VIJAYAWADA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2022; PAGES 12 `3

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Page 12

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Updated FEBRUARY 2, 2021 5:00 PM

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Month & Paksham:

Magha & Sukla Paksha

Tithi : Tritiya : Feb 03 06:15 AM to Feb 04 04:38 AM

Chaturthi : Feb 04 04:38 AM to Feb 05 03:47 AM

Nakshatram : Shatabhisha: Feb 02 05:53 PM to Feb 03 04:34 PM

Purva Bhadrapada: Feb 03 04:34 PM to Feb 04 03:58 PM

Rahukalam : 1:54 PM to 3:19 PM

Yamagandam : 6:51 AM to 8:15 AM

Varjyam : 10:49 PM to 12:22 AM

Gulika : 9:40 AM to 11:05 AM

Amritakalam : 09:46 AM to 11:17 AM

Abhijit Muhurtham : 12:07 PM to 12:52 PM

Amaravati remains AP capitalPNS n NEW DELHI

Amaravati remains the capitalcity of Andhra Pradesh and it islearnt that the State governmenthas withdrawn a law to createthree capital cities, Minister ofState for Home Affairs NityanandRai said in Rajya Sabha onWednesday.

The minister, during theQuestion Hour in the UpperHouse, also said the division ofassets between Andhra Pradeshand Telangana, as per the AndhraPradesh Reorganisation Act, canbe speedily undertaken withmutual agreement and the Centrecan only act as a coordinatingagency. Responding to BJP leaderG V L Narasimha Rao's query on‘confusion’ over the capital city ofAndhra Pradesh, the ministersaid the State government had theright to take a decision on creat-ing a capital city.

On April 23, 2015, the Andhra

Pradesh government had declaredAmaravati as its capital. However,in July 2020, the State through alaw notified three capital cities -- Amaravati, Visakhapatnam andKurnool, he said.

"However, through newspapers,we have learnt that this has beenwithdrawn and a decision on cre-ating three capital cities or onecapital will be taken after a review.Right now, Amaravati is the cap-ital as notified by the State govern-

ment," he noted.YSRCP leader Vijaysai Reddy

asked if the government couldspeed up the division of assetsworth Rs 1,42,601 crore listedunder the Schedules 9 and 10 ofthe Andhra PradeshReorganisation Act.

To this, the minister said, "Wecannot give direction, but can onlyact as a coordinating agency."

There are institutions listedunder Schedule 9 of the AP

Reorganisation Act, for which acommittee was formed. It came upwith a list of 90 institutions andTelangana said it had no objectiontowards 68 of them. But AndhraPradesh agreed for 33 institutionsout of 68, he said.

Further, the minister said underSchedule 10 of the Act, there are112 training institutions. But thereis no provision for division ofthese assets under Section 75.

However, the Andhra Pradeshgovernment wants to divide theseassets according to the population,while Telangana wants it based onthe location.

The Attorney General of Indiais of the view that there is no pro-vision for such division, he said.The minister mentioned that theCentre has released Rs 35,730crore to Andhra Pradesh and Rs2,385 crore to Telangana after theState bifurcation in 2014.

New PRC for Discom staff

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The AP government has consti-tuted a separate Pay RevisionCommission for employees ofAPSPDCL, APCPDCL, APEPD-CL, APGENCO andAPTRANSCO.

The government issuedGOMs 4 on Wednesday,appointing retired IAS officerDr Manmohan Singh as the PayRevision Commission to studyand make recommendations onrevising pay and allowances andother benefits of the employeesrecr uited under ers twhi leAPSEB and also the employeesunder APSPDCL, APCPDCL,APEPDCL, APGENCO andAPTRANSCO.

The orders stated that theCommission shall submit itsreport to the government with-in a period of two months fromthe date of assumption ofcharge.

Manmohan Singh (AP-1985),who retired as Special ChiefSecretary, AP, had done mastersin Veter inar y Science andAnimal Husbandry from theVeterinary College, Jabalpur,and MBA from BirminghamUniversity (UK).

The government instructedthe Manmohan Commission tosuggest modifications for thepay and allowances of manage-rial employees, supervisorye mp l oy e e s , w or k m e n a n doffice support employees --re cr uite d under ers tw hi leAPSEB and now working withA P SP D C L , A P C P D C L ,APEPDCL, APTRANSCO andA P G E N C O a n d f u r t h e rre c r u i t e d by A P SP D C L ,A P C P D C L , A P E P D C L ,APTRANSCO and APGENCOafter the formation of thosecompanies.

AP’s intrerests neglected: Buganna PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh Finance MinisterBuggana Rajendranath Reddy hassaid that the Union Governmentneglected the interests of the Statein the Budget-2022. “It is disap-pointing that the promises made inthe AP State Reorganisation Act,2014 were not considered,” hesaid, and expressed dissatisfac-tion as there was no mention ofspecial status for the State,Polavaram project, infrastructurecreation, industries or Centralgovernment agencies in theBudget.

The minister said it would havebeen better if the Centre had allo-cated huge funds and increased thelimits on debt collection for theState governments, which are fac-ing severe difficulties due to theCovid pandemic, limited resources

and restrictions on loans. He said there was a significant

reduction in the allocation offunds for MGNREGA, fertilisers,and food subsidies. There is a risein the allocation of funds to JalJeevan Mission, NationalEducation Mission, and the

National Health Mission. However,there is a need for further alloca-tion of funds to the NationalHealth Mission in view of theevolving Covid situation,’ he said.

Rajendranath Reddy added thatthe Finance Commission grantsand Items of Transfer to States were

reduced, which in turn led todrop in the allocation of overallTransfer to States and UTs from Rs8.59 lakh crore in 2021-22 (RE) toRs 7.95 lakh crore in 2022-23(BE). It is observed that GSTmade a significant contribution tothe Gross Tax Revenue of theUnion government. Gross TaxRevenue has increased from Rs14.26 lakh crore in 2020-21(Actuals) to Rs 17.65 lakh crore in2021-22 (RE).

He said that the extension of theEmergency Credit Line GuaranteeScheme up to March 2023 andincreased allocation to CreditGuarantee Trust are imperative forthe revival of the MSME sector. Thedecision to procure domesticallywhat was needed for defense anddefense research was paramount.

n Govt forms seperate pay revision Commission

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

As the financial year 2021-22 is near-ing an end and in view of the prevail-ing financial crisis, the State govern-ment has directed all the districtadministrations to focus on complet-ing the works under the MahatmaGandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee (MGNREG) Scheme.

The government has broughtalmost all the development worksincluding roads, government build-ings and several others under theMGNREG Scheme. All the districtadministrations have been givenstrict directions to ensure thatevery rupee of the material compo-nent under the scheme is utilised.The government has also directedthem to clear the pending billsunder the scheme.

Meanwhile, the FinanceDepartment is facing troubles inclearing the bills and there is hugepressure on the government tocomplete various developmentworks, particularly in the ruralareas. Considering the demands ofthe MLAs and other elected repre-sentatives, the government hasdirected the district administrationsto complete maximum worksincluding roads, government build-ings, temples, drains and burialgrounds under the MGNREGS.

Highly-placed sources haverevealed that the government hasalso asked the district administra-tions to propose a majority ofworks under the scheme in thenext fiscal, too.

Focus on MGNREGS works n State govt directs districts administrations

Complete compassionateappointments by June 30: CMPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister Y S Jagan MohanReddy held the Spandana videoconference with District Collectorsand SPs and discussed a widerange of issues including PRC,Covid, MIG layouts, Spandanaredressals, housing and sustainabledevelopment goals.

During the meeting held here onWednesday, the Chief Ministerdirected the officials to focus oncompleting compassionateappointments of the dependents offrontline workers who succumbedto Covid. He instructed the author-ities to complete the process byJune 30 without any delay and alsoto focus on facilitating those jobsby making use of village and wardsecretariats.

Regarding MIG layouts, theChief Minister directed the officialsto allocate land to every eligibleemployee in the reserved 10 percent space along with 20 per centrebate. He said that employees

seeking plots should apply byMarch 5 and get registered, as it willshowcase the true demand and fur-ther can go with land acquisitions.Speaking on the probation of vil-lage/ward secretariat employees, hestated that probation must bedeclared by June 30, and all theemployees must receive newappointment letters by July 1. Heordered the completion of theprobation examinations for theremaining 25 per cent employeesat the earliest.

Discussing the Covid measures,the Chief Minister instructed themto be on high alert in view of theOmicron variant, especially forthe next two weeks. He directed theauthorities to try to bring down thepositivity rate and achieve 100 percent single-dose vaccination acrossthe State. Also, he directed the offi-cials to ensure that all Covid pro-tocols are being followed, and tocontinue the fever surveys.

Through newspapers, we havelearnt that this has beenwithdrawn and a decision oncreating three capital cities orone capital will be taken after areview. Right now, Amaravati isthe capital as notified by theState government,"

n Union Minister Nityanand Rai tells RS

Employees’ unions flayed over Chalo Vijayawada rallyPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The AP government had invited theprotesting government employeesfor fresh talks to resolve PRC andother issues and asked to call offChalo Vijayawada agitation, saidAdvisor to the Government (PublicAffairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.However, there was no responsefrom them, he said.

The government employees’associations and unions have calledfor Chalo Vijayawada rally andmeeting on February 3 and anindefinite strike from February 7for cancellation of the new PRC,restoration of CCA, continuation ofold HRA etc.Ramakrishna Reddy,on Wednesday, said that the gov-ernment was ready for talks on allaspects of pay revision and askedthem to defer all agitation pro-grammes till the negotiations werecompleted.

However, the unions gave a callfor Chalo Vijayawada rally onThursday, which cannot be toler-

ated, he said.He said that with such rallies,

they would only be creating awedge between them and the gov-ernment. The union leaders want-ed to show off their strength, butthe government wouldn’t allowthat.

Ramakrishna Reddy said Covid-19 restrictions would not permitsuch rallies.

Govt misleading people: union leadersPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The government has wrongly cal-culated employees' salaries and ismisleading the people by sayingthat the salaries have beenincreased, the PRC StruggleCommittee leaders havealleged. They criticisedthe government for cre-ating the illusion thatsalaries were raised.They asked the gov-ernment how salarieswould increase when thePRC was reduced. Theyexpressed dissatisfaction overthe government showing the oldarrears on pay slips and makingthem believe that salaries hadbeen increased. They set fire to the

pay slips in protest against the‘unscientific calculation’ ofsalaries.

PRC Struggle Committeeleader Bopparaju Venkateswarulusaid that the salaries credited to

the employees were calcu-lated without the

DDOs passing thebills and the STOs’approval.

He alleged thatsalaries weredeposited to those

who expired and tothe employees who

were under suspension,which had never happened in thepast.

CBI books EPFOofficials forsharing data,receiving bribesPNS n NEW DELHI

The CBI has booked over 20 offi-cers of EPFO in AndhraPradesh's Guntur for allegedlyreceiving money through pay-ment applications like PayTM,PhonePe and Google Pay amongothers from private providentfund consultants in return forperforming their regular dutieslike claim settlements, officialssaid Wednesday.

On getting an input that someEPFO officials are indulging ingross misconduct, the centralprobe agency had carried outjoint surprise check with EPFOvigilance department in region-al office in Guntur during whichit seized the mobile phones ofsome employees with their con-sent.

The scrutiny of their phonesshowed plethora of informationabout EPFO beneficiaries likeUAN, passwords, OTPs beingshared with some phone numbersof private PF consultants, they said.

Based on information,Vishakhapatnam unit of the CBIregistered four FIRs against theaccused officials and private per-sons, they said.

Trafficcurbs on

BRTS Roadtoday

Govt tries to foil protest rally, union leaders under house arrestPNS n VIJAYAWADA

As the NGO unions are determinedto organise the Chalo Vijayawadarally on Thursday, the police detainedthe NGO leaders at their houses andhead of the departments wereinstructed not to sanction leave, in a

bid to foil the protest programme. The NGO unions gave the Chalo

Vijayawada call to be organised onthe BRTC road here Thursday inprotest against the implementation ofnew PRC recommendations withouttheir consent. The unions aredemanding that the government

withhold the PRC recommenda-tions and disburse salaries as per theold PRC.

As a precautionary measure, thepolice detained some of the leadersat their houses at various places acrossthe State. They refused to give per-mission to the agitating NGOs to

organise the rally citing Covid pro-tocol. Some of the leaders wentunderground to participate in theprogramme on Thursday.

The government has directed theofficials not to sanction leave to gov-ernment employees and cancel theleave if already sanctioned. To take

part in the programme, many gov-ernment employees applied for leavewhich the government has rejected.

West Godavari District CollectorPrasanna Venkatesh issued orders tothe heads of all government depart-ments not to sanction leave to anyemployees.

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GOVERNMENT'S HEATED MEET WITHGOOGLE, TWITTER ON FAKE NEWS

Officials have held heated discussions with Google,Twitter and Facebook for not proactively removing whatthey described as fake news on their platforms, sources

told Reuters, the government's latest altercation with BigTech. The officials, from the Ministry of Information andBroadcasting (I&B), strongly criticised the companies andsaid their inaction on fake news was forcing the governmentto order content takedowns, which in turn drew internationalcriticism that authorities were suppressing free expression,two sources said.

ELON MUSK OFFERS $5,000 TO COLLEGESTUDENT TO NOT TRACK HIS PVT JET

Elon Musk offered $5,000 (roughly Rs. 3.75 lakh) to a tech-savvyteenager to stop tracking his private jet due to concerns about hispersonal safety. The teenager, a college student, was keeping tabs

on the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's private jet and that of several high-profile figures using publicly available data. Musk reached out to 19-year-old Jack Sweeney in November 2021 with his concernsregarding the Twitter account Sweeney runs, called Elon Musk's Jet(@ElonJet). But Sweeney turned down the offer and instead asked for$50,000 (roughly Rs. 37.55 lakh), saying it would cover his schoolfees and allow him to buy a car, possibly even a Tesla Model 3.

US TO SEND WARSHIP, FIGHTER JETS TOASSIST UAE AFTER YEMEN HOUTHI ATTACKS

The United States will deploy a guided missile destroyer andstate-of-the-art fighter jets to help defend the United ArabEmirates after a series of missile attacks by Yemeni rebels,

a US statement said Wednesday. The deployment, to "assistthe UAE against the current threat", follows a phone callbetween Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Abu Dhabi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the US embassy inthe UAE said. The UAE, part of the Saudi-led coalition fightingYemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, suffered its third missileattack in consecutive weeks on Monday.

MAFIA IN UP CAN BE FOUND IN JAILS ORSAMAJWADI PARTY CANDIDATE LIST: SHAH

Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah onWednesday took a swipe at Samajwadi Party (SP) sayingthat mafia in Uttar Pradesh can only be found in jails or

candidate list of the party. Addressing a public meeting atAtrauli, Mr Shah said, "If you search for mafia in Uttar Pradesh,then it is visible in only three places: Jail, outside Uttar Pradesh,and in the list of candidates of Samajwadi Party." Slamming boththe SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the BJP leader said,"The goons would harass the people of Uttar Pradesh underBehenji's (Mayawati) and Akhilesh (Yadav) ji's government."

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Bid for consensus betweenAP, TS on, says CentreNAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

Nearly 20 days after the face-off between Telangana andAndhra Pradesh, the Centrehas said that continuousefforts were underway to reacha consensus between the twoStates to resolve bilateralissues.

Responding to a questionin the Rajya Sabha, Ministerof State in the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs,Nityanand Rai said, “Manyprovisions of the AndhraPradesh Reorganisation Acthave been implemented andthe remaining provisions areat various stages of imple-mentation. There are certainissues which require agree-ment between the

Government of AndhraPradesh and Telangana.”

It may be mentioned herethat the Union HomeSecretary held a video confer-ence meeting on January 12,2022, with the ChiefSecretaries of AP and

Telangana along with repre-sentatives of the Ministriesconcerned, to review theimplementation of theAndhra PradeshReorganisation Act, 2014.

During the meeting, theTelangana government had

said that the issue of bifurca-tion of Schedule IX and Xinstitutions has been pendingbecause of court cases filed bythe Andhra Pradesh govern-ment and unless the cases arewithdrawn, progress cannotbe made on bifurcation ofSchedule IX institutions.

Issues like the AP StateFinancial Corporation,Singareni Collieries Companyand its subsidiary AP HeavyMachinery and Engineering,AP Bhavan and tax arrearsand refund as mentioned inSection 50, 51, and 56 of theBifurcation Act, institutionswhich were not listed in theAct, division of cash balance,bank deposits and electricityarrears due from theTelangana Discom to APGenco were also discussed.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court said onWednesday that every action ofthe State is required to be guid-ed by the touchstone of non-arbi-trariness, reasonableness andrationality and is equally requiredto be guided by public interest.

It said that power distributioncompanies (DISCOMS) areinstrumentalities of the Statewithin the meaning of Article 12of the Constitution of India andevery holder of a public office isa trustee, whose highest duty isto the people of the country.

The top court deprecated theconduct of DISCOMS in AndhraPradesh for purchasing power ata higher rate and said rather thanacting in public interest, they haveacted contrary to it.

These remarks were made bya bench of Justices L N Rao andB R Gavai in its verdict on a pleafiled by DISCOMS challengingthe January 7, 2020 order passedby the Appellate Tribunal forElectricity (APTEL) allowingthe appeal of Hinduja NationalPower Corporation Limited

(HNPCL).APTEL directed the Andhra

Pradesh Electricity RegulatoryCommission (APERC) to dis-pose of a plea filed by HNPCLfor determination of capital costand the plea filed by the DIS-COMS for approval of amend-ed and restated Power PurchaseAgreement (PPA) on merits.

The top court refused to inter-fere with the orders of APTEL andasked APERC to decide the pleaspending before it within sixmonths from the date of thejudgement.

It further directed, Needless tosay that till (pleas) are decided bythe State Commission, the appel-lants - DISCOMS shall forthwithstart purchasing the power fromHNPCL at the rate of Rs 3.82 perunit as per the orders passed by theAPTEL dated March 16, 2018 andby this Court dated August 21,2020 .

The bench said, Undisputedly,the appellants-DISCOMS areinstrumentalities of the State andas such, a State within the mean-ing of Article 12 of the Constitutionof India. Every action of a State is

required to be guided by the touch-stone of non -arbitrariness, reason-ableness and rationality. Everyaction of a State is equally requiredto be guided by public interest .

The bench said that everyholder of a public office is a trustee,whose highest duty is to the peo-ple of the country and the publicauthority is therefore required toexercise the powers only for thepublic good.

We ask a question to ourselves,as to whether public interest,which is so vociferously pressedinto service in the present matterby the appellants - DISCOMS, liesin purchasing the power at the rateof Rs 3.82 per unit from HNPCLor by purchasing it at the rate ofRs 4.33 per unit from KSKMahanadi. We strongly deprecatesuch a conduct of the appellants -DISCOMS, which are instru-mentalities of the State. The appel-lants - DISCOMS, rather than act-ing in public interest, have actedcontrary to public interest, it said.

The bench added that for defy-ing the orders passed by this Court,it could very well have initiated theaction against the officials of the

DISCOMS for having committedcontempt of this Court, but it isrefraining itself from doing so.

It said that petitions filed byDISCOMS, are acts, which havebeen done wrongfully and wilful-ly without reasonable and proba-ble cause which is affecting pub-lic interest and public good, with-out there being any rational or rea-sonable basis for the same.

Though serious allegations ofmala fide have been made byHNPCL, we do not find it neces-sary to go into those allegations.However, in our view, the presentcase would squarely fit in the realmof legal malice' or malice in law',the bench said.

It said that the APTEL orderimpugned before us cannot be saidto be of such a nature, which canbe said to be prejudicial to theinterests of any of the parties.

What has been done by theAPTEL is only to direct the StateCommission to dispose of...filedfor determination of capital costand...filed for approval ofAmended and Restated PPA(Continuation Agreement) onmerits , it said.

Rationality should be the touchstone: SC

Employees determined to hold ‘Chalo Vijayawada’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The police in Vijayawada arekept on high alert in the wakeof the Chalo Vijayawada pro-gramme. Though the policehad denied permission toorganise the rally, the employ-ees are gathering here as perthe call given by the PRCStruggle Committee againstthe State government’s PRCand other issues. The policedetained employees andteachers' union leaders acrossthe State to foil the rally.

