12
The Telangana government on Sunday extended the lock- down till June 30 in contain- ment zones, while lifting restrictions on inter-state movement of people. Certain restrictions currently in force in non- containment zones would continue till June 7. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar announced the extension of the lockdown after holding discussions with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, DGP Mahender Reddy and other senior officials in the backdrop of the Centre issuing new guidelines on the COVID-19 lockdown. KCR instructed the officials concerned to strictly imple- ment the lockdown in the containment zones. Likewise, h e wanted the night-time curfew to be imple- mented firmly from 9 PM to 5 AM. Shops would be allowed to remain open only till 8 PM. There won't be any restrictions on inter-state travel. As per the directions of the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar issued orders on Sunday which came into effect immediately, continu- ing the lockdown in con- tainment zones till June 30. What has come as a major relief to stranded people is the decision of the government to remove restrictions on inter-state movement of persons. As per the Government Order, no sepa- rate permission will be required for such inter-State movements. The Telangana Government on May 18 had extended the lockdown in the State till May 31 with certain relaxations. However, on May 30, the Union Home Ministry issued guidelines extending the nationwide lockdown in con- tainment areas till June 30. Following the Centre's orders extending lockdown in containment zones and reopening prohibited activities in a phased manner in areas outside containment zones, the State decided to extend cer- tain orders concerning lock- down, currently in force in areas outside containment zones, till June 7, though with modifications. Restrictions on movement of persons (other than for access- ing emergency medical care) will continue from 9 PM to 5 AM. No shops, establishments, except hospitals and pharma- cies, will be allowed to remain open after 8 PM. In respect of containment zones, provisions of lockdown order, which are currently in force, also stand extended till June 30. Going by the pace at which Covid-19 positive cases are mounting in Telangana, it appears that the much-talked about curve, instead of flatten- ing, seems to taking a fright- ening turn. For, at 199, the number of fresh Covid -19 cases hit a new peak in TS on Sunday even as the state reported five deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 82. The GHMC area alone accounted for 122 cases, the highest single-day spike so far. This city is followed by Ranga Reddy, which recorded 40 cases. Of the total 199 fresh cases, 196 pertain to locals and the rest three pertain to migrants. At 10, Medchal is another district that has recorded cases in double- digits. The other districts with new corona cases on Sunday include Khammam (9), Mahabubnagar (3), Jagityal (3), Medak (3), Warangal Urban (2), Suryapet (1), Nirmal (1), Yadadri (1), Jangaon (1). With this, the total number of cases in Telangana increased to 2,698, comprising 2,264 locals and 434 non-locals (migrants, deporters, foreign returnees). While 1,188 patients are currently under- going treatment in hospitals, as many as 1,428 patients have been dis- charged upon recov- ery till date. The Centre has airlift- ed 458 deportees so far and were quarantined in govern- ment quarantine centres across the state. Of them, 212 tested positive so far. Similarly, 192 migrants have tested positive till date. Telangana corona caseload going from bad to worse With the Congress high com- mand, for reasons best known to it, refusing to intervene and take stock of the affairs of the Telangana Congress, the party leaders in the state are leaving no stone unturned to show their domination and grab key party posts. The result is that with each passing day, the Grand Old Party is losing image publicly, the infighting is spreading outside the four walls of the party offices and dirty linen is being washed in public. The bone of con- tention is the TPCC chief post, and every Congress leader worth his salt is out to grab it. Groupism is rife, the party is beset with it. The High Command, on its part, is exacerbating the ill will by unduly delaying a decision on the issue. On Sunday, the internal differences in the party lead- ership came out in public yet again, and reminded one and all that the post of TPCC chief is more important to these leaders than public issues. Sangareddy MLA T Jagga Reddy once again brought the issue into public domain, saying that he would do whatever it took to ensure that the High Command does not give the post to Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy. A low-pressure area that has formed between the south- eastern and east-central Arabian Sea is likely to inten- sify into a deep depression within the next 24 hours, Met authorities said here on Sunday. The deep depres- sion is likely to become a cyclone and may hit the north Maharashtra and Gujarat coast by June 3. Under its influence, a trough will be formed from Chhattisgarh to Lakshadweep Islands encompassing the Telangana, Rayalaseema and south-central Karnataka regions. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that the use of the casteist words during a phone call, away from public view, does not amount to an offence under the SC/ST Act. Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill passed the order on May 14 on a plea challenging the framing of charges against two persons from Kurukshetra who alleged- ly made casteist remarks over mobile phone against their vil- lage head. "Merely uttering such wrong words in the absence of any public view does not show any intention or mens rea (the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime) to humiliate the com- plainant who besides being Sarpanch, belongs to Scheduled Caste community. "It would not thus, ipso-facto, constitute acts of commission of offence, which are capable of being taken cog- nizance under the SC and ST Act, 1989," said the judge. Heated exchanges between Power Minister G Jagadish Reddy and TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy were left a preparatory meeting on regu- lated cultivation policy recent- ly mooted by the State Government held at Nalgonda district collectorate office on Sunday in chaos. The war of words began when the Nalgonda MP asked the Minister to clarify whether loans of farmers were waived or not. The argument turned so intense that at one stage, Jagadish Reddy told the MP that he was a nobody. The meeting began on cor- dial enough terms, with local MLA Kancharla Bhupal Reddy and others also in attendance. The Minister sat silently when Uttam spoke, but when the Minister began speaking, Uttam raised the loan waiver issue. The Minister reminded that he did not interrupt when the TPCC chief was speaking and said: “I listened respectfully when you are speaking. Govt for phased reopening of schools between July 1-15 The state government is con- sidering phased reopening of schools, with the tentative dates being July 1 or July 15. At a high-level review chaired by Education Minister Sabita Indira Reddy, many of the participants reportedly pointed out that certain other states have put the reopening of schools on the backburner. Still, the consensus was to initially reopen schools for Classes 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th in July in case there is let-up in fresh corona cases. Subsequently, schools will reopen for upper primary classes. Schools are likely to be reopen for primary class- es only towards the last week of July or in the first week of August. However, teachers are like- ly to be asked to report for work from June 12 onwards -- the actual reopen- ing day of schools after summer vaca- tion. Orders are likely to be issued in this regard. Cleaning, sanitation Teachers are required to clean schools and sanitise them with the support of the gram panchayats. The meeting also discussed funding schools through local bodies. As for Rangareddy, Medchal and Hyderabad districts, a proposal to implement shift system in schools having a greater number of students was suggested at the meeting. Turmoil over TPCC chief post Authorities of Sri Venkateswara temple on Tirumala are likely to allow dar- shan from June 8, though with some restrictions. With the Centre's Unlock 1 paving the way for reopen- ing of shrines and further eas- ing of the lockdown norms, TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy inspected the Vaikuntam Queue Complex atop Tirumala Hills on Sunday. He gave instructions to officials pending resump- tion of darshan at the Tirumala shrine, which nor- mally teems with devotees around this time of the year. As things stand, TTD may allow darshan for devotees from June 8, while limiting their numbers initially to 7,000 per day, which trans- lates to 500 per hour. During the first three days, only TTD employees may be allowed to have darshan. For the next 15 days, residents of Tirumala and Tirupati would be given permission to have darshan of the deity. After assessing the emerging situation, residents of Chittoor district are likely to be allowed to have darshan. The darshan tickets would be allotted online in line with time slots. Similarly, the allotment of rooms in guest houses would be done online. Jagadish, Uttam spar in open CIC raps official for denying data on migrants The Central Information Commission has pulled up an official for "callous and casual" response in denying data on stranded migrant labourers under the RTI Act, and asked the Labour Ministry to upload on its website as much data as possible on them. Information Commissioner Vanaja N Sarna came down heavily on the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the office of Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) who has told RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak that it has no data on stranded migrant labourers. The CPIO gave the response despite Nayak having quoted an April 8 circular of the CLC, directing its regional office to count within three days every labourer stranded after the imposition of the countrywide lockdown on March 25 to combat coronavirus. Nearly a fortnight after the CLC circular, Nayak had filed an RTI application seeking to know the state-wise names of districts from which data about the stranded migrant workers were received. But he was told the officer did not have any data. Nayak then filed a complaint under the Right to Information (RTI) Act before the Commission. Sarna said the bench is conscious of the fact that under Section 18 of the RTI Act directions for disclosure of information is not warranted. However, she said, keeping in view the extraordinary cir- cumstances that necessitated the complaint, it was prudent to consider Nayak's query in the letter and spirit of the RTI Act.

Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

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Page 1: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

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The Telangana government onSunday extended the lock-down till June 30 in contain-ment zones, while liftingrestrictions on inter-statemovement of people. Certainrestrictions currently inforce in non- containmentzones would continue tillJune 7.

Chief Minister KC h a n d r a s e k h a rannounced the extensionof the lockdown afterholding discussions withChief Secretary SomeshKumar, DGP MahenderReddy and other seniorofficials in the backdrop of theCentre issuing new guidelineson the COVID-19 lockdown.

KCR instructed the officialsconcerned to strictly imple-ment the lockdown in thecontainment zones. Likewise,

h ew a n t e d

the night-timecurfew to be imple-

mented firmly from 9 PM to 5AM. Shops would be allowedto remain open only till 8 PM.There won't be any restrictionson inter-state travel.

As per the directions of the

Chief Minister, Chief SecretarySomesh Kumar issued orderson Sunday which came intoeffect immediately, continu-

ing the lockdown in con-tainment zones till June

30.What has come as a

major relief tos t r a n d e dpeople is the

decision of thegovernment to

remove restrictions oninter-state movement of

persons. As per theGovernment Order, no sepa-rate permission will berequired for such inter-Statemovements.

The Telangana Governmenton May 18 had extended thelockdown in the State till May31 with certain relaxations.However, on May 30, theUnion Home Ministry issuedguidelines extending the

nationwide lockdown in con-tainment areas till June 30.

Following the Centre'sorders extending lockdown incontainment zones andreopening prohibited activitiesin a phased manner in areasoutside containment zones,the State decided to extend cer-tain orders concerning lock-down, currently in force inareas outside containmentzones, till June 7, though withmodifications.

Restrictions on movement ofpersons (other than for access-ing emergency medical care)will continue from 9 PM to 5AM. No shops, establishments,except hospitals and pharma-cies, will be allowed to remainopen after 8 PM. In respect ofcontainment zones, provisionsof lockdown order, which arecurrently in force, also standextended till June 30.

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� �� �+%���!�%

Going by the pace at whichCovid-19 positive cases aremounting in Telangana, itappears that the much-talkedabout curve, instead of flatten-ing, seems to taking a fright-ening turn.

For, at 199, the number offresh Covid -19 cases hit a newpeak in TS on Sunday even asthe state reported five deathsin the last 24 hours, taking thedeath toll to 82.

The GHMC area aloneaccounted for 122 cases, thehighest single-day spike sofar.

This city is followed by

Ranga Reddy, which recorded40 cases. Of the total 199 freshcases, 196 pertain to locals andthe rest three pertain tomigrants.

At 10, Medchalis another districtthat has recordedcases in double-digits. The otherdistricts with newcorona cases onSunday includeKhammam (9),Mahabubnagar (3), Jagityal (3),Medak (3), Warangal Urban(2), Suryapet (1), Nirmal (1),Yadadri (1), Jangaon (1).

With this, the total numberof cases in Telangana increased

to 2,698, comprising 2,264locals and 434 non-locals(migrants, deporters, foreign

returnees).While 1,188 patients

are currently under-going treatment inhospitals, as manyas 1,428 patientshave been dis-

charged upon recov-ery till date.The Centre has airlift-

ed 458 deportees so far andwere quarantined in govern-ment quarantine centres acrossthe state. Of them, 212 testedpositive so far. Similarly, 192migrants have tested positivetill date.

Telangana corona caseloadgoing from bad to worse

.)� .�&���/��%�� �+%���!�%

With the Congress high com-mand, for reasons best knownto it, refusing to intervene andtake stock of the affairs of theTelangana Congress, the partyleaders in the state are leavingno stone unturned to showtheir domination and grabkey party posts.

The result is that with eachpassing day, the GrandOld Party is losingimage publicly, theinfighting isspreading outsidethe four walls ofthe party officesand dirty linen isbeing washed inpublic.

The bone of con-tention is theTPCC chief post,and everyCongress leaderworth his salt isout to grab it.

Groupism is rife,the party is beset withit.

The High Command, on itspart, is exacerbating the ill willby unduly delaying a decisionon the issue.

On Sunday, theinternal differencesin the party lead-ership came outin public yet again,

and reminded oneand all that the post

of TPCC chief is moreimportant to these

leaders than publicissues.

S a n g a r e d d yMLA T JaggaReddy once again

brought the issueinto public domain,

saying that he would dowhatever it took to ensure

that the High Command doesnot give the post to MalkajgiriMP A Revanth Reddy.

� �� �+%���!�%

A low-pressure area that hasformed between the south-eastern and east-centralArabian Sea is likely to inten-sify into a deep depressionwithin the next 24 hours, Metauthorities said here onSunday. The deep depres-sion is likely to become acyclone and may hit thenorth Maharashtra andGujarat coast by June 3.

Under its influence, atrough will be formed fromChhattisgarh to LakshadweepIslands encompassing theTelangana, Rayalaseema andsouth-central Karnatakaregions.

���� ���������!

� �� �� �%�)��

The Punjab and Haryana HighCourt has ruled that the use ofthe casteist words during aphone call, away from publicview, does not amount to anoffence under the SC/ST Act.

Justice Harnaresh Singh Gillpassed the order on May 14 ona plea challenging the framing ofcharges against two personsfrom Kurukshetra who alleged-ly made casteist remarks overmobile phone against their vil-

lage head. "Merely uttering suchwrong words in the absence ofany public view does not showany intention or mens rea (theintention or knowledge ofwrongdoing that constitutes partof a crime) to humiliate the com-plainant who besides beingSarpanch, belongs to ScheduledCaste community. "It would notthus, ipso-facto, constitute acts ofcommission of offence, whichare capable of being taken cog-nizance under the SC and STAct, 1989," said the judge.

� �� �+%���!�%

Heated exchanges betweenPower Minister G JagadishReddy and TPCC chief UttamKumar Reddy were left apreparatory meeting on regu-lated cultivation policy recent-ly mooted by the StateGovernment held at Nalgondadistrict collectorate office onSunday in chaos.

The war of words beganwhen the Nalgonda MP askedthe Minister to clarify whetherloans of farmers were waivedor not.

The argument turned sointense that at one stage,Jagadish Reddy told the MPthat he was a nobody.

The meeting began on cor-dial enough terms, with localMLA Kancharla Bhupal

Reddy and others also inattendance. The Minister satsilently when Uttam spoke, butwhen the Minister beganspeaking, Uttam raised theloan waiver issue.

The Minister reminded thathe did not interrupt when theTPCC chief was speaking andsaid: “I listened respectfullywhen you are speaking.

Govt for phased reopeningof schools between July 1-15� �� �+%���!�%

The state government is con-sidering phased reopeningof schools, with the tentativedates being July 1 or July 15.

At a high-level reviewchaired by EducationMinister Sabita Indira Reddy,many of the participantsreportedly pointed out thatcertain other states have putthe reopening of schools onthe backburner. Still, theconsensus was to initiallyreopen schools for Classes7th, 8th, 9th and 10th in Julyin case there is let-up infresh corona cases.

Subsequently, schools willreopen for upper primaryclasses. Schools are likely tobe reopen for primary class-es only towards the last weekof July or in the firstweek of August.

H o w e v e r ,teachers are like-ly to be asked toreport for workfrom June 12onwards -- theactual reopen-ing day ofs c h o o l sa f t e rsummerv a c a -

tion. Orders are likely to beissued in this regard.

Cleaning, sanitation

Teachers are required toclean schools and sanitise themwith the support of the grampanchayats. The meeting alsodiscussed funding schoolsthrough local bodies.

As for Rangareddy, Medchaland Hyderabad districts, aproposal to implement shift

system in schools having agreater number of

students wassuggested at the

meeting.

:/ ��%#���$%" $!��" '%�#0��%�3 ��6���� ��;;%3%<Turmoil over

TPCC chief post

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Authorities of SriVenkateswara temple onTirumala arelikely toallow dar-shan fromJune 8,t h o u g hwith somerestrictions.

With the Centre's Unlock1 paving the way for reopen-ing of shrines and further eas-ing of the lockdown norms,TTD chairman YV SubbaReddy inspected theVaikuntam Queue Complexatop Tirumala Hills onSunday. He gave instructionsto officials pending resump-tion of darshan at theTirumala shrine, which nor-mally teems with devoteesaround this time of the year.

As things stand, TTD mayallow darshan for devoteesfrom June 8, while limitingtheir numbers initially to7,000 per day, which trans-lates to 500 per hour. Duringthe first three days, only TTDemployees may be allowed tohave darshan. For the next 15days, residents of Tirumalaand Tirupati would be givenpermission to have darshan ofthe deity. After assessing theemerging situation, residentsof Chittoor district are likelyto be allowed to have darshan.

The darshan tickets wouldbe allotted online in linewith time slots. Similarly, theallotment of rooms in guesthouses would be done online.

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Jagadish, Uttamspar in open

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CIC raps official for denying data on migrants �������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �� �� �%�)��

The Central InformationCommission has pulled up anofficial for "callous and casual"response in denying data onstranded migrant labourersunder the RTI Act, and askedthe Labour Ministry to uploadon its website as much data aspossible on them.

Information CommissionerVanaja N Sarna came downheavily on the Central PublicInformation Officer (CPIO)of the office of Chief Labour

Commissioner (CLC) who hastold RTI activist VenkateshNayak that it has no data on

stranded migrant labourers.The CPIO gave the response

despite Nayak having quoted

an April 8 circular of the CLC,directing its regional office tocount within three days everylabourer stranded after theimposition of the countrywidelockdown on March 25 tocombat coronavirus.

Nearly a fortnight after theCLC circular, Nayak had filedan RTI application seeking toknow the state-wise names ofdistricts from which data aboutthe stranded migrant workerswere received. But he was toldthe officer did not have anydata.

Nayak then filed a complaintunder the Right to Information(RTI) Act before theCommission. Sarna said thebench is conscious of the factthat under Section 18 of the RTIAct directions for disclosure ofinformation is not warranted.

However, she said, keepingin view the extraordinary cir-cumstances that necessitatedthe complaint, it was prudentto consider Nayak's query inthe letter and spirit of the RTIAct.

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Page 2: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

The common man is fac-ing a lot of troubleswith autowallahs and

cabbies who are having afield day in the absence ofRTC buses on Hyderabadroads. Their inherent 'drive' tosqueeze Covid-19-hit peopleis resented. Habituated todemanding 'extras' and doingkirikiri to extract more thanwhat the meter shows (pre-suming they have it in work-ing condition!), theseautowallas are beating theirown records of sorts in deter-mining fares. They no longernegotiate. Autowallahs havethe nerve to look down uponthose who urge them to bereasonable. They are collect-ing double or even triple thefares which they ought to be

collecting going strictly by themeter. Their refrain is: "Wewere confined to our resi-dences for the last twomonths. This is the time forus to earn money". They turna deaf ear to commuters'pleas that they too were con-fined to homes with reducedpay packets.

