VIJAYAWADA, MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2022; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No.APENG/2018/764698

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ALMANAC

Updated: JUNE 26, 2022 5:00 PM

Forecast: Mostly cloudy

Temp: 34oc

Humidity: 72%

Sunrise: 5:37 AM

Sunset: 6:44 PM

Month & Paksham:

Tithi: Chaturdashi: Jun 27 03:26 AMto Jun 28 05:52 AM

Nakshatram: Rohini: Jun 26 01:06 PM

to Jun 27 04:02 PM

Mrigashirsha: Jun 27 04:02 PMto Jun 28 07:05 PM

Rahukalam: 7:25 AM to 9:03 AM

Yamagandam: 10:41 AM to 12:19 PM

Varjyam: 10:21 PM to 12:09 AM

Gulika: 1:56 PM to 3:34 PM

Amritakalam: 12:27 PMto 02:14 PM

TTOODDAAYY

VIJAYAWADA WEATHER

MONUMENT FFOR AAPATHY

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The sleuths of CustomsCommissionerate (Preventive), herehave detected cases of smuggling ofgold in bullion form and ornamentswhich were being concealed andcarried in passenger vehicles.

On Friday, after receiving specif-ic information about the smugglingof gold bars from Chennai toGuntur and Rajahmundry insidethree passenger vehicles, Customshad kept surveillance and intercept-ed on suspicion at Bollapalli TollPlaza, on Vijayawada–ChennaiNational Highway.

On interrogation, they admittedto having concealed gold in theirvehicles. The smuggled gold wasconcealed in a specially built boxfixed behind the passenger seat andalso in a specially built cavity underthe passenger seats of the cars. The

search of the intercepted cars result-ed in the recovery and seizure of10.77 kgs of gold under the CustomsAct,1962. The total value of the goldrecovered in the above three cars isRs 5.80 crore approximately.Subsequent searches conducted bythe Customs Preventive Division,Kakinada on Saturday atRajahmundry led to the seizure of24 silver bars each weighing 1 kilowith foreign markings.

PNS n KADAPA

A goods train derailed nearMuddanur railway station on thenight of Saturday and five bogieswere tilted to one side on the track.

The derailment caused delays inthe running of several expresstrains. The railway authoritiesdiverted the Dharmavaram expresstrain via Gooty at Tadipatri. Therailway passengers going towardsVijayawada, Hyderabad, andChennai suffered severe inconti-nence due to the sudden halt ofpassenger trains. The railwayauthorities had taken up trackrepairing works on a war footingand cleared the tracks.

YSRCP wins big in Atmakur by-polllWhile Mekapati Vikram sets record with 82,742 majority, his BJP rival Bharat Kumar loses deposit

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a massive victory, YSRCP candi-date Mekapati Vikram Reddy hadwon the by-poll held for theAtmakur Assembly segment in theNellore district with a huge margin.While the ruling party set an ambi-tious target of securing at least onelakh vote majority, Vikram Reddywon the seat with 82,742 voteswhich was also a record of sorts inthe history of the Atmakur Assemblysegment.

Vikram Reddy won with a hugemargin over the nearest rival BJP’sG Bharath Kumar Yadav who hadsettled at a distant second. The BJPcandidate lost the deposit as he couldget only 19,353 votes. TDP hadstayed away from the by-poll.

Vikram Reddy’s brother GouthamReddy had won the seat with just22,276 votes over his nearest rival ofTDP’s Bollineni Krishnaiah in 2019.The by-poll, which was held on June23, was necessitated due to the sud-den demise of Mekapati GouthamReddy in February. The counting ofvotes took place on Sunday. Fromround one of counting, VikramReddy had maintained the leaduntil the last round.

“I thank the voters of Atmakurfor reposing faith in me. With thiswin, I got an opportunity to take for-ward the good work left byGoutham Anna and also the idealsof Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy,” said Vikram Reddy after thepoll authorities declared the result.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Though the ruling party candidates have won with hugemargins in both the by-polls held recently for the BadvelAssembly segment in Kadapa district and now inAtmakur, low voter turnout had spoiled the expected votemargins of YSRCP. In the by-poll for Badvel in Kadapadistrict held in November last year, YSRCP candidate,Dasari Sudha who had polled a total 1,12,211 votes, hadwon with a thumping majority of 90,533 votes with awhopping 76.25 vote share over her nearest BJP rivalPanathala Suresh who secured 21,621 votes and stood ata distant second and lost deposit. The Congresscandidate former MLA P M Kamalamma, who securedonly 6,205 votes, had lost the deposit. Sudha could winwith a record margin despite a significant drop in theoverall voter turnout. YSRCP leaders strived hard to

motivate voters to go out and vote to improve the overallpoll percentage that may help Sudha secure more than alakh votes margin. But, to their disappointment, voterturnout had dropped in comparison with the 2019 polls.The poll percentage on October 30 for the Badvel by-polllast year was 68.12 per cent which is a sharp declinefrom the voter turnout in 2019 polls. According to thepoll data in the 2019 Assembly elections, Badvelrecorded a voter turnout of 77.64 per cent. The voterturnout in the 2014 Assembly elections was 73.04 percent and in 2009 it was 73.07 per cent. The by-poll toBadvel reserved Assembly segment was necessitated dueto the sudden demise of the sitting MLA from rulingYSRCP Gunthoti Venkata Subbaiah in March. In Atmakur,14 candidates were in the fray for the June 23 by-poll.YSRCP leaders pointed out the low voter turnout for notmeeting the target of one lakh votes majority in Atmakur.

LOW VOTER TURNOUT SPOILS YSRCP’S 1 LAKH MAJORITY TARGET

BJP IMPROVED VOTESHARE: VEERRAJU

PNS nVIJAYAWADA

While BJP candidate G Bharat KumarYadav, who was in the Atmakur by-pollfray, polled only 19,352 and lost thedeposit, party State unit chief SomuVeerraju claimed the saffron party hadimproved its vote share. After the resultwas out, Somu Veerraju, on severalsocial media platforms, using info-graphics, said while the party candidatein 2019 polled only 2,314 votes and1.33 per cent of the total votes polled inthe by-poll held now, party candidateBharat Kumar had polled 19,332 votesand improved its vote share to 14.1 percent. “The results of the Atmakur by-elections are direct proof of the increas-ing trust and affection of the people forBJP in the State. BJP Andhra Pradeshexpresses heartfelt thanks to voters andactivists,” said Veerraju. BJP hadbrought in many leaders for campaign-ing. The party had also set up a five-member panel to exclusively work onthe Atmakur by-poll. Incidentally,YSRCP candidate Mekapati VikramReddy has polled only 1,02,241, verylittle over 92,758 votes secured by hisbrother Goutham Reddy inthe 2019 polls. At that time,TDP candidate B.Krishnaiah hadsecured 70,482votes.

People voted for goodgovernance: Ambati P2

Rs 5.8-crore smuggledgold seized, 5 arrestedRail traffic hit as

goods train derails

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TTD will release online quota of'Arjita Seva' tickets for the monthof September on June 27. Amongthe total 46,470 tickets, the luckydip 'seva' tickets number 8,070while the 'sevas' on the 'first in-first out' basis are 38,400.

The 'Arjita Sevas ' , viz,'Suprabatham','Tomala', 'Archana'and 'Astadala PadaPadmaradhana' tickets are allot-ted in lucky dip for which devo-tees should register onlinebetween 10 am on June 27 and 10am on June 29. Tickets confirma-tion is done after online lucky dipdrawls. The list of the allottedtickets is updated on the TTDwebsite after 12 noon on June 29and the devotees are informed viaSMS and e-mails.

All the allotted devoteesshould credit the ticket farewithin two days of theannouncement.

‘Long Covid in children akin to adults, but no reason to worry’PNS n NEW DELHI

Noting that long Covid manifestsitself in children similar to adults,experts on Sunday said there is noneed to panic but stressed on earlytreatment.

Children infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus can experience symp-toms of long Covid lasting at leasttwo months, according to a studypublished in The Lancet Child &Adolescent Health journal recent-ly.

The largest study to date of longCovid symptoms in children up to14 years used national level sam-pling of kids in Denmark andmatched positive cases with a con-trol group having no prior historyof the infection.

According to Dr. Col. VijayDutta, senior consultant in Internal

Medicine, Indian Spinal InjuriesCentre, long Covid problems inchildren is a well-known issue.

"We are encountering long Covidsyndrome in children similar toadults. They can have multiplepresentations, like in the adultpopulation we have involvement ofthe respiratory system, patientsare experiencing recurrent pneu-monia, the immunity is lower, sothey are experiencing GI infections,such as chronic diarrhoea andweight loss," he said.

"Due to lowered immunity, theyhave symptoms like any rheumato-logical disorder overlap syndromesand other symptoms which arecommonly seen in the immuno-compromised pediatric age group.They are now being commonlyencountered in children who havesuffered from Covid. Long Covid

is now a well-recognised problemacross the world," Dutta added.

Dr Krishan Chugh, Director andHead of the PaediatricsDepartment, Fortis MemorialResearch Institute, said there was noneed to panic.

Citing the Lancet study, he saidin all three groups of children -- lessthan three years, four to 11 years,and 12-14 years -- those who test-ed positive in RT-PCR had higherchances of having at least onesymptom at the second and thirdmonth compared to the childrenthat remained indoors.

"However, in majority of thechildren, these symptoms weremild. Interestingly, the quality of liferelated to emotional and socialfunctioning was better in those whohad Covid compared to controls inthe older children age group," he

said. The most commonly report-ed symptoms among children in the0-3 year category were moodswings, rashes and stomach aches,

the study said. Among four to 11years old, the most commonlyreported symptoms were troubleremembering or concentrating and

rashes besides mood swings.Among 12-14 years old, fatigue,

mood swings, and trouble remem-bering or concentrating were themain symptoms, it noted.

Most of the symptoms the infect-ed children exhibited were thesame that could occur in thoseforced to stay indoors without anycontact outside, such as moodswings, Chugh said.

The study included childreninfected during the Alpha and theDelta waves (first and the secondwaves) and not the presentOmicron wave, which in all ways ismilder, he added.

"So, while we have to recognisethe children who have long Covidsymptoms early and treat them, Ithink there is no cause for unduealarm. Children have braved Covidbetter than adults in every way.

TTD to release onlinequota of ‘Arjita Seva'tickets for Sept today

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh Panchayat RajChamber has demanded that the‘Gram Sachivalayam’ and volunteersystems be brought under the con-trol of sarpanches.

Chamber president and former

MLC YVB Rajendra Prasadand general secretary BirruPratap Reddy have alsodemanded that the twowings should be mergedinto the 'Grama panchayats'.In view of the declaration of pro-bation of the 'Sachivalayam' staff by

the State government, thetwo wings should workunder the purview ofsarpanches, the leaders saidin a press release here on

Sunday.

Bring ‘Sachivalayams' under panchayats: PR Chamber

2

DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE, HELPSCARCE AFTER AFGHANISTAN QUAKE

PRINCE CHARLES GOT SUITCASE OFCASH FROM QATAR FOR CHARITY

Prince Charles, the heir to Britain's throne, allegedly accepted a suitcasefull of cash as a charitable donation from the former Prime Minister ofQatar, according to a UK media report on Sunday. The Sunday Times'

says the suitcase was one of three bundles of cash given as charitabledonations which the 73-year-old received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassimbin Jaber Al Thani. The three lots, which reportedly totalled Euro 3 million,were handed to the prince personally between 2011 and 2015. Eachpayment was reportedly deposited into the accounts of the Prince ofWales's Charitable Fund (PWCF), a low-profile grant-making entity whichfunds projects close to the royal's heart and his country estate in Scotland.

IRAN LAUNCHES ROCKET INTO SPACEAMID NUCLEAR TALKS

Iranian state television said Sunday that Tehran had launched a solid-fueled rocket into space, drawing a rebuke from Washington aheadof the expected resumption of stalled talks over Tehran's tattered

nuclear deal with world powers. It's unclear when or where the rocketwas launched, but the announcement came after satellite photos showed preparations at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran's rural Semnanprovince, the site of Iran's frequent failed attempts to put a satellite intoorbit. State-run media aired dramatic footage of the blastoff against thebackdrop of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear program,which is racing ahead under decreasing international oversight.

AROUND 3 LAKH PILGRIMS HAVEREGISTERED FOR AMARNATH YATRA

Around three lakh pilgrims have registered so far for theannual Amarnath Yatra which is scheduled to begin onJune 30 amid unprecedented security arrangements in

south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said on Sunday. ShriAmarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), which manages the annualpilgrimage, commenced the registration of pilgrims for the43-day yatra on April 11 through 566 designated branches ofvarious banks across the country, in addition to the facilityon its website. Registrations will continue till the end of theyatra.

When the ground heaved from last week's earthquake in Afghanistan,Nahim Gul's stone-and-mud house collapsed on top of him. Heclawed through the rubble in the pre-dawn darkness, choking on dust

as he searched for his father and two sisters. He doesn't know how manyhours of digging passed before he caught a glimpse of their bodies under theruins. They were dead. Now, days after a 6 magnitude quake that devastateda remote region of southeast Afghanistan and killed at least 1,150 people andinjured hundreds more, Gul sees destruction everywhere and help in shortsupply. His niece and nephew were also killed in the quake, crushed by thewalls of their house.

PNS n AMARAVATI

Keen to mobilise funds for thedevelopment of Amaravati in accor-dance with the High Court order,the Andhra Pradesh Capital RegionDevelopment Authority (CRDA)has now decided to lease out the res-idential towers it actually built forthe government employees in thestate capital city.

In the first lot, the CRDA has putup the D1 Tower, containing 120flats, for lease to earn about Rs 8-10crore per annum.

The VIT-AP University has comeforward to take the tower on lease."Our negotiations are going on. Weare awaiting a formal order from thegovernment to complete the deal,"a senior official of the MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment Department said. TheD1 Tower is located in close prox-imity to the VIT-AP campus inAmaravati.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan MohanReddy gave the green signal for leas-ing out the flats, which lay aban-doned ever since he came to power.In all, the CRDA has taken up con-struction of six towers in an area of7.72 acres for Group-D employeesof the state government. Between2017 and 2019, 65 per cent of theworks were completed, but theYSRC government stalled all devel-opment projects in Amaravati sinceJune 2019.

With the High Court deliveringa judgment on March 3 this year,directing the state government tocomplete all development works in

Amaravati capital city and regionwithin six months, the CRDA hasbeen scampering for funds to fulfilthe obligation. On one hand, theCRDA is putting up huge tracts oflands, acquired from farmers, forsale and on the other exploring alter-native avenues to raise resources.Accordingly, the proposal to leaseout the flats built for employees wasmooted and the Chief Ministerapproved it, official sources said.

In the first round, one tower willbe leased out on as-is-where-isbasis. The others will follow,depending on the response, thesources added. The total superbuilt-up area of the six towers is10,22,149 sqft and the CRDAexpects to garner at least Rs 50-60crore as lease rental per year.

Interestingly, Shapoorji Pallonjithat is building the towers hassought extension of time to com-plete the project but now that maynot happen as the CRDA has decid-ed to rent them out.

The residential towers, with sev-eral hundred flats for GazettedOfficers and Non-Gazetted Officers,built in the vicinity are also halfcomplete. Officials say these struc-tures too could be leased out if thereare takers .

Three banks have so far releaseda sum of Rs 1,862 crore for these res-idential towers and agreed to releasethe balance Rs 198 crore in duecourse of time .

Now that it has to take up othermajor development works and alsorepay the loans already taken, theCRDA finds itself stifled.

CRDA to lease out flatsbuilt for govt employees

Water hyacinth infestation atthe Prakasam Barrage inVijayawada has turned into anobstacle to the free flow ofwater downstream of River Krishna.

Pic bby CCh VVijaya BBhaskar

2 2

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vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | JUNE 27, 2022

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

Monday MirchiDONE AND DUSTED WITH GHMC

One heavy spell of rain is enough towash out the claims, be they tall or gen-uine, of any corporation these daysregarding the soundness of civic infra-structure. The Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation is no exception.There are very few IAS and IPS officersleft in GHMC, compared to the situationa couple of years ago. A little bird toldus that most of these officers also wantto leave the corporation as they are doneand dusted with it. While the corridorsof power are yet to move the file relat-ed to an IPS officer who wants to moveout of the corporation, some IAS officershave expressed their willingness tobecome district collectors and bid good-bye to the civic body. Officials are dis-cussing the irony of how some of thosewho want to return to Hyderabad ‘miss’GHMC. With the onset of monsoon, andlooming threat of viral diseases, it wouldbe surprising if any moves are made.Nonetheless, Municipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Rao hand-heldLokesh Kumar and made him inauguratethe Khaitlapur flyover last week. Whileshutterbugs captured shy Lokesh Kumar,t he buzz i s t hat t he GHMCCommissioner might end up being thelong-standing officers in the same post.

EXCEPTION TO THE GAG ORDER

After a long hiatus, some tongue-tiedbabus in TS have started ‘speaking’ to themedia, though it is more in the nature ofan exception to the existing gag order. Allof them are speaking on only one com-mon topic: How to prepare for exams? Alittle bird told us that officials are allowedto talk to scribes only about what wentinto their cracking civil services exam andhow to study, considering that the stategovernment has released notifications forvarious examinations. Otherwise, theorder restraining babus from talking tothe media is still in vogue. Bureaucratsnow have a stock phrase as response whennews hounds approach them for inter-views: ‘Keeping a low profile’. The larg-er, unanswered question is: From whom-- people or the higher-ups?

DON’T SAY IT WITH FLOWERS

Of late, some of the bureaucrats havedone away with the culture of saying itwith flowers and are offering saplingsinstead. At a recent FTICCI event, oth-ers went a step further. Krishna Bhaskar,Commissioner of Industries, got tributes,certificate, and a sapling for speaking atan event. The man, who had concludedhis speech, rushed to the mic again toappreciate the gesture. He said, “In yourhonour, we will donate three dictionar-ies to the Government school students ofTelangana. This is so much better thanthe culture of bouquet. This is exception-al, it has been on my mind always, butsee ing i t in rea l i ty for the f i rs ttime&quot”

NOT IN RACE FOR DGP POST

Top IPS officer from Andhra Pradesh

VSK Kaumudi, who had been on centraldeputation for quite some time, recent-ly got a new posting at the Centre. Thebuzz is that this implies that he is nolonger in the race for the AP DGP post.Going by his seniority, Kaumudi wasexpected to throw in his hat for the DGPpost. While the government is yet tosend a panel of names to the Centre,Kaumudi’s name figured among theprobables. Kaumudi, 1986-batch IPSofficer, has been appointed as secretary(security) in the central cabinet secre-tariat. He served as a special secretary(internal security) in the Ministry ofHome Affairs. Kaumudi, an IPS officerof Andhra Pradesh cadre, served previ-ously as superintendent of police in thestate and then as superintendent ofp ol ice in t he C ent ra l Bure au ofInvestigation. He has served also as addi-tional director general in the railwaysand in the National Investigation Agency.The officer was also posted as anAdditional DG in the Bureau of PoliceResearch & Development, which isthe think tank for the Indian Police.

NO ‘LAV’ FOR AP

It appears that Lav Agarwal, Andhracadre IAS officer on central deputation,is in no mood to return to his parentstate. The Centre has extended thetenure of Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary,Department of Health & FamilyWelfare, up to August 28, 2023. LavAgarwal, 49-year-old IAS officer and anengineer, has worked for various stategovernments before he was appointed tothe Union Health Ministry in 2016. A1996-batch officer, Agarwal is an IIT-Delhi graduate. He has been on centraldeputation for the last six years. “Giventhe extensions he has had till date, oneshould not be surprised if he gets a fewmore extensions and completes a decadein Delhi,” quipped a senior bureaucrat.

THE ‘LINK’ BETWEEN PRAGATI

BHAVAN AND RAJ BHAVAN

In the fight between the PragatiBhavan and the Raj Bhavan, one IAS offi-cer is believed to be playing a key role.This IAS officer is giving all inputs to theGovernor against the state government.In the past, this IAS officer and aMinister had a dispute regarding oneproject. Finally the Minister got theupper hand over him. Since then, the IASofficer has been angry at the TRS gov-ernment. The Pragat i Bhavan-RajBhavan tussle came in handy for the IASofficer. The IAS officer worked as theJoint Collector in the combined AndhraPradesh state and as Collector in theTelangana government upon bifurcation.Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan hasreposed a lot of confidence in the IASofficer. She is consulting him on issuesrelating to the state government. Afterdispute with the state government, thatIAS officer has gone to the central gov-ernment on deputation.

-Your’s truly

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The YSR Congress Party(YSRCP) has scored a big winin the Atmakur by-electionwith people extending theircontinuous support to YSJagan Mohan Reddy's gover-nance, said Minister for WaterResources, Ambati Rambabu.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Sunday, he saidthat the people have witnessedthe good governance and wel-fare initiatives brought in byChief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy, which resultedin securing continuous victo-ries, with the increasingmajority. Taking the trackrecord of YSRCP winning allthe elections, including the

bypolls for Tirupati Lok Sabhaand Badvel Assembly con-stituency, the Minister saidthat the party has won with ahuge majority of 2.7 lakhvotes in Tirupati bypoll,despite the massive campaignsdone by the opposition partiesTDP and Jana Sena. and in

Badvel by a whopping major-ity of 90228 votes.