The police had denied per-mission for the protest pro-gramme citing the prevailingCovid-19 situat ion anddetained leaders of variousunions of governmentemployees and teachers invarious districts.

Leaders in various placeswere placed under housearrest and a few were sum-moned to police stations to

serve notices, directing themnot to leave for Vijayawadaand warning of legal action.The police stopped theemployees from proceedingtowards Vijayawada at variousplaces. In Vizianagaram,Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam,Nellore, Anantapur and otherdistricts, many union leaderswere detained by the police.The cops have also set upcheck posts on the highway tostop employees from pro-ceeding to Vijayawada.

Vijayawada city police andKrishna district police aredetermined to foil the ChaloVijayawada call given by thePRC Struggle Committee aspart of their State-wide agita-tion for withdrawing the newPRC. The PRC StruggleCommittee has decided toconduct a rally and a meetingfrom 10 am to 2 pm on BRTSroad.

Commissioner of Police

Kanti Rana Tata has made itclear there is no permissionfor the rally. He said the per-mission for the rally on BRTSRoad was denied in the back-drop of increasing Covidcases in the city and the State.He said as per the Centralgovernment’s Covid guide-lines, more than 200 peopleshould not be gathered out-doors and less than 100indoor.s The Commissionerhas appealed to the employ-ees not to come to Vijayawadaor the BRTS Road. He saidSection 30 and Section 144 ofthe CRPC have been imple-mented in the city. More thanfive persons should notassemble at one place as perthe orders.

Krishna Distr ictSuperintendent of PoliceSiddharth Kaushal has alsoannounced that there is nopermission for the ChaloVijayawada programme. He

said the police had taken thedecision for the safety ofemployees. He said Section144 was in force and askedthe employees not to partic-ipate in the rally.

District Collector J Nivassaid problems could be solvedamicably through discussionsand suggested that the PRCStruggle Committee leadersresolve the issues throughdialogue. He said the employ-ees had the right to take theirdemands to the notice of thegovernment. Committeeleaders A Vidya Sagar andothers met the Collector atthe camp office. The leadersstated that gross injustice wasmeted out to them by the gov-ernment. They said the gov-ernment had not revealedthe PRC committee report sofar and allowances werereduced to the employees.Joint Collector K MadhaviLatha was also present on the

occasion.Retired employee G

Ratnam Kumar fromMachilipatnam said that hewould reach Vijayawada byhook or crook and take partin the Chalo Vijayawada rally.He said that the police werealso government employeesand they should understandthat the struggle was for everyemployee and cooperate withthem for a peaceful protest.

G Askara Rao, PRCStruggle Committee leader,said that the governmentshould release the AshutoshMishra commission reportand then sit for talks. Theywould organise the ChaloVijayawada rally come whatmay as the employees wereready to face any eventuality.The government, instead ofusing police force, should tryall options to resolve theissue before it goes out ofhand, he said.

Complete compassionateContinued from Page 1

He ordered the district collec-tors to review the 104 call cen-ter, ensuring that quickresponse is given to the callersand turning it into a one-stopsolution for all Covid queries.

Fill vacancies in hospitals

Further, the Chief Ministeremphasised on filling all thevacant posts in all governmenthospitals right from villageclinics to super speciality hos-pitals, and directed them to fillall the appointments by theend of February. Every hospi-tal should have adequate doc-tors, paramedics, nurses andother staff. He warned that hewould hold collectors and theHealth Department account-able if there were any morevacancies after March 1.

Reviewing the housingscheme, the Chief Ministerdirected the authorities toensure 100 per cent groundingof all the 15.60 lakh houses thatare being constructed in thefirst phase by March 31. Hetold them to focus on resolv-ing the court cases and assistthe beneficiaries in availing ofbank loans for their houses andinstructed the collectors, jointcollectors and municipal com-missioners to conduct period-ical inspections.

The Chief Minister empha-sised on controlling the con-

struction cost by setting upbrick manufacturing unitswithin the layouts to reduce thetransportation charges, andby procuring cement and steelat subsidy prices. He orderedthe officials to sanction houseplots to all the eligible peoplewithin 90 days of applying.Further, he ordered the offi-cials to focus on the OTSscheme by organising specialcamps for handing over theregistration documents to thebeneficiaries.

Solve Spandana petitionsquickly

The Chief Minister said thatthe Spandana portal was updat-ed, and the petitions could nowbe tracked. He added that dis-trict collectors should reviewthe status of Spandana petitionstwice a week.

The collectors should focuson pending petitions andcheck why they were pendingfor more than the stipulatedperiod and solve the petitionseffectively. The Chief Ministersaid 11 per cent of the petitionswere repeated and directedthe collectors to focus on whythe petitioners were not satis-fied. District collectors shouldvisit RDO offices thrice amonth and discuss with offi-cials the issues related to rev-enue, lands, developmentactivities and village/ wardsecretariats.

Speaking on SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDG),

the Chief Minister directed thedistrict collectors to focus on43 indicators of SDG andcomplete the targets in thosesectors. Effective implementa-tion of Navaratnalu and otherwelfare schemes will help toimprove SDG indicators. Heinstructed the district collec-tors to focus on sustainablefinancial growth indicatorsand create awareness amongofficials and staff on them.

Further, reviewing MGN-REGS, he said that each districtshould complete one lakhworking days in two monthsso that the target of providing26 crore working days could bereached. He said to focus onmaterial component expendi-ture in the coming twomonths.

On the welfare schemes,the Chief Minister mentionedthat Jagananna Chedoduscheme would be launchedon February 8, input subsidyon February 15, JaganannaThodu on February 22, VidyaDeevena on March 8 andVasati Devena on March 22.

Panchayat Raj MinisterPeddireddy RamachandraReddy, MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment Minister BotsaSatyanarayana, Chief SecretaryDr Sameer Sharma, DGPGoutam Sawang, PrincipalSecretaries of various depart-ments and other officials werepresent.

Amaravatiremains...Continued from Page 1

Responding to anotherquery by BJP leader T GVenkatesh, who sought theCentre's intervention to stopTelangana from using waterfrom its project on down-stream of Srisailam projectfor power generation andirrigation, the minister saidthat the Jal Shakti Ministrylooked into such matters.

So far, 26 meetings havebeen held under the chair-manship of the HomeSecretary. The issue will betaken up in the next meeting,he added.

Venkatesh also asked if theCentre could intervene toclear the pending power billsto the tune of Rs 6,000 crore,including interest, from theTelangana governmenttowards Andhra Pradesh.The minister replied thatthe issue was related topending power bills betweentwo States.

To BJP leader C MRamesh's suggestion that theUnion Home Ministershould call a meeting of thetwo chief ministers to resolvethe issues, the minister said,"The Home Minister hasurged both States to resolvethe issues mutually. His sug-gestion is good and we alsowish the same."

CBI books EPFO officialsContinued from Page 1

"Further, the data exchangedbetween officials and suchprivate consultants reveals thatthey are receiving illegal grat-ification/undue advantage inlieu of doing the EPFO officialwork. The undue advantage inthe form of money is unautho-risedly obtained through dif-ferent mobile payment apps asPayTM, PhonePe and GooglePay etc," the FIR alleged.

The analysis of phonesshowed that employees werereceived screenshots of pay-ments made through mobileapps after they shared UANand respective passwords withconsultants, it alleged.

"Searches were conductedat the residential and officepremises of the accused locat-ed at about 40 places inGuntur, Ongole, Chirala,Vijayawada and Guntupally inAndhra Pradesh which led torecovery of certain incrimi-nating documents," CBIspokesperson RC Joshi said.

In a separate case related toRs 18 crore alleged fraudrelated to EPF claims inEPFO, Mumbai the CBI hasconducted searches at fourlocation in Mumbai in whichRs 13.40 lakh (approx) havebeen recovered in cash.

On December 30 last year,the CBI had booked severalofficers of EPFO Mumbai for

allegedly settling fraudulentclaims in 712 bogus PFaccounts causing loss to thetune of Rs.18.97 crore(approx) to the EPF corpus.

"It was further alleged thataccused adopted a uniquemodus operandi and createdbogus PF accounts in thename of certain persons ofclosed companies, showedcredits of approx. Rs. 2 lakh to4 lakh against each accountand drew the amounts fromthese accounts by filing fakeclaims. It was also allegedthat the claims were found tobe settled to the memberswith bank accounts in differ-ent parts of country," Joshisaid.

Employees’unions flayedover Chalo...Continued from Page 1

If they crossed their limits,the police would enter thescene and take stringentaction, he said. It was notproper on the part of theemployees to insist on theirthree demands -- payment ofold salaries, withdrawal ofGOs on pay revision anddisclosure of the originalPRC report. He said how canthe GOs be withdrawn whensalaries were already paid?And what would they dowith the PRC report?

On the other hand, thepolice kept several employees’union leaders under housearrest to prevent them fromgoing to Vijayawada forThursday’s rally. Checkpostswere erected at all districtborders and if anybody madeany attempt, they would betaken into preventive custody,the police said.

Focus on MGNREGSworks ...

AP’s intrerestsneglected:Buganna... Continued from Page 1

The al location for thedefense sector in the lastbudget was Rs 13.89 lakhcrore to Rs 15.23 lakh crore.He said the increase from Rs2.04 lakh crore to Rs 2.39lakh crore was a positivedevelopment. But the provi-sion for interest payments isRs 8.14 lakh crore to Rs. 9.41lakh crore. Gross TaxRevenue this year is expect-ed to touch Rs. 17.65 lakhcrore, he said.

“The fiscal deficit is pro-jected to decline to 9.21percent in 2020–21 and 6.85percent in 2021–22. Therevenue deficit is projectedto fall to 7.34 percent ofGDP in 2020–21 from 4.34percent in 2021–22,” he said.

On the bright side, theconcept of seven engines –Roads, Railways, Airports,Ports, Mass Transport,Waterways, Logistics andInfrastructure — andNational Master Plan forworld-class modern infra-structure are good initia-tives. Further, the allocationof funds to national high-ways is almost doubled,which is remarkable, theminister said.

Continued from Page 1

Stringent directions haveb e e n g ive n to a l l t hedepartments that all thematerial component fundsshould be utilised and theinformation on the com-pleted works and statusshould be passed to therespective MLAs. All thebi l l s of t he comple tedworks should be uploadedwithout delay. The govern-ment has also assured to

release Rs.1,100 crore fundsto execute and clear thepending bills in February.

"Yes, the government hasdirected the authorities tocomplete all the proposedworks in the present fiscal.The government has alsoassured to clear all thepending bills. There will beweekly review meetings tocheck the status of theworks and bills," said oneof the Collectors in thestate.

Govt misleading people: union leadersContinued from Page 1

He pointed out that the policeforce was used to foil theChelo Vijayawada programmeby bounding over the districtleaders.

He questioned how arrestscan be made when permissionwas denied one day earlier.

Employees’ leaderSuryanarayana flayed the gov-ernment for depositing salariescompulsively at midnight andsaid that pay slips were set afireout of anger towards the gov-

ernment. “Cases will be filedagainst the officials for theft ofthe code and getting the workdone by private agents,” he said,and added that by arrestingunion leaders, the governmentcould not stop the agitation. Herecalled that during the Covidpandemic, the employees werefrontline warriors.

“The work humans are sup-posed to do is being done bymachines and salaries aredeposited to the dead andsuspended employees. Eversince the government was

formed, everything has been inreverse,” said Bandi SrinivasRao.

He alleged that CheloVijayawada permission wasgiven two days before and onTuesday the permission wasdenied. He questioned howCovid infections that werenot there two days earlier hadcome into play to cancel thepermission for the pro-gramme. Srinivas Rao saidthat the protest was also for thefamilies of cops and said thatall should unitedly protest

against the government fortheir rights.

Venkat Rami Reddy saidthat the government shouldrelease the Ashutosh MishraCommission report to put anend to the present issues. Hesaid that the employees weredischarging the duties withoutbasic knowledge on calcula-tions. The government officialsneed to recognise the issuesand ensure that there is noconflict and issue the PRC thatwill benefit the employees, headded.

Continued from Page 1

The Commission will examinethe present structure of pay,allowances and other emolu-ments, and terms and condi-tions including, promotionalavenues and fringe benefitsavailable to the above cate-gories of employees and sug-gest changes, if any, requiredduly benchmarking withpower companies in variousStates in the country.

The Commission may alsoexamine the issue of stagnationof employees for long periodsof service. It will examine andsuggest changes, if any, to thebenefits available to pension-ers of erstwhile APSEBemployees, who were guaran-

teed pension by the State gov-ernment.

The Commission will lookinto the anomalies in the lastpay revision and such othermatters specifically referredto it by the government andsuggest remedial measures. Itwill list out such posts beingoperated by the power compa-nies with and without Stategovernment sanction, and toexamine the present setup ofposts as a whole and make sug-gestions including to increaseefficiency, accountability andmaking the posts more cus-tomer-friendly.

The Commission will con-sider the need for a gender sen-sitive post structure, especial-ly multifaceted issues faced by

women employees, and makesuggestions for remedial mea-sures. It will review the exist-ing regulations and proce-dures for fixation of pay andallowances and suggest meth-ods for simplification thereofwith a view to reduce cost andtime spent on such exercises.

The government alsoinstructed the panel to assessand indicate the additionalfinancial commitment onaccount of implementation ofits recommendations, includ-ing the methodology/ assump-tions adopted for such assess-ment. In formulating its rec-ommendations, theCommission shall take intoaccount the overall financialposition of the Power Utilities.

New PRC for Discom staff...

Review Covid 2nd dose dailyPNS n NEW DELHI

Noting that timely completion ofthe Covid vaccination scheduleis important to confer full pro-tection of vaccines to the recip-ients, the Centre has asked thestates and Union Territories toreview the coverage of seconddose amongst adolescents daily.

In a letter to the states and UTs,Union Health Secretary RajeshBhushan said a tailored commu-

nication strategy, focused at ado-lescent population and theircaregivers, should also be rolledout to make them aware aboutthe timely completion of vacci-nation schedule and sustain theirvaccine confidence.

"I hereby request you to directthe concerned officials to accel-erate the 2nd dose coverageamongst due beneficiaries aged15-18 years while also ensuringthat remaining beneficiaries for

1 dose also receive it in a time-bound manner, Bhushan said.

Noting that timely completionof COVID-19 vaccinationschedule is important to conferfull protection of vaccines to therecipients, Bhushan said "it isimportant that the coveragesecond dose amongst adoles-cents is reviewed daily at yourlevel at state/UT and similarreview is undertaken at districtlevel as well."

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2022

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP State president KAtchannaidu, on Wednesday,accused Chief Minister Y SJagan Mohan Reddy and hisparty leaders of endangeringthe lives of innocent people byselling substandard and high-priced liquor. Atchannaiduheld the Jagan ReddyGovernment totally responsi-ble for the death of four trib-als at Rajavommangi in EastGodavari district after drink-ing spurious and adulteratedtoddy.

In a statement here, the TDPleader said that poor peoplewere unable to buy the JaganReddy liquor brands as their

rates were abnormally priced.Moreover, cheap and harmfulbrands were being sold. As aresult, the poor people weretaking alternative drinks liketoddy and sanitisers.

Atchannaidu recalled howover 50 persons lost their lives

after drinking sanitisers duringthe Covid pandemic. Thosetragedies took place onlybecause they could not affordhighly-priced liquor brands.

The TDP leader blamed theChief Minister for so manyfamilies being thrown on theroads after losing their kin tothe ruthless liquor policy.“Jagan Reddy should at leastnow stop endangering the livesof people for the sake of hisliquor commissions from thecompanies,” he said.

Atchannaidu demanded thatthe YSRCP Governmentshould immediately extend allpossible financial assistanceto the bereaved family mem-bers.

PNS n AMARAVATI

TDP national spokesman K.Pattabhi Ram, on Wednesday,asked why Education MinisterAdimulapu Suresh failed toattend a debate on the changeof norms by the governmentfor giving 'chikki tenders' to sixfavoured companies.

Pattabhi said that heoffered to prove the fraud thattook place in giving Rs. 200-crore tenders to dubious com-panies, but Suresh was afraidof accepting the TDP chal-lenge. Addressing a pressconference here, the TDPleader demanded that theminister explain whetherKendriya Bhandar was a TDPcompany. “Was it not a factthat the Central Governmentowned 68.19 percent stake inKendriya Bhandar,” he asked.

Pattabhi said that the JaganMohan Reddy Governmentcarried out its nefarious planand disqualified KendriyaBhandar, which was other-wise known as the CentralGovernment EmployeesConsumer Coop Society. Itwas also a fact that the

Kendriya Bhandar local man-agement filed petitions inthe High Court of AndhraPradesh challenging the APGovernment's action.

The TDP leader assertedthat their party would findout how much commissionthe minister had taken fromthe six companies that hadgot the Rs 200-crore tendersin a draconian manner. TheTDP would not be afraid ofAdimulapu Suresh's emptythreats to file defamation suitin the chikki tenders allega-tions.

Pattabhi said that the rul-

ing YSRCP leaders wouldnot be able to suppress factsin frauds forever. Finally, atsome point or other, the gov-ernment would have to giveits answers to the people onthe countless scams that weretaking place.

The TDP leader lamentedthat the Chief Minister andthe Education Ministerchanged the tender guidelinesto favour their favourite com-panies for their commissions.It was unpardonable that theywere looking for commissionseven in the chikki sweetsmeant for the school children.

Pattabhi asked how thechikki tender could be givento Maruthi Agros, which hadno eligibility even to file thebid. To file the bid, any com-pany should have to givethree years details of IncomeTax returns and GST docu-ments. But, Maruthi Agrosgot the GST registration onlyon September 30, 2020.

The TDP leader termed itas bankrupt on the part ofminister Suresh to say that thegovernment had asked for ITreturns only, but not GSTreturns. “How could the min-ister tell such blatant lies?Even to file an IT return, acompany should have GSTregistration. How couldMaruthi Agros file IT returnswithout having GST registra-tion,” he added.

Process transparent:Minister Meanwhile,Education MinisterAdimulapu Suresh stronglycondemned the allegationsmade by the TDP onJagananna Gorumuddhascheme. Addressing a mediaconference at the secretariat,the minister said that the

procurement of materials forthe scheme was done througha tender process in a transpar-ent way.

Minister Suresh said thatthe TDP was working againstthe government and spread-ing false propaganda. "We areproviding quality food to thestudents through JagannathGorumudda. We are provid-ing chikkis and eggs to thestudents as part of thescheme,” he said. He criticisedthe TDP and the ‘yellowmedia’ who were spreadingrumors about the scheme.

The minister said that thegovernment had spent Rs350 crore on chikki for stu-dents through JaganannaGorumuddha scheme. Tosave public money, reversetendering was introducedand supplies were donethrough fresh tenders. Theminister made it clear thatthere was no room for cor-ruption and everything wasdone transparently. He saidthat as the number of stu-dents increased, more chikkiswere purchased in a transpar-ent way, he claimed.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Minister for Tourism andYouth Affairs M. SrinivasaRao has directed the officialsto speed up the works in con-nection with the Nadu-Neduprogramme of the govern-ment schools. The mapping ofmodernisation under theNadu-Nedu scheme should beattended to swiftly, the minis-ter said.

While reviewing variousdevelopment works in the dis-trict, the minister enquiredabout the Nadu-Nedu schoolmodernisation works. Theminister said that the govern-ment was not closing downschools, but giving them afacelift. The primary, upperprimary and high schoolswould be changed to founda-tion, foundation plus, pre-high school, high school andhigh school plus.

For every subject fromClass III to X, at least 11teachers would be ensured,including nine subject teach-ers and one headmaster. Toensure better teaching ofEnglish and Mathematics,additional subject teacherswould be appointed, the min-ister said.

Additional Director, APSchool Education A. SubbaReddy explained the changesin the education system and

their benefits. He gave aPowerPoint presentation onthe government's new educa-tion policy, benefits to thestudents and how the youngminds would be ignitedunder the new system.

Zilla Parishad ChairpersonSubhadra, VMRDAChairperson A. VijayaNirmala, Collector Dr A.Mallikharjuna and GVMCCommissioner Dr. G.Lakshmisha were present.

