopedon the outskirts of Nemmani ofNarketpally mandal in Nalgondadistrict on Saturday. Accordingto the police, the victim wasidentified as K Narsimha Chari, aresident of Bajakunta village inthe district. "He succumbed tohis injuries on the spot when thelorry coming from the oppositedirection collided head-on withhis moped. Chari was headingtowards Narketpally fromBajakunta when the accidentoccurred," the police said. Ongetting information, Narketpallypolice rushed to the spot andshifted the body to Governmenthospital in Nalgonda forpostmortem. The police havefiled a case and took upinvestigation.

Saidabad murder:Woman's bodydecomposed

PNS n HYDERABAD

The east zone team of theHyderabad Commissioner'stask force along with theAfzalgunj Police have arrestedfour persons from MGBS busstand at Afzalgunj and seized22 kg of marijuana from theirpossession here on Saturday.

The arrested were identifiedas Indresh Singh (25), AlwalaManohar Singh (26), KarriSatti Babu (27) and VangaliNagaraju (27). While Indreshand Manohar are residents ofMangalhat in Hyderabad, SattiBabu and Nagaraju are fromVisakhapatnam.

According to the Police,Indresh Singh confessed toselling marijuana in smallquantity to earn quick moneyapart from the income he getsas a kite seller. "He procuresmarijuana from agency areaand sells it to customers inHyderabad. His friend, AlwalaManohar Singh, decided to bea part of his business for a per-centage of the income," said SChaitanya Kumar, Addl. DCP,

Commissioner's Task Force,Hyderabad City.

"Indresh Singh contactedKarri Satti Babu and VangaliNagaraju of Visakhapatnamand requested them to trans-port 22 kg of ganja fromagency area to Hyderabad.According to their agree-ment, Satt ibabu andNagaraju boarded a privatebus at Visakhapatnam and

came to Hyderabad to deliv-er the ganja" said the official.

The duo then got dow.n atMGBS bus stand inAfzalgunj and were waitingfor Indresh to come and col-lect it. Indresh arrived at thebus stand a long withManohar on the latter's twowheeler, when of f ic ia lsarrested them based on a tip-off.

Four held with 22 kg ganjaat MGBS bus stand

The accused with the seized ganja on Saturday

Police officials giving a helmet to a motorist in Hyderabad on Saturday

PNS n HYDERABAD

The campaign to saveNallamalla forests gained fur-ther momentum with leadingcelebrities joining the chorusagainst the proposed uraniumexploration and mining.

#SaveNallamalla was trend-ing on the social media withactors, sportspersons, NGOs,environmentalists and con-cerned citizens throwing theirweight behind the online cam-paign. Popular actressSamantha Akkineni signedonline petition addressed tothe President urging him tointervene to save the forestsspread over Telangana andAndhra Pradesh.

As the voice grew louder,Telangana's Minister KT RamaRao assured that he will per-sonally discuss the matterwith Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao. "I hearall of your concern on the issueof uranium mining inNallamala forest. Assure youall that Ii shall personally dis-cuss the matter with Hon'bleCM KCR Garu," tweetedRama Rao, who is alsoWorking President of theTelangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) and son of the ChiefMinister.

The online petition, alsosigned by actress AnasuyaBharadwaj, voiced concernover the impact the uraniumexploration will have on theforests, part of which falls inAmrabad Tiger Reserve andNagarjuna Sagar TigerReserve.

"Do we need development?

Yes!! But at what cost?Uranium mining will not onlydestroy the forest, it will con-taminate the soil,flora andfauna..the waste will seep intothe rivers and spread for miles& affect thousands of Indians,"tweeted actor Randeep Hooda.

Well-known Indian dou-bles badminton player JwalaGutta, well-known directorShekhar Kammula and actorTanikella Bharni have alreadydeclared their support to thecampaign to save Nallamalla.

The Centre in May thisyear granted in-principle clear-ance for uranium explorationin Nallamalla. Popular actorand Jana Sena Party (JSP)leader Pawan Kalyan has alsoalready announced his supportagainst uranium explorationand mining. He backed thecampaign launched byCongress party and said politi-cians should decide whetherthey want to leave a 'Bangaru'(golden) Telangana or urani-um-polluted Telangana forfuture generations.

Young actor VijayDevarkonda of "Arjun Reddy"fame on Thursday came out insupport of Save Nallamallacampaign.

#SAVENALLAMALLA

More celebritiesjoin bandwagon

PNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyurged South Central Railway(SCR) officials to introducemore train services duringDasara and Diwali season tocater to the huge demand.

With already all seats in thetrain services for the upcom-ing festival season beingbooked, passengers who areapplying for reservations arebeing put in waiting list. Toensure that passengers aresaved from further inconve-nience during festival season,Kishan Reddy has written aletter to SCR GeneralManager.

"I have written to SCR GMto add additional bogies toexisting train services andintroduce more train servicesduring Dasara and Diwali fes-tival season, as there is hugedemand from passengers. I gotto know that already passen-gers are given tickets in thewaiting list, as there are noseats available. Therefore thereis an urgent need to increasemore train services. I have alsospoken to SCR GM on theissue. He responded positive-ly and said that he would takesteps to avoid inconvenience

to rail passengers during fes-tival season, which is veryimportant for not just Telugupeople in both states both allSouth Indians," said Kishan.

While Dasara falls on 8October, Diwali will be cele-brated on 27 October. SCRofficials are expecting hugepassenger rush all throughthe October month and in thefirst week of November.

PNS n HYDERABAD

GHMC will be deployingteams in all the 30 circles topenalise people on large-scalefor openly defecating in thecity. As per the circular issuedon Saturday by the GHMC,this move is part of thearrangements being made tore-declare Hyderabad as ODF++.

On January 29, 2019, theSwacch Bharat Missiondeclared Hyderabad as theODF ++. They will be con-ducting a survey once in everysix months and declare ODF++ in accordance with theSwacch Bharat Mission regu-lations. As part of this, theGovernment of India's QualityControl Team will tour theGHMC limits after September15 to conduct ODF++ surveyonce again.

In this backdrop, Officialshave been directed to ensurethat all the public toilets in thecity are clean and the roads,streets, markets, bazaars andcolonies are fully cleaned.GHMC will ensure mainte-nance of all public and com-

munity toilets in GreaterHyderabad with 28 definedstandards.

As per the circular, officialshave to identify at least twoslums in each circle and carryout a complete sanitation pro-gramme. Officials have to takeup sanitation activities in atleast two commercial areas ineach zone, such as markets,bazaars, mundi, and two resi-dential areas, and extensivesanitation facilities at railwaystations and bus stands. AllSTPs in the city should befunctional. The ponds in thecity will be kept clean and lar-vae should be treated.

Sign boards will be setup inthe surrounding areas toinform the presence of toilet.Every toilet should have acomplaints book. Complaintson handling of toilets shouldbe resolved within 24 hours.

GHMC to deploy teamsto check open defecation

CBI issuesnotices to MBSJewelers MDPNS n HYDERABAD

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) hasreportedly issued a notice toMBS jewelers ManagingDirector Sukesh Gupta forallegedly failing to appearbefore officials in the MMTCfraud case. According to theofficials, the case was relatedto Rs 194 crore losses causedto the Minerals and MetalsTrading Corporation(MMTC) through allegedfraudulent transactions anddeceitful conduct.

Earlier in 2013, the City-based MBS Jewellers' pro-moter Sukesh Gupta and asenior official of MMTC, KRavi Prasad were arrested foralleged irregularities in goldimports and default of pay-ment, worth over Rs 200crore, the senior CBI officialsaid. However, Gupta wasreportedly not appearingbefore the investigating offi-cers citing that he was attend-ing meetings in Dubai.

They were arrested afterirregularities in gold importsduring 2010-11 were detect-ed, besides an alleged pay-ment default by SukeshGupta to the state-ownedMMTC.

RTC-linked tradeunions threaten strike

Export demand hits onion supplies in cityPNS n HYDERABAD

With the ease of curbs ononion exports, huge quantitiesof the spice is being exportedoverseas jacking up its prices toRs 3,700 a quintal in the whole-sale market here on Saturday.The vegetable was tradedbetween Rs 2,500- Rs 3,000 aquintal week ago.

Not only from the Telugustates, but also from neigh-bouring Maharashtra theonions are being exportedoverseas, according to traderspushing up onion prices in allmarkets. Currently, onionsare sold at Rs 40-50 a kg.

Hyderabad receives onion byway of exports fromMaharashtra, rest of Telangana

and Andhra Pradesh and getsdispatched to the states back. Infact, 60-70 per cent of the

onion demands are met fromexports from Maharashtra.

With the ease of curbs ononion exports, several tradersare keen to export the com-modity in large quantities. TheMaharashtra onion enjoys huge

demand overseas. Mostly,onions are exported from hereto Kolkata, from where toBangladesh and to Arab coun-tries too.

An onion wholesale traderDharanikota Sudhakar wenton record stating that thetraders are keen to export asonions fetch more money inoverseas markets. The exportsto Hyderabad from other stateshave come down to 60-80 lor-ries a day as against the previ-ous 100-120 lorries. Thetraders are enthusiastic toexport onions anticipating toget good revenue.

The exports of the com-

modity led to reduced supplyto local markets leading toretailers hiking the prices ofonions. A month ago, onionwas traded at Rs 10 a kg, butnow its price rose to Rs 40. Thetraders put the reduction insupply of onions to major mar-kets at Malakpet, Bowenpally,Siddiamber Bazar, MondaMarket (Secunderabad) tobetween 25% and 40%.Therefore, a quintal of onionson Saturday fetched Rs 3,500-3,700 a quintal as against Rs1,000- Rs 2,000 a month ago.The traders are apprehensive ofonion pricing going up furtherin future.

Instead of challans, TS copsgive helmets and documents

The exports of thecommodity led toreduced supply tolocal marketsleading to retailershiking the pricesof onions

Kishan Reddy

SCR told to increasetrain services

I have written toSCR GM to addadditional bogiesto existing trainservices andintroduce moretrain services,said Kishan Reddy

According toGHMC, the move is part of thearrangementsbeing made to re-declare Hydas ODF ++

As the voice grewlouder, Minister KTRama Rao assuredthat he willpersonally discussthe matter withChief Minister

HYDERABAD: The dead body ofthe woman found on Friday hasbeen 70 per cent decomposedwith maggots nesting in, makingit hard to confirm the rape angle,said the Saidabad police, addingthat they are checking the CCcameras in the vicinity for furtherevidences about the murderer. According to police, thedeceased was identified asAnjamma, aged about 45, wife ofChandraiah, a resident ofChampapet. The woman wasallegedly raped and brutallymurdered at the Vinay Nagarcolony in Saidabad on Friday. Her body was inspected by theclues team and sent it toOsmania Hospital morgue for anautopsy. "The body was foundaround 11 am in a secludedplace. She had injuries on herhead, mouth, left ear and alsonear the private parts,” said theACP of Malakpet, M Sudarshan. Speaking about the findings inthe PME report, the PoliceInspector of Saidabad, KVLNarasimha Rao said that multiplestab and cut injuries were foundon her body and it has beendecomposing since 48 hours."The body was 70 per centdecomposed and made it hardfor us to ascertain the rapeangle. However, we are probingthe case by booking cases undersection 376 and 302,” he said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana MunicipalAdministration Minister KTRama Rao said that by 2021,additional 700 MLD sewagewater would be treated apartfrom the existing 735MLD.Responding to question inAssembly on Saturday he said,"Government is conscious, theSewage Master plan by ShahConsultants will come inDecember 2019.

With 735 MLD capacitySTPs, we are catering to only40.8 per cent of city's needs. By2021, we would like to enhancethis through a PPP mode. Lotof private sector players arecoming forward to setup sew-erage treatment plants. Wewant to enhance this by anoth-er 700MLD. By 2036, we wantto ensure the city is coveredincluding the natural growth,which is projected to be 3000MLD".

He said that Hyderabad isdoing better at sewage treat-ment compared to Delhi andMumbai. All the STPs in thecity are functional. Instead ofgiving it annual renewal, the

government decided to awardthe work for 5 year to reducethe lifecycle cost and will helpthe government and the city.

He said, "Hyderabad is oneof those rare cities where 100per cent solid waste is treated.We treat 5500MT of solidwaste unlike any city in India.With respect to liquid wastemanagement - When we lookat Delhi Mumbai. Delhi's wastewater treatment is only 30

percent. Mumbai's treatment is26 per cent but they havemarine outflow. Hyderabadhas 40.3 per cent unlike anyother city in India"

He said that new layouts andapartment complexes havebeen mandated to have STP.Unfortunately, the mainte-nance is on society which islacking. Existing sewer net-work in city is old and thesewer needs to be re-modeledand upgraded. Core citysewage system is divided into6 zones aka zone1and 2 inSouth of Musi and Zone3 to 6is north of Musi.

Says by 2021, additional 700 MLDsewage water would be treated

KTR: Hyd outdoing Delhi,Mumbai in sewage treatment

KT Rama Rao

With 735 MLDcapacity STPs, weare catering toonly 40.8 per centof city's needs,says IT Minister

Man held for harassingwomanPNS n HYDERABAD

The officials of the CyberCrime Police Station,Rachakonda have arrested aman for harassing a marriedwoman, stalking her andblackmailing her for sexualfavours.

The arrested was identifiedas Balne Nagaraju (26), a pri-vate employee staying atPeerzadiguda in Uppal.According to the police,Nagaraju and the womanmet in 2015. "Nagaraju con-fessed that he used to followher while she went to her col-lege and they both becamefriends. He then took photoswith the woman on hismobile. Nagaraju then toldthe woman that he wanted tomarry her, as he loved her.But she refused his proposaland stopped talking to him.When the woman's parentslearnt of this matter, they gother married to someone else,"said D Ashish Reddy,Inspector of Police, CyberCrime, Rachakonda.

Based on a complaint fromthe woman, the police regis-tered a case under sections354 D and 419 of the IPC and66 C, 67, 67 A of the IT actand based on the investiga-tion, arrested Nagaraju.

Two cellphone thievesarrestedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Bowenpally Police arrest-ed three persons, including aminor, and recovered 50stolen cell phones and 5 tolasof gold from their possessionon Friday. The accused wereidentified as M Vishal, Md.Nushrath Pasha and a 16-year-old boy.

According to the police,Vishal, Pasha and the minor,close friends, used to steal cellphones from the pockets ofpassengers in RTC buses.They sold these phones atHong Kong Bazar inSecunderabad and SubhashNagar. They have so far sold49 phones this way.

Habitual offenders, theywere also involved in theft ofgold ornaments. They usedto break open the locks ofhouses when the occupantswere away. They committedtwo house burglaries underthe Alwal Police Station lim-its and Bowenpally area andsold the stolen property in agold shop.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao congratulates TRS MP Dr K Keshava Rao after the Centre appointed the latter asChairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Inductries, on Saturday

NEW RROLE

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 hyderabad 04

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

Former Minister and BJPleader DK Aruna said theBharatiya Janata party isemerging as the sole alternativein the state of Telangana.Addressing the active cadremeeting of the party inKuthbullapur, the BJP leadersaid the people are recognisingthe BJP as the only alternativepolitical force and it is emerg-ing in this line in all theregions.

The BJP leader alleged thatthe TRS has failed utterly infocusing its attention on thepopular issues confronted bythe people of urban parts andeven the party has failed to ful-fill the assurances it has givenduring the Greater Hyderabadmunicipal elections.

The BJP leader called uponthe cadre to prove their met-tle in the greater Hyderabadelections in the comingmonths. She exhorted theactive members of the BJP toremain alert and agile to face

any challenge whatsoever tostand in the elections. Sheemphasised the need to pub-licise the programmes andschemes of the Central gov-ernment to the public .

Speaking on the September17 liberation day celebrations,the BJP leader said the TRSchief K Chandrashekhar Raohas changed his voice all of asudden in order to lure theAIMIM. Prior to the forma-tion of the state, he demand-ed the government to declare

the September 17 as the liber-ation day, but subsequently hechanged his voice after joininghands with AIMIM, Arunaalleged.

She was critical about thedeification of KCR in the tem-ple pillars. The BJP leadercalled upon the cadre to ensurethe rejection of Congress and TRS in Coming days andasserted that BJP would emerge the winner of2023 assembly polls inTelangana.

PNS n KHAMMAM

Development of villages waskey for the development oftowns, Transport Minister PAjay Kumar said. He said the30-day action plan introducedby Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao wouldlead to overall growth of theState. The Chief Ministeraimed to shape all the villagesin Telangana as model ones, headded.Ajay Kumar along withMP Nama Nageswar Rao,MLC B Lakshmi Narayana,MLA Ramulu Naik, DistrictCollector RV Karnan and oth-ers took part in a padayatra atRebbavaram village of Wyramandal in the district onFriday and joined villagers in'sramadanam'.

Later, speaking at a meet-ing at the village he asked thevillagers to regularly pay theirtaxes. He wanted gram pan-chayat office bearers to worktogether in preparing annualand five year plans for theirvilllages development.Theminister urged the villagers toplant saplings that had mos-

quito repellent propertiesinstead of using chemical toend menace the of mosqui-toes. Health and sanitationshould be given priority, hepointed out.

MP Nageswar Rao assertedthat under the leadership ofChief MinisterChandrashekar RaoTelangana has been at topplace in the country. The 30-day Action Plan would fur-ther helps to maintain state'sstanding in the country, hesaid. Ajay Kumar inaugurat-ed District PanchayatResource Center Building atNSP area, launched Rotavirus

vaccination at Mother andChild Care Centre of DistrictHospital, participated in'Plastic-free Khammam cam-paign' at Bhaktha RamadasuKalakshetram, besides tak-ing part in many other pro-grammes.

The Minister distributednotebooks and pens to stu-dents at Zilla Parishad HighSchool located at RotaryNagar and which was adopt-ed by him sometime back.Speaking on the occasion heinformed that he had appealedto the leaders and his friendsto bring notebooks, pens andother material useful to stu-dents instead of shawls andflower bouquets while visitinghim to extend wishes.

'I am very happy to dis-tribute the notebooks andpens thus collected to the stu-dents here. This traditionwould be continued in thefuture so that it could inspireothers. It would help the stu-dents to get the stationery' hesaid. DEO P Madanmohanand others were present at theprogramme.

30-day plan will lead tooverall growth: Minister

Continued from Page 1

In Telangana, the healthauthorities vouch for Aarogyasriuniversal health insurancescheme that covers about 80lakh families in the State.

Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao has goneon record that the state gov-ernment is not interested inwasting public money on pro-grammes such as the Centre'sAyushman Bharat "which arenot beneficial to the people".

Echoing the Chief Minister'sstatement, Health MinisterEtela Rajender, in his speech atthe International Patient SafetyConference and TransformingHealthcare with InformationTechnology (IT), said:"Always, the unplannedexpenditure is the healthcareexpenditure in the state."

Etela, while appreciating

Aarogyasri scheme, said, "OurGovernment has allocatedhuge funds for the infrastruc-ture, drawing patients to state-run health institutions."

Countering this, GovernorTamilisai Soundararajan saidwith a chuckle, while lookingat Rajender: "As a medicaldoctor, I have been aware ofthe need of patients in Indiaand I can say even the health-care expenditure can beplanned by health insuranceschemes such as AyushmanBharat."

Governor’s praiseof AyushmanBharat leaves...

PNS n MIRYALAGUDA

The number of those whoseek driving licences hasdoubled to 200 per day dur-ing the past one monthbecause of the Center's newMV Act which came intoforce in many states, fromSeptember 1.

Though the Act is not yetimplemented in the state,fines imposed by PoliceDepartment on some vehicleriders in Miryalaguda andNalgonda towns, the peopleare approaching the author-ities to make their docu-ments up-to-date so as not toinvite the wrath of the police.

They have been approach-ing the RTA office to acquirelearning licence, driving

licence and insurance coverfor their vehicles from insur-ance providers. Hitherto,

some of the vehicle ownersdid not care to acquire licencethough they have been dri-

ving vehicle all these days.Because of the new MV Act,they have been applying forlearners' licences.

The Motor Vehicles 'Inspector offices at Nalgondaand Miryalaguda issued 2,645driving licences in July and itissued licences to 2,507 inAugust. In September, over1,418 applied for licences inthe first one week. The appli-cants have to wait for at leastone week to book a slot inview of unprecedented rush.

Motor Vehicles Inspector atMiryalaguda Srinivas Reddysaid that the number of appli-cants for driving licencealmost doubled compared toearlier. He asked the peoplealso to get their vehicle reg-istered and insured too.

Applications for drivinglicence increase twofold

Former Minister and BJP leader DK Aruna at a meeting in Mahabubnagar

Miryalaguda and Nalgonda witnessesnearly 200 applications per day forlicences, thanks to the new MV Act

Teak logsworth Rs50,000 seizedPNS n ADILABAD

Forest Department sleuthsraided houses and seizedteak logs stored illegally ontheir premises at Sirikondamandal centre. The value ofthe timber was assessed to beRs 50,000.

Utnoor FDO Vijay Kumarsaid that the sleuths carriedout raids on four houses andrecovered the logs found tohave been secretly stored, fol-lowing a tip off. He added acase was booked against theoffenders and investigationswere taken up. He warned thatstern action would be takenagainst those who fell teaktrees and transport the timber.

Sirikonda Deputy ForestRange Officer Prem Singh,Ahmed, Sirikonda Kawal TigerReserve and other staffers tookpart in the operation.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Former AP CM NChandrababu Naidu hasexpressed his readiness torebuild the TDP in Telangana.

Addressing important partyfunctionaries and LS con-stituency in-charges at NTRTrust Bhavan here onSatruday, he said that the TDPrequires new leadership inTelangana and suggested rec-tification of leadership defi-ciency.

He vowed to strengthen theparty in all 119 constituencies.He reminded the party func-tionaries that the very birthplace of TDP was Hyderabad.

Leaders come and go, butthe mainstay of the party is itscadres.

The party activists and sym-pathizers, who extended agrand welcome to him, show-ered their leaders with petalsas he arrived at the partyheadquarters after a gap ofnine months.

Chandrababu vowsto rebuild TDP in TS

New line in Andhra a boon for India IncPNS n TIRUPATI

By cutting down travel timebetween Krishnapatnam portand the hinterland by fivehours, the 112-kmObulavaripalli-Venkata cha-lam-Krishnapatnam port linehas come as a boon for IndiaInc, which is now saving up toRs 7 lakh per rake towardsfreight transport.

Touted to be a game-chang-er, the line, commissioned onJune 25, also reduces the trav-el distance by 72 km for trainscoming from Guntakal divisionto the port. The freight rate perrake for different commoditieshas also gone down signifi-cantly, said Alok Tiwari,Divisional Railway Manager(DRM) of Guntakal division."For coal, it varies from Rs 3lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh; for fertil-izers, it is between Rs 1.5 lakhand Rs 2.5 lakh; for iron ore, itis about Rs 6 lakh and for lime-stone too, it is Rs 5.25 lakh," hesaid.

The newly-built single line,which features country'slongest electrified tunnel of 6.6km from Cherlopalli andRapuru railway stations, wasconstructed at an estimatedcost of Rs 1,993 crore in a

record time of 43 months.The ambitious tunnel, built ata cost of Rs 437 crore, also has44 trolley refuges and 14 cross-passages in a horseshoe shape.

According to Tiwari, theSouth Central Railway (SCR) is

hopeful that with the reductionin travel distance and time,there will be more freighttrains moving through theline, translating into increase ofthe revenue for the railways.

Presently, after the commis-

sioning of the new line, whichis only for freight movement,12 goods trains -six from eachside - are taking the line daily.

A significant part of theSCR's freight loading is gener-ated from Krishnapatnam portin Nellore district.

Besides facilitating the oper-ation of freight trains on theObulavaripalli-Venkata cha-lam-Krishnapatnam port route,the new line would also providethe shortest path for theChennai-Howrah and Chennai-Mumbai railway routes.

It will also ease congestion ofboth passenger trains and

freight trains in theVijayawada-Gudur-Renigunta-Guntakal section.