Regarding the Atmakur by-poll, he said that another mas-sive win was secured asYSRCP candidate MekapatiVikram Reddy won with amajority of 83,888 votes, sur-passing the previous majorityof 22,276 votes in 2019. Hesaid that people always stoodby YSRCP irrespective of theevil conspiracies of oppositionparties, especially TDP lead-ers who had even worked asBJP poll agents.

Stating that the poison is inthe minds of TDP leaders butnot in the liquor, the ministerbrushed aside the maliciouspropaganda of opposition onliquor policy. He said that the

available Indian Made ForeignLiquor was being distilled bylicensed distilleries in theState and stressed that the cur-rent government had not per-mitted any new distilleriesand breweries, and the exist-ing ones were allowed by theprevious government. It wasNaidu’s government that gavepermission to numerousbrands and for seven distil-leries in his five-year rule, hesaid and stated thatChandrababu Naidu hadbrought 14 distilleries duringhis term. He said with thegrowing popularity of YSRCP,the Opposition TDP is con-spiring to bluff people andmislead them with cheap pol-itics and false propaganda.

People have voted for goodgovernance, avers Ambati

Continued from Page 1

While YSRCP fieldedGoutham's younger brotherMekapati Vikram Reddy as itscandidate, the rival TDP fol-lowed the tradition of notputting up a candidate if a sit-ting legislator dies. However,the BJP fielded GundlapalliBharat Kumar Yadav as itscandidate. YSRCP leaderspointed out at the low voterturnout for not meeting the tar-get of a one lakh votes major-ity. The by-poll witnessed lessturnout than during the 2019Assembly elections. The voterturnout was 64.27 per cent thistime around whereas duringthe 2019 Assembly elections, itwas 82.44 per cent.

Vikram Reddy in totalsecured 74.47 per cent, that is,1,02,241 of the total 1,37,289votes polled. BJP’s BharatKumar could get a meagre 14.1per cent -19,353 votes. NOTAgot 4,182 votes. Not to take any

chance and leave it to the sym-pathy, the YSRCP candidatewould garner due to the demiseof sitting MLA, ruling partysupremo and Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy haddeployed senior leaders andministers to ensure a resound-ing victory to Vikram Reddy.

Ministers PeddireddyRamachandra Reddy, KakaniGovardhan Reddy, MPsMagunta Srrinivasulu Reddy,Maddila Gurimoorthy, formerminister P Anil Kumar Yadavhad personally monitored andimplemented the campaign

strategy. Vikram Reddy, alongwith his other family members,extensively toured the con-stituency and completed thedoor-to-door canvassing morethan once.

“In support of the good workdone by the government, as atribute to Goutham I thankevery sister, every friend, everygrandmother and every grand-father who had blessed Vikramwith a huge majority of 83,000in Atmakur,” tweeted ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

While there were reports ini-tially that Goutham Reddy’swife Sri Kirthi may contest theby-poll, Mekapati family haddecided to field Vikram Reddyas the broad consensus amongthe family members hademerged. Vikram Reddy, whois Goutam Reddy's youngerbrother, had graduated fromIIT-Chennai and also did hisMS in the USA. He has beenmanaging the family businessKMC Group.

BJP IMPROVED VOTE...

Continued from Page 1

The by-poll witnessed lessturnout than during the 2019Assembly elections. The voterturnout was 64.27 per cent thistime around whereas during the2019 Assembly elections, it was82.44 per cent.

YSRCP wins big in Atmakur...

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Dr Naveen Kumar, SpecialSecretary, Medical & HealthDepartment, and AP AIDSControl Society ProjectDirector, has said that wide-spread awareness should becreated among the peopleand a special action planwill be designed to controlAIDS across the State.

In a statement on Sunday,Dr Naveen Kumar said thata class on AIDS preventionmeasures would be given toVillage/Ward secretariats,ANMs and women police.The special secretary saidthat steps would be taken tofill the vacant posts in theAP AIDS Control Society.

The special secretary saidthat ART drug centreswould be set up at every 50km and ART medicineswould be made available toHIV-infected persons.

He said that awarenessprogrammes would beorganised on AIDS inAndhra, Nagarjuna, SriVenkateswara and KLUniversities. An action planwill be prepared to organ-ise awareness programmesin other universities.

He said that the youthshall be motivated to takeprecautions against HIVand awareness would becreated to use condoms.

A toll-free number 1097is set up for the people toclarify doubts and give sug-gestions on AIDS.

With the support of otherdepartments, measures willbe taken to create awarenesson AIDS, he said and addedthat awareness will be cre-ated on AIDS among theDhaba owners, fishermenand truck driver associa-tions. All the NGOs work-ing with the AP AIDSControl Society will be inte-grated to create awarenessto use PrEP, or pre-expo-sure prophylaxis to peopleof high-risk groups, headded.

Creation of AIDSawarenesssought

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Applications are invited forintermediate first year admis-sions at 352 Kasturba GandhiBalika Vidyalayas (KGBV)across the State for the 2022-23 academic year. The onlineapplications process will starton June 27 and end on July 12,Samagra Siksha State ProjectDirector K Vetri Selvi said ina press release here on Sunday.

She further said that theState government introducedthe intermediate course in 221KGBV last year and now theremaining 131 KGVS havebeen upgraded to intermediatecourse. SC, ST, BC, Minority,BPL families and orphan stu-dents who passed class 10may apply online, she said. Shemade it clear that online appli-cations only would be takeninto consideration.

Moreover, she said that theinterested girl students wouldapply throughhttps://apkgbv.apcfss.in. forthe intermediate admissions.SMS would be sent to thoseselected student's mobiles andlists would be displayed atKGBV notice boards, sheadded. For more details con-tact, mobile numbers 9494383617, 94907 82111, she saidin a press release.

Applications invited forInter admissions at KGBVs

You are vibrant India’s ambassadorsPNS n MUNICH

Terming Emergency in 1975 as a"black spot" on the vibrant history ofIndia's democracy, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sunday said thatdemocracy, which is in DNA of everyIndian, was trampled and suppressed47 years ago, but the people answeredin a democratic way all the conspira-cies to crush it.

"Today is June 26 which is alsoknown for the day when India's democ-racy, which is in the DNA of everyIndian, was trampled and suppressed47 years ago. Emergency is a black spoton the vibrant history of India's democ-racy," Modi told a gathering of Indiandiaspora here, targeting the oppositionCongress Party.

"The people of India answered all theconspiracies to crush democracy in ademocratic way. We Indians take pridein our democracy wherever we are,"Modi said in his over 30 minutesspeech at the massive diaspora eventheld at the Audi Dome stadium here.

Modi, who is visiting Germany to

attend the G7 Summit, said thatIndians are proud of their democracy."Today, we can proudly say that Indiais the mother of democracy... Thediversity of culture, food, clothes,music and traditions makes ourdemocracy vibrant. India has shownthat democracy can deliver and hasdelivered." Emergency was announcedin India on June 25, 1975 when

Congress leader Indira Gandhi was theprime minister, and was lifted onMarch 21, 1977.

During the speech, Modi also sharedhis government's achievements and saidIndia will not be left behind in the 4thIndustrial Revolution. He said that nowevery village in India is open defecationfree, has electricity and 99% of the vil-lages also have clean cooking fuel. India

has been providing free ration to 80crore poor people since last 2 years.

"This list of achievements is verylong. If I keep speaking, your dinnertime will be over. When a country takescorrect decisions with correct inten-tions on time, then it is destined fordevelopment," he said, amid chants ofModi-Modi from the crowd.

"In IT, digital technology, India ismaking its presence felt. Forty per centdigital transactions in the world arefrom India. India is making newrecords in data consumption. India isamong the countries where data ischeapest, he said. In the 21st Century'snew India, the fast way people adopttechnology is exciting.

"India now is ready, prompt for devel-opment, for its dreams. Today, Indiabelieves in itself and its capabilities. That'swhy we're breaking old records andachieving new goals, he said. Modi saidthat 90% adults have taken both dosesof Covid vaccines in India and 95% havetaken at least one dose. Made in Indiavaccine has saved crores of lives acrossthe world, he added.

BJP wrests Rampur, Azamgarh from SPPNS n NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW/AGARTALA

Consolidating its position,the BJP wrested high-profileRampur and Azamgarh LokSabha seats in Uttar Pradeshfrom the Samajwadi Partyand won three assembly seats,including that of ChiefMinister Manik Saha, inTripura in by-election resultsannounced on Sunday.

While the AAP lostPunjab's Sangrur parliamen-tary constituency, vacated byChief Minister BhagwantMann, to Shiromani AkaliDal (Amritsar) leaderSimranjit Singh Mann, it wasable to retain Rajinder Nagarassembly seat in Delhi thatparty leader Raghav Chadhahad given up after he waselected to Rajya Sabha.

The Congress won a seateach in Tripura, where itopened its account after draw-

ing nil in the last assemblypolls, and Jharkhand, whilethe ruling YSR Congressemerged victorious inAtmakuru Assembly seat inAndhra Pradesh.

Counting of votes was heldon Sunday for the June 23 by-election to three Lok Sabhaand seven assembly seatsspread across five states andDelhi.

In Uttar Pradesh, the oppo-sition Samajwadi Party suf-fered a major setback as it lostto the BJP in its strongholds ofAzamgarh and Rampur LokSabha seats, vacated by SPchief Akhilesh Yadav andparty stalwart Azam Khanafter they were elected to theAssembly.

Prime Minister NarendraModi termed the BJP victoryas "historic", asserting thatthis indicates wide-scaleacceptance and support forthe "double engine" govern-

ments at the Centre and inUttar Pradesh, a reference tothe party being in power inboth places.

Ruling candidateGhanshyam Lodhi won theRampur parliamentary seat bya margin of over 42,000 votes.He defeated Mohd Asim Raja,considered close to AzamKhan. In Azamgarh, BJP can-didate Dinesh Lal Yadav'Nirahua' defeatedDharmendra Yadav by a mar-gin of 8,679 votes.Dharmendra is a cousin ofAkhilesh Yadav and a three-time MP.

''People have sent a messagethat they aren't ready to acceptdynastic and casteist partieswho incite communal ten-sion,'' Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said.

Akhilesh Yadav, rankled bythe defeat, lashed out at theBJP and accused it of murder-ing democracy.

BYPOLLS

m Modi lauds contribution of diaspora in Germany

Rs 5.8-cr smuggled...Continued from Page 1

In this customs operation,five persons have also beenarrested and three cars usedin smuggling have beenseized under the provisions ofthe Customs Act 1962. All thefive accused have beenremanded to judicial cus-tody by the court of SpecialJudge to try EconomicOffences, Visakhapatnam, onSunday. Further investiga-tion is on.

Bring ‘Sachivalayams'...

Continued from Page 1

The Chamber leaders saidthat 'Grama Sachivalayam'and volunteer systems hadbeen working independent-ly and parallel to panchay-ats and sarpanches, in vio-lat ion of the IndianConstitution. As per theArticle 243G and 11thSchedule, 'sachivalayam'staff, volunteers and secre-taries should work underthe sarpanches, they said.They further said that theState government shouldissue necessary orders inthis regard. Funds of all the29 departments, staff anddevelopment and welfareactivities should be underthe purview of panchayats,they added.

They also demanded thatMGNREGA works shouldbe brought under the con-trol of panchayats and pow-ers should be delegated tothe sarpanches as per theguidelines of the Union gov-ernment.

Admit us in Indian colleges

PNS n NEW DELHI

Medical students, who wereevacuated from war-tornUkraine, sat on a hungerstrike at Jantar Mantar onSunday demanding admis-sion in the country's medicalcolleges as a one-time mea-sure.

They said there are approx-imately 12,000 students, bar-ring those in the final year,and as there are at least 600medical colleges in the coun-try, each institution needed toaccommodate only around20 students. Around 350 peo-ple participated in the protest.Of these, 35 students fromDelhi, Uttar Pradesh,Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,Punjab, Uttarakhand, MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan sat ona hunger strike from 10 am to5 pm, Parents' Association ofUkraine Medical Students(PAUMS) president R BGupta said.

"We also held a march atJantar Mantar. We want thegovernment's help in accom-modating our children. Mychild was studying second-year in Ivano (Ukrainian city).We are only requesting thegovernment that these chil-dren be accommodated as aone-time measure," he said.

PAUMS has also written toPrime Minister NarendraModi in this regard.

"There are 15,000-16,000(approx.) medical studentsout of which around 3,000 areof final year for whom theNMC (National MedicalCommission) has permittedto complete their internship inIndia, which is a breath ofrelief. Now, this leaves uswith 12,000 approx. studentsto be given admission... Thereare around 606 medical col-leges in India, which meanseach college will have toaccommodate only 20-21 stu-dents ," the letter read.

Medical students sit on hunger strike

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

CPM State secretary VSrinivasa Rao has demandedthat G.O 389 regarding thesale of lands in the capital citybe withdrawn. The previousgovernment had taken thelands from farmers under theLand Pooling scheme forworks in Amaravati, he said.

The State government hasdecided to sell 14 acres ofAmaravati lands in the firstphase, he said in a press releasehere on Sunday. This practicewould become dangerous infuture and hence people andpolitical parties should opposethe G.O., he said.

He further said that as perthe State Bifurcation Act, con-struction of the capital city wasthe responsibility of theCentral government. The rul-ing YSRCP has not conduct-ed any works in the past threeyears. The Union governmentis camouflaging to release thefunds to build the capital city,

he alleged.He said that the State gov-

ernment should press theCentre to release the funds.The State government shouldallot funds in the budget todevelop the capital. Thoughthe High Court has givenorders, the development of thecapital is being neglected, hefelt.

Later, he said that the Stategovernment should take updevelopment works in thecapital and provide infrastruc-ture facilities at the farmers’plots.

Withdraw GO No. 389: CPM

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | JUNE 27, 2022

C PRADEEP KUMAR

n VIJAYAWADA

Farming activity during thepresent Kharif season has beenmoving at a slow pace acrossthe State. Despite the State gov-ernment releasing irrigationwater for cultivation as per theschedule announced earlier,the targeted area under culti-vation is less than 50 per centin most parts of the State.

According to a report of theState government, the targetedarea for the cultivation of var-ious crops for the currentKharif season is 36.82 lakhhectares. The area sown is1.14 lakh hectares against 2.55lakh hectares, which is 45 percent. The targeted area ofpaddy cultivation in the Stateis 15.59 lakh hectares.However, the area sown is0.27 lakh hectares.

As per the report, the totalarea where coarse grains weresown during the Kharif seasonwas 1.95 lakh hectares. Thearea sown was 0.06 lakhhectares against the normal asof date was 0.16 lakh hectarestranslates to 36 per cent. Pulses

are cultivated in a total area of3.13 lakh hectares during theseason. The area cultivatedwas 0.02 lakh hectares againstthe normal as of date was 0.14lakh hectares that is 12 percent. Oil seeds are cultivated in7.18 lakh hectares. The areacultivated was 0.28 lakhhectares against the normal ason date was 0.58 lakh hectaresthat is 48 per cent.

Large excess rainfall (60 percent and above) was recordedin the southwest monsoonfrom June 1 to June 22 in theRayalaseema districts SriSathya Sai, Annamaya and

YSR. Meanwhile,V i s a k h a p a t n a m ,Ananthapuram and Chittoor,received excess rainfall (20 percent to 59 per cent).Vizianagaram, Anakapalli,Konaseema, Kakinada, WestGodavari, Eluru, SPSR Nellore,Kurnool, Nandyal and Tirupatireceived normal rainfall of+19per cent to -19 per cent.Srikakulam, AlluriS i t a r a m a r a j u ,Parvatipurammanyam, EastGodavari, Krishna, Guntur,Bapatla, Palnadu andPrakasam received deficit rain-fall of -20 per cent to -59 per

cent and NTR district receivedlarge deficit rainfall of -60 percent to -99 per cent.

AP Agriculture MissionVice-Chairman MVS NagiReddy said that it is too earlyto say anything in June. “ByJuly-end, we will have a clearpicture of the area under cul-tivation of various crops.Except for a few districts in AP,there is normal rainfall in theState and better rains are pre-dicted in July," he said.

NTR District Collector SDilli Rao has directed the offi-cials concerned to take mea-sures to supply quality seeds,pesticides and fertilisers to thefarmers through RythuBharosa Kendras. He said thatfarmers should be educated toinsure their crops under e-crop.

Meanwhile, BJP State pres-ident Somu Veerraju saidGodavari districts were onceconsidered to be the ‘RiceBowl of India’ and the Stategovernment is forcing thefarmers of these Godavari dis-tricts to give up paddy cultiva-tion during Kharif and Rabiseasons.

KHARIF FARMING IN APMOVING AT A SLOW PACE

The targeted area for cultivation is less than 50 pc in most parts

PNS n AMARAVATI

TDP Repalle MLA AnaganiSatya Prasad on Sundayexpressed concern over theJagan Reddy government's'endless insults and betrayals'to the Kapu community in theState.

Satya Prasad slammed theCM for stopping even 'KapuNestham' now after cancellingVidesi Vidya and fee reim-bursement in the past.

In a press releasehere, the TDPMLA said realjustice wasdone toKapus onlyduring thep r e v i o u sChandrababurule. JaganReddy has beencarrying out an'anti-Kapu' regime inthe past three years by can-celling each and every benefitto them.

Satya Prasad said that theKapu community was sup-pressed economically, politi-cally and socially. They weredeprived of many benefitsunder the Government pro-grammes. Jagan Reddy hasreduced Videsi Vidya scholar-ships from Rs. 10 lakh to justRs. 5 lakh for Kapu students.

The TDP MLA pointed outthat the Chandrababu regimespent Rs. 1,500 Cr for Kapustudents' Videsi Vidya.Boarding facilities were pro-vided to Kapu students prepar-ing for competitive examina-

tions in AP Bhavan in Delhi.The YCP rule has cancelledeven this.

Satya Prasad said injusticewas done by turning KapuCorporation into an orna-mental body without anyfunds to create self-employ-ment opportunities. Benefitsgiven through Amma Vodiand pensions were beingshown as exclusively given toKapus.

The TDP MLAslammed the

YSRCP rule forclaiming cred-it for eventhe fundsr e l e a s e dunder theCentral pro-g r a m m e s .

YSR's namewas prefixed to

old programmesonly to cheat the

innocent beneficiaries. A sit-uation was created now whereKapus were forced to go toother States in search of workand livelihood opportunities.

Satya Prasad said the TDPregime provided 5 per centreservations to Kapus withoutharming the BCs. Jagan Reddyhas cancelled even these reser-vations. The CM showed hishatred towards Kapus by can-celling Kapu Bhavans.

The TDP MLA said that theKapus should get ready tothrow out Jagan Reddy forsuppressing them in allaspects. No priority was givento Kapus even in the nominat-ed posts.

PNS n AMARAVATI

TDP national general secre-tary Nara Lokesh on Sundayaccused Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy of hatch-ing non-stop conspiracies todestroy the Amaravati CapitalCity.

Nara Lokesh asked howJagan Reddy could put upAmaravati lands for sale atRs. 10 crore per acre after hisgovernment called theCapital City region just a'smasanam' (cremationground).

In a statement here, Lokeshrecalled how the rulingYSRCP Ministers and MLAscarried out a nefarious cam-paign against AP Capital.They said that Amaravatiwas prone to earthquakesand that the Capital citylands were vulnerable tofloods.

Lokesh said that Jagan andhis party leaders spreadvicious information propa-ganda against the mother-likeAmaravati Capital.

Now, the same YCP lead-ers were trying to sellAmaravati lands at a veryhigh value.

There seemed to be no endto the scheming and plottingof Jagan Reddy against theState and its Capital city.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

As a part of the ongoing'Srinivasa Kalyanam' in differentcities in the United States ofAmerica (USA), the NRIdenizens were mesmerised by thedivine charm of the deities dur-ing the celestial wedding ceremo-ny. 'Srinivasa Kalyanam' wasperformed with religious fervouramidst chanting of 'vedicmantras' in the city of Dallas inthe wee hours of Sunday as perIndian Standard Time (IST).

TTD Chairman YV SubbaReddy, AP NRT Chief Venkat,Raju Vegnesa, GovernmentAdvisor Rathnakar, SVBCDirector Srinivasa Reddy andothers participated.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Visakhapatnam police tookstern action against motoristscreating sound pollution byinstalling modified silencerson the motorcycles. OnSunday, the police lashed outat the motorists who usedsilencers to create loud noisecreating disturbance for oth-ers. About 1200 silencerswere crushed under a roadroller on the beach road onSunday.