Protest venues in coronatimes

Covid-19 has changed theway people register theirprotests, at least for the shortterm. It has given scope fornewer methods of assem-bling and staging protests.Assembling these days isnothing but zoom confer-encing. Protests have beenopted also through social

media channels. Thosepressing their demands arestaging indoor demonstra-tions and posting picturesand videos on social mediaplatforms. These newerforms of protests may con-tinue as long as Covid-19remains a clear and presentdanger.

Relief after more than twomonths

Notwithstanding the

unavoidable rise in the num-ber of new positive cases ofCovid-19 due to easing oflockdown, the flip side to it isquite reassuring for home-makers and career-orientedwomen.

The relaxations also meandomestic helps can be back todo the chores and demandinghousehold jobs in manyplaces where the authoritiesare trying to bring back nor-malcy after 65 days. Thatapart, days of door delivery offood ordered online are back.It is OK if RWAs insist onthermal screening of domes-tic help.

Contributed by KolishettyVenkateshwarlu, P V Kondal

Rao and Ch Pradeep

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Chief Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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Production of honey morethan doubles in a decade� �� �+%���!�%

Amidst continuous bickeringbetween the US on the oneside and China on the other,the yellow metal remainedbuoyant during the weekended Saturday.

Consequently,New Yorkgold touched US$ 1,726.30(per oz) while silver alsomoved up in tandem andclosed at $ 17.84. Platinumand palladium closed atRs.28,000 (per 10 gms) andRs. 45,212 (per 10 gms)respectively.

Other economic parame-ters remained upbeat vis-a-vis Rupee. Crude oil closedat Rs.2,574 (per barrel), whileBrent Crude closed atRs.37.61. Copper MCX wasquoted at Rs.410.15 (per kg).Gold MCX stood atRs.46,666 (per 10 gms) andSilver MCX at Rs.50,096 (perkg). Sensex and Nifty 50closed at 32,424.10 and9,580.30 points respectively.

The foreign exchange mar-ket also remained firm dur-ing the week. The foreignexchange rates vis-a-visIndian Rupee were: US$75.62, Euro83.87, GBP93.22,SR 20.11, KD 244.81,UAED20.56, CAD 54.85,

SGD 53.52, HKD 09.74, CHF78.52, AUD 50.36 and JYen0.70. At home, though theauthorities have permittedthe shops to remain open,due to COVID-19 fear thereare no buyers. Added to this,the gold and silver priceshave taken a quantum jump,thereby keeping potentialcustomers at bay. Except themarriage season buy-ers, there are no buy-ers in the jew-ellery market.

S t a n d a r dgold(24 carats)appreciated byRs.110 andcloseda t

Rs.48,800 (per 10 gms).Ornamental gold too, movedup in tandem and was quot-ed in the range of Rs.44,630- 44,730 on the closing day.Silver (0.999) recorded anappreciation of Rs.200 andclosed at Rs.48,550 (per kg).

COMMODITIESDuring the week, the sen-

timent in principal wholesalecommodity markets in thetwin cities was strong. RythuBazars and the markets locat-ed in Begum Bazar,

Kishangunj, Mukthyargunj,Risala Abdullah, Mir AlamMandi, Dilsukhnagar,Kukatpally, Bowenpally,General Bazar and Alwalwitnessed good arrivals. Mostof the commodities, includ-ing chillies, coriander,turmeric, tamarind, methi,mustard, rice, wheat,jowar,maize, ragi, garlic, gingeretc; either remained steady ormoved within narrow mar-

gins. Common pulses suchas tuar dal, moong dal,

urad dal and masoordal recorded a margin-

al appreciation in therange of 2 per cent

to 3per cent,while edibleoils, sugar and

vanaspati remainedunchanged. Now, some sweetnews. In the last 10 years, thecountry has witnessed agrowth of 242 per cent in theproduction of natural honey,which is a healthy substituteof sugar. Its export during thesaid period also recorded anincrease of 265 per cent.Now with the additionalfinancial support offered bythe government, the export islikely to touch 35,000 tonnes,thus replacing Russia fromthe fifth place.

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Hailed as a masterpiece,ourConstitutioncan rightly becalled as the most ideal basicstatute in the world, thanks tothe visionary members of theConstituent Assembly, who,after painstaking effortsbestowed such a model piece ofthe expression of people's wish.It is a dynamic Constitution inthe sense that it has beenamended over 100 times dur-ing the past 70years just to keepabreast of geo-political andsocio-economic changes with-in the country. It has seen manyups and downs, and facedbravely all the challenges andgrabbed the opportunities tokeep it up to date.

The Constitution basicallyenvisagesa scheme underwhich the provincial power isbalanced with that of the powerof the Union. The Provinces orStates enjoy a good deal ofindependence and autonomy

so as to make them healthierday by day, socially, culturally,economically and politically.On the other hand, the Unionis vested with such powerswhich are considered essen-tial for better co-ordinationwith the States and betweenthe States,besides to ensuresafety and security ofthe country. In fact,the makers of theConstitution took itfor granted, may be ingood faith or due tosheer idealism, thatcordial and harmo-nious relationship willexist between the Statesand the Union result-ing into an all -round and bal-anced growth of all States.They also were under theimpression that there wouldnot be a time when a tug-of-war situation would arisebetween these two very impor-tant components of gover-nance. Indeed, they were of theview that both the Union and

the States will work in tandemthat would serve the lofty pur-poses of unity and integrity. Forthe initial four decades, every-thing went on smoothly as the

governments of differentpolitical parties hon-ourably recognised 'thebig brother's role', of the

Union govern-ment and itdid not do any

harm. Consequently,there was an all-round

development of differ-ent States making theUnion governmentstronger day by day.However, in subsequentyears fissures developed

among the body politic andoccasionally the voices of dis-sent erupted. Overthe years,such voices have become loud-er and deafening. At times, theUnion opposed the States'moves while at another timeStates opposed that of theUnion. History is replete withexamples which created bad

blood between the two. The antagonism between

the Union and the States, oflate, has been growing rapidly.Ever since the assumption ofcentral power by the BJP-ledNDA in the year 2014, theopposition-ruled States turnedmore hostile towards the Uniongovernment. In fact, they fol-lowed a policy of undeclarednon-cooperation. Oppositionto Triple Talaq legislation, lev-elling false and baseless chargesof corruption in the purchaseof Rafale military aircraft arejust a tip of the iceberg whenit comes to such pre-plannedmoves to hamper the spirit offederalism. Even the military

victory over Balakot air-strikeand scrapping of Article 370 inJammu & Kashmir did not findfavour with the opposition-ruled States. The senselessopposition of Congress-Leftand one/two Member ofParliament parties to the CAA-NPR-NRC is a testimony ofmental bankruptcy of theopposition leaders. Otherwise,how could they justify the actof opposing duly passed CAAby Parliament and adopt a res-olution in the Assemblies oftheir own States opposing thesame? Similarly, the WestBengal government has open-ly shown disrespect to theState Governor appointed by

none other than the Presidentof India. The TMC- led govern-ment also did not cooperatewith the central government'shigh-level team of experts dur-ing COVID-19 pandemic. TheAam Admi Party chief hashad the audacity to declarepublicly that he was an "anar-chist". The left-ruled Keralagovernment too has not left anyopportunity to oppose the deci-sions of the Union governmentas could be seen during CAAagitation and COVID-19 pan-demic. Last but not the least,comes in the reckoning theMaharashtra government,which has made a mountainout of a molehill with regard toproviding train facility tomigrant labours to return totheir native places. Indeed, thecountry needs to be savedfrom a piquant situation andthe politicians of all hues needto learn that they are therebecause the people have blessedthem to be there and not thevice-versa. This is the long

and short of 'Sab Ka Sath, SabKa Vikas and Sabka Vishwas'.

TS financial assistance to lawyers

In a humanitarian gesture bythe Telangana government,about 15 thousand advocatesand advocates' clerks have beensanctioned financial assistanceof Rs.10,000 and Rs.5,000respectively. Earlier, ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raohad announced the grant of Rs25 crore, of which Rs.15 crorehas been released for the saidpurpose. Considering the pre-sent COVID-19 situation, thismonetary assistance will providesuccuor to the needy lawyers'and their clerks' families. Whilethe gesture is welcome, it wouldhave been better if the State gov-ernment would have also con-sidered the vows of other voice-less professionals and self-employed persons such as phar-macists, architects, doctors,plumbers, electricians,washer-men, barbers, masons etc.

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Cancellation of licences of 30wine shops (A4) has become abone of contention betweenthe owners of wine shops andExcise Department authori-ties. While the liquor shops cryhoarse calling it as a victimisa-tion measure for moving HighCourt objecting to impositionof interest on cess on oldstocks of liquor, the ExciseDepartment authorities areruling out any vendetta againstthe liquor shops and clarifythat they cancelled licences ofthe shops on charges of viola-tion of the Excise Departmentorders: not reopening barsduring lockdown period.

The wine shop ownersalleged that their licences havebeen cancelled for no fault oftheirs. They vow to fight it outin courts. It may be recalledthat all liquor shops remainedshut from March 22 to May 6because of the lockdown.While allowing the liquorshops to function from May 6,the government hiked theprices of liquor. The licencees

have been asked to sell liquorat the revised rates. In thename of Corona special cess,the liquor prices have beenrevised upwards by 16 percent.

However, the ExciseDepartment on May 5 verifiedthe stocks in liquor shops tofind out the stocks in wineshops when the shops wereclosed on March 22. Since theliquor shops have been sellingthe stocks with the shops priorto March 22 at revised prices,

the shops have been asked topay Corona cess to the depart-ment.

Some liquor shop ownerspaid the cess, while some oth-ers refused to pay. To collectthe cess, the ExciseDepartment has imposedinterest for the period the cesswas not paid, according toorders issued by excise com-missioner Sarfraj Ahmed.Owners of 21 liquor shopschallenged the orders in courtcontending that it was not fair

on the part of the state govern-ment to levy special cess andinterest on it at a time they arein deep trouble because of theloss of business during thelockdown period and soughtstay orders on the implemen-tation of the orders.

The court did not grant stayorders but asked the ExciseDepartment not to collectinterest on the cess for fourweeks and told it to act accord-ing to the court's final verdict.Commenting on the decision,the Excise Department saidthat 21 dealers taking recourseto legal action was no problemto the department all. However,the excise officials said thatthey would honour the courtverdict and at the same timeexplain the court the circum-stances leading to levy of thecess. The excise authoritiessaid that no action was con-templated against the 21 wineshop dealers and also nine oth-ers who were also found vio-lating lockdown rules. Theyclaimed that they are workingas per the excise rules and asper the excise laws.

Contined from page 1

At Alipiri, at the foot of theseven hills, only those whohave token would be allowed.After checking devotees atAlipiri and at the steps route,the devotees would beallowed to climb up the SevenHills. The TTD has laid downthat devotees should wearmasks and gloves.

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Government Chief WhipDasyam Vinay Bhaskar laidthe foundation stone for theconstruction of road anddrainage works at an estimat-ed cost of Rs 30 lakh in the30th division (Enugulagadda) in the city on Sunday.

He said the governmentwas working to complete theongoing development worksat the earliest for the benefitof the city dwellers. “On onehand, the government ischecking the spread of theCoronavirus with the lock-down, on the other hand, CMK Chandrashekhar Rao andIT Minister K T Rama Raoare asking the officials to takeup the development works,”he said and added that thegovernment is committed tobeautify the historicalWarangal city.

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With Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao keen onimproving sanitation byclearing garbage, construc-tion debris and weed, officialsconcerned will take up amassive sanitation driveacross the State fromMonday. The programme isaimed at taking precaution-ary measures against spreadof seasonal diseases and alsobringing about a visibleimpact in the overall appear-ance of both urban and ruralareas, in the next eight days.

While an action plan hasbeen already chalked out formajority of ULBs for takingup various activities over thenext one week, the rural localbodies have been instructedto conduct field visits fol-lowed by a meeting to finalisethe Action Plan.

Contined from page 1

"In doing so, theCommission invokes section25(5) of the RTI Act andissues an advisory to therespondent authority to main-tain a robust and dynamicwebsite for placing all datarelated to migrant workerstherein as and when it isreceived from differentRegional Heads," she said.

Sarna quoted from ordersof the Supreme Court, HighCourts and Home Ministry'spress briefings in her detaileddirection. At this point, shesaid, it is necessary for theCPIO to put his best possibleefforts to collect this datafrom different Regional Headsand place them on their web-site immediately even if it isdone in a piecemeal manner."It is also necessary to contin-ue to update this data fromtime to time as additional datais received from various quar-ters," she said. Underliningthat the RTI application raiseda very important issue, Sarnasaid the Commission is notconvinced with the fact thatwhen a letter is issued by theChief Labour Commissionerto collect the data on migrantlabourers, who are seriouslyaffected by the pandemic,then how it is possible that noaction was taken whatsoever.

Contined from page 1

“I have some doubts aboutRevanth Reddy. I will speak toRevanth Reddy about thesedoubts and not to the media,”he said making it clear that hewill take his decision “political-ly” if the High Commandnames the MP for the TPCCchief post, without consultinghim.

Jagga Reddy minced nowords saying: “I am also in therace for TPCC chief post.However, I will support thecandidature of anyone — be itKomatireddy Venkat Reddy,Damodara Raja Narsimha, VHanumantha Rao, D SridharBabu or others.”

He said that there was no

truth in the argument that theCongress had lost elections inTelangana due to presentTPCC Chief N Uttam KumarReddy.

“Revanth Reddy’s followersspread the propaganda onsocial media that Uttam failedto ensure the victory of his wifePadmavathi Reddy inHuzurnagar byelections. ButRevanth Reddy himself cam-paigned in 20 constituenciesstating that he will make theCongress candidates win theAssembly elections. The fact is,that Revanth Reddy too lostfrom Kodangal. What do hisfollowers say to that?” he asked.

Jagga Reddy said that it is theprerogative of AICC presidentSonia Gandhi and Rahul

Gandhi to name anyone theywanted as TPCC chief, andcontinue with him or her for aslong as they wanted.

Uttam has immense good-will with Rahul Gandhi andSonia Gandhi, Jagga Reddysaid, going on to added thatswitching to other parties wasa weakness among MLAs.

“Why does Uttam need tostep down as TPCC chief? Heshould continue till the 2023elections. About 20 leaderswould compete for the post ifthe High Command removesUttam,” Jagga Reddy opined.

He alleged that there areTRS coverts in TelanganaCongress. “TPCC general sec-retaries—Harkara Venugopaland Faheem are government’s

coverts and they stay withAICC general secretary in-charge RC Khuntia,” he said.

The MLA said that he woldtake the fight to the govern-ment as Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao goes totown claiming credit for evena single project, forgetting thefact that the Congress con-structed several projects.

He said that his daughter TJaya Reddy has no interest inpolitics, but he brought her intopublic life as a precautionarymeasure.

“The TRS government trou-bled me a lot in the past. Mydaughter will come onto theroad if the government resortsto political vendetta,” JaggaReddy claimed.

Contined from page 1

The idea of conductingdigital classes and teachingthrough cable TV was moot-ed at the meeting. In fact,online teaching is no alterna-tive to classroom instruc-tion. So, online teachingshould be limited to higherclasses, it was felt.

There is no substitute todirect teaching at primaryand upper primary levels,part icipants opined.Observing physical distancein rural areas was no big deal,participants reportedly toldthe Minister. The authoritiesof the Education Departmentare understood to have sub-mitted a report to the min-ister on the way forward incase coronavirus persists.

A final call would betaken upon a review of thesituation after 15 days. If

necessary, teachers' associ-ations will be taken intoconfidence.

At the meeting, it wasag reed to conduc tIntermediate second yearclasses from July 15. TheIntermediate Board offi-cials also submitted a reportto the chair. The consensuswas that there should be nocurtailment of the syllabusfor Intermediate classes. Itwas agreed that the lostworking days could bemade up through onlinec lass es . Special ChiefSecretary education ChitraR a m a c h a n d r a n ,Commissioner for Collegiateeducation Navin Mittal,Intermediate Board SecretarySayyad Umer Jaleel, SchoolEducation Departmentsenior authorities, MLCs andMLAs took part in the meet-ing.

Contined from page 1

Is there any mistake frommy side?”

Undaunted, Uttam insistedthat the Minister clarifywhether the TRS governmenthad indeed waived off farmloans.

To this, the Ministerresponded:“Not Rs1 lakh. Theone and only governmentacross India is the Telanganagovernment that waived off Rs17,000 crore. Sonia Gandhi’sown state Uttar Pradesh does-n’t have adequate power tilldate. Farmers (there) are com-mitting suicide. Phone calls aremade from (Congress ruled)

Chhattisgarh state. Paddy therecosts Rs 1,000. I will send youhow much you want…”

To this, Uttam responded bysaying that the Chhattisgarhgovernment was purchasingpaddy for Rs 2,500 per quintal.“Continue your speech withdecorum,” the TPCC chiefsaid.

To this, the Minister said:

“You are speaking withoutdecency.” Uttam again said,“Continue your speech withdecorum.”

Jagadish Reddy countered bysaying:“Those who lack decen-cy are telling me to maintaindecorum. I told you when youobstructed me that you aresenior leader and not to disturbme. I wrote everything that you

said but I didn’t disturb you.”While Uttam sat down, the

Minister continued: “This isnot a debate. This is notAssembly. This is notParliament”.

When the Minister proceed-ed to say that he has the rightto say whatever he wanted,Uttam told him not to raise hisvoice.

It was then the Ministersaid: “Why you are speakingagain? After all, what are you?”

From then on, it was a slang-ing match, with both question-ing the other’s credentials, withJagadish Reddy giving a part-ing shot: “You have no right toquestion me”.

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In exercise of powers con-ferred under the DisasterManagement Act 2005, theChief Secretary directed alldepartments, Collectors,District Magistrates andCommissioners, to strictlyimplement the fresh lockdownorders with immediate effect.

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Jagadish, Uttam spar in open

Govt for phasedreopening of schools...

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Turmoil over TPCC chief post

Page 3: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

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After reeling under intensesummer conditions over the lastone month, rainfall on Sundayafternoon brought much need-ed relief to denizens across thecity. Several parts of the cityrecorded moderate to heavyrainfall, much before the adventof monsoon showers.

Heavy rain lashed Hyderabadand nearby areas as well as sev-eral other districts of Telangana,inundating roads and low-lyingareas and throwing traffic outof gear in the city.

Residents felt relieved fromthe blistering sun and hot windsas the weather started coolingfrom morning. Strong galesthat accompanied rain uproot-ed trees at a few places.

Several low-lying areas inun-dated causing inconvenience topeople following rain waterentering their homes. Powersupply has been interrupted forsome time.

Vehicle riders have been fac-ing difficulties as water loggedat several places on city roads.At many places hoardings weredislodged with the impact of thegales. Teams of Greater Hyder-abad Municipal Corporationswung into action to removefallen trees and clear stormwa-ter channels.

South Hastinapur on the cityoutskirts received maximum

rainfall of 61 mm. Several partsof the city received 20 to 50 mmrainfall.