The new route, along withthe recent concessions allowedby the railways for freightmovement, has come at a timewhen the country is facing eco-nomic slowdown.

Recently, the railwaysdeferred the levy of busy sea-son charge, waiver of supple-mentary charges on mini andtwo point rakes, discount onmovement of empty containersand empty flat wagons andround-trip charging on con-tainer traffic among others.

"A number of concrete mea-sures have been taken to giveconcessions to freight cus-tomers and attract long termcustomers. For the last coupleof months, the flood-like situ-ation in southern states hasaffected us. Cement loading iscompletely down, and ironore, which used to be import-ed, is no more imported asthere is a ban on it," saidGajanan Mallya, GeneralManager, South CentralRailway. He also added thatcoal was almost entirely pro-duced in the country and thatthere was hardly any import ofit at present.

l The freight rate per rakefor different commoditieshas also gone downsignificantly, said AlokTiwari, Divisional RailwayManager (DRM) of Guntakaldivision

l Touted to be a game-changer, the line,commissioned on June 25,also reduces the traveldistance by 72 km for trainscoming from Guntakaldivision to the port

The South Central Railway is hopefulthat with the reduction in traveldistance and time, there will be morefreight trains moving through the line,translating into increase in therevenue for the railways

Continued from Page 1

This was the first meetingby state BJP leaders to submita memorandum sinceSoundararajan assumed officeas the governor on Sept 8.

Later, Laxman toldreporters that the party willintensify the movement tobring pressure on the stategovernment to officially cele-brate the day. He alleged thatTRS government under pres-sure from its ally AIMIM wasnot organizing the official cel-ebrations. Recalling that BJPfor the last 20 years had beenfighting over the issue,Laxman alleged that successivegovernments of Congress,

TDP and TRS followed vote-bank politics by not officiallycelebrating Liberation Day.

It was on this day in 1948that erstwhile Hyderabad Statemerged with the Indian unionfollowing "police action", as theIndian military operationagainst Nizam's army is popu-larly called.Laxman announcedthat BJP will organise hoistingof national flag and also hold'Tiranga Yatra' across the stateto mark the day. The party willorganise a public meeting atPatancheru. However, UnionHome Minister and BJP pres-ident Amit Shah will not beattending the event as was ear-lier announced by the partyleaders.

BJP steps up heatto celebrate...

No more waitingfor ITIR, TS govtgoing ahead inIT : KTRContinued from Page 1

He said, "Owaisi asked forstart-up programme. In theOld City also we will try toget startup program, if weget any interest and land inthe area with help".

Responding to the issueof IT development in two-tier towns raised by KPVivekanand of the TRS andD Sr idhar Babu ofCongress, KT Rama Raosaid: "IT Tower inKarimangar town is get-ting ready for inaugurationnext month. And the one inKhammam will be ready byNovember or December.The Government also iden-tified 50 acres for a similarproject in Mahabubnagar.Because of the rural tech-nology policy, BPOs areoperating in Janagaon,Huzurabad, Kamareddy,Jadcherla," the IT Ministersaid.

Hyd to takeMumbai routefor relocatingpolluting unitsContinued from Page 1

Last year attempts weremade by the government torelocate 'Red' and 'Orange'industries and some of themwere served notices, but theysought some time.

An official said, "The com-panies asked for some time asmoving a company involveslot of investment. These com-panies operate on very thinmargins. Many companiesfeet that it is an additionalburden and they have askedfor additional time."

Even on Friday Minister KT Rama Rao mentioned thathe wants to ensure that allhazardous chemical units aremoved out of ORR.

It may be mentioned herethat when Mumbai millswere relocated, the release oftextile mills' land had creat-ed a positive environment fordevelopment and reduceduncertainty in property mar-kets, both of which led toimproved performance oflocal markets.

PNS n NARAYANKHED

Farmers cultivating onionshave to purchase seeds fromPandaripur and Solapur at Rs1,250-1,500 a kg with theHorticultural Departmentofficials not supplying onionseeds on subsidy for the sec-ond year in a row. Farmersfrom Narayanakhed, Andole,Zaheerabad , Sangareddy,Regode, Raikod, Koheer andNyalakal mainly cultivateonions.

At least two kg of seeds areneeded to raise the crop in anacre. Earlier, the HorticultureDepartment used to supply theseeds at Rs 250-350 a kg.Failure to supply seeds onsubsidy is putting financialburden on the farmers, whohave to go to Maharashtra tobuy the seeds.

The area under the crop inthe district is put at 3,000acres. In spite of the seedsproblem, the farmers in thedistrict are making prepara-tions to raise the crop in rabithis year. At some places,

preparation of land is beingmade, yet other places theseedlings are raised in beds.

Sivajirao Patil of Raikodsaid that he had to go toPandharpur in Maharashtrato buy a kg of seeds at Rs1,500 as a kg of seeds inTelangana costs Rs 2,000.Exhorting the officials andpolitical leaders to come torescue of farmers, he said thatif seeds are made available atRs 500 a kg, they can save atleast Rs 2,000 which is handyin getting de-weeding opera-tions done. DistrictHoticulture Officer Sunitasaid that till two years ago,seeds were supplied to farm-ers on subsidy. Currently, thegovernment is not supplyingseeds on subsidy.

Supply onion seeds onsubsidy, demand ryots

KCR has gone onrecord that thegovt is notinterested inwasting publicmoney on asAyushman Bharat

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC campaign committeechairperson Vijayashanti hasexpressed her dismay at the fil-ing of a case against a veteri-nary doctor, holding himresponsible for the death of apet dog in Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's campoffice, at a time when theState health authorities arenot paying attention to thedeaths of several people due toviral fevers.

In a statement here onSaturday, she said that the valueof people's lives in the State was

inferior to that of a pet dog inthe CM's camp office. Shepointed out that there was noaction against officials of the

Health Department for failingto take precautionary mea-sures and against GlobarenaTechnologies, whose irregu-larities in valuation ofIntermediate Public Examanswer scripts led to scores ofstudents committing suicide.

However, the death of a petdog of the Chief Minister,called 'Husky' due to fever,invited the wrath of the rulersthat resulted in filing of casesagainst Dr Ranjit, who treatedthe dog, under Section 429(sub-section 11(4)) of the IPCand under the Prevention ofCruelty to Animals Act.

BJP sole alternative toTRS in state, says Aruna

Are people's lives inferior to thatof CM's pet dog?: Vijayashanti

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has asked states tofocus on tackling malnutritionamong slum-dwellers andmigrant population in urbanareas during a month-longcampaign under the govern-ment's flagship nutritionscheme Poshan Abhiyaan.

The government said mal-nutrition in urban areas ismainly caused by increasingpopulation of the poor, foodsafety risks and unhealthy foodenvironment, and asked thestates to expand the outreachof health and nutrition servicesamong slum-dwellers andmigrant population.

In a note to state and districtauthorities, the Women andChild Development Ministrysaid that "activities underPoshan Abhiyaan should bepromoted in urban areas withan effort to expand the out-reach of health and nutritionservices among slum-dwellersand migrant population."

It has also set the responsi-bilities of the state, district and

block level officials whichinclude special focus onmigrant population and peopleliving in slum areas.

It further said asked thestates to take steps likestrengthening convergencebetween departments, devel-oping urban health missionand spreading the messageSwachh Bharat Mission amongothers.

"Reach out to labour-centricindustries or private employersto establish contact withmigrant populace and sensitise

them on Poshan Abhiyaan.Identify urbanunserved/uncovered pocketsand reach out to these pocketswith nutrition services via spe-cial drives," the ministry toldthe states.

It has also asked states anddistricts to promote urban pri-mary health centres and organ-ising anaemia camps in urbanareas and slums.

"Organise door-to-doorawareness drives on PoshanAbhiyaan in urban slums," theministry said.

The states and districts havebeen asked to organise allthese initiatives during the'Poshan Maah' or nutritionmonth which is celebratedevery September under thePoshan Abhiyaan. PoshanAbhiyan was launched by theCentre in 2018 to reduce low-birth weight, stunting andundernutrition, and anaemiaamong children, adolescentgirls and women.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 nation 05

PNS n BHOPAL

A day after eleven peopledrowned after two boats car-rying them capsized in a lake inBhopal, Madhya Pradesh LegalAffairs Minister PC Sharma hasdemanded a high-level inquiryas well as action against seniorofficials of police and districtadministration.

The incident occurred inKhatlapura on the banks of theLower Lake during Ganeshidol immersion in the weehours on Friday. In a letteraddressed to the commission-er of Bhopal division, Sharmaalleged carelessness anddemanded suspension of thesenior officials who were notpresent at the spot.

"The tragedy could havebeen averted had officials of dis-trict administration and policebesides divers been present atthe site of the immersion," hestated.

"Those officers (of deputycollector and tehsildar level)who were assigned the duty atthe immersion site should besuspended and a high-levelinquiry conducted," hedemanded. Hours after theincident, district collector sus-pended four officials for alleged

dereliction of duty. RevenueInspector Anil Gawhane, whowas on duty at the Upper Lake,also faced the similar action.

Assistant Police Sub-Inspector Shivvachan Yadav,who was posted at the site butwas found absent, was als sus-pended.

The Bhopal MunicipalCorporation has suspendedfire officer Sajid Khan anddeputy city engineer R KSaxena, who were on duty at theimmersion site, said a civic offi-cial. The municipal corporationhad announced relief of Rs 2lakh each to the kin of thedeceased, while an ex-gratia ofRs 4 lakh, including an imme-diate relief of Rs 50,000, wasdeclared by the collector

PNS n KOLKATA

Celebrating the third anniver-sary of distribution of parchas(documents) to farmers ofSingur, whose land was forciblyacquired by the Left Frontgovernment for Tata's Nanofactory, West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onSaturday expressed commit-ment to the welfare of peasantsand also to promote industryin the state.

The Trinamool Congresssupremo, on this day in 2016,had handed over land parchasto 9,117 farmers and chequesto 806 people of Singur andhad described the occasion asa "historic day".

"Today marks the thirdanniversary of the historic daywhen our Govt of #Banglahanded over to farmers theparchas of land forciblyacquired in Singur," Banerjeewrote on her Twitter handle.

"We reiterate our commit-ment to the welfare of farmers,alongside promoting indus-try. My humble pronam toMaa, Mati, Manush," sheadded.

"Ma, Mati, Manush" (moth-er, motherland and people)

was a political slogan coined byBanerjee before 2009 generalelection. It eventually becamethe signature slogan ofBanerjee and her party.

The TMC chief had steeredthe massive agitation againstthe land acquisition for Tata'sNano car factory in Singur in2006.

Incidentally, on Fridayaround 60 activists of theStudents Federation of India(SFI) and Democratic YouthFederation of India (DYFI)were wounded after theyclashed with police in courseof their march towards the

state secretariat demandingemployment for the youth ofthe state.

The activists had taken outa rally on Thursday fromSingur, the venue of the aban-doned Tata small car plant,demanding jobs for the youthof the state.

Singur had become thehotbed of West Bengal politicsin 2008 after the TrinamoolCongress of Mamata Banerjeeled an agitation against theerstwhile Left Front govern-ment over acquisition of farmland for the car factory.

The TMC agitation eventu-ally led to the exit of the pro-posed small car factory andcatapulted Banerjee to powerin 2011.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Culture MinisterPrahlad Singh Patel onSaturday inaugurated an exhi-bition-cum-e-auction of giftsreceived by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the last oneyear to raise funds for theCentre's Namami GangeProject.

More than 2,700 mementos,including shawls, pagris andjackets, at the National Galleryof Modern Art here will beauctioned on www.pmme-mentos.gov.in from Saturdaytill October 3.

Patel said around 500mementos are presently ondisplay entitled "Smriti Chinh"for the people at the NationalGallery of Modern Art(NGMA) from 11 am till 8 pm.

"The displayed mementoswill be changed every week.The gift items including paint-ings, memento, sculptures,shawls, pagri, jackets and tra-ditional musical instrumentsetc are displayed artistically inthe administrative wing of theNGMA," he said.

The lowest base price of themementos is Rs 200 and thehighest is Rs 2.5 lakh, Patel said

.Modi himself lauded the

effort and urged people toparticipate.

"Continuing a practice Ihave always believed in! Allthose gifts and mementos Ihave received in the last oneyear would be getting auc-tioned starting today till 3rdOctober. These mementoeswould be on display at theNGMA near India Gate inDelhi," the prime ministertweeted tagging the link to thee-auction website.

The union minister saidthat a letter will be sent fromthe Government of India totop 20 highest bidders com-

plimenting them for their con-tribution towards the NamamiGange Project .

Patel said Modi is the firstever prime minister of India"who has decided to auction allthe gifts he receives for a noblecause of conserving the lifelineof the country".

The proceeds from the auc-tion will be used towards theconservation and preserva-tion of the Ganga under theNamami Gange project.

Mementos include 576shawls, 964 angavastram, 88pagris and various jackets por-traying the diversified andcolourful culture of the coun-try.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Saturday made itsLok Sabha member SanjayJaiswal as party's Bihar unit'spresident, while appointingSatish Poonia, its MLA fromAmber assembly segment inJaipur district as the party'sRajasthan unit president, aparty statement said.

Jaiswal, who has been win-ning from PaschimChamparan constituency onthe trot since 2009, is seen asan ideological moderate whoenjoys a non-controversialimage. A vocal section of thestate BJP has often targeted itsally and Bihar Chief Minister

Nitish Kumar, who has attimes taken a stand opposite tothat of the saffron party on ahost of issues, including thenullification of the Article 370and the citizenship bill, under-

lining the unease in theiralliance. Political watchersbelieve Jaiswal may help theBJP bring some harmony in itsuneven tie-up with NitishKumar-led JD(U).

PNS n JAMMU

Day curfew was lifted inJammu and Kashmir'sKishtwar district even as amassive search operation forsuspected terrorists, whosnatched the service rifle froma personal security officer of aPDP leader, continued for thesecond day on Saturday, offi-cials said.

The day curfew, which wasimposed in the town followingthe weapon snatching incidenton Friday, was lifted but alleducational institutionsremained closed as a precau-tionary measure, the officialssaid.

A group of terrorists struck

the house of PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP)Kishtwar district presidentSheikh Nasir Hussain atGourian village in the town andescaped with the service rifle ofhis Personal Security Officer(PSO) early Friday.

"The curfew, which wasimposed following the incident,was lifted this (Saturday)morning. However, all educa-tional institutions in the townhave been closed as a precau-tionary measure," DistrictDevelopment CommissionerAngrez Singh Rana told PTI.

He said the night curfew,however, will remain in forcetill further orders.

A massive search operation

to track down the terrorists wasgoing on, Rana said, adding thepolice is working on variousleads and the culprits will be

brought to book soon.Officials said additional

police and paramilitary forceshave been deployed at entry

and exit points in the town,where all incoming and out-going vehicles are subjected tothorough checking.

They said the private car ofthe PDP leader's brother inwhich the suspects fled wasfound abandoned in Dool vil-lage, about nine km from thetown.

The hilly district, which wasdeclared terrorism-free over adecade ago, has witnessed anumber of terror strikes andweapon snatching incidentsover the past 10 months.

Terrorists snatched the ser-vice rifle of the deputy com-missioner's PSO Daleep Kumaron March 8. They struck again

at district hospital on April 9,killing RSS functionaryChanderkant Sharma and hisPSO before fleeing the scenewith the service rifle of the slaincop. On November 1 last year,terrorists shot dead BJP leaderAnil Parihar and his brotherAjit Parihar in Kishtwar town.

3Though major break-through eluded the securityforces in the investigation ofthe terror cases in the town, aLashker-e-Toiba (LeT) localterrorist Jamal-ud-din Gujjaralias "Abu Bakar", who wasactive in Kishtwar for oneyear and was carrying areward of Rs 5 lakh, wasarrested from adjoining Dodadistrict on July 24.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari on Saturday wrote toChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalurging him to reconsider themove to implement the odd-even scheme again as it wouldcause problems to the people.

This is merely a "gimmick todivert the attention" ofDelhiites from core issues asthe AAP government has "sub-stantially failed" to deliver andwants to use taxpayers' moneyon advertisements for its ownpublicity, Tiwari alleged inthe letter to the Delhi ChiefMinister.

"I am writing to you, withgreat anguish over your gov-ernment's decision to intro-duce odd-even policy in Delhionce again in the month ofNovember. The decision hasbeen taken without a properthought. This had created somany problems for Delhiitesthe last time it was done," hesaid.

Kejriwal on Fridayannounced implementation of

the odd-even scheme in Delhifrom November 4 to 15, say-ing it will be one of the sevenmeasures against high level ofpollution in the city due tocrop stubble burning in

Haryana and Punjab duringthe period.

Tiwari said the AAP gov-ernment's decision to stick tothe odd-even scheme speaksvolumes of its "inability" to

come up with any scientificand reasonable measure tofight air pollution.

"In the interest of the peo-ple of Delhi, I urge you torethink over this decision ofimplementing odd-evenscheme and kindly spareDelhiites unnecessary hasslesthey would be subjected towith this move," Tiwari said inhis letter.

Tiwari alleged the movewas an "insult" to the lawabiding citizens who get theirvehicles regularly checked forpollution as they will faceproblems in commuting anddropping their children toschools.

The AAP government hastargeted private vehiclesalthough there is no scientificstudy to support that they arethe biggest source of air pol-lution in Delhi, he said.

As a matter of fact, the airpollution in Delhi has reducedby 25 per cent with the open-ing of the Eastern and WesternPeripheral Expressways inDelhi, thanks to Prime

Minister Narendra Modi andUnion Road Transport andHighways Minister NitinGadkari, Tiwari said

"The two expressways keepout nearly 60,000 heavy com-mercial vehicles from Delhiroads, considerably reducingtraffic congestion as well aspollution level," he said.

Under the scheme vehiclesply on odd and even dates asper their registration numbers.The scheme was previouslyintroduced in Delhi by theAAP government in Januaryand April 2016.

The opinion of experts aswell as the people is dividedover the efficacy of odd-evenformula in combating air pol-lution.

Announcing its implemen-tation, Kejriwal had said stud-ies showed odd-even schemereduced air pollution level by10-13 per cent.

Critics of the move point tolack of adequate number ofpublic transport buses in thecity, and role of dust in bring-ing down air quality.

SHORT READS

MP blames undefinedLAC for frequentborder row with ChinaLEH: New Delhi and Beijingneed to sit down and properlydefine the Line of ActualControl (LAC) to avoid borderskirmishes, Ladakh MPJamyang Tsering Namgyal hassaid. Describing the tensionreported earlier this week alongthe border as "nothing serious",the BJP MP from the just-carved out Union Territory said,"we should not worry too muchabout such developments". TheLAC has often witnessedskirmishes between troops ofthe two Asian giants ondiffering claims over theterritory. "The actual problemon our border is that the borderis not defined properly becauseof which China feels one thingand we feel another. The actualline of control is not fixed anddemarcated properly, becauseof which such troubles keeprecurring," Namgyal toldreporters last evening.

Cong rejects SunilJakhar's resignation

Woman shot whiletrying to stophusband-wife fightNEW DELHI: A 21-year-oldwoman was shot when shetried to stop a fight between ahusband and his wife in outerDelhi's Narela area, police saidon Saturday. They said Rachnawas shot around 10 pm onFriday when she intervened tostop the quarrel between Javedand his wife in Narela's SectorB2. On Thursday, Javed left hiswife at her parent's home butreturned to take her backforcibly. His wife refused,leading to a quarrel betweenthem, said Gaurav Sharma,deputy commissioner of police(Outer North Delhi). Rachna, aneighbour, intervened to stopthe fight but Javed shot her andran away, Sharma said. She isrecuperating at a hospital.

HC asks Centre exactnumber of vacanciesfor visually impairedNEW DELHI: What is the exactnumber of vacancies forvisually impaired persons incivil services exams since1996, the Delhi High Court hassought to know from theCentre. A bench of justices SMuralidhar and Talwant Singhhas directed the centralgovernment to give detailsregarding the backlogvacancies for persons withdisabilities, particularly visuallyimpaired, from 1996 onwards.The bench passed the order ona batch of petitions, whileexamining the allegeddiscrepancies in the vacanciesfor visually challenged personsin civil services exams,conducted by the Union PublicService Commission (UPSC).

CHANDIGARH: The Congresson Saturday rejected theresignation of Sunil Jakhar,who had resigned as Punjabchief after losing to BJP'sSunny Deol on Gurdaspur LokSabha seat. "You havesubmitted your resignation asPresident, Punjab PCC.Congress party does not acceptyour resignation and you areexpected to carry on the goodwork as usual," a letter issuedby Congress in-charge ofPunjab affairs Asha Kumarisaid. When contacted, Kumarisaid Jakhar has been asked tocontinue as Punjab Congresschief. Jakhar had sent hisresignation to then partypresident Rahul Gandhi, a dayafter 2019 Lok Sabha electionresults were declared on May23. Jakhar lost the Gurdaspurseat to actor-politician Deol bya margin of 82,459 votes.

It further saidasked the statesto take steps likestrengtheningconvergencebetweendepartments,developing urbanhealth mission andspreading themessage SwachhBharat Missionamong others

Tiwari alleged the move was an "insult"to the law abiding citizens who get theirvehicles regularly checked for pollutionas they will face problems incommuting and dropping their childrento schools

"We reiterate ourcommitment to thewelfare of farmers,alongsidepromoting industry.My humble pronamto Maa, Mati,Manush," sheadded

Manoj Tiwari Arvind Kejriwal

Auction of 2,700 itemsgifted to PM from Oct 3

Day curfew lifted in Kishtwar, hunt on for suspected terrorists

Focus on tackling malnutrition amongurban poor, migrants: Centre to States

Mamata Banerjee

PNS n CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu governmenton Saturday announced AnnaMedals to 130 personnel fromthe uniformed services andothers. The Anna medals,named after late ChiefMinister CN Annadurai, aDravidian stalwart, are givento those including from thepolice, fire and forensic depart-ments in recognition of their"outstanding devotion to duty,"an official release said. Themedals are awarded on theoccasion of Annadurai's birthanniversary on September 15.Further, a constable who waskilled by sand mafia inTirunelveli district will beposthumously awarded theTamil Nadu Chief Minister'sPolice Medal for Gallantry, itsaid. "S Jegadish Durai, policeconstable, has been awardedthe Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister's Police Medal forGallantry (Posthumously) forhis gallant act in preventingsand smuggling by sacrificinghis life," it said.

PNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Saturdaysaid people should respect alllanguages and cultures equal-ly but not at the cost of theirmother tongues. Her state-ment came after Union Homeminister Amit Shah pitchedfor a common language for thecountry and said it is Hindiwhich is spoken the most andcan unite the whole country.Greeting people on the occa-sion of Hindi Divas, Banerjeetweeted, "My best wishes to allon #HindiDiwas. We shouldrespect all languages and cul-tures equally. We may learnmany languages but we shouldnever forget our mother-lan-guage." She also posted thegreetings in another tweet inHindi.

In a series of tweets inHindi, Home Minister Shahsaid,"India has many languagesand every language has itsimportance. But it is absolute-ly necessary that the entirecountry should have one lan-guage that becomes India'sidentity internationally".

Anna Medalsfor 130 in TN

MP DROWNING

PC Sharma

Sanjay Jaiswal Satish Poonia

Respect alllanguages butnot at cost ofmother tongue

MP Sanjay made BJP chiefin Bihar, MLA Satish in Raj

The curfew, which was imposedfollowing the incident, was liftedthis (Saturday) morning.

However, all educational institutions inthe town have been closed as aprecautionary measure

ANGREZ SINGH RANADistrict Development Commissioner

Mamata Banerjee for farmers’welfare, promoting industry

Tiwari writes to Kejri opposing odd-even rule

Minister seeks actionagainst senior officials

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 nation 06

PNS n SHAHJAHANPUR (UP)

The postgraduate student whohas accused BJP leaderChinmayanand of rape onSaturday gave a pen drive con-taining 43 videos to the SIT tosupport her allegations.