The Vizag police conduct-ed a special drive in recenttimes against motorists whoreplace the company silencersand fitted with noisy silencersmaking loud noises creatingsound pollution and also dis-turbing others. The trafficpolice caught about 1200motorists at various places inthe city using noisy silencersduring the special drive andwere trampled with a roadroller at the police mess onBeach Road. VisakhapatnamPolice Commissioner ChSrikanth was present whilethe silencers were crushedunder the road roller.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

A huge rally was carried out bythe Police Department fromDistrict Court Centre to thepolice headquarters inMachilipatnam to markInternational Day against DrugAbuse and Illicit Trafficking(IDDAIT) on the same Sunday.Additional SP N VenkataRamanjaneyulu, SpecialEnforcement Bureau AdditionalSP Asma Farheen, ARAdditional SP SVD Prasad,Training IPS Jagadish Adahalli,DMHO Geeta Bai, MunicipalCommissioner Chandrayya andsenior police officials took partin the rally.

On the occasion, AdditionalSP Venkata Ramanjaneyulu saidthat the public should be madefully aware of drugs and theiruse. If someone notices a personoften moody and addicted todrugs, he should be immediate-ly shifted to the de-addictioncenter at the government hospi-tal and bring him back to nor-mal. He said that initially takingdrugs becomes a habit and lateron it becomes an addiction. Sowomen police, Asha workers,and medical staff should be talk-ing to families constantly in therespected areas. He said that thisshould be a continuous processto create awareness of drugs.

SEB Additional SP AsmaFarheen said that the use ofdrugs is high right from childrento adults to overcome stress andanxiety. Initially, they use alco-hol, cigarettes, and other drugsfor temporary relief, however, itturns out to be a habit and later

addiction. She said that aware-ness should be created againstdrugs and their ill effects in edu-cational institutions by organiz-ing awareness programmes. Shesaid that drugs can ruin not onlythe lives of those who consumebut also the family's reputation.So parents need to be watchfulof their children often and makethem aware of drug abuse, shesaid.

Police, Special EnforcementBureau officers, Doctors, Nurses,Asha workers, women police,and Local people participated inlarge numbers and createdawareness among the peoplewith slogans.

Senior journalist Krishna Prasad launching Swatantra News Channel in Hyderabad on Sunday. (below) Excited employees of the channel

Swatantra, billed as NewAge Telugu news chan-nel, was launched amid

the chants of Vedic hymns ata glittering function on thepremises of the channelonRoad No 5 Banjara Hills inHyderabad on Sunday.

Senior journalist andResident Editor of ThePioneer, Krishna Prasad, themoving spirit behindSwatantra, launched the TVchannel in the presence of hisfamily members as well asemployees of the channel.

People from all walks of lifein the Telugu states, apartfrom many dignitaries,expressed their happiness atthe launch of the nation'sfirst channel oriented towardscommon people. They alsoexpressed their hope that thechannel, given its unique mis-sion, would scale great heightsin the years ahead with God'sblessings. Previously, AndhraPradesh Chief Minister YS

Jaganmohan Reddy launchedthe channel's Vijayawada stu-dios virtually from his campoffice. Before that, TS ITMinister KT Rama Raolaunched the channel's logoand its website.

Swatantra, with its 180-person team of seasoned andcommitted journalists as wellas technical personnel, haspledged to be a commonman's news channel.Right atthe beginning, the 24/7 satel-lite news channel has made itclear that it would listen onlyto people and report andaddress their concerns with-out pandering to the interestsof any political party.

As an apolitical TV chan-nel focused on improving thelot of disadvantaged sections,Swatantra's programmesareuniquely tailored to bring outthe truth, after cuttingthrough political claptrap.Anetwork of over 100 enthu-siastic senior journalists will

sift through a mountain ofinformation day after day24/7 to distil and presentonly news that matters to thecommon people. Viewers getto see things as they are, withtotal objectivity as the hall-marks of its programs relatedto news and views.

Within the above frame-work designed solely withthe common people in view,Swatantra's innovativelypackaged programsi n c l u d e : U d a y a r a g a m ,heralding dawn with liltingm e l o d i e s ; H e a l t hsecrets,documenting the lat-est f itness regimens;Jatardhamas, exposing thehollowness of politics withbit ing sarcasm; MovieMirchi,encapsulating every-thing bit of interest in thetinsel town;News review,bringingreality to the forewith incisive analysis an in-your-face dissection;Palleturu, cherry-picking

the beauty of promisingdevelopments on the coun-tryside; SirulaPanta, givingthe farmer his due as thenation's Annadata;Swatantra debate, lookingdispassionately at burningtopics with experts airingtheir opinion in a cool andcollected manner; Sundayspecial, packing a riot oflaughter for the whole fam-ily;Mega game show, takingquiz to the next level involv-ing college students;Maata-Paata, providing a feast forthe eyes and ears with amedley ofmusic and lyricsfrom the yesteryear num-bers to those in the works instudios; Movie review, ratingfilms purely from the stand-point of viewers regardlessof box office big talk;Puzzleshow, involving viewers withexciting prizes; and TeluguCinema Katha that walksviewers through more thana century of Telugu cinema.

‘Pavitra AshadaSare' celebrationsat Durga templefrom June 30PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Sri Durga Malleswara SwamyVarla Devasthanam is mak-ing all arrangements for con-ducting the 'Pavitra AshadaSare' celebrations from June30 to July 28. A large numberof devotees and religious andspiritual organisations pre-sent the sare to GoddessKanaka Durga during theAshada masam. The templeadministration has sent mes-sages to the religious organ-isations about the beginningof Ashada festivities andrequested the latter to regis-ter their names with the tem-ple administration.

On the other hand, theHyderabad-based Mahankalitemple committee will visit SriDurga temple and present theSare on July 3. Every year,devotees and temple commit-tee members, and people rep-resentatives from Hyderabadwill visit the Durga temple onIndrakeeladri and present thegolden 'bonalu'.

Durga temple ExecutiveOfficer D Bhramaramba saidthe temple administrationwill also celebrate Sakambaricelebrations from July 11 to13. Several thousand devoteesparticipate in the three-daycelebrations.

SWATANTRA TV LAUNCHEDPeople in Telugu states overwhelmed

Dallas soaks in divine charm

Rally taken out against drug abuse

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Additional DeputyCommissioner of Police(ADCP) K Srinivasa has saidthat the public should beinvolved in the efforts to fightdrug menace. “Drug abuse willmake one’s body lifelessthough they are alive,” he said.

The NTR VijayawadaPolice Commissionerate,Nunna Police Station and theEnforcement Bureau jointlyobserved the InternationalDay against Drug Usage andIllicit Trafficking, at H Blockcommunity hall in Vambay

Colony in the city on Sunday.Speaking on the occasion,

ADCP Srinivasa Rao saidthat the drug mafia had cho-sen the youth as its target. Heappealed to the youth to stayaway from drugs.

“People should fight againstthe drug menace and the

police are ready to give themall the support,” he said.

Special EnforcementBureau Additional SP MSattibabu, Taskforce ACPsGV Ramana Murthy, VSNVarma, Nunna StationInspector K Srinivasa Raoand others were present.

People’s support sought to eradicate drug menace

‘YSRCP govt betrayed Kapus’Lokesh slamsmove to sellAmaravati lands

Noisy silencerscrushed underroad roller

04VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | JUNE 27, 2022

‘Strong family system can helpkeep youth away from drugs’PNS n GUNTUR

District Principal Judge andDistrict Legal ServicesAuthority (DLSA) ChairmanYVSBG Parthasarathi has saidthat preventing human traf-ficking and putting a check onthe use of narcotics are theresponsibilities of all and astrong family system will helpprevent youth from gettingaddicted to narcotics.

Addressing an awarenessmeeting on curbing the use ofnarcotics and human traffick-ing held at the NyayasevaSadan on the District Courtpremises here on Sunday,Parthasarathi said that if thefamily system is strong it wouldhelp prevent youth from get-ting addicted to drugs.

“If the family system isstrong, the family memberswill be able to constantly mon-itor the youth so that they donot get addicted to narcotics.Parents should constantlymonitor the habits of their chil-dren and make them aware ofthe good habits and ensurethey will not be attracted to badhabits.” the Judge said.

The Judge opined that thedrug addicts are more likely to

indulge in raping women.Trafficking in women andbringing them into prostitutionis a heinous crime. If there isinformation about drug usersor human traffickers in the sur-rounding areas, people shouldimmediately inform the policeand cooperate to curb it.

Meanwhile, the NationalLok Adalat was held on Sundayas per the directions of theNational Legal ServicesAuthority (NLSA) for resolvingpending cases in courts. In thecombined Guntur district, theLok Adalat had identifiedabout 13,500 pending casesand issued notices to both the

parties, he informed.Parthasarathi said that 35

benches had been set up in thedistrict for the highest numberof cases in the National LokAdalat and 8 benches had beenset up in Guntur. Blood rela-tives are also suing in court oversmall matters, losing furtherpeace of mind and falling ill, heregretted. He said the Legal CellAuthority would provide suchan opportunity as more issuescould be resolved by the twosides sitting down and talkingwhen there is a dispute.

“We want more clients to set-tle their cases by taking advan-tage of the National Lok Adalat.

The legal services panellawyers and paralegal volun-teers need to be fully aware ofthe clients involved in thecompromise cases and encour-age them to resolve their dis-putes in the Lok Adalat”, hesaid.

District legal servicesauthority secretary and seniorcivil Judge Ratna Kumar calledupon people to come forwardto check the human traffickingand use of drugs. He deploredthat nowadays the youth aregetting addicted to the use ofganja and other intoxicantsubstances. The addicts shouldbe de-addicted through de-addiction centres.

He said that there are rigor-ous punishments under the lawfor offenses such as consuming,selling, and buying narcotics. Insuch cases, they could be jailedfor up to 180 days withouteven getting bail at the trialstage, with a maximum sentenceof 10 to 14 years if convicted.

He informed that Sections370 to 374 of the IPC providefor severe punishments forcrimes such as trafficking ofwomen, especially minor girls,into brothels in connectionwith human trafficking.

PNS n ONGOLE

YSRCP leaders, includingMinister Adimulapu Suresh,have reiterated that the Stategovernment is committed toproviding efficient and trans-parent governance and fulfilthe aspirations of the people.

The YSRCP organised itsplenary here on Sunday.Addressing a huge gatheringon the occasion, Minister forMunicipal AdministrationAdimulapu Suresh said thatthe YSRCP government isimplementing the welfareschemes as per its assurances.

“The people of the statehave given 151 MLA seats tothe YSRCP. It is the responsi-bility of the party to provideefficient governance andimplement welfare schemesfor all eligible people. YSRCPhas become synonymous withthe welfare of the poor,” heclaimed.

In the plenary, the imple-mentation of welfare schemesand the development of thestate were discussed. In theTDP’s Mahanadu, they werelimited only to criticising theYSRCP, he slammed.

“Chief Minister Y S JaganMohan Reddy will continue asthe Chief Minister of the state

for the next 30 years and hisname will enter into theGuinness Book of WorldRecord,” the Minister predict-ed.

The people of the state arenot in a position to trustChandrababu Naidu whowould consign in history as abetrayer.

MP Magunta SrinivasaReddy said that in the comingdays there would be no oppo-sition in the State and peoplewould forget the TDP.

MLC Potula Sunita said thatthe people of the state irrespec-

tive of castes and religion alleligible to be getting welfareschemes.

She said that the Veligondaproject would be completedthis year. The construction ofthe Pullalacheruvu tank andChinna Kandaleru projectwould also be constructed inthe year which would do awaywith the drinking water scarci-ty.

ZP chairperson BuchepalliVenkayamma, MLAs MerugaNagarjuna, Anna Rambabuand senior leader BurraMadhusudan were present.

PNS n BAPATLA

Popular film director KRaghavendra Rao unveiled thestatue of Telugu Desam partyfounder and former ChiefMinister N T Rama Rao atNadigaddapalem village inVemuru constituency in thedistrict on Sunday.

The TDP activists took outa huge motorcycle rally fromDundipalem village to wel-come Raghavendra Rao.Former ministers NakkaAnanda Babu, AlapatiRajendra Prasad, and TDPofficial spokesperson PilliManikyala Rao were among

those who attended the pro-gramme.

Raghavendra Rao garlandedthe NTR statue and paid trib-

utes. He also garlanded thestatue of Dr. BR Ambedkar inthe village.

Speaking on the occasion,

K Raghavendra Rao said thathe feels great about unveilingthe NTR statue than direct-ing NTR in films. “Thosewho are in the dais will be inthe high power of positionsafter one and half years”, hepredicted.

Former Minister AnandaBabu said that the statue ofNTR was unveiled as part ofthe centenary celebrations ofNT Rama Rao. All shoulddraw inspiration from NTRama Rao.

The TDP leaders said thatthey would not rest tillChandrababu Naidu becomesthe Chief Minister of the state.

PNS n ONGOLE

The police arrested theaccused in a rape case thattook place at Chinnapavanivillage in Lingasamudrammandal. DSP Srinivaslu toldthe media in Kandukur onSunday that the accused wasinvolved in raping a womanand he was arrested.

He said that the accusedbefriended the husband ofthe rape victim. He got himaddicted to alcohol. When hewas in an inebriated state, theaccused offered a soft drinklaced with an intoxicatingsubstance to the victim.

When she fell unconsciousafter drinking the soft drink,he had raped her. When theaccused threatened the cou-ple, they tried to end life.However, they lodged a com-plaint with the police. NelloreSP Vijaya Rao laid specialfocus on the case and thepolice arrested the accused.The accused is being pro-duced before the court.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The CPI organised a rally in sup-port of the Vizag steel plant pri-vatisation movement, whichhas 500 days. A big number ofleft party leaders and cadre andtrade union leaders participat-ed in the rally. However, thepolice tried to prevent the rally.

Speaking on the occasion,CPI State secretary K RamaKrishna said that the agitationwould continue until the Central

government announced to with-draw the privatisation decision.Prime Minister Narendra Modistarted to privatise 26 companiesin the country, however henever tried to start a single pub-lic company from the last eightyears, he alleged.

He further said that theCentral government had beenplundering the country's wealthto Adani and Ambani. TheVizag Steel Plant Privatisationmovement had been in existence

for a long time and it would bewritten with golden letters in thehistory of country, he said. Allthe trade unions and public

associations had come into oneentity and it would be continuedtill the Central governmentmakes a specific announcement

to withdraw its decision, hesaid.

Moreover, he said that ChiefMinister YS Jagan Mohan Reddyshould bring pressure over theunion government. CM Jaganhas been agreeing and giving hissupport to Modi's decisionsabout what he took and whydon't question the Vizag SteelPlant privatisation issues, hecommented.

Later, he said that though hegave consent to vote in favor of

President nominee DroupadiMurmu, the CM Jagan did notopen his mouth for the SpecialCategory Status, RamayapatnamPort, Kadapa Steel Plant. The leftleader said that his party sup-ports the Amaravati agitationwhere the farmers have beencontinuing the agitation fromthe 922 days.

CPI State secretariat memberAkkineni Vanaja, leaders DSankar, G Koteswara Rao andothers participated.

Govt committed to efficientgovernance: YSRCP leaders

Film director unveils NTR statue

Plastic harmful toenvironment: MLCPNS n GUNTUR

YSRCP State general secretaryand MLA Lella Appireddyexpressed concern at the hugepollution due to plastic articlesadding that the plastic hadbecome a grave detrimental tothe environment. He alsounderlined the need of erad-icating the plastic menace.

The MLC participated in anawareness rally on the ram-pant use of plastic and use andthrow articles at Brodipet hereon Sunday. CorporatorsEchampati Venkatakrishna ledthe rally from Shankar VilasCentre to 14 Line Brodipeta.

Speaking on the occasion,the MLC emphasised the ban

on plastic articles including theuse and throw of plastic uten-sils. Plastic is causing a greatextent of pollution, he stated.

MLA Maddali Giridhar saidthat plastic has become a men-ace to the entire world as it iscreating huge pollution. “Oneof the biggest menaces we arefacing is the plastic”, he said.

He appealed to the tradersand consumers to understandthe pollution plastic is gener-ating and stop using plasticmaterials. Deputy mayorVanama Balavajra Babu, dis-trict library corporation chair-man Battula Devanand andYSRCP leaders were amongthose who participated in theawareness programme.

CPI takes out rally opposing steel plant privatisation

PNS n BHIMAVARAM

Sagi Ramakrishnam Raju Marg was inau-gurated by West Godavari District CollectorP Prasanti and Bhimavaram MLA GrandhiSrinivas on Sunday.

Late Sagi Ramakrishnam Raju estab-lished an engineering college here 42years back which helped Bhimavarambecome an education hub. In this regardand remembering his services, theBhimavaram municipality and theGovernment of Andhra Pradesh, grantedpermission to rename Juvvalapalem Roadas 'Sagi Ramakrishnam Raju Marg' betweenAddavantena and Pedaamiram cross roads.

Addressing a public meeting on the occa-sion College president Sagi Prasada Rajuand MLA Grandhi Srinivas said thatBhimavaram had made great strides in thefield of Education with the help of educa-

tion donors like late Sagi RamakrisnamRaju and others. Ex-MP and TTD BoardEx-Chairman Kanumuri Bapi Raju saidthat Bhimavaram is the birthplace of free-dom fighters like Alluri Sirarama Raju andothers.

In this programme Undi MLA MantenaRamaraju, Addl. SP AV Subba Raju, formerMLAs V Sivarama Raju, Ramanjaneyuluthe college president Sagi Prasada Raju, sec-retary, and correspondent SRK NisantVarma, Vice presidents, P Krishnam Raju,Gokaraju Ramaraju, SV Ranga Raju, gov-erning body members Sagi Prateek VermaPrincipal Dr.M.Jagapatirajuand others par-ticipated the program.

ROAD RENAMED AFTER SAGI

Accused inrape casearrested

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Kattimanda Pratap, Chairman,Sri Sri Kala Veedika, has saidthat the country will developonly when women makeprogress in all fields. TheWomen's Icon 2022 NationalAwards Ceremony was heldon Sunday under the chair-manship of Addanki RajaYona, founder-president ofthe Philanthropic Society ofIndia and Gootam Swamy,State president, TeluguLanguage DevelopmentCommittee.

Addressing the gathering,Pratap, said that women, whowere once confined to house-hold work are well-educatedand leading in all fields on parwith men.

He said women should be

proactive in all fields toachieve social consciousness.Women now have opportuni-ties in all fields and sectors andshould achieve them and standas an ideal for others, he said.

Later, 17 women from var-ious fields of both Telugustates were honoured withWomen Icon 2022 NationalAwards.

Among the awardees wereG Jyothirmai, Vegi Vanishree,Nidigunta Aruna, VSriramya, MN Brinda, SSBegum, Kollati Venkata NagaDurgabai, RachapudiRamani, Penumala Sunita,Gandi Anjura, NallaNibandhana Rani, DuvvuriAnnapurna, Dasari Shailaja,M Ruth Esther, K PrardhanaDevi, Gandi Nagmani andKota Anusha were honoured.

Women awardspresented

Human resource drivesbusiness organizationsand performance of

employees is central to acompany's priorities. Hence,apart from requisite technicalskills, employees need softskills to deliver on their jobbecause customers will con-tact employees first. A com-bination of hard and softskills will make people moreefficient and productive.

Today, corporate firmsfocus on communication,relationships and ways of pre-senting the organization in apositive way to the stake-holders. Hence, soft skills atthe workplace are becomingincreasingly important. Softskills among employees willhelp organizations use theirtechnical skills effectivelywithout being hampered byinterpersonal issues. ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS

In this fiercely competitive

business world, organisationsare always looking for ways tomove forward. Technical skillswill no longer suffice for theworkforce to compete in thishighly competitive world. Acollege student or an employ-ee exhibiting soft skills has agreater chance of being suc-cessful in their professionalcareer. To become a stellaremployee or an admiredleader requires an arsenal ofskills. Human resourceexperts opine that employeeswithout the right mix of softskills will be a liability to theorganisation. Growth in one'scareer depends a lot on goodrelationships. WHAT ARE SOFT SKILLS?

In 1918, the CarnegieFoundation publishedresearch findings that only15% of job-related achieve-ments depend on a person'sknowledge and technicalskills. As much as 85% of suc-

cess in the workplace is basedon soft skills. Soft skills arepersonal attributes thatenable a person to interacteffectively with others. Softskills are behaviors, person-ality traits and work habits,such as collaboration, criticalthinking, perseverance andcommunication that helppeople propel themselves atwork. Hard skills can bequantified and measured,whereas soft skills are intan-gible and difficult to evalu-ate.. Soft skills are a combi-nation of people skills, socialskills, communication abili-

ties, personality traits, atti-tudes, interpersonal intelli-gence, and emotional intelli-gence that enable employeesto navigate their work envi-ronment. People who haveeclectic soft skills can createa salubrious climate toachieve their goals. "Aplumber's knack to use thegrip wrench is a hard skill,whereas his ability to com-municate with his clientseffectively is a soft skill".

