VIJAYAWADA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

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Updated DECEMBER 17, 2021 5:00 PM

FFoorreeccaasstt:: MOSTLY SUNNYTTeemmpp:: 331oc

HHuummiiddiittyy:: 50%SSuunnrriissee:: 6:30 AMSSuunnsseett:: 5:38 PM

AALLMMAANNAACC

TTOODDAAYY

Month & Paksham:

Margashirsha & Shukla Paksha

Tithi : Chaturdashi 07:23

Nakshatram : Rohini 13:48

Rahukalam : 9:28 am - 10:50 am

Yamagandam : 1:35 pm - 2:57 pm

Varjyam : 8:07 pm - 9:55 pm

Gulika : 6:43 am - 8:06 am

Amritakalam : 10:11 am - 12:00 pm

Abhijit Muhurtham : 11:50 am - 12:34 pm

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Chief Minister YS Jagan MohanReddy inaugurated over Rs 250crore worth of projects, complet-ed by VMRDA and GVMC in thecity on Friday.

The Chief Minister inauguratedthe NAD Flyover and dedicated itto the nation. He also formallyinaugurated several development

works including widening of roads,commercial complexes, communi-ty buildings, and function halls inthe city.

Earlier, the Chief Minister metthe officials at the airport andenquired about the ongoing wel-fare programmes and develop-ment projects. The Chief Ministeralso inaugurated the restructuredVMRDA Park (VUDA Park) onthe beachfront.

PNS n NEW DELHI

As many as 101 positive cases ofthe Omicron variant of the coro-navirus have been detectedacross 11 states and union terri-tories so far, the government saidon Friday and advised people tokeep new year celebrations at lowintensity.

It said that though dailyCOVID-19 cases are below10,000 for the past 20 days,there is a need to stay vigilant inview of the new variant and ris-ing cases in other countries.

With the coronavirus'Omicron variant spreading veryfast across Europe and otherparts of the world, people needto avoid non-essential travel.They must also avoid mass gath-erings, and new year celebrationsneed to be at low intensity, thegovernment said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The pro-Amaravati 'Maha Sabha'organised on conclusion of their450-km Maha Padaytra evoked amassive response here on Fridaywhen TDP national president N.Chandrababu Naidu along with theleaders of all other Opposition par-ties gave a 'save Amaravati' call soas to save the entire AndhraPradesh.

The leaders of the TDP, the BJP,the Jana Sena, the CPI, theCongress and various people'sorganisations took part in themeeting and vowed their solidari-ty to the prolonged struggle of theAmaravati farmers.

Speaking on the occasion,Chandrababu Naidu asked whyCM Jaganmohan Reddy was notchanging his adamant stand whenall opposition parties were opposedto the 3 Capitals plan. The BJP, nowin power at the Centre, has clear-ly expressed its support toAmaravati as the one and onlyCapital. Jagan Sena party's PawanKalyan has already conveyed hissolidarity to the Capital farmers'struggle.

Naidu said that the CPI has beenvocal its pro-Amaravati stand rightfrom the beginning. The CPMleaders might not have attendedthis Maha Sabha but they havevowed their unquestioned sup-port for the slogan 'One State One

Capital and that is Amaravati'.The ruling YSRCP was the onlyparty which has started betrayingthe farmers of Amaravati andthereby all the 5 crore people of AP.

Chandrababu Naidu said theleaders of even the national polit-ical parties enthusiastically camehere to support Amaravati. JaganReddy should explain whether

these leaders also belonged to thatone particular caste against whichthe YSRCP was making allegations.Has this Chief Minister been suf-fering from jealousy on seeing theall-round support and huge poten-tial of Amaravati.

The TDP chief recalled howPrime Minister Modi arrived atAmaravati and laid foundation

stone for Capital city at that time.Moreover, the Modi regime at theCentre provided Rs. 2,500 Cr andalso exempted the Capital Cityfarmers from capital gains tax.Whatever said and one, Amaravatiwould go down in history as the'People's Capital' and there wouldbe no Jagan Reddy Capital in AP.

Opposition firm on demand forAmaravati as only Capital of AP

PNS n VIJAYAWADAReiterating that the State govern-ment is committed to developingall regions through decentralisa-tion, YSRCP leaders slammedOpposition Leader NChandrababu Naidu for trying tobluff people through farmers’protest, which is a ploy to safe-guard the real estate business ofAmaravati.

Speaking to media at separatevenues, they said that Amaravatifarmers’ agitation is being led byreal estate agents of TDP to pro-tect their ill-gotten properties bydemanding Amaravati as the solecapital. TDP leaders have nomoral right to talk about the cap-ital issue as they were demandingcreation of wealth for a few andin one region while depriving oth-ers of any benefit.

inister for Panchayat RajPeddireddy Ramachandrareddysaid that Chandrababu Naiduhad been trying to repeat thesame mistake made in Hyderabadby concentrating developmentonly at Amaravati. He said thatChandrababu Naidu resorted toreal estate business in the name ofCapital and put up a politicaldrama, as the land prices havecome down.

Taking a dig at ChandrababuNaidu’s statement that he wouldprotect Amaravati, the Ministerquestioned Naidu whose interests hewanted to protect and at what cost.

COUNTRYOF ORIGIN

NO OF OMICRON

Kenya 3

Abu Dhabi 1

Dubai 2

Sudan 1

UnitedKingdom

1

CzechRepublic

1

Omicron spreading fast; avoidnon-essential travel: Govt

UK traveller tests

positive in Hanmakonda

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Two more cases of Omicron werereported in Telangana on, takingthe state's tally to nine. Director ofPublic Health Dr G Srinivasa Raosaid that While eight of thepassengers tested positive for thenew variant of Covid-19 haveentered the state, the ninth personleft for Kolkata after arrival atHyderabad Airport. As on17December2021, 6891 At Riskcountries international passengershave been screened at RGI airportsince 1December 2021, out ofwhich 2 passengers i.e one fromUnited kingdom origin and theother one is from Europe (CzechRepublic) origin found positive forOmicron a new variant of concern.

Naidu ‘enacting’Capital drama forrealty biz: YSRCP

CM inaugurates slewof projects in Vizag

NGT halts RLIS,appoints expertcommittee

PNS n NEW DELHI

Around 1.05 crore domestic pas-sengers travelled by air inNovember, 17.03 per cent higherthan the 89.85 lakh who travelledin October, the country's aviationregulator said on Friday.

While IndiGo carried 57.06lakh passengers in November, a54.3 per cent share of the domes-tic market, SpiceJet flew 10.78lakh passengers, accounting for a10.3 per cent share of the market,according to the data shared bythe Directorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA).

Air India, Go First (previous-ly known as GoAir), Vistara,AirAsia India and Alliance Aircarried 9.98 lakh, 11.56 lakh,7.93 lakh, 6.23 lakh and 1.20 lakhpassengers, respectively, inNovember, the data showed.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Jana Sena Party (JSP) hasdecided to launch a digital cam-paign to save RINL- VisakhapatnamSteel Plant (VSP) from being priva-tised. The digital campaign will beheld on January 18, 19 and 20.

“As part of the campaign, wemust strongly take forward theissue against the privatisation of thesteel plant. The YSRCP is in theescape mode, blaming the Centrewithout raising its voice in supportof the steel plant, though it has 151legislators and 22 Lok Sabha mem-bers. Let’s start the digital campaignwith an aim to remind them oftheir responsibility. Along withYSRCP, TDP MPs shall speak in theongoing Parliament session aboutthe protection of the VSP holdingplacards. Highlighting theirresponsibilities, the MPs of RajyaSabha and Lok Sabha from ourState must be tagged. Let us appealto the honourable MPs throughsocial media platforms to inform

the Parliament that the ‘VisakhaUkku’ is the right of the Andhrapeople apart from stopping the pri-vatization of the steel plant,” saidJana Sena chief Pawn Kalyan.

Jana Sena said the digital cam-paign tagging the state MPs willbegin from 10 am on January 18.

Pawan Kalyan asked the partyactivists to tag the Lok Sabha andRajya Sabha members elected fromtheir constituency.

Jana Sena said that the mainobjective of the programme is toprotect the steel plant which wasachieved with many sacrifices. TheYSRCP MLAs and MPs are tryingto escape from their responsibili-ty by keeping mum on the issue.Let us remind them of theirresponsibility.

“The slogan ‘Visakha Ukku –Andhrula Hakku’ had moved everyAndhrite. Just as the slogan ‘JaiTelangana’ had reverberated acrossTelangana, the slogan ‘VisakhaUkku – Andhrula Hakku’ wassimilar to it. It is time for MPs ofall parties joined together in theinterest of the State. No politicalparty hasl come forward till todayfrom the day of the State division.Though there are differencesamong the parties in the politicalarena, every party’s goal at the endis serving the people. Protection ofthe Visakha Steel Plant is theresponsibility of every Andhrite,”added Pawan Kalyan.

Jana Sena embarks on 3-day digitalcampaign from today to save VSP

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a setback to the AP govern-ment, the National GreenTribunal (NGT) on Friday issuedorders stopping the RayalaseemaLift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS),stating that the project worksshould not be taken up withoutproper environmental clearancefrom the Centre. The NGT alsoconstituted an expert committeeto study environmental viola-tions. A bench of the NGT includ-ing Justice Ramakrishna and DrK Satyagopal, which reserved itsjudgment in October, after ayear-long hearing on the petitionsfiled by several individuals, deliv-ered its verdict on Friday.

The Rayalaseema lift irrigationscheme, when completed, willdraw three TMC of water per dayup to 8tmc from Sangameshwaramand pump it into the Srisailamright main canal (SRMC).

SNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

Rice exports in value from AndhraPradesh have seen a significantjump during 2020-21 when com-pared to the previous year 2019-20.

Notably, rice has contributed tothe significant increase in the over-all exports of agricultural productsby value from the State during thesame period.

Despite, worldwide cross-bordermovements sealed due to lockdownowing to the Covid-19 pandemic,the export of agricultural com-modities has witnessed a 34.86 pcincrease during 2020-21 at Rs 21,0093.40 crore, as compared to agriexport of Rs 15, 5781.72 crore dur-ing 2019-20.

On par with the national sce-nario, according to the data provid-

ed by the Directorate General ofCommercial Intelligence andStatistics (DGCIS) presented inLok Sabha recently, agri exportsfrom Andhra Pradesh have seen anuptick of Rs 16, 054.72 crore dur-ing 2020-21 when compared to Rs

13, 154.99 crore in 2019-20.Rice exports from Andhra

Pradesh have gone up manifold toa whopping Rs 5, 713.15 Crore in2020-21 whereas these exportswere only Rs 1902.62 Crorebetween 2019-20.

Rice, followed by spices thatinclude chillies etc, tobacco, coffee,cashew and groundnuts had con-tributed significantly to the overallexports of agriculture commoditiesfrom the state.

Andhra Pradesh exported Rs4663.33 Crore worth spices, Rs 3274Crore of unmanufactured tobacco,Rs 897.72 Crores of coffee, Rs329.53 Crore of groundnut and Rs328.21 Crores worth cashew during2020-21.

Andhra Pradesh also exportedother cereals worth Rs 201.21 Croreand Rs 139.74 Crore worth freshfruits.

It may be worth mentioninghere that the State government hadin February allowed the use of theKakinada deep water port in addi-tion to the anchorage port for riceexports. Rice is exported majorly

from Kakinada port and theexporters had faced difficulty allduring 2020 due to congestion atthe anchorage port of Kakinada thatresulted in higher turnaround time.

In February, the State govern-ment issued an order allowingKakinada deep port to be used for

rice export by the Agriculturaland Processed Food ProductsExport Development Authority(APEDA) to help clear congestionat the Kakinada anchorage port.APEDA supervises and registersIndian rice exports.

Industry insiders pointed out thatthe loading of rice had been cutshort to 20 days from 30 days as thedeepwater port had come into use.

Earlier, APEDA stated that Indiais the largest exporter of rice in theworld for more than 10 years andin view of the surge in the exportof rice and due to limitations ofAnchorage Port at Kakinada capac-ity to handle more cargo request-ed to permit rice export throughKakinada Deepwater Port also.The Rice Exporters Association,Kakinada had also made a similarrequest.

Rice adds to overall surge in agri exports from AP87% rise inrice exportsfrom India

22

1.05 crore domesticair passengers inNov, 17 pc higherthan Oct: DGCA

2 2 2 2

2 2 2 2

CONGRESS MLA'S OUTRAGEOUS ‘ENJOYRAPE’ REMARK EMBARRASSES PARTY

AKarnataka Congress leader's egregious "enjoy rape" commentshave triggered outrage all the way to Delhi. Congress MLA KRRamesh Kumar, who has apologised in the assembly and on

Twitter, has embarrassed his party, which faced criticism in andoutside parliament. Union Women and Child Development MinisterSmriti Irani raised it in parliament when she was interrupted byopposition protests over central minister Ajay Mishra, whose sonis accused of running over farmers. When protesting MPs blockedher view with placards while she was speaking, Smriti Irani hit outat the Congress. - Details inside

AMAZON FINED RS 200 CR, DEAL TOBUY RETAILER FUTURE SUSPENDED

The country's antitrust agency on Friday suspendedAmazon.com's 2019 deal with Future Group, potentiallydenting the US company's attempts to block the sale of

Future's retail assets to an Indian peer. The regulator ruledthat the US e-commerce group had suppressed informationwhile seeking regulatory approval on an investment intoIndian retailer Future Group two years ago. The ruling bythe Competition Commission of India (CCI) could have far-reaching consequences for Amazon's legal battles with nowestranged partner Future.

PROTEST IN KOHIMA OVER NAGALANDDEATHS, CALL FOR NON-COOPERATION

Furious protests over the killing of 14 civilians in Nagaland's remoteMon district earlier this month - during and after an Army counter-insurgency op that went horrifically wrong - have now spread to

state capital Kohima. The influential Naga Students' Federation (NSF)has organised a massive rally in the city, which has seen thousandstake to the streets to demand justice for those who died and the repealof the controversial AFSPA, or Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.Protesters stood with banners and placards that read "how manytimes must bullets be fired before repealing AFSPA", "AFSPA rears devilin the Indian armies" and "ban AFSPA, not our voice".

WHO ISSUES EMERGENCY USE LISTINGFOR SERUM INSTITUTE’S COVOVAX

The World Health Organisation on Friday issued emergency uselisting for anti-Covid vaccine Covovax produced by Serum Instituteof India under licence from Novavax, expanding the basket of jabs

validated by the global health body against the viral disease. AdarPoonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), hailed WHO'sdecision as "yet another milestone" in the fight against COVID-19.Earlier this week, Poonawalla had said that SII planned to launchCovovax in the next six months. He had stated that Covovax, which isunder trial, would offer protection to children down to three years as ithad shown excellent data during the trials.

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vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2021

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The city police have arrestedthree members of the noto-rious Chaddi gang who werewanted in a series of burglar-ies that had taken place inand around Vijayawada.

The group of burglars hasbeen named Chaddi gang asthey wear vests and briefs(Chaddis) while committingtheft. They also apply oilover their body to slip awayeasily if caught.

After a series of burglar-ies took place over the pastfew weeks city policelaunched a special operationusing CCTV footage andother scientific evidence.

The clues led them toGujarat where these gangmembers are said to bedaily wage laborers and setout to other parts of thecountry to commit suchthefts when there is no workin their native towns.

City police have visitedDahod district in Gujaratand arrested three accused,Madiya Kanji Meda, 30 andSakra Mandod 45 andKamlesh Baberia 27 fromJhabua district of Madhya

Pradesh. City police said theywill arrest remaining mem-bers of the gang shortly.

According to the police,these gang members travel bytrain to other states, go to iso-lated areas on the outskirts ofa town or city. They identifyhouses and apartments thatare locked and unattended byconducting a recce during theday. They return to break inat night and loot cash andgold.

Police said that the accusedattempted theft in a house inGuntupalli village inIbrahimpatnam but escapedwhen people woke up to the

noises. On the night ofDecember 2, they allegedlybroke into three houses inhigh profile Rainbow Villas inTadepalli of Guntur districtaround 1 am but left empty-handed as they couldn’t findany valuables.

On December 3 night, theycommitted theft from anoth-er apartment inKunchanapalli village. Theyhad stolen from a house in aresidential colony in Porankion the night of December 6.

City police said they seizedRs 20,000 cash, 32 gm gold,and 2.5 kg silver from theaccused.

VKL GAYATRI

n VISAKHAPATNAM

Temperatures have shown a dipin the Agency areas ofVisakhapatnam district for thepast three days. In the majori-ty of the places in the denseforests, the lowest temperaturerecorded was 6 degree Celsius.

Meanwhile, the tempera-tures have also dropped in theother Agency areas includingParvathipuram inVizianagaram and Sitampeta ofSrikakulam district. The aver-age temperature recorded inboth the districts was 10-12degrees Celsius. However, dueto the dense fog, normal lifedoes not begin until it’s 11 amand darkness falls before 5 pm.

Normally, during the winterseason, particularly inDecember/January, the tem-peratures in the Agency areascome down to two degreesCelsius. A steep fall has beenwitnessed in temperatures forthe past few days. OnThursday/Friday, six degrees

Celsius was recorded in G.Madugula, Dumbriguda, andMunchingput mandals. Theother tourist spots includingChintapalle, Araku Valley andPedabayalu areas recorded atemperature of seven degreesCelsius. According to the

Andhra Pradesh State PlanningDevelopment Society(APSPDS), temperatures in allthe Agency areas in the northcoastal districts recorded adrop during the past four days.The RARS, Chintapalle centrerecorded 8.1 degrees Celsius

while the lowest temperaturewas recorded in Lambasingi -- 6.5 degrees Celsius.

The APSPDS warns that inLambasingi, which is thecoolest place in the winter sea-son in the Chintapalle mandal,temperatures would come

down to five to six degreesCelsius from the third week ofDecember to the second weekof January. In Minumuluru,Paderu and Ananthagiri, thetemperatures are 9 to 13 degreeCelsius.

Though some sections ofthe people, including theelderly and children, are find-ing it difficult to cope with theweather conditions, a largenumber of tourists are comingto the Visakhapatnam Agencyareas on the weekends toenjoy the chilly weather. “Yes,every year, we are regular vis-itors to Lambasingi and ArakuValley during the winter. Thisyear, the low temperature cre-ated some inconvenience, butit’s still good,” says BalireddyGanesh and GVSN Murthy.

Many times, the tempera-tures have dipped to twodegrees Celsius in Lambasingiin the last week of Decemberand the first week of January.A large number of tourists loveto visit Lambasingi in thosedays.

Mercury dips in AP Agency areasTemperature comes down to 10-12 degree Celsius in Vizag, Vizianagaram dists

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Union CommerceMinistry on Friday said that in2020-21, India’s rice exportsboth Basmati and Non-Basmati rose by a huge 87 per-cent to 17.72 Million Tonne(MT) from 9.49 MT achievedin 2019-20.

In terms of value realisation,India’s rice exports rose by 38percent to USD 8815 million in2020-21 from USD 6,397 mil-lion reported in 2019-20.

In terms of Rupees, India’srice exports grew by 44 percentto Rs 65.298 crore in 2020-21from Rs 45379 crore in the pre-vious year.

In the first seven months ofthe current financial year(2021-22), India’s rice exportsrose by more than 33 percentto 11.79 MT from 8.91 MTachieved during April-October,2020-21.

It is anticipated that India’srice exports in 2021-22 wouldlikely surpass the record feet of17.72 MT achieved in 2020-21.In 2020-21, India shipped non-basmati rice to nine countries- Timor-Leste, Puerto Rico,Brazil, Papua New Guinea,Zimbabwe, Burundi, Eswatini,Myanmar and Nicaragua,

where exports were carriedout for the first time or earlierthe shipment was smaller involume.

India’s Non-Basmati riceexports were valued at USD4796 million (Rs 35448crore)in 2020- 21, with Basmati Riceexports a close second at USD4018 million (Rs 29,849 crore).

In terms of volume ofBasmati rice exports in 2020-21, top ten countries – SaudiArabia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen,United Arab Emirates, United

States of America, Kuwait,United Kingdom, Qatar, andOman have a share of close to80 percent in total shipmentsof aromatic long-grained ricefrom India.

The top 10 countries –Nepal, Benin, Bangladesh,Senegal, Togo, Cote D Ivoire,Guinea, Malaysia, Iraq, UnitedArab Emirates – have a shareof 57 percent in India’s totalexports of non-Basmati rice in2020-21 in terms of volume.

“India continues to supplyrice to the global market thusensuring food security in manycountries while many countriesare stockpiling in anticipationof logistical disruption becauseof COVID19 pandemic,”Agricultural and ProcessedFood Products ExportsDevelopment Authority(APEDA) chairman Dr. MAngamuthu.