Traffic went haywire in busyareas like Banjara Hills, MadanTank, Mehdipatnam, ToliChowki, Madhapur, Panjagutta,Ameerpet, Begumpet, Abids,Koti, Secunderabad, Uppal andLB Nagar as rain continued forover two hours. Several districtsin Telangana also received thepre-monsoon rain, providing

much needed relief to peoplereeling under heatwave condi-tions.

Heavy rains were experi-enced in Ghatkesar mandal ofMedchal district. According toIndia Meteorological Depart-ment (IMD) officials inHyderavad, the rain in the statewas due to low pressure areaover south-east and adjoiningeast-central Arabian Sea andLakshadweep area.

The trough from Chhat-tisgarh to Lakshadweep areaacross Telangana, Rayalaseema,south interior Karnataka andKerala at 0.9 km above meansea level persists, it said.

The low pressure area is verylikely to concentrate into adepression over east-centraland adjoining south-eastArabian Sea during the next 24hours and likely to intensify fur-ther into a cyclonic storm dur-ing the subsequent 24 hours.

The IMD officials warned thepeople against venturing out asthere is possibility of the cityexperiencing heavy to veryheavy rains.

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Sale of Tirupati Ladduprasadam which commencedin Hyderabad on Sundayevoked good response as near-ly 55,000 laddus were sold.Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams (TTD) hadarranged the sale of laddus atBalaji Bhavan, Himayathnagarfrom 10 a.m. onwards.

Even before the officialscould make arrangements forcommencing sale of laddus,serpentine queue of devoteeswas witnessed at the venue.Unmindful of the summerconditions that prevailed inthe morning hours and rainsthat lashed from afternoon,devotees turned up in largenumbers for buying the lad-dus, which were offered at Rs25 per laddu. "The responsehas been good. Despite theheat in the morning and rainin the afternoon, devoteesturned up in large numbers to

buy the laddus. Nearly 55,000laddus have been sold," saidTTD Assistant ExecutiveOfficer U Ramesh

There is no limit on thenumber of laddus a devoteecan purchase and officialsoffered as many laddus assought by the devotees.However, devotees wererequested to come wearingmasks and ensure physicaldistancing at the venue whilepurchasing the ladduprasadam, he said.

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Child Rights Association onSunday lodged an emergencypetition with Human RightsCommission on the incidentin which a six-year-old girldied in Susheela Township inChangicherla underFeerzadiguda MunicipalCorporation limits in greaterHyderabad limits.

The association alleged inthe petition that the officialsof Municipal Corporationadopted negligent attitude inshifting the street dogs andpigs from the living areas.

The association said thatthe girl named Angoth Baby,daughter of poor parents-Angoth Holy and Sangeetha,died of street dogs attack. Theassociation also alleged in itspetition that the private hos-pitals failed to provide suit-able treatment in time bymaking them have roundsaround various hospitalswhile the girl was sufferingwith serious injuries.

Association honorary pres-ident Achyutha Rao allegedthat the girl died due to neg-ligence of doctors. He urgedthe HRC to direct theMunicipal AdministrationPrincipal Secretary to extendRs 10 lakh to the family of thegirl as an ex-gratia besidesdirecting action against theprivate hospitals responsiblefor the death of the girl.

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Fruit and vegetables are wash-able and often come in theirown compostable wrappingdesigned by nature. Yet wechoose to display them in plas-tic trays, tie them with plasticstrings, cling-wrapped inanother layer of plastic.

Plastic packaging or wrap-ping can make it more conve-nient for us to grab and go. Butthe costs of servicing thatlifestyle are high, for people aswell as the environment.

Our food system has creat-ed an anonymous chain that isinaccessible to us, the eaters.And it's disconnecting us fromour food, its origin and, ulti-mately, nature. Plastic andpackaging are a symbol of thisdisconnection - a physical and

psychological barrier betweenus and what we eat.

"It's time to break downthis barrier and reclaim a vitalrelationship with our food.We urge you to ban all plastic

strings that are tied for leafyvegetables and in other gro-ceries at various rythu bazaars,shops and pushcarts," saidTelangana state GeneralSecretary of Socialist Party DrLubna Sarwath.

The plastic strings comeunder one-time-use plasticthat is banned. It is non-biodegradable waste.

"When we map to track theroute of this plastic string, itends up as waste in dustbinonce it is opened by public.Imagine crores of such strings

each day ending up as non-biodegradable waste as a bur-den on the environment,"Lubna Sarwath added.

These strings also end upthrough sewage drains andclog up the drains. As most ofstorm water drains are con-nected with sewage and otherwastes, these end up in all ourwater bodies, lakes, rivers.

This would curb the dirtymess and once implemented inTelangana state, it can beimplemented though out thecountry.

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For the fourth consecutiveSunday, people participatedin large number in the 'EverySunday at 10 am for 10 min-utes' drive aimed to eradicatemosquitoes and larvae.

Several Ministers, electedrepresentatives, officials andothers spent 10 minutes at 10am on Sunday at 10 am toempty stagnant water whichcould help the mosquitoescausing dengue to breed.

In response to a call given byMinister for Municipal

Administration KT Rama Rao,Mayor Bonthu Rammohan onSunday toured the NaubatPahad Colony in Birla Mandirarea of the city and took partin the awareness programmeheld there by the EntomologyDepartment of the GHMC tocheck the mosquito menace.

As part of the programme,he went round an exhibitionput up at Ambedkar YouthAssociation building andshowed the stagnant waterstored in plastic, wooden, irongoods, air coolers, on the rooftop and the larvae of mosqui-

toes present there and removedthe water in them.

Rammohan asked everyoneto remove the stagnant waterpresent in the premises oftheir houses, offices, businessestablishments once in a weekto check the breeding of mos-quitoes. He said that the sea-sonal diseases would compli-cate the matters further sincethe country is already afflict-ed with the Coronavirus.

The Mayor inaugurated thelarvicide spraying machineprovided by the localcorporator.

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Sooner or later the HyderabadMetro Rail Limited (HMRL)is likely to resume its activi-ties as the government is eas-ing lockdown restrictions togradually open the sectors forpublic one after the other. Asthe Coronavirus positive casesare increasing with each pass-ing day in twin cities, the peo-ple are worried about travelon Metro train.

Considering the situation,the HMRL authorities areplanning to implement mea-sures to safeguard the publicfrom Coronavirus. The mea-sures also include introduc-tion of lifts that can be oper-ated by pressing button withleg. The mechanism wasintroduced in the lift at theMetro Rail office inKoyambedu in Chennai. Theofficials are planning to intro-duce the same in Hyderabadtoo.

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The first Covid-19 case inYacharam was reported whenthe 13-month-old baby of apolice constable working withthe Armed Reserve Wing,was tested positive. Accordingto sources, since the pastthree days, the child was suf-fering from fever and minorhealth issues. "However, as thefever did not subside, theywere taken to Niloufer hospi-tal, where her samples weretested and it was found to bepositive" sources said. As thechild is still on her mother'sfeed, the child along with hermother were shifted toGandhi hospital, while herfather and both grandparentsand her maternal grandpar-ents who stay in the nexthouse, shifted to a quarantinefacility and their sampleswere also collected for testing.

According to sources, thefamily belongs toChowdarpally village ofYacharam. The girl's father isnow deputed to a police sta-tion in Rachakonda commis-sionerate. Meanwhile, a 38-year-old constable workingwith SR Nagar police stationin the city and residing inSecunderabad with his fam-ily was tested positive for thevirus.

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Telangana State Board ofIntermediate Education(TSBIE) on Sunday said, con-sidering the Covid-19 pan-demic situation, the date ofreopening of all the juniorcolleges is postponed until

further orders.A fresh date will be

intimated in the duecourse of time.

As per the academ-ic calendar, the reopen-ing of all the junior col-leges for the academic year2020-2021 is June 1, 2020.

Meanwhile, the TSBIEwill conduct intermedi-ate second-yearGeography Paper-II andModern Languages

Paper-II exam on June 3from 9 am to 12 noon at the

centres as per schedule notifiedearlier. Students concerned

can download their hall tick-ers from the websitehttps://tsbie.cgg.gov.in.

The Board asked all theparents, students, principalsof junior colleges to wait for thefurther orders as conductingthe classes now would increasethe Coronavirus cases.

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Panic has gripped post-grad-uate (PG) students ofOsmania Medical College(OMC) as three of them test-ed positive on Saturday.While one of them was a first-year PG student from gynae-cology, who had been work-ing at the GovernmentMaternity Hospital inPetlaburj, the others werefinal-year PG students fromgeneral surgery and orthope-dic specialties.

The orthopedic PG stu-dent had been home for twomonths and had visited thecampus recently for signa-tures from the HoD. In all,nearly 40 primary and sec-ondary contacts of each ofthem have been traced.

Speaking to the media,Director of MedicalEducation Dr Ramesh Reddy,informed that a worker at thecollege's hostel mess has also

tested positive for Covid-19.The mess has now been shutand the students are beingprovided food from the col-lege canteen.

"We will decide on the hos-tel's closure by Monday. As ofnow, the guidelines do not callfor the shutting of the hostel.However, a decision will betaken soon. The exams arescheduled as per the MCIorders before June 30," saidDr Shashikala, Principal ofOsmania Medical College.

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Eight IAS officer trainees of2019 batch who are attachedto Telangana cadre complet-ed an orientation trainingprogramme conducted by DrMCR HRD Institute here onSunday. They completed theirtraining at Lal BahadurShastri National Academy ofAdministration in Mussoorie.

The trainee officers havebeen attached as AssistantCollectors (under training)for 50-week period, to thedistricts of Khammam,Nagarkurnool, Kamareddy,Yadadri Bhongir, Siddipet,Nalgonda, Karimnagar andRajanna Sircilla. They willreport for duty in theirrespective districts onMonday.

On the concluding day ofthe orientation training pro-gramme on Sunday, theInstitute Director General(DG) and Special ChiefSecretary BP Acharya saidthat their attachment to thedistricts, with the DistrictCollectors as their mentors,will enable them to under-stand the dynamics of admin-istration at ground level in itstrue and total frame of refer-ence. He called upon the IAS

Officer Trainees to learn andperfect the art of man-man-agement in order to improvetheir productivity.

Several serving and retiredIAS officers including retiredIAS off icer and formerGovernment Advisor AKGoel, Principal Secretary KRamakrishna Rao and DrMCR HRD InstituteAdditional DG HarpreetSingh, apart from severaleminent persons addressedthe IAS officer trainees aspart of the training pro-gramme.

The programme was aimedto expose the IAS officertrainees to the unique fea-tures of Telangana State interms of its economy, culture,land, people, and innovativeschemes, among others.

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The Hayathnagar Police ofRachakonda, in a joint opera-tion with LB Nagar SpecialOperations Team and the agri-culture department raided aspurious cotton seeds packingunit in Bacharam village on thecity outskirts and arrestedthree persons on Sunday.Officials seized 1.5 tons ofspurious seeds and other mate-rial, all put together worth Rs22 lakh from their posses-sion. The arrested personswere identified as M DevenderReddy, 52, trader from SaiNagar in Vanasthalipuram, GSagar Reddy, 30, a supervisorfrom Munugodu in Nalgondaand M Venkat Reddy, 20, adegree student from

Vanasthalipuram whilePraveen Kumar, managingdirector of Akshara Seeds fromSahara Estates inVanasthalipuram, his wifePadmavathi and Ramesh, aresident of Chittoor district inAndhra Pradesh, wereabsconding, according to thepolice. "Praveen Kumar alongwith Devendar Reddy andPadmavathi established thefirm three years ago locating itsgodown at Bacharam village

near the Outer Ring Road.Praveen obtained license onPadmavathi's name to sell veg-etable seeds. They were sup-ported by the other associatesfor marketing seeds.

However, this year instead ofselling vegetable seeds, theyplanned to sell spurious cottonseeds to farmers there bycheating them for easy money,the police said adding that theypacked these seeds in sachetsand labeled them with variousbrand names," said the police,adding that they had no validlicense to manufacture or sellcotton seeds.

Following a tip-off, the tea-ms raided the godown andcaught Devender, Sagar andVenkat while packing spuriouscotton seeds.

Page 4: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

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Asurvey conducted by thegovernment seems to have

arrived at a decision that amajority of farmers are infavour of regulatory farming inTelangana. This is a goodaugury. The governmentwhich has already announcedits policy in favour of this, willobviously stand in support offarmers.

Agriculture will be abun-dantly benefited through reg-ulatory farming leading tocreation of over Rs 1 lakh-crore of wealth and also awealthy farmer.

The existence of Telanganaand its 65 lakh farmers isdependent on agriculture. Thisunorganised sector was total-ly neglected in undivided APas a result of which farmerssuffered tremendously.Agriculture faced a crisis.

After Telangana state wasformed, thanks to umpteenwelfare measures taken by thegovernment, the situation hasimproved.

Traditionally, the farmerhas always been at crossroadswith regards to his product. Ifhe wanted to sell, there were

no buyers, and if needed buy,the price was beyond reach.

The state government hasmade several attempts to bringin a much desirable change inthe farm sector, and it is stillworking in this direction.

The State government issolving problems faced by theagriculture sector one by one- major irrigation projects arebeing completed and waterwould be plentiful by nextfarming season. There is roundthe clock quality power supply.Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has reiter-ated time and again that muchmore needs to be done toimprove the lot of the farmersby making agriculture notonly remunerative but highlyprofitable. This would ensurethat Telangana is shaped intothe Rice Bowl of India.

It was with this goal thatKCR has envisaged the newAgriculture Policy.

This presupposes, in the

words of KCR, that the prac-tice of every farmer preferringthe same crop should be doneaway with. The main reasonwhy farmers are not gettingcompetitive price for theirproduce is that a majority cul-tivates the same crop.

Henceforth, the departmentof agriculture will suggest thekind of crop to be grown in aparticular field in a regulato-ry manner. The departmentwill also identify the suitabil-ity of soil for a particular cropfor a better yield in a given sea-son. The food needs and habits

of the population, marketdemand, export opportuni-ties etc. would be taken intoconsideration. The future ofagriculture should be promis-ing. Farmers should be able toearn profits by selling qualityproduce in the world market,wants the CM.

Previous governments didnot bother about the agricul-ture sector. Farmers used tocultivate crops according totheir convenience. Since every-one cultivated the same crop,there was every likelihood ofprice drop.

The scenario is such thateven those who prefer sowingpaddy opt for the coarse vari-ety, as the cultivation period isless. However, a majority of thepeople prefer only the finevariety rice. Now that we havewater facility for irrigation,famers should opt for finevariety paddy.

Telangana Sona rice isdeveloped by scientists. This

variety is good for diabetespatients and experts have rat-ified it as sugar-free rice. TheGlycemic Index percentage islow in Telangana Sona variety.American journals state thatthis rice is healthy. Hence it isdesirable to go for it.

There is demand forgroundnut, red gram, oil palmin the market. We shouldidentify other such crops andthen decided the extent of landthat can be used to grow thesecrops.

There is a scarcity of fruitsand vegetables in the State. Itrequires a deep study on whatpercentage these can be culti-vated. There should be anattitudinal change among thefarmers to cultivate crops thatare in demand and which arein tune with eating habits ofthe people.

During last monsoon,paddy was cultivated in about40 lakh acres in the state. It'sproposed that paddy should be

cultivated in the same extentof land this year too. Cottonshould be increased to 70 lakhacres from the 53 lakh acreslast year. Likewise, red gramshould be cultivated in 15lakh acres from the 7 lakhacres last year.

Soya bean, turmeric, chilli,vegetables and other suchcrops would be cultivated inthe same extent of land.Farmers producing variety ofseeds should continue theirefforts.

It is felt that maize cultiva-tion is not beneficial duringthe monsoon and henceshould not be cultivated dur-ing the season, but duringRabi. Those cultivating maizeduring the monsoon shouldswitch over to cotton andgrams.

It's desirable if the farmer iscautious about paddy and cul-tivate those varieties that havedemand in the market like theTelangana Sona.

Cluster-wise farmers' con-ferences to create awarenessamong farmer about the reg-ulatory farming methods arebeing organised to explain thevision of government.

Since it was decided thatcrops as identified by the gov-ernment would be cultivated,seeds of the crops identified bythe Seed Regulatory Authorityset up by the governmenthenceforth would be sold.

Against this backdrop, thereshould be a change in the useof fertilisers and pesticides.

Since farmers have no prop-er knowledge on the matter,they are trusting the traders andusing fertilisers and pesticides.Farmers are to be educated andinformed about the correctusage of fertilisers and pesti-cides in moderate quantitiesand their benefits. They shouldalso be informed that cropswhich used more fertiliserswill not have any demand in theinternational market.

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Groupism among the followersof the MLA Jaipal Yadav andMLC Kasireddy NarayanaReddy in KalwakurthyAssembly constituency ofRangareddy district came tofore through protests. Thepolitical differences betweenthe two leaders are not fullyopen but its echoes are beingfelt. Allegations and counterallegations between the follow-ers of the two leaders havebecome viral in the districtpolitical circles. The party rankand file are apparently dividedbetween the two leaders onaccount of the groupism beingpractised by the two leaders.

Their groupism came to thefore if the recent incidents areany indication. The politicalatmosphere in Kalwakurty hasescalated with press meetsaddressed by both the groups,protests, criticism, statements,allegations and counter allega-tions and so on. Leaders ofother political parties and thosewho are politically neutral areobserving various develop-ments taking place in the dis-trict keenly.

Jaipal Yadav and MLCNarayana Reddy aspired for theKalwakurty ticket of the TRS inthe last Assembly elections. Inthe race, Jaipal Yadav got theticket and won the election and

became MLA. But, recentlyNarayana Reddy has been play-ing an active role in theAssembly constituency and gotKadtal MPP Kamli Motya Naikof Congress and vice-MPPAnand join the TRS in his pres-ence. Pained at the develop-ment, followers of MLA havebeen questioned NarayanaReddy on enrolling theCongress leaders into the TRSwithout informing theAssembly constituen-cy boss of the party,the MLA.

The MLA'scamp followersheld a press meetand found faultwith the style offunctioning of theMLC. In this backdrop, someleaders of TRS, includingAmanagallu Municipality divi-sion of TRS convener VassulaJangaiah, remained aloof fromthe MLA's group and drewcloser to the MLC's group.Around the same time,Amanagallu MPP Anita Vijayinched closer to the MLCgroup a few days ago. TheMLA group, noticing all thesedevelopments, is angry with therival group.

The followers of MLC havebeen alleging that the MLA hasbeen cautioning the officialsagainst inviting the MLC to thegovernment programmes.

Addressing media atthe TRS office, theMLA said that poli-tics is not businessand advised thepoliticians to work

with a service atti-tude. He said that he

has been striving hard fordevelopment of the constituen-cy soon after his election as theMLA and making officialswork without disappointingthe people. He claimed that heis using his authority as anMLA without causing pain toany other elected people's rep-resentative.

He breathed fire on someleaders, without naming theleader, accusing them of vitiat-ing the atmosphere inKalwakurty.

The MLA claimed to havedistributed essential commodi-ties and vegetables among10,000 families with an expen-diture of Rs 20 lakh.

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Telangana BJP chief BandiSanjay Kumar on Sundayalleged that the state govern-ment is not in a position toextend Rythu Bandhu andhence it is imposing restric-tions by stating that the farm-ers have to cultivate crop assuggested by the government.