Speed up Nadu-Nedu works: MinisterGovernment is not closing down schools, but giving them a facelift, he said

Spurious liquor: Atchanna holdsgovt responsible for death of tribals

Minister lying about Rs 200-cr chikki tenders: TDP

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Vijayawada police, whichrefused permission to the ChaloVijayawada rally on BRTS Road,further imposed restriction onvehicular traffic on Thursday.Vijayawada City PoliceCommissioner Kanti Rana Tatasaid that no vehicle would beallowed from 5 am to 3 pm onBRTS Road on Thursday andappealed to the people to coop-erate with the police.

The vehicles fromSinghnagar, Vambay colony,Kandrika and Nunna would benot allowed onto BRTS Roadand they would be divertedthrough Budameru bridge,Prabhas College, FCI godownsand Eluru Locks into the city.

The vehicles fromDevinagar, Madhuranagar,M u t y a l a m a p a d u ,Satyanarayanapuram will bediverted to GS Raju Road,Satyanarayanapuram old Police

Station, Prabhas College, FCIand Eluru Locks.

The vehicles fromRamavarappadu and Gundalawill be diverted to Eluru Road.The vehicles from Pejjonipet,Kedareswarapet, Ayodhyanagar

and BRTS Road to Singhnagarwill be diverted through FCI,Prabhas College andSinghnagar Flyover.

The vehicles from one-town,two-town, Bhavanipuram,Gollapudi and Ibrahimpatnam

will be diverted throughErrakatta Road, FCI and EluruLocks and these vehicles will bediverted through PrabhasCollege-Singhnagar Flyover togo towards Singhnagar, Nunnaand other areas.

Traffic curbs on BRTS Road today

Vijayawada Parcel Officeearns record revenuePNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Vijayawada Parcel Officehas recorded its highest everrevenue in January. Railwayofficials stated that the ParcelOffice generated Rs. 1.34crore in January, surpassing itsprevious best parcel revenueof Rs.1.16 crore duringDecember, 2021 by a marginof 15 per cent. In January,1,540 tonnes of commoditieswere loaded from theVijayawada Parcel Office, withfish and other aqua productsoccupying the lion’s sharefetching Rs. 62 lakh. Twenty-four Parcel Vans (VPU) wereloaded and attached to ParcelSpecials during January withlivestock and eggs to North-Eastern parts like Guwahati,Dimapur and Agartala, fur-ther adding revenue of Rs 42Lakh. Rest of the earnings wasfrom betel leaves, regular hardparcels, medicines etc.

The Railway officials statedthat the running of weeklyParcel Specials by SouthCentral Railway to the NorthEastern States have contributedin generating revenue for theDivision. Also, there is anunprecedented demand fromtraders and merchants to trans-

port the consignments to theNorth-Eastern parts. In 2020-2021, the highest parcel rev-enue from Vijayawada was Rs88 lakh, achieved in January2021. The earnings ofVijayawada Parcel Office havegrown leaps and bounds thanthe previous year throughmeticulous planning with spe-cial focus on the transportationof essential commodities, alongwith relentless efforts of theBusiness Development Unit

(BDU) at the field-level. Divisional Railway Manager,

Vijayawada, Shivendra Mohanhas complimented P BhaskarReddy, Senior DivisionalCommercial Manager, KRajendra Prasad, DivisionalCommercial Manager, and theentire Parcel Office staff fortheir hard work and dedicationin improving the parcel earn-ings during the current year inspite of the pandemic-relatedchallenges.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chiefof the Naval Staff (CNS),accompanied by Kala HariKumar, president of the NavyWives Welfare Association(NWWA), has arrived inVisakhapatnam on a two-dayvisit to the Eastern NavalCommand (ENC). He wasreceived by Vice AdmiralBiswajit Dasgupta, Flag OfficerCommanding-in-Chief ENCat INS Dega and was accordeda ceremonial Guard of Honour.

Admiral Hari Kumar helddiscussions with BiswajitDasgupta on the ongoingissues of the Eastern NavalCommand. He was given anoverview of the operationaland administrative activities ofENC and was briefed on theCovid mitigation measuresundertaken by the Command.The CNS was apprised aboutthe preparatory activities forPresident’s Fleet Review (PFR)and Multinational NavalExercise, MILAN, which arescheduled to be held inVisakhapatnam later thismonth. The CNS, along with

the Commanding-in-Chief,embarked ships of the EasternFleet and reviewed the oper-ational preparedness of thefleet which included weaponfirings and special forces oper-ations.

The CNS visited key oper-ational and maintenance facil-ities including the NavalDockyard and reviewed theprogress of ongoing projects.He addressed the officers andsailors of ENC and interactedwith them. He was briefed onthe recently activated PortableContainer Medical Facilityonboard INS Gharial, a keyHADR enabler of the IndianNavy. The Admiral also visit-ed NSTL to review the IndianNavy’s developmental projectsbeing progressed with DRDOduring his visit.

Kala Hari Kumar interact-ed with Sarbani Dasgupta,president of NWWA easternregion, and group coordina-tors of the association. She wasbriefed on various welfare ini-tiatives and activities under-taken by NWWA during hervisit to some of the facilities inVisakhapatnam.

Chief of Naval Staff reachesENC on two-day visit

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Director General of Police(DGP) Gautam Sawang inau-gurated the massive plantationprogramme using Miyawakimethod at AP Sixth Battalionat Mangalagiri on Wednesday.

Home Minister MekathotiSucharitha attended the eventvirtually and praised the effortsof the police in increasing thegreen cover. DGP Sawang,addressing the media, said thatthe plantation programme wasbeing organised under theDevelopment of Urban Forestscheme at all eight places ofbattalions in the State. He saidthat 19,774 saplings would beplanted in 15.35 acres during

the drive following theMiyawaki method.

He appreciated the efforts ofAdditional Director General ofPolice (ADGP- Battalions)Shankabrata Bagchi and ForestDepartment officials for iden-tifying the suitable location andcreating awareness on the needfor green among the policeforce.

The DGP explained thatusing the Miyawaki method,urban forest ecosystems can bedeveloped by planting differ-ent species of trees and shrubstogether. “The plant commu-nity works very well togetherand is perfectly adapted tolocal weather conditions,” theDGP added.

Massive urban plantationscheme launched

PNS n GUNTUR

Home Minister MekathotiSucharita launched develop-ment of urban forest pro-gramme virtually from hiscamp office on Wednesday.

DGP Gautham Sawang andother officials participated inthe development of urban for-est programme held at the 6 thbattalion of APSP nearMangalagiri. The police offi-cers on the occasion planted19,774 saplings in all battalions.The police and forest officers,their family members, schoolchildren participated and plant-ed saplings in the programme.

Home Ministerlaunches urbanforest programme

PNS n HYDERABAD

Police have launched a detailedprobe into the fire accident atSri Sri Holistic hospital inNizampet on Mondaynight.The fire which broke outaround 11 pm engulfed theoperation theatre damagingMRI, CT- Scan and X-rayequipment. The police saidprimary investigations revealedthat a short circuit in cellar 1caused the fire mishap. BKishan Kumar, Inspector,KPHB said they have asked thehospital management to submitdocuments relating to buildingpermit, NOC from fire depart-ment and the fire safety mea-sures in place in the hospital.

Cops launch probe

into hospital fire

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana governmenthas allocated Rs 32 crore tomodernise mortuaries. Allthe 116 mortuaries in theState which are in poor shapewill be getting freezers, stor-age rooms and staff.

A GO was issued byHealth Secretary SAM Rizvisanctioning Rs 32.54 crore toTSMSIDC for modernisingmortuaries. Of this, Rs 11.95crore will be used for repairs,renovations and for upgrad-ing mortuaries in the 10teaching hospitals controlledby the Director of MedicalEducation.

The teaching hospitals are

Osmania, Gandhi Hospital,Chest Hospital and theteaching hospitals inMahbubanagar, Adilabad,Nalgonda, Sur yapet ,Siddipet, Nizamabad andWarangal.

An amount of Rs 21.42crore will be used for repairsand renovation of the mortu-aries in 51 hospitals underthe control of the TelanganaVaidya Vidhana Parishad.

“The expenditure will bemet from the Aarogyasreerevolving fund. The ChiefExecutive Off icer,Aarogyasree HealthcareTrust, Hyderabad, is direct-ed to release the funds,” theGO said.

Govt sanctions Rs 32 croreto upgrade mortuaries

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Social WelfareResidential EducationalInstitutions Society(TSWREIS) is holding spotadmissions into first-year BALLB degree course in TelanganaSocial Welfare Residential LawCollege (TSWRLC), LB Nagar.

Candidates who have qualifiedin the Telangana State LawCommon Entrance Test (TSLAWCET) 2021 can register forthe spot admissions using the linkhttps://lawcetadm. tsche.ac.in/spot/info/index?cc=TRCW, theTSWREIS said on Tuesday.Registered candidates should visitthe college on or before February4 with a copy of the applicationsubmitted online and for furtherdetails, can contact 7075759801.

TSWREIS spotadmissionsbegin for law courses

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

Palamuru University Vice-Chancellor L B LakshmikanthRathod, Registrar PawanKumar and officialsMadhusudhan Reddy onWednesday felicitated folksinger Kinnera DarshnamMogulaiah on the later beingconferred Padma Shri. Thefolk singer was presented theUniversity memento.

The University authoritiesalso extended financial helpto Mogulaiah to enable himto travel to Delhi to receivethe award.

Speaking on the occasion,the Vice-Chancellor praisedthe folk singer for protectingthe endangered art form. Heexpressed his happiness overMogulaiah beign awarded

Padma Shri. He hailed fromMahbubnagar. He said theUniversity would publish thefolk singer's photo on its aca-demic calendar and hold ameeting to enable the stu-

dents to understand the artform.

University coordinatorPravin and the staff SuryaNayak, Srisailam and otherswere present.

Palamuru University Vice-Chancellor and University officials felicitating folksinger Kinnera Mogulaiah in Mahabubnagar on Wednesday

Folk singer Kinnera Mogulaiah felecitatedPNS n NAGARKURNOOL

Stree Nidhi Manager VikramKumar said that the aim ofStree Nidhi is to develop poorwomen in rural and urbanareas economically and social-ly. The women members whohave taken loans from StreeNidhi have to repay loans reg-ularly so that the money canbe given to other needywomen. Proper repaymentof loans will help for womenempowerment, he said.

Vikram Kumar participat-ed in a programme which wasconducted for distributionof loans to members in PeddaMuddunuru and Chandubatla villages of Nagarkurnoolmandal on Wednesday. Themembers have to explain towomen who had obtained

loans about the losses whichwould be caused by bad debtsor non-performing assets(NPAs). The state govern-ment has established StreeNidhi to provide loans onlower interest to women whowant to start their trade unitsor to conduct business. The

loans will be given with banklinkage and without delay.The aim of the government isto empower poor womeneconomically and socially,he said. If loans are not paidpromptly, then loans cannotbe given to other needywomen, he added.

‘Stree Nidhi helps empowerment of poor women’

04VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2022

PNS n ONGOLE

Four persons were arrested forkilling a buck and seized twocountry-made guns fromthem at Diguvametta village inGiddaluru mandal on thenight of Tuesday.

District Forest officer Satishtold the media on Wednesdaythat when the forest officialswere conduct petrollig in theforest area, they noticed somepersons moving suspiciously.

They held them and foundthat they had hunted a buck.The police arrested MandlaSreeni, Miniga Sekhar, MandlaVenkata Lakshminarayanaand Mandla Sambaiah andseized the body of buck andfour country-made guns.

However, three persons, whowere involved in the case,managed to escape into theforest. The police registeredcases under Protection ofWildlife Act against theaccused they were being pro-duced before the court.

PNS n ONGOLE

The 53 rd formation day ofPrakasam district was held hereon Wednesday and theCollector, SP, ZP chairpersonand mayor paid tributes to for-mer Chief Minister TanguturiPrakasam Pantulu.

On the occasion of the 53 rdformation day Prakasam dis-trict, Collector Pravin Kumar,Superintendent of police MaligaGarg, ZP chairperson BuchepalliVenkayamma, MLC TumatiMadhava Rao and MayorGangada Sujata paid tributes tothe former Chief MinisterTanguturi Prakasam Panturluby garlanding his statue locatedin the Collector’s office.

Speaking on the occasion,Collector Pravin Kumar saidthat Prakasam district was

created with the backward areaswhich were located in Nellore,Guntur and Kurnool districts.Prakasam district has witnessedmany developmental pro-

grammes during the last 50years, he said.

Pravin Kumar said thatPrakasam district had vastcoastline and proposals were

formulated for the constructionof Ramayapatnam seaport. TheCollector informed that 4.5lakh acres of agriculture landwould be provided irrigation

water if the Veligonda projectwas completed and the drinkingwater scarcity would also doneaway with if the Veligonda pro-ject is completed.

The district would witnessmore development in the com-ing days, the Collector said.Many hospital were construct-ed and government schoolswere being renovated underNadu-Nedu programme, hesaid. The Collector hoisted theOngole district flag in theCollector’s office on the occa-sion. He also handed overappointment letters to two per-sons under compassionategrounds.

Joint Collectors G VenkataMurali, KS Viswanathan, KKrishnaveni and revenue offi-cer P Srinivasa Rao were amongthose who were present.

PNS n ONGOLE

The CBI officials conducted asearch in the house of PadalaSrinivasa Rao, who is workingas a clerk in the BommidalaTobacco Company, atMaddipadu on Wednesday.

Srinivasa Rao informed Sub-inspector Sri Ram that someunknown persons entered theirhouse in the morning. The SIrushed to the house and foundthem as CBI and Anti-Corruption Bureau officials.The officials began their searchat 7 am and concluded at 12noon.

The CBI officials did notallow the media to enter thehouse. According to the

sources, the CBI officials regis-tered a case in Bangalore againstthe Bommidala TobaccoCompany in Bangalore. Thesearches were conducted in the

clerk’s house in this connection.It was not known whether theCBI officials had found any cru-cial documents during thesearches.

PNS n KADAPA

YSRCP MLA MedaMallikarjuna Reddy appealedto the government thatRajampet should be madedistrict headquarters for thenewly formed Annamayyadistrict.

Rajampet MLA Mallikharjuna Reddy met districtCollector Vijayarama Rajuhere on Wednesday and sub-mitted a memorandum inthis regard.

Later talking to the media,the MLA said ChiefMinister Y S Jagan MohanReddy promised to create anew district with Rajampetheadquarters. It is unfortu-nate that Annamayya dis-trict was created with

Rayachoti as its headquar-ters against the assurance ofthe Chief Minister, heregretted. Rajampet town

has significance since Britishrule and making Rayachotias district headquarter forthe newly formed

Annamayya district hurtthe sentiments of the peopleof the area, he claimed.

Meda Mallikarjun Reddysaid that he would meetChief Minister Jagan MohanReddy and explain to himthe necessity of makingRajampet as headquarters tothe newly formedAnnamayya district, addingthat he could not meet theChief Minister due to theCoronavirus crisis.

“I do not know underwhat circumstances theChief Minister has taken thedecision of makingRajampet as headquarters tothe Annamayya district. Ifeel that the Chief Ministerwill do justice”, the rulingparty MLA said.

PNS n ELURU

District Collector PrasannaVenkatesh released wallposter to create awarenesson the prevention of sexualabuse of children.

The Collector releasedthe wall poster designed bySt. Joseph Dental College atthe collector's office onWednesday.

Speaking on the occasion,the District Collector saidthat such programs should

be carried out extensively tocheck the harassmentagainst women and chil-dren. The Collector appreci-ated Father Moses, DentalCollege Correspondent, forinitiating such awarenessprogrammes. Dr. GanaSham Prasad, Head,Department of PediatricDentistry, St. Joseph's DentalCollege, Prof. Dr. NagaRadhakrishna and otherswere present on the occa-sion.

PNS n ELURU

District Collector PrasannaVenkatesh asked the people’srepresentatives to give appro-priate suggestions for mergingstudents of 3 rd class, 4 th classand 5 th class into the nearbyschools as part of providingbetter education in line withthe national education policyin the state.

The Collector held a meetingwith the people’s representa-tives to seek their advice andsuggestions on the merging of 3rd, 4 th and 5th classes of thegovernment schools into near-by schools. Speaking theAcademic School Mapping OneDay Workshop with public rep-resentatives of the district onWednesday, he asked for adviceand suggestions, stating that

the proposals submitted by themwould be sent to the govern-ment.

The Collector said the num-ber of rooms, infrastructure andnumber of teachers in the gov-ernment schools would be takeninto consideration. He askedthem to give them their sugges-tions in written form so that theywould be examined before for-warding to the higher ups.

Joint Collector(Development) HimanshuShukla said that the govern-ment had initiated the policywith a good intention. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th classes ofgovernment schools would bemerged in the governmentschools located one kilome-tre radios. Separate proposalsshould be made in the tribalareas, he told the representa-

tives of people. The opinionsof ZPTCs, MPTCs andSarpanchs should be takeninto consideration, he said.

Denduluru MLA AbbaiahChowdary said that the stu-dents would face difficultygoing from one village toanother village to attendschool. He said that studentshave to cross canals and irri-gation tanks and it would bea hurdle to reach one villageto another village to attendschool. He asked to providetransportation to the stu-dents when the classes weremerged into another school.MLA Talari Venkata Rao, GSrinivas Naidu, TellamBalaraju, Puppala Vasu Babu,Nimmala Rama naidu andMantena Satyanarayana Rajualso spoke.

PNS n KAKINADA

Five tribal people have died andanother is battling for life afterconsuming ‘Jeelugu Kallu’ atLododdi village inRajavommangi mandal in EGdistrict on Wednesday.

Police said that a group of trib-al people consumed toddy, calledas 'Jeelugu Kallu' in local par-lance. Sometime later, they col-lapsed with vomiting, dinginessand later fell unconscious. Theywere admitted to the govern-ment hospital in Yeleswaramwhere two of them died. Fourpersons were shifted to the gov-ernment general hospital inKakinada as their conditionturned out to be critical.However three of them diedwhile undergoing treatment.

The deceased were identifiedas Vema Lovaraju (28), ChedalaSugriva (70), Busari Sanyasi Rao(65) Putturu Ganga Raju (36)and Yesubabu (23). Police said

that the samples of the toddywhich they consumed were col-lected and being sent to the lab-oratory for testing. A pall ofgloom descended on the

Lododdi village with the death offive people.

Former Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu expressedshock over the death of five

tribals due to consumption of'jeelugu kallu' and demandedRs 25 lakh compensation to thefamilies of each of the deceased.Naidu conveyed his heartfelt

condolences to the bereavedfamilies. It was unfortunatethat the YSRCP Governmentwas not even responding to thetoddy tragedy which claimedthe lives of innocent adivasis.

In a statement here, theTDP chief blamed the StateGovernment's unacceptableliquor policy for these tragicincidents in the past threeyears. The present plight arosebecause the Government start-ed treating liquor sale as asource of revenue for the trea-sury.

Naidu expressed concernthat the Jagan Mohan ReddyGovernment was not changingits ruthless policy despite inno-cent people dying in biggernumbers. The Governmentshould pay Rs. 25 Lakh com-pensation to the families ofjeelugu kallu toddy victims.The TDP would extend allnecessary support to the hap-less tribal families.

PNS n TIRUPATI

The car in which red sanderlogs were being transportedillegally rammed a compoundwall of a house and the twosmugglers fled the scene atPedda Kannali SC colony inPuthalapattu-Naidupet high-way near Srikalahasti onWednesday. The couple livingin the house suffered injuriesin the incident.

Police said that two personsillegally were transporting 8red sander logs in a car. As thecar was going at high speed thedriver lost control resulting init ramming a compound wallof the house. The couple livingin the house suffered injuries

and they were shifted to thearea hospital. After the acci-dent two red sander smugglers

fled the scene. The police reg-istered a case and launched asearch of the offenders.

5 die after consuming toddyin East Godavari district

DC seeks suggestions on mergingof 3,4,5 classes in nearby schools

CBI officials conduct search intobacco company clerk’s house

4 arrested for killingbuck, 2 guns seized

Red sanders laden car ramswall, smugglers flee the scene

YSRCP MLA wants Rajampet tobe HQ for Annamayya district

DC releases wall poster to createawareness against child abuse

Man allegedlyhangs self afterquarrel with wifePNS n HYDERABAD

Upset after an argumentwith his wife over going tohis native place for local fes-tivities there, a man alleged-ly committed suicide at hishouse in Jawaharnagar inthe city on Tuesday. He issuspected to have ended hislife in an inebriated condi-tion, police said.