APEDA, which functionsunder the Ministry ofCommerce and Industry, incollaboration with state gov-ernments as well as concernedstakeholders, have helpedimprove port handling facilitiesat Kakinada, Visakhapatnam,Chennai, Mundra andKrishnapatnam, and Paradip,thus boosting rice exports.

87% rice in rice exports from India

3 members of ‘Chaddi’ gang arrested

The top 10

countries – Nepal,

Benin, Bangladesh,

Senegal, Togo,

Cote D Ivoire,

Guinea, Malaysia,

Iraq, United Arab

Emirates – have a

share of 57

percent in India’s

total exports of

non-Basmati rice

in 2020-21 in terms

of volume.

Continued from Page 1

Naidu asserted that thedivine blessings wouldremain with the Amaravatiagitators, who completedtheir 450-km Mahapadayatrain 45 days from AmaravatiNyayast hanam toK a l i y u g a d a i v a mVenkateswara Swamy'sDevasthanam. The farmersand women, including theaged people, completed thelong march despite blistersand swellings in their legsand despite false cases andconstant harassment fromthe ruling party leaders.

Thanking the people fortheir support, ChandrababuNaidu said the final victorywould go to the Amaravatifarmers only as they wereagitating for over 725 daysnot for themselves but for thefuture of all the 5 crore peo-ple of the State. Over 180Amaravati agitators havedied so far for the cause ofOne Capital One State.Thousands of false caseswere filed. Over 100 falsecases were filed againstMahapadayatris only.

Naidu said that the Jagan

regime was such a 'uselessGovernment' that it filed theSC, ST atrocities against evenagainst the SC farmers inAmaravati. What crimes thatthese farmers committed todeserve such inhuman treat-ment in the hands of thisheartless regime?Decentralised developmentcould be really brought aboutin all regions of the State onlywith the centrally locatedAmaravati as the Capital.

The TDP chief said thatAmaravati was the nearestcentrally located place for thepeople of Srikakulam on oneremote corner in the Stateand to those of Anantapur inthe other corner. JaganReddy was running hisGovernment from the build-ings constructed forSecretariat, Assembly andresidential quarters inAmaravati.

Over Rs 10,000 crore wasspent for this in the previousregime. The High Courtbuilding was already func-tioning, Not a single rupeemore would be needed forJagan to continue his admin-istration from Amaravati, hesaid.

Opposition firm on demand for Amaravati as...

Continued from Page 1

Giving details of Omicroncases in India, it saidMaharashtra has reported 32cases of the variant, Delhi (22),Rajasthan (17), Karnataka (8),Telangana (8), Gujarat (5),Kerala (5), Andhra Pradesh(1), Chandigarh (1), TamilNadu (1) and West Bengal (1),the government said.

Citing the World HealthOrganization (WHO), it alsosaid that the Omicron variantis spreading faster than theDelta variant of the coron-avirus in South Africa, whereDelta circulation was low.

It is likely that Omicronspread will outpace Delta vari-ant where community trans-mission occurs, the govern-ment said citing the WHO.

On the COVID-19 situa-tion in the country, it said 19districts are reporting weeklypositivity between 5 and 10per cent and five districtsover 10 per cent.

Districts with over 5 percent Covid case positivity rateneed to ensure restrictivemeasures until it is below 5 percent for at least two weeks, thegovernment said.

It assured that sufficientsystematic and strategic sam-pling is being undertaken forgenome sequencing for detec-tion of Omicron cases inIndia.

On COVID-19 vaccination,the government said that India

has so far administered 82.8crore first doses and 53.72crore second doses.

More than 136 crore doseshave been administered inthe country which is 2.8 timesthe total doses administered inthe US, it said.

Continued from Page 1

He said that ChandrababuNaidu tried to make a prof-it of Rs 2 lakh crores throughreal estate by using the farm-ers. He said that people arenot going to fall for hiswords, as they still supportChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy's policyof decentralised develop-ment.

Ramachandra Reddy fur-ther said that the govern-ment shall make a specificlaw and table it in LegislativeAssembly for overall devel-opment of all three regions.Citing the support of BJP,Congress and other partiesto TDP led political move-ment is unethical, he saidthat all those leaders whostood by ChandrababuNaidu had no moral right tospeak.

Meanwhile, AnakapalliMLA Gudivada Amarnathsaid that the entire agitationby farmers has been organ-ised by TDP leaders, whichdoesn't add any value ratherthan a mere publicity stunt.

He pointed out that TDPis projecting Amaravatifarmers' agitation as a glob-al issue even though peoplefrom all across knew that itwas a real estate issue. TheMLA said that the govern-ment was not against theAmaravati region, but want-ed to provide equal opportu-nities through decentraliseddevelopment and added thata better package to theAmaravati farmers is beinggiven, which is even betterthan that of the previousgovernment.

He slammed Chandrababu Naidu for falsely prop-agating that the people of

North Andhra andRayalaseema were conduct-ing rallies in support ofAmaravati as a single capital.

He also took objection tothe CPI extending its sup-port to the TDP in theAmaravati issue. He men-tioned that the governmentwas firm on developing theState on all fronts throughdecentralisation despite hur-dles.

He said that Visakhapatnamhas the potential to be the cap-ital and the decentralisedadministration would resultin equitable development of allthe regions and would helpbackward areas of NorthAndhra.

He said that ChandrababuNaidu has been hamperingthe development of NorthAndhra and Rayalaseemaregions to safeguard his realestate business in Amaravati.

Naidu ‘enacting’ Capital drama for realtybusiness, say YSR Congress leaders

Omicron spreading fast; avoid non-essential...

Continued from Page 1

Apart from this as a part ofrandom sampling testing forNon Risk country passengers,7 more omicron cases weredetected i.e 3 from Kenya, 2from Dubai, 1 from Abu Dhabi,and 1 from Sudan. Based on their local residentialaddress 7 cases belong toHyderabad and one casebelong to Hanumakondadistrict and one case belong towest Bengal state. Out of 9omicron cases, 3 are Indiansfollowed by 3 are fromSomalia nationality and 2belong to Kenya nationality.Out of 8 traced in Telangana, 2patients who came from UKand Czech Republic are fullyvaccinated and remaining 6patients were not vaccinated. Health department vaccinated

66 individuals at ParamountColony, Tolichowki, on Friday,with few of them being foreignnationals as well. This colonyis being treated as a hotspotfor Covid and nearly 700+RTPCR tests have been donealone in 3 days.The director said a womanwho came from the UK airporthad tested negative for Covid-19 at the airport and she hadgone to Hanamkonda, whereshe was under homequarantine. The second testconducted after a week foundher to be positive for Covidand her samples were sent forgenome sequencing.The result confirmed that sheis infected by Omicron.The official clarified that noindigenous case of Omicronwas reported in Telangana andsaid people need not panic.

UK traveller tests positive in Hanmakonda

Continued from Page 1

The occupancy rate forSpiceJet was 86.7 per cent inNovember, the DGCA noted.The occupancy rates forIndiGo, Vistara, Go First, AirIndia and AirAsia India were80.5 per cent, 77 per cent, 78.2per cent, 82 per cent and 74.6per cent, respectively, inNovember, it added.

The aviation sector has beensignificantly impacted due tothe travel restrictions imposedin India and other countries inview of the pandemic.

India resumed domesticpassenger flights on May 25last year after a gap of twomonths due to coronavirus.

The DGCA data mentionedthat in November 2021,Vistara had the best on-timeperformance of 84.4 per centat four metro airports --Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabadand Mumbai.

AirAsia India and IndiGowere at the second and thirdpositions at these four airportsin November with 82.4 percent and 80.5 per cent on-timeperformance respectively, theDGCA said.

During the last two years, allairlines in India have opted forcost-reducing measures suchas pay cuts, leave without payand layoffs in order to tideover the coronavirus-inducedcrisis.

Continued from Page 1

Later, Jagan Mohan Reddyspent some time in the park.The Chief Minister alsolaunched the CM’s Trophy forthe coming cricket champi-onship tournament.

He also attended the wed-ding reception of VicePresident MVenkaiahNaidu’s granddaughter. Afterhis whirlwind visit of two

hours, the Chief Minister leftthe city for Tadepalli on a spe-cial aircraft.

Ministers DhramanaKrishna Das, BotsaSatyanarayana, K Kannababu,M Srinivasa Rao, MP VVijaya Sai Reddy, MPs andMLAs and other elected rep-resentatives and various cor-poration chairpersons werepresent.

CM inaugurates slewof projects in Vizag

1.05 crore domestic air passengers

in Nov, 17 pc higher than Oct: DGCA

NGT halts RLIS,appoints expertcommitteeContinued from Page 1

The green tribunal said itwas constituting an expertcommittee to study the pro-ject thoroughly and reporton the extent of violation ofenvironmental norms. Thecommittee has been askedto submit its report withinfour months.

The tribunal, however,ruled out taking any con-tempt of court actionagainst the Andhra Pradeshchief secretary. If the gov-ernment goes ahead withthe projects works in viola-tion of the environmentalnorms, it would have to facethe consequences, the NGTwarned.

Earlier, the Krishna RiverManagement Board, whichsent an expert committee toinspect the project works,also reported to the NGTthat there were clear viola-tions of environmentalnorms in the RLIS.

Jana Sena embarks on ...Continued from Page 1

He further said that YSRCPhad urged earlier itself to ownup the responsibility to take thelead in this regard and call foran all-party meeting. But theydid not respond.

“We request the YSRCPleadership again to organise anall-party meeting as we areready to extend solidarity withyou. No one feeds us without

asking. If we failed to take theproblems of the state to thenotice of the Centre, we willbecome leaders who commit-ted mistakes. As part of ourresponsibility on behalf of JanaSena, we will display placardsraising slogans against the pri-vatisation of the VSP andextend support to the workersand their families. We won’tforget the life sacrifices for thesteel plant,” he added.

PNS n ONGOLE

Banking services across Prakasamdistrict came to a standstill for thesecond day. More than 2,600bank employees and officials ofmajor banks in the district wenton strike on Friday as part of anationwide strike by public sec-tor bank employees.

As a result, 481 branches inthe district were closed due tothe strike. Hundreds of crores of

transactions in the respectivebanks on a daily basis havecome to a standstill, leavingcustomers in a quandary.

As part of the strike, thebank employees staged dharnasand other forms of protests inmajor cities across the district.All bank employees in Ongolecity organised a bike rally fromthe mini-stadium.

Bank employees associationleader Ramachandra Rao said

that they had organized two daysof protests across the countryagainst the privatization of banksby the Banking Reforms Bill2021. During the event, RajeshKanna, Y Srinivasa Rao, RajivRatan, P. Subba Rao,Parthasarathy, Janaki Ramaiah,Rajeshwara Rao, AITUC leadersPVR Chowdhury, Sardar, CITUleaders Chikati Srinivasa Rao,and Konda Reddy took part inthe agitation.

Strike brings banking services to a halt

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2021

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy takes a selfie with his fans and supporters after inaugurating a project developed bythe Municipal Corporation in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

OBLIGING FFANS

Perni rubbishescharges on ORRPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Taking serious objection to the‘baseless’ reports published ina section of the media on theproposed Outer Ring Road(ORR) around Vijayawada,Transportation Minister PerniVenkatramaiah has said that avernacular publication hasbeen targeting the State gov-ernment and Chief MinisterYS Jagan Mohan Reddy onlyfor the vested interests ofOpposition Leader NChandrababu Naidu.

Speaking to the media at theparty central office here onFriday, the Minister said theprevious government had pre-pared a proposal for construc-tion of the 198-km Outer RingRoad (ORR) at a cost of Rs17,762 crore in 2016-17 statingthat 8,213 acres of land wouldbe acquired from farmers forthe project and the Centralgovernment suggested to theprevious government to com-plete the land acquisition toproceed further, he said.

The Minister said theCentral government had

directed a company to submita feasibility report on the pro-ject and as there was noresponse from the State gov-ernment, the Central govern-ment did not ask for DPR alsoand sidelined the project andadded that the vernacular pub-lication had been spreadingfalse information based onthat ignoring the fact thatNaidu did not acquire theland required for the project.

He slammed Naidu forignoring Benz Circle flyover

and Durga temple flyover inVijayawada during his regimeand said both the projectswere completed in the regimeof Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy. He ques-tioned Naidu if he had sanc-tioned one bypass road toVijayawada and said the ChiefMinister had sanctioned abypass road from ChinnaAvutupalli to Khaza toll plazato address the traffic problemsof the people and it would becompleted by 2023 and abridge is being constructed onKrishna river under this pro-ject.

He said the State govern-ment had proposed an ORR at40 km east to Vijayawada andgot it sanctioned by the Centralgovernment and added thatboth the Central and stategovernments were bearing theland acquisition cost for theproject. He said the foundationstone for the project was tohave been laid by UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari a fewdays ago but was postponeddue to the death of Chief ofDefence Staff Bipin Rawat.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan,Governor of Telangana Stateand Lt . G over nor ofPuducherry, visited AndhraMedical College (AMC),Visakhapatnam, on Friday.Principal Dr. P.V. Sudhakarreceived the Governor and ameeting was held with thedepar tment heads . TheGovernor appreciated themedical fraternity at AMCfor their services during theCOVID-19 crisis.

The meeting was followedby a function organised tofelicitate Dr. T. Ravi Raju,former Vice-Chancellor ofDr. NTR Health Universityand DME, for receiving thelifetime achievement awardfrom the Indian Society ofNephrology.

The Governor gave awaymeritorious awards to Dr. K

Sowmya (Neurology) forwinning the best brain

award for 2021 and AP AllaDeekshita, Mande Mercy

Joses, Nammi Chandini,who won first prizes in thenational seminar competi-tion for first-year MBBSstudents organised by theAl l - India Ins t i tute OfMe dica l S c iences ,Mangalagiri.

P. Sreejani, S. Ram Pranay,and G.L.S. Vijaya Vyshnavialso received meritoriousawards for their outstandingacademic performances in2020-2021.

On the occasion, Dr.Tamilisai shared her experi-ences of being the youngestGovernor in the country.She acknowledged the sup-port she received from herhusband Dr. Soundararajan,a senior nephrologist inTamil Nadu, and advised allthe faculty to take care oftheir own health as well.

TS Guv all praise for AMC docs’ Covid services

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Joint Collector Dr. G.C.Kishore Kumar inspected var-ious movie theatres inVizianagaram where AlluArjun-starrer Pushpa wasscreened on Friday. During the

surprise inspection, the JointCollector checked the sale ofthe tickets and show timings.Later, he said that there was noadvance booking facility in thetheatres and the managementswere not charging extramoney for tickets.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Governor of Telangana and Lt.Governor of Puducherry,Dr.Tamilisai Soundararajan visitedthe Eastern Naval Command (ENC)on Friday. During the visit, theGovernor paid homage to the Navalpersonnel who have made the sacri-fice in the line of duty to the nationat the ‘Smaran Sthal' memorial inNaval Dockyard. She was given aguided tour of an indigenouslydesigned and built stealth Frigate,INS Shivalik and a submarine.

Vice Admiral Sanjay VatsayanChief of Staff ENC briefed theGovernor on the role and responsi-bilities of the Indian Navy in safe-guarding the maritime interests of thenation.

Tamilisai visits ENC

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Travelling by airplane is athrilling experience for someand an unfulfilled dream tomany. Those who have nevertaken a flight need not be dis-appointed as they have anopportunity to fulfil their wishin the form of having dinneron an airplane.

It may sound like an exag-geration but to some extent, it'strue as a decommissionedBoeing 707 Jet airplane hasbeen converted into a restau-rant on the outskirts at

Nidamanuru.The airplane restaurant is

attracting a large number ofpeople as it is the first-of-its-kind in the city. The restauranthas caught the fancy of chil-dren who are seen enjoyingfood in it more than the elder-ly people. The decommis-sioned Boeing 707 Jet airplanerestaurant is about 44 m inlength. Stylish seating arrange-ments were made on the air-plane. One feels like havingfood on an airplane and enjoy-ing the dining, the restaurantmanager said.

Airplane restaurant beckons food lovers, lifts spirits

Jt Collector inspectsVizag film theatres

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Vice Admiral BiswajitDasgupta, Flag OfficerCommanding-in-Chief,Eastern Naval Command(ENC), called on Admiral RHari Kumar, Chief of theNaval Staff, in New Delhiafter assuming command of

ENC. He was accorded aceremonial Guard ofHonour at South Blocklawns. On the occasion, theVice Admiral briefed theCNS about the operations,various projects and activ-ities being undertaken atthe Eastern NavalCommand.

AU offers coursesfor ex-servicemen,family membersPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Andhra University is offeringexclusive Fire and IndustrialSafety courses for former sol-diers and their family mem-bers, who have passed inter-mediate. The interested appli-cants have to pay Rs. 500through bank demand draftin favour of the Registrar,Andhra University CommonEntrance Test and AdmissionAccount. The last date toapply is December 20. Formore information regardingthe courses, one can contactthe Director, Directorate ofAdmissions, VijayanagarPalace, Andhra University.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP national general secretaryNara Lokesh on Friday con-demned the 'non-stop illegalarrest' of social media activistsby the YSRCP governmentwith total disrespect for thefundamental rights and free-dom of expression conferredby the constitution of India.

Lokesh said that activistYellapu Santosh was unlawful-ly arrested when he went toadmit his pregnant wife fordelivery at the hospital. Thepolice have arrested him as ifhe was a terrorist. The ongo-ing suppression by theGovernment and the policewas atrocious and con-demnable.

In a statement here, Lokeshdeplored that the arrest wasmade without giving even aprior notice to the social mediaactivist. The CID officials werefreely violating the guidelinesof the Supreme Court only tosee the joy in the eyes of theruling YSRCP bosses. The atti-tude of the Jaganmohan Reddyregime was not changingdespite receiving countless set-backs in the courts of law.

Nara Lokesh warned thatthe CID officials concernedwould be responsible for what-ever would happen to Santoshand his wife. Jagan and his yesmen have adopted doublestandards with regard to thesocial media posts being madeby different sections of people.The Government was humili-ating and harassing the socialmedia activists who criticisedthe unconstitutional policies.

Lokesh termed it as 'inhu-man' that the Jagan regime wastargeting all sections of peoplein the name of social mediaposts. Even the senior citizenswere not being spared. The rul-ing party was trying to causephysical, psychological andfinancial damage to the vic-tims. The factionist mindset

was clearly visible even inharassing the social mediaactivists though they were onlyexercising their democraticright.

Nara Lokesh said that theday would be not far awaywhen Sajjala RamakrishnaReddy would say that ChiefMinister Jaganmohan Reddyhad no subject and zero aware-ness which was why heannounced his mindless threecapitals plan. The governmentwas putting obstacles eventhough the AmaravatiMahapadayatris and JAC wereholding the Tirupati MahaSabha with the permissiongranted by the court.

Lokesh termed the arrests ofthe Maha Sabha-boundOpposition leaders as a clearsign of the dictatorial regimegoing on in the state. TheMaha Sabha being held byAmaravati farmers with theslogan 'Amaravati for all' hadwon support from all over theState. Amaravati would remainthe one and only Capital forthe State. The slogan of 'OneState One Capital' would strikethe final blow to the arrogantJagan rule.

Youth asked to be prepared to grab opportunities

Lokesh decries ‘suppression’ of social media activists

Vice Admiral Dasgupta visits Chief of Naval Staff

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Vizianagaram Collector A.Surya Kumari conducted sur-prise checks atViyyammapeta andTummakapalli anganwadicentres in Kothavalasa man-dal on Friday.

During the checks, shefound that only 13 childrenwere present at theTummakapalli centre, but theattendance register showed

that 26 children were present.At the Viyyammapeta cen-

tre, the collector found thatthe staff were not properlyrecording the weight of thechildren. The staff haverecorded that some of thechildren gained 10 kg withina month. An angry Collectordirected the officials to issuea charge memo to the angan-wadi staff who were notattending the duties as per thenorms.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Dr. Ruth Kattamuri, SeniorDirector, EYSD,Commonwealth Secretariat,United Kingdom, explainedthe opportunities presented bythe fourth IndustrialRevolution at the three-dayInternational Conference onBusiness Transformation andExcellence in Global Scenario(ICBTEG) organised by VIT-AP School of Business onFriday. She was the chief guestat the conference.

On the occasion, she saidthat the youth should put afoot forward for upskillingwith multi-disciplinary stud-ies and prepare the leaders forthe global economy.

Ganesh Ram, CEO and MD,MF Utilities, emphasised onIndian capital market transfor-mation in the global scenario.Indian start-ups have raised 10billion dollars through IPOsthis year. The number of uni-corn start-ups valued at overone billion dollars surged inIndia in recent years.