"The Chief Ministerdeceived the farmers by assur-ing that his government wouldimplement loan waiverscheme. The government hasto reveal the details of the loanwaiver scheme implementedcomprehensively since 2017,"he said.

Sanjay said that there is notruth in the state govern-ment's statement thatTelangana is number one inprocurement of grains. "Theprocurement of food grains inthe state is still going on. Howcan FCI make a statementwhen the procurement processis still going on," he said.

Bandi asked the govern-ment to reveal as to how thegovernment will dictate thefarmers without conductingsoil tests. The governmenthas to implement regulatedfarming only after announcingthe remunerative prices to the

grains concerned, he stated.Making it clear that the

BJP is not against the regulat-ed farming, Sanjay demandedthe government to providefertilizers and seeds free of costas assured in the past. Heasked Chief Minister, whosays the farmers wouldn't getRs 10,000 after removinginvestment amount, to explainas to how he would expect Rs1 lakh benefit from each acre.He alleged that FCI chairmanand KCR have internal agree-

ment on regulated cultiva-tion. He demanded the gov-ernment to release guidelineson regulated agricultureimmediately and made it clearthat the BJP has its action planif the government takes deci-sions which do injustice tofarmers.

Meanwhile, criticising theinability of the two TeluguStates to submit DetailedProject Reports (DPR) of pro-posed irrigation projects to theKrishna and Godavari RiverManagement Boards, he saidthe respective State govern-ments should take up projectsthat have allocations as perlaw.

In a statement, theKarimnagar MP pointed outthat both the Telugu Stateswere playing to the gallerywithout bothering about theactual allocations as per thelaw. "While the Telanganagovernment complained toKRMB about the AndhraPradesh government's pro-posed expansion ofPothireddypadu head regula-tor on river Krishna, the APgovernment complained toGRMB about the additionallifting of a third TMC underKaleshwaram Lift IrrigationScheme (KLIS)," he said.

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Members of a State levelexperts committee carriedout an aerial survey to inspectthe locust situation inAdilabad and Nirmal onSunday. They flew along theborder of Telangana andMaharashtra and alongPenganga to check the possi-bility of entry of locustswarms into erstwhileAdilabad district.

The committee comprisingDr SJ Rahman, principal sci-entist and entomologist ofProf Jayashankar TelanganaState Agriculture University,Dr R Sunitha of CIPM,Warangal CCF MJ Akbar,Mancherial Collector BharatiHollikeri and RamagundamPolice Commissioner VSatyanarayana assessed theterrain and identified possi-ble places from where thelocust swarms could enter theState. Later, at a review meet-ing, Dr Rahman said thegovernment was taking stockof the situation of locustswarms. He urged the farm-ers not to believe in rumoursbeing spread on social mediaplatforms.

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Human rights activist ProfHargopal on Sunday saidthat the onus of bringingRevolutionary Writers'Association leader VaravaraRao to Hyderabad fromMumbai jail squarely restedwith the Union Minister ofState for Home G KishanReddy. He termed entrustingVaravara Rao case to theNIA was undemocratic.

He demanded G KishanReddy for steps to make fam-ily members speak withVaravara Rao immediatelythrough video conferencemode. Since his family wasvery much concerned overdeteriorating health ofVaravara Rao, he should beimmediately shifted toHyderabad and wanted ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao to intervene in the mat-ter. Underlining the roleplayed by Varavara Rao dur-ing the course of freedomstruggle, he recalled howChandrasekhar Rao calledon Varavara Rao at a prisonwhile the latter was undergo-ing prison term. He con-demned filing of cases againstall t hose who subscribed todemocracy in Telangana.

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Finance Minister T HarishRao on Sunday directed theofficials concerned to fasttrack the first phase ofUnderground DrainageSystem (UGD) works inGajwel, Pragnapur,Mutrajpally and Kyasaram vil-lages within 15 months. Hewas speaking after laying afoundation for the UGD atRajeev Park in Gajwel.

Speaking on the occasion,the Siddipet MLA said that thestate government has decidedto build an UGD in the townat a cost of over Rs 100 crorein the first phase. An addition-al Rs 47 crore will be spent onthe second phase of UGD.

"Gajwel is witnessing rapiddevelopment following theefforts of Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao. Workson Tank bund and outer ringroad for Gajwel town will becompleted soon," the Ministerinformed.

He further informed thatRailway safety authorities willsoon visit to check the newrailway line being laid con-

necting Gajwel withSecunderabad. Stating thatthe Gajwel was havingIntegrated Office Complex,Integrated Market, MahathiAuditorium, Parks, separateeducation hubs for men andwomen, and GovernmentHospital, Harish said thatSangapur village, which wasmerged in Gawel-PragnaurMunicipality, was developed

on par with Singapore sincethe village had got multipledevelopment works. Rao hassaid that they were taking upthe UGD works consideringthe next 100 years' needs.

He said that the construc-tion of the UGD will protectthe people from mosquitos,f lies and other menacesbesides controlling the spreadof the diseases.

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Minister for Energy G JagadishReddy on Sunday accused theCongress leaders of causingobstruction to the state govern-ment's efforts in encouragingfarmers take up profitable cul-tivation.

He alleged that the Congressdoes not want farmers to getremunerative price for theirproduce. The Minister wasaddressing a series of awarenessprogrammes in Nakrekal,Nalgonda, MunugodeAssembly constituencies ofNalgonda district on Sunday tosensitise farmers on profitablecultivation. Objective of theawareness programme is tosensitise farmers on regulatedagriculture and help them fixMSP for their produce. TheCongress leaders who are outto disrupt the awareness pro-gramme with their unsavouryremarks should spell out theirpolicy on government regulat-ed agriculture, he said. Stating

that this was not new, theMinister pointed out that KCRdrew up plans to make thefarmer the king the day whenthe movement for statehood toTelangana was launched.

The government is providingpower to agriculture sectorround the clock. He alsorecalled how KCR is imple-menting Rytu Bandhu and RytuBima schemes to benefit farm-ers. In continuation with thegood work done by the CM, heis now promoting governmentregulated agriculture to enablefarmers decide the remunera-tive price for their produce.

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With two persons testingpositive for Covid-19 inShakti Nagar locality inMahbubnagar town andAmisthapur village ofBhootpur mandal, Ministerfor Excise V Srinivas Goudinspected the two villageson Sunday, in addition to vis-iting Vepur village ofHanwada mandal, where aperson who was admitted toOsmania General Hospitaltested positive for Covid-19.

Srinivas Goud monitoredthe sanitisation and otherlockdown measures that weretaken up by the districtadministration to containthe spread of the virus inthose localities. He said thatself-discipline and self-isola-tion were the only tools avail-able with the people to pro-tect themselves from coron-avirus.

He instructed officials tokeep a track of who wereentering villages and themonitoring mechanism tocontain the spread of Covid-19 in rural areas. He appealedto the people to follow phys-ical distancing while waitingin queues at grocery stores,banks, medical shops andother establishments andinstructed officials to takestern action against thosewho violate lockdown rules.

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Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee president N UttamKumar Reddy slammed theTRS government over farmers'issues. He accused the govern-ment of being insensitive to thefarmers' problems.

Finding fault with the ChiefMinister for claiming that theTelangana State alone wasprocuring the farmers produce,he reminded that the Congress-led UPA government had set upthe IKP centres for the procure-ment of the farmers produce.

Meanwhile, during the meet-ing on State Government's newAgriculture Policy in Nalgondaon Sunday, Uttam had a direct

confrontation with PowerMinister Jagadish Reddy overthe farmers' issues. He asked the

Minister to clarify as to whenthe promised crop loan waiverof Rs 1 lakh would be imple-

mented. He pointed that theTRS government took chargefor the second term in October2018 and not a single rupee ofcrop loans have been waived offtill today. He said that the gov-ernment has recentlyannounced that crop loans of Rs25,000 would be first waived off.However, he said even thisassurance was not yet imple-mented fully. Quoting the offi-cial figures provided duringthe meeting, Uttam said that theimplementation of Rythu

Bandhu was erratic as nearly 50per cent of farmers did not getthe investment support for thejust concluded Rabi seasonalthough the sowing for Kharifseason was about to begin.Further, Uttam said that theState government's claims onprocurement of agriculture pro-duce were false.

He also alleged that the cropinsurance was non-existent inTelangana while TRS govern-ment was boasting about RythuBima scheme.

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Former Minister MohammedAli Shabbir alleged that ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao was punishing the gov-ernment employees and pen-sioners for his own wrong eco-nomic policies and misman-agement.

Shabbir Ali, in a statementon Sunday, said that the KCRgovernment has pushed theTelangana State into deepfinancial crisis and a huge debttrap. "Telangana had a hugerevenue deficit by the end of

February this year, long beforethe imposition of lockdowndue to Coronavirus.

As against the Budget esti-mates for 2019-20 of totalreceipts of Rs 1.37 lakh crore,the actual revenue was just Rs1.15 lakh crore by the end ofFebruary 2020. This includesborrowings of Rs 26,559 crore.As per the Comptroller &Auditor General of India(CAG) report, the fiscal deficitwas of Rs 26,599 crore.Business was as usual in thefirst three weeks of March.

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Page 5: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

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As the world has changed follow-ing the coronavirus pandemic,so has the tobacco consumptionbehaviour. It is interesting toknow, especially on World No-Tobacco Day on Sunday, that 37per cent of people in India con-sidered lockdown as an oppor-tunity to quit smoking.

In a survey conducted byIndus Health Plus, a preventivehealthcare company headquar-tered in Pune, it was found that37 per cent of the respondentsmentioned that lockdown is agood opportunity to quitsmoking, while 42 per cent saidthat it helped them to reduceconsumption.

It was a three-week con-sumer survey to understandthe smoking behaviour andpatterns of the people duringthe lockdown. Out of the totalrespondents, 39 per cent were

females and 61 per cent malesbetween the age group of 30-45 years. The sample size of thesurvey was 837 and the time-frame was May 8 to May 29.

The respondents of the sur-vey were from metros alongwith tier-II cities ofMaharashtra, Karnataka andMadhya Pradesh.

The survey revealed that 68per cent of smokers reduced

consumption due to increasedcost of cigarettes by the retail-ers and shopkeepers. Also,smokers found cigarettesunavailable. While 39 per centof males and 25 per cent offemales succeeded in reducingtobacco consumption in anyform. However, the survey alsorevealed that 32 per cent ofsmokers increased smokingdue to the stress of managing

work from home and house-hold chores, social distancing,and for a few people, it was dueto free time.

Speaking to IANS, DrSanyam Gupta, RadiologyResident at Medanta hospital,said, "Lockdown is a boon in

disguise for smokers because ithas given them an opportuni-ty to quit smoking and switchto healthy habits to fight theircravings. Smoking has becomea style statement among theyouth. It has negative impacton respiratory, cardiac andoverall health. I have observedthat during lockdown, peoplehave opted for other forms ofstimulation, such as yoga andexercises."

Dr Gupta said: "Those whohave been facing withdrawalsymptoms, they are taking helpof nicotine gums and othermedically prescribed drugs. Ifa person quits smoking formore than a month, his/herchances of leaving it forever canincrease significantly."

Dr Preeti Shinde, CardiacRadiologist at Pune's SahyadriHospital, told IANS that tobac-co consumption decreasedduring the lockdown.

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A day after the NarendraModi-led NDA governmentpatted itself on the completionof first year of its rule in thesecond term, Congress leaderKapil Sibal on Sunday took ajibe at Modi, saying that eventhe "Bahubali Prime Ministercould not face the coronaviruspandemic and pushed thecountry into more distress".

The senior Congress leaderlashed out at the Centre forwhat he called "mishandling ofa pandemic that forced peopleinto a crisis". "During the lock-down crisis, people helpedeach other. After March 24, thegovernment had to subside itsdivisive agenda; prior to thelockdown, the governmentagenda was only on polarisa-tion," he said. Sibal citedNational Population Register,Citizenship (Amendment) Actand misuse of UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Actagainst activists and said whilethe Union Home Minister stat-ed in Parliament that theamended UAPA will be usedagainst terrorists only but justthe opposite was happening.

Sibal said that people walk-ing on the roads to their nativestates are a testimony of thegovernment's "apathy" as manypeople have lost their lives dueto starvation. The Congressleader alleged that the PrimeMinister has not able to handlethe migrant crisis.

"Nepal is looking in our eyesand there is the standoff withChina -- why is the Prime

Minister not looking them intheir eyes," asked Sibal.

He also asked the govern-ment to come clean on thestandoff and tell the peopleabout the real picture. EvenRahul Gandhi had earlier madethe demand. He also lashed outat the Solicitor General over his'vultures and prophets ofdooms' comments during a SChearing.

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From Hollywood to Haridwar,people have taken serious noteof the benefits of yoga amid thecoronavirus health crisis,Prime Minister NarendraModi said on Sunday, notingthat it is good for "communi-ty, immunity and unity".

In his monthly "Mann kiBaat" radio address, the primeminister also urged people toparticipate in an online yogacompetition being organisedby the Ayush Ministry.

He said during the ongoinghealth crisis, he spoke withmany world leaders. "I wouldlike to share a secret today- I'veobserved that during deliber-ations between world leaders,a lot of interest is evinced inyoga and Ayurveda. Manyleaders asked me if yog andAyurved could be of help inthis calamitous period of coro-navirus," he said.

Referring to the'International Yoga Day' onJune 21, he said as yoga is get-ting integrated with people's

lives, the awareness about theirhealth is also continuously onthe rise.

"During the present Covid-19 pandemic, it is beingobserved from Hollywood toHaridwar that, while staying athome, people are paying seri-ous attention to yoga. Peopleeverywhere want to knowmore about yoga and alongwith it Ayurveda and adopt itas a way of life," he said.

Many people who had neverpracticed yoga, have eitherjoined online yoga classes orare also learning it through

online videos, he said. "Truly, yoga is good for

community, immunity andunity," he said. He said duringthe present health crisis, yogahas become all the moreimportant as the novel coron-avirus affects respiratory sys-tem. Yoga has various"pranayams" that strengthenthe respiratory system, hepointed out.

The Ayush Ministry hasstarted its International VideoBlog competition titled 'MyLife, My Yoga' in which peoplefrom across the globe can par-

ticipate. To participate, peoplewill have to make a three-minute video and upload it.

"In this video, you have toperform yoga or asana, thatyou usually do and also tellabout the changes that havetaken place in your life throughyoga," he said.

The prime minister alsoreferred to the WorldEnvironment Day beingobserved on June 5. The themethis year is Biodiversity.

"This theme is especiallypertinent in the current cir-cumstances.

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Maharashtra Medical Educa-tion Minister Amit Deshmukhon Sunday said that doctors andnurses will be hired on honorar-ium basis for COVID-19 treat-ment in Mumbai.

The decision has been takento ensure that there is no short-age of medical staff for treatmentof COVID-19 patients in the city,he said in a statement.

Mumbai has so far recordedthe highest number of COVID-19 cases among all the cities inthe country. Its tally of patientstill Saturday night was 38,442,while the number of deaths was1,227. Registered doctors below45 years of age, who do not suf-fer from any medical ailmentsand have completed their intern-ship, will be hired as per the

needs for treatment of patients."They will be paid Rs 80,000

per month. Apart from doctors,physicians will also be hired onhonorarium basis. Anaesthetistsand intensivists will be paid Rstwo lakh per month. Qualifiednurses will be hired for Rs30,000 per month. "The honorar-ium will be paid by theBrihanmumbai Municipal

Corporation (BMC). Eligibledoctors and nurses should applyfor it online," he said.

Meanwhile, Deshmukh hasalso directed Vice Chancellor ofMaharashtra University ofHealth Sciences (MUHS), DilipMhaiskar, that students whohave passed their MBBS exam-inations in February 2019 andcompleted their one year intern-ship be provided temporarygraduation certificates. He saidthat with the certificate, they canregister themselves with theMaharashtra Medical Council.

If this happens, nearly 4,000doctors can provide medicalservice in the present COVID-19 situation, he said. About4,000 students have cleared theMBBS exam of November 2018and the results were declared inFebruary 2019.

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Attention is being paid tonew inventions to counter thelocust attack in various partsof the country, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said onSunday and noted that it is areminder that a small creaturecan inflict great damage.

"On the one side whereeastern India is facing cycloniccalamity, on the other manyparts of the country have beenaffected by locust attacks.These attacks again remind usof the great damage this smallcreature can inflict," he said inhis 'Man ki Baat' radio address.

The locust attack lasts forseveral days and affects a largearea, he noted.

Be it at the level of the cen-tral government, the state gov-ernments, agriculture depart-ment or the administration, allare involved using moderntechniques to not only help thefarmers but also lessen the lossaccruing due to this crisis, hesaid.

"Attention is being paid tonew inventions, and I am surethat together not only will webe able to battle out this crisisthat is looming on our agricul-tural sector, but also manageto salvage our crops," he said.

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The Apex Council meetingof the Mumbai CricketAssociation, scheduled tobe held online on Monday,has been deferred as thechances to organise a meetwhich officials can attend inperson, have improved.

The central governmenthas announced that sever-al lockdown restrictionswill be lifted on June 8.

The Apex Council meetwas scheduled to form anad-hoc CricketImprovement Committee.

A Council member toldPTI that meeting could beheld after June 8 after the"unlock" guidelines comeinto effect.

Apart from forming ad-hoc Cricket ImprovementCommittee, the ApexCouncil was to decide the onAGM date and discuss about2020-21 cricket season.

Cricketing activities inMumbai have come to agrinding halt as it is one ofthe worst affected cities bythe deadly COVID19 pan-demic.

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Police in Sukma district ofChhattisgarh have busted acountry-made weapons fac-tory in neighbouringMalkangiri district of Odisha,and arrested a Maoist sympa-thiser who was operating it tosupply the arms to Naxals,police said on Sunday.

The action was taken basedon the inputs provided by aNaxal identified as MadviJoga (40), who was arrestedfrom Gadiras police stationarea of Sukma on Friday,Sukma Superintendent ofPolice Shalabh Sinha said.

Acting on a tip-off aboutthe movement of the wantedultra Joga near Rasavaya vil-lage, a team of police raidedthe spot on Friday and appre-hended him, he said.

A muzzle-loading gun wasrecovered from the posses-sion of Joga, who was anactive as a member ofMaoists' Katekalyan areacommittee and carried areward of Rs 5 lakh on hishead, he said.

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All the terrorist camps andaround 15 launch pads inPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) "are full", according totop army commander Lt GenB S Raju, who anticipates anincrease in infiltration attemptsfrom across the border thissummer to replenish thediminishing terrorist cadres inJammu and Kashmir.

In an interview to PTI,Lieutenant General BaggavalliSomashekar Raju asserted thatthe back of terrorism has been"virtually broken" and thatPakistan is unable to "digest"that Kashmiris are experienc-ing peace and an improved lawand order situation.

Lt Gen Raju took over thereins of strategically locatedXV Corps in Srinagar onMarch 1.

"The back of terrorism is vir-tually broken. Because of thesuccesses in eliminating terror-ists operating in the hinterland,we expect cross-border infiltra-tion to increase in the summerseason to make up for the deadterrorists. I anticipate more andmore attempts to replenish

the depleting cadres, as thewindow for infiltration is alsorestricted to the summer sea-son only," Lt Gen Raju said inan e-mail interview.