Police said Srisailam (32),an auto-rickshaw driverfrom Kommuravelli ofSiddipet district, was stay-ing with his wife Kavithaand two sons at Gabilalapetin Jawaharnagar. He wasreportedly addicted to alco-hol and went home drunkand picked up a quarrelwith his wife.

According to the police,on Tuesday, he went homein an inebriated conditionand told her to get ready togo to his native place for cel-ebrations at his village onFebruary 7.

PNS n HYDERABAD

After arresting Tony, thekingpin in the drugs case, theHyderabad Task Force per-sonnel, on Wednesday, tookseven persons into custodywho have been acting as anagents between Tony andbusinessmen.

The police said that thearrested persons were upply-ing the drugs by residing inthe OYO rooms in the city. Atpresent, Tony, the primeaccused in the drugs case, is inpolice custody. The Nampallycourt has sent him into four-day custody and thePunjagutta police are ques-tioning him on the supply of

drugs to customers inHyderabad. Based on theinformation given by him, theTask Force officials arrestedseven people on Wednesday.

During the interrogation,

police found that Tony usedpeople including women tosupply drugs to his clients.They also checked the con-tact list and call details ofTony and found he was usingtwo mobile phones withNigerian SIM card in one forcommunication with hisagents, who in turn dealtwith the customers. In orderto avoid being caught by thepolice, the agents used pri-vate cars or buses to supplythe drugs to their clients. Thepolice arrested Tony andseven other businessmen inJanuary in drugs case. It is yetto be known how the busi-nessmen came in contactwith Tony.

City Task Force personnelarrest 7 more in drugs case

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Saifabad police arrested a 7-member gang who snatchedaway Rs.5,000 and mobile phonesfrom a group of migrant work-ers early on Sunday. The arrest-ed persons are identified asMohammed Sohail, Mohd Moin,Syed Nadeem, Shaik Jafar, SohailKhan, Shaik Mohsin andMohammed Haji Pasha. Theyformed into a gang and were tar-geting migrant workers.

On Sunday, the victims hadarrived from Madhya Pradeshand got down at Domalgudafrom a private bus. "On pretextof arranging their travel , the sus-pects took them in an auto rick-shaw to a travel agency atLakdikapul and demanded highfares. When the victims refusedto pay, t the gang harassed, beatand confined them," saidincharge DCP (Central) P VishwaPrasad.

Gang held for robbingmigrant workers

PNS n HYDERABAD

In a shocking incident, awoman in a heavily drunkencondition, had killed her oneyear old girl chi ld atMangalhat in the city. Policesaid the woman identified asLaxmi beat her child andthrottled her neck.

Laxmi was residing in thehuts near Dattatreya Kaman,behind Seetharambagh tem-ple in Mangalhat, with herchild. She made her living bypicking rags and was addict-ed to alcohol. On Tuesdayafter completing her day'swork, she consumed alcohol.Later during the night, under

the effect of alcohol, she beather child with her hands andthrottled her neck, killingher on the spot.

Alerted by locals, policerushed to the spot and recov-ered the child's body andshifted for postmortem exam-ination. A murder case wasregistered against Laxmi.

Drunk woman kills girl childIAF copter force-lands in JagdevpurPNS n SIDDIPET

An Indian Air Force heli-copter landed on Wednesdaymorning on the ground adja-cent to Mudiraj CommunityHall at Jagadevipur ofSiddipet district as it devel-oped technical snag. None isinjured in the incident.

People in large numberassembled there to watch

the helicopter. The local Sub-Inspector of Police alongwith his staff membersreached the spot and beefedup security.

The helicopter took offfrom Hakimpet airport withSquadron leader AkashGupta Kadham and twoother officials. They wereforced to land here due to aglitch in the chopper.

Tributes to pantulu on Prakasam Dist Formation Day

nation 05VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2022

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday said thepost-pandemic world was onthe cusp of change and it wasimperative for India to changeat a rapid pace to emerge as aself-reliant nation.

Addressing a symposiumon 'Atmanirbhar Arthavyavastha' (self-reliant econo-my) organised by the BJP, helisted out initiatives announcedin the union budget such asvibrant border villages, plansto introduce 5G technology,schemes for the farm sectorand asserted that the funda-mentals of the economy werestrong and the nation wasmoving in the right direction.

"In 2013-14, public invest-ment was at just Rs 1.87lakh crore. In this year'sbudget, we have pegged itat Rs 7.5 lakh crore. Thisis a four-fold increasefrom the UPA years,"

Modi said in his virtualaddress that was watched bychief ministers and partyworkers across the country.

He said his government's"effective" policies have led toincrease in the GDP to Rs 2.30lakh crore from Rs 1.10 lakhcrore seven years ago, exportshave almost doubled to 4.70lakh crore from Rs 2.50 lakhcrore in 2013-14 and forex

reserves have

shot up to USD 630 billionfrom USD 275 billion.

The prime minister said thefocus of the union budget wason providing basic amenitiesto the poor, middle class andyouth and his governmentwas working on the saturationcoverage of basic facilities.

He said the budget has allo-cated Rs 48,000 crore to build80 lakh houses for the poor,which would turn them into

"lakhpatis". "In the last sevenyears, we have given threecrore poor people 'pucca' hous-es, and made them 'lakhpatis'.Those who lived in slums, havetheir own houses," he said.

"Our government hasincreased the price and size ofthese houses so that there isspace for education for chil-dren. Out of this, most of thehouses are in the name ofwomen. We have also madewomen 'maalkins' (owners),"the prime minister said.

He urged BJP workers tocreate awareness among themasses about the union bud-get and the initiatives taken bythe government for the welfareof the poor.

Modi said the Ken-Betwariver inter-linking project,being built at a cost of Rs44,000 crore, is set to changethe face of Bundelkhandregion that is spread acrossUttar Pradesh and MadhyaPradesh.

PNS n CHENNAI

DMK president and ChiefMinister M K Stalin on Wednesday appealed to 37 politi-cal parties across the countryincluding the Congress, archrival AIADMK, RashtriyaJanata Dal, the Left parties andthe Trinamool Congress tojoin the All India Federationfor Social Justice to protect theinterests of the oppressed peo-ple.

Writing to all key partiesbarring the BJP, Stalinsaid,"our unique, diverse,multi-cultural federation is

under threat of bigotry andreligious hegemony." Theseforces could only be fought ifall those who believe in equal-ity, self-respect and social jus-tice came together.

PNS n PUNE

In an attempt to inculcate sci-entific temper in children, "sci-ence walls" have been put up inover 200 Zilla Parishad schoolsin Karmala tehsil ofMaharashtra's Solapur district,a district official said onWednesday.

Photographs of famous sci-entists and inventors have beenhung on these walls and theirbirth anniversaries are beingcelebrated, he said.

Photographs of Greek math-ematician Archimedes, inven-tor Nikola Tesla, physicistErnest Rutherford, physicistand meteorologist John Dalton,

Dr S Chandrasekhar, MadamMarie Curie, C V Raman,Newton, Luis Pascher, CharlesDarwin, Albert Einstein,among others have been put upon these science walls, it was

stated. "The objective of theproject is to inculcate scientif-ic temper in children at an earlyage so that they develop a lik-ing and interest in science," saidManoj Raut, block develop-

ment officer of Karmala tehsil,who is the brain behind theproject. The initiative coversstudents from Classes 1 to 7, itwas stated. Solapur ZillaParishad CEO Dilip Swamihad started a "clean school,beautiful school" project in thedistrict and as a part of the ini-tiative, he introduced “sciencewalls” in 227 schools inKarmala tehsil, the officialsaid.Elaborating on the initia-tive, Raut said that they select-ed 28 scientists who were a partof the school syllabus anddecided to celebrate their birthanniversaries on the lines of cel-ebrations held for historicalfigures and freedom fighters.

Nation moving in right directionFundamentals of the economy strong, Budget to make India self-reliant, says Modi

Stalin flags 'bigotry threat',urges parties to join front

ZP schools in Solapur put up Science walls

Forty-two MLAs wantedme to be Punjab CM afterAmarinder's exit: Jakhar

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Senior Punjab Congress leaderSunil Jakhar has claimed that 42MLAs wanted him to be thechief minister of the state afterthe unceremonious exit ofAmarinder Singh last year.

Jakhar could be heard sayingthis in a video -- that has sur-faced online -- while address-ing a gathering in Abohar onTuesday.

Jakhar's nephew SandeepJakhar is contesting the Punjabassembly polls as a Congresscandidate from the Aboharseat.

Sunil Jakhar was among thefront runners for the chiefministerial post. But the partypreferred Charanjit SinghChanni, who became the firstchief minister of Punjab fromthe Scheduled Caste communi-ty.

“Forty-two votes went forSunil (Jakhar), 16 forSukhjinder Randhawa, 12 votesfor Maharani Preneet Kaur(Amarinder Singh's wife andPatiala MP), six votes for NavjotSingh Sidhu and two votes for(Charanjit Singh) Channi,”Jakhar said.

He also said he even declinedthe post of deputy chief minis-ter offered by Congress leaderRahul Gandhi to him.

“Forty-two MLAs voted forme despite the fact that I wasnothing at that time. I was noteven PPCC president,” Jakharsaid, pointing out that the partyhad sought to know from theMLAs whom they wanted to bethe chief minister after the exitof Amarinder Singh. “Seventy-nine MLAs were called up toknow whom they wanted to bethe CM. Sunil was not even anMLA,” he added.

Amarinder Singh was madeto resign as the chief ministerby the Congress amid a bitterpower tussle with PunjabCongress chief Navjot SinghSidhu.

The chances of Jakharbecoming the chief ministerwere scuttled after the state-ment of senior Congress leaderAmbika Soni who had said theparty should go with a Sikhface.

Charanjit Singh Channi, whoreplaced Amarinder Singh lastyear, is the first chief ministerof Punjab from the ScheduledCaste community.

Dares galore in Punjab poll scenePNS n CHANDIGARH

In a bitterly fought multi-cor-nered Punjab Assembly elec-tion, political leaders acrossparties are playing the daregame by throwing variouschallenges at rivals, askingthem to contest only fromone seat or play a 30-minutebadminton match to provetheir mettle.

Among the political leaderswho have thrown challengesare Chief Minister CharanjitSingh Channi, his predecessorand Punjab Lok Congress chiefAmarinder Singh and StateCongress chief Navjot SinghSidhu.

The game intensified afterCongress fielded Channi froma second seat and SAD leaderBikram Singh Majithia choseto take on Sidhu from theAmritsar East seat. Channi is

also fighting Bhadaur (SC)seat for the February 20 PunjabAssembly polls, in addition tothe Chamkaur Sahib (SC) con-stituency which he currentlyrepresents.

On Channi being fieldedfrom two seats, AAP leaderArvind Kejriwal said, "I hadsaid that according to our sur-vey, Channi is losing from

Chamkaur Sahib". Channi hadthen dared Kejriwal to contestagainst him from any con-stituency in Punjab.

Not to be left behind, Sidhu,while filing his nominationfrom the Amritsar East seat,had dared his bete noireAmarinder Singh to leavePatiala and contest againsthim.

Kerala to get28 morePOCSO courtsPNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The Kerala governmenton Wednesday decided toset up 28 more AdditionalFast-track Special courts inthe state for the speedydisposal of cases regis-tered under the Protectionof Children from SexualOffences Act (POCSO). Acabinet meeting, virtuallychaired by Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, accord-ed sanction for the same.With this, the total num-ber of fast-track specialcourts to deal with thePOCSO cases wouldbecome 56 in the southernstate, an official statementsaid here.

BJP indulging inpolitics ofnegativity: AkhileshPNS n NOIDA

Those talking of the Kairanaexodus will have to migrate outof Uttar Pradesh after theassembly polls, SamajwadiParty chief Akhilesh Yadavsaid on Wednesday as heaccused the BJP of indulging inpolitics of negativity.Addressing a press conferencewith alliance partner RashtriyaLok Dal president JayantChaudhary in Shamli's Kairana,Yadav hit out at the BJP-ledgovernments both in the stateas well as at the Centre. “TheBJP is indulging in politics ofnegativity. The SP-RLD tie-upstands for brotherhood. Thosetalking of the Kairana exodus,will have to migrate out of UPafter the polls,” Yadav said.

‘People giving clear mandate to NDAbecause of its development efforts’PNS n NEW DELHI

People are repeatedly giving aclear mandate to the NDAbecause it is making efforts tobring equality through thewelfare of the downtrodden,exploited and backward class-es while working for the devel-opment of the country, BJPMP Geeta said on Wednesdayin Rajya Sabha.

Initiating the debate on theMotion of Thanks on thePresident's Address, Geeta aliasChandraprabha noted that asmany 27 ministers are fromOBCs in the Union Council ofMinister and 20 belong to SCand ST communities while 11union ministers are women.

The BJP MP, who is electedfrom Uttar Pradesh, especial-

ly highlighted the implemen-tation of various welfare mea-sures in the poll-bound state,where the first phase of votingwill be held on February 10.

"People have given us a clearmandate in 2019 (elections) on

the basis of the work done inthe preceding five years for thewelfare of the downtrodden,exploited and backward class-es and for developmentalworks of the country," shesaid.

"effective" policies have led to

increase in the GDP to Rs 2.30

lakh crore from Rs 1.10 lakh

crore seven years ago, exports

have almost doubled to 4.70

lakh crore from Rs

2.50 lakh crore in

2013-14 and forex

reserves have shot

up to USD 630

billion from USD

275 billion.

India flight-tests Rafale-Marine for INS Vikrant

PNS n KOLKATA

The marine version of theFrench-made Rafale fighter jethas been successfully flight-test-ed at a shore-based facility in Goawhere conditions similar to thaton the indigenously-developedaircraft carrier INS Vikrant weresimulated, a top diplomat said.

The Rafale-M is pitted againstthe US-made Super Hornet --both of which are being evaluat-ed for a possible purchase by theIndian Navy for deployment onthe 44,000-tonne INS Vikrantthat is undergoing trials in theArabian Sea and the Bay ofBengal for likely commissioning

in August. "Tests were done tocheck its (Rafale-Marine's) take-off (capability) from the deck ofyour (India's) carrier and it hasdone very well," FrechAmbassador to India EmmanuelLenain told journalists onTuesday evening here in a free-wheeling conversation. India'snew aircraft carrier has beendesigned as a ski-jump launchship, different from many othersuch carriers, which use a cata-pult launch for their jets. The air-craft selected by the Indian Navyconsequently must be capable oftaking off in this fashion, carry-ing all weapon systems and fullfuel load.

The number of

unicorns developed

amid the pandemic

is a show of

strength of the

youth of India.

Prime Minister

— Narendra Modi

overtly impacted as it goesabout its business, mechani-cally and irrespective.

At the heart of criticismsurrounding the ChineseGovernment is the purport-ed attempts at ‘Sportswashing’ie, using a sporting event togloss over and distract fromserious issues like humanrights abuses in Xinjiangprovince, with the belea-guered Uighurs. AmnestyInternational explained,“China is hoping for sports-washing gold and it’s vital tocounteract that.” Many pro-testors have gone as far ascondemning the games as‘Genocide Games’. Amidstall this symbolism, theexpected volte face towardsco-religionists, PakistaniPrime Minister Imran Khaninsists on attending the open-ing ceremony himself as hefound the issue of incarcera-tion and maltreatment ofUighurs to be “actually nottrue on the ground”! Clearly,a beholden Imran, who is sur-viving on desperate dolesfrom China, can gleefullyforsake and overlook anyatrocity on fellow Muslims, ifthe same is perpetuated bythe ‘all-weather-friend’.China’s famed realpolitik isreadily adopted and institu-

tionalised by a vassalisedPakistan and the show goeson as the symbolic ‘boycott’plays out and sullies China’sefforts towards sportswash-ing. Interestingly, India is notboycotting the WinterOlympics and will be repre-sented by its lone contestantin Alpine skiing, Arif Khan.

This event has alsoexposed the conundrumfaced by multinational com-panies who face the starkchoice of withdrawing spon-sorship and earning theunforgivable wrath of theChinese regime or continuingwith the event sponsorshipwhilst spouting meaninglessplatitudes towards societalcauses. Earlier too, China’shypersensitive regime did nottake too kindly to varioussports clothing-manufactur-ing MNCs expressing reser-vations about forced labourcamps, detentions, and ‘re-education’ camps in Xinjiang=== the Chinese reactionwas immediate, brutal andsustainable, and now almostall sponsors are taking themeek line of ‘not mixingsports with political issues’.Despite fancy pledges towardscode of ethics, standards andsocial responsibilities, thecompanies have surrendered

the same at the altar of theworld’s largest consumer andmanufacturing base, as alsothe most reactiveGovernment.

Meanwhile, Beijing issparing no efforts to sports-wash its COVID-hit pres-tige, status and perception ofa reckless expansionist —beyond Xinjiang, issues likeongoing unrest in HongKong, Tibet, Taiwan etc, arerelegated to the backburnerwith an iron fist. With the cit-izenry and the local mediacompletely under its control,the narrative of the Games isalready pre-scripted.

Instead, an expectedcounter-narrative of the Westtrying to steal China'smoment under the sun, via itsability to undertake such agargantuan event, is fed to itscontrolled masses. The insep-arable interlinkages of poli-tics, sports and commerce areunderway with competinginterests at play, with Beijingclamping down heavily onany potential showstopperlike COVID imperatives,embarrassing saga of tennisstar Peng Shuai, sovereignboycotts, et al.

There are clearly largerand invisible stakes like Chinaposturing its fabled abilitiesdespite the pandemic, west-ern criticism and ‘vestedinterests’, and the realpolitikof calling the bluff of the‘Chinese miracle’ and itsaggressive footprint, withinand outside of its borders.History shows that the con-troversies like boycotts tendto fizzle out once an eventstarts and the focus thenshifts solely to sporting excel-lence — but these Gamescould be different as theundercurrents are unprece-dented, including a warningby former US PresidentDonald Trump that Chinacould invade Taiwan imme-diately after the WinterOlympics!

(The writer, a militaryveteran, is a former LtGovernor of Andaman &Nicobar Islands andPuducherry. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

NADAL WINS THE AUSTRALIAN OPENSir — Many congratulations to RafaelNadal for winning the Australian Open ina thrilling and coming-from-behind five-setter against Daniil Medvedev, and in theprocess creating history with a record 21Grand Slam titles, moving ahead of hisclose rivals Novak Djokovic and RogerFederer. It is astounding that collectivelythe triumvirate is still holding strong inGrand Slams and it would seem that theirfingers cannot be prised off the biggest tro-phies. The troika have guarded the GrandSlams like a demesne, repelling one gen-eration after the next.

Meanwhile, none would have beenmore disappointed than Djokovic himself,as the Serbian star, due to his vaccinationcock-up, messed up a golden opportuni-ty to create tennis history. The triad of leg-ends have reached dizzying heights inmen’s tennis and still have utmost respectfor each other, showing the world a per-fect model of sportsmanship among rivalstars. No doubt, they will go down in thehistory of tennis as not only the best play-ers of their generation, but possibly the bestof all time.

Sivakumar | Chennai

INDIA MUST WEIGH ALL ITS OPTIONSSir — Security and stability in India andits important neighbours including Russia,China, Afghanistan and Pakistan dependson several factors. One of them beingmutual cooperation between India and thecentral Asian countries. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi reiterated this importantaspect in the virtual summit between Indiaand the Presidents of the five Central Asiancountries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan— in Delhi. These are small countries butbeing a rich and fertile source of oil andnatural gas, they hold great importance inbilateral trade and commerce.

Apart from the trade equation, sincethree strategically located countries —Iran, Afghanistan and China — border thecentral Asian nations, the region holdsgreat interest for India. However, India isnot the only country that is wooing cen-tral Asia. Russia, China and Afghanistan

are also at it. So, more needs to be donethan mere talks, but New Delhi hasstruck the right chord with the heads ofthese countries. Integrated and stableextended neighbourhood is India's dream.Evidently, Kabul cannot be kept away inthe broad scheme of things pertaining tointernational importance after the Talibaninvasion of Afghanistan. Similarly, Indiais looking at the Chabahar port as an alter-native route to the Central Asian countries.