Soft skills such as effectivecommunication, empathy,emotional intelligence, adapt-ability, integrity, team work,

optimism, self-motivation,interpersonal relationshipand resilience have becomecrucial factors for businesssuccess. Soft skills are com-plementary to hard skills. BENEFITS OF SOFT SKILLS

Managing people at work-place is a difficult task with-out soft skills. Usually,recruiters consider the tech-

nical abilities of candidates,but soft skills bring careersuccess. According to aresearch survey report, 89per cent of recruiters say thatwhen a hire does not per-form well at office, the osten-sible reason would be lack ofsoft skills. Usually, companieshire people based on theirqualifications and knowl-edge, but they often termi-nate employees due to lacksoft skills. HR managers con-sider soft skills as essentialpart of the hiring process.The success of a team, and abusiness, does not depend onjust the workers' technicalknow-how but also on howemployees interact with oneanother and with clients.Skills such as conflict resolu-tion, emotional intelligence,time management, andworking well under pres-sure are critical at the work-place. Employees with

diverse soft skills will engen-der harmony at the work-place. Soft skills decreaseemployee attrition andenhance personal effective-ness. Soft skills eliminateconflicts and promote cama-raderie among workforcethat leads to improved orga-nizational performance.People who have soft skillscan be transferred to any jobor organization and couldbuild relationships with peersand managers. SOFT SKILL VITAL TOLURE RECRUITERS

When choosing betweentwo seemingly equal candi-dates, organizations are nowprioritizing soft skills as akey component for selec-tion. In the corporate work-place, interpersonal rela-tions will be given priorityand they show a hugeimpact on employee pro-ductivity and organization-

al success. Personal attribut-es like listening, presentingideas, resolving conflicts,and fostering openness andcandid work environmentare given profound impor-tance to build nourishinghuman relations. This rela-tionship helps people topositively participate inteam projects and extendsupport to team members.Without the right mix ofsoft skills, it is difficult tomanage people at the work-place and execute tasks.Young job seekers shouldrealize that besides hardskills they should nurturesoft skills to become aneffective team player andmove forward in career.

(The writer is AssistantProfessor, Department ofCommerce, P.B. SiddharthaCollege of Arts & Science,Vijayawada)

SRINIVAS VISSAPRAGADA

In 1918, the Carnegie Foundation published

research findings that only 15% of job-

related achievements depend on a person's

knowledge and technical skills. As much as

85% of success in the workplace is based

on soft skills.

Soft skills: Key to enhance employability, shine at workplace

Trade unions stage dharna PNS n ONGOLE

Trade union leaders andactivists staged a dharna oppos-ing the Central government’sproposal to privatize theVisakhapatnam Steel Plant(VSP) at Addanki Bus stand onSunday. The trade union lead-ers led by CITU city presidentDama Srinivasulu, AITUC dis-trict leader K Venkateswarluand other leaders staged adharna holding flags and rais-ing slogans against the Union

government’s proposal of pri-vatising the VSP.

Speaking on the occasion,AITUC State President RRavindra Babu said that theModi government was trying tohand over the public sectorunits to the private companies.

The Centre is trying to handover the public sector units toAmbani and Adani, he alleged.He said that the agitationopposing privatisation of theVSP completed 500 days onJune 26.

nation 05VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | JUNE 27, 2022

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R Some students in youth organisations are drunkards: Kerala Excise Minister

Kerala Excise Minister M V Govindan on Sunday said that a large section ofyouth and student organisations in the State were "drunkards" and there wasneed to create awareness against alcohol consumption by them. Speaking at

an event on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and IllicitTrafficking, Govindan said creating awareness was one of the methods to fightabuse of drugs and alcohol and for thatstudent and youth organisations can berelied upon. "However, I have noticedthat a large section of students of thevarious youth organisations in the Stateare drunkards. Not in a small way, butin a big way," the Minister said. "Toaddress the issue, we need to sincerelywork towards creating awarenessamong the coming generations, that is"students in higher secondary, highschool, college, including professionalinstitutions", he said.

Day against drug abuse: Seizednarcotics destroyed in Karnataka

Ganja weighing 53.128 kg and valued at Rs 23.75 lakh, 120 gm of heroin worth Rs30 lakh was destroyed by the police as part of the international day against drugabuse and illicit trafficking here on Sunday. After obtaining permission from the

court, the illicit drugs were destroyed in the biomedical waste management, processingand disposal unit of Ramky energy and environment limited here, police sources said.Police also destroyed seized 580.86kg ganja, 25 gm heroin, and 320 gmMDMA seized under Mangaluru policecommissionerate limits from 15stations in 95 cases at the Ramkycentre. The cost of totally seizednarcotics is Rs 1.28 crore, they said.DK district superintendent of policeSonawane Rishikesh Bhagwan,Bantwal assistant superintendent ofpolice Shivanshu Rajput and DySPPuttur sub-division Gana P Kumarwere present on the occasion.

JNU asks canteen/dhabha owners toclear dues, vacate varsity premises

The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration has asked owners of several canteensand dhabas at the campus to clear their dues amounting to lakhs of rupees and vacatethe varsity premises by June 30, alleging that their shops were allocated "without

following due tender procedure". In a notice to several canteen owners dated June 22, thevarsity's Joint Registrar (Estate) M KPachauri asked them to clear all theoutstanding dues against them withinseven days of the issuance of the letter.Baffled shop owners are fearful of losingtheir livelihoods and are also finding itdifficult to arrange the money to pay thedues. According to them, as many as 10canteens/dhabas/Xerox shops at thecampus have been served these notices.The university said the person will beliable for eviction proceedings as per thePublic Premises Act, 1971 if he fails tocomply with the notice.

Apprehensions remain on ‘Agnipath' schemePNS n NEW DELHI

Apprehension continues toremain over the future of sol-diers to be recruited under the'Agnipath' scheme as theCentre and several state gov-ernments are yet to roll out acomprehensive plan for theirrehabilitation once they retireafter four years of service in thearmed forces.

Adding to the anxiety of theyouths, none of the states ruledby the opposition partiesannounced any favourablerecruitment scheme for'Agniveers' to be hired underthe scheme, while a fewdemanded that it be complete-ly withdrawn.

After the June 14 announce-ment of the 'Agnipath' scheme,at least 18 states and UnionTerritories - Bihar, UttarPradesh, West Bengal,Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala,Tamil Nadu, Haryana,Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Odisha,Jharkhand, Uttarakhand,Punjab, Himachal Pradesh,Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi

- witnessed protests, some ofthem violent.

While BJP-ruled UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Haryana, Uttarakhand andAssam announced that theywould give preference to'Agniveers' in the recruitmentfor police, the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) said ithas decided to reserve 10 percent vacancies in the CentralArmed Police Forces (CAPFs)and Assam Rifles for'Agniveers'.

However, experts believethat the process would not beso simple.

A state police recruitmentboard head said reservationcannot be more than 50 percent in employment and mostof the 'Agniveers' will be in theunreserved category as theArmy has no reservation sys-tem.

"So, the idea that they can beabsorbed in CAPFs and statepolice may not work. Theyhave to be considered onlyagainst 50 per cent of unre-served vacancies. It will alsomean that meritorious and

better-educated non-Agniveerswill find it difficult to join thepolice. This will impact theefficiency of the police.

"So, how does the policy ofArmy recruitment reconcilewith the system of reservationin the civilian sector of the gov-ernment," the state policerecruitment board head asked.

Experts also believe that theentire process may come underlegal scrutiny as it is not clearwhether the pay of a retired'Agniveer' after the four-year-stint in the armed forces will beprotected and seniority main-tained. "This will be a tightrope walk for the governmentas this needs to be cleared toavoid any disgruntlementamong the constables recruit-ed directly by the state police,"an expert said.

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar saidyouths who will serve thenation under the 'Agnipath'scheme would be given guar-anteed 'Group C' (non-gazettedposts) or Haryana Police jobs.

However, the state govern-ment is yet to spell out how

much percentage of the gov-ernment jobs will be reservedfor the 'Agniveers'.

Similarly, the Uttarakhandgovernment plans to adjust'Agniveers' in police, disasterand 'Char Dham' managementdepartments.

"The idea is to use the ser-vices of the young and skilled'Agniveers' in different sectors,"Chief Minister Pushkar SinghDhami had said. However, nospecific quota has beenannounced for the 'Agniveers'in Uttarakhand governmentjobs. The Uttarakhand govern-ment already has a scheme togive jobs to retired defence per-sonnel and their dependents asper their abilities in differentdepartments through theUttarakhand ex-servicemenwelfare association orUttarakhand Poorva SainikKalyan Nigam Limited(UPNL).

About 30,000-35,000 ex-ser-vicemen and their dependentshave been given jobs throughUPNL in the state, formerchief secretary Subhash Kumarsaid.

Faith-based schools perpetuate patriarchal normsPNS n NEW DELHI

Madrasas and other faith-basedschools in Asia can cancel outsome of the positive impact ofincreased education access ongender equality and have impli-cations for persistence of patri-archal norms and attitudes insociety, according to theUNESCO-published globaleducation monitoring report.

The report, on the theme of"deepening the debate on thoseleft behind", states that non-state faith-based schools inAsia have increased girls' accessto education but it comes at acost.

Madrasa graduates have lessfavourable attitudes towardshigher education for girls andworking mothers, considerraising children to be wives'main responsibility, believe theoptimal number of childrenwas up to God and indicate apreference for large families, itstated.

"Several decades ago genderdisparity in education was highin many Muslim-majoritycountries in Asia. Significantprogress to increase access andclose gender gaps has sincebeen achieved, in partnershipwith non-state faith-basedproviders. Rising enrolment

of girls in madrasas helpedrelax social constraints onwomen's mobility in conserv-ative rural areas where

madrasas have been low-costplatforms to achieve universaleducation," the report stated.

"Madrasas can also cancel

out some of the positive impacton gender equality fromincreased education access.First, their curricula and text-books may not be gender-inclusive, instead reinforcingtraditional narratives on gen-der roles, as studies have shownin Bangladesh, Indonesia,Malaysia, Pakistan and SaudiArabia. Second, their teachingand learning practices such asgender segregation and gender-specific restrictions on socialinteractions may leave theimpression that such gender-unequal practices are sociallyacceptable more broadly," itsaid.

According to the report, theteachers may lack training toaddress gender issues and mayact as negative models, forinstance affecting students' atti-tudes to fertility.

"Fourthly, the more tradi-tional institutions may haverestricted environments withlimited exposure to progressiverole models and media.Reproducing traditional gendernorms discourages participa-tion in further education andemployment. What happensinside faith-based institutionshas implications for the persis-tence of patriarchal norms andattitudes in society," it said.

Maha crisis: Sena leaders step up attack onrebels; Pawar in huddle with MVA leadersPNS n MUMBAI

The power tussle betweenMaharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray and ShivSena dissident Eknath Shindebecame intense on Sundaywith Sena leaders, led by SanjayRaut, launching an acerbicattack on the rebels while NCPchief Sharad Pawar heldclosed-door meetings withMVA leaders.

On the second day in a row,Shiv Sena cadres stagedprotests against the dissidentsin various parts of the state,including Mumbai and Pune.

State minister AadityaThackeray, son of Sena presi-dent Uddhav Thackeray, andSena chief spokesman SanjayRaut addressed party cadres insuburban Dahisar to drum upsupport for the beleagueredparty leadership and slammedthe Shinde camp.

Sharad Pawar met leaders of

NCP, Congress ministersBalasaheb Thorat and AshokChavan, and Shiv Sena's AnilParab and Anil Desai to discussthe political fallout of the six-day-old rebellion.

Striking an aggressive note,Raut said the present crisis wasan opportunity to resurrect

Shiv Sena."We have learnt a lesson on

whom to trust....These arebodies whose souls have died.Their mind is dead....40 bod-ies will come from Assam andwill be sent directly to themorgue for postmortem," Rautsaid in an apparent reference to

the number of MLAs campingin Guwahati with Shinde whileaddressing Sena cadres.

Meanwhile, another ShivSena leader and cabinet min-ister for higher and technicaleducation, Uday Samant, hasgone incommunicado and isreportedly on his way toGuwahati from Surat.

A 'passenger manifest' ofan airport services companybearing the name of UdaySamant with destinationGuwahati is doing rounds onsocial media.

So far, state cabinet ministersGulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse,Sandipan Bhumre, and minis-ters of state Shamburaje Desaiand Abdul Sattar (all ShivSena) have joined the camp ofrebels. Another minister BachuKadu of Prahar Janshakti Partyand an Independent ministerfrom Sena quota, RajendraYedravkar, are also been camp-ing with Shinde.

Prez polls: When outcome is oftencertain & messaging importantPNS n NEW DELHI

Outcomes of presidential pollshave been mostly certain evenbefore the first vote was castand rival political parties haveoften used the contest to sendout a larger message centredaround their politics throughtheir choices.

In 2012, the BJP backed P ASangma against the UPA'sPranab Mukherjee in the hopeto earn some brownie pointsfor supporting a tribal candi-date from the North East whileK R Narayanan and A P JAbdul Kalam were such apowerful mix of symbolismand substance in 1997 and2002 respectively that eventhe main opposition partyended up backing them.

Narayanan, a former diplo-mat who came from theScheduled Caste, was a candi-date of the United Front gov-ernment and the Congress,and had received support fromthe opposition BJP as well.And when the saffron partypicked Kalam, a muchadmired and respected scien-

tist, when it was in power, theCongress supported him.

With its choice of DroupadiMurmu, a tribal leader from ahumble background, the BJPseems to have succeeded insending a wider message aboutits representative politics afternaming a Dalit in 2017,incumbent President RamNath Kovind, as she is all butcertain to be India's first STpresident.

Have the Congress andother strident BJP rivals likethe Trinamool Congress andthe Left been able to make animportant point with theirchoice of former Union min-ister Yashwant Sinha?

Political experts believe theCongress decision to backSinha, first a choice of theTMC, does signal its willing-ness to accommodate region-al parties as the oppositiongears up for the 2024 gener-al election even though thecandidate, a former BJPleader, himself may notinspire much enthusiasm andconfidence.

The opposition's decision to

settle on a former BJP leaderwho rebelled against its currentleadership seems to convey themessage that all those againstthe present government shouldcome together, said ManindraNath Thakur, associate profes-sor at the Centre for PoliticalStudies of JNU.

On symbolism, however,the opposition has lost out aseven anti-BJP voices are won-dering what is big deal aboutits candidate, he said, describ-ing Sinha (84) as an "exhaust-ed politician" who alwayslacked any mass appeal.Though he does enjoy a cleanimage, Thakur added.

That Sinha is a bureaucrat-turned-politician from anupper caste while Murmu is atribal person from one of themost backward regions ofOdisha has only accentuatedthe contrast, promptingregional parties such as theBJD and the YSR Congress toback her while an oppositionmember like Jharkhand MuktiMorcha, which associates itselfwith the tribal cause, is also ina bind.

Media and entertainment industryexpected to generate Rs 7.5L crorePNS n PUNE

The media and entertainmentecosystem is a sunrise sector,which is expected to generateRs 4 lakh crore annually by2025 and grow to Rs 7.5 lakhcrore by 2030, Union ministerAnurag Singh Thakur saidhere in Sunday.

The Minister forInformation and Broadcastingalso said that the rapidlyexpanding digital infrastruc-ture in the country and theongoing advancements takingplace in the AVGC (animation,visual effects, gaming andcomics) sector have the poten-tial to make India the pre-ferred post-production hubof the media and entertain-ment industry.

He was delivering the key-note address at the NationalConference on 'ChangingLandscape of Media andEntertainment 2022' organisedby the Symbiosis Skill and

Professional University inPune.

"The media and entertain-ment ecosystem is a sunrisesector, which is expected togenerate Rs 4 lakh crore annu-ally by 2025 and reach USD100 billion or Rs 7.5 lakhcrore industry by 2030. Thegovernment has designatedaudio-visual services as one ofthe 12 Champion ServiceSectors and announced keypolicy measures aimed at nur-turing sustained growth," hesaid.

"Many job roles haveemerged in the field - videoediting, colour grading, visu-al effects (VFX), sound design,rotoscoping, 3-D modeling,etc. Each job role in this sec-tor requires a specific set ofskills and competencies. It isimperative for the industryand academia to come togeth-er and design programmes rel-evant to the needs of this sec-tor," Thakur added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A slum dweller from Mumbai, anamesake of RJD founder LaluPrasad Yadav, a social activistfrom Tamil Nadu and a profes-sor from Delhi are among thosewho have submitted their nom-ination papers to contest the July18 presidential election.

While NDA nomineeDroupadi Murmu and commonopposition candidate YashwantSinha are the main contestants, atleast 30 others also have filed theirnomination papers with RajyaSabha Secretary General P CMody, the returning officer for theelection.

Sanjay Savji Deshpande, a res-ident of the Amar Nagar SlumNo. 1 in Mumbai's Mulund sub-urb, was among those who filedtheir nomination papers daysafter the election was announcedon June 9.

Lalu Prasad Yadav, a residentof Saran in Bihar, T Ramesh, asocial worker from Namakkal dis-trict in Tamil Nadu, and ProfDayashankar Agarwal fromTimarpur in Delhi are the othernominations that have garneredsome eyeballs in the presidentialnomination.

Most of the nomination papersdo not have the mandatorynames and signatures of pro-posers and seconders or a bankdraft of Rs 15,000 as securitydeposit and are set to be reject-ed.

A couple of presidential hope-fuls from Maharashtra have list-ed names of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Home MinisterAmit Shah, BJP president J PNadda, former chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis, local MPsand MLAs as proposers and sec-onders, but have left the signaturecolumn blank.

Among those who have sub-mitted their nomination papersalso include PareshkumarManubhai Mulani fromAhmedabad, Ved Vyas fromMahedragad in Haryana, AshokShankar Patil from Dhule inMaharashtra, Vivek SakharamBagekar from Pune, Amit KumarSharma from Shahdara in Delhi,Ravikumar Kesagani fromMachilipatnam in AndhraPradesh, Kankanla PenchalaNaidu from Tirupati in AndhraPradesh, Dr K Padmarajan fromSalem in Tamil Nadu and SairaBano Mohammad Patel fromAndheri, Maharashtra.

Former BJPMP moves SCchallengingtemple lawPNS n NEW DELHI

A former BJP MP has movedthe Supreme Court challeng-ing the validity of certain sec-tions of the Places of Worship(Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

The plea filed byChintamani Malviya chal-lenged the constitutionalvalidity of sections 2, 3 and 4of the 1991 Act, claiming thatthey violate the principles ofsecularism.

Malviya, a resident ofUjjain in Madhya Pradesh,submitted that the Act isvoid and unconstitutional formany reasons. It has soughta direction from the court todeclare sections 2, 3, 4 of the1991 Act as void and uncon-stitutional for being violativeof fundamental rights so faras it seeks to validate "placesof worship", illegally made bybarbaric invaders.

The plea claimed the provi-sions of the law not only offend-ed fundamental rights to equal-ity, non-discrimination andfreedom to practice religion butalso principles of secularismwhich is an integral part of thePreamble and the basic struc-ture of the Constitution. Severalother pleas, including one filedby advocate Ashwini Upadhyay,challenging the validity of cer-tain provisions of the 1991 Acthave already been filed in theapex court.

Recently, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has filed a plea in thetop court seeking interventionin a pending petition whichhas challenged the constitu-tional validity of sections 2, 3,and 4 of the 1991 Act.

Slum-dweller, Delhiprofessor amongPrez candidates

AHEAD OF ROLLOUT

The process of electing the 16th President of India has begun. The elec-tion is scheduled for July 18 and the counting of votes will take place onJuly 21. Exactly a month earlier, Yashwant Sinha, the Opposition’s unan-

imous choice, filed his papers. The choice of the ruling BJP and its allies isDroupadi Murmu. Unlike other elections, the presidential election is routine andthere’s nothing exciting about it. Generally, the ruling par ty with a majority inthe Lower House and sufficient seats in the Upper gets its candidate elected.The Opposition candidate is more of positioning to tell all that the next Presidentwas not a consensus choice. Though the BJP is a little shor t on the numbers,its candidate is likely to sail through as BJD and others have pledged suppor tto Murmu. The President is indirectly elected by an electoral college consist-

ing of MPs and MLAs. The electoral collegecomprises 776 MPs and 4,123 MLAs whowould be voting to elect the President. Totalvotes for UPA candidate (including the suppor tof non-UPA parties) are 4,02,682 which is 37.31per cent of total votes while the votes for NDAcandidates with outside suppor t are 6,13,849or 56.82 per cent.

Thus the outcome of the election is obvious.Though often the office of President is seen aspolitically insignificant, it is not. The President’srole gets pronounced at the time of the forma-tion of a new Government, especially when no

par ty has a clear mandate. For this reason, the par ty in power never takes itlightly and settles for the most trusted person. Murmu is a former JharkhandGovernor, a two-term MLA from Odisha and served as Minister in the BJP-BJDcoalition Government. Sinha has had an illustrious political career and a clearpolitical ideology; he served as Finance Minister in the Vajpayee Government.But it is the numbers and not merit that would decide the President and Murmu’scredentials as a tribal lady are unbeatable. What is more, Murmu is getting alot of suppor t from non-NDA par ties and so is likely to win hands down. Buther moment of truth would come in 2024 when she would be instrumental inthe formation of a new Government at the Centre.