"All the terrorist camps andaround 15 launch pads inPakistan-occupied Kashmirare full. These terrorist cadresare desperate to infiltrate withthe help of Pakistani Army."

Stating that Pakistan hasconsistently been aiding andabetting infiltration for morethan 30 years now, the gener-al said there have been sever-al ceasefire violations (CFVs)by Pakistani army to supportthe infiltrating terrorist groups,but added such designs havebeen frustrated as "our befit-ting response to ceasefire vio-

lations has been swift, hard andpunitive".

He also spoke about theArmy's counter-infiltrationgrid being fortified which,along with, "our effectiveresponse to ceasefire viola-tions has left Pakistan helplessin furthering their agenda."

An NDA alumni from the1984-batch, Lt Gen Raju, whoearlier served as the Brigadecommander along the Line ofControl (LoC), and later ledthe "Victor Force", a counter-insurgency group of the Armythat looks after the militancy-hit south Kashmir region, alsosent a clear message that thosehaving any evil design "againstour country" should shun suchambitions.

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A new book "The GatedRepublic" presents an interrog-ative view of the history andfuture of private India at a timewhen the COVID-19 pan-demic has highlighted theneed for effective public poli-cies to ensure the provision ofbasic, essential services to allcitizens.

Political economy analystShankkar Aiyar says his book"The Gated Republic: India'sPublic Policy Failures andPrivate Solutions" is an enquiryinto the history and politics ofpublic policy and the anatomyof failure.

He says the "maxim about

the multiple truths that areIndia is unfortunately provenby the sordid state of affairs inthe delivery of public goods

and services".According to Aiyar, the

country's ability in dealingwith complexities and scale hasnot "resulted in creation ofcapacity for transformativechange".

"Truth be told, our manygovernments - central, stateand local - have flailed andfailed in delivering basic gov-ernance," he writes.

The Kindle edition of thebook is slated to be released onJune 1 followed by the hard-back release on June 20, pub-lishers HarperCollins Indiasaid.

Aiyar says 72 years since itbecame a republic, India hascome a long way.

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The Delhi High Court will hearon Monday a plea by an NCLTmember (judicial) challeng-ing the transfer orders issuedby the National Company LawTribunal acting president inApril and May.

The plea, filed by RajasekharVK, member (judicial) seekingto set aside the order transfer-ring him from NCLT Mumbaito Kolkata bench, is listed forhearing on June 1 before JusticeV Kameswar Rao.

He has also challenged twoother orders by which NCLTacting president BSV PrakashKumar has transferred himselffrom NCLT Chennai toMumbai bench and the trans-fer of eight other members,contending that the orders are

illegal.The acting president by

April 30 and May 12 ordershad shuffled the posting of theNCLT members.

The petition, filed throughadvocate Vandana Sehgal, alsosought a direction to appointan eligible member as the act-ing president, in place ofKumar.

Rajasekhar was appointedwas NCLT member (judicial)on May 3, 2019 and was post-ed to the Mumbai bench.

The plea has sought a statusquo in respect of postings ofmembers of NCLT till thetime a regular president is notappointed and that the presi-dent or acting president of thetribunal shall remain at the

principal seat, that is Delhi, interms of the statutory provi-sions. The plea said Kumar hasonly worked as a district judgeand as a member of CompanyLaw Board before being amember of the NCLT andsince he was not a high courtjudge, he was not eligible to beappointed as president, partic-ularly, when Justice RajeshDayal Khare, a retired highcourt judge, was available andfunctioning as member (judi-cial) at NCLT, Allahabadbench. "As acting president, thesecond respondent (Kumar)cannot ask for a transfer, norcan he be transferred to anyplace, as he has to remain at theprincipal bench at New Delhiso long as he is acting as pres-ident of the tribunal,” the peti-tion contended.

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Page 6: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

Some back-channelingand rethinkingbetween Nepal’s rul-ing party and theOpposition (despite

the Nepali Congress agreeingto support the amendments)has deferred the ConstitutionalAmendment Bill to sanctify thecountry’s new map. This hascreated an opportunity for it toreturn to diplomacy. It’s for thefirst time that Nepal has alteredthe geography of its map. ItsForeign Minister “summoned”the Indian Ambassador and itsPrime Minister even usedunkind words for us. NewDelhi, too, was high-handed: Itdragged its feet in giving a datefor talks, announced a tarmacroad to Lipulekh Pass while theArmy Chief, who is the hon-orary General of the NepalArmy, made unwarrantedcomments on Nepal’s internalaffairs, too. This certainly is notthe civilisational bonding thatdefined relations between Indiaand Nepal. The Kalapani dis-pute has to be settled political-ly, too. Any further delay willonly widen the trust deficit.

In my 60th and countingtreks from Mahakali to Mechisince 1959, I have come acrossscintillating names of villagesand places: Chisopani,Tatopani, Ratopani, Jumlepani,Pokhripani and also the con-tested Kalapani, not Kalopani.In India, Kalapani is a curseand is associated with banish-ment, jail or exile. Still, it hasbeen the bone of contentionbetween India and Nepal formany years and forKathmandu, it denotes an areaof 335 sq km, encompassingLimpiyadhura, Lipulekh Passand Kalapani. For it, the sourceof the Mahakali river, whichdelineates its western bound-ary, is Limpiyadhura.

For India, Kalapani is theorigin of the river near wheremilitary posts have existedsince the mid-1960s and fromwhere the Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) patrols regular-ly up to the Lipulekh Pass.When King Tribhuvan invitedthe Indian Military Mission in1952 to Nepal, besides trainingthe Royal Nepal Army (RNA),it had established, according toborder expert on Nepal, BNShreshta, 18 border check-posts on the Tibet border start-

ing from Tinker Pass in thewest to Chhayangthap in theeast. These posts were vacatedin 1969 under pressure fromthe communist lobby in thepalace. Conspicuously,Kalapani and Lipulekh Passwere not part of the border sur-veillance scheme and, therefore,there was no question of Indiavacating them. Trade betweenIndia and China acrossLipulekh Pass started in 1954and an agreement in 2015 rat-ified the border trade.

Kalapani has a spiritualand strategic value since it is thegateway to Kailash Mansarovar,dominates Lipulekh Pass andcan monitor the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) campat Taklakot. It appears inNepal’s official and touristmaps and its adverse militarypossession is a highly emotiveissue. Twenty-six years of fieldreconnaissance by a joint tech-nical boundary committee andnegotiations since 1997 havefailed to find a mutually-acceptable solution. Protestsin Nepal over Kalapani startedin the mid-1990s when a com-munist Government was inpower. It has since become apolitical football.

India’s new map inNovember last year, after thenullification of Article 370 inJammu & Kashmir, showedKalapani in Uttarakhand with-out any change in the bound-ary with Nepal. It was verymuch similar to the old map.But this triggered countrywideprotests and exchange of diplo-

matic notes. India announcingthe black-topping of the roadto Lipulekh Pass in Mayreignited protests at a timewhen the power struggle in theruling Nepal Communist Party(NCP) peaked.

It was only with Chineseintervention that PrimeMinister KP Oli was able toretain his seat. Adept at usingultra-nationalism for India-bashing and reviving his polit-ical stock, Oli published a newmap of Nepal, incorporatingclaimed areas. He wants anational consensus on the legit-imacy of the new map througha Constitutional amendment.The Bill should pass muster asthe Government needs justnine lawmakers to secure a two-third majority but that willdamage irreparably India-Nepalrelations, which have been onthe mend since 2015 followingthe economic blockade.

Nepal has deployed itsarmed police force on the west-ern border near Kalapani withthe Nepal Army building a newroad to Tinker Pass. Thesedevelopments, coupled with aparliamentary resolution toreclaim all land and theConstitutional AmendmentBill are likely to escalate ten-sion. The beneficiary from thisdiplomatic stand-off will onlybe a third country with whomtroubles along the India alongthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) are mounting. Nepal’spolitical class must realise thatthe move to unilaterally alter,validate and internationalise

the new map, especially at theheight of a pandemic, is unwise.Both sides need to cool off.

Any adverse and escalato-ry steps will also undermine thelong-standing and embeddedArmy-to-Army relations,which were initiated by KingTribhuvan and his son, KingMahendra, for modernisingthe RNA. The Chiefs of the twoArmies are honorary Generalsin each other’s armies, anunprecedented exchange ofmilitary honour started by thelegendary Field Marshal SamManekshaw in 1969. Gorkhasoldiers from Nepal haveserved the Indian Army withvalour during all the wars post-independence, winning highgallantry awards. More than40,000 Gorkha soldiers servethe Indian Army and another1,50,000 ex-servicemen areprivileged by unique welfareservices in Nepal that are notavailable to other soldiers inIndia. These are 22 district sol-dier boards, two pension pay-ing offices along with the Ex-servicemen ContributoryHealth Scheme (ECHS),Kendriya Vidyalayas andnumerous other assistance andgrants projects. Gorkha remit-tances are upwards of �15,000crore (NC), almost one-third ofNepal’s total remittances of $8billion.

India-Nepal relations are ata tipping point due to map-making and the political row ithas generated is at the height ofa pandemic. Nepal’s new maphas broken the agreement

between the two countries tomaintain status quo till nego-tiations help resolve the borderdispute. India had initially saidit would resume ForeignSecretary-level dialogue mech-anism after the COVID-19emergency. After Nepal issuedits new map and Oli’s intemper-ate reference to India inParliament, New Delhi hasurged Kathmandu to create apositive atmosphere for dia-logue. After deferment of theBill, New Delhi says it is opento engaging to solve borderrow.

The media on both sidesshould call a truce. OnWednesday afternoon, NepaliTV channels were playingpatriotic music centred onKalapani and showing clips ofits legendary military prowessthat extended the HimalayanKingdom from the riversChenab to Teesta, inducingfears of “Greater Nepal.” Nepal’sdecision to put on hold the sec-ond ConstitutionalAmendment Bill is a prudentstep welcomed by India thathas averted a showdown.Already, strained India-Nepalrelations are too precious to bedamaged by territorial nation-alism. Foreign Secretary HarshVardhan Shringla must call uphis counterpart Shankar DasBairagi and break the ice.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Labour woes” (May 29). Itwas surprising to note that over91 lakh migrants have been sentback to their home States sinceMay 1. Arranging basic screen-ing facilities for the safety of pas-sengers in trains has been aHerculean task. Besides, themigrants need not just protec-tion from the pandemic butjobs, too.

By the Government’s ownadmission, we simply do nothave data on the migrant work-ers. This reason is often citedby officials for their failure toprovide generous cash relief inthe economic package to themigrant workers. It is wel-come that several States are set-ting up migrant commissions.This will not only capture dataon the number of workers butalso generate employment forworkers. State Governmentsmust ensure that they provideadequate wages, a safe workenvironment, a sound skilldevelopment ecosystem anduniversal social safety coverage.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

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Sir — With the easing down oflockdown norms, life is limpingback to the new normal. Butschools and colleges remainclosed. Online education systemhas become the norm. The sideeffects of long exposure to

screens on children are known.Besides, the poor have been leftout of the ambit of online learn-ing due to the digital divide. Aclassroom environment pro-vides equal learning opportuni-ties. Schools and colleges mustreopen with caution.

SritomaVia email

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Sir — New Delhi was right toreject US President DonaldTrump’s offer to mediatebetween India and China.Instead, Trump must focus onputting his own house in orderfirst with regard to China.

Besides, he has the pandemic totackle, too. While the numberof new cases is declining in partsof the US, several models indi-cate the death toll will contin-ue rising in the next weeks.

The Indian Governmentmust be complimented formaking it clear to China that itwould not settle for anythingless than the withdrawal of itstroops from the LAC. NewDelhi must stand firm.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — India has done well tonot pay heed to US PresidentDonald Trump’s offer to medi-ate between India and China toend border standoff. It is alwayswiser to settle burning issueswith China amicably and indi-vidually without bringing in anoutsider or introducing irritants. It is better for India tostrengthen ties with Chinawith sobriety of mind.

Prakash SainiVia email

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Every war brings death and destruction in itswake. It also opens windows of opportunitiesfor those who seek it. Though the global war

on the COVID-19 is by no means over it has broughta host of opportunities with it. So, do we Indianscontinue to remain in the abyss of poverty or do wetake a plunge into the new world that is openingup? It needs to be remembered that in the past, Indiawas a leader in manufacturing. As per WilliamDalrymple’s book The Anarchy, in 1608, India “wasproducing about a quarter of global manufactur-ing; indeed in many ways it was the world’s indus-trial powerhouse and world’s leader in manufacturedtextiles.” Whatever happened thereafter is historyand during the British rule, India lost the leader-ship role in manufacturing. We missed the IndustrialRevolution and it had a telling effect on impover-ishing India.

Thankfully, we did catch the train of DigitalRevolution but the gains were not inclusive enoughto pull us out of poverty. The opportunity that theCOVID revolution is presenting needs to begrabbed with everything that we have. As PrimeMinister Narendra Modi put across to the country,his vision of “Atma nirbhar (self-reliant)” India androlled out financial packages to support the vision,many opportunities could open up, particularly indefence production.

India is one of the biggest arms importers inthe world. In 2013-2017, India topped the list as itaccounted for 12 per cent of the world’s armsimports. The US was the highest arms exporteramounting to 34 per cent of the global share. EvenNetherlands, which is 79 times smaller in size thanIndia, was the tenth-largest exporter of arms,accounting for 2.1 per cent of the global armsexports. Surely, a renewed Make in India will pro-vide the country with unparalleled benefits. Self-reliance in defence could have the best advantagesfor India, as, besides the economic benefits that willaccrue, it will also result in strategic independence,which is a key ingredient of national security.

Threat perception is mostly what drives forcestructuring and weaponisation. With the break-upof the USSR, the threat perception reduced signif-icantly and it was possible for some Europeannations to scale down their armed forces. However,in the Indian context, the perceived threat from theNorthern and Western neighbours does not appearto be reducing in the foreseeable future. While thespectrum and type of conflict that may manifest canbe debated, what is of importance is that the pre-paredness has to be long-term in the interest of over-all national security.

Though there has been indigenisation in thefield of defence production for the last decade, itsoutput has obviously not been as desired. Also, interms of quality, there have been instances of theproduct not being suitable for combat conditions.One can take the case of the INSAS rifle with prob-lems of moving parts and magazines. Time takenfor developing a product is also important — as inthe case of MBT Arjun.

Indigenisation for defence is simply not “Madein India” or “Manufactured in India.” To be success-ful, “Make in India” has to include the entire processand this includes: Identification of the weapon orequipment or platform to be manufactured; tech-nology; design; patent/IPR and related issues;manufacturing ecosystem and operational mainte-nance and logistics.

Identification of the weapon/equip-ment/platform: Based on the threat per-ception and a long-term integrated plan,each weapon/equipment/platform is to bedecided. This is an important process,needing strategic perception and long-term capability development and wouldbe in the realms of the armed forces, withinputs from sources as desired by them.The process also includes formulation ofGeneral Service Qualitative Requirements(GSQR), which need to be realistic whilemeeting the operational requirements ofthe armed forces.

I am reminded of the days when I wasserving in the Siachen glacier, in one ofthe most challenging posts, in 1992.Since our post was on an ice-wall and waspartially under enemy observation, thehelipad was located some distance away.Due to the restriction of the valley widthas also very limited availability of landingground, only the smallest helicopter, theCheetah (French Allouette engine) couldfly there. In its first sortie, with full fuelload, all that it could carry was either oneman without his equipment or his equip-ment or a jerrican (20 litres) of keroseneoil.

I wondered at that time as a youngMajor, that, whereas a sizeable portion ofour army is deployed in high altitude andsuper high altitude areas, why is it that wedon’t have an Indian helicopter to meet ouroperational requirements?

Through “Make in India,” we canachieve to get what we need for our oper-ational conditions and not what someother country wants to sell, which couldbe quite unrelated to our requirements. Noother country would be fighting wars inthe varied terrain and other conditionsthat prevail along our borders.

Technology and Design: For the suc-cess of “Make in India,” the process of tech-nology and design would probably be the

most significant one. This applies equal-ly to both, i.e. platforms made by largeindustries or smaller sub-systems manu-factured by MSMEs. Technology mustdrive the equipment to be unfailingly com-bat-effective, be it a platform like the air-craft carrier, an aircraft, main battle tank;or a small part like the magazine of a rifle;each needs combat-worthy technology.

Fortunately, India has enough tech-nology experts in this field but their exper-tise needs to be harnessed in a highlyorganised manner.

A conducive ecosystem needs to becreated, wherein they can contribute tonational security as a matter of pride, whiletheir individual aspirations are also takencare of. There is also a need to harnessIndian technology experts who may havemoved to the US/Europe or other coun-tries, giving them the option of repatriat-ing, including those who may have losttheir jobs in the current situation.Alternatively, they could work on a pro-ject basis in India. An opportunity canthus be created for them to “give back” totheir country which, in a large number ofcases, would have given them basic edu-cation to achieve success.

There are, of course, products utilis-ing very high-end technology, whichmay not be readily available. There is aneed to acquire such technology leverag-ing India’s other strengths. For the long-term success of “Make in India,” such bor-rowed/acquired technology cannot be ananswer. Dedicated investment must bemade on R&D of short and long-termdefence equipment requirements, takingadvantage of the technology experts of theentire country, on a project basis. Suchresearch projects and their byproductscould also be utilised for civilian purpos-es, in the long-term.

Patent/IPR: All existing patent/IPRrules/regulations must be fully implement-

ed. Excellence/innovation needs to behonoured and rewarded. Even individualinterests of scientists, where applicable, inrelation to patents must be respected.Clauses of national security, where desir-able can be enunciated.

Manufacturing Ecosystem: Withthe “Make in India” friendly packagesannounced by the Government, includ-ing items that cannot be imported, bothlarge industrial houses and MSMEs havean unprecedented opportunity. However,to compete, their standards have to be real-ly world-class. For long-term success, themanufacturing capabilities need to beupgraded where required, to supply fail-proof combat equipment. Promisingmanufacturing units, including start-ups,could be provided appropriate efficiencyand output-based support.

Operational Maintenance andLogistics: In the varied terrain conditionsthat Indian Armed Forces operate in,including a major portion in high altitudeand super-high altitude areas, opera-tional maintenance and logistics wouldplay a significant role. In situations wherefeasible, the original equipment manufac-turer could take on the responsibility oflogistics and sustenance. The design of theweapon/equipment must take into con-sideration the requirements of field main-tenance in extremely challenging situa-tions and terrain.

The 21st century has presented Indiawith an unique opportunity, which couldfulfil the requirements of inclusive growthas well as meet many other existing chal-lenges. Through ‘Make in India’, thecountry gains strategic independence, theindustry makes progress, jobs are creat-ed and most importantly the soldier getsindigenously-manufactured equipmentmeeting world standards.