Ganapathi Bhat | Bengaluru

IN THE NAME OF CULTURAL NATIONALISMSir — Cultural nationalism is not an objec-tionable concept if the culture and senti-ments of all linguistic and religious groupsof the country are awarded due respect byflying the flag of Indian heterogeneity. Butif vested interests dare to project thedestruction of a historic mosque throughsheer barbaric muscular might and con-struction of a "grand" temple right wherethe mosque had stood for centuries as "cul-tural nationalism"; then any sane secularIndian would definitely object. In contrast,

individuals who truly love India do respecteach and every citizen of their country byrising above all narrow divisive credentialsof race, language, caste and religion.

In the dictionary of true lovers of thenation; national flags or anthems are sec-ondary items as they are nothing but meresymbols. The real nation lies in the heartsand human rights of common people.Instead of taking prompt “offense” when-ever the flag or anthem gets “dishonoured”;they feel infinite times more pain whenhuman rights of innumerable poor peo-ple, vulnerable children, women, minori-ties and refugees (displaced by riots or cli-mate change) get mercilessly trampledunder the marauding feet of vested inter-ests. No wonder why all-embracing civicnationalism gets awarded a much higherpedestal than divisive "cultural national-ism" by all sensible people of this coun-try of diversities.

Kajal Chatterjee | Kolkata

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

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Despite its poor human rights record, China is trying hard to project that

its world standing is unaffected and that the Games will be a success

THIS SO-CALLEDBOYCOTT IS

ABOUTDIPLOMATIC

‘MESSAGING’, AND EVEN WITH

THE SAME, WHILEBEIJING IS

CLEARLY IRKED, ITIS NOT OVERTLYIMPACTED AS IT

GOES ABOUT ITSBUSINESS,

MECHANICALLYAND

IRRESPECTIVE

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

BHOPINDER SINGH

Impartially speaking, it was the Congressgeneral secretary and UP-in-inchargePriyanka Gandhi who led from the front the

agitation against the Lakhimpur Kheri violencewhile other Opposition parties sat idle. Thismove, however, earned the grand old partysome political brownie points and brightenedthereby its electoral prospects as well aheadof the ongoing Assembly polls in UP, besidesPunjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. Butthe simultaneous spate of desertions, defec-

tions and suspensions of the party stalwartshas had its toll on the Congress's public imageof the 'grand old party’ – thanks to the unabat-ed internice bickering brewing in the party.

However, Priyanka's charismatic traitsand political sagacity endeared her to a largeswathe of masses comprising the youth andwomen in particular even as her poll slogan‘Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon' fascinated oneand all as she has already delivered some ofthe poll goods by allotting 40 per cent of theparty tickets to female candidates.Notwithstanding all these developments, thedirect fight in these polls in UP is all set tohappen between Yogi Adityanath-led BJP andthe main Opposition led by SP chief AkhileshYadav. Above all, the election results in UttarPradesh will decide the future of Priyanka whohas visited other States including Punjab andGoa in a bid to acquire a national profile inall probability..

Azhar A Khan | Rampur

Priyanka has emerged stronger

‘Sportswashing’ byChina on thin ice

China is well versed withthe politics and sym-bolism associated withboycotts in sporting

events, such as Olympics. In the1980 Winter Olympics at LakePlacid, China had thrown atantrum and flexed its newlyacquired political muscle onthe global stage by disallowingTaiwan, then called the Republicof China (ROC), from beingcalled thus, and from using theROC flag and anthem.

Taiwanese athletes who hadarrived on ROC identificationcards, soon left thereafter, inprotest — only to return in thenext Winter Games at Sarajevo1984, as ‘Chinese Taipei’, with aflag and anthem that were aliento its own contingent, a humil-iation that continues to date.The age-old debate of sovereigndecisions to boycott/ban partic-ipation in sporting events onaccount of fundamental disap-provals, geopolitical posturing,wars, apartheid and even dop-ing scandals is not new, andChina has routinely assertedsovereign matters to be abovesports.

Today, China faces thereverse consequences of ‘diplo-matic boycott’ of its BeijingWinter Olympics andParalympics on account of its‘human rights abuses and atroc-ities in Xinjiang’. The US, UK,Canada, Japan, Australia,Lithuania and Kosovo will sendtheir athletes to compete,though in a deliberate diplomat-ic snub that seeks to embarrassthe Chinese, they will not sendany Ministers or official delega-tion. Delinking the participationof individual athletes from theassemblage of officials, a softerversion of boycott, as opposedto a hard boycott as was thenorm in the Cold War era, isensuing. As White House presssecretary Jen Psaki confirmed,the US Administration was notkeen to contribute to the ‘fan-fare’ of Beijing Olympics, yetadded simultaneously that itdid not feel “it was the right stepto penalise athletes who hadbeen training for this moment”.In all, this so-called boycott isabout diplomatic ‘messaging’,and even with the same, whileBeijing is clearly irked, it is not

SOUNDBITE

I don't consider thesituation now moretense than earlier.

Ukrainian President— Volodymyr Zelenskiy

My helicopter was

stopped in Delhi

without reason. It's

not being allowed

to go to

Muzaffarnagar.

SP president— Akhilesh Yadav

It's incredible to be on this stage,especially after all the health challenges.

US tennis player— Danielle Collins

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech disclosed two major pro-jects which went unnoticed by the experts sitting in TV channel studios or writingcolumns against her proposals. Her announcement that the Government would take

up the Ken-Betwa River Link Project, which costs the exchequer ̀ 44,605 crore, shouldbe music to the ears of people in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “The linking ofKen and Betwa, both tributaries of the Yamuna, would lead to irrigation benefits to 9.08lakh hectare of farming lands, drinking water supply for 62 lakh people and generationof 130 MW clean and green energy,” said Sitharaman. She also disclosed that draft

DPRs of five river links, namely Damanganga-Pinjal,Par-Tapi-Narmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennarand Pennar-Cauvery have been finalised. This meansthat more than a century-old water battle betweenKarnataka and Tamil Nadu would come to an end. Theimportance of river linking could be understood if onlyone takes a trip across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.Between September and December, the Tamil NaduGovernment would plead with the Centre for financialaid to tide over the damages caused by heavy rainsand floods. Come March, the State would be cryingfor the Cauvery waters from Karnataka.

This happens at a time when north India would be under a deluge, resulting fromthe melting Himalayan snow. India’s plurality is on full display when one part of the coun-try is ravaged by drought while floods devour another part, simultaneously. Though manyexperts like KL Rao, CP Ramaswami Aiyer and Sir Arthur Cotton had suggested theinterlinking of major rivers, no Government had the will to launch a mission for the same.Even the Supreme Court, in a 2002 verdict, had asked the Centre to interlink the majorrivers without any delay. In a normal monsoon year, the east-flowing rivers Mahanadi,Godavari, Krishna and Pennar discharge more than 5,000 thousand million cubic feet(TMC ft) water into the sea. A fraction of this water could resolve the water scarcity inTamil Nadu, which is waging a legal war with Karnataka for the Cauvery waters. If Karnatakasneezes, Tamil Nadu catches a cold. That is the situation in south India which remindsone of the adage “Water, water everywhere, nor a drop to drink”. Sitharaman’s moveis a true silver lining in the skylines of UP, MP and south India.

In her Budget speech on Tuesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said:“Chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country.” The Ministryof Agriculture and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) should back up the

important announcement. They should say if natural farming is productive enough toyield good dividends. In 2019, Sitharaman had said that farmers should implement the‘zero budget’ technique that would help in ‘doubling’ their income. Zero-budget naturalfarming, a technique devised by social activist Subhash Palekar from Vidarbha, recom-mends using naturally occurring materials such as cow dung, cow urine and neem asmanure, fertilisers and pesticides. The technique needs to pass rigorous scientific test-ing, though. It will certainly make the Government heave a sigh of relief, consideringthat escalating fertiliser prices overshot the 2021-22 Budget Estimate of the subsidy of`79,530 crore by over `60,000 crore. The Budget Estimate for 2022-23 is `1,05,222crore. If the international fertiliser prices do not ease this year, additional allocations wouldbe needed. Seen from this perspective, the concept of natural farming is more than wel-come. The shift cannot be done overnight, however. Even Sitharaman indicated that its

viability will first be tested in small agricultural corri-dors. Scientists confirm that natural farming will improvesoil health and make farming cheaper. Still, it will notenthuse most farmers because the yields are lowerwhen compared to conventional farming.

Traditional farming methods are becoming popu-lar because the rich are willing to pay higher prices for“pure” farm products. Organic farming uses organic fer-tilisers and manures. Natural farming uses neither chem-ical nor organic fertilisers, and does not depend on exter-nal, purchased inputs. Organic farming is still expen-sive because it requires bulk manures. Natural farm-

ing is cheaper as it depends entirely on local biodiversity. Farmers in Gujarat and HimachalPradesh have been experimenting with natural farming but their claims of high yields needscientific validation. It is assumed that yields gradually increase over time. Long-termsurveys are needed to confirm these claims. Bodies like IARI should jump into the frayat this juncture to recommend methods for reducing the yield gap. For instance, poly-culture and crop rotation, which mimic age-old agricultural systems, do increase the yield.On the other hand, the yield is the same in natural or conventional farming for crops liketomatoes and oats. The Government should shift the focus of R&D investments fromconventional to natural farming. Seeds bred for the former underperform in natural farms,and only research can develop seeds that can work with the new methods. A shift tonatural farming should be part of a holistic approach to agriculture. Bridging the yieldgap means more money and more food. More food means less hunger. But reducingfood waste and foodgrain storage losses also means more food which means less hunger,and it also compensates for any yield gap because of the shift to natural farming.

Healthier plate

Let it flowThe Govt’s plan to interlink major rivers wouldgive a major boost to farming across the nation

PICTALK

Tribal women participate in a hundred-metre run with water pots, at Rajua village near Balurghat PTI

The Government’s plan to boost natural yieldfarming is welcome but it must pass some tests

As my statementhurt the feelings ofpeople, I'd like tohumbly apologisefor the same.

Actor— Shweta Tiwari

Budget stokes jobs’dream, focus on poor

IF THE NCP IS ENGINEERING DEFECTIONS IN THE

CONGRESS RANKS, WE, TOO, WILL DECIDE

WHAT TO DO IN THE FUTURE.

—CONGRESS LEADER

NANA PATOLE

TWENTY-EIGHT CONGRESS CORPORATORS,

INCLUDING THE MAYOR OF MALEGAON,

HAVE JOINED THE NCP.

— NCP SPOKESPERSON

NAWAB MALIK

As a Budget, it would be moderate on consumption, average on growth

and the pace would be possibly as good as it was this year

As usual, the salaried and middle class was expecting some taxcuts but given the tight fiscal space, it was unlikely for the FinanceMinister to offer any such relaxation. Central Government bor-

rowingsas percentage of GDP have increased from — 49 percent inFY21 to — 59 percent in FY22.An increased borrowing, subdued pri-vate investment and yet-to-fully-recover services sector hardly left anyscope for tax concessions. The Economic Survey presented a daybefore the budget said the investment to GDP ratio reached 29.6 per-cent, the highest in last seven years. However, concerns over growthmomentum and employment creation still remain and the budgetaryallocation has tried to addressthem. Thrust over the infrastructure cre-ation is visible with the increase in capital expenditure which has goneup to `7.5 trillion, marking an increase of 35.4 percent over the pre-vious year. If the grant and aid led capex is also added, then the num-

ber goes beyond ̀ 10.6 trillion, an increase of 27 percent. Long-term,interest-free assistance of `1 lakh crore to states for infrastructuredevelopment will help in creating jobs and provide financial room tostates to showcase development. The MSME sector was hit badly inthe pandemic and they still need Government support to survive.Additional credit support of `2 lakh croreto MSME and ̀ 50 thousandcrore to hospitality sector will help the entities operating in these seg-ments. Budgetary allocation for emerging sectors like electric vehi-cle, drones and green energy will help creating the necessary eco-system. Increasing the share of domestic procurement in defense pur-chases should not be viewed from merely from the angle of giving aboost to Make In India but rather as a strategic oneto help India becomea major exporter of defenseequipment.

In the agriculture sector, increased allocation towards procure-ment of food grains will pacify those who were agitating till a fewmonths back. Digitisation of land records is a welcome move whichwill help in minimizing the litigation in rural area. This budget has atouch of realism also. Digital currencies are a reality now and gov-ernment has also accepted this fact by taxing crypto, NFT and thelike. Sooner or later, regulators will also recognize crypto as an assetclass and necessary framework will be drafted. Disinvestment tar-gets are also appearing achievable and therefore it is more likely thatfiscal deficit will remain within the target limit of 6.4 percent of GDP.This time there were not too many tax proposals in the budget butsome initiatives are well-intended in the direction of litigation man-agement and taxpayer assistance. Allowing extended timeline for revi-sion of return in specific cases and avoiding repetitive appeals in caseof identical question of law is a welcome decision.There is criticismover small increase in the allocation towards health and educationsector. It should be kept in mind that both these items are part ofstate list of the seventh schedule of the Constitution and thereforewe should not look up to central government funds alone. StateGovernments, irrespective of the political party should be madeaccountable for poor health infrastructure and dismal performancein education sector. Budgetary allocation of states should be scru-tinized in the same manner it is done for the Centre. The FM shouldbe lauded for presenting a policy document and refraining from turn-ing it into a political document in view of upcoming assembly elec-tions.The Government has done its bit and now it is for private sec-tor to shoulder the responsibility of economic growth.

(The writer is a Chartered Accountant and public policy ana-lyst. The views expressed are personal.)

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2022

07

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FIRSTCOLUMNBUDGET 2022 IS A

FUTURISTIC STATEMENT

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

SHSHANK SAURAV

SHIVAJI SARKAR

But no tax cut for the salaried class, and growth and job concerns remain

The Union budget introducesdigital crypto currency, givesincentives to kisan, industryand leaves out the wage work-

ers high and dry as direct income-taxremains untouched.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman expects to create 60 lakhjobs under the productivity-linked-incentive (PLI) scheme in 14 sectors.The government hopes that it has thepotential to create additional productionRs 30 lakh crore, a bit high of an expec-tation amid a subdued Economic Surveythat does not show much enthusiasm for“spend and enjoy”.

The MSMEs get into about `2 lakhcrore largely credit support. They are incritical state, it is to be seen whether theywould be able to have the benefit andthrive.

The e-Vidya and the National DigitalUniversity is a welcome step for the stu-dents and scholars. If data cost even after5G remains low it would provide coun-trywide standard education at low cost.

Her expenses rise marginally to`39.44 lakh crore from `37.70 lakh crorein 2021-22. Her borrowings increase to`16.61 lakh crore from `15.91 lakh crore.Fiscal deficit at 6.9 percent, reduced frombudgeted 9.2 percent, in 2021-22; hascome down to 6.4 percent.

The growth figures projected at 9percent, though coincides with IMF pro-jections has a catch of minus seven per-cent growth two years back. Still theactual has to come back to the 2019 level.

The roadmap is to be createdthrough capital expenditure, introduc-tion of 5G communication technology,the Central Bank Digital (crypto)Currency, massive purchase of paddyand wheat from kisan and the masterplan for roads and highways.

She says she is setting the pace forIndia’s ‘Amrit Kal’ -75th year- and eyedeconomic growth for India over the next25 years.

Of course, she has extended a num-ber of tax benefits to the lowering orrationalizing many rates for differentindustry players. She says that there wasdiscrepancy in rates and she has justbrought it to the realistic level. Customsduty cuts on chemicals and other rawmaterials are welcome for AatmanirbharBharat programmes for increasingdomestic production and re-export atcompetitive rates. It boosts exports.

The Government has massivelyincreased capital expenditure target to`7.5 lakh crore from `5.5 lakh crore inthe last Budget for FY23. It is expectedto give an overall boost to economy andcreate jobs. The basic thrust of job cre-ation of would be through investmentin infrastructure creation. It works as perthe psyche that more the infrastructureprospecting finances from banks morewould be the need for employing peo-ple. This year expenses were at 2.48 lakh

OVERALL, THEBUDGET HAS

DREAMS,EUPHORIA,

INDIRECTASPIRATIONS AT

GROWTH LIKETHE STRESS ON

DRINKINGWATER

PROJECTS,`28,000 CRORE

TO HOUSINGPROJECTS,NATIONAL

DIGITAL HEALTHSYSTEM,

INTEGRATEDRAIL-AIR-ROADPROJECTS AND

THE LIKE

crore or about 49 percent. If thegovernment is able to spend theentire amount of `7.5 lakh crore,it can create wonders.

Alongside, Finance MinisterSitharaman announced that theRBI will roll out the CentralBank Digital Currency (rupee)using blockchain and other tech-nologies. “This will give a bigboost to the economy”, she says.It makes international transfer ofmoney, capital, easy. It can havemany businesses done withouttouching the formal transactionroutes. Capital inflow and outflowbecomes simpler. In a way it inte-grates the country with the inter-national crypto currency, whosepros and cons are being studied.Since it is a regulated currency bythe RBI, it is not likely to have theproblems that unregulated cryp-to system has.

It is also tax integrated, onepercent for each transaction tomaintain its trail and 30 percenton the earnings as in the incometax provisions. Many govern-ments are yet to accept the cryp-to but in the parallel market it isbecoming an accepted currency.

Keeping an eye on the elec-tions and the recent Kisan stir,that led to withdrawal of threefarm bills she announced higherallocation of procurement ofwheat and paddy under MSPoperations. She spends `2.37lakh crore and hopes this wouldhave a better impact on kisan

lives. Stressing on the internation-al year of millet, she hopes todiversify the food habits andgive famers more options forgrowing different crops.

The expected rise of the PMKisan pension has not happened.Rightly so perhaps becausedespite 67 percent rise in revenueit still is not at comfortable level.

The finance minister’s hope tohave 60 lakh jobs in a year, a rem-iniscence of the days of AtalBehari Vajpayee, in an economythat has yet to come out of theCOVID-19 syndrome is an opti-mistic move. It, however, requiresthat much of consumption andmanufacturing recovery. Theindustry has weightage of 28percent in GDP calculation. Stillthe income recovery is at a lowand sudden boost to consump-tion is a highly placed expecta-tion.

The investments will betrooping in but may not be at thedesired pace. Of course, stockmarket so far is buoyant. But cap-ital investors may like to wait towait to come out of the Covid-19syndrome uncertainties.

She proposes some minordirect tax reforms. It remainslargely restricted to allow the stategovernment employees also havethe standard deduction at perwith central employees. Herassessment of having a mere 3.8crore income tax payee is also notcorrect. In this country everyone

pays a high indirect tax ofapproximately 40 percent eventhe 82 percent who are not in theincome tax net. She knows thatthat the tax by individual is at ahigh of 30 percent plus cessagainst the corporate tax of 22percent. The mismatch is illogi-cal.

The earning salaried classesare about 3.75 crore and they allare in the tax net. The complianceis full specially in a situationwhere there has been incomecontraction in the private sectorand corporate are paying lowtaxes compared to individuals.Tax evasion as she says is more amyth. Interestingly they also payGST, which brings `1.40 lakhcrore in January 2022.

Overall, the budget hasdreams, euphoria, indirect aspi-rations at growth like the stress ondrinking water projects, 28,000crore to housing projects, nation-al digital health system, inte-grated rail-air-road projects andthe like.

Vast sections of the popula-tion are excluded. The sectionsstruck by extreme poverty,migrant labourers do not have astrong prescription. It is expect-ed to be a job-generating budgetwith lots of gifts for the citizens.

As a budget, it would bemoderate on consumption, aver-age on growth and the pacewould be possibly as good as itwas this year.

(The writer is a seniorjournalist. The views

expressed are personal.)

The latest EconomicSurveycontains the fol-lowing details under

Monetary Transmission - BankLending and Deposit Rates.

The RBI has reduced reporate by 250 bps since February2019 (the current easing cycle).The Weighted Average LendingRate (WALR) on fresh rupeeloans declined by 197 basispoints and by 133 bps on out-standing loans during the peri-od February 2019 to November2021. Large surplus systemic liq-uidity, forward guidance of con-tinuing with the accommodativestance and the external bench-mark system for pricing of loansin select sectors aided monetarytransmission.