The political drama in Maharashtra is getting interesting every passing hour. Thefear, however, is that it can become dirty in no time. In fact, Shiv Sena presidentand Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s loyalists have already begun

protesting against rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and his followers. The ban-ners of rebels have been defaced, stones hurled at some places and an MLA’s officehas been vandalised in Pune. It seems that Chief Minister Thackeray, having overcomethe initial shock of such a massive revolt, has decided to dig his heels in. It is not thefirst time that the party has suffered dissidence to a noticeable extent. In December1991, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s confidant Chhagan Bhujbal sought to split

the party. Bhujbal, who belongs to other backwardclasses or OBC, might have thought of riding theMandal wave, but the party remained intact. Therevolt by Narayan Rane in 2005 also didn’t breakthe party; ditto Raj Thackeray’s rebellion a little whilelater. That was then; Bal Thackeray, who liked to becompared with the tiger, was alive and kicking. Butpolitical commentators are watching with great antic-ipation if his son, Uddhav, would be able to weath-er the raging storm? He is not believed to be aggres-sive as his father or even his own cousin Raj. Hehas often been portrayed as a gentler version of atypical Shiv Sena leader with an interest in wildlife

photography. Would he be able to take on street fighters like Eknath Shinde who haverisen through the ranks?

Anticipation is accompanied with fear, for Shiv Sena leaders are not known for patienceand tolerance of their adversaries’ views. Thankfully, the semblance of normal partyfunctioning is being maintained. So, on Saturday, Uddhav Thackeray chaired a meet-ing of the party national executive, attended by his partisans. Unsurprisingly, they autho-rised him to take all party decisions. The meeting also asserted that only the Shiv Sena(that is, the group under Uddhav Thackeray) can use the name of Balasaheb Thackeray.It was also decided to serve disqualification notices to 16 rebel MLAs on the groundthat they did not attend a party meeting Uddhav had called earlier in the week. Meanwhile,Shinde’s supporters are crying foul, arguing that Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, anNCP leader, is not qualified to act against the 16 MLAs as there is a petition seekinghis removal. The rebels are reportedly seeking legal opinion. Shinde, meanwhile, haspresented himself as a Hindutva warrior. In a tweet, he urged the Shiv Sainiks to “under-stand MVA’s plan”. He claims to be “fighting a battle with a dragon to free the ShivSena and Shiv Sainiks from its clutches”. Colourful imagery indeed, but the point isthat Uddhav Thackeray is still the Chief Minister and therefore has control over the admin-istration and police. One only hopes that the internecine battle within the Sena does-n’t get nastier.

Daggers drawn

ANTI-MURMU PROTEST ISN’T GOODSir — This refers to the editorial, ‘Firstamong equals’ (June 23) wherein it waslogically elaborated that the BJP hasbeen playing its game beautifully, andreaping rich dividends. By nominatingDroupadi Murmu for the post of the newPresident of India, the NDA has given agift to all tribals, besides redeeming thetribal vote bank towards the alliance. Hernomination by the ruling NDA will tilt thepolitical equations in its favour. Murmuhas risen from the grassroots politicallevel. She had attained a remarkableposition as a teacher, Nagar Panchayat rep-resentative and ministerial position in theOdisha Cabinet.

She has completed the tenure as theGovernor in Jharkhand without any con-troversy, which shows that she has a lotof experience of working in a high con-stitutional post. The NDA will get anopportunity to strengthen its penetrationin tribal States like Jharkhand andChhattisgarh. Opposing Murmu’s candi-dature will prove to be politically harm-ful for the Opposition parties. Anotherspecial thing is that in the presidential elec-tion, neither the NDA nor UPA will be ina position to issue a whip to their MLAsand MPs since the election is done bysecret ballot.

Yugal Kishore Sharma | Faridabad

PURE AIR MAKES LIFE BEAUTIFULSir — Through your columns, I wish todraw attention towards the topic of air pol-lution and its fatal effects. In today’s world,almost everything around us is contam-inated and so is the air that we breathe.Air pollution is becoming a matter of greatconcern each passing day. Every livingbeing needs fresh air to remain healthy.Breathing in polluted air can lead to fataldiseases like asthma and cancer, which inturn can lead to death. With the increas-ing number of cars and factories, the worldis becoming a tougher place to live in. Ourenvironment thrives upon balance.

To curb the air pollution, more trees

should have been planted. Instead, we cansee deforestation all around us. Peopleseem to carelessly do things that are mak-ing the environment more polluted. Theyneed to take steps that will reduce theeffects of air pollution, like using solarpanels, replacing fossil fuels and by usingelectricity and petroleum efficiently. I hopethat my small but sincere effort will helpspread awareness among people about thefatal effects of air pollution and how dan-gerous it can be for the lives of thoseinhabiting this planet.

Divyansha Sharma | Ujjain

WHAT A COMEBACK, DK!Sir — As India’s head coach Rahul Dravidhas rightly said, Dinesh Karthik hasn’t justknocked on the door of Indian cricket, butbanged it hard and made a spectacularcomeback into the national side after a gapof three years, riding on his stellar perfor-mance in the IPL this year. The TamilNadu wicket-keeping batter last played inIndian colours in the forgettable 2019

World Cup semifinals against NewZealand. Picked up by Royal ChallengersBangalore and donning a new persona,‘Dinesh Karthik 2.0’, the seasoned middle-order batter, took up the role of a finish-er to perfection, which became one of thebiggest talking points in the cash-richtournament.

Since making his Test debut way backin 2004 against Australia, Dinesh Karthikhas made several comebacks to theIndian team but the latest one is undoubt-edly the most inspiring of all and is noth-ing less than a fairytale. His 27-ball 55against South Africa in the Rajkot match,which was his first half-century in T20s,further underscores his value as a ‘finish-er.’ Ahead of the 2022 T-20 World Cup tobe held in Australia in October-November, Dinesh Karthik will be thecynosure of all eyes.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

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

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06

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

First among equalsThere’s nothing exciting about the Prez poll, at

least not till the eve of the 2024 LS election

PICTALK

Castle Elmau and surroundings during the G7 summit in Kruen, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany AP

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

The Maharashtra crisis deepens while the Thackerayheir and his dissenters fight for Balasaheb’s legacy

It is most unfortunate that the US SupremeCourt has not taken seriously many firingincidents on the locals and foreigners,

including schoolchildren in major cities,expanded gun rights and ruled that Americanshave a right to carry handguns in public (June24). Though the Supreme Court ruled thathandguns can be carried in public for self-defence outside homes, most of the guns areused for various offences and crimes. ManyIndian students, software workers and sales-persons are among the worst victims of guns

without any provocation. The guns used bysome anti-social elements, criminals andunemployed are playing havoc with citizensand creating terror in the society.

The worst part is that a few psychos aregunning down even schoolchildren. It is shock-ing that the Supreme Court judges (6-3) in amajority judgment, who gave ruling for lettingguns be in the hands of Americans, have lostcompassion and love, at least for schoolgo-ing children. These days, a handgun meant fordefence has become a ready weapon foroffences and crimes, which was not consid-ered by the court. The US may be progress-ing in all fields with international commandbut cannot control guns and its misuse inkilling innocents. The killing of innocentschoolgoing children is a dangerous signal forsociety. Hope a review petition is filed citingmany incidents of casual firings.

JP Reddy | Telangana

US must review gun rights order

SOUNDBITEThe laws of J&K,adapted in Ladakh,provide protectionto both jobs andland.

Ladakh Lt Governor—RK Mathur

China’s andIndia’s commoninterests far outweigh their differences.

Chinese Foreign Minister—Wang Yi

There is a need to

tighten the (Indian

cyberspace)

accountability

matrix.

Union Minister

—Rajeev Chandrasekhar

It’s so easy to getup for theserelays… and justnot think and go.I’m proud of ourteam.

World championship swimmer—Katie Ledecky

Women today are

capable enough of

doing their own

thing in their own

way.

Actor

—Ankita Lokhande

in this war.” Foreign SecretaryVinay Kwatra also said thatIndia has always maintainedthat “there should be cessa-tion of hostilities in Ukraineand the path to resolutiongoes through diplomacy anddialogue”. India is likely totoe this line during the G7Summit. But, behind closeddoors, the G7 intends toraise the pressure on India.

So far, one has to admitthat India has maintained its‘neutrality’ on the Ukrainewar with success. The Quad,a grouping of the US, Japan,India and Australia whichinitially seemed to be testedby the Ukraine crisis withthree members vocally cri-tiquing Russia and Indiabeing the lone neutral voice,seems to have reconciled tothe in-house differences.Challenges in the Indo-Pacific are a common causefor Quad and even as theUkraine war presents a newchallenge, reality stares hardin the shape of China. Allfour need one another tocounter the dragon’s ever-expanding global footprint.Also, for India, China isanother worrisome factorthat explains its stand onRussia. In the regionaldynamics, Russia’s embraceof China is worrisome and a

closer relationship betweenRussia and Pakistan evenmore so. After the Ukrainewar, the world has seen achange in the shape of itsalliances and a closer Russia-China axis is there for all tosee. It doesn’t make the worldcomfortable but it worriesIndia even more, with aboundary dispute, and theChinese looking for yetanother excuse to expandterritorially.

The G7 consists ofCanada, France, Germany,Italy, Japan, the UnitedKingdom and the US (theEuropean Union is not amember of the G7 butattends the Summit). It is aninformal grouping of theworld’s richest nations andhence the most powerful,too. Russia had joined the G7in 1998 making it G8 then,but following the annexationof Crimea in 2014, Russiawas shown the door.Interestingly, China, despitethe size of its economy andthe global influence it asserts,has been kept out of thegrouping. So looking at theG7 in an unbiased fashion, it’squite apparent that it is agrouping of rich and power-ful western nations that haszero representation fromAfrica and the Middle East.

It also helps explain andunderstand the contradic-tions not just in the globalorder but also the response tothe Ukraine war.

India is not part of the G7or the western world. Butwith an economy that isgrowing and a strategic placein the Indo-Pacific, it todaycannot be kept out. India isalso one of the few countriesthat have shown the occa-sional spine to the westernnations that still seem toview the world from a verynarrow post-World War IIperspective. The upcomingG7 Summit will test India notonly in how it puts forwardits unique global perspectivebut also check whether Indiais ready to push back deli-cately and demand that theworld see situations and cri-sis from a non-western view-point. That, at the end of theday, is the hallmark of aglobal leader.

(The author, a Delhi-based journalist and foreignaffairs analyst, holds aMasters in InternationalRelations from the AmericanUniversity in WashingtonDC. In 2009, her book‘Piercing the Heart: UntoldStories of 26/11’, was pub-lished. The views expressedare personal.)

It is quite clear that the western nations will make efforts to convince Indiato change its stance on Russia, which is a delicate diplomatic challenge

THE SUMMIT WILLTEST INDIA NOTONLY IN HOW IT

PUTS FORWARD ITSUNIQUE GLOBAL

PERSPECTIVE BUTALSO CHECK

WHETHER INDIA ISREADY TO PUSH

BACK DELICATELYAND DEMAND THAT

THE WORLD SEESITUATIONS AND

CRISIS FROM A NON-WESTERN

VIEWPOINT

SIMRAN SODHI

India at G7 Summit& its Ukraine stand

The upcoming G7 Summitin Germany will see glob-al leaders get together to

discuss several issues. The onethat will dominate the deliber-ations is likely the Ukraineinvasion, sanctions on Russiaand how the world, the westernworld, should deal with defiantRussian President VladimirPutin. Prime Minister NarendraModi will be there, as India,Indonesia, South Africa andSenegal have been invited asspecial guests. According to areport in Bloomberg, Germanywas in two minds as to whetherto extend the invitation to India;the reservation being that Indiahas not condemned Russia forits invasion and also abstainedfrom the United NationsResolutions censuring Russia.But pragmatism won the dayand India was extended theinvitation. But it remains quiteclear that in the luxury resortof Schloss Elmau in theBavarian Alps, where theSummit will take place, thewestern nations will makeefforts to convince India tochange its stance on Russia.

For India and Modi, it willpresent a delicate diplomaticchallenge. Of course, Indiatoday wants to be a part of theglobal leadership but it has nointentions of breaking ties withold and tested allies, Russiabeing the best example. Theproblem also is that not only hasIndia not condemned Russianactions in Ukraine, it continuesto buy oil at discounted ratesfrom it and is also working outan alternative payment systemto keep this going. The UnitedStates and Europe, who havebeen leading the charge againstRussia, have expressed theirfrustrations but, of late, theapproach has been morenuanced in public with thewestern world trying to showan understanding of India’sposition.

Indications are clear thatwhile India will stick to itsstand, so will the western world.Earlier this year, while visitingGermany, Modi called on bothRussia and Ukraine to end thefighting, saying: “We believe thatno party can emerge victorious

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | JUNE 27, 2022

We should celebrateIndependence Month

WE WILL STAND BY CM UDDHAVTHACKERAY. WE ARE KEEPING AN EYE ONTHE CURRENT SITUATION.—MAHARASHTRA DEPUTY CMAJIT PAWAR

SHARAD PAWAR IS THREATENING THE (REBEL)MLAS TO COME TO THE ASSEMBLY. THEY’LL

VOTE AS PER THEIR WILL.—UNION MINISTER

NARAYAN RANE

With the novel coronavirus hitting the globe, many families wereleft staggered to their feet with medical emergencies, untime-ly death of their loved ones. What began with a learning loss

resulted in weakened financial conditions and also, in many cases, theloss of parents, grandparents or loved ones for children. Usually, whenit comes to talking about death with children, adults don’t know how tostart the conversation or how and what exactly to say.

Here’s how you can explain what happened. While explaining aboutdeath to children, it is critical that they are handled most sensitively yetwith honesty. It’s important for an adult (whom the child feels safe andcomfortable to interact with) to talk to him or her in a quiet place.Conversations help to create an open and comforting environment thatallows them to question and freely express their thoughts and feelings.

You can begin with explaining what death is. For example, you mightsay, “When a person dies, his or her body stops working. The heart stopsbeating and the body stops moving, eating, and breathing.”

Many times, younger children may not realise that death is perma-nent and ask questions like “when will Naani come back?” and “I wantto show Papa what I made”. Phrases such as “he is gone into long sleep,”“your loss,” and “passed away” may seem gentler but can also con-fuse the young children, who often think literally. They may think if therelatives look for the “lost” loved one, he or she could be found. Hence,it’s important to reaffirm the facts gently, and reassert death with mosthonesty.

Children go through waves of emotions when something like thishappens in their life. They experience anger, frustration, anxiety and builda story that it might have happened because of a certain reason. Remindthem that nothing they did caused the death or there’s nothing that canreverse it.

Also, sometimes it is natural for children to feel angry or disappoint-ed with the family member for leaving them alone or when a close rel-ative passed away. In such a situation, one must allow kids to expressthemselves freely and assure that feeling this way is alright by sayingsomething like “I know you’re upset that Mom died. Sometimes I feellike that, too.”

However, children can develop strong fears about their own person-al safety or about the death of the surviving parent. And that’s when theirfears need to be addressed and they need to know that you are thereto take care of them. Grief is a very complex emotion; it is not easy forchildren to cope with. Sometimes children’s responses can be harshwhen coping with the death of their parent or any loved one. Childrenmay have nightmares or scary thoughts. They may not want to talk aboutthe deceased person in any way, inclusive of happy memories. Theymay experience trouble sleeping, concentrating, and others. If such feel-ings or behavioural patterns occur to a degree that concerns you, thenit’s best to seek professional help.

It may not be possible to prepare fully for the emotions that mayfollow however, with time they may become easier to process. Remindyour children that while change is hard for everyone, you are there forthem to get through this time. It’s important that you give them all theinformation that they need to avoid assumptions leading to confusions.

Maintaining some routines can help children. It’s important to keepthe memories of the deceased alive for your children; after all, they stilllove the deceased person.

Remember grieving is a slow process that requires time. While feel-ings attached with the loss may never completely go away, with eachpassing day they can become easier to endure. Give yourself and yourchildren permission to feel happy again. Be assured that the memoryof your loved one can live on in the hearts of your family.

(The author is a journalist-turned-activist who works towardswomen empowerment and development of children.)

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | JUNE 27, 2022

07

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FIRSTCOLUMN

HELP KIDS COPE WITHDEATH OF DEAR ONES

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

BALAKRISHNAN SATYAM

Handle them sensitively yet with honesty

THEOPPORTUNITYTO ORGANISEA NUMBER OFEXHIBITIONS

ON PROGRESSWILL NOT

ONLY INFORMOUR CITIZENS

ABOUT THEENERGY

SECTOR, THETELECOM ANDITES SECTOR,

THE SPACESECTOR AND

SO ON; IT WILLALSO HELPTHE YOUTH

There was a rare momentof grace in Israeli politicslast Monday, as Prime

Minister Naftali Bennett andForeign Minister Yair Lapidannounced they would dissolvetheir extraordinary coalitionand pitched Israel into its fifthelection in three and a half years.

The coalition was extraor-dinary because it included sucha broad spectrum of politicalconviction in Israel, fromRightwing pro-settler partieslike Bennett’s Yamina to Centre-Left Yesh Atid (Lapid’s Party)and even, for the first time ever,an Islamic party, the UnitedArab List.

The moment of grace wasthe loyalty and even friendshipshown by Bennett and Lapid,political and ideological oppo-nents who rose above the bitterdivisions of a fragmented Israeli

political scene characterised bydefections and betrayals.

They did not blame eachother for the coalition’s collapse.They treated each other withrespect. Bennett even kept hisword to share the top job inrotation with Lapid, who willbecome prime minister of thetransitional government for themonths between now and thenext election, probably in lateOctober.

“They are political rivalswho were wise enough to cre-ate a rare partnership, almostutopian by Israeli political stan-dards. They began nicely andended even better. We were asdreamers—is this Israel, orDenmark?” wrote Haaretz jour-nalist Yossi Verter. But these twomen apart, it’s Israel. DefinitelyIsrael.

The eight-party coalition

had one unifying principle: tostop ‘Bibi’ (BinyaminNetanyahu, prime minister formost of the past 25 years) fromcoming back to power yet again.It could only work by concen-trating on social issues (wherethere was some agreement)while preserving the status quoon ‘security’, settler violenceand Palestinian rights.

Even so, the attempt tohold such a spectacularlydiverse coalition together wasultimately sunk by the defec-tions of members who feltmorally compromised by work-ing with people of such radical-ly different views. It only had 62Members of the Knesset out of120 to start with, and just threeMKs quitting, one at a time,destroyed its parliamentarymajority.

So will Netanyahu be back

in power again after October?He’s still on trial for breach oftrust, accepting bribes, andfraud, but the coalition didn’t getaround to banning people ontrial for felonies from becomingprime minister, so it’s certainlypossible.

That was why Netanyahustrove so hard to bring thecoalition down, getting the

opposition to vote against everysingle coalition measure. TheKnesset and the country are soevenly balanced that any reshuf-fle of the deck is another chanceto win.

Netanyahu even got hisallies in the Knesset to voteagainst another five-year exten-sion of the regulation that placesJewish settlers in the West Bankunder Israeli civil law, not themilitary law that controls life forArabs in the occupied territo-ries.

That normally goes throughautomatically, without debate,but Netanyahu’s Likud Partyand its allies voted against itdespite the fact they are pro-set-tler parties. Bibi knew that thefour Arab members of the coali-tion government couldn’t bringthemselves to vote for the set-tlers having special rights, so the

measure failed and the coalitionfell.

Actually, everything politi-cal in Israel is ultimately aboutthe settlers and the occupationnow, and the country is splitdown the middle with almostsurgical precision. That’s why itwas so hard to make an anti-Bibicoalition, but it’s just as hard toform a pro-Bibi one.

Few people realised that thiswas the future they were creat-ing when Israel won the 1967war and conquered substantialArab-populated territories inthe West Bank, the Gaza Stripand the Golan Heights.

Between the 1948 war,when most Arabs fled or weredriven from what then becameIsrael, and the Six-Day War of1967, about 85 per cent ofIsrael’s population was Jewish.After Israel’s victory in that

war, about half the populationon the land now controlled byIsrael was Arab and eitherMuslim or Christian.

That is still the case today,although the Gaza Strip hasbeen turned into an open-airprison that is technically not inIsrael. So unless you are plan-ning to give the occupied terri-tories back, you can have ademocratic Israel where half thepopulation is Arab, or a JewishIsrael where half the populationhas no political rights.

That’s the choice thatdivides and paralyses the coun-try, and there’s no decision onthe horizon. Bibi is the stan-dard-holder for all those IsraeliJews who favour a bigger coun-try but one where mostPalestinian Arabs are not citi-zens, and he may be back inpower by the end of the year.

Netanyahu or Bibi is the standard-holder for the Jews who favour a bigger country but without citizenship to Palestinian Arabs

Israel: All turbulence in politics is about Netanyahu

The author’s new book isThe Shortest History of War

GWYNNE DYER

SONALI KHAN

To understand a certain conceptbetter, we expect that a paragraphabout it will help us better than asingle sentence. Likewise, we say

that to achieve greater skill development,our practice sessions need to be longer.Thus, when we accord something moretime, we hope to have given it that muchmore attention.