(The writer is former Director-Generalof the National Cadet Corps)

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Judges rule on the basis of law, notpublic opinion.” This take on therole of judges by the former Chief

Justice of the US, Warren Burger, wastaken as a maxim across the world.However, in the last decade or so,things in this context seem to havegone the other way. Now, one oftenhears terms such as “judicial populism”and “judicial activism” used in com-mentaries and political rhetoric. Innone of the two books by JusticeBurger that I read did he even oncemention any of the two aforemen-tioned terms. There is thus enough evi-dence to suggest that “judicial pop-ulism” is a current coinage. However,

the term “judicial activism” is mucholder but it was not used as frequent-ly as it is being now.

The American attorney KeenanKmiec writes that the first time theterm “judicial activism” was used wasby the US historian Arthur SchlesingerJunior in 1947. But since he was astaunch liberal and supporter of theDemocratic Party, one can conclude hewas vaguely criticising the SupremeCourt judges who had initially over-turned the many unprecedented eco-nomic policies outlined by PresidentFranklin Roosevelt to address theeconomic depression in the US in the1930s.

Ever since the 1950s, there havebeen at least seven well-known casesin the US which experts have describedas being influenced by judicialactivism. But even though some ofthese judgments have been hailed asbold and timely, the idea of judicialactivism has largely been criticised bylaw experts and many sitting govern-ments. The Black’s Law Dictionary, oneof the most used law dictionaries in theUS, explains judicial activism as a deci-

sion-making process whereby judgesallow their personal views about pub-lic policy to guide their decisions.Other critics have claimed that itintrudes in the workings of the exec-utive and legislative branches of theGovernment and disturbs democrat-ic order.

But there are also those, such asthe US professor of law BrianTamanaha, who says that an absolute-ly objective interpretation of law isimpossible and, therefore, a judge’s per-sonality and/or views are bound toinfluence his/her judgments.

The debate around the idea andact of judicial activism is now decadesold. But many commentators are of theview that, instead of aiding the judi-ciary to come to a middle-ground,judicial activism has broken away andsprinted towards populism. Eightyears ago, the Pakistani academic andauthor Mohammad Waseem more-than-hinted that judicial activism inPakistan was transforming into “judi-cial populism” in his essay for the 2012edition of the Journal of ContemporarySouth Asia.

Dr Waseem was writing whenChaudhry Iftikhar was the country’sChief Justice (CJP), brought back tothis position by a “lawyers’ movement”against the Pervez Musharraf regimethat had ousted him on charges of cor-ruption.

On the former CJP’s style of judg-ing, Dr Waseem says: “Confrontationbetween the executive and judiciaryunder him led to speculation about theimminent collapse of the democraticsystem. The use of judicial review byhim was widely criticised as an attemptto encroach on the territory of the leg-islature. The court’s pursuit of publicinterest litigations through frequent suomotu actions taken in a populistmode led to brinkmanship on the partof the judiciary. However, the court’spursuit of judicial reform relating tospeedy justice and accountability of thehigher judiciary remained far from sat-isfactory.”

In order to explain what a “pop-ulist” judge is, SOAS University ofLondon’s Yasser Kureshi in an essay forDawn writes: “The populist judgeembraces a more aggressive form of

judicial activism, prioritising not onlypolicy over precedent but also out-comes over processes. The populistjudge is unbound by precedent andprocedure, interpreting away any con-stitutional limitations on what thejudge can and cannot do.”

Indeed, a lot has been written onjudicial populism in Pakistan since thereturn of Chaudhry Iftikhar. SaqibNisar, who was CJP from December2016 till January 2019, was alsodescribed by many as a populistjudge. Only recently, when the currentCJP, Justice Gulzar Ahmad, orderedthe Sindh Government to allow theopening of shopping malls in Karachi— when the number of COVID-19infections were on the rise — criticsof the decision explained it as populistand even ill-informed.

But is judicial populism squarelya Pakistani phenomenon? Not quite.A similar decision was delivered by theSupreme Court of the US State ofWisconsin. The US has the highestnumber of COVID-19 cases anddeaths. So it was understandable thatthis decision was roundly criticised.

The Supreme Courts of Israel andBrazil are also seen as dealing in judi-cial populism, even though theyhaven’t yet said much on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Brazilian professorof law, Diego Werneck, published aninsightful essay, exploring why judicialactivism mutates and becomes judicialpopulism. According to Werneck,courts have traditionally been targetsof populists who criticise them forbeing elitist and bureaucratic. Tocounter this, especially in an era oframpant populism and unabashedpopulists heading governments invarious countries, Werneck writesthat courts have begun to preservetheir authority by adjusting their deci-sions to trends in public opinion.Werneck then adds: “By adopting thepopulist vocabulary, the courts claimto represent and vindicate currentmajority sentiment against what areperceived as corrupt politicians.”

Werneck writes that this can betriggered by general discontent or aprotest movement. He gave the exam-ple of the mass 2015 protests in Brazil,during which its Supreme Court

judges and some trial judges did nothold back in castigating “corruptpoliticians” in the media and gainedsignificant popularity. This encouragedtheir populist style.

This scenario is remarkably sim-ilar to how the higher judiciary evolvedin Pakistan after the 2007 lawyers’movement and then again, after the2014 protests held by Imran Khan’sPTI. But Dr Waseem adds anotherdimension to this. He writes that whenelected representatives clash in devel-oping countries, non-elected Stateinstitutions are invited by both tomediate. In the past, the militaryused to be that sole mediator, despitethe fact that it often ended up gettingrid of both the bickering parties.Waseem then adds that, ever since thetime of Iftikhar, the judiciary, too, hasbeen approached by politicians to set-tle scores against opponents. But, themore this happens, the more space theexecutive and the legislative lose,because the judiciary now believes itrepresents the people’s will and inter-ests more than the politicians.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Majority of the consumers inIndia want to buy from locallysourced items going forwardthat reflects the trust built bykiranas during the lockdown,according to a survey.

Consumers in the country arealso not rushing to stock groceryin their homes, according to thesurvey titled 'Deloitte GlobalState of the Consumer Tracker'.It said that spending pattern ofthe consumers has changedover the past six weeks with 55per cent respondents, of the1,000 participated, are willing tospend a lot more on less discre-tionary items like groceries,and 52 per cent on everydayhousehold goods.

"Seventy-two per cent con-sumers want to buy from local-ly sourced items going forwardwhich goes on to show the trustbuilt by Kiranas during lock-

down," it said.Further, 64 per cent of con-

sumers in India stated that theywill buy from brands that haveresponded well to crisis.

On mobility, it said majorityconsumers want to limit the useof public transit and 70 per centwants to avoid ride-hailingoptions altogether.

Similarly, 79 per cent con-

sumers in the country have anintention to own a new vehicle,the report said. Commenting onthe survey highlights, AnilTalreja, partner and consumerindustry leader, Deloitte India,said it gives a pulse of the con-sumer behaviour and trendduring these challenging times.

"It gives a reflection of theheightened consumer appre-

hension, which are at the coreof their decision-making. This,in turn, will also steer consumerproduct companies to buildtheir new strategies aroundsales and marketing," he said.For the survey, consumers over18 years were invited to com-plete the questionnaire via e-mail. It is fielded in 13 countries(targeting 1,000 individualresponses per country/wave).The countries include India,Australia, Canada, China, andFrance. The time period of thesurvey was between April 19and May 16.

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A rocket ship built by ElonMusk's SpaceX company onSaturday successfully blastedoff with two NASA astronautsinto orbit from the US state ofFlorida on their way to theInternational Space Station,marking the dawn of a new agein commercial space travel.

The blastoff from KennedySpace Center in Florida alsoassumes significance as itmarks the launch of humansinto orbit from US soil for thefirst time in nearly a decade.

The SpaceX Crew Dragonspacecraft, carrying NASAastronauts Bob Behnken (49)and Doug Hurley (53), liftedoff at 3:22 pm EDT Saturdayatop the company's Falcon 9rocket from Launch Complex39A at NASA's Kennedy SpaceCenter.

With the liftoff, SpaceXbecame the first private com-pany to launch people intoorbit, a feat achieved previous-ly by only three governments:the US, Russia and China.

The reusable, gumdrop-shaped capsule called CrewDragon, would now take thetwo American astronauts to a19-hour journey to theInternational Space Station(ISS). The spacecraft is sched-uled to dock with the ISS at

10:29 am EDT on Sunday.The successful launch,

which was postponed earlythis week due to inclementweather, gave Americanssomething to cheer about asin the last three months theyhave lost over 100,000 oftheir countrymen due to thecoronavirus that has broughtthe country's economy to itsknee. More than 40 millionpeople have lost their joband the pandemic has pushedthe economy into a recession.

Top US leadership includ-ing President Donald Trump,First Lady Melania Trump,

and thousands of curiousAmericans had gathered towatch the launch live on abright Sunday afternoon.

Congratulat ing Musk,NASA and the astronauts,Trump described the launchday as a great day for thecountry.

"I'm so proud of the people,of NASA, public and private.When you see a sight likethat, it's incredible. Whenyou hear that sound — theroar — you can imagine howdangerous it is," he toldreporters soon thereafter.

"I think this is such a great

inspiration for our country.Our country is doing well...We suffered something thatwas terrible. It should havenever happened — it shouldhave never come out ofChina... That's one of thereasons why I wanted to behere today and I think anyone of you would say that wasan inspiration to see what wejust saw," Trump said.

The President said hespoke with Musk, whom hecalled one of the "greatbrains." He also spoke withthe two NASA astronautsprior to takeoff.

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Telecom regulator Trai onSunday said it has not recom-mended 11 digit mobile num-bers but only suggested prefix-ing '0' when mobile numbersare called from landlines.

The recommendation onprefixing '0' for calls fromfixed line to mobile numberswill generate 2,544 millionadditional numberingresources for mobile servicesto cater to the future require-ments, it said. As per Trai rec-ommendation, the countrywill continue to follow a 10-digit numbering for mobileservices, and the regulatorhas "categorically rejected"shifting to an 11-digit mobilenumbering plan.

"Trai has not recommend-ed 11-digit numbering scheme

for mobileservices,"the TelecomR e g u l a t o r yAutho rity ofIndia (Trai) saidin a statement.

Trai has recom-mended a diallingprefix '0' while mak-ing a call from a fixed linenumber to mobile number,the statement said, addingthat introduction of a diallingprefix for a particular type of

call "is not akin to increasingthe number of digits in thetelephone number".

"This change in diallingpattern will generate 2,544million additional number-ing resources for mobile ser-vices to cater to the futurerequirements," it added.

The regulator on Fridayhad said that migration to aunified or single numberingscheme for fixed line andmobile services is not requiredfor now and that sufficientnumbering space can be cre-ated by various methods,including prefixing '0' for allfixed to mobile calls.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will share his vision on'Getting Growth Back' withIndia Inc during an address atthe annual session of industrybody CII on Tuesday, sourcessaid. The address comes at atime when companies areresuming operations followingrelaxations and gradual easingof the nationwide lockdown,which was imposed on March25 to curb spreading of coro-navirus infections. The PrimeMinister will deliver the inau-gural address at the AnnualSession of the Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII) to mark125 years since its inception in1895, sources in the industrychamber told PTI.

The day-long virtual eventon the theme 'Getting GrowthBack' will also witness partic-ipation from top corporatehonchos like Piramal GroupChairman Ajay Piramal, ITCLtd CMD Sanjiv Puri, Biocon

CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw,SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar,Kotak Mahindra Bank CEOand CII President-DesignateUday Kotak and CII PresidentVikram Kirloskar.

Various rating agencies andeconomists have projected asharp fall in GDP growth forIndia this fiscal due to theCOVID-19 crisis and the sub-sequent lockdown.

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Riding on the Rs 1.3 lakhcrore in aggregate fund rais-ing in the last few weeks,Reliance Industries is expect-ed to repay its entire report-ed net debt even if the SaudiAramco deal is delayed, abrokerage report said.

The company, controlledby bil lionaire MukeshAmbani, has sold minoritystakes in its digital arm toFacebook and private equi-ty firms such as Silver Lake,Vista Equity, KKR andGeneral Atlantic to raise acumulative Rs 78,562 crore.Also, the company is raisingRs 53,125 crore through arights issue.

"We analysed RIL's bal-ance sheet following therecent deal-making. Havingraised, on aggregate, Rs 1.3lakh crore in equity over thepast month, we expect thecompany to repay its entirereported net debt of Rs 1.6lakh crore in 2020-21, evenif the Aramco deal isdelayed," Edelweiss said in aresearch report on the com-pany.

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Overseas investors remainednet sellers for the third con-secutive month in May,pulling out Rs 7,366 crorefrom the Indian capital mar-kets as they stayed risk averseamid the COVID-19 crisis.

As per depositories data,foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) infused a net Rs 14,569crore into equities but pulledout a net Rs 21,935 crorefrom the debt segmentbetween May 1-29. Thistranslates into a cumulativenet outflow of Rs 7,366 crorein May.

This could be attributed tothe attractive valuation ofthe Indian equities after thesharp correction this yearand significant depreciationof Indian rupee against USD,which provided FPIs a rathergood entry point, he added.

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President Donald Trumpsaid Saturday he will post-pone a meeting of Group of7 nations until fall and calledfor an expansion of thegroup's membership becausehe considers it an outdatedgroup that doesn't properlyrepresent what's taking placein the world.

The G7 members areCanada, France, Germany,Italy, Japan, the UnitedKingdom and the UnitedStates. Trump singled outRussia, Australia, SouthKorea and India as possibleadditions.

The leaders of the world'smajor economies were slat-ed to meet in the US thisyear, but the coronavirusoutbreak has hobbled thoseplans.

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Markets regulator Sebi hasimposed a penalty of Rs 3 croreon five entities, including formerpromoters, in the case of allegedinsider trading in the shares oferstwhile Bank of Rajasthan.Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) isnow merged with ICICI Bank.

The penalty has beenimposed on Rohit PremkumarGupta, Navin Kumar Tayal,Jyotika Sanjay Tayal, AdvikTextiles & Realpro Pvt Ltd andKulwinder Kumar Nayyar, andthe amount needs to be paid

jointly and severally by them, theregulator said in an order.

Tayals were dominant share-holders of BoR at that time.

To check possible violation ofinsider trading norms, the reg-

ulator had conducted an inves-tigation into the movement ofBoR shares between May 7,2010, and May 18, 2010. Thisperiod, which was prior to theannouncement of an agreementbetween the dominant share-holders of BoR and ICICI BankLtd for a merger, witnessedconsiderable price and volumemovement. During the probe,Sebi found that Gupta had trad-ed in the shares of BoR on thebasis of unpublished price-sen-sitive information with regard tonegotiation of merger betweenBoR and ICICI Bank.

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Listing of Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) and sale ofgovernment's stake in IDBIBank may be delayed beyondMarch 2021, due to depressedvaluation amid COVID-19pandemic. The governmentaims to garner Rs 90,000 crorefrom the listing of LIC andstake dilution in IDBI Bankout of total the disinvestmenttarget of Rs 2.10 lakh croreduring the current fiscal.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman while presentingthe Budget 2020-21 hadannounced stake sale in LICthrough an initial public offerin the current financial year.

Given the prevailing marketsituation, it seems to be diffi-cult to do the LIC stake sale inthe current fiscal as the situa-tion is not conducive, sourcessaid. Besides, they said, therewill not be a matching appetitefor the mega issue of LIC inthe present market condition.

Due to COVID situation,the government recently forthe second time extended thedeadline for bidding for pri-vatisation of India's second-biggest oil marketing compa-ny Bharat Petroleum Corp

Ltd (BPCL) by over a monthto July 31. The governmentcurrently owns 100 per cent inLIC, while it holds around a46.5 per cent stake in IDBIBank. The sources said, thegovernment will have to cutdown its expected realisationfrom stake dilution of bothLIC and IDBI Bank even if themarket condition improves.

So, selling them at low val-uation would be an imprudentdecision, they added.

Besides valuation, thesources said, listing of LICinvolves a lot of regulatoryclearances and more impor-tantly amendment to the LICAct itself. Market participantshad already termed the listingof insurance behemoth LIC asIPO of the decade akin to theSaudi Aramco listing.

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The Indian economy is oncourse for a full-year contrac-tion this fiscal, as recoveryprospects from COVID-19related disruptions remain"clouded", according to DBSBank India economistRadhika Rao.

The comments came amidthe release of key data thatshowed India's GDP growthtumbling to 3.1 per cent in theMarch quarter -- the slowestpace since the global financialcrisis more than a decade

back. In 2019-20, the Indianeconomy grew by 4.2 per cent,the slowest in 11 years.

Commenting on the GDPdata, Rao said, "Headlinegrowth was firmer than con-sensus, but was constrained bydata collection issues, includ-ing unavailability of earningsfor many sectors. This keepsthe door open for downwardrevision to this growth rate".

Stating that the 2Q20(April-June) will provide aclearer picture of the eco-nomic slump during the lock-down, Rao said.

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A section of industrial powerconsumers has taken a legalrecourse against the utilities inWest Bengal after their plea forrelief on the fixed chargesamong other demands in thelockdown was rejected, anofficial said. The West BengalElectricity RegulatoryCommission had also paid noheed to their demands, whenthey approached the regulator,the high-tension power con-sumers claimed. According tothem, Union Minister of Statefor Finance and CorporateAffairs Anurag Thakur hascome in support of the indus-tries during a recent interac-tion with the consumers.

The minister suggested thatthe West Bengal governmentshould allow deferment ofpayments for at least sixmonths as the Centre hasalready provided Rs 90,000crore to the state- ownedpower distribution companies,

so that a temporary relief canbe extended.

The state governments suchas Maharashtra, Punjab,Gujarat and Uttar Pradeshhave offered some benefits totheir industrial consumers andannounced rebates on load-factor in electricity bills, Steel

Re-Rolling Mills' Associationof India chairman VivekAdukia said.

The fixed charges are anamount that consumers paymonthly to stay connected togrid, while the variable chargesare calculated on the basis ofunits consumed.

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In efforts to strengthen qual-ity of auditing activities, char-tered accountants' apex bodyICAI will develop a frame-work for audit quality indica-tors that will also help Indianaudit firms and auditors tocompete globally. ICAIPresident Atul Kumar Guptasaid that currently quality ofaudit is not being bench-marked, and the focus is tohave customised audit qual-ity indicators. The ICAI hasalso decided to open a Centrefor Audit Quality at Jaipur.The plans assume signifi-cance against the backdrop ofthe government proposingchanges in the existing regu-lations to enhance audit inde-pendence and accountability.

Page 9: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

SHIKHA DUGGAL

he’s an actress,businesswoman, aphilanthropist,dutiful wife,responsible daugh-ter-in-law, and

what not! The southernsuperstar is currently con-fined to her home with hus-band Naga Chaitanya amidthe lockdown and that’s whenshe decided to make the mostof this time. The Jaanuactress was part of a webinarhosted by Annapurna Collegeof Film & Media over herjourney of films she has beena part of. “This is my firstever webinar and I am glad towear flip-flops to it,” shelaughs heartily. Winner ofNandi and Filmfare awards,the Tollywood industry hasbeen a huge part of her life,where she has given manygenuine and authentic per-formances. Alongside heracting career, she had alsobegun a charitable trustcalled Pratyusha Support todeliver medical support to

women and children.