Dr Raghavendra, AssociateDean, VSB, said that the con-ference saw the presentation of77 papers from eight foreigncountries, including domainsviz. , Human ResourceManagement, Accounting andFinance, Marketing,Entrepreneurship and eco-nomics and related areas. Dr.J. Arul Kamaraj, LoyolaCollege, Chennai; Dr. SSrinivasan, Vinod GuptaSchool of Management, IIT,Kharagpur; Dr S Lalitha, RajivGandhi National Institute of

youth Development, Chennai;Swayamkumar Tibrewal,alumnus of IIM-Bangaloreand Associate Consultant,Auctus Advisors; Sivakumari(Uma) Jagadeesan, GlobalCOO and ManagementConsultant, I CUBEConsortium PTE Ltd.Singapore were present.

Dr S V Kotareddy, Vice-Chancellor, VIT, said that theyhad started VIT-AP School ofBusiness, VIT-AP School ofLaw, School of AdvancedSciences, VIT-AP School of

Social Sciences andHumanities. “At VSB, we haveBBA and BCom (Finance). CAfoundation and Inter can bepursued with their BComFinance degree as this pro-gramme is in collaborationwith Master Minds CAAcademy.

Dr. C L V Sivakumar,Registrar, Dr. A V V SSubbalakshmi, Convenor ofICBTEG, Dr. Salini Rosaline,Co-Convenor of ICBTEG,Directors, deans, students andparents were also present.

PNS n HYDERABAD

In the case of cheating the 10 lakhpeople, to the tune of Rs.1500Crore, the Chairman of Indus VivaHealth Sciences Private Limited

Mr.Abhilash and a charteredaccountant Anjar were arrested byEnforcement Directorate onFriday. ED is investigating the casebased on the cases investigated byCyberabad Police earlier. The

company was used to run a MLM(multi level marketing) scheme forthe sale of their products. For that,they have collected Rs.12,500from each person and a false assur-ance given them for commission

and a good income.Earlier in February, 2021, a vic-

tim filed a complaint withGachibowli Police that the com-pany had cheated him in the nameof scheme.

Indus Viva MLM case: Chairman Abhilash arrested by ED

Memo follows DC’ssurprise checks atanganwadis

04VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2021

Hotel staff beat man to deathsuspecting him to be thief HYDERABAD: A man was beaten to death by hotel staff atKukatpally on Wednesday. Rajesh (32), who worked as a mason,had entered the Mughal Paradise restaurant building and was beatenseverely by the staff who suspected him to be a thief. Rajesh usedto live in Madhapur along with his wife and children and worked at aconstruction site in Bachupally. After finishing work on Wednesdaynight, he entered the cellar of the Mughal Paradise restaurant to getBiryani. The staff were in a celebratory mood as they celebratedbirthday of the manager with dinner. They observed Rajesh and feltthat he came to steal from the restaurant. Despite his appeal forbiryani, they had beaten him severely causing him to collapse. Theyleft leaving him in the severely injured state. The next morning, thestaff realized that he was still in the same state and asked his wife tocome and take him home. He died after reaching home. She filed acomplaint and the Kukatpally Police are investigating the case.

Court to deliver decision onShilpa’s bail on TuesdayHYDERABAD: If everything goes accordingly, socialite ShilpaChowdary and her husband Srinivasa Prasad may come out of jailnext week. The hearing on the bail petitions of Shilpa Chowdary andher husband were completed on Friday. The court will deliver itsdecision on Tuesday. So far, three victims have complained to cops.They withheld their identity, as most of the money exchanged isallegedly black money. Chowdary has allegedly taken Rs.90 croresfrom victims. At the same time, the cops estimate that she has takenRs.30 Crores from victims. Whereas, the complained amount isRs.7.9 Crores. It is to be seen how the victims will react toChowdary and her husband stepping out of jail.

GVL preparing the ground tocontest from Narasaraopet

2024 LOK SABHA POLLS

VASIREDDY RAVICHANDRA

n GUNTUR

If everything goes as expected,BJP senior leader and RajyaSabha member GVLNarasimha Rao will contest forLok Sabha from theNarasaraopet Parliamentaryconstituency in the 2024 elec-tion.

GVL has been visiting theNarasaraopet constituency toestablish contacts with all theleaders and activists.

According to BJP seniorleaders, the high commandasked the senior leaders toselect a constituency to contestin the 2024 elections and pre-pare the ground by taking anactive part in local pro-grammes and the develop-ment of the constituency.

“It seems, GVL NarsimhaRao has selected NarasaraopetParliamentary constituency tocontest in the 2024 elections.GVL studied in Narasaraopetand Bapatla in the district. Ifthings go well, he is likely tocontest from Narasaraopetconstituency” a senior BJPleader told this correspondent.At present, GVL is represent-ing UP in Rajya Sabha.

GVL is raising many issuespertaining to the developmentworks in the Narasaraopetconstituency in the RajyaSabha. He spoke in the RajyaSabha on the progress of theNa d i k u d i - P i d u g u r a l l a -Narasaraopet railway line. Healso spoke to the railway offi-cials to expedite the railwayprojects in the Palnadu region.

Moreover, while addressing

programmes in Narasaraopet,he assured to establish a branchof AIIMS hospital inNarasaraopet. He alsoannounced the establishmentof the Spice board in theMarket Yard in Gurazala town.He also assured to make effortsfor the construction of the

long-pending Varikapudi liftscheme. GVL said that he wasspeaking to the UnionEnvironment and Forest min-ister to get clearance for the liftscheme. He is also holdingmeetings frequently in theconstituency and taking allinto consideration, irrespectiveof party affiliations as part ofpreparing the ground to con-test here.

GVL created WhatsAppgroups and is highlighting hisefforts for the development ofthe Narasaraopet andVinukonda regions. “The polit-ical activities and focus ofGVL on the development ofPalnadu region indicate thatGVL is preparing the groundto contest from Narasaraopetconstituency in the 2024 elec-tions,” a BJP leader said.

PNS n ONGOLE

Prakasam District CollectorPravin Kumar has directed theofficials to take steps to provideseeds and fertilisers to the farm-ers through the Rythu BharosaKendras (RBK) and sensitisethem on the welfare schemesbeing implemented for them.

The district-level AgricultureAdvisory Council meeting washeld here on Friday. It waspresided over by the Collector.

Speaking on the occasion, theCollector said that complaintswere received from the farmersstating that seeds and fertilizerswere not being provided atRBK at the appropriate time. Hedirected the officials to look intothe matter and ensure that seedsand fertilizers should be provid-ed to the farmers.

The problems of farmersshould be resolved at the RBKs.He instructed the assistantdirectors, agriculture officialsand RBK assistants to improve

their style of working. Speakingon the single clearance, he saidthat instead of solely depend-ing on the government, the irri-gation officials in the respectiveareas should take the help offarmers.

The animal husbandry, hor-ticulture, and the Fisheries offi-cials gave a PowerPoint presen-tation on the progress achievedin the district in the meeting.MLA Manugunta MahidharReddy complained that someprivate individuals were usingthe market yard godown inKandukur for their personalbenefits and asked to collect rent

from them and credit the sameinto the account of the govern-ment.

The MLA said that about1700 acres of government landhad been grabbed by someindividuals, taken bank loans onthe land, and taken up shrimpcultivation in the lands. TheMLA asked the Collector to takesteps to remove the encroach-ments.

District Agriculture advisorycouncil chairman Alla RavindraReddy said that the supply offodder for Rs 250 to the farm-ers should be continued. TheCollector directed the officials

concerned to take steps to sup-ply fodder to the farmers. Thechairman asked the Collector tofill up the vacant village agricul-ture assistant posts on deputa-tion. He told the Collector thatthe farmers were complainingthat they were not getting seedsand fertilizers through theRBKs. Later the Collector andcouncil chairman releasedbrochures.

JCs JV Murali, Srinivasa Rao,APMIP CD Ravindra Babu,horticulture department ADNagababu and marketing ADUpendra Kumar were amongthose who were present.

Provide seeds, fertilisers to farmersthrough RBK, Collector tells officials

PNS n GUNTUR

Minister for AgricultureKurasala Kannababu hasexhorted the farmers to adoptmodern farming techniquesand raise crops as per the pre-vailing weather condition.

A three-day seminar beganin the Lam regional agricultureresearch centre campus onFriday. The seminar was beingorganised with the associationof Acharya NG RangaUniversity on the modern tech-niques in the farming sectorand the welfare of farmers.

Minister Kanna Babu,Collector Vivek Yadav, agricul-ture mission vice-chairmanMVS Nagi Reddy were amongthose who attended on the firstday of the seminar. Speakingon the occasion, theAgriculture minister said thatAndhra Pradesh had earned itsreputation by emerging as asecond state in the country for

achieving progress in the agri-culture sector by using modernfarming techniques.

The Minister said that byusing the latest technicaldevices, major changes in theweather could be predictedand the farmers could makechanges in raising cropsaccordingly. He underlined theneed of creating awarenessamong the farmers in raisingvarious crops instead of culti-vating the conventional crop.

"The farmers should knowthe soil strength, moisture andchange in the weather condi-tions before sowing their crops.The farmers can get the need-ed help from the Rythu BharosaKendras", he said, adding thatproviding seeds and purchasingof crops would be done throughthe YBKs. Changes are beingbrought in the farming sectorby introducing organic farming,drip irrigation and other mod-ern farming techniques.

Mr.Kannababu said thatinput subsidy, free insurance,crop loss compensation andseeds on subsidy were beingprovided to the farmers. Thegovernment is implementing aprice stabilization policy for the

benefit of the farmers. Stepswere being taken to purchasethe produce from the farmersand opportunities would alsobe provided to the farmers tosell their produce online, theminister promised.

Agriculture Mision vice-chair-man Nagi Reddy lamented thatthe farmers are not getting remu-nerative prices for their produce.The farmers are not cultivatingcommercial crops to get profits,he said, and pointed out that the

farmers are still dependent onconventional crops. He appealedto the scientists to find out newmethods to make farming lucra-tive, he said.

Agriculture commissionerSridhar said that the farmersare cultivating the same crop ina large extent of land resultingin a decrease of soil fertility.Moreover, the farmers areincurring losses due to rainsand floods. "No state is imple-menting such welfare schemeswhich the AP government isimplementing", he claimed.YSR Horticulture universityvice-chancellor prof. JanakiRam, agriculture scientists andother officials were amongthose who spoke. Earlier, theminister released two books onadopting modern farmingtechniques and techniques tobe adopted in harvesting thecrops. The minister and offi-cials saw the agricultural equip-ment in the exhibition.

Minister exhorts farmers to adopt modern farming

PNS n ONGOLE

One girl student was killed and8 other students were injuredwhen the tractor-trailer onwhich they were travelling d atKambalapadu village in Podilimandal on Friday.

Police said that about 30 stu-dents who were studying hor-ticulture at polytechnic collegelocated at Bellamkonda villagewere returning on a tractor-trailer.

The students went to anursery for practicals. Whenthey were returning on the ill-fated tractor, the link betweenthe tractor and trailer gotsnapped resulting in the trail-

er veering off the road andoverturning.

A girl student Koteswari(17) died instantly while sevenstudents suffered injuries. Theinjured were admitted to thegovernment hospital in Podili.

Telugu Desam party mandalpresident M Oburul Reddyand city president M Khuddus,TNSF state secretary V Aniland other leaders visited thehospital and the injured stu-dents.

Girl student killed, eightinjured as tractor overturns

PNS n ONGOLE

BJP and RSS activists staged adharna in Giddalur on Fridayin protest against the removalof the Hanuman idol by thepolice and panchayat officials.

The BJP and RSS activistsled by BJP district presidentSrinivsulu squatted on theroad raising slogans againstthe officials for removing theidol.

They placed a portrait ofhanuman where the idol wasremoved and performedpooja. Talking to the media,BJP district presidentSrinivasulu alleged that thegovernment is showing dis-

crimination against the Hindutemples. The BJP leader tookstrong exception to theremoval of the Hanuman idolfrom Sharma street. He

demanded to reinstall the idolat the same place. He threat-ened to embark fast untodeath if the idol was not rein-stalled at the same place.

BJP, RSS activists protestremoval of Hanuman idol

SHORT TAKES

It’s not dangerous to crack ajoke in Hyd, unlike in BengaluruNAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

Telangana IT and MunicipalAdministration Minister K TRama Rao on Friday invitedstand-up comedians KunalKamra and Munawar Faruqui,who were recently denied per-mission to hold their shows inBengaluru, to conduct theirprogrammes in Hyderabad.

KTR said, "In our city, stand-up comedians get an openinvite. We don't cancel shows ofMunawar Faruqui and KunalKamra just because we are notaligned with them politically.We truly are welcoming and Iam just telling this to peoplefrom Bengaluru".

KTR was speaking at theinaugural of the Mass MutualOffice in Hyderabad.

KTR said, "You (Bengaluru)claim to be a cosmopolitan cityand you end up taking comedyvery seriously. I don't under-stand that at all. We are trulycosmopolitan city who is wel-coming of all cultures, criticism.You can come here, critiscise thegovernment. In fact, we receivea lot of brickbats from ouropposition every day. But we arevery tolerant. Trust me. To allthose who are wanting to cometo Hyderabad, we want to make

this your place and your home;we welcome you. With moreand more opportunities andmore and more investmentscoming in, Hyderabad is trulygrowing and becoming a glob-al city."

Last month Faruqui wasdenied a nod to hold a show atBengaluru in Karnataka amidprotests by Hindu right-wingoutfits. A few days later, Kamra,a vocal critic of the government,said his stand-up shows sched-uled to be held in Bengaluruwere cancelled after the organ-isers received threats.

Earlier in the day, speaking toventure capitalists at ISB, KTRsaid: "We don't claim to be cos-mopolitan for the sake of it. Weare a truly cosmopolitan andtruly secular state. We don't dis-criminate based on anything.We don't take stand-up come-dies too seriously, especially asseriously as Bengaluru has takenand cancelled the shows. We are

truly an open city. Welcomehere to spend more time andmoney".

KTR said that if one lookedat all the Indian cities and com-pared them to Hyderabad, weoffer the biggest bang for thebuck. He compared Hyderabadto Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbaiand Chennai. He said, "Becauseif you look at Bengaluru versusHyderabad, we have betterinfrastructure and our costsare lower, we have better trafficalso. For those of you who arefrom Bengaluru, I just wantedto rub that in".

Pointing at Delhi's air pollu-tion, KTR said: "For those of youwho are from Delhi, let meremind you, your pollution isterrible. We are a far better city.For those of you who are fromChennai, your humidity is ter-rible, we are far better. Forthose of you who are fromBombay, the less said the better;your commercial real estateprices are ridiculous. You guysneed to take a serious relook atit. Our builders and construc-tions are far superior and eco-nomical".

KTR said that Hyderabadwas a very safe city, because ofextremely efficient policing andmaintenance of law and orderin the city.

n Hyderabad does notcancel standup comedy shows

n Minister invites KunalKamra, Munawar Faruqui to hold shows in Hyderabad

Claiming poverty,Naxals romanticisetaking up arms: SmritiPNS n HYDERABAD

Naxals romanticise the con-cept of taking up arms againstthe government by claimingthey are poor, Union MinisterSmriti Irani said here onFriday.

In an interactive session atthe Indian School of Business(ISB), the Minister for Womenand Child Development saidCOVID-19 pandemic trans-formed the work-from-homesystem, which used be afemale-centric issue, as a soci-etal concept bringing menalso into that.

Who are the people whoattacked? So-called Naxals,because they are criminalsagainst the Constitution. Theyromanticise the concept oftaking up arms against theIndian State and they said thatarms again the State has beenraised because we ( they) arepoor, she said replying toquery on her book.

Irani has turned authorwith her debut novel LalSalaam , announced publish-ing house Westland.

The novel, inspired by thetragic killings of 76 CRPFpersonnel in Dantewada in

April 2010, is a tribute to theexceptional men and womenwho have given a lifetime ofservice to the country, espe-cially in confronting the chal-lenges in the red corridor.

I have seen poverty... But Inever picked up a gun againstmy country nor I wanted tobreak the national spirit norshowed disrespect to any offi-cer in uniform, she furthersaid. Though her book is writ-ten on a fictional account, itreflects her rage against thebrutal killing of men in uni-form.

If somebody in the margin-alised community has an ideafor an enterprise or an inno-vation that can make moneythe best help that people cangive is to teach them how tocommercialise it, she said toanother query.

Car driven bydrunk drivercollides with2-wheeler, cabG RAVI KIRAN

n HYDERABAD

A speeding car hit a two-wheeler at Almond Houseon Road No: 3, Banjara Hillsearly on Friday morning.After hitting the two-wheel-er, the car jumped into theair and hit another vehicle onthe other side of the road.

The people in the car andin the second vehicle escapedwith injuries. The people inthe car, who were drunk leftthe car and fled.

Police said an I20 carbearing the registrationnumber TS10 EP 1877, com-ing from Nagarjuna Circle toBanjara Hills Road No: 3,had hit a two-wheeler andlost control. It jumped overthe divider and hit anothervehicle (TS12 UC 2970) onthe other side.

The hit vehicle was a cabferrying software engineers.Three persons who were inthe car escaped from the spotdespite being wounded. Thesoftware professionals whowere in the hit vehicle wereinjured.

The police have seizedthe I20 car and registered acase.

8L old people waitingfor Aasara pensions,but no guidelines yet PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana Governmenthas not issued new guidelinesfor selecting new beneficiariesunder the Aasara pensionscheme. Approximately eightlakh new beneficiaries arewaiting for pensions sincethe last two-and-a-half yearsthroughout the State.

Many old people are suffer-ing due to lack of money. Butthe government has notfinalised the list of beneficia-ries. The TRS promised in its2018 election manifesto thatthe age of eligibility for old-age pensions will be reducedfrom 65 to 57 years.

Recently the Governmenthas taken up the process ofsanctioning new old-age pen-sions (57 years). The govern-ment also issued a notificationasking those who have com-pleted 57 years to apply forpensions through Mee Sevacentres.

There were two phases inreceiving applications throughMee Seva centres in themonths of August 2021 andOctober 2021. But there wasno distribution of pensions toeligible candidates.

A source from the Societyfor Elimination of RuralPoverty (SERP) said thatapproximately eight lakhapplications were receivedthrough Mee Seva centres.But there is no verificationand no new guidelines for theselection of beneficiaries.

The TRS came to power forthe second time in the state.They fulfilled the promiseswhich were made in the elec-tion manifesto.

The government haddecided to pay Rs 1,000 permonth to old people, widows,single women, beedi workers,handloom workers, HIV-infected patients and Rs 1,500to disabled persons.

But the election manifestohad said that the pensionswould be doubled from Rs1,000 to Rs 2,016 and for thedisabled from Rs 1,500 to Rs3,016.

The government spendsRs 1,756 crore every monthfor 39,29,753 beneficiariesunder the Aasara scheme.This comes to Rs 10,536 croreper annum. These funds areallocated in the budget everyfinancial year.

In this context, if the gov-ernment decides to pay pen-sions to those who have com-pleted 57 years, then another8 lakh are likely to get bene-fits. This will cost around Rs3,600 to Rs 4,000 crore andwill be an additional burdenon the government.

In addition, sources saidthat the economic conditionof the state has worseneddeclined due to the covidpandemic and other things.So the government hasdelayed the disbursement ofpensions to new beneficiaries.

But the new eligible bene-ficiaries are going aroundGram Panchayat and MandalParishad offices. If the govern-ment finalises the new bene-ficiaries list it would be help-ful for the poor and the mar-ginalised.

The Pioneer correspon-dent approached SERPDirector (Pensions) VenkataSurya Rao regarding the newapplications for pensions.

He said that no directionshave been received from thegovernment on scrutinisingnew applications and thatguidelines have not yet beenissued as the poll code of con-duct was in force for theHuzurabad by-poll and localbody constituency MLC elec-tions. He said that new appli-cations would be scrutinisedas per directions from thegovernment.

Irani has turned author with her debutnovel Lal Salaam ,announced publishing houseWestland.

nation 05VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2021

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R Goa: Alina Saldanha resigns as BJP MLA, joins AAP

Goa BJP MLA Alina Saldanha, who joined the Aam Aadmi Party after resigning from theAssembly, said she was feeling suffocated in the ruling party whose policies were "anti-people". Saldanha had resigned from the Assembly and BJP on Thursday and joined

AAP in the presence of its convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal later in theevening in the national capital. "I was feeling suffocated. Even the party (BJP) also felt I wasan obstruction for their goals which are anti-people. If I am with the people, I can't be withthe BJP. I am in Delhi and I have seen theprogress the Kejriwal government hasbrought here and so I joined the AAP,”Saldanha said at an online press conference inthe presence of the Delhi CM. Saldanha, whohad opposed the double tracking of SouthWestern Railway's line in Goa, said the BJP inthe state was no longer that of late ManoharParrikar. Her husband Matanhy Saldanha waspart of the Parrikar government earlier andhad died while being minister.