The transmission has beenslightly higher in public sectorbanks than private sector banksin the overall current monetary

easing cycle, though it was high-er for private banks inAprilNovember 2021.

The WALR on outstandingrupee loans fell by 135 bps forpublic sector banks and 123 bpsfor private banks, while theWALR on fresh rupee loans fellby 210 bps for public sectorbanks and 177 bps for privatesector banks during February2019- November 2021.

There are some miscon-ceptions in expecting monetarytransmission to be in tune withthe repo rate mechanism of theReserve Bank of India. Thegovernment and the ReserveBank of India claim that exter-nal bench mark system for pric-ing aided monetary transmis-sion. First, it is not correct to pre-scribe external bench mark forlending rates of banks. Anypricing of end product is based

on cost of procurement in anyindustry and banking sectorcannot be an exception. Theirlending rate can only be basedon the cost of the funds(deposits) procured by them.Asking the banks to fix lendingrates based on some other rateis totally arbitrary. But surpris-ingly nobody questions the wis-

dom of RBI. Next, how can reporate be a deciding factor for lend-ing by banks?Repo rate is therate at which the Reserve Bankof India lends money to com-mercial banks in the event of anyshortfall of funds. This is just atemporary (mostly overnight)arrangement for mismatch offunds. This is provided by RBI

against securities such as trea-sury bills or Government bonds.Repo rate is related to ‘repur-chase option’ or ‘repurchaseagreement’.

As on January 14, 2022, allscheduled banks had a creditportfolio of `118,52,628 crore.On the same day, these bankshad deposits from public to thetune of `164,11,405 crore. Thebanks had a borrowing of`94,732 crorefrom RBI on thatday. Hence it is evident that thebanks’ lending is out of thedeposits mobilized by themfrom the public and not basedon borrowing from the RBI. Outof their lending requirement just0.79 percent is from borrowingfrom RBI. Then how the reporate can be a deciding factor forbanks credit?

Repo rate can only be a sig-nal for banks to reduce or

increase their lending rate andit cannot be a bench mark forthe same. Moreover, when Reporate is reduced there is noautomatic reduction in thedeposit rates by banks andbanks’ existing fixed depositaccounts will attract contract-ed interest rate until maturity.Hence there cannot be suddenreduction in the cost of fundsfor banks and forcing banks toreduce interest rate for borrow-ers lead to erosion in the netinterest margin for banks.

The Economic Survey alsoreveals how the depositors areshort-charged by banks at theinstance of RBI. During the peri-od from April 2021 toNovember 2021, the banks havereduced lending rates (weight-ed average) for outstandingloans by 19 basis points. Theyhave reduced lending rates

(weighted average) for freshloans by six basis points.However, for term deposits thereduction in weighted averagerate was 24 basis points. Thisshows how banks make thedepositors to forego interestrates to help borrowers.

Banks, RBI and theGovernment are there to favouronly the borrowers at the cost ofdepositors which cannot be inthe long-term interest of finan-cial intermediation by banks. Asit is bank depositors receive onlynegative interest when it isadjusted for inflation. With pro-jected fiscal deficit of 6.4 per centof GDP for the year 2022-23,there may not be any respitefrom inflation for the bankdepositors and with the budgetpresented without any relief tobank depositors, tough days areahead for them.

Repo rate can only be a signal for banks to reduce or increase their lending rate and it cannot be a benchmark for the same

Repo rate cannot be the basis for bank loans

S KALYANASUNDARAM

(The writer is a retired banker. The views expressed

are personal.)

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2022 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Adani Green Energy onWednesday posted a nearly20 per cent rise in its

consolidated net profit to Rs 49crore in the October-Decemberquarter compared to the year-ago period mainly on the backof higher revenues.The company had reported a

consolidated net profit of Rs 41 crore in the quarter ended onDecember 31, 2020, a BSE filing stated. Total income of the companyrose to Rs 1,471 crore in the quarter from Rs 843 crore in the sameperiod a year ago.Commenting on the results, Vneet S. Jaain, MD &CEO, Adani Green Energy said in a statement, "The continued robustoperationalperformance and improving visibility of growth with firmPPAsdemonstrate that we are well on track to become the largestrenewable player by 2030". He further said, "Our commitment towardsESG is only getting stronger with the global recognition of our effortsto light up the world with green energy and to further incorporate thebest ESG practices on all fronts."The company sold 2,504 millionunits of electricity in the December quarter, up from 1,273 MU in thesame period a year ago.During April to December 2021, it sold 6,456MU which is higher than 3,857 MU in the nine months period a yearago.Adani Green Energy, a part of India-based Adani Group, has oneof the largest global renewable portfolios with overall portfolio of 20.3GW 3 including operating, under-construction, awarded and assetsunder acquisition catering to investment-grade counterparties.

Adani Green Energy net up 20 pc toRs 49 cr in Dec quarter

The country's largestcarmaker Maruti SuzukiIndia (MSI) on

Wednesday said it haswitnessed a marginalincrease in production lastmonth. In a regulatoryfiling, the auto majorreported a total productionof 1,61,383 units in lastmonth as compared to1,60,975 units in January2021."The shortage of

electronic components had a minor impact on the production ofvehicles during the month," it noted.MSI said total passenger vehicle production stood at 1,57,668 unitslast month, against 1,56,439 units in January 2021.Production ofmini cars comprising Alto and S-Presso models stood at 23,321units last month as compared to 27,665 units a year ago.Manufacturing of compact cars, comprising WagonR, Celerio, Ignis,Swift, Baleno, and Dzire, rose to 87,165 units from 86,282 unitsearlier, MSI said. Similarly, production of utility vehicles -- Gypsy,Ertiga, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza, and XL6 -- increased to 33,550 unitslast month from 29,199 units in the corresponding month of 2021.The company reported a drop in the production of Eeco van at10,587 units last month as compared to 11,769 units in January2021.MSI said production of its light commercial vehicle Super Carrydeclined to 3,715 units last month, as against 4,536 units in theyear-ago month.

Maruti Suzuki reports marginalincrease in Jan production

The rupee pared itsinitial gains to settle ona flat note at 74.83

(provisional) against USdollar on Wednesday, evenas the domestic equitiesclosed on a positive note.Forex traders said higher-

than-expected borrowing inthe next financial year andweak fiscal deficitprojections from thegovernment weighed on

investor sentiments.At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupeeopened at 74.76 against the American dollar, and later witnessed anintra-day high of 74.71 and a low of 75.02 against the greenback.Thelocal unit finally ended the day at 74.83, down 1 paisa from theprevious close of 74.82.The dollar index, which gauges thegreenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading0.31 per cent lower at 96.09. On the domestic equity market front, the30-share Sensex ended 695.76 points or 1.18 per cent higher at59,558.33, while the broader NSE Nifty settled up 203.15 points or1.16 per cent to 17,780.00.Global oil benchmark Brent crude futuresfell 0.30 per cent to USD 88.89 per barrel.

Rupee pares initial gains tosettle flat at 74.83 against US $

PNS nMUMBAI

Domestic rating agencyCRISIL on Wednesday esti-mated FY23 real GDP growthat 7.8 per cent as comparedwith the 8.5 per cent project-ed in the Economic Survey.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman's Budget propos-als focused on loosening thepurse strings by boosting cap-ital expenditure and goingslow on fiscal consolidationare aimed in the right direc-tion, the rating agency said.

"All said, risks to India'seconomic outlook are stillskewed towards the down-side," it said, estimating thegrowth to slow to 7.8 percent in FY23 from the 9.2 percent in FY22.

The agency said globalgrowth is expected to slow thisyear as major economies see awithdrawal of monetary andfiscal stimulus. It will have adirect bearing on India'sgrowth prospects as exportshave been a key demand dri-ver of domestic growth duringthe pandemic.

Energy prices, especiallythat of crude oil, are likely tocontinue firming up, partly

owing to geopolitical issuesand Brent crude will averageup to USD 85 a barrel asagainst USD 70.44 in 2021,which will curtail growth,stoke inflation and widen thecurrent account deficit.

Additionally, even if globalsupply chain disruptions areexpected to ease, critical rawmaterial shortages such asthose of chips could take timeto tide over, the agency said.

The agency expects thenominal growth to come at12-13 per cent, higher thanthe 11.1 per cent BudgetEstimate, and the headline

inflation to average 5.2 percent.The Budget makes wayfor the 35 per cent increase incapital expenditure by tighten-ing the belt around revenueexpenditure, and the govern-ment has refrained from giv-ing any direct consumptionsupport in the Budget, it said.

It added that frontloadinginfrastructure spending couldbring about faster growth.

The agency said the com-mitment to the MahatmaGandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Acthas been reduced to Rs 73,000crore for FY23 from the Rs

98,000 crore in FY22 and Rs1.11 lakh crore in FY21, aspart of the expenditure cuts.

"Extending this job guaran-tee scheme could have acted asa bridge for boosting short-term incomes and consump-tion in the rural areas beforegrowth becomes broad-basedand the investment cycle kicksoff," it said.

Spending has also been cur-tailed towards food subsidiesto the Food Corporation ofIndia (FCI) and for the pro-curement of wheat and paddy.But, they remain well abovepre-pandemic levels, suggest-ing that the Budget is normal-ising some of these spends, itsaid.

GDP expected to grow 7.8pc in FY23: Report PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned oil firms such asONGC and IOC will investover Rs 1.11 lakh crore in thenext fiscal year starting April asthey supplement the govern-ment's massive spending pro-gramme to spur economicgrowth.

Oil and Natural GasCorporation (ONGC), IndianOil Corporation (IOC), GAIL(India) Ltd, Bharat PetroleumCorporation Ltd (BPCL),Hindustan PetroleumCorporation Ltd (HPCL) andOil India Ltd (OIL) will togeth-er make a 7.4 per cent highercapital expenditure in the 2022-23 fiscal (FY23).

The capex spending of Rs1.11 lakh crore in 2022-23compares with a revised esti-mate of Rs 1.04 lakh crore forthe current fiscal year thatends in March, according toUnion budget documents.

In the Union Budget for2022-23, the government con-tinued on its path of supply-side economics and plans toboost investments, therebyincreasing jobs and consump-tion instead of directlyannouncing any monetaryrelief to the lower end of thepopulation.

None of the oil PSUs gets any

subsidy support from the gov-ernment. The government hasprovided a small Rs 4,000 croresubsidy on domestic cookinggas (LPG) in the next fiscal.The subsidy outgo in the cur-rent fiscal has been put at Rs3,400 crore, lower than Rs12,480 crore budgeted at thebeginning of the fiscal, the doc-uments showed.

ONGC has planned a cap-ital expenditure (capex) of Rs29,950 crore in FY23, margin-ally lower than the revisedestimated expenditure of Rs30,500 crore in the current fis-cal. The current fiscal spendingis higher than Rs 29,800 croreplanned spending at the begin-ning of the year.

IOC, the nation's largest oilrefining and fuel marketingcompany, has an outlay of Rs

28,549 crore for the next year,almost the same as FY22.

Gas utility GAIL will investRs 7,500 crore in the expansionof pipeline grid and petro-chemical plants, up from Rs7,160 crore revised expenditurein the current fiscal (FY22).

Privatization-bound BPCL'sRs 10,000 crore planned invest-ment includes Rs 8,120 crore inrefinery and fuel marketingand another Rs 500 crore inpetrochemicals. This compareswith spending of Rs 10,500crore in the current fiscal.

HPCL has a total outlay ofRs 14,500 crore for the next fis-cal, 7 per cent more than theestimated spending in the cur-rent year.OIL's capex for FY23is marginally higher at Rs 4,302crore.ONGC's overseas invest-ment arm, ONGC Videsh hasbeen a drag on achieving thespending targets for the currentfiscal. Against the plannedspending of Rs 8,380 crore, itwould do only Rs 5,620.01crore. For the next fiscal, it hasplanned Rs 8,180 crore capex.ONGC's subsidiary, MangaloreRefinery and PetrochemicalsLtd (MRPL) ended up spend-ing Rs 965.76 crore in the cur-rent fiscal as against budgetedRs 850 crore while in the nextit has plans for Rs 815 crorecapex, the document showed.

ONGC, IOC, others to spendRs 1.11 lakh cr capex in FY23

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has envis-aged the introduction of newschemes to strengthen cooper-ative societies from the finan-cial year 2022-23 onwards,Union Cooperation MinisterAmit Shah told Parliament onWednesday.

In his written reply to theUpper House, Shah said thatcurrently, there is only onescheme, namely the CentralSector Integrated Scheme onAgricultural Cooperation(CSISAC), for the promotionand development of the coop-erative sector across the coun-try.Under CSISAC, assistanceis given to NationalCooperative DevelopmentCorporation (NCDC),Cooperative Education andTraining; and NationalCooperative Federation, hesaid."With the formation of anew ministry, the introductionof new schemes from the finan-cial year 2022-23 onwards isenvisaged," Shah said.

The new Ministry ofCooperation was created inJuly 2021 to strengthen thecooperative movement in thecountry.

Shah further said the newministry has already startedfunctioning. NationalCooperative DevelopmentCorporation (NCDC), which isa statutory corporation andNational Council forCooperative Training (NCCT),a registered society falls underthe administrative control ofthe ministry. In the Budget2022, the government has pro-posed an allocation of Rs 900crore for the cooperation min-istry.Shah, responding toanother query, said the govern-ment aims to achieve overallprosperity in the countrythrough the mantra of 'Sahakar

Se Samriddhi' (prosperitythrough cooperation).

It is being proposed tostrengthen cooperatives bybringing transparency, mod-ernisation and creating com-petitiveness, he said.

In order to achieve this, theminister said the governmentis formulating a new NationalCooperation Policy. For this, ithas started consultations withvarious stakeholders includingvarious ministries/ depart-ments of central governments,state governments, CooperativeFederations, NABARD andother major cooperative insti-tutions of the country.

New schemes under cooperationministry from next fiscal: Shah

PNS n NEW DELHI

'Tata Group is excited towork together to make AirIndia the airline of choice interms of passenger comfortand service'. This is anaudio message from RatanTata played onboard someAir India flights.

Tata Group completedthe takeover of the loss-making Air India onJanuary 27.

On Wednesday, the air-line tweeted a 19-secondvideo with the message ofRatan Tata."#FlyAI: A warmwelcome extended by MrRatan Tata, ChairmanEmeritus, Tata Sons,Chairman, Tata Trusts, toour passengers onboard AirIndia flights," the tweet said.

An airline official saidthe message was played insome flights in the last fewdays."The Tata Group wel-comes Air India's new cus-tomers and is excited towork together to make AirIndia the airline of choice interms of passenger comfortand service," Ratan Tatasaid in the message.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday said thedigital rupee, proposed inthe union budget, could beexchanged for cash and willopen new opportunities in thefintech sector.Addressing the'Atmanirbha Arthavyavastha'(self-reliant economy) sympo-sium organised by the BJP, hesaid the central bank digitalcurrency or the digital rupeewill make online paymentsmore secure and risk free andboost digital economy in theyears to come."The digitalrupee will be the digital formof our physical rupee and willregulated by the RBI. This willbe such a system that willenable exchange of physicalcurrency with digital curren-cy," Modi said at the virtualsymposium that was attend-ed by chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and party work-ers across the country.

Digital rupee canbe exchangedfor cash: PM

PNS nFRANKFURT

Oil cartel OPEC and alliedcountries are deciding howmuch oil to feed into theglobal economy as crudeprices hover near seven-yearhighs — spiking gasoline costs— and fears of a Russian mil-itary move against Ukraineadd to jitters over supply.

The likely outcome ofWednesday's online meeting,analysts say, will be to main-tain the 23-member OPEC+alliance's plan to graduallyrestore production slashedduring the depths of the coro-navirus pandemic in 2020.That means adding back400,000 barrels per day eachmonth, in this case for March.

Sticking to the plan would

support oil prices, with sever-al alliance members havingbeen unable to meet theirshare of output. Higher oilprices are sending reverbera-tions throughout the globaleconomy in terms of higherconsumer inflation in the U.S.and Europe and costlier fuelfor heating, flying and driving.

Recent price rises also havebeen fed by the tensions ineastern Europe, "where thecontinued uncertainty sur-rounding Russia and Ukrainecould jeopardize a significantportion of Russian oil flowsshould diplomatic talks breakdown and energy exportssanctions materialize,” saidLouise Dickson, senior oilmarkets analyst at RystadEnergy.

OPEC+ decides oil output amidconcern over Russia, Ukraine

Tata Group excited towork together tomake AI the airline ofchoice: Ratan Tata

PNS nBENGALURU

The Karnataka governmenthas approved 88 industrialprojects worth Rs 2,367.99crore that would generate jobsfor over 10,904 people in theState.

The 129th meeting of theState Level Single WindowClearance Committee (SLSW-CC) held under the chair-manship of Minister for Largeand Medium Scale IndustriesMurugesh R Nirani onTuesday evening has clearedthese projects.

The committee has consid-ered and approved sevenimportant large and mediumsize industrial projects withinvestment of more than Rs 50crore, the Minister's office said

in a release on Wednesday.These projects worth Rs

799.1 crore are expected to cre-ate employment opportuni-ties for 3,237 people in thestate.

Noting that the SLSWCCmeeting has also cleared 78new projects at an outlay ofmore than Rs 15 crores andless than Rs 50 crore, it saidthese projects worth Rs1,431.74 crore would generatejobs for 7,667 people in thestate.

Three more projects worthRs 137.15 crore investmentswere also approved, the releasesaid, adding that a total 88 pro-jects with investments of Rs2,367.99 crore with employ-ment potential for 10,904 peo-ple were cleared.

Among new investmentsapproved are: M/s Gurudatta

Integrated Textile Park Limitedwith Rs.357 Crore and employ-

ment potential of 1,655; a Rs 96crore project by M/s Spansules

Formulations with employ-ment potential for 540 people;Rs 80 crore investment by M/sRinac India Ltd with 125 jobs;Rs 64 crore project by M/sSunvik Steels Private Limitedwith job creation for 20 peo-ple. Also, Rs 59.31 crore worthproject by M/s H&V AdvancedMaterials India Private Limitedwith employment for 327 peo-ple; Rs 46.50 crore investmentby M/s A One Textech PrivateLimited, with job opportuni-ties to 160 people; Rs 44.80crore investment by M/sTexport Industries Pvt Ltdwhich is expected to create1501 jobs; and Rs 35 croreinvestment by M/s KaynesTechnology India PrivateLimited with job creation for390 people.

Karnataka approves 88 industrial projects worth Rs 2,367.99 cr

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Budget proposalannounced to replace the exist-ing law governing SEZs with anew legislation, and reforms inthe customs administration ofthese zones, will help in furtherimproving ease of doing busi-ness, promoting growth andboosting exports, EPCES saidon Wednesday.

Export Promotion Councilfor EOUs and SEZs ChairmanBhuvnesh Seth said that thespecial economic zone (SEZ)sector was being overlooked fora long period of time after with-drawal of direct tax benefits.

"We welcome the govern-ment's attention for resolvinglong pending issues through anew Act. EPCES will be work-

ing closely with theDepartment of Commerce,Department of Revenue , stategovernments along with SEZdevelopers and units and otherstakeholders in framing the

new legislation," Seth said.Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman in her BudgetSpeech proposed to replacethe existing law governing SEZswith a new legislation to enable

states to become partners in'Development of Enterpriseand Service Hubs'.

The will cover all large exist-ing and new industrial enclavesto optimally utilise availableinfrastructure and enhancecompetitiveness of exports, hesaid.The existing SEZ Act wasenacted in 2006, with an aimto create export hubs andboost manufacturing in thecountry. The Budget has alsoannounced to undertakereforms in CustomsAdministration of SEZs and itwould fully be IT driven andfunction on the CustomsNational Portal with a focus onhigher facilitation and withonly risk-based checks. Thisreform will be implemented bySeptember 30.

Steps for SEZs in Budget will improve EODB

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Budget announcementof import duty exemption oncertain products such asembellishments and wet bluechrome tanned leather bybonafide exporters will helpin boosting the outboundshipments from the sector,CLE said on Wednesday.