The woman was asked by theSIT to submit whatever evi-dence she had against the for-mer Union minister. The spe-cial investigation team ques-tioned the student on Fridayand collected evidence fromChinmayanand's bedroomhere, sources said on Saturday.

The SIT, formed on theorders of the Supreme Court,had brought the woman toChinmayanand's home onFriday morning where they

continued the probe for aroundfive hours, the sources said.

The special team has calledthe student's mother for ques-tioning on Saturday, they said.

Chinmayanand, whoseorganisation runs several col-leges, was questioned for aboutseven hours at the police lines

here on Thursday night and hisbedroom at Divya Dham resi-dence was sealed, they said.

A team of forensic expertswas also present at the resi-dence. The woman alleged thatimportant evidence has beenremoved from Chinmayanand'sbedroom and it now wears a

new look. "The paint and otherthings have been changed andit now has a new look.Important evidence has beenremoved from there but two oilbowls, used during massage,were found by the SIT," she said,adding that a towel, toothpasteand soap used by the BJP leaderwas sealed and taken away bythe forensic team.

The woman said she told the

probe team about a young BA-LLB student who was alsobeing tortured and had con-fided in her about her harass-ment.

The postgraduate studentsaid she has also given herstatement about the FIR lodgedin New Delhi on September 5.

Recounting her ordeal, shesaid that after she took admis-sion in LLM, Chinmayanand's

men called her to his home andleft her in a room on the upperfloor where the former minis-ter showed her a video of herhaving a bath, after which herphysical exploitation began.

The woman, however, saidthat this video was not found bythe probe agency in the bedroomand claimed that it could havebeen kept in Chinmayanand'sHaridwar ashram.Chinmayanand's Counsel OmSingh refuted argued that givingmassage was not a crime andpeople go to spa for it.

"Besides, the video does notshow anything being doneunder pressure," Singh.

Sources said the BJP leaderhas been asked by the SIT notto leave Shahjahanpur till the

completion of the probe andpolicemen in large numbershave been deployed in andaround his residence.

The college where thewoman studied was closedsince Friday and will now openon Monday, the sources said.

The woman has alleged thatshe was raped and "physicallyexploited" for a year by the BJPleader. Chinmayanand's lawyerhas, however, alleged an extor-tion attempt. The woman firstlevelled harassment chargesagainst the BJP leader in a videoclip uploaded on social media.She was then missing for sever-al days before an Uttar Pradeshpolice team traced her inRajasthan and produced herbefore the Supreme Court.

Chinmayanand case: Student gives pen drive with videos to SIT

Ex-BJP MLAGhodmarejoins NCPPNS n MUMBAI

At a time when leaders of theNCP and Congress are makinga beeline to enter the rulingcamp ahead of the Maharashtraassembly polls, former BJPMLA Vijay Ghodmare onSaturday chose to join theSharad Pawar-led party.

Ghodmare, who had repre-sented Hingana constituency inNagpur district, made the for-mal crossover at the residenceof Pawar in Mumbai, a partystatement said.

Ghodmare said he was readyto work in whatever capacitythe party chief wanted him to.

The NCP, once a rulingparty in Maharashtra in alliancewith the Congress, is nowgrappling with a crisis due todesertions by a number ofleaders on the eve of elections.Senior leaders like UdaynarajeBhosale, who quit as an MPfrom Satara, former state min-ister Ganesh Naik, Sachin Ahirand Jaydutt Kshirasagar, MLAsShivendrasinh Bhosale, SandipNaik and Vaibhav Pichadamong others have jumped theship to join either the BJP orShiv Sena.

PNS n MUMBAI

At a time the NCP is plungedinto a crisis due to a string ofdesertions ahead of the high-stake Maharashtra Assemblypolls, party patriarch SharadPawar is setting out on a state-wide tour beginning September17 to reach out to the party'srank and file.

The veteran politician, 79,will visit ten districts of Solapur,Osmanabad, Beed, Latur,Hingoli, Parbhani, Jalna,Aurangabad, Ahmednagar andSatara in the first phase of thetour, the NCP said on Twitter.

The announcement cameagainst the backdrop of exodusof key leaders of the NationalistCongress Party (NCP) to theruling BJP and Shiv Sena.

Senior party leaderUdayanraje Bhosale, a descen-dant of warrior kingChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, onSaturday became the latestentrant to the BJP camp. TheSatara MP has quit his LokSabha membership to join the

BJP. On Friday, formerMaharashtra unit NCP presi-dent Bhaskar Jadhav joinedthe Shiv Sena.

"Pawar's tour will be crucialin view of the existing circum-stances. His interaction with thegrassroot workers, who haveremained loyal to the party evenas some leaders have desertedit, will boost their morale,"said the leader.

Pawar had fanned parts of hishome state during the April-May Lok Sabha elections andaddressed around 80 publicrallies. The NCP had managedto retain its 2014 tally of four LSseats in Maharashtra.

PNS n BILASPUR

The Chhattisgarh High Courthas sought the state govern-ment's stand on two petitionschallenging the Constitutionalvalidity of an ordinance, hik-ing the reservation limit instate jobs to 82 per centbreaching the 50 per cent cap.

Admitting the two pleas,filed separately by VedprakashSingh Thakur and AdityaTiwari, a bench of Chief JusticeP R Ramachandra Menon andJustice P P Sahu on Fridayissued notice to the govern-ment and slated the matter forhearing after ten days.

The petitions challenge thegovernment's September 4notification titled"Chhattisgarh Lok Seva(Anusuchit Jatiyon, AnusucihitJan Jatiyon aur Anya Pichhade

Vargon ke liye arakshan)(Sanshodhan) Ordinance, 2019related to amendments inquota limits for the govern-ment jobs.

Thakur's counselAnish Tiwari saidthe ordinanceseeks to raise thequota forS c h e d u l e dCastes from12 per cent to13 per centand 14 percent to 27 percent for OtherBackward Classes.

No change has beenmade in the quota forScheduled Tribes quota, whichremains 32 per cent, he added.

The ordinance also seeks tooffer 10 per cent reservation tothe economically weaker sec-

tions, taking the total per-centage of reservation to 82 percent in the state, he said.

"Under the new ordinance,the reservation is touching 82

per cent when it shouldnot exceed more

than 50 per centas per aS u p r e m eCourt's order,"said AnishTiwari, recall-ing the lawlaid down by

the apex courtin the 1993 Indira

Sawhney case.Advocate General

Satish Chandra Verma, whoappeared in the case, said thehigh court did not give anyrelief to petitioners and gavetime to the government to fileits reply.

HC seeks Chhattisgarhgovernment's stand

PNS n NEW DELHI

The United Akali Dal (UAD) onSaturday thanked the Modigovernment for removing froma blacklist names of 312 Sikh for-eign nationals allegedly involvedin anti-India activities. UnitedAkali Dal (UAD) GeneralSecretary Bhai Satnam SinghManawa also appealed to theCentre to release Sikh prisonerswho were involved in such actsand have completed their sen-tences.

Expressing gratitude to thecentral government, Manawasaid the removal of names fromthe government blacklist willenable them to pay obeisance at

Sri Harmindar Sahib inAmritsar. The government onFriday removed 312 Sikh foreignnationals from its blacklist of 314people, who were involved inanti-India activities, HomeMinistry officials had said.

The decision was taken aftera review carried out by differentsecurity agencies on the AdverseList or blacklist. The UAD leaderalso urged Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan to not levyUSD 20 on each pilgrim visitingSri Gurdwara Darbar SahibKartarpur in his country, sayingsuch a move will restrict reli-gious rights of Sikhs who want-ed to visit one of the holiestplaces of the faith.

UAD thanks Modi govtfor removing 312 Sikhnames from blacklist

PNS n INDORE

Madhya Pradesh Chief MinisterKamal Nath on Saturday laid thefoundation stone for Rs 7500.80-crore metro rail project in thestate's commercial capital. Amidchanting of mantras, Nath per-formed the 'Bhumipujan'(ground-breaking) ceremonyfor the project on MR-10 Roadhere. State Urban DevelopmentMinister Jaiwardhan Singh andother ministers were present onthe occasion.

Under the project, a 31.55-km-long corridor is proposed tobe built in the city. While mostof the metro section will be ele-vated, a portion will run under-ground, officials said, addingthat the metro rail corridor willpass through Nainod,Bhanwarsala intersection,

Radisson intersection andBengali Chauraha. A total of 29stations would be built on thisroute. The project, conceivedduring the tenure of erstwhileBJP government in the state andapproved by the Centre inOctober last year, is expected tobe completed by August 2023.

MP CM performsground-breaking forIndore Metro Rail

Names of allNRC applicantspublished onlinePNS n GUWAHATI

The names of all NRC appli-cants have been publishedonline on Saturday, the officeof the NRC State Coordinatorsaid here. The names of allthe 3.30 crore applicants asper draft NRC and supple-mentary list of inclusionsand exclusions (final NRC)have been published, an offi-cial said.

The final National Registerof Citizens (NRC), whichwas published on August 31,consisted only of supple-mentary lists. "Names of allthe members of a family irre-spective of their involvementin the claims and objectionsprocess have been publishedon Saturday," the official said.

The NRC StateCoordinator's office had ear-lier announced that thedetails for a complete familywould be available onlyonline.

‘Cannot harmgreatness of Gandhi,Ambedkar byattacking statues’PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra on Saturday hitout at those responsible for des-ecrating statues of MahatmaGandhi and B R Ambedkar inUttar Pradesh, asserting thatthe greatness of these men can-not be harmed by such attacks.

A statue of the Mahatma wasdesecrated by unidentified peo-ple at a college in Uttar Jalaundistrict on Friday.

"A few days ago, BabasahebAmbedkar's statue was dese-crated by anti-social elementsin Uttar Pradesh. Now inJalaun, Mahatma Gandhi's stat-ue has been desecrated,"Priyanka Gandhi said in atweet in Hindi. "The cowardswho desecrate statues, youronly achievement in life is thatyou try to dishonour the coun-try's great men in the darknessof the night ," the Congress gen-eral secretary said.

Centre urged tohelp bringbodies of fourSikhs from ItalyPNS n CHANDIGARH

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh onSaturday urged the UnionExternal Affairs Ministry toprovide help in bringing backthe mortal remains of fourSikh men drowned in asewage tank in Italy.

The incident happened onThursday at a cattle farm innorthern Italy due to thecarbon dioxide fumes comingout from the cow manure,according to media reports.

Of the four, two werebrothers - Prem, 48, andTarsem Singh, 45 - who wererunning the farm.

The other two were work-ers, identified as ArminderSingh, 29, and ManjinderSingh, 28. "Saddened to hearabout the death of 4 Punjabimen drown in a farm manuretank near Pavia, Italy. Request@DrSJaishankar to instructthe Indian Mission in Italy tohelp get the mortal remainsback to India," AmarinderSingh tweeted.

SBI wants to be lead-bank forLadakh; opens 14th branchPNS n DISKIT (LADAKH)

The country's largest lenderState Bank of India (SBI) hasexpressed desire to be becomethe lead-bank for the newlycarved-out Union Territory ofLadakh.

SBI Chairman RajnishKumar Saturday inaugurated anew branch in this remotetown of Diskit in the NubraValley, making it the 14thfacility of the bank in theLadakh region and 22,024thbranch for the bank.

Every state or region has alead-bank, which takes themantle of ensuring adequatebanking services as the con-venor of the state-level bank-ing committee.

At present, J&K Bank is thelead-bank for Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh.

On August 5, the govern-ment had announced that theentire region will cease to be asingle state but would becometwo Union territories of J&Kand Ladakh, wherein J&K willhave a state Assembly underlieutenant governor, whileLadakh will have no legislature.

The announcement was partof the government decision toabrogate Articles 370 and 35Aof the Constitution which gavespecial status to J&K.

Speaking to reporters hereSaturday, the chairman said ifother banks have a problem tobe the SLBC convenor, SBI iswilling to take up that man-tle.

He said the branch in Diskitwas planned over three monthsago, much before the Centredecided to bifurcate the stateinto two UTs.

Kumar also affirmed SBIscommitment to help the peo-ple of both the UTs with cred-

it needs once the demandcomes. The bank has 185branches in Jammu & Kashmirand Ladakh, and personallending segment is the mostactive, he said.

There is also traction on thesmall business front, but lend-ing to agriculture and industryis limited in J&K, he admitted,adding that the average loan inthis area is also small, at up toRs 5 lakh.

"Through such initiatives,we want the people of theregion to know how deep dowe take our banking servicesinto the remotest parts of thecountry," Kumar said.

Normal life hit in Kashmir ValleyPNS n SRINAGAR

Normal life remained affectedacross Kashmir Valley for the41st consecutive day onSaturday as the stalemate fol-lowing the nullification ofArticle 370 continued withmost shops and schoolsremaining shut and publictransport off the roads, officialssaid.

Restrictions, which wereimposed in the Hazratbal areaof the city on Friday, were lift-ed, the officials said, addingmost areas of the valley wererestrictions-free.

They, however, said securi-ty forces continued to remaindeployed at sensitive placesacross the valley to maintainlaw and order.

Restrictions were firstimposed across Kashmir onAugust 5 when the Centreannounced its decision to abro-gate Article 370 of theConstitution and split the stateinto two Union territories. Therestrictions were lifted in phas-es from many parts of the val-ley as the situation improvedwith the passage of time.

The authorities have been

imposing restrictions in vul-nerable areas of the valleyevery Friday, apprehendingthat vested interests mightexploit the large gatherings atbig mosques and shrines to fuel

protests.Friday prayers have not been

allowed at any of the majormosques or shrines, includingJamia Masjid in Nowhatta andDargah Sharif in Hazratbal, for

over a month now.Meanwhile, normal life

remained severely affectedacross the valley due to shut-down which entered its 41stday on Saturday, the officials

said.Most of the shops and other

business establishmentsremained closed, while publictransport was off the roadsacross the valley, they added.

A few vendors set up stallson the TRC Chowk-LalChowk-Batamaloo axis, theysaid.

Internet services remainedsuspended across all platforms,the officials said.

While landline phonesacross the valley were func-tional, voice calls on mobiledevices were working only inKupwara and Handwara policedistricts of north Kashmir.

The efforts of the state gov-ernment to reopen schoolshave not borne any fruit as par-ents continued to keep thekids at home due to appre-hensions about their safety.

Most of the top-level andsecond rung separatist leadershave been taken into custody,while mainstream leaders,including former chief minis-ters Farooq Abdullah, OmarAbdullah and MehboobaMufti, have been eitherdetained or placed under housearrest.

SHORT READS

Two of family killed ashouse collapses dueto heavy rainAMETHI (UP): Two members ofa family were killed as theirhouse collapsed due to heavyrainfall in Musafirkhana tehsilhere, officials said on Saturday.Laxman Kori (55) and hisgranddaughter Santosha (13),residents of Thakur Pindaravillage, were buried under thedebris of their house thatcollapsed on Friday night, SDMMahatma Singh said. Bothwere rushed to the CommunityHealth Centre in Musafirkhanawhere they were declared dead,the SDM added.

School teacher accusedof misbehaving with 2girl students

Man shot dead inLudhiana shoppingmallLUDHIANA: A 42-year-old manwas shot dead when anunidentified person opened fireat him following an altercationin a shopping mall here, policesaid on Saturday. Daljit Singhsuccumbed to his injuries in ahospital, they said. The incidenttook place at a restaurant in themall on Friday night when anargument broke out betweenSingh and the accused oversome issue, the police said.They said the matter is beingprobed.

ERODE (TN): A teacher hasbeen arrested for allegedlymisbehaving with two girlstudents, police said onSaturday. Sakthivel (44)teaching botany in agovernment girls highersecondary school, Bhavani,has been accused of sexuallymisbehaving with the plus-onestudents sometime back.Following this, the victimsnarrated the incident to theirparents, who in turn lodged apolice complaint. Meanwhile,the teacher absconded andwas arrested later under thePOCSO Act.

Man held for rapinggirl in UP'sMuzaffarnagarMUZAFFARNAGAR (UP): Aman has been arrested in UttarPradesh's Muzaffarnagardistrict for allegedly raping a15-year-old girl, police said onSaturday. The incident occurredin Muranpur on Friday, theysaid. The 20-year-old accusedentered the girl's house whenshe was alone and allegedlyraped her, the police said. Theysaid when the man was leavingthe girl's house, a few villagerscaught him and beat him upbefore handing him over to thepolice. In another incident onFriday, in the neighbouringShamli district, a 9-year-oldboy, who was playing outsidehis house in Babri area, wasallegedly sodomised by a 16-year-old, the police said. A casehas been registered against theaccused boy on the basis of acomplaint lodged by thevictim's father and aninvestigation is on, they said.

Naxal killed in BijapurencounterRAIPUR: A naxal was killed onSaturday in an encounter withsecurity forces inChhattisgarh's Bijapur district,police said. The incidentoccurred around 8:30 am in aforest near Punnur village,around six kms from Awapallipolice station, when a team ofDistrict Reserve Guard (DRG)was out on a counter-insurgency operation, DeputyInspector General (anti- naxaloperations) Sundarraj P toldPTI. The operation waslaunched from Awapalli,around 450 kms from Raipur,on a specific input about themovement of wanted Maoistsdivisional commander Nagesh,he said. "After a brief exchange,ultras escaped from the spot.During a search, the body of amale naxal was found. A .315bore rifle was recovered fromthe spot," the DIG said, addingthat the identity of thedeceased is not establishedyet. Reinforcement has beenrushed to the spot, he said,adding that further details areawaited. On late Friday night,two naxals were gunned downin an encounter in Kirandularea of neighbouringDantewada district.

The authorities have been imposing restrictions invulnerable areas of the Valley every Friday, apprehendingthat vested interests might exploit the large gatherings atbig mosques and shrines to fuel protests

Amid desertions,Pawar embarks onMaha tour next week

The SIT, formed on the orders of theSupreme Court, had brought the woman toChinmayanand's home on Friday morningwhere they continued the probe for aroundfive hours

PLEA AGAINST HIKE IN QUOTA LIMIT

Australia is delightfullymixed up in its cuisine,

thanks to a blend of many cul-tures and people who have set-tled down there along withtheir spices flavours and meats.

A slice of that wholesomeplatter is now being show-cased at the Pickwick’s at TheClaridges with a lot of elan andhard work that has gone intobringing this side of Australiato the table.

The effort hasn’t gonewaste. It is the good old pump-kin soup that leads you out oftrepidation about Englishblandness that assails the cui-sine otherwise. Smooth as but-ter, flavourful and totally Aussiein aroma, the dish fuels yourappetite and cajoles your taste

buds with a subtlety that makesit quite a cornerstone for rel-ishing things to follow.

Chef Vivek Rana wholoves to go into the history ofany of the foods he attempts toregale his guests with, tellsyou that Australia is all aboutfusion cuisine, meat grills anddesserts that will send youinto the guilt zone even if youdon’t have a sweet tooth.

The fact that there is someIndian cuisine spread gra-ciously with an Australianmakeover makes youfavourable to experimentation.

But the Australian LambPie keeps you totally engagedwith its melt in the mouth crustand the softest of lamb minceone had had in a long while.

This one is a must-try. Theslides keep coming from thelive counters and there is noth-ing that you would want tomiss, be it the mini vegetarianburgers or the cottage cheesewrap.

But wait there is a whole lot

of mains, like GrilledBarramundi and the largelyunforgettable whole lamb legslow-cooked in spices andjuices that come to the tablewith their own brand ofuniqueness.

If you are at Pickwick with

friends do not miss out on thisdelicacy put together with ten-der loving care.

But if you are not havingthat, the crusted herb chickenis the dish for you, and not justbecause is it presented so allur-ingly.

Flavours match the delec-table taste and you are forcedto close your calorie eye to thecheese spread over it.

Served with spaghettini onthe side rippling with herbs andchilli flakes, this one is the dishto go for.

The menu is quite invitingand varied with classics likewild mushroom rissoles andmixed vegetable and garbanzostew, but save your tummyspace for the absolutely out ofthe world Black AntLamington, the signatureAussie sweet that fortunatelyhas nothing to do with those inedible hard-working popula-tion of the animal kingdom.Much like a twisted spongecake, with a taste that defiesanything cakey, Mr Lamingtoncall for a requiem.

Don’t hesitate. Don’t thinkcalories. Just repeat the orderwith a cup of coffee, please!

nFrom Jai Santoshi Maa toDream Girl, how has your

journey been?It has been a long one.

Honestly, when I got Jai SantoshiMaa (2009), I didn’t want to be an

actor. I went for the auditionsjust to see how would it turnout for me and fortunately Igot selected. The real journeystarted with Love, Sex AurDhoka (LSD), that was the first

time when I felt like an actor.The film made me realise the

importance of being a performerand what a good film is. Then, I

decided that this is the field I wantto be in. No matter what I am

doing and where will I endup, I just wanted to con-

tinue doing good workand feel happy about

it.nWere there morehighs or morelows?

I have seenboth highs andlows. LSD was asuccess but I didn’t

have work for a fewmonths after it. I

kept thinking that thefilm did well so Ishould be getting more

work. But, I didn’t get

any. Then I got casted for Pyaar KaPunchnama and I entered the com-mercial cinema. Now it’s been yearssince I haven’t done a film like LSD. Ididn’t know where life took me, I justwent with the flow. nDo you have any regrets?

Yes, I have had made some badchoices as well. But, the moment Istarted shooting for those films, Iknew I wasn’t happy. But, it was diffi-cult to walk away from a project aftermaking a commitment. Now, I haverealised that if you are not enjoyingyour work, just don’t do it. There wasa time, when just one day before theshoot I pulled out of the project.Though I received a lot of criticismfrom the team and they called menames, but in my head I was clearthat what is the point of doing some-thing half-heartedly. Because they willnot get the best of your performance,you’ll not feel good about it and ulti-mately the end product will never begood.nDid your family support yourdecision of being an actor?

My family is neither regressivenor completely modernised. Theyare somewhere in between. When Itold them that I wanted to be anactor, they themselves were in a con-flict of whether to let me follow mydreams or tell me that this will notwork out. But everybody else in my

family was like that you cannot bean actor. It took them a while toaccept my decision. They asked mequestions of whether I will be work-ing throughout my work career andI didn’t have answers. But theyturned out to be very supportive andthey digested the fact that I don’thave any answers. They knew I wasbeing realistic and I will not live inthe bubble that ‘oh I am an actornow’.nWho is your inspiration?

For me, inspiration comes fromnormal people. My driver inspiresme. He lives in Nala Sopara and ittakes him two hours to reach myhouse. I have to attend late nightshoots, screenings and film partiesand he stays there with me.Sometimes he even misses the lasttrain to his place. And then again,he returns to work at 8 am. I askhim to sleep in my building but herefuses because he wants to spendtime at his home even if it’s for justthree hours. I suggested him to leavemy job and work somewhere else.But he wants to put in this hardwork for his family. Not even oncehas he come late. All these storiescontinue to inspire me.nAny genres that you would like toexperiment with?

I don’t divide films into genres. Ibelieve genres are decided and divid-

ed by the people who are making thefilms and they want to get the certifi-cation done. For me, romance, come-dy are all emotions and not genres.For me a story is a story, I decide myprojects on the basis of my intuitions.I am a performer so I have to per-form regardless of the genre.nUpcoming projects?

Dream Girl has just been released.It was a film that I heard the narra-tion for an hour and then within 15minutes I said yes to it. I am aninstinctive person, if I like a project Iimmediately take it up if not then Iprobably say that give me sometimeto think about it. And then I will sayno to it. (laughs)

Then there is Turram Khan oppo-site Rajkumar Rao. I always wanted tobe in a Hansal Mehta film. When Igot the film, I was like ‘yes I am doingan Hansal Mehta film’. Then, I amalso doing Hurdang.nAny anecdotes that you would liketo share?