People have decided to vote BJP out: Harish Rawat

The Congress's campaign head for poll-bound Uttarakhand Harish Rawat on Fridaysaid the turnout at party leader Rahul Gandhi's rally here has made it clear that thepeople have decided to vote the BJP out. Taking a jibe at the BJP's poll slogan "abki

baar 60 ke paar" (this time we will cross 60 seats), he said this time people will throwBJP out of the state. "Iss baar log BJP ko 60 paar nahi, tadi paar karenge," he said. TheBJP, which came to power inUttarakhand in 2017 winning 57 outof a total of 70 seats, has set itself atarget of winning more than 60 seatsthis time. "Unlike Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's rally here in whichpeople were seen snoring andyawning out of boredom, theresponse to Gandhi's rally wasspontaneous with people hearing himtill the end and leaving the groundonly after him," the former chiefminister told reporters here.

J&K admin notifies rates for various tourist services

The Directorate of Tourism, Kashmir has notified rates for various services providedto tourists and activities conducted at tourist destinations across the Valley, officialssaid on Friday. A notification to this effect under the Jammu and Kashmir

Registration of Tourist Trade Act was issued by Director, Tourism, Kashmir, G N Itoohere on Thursday. The rates have beennotified for the year 2021-22 and2022-2023, the notification said. Thetourism services for which the rateshave been fixed or revised includetourist guides, ski guides,mountain/trekking guides, sledges, skiequipment, ice skating, ice skatingequipment, rafting, cycling, zorbing,hydro zorbing, snow mobile, ATV,motorbiking, paragliding, motor boats,bathing boats, labour / helper /mazdoor / porter for trekking at highaltitude.

PNS n NEW DELHI

France is ready to provideadditional Rafale fighter jets toIndia if it requires, FrenchDefence Minister FlorenceParly said on Friday whilenoting that the use of the sameaircraft by the two strategicpartners is a reflection of "realasset and strength" in their ties.

Parly, on a visit to India, alsosaid that France is fully com-mitted to supporting the 'Makein India' initiative and furtherintegrating the Indian manu-facturers into its global supplychains.

The French defence minis-ter made the comments at aninteractive session

organised by Ananta Centreon India-France cooperation.

"I am very happy that theIndian Air Force is satisfiedwith its Rafale and we are veryproud that despite COVID, the36 aircraft will be delivered ontime according to the contract,it is a real achievement," shesaid in response to a question.

"Using the same aircraft is areal asset and strength. I amsure that there is room for newdevelopments. We are ready toanswer any additional needs ofrequest that could be made byIndia," she said.

The French embassy onThursday said a total of 33

Rafale jets have already beendelivered to India as per sched-ule despite the COVID-19pandemic.

India had signed an inter-governmental agreement withFrance in September 2016 forthe procurement of 36 Rafalefighter jets at a cost of aroundRs 59,000 crore.

The first batch of five Rafalejets, manufactured by Frenchaerospace major DassaultAviation, arrived in India onJuly 29 last year.

The French minister alsoreferred to India's plannedinduction of a second aircraftcarrier and indicated thatFrance will be interested tosupply the carrier-based jets.

"We know that the aircraft

carrier will soon be(there)...that aircraft are need-ed. We are open and ready toprovide any other Rafale if thisis India's decision," she said.

India's first indigenous air-craft carrier (IAC) Vikrant isscheduled to be inducted intothe Indian Navy by Augustnext year.

In her comments, Parly saidFrance and India are both"viscerally committed" tonational sovereignty and inde-pendence.

"I think that our industrialpartnership is proof of that.France, more than any othercountry, understands thenecessity of the Indian content.And we are fully committed tothe 'Make in India' initiative, as

well as to the further integra-tion of Indian manufacturersinto our global supply chains,"she said.

Parly said 'Make in India' hasbeen a reality for the Frenchindustry for several years, par-ticularly for defence equip-ment such as submarines.

Later, the French defenceminister held wide-rangingtalks with her Indian counter-part, Rajnath Singh, with afocus on further enhancingbilateral defence and securitycooperation between the twocountries.

The defence and strategicties between India and Francehave been on an upswing overthe last few years.

It is learnt that France waspitching for starting negotia-tions for procurement ofanother batch of 36 Rafale jetsby India.

The Rafale jets are India'sfirst major acquisition of fight-er planes in 23 years after theSukhoi jets were importedfrom Russia.

The Rafale jets are capableof carrying a range of potentweapons. European missilemaker MBDA's Meteorbeyond visual range air-to-airmissile and Scalp cruise mis-sile will be the mainstay of theweapons package of theRafale jets.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday attacked oppo-sition parties, claiming thatthey worked only for particu-lar castes when they were inpower in Uttar Pradesh.

He was addressing 'SarkarBanao, Adhikar Pao' rally herewith the BJP's new allyNISHAD party.

"Whenever the SamajwadiParty or Bahujan Samaj Partyformed the government inUttar Pradesh, they worked

only for their own castes. ButPrime Minister NarendraModi has worked for all back-ward castes and in the inter-est of the poor,” Shah under-lined.

He also said that in theregime of Uttar Pradesh Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath,criminal and mafia elementshave been uprooted.

The Union minister addedthat in the previous regimes,there was mafia rule anddevelopment of the poorcould not take place.

PNS n MUMBAI

Mumbai Cricket Association(MCA) president Vijay Patilhas lauded New Zealand spin-ner Ajaz Patel for donating his"10-wicket" ball for the upcom-ing MCA museum where itwould duly be the "pride of theplace".

"What he (Ajaz Patel)achieved at the Wankhede sta-dium was something com-pletely phenomenal. And thefact that he did at our iconic(Wankhede) stadium just givesus another memory to savourfrom his historic ground,” Patiltold PTI.

Earlier this month, the

Mumbai-born 34-year-oldAjaz, a left-arm spinnerbecame only the third bowlerin Test history to return a 10-for in an innings after JimLaker (1956) and Anil Kumble(1999) and that too in the cityof his birth.

“And the fact that he traceshis roots back to Mumbaimade it extra special for us.

"He was gracious, once thefeat was achieved, he generous-ly gave us the cricket ball, bywhich he took those 10 wick-ets, so that is something that wegreatly value and it will occu-py pride of place in our MCAmuseum,” added Patil, whohas been the MCA chief since

October 2019.Patil also stressed that the

upcoming museum wouldinspire the youth.

"I think it (the museum for-mation) is a right step, because

we (Mumbai cricket) had sucha great legacy. We had 80 oddinternationals and almost 1/5thof the international runs scoredby India have been scored byMumbai batsmen. So, our his-

tory goes back decades.“So, to preserve our rich her-

itage, that will truly inspire ourpresent as well as the futurecricketers." Mahendra SinghDhoni had won India the 2011ODI World Cup by hitting a sixat the Wankhede stadium.

Asked whether the seatwhere the ball landed would bepreserved, Patil quipped,“Those were very specialmoments, the 2011 World Cupof course was such a specialmoment in the Indian crickethistory, the fact that it hap-pened at the Wankhede stadi-um is etched in our hearts.

"We have had so many his-torical moments in Mumbai

cricket and all those need to beput together. The museum willbe an apt place to record thesehistorical moments”.

Patil is also upbeat aboutuniversity and collegiate sports,which needs to develop andprogress in years to come.

Meanwhile, the DY PatilSports Stadium in NaviMumbai, which had hostedmatches of the U-17 FIFAWorld Cup in 2017, is also avenue for the upcoming 2022AFC and Patil sounded upbeatabout hosting the mega-event.

The tournament is sched-uled to be held from January 20to February 6 in Mumbai, NaviMumbai and Pune.

Ajaz Patel's 10-wicket ball will have ‘pride of place' in MCA

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI)Lok Sabha proceedings wereadjourned for the day after theHouse agreed to the amend-ments made by Rajya Sabha inthe Surrogacy (Regulation)Bill, 2019, amid protest byOpposition members demand-ing the removal of Ajay Mishraas Union minister in connec-tion with the Lakhimpur Kheriviolence.

As Lok Sabha reconvened at2 pm, three bills-- the NationalAnti-Doping Bill, 2021, theWild Life (Protection)Amendment Bill, 2021, and theChartered Accountants, theCost and Works Accountantsand the Company Secretaries(Amendment) Bill, 2021 --were introduced after laying ofvarious papers and reports.

Besides, Minister of State forHealth Bharti Pravin Pawarintroduced the Surrogacy(Regulation) Bill, 2019, aspassed by Rajya Sabha for

consideration and passage.Last week, Rajya Sabha

passed the bill after amend-ments, and returned it to LokSabha on December 14.

The bill aims to constitute a

National Surrogacy Board andstate surrogacy boards, andappointment appropriateauthorities for regulation of thepractice and process of surro-gacy.

It was earlier passed by LokSabha on August 5, 2019, andtransmitted to Rajya Sabha forits concurrence.

Lok Sbha passed the amend-ed bill amid uproar byOpposition members demand-ing the removal of the minis-ter whose son Ashish Mishrais among the accused in theOctober 3 Lakhimpur Kheriincident in Uttar Pradesh.

Eight people, including fourfarmers, were killed in theviolence.

Soon after the passage of thebill, Rajendra Agrawal, whowas chairing proceedings,adjourned Lok Sabha tillMonday.

The 228th report of the LawCommission had recommend-ed that the government shouldenact a legislation to ensurethat there is only restrictivesurrogacy in the country andcommercial surrogacy isbanned.

‘France ready to provideadditional Rafale jets’

Opposition parties worked only forparticular castes when in power: Shah

LS agrees to changes in Surrogacy BillAnti-doping Bill introduced in LSA bill which seeks to provide statutory framework for the functioningof the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the National DopeTesting Laboratory (NDTL) besides strengthening measures to tackledrub abuse in Indian sports was introduced in the Lok Sabha onFriday. The bill was introduced by Sports Minister Anurag Thakuramid protests by the opposition over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.The bill is intended to provide a "statutory framework for the operationof the National Anti-Doping Agency, the National Dope TestingLaboratory and other dope testing laboratories and for creation of aNational Board for Anti-Doping in Sports to strengthen anti-dopingactivities in sport." The bill seeks to give NADA powers of"investigation, levying sanctions for Anti-Doping Rule Violations, thedisciplinary procedures to be adopted and the powers of inspection,sample collection and sharing and free flow of information."It alsoprovides for the establishment of the NDTL and other dope testinglaboratories. The NDTL is currently suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for failing to meet technical requirements.

K’taka Cong leaderapologises for ‘enjoyrape' commentPNS n BENGALURU/NEW DELHI

Karnataka Congress MLA K RRamesh Kumar's "enjoy rapeif it is inevitable" remarkscaused a furore on Friday,with the BJP, the NationalCommission for Women(NCW) and some womenCongress MLAs takingumbrage to the statementmade on the floor of theAssembly, even as the formerSpeaker apologised for thecomment.

The BJP in New Delhi tar-geted top Congress leadersRahul Gandhi and his sisterPriyanka Gandhi Vadra overtheir party colleague's contro-versial remarks, questioningtheir silence on the matter.

During an Assembly debateon floods andrelated dam-ages in theK a r n a t a k aAssembly onT h u r s d a y ,many MLAswanted to high-light the plightof people intheir con-stituencies andS p e a k e rVishweshwar Hegde Kageri,laughing, had said he had to say"yes, yes" for everyone, give upcontrolling the situation and takethe proceedings in a systematicmanner and that he should telleveryone to continue their talk.He explained that his only griev-ance is that the business of theHouse was not happening.

Kumar had then intervenedand said, "see, there is a say-ing- when rape is inevitable, liedown and enjoy it. That'sexactly the position in whichyou are," remarks that prompt-ed widespread criticismagainst him.

On Friday, Kumar told theHouse he made a statement onthe floor of the Assembly on

December 16, which peoplefound outrageous.

"However, my intention wasnever to demean the prestigeof this House or behave in aninferior way. I will not defendmyself. I tender my sincereapology for my utterance dur-ing the proceedings of theHouse if it has hurt peoplefrom any part of the country,"he said.

He also apologised to theSpeaker for his statement,which made him laugh andthereby attracted him criti-cism.

The Speaker acceptedKumar's apology and appealedto the members, especiallywomen MLAs, not to drag thematter further and make it (a)big (issue) and proceeded with

the QuestionHour thoughsome womenl e g i s l a t o r swanted to raisethe matter.

E a r l i e r ,Kumar in atweet said, "Iwould like toexpress my sin-cere apologiesto everyone for

the indifferent and negligentcomment I made in today'sassembly about 'Rape!' Myintention was not trivialise ormake light of the heinouscrime, but an off the cuffremark! I will choose mywords carefully henceforth!"

The former minister cameunder fire from various quar-ters including the MLAs fromhis own party for his statement.

The Congress' KhanapurMLA Anjali Nimbalkar took astrong view of it and tweetedsaying "the House shall apol-ogise to entire womanhood,every mother, sister & daugh-ter of this nation for such anobnoxious & shameless behav-iour."

K'taka Assemblyadjournedfollowing Conguproar over FIR PNS n BELAGAVI

The Karnataka Assembly wasadjourned for the day follow-ing uproar on Friday with theopposition Congress'demanding a discussion alleg-ing role of a BJP minister inusurping Rs 400 crore worthland in Bengaluru.

The leader of the opposi-tion Siddaramaiah demand-ed a discussion under Rule 60of the Rules of ProcedureLegislative Assembly, whichrelates to the motion foradjournment on a matter ofpublic importance.

Siddaramaiah wanted thediscussion against the allegedrole of Urban DevelopmentMinister B A Basavaraj as anFIR has been registered on thedirections of a magistrate'scourt on November 25, 2021

The case relates to the pur-chase of 35 acres of a privateland in Kalkere village inBengaluru East Taluk in 2003,in which it is alleged thatBasavaraj and another rulingBJP MLC had forged a signa-ture and created fake docu-ments.

Varavara Rao‘medicallystable’, mustsurrender: NIAPNS n MUMBAI

The NIA on Friday told theBombay High Court that thehealth condition of poet VaravaraRao, an accused in the ElgarParishad-Maoists links case whois currently on an interim med-ical bail granted in February thisyear, was stable and hence mustsurrender before the prisonauthorities.

National Investigation Agency(NIA) counsel Sandesh Patil tolda bench of Justices Nitin Jamdarand S V Kotwal that 83-year-oldRao had been medically exam-ined earlier this month by apanel of doctors at the privateNanavati Hospital in the city andthe doctors were of the opinionthat Rao does not need continu-ous medical attention or hospital-isation at present. Before beinggranted medical bail, Rao waslodged in Taloja prison of NaviMumbai. "His health condition isstable now and the time grantedvia medical bail to him by thiscourt is already over. So he (Rao)should surrender now. All otherissues (raised by Rao's lawyers)can be examined after that," Patiltold the high court.

PNS n NEW DELHI

NCW chairperson RekhaSharma on Friday slammedKarnataka Congress MLA K RRamesh Kumar for his contro-versial rape comment, sayinghe should apologise to everyIndian woman.

The senior Congress leadersparked a controversy after heremarked in the KarnatakaAssembly that when rape isinevitable, one should lie downand enjoy it.

"I strongly condemnthe statement. Thesepublic representa-tives have beenelected to representthe cause of womeninside the Assembly.He should apologiseto every woman of thecountry for making such aderogatory statement and strictaction must be initiated againsthim," Sharma told PTI.

"It is extremely sad andunfortunate that we still have

public representativeswho are misogynistsand have a horriblemindset towardswomen. It's reallydisgusting. If they sit

in assemblies andspeak like this how they

must be behaving withwomen in their lives?" Sharmahad tweeted earlier in the day.

Yogita Bhayana, an activistwho heads the People AgainstRape in India (PARI), said thecomment by the shameless

MLA came on a day when thecountry was observing nineyears of the Delhi gangrapeincident.

Sharing a video clip onTwitter, Bhayana said: "Thisvideo of Karnataka LegislativeAssembly is from yesterday(Thursday) when the countrywas observing the nine years ofthe Nirbhaya incident. To pro-tect our women, we vote forthem (legislators) and thisshameless (MLA) is callingrape enjoyment."

Cong MLA must apologise to everyIndian woman for rape remark: NCW

JAIPUR: The third and final phase of votingfor posts of zila parishad and panchayatsamiti members in Rajasthan's Baran,Ganganagar and Karauli districts will takeplace on Saturday, an official said. Polling willbe held from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm onSaturday and all preparations have beencompleted, State Election Commissioner PSMehra said. In the third phase, there over8.72 lakh voters, he said. The elections willbe held for 141 ward members of sevenpanchayat samitis and their respective zillaparishad seats.

Final phase of voting for panchayat samiti membersin 3 Raj districts today

THANE: The Anti-Corrution Bureau (ACB)has arrested an excise department officialand one more person in Thane district ofMaharashtra for allegedly demanding andaccepting Rs 50,000 bribe from a wineshop owner, officials said on Friday.The accused were identified as NileshGosawi, sub inspector with the excisedepartment in Thane, and a privateperson named Umesh Rathod, the ACBsaid. The excise department had carriedout an action against the wine shopowner on December 11.

Maha excise official among two held foraccepting Rs 50,000 bribe

JALGAON: With the MSRTC employees con-tinuing with their strike, Maharashtra DeputyChief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday said theagitators should take a sensible approach andreport to work and not impel the governmentto take extreme steps against them. Speakingto media persons here, Pawar said the people,especially the poor, are facing hardships dueto the strike. "This (state transport buses) isthe vehicle of the poor. Still, the (protesting)employees are being adamant. This is notright. The employees are ours, so are the pas-sengers.

MSRTC staff should takesensible approach to avoidextreme steps by govt: Dy CM

wani, which were mostly tai-lored at Saville Row London,the world’s best for men’sclothes. He became used to apeg or two of whiskey aftersundown and enjoyed porksandwiches in the afternoon.He did not know how to per-form the namaz and seldomprayed any other way. This isaccording to his brotherAhmed, who was my grand-father’s friend who resided at401, Girgaum Road, Bombay.According to him, they wereculturally Parsee;Mohammad married aParsee, Ruttie Petit. Theirdaughter married Sir NevilleWadia.

Jinnah, in Gujarati, meanstiny, which was his grandfa-ther’s name. When he con-verted from the Lohana, aHindu caste, he continuedbeing called Jinnahbhai butreturned to India as Jinnah.He became a barrister in twoyears but was too young to beawarded the recognition. Hehad to stay back for twomore years. He had learntmany an English habit andhad no interest in religion.

On being sidelined byGandhi in the Congress,Jinnah went away to Londonto continue his law practiceand became arguably thehighest paid barrister across

the British Empire. He hadbought himself an impressivemansion in Hampstead innorth London. In 1934, theMuslim League began per-suading him to return toIndia because the party hadbecome moribund. On theassurance that he would bemade president for life, Jinnahreturned to Bombay. He dic-tated terms to the League,whose other leaders did whatJinnah said. When the partydid not do well in the 1937elections, he decided to blowthe bugle for Pakistan onMarch 22, 1940. To quotefrom his speech: “The Hindusand Muslims have differentreligious philosophies, socialcustoms and literatures. Theyneither intermarry nor inter-dine and, indeed, they belongto two different civilisationswhich are based mainly onconflicting ideas and concep-tions. Their views on life andof life are different. It is alsoquite clear that Hindus andMuslims derive their inspira-tion from different sources ofhistory. They have differentepics, different heroes in dif-ferent episodes. Very often,the hero of one is a foe of theother and, likewise, their vic-tories and defeats overlap.”

The point we are stressingis that Muslims find it diffi-

cult to throw up a tall leader.Jinnah was successful in get-ting Pakistan but he playedthe role of a brilliant advocaterather than a leader. Theonly beneficiaries of Pakistanwere a few migrants from UP,a few Gujarati businessmenfrom Bombay and thePunjabis who still dictate tothe rest of their country cen-tred around Lahore. Themajority of Pakistanis wentwith Bangladesh. The rest feelthat they are underIslamabad’s heel. Yet, moreMuslims remain in India thanin Pakistan. Their economy isin a shambles. It is still agrar-ian, if not also backward.The Khyber Pakhtunkhwaprovince and the hill districtsare in the 19th, if not the 18th,century while Sindh isunhappy and Balochistanwants to secede.

Incidentally, another ben-eficiary of Pakistan was Jinnahwho established his place inhistory as the founder of anation. What is the reason forthe paucity of leadership? Is itthe comprehensiveness of thescriptures? Have they coveredall aspects of life?

(The writer is a well-known columnist, an authorand a former member of theRajya Sabha. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

ATTACK IS THE BEST FORM OF DEFENCESir — The Bangladesh Liberation War, alsoknown as the Bangladesh War ofIndependence or simply the LiberationWar in Bangladesh, was a revolution andan armed conflict sparked by the rise ofthe Bengali nationalist and self-determi-nation movement in what was then EastPakistan during the 1971 Bangladeshgenocide. It was a bold and purposefuldecision to give full autonomy to theIndian Army back then by the then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi. Similar to thefreedom she gave to General SamManekshaw to liberate Bangladesh in1971; Rajiv Gandhi in 1986 gave the sameliberty to General Krishnaswamy Sundarjito evict the Chinese from Sumdorong Chuvalley in Arunachal Pradesh. The recentBalakot surgical strike to eliminatePakistani terrorists is another strikingexample.