Counci l for LeatherExports (CLE) ChairmanSanjay Leekha said that thisis major support that willreduce the cost of import ofcritical inputs /embellish-ments, which are importedas per requirements of over-seas buyers and will promoteexport of value-added prod-ucts from the country.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman in her Budgetspeech said that to incen-tivise exports, exemptionsare being provided on itemssuch as embellishment, trim-ming, fasteners, buttons, zip-per, lining material, specifiedleather, furniture fittings andpackaging boxes that may beneeded by bonaf ideexporters of handicrafts, tex-tiles and leather garments,leather footwear and othergoods.

“ The budget hasannounced major supportmeasures, which will providea fillip to the growth ofexports from the leather andfootwear industry," Leekhasaid.

Budget announcementto boost leather sector

The agency saidglobal growth isexpected toslow this yearas majoreconomies seea withdrawal ofmonetary andfiscal stimulus.

uperstar Salman Khan willresume shooting for one of thehighly-anticipated films Tiger 3this Saturday (February 5) atthe swanky Yash Raj Films stu-dios in Mumbai. We also have

reliable information that Salman andKatrina Kaif will be wrapping the last bigoutdoor schedule of the film in New Delhifrom February 14 as the Omicron wavelooks to subside across the country.

“Here is all the accurate informationthat one needs to know about Tiger 3.Salman will resume the last big scheduleof the film from this Saturday at YRF andthen the biggest on-screen pair in Indiancinema, Salman-Katrina will shoot thecrucial Delhi schedule from Feb 14thonwards. YRF is going to maintainsupremely strict covid protocols as theyhave been following since the pandemicstarted. Salman and Katrina will mostly betravelling to Delhi on 12th or 13th morn-ing,” informs a well-placed trade source.

“YRF has done a commendable job inmanaging the shooting schedule of such abig film and that too in the pandemic.Now, all eyes are on them to pull off this Delhischedule with strict mandates. Knowing them,they must have prepared themselves to a T. It is a

very crucial schedule for the film and Salman-Katwill be filming for around 10-12 days in thenational capital,” the source further reveals.

Theteam ofTiger 3 wasscheduled toarrive in NewDelhi in mid-January for a crucialshooting schedule thatwould have largely seen theactors wrap the principalshooting of the much-anticipat-ed picture. However, because ofthe omicron threat and a rise of

Covid-19 cases across India, includingNew Delhi, Yash Raj Films had to post-poned this shooting schedule.

Salman Khan-KatrinaKaif to resume Tiger 3shooting on Valentine's Day

ctor Jamie Dornan, whose perfor-mance in Belfast is generating Oscarbuzz, has boarded the cast of theinternational spy thriller Heart ofStone.

The Fifty Shades of Grey star joinspreviously announced ensemble member GalGadot in the film which hails from Netflixand Skydance, reported Variety.

Tom Harper, known for Amazon’s TheAeronauts, will helm the movie from a script

by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder.Plot details surrounding the story are being

kept under wraps. Heart of Stone is producedby Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg,and Don Granger, along with Mockingbird’sBonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn, and Gadot andher husband Jaron Varsano via their PilotWave.

Patty Whitcher serves as an executive pro-ducer, alongside Harper and Rucka.

Dornan is receiving acclaim for his role of

Pa inKen-nethBranagh’ssemi-autobio-graphical directo-rial Belfast. Theactor has been nomi-nated for best supportingactor Critics Choice andGolden Globe awards.

He is also nominated for aScreen Actors Guild Award along-side the film’s ensemble cast, includ-ing Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, JudeHill, Ciaran Hinds and Colin Morgan.

Dornan will next be seen in the HBO Maxseries The Tourist, premiering next month.

9

Vijayawada | Thursday February 3, 2022 what’s brewing?

s

A

Whoopi Goldberg was suspend-ed for two weeks Tuesday asco-host of The View because

of what the head of ABC Newscalled her wrong and hurtful

comments about Jews and theHolocaust.

While Whoopi hasapologsed, I’ve asked

her to take time toreflect and learn

about theimpact of

her com-ments.

The

entire ABC News organisation standsin solidarity with our Jewish col-

leagues, friends, family andcommunities, ABC News

President Kim Godwinsaid in a statement.

The suspensioncame a day after

Goldberg’s com-ment during a

discussionon The

Viewthat

race was not a factor in the Holocaust.Goldberg apologized hours later and again onTuesday's morning episode, but the originalremark drew condemnation from severalprominent Jewish leaders.

My words upset so many people, which wasnever my intention, she said Tuesday morning.I understand why now and for that I amdeeply, deeply grateful because the informa-tion I got was really helpful and helped meunderstand some different things. Goldbergmade her original comments during a discus-sion on the show Monday about a Tennesseeschool board's banning of Maus, a PulitzerPrize-winning graphic novel about the Nazideath camps during World War II. She saidthe Holocaust was not about race, it’s aboutman’s inhumanity to other man.

I misspoke, Goldberg said at the opening ofTuesday’s show.

The flare-up over Goldberg’s remarks thisweek highlighted the enduring complexity ofsome race-related issues, including the wide-spread but strongly contested notion that onlypeople of color can be victims of racism.

Effective immediately, I am suspendingWhoopi Goldberg for two weeks for herwrong and hurtful comments, Godwin said inher statement.

The View brought on Jonathan Greenblatt,CEO of the Anti-Defamation League and

author of ItCould Happen Here, on Tuesdayto discuss why her words had been hurt-

ful.Jewish people at the moment arefeeling besieged, Greenblatt said.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper,associate dean of the Simon

Wiesenthal Center,praised Goldberg for

being outspoken overthe years on social

issues but saidhe struggled

to under-stand

her

statement on the Holocaust.The only explanation that I have for it is

that there is a new definition of racismthat has been put out there in the publicrecently that defines racism exclusively asthe targeting of people of color. And obvi-ously history teaches us otherwise, Coopersaid. Everything about Nazi Germany and

about the targeting of the Jews and about theHolocaust was about race and racism. That’sthe unfortunate, unassailable historic fact, hesaid. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of theLouis D. Brandeis Center for Human RightsUnder Law, linked Goldberg’s remarks tobroader misconceptions of the Holocaust,Jewish identity and antisemitism.

In her error, she was reflecting a misunder-standing of Jewish identity that is both wide-spread and dangerous that is sometimesdescribed as erasive antisemitism, saidMarcus, who is the author of The Definition ofAnti-Semitism. It is the notion that Jewsshould be viewed only as being white, privi-leged oppressors, he said. It denies Jewishidentity and involves a whitewashing of Jewishhistory. Marcus referred to the use of anti-Jewish stereotypes about being powerful, con-trolling and sinister, coupled with downplay-ing or denying antisemitism.

In Israel, being Jewish is rarely seen in racialterms, in part because of the country’s greatdiversity. Yet Jewish identity goes far beyondreligion. Israelis typically refer to the Jewishpeople or Jewish nation, describing a group orcivilization bound together by a shared history,culture, language and traditions and deep tiesto Jewish communities overseas.

On The View Monday, Goldberg, who isBlack, had expressed surprise that someTennessee school board members wereuncomfortable about nudity in Maus.

I mean, it’s about the Holocaust, the killingof 6 million people, but that didn’t bother you?she said. If you’re going to do this, then let’s betruthful about it. Because the Holocaust isn’tabout race. No, it’s not about race.

She continued on that line despite pushbackfrom some of her fellow panelists.

The U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washingtonresponded to Goldberg with a tweet.

Racism was central to Nazi ideology. Jewswere not defined by religion, but by race. Naziracist beliefs fueled genocide and mass mur-der, it said.

That tweet also included a link to the muse-um's online encyclopedia, which said theNazis attributed negative stereotypes aboutJews to a biologically determined racial her-itage.

On Twitter, there were several calls forGoldberg's firing, where it appeared

caught up in the familiar debatesbetween left and right.

Greenblatt said the talk show,in the market for a new co-

host following last summer’sdeparture of Meghan

McCain, should con-sider hiring a Jewish

woman to keepthe issue of

antisemitismin the

fore-front.

Whoopi Goldberg suspended from The View for holocaust remarks

ollywood actor Tom Hollandthought Mark Wahlberg had givenhim a “self-pleasure” device as agift — but it was just a massagegun.

Holland told Access Hollywood:“Essentially Mark Wahlberg was kind enoughto give me a massage gun after I left his housein LA and he drove me back to myhotel. I was confused as to whatkind of massage gun this was hav-ing never seen one before and Ithought it was the type of self-plea-sure. I thought Mark Wahlberg wasdriving me back to my house forother reasons than just being a gen-tleman. I didn’t know, it’sHollywood baby... who knowswhat’s going to happen.”

The 50-year-old actor insistedthere was nothing sexual about hisgift, he simply owns a stake in acompany named Power Plate,which he believes make “the bestmassage guns out there”, so he wanted tointroduce them to his new friend,femalefirst.co.uk.

Meanwhile, Holland recently revealed whilehe “will” wait to start a family, he is excited at

the idea of being a parent in the futurebecause he loves being around children.

He added: “I love kids. I can’t wait to be adad — I can wait and I will, but I can’t wait! IfI'm at a wedding or a party, I’m always at thekids’ table hanging out.”

The Chaos Walking star would even havebecome a teacher if he hadn’t made it as an

actor.He said: “My dad’s been such a great role

model for me. I think I’ve got that from him.So I think I’d be a primary school teacher orsomething like that (if I wasn’t acting).”

h

Jamie Dornan joins GalGadot in Heart of Stone

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

When Mark Wahlberg gifted ‘self-pleasure’ device to Tom Holland

ctress Sonya Saamoor,who rose to fame withshows like Shakti,Kasauti Zindagi Kay,and Nazar, is currentlyseen playing the charac-

ter of ‘Riya’ in the show Sirf Tumon Colors.

The actress firmly believes thatmarriage shouldn’t end anywoman’s career.

Talking about life post marriage,Sonya tells The Pioneer, “Nothingmuch has changed post marriage. Ialso don’t believe that getting mar-ried means a full stop to a girl’scareer. I don’t understand whypeople ask this question of girlsspecifically. Would you quit yourjob at the bank just because yougot married? Why should I quitacting when it’s my job? Whyshould you have to quit anythingin order to be with the man youlove? Marriage should add to yourlife, not take away from yourcareer and dreams. It should notdefine a woman’s career. Life is

exactly the same;I just have morelove and supportafter marriage.

That’s exactly how it should be forevery woman.”

According to Sonya, the bestthing about being married is thefact that it makes her feel like her-self. “We are each other’s biggestfans. We support and cheer foreach other, we push each other todo our best in our respectivefields,” says she.

She knows how to perfectly bal-ance her personal and professionallife. She explains, “I like to keepmy professional life and my privatelife as far away from each other asI possibly can. When I’m home,I’m a daughter and a wife. WhenI’m on set, I’m an actor and a thor-ough professional. I don’t mix itand I like to keep it like that.”

On the work front, Sonya is gladto be essaying a strong characteron TV. “Last year has been a bless-ing Riya’s character is really differ-ent from the roles I have played inthe past, so I am enjoying playingthe character Riya and shootingfor the same.”

The pan-demichas

changed the way that theemployees and organisa-tions approach theiroffice formats. Whilenumerous workplaceshad transitory mea-sures set up toguarantee wellbe-ing and security,there are likewisehuge long-termchanges that willlast.

The previousyear has mademore individualsmindful of how fun-damental wellbeingand security measuresare to ensure our pros-perity. An extended periodof mask wearing, incessanthand washing, and social sepa-rating changed the manners inwhich we view office designs,security and sterilisation.

Solaces of home will bebrought into the workplace:

Individuals have becomeused to the familiar luxuriesof a work-from-home day.The work areas of the futurewill focus on facilities thatassist employees with feeling asense of comfort in theirspace. Rich covering, delicateseating choices, and conve-niences that permit staff tofeel comfortable will besought after.

Bringing in nature:A green climate positively

affects mind work and dimin-ishes feelings of anxiety. Floor

potswith live

plants can be putaround the workplace,

and hanging pots are uti-lized nearby for casual corre-spondence. The utilisation ofnormal materials, and adequateregular

lightpositively

affect the physi-cal and psychological

well-being of representa-tives and their exhibition.

Transformable offices:A changeable office where

remotely working employeeswill actually be able to come asand when needed will see risein office trends of 2022.Secluded furnishings andchangeable office parts willassist with better equippingsuch a space, permitting you torapidly change its setup.

Incorporate neutralshades:

Neutrals are depend-able, which is the rea-

son they keep onbeing an officedesign trend for2022. Off-whites,tans, and beigesquickly cause anoffice to feelmore good andhome-like,which is indis-pensable for afruitful office

space. When set-tling on paint,

work areas, andother furnishings,

centre around neutraltones and regular wood

tones.(The writer, Nakul Mathur, is the MD,

Avanta India)

PNS | HYDERABAD

t is today’s reality that young peoplefind it hard to find employmenteven after graduating from schoolsand colleges. In some cases, theeducation they receive is substan-dard, or just a namesake. Having

the interpersonal skills and professional eti-quette to land a job is difficult for many peo-ple. To impart these skills to youth, the ImpactFoundation, a voluntary foundation foundedin the year 1996, initiated a platform called“Impact”. The foundation provides free person-ality development, grooming, and impartsemployable skills to rural, unemployed Teluguspeaking youth in both the Telugu states. Oneof the few organisations in the state that workson personality development, the foundationhas enriched the lives of over one lakh pluskids, teens and young people in rural areas.Many of these youth are well settled in jobs inIndia and abroad, they tell us.

“India is projected as the world’s youngestcountry as it has the world’s largest youth pop-ulation. Over 65% of its population is said tobe below 35 years of age. This large section ofthe young population provides our countrywith an exclusive demographic advantage.

However, despite thisunique demographicdividend, a majorsegment ofIndian gradu-ates remainsunemploy-able. Weare fill-ing thebridge.It hasbeenthemosthap-peningorgani-sationfor thepast 25years. Thegoal has beento bridge theabove gap by pro-moting and maximis-ing the outcome of col-laborations between industryand academia, by organising Impact Campswhich range from three full days to 30-day

long evening programs, now online,”informs Dr Gampa Nageshwar

Rao, the man behind ImpactFoundation.

He talks about how itall started as a humble

beginning with amonth-long trainingprogramme in St.Adam School inChikkadpally in

1996,along

with Chokkapu

Venkataramana.About 30 to 40 youthwho underwent training

programmessecured jobs inAshoka andAmpro Biscuitcompanies, whichshowed Dr.Gampa that theywere making adifference. “Theyouth getting jobsgave us encour-agement, and acknowledgement of ourefforts. When they came back and toldus the impact it had created on theirlives, we changed the foundation’sname to ‘impact’ on a suggestion fromSoma Mahesh. Then it moved to biggerplaces to accommodate more youth.For the next few years, the venues wereCity Central Library, Chikkapally;Vysya Hostel, Kachiguda; BharatiyaVidya Bhavan, King Koti; and HariHara Kalabhavan, Secunderabad. Thiscontinued till 2012,” he shares.

Since then, they have been seeingmore people interested in what thefoundation offers — courses to bettertheir soft skills and increase their con-fidence. “From 2012, we started gettingrequests from different cities in thethen combined Andhra Pradesh andwe moved to Visakhapatnam,Vijayawada, Vijayanagarm,

Srikakulam, Kakinada,Anantapur,

Tirupathi, Warangal, Nalgonda, Kamareddy,Nizamabad, Khammam, Karimnagar andmany other places. The training camps variedfrom 3 full days to 15 days in duration. Theparticipants varied from 1200 to 3000. With5,700 unemployed people attending, Kurnoolhas registered the highest participation ever,”says Dr. Gampa, who is also a psychologist,adding, “The participants include unemployed,underemployed, budding entrepreneurs, CivilServices and other competitive exam aspirants.During the pandemic, it has taken up massiveamounts of public speaking training. Ittrained 18,000 people online for 21days in public speaking.”

Along with youth,younger kids alsoneed guidance,and

Impact began YoungMinds, an initiative totrain kids aged 6 to 12 forabout 21 days on a widevariety of subjects of theirimportance. Teenagerswere not left behind. Thefoundation rolled outTeens Challenger, aimingat 12 to 19 years old withage-appropriate trainingprograms. The foundationteaches their studentssome skills like spokenEnglish, Career Guidance,Goal Setting, Leadership,Public Speaking, TimeManagement, CrisisManagement, StressManagement,Failure/SuccessManagement, Attitudeand many others. Whilesaying they work on spiri-tual development, psy-chology, and nationalism,the trainers focused onhealth, wealth, and family

management, besides doing good for thenation. Kids who undergo personality develop-ment classes become more confident in for-mal settings, and they have a solid baseof soft skills they can fall back onwhen they need to make aliving.

i

Impact, for abetter future

Trendsfor 2022 toinspire your

officemakeover

“Marriage should not define

a

a woman's career”

ThursdayFebruary 3, 2022

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

AP n SEOUL

South Korea qualified for a 10thsuccessive World Cup after beat-

ing Syria 2-0 in Dubai.Second-half goals from Kim

Jin-su and Kwon Chang-hoon onTuesday gave the Koreans a com-fortable victory over the bottomteam in Asia Group A qualifying.

South Korea, the 15th nation toqualify for the 32-team field, moved11 points clear of third-place UnitedArab Emirates with two gamesremaining.

Iran, which has already quali-fied, beat the UAE 1-0 to remainatop Group A. Iran last weekbecame the first team from Asia toqualify for Qatar when it beat Iraq1-0.

The top two teams from bothgroups automatically qualify. Thethird-place teams advance to play-offs.

In Group B, a first-half goalfrom Takumi Minamino set Japanon the way to beating Saudi Arabia2-0 at Saitama Stadium and keep-ing the host on course for a seventhsuccessive World Cup appearance.

Minamino's goal from close

range after 31 minutes was createdby Junya Ito. The Belgian-basedwinger then added the second soonafter the restart with a fierce shotfrom the edge of the area to seal afirst defeat for the Saudis in thegroup.

Saudi Arabia, which wouldhave qualified for a sixth World Cupwith a victory, still leads the groupwith 19 points, one more thanJapan.

Australia allowed a late goal andsettled for a 2-2 draw with Omanin Muscat. Australia stays third inGroup B though moves onto 15points.

The Socceroos took an earlylead through Jamie Maclaren'spenalty but Abdullah Fawaz equal-ized for the host soon after therestart.

While Aaron Mooy restoredAustralia's lead with 13 minutes

remaining, Fawaz earned Oman apoint with a spot kick after 89 min-utes.

Last-placed Vietnam, whichhad previously lost all of its sevengames in Group B, defeated China3-1 in Hanoi. The defeat endedChina's chances of qualifying for theWorld Cup for only the secondtime.

ARGENTINA PUTS COLOMBIAFARTHER FROM WC SPOT

Colombia will need a miracleto play in the next World Cup afterits 1-0 loss to Argentina in SouthAmerican qualifying.

Lautaro Martinez scored theonly goal of the match in Cordobain the 29th minute on Tuesday afterhe was left alone in the penalty boxby two Colombia defenders.Goalkeeper Camilo Vargas madeseveral important saves, including

three shots by veteran Ángel diMaria. Argentina did not count onsuperstar Lionel Messi, who is stillrecovering from COVID-19. Butthe team — and Brazil — havealready secured their places in theWorld Cup.

Colombia is in seventh placewith 17 points. Peru, currently infifth place with 20 points, will playlater against Ecuador in Lima.

If the Peruvians win, the clos-est rival to Colombia in a qualify-ing position will be Uruguay, with22 points.

Uruguay has two games left:Peru at home and Chile away.Colombia's last rivals are less dan-gerous, Bolivia at home andVenezuela away.

"This is not over, we want to goat it until the end," Colombia coachReinaldo Rueda said in a news con-ference.

"Maybe we need more clarity inthe midfield and also in our finish-ing.

We miss that energy." South America has four direct

spots in the World Cup. The fifthposition will play an internationalplayoff against an Asian team for aberth.

Leader Brazil thrashedParaguay 4-0 at home with goalsscored by Raphinha, PhilippeCoutinho, Antony and Rodrygo.Coach Tite did not count on aninjured Neymar playing, and alsoused the game to test out other play-ers like Argentina coach LionelScaloni did.

Earlier, Chile beat Bolivia 3-2 inthe altitude of La Paz thanks to twogoals by Alexis Sánchez and anoth-er by Marcelino Núñez. The resultkept the Chileans in contention insixth place with 19 points andnearly ended the chances of thehosts, who remain with 15 points.