I remember on the first day ofshoot for Turram Khan I was not ableto do my lines right. I was very scaredbecause there were so many greatactors and all of them were staring atme. And I honestly told it to themthat ‘I am sorry guys, I am intimidat-ed by all of you staring at me and tostand infront of such great actors, Ifeel like a fool.’ (laughs)

backpack 07HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

‘I felt like an actor after doing LSD’I DON’T DIVIDE

FILMS INTOGENRES. I BELIEVE

GENRES AREDECIDED AND

DIVIDED BY PEOPLEWHO ARE MAKINGFILMS AND THEY

WANT TO GET THECERTIFICATIONDONE. FOR ME,ROMANCE AND

COMEDY ARE ALLEMOTIONS

TalktimeNUSHRAT BHARUCHA

Having witnessed both highs and lows in her

career, Bharucha believes in staying ground-

ed. She thinks of herself as a performer

and not an actor. She tells Musba

Hashmi some of her bad choices,

inspiration and upcoming

projects

nHow did music happen?I grew up watching a lot of concerts because of my father.

He has produced and directed concerts with some of the bestmusical artists in the country like Lataji, Ashaji, Daler Mehndi,Hariharan and AR Rahman sir to name a few. That stemmedthe whole inspiration of wanting to be on stage and performinglike one of them. But I decided pretty late that I wanted to be amusician and learnt guitar and piano by myself.nHow was the experience of being mentored by AR Rahman?

In 2012, I did my first cover on YouTube with a brilliant singer,Suchismita Das. We happened to send the link to Rahman sirand he replied: ‘You have a great voice, should study and learnmusic further’. I packed my bag and came to KM MusicConservatory, Rahman sir’s music school in Chennai. Every stepof the way he has been helpful. I send all my original songs tohim before releasing them to get a feedback frm him.nHow did this mentoring change your music?

A lot has changed — just the outlook towards music beingpure and speaking about one’s personality. Like every musician,I too have been influenced by his music and have always triedto adopt his structuring of songs. I have been blessed to workclosely with him and see his entire process from start to finish,which is mind-boggling because apart from the melodic brilliancewith him there are no boundaries to music and there’s certain-ly no holding back when it comes to trying new things.nWhat is your latest release about?

The song, For You My Love, is a fusion in English and Punjabithat brings both the worlds together even in the story of the film.Sir wanted a light-hearted soulful song which would connect bothworlds. I got the opportunity to sing the English part of the songand as luck may have it because of Rahman sir’s generosity gotto be a part of the video. The song is a part of Gurinder Chaddha’sfilm Blinded By The Light.nHow is it different to work with other music directors?

Music is a universal language. Its beauty lies in variety andwhat I enjoy is bringing in my honesty and creativity to any songI sing. I’ve had the opportunity to sing for Vishal-Shekhar sir forUdanchoo from Banjo. The experience was amazing becomes easyto work with them.nIs it tough to survive in the industry?

It is extremely difficult to survive in the industry as just aplayback. Therefore, I focus on my independent music and pro-duction for other artists as well. Today, you have to be self-suf-ficient and be a wholesome artist; one who writes, composes, singsand maybe plays an instrument too.nDo you have a mission as far as music is concerned?

My mission is to make music from my personal experiences,to help people overcome what I have tried to overcome and alsobring joy to my listeners.nWhat next?

For me my focus for the next few months is my indepen-dent music, an announcement is due soon as there is going tobe loads of content that I have worked on for over a year thatwill surface and start releasing.

HRIDAY GATTANI, speakswith SHALINI SAKSENAabout his latest song forGurinder Chadha’s film

‘Just playbackis not enough’PICKLE ME PINK

Pickle or achaar is a part of aneveryday meal for Indians worldover. The sweet, spicy and sour

achaars have been around for thou-sands of years. Most the the picklerecipes are handed down generations.Each community has a differentrecipe — a twist here and twist there— makes all the difference from amango pickle that one will get to eatat a home in North as opposed towhat one will find in South.

Did you know that pickles havearound for a long time when itcomes to world cuisine? The tech-nique is said to have begun from Indiaand that cucumbers were the first topickled and eaten at the Tigris valley.It all began with putting cucumbersin brine — water and salt — to pre-serve them. Even today, salt is a sta-ple ingredient to preserve pickles.Lingupurna, a Kannada work thatdates back to 1594 describes about 50different types of pickles. History alsohas it that Cleopatra loved them as didNapoleon Bonaparte.

Hence, it is not surprising thatIndians love their pickles and thatnews players want to enter this seg-ment. Karan Shah, director, SocietyTea, tells you that Spice Secrets markstheir entry into a new category. “Webelieve in bringing back the art ofchutneys and pickles to every house-hold; recipes our grandmothers usedand passed on to our mothers overyears. Indian consumers relish adaily dose of these flavours as it takesthem down the memory lane right tothat grandma’s kitchen,” Shah says.

He tells you that the word pick-le has originated from the Dutch wordpekel that was used to refer to a solu-tion of brine that was spiced for pre-serving and flavouring food.

“Pickle is often associated withprocessed fruits and vegetables in saltand spice mixture that have anextended shelf life, often with restoredor enhanced beneficial properties ofthe entities involved. Therefore, theyare an integral part of how people

define their food culture, and eachregion is intensely passionate abouttheir pickles,” Shah explains.

The same, one is told holds truefor chutneys. It is also something thateveryone relates to. It can be made tosuit any taste profile.A versatilecondiment, the chutney which meanssomething that can be licked, is bydefinition an appetizer.

“Ayurveda suggests that chutneyscan offer a balance in the diet as wellas act as a suitable camouflage foringredients that are otherwise notenjoyable. Ever since times infinite,these house recipes have been passeddown generations and that’s whythey still retain a unique taste for eachhousehold. Traditionally, it’s almostalways passed down from mother to

daughter or from the grandmotherbecause of which, the making of thesespecial pickles and chutneys aresecrets held within the families, likea family heirloom,” Shah says.

Chutneys and pickles have alwaysbeen an ageold accompaniment in theIndian cuisines agnostic of which partof the country you go to or the lan-guage you speak.

“It’s difficult to trace the exact ori-gins of Indian pickle, but the traditionof pickle making goes back thousandsof years. Pickling was commonlyused for preserving food by curing itwith salt or sugar; before refrigerationand canning made it possible. Ancientcivilisations had discovered that toincrease the longevity of perishablefoods was to dry them in the sun and

cure them with salt or immerse themin brine.

“In ancient and medieval times,every homemaker used to have a ver-itable treasure trove of recipes hand-ed down to her from her ancestors.This was the way in which she usedto preserve fruits and vegetables bymaking pickles and chutneys,” Shahtells you.

For Indians, nothing comes closeto say home as simply as pickle.Chutneys and pickles in differentforms and tastes are prevalent in everycorner of our country and are likelyto have been a part of your foodmemories.

“No Indian meal is completewithout a smidgen of pickle or chut-ney. This is because pickles are anintegral part of Indian culture.Chutneys and pickles key role in yourmeal is to add flavour and make themmore appetizing. It is the plainest offood that gives scope for the use ofpickles. Hence, they are usuallysavored as an accompanying condi-ment — as a spread, sauce and or evena topping. In our cuisine — chutneysvary, many being thin enough in con-sistency to be used as dipping sauces.Other varieties of chutney are likechunky well-flavored relish; those aregenerally used as meal accompani-ments or sandwich spreads, and arethe popular version found globally,”Shah says and adds that our chutneysand pickles are of regional flavoursrepresenting different communitiesand heritage.

AYURVEDASUGGESTS THATCHUTNEYS CAN

OFFER A BALANCEIN DIET AS WELL

AS ACT AS ASUITABLE

CAMOUFLAGE FORINGREDIENTS THAT

ARE OTHERWISENOT ENJOYABLE

SHALINI SAKSENA tells you why eating pickles, which have been around for over4,000 years, is such an integral part of Indian cuisine

Try out this Aussie fare, mate

Crusted Herb Chicken; (right) Black Ant Lamington

A U S T R A L I A N S P R I N G F E S T I V A L P I C K W I C K ’ S , T H E C L A R I D G E SFrom September 12 to September 28

special 08HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

In spite of the opinions of certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up thehuman race upon this globe, as within somemagic circle it must never outstep, we shallone day travel to the moon, the planets, andthe stars, with the same facility, rapidity,and certainty as we now make the voyagefrom Liverpool to New York!

— Jules Verne

The `978-crore Chandrayaan-2mission, India’s first attempt toland on the Moon’s South Poleon September 6, 2019 accom-plished 90-95 per cent of the

mission objectives even though Vikramdid a hard landing and is yet to establishcontact with base station despite beingspotted by the Orbiter.

In a statement, the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO) said: “Thesuccess criteria was defined for each andevery phase of the mission, and till date,90 to 95 per cent of the objectives havebeen accomplished and will continue tocontribute to lunar science, notwith-standing the loss of communication withthe Lander.”

The Chandrayaan-2 mission washighly complex, which represented a sig-nificant technological leap compared toits previous missions. The missionbrought together an Orbiter, Lander andRover to explore the unexplored SouthPole of the Moon. Since the launch ofChandrayaan-2 on July 22, 2019, not onlyIndia but the whole world watched itsprogress from one phase to the next withgreat expectations.

India embarked on an inter-planetarymission in 2008 with its first Moonoperation Chandrayaan. The `386-croremission laid the foundation for India’sMars Orbiter Mission in terms of tech-nologies as well as the infrastructure forfuture deep space missions. TheChandrayaan-1 conclusively discoveredtraces of water on the Moon. It also dis-covered water ice in the North Polarregion of the Moon. It also detected mag-nesium, aluminium and silicon on thelunar surface.

India’s second Moon mission made itthe fourth nation, after the US, Russia andChina, to have achieved this feat. WhileIndia is the only nation to come closestto a successful landing on the South Poleof the Moon, probes to the satellite havehad a lot of precedence. The US hastouched the other side of the Moon 28times, Russia 21 times, China six andJapan and Europe one each. Israel’s onlyattempt has been a failure.

Interestingly, the partial failure ofChandrayaan-2 and the Mars missionsdoesn’t have an immediate impact on thecurrent satellite programmes of ISRO.Chandrayaan-1’s mission was to onlyestablish the technology to reach the lunarorbit. The Mars Mission was a little more

complex — it was to establish if that routecould be used to reach the planet.

“On the way to Mars or any otherplanet, there are several hazards like grav-itational pull, radiation and situations.Then there are meeting points of twoplanets which make it easy to transferfrom one orbit to another. For Mars mis-sion, calculations had to be made muchin advance when to leave the Earth tomeet that meeting point which is once ayear. These are experiments which we aredoing to establish technology and route.Chandrayaan-1 was with PSLV rocket.Chandrayaan-2 was with GSLV-III.Chandrayaan went with PSLV because thecryogenic programme was pushed backby 10-12 years. That mission could notcarry lander, orbiter or rover. We justdropped a payload— a suggestion thatcame from former Late President APJKalam,” Nambi Narayanan, an Indian sci-entist and aerospace engineer and PadmaBhushan award winner, says.

With this backdrop, India has over theyears achieved many things, many thatwere outlined by Prof Dhawan back in thelate 70s, like a four ton satellite, we wantto do remote sensing, telecommunicationand oceanography.

“We were very clear with what wewanted with satellites. This has beenachieved over a period of 30 years. Withrespect to deep space operations, we havenot defined the goal well. If we had askedwhat after Chandrayaan, nobody wouldhave said Chandrayaan-2. Today, if youask what next, somebody may suggestChandrayaan-3.

“But there is no need for this. Whatwould be the goal of Chandrayaan-3? Atbest, to rectify the problem of 2. If recti-fied, so what? No one has the answer tothis. Now, Gaganyaan has beenannounced — to sent an astronaut intospace for three-four days but not to a plan-et. This is expected to take in 2022. Anastronaut to land on Earth doesn’t needa soft landing, he can parachute. Thismeans we don’t need to perfect soft land-ing for the next three-four years,”Narayanan tells you.

The prudent question to ask iswhether India is going to have deep spaceprogramme beyond Gaganyaan.Narayanan says that the answer should be‘yes’.

What we should do is to land on theMoon, then Mars and so forth. This willput us at par with the US and China,countries that are making an attempt togo to the Moon and beyond. “Of course,India may not want to do these things.Many countries like France and Italy arenot interested. If this is the stand whyGaganyaan? There is no need for it. Wehave yet to define our goals with respectto space. With the way things are going,we are going to go for soft landing to theMars and the Moon. In this case, we need

to perfect soft landing skills in a phasedmanner. This will require a bigger boost-er on the lines of China and the US, likethe Chang 4-5 or the 180 or the Falcon,respectively. This can be done in the nextthree years,” Narayanan shares andexplains the difference between soft land-ing and crash landing by giving an exam-ple.

Let’s take landing done an aircraft.When it lands smoothly, like it normallydoes, it is called soft landing. However,when the aircraft develops a problem andcan’t land the way it should, it is calledcrash landing. The same holds trueLander Vikram. The advantage of softlanding is that the instruments are intact.In a hard landing, the instruments mayget damaged inside, even if one the out-side it may look intact.

Narayanan tells you that this talk ofIndia begin the fourth country to go to theMoon, needs to stop. “We are not only atpar with the US and China but can beequal or even better than them. The onlyquestion is whether we are willing to bear

the cost,” he says.Does this mean that science is only

about experimentation and not result?“Science is about experimentation andresult. This result may not necessarily besuccessful. For example, we want to con-duct an experiment on whether a partic-ular thing exists. If we find it does, we cansay that the experiment is successful. TakeChandrayaan-2 experiment to soft land.This experiment would have only comein use after seven-10 years. Now, we firstneed to complete Gaganyaan. Only thenwe should attempt soft landing on theMoon. Not that the time frame is a causeof worry and hurry for Chandrayaan-3,”Narayanan explains and tells you that thenumber of failures or successes should not

be a roadblock.“China has now gone to a part of the

Moon that has not been sunlit for billionsof years; this is the dark side of the Moon.They reported that they saw a jelly likesubstance. What that means, only timeand future missions to that area will reveal.Take the US who have had 50 per centsuccess as has Russia. This is not a goodnumber. Israelis failed in their lone mis-sion. India was successful in its MarsMission in its first attempt. China failedin its first attempt. Therefore, a failure isnot a justification to say that it should notand couldn’t happen. Obviously, somemistake has been made during landing,”Narayanan says.

Where should India go from here?What should be the next step? Is it goingto be Chandrayaan 3? According toNarayanan, there is no need for it.

“We have established how to go to theMoon. While we may have not been suc-cessful in the soft landing part, there isnothing to worry about. We can rectify itwith the next mission.

“From here on, we should form anAsian space agency (ASA) in line with theEuropean Space Agency (ESA). If youlook at the Asian countries, there isIndonesia, Thailand, Middle-East andeven China and Japan. There are around23 countries that come together to forma consortium and make a contributoryfund. Here, India should take the lead. Thesecond is that the space requirement of theother countries can be met and one cangenerate business.

“Third, it will help place the satellitesin strategic positions. For example, if weneed an air station, say over Dubai, thenthere won’t be a problem if Dubai is a partof the consortium. Also, there is news thatUS President Donald Trump is talkingabout how the route to the Moon shouldbe regulated. It is not clear what that willentail.

“The ASA will help bring the coun-tries together which can ease border prob-lems as well. This should finally lead tobringing together of the ASA, ESA andNASA to tackle space issues. India can’tdo it alone. For that matter, nor can theUS,” Narayanan stresses.

He tells you there is need to definelong-term goals for the country’s spaceprogramme and have a vision for thefuture.

“I had posed a similar question to ProfUR Rao and Prof Satish Dhawan, (formerISRO chairmen). They had a wait andwatch policy. ‘We will look at it once wereach that stage’, they had told me. Whatthey referring to were funding con-straints. They knew they couldn’t haveasked for more funds. Back then, nobodywould have cared even if we had long-term goals for the outer space pro-grammes. Today, we are somebody,”Narayanan opines.

M A S T E R M I N D S B E H I N D L U N A R P R O B E

Although Prime MinsterNarendra Modi and all ofIndia hailed the

Chandrayaan-2 mission as success-ful, for professors and doctoral stu-dents from Sona College ofTechnology, Salem, Tamil Nadu,Vikram’s hard landing was a deeplydisappointing moment.

They had a crucial role to playin Chandrayaan-2’s attempt to landon the Moon as the college’s SpecialElectrical and Electronics DrivesDivision (SPEED) had suppliedthree products for the mission.These were, the fuel mixer motorsthat mix liquid oxygen with fuel, thedoppler mechanism for Vikrammodule to guide the laser to ensuresmooth landing on the moon andthe robotic arm to enable the Vikramto collect sand and rock samplesfrom the Moon.

This is not the first time that thecollege has supplied the componentsto the ISRO.

They have been working with itfor seven years.The R&D efforts ofthe SPEED division have led to theinstitute supplying ISRO with specialpurpose BLDC (Brushless DC)motors for satellites and rockets aswell as lunar robots for many earli-er missions.

“It was a momentous day forIndia as ISRO’s scientists got us sonear the Moon throughChandrayaan-2. Our researchers,professors and doctoral studentsshould not be disappointed. TheMoon landing would have been theicing on the cake, but the Orbiter isworking fine with eight payloads andwe do have the cake. These effortswill go a long way in India’s quest tounravel what is on the Moon,” saysChocko Valliappa, VC, Sona Collegeof Technology.

He adds that the parts wereimported earlier, but SPEED sup-plied them at a much lower price ascompared to the cost of importedcomponents. This is not all. The col-lege will continue to design anddevelop parts like stepper motorsand gyroscopes for ISRO.

“We are also supplying radiationpatches to protect the satellites bycoating them with Quantum well-based photo detector epitaxial struc-ture for ISRO,” he tells you.

From a farmer’s son to now IndianSpace Research Organisation(ISRO) chairman, the 62-year-old

scientist, Kailasavadivoo Sivan, is aninspiration for many. It took thelaunch of Chandrayaan-2 for Sivan’sstory to fly high.

Born in Mela Sarakkalvilai, nearNagercoil in Kanyakumari district ofTamil Nadu, Sivan graduated fromMadras Institute of Technology (MIT)in 1980. He then pursued aerospaceengineering from Indian Institute of

Science, Bengaluru, in 1982 andjoined ISRO soon after. He used towork on the design and developmentof launch vehicles.

Sivan is the first person to havegraduated in his family. Having bornto a poor farmer, Sivan had to gothrough a lot of financial crunch. Hedidn’t even have money to buysandals and pants till he went tocollege.

According to reports his fatherhad to sell about a quarter of an acre

of land to send Sivan to MIT.He is a perfectionist who expects

his team members to give their 100per cent. He believes in leading ahumble life and prefers to wearsimple clothes, white being hisfavourite colour.

His work is well-recognised andhe has several accolodates to hisname: Shri Hari Om Ashram Prerit DrVikram Sarabhai Research Award(1999) and ISRO Merit Award (2007),to name a few.

CHANDRAYAAN 22’sCAMPUS CCONNECT

There is an adage: Behind everysuccessful man there is a woman. Thisholds true when it comes to the

success of Chandrayaan-2, but with aslight modification in the saying: Behindevery successful mission there is awoman. Hard to believe? May be not afterif one has seen the movie MissionMangal.

Meet, Lucknow-based Ritu KaridhalSrivastava, the mission director ofChandrayan-2. The house in Rajajipuram,where Srivastava lived, is suddenly the

centre of attraction and has acquiredcelebrity status almost overnight.

The phone line is continuouslyengaged and after considerable effort,Ritu's sister Varsha agreed to speak.

“We are so proud of our sister. Afterour parents' demise, she is the eldest inthe family and has been a mother figure tome and my brother Rohit,” she said.

Varsha recalls that Ritu was alwaysfond of the stars. “My mother would stayawake all night with didi (Ritu) when shestudied. Didi was always fond of stars and

would lie awake staring at the sky. Didi wascurious to know what lay beyond the sky.We belong to a middle class family but Didialways yearned to go beyond the limits,”she recalled.

In 1997, Ritu received a letter invitingher to join the ISRO office in Bengaluru.The decision was tough but her parentsallowed her to go and pursue her dreams.

Ritu's husband, Avinash, and her twochildren Aditya and Anisha, are her biggestsupporters in her starry mission.

—IANSK Sivan, Chairman, ISRO

WISHINGFORTHEMOON

WISHINGFORTHEMOON

W H Y S O U T H P O L E ?

Had India succeeded in itsmission for a solft land on

the South Pole of the Moon, itwould have created history —no other country in the worldhas ever landed on this side ofthe Earth’s satellite. There are a few reasons why wechose South Pole:nThis part of the Moon has remained untouched bysunlight for billions of years. Its craters have beenuntouched by sunlight for billions of years offeringan undisturbed record of the solar system's origins n It is speculated that this side may hold milliontons of waternLunar South Pole's regolith has traces ofhydrogen, ammonia, methane, sodium, mercury,and silver, making it an untapped source of essentialresources.

T H E O R B I T E R

At the time of launch, theChandrayaan-2 Orbiter wascapable of communicating with

Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) atByalalu as well as the Vikram Lander. Themission life of the Orbiter is seven years and it willbe placed in a 100 x100 km lunar polar orbit.

The Orbiter camera is the highest resolution cam-era (0.3m) in any lunar mission so far and shall pro-vide high resolution images which will be immenselyuseful to the global scientific community.

The Orbiter that weighs 2,379 kg will revolvearound the Moon and provide information about itsevolution, topography, minerology, elementalabundance, lunar exosphere and signatures ofhydroxyl and water-ice.

The Lander of Chandrayaan 2 isnamed Vikram after Dr Vikram A

Sarabhai, the Father of the IndianSpace Programme. It is designed tofunction for one lunar day, which is equivalent toabout 14 Earth days. The Vikram has the capabilityto communicate with IDSN at Byalalu nearBengaluru, as well as with the Orbiter and Rover.The Lander, which weighs 1,471 kg, was designedto execute a soft landing on the lunar surface. Ithard landed on September 6, 2019. Even though ithas been spotted by the Orbiter, there has been nocommunication with it for the last eight days.

V I K R A M — L A N D E R

Chandrayaan 2's Rover is asix-wheeled robotic vehicle

named Pragyan, whichtranslates to wisdom inSanskrit. It can travel up to 500metres and leverages solarenergy for its functioning. It can onlycommunicate with the Lander. It weighs 27 kg.

Its mission was to sent back the measurementsof moonquakes. It would also send moreinformation about the history of the ancient rockspresent on the Moon’s surface.

Courtesy: Indian Space Research Organisation

P R A G YA N — R O V E R L O A D E D

T I M E L I N El Former Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh approvedthe Chandrayaan-2, lunarmission: September 18,2008. Planning of the missionin process

l Chandrayaan-2 launch: July22, 2019 —

l Moon landing: September 7,2019

l Orbital experiment which willbe operational for seven years

MUSBA HASHMI touchesbase with college whichsupplied parts for Vikram

NAMBI NARAYANAN speaks withSHALINI SAKSENA what theChandrayaan-2 mission means for thenation’s space programme and thatthe next step should be formation ofan Asian space agency with India atthe helm

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dailypioneer

I have co-authored and supervised theproduction of the coffee table book calledJourney of Hyderabad city police, which wasreleased by honourable chief minister KCR.Apart from that, I have also written manyarticles published in various police journalsand magazines

SundaySeptember 15, 2019

orn on January 28, 1966,Kumar did his schooling fromSt Xavier’s in Patna. It has pro-duced around 50 top gradecivil servants. He then com-pleted his degree in History at

the University of Delhi, where during hisMasters he appeared for Civils in 1990 andcracked the challenging Indian PoliceService (IPS) exam in the first attempt.

In a career spanning 29 years, Kumarhas served in crucial positions, rangingfrom being deputed by the Governmentof India while working in the Departmentof Atomic Energy (DAE) and being inte-gral to the International police task forcein war-ravaged Bosnia to finally comingto Telangana (erstwhile Andhra Pradesh).He has learnt Telugu over the years andis fluent in the language now.