There is no scope for buying time atthis juncture from these eternal enemiesat the Line of Control. Attack is the bestform of defence and the Indian armedforces can strike the hard way to driveaway the enemy once and for all. Weremember the soldiers who laid their livesin these operations on the 50th Year of theLiberation War in Bangladesh. It is a proudday for our forces for these successful oper-ations across the border.

MR Jayanthy | Mumbai

IS MAN NO LONGER A SOCIAL ANIMAL?Sir — If being reminded that the aphorism‘live and let live’ needs to be modified tosuit the modern times is in itself astraightforward and unemotional state-ment difficult to comprehend; ‘live andhelp others live’ as the new cliché is sureto raise enough eyebrows. In an age wherethe ‘self ’ has taken precedence over allother aspects of relationships, it is hard toperceive any special efforts being madetowards giving shape to such a noblethought.

When it comes to awareness about ourimmediate vicinity, it is generally believedthat concerns for our neighbours comefirst and then the community. But in mostof the metro cities, even today, people are

unaware of the existence of residents nextdoor. In these modern times where man’smaterialistic pursuits have morphed himinto a caricature of insensitiveness, emo-tional connections hardly exist betweenpeople. Hence it is difficult to gauge anyempathy building up for fellow beings.Considering that man by nature is a socialanimal, cordial interactions between peo-ple are expected. But personal interestsalways seem to gain the better of peopleand hence ‘minding my own business’ hasbecome the social norm more so now thanit was ever before.

Pachu Menon | Margao

DURGA PUJA GETS HERITAGE STATUSSir — Durga Puja is a Hindu religious cel-ebration that has evolved into a culturaland secular occasion. It has also becomea spot for social and artistic gatherings.Durga Puja, also known as Durgotsava orSharadotsav, honours and pays respect toHindu goddess Durga and commemorates

Durga's victory over Mahishasur. It orig-inated in the Indian subcontinent. Theemotion and joy of Durga Puja will soonbe known world over as it has been accord-ed heritage status by a top UN body.

For the first time in Asia, the UnitedNations Educational, Scientific, andCultural Organisation (Unesco) hasinscribed Kolkata's Durga Puja on the listof Intangible Cultural Heritage ofHumanity (ICH), giving Bengalis andIndians a cause for celebration. Durga Pujajoins other Indian cultural practices andmanifestations on the ICH list, includingthe Kumbh Mela, Bengal and Odisha'sChhau dance, Manipur's Sankirtana, Yoga,Ramlila, Buddhist chanting in Ladakh andNawruz. “A subject of tremendous prideand excitement for every Indian”, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi tweeted.

Khushbu Khatri | Ujjain

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

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VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2021

06

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Since 1762, a number of Muslim chieftains showed the spark withsome good ideas but could not command the increasing followers

MUSLIMS OF THESUBCONTINENT

HAVE FAILED TO THROW UP

A LEADER OFSTATURE SINCE

AKBAR, THEMUGHAL EMPEROR.

AKBAR SHOWEDTHE WAY OF

INTEGRATING WITH THE REST

OF THE POPULACE

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

PRAFULL GORADIA

The gigantic but lovable elephant is placedin schedule 1 of the Indian WildlifeProtection Act, 1972. Many projects are

in place in India to save this magnificent crea-ture from extinction. But the stark reality isthat elephant deaths have surged significant-ly over the last few years. As many as fiveelephants died due to collisions with trainsin Tamil Nadu and Assam in November andearly December this year. This perennial“train-elephant collision” has been studiedfor a very long time but halfhearted measureshave not helped.

As is known, proper track signals, locopilot sensitisation, periodic review and main-tenance of elephant corridors and a uniqueelephant detection system are proposed forsafeguarding the lives of elephants. But thesemeasures have to see the light of day to helpthe jumbos. Overpasses and underpasseshave proven advantageous. Solar poweredfences and elephant proof trenches are vitalto minimise deaths due to man-animal con-flict. Such projects are on full swing in Kerala,a State known to love and admire the ele-phants. Shrinking elephant habitat is one ofthe root causes of the big mammal succumb-ing to causes other than natural. More andmore elephant corridors and enhanced bud-getary provisions for ensuring elephants arein the safe confines of their homes, and henceaway from human interference, cannot beoverstressed. Elephants are magnificent ani-mals and a critical part of the ecosystem. Itis high time we realised the need of the hourto find ways to protect this creature.

Ganapathi Bhat | Akola

Why so many elephant deaths?

Reasons for dearthof Muslim leaders

Salman Khurshid’s defenceof what he said aboutHindutva as well as oth-ers defending him brings

out a stark fact. Muslims of thesubcontinent have failed tothrow up a leader of staturesince Akbar, the Mughal emper-or. Akbar showed the way ofintegrating with the rest of thepopulace. He conquered territo-ry after territory, consolidatedhis empire and ruled for fivedecades. He made it possible forhis successors to rule well for acentury and poorly until 1762.

Thereafter, the British beganto rule for nearly two centuries,with a number of Muslim chief-tains who had ideas but couldnot command the increasing fol-lowers. Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khanwas a sincere officer who plead-ed for educating Muslim youthbut could not go beyond Aligarhand declaring that Hindus andMuslims were separate nations.Justice Ameer Ali was the firstIndian High Court judge butmigrated to England after heretired. Maulana MuhammadAli was active and imaginativebut he was obsessed with retain-ing the Caliph on the Turkishthrone. It was his uppermost pri-ority and he died too early tohave greater influence.

Poet Iqbal wrote an extreme-ly popular song, or tarana —Saare jahan se achcha Hindustanhamara — which Indian militarybands play with alacrity evennow. However, upon returningto India after a long tour ofEurope, Iqbal underwent a rev-olution of mind and sponsoreda division of India into thenortheastern provinces and therest. In short, he sponsored aconfederate partition of India; hebecame a separatist.

Chaudhary Rehmat Ali, aCambridge scholar, coined thename ‘Pakistan’ and did littleelse. Thereafter followed Qaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah,who was a true secularist untilhe arrived at the parting of wayswith Gandhiji at the Calcuttaplenum of the Congress in 1928.Earlier, popular Congress leaderSarojini Naidu described Jinnahas the “best ambassador ofHindu-Muslim unity”. He reg-ularly wore lounge suits, neverchudidar pyjamas and sher-

SOUNDBITEHe (PM Modi)

fears only one thing

– losing an elec-

tion. I'm glad that

he fears at least

something.

Congress leader

—P Chidambaram

The Omicron variantis going to spreadrapidly in the USand a winter ofsevere illness anddeath awaits the

unvaccinated.

US President —Joe Biden

Mamata Banerjeeis trying hard to berecognised as theface of Oppositionbut I have nodoubt that she will fail.

BJP leader

—Roopa Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly isthe BCCI presidentand surely should beasked why there isthis discrepancy.

Former India captain —Sunil Gavaskar

The intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic might have ebbed but the cataclysm causedby it continues unabated. Several States are reeling under the impact of Omicron,the latest dreaded variant of the virus, and an impending threat of the third wave.

Medical fraternity is worried about the pandemic’s after-effects on children more thanon the elderly. Uncharacteristically, complaints about ‘memory fog’ (loss of memo-ry) are galore among the young citizens. Till the pandemic receded, the Governmentshut down schools and colleges and opted for online classes, which proved to besuccessful to a limited extent. But now that most State Governments have ordered

the reopening of educational institutes, many par-ents are circumspect of sending their children toschools and colleges, fearing they may get afflict-ed by the bronchial affliction. Online classes are hereto stay, according to many national award-winningschool teachers and professors with decades ofteaching experience. Dr C Ramakrishnan Nair, a ven-erated teacher for whom online classes were an alto-gether new experience, says the medium is morepowerful than taking physical classes.

“If the teacher and the student are equally seri-ous about studies, online classes are the best

method to resolve the issues of scarcity of classrooms, poor infrastructure and theshortage of good teachers. The teacher can interact with students on a one-on-onebasis and make sure that they have comprehended what has been taught,” says DrNair, who takes hundreds of students across the country every day through the com-plex maze of various Indian laws and Constitution. His is not the lone voice. SukumaranPeriyachur, a national award-winning teacher, and Shylendran, a teacher in NavodayaVidyalaya, are of the view that online classes are safe, secure and make educationaccessible to all. “The only section which would be affected because of this tech-nological advancement is the private school managements who literally hold the edu-cation system to ransom,” say these two teachers. Another voice of authority is Isro’sformer chairperson G Madhavan Nair, who feels that if the Centre invests a few thou-sand crores in launching communication satellites, the entire education system inthe country could be brought under the online network. The innovation would helpsave commute time and energy, fuel bills (with the exception of practical experiments)and learning could be done without external disturbances.

It is not funny how what we wear can create friction in society. It is as if fashionmaligns culture. For some, the baggage of illogical and impractical traditions islighter to carry than the weight of change. Take the case of girl students. Why

does it always have to be girls, or women, when it comes to experimenting withchange or conflicting with it? The latest is a section of Muslim community unhap-py with a Kozhikode school in Kerala introducing unisex uniforms. A notice of theGovernment Higher Secondary School said boys and girls will wear trousers andshirts. If the girls wish to wear scarves or mufflers to cover their heads to respecttheir religious beliefs, they are allowed to do so. Is that what hybrid culture is, amingl ing of the retro and the modern, a fusion of haute couture and tradition? That is a debate for another day. The school principal saidthey consulted the stakeholders — the students and their parents — before affect-ing the change. Incidentally, the move comes close on the heels of salesgirls in Keralawinning a court battle to get the right to sit while on duty. However, some conser-

vative Muslims in Kozhikode are miffed at their girlsdumping skirts for pants. They have organisedprotest marches, intent on making it a political issue.They must have realised the futility of the protestbecause no women joined them.

The Government, too, believes a uniform uni-form bridges the gender gap and is a sprightly steptowards gender equality. Some Kerala schools hadintroduced three-fourth pants a couple of years agodespite facing opposition. It would have been wel-come had the debate been on whether the conceptof gender neutrality that is sweeping across the

world should impact school uniforms. The issue here, however, is quite narrow. Itis a patriarchal objection to girls wearing pants. One of the Kozhikode protesterslet the cat out of the bag by arguing that women wanting to progress does not meanthey wear the same clothes as men. He makes two other points. One, that pantsare “undemocratic” because they amount to a denial of “diversity”. Imagine! Two,it is a “liberal” approach. That, surely, is the crux of the problem. The orthodoxydoes not want progress to pass it by, leaving it alone by taking away the children.The girl students are thrilled to wear pants to school. They may have been morethrilled if they had a choice. The whole theory of empowerment of women goes fora toss if it is not about them having a choice. Reacting to a similar neutral uniformrow in Ernakulam last month, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor remarked that makinggirls wear pants is no different from making them wear skirts. Why cannot theyhave the freedom to choose a uniform that makes them feel comfortable and con-fident? Wonder why boys are never asked to mandatorily wear dhoti and kurta.

Ants in pants

An object lessonOnline classes are the way forward as these help save time, fuel and lessen health risks

PICTALK

Tourists take a boat ride at Ana Sagar Lake during sunset in Ajmer PTI

A section of orthodox parents is crying hoarse overa school’s decision to introduce unisex uniforms

Very interestingthat I’m promotingone of the mosticonic film franchis-es of all time and I’mstill referenced as“the wife of…”

Actor—Priyanka Chopra

Insects help richly inecological restoration

WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN HOW THE TMC TWICE TRIED

TO STOP DURGA PUJA IMMERSION AS THE DATE OF

MUHARRAM CLASHED WITH IT.

—BJP NATIONAL VICE-PRESIDENT

DILIP GHOSH

THOSE WHO SAID WE DON’T ALLOW DURGA PUJA IN

BENGAL SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.

TODAY, THEIR FALSEHOOD STANDS EXPOSED.

—WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER

MAMATA BANERJEE

Insects help break down organic matter like corpses and animal faeces. Thisis important as it reuses nutrients, making them available for aerating the soil

Banking operations, including cheque clearances across the coun-try, got affected as bankers under the aegis of the United Forumof Bank Unions have gone on a nationwide strike to protest against

the proposed privatisation of two government banks. The United Forumof Bank Unions which is an umbrella body of nine unions has giventhe strike call for December 16 and 17. For the same demand theyhave abstained from work on March 15 and 16 also. Earlier as partof budget announcement, the Finance Minister had informed that twounnamed public sector banks will be privatized. Bank workers goingon strike is not a new phenomenon, but over the years the strengthof the unions to bargain ‘based on their right to strike work’ has deplet-ed. It is well settled under different labour laws that employees havea right to strike work to highlight their demands as any managementcan have the right of lock-out or lay off, all subject to conditions. Long

time ago, we had only public sector banks and some private sectorold generation banks and the workers of these banks were all wellorganized under communist unions. The workers had different set-tlements that were reached under Industrial Disputes Act and therewas not much scope for the management to deviate from any of these.There used to be a system of ‘collective bargaining’, which in a lightervein used to mean that the ‘management will bargain’ but ultimately‘unions will collect’. However, in 1990s, new private banks, like ICICIBank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank etc, had come into existence. These bankshave adopted technology for providing service and the role of labourunions has been curtailed by keeping all the staff under officer cadre.Over the years, these banks have acquired sizeable business also.As the employees of new private sector banks are not under theseunions, these private banks function without any disruption. Even inpublic sector banks, when customers are having facility of online bank-ing, the employees’ strike does not disrupt transactions. Alternate chan-nels like internet banking, mobile banking, ATM etc ensure that cus-tomer service is not affected. The only major service which is affect-ed is clearing house function where cheques are cleared under theCheque Truncation System administered by Reserve Bank of India.Though most of the employees obey the command of the unions andstrike work, they are not happy about it. Under the principle of no-work-no-pay, they forego the wages of the days of strike. Moreover,when they resume the work next day, there will be added pressureof work without any compensation. When the issue involved is otherthan service conditions, they feel that they are unnecessarily draggedinto the issue which is political. And many of them are not convincedwith the ideology of the unions also. Everyone knows that the gov-ernment will carry on their agenda as they have got the mandate ofthe people. With the majority they have in both the houses of parlia-ment, any amendment to Acts required will be carried out. As the unionsare totally opposing the move of the government, they lose the oppor-tunity of bargaining for the welfare of their employees after privatiza-tion. If the unions are tactful, instead of blindly opposing the privati-sastion, they can bargain for the welfare of the employees in thosebanks and cooperate with the government. In any case the govern-ment will carry out its agenda. When the general public is also notwith the unions, there is no way that they can stop privatization ofbanks. The strike is just tokenism.

(The writer is a retired banker. The views expressed are personal.)

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2021

07

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FIRSTCOLUMN

THE BANKERS’ STRIKEIS MERE TOKENISM

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

S KALYANASUNDARAM

BKP SINHA

As the general public is not with the unions, thereis no way they can stop privatisation of banks

Rewilding is a progressive way toconserve the environment. It is aform of environmental conserva-tion and ecological restoration

which has significant potential to increasebiodiversity, create self-sustaining environ-ments, and mitigate climate change.

There are two main approaches torewilding: First, it enables degraded landsto recover by preventing anthropogenicinfluences, and allowing nature to conserveitself with minimum human interfer-ence. Second, re-introducing lost or dwin-dling plant or animal species into their nat-ural environment,enabling restoration oftheir populations and ecological balance.

Rewilding does not take place only inprotected areas or remote locations.Examples of this can be seen in many cities.Over the years, mining has caused ram-pant destruction in parts of the Aravalis,in Gurugram, Haryana. An NGO led byLatika Thukral and her team has healednearly 550 acres of land and converted itinto the Aravali Biodiversity Park byplanting thousands of saplings. Today, itis a repository of native flora and fauna,which also has a water-conservation zone,and is an educational space for spreadingawareness about environmental issues.Similarly, Yamuna Biodiversity Park ofDelhi is an example of the successfulrestoration of barren land.

Kaikondanahalli Lake, which lies onthe south-eastern periphery of Bengaluru,was severely polluted with sewage and solidwaste. Following a newspaper report, thecorporation planned to restore this lakewith the support of groups formed of localresidents, experts from engineering, edu-cation, ecology, etc. A year after restora-tion, over 50 species of birds and a greatvariety of butterflies, snakes, and frogsbegan to appear. There has been an enor-mous increase in animal and insect speciessince then.Regeneration of BharatpurBird Sanctuary in Rajasthan is also anexample of the revival of a degradedecosystem.

This article will briefly discuss theimportance of restoration of insect habi-tats, which is currently untouched despitetheir tremendous potential and biologicalcontributions in restoration of biodiversi-ty in urban areas. The term ‘Biodiversity’isused to describe the enormous variety oflife on Earth. It refers to all of the speciesin a particular region or ecosystem whichencompass plants, bacteria, animals,humans and other living things.

Insects are critical to agriculture,human health, and bioresources becausethey play important role in cycling of nutri-ents, disperse seeds, pollinate plants,maintain soil structure, improve fertility,and control population of other organisms.Insects are at the base of the food chain,therefore their recovery is a prerequisite forthe recovery of other species.

They provide various kinds of usefulservices which are described below:

Insects possess significant amounts of

THECONSERVATION

OF INSECTS CAN RICHLY

BENEFIT FROM INSECT-FRIENDLYENVIRONMENTAL

POLICIES ANDPOLITICAL

ADVOCACY. HENCE, WE HAVE

NUMEROUS WAYSTO CONSERVE

INSECTS AND CANUSE ANY OR ALL

OF THEM TO SLOW DOWN

INSECTS’ DECLINE.IT IS IMPERATIVE

THAT WE PROTECTAND PRESERVE

THE INSECTS’WORLD FOR A

THRIVING FUTURE

nutrients required by both humansand animals such as proteins, car-bohydrates, vitamins, fibres, min-erals etc. In South America, cater-pillars, beetles, grasshoppers, andcrickets are popular foods.Approximately $500 million worthof tinned silkworm pupae areexported from Thailand.

The pollination process ofmany flowering plants and cropsrelies on animals — primarilyinsects. Animal induced pollinationis crucial to the production of thefood we eat.

Predatory insects feed on peststhat threaten crops, thus perform-ing the role of pesticides withoutchemicals. This reduces pest-con-trol costs and increases crop yields,while reducing pesticide residues.

Insects also contribute to thebreakdown of organic matter likefallen litter, corpses and animal fae-ces. This is important since itreuses nutrients, making themavailable for aerating the soil.

Some plants produce fruit andseeds that are eaten and collectedby ants. They bring these seeds totheir nests to eat and it is possiblethat some seeds are dropped alongthe way and others may be cachedin the soil. These seeds may germi-nate and establish plants at a newlocation. Therefore, ants play a cru-cial role in the dispersal of fruit andseeds from plants. There are over150 plant species that depend oninsects for dispersal.

Similarly, honeybees pollinateand help plants grow, breed, andproduce food. To keep the cycle oflife going, bees transfer pollenbetween flowering plants. Most ofthe food we consume depends onpollination, particularly by bees: likealmonds, apples, squash etc.

We also rely on insects for silk,dye, honey, wax and medical and

genetic research.It was once stated by EO

Wilson, a noted biologist: “If allmankind were to disappear, theworld would regenerate back to therich state of equilibrium that exist-ed ten thousand years ago. If insectswere to vanish, the environmentwould collapse into chaos.”

An ecosystem is based on thecoexistence of species and commu-nities alongside the environment.The rivet popper hypothesis wasproposed by Ecologist Paul Ehrlichto illustrate the consequences ofspecies extinction on ecosystem. Hecompares key species to airplanerivets and claims that if those riv-ets were gradually removed, theplane would also crash. Similarly, ifkey species are removed from anecosystem, their absence wouldeventually harm the ecosystem notimmediately but in the long run.

There are many countrieswhere pollinators have disappearedand people are forced to hand pol-linate apples, pears and passionfruits, etc. Therefore, the loss ofinsects from the food chain wouldnegatively impact human foodsupplies.

A recent study led by expertsrevealed that darkling beetle(indigenous to East Asia includingthe Korean peninsula) larvae arecapable of decomposing plasticcomponents by breaking themdown at the molecular level.Researchers discovered that the lar-vae of the beetle in the orderColeoptera (Plesiophthophthal-musdavidis) can decompose poly-styrene, which earlier was difficultto break down due to its uniquemolecular structure. Currently,there are more than 50 knownspecies of plastivores, including thegreater wax moth, providing hopefor scientists seeking to reduce

plastic pollution.Thus, insects constitute a sub-

stantial part of our ecosystem butthe number and diversity of insectsare decreasing due to habitat loss,pollution, and climate change.Preservation and restoration ofhabitats that support insect diver-sity are essential to their conserva-tion, otherwise many of thesespecies will become extinct.