Generally, in our minds the expression‘a day or two’ suggests a quite short dura-tion. ‘Day’ is such a familiar word, and socasually used that we rarely reflect on it.It is an important unit of time. If an indi-vidual celebrates his or her birthday,shouldn't a nation celebrate IndependenceMonth rather than only a day?

Many kinds of organisations played arole in our gaining Independence; theywere quite different from each other, andunique in what they did. You have heardit said that we should also render properrespect to many movements and sacrificesacross the country. An IndependenceMonth, organised as themed weeks, oreven as distinct days to recognise andhighlight various aspects of self-gover-nance would also spread greater politicalawareness among the people.

There are of course programmes onthe day of official and ceremonial signif-icance, but in practical terms,Independence has meant our own curren-cy without colonial insignia, that ourhouses of legislature are sovereign, ourown Chiefs of the Armed Forces, our ownElection Commission, and various IndianCouncils for research, our CentralUniversities, and national corporations inthe Energy and other sectors. Showcasingeach of them and celebrating theirprogress is something that can be done ingreater detail than through only a fewtableaux over three hours in a single day.It can be a richer, longer, more informa-tive experience through an IndependenceMonth.

The opportunity to organise a num-ber of exhibitions on progress will not onlyinform our citizens about the energy sec-tor, the telecom and ITES sector, the spacesector and so on; it will also help the youth.

Now, for argument’s sake, someonecould say that a much larger country interms of area and with about twice ournumber of states is, after all, observed onone day with a lot of fireworks andparades. Their struggle for Independence,while admirable for many things, wasquite different. It was concentrated in afew battle arenas, and basically under onecommand. Their nation itself grew in ter-ritory over the mainland over severaldecades, and largely drew upon the pro-gressive political ethos of Western Europeas its main source.

While we thus appreciate the US’s par-ticular history, it is plain to see that ourown liberation from the colonial yoke hasbeen a different kind of process. Given ourgeography and ancient heritage, our

Individuals celebrate birthdays, but a nation ought to celebrateits Independence for a month, not in a single day

(The author is a creative director,

advertising faculty, andan amateur

epistemologist. The viewsexpressed are personal)

Constitutional spirit includes ele-ments from Western and indige-nous frameworks as we had anequally illustrious and forward-looking team of authors as werethe Founding Fathers of the US.

In fact, the project to draft theConstitution is itself an undertak-ing about which more informationcan be shared. From inception,there has been a strong inclusivistorientation in the Republic ofIndia. Cabinets at national andstate levels have sought to havemembers from under-representedor marginalised communities, orfrom places far away from eco-nomic and political hubs.

On the contrary, it is muchrarer to find Native Americansamong Secretaries or in the Houseof Representatives. Representationfor them was initiated only in1924, and it took till 1965 for themto even properly participate as vot-ers across most States. Given ourown greater diversity and manyregional and district cultures,India is more representational inits political culture from the begin-ning.

Much more remains to bedone, yet the Constitution adopt-ed within three years ofIndependence got us off to a fly-ing start. There is in it a plural-ism and coexistence of doc-trines—there are some curbs onexploiting fellow humans forprofit even while incentivisingindustrial growth. The mixedeconomy approach of havingsome utilities undertaken andoperated by the State, a broadlywelfarist outlook, a planningmodel suited to the developmen-tal needs of a Third World coun-try (typical for most recentlydecolonialised)—all parts of a

unique ‘middle path’ policy, initself a marvel. There was advo-cacy of a scientific temper andpromotion of modern educationfor all. In an ethos where bothconsumerism and spiritualityhave been pursued parallelly!

The generation of leaders andexperts who determined andagreed upon such a choice was ageneration that could boast ofknowledge and practical experi-ence. While no set of principlesmay be such that a further adap-tation cannot be considered at all,what we’ve had already so far isnot narrow, and any fault is actu-ally about weak implementation.

A month, therefore, wouldnot only be a celebration, it wouldbe a thanksgiving, a reaffirmationand a renewal of our commitmentto our fair polity. With the pass-ing years, we won’t have peopleany more who had known howthings were, prior to 1947. Thedomination by the European, theseverely limited participation ingovernance in those times, theinadequate infrastructure acrosssectors, will all be long forgotten.Our present rights and freedomshad been dreamt of for decadesbefore they were ushered in 75years ago.

The very theme ofIndependence can lead us toreflect, as families and citizens, onhow it can be practically main-tained. There’s an importantaspect of economic freedom,which Gandhiji had underlined.

In the US, a lot of ordinarypeople are groaning under theyoke of steep debt—for housing,healthcare and education. A smallpart of it is due to heedless use ofcredit cards, but much of it has todo with the lack of a sense of soci-

ety, and with the adoption of aview of people as customers first,and only then as humans. Studentdebt, and steep cost of universi-ty education are formidable bar-riers to opportunity and socialmobility. It helps to remembersomething here that is often for-gotten.

Rather than being accordedour freedom, we have to realisethat we are born free, and asRousseau famously said, thechains get forged only subse-quently.

For India, decolonisation halt-ed the robbery of our naturalresources by an imperial power. Itbrought us into the modern era ofrepresentative government, andput us on the path of inclusivedevelopment. It shook off pastshackles and at the same time,launched visions of a prosperousand progressive future for allstrata in our society. The DirectivePrinciples, as enshrined in theConstitution, undertake to upliftlarge numbers living in variouskinds of deprivation, whose cir-cumstances in recent generationshad offered little or no scope.

This is a socioeconomic gapthat a positive governmentalagenda can bridge. Yet, indepen-dence is really all about peoplebeing kept out of debt, thanbeing placed in debt. We recipro-cate by serving national interestin many small ways for the broadsupport we receive. This is whatPresident J.F. Kennedy, in his1961 White House inaugural,said, “Ask what you can do foryour country.”

An Independence Month ofthirty-one days would offer enoughtime to ask these questions, and todiscover enough answers.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | JUNE 27, 2022 Money 08

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RS

After over five months, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has finally got adirector appointed on the board of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd -- a firm ithad acquired for Rs 36,915 crore. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on

June 22, conveyed its consent for the appointment of Pankaj Kumar, Director (Offshore),ONGC as a director on the board of HPCL, according to regulatory filings by HPCL. Forover five months, ONGC had norepresentative on the board of HPCL -- acompany in which it owns a 51.11 per centstake since January 2018. HPCL for over one-and-a-half years -- between January 2018 andAugust 2019 -- did not recognise ONGC as itspromoter despite the government selling itsentire 51.11 per cent stake in the company tothe oil explorer. It relented only after a rapfrom market regulator SEBI. ONGC got theright to appoint one director who HPCL called'Government Nominee Director(Representative of ONGC)'.

State-owned Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is aiming to boost advances in retail, MSMEs,corporate and agricultural loans during the current fiscal year, as the lender hassubstantially brought down the stressed assets on its balance sheet through sustained

and targeted efforts. The outlook of the Indian banking sector is seen to be improving on theback of better credit demand and strong balance sheets, IOB said in its FY21-22 annualreport. In the fiscal year ended March2022, IOB witnessed doubling of itsnet profit at Rs 1,709 crore, asagainst Rs 831 crore in the previousfiscal year, as the bank improved onits asset quality through a multi-pronged strategy and focussedrecovery initiatives. IOB said theasset quality of Public Sector Banks(PSBs) are on an improving trendthough some loans are classified asrestructured loans under pandemicpermitted RBI schemes.

Japanese sportswear major ASICS expects online channel to account for 50 per centof its total sales in India in the next two-three years with consumers opting for moredigital purchases due to the pandemic, according to a senior company official. At the

same time, ASICS India, the company's arm, is also accelerating expansion of itsphysical retail stores to tap into thegrowth potential in the country. "Prior tothe pandemic, digital sales from ourown website and marketplaces likeAmazon and Flipkart was around 25 percent of the total sales. Now it hastouched 35 per cent of the totalbusiness...It is still growing," ASICSIndia and South Asia Managing DirectorRajat Khurana told PTI. Stating that theshopping behaviour of consumers haschanged, he said,"In the next two tothree years, digital sales will contributeto 50 per cent of the overall sales."

ASICS expects 50 pc of sales fromonline channel in India in 2-3 years

IOB aims to boost advances to retail,

MSME, agri, corporate sector in FY23After 5 months, ONGC finally gets adirector on HPCL board

PNS n NEW DELHI

India has exported 1.8 milliontonnes of wheat to a dozen-oddcountries, including Bangladeshand Afghanistan, since the coun-try banned exports of the grain onMay 13, according to FoodSecretary Sudhanshu Pandey.

About 33,000 tonnes of wheatas humanitarian assistance hasalready been supplied toAfghanistan against the commit-ment of 50,000 tonne, he said.

Pandey, addressing a ministe-rial conference on 'uniting forglobal food security' held atBerlin, Germany on June 24,said India has always taken theneeds of the world into consid-eration, even while meeting theonerous obligations of feeding itspopulation of 1.38 billion people,an official statement said. Thesecretary said: It is important here

to explain that the recent decisionby the Government of India(GoI) to bring about regulationon wheat exports was essential-ly taken to protect domesticavailability as well as availabilityto vulnerable countries to whomsupplies cannot be ensured by

market forces."India has nonethe-less continued with its commit-ment to cater for the genuineneeds of neighbouring countriesand food-deficit nations throughGovernment-to-Governmentmechanism and also to fulfilsupply commitments already

made, he said. After the regula-tion until June 22nd this fiscalyear, 1.8 million tonnes of wheathave been shipped out, almostfour times from the previous yearto countries includingAfghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal,Oman, Philippines, Qatar, SouthKorea, Sri Lanka, Sudan,Switzerland, Thailand, UAE,Vietnam and Yemen," he said.

On May 13, the governmentsuspended wheat export withimmediate effect. It moved theexport of all varieties of wheat,including high-protein durum,from free to the prohibited cat-egory. The decision was aimed atcontrolling rising prices of wheatin the domestic market.

India had exported a record 7million tonnes of wheat during2021-22 fiscal, while typically,the country exports around 2

million tonnes which is around1 per cent of global wheat trade,he said.

Stating that India is deeplyconscious of its responsibilitiestowards the most vulnerable invarious parts of the world,Pandey said the country contin-ued to provide humanitarianassistance, both through thesupply of vaccines as well as foodconsignments, during andbeyond the pandemic. Forinstance, the country has dis-patched several shipments ofhumanitarian assistance to thepeople of Afghanistan, including33,000 tonnes of wheat of a totalcommitment of 50,000 tonnesmade by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, and continuesto do so in the wake of the dev-astation caused by the earth-quake a couple of days ago, hesaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The GST Council in its meet-ing this week is likely to vet aproposal of the panel of statefinance ministers on levying 28per cent GST on online gam-ing, casinos and horse racing,sources said.

The Group of Ministers,headed by Meghalaya ChiefMinister Conrad Sangma, hasrecommended that onlinegaming should be taxed at fullvalue of the consideration,including contest entry feepaid by the player on partici-pating in the game.

In case of race courses, theGoM has suggested that GSTbe levied on the full value ofbets pooled in the totalisatorsand placed with the book-makers. In casinos, GoM rec-ommended that the tax wouldbe levied on the full face valueof the chips/coins purchasedfrom the casino by a player. No

further GST would apply onthe value of bets placed in eachround of betting, includingthose placed with winnings inprevious rounds.

Also, the GoM suggestedthat 28 per cent Goods andServices Tax be levied onentry/access fees into casinos,which compulsorily includesfoods/beverages etc.

However, optional supplies,

made independently of theentry tickets, would be taxed atthe rate applicable on such sup-plies, sources added. Currently,services of casinos, horse rac-ing and online gaming attract18 per cent GST. The GoMwould decide on the method ofvaluing the services.

The Government had inMay last year set up a panel ofstate ministers for better valu-

ation of services of Casinos,online gaming portal and racecourses for levying Goods andServices Tax (GST).

AMRG & Associates SeniorPartner Rajat Mohan said 28per cent tax bracket for onlinegaming, horse racing, and casi-nos would peg them at par withnumerous sin goods like panmasala, tobacco and aeratedwaters. "Taxing online gaming,

horse racing, and casinos atgross revenue instead of netvalue addition would be adeparture from the global taxethics," Mohan said.

This proposal may sweetenthe exchequer for a while;however, it would also enticethe unorganized sector leadingto rampant generation of blackmoney in the long term, headded.

The report of the GoM islikely to be taken up in the nextmeeting of the GST Council onJune 28-29 in Chandigarh.

The other state ministers inthe 8-member GoM includeMaharashtra Deputy ChiefMinister Ajit Pawar, GujaratFinance Minister KanubhaiPatel, Goa Panchayati rajMinister Mauvin Godinho,Tamil Nadu Finance MinisterP Thiaga Rajan, Uttar PradeshFinance Minister SureshKhanna and Telangana FinanceMinister T Harish Rao.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The indigenous 5G technolo-gy developed by the TCS-CDoT-led consortium has thepotential to win global deals aspeople the world over arelooking for trusted telecomsolutions and no country canmatch the level of trust Indiacan bring in, Telecom and ITMinister Ashwini Vaishnawhas said.

While sharing the govern-ment plans to deploy 1.25 lakhmobile sites in the BSNL net-work based on indigenouslydeveloped technology gears,Vaishnaw in an interview withPTI expressed concern overthe shortage of semiconduc-tors and said the first projectproposal for the high-techelectronic chips will beapproved in coming fewmonths this year. "We are

very rapidly progressing ondeveloping our own 5G tech-nology stack. There is a hugeinterest among the wholeworld community in having agood trusted and affordabletechnology source for telecombecause telecom is today theprimary consumption pointfor all digital services. Peoplewant a trusted telecom solu-

tion. And as you know, thetrust which India can bring,no other country can match,"Vaishnaw said. Several coun-tries led by the US andEuropean nations haveblocked 5G telecom gear fromChinese companies. India toohas set up a process forapproving trusted telecomgears in local networks.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Finance Ministry has askedpublic sector banks to explorefintech partnerships and co-lending opportunities to expandtheir business.

In the recently concluded per-formance review of PSBs by theFinance Ministry, sources said,lenders were asked to focus ontechnology and data analytics topush their lending.

The ministry also urged theheads of the public sector lendersto strengthen IT security systemsand cybersecurity to check fraud.

According to the sources,banks were asked to sanctionloans for productive sectors toaccelerate the revival of the econ-omy facing headwinds, includingthe Russia-Ukraine war. As perthe RBI's latest data, growth inlending by PSBs has improved

significantly to 7.8 per cent inMarch 2022 from 3.6 per cent ayear ago. Some of the PSBsrecorded 26 per cent growth.

Bank of Maharashtra (BoM)recorded a 26 per cent increasein gross advances to Rs 1,35,240crore at the end of March 2022.It was followed by the State Bankof India and Union Bank ofIndia with 10.27 per cent and

9.66 per cent growth, respective-ly. The Pune-headquartered BoMwitnessed a 16.26 per centdeposit growth and mobilised Rs2,02,294 crore at the end ofMarch 2022. Union Bank ofIndia was the second with an11.99 per cent growth in deposits(Rs 10,32,102 crore), whileIndian Bank recorded a 10 percent rise to Rs 5,84,661 crore.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The commerce and industryministry is expected to release onThursday the ranking of statesand Union Territories (UTs) interms of ease of doing business,according to an official. "It hasbeen decided to release the assess-ment of states/UTs under BRAP(Business Reforms Action Plan),2020, on June 30 by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman,"the official said. The exercise isaimed at triggering competition

among states to improve thebusiness climate to attract domes-tic and global investors. Theparameters include various areas,such as construction permit,labour regulation, environmentalregistration, access to informa-tion, land availability and singlewindow system. The Departmentfor Promotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT) conductsthe exercise for all States/UTsunder the Business ReformAction Plan (BRAP). In the lastranking released in September

2020, Andhra Pradesh topped thechart, followed by Uttar Pradesh,Telangana, Madhya Pradesh andJharkhand. Till date, state rank-ings have een released for 2015,2016, 2017-18 and 2019.

The larger objective of attract-ing investments and increasingease of doing business in eachstate was sought to be achieved byintroducing an element of healthycompetition through a system ofranking states based on their per-formance in the implementationof BRAP.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government will invite bidsfrom states to sell electricitygenerated from 8,000 megawatt(MW) thermal capacities with-out PPAs, Power Minister RKSingh has said.

A total of 8,000 MW of ther-mal capacities in India arewithout any power purchaseagreements, Singh, who is alsothe Minister for New andRenewable Energy, told PTI.

Replying to a question relat-ed to capacities without PPAs inIndia, the minister said, "Thereare 8,000 MW of capacitieswhich don't have PPAs in ther-mal". Sharing the government'splan to resolve the issue, theminister informed that states

have been asked to send theirelectricity requirement, andaccordingly bids will be invited."We will aggregate (theirdemand) and call on for bidsand based on the bids, whoev-er puts in the lowest bids, PPAswill be signed. Once PPAs aresigned, they (states) will get thepower," he said. Speaking fur-

ther, the minister said there arealso some thermal capacitiesundergoing the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT) proceedings, and thegovernment has already takenseveral steps, including meetingwith the bankers, to resolve theissue at the earliest so suchplants can start operations.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Stock markets will be drivenby global trends, crude oilmovement and foreign insti-tutional investments thisweek, analysts said, addingthat benchmark indices mayalso face volatility amid thescheduled monthly deriva-tives expiry. Moreover, themovement in the rupee and

the progress of monsoonwould also be watched byinvestors, they added. "Indianmarkets managed to recoverfrom lower levels after twoweeks of sharp cuts thanks toa recovery in global marketsand a cut in commodityprices. It seems that thisrecovery may see a furtherextension and we can expecta decent rally in the coming

days in equity markets," saidSantosh Meena, Head ofResearch, SwastikaInvestmart Ltd. "Apart fromF&O expiry, monthly autosales numbers and monsoondevelopment will be impor-tant triggers," Meena said.Crude oil, rupee movementand FIIs' behaviour will beother important factors, headded.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Foreign investors continue todesert Indian equity marketsand pulled out close to Rs46,000 crore so far this monthfollowing monetary policytightening by the ReserveBank and US Federal Reserve,high oil prices and volatilerupee. The net outflow byforeign portfolio investors(FPIs) from equities reachedRs 2.13 lakh crore unitll nowin 2022, data with depositoriesshowed. Given the policy nor-malisation narrative by the USFed and other major central

banks, coupled with high oilprices and volatile Rupee, FPIsare likely to stay away fromemerging market assets,Hitesh Jain, Lead Analyst -Institutional Equities, YesSecurities, said.

FPIs inflow will only resumeonce there is visibility on thepeak of bond yields in the USand an end to Fed rate hikes,he added. Moreover, FPIs arelikely to sell more if the cur-rent trend of rising dollar andbond yields persists, said VKVijayakumar, CheifInvestment Strategist at GeojitFinancial Services.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Nine of the 10 most valuedfirms added Rs 2.51 lakh croreto their market valuation lastweek, with Tata ConsultancyServices emerging as thebiggest gainer. Last week, the30-share BSE Sensex jumped1,367 points or 2.66 per cent.

HDFC Bank, Infosys,Hindustan Unilever Limitedand ICICI Bank were amongthe gainers while RelianceIndustries was the sole loser in

the pack. Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS) added Rs74,534.87 crore to its marketvaluation which stood at Rs12,04,907.32 crore at close onFriday.

The market capitalisation(mcap) of Hindustan Unileverjumped by Rs 44,888.95 croreto Rs 5,41,240.10 crore. HDFCBank's valuation rose by Rs35,427.18 crore to Rs7,51,800.31 crore and that ofHDFC's by Rs 24,747.87 croreto Rs 3,97,190.50 crore.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Ports-to-energy conglomerateAdani Group has forayed intocopper manufacturing withtying up of finances from pub-lic sector lenders for a 1 milliontonnes a year unit at Mundra inGujarat. "Kutch Copper Ltd(KCL), a subsidiary of AdaniEnterprises Ltd (AEL), is settingup a greenfield copper refineryproject for production of refinedcopper with 1 million tonnes perannum in two phases," the com-pany said in a statement. For thephase-1 capacity of 0.5 milliontonnes, KCL has achieved finan-cial closure through a syndicat-ed club loan for the greenfieldcopper refinery project atMundra, Gujarat. It has execut-ed "financing documents withthe consortium of banks led byState Bank of India (SBI).

India can bring trustedsolutions for world 28 pc GST likely on gross revenue

Mcap of nine of top-10 valuedfirms jumps Rs 2.51 lakh cr

SBI, other PSUbanks commitRs 6,071 cr toAdani group

FinMin asks banks to explorefintech partnership, co-lending

FPIs' pull out continues;Rs 46,000 cr in Jun so far

EODB: States’ ranking to be out on Jun 30Global trends, crude oil keydrivers for stocks this week

India exported 1.8 mln tn wheat since ban Govt to invite bids for power from8,000 MW thermal units without PPAs

CASINOS, ONLINE GAMING AND HORSE RACES

First semiconductor project approval this year: Vaishnaw

For somebody who isknown as the 'King ofRomance', starring in an

out-and-out action film likePathaan was nothing less thana dream come trueopportunity, says superstarShah Rukh Khan.