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Samantha believes an actoris the one who fully representsthe character they are playing,with immense conviction toengage their audiences. Theindustry seems very glam-orous from the outside worldbut it’s too good to be true, shesays. The actress began hercareer from a contractual jobof modeling and ended upbeing one of the most sought-after actresses down South.“Usually when I am on thesets, by the third day, mydirector and I tend to create arelationship of profunditywithout any prerequisites ofacting or performances,” addsSam.

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“I remember when Iwas shooting for

Rangasthalam in extreme con-ditions amid hot summers,only my director had the ener-gy to vibe with the actors sohe could bring out the best inus. Yet, while a film is beingshot it’s beyond ‘must trust thevision of director only,’ as ourcinematographer was one ofthe few technicians who didn’tjust come to the sets saying‘what’s the scene’, but masteredeverything else on his own,”tells the actress. CitingRangasthalam as a great exam-ple over the importance oftechnicians to not just an actorbut the whole film, sheexplains frombackgroundscores, artdirection, cin-ematography,etc. how thewholelot

gained and that it’s an achieve-ment.

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Each time going by the roleswhich she has played previ-ously, she chooses somethingdifferent challenging herself tobe a role model for buddingactresses across the country.She continues to say, “A well-written, multi-dimensional,and a demanding script iswhat I tend to look for.Ultimately, I don’t want mytheatre audience to be bored

with the samelook orperfor-

mances.” She feels finding agood script is like looking in aminefield, every scene shouldjust move forward with somedrama for an explosive audi-ence.

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Samantha says her next rolein an upcoming project is anegative one and the most dif-ficult one yet. She watched alot of real footage yet had ahard time portraying a nega-tive role on screen. WhileSamantha is making headlinesfor playing a negative role, herfans seem equally excited.

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The superstar’s nearingdebut on the OTT platformwith Family Man Season 2makes her feel both mediumshold their own exclusivitywith their own formatsattached to it. Content is theking, and now Over The Topplatform is providing opportu-nities for wider distribution.

Apart from original shows andfilms, there is live entertain-ment too. “Certainly videostreaming platforms havemade it convenient for binge-watchers, but going out ofour homes to socialise in atheatre will continue toremain a social fabric inIndia. I don’t think it’s thedeath knell for a theatricalexperience this soon,” she

believes.

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MondayJune 1, 2020

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The ongoing pandemic hasnot left any sector untouchedand has impacted severallives. Having said that, we arehopeful and positive aboutthe future. Take the exampleof China, they are almost twomonths ahead of us in termsof recovery and their domes-tic market has already started

to pick up. There is alwayslight at the end of the tunneland our F&B teams are allprepped to welcome guestsback.

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Consumers will be extracautious in terms of decidingwhere to go and what to eat.They will be dining at placesthat are cleaner and hygienic.They would want to eathomegrown and local pro-duce and would definitely bemore inquisitive about thewhole process of preparing adish. Local and authenticfood will see more takers andtransparent kitchens will beappreciated. More important-ly, they would want to see theefforts in terms of cleanlinessof the kitchen and diningareas.

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F&B is a big-ticket item inour revenue segments andhas evidently, taken a stepback. In view of the evolvingsituation related to COVID-19 and its impact on hoteloperations, it is imperativethat we prepare ourselves forthe new way of working andadapt and have evolved oper-ating procedures in place.

Pre-COVID days, every-one enjoyed lavish buffetsservice, however, the newnormal calls for a fewchanges. New buffet proto-cols will be followed andovercrowding during peakrestaurant hours will be

avoided. Restaurant sittingwill have fewer tables tooccupy, and in-room contact-less services will be promotedwithout any extra costinvolved. The hustle-bustle ofthe reception area will bereduced and we all willalways notice social distanc-ing being maintained in pub-lic spaces. We foresee socialdistancing being followed inrestaurants and cafes as well.The tables at our restaurantswill be placed at a distanceand we will ensure a safe dis-tance of at least one metrebetween tables and betweenseats. The limit of the num-ber of guests in the area willbe based on the maximumallowed.

At Accor, an exhaustivechecklist is being preparedfor the RestaurantOperations in F&B Serviceacross the board for Luxury,midscale, and the economyhotels.

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We are confident that the

industry will soon reboundlike it always does after anycrisis. The ongoing spread ofCOVID-19 has taken theworld by storm, however, onthe upside, a gradual recov-ery in the travel businessprospects may be anticipatedahead of July-August. Fooddeliveries and take-a-wayshad already begun a fewweeks ago, and we are hope-ful our guests will be willingto come back as soon as thelockdown eases.

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The world will continue topractice social distancinguntil the pandemic is con-

trolled to a great extent andthis will directly restrict largegatherings. We are adaptingand adjusting to new mea-sures for our guests andemployees. In our hotels,detailed and wide-ranginghealth and safety measuresare being implemented.While there will be no flawsin the services, everythingwill have a shield to it. AtAccor, we always had strin-gent measures of hygiene andcleanliness, just that we arenow looking at everything ina detailed manner.

In a recent announcement,Accor has declared a newpartnership with insurancecompany AXA, to offerguests access to medical sup-port at its 5,000 hotels world-wide.

As a standard procedure,we will disinfect guest lug-gage with the prior permis-sion of the guests. Uponarrival, we will not be provid-ing any cold towels to wel-come guests; no welcomeaarti and tika either — goingforward, a sanitizer shot forthe guest's hands is the bestwelcome to the hotel, and thesame at every restaurant.

We will continue to dotemperature checks at theentrance of the hotel. Facemasks and thermometers willbe readily available for guestson request.

During check-in we willrequest the guests to completea self-health declaration form

to declare their state of health;whether they have come intocontact with any person sus-pected of the COVID-19; andtheir past travel patterns thelast 14 days. We will beencouraging e-check-ins andan e-card will be sent on theguest’s email requesting aninstant acknowledgment ofthe same over email. Nophysical cards will be taken orused for pre-authorisation toavoid contact.

In the initial phase, weanticipate that guests may optfor in-room dining andrestrict the use of an elevatorto avoid human contact asmuch as possible.

Lobby furniture will bereduced so that the numberof guests in any waiting areadoes not exceed the permit-ted limit and social distanc-ing will be emphasised. Everyelevator entrance at everyfloor will have a toothpickdispenser or ‘use your elbow’signage to press the buttons.

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As this pandemic has

brought about behaviouralchanges in people, this islikely to change the way peo-ple travel in general. Needlessto say, health, safety, andhygiene will take priorityover everything else. Whileour hotels will assure theguests a completely safe envi-ronment, it is imperative forus as individuals, to be mind-ful of personal hygiene.Washing hands regularly, notstepping out without masksand gloves, minimum con-tact of hands on the face are afew measures we must ensureas citizens to combat thesedifficult times. With guide-lines laid out by expert bod-ies as well as detailed guide-lines from Accor, visitorsmust ensure they adhere tothese.

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Like any other industry,the F&B sector has also beenhit by the ongoing pandemic.Having said that, manyrestaurants and hotels startedhome delivery and take-a-way services which wereappreciated and accepted bythe customers. This is testi-mony to the fact that gueststrust their favourite diner interms of providing hygienicfood. Moreover, guests arewaiting to go back to restau-rants to enjoy meals while, ofcourse keeping in mindsocial distancing norms. Theonly challenge we foresee isthe standards of cleanlinessand hygiene a restaurant willprovide. The F&B sector willhave to instill the confidenceamongst guests that stringentcleaning protocols are beingfollowed and the safety ofcustomers is a priority. If theguests have trusted us withthe food being delivered attheir doorstep, we are surethey will come back as andwhen we’re open.

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As mentioned, some of ourrestaurants had initiated fooddelivery and take-away ser-vices. One of the interestingelements we added was theDIY food kits. To replicatethe restaurant charm, we pro-vide every element whichgoes into a dish, and guestshave to just put the ingredi-ents together and enjoy themeal. We also share thedirections to follow to createthe final dish as well as thetime frame for consumption.

Pullman & Novotel, NewDelhi Aerocity, and KooX atNovotel Chennai ChamiersRoad are offering very inter-esting DIY Kit options.

Additionally, our guestswill see all our employeesincluding the restaurant staffmembers sporting brandedtrendy masks, once the lock-down is lifted.

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he COVID-19 pan-demic has broughtus all together at anunique never seenbefore juncture.With the “new nor-

mal” being social distancingand unprecedented hygieneprotocols, the way we watchmovies and spend our time atthe shopping malls, is set tochange forever.

Among the most affectedsectors of the economy in thetimes of the pandemic havebeen the movie theatres andshopping malls. With zerofootfall, paucity of cashflow,the industry looks at resilienceduring diffcult times. Theongoing economic slowdown,made worse by the Covid-19pandemic, is set to cull Indianmedia and the entertainmentindustry's revenue by 16 per-cent - or Rs 25,000 crore - toRs 1.3 lakh crore this fiscal,said a report by Crisil inMarch this year.

“The COVID pandemic hasleft a massive impact on thecinema exhibition industry,not just in our country, butacross the globe. Operationsare shut, movie releases aregetting deferred, and thereforeinflow of cash has entirelystopped. The industry hasfaced various crises in its his-tory, but what it is goingthrough currently could notbe envisaged at any point, butat the same time, we are cer-tain that the cinema exhibitionsector would script a remark-able turnaround, as we knowthat we are backed by theunshakeable passion of theIndian cinema lovers,” saysAlok Tandon, CEO — INOXLeisure Ltd.

With Unlock Phase 1expected to start from the thefirst of June, expect to seemore relaxations; the states,however, are united in theirpush to continue with curbs ofinter-state transportation,malls and cinema halls, educa-tional institutions and places

of worship. There is no goahead for cinema halls in thecoming weeks, but Malls areset to see some footfall from 8,June as they get the clearanceto open their doors to cus-tomers.

“To begin with, the mallswill start its operation in phas-es as per the prescribed guide-lines. Resumption or restora-tion of normal footfalls is sole-ly dependent on containmentof Covid-19 virus. Going for-ward, if zero cases are report-ed from the city, state andcountry, the footfalls will getrestored in no time. The grad-ual opening-up of the multi-plex and dine-in restaurantsand cafes will further help indriving footfalls and trading,”maintains Manoj K. Agarwal,Chief Executive Officer,Viviana Mall, Thane.

“We have been preparingourselves well over for the pasttwo months and are geared upto open our malls, as per thegovernment directives. Wewill be instituting temperaturechecks at all entrances and set-ting up protocols for main-taining social distancing suchas a safe distance of minimum1 meter from other customersand staff, not more than 3-4customers being allowed toenter the elevator at a time(however, no of passengerswill be determined dependingupon the size of elevator likein DLF Cyberhub our lifts willwork for 2 pax at a time due tosize constraint), for escalatorsone customer will be allowedafter 3 steps roll over, perma-nent distance markers will beplaced in the lifts, so peopledon’t exceed the requiredcapacity,” Pushpa Bector,Executive Director, DLFShopping Malls.

The industry is in line withthe “new normal” post pan-demic

“Cinemas have seenthrough a lot of difficultphases in its history, and at

every instance, have emergedsmarter and stronger. We arelooking at the post COVID-19 phase as another evolu-tion with new processes andprotocols, and we are surethat we will take it into ourstride. We have used thelockdown phase to deter-mine various scenarios andwork out robust plans forensuring hygiene as well asdistancing,” states Tandon.

Adding, “We will remaincompletely respectfultowards the concerns of ourguests, and also understandthat their faith and confi-dence in our preparednesson preventive measures willplay a key role towards thesame. We are looking at the“new normal” soon goingback to the “old normal”which resembles gangs offriends and families turningup in huge numbers, heavyhustle and bustle in the lob-bies, and the loud cheers inthe auditoriums.”

With a few big-ticket releas-es already opting for pre-miers on the OTT plat-forms, what challenges aremovie theatres facing in thecurrent scenario?

“First of all, we want every-one to understand that this isnot a Multiplex Vs OTT sce-nario. All we expect the con-tent creators to do is torelease their content in the-atres, followed by digital plat-forms, like it has been hap-pening so far in line with theglobally prevalent windowingpattern. Every phase in thecinema value chain has itsown significance, and withthe theatrical/ cinema hallphase being the most value-generating phase, we expectthe windowing pattern to befollowed. Towards this, theMultiplex Association OfIndia had come out with anappeal to the content cre-ators. We had also urged theproducers and studios to waitfor the theatres to resume

operations and follow theglobally prevalent cinematicwindowing pattern as it hasdone wonders in terms ofrevenues for the content cre-ators and other stakeholders,as it offers the creators anopportunity to extract thebest from all available medi-ums,” opines Alok Tandon.

What the coming fewmonths look like for themultiplex industry?

“Cinemas, since inception,have been the biggest con-tributors to the ‘experienceeconomy’ for the past 100years, and will continue to doso forever. There is no doubtthat COVID-19 has chal-lenged the passion for cine-ma which is prevalent in ourcountry. Cinema-lovers haveremained under-served onentertainment for this period,and we know that they areyearning to step out, socialiseand get entertained via their

favorite entertainment medi-um, which is cinemas. Wehave complete faith that thesame age-old passion of themovie lovers will make themcome out in huge numbersand throng cinemas. We arealso sure that the signatureINOX experience wouldcome to the fore and contin-

ue to delight our patronsacross the country,” Tandonrounds up.

The Tale of the Retail:Winning the confidencefrom the shoppers

“To mitigate the disruptioncaused by this crisis, retailerswill need to devise strategiesfor the “now”, “next” and“beyond”. While they need tomanage their costs throughoperational improvement andby evaluating the store port-folio, they also invest in ser-vice, experience, and omni-channel to serve the newconsumer. As retailers reactto fluidity of the “now” theyalso need to build resiliencefor the “next” when demandstarts getting restored andthink “beyond”. They shouldmap a strategic journey tofinancial resilience at thesame time plan for longer-term implications on theiroperating model owing toshift in external environ-ment. Speed and agility will be key levers of successand retailers will need toadopt a FASTER approachboth to navigate the crisis‘now’ and to plan for the‘next’ and ‘beyond’,” says areport by I

Bector states, “We have

strong relationships with ourretail partners and we areassessing the situation in realtime and responding to therequests that we havereceived by engaging withthem individually. We willwork with them to come toan appropriate solutionwhich is of mutual interestand sustainable in the longterm. What matters mostnow is to reflect on these newchanges and plan ahead — sothat we all can make a suc-cessful comeback.”

Adding, “Our focus willnow be on consumer safetyand providing them the bestexperience of shopping in themall. We have been workingclosely with our retail part-ners and the industry at largeand have drafted SOP’s whichinclude every minute detailsfor sanitisation such as doorhandles, wheelchairs, bench-es, carts etc. along withplacement of sanitiser sta-tions across all our malls. Weare also embracing in tech-nology for providing realtime foot traffic, real timenotifications on safety andcleanliness, booking of timeslots, golden hours to visitour malls which our con-sumers can experience verysoon on DLF Malls ‘Lukout’APP.”

“What we foresee, fashionand F&B will open in a limit-ed way. Movie halls and chil-dren entertainment will openlater. We are initially lookingat re-opening the mallbetween 12:00 pm - 9 pm sothat consumers feel safe tocome in during that time.Our consumer research tellsus that consumers now willcome to the malls with thepurpose and decision to shopor eat. We will attract seriousshoppers to the malls. Andhence, our efforts will be towin our consumers’ confidence and bring themback to our malls,” suggestsPushpa Bector.

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Page 11: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

hile discovering new activities during lock-down, actress Sonal Chauhan decided to tryher hand at sketching. She had posted her firstsketch, titled Maa, on Mother’s Day, dedicat-ing it to all the mothers in the world. Then shedecided to sketch something close to her

heart: Lord Shiva.“This is actually the first time I tried my hand

at sketching and I never really believed that Ihad it in me to be able to sketch. I used tosee other people’s sketches and alwayswonder how talented they were and howthey did what they did,” Sonal said.

“However, in the last one year manya times when I looked at people orobjects, and if I saw shadow on themor some kind of reflection I’d wonderthat if I were to paint or sketch them,what could I do to differentiate theshadow from the other part, with theuse of pencil shading or use of differ-ent colours. Or how I could highlight

facial features,” she added.“I’m very happy that I discov-

ered this about myself, it givesme immense happiness andsatisfaction to make some-thing from scratch and it’sextremely therapeutic,” shestated.

shok Galla, who is makinghis debut with SriramAdittya’s next, has groovedfor his grandfatherKrishna’s iconic numberJumbare Jujumbare

Jumbarahi from Yamaleela, glimpse ofwhich was unveiled as a tribute to thelegend on his birthday Sunday. Unlikethe current tradition, the song hasn’tbeen remixed but the original number,composed by SV Krishna Reddy, wasused. The rights were officiallyacquired by film’s production houseAmara Raja Media & Entertainment.

Explaining the reason behind recre-ating the old song, Adittya tells us,“Jumbare Jujumbare was my child-hood favourite song of Krishna garu. I

remember dancing to it during annualfunctions in my school and college.With Ashok being grandson ofKrishna garu, we thought for hismaiden film it will be a nice song.What we put out is just a small peek.There is more exciting stuff lined upin the film,” the director tells in histrademark josh.

Adittya adds that Ashok was up tothe task. “He was really excited togroove for the song. He recreatedKrishna gari’s expressions and man-nerisms to a tee. Prem Rakshith haschoreographed it. There’s one moresong…,” he points out, before stoppinghimself to divulge more, as the film isonly 50 per cent through.

So, what did Krishna made of the

song? “We haven’t met him personal-ly due to the prevailing conditionsbut I was told the song reached himand he appreciated it. I’m waiting tohear it from him personally as thesong is one of his most popularones,” he notes.

The as-yet-untitled film,which tells the story of ayoung man’s journeytowards his goal, co-starsNidhi Agerwal, Naresh,Jagapathi Babu, Satyaand ArchanaSoundarya.

— NG

or the past severalyears, it has been aritual for MaheshBabu to unveil thefirst look of hisfilms, teasers orstart new ventures

on his father superstarKrishna’s birthday on May 31.On Sunday, as his fatherturned 77, the actor took tohis social media pages to offi-cially announce the title andfirst look of his next withParasuram. “Here it is!!!#SarkaruVaariPaataBlockbuster start for anotherhattrick @ParasuramPetla @MythriOfficial@14ReelsPlus@MusicThaman (sic),” thesuperstar posted on Twitteralong with a first look poster.

Fans immediately took afancy to the poster and title.What immediately got theirattention besides Mahesh’sbrand new hairdo and a ringto ear and a Re 1 coin tat-tooed on his neck. Industry-

wallahs like Devi Sri Prasad,Puri Jagannadh, HarishShankar, Anil Sunkara,Sampath Nandi and Maruthitoo went gaga over the firstlook poster.

Sarkaru Vaari Paata marksMahesh teaming up withParasuram for the first time.The project got the actor'snod last year and it was toroll after he wraps up withVamshi Paidipally's project.However, he was unhappywith the script of Paidipally,later advancing Parasuram’sfilm. “My long wait to directSuperstar Mahesh Babu garuhas just ended!!! Overjoyedand eagerly waiting to be onthe sets... It’s a dream cometrue! (Sic),” an excitedParasuram posted on Twitter.This is the director’s first big-gie with a star of Mahesh’srepute.