Therefore, every home, school,and local park should dedicate aportion of their lawn space as a nat-ural habitat which would providethe insects a conducive environ-ment. Pesticides and insecticidessuch as Neonicotinoids should beprohibited in local vegetation andgreen areas since they harm insectpopulations and mandate nature-rich development practices.Furthermore, artificial light at nightcan harm and kill many creaturesincluding amphibians, birds, insectsand plants. For example, mostnocturnal insects are attracted toartificial lights that indirectly killinsects via exhaustion or throughpredation before dawn. Therefore,protecting dark night skies will ben-efit insect populations. Growingnative plants provides more bene-fits to native insects due to theirclose ecological relationships. Thereare many insect species that dependon these plants for food and nest-ing sites and become prey for birdsand other wildlife, so native plantsindirectly attract numerous verte-brates. Insects’ conservation canrichly benefit from insects-friend-ly environmental policies and polit-ical advocacy. Hence, we havenumerous ways to conserve insects,and we can use any or all of themto slow insect declines.

It is imperative that we protectand preserve the insects’ world fora thriving future.

(The writer is a former IFS officer. The views

expressed are personal.)

The north-eastern regionof India is blessed withunparalleled ethnic, cul-

tural and linguistic diversity.The land of seven sisters anda brother, it is the most diversepart of the most diverse nation,being home to a number ofplain and hill tribal communi-ties having their own cultures,traditions, livelihood prac-tices, language and dialects.

As for linguistic diversity,in Assam, Nagaland andArunachal Pradesh, around23, 20, and 15 languages,respectively, are in use andMeghalaya is home to Khasi,Garo and Pnar/Jaintia lan-guages. The languages usedacross the region belong to fivedifferent language families,namely, Indo-Aryan,Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman,Austro-Asiatic and Tai-Kadai.

However, these are not recog-nised by respective govern-ments as official languages.

The pace of developmentin the region is exerting mas-sive pressure on theautonomous tribal communi-ties. As such, some of theselanguages and dialects encom-passing cherished civilization-al discourses have alreadybecome ‘vulnerable’ to ‘mori-bund’. The contributing factorsto the vanishing of languagesin the region are better jobprospects in English, conver-sion to Christianity and impactof churches in the choice of lin-gua franca and inappropriatelanguage policies framed foradministrative conveniences.

A mother tongue is vitalfor design thinking and com-prehension and creating themind-set necessary for holis-

tic development. Moreover,learning in a foreign languagealso brings a sense of alienationfrom one’s own culture andheritage leading to an inferior-ity complex, whereas learningin mother tongue helps devel-op a better sense of one’s cul-tural traits. Thus, learning inthe mother-tongue is of para-mount significance in improv-ing the quality of education.Since English is the preferredmedium of instruction inIndia, learners have remainedaloof from the benefits thatcome with education in themother tongue. UNESCO has

also recommended the use ofmother tongue in the earlyyears of schooling to enablechildren to learn to read andwrite alongside introducingthem to the early mathemati-cal and academic concepts. Inorder to capitalise on theadvantage of learning in themother tongue, The NEP 2020emphasises mother tongue asmedium of instruction at leastup to the fifth standard. Thispolicy also envisages integrat-ing teaching and learning ofIndian languages with schooland higher education at everylevel.

It is in this backdrop thatthe announcement made byEducation MinisterDharmendra Pradhan in therecently concluded North EastEducation Conclave on NEP-2020 organised by Assam

Government and ShamkardevEducation and ResearchFoundation for makingGuwahati the LanguageLaboratory of India and forcreating safe educational zonesis significant. He also empha-sised capitalizing on thestrength of ethnic, cultural, lin-guistic, biotic and abiotic diver-sities of North-eastern regionfor its emotional integrationwith the rest of the country.

Thus, the North-easternStates should not adoptEnglish as the State languagemerely for administrative con-veniences but embrace region-al languages as State languagesas many languages are beingpushed to the endangered cat-egory without the official sta-tus and patronage. Majordialects should be given scriptsso as to promote them to the

status of languages. The poli-cy of the three-language for-mula should be revisited topromote regional languages.Dictionaries and learners’books need to be written forevery language and dialectspoken in the north-east. Agroup of people needs to betrained in languages spoken inthe region for the purpose oftranslation, as is being done forinternational languages.Customs and traditions shouldbe penned down in every lan-guage and dialect.

Skilled teachers for everylanguage should be there forthe purpose of teaching andcreating ICT enabled e-mate-rials in those languages. High-quality programmes in trans-lation and interpretationshould be offered in all the lan-guages of the NER. Every

central university in the north-east should be sanctioned aCentre for Preservation andPromotion of Local Languagesand Dialects (CPPLLD) forimplementing these and otherimperatives for preserving lin-guistic diversity and harmo-nious inter-relationships ofthe tribal communities withnature, ecology and cosmos.

We are running out of fuelwith the passing away of seniorcitizens, and without a holis-tic language policy, languagesand dialects are gettingincreasingly marginalised,causing a decline in our tradi-tional knowledge base abouttribal cultures, traditions, liveli-hood practices, environmen-tal ethics, nature centric devel-opment, etc which are neces-sary ingredients for securingthe future of the region.

Since English is the preferred medium of instruction, learners have remained aloof from the benefits that come with education in mother tongue

Preserving the linguistic diversity of Northeast India

RAGHAVENDRA P TIWARI

(The writer is Vice-Chancellor, Central

University of Punjab,Bathinda. The views

expressed are personal.)

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

South Korean auto majorHyundai Motor Companyon Friday announced a

top level change in its Indianoperations with Unsoo Kimslated to take over asManaging Director fromJanuary 1, 2022. Unsoo Kim,currently with the parentcompany in South Korea, willreplace Seon Seob Kim (SS Kim) who will lead a global role atHyundai Motor Company headquarters in Seoul after his successfulstint of three years in India, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) said in astatement. SS Kim has been at the helm of HMIL since November2018. He has played a key role in positioning the company as a newage smart mobility solutions provider with focus on bringing internet-enabled connected cars and kick starting the company's electricmobility journey in India with the launch of Kona, all-electric SUV.

Second generation Honda Amazecrosses 2 lakh cumulative retail

Honda Cars India on Fridaysaid the new Amaze hascrossed two lakh retail sales

milestone in the country.The company had introduced thesecond generation of the compactsedan in May 2018.The model is one of Honda'smost successful models in Indiawith cumulative deliveries of over

4.6 lakh units since the introduction of the first generation model inApril 2013. “Honda Amaze is an important product for us and enjoys astrong market position in its segment. Amaze was specificallydeveloped keeping Indian consumers in mind and the love and supportit continues to receive from customers speaks volume for its wideacceptance. It drives volumes for our business and ranks among thecountry's best-selling sedans," Honda Cars India President and ChiefExecutive Officer Gaku Nakanishi said in a statement. The delivery ofthe 200,000th unit of the second generation Amaze is a proud momentfor Honda Cars India family and reaffirms its commitment to keepintroducing more such class-defining products, he added.

Hyundai Motor appoints Unsoo Kim

as Managing Director in India

Tata Motors on Fridaysaid it has joinedhands with the

Maharashtra governmentto support setting up of aregistered vehiclescrapping facility (RVSF)in the state. The automajor has inked amemorandum ofunderstanding (MoU)with the state government to help set up the scrappage centrewith a recycling capacity of up to 35,000 vehicles a year for end-of-life passenger and commercial vehicles. The state industries,energy and labour department will support in facilitating thenecessary approvals as per the rules and regulations for settingup of the facility, the company said.

Skoda to increase vehicle pricesby up to 3 pc from January

Automaker SkodaAuto on Friday saidit will increase prices

of its entire productrange by up to 3 per centfrom January 1, 2022.The company sellsmodels like Kushaq,Kodiak, Octavia mongothers in the domesticmarket."The decision to increaseprices from January 1,

2022, is a result of the rising input costs and increased operationalcosts," Skoda Auto Brand Director Zac Hollis said in a statement.Despite the macro-economic challenges, the company has worked toensure that the customer impact in terms of the incremental priceincrease is minimal, he added. There has been a steady increase in rawmaterials like steel, aluminum, copper, and precious metals over thelast year prompting automobile manufacturers to raise model prices.

Tata Motors joins hands withMaha govt to set up vehicle

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Fridayinformed Parliament that norepresentative from the US-based Dow Chemical hasappeared before the Bhopaldistrict court till date in the1984 Union Carbide gas leakcase despite several summonssince 2004.

In December 1984, anindustrial disaster happenedwhen Methyl Iso-cyanate(MIC), a toxic gas stored intwo tanks of Union CarbideIndia Ltd (UCIL)'s pesticideunit at Bhopal, leaked into theatmosphere causing loss ofhuman life and injuring alarge number of people, itsaid.

Fertiliser and ChemicalsMinister Mansukh Mandaviya,in his written reply to the LokSabha, said several suits werefiled for compensation anddamage in different courts inIndia.

The minister said a relatedcase number 'MJC 91/1992,CBI v/s Warren Anderson' is

pending in the Court ofJudicial Magistrate, Bhopal inMadhya Pradesh.

"The Judicial MagistrateCourt issued summons to theDow Chemical Company on26.04.2004, 28.02.2014,04.08.2014, 22.11.2014,15.09.2015, 22.01.2016,04.06.2018, 18.09.2018,23.05.2019 and 13.11.2019 toappear before the court," he

said. Despite number of sum-

mons issued to them, no rep-resentative from DowChemical Company hasappeared before the court

till date, Mandaviya said.Looking at the magnitude of

the human suffering thatoccurred due to gas leakage,the minister said the SupremeCourt had passed a settle-

ment order dated February 14-15, 1989, directing UnionCarbide Corporation to pay asum of USD 470 million,which was deposited by thecompany with the registrar ofthe apex court in 1989.

Based on the apex court'sorder, the actual disbursementof the compensation startedfrom 1992. The Office of theWelfare Commissioner

(Bhopal Gas Victims), Bhopaldisbursed Rs 1,549.33 crore ascompensation in settled casesof 5,74,393 claimants belong-ing to the categories of death,permanent disability, tempo-rary disability, injury of utmostseverity cases, minor injury,loss of property/PSU and lossof livestock till November thisyear, he said.

Further, the Supreme Courtin its order dated July 19,2004 had

directed the WelfareCommissioner to disburse thebalance amount of approxi-mately Rs 1,500 crore, whichhad accumulated with the RBIon account of accrual of inter-est and exchange rate variation,on pro-rata basis to theclaimants whose cases hadbeen settled.

"The distribution of pro-rata compensation startedfrom November 2004. A sumof Rs 1,517.90 crore as pro-ratacompensation has been award-ed in 5,63,126 cases tillNovember, 2021," the ministeradded.

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexplummeted 889 points onFriday, weighed by an across-the-board selloff amid a neg-ative trend in global marketsand relentless foreign fundoutflows.

The 30-share index ended889.40 points or 1.54 per centlower at 57,011.74. Similarly,the NSE Nifty plunged 263.20points or 1.53 per cent to16,985.20.

IndusInd Bank was the toploser in the Sensex pack, shed-ding around 5 per cent, fol-lowed by Kotak Bank, HUL,Titan, Bajaj Finserv andHDFC.

On the other hand, Infosys,HCL Tech, PowerGrid andTCS were among the gainers.

"Indices succumbed to therelentless FII selling this monthas the Nifty skid below 17K

with the IT Index being theonly exception," said SRanganathan, Head ofResearch at LKP Securities.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Shanghai, Hong Kong andTokyo ended with losses, whileSeoul was positive.

Similarly, stock exchangesin Europe were also largelytrading in the red in mid-ses-sion deals.

Meanwhile, international oilbenchmark Brent crude fell1.48 per cent to USD 73.91 perbarrel.

None from Dow Chemical appearedbefore court till date: Centre PNS n NEW DELHI

Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal on Friday exuded con-fidence that negotiations for afree trade agreement betweenIndia and the UK would belaunched next month andwith Canada by March-April.

He was speaking at the 94thAnnual Convention of indus-try body Ficci here.

Goyal said he will be inMumbai on Saturday andengaging with exporters andthe retail industry to examinethe benefits of the free tradepact with the UAE.

"Along with that we arelooking at other engagementswith the UAE, which will beannounced shortly, but weare still working to seewhether we can have some-thing like a large India Mart inDubai where a huge numberof stores can come up to dis-play Indian products, a hugeamount of warehousing can bepicked up at affordable prices,"he added.

The minister said such amart will help Indianexporters to increase theirpresence all across Africa, the

Middle East and other parts ofthe world.

He said India is in discus-sions with other countriesand regions too for free tradepacts. "So, we are looking atnew ideas along with the FTAwith the UAE. We are alsosimultaneously in discussionwith Australia...UK, we launchpossibly next month. Canadawe may launch by aboutMarch or April," he said.

Goyal, who also holds thetextiles portfolio, said a "tril-

lion-dollar opportunity" iswaiting for the textiles indus-try, which is the largest job-creating sector in the countryafter farming.

The proposed FTA betweenIndia and UK is expected tounlock extraordinary busi-ness opportunities and gener-ate jobs.

Goyal said most of theindustries in the country aredoing reasonably well, butstill, there are few sectors thatare under stress.

Sensex sinks 889 pts amid broad-based selloff; Nifty closes below 17K

PNS n KOLKATA

Banking operations in WestBengal were severely affectedfor the second consecutiveday on Friday as lakhs ofemployees and officers ofpublic sector lenders contin-ued their nationwide strike toprotest against the Centre'smove to privatise govern-ment-owned banks, officialssaid. Shutters of around8,590 bank branches andmost ATMs in the state weredown during the day as theUnited Forum of Bank Union(UFBU), an umbrella body of

nine associations, observedthe two-day strike fromDecember 16.

"We got an overwhelmingresponse to the strike call onthe second day as almost allstaffers participated in theprogramme. We will carry outmore such agitations in futureif the government goes aheadwith the bank privatisationbill," an official of the UFBUsaid. In the Union Budget for2021-22 presented inFebruary, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman had pro-posed to take up privatisationof two public sector banks.

Bank strike continues forsecond day; services hit

PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned power giantNTPC has received a letter ofappreciation from the UnitedNations for its efforts andcommitment towards cleanenergy.

"NTPC Ltd, India's largestintegrated energy companyreceived a letter of apprecia-tion from Ms DamilolaOgunbiyi, SpecialRepresentative of theSecretary-General forSustainable Energy for Alland UN-Energy Co-Chair, forits efforts and commitmentstowards the process of EnergyCompact," the power giantsaid in a statement.

According to the statement,UN-Energy has acknowledgedthe commitment of NTPCtowards clean energy and wel-comed it into the EnergyCompact Action Network.

NTPC has submitted its

plans towards energy compact,which outlines ambitious goalsby 2030.

NTPC's leadership will con-tribute significantly towardsthe achievement of SDG7.The NTPC's entry into theEnergy Compact ActionNetwork makes it an impor-tant representative of theEnergy Compact process, itstated. With its contribution,NTPC has become part of avibrant Energy Compact com-munity that strives to delivertransformative action.

UN appreciates NTPC'sclean energy initiatives

PNS n NEW DELHI

More women getting accessto internet and technolog-ical resources and embrac-ing STEM education willhelp strengthen their par-ticipation in workforce aswell as the entrepreneurialecosystem in the country,Nykaa founder and CEOFalguni Nayar said onFriday. Speaking at theFicci's Annual Conventionand 94th AGM, Nayar saidthere are a lot of examplesof successful Indians intop management and busi-ness roles, including inglobal CEO positions, allover the world. "Let therebe equal opportunity forwomen.

More women needto embrace STEMeducation, haveaccess to internet:Nykaa CEO

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Fridayintroduced a bill in the LokSabha to amend the laws gov-erning chartered accountants,cost accountants, and compa-ny secretaries in order to main-ly strengthen the disciplinarymechanisms in place at therespective institutes.

Strengthening the discipli-nary mechanisms, providingprovision for time-bound dis-posal of cases against the mem-bers of the three institutes,addressing the conflict of inter-est between the institutes'administrative and discipli-nary arms, and enhancingoverall accountability are thebill's key objectives.

The Chartered Accountants,the Cost and WorksAccountants and the CompanySecretaries (Amendment) Bill,2021, was introduced in theLower House on Friday amidOpposition din over theLakhimpur Kheri violence thathappened in Uttar Pradesh inOctober.

Chartered accountants, costaccountants and company sec-

retaries come under theChartered Accountants Act,1949, the Cost and WorksAccountants Act, 1959 andthe Company Secretaries Act,1980, respectively.

Finance and CorporateAffairs Minister NirmalaSitharaman, who moved thebill, said that on account ofchanges in the country's eco-nomic and corporate environ-ment, it has become necessaryto amend the Acts.

"Further, recent corporateevents have put the professionof chartered accountancyunder a considerable scrutiny,"

she said in the bill's Statementof Objects and Reasons.

In recent years, the role ofcertain chartered accountantshas come under the scannerfollowing various corporatefrauds coming into light.

The amendments to the Actshave been proposed on thebasis of recommendationsmade by a high-level commit-tee that was set up by the cor-porate affairs ministry toexamine the existing provisionsin the Acts for dealing with thecases of misconduct in thethree professional institutes.

The Institute of Chartered

Accountants of India, theInstitute of Cost Accountantsof India and the Institute ofCompany Secretaries of Indiaare the three professional insti-tutes and they also have thepowers to take disciplinaryaction against their respectivemembers. The recommenda-tions were aimed at "strength-ening the existing mechanismand ensure speedy disposal ofthe disciplinary cases". One ofthe aims of the bill is tostrengthen the disciplinarymechanism by augmenting thecapacity of the disciplinarydirectorate concerned to dealwith the complaints and infor-mation. Besides, it seeks to pro-vide "time-bound disposal ofthe cases by specifying thetime limits for speedy dispos-al of the cases against membersof the institutes". The bill alsoseeks to address the conflict ofinterest between the adminis-trative and disciplinary arms ofthe institutes, provide for a sep-arate chapter on registration offirms with the respective insti-tutes and include firms underthe purview of the disciplinarymechanism.

Bill in LS to amend laws relating to CAs, ICWAs

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union road transport min-istry, IIT Madras andMapmyIndia on Friday signeda pact for collaboration in dri-ver and road safety technolo-gies space, and jointly launchedfree-to-use-navigation app ser-vice for people.

In a statement, MapmyIndia, a provider ofadvanced digital maps, saidthat the MapmyIndia app pro-vides road safety alerts to usersabout upcoming accident haz-ards while driving. By usingthis navigation app, users willget voice and visual alertsabout upcoming accident-prone zones, speed breakers,

sharp curves, potholes etc, toensure they can drive careful-ly and avoid accidents, it added.

Further through the app,users and authorities can alsoreport and broadcast accidents,unsafe areas, road and traffic

issues on the map to help ben-efit other users, which will beanalysed by IIT Madras andMapmyIndia and will then beused by the government toimprove road conditions infuture.

Ministry, MapmyIndiajoin hands for road safetyPNS n NEW DELHI

Hindalco Industries on Fridaysaid it has signed a definitiveagreement with Norway-basedHydro to acquire the latter'sIndia business of aluminiumextrusions for an enterprisevalue of Rs 247 crore.

The acquisition brings intothe Hindalco fold, an integrat-ed facility located at Kuppam inAndhra Pradesh, an experi-enced team of employees andthe ability to serve a robust port-folio of reputed customers, thecompany said in a statement.

Hydro's Kuppam plant has a15,000-tonne aluminium extru-sions capacity and is integratedwith advanced value additioncapabilities for surface finishingand fabrication. Located about

120 kilometres from Bengaluru,the Kuppam facility offers cus-tom aluminium extrusion prod-ucts and solutions for auto,building and construction, andindustrial applications.

It will further extendHindalco's footprint in southIndia, which is the secondlargest extrusions market inthe country. Hindalco is partof the diversified Aditya BirlaGroup. The acquisition ofKuppam plant is a strategicstep to expand our presence inthe upper-end of the value-added market. The plant'sspecialised product portfoliowill enhance our capabilities inhigh-end extrusions and fab-ricated solutions, HindalcoManaging Director Satish Paisaid.

Hindalco inks pact toacquire Hydro's India unit

PNS n NEW DELHI

Gold price in the nationalcapital on Friday rallied by Rs398 to Rs 47,762 per 10 gramreflecting gains in preciousmetal prices in the interna-tional market, according toHDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, theyellow metal settled at Rs47,364 per 10 gram.

Silver also gained Rs 1,033to Rs 61,147 per kg from Rs60,114 per kg in the previoustrade. In the internationalmarket, gold was tradingwith gains at USD 1,808 perounce and silver was flat atUSD 22.62 per ounce.

Gold climbs Rs 398; silverzooms Rs 1,033on global cues

India-UK FTA talks likelyto start next month: Goyal

9

Vijayawada | Saturday December 18, 2021 what’s brewing?