The 56-year-old star returnsto the silver screen with theupcoming Yash Raj Filmsproject, the first look of whichwas released on Saturday onthe occasion of Khan's 30years in the movies. Directedby War helmer SiddharthAnand, Pathaan is billed a ahigh-octane spy thriller.

Khan said he came onboard the film at a time whenhe wasn't enjoying the processof filmmaking, but the projectbrought him back on sets.

“I wasn't enjoying theprocess of filmmaking, whichis most important for me, evenmore than the film itself.When we started shootingPathaan, it was a lot of funand action. It's a kind of film Ialways wanted to do for 30years. I've always thought ofmyself as somebody who cando cool action and stuff,” thesuperstar said during his firstInstagram Live.

The actor quipped eventhough he is trying to bemacho in his fifties, he ishopeful that people will likehim as an action hero.

“In Pathaan, I'm doing allthis action which I wanted todo when I was in my twenties.It's a little late. At the age of 56,I'm trying to be macho andsolid and trying to make itwork, but I think Siddharthand the whole action team hasput in a lot of effort. I hope Iwill look like a good actionhero.”

In his three-decade-longcareer, Khan has given life tomany iconic characters, be itRaj from Dilwale Dulhania LeJayenge or Rahul from KuchKuch Hota Hai. The actor saidevery role of his has a little bitof Shah Rukh Khan in them.

“I love Raj and Rahul,there's a big part of me in

them. The bigger part is ofAditya Chopra and KaranJohar, but there's a part of mealso. They will always bespecial like all characters. Itold one film critic once thateach character has a little bit ofShah Rukh Khan in them. SoRahul has a bit of it, Raj has abit of it and Pathaan has a lotof it because I feel like aPathaan,” he said.

The first look motion posterof Pathaan features Khan in arugged look with long hairand beard, holding a shotgun.Gushing about his long hair inthe film, the actor said hemisses the hairstyle.

“I miss my long hair now.Hopefully if you all likePathaan and we make the parttwo, I will grow my hairagain,” he teased.

Pathaan features DeepikaPadukone and John Abrahamin pivotal roles, with a specialappearance by superstarSalman Khan.

SRK said Salman Khan is a

like family and he wishes tomake a full-fledged moviewith him some day.

“With Salman Khan, thereis no working experience. It'salways rather a loveexperience, happy experience,friendly experience, brotherlyexperience. It's amazingwhenever I work with him.”

The superstar said he willalso try to appear in SalmanKhan's upcoming actionerTiger 3.

“Salman is like family, abrother. We don't know who'sthe elder brother. Each one ofus on different days behavelike the elder brother to eachother. Whoever makes amistake, the other guybecomes the elder brother,” headded.

Pathaan will hit the theatreson January 25 next year. Theactor said the first trailer of thefilm will arrive sometime inNovember-December.

9

Vijayawada | Monday June 27, 2022 what’s brewing?

FUN

ARCHIE

GARFIELDREALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

SUDOKU

Rulesl Each row and column can

contain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

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

Singer AdnanSami's latest pictures from

his Maldivian holiday have takenover social media as it seems he has

undergone a huge weight loss transforma-tion. Sami took to Instagram to share a glimpseof his holiday with family, which took the fans

and social media users by surprise. He shared a pic-ture with his daughter while chilling in the pool. Hecaptioned the picture, “There's absolutely no time to

waste and so 'Let the fun begin PARTY-POOPER-DIS-CLAIMER- It's NON-ALCOHOLIC Sparkling Grape

Juice'.” He also shared a selfie, where he is seen flaunt-ing a big smile at the camera with a picturesque view

of the ocean and the sky in the background.According to reports, when Sami stepped intothe industry, he weighed a whopping over 200

kilos. He is popular for his songs such asBhardo jholi, Lift Karadey and Sun

Zara, among many others.

‘PATHAAN'fulfills my desire to do

an action film, says Shah Rukh Khan

ADNAN SAMI'sjaw-dropping ransformation

takes over the internet

Thor: Love andThunder's ChrisHemsworth has

revealed that show-ing his butt in theupcoming MCU filmwas 10 years in themaking and was basi-cally a dream cometrue for the actor.

Speaking to Variety at Thor: Love and Thunder's pre-miere at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Hemsworthshared why this revealing moment is so special to him.

“It was 10 years in the making that scene — kind of adream of mine,” Hemsworth said. “The first time I playedThor I took my shirt off and I thought, ‘You know what’sgonna sweeten this a decade from now it’s all gonna comeoff.”

Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi also dis-cussed Hemsworth's big butt moment in the film, sayingthat Chris worked too hard to not show off his body.

“I feel like we had all talked about it,” Waititi said. “Wehad talked about, ‘Yeah, we gotta show off this body.’ Mywhole thing was like, Chris works so hard, you’ve gottashow it off. Don’t cover it up with all these suits and thecape and stuff, it’s not fair.”

In the same chat with Variety, Hemsworth also talkedabout seeing Natalie Portman as Mighty Thor for the firsttime, saying that it was a little stab to the ego, but I quicklygot over it and I was in awe of everything she had done.

You can check out a blurred version of Thor's butt at theend of Thor: Love and Thunder's official trailer, and youcan thank Russell Crowe's Zeus for making it happen.

Thor: Love and Thunder will be released in theaters onJuly 8, 2022.

BARBARA BROCCOLI calls Prince William ‘perfect candidate' for next James Bond

Producer Barbara Broccoli has quippedthat Duke of Cambridge, Prince Williamis the perfect candidate to become the

next James Bond. Broccoli and her siblingMichael Wilson were honoured withCommander Of The (Order of the) BritishEmpire (CBEs) from the Duke at theBuckingham Palace this week, reportsaceshowbiz.com.

When asked who she'd like to see replaceDaniel Craig in the iconic spy role, she said theDuke of Cambridge ticks all the boxes.

According to The Mirror, she said"“Unfortunately, the person we just met isn'tavailable. He's occupied, unfortunately, but hewould be the perfect candidate. He ticks all theboxes. But he's not available, sadly. So we're stillon the hunt.”

It was recently claimed that Idris Elba is backin the running to play Bond.

The Luther actor was believed to havestepped back from replacing Craig as the suavespy and had instead spoken to producers aboutpotentially appearing as the villain in the nextmovie, but he's once again under considerationfor the role of 007 after scoring favourably inmarket research.

A source told The Sun newspaper's Bizarrecolumn that “Idris has long been in talks toplay a role in the next era of James Bond's storyand last year was being considered for a role asan antagonist.”

“However, talks surrounding him playing the

lead have started again as producers realisedhow popular he would be after carrying outsecret market research,” she continued.

“He ranked highly among the diverse groupof movie buffs invited to participate in it. Theydidn't want to see him as a nemesis - they wanthim as the hero,” she added.

Earlier this year, Idris had been in the framefor the iconic role. “We know Idris, I'm friendswith him. He's a magnificent actor. You know,he has been part of the conversation, but it'salways difficult to have a conversation whenyou have somebody in the seat,” she said.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDERShowing Chris Hemsworth's Butt

Was ‘10 Years in the Making'

TEJAL SINHA

e are sure at leastonce, in your life,that you mighthave shared a reel(short video),either on your

Instagram story or with yourfriends. It could contain any-thing. However, there aresome reels that take youback to those good old days.

Videos posted by Pixouryon its page bring us someaesthetic art along withsome of our favourite orunderrated songs. Have youever wondered howHrishiraj Sugre, the founderof Pixoury, does it? It'sthrough vector art. Vectorart is a form of computergraphics and a mechanismwhere the artist creates somevisual images using geomet-ric shapes. Hrishiraj learnedall this by watching videoson YouTube and learningvarious courses online.

So, what inspiredHrishiraj to start Pixoury?To this, he shares, “Duringthe first COVID lockdown,amidst the uncertainty of thefuture of business and life ingeneral, I wanted to enter-tain people. I thought ofutilising my skills, i.e., vector

art, and using it for some-thing Indian audiences like.I tried creating posts oncricket and other trendingsubjects, but it didn't work.Then I got an idea to workon Bollywood scenes andsongs. I never imagined somany people would like thevideos. And here we are, acommunity of 948k fami-lies.”

Like any other page orinfluencer, he had his ownchallenges, but the biggestwas to create content thatwould go viral. Telling usmore about it, he says,“There were many chal-lenges, but the most difficultchallenge was to find a con-cept for the content whichcan go viral. After manyfailed attempts, I found theconcept that went viral, butthe challenge was making areel every day. It took me 7-8hours to make a reel when Istarted, and it was challeng-ing to keep creating trendingreels every day while work-ing on my business.”

He believes Pixoury is acommunity and not just apage. “From day 1, I knew Iwanted to build a communi-ty. The reason is, that thecommunity creates loyal fol-lowers and it has a nichewhere we can market rele-

vant products to have lessspam content. A few reelswent viral in their commu-nity, after which, the com-munity suggested new con-tent, and then it went on toget bigger. Pixoury now is acommunity which likesBollywood's classic songsand scenes in the mannerthat I present to them. Ithelps me to differentiate mywork from others and the

content doesn't violate copy-right laws as it is written byme and is not copied. Thishelps the community toshare some unique contentthat they don't find else-where,” he adds.

“Imagine playing songs foryour friends at a party or inthe car. There won't be a sin-gle song on which everyonewill agree. Everyone hastheir own choice and they

feel that their favourite songis the best one. Without get-ting trolled, I have to do thisfor a million people everyday. So the trick that I havefollowed for a long time nowis to create reels on songswhich are generally recom-mended to me more. Also, Itry not to create reels basedon my own personalfavourites, as the audiencewon't like them. I generallylook for the kind of com-ments that song has on dif-ferent sites and if the song istrolled less and there arepositive comments about it,I go for it,” he says, addingthat people still ask aboutthe software or the processthat he uses to make thesevideos.

People's desire to learn theart prompted him to postvideos about the process onYouTube and IGTV. He hasbeen taking live tutorials.Until now, he has conductedover four live tutorials. butsoon plans to be regularlytaking live tutorials on oneof India's leading education-al platforms, which will beannounced soon. Be it the90's hits like Jiya DhadakDhadak, Zara sa, Dilkotumse pyaar, or of the mostrecent Kesariya, or MereDholna, the videos have justgone viral, with every videohaving more than 60k tomore than 441k likes.

He has also received theANN Award for Best Reelsfrom Animation Xpress.

Rise of veganism& its impact onthe human race

eganism is a lifestyle that excludes all animalproducts and attempts to limit animal cruel-ty and exploitation as much as possible.Veganism is an extreme form of vegetarian-ism, the term was coined in 1944, and theconcept of animal products and by-products

avoidance can be traced back to ancient Indian andeastern Mediterranean societies.

Vipen Jain, Founder, Fitspire, India's PremiumVegan and Vegetarian Health and Wellness Brandshares, “Veganism encourages humans to be lessdestructive to animals and the world around them.This is important in itself, but there are plenty of spe-cific reasons that veganism matters to individuals andto our collective future. People choose to be vegan forhealth, environmental, and ethical reasons. Vegans, onthe other hand, think that all animals have a right to befree from human use.”

Vegans say no to all the forms of dairy products andeggs as they believe in eliminating every form of ani-mal cruelty, even if many vegetarians don't mind con-suming them.

As a result, they try to stay away from all animal by-products. Eating a plant-based vegan diet can boostyour mood and is associated with lower levels of cho-lesterol than omnivorous diets. Plant foods are high inantioxidants that help to prevent damage to cells anddecrease inflammation. When you consume animalproducts, you are consuming bacterias and otherharmful contaminants that accumulate in the body andhave the ability to remain there for years.

Eating a vegan diet can help to avoid some of thesedangerous toxins. Plant foods can also help restore bal-ance to certain neurotransmitters involved in depres-sion.

It helps in reducing your risk of heartdisease by low-ering cholesterol levels, lowering your chances of get-ting certain types of cancer, such as colon cancer andmanaging diabetes by lowering A1C levels.

Have you ever wondered how a plant-based diethelps combat global warming that creates a positiveimpact on the human race?

Most of you have wondered the same but, yes thegreatest contributor tothis cause is humanactivity, to reduce thiswe often inculcatesome activities in ourdaily tasks, but chang-ing your diet to onethat’s vegan is a wholedifferent way to helpreduce greenhouse gasemissions, protecthabitats, species andconserve water. It wasabout 2.6 million yearsago that non-vegbecame a significantpart of our diet. Beinga herbivore wasextremely easy asfruits and vegetablesdon’t run away, afterall for hunting. Butthey’re also not terri-bly calorie-dense. So,at that time also therewere better alterna-tives available for acalorie-dense foodwere root vegetableslike potatoes, beets and yams.

Carbon dioxide is a significant polluter that con-tributes to global warming as it always adds to thegreenhouse effect, which drastically damages our envi-ronment. As per the research, livestock production isresponsible for approximately 14.5% of global green-house gas emissions. Moreover, GHG emissions couldbe as high as 51% which about 37% of these GHGemissions come from the manure that animals pro-duce, which produces methane, a gas that heats theearth almost 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.Other agriculture emissions come from transportation,preparing land for livestock, and producing crops tofeed the animals, which creates another harmful gascalled nitrous oxide. This shows that the process ofmeat production requires large amounts of energywhich in return emits more greenhouse gas. A study,suggests that going on a vegan diet can save 1.5 tons ofcarbon dioxide per year.

VEGAN NUTRITIONThe key is to eat a varied diet. A healthy and varied

vegan diet includes fruits, plenty of leafy greens, wholegrain products, nuts, legumes and seeds. It is very easyfor a vegan diet to meet the recommendations for pro-tein as long as calorie intake is adequate. Strict proteinplanning or combining is not necessary.

Overall, producing vegan foods requires much lessenergy and resources than producing animal products.Becoming vegan is just one change in our lifestyle thatcan help each one to reduce the impact humans havein contributing to global warming. Even if you can'tbecome vegan in one go, try eliminating animal prod-ucts and by-products from your diet, reducing yourintake to one or two less meaty meals every weekwhich will eventually make the biggest difference.Maybe having ‘Meatless Mondays’ can put a contribut-ing hand to helping the planet.

The fusion of

music and art

v

w

Veganism encourageshumans to be lessdestructive to animalsand the world aroundthem. This is impor-tant in itself, butthere are plenty ofspecific reasons thatveganism matters toindividuals and to ourcollective future.People choose to bevegan for health, envi-ronmental, and ethicalreasons. Vegans, onthe other hand, thinkthat all animals have aright to be free fromhuman use.

-Vipen Jain

The Pioneer brings the storybehind Pixoury, a community

that brings together people whoconnect with underrated songs

and brings back those nostalgicmemories of our childhood.

aare Zameen Par, Gandhi & Co.,Stanley Ka Dabba, Chillar Party,The Blue Umbrella and I amKalam has broadened the scope ofchildren's cinema with universalthemes. Cinema for children in

India has had an indistinct presence eventhough over the years, there have been popu-lar films including Kidar Sharma's 1957 clas-sic Jaldeep which won the Best Children’sFilm Prize at the International Film Festivalat Venice. There was also Shyam Benegal's1975 film Charandas Chor while in mainstreamcinema, films like Jagriti (1954), Boot Polish(1954), Ab Dilli Door Nahin (1957) entertainedchildren. Tapan Sinha's 1978 triumph SafedHathi won the National Film Award 1978.

In recent times, India has not producedenough content exclusively for children buthere is our pick of some films that not onlyengrossed the young but also gave food forthought to the grown-ups.

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR:Released in 2007, the film revolves around

a gifted eight-year-old dyslexic boy, IshaanAwasthi (Darsheel Safary) who is deeplyobservant, sensitive and loves to paint. Histeachers and father repeatedly make him feelworthless and he is sent to boarding schoolwhere he withdraws into his shell even moretill a teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (AamirKhan) decides to mentor, guide, andbefriend him. Taare Zameen Par wasscreened in Seattle, Washington by theInternational Dyslexia Association in 2008and in 2009. It was India's official entry forthe 2009 Academy Awards Best ForeignFilm category and also won the FilmfareBest Film Award and the National FilmAward for Best Film on Family Welfare.

GANDHI & CO.:Producer Mahesh Danannavar and

National-Award-winning director ManishSaini have put Indian cinema for children onthe world map with their acclaimed film,Gandhi & Co that recently garnered globalrecognition by winning the Golden Slipperaward at the 62nd edition of the prestigiousZlin Film Festival in the Czech Republic.

'Golden Slipper' is a covetedaward presented to thebest feature film inthe children,youth, and ani-mation catego-ry. The film'schild artistsReyaan Shahand HiranyaZinzuwadiaalso wonthe BestChild Actorawards atthe NewYork IndianFilm Festival2022. The filmwon the Second-Best Indian Featureaward at the 13thBengaluru InternationalFilm Festival and the BestChildren Film award at theInternational Gujarati Film Festival (IGFF)2022. It has been winning hearts and mindsin the international festival circuit, highlightsthe enduring value of Gandhian principlesand revolves around two boys who discoverthe gentle heroism of Gandhi via a mentor.They learn that Gandhi is not just a chapterin a school book but a way of life. The moviealso stars Darshan Jariwala, Jayesh More,Druma Mehta, Sunil Vishrani, Reyaan Shah,Hiranya Zinzuwadia and Dhyani Jani.

STANLEY KA DABBA:Directed and produced by Amole Gupte,

the movie revolves around a schoolboy calledStanley who doesn't carry a lunchbox and

has to rely on his friendsto feed him during

recess. Nobodyknows the dark

facts about hislife because

he is witty,has anirresistiblesmile andis alwayscheerful.Despitehis hardcircum-

stances, hemakes the

peoplearound him

happy. Whilehis English

teacher (DivyaDutta) is impressed by

his sunny demeanour, he isalways at the receiving end of his

Hindi teacher’s (Amole Gupte) hostility. Thestory offers a heart-breaking twist in the end,revealing why Stanley cannot bring a lunch-box to school. And why he is not like anyother child in the school. Partho Guptereceived the National Award along with theFilmfare Special Award for his role.

CHILLAR PARTY:Produced by Salman Khan Films, the

2011 comedy entertainer Chillar Party,has an ensemble of feisty young children,who challenge adult cruelty and politicalcorruption to protect a dog from certaindeath. In doing so, the children teach theadults that ideals like, ‘We must always

help others’, ‘A friend in need is a friendindeed’ and ‘We must do what is right’should not be relegated to books but alsoincorporated into real life. Led by youngactors, Sarath Menon (Arjun/Encyclopedia), Naman Jain (Jhangya),Chinmai Chandranshuh ( Panauti/Lucky) and others, the film beautifullyshows how only coexistence can bringtrue happiness and harmony. The stellarperformances by the children also over-

shadowed the adult actors.

THE BLUE UMBRELLA:Director Vishal Bhardwaj, the film cap-

tures an idyllic, rural life of simple joys tilla little girl Biniya (Shreya Sharma) gets ablue umbrella from a Japanese tourist andthe umbrella becomes the cynosure ofeveryone’s eyes. It inspires jealousy andnegativity and even irks the middle-agedshopkeeper Nandakishore ‘Nandu’ Khatri(Pankaj Kapur). One day the umbrella isstolen and Binya initiates an investigationinto the theft of her prized possession. Thefilm, jointly produced by Vishal Bhardwajand Ronnie Screwvala also bagged theNational Film Award in 2006 for the bestchildren’s movie and was also screened atthe Pusan International Film Festival.

I AM KALAM:2010 film directed by National Award win-

ner and Padma Shri recipient Nila MadhabPanda depicted how a positive role model caninspire a child to rise above his circumstances.

The film was screened at the 63rd CannesFilm Festival and won 34 international awards atvarious film festivals. The story is told from theperspective of a child labourer Chotu (HareshMayar), who works in a roadside dhaba. There,he befriends Ranvijay Singh (Husaan Saad), andbeing an avid learner, takes his help to gain moreknowledge. An accidental glimpse of theRepublic Day Parade and President APJ AbdulKalam’s salutation march changes somethingwithin him and he instantly decides to becomejust like him. The film continues to remind us ofthe untapped potential in street children andchild labourers whose dreams and reality nevermatch but whose zest for life can inspire us all.

FILMS CELEBRATING

childhoodt

MondayJune 27, 2022

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sports 11VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | JUNE 27, 2022

PTI n DAMBULLA

The series already in theirpocket, a confident Indiawill look to complete a white-

wash when they take on hosts SriLanka in the third and finalwomen's T20 International here onMonday.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-ledoutfit had thrashed the home teamby 34 runs in the opening T20 andthen followed it up with a dominat-ing five-wicket win in the secondgame to take an unassailable 2-0lead in the series.

More importantly, the winswill be a morale booster for Indiaahead of the CommonwealthGames in Birmingham startingnext month, where women's T20cricket is set to make its debut.

India seem to have found thewinning momentum, but theywon't be entirely pleased with theirperformance in the series so far.

While the bowlers have done astellar job in the two games, India'sbatting has left a lot to be desired.

Additionally, the Indians havebeen sloppy on the field.

The bowling unit has been onthe mark for India. The spinnershave been sensational, making fulluse of the slow nature of the pitch.They had comfortably defended138 in the opening game.

Sri Lanka skipper ChamariAthapaththu (43) and openerVishmi Gunaratne (45) presentedthe Indian bowling unit with a chal-lenge as the duo put up a 87-runstand in the second game.

But the Indian bowlers made astrong comeback as they gave just14 runs in the last 3.1 overs whileclaiming six wickets to restrict SriLanka to a below-par 125.

But the visitors were made towork hard for what should havebeen a comfortable chase.

Shafali Verma (17), SabbhineniMeghana (17) and Yastika Bhatia (13)were unable to convert their starts.

The team's top scorer in theprevious game Jemimah Rodrigues(3) also perished cheaply and willaim for consistency.

After stuttering in the firstgame, prolific opener SmritiMandhana roared back to form, her39 off 34 balls helped the touristswin the match and the series.

Mandhana was complementedby Harmanpreet (31 not out), whois now India's leading T20I runscorer. The all-rounder played acaptain's knock guiding her sideover the line while also pitching inwith the ball.

Sri Lanka will be desperatelyhoping to avoid a second consec-utive whitewash, having gone downto Pakistan 0-3 in a T20 seriesrecently.

The hosts will seek to performas a cohesive unit and grab a con-solation win, which will lift theirspirits heading into the three-match ODI series, starting Friday.

For that they need more con-tributions with the bat while theirbowlers will also need to supportthe spin duo of Inoka Ranaweeraand Oshadi Ranasinghe, who havedone most of the the task with theball for the side till now.

PTI n BENGALURU

Madhya Pradesh, not consideredamong cricketing elites during

the past decade, on Sunday humbleddomestic powerhouse Mumbai by sixwickets in a one-sided Ranji Trophyfinal under coach ChandrakantPandit, who exorcised the ghosts oflosing one at this very ground 23summers ago.

On the final day, Mumbai couldonly manage 269 in their secondinnings, leaving MP with a paltry tar-get of 108, and they did it in style asPandit won a record sixth nationaltitle as a coach.

Sarfaraz Khan (45), who finishedthe season with 18 short of 1000 runsand young Suved Parkar (51) triedtheir bit, but with the need to attackat every opportunity, MP's KumarKartikeya (4/98) and the otherbowlers knew that wickets wouldcome their way.

While chasing, there were somehiccups, but with just over 100 to get,it was a stroll in the park for the MPteam.

As they completed the victory,Pandit was flooded with memories(not happy ones), which he hasn'tbeen able to erase for over twodecades and despite winning five tro-phies as a coach.

It was here at the ChinnaswamyStadium in the summer of 1999 whenMP, despite a first-innings lead of 75,failed to win the game as Pandit, aproud captain, finished his playingcareer in tears.

Before the final, he spoke to PTIabout divine intervention and circleof life and during the five days, sat inone corner with a white towel on hislap.

He has again proved to be an'Alchemist', after guiding Vidarbha tofour trophies (successive Ranji andIrani Cup), with a team that didn'thave superstars.

The Yash Dubeys, HimanshuMantris, Subham Sharmas, GouravYadavs or Saransh Jains aren't play-ers who would give you the feelingthat they are India prospects, theclassy Rajat Patidar being an excep-tion.

But they gave enough indicationthat they aren't ready to concede evena micro millimetre without a goodscrap.

They gave the Mumbai men alesson in perfect execution of tacticwith dollops of 'Khadoos' cricket,which many thought was a patent ofthe 41-time champions.

MP's win once again proved

that the Ranji Trophy is often won bysides which don't have too manysuperstars or India prospects withambition or wherewithal to playtop-flight cricket.

It happened with Rajasthan whenthey had Hrishikesh Kanitkar, AkashChopra during their triumph whileVidarbha had Wasim Jaffer andGanesh Sathish guiding a bunch of

youngsters.In MP, there was no Avesh Khan

or Venkatesh Iyer and had only anemerging potential star in Patidar, yetthey followed Pandit's 'Gurukul' styleof 'My Way or HighWay' coachingphilosophy to emerge triumphant.

Since 2010, the Ranji Trophy, bar-ring Karnataka's dominance for a fewseasons and Mumbai winning it

once, it has been won by teams likeRajasthan (twice), Vidarbha (twice),Saurashtra (once) and MadhyaPradesh, who would never be in con-tention in the past.

This shows that cricket hasmoved from the Shivaji Park, AzadMaidan or Cross Maidan in Mumbai,from the National Stadium in Delhior the state-of-the-art camps inBengaluru or Kolkata, to the hinter-lands.

Bhopal's Yash Dubey, who hadproblems with his eye-sight duringteenage years or Sultanpur's KumarKartikeya, who hadn't gone backhome for nine years orHoshangabad's Gourav Yadav, whowould beat Prithvi Shaw's bat manytimes just for fun are men, whohaven't had it easy.

When the Ranji Trophy started,the Madhya Pradesh cricket teamwasn't even formed and it was backthen known as Holkar, a princely statefrom the British era, which producedthe country's finest cricketers - thecharismatic Mushtaq Ali -- or the firstever captain of the Indian cricket

team -- the great CK Nayudu.Holkar was a formidable team till

the 1950s before it was rechristenedas Madhya Bharat and subsequentlyMadhya Pradesh.

MP, over the years, have pro-duced some fine cricketers - spinnersNarendra Hirwani and RajeshChauhan -- who had brief but event-ful international careers.

Amay Khurasiya, who had fin-ished his cricket some years before theIPL, where he would have been arocking success.

And then there was the peerlessDevendra Bundela, who was one ofthose unlucky middle-order batters,who played in the 1990s and 2000swhen Sachin Tendulkar, SouravGanguly, Rahul Dravid and VVSLaxman were in their pomp.

But as a Ranji team, it neverlooked menacing save the occasion-al final they played 23 summers backunder Pandit's captaincy.

However, this was a team thathad enough self-belief and was readyto punch above its weight. They didit with aplomb through five days.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi onSunday paid glowing tributes to

Mithali Raj and conveyed his best wish-es to the legendary former Indian skip-per who announced her retirement ear-lier this month.

Having made her debut at the age of16, Mithali brought an end to an illustri-ous 23-year career, finishing as the mostcapped player, the highest run-scorer andthe most successful women's captain.

In Sunday's episode of 'Mann KiBaat', Modi described Mithali as "one ofthe most talented cricketers in India".

"Her retirement from cricket hasemotionally moved many sports lovers.Mithali has not only been an extraordi-nary player but has also been an inspi-ration to many players. I wish Mithali allthe very best for her future," the primeminister said.

Since making her debut on June 26,1999 against Ireland, Mithali represent-ed the country in 12 Tests, 232 ODIs and89 T20Is. In 333 international matches,the 39-year-old aggregated 10,868 runsacross three formats. She has led India toa record 89 wins from 155 ODIs, aheadof Belinda Clarke who is second in thelist with 83 victories.

PTI n BIRMINGHAM

India skipper Rohit Sharma hastested positive for COVID-19

in a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT)and placed in isolation ahead of'fifth' Test against England, theBCCI said on Sunday.

The Test match is scheduledto begin from July 1 inBirmingham and if Rohitremains in six-day isolation,either pacer Jasprit Bumrah orwicket-keeper batter RishabhPant could be asked to lead theteam.

"Team India captain MrRohit Sharma has tested positivefor COVID-19 following aRapid Antigen Test (RAT) con-ducted on Saturday," BCCISecretary Jay Shah said in amedia release.

"He is currently in isolation

at the team hotel and is underthe care of the BCCI MedicalTeam. An RT-PCR test will beconducted on Sunday to ascer-tain his CT value," the releaseadded. Rohit had batted on firstday of the ongoing warm-upgame against Leicestershire butdidn't take field on the secondday. He did not bat in the sec-ond Indian innings.

The 35-year-old Indianskipper is expected to open theinnings alongside Shubman Gillin the Test match and his par-ticipation would now depend onresult of his RT-PCR test andrecovery.

Off-spinner RavichandranAshwin had also joined thesquad in England late since hehad also tested positive forCOVID-19 before the team leftfor the UK tour.

AP n LEEDS

New Zealand's DarylMitchell and Tom

Blundell frustrated Englandagain on Sunday as they deniedthe hosts a fresh breakthroughin their quest for a serieswhitewash.

The pair batted throughthe entire morning session totake the Black Caps to 254-5 intheir second innings, a lead of223 runs, at lunch on thefourth day of the third Test atHeadingley.

Mitchell, who had alreadyscored three hundreds thisseries, including 109 in NewZealand's first innings 329,was 44 not out.

Blundell, fresh from hisfirst-innings 55, was unbeatenon 45,

The pair had so far put on93 to follow their first-inningspartnership of 120 and this lat-est stand also saw them getthrough the first two overs thenew ball, available to Englandfor two overs before the inter-val.

World Test championsNew Zealand resumed on 168-5, a lead of 137 runs, havinglost a flurry of wickets late onSaturday.

And with England having

chased down 299 inside a dayto win at Nottingham and go2-0 up in the three-matchseries, the Black Caps still hadplenty to do if they were toavoid a whitewash.

Mitchell and Blundell, fourand five not out respectivelyovernight, were rarely troubledas England captain Ben Stokes-- yet to bowl himself Sunday-- rotated his pace attack.

But England left-arm spin-ner Jack Leach, who took 5-100in the tourists' first-innings,did pose problems by gainingplenty of turn, dip and bounce.

Leach thought he hadMitchell, pushing forward, lbwfor 17 with the total on 206.

South African umpireMarais Erasmus raised his fin-

ger, but Mitchell's review indi-cated the ball would havebounced over the stumps andthe decision was overturned.

England had been forcedinto a late change, with SamBillings called up as an emer-gency wicketkeeper after BenFoakes was ruled out of the restof the match following a pos-itive test for Covid-19.

Foakes did not take thefield on Saturday afternoonbecause of a stiff back, withJonny Bairstow deputisingbehind the stumps, butBillings, who made his Testdebut in the final match ofEngland's Ashes series loss inAustralia earlier this year, wasdrafted in for the remainder ofthis fixture.

INDIA WOMEN EYE SERIESSWEEP AGAINST SRI LANKA

Rohit Sharma tests positivefor COVID-19: BCCI

Mitchell, Blundellfrustrate England again

Mithali is an inspiration to many: PM Modi

MP create history with maiden Ranji triumph

ASHWIN RETURNS TOSNAP TWO WICKETSPTI n LEICESTER

Opener Shubman Gill struck a sublime fiftywhile Ravichandran Ashwin snapped two

wickets after making his first appearance in thegame following his recovery from a COVID-19 infection as India's warm-up match againstLeicestershire ended in a draw here on Sunday.

As many as five Indians turned up for boththe teams during the four-day practice matchas the visitors looked to put final touch to theirpreparation for the rescheduled fifth Testagainst England starting in Birmingham on July1.

It was a much-needed outing for Ashwin,who had travelled to England late after testingpositive for the virus. He looked in good touchas he bowled 11 overs and took two wickets,conceding 31 runs.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah led India on thefourth and final day after the country woke upto the news of their skipper Rohit Sharma test-ing positive for COVID-19, which put his par-ticipation in the one-off Test in serious doubt.

If he misses out, Gill will have to take theonus of giving India a good start and the Punjabbatter, who was earlier dismissed for 21 and 38,finally managed to convert the starts with a 77-ball 62 studded with eight hits to the fence andtwo maximums.

He emerged as the top-scorer after heturned up for Leicestershire, who were set a tar-get of 367 to win following India's secondinnings declaration at 364 for 7.

Hanuma Vihari, who also batted for both

the teams, spent some quality time in the mid-dle with his 86-ball vigil producing a 26-runinnings. He had scores of 3 and 20 in the ear-lier innings.

Chasing 367, Leicestershire lost HasanAzad (12) early on day 4 but Gill stitched a 67run partnership with skipper Samuel Evans(26) to steady the innings.

However, spinner Ashwin dismissed boththe set batters.

The 35-year-old from Chennai had firstGill caught by Mohammed Shami in the 28thover and then removed Evans with wicket-keeper Srikar Bharat coming up with a cleantake behind the stumps to effect the stump-ing.

Vihari and Louis Kimber (58 not out) thencame together and forged a 72-run stand totake Leicestershire close to the 200-mark.

Vihari's stay ended when Ravindra Jadeja(1/35 in 8 overs) had him caught behind in the56th over.

Kimber and Joey Evison (15 not out) bat-ted for another 10 overs, adding 37 before boththe teams decided to shake hands.

Prasidh Krishna and Bumrah bowled forboth Indians and Leicestershire but bothremained wicketless on the final day.

While Krishna bowled five overs for 19runs, Bumrah rolled his arms for 8 overs, con-ceding 12.

Among other Indians, Cheteshwar Pujaraalso had batted for both teams, while ShreyasIyer and Jadeja had batted twice in India's sec-ond innings on Saturday.

12

Vijayawada | Monday June 27, 2022 tollywood

Manasanamaha, which starred Viraj Ashwin,Drishika Chander, Valli Raghavender, PrithviSharma and Bunny Abhiran, becomes the mostawards-winning short film in the world. The filmhas made a record in the Guinness book of theworld.

Director and Writer Deepak Reddy shareda post where he is seen holding the GuinnessWorld Record certificate on his Instagrampage and wrote, “Manasanamaha createshistory as the most awards-winningfilm/short in the world.”

Many filmmakers and actors praised thefilm for its technical aspects and production.The film was dubbed into Tamil,Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada.

Mega Power Star Ram Charan's upcomingproject RC15, directed by Shankar is pro-gressing at a brisk pace and Shankar is

set to blow your minds with the action sequences.Ram Charan will be seen romancing KiaraAdvani in the film for which music is scored byThaman. Thaman already started scoring tunesfor the film.

There has been several rumours doing roundsin context with the title of the film. The namesof Viswambhara, Sarakarodu, Adhikari didrounds. It was also stated that Ram Charan gavethe green signal to the title Adhikari. Nowrumours have it that Shankar is consideringanother name for the title. Shankar feels the titleCitizen will be apt for the film.

In fact, Thala Ajith came witha powerful entertainer with

the same name Citizenin 2001. It has to beseen whetherShankar andRam Charanwill finalisethis title.

The Jana Sena Party (JSP) led by actor-turned-politicianPawan Kalyan has donated money to rural householdswhose breadwinners committed suicide due to bankrupt-

cy. Now, Kalyan's mother Anjanamma has come forward donat-ing Rs 1.5 lakh for the benefit of Andhra Pradesh farmers.

She has also given her son's JSP an additional one lakh dona-tion for the functioning of the growing political party.

Previously, Anjanamma had given Rs 4 lakh to theJSP in 2014, garnering media attention.

She recently made headlines once more after giv-ing another gift.In order to help the families of tenant farmers who

committed suicide, it appears that Kalyan's family,including his brother Naga Babu, sisters Vijayadurga andMadhavi, nephews Varun Tej and Vaishnav Tej, and nieceNiharika Konidela gave the JSP Rs 35 lakh, while Sai DharamTej alone donated Rs 10 lakh.

Young actress Divyansha Kaushikhas worked in Telugu and Tamilfilms. Although she acted in a hit

like Majili, now she is anticipatingappreciation in her upcoming Telugumovie Rama Rao on Duty releasing thisJuly starring Ravi Teja.

The action-thriller written by SarathMandava, the plot follows Ramarao, anhonest civil servant, on a mission toeradicate corruption to help the peoplesuffering from poverty. In an exclusiveconversation with the leading actress,she shares, “I took a break after Majili,but soon I realised Tollywood cinemakeeps me alive. Lunching with my co-stars on the film sets seems to be real-ly like a fond memory for me whenev-er shooting.”

Produced by SLV Cinemas and RTTeam Works, the film began its produc-tion in July 2021 in Hyderabad withfilming also taking place in AndhraPradesh and Spain. A little birdie tells

us that after getting Gautham VasudevMenon on board, the team of RanjithJeyakodi’s Michael starring SundeepKishan and Vijay Sethupathi hasfinalised the heroine of the film and it'sDivyansha Kaushik.

Divyansha went through look testsand an audition before clinching thepart.

“Ranjit sir’s vision of the project real-ly excited me. I wasn’t really nervouswhen I had auditioned and the moodsthat he had wanted for the charactercame to me naturally. But I am quite ner-vous about acting alongside my co-stars.I am also

training in both Tamil and Telugu sothat I can understand the essence of thedialogues fully,” she says.

She is plain-speaking and like anyother actor who is waiting for a meatyrole to show the world, she is not mereeye candy. She continued talking abouther debut in Telugu, “There are tense

and fun scenes I have done likethe song, montages that willalways have an impact. The firsttime when I met Naga

Chaitanya, I said that I amDivyansha and he immediatelypicked the last part and made itinto Anshu. At home, people callme Annie. My mom is Anu andmy dad is Ashwini, so I am a com-bination of both their names. Iwanted to be an actor

ever since I saw Kareena as Pooin Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham andmy interest shifted to being an edi-tor of Vogue magazine.”

Since her mother Anju Kaushik isan established make-up artiste inDelhi, she considered becoming amake-up artiste and a beauty editor.She even took up studies in make-upin London and fashion and mediacommunications in Delhi. And, hereshe is today fulfilling her dreams.

Actress Divyansha, known for herperformance in Majili, will next be seen opposite

Ravi Teja in Rama Rao on Duty. She shareswith The Pioneer how the film sets are a fond

memory for her, and how she is takingtraining to learn Tamil and Telugu.

Divyansha Kaushik thrilled to be a part

of Rama Rao on Duty

DJ Tillu sequel to take off in August

Pawan Kalyan'smother donates forfarmers in distress

Kapil Dev surprises SudeepS

andalwood Star KichchaSudeep won hearts with hisperformance in Rajamouli's

Eega in Tollywood. He even playeda cameo in Rajamouli's Baahubali.

His upcoming film Vikrant Ronais set to be released in various lan-guages across the world. The filmdirected by Anup Bhandari is rac-ing for a grand release.

In the meantime, KichchaSudeep got a pleasant surprisefrom Legendary Cricketer.Legendary Cricketer Kapil Devwho created a record by presentingIndia with its first World Cup inCricket in 1983 defeating theMighty West Indies, presented a

classic bat. Sharing the details, Kichcha

Sudeep posted,“Wohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…What a Sunday .. thank uuuu KapilDev sirrrrr for this hugeeeeeeesurprise I’m waking th to.Wowwww… wasnt expecting this.This a classic piece and I’m rightnow feeling on top of the world.Thank you thank you.”

The bat that was used in 1983,had the autographs of all the WorldCup winning cricketers from theIndian team. Infact, KichchaSudeep released the Bollywoodfilm 83,a biopic on Team India'sworld cup winning campaign.

Anotherpowerful titlefor RC15?

Manasanamaha makes iit tto tthe

Guinness records

Prithviraj Sukumaran, a Malayalam actorwho is now promoting his next bilingualfilm Kaduva, was recently spotted engag-

ing with the media in Hyderabad. He made ref-erences to his prospective endeavours whiletalking about movies and other areas of hisinterests. While interacting with the media inHyderabad, Sukumaran made some revelationsabout a few other topics and indicated hisdesire to direct a Telugu film soon in additionto the numerous offers he is currently consid-ering. On making his Telugu debut, he said,“I've already been given a film by a few of topTollywood producers, and I'm glad anddelighted about it. I might soon direct a Telugumovie in addition to acting.” Due to his films,including his directorial debut, Lucifer, and hismost recent acting endeavour, Jana GanaMana, Prithviraj Sukumaran also has a sizable

fan base inTollywood. Theyhelped him connectwith the Teluguaudience, and nowhe wants his futuremovie, Kaduva, tohave a directdubbed release.Sukumaran is con-sidered for a signif-icant role inPrabhas' hypedmovie Salaar. Prabhas' dates and his scheduleare currently a little hazy, according toSukumaran, but he would never want to passup the opportunity to work with a star likePrabhas and is waiting for the directorPrashanth Neel to come up with a solution.

Prithviraj hints atdirecting Telugu film

The makers of Siddu Jonnalagadda-starrer DJ Tillu, which has been one ofTollywood’s biggest success stories of

2022, have officially announced the sequel forDJ Tillu.

The makers announced that DJ Tillusequel will start filming in August.

Producer Suryadevara Naga Vamsi onSaturday shared a cryptic post on socialmedia with the caption, ‘Gearing up forRound 2’.

“The most awaited Franchise… Gearing upfor Round 2. Crazy adventure starts filmingin August,” he wrote, as he shared a picturefrom the muhurat event for DJ Tillu.

DJ Tillu stood its ground and became a fan-tastic entertainer with incredible commercial

success in a year when theindustry saw pan-India biggieslike RRR, which isn’t normal. Forthis reason, the film’s creators,Sithara Entertainments, havechosen to create a sequel.

Despite Vimal Krishna’sdirectorial DJ Tillu lacking apowerful story, SiddhuJonnelagadda’s flawless action,gripping screenplay, and com-edy worked in the favor of themovie.

Along with Neha Shetty,Prince Cecil, Brahmaji, andFish Venkat, the movie alsostars other notable actors.