While story details regard-ing the film are under wraps,we’ve learnt that the directordrew inspiration from bank

defaulters in the last five-sixyears and penned a fictionalsocial drama laced withaction. “Obviously, the signa-ture Parasuram humour willbe in abundance. He’s alsopresenting Mahesh in aromantic avatar,” the sourceadds.

On the technical frontthough, there’s a majorchange. Gopi Sundar was ini-tially attached to the pro-ject as a tunesmithbut he made wayfor SSThaman(guessithas

something to do with the lat-ter’s red-hot streak of late).The last time AlaVaikunthapuramlo musicdirector composed music fora Mahesh-starrer was wayback in 2014 for Aagadu. PSVinod will be the director ofcinematography.

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couple of weeks after VyjayanthiMovies announced a film withPrabhas earlier this February;buzz that Deepika Padukonewould be playing the female leadhas swirled around, only for it to

die over time. Adding fuel to fire now is theBollywood beauty’s latest Instagram story.Uploading a poster of Ashwin’s acclaimedwork Mahanati, she asked her fans to ‘watchit now’. She also tagged the director in thepost, which he acknowledged by calling it ‘acool notification to wake up to’. Knowingthe way film industries operate, Deepika’spost is a certainly a give-away that she is

considering Prabhas’ film if not alreadysigning it, industry insiders believe. An

official confirmation though is awaitedfrom the production house.

The untitled film, a pan-Indiaaffair, is a sci-fi drama and will

roll in the first half of nextyear. Right now, Prabhas

needs to complete hison-sets film with

Radha Krishna.Close to 45 percent of the still-untitled film's

shoot has beenwrapped

up, with90 daysof shootleftinclud-ing thesongs.

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egastar Chiranjeevi and his daughter-in-lawUpasana escaped an attack by a swarm ofhoney bees at Domakonda, Kamareddy districton Sunday. Going into the details, the actor’sfamily was in Domakonda to participate in thefinal rites of Upasana’s paternal grandfather and

former IAS officer Umapathy Rao Kamineni, who passedaway four days ago due to age-related complications, whena storm of bees surfaced out of nowhere.

While the other attendees scurried for cover, Chiru’ssecurity personnel kept the bees at bay by frantically wav-ing hands. He was rushed to safety later. The bees report-edly left the place 15 minutes after they first interrupted thefuneral proceedings.

Chiru’s PR team issued a statement, saying that it’s aminor issue and that the megastar and Ram Charan aresafe and unharmed.

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Page 12: Jagadish, Uttam spar in open - The Pioneer · ˚ not give the post to Malkajgiri were received. But he was told heavily on the Central Publicpart, is exacerbating the ill willˆ ˘ˇˆ1

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Bo r u s s i aMo e n c h e n g l a d b a c hrouted Union Berlin 4-

1 on Sunday to go third in theBundesliga with French strik-er Marcus Thuram scoringtwice and taking a knee inprotest at the death of anunarmed black man in theUnited States.

"Marcus has made thepoint. He has set an exampleagainst racism that we allsupport," Gladbach coachMarco Rose said of Thuram'sprotest.

First-half goals by mid-fielder Florian Neuhaus, whobagged Gladbach's 3,000thgoal in the Bundesliga, andThuram put Gladbach 2-0 upat the break when he headedhome unmarked at the farpost.

The 22-year-old French strikerthen took a kneeon the BorussiaPark turf, imitat-ing NFL star ColinKaepernick.

"No explana-tion needed,"wrote BorussiaMoenchengladbach on theclub's official Twitter account.

It was the latest show ofBundesliga solidarity with thecurrent protests sweeping theUnited States.

Schalke's US midfielderWeston McKennie wore anarmband in Saturday's defeatto Werder Bremen bearing thewords "Justice for George".

George Floyd, 46, died inMinneapolis during an arrestby a police officer who pinnedhim to the ground for sever-al minutes by kneeling on his

neck.Just after the break in

Gladbach, Union's Swedishstriker Sebastian Anderssonpulled one back after being

left unmarked.Gladbach pulled away

when Thuram added his sec-ond after pressing the Uniondefence.

Alassane Plea thengrabbed a goal of his own forGladbach, having set upThuram's first, when he firedhome off his left foot to make

it 4-1 on 81 minutes when hebeat Union goalkeeper RafalGikiewicz.

After the final whistle,the Gladbach squad celebrat-ed in front of terraces filledwith cardboard figures of fans.

There were 15,000 cut-outs on the terraces atBorussia Park with home sup-porters paying 19 euros ($21)each to have their image at thegame as fans remain shut outto prevent the spread of theCOVID-19 virus.

After a 3-1 defeat toLeverkusen last weekend, anda goalless draw with relega-tion-threatened WerderBremen on Tuesday, this wasan important win forGladbach.

It lifted them to third inthe table, but RB Leipzig cantake their place if they win atCologne on Monday.

On Saturday, reigningchampions Bayern Munichopened a 10-point lead with a5-0 thrashing of FortunaDuesseldorf with the league'stop-scorer RobertLewandowski netting twice.

Later Sunday, second-placed Borussia Dortmundcan trim Bayern's lead if theywin at bottom side Paderborn.

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'�%����= A group of 13 Sri Lankan crick-eters, comprising mainly bowlers, willresume training on Monday following thecoronavirus hiatus, the country’s cricketboard said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said in a state-ment that a “selected squad of 13 memberswill undergo a 12-day Residential TrainingCamp at the Colombo Cricket Club”.

“The players taking part in the camprepresents a general squad chosen fromacross all formats, and primarily consist ofbowlers, as they need more time for ‘con-ditioning’ before going into active compe-tition,” the statement said.

The coaching and support staff oversee-ing the training of the players will consistof a four-member unit. All the players willstrictly adhere to the health regulationsimposed by the Government.

The SLC said it has “taken all requiredmeasures in consultation with the Ministryof Sports and the Ministry of Health to

ensure the safety of every individual involvedin this exercise, and has formulated a set ofprocedures to adhere, during the camp peri-od and before”.

The governing body said “members tak-ing part in the camp, will not be allowed toleave the hotel premises or the practice venueto attend personal matters during the train-ing period”.

The South African Government has alsoallowed non-contact sports, including crick-et, to return to play, a decision hailed byCricket South Africa (CSA) acting CEOJacques Faul as a “big boost”.

He said the Covid Steering Committeewill meet on Monday to draw up a proto-col covering the return to training and play-ing. “At this stage these regulations applyonly to professional cricket and our next stepwill be to draw up a protocol covering thereturn to training and playing and submitit to SRSA for approval.

“Both our national teams and ourfranchises will in due time be given the greenlight to return to training.”

Faul, however, said no one will be forcedto resume training. PTI

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The common perceptionmight be that Mahendra

Singh Dhoni does not show a lotof emotion on the field and isCaptain Cool. But on Sunday, theiconic former India captain’swife Sakshi said that Dhoni isalways emotional about thegame as it is his love.

While talking about Dhonigetting emotional after leadingChennai Super Kings to theirthird Indian Premier League titlein 2018, Sakshi said during anInstagram Live chat on CSK’sofficial handle: “Mahi (Dhoni’spet name) is always emotionalabout cricket. It’s his love.”

Rajasthan Royals (RR) alongwith CSK were making a come-back to the IPL after a two-yearban. Sakshi also revealed howthe avid gamer in Dhoni helpsthe veteran wicketkeeper-bats-man relax.

“Video games are a stressbuster for him. He has a think-ing brain which doesn’t rest. Sovideo games help him and he is

now too much into Call Of Dutyand PlayerUnknownsBattlegrounds (PUBG).”

Sakshi also joked that onlyshe can pick up a fight with ice-cool Dhoni who last turned outfor India during their loss toNew Zealand in the 2019 WorldCup semi-final.

“Nobody picks up a fightwith him. I am the only one,” shesmiled. Sakshi also revealedthat Dhoni has always kept hisdoor open during tours andplayers could walk in any time

they wanted.“Mahi has always kept his

door open. It has been like thatsince 2010 (when we got mar-ried). People come...we chatsometimes till 3-4 in the morn-ing. When they come to talk to

Mahi about cricket, I go away.”Sakshi also said CSK has

always been a family to them.“It is nice to be part of the

family. They take the sport assport and there are no hard feel-ings.”

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He has been phenomenal in the lastfew years and India pacer Ishant

Sharma simply believes that it has to dowith him “enjoying his cricket”.

The 31-year-old, who is India’ssenior-most cricketer in the current set-up with 97 Tests, said that he wouldn’tprobably like to sledge Steve Smith dur-ing the next tour of Australia, unlike the2017 home series game in Bengaluruwhere his facial expression became ameme.

“I am in that phase of my careerwhere I am enjoying my cricket and moreI enjoy, better it is. I will take more wick-

ets and win matches for the team unlessyou guys want to provoke me and get mebanned,” Ishant, known for his drysense of humour, said. He was speakingto teammate Mayank Agarwal during apodcast, Open Nets with Mayank, andaired by bcci.Tv.

When Agarwal asked about hisnow-famous facial gesture to the formerAustralian captain, the senior speedstersaid that the sole aim was to upset Smith’srhythm.

“I was trying to upset Steve Smith’srhythm. We knew if we could get thatwicket, we would have a better chanceof winning. Virat doesn’t mind aggres-sion. He is an aggressive captain and onlything he will tell is ‘just get me the wick-et but make sure you don’t get banned’.”

Ishant, who was a part of the pacequartet during the 2018-19 historicseries win in Australia, still cherishes thefeat.

“I have been on for tours to Australia(since 2007-08) and I know how toughit is. Having heard all these years that wedon’t win in Australia, you have thateagerness and urge to win.”

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Paris Saint-Germainhave signed Argentina

international MauroIcardi from Inter Milanon a four-year deal aftertaking up the option to

buy the on-loan forward,the two clubs announcedon Sunday.

Icardi joined PSGthis season and impressedwith 20 goals in 31 games,before the Ligue 1 cam-paign was stopped andhis club crowned cham-pions because of the coro-navirus pandemic.

“Paris Saint-Germainare delighted to announcethe signing of MauroIcardi on a permanentdeal, following the strik-er’s loan from Inter Milanduring the 2019-2020season,” the French clubsaid in a statement.

Icardi, who has eight

caps for Argentina, butalso holds an Italian pass-port, has signed a four-year deal until June 30,2024.

Given the currenteconomic situation theFrench champions suc-ceeded in reducing the fee“to under” 60 millioneuros ($66 million), asopposed to the 70 millioneuros initially requested,according to the Frenchand Italian sports press.

Inter Milan thankedIcardi “for the six seasonshe spent with us andwish him the best for hisfuture professionalcareer”.

����(�= Real Madrid left-back Marcelo said thatthe players ‘can’t wait’ to get back to playing reg-ular football.

“We had never gone so long without being ableto train out on the pitch and our desire to play foot-ball has been growing ever since we stopped. Nowwe’re close to getting going again and we can’t wait,”Marcelo told Real Madrid’s official website.

“It’s been different to what we’re used to. Wehave to take the positives from it and now we’reused to the routine; it’s not like it usedto be but everything’s good. We’re allhealthy, the training sessions havebeen fantastic in recovering ourrhythm. “Having not touched a ballfor so long, when you go back outon the pitch you’ve lost yourtouch a bit, but now we just can’twait to start playing games,” headded. IANS

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Pakistan’s head coach-cum-chief selectorMisbah-ul-Haq has backed Babar Azam to

succeed as the national team’s ODI and T20 cap-tain despite former batting coach Grant Flowerexpressing concerns over his ability to handle thepressure that comes with the job.

Misbah said the 25-year-old Azam has shownhe is capable of dealing with the expectations.

“Making Babar captain of the T20 team lastyear was a tester really. We wanted to see how hewill respond to the challenge and how it will affecthis batting,” Misbah said in an interview.

“But all of us agreed that he handled the pres-sure well and if anything the responsibility of beingcaptain only made him show more responsibili-ty as a batsman,” he added.

Azam was given leadership of Pakistan’s ODIteam earlier this month.

Flower, who worked with the Pakistan teamas batting coach from 2014 till after last year’sWorld Cup, expressed concerns about Azam’scapability to captain in two formats and be theteam’s best batsman as well.

“He’s got a good cricketing brain but there’sa lot of politics in Pakistan cricket and a lot of pres-sure from the public,” Flower was quoted as say-ing by Stats Perform News.

“If you start losing, it’s one thing being the bestbatsman but that will put pressure on your bat-ting skills and it can all come tumbling down pret-ty quickly.

“We’ve seen with great players in the past thepressures that captaincy can bring, but some play-ers get better and if he gets better than the worldis his oyster. Time will tell,” he added.

However, former Pakistan captain Misbah saidAzam’s batting has already scaled a different levelduring the tour of Australia last year.

“That is why we decided to also give him theresponsibility of leading the ODI team. I think heis ready for the challenge and he should thrive asthe team’s top batsman as well.”

Misbah didn’t agree with Flower’s assertionof politics in Pakistan cricket and pressure fromthe public. “The way I look at it, being a top bats-man he is best suited to lead the team by exam-ple and this would make it easier for him to alsotake strong decisions and for the team to followhim,” Misbah said.

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Atalanta coach Gian PieroGasperini on Sunday

slammed as ‘awful’ the new rulewhich now allows teams tomake five substitutions in amatch instead of three.

“Five subs? Terrible. Thegame is distorted,” Gasperinitold Gazzetta Dello Sport.

“We become basketball.There may be ten new players onthe pitch at the end.”

FIFA has made the tempo-rary change to ease the physicalstrain on players, who arereturning to a congested periodof games after a lengthy breakdue to the coronavirus pandem-ic. But it could favour the biggerclubs, such as Juventus, whohave deeper squads and betterplayers ready to come off thebench.

“Who’s the genius whoclaims that injuries can be avoid-ed?” continued the former InterMilan coach.

“On that basis? Better tochange players from one gameto another.

“How can you be allowed tochange your engine halfwaythrough the Grand Prix. It takesaway from the show.”

Serie A returns on June 20with Gasperini’s side in fourth,and battling for the final

Champions League berth inItaly. “I don’t like football with-out fans either, but it’s the onlyway to start again,” he continued.

“During the first day of theBundesliga I zapped, I could notfollow. Borussia-Bayern, on theother hand, was a good game.

“I saw many technical errorseven from important players —in an empty stadium it is moredifficult to stay focused.”

Sampdoria coach ClaudioRanieri, however, hailed fivesubstitutions “a great thing” ashis side battle relegation.

“The heat and matches closetogether carry a risk for players,”said the former Leicester Citymanager.

“When there are threegames a week the stress will beconsiderable.”

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World ChampionshipBronze medallist Vinesh

Phogat is set to be nominatedfor Khel Ratna for the secondyear in a row while Rio OlympicBronze winner Sakshi Malikwants to be in contention forthe Arjuna award, althoughshe is already a recipient ofcountry’s highest sporting hon-our.

Vinesh, who is the lonewoman wrestler to have quali-fied for the now-postponedTokyo Olympics, had missedout on the honour last year withfellow grappler Bajrang Puniagetting the prestigious award.

She has been consistent inthe last three years, winningAsian Games Gold in Jakarta.She qualified for the TokyoGames by winning a Bronze atthe World Championship inNur Sultan in 2019.

Early this year, she won aBronze at the AsianChampionship, held in New

Delhi.“We will send Vinesh’s

application on Monday for KhelRatna. She will be a strong con-tender. But we have not yetdecided on Arjuna award appli-cation because we have receivedmany applications. The WFIPresident will have a look anddecide whose application is tobe forwarded to the ministry,”

WFI Assiatant Secretary VinodTomar said.

“We still have time till June3. But most likely the names willbe sent tomorrow (Monday),”he added.

A WFI source said Sakshi,who has been struggling badlyof late, has sent her applicationfor the Arjuna. She had got KhelRatna in 2016 along with gym-nast Dipa Karmakar and shoot-er Jitu Rai.

Recently she lost twice toyoung grappler Sonam Malik,who stopped the elite athletefrom making the cut even forthe Asian Olympic Qualifiers.

It will be interesting to seeif WFI sends her name since2019 World ChampionshipSilver medallist Deepak Punia(86kg) and very-talented RahulAware (61kg, non-olympic cat-egory) have also sent theirapplications for the Arjuna.

“She had no achievementbefore the Rio Games, so hername was not sent for Arjuna.Since she won a Bronze in Rio,

she (directly) got the KhelRatna that time. Now she wantsthe Arjuna award as well,” thesource said.

If WFI goes by perfor-mance, it will not send Sakshi’sname because better perform-ers like Deepak Punia andRahul Aware stand a betterchance to get the award as theywill compete with brilliant ath-letes from other disciplines.

Also sending his applica-tion to WFI for the Arjuna isSandeep Tomar, who was astrong candidate in the 57kgbefore the rise of Ravi Dahiya,the 2019 World ChampionshipBronze medallist.

While application have tobe filled by the athletes, it is thenational federation which has torecommend names for thesports awards to the ministry.

The athletes can still sendtheir applications if their formis endorsed by their state unitor a former national awardee —Arjuna, Khel Ratna, DhyanChand or or Dronacharya.

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Charter flights to ferry US Opentennis players and limited

entourages from Europe, SouthAmerica and the Middle East to NewYork.

Negative Covid-19 tests beforetravelling. Centralized housing. Dailytemperature checks.

No spectators. Fewer on-courtofficials. No locker-room access onpractice days.

All are among the scenarios beingconsidered for the 2020 US Open —

if it is held at all amid the coronaviruspandemic — and described to TheAssociated Press by a high-rankingofficial at the Grand Slam tournament.

“All of this is still fluid,” StaceyAllaster, the US Tennis Association’schief executive for professional tennis,said in a telephone interview onSaturday. “We have made no decisionsat all.”

With that caveat, Allaster addedthat if the USTA board does decide togo forward with the Open, she expectsit to be held at its usual site and in itsusual spot on the calendar. The maindraw is scheduled to start August 31.

“We continue to be, I would say,150% focused on staging a safe envi-ronment for conducting a US Open atthe Billie Jean King National TennisCenter in New York on our dates. It’sall I wake up — our team wakes up —thinking about,” Allaster said.

“The idea of an alternative venue,an alternative date ... We’ve got aresponsibility to explore it, but it does-n’t have a lot of momentum."

An announcement should comefrom “mid-June to end of June,”Allaster said.

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���� ,����#����� �;����!��!����������%1-K��6-13�3 � �� 4 �12 ���12C��64��1-��� � ��� 2 -����21��4'�� �(= Mahendra SinghDhoni’s wife Sakshi on Sundaysaid the iconic former Indiacaptain has had virtually nopresence on social media dur-ing the Covid-19 induced lock-down and therefore the suddentrends about him hanging uphis boots baffles her.

A hashtag, namely#DhoniRetires, recently startedtrending on social media butsoon, it became apparent thatit was just another falserumour.

“He has had zero presenceon social media during this

lockdown, I don’t know wherethese things come from. I justdon’t know,” Sakshi said.

Sakshi had previously rub-bished rumours of the veteranwicketkeeper-batsman’s retire-ment from international crick-et following the Twitter trends.

“Its only rumours ! Iunderstand Lockdown hasmade people mentally unsta-ble ! #DhoniRetires .. Get a life! (sic),” Sakshi had written onTwitter.

However, just a few min-utes after posting the tweet, shedeleted it.

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