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

Astroworld tragedy: All 10 victims confirmedto have died of ‘compression asphyxia'

total of 10 people were killed followinga crowd surge at rapper Travis Scott’smusic festival Texas’s Houston lastmonth, and now medical examinershave released documents confirmingtheir causes of death. In all cases, the

cause of death was ruled as “compression asphyx-ia”, with one victim also having another cause ofdeath listed as “combined toxic effects of cocaine,methamphetamine and ethanol”, reports female-first.co.uk. Compression asphyxia occurs when res-piration is prevented due to external pressure onthe body and is usually caused by force compress-ing the chest and abdomen. Nine people - JacobJurinek, 21, John Hilgert, 14, Brianna Rodriguez,16, Franco Patio, 21, Axel Acosta, 21, Rudy Pea, 23,Madison Dubiski, 23, Danish Baig, 27, and BhartiShahani, 22, were initially confirmed to have diedafter the crowd “began to compress” to the front ofthe stage during Scott’s set. A week later, a nine-year-old boy named Ezra Blount also passed awayas a result of his injuries sustained during the surgeafter spending several days in a medically inducedcoma. Following the tragedy, the families of several vic-

tims have pursued legal action against Travis, aswell as Live Nation, the company who organisedthe event. Last month, 282 victims of the concertfiled a $2 billion lawsuit against Scott, Drake, LiveNation, Apple Music and NRG Stadium where theevent was held claiming they “cut corners, cutcosts, and put attendees at risk.”While another 125 victims including the family of

21-year-old Axel Acosta Avila who died in theincident filed a $750 million lawsuit for the loss ofmental and physical health and loss of human life.

There was also a lawsuit from two concert securityguards Jackson Bush and his uncle Samuel Bush,who are seeking $1 million after claiming organis-ers of the event put “greed” before safety. The family of the tragedy’s second-youngest vic-tim, 14-year-old John Hilgert, have also filed theirown lawsuit against Scott, organisers Live Nation,and several others involved in the concert for $1million, citing “gross negligence” and “reckless dis-regard” for people’s safety.

ctress Priyanka ChopraJonas, who is currentlybusy promoting herupcoming Hollywood filmThe Matrix Resurrections,has lashed out at a news

article calling her “wife of NickJonas”. She asked for an explanationas to how this can still happen towomen. Priyanka took to herInstagram stories, where she sharedscreenshots of the article and ques-tioned if she should add her IMDblink to her bio. The article shared byPriyanka read: “The wife of NickJonas shared...” It quoted her speak-

ing on Good Morning America abouther co-star Keanu Reeves.Highlighting it, Priyanka said: “Veryinteresting that I’m promoting one ofthe most iconic film franchises of alltime, and I’m still referenced as ‘thewife of...’.” Tagging her husband NickJonas, the actress added: “Pleaseexplain how this still happens towomen? Should I add my IMDb linkto my bio?” The Matrix Resurrectionsalso features Carrie-Anne Moss, NeilPatrick Harris, Yahya Abdul-MateenII, Jonathan Groff, among others. It isscheduled to hit the theaters onDecember 22.

Priyanka lashes out at

news article calling her

‘wife of Nick Jonas'

ex and the City actor Chris Noth deniedsexual assault accusations reported bythe Hollywood Reporter on Thursday,saying his encounters with two womenin 2004 and 2015 were consensual. Noth

plays the romantic partner Mr. Big, or Big, in theHBO television series and its new sequel And JustLike That. Exercise bike company Peloton onThursday removed a social media ad it had releasedearlier this week featuring Noth’s character. It saidin a statement it was previously unaware of theaccusations against Noth and said that “every singlesexual assault accusation must be taken seriously.”Noth issued his statement in response to theHollywood Reporter story in which two women,using pseudonyms, described sexual incidents withhim in Los Angeles and New York in 2004 and2015. “The accusations against me made by indi-viduals I met years, even decades, ago are categori-cally false. These stories could’ve been from 30years ago or 30 days ago— no always means no—that is a line I did not cross. The encounters wereconsensual,” Noth said in the statement. “It’s diffi-cult not to question the timing of these stories com-ing out. I don’t know for certain why they are sur-facing now, but I do know this: I did not assaultthese women,” he added. Both women told theHollywood Reporter that Noth’s return to the Sexand the City franchise had triggered memories oftheir experiences with him years ago. One, using the name Zoe, said she was 22 when shemet Noth while working for a company in 2004where celebrities had business. She said he invitedher to the pool at his apartment building and laterkissed her and had sex with her against her will.The other woman, using the name Lily, was a serv-er at a New York nightclub where Noth asked her

on a date in 2015. She said she later went with himto his apartment where they had sex but she leftfeeling “totally violated.” Neither encounter wasreported to police at the time. Noth, 67, is bestknown for playing the on and off romantic interestof Sarah Jessica Parker’s writer character CarrieBradshaw in the Sex and the City TV series andmovie. In Just Like That, which premiered on HBOMax last week, the first episode finds Mr. Big hap-pily married to Bradshaw but dying of a heartattack while exercising on a Peloton bike. Scores ofmen in entertainment, politics and business havebeen accused of sexual misconduct in recent yearsfollowing the rise of the #MeToo movement in2017.

ctor Bhavya Sachdeva, who was last seenessaying the negative role of Chandrachur inthe television show Barrister Babu, says hewants to act in an intense love story. He said:“I have experimented with a good variety ofroles. And though I can never get enough of

trying something new, I really wish to do a coming-of-age character in an intense love story. I want to investmyself in a role like I have never done before. I wish toundergo a journey both as a character and an actor.”Bhavya has previously appeared in shows such as PavitraBhagya and Shaadi Ke Siyape. The actor also was excited about getting an offer from aTamil television show. He said: “I remember watching TV during the first lock-down and coming across people who couldn’t stopappreciating Barrister Babu. I just couldn’t believe myluck when I gotto be a part ofit later on.”Bhavya added:“Indeed, it wastruly a belovedshow. I wish Ihad a simpleanswer to giveabout it goingoff air.Interestingly,though, ourshow has start-ed airing inTamil asBommi B.A.,B.L. I am reallyhappy about it.”

After playing the evilChandrachur, Bhavya Sachdeva

roots for romantic role

A

s a

a

Sex and the City actor Chris Noth

denies sexual assault accusations

SHIKHA DUGGGAL

ho knew about food blogging earlier?Today, it’s prospering so much even inthe city of Hyderabad! Nowadays, withthe F&B industry, the one name that isattached is also food blogging and it isbooming. Taking this lucrative line ofwork one notch ahead is a Hyderabadi

food blogger Syed Aamir Ahmed, who’s born andbrought up in this city. His ancestors played areally significant role in F&B industry, while thiscity was only developing. Other than this whatreally caught our attention to go forward withhim for this week’s ‘Hyderabond’ was he perform-ing his food blogging only in the Hyderabadidialect! You’ll find many who are raring to gowhere the whole world is moving, and that istowards advancement and to be tech-savvy,because after all it’s the digitised era. Whereas wehave Aamir ‘sahab’, who is rather fanatical on tak-ing the Hyderabadi dialect ahead through thefame and popularity he has gained via food tast-ing! Was it so easy for him? Nah. He had hisshare of resistance too. At the beginning, thefoodie was delighted to let us know his historicassociation with the city. He shares, “From thepast four generations, we are a crucial part ofHyderabad city. We owned the very first bakeryin this city! Our friendship with the metropolisbegins from the year 1945. World war II was thecentric discussion at that time. My grandfatherknew the Germans, who were residing in Hyd,one thing he did recall always was how Germanswere so fond of bread. That led to the shaping ofa bakery. None of us ever thought of permanentlymoving out from Hyd. There is nothing like thiscity, especially its cuisine. I have seen locals fromthe other towns, they are always in a hurry. Itmade me wonder, ‘aisi bhi kya jaldi hai bhai’?(what’s the hurry).”

Auxiliary to this, we tried touching upon thefocus of his food blogging in Hyderbadi dialectand he informs us that he started blogging fromthe time when there was no Insta popularity!People noticed his expertise in Hyderabadi Hindi,and hence here he is with an accepted

Hyderabadi food blogging youtube channel. “Ididn’t enjoy blogging in English at all. It just was-n’t me. Hitherto, if there were locals who couldresonate with my dialect, there were some whotook offence. It made that particular group feel asif I am making fun of the inherited language andno, I wasn’t! In fact, there were senior bloggersadvising me to avoid doing what I like. I am anindividual filled with hilarity; I loved taking thehilarious route. And, this quality of mine madevegetarians also watch the food videos, whichincluded non-veg cooking! Within two years, Igained two lakh subscribers with 15 crore viewsand it’s a huge milestone as a beginner. Life is notall about eulogising, criticism is bound to hap-pen. If north-Indians can continue to speak inHindi, why do we south-Indians move toEnglish? It’s funny. My aim is not to reachMichelin star hotels in Hyderabad. I want to givelimelight to the local restos of this city who aremaking some exotic food for us! Whenever I useUrdu speech in my videos, older ones are sure tolisten to it,” he adds. When the united AndhraPradesh got divided, the food connoisseur felt sadhow even in Telangana there seems to be a split!Moreover, whenever this blogger is fed up fromthe daily chow-chow of life, you’ll find him in theOld City. When we asked him why? He lets usknow, “Even though workers earn a vagueamount of Rs 400 a day, still they are the mostchilled out people you’ll find. In areas likeBanjara Hills and all, locals are only rushingtowards development. They are hungry forexpansion, it’s fully westernised but if one stillwants to relish the old culture of Nizams, theycan hop on to a rickshaw and come to the OldCity. Personally, as a ‘pucca’ Hyderabadi, I willsomewhat prefer having chai at a roadside corner,than going to Starbucks. People don’t mind loud-ness in the Old City, whereas in other areas,passersby will give you a weird look.”

He loves Hyderabadi biryani so much that heclaims he can even have it three times a day! Evenwhile doing food reviews, if the ‘biryani’ isflavoursome, he automatically finds the wholeplatter to be delicious. He continues, “It’s a well-known fact that whoever comes to Hyderabad,

they can’t go without eating Biryani. Hyderabadisnever compromise on biryani, it’s our trademark!Recently, when Salman Khan came to Kukatpally,he mentioned in the meet and greet that he didn’tgive Biryani a miss. Biryani is as famous ascharminar here.”

From playing gully cricket, to taking randomnight strolls to the Tank Bund when it was noth-ing, but muddy roads, to emerging flyovers andMetro rail today — Aamir saw the real evolutionof the conurbation, claims. He has been an activepart from the time when people were boardingflights from Begumpet Airport and now it’sRGIA. Now with the food blogging scene in thecity, Aamir saw how even restaurants advancedover-time. From pamphlets and billboards, theyhave come to in-person invites to food bloggersand launch parties in order to promote the newplace and that’s how the new Hyderabad is fromthe eyes of this ‘pucca Hyderabadi’ blogger.

Dawat-e-ishq hai!W

I didn’t enjoy blogging in English at all. Itjust wasn’t me. Hitherto, if there were locals

who could resonate with my dialect, there weresome who took offence. It made that particulargroup feel as if I am making fun of the inherit-ed language and no, I wasn’t! In fact, there were

senior bloggers advising me to avoid doingwhat I like. I am an individual filled with hilar-ity; I loved taking the hilarious route. And, this

quality of mine made vegetarians also watchthe food videos, which included non-veg cook-ing! Within two years, I gained two lakh sub-

scribers with 15 crore views and it’s a hugemilestone as a beginner.

nitially right before the COVID-19Pandemic struck in, the financialmarkets were doing exceptionallywell, but with a sudden decline inincome and other factors, there wasan evident decline in the ability of

making investments in the market, as peoplehad to utilise and safeguard all their financesto ensure that they could survive the pandem-ic. As soon as the restrictions were upheld,there came a ray of hope in the market, as themarket started witnessing a slow but steadygrowth day by day, and taking about the cur-rent scenario, it is seen that the financial mar-ket is at its all-time high with NIFTY being18000+ and Bank NIFTY at 38000+ There was a time when it was a scary scenariofor all the investors and investment companies,as it was seen that many businesses and star-tups collapsed as they couldn't bear the lossesincurred due to the effects of the pandemic,this for a long time threatened a lot ofinvestors to either withdraw or stop from mak-ing the investment, for which the direct conse-quences were faced by businesses as they didn’thave the required money to function smoothly.

Currently as the market is performing well, allinvestment companies are doing their best toearn subsequent profit for themselves and theinvestors, but the real challenge will arise whenthere will start a decline in the market, and itwill be interesting to see how investment man-agement companies will try their best toensure that, how they and their clients are stillable to derive desired profits from their invest-ments. When we talk about the rise in the

trend of investing money in the financial mar-kets, it is seen that there has been a huge risein the number of youth who are interested ininvesting their money in the financial markets,as they are saving up for their future goals.This recent trend has also contributed in help-ing the investment companies make a biggerprofit than anticipated, as these individuals arenaive and are still learning the art of investingtheir money. With this sudden rise in invest-ment, there is a huge possibility that the mar-ket could see an elevated growth and will leadto better results for the investors. Talkingabout the choice of investments, today every-one is willing to invest in places where there isa less risk but good chance of returns ratherthan the classic way of investing, where there isa higher risk with a possibility of higherreturns. This has also helped the industry staystable for a while as there people haven’t yetprepared themselves for taking bigger risks dueto there being a possibility that the 3rd wave ofthe COVID 19 pandemic might be right by thecorner. To summarize, it can be said thatwhilst the financial market have opened upand performing well currently, people are still

spec-tacle ininvestinglargeramount hop-ing for higherreturns, as due toCOVID 19, noone is willing totake such a risk,which can endangerall their saving, butthrough smart invest-ments, they are still able to earn betterthan what they could have through FD’sand other non-risky means of investment.

(The author, Gaurav Sharma, is thefounder of KCS Invest)

n 2021,itbecameclearthat few

things in the art worldhave to remain as they

once were because this yearbrought with it dramatic

shifts of its own. After Covid-related long delays, long-

awaited museums infinally opened in the

Hyderabad city, andthere were established

art festivals seen on theplaying field. Artists

were seen pushing artforward, shaping the city

with certain pressingissues through art, paving

the way for the rise of anew medium too sometimes

that is digital art. Meanwhile,within the market, prominentinternational figures helped bringback art fairs, auctions and morewhich had been sorely missed bysome amid pandemic. Let’s take a lookback at the defining art events of 2021 in thecity of Hyderabad!

Evolving nature art

Shrishti Art Gallery in JubileeHills announced another

group exhibition titled‘Nature Tales’. Artworks byAlpana Vij, Amjum Rizve,Anilakumar Govindappa,Dibyendu Seal, GanapatiHegde, Hardev Chauhan,

and Konda Srinivas Rao ison view. Artists have focused

on natural scenery from natureas subject matter in their artworks

to represent not only its obvious beauty butalso to illustrate an idea, tell a story, or con-ceptualise a metaphor!

Storytelling through Cheriyal art

For the first time, Telangana’s 400-year-old Cheriyal scroll painting art form

was showcased on a global platformas part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit

Mahotsav’. The Cheriyal scrollpainting is among four tradi-

tional art

forms select-ed from India for

the famed Hong KongWalls festival. This year, fourbudding artists were selectedfrom India, includingDanalakota Sai Kiran Varma fromTelangana who comes from a family that has beenpractising and preserving the Cheriyal scroll paint-ing.

Digital repository of Dhokra art form

With the aim of training the younger generationsof Ojha community in the traditional Dhokra artform, a team at the Indian Institute of Technology-

Hyderabad conducted a design interventionworkshop. Led by professor Deepak

John Mathew of the institute’sdepartment of Design, the

workshop was held for OjhaGonds of Adilabad as a

part of an ongoing pro-ject called Tangible andIntangible CulturalHeritage of Telangana.It aimed at sustainingtraditional craft prac-tices

ofthe

Ojhas andto provide them

opportunities to generatelivelihood from their ancestraloccupation of Dhokra craft-mak-ing.

Birth of Hope Kosmos

To bring back the colours oncanvas, city-based artist,

Manohar Chiluveru starteda global art project called‘Hope Kosmos’ that aimedat creating a support sys-tem for the artistic com-munity. The one-of-a-kind

exhibition held at ShrishtiArt Gallery, saw the partici-

pation of many celebrities,including Samantha Ruth Prabhu,

Lakshmi Manchu, Shilpa Reddy and ReginaCassandra, on the inaugural day. A digital plat-form, Hope Kosmos, will enable the artists to dis-play their art as well as reach out to the patrons forinvestments in their projects.

Art via augmented reality

French artist Béatrice de Fays’ bond withHyderabad was so deep that she turned to aug-mented reality animation to express her feelingsabout living in the city. Her new show, ‘A Womanin the Dance-City’ at Art Walkway, Park Hyattcomprised of 12 paintings, which are like a dreaminspired by the granite rocks on the DeccanPlateau. Visitors were able towatch the paintings comealive by downloadingin.space app and scanningeach painting to discover

spatial, narrative andsound dimen-

sions.

Adding artsyessence toHyderabad

city

Investment companies on cloud nine in India!

i

i

SaturdayDecember 18, 2021

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sports 11VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2021

PTI n HUELVA (SPAIN)

In a historic first, India wereassured of at least two medals inthe men’s singles competition of

the ongoing BWF WorldBadminton Championships afterthe seasoned Kidambi Srikanthand young Lakshya Sen enteredtheir maiden semifinals of the mar-quee event here on Friday.

However, it was disappoint-ment for defending champion PVSindhu, who lost to familiar foe TaiTzu Ying in the women’s singlesquarterfinals.

India are assured of at least a sil-ver as Srikanth and Sen will faceeach other in the first semifinal onSaturday.

It turned out to be a historic dayfor Indian badminton as firstSrikanth, seeded 12th in the show-piece tournament, sent MarkCaljouw of the Netherlands pack-ing with a 21-8 21-7 win in a matchthat lasted just 26 minutes.

And then the unseeded Senfought his heart out to get the bet-ter of China’s Jun Peng Zhao 21-1515-21 22-20 in an enthralling three-

game encounter lasting one hourand seven minutes

The two will join the legendaryPrakash Padukone (bronze in 1983)

and B Sai Praneeth (bronze in2019) as the Indian medal winnersat the showpiece.

Sindhu, who lost her quarterfi-

nal match against Tai Tzu, haswon five medals in the showpiecewhile Saina Nehwal has two medalsto her name.

The women’s doubles pair ofJwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappahad also won a bronze in 2011.

The world number 14 Srikanthwas ahead 11-5 at the first game’schange of ends and from 14-8, hetook seven straight points to pock-et it in a jiffy.

The second game was no differ-ent as Srikanth completely out-played his opponent. From 4-3, itwas Srikanth all the way as hezoomed to another seven straightpoints. From 17-7, Sriknath pock-eted another four points on the trotto win the match.

In the women’s singles, Sindhusuffered a straight-game defeat toworld number one Tai Tzu ofChinese Taipei to bow out of thechampionships.

The top-seeded Tai Tzu beatSindhu 21-17 21-13 in an energy-sapping match that lasted 42 min-utes.

Sindhu found it difficult tomatch Tai Tzu’s speed, court cover-age and drop shots as has been thecase many times earlier though theIndian produced some fine cross-court smashes.

Sindhu, who also stumbled tomany unforced errors during thematch, was always playing a catch-up game. She managed to do thatin the second game at one stage butlost steam later on.

The win extended the head-to-head record between the two topplayers to 15-5 in favour of theChinese Taipei player.

The world number seven anddouble Olympic-medallist Sindhuhad also lost to Tai Tzu in the TokyoGames semifinals earlier this year.

Tai Tzu, on the other hand,avenged her defeat to Sindhu in the2019 World Championships at thesame stage.

The two players -- friends offthe court -- were tied 2-2 early onbut Tai Tzu shifted gears quickly totake a lead of 11-6 at the change ofends in the first game.

Sindhu made a recovery to nar-row down the gap to 16-18 and then17-19 with some fine cross-courtsmashes. But the Indian could notmaintain the tempo till the end asshe hit wide twice to lose the firstgame in 17 minutes.

The second game was more

closely fought, but again Tai Tzu led11-8 at the change of ends afterSindhu made an error in judgment.

But two brilliant smashes forwhich Tai Tzu had no answer sawthe gap narrowing to just one pointat 10-11.

Tai Tzu took the next point butSindhu produced another cross-court smash to make it 11-12. TheChinese Taipei player then sent theshuttle wide for Sindhu to level thescores at 12-12.

The nimble-footed Tai Tzutook the next three points but thenhit on the nets. An unsuccessful linecall challenge saw Sindhu trail 13-16.

The Indian hit on to the netnext and could not reach to a dropshot from her great rival to trail byfive points at 13-18.

Sindhu continued her unforcederrors as she hit wide and thenmissed Tai Tzu’s smash to lose thematch.