The Bolivian goals came fromMarc Enoumba and MarceloMartins.

"This was a reward to ourefforts, but it doesn't finish here,"Chile striker Sánchez said.

sports 11VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2022

PTI n BEIJING

The manager of India's WinterOlympics contingent, Mohammad

Abbas Wani, has tested positive forCOVID-19 upon arrival at the BeijingAirport here.

Abbas Wani is a part of the six-mem-ber Indian delegation at the WinterOlympics where Jammu and Kashmirskier Arif Khan is the only athlete fromthe country to have qualified this time.Arif will be competing in Slalom andGiant Slalom events during the Games.

The contingent also includesHarjinder Singh as its chef de mission,Ludar Chand Thakur as alpine coach,Puran Chand as technician and RoopChand Negi as team official.

"I am in quarantine in my hotel roomat Olympic village & have been asked torestrict my movement within the roomonly until the results of my 2nd Covidtest. I am completely fine & asympto-matic," he tweeted.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA)president Narinder Batra informed about

Abbas Wani's positive COVID result andsaid chef de mission Harjinder is coor-dinating with the Winter Olympicsorganisers for a re-test.

"The manager of the Indian contin-gent Mr. Abbas Wani tested COVID pos-

itive at Beijing Airport. The chef de mis-sion Mr. Harjinder Singh is coordinat-ing for a re-test.

"The athlete and his coach have beenshifted to another flat to avoid any inter-action," Batra said.

The Winter Olympics will be heldfrom February 4 to 20.

Meanwhile, China on Wednesdayfielded Qi Fabao, the regimental com-mander of the People's Liberation Army,who was injured during the June 2020border skirmish with Indian soldiers inthe Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, asa torchbearer for the Games TorchRelay.

Qi took the flame from Wang Meng,China's four-time Olympic short trackspeed skating champion, at WinterOlympic Park, the state-run GlobalTimes newspaper reported.

On February 4, the Olympic flame,after being relayed by about 1,200 torch-bearers, will light the main cauldron atthe National Stadium to mark the begin-ning of the Beijing 2022 Winter OlympicGames.

PTI n MARGAO

The Indian Super Leagueon Wednesday unveiled

the revised fixture list for theongoing event with theorganisers incorporating allthe matches that were post-poned due to COVID-19outbreaks last month in theschedule that beginsFebruary 9.

ATK Mohun Bagan willface Jamshedpur FC in thefinal match of the regularseason at the PJN Stadiumhere on March 7, accordingto the revised fixture drawnby the league organisers

Football Sports DevelopmentLimited (FSDL).

"Football SportsDevelopment Limited(FSDL) today released therevised fixture list for 25matches, from February 9onwards, for the Hero IndianSuper League (ISL) 2021-22season. The League hasincorporated the matchesthat were postponed inJanuary into the redrawncalendar," the ISL said in astatement.

There will be three addi-tional double-headers, all onSaturdays (February 19,February 26, and March 5) to

accommodate the six gamesthat were suspended.

The matches were earli-er suspended due to multipleCOVID-19 cases in theteams with the worst hitbeing Kerala Blasters, ATKMohun Bagan andJamshedpur FC.

In the final five weeks ofthe league season, multipleteams will be fighting for thetop spot and for the rewardof representing India in the2023 AFC ChampionsLeague.

The eighth season (2021-22) of the ISL kicked off onNovember 19 with ATKMohun Bagan taking onKerala Blasters.

The matches postponeddue to the COVID outbreakwere Jamshedpur FC vsMumbai City FC, ATKMohun Bagan vs Odisha FC,Kerala Blasters FC vs ATKMohun Bagan, HyderabadFC vs Jamshedpur FC, KeralaBlasters vs Mumbai City FCand ATK Mohun Bagan vsBengaluru FC.

Some of the affectedsides were struggling to evenfield a playing XI for theirmatches.v

AP n MADRID

Barcelona came agonisingly close to los-ing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. It

never really had a chance of getting rid ofOusmane Dembélé.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta saidon Tuesday the deal to sign Aubameyangwas sealed a minute before the transfer win-dow deadline ended on Monday night, andthat Dembélé inexplicably rejected twogood offers to leave the club.

The club did not want Dembélé to stayafter the French player's agents turned downseveral offers to extend his contract in nego-tiations that lasted nearly six months.

"We had made a good offer for him torenew his contract and stay, but it becamea financial issue and he wanted more,"Laporta said.

"We showed him two good offers (at thetransfer deadline) for him to play withanother club during these last six months,the last one from an English club, and hedidn't accept them and preferred to stayhere. We were surprised."

Dembélé's contract ends in June and hewill be able to leave for free. Barcelona brokeits own record to sign the young forwardfrom Borussia Dortmund in 2017 in a dealworth up to 147 million euros (then USD175 million), including add-ons.

"It's hard to understand," said Laporta,who last year called Dembélé better thanKylian Mbappé. "We think he may alreadyhave a deal with another club. That's what

his agent hinted." Laporta said Dembélé'spermanence was "not good for him or theclub." He didn't say if the player would bereinstated to the squad of coach XaviHernández, saying the decision would bemade taking the club's best interest intoaccount. Dembélé was marred by healthproblems this season and throughout hisfirst years with the Catalan club.

Dembélé's departure would havecleared more salary cap space and made theaddition of Aubameyang much easier,Laporta said.

He said the documents needed to sealthe deal with the Gabon striker arrived oneminute before Monday's midnight deadline.The president raised his fist in celebrationas he left the club's headquarters after clos-ing the deal, and he was followed byAubameyang and his representatives a fewmoments later.

The documents from Arsenal allowedthe player to become a free agent, and gaveBarcelona extra time to make the deal offi-cial, which should happen in the comingdays, Laporta said.

PTI n LONDON

Olympic gold medal-win-ning javelin throwerNeeraj Chopra was onWednesday nominated

for the prestigious Laureus 'WorldBreakthrough of the Year' award,making him the first Indian to befeatured in the short-list for this cat-egory.

He was clubbed alongside ten-nis stars Daniil Medvedev andEmma Raducanu among others.

The 23-year-old Chopra lastyear became only the second Indianto win an individual Olympic goldmedal and first in track and field inTokyo with a throw of 87.58 metresin his second attempt. The perfor-mance catapulted him to superstarstatus in India and also brought himworldwide acclaim.

"...It's a great honour for me tobe recognised in the wider sportingworld for what I achieved in Tokyo.From being a kid in a small villagein rural India who only took up

sport to get fit, to standing on topof an Olympic podium, it's beenquite an eventful journey so far,"Chopra said in a statement issued byThe Laureus Academy.

"I feel privileged to be able torepresent my country and win Indiamedals at the global stage, and nowto have this recognition fromLaureus and be considered along-side such exceptional athletes is areally special feeling."

He is now only the third Indianto fetch a Laureus nomination aftercricket legend Sachin Tendulkarand wrestler Vinesh Phogat.

Phogat was nominated in the'Laureus World Sporting Comeback'category for the year 2019, whileTendulkar won the 'Laureus bestsporting moment in the last 20 years'in 2020.

The moment in considerationwas Tendulkar's teammates liftinghim on their shoulders after Indiawon the 2011 ODI World Cup athome.

A panel of more than 1,300

sports journalists and broadcastersof the world have selected the nom-inees in each of the seven categoriesfor this year's Laureus World SportsAwards.

The winners will be revealed inApril, following a vote by theLaureus World Sports Academy, theworld's ultimate sports jury, madeup of 71 of the greatest sporting leg-ends of all time.

At the 2016 World Under-20Championships, Chopra won thegold medal.

Also nominated with Choprafor the Breakthrough Award are FCBarcelona's football prodigy Pedri,the 19-year-old who was voted bestyoung player at the Ballon d'Or,Yulimar Rojas, who broke the 26-year-old triple jump world record,and swimmer Ariarne Titmus, whotwice beat champion Katie Ledeckyat 200 and 400m in Tokyo.

The battle for the LaureusWorld Sportsman of the Year Awardwill be one of the most competitiveever. The short-list features NFL star

Tom Brady, Bayern Munich's pro-lific goal-scorer RobertLewandowski, new Formula Oneworld champion Max Verstappen,tennis world no.1 Novak Djokovic,and two of the greatest Olympians-- swimmer Caeleb Dressel, whowon five gold medals in Tokyo, andEliud Kipchoge, who won back-to-back marathon gold medals.

Several top-notch Olympic per-formances dominate the LaureusWorld Sportswoman of the Year cat-egory.

Elaine Thompson-Herahmatched fellow Jamaican sprinterUsain Bolt with gold medals in the100, 200 and 4x100 metres relay;Allyson Felix passed Carl Lewis asthe most decorated track and fieldUS Olympian; Australian swim-mer Emma McKeon's four gold andthree bronze tied the record for themost medals ever won by a womanin a single Olympic Games; andAmerican swimmer Katie Ledeckywon two more gold and two silvermedals.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Sumit Nagal has been dropped from the five-member Indian Davis Cup team for the World

Group 1 play-off tie against Denmark here nextmonth, the national tennis federation said onWednesday.

Nagal (world ranked 222) made way forYuki Bhambri (863) in the squad which also hasRamkumar Ramanathan (182) and PrajneshGunneswaran (228) as other singles players.

The team has been selected keeping in mindthe playing surface as both India's top-ranked sin-gles player — Ramkumar and comeback manYuki — are comfortable playing on grass courts.Gunneswaran and Nagal, on the other hand, arenot grass court players.

Besides, doubles specialist Rohan Bopannahas retained his place in the squad alongside DivijSharan, the All India Tennis Association (AITA)said. Saketh Myneni and Digvijay Pratap Singhare the two reserve players in the squad, to becoached by Zeeshan Ali, and has Rohit Rajpal asnon-playing captain.

The tie will be held at the grass courts ofDelhi Gymkhana Club on March 4 and 5, insidea bio-security bubble.

The team was handpicked after a virtualmeeting of the Professional Selection Committeeof AITA on January 29.

According to a statement issued by AITA, themeeting was attended by chairman Nandan Bal,members Balram Singh, Mustafa Ghouse, SaiJayalakshmy, Rajpal, Zeeshan Ali and AITA sec-retary general Anil Dhupar.

PTI n MARGAO

All the spotlight will be on KiyanNassiri when ATK Mohun Bagan

take on Mumbai City FC, hoping tobreak into the top-four again in theIndian Super League here on Thursday.

Son of East Bengal legend JamshidNassiri, the 21-year-old Kiyan becamethe youngest ever hat-trick scorer inthe ISL after his second-half trebleagainst SC East Bengal hurtled himinto the limelight in the Kolkata derby.

The youngster broke a couple ofmore records on the way to his treble.He became the first player in ISL toscore a hat-trick after coming on as asubstitute. He also became theyoungest ever goal-scorer for ATKMohun Bagan in the league.

ATKMB are placed fifth in thepoints table and a win against Mumbaiwould take them into the top-four andhelp them close the gap on league lead-ers Hyderabad FC with two games inhand.

ATKMB were not at their best inthe last game but did just enough tosecure three points, underlining theirmight yet again as one of the con-tenders.

Head coach Juan Ferrando alsomade the right changes and upped theante the moment they conceded theopening goal of the game, pressing

deeper and also keeping more of theball.

"It is not necessary to think aboutthe past. In football nothing is constant.Every game is different," said Ferrandoaddressing ATK Mohun Bagan's win-less record against Mumbai City.

Mumbai, on the other hand,haven't won in six games and haveslipped to sixth place in the table hav-ing 18 points from 12 matches.

They too have matches in hand like

ATKMB but goals have dried up for thedefending champions and that is acause of worry for Des Buckingham.

Buckingham has said that they willstick to their style of playing footballkeeping more of the ball but againstATKMB, who have Liston Colaco andManvir Singh bombing down theflanks with Hugo Boumous and DavidWilliams to support upfront, their full-backs and defenders will have their taskcut out.

NEERAJ CHOPRA NOMINATED FOR LAUREUS WORLD BREAKTHROUGH

Revised fixtures for remainderof ISL season unveiled

Nagal dropped, Yuki

returns for Davis Cup

tie against Denmark

Spotlight on Nassiri as ATKMB lookto continue winning momentum

Barcelona president says Dembélérejected 2 offers to leave

Manager of India's Winter Olympicscontingent tests COVID positive

W O R L D C U P U P D A T E S

South Korea qualifies for World Cup; costly draw for Aussies

12

tollywoodVijayawada Thursday February 3, 2022

PNS | HYDERABAD

fter making hisTollywood debutwith the 2015 filmJil, Kabir DuhanSingh has carvedout a career as an

antagonist in Tollywood, hav-ing appeared in films like Kick2, Bengal Tiger, and SardarGabbar Singh, among others.It’s not just the Telugu audi-ence; this Haryana lad madepromising appearances inKannada and Tamil films too.

He will next be seen inGunashekhar’s directorial ven-ture, Shakunthalam, starringSamantha Ruth Prabhu. Hewill play Kind Asura inthis film.

Having worked withGunashekhar for thismagnum opus, theactor feels he is rebornand that this filmhelped him to recali-brate his careergraph ahead.“Hunger for better-ment is magnificentin Gunashekhar,sir,” said Kabir.

Kabir will be seendonning 30 kg ofreal armour in thefilm. “It was toughand terrific to wear 30kg of armour anddeliver 100 kg of dia-logue with 1,000 kg ofemotions. It’s not an easyjob. Yes, we did it with a lot ofpatience, sweat, and blood,”said the actor who preparedfor his fight sequences forweeks. He feels the output hasmet their expectations.

When asked about thegenre of the film that is keep-ing all of us guessing, he said,“It’s not mythology, it’s history,and you know, history isimmortal. Because it is newto Indian audiences and hasan unknown history.”

Kabir, who had to men-tally prepare for the lengthydiscussions, said, “On theother hand, mythology isone of my favourite gen-res. As a consequence,practising my mono-logues, gestures, atti-tudes, and body lan-guage was a lot of funfor me. InShakunthalam,Samantha RuthPrabhu plays themajor role, while DevMohan, Allu Arha,

and others portray legendaryfigures.”

Kabir resonates with vil-lain characters, and hefeels, “Villain is a bookishor filmy word. Moreover,it is a character thatlives a different lifethan the normalones.”

The actor, who is agreat lover of lemontea, feels unfortunatenot to have sharedscreen space withSamantha in thefilm.

‘We did Shakunthalam with a

lot of patience, sweat & blood'

a

Radhe Shyam

to hit theatres

on March 11fter multipledelays, themakers ofthe Prabhasand PoojaHedge-star-

rer, period romanticfilm Radhe Shayamhave finally locked arelease date. The film isslated to hit the theatreson March 11.Enthralled about theannouncement, theofficial Twitter accountof the film and theactors associated tookto social media andshared the release dateof the film with a newstriking poster of the

Radha Krishna Kumardirectorial. “Theenthralling love storyhas a new release date!#RadheShyam in cine-mas on 11th March,”(sic) the tweet read.

Set in the 1970s,Radhe Shyam featuresPrabhas asVikramaditya, who fallsin love with Prerana,played by Hegde.

The film is producedby Bhushan Kumar,Vamsi, and Pramod.Radhe Shyam will besimultaneously releasedin Telugu, Hindi, Tamil,Kannada, andMalayalam

ass Maharaja Ravi Teja andcreative director SudheerVarma’s unique actionthriller Ravanasura startedrolling recently. Nightsequences were canned with

Sushanth and other actors taking partin the first schedule of the film.Second schedule of Ravanasura com-

menced today with Ravi Teja joiningthe team. The actor says he’s superexcited.

“First day!! #RAVANASURA...Supperr excited,” posted the actor onhis social media account, besides shar-ing a selfie picture. Ravi Teja lookscontented in the picture where we cansee actress Faria Abdullah, director

Sudheer Varma, producerAbhishek Nama, writerSrikanth Vissa and cine-matographer Vijay KartikKannan.

Ravanasura is beingmounted on a massive scaleby Abhishek Nama underAbhishek Pictures and RTTeamworks. Ravi Teja playsa lawyer, while Sushanthwill be seen a crucial role asRam in the film.

Ravanasura will star atotal of five heroinesincluding Anu Emmanuel,Megha Akash, Faria

Abdullah, Daksha Nagarkar andPoojitha Ponnada. All the heroineswill have equal importance in themovie. Srikanth Vissa who’s associatedwith a few exciting projects as a writerhas penned a powerful and a first of itskind story for the movie. SudheerVarma will be presenting Ravi Teja ina never seen before role in the movie.

Ravi Teja beginsRavanasura shoot

m

a

SenioractorMohan

Babu on Wednesdaytook to his social mediahandle to announcethat his upcoming emo-tional drama Son OfIndia is all set to hit thescreens on February 18.Making an officialannouncement, MohanBabu wrote, “Patriotismin his blood#SonofIndia. GrandRelease in Theaters on18th February. Maestro#Ilaiyaraaja Musical on@adityamusic. Proudlyproduced by@iVishnuManchun &

Directedby@ratnababuwriter.”Son Of India is in thefinal leg of its making,while the makers areeyeing to wrap up thepost-production for-malities soon. Being apatriotic film, it isexpected that the moviehas intense emotionsimbibed in it, while thedialogues are billed tobe hard-hitting.Directed by DiamondRatna Babu, the moviestars Mohan Babu andPragya Jaiswal in thelead roles. Interestingly,Mohan Babu’s dearfriend Tollywood starChiranjeevi has lent hisvoice for the teaser,which was released afew months ago.

ollywood star RamCharan will be seenin the much-antici-pated film, tenta-tively titled ‘RC15’.A directorial ven-

ture of ShankarShanmugham, the team isapparently resuming theshoot soon.

As reported, the makersof RC15 have scheduled ashoot which will be carriedout in the East GodavariDistrict of Andhra Pradesh.

A couple of crucial scenes will bewrapped up in this schedule. Startingfrom February 6, the shoot will go ontill February 25, reports a source.

Producer Dil Raju, who had spokenat one of the public events,

dropped a hint that ‘RC15’ is likely tohit the screens during Pongal 2023.So, the makers are to start shooting ata brisk pace, so as to wrap up thetalkie part by the end of the year.

The much-anticipated movie wasannounced almost a year ago. Sincethen, the news has taken over thesocial-media trends.

Touted to be an intense action-political drama, Ram Charan will beseen in an energetic role. AfterBoyapati Srinu’s Vinaya VidheyaRama, this is the second time thatKiara is pairing up with RamCharan.

Apart from the lead actorsRam Charan and Kiara Advani,Sunil, Anjali, Naveen Chandra,Jayaram and others will beseen in important roles.

Tollywood producer DilRaju is bankrolling

the heavy-budgetmovie, while SSThaman is incharge ofmusiccompo-sition.

RamCharan,

Shankar toshoot in East

Godavari

t

MohanBabu’s Son

Of India

releasingthis month

Vishwak Sen as amiddle-aged bachelor

he makers ofVishwak Sen andRukshar Dhillonstarrer AshokaVanamlo ArjunaKalyanam

unveiled the film’s teaser onWednesday.

Vishwak Sen is featured ina never-before look as amiddle-aged bachelor in themovie.

The teaser of AshokaVanamlo Arjuna Kalyanamhints at the crux of theupcoming movie, as itfeatures Vishwak Senin a role namedArjun KumarAllam.

Starting off,the voice-overfrom the teas-er says, “Haveyou everheard of anarrangedmarriage,which is alsointer-castemarriage?”,which pointsat the despera-tion of thehero.

“As the heroine(Rukshar is intro-duced, the hero ismesmerized by herlooks, but finds it diffi-cult to initiate talks with

her. As the teaser progresses,the tension between the cou-ple increases and Arjunbecomes too frustrated tostay sober. Unless we booze,we can't shed tears. And thetears of the drunken personhave no value,” the Hit actorsays.

The teaser also hints at thecomedy

imbibed in the narrative.Also starring RamanaGoparaju as the hero's rela-tive, Kedar Shankar,Kadambari Kiran, and oth-ers have small parts.

Touted to be a rom-comdirected by Vidhya SagarChinta, the movie is writtenby Ravikiran Kola. The filmAshoka Vanamulo Arjuna

Kalyanam will hitthe screens on

March 4.

t