Taking-off from Jangaon…I started my career in the State as an

Assistant Superintendent of Police inJangaon in 1991-92. It was a critical time,particularly on the law and order front asthe State was in the grip of Naxalism.However, a well-coordinated effort fromall agencies led to its gradual decline. I waslater promoted as chief of Counter-Intelligence cell before being made thechief of Greyhounds and Deputy IGP forNizamabad. Later, I was elevated to IGPin Warangal followed by additionalDirector General of Police (Law andOrder), Telangana before I finally assumedthe mantle of Police Commissioner ofHyderabad in March.

An outdoorsy kid…I played basketball at the national

level during my schooling and was amember of cricket and football teams. Iwon a gold medal in an inter-college quizcompetition in New Delhi. Post my selec-tion as an IPS officer in 1990, I went toLal Bahadur Shastri National Academy ofAdministration (LBSNAA) in Mussooriefor a foundation course, where I won agold medal in shooting. Subsequently, Ijoined Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel NPA(National Police Academy) in Hyderabad,where I won the Maharaja of Tonk Cupfor ‘Best Horse Rider’ of the batch and theRD Singh Cup for being the best swim-mer.

A book lover and writerApart from a passion for writing, I like

to spend my free time reading. I have co-authored and coordinated production of

the well received coffee table book‘Journey of Hyderabad City Police’, whichwas released by Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao. Apart from that, Ihave also written many articles for sever-al police journals and magazines. In fact,I have a 350-page draft of a book detail-ing my experiences on the job. I am eagerto publish it. It will make for an interest-ing read as it is laced with several on-the-job anecdotes and true stories about whathappens inside the police department. Myown gut feeling is that it will be a goodfoundation for movie scripts that revolvearound police officials.

Love ChallengesAn innate urge to brave challenges is

what inspired me to join the police forceat a relatively young age. Most of my hob-bies featured outdoor activities. Alas, sincebecoming a Police Commissioner, andwith my penchant toput in 16-17 hoursof each day forwork, I hardly gettime to evenmeet my family.Earlier, I active-

ly pursued tennis, badminton and swim-ming. I used to even watch movies. Thelast movie I watched in a theatre wasDookudu. Yes, my life has been profes-sionally satisfying. I have no grudgesagainst the department and have enjoyedevery bit of my job. The challenges arethrilling and that spurs me on to the extentthat I await newer challenges.

Family meets only duringfestivals…

I come from an agricultural family inPatna and my parents are proud of meand my elder brother, Awani Kumar,who is in the Indian Forest Service (IFS).I got married to Vasundhara in 1991. Itwas an arranged marriage. She was in theIndian Revenue Service (IRS) then andis currently serving as Commissioner ofIncome Tax department in New Delhi.She visits me and our sons, Ayushman

and Arish, who are pursu-ing engineering, duringfestivals. My wife has beenvery supportive as mybiggest source of encour-agement.

The shortest boy inclass…

I was the shortest in myclass during the first stan-dard. An interesting inci-dent happened when ourschool invited Sir EdmundPercival Hillary as a chief guest fora programme. I was selected to garlandhim on stage and the affable mountaineer,who was all of six feet and six inches, bentdown gracefully so that I could garlandhim.Later, when I was in Class VII, Ireceived a handwritten letter from formerPrime Minister Morarji Desai for one ofmy writings. It remains a cherished per-sonal possession.

I also had a conversation with the thenPresident of the United States, GeorgeBush, during my service in the US andspoke to him about work and life.

Sports inspired me a lot…Several people have inspired me at var-

ious stages of my life. In school days, Iwas in awe of incredible sportspersonswhile during my college years, it wasextraordinar y personalit ies l ikeMahatma Gandhi, Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel, Subhas Chandra Bose and SwamiVivekananda. I loved reading theirworks and contributions to the country,which inspired me to join the police forceand serve the nation.

Missing kids’ birthdays…My present role is such that I invari-

ably have lunch and even dinner inoffice. My sons, being born in a familyof government officers, are aware thattheir parents would sometimes not beavailable for birthdays and family gath-erings. I have missed several birthdaycelebrations of my children. I would loveto publish my book and let the worldknow about the other side of a policeofficer’s life.

B

Rapid fire:n MOST PROUD OF - My country; I am proud to

be an Indiann BEST ADVICE TO GIVE - There is no shortcut to

hard workn BIGGEST STRENGTH - Belief in oneselfn WEAPON OF CHOICE - Glockn HOBBIES - Swimming and horse ridingn FAVOURITE COLOUR - Khakin WHAT SCARES ME MOST - I do not fear anythingn THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME -

Straightforward, hardworking, loyaln THE NUMBER OF COUNTIES TRAVELLED SO FAR

- Not many…n FAVOURITE SUPERHERO - Muhammad Alin ADMIRE THE MOST - Lord Krishnan THE LAST MOVIE WATCHED - Baahubali,

on Television n BIGGEST ADDICTION - My workn FAVOURITE INDIAN PRESIDENTS –APJ Abdul

Kalam, Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnann ADVICE TO POLICE ASPIRANTS AND

SUBORDINATES - Be sincere and diligentn FAVOURITE DISH(ES) – Hyderabadi biryani

and dosan WORKOUT PREFERENCE – Swimming, as it is

an overall workout for the bodyn WHAT MATTERS THE MOST, EXPERIENCE OR

CERTIFICATE - Experiencen WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH ALOUD - Charlie

Chaplin moviesn A BIG FAN OF - Muhammad Ali, Sunil

Gavaskar and Vivian Richardsn MOST CHERISHED YEARS - Apart from my

professional life, I enjoyed my days in Universityin Delhi

n FAVOURITE ANIMALS - Horses and dogsn FAVOURITE AUTHORS/BOOKS – William

Shakespeare and Ramcharitmanas by (Goswami)Tulsidas

Anjani Kumar with wife Vasundhara and their two pet dogs — Gabbar and Samba

The official speaking to cricketers MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina

When Anjani Kumar met Ivanka Trump

A TOUGH COP WITH A

TENDER HEARTThe very mention of Anjani Kumar could

possibly conjure images of a tough, no-

nonsense cop, whose handling of crime and

civic issues, especially in Hyderabad’s Old

City, has been marveled at. Yet, behind this

façade, lies a tender heart that beats for

animals and sports. In a freewheeling

conversation with NAVEEN KUMAR, the

Police Commissioner of Hyderabad opens

up about his childhood, his love for sports,

getting little time for family and to sustain his

passion for literature

Anjani Kumar (centre) along with his two sons — Ayushman and Arish — (beside the officer) and nephews

Lovefor dogs and

horses…I have always loved dogs and horses. So

far, we have had eight dogs as pets in ourfamily. At present, I have two, a

Newfoundland and Great Dane, namedGabbar and Samba. Horse riding is

nearly a stress-buster. I used to ride atleast twice a week before my current

posting. This has been a hobbyever since my days in the

Academy.

CAPSULE

ED raids income taxofficer, books himfor money NEW DELHI: The EnforcementDirectorate said on Saturdaythat it has raided multiplelocations linked to IRS officerNeeraj Singh, a commissionerin the income tax department,in connection with a moneylaundering case associated toan alleged disproportionateassets case. Singh was lastposted in Chennai and hasearlier worked in theinvestigation wing of the I-Tdepartment in Kolkata. Thefederal probe agency said itraided six locations, two eachin Kolkata, Mumbai and Patna,after it booked Singh underthe Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).The ED filed its criminal caseagainst the Indian RevenueService (IRS) officer based ona Kolkata Police FIR "foraccumulation of huge wealthin the name of his associatesby giving undue favours bymisusing his official position".

Vistara to start dailyflight on Delhi-Indore route NEW DELHI: Vistara airline onSaturday announced it will starta daily flight on Delhi-Indoreroute from October 26. Withthis, Indore becomes 30thdestination on its network.According to Vistara, the flightwill depart from Delhi airport at6.55 am daily and arrive atIndore airport at 8.20 am. Thereturn flight will leave Indore at8.55 am and arrive at Delhiairport at 10.25 am daily.Vinod Kannan, the chiefstrategy officer, Vistara, said, "Akey manufacturing centre that'snow also emerging as a majorSME hub, Indore has seen asignificant spike in demand forgreater air connectivity to therest of the country." The airlineconnects 30 destinations,including three international, andoperates over 1,200 flights perweek using 32 aircraft in its fleet.

GST: Aadhaarverification to bemandatory BENGALURU: In order tocheck malpractices in GST, theGST Network on Saturdaydecided to make Aadhaarauthentication or physicalverification mandatory for newdealers from January 2020."Aadhaar authentication of newdealers will be mandatory.Earlier it was optional. But wehave noticed in two years thatthere's good number of fly-by-night operators. They makefake invoices," Bihar deputychief minister Sushil KumarModi, who heads the group ofministers of GST Network toldreporters after a meeting here.Those who don't wantAadhaar authentication,physical verification will becarried out, which will becompleted in three days, headded. As refunding is a bigissue, the GSTN decided oncomplete online refundingfrom September 24 this yearfrom a single source, either bythe Central GST or State GST,Modi said.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 money 10

PNS n NEW DELHI

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh on Saturdaysaid the government shouldhave taken chief ministers'views before changing theterms of reference of the 15thFinance Commission, addingthat unilateralism is not goodfor federal policy and cooper-ative federalism.

Earlier in July, the Centrechanged the terms of referenceof the 15th FinanceCommission and mandatedthe panel to suggest ways forallocation of non-lapsablefunds for defence and internalsecurity.

Speaking at an event here,Singh said any change in thepanel's terms of reference at thefag-end of its term shouldhave been done in consultationwith the states.

"The best course would havebeen for the Central govern-ment that if it wants to tailorthe terms of reference, itshould be backed by ChiefMinisters' Conference, whichis now under the auspices ofNITI Aayog, otherwise therewould be strong feeling thatthe (Central) government istrying to rob the states of due

resource allotment."I think that it is not good

for the federal polity of ourcountry and cooperative fed-eralism we all swear by thesedays," Singh said whileaddressing the 'NationalSeminar on Additional Termsof Reference of the 15thFinance Commission:Implication for the States'.

"The commission's reportgoes to the finance ministryand then it goes to the Cabinetand therefore government ofthe day can take a view thatwhatever the mandate of theParliament, the governmentwould abide by that rather thanimposing its view unilaterallyon the reluctant state com-missions," he added.

The government onNovember 27, 2017 notified

the 15th Finance Commission,headed by N K Singh, to sug-gest the formula for devolutionof funds to states by the Centrefor five years commencingApril 1, 2020, among otherissues.

The commission, which hasbeen mandated to use 2011census data rather than the oneof 1971 for resource allocation,was to submit its report byOctober 30, 2019. The dead-line was later extended tillNovember 30, 2019.

"I respectfully request tothe authorities to still takethis view that they will go bythe advice of the ChiefMinisters if there is new con-troversy with regard to addi-tional terms of reference of thecommission," the seniorCongress leader said.

PNS n SINGAPORE

Singapore's iconic tourism des-tination Marina Bay Sands'will add a new 'fourth tower',adjacent to the existing threetowers, at an approximate USD3.3 billion investment, in its bidto attract more internationalvisitors.

“We are currently planningan all-suite hotel which willoffer the highest level of ameni-ties, features and service stan-dards. It will target the high-value international visitors,”said George Tanasijevich,President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Marina Bay Sands.

He said the expansion pro-ject is going to give greatopportunity to make Marina

Bay Sands and Singapore a bet-ter tourism destination.

Located adjacent to the exist-ing Marina Bay SandsIntegrated Resort, the key ele-ments of the development will

be a state-of-the-art 15,000-seatarena and additional MICE(Meeting, Incentive,Convention, and Exhibition)space besides a luxury hoteltower.

Concert ticket prices inSingapore are among the high-est in the world and as aresult, the pool of potentialcustomers is suppressed,Tanasijevich said.

“An arena with 15,000 seatswill result in ticket prices beingin line with industry norms,and make the events moreaccessible to a larger number of

people. This, in turn, will leadto an increase in the number ofmusic events in Singapore,”he told PTI.

The new arena is also suit-able for MICE groups to hostbig plenary sessions and largeconference groups who need tosit up to 15,000 persons in onesession, the CEO said, explain-ing the project.

Singapore's Marina Bay Sands' to add 4th tower

PNS n NEW DELHI

Reliance Infrastructure onFriday pledged 1.5 crore addi-tional shares in ReliancePower. According to a regu-latory filing by the company,the reason for encumber-ance was "invocation ofpledge against non-convert-ible debentures (NCDs)issued by RelianceInfrastructure Ltd". The filingshowed that the fresh pledgewas done on September 9 infavour of lDBI TrusteeshipServices Services LimitedLender/Debenture holderDeutsche Bank.

PNS n BEIJING

, China will lift punitive tariffsimposed on US soybeans andpork in a trade war withWashington, a state newsagency said Friday, adding toconciliatory gestures by thetwo sides ahead of negotia-tions.

China will suspend tariffhikes on soybeans, pork andsome other farm goods, theXinhua News Agency said, cit-ing the Cabinet planningagency and the CommerceMinistry.

Beijing "supports domesticcompanies in purchasing acertain amount of US farmproduce," it said, but it gave nodetails.

The move follows PresidentDonald Trump's decisionWednesday to postpone aplanned Oct. 1 tariff hike onChinese imports to October15.

Hopes are growing that thetwo sides might defuse theprolonged dispute that isthreatening global economicgrowth.

But there has been no signof progress on the main issuesin their sprawling conflictover trade and technology.

Beijing's decision to restoreaccess to low-cost US soybeansalso would help Chinese pig

farmers who use soy as animalfeed.

They are reeling from anepidemic of African swinefever that has caused porkprices to soar.

Phone calls to the com-merce and finance ministriesweren't answered on Friday, anational holiday in China.

"China has a huge market,and the prospects for import-ing high-quality U.S. farmproduce are broad," Xinhuasaid.

PNS n RIYADH

Drone attacks sparked fires attwo Saudi Aramco oil facilitieson Saturday, the interior min-istry said, the latest such assaultclaimed by Yemeni rebels as theenergy giant prepares for amuch-anticipated stock list-ing.

Huge palls of smoke roseinto the sky after the pre-dawnattacks on Abqaiq and Khurais,two major Aramco facilities ineastern Saudi Arabia, whichfollow a spike in regional ten-sions with Iran.

The attacks highlight howthe increasingly advancedweaponry of the Iran-linked

Huthi rebels -- from ballisticmissiles to unmanned drones -- poses a serious threat to oilinstallations in Saudi Arabia,the world's top crude exporter.

"At 4:00 am (0100 GMT) theindustrial security teams ofAramco started dealing withfires at two of its facilities inAbqaiq and Khurais as a resultof... drones," the interior min-istry said in a statement carriedby the official Saudi PressAgency.

"The two fires have beencontrolled."

The statement added that aninvestigation had beenlaunched after the attack in thekingdom's Eastern Province,

but did not specify the sourceof the drones.

It also did not say if there

were any casualties or whetheroperations at the two facilitieshad been affected.

The full extent of the dam-age was not immediately clearas reporters were not allowednear the plants where Saudiauthorities appeared to havebeefed up security.

In recent months, the Huthirebels have carried out a spateof cross-border missile anddrone attacks targeting Saudiair bases and other facilities inwhat they say is retaliation for

a long-running Saudi-ledbombing campaign on rebel-held areas in Yemen.

The rebels launched "a large-scale operation involving 10drones that targeted refineriesin Abqaiq and Khurais in east-ern Saudi Arabia", the group'sAl-Masirah television reported.

Last month, an attackclaimed by Yemen's Huthirebels sparked a fire at

Aramco's Shaybah natural gasliquefaction facility -- close tothe Emirati border -- but nocasualties were reported bythe company.

Rebel drones also targetedtwo oil pumping stations onSaudi Arabia's key east-westpipeline in May, shutting itdown for several days.

The growing attacks under-score how Saudi infrastructure,including oil installations, areincreasingly vulnerable to rebelattacks four years after a Saudi-led coalition launched a mili-tary intervention in Yemen.

The Abqaiq facility, 60 kilo-metres (37 miles) southwest ofAramco's Dhahran headquar-

ters, is home to the company'slargest oil processing plant. Ithas been targeted by militantsin the past.

In an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda in February 2006, sui-cide bombers with explosive-laden vehicles attempted topenetrate the processing plant,killing two security guards.

The two bombers also diedin the attack, which failed tobreach the compound, author-ities reported at the time.

In 2014, a Saudi court sen-tenced a man to death forlinks to the 2006 attack. Twoother Saudis were jailed for 33and 27 years respectively, statemedia reported.

Yemeni rebel drones spark fires at two Saudi Aramco oil facilitiesThe full extent of the damage was notimmediately clear as reporters werenot allowed near the plants whereSaudi authorities appeared to havebeefed up security

Located adjacent to the existing MarinaBay Sands Integrated Resort, the keyelements of the development will be astate-of-the-art 15,000-seat arena andadditional MICE (Meeting, Incentive,Convention, and Exhibition) spacebesides a luxury hotel tower

Govt announces Rs 50,000 cr export incentive PNS n NEW DELHI

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Saturdayannounced a new scheme --Remission of Duties or Taxeson Export Product(RoDTEP) -- to incentiviseexporters at an estimated

cost of Rs 50,000 crore to theexchequer.

The announcement comesin the backdrop of India'smerchandise exports declin-ing by 6.05 per cent to USD26.13 billion in August com-pared to the year-ago month.

The minister also said

there will be a fully automat-ed electronic refund route forinput tax credits (ITC) inGST. This will be imple-mented by the month-end.

The move, she added, isaimed at quick and auto-mated refunds of ITC.

She said RoDTEP will

replace the existing incentiveschemes and "will more thanadequately incentiviseexporters than the existingschemes put together".

The minister said the rev-enue foregone towards thescheme is projected at Rs50,000 crore.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Saturday saidthere are clear signs of revival ofindustrial production and fixedinvestment after economicgrowth plunged to a six-year low.

At a press conference calledto announce the third part ofthe stimulus package for theeconomy, she said measuresare being taken to improvecredit outflow from banks.

Also, transmission of inter-est rate cuts is being effectedby banks, she said, adding shewill meet heads of public sec-tor lenders on September 19to review the transmission.

The Reserve Bank of India

has since February cut thebenchmark interest rate by110 basis points but bankshave lagged in transmittingthe lower rates to borrowers.

The government has beenpressing banks to link bor-rowing rates to an externalbenchmark to speed up thetransmission of rate cuts.

India's GDP growthdecreased for the fifth consec-utive quarter in April-June 2019

to 5 per cent, the lowest in sixyears. This was on the back offaltering domestic demand, withboth private consumption andinvestment proving lackluster.

The government's previ-ous policy measures to stim-ulate the economy includedsupport for the automobilesector, a reduction in capi-tal gains tax, and addition-al liquidity support forshadow banks.

‘Inflationundercontrol’PNS n NEW DELHI

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Saturday saidinflation is under controland there is a clear sign ofrevival of industrial produc-tion. The minister said infla-tion has been kept "verymuch" below 4 per cent.

The government has man-dated the Reserve Bank ofIndia to keep the retail inflationin the band of 2-6 per cent. Thelatest inflation print based onConsumer Price Index was3.21 per cent in August.

Sitharaman further saidthat inspite of all worries onindustrial production front inthe fourth quarter of 2018-19,"we see clear signs" ofimprovement up to July 2019.

The minister further saidthe steps announced toincrease credit f low toNBFCs, including the par-t ia l credit guaranteescheme, has started show-ing results.

"Several NBFCs have ben-efited," the minister said.

Sitharaman also informedthat she will be meetingheads of public sector bankson September 19, a daybefore the GST Councilmeeting in Goa, to access thecredit flow scenario to theeconomy.

PNS n LONDON

The British prime ministerwho called the Brexit referen-dum and then saw the publicvote to leave the EuropeanUnion says he is sorry for thedivisions it has caused.

David Cameron said in aninterview published Saturdaythat he thinks about the con-sequences of the Brexit refer-endum "every single day" andworries "desperately" aboutwhat will happen next.

"I deeply regret the outcomeand accept that my approachfailed," he said. "The decisionsI took contributed to that fail-ure. I failed." He admittedthat many people blame himfor the Brexit divisions thathave deepened since the ref-erendum and will never for-give him, but he defended hisdecision to call the vote.

He spoke to The Timesnewspaper to promote hissoon-to-be-published mem-oir. Cameron, who had sup-ported remaining in the EU,resigned the morning after the2016 referendum. He hasstayed out of electoral politicssince then and largely kept outof the public eye.

His two successors — firstTheresa May and now PrimeMinister Boris Johnson —have wrestled with the Brexitissue and have thus far been

unable to win parliamentarybacking for an exit plan agreedwith EU leaders.

Johnson faces an Oct. 31deadline for leaving the EUand has been instructed byParliament to seek an exten-sion, which he says he will notdo despite concerns that leav-ing without a deal would causesevere economic problemsand possible food and medi-cine shortages.

David Cameron

Former PM Cameron‘sorry' for Brexit

Sacklers accused of movingfortune to Swiss banksPNS n NEW YORK

Investigators have found atleast one billion dollars in wiretransfers between the wealthySackler family, accused offuelling the United States's opi-oid crisis, and financial insti-tutions including Swiss bankaccounts, officials said Friday.

New York State AttorneyGeneral Letitia James, who isinvestigating the Sacklers and

their company PurduePharma, last month askedsome 30 financial institutionsthat had worked with the fam-ily to hand over documents

about their assets.While she has not received

all the information requested,James said in a statement:"Records from one financialinstitution alone have shownapproximately USD 1 billion inwire transfers between theSacklers, entities they controland different financial institu-tions, including those thathave funneled funds into Swissbank accounts.

RInfrapledges 1.5 crmore shares

Donald Trump

China to lift punitivetariffs on US

He spoke to TheTimes newspaperto promote hissoon-to-be-published memoir.Cameron, who hadsupportedremaining in theEU, resigned themorning after the2016 referendum

Hopes are growingthat the two sidesmight defuse theprolonged disputethat is threateningglobal economicgrowth

Finance Minister seesclear signs of revival I respectfully request

to the authorities tostill take this view that

they will go by the advice ofthe Chief Ministers if there isnew controversy with regardto additional terms ofreference of the commission

—MANMOHAN SINGHFormer Prime Minister

‘Obtain CMs' views beforechanging Finance panel’s ToR’

The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman addressing a press conference, in NewDelhi on Saturday. The Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur is also seen

Also, transmission of interest ratecuts is being effected by banks, shesaid, adding she will meet heads ofpublic sector lenders on September19 to review the transmission

sundaymagazineHyderabad, September 15, 2019

Heal self for a better world

I don’t know whether it’saudiences or filmmakerswho want characters tobe likable today, but Idon’t think actors are

afraid of their charactersbeing unlikable

— Dakota Fanning

The best way to inspire change inothers is by changing ourselves.

Meditate to relieve stress and heal

The driving spirit of the laws ofkarma is to put you through lessonsof life as would help you evolve

F R O M T H E I N S I D EWatch over your karma

What is waste? It is apoignant question thatis often answered thesame way in waste edu-cation workshops con-

ducted by the Bangalore-based socialbusiness, Bare Necessities (that promotesadoption of zero waste practices, circular

economy method-ology and sustain-ability to con-sumers and busi-nesses throughoutIndia and furtherabroad throughdesigning zero

waste products,running educa-

tional workshops and providing sustain-ability consulting) as ‘waste is plastic’,‘chip packets’, ‘chocolate wrappers’, ‘foodscraps’, ‘drink bottles’, ‘juice boxes’...

These are all correct answers andthere are many more of those fantasticresponses that are received from schoolchildren as young as five or six years towell educated adults with tertiary degreesand many other people between. Thefeedback is exceptionally specific, whichhas its benefits, yet, for our discussionhere, let’s look at it on a broader note —Waste, as we would all agree, is humani-ty’s excess.

Humanity is overproducing and overconsuming (or not consuming at all if wetake a look at landfills), research showsthat the “average person buys 60% moreitems of clothing than they did 15 yearsago”, and, “an estimated one-third of allfood produced — equivalent to 1.3 bil-lion tonnes worth around $1 trillion —ends up rotting in the bins of consumersand retailers, or spoiling due to poortransportation and harvesting practices”.These are two of several examples thatcould be used to illustrate this point.However, instead of finding more cases,let’s think about why these situationsoccur? It has been noted that within thetextile industry, within India, the onemajor reason why there is so much wasteis because of a lack of awareness andeducation about how fashion can fitwithin a circular economy. Textile indus-try is the third largest producer of wastein most Indian states behind plastic andpaper.

Notably too, research has shown thatthe current food system “exerts a consid-erable impact on the environment. It dri-ves deforestation and biodiversity loss,contributes to greenhouse gas emissionsand accounts for 70% of water with-drawals”. This is a problem that affectsevery individual on the planet no matterwhere one is standing, but has the poten-tial to disproportionately affect locationswith larger societal inequalities —“almost 2 billion people go hungry or

undernourished” across the globe. Thus,part of the reason why this is occurringis because of a lack of awareness. But,that is only a part of the problem.

For, if we were to look at similartypes of excess in other areas of life, suchas energy use (large cars, technologiessuch as smartphones) or in the areas oflifestyle and personal care products, weare forced to rethink if it is only aboutawareness. At an individual level, thefocus should be to divert waste fromlandfill by using innovative design thatfits within a circular economy.

A growing number of Sustainabilitybusinesses, such as Bare Necessities, aimto raise the level of awareness about theamount of excess that humanity is pro-ducing through their talks and work-shops while providing alternatives andbrainstorming ideas with consumers inorder to assess whether there is a needfor a product and then designing it for amarket that desires innovation thatreduces excess. These businesses target a

specific and growing market of consciousconsumers.

Within the Indian market, thegrowth in conscious consumers has beenled by leaders both individually and inbusiness. Sharing of facts and figures isone important way to raise awareness.For instance, not many are aware thatthere is “estimated as many as 8.3 billionplastic straws (that) pollute the world’sbeaches”. Or, that for dental care itemssuch as toothbrushes and toothpastetubes, “the package is not noticed duringpurchase, transport, and use of the prod-uct. In fact, it is not noticed until theminute the product is consumed and thepackage has fulfilled its function andturns into waste”. Similarly for soap,“though one wrapper of soap or one bot-tle of shampoo might not seem to matter,it can definitely make a difference whenmultiplied by over a billion people, wholive in India and who comprise one-sev-enth of the world’s population”.Individuals, businesses and groups, by

becoming more aware and implementingaction plans (through design, reductionin use of products and other areas) aresteadily able to do more to limit wasteand humanity’s excess.

This brings us to our next question— why is it such a struggle to change?There are a growing amount of factsabout these areas of excess that illustratethe detrimental effects of a linear lifecycle — the take, make, dispose systemthat sees many of our products resourcesbeing extracted from a limited resource(the planet) before being used and thendisposed back into the environment.

Research demonstrates that using acircular economy methodology, whichpromotes the use of products that do notend up in landfill — instead the productscan be reused in a variety of ways with-out harming the environment — is theonly sustainable option. The circulareconomy is hugely beneficial in ensuringthat humanity no longer produces andconsumes products with a take-make-dispose methodology, and thereby helpsto sustain both us and the environmentwe live in.

When you think about it on a day today basis, there are numerous systemsaround you that call for your attention —where you buy your food is one exampleand how often you wear your clothes isanother. All systems have set processesthat are, more or less, controlled bymajority stakeholders, who have thegreatest say of how a system functions, interms of production and consumption.This is not, however, doom and gloom,the thing to remember with systems isthat until there is enough consumerdemand, change often will not occur.Currently, slowly but surely, large compa-nies are becoming aware of the growingconsumer demand.

There is a growing focus on design-ing new solutions that must be valued by

all for long term reduction in the conta-mination of water, land and air — ourenvironment. Examples of this can beseen as far afield as Mexico where a com-pany is transforming avocado pits intodisposable bioplastic straws and cutlery,and in Indonesia where the root vegetablecassava is used to create biodegradablebags. By designing new products, alongwith minimising single use items, cor-rectly disposing of used products in cor-rect categories and limiting the amount ofnon-organic material, cleaning agents forexample, used on a day to day basis, cre-ating a zero waste environment for our allimportant planet can be achieved.

Consumer demand, and a willing-ness to accept responsibility as an indi-vidual, is at the heart of production andconsumption. Fortunately there is agrowing number of consumers, especial-ly in the larger urban centres of India,who are currently wanting change andalready taking responsibility. Businessestoo are making their stand, for instance,Bare Necessities provides sustainableoptions to toothbrushes, cosmetics,detergents, soap, and even the humbletote bag among other products. Theseare all simple ideas that matter.

What, then, is waste? The answersheard at the beginning of a talk or work-shop are largely those pointing to excess,yet, if we were to look at it in a differentlight, perhaps it is simply that it is aresource that we have yet to use, becauseeverything matters when taking positivesteps toward sustainability on a planetwith finite resources. Therefore, we mustendeavour to value every item, whetherthat is a piece of fruit, an item of clothingor any of the specific answers to thewaste question touched on at the outset,we need to take the responsibility rightdown to the most bare necessities.

The writer is a SustainabilityConsultant and Education Officer

T H E B A R E N E C E S S I T I E S

SIMPLE IDEAS THAT MATTERUsing a circular economy methodology, which promotes theuse of products that do not end up in landfill and can bereused in a variety of ways without harming the environment,is the only sustainable option. Small changes in your dailylife is all it would take to bring about that big change

CONSUMER DEMAND,AND A WILLINGNESS

TO ACCEPTRESPONSIBILITY AS

AN INDIVIDUAL, IS ATTHE HEART OF

PRODUCTION ANDCONSUMPTION.

FORTUNATELY THEREIS A GROWING

NUMBER OFCONSUMERS,

ESPECIALLY IN THELARGER URBAN

CENTRES OF INDIA,WHO ARE CURRENTLY

WANTING CHANGEAND ALREADY TAKING

RESPONSIBILITY

TIM DE RIDDER

FOR YOUR CLOSET: Pick ethical and slowfashion (Khadi, natural fibre, support localbusinesses); Support ‘hand me downs’/swapclothes; Donate unworn clothes; Mending isloving your clothes even more; Leave the shoebox at the store; Carry a reusable bag forshopping; Avoid compulsive buying

HOME CARE: Dry clothes on a line, instead ofa hanger; But detergent in bulk; Plan laundrydays to save energy; Bring in houseplants toclean air; Use alternative house cleaning toolssuch as, wooden brush for light scrubbing,metal scour for stains, compostable brush forhard to reach places, reusable cloth wipes formopping and cleaning, coconut husk fordishes; Use natural cleaning alternatives suchas: coconut soap for floor and sink, baking

soda for scrubbing jobs, vinegar for mildewand laundry rinsing agent GIFTING: Donate money to your friend’sfavourite charity; Opt for potted plants andhomemade treats in a jar for party giveaways;Buy local gifts that support local businesses;Give seeds or flower bouquets with no plasticattached; Get crafty, make handmade gifts;Wrap without plastic tape. Use newspaper,paper or cloth bag as alternative packaging;Gift an experience: go hiking, scuba diving,kayaking with friends and familyKITCHEN: Use a water-filter; Say no to plasticbottles; Steel/Copper vessels instead of non-stick; Use pressure cooker to half cookingtime; Buy package free food from farmer’smarket; Use steel boxes for storage; Buy localbread; Make compost out of kitchen waste

T I P S F O R A S U S T A I N A B L E L I F E

12 14

sundaymagazine

spirituality 12Hyderabad, September 15, 2019

KEEP YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND, BUT LETYOUR HEART SOAR AS HIGH AS IT WILL.

REFUSE TO BE AVERAGE OR TO SURRENDER TOTHE CHILL OF YOUR SPIRITUAL ENVIRONMENT

— ARTHUR HELPS

HIDDENSOULSPRAMOD PATHAK

Democracies thrive on economy and economy thriveson confidence of the people in the system. India hasfor long carried forward the legacy of the Raj when

the purpose of the then government was exploitation of thecolony and filling the coffers of the British Government atthe cost of India. The babudom that continued to hold thereins of governance after independence could not shake offits imperialist mind set and India went on to remain a coun-try of subjects rather than citizens. But there are limitationsto the rule by magistracy and collectorate and the signs aregradually showing. It is for this reason that in our TDS (TrustDeficient Society) driven economy business cycles hoverbetween frequent troughs and occasional peaks. In theprocess, the confidence of the market continues to remainshaky as a result of societal paranoia. To cope with the sit-uation the interventionist stimulations are tried time andagain to boost the economy. The tricky part is that it worksfor short durations and goes back to the original bearishstance sooner than later. What is to be understood is thatinternal stimulation is required to keep the system tickingand kicking on its own. The only way this can be done is byboosting the confidence of the market which comprises notonly the investors but also the consumers. In fact, it is theconsumers that stimulate both the market and the investors.More so in a market economy which draws sustenance froma myriad of factors. It is against this backdrop that the recentopinion of the Chief Economic Advisor has to be viewed.In order to rejuvenate the markets stimulus packages areannounced to bail out certain industries. But such steps areagainst the spirit of the market economy. Indian experiencewith the market economy is around three decades old, timeenough to realise that market economy is governed by mar-ket forces. Naturally, there are sectors that reach the declinephase. How far can state sponsored stimulation help.Slowdowns are market phenomena that depend significant-ly on consumer sentiments, rather than only investor per-ception. Using tax payers’ money to intervene every time thereare slowdowns in certain sectors is fraught with moral haz-ards. If some sectors are assumed too big to fail than ensur-ing that they don’t fail through interventions from the statetantamount to creating a situation where profits are privateand losses are of the society. Systemic incentives are betteroptions than fiscal stimuli. System needs to be strengthenedrather than some sections. The measures announcedrecently by the government may seem to be prudent. Butthere is need to examine whether the slowdown bogey is acareful design by some smart operators rather than purelymarket driven. Markets depend more on psychological ratherthan economic factors. In order to keep an economy tick-ing the morale of the industry must be boosted. But gov-ernment must not only appear to be industry friendly butalso prove consumer friendly. Policy consistency is what givesstability to the economy. Knee jerk responses do not go farenough. It is pertinent therefore to give that confidence tothe investors, consumers and financial institutions that thingswill not be allowed to drift.

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com

Before I get into this importantaspect of our lives, let us be clearabout what self-image is all about.

Defined as the opinion or idea that youhave of yourself, especially of yourappearance or abilities, self-image is verydifferent from self-respect, which is thefeeling of pride in yourself in terms ofwhat you do, or say, being correct andgood. Ego, which is defined as yoursense of your own value and impor-tance, is a lot closer to one’s self-image.

Image is the impression that a per-son gives to the public. These are of twotypes — naturally occurring (the resultof many years) and contrived. The lat-ter generally has a sinister motive.Those in the business of cheating thepublic contrive to give a false impres-sion of self. Fake babas come to themind in this connection. Then, there arepeople who run ponzi schemes.

Self-image begins to form fromchildhood itself. This process goes onthroughout one’s life. One tries toenhance it rather than correct it. Thereare many factors, which go into imagemaking and its evolution. Humanshave been blessed with intelligence.Mature intelligence or wisdom comesafter a very long time, sometimes manylives. Still, this fact does not prevent peo-ple from pretending to be highly intel-ligent. That explains why we make somany mistakes. A human is not aboveerring, but a false assessment of self-intelligence makes it worse.

Appearance of self has also a largebearing on how we perceive ourselves.Good looking people feel more confi-dent about themselves because theappearance is the first thing one noticesin a person. However, this factor is notabsolute. Other factors like abilities havea large bearing on how we assess ourpersonalities overall. Personal values,

sanskars and morals, are also veryimportant. They emit a feeling of supe-riority like no other. Our ambitions alsodecide how we assess ourselves. Personswith high ambitions think highly ofthemselves and try to project selves ina positive way. They are more focusedthan an average person. In short, howwe desire our future to be is very impor-tant in this connection.

Personal nature also determines theimage one will have of oneself. And ournature is the sum total of our habits. Forexample, continued success in life givesthe image of being a go-getter. Our pasthas a lot of bearing on how we will per-ceive ourselves or others will. After all,are we not a sum total of what we havebeen, the acts we have done earlier.

The society we live in also influ-ences how we assess ourselves, or liketo be. We wish to be one of it and some-what better. Health also plays a part.Healthy people are more likely to exudeconfidence. Circumstances and ageforce changes. In older age, one acceptsthat one is not so physically capable.

This fact brings out the necessity of cor-recting the self-image; we cannot beattached to any one version of it.Generally, the self-image is alwayssuperior to what we actually are. Thisputs a lot of pressure on one to rise tothat standard. Some will say that it is amotivating factor for self-improve-ment. Yes, it is true as long as the gapis manageable, otherwise it results instressful existence. It is very importantthat we have the right image of our-selves.

Trying to stick to some image is notwise, because the self-image must beattuned to the present realities, other-wise pressure builds up. Most of us areunable to fight it and suffer. Thisbecomes a bondage, which is quiteharmful. Ideally, we should focus ondoing our duties and the image takescare of itself. And the gap between thereality and what we project ourselves tobe should always be manageable; onlythen, our lives will be better.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reachedat spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com

Our world is in need ofhealing, and there aremany who have dedicat-ed their lives to this cause.There is a way for each

one of us to contribute to a betterfuture, and it all begins in silence.

If we wish to heal our planet, wemust begin by healing ourselves. Wemay not be able to change another per-son over the course of weeks, years, oreven a lifetime, but we can change our-selves immediately. If each personworked on healing themselves, theeffect would be monumental. If eachperson healed themselves, the benefitsthey experience may inspire others todo the same. Like a wave, the effectwould spread, bathing the whole worldin healing waters. So let us begin withlooking at ways in which we can healourselves.

HEALING OURSELVESWhen we speak about healing our-

selves, we are not talking medically. Theword “healing” involves making uswhole in all aspects of our life. We arereferring to healing our body, mind,and soul. Healing involves eliminatingdisease. What is disease but “dis-ease,”not being at ease. We may find that weare not at ease physically because of dif-ferent medical conditions. We may findthat we are not at ease mentally due toproblems we face at our job, in ourhomes, in our community, or at the

emotional and psychological level.We may find that we are not at ease

spiritually because there are ques-tions relating to our soul and theCreator, and our purpose in life, thatwe have not yet found answers to thatcause restlessness in our soul. Thus, toheal ourselves, we need to employ tech-niques to remove the “dis-ease,” and putus at ease at every level.

HEALING OUR BODYAdvances in science and medicine

have taught us a great deal about howto keep our bodies healthy and toensure optimum performance of thebody that we have been given. Weknow or have access to informationabout nutrition and personal healthand hygiene. We know what precau-tions to take to prevent certain diseases.If we are to heal our body, we shouldlead healthy lifestyles: keep physicallyfit, strike a healthy balance betweenwork, rest, and exercise, eat foods thatare nutritionally good for us, eliminatehabits and substances that are harm-ful to us, such as smoking, drinkingand taking drugs, and safeguard againstconditions that spread disease. The keyis to observe these laws of nature so thatwe do not inadvertently and careless-ly injure our body.

STRESS AND DISEASEDoctors and medical researchers

have discovered that stress has a role

to play in our health. They havelearned that stress can cause a break-down of our immune system and be acause of ailments. Stress interferes withthe healthy functioning of some of ourbodily systems required to resist dis-ease. It activates the “fight or flight”response causing certain biochemicalreactions in our body. When we are ina state of stress, our heart beats faster.Certain hormones are released to getus ready to protect ourselves. Oncereleased, they cannot be recalled.

A ready-alert system that was orig-inally intended to help us escapephysical harm becomes activated evenin the presence of day-to-day situationsthat do not pose any threat to our life.Thus, we carry within us a state ofstress, or a state in which our body isresponding to fear and threat even insituations that are only problems forour mind. Because we are not fight-ing or fleeing, our body has no way todissipate the bottled up stress and wecarry it around with us throughout theday. Ultimately, it begins to cause prob-lems for us internally, and differentorgans begin reacting to that stress.Thus, stress that is unchecked and notdissipated can affect our heart, ourlungs, our circulatory system, ourdigestive system, our skin, and our ner-vous system. We may suffer fromstress-related headaches, stom-achaches, breathing problems, andnervousness.

CHECK STRESS TO HEAL THE BODYWe may not be able to control the

contraction of certain diseases whichare genetic or which spread through theair, but we can control over our per-sonal stress. There are ways to reduceand even eliminate stress in our lives.When we talk of eliminating stress, wedo not mean eliminating problems.Problems will always be there. But wecan eliminate our unhealthy physicalresponse to the problems.

By learning the art of meditation,we will have a defense system againststress. The key is to have another kindof response to problems that will notstimulate these physical reactions in thebody. If we can learn to meditate, thenwe can confront problems in a way thatdoes not upset our physiological sys-tems. Meditation provides a way for usto learn to control our reactions.

HEALING THE MINDWhen we talk about healing our

mind, we are referring to its reactionto problems we face that affect ourthinking and our emotions. Each daywe are bombarded by sensory stimulifrom all directions. Each messagecoming in through our five senses isconveyed to the brain. Some messagesrequire a physical response, but manyof them require intellectual or mentalresponses. We have to think throughproblems, make decisions, plan,analyse, synthesise, create, and thencommunicate our thoughts to others.

Oftentimes, the mental stimuli canbring about reactions of fear, anxiety,tension, confusion, indecision, and ahost of emotional responses. Mentaltension and emotional pain take theirtoll on our body and physical health.It also affects our ability to be produc-tive and effective in the world.

MEDITATION FOR A HEALTHY MINDWe can avoid much of the stress,

anxiety, and tension by meditation.Meditation is a way to relieve stress atthe mental level and help us to have ahealthy mind. A healthy mind meansthat we can deal with the challenges oflife in a calm, composed way withoutit causing us to feel upset, depressed,anxious, fearful, or threatened.

A healthy mind means we dealwith life’s problems without it affect-ing our emotional make-up. We takethings as they come, deal with themeffectively, try to find the best solution,and move on. We do not need to beoverwhelmed, overpowered, and upsetover the daily situations we face. By sit-ting in meditation, we develop thecalmness to approach problems and sit-uations. The more we sit in meditation,the more we are able to return to thatstate of peace and harmony at any timeduring the day.

The writer is a spiritual leader

Market needsstimulation

HEAL SELF FOR A BETTER WORLD

Correct your self-imageAppearance of self has a large bearing on how we perceive ourselves. Tobe happy, we must have this image right, says AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

If we wish to heal our planet, we must begin by healing ourselves. The best way toinspire change in others is by changing ourselves, writes SANT RAJINDER SINGH

IF EACH PERSONWORKED ON

HEALINGTHEMSELVES, THEEFFECT WOULD BEMONUMENTAL. IF

EACH PERSONHEALED

THEMSELVES, THEBENEFITS THEY

EXPERIENCE MAYINSPIRE OTHERS TODO THE SAME. LIKEA WAVE, THE EFFECT

WOULD SPREAD

Positive affirmation is the key to success. Hard work and positive visualisationleads to positive behaviour and weeds out negativity, says SARITA MATHUR

Being in the present moment is the giftof the moment. Only when you live inthe present time awareness do you

enjoy the moment. There is no guilt orregret from the past. There is no fear of theunknown either. Imagine, when heart-basedawareness rules, anger and resentment areno longer a part of your life. Just a peacefulstate of acceptance and embracing of thepresent moment. A sense of adventure andpositivity reigns supreme.

Being who you are and speaking up foryourself is a sure shot way of enjoying yourlife. Often, we do not say what we mean.Consequently, we keep thinking about it —about what we should have said, or not. Weare plagued by negativity. By constantlypleasing other people, we put ourselves last.This does not lead to happiness. It actuallymakes us resentful and unhappy.

By being people pleasers, we do notmake anyone happy. People do not realisethat we are not doing what we want to. Theytake us for granted. We earn respect onlywhen we are true to ourselves. We must

speak up when someone is rude to us or sayssomething that we do not agree with.Otherwise, it is too late. The moment is lostand then regret creeps in. By being true toourselves and honest with our feelings, wefeel powerful. Other people’s opinion shouldnot make us feel small. They are speakingtheir own truth. We can accept it if we wantto, but not feel bad when they voice it.

The importance of visualisation cannotbe overestimated. When we are young, it iscalled day dreaming. “Do not day dream!”we are often told. However, we can daydream ourselves into a glorious future. If wewant a four-bedroom house and keep visual-ising ourselves living in one, chances are thatour dream will come true. The Universeanswers our prayers. Positive affirmation isthe key to success. Hard work and positivevisualisation at all times leads to positivebehaviour and weeds out negativity. Whenwe dream big and work towards it, ourdream is achieved. Positive and constantaffirmation are the key to success.

Breathing techniques are important.

Focusing on the breath is what people do tocontrol negative thoughts. Breathe in andout slowly while counting each breath. Thistechnique helps the mind to focus on onething at a time. Most people cannot evencount up to ten without thoughts crowdingtheir mind. However, with practice itbecomes easier. Each thought is receivedwith detachment. The focus is on breathing.Once should not get attached to one’sthoughts. Let the thoughts come and go andfocus on the breath. Thought protection ormantra’s is sound healing. Keep chantingpositive thoughts (a word or a sentence) andthe vibration will flow through your mindand body . More importantly, there will bespace for no other thought. When there isno space for negativity, positivity reignssupreme. The sound of a bell chiming(church or temple bell) sends sound vibra-tions through the metaphysical centre of thebody creating peace and wellness. This isenergy vibration. These rituals are profoundin nature. They have deep meaning and nat-ural healing.

Additionally, when you believe in ahigher energy, and focus on it, peace comesto you. Your world may be out of control,but your faith in that higher energy will bethere to help and guide you. God will giveyou whatever you desire, keep you safe andensure you remain healthy. That, for mostpeople helps them leave negativity and movetowards positive thought.

Hands on and distant healing techniqueshelp the mind calm down and the body toheal. These energy techniques are consid-ered alternative, but more people are follow-ing and practicing them. Reiki, Chi Gungand Taichi are a few healing modalities.They bring the body and mind into balanceand all negative thoughts get dissipated. As Ilike to say: life is full of joy. Visualise it,believe in it and work towards it.

Mathur is the author of Once Again Love: Reconnecting with the Heart

Positivity reigns supreme

K RAMYA SREEn HYDERABAD

ver felt astinging painin your calfmuscles orfeet? Andveins looking

as purple as Thanos? It isnot a superpower. Itmight be varicose veins.Statistics indicate thatvaricose veins affect 15 to20 per cent of the peoplein the world and about 5per cent of Indians.Adults with varicoseveins may be at anincreased risk of suffer-ing from blood clot thatleads to vascular diseases.There is a need to raiseawareness about thisissue, as it can affectthose who sit or stand fortoo long due to theincreased pressure in theveins. Radio frequencyablation and medicaladhesive therapies areemerging as a preferredmode of treating varicoseveins.

Varicose veins areenlarged, swollen andtwisted veins that oftenappear blue or dark pur-ple. Healthy veins carryblood to the heartthrough valves. To returnblood to the heart, theveins in the legs have towork against gravity. Ifthese valves get weak ordamaged, blood flowsbackwards and pools inthe vein, causing them tostretch, twist or becomeenlarged. People with thiscondition are twice aslikely to develop a bloodclot in one of the arteriesthat go from the heart tothe lungs.

Dr NarendranadhMeda, vascular surgeon,KIMS HospitalHyderabad said, “Anyvein can become vari-cose. However, the veins

most commonly affectedare in your legs and feet.This is because standingand walking uprightincreases the pressure onveins. Varicose veins mayalso signal a higher riskof other circulatory prob-lems. Presence of vari-cose veins can also causeedema due to theincrease in pressure inthe blood vessels. It istherefore important totake precautions includ-

ing avoiding sitting orstanding for too long.”

Adding further, DrMeda said, “Apart fromdark purple/blue andbulging veins, othersymptoms include anachy or heavy feeling inthe legs, burning, throb-bing, muscle cramping,swelling, worsening ofpain after sitting orstanding for a long time;itching around the veins;and skin discol-

oration around a varicosevein. The condition isdiagnosed through aphysical examination oran ultrasound to checkfor blood clots. There is aneed to raise awarenesson timely treatment andthe availability of mini-mally invasive proceduressuch as radiofrequencyablation therapy to treatvaricose veins.”

Generally treatmentoptions include endove-

nous laser therapy(ELVT) and

radiofre-quency

ablationtherapy(RFA).Ablationusesheat todamagethe tis-

sue,which then

causes scars.In the RFA

technique,radiofrequency energy

is used to heat up anddamage the wall inside avein. This causes it toshrink and collapse. Theprocedure is painless andenables quicker recovery.Other options includevenous ligation and strip-ping, and phlebectomy.

Treating varicose veinsusing medical adhesiveis the latest advance-ment. It is a minimallyinvasive procedure inwhich a catheter is guid-ed through a smallaccess site in the leg andinto the diseased area.Once this is done, themedical adhesive isadministered at variouspoints in a segmentalfashion, and the vein isclosed with manual com-pression. The processrequires less time andhelps in faster recovery.

The condition isdiagnosed through aphysical examinationor an ultrasound tocheck for bloodclots. There is a needto raise awarenesson timely treatmentand the availability ofminimally invasiveprocedures such asradiofrequencyablation therapy totreat varicose veins

DR NARENDRANADHMEDA

VASCULAR SURGEON,KIMS HOSPITAL

, Precautions need to betaken round-the-clock as themosquito only recogniseslight, not day or night. As perrecent studies Doxycycline, adrug which has provenefficacy in vector-bornediseases like malaria andleptospirosis, is found to beeffective in dengue too

DR KK AGARWALRESIDENT, HEART CAREFOUNDATION OF INDIA

E

pioneer THE PIONEER HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 13

SWEET&SOURResearchers have found that the scent of a

lemon could help people feel better about theirbody image and that people feel thinner and

lighter when they experience it. The studypresented at the 17th International Conferenceon Human-Computer Interaction also revealed

people contrastingly felt thicker and heavierwhen they smelt vanilla

TREATMENT FOR VEINSVARICOSESIMPLIFIED

p Stimulate blood circulation inyour legs by taking regular walks.

p It is important to lose that excessweight to avoid pressure on the legs.Follow a low-salt diet to preventswelling caused from water retention.

p Low-heeled footwear helps exercise thecalf muscles more and are hence, betterfor the veins.

p Avoid wearing clothes that are tightaround the waist, legs, or groin.

p Take short breaks between work to ele-vate your legs above the level of yourheart. You can lie down with your legsresting on three or four pillows.

p Avoid sitting or standing for long.Change your position frequently toencourage blood flow.

Tips topreventvaricose

veins

engue fever is a mos-quito-borne infectionthat causes severe flu-like symptoms andcan be fatal. Moredengue-positive cases

are being reported every dayfrom various parts of the statewith the deaths crossing 50. Theneed of the hour, therefore, is toraise awareness on the condi-tion, its treatment and how toprevent the condition.

Padma Shri Awardee, Dr KKAggarwal, President, HeartCare Foundation of India(HCFI), said, “Dengue is one ofthe fastest growing mosquito-borne infections in the worldand those infected have eithermild symptoms or none at all.The mosquito Aedes Aegyptihas ample breeding sites inIndia as the country is adengue-endemic country. Oneof the foremost methods tocontain the number of denguecases is prevention. It is impor-tant to discard old things wherewater gets collected as it maybecome a potential breedingground. The statement thatAedes is a day-biter and onlybreeds in indoor freshwater isnot true. This mosquito canbreed and bite in the evening ornight as well. Precautions needto be taken round-the-clock asthe mosquito only recogniseslight, not day or night. As perrecent studies Doxycycline, adrug which has proven efficacyin vector-borne diseases likemalaria and leptospirosis, isfound to be effective in denguetoo.”

He further said, “A mosquito’sbreeding cycle takes 7 to 12 daysto complete and therefore, prop-er cleaning of the house and sur-roundings once a week is recom-mended. It is customary in ourcountry to clean our houses dur-ing the festival season and dis-pose of or give away all unwant-ed items. A similar Diwali-likecleaning ritual should be adopt-ed before the monsoon to elimi-nate possible breeding groundsfor mosquitoes.”

Physicians must rememberthe formula of 20 while diagnos-ing and differentiating betweensimple and severe dengue cases.If a patient's pulse rises by morethan 20; there is fall in upper BPby more than 20; differencebetween lower and upper BP isless than 20, rapid fall ofplatelets to less than 20,000along with with rapid rise inhaematocrit by more than 20 percent and presence of over 20hemorrhagic spots on the arm

after a tourniquet test, then thepatient is considered a high-riskcategory and needs 20ml of fluidper kg body weight immediatelyalong with proper medical atten-tion.

Dengue is preventable andmanageable. There is a risk ofcomplication in only a meagre 1per cent of the cases and if thepublic knows the warning signs,all Dengue deaths can be avoid-ed.

— K Ramya Sree

The Aedes mosquitothat is known to cause

Dengue is becomingincreasingly prevalent

in Telangana during themonsoons. Because of

filthy water gettingstagnated in many parts

of the city. With freshcases being reported

every day fromdifferent parts of

Telangana state, it ishigh time people starttaking extra measuresto ensure they remain

unharmed. Reportssuggest that Dengue

deaths in the state havecrossed 50 in this

season alone. DoctorKK Agarwal from the

Heart Care Foundationtalks about how thedisease spreads, its

prevention andmeasures to get healthy

again

D

FORMULA OF 20 CRUCIAL FOR

DENGUE TREATMENT

TIPSTO PREVENT DENGUEp Do not let water stag-

nate in and aroundyour house as mos-quitoes can lay eggs inmoney plant pots orin open water tanks.

p Wear full sleevesclothing.

p Mosquito nets/repel-lents should be usedboth during the dayand night.

You are very worried about the future. This will causeyou tension and give you sleepless nights. Healthissues like headache, insomnia, or BP may trouble you.You should not allow negative emotions like fear,frustration and uncertainty to immobilise you. Focus onyour present. On the career front, stay away fromflatterers as you may be deceived by inaccurateinformation. You may face frequent mood swings andinsecurity. Hidden forces at play may unravel yoursuccess.The best part is that you are positive, knowhow to control the situation and come out as a winner.In your love life, you will feel strong and established.You are balanced and caring towards your partner.Love relations may turn into a marriage.

Lucky number 31Lucky colour TurquoiseLucky day Thursday

ARIES March 21-April 19

This week you will enjoy good health, good vigour andgood stamina. You will not only be able to care foryourself but for your family as well. You will take a rock-solid resolution for a healthy family, and will leave nostone unturned to achieve your goal. On your careerfront, you may need to take some important decisionswith regard to your career/business. Maintain a practicalapproach. There are chances of you being emotionallyblackmailed. A female counterpart may play a significantrole in enhancing your career. You will witness a one-sided love, therefore, you need to have lots of patienceand strength. Those in a committed relationship mayhave to stay apart on account of responsibilities. Marriedcouples will have a mutual understanding.

Lucky number 13Lucky colour Navy BlueLucky day Tuesday

TAURUS April 20-May 20

In the matters of health, the change is for good.Positive outlook will bring improvement. The mentaltension and fatigue due to the fast moving life will goaway. Physical exercise and being with nature will workbest for you. In your career, you are likely to find newjob opportunities with better prospects. Those whohave appeared for competitive exams, success isassured. You are likely to be called for an interview.Expect a good news in terms of promotion or salaryhike. Your hard working and goal oriented attitude willpay you well. Friendship with juniors will bring youbenefits. In your love life, your orthodox nature will leadto separation and leave you disheartened. You need toadopt a modern outlook towards your partner.

Lucky number 19Lucky colour WhiteLucky day Friday

GEMINI May 21-June 20

You will enjoy good health, vigour and vitality. Yoga,exercise, and nutritious diet will be very important foryou. You are capable of regularising your routine,discipline your senses. Your career card holds goodfortune this week and you will experience a suddenfinancial gain. The change is positive, the business willgrow and those with jobs can expect promotions,increment or the desired transfer. Some of you maytravel abroad for project work. Relationship wise,some of you may receive a message of love or amarriage proposal. Singles, chances of findingsomeone special is indicated. Married couples may goon a pleasure trip and their bonding will becomestronger.

Lucky number 39Lucky colour RedLucky day Wednesday

CANCER June 21-July 22

Health-wise, this week is good. You will feel abundantenergy and creativity. A female influence, either yourmother or spouse, will help you meet your health needsand be a motivating factor to maintain a balance betweenphysical and mental levels. You may slow down on yourcareer front because you are under the constant scrutinyof competitors and rivals. You will feel restricted in life.Your addiction like alcohol, overspending or unhealthyrelationship may become a hurdle in the path of success.Shield yourself from all these negativities. In the area oflove, you need to accept and surrender to your presentcircumstances. It is advisable to leave instant temptationof gratification for the higher cause. Singles need to waitfor some more time before committing to a relationship.

Lucky number 18Lucky colour IndigoLucky day Friday

VIRGO Aug 23-Sep 22

It is important that you look after your health this week.Though you have been avoiding it, a visit to a doctor is amust. Be open and discuss all matters becauseappropriate medical advice and treatment is the need ofthe hour. Your spiritualism and faith in God is good andwill help you to have a peaceful personality. You have goodnews waiting on your career front. This can either be apromotion or a salary hike. Due to a sudden change, youmay get transferred to the desired place. Yourperseverance and hard work will pay you well. In love, youmay be deceived or feel disheartened. You are forced tosacrifice or surrender to be with your partner. This is notthe right time to start a relationship or have highexpectations from an existing relationship.

Lucky number 28Lucky colour PeachLucky day Saturday

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 22

This week you will be moody and irritable. This maycause concern for your physical health. You might facehealth issues like headache, nausea and BP etc. You needto control your wild imagination and trust your instincts.Walk the path of enlightenment and stay focused. Incareer, you need to take action towards your greatergood. You will be able to confront any unfinishedbusiness in your life, clear up any misunderstanding.Extra hard work is needed for good results. You may facea lots of challenges at work. Give your best, the rewardsare assured. In relationship, abundance of happiness isin store. you will find balance and stability in love.Unmarried may get marriage proposals. You will leave nostone unturned to make your partner happy.

Lucky number 29Lucky colour Sky BlueLucky day Tuesday

SCORPIO Oct 23-Nov 21

This week you are full of creativity and positive energy.You need to utilise this energy in constructive pursuits.Make sure you maintain balance within yourself. On thecareer front, you will prove to be a genuine leader andpeople will listen to you. You will emerge as an efficientparticipant in meetings, collaborations and contacts.Support from opposite sex will help you achievedesired success. Those appearing for an interview orcompetitive exams, success is assured. In matters oflove, you have to be a little careful. You should respectand understand the feelings of your partner. You canachieve success in a relationship by showinggenerosity. Presenting a gift, to your partner maycreate the magic and strengthen your love.

Lucky number 11Lucky colour OrangeLucky day Tuesday

AQUARIUS Jan 20-Feb 18

This week you are filled with positive energy. Recoveryfrom illness is indicated. An emotional issue concerningthe care or treatment of someone close will be discussed.Follow a healthy routine like physical exercise and abalanced diet to stay fit and healthy. Career-wise, this isthe best week. You will get an opportunity to change yourdestiny. You need to be positive and spontaneous. Youwill win the trust of your senior authorities and may befeatured at the top in your Boss’ list. Promotion is likely. Anew beginning such as a new job, or a new residence, isindicated. In love life, a manifestation of desire, goodfortune, and contentment are on the cards. Some of youmight plan for a date or a romantic trip. Married couplesmay have a mutual understanding.

Lucky number 14Lucky colour Pastel GreenLucky day Friday

PISCES Feb 19-March 20

You will do anything to achieve good health. You shoulddecide whether you want to follow your mind or yourheart. The first approach would be to scrutinise yourinnermost needs and expectations. Your career may be ata standstill and you will feel stagnated. You need to makecordial relations with your senior authorities. Yourpositive outlook towards life will keep you motivated andopen doors for new opportunities. In terms of wealth, theresult will be discouraging. Hard earned money will bespent on expenses and you will be left with no money inhand. Relationship wise, you are trustworthy and reliable.Singles will get the good message of love. Romance withyour desired partner is on the card. Your commitmentand loyalty will strengthen your relationship.

Lucky number 12Lucky colour BlackLucky day Tuesday

CAPRICORN Dec 22-Jan 19

You need to find a positive environment where you canrelax. You are likely to encounter a mental conflict andnervousness may cause the blood pressure to fluctuate.Focus on balancing your untamed energy. A disciplinedlifestyle, balanced diet, regular medical checkup andexercise are unavoidable. Stay away from arguments andaggression. In your career, you will prove yourselftrustworthy. It is likely to have genuine affection forsomeone in the work area. Those who have their ownbusiness will enjoy financial gains. Those in the job, thefavour of a senior will boost your confidence. Youramicable behaviour and communication will work in yourfavour. In the matters of love, you will feel blessed. Peoplewill like you for your affectionate and romantic nature.

Lucky number 17Lucky colour GoldenLucky day Sunday

LEO July 23-Aug 22

For good health, you need to derive positive energy fromthe five elements: earth, water, air, fire and the sky. Youneed to adopt a balanced approach to life. Anyirregularity in diet and lifestyle will have a bad impact onyour health. Control your cravings and keep your angerin check. At work, you are meticulous and hard-working.You are willing to learn new skills. Your dedication andfocus will work in your favour. Financially, there is a needto bring change in your lifestyle to increase overallgratification. The best part is that you are committed togetting those changes done. This week you will be luckyin love matters and have a high level of emotionalcontentment. You will see perfection all around you. Joyand happiness are within your reach.

Lucky number 21Lucky colour GreyLucky day Saturday

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22-Dec 21

YOURWEEK

AHEADMADHU KOTIYA

sundaymagazine

tarot 14THE TRUE TAROT IS SYMBOLISM;IT SPEAKS NO OTHER LANGUAGE

AND OFFERS NO OTHER SIGNS— A E WAITE Hyderabad, September 15, 2019

Having followed last two issues ofthis column, another regularreader came up with an interest-

ing question: “Sir, you have beautifullyexplained how our karma sets the termfor what we become due for — reward orpunishment. But in our life, we do bothgood and bad karma. Would not thecredits earned for all the good done, bal-ance out our bad karma and relieve usfrom its future implications? You havealso suggested that the choice optionenjoins upon us with the capacity to filteroff the undesirable. To what extent canwe modify negative implications of ourkarmic accruals and what are the reme-dial measures necessary?”

In divine scheme of things, there isno provision of reward or punishment.Your good karma lets you realise yourindwelling potential. That keeps youmotivated to for well-intended karma.Your bad karma, in the first place, maystand in way or your potential bloomingout in full. Also, it lets you go throughsimilar experiences as would have beenmet out to others. Purposely so as to putyou through such lessons as would makeyou realise your wrong doings andevolve. It doesn’t work like business eco-

nomics where profit balances out the loss.The driving spirit of the laws of karma isto put you through lessons of life aswould help you evolve. So, both good andbad karma find reflection simultaneously.

In so far as remedial measure is con-cerned, self-help offers the best answer.Bear in mind; only such process wouldwork as could get into the inner realmsof mind for necessary corrections fromthe root level. Pundits performing beliefdriven transactional pujas can’t reach outyour mind frame to nullify your habittendencies. Had it been so, no resource-ful person would ever suffer in life.

It is pertinent to note here thatthought seeds pertaining to the karmiccarry over from the past are imprinted inthe mind. They find reflection in yourthought process. When you self-reflect,you may figure out different patterns inthe thought process playing within mind.That may help you identify and acknowl-edge the fault lines, and then addressthem. Often, your ego may not let youdispassionately acknowledge indwellinginfirmities. Here, astrology may serve asan effective diagnostic tool, which,through a look at the energy-map ofheaven at the time of one’s birth, reflects

upon your karmic accrual with a fairamount of precision, as energy knows nobias. The redressal process is not thateasy either, as habits die hard. Better seekthe guidance of a realised Guru, who isadept in overcoming the limitations ofmind and psyche. The extent to whichone could modify the implications ofkarmic carryover from the past dependson your will and resolve to change your-self through sustained efforts.

Here is the case of a person who hadbeen doing extremely well in so far as hisbusiness was concerned. But at the sametime, he and his family members werefaced with a criminal case of seriousdimension. Look at his astrologicalpointers. Towards the potential side,Jupiter, the lord of Kendra house occupy-ing its own house, aspects Venus the lordof trine house, which occupies the 10thhouse identified with career prospects.The 10th lord Mercury occupying the11th house identified with fulfillment ofdesires, is posited in the nakshatraowned by Venus. Association of Kendraand Trine houses speaks loud of hispromising career. Further to that, mindsignifying Moon, beautifully aligned withMercury makes him an intelligent personarmed with good communicative skill,vital to success in life.

Towards the negative, the Sun islocked in adverse formation with mis-chievous Neptune, which binds him tohis fanciful dream perceptions, not realis-ing that it could put him through difficultsituations. Added to that is Venus, ill-dis-posed off to Neptune. That makes himsusceptible to get into unconventionalpartnership, not acceptable by societalnorms, thus putting his morality in ques-tion. If all that would not be enough, theSun is in opposition to its planet of neme-sis Saturn. That makes him vulnerable tocome under the scanner of law enforce-ment agencies. As he entered his 38thyear, the progressed lagna closed upNeptune, which was already placedadverse to Venus. Progressed Sun formedunholy alliance with natal Venus.Progressed Venus as well as Moon,locked horns with Neptune. All thesenegative indicators simultaneously com-ing into play, his extra marital relation-ship created a situation that put himthrough a very difficult situation.

The wwriter iis aan aastrologer, vvastu cconsultantand sspiritual ccounsellor. WWrite tto hhim aat

G-1102, BBharat NNagar, NNew FFriends CColony,New DDelhi-1110 0025

Tel: 991-111-449848475/9818037273Email: bbharatbhushanpadmadeo@gmail.com

Website: wwww.bharatastro.com

ASTROTURFBHARAT BHUSHAN PADMADEO

Madhu Kotiya is a tarot card reader, spiritual healer, and Founder, MShezaim Institute of Tarot and Divination. Contact details: madhu@indiatarot.com, www.indiatarot.com, M: 9873283331

Watch over your karma

TEAM AGENDA DESK > NAVNEET MENDIRATTA, CONSULTING EDITOR | H LAYOUT AND DESIGN > SATISH CHANDRA JAKHMOLA, SENIOR EDITOR (CREATIVE)

Now yyou ccan wwrite tto uus aat agendapioneer@gmail.com

Sitting on the hot seat with Big B rightin front is every Indian’s dream. Whileit come true for some, others merely

enjoy Big-B’s aura on their TV screens.Kaun Banega Crorepati has turned elevenand after almost one month into the newseason, the show has finally found its firstcrorepati. Yes, you read that right. A 25-year-old boy from Bihar’s Jehanabaddistrict, Sanoj Raj, has become the firstcontestant to have won `1 crore. He wenton attempting the koti ki choti prashan —`7 crore question, but decided to quit thegame.

Raj, an engineer by profession, wholives in a joint family, is preparing for theCivil Services. It took Raj, hours of studyingand months of preparations to crack theKBC code.

“I worked as an engineer for two-and-a-half years. I was paid well. But, I decidedto give up on my job and concentrate onmy Civil Services preparations. I used tostudy for hours and gather as muchinformation as possible. I used to read a lotof books as well,” he says.

The adage, life is not a bed of roses,holds true to Raj, who was trying to enterthe show for the last eight years, but failed.

“Not even for once did I think that Ishould quit. I knew I have to be on the hotseat, no matter how long it will take. I wasconfident that I will make it there one day.And that time came on Friday,” he says andtells you that it doesn’t took him any extrapreparations for the show but what hestudied for the Civil Services.

It was nothing short of a festivity inRaj’s family when they got to know abouthis selection. “My uncle got a call from theteam that I was selected in KBC. He thenwent on to tell the news to my family andfriends. I was out for some work then andI got to know about it from my friends. Iwas on cloud nine, ” he says.

Meeting Amitabh Bachchan andsharing the stage with him gave Rajgoosebumps .

“The moment I stepped on to the stagemy heartbeat increased. I was nervous. Itwas a dream come true moment for me.Once you are on the hot seat, in thecentrestage with so many people aroundit sent shivers down the spine. But, onceBig B starts talking he makes sure that theother person gets comfortable,” he tells you.

Raj was confident that he will win `50lakh but winning as much as `1 crore cameas a surprise.

With the winning amount, Raj wantto complete his Civil Services preparations,open a nursery for his father in his villageand travel all through the Indian sub-continent.

“We are already exploiting ourenvironment a lot. By opening up thenursery I want to contribute my bittowards Nature. I know it will not solve allthe problems but it will definitely helpfighting some. I love travelling andexploring places — North-east being myfavourite. I will first travel to Meghalaya

and then explore the other places with theremaining amount,” he says.

He recalls that when he won `1 crorehe was about to burst into tears.

“It was a moment of extreme joy. I feltlike all my hard work had paid off. It washard to believe that in just an hour I haveturned into a millionaire. My success

mantra is to have patience and take one stepat a time. Leaps and bounds would take younowhere. Not only destiny but my familyplayed their part too. They supported methrough thick and thin. They had faith inall my decisions, they knew I will make itbig some day. And I am proud to haveproved them right,” he tells you.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 entertainment 15

SALMAN TURNS CHEF

Bigg Boss, a show that increases theappetite for gossip and makes dinner tableconversations even spicier, is set to return.To heighten the excitement, theunprecedented host of the show, SalmanKhan shot a promo, that will build a lot ofanticipation and tickle your entertainmenttaste buds.

Serving a platter of surprises,excitement, and drama, the upcomingseason of Bigg Boss will be packed withelements of spice and unpredictability.Dressed in a chef’s jacket in the promo,Salman was seen cooking khichdi and raitashowcasing how the new season will leavethe contestants baffled with its unendingtwists. With the anticipation of a major twistapproaching, the inmates will have to uptheir game from the word go.

With drama being whipped up at everystep of the season, the viewers can lookforward to a lot of fun and excitement.

MANIESH IS BACK WITH MORE FUNSo, you call yourself a movie buff?

Know every last detail about even their leastpopular films? Well, it’s about time youcelebrate your passion for movies and havea li’l masti while you’re at it! Zee TV is all setto introduce its latest offering — a first-of-its-kind light-hearted, comical Bollywoodgame show Movie Masti with ManieshPaul.

Hosted by the inimitable Maniesh Pauland a crazy, quirky, odd-ball Bollywood-obsessed family inspired by every Hindimovie stereotype, the show will unravel theunseen and unscripted side of Bollywoodcelebrities by subjecting them to trickytasks, fun games and rapid-fire quizzes, allabout movies!

Movie Masti with Maniesh Paul willsee four hot Bollywood celebrities coming ineach week to participate in the game showwith the common man (or woman) as theirpartner in proving that their filmy quotient isthe highest. Together, their love and passionfor movies will be put to test andinterrupting them every step of the way willbe this mischievous, Bollywood-crazy familyof roasters and pranksters and at the helmof this quirky comical brigade is hostManiesh Paul.

This family will feature a motley of filmycharacters ranging from a melodramaticmaa — a mother like no other whoembodies every mother stereotype ever, afather who is a self-proclaimed villain —one who looks old but feels rather young.Adding to this interesting mix is the duo of atalented but wheeler-dealer of a managerand a naughty, seductive padosi Bhabhi.

SEEMA TURNS VO ARTISTSeema Mishra who hails from Mumbai

and has been working in the televisionindustry for quite some has been roped into lend her voice for the sutradhaar of theshow, Shehnai in &TV’s upcoming showNaye Shaadi Ke Siyape. Being a televisionartist, she was always keen on exploringdifferent roles and with Naye Shaadi KeSiyape, she will be debuting as a voice overartist. While she has been offered severalvoicing projects in the past, this particularoffer really excited her.

Shehnai a talking van is the wagon inwhich Mubarak, Babli, and Bunty travel forweddings across the city. Set to give a third-person perspective, the talking van is anever-seen-before concept on televisionwhere viewers will see the van narrate thesituations that take place at all the weddingsorganised by the wedding planners. In theshow, the Shehnai will be seen asMubarak’s only companion who has beenwith him through thick and thin. So muchthat Mubarak goes back to the Shehnai forevery good or bad situation that occurs inhis life hence setting the premise that heshared a very close bond with the van.

WILL BAALVEER FIND HIS SUCCESSOR?The legend of Baalveer is back! One of

the most loved superheroes on Indiantelevision will invite the fans to the mysticalworlds of veer lok and kaal lok. The showis set to revolutionise the way peoplewatch fantasy dramas on TV. The new castwill be supported by characters brought tolife bycutting edge VFX. All this comestogether on a brand new, state of art setswhere the magic unfolds to provide athrilling, edge-of-the-seat, visual treat tothe viewers. Watch this highly anticipatedreturn of superhero with Baalveer Returnsevery Monday to Friday at 8 pm on SonySAB.

During an intense battle with a giantBhoochal from kaal lok, Baalveer is hit bythe most lethal weapon, kaal shastra,where Baalveer takes his last breath.Shaurya, the guiding white lion, with hisimmense powers resurrects Baalveer whileinforming him that his glorious powers aredraining due to the effect of kaal shastraand it is time to look for the chosen one, theworthy successor of Baalveer. All themagnificent fairies and Baalveer embark ontheir journey to Earth on a quest to find thechosen one.

In the other world, kaal lok isrestlesswith Baalveer’s revival and Timnasain order to fulfil her mission to destroyBaalveer, dedicates her deadliest beast,Bhoochal, to follow Baalveer on Earth andcreate the ultimate destruction to draw himout.

Will Timnasa get hold of Baalveeragain? Will Baalveer be able to find hissuccessor?

RAMBO: LAST BLOOD TO HIT SCREENSThe highly awaited movie from the hit

franchise Rambo is all set to hit the Indianscreens this September. Rambo: Last Bloodsupposedly the last movie of the franchisewill be releasing on the September 20, 2019by PVR Pictures and MVP Entertainment.The film stars Sylvester Stallone in hisiconic role as John Rambo along withAdriana Barraza, Oscar Jaenada, Paz Vega,Joaquin Cosío and many others insignificant characters. The film is directedby Adrian Grunberg.

The trailer of the film is alreadygrabbing many eyeballs as the last time wesaw Sylvester in Rambo’s character wasback in 2008. Now 11 years later we seethis veteran war actor reprising his grittyrole as John Rambo in a power-packedaction thriller. In the film John Ramboteams up with a reporter to save akidnapped girl from a vicious drug cartel inMexico. The film surely promises a lot ofhigh scale action packed scenes and will besurely a visual treat to all the Rambo fans inIndia.

DHARMENDRA GOT EMOTIONALThe upcoming episode of Colors’

Dance Deewane will witness the threegenerations of the Deol family grace thestage. While the audience and thecontestants were thrilled and happy aboutseeing the legend walk the stage, there wasalso a moment where the emotional side ofthe He-Man was revealed.

The contestants of the show paid agrand tribute to the actor, who we have allgrown up watching and admiring. Theyperformed a musical depictingDharmendra's journey, his struggles andachievements which got him emotional.While the nostalgia kicked in, it also got thelegend Dharmendra emotional and he brokedown in tears of joy. Unable to containhimself, he thanked Colors and DanceDeewane, with a for creating this magicalmoment that took him down the memorylane.

KBC gets its 9th crorepati TELLYTALE

KBC 11 has finally found its first crorepati. MUSBA HASHMI speakswith SANOJ RAJ, a 25-year-old Civil Services aspirant from Bihar,about what it took to reach the hot seat

Sanoj Raj with Amitabh Bachchan after winning `1 crore on KBC 11

SHOW TIME

DREAM GIRL*ing: Ayushmann Khurrana, NushratBharucha, Annu Kapoor, ManjotSingh, Vijay RaazRated: 6/10

It is very rare for Bollywood to makea rom-com and ensure that it is ableto hold its worth in gold till the very

end. Not delivering a good comedy isnot due to lack of talent or goodwriters. So when one comes across afilm that manages to make theaudience laugh till the very end, thenthe person who has written thedialogues needs to be given a pat onthe back. In this case it goes to RaajShaandilyaa who is the director ofDream Girl.

We all know that a movie thatportrays middle class resonate with themasses since they manage to find aconnect. That is a major contributorwhy such a movie finds many takers.Then there’s the fact that people love tolaugh. A rom-com that has the rightingredients works wonders. Add tothat the lead character who works witha call centre... main Pooja bol raheenhoon, mujhse dosti karogey — it willhave the audience in splits from theword go.

We all love to laugh and if we cando that for 132 minutes, it is paisawasool when one goes to see DreamGirl. However, one needs to keep allsensibilities at home. Also if you arethe kind of person who wants to onlywatch meaningful cinema, this film isnot for you.

But one may want to see this onefor Khurrana who has given a greatperformance. His reactions to menwanting to marry him, of people whotouch his feet because he plays Sita arebrilliant to say the least. One will alsoget a kick out of why and how healways ends playing Sita, Draupadi andeven Radha.

Then there is some greatperformance from Annu Kapoor whoplays Khurana’s father in this one. Thetwo share a fabulous chemistry. VijayRaaz as a cop, a shayar with acantankerous wife at home, wins yourheart. Manjot Singh as Khurana’sfriend is just as good. A specialmention for the 90-something dadi(Neela Mulherkar) who downswhiskey like a pro.

Overall Dream Girl makes for alaugh-riot all through.

— Shalini Saksena

It’s laugh-riotall through

nWhat is your role?I play Raghbir, a

dark and intensecharacter. He has lostsomeone whom heloved very much. Heis traumatised, isgrieving and indeep sorrow. Helives in a differentworld of his ownand can’t acceptthings easily. He isliving in aconfused state ofmind whereinthere’s no truth orno lies for him. The

story of BepanahPyaarr is very differentwith a differentperspective.

nWhat made you sayyes?

The thing whichattracted me towards thisshow is that it is a male-oriented show. The script isfresh. Also being a part ofsuch shows comes withgreat responsibility and Ihope I will be able to dojustice to my character. Alot of money and efforthas gone into this show. Ibelieve the audience willlike it.nWhat do you like anddislike about yourcharacter?

There is nothing thatI dislike about my role.The reason being it is achallenging role and Ilove challenges. While

you are playing suchintense character,

you have to bringin that reality and

‘Acting makes me feel alive’SECTION 375*ing: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadda, RahulBhat, Meera Chopra Rated: 6/10

Section 375 of IPC defines rape as acriminal offence and states that a manis said to commit rape when he has

sexual intercourse with a woman againsther or without her consent or if she is aminor — under any of the followingsituations: Against her will; Without herconsent. Just penetration is sufficient toconstitute the sexual intercoursenecessary to the offence of rape. This sets as the backdrop for AjayBahl’s Section 375: Marzi Ya Zabardasti.The opening stand that AkshayeKhanna, who plays a hot-shot defencelawyer Tarun Saluja, takes — Law is aboutfacts, Justice is abstract — gives you a fairwarning what is to unfold.

The courtroom drama is taut and Bahlensures that his character keep pace with howthings progress in the 123 minute drama thatwill keep you engaged till the very end. In mostof the films, the end is rather predictable. ButSection 375... throws a curve ball. The dialogue atthe end sums it beautifully when Khanna says: Weare not in the business of justice; we are in thebusiness of law.

While the performances are good, the kindhere are the brilliant one-liners and thesmoothness with which the two lawyers — defenceand prosecutrix — argue on behalf of their clientsmakes this movie a must watch even if the endleaves one with a slightly bad taste in the mouthespecially if you are a woman.

— Shalini Saksena

An engagingcourtroom drama

PEARL V PURI, who is now seen in Colors’ Bepanah Pyaarr,tells MUSBA HASHMI that it is the most challenging project

and that he will be releasing his compositions soonemotion in it so that theaudience can feel what you aregoing through. I have to beexpressive.nFrom Dil Ki Nazar SeKhoobsurat to BepanahPyaarr, how have thingschanged?

It’s been six long years. Ihave had good and some badtimes. But, everything wasrightly placed by God. Thingsworked well for me. I justbelieve in being a good humanbeing. I always try to makemyself better every day. That’swhere my focus lies.

I am a public figure; I wantpeople to learn good thingsfrom me. Being an actor,people keep an eye oneverything that we do and wehave to respect that. We haveto set a good example for thesociety because many peoplefollow us. I am trying to be thebest version of myself.nWhat was the mostchallenging project?

The one that I am part ofat present — Bepanah Pyaarr.And not only for me but forthe whole team, I believe. Ialso had to shed some weightfor the role. It is a sad characterso I have to bring in thatdullness in my personality. Icannot look happy.

I try to play Raghbir evenwhen I am not shooting tomake my character look as reallife as possible in reel.Otherwise it will becomedifficult for me to switch onand off from this ratherintense character. As actors, wehave to live with our charactersso that we can bring out theiressence on-screen.

nWhat does acting mean toyou?

Acting is something whichmakes me feel alive. Myapproach towards acting is tokeep it as real as it can be. Toimitate someone is not acting;to be real and to feel thecharacters you are playing isacting for me. Acting is norocket science. You just haveto get the feelings right andportray your characters ingood faith and you are good togo.nYou were top ranked inTimes Most Desirable Men’slist. How did it feel?

I didn’t know that I havebeen ranked No 1 in the list.I got to know it fromsomebody and then I read thestory. It was a great momentbecause a lot of people want tosee their names in the list andfortunately I topped it.Wherever I am today isbecause of my family and fanswho continue to shower theirlove on me and extend theirsupport.

I feel blessed to have beenworking in this industry andgetting so much appreciationfor my work.nYou also released youralbum Peerh Meri. How didthe transition from an actorto a singer happened?

I am into music since Iwas in Class VIII. I used towrite songs and till date I havewritten and composed morethan 100 songs.

I’ll release them too whenthe right time comes. Just likeI felt that the time was right torelease my first song and I did it.

sport 16HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

PTIn DHARAMSALA

Virat Kohli will be ven-turing into theunknown with a clean

slate, where a few seasonedhands will be backing a groupof immensely talented young-sters, in his quest for WorldT20 title which begins with athree-match bilateral seriesagainst South Africa here onSunday.

The 3-0 series win againstthe West Indies could be calleda pre-cursor as it was just afterenduring a disappointing endto their ODI World Cup cam-paign.

The real battle begins nowwith this series againstQuinton de Kocks and KagisoRabada’s who are also in themidst of a tough transitionphase.

A good spell from Rabadaor a cameo from David Millercould pose challenge for theIndians, while some of the oth-ers like Test specialist TembaBavuma or Anrich Nortje willlike to prove their credentialsin absence of Faf du Plessis orHashim Amla.

There will be around 20odd matches for captain Kohliand head coach Ravi Shastri tobuild a near perfect combina-tion going into the World T20in Australia in October nextyear.

There are many questionsthat the team managementwill have to answer in the next13 months during which IPLwill also be held.

Save Kohli, his deputyRohit Sharma, all-rounderHardik Pandya and premierpacer Jasprit Bumrah (restedfor this series), at least sevenslots in playing XI and fourmore in the 15-member squadare up for grabs, with somebold steps on cards.

Retirement is MahendraSingh Dhoni's individual callbut does the team manage-

ment intend to look ahead likethe selection committee does?

It is yet to be known andRishabh Pant's indiscretionsdoesn't make it easier for Kohliand Shastri.

Manish Pandey has beenin and around for years nowand despite the kind of quali-ty he possesses, the Karnatakabatsman has not inspired high-est confidence in the chanceshe got.

So will it be Pandey at No4 or Delhi Capitals captainShreyas Iyer, who was in fineform during the Windies onedayers?

The other fascinatingaspect will be the future of spintwins Yuzvendra Chahal andKuldeep Yadav, at least in theshortest version.

Rajasthan leg-spinnerRahul Chahar is a young tal-ent and is being billed as onefor the future.

And with all-rounderKrunal Pandya also shaping upwell and Ravindra Jadeja'sexperience set to come inhandy, where does it leave the

much in demand wrist spinduo, who had replacedRavichandran Ashwin andJadeja (for the better part)post 2017 Champions Trophy.

Not to forget, India have aback up finger spinner inyoung Washington Sundar,who in his U-19 days was ahard-hitting top-order bats-man. So next question is wheredoes it leave Kuldeep andChahal in T20 scheme ofthings?

Last but not the least is thepace department whereBumrah is the only certainty.

Deepak Chahar, whomany in Indian cricket term as'Poor Man's Praveen Kumar'for the movement he generatesduring first spell, is an inspiredinvestment for shortest ver-sion.

And then there is NavdeepSaini with raw pace andKhaleel Ahmed bringing in theleft-arm variety but known toleak runs. Will they be persist-ed with in the long run?

In next 13 months, Kohliwill seek all the answers.

PTIn DHARAMSALA

Quinton de Kock possesses an “incrediblecricket brain”, feels senior batsman David

Miller, who is ready to perform “any role” that thenew South African white-ball skipper wants himto. Left-handed Miller along with De Kock andKagiso Rabada form the core of a new-look SouthAfrican limited overs set-up which is goingthrough a transition phase with first stop beingtour of India.

“He's (Quinton) been around for manyyears, and he’s got an incredible cricket brain. LikeI said, it’s exciting times — new skipper, new play-ers and a lot of young, fresh faces,” said miller,

Miller is happy with the way De Kock is pro-gressing as a leader and wants to lend all the sup-port that he needs at the start of his new journey.

“It's been really good so far and we’ll see asit progresses how we go along. It’s really nice tobe alongside him and supporting him in what-ever role he wants me to do. Yeah, it’s been greatso far and hopefully it continues,” Miller toldreporters on the eve of the first T20 internation-al, here on Sunday. It’s a new-look side and Millerknows he will have to take the responsibility ofguiding the younger crop of players.

“I feel playing while for the country there isalways responsibility, regardless whether you areless experienced or more experienced. I mean Ihave been playing for many years now and thatresponsibility has been with me for a couple ofyears now, and it’s really exciting,” Miller said.

“Like you said, it’s a young side and we've gota lot of energy amongst the squad. There are actu-

ally a lot of guys who have played a lot of crick-et, in the A side and domestically. So, all of us arereally, really experienced in each department andit’s just a great stepping stone.”

The Proteas had a forgettable World Cup andMiller wants to look ahead.

“Yeah, I think what happened at the WorldCup is something to learn from. We did a fewthings wrong and it (results) never came out theway we wanted. So we are lucky that it's a newphase in South African cricket at the moment,”said Miller.

PTInNEW DELHI

Rohit Sharma needs to "maintain hisindividuality” as a Test opener and his

success in the longest format can helpIndia successfully chase down big targets,said former assistant coach Sanjay Bangar.

A revered opening batsman inlimited over cricket, Rohit wasincluded in the 15-membersquad for the three-Test seriesagainst South Africa at homebeginning on October 2.

“If he succeeds, his styleof play will be extremelyhelpful to the team. It mightresult in being able to suc-cessfully chase down targetsthat we haven’t achieved inthe past, like in CapeTown and Edgbaston,”Bangar toldESPNCricinfo in aninterview.

The 32-year-oldwas seen as a middle-

LONDON n (AFP)

Steve Smith refused to blamehis inconsistent teammates

for their batting failures dur-ing the Ashes after he againshouldered the run-scoringburden for Australia.

The former skipper scored80 at the Oval - his lowest totalof a sensational series - as thetourists were bowled out for225, 69 runs short of England'sfirst-innings total of 294 onthe second day of the fifth andfinal Test.

When he was asked forreasons for Australia’s battingfailures he said conditionshad not been kind throughoutthe series but that playerswould learn from performingin unfamiliar conditions.

“We haven’t seen any hugetotals really throughout thewhole series so it’s not beeneasy,’ he said.

"There's always beensomething there, I felt. If youbowl in good areas for longenough then I think we’veseen you'll get rewards."

‘Playing in England iscompletely different fromplaying back home and you’vegot to find ways to play awayfrom home,” he added.

“Sometimes you need tochange certain little thingsthat can help you play in cer-tain conditions and adaptaccordingly but I think it will

be a good learning curve forall of our batters."

PRESSURESSmith said he was able to

shut out pressures and focuson the job in hand despite theweight of expectation on hisshoulders.

“I just sort of do my thingand what people say it does-n't really bother me, it's justeach time I go out to the mid-dle I love batting and I justwant to bat and score runs andhelp out the team,” he said.

“People can say whateverthey like, nice things, badthings, whatever. It reallydoesn't bother me.”

“Who knows? When's thenext Ashes series? I don'teven know,” he said. “Will Istill be playing? I’m not sure.Who knows the answer tothat? We’ll see.

“He’s a quality performer.He’s got two five-fors in fourTest matches (Archer hastwice taken six wickets in aninnings) and you don't getguys bowling 90 miles anhour growing on trees andwith the skillset he's got.

“He’s a terrific bowler andthere's no doubt that he'llgain a lot of confidence fromhis first Test series.” Australia,2-1 up, have already retainedthe Ashes urn but are aimingto win their first Test series inEngland since 2001.

PTIn DHARAMSALA

South Africa will like to putpressure on India’s inexperi-

enced pace trio of NavdeepSaini, Khaleel Ahmed andDeepak Chahar during thethree-match T20 Internationalseries, visiting side's assistantbatting coach Lance Klusenersaid here on Saturday.

Former South African all-rounder sensed it as an oppor-tunity for the Proteas as theirnew look team tries to settleinto a groove.

"Looking at the Indianteam, that (inexperienced bowl-ing attack) is an area we aregoing to take advantage of justlike I suppose, you look atopposing teams and at areas,which you can take advantageof," Klusener said during amedia interaction on the eve ofthe first T20 International.

However he made it clearthat by no means he underes-timates the Indian attack.

“They are great cricketersand we are not taking anythingaway from that and our focuswill be on ourselves and little

areas that we can take advan-tage and maybe that's one ofthem,” he said.

Klusener was asked aboutwhat he expects from a playerlike Temba Bavuma, whosegame is not naturally suited tothe demands of T20 cricket.

“He recently got a hundredin the CSA (domestic ) T20final. It's easy to pigeonhole himand say okay he plays Testcricket. But Temba is wonder-

ful all-round cricketer. Yes heneeds to learn a couple of all-round options and that's reallyabout it,” Klusener defended thepint-sized batsman’s selection.

However, he agreed thatBavuma's game will be moreabout rotating the strike andgive opportunities to big hit-ters like David Miller, DwaynePretorius or AndilePhehlukwayo.

“He is not the biggest guy,who can muscle the ball overthe fence, but there are differ-ent ways of doing it. I amuncomfortable saying he is ared-ball cricketer. He hasplayed two ODIs with a hun-dred and a fifty, so he is a goodcricketer,” the 48-year-old said.

“He will certainly get hisopportunity on this tour andI think he is ready to maketransition into being some-body in that engine room, whocan be good at rotating strikeand have good plans so thatother hitters like David,Dwayne and Andile, some ofthe biggest hitters on the plan-et, can bat around him," hefurther added.

PTIn DHARAMSALA

Mahendra Singh Dhoni hasalways put the interest of

Indian cricket in mind and is"on same page" with the teammanagement as far as his inter-national future is concerned,skipper Virat Kohli said onSaturday.

On the eve of the T20International series againstSouth Africa, Kohli maintainedthat the 38-year-old Dhoni will"remain valuable" as long as hecontinues playing the gameeven as team managementgrooms youngsters like RishabhPant.

"One great thing about him(Dhoni) is that, he thinks forIndian cricket. And whatever we(team management) think, he ison the same page. The align-ment is there. The kind ofmindset he has had aboutgrooming youngsters and giv-ing them opportunities, and heis still the same person," Kohli

replied when asked if the legendis in his scheme of things fornext year's World T20 inAustralia.

While Kohli reminded thescribes about Dhoni's ability toprove his detractors wrong, hisanswer on his impending inter-national future was a bit open-ended.

"Look, experience is always

going to matter whether you likeit or not. I mean there are anumerous number of timespeople have given up on sports-men and they have proved peo-ple wrong and he (Dhoni) hasdone that many times in hiscareer as well. As long as he isavailable and continues to play,he is going to be very valuable,"Kohli said.

AFPn LONDON

Ben Stokes and Joe Denly bat-ted England into a potential-

ly match-winning position inthe fifth and final Ashes Test atthe Oval on Saturday as Australia’shopes of a series win faded.

At tea the home side — des-perate to finish their World Cup-winning season on a high by lev-elling the series at 2-2—were 193-2, leading by 262 runs.

England captain Joe Root willbe wary of declaring too soonthough as India last year made345 batting fourth at the Ovalchasing 464.

Denly was unbeaten on aTest-best score of 82 while Stokes,playing as a specialist batsman,was 57 not out after passing 400runs for the series.

England enjoyed two slices ofgood fortune on a pitch offeringlittle in the way of help for thebowlers as the September sunbeat down from a clear Londonsky.

Steve Smith dropped Stokesin the slips when the batsman wason seven and Denly should havebeen out lbw on 54 but Australiafailed to review.

Stokes started his inningsslowly but accelerated, reachinghis fifty off 89 balls with a hugesix off leg-spinner MarcusLabuschagne over wide long-on.

The left-handed batsman issecond only to Smith in thecombined run-scoring chartsover the series, albeit more than300 runs adrift of the Australian'stotal of 751.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyonstruck twice in the morning ses-sion, removing Rory Burns andRoot but Australia failed to makea much-needed breakthroughafter lunch.

Burns and Denly put on 54for the first wicket — the highestopening stand of the series foreither side -- after surviving a tor-rid four over on Friday eveningduring which they scratched ninewithout loss and had Denlydropped by Marcus Harris.

The Australian opener splitthe webbing in his left hand in thedrop and did not take the field onSaturday. He required stitches butis expected to bat.

Off-spinner Lyon struck inhis third over when Burns bot-tom-edged a short ball outsideoff-stump, with wicketkeeperTim Paine taking the catch.

Root also fell in tame fashion,edging Lyon to Smith at slip for21 to leave England 87-2 in the28th over.

Jofra Archer put England inpole position on Friday, taking sixwickets to bowl Australia out for225, giving the home side a use-ful first-innings lead of 69.

Joe Denly plays a shot during the fifth match at Oval ICC/Twitter

India eye perfect start Men In Blue ready to take on Quinton de Kock-led Proteas in first T20

Rishabh Pant bats during a practice session before the 1st T20 against South Africa ICC/Twitter

Junior Dala, left, and Tabraiz Shamsi chat as they leave the ground AP

Aussies hopes fadeas Eng dominate

Rohit can help India chasedown targets: Bangar

order batsman in Tests but withHanuma Vihari sealing the number6 spot with some superlative perfor-mance in the Caribbeans, doorshave opened up for Rohit to seal theopening slot in Test.

Bangar said: “The key to his suc-cess will be if he maintains his

individual style of play. He hasto maintain his individuality.

“At the moment, there isno place in the settled

middle order in the Testteam. Opening will be anew challenge for him,

since he has rarely done itin the longer formats.

“But the advantage isthat he will get to batagainst a hard ball withplenty of gaps in thefield. He will also nothave to wait for his turnto bat, which will savehis mental energy.”

‘We need to take advantage ofIndia’s inexperienced pace attack’

Smith unfazed by burden ofAustralia run-scoring

Steve Smith raises his bat after scoring a half century during 5th test ICC/Twitter

Navdeep Saini bowls during net session BCCI/Twitter

Dhoni cares for Indiancricket, says Kohli

Indian Skipper Virat Kohli speaks during a press confrence AP

Miller in support of De Kock’s captaincy

David Miller steps over a boundary net AP