In HS Prannoy, another Indianis still in the reckoning for a placein the men’s singles semifinals as hewill take on Kean Yew Loh ofSingapore later in the day.

PTI n DHAKA

Vice-captain HarmanpreetSingh scored a brace as

Olympic bronze-medallistsIndia defeated arch-rivalsPakistan 3-1 to register theirsecond consecutive win andvirtually qualify for the semi-finals of the Asian ChampionsTrophy men’s hockey tourna-ment here on Friday.

Harmanpreet (8th, 53rdminutes) converted two penal-ty corners, while comeback-man Akashdeep Singh, whocouldn’t make the Tokyo

Olympics squad, found the netfrom a field effort in the 42ndminute for his second goal ofthe tournament.

Pakistan’s lone goal wasscored by Junaid Manzoor inthe 45th minute.

It was India’s second win inthe tournament after their 9-0drubbing of hosts Bangladesh,while Pakistan are still winless,having drawn goal-less againstJapan in their opening match.

India had earlier drawn 2-2 against Korea in their tour-nament opener.

India are currently leading

the points table with sevenpoints from three games andwill take on Japan in their lastround-robin match of the five-team tournament on Sunday.

Pakistan, meanwhile, havejust one point from two games.

India and Pakistan werethe joint winners in the last edi-tion of the tournament inMuscat after the final waswashed out.

The Indians completelydominated possession in thefirst two quarters whilePakistan preferred to sit back.But they defended admirably

save for Harmanpreet’s lonestrike.

The play was mostly on thePakistan half in the first twoquarters as Indians pressedhard from the onset and creat-ed a couple of chances but cred-it must go to goalkeeper MazarAbbas who was brilliant over-all. But expectedly, it was Indiawho took the lead in the eighthminute when Harmanpreetconverted the team’s first penal-ty corner with a powerful lowflick to the left of the Pakistangoalie. Four minutes later, skip-per Manpreet Singh’ deflection

from outside the circle wassaved by an alert Abbas.

The second quarter contin-ued in the same manner asIndia made numerous inroadsbut the Pakistan defence wasupto the task.

While Pakistan defencestood out, the team’s forwardline looked unimpressive as itfailed to register a single shoton the goal or secure a penal-ty corner.

Leading 1-0 at half time,the Indians kept up the pres-sure on the Pakistan goal andincreased their lead in the

42nd minute when Akashdeepslapped in Sumit’s drive fromthe left flank with a reverse hit.

But the fighting Pakistanisdidn’t give up hope and uppedtheir game from here on,reducing the margin 27 sec-onds from the end of the thirdquarter through Manzoor’s div-ing deflection from AbdulRana’s pass. If the first threequarters belonged to India,Pakistan gave Manpreet and hismen a run for their money inthe final quarter, which pro-duced end-to-end enthrallinghockey.

AP n ADELAIDE

Marnus Labuschagne became the firstplayer to hit three centuries in day-

night test matches while captain SteveSmith missed out on a ton as Australiastrangled England with a powerful totalof 473-9 declared in the second Ashes teston Friday.

Labuschagne made 103 and Smithscored 93 before Australia’s tailendersknocked off some quick runs againstEngland’s worn-out bowlers and Australiadeclared after tea.

England limped to 17-2 in 8.4 overs-- still trailing by 456 runs -- before a mas-sive flash of lightning took the players offthe field and brought an early closure tothe second day’s play.

Michael Nesser got a wicket off hissecond ball in test cricket when he hadHaseeb Hameed (6) caught at mid-on afterMitchell Starc had Rory Burns (4) caughtin the slips off a delivery which went across

the left-hander and took the shoulder ofthe bat.

Starc (39 not out) and Neser (35) hadearlier shared a rapid half century standfor the eighth wicket after England seemedto have contained the damage and hadAustralia on 390-7 at tea.

Jhye Richardson lofted Chris Woakes(1-103) for a big six off his second ball overmidwicket before Smith declared whenRichardson was caught behind off Woakes.

Ben Stokes, who dropped a hardcatch of Starc off his own bowling, finishedwith 3-113 but Australia removed bothEngland openers cheaply before play wascalled off early.

Smith and Alex Carey (51) combinedin a 91-run sixth wicket stand beforeAnderson removed both batsmen in suc-cessive overs just before tea. Smith shuf-fled back across the line and was adjudgedlbw and Carey chipped an easy catch inthe covers.

Earlier, England took three wickets

during an even first session after Australiaresumed on 221-2.

In a dramatic 40 minutes to start theday, Labuschagne, resuming on 95, edgedJimmy Anderson to third man for four torecord the sixth century of his career and

first in the Ashes.Moments later he was caught behind

off Ollie Robinson, retreating all the wayto the boundary rope before replaysshowed it had been a no-ball.

Labuschagne eventually fell in the

400th minute of his innings, lbw after try-ing to leave a ball in Robinson’s next overthat came back at him.

Of the 3,068 players in test cricket’s144-year history, only Don Bradman,George Headley, Herbert Sutcliffe andMike Hussey have reached 2,000 runsfaster than Labuschagne’s total in 34innings.

Bradman achieved his 2,000 runs in22 innings, Jamaican Headley in 32 andEngland’s Sutcliffe and Australia’s Husseyin 33.

Labuschagne has now scored centuriesin three consecutive day-night tests at theAdelaide Oval, averaging almost 100 andwith just one score below 40.

Australia’s humungous first inningstotal could prove significant in the out-come of the game. All eight teams whichhave posted 300 or more batting first inday-night tests have gone on to win. Andthe eight teams to pull up short of thatmark have all lost.

PTI n BENGALURU

India white-ball captain Rohit Sharmaand all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja have

started their rehabilitation at the NationalCricket Academy here after being ruled outof the upcoming Test series in South Africadue to injuries.

The two senior players were seen at theNCA with India U-19 captain Yash Dhullin his social media posts. The U-19 teamis currently camping at the NCA ahead ofthe Asia Cup beginning in the UAE fromDecember 23.

Rohit, who was named ODI captainlast week replacing Virat Kohli, was to trav-el to South Africa as vice-captain of the Testteam for the series starting on December26 but a hamstring injury during trainingruled him out.

His expected recovery time is betweenthree to four weeks.

India ‘A’ captain Priyank Panchal wasnamed in place of Rohit in the Test squad,which reached South Africa on Thursdayfor the series.

The senior opener, who took charge asT20I captain against New Zealand lastmonth, is expected to be available to leadthe team for the ODI leg of the SouthAfrica tour, which is to take place inJanuary.

Jadeja has been ruled out of the SouthAfrica tour due to a knee injury which hesustained during the home New ZealandTest series last month.

He may take a longer time to recoverfrom his injury.

AP n PARIS

Lewis Hamilton andMercedes team princi-

pal Toto Wolff were thetwo most remarkableabsentees at the season-ending FIA Awards galathat was held in Paris.

Wolff had confirmedearlier that neither he norHamilton would attendthe ceremony, despite thetop three drivers in theWorld Championshipstandings effectively beingrequired to be present and

despite Hamilton beingthe FIA Personality of theYear.

Max Verstappen, whowon the F1 title in the lastlap of the last race of theseason in Abu Dhabi lastSunday, was officially pre-sented with the champi-on’s trophy.

It was also the lastgala attended by an emo-tional Jean Todt as FIAPresident after 12 years atthe helm of the motorsport’s world governingbody.

PTI n KOLKATA

Former Zimbabwe captainAndy Flower was on

Friday appointed as the headcoach of the yet-to-be-namedLucknow franchise, whichwill make its debut in the2022 Indian PremierLeague.

Flower was workingwith Punjab Kings asassistant coach for thepast two seasons.

KL Rahul,who wasP u n j a b ’ sskipper forthe last twoseasons, isa l s oexpectedto move tothe Sanjiv

Goenka-owned franchise.“I am incredibly excited

to be joining the newLucknow franchise and I amvery grateful for the opportu-nity. Since my very first tourto India in 1993, I have always

loved touring, playing andcoaching in India,” said

Flower in a statement. “The passion for

cricket in India is unri-valled and it is a realprivilege to lead an

IPL franchiseand I am look-

ing forwardto workingc l o s e l ywith DrGoenkaand theLucknowteam.

“I will relish the challengeto build something meaning-ful and successful with theLucknow franchise, I amlooking forward to meetingthe management and staffwhen I visit Uttar Pradesh inthe new year.”

Goenka added: “As aplayer and a Coach Andy hasleft an indelible mark in thehistory of cricket . We respecthis professionalism and hopehe will work with our visionand add value to our team.”

The Zimbabwean great,who coached England to theT20 World Cup title in 2010and also the number onespot in Test rankings, is at thehelm of Punjab Kings ownedfranchise in the CaribbeanPremier League -- Saint LuciaKings.

AP n KARACHI

Pakistan completed a cleansweep in the three-match

Twenty20 series against a virus-hitWest Indies with a resoundingseven-wicket win on Thursday.

Run-machine MohammadRizwan rounded off the year withhis 12th half century in Twenty20

internationals by scoring 87 whilecaptain Babar Azam made 79 inPakistan’s blistering run-chase of208-3 in 18.5 overs.

The West Indies squad wasfurther depleted on the morningof the match when three moreplayers tested positive for thecoronavirus, increasing the num-ber of cases to nine — six playersand three support personnel — inthe tourists’ camp.

The West Indies’ top-orderbatters, led by captain NicholasPooran’s blazing 64 off 37 balls, stilldid well to post 207-3 after thetourists had won the toss andelected to bat.

“Rizwan and I thought ofgoing till the end and keep man-aging the run rate,” Babar said.“Our bench strength got a goodworkout too and it’s a great sign forme as a captain.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

Abill which seeks to provide statuto-ry framework for the functioning of

the National Anti-Doping Agency(NADA), empowering it to conductraids besides strengthening measures totackle drug abuse in Indian sports wasintroduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

It was introduced by Sports MinisterAnurag Thakur amid protests by theopposition over the Lakhimpur Kheriviolence.

It is intended to provide a “statuto-ry framework for the operation of theNational Anti-Doping Agency (NADA),the National Dope Testing Laboratory(NDTL) and other dope testing labora-tories and for creation of a NationalBoard for Anti-Doping in Sports tostrengthen anti-doping activities in

sport.”The bill seeks to give NADA pow-

ers of “investigation, levying sanctionsfor Anti-Doping Rule Violations, the dis-ciplinary procedures to be adoptedand the powers of inspection, samplecollection and sharing and free flow ofinformation.” The clause 19 of the billprovides NADA the power of “entry,search and seizure by any person autho-rised by the agency for the purpose ofdetermining if any anti-doping rule vio-lation has been committed”.

“The procedure to be adopted shallbe in accordance with the provisions ofthe Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.”

Earlier, NADA had no authority toconduct raids and its anti-doping appealpanel has held the same. Many formersportspersons, head of National SportsFederations and experts have been call-

ing for an anti-doping legislation to givemore teeth to the existing rules madeunder the WADA Anti-Doping Code.

It also provides for the establishmentof the NDTL and other dope testing lab-oratories.

The NDTL is currently suspendedby the World Anti-Doping Agency(WADA) for failing to meet technicalrequirements.

If passed by the Parliament, it willgive legislative backing to anti-dopingnorms in the country.

It will also to give effect to UnitedNations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organisation InternationalConvention against Doping in Sport.India signed the convention in 2005 andratified it in November 2007.

After this, the government estab-lished the NDTL in 2008 and theNADA in 2009 to fulfil the country’scommitments.

The NADA and NDTL, establishedas societies under Societies RegistrationAct, will be dissolved and reconstitut-ed.

Under clause 34, “all the rights andliabilities of the Society shall be trans-ferred to, and be the rights and liabili-ties of, the National Anti-DopingAgency or the National Dope TestingLaboratory, as the case may be, estab-lished under this Act”.

The NADA will be constituted as abody corporate by the same name andwill continue to have its head office inNew Delhi.

The agency shall be headed by aDirector General to be appointed by thecentral government.

This Board will constitute aNational Anti-Doping DisciplinaryPanel and Anti-Doping Appeal Panel forthe purpose of determining the conse-quences of anti-doping rule violations.The bill lays down the circumstances,acts or conduct which will constitute ananti-doping violation, including posses-sion, presence, use or attempted use,trafficking or attempted trafficking,administration of any prohibited sub-stance or prohibited methods, refusingor failing to submit sample, whereaboutsfailure.

PTI n DHAKA

India lost by a solitary goal to hosts Bangladeshfor their first defeat in the SAFF U19 Women’s

Championship here on Friday. India had earlier registered comfortable vic-

tories over Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Shamsunnahar’s seventh minute strike from

the penalty spot made the difference between thetwo sides.

The match began with both teams going hardfrom the first whistle as Bangladesh looked tomake the most of their physical prowess andpressed the Indian defenders high up the pitch.

The first opportunity of the game went toBangladesh, who were awarded a penalty in theseventh minute which was converted byShamsunnahar.

Although, Bangladesh went on an attackingmode and dominated possession after the goal,India got an excellent opportunity to restore par-ity in the 40th minute when Sumati Kumari passeda ball to Mariyammal whose left-footer wentstraight into the hands of Bangladesh goalieRupna.

Young Sen, Srikanth assured of maiden medals

Rohit Sharma,

Jadeja begin

rehab at NCA

Harmanpreet’s double strike hands India 3-1 win over Pakistan

Verstappen celebrates F1title at FIA Awards asHamilton snubs ceremony

Anti-doping bill, which empowers NADA, introduced in Lok Sabha

England limps to 17-2 after Australia declares at 473-9

Pakistan sweeps virus-hit West

Indies in Twenty20 series

India lose 0-1 to B’desh in SAFF

U-19 Women’s ChampionshipAndy Flower appointed head coachof IPL’s Lucknow franchise

s the magnum opus, RRRis gearing up for a massivetheatrical release inJanuary, the makers havenow decides to go all outwith the promotions. As

per reports, the makers are organisingthe biggest promotional event in thehistory of Indian cinema on 19thDecember in Mumbai. It is touted tobe a visual spectacle where the entirecast and crew would come together,along with the bigwigs of the industry.

With proper Covid protocols, it issaid that the scale of the event isequal to a normal Film's budget.Each of the lead actors are said tohave a huge and enormous never

seen before entries at the event. Leadactors will also be seen performingfor the audiences on a massive scale,which is another exciting update ofthe event.

RRR featuring Ajay Devgan, RamCharan, Alia Bhatt and Jr NTR is amassive thrill and it has alreadyamassed a huge fan base from allover ever since the trailer droppedin. Directed by S.S Rajamouli, themovie includes a star-studded lineupbesides lead actors Ram Charan andJr. NTR. Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt,Olivia Morris will be seen in pivotalroles while Samuthirakani, RayStevenson and Alison Doody join inas supporting roles. Jayantilal Gada

(PEN) has bagged the theatrical dis-tribution rights across North Indiaand has also bought worldwideelectronic rights for all lan-guages. Pen Marudhar willbe distributing the filmin the North Territory.The Telugu-languageperiod action dramafilm is produced byD. V. V. Danayyaof DVVEntertainments.'RRR' is releas-ing on January7, 2022.

amil film Aranmanai 3starring Sundar C, Arya,Rashi Khanna andAndrea in the lead roles,

is said to get a Telugu release thismonth. The film, a horror come-dy, directed by Sundar C, will bereleased in Telugu on December31 as 'Antahpuram'. 'Aranmanai'released in Telugu as'Chandrakala' and 'Aranmanai 2'released as 'Kalavathi' were verysuccessful. 'Aranmanai 3' receiveda good response in Tamil. Withthat, hopes are high that the thirdpart of the film will be a hit inTelugu too. It is being heard thatRashi Khanna is a special attrac-tion in this film who impressedthe Tamil audience immenselywith her role. Moreover, it is thefirst horror comedy film starringRashi Khanna. Ahead of therelease, director Sundar C said,"Telugu films are always appreci-ated by the audience. There are alot of things that Telugu audi-ences will like in this film. Horrorand comedy scenes impresseveryone. Visually, the film is ofhigh standards.”

Actor Vijay Antonywho rose to fame in

Tollywood circleswith Bichagadu, isback with another

film to entertain theTelugu audience. The

film titled VikramRathod is directed by

Babu Yogeshwaranand is produced byPepsi Shiva. It alsostars Suresh Gopiplaying the female

lead, while SonuSood, Yogibabu will

be seen essayingsome key roles. The

film is being releasedin Telugu by Ravuri

Venkataswamy.

The muchanticipated

film Shyam Singha Roy isall set to release in theatres next

week. Promotions have alreadybegun and so have pompous statements

by lead actors at various press meets!Critically acclaimed hero Nani, his lead actress

Sai Pallavi, filmmaker Samuthirakani, producerVenkat Boyanapalli and the film’s core crew mem-

bers were present at the Tamil trailer launch event inChennai on Friday.Speaking at the event, Nani made

a statement that actually left Sivakarthikeyan fansdelighted! Nani said that he has been waiting for the

right script to act in a full-fledged Tamil film for a longtime. “After Eega's success, my Tamil fans gave me a warmwelcome. I waited for the right project to make a comebackin Tamil. When I listened to Shyam Singha Roy’s script, Isuggested that it can be made in Tamil as well. I am surethat everyone will love this film,” said Nani. He just didn'tadd a full stop to his proclamation there, he went on tosay that fans can soon see collaborations betweenTamil and Telugu stars in future. “Working withMani Ratnam sir has been my long-cher-ished dream, as I am his hardcore fan.I would also like to share screenspace with Sivakarthikeyan, andit will definitely happen with

the right script,” said Nani.Directed by Rahul

Sankrityan, Nani will beseen in dual roles in

this film, which ishitting screens

on December24!

12

a

tollywood

RRR makers plan biggest promotional event of

all times in Mumbai!

t

SAMANTHAlikely to makeB’wood debutwith Taapsee

Vijayawada Saturday December 18, 2021

he buzzaboutSamanthaRuthPrabhu’sBollywood

debut has been going onstrong for a while.

She has once againproved that she isunstoppable after herperformance for thespecial song in Pushpa.

Recently, we hearthat the actress is plan-ning to collaborate withTaapsee Pannu, whorecently started herown production house,for a powerful female-centric film. The film issaid to be released inmultiple languages.However, no official

confirmation regardingthe same has beenmade.

Last month,Samantha was invited toa chat show in Mumbaiwhere she opened upabout her personal life,social media trolling,future plans and more.The chat show also had

Sidharth Malhotra,Taapsee Pannu, VickyKaushal, SanyaMalhotra, and AdarshGourav, taking part init. After the bonding ofSamantha and Taapseewas highlighted in thechat show, reports arecoming that TheFamily man 2 fame willmake Bollywood withTaapsee Pannu.

On the workfront,Samantha has signedher first internationalfilm, ‘Arrangements ofLove,’ which will bestaged by BAFTA-win-ning filmmaker PhilipJohn of ‘DowntownAbbey’ fame. She alsohas films like Yashoda,Shakunthalam in line.

T Unanimousnegativity

around ‘PUSHPA'sound-relatedtechnicalities

s the pan-Indiamovie 'Pushpa-The Rise' is outfor screening intheaters fromFriday, the movie

has grabbed all theattention. Withblockbuster book-ings, theatres inAndhra Pradesh andTelangana are fullyoccupied. With ahuge hype around,'Pushpa' has beentermed as AlluArjun's 'One-manShow', as per thereports from the-aters. Helmed bySukumar, the movie'Pushpa' started offwith goodreviews.But, it is tobe noted that theaudience who havewatched the movie atthe theaters are notat all happy with thesound mixing part inthe movie.The mak-ers who got only ashort time for post-production formali-ties had wrapped upthe sound-mixing forthe movie almostuntil the very lastmoment before therelease.The quality of theBGM and thesounds are hugelyimpacted by this,and the audience isnot quite happy withthe output. As the'Pushpa' team hadearlier mentioned,

the sound mixingwas done in the lastfew days. Musicdirector Devi SriPrasad, who evenskipped the promo-tional events, hadworked around theclock to make thingshappen in the giventime.Some of the viewerswho have watchedthe movie on Fridaysuggest the team cor-rect the issues relatedto sound so that theother audience getsto watch with a bet-ter appeal. "Who hasnot watched 'Pushpa'yet, please watch itonly after the soundmixing is redone. Asof now, the bgm partis one of the biggestminuses for themovie", an onlinereviewer wrote."Devi Sri Prasad hadonly a few days forthe music and hencethis mediocre output.I wish he had donebetter", another com-ment reads. ATwitter commentreads, "Music is theculprit. If one properscience would havebeen made with aperfect scene, itwould have been dif-ferent." Despite thecomplaints related tobad sound effects,'Pushpa' is beingenjoyed by AlluArjun's fans.

a

Waitingto act in a

full-fledgedTamil film:

Nani

Raashi’s Tamil horrorflick to release in